Thoughts and postings from an Episcopal priest in the Diocese of Pittsburgh.
 

         

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By www.wrc.com 4 March 2016 - 20:25





Two wins from three Friday morning speed tests enabled Jari-Matti Latvala to build a 21.2sec lead at Rally Guanajuato Mexico as the opening leg reached its midpoint.

After topping the times in the long El Chocolate stage in the mountains above Guanajuato, the Finn added a second win in the following Las Minas test before ending a successful morning with fourth fastest in the short Leon street stage.

A lower start position on the slippery gravel tracks benefited Latvala, who enjoyed cleaner and faster conditions than his rivals ahead, but he was surprised to hold such a big lead over Volkswagen Polo R team-mate Sebastien Ogier, who opened the roads.

I didnt expect to be so much in the lead, he admitted. Its hard to know what speed youre driving at. Sometimes you feel you can go faster but then youre too much sideways. This afternoon I expect there will be some cleaning, but not a lot. If I can keep the same rhythm and keep taking time, that would be good.

Ogier was second in both tests and satisfied with the morning. I can be happy with where I am now, I should be further from the lead. My target is to keep ahead of the drivers who are just behind me in the start order. The guys further back have quite a big advantage, said the Frenchman.

Dani Sordo retained third after two top three times in his Hyundai i20, 12.2sec further back. The Spaniard was 10.5sec ahead of Andreas Mikkelsen, who was fastest through the city street test in his Polo R.

Mads stberg relegated Hayden Paddon in their fight for fifth. Both regretted opting for hard compound Michelin rubber and Kiwi Paddon lost more time when he swiped a wall in Las Minas, damaging his i20s rear suspension. The gap between them is 7.4sec.

Paddon burned his hand making repairs and received treatment from team doctors on arrival at the Leon service park.

Ott Tanak kept out of trouble in eighth in his Ford Fiesta RS, with Martin Prokop, Lorenzo Bertelli and WRC 2 leader Nicolas Fuchs completing the leaderboard.

Benito Guerra joined Thierry Neuville on the sidelines when the Mexican damaged his Ford Fiesta RS after a heavy landing over a crest in Las Minas.
The Central Bank of Nigeria on Thursday raised the alarm that about $20bn (N3.94tn) was lying idle in different domiciliary accounts of ...

The Central Bank of Nigeria on Thursday raised the alarm that about $20bn (N3.94tn) was lying idle in different domiciliary accounts of the citizens.The Deputy Governor, Financial System Surveillance, CBN, Dr. Joseph Nnana, stated this during a meeting of the Joint Appropriation Committees of the National Assembly with government officials on the 2016 budget.Nnana said, Distinguished chairman sir, we have $20bn lying idle in various domiciliary accounts of many customers at the various banks across the country.This is part of the reasons why the naira has continued to slide against the US dollar.He alleged that some privileged Nigerians were behind the consistent slide in the value of the naira by embarking on dollar speculation to the detriment of the local currency.The CBN deputy governor, however, expressed the hope that the passage of the 2016 budget would put a stop to the unrestrained drop in the value of the naira.He said, The CBN will embark on aggressive liquidity mop-up to enable the naira regain confidence. The CBN will not sit down and watch the consistent fall of the naira. After the passage of the 2016 budget, the naira will begin to bounce back.Those who speculate on dollars will have their fingers burnt.In her submission, the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, told the gathering that the amount in the Treasury Single Account had risen to N2.9tn.Adeosun explained that the money in the TSA was not meant to fund the budget contrary to a general impression.She said that the money belonged to different agencies of government, which had the right to access the funds.Her explanation was against suggestions by the legislators that the Federal Government should use the TSA to fund the 2016 budget amidst liquidity problem arising from the slump in global crude oil prices.Adeosun said all the Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the government had their monies transferred into the TSA and should have access to them.She said that the government had commenced the training of its personnel on the operation of the TSA such that any agency of government that needed its share of the funds in the account would not find it difficult accessing it.The Chairman of the Joint National Assembly Committee on Appropriation, Senator Danjuma Goje, asked the executive to consider the postponement of the Special Intervention Programme till next year.He argued that the implementation of N500bn intervention fund contained in 2016 budget proposals would not be feasible since there were no clear implementation strategies.Goje said the explanations being offered by government officials about the implementation strategy for the programme were not satisfactory.He said, There is no detailed and clear-cut structure being laid down for implementation of this project because what we have in this budget is N300bn recurrent and N200bn capital. We had to push hard yesterday to get some details, which are not convincing. For instance, the explanation we got is that N5,000 will be given to one million Nigerians.Who will choose the one million people? What structures do you have in place to make sure that you choose the right people?You want to give money to about one million market women or there about, and in my place we do not have many market women; how will you choose the market women to represent all interests? We have not had clear explanations on the numerous issues surrounding the implementation of this programme.Even the afternoon school feeding contained in the budget is not feasible, because some students study under non-conducive environment. Will feeding them enhance their learning?Goje said while the National Assembly was in support of the programme, implementing it this year might not be feasible.He, therefore, suggested that the money allocated to it should be added to the allocations for sectors like power, transport and health, while those responsible for its implementation should map out better strategy for it in 2017.But the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udo Udoma, said the special intervention programme was a political commitment, which the President Muhammadu Buhari administration would not hesitate to fulfil.He promised to meet with relevant stakeholders to discuss on better strategies for its implementation.
Justice Anwuli Chikere of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Thursday granted bail to the ex-Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, on self rec...

Justice Anwuli Chikere of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Thursday granted bail to the ex-Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, on self recognition.The judge granted two other persons, arraigned alongside the ex-minister  former Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mrs. Anastasia Daniel-Nwobia, and former director in the ministry, Felix .O Alayebami, bail in N100million and one surety in like sum.The surety, the judge said, must be a public servant in either federal or state department or agency.They are to deposit title documents to their property worth N100 million.Justice Chikere directed Moro and others to submit their international passports to the court.The judge ordered that Mrs. Daniel-Nwobia should remain on the administrative bail earlier granted her pending when she is able to perfect the bail granted her by the court.Moro and Alaiyegbami are to remain in prison until they are able to meet their bail conditions.The judge picked April 27 for commencement of trial.
THE All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has faulted Governor Ayo Fayoses claim that his administration spends N210 million mo...

THE All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has faulted Governor Ayo Fayoses claim that his administration spends N210 million monthly on diesel to power Ado-Ekiti streetlights.The party insisted that documentary evidence has established that the actual amount spent on diesel is N1.3 million.In a statement yesterday, the APC Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, regretted that despite Fayoses claim of spending N210 million monthly, nocturnal crimes have increased in the state capital.Olatunbosun attributed the alleged upsurge in crimes to the short period of light supply from 7pm to 10pm.He claimed that cases of car snatching have increased while residents lose their possessions to thieves at night.Olatunbosun said: Ekiti people cannot continue in this reversal of fortune since Fayose came on board.The governor said sometime ago during his monthly media chat that he spends N210million monthly on streetlights.This is a lie because diesel suppliers have since revealed that only 10,000 litres of diesel are supplied monthly to power streetlights.Accusing the governor of deceiving the public and passing over-bloated fuel supply cost to the government, Olatunbosun said the party had since discovered that three suppliers of diesel jointly supply 10,000 litres monthly.He added that even at that, the governor still owe the suppliers millions of naira, even though he insists he pays N210million monthly.Describing Fayoses claim as callous for a governor who claimed to be friend of the masses, the partys spokesman said it had been confirmed that fuel supply cost per day totalled only N43,000 as against the N7million being claimed by the governor.Quoting another source, Olatunbosun explained: Only 10,000 litres are supplied monthly to power the streetlights in Ado-Ekiti.A litre is N130 meaning N1.3million is spent on diesel every month.The partys spokesman urged the governor to be transparent in his financial dealings and stop passing over-bloated bills to the government.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday congratulated former President Olusegun Obasanjo as he turns 79 years old on Saturday. Buharis c...

President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday congratulated former President Olusegun Obasanjo as he turns 79 years old on Saturday.Buharis congratulatory message to Obasanjo was contained in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina.The President affirmed that Obasanjo, who is approaching the octogenarian cycle, has contributed immensely to the institutionalisation of democracy in Nigeria and Africa through his personal sacrifice, extensive local and international networks, and God-given wisdom.Buhari expressed the belief that Obasanjos place in global history is assured for successfully handing over power to a civilian government in 1979 after serving as a military Head of State, and returning to power in 1999 through elections to stabilise the polity, during which he most remarkably negotiated a debt relief for Nigeria.The statement read in part, The President warmly commends Chief Obasanjos vision and commitment to the growth of Nigeria and Africa, which translated into a historical growth rate of six percent for the Nigerian economy after a long period of slow growth, and also created a rippling effect that buoyed other African economies.As he turns 79, the President avers that the former Presidents regular shuttles across Nigeria and Africa to counsel on economic, social and political issues, and his willingness to head election monitoring teams that have heralded smooth transitions in many countries are legacies which generations will remain grateful.President Buhari prays that the Almighty God will grant the Balogun of the Owu lineage, who is also the Ekerin Balogun of the Egba clan, long life and strength to continue his service to humanity.
Former National Chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, and its candidate in the Anambra Central senatorial election, Chief Vi...

Former National Chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, and its candidate in the Anambra Central senatorial election, Chief Victor Umeh, has allegedly been arrested by men of the Department of State Services, DSS, over perceived support for the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB. It was gathered that Umeh was invited to the headquarters of DSS at Amawbia at about 9 .00 am and after about two hours, was taken out of the office in a pick-up van en-route Abuja.It was also gathered that the security officials were said to have received petitions that Umeh was among those supporting the pro-Biafra agitators whose leader, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, is still being detained by the security operatives.A source close to Umeh said: I am right now at Aguluzigbo, the country home of Chief Victor Umeh. His wife told me that he was arrested in the morning by men of the security service and taken to their state headquarters.But at about 11 am, he was taken from the state headquarters to Abuja in a pick-up van.It was alleged that there were petitions against him that he supports IPOB.We dont know who may have sponsored the petitions, but there are accusing fingers on some of his known political opponents. Right now, we cannot reach Umeh on any of his mobile phones.
Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Mustafa Magu has urged Nigerians to shun corruption at all ...

Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Mustafa Magu has urged Nigerians to shun corruption at all strata, so as to help and support President Muhammadu Buharis administration realize its dream of rebuilding a country that is based on equity and justice for all.Magu in a parley with journalists at the conference hall of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Kano also stated that the three arms of government have shown serious commitment in the fight against corruption.According to him, we now have the appropriate leadership that with the appropriate political will to fight corruption. All the three arms of government are ready to fight corruption. Support us so that our children and posterity will enjoy this country.We are creating awareness so that people will know the evils of corruption. I expect you to monitor us. Monitor me from the outside. I welcome criticisms, whether they are constructive or unconstructive. I dont like people praising me while doing my job. Tell me what is wrong and I can correct it.The EFCC boss who refused to entertain questions from journalists agreed that Buharis administration has realized huge amount of stolen funds from past corrupt leaders, adding that the current administration will not be deterred by any forces in its resolve to tackle corruption and corrupt leaders.Magu also stated that EFCC has solicited the support of local musicians and entertainers to carry the message the war against corruption to the door-step of every Nigerian.
The Federal Government will next week announce a major overhaul of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation as well as the firms unb...

The Federal Government will next week announce a major overhaul of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation as well as the firms unbundling into 30 different companies, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has said.According to him, the government has started resolving the governance issues in the oil and gas sector, adding that an overhaul had not happened at the corporation in the past 20 years.Kachikwu, who disclosed this at the Society of Petroleum Engineers Oloibiri Lecture Series in Abuja on Thursday, also stated that the latest financial report of the NNPC for the month of January showed that the corporations losses had reduced from the over N160bn of some six months ago to about N3bn.Explaining the restructuring by the Federal Government in the oil sector, the minister said, We are starting first with simple governance issues; those that are not contentious, that are very rapid and that deal a lot with the transformation of the national oil company.For the national oil company, a lot of work is going on; I am sure some of you have seen the effects; but within the next one week, we are going to be announcing some real major overhaul of the system, one that hasnt been done in over 20 years.Kachikwu added, The effect of that will be to quite frankly unbundle the huge company into four to five main operational zones  the upstream, downstream, midstream, refining, and of course, every other company that is trending to the venture group.But what is more important is that at the same time, we are also unbundling the subsets of these companies to close to about 30 independent companies with their own managing directors; and so, titles like the group executive directors, which you have been used to in the last 30 years, will disappear; and in place of those, you are going to have chief executive officers.This, he said, would make people take responsibility for their titles, as the positions must mean something and not administrative roles.The minister said, So, at the end of the day, a CEO of an upstream company must deliver upstream results, and we are very focused on that and along those chains. We are doing very dramatic things within the sector to bring the change and I am happy that we are gaining the cooperation of people within the industry; that is the only way we can guarantee sustainable career path for those in the industry.We are potentially moving in a direction where quite frankly for the first time in about 15 years, this company will be profitable; but that is a tip of the iceberg, because by the time these 30 companies are unbundled with their managing directors setting programmes, you are going to meet us in the active work space, we are going to be competing and we are going to make these things work.On the slump in global crude oil prices, Kachikwu said the government had been meeting with other oil exporting countries, and expressed the hope that the price of the commodity would soon rise to around $50 per barrel.He said, I dont need to tell you about the price of oil, despite the shuttle diplomacy here and there. It is still very challenging but at least we are inching up, and for the first time, we are beginning to have both the Saudis and the Russians come back on the table.Hopefully, if the meeting that we are scheduling to happen in Russia between the OPEC and non-OPEC members happen around the 20th of March, we should see some dramatic movements. We are not likely going to see the prices of many years ago, but I think we are very humble today to accept that if we hit the price of $50, we will be celebrating and that is the target that we have.The minister further stated that focusing on gas policies was a key element for him, adding, The target that I am setting for myself is a 12-month type agenda to try and arrive at some of these conclusions: some working with the (National) Assembly, and some working with policymakers and the industry.Kachikwu said he had been involved in so many conversations with oil companies and that the essence was to define stipulated contractual terms in the industry.He noted that production sharing contract terms had not been revised for quite a while, adding that the government was focusing more on how it could bring PSC-type contracts into joint venture structures.The minister stated, The target I have set within our system is to see whether we can get to a point where at the end of this year, we will be able to transmit completely away from cash-call type environment. And that way, the oil companies are going to be freed up and be able to go out there to begin to look for the kind of funding they require.For the first time I think we are getting quite faster than the oil companies and we are going to continue to push them. It is so critical for me that by June this year, some agreements are concluded and some levels of financing are coming in to the sector in such a way that I can get them, at least for 2016, to 100 per cent activity-type of environment.Kachikwu, however, denied reports that expatriates would take over key functions of the NNPC, but noted that experienced hands would be needed at the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, a subsidiary of the national oil firm.He said, I did not say that we will engage foreigners to come and work at the NNPC. We were dealing with a specified branch of NNPC, which is the NPDC. This is because if the NPDC is going to compete, it will do that on a universal level. It cant play as a local Nigerian company and want to take part in mainstream oil exploration and production.And so far, we havent done it right. So, what I felt was that we are going to bring in experienced hands. Experienced hands could be Nigerians and not that expatriates necessarily bring more value to the table than Nigerians do. But we are looking at being able to get outside the NNPC box and bring in people, they may be Nigerians or foreigners. This is because collaboration with technical foreign organisations is essential to drive the process.Reacting to the announcement by the minister, the Head of Energy Research, Ecobank Capital, Mr. Dolapo Oni, said the overhaul of the corporation was very critical at this time of low global oil prices.He said, We have always said the NNPC is too large and that it will be better if it was split down along its functions. I like the idea of upstream, downstream and midstream. It will make the NNPC more efficient; each of those units will have to generate its own revenue and run its own expenses. So, accounting will be a lot easier, and the corporation will be more efficient operationally.But, maybe, we should try not to do too much too fast. I hope there is a plan to achieve this over a period of time, not just immediately, because then, it will create some bottlenecks. Some functions that were subsumed within the entire NNPC body before, now have to be delegated to specific subsidiaries. And that has to be done very well to ensure there is no overlapping of functions.An energy expert and Technical Director, Drilling Services, Template Design Limited, Mr. Bala Zakka, stressed the need to address the opaque nature of the NNPC and improve its transparency.Zakka said, The reason why that is necessary is that up till this moment, the NNPC is still looking choked with very few people carrying out complex and tasking responsibilities.There is this thinking that probably the inefficiencies and lack of performances are due to that complexity of the NNPC with just very few people.According to him, the corporation is not too complicated because it is so big or bigger than companies like Saudi Aramco or Petrobras of Brazil or Petronas of Malaysia, but it is looking complex in its workability.So, if breaking it down and having heads of different divisions will help open it up and bring about transparency, then it is a welcome idea, he added.The Director, Emerald Energy Institute, University of Port Harcourt, Prof. Wumi Iledare, who commended the ministers efforts in overhauling the corporation, said, He has big ideas to move the corporation forward, and it is a welcome idea to break the NNPC into independent companies. But the governance structure of the oil and gas industry is a very important aspect to critically look into.
At least five persons were on Thursday killed in an apparent ethnic tussle at the popular Mile 12 Market in Lagos. The clash which gro...

At least five persons were on Thursday killed in an apparent ethnic tussle at the popular Mile 12 Market in Lagos.The clash which grounded business activities and hampered traffic flow for over three hours reportedly started on Wednesday night.Several persons including police officers were also injured, just as buildings were razed.It was gathered that trouble started on Thursday morning after members of the Hausa community in the market stormed the Agiliti area to avenge the death of a motorcyclist.It was learnt that the unnamed motorcyclist was assaulted with a cutlass by a Yoruba man and he died on Thursday morning.The deceased Hausa man reportedly had an altercation with hoodlums and as he tried to drive off, he unknowingly hit the woman.And following his refusal to part with ticket money, he was allegedly beaten up by the hoodlums who saw the accident as an opportunity to strike.This attracted the fury of his colleagues and kinsmen who engaged the hoodlums in a free for all.But the news of his death on Thursday morning allegedly reignited the fight with some mercenaries imported through the PSP truck.Our correspondent saw some young men carting away rams whose owners have fled to safety, while others armed with bottles, cutlasses and sticks took over the entire road.Vehicles were vandalised, shops looted as people rushed into moving vehicles just to leave the scene of the crisis.Firemen trying to put off an inferno were stopped by the hoodlums.It took the intervention of soldiers who came to the area in three vans before peace could be restored to the area.
Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson yesterday met with the family of Ese Oruru at the Government House, Yenagoa. The governor, who ...

Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson yesterday met with the family of Ese Oruru at the Government House, Yenagoa.The governor, who spoke after the meeting, said he had set up a medical team, including psychologists, to facilitate Eses recovery.Dickson hailed the media and civil society groups for their efforts in securing Eses freedom adding that his administration would support the family at this critical time.The governor also called for a comprehensive investigation into the abduction and subsequent prosecution of the culprits.He described the incident as unfortunate, adding that the state government had directed the Ministry of Justice to collaborate with the Police, towards ensuring that Eses abduction was prosecuted to a logical conclusionDickson, who described Ese as a minor, wondered why it took so long to secure her release.He said there were questions begging for answers, as those who knew something about her abduction failed to say or do something to ensure Eses return to her parents.The governor said: This matter has to do with enforcement of the laws of this state. This matter is not religious; it is not a matter that has to be swept under the carpet, because of one tradition or the other.We, as a government, are seeing this matter as one of law enforcement; the rights of a young girl, innocent childhood, her right to proper development and her right to grow up in the company of her parents and also practice for now the faith of her parents. A lot has happened.I want to use this opportunity to assure all that. The Nigeria Police Force is working hard and I have directed the Ministry of Justice to collaborate effectively with them to ensure that this matter is prosecuted to a logical conclusion.I also trust and believe that the police investigations would also extend far and wide, because there are questions begging for answers and we as a government, We want to know why adults, fathers and grandfathers, who saw a minor taken away from here down and into circumstances she found herself in in far away Kano did not make it a priority of returning that child; that minor to the lawful and proper custody of her parents.We want to know why it took this long; wed like to know those who knew what was going on, but did not say something. We like to know those who could have saved this situation much earlier, but did not.Like I said, we are looking at this issue not from the prism of culture, tradition or religion. From now on, this matter has to be looked at purely and simply as a case of law enforcement and as a case of state responsibility and protection and safety of our children; in this case, a minor. I have had preliminary briefings by the Police Commissioner and his team.Dickson said Eses case should be treated as an infringement on her fundamental human rights and law enforcement.The governor said he had received preliminary briefings from the Police Commissioner.We have directed that a team be set up, made up of medical practitioners, counsellors, who would liaise and work with Ese and her parents to offer support, we are prepared to support and stand by Ese, not just now, but most importantly in the days, months and years ahead.I like to thank all Nigerians for their legitimate concern in this matter. I appreciate the efforts of the parents and the Oruru family. I thank my counterpart, the Kano State Governor, since this matter became public knowledge. I like to thank the media.
The wife of Kogi state governor, Hajia Hafi Bello, has given birth to twin boys at a private hospital in Abuja on Friday 4 March, 2016.
The kidnappers of three school girls at Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary (BMJS) might have reduced the ransom amount yet again Timile...

The kidnappers of three school girls at Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary (BMJS) might have reduced the ransom amount yet againTimilehin Olosa, Tofunmi Popoolaniyan and Deborah Akinayo were abducted from the classrooms on Monday night by suspected pipeline vandals numbering about 10.It was gathered that the criminals who made another contact at about 2:00am on Thursday to one of the victims parents pegged the amount at N10million, which is a far cry to the initial N200million and 20 million per child previously demanded.It was also learnt that the school management had urged the criminals to collect one million Naira in exchange for the three girls but the hostage takers insisted on N10 million.Some parents who were at the school premises to see their wards told The Nation that they were briefed by the school authorities that negotiations were ongoing and the girls were healthyThis development, however, contradicted earlier claims that one of the girls had taken ill and was stooling and vomiting.It was learnt that the abductors also gave the school specific location to drop the agreed ransom.According to the parents, who refused to be named, the school was hopeful and prayers have been intensified so that God will touch the kidnappers to release the girls unhurt.
At the invitation of King Salman Bin-Abdulaziz al-Saud of Saudi Arabia and of the Ruler of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad al-Thani, Presi...

At the invitation of King Salman Bin-Abdulaziz al-Saud of Saudi Arabia and of the Ruler of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad al-Thani, President Muhammadu Buhari undertook state visits to the two Middle-Eastern states between February 22nd and 29th.As expected, there is much healthy anxiety at home about the outcomes of these visits.For many citizens, their expectation is for the benefits of these visits to reach them in Sokoto, Calabar, Owerri or Akure before the President gets home after the engagements. There are good reasons for this anticipation.The president had given impetus to and focus on strategic foreign bilateral relationships to overcome Nigerias infrastructure deficit at a time when oil revenues have fallen by 70 percent.This strategy draws from the enormous goodwill his election in 2015 has brought to the country. Knowing how terrible things were for Nigeria in the past, the world seems quite happy with us for having a president with an incredible reputation of personal integrity.Considering our past missed opportunities, some have called this our last chance. The president calls it our best chance to shake off the shackles of poverty and underdevelopment. He set out to achieve three to four broad objectives. One was, of course, to strengthen relations between these Arab states and Nigeria.In his various speeches, the president made clear his wish to enhance the age-old relations between our nations and the various peoples of these nations built on the foundations of shared values and interests.A matter for immediate concern to him was the wobbly state of the oil market and his inherent belief that he could rally the support of these two major oil and gas producing countries towards the return of a more stable market and better pricing of oil in the international markets. Why produce more, to earn less, instead of producing less to earn more? was his constant refrain.The president sought to persuade the Saudis and the Qatari to invest and cooperate in Nigerian development priorities, especially in the critical sectors of power, infrastructure, agriculture, mining and manufacturing.And as he did wherever he visited, he looked out for the Nigerian Diaspora. Nigerians jubilantly crowded the meetings with the president in both Riyadh and Doha. They spoke of their love for him and the work he is doing in the fight against corruption and terrorism. The problems they have, which they brought to him, were not new or different from what he had met with other Nigerians elsewhere.Nigerian professionals face enormous challenges getting visas for family members to join them abroad; and there are difficulties in getting Nigerian passport renewals in the countrys foreign missions, warranted by the acute shortages of passport booklets; and also the numerous grievances against frequent police arrest and sometimes deportation without the interventions of the Nigerian missions in these countries.Nigerians in Saudi Arabia and Qatar equally want electoral reforms that would allow them to vote at their current locations in future national elections.It is important that the president obtained the nodding agreement of both countries to stand together for a more stable market and better pricing for oil and gas. Together, they agreed, however, that more can be achieved by working together with independent producers outside the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).True to their words, the Saudis made a pronouncement on the issue and the market has positively responded, even if marginally so. Oil price is up by a few percentage points.President Buhari has also obtained commitments of investment from the states, on the one hand through their enormously well-endowed Sovereign Wealth Funds and, on the other, from Saudi and Qatari industrialists interested in investing billions of dollars in the Nigerian economy. The signed agreements with Qatar on the protection of investment and avoidance of multiple taxation is helpful in paving the way for the coming investments.The other agreement on Bilateral Services Agreement (BASA) bears the imprint of Nigerias ambition of transforming into the international travel hub for West-Africas 400 million people. The Qatari Emir gave a prompt directive for support and collaboration with Nigeria on the plans to restart a national airline and a further development of airports infrastructure.On security, the president made known the position of his administration to join the Islamic Military Alliance to Fight Terrorism (IMAFT). In an interview with the Qatar-based Al Jazeera TV, he made clear his intention to work with everyone and anywhere to fight terrorism. We are victims of terrorism, meaning we know the pain and we feel it, and that misguided sentiment will not detract him from a clear national interest.The president conveyed condolences on behalf of himself and the nation to King Salman, The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques on the spate of deaths, including many Nigerians, in the course of last years Hajj pilgrimage.He took note of the new concessions the Saudis have given Nigeria, among which is the increase in Umrah slots and asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Hajj Commission (NAHCON) to request for more Hajj slots. He equally wants to see Nigerians pay less for their Umrah.Clearly, the president seemed impressed by the willingness on the part of the Saudis to discuss all outstanding issues with Nigeria. Our side to the continuing discussions have 17 consular and other matters connected to the Umrah and Hajj.Determined to give meaning to his expressed determination to produce enough food for the teeming population, bridge the infrastructure gap and put in place measures for the diversification of the economy now precariously over-dependent on oil, the president returned home with a promise to set up a cabinet committee to identify some protects of priority to the nation.These priority projects, when identified, will be evaluated and costed, and thereafter placed for the consideration of the sovereign wealth authorities of the two states. It is hoped that once the states lead the way, the private sector in both countries will come in tow.With the president promising to provide all the necessary support, both the Saudi and Qatari Chambers of Commerce and Industry are expected to visit Abuja in the course of this year.The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) which met with the president presented a dazzling array of opportunities to assist in mobilising domestic and external resources to finance Nigerias investment programme in the wake of a widening funding gap.The Bank has offered to support the Federal Ministry of Finance in mobilising resources from Arab Countries through assistance in organising an Arab donor financing roundtable in Abuja. It will leverage its traditional partners in the Arab Coordination Group (such as the Saudi Fund, the Kuwait Fund, BADEA, the Abu Dhabi Fund, etc.) in order to increase the quantum of funding available to the country.The IDB has equally offered assistance to the Government of Nigeria in facilitating a proposed Sukuk Bond issuance programme, aimed at mobilising domestic and external resources to finance Nigerias investment programme. The Central Bank of Nigeria and the Debt Management Office are in a discussion with the IDB on this idea.In another breath, the IDB Group is committing itself to helping to mobilise investments from private businesses in Arab countries to assist in the development of solid minerals and commercial agriculture.In the meeting with the Organisation of Islamic States (OIC), the president obtained assurances of support for the resettlement and rehabilitation of of the more than two million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in various camps in the North-East.In line with his observation that it is only by educating people properly about Islam that terrorists will be deprived of legitimacy and a basis for the recruitment of followers, the OIC accepted the presidents request to partner with Nigerians in bringing a good knowledge and understanding of the Islamic religion.The above snapshot may not represent a 360-degree view of all the things that happened; for instance, the Qatari who are being sought after by nations eying their reserve funds have shown interest in Nigerias favourable demographics and infrastructure deficit. The low-hanging fruit was ignored because a past president refused to visit. President Buharis visit has deepened the enthusiasm of the Saudis and the Qatari in investing in Nigeria. The most important challenge before him now is in packaging proposals acceptable to both sides, for business to start.
A former Minister of Defence and ex-Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, Haliru Bello, has asked for the...

A former Minister of Defence and ex-Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, Haliru Bello, has asked for the permission of a Federal High Court in Abuja to travel abroad for medical treatment.The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, on January 5, 2016, arraigned Bello, his son, Abba, and a firm, BAM Project and Properties Limited, before the court on four counts of money laundering involving the sum of N300m allegedly meant security.The prosecution led by Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), says BAM Project and Properties belongs to Abbah.The EFCC alleged that instead of using the N300m to provide safe houses, the purpose for releasing to them by the Office of the National Security Adviser in March 2015, the accused allegedly expended it on the PDPs presidential campaign.Bellos passport and that of his son had been seized by the court as part of the bail conditions imposed by the trial judge, Justice Ahmed Mohammed, in his ruling on January 7.The ex-ministers lawyer, Chief Kanu Agabi (SAN), informed the judge on Thursday that he had filed an application seeking an order of the court tentatively releasing his clients passport to enable him travel abroad on health grounds.Agabi did not disclose the nature of his clients medical condition and the country where he intended to travel to for the treatment.
The Ohanaeze Ndigbo has resolved to visit President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja with a charter of demands. Th...

The resolution was adopted after a meeting of some members at the private residence of one of their leaders in Enugu, yesterday. Among the issues they resolved to present to Buhari for urgent attention included the reconstruction of the Enugu- Umuahia- Port Harcourt Road, the Enugu- Onitsha express road, appointment of more Special and Senior Special Assistants or Assistants as Igbo are not represented in his government, as well as the completion of the Second Niger Bridge to end the ongoing agitation for Biafra Republic.Apart from these, they also resolved to ask the President to set up the Eastern Nigeria Development Commission, ENDC, to handle the issue of unemployment of Igbo youths which they said was responsible for the continued agitation for the Biafran Republic by the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, as reportedly requested by Governor Rochas Okorocha during the reconciliation meeting between the two former factions of Ohanaeze led by Chief Enwo Igariwey and Ralph Obioha respectively.Okorocha was alleged to have pledged to take Ohanaeze to the river, during the reconciliatory meeting of the two factions in Owerri, the Imo State capital about two weeks ago.Sources close to the meeting told newsmen in Enugu that other matters which came up included the search for a new chairman of the group following the end of the tenure of present executive led by Igariwey.Meanwhile, IPOB members have reacted to the outcome of the Ohanaeze meeting, saying that some Igbo politicians who are using IPOB and Nnamdi Kanu (its detained leader) or Biafra to get cheap popularity will fail and advised them to stop doing so with immediate effect.In three separate statements, IPOB listed Igbo leaders like Chief T. A Orji, Rochas Okorocha, Emeka Offor, Eze Cletus Ilomuanya, Ike Ekweremadu, Chukwuma Soludo, Ralph Uwazuruike, Okezie Ikpazu, Onwuka Ukwa as well as Ohanaeze Ndigbo as among individuals and groups working against its interest. According to IPOB, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo was looking for access to Buhari for the selfish interest of its members adding that they were using the blood of dead Biafrans to enrich its members.Those who signed the statements were Emma Mmezu and Clifford Iroanya. Also, in the second statement entitled, THE STRANGE DECISION TO CONTINUE PLAYING WITH FIRE, they said,The well- rehearsed attempt by Joe Nwaogu, Ohanaeze scribe to deny their attempt to stifle the demand for freedom by all peace loving people, while using the IPOB agitation as an Open Sesame to have access to Aso Villa is actually childish. Nwaogu lied when he claimed the U.S. Consular General also visited other zones. Truth is the IPOB agitations informed the U.S. delegations visit to the South East. They did not visit nor have intention to visit other zones.
Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi has declared today a public holiday to commemorate the coronation of the 41st Olubadan of Ibadanland, ...

Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi has declared today a public holiday to commemorate the coronation of the 41st Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Akanmu Adetunji, who will be installed at Mapo Hall, Ibadan by 9am.A statement by the Head of Service, Soji Eniade, urged civil servants, traders, artisans, and the public to show up at the venue.Ajimobi appealed to the public to ensure peaceful conduct during and after the ceremony.The government has denied the claims by some corporate organisations that they are sponsoring the event.The Special Adviser to the Governor on Communication and Strategy, Yomi Layinka, at a briefing yesterday, said the coronation committee headed by the Otun Olubadan, Dr. Lekan Balogun, which also comprised representatives from the Olubadan-in-council, Iyalode line and Adetunjis younger brother, Ambali, is the only recognised body preparaing for the event.Layinka, who heads the media sub-committee, said top government officials, led by a former Secretary to the State Government, Ismael Olalekan Alli, are also on the committee.He said organisations that wish to sponsor the event should approach the State Signage and Advertisement Agency (OYSAA) for approval of their banners and posters.We wish to state categorically on behalf of the organising committee that no sponsor has been accredited to manage or brand the ceremony.We understand that a group, purportedly advisory group to the Olubadan designate, has been soliciting support and collaborating with some individuals to raise funds and seek branding and marketing opportunities.There is no such accreditation. We have noted with embarrassment that some organisations, such as MTN and Globacom, have been putting up banners and posters claiming to be sponsors.This is misleading as the organising committee has not authorised any organisation as sponsor.There are rules of engagement in branding of events. OYSAA is responsible for control, regulation of outdoor practice.OYSAA has begun to remove such posters, banners. However, if they can go through due process, they are welcome.Markets in the 11 local governments in Ibadan would be closed today.This, Layinka said, was to ensure the full participation of residents and ease movement.Entry roads from Idi Arere to Popoyemoja, in front of the Olubadans palace up to Epo Akara mosque have been turned to one-way.The traffic from Oke Ado leading into Bode had also been turned into one-way route.This, according to Permanent Secretary, Works and Transport, Oyesola Oyedele, has become a permanent measure to ease up traffic in and out of the palace.The monarch has released his title- Aje Ogungunniso 1.It will appear on the paraphernalia of office and items to be used for the coronationThe title is believed to have been borne out of his companys name: Omo Aje Sound Studio, which he established in 1955.
The Kano State-born Yunusa, who abducted the 14-year-old Ese Oruru from Bayelsa State, converted her to Islam and married her has been tr...

The Kano State-born Yunusa, who abducted the 14-year-old Ese Oruru from Bayelsa State, converted her to Islam and married her has been transferred to the Bayelsa State police command in Yenagoa.Yunusa was initially arrested in Kano and taken to the Force Headquarters, Abuja, following public outrage generated by Eses travails.The police had earlier said they would transfer the culprit to the Bayelsa command where he allegedly committed the offence.A source at the Bayelsa police command revealed that Yunusa was already in the states police custody.He said Yunusa was handed over to the command on Wednesday, the same day Ese was brought back to the state.Yunusa is presently here in the Bayelsa police command. He was brought by a team of policemen from the Force Headquarters on Wednesday. He is being detained at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), he said.The source said the police had been mandated to carry out thorough investigations and compile evidence that would lead to Yunusas prosecution.
Senate Leader. Ali Ndume, was a guest on Channels TV on Friday morning where he spoke on the controversial N4.7 billion reportedly mean...

Senate Leader. Ali Ndume, was a guest onon Friday morning where he spoke on the controversial N4.7 billion reportedly meant for the purchase of new cars for each senator to carry out their oversight function.Ndume queried why Senators are expected to pack themselves in a coastal bus when carrying out their duties when Ministers and Local Government Chairmen have official cars.According to Ndume, Senators have not taken delivery of the cars as the budget has not been passed."No not yet. Money has been budgeted but the budget has not been passed and you know there is this public debate going on that Senators should not buy cars. Look I am a senator representing 9 Local governments. A Minister was appointed, 36 of them. All of them are driving a convoy of at least 4 cars. By protocol I am the senate leader. For example, I came with a car. I don't mind for example but what happens to my rights and privileges. For me personally, I don't care about driving a particular car. I move with any car but what happens to my rights and privilege as a Senate leader. For example the revenue and mobilization commission n their entitlements to my own office, are saying the senate leader should own two cars. We are supposed to do oversight as you know. Should I use my private car to do that?"he saidWhen asked why senators cannot ride in a coastal bus, he said"How can I be going in a bus? You want me as a Senator to go in a bus? Senators going in a bus is as a matter of choice. When Senators are going to one place outside Abuja, how do you expect to pack them in a bus? Lets be honest. We are not buying cars for Senators. No. We are buying cars so that they will use those vehicles for committee work"he saidAsked if they will be made in Nigeria vehicles, he said "Well that one is another thing".
By Nwaorgu Faustinus The Rivers State Chapter of All Progressives Congress, APC said it has come to its notice that the Deputy Nationa...

The Rivers State Chapter of All Progressives Congress, APC said it has come to its notice that the Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, who was just released from EFCC detention over 23 choice vehicles he received from dubious quarters, has blamed his incarceration on a Minister from his home state, Rivers State.In a release by the APC Spokeman, Senibo Chris Finebone said the only Minister from Prince Secondus home state is Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi, CON, Minister for Transportation and leader of the APC in Rivers State.If by any turbulence of the mind occasioned by physical and psychological pressure of detention Prince Secondus meant that Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi has a hand his travails, the APC would like the PDP Deputy National Chairman to provide explanation on his charge to Rivers people, nay Nigerians the statement explainedThe APC asked Prince Secondus a number of questions: Is Prince Secondus the only Nigerian being questioned by the EFCC at the moment? Has Olisa Metuh, his compatriot and fellow traveller, Abba Moro and others blamed Ministers or politicians from their home states for their travails so far? Did the PDP buy the 23 cars from his friend Omokore? Did Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi ask him to collect the cars that he would pay but later reneged? Is Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi the EFCC boss? Where lies the connection?The statement further reads: The APC finds it laughable that Prince Secondus could not remember to do what most criminals do when they are caught in the act  blame Satan for tempting them and owning up to their crimes. He had all the days in detention to rehearse what might sound like a credible story for us poor Nigerians rather than pointing at an innocent man working so hard every other day to deliver on the onerous tasks of the Nigerian transportation sector.The Rivers State APC wishes to tell Prince Secondus to go in search of his clothing where he had his bath and refrain forthwith from dragging the name of Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi and the APC into the conundrum of corruption he created for himself. Prince Secondus should, for once, adorn the garb of courage and stew in his own juice without attempting to obfuscate Nigerians who already know better.We encourage Prince Uche Secondus to do all he can to extricate himself from the claws of President Muhammadu Buharis anti-corruption moving train so that he can help to patch up the PDP severely torn umbrella  something that is getting bleaker and bleaker by the day.
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A story from March 11, 1983, on Glynn's Daiquiri Place (or Glynn's Daiquri Place) from The Times-Picayune archives.
The federal government plans to pour $125 million into the fight against a mysterious disease that has ravaged corals in Florida and much of the Caribbean, and now poses a dire threat to the treasured reefs off the Louisiana and Texas coasts.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has issued a subpoena to Donald Trump. The nine-member panel sent a letter to the former president's lawyers on Friday, demanding his testimony under oath by mid-November and outlining a series of corresponding documents. The decision by lawmakers to exercise their subpoena power comes a week after the committee made its final case against the former president, who they say is the "central cause" of the multi-part effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. It remains unclear how Trump and his legal team will respond to the subpoena, if at all.
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.
More than 6,000 petitions were delivered on Thursday to the Council Bluffs office of Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, urging him to change his mind and to consider a Supreme Court nominee this year.

The Republican senator made it clear he wont be budging on the issue.

Two people delivered petitions to the office in the U.S. Post Office building during Thursdays lunch hour, but his area representative, Donna Barry, was out for the day, a building security official said.

The petitions, 6,458 to be exact, were filled out online with space available for personal messages. The petition drives purpose was to show Grassley how many people oppose his stance on not considering any Supreme Court nominees this year, said Bart Randolph, spokesman for Why Courts Matter Iowa, a group associated with Progress Iowa, a statewide organization with more than 30,000 supporters that focuses on research, education and advocacy.

Copies of Article II of the U.S. Constitution that specify a senators duty regarding the Supreme Court nomination process were also delivered.

A lot of the messages were, Just do your job, Randolph said. To deny nominating hearings is a real lack of bipartisanship.

Mary Kruse came over from Omaha to show support for the petitioners.

Im tired of them taking our money and not doing their job, Kruse said. Im fed up with them.

Following the recent death of Supreme Court Judge Antonin Scalia, Grassley  who is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee  announced his desire to wait until the next president is inaugurated next January before considering Scalias replacement.

Our goal was to get as many petitions as possible, Randolph said. I dont think we had a set amount, but I think its a good number for a relatively short notice.

The Judiciary Committee is in charge of conducting hearings prior to the Senate votes on confirmation of federal judges, including Supreme Court justices nominated by the president.

A lot of judges were nominated and confirmed in election years, Randolph said.

Bob Nielson heard about the protest and stopped by the post office building to support the Why Courts Matter Iowa event.

Im here because of Sen. Grassleys maneuvering against the will of the Constitution and the will for the people in this country. We have to have a Supreme Court, Nielson said. He is trying to derail everything. I cant believe that hes acting like a Tea Partier.

In response, Grassley said in a statement through his office:

I appreciate that people are getting involved in the process, but I have my own full copy of the Constitution. I would encourage the members of the organization to read the entire Constitution to know that the legislative branch is a coequal branch of government. And, Article II Section 2 gives the president the authority to nominate a person for the Supreme Court, but just as importantly, gives the Senate the authority to decide how it provides advice and consent.

 Photographer Joe Shearer contributed to this story.
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Long Island Medium star Theresa Caputo will be making a stop in Sudbury on June 16 during her Canadian tour.

Long Island Medium star Theresa Caputo will be making a stop in Sudbury on June 16 during her Canadian tour.



Caputo has been seeing, feeling, and sensing Spirit since she was four-years-old, but it wasnt until she was in her 20s that she learned to communicate with souls in Heaven.



The New York Times best selling author will bring her unique ability to Sudbury on June 16 and if you want to get in on tickets early, you can join the fan club here.



Pre-sale of tickets opens on March 8 for members of her fan club only.

Check out other tour stops and dates here.
Sudbury research being showcased this week

The Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, Greg Fergus, launched research week at Laurentian University on Feb. 29. The value of environmental research is abundantly clear in a place like Sudbury ..

The Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, Greg Fergus, launched research week at Laurentian University Feb. 29. Supplied photo.

The Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, Greg Fergus, launched research week at Laurentian University on Feb. 29.



The value of environmental research is abundantly clear in a place like Sudbury ... Nickel Belts environmental degradation and subsequent reclamation is one of this countrys great success stories, Fergus said in his keynote speech.



He also spoke of his governments plans to expand support for incubators, accelerators and the emerging national network for business innovation and cluster support.



These investments will target key growth sectors where Canada has the ability to attract investment or grow export-oriented companies.



While in Sudbury, Fergus also toured a number of Sudbury research facilities, including CEMI (Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation), Vale Living with Lakes Centre and NORCAT.



He was accompanied on the tours by Nickel Belt MP Marc Serre and Sudbury MP Paul Lefebvre, his fellow Liberal caucus members.
Greater Sudbury was recently awarded a grant from the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change to conduct nine subwatershed studies in the city in the next two years. A open house is set for March 9 from 4-7 p.m.

Greater Sudbury was recently awarded a grant from the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change to conduct nine subwatershed studies in the city in the next two years.A open house is set for March 9 from 4-7 p.m. in Room C-13A/B at Tom Davies Square to give members of the public a chance to learn more about the study and provide feedback, the city said in a news release Thursday.What are we looking to achieve? the release said. We want to get a 360-degree look at the health of our sub-watershed systems. How will we do this? Well be looking at stormwater-related risks when it comes to land-use decisions and community planning in order to develop a strong framework for responsible development within the subwatershed areas to preserve and enhance the natural environment.From drinking water for our residents and animals to supporting habitat for our plants and wildlife, as well as providing great recreation opportunities, protecting our watersheds has been identified as a priority in the City of Greater Sudburys Official Plan.Anyone who can't attend the open house can offer feedback online at www.greatersudbury.ca/watershedstudy2016 . Comments will be accepted until the end of the day March 18. Feedback forms are also available at local Citizen Service Centre or library.
CBA 2016: Lopes Limited wins Economic Development award

Headquartered in Coniston, Lopes Limited is a family business that contributes to the economic well-being of Greater Sudbury and the north, and invests in its future by making a sizable contribution to the community trust while shying away from the s

Lopes Limited won the Economic Development award at the 2016 Community Builders Awards of Excellence. Supplied Photo.

Headquartered in Coniston, Lopes Limited is a family business that contributes to the economic well-being of Greater Sudbury and the north, and invests in its future by making a sizable contribution to the community trust while shying away from the spotlight.



The company supports local initiatives with a particular focus on children, education, social welfare and health care.



The list of recipients that have benefited from the generosity of this company include the Northern Cancer Foundation, Science North, Dynamic Earth, the medical school, young athletes, arts organizations and schools.



Dr. Raymond Jacques praises the Lopes family and the company for its efforts to assist in recruiting him to Coniston and for funding a lab clinic so residents could have their blood work done close to home.



Shawn Poland, associate vice-president at Cambrian College, notes the Felix Sr. and Maria Lopes Bursary was established to help students pursue their education at Sudburys postsecondary institution.



To date, more than 30 students have benefited not only from the financial award but many have also had the opportunity to earn summer employment at the company as well, says Poland.



A firm believer in retaining talent in the north by providing full-time employment opportunities following graduation, the awards have provided a pipeline to future opportunities at Lopes and in the community for Laurentian, Cambrian and Boreal graduates.



Lopes has established another award for students, the Northern Development Scholarships valued at $1,500 and renewable annually, which is available to two students attending post-secondary schools in Northern Ontario.



The sheet metal business started by Felix Lopes Sr. in the family garage in 1976 has prospered thanks to dedication, family values and strong work ethics.



Felix Sr. passed his philosophies about quality workmanship and customer satisfaction to his son, Felix Jr.



Over the last decade, the company has expanded its facilities, embraced new technologies and grow to offer a full service industrial contractor, offering a wide range of services which complement the company as a high quality fabricator including piping, electrical, structural, civil and scaffold contracting.



Felix Jr. developed an understanding the company was more than a family business. It is in fact, a family, and its employees  as many as 200 during peak periods  are integral to the companys success.



Lopes has the ability to fabricate and deliver to customers anywhere in the world. Recently the company completed a $3-million converter used to reduce emissions for a facility in Virginia.



The company stays ahead of the curve, putting an emphasis on hiring young people and training, even keeping a teacher on staff to guide new employees.



In 1999 Lopes Limited won the Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Award for Company of the Year. In 2009, it received the Employment Ontario and Ministry of Training and Colleges and Universities Employer Recognition Award.



For 40 years, Lopes Limited has been a model employer and community builder providing a blueprint for success, sustainability and social responsibility for others to follow.
Centre Victoria pour Femmes will celebrate International Women's Day with a dinner and a show March 8 at the Caruso Club.

Centre Victoria pour Femmes will celebrate International Women's Day with a dinner and a show March 8 at the Caruso Club.This year will mark the 100th anniversary of women being able to vote in Canada, and Centre Victoria will pay homage to that milestone with a performance by Les Anges de la Campagne, a musical group featuring Louise Lemieux, Patty Dunlop and Rose Neufeld.Lemieux is known for his contributions to music in Northern Ontario, having organized and hosted shows such as the Gospel Music Show in Blind River.Dunlop is known for her role in the group Women in Song, while Neufeld is a gifted accordionist.Tickets are $20 and are available by phoning 705-670-2517, ext. 2226 or emailing mireille.charlebois@centrevictoria.ca Doors open at 5 p.m. with dinner at 6 p.m.Centre Victoria pour Femmes is a non-profit organization that fight against all forms of violence against women. Their services are free and confidential.
An initiative to encourage more women to run for office in the next municipal election is drawing fire from an adviser of a current city councillor.

An initiative to encourage more women to run for office in the next municipal election is drawing fire from an adviser of a current city councillor.Tom Price, who has made headlines recently because of his vocal criticisms of the Maley Drive extension, says the Women in Government initiative approved Feb. 23 represents improper interference by council in the democratic process."For the council as a whole to try to influence the electorate on who the electorate elects, that's pretty undemocratic," said Price, who is an adviser to Ward 2 Coun. Michael Vagnini. "Why should any man pay to have council encourage women?"What this has become is the current council's endorsement of women as candidates, as opposed to anyone running. And they're not supposed to do that."He said if council is encouraging female candidates, why aren't they promoting First Nations or other visible minorities, as well?"I have no problem with women running for politics  in fact, some of them are extremely good, Price said. "Any one of them that wants to run, can run. It's not about fairness."The problem is we now have a council promoting a specific group of candidates, if you follow me. If they're promoting women, why aren't they promoting blacks? And why aren't they promoting Natives? And why aren't they promoting Chinese or any visible minority?"In the 2014 municipal vote, 90 per cent of candidates inSudbury were men. Four women were elected, including two incumbents (Ward 4 Coun. Evelyn Dutrisac and Ward 12 Coun. Joscelyne Landry-Altmann) and two new councillors (Ward 9 Coun. Deb McIntosh and Ward 11 Coun. Lynne Reynolds.)In an email, McIntosh said while the initiative is directed to encourage women, it's not directed at any specific candidates which would run afoul of the rules.Staff has carefully set up this initiative to ensure that we are two years out from the next election and that they are not providing any municipal resources to candidates, McIntosh said. Rather, they are providing education about electoral processes.The goal is to increase the number of women who will consider running for office, she said. That's important considering women represent 51 per cent of the population but only nine per cent of the candidates who ran in the last municipal election.It will still be up to each individual  male or female  to decide whether they wish to run for elected office or not. And ultimately, it will be up to the electorate to decide which candidates will sit on city council.But Reynolds said she's not entirely comfortable with the initiative, even though she voted to support it."I think we should be encouraging everybody who's interested in politics to run, she said. We need more diversity, I think, on council, and I'm not just talking male-female. But I don't feel comfortable going out and asking women to run against my male colleagues. It just doesn't feel right."But Reynolds said sexism still exists, although not at the local political level."There's still a little bit of a cultural attitude that exists  not with this council, but sometimes in the public, she said. So I will support it, I voted for it and that's fine."People don't realize what a massive time commitment politics is, even for part-time councillors, she said. So someone who puts there name forward should understand what they're in for."It's a big, big step to go from the private domain to the public domain, and I would not want to coax somebody to do it," she said. "There's a lot more involved than meets the eye. You really have to want to do it and have a passion for it. It does take away quite a bit of your life-work balance."That's why women in politics tend to be older, because they often wait until their children are older before devoting the time necessary to public life."If you just take a look around the council table, that's very evident. The average age of the women is much older than the average age of the males on council."Dr. Jennifer Johnson, a Womens Studies professor at Laurentian University, said the goal of these sorts of initiatives is to encourage more equal representation in politics."If there's a group within a community that's not well represented in municipal government, we should be encouraging all groups of people to apply, to attempt to run, get involved in one way or another," Johnson said. "We've seen very, very few women running for municipal government. There are lots of reasons for that. Sometime there are systemic reasons, sometimes there are cultural reasons. Very often all that's needed is more information out in the community about how to get involved."There are more barriers for women who may be interested in politics, she said, especially since they often take on more responsibility for raising children, and have less economic freedom because they earn less than their male counterparts."Very young women tend to be focused on starting their careers, she said. In Ontario right now, you can leave high school or college as a young man and still make more money than a woman with a university education."So ultimately what you end up with is a local government that may have some very good people on it, but isn't representative of the gender breakdown in the local community."But Price said he's unconvinced by such arguments."If a woman is single and has no children, what's the difference?" he said. "This is a gender-specific promotion that taxpayers are expected to foot the bill for."
A long-term research project at Laurentian University is showing promise in using mine tailings to grow crops for biomass.

A long-term research project at Laurentian University is showing promise in using mine tailings to grow crops for biomass.



Over the last three to four years, Peter Beckett and Graeme Spiers, both associate professors at Laurentian University in Sudbury, have headed up the project, which examines the science behind using waste pulp and paper material, over top of mine tailings fields, to produce crops that could eventually be harvested and manufactured into biomass pellets.



The whole idea, essentially, is, rather than just taking the tailings and wasteland at mine sites and putting grass down, to do something useful with them, said Beckett, whos also a founding member of Sudburys VETAC (Vegetation Enhancement Technical Advisory Committee). In this case, its to try and see whether we could grow crops that one could make into energy fuels.



Researchers have partnered with Glencore and Vale in Sudbury and Goldcorp in Timmins, which have provided the tailings sites. Wood waste has been brought in from paper mills to top the tailings with organic material, and a local farmer has provided the agricultural equipment and expertise.



At the Vale site, paper mill sludge was brought in from Espanola and St. Marys (before that Sault Ste. Marie mill closed), while at the Goldcorp site in Timmins, paper sludge, which has extra nitrogen from producing fine paper, was brought in from Iroquois Falls.



At the Glencore site in Onaping, wood waste was brought in from various operations across Northern Ontario and mixed with municipal compost from Sudburys landfill.



In all three cases, the organic material was diverted from landfills.



In the long run, if it works, then you could go on taking extra waste and cover the whole of the tailings and really make them into productive areas, since theres something like 10,000 hectares of tailings in Northern Ontario, Beckett said.



In the experiments, between 25 centimetres and a metre of material is added on top of the tailings and then the crops are planted. Researchers have experimented with a number of crops, including corn, canola, switchgrass, sunflowers and willow.



The fast-growing hybrid willow grows between one and two metres a year, providing lots of fibre to harvest and make into pellets. Switchgrass, another fast-growing species, has also shown promise.



We actually get pretty good biomass, Beckett said. We get biomass on the sites which is roughly equal to what the farmers would get in their fields, or for one crop, switchgrass, we actually do better than the farmers are doing in their fields.



As research on the crops continues, more questions arise, Beckett said. For example, how long can the crops succeed before the organic material runs out? And what are the long-term effects of N-Viro  a waste organic product from the Sudbury landfill being added to Glencores tailings site?



Growing crops on tailings fields not only remediates the site, but also provides a biomass-growing alternative to farmers fields, which Beckett said is better left to growing food. Food crops can be grown on the tailings sites, but the researcher said that would likely be unpalatable for consumers.



One can be sure, even if the materials which are produced on the tailings are things like corn, nobody would really want to eat them simply because of where they come from, Beckett said. But we know theres no uptake of the metals into the corn.



(Beckett and Spiers have both consumed corn grown on a tailings site and havent suffered any ill effects.)



The biomass crop trials at Laurentian are getting interest from companies across the country, but they arent the first of their kind.



Internationally, there are some companies doing this, particularly in South America, Beckett said.



What one companys doing is they will take the material and convert it to biodiesel, and biodiesel burns better, with less fumes than regular diesel, and so its cleaner in the mines. So theyre producing their own biodiesel and using it underground.



Whether or not the premise can be economically commercialized in Northern Ontario will be up to the companies, noted Beckett, but he believes the concept would work on other brownfields as well.



There have been other benefits stemming from the studies. In addition to the educational and research opportunities, several undergraduate and graduate students have been employed with the mining companies involved.
Like the 14-year-old Scotch whiskey its named for, the executives at Oban Mining hope the company will only get better with age, satisfying even the most finicky of investor palates.

Like the 14-year-old Scotch whiskey its named for, the executives at Oban Mining hope the company will only get better with age, satisfying even the most finicky of investor palates.

Launched by the same team that brought the Canadian Malartic gold mine online, Oban wants to be the next great Canadian mining house, and president-CEO John Burzynski doesnt shy away from making bold statements about its plans.

We intend to be the next Osisko Mining Corporation, he said during a January presentation to the Sudbury Prospectors and Developers Association.

Osisko Mining Corp. broke new ground in 2011 when it discovered Malartic after repurposing an old mine whose high-grade deposits had been mined out and developed a low-grade, bulk-tonnage model of operation.

Goldcorp came calling in early 2014, and Osisko could only fend off its suitors for so long. The company was broken up and sold off to Agnico-Eagle Mines and Yamana Gold Inc. that same year. Malartic is now the largest gold producer in Canada.

It was a bitter pill for us to swallow, having spent 13 years from discovery to concept, and going through all those days and things that we did when everyone told us we couldnt do it, and then finally achieving it, Burzynski said. And the mine is up and running.

But Burzynski and the former Osisko team didnt walk away entirely empty-handed. Out of the ashes rose Osisko Gold Royalties, which receives a 5 per cent net smelter return (NSR) royalty from the Malartic mill.

With Oban Mining, the team is now determined to use the same model that brought them success with Osisko  low-grade, bulk-tonnage mining  to a new group of properties.

We feel we have a contribution to make to mining, Burzynski said. We took an idea that hadnt been used before, turning an old mining camp into a brand-new one, and we want to do it again.

Obans main assets include its flagship Windfall Lake in Quebec, Garrcon and Jonpol east of Matheson, and Cote south of Kirkland Lake. Windfall, Garrcon and Jonpol are all at the drilling stage, while Cote remains at the early stages of exploration.

Osisko Gold Royalties, meanwhile, is taking advantage of the downturn to add to its portfolio, picking up properties from companies with mounting debt. Burzynski said Osisko has bought about one company a month since last August and is actively conducting deals with a number of companies.

Osisko holds 19.9 per cent of Oban through its royalties, and members of the Oban team have personal stakes in the company as well.

Our seeming rush is deliberate because were working on the assumption that 12 to 18 months from now, most of these possibilities and opportunities wont exist, because the minute the equity markets open up again, these companies arent going to be in the same jeopardy that they are now, Burzynski said.

Among the most recent purchases are Northern Gold, owner of the Garrcon and Jonpol properties, which Oban acquired before Christmas, and NioGold, whose Marban exploration property is near the Canadian Malartic.

Marban currently generates a 0.5 per cent NSR for Osisko and shows the most potential to become the next operating mine, Burzynski said.

Over the next year, Osisko will transfer some companies to Oban, purifying the royalty company and growing each entity through acquisitions. And while the companys focus is on Ontario and Quebec, Burzynski isnt ruling out other areas of Canada, or other minerals.

However, nothing can be done without financing, which has been hard to come by  In this market, its like finding unicorns or dragons teeth, Burzynski said  but each company is in a good cash position.

Osisko has about a half-billion dollars in cash balance, while Oban would be at about $85 million upon completion of the NioGold deal, Burzynski estimated.

The idea is to use flow-through dollars while theyre accessible in this downmarket, while we consolidate the brownfield camps, maintain the hard cash balance in the company, wait for the market to turn, and then well have projects that will be ready to become the next generation of mines in Quebec and Ontario, he said.
EVANSTON, Ill. --- Northwestern University will significantly increase financial aid for its students, eliminate loans for incoming undergraduate students and provide University-funded scholarships to undocumented students who are graduates of U.S. high schools, Northwestern President Morton Schapiro announced today.

The changes, which also include increased financial assistance for graduate students and a limit on the amount of loans undergraduate students may have upon graduation, are already in place or will go into effect at the start of the 2016-17 school year, President Schapiro said.

Northwestern University has always sought to attract the best students in the world and provide them with the financial support needed to obtain a Northwestern education, President Schapiro said. Our key priorities include enhancing existing financial aid and developing new programs that will enable even more students who are from low- and middle-income families and who are first-generation college students to attend Northwestern.

A key part of the initiative is increased aid for undergraduate students. In the past five years, Northwestern has boosted financial aid for undergraduate students by 55 percent to approximately $160 million in 2016-17. The number of enrolled students eligible for federal Pell grants, which are available to students from low-income families, has increased to approximately15 percent of last falls entering first-year class.

Our goal is to have 20 percent of the entering class be Pell-eligible by the year 2020, President Schapiro said. Northwestern is committed to increasing access for academically qualified students, regardless of their economic background.

The funds for the additional financial assistance will come from gifts to the University, endowment earnings and other sources. A total of $147.2 million in scholarship funding already has been contributed to the University through We Will. The Campaign for Northwestern.

For U.S. undergraduate students, Northwestern is one of a relatively small number of colleges and universities that are need-blind, meaning it considers students for admission without taking into account their ability to pay. Northwestern also meets full need, meaning that after a students ability to pay is calculated, the University provides all the funds necessary to cover the costs above what the students family is able to pay.

Key initiatives that Northwestern is now undertaking include:

All-grant financial aid packages. Beginning next fall, all entering first-year students who qualify for Northwestern grant assistance will be awarded aid packages without any loans. Their aid offer will include only grants, scholarships, summer earnings expectations and a work-study job opportunity. The all-grant aid package would enable students to graduate without incurring debt for their main educational expenses.

A cap on loan indebtedness for current students. Beginning with the 2016-17 academic year, Northwestern will award its Debt Cap Scholarship to Northwestern scholarship recipients who have need-based loans in excess of $20,000. Eligible students will be awarded the Debt Cap Scholarship in place of the loan component of their financial aid award.

Increased financial aid for undocumented students who are graduates of U.S. high schools. Beginning with next falls entering class, Northwestern will provide significantly increased financial assistance to academically qualified undocumented students who attended and graduated from a U.S. high school. Even though they have graduated from U.S. high schools, undocumented students are not eligible for federal grants and loans or State of Illinois grants. Northwestern now will provide the same University-funded scholarship assistance to qualified undocumented students that it does to U.S. citizens, using private funds to provide financial aid to support their studies.

An increasing number of outstanding high school students are those who were brought to the U.S. as small children after being born in another country. Despite Congressional efforts to make college accessible and affordable to these students through the DREAM Act, this bill has not yet been enacted. Therefore, as part of its efforts to reach out to underserved communities, Northwestern will provide increased funds to enable these students to come here, President Schapiro said.

Increased financial support for undergraduate research experiences, unpaid internships and study abroad. Northwestern is making additional funds available for undergraduate students to participate in research projects, do internships or study abroad. The University will increase funding for such experiences.

Replacement of lost MAP funding. The Illinois Monetary Award Program (MAP), which provides tuition grants for low- and middle-income students, is not currently funded due to the lack of a state budget. Northwestern has assured all of its full-time undergraduate students that the University will replace the lost MAP funding with University funds this year. Approximately 500 Northwestern undergraduates receive a total of about $2.4 million in MAP grants.

We continue to hope that the governor and the legislature can reach an agreement on a FY2016 budget and restore MAP funding, which supports Illinois students. In order to enable our students to continue without incurring additional costs, Northwestern will stretch its institutional resources to make up for the lost state funds, President Schapiro said.

Increased stipends for graduate students. Starting this academic year, Northwestern increased the base stipend paid to Ph.D. and MFA students in the Graduate School by 26 percent, to $29,000 a year. The move was designed to enhance the quality of student life for graduate students.

Increased financial aid for international students. A portion of the $100 million gift made by alumna Roberta Buffett Elliott 54 last year will help endow scholarships for international students. Up to $20 million of the gift could be used as a matching challenge grant to donors who will endow scholarships benefiting international students.

Increased financial assistance for law school students and young alumni. Northwestern Pritzker School of Law recently unveiled a series of initiatives to make law school more affordable and support recent law grads. Funded through giving by law school alumni and friends, including the historic $100 million gift from J.B. and M.K. Pritzker, the initiatives include assisting students with interest payments on loans incurred during law school, providing support for summer public interest internships and other measures.

Increased emphasis on financial aid for medical students. Currently about 50 percent of Feinberg School of Medicine students receive some type of scholarship support. Increasing scholarship support is a top fundraising priority for Feinberg in order to reduce the amount of debt that medical students incur, thereby allowing them to choose a career path determined by interest rather than potential income.

Increasing scholarships for business students. Across its various programs, the Kellogg School of Management has increased scholarships for students. Those efforts to provide additional support will continue.

These new initiatives, along with other programs already in place, reaffirm the Universitys commitment to making a Northwestern education accessible to qualified students from all economic backgrounds, President Schapiro said. We will continue to strengthen our efforts to make Northwestern a welcoming and inclusive community for all students.
Chesterton-based Urschel Laboratories, a global leader in food-cutting equipment that's been family owned for a century, has been sold to its employees.

Urschel, which makes food-slicing equipment that's used to make McDonald's French fries, Lay's potato chips, and virtually every bagged salad one can find at the grocery store, decided to give employees an ownership interest because of "uncertainty of the ability or willingness of the fifth generation to run the business."

"This decision was not an easy one to come by, and has been in the works for nearly a year," said Rick Urschel, president and CEO. "I am grateful that the shareholders of the company were able to realize what an incredible benefit this would be for the employees, and what a wonderful way we can reward them for their years of dedicated service. Now, instead of the Urschel family being the stewards of the company, we have passed that obligation on to the employees. Today, we're all part of the same family."

About 400 employees will get shares in the company every year just on the basis of working there and then sell them back to the Employee Stock Ownership Plan for cash when they retire. They will not have to pay for the shares and will have control over any future transfer of the company, so it would be difficult to ever sell or merge.

"I know it sounds trite, but we really feel our employees are our No. 1 asset," said Bob Urschel, chairman of the board. "My father always taught me that it was the familys job to look out for the employee, and decisions should always be made with them at the forefront."

Four generations of the Urschel family have owned and operated the food-processing company, which was founded in 1910 after William Urschel invented the gooseberry snipper, which helped prepare the then-popular gooseberry pies by removing the stems. Urschel now has sales offices in Europe, Asia and South America, and is one of the world's largest producers of industrial kitchen equipment. Its precision cutting equipment is used to slice, dice and shred a wide array of foods, including Gerber's baby food, Dairy Queen Blizzard toppings and Kraft shredded cheese.

The Urschel family plans to remain involved in the company, and is not selling it as a path to exit.

"Im not sure how many years my dad has left to work, but everyone appreciates having him around," Rich Urschel said. "He's a great source for institutional knowledge, and I rely on his counsel. As for me, I love living here and couldnt think of anywhere else Id rather work. I've grown up with a lot of these guys, and the friendships Ive had over the years make coming to work and doing the best job I can an easy task."

Urschel has had the reputation as one of the most desirable places in Porter County to work and few employees leave. The hope is that employee ownership will strengthen that perception, Rich Urschel said. "We have a top-notch health insurance plan, a generous 401(k) and deferred compensation plan, excellent above-market wages, and an annual performance-based bonus. I think the addition of the ESOP to the benefits package just makes us that more attractive as a place for someone to build their career."

The company recently moved from its longtime home in Valparaiso into a new 350,000-square-foot headquarters and manufacturing plant in Coffee Creek Center off Ind. 49 in Chesterton, where it invested $80 million.
Franciscan Alliance Sisters, from left Marlene Shapley, Cecilia Clare Stoffel, Aline Shultz and Maria Kolbe Elsto were among participants who bowled to benefit St. Clare Health Clinic in Crown Point and the Patient Necessities Fund. It was the group's second annual Bowl-A-Rama at Stardust Bowl in Merrillville and attracted 18 sponsors, 32 teams and raised more than $15,000. St. Clare, since 1996, has provided free primary health care and other assistance to underprivileged Northwest Indiana residents. For more information, call (219) 663-2160.
Any Midwestern parent of teenagers has spent a good portion of their life spouting out phrases such as, Make sure you zip up your coat! Put on your gloves! and Cover up those ears! to no avail. Weve all been there. Some teens are more concerned about how they look rather than how warm they are.

Why its important

While puffy layers and fuzzy hats may not be the most fashionable pieces of clothing, they serve a purpose and thats to keep your body warm and safe during cold weather conditions. It helps to preserve your body temperature and prevent frostbite, something that is much important than risking a bad hair day by sporting insulated head gear.

Kids overall are at greater risk for frostbite because they lose heat from their skin more rapidly than adults, said Dr. Stephanie Bryant, DO, Community Care Network family practitioner on staff at St. Mary Medical Center in Hobart. Areas that are exposed to cold air are at increased risk of frostbite. Signs of frostbite are pale skin as well as pain and tingling of exposed areas. As frostbite worsens, the skin will swell and appear waxy. Severe frost bite can cause permanent skin or nerve injuries, or even loss of digits.

Frostbite appears most commonly on areas that are typically not well-covered, such as ears, nose and cheeks as well as fingers and toes. When the windchill is -13 degrees, exposed areas can freeze in minutes, Bryant said.

Get in their heads

If you think back a few years, you probably had a similar aversion to comfort vs. style in those touchy teen years. Think of your teens favorite brands and styles and do some virtual window shopping. Pull up hats, gloves, scarves on websites for brands like Hollister, American Eagle, Justice, H & M, Nordstrom and others and get the seal of approval before you buy. Also think about current fashion trends and how you can capitalize on them. Use the beanie craze for boys to buy a few things that your sons will use to keep their head warm. For girls, big, full infinity scarves are in that can keep the neck and chin area warm, but that they can pull up to warm their ears and heads when its really brutal if they still resist wearing a hat.

Also, dont forget the feet. With so many fashionable boots available, its often not as hard as getting a dreaded hat over a freshly style head of hair. However, not all boots are created with warmth in mind. If your teen walks to and from school or has to wait long periods at a bus stop, encourage them to find a lined pair that will keep feet dry. Provide extra socks for them to keep in their backpack or locker so that they have something to change into if needed.

Buy some yarn

In the winter months when theres more time spent indoors, its a great time to pick up a new hobby. Knitting, crocheting or sewing can kill two birds with one stone. Your teen can learn a new skill while also creating their own fashions to help warm them during our biting Midwest winters. Start by viewing some online tutorials with your teen so they can get an idea of what they can do and then plan a shopping spree to a craft or fabric store for the needed materials. Take it a step further and encourage them to create their own blog about their new hobby or make a little extra cash selling their creations on Etsy, eBay or local sales pages through Facebook.

Scour the sales

While winter is not going away just yet in our region, you wouldnt know it by looking on store racks. Swimsuits and spring fashions are already out in full force. Take advantage of clearance prices to stock up on winter wear. Its a great time to invest in a new coat or stockpile hats and gloves that will disappear soon from the stores.
Special Advertising Feature  Content Provided by Northwest Indiana Forum

Portage, INFifth Third Bank, The Times and the Northwest Indiana Forum will host an economic outlook program March 10 at the Radisson Hotel at Star Plaza in Merrillville.

The event features a presentation from Jeff Korzenik, Chief Investment Strategist for Fifth Third Bank. Registration and networking begin at 7:30 a.m. and the program starts at 8 a.m.

The program also will feature a panel discussion moderated by Times Business Editor Keith Benman. Panelists will speak about the local economy and include; Michael Sobeck, Regional Manager of Fifth Third Bank; Mike Micka, Vice President of Development for Holladay Properties; Dan Botich, Senior Economic Development Specialist at SEH of Indiana; and Peter Novak, CEO of the Greater Northwest Indiana Association of Realtors.

The Northwest Indiana Forum acts as the voice of business for the seven-county region. For us to be the strongest voice we can be, we need to be able to gauge how Northwest Indiana compares to the rest of the nation. said Heather Ennis, President and CEO of the Northwest Indiana Forum.

The program is complimentary for business leaders, elected officials, municipal leaders, economic development professionals and entrepreneurs. To register, contact Raeann Trakas at (219) 763-6303 or email rtrakas@nwiforum.org.

Korzenik is chief investment strategist for Fifth Third Bank, where he is responsible for the banks overall client investment strategy. A 29-year industry veteran, Korzenik is a frequent guest on CNBC and Bloomberg television. His writings on economics and public policy have been published in The Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, Forbes and other periodicals. He has been quoted in major industry publications including Barrons, The Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek. In addition to regular speaking appearances at conferences and public events, Korzenik was invited to testify on Capitol Hill as an expert witness on the use of commodity indexes by pensions and other institutional investors.

Striving to create and maintain a positive business climate in our region, the Northwest Indiana Forum dedicates extensive resources to events, regional seminars, panel discussions and conferences with industry leaders. Topics of these events are relevant to growing a sustainable regional economy. In the past, the Forum events have discussed the need for more speculative building in our area, legislative affairs, quality of life initiatives and showcasing our region to nationwide site selectors.

The Northwest Indiana Forum is a non-profit, privately funded regional environmental and economic development organization, comprised of regional business leaders, serving Northwest Indiana. Funded by membership contributions and grants, Forum membership translates into a direct investment in the region.

For more information, please contact Raeann Trakas, Director of Marketing for the Northwest Indiana Forum, at rtrakas@nwiforum.org or (219) 763-6303, ext. 181.
Charges have been officially dropped against five teens accused of raping an 18-year-old woman in a Brooklyn playground. NY1's Dean Meminger filed the following report.



Fourteen-year-old Denzel Murray says he is ready to move forward with his life now that rape charges have been dropped against him and four of his friends.



"Yeah, I'm happy it is over with," Murray said. "Go home and just thinking about what happened and how I'll make smarter decisions."

It was a case that stunned the city. In January, the NYPD and Brooklyn prosecutors charged five teens with gang-raping an 18-year-old inside a Brownsville playground while threatening her and her father with a gun.

On Thursday, a judge tossed the case against Murray, Onandi Brown, Shaquell Cooper, Travis Beckford and Ethan Phillip. Prosecutors said they couldn't prove their case.

Some of the defense lawyers were outraged that the 14- to 17-year-olds were vilified and paraded in front of the media.



"There should have been no arrest at any time, and it's unfortunate that this kid, that these kids had to go through what they did," said Spencer Leeds, Onandi Brown's attorney.



As the investigation continued, the district attorney said there was no gun and no rape and that the 18-year-old and her father were having sex. Some of the boys had sex with her as well.



"No one is here to vilify this young lady," said Kenneth Montgomery, Murray's attorney. "Obviously, this is a young lady who at every point, this system, our society has failed."



"This was a very complicated situation," Mayor Bill de Blasio said. "The NYPD, and Chief O'Neill can speak to this, acted on the information they had. And the whole situation was very sad and unfortunate all around."

Attorneys for the teenagers say all of the politicians and community activists who called for the boys to be locked up and the key thrown away should be ashamed of their actions.



"The presumption of innocence should always remain," Montgomery said. "We live in a society where young black men don't always have the presumption of innocence."



The aunt of one of the boys said it won't be easy erasing the perception that they were accused of a gang rape.



"It was a nightmare, but I am glad it is over, because he was telling the truth," she said. "He has to live with the stigma, but we are here to help him."




An exclusive NY1 investigation revealed that the Department of Veterans Affairs denies 89 percent of disability claims where there is "evidence of an association with the contaminants in the water" at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, an issue that impacts thousands of veterans and civilians across the country, including here in New York. In his latest report, NY1's Michael Herzenberg gets reaction from the VA and a lawmaker.

A NY1 investigation found that the VA denies disability benefits to nearly nine out of 10 veterans who say contaminated water at the famed Camp Lejeune Marine Base made them sick and that there is evidence of an association with the contaminants in the water.

"We continue to see bias on the part of the VA not to award disability benefits," said North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr.

Both Burr and North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis say theyve been pressuring the VA to change.

The only conclusion one can come to, Burr said, is that some in VA believe that it's better to have those folks die before the payments made."

The VA responded with a statement, saying, "We have met with Sen. Burr and will continue to do so to address his concerns and questions. VA claims examiners have no financial motivation in their decisions and in fact are encouraged to respect a philosophy that VA grant if it can and deny only if it must. VA advocates for Veterans, Servicemembers, and their survivors. More than 54 percent of the people that work in VAs Veterans Benefits Administration (the administration responsible for non-healthcare benefits) are Veterans themselves."

Craig Unterberg doesn't see it that way. The New York City attorney is now fighting kidney cancer and lived on the North Carolina base as a child.

"It's taking too long, and this is an urgent situation there are just some people that are so sick," he said about the VA's process.



900,000 veterans and their families may have been exposed to chemicals from 1953 to 1987 that seeped into the groundwater from industrial sites inside Camp Lejeune and a dry cleaner just off the base.

In 2012, a law made medical care less expensive for those who drank the water and suffer from any of 15 medical conditions.

In December, the VA decided to eliminate obstacles to disability benefits for vets with eight conditions, but its implementation will take at least a year.

Mark Cifelli is a Marine veteran who served at Camp Lejeune in the 1980s. He, with the support of his new bride, is fighting to survive Stage 4 colon, lung and liver cancer. He says his doctors believe the contaminated water at the Marine base is the cause and that the VA rejected his application for disability benefits three times.



Cifelli spoke to NY1 from his suburban Buffalo home.

"There's no reason to make people wait any longer. I might not be around here," he said.

Burr says the VA could do it quicker, pointing to Vietnam. The U.S. used the deforester Agent Orange back then, sickening thousands of our service members. Burr says the VA implemented a fast-track for disability benefits in three months.

Burr says VA officials told him they'd look into that.

The VA told NY1 it is bound by the rule-making time frames established by law.
Does the size of Donald Trumps penis matter?

Im not being cheeky. Im not being shocking. Im noting something that we cannot lose track of, should not shrug our shoulders about and must not gloss over: Trump has succeeded at nothing as fully as he has at infusing the presidential race with a vulgarity thats absolutely breathtaking.

He has done so well at dragging his rivals so far down into the sewer with him that portions of what we watched on Thursday night were a fetid farce. We actually witnessed an interchange  in the first 10 minutes, no less  about how well endowed (or not) he is.

Its worth stopping for a second, letting that sink in and wondering what it says about our country and political process right now.

Heres how it happened: One of the moderators upbraided Marco Rubio (rightly) for abandoning incessant pledges of a positive campaign, answering Trumps schoolyard taunts with adolescent jokes and jabs of his own, and even going so far as to claim that Trump had wet his pants under the pressure at the prior debate.
1. The Graffiti at Gucci

In Alessandro Micheles hands, the Gucci show has become one of the hottest tickets of the week. This season, the designer turned the houses logomania on its head by collaborating with the graffiti artist Trouble Andrew (aka Gucci Ghost) on cheekily spray-painted bags. Michele told WWD he had discovered Andrews work on the street. Its completely different than the idea of copying, he said, calling the move an attempt to take to the street, through language like graffiti, the symbols of the company.
 Company XIV (through March 12) Fresh off its titillating take on The Nutcracker, Austin McCormicks company applies its sensual burlesque-meets-ballet-meets-circus formula to another popular fairy tale, Snow White. Of course, this sumptuous production is no Disney remake: Mr. McCormick takes his inspiration from the haunting Brothers Grimm version, and the abundant partial nudity makes it an adults-only evening. That poisonous apple might as well be Eves  its magic spell is the release of inhibitions. Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 5 p.m., Minetta Lane Theater, 18 Minetta Lane, at Avenue of the Americas, Greenwich Village, 800-745-3000, companyxiv.com. (Schaefer)

 Eiko (through March 23) The performance artist Eiko Otake, known simply as Eiko, has long been a quiet but powerful force in dance  first in collaboration with her husband, Koma, and lately as a solo artist. For its 10th annual Platform event, a deep dive into an idea or artist, Danspace shines a spotlight on her project A Body in Places. The work began in 2014 at the Fukushima nuclear plant and has taken her around the world in a quest to understand the bodys fragility. Over the next month, Eiko will offer workshops, curate a film series and give 16 solo performances, as well as engage with 25 artists who have been invited to respond to her ideas in different ways. At various locations and times. More information: 212-674-8112, danspaceproject.org. (Schaefer)

Elisa Monte Dance (Friday and Saturday) On Friday, Elisa Monte, who is celebrating her companys 35th anniversary, premieres Pangaea, a new work four years in the making. On Saturday, she hands over the artistic reins to Tiffany Rea-Fisher, a longtime dancer with the company, who presents two works of her own, dances in a solo and joins company alumni in Shattered, a speedy and intricate work from 2000. At 7:30 p.m., Aaron Davis Hall, City College, West 135th Street and Convent Avenue, Hamilton Heights, 212-281-9240, harlemstage.org. (Schaefer)

Flamenco Festival New York 2016 (through March 19) The 13th iteration of this festival celebrating all things flamenco brings a bright lineup of music and dance to locations throughout the city. Venerable troupes like Ballet Flamenco de Andalucia make an appearance, as do dynamic stars like Farruquito. Under the banner Beyond Flamenco are artists who have roots in flamenco or take inspiration from it but mix in other styles  like Nino de los Reyes, who stirs in jazz and modern dance. At various times and places, flamencofestival.org/eng/. (Schaefer)

 Maria Hassabi (through March 20) In recent works like Premiere and Show, Ms. Hassabi has offered rigorous explorations of slowness and stillness, drawing attention to incremental shifts of weight in the body. Plastic, a moving installation for the Museum of Modern Art  in particular, its stairwells and floors  extends those meditations across larger expanses of space and time, lasting all day every day (during museum hours) for a month. 212-708-9400, moma.org. (Burke)
The Art Show, organized by the Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA) at the Park Avenue Armory, has the fair theme down to a science. Rather than fatigue-inducing roundups of mixed artists, most galleries here are devoting their booths to solo presentations. There is a strong African-American presence this year, many historical shows and a number of concept exhibitions. Alongside these are what might be called the post-retrospective reminder: a gathering of works that follow on the heels of an important museum show. Here are highlights from the 72 exhibitors.

Donald Morris

The Art Show is offering mini-shows of African-American painters such as Beauford Delaney (at Michael Rosenfeld), McArthur Binion (at Galerie Lelong) and Bill Traylor (at Betty Cuningham). Of particular note is the presentation of late, small-format paintings by Bob Thompson, which commemorates the 50th anniversary of that artists death at the age of 28. Thompsons works at Donald Morris take European old master paintings as their inspiration, translating Boucher, Botticelli and a bevy of Dutch painters into compositions featuring flat, bright unmodulated color.

Image Bob Thompson, Blue Venus (The Siren)" from 1965. Credit... Bob Thompson, Private collection, Donald Morris Gallery

Haines Gallery

In the post-museum-retrospective category, Haines has a good selection of work by the nonagenarian Iranian artist Monir Farmanfarmaian, who had a show at the Guggenheim last year. Ms. Farmanfarmaians dazzling, mirrored sculptures and jewelry combine architecture, celestial geometry and Sufism with traditional Islamic craft techniques to produce a kaleidoscopic effect.
The third season of House of Cards ended practically in midsentence, with President Frank Underwood calling after his wife, Claire, as she walked out of the White House and, seemingly, away from their marriage and political partnership.

The fourth season, which went live on Netflix on Friday, picks up where that charged moment left off, while also continuing to follow Underwood as he campaigns for re-election.

Before settling into another binge-fest, here are a few talking points to keep in mind about some of the shows key characters.

[ Read our TV recaps of House of Cards ]

Claire Underwoods departure could be very damaging to her husbands re-election.

Last seasons fracture in the Underwoods relationship was primarily precipitated by two things. One was Claires resignation as United Nations ambassador, which was forced upon her when Frank promised President Viktor Petrov of Russia that he would convince her to step down. Second was Claires early glimpse of Tom Yatess book-in-progress, which described the first couples marriage as one of equals, prompting Claire to realize the lack of truth in that observation.
A federal prosecutor in Brazil on Thursday opened a criminal investigation into McDonalds and its Latin American master franchise owner, Arcos Dorados Holdings, saying that they and related entities may have engaged in fiscal and economic crimes.

The prosecutor, Marcos Jose Gomes Correa, is looking into whether McDonalds and Arcos, which subfranchises McDonalds restaurants in Latin America, have failed to comply with tax and other laws in Brazil, in addition to possible violations of the countrys franchise law.

The possible tax law violations include accusations made by Brazilian labor unions that Arcos paid bribes to government officials in return for favors from Brazils tax collection regulator.

The investigation will also look into whether the company paid bribes to public officials in 2002 that resulted in the enactment of a new regulation that helped reduce the companys tax burden.
Politicians in states around the country have moved in recent years to rein in the pensions of government employees, which in many cases had become more generous and less risky than those of their private sector counterparts.

Now that movement may be breaching yet another firewall: the pensions of federal employees.

On Thursday, the board of the Tennessee Valley Authority Retirement System, the pension program for roughly 11,000 workers and 24,000 retirees at the venerable New Deal-era agency, approved a tentative plan to lower the systems funding shortfall by reducing benefits.The plan will be implemented later this year if the T.V.A.s management and board go along with it.

The immediate impetus for voting on the changes was a proposal put forth in December by William D. Johnson, the agencys chief executive, who argues that demographic trends and the retirement systems historical generosity make it unsustainable. Mr. Johnsons proposal, a modified version of which the board embraced, called for shifting many employees from a pension that guarantees a fixed level of benefits, a feature of most federal employees retirement package, to a 401(k) plan. It would have also lowered the cap on cost-of-living increases even for current retirees, effectively cutting a benefit they had already earned.

But what has elevated an increasingly common debate about pensions into a larger controversy about inequality is Mr. Johnsons decision to exempt from the cutbacks the benefits that he and other executives receive through a supplemental retirement plan. (Their benefits in the general T.V.A. pension plan would be subject to the same cuts as other workers.)
Smith & Wesson reported a better-than-expected 61 percent jump in quarterly revenue, at a time when the American presidential election campaigns and recent shootings have stoked concerns about stricter gun laws. Shares of the company were up about 5 percent in extended trading. Smith & Wessons chief, P. James Debney, told analysts in a conference call that demand for firearms was a result of the short-term influences of potential impact of news events and the current political environment. Firearm net sales jumped 56.4 percent, to $194.7 million, in the third quarter, from a year earlier. Michael O. Fifer, the chief of a rival, Sturm Ruger, said last week he expected an increase in demand if a Democrat became president. Net income almost quadrupled to $31.4 million, or 56 cents a share, in the third quarter ended Jan. 31, from $8.1 million, 15 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose to $210.8 million.
They were always incredibly supportive of me wanting to do acting, he said, and never put it in my head that there has to be a more sensible option to fall back on.

And so there never was. So far, there has been no need of one. Mr. Whishaw found success early, playing Hamlet in Trevor Nunns 2004 production just after graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, and has worked continually ever since.

He is one of the most celebrated stage actors of his generation and has turned up in a wide range of film and TV roles. He is the latest Q in the 007 films, a precocious, baby-genius variation on the usual theme; he is Richard II in a televised adaptation of Shakespeares history plays, a performance that won him a British Academy of Film and Television Arts award in 2013; he is, whether you realize it or not, the voice of Paddington Bear. (Endearing, The New Yorker said.)

His calling card is a soulful fragility, all faunlike bearing and saucer eyes, with a teenagers unruly mop mane. It is no accident that fashion has made him a favorite, and in 2013, he appeared in an ad campaign for Prada.

Many of his roles play up this quality: the doomed, lovelorn John Keats of Jane Campions biopic Bright Star; the preening, brittle Sebastian Flyte of Brideshead Revisited; and, more recently, the bereaved malcontent searching for answers after his lovers murder in the critically lauded BBC mini-series London Spy.

The bushy beard that his part in The Crucible requires does little to dispel the tender aura he projects. John Proctor is typically played as a virtuous brute, a brawny mans man of 17th century New England. (In the 2002 revival, the role went to the hulking Liam Neeson.)
Mark Thompson, the president and chief executive of The New York Times Company, went on Bloomberg TV to discuss traditional and digital news publishing in 2016.

Margaret Sullivan, The Timess public editor, spoke on the PBS NewsHour about the state of journalism amid newspaper cutbacks and layoffs.
President Benjamin Asher needs two things: better security personnel and better scriptwriters.

The first time the president (Aaron Eckhart) was snatched by terrorists, in the 2013 thriller Olympus Has Fallen, watching his favorite Secret Service agent, Mike Banning, rescue him was at least somewhat fun in a mindless sort of way. Now, incredibly, the same president has been snatched by terrorists again, in the new London Has Fallen, and this time the rescue is an unimaginative, repetitive slog.

The president, along with practically every other significant world leader, travels to London for a state funeral, and a preposterous number of terrorists with an equally preposterous supply of guns and explosives are waiting for him. They blow up a good portion of the city in the process of taking him captive, planning to execute him live on the Internet. Only one man can save him.

In the first movie, Gerard Butler, who plays Banning, came close to the likably taciturn effect he was going for, but here hes just boring and annoying. Over and over, this written-by-committee movie (Babak Najafi directed) tries to give him and Mr. Eckhart the kind of clipped one- and two-liners that aspire to be the next Ill be back, but all of them fall flat. The gun battles are incoherently filmed, and the flag-waving is embarrassing. Will this hard-luck president again defy death while his stoic sidekick vanquishes the nasty, uncivilized terrorists? Its hard to care when a movie is this formulaic and moronic.

London Has Fallen is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian), because blood is shed and unprintable words are uttered.
When, in 2012, Islamic jihadists imposed an extreme version of Shariah law on northern Mali, banning all music and destroying radio stations, many of that countrys most prominent musicians were forced to hide or flee. In a nation where music is a vital tool for education, enlightenment and connection  in the words of one artist, songs are like the press  the ban felt especially devastating. Defying it, however, meant risking torture or worse.

Following a handful of exiled, homesick musicians as they try to play the pain away, Ms. Schwartz blends their often joyful performances with candid interviews that show the damage wrought by extended conflict. (The ban officially ended in 2014, but musicians still fear reprisals from extremists.) Blues and ballads, rap and soul fill the soundtrack (as well as an original score by Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs), while Karelle Walkers camera searches faces for every emotional clue.
Mamoru Hosodas anime fantasy The Boy and the Beast is a curious hybrid with a foot in two realms. It begins vividly, in a gritty and monochromatic rendering of the Shibuya district in Tokyo, where a 9-year-old runaway, Ren, scrapes by.

When Ren discovers a mystical portal, he is transported to Jutengai, a world that will look familiar to fans of the Jack Kirby comic book Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth. Jutengai is populated by animals with humanoid aspects, and Ren befriends Hyakushubo, a pig aspiring to be a monk; Tatara, a skeptical chimpanzee; and Kumatetsu, a gruff, temperamental bear who resolves to train Ren in kendo.

Cue sifu-student training montages and Rens evolution from a defiant delinquent to a warrior of noble bearing, with shrill intermittent humor sequences of Ren and Kumatetsu bickering. When Ren becomes a teenager, he returns to Tokyo, where he meets Kaede, a young woman who teaches him about books (and about Moby-Dick in particular, from which the movie very loosely borrows themes). He also re-encounters his father, whom he had abandoned years before. And he confronts a giant whale monster, when a nemesis from Jutengai comes to Tokyo.

Mr. Hosoda is skilled with fight scenes, and his settings  the pastel-hued Jutengai and the drab Shibuya, evoked at times with surveillance-camera perspectives and crowd-paranoia angles  are impressive. But the characterizations and conflicts here are strictly generic.
Quiet, graceful, stately and infused with slow tension, Dana Rotbergs White Lies unfolds with inexorable weight. Set in rural New Zealand, the movie begins in the late 19th century, with the death of the father of Paraiti, a Maori girl, at the hands of white settlers, in a conflict that leaves her permanently scarred on her cheek. You might assume that a story of vengeance awaits, but it does not, at least how you would expect.

Move ahead to the early 20th century. Paraiti (Whirimako Black) has become a respected healer and midwife versed in Maori medicine, so renowned that Maraea (Rachel House), the Maori housekeeper for a landowners wife, enlists her help. Maraeas mistress, the insulated, petulant Rebecca (Antonia Prebble), is pregnant, and seeks to induce the birth  for reasons we eventually discover  before her husband, a businessman, returns from an extended trip. Maraea knows Paraiti has the skills, and the discretion, for the job.

What ensues is Rebeccas agonized regimen as she approaches labor, accompanied by the simmering antagonism between Paraiti and Maraea, who condescendingly refuses to address Paraiti in their native tongue. And Rebecca and Maraea certainly have issues of their own.

Ms. Black, a New Zealand recording artist making her film debut, and Ms. House, both actresses of formidable presence, are well-matched opponents. Ms. Prebble, too, has reserves of power.
After a brief hearing, a judge on Thursday formally dismissed charges against five teenagers accused of raping an 18-year-old woman at a Brooklyn playground in a case that fell apart as inconsistencies emerged in her statements to investigators and she became increasingly reluctant to cooperate with prosecutors.

The initial allegations  that the five teenagers brandished a gun and forced the womans father to flee before they raped her  stoked fears in Brownsville, the neighborhood where the encounter occurred and where violent crime has long been a problem.

But after the five suspects were arrested within a few days of the Jan. 7 encounter, the case quickly turned even more complicated.

Some of the suspects told investigators that the sexual contact was consensual and said that when they first encountered the woman at Osborn Playground that night, she was having sex with a man who turned out to be her father.
The police in Mount Vernon, N.Y., were not responsible for the death last year of a woman in their custody after she was arrested on suspicion of stealing crab legs from a wholesale food store, according to an investigation by the state attorney general released on Thursday.

Still, Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman said investigators uncovered problems in how officials in Mount Vernon, a Westchester County city just north of the Bronx, handled the case of the woman, Raynette Turner. Ms. Turner, a 42-year-old mother of eight, had been in police custody for two days when she was found unresponsive in her cell by a guard who went to get her for her arraignment.

Among the most critical issues raised by the report was the length of time Ms. Turner had to wait to make an initial court appearance. She was not arraigned sooner, investigators said, because she was arrested on July 25, a Saturday, and the next available opportunity was the following Monday.

There was really no good reason for the delay, Mr. Schneiderman said.

The seven-month investigation was the first to be handled by the attorney general after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York signed an executive order last year that makes Mr. Schneidermans office the special prosecutor in cases where unarmed civilians die as a result of encounters with the police.
Contingency plans include extra service on more than two dozen New Jersey Transit bus routes, which would continue to operate during a strike, and the addition of five park-and-ride locations, where commuters could ride a bus to New York City or to a ferry terminal or PATH stops. Officials said rail tickets would be cross-honored on buses, the light rail, private buses, the PATH system and New York Waterway ferries.

But even with additional bus service, the agency said, it could accommodate only about 40,000 of the 105,000 commuters who travel by rail from New Jersey to New York City each weekday. Officials told residents they should plan to car pool, leave for work early and work from home.

Asked whether he thought a strike could be averted, the agencys interim executive director, Dennis J. Martin, did not sound discouraged.

As long as were talking, I am optimistic, Mr. Martin said of the negotiations. But the responsible thing to do is to plan for this.
Gov. Chris Christie pretty much gave up on New Jersey when he decided to run for president. Little wonder that New Jersey has given up on him.

Mr. Christies popularity is at rock bottom: Only 30 percent of registered voters approve of his performance, according to a poll this week by Fairleigh Dickinson University. Sixty-one percent disapprove. Fifty-nine percent think New Jersey is headed off the rails, the poll found, the highest number of despondent respondents since Mr. Christie took office in 2010.

On Tuesday, six New Jersey newspapers owned by the Gannett chain jointly urged Mr. Christie to resign. Another paper, The Star-Ledger of Newark, joined them on Thursday. It accused Mr. Christie of abandoning his duties, of letting crises fester while campaigning out of state: He was gone 72 percent of the days in 2015, and even more often during the start of this year. In any other job, he would have been fired long ago. The editorial also called the governor out as a fraud  someone who had lied over and over, who had forfeited the last shreds of his credibility by endorsing someone he had only recently ferociously belittled: Donald Trump.
In fact, you have to wonder why, exactly, the Republican establishment is really so horrified by Mr. Trump. Yes, hes a con man, but they all are. So why is this con job different from any other?

The answer, Id suggest, is that the establishments problem with Mr. Trump isnt the con he brings; its the cons he disrupts.

First, theres the con Republicans usually manage to pull off in national elections  the one where they pose as a serious, grown-up party honestly trying to grapple with Americas problems. The truth is that that party died a long time ago, that these days its voodoo economics and neocon fantasies all the way down. But the establishment wants to preserve the facade, which will be hard if the nominee is someone who refuses to play his part.

By the way, I predict that even if Mr. Trump is the nominee, pundits and others who claim to be thoughtful conservatives will stroke their chins and declare, after a great show of careful deliberation, that hes the better choice given Hillarys character flaws, or something. And self-proclaimed centrists will still find a way to claim that the sides are equally bad. But both acts will look especially strained.

Equally important, the Trump phenomenon threatens the con the G.O.P. establishment has been playing on its own base. Im talking about the bait and switch in which white voters are induced to hate big government by dog whistles about Those People, but actual policies are all about rewarding the donor class.

What Donald Trump has done is tell the base that it doesnt have to accept the whole package. He promises to make America white again  surely everyone knows thats the real slogan, right?  while simultaneously promising to protect Social Security and Medicare, and hinting at (though not actually proposing) higher taxes on the rich. Outraged establishment Republicans splutter that hes not a real conservative, but neither, it turns out, are many of their own voters.

Just to be clear, I find the prospect of a Trump administration terrifying, and so should you. But you should also be terrified by the prospect of a President Rubio, sitting in the White House with his circle of warmongers, or a President Cruz, who one suspects would love to bring back the Spanish Inquisition.

As I see it, then, we should actually welcome Mr. Trumps ascent. Yes, hes a con man, but he is also effectively acting as a whistle-blower on other peoples cons. That is, believe it or not, a step forward in these weird, troubled times.
Now, at long last, the big guns are being brought to bear. Now, at long last, some major Republicans like Mitt Romney are speaking up to lay waste to Donald Trump.

For months Trumps rivals and other Republicans have either retreated in silence or tentatively and ineptly criticized him for exactly those traits that voters like about him: for being a slapdash, politically incorrect money-hungry bully.

But now finally  at long last  major Republicans are raising their heads and highlighting Trumps actual vulnerability: his inability to think for an extended time about anybody but himself.

He seduces people with his confidence and his promises. People invest time, love and money in him. But in the end he cares only about himself. He betrays those who trust him and leaves them high and dry.
In my clients case, the district attorneys office and other law enforcement agencies had gathered videos from the boys who were arrested and statements from the woman and her father, who was also in the park just before the incident, and witnesses in the neighborhood, all of which cast serious doubt as to the veracity of the allegations. But New York law does not require the prosecutor to provide any police reports or other evidence to a person who has been arrested or that persons attorney until a trial actually starts  often a year or more after the arrest.

In this case, between arraignment and dismissal, I received nothing but a scant formal felony complaint listing little more than the allegations. Before the arrests, news reports accused the five boys of threatening the woman and her father with a gun.

However, at my clients arraignment, only days after these reports were published, the assistant district attorney made no mention of a gun, probably because the investigation had revealed that the gun allegation made by the father was not credible. Yet no exculpatory evidence  not a single police report or witness statement  was ever turned over to me.

The rules governing discovery dont simply delay justice; they deny it. A tiny minority of cases in New York go to trial: A vast majority are resolved by either plea or dismissal. That means that in almost all criminal cases, defendants never get basic information about their case  or even learn whether exculpatory evidence exists. Without it, clients and their attorneys are forced to make life-changing decisions, and it is no surprise that innocent people plead guilty to crimes they did not commit.

Since my clients charges were dismissed, he will not be faced with such a decision. But the state is not obligated to protect the confidentiality of adolescents charged with a crime and it is not possible to retroactively seal my clients name once it has been published on the Internet.
Holy Mitt, what a meltdown.

Add this one to Donald Trumps lengthening list of firsts: Hes forced a Republican Party reckoning overdue for years, all in a few days. It took the Trump-dominated Super Tuesday contests to awaken Republican leaders to the fact that the darkest elements of the partys base, which many of them have embraced or exploited, are now threatening their party.

Last week, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, elected to the Senate partly on their appeal to extremists, seemed to realize that they werent attractive enough to win Mr. Trumps crowd. Just in time for Super Tuesday, they could see that ignoring or cozying up to Mr. Trump wasnt working, and began attacks that have so far done nothing to slow his march. They were then joined by the G.O.P. campaign money machinery, which this week began frantically tossing more millions at  what? An anti-Trump ad campaign? A third-party effort?

Then came an open letter from 95 Republican national security experts, who declared themselves united in our opposition to a Donald Trump presidency. Of Mr. Trump they wrote: He swings from isolationism to military adventurism within the space of one sentence. Yet some among them have swung wildly in those same directions. Some were Bush administration officials who supported some of the worst foreign policy disasters this country has ever experienced, including the Iraq war. It is rich that they should now criticize Mr. Trump for policies that could make America less safe.

Then, on Thursday morning came Mitt Romneys rambling indictment of Mr. Trump. After months of silence, Mr. Romney spent 20 minutes calling Mr. Trump a fraud and a phony with a record of business failures, whose economic ideas would put the United States into recession and whose foreign policy approach would endanger Americans.
Pangs of New York

The Council of Fashion Designers of America asked the Boston Consulting Group to analyze the current condition of New York Fashion Week. And, after speaking to more than 50 industry insiders (including designers, editors, casting agents and retailers), the consultants found a unanimous consensus among our interviewees: the time is ripe for change in our market. Read the entire write-up here, including the suggested restructuring for future seasons.

Work, work, work, work, work, work

Rihanna and Manolo Blahnik collaborated on a six-style collection of denim shoes. She called their thigh-high 9 to 5 boots ($3,995) dangerous. If youre trying to get back home to your bed, dont wear them boots! You will get kidnapped in those boots, those boots are trouble.

Futures made of virtual insatiability

Balenciaga will live-stream its fall/winter 2016 show  and Demna Gvasalias debut  in 360-degree virtual reality, accessible on iPhones or Androids by downloading a custom app.

By the Grace of Vogue

Grace Coddingtons first fragrance, Grace by Grace Coddington, arrives in stores April 19.
Dr. Edward Lammer, who was among the first researchers to establish a link between the acne medicine Accutane and human birth defects, and who became an advocate for the families of affected children, died on Feb. 20 in San Francisco. He was 62.

His son, Aaron, said an autopsy was planned to determine the cause.

Accutane was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1982, but with warnings on the label and on an accompanying brochure.

Tests by the manufacturer, Hoffmann-La Roche, found that the medicine produced birth defects in animals.

As early as 1984, Dr. Lammer, then with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, had studied more than 150 pregnancies of women who had used Accutane. He found that about two-thirds of them had had elective or spontaneous abortions, that 24 had delivered normal infants and that 28 had had babies with severe birth defects.
DENVER  A conservative activist who served as a chairman of a Veterans for Trump coalition in New Hampshire was one of 14 people charged on Thursday by the Justice Department in connection with the armed showdown over federal control of grazing lands led by the Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy.

The federal indictments were part of an expanding criminal case that now includes charges against 19 members of the Bundy family and their allies stemming from the weekslong standoff in 2014 over Mr. Bundys illegal grazing on federal lands. During the confrontation, about 50 Bundy supporters from around the country gathered at the familys ranch in Bunkerville, Nev., to prevent the Bureau of Land Management from confiscating Mr. Bundys approximately 500 cattle, whom he had been letting loose on federal land for decades, accruing more than $1 million in grazing fees.

Among those people arrested on Thursday was Gerald A. DeLemus, 61, of Rochester, N.H, a former Marine who in July 2015 was named to a New Hampshire veterans group supporting Donald J. Trump, the Republican front-runner. Prosecutors said that, in actions well before Mr. Trumps campaign, Mr. DeLemus had acted as a gunman and midlevel organizer during the standoff in 2014 in Nevada.

Mr. Bundy and four others  including two of his sons, Ryan and Ammon  were indicted last month on charges they carried out a massive armed assault on the federal officers who tried to confiscate Mr. Bundys cattle; Bureau of Land Management rangers pulled back from the confrontation. This winter, Ammon and Ryan Bundy led a weekslong armed takeover of a wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon, and are among several facing separate criminal charges in that case.
The Obama administration approved Michigans request to extend Medicaid coverage to about 15,000 more children and pregnant women in Flint, where the water supply has been contaminated with lead. Children and pregnant women who were exposed to Flint water in their homes, workplaces, schools or day care facilities will be eligible for free health care if their household incomes do not exceed 400 percent of the poverty level, or about $97,000 for a family of four. The federal government will pay 65 percent of the costs for pregnant women, and up to 99 percent for children; the state will cover the rest. In addition, about 30,000 current Medicaid beneficiaries in Flint will be eligible for expanded services under the five-year agreement.
An aide to the embattled Attorney General Kathleen Kane of Pennsylvania was sentenced to three to six months in jail Thursday for illegally accessing emails to keep tabs on a grand jury investigation of Ms. Kane. The aide, Patrick Reese, 48, was allowed to remain free while he appeals the contempt of court verdict. He declined to address Judge William R. Carpenter, whose protection order he violated. Assistant District Attorney Thomas W. McGoldrick of Montgomery County said Mr. Reese was probably under orders from his boss, but, That is not an excuse. Mr. Reeses lawyer, William Fetterhoff, called the contempt finding flawed and dangerous, and said Mr. Reese never knew of the protection order. Ms. Kane said she viewed Judge Carpenters protective order as unconstitutional and an attempt to shield the emails of a few. The order barred Ms. Kanes aides from accessing the office email server to protect the secrecy of the grand jury proceedings. Instead, Mr. Reese kept tabs on the witness schedule and searched the emails. The searches occurred as Ms. Kane was being investigated on allegations of leaking evidence from a 2009 investigation to a newspaper reporter. In August, the Montgomery County authorities charged her with perjury, obstruction and other crimes after Judge Carpenter referred the grand jurys findings to investigators there.
Get live updates about the Florida primary.

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Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, fighting for their political lives, relentlessly demeaned and baited Donald J. Trump at Thursdays debate, all but pleading with Republicans to abandon a candidate with a long history of business failures, deep ties to the Democratic Party and a taste for personal insults.

Warning that Mr. Trump would lead the party to a historic defeat in November, Mr. Rubio and Mr. Cruz delivered their attacks with urgency, as if trying to awaken voters who had fallen under Mr. Trumps spell. Mr. Rubio derided Mr. Trump as untrustworthy and uncivil, while Mr. Cruz bashed him for donating money to Hillary Clintons 2008 presidential campaign and to other Democrats. Mr. Trump looked on with disgust, but as in their 10 previous debates, he seemed impervious and perhaps unstoppable.

At times, the face-off in Detroit also deteriorated into the kind of junior high school taunts that have startled many Republican elders but have done little to dent Mr. Trumps broad appeal. As Mr. Trump and Mr. Rubio traded insults over their manhood, Mr. Trump recalled Mr. Rubios innuendo that Mr. Trumps small hands correlated with another part of his anatomy.

Mr. Trump, who has boasted about his sexual exploits, insisted that nothing was small about him. I guarantee you, he continued with little subtlety, theres no problem. I guarantee you.
There were insults, genitalia jokes and even some discussion of foreign policy on Thursday night in the 11th Republican presidential debate. Commentators and pundits thought that Donald J. Trump weathered attacks from both sides, that Senator Ted Cruz delivered a crisp performance, that Senator Marco Rubio had some of the best zingers and that Gov. John Kasich stuck to playing the grown-up in the room. At the close, many wondered if the face-off would make much difference. And some said that, in the end, there were no winners.

Cruz the winner. Rubio solid and feisty at times, but role seemed reversed with Cruz from last debate. Kasich hit his marks. Trump was Trump.  Guy Benson, political editor of Town Hall

Cruz, Kasich and Rubio all playing one game: issues, ideology and resume. Trump playing game of top dog. Only one matters in this G.O.P. primary.  Omar Wasow, politics professor at Princeton University

Cruz winning this debate.  Laura Ingraham, conservative radio host, who has supported Mr. Trump

Governor Kasich was absent from the early portion of the debate, but rebounded nicely when being able to engage in a foreign policy discussion. He refused to join the Cruz-Rubio alliance and instead took the high road, while stressing compromise and negotiation.  Aaron Kall, director of University of Michigan debate program
Pointing to Mr. do Amarals tarnished reputation and attempts to salvage his political career (he remains a senator, thanks to the relaxed approach in Brazils National Congress to expelling members embroiled in scandals), allies of Ms. Rousseff quickly went on the attack.

Lamentably, Delcidio doesnt have credibility, Jose Eduardo Cardozo, Brazils solicitor general, said. Hes not someone who has excelled at telling the truth.

Yet even before the report on Mr. do Amaral, Ms. Rousseff was criticized for upheaval in her administration in connection with the Petrobras scandal, which has fueled doubts about her commitment to judicial independence.

Mr. Cardozo became solicitor general just this week after resigning as justice minister because of political pressure. Factions in the Workers Party had questioned his reluctance to exert more control over the Federal Police, an institution similar to the F.B.I. that investigates government corruption.

In a statement Thursday night, Ms. Rousseff said she remained committed to fighting corruption and strengthening Brazils institutions. She also questioned the political motivations for leaking details of plea agreements, contending that doing so was illegal.

We rigorously comply with the Constitution, she added.

While the efforts to impeach Ms. Rousseff seemed to flag in recent weeks after political rivals found themselves entangled in their own scandals, the pressure is rising again as her campaign funding is scrutinized and her political mentor, Mr. da Silva, faces an array of legal challenges.

President Dilma, have the humility to say you cannot remain at the helm of the country, said Betinho Gomes, an opposition congressman who was among those on Thursday calling for her to resign.
SEOUL, South Korea  The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, has urged his military to have its nuclear warheads deployed and ready to be fired at any moment, the countrys state-run news agency reported Friday.

Mr. Kims comments were reported a day after the United Nations Security Council approved tougher sanctions aimed at curtailing his countrys ability to secure funds and technology for its nuclear weapons and ballistic-missile programs.

The Norths official Korean Central News Agency called the resolution unanimously adopted by the Council unprecedented and gangster-like, and it quoted Mr. Kim as repeating his exhortation to his military to further advance its nuclear and missile capabilities.

The only way for defending the sovereignty of our nation and its right to existence under the present extreme situation is to bolster up nuclear force, both in quality and quantity, and keep balance of forces, Mr. Kim was quoted as saying.
Boeing has been invited to talks with Iranian officials about modernizing Irans aged commercial aircraft fleet, the countrys transport minister said Thursday, in what could be a precursor to the biggest business arrangement with an American company after more than three decades of estrangement.

The talks would be among the first tangible results of a less-hostile climate between the United States and Iran since a landmark international agreement on Irans disputed nuclear activities took effect in January. The agreement ended or relaxed many sanctions on Iran in exchange for its verifiable guarantees of peaceful nuclear work.

As part of the agreement, the United States will permit the sale of commercial passenger aircraft and related parts and services to Iran, which despite political sensitivities could make the country a potentially big customer for the civilian American aerospace industry.

The Iranian transport minister, Abbas Akhondi, was quoted by Irans semiofficial Tasnim News Agency as saying that officials from Boeing had been invited to visit Iran regarding the purchase of Boeing aircraft. He did not specify the date for such a visit.
When Amanda Foreman and Lucas Wittmann founded House of SpeakEasy, the organization behind their literary cabaret series, Seriously Entertaining, they wanted to break from the format of typical bookstore readings and hark back to the performative styles of authors like Dickens and Twain.

Now in its third season, Seriously Entertaining is closer to realizing its goal. For the next show, on Monday, it has moved to Joes Pub, a high-profile site that will raise House of SpeakEasys visibility. (In fact, Mondays show sold out two weeks in advance.) Ms. Foreman said that when Joes Pub reached out about a partnership, We spent a nanosecond thinking about it.

In developing House of SpeakEasy, the duo started talking about how we were not entirely happy with the evening literary offerings in New York, Mr. Wittmann, who also works in editing and publishing at Regan Arts, said, referring to events in which authors typically read and leave  often without getting paid. He and Ms. Foreman, an author and historian, wanted to pay each guest and have them treat writing as a performance, which is why reading from a sheet of paper is forbidden in Seriously Entertaining.

They also wanted to host more than just novelists. Guests in the show, which Mr. Wittmann called a literary mixtape, are anyone who lives and dies by the pen. Speakers have included, for example, the novelist Gary Shteyngart, the fashion commentator Simon Doonan and Bob Mankoff, the New Yorkers cartoon editor.
In late January, about 40 Wall Street financiers packed into a private dining room at III Forks Steakhouse in Houston for an update on the troubled multibillion-dollar merger of the pipeline companies Energy Transfer Equity and the Williams Companies.

With shares of Energy Transfer down 50 percent since the transaction was announced in September, the investors interrogated Energy Transfers chief financial officer, Jamie Welch. He tried to assuage the analysts and investors, assuring them that his company was committed to closing the deal.

Less than 10 days later, Energy Transfer fired Mr. Welch.

Mr. Welchs ouster stunned most investors, causing Energy Transfers stock to drop 42 percent in one day, but not everyone was surprised. Since December, Mr. Welch, a former investment banker who helped sculpt the $38 billion acquisition, had been actively trying to recut the deal, or get out of it entirely.
LONDON  Metro Bank, the money-losing lender started by the American financier Vernon W. Hill II, said on Friday that it had raised 400 million pounds, or about $564 million, in a private sale of securities before going public next week.

The bank said that it sold to new and existing shareholders at a price of 20 a share in what is known as a private placement. The lender plans to go public on the London Stock Exchange, with conditional trading of its shares beginning on Monday.

Turbulence in the financial markets at the beginning of the year has weighed on the valuations of initial public offerings of stock, and a sharp decline in bank stocks last month caused Metro Bank to lower the value of its offering from 24 a share to 20 a share.

The capital raise we are completing will further support our growth plans, and we look forward to listing on the London Stock Exchange, Mr. Hill, the chairman of Metro Bank, said in a news release. Thank you to our customers  business and retail  who have embraced Metro Bank, and to our shareholders for their unwavering support.
BEIJING  Every March, China releases a closely watched growth target for the year, a number that looms large for the worlds economists, executives and policy makers. But a growing number of those experts are now calling for China to stop setting that goal, saying the target actually harms the economy and encourages officials to falsify data.

On Saturday, at the start of the National Peoples Congress, the government announced a target for 2016 that acknowledges a worsening slowdown. It is a range, 6.5 percent to 7 percent economic growth over last year, rather than a number, suggesting that leaders are rethinking their adherence to hard-and-fast goals. Still, even the broader target is unlikely to reduce skepticism of official Chinese figures.

The governments reading on the growth rate last year was 6.9 percent. The new target range means that leaders expect Chinas growth could dip this year, which would further depress the global economic outlook.
That debate, which drew a record 24 million viewers, set off a monthslong feud. In that time, Mr. Trump has said repeatedly that he had no respect for Ms. Kelly, and, as a result, he has been in an on-again, off-again war with Fox News. In late January, he skipped a Fox News debate that Ms. Kelly was moderating and taunted the network, saying, Lets see how much money Fox is going to make on the debate without me.

That wild back story stoked enormous anticipation for Thursday night, and when they were finally reunited, Ms. Kelly did not back down.

In her first question to Mr. Trump, Ms. Kelly asked whether his stance on deporting illegal immigrants was more flexible than he had led voters to believe. She referred to a Buzzfeed article that said he had expressed a less-than-firm commitment in an off-the-record portion of a meeting with The New York Times editorial board. Mr. Trump said he remained committed to the issue but conceded: Theres always give and take. Theres always negotiation.
The foundation has given to the school district in other ways: it has granted about $6 million for staff development and other programs over the last decade. The Broad Center, which runs the superintendents academy, has subsidized the salaries of at least 10 ex-business managers who moved into administrative jobs at the district office.

But it is the leadership turnover that has left teachers wary. Its just a different face at the top, said Leona Kwon, who teaches ethnic studies at Castlemont High School. I have not personally experienced a significant increase of support or resources at our school, so Im skeptical that thats ever going to happen.

Some educators give their schools chief high marks for his attention to detail. At Frick Middle, one of five previously struggling schools that the district is trying to overhaul, Ruby Detie, the administrator appointed to lead the changes, recalled that after she told Mr. Wilson that a mouse had run over the foot of a teacher interviewing for a job, an exterminator appeared the next day.

After observing several classrooms at Acorn Woodland Elementary recently, Mr. Wilson pulled aside the principal, Leroy Gaines, to praise two fourth-grade teachers for how often they invited students to hash out problems aloud. But in bilingual kindergarten and first-grade classes, Mr. Wilson told the principal he was concerned that the teachers were speaking too much during lessons.

I was struggling to really see the degree to which the students were really doing the thinking, Mr. Wilson said.

At other schools, some teachers point to missteps. At Fremont High, another school being revamped, some teachers complain that Mr. Wilson replaced a bilingual principal with a leader who does not speak Spanish, though close to 60 percent of the students are Hispanic. The school redevelopment feels almost like a takeover, said Jasmene Miranda, a graduate of the high school who is now a media teacher there.

Mr. Wilson said that he has appointed the best possible leaders.

He said he understood some of the community criticism. I think that is just, Hey were really concerned this guy might really want to sell the farm,  he said.

Well, I dont, he added. I do want to improve it, though.
PARIS  It was sheer coincidence that Rick Owens, an American in Paris, staged his Mastodon show, named for an extinct species, the same night as the Republican debate in Detroit, where Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz were characterized by this newspaper as fighting for their political lives. It was a fluke of timing that Mr. Owens subtitled the show after a Salvador Dali painting (Swans Reflecting Elephants) at a moment when most observers, including those at the side of the runway, feel they are living through a surreal time. And it was just happenstance that he was looking at embracing the inevitable end of a cycle just as issues of the decline of the republic were on everyones minds.

Really: This isnt sarcasm. It wasnt planned that way.

Mr. Owens had been, he said, thinking not about politics but about the destruction of the environment, a concern since his mens show earlier in the year, and this was a kinder, gentler continuation of that train of design. But just because it started in one place does not negate its eerie resonance in another. Some things just happen that way.

It was impossible to see the gracefully draped cream tunics, cowls creating their own topography, the elephantine trousers, mudslide leather boleros and boiling sea-foam capes, however, and not feel a potent nostalgia for a world gone by: Natural or political just depends on your point of view. Either way, the clothes touched a nerve.
The Zika virus damages many fetuses carried by infected and symptomatic mothers, regardless of when in pregnancy the infection occurs, according to a small but frightening study released on Friday by Brazilian and American researchers.

In a separate report published on Friday, other scientists suggested a mechanism for the damage, showing in laboratory experiments that the virus targets and destroys fetal cells that eventually form the brains cortex.

The reports are far from conclusive, but the studies help shed light on a mysterious epidemic that has swept across more than two dozen countries in the Western Hemisphere, alarming citizens and unnerving public health officials.

In the first study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, researchers found that 29 percent of women who had ultrasound examinations after testing positive for infection with the Zika virus had fetuses that suffered grave outcomes.
Gisele Soto was in agony.

She had a splitting headache and terrible pain in her ears when she was rushed to Coney Island Hospital on the night of Jan. 31.

One day later, Ms. Soto, 47, was dead  a result, according to her family and their lawyer, of a bad diagnosis and shockingly poor care.

Instead of being treated as a severely ill patient, she was considered emotionally disturbed and was shackled to her bed.

The hospital staff members, according to the family, thought she was suffering an adverse reaction to synthetic marijuana even as they repeatedly tried to convince them that she had never taken drugs.
NEW DELHI  Last month, a flyer entitled The Country Without a Post Office was circulated on the campus of Jawaharlal Nehru University (J.N.U.), here in Delhi, inviting students to a cultural evening on Feb. 9.

But cultural was a misnomer, and academic freedom would not be on the agenda. Some not-so-small print further down the page called on participants to rage against the Indian occupation of Muslim-majority Kashmir and protest the judicial killing of Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhat.

Afzal Guru, who is also known as Muhammad Afzal, and Mr. Bhat were both convicted terrorists, found guilty separately after their cases slowly went up the ladder of due process, all the way to the highest court in India. Mr. Bhat was hanged in 1984 for the murder of a police inspector in Kashmir; Mr. Afzal was hanged in 2013 for his role in the 2001 attack on Indias Parliament. In both 1984 and 2013, the Congress Party was in power.

The date chosen for the Feb. 9 event at J.N.U. was the anniversary of Mr. Afzals execution. Upon learning of this, the university authorities initially reacted by shrugging and looking away: Students will be students. But a video made the night of the gathering soon went viral, and it seemed to show shouting students and activists vowing to break up India into small pieces. It ended with the calls, Inshallah! Inshallah! Allah Willing! Allah Willing!
Re A crime proposal the left should back (Review, Feb. 13-14): When considering whether to reaffirm key principles of criminal law, American law makers might cast an eye across the pond.

The European Union (minus Britain, which, aloof, stays out of these things) just agreed to a legally binding rule on the presumption of innocence. It will, inter alia, rule out reversals of the burden of proof (e.g. where a ships captain is assumed to know the contents of the cargo hold unless he can show otherwise), a practice that also leaves people having to prove that they arent smugglers instead of prosecutors proving that they are.

The United States should also have the international perspective in mind as a net exporter of ideas about justice. The system of plea bargaining, for instance (whereby suspects accept an offered penalty rather than risk a heavier one at trial), was clumsily copied in post-Soviet countries like Georgia, where high conviction rates meant suspects had no choice but to accept heavy fines or face jail, and the system quickly became a tool for the state to assert itself and inflate its coffers.

Justice systems are mostly national creatures but every country can learn lessons from others.

Alex Tinsley, Brussels
To the Editor:

Re Woman, 77, Fatally Struck by Livery Cab in Midtown Manhattan (news article, March 1):

For pedestrians, the most dangerous moving violation is failure to yield by drivers when they turn into a pedestrian crosswalk. And this was again the case in the tragic death of Carol Dauplaise, who was killed by a livery cab at Madison Avenue and 36th Street.

Pedestrians are in danger wherever drivers can turn into a crosswalk, not only at high-traffic corners.

As a longtime traffic safety activist, I despair that even with Vision Zero, a program meant to eliminate all traffic fatalities in the city by 2024, there still is no all-out protest against this killer of pedestrians.

BETTE DEWING

New York
To the Editor:

Re Romney Calls Trump Unfit as Party Erupts in Discord (front page, March 4):

The denunciation of Donald Trump by Mitt Romney and other prominent members of the Republican Party may ultimately have the opposite effect of what they intend. Donald Trump  and Bernie Sanders likewise  has gotten as far as he has in this campaign largely because he is a stark alternative to business as usual in Washington. If not for widespread discontent and distrust of our current leadership, Mr. Trump would have been sidelined long ago.

For members of the party establishment to denounce Mr. Trump only strengthens his image as an outsider and an alternative to the members of Congress and the White House who have failed to live up to their promises. A vote for Mr. Trump is not necessarily a vote in agreement with all that he says, but rather is a vote against business as usual.

Mr. Romney is only highlighting the difference between Mr. Trump and the Republican Party establishment, thus is likely encouraging those who distrust the current administration and current party leaders to vote against the status quo.

ALLEN NATOW

Woodmere, N.Y.

To the Editor:

Re Cruz and Rubio Wage Urgent Attacks in Debate (front page, March 4):

Did the Republican Party just commit political suicide during its latest political debate?
SAN FRANCISCO  Airbnb hired David J. King III as its first director of diversity, part of a broader move by technology companies to build more inclusive work forces.

Mr. King has worked on diversity issues for more than 10 years, first as the chief for diversity management and outreach at the State Department and most recently as director of the office of civil rights and diversity for the Peace Corps. At Airbnb, he will be in charge of making the company and the community of travelers that it supports more diverse.

Airbnbs mission is to create a world where people can belong anywhere, Mr. King said.

The hiring is the latest move by a tech company to counter the industrys poor track record in encouraging a diverse employee base. Over the last few years, tech companies including Google, Apple and Facebook have published diversity reports that show that their work forces are overwhelmingly male and white. Companies including Twitter have appointed executives to improve diversity efforts.

Airbnb, an app that lets people rent out space in their homes, is used in more than 190 countries and 34,000 cities. The company, which is privately held, is valued at around $25.5 billion.
Facebook moved to change its relationship status with the British tax authorities on Friday.

The company announced that it would soon alter how it paid tax in Britain, potentially leading to the company paying millions of dollars more on its operations in the country.

The move comes in the face of growing anger across Europe about American technology giants aggressive accounting practices.

Google is facing its own issues over tax across the 28-member bloc, as French and Italian authorities investigate, while Apple, whose international operations are run from low-tax Ireland, is at the center of a lengthy inquiry by the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, about whether it received a preferential  and potentially illegal  tax deal from the Irish authorities. Apple and the Irish government deny any wrongdoing.
GENEVA  The top human rights official at the United Nations warned the United States authorities on Friday that their efforts to force Apple to unlock an iPhone belonging to a gunman risked helping authoritarian governments and jeopardizing the security of millions around the world.

The remarks by Zeid Raad al-Hussein, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, came as American investigators continued to press Apple to write software to help them gain access to an iPhone used by one of the gunmen in a shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., in December. Though the F.B.I. says it is a one-time request, Apple and others have raised concerns that the case could set a precedent and could force technology firms to install so-called back doors in devices, potentially invading customer privacy.

Mr. al-Hussein said that American law enforcement agencies, in trying to break the encryption protecting one phone, risk unlocking a Pandoras box, and that there were extremely damaging implications for the rights of many millions of people, with possible effects on their physical and financial security.

A successful case against Apple in the U.S. will set a precedent that may make it impossible for Apple or any other major international I.T. company to safeguard their clients privacy anywhere in the world, Mr. al-Hussein said in a statement. It is potentially a gift to authoritarian regimes, as well as to criminal hackers.
Donald Trump did not amass a majority of delegates on Super Tuesday. But he could soon.

If the people in the rest of the nation vote as the Super Tuesday results suggest they would, Mr. Trump would easily amass a majority of delegates and avoid the contested convention that his opponents hope to force and win.

He could even do so without wins in Ohio and Florida, the two largest winner-take-all states, where he faces opponents in their home states.

Mr. Trump would amass so many delegates because the rules become more biased toward candidates who win, allowing him the chance to take an overwhelming share of delegates with just a minority of the vote. It becomes easy to win lopsided delegate margins starting March 15, when states are allowed to apportion their delegates on a winner-take-all basis. At the same time, the primary calendar doesnt become less favorable and may even become more advantageous to him, depending on which candidates stay in the race.

But the results so far also indicate he could still be defeated, suggesting Mr. Trump is far from winning a majority of the popular vote. He could be denied a majority of delegates if the field narrowed to Mr. Rubio.
His weekly sessions, called the WS Cafe in a reference to the neighborhood, are at a new frontier of evangelism, one that seeks converts among a fervent and growing number of atheists in this country. The sessions started in September as a push by Redeemer Presbyterians prominent pastor, the Rev. Tim Keller, to preach the gospel to skeptics.

Such efforts proceed amid a rare moment in both Christian and American history. At the origin of Christianity, its apostles sought to convert adherents of other faiths, whether Judaism or Roman paganism. Missionaries of the last few centuries journeyed to China or Africa or the Americas to encounter the followers of other faiths, whether Buddhist or Yoruba or Aztec. In every case, the Christian evangelist seeking converts was at least dealing with listeners who embraced the concept of a divine being involved in the world.

Modern America has presented an entirely different scenario. A study last year by the Pew Research Center found that 23 percent of respondents identified themselves as nones  a term meaning atheistic, agnostic or religiously unaffiliated. The pop culture success of such prominent atheists as the talk-show host Bill Maher and the author Christopher Hitchens attests in a different way to the same trend.

This falling away from faith is unprecedented in American history, said Randall Balmer, a professor of religion at Dartmouth College. We are, always have been, and remain, a religious people  but less so than before. Another historian of American religion, Christopher H. Evans of Boston University, traced the current boom in nones to such smaller predecessors as the Transcendentalists of the 19th century. Both movements, he said, espoused a belief that ultimate meaning is found within the individual, as opposed to an external God or deity.

Against the current demographic odds, old-style evangelism must adapt. Christian communities of faith will still be vitally important in reaching nones and so will patterns of formation into faith, said Bryan P. Stone, a Boston University professor who specializes in evangelism. But evangelism no longer means that the job of Christians is to secure formal affiliations, shore up denominational identities, and expand Christian hegemony in Western culture. Evangelism is less and less about programming and institutions, more about relationships and authenticity.
An infant who rose to fame on social media as the Bernie Baby after his mother took him to a Bernie Sanders rally dressed up as the Democratic candidate, complete with oversize glasses and a wild white wig, died on Feb. 25 at 4 months, his family said.

The boy, Oliver Jack Carter Lomas-Davis, died at home in Venice, Calif., of sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, said Carlos Marroquin, a friend of his mother, Susan Lomas.

Ms. Lomas announced the death in a Facebook post Tuesday. She had posted a brief tribute to him on Facebook the day before.

Oliver Jack Carter Lomas ... I love you dearly, I love you most, she wrote. I love you with all my heart and soul. I know that God will keep you near since God and truth are here.
WASHINGTON  The Supreme Court on Friday temporarily blocked a Louisiana law that its opponents say would leave the state with only one abortion clinic. The court gave no reasons, though it did say that its order was consistent with one last June that blocked part of a Texas abortion law.

The move came two days after the Supreme Court heard arguments in the Texas case, and abortion rights groups said they hoped that the development Friday was a sign that they had secured five votes to strike down the Texas law.

Only Justice Clarence Thomas noted a dissent from the order Friday, suggesting that the vote had been 7 to 1, but justices do not always disclose their dissenting votes on such orders. In the order blocking the Texas law in June, the courts four most conservative members noted their dissents, making it clear that the vote had been 5 to 4.

The order Friday suggested that the Louisiana law would remain blocked until the court renders its decision in the Texas case, Whole Womans Health v. Hellerstedt, No. 15-274.
The Army cannot single out a captain who is Sikh for special testing to decide whether his hair, turban and beard interfere with the fit and functioning of his helmet and gas mask, a federal judge has ruled.

The Sikh faith requires men to wear their hair uncut and to grow beards, and Capt. Simratpal Singh, a West Point graduate who was decorated for his service in Afghanistan, had asked the Army to waive its usual rules requiring short hair and shaven faces. The Army said it would not decide until after he underwent three days of specialized testing to determine whether his helmet and mask would work properly.

Captain Singh, 28, filed suit on Monday, arguing that singling him out for such testing was religious discrimination, and in a ruling released late Thursday, Judge Beryl A. Howell for the District of Columbia agreed, and issued a restraining order to halt the testing.

Judge Howells ruling dealt with the specialized testing and did not directly address whether the Army should waive its grooming rules for Captain Singh. The Army has given him an interim accommodation through March 31, pending its decision, but argued that it could not make a decision without the testing, which it estimated would cost almost $33,000.
Recent joint operations by the Cameroonian and Nigerian militaries have captured and killed numerous fighters and seized suicide belts, weapons and equipment for making mines. Officials hope to squeeze the fighters from both sides of the border so they have nowhere left to run.

But the multinational military force  which includes Chad, Niger and the American military in an advisory role  sometimes has trouble securing territory once it is cleared.

In Cameroon, soldiers drove Boko Haram fighters from the border town of Kerawa in October, but it has since been assaulted at least six times, with militants beheading a young man in one attack. Early last month, a suicide bomber entered Kerawa and blew himself up behind a house, killing a tailor. According to a State Department report on the episode, the bomber had been looking for a large group of people to kill, but after all the attacks in the town, the streets were empty.

The mass displacement caused by Boko Haram  and by the sometimes indiscriminate military campaign to defeat it  has left 1.4 million people in the region without adequate food supplies, the United Nations says. In Borno State in northeastern Nigeria, where the situation is the most acute, humanitarian workers say that 50,000 people are one step away from famine. Along the Chadian border, farmers typically trade their pepper crops for imported cereals and grains. But the pepper fields have been abandoned and there is little left to trade.

Were looking at a large-scale crisis in very remote areas, said Denise Brown, the West and Central Africa regional director for the World Food Programme. This is not a today problem. This is a tomorrow problem and a next year problem unless its contained, and I dont see it coming to a halt soon.

In the Far North of Cameroon, this time of year is a moonscape of bone-dry river beds and clouds of dust so thick they look like misty fog. The region is moving into the so-called lean season, the in-between months when the fruits of the previous harvest are being depleted and next years crop is not yet ready.
RIO DE JANEIRO  The colossal graft scandal surrounding Brazils national oil company engulfed the countrys most prominent political figure on Friday, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, as the police raided his home and took him into custody.

More than any other politician, Mr. da Silva embodied Brazils rise as a global powerhouse. Universally known as Lula, he helped usher his country onto the international stage as president from 2003 through 2010, winning admiration at home and abroad.

But as a sweeping corruption scandal rips apart the political establishment, the once towering political figure is coming to symbolize something else: Brazils crashing ambitions.

In an operation that began at 6 a.m., officers from the Federal Police swarmed Mr. da Silvas home in Sao Paulo. He was taken to a federal police station, but he was not arrested or charged. He was released after about three hours of questioning, which he later derided as a media show.
The former president of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, was taken into custody by the Brazilian police on Friday for questioning as part of an investigation into a colossal graft scheme. The raid on Mr. da Silvas house was the latest development in the expanding political and economic turmoil in Brazil.

Why is Brazil in such upheaval?

A struggling economy and discontent over the corruption scheme involving the national oil company, Petrobras, have affected nearly every level of government in Brazil, Latin Americas largest country. Political uncertainty has also grown as President Dilma Rousseff faces impeachment proceedings over her use of funds from state banks to cover budget gaps.

Why is Brazils economy in trouble?

The economy is grappling with a slowdown amid a global crash in oil prices. The latest 3.8 percent plunge in gross domestic product in 2015 was the worst decline in 25 years. Unemployment is surging, and a pension crisis has contributed to havoc on public finances. Social gains in the boom years of the previous decade have been eroded. Officials are now trying to gradually unwind policies in which a web of giant state banks and public energy companies promoted growth.
MIAMI  The United States government has been paying to feed and shelter thousands of Cubans trying to migrate to the United States, in what critics consider another sign of the lopsided treatment provided to Cubans under American law.

The Obama administration has tried hard to deter the crush of migrants arriving from Central America in recent years. It has pressed Mexico to crack down on migrants passing through its territory, while women and children who managed to cross the American border have been held in detention facilities.

But American law gives Cubans special status to live in the United States and apply for a green card, provided they make it here. That has set off a rush of Cubans who have taken advantage of changes inside Cuba that make it easier to leave, and who are worried that the Obama administrations improved relations with their government will soon erase their privileged status.

In January, the United States pledged $1 million to help provide temporary shelter, potable water, food, sanitation and hygiene kits to thousands of Cubans who were stranded in Costa Rica while trying to make their way to the American border.
HONG KONG  The annual session of Chinas legislature, the National Peoples Congress, is a carefully crafted pageant intended to convey the image of a transparent, responsive government. While the congress is often dismissed as a rubber stamp, it can provide important clues to the governments priorities.

Heres what you need to know about the session, which opens in Beijing on Saturday.

Q. Does the congress have any real power?

A. Yes, but not much. Its nearly 3,000 delegates are mostly officials and party members who dare not challenge the leadership. Ultimate political authority rests with the Chinese Communist Party, whose Politburo Standing Committee, headed by President Xi Jinping, sets policy. So the N.P.C.s influence is limited.

Still, it has forced delays and the reconsideration of proposals. In Chinas authoritarian system, even small numbers of dissenting votes make a statement, such as when a third of the delegates voted against or abstained from approving the controversial Three Gorges Dam in 1992. The dam was still approved, though.
BEIJING  To many people around the world, Chinese politics can seem murky, even treacherous. To people in China, it is hardly different.

In fact, dazed is how many Chinese felt as the two sessions  the annual meetings of the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference and the National Peoples Congress  were getting underway in Beijing, according to a delegate quoted in Caixin, a financial magazine.

The problem: a recent, highly public attack on free speech, this time not against a little-known rights advocate, but against a wealthy and politically well-connected businessman who dared to criticize the leadership.

Certain events had cast a shadow over debate at the meetings, said Jiang Hong, a delegate to the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference, a government advisory body which opened its annual session on Thursday.
NEW DELHI  India has denied visas to a team from the United States government responsible for monitoring religious freedom, the group said in a statement this week.

The organization, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, had planned a trip to India, scheduled to begin this week, to assess religious liberty in the country. But India has not issued visas to members of the commission, it said on Thursday.

Robert P. George, the groups chairman, said that the team was deeply disappointed by the Indian governments action.

As a pluralistic, nonsectarian and democratic state, and a close partner of the United States, India should have the confidence to allow our visit, he said.
NEW DELHI  A 16-year-old Tibetan student living in India has died three days after setting himself on fire to protest Chinese rule in Tibet, a hospital official said on Friday.

The student, Dorjee Tsering, had self-immolated on Monday in Dehradun, India, while shouting Free Tibet, according to an advocacy group based in London. He was rushed to New Delhi and treated at Safdarjung Hospital, where he died on Thursday night, said Poonam Dhanda, a spokeswoman for the hospital. Burns had covered 95 percent of his body, Ms. Dhanda said.

Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential candidate, held up a picture of Mr. Dorjee on Tuesday while in Minnesota speaking with the president of the Tibetan National Congress, an advocacy group.

Mr. Dorjee was the second Tibetan this week to die after self-immolation. On Monday, an 18-year-old Tibetan monk, Kalsang Wangdu, set himself afire in the Chinese province of Sichuan, the first such episode in a Tibetan area of China since August. Since 2009, more than 140 Tibetans have self-immolated in Tibetan regions of China to protest Beijings rule.
TOKYO  Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan and the leader of the southern island Okinawa agreed on Friday to take a dispute over the future of a United States military base out of the courts and back to the negotiating table.

Mr. Abe accepted a freeze on construction work at a contentious new location planned for the base, Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, as part of the agreement with Okinawas governor, Takeshi Onaga. Work had already been disrupted while the authorities in Tokyo and Okinawa fought a legal battle over the site.

The deal is the latest twist in a 20-year effort by Japanese and American officials to move the base, which is in the middle of a crowded Okinawan city. National officials want to move the base to a less crowded part of the island, but Mr. Onaga and a majority of Okinawans oppose the plan because they want the Marines moved off Okinawa altogether.

If the present situation continues, and we keep up an endless battle in the courts, things will simply become deadlocked, Mr. Abe said. Television footage showed Mr. Abe and Mr. Onaga shaking hands over the deal at the prime ministers office in Tokyo.
KABUL, Afghanistan  HAMSTRUNG by student loans and dismayed at her meager prospects for repaying them, Kimberley Chongyon Motley left the long hours and low pay of the Milwaukee public defenders office in 2008 for the long-shot promise of Afghanistan.

I came here for the money, just like half the people here, she says in Motleys Law, a documentary about her unusual legal career that was broadcast on Al Jazeera America in February. Before arriving here, I couldnt find Afghanistan on the map.

Ms. Motley, 40, a Marquette University Law School graduate, had never before traveled overseas when she enrolled in a Justice Department program to train Afghan lawyers and flew to one of the worlds more dangerous places.

After her nine-month assignment, she did not return home to Milwaukee, instead hanging out her own shingle in Kabul. She studied Shariah, the Islamic code that lies beneath the fragile new Afghan Constitution, and she established herself as the only foreign litigator in one of the worlds most conservative and male-dominated cultures.
While Syrians are seen as having the strongest claim for asylum, the legal status of many Afghans and Iraqis is less clear. The prospect of deporting large numbers of them to Turkey seems difficult at best.

The overall structure of the bargain is clear but what is so hellishly complicated are the details and implementation, and that could be a nightmare, said Jan Techau, the director of Carnegie Europe, a research organization. You can strike a political balance at the highest levels, but then how do you decide where to settle people in Europe and how to manage the asylum procedures?

It is also possible that the smugglers might simply avoid Turkey and come up with other routes.

Finally, the emerging plan would not answer a quandary that has dogged the bloc: the unwillingness of most countries to welcome significant numbers of newcomers, even those with a clear legal claim to asylum.

What we consider before using anonymous sources. Do the sources know the information? Whats their motivation for telling us? Have they proved reliable in the past? Can we corroborate the information? Even with these questions satisfied, The Times uses anonymous sources as a last resort. The reporter and at least one editor know the identity of the source. Learn more about our process.

Hungary wont accept any migrants from Turkey, the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban, said flatly on Friday, after meeting Horst Seehofer, the governor of the southern German state of Bavaria, who has been sharply critical of Ms. Merkel, an erstwhile political ally. Other countries can accept them. We dont. We need to be able to close our borders hermetically, and differentiate economic migrants from refugees.

Mr. Orban did not directly criticize Ms. Merkel, however. We otherwise fully support the German plan with Turkey, he said, adding: It will cost money Hungary is ready to contribute. But it doesnt replace the protection of our own borders with our own capacities.

Meeting with Ms. Merkel in Paris, the French president, Francois Hollande, said that France and Germany are working in the same spirit and with the same desire to resolve the migrant crisis. Mr. Hollande said France would fulfill its commitment to take in 30,000 Syrian or Iraqi refugees  but his stance is quite different from that of Ms. Merkel, who has steadfastly refused to cap the number of asylum seekers Germany will take in.
It last expanded in 2013, when Croatia joined.

Some critics have criticized Mr. Vucics move as a ploy to solidify his power, as his center-right Serbian Progressive Party already has a comfortable majority in Parliament.

Mr. Vucic was once an arch-nationalist and a close ally of the Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic, who died in 2006 while facing international war crimes charges relating to the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s. Mr. Vucic, who turns 45 on Saturday, has since cast himself as a pro-Western liberal who favors close relations with Europe and the United States. But he has also come under some criticism, fairly or not, for being thin-skinned and for discouraging dissenting voices, including in the news media.

Srdjan Bogosavljevic, a consultant at the Ipsos polling company, said the call for early elections was a canny move that would allow Mr. Vucic to consolidate his power and to proceed with plans to shake up the countrys bloated public sector and to overhaul its laws. Serbia is still a hangover from the former Yugoslavia, and our legal system needs updating, Mr. Bogosavljevic said. No one here sees Europe any longer as a dream, as they once did. But they cant see any better alternative.

Serbia, a relatively poor Balkan country, has been seeking to modernize its economy and to improve its relations with its neighbors as a prelude to joining the European Union, the worlds largest trading bloc. But the country has a weak economy and double-digit unemployment, and Europes volatile migration crisis has been spilling across its borders. In late 2014, it agreed to a 1.2 billion euro ($1.3 billion) loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund, under which it is required to shore up its finances by, among other things, privatizing state industries.

At the same time, Serbia has been struggling to forge good relations with Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008, amid ethnic tensions that had flared during the Balkan wars of the 1990s. Serbia and its ally, Russia, do not recognize Kosovos independence.
ISTANBUL  Two Syrian men were sentenced to more than four years in prison on Friday for the death of a young Syrian boy whose body washed up on a beach in Turkey in September.

The death of the boy, Alan Kurdi, and the gripping photo of his body lying facedown in the sand and surf of the beach focused the worlds attention on the plight of migrants risking their lives to flee war and deprivation.
BEIRUT, Lebanon  Street protests erupted across insurgent-held areas of Syria on Friday, as demonstrators took advantage of the relative lull in airstrikes during a partial truce, coming out in the largest numbers in years to declare that even after five punishing years of war they still wanted political change.

Under the slogan The Revolution Continues, demonstrators waved the green, white and black pre-Baathist flag adopted during the early, largely peaceful stages of the revolt, before the proliferation of armed Islamist factions with black jihadist banners.

It was impossible to gauge what percentage of Syrians the demonstrators represented, out of the millions living in insurgent-held areas or, for that matter, in government-held areas or as refugees abroad. But many protesters, reached by telephone and text message, said they aimed to show that they were determined to resume demonstrations seeking the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad as soon as there was even a partial respite from airstrikes by the government and its Russian allies.

The protests were all the more surprising in that the insurgency is struggling militarily, squeezed between pro-government forces and those of the Islamic State.
CAIRO  Two Italian hostages have been freed from Islamic State captivity in Libya, but two others, who had been captured at the same time, have most likely been killed, Italian officials said on Friday.

In a statement, the Italian Foreign Ministry confirmed the release of Filippo Calcagno and Gino Pollicardo, technicians with Bonatti, an Italian contractor that does engineering and construction work for the oil and gas industries.

They were among four Italians captured in July near an oil and gas plant outside Sabratha, about 50 miles west of Tripoli. The Islamic State has become a domineering presence in Sabratha in recent months. A video that circulated on social media showed the two freed Italians looking exhausted but relieved.

But their joy was tempered by accounts that the bodies of their fellow captives had been discovered at the site of a gunfight between Islamic State fighters and a local militia in Sabratha on Wednesday.
ISTANBUL  Backed by a court order, the Turkish authorities moved on Friday to seize Zaman, the countrys most widely circulated newspaper, in the latest crackdown by the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on freedom of the press.

The seizing of the newspaper also highlighted the governments building campaign against those it perceives to be its two greatest enemies: opposition journalists and the followers of Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric affiliated with the newspaper who lives in exile in Pennsylvania. Mr. Gulen was once an ally of Mr. Erdogans but is now a bitter enemy.

As news of the takeover became public Friday afternoon, supporters began gathering in front of the newspapers offices in Istanbul, and employees locked a door to the building. In a live-stream broadcast on the newspapers website, supporters were seen chanting, Free press cannot be silenced. Some carried Turkish flags and banners emblazoned with, Do not touch my newspaper. Columnists from the paper were also seen addressing the crowd.

Later Friday night, Turkish police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse the crowd and forcibly enter the building.
Mr. Ailman also worked with Ms. Mitchem and her team to develop the parameters of the E.T.F. Our board has had a mandate for me  and the investments for the states teachers all the way back to 2003  to change the face of Wall Street, he said. That started with diversity, which weve made a big push on, but also gender diversity.

Ms. Mitchem said her goal was to get assets to $1.5 billion to $2 billion in the first year. That could be a lofty goal, even with the push from Californias teachers.

Morgan Stanley Capital International has 11 environmental, social and governance indexes, including popular low-carbon and sustainability indexes. But it reported in September that it has a total of $1.8 billion from E.T.F.s tracking them.

And there is a risk to investors if the E.T.F. does not get to a certain size quickly. Greg Lessard, founder and president of Aspen Leaf Partners, a small adviser in Golden, Colo., that invests $18 million in impact E.T.F.s and index funds, said he occasionally struggled to sell a large position in some of the thinly traded green E.T.F.s in which he invested client money.

A smaller E.T.F. can be thinly traded, Mr. Lessard said. I cant just execute that trade as I normally would at my custodian. I have to call a trader and say Can you insure theres a buyer at the other side? And sometimes theyll say, Its not going to happen today, Greg. 

There are two bigger forces at work in State Streets introduction of SHE: the increased interest in impact investing and the seeming ease with which investors can buy and sell exchange-traded funds.

Michael Lear, a vice president and portfolio manager at Athena Capital Advisors, which manages $6 billion, invests client money across a range of impact strategies, from public equities and debt to venture capital and real estate.
DESPITE a push by financial institutions to switch customers to digital statements from paper, the traditional hard-copy version may work better for some people, a new report finds.

In particular, older, less educated and lower-income consumers who may lack fast Internet connections at home may benefit from paper statements, the new report from the National Consumer Law Center says.

Theres a sense that everyones connected, and paper is old-fashioned, said Chi Chi Wu, a lawyer at the center and the primary author of the report. But, she said, significant gaps in Internet access may hinder the ability of some consumers to use digital statements.

More than half of Americans 65 and older lack home broadband, as do 59 percent of adults with annual incomes under $20,000, according to findings in December from the Pew Research Center.
As a graduate student at the respected M.I.T. Media Lab, Marcelo Coelho collaborated with the artist Vik Muniz to help him achieve a poetic and technical feat that teases the imagination: drawing a picture of a castle on a single grain of sand. After two years of failed experiments with various lasers, they finally began getting images of beautiful complexity using an electron microscope with a focused ion beam to etch superfine lineswhen it didnt pulverize the grains altogether. The tiny etchings could then be scanned and printed large scale.

If you ever try to do something in a science lab thats not science, people look at you in a really funny way, said Mr. Coelho, who initially had to schmooze the gatekeeper to the multimillion-dollar microscope, which was designed to repair microchips (the pair settled for access in the wee hours). But once the lab technician saw their surprising results, in which the microscopic contours of the grains resemble mountainous landscapes, he offered more time on the machine and his own ideas for images they could make. You could see the excitement percolating through the system, said Mr. Coelho, who spent four years on the Sandcastles series.

Mr. Muniz is among the more than 30 artists, including Tomas Saraceno and Anicka Yi, invited to embed directly in the M.I.T. labs as equals with faculty and students since the creation of the schools Center for Art, Science & Technology in 2012. It is supported by $3 million in grants from the Mellon Foundation and a recent $1 million gift from the Russian arts entrepreneur Dasha Zhukova for a new artist residency. CAST, as it is known, has revitalized an M.I.T. model begun in the late 1960s of bringing in artists to humanize technology and create more expansive-thinking scientists. M.I.T. is at the forefront of this cross-disciplinary movement with its institutional commitment, but it is drawing on a legacy of artists who are interested in science that dates back to Leonardo da Vinci and that has proliferated as technology has become ever more commonplace and accessible.

Images from Sandcastles are on view in Mr. Munizs midcareer retrospective of photographs made using unconventional materials and methods at the High Museum in Atlanta. It includes photographs of fluorescent bacteria and cancer cells choreographed into intricate designs from his Colonies series, also made at M.I.T. in collaboration with the bioengineer Tal Danino.
The show was catching on abroad, especially in France and Australia. Cast members noticed, too.

In L.A., Id say I was on NCIS, and people would say, Is that a radio station?, said Michael Weatherly, who plays the wisecracking agent Tony DiNozzo. But on a trip to France and Monte Carlo to promote Season 4, he found himself being widely recognized. I thought they thought I was somebody else, he said.

American viewers caught up not long after, partly thanks to the USA Network, which began running NCIS in syndication, and the writers strike of 2007-8, which drove viewers to cable and reruns. By the end of that season, NCIS was TVs No. 5 drama; two seasons later, it was No. 1.

Consistency and engaging characters have kept it there. With the exception of The Simpsons, which is closing in on 600 episodes, dont look for cutting-edge shows in the 300 club. They might flare brightly, but they wear out their welcome over time. Theres an art to making a series for the very long haul, and part of it is not setting your own bar so high in the early going that you cant clear it. Another part is holding a lot back for exploration later, something everyone now involved with NCIS says was a gift Donald P. Bellisario, its creator and original showrunner, gave the series.

Don didnt get into the deep backgrounds in the early years of the show, said Gary Glasberg, who has been with NCIS since 2009 and has been showrunner since 2011. So we have the opportunity to go deeper in the latter years. If you look at procedural storytelling in general on TV, thats a shift thats happened across the board. You can look at your characters and their flaws and their mysteries and still solve a crime.

Four actors have been with NCIS since the beginning: Mr. Harmon, Mr. Weatherly, David McCallum as the medical examiner known as Ducky, and Pauley Perrette as the forensic technician Abby Sciuto. For these actors and others who have had significant arcs, the gradual peeling of characters means both the challenge of incorporating back story that you didnt know was there and the exhilaration of discovery. Ms. Perrette, for instance, has learned over the years that Abby, a goth geek, was adopted by deaf parents and has both a biological brother and an adoptive brother. And viewers still havent been inside her home.
The first story in Sara Majkas first book begins, Maybe 10 or 11 years ago, when I was in the middle of a divorce from a man I still loved, I took the train into the city. There the narrator visits an art exhibit  the story is called Reverons Dolls, after the Venezuelan artist  and stays in an apartment owned by an artist friend, filled with light and canvases. Unjustly, I assumed right away that I knew exactly what kind of book this would be: a book about arty people with complicated personal lives, who use the word lover and contemplate wintry landscapes from lonely trains.

There are arty people and wintry landscapes in Cities Ive Never Lived In. The narrator above, who is common to many of the 14 stories, does use the word lover, and reflects on relationships that seem exceedingly complicated. But Majka brings the reader to startling places. The stories feature an array of discomfiting situations and hardscrabble New England lives. All of the stories are sad. A father leaves his daughter with a neighbor and rents an apartment in another town; a mother meets up with the ex-husband who killed their daughter while driving drunk. A little girl is abducted from a church day care and never seen again. Many of them are spooky. A young man leaves a mental hospital and finds that his island home has disappeared from the map. There are doppelgangers throughout the stories  in a bookstore and on the street and in a painting hidden in an attic. Watching an old museum security tape, the narrator catches a glimpse of herself as a child.

Majka is dexterous at bringing a physical clarity to the sites of emotional muddle; the boy in the mental hospital had cut his wrists with his fathers coping saw, and lay on the ground watching the sawdust turn red until someone opened the door. She excels at writing neglected, forlorn people and places. A foyer in a dingy apartment features an end table piled with old mail, mail that is parchmenty and bowed in the middle. The mother of the dead girl is one of a class of women who have no femininity in them, but also nothing hard, it was just that life had brought them to having no extra gestures. (Alice Munro is name-checked by the narrator, and her influence is perceptible throughout, although no one can achieve her particular brand of crispness.)

In the titular story, Majkas main narrator conceives a plan to travel to soup kitchens around the country, talking to the poor. In one city she sees an exhibit about homeless people; she is moved by their stories but tells her mother on the phone that it was too compassionate to be effective. Real artists, she explains, take from people for their own ends. This is actually a useful annotation to Majkas work. Cities Ive Never Lived In is not a compassionate book, exactly, despite all the sad things in it. From certain angles, its a kind of New England gothic, where the lost children and dead women and doppelgangers serve to add atmosphere and meaning to the narrators past peregrinations, her dalliances and uncertainties. It turns out in the end that this is in fact a book about an arty person with a complicated personal life. But its a lovely one, written in a moving and uncanny register.


Donna Leons Venetian mysteries never disappoint, calling up the romantic sights and sounds of La Serenissima even as they acquaint us with the practical matters that concern the citys residents. In THE WATERS OF ETERNAL YOUTH (Atlantic Monthly, $26), Venetians are troubled by an aggressive new wave of African immigrants, the latest street hustles aimed at tourists and the pharaonically expensive engineering project meant to keep the lagoon from flooding. Commissario Guido Brunetti and his colleagues are also afraid Italy might be losing its edge: The younger officers arent nearly as willing as the older generation to bend the rules for a good cause. Soon itll be like working in Sweden, Brunetti predicts. And while political corruption may be as rank as ever, compared to Argentina, we are living in Switzerland. But as a dutiful Italian son, the commissario is still a soft touch for a grandmother who begs him to investigate the near-drowning accident that left her granddaughter mentally impaired. Its a bittersweet story that makes us appreciate Brunettis philosophical take on the indignities, insanities and cruelties of life: Better to think like a Neapolitan and view it all as theater, as farce.



Lisa Lutz has written a number of clever comic mysteries about the Spellmans, a family of screwball sleuths. In THE PASSENGER (Simon & Schuster, $25.99), she steps smartly out of her comfort zone to write a dead-serious thriller (with a funny bone) about a Wisconsin woman who dashes cross-country when her husband dies in a fall and she knows shell be accused of killing him. The name of this fugitive is Tanya Dubois, but she sheds it for a series of noms de crime (and wardrobe changes and hair colors and getaway cars) when shes running for her life from unknown assassins. In a refreshing twist, shes not awfully good at disguising herself, so its only when shes taken in hand by a rogue bartender, a woman called Blue, that Tanya / Amelia / Debra / Emma / Sonia / Paige / Jo / Nora has a real chance of surviving  once she helps Blue bury the husband Blue murdered. Goodbye, Jack, the unrepentant widow says at his graveside. Sorry how things worked out. But you only have yourself to blame.



Although I would categorically deny it if cornered, I secretly enjoy the various dramatic, even (soap) operatic developments in the lives of fictional sleuths. And there are plenty of these in THE STEEL KISS (Grand Central, $28), Jeffery Deavers unsettling procedural mystery featuring Lincoln Rhyme. That brilliant quadriplegic consulting detective is no longer working criminal cases for the New York Police Department, which has distanced him from his colleague and lover, the homicide detective Amelia Sachs. In her absence, Rhyme has acquired a brainy assistant, Juliette Archer, also a quadriplegic and possibly a soul mate. At the same time, Nick Carelli, an ex-cop who was Sachss previous lover, is out of prison and making an impassioned case for his innocence.

These are the kinds of intrusions that would normally distract from the forensic detail for which Deavers darkly witty series is noted. But here they serve to heighten the tensions of the plot and complicate the efforts of Rhyme and his troops to stop the Peoples Guardian, a domestic terrorist who has been sabotaging (to stomach-churning effect) the mechanics of supposedly trusty equipment and appliances, from escalators and alarm systems to pacemakers and baby monitors.
Instead, Shah offers a sort of TED talk list of technological quick fixes for identifying outbreaks in their early stages. But no technological tool kit or team of disease detectives can protect humanity from the rising tide of new microbial diseases, or newly evolved and drug-resistant older scourges. As Shah demonstrated in The Fever, the tools of malaria prevention, such as curative drugs and bed nets, are useless unless a global political and financial will is in place to facilitate their distribution in poor countries and the recipients put the devices to proper and consistent use. She doesnt ask why the W.H.O. maintains a stockpile of only one million doses of the cholera vaccine (although its expected to double this year) or how it decides which populations should receive precious supplies.

And in an otherwise detailed section on the cholera outbreak in Haiti, she doesnt dissect the disagreement between medical advocates, like Dr. Paul Farmer at Harvard, and environmental activists over how best to tackle the epidemic. Farmer, who worked closely with former President Bill Clinton on the Haitian earthquake response, focused on a medical approach to cholera control: vaccination and treatment. In contrast, French public health experts working in Haiti tracing the Vibrios spread said the microbe had exploited a water system that was already known to be a major source of child illness and death. Fixing the water and sewers never garnered the technical and financial resources necessary, and cholera is now a permanent feature in impoverished Haiti.

More seriously, Shah doesnt examine the failures to implement disease surveillance and epidemic control. Five high-level assessments have been completed regarding the performance of the W.H.O. and other global institutions in the recent Ebola outbreak in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Each concluded that a litany of errors allowed the disease to spread for months before the W.H.O. declared a state of global emergency and any significant assistance from the rest of the world arrived in the West African nations. Between 2013 and 2015, there were 28,637 reported cases of Ebola, and 11,315 people died. Thousands more were sickened before American and British soldiers and humanitarian aides arrived, bringing more than a billion dollars worth of supplies and equipment.

Shahs discussion of solutions too often reads like a boilerplate list of technocratic fixes that have been much discussed or, worse, debunked. She writes of a global immune system of technology and surveillance that could detect pandemic-worthy pathogens before they hop on flights and get swept up in population movements, pinpointing the next H.I.V., the next cholera and the next Ebola before they start to spread and could be funded by a 1 percent tax on air travel. The Ebola experience demonstrates that she is wildly wrong: In March 2014, the Pasteur Institute in Lyon, France, correctly identified Ebola as the cause of the then-small African outbreak. A standard tool kit of case detection and high-tech lab tools was applied to hunting down cases. By the end of April 2014 the W.H.O. and its advising experts from all over the world were convinced that Ebola was vanquished, but they were horribly mistaken.

Saving humanity from microbial threats will require far more than the social-media searches, satellite sweeps, hot spot surveillance teams and similar solutions Shah proffers. Nothing short of an international commitment to full implementation of the International Health Regulations, coupled with provision of basic health care to all and an all-out scientific R & D effort to develop rapid point-of-care diagnostics, treatments and vaccines will be sufficient. Such a scale cannot be funded by an airplane tax  a system that is, by the way, already in place in the form of Unitaid, funding some H.I.V., tuberculosis and malaria care in poor countries.

When Shah focuses on a single epidemic  as she does with cholera in the chapter titled The Cure  her skills as a historical investigator shine, and we are left hungering for more. She brings fresh insights to the century-long battle inside the European medical community over the cause and the treatment of the disease, which swept periodically through London, Paris and countless other European and North American cities. In pages as riveting as any thriller, Shah describes pitched battles between the dominant miasmatists, who believed the smell of human waste caused the illness, versus the British anesthetist John Snow, who was convinced that cholera was caused by contaminated waters  and perhaps traceable to one water pump. Snow died while trying in vain to defend his theory to the British Parliament, and miasmatists so dominated thinking throughout the 19th century that Londoners deliberately filled the Thames with human waste during cholera outbreaks to distance themselves from the fumes they believed caused the disease.
In 1721, Boston was a dangerous place. The Massachusetts colonial government barely maintained order, though it needed to. Abenaki Indians were threatening colonists on land while pirates were marauding at sea. Alternative sources of authority were scarce. Fallout from the Salem witch trials of 1692 had discredited the colonys Congregationalist ministers. It didnt help that a young firebrand named Franklin began to print a newspaper that mocked both the government and the ministers. Perhaps most dangerously, smallpox had spread from an infected ship to people ashore. The resulting epidemic is the fever Stephen Coss places at the center of his first book, The Fever of 1721, though his title bundles up all of the citys hot troubles into one big crisis.

The history of a year can be revealing, if the right 12 months somehow encapsulate a crucial historical moment or trend. For his momentous year, Coss focuses on a small place, Boston. The Bay Colonys capital had been founded in 1630 as a city upon a hill, built to beam a purified Christian faith to a fallen world. Not all settlers shared that goal, however, and the native peoples of the region routinely opposed it. And yet a later generation of Massachusetts men would help lead the struggle that culminated in American independence. It is easy to assume that the fierce Puritan flock of yore had somehow gestated the fiery patriots of 1776.

In Cosss telling, the troubles of 1721 represent a shift away from a colony of faith and toward the modern politics of representative government. So does the emergence of the first independent American newspaper, James Franklins New-England Courant, unsanctioned by the government and a training ground for the editors little brother, Benjamin. Cosss story is a Whig version of history, in which past events helpfully point toward an enlightened present. All the scene needed was a touch of modern science and, voila, the dark ages recede.
Americas federal era has been enjoying a welcome, if surprising, popularity in recent years. Best-selling biographies, an impressive array of scholarly books and articles, even a hit Broadway show, attest to its new status. This popularity has been sparked, in part, by a growing recognition that the American Revolution was a beginning, not an ending, in the story of our nation-building. But the interest can also be explained by the publication online of the correspondence of most of the major players of the era, along with the debates and proceedings of the early Congressional sessions. Easy access to such sources whets the appetite of the scholar and popular historian alike.

The First Congress is a perfect example of what a very good writer can do with these raw materials. Fergus M. Bordewich has transformed the recent multivolume collection of sources on the First Federal Congress into a lively narrative. Bordewich, who has written on a wide range of topics and eras, follows this Congress, which sat from 1789 to 1791, almost day by day, from the inauguration of the president to Congresss close. He takes the reader through the debates on issues small and large, including the creation of the federal judiciary, the selection of a permanent capital site and the ratification of the first 10 amendments to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights. The book is also filled with anecdotes and vivid descriptions of that group of extraordinary men who, he argues, invented the United States government.

Despite its readability, The First Congress has almost as many problems as the Congress itself had. Its fast pace, for example, means that everything is covered but that nothing is covered in all its complexity. In this sense, the book is like a good college survey course: It lays out a menu of interesting topics and leaves readers to decide which ones they might want to pursue in earnest.
For many artists, building castles in the sky would be a fair way to describe retirement planning.

Ten years ago, the New York-based program Artist Pension Trust contacted artists with this unusual idea: Give us some of your artworks as assets and rather than sell them as soon as possible, as a gallery would, we will hold them for future sale, probably at least for 10 years. In this way, artists could invest in their future security and benefit from a potential increase in the value of their work.

But the trust concept is about more than simply deferring sales for future security, which, for many artists, is a secondary concern to the need for immediate income. The trust, unlike galleries, allows for risk diversification. It groups 250 artists in separate regional pools. When the work of one artist is sold, a percentage goes to the pool so that those whose work has not sold or sells for relatively little will benefit from the sales of fellow artists.

The diversification is like a built-in insurance mechanism for the artists, said Moti Shniberg, the co-founder and chairman of the trust, which is a for-profit enterprise. But like any successful fund around the world, its a question of strategy and sound judgment. In this case, about what artists to include and when to sell.

A high-tech entrepreneur, Mr. Shniberg came up with the idea for the trust more than a decade ago when he witnessed the financial struggles of an artist friend. To develop the financial formula, he worked with Dan Galai, an economist and authority in risk diversification theory.
We have people all over the world now, in the East and the West, Mr. Siegel said. Some are isolated. Some are poor. Wed like to create a retirement village.

When Mr. Siegel joined Iskcon, it was still a fledgling organization. A year earlier, its spiritual leader, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, a 69-year-old immigrant from India, founded it in New York. He practiced Gaudiya Vaishnavism, a form of Hinduism with roots in the 16th century. He taught that the material world is temporary and that man could attain his highest spiritual development through devotional service to the supreme divinity, Lord Krishna.

Along with his fellow devotees, Mr. Siegel shaved his head, wore a dhoti and spent hours each day chanting and dancing in public places while distributing Prabhupadas translations and commentaries on ancient Vedic texts. We pooled our money and lived communally, Mr. Siegel said .

By the mid-1970s, the group had attracted around 10,000 full-time adherents in the United States and around 50,000 congregational members. Internationally, it had established 11 communities in Western Europe and around 30 more in the rest of the world. Individual communities were financially autonomous, but they all tended to generate revenue through donations and through the sale of books, incense, suntan lotion and other items produced by two Iskcon-owned enterprises. Iskcons growing revenue during this period fueled its ambitious expansion and outreach efforts.

In the early 1970s, Mr. Siegel spent several years in India, supervising the construction of an Iskcon temple in Vrindavan, a holy town in northern India that was reputedly the birthplace of Lord Krishna. Even as Iskcons fortunes grew, life in the ashrams remained austere. Devotees ate simple vegetarian meals. They owned few possessions beyond their clothing, prayer beads and musical instruments.
What I do is go into the home and help on the nonmedical side, she said. I assess whats going on.

At the Feldmans apartment, she said, The first thing I saw was that Mr. Feldman had no clear path to get around. I saw there were markings on the wall where the scooter would bang into it. Mail had piled up on the dining room table, and there were concerns that bills were not being paid. And even though Mrs. Feldmans mobility was good, she had to step over piles of newspapers to squeeze into a chair. Ms. Ginsberg duly noted and recorded it all, telling Dave Feldman, Weve got to fix this.

Karen Barlow, an aging-in-place specialist in San Antonio, had the same critical eye during her initial visit to a clients abode. We assess the home, starting from the entrance, Ms. Barlow said. If there are several stairs or a transition, a person whos on a walker is not going to be able to get over that. We can level out the entrance.

Inside, she said, Im looking at their furniture. The stuff theyve had the last 20 years might not accommodate them now. So maybe they get new chairs that have a firmer cushion so they dont just sink in, making it harder to get up. Throw rugs can be slipped on, so Ms. Barlow usually recommends removing them, and grab bars are often added in the bathroom.

Ms. Barlow generally charges $300 for such an assessment, which she said typically takes two hours, and then bills her clients at about $45 an hour to manage the project.

Ms. Ginsberg, who typically charges $100 an hour, said that despite some of the problems she had observed, the Feldmans apartment was far better than some situations she had seen in her five years in the business.

In one case, she said, a client was huddled in a coat on a mild day, sitting next to space heaters, with wires crisscrossing the floor. She told me she had a boiler problem five years ago and had never turned it back on, Ms. Ginsberg said. She said she hadnt even been down in the basement since then.
William Seavey, 69, does not fret about paying future medical expenses. He and his wife, Eleanor, are healthy. And they both have Medicare and Medigap policies, which can help pay many health costs. So they have not put any money aside in a medical savings account.

If they do need cash, said Mr. Seavey, they can sell one of their three homes. Or they can go to Mexico for cheaper medical treatment.

My folks ended up in nursing homes, said Mr. Seavey, who is semiretired and runs a bed-and-breakfast in Cambria, Calif. But I dont want to spend a lot of money on medical issues when we may not need it.

Various studies show that people in or nearing retirement have not saved nearly enough for medical expenses, which rise substantially with age. Medicare, by itself, covers only about 60 percent of medical expenses. And Medigap, which is supposed to pay for what is left, does not cover expenses such as long-term care, in-home nursing or hearing aids.
The Battle of Versailles, the 1973 showdown between five French design houses (Yves Saint Laurent, Hubert de Givenchy, Emanuel Ungaro, Pierre Cardin and Christian Dior) and their American counterparts (Halston, Oscar de la Renta, Bill Blass, Stephen Burrows and Anne Klein), which is credited with putting American fashion on the international map, has long been a topic of fascination for the style world.

A 2015 book, The Battle of Versailles, by the Washington Post fashion critic Robin Givhan, and a 2012 documentary, Versailles 73, tried to crystallize its significance.

The latest entrant is a documentary called (surprise!) Battle at Versailles. Produced by M2M, the new fashion TV channel from WME/IMG, the film had its premiere amid much drumbeating (and at least a few snickers, since most of the fashion world was not in New York at the time, but rather at Paris Fashion Week) before an audience of about 500 at the Paris Theater in New York on Thursday night. It will be available on Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV and other platforms Sunday.
That had been my life for the last few weeks: looking at the list of favorite contacts in my phone, now only two names instead of three; seeing the smudges of Blu Tack on the wall where photos of us had been; touching the place in my bedside drawer where I used to keep his letters.

But the Triumph Bonneville had been the most acute reminder. I hadnt ridden it since things ended with my partner. Every time I passed it parked on the street, the engine accumulating yellow leaves, I would think of our glorious summer together, riding 5,500 miles across the country on two Triumphs.

After a year of hard work, never-long-enough visits and long-distance phone calls from opposite coasts, we decided to go on an adventure together. We took the long way: five weeks, 15 states and a slice of Canada. I thought it would be the first of many exploits, but a few months later it turned out to be the last.

When I started riding seven years ago, at 21, motorcycles meant autonomy. And when I found a partner to ride with, they began to hold the additional promise of kinship and collaboration. But after he and I broke up, I avoided walking past the Bonneville, going out of my way to not see it sitting there, looking back at me with its blank headlamp.

Eventually, I had to move the bike to make way for the leaf sweepers, and that was the day I realized someone had ripped away a piece of wiring and stolen a spark plug cap. As much as I wanted to continue ignoring it, the motorcycle had to go somewhere, so I had it towed to this shop. A few days later, a friend dropped me off so I could ride it home.
To an extent, the celebrity visited on an artist who died nearly three decades ago can be chalked up to his having documented inhabitants of a New York that has all but vanished. For me, Hujar has always been the huge romantic figure from the period, the embodiment of New York when it was truly bohemian, said Mr. Ervell, 36. My generation and people in the generations younger than me look at the period as an extremely authentic time. In my imagination, Hujars images were of true bohemians living in a New York that has no room for that kind of life anymore.

It was the New York, as the critic and curator Vince Aletti (and Hujar subject) noted in an interview, of Charles Ludlams Theater of the Ridiculous, the Cockettes, the Fillmore East, the Fun Gallery, the back room at Maxs Kansas City, the Tenth Floor, Fire Island Pines and of such barely imaginable phenomena as disco and cruising. Downtown felt full of possibilities, Mr. Aletti said. You didnt have to be rich or pretty, though it helped if you could dance.

Handsome, perennially broke, the product of a troubled family (The high road to Peters A-list was to have been an abused child, said Mr. Koch, the archive director), Mr. Hujar lived for much of his adult life in a quasi-legal loft on lower Second Avenue rented for $200 a month.

Like another former inhabitant of that same loft, the Warhol superstar Jackie Curtis, he often went without heat and disposed of his household garbage in public trash cans. Peter was so poor, he washed his jeans in the sink, said Cynthia Carr, biographer of Hujars lover Mr. Wojnarowicz. And he dried them on the radiator.

Still, as Mr. Aletti noted in an essay accompanying the Kasmin show, Hujar rarely missed an evenings screening, concert, dance performance, press party, nightclub opening or tour of the baths. He was a walker in a city Mr. White characterized as far more intimate  or, at least, less strictly stratified  than the one we now inhabit.
RE: N.Y.P.D.

Saki Knafo detailed the struggle of Edwin Raymond, an N.Y.P.D. officer who thought he could change the department from the inside but instead became the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit brought by 12 minority officers contending that racially based arrest quotas have persisted throughout the department.

What a well-written and riveting article about Edwin Raymond. Thank you for telling his story and shedding light on what he is trying to do. I found myself enthralled, impressed and furious all at the same time. Raymond is brave and driven; we need more men and women like him serving our city. Its a shame the N.Y.P.D. is caught in its own backward ways and is not more willing to champion change, especially as we continue to see the stressed and violent relationship between the police and citizens across this country. I hope Edwin Raymond will prevail and that his story inspires others to speak the truth and champion their cause in the hope of making New York City, and this country, a better place. Hannah Grace Miles, New York

As racial relations continue to be at the forefront of discussion over police interaction with members of the community, it is imperative to acknowledge accountability on both ends. The police departments approach to building trust among black and Hispanic New Yorkers by recruiting more minority police officers is offensive and does not address the underlying issues.
The collage artist Ruth Jacobsen, 83, and the handbag designer Judith Leiber, 95, both Holocaust survivors, have relied on the creative process and a strong-willed entrepreneurial spirit to reclaim their lives and break glass ceilings for women in the United States.

For decades, Ms. Jacobsen kept a family photo album unopened in her closet. A neighbor and member of the Dutch resistance had risked his life to creep back into her Nazi-occupied house in Oud-Zuilen, the Netherlands, to save it. He later presented the album to her as a surprise gift after the war.

She didnt open it for 40 years.

In the United States, she became a textile artist, and her art focused on the oppressed and voiceless, without referring to her own history.

I was afraid to remember everything that took place,  Ms. Jacobsen said in a recent interview at her house in Southampton, N.Y. At age 60, she finally opened the album. Painful memories flooded back and, to resolve her trauma, she began tearing the photos in the album to create collages.
We want guests engaged in different types of food on the table and have a conversation, so you get off your phone and engage with your own group, Mr. Farro said.

Image Duck hearts with caramelized onion wontons, stir-fried arugula and walnuts. Credit... Bryan Anselm for The New York Times

Small plates take up about half the menu at INC, which opened last February in the space vacated by Daryl Wine Bar. Mr. Anderson tends to favor Asian flavors and ingredients, as we saw with the General Tsos cauliflower, in which the lightly battered vegetable is mixed in a spicy and not-that-sweet homemade sauce and covered in sesame seeds. As a meal, it would be monotonous, but when sampled, in our case, between bites of duck hearts and an oxtail marmalade, the cauliflower became a worthy accompaniment.

The duck hearts were tender and earthy, and they paired well with the onion wontons and a duck and prosciutto jelly. The oxtail marmalade was sweet, but balance was achieved when it was spread on grilled bread with a whipped lardo from Duroc swine.

Had we asked our server that night if the three small dishes complemented one other, he might have offered a soliloquy about the attributes of each and why they might taste good together, as our server did during our second visit. When we ordered the pork and cornbread sausage along with a special of plantain chips, she told us how well she thought they would pair, because the sausage had black beans and the plantains were a little spicy.

Normally that would have set my teeth on edge, but she spoke in a friendly, low-key tone that put us at ease. In fact, both nights, the staffs engaging manner made for a more relaxing experience, which was Mr. Farros goal. Every server should have a library of what they love and are passionate about, he said. Its their restaurant, too. By the way, our server was right.
Vespa in Italian means wasp or hornet, both of which suggest a buzz. Certainly a buzz exists at the newish Vespa restaurant in Westport, with its stylish decor, farm-to-table cuisine and genial atmosphere. And, at least when I visited, there wasnt a single Vespa, an Italian motor scooter, parked outside.

After my visits there, I asked Bobby Werhane, the owner, how he came up with the name. I really wanted a modern take on traditional rustic Italian fare, he said, adding he also liked the sound of Vespa. What we are doing has a contemporary riff to it.

That modern riff is noticeable in Vespas spicy lumache  al dente snail-shaped pasta, embedded with broccoli rabe, red peppery tomato sauce, hot Italian sausage bits, charred fennel spears and sourdough breadcrumbs. It was delicious, as were all the house-made pastas we tried.

Image Fluke piccata served with artichokes, lemon capers and spinach. Credit... Lisa Wiltse for The New York Times

Two companions and I began one dinner with polpette, designed to be shared, and a starter of beef carpaccio. The polpette arrived on an oblong wooden board (as did many dishes): five small meatballs with dollops of gently spiced pomodoro sauce, riding herd on a saddle of wondrously creamy polenta. The beef carpaccio was hidden beneath a forest of arugula. Until then, I had never seen beef sliced so thin that it hugged the plate. Yet, what I could scrape off was first rate.
Ever since Cain and Abel, many stories have been told about brothers who do not get along. A variation on this eternal theme is currently being presented by the Two River Theater in Red Bank in the United States premiere of Ropes.

Written by Barbara Colio, a Mexican playwright, and translated into English by Maria Alexandria Beech, the drama involves three brothers bound uneasily together by their distant ties to a father who deserted them as children to become a celebrated tightrope walker.

Having had no contact with him for many years, the brothers are suddenly summoned by their father to travel to a faraway country to witness his final performance before retiring.

Composed in laconic dialogue as an 80-minute series of brief scenes, the play begins at an airport as the three men, now in their 30s, await their flight. They are traveling first-class thanks to the largess of Presley (Luis Moreno), the eldest, who has achieved success in the construction business.
The chef at Fish on Main is John Brill, who last cooked at Jack Halyards in Oyster Bay. He has brought with him some of his favorite New Orleans-inspired dishes, like penne jambalaya. A knockout bayou swordfish, snowy white and topped with a crawfish hollandaise, was set over dirty rice with andouille sausage, smoked chicken and scallions.

One of our favorite appetizers was a crisp tuna flatbread with slices of rare fish, cucumber, pickled ginger, edamame and avocado hummus. Also worthy was the grilled octopus atop a frisee salad with chorizo and thin slices of fennel and celery, and a creamy-rich New England clam chowder. The mussels got mixed reactions; they were small, but the white sauce served with them was delicious.

Salads, too, had their ups and downs. The Caesar was timidly dressed and far from classic, with shards of radicchio in the mix. Two specials were better: a frisee with red and yellow beets, and a shrimp salad tossed with cucumber, red onion, and red, yellow and green cherry tomatoes. Most salads were huge and could easily be shared.

Image A tuna flatbread with slices of rare fish, cucumber, pickled ginger, edamame and avocado hummus. Credit... Kathy Kmonicek for The New York Times

There were four meat dishes on the menu, but at a place called Fish on Main, it seemed prudent to stick with seafood. At the bottom of the menu was a section called Simply Grilled. We tried the jumbo shrimp and were rewarded with four of them, fresh, firm and served in a memorable lemon-butter sauce. We liked the lightly grilled whole branzino, but its white balsamic vinaigrette was scant. The fish would have benefited from the lemon-butter sauce from the shrimp dish.
ON Labor Day in 1960, John F. Kennedy kicked off the final push of his presidential campaign in Cadillac Square in Detroit with a rousing speech to thousands of United Auto Workers members. It was a nod to the immense clout of organized labor.

Those days are long gone. Today about 11 percent of American workers belong to unions, down from 31 percent in Kennedys day. And that powerful autoworkers union? Its membership has plummeted to 400,000 from a peak of 1.5 million in 1979. The declines have been particularly steep in former strongholds like Michigan, which holds its primary on Tuesday, as well as Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin and other Rust Belt states that will hold primaries in the coming month.

With its shrinking ranks, organized labor, which tilts strongly Democratic, was already struggling to compete with Republican-leaning super PACs financed by wealthy conservatives like the Koch brothers, who have vowed with their allies to spend $889 million on this election. Now the labor movement is being buffeted by another force: Donald J. Trump, whose attacks on trade deals, illegal immigrants, Chinese imports and the shifting of jobs overseas are winning over white, blue-collar workers.

Can a weakened labor movement still provide the money, voters and get-out-the-vote muscle to elect the Democratic nominee in crucial swing states, as it has in the past?
Jessica Hechts secret vice  although it isnt much of a vice and now, of course, it will no longer be a secret  involves standing at the kitchen window of her Midtown co-op and checking in on the strangers who live across the street.

Theres a feeling of old New York about peering into other peoples apartments, this sense that were all sort of a community, that we all have the same routine. Thats very comforting, said Ms. Hecht, 50, who plays Tevyes wife in the Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof, but who is undoubtably better known as the wife of Rosss ex-wife on Friends.

If youre having a bad day, you see that everybody has trouble with their kids, she continued. You see someone talking. You see someone crying. You see a husband touching his wifes head, and you think, What a nice couple. What a lovely couple. 

The very winsome Ms. Hecht and her husband, Adam Bernstein, a television and film director, are emigres from Hells Kitchen, where for a decade they lived in a loft in the mid-West 50s. We bought when Hells Kitchen wasnt quite happening yet, and it was great, but we decided that having all that open space wasnt so good as our children were approaching their teen years, Ms. Hecht said of Stella, now 16, and Carlo, 14. We came to a point where we decided we had to make it less loft-like and have actual rooms, or look for a new place.
Its hard to tell what is original and what has been created, which is partly the point  Baciocchi doesnt care for historical renovation per se. He prefers to amplify the ancient while seamlessly juxtaposing it with the new and repurposed. The rough plaster walls and many of the built-in armoires are adorned with towering geometric shapes that recall Ellsworth Kelly; a stairwell is covered with bark painstakingly harvested from 300-year-old pine trees. He has embedded a tiny piece of cork in a centuries-old stone wall in case the glass door of a nearby china cabinet is opened too roughly.

You see this? he says, rubbing his hand against it lovingly. Come feel. It is in the perfect place to protect the glass from shattering. This is what it is all about, the almost invisible touches.

Another thing his homes are about: velvet. The fabric is one of the few elements that seem to reference the Prada stores, where he has often covered the sleek seating in a lime hue  a tangy burst of color against the polished black-and-white checkerboard marble floors. In Tuscany, amid Mod plastic rolling carts, ancient candle snuffers and midcentury pottery, there are down-filled sofas covered in salmon and citrine cloth. A thin railing for one of the many sets of steep stairs is upholstered in unexpectedly soft and squishy chocolate, and a huge Baroque-era table has been entirely swathed in lemon velvet, including its turned legs, as though behind one of the doors is a liquid vat of the stuff in which it might have been dipped.
The Bathroom

The spacious bathroom, clad in beige marble, had a double vanity, heated floors and a floor-to-ceiling mirror on one wall. A large glassed-in shower, with a bench, had rainfall and hand-held shower heads with powerful water pressure. There was also an extra-long bathtub, a toilet and bidet, plus plenty of towels and a terry-cloth robe.

Amenities

These included free Wi-Fi, bottled water, a large box of chocolates and coffee in the room. The Shiseido Spa Milan is on the sixth and seventh floors. A collaboration with the Japanese beauty brand Shiseido, the spa is one of the citys largest at more than 10,000 square feet and boasts an indoor pool, Jacuzzi, 24-hour gym, and a series of saunas, treatment and relaxation rooms gussied up with neon lights and unusual elements like shimmering gold paneling. Access is free for guests.

Dining

The first-floor Gallia Restaurant starts the day with a breakfast buffet augmented by a chef station, while the neighboring Gallia Lounge & Bar offers coffee and light meals all day. On the seventh floor is a new restaurant and bar (not yet open during my visit) called the Terrazza Gallia, which serves trendy cocktails and inventive Italian fare alongside panoramic views. Room service is available around the clock and my breakfast order, which arrived in less than 20 minutes, included granola with natural yogurt (9); a delicious white omelet with mozzarella, cherry tomatoes and basil (12); and a basket of pastries including two chocolate-filled cornetti (10).

Bottom Line

The Excelsior Hotel Gallia excels in a brand of luxury that lacks personality, but delivers on convenience and comfort.

Ingrid K. Williams
Once in a while I let myself think about what Ive given up. Casey and I decided not to have children, but I feel like a mother to my parents.

I value the incredible intimacy I get to share with them. When I was a teenager, my mother was pretty critical; she ignored me for days at a time. I think she was overwhelmed by motherhood.

Now, this role that we share, its changed the dynamic, the history of our relationship. However many years down the line, looking back, Ill think of the moments of tenderness I shared with her, every single day.

There was a point in May of 2013  wed been here two and a half years  when we had plans to move my parents into a facility. We were going to do a respite stay, and if they fit in, if it went well, wed sell the house.

We did everything we could  we brought couches and furniture from their bedroom  to make the place feel homelike. But it wasnt home. For my dad, it lasted three days. He started having panic attacks, to the point where he was throwing up.

He was still with it enough to call us. I remember getting a message from him, weeping. Its Daddy. Please, me and Mom want to come home.

Everybody, including his doctor, said, You have to leave him, you have to let him adjust. I couldnt do it. I would never judge the people who do, but I couldnt.

Theyve been here 40 years. All my dad ever wanted was this home. Who am I, if I take my dad from his home?
Cities submerged, buildings collapsed, homes torn apart  the disaster film has long been one of Americas more popular genres. For some reason, moviegoers in this country have had a continued fascination with their worst nightmares coming true onscreen. Now, Norway is getting in on cinematic catastrophe.

The Wave, opening March 4, claims to be the first Scandinavian film to tackle the genre. Directed by Roar Uthaug, it is set in Geiranger, an actual picturesque village under threat from a long-unstable mountain, Akerneset. If the mountain collapses into the fjord, it could cause a tsunami that would destroy Geiranger. The Wave, of course, delivers on that possibility, but Mr. Uthaug said he wanted to set his film apart from the typical disaster movie.

What was most important to me was to create characters you care about, he said in a phone interview from Oslo. A lot of movies in this genre have all the spectacle, but youre not necessarily all that invested in the characters. I wanted to make sure we took our time to get to know the people.

Perhaps, but still, you must have that wave.

Mr. Uthaug said he grew up watching American disaster movies, and despite the different approach he took, his film does borrow from what you could call the disaster movie playbook. And in a perfect storm of timing, a musical now on Broadway, Disaster!, spoofs the genre using some of these familiar elements. Heres a look at the most prominent elements of the playbook.

Read The Times review of The Wave.
A former supervisor with U.S. Customs and Border Protection from San Juan Capistrano who conspired with his ex-wife to smuggle goods into the United States in exchange for bribes has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison.

Sam Herbert Allen Jr., 54, was sentenced Monday in Los Angeles by U.S. District Court Judge Dean D. Pregerson, who also ordered him to pay $781,632 in restitution to compensate the United States for duties that were not paid on the smuggled goods.

Allen pleaded guilty in February 2015 to conspiring to defraud the United States by deceitful and dishonest means, Thom Mrozek, a U.S. Attorneys Office spokesman, said in a statement.

According to the plea agreement, Allen was a supervisor over the examination and release of international cargo that arrived at Foreign Trade Zones. FTZs are privately operated warehouses that perform customs functions under the supervision of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Mrozek said.

Foreign Trade Zones are considered to be outside the United States, and if goods brought to them are bound for another country, those goods are not subject to duties and taxes that would be required if the items were entering the United States, Mrozek said.

Allen and his ex-wife, Wei Julia Lai, agreed to smuggle shipments of clothing into the U.S. through a Foreign Trade Zone operated by Lai, Mrozek said.

In exchange for allowing shipments to go through by promising to alter a Customs and Border Patrol database to falsely show that the clothing had been exported to Mexico, Lai paid Allen bribes of $2,000 per shipping container, Mrozek said.

Allen received about $100,000 in bribe payments from Lai over the course of several months in 2009 and 2010.

Lai previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy and money laundering, and she is scheduled to be sentenced by Pregerson on March 31. Several other defendants charged in the case also pleaded guilty and received sentences that ranged from nine to 15 months in federal prison.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7767 sschwebke@ocregister Twitter: @thechalkoutline
As we previously observed about the Ku Klux Klans momentary appearance Saturday in Anaheim that immediately erupted into a violent confrontation with counterprotesters, the KKK and its hateful speech do not belong, and certainly are not welcome, in Orange County. And while we abhor such objectionable and offensive viewpoints, physical assault is not the way to dissipate a vile ideology.

Understandably angry counterprotesters met a carful of KKK members with intensity at Pearson Park in Anaheim. Unfortunately, allowing the event to degrade into a melee is the kind of response that feeds into the advocacy of hate.

The Klan and other reprehensible groups have First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and peaceably to assemble. And attempting to silence them through violence does little to combat their ideology. As civil libertarian H.L. Mencken wrote, Every censorship, however good its intent, degenerates inevitably into tyranny. Mencken himself was no stranger to censorship. In 1926, The American Mercury magazine, which he edited, was banned in Boston, leading to his arrest, though he was exonerated on all charges.

It also is a strong American tradition that the way to deal with objectionable ideas is not to censor them or cover them up, allowing them to fester, but to shine a disinfecting light on them so they can be refuted and eventually eliminated.

As to the Anaheim Klan rally, the pertinent U.S. Supreme Court case involves neo-Nazis in 1977  National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie. In the city of Skokie, Ill., of 70,000 residents, 40,000 were Jewish, and among them were thousands who survived detention in Nazi concentration camps, according to the Oyez website of the Kent College of Law.

In a development similar to what happened in Anaheim, the Nazis informed the city that about 30-50 of them were going to march, while a counterprotest of as many as 15,000 was expected. When the Village of Skokie asked for a preliminary injunction before a federal district court in Chicago, witnesses testified the appearance of Nazi demonstrators could well lead to violence.

Defended by the ACLU, which, ironically, cited cases from civil rights protests of the 1960s, the Nazis case went to the Supreme Court, which held in its favor. It wrote, If a state seeks to impose an injunction in violation of First Amendment rights, it must provide strict procedural safeguards, including immediate appellate review. Absent such review, a stay must be granted.

The ideology of the KKK has no place in Anaheim, Orange County or anywhere, for that matter. But violent assaults and censorship will not rid us of hateful world views  confronting and refuting them will.
Today we pick up where we left off last week in the story of longtime well-known Orange County surfer and artist Ken Auster.

In 1983, Auster met Paulette Martinson. They were introduced through a mutual friend and Auster hired her to watch his booth at the Sawdust Festival while he delivered the world tour ring he had designed for the infamous rock band Van Halen at an event in Oklahoma.

Upon returning, he took Martinson to Disneyland for her birthday and that is when he fell in love. He encouraged her in her artwork and the two of them traveled and painted together. After 18 years and 10 months of asking Martinson to marry him, she finally agreed and the couple wed on May 26, 2003 on a cliff overlooking the ocean in Santa Barbara.

Austers artwork during the 70s and 80s was focused on graphic design, menu design and surf logos. Capitalizing on his intellectual property, he sold designs to restaurants including Southern California favorites, The Chart House, Canons Restaurant, Playa Grill, Margarita Bar, Paradise Bakeries and more than 900 Ruby Tuesdays.

Later in his career he also designed for several of the Rockefeller resorts throughout the Caribbean and British Virgin Islands.

Auster began painting plein-air art in the mid-1990s. While his wife was away at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena working on her bachelors of Fine Arts in Illustration, Auster joined a group of buddies to paint outside, using oils instead of his usual mediums. He took to it right away, and seized any and all opportunities to paint scenes including cafes, surfing, cities, cars and coastlines. He would spend hours honing his skill.

After some 200 paintings, he took his work to San Francisco and showed it to a few galleries. His first showing was at the Thomas Reynolds Gallery, and the show sold out. During the height of the plein-air painting renaissance, he won top prizes from all the plein-air events, which led him to the New Masters Gallery in Carmel, the second home for his work.

He never veered far from his first passion, surfing and the beautiful scenes of Californias coast.

He also loved a play on words and often named his paintings using that approach. He painted Diamond Gridlock, Chasing Winds, and Palm Surf, just to name a few. He also captured some of the most prominent names in surfing, including people like Phil Edwards and Greg Noll.

He used to say, You know when you go on a vacation (prior to digital photography) and get your pictures back and look at them and are disappointed. You say, it didnt look like this. It was so much better. I try to capture the feeling of being there, the smell of the ocean, roasting marshmallows on sticks over the fire.

Thus, when he screen printed some of his early surfing serigraphs he named them Winter Warming (surfers standing around the fire pit warming their hands), September Swell (a large wave in the background with spray coming off the lip of a wave and a lone surfer standing on the beach) and Mexican Vacation (a broken-down VW bus on the side of the road with three surfers and a flat tire).

Been there, done that.

Over the years, Auster had countless showings all over the world and won several awards, including the coveted Best in Show at the 2000 & 2002 Laguna Beach Plein Air Painting Invitational. In 2014 he was recognized with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Laguna Plein Air Painters Association.

This year, the Laguna Beach Alliance for the Arts will honor and remember him with a special Art Stars Award for Lifetime Achievement in recognition of his accomplishments as an artist and an inspiring teacher who had profound impact on the arts community.

PleinAir Magazine will also be honoring Auster with their 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award.

With thanks to two contributors: longtime mutual friend John Bernards and his daughter Kori
WASHINGTON  For Lee Juan Tyler, shooting a grizzly bear would be just as unthinkable as killing a member of his family.

Its a sacred animal, our brother, our sister. It would be like going out there and murdering, said Tyler, vice chairman of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes in Fort Hall, Idaho.

On Thursday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed removing the grizzly bear from the federal endangered species list, allowing the states of Idaho, Wyoming and Montana to manage the bears and allow hunting.

Nearly 40 tribes in Western states are counting on President Barack Obama to intervene.

As the fight heats up, tribal officials say they may hold the ultimate trump card: a president in the White House whom they consider to be one of their own.

That would be Barack Black Eagle, the adopted son of a Crow Tribe family in southern Montana.

As a freshman senator campaigning for president in May 2008, Obama made a stop on the Crow Indian Reservation, where he became part of a new family. Hartford and Mary Black Eagle adopted him as their son during a private traditional Native American ceremony, giving him the new name and making him an honorary tribal member.

Since then, tribal leaders say theyve never had a better friend in the White House.

Obama has advocated for Indian ways more than any other president of the United States, Tyler said last week when he attended the National Congress of American Indians annual legislative summit in Washington, D.C. You cant take that away from him.

The long-running battle over the grizzly pits tribes and environmental groups against ranchers and state officials who argue that there are too many bears in the Yellowstone region and they constitute a threat to public safety.

On Thursday, the Fish and Wildlife Service said the recovery of the grizzly bear in the Yellowstone region stands as one of Americas great conservation successes, with the population rising from as few as 136 bears in 1975 to an estimated 700 or more today.

The recovery of the Yellowstone grizzly bear represents a historic success for partnership-driven wildlife conservation under the Endangered Species Act, said Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe.

Mike Keckler, spokesman for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game in Boise, said the delisting is long overdue.

We have a very healthy population, and it is time for the bear population to be turned over to the states  Idaho, Wyoming and Montana  for management.

High-profile bear attacks in the past year have heightened the concern.

Last August, a 63-year-old Billings, Mont., man died after he was attacked by a female grizzly while hiking at Yellowstone National Park. The bear, which had eaten much of the mans body, was euthanized.

In another case that attracted widespread attention last summer, a rancher from Island Park, Idaho, complained that he had lost 14 of his cows to grizzly bears in the past four years.

Wildlife experts are trying to determine whats causing more grizzlies to roam closer to people and farms. One theory is that food sources have shifted, with bears looking for more meat as theyve lost access to seeds from whitebark pine trees, which grow in high elevations and have been decimated in recent years by outbreaks of pine beetles and blister rust.

Its a very big deal, said Bonnie Rice, a senior representative for the Sierra Club who works on wildlife issues in the Yellowstone and Northern Rockies region. If bears are delisted, theyd still have some protection in the national parks, but once they go outside the parks they are going to be completely at the mercy of hostile state management policies. . And they go outside the parks  they dont understand those arbitrary political boundaries.

The two sides disagree on how many bears are roaming free in the Yellowstone ecosystem, which encompasses 19,000 square miles in three states.

Last year, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game estimated the number of bears in the Yellowstone region at 1,150 and said the rising population had exceeded all recovery goals.

Rice said the department was using an inflated number, citing the official 2015 estimate of 717 bears in a report from the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team, a group of scientists and biologists who monitor the population.

In 2007, the federal government removed the grizzly from the federal endangered list, but the delisting was short-lived. Two years later, a federal judge reversed the decision, saying the government had underestimated the effect of a dwindling food supply due to climate change and the loss of whitebark pine trees.

Since then, state officials have pressed their case hard.
MORA, Cameroon  At first, the attack had all the hallmarks of a typical Boko Haram assault. Armed fighters stormed a town on the border with Nigeria, shooting every man they saw.

But this time, instead of burning homes and abducting hostages, the fighters gathered cows, goats and any kind of food they could round up, then fled with it all.

Boko Haram, the Islamist group terrorizing this part of the world, is on the hunt  for food.

After rampaging across the region for years, forcing more than 2 million people to flee their homes and farms, Boko Haram appears to be falling victim to a major food crisis of its own creation.

Farmers have fled, leaving behind fallow fields. Herdsmen have rerouted cattle drives to avoid the violence. Throughout the region, entire villages have emptied, leaving a string of ghost towns with few people for Boko Harm to dominate  and little for the group to plunder.

They need food. They need to eat, Midjiyawa Bakari, the governor of the Far North region of Cameroon, said of Boko Haram. Theyre stealing everything.

Across parts of northeastern Nigeria and border regions like the Far North, trade has come to a halt and tens of thousands of people are on the brink of famine, U.N. officials say. Markets have shut down because vendors have nothing to sell, and even if they did, many buyers have been scared off by the suicide bombers Boko Haram sends into crowds.

The hunt for food appears to be part of what is pushing Boko Haram deeper into Cameroon, according to a U.S. State Department review of attacks in the first few weeks of this year.

They started shooting, shooting, shooting, said Matte Bama, recounting the night Boko Haram raided her town, Amchide. Now she shares a house with 23 others, wondering when she can return home. They took our livestock, she said. They took everything and they left.

Such attacks are becoming increasingly common in the areas bordering Boko Harams base in northeastern Nigeria. A military campaign by Nigeria and its neighbors has chased fighters from villages they once controlled. Now, officials contend, the militants are left to scrounge for food in the sparse Sambisa Forest during the dry season, or go out raiding for whatever they can find.

Their supply routes are blocked, said Brig. Gen. Rabe Abubakar, a Nigerian military spokesman. Theyre hungry.

This week, dozens of emaciated Boko Haram fighters, along with captive women and children, surrendered to military officials in Nigeria, a situation the authorities expect to repeat itself in coming weeks.

They have nowhere to go, Abubakar said.

But while some elements of Boko Haram may be battered, fighters still manage to carry out devastating attacks, the results of which are on full display at the hospital in Maroua, the capital of the Far North. Shrapnel and burn victims from recent attacks across various towns recuperate together. One young woman lay in a coma, her hair arranged in perfect skinny braids.

Until last summer, when the suicide attacks in Cameroons Far North began, the most common ailments at the hospital were stomach trouble and motorbike mishaps. It didnt even have a surgeon. Doctors Without Borders arrived to set up a large triage tent, and in January, a team from the Health Ministry flew in to train workers in treating war wounds. Now the hospital has been converted into a conflict zone clinic, with a full-time surgeon and more to come.

Recent joint operations by the Cameroonian and Nigerian militaries have captured and killed numerous fighters and seized suicide belts, weapons and equipment for making mines. Officials hope to squeeze the fighters from both sides of the border so they have nowhere left to run.

But the multinational military force  which includes Chad, Niger and the U.S. military in an advisory role  sometimes has trouble securing territory once it is cleared.

In Cameroon, soldiers drove Boko Haram fighters from the border town of Kerawa in October, but it has since been assaulted at least six times, with militants beheading a young man in one attack. Early last month, a suicide bomber entered Kerawa and blew himself up behind a house, killing a tailor. According to a State Department report on the episode, the bomber had been looking for a large group of people to kill, but after all the attacks in the town, the streets were empty.

The mass displacement caused by Boko Haram  and by the sometimes indiscriminate military campaign to defeat it  has left 1.4 million people in the region without adequate food supplies, the United Nations says. In Borno state in northeastern Nigeria, where the situation is the most acute, humanitarian workers say that 50,000 people are one step away from famine. Along the Chadian border, farmers typically trade their pepper crops for imported cereals and grains. But the pepper fields have been abandoned and there is little left to trade.

Were looking at a large-scale crisis in very remote areas, said Denise Brown, the West and Central Africa regional director for the World Food Programme. This is not a today problem. This is a tomorrow problem and a next year problem unless its contained, and I dont see it coming to a halt soon.

In the Far North of Cameroon, this time of year is a moonscape of bone-dry river beds and clouds of dust so thick they look like misty fog. The region is moving into the lean season, the in-between months when the fruits of the previous harvest are being depleted and next years crop is not yet ready.

Last years harvest was already smaller than usual because of low rainfall. Water tables are low, and worries are mounting about an adequate supply of drinking water, especially at the refugee camp here that has new arrivals daily.

The food crisis is part of broader economic devastation in the area, adding to the burdens on Cameroon at a time when it is hosting thousands of refugees fleeing a religious war in nearby Central African Republic.

The flood of Nigerian refugees into Cameroon is creating hard feelings. Even a religious leader who attends births and marriages in the Minawao Refugee Camp said the refugees needed to go home.

The United Nations accused Cameroon of sending tens of thousands of refugees back to Nigeria at the end of last year. The government has since said it would involve the United Nations in any plans involving the refugees return.

They have lost everything, said Najat Rochdi, a U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Yaounde, the capital. We cannot throw them back to unsafety.
SACRAMENTO  Gov. Jerry Brown flew to the Vatican on a private jet last year, but he did not include the excursion in a list of gifts he must disclose because the plane belongs to a personal friend, billionaire real-estate developer George Marcus.

The Democratic governor reported this week he accepted $22,000 worth of dinner and travel in 2015, including $16,000 to attend the U.N. Conference on Climate Change in Paris, paid for by a privately run donor fund and an environmental group.

State law requires elected officials to file an annual statement of gifts they receive that are worth $50 or more to identify potential conflicts of interest. Typically, a private flight paid for by someone else would be reported.

Brown spokesman Evan Westrup said the flight to the Vatican and a subsequent vacation in Italy with Marcus and his wife fall under an exemption for reporting gifts from longtime, close friends who are not lobbyists and have no interests pending a decision by the politician.

The two have been friends for decades, Westrup wrote in an emailed statement.

Brown signed the Political Reform Act into law as governor in 1974, establishing the Fair Political Practices Commission. Its rules say officials are not required to disclose payments or gifts from anyone with whom the official has a long term, close personal friendship unrelated to the officials position with the agency.

The Sacramento Bee reported last summer that Brown took the private flight to Italy to attend official business, but he and his wife, Anne Gust Brown, also took a personal holiday with Marcus and his wife after the conference.

Marcus has contributed about $2.5 million to California political issues since 2002, including at least $110,000 to Browns campaigns for attorney general and governor.

Bob Stern, who helped Brown create the Fair Political Practices Commission then served as its first general counsel, said he was surprised and disappointed Brown did not disclose the trip.

If I were advising the governor, I would say disclose anyway, Stern said. This wasnt like exchanging dinners or anything. It was a major gift.

Stern said its up to politicians to differentiate between inconsequential gifts between friends and substantial contributions, like a trip across the globe, which could have meaning to voters.

The real question, of course, is what other friends have given him rides on private jets, he said. The problem is we dont know what we dont know.

Dan Schnur, chairman of the Fair Political Practices Commission in 2010, said politicians have wealthy friends and the gift exemption for people with real relationships is used often. This one may be much larger in scale than most, but its a fairly common occurrence, Schnur said.

Fair Political Practices Commission rules do not specify what qualifies as a friendship. Commission Chairwoman Jodi Remke said she is open to considering revisions in the gift policies.

With 20-plus regulations defining what is or is not a gift, its obviously an area that could be simplified, she said in an emailed statement.

At the Vatican, Brown spoke at a summit on climate change hosted by Pope Francis, which drew worldwide attention and came as California lawmakers were debating Browns proposal to boost the states use of renewable energy.

Westrup and Executive Secretary Nancy McFadden accompanied Brown to Italy. Westrup said he took a commercial flight to the conference and McFadden joined the Browns on the private plane.

Shes been a long term, close personal friend of the Marcus family and, given that, there would be no reason to report it, Westrup said. No taxpayer dollars were spent on these flights.

Staff members have until April 1 to report their own 2015 gifts.

Marcus co-founded one of one of the nations top commercial real estate agencies, Marcus and Millichap Inc., and is worth about $1.9 billion, according to a 2015 Bloomberg report .

Since 2011, Marcus has contributed about $5 million to political action committees primarily supporting Democratic candidates for Congress, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.

George Marcus, his wife Judy Marcus, and the company do not appear in California lobbying reports dating to 1999.
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras  Honduran indigenous leader Berta Caceres, who won the 2015 Goldman Environmental Prize for her role in fighting a dam project, was murdered Thursday.

Caceres, a Lenca Indian activist, had previously complained of receiving death threats from police, soldiers and local landowners because of her work.

Tomas Membreno, a member of her group, the Indian Council of Peoples Organizations of Honduras, group said at least two assailants broke into a home and shot Caceres to death early Thursday in the town of La Esperanza.

Honduras has lost a brave and committed social activist, Membreno said in a statement.

The killing appeared to be targeted: A Mexican rights activist at the house was only slightly wounded in the attack, but Caceress body had four gunshot wounds. Police said they had detained a suspect, but did not identify the person.

Caceres, a mother of four, led opposition to a proposed dam on the Gualcarque river, considered sacred by the Lencas.

Many of the projects backers have largely abandoned building plans.

President Juan Orlando Hernandez wrote in his Twitter account that this act has caused mourning among all Hondurans.

His chief of staff, Jorge Alcerro, The president has instructed all government security forces to use all means to find the killers.

Alcerro said Caceres was supposed to be receiving special protection because of the death threats, but did not explain why there were no police protecting her when she was killed.

The U.S. ambassador in Honduras, James D. Nealon, issued a statement saying, We strongly condemn this despicable crime. The United States of America calls for a prompt and thorough investigation into this crime and for the full force of the law to be brought to bear against those found responsible.

The United Nations special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, wrote that it is highly probable that her assassination is linked with her work in protecting the human rights of the Lenca indigenous peoples to their lands and territories.

The website of the Goldman Environmental Prize said Caceres waged a grassroots campaign that successfully pressured the worlds largest dam builder to pull out of the Agua Zarca Dam, which the site said would cut off the supply of water, food and medicine for hundreds of Lenca people and violate their right to sustainably manage and live off their land.

Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas Director for Amnesty International, said in a statement that the cowardly killing of Berta is a tragedy that was waiting to happen.

For years, she had been the victim of a sustained campaign of harassment and threats to stop her from defending the rights of indigenous communities, said Guevara-Rosas. Bertas death will have a devastating impact for many human rights activists and organizations.

Human Rights Minister Karla Cueva said this crime cannot go unpunished.
LAKE FOREST  The city is moving toward creating a civic center that would act as a social hub for the community, which some residents say has been overdue for years.

Nearly 150 people attended a workshop last week to give input on a senior center planned for the proposed civic center.

Popular requests for the senior center included a multipurpose room with a capacity to hold hundreds of people, a kitchen and an exercise room.

Situated between more-populous Irvine and Mission Viejo, Lake Forest has been a bedroom community with no cultural hub, said resident Tina Kinkade, who attended the Feb. 25 workshop.

The project will help us become a more cohesive community, she said. Its obvious that we need a senior center.

The city leases space inside a commercial complex on Commercentre Drive for use as its City Hall. Since the citys incorporation in 1991, city leaders have envisioned building a civic center at the heart of the city.

They may soon get the opportunity.

The city is awaiting an environmental permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to develop a 9-acre site within the future Serrano Summit development in the middle of Lake Forest. The proposed area is south of Indian Ocean Drive and is covered with trees and shrubs.

Meanwhile, the city has hired an architectural firm to design the civic center, which may include City Hall, a community and senior center and a performing arts center.

The city in 2012 prepared a tentative budget of $53 million for the project, including $4.94 for design. The project will be paid for by fees from developers, cityspokeswoman Hannah Shin-Heydorn said.

The center will take about 1 1/2 years to build, she said, though theres no set date for groundbreaking.

The city will host its next community workshop from 10 a.m. to noon on March 19 at City Hall, 25550 Commercentre Drive.

Contact the writer: 949-445-6397 or tshimura@ocregister.com
WASHINGTON  The Justice Department will have to decide whether Hillary Clinton or any of her subordinates could face legal consequences for her use of a private email server, a decision whose timing is fraught with serious political repercussions.

Even though Attorney General Loretta Lynch has said there is no artificial deadline for concluding the investigation, the Obama administration is in the unenviable position of conducting an election-year probe that, no matter the outcome or reassurances to the contrary, will result in grievances about its impact on the presidential election.

One year ago, The Associated Press reported its discovery of Clintons private email server, which she ran in the basement of her home in Chappaqua, New York, to use exclusively for her work-related emails while she was secretary of state. Clinton has emerged from the Super Tuesday primaries earlier this week as the presumptive Democratic nominee for the presidency.

Republican candidate Donald Trump has indicated he plans to target Clinton over the email investigations. Trump said Thursday he looked forward to running against Clinton, assuming shes allowed to run, assuming shes not arrested for the email situation. He added, Lets assume the Democrats will protect her.

The FBI for months has investigated whether sensitive information that flowed through Clintons email server was mishandled. The State Department has acknowledged that some emails included classified information, including at the top-secret level, though Clinton has said she never sent or received anything that was marked classified at the time. The inspectors general at the State Department and the U.S. intelligence community are separately investigating whether rules or laws were broken.

It will always be either too soon or too late, said Stephen Vladeck, an American University law professor and national security expert who has followed the case. The best the Justice Department can do is try to accept that there will be political noise no matter what, and try to figure out what makes the most sense from their institutional perspective.

Any political appointee is going to be sensitive to the electoral calendar, he added. The fine line is between being sensitive and being beholden to it.

Lynch told the AP last month that the investigation involves career lawyers from the Justice Department and is being done independently and without regard for politics. She told Fox News this week that there was no artificial deadline for completing the investigation.

FBI Director James Comey declined to discuss the case with Congress during an appearance on Capitol Hill this week, saying only that he was very close personally to the matter to ensure that we have the resources we need, including people and technology, and that its done the way the FBI tries to do it all of its work: independently, competently and promptly.

The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the Justice Department has granted immunity to the staffer who set up the server, Bryan Pagliano, so that he would be willing to speak with investigators. A person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss an ongoing investigation, confirmed to the AP that Pagliano had been offered immunity some time ago. Pagliano had previously asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination to refuse to answer questions from lawmakers investigating the server setup.

A spokesman for the Clinton campaign, Brian Fallon, said the campaign is pleased Pagliano is cooperating. Fallon said Clinton herself has offered to meet with investigators.

On Thursday, Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson, chairmen of the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committees, respectively, asked the Justice Department for a copy of the immunity agreement.

Also complicating the timing of any decision or public announcement is the chance that Clinton or her former top aides could be deposed by private lawyers in coming weeks. A federal judge last week opened the door to such depositions as part of a lawsuit by Judicial Watch, a conservative legal group. Its not clear what impact, if any, those interviews might have on the Justice Department investigation, but presumably federal agents would be interested in whatever Clinton or others say under oath.

Theres no question there are obvious political sensitivities. Though its extraordinary for a presidential candidate to be implicated in a federal investigation, there are instances of it happening to elected officials during campaigns.

The late Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska., was indicted on ethics violations months before the 2008 election and found guilty just days before Election Day. He lost the race, and the Justice Department ultimately moved to reverse the conviction amid revelations of withheld evidence.

Former District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray was identified in court as having knowledge of an off-the-books shadow campaign during a campaign finance plea hearing for a local businessman weeks before the 2014 mayoral primary. Gray lost the election, but prosecutors never charged him.

Then-Attorney General Eric Holder directed in 2012 that politics must play no role in investigations or criminal charges, and said prosecutors should not choreograph criminal charges or investigations for the purpose of affecting an election. There is no bright line, but investigators ideally will look to conclude an investigation well before Election Day over concerns that a signification action could sway the outcome or at least have that appearance, said Justin Shur, a former Justice Department public corruption prosecutor.

Theres a concern where youre going to take some investigative step and its going to be reported on and its going to get out in the public domain and its going to have some impact on the election, Shur said.

While Lynch is technically correct there is no artificial deadline for resolving the Clinton investigation, Vladeck said the reality is more nuanced.

Thats not the same thing as saying that external factors arent weighing in some of the calculus, he said.
Elizabeth Marro grew up in New England, but it wasnt until the journalist-turned-pharmaceutical-consultant moved to San Diego in 2002 that she started work on the idea that last month arrived as Casualties, Marros debut novel.

Both the amount of time it took her to write the book  well over a decade  and the unlikely pairing of subject and author  a war-themed novel from a mothers point of view, and that from a writer who hadnt served nor had close family in uniform  are unusual.

But to hear Marro describe it, both aspects of Casualties came about organically, and in that long, slow gestation the hours put in helped create the powerful story that eventually came out.

It wouldnt leave me alone, says Marro, who appears alongside author T. Jefferson Parker at the Pen on Fire Speakers Series in Corona del Mar on Tuesday. This is my way as a member of the 99 percent of people who are not involved directly (in the military).

There are no bridges for us unless we make them, she says. I write, and writing my way through this novel it became very important to me as I wrote it that this was my way of connecting with them.

It opens a dialogue about the war, and it can open that dialogue between people who are involved in it or not involved.

As a young adult, Marro took the vows of a writers life as a newspaper journalist. As years passed she moved into work as a consultant in the pharmaceutical industry, raised a son by herself, and in 2002 moved with her husband from New Jersey to San Diego where suddenly, in the post-9/11 world, the military was more in the spotlight than ever before.

Moving here immediately increased the visibility of what it meant to a family who are involved in the military in San Diego or Orange County, Marro says. I was watching people whod been involved in the service watching their children or grandchildren go.

In that, the seed of a story started to grow. Ruth Nolan is a single mother of Robbie, whose return from the war in Iraq turns tragic when hes found dead in a motel room. Nolan, whose career as a defense contractor made her rich, is devastated by the loss and leaves on an open-ended cross-country trip with Robbies ashes in her trunk and a wounded veteran she meets along the way as her traveling companion.

Its one of the questions that kept pulling me back, Marro says. How does one survive what seems on paper unsurvivable? But people do. People find ways.

I do believe that their quest is for that  that they havent given up on that  but it its hardly a slam dunk, she says of Ruth and Casey, the disabled war vet who travels with her. There is no clean break. Its what you do to accommodate the damage.

Between her day job as a consultant, her need to immerse herself in the real-world settings of her fictional characters, and her determination to represent those characters as accurately as possible, Casualties developed slowly.

I would say I felt a big responsibility, Marro says. I think there were times when I thought, What am I doing here? Ive since learned, and Ive read about writers who were veterans  they dont expect you to have served to do this right, but they want you to write it well.

I felt that need very strongly, she says. At first I think I did feel like a stranger in a strange land initially.

She met with veterans and active duty servicemen and women, she met with the families. Using her old skills as a journalist she asked questions, and she listened.

The reactions Marro has received so far to Casualties have been positive no matter the background of the reader, she says.

Ive had reactions from military spouses that have been very positive, Marro says. Ive had reactions from mothers who only read romances who have loved it. Im getting very interesting reactions depending on the point of view that someone brings to it.

And Ive not given them an easy character to like, she says. Ruth has got a lot of hard corners and shes struggling. But shes still a mother, and shes still someone people can identify with.





Contact the writer: 714-796-7787 or plarsen@ocregister.com
The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California jumped into the Orange County fight over jailhouse informants on Friday, filing a public records request seeking access to internal law enforcement files dating back to 1985.

ACLU staff attorney Caitlin Sanderson said the organization has been monitoring the controversy over the alleged misuse of jailhouse informants and the witholding of evidence in Orange Countys criminal justice system for the past two years.

Sanderson said Fridays action came in response to statements by Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas and Sheriff Sandra Hutchens at The Orange County Registers Beyond the Snitch Tank community forum that brought together the countys criminal justice leaders Monday night.

We were very disappointed at the tone they took with the lack of responsibility, Sanderson said. The idea we can just move on is very problematic.

The countys top prosecutor and sheriff both told the audience of more than 200 that while their agencies had made some mistakes, there was no widespread misuse of snitches or withholding of evidence favorable to the defense.

The Sheriff Department had not received the ACLU request yet, Lt. Mark Stichter said Friday morning. (Read the request)

We obviously respect the California Public Records Act process and we will need time to review the request when it does comes to us, Stichter said. At this time we are not aware of the request and will also be consulting with the county counsel attorney.

Roxi Fyad, spokeswoman for the District Attorney, said: We have received the ACLU letter, and we will process their CPRA request under the law as we would do for any other citizen. (Read the request)

Sanderson filed the informantion requests with both the District Attorney and the Sheriffs Department seeking information in nearly 30 different areas. Among other things, the ACLU requested the number of instances of confirmed prosecutorial misconduct dating back to 1985 and the resulting action taken by the district attorneys office, as well as the number of cases of misconduct found against sheriffs deputies and the punishments given.

The group also requested all protocols and policies related to the use of jailhouse informants and the legal discovery process.

Sanderson said the records would help the group measure the extent of jailhouse informant problems and why they occurred.

In asking for the information, the ACLU cited the March 2015 decision by Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals to oust the District Attorneys Office from the countys worst mass murder case amid allegations that informant records have been routinely hidden from defense attorneys. The judges ruling has been appealed.

Judge Goethals specifically found that OC Sheriffs deputies mislead the court to hide the very existence of the inmate-tracking database called TRED. These revelations have severely damaged the credibility and standing of the OCSD in the eyes of the public, said the ACLU letter signed by Sanderson and attorney Brendan Hamme.

Sanderson said the civil group had been waiting to see the remedies by prosecutors and police in response to the controversy, which has derailed at least six murder and attempted murder cases.

In recent months, the District Attorney and Sheriffs Departments have announced a number of changes, including tightened policies for the use of jailhouse informants, requiring new deputies to take hours-long courses on informant use and keeping better informant records. Rackauckas, for example, said he now personally reviews every case that employs a jailhouse informant.

But Sanderson complained the fixes do not deal with past cases in which defendants landed in prison after their rights were violated, often without knowing the extent of a snitchs involvement and past history.

There are many ways we can address this problem, but it cant be by simply trusting two agencies that have lied to us for many years, she said.

Contact the writer: tsaavedra@ocregister.com
It sounds like a Seinfeld episode. Can you last for 24 hours without touching your phone or laptop or video games or tablets or headphones or GPS or Netflix?

Elaine would be out immediately because she secretly looked up something in a J. Peterman catalog. Jerry would cheat, checking his phone constantly to see if his girlfriend called him back. Kramer would accidentally butt-dial Newman. George probably would win because he could spend the day with his girlfriend, Susan, playing Trivial Pursuit with the bubble boy.

It may sound impossible. But it could be fun  if you broaden your definition of fun.

Thinking of unplugging? Click through the slideshow for ideas to replace what youre missing

Beginning today at sundown, the National Day of Unplugging will begin. For 24 hours, a nonprofit group called Reboot  inspired by the Jewish Sabbath  is urging everyone to disconnect from technology and reconnect with what made us human in the first place. Like arguing with family members face to face.

How will Orange County residents who live their lives plugged in survive?

Marcy Massura of Yorba Linda, a chief integration officer for RF Binder, a public relations and marketing agency, will not be participating in the unplugging.

Can I unplug? Of course, she said. Technology is not sustaining my physical life. But would I? No. In the same way I wouldnt try to go a day without heating in the winter or anesthesia for a surgery or any of the many other technological advancements that have made our life better. The idea of doing this implies there is something wrong with being plugged in  which, as someone who lives her career online, rubs me the wrong way.

Suzanne Moshenko of Irvine, a social media consultant at Social Smarts Media, said it would be difficult.

I could do it, but sheesh! she said. They never ask a plumber to not plumb or a Starbucks barista to not peddle lattes. Seems a little mean to pick on us (smile emoticon). Just kidding. I could do it.  I mean I never HAVE done it, but Im sure I could do it. Let me check my iCal.

The nonprofit groups guidelines, again taken from the Sabbath, sound so easy:

1. Avoid technology

2. Connect with loved ones

3. Nurture your health

4. Get outside

5. Avoid commerce

6. Light candles

7. Drink wine

8. Eat bread

9. Find silence

10. Give back

Can you do it? I dont know if I can.

I dont think of myself as a plugged in guy, but Im on my phone all day. I listen to satellite radio  70s on 7. I watch a ton of shows on Netflix. I text my daughter, who is at college in North Carolina and my son, who is occasionally in the next room.

I dont remember the last time I looked at a map that wasnt on mapquest.com. I dont remember the last day I didnt check Facebook or send an email.

I hope the world is better at unplugging than I would be.
Two young men are dead after their car crashed into an apartment building at high speed and caught fire in Huntington Beach early Friday morning, police said.

The intersection of Warner Avenue and Edwards Street and surrounding area are closed for investigation for a few hours, said Officer Jennifer Marlatt of the Huntington Beach Police Department.

Marlatt said that around 2:14 a.m., a black Lexus sedan traveling southbound on Edwards Street at a high speed lost control at a bridge over a flood control channel.

The car ended up crashing at the Casa Monterrey Apartment Homes, 6551 Warner Ave., where it caught fire.

Several good Samaritans heard the crash and pulled the two victims out of the car, Marlatt said. The two were pronounced dead at the scene.

The two victims have not yet been identified by authorities. Police said later they both lived in Palos Verdes.

Authorities are looking into the possibility of street racing. Sgt. Sam Shepherd of the traffic unit said in a statement that impairment may have been a factor in the crash.

Two other cars stopped at the crash site and other young men were seen crying and comforting each other.

Those cars were taken by investigators as evidence, Marlatt said. The drivers of those cars were questioned and released.

At least one apartment was damaged in the crash and authorities are determining when the affected residents will be able to return to their home.

The Major Incident Reconstruction Team is investigating the crash. No citations have been issued and no arrests have been made.

Anyone with information about the crash is asked to call Huntington Beach police investigators Robert Barr at 714-536-5666 or Josh Page at 714-536-5670.
CAMDEN, N.J.  A California man convicted for his part in a drug ring that shipped cocaine to New Jersey was sentenced Friday to 20 years in state prison.

Kemar Davis, of Hollywood, was sentenced for helping run the ring that also included his brother, Andrew, a Jamaican dancehall DJ who records under the name Flippa Moggela. Their brother Roger, of Roslyn, Pennsylvania, was also sentenced to 10 years in state prison for drug charges.

Andrew Davis directed Kemar Davis and others to ship cocaine from California to New Jersey, where it was then distributed to dealers, investigators said. Prosecutors said that an investigation dubbed Operation Next Day Air run by state and federal officials netted 26 kilograms of cocaine, more than $500,000 in cash and two handguns.

Kemar and Roger Davis both pleaded guilty.

Andrew Davis was convicted after a seven-week trial in December. He faces 10 to 20 years in state prison for the cocaine distribution charge and five to 10 years in prison for money laundering and conspiracy charges. A mistrial was declared on a charge that he led a drug trafficking network.

This case sends a powerful message to drug traffickers who sell addiction, misery and death into our communities  no matter where you live, were going to investigate you, track you down, and bring you to justice, New Jersey acting Attorney General John Hoffman said in a statement.

A co-defendant in the Camden County trial, Marsha Bernard, of Cherry Hill, was sentenced last month to 21 years in prison. Prosecutors say she received large cocaine shipments that she distributed to other drug traffickers.

Six other defendants pleaded guilty and were sentenced to between three and 16 years in state prison.
A 23-year-old Egyptian accused of threatening Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Facebook agreed Friday to leave the country.

Emadeldin Elsayed, who was enrolled at an El Monte flight school at the time of the post, was not charged with a crime but will require immigration escorts when he leaves, said ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice.

He appeared in a federal court Friday morning in Los Angeles where his lawyer Hani Bushra unsuccessfully argued that his post was protected under the First Amendment.

Instead of fighting deportation, Elsayed agreed to leave the United States.

(We) asked that he be released while he is preparing for his departure, and that request was denied, Bushra said in a statement.

So we then requested Voluntary Departure, which means Emad is choosing not to fight his case and to return to Egypt, Bushra said.

At some point, officials will escort Elsayed from jail to New York where he will take a flight to Cairo.

We are now trying to work on expediting this process as fast as possible, Bushra said.

Elsayed told The Associated Press that he was angered by Trumps comments about Muslims, but said he immediately regretted it and never intended to harm anyone.

Elsayed, who was being held at Theo Lacy jail in Orange, came to the United States in September on a visa to attend Universal Air Academy in El Monte with hopes of becoming a licensed pilot and returning to his native country and working for an airline. It is unclear where he had been living.

U.S. Secret Service agents interviewed him in February after he posted a photo of the Republican front-runner on Facebook and wrote that he was willing to serve a life sentence in prison for killing him.

The flight school alerted federal officials about the post, according to court documents.

Claude Arnold, a retired special agent in charge of ICE Homeland Security Investigations, said threats are a serious matter, especially directed at public officials.

Heres the bottom line: You dont make threats against presidential candidates, whether youre a guest or resident in this country.  Its taken very seriously.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7865 or afausto@ocregister.com
Hi, its me, Marla Jo, your columnist and deals maven. Check out my Cheapo Travel column in the Sunday Travel section. If you know a great deal, let me know at mfisher@ocregister.com. You can also find me at Deals Diva on Facebook and Twitter. And dont forget to read my humor columns on Wednesdays in the Register.

BOOK SALE

Like books? San Clemente Friends of the Library sponsors a sale the first Sunday of the month, including March 6 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Find gently used cookbooks, novels, nonfiction and childrens titles at gentle-on-your-wallet-prices. Location: Friends Bookstore adjacent the library, 242 Avenida Del Mar. Learn more: 949-492-3493.

REWARD POINTS HELP

If you arent sure where to use your hotel reward points, check out AwardMapper.com. . Pinpoint a place on the world map, and see where your Best Western, Choice, Club Carlson, Hilton, Hyatt, Intercontinental, Marriott, Starwood or Wyndham points can score you a free room or upgrade. You can search by point range, too. I just wasted way too much time imagining where to stay in Hawaii.

FREE ITALIAN ICE

Mark this one on your calendar: For the 24th year, Ritas Italian Ice will be giving away Italian Ice, on March 20, at 600 stores, including lots of locations in Orange County. Additionally, Ritas will debut a redesigned Ritas Rewards mobile app through which guests can earn rewards by making purchases. All Rewards Members will receive a free punch on March 20 toward a free regular Italian Ice, Frozen Custard or Gelati as part of the annual celebration. The Ritas Ice Rewards app is available via the iTunes App store or Google Play store. Learn more: ritasice.com or 800-677-7482.

HAWAII DEAL

If you love Hawaii, note that this year is the 100th anniversary of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, with special events all year including a festival and quilt show, and a special get in free day Aug. 1. And, of course, you can also get in free on the other National Park Service free days. Learn more: Nps.gov/havo /getinvolved/100th-anniversary.htm.

CHEAP DATE NIGHT

At the Regency Charter Centre Cinemas in Huntington Beach, Wednesday night is date night: For $10, you get two admissions, two small popcorns and two sodas. Note they also sell hot dogs for $1 each. Regular admission is $3, $1.50 on Sundays. Location: 7822 Warner Ave. Learn more: Regencymovies.com or 714-596-3456.

WHITE DRESS

Its getting closer to prom season, and that means Windsor Fashion stores are bulging with lots of feminine formal wear. Ive bought all my daughters prom dresses there. This can benefit you if youre looking for a pretty wedding dress that doesnt cost a fortune, because they have lots of white dresses that might be just your style. Check online, too. Prices range from $55 to $300. There are stores in Brea, Irvine, Orange and Mission Viejo, and nearby in Lakewood, Corona, Temecula and Cerritos. Learn more: Windsorstore.com.

LIFETIME PARK PASS

Did you know that anyone 62 or older can get a $10 lifetime pass for entrance to all national parks, forests and national monuments? It also gives you discounts on some camping and other amenities. To obtain the pass for $10, go in person with a photo ID to a U.S. Forest Service or National Park Service park or office; or order by mail and pay $20. And note, if youre permanently disabled and can prove it, this pass is free. Learn more: Nps.gov/findapark/passes.htm.

Contact the writer: mfisher@ocregister.com or 714-796-7994
FULLERTON  Jurors on Thursday told a judge they are at an impasse on a rape charge for a man accused of kidnapping his then-girlfriends 15-year-old daughter.

Jurors, who have been deliberating in the trial of Isidro Garcia, notified Orange County Superior Court Judge Michael A. Leversen that while they have reached verdicts on one kidnapping and three lewd act charges, they are still divided on the felony rape charge, prosecutors say.

None of the verdicts have been revealed so far.

The judge excused the jury for the afternoon and ordered them to return to continue deliberations Friday morning. The jurors could be given further instructions in an attempt to break the deadlock.

Prosecutors say that Garcia, in 2004, raped the 15-year-old girl and abducted her from her mothers Santa Ana apartment. They married and had a child and lived together for 10 years under assumed names.

Now 26, the alleged victim said she was scared that Garcia would have her deported, arrested, or her child taken away if she went to police.

Garcias lawyer told the jurors that while Garcia had sex with the underage girl, he did not kidnap or rape her.
WASHINGTON  With Sen. Charles Grassley under attack for his handling of the Supreme Court nomination process, a formidable Democratic challenger will run against him this November, the most significant sign yet that Democrats see the court and the candidacy of Donald Trump as twin liabilities for Republicans.

Patty Judge, a former Iowa lieutenant governor and state agriculture secretary, is expected to announce her challenge this weekend to Grassley, who is seeking a seventh Senate term and had previously been seen as having little opposition to re-election.

Grassley, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has come under fire in Iowa for his refusal to hold hearings on a potential nominee for the Supreme Court after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.

The issue became more local for Grassley on Wednesday when it was revealed that the White House is vetting Jane L. Kelly, a federal appellate judge in his home state, as a potential replacement.

The nexus of the Supreme Court fight and Trumps ascendancy are most apparent on Capitol Hill, where Republican senators are simultaneously weighing whether to support the billionaire businessman as they continue to back Sen. Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, in his firm insistence on refusing to consider a judicial nominee.

Should Trump become the nominee, the implication is that Republicans would feel comfortable with his choice for the court, something Democrats intend to emphasize. A recent CNN poll found that 66 percent of Americans believe the Senate should hold hearings on the vacancy.

They think that theyre going to wait and see what President Trump will do, I guess, as far as a nomination, Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, the minority leader, said after a White House meeting on the high court vacancy.

One by one, Democratic senators came to the Senate floor Thursday to excoriate Grassleys choices.

This is obstruction and chaos, Reid said.

Reid has spent the week repeatedly denouncing Grassley over the matter. Grassley hit back, saying Democrats were engaging in unfortunate political gamesmanship.

The normally unflappable Grassley has become increasingly agitated as Democrats have pounced on him.

Judge, a nurse by profession, has been a political fixture in Iowa for decades, serving in the State Senate, as secretary of agriculture  the first woman to hold that post  then as lieutenant governor. She and her husband own a cow and calf farm in rural southern Iowa. Democrats had wooed her to challenge Grassley for some time, but she had demurred until now, because Grassley has been extremely popular in the state.

Judge told the Des Moines Register last month that she was considering a Senate run, and three other Democratic candidates have already announced plans to challenge him.
Escape artist and drug kingpin Joaquin El Chapo Guzman made two furtive visits to the United States last year while he was on the lam, his daughter has told the Guardian in an exclusive interview.

Rosa Isela Guzman Ortiz, 39, a U.S. citizen, said her father sneaked into California to visit her in late 2015 at the large, five-bedroom home he purchased for her and her four children, the location of which was not disclosed. According to the Guardian, Guzman Ortiz owns a chain of small businesses, but she insisted that any money she received from her father was clean.

Asked how her father managed to cross the heavily patrolled U.S. border with Mexico  whose alleged porousness has become a major theme of leading Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump  Guzman Ortiz declined to answer. I asked him the same, believe me, she said.

Jacqueline Wasiluk, a Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman, said Friday the agency has no information that substantiates the claims in news reports about Guzmn.

Guzmans Sinaloa cartel has engineered dozens of smuggling tunnels under the U.S. border over the past decade or more, but those are only the ones authorities know about. It wouldnt have been difficult for Guzmn to zip into California through one of the passageways, many of which have sophisticated ventilation systems and customized shuttle carts for moving drugs, guns, cash and people back and forth.

Guzman was recaptured by Mexican navy commandos in January and is being held at the same maximum security prison he escaped from last July using an elaborate mile-long tunnel leading straight up to his shower drain.

What Guzman Ortiz told the Guardian is what millions of skeptical Mexicans already believe: The government let him out. My dads escape was an agreement, she said in the interview.

At least 34 people have been charged with facilitating the escape, including the head of Mexicos federal prison system.

Guzman Ortizs statements, and those of other Guzman surrogates in recent weeks, appear to be part of a concerted public relations campaign, with his wife, attorneys and now his daughter all giving detailed interviews reportedly at Guzmans behest.

My dad is not a criminal. The government is guilty, Guzman Ortiz told the Guardian. She claimed that her father has financed the election campaigns of high-ranking Mexican politicians who have since betrayed him.

She said her father was also double-crossed by longtime trafficking partner Ismael El Mayo Zambada, the man now believed to be at the helm of the Sinaloa cartel, Mexicos most powerful drug organization.

It was the first interview Guzmans daughter has given. The Guardian said it confirmed her identity with several documents and with an evangelical pastor in the rural community of Badiraguato in Mexicos Sinaloa state, where Guzman grew up dirt-poor and hungry.

Through his lawyers and his wife, Emma Coronel, a former beauty queen, Guzman has recently alleged mistreatment by prison authorities, claiming that they frequently disturb his sleep.

Coronel, a dual U.S.-Mexican citizen in her mid-20s who gave birth to Guzmans twin daughters in California in 2011, told Telemundo that the treatment amounts to torture and that she fears for her husbands life.

On Wednesday, Guzmans attorney, Jos Refugio Rodriguez, told reporters that the wake-ups have become so intolerable that his client is willing to drop legal challenges to his extradition to the United States and plead guilty, provided he is allowed to serve at a medium-security U.S. prison. U.S. officials have not commented on the offer.

But the proposal also looks like a shot across the bow for Mexican authorities who may have ties to Guzman and the Sinaloa cartel, as his daughter and others allege.

Guzman, 61, or maybe 58  his birth date is also still a mystery  has been in the drug trade nearly all of his life, and he is believed to possess damning information about two generations of Mexican politicians and security officials.

On U.S. soil, there would be little to prevent him from sharing it with the Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. law enforcement as part of a deal for less-harsh prison conditions.

Though she did not say, Guzman Ortizs statements also raise the possibility that her father spent time in the United States prior to his previous arrest in 2014. He was also captured in Guatemala in 1993 but broke out of another maximum-security prison in 2001 by hiding in a laundry cart, as the legend goes.

Asked in 2011 where Guzman might be hiding, then-president Felipe Caldern said in an interview with The New York Times that the drug lord wasnt hiding in Mexico. I suppose hes in the United States, he said. How many families and drug bosses would be more comfortable on the northern side of the border instead of the southern side?
Re: Tough to keep on truckin [Opinion, March 1]: The business climate in this state and the California Air Resource Board drove us out of business. We were a small company with two trucks and could not afford to put filters on our trucks, or buy new trucks. Therefore, we were forced to go out of business, four full-time positions lost (two had to go on unemployment) and a California corporation dissolved.

While our numbers are small, as the editorial indicates, the effects of the environmental and labor regulations in this state are far reaching. My question is, how did the CARB steamroll this through without more opposition? We, as a small business, kept asking questions and seeking out information to no avail. It seems to me that there may be a money trail. After all, look at all the money being spent on filters and new trucks.

Rhonda Morgenstern

Anaheim

Vote for something

For the past three years, Republican leaders have dictated inaction to their members of Congress as a strategy to prevent Democrats from claiming any legislative accomplishments. Their most recent plan is to block approving any and all of President Obamas nominations for Justice Scalias replacement on the Supreme Court.

In view of their recent complaints about the results of the 2016 Republican primary elections, I realize that this was not political strategy, but just their way of operating. They are do nothings. American voters should examine voting records and vote against re-electing obstructionists posing as voting representatives. Primary voters anger is deserved.

Nancy Hatchl

Santa Ana

Stay High? Get real

Re: Quiksilvers Stay High slogan draws criticism [Local, March 2]: Apparently the word high is yet another contaminated and evil word  a wicked obscenity destined for the politically incorrect trash can. The word has become badly soiled, and we have our drug war to thank for this development.

This same war on drugs, which is bankrupting our nation, flooding our prisons, and making mockery of our judicial system, is also busy contaminating our vocabulary. What new words can we now use to refer to things like high schools or high achievement? Maybe its high time we stop this insanity.

Gordon Wilson

Laguna Niguel
While all of his friends were released from jail earlier this week, one of the arrested anti-KKK protesters remained behind bars Thursday because of an unrelated no-bail warrant, officials said.

Guy Harris, a 19-year-old transient initially accused of assaulting a KKK member with a deadly weapon, was not charged by the District Attorneys Office for the suspected crime, nor were six others released from lockup before midnight Tuesday.

But Harris recently violated his probation in Orange County, and was issued a warrant for his arrest before the Anaheim melee, sheriffs Lt. Mark Stichter said.

It was unclear why Harris was on probation.

In all, 12 were arrested and 11 released related to a KKK rally on Saturday in Anaheims Pearson Park. Five of those were KKK members or supports, released after police said they acted in self-defense, while seven were counter-protesters.

Those arrested could be re-arrested.

The District Attorneys Office wants to review all of the video footage and other evidence before any charges are filed.

,

Contact the writer: 714-796-7802 or aduranty@ocregister.com
PARIS  A senior European Union official carried a stark warning Thursday to the front lines of the migrant crisis, telling those seeking to flee poverty and unrest that Europe is no longer the answer, even as nearly 1 million migrants have now poured into Europe in the past year.

Do not come to Europe, said Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, after meeting with the Greek prime minister in Athens. Do not believe the smugglers. Do not risk your lives and your money. It is all for nothing.

Tusks comments came as a top U.N. official also warned Thursday that as many as 70,000 people could be trapped in Greece in the coming weeks because Macedonia and other European countries are shutting their borders, transforming Greece into a holding pen for migrants desperate to leave.

Tusk also said it was up to Turkey, not its European neighbors, to decide how to manage a reduction in refugee numbers  a stance that Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu quickly rebuffed. Turkey is under pressure to reduce the numbers of migrants crossing into Greece as a March 7 summit meeting between Turkey and the European Union approaches to discuss the issue.

In the past week, unrest has broken out among the more than 30,0000 refugees and migrants that Greek officials say are stranded at Greeces blocked Macedonian border.

There was also violence at a makeshift camp being dismantled in northern France. And on Thursday, British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Franois Hollande held talks in Amiens seeking to contain the migrant crisis in northern France, where thousands of refugees are camped in squalid conditions just over two hours from London and Paris.

The talks in Amiens come days after French authorities began demolishing sections of the infamous Jungle encampment in Calais, home to an estimated 4,000 migrants from North Africa and the Middle East, most of whom are seeking to reach Britain.

Turkish officials have long insisted that the West and others must share the financial and humanitarian burdens. And in November, Turkey signed a deal with the E.U. to stem the flow of migrants to Europe. In return, the E.U. agreed to provide 3 billion euros ($3.26 billion) help the country deal with the migrant crisis and to accelerate talks about Turkish membership in the union.

On Wednesday, the E.U. announced plans for an emergency 700 million euros ($763 million) in humanitarian aid, but leaders across the continent are still struggling to manage the largest immigration crisis on European soil since World War II.

The meeting between Hollande and Cameron took on added dimensions after Frances economy minister was quoted as saying that border controls could be lifted if Britain leaves the E.U., opening up a potential path for migrants seeking to cross the English Channel.

In a news conference Thursday, Hollande took several minutes to arrive at the subject of Calais. Despite the tear gas French police have used against migrants this week  and beatings that have been recorded on social media  it was imperative, he said, that the migrants who remain be welcomed with dignity.

Paris has requested more financial aid from London in managing the crisis. In advance of the summit, Harlem Dsir, Frances secretary of state for European Affairs, announced Thursday on RFI radio that the figure will include an additional 20 million euros ($21.8 million)  on top of the current 60 million euros ($65.4 million).

The extra funds, Dsir said, will help with securing the access area to the tunnel and Calais port area as well as the fight against smuggling networks. Cameron said Thursday that the precise figure will be 17 million pounds ($24 million).

Echoing a rising sentiment across Europe, Cameron described the money as an expression of his governments confidence in French border controls near the camps. People should know that if they come to Calais, that is not a waiting room for getting into the United Kingdom, he said. We have strong borders, and its very important people understand that.

They should be seeking asylum in France, and if theyre not asylum seekers, they should be returning to the countries from which they came, he added.

Despite the immediate focus on the Calais camp crisis, the summit in Amiens was also an attempt by both leaders to illustrate the imperative of Britain remaining in the E.U. Britain is expected to hold a referendum in June on whether to leave the 28-nation bloc.

Before Thursdays talks began, Emmanuel Macron, the French economy minister, told the Financial Times that if Britain votes to leave, the French could end a deal that allows border controls to be carried out in France.

The day this relationship unravels, migrants will no longer be in Calais, Macron said. Campaigners for a British exit from the E.U., dubbed Brexit, dismissed the warnings as propaganda.

Bernard Jenkin, a Conservative lawmaker who is campaigning for Brexit, told BBC Radio 4s Today program: What we are having now is propaganda being produced by other European governments at the request of the prime minister to try to scare people.

But Macrons comments suggest that Camerons warnings were not entirely political. Brexit would not automatically lead to a change in the border agreement between the two countries. Last year, for instance, Bernard Cazeneuve, Frances interior minister, said that tearing up the current agreement with Britain would be a foolhardy path, and one the government will not pursue.

Hollande urged the people of Britain not to leave. I dont want to scare you, he said, but there will be consequences if the U.K. decides to leave the E.U.
TOKYO  Japans Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Friday he has decided to temporarily suspend preliminary work on moving a U.S. Marine Corps base on Okinawa and will resume talks on the contentious relocation plan.

The central government and Okinawas prefectural government have been locked in a legal battle over relocating the base, with both sides suing the other.

Abe said that his government is accepting a court proposal not to force the reclamation work over Okinawas objections. The court in February made the proposal as an interim step allowing talks. Details of the proposal were not made public.

The sudden reversal of his policy to continue with the reclamation work is seen as an attempt to win votes ahead of this summers parliamentary elections.

Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga last year issued an order to suspend permission for the reclamation work. Then the central government sued to reverse the order, to which Okinawa counter-sued, seeking a court injunction.

The work involves filling in part of a bay to create off-coast runways for Futenma air station, which is now in a more densely populated area on the island.

Onaga later flew in to Tokyo and held talks with Abe at his office, both confirming to follow the court proposal and abide by any subsequent court decisions related to their legal dispute. Onaga welcomed Fridays decision by both sides as very significant.

Abe said the plan to eventually move the base to the town of Henoko is unchanged. The relocation is based on a 20-year-old bilateral agreement to reduce the burden of the U.S. military presence on Okinawa.

Opponents want the base moved off Okinawa entirely, and a prospect for a compromise is still unclear, though Okinawa is expected to drop the lawsuit.

Abe said he wants to avoid leaving the situation deadlocked for years to come, a development that nobody wants to see.

In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters Friday that the U.S. understands that the Japanese government took its decision after careful consideration. He said the allies remain committed to the planned base relocation.

Americas top military official in the Pacific said last month that the relocation plan has been pushed back by two years until 2025 from the current target, because of delays from the disputes.

The U.S. has agreed to shift 8,000 to 10,000 Marines off Okinawa in the 2020s, mainly to Guam and Hawaii, but Adm. Harry Harris, head of the U.S. Pacific Command, said that would happen after Futenmas relocation.

The southern island prefecture is home to about half of about 50,000 American troops stationed in Japan under the bilateral security treaty. Many Okinawans complain about crime and noise linked to the U.S. military bases.
ROME  A top Vatican official vowed Thursday to work to put an end to the rash of suicides in his Australian hometown over the church sex abuse scandal after meeting with victims and acknowledging that he failed to act on an abuse allegation decades ago.

Cardinal George Pell, Pope Francis top financial adviser, met Thursday with some of the Australian abuse victims who travelled to Rome to witness his four days of remote, video-link testimony to Australias Royal Commission. The commission is investigating how the Catholic Church and other institutions responded to the sexual abuse of children over decades.

Emerging from the meeting with survivors at a Rome hotel, Pell read a statement pledging to help his hometown of Ballarat recover from scores of suicides of abuse victims. He said he hoped the city of 100,000 might one day become an example for practical help for all those wounded by the scourge of sexual abuse.

One suicide is too many. And there have been many such tragic suicides, Pell told reporters. I commit myself to work with the group to try to stop this so that suicide is not seen as an option for those who are suffering.

Ballarat, a heavily Catholic city in Australias Victoria state, has had a devastating experience with the abuse scandal. Testimony to the Royal Commission revealed how the Christian Brothers religious order, in particular, preyed on dozens of children in the schools it ran from the 1960s to 1980s.

Pell was called to answer questions about his time as a priest in Ballarat, and as an auxiliary bishop in Melbourne. The four days of testimony saw the 74-year-old cardinal answer questions from the commission and a succession of lawyers for victims from around 10 p.m.-2 a.m. each night.

Pell said he was also providing a daily summary of his testimony to Francis.

During the final round, Pell acknowledged that he didnt immediately act when a schoolboy brought an abuse allegation to him in 1974 against a cleric and said he should have done more. Pell told the inquiry he was a junior priest when the unnamed student at St. Patricks College in Ballarat told him that Christian Brothers teacher Edward Dowlan is misbehaving with boys.

Pell said he eventually raised concerns about Dowlan with the school chaplain. The chaplain replied that the Christian Brothers order was dealing with the allegations.

Dowlan was later removed from the school but he continued to abuse children as a teacher at other schools until 1985.

With the experience of 40 years later, certainly I would agree that I should have done more, Pell said.

At the same time, Pell denied allegations that he angrily dismissed an allegation against the same cleric made by another schoolboy, or attempted to bribe an abuse victim to stay quiet.

Pell said it was a disastrous coincidence that five known pedophile Catholic clerics had been operating in Ballarat while he served there as a priest.

We now know it was one of the very worst places in Australia for child sex crime, Pell said.

The victims who travelled to Rome had hoped for a meeting with the pope before they return home on Friday, but the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said no papal audience was planned.

Anthony Foster, whose two daughters were abused by a priest near Melbourne, said he wanted more from the church than mere words.

We need the whole weight of the church put behind helping these victims and ensuring this doesnt happen again, he said after Pells statement, holding up a photo of his two girls, one of whom later committed suicide.

He expressed satisfaction with the hearing and predicted there would be some pretty damning findings against Pell when the commission produces its final report.

George Pell was the auxiliary bishop in our area, looking after the priest who did that to my girls, Foster said, thrusting the photo high. Here they are. Can you not see?
A MATTER OF SECURITY

National security and cybersecurity issues have become hot topics due to Apples resistance to unlock an iPhone used by one of the Dec. 2 San Bernardino terrorist attackers who killed 14.

Cybersecurity at the Capitol

Apple and the FBI testified before the House Judiciary Committee this week, and several bills are being introduced in Congress demanding new legislation on the subject of cybersecurity. Congress appears to be as conflicted on the issue as the rest of the nation. Here is how the House and Senate voted on some recent cybersecurity legislation.

Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act

Oct. 27, 2015

The Senate passed a cybersecurity bill that gave companies legal immunity for sharing data with the federal government. The legislation was protested by some lawmakers and consumer advocates, who said the legislation does not adequately protect Americans privacy.



No back doors bill

June 19, 2014

The House passed a defense-spending bill with an amendment that would bar the National Security Agency from conducting warrantless searches of its databases for Americans communications records. This was hailed as a victory for companies that favor data encryption.

The only way to get information  at least currently, the only way we know  would be to write a piece of software that we view as sort of the equivalent of cancer. We think its bad news to write. We would never write it. We have never written it  and that is what is at stake here.

Apple CEO Tim Cook in an interview with ABC News

LOCK OR UNLOCK?

Opinions vary in different surveys:

A Pew Research Center survey shows that most people favor Apple unlocking the iPhone for the FBI. An online survey by Reuters/Ipsos shows most people think Apple should not unlock the iPhone for the FBI.

Selected questions from the Reuters/Ipsos survey Would you be willing to give up email privacy if it would help the U.S. government foil domestic terrorists plots? Apple is opposing a court order to unlock a smartphone that was used by one of the shooters in the San Bernardino attack. Apple is concerned that if it helps the FBI this time, it will be forced to help the government in future cases that may not be linked to national security, opening the door for hackers and potential future data breaches for smartphone users. Do you agree with Apple? The government should be able to look at data on Americans phones in order to protect against terror threats. Strongly agree 27% Somewhat agree 27% Somewhat disagree 14% Strongly disagree 12% Not sure 20% 1,866 respondents on March 1

WORLD POPULARITY

Percent of adults who report owning a smartphone

Smartphones are more popular among adults in the U.S. and Europe than in the rest of the world.

Sources: The Pew Research Center, FBI, Apple, The Associated Press
A 23-year-old man was fatally stabbed Thursday night at a concert venue in downtown Santa Ana, police said.

There was a fight about 10:30 p.m. inside Underground DTSA, 220 Third St., and a man was stabbed, said Cpl. Anthony Bertagna of the Santa Ana Police Department.

The male victim was inside the venue listening to punk music when an altercation ensued and the suspect stabbed the victim in the upper torso, Bertagna said in a statement. The victim walked outside and collapsed on the street.

Police identified the victim Friday morning as Nathan Joe Alfaro, 23, of Westminster. He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Investigators arrested Juan Angel Rivera, 21, of Santa Ana, on Friday afternoon on suspicion of murder.

It is not yet known what caused the fight.

One of the bands that performed Thursday night at Underground DTSA was Los Angeles-based Feels, according to the venues website.

In a Facebook post Friday, band members described the incident.

We watched as the fight broke out, crashing onto the stage knocking mics over while the second band played, saw fists flying and more and more people dog piling on to try to break it up but still had no idea then there was blood on the floor, cops and paramedics, the whole show was shut down of course, but still when we left we were under the impression that he was stabbed in the shoulder and was going to be fine. We are completely devastated, so totally at a loss for words.

Anyone who witnessed the stabbing is asked to contact the Santa Ana Police Department detectives at 714-245-8390 or Orange County Crime Stoppers at 1-855-TIP-OCCS.

Staff writers Scott Schwebke and Louis Casiano Jr. contributed to this report.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7865 or afausto@ocregister.com
Not long after actor Leonard Nimoy died last year, William Shatner, his friend and partner in Star Trek, sensed a ripple in the universe theyd shared, and so to work through its meaning and his feelings, Captain Kirk sat down to write about his life with Mr. Spock.

Sometime after he passed I realized that all the experiences we had together  the events and the laughs and the tragedies in our lives that we helped each other with  were between the two of us, says Shatner, 84. And with one of us gone, the other trying to remember, trying to seek validation for the memory, its not there.

In a way its as though it never happened, he says. And so I sought to memorialize, if you will, those things, and him, in a book. This was a testament.

Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship with a Remarkable Man arrived a few weeks ago. On Sunday, Shatner appears at Temple Bat Yahms Distinguished Speaker Series in Newport Beach to talk about the book, his memories of Nimoy, and Star Trek, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

* * *

In the book, Shatner writes lovingly of a man he considers one of the only true best friends hes ever had. He traces their parallel path from their births four days apart in March 1931 to their upbringings in Jewish homes and neighborhoods  Montreal for Shatner, Boston for Nimoy  to their struggling young actor years, the vagaries of fate, or destiny, that landed them on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise, and the friendship that developed as they were bound together forever as their iconic Star Trek characters.

Asked why his on-show closeness to Nimoy endured when others he writes of  including James Spader, his costar on Boston Legal  slipped away Shatner answers at first with a single word.

Laughter, he says. We made each other laugh a lot, both on stage and off. And the similarity of our lives, backgrounds, professional lives. But being in each others proximity, I think, was a large factor.

By that, of course, hes referring to the cult status of Star Trek, which ran only three seasons from 1966-69, but which through syndicated re-runs and fan conventions, and later films, became one of Hollywoods greatest-ever franchises.

None of that was expected when Star Trek was canceled, Shatner says, but it did and so he and Nimoy continued to come together for convention gigs and movie sequels and eventually simply as friends.

* * *

Shatner credits the fans, both in the new book and in conversation, for never letting Star Trek die, keeping it alive through fan conventions in the years after its initial cancellation, and supporting it through movies and subsequent TV series ever after.

I wrote a book about why people go to conventions and I came to the conclusion that they were coming to conventions to see each other, Shatner says. But then I made a documentary on it, called Get A Life, and there I came upon another possibility, which is science fiction in general and Star Trek in particular are mythological.

Every mythology has its rituals, so I discovered, at least I think its the truth, that people would come to conventions and thereby sustain Star Trek because it was part of the ritual of the mythology, Shatner says.

Like going to church? hes asked.

Exactly like going to church, Shatner says.

* * *

The final pages of Leonard offer perhaps the most poignant part of the story, the revelation that in the final months of his life Nimoy, then suffering from the chronic lung disease that would claim him, had stopped talking to Shatner for no reason that Shatner could divine.

One of the saddest things of my life, Shatner says. I have no idea what it is. I could speculate. That illness creeps up on you. I have no idea.

Given that, and given that Nimoy was always the more private of the two, one wonders what he would make of Leonard if in whatever dimension he occupies today he were to see it.

I think it would probably be a duality, he says. Because the book expresses my love for Leonard and my continuing desire to see him and participate in things with him as we did. And I find no fault with him there. Theres nothing negative there, so I think hed be pleased on the one hand that thats the picture I have of him.

And then on the other hand, he was a very private man and he might not have wanted a biography, Shatner says. If there was going to be something written about him it was going to be autobiography. Which he had a couple of books, but not outlining this aspect of him.

Star Trek premiered on Sept. 8, 1966 and Shatner says hes celebrating the 50th anniversary with even more appearances than usual at Star Trek conventions, the memoir on Nimoy, and a handful of other events being planned to mark the occasion.

Ive been trying for two years to get a 50th anniversary show on and I cant get CBS, which owns the property, interested in it, he says. But there are some celebratory things going on.

(Hes not directly involved with it but one such event stops at Segerstrom Hall in Costa Mesa on May 2. Star Trek: The Ultimate Voyage is an orchestral performance of music from the different TV series and films performed live as scenes from the shows and movies are screened on stage.)

In Leonard, Shatner writes about how his dear friend never stopped working on one project or another  a play, a movie part, a poem, a book. Its a description that suggests retirement isnt something Shatner ever anticipates either.

Well I dont know what the word means, he says. I meant that with some truth: retire from what? Im talking to you, Im having a good time. Im going to do a Christmas album, what fun is that!

He ticks off a few more projects: Zero G, a sci-fi novel about G-men in space. Better Late Than Never, a new series for NBC. Short tours with his one-man show whenever he gets restless and wants to play a few cities here and there.

Im hard at work, Shatner says, and if Spock were around to hear him say it, surely he nod impassively, maybe with a hint of a smile, and remind his old friend to live long and prosper.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7787 or plarsen@ocregister.com
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.  Harvard Law School should remove its official shield because of its ties to an 18th-century slaveholder, a committee said Friday, taking a position supported by the dean.

We believe that if the Law School is to have an official symbol, it must more closely represent the values of the Law School, which the current shield does not, the committee made up of professors, alumni, students and staff wrote in its recommendation to the Harvard Corp., one of the universitys governing boards, which will make a final decision.

It was not immediately clear when the corporation would take up the issue.

The shields meaning has changed over time, said Bruce Mann, committee chairman and Harvard Law professor.

Too many people think the shield has become an impediment, he said. Too many people see the association with slavery.

The committees 10-2 recommendation was backed by Dean Martha Minow.

I endorse the recommendation to retire the shield because its association with slavery does not represent the values and aspirations of the Harvard Law School and because it has become a source of division rather than commonality in our community, she wrote to students and alumni.

The shield, officially adopted in 1937, depicts three bundles of wheat, an image borrowed from the family crest of Isaac Royall Jr., under the universitys motto Veritas.

Royall donated his estate to create the first law professorship at Harvard University. His father, Isaac Royall Sr., made much of the family wealth on the backs of slaves on Caribbean sugar plantations and Massachusetts farms.

Minow created the committee after some law school students formed a group called Royall Must Fall to denounce the shield.

We definitely consider this a victory that represents our tireless advocacy, said A.J. Clayborne, a third-year Harvard Law student and member of Royall Must Fall, adding that the group is also dedicated to fighting other racial injustices at the school.

Not everyone agreed with the recommendation. One professor on the committee, joined by a student, said keeping the current shield was a way to honor the slaves whose sacrifice provided the Royall family with its wealth.

They said the current shield should be tied to a historically sound interpretative narrative about it and suggested adding the word Iustitia  justice in Latin  below the word Veritas.
It is a victory, of sorts, for property rights and economic freedom in San Clemente. On Tuesday, while the City Council voted to close some loopholes in its sign code, it wont order the removal of existing signage along the I-5 corridor.

There are 24 freeway-oriented wall signs and 11 freeway-oriented pole signs in San Clemente, according to the Register. But council members and their appointees on the Planning Commission have argued there shouldnt be any, as the signs, they said, were an unnecessary blight because motorists nowadays use GPS devices and smartphones to guide them.

But the council relented a bit, voting 4-1 to allow current signs to remain but do away with sign-exception permits, a discretionary allowance permit city councils have been able to issue for decades to allow freeway-oriented signs if certain findings are met, the Register reported.

The ordinance also proposes to ban any wall-mounted signs bigger than 64 square feet, according to the Register. Those have also been allowed with a sign-exception permit.

Councilwoman Lori Donchak dissented, arguing that further bans were unnecessary and that the current rules worked well enough. That was encouraging to hear because barring business owners from doing what is necessary to derive revenue from their property in the name of character or protecting views struck us as a gross violation of property rights.

But while wed prefer to see sign rules relaxed rather than tightened, some progress is certainly better than nothing. Knowing that business owners, whose livelihoods are linked to those signs, got a reprieve is a small victory.
Duf Sundheim, one of three Republican candidates for U.S. Senate, attempted to broker a deal in which the GOP hopefuls would agree to step aside when a frontrunner emerged. As I reported in last weeks column, his chief opponent, Tom Del Beccaro, rejected the proposal.

What I didnt mention was that Del Beccaro kicked back at Sundheim. He blamed Sundheim for helping create a situation in which Democrats Kamala Harris and Loretta Sanchez could advance out of the primary, leaving Republicans on the sidelines come November.

Thats because the open primary, approved by voters as Proposition 14 in 2010, sends the top-two vote getters to the general election regardless of party affiliation. Sundheim was a proponent of the measure.

Asked about Sundheims plan to unify behind one candidate, Del Beccaro implied his opponent should drop out. Sundheim was endangering our party under Prop. 14, a law he helped put into place, he said.

He later expounded.

If this format results in no Republican on the fall ballot for U.S. Senate, great harm will have been done to the process and the Republican Party, he said. Dufs refusal to acknowledge the actual results of the system demonstrates his ideological bent, not someone focused on solutions.

Sundheim stood by his support for Prop. 14.

I do not believe parties should hold a monopoly and be guaranteed a spot on the November ballot, he said. If your party is so weak in June you cannot earn one of the top two spots, why should you be handed a seat in the runoff?

Del Beccaro and Sundheim were deadlocked with a paltry 3 percent of the vote in a Field poll released in January, while Harris was at 27 percent and Sanchez was at 15 percent. Democrats have a 15-percentage point advantage in the states voter registration.

Del Beccaro has been endorsed by the conservative California Republican Assembly, while Sundheim has taken more moderate positions on some issues.

Trumps appeal

A Thursday story in the Register quoted supporters of Donald Trump who were willing to overlook some of his policy positions. Then I heard from a Mission Viejo Republican who seems willing to overlook all his policy positions.

I dont even care what his specific policies are, retired cop Werner Raes wrote me in an email. Let him do whatever he wants. Quit saying he cant do this or that because its against the Constitution or against the law. CHANGE the law and start doing the right thing again!!! 

WE WANT TRUMP TO (figuratively) BLOW UP the Republican good ole boys party as we know it. No more business as usual.

Top Republican

Dana Points Diane Harkey is now the highest-ranking elected Republican in the state, according to county GOP Chairman Fred Whitaker.

Whitaker sent out a mass email on March 1 congratulating Harkey, but the news becomes less sunny for Republicans when you look closer.

Harkey is an elected member of the state Board of Equalization, which oversees the collection of sales taxes. There are four BOE districts, meaning she represents 25 percent of the state. There are two Republicans on the BOE, so her Feb. 24 selection by the board to be vice chairman made her the highest-ranking GOP elected official.

Of course, spotlighting Harkeys stature also draws attention to the 10 higher-ranking statewide posts not held by Republicans, among them the governorship and two U.S. Senate slots. Democrats fill all of those, as well as the BOE chairmanship.

Harkey sought to become chairman of the BOE, but failed to win the three votes necessary from the board. She didnt get the support of fellow Republican board member George Runner, according to Sacramento Bee coverage of the meeting. Instead, the board selected Democrat Fiona Ma.

Contact the writer: mwisckol@ocregister.com
BEIRUT  Syrians in rebel-held areas took advantage Friday of a week-long cease-fire to rally against President Bashar Assad, demanding his resignation, while a top opposition figure said his side believes it is not suitable for peace talks to resume in Geneva next week.

Meanwhile, Frances president expressed optimism, saying discussions about a political transition in Syria will accelerate with the truce holding across the war-wracked country.

The rallies in rebel-held areas were small  hundreds protested in the eastern sector of the city of Aleppo, in the western Waer neighborhood of Homs and in Idlib province  but they reflected a sense of relief amid the cease-fire that has mostly held since it went into effect across the country last Saturday.

The protesters called on Assads government to release detainees from prisons and lift several sieges on opposition areas  issues that have been key demands of the opposition ahead of peace talks planned to resume in Geneva next Wednesday.

In a blow to those plans, Riad Hijab, who heads the opposition High Negotiations Committee, said that circumstances were not suitable to resume the talks, adding that the United States has made many concessions to Russia, one of the main backers of Assad.

Despite the truce, Syrian military operations are still ongoing, detainees have not been released by Damascus and little aid is entering rebel-held besieged areas, Hijab said in Paris.

He spoke shortly after French President Francois Hollande, after speaking with the leaders of Russia, Germany, Britain and Italy, said from Paris that there was agreement to take advantage of the truce to coordinate humanitarian aid and open a process of political transition in Syria  though he cautioned about advancing too quickly.

High-level international discussions about Syria have intensified since the ceasefire went into effect, although the truce does not encompass the whole of the country. The cessation of hostilities deal does not include the Islamic State group and al-Qaidas affiliate in Syria, the Nusra Front, as well as other militant factions designated terrorist organizations by the United Nations.

British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond, also in Paris, said the hope is that ultimately a cease-fire would allow Syrias moderate opposition and backers of the Assad government to work out a solution and fight the extremists together.

Syrias indirect peace talks broke down in Geneva on Feb. 3, amid a government offensive under the cover of Russian airstrikes.

The partial truce has dramatically reduced overall violence across the devastated country  a remarkable accomplishment in a war that has killed at least 250,000 people, displaced half the population and decimated towns and villages. Because the cease-fire agreement excludes areas held by the Islamic State group and the Nusra Front, some of the continuing violence is not technically a breach of the truce. Also, civilian casualties have dropped sharply since the cease-fire went into effect.

This cease-fire, cessation of hostilities, is by no means perfect but it has reduced the level of violence. It has created an opportunity for some humanitarian access, said Hammond.

But Hijab claimed that more than 50 rebel-held areas have been targeted during the truce.

The U.S. has made and continues to make many concessions to Russia, which affect the future of the Syrian people, Hijab said.

He also reiterated the oppositions stand that there should be no political role for Assad in the future or during the transitional period for Syria.

Syrias conflict, which erupted in March 2011 as a popular uprising against Assads authoritarian rule  influenced in part by the Arab Spring movements across the Mideast  quickly descended into an all-out civil war that gave an opening to militants such as the Islamic State group and the Nusra Front to seize large swaths of land.

The current cease-fire has become the most promising initiative in years to help end the war, raising expectations ahead of next Wednesdays planned resumption of Geneva peace talks.

On the ground in Syria, pro-opposition activist groups reported some hostilities on Friday, including shelling and airstrikes in different parts of the country.

According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees reported airstrikes on the eastern Damascus suburb of Douma.

The rebel alliance known as the Army of Islam maintains the largest presence in the Douma area, after its fighters routed Islamic State militants from there in August 2014. A few hundred Nusra Front fighters are also reportedly operating in the area.

The Observatory and the LCC also reported that Syrian government forces shelled the northwestern town of Khan Sheikhoun, saying three women were killed there.

Also Friday, some 23 trucks carrying aid entered the area of Wafideen, near Douma. A U.N. official in Damascus, Yacoub El Hillo, told reporters that U.N. medical items will cover the needs of around 15,000 people in the area, with other supplies such as food and non-food items enough for about 10,000 people.

He stressed that more aid convoys will be delivered soon to other cities in the eastern Ghouta region.

Later Friday, Turkeys state-run Anadolu Agency said Turkish artillery units hit Islamic State targets across the border in Syria, north of the city of Aleppo. It was the second Turkish artillery attack on IS since the cease-fire started. There were no further details.

In Moscow, the Foreign Ministry said top Russian diplomat Sergey Lavrov and his American counterpart John Kerry spoke on Friday by telephone about the process of resolving the Syrian conflict.

A ministry statement said the two reaffirmed the intention to further close interaction of our countries in the military sphere in Syria and called for an early start of negotiations in Geneva under the auspices of the U.N. between the Syrian government and the whole spectrum of the opposition, during which Syrians themselves should determine the future of their country.
LOS ANGELES  ET is coming home.

ET-94, a massive external fuel tank built for the space shuttle program but never used in flight, will finally take an epic journey  not in space, but through the Panama Canal and eventually along the busy roadways of Los Angeles, it was announced Thursday.

The 321/2-ton tank is destined for the California Science Center, permanent home of the retired space shuttle Endeavour. The tank is 27.6 feet in diameter and 154 feet long  longer than the shuttle, although it weighs less than half as much.

ET-94 is the last surviving external propellant tank that was built for shuttle missions, since such tanks were designed to be expendable. However, three test tanks remain.

Museum officials outlined its six-to-eight week journey, which begins in mid-April by barge from a NASA assembly facility in New Orleans. The tank then passes through the Panama Canal and docks at Marina del Rey, California, for the start of a 12-mile journey on highways and streets to the downtown Los Angeles museum.

The road trip is expected to take 13 to 18 hours, with the tank arriving at the museum around May 21.

Thousands of people watched as the Endeavour made its final journey through the streets of Los Angeles and Inglewood in 2012. To prepare the way, an army of workers cut down hundreds of trees, raised telephone lines and covered streets with steel plates to protect underground wiring. Traffic signals and light poles also were temporarily removed.

Lying on its side, the cylindrical tank isnt as high or wide as the shuttle and no trees will be removed, although some may have to be trimmed, museum officials said.

The $3 million cost of the move also is much less than the $10 million or so it cost to fly the Endeavour into Los Angeles on the back of a Boeing 747 jet, then roll it through the streets.

The tank was designed to hold oxygen and hydrogen used to fuel the engines that boosted shuttles into orbit. The tank would then drop off and either burn up in the atmosphere or plunge into the ocean.

Although the tank destined for the museum never flew, it played an important role in the investigation of the space shuttle Columbia disaster.

The shuttle broke up while re-entering Earths atmosphere on Feb. 1, 2003, killing all seven crew members.

It was determined that a piece of foam insulation broke off from the external tank shortly after launch and struck the shuttles wing, causing damage that allowed heat and wind to destroy the wing during reentry.

During the investigation, pieces of insulating foam were taken from ET-94 for examination.
Why is it that Southern California residents have sacrificed with brown lawns, 5-minute showers and flushing only after number two, while bureaucrats have been flushing vast quantities of water to the ocean? These actions are supposedly meant to prevent harm to threatened and endangered Delta smelt and winter-run Chinook salmon. Sadly, flushing all this water to the ocean, year after year, has shown no measurable ecosystem benefits and, instead, resulted in a monumental waste of water.

Consumers and farmers are being unjustifiably denied what should be fairly normal water supplies this year while bureaucrats continue to waste water on a failed experimental effort to help fish. Unfortunately, the fish arent recovering, and the bureaucrats are just making a bad situation worse for all Californians.

People who receive water from the state and federal water systems are seeing this years supply once again flushed to the ocean  water that 3 million acres of farmland and 25 million consumers depend on.

In less than 90 days  from Dec. 1, 2015, to Feb. 28, 2016  almost 200 billion gallons of water has been flushed out through San Francisco Bay. Thats enough water to supply almost 3.5 million Southern Californians with enough domestic water for a year or enough produce for 11 billion salads.

Why is this freshwater going to the ocean? Because federal fishery managers were overly concerned that pumping it into storage increased the possibility of harming fish. To be clear, fish werent being harmed, and the potential risk to them was minimal at worst. The 2008 and 2009 salmon and Delta smelt biological opinions, or rules, that govern these bureaucratic actions incorporate triggers into the decision process that ultimately reduce water supplies to people in favor of fish. No triggers had occurred that would have reduced pumping under the existing rules.

The good news is that these same rules also include sufficient flexibility to allow increased water deliveries to people. The bad news is the bureaucrats refuse to utilize the tools in place to provide more water to millions of people. That flexibility, written to comply with all Endangered Species Act protections, is being ignored, and no one seems able to explain why.

Last April, Gov. Jerry Brown told Californias urban residents to cut aggregate water use by 25 percent. People banded together and met the governors mandate, joining with farmers who had already lost up to 100 percent of their surface water supplies. Even with this strong effort, farmers were forced to fallow more fields, and farmworkers stood in food lines because their jobs harvesting the nations food supply were gone.

Making matters worse, the salmon and Delta smelt populations havent improved. Yet they continue to wallow in a failed, experimental effort that has only resulted in a waste of water that could have otherwise been used by people. Everyone wants a healthy environment but there should be some accountability for the resources were literally pouring into the problem.

Things are shaping up for a repeat of all this unless someone gets a handle on the gross mismanagement of the states water resources. It seems that only Congress has the power to do something about it. Congress could give explicit direction to water managers to exercise the maximum flexibility under the existing environmental rules. It is possible to protect the environment while giving people fair and equitable access to the water that grows our food and serves our homes and communities.

Mike Wade is executive director, California Farm Water Coalition.
JERUSALEM  A recent, 14-year dry spell in the Middle East was the worst drought in the past 900 years, according to a new NASA study released this week.

NASAs researchers examined records of rings of trees in several Mediterranean countries to determine patterns of dry and wet years across a span of 900 years. They concluded that the years from 1998 to 2012 were drier than any other period, and that the drought was likely caused by humans.

The studys lead author Ben Cook said the range of extreme weather events in the eastern Mediterranean has varied widely in the past nine centuries, but the past two decades stand out.

This recent drought falls outside the range of natural variability, he said. Drought has continued in parts of the Middle East, he added.

Cook is a climate scientist at NASAs Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University in New York City.

The researchers used records of tree rings in Northern Africa, Greece, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Turkey, and combined the data with records from Spain, southern France and Italy to examine patterns of drought across time in the region.

They studied rings of trees, both living and dead, that were sampled all over the region. Rings in the trunks of trees represent years. Thin rings indicate dry years; thick rings show years when water was abundant.

Cook said the research supported other studies indicating human causes of extreme climate events.

Last year, researchers at Columbia University and the University of California Santa Barbara found that drought triggered a collapse in agriculture in Syria and the migration of 1.5 million farmers to the cities, straining resources.

The water shortage was one of several contributing factors that had worsened the situation in Syria in the lead-up to the outbreak of that countrys devastating civil war in 2011.

Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State University, said the NASA study is one of several worrying reports about unprecedented climate conditions.

Mann was not involved in NASAs study.

In an e-mail to The Associated Press, Mann noted that tree rings have their limitations and uncertainties, but said the authors have done a reasonable job in assessing the uncertainties.
SANAA, Yemen  Gunmen in southern Yemen on Friday stormed a retirement home run by a charity established by Mother Teresa, killing 16 people, including four Catholic nuns, officials and witnesses said.

The killing spree began with two gunmen who first surrounded the home for the elderly in Aden. Meanwhile, four others entered the building on the pretext they wanted to visit their mothers at the facility, according to the charity, Yemeni security officials and witnesses. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The gunmen then moved from room to room, handcuffing the victims before shooting them in the head. A nun who survived and was rescued by locals said that she hid inside a fridge in a storeroom after hearing a Yemeni guard shouting, Run, run.

Khaled Haidar told The Associated Press that he counted 16 bodies, including that of his brother, Radwan. All had been shot in the head and were handcuffed. He said that in addition to the four nuns, one Yemeni cook, and Yemeni guards were among those killed.

He said that his family was the first to arrive at the house and that he spoke to the surviving nun, who was crying and shaking. Haidar said that his family later handed her over to a group of southern fighters in charge of security in the local Aden district of Sheikh Osman.

Sunita Kumar, a spokeswoman for the Missionaries of Charity in the Indian city of Kolkata, said the members of the charity were absolutely stunned at the killing.

The Sisters were to come back but they opted to stay on to serve people in Yemen, she added.

She also said that two of the killed nuns were from Rwanda and the other two were from India and Kenya.

Earlier, Yemeni and Indian officials reported that all four killed nuns were Indian but such conflicting information on casualties is not unusual in the chaos of Yemens civil war. Indias foreign ministry had initially cited information it got from its embassy in Yemen.

Vikas Swarup, the spokesman of Indias External Affairs Ministry, said the attackers had asked the guard to open the gate on the pretext of visiting their mothers at the retirement home.

On entering inside, (they) immediately shot dead the gatekeeper and started shooting randomly, he said, adding that the assailants escaped soon after the attack.

The bodies were transferred to a police station and then a hospital run by the aid organization known as Doctors Without Borders or MSF. An official with MSF confirmed that 15 bodies had arrived at the hospital. Haider said his family took his brothers body for burial.

There were around 80 residents living at the home, which is run by Missionaries of Charity, an organization established by Mother Teresa. Missionaries of Charity nuns also came under attack in Yemen in 1998, when gunmen killed three nuns in the Red Sea port city of Hodeida.

Aden descended into lawlessness after a Saudi-led coalition recaptured the city from Shiite Houthi rebels last summer.

Yemens civil war has split the country in two. The northern region, where Shiite rebels are in control, has been struck by an extensive air campaign by a Saudi-led coalition. The southern region, which is controlled by the internationally-recognized government backed by Saudi Arabia, is suffering from a power and security vacuum.

The Islamic State group and Yemens al-Qaida affiliate have exploited the lawlessness and created safe havens in the south. Al-Qaida controls several southern cities while IS has claimed responsibility for a wave of deadly attacks in Aden, including a suicide bombing that killed the citys governor and several assassination attempts on top officials.

Adens churches have also come under attack. Last summer, a Catholic church in the district of Crater was torched and sabotaged by Islamic extremists.

Yemens war has killed at least 6,200 civilians and injured tens of thousands of Yemenis, and 2.4 million people have been displaced, according to U.N. figures.
After expressing his lack of belief in God on social media, a Russian man was arrested and charged with offending the feelings of believers. Victor Krasnov is now on trial and facing up to a year in prison for writing things like there is no God and the Bible is a collection of Jewish fairy tales during an online discussion on the Russian social networking website Vk.com.

Shortly after the discussion in 2014, Krasnov and his mother began to receive anonymous threats. Then, in the fall of 2015, a couple of his friends who were part of the discussion  Dmitry D., 24, and Alexander K., 23  pressed charges against him, claiming that they were representing the interests of all Orthodox Christians in Russia. The Investigative Committee (similar to the FBI) interrogated Krasnov for over a month, during which he was also subjected to psychiatric evaluations. He was declared sane, but the Committee decided that although he did not directly insult any individual, his comments did hurt the feelings of religious people.

Offending the feelings of believers was made a criminal offence in the nation in 2012, after punk band Pussy Riots blasphemous performance at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. For this reason, Krasnov is now being tried in court in his hometown of Stavropol in southern Russia.

Photo: VK.com

Krasnov claims that during the preliminary investigations, he wasnt given an opportunity to present his side of the story. The prosecutors office apparently deleted all the comments made by Dmitry and Alexander and presented only Krasnovs words, making it look as though he was deliberately offending their religious sentiments. The next court hearing, scheduled for March 15, will be attended by linguistic experts who believe that Krasnovs statements insulted the feelings of believers on the social network.

I dont know how you can treat social networking posts seriously, Krasnov said, speaking to Grani.ru, an anti-government news website. The investigators misused my words, removing from them the context of the dispute. The decision to restore the original conversation was only made by the court, almost two years after the incident.

Photo: Grani.ru

We are not Orthodox, we are a secular state, he added. Everyone has the right to their religious beliefs. I will submit a counterclaim, because I suffered huge material losses and moral damage. The first 11 months of the investigation were the most unpleasant and difficult time for me. I was forced to spend 30 days in a psychiatric hospital. During this time, Krasnov, a blacksmith, claims that he suffered huge losses because he was unable to work.

During the course of the investigation, Viktor claims his computer and mobile phone were seized and his request for a lawyer was denied not once, but five times. He was forced to move in with some friends for a month to protect his mother who had also become a target for religious extremists. He says people started showing up at her workplace and asking management to fire her on grounds that her son was an extremist. It sounds almost unbelievable, but the man says there are witnesses who can confirm his claims.

Viktor Krasnov (right)) and the two victims who pressed charges (left)

Regarding the reaction of his family and friends, Krasnov says they have all been very supportive throughout the long ordeal. He has also received encouragement from journalists and bloggers who understand that in Russia, this kind of thing can happen to anyone.

Meanwhile, he continues to receive death threats from Orthodox fanatics, but authorities dont seem to eager to investigate those.

Looks like we need a law to protect atheists feelings too, he added, wryly.

Sources: Grani.ru, Life News, Komsomolskaya Pravda
Matthew Brinton, a beggar in Englands Cornwall county, has earned the wrath of locals after he was spotted getting into an Audi TT in a parking lot near Bank Street. Brinton is a familiar face in the area, having begged there for several years. Footage of him getting into the $70,000 luxury car was uploaded on Facebook, and Brinton has been receiving death threats ever since.

The 35-year-old beggar, who lives with a friend, claims to have received the car as inheritance from his grandmother. He also says that the Audi has since been stolen, and hes now fearing for his life. I have not seen any of the social media posts because I do not have access to the internet but according to the police Ive had lots of death threats, he said. People are assuming too much and Im getting a lot of abuse. This has been going on for years.

The video, which was posted on Facebook on February 18, has indeed received hundreds of abusive comments from irate locals who have actually seen Brinton in person and given him money. Im particularly disgusted as he conned 40 from an elderly gentleman I know to pay for a B&B for the night, then went home! one person commented. The poor elderly gent was distraught that his kindness had been abused in such a way.

I brought him hot food and a hot drink was very rude and ungrateful in front of my sons who were 8 and 12 at the time, another person wrote. I told them most homeless people were grateful and not like him.

A few people are taking Brintons side though, like this one local who wrote: Leave the man alone ,the dog, Hazel, is well cared for. Vent anger towards what is really making you angry  (its) awful bullying a vulnerable man.

Why judge people you dont have to? another questioned. He is an ok bloke just lost in life.

The local police dont believe that Brinton is a con either. They told the media that he just received a lot of cash from a long lost relative, and quickly blew all the money away. And theyve confirmed that he isnt in possession of the car or any money as of now. He had a few threats, with people making stupid comments on social media, said inspector Dave Meredith, Newquays top police officer. Weve told him: You need to be careful because of the video on Facebook; theres lots of ill-feeling and animosity because of it.

Its a sad case, really, the inspector added. Ive known him from years but he doesnt help himself.

But people dont seem to care about Brinton, or anyone else for that matter, says. According to recent reports, someone smashed the windshield of the Audi TT featuring in the controversial video, despite the fact that it is no longer the beggars property.

Sources: Cornish Guardian (1) (2)
Veteran Washington, D.C. PR and public affairs firm Smith & Harroff, Inc. has merged with Alexandria, VA-based public affairs consultancy C. May & Associates, LLC.

The merged company, which combines both firms' staff and clients, will retain the Smith & Harroff name. C. May staff will relocate to Smith & Harroff's headquarters.



I am excited about C. May & Associates joining S&H because of the energy and youthful perspective they have, S&H president Rick Morris told O'Dwyer's. While we have had numerous young employees over the years, none were as committed to the future of S&H as Carina is. That combined with her experience and client base in health care, make this a great merger.

S&H was founded in 1973 by J. Brian Smith and Mark Harroff. Clients have included Westinghouse Electric Corporation and the Nuclear Energy Institute, as well as government leaders such as Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), and former NH Gov. John Sununu. Smith, a former Republican aide, died in March, 2014. Morris was named S&H owner the same year.

CMA was founded in 2013 by Carina May. Prior to founding the company, May was stationed at Bethesda, MD-based management consulting firm The Hill Group, where she served in numerous roles, including marketing coordinator, senior account executive and business development and marketing manager. Her clients have included the National Institutes of Health, the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the National Commission on Digestive Diseases and the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues.

May has now joined Morris as S&H co-owner.

Morris said that while S&H's roots are in political campaigns, the firm now provides a suite of marketing and communication services for associations, corporations and government clients.

When you have been an independently owned communications firm for over four decades, change is a way of life, and this merger with C. May & Associates is another step towards future growth and expanded client services, Morris said.
The 7,000+ Sidewalk Labs Wi-Fi terminals planned for New York will be a huge ad medium generating $500 million+ in revenues, Business Insider Reports. It sees privacy concerns because users will be tracked. Others see health concerns.

A major player in the scheme is Titan Advertising Group, known for many years as the worlds largest transit advertising company.

Sneakily, it only goes by the name Titan in the list of 11 companies and entities in the convoluted corporate setup behind the profusion of ad-bearing, radiation-spewing Wi-Fi terminals.

Wikipedia notes that Titan and Control Group (consulting firm) merged into a company called Intersection which was acquired by a group of investors led by Sidewalk Labs, a subsidiary of Alphabet, Inc. (holding company for $74 billion revenues Google).

Sidewalk Labs rationale for the acquisition centered on Titan and Control Groups involvement in the LinkNYC project, which is building 7,000 Wi-Fi terminals in New York, says Wikipedia.

ABC-TV Aired Wi-Fried Feb. 16

ABC-TVs science program Catalyst presented a half-hour special called Wi-Fried hosted by Maryanne Demasi, Ph.D., Australian science reporter, raising the question of whether wireless devices are harmful to health.

Australias safety agency says theres no evidence of harm, but thats not the same as saying its safe, says ABC-TV description of the programs position.

Among those quoted is Devra Davis, Ph.D., an epidemiologist who has called on schools to switch from wireless to wired web access.

Among others calling for schools to remove Wi-Fi from the schools is Joe Imbriale who is a candidate for the Council in Fullerton, Calif. He says that the spectacle of 35 students sitting daylong at desks that are equipped with Wi-Fi accessing terminals is unacceptable.

Westhampton Residents Rebuffed on Wi-Fi

Residents of Westhampton, N.Y., have pleaded with the library board to remove Wi-Fi from the library, citing health dangers to children and other users.

When the board refused to do so, residents sent an email with links to 15 sources documenting the health hazards of electromagnetic radiation.

Business Insider, launched in 2009 by former Doubleclick CEO Kevin Ryan and which sold an 88% stake in 2015 to Alex Springer SE for a reported $343 million, has done an extensive analysis of the plan to blanket New York with ad-bearing Wi-Fi terminals.

It notes at the outset that the terminals represent a huge opportunity for display of 55-inch ads on both sides of the terminals. LinkNYC expects to eventually generate over $500 million in revenue through ad partnerships and sponsorships, it says, noting this is quite a bit more than the $40 million a year in existing phone booth ads.

Users Will Be Tracked

Business Insider Sees Privacy Concerns

Anyone one who uses the terminals will be added to the databank of Sidewalk Labs. Only iPhone and iPads can get on LinkNYCs private, encrypted network for now, BI was told by SL.

We will use anonymous, aggregated information from device IDs about area demographics to build profiles of specific locations thats valuable to advertisers, said Miles Green, director of infrastructure engineering at Intersection.

Jennifer Hensley, general manager of LinkNYC, previously executive director, Assn. for a Better New York, said that although certain data will be collected on an aggregate level, LinkNYC isnt snooping on all of the web traffic that goes through its networkfor now.

Hensley sees an appeal for advertisers especially for local merchants that wish to advertise a sale or happy hour down the blockwe think the scale of digital advertising in New York, one of the worlds biggest media markets, is extremely compelling. Hensley could not be reached for further comment.

Terminal Players Avoid Press

None of the 11 organizations involved in the terminals has scheduled a general press conference on the subject. Phone calls are not returned and emails are ignored that ask what the entities think about claims that radiation emitted by Wi-Fis and other sources are dangerous.

We attended an hour-long presentation by Sidewalk Labs CEO Dan Doctoroff Feb. 10 at a New York University facility in Brooklyn.

The Center for Urban Science & Progress of NYU, host of the program, initially said it would consist of a half hour talk by Doctoroff and a Q&A period. However, shortly before the program, it was changed to an academic lecture consisting of a 50-minute talk by Doctoroff followed by three questions.

This reporter tried to ask one of the questions but could not get recognized. NYU PR staffers said the appearance of Doctoroff was not a press conference and there would be no special treatment of any reporters.

Identified by Business Insider as the 11 companies and entities behind LinkNYC are Alphabet, holding company for $74 billion Google; NYC Dept. of Information Technology & Telecommunications; Sidewalk Labs; Control Group; Titan; Intersection; CIFQ Smartscapes; Qualcomm; Antenna and CityBridge.




On March 15, 1981, the Fightin Fifty-Fifth lost six members of their unit when an RC-135S Cobra Ball crashed upon landing in severe weather at Shemya Air Force Base, Alaska.

On March 15, 2016, exactly 35 years ago to the day, the wing will pause to remember and honor those members of aircraft 61-2664 at a ceremony set for 2 p.m. at the 45th Reconnaissance Squadron headquarters.

Memorializing events such as the loss of the six fallen Cobra Ball aircrew members refocuses our collective attention to our responsibilities and what may be asked of us as United States Airmen, said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Brian Thomas, 45th RS commander. It is an honor to remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice to protect our nation.

Lost to the Cold War, but not forgotten I time that day were U.S. Air Force Maj. William R. Bennett, Capt. Larry A. Mayfield, 1st Lt. Loren O. Ginter, Master Sgt. Steven L. Kish, Staff Sgt. Steven C. Balcer and Staff Sgt. Harry L. Parsons III.

As we enter the 45th Reconnaissance Squadron we are reminded daily that our actions are important, said Thomas, referring to a memorial to the crew that stands in front of the 45th RS headquarters facility. We seek to guarantee Russian and Western relations do not enter a new Cold War, but it is important for our Airmen to remain ever vigilant and take the appropriate steps to defend our nation while deterring aggression.

Retired U.S. Air Force Col. Bill Ernst, who was serving as the Strategic Air Command strategic reconnaissance center director of worldwide operations at the time, will be the main speaker at the event.

I have vivid memory of bringing 664 on line and monitoring the training of the 24th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron crews that flew her, he said. I was probably the first to be called when she crashed and had to brief the SAC (director of operations) on what we knew at the time.

On March 15, 1981, the 24 crew members of 61-2664 were in route to the small Aleutian Island from Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, where they had been waiting for poor weather to clear.

When the aircraft approached Shemya, the weather continued to deteriorate with blizzard conditions and extreme crosswinds across the island. After holding for quite some time due to the inclement weather, the tower finally gave them the clearance to land.

Upon descent, the aircrew knew they were in for a challenge and a rough landing, but they had no idea to what extent.

The gear came down, the flaps let out and the engines altered their whine, wrote Dr. K.A. Crooks, who was a second lieutenant and electronic warfare officer on the flight, in his article, The Ides of March: Tragedy on a Small Island. Then suddenly the aircraft banged, screamed and lurched. I immediately knew we were in for a world of hurt.

According to one eyewitness account, the aircrafts main landing gear was stripped off by the lip of the island's cliff on the approach end of the runway.

As the aircraft impacted the end of the runway, engines three and four burst into flames and the fuselage began to break up. Seats and equipment inside were shaken loose and the RC-135 slid roughly 2,000 feet, sliding off the runway surface and plowing and twisting through a large pile of discarded rail ties, building materials and timbers.

In the midst of flaming chaos, the crew members did all they could to exit the aircraft and find their way to safety.

"Because I had been trapped by shifting heavy equipment, I was the last crew member to exit the aircraft forward of the (electrical systems center) positions near the tail, Crooks wrote. I reached the left overwing hatch with flames swirling around me.

While the tragic event did claim the lives of those six crew members, it also left many severely injured. And to this day, they are left with constant reminders.

When the massive electronic-array equipment shifted in the crash to pin my leg, it took every bit of effort to get free, resulting in damage for which even my youth couldn't compensate," Crooks said. "Most of those injuries never healed properly, so my body nudges me daily with reminders of the events of March 15, 1981.

Ernst was directed to go to Shemya as soon as possible to inspect the crash site and assist the investigating team.

The crash site was still pretty much untouched and it was easy to see what had happened, he said.

The last remembrance ceremony was five years ago, so this event provides another opportunity for those in the 55th Wing to learn about the sacrifices of those who came before them.

The dedication required to perform our missions is as important as it was 55 years ago when the C-135 aircraft began to perform reconnaissance, Thomas said. We must never forget their dedication and strive to carry on their legacy today and tomorrow.

Following the official ceremony, there will be a reception in the 45th RS Heritage Room and all base personnel are invited to attend.
Business / Economy

by Vince Musewe - PDP Secretary for Finance and Economic Affairs

Vince Musewe

PDP Secretary for Finance and Economic Affairs



As far as the PDP is concerned, a State monopoly on diamonds will not necessarily benefit Zimbabweans. In fact the consolidation of this sector into one government controlled entity will result in a looting machine that is solely controlled by Mugabe and a new ZANU (PF) predatory cabal that is loyal to his continues stay in power.The consolidation of diamond companies into a state controlled entity does not make any economic sense whatsoever. In fact Nigeria has just announced that it is breaking its state oil company into separate 30 companies because a huge entity is difficult to control and is not inclusive.We are all rather shocked that the President has now seen it fit to blame the Chinese companies for the diamond illicit financial flows after we have been saying this all the time. The model used by ZANU (PF) was wrong in the first place and seven years and US$14 billion later is too late to regret. In other modern democracies Presidents are forced to resign for such gross errors of judgement.Added to this is the news of how the chairman of Mbada, an entity in which the President himself is alleged to have an interest, has been splashing money in South Africa buying some of the most expensive properties there. Surely the President is aware of this?The President need to be told that the Chinese companies involved did not force themselves onto us like the colonialists did, they were invited here by Zimbabweans who facilitated whatever has happened there to date. In addition to that, it is estimated that around 200 people died in Marange (add poor Chindori Chininga to that number) and to this date communities they have continued to be abused. That is the remorse that the President should have.As PDP we hereby advise the President that he has failed on his constitutional duty to protect the interests and the resources of Zimbabwe. We the taxpayers provide him US$200 million per annum to run his office including the thousands of CIOs who work there. We suggest that they rather spend time on economic intelligence to protect the country than abducting innocent Zimbabweans like Itai Dzamara who only want to see a free Zimbabwe like all of us do.Eddie Cross article published today aptly titled- When Thieves fall out- is a damning analysis of the theft that has gone on in Marange with the tacit approval of the President. In it he estimates that we lost diamond revenues of about US$14 billion and that we still have huge reserves of agglomerate deposits ( 10 billion carats) that still need to be mined by experts.Putting the control of these reserves under the State is as good as putting them under the control of the ZANU (PF) predatory cabal that will emerge after the purges which we have seen. Zimbabweans cannot trust Mugabe and his predatory cabal to look after their interests any more, he has failed to do this for the last 36 years.As PDP, our first call will be to eradicate patronage in state enterprises such as the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) and the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) which have been mired in corruption, lack of transparency and lack of accountability. We intend to re-examine the existing institutional architecture within the mining sector and ensure that it ultimately delivers economic value to the country.Our mining policy under HOPE proposes the establishment of a non-partisan, independent and professionally managed Public Wealth Fund (PWF) that is accountable to the people of Zimbabwe. The PWF must be the sole recipient of diamond revenues due to the government.PDP believes that a Public Wealth Fund (PWF) can indeed be viable proposition especially where there is disciplined fiscal management and there is no temptation by government to use fund inflows for recurrent expenditure. That is the greatest risk we shall face. The PWF, can shift resources from consumption, which remain far too high in Zimbabwe to savings and, if properly managed, efficient investment. In our view ZANU (PF) has proved incompetent to do just that.The problem we face in Zimbabwe is not a resource problem but an ethical challenge at political leadership level and that is not about to change until we have a new principled leadership in place.Zimbabweans deserve better.
News / Africa

by Staff Reporter

IN THE early hours of yesterday morning, a gang of about 10 heavily armed thugs stormed the Bridge City Shopping Centre in KwaMashu.Daily Sun reported that they first took packs of cigarettes, and then set explosives at an ATM, hoping to cash in big time.But alert security and the police dashed their dreams.One thug was left dead, another injured, and two are behind bars.Shoppers, pension collectors and the shopping centre staff stood outside the centre for almost eight hours waiting for it to reopen.The robbers, who drove in two Toyota Fortuners, broke into the centre before dawn through a back door.Lieutenant Nqobile Gwala said the suspects first took packs of cigarettes and loaded them in a duvet cover."They proceeded to another shop where they planted explosives at an ATM and a safe."The alarm went off and the police were contacted. No money was taken," said Gwala.She said when cops were at the corner of Bhejane and Nogwaja road, suspects in a white vehicle started to fire shots at them."Three members sustained injuries and were taken to hospital."Two vehicles that were hijacked during the robbery were later recovered in Inanda at Newtown C."Cops following a tip-off then bust four of the suspects at a local clinic where one had tried to get treatment for gunshot wounds."He is under police guard in hospital while the other three were taken to KwaMashu Police Station."At the police station, one of the men attempted to disarm a police officer and a scuffle ensued, resulting in one of the suspects being fatally wounded," said Gwala.She said charges of attempted murder, malicious damage to property, business robbery and attempted robbery were opened for further investigation."All the suspects are in their 30s and are expected to appear in court soon," said Gwala.
BOB Recruitment 2019: Link to apply for 35 BOB SO jobs is active now; How to apply

Gyan Sangam 2 to Consolidate Public Sector Banks

Feature

oi-Lisa

By Lisa

Gyan Sangam's second edition is under way. This two day Sangam is being held at Gurgaon with an aim to consolidate public sector banks (PSBs). The second edition of Gayan Sangam is also going to review decisions taken during the first edition. The financial performance of PSBs and other financial institutions is of course on the agenda.

The Gyan Sangam is also going to allow heads of financial institutions to debate on two focus areas of the present government which are: financial inclusion and the direct benefit transfer scheme. This edition of Gyan Sangam will review Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana in detail.

Atal Pension Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) will also be reviewed in detail. As per the official figures as on 20th January as many as 20.38 crore bank accounts have been opened under PMJDY and these accounts have deposits over Rs. 30,000 crore.

The heads of public sector financial institutions are present and they will be joined in by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, Financial Services Secretary Anjuly Chib Duggal and other senior finance ministry officials.

The discussion is mainly to focus on mergers and acquisitions in the banking sector. The Gyan Sangam is being held at the time when banking sector is coping with rising non-performing assets (NPAs). Unfortunately NPAs are expected to rise further during the times to come.

Here are some startling figures to justify the point:

Gross NPAs of PSBs stand at Rs. 3.60 lakh crore as on 31st December 2015. This is a huge increase when compared with the figures as on 31st March 2015 which was Rs. 2.67 lakh crore.

The idea becomes clearer when one compares these figures with the figures of NPAs of private sector banks. Gross NPAs for private banks stood at Rs. 38,396 crore as on 31st December 2015 which also shows increase when compared with the figures as on 31st March 2015. The figure of NPAs for private sector banks then was Rs. 31,576 crore.

It is very natural that such huge amounts of NPAs have brought down the profitability of PSBs drastically. Here is how profit figures stand for few PSBs:

Many PSBs including Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, and IDBI Bank have reported their highest ever quarterly loss totalling over Rs. 12,000 crore. The figures are just for the third quarter of financial year 2015-16. On the other hand other PSBs like SBI and PNB have reported sharp decline in their profits.

The first Gyan Sangam:

The first Gyan Sangam was held last year in the city of Pune where Prime Minister Narendra Modi had addressed heads of PSBs and insurers and financial regulators. PM had promised banks of no interference from any government functionary in their commercial decisions.

During the first Gyan Sangam focused discussions were held in groups on six topics. The result was specific decisions were taken which resulted in optimising capital digitising processes, strengthening risk management, improving managerial performance and financial inclusion.

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Story first published: Friday, March 4, 2016, 11:57 [IST]
How Kanhaiya Kumars fiery speech lifted the spirits of Indians

Feature

oi-Oneindia

By Maitreyee Boruah

Spring is literally in the air. After days of gloom, as the country's socio-political atmosphere was hijacked by protests and counter-protests to protect freedom of speech, a student leader helped the country to regain its composure on Thursday night.

The president of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU), Kanhaiya Kumar, post his release from the jail, as he was put behind the bars on sedition charges, made a fiery speech under the open sky on the JNU campus, Indians heaved a sigh of relief.

It was a speech straight from the heart. Every word of Kanhaiya struck a chord with millions of fellow citizens, who were glued to their television sets, and heard the young man in rapt attention.

It has been long India has heard such an impassionate, honest and a glowing talk revolving around the country's politics. So, after listening to our elected representatives speaking in Parliament in the last few days of the ongoing budget session, Kanhaiya's address was a breath of fresh air.

How rightly, the student activist reminded all of us that we want 'azaadi' (freedom) in India, not 'azaadi' from India. Don't we all want freedom from oppression, discrimination, hunger, poverty, corruption, religious bigotry, violence against women and minorities?

As our country dream to become a world leader, it is time to fight against all the ills infecting us. It would be pure foolishness if we continue to ignore our weaknesses just to protect our false pride.

Our government should welcome voices like those of Kanhaiyas and RohithVemulas, who are (were) asking azaadi from social, political and economic problems afflicting us. These young men should not be put behind bars (based on doctored video tapes) or forced to commit suicide (because of political interference in universities).

If asking for azaadi attracts sedition charges, in that case we all should be ready to court arrest.

In spite of just getting his freedom after spending almost 20 days behind the bars, Kanhaiya did not show any sign of anger or frustration.

Rather, he looked calm and rejuvenated as he addressed his fellow students, at the JNU, the political fortress of the country. Kanhaiya said he considers the members of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) as his opposition and wanted to have a debate with them. Thus he cleared the air that members of ABVP were not his enemies, just his opponents and in a democracy opposition parties discuss and debate issues.

It was admirable to notice that Kanhaiya did not lose his humour even after being brutally attacked by 'goons' in the premises of the Patiala court few days ago.

As he took one jibe after another against the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government, he never lost his composure. Rather, like a seasoned politician, Kanhaiya was seen smiling when he said, "Narendra Modi government is trying to suppress JNU's voice against injustice, but they would not succeed."

As he reiterated his belief in the constitution and judiciary of the country, the PhD student saluted all those soldiers who died saving our borders. He said, "Jawans are dying at borders and farmers are dying inside the nation."

At the end of almost an hour-long speech, as the students of JNU, holding the flag of the country in their hands, cheered Kanhaiya, slogans of azaadi echoed through the sky of Delhi, the heart of India.

OneIndia News
India's March 3 speeches: Why Kanhaiya sounded more exciting than Modi

Feature

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

India saw two speeches on March 3 (Thursday). One was made by the prime minister of the country, Narendra Modi, in the morning while the other was by Kanhaiya Kumar, the student leader from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), who was arrested on charges of sedition but released on interim bail subsequently.

Not 'azadi' from India but 'azadi' in India, says Kanhaiya

Modi's speech, made in Parliament, was essentially a strong jibe directed at the Congress while Kanhaiya's one, made outside Parliament, was a cold retaliation against the right-wing camp, to which PM Modi, too, belongs.

Modi continued to play on anti-Congress sentiments; Kanhaiya played on anti-right sentiments

The two speeches made the day special in India's socio-political life. On the one hand, we saw a prime minister speaking his heart out on what good a party which ruled for the majority part of post-Independence era actually did to India. On the other, we saw a student leader asking what good the 'New Republic' under Narendra Modi has done on the question of social cohesion in the country.

High time BJP expands its viewpoint

The two speeches sent across the message to all concerned that history is a living thing and it marches forward, no matter what. If the BJP led by Modi is relishing the power today, thinking that it will benefit from the drawbacks of the Congress's rule over the past decades in the coming ones, the emergence of the Kanhaiya Kumars should act as a reality check.

Yes, the Congress has given us several reasons to criticise it today but the BJP can't take it for granted that those reasons will go on serving its interest in days to come. Modi gave a very engaging speech in Parliament on Thursday, sparing no stone unturned to ridicule and humiliate the Congress on the floor. But that was more of a political talk, limited between those who are either pro- or anti-establishment.

Kanhaiya has been made famous by the establishment's narrow politics

Kanhaiya Kumar, a face inconsequential so far, made the perspective bigger by playing on the space which has been created by elements that have become over-enthusiastic once the BJP came to power with a brute majority. He didn't care about being politically correct, just like the PM, but yet the two speeches refused to toe each other's line.

BJP's existence depends on Congress, which is a worry

But the BJP's political leadership hasn't cared about the fact that it needs to cater to a field which lies beneath the constituency that hates the Congress. If the BJP's existence only depends on opposing the party and idea of the Congress, then it will also vanish the day the latter disappears from the country's political scene. The architect of the 'First Republic' of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, did not have this challenge before him.

Ignore multiculturalism at your peril

The reluctance in acknowledging the idea of multiculturalism in any form is a serious limitation of the BJP and all that is right-wing fanatic. The counter-production of this ideological rigidity has given birth to people like Kanhaiya and given them the opportunity to ridicule the prime minister and his party, within hours after the latter did the same to the Congress.

Political history is a sort of cycle and there is no end to the journey attached to it. Modi's in-House speech might have earned accolades but its impact was drowned in the noise which was heard outside, in the campus of a university which is named after a leader who the current regime wishes to eclipse.
Infrastructural Development in North Eastern States

Feature

oi-Lisa

By Lisa

During the campaign leading to the 2014 Lok Sabha Election Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called North Eastern states as 'Ashta Lakshi' of India. He always used to tell that there should be balanced development in India and that East and North East should also be as developed as other regions of India.

After coming to power Modi Government has started many projects to develop the North East region and provide citizens residing there with all the modern amenities. A lot still needs to be done before NE states can be called developed states. However, here is a look at how the North East India is developing:

Assessment of Infrastructural Constraints in N-E Region:

The North Eastern Council has been conducting assessment of the various socio-economic challenges and infrastructural constraints being faced in the North Eastern Region, from time to time.

Major ones as figured out by the Council are Perspective Transport Plan for Development of North Eastern Region (NER) which became the basis for the Special Accelerated Road Development Programme for North East (SARDP-NE), Feasibility Study on Comprehensive Power Transmission and Distribution in NE which formed the basis for Comprehensive Scheme for Transmission and Distribution in NE States, the NER Vision-2020 Document, Feasibility Study Report on Poverty Eradication in NER, Comprehensive Tourism Master Plan for NER, Health Workforce Development Plan for NER and Study on Air Connectivity in NER.

Since its inception the North Eastern Council has invested over Rs. 12,756 crore for development of the NER in sectors such as transport and communication for roads and bridges, bus and truck terminus, airport and air connectivity; power generation and transmission; irrigation and water management; education, community infrastructure and sports; medical and health; agriculture and allied activities; industries; tourism; science and technology; and livelihood.

Physical achievement of the North Eastern Council includes construction of 10949 km. of roads of Inter-State nature and roads of economic importance. 11 Inter-State Bus Terminus and 3 Inter-State Truck Terminus in the North Eastern States.

The North Eastern Council also funded 60 percent of the project costs for upgradation of twelve airports through Airport Authority of India, namely, Guwahati, Silchar, Jorhat, Dibrugarh, Lilabari, Tezpur, Umroi, Lengpui, Dimapur, Imphal, Agartala and Tezu airports.

Besides, the North Eastern Council is instrumental in establishment or funding of several important institutions in the NER that include North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Ltd., (NEEPCO), North Eastern Handicraft and Handlooms Development Corporation Ltd., (NEHHDC), North Eastern Regional Institute of Water and Land Management (NERIWALM), Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Cane and Bamboo Technology Centre (CBTC).

A livelihood project, the NER Community Resource Management Project (NERCORMP) was initially funded jointly with International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and subsequently continued with domestic funding.

The project covers eleven Districts in four States, namely, Dima Haso and Karbi Anglong in Assam; Senapati, Ukhrul, Chandel and Churachandpur in Manipur; West Khasi Hills and West Garo Hills in Meghalaya; and Changlang, Longding and Tirap in Arunachal Pradesh.

Modern Facilities in Border States of North-East:

Government is taking steps to accelerate the pace of the socio-economic development of the NER. Provision of modern facilities for all round development of Border States of NE is an ongoing process. Concerned Central Ministries or Departments are required to earmark at least 10% of gross budgetary support for NER. The Ministry of DoNER and NEC provide funds for bridging infrastructure gaps in NER.

Ministry of DONER is administering NLCPR Scheme under which a total of 53 projects of Health Sector amounting to Rs. 63313.36 lakhs and 168 projects in Education Sector amounting to Rs.145416.55 lakhs, have been sanctioned so far.

North Eastern Council (NEC) is also administering schemes under various sectors in North Eastern States. In Industry sector, NEC have 41 on-going projects with an approved cost of Rs.17322.12 lakhs, Health Sector, it has 58 on-going projects with an approved cost of Rs.40870.85 lakh and in Education sector, NEC has 78 on-going projects with an approved cost of Rs.24294.98 lakh.

Ministry of Home Affairs releases funds for development of border areas under the Border Area Development Programme (BADP) scheme. Rs. 27757.86 lakhs has been released in current financial year to meet the special developmental needs of the people lying near the international border.

Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Human Resources Development has sanctioned 630 new schools and selected 3334 schools for strengthening and enhance the quality of education under Rashtriya Madhyamik Shikhsa Abhiyan (RSMA). An amount of Rs.122884.36 lakhs has been released since its inception.

NLCPR Funds Allocated to NE States:

Funds available in Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) are allocated to the North Eastern States for bridging infrastructure gaps based on Priority Lists submitted by respective State Governments.

As on 26.02.2016, under NLCPR 1569 projects at a cost of Rs. 14309.23 crores have been sanctioned out of which 890 projects at a cost of Rs. 5846.20 crores have been completed and 679 projects at a cost of Rs. 8463.01 crores are ongoing at various stages of completion.

In addition, a total of 247 projects have been retained during last three years at a cost of Rs. 3867.90 crores.

In the current Financial Year, as on 26.02.2016, an amount of Rs. 376.61 crores have been released for completion of ongoing projects and 17 new projects have been sanctioned for which Rs. 120.97 crores have been released.

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Story first published: Friday, March 4, 2016, 10:59 [IST]
News / Africa

by Staff Reporter

A 40-year-old man in Kisii County, Kenya, has been sentenced to 200 years in prison for killing his four children.Daily Sun reported that Lukas Misati allegedly committed the offence in 2012 following a feud with his wife.His wife, Helen Kemunto, had allegedly disagreed with his plans to move from their rental house when Misati attacked her.Kemunto escaped with injuries and managed to get treatment at a nearby hospital. But when she returned home, she found the children missing.It was later discovered that Misati had strangled the children, aged between 3 and 9, to death.He went into hiding, but police managed to arrest and open a case against him in 2013, according to Standard.On Monday, Kisii Judge Joseph Karanja found Misati guilty of four counts of murder and sentenced him to 50 years on each count.This came as reports on Tuesday indicated that police in Eldoret had arrested another man for poisoning his four children after a quarrel with his wife.Musa Saka reportedly poisoned the children's drinks after his wife fled to her parent's home following the quarrel. Two of the children died and the other two were currently undergoing treatment.Saka will be arraigned after police complete investigations into the matter.
Prashant Kishor claims Nitish Kumar in touch with BJP says don't be surprised if he joins hands with it again

P A Sangma  a Multi-Talented Jovial Leader from North East

Feature

oi-Lisa

By Lisa

P A Sangma or Purno Agitok Sangma who was the Speaker of the 16th Lok Sabha from 1996 to 1998 passed away at the age of 69 in New Delhi following a heart attack. Mr. Sangma was also the Chief Minister of Meghalaya from 1988 to 1990.

Here are some interesting known and lesser known facts about one of the most eminent leaders from North East to have shined on the national political platform.

Early life and education:

Mr. Sangma was born on the 1st of September 1947 in the village named Chapathi in West Garo Hills in Meghalaya.

He completed his B A with Honours from St. Anthony's College, Shillong. Post that he did his Masters in International Relations from Dibrugarh University in Assam. He also a law degree later.

Multi-talented P A Sangma:

Mr. Sangma has worked as a lecturer, lawyer and a journalist before taking a plunge in politics.

Political journey as Congress member:

The first big milestone in the political journey for Mr. Sangma came when in 1973 he became Vice-President of the Pradesh Youth Congress in Meghalaya.

He became the General Secretary of the Pradesh Congress Committee of Meghalaya from 1975 to 1980.

He was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time in 1977 from Tura constituency. He was elected to Lok Sabha until 14th Lok Sabha, but for the 9th Lok Sabha.

From 1980 to 1988 he was part of the Union Government under various capacities. He held the post of Deputy Minister in charge of Industry, Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Commerce, Minister of State holding charge of Commerce and Supply, Minister of State for Home Affairs and Minister of State for Labour with Independent Charge.

He was CM of Meghalaya from 1988 to 1990. In 1991 he was again elected to Lok Sabha and served as Union Minister till 1996 when he became Speaker of Lok Sabha. He held the following ministries between 1991 and 1996: Union Minister of State, Coal (Independent Charge), Union Minister of State, Labour (Independent Charge), Union Minister of State, Labour and Union Cabinet Minister of Information and Broadcasting.

Downs in P A Sangma's political career:

The down in his political journey was when he was expelled from Congress on the 20th May 1999 along with Sharad Pawar and Tariq Anwar. He had raised the banner of revolt against Sonia Gandhi over her foreign origin issue.

He was one of the founding members of Nationalist Congress Party along with Sharad Pawar and Tariq Anwar. However, he had dispute with Sharad Pawar when he again grew close with Sonia Gandhi and so Mr. Sangma split from NCP in January 2004.

He then merged his faction with Mamata Banerjee's TMC forming Nationalist Trinamool Congress. He resigned from his Lok Sabha seat on 10th October 2005 and was relected as NCP candidate in February 2006.

In March 2008 he resigned from Lok Sabha to take part in Meghalaya Legislative Assembly Election 2008.

P A Sangma as candidate for President of India:

Mr. Sangma resigned from NCP on 20th June 2012 after Sharad Pawar objected over his Presidential candidature against Pranab Mukherjee. Mr. Sangma's candidature was supported by AIADMK, BJd and BJP. After losing to Pranab Mukherjee on 23rd July 2012, Mr. Sangma had put up a charge of grafting against Pranab Mukherjee.

Forming National People's Party:

Mr. Sangma after losing against Pranab Mukerjee formed National People's Party on 5th of January 2013. The party managed to get two seats in the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly Election 2013.

Mr. Sangma's family:

Mr. Sangma's daughter Agatha Sangma has the honour of being the youngest Minister of State in the former UPA Government. Mr. Sangma's son, Conard Sangma, is the present Leader of the Opposition in the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly.
Who is Dr Anantha Nageswaran? All you need to know about the new chief economic advisor

7th Pay Commission: Good news for employees! Modi Govt likely to restore allowances

India

oi-Mukul

New Delhi, Mar 4: After dropping enough hint that Government is all set to implement the recommendations of Seventh Pay Commission soon, here is yet another good news for central government employees.

7th Pay Commission: Revealed! 'Salary increment' may not be before June

According to Finance Ministry sources, Government won't be making any changes in the existing advances and facilities, enjoyed by Central government employees. Pay commission had suggested abolition of many privileges and facilities including risk allowance, small family allowance, festival advance and motor cycle advance etc in its recommendations.

Reportedly, employees associations and Trade Unions were not happy with the suggestions by the pay commission. They had requested government to make its stand clear on it. Reportedly, Finance Ministry was constantly in touch with PMO over the same. Finally PMO said that it doesn't want to disappoint government staff.

A Finance Ministry sources was quoted by a news website as saying, "The PMO has sent its directive and it says that existing privileges cannot be curtailed. Betterment must be done for central government employees by protecting the current facilities".

7th Pay Commission decoded: All you need to know about salary increment; past pay commissions

Earlier, Government in its Budget document made the announcement that pay Commission will be implemented during the financial year 2016-17.

Centre further said the once-in-a-decade pay hike has been built in as interim allocation for different ministries and budget numbers were credible.

The voluminous budget documents state that "the implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission due from January 1, 2016 is to be implemented during the financial year 2016-17 as also the revised One Rank One Pension scheme for Defence services." "The government has made provisions for the additional liabilities on these count," it said, without giving the amount allocated for implementation.

OneIndia News

(With inputs from agencies)
Gujarat: Man commits suicide on quota reservation issue

India

oi-PTI

Rajkot, Mar 4: Demanding reservation for his community, a 36-year-old man belonging to the Patel community allegedly committed suicide by consuming poison at a private guest house in Dhoraji town of the district, police said today.

Prakash Shaani (36), a farmer and native of Moti Paneli village near Dhoraji town, was found lying on the bed of his rented room when the guest house manager knocked the door to wake him up last night, police said.

"When we reached the guest house after receiving information from the manager, we found Prakash lying unconscious. He was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced brought dead," said Police Sub Inspector of Dhoraji J R Rana, adding that Shaani died after consuming some poisonous substance.

Upon searching the room, police have also found a four-page suicide note, in which, Shaani claimed that he was sacrificing his life for the ongoing agitation by Patel community demanding reservation under OBC quota.

"We have found a suicide note near his bed. He addressed it to Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) convener of Saurashtra region, Lalit Vasoya, who is a distant relative of Shanni. In the suicide note, Shaani indicated that he was ending his life for the ongoing agitation for reservation," added Rana.

Following the suicide, PAAS has given a call for Dhoraji bandh. "Most of the shops remained closed and there was no untoward incident," police added. In the suicide note, which was shared by PAAS with media, Shaani stated that more Patel youths will end their lives if reservation was not granted.

"I am giving my sacrifice to wake up the government, which is still in deep sleep. I want to tell them that if reservation is not given, more Patel youths will end their lives. I urge Vasoya to fight till last breath for reservation and do not hesitate to give your life for that cause," stated the suicide note.

Shaani, who was a farmer, also mentioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's name in the suicide note and accused government of ignoring the plight of farmers.

"We helped Modi in arranging people for a rally when he visited Paneli village when he was not even the CM. But, 'Saheb' has forgotten us today, as farmers are waiting for crop insurance since last four years. Patels are broke financially," stated Shaani in his note.

He also slammed the Gujarat government on the quota issue and police action against Patel youths.

"This government sends innocent Patel youths in jail for raising concern of the community. Patel community helped a lot in the formation of this government. I am sure that if Patels unite, this government will come on their knees," stated the note.

The issue of Patel youth's suicide also echoed in the ongoing budget session of Assembly in Gandhinagar today, as Congress MLA Harshad Ribadiya read out the suicide note before the House and accused the government of ignoring the issue of reservation to this community.

"Yesterday, a Patel youth committed suicide. It is shameful for this government to ignore the issue of reservation, which is forcing the youths to end their lives," said Ribadiya on the floor of the House.

While talking to reporters after the session, newly elected state BJP president and state Transport Minister Vijay Rupani appealed Patel community youths not to sway in emotions and give their lives.

"This incident is truly unfortunate. I request people not to take such extreme steps, as the state government has already started the dialouge process to arrive at a compromise with Patel leaders. All matters can be resolved through dialogue," said Rupani.

This is the second incident in last six months when a Patel youth ended his life on the issue of reservation. Earlier, on September 25 last year, one Umesh Bhalala had committed suicide at his factory in Rajkot.

PTI
Of Dazzling Jewellery And Benefits, Kalyan Jewellers Is Here To Make Your Festive Season More Special

Jewellers extend pan-India strike till March 7

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, March 4: Jewellers, protesting throughout the country against the government proposal to re-impose 1 per cent excise duty, have decided to extend their strike till March 7, industry body GJF said on Friday, March 4.

"The excise guidelines which have been drafted for the Gems and Jewellery are not practically implementable and will be detrimental to the survival of the industry. We are expecting positive results from the government, but our agitation and protest continues," All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation (GJF) Chairman G V Sreedhar said.

GJF along with All India Jewellery Associations has decided to extend the strike till March 7. Jewellers went on strike for three days from March 2.

In the Budget 2016-17, the government has reimposed 1 per cent excise duty on gems and jewellery sector without input credit and 12.5 per cent with input credit GJF past Chairman and Director Bachhraj Bamalwa said: "We fail to understand what is bothering the government to reintroduce it again, since such Excise Duty measures in the past did not provide any tangible results and were withdrawn at later stages.

Does the Government wants Inspector Raj in this sector? Is this "Ease of doing business?" GJF along with many Associations have met senior ministers, MPs and Finance Ministry officials requesting the government to rollback excise from gems and jewellery sector.

PTI
Kanhaiya 'enjoying' free publicity: Venkaiah Naidu

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, March 4: A day after JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar took on the Narendra Modi government, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said he was "enjoying free publicity" while leaders of opposition parties showered praises on him Kumar for his speech last night which is making waves on social media.

Naidu suggested that if Kanhaiya is interested in politics he should join his "favourite party" which, he said sarcastically, does "not even have in single digit" in representation in Parliament. "He is getting free publicity and enjoying the publicity.

The question is let him condemn those slogans, let him distance himself from them. Let him help the authorities curb such activities in universities. "Universities are meant for education. They must study rather than getting involved in politics. If they are interested (in politics), then they can leave study and join politics. He can join his favourite party which does not even have single digit in Parliament," Naidu said. Kumar represents All India Students' Federation (AISF), the students' front of Communist Party of India (CPI) which has one seat each in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who tweeted "What a brilliant speech by Kanhaiya" as the latter was speaking last night, today said, "I told you several times Modi ji (Prime Minister), don't mess with students. Modi ji did not pay heed."

"Heard Kanhaiya's speech many times. Amazing clarity of thought expressed wonderfully.He said what most people have been feeling.God bless him," he tweeted.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said Kumar's speech was "testimony" to the fact that JNU students are demanding the creation of a better India and that they are the "foot soldiers" protecting the secular and democratic character of the Indian republic.

Congress' Ashwani Kumar said his party has been maintaining that Kumar did not utter anything anti-national at any point and yesterday he made it more clear through the speech.

Kumar was released from Tihar jail yesterday after the Delhi High Court granted him bail following his nearly three-week long incarceration in a case of alleged sedition.

PTI
Bihar: Girls protest after being asked to remove Hijab during exam

Central team roped in as dengue cases in Bihar rise to over 5000

Kanhaiya is more 'deshbhakt' than BJP: Nitish Kumar

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Patna, March 4: JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar is more of a 'deshbhakt' (patriot) than BJP leaders who have dubbed him anti-national, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said on Friday.

Nitish Kumar made the remarks after ending a two-day visit to Nepal, and a day after Kanhaiya Kumar was released after being in jail for 20 days on sedition charges.

The Janata Dal-United stalwart said the student leader, who is from Begusarai in Bihar, had been framed.

Nitish Kumar praised Kanhaiya's long speech at the JNU campus on Thursday night in which he attacked the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and raised issues of intolerance, hunger and poverty.

Nitish Kumar said the Modi government did not like the outspoken students of JNU who questioned the government's policies and raised issues that embarrassed it.

Student leaders like Kanhaiya Kumar will strengthen democracy in the country, the chief minister said.

IANS
Kanhaiya's 'campaign' will not affect TMC prospects: Mamata Banerjee

India

oi-PTI

Kolkata, Mar 5: Amid speculation that JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar would campaign for the Left parties in the five poll-bound states including West Bengal, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Friday said it would "not have any impact" on the prospect of her party.

"Let them come. How does it matter? It is a democratic country. Anyone can come for campaigning. It will not have any impact on the prospect of TMC," the West Bengal chief minister said.

Kanhaiya to campaign for Left in Bengal polls 2016, says Sitaram Yechury

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Friday said in Delhi that Kumar, as a Left activist, will "campaign" for the Left parties in the five states where elections are due this year.

West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry will go to polls in April and May. Kumar is a leader of All India Students' Federation, the students' wing of CPI.

"Our people also fought for them in Parliament," she said referring to the the party MPs who protested against the government action on Kumar in Parliament.

"Let them think about Kerala first. I have decided to go to Kerala and expose the nexus between Congress and CPI(M)," she said.

Talks are on about a tie-up between Congress and CPI(M) for the Assembly polls in West Bengal but the two parties are rivals in Kerala which will also go to polls.

PTI
Kanhaiya wins praise from non-BJP leaders for 'azadi' speech

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi/Patna, March 4: JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar on Friday, March 4 won accolades from non-BJP leaders for his rousing 'azadi' speech in which he took on Prime Minister Narendra Modi as they asserted whatever he said is true and he was more nationalist than those levelling sedition charge against him.

29-year-old Kumar's 66-minute speech laced with wit and sarcasm last night on his return to JNU campus after he walked free from jail three weeks after his arrest, however, did not go down well with the BJP with Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu saying he was "enjoying free publicity".

Naidu also said students in universities must study rather than getting involved in politics. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar backed Kumar's assertions of freedom from poverty and intolerance and said the "talented" youth leader was more nationalist than those levelling charge of sedition against him.

"The speech given by Kanhaiya Kumar in JNU after his release from jail is very effective ... Whatever he said is true," Nitish told reporters at Patna Airport. "Kanhaiya Kumar said we do not talk of freedom from India but freedom in India and demand independence in this regard," Nitish, who is a senior JD(U) leader, said.

"Kanhaiya Kumar put forth his views like there should be freedom from hunger, poverty and intolerance," he said and hailed the JNUSU President for putting his views effectively. "These prove that our new generation has a lot of capability.

The coming forward of such a talented student and youth will strengthen the roots of democracy in the country," he added. Kanhaiya was slapped with sedition charge for allegedly raising anti-national slogans during the protest against the hanging of parliament attack convict Afzal Guru on his third death anniversary last month.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who tweeted "What a brilliant speech by Kanhaiya" as the latter was speaking last night, today said, "I told you several times Modi ji (Prime Minister), don't mess with students. Modi ji did not pay heed."

"Heard Kanhaiya's speech many times. Amazing clarity of thought expressed wonderfully.He said what most people have been feeling.God bless him," he tweeted.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said the speech was "testimony" to the fact that JNU students are demanding the creation of a better India and that they are the "foot soldiers" protecting the secular and democratic character of the Indian republic.

Congress' Ashwani Kumar said his party has been maintaining that Kanhaiya did not utter anything anti-national at any point and yesterday he made it more clear through the speech.

PTI
Dhanteras 2022: How much gold can you buy from Dubai

Noida-based fashion designer planned her own abduction; was inspired by 'Crime Patrol'

India

oi-Preeti

Noida, March 4: In a startling revelation, police has revealed that Noida-based fashion designer Shipra Malik, who went missing under mysterious circumstances, had staged her own kidnapping and she took inspiration from 'Crime Patrol', a serial based- on real crime incidents.

As per a report published in India Today, police sources said that Shipra had staged her own abduction, as there she was giving conflicting statements.

29-year-old Shipra was reportedly undergoing a rough phase in her marriage and she also had some property-related issues and some loans. [Missing fashion designer from Noida found in Gurgaon]

As per sources, Shipra went to an ashram in Jaipur and stayed their overnight and went to several places in last three days.

In her police statement, Shipra said that she was kidnapped by three men at Noida Sector-29 and was taken to Gurgaon.

Her medical examination was also conducted that declred her medically fit.

Another report in a leading daily claimed that Shipra was using internet on her mobile phone from DND Flyover to Ashram for 15 minutes and made a couple of calls, including a call to her brother, before it was switched off.

She also sent some messages to some of her friends from WhatsApp. The last location of her mobile phone was found in south Delhi's Lajpat Nagar.

Police also claimed that during interrogation, Shipra broke down and confessed that she only planned her kidnapping. [Noida fashion designer goes missing in Delhi]

Police also said that Shipra had a heated argument with her in-laws, before she left her home on her own accord on Monday.

No ransom calls were made to Shipra's family, giving police more scope to point suspicion needle on Shipra.

Shipra and her husband Chetan had a love marriage and the couple has a one and half-year-old son. Shipra did her fashion designing from Pearl Academy of Fashion in 2008, after which she opened her boutique in Delhi.

Fortnight ago, a 23-year-old Snapdeal employee Dipti Sarna, also went missing when she was on the way to her home from Gurgaon to Ghaziabad.

Two days later, her abductors released her from Panipat, in a train, after which all accused involved in her dramatic kidnapping were arrested.

OneIndia News
Lost my father to 'hate and division', do not want to lose country: Rahul

Rajiv Gandhi assassination case: MDMK founder slams, DMK, AIADMK

India

oi-PTI

Chennai, March 4: MDMK founder Vaiko on Friday, March 4 lashed out at both AIADMK and DMK on the issue of release of seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, charging Chief Minister Jayalalithaa with trying to get 'political mileage' on the matter.

He also charged DMK President M Karunanidhi with trying to 'hoodwink' people on the issue, claiming that his government was not earlier favourably disposed to mercy petitions filed by three of the convicts--Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan.

While the state government can release all seven of them including Nalini using Article 161 of the Constitution, Jayalalithaa "has written a letter to Centre through the Chief Secretary," he said in a statement.

"People are aware that this is an attempt to gain political mileage and hoodwink (them)," he said. Tamil Nadu government had informed Centre of its decision to release V Sriharan alias Murugan, T Suthendraraja alias Santhan, A G Perarivalan alias Arivu, Jayakumar, Robert Payas, Ravichandran and Nalini, and sought its views on the matter as is required in certain cases before taking action.

Slamming DMK, which had backed the state government's decision to release the seven, Vaiko claimed that the Karunanidhi-led party never made attempts to set them free while in power.

In the past, when Nalini, Santhan, Murugan and Perarivalan had filed mercy petitions, the then DMK government had allowed clemency for Nalini citing Congress President Sonia Gandhi's support, but had "rejected" that of the others, Vaiko said.

The three persons had susbequently petitioned the President, he added. "But he (Karunanidhi) seems to believe that people will forget all these and now supports the demand for the release of all the seven. He is good at such hoodwinking tactics," Vaiko said.

PTI
News / Africa

by Staff reporter

Johannesburg - ANC spokesperson Keith Khoza has resigned, the ruling party said on Friday."The African National Congress regretfully announces the resignation of Comrade Keith Khoza as National Communications Manager of the ANC, effective 1 March 2016," national spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said in a brief statement.According to News24 , Khoza is rejoining the public service in Gauteng."Since joining the administrative corps of the ANC, Comrade Keith has been an invaluable part of the Department of Information and Publicity and the ANC at large, selflessly serving the movement and for this we thank him.""We are confident he will not be lost to the ANC communications machinery and we wish him nothing but the very best in his future."This was the second senior resignation in the African National Congress this week. Chief Whip Stone Sizani resigned from Parliament on Wednesday.
Dhanteras 2022: How much gold can you buy from Dubai

Report places AMU above Delhi University in India

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Aligarh, March 4: US News Education World Report has placed Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) above Delhi University and second to Punjab University on their list of overall Best Global Universities rankings.

Banaras Hindu University also follows AMU in the list.

The rankings take into account the research performance of the universities as well as their ratings by members of the academic community around the world.

With these rankings, displayed on the US News Education's website, www.usnews.com, the US News Education highly recommends international students to explore AMU and other top Indian universities for attending their higher education.

The list also has Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay; Indian Institute of Technology, Madras; Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur in the top ten institutes of India.

The Aligarh Muslim University has also been awarded grade 'A' by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), which conducted an assessment exercise at the campus.

IANS
Parliament attack: No closure at all, the Jaish has become even more menacing

20 years since Parliament: Pak has done little or nothing to bring Azhar to justice

SIT officer told Parliment attack, 26/11 state-sponsored: R V S Mani

India

oi-Mukul

New Delhi, Mar 4: After stoking controversy by stating that the changes in the Ishrat Jahan affidavit was made by the then UPA government, R V S Mani, a former Home Ministry official has made yet another statement which could snowballed into major controversy soon.

Mani who had filed two affidavits in Gujarat High Court in the Ishrat Jahan case has said that that member of the SIT on the killings had told him that 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks and Parliament attack were "orchestrated by the Government in power".

Mani, who filed the affidavits as Under Secretary in the Home Ministry in 2009, had told the then Union Urban Development Secretary Sudhir Krishna on June 21, 2013 about his deposition before the court-appointed SIT as he was posted in that Ministry at that time.

In his statement to Krishna, Mani had said that during the course of recording of the statement in Gandhi Nagar in Gujarat, the IG of the SIT Satish Chandra Verma had asked him many questions which he was not privy to or which officially were never in his domain during the tenure in the Home Ministry.

"He (Verma) started narrating as to how 13.12.2001 attack on Parliament of India and 26.11.2008 attacks are orchestrated by the government in power.

"He (Verma) stated that both these were the objective of strengthening the counter terrorist legislation. He narrated that December 13, 2001 was followed by POTA and November 26, 2008 was followed by amendment to UAPA wherein even Rs 10 in anybody's pocket can be treated as proceeds of terrorism.

"I told him (Verma) that he is entitled to his view but such view is generally held as ISI's view in the security establishment," Mani wrote in his note to Krishna.

Mani had claimed that Verma "coerced" him to sign some papers "knowing fully well that this would tantamount falsely indicting my seniors at the extant time". Former under secretary (Internal Security) in the Union home ministry , Mani further said that he was tortured to sign Ishrat's affidavits that says she was not a terrorists.

OneIndia News

(with inputs from PTI)
New India in making, infrastructure to be no less than US, Europe in 5 years: Nitin Gadkari

Strengthening PDP, not becoming CM my priority: Mehbooba

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Jammu, March 4: PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said on Friday, March 4 that becoming the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir was not her priority as she wanted to strengthen the party.

The Peoples Democratic Party leader also said that her mission was to carry forward her late father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's dream of bringing peace and development to Jammu and Kashmir.

Mehbooba Mufti was addressing party workers here.

Referring to the possibility of heading an alliance government with the BJP in the state, she said: "I do not know what will happen tomorrow. One thing I know for sure. If I and my party continue to relentlessly pursue the dream of Mufti Sahib, the people of the state will benefit.

"Whether I become the chief minister or not, the party has to be kept alive. That is the biggest tribute we can give to Mufti Sahib who founded the party for the people and not for any personal benefit."

Mufti said her father's last words during his illness to her were not about the properties he would be leaving behind, but about strengthening the party.

"He told me it was not important whether I became the chief minister or not. What was important was that the party (PDP) should be strengthened so that the people of the state benefit."

Jammu and Kashmir has been without an elected government ever since Mufti Sayeed died on January 7. Governor's Rule was imposed in the state after Mehbooba Mufti did not form a government.

On India-Pakistan relations, she said friendship and not confrontation was the way forward for the two countries and this was the only way to usher in permanent peace in Jammu and Kashmir.

Mehbooba Mufti said when her father was a Class 8 student, he desired to build a bridge between two parts of his hometown Bijbehara, which is divided by the Jhelum river.

"Mufti Sahib always wanted to build bridges between people and nations. His dream of peace and prosperity actually anchored the Congress in Kashmir and that paved the way for National Conference founder Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah to return to mainstream politics."

She said it was Mufti Sayeed who dreamt of cross-border trade, people-to-people contact and easing of tensions between India and Pakistan.

"America tried fighting and winning a war in Afghanistan and Iraq. Did such a big power win that war? Ours is a much bigger country and we stand to lose more by fighting with Pakistan.

"It is in the best interest of both countries to be friends. That is the only way forward for peace to return to our state."

She said Pakistan had taken action against those involved in the terror attack on the IAF base in Pathankot. She quoted Pakistan as saying that these attacks were carried out by non-state actors.

"It is possible what Pakistan says is right. (Prime Minister Narendra) Modiji's decision to stop over in Pakistan is a great gesture.

"Manmohan Singh also wanted to go to Pakistan but he did not have a strong enough mandate to do so. Modiji has a strong mandate which can be used for bringing peace between the two countries. War and war mongering are no solution to any problem."

IANS
Tamil Nadu: Light to moderate rain in the next few days

Tamil Nadu: Check the list of special trains operating from Chennai this Diwali

Will Tamil Nadu have lesser candidates with criminal background this time?

India

oi-Vicky

Tamil Nadu, Mar 4: The polls in Tamil Nadu are round the corner. With parties busy stitching up alliances, it would also be interesting to know the manner in which the tickets are distributed among the candidates this time.

Will the number of candidates with a criminal background reduce this time.

Elections held in 2011 at Tamil Nadu witnessed a total of 2,748 candidates battling it out.

According to this report prepared by the Association for Democratic Reforms 70 per cent of the 234 MLAs in the assembly had pending criminal cases against them.

AIADMK has 49 out of 150 (33 %), DMK has 7 out of 23 (30 %) and DMDK has 6 out of 29 (21 %) MLAs with pending criminal cases.

Know your neta:

Out of these 70 MLAs with pending criminal cases, 37 have pending serious criminal cases like murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, robbery, extortion etc.

AIADMK has 29, CPI(M) has 2, DMK has 2 , CPI has 1, Puthiya Thamilagam has 1, PMK has 1 and DMDK has 1 MLA with pending serious criminal cases.

There were a total of 84 IPC charges of heinous nature on the MLAs. These include murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, extortion, etc.

A total of 120 MLAs out of 234 i.e. 51% are crorepatis.

Among major parties, the average asset per MLA for DMK is approximate 9.21 crore , for INC it is 4.41 crore , for AIADMK it is 3.78 crore and for DMDK it is 3.40 crore.

A total of 122 MLAs out of 234 declared liabilities of 5 Lakhs or above.

25% of MLAs (59 of 234) had not furnished PAN card details.

Total number of women MLAs in Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections 2011 is mere 17 comparing to 217 men MLAs, i.e. only 7% of the MLAs in Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly are women.

More than 48% MLAs (113 of 234) are graduates and above.

There were a total of 84 IPC charges of heinous nature on the MLAs.

These including murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, extortion, etc. The following table gives the details of serious IPC counts for MLAs of major parties.

Out of the 234 MLAs in Tamil Nadu 2011 Assembly Elections, 120 (51%) are crorepatis. 83% of MLAs of DMK are crorepatis and 60% of INC MLAs are also crorepatis.

The average asset of a MLA of 2011 Assembly Election is 3.98 crores. Among major parties, the average asset per MLA for DMK is approximate 9.21 Cro and for AIADMK it is 3.78 crores.

The following table gives the average assets of major parties that contested in the 2011 Assembly Elections:-

A Narayanan of AIADMK from Nanguneri constituency has the highest declared assets among the MLAs of Tamil Nadu 2011 Assembly Election. He declared an asset of Rs. 103.28 crore followed by K.C. Pallani Shamy of DMK from Aravakurichi with assets of Rs. 67.65 crores.

OneIndia News
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Chinese book named world's 'most beautiful'

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Beijing, March 4: Chinese book "Order: Fangyuan Story" has won the title of the world's most beautiful book at an annual event held in Germany recently, the media reported on Friday.

The "world's most beautiful book" competition is held every March in Leipzig, organised by Stiftung Buchkunst, a German book art foundation.

Competition judges examined about 600 works from 32 countries to select the most beautiful book of the year. Fourteen books from eight different countries won prizes.

The winning book, Order: Fangyuan Story, written by Lu Chonghua and designed by Li Jin, tells the story of a 33-year-old private bookstore, Fangyuan.

Li Jin and Lu Chonghua both graduated from the Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts. Li Jin became a professor at the academy. Lu Chonghua began to manage the bookstore owned by his family. On every book order, Lu painted caricature portraits with different emotions to record his feelings.

Another Chinese book, "Insatiable Desire to Learn", won the bronze prize.

It was the second time that China has been honoured with the title since Mei Lanfang's opera portfolio picture book won the gold prize in 2003.

IANS
Lebanon's Hezbollah slams Gulf 'terror' listing

International

oi-PTI

Beirut, Mar 3: Lebanon's Hezbollah today criticised as "irresponsible" a decision by Gulf monarchies to classify the militant group as a "terror" organisation for its role in regional conflicts.

"The decision by the Gulf Cooperation Council to designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation is irresponsible and hostile and the Saudi regime must face the consequences," Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said after a meeting of the group's parliamentary bloc.

The GCC yesterday designated the Shiite movement for its "terrorist acts and incitement in Syria, Yemen and in Iraq". The move was the latest step taken by Gulf states, led by Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia, against Hezbollah, which is backed by Riyadh's main regional rival Iran.

Last month, Saudi Arabia halted a USD 3 billion programme for military supplies to Lebanon to protest what it said was "the stranglehold of Hezbollah on the state".

It urged its nationals last week to leave Lebanon and avoid travelling there. Qatar and Kuwait followed with similar travel advisories, while the United Arab Emirates banned its nationals from travel to Lebanon.

Hezbollah is fighting in support of the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against Gulf-backed rebel fighters and extremist militants.

The war in Syria has increased existing divisions between Lebanon's political blocs and produced a string of bombing attacks carried out by Syria-based militants on Lebanese soil. Saudi has accused Hezbollah of supporting Iran-backed rebels in Yemen -- against whom Riyadh has led a bombing campaign since March 2015.

Fadlallah said the GCC decision "won't prevent us from condemning the crimes of Saudi Arabia in Yemen, the kingdom's financing and support of terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria, or its collaboration with (Israel)".

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah this week said Riyadh had no right to collectively punish Lebanon over a disagreement with the Shiite movement's policies. And Iran -- Hezbollah's principal backer -- today warned that its Gulf Arab rivals were jeopardising Lebanon's stability by blacklisting the group.

AFP
What is daydreaming? Scientists identify parts of the brain show sleep-like activity when your mind wanders

Stressed? 4 ways to stop your brain telling you the worst will happen

Brain's defence at work may be the reason why your lockdown memory so bad

Protein that promotes brain tumour formation identified

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

New York, March 4: Researchers have found that a protein involved in the breakdown of glucose - a process known as glycolysis -- plays an important role in coordinating cellular processes crucial to cancer metabolism and brain tumour formation.

The findings may lay the groundwork for improved approaches to diagnosis and treatment of glioblastoma and other cancers.

The study showed that PGK1, which is associated with cancer cell proliferation and drug resistance, was instrumental in glycolysis and the citric acid cycle -- both important for generating the energy that feeds cancer cells.

"Our study highlights that PGK1 acts as a protein kinase in coordinating glycolysis and the citric acid cycle in cancer metabolism and tumour formation," said Zhimin Lu, professor at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Centre in the US.

The study, published online in the journal Molecular Cell, also shed further light on the Warburg effect, an enzymatic mechanism that cancer cells employ to boost energy levels and produce cellular substances that lead to rapid cancer growth.

"The Warburg effect promotes tumour progression. Exactly how this is coordinated has remained elusive," Lu noted.

Brain-dead student donates organs to 8 people

"Our findings provided critical insight into the Warburg effect and demonstrates that PGK1 ultimately promotes cancer cell proliferation and tumour formation," he said.

"It may help us to develop a molecular basis for improved diagnosis and treatment of cancer," Lu pointed out.

IANS
Kanhaiya to campaign for Left in Bengal polls 2016, says Sitaram Yechury

Kolkata

oi-Shubham

Kolkata, March 4: Kanhaiya Kumar, the student leader of New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) who stole the limelight following his arrest on charges of sedition, has been invited to campaign for the Left in the West Bengal Assembly elections starting April 4.

India's March 3 speeches: Why Kanhaiya sounded more exciting than Modi

CPI(M) general-secretary Sitaram Yechury has informed this, according to Bengali news channel ABP Ananda.

Kanhaiya, a member of the All India Student Federation, the youth wing of the CPI and president of the JNU Students' Union, was arrested by the Delhi Police last month on charges of instigating anti-national sentiments in the campus.

A massive controversy rocked the nation over the incident and Kanhaiya got an interim bail for six months on March 3 (Thursday) and gave a passionate speech in university on his return.

Speaking to news channels, Kanhaiya said the final decision will be taken by the council and if it allows him, he will go to any state---be it Bengal, UP or Punjab.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC), however, said that it is not attaching much importance to the news. "It doesn't matter," ABP Ananda quoted TMC chief Mamata Banerjee as saying.

The BJP, which has found itself in an uncomfortable position over the Kanhaiya issue, did not remark on this.

Oneindia News
News / Local

by Stephen Jakes

The Zimbabwe Peace Project has reported that on 18 January 2016, in a case aimed at barring the opposition from carrying out its activities, Violet Nyabeza, shadow councillor for Zanu-PF, disturbed an MDCT meeting in Ward 14 Mutasa Central."On the day in question, the MDC-T called for a meeting to discuss developmental projects for the ward. Nyabeza allegedly also called for a meeting at the same time and same venue all in a suspected attempt to scuttle the MDC-T meeting. In the end none of the two meetings took place," said ZPP."It must be noted that Mutasa Central remains a problem child for Zanu-PF as it is the only constituency in the whole of Manicaland that still has an opposition MP Trevor Saruwaka."
OK! Magazine 21 Oct 2022

Taylor Swift might be headed to a dive bar on the east side, but OK! has the best 'Midnights' inspired cocktail recipes.
After stealing many hearts during the inaugural season of the singing competition, The Voice Nigeria, afropop duo, DNA  led by twin brothers, Blair and Clint Roberts  quickly got signed to Don Jazzys star-making label, Mavin Records.

After flailing around for a bit, clearly struggling to find their sound, the brothers decided to take a break to and figure things out. Now theyre back from their hiatus with two fantastic new singles, Ayo and Star, and things are finally looking up for them.

The Freddie Beats-produced Star is the more chilled-out of the two releases, benefiting from an insanely catchy bridge. On the track, the brothers try to convince a girl that she deserves much better than the relationship shes currently in.

As for Ayo, the Ozedikus-produced party-starter has all the trappings of a modest afropop hit. While the lyrics are a bit run-of-the-mill, the brothers display enough confidence and charisma on the track to more than make up for it.

So, while its common for one track to handily outshine the other during double releases, the duo dont seem to have that problem here, as they have dropped two killer songs that finally make their place in our ever-evolving music industry pretty clear.

Listen to Star and Ayo below:

[embedded content] [embedded content]
News / Local

by Stephen Jakes

The ruling Zanu PF activists in Mutare reportedly staged a demonstration in the city accusing management of corruption.Zimbabwe Peace Project reported that on 20 January 2016, more than 100 protesters led by Esau Mupfumi, Zanu-PF MP Chikanga, demonstrated against city Management and the Town Clerk Obert Muzawazi at Civic Centre Mutare. They accused them of being corrupt."However they did not substantiate the claims. It is believed the victims are suspected gamatox' and their bashing is as a result of factional politics. The Town Clerk has since resigned from the job," said ZPP.When ZPP spoke to Mupfumi to confirm the demonstrations and whether or not he provided buses for them, he was reluctant to commit himself one way or the other, saying only that, "I don't know," before blasting the ZPP for working for "whites". Efforts to reach Muzavazi and other city managers were not fruitful by the time of going to print.
This piece was reprinted by OpEd News with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.

Reprinted from www.huffingtonpost.com

As a social anthropologist who studies influence elites, I am rigorously nonpartisan. (My Huff Post archive shows targets of every stripe.) But when supporters of Bernie Sanders question Hillary Clinton's substantial campaign donations from corporate interests and Wall Street, they have an undeniable point. Yet it's her byzantine family foundation that creates perhaps the most troubling black hole of accountability.



This lighthearted look at the Clintons' charitable excursions exemplifies a much larger pattern: the unaccountability of today's influence elites (see my book Unaccountable.) This music video focuses specifically on how Bill Clinton's post-presidential career complicates his wife's executive ambitions. He has been a frenetic philanthropist since leaving office, his foundation channeling huge donations from corporations and even foreign governments. These donations inevitably call into question how a new President Clinton could manage innumerable conflicts of interest. Indeed, they have raised questions at times about her impartiality as secretary of state. Serious stuff that I felt could use a little satirical treatment.





-------------------------------

As I said before the video, the Clintons' penchant for boundary-pushing points to a broader trend: a cultural shift toward under-the-radar influencing that is legal but beyond the reach of traditional accountability.

Hillary Clinton has declared in the face of questioning about her family's doings that she knows she will be "subjected to all kinds of distractions and attacks and I'm ready for that." Much of the discussion centers on whether a clear quid pro quo exists. Did Clinton as secretary of state sway policy because of donations, some from foreign and corporate donors, to her husband's foundation? Might she be susceptible as president of the United States to the influence of donors to her family's philanthropic empire?



Hillary Clinton, like others, is armed with a powerful weapon: deniability. In fact, as I have shown for several years now, the modus operandi of modern premier elites is so effective--and widely utilized--precisely because it affords its practitioners deniability and is unlikely to reveal any "smoking gun."

The Clintons are not alone. Other former leaders of Western democracies, notably British Prime Minister Tony Blair and, in some respects, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French president Nicolas Sarkozy, practice this M.O. Eager to remain "relevant," earn millions, and sometimes skirting disclosure standards in the process, this new breed of ex-statesmen leverages enormous prestige and exemplifies today's influence elites. (George W. Bush, who has taken up painting in his post-presidency, is somewhat of an outlier among his baby-boomer peers.) These high flyers soak up today's zeitgeist, which prizes boundary-breaking and "disruption." Their overlapping endeavors weave a thicket of unaccountability, enabling the kind of elaborate deal-making now in the headlines and--I cannot stress this enough--the ability to deny that there's any wrongdoing.



For leaders of the so-called free world, this M.O. is novel. When Gerald Ford retired, he joined corporate boards. Jimmy Carter is best known for his philanthropy and occasional forays into diplomacy. George H.W. Bush can be seen parachuting.

The playbook for today's influence elites consists of several boundary-blurring strategies, employed together. The first is crafting overlapping roles, typically both for oneself and one's small circle. Bill Clinton and Tony Blair are especially adept at this. Since leaving office, in addition to establishing the Clinton Foundation and its nonprofit Global Initiative, Clinton has served as a paid adviser to a global private equity and consulting firm called Teneo (among other business ventures). (We'll get to Blair's doings in a moment.)

The second strategy is setting up and operating through a series of crisscrossing entities. Teneo, which formed in 2011, once billed itself on its website as "integrated counsel for a borderless world . . . focused on working exclusively with the CEOs and leaders of the world's largest companies, institutions and governments." (Tellingly, when I checked back on Teneo's site after the Clinton foundation story gained traction, the word "governments" was no longer featured on the home page.) Clinton's close aide and Teneo co-founder Douglas Band reportedly recruited foundation donors to be Teneo clients and vice versa. The lines between the two enterprises were fuzzy to the extent that, as the New York Times reported in 2013, "Some Clinton aides and foundation employees began to wonder where the foundation ended and Teneo began."

The third playbook strategy is celebrity branding and the enlisting of others by appealing to their desire to bask in the brand. The Clinton Global Initiative, founded in 2005, pioneered a new way of doing the business of philanthropy that appeared to dovetail with the needs of corporate and government donors, as well as Teneo. An annual meeting, with a five-figure entrance fee as part of the deal, has brought together the powerful to network and hash out global issues. The foundation has reportedly has raised $2 billion since its formation. In a 2013 piece called "Scandal at Clinton Inc.," the New Republic described what the various parties get out of the deal:

For corporations, attaching Clinton's brand to their social investments offered a major p.r. boost. As further incentive, they could hope for a kind word from Clinton the next time they landed in a sticky spot. "Coca-Cola or Dow or whoever would come to the president," explains a former White House colleague of Band's, "and say, 'We need your help on this.'".... There's an undertow of transactionalism in the glittering annual dinners...the fixation on celebrity, and a certain contingent of donors whose charitable contributions and business interests occupy an uncomfortable proximity.

But that proximity is also a carefully calibrated one, tailor-made for deniability. And that brings us back to the second playbook strategy: the setting up and funding of different legal entities and enlisting friends and allies to do the same. When donations come one-step-removed, the recipient can plausibly deny responsibility or distance itself when it's expedient to do so. We saw that last year when the Washington Post reported more than a thousand undisclosed donors to a Clinton-affiliated charity in Canada, the Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership. The Clinton foundation could conveniently argue that Canadian law protects the anonymity of donors to charities. The man behind this affiliated charity is Frank Giustra, the mining executive who sought and won U.S. government approval to sell a Canadian uranium producer to Russia while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state. (The Clintons deny any special treatment for Giustra.)
Reprinted from Strategic Culture Foundation

From a failed attempt to clear the Calais jungle to the appalling situation at the Greek-Macedonian border, the EU crumbles under the strain of a massive refugee crisis. Even the Kafkaesque Brussels Eurocrat construct admits it -- off the record, because official EU must always project a mythical image of unity: We are on the edge of an abyss.

Across the EU and amidst Russian intellectual elites, scenarios proliferate on the imminent collapse of Western civilization, as a huge number of refugees cannot be properly assimilated. In Russia, this process is examined with extreme concern because it happens not far from Russia's western borderlands, and involves what the Kremlin traditionally defines as our partners.

But what if this European slow motion debacle was not enacted as a Mad Max dystopia, but rather brought about by a tsunami of Muslims ultimately displaced by Western-engineered wars?

Behold Fortress Europe

It was only six months ago that Chancellor Angela Merkel's government took a huge gamble in adopting a so-called humanitarian refugee policy; call it the civilized face of the otherwise politically tainted R2P (responsibility to protect) concept, which was ruthlessly manipulated for the invasion and destruction of Libya.

Six months later, we have swarms of refugees stranded all along the Balkan Route -- and progressively encircled/trapped by strict border controls, the disappearance of social benefits, creeping fences and walls, and the practical extermination of the Schengen accords. The Merkel gambit is over; Fortress Europe is back with a vengeance.

Can you hear the sound of a basket of myths crumbling? Here are a few. The notion of European solidarity -- not to mention egality and fraternity. The notion that EU members would accept a sensible, harmonious, proportional distribution of refugees. The notion that Europe would not reject, deport and repatriate people fleeing from war zones. The notion that Turkey would protect the EU from the crisis.

The Balkan Route, for all practical purposes, is now sealed off to refugees while Ankara, for its part, is slowly building a wall along stretches of the Turkish-Syrian border -- not as much to really contain them (after all Ankara must keep open the Jihadi highway), but as a propaganda coup.

Germany's humanitarian refugee policy is in tatters and corroded by self-doubt; only two weeks ago Chancellor Merkel was wondering whether she should pursue our European-Turkish approach or whether the EU should order the absolute sealing off of the Greek-Macedonian border, pure and simple.

And that leads us close to the heart of the matter -- which is of course Turkey.

The majority of German conservative politicos want Merkel to seal off German borders to refugees, while Merkel still believes in the Hand of Providence; help from European partners -- which won't come -- and most of all from Ankara.

And that's exactly where Turkey's Sultan Erdogan wants her to be; as a supplicant, not as the leader of the number one European economic power.

Ankara's power play

One of the key myths of the whole refugee crisis is that Erdogan's AKP government is doing all it can to contain it.
s="">What happens when there are endless wars accompanied by militarized policing, spreading racism, erosion of civil rights, and concentration of wealth, but the only news is election news, and none of the candidates wants to talk about shrinking the world's largest military?

We happen. That's what. We turn out for a Day of Solidarity and Peace in New York City on Sunday, March 13th. We start by signing up at http://peaceandsolidarity.org and inviting all of our friends to do so. If we can't come, we invite all of our friends anywhere near New York to sign up and be there. We sit down and think of every person we remember hearing ask "But what can we do?" and we tell them: You can do this.

We stopped the war mongers who wanted to rip up the agreement with Iran last year, and the political progress in Iran reflects the wisdom of diplomacy as an alternative to yet more war. We stopped a massive bombing campaign of Syria in 2013. Our brothers and sisters just this month stopped the construction of a U.S. military base in Okinawa.

But U.S. weapons and bases are spreading across the globe, ships are sailing provocatively toward China, drones are murdering in numerous nations with a new base just opened in Cameroon. The U.S. military is assisting Saudi Arabia in bombing Yemeni families with U.S. weapons. The U.S. war in Afghanistan is being accepted as permanent. And the U.S. wars in Iraq and Libya left behind such hell that the U.S. government is hoping to use more war to "fix" it -- and to add another overthrow in Syria.

Why will no candidate (in the two-party system) propose a serious reduction in military spending and war making, foreswear the use of killer drones, commit to making reparations to the nations recently attacked, or agree to join the International Criminal Court and to sign onto the many treaties limiting warfare on which the United States is a holdout? Because not enough of us have turned out and made noise, and brought new people into the movement.

Will you join us in New York City on March 13th to say "Money for Jobs and People's Needs, not War! Rebuild Flint! Rebuild our Cities! End the wars! Defend the Black Lives Matter movement! Aid the world, stop bombing it!"

Peace Poets, Raymond Nat Turner, Lynne Stewart, Ramsey Clark, and other speakers will be there.

Will your organization help spread the word? Please let us know and get listed as part of this effort by emailing UNACpeace [at] gmail.com. Can you help in other ways? Have ideas for how to make this stronger? Please write to that same address.

In a presidential debate in December a moderator asked one of the candidates: "Could you order air strikes that would kill innocent children by not the scores, but the hundreds and the thousands? Could you wage war as a commander-in-chief? . . . You are OK with the deaths of thousands of innocent children and civilians?"

The candidate mumbled something in response instead of shouting Hell No, as any decent person was obliged to do and as we will do on the Day of Peace and Solidarity. How are your lungs? Ready to make some noise? Join us!


News / Local

by Thobekile Zhou

BULAWAYO Senator Matson Hlalo has been fired from Parliament's Upper House after the MDC-T wrote to Senate President Edna Madzongwe disowning him.Acting Senate President Charles Tawengwa announced Hlalo's expulsion yesterday, in line with section 129 (1) (k) of the Constitution, which allows political parties to recall MPs that have crossed the floor.Recently, the MDC-T's national executive council expelled Hlalo from the party following what they deemed his relentless fight against what he says is the imposition of Gift Banda as the party's Bulawayo provincial chairman.MDC-T secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora said he had already written to the legislator informing him of the termination of his membership of the main opposition party."Yes, it's correct. He has been expelled."Last year, he was advised by the National Council (NC) that we should not resolve party disputes through the courts, as people must exhaust domestic remedies.He was ordered to withdraw his court cases, but he refused."The NC last year then ruled that he be expelled."He said Hlalo was advised to defend himself and show why he should not be expelled, but he ignored the instruction."He was then found to be in contempt of the NC and was dismissed," Mwonzora added.
Reprinted from Reader Supported News

The country's two largest private prison corporations, GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) released their annual financial reports last week, showing that they each made thousands of dollars in profits per prisoner incarcerated. GEO made a profit of $2,135 per prisoner, while CCA squeezed out $3,356. This is most certainly not cause for celebration.

Indeed, every American should be appalled that there are companies that profit on human misery and that can guarantee a profit only by denying human beings basic medical care and necessities. Moreover, the national conversation should not be one of how to incarcerate more and more people for less and less money, but how to rehabilitate them at a cost far less than incarceration.

The research and policy organization In the Public Interestestimates that the cost of rehabilitation is not only significantly lower than the cost of incarceration, ($35,350 per prisoner in the federal system) it is, in many cases, even lower than the per-person profits of the private prison companies. For example, the annual cost per prisoner of community-based services for arrested teenagers is only $1,000; resources and support for released prisoners re-entering society is $1,200; math, reading, and writing classes in prison are $1,600; vocational training in prison is $2,000; and substance abuse counseling for released prisoners is $2,700. Even residential drug treatment as an alternative to prison is $17,000 per person, less than half the cost of incarceration.

But remember, the goals of GEO and CCA are not to rehabilitate anyone. Those companies only make money if there are more prisoners, if they serve longer sentences, if they reoffend after release, or if the companies can keep costs so low by reducing money spent on food or medical care that they can then pass the savings and profits on to the stockholders.

With that in mind, what are conditions like inside America's private prisons? I served 23 months in federal prison. Conditions were poor, with food and medical care at the bottom of the barrel. I saw three inmates die because they did not receive adequate medical care. But the federal system is supposed to be the best prison system in the country. I heard fellow prisoners talk about having been in private prisons during the transportation process to federal prison. They told stories about 200 prisoners with access only to one toilet, with a broken seat, no less. They talked about 150 prisoners with access to one television, with fistfights breaking out every hour on the hour over what show to watch.

Toilet seats and televisions are not the main problems in America's private prisons. A 2013 lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union against the privately-owned East Mississippi Correctional Facility called it "an extremely dangerous facility operating in a perpetual state of crisis, where prisoners live in barbaric and horrific conditions and their basic human rights are violated daily."

That was only the beginning. The lawsuit detailed "a litany of horrors," including "rampant rapes; placing prisoners in solitary confinement for weeks, months, or even years at a time, where the only way to get a guard's attention in an emergency is to set a fire; rat infestations so bad that vermin crawl over prisoners." The untreated mentally ill throw feces, scream, start fires, electrocute themselves, and self-mutilate." The ACLU accused prison officials of "denying or delaying treatment for infections or even cancer." Malnourishment, chronic hunger, stabbings, beatings, and the rape of juveniles housed with adults also were common.

This situation is not unique to East Mississippi. A 2011 ACLU study found that common occurrences in private prisons across the country included "horrifying cases of abuse, including juveniles' cells smelling of urine and feces, insect infestations, racial segregation, punishment for speaking Spanish, and refusal of medical health treatment." This isn't "rehabilitation." It isn't even prison. It's hell.

President Obama has spoken recently of the need for rehabilitation, coupled with incarceration. Rehabilitation is the only way to reduce recidivism. That's a proven fact. But as long as the justice system farms prisoners out to for-profit prisons, where they are abused and denied their basic human rights and medical care, we are no better than countries with the world's worst prison systems. There is only one solution. We must close for-profit prisons and swear by a policy to never treat human beings in such a way again. President Obama has the authority to do that singlehandedly. Whether he has the guts to remains to be seen.

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
I have been a Huffington Post blogger since late in 2012 when I posted an article on why, as a political independent, I supported Obama for President. Since that time, I have posted dozens of times. The way it works is, I submit the post and a day or two later it is approved -- or not. I've only gotten a few posts rejected, always for the same reason: I stepped outside the "lines" of accepted discourse by referring to something like the Kennedy assassination, questioned the official 9/11 story, or in some other way approached a subject mainstream media considers taboo.

Well, it happened once again this week when the piece I wrote Where To Invade Next, OR ... How Did the USA Get So %#!&@ STUPID? was "politely" rejected with the terse statement, "We appreciate you taking the time to submit your most recent post. Unfortunately, we are going to pass on it for publication at this time, and will look forward to your next submission."

So, I am not "banned" from submitting. I've simply been told where the lines are that I cannot color outside.

Of course, the very point of the article (to refresh yourself, you can read it here) is that BECAUSE these topics are verboten, we have a body politic susceptible to the most outrageous of ideas and theories because we cannot trust the mainstream media to tell the truth. In a certain regard, the body politic must be kept ignorant at all costs and that ignorance has caused us to betray our own founding documents. The purpose of a free press, after all, is to inform -- not to splay four-letter words and pornography and sensationalism about.

I received quite a few kudos on this article, by the way. Not one of them challenged my thesis that we are traumatized BECAUSE our news is censored, and because we have been intentionally kept in the dark. I'm writing this NOT so that you'll contact Huff Post in protest -- please don't -- but so that you will understand just what we are up against, and why we need a people's upwising.

I'm sure many Bernie supporters are disappointed he didn't do better on Super Tuesday, although the campaign is far, far from over. More importantly, I am hoping more and more people are recognizing the REAL prize that goes far beyond this one individual's candidacy -- an ongoing and on-growing movement of awakening citizens who can cultivate both the numbers and the focused coherence to not just take America back, but take our country forward. And bring down the invisible wall of "impropaganda" that separates us from the truth.

I call it a People's Upwising, because it involves waking up and wising up to how we have been duped, AND rising up to a higher game -- recognizing that we're all in it together and ONLY by first gathering around the virtues and values 90% of us have in common can we change the political game from corruption and manipulation to wise governance.

It's important that we recognize the role of the mainstream press -- typified by the Huffington Post -- as making sure the unquestioned answers remain unquestioned. It's also important to remember that these forces will be unable to withstand the pressure of history. Just as surely as the Berlin Wall came down, so will the Irony Curtain that has been keeping we the people from the truth.

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In a recent New York Times column, David Brooks blasted Donald Trump and "the rise of a group of [Americans] who are against politics." Regrettably, Brooks failed to acknowledge that Trump is the direct descendant of Ronald Reagan.

The path from Reagan to Trump had five stages:

1. Blame Government: In his January 20, 1981, inaugural address, Ronald Reagan famously declared, "In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." Republicans adopted "government is the problem" as their mantra and blamed the Federal government for all manner of problems (remember the "nanny state"). The GOP blithely ignored popular support for infrastructure improvements, old-age pensions, a robust military, and a host of other Federal programs.

2. Pay No Taxes: After blaming the government, the Republicans decided to pay no taxes. In 1985, at the request of President Reagan, Grover Norquist founded "Americans for Tax Reform." This powerful conservative lobby pushed Republican political candidates to sign a pledge to oppose "any and all tax increases." As a result, America launched thirty years of deficit spending -- the GOP replaced "tax and spend" with "spend and don't tax."

"Blame the government" and "pay no taxes" promoted a unique Republican lunacy: the belief Americans could enjoy the benefits of government without having to pay for them. Inevitably this led to the madness of George W. Bush's $2 trillion war in Iraq that was financed by writing I.O.U.'s rather than levying new taxes.

3. Encourage Absolutism: At the same time Ronald Reagan was blaming government, and slashing tax rates without considering the consequences, he was solidifying the GOP's hold on the South by bringing evangelical Christians into the fold. Reagan declared he was "born again" and invited the Moral Majority into the White House. Reagan "inaugurated what scholars David Domke and Kevin Coe have called the 'God strategy' in American presidential politics, as 'religious communications increased to levels never before seen in the modern presidency.'"

The consequence of Reagan's political strategy was to bring religious fanaticism into mainstream American politics. One of the reasons that George W. Bush invaded Iraq was that religious zealots in his Administration believed it would escalate Armageddon. Christianity became, de facto, the state religion of the United States. Previously private concerns such as access to birth control and sexual preference were escalated into matters of public policy. Republicans became moral absolutists.

This produced the ultimate GOP schizophrenia: the Republican Party deplored the Federal government and wanted it to disappear, yet believed that same government should dictate to women what their personal health care choices are. (Republicans believe government doesn't work in Washington, but does in the bedroom.)

4. Oppose all things Obama: Stung by the victory of a black liberal Democrat, on January 20, 2009, Republican leaders adopted a scorched earth opposition strategy, "We've gotta challenge [the Obama Administration] on every single bill and challenge them on every single campaign." The result was unprecedented obstructionism, little real legislation, and the widespread public perception that "Washington is broken."

The Republican plan succeeded. The GOP shut down the government, drove public sentiment for politicians to unprecedented lows, and polarized the electorate.

5. Celebrate Ignorance: 2009 saw the rise of the Tea Party faction of the Republican Party (in Congress referred to as "the Freedom Caucus"). David Brooks spoke of this as Americans who are "against politics." [They] want to elect people who have no political experience. They want "outsiders." They delegitimize compromise and deal-making. They're willing to trample the customs and rules that give legitimacy to legislative decision-making if it helps them gain power."

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https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07ec9xpxrt93a61032&oseq=&c=&ch=

www.BBB.org/Richmond

RICHMOND, VA (March 2, 2016) - Better Business Bureau (BBB) Serving Central Virginia, the regions leading voice for marketplace trust and consumer protection, will present an important workshop on Cybersecurity on Tuesday, March 15th at Jefferson Lakeside Country Club. Originally the 3-hour morning seminar was planned for the BBBs 4,682 accredited businesses, but the workshop is now being offered to any business in the area, because of the significant rise of cyber crime and dramatic increase in the number of small businesses that are now being targeted.Cybersecurity incidents have almost doubled in the past few year and two-thirds of data breaches happen at small and mid-sized companies, says BBB CEO and President Tom Gallagher. Cyber-attacks are costing the US over $1 trillion a year, so we put together this important workshop with help of the National Council of BBBs to help businesses in Central Virginia protect themselves.During the event, a 5-step plan to protect businesses from cyber-attacks will be unveiled by five leading security panelists. Business leaders and owners will learn that they can avoid the infamy of attacks by understanding the assets that need to be protected and making that happen. Managing cyber risk, having the right tools, protecting sensitive data and establishing best practices will be disclosed in this one-of-a-kind opportunity, which was created recently by the National BBB and the National Cyber Security Alliance. Attendees will learn how to detect, respond, and recover from a Cybersecurity incident, and most importantly learn how to best protect their companies.Details of the event:WHO: Better Business Bureau (BBB) Serving Central VirginiaWHAT: Cybersecurity for Your Business Workshop5-Step Approach to Better Business CybersecurityWHEN: Tuesday, March 15, 20167:30am - 11:30amBreakfast at 7:30amProgram starts at 8:00amWHERE: Jefferson Lakeside Country Club1700 Lakeside AvenueHenrico, VA 23228COST: $25 for accredited businesses$40 for non-membersSIGN UP: BBB Accredited Businesses sign up (Non-members sign up (BBB serving Central Virginia serves Richmond, the Tri-Cities, Charlottesville, and Fredericksburg, as well as 42 surrounding counties from Fauquier to Mecklenburg and Northumberland to Amherst. The nonprofit organization was established in 1954 to advance responsible, honest, and ethical business practices and to promote customer confidence through self-regulation of business. Core services of BBB include business reliability reports, dispute resolution, truth-in advertising, consumer and business education, and charity review.Visit our blog (bbb.org/richmond/news-events/news-releases/20162/join-us-on-march-15th/) for more information on the Cybersecurity Workshop event.101 E Cary StRichmond, VA 23219
Sonitrol Tri-County prevents grocery store burglary

www.sonitrolverified.com

www.sonitrolverified.com

www.sonitrolverified.com

A Sonitrol Tri-County monitoring center operator helped in the apprehension of one person during a break-in at a Flint grocery store on Friday, February 26.The Sonitrol operator was alerted to multiple alarms indicating glass breaking at the grocery store, located on Dort Highway. The operator verified the illegal entry, and dispatched Flint City Police to the location. There, an individual was arrested and taken into custody.The arrest was achieved through Sonitrol Audio Verification technology, a unique system which triggers an alert at the sounds of an intrusion. At Sonitrol Tri-Countys Central Monitoring Station in Grand Blanc, trained monitoring operators can listen live to verify an intrusion and notify local law enforcement.Sonitrol Tri-County provides Michigan businesses with a single source of integrated, state-of-the-art security solutions. Sonitrol has the best apprehension rate in the industry, and the fewest dispatches for false alarms. To learn more about Sonitrol Tri-Countys electronic security products and services, please visitAbout Sonitrol Tri-CountyAs one of the nations largest commercial security companies, Sonitrol offers integrated security solutions, featuring a unique verified audio detection technology. Sonitrol provides businesses with a single source of state-of-the-art alarms for verified audio and video intrusion, as well as video surveillance, access control and fire detection, all backed with professional monitoring by experienced, trained personnel. Sonitrol Tri-Countys regional headquarters and state-of-the-art monitoring center are located in Grand Blanc, Mich. For more information, go toAbout Sonitrol Tri-CountyAs one of the nations largest commercial security companies, Sonitrol offers integrated security solutions, featuring a unique verified audio detection technology. Sonitrol provides businesses with a single source of state-of-the-art alarms for verified audio and video intrusion, as well as video surveillance, access control and fire detection, all backed with professional monitoring by experienced, trained personnel. Sonitrol Tri-Countys regional headquarters and state-of-the-art monitoring center are located in Grand Blanc, Mich. For more information, go toPO Box 871346Canton, MI
Ukrainians are taking their future into their own hands

www.codeclubua.org/

https://codeclubworld.org/

HYS Enterprise announces partnership with Code Club UA (), the Ukrainian chapter of CodeClubWorld () to teach programming to kids ages 9-11. HYS Enterprise provides software development and services through offices in the Netherlands, Germany and the Ukraine. Yuri Warczynski, founder and managing partner, commented on the significance of this partnership in saying, If we look to the horizon 20-40 years from now, it's already clear that many professions that exist today will be automated or robotized. Information Technology is one of the few disciplines that will not suffer from this trend and in fact will be in need of more specialists. We are very happy to help shape the future of Ukraine together with CodeClub by bringing programming to the next generation."Code Club World is a worldwide network of free volunteer-led after-school coding clubs for children ages 9-11, with a mission to give every child in the world the chance to learn to code by providing project materials and guidance through a volunteering framework. It is normally a group of approximately 12 children learning to program under the guidance of a volunteer, creating computer games, animations and websites. Volunteers go for an hour a week to a local primary school or other venue, such as a library, and teach one project a week. A new set of projects is available for every school term. Each term the students will progress and learn more while developing their imaginations through creative projects. Terms 1 & 2 will learn the basics of programming using a version of Scratch which doesnt require an Internet connection, making it applicable in virtually any venue. Term 3 will teach the basics of web development using HTML and CSS. Term 4 will teach Python and so on. Code Club World materials are available in numerous languages and there are over 6000 Code Clubs worldwide.HYS Enterprise is a direct subsidiary of the Netherlands based HYS Holding group of companies having an international presence in three countries. Established in 2007, the group is responsible for over one hundred employees worldwide.HYS EnterpriseNETHERLANDS:Herengracht 4561017BZ AmsterdamEmail: info@hys-enterprise.nlTelephone: +31 (0) 20 893 22 02
The VR/AR Association to Host NYC Chapter Launch Event

www.thevrara.com

http://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-vr-ar-association-nyc-chapter-event-tickets-21634094158?ref=ebtnebregn

www.thevrara.com

New York, NY The VR/AR Association will be hosting its first NYC Chapter event on Tuesday, Mar. 22, 2016. The Chapter Event is the premier event hosted by the VR/AR Association intent on ensuring professional interactions between people and companies in the Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality ecosystem and promoting the development of the industry. Attracting participants ranging from global technology giants to smaller emerging techs, the event is open to all of the VR/AR Association members and non-members looking to gain up-to-date information of the industry and have direct interactions with industry experts as well as companies who simply want to learn from their peers.Presentations by President of the VR/AR Associations NYC Chapter Kris Kolodziej and other important speakers will start at 7 p.m. ET. The event will feature speakers involved with Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality from various verticals including technology, media, education and retail. The event will also show demos from some of the best NYC companies in VR and AR. In addition, an exciting VR/AR start-up pitch session will be included in the event. The start-up founders would have the opportunity to pitch to VCs and gain important investments.The VR/AR Associations Chapter Event is unique because of its comprehensive content. The Event explores the real-world experiences of VR/AR, addressing some of the business problems and solutions that come up across the industry, as well as providing innovative insights in different areas from various experts in VR/AR industry.Recently, VR and AR have garnered mainstream attention. Brands, movie studios, gaming companies and media news organizations are all tinkering with these tools and channels. We are happy to see that VR and AR will become the dominant technology in our daily lives. says Kris Kolodziej, President of the VR/AR Associations NYC Chapter.For more information please visitor contact kris@thevrara.com###About the EventNew York CIty Chapter Launch Event - TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2016 7:00PM 8:30PM - NEW YORK, NYRegister through:The VR/AR Association (the VRARA) is an international organization designed to foster collaboration between innovative companies and people in the virtual reality and augmented reality ecosystem that accelerates growth, fosters research and education, helps develop industry standards, connects member organizations and promotes the services of member companies.The VR/AR Association-31-72 31st Street, Queens, New York NY 11106Kris Kolodziej - kris@thevrara.com
Gyrus ranked as a Specialist in the 2016 Aragon Research Globe for Corporate Learning

http://www.gyrus.com/

Richmond, VA  March 03, 2016. Gyrus Systems, a leader in the Learning Management Systems (LMS) industry, proudly announced today that analyst firm Aragon Research has ranked Gyrus as a Specialist in the Aragon Research Globe for Corporate Learning. GyrusAimTM which is part of Gyrus Systems Learning Suite, is a skill-centric Learning Management System (LMS) recognized for product innovation and customer satisfaction.The Aragon Research Globe is a market evaluation tool that graphically depicts Aragon Research's evaluation of a specific market and its component vendors. The Globe for Corporate Learning evaluated LMS vendors across three main parameters: Strategy, which measures the vendors understanding of emerging trends in the market and the ability to adapt their products to include these emerging trends reflects the degree to which a vendor has the market understanding and strategic intent that are at the forefront of market direction. Performance, which represents a vendors effectiveness in executing its defined strategy. Reach, which is a measure of vendors ability to compete on a global scale.. Reach can have one of three values: national, international, or global."The learning market is changing and the demand for easy to use Learning Solutions has never been higher," said Jim Lundy, CEO and lead analyst at Aragon Research. "Many organizations are looking for corporate learning providers that can deliver on this value proposition."GyrusAimTM is an award-winning skill-centric LMS that enables enterprises to manage the entire training and development objectives (online, blended and live classroom) from an enrollment and delivery to testing, tracking, and reporting. Also, highly personalized learning environments with individual development plans, competencies, licenses, and certifications are available. With GyrusAim, corporations, governments, and all types of organizations can personalize learning, share knowledge, enhance performance, foster collaboration, and manage compliance for employees, customers, partners, and suppliers."We are proud that Aragon Research is recognizing our Specialist position in corporate learning," said Viren Kapadia, President and CEO at Gyrus Systems. "Our ranking in the Aragon Research Globe for Corporate Learning reinforces our strategy and momentum."About the Aragon Research GlobeTMThe Aragon Research Globe is a market evaluation tool that graphically depicts Aragon Research's evaluation of a specific market and its component vendors. Aragon Research does not endorse vendors, or their products or services that are referenced in its research publications, and does not advise users to select those vendors that are rated the highest. Aragon Research publications consist of the opinions of Aragon Research and Advisory Services organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Aragon Research provides its research publications and the information contained in them "AS IS," without warranty of any kind.Gyrus Systems is the one-stop solution for the efficient management of any size training program. Since 1987, 450+ companies worldwide have used Gyrus Systems products to improve training effectiveness, organization efficiency, and to attain greater success within their respective industries. The company is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. For more information, please visit5400 Glenside Dr, Suite BHenrico VA 23228
Engraving Excellence Offers Money Clips With Engraved Texts

www.engraving-excellence.co.uk

http://www.engraving-excellence.co.uk/

http://www.engraving-excellence.co.uk/

(Halesowen, West Midlands, United Kingdom, Tuesday, 8th of March 2016) - Engraving Excellence () is very proud to present the products under their Money Clips collection. These products can be made even more unique with the complimentary engraving service that comes with each purchase.First in the list is the Silver Plated Money Clip, a beautiful and durable clip that measures 54mm x 25mm. For only 7.49, it can be a thoughtful gift or be bought for personal use. Its counterpart, the Gold Plated Money Clip is available for 8.95. It measures 5cm wide and 2.5cm high and is ideal for keeping notes safe. Whats more, it comes with a gold organza bag.Additionally, the Silver Plated Double Sided Money Clip is also available at Engraving Excellence for 8.95. The purpose of having two clipped sides is to both hold money and credit cards on each side. Customers can choose between a black velveteen pouch and a champagne colour organza pouch as a gift bag if needed.Engraving Excellence can engrave up to three lines with 20  25 characters in each money clip. This service is free of charge. Note that all of the above prices are inclusive of VAT and is subject to change without earlier notice.Engraving Excellence finds money clips essential and fashionable and so they are encouraging customers to invest in them. According to the company, If youre going for an evening out, a bulky wallet can be nuisance to carry  it can spoil the line of your jacket, or if its visible in your back pocket, it can actually be an invitation to a pickpocket (something not to be ignored, especially if you intend to go into crowded places). Our choice of engraved money clips can provide the answer, and they make super gifts for many occasions.The mentioned money clips are just samples of the products Engraving Excellence have in store. Log on toto see their entire collection.About Engraving ExcellenceFor those looking for a place to buy personalised yet functional gift items, Engraving Excellence is the best company to go to. They have a wide collection of products which include hip flasks, compact mirrors, business card holders, and more; all ready for engraving of whatever text you want. Customers will benefit from the many ways this company may be contacted. You can send them a written message via the contact form on their website or call one of their representatives at 0121 448 0416. Visit their official websitefor additional details.Unit 4, Long Lane Industrial EstateLong LaneHalesowenB62 9LD
News / National

by Staff reporter

A police detective has approached the Civil Court seeking a protection order against his estranged wife whom he claims almost killed him with an axe demanding that he resigns so they can share his terminal benefits.Detective assistant inspector Mwanza Safuri, who is stationed at ZRP Hwange, has since made two criminal reports against his former wife Tambisai Kaibos in Harare and Hwange.In his affidavit filed at the Harare Civil Court, Detective Inspector Safuri said he had fled his workplace as his former wife followed him to work and assaulted him in front of his workmates and the community."I recently divorced my former wife Tambisai Kaibos whom I married in 1998."The woman has since turned very violent and demands that I retire and we share the pension. I have taken her to criminal courts in Harare and Hwange and she has failed to comply."She cannot accept a divorce order as she has no understanding of its contents. At one time she waylaid me while armed with an axe and nearly killed me."I fled to my workplace. I cannot access my clothes and I am now living in the office," read part of the affidavit.Detective Inspector Safuri said Kaibos took all his bedding and is seeking the court's protection.He wants the court to stop Kaibos from visiting ZRP Hwange, 1882/48 New Dzivaresekwa and 2429 Egypt Lines, Highfield, as well as his workplaces.He also wants the court to bar Kaibos from insulting or abusing him as he is now unable to perform his duties in public because of the humiliation he suffers.He further claims that Kaibos, who is still to respond to the application, insults his relatives.Last year, Safuri was physically assaulted by Kaibos at the Harare Civil Court for refusing to pay maintenance for their four children. The assault took place shortly after Kaibos and Safuri appeared before Harare Civil Court magistrate Mr Trevor Nyatsanza. Kaibos head-butted, punched and kicked Safuri before she was restrained. She was immediately arrested after Safuri sought refuge at a police post.Safuri successfully divorced Kaibos at the High Court last year.
Emerging Opportunities in Automotive Brake System Market with Current Trends Analysis

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-503

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-503

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/automotive-brake-system-market

Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Automotive Brake System Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2015-2025" report to their offering.The developing industry of automotive has largely emphasised on the development of the vehicles that are fast and safe. Brakes have become an important and crucial part of any vehicle so as to ensure the safety which becomes very essential when the demand of speed is increasing steadily. Being commonly used in different automobiles an automotive brake system comprises a brake device having different components (such as brake pads, brake shoes, brake drum, rotor, piston, calliper, master cylinder, and brake booster) which are used for decelerating a vehicle.The growth in automotiveindustry is anticipated to fuel the growth of global automotive brake system market along with the increasing concerns over safety and resulting government pressures that have upturned the OEMs towards the launching of higher technology content, thereby driving the demand for global automotive brake systems across the globe.Request Free Report Sample@Automotive Brake System Market: Drivers & RestraintsEver-increasing demand and succeeding vehicle production is considered as one of the biggest driver for the increasing demand of the automotive brakes and global automotive brake system market penetration. Also the increasing governmental mandates for improving the vehicle safety has strongly contributed to the demand of the global automotive brake system market. The major restraint in the global automotive brake system market implies to be the higher cost of the newer technology of Electronic Brake Systems (EBS) when compared to the commonly used Hydraulic Brakes.Automotive Brake System Market: SegmentationOn the basis of product type, the global automotive brake system market is segmented as Disc Brakes and Drum Brakes.On the basis of applications the global automotive brake system market is segmented as Two Wheeler Motor Vehicles, Passenger Car Vehicles, and Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV).Visit For TOC@On the basis of technology the global automotive brake system market is segmented as Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), Traction Control System (TCS), and Electronic Stability Control (ESC) that comes under the electronic braking systems (EBS).Automotive Brake System Market: Region-wise OutlookThe global automotive brake system market is expected to register a favourable growth for the forecast period, 2015?2025. Asia-Pacific is projected to endure its control on the global automotive brake system market. The key countries in the mentioned region are projected to be India, South Korea, and China as an outcome of the increasing demand for commercial vehicles and passenger cars. Japan also contributes to the global automotive brake system market remarkably. China is expected to be the largest opportunity in terms of revenue of the industry. Europe is expected to be the second largest market in global automotive brake system market followed by North America.Full Report Analysis@Automotive Brake System: Key PlayersSome of the key market participants in global automotive brake system market are TRW Automotive Holdings Corp., Aisin-Seiki Co. Ltd., Continental AG, Akebono Brake Industry Co. Ltd., Brembo S.P.A., Halla Mando Corp., and others.Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way,Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage,New York 10989,United StatesTel: +1-347-918-3531Fax: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: futuremarketinsights.com
kea13 ABS mifare keys,keychains for rfid payment system(gyrfidstore)

mifare keychain

RFID keyfob is the extension products of normal ISO card, which is designed for easy carry by person. GYRFID present various kinds of keyfobs to fit different customer's demands.KEA-keyfobs ABS : widely used type in worldwide market, cost affordable.KEC- keyfobs PC: luxurial and unique appearanceKEL-keyfobs leather: luxurial and unique appearanceKEP-keyfobs PVC: easy to be attached on rings or phones, can be printed with sponsor's logo.KEE-keyfobs epxoy: can be printed with sponsor's logo, smoothly touch and luxurial appearance.KES - keyfobs with silicon material.Features:Model number: KEAMaterial: ABSDimension: 40x32x4.1mmColor options: Blue/grey/red/green/orange/white/blackPersonalization Support: offset screen printing logo Silk-screen printing logo/serial number Laser Logo/ Serial number Chip encodingApplication: Access control Membership Loyalty System Time attendance Hotel locks Payments TransportationsIC options:125KHz RFID: EM4200, EM4102, EM4100, GK4001; T5577; EM4305; Hitag1, Hitag2, Hitag S256 13.56Mhz ISO14443A: NXP MIFARE Classic 1K, MIFARE Classic 4K, MIFARE Ultralight, MIFARE Ultralight EV1, MIFARE Desfire 2K, MIFARE Desfire 4K, MIFARE Desfire 8K, MIFARE Plus, Fudan FM11RF08; NTAG203, NTAG213, NTAG215, NTAG216; LEGIC MIM256, LEGIC ATC1024, LEGIC ATC2048 13.56Mhz ISO15693: ICODE SLI; ICODE SLI-X; Tag-it 256, Tag-it 2048 840-960Mhz UHF: Alien Higgs, Monza 3, Monza 4D, Monza 4QT; NXP UCODE G2iLAbout GYRFID STOREGYRFID Store is a brand of Go Young International Ltd, which is an online purchase platform of the RFID products.GYRFID Store sells a wide range of Cards and RFID tags embedded with 125KHz, 13.56Mhz, 868Mhz-915Mhz, as well as the personalization to apply in access control and industrial management. We also provide the accessories like lanyard, card holders, badge, ibuttons for office daily usage. We also welcome the personalization like serial number printing, offset printing, encoding service etc.GYRFID Store is located in Shanghai, China mainland. We have customers all around the globe and can ship products all worldwide.GYRFID Store will help you to make the best choices for your RFID system requirements. Shop in GYRFID Store will make your purchase much reliable and flexible.ADDRm1516, Qiangjin Building, QiXin Rd No.1318 ,Shanghai, 201100, China
Research report covers the Silicone Fluid Market share and Growth, 2015-2025

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-928

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/silicone-fluid-market

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-928

Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Silicone Fluid Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2015-2025" report to their offering.Silicones, also known as polydiorganosiloxanes, are of great commercial use as it has relatively high thermal stability and lubricating properties. Silicone fluids have siloxane backbones and organo-functional groups, which are thermally stable. This chemical composition improves silicone fluids compatibility with organic resigns. Silicone fluids have high resistance to temperature and high thermo oxidative resistance. Silicone fluids are tasteless, odourless and transparent liquids. Silicone fluids are also stable than organic polymers in terms of electromagnetic properties and UV, alpha, beta and gamma radiations.Silicone fluids are used for hydrophobic treatment of mineral wool and glass. Silicone fluids can also be modified due to its chemical functionalization. The two common ways in which silicone fluids are modified are either attaching long alkyl chains or functionalizing silicone fluids with organic polymers.Silicone Fluid Market: Drivers & RestraintsIncrease in demand of end-user industries such as textile, cosmetics, toiletries, pharmaceutical etc. are expected to drive the global silicone fluid market. In addition, rise in construction activities, increasing investment across end user industries, its excellent heat resistant property, thermal stability and solubility are expected to further drive the demand for silicone fluid market by 2025 end. Surface tension of silicone fluids is low, thus making them more preferable for the applications where greater spreading power and surface activity is required. Silicone fluids have very little viscosity change over a wide range of temperature and have almost no adverse effect on metals and other materials, hence have an increasing demand over wide range of applications.Visit For TOC@Silicone Fluid Market: SegmentationOn the basis of end user industry, the global silicone fluid market is segmented into,AgricultureEnergyHome CarePersonal CareTextilePharmaceuticalOthersPersonal care industry has a significant share in silicone fluid market. Silicone fluids are confers smoothness in shampoos and beauty creams, improves spreadability in natural oils and prevent stickiness in oils. These diverse effects makes silicone fluids the most successful products to be used in personal care industry. Home Care is another industry which is estimated to boost the market of silicone fluid by 2025 end.Full Report Analysis@On the basis of product type, the global silicone fluid market is segmented intoStraight Silicone FluidDimethyl Silicone FluidMethylphenyl silicone FluidMethylhydrogen Silicone FluidModified Silicone FluidReactive Silicone FluidNon-Reactive Silicone FluidSilicone Fluid Market: Region-wise OutlookCurrently, APAC serves as a large market for silicone fluid due to flourishing infrastructure sector and increasing per capita income. APAC is expected to continue its market leader position during the forecast period followed by Europe and North America. Rising infrastructure activities is expected to open new market avenues in APAC, particularly in India and China. Currently Europe is the second largest market for silicone fluid. Middle East & Africa silicone fluid market are still at a nascent stage. However, emerging countries such as UAE and Brazil are expected to have a significant market share in the respective regions.Request Free Report Sample@Silicone Fluid Market: Key PlayersSome of the key market participants in the global silicone fluid market are Wacker Chemie AG, Bluestar Silicones, Momentive Specialty Chemicals Inc., Shin-Etsu Chemical Co. Ltd. and Dow Corning Corp., ACC Silicones, KCC Basildon, Gelest Inc., Siltech Corporation.Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way,Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage,New York 10989,United StatesTel: +1-347-918-3531Fax: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: futuremarketinsights.com
Infusion Pumps Market expected to grow at a CAGR of 5% during 2015 to 2025

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/infusion-pumps-market

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-859

www.futuremarketinsights.com

Future Market Insights (FMI) delivers key insights on the global infusion pumps market in its upcoming report titled, Infusion Pumps Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 2015-2025. In terms of revenue, the global infusion pumps market is projected to register a healthy CAGR of 5% over the forecast period owing to various factors, on which FMI offers detailed insights and forecasts.The market is segmented based on product type, applications, end users and regions. Based on product type, the market has been segmented into syringe, ambulatory, volumetric (peristaltic and piston-based), implantable, insulin, enteral, patient-controlled analgesic (PCA) infusion pumps and pump accessories. Ambulatory infusion pumps segment is expected to emerge as the most popular segment over the forecast period, driven by increasing adoption of small, smart infusion pumps supported by wireless connectivity. The segment is expected to register a significant CAGR of 7.7% during the forecast period. Implantable pumps segment is expected to witness a decline in market share in terms of revenue from 6.6% in 2014 to 5.3% in 2025. Reports of malfunctioning of implantable pumps within the human body as well as their exorbitant prices are expected to adversely affect demand for these pumps over the forecast period.To provide deeper insight into pattern of demand for infusion pumps, the market has been segmented into different types of applications such as oncology (chemotherapy), neonatology (paediatrics), analgesia, gastroenterology, haematology and diabetes. The diabetes segment is expected to expand at the highest CAGR of 5.8% over the forecast period.The market has also been segmented by end users into hospitals (500+ beds, 200400 beds, less than 200 beds), ambulatory surgical centres, home care, clinics and others (long-term care units, elderly care units). The hospitals segment is expected to account for the highest demand for infusion pumps over the forecast period, registering a CAGR of 5.5%. Better reimbursement options for home infusion in developed economies is expected to push demand for infusion pumps in the home care segment over the forecast period.Browse the full "Infusion Pumps Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 2015-2025" market research report atA key trend in the infusion pumps market is development of better designs for pumps to ensure greater patient safety. Further, stricter adherence to guidelines and mandates issued by regulatory agencies such as the U.S. FDA is expected to lead to a decline in the number of adverse reactions and product recalls. The U.S. FDA had noted that between 2005 and 2009, over 56,000 adverse reactions were reported, including numerous injuries and deaths due to malfunctioning of infusion pumps. This led to over 87 product recalls over the same period.This report assesses trends driving growth of each segment on the global as well as regional levels, and offers potential takeaways that could prove substantially useful to device makers looking to enter the market. North America has been estimated to dominate the infusion pumps market with maximum market share in 2015. North America and Western Europe have been collectively expected to account for around 60% of the total infusion pump market share in terms of value in 2015. Among emerging markets, Asia Pacific excluding Japan is estimated to exhibit the highest CAGR of 8.4% over the forecast period, followed by Eastern Europe, due to increasing imports and increase in local manufacturing base.Request Free Report Sample@Some key players in the global infusion pumps market identified in the report include B. Braun Melsungen AG., CareFusion Corporation, Fresenius Kabi AG, Terumo Corporation, Medtronic Plc., Baxter International Inc., Smiths Medical, MOOG Inc., Johnson & Johnson Private Ltd., Pfizer (Hospira) Inc. We have discussed individual strategies followed by these companies in terms of enhancing product designing, creating new manufacturing facilities, market consolidation and advanced R&D initiatives. The report has been concluded with key takeaways for players already present in the market and new players planning to enter the market, which could help them in the long run.Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature.616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Laboratory Information Systems Market expected to reach at a CAGR of 9% from 2015 to 2025

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/laboratory-information-systems-market

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-875

Future Market Insights (FMI) delivers key insights on the global laboratory information systems market in its latest report titled, Laboratory Information Systems Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 2015 - 2025. In terms of revenue, the global laboratory information systems market is projected to register a healthy CAGR of 9.0% over the forecast period owing to various factors, regarding which, FMI offers detailed insights and forecasts.The market has been segmented on the basis of end user, component, mode of delivery and regions. On the basis of end user, the market has been segmented into hospitals, clinics, independent laboratories and others. Clinics are usually installed with well-supported laboratory information systems for better information about both patients and indications at hand. The segment has been estimated to account for maximum revenue share in the global laboratory information systems market in 2015. Revenue contribution of the clinics segment is expected to increase at a CAGR of 10.0% during the forecast period. Hospitals segment is expected to be the second largest revenue contributor to the global market accounting for US$ 824.9 Mn by 2025 increasing at a CAGR of 8.5% over the forecast period.The report further segments the market on the basis of components into software, hardware and services. Services segment is expected to account for largest market share over the forecast period due to adoption of new pricing model strategies by major players in the market. However, software segment is projected to account for significant absolute $ opportunity during 20152025, owing to rise in product enhancements and advent of innovative LIS systems over the forecast period.In terms of mode of delivery, the laboratory information systems market is expected to witness substantial growth in the next few years. Executing database maintenance, back-up and retention services through cloud-based delivery mode and increasing customisation and standardisation of data by way of dedicated IT skilled persons in on premise delivery mode are major factors expected to drive revenue growth of the cloud-based and on-premise segments respectively over the forecast period. Currently, cloud-based delivery mode segment accounts for major share of the global laboratory information systems market.Browse the full "Laboratory Information Systems Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 2015 - 2025" market research report atThe primary barriers in the market include high costs related to LIS software and services and lack of skilled labour, for day-to-day operations and maintenance of information. In spite of substantial investments in the field of laboratory information systems, lack of qualified professionals is expected to slow down growth of the LIS market during the forecast period. Moreover design flaws in software can tamper test results generated through LIS and is expected to adversely affect the global laboratory information systems market to a certain extent. These factors are expected to affect adoption of laboratory information systems (LIS) over the forecast.The primary trend in the laboratory information systems market is an increase in development of healthcare information systems, rising healthcare per capita spending and increasing demand for integrated medical systems and precise handling of patient data. Other trends include increasing demand for LIS from smaller hospitals with less than 100 beds in developed nations for faster market capitalization and to provide quality care for patients. This is mainly attributed to LIS enabling systematic documentation, eliminating paper work and chance of errors associated with clinical tests report writing, and thereby enables a streamlined workflow.This report assesses trends driving growth of each segment on global as well as regional levels. North America has been estimated to dominate the laboratory information systems market with maximum market share in 2015. Among emerging markets, Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan and Eastern Europe are estimated to witness high CAGRs over the forecast period.Request Free Report Sample@Some key players identified in the global laboratory information systems market are CompuGroup Medical, Cerner Corp, McKesson, Evident, Medical Information Technology, LabWare, Sunquest Information Systems Inc., SCC Soft Computer, Epic Systems Corporation, etc. The report also provides individual strategies followed by these companies in terms of enhancing software products portfolios, market consolidation and software innovations. The report concludes with strategic recommendations for players in the market and also new players planning to enter the market, which could help them in the long run.Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature.616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018Valley Cottage, NY
Peach Property Group sells Gretag property in Regensdorf near Zurich

www.peachproperty.com

- Purchase agreement with Turidomus Anlagestiftung notarised- Transaction expected to be completed by the end of March 2016- Net-Cash inflow of nearly CHF 70 million or CHF 14 per share- Solid balance sheet - further strengthening of equity ratioZurich, 4 March 2016 - Peach Property Group AG, a leading investor in real estate, today announced the sale of its Gretag property in Regensdorf, Switzerland, along with the planned construction project for 665 apartments to Turidomus Anlagestiftung. The respective purchase agreement has been notarised yesterday. The sale will generate payback of around CHF 70 million or more than CHF 14 per share for Peach Property Group. This means that Peach Property Group is selling the property at a significantly higher price than the purchase price. This figure is also higher than the current carrying amount and rewards the value-enhancing development of the property in recent years. Peach Property Group expects the transaction to be completed by the end of March 2016.The property now sold comprises of two plots spanning around 36,000 m. It is located not far from Zurich, in direct proximity to Regensdorf train station. The site currently covers several commercial properties and has a sizeable land reserve for future construction. The Gretag property is a key component of the "Bahnhof-Nord" development zone north of the train station, currently the largest development area in the Canton of Zurich. After intensive planning work, the community assembly in Regensdorf resolved on a partial revision of the construction and zoning regulations and approved the private "Gretag property" design plan at the beginning of December 2015. This was a milestone in the development of the area.The funds generated from the transaction will be used primarily to reduce liabilities and thus further strengthen the Group's equity ratio. In addition, the investment portfolio will be expanded further, primarily in Germany.Dr. Thomas Wolfensberger, CEO of Peach Property Group, comments: "In selling the Gretag property, we are harvesting the fruits of its development, which we have rigorously advanced in recent years. We are delighted to have found an experienced, financially sound investor in Turidomus Anlagestiftung that will implement the construction project in the same vein. The transaction will generate substantial funds for us, which we will use to significantly reduce our liabilities. This particularly includes refinancing our bond in Germany. Our equity ratio is thus expected to further rise."About Peach Property Group AGPeach Property Group AG is a property investor and developer focused on investments in Germany and Switzerland. The Group stands for long time experience, competence and quality. Innovative solutions for modern housing needs, strong partnerships and a wide value chain complete the profile of the Group. The portfolio consists of an increasing number of high yield investment properties, typically in B-cities in close reach to metropolitan areas. In addition, the Group develops properties for its own portfolio or for the sale as condominium. Developments for sale focus on A-locations and encompass attractive architecture and high level furnishing for an international clientele. The business activities of the Group cover the entire value chain, from property acquisition and site selection to active asset management and finally to the sale or lease of properties.Peach Property Group AG is headquartered in Zurich and has its German Group headquarters in Cologne. Peach Property Group AG is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (PEAN, ISIN CH0118530366).For more information, seeContact:Media, investors and analystsDr. Thomas Wolfensberger, Chief Executive Officer and Dr. Marcel Kucher, Chief Financial Officer+41 44 485 50 00 | investors@peachproperty.comGerman mediaedicto GmbH, Axel Muhlhaus, Peggy KropmannsEschersheimer Landstrae 42, 60322 Frankfurt am Main+49 (0) 69 90 55 05 52 | amuehlhaus@edicto.de
Icognix leads the chart by providing best Netgear support

Netgear Tech Support

While using a router, users come across various difficulties. Out of these problems, some can be handled by taking help from online forums (only if one has technical knowledge), but for major issues one needs technical assistance.Any technical issue dont come with prior invitation, they arrive at anytime. Hence, one should be prepared for such problems even at the odd hours. For this reason, a Netgear support company that offers round-the-clock service should be preferred.Understanding this Icognix.net has started providing 24x7 router tech support to users. Whenever they come across any issue with their router, they can contact professionals at Icognix for Netgear support. The company has a huge team of certified and experienced professionals that expertise in handling router related issues in the least possible time.Most of the customer queries and router related issues are handled by our technicians remotely. In most cases, the approximate time to handle any issue is not more than 24 hours. said one of the companys core members.The team offers anytime anywhere Netgear router support to users across the globe. They offer highest degree cutting-edge service to customers in a relatively low rate. Not only router support, the company also specializes in providing support service ranging from PC, Mac, Routers, Printers, antivirus, Networking, virus issues or any other software problem.Netgear router support service by Icognix is offered via web chat, email or phone call. Users can enjoy instant tech support from the comfort of their homes. For the best support assistance, one can call on 1 877 777 8906 (Toll free).Till date we have served a decent number of customers, who made us the best service providers in the league. quoted the source from Icognix.netNot just Netgear router support, the company offers support for various router brands like Belkin, TP Link, Cisco, Dlink, Linksys etc.Icognix Infomedia is a customer centric company and strive hard to achieve customer satisfaction. We provide you online technical support services for numerous kinds of problems associated with system, (computer), windows, internet security and connectivity, memory and data management, registry, software solution and lots more. We offer you 247 technical support for all your PC/laptop-related issues. such as : Virus or Malware problems, hard-disk crashes, recovery of lost information, blue screen error, slow PC processing and other software oriented troubles.129 College Drive, Edison, New Jersey 08817
News / National

by Felex Share

Zanu-PF has suspended deputy secretary for war veterans Christopher Mutsvangwa for three years for gross misconduct and disloyalty, while his wife, Monica, the women's league spokesperson, suffered the same fate.The two will not hold any positions in the party during their suspension period, but will remain Zanu-PF National Assembly members for Norton and Senator for Manicaland, respectively.Also suspended for three years was Women's Affairs secretary for Administration Esphina Nhari, who had a vote of no confidence passed on her by the Wing for chanting the slogan "Pasi NeG40" at a rally in Gutu last year.The suspensions were announced by Zanu-PF spokesperson Simon Khaya-Moyo after the revolutionary party's Politburo meeting in Harare yesterday.Seven former provincial youth chairpersons were expelled from the party for gross indiscipline and misconduct.These are Godfrey Tsenengamu (Mashonaland Central), Godwin Gomwe (Harare), Vengai Musengi (Mashonaland West), Washington Nkomo (Matabeleland South), Khumbulani Mpofu (Bulawayo), Edmore Samambwa (Midlands) and Tamuka Nyoni (Matabeleland North).Said Khaya-Moyo: "On behalf of the chairman of the National Disciplinary Committee (Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko), the secretary for legal affairs, Patrick Chinamasa presented the NDC report."All in all, nine cases were presented and extensively discussed by the Politburo. Three cases have been suspended for three years. Christopher Mutsvangwa has been suspended for three years and therefore must not hold any position in the party for the same period but he remains a member of the party and a Member of Parliament. In Midlands, Esphina Nhari has also lost her position in the Women's League as secretary for administration and was suspended for three years while Monica Mutsvangwa has also lost her position in the Women's League."The Mashonaland West provincial executive last year recommended the expulsion of Mutsvangwa, accusing him of insulting the First Family and undermining the authority of the President.This followed his utterances in the media where he was quoted as saying: "We will always respect the institution of marriage and he (Saviour Kasukuwere) is confused and conflating the institution of marriage and that of the State."On the other hand, his wife Monica participated in an illegal meeting that tried to overturn the ousting of Manicaland chairlady Happiness Nyakuedzwa last year.Nyakuedzwa was kicked out for disrespecting the First Lady, Amai Grace Mugabe.Amai Mugabe is also the Zanu-PF secretary for Women Affairs.Some of the expelled provincial youth chairpersons last week issued a press statement insulting and denigrating the First Lady.Khaya-Moyo said Ms Rosiwita Chinyaure (Masvingo) and a T. Bhasirai have also been expelled from the party.Three legislators from Mashonaland East, Cdes Tendai Makunde (Murehwa North), Felix Mhona (Chikomba Central), Washington Masvaire (Maramba-Pfungwe) and a youth member, George Katsande were given severe reprimands.Khaya-Moyo said the Politburo had also resolved to expel seven youth leaders from associations aligned to Zanu-PF for naughtiness.These are Tonderai Chidawa (Zicosu), Norest Makururu (Youths in Mining), Collin Machingura (Youths in Farming), Memory Masengu (Youths against sanctions), Absolom Madusure (National Youth Service), Gabriel Togarepi (Ziliwaco Trust) and Innocent Mhlanga (Children of War veterans)."You are aware that there are three chairperson for Midlands, Masvingo and Mashonaland East who were on suspension and we expected a report on them but we did not get it because the NDC is still to conclude the matter with them," Khaya-Moyo said.He said Mines and Mining Development Minister Walter Chidhakwa presented a report on the consolidation of diamond mining companies in the country.The report, Khaya Moyo said, was "well received by the Politburo.""National Commissar Saviour Kasukuwere, also presented his detailed commissariat report while Prisca Mupfumira (Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister) presented a detailed report on the drought relief activities on going throughout the country."
Before "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" was a movie starring Tina Fey as a war correspondent during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Pakistan, it was a book by a West Linn High School graduate.

Kim Barker, author of "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot," graduated from West Linn High School. (Photo by William Coupon)

Kim Barker grew up in Montana and Wyoming but moved to West Linn in 1987, the summer before her senior year. At West Linn High, she became editor of the school newspaper and was named math student of the year. She went on to Northwestern University, graduating from the Medill School of Journalism, and worked at the Spokesman-Review in Spokane and The Seattle Times before landing at the Chicago Tribune in 2001.

Related: Kim Barker talks about being played by Tina Fey

It was the Tribune that sent her to Pakistan and Afghanistan. Her resulting 2011 memoir, "The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan," inspired the movie, which opens Friday. (Reviewing "The Taliban Shuffle" for The New York Times, Michiko Kakutani noted that Barker depicted herself "as a sort of Tina Fey character.") The book has since been republished as "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot."

Here's an excerpt from the book.

***

Kim Barker's memoir of her war correspondent days was originally titled "The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan."

I had always wanted to meet a warlord. So we parked our van on the side of the beige road and walked up to the beige house, past dozens of skinny young soldiers brandishing Kalashnikov assault rifles and wearing mismatched khaki outfits and rope belts hiked high on their waists. Several flaunted kohl eyeliner and tucked yellow flowers behind their ears. Others decorated their rifle butts with stickers of flowers and Indian movie starlets. Male ethnic Pashtuns loved flowers and black eyeliner and anything fluorescent or sparkly, maybe to make up for the beige terrain that stretched forever in Afghanistan, maybe to look pretty.

Outside the front door, my translator Farouq and I took off our shoes before walking inside and sitting cross-legged on the red cushions that lined the walls. The decorations spanned that narrow range between unicorn-loving prepubescent girl and utilitarian disco. Bright, glittery plastic flowers poked out of holes in the white walls. The curtains were riots of color.

We waited. I was slightly nervous about our reception. Once, warlord Pacha Khan Zadran had been a U.S. ally, one of the many Afghan warlords the Americans used to help drive out the Taliban regime for sheltering Osama bin Laden and his minions after the attacks of September 11, 2001. But like a spoiled child, Pacha Khan had rebelled against his benefactors, apparently because no one was paying enough attention to him. First he turned against the fledgling Afghan government, then against his American allies. In an epic battle over a mountain pass, the Americans had just killed the warlord's son. The Pashtun code required revenge, among other things, and now, six days after the battle, here I was, a fairly convenient American, waiting like a present on a pillow in Pacha Khan's house, hoping to find a story edgy enough to make it into my newspaper--not easy considering it was March 2003, and there were other things going on in the world. But Farouq told me not to worry. He had a plan.

Pacha Khan soon marched into the room. He certainly looked the warlord part, wearing a tan salwar kameez, the region's ubiquitous traditional long shirt and baggy pants that resembled pajamas, along with a brown vest, a bandolier of bullets, and a gray-and-black turban. The wrinkles on his face appeared to have been carved out with an ice pick. He resembled a chubby Saddam Hussein. We hopped up to greet him. He motioned us to sit down, welcomed us, and then offered us lunch, an orange oil slick of potatoes and meat that was mostly gristle. I had no choice, given how strictly Afghans and especially Pashtuns viewed hospitality. I dug in, using my hands and a piece of bread as utensils.

But just because Pacha Khan fed us, didn't mean he would agree to an interview. The Pashtun code required him to show us hospitality. It didn't force him to talk to me. Pacha Khan squinted at my getup--a long brown Afghan dress over black pants, an Indian paisley headscarf, and cat-eye glasses. I kept shifting my position--with a bad left knee, a bad right ankle, and a bad back, sitting on the floor was about as comfortable as therapy.

Farouq tried to sell my case in the Pashto language. The warlord had certain questions.

"Where is she from?" Pacha Khan asked, suspiciously.

"Turkey," Farouq responded.

"Is she Muslim?"

"Yes."

"Have her pray for me."

I smiled dumbly, oblivious to the conversation and Farouq's lies.

"She can't," Farouq said, slightly revising his story. "She is a Turkish American. She only knows the prayers in English, not Arabic."

"Hmmm," Pacha Khan grunted, glaring at me. "She is a very bad Muslim."

"She is a very bad Muslim," Farouq agreed.

I continued to grin wildly, attempting to charm Pacha Khan.

"Is she scared of me?" he asked.

"What's going on? What's he saying?" I interrupted.

"He wants to know if you're scared of him," Farouq said.

"Oh no," I said. "He seems like a perfectly nice guy. Totally harmless. Very kind."

Farouq nodded and turned to Pacha Khan.

"Of course she is scared of you," Farouq translated. "You are a big and terrifying man. But I told her you were a friend of the Chicago Tribune, and I guaranteed her safety."

That satisfied him. Unaware of Farouq's finesse, I proceeded with my questions about Pacha Khan's deteriorating relationship with the Americans. Then I asked if I could have my photograph taken with the warlord, who agreed.

"Make sure you get the flowers," I told Farouq.

In one picture, Pacha Khan peered sideways at me, with an expression suggesting he thought I was the strange one. I snapped Farouq's picture with Pacha Khan as well. Souvenirs in hand, we left.

From Whiskey Tango Foxtrot/The Taliban Shuffle by Kim Barker (c) 2011. Used with the permission of Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House, Ltd.
moda-center-rendering.jpg

Moda paid millions to put its name on the Blazers' arena and almost immediately the insurance company ran into hard financial times. Health insurers have generally done poorly since the Affordable Care Act went into effect while hospitals have enjoyed strong revenue and profit growth. Photo courtesy of the Moda Center

(Courtesy of Moda Center)

Oregon health insurers hemorrhaged red ink in 2015 as the industry continued

to struggle in the Affordable Care Act era. The collective losses of the state's seven major insurers nearly quadrupled to more than $164 million, with troubled Moda Health Plans alone losing nearly $50 million in a high-profile financial implosion.



The state's hospitals, meanwhile, are basking in an Affordable Care Act

honeymoon of soaring revenue and big profits. The hospitals' charity care has plummeted since passage of the act, which has led to a tripling of their 2015 profit margins compared to 2013.

The hospitals' bonanza comes at the expense of taxpayers, the insurance

companies and consumers who, in some cases, face double-digit insurance premium rate hikes.



"It's the providers who have won in the Affordable Care Act," said Jack

Friedman, former chief executive of the Providence Health Plan. "They've gotten a whole bunch of new business and the charity care the hospitals were providing is just a fraction of what it once was."



Eighteen months since the landmark Affordable Care Act took effect, the

legislation has succeeded in its primary goal: Getting 16.4 million formerly uninsured Americans some sort of insurance coverage. In Oregon, more than half a million people got coverage through Medicaid or commercial insurance through the newly created exchange.

But that achievement has been painful, marked by technological snafus,

partisan bitterness and financial heartburn.



Numbers released this week by the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business

Affairs show the steep toll Oregon insurers have paid as they struggle to adjust to the changes.



Surprisingly, Providence Health Plan, not Moda, posted the largest losses

of the year among the big seven players. It lost $63 million in 2015, a drastic reversal from the $22.3 million profit it posted in 2014. Providence spokesman Gary Walker attributed the big loss to an influx of expensive new customers and an ill-advised 14 percent rate cut it implemented in 2015.



"We're all learning this as we go," said Walker, who added that Providence

has an immense capital reserve, nearly 1,000 percent beyond state requirements.



Moda last year lost $49.5 million, its second straight year of red ink. The travails of the second-largest carrier in the state have been well documented: Its aggressive push into the individual market created by the Affordable Care Act proved to be a financial disaster, which got even worse when the federal government backtracked on promised financial assistance.



Questions about Moda's survival swirled around the company for months

until Oregon insurance regulators took the company into supervision in January. In an order signed by both parties, Moda agreed to make no significant move without approval of a state official who would be based at the company's downtown office tower. The state said it would begin the process of helping Moda customers move to different, stronger insurance companies.



Thirteen days later, the Moda saga took another strange twist when the

state suddenly rescinded its order of supervision. Oregon said it would allow Moda to resume business as usual and proceed with its own plan to replenish its capital reserves with $170 million in new money.



It appears Moda has already come up with $43 million of that new cash.

In the financial statement it provided to the state on Tuesday, Moda disclosed that in December it borrowed another $43 million from affiliated companies. This is in addition to the $50 million it borrowed from its parent company in November and still another $50 million it borrowed from OHSU in November 2014.



Moda officials refused to comment for this story, as did Oregon Insurance

Commissioner Laura Cali.



Regence BlueCross Blueshield was the lone company among Oregon's big

seven health carriers to post a profit in 2015. The Portland company earned $25.8 million in the year despite what company President Angela Dowling called "challenging economic and regulatory shifts in our industry."



Elsewhere, PacificSource lost $10.2 million, Lifewise lost $35.7 million,

Health Net Plan lost $25.3 million and Kaiser lost $13.4 million.



A wave of consolidation is already underway in the health insurance business

and most expect it to gather steam in the face of similar financial struggles industrywide. Health Net is merging with St. Louis based Centene Corp. Springfield-based PacificSource in October entered into an alliance with Legacy Health, one of the state's largest hospital chains.



In the end, the insurance companies most likely to survive are those

like Kaiser and Providence, which are affiliated with enormous hospital systems.



"Consolidation is happening now and I think there will be further consolidation,"

said Friedman, the retired Providence executive. "It may be that only three to four insurers have the financial wherewithal and the willingness to stay in this market."



Clare Krusing, spokesman for America's Health Insurance Plans, a Washington, D.C.-based trade group, said it's time for hospitals to offer concessions on costs. "We need to bring down the cost of care," she said. "We need to figure out how we can make care more affordable and more accessible."



For their part, hospital executives argue that their good times are unlikely

to last. The federal government will implement changes to Medicare early in the next decade that will hurt hospitals' bottom line, said Andy Van Pelt, executive vice president of the Oregon Association of Hospital and Health Systems. And even now, when urban hospitals are enjoying big gains, some smaller and more rural hospitals continue to struggle.



"I don't think the increases you're seeing now are sustainable in the

future," Van Pelt said.



Jesse Ellis O'Brien, who watchdogs Oregon health insurers for the Oregon

State Public Interest Research Group consumer advocacy group, agrees with the insurers. The changes in charitable care alone have generated huge financial benefits for the hospitals that need to be shared, he said.



Oregon's 28 largest hospitals provided $143.3 million worth of charity

care in the first six months of 2015, according to the Oregon Health Authority. That's down by nearly two-thirds from the $414.7 million worth of charity care the big hospitals provided in the same period of 2013.



As these former charity cases became paying customers, Oregon's big hospitals,

many of them owned by non-profits, saw their profits swell. The operating margin at the state's larger hospitals hit 8 percent in the second quarter of 2015, according to state data, more than triple their profits from the same period in 2013.

For champions of reform, who repeatedly harped on the importance of reducing

health-care costs, hospitals' big profits are not what they envisioned.

"The unspoken understanding for a long time was that hospitals were going

to charge more than they really needed to in order to cover the cost of charity care," O'Brien said. "Now, there are fewer and and fewer of those people. Does it really make sense for hospitals to continue passing along charges for costs that are no longer in the system?"



-- Jeff Manning

503-294-7606, jmanning@oregonian.com
Stephanie Yao Long | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Portland's top food events this week

Read on for four great food and booze events that should be on your calendar:

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Credit: John Valls

Portland's top food events this week

Classic Wines Auction: The 32nd Annual Classic Wines Auction kicks off Saturday, March 5 with silent and live auctions and bites from top Portland chefs such as Aaron Barnett of St. Jack, Sarah Schafer of Irving Street Kitchen and Matt Sigler of Renata. Tickets range from $75 for a nightcap event into the tens of thousands for sponsorship packages. Proceeds from the black-tie event go to six charities focused on children and families, including Metropolitan Family Service, New Avenues for Youth and Special Olympics Oregon.

Starting at 5 p.m., Saturday, March 5 at the Oregon Convention Center; 777 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.; $75 and up; classicwinesauction.com

Don't Edit

Stephanie Yao Long

Portland's top food events this week

Drinks at Besaw's: Have you checked out Besaws new home in buzzing Slabtown? After some drama forced a move, the Portland institution reopened not far from its original Northwest Portland location in January near the new New Seasons and the coming-soon Breakside Brewery outpost. Local barware company Bull in China collaborated on the drinks, and we recently tasted three worth sharing: the classic Pegu Club (gin, orange Curacao, lime, bitters), the Root Beer Old Fashioned (bourbon, root beer syrup, bitters) and the Rough & Tumble (vodka, local cold brew coffee, hazelnut milk, cherry heering, Demerara sugar, bitters, soda water).

Brunch and dinner daily; 1545 N.W. 21st Ave.; 503-228-2619; besaws.com

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LaMama

Portland's top food events this week

La Mama dinner series: If, like us, you spent part of January living vicariously through Sam Smith's Instragram feed, where the former Ava Gene's chef kept posting annoying delicious-looking pics from his travels in Morocco, you'll be happy to learn about this brand-new dinner series. At LaMama, Smith has teamed with pastry champ Nora Antene (Le Pigeon) and chef Wesley Johnson (Cafe Castagna and Philadelphia's famed Zahav, which Smith helped open) to present veggie-centric meals with a Middle Eastern bent. For the moment, LaMama dinners are taking place at Han Oak, Peter Cho's Korean-restaurant-slash-chef-residency at the heart of The Ocean, the micro-restaurant complex in Northeast Portland.

Fridays at Han Oak, 511 N.E. 24th Ave.; $50/person; lamamapdx.com

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Travel Portland

Portland's top food events this week

Portland Dining Month: More than 120 restaurants are taking part in the seventh annual Portland Dining Month, with each serving a three-course meal for $29. With such an abundance of eateries, The Oregonian/OregonLive.com picked 21 places we think are actually worth your dough, either because they're offering a significant discount on their set meals, or because they rank high on our list of the city's 101 best restaurants.



Throughout March at locations throughout Portland; $29; travelportland.com/dining-month



Don't Edit

Don't Edit

JoLene Krawczak | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Read on

Check out our guides to the city's best Italian restaurants, steakhouses and sushi counters, plus the top spots for after-hours eats and our ranked roundup of Portland's 101 best restaurants.
EUGENE -- The University of Oregon's governing board approved a fall tuition hike Friday despite vocal opposition from dozens of students.

The Board of Trustees voted 11-3 to approve a 4.8 percent increase on Oregon residents and a 4.5 percent increase on out-of-state residents. The increase amounts to annual increases of $405 and $1,350, respectively. That brings annual in-state tuition to $8,910 and out-of-state to $31,590.

"We're not willing to work with you if you're not willing to work with us," said student government member Shawn Stevenson as he led the walkout. Some students yelled that trustees were pricing out students and not listening to their concerns.

The decision came after a crowd of about 70 students and staff listened intently for more than three hours -- first to emotional testimony of the financial burden students bear when tuition goes up, then to the difficult funding picture UO faces because of the lack of state funding and the looming specter of costly pension obligations. Last year, in-state tuition went up 3.8 percent and 3.7 percent for out-of-state.

"It is not sufficient to meet all our needs," the university's president, Michael Schill, said of the tuition increase before the board's vote, "nor will it be sufficient in the future."

Administrators said the tuition increase will bring in an estimated $13.5 million in new revenue. The school needs more money, Schill said, because expenses are going up at least $17.5 million next year, with faculty wages and medical fees accounting for more than half of that figure.

But beyond 2017, the financial picture is even more dire, Schill said, because an anticipated $6 to $8 million in obligations due to Public Employee Retirement System recipients kicks in during the biennium starting in 2018.

Trustees heard testimony for nearly an hour from students and staff who said the university is out of touch with issues facing students. Students testified that they worked multiple jobs to pay the bills, took out extensive loans, took limited credit hours to keep costs down and still were struggling to make ends meet.

Amber Potratz, who transferred to UO after obtaining a degree from a community college, is the first person in their family to go to school but they might not be able to finish their education now. "I don't believe I'll be able to complete my last year next year," they said of the increase.

Student government leaders advocated for a compromise approach -- a plan that would effectively bring in $2.8 million less per year. "We see a manageable increase as 3.5 percent," said Stevenson, the student government's finance director.

Trustee Kurt Willcox sided with the students and introduced an alternative proposal: A 3.7 percent increase that would've saved in-state students about $90 per year, and a 3.6 percent proposal that would save out-of-state students $270 per year.

"We have to really acknowledge the struggles our students are having financially," Willcox said. He advocated the university dip into its financial reserves in the short term, while also finding additional money from outside sources to bridge the difference.

Tuition cost drivers for 2017

Salary/wages: $7.6 million

Medical costs: $2.2 million

Institutional expenses: $1.5 million

Strategic Investments: $2 million

IT Investments: $2.75 million

New tenured track faculty: $1.5 million

* costs don't include PERS obligations for next year, higher minimum wage costs, contract negotiations with graduate teaching fellows, etc.

Ann Curry, the former NBC television journalist and a UO trustee, joined Willcox's side. She described the fact that students bear the burden of state retirement obligations as "fundamentally unethical" and "immoral."

A third trustee, student representative William Paustian, voted for the 3.7 percent increase.

"I hope to be able to put my kids through college someday," Paustian said.

"At the current rate it's almost impossible to put these students through college," he said, gesturing to the students in the audience. "Almost impossible."

That comment drew cheers from the audience, which stood to support speakers throughout the meeting and snapped fingers to show approval rather than clapping.

But Schill described Willcox's proposal as "irresponsible." Eighty percent of the school's budget goes to faculty costs, and Schill said state funding accounts for just 7 percent of the funding pie.

While there is a proposed ballot initiative that would raise taxes on corporations, Schill said he is skeptical that UO would see more money from the A Better Oregon campaign. "Higher education is last in line," he said, "not first in line."

He also fiercely defended the tuition hike as a necessary evil in his push for academic excellence in respond to a question from Curry about what the school would lose by forgoing $2.8 million in tuition revenue.

Schill said the school would not be able to hire for 40 open faculty positions. "It's a big number," he said of the $2.8 million difference, "and one that we would not be able to absorb."

The board agreed and voted 11-3 to dismiss Willcox's proposal.

Stevenson, the student government finance director, then led students out of the meeting. Paustian, the student trustee, walked out of the meeting in solidarity.

-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-402

@andrewtheen
Inside Bullseye Glass

Bullseye Glass in Southeast Portland manufactures glass used for architectural and art uses. The company is at the center of a hot spot for toxic metals pollution and has suspended use of cadmium, arsenic and chromium in glassmaking and has hired an environmental firm to recommend pollution controls. Kristyna Wentz-Graff / Staff

(Kristyna Wentz-Graff)

Attorneys for seven Southeast Portland residents on Thursday filed a class-action lawsuit against Bullseye Glass, the company at the center of a toxic air pollution scare.

The case, filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court, alleges the glassmaking company was negligent and reckless in its burning of heavy metals in furnaces that lacked pollution controls. The company was operating under an air permit from the state Department of Environmental Quality, which has said its operations were in compliance.

"While some of the harms from this exposure are manifest today, others may remain latent or undetected for years, leaving those exposed to Bullseye's waste to deal with health impacts today and into the distant future," the suit says.

The plaintiffs seek an injunction against Bullseye to prevent the company from using three heavy metals until it installs those controls - a step the company has voluntarily pledged to take. And they ask the court to order the company to clean up any pollution on their property and pay for blood and urine testing for anyone living within 1.5 miles of the factory.

Thursday's filing doesn't specifically seek any monetary damages but says such a request is coming, noting that the plaintiffs believe their property values have decreased. It was filed by Keller Rohrback, a Seattle firm. At least one other law firm, New York-based Weitz & Luxenberg, which is associated with environmental activist Erin Brockovich, also has been meeting with area residents.

Bullseye Glass didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The lawsuit arrives exactly a month after state officials announced air monitoring in Southeast Portland had found arsenic at levels 159 times above the state's safety goal and cadmium levels 49 times higher, increasing residents' lifetime chances of getting cancer if they breathed the same polluted air every day.

The state Department of Environmental Quality said it believed Bullseye, a glassmaker with 140 employees, was responsible.

The suit notes that the company lobbied the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to be excluded from 2007 rules that required tighter controls on glassmaking. Federal records show that Bullseye repeatedly contacted the agency and urged for its use of heavy metals to be exempted.

-- Rob Davis

rdavis@oregonian.com

503.294.7657
Gregory Carlon Zambrano

Update 5:33 p.m.

An 18-year-old Hillsboro man has been arrested in connection with the threat of a shooting at Gresham High School.

Gregory Carlon Zambrano, who isn't a student at the school, was arrested Friday. Gresham police said they haven't found any evidence a shooting was planned, and they think the threat was related to an argument between Zambrano and a male student.

The school was under a lockout Friday morning because of the threat, the Gresham-Barlow School District said on Facebook. Classes ran as usual, the district said, and the lockout was lifted after about three hours.

"Police needed time to thoroughly vet the threat before lifting the lock out. Our students and staff did a very good job implementing the lock out and remaining in class until the lock out was lifted," John Koch, the school's principal, wrote in a Facebook post.

Zambrano is facing at least one disorderly conduct charge, Gresham police said.

A message stating "school shooting 9:00 AM" was spray-painted on the school, according to media reports. Police said they don't know whether Zambrano wrote the message.

Gresham police told school officials to place the school under lockout shortly before the start of the school day, Koch wrote on Facebook.

-- Tony Hernandez and Jim Ryan

thernandez@oregonian.com; jryan@oregonian.com
Superbug.JPG

A new gene that makes bacteria highly resistant to a last-resort class of antibiotics has been identified in China. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns about the threat of superbugs.

(Courtesy the Mayo Clinic)

Although U.S. hospitals are making gains in the fight against some antibiotic-resistant superbugs, too many people are still getting these infections in health care facilities, federal health officials report.



The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging doctors, nurses and other health care professionals to be at the forefront of the fight against these infections.



"Doctors are the key to stamping out superbugs," CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden said during a news conference Thursday.



Study senior author Dr. Clifford McDonald, said, "We are seeing progress in several areas, but more needs to be done." McDonald is the associate director for science of the division of healthcare quality promotion at the CDC.



More than 700,000 U.S. patients are infected by bacteria in hospitals, and 75,000 die from hospital-acquired infections each year, McDonald said.



"In some hospitals, more than one in four infections are caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria," he added.



Frieden called the number of health care-associated infections "concerning" and "chilling."



"No one should get sick when they're trying to get well," he said.



People being treated for other conditions can become infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria while in a health care facility. These bacteria can lead to body-wide infections (sepsis), or even death, CDC experts said.



In hospitals, one in seven infections from catheters or surgery was caused by antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains. In long-term acute care hospitals, where patients generally stay 25 days or more, the rate of these infections rises to one in four, according to the new report.



The six common antibiotic-resistant bacteria are:





Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE)

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)

ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae (extended-spectrum beta-lactamases)

Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE)

Multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter



Bacteria want only to live and reproduce, which is why they figure out ways to get around antibiotics, McDonald said. New bacteria also emerge, he added.



U.S. hospitals, including in Oregon, are getting better at preventing most of these infections, researchers say. Oregon hospitals performed better than the national average, according to the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems. The state cut infections by double digits for catheter-associated urinary tract infections, some surgical site infections and infections of Clostridium difficile, the group said.



For acute care hospitals nationally, the report found:



A 50 percent reduction was seen in infections from catheters placed in large veins between 2008 and 2014. One in six of these remaining infections was caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria.A 17 percent reduction in surgical-site infections was seen between 2008 and 2014. One in seven of these remaining infections was caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria.No change in overall infections from urinary catheters was seen between 2009 and 2014. But some progress was made by the end of 2014. Still, one in 10 of these infections was caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria.



The report also looked at the role of Clostridium difficile (C. difficile), the most common type of bacteria responsible for infections in hospitals. In 2011, C. difficile caused almost half a million infections in the United States.



However, progress has been made in decreasing hospital cases of C. difficile. Between 2011 and 2014, these infections were cut 8 percent, the researchers said.



To combat the problem of antibiotic-resistant infections, the CDC is calling on doctors, nurses and hospital staff to continue to prevent the spread of bacteria between patients. The CDC is also asking health care professionals to reduce infections related to surgery and placement of catheters. The agency is also calling for cautious use of antibiotics to help fight resistance.



Patients also have a role, McDonald said. This includes washing hands after using the bathroom and before meals, he said.



New antibiotics are also needed to fight these infections, McDonald said. "Right now the pipeline for new antibiotics is very thin. The market for new antibiotics is not as great as for some other drugs," he explained.



"There is reason for concern, but also cautious optimism," McDonald said. "We know we can prevent these health care-associated infections."



The findings are published in the latest edition the CDC's Vital Signs report.

-- The Associated Press and staff reports
News / National

by Tendai Rupapa

TAFADZWA Mushunje, a model who was falsely accused of infecting her lover's son with HIV, was assaulted by the minor's mother while in police cells, the court heard.Tracy Hari (31) was immediately arrested and spent the night in cells the same day Mushunje also slept behind bars.They both appeared before the same magistrate last Thursday.Mushunje sustained a swollen face.Hari was charged with assault.Harare magistrate Mr Elijah Makomo remanded Hari to today for trial.Mushunje has since had the false charges against her withdrawn after medical tests showed neither she nor the child were HIV positive.The prosecutor Mr Sebastian Mutizirwa alleged that on February 23, Mushunje was arrested and taken to Glen Norah Police Station.It is the State's case that the police started questioning her about the offence of "deliberate transmission of HIV".Mushunje denied the charges.Hari, who was present during Mushunje's interrogation by the police, is alleged to have slapped the model with the back of her hand on the face.Mushunje was left with a swollen cheek.According to the State, Hari of 3099 Mainway Meadows in Waterfalls, had no right to assault Mushunje.
MagAtWork.jpg

The Newsroom at Grant Magazine

(Eliza Kamerling-Brown)

At Grant High, the magazine has landed.

And the March cover story -

- is another powerful reminder of what's possible when the bar is raised for high-school journalists.

The 36-page issue explores recent incidents involving racial slurs at Grant, the N-word's incendiary history; and the disconcerting attempt by some students to re-claim it.

There are interviews with Andrew Young, a legendary figure in the Civil Rights movement; Paul Coakley, a former Roosevelt principal who grew up in Tennessee; and African-Americans of several generations, still shaken by their first encounter with the epithet.

The report is another landmark for a monthly magazine that has fearlessly tackled drug and alcohol abuse, sexting, divorce, bullying, and homophobia and misogyny on social media at the Northeast Portland high school.

In the aftermath of the Best Picture victory for "Spotlight" - and investigative journalism - at the Academy Awards, it's important to consider the magazine's achievement and ambition.

Grant Magazine was launched in 2011 by Vivian Orlen, the principal at the time, and David Austin, a former colleague of mine at The Oregonian.

Vivian Orlen, former principal at Grant High

Orlen, now with the Department of Education in New York City, believed students should unapologetically engage the issues that challenge the school and the community.

"You want provocation," Orlen says. "You want young people to question. You want kids to collect evidence, and to tell a story from their vantage point."

And, Orlen decided, you need an experienced journalist at the helm, harnessing that energy.

Austin spent 22 years at The Oregonian before he became communications director for Multnomah County. His children went to Grant. He's lived in the neighborhood for 25 years. He's combative, opinionated and tireless in his advocacy for magazine staff.

I met the latest ensemble Tuesday morning. They arrived, as always, 15 minutes early for their first-period class. They were confident and self-directed, passionate and reflective.

They were especially patient, given that I was standing between them and all the work they had to do.

For these 22 students, magazine isn't a class, but a mission, a second family, a singular force and noun. A training exercise in trusting the classmate at their side.

An ongoing invitation to confront and question authority.

"The magazine has completely changed my life," says Eliza Kamerling-Brown, one of five editors-in-chief. "I've grown up through this program. The relationships you build in this class are different than any I've seen in school."

"When I started magazine, I was scared of my own shadow," says Bella Rideau, who will enroll at Columbia University in the fall. "I didn't consider journalism a career. But the more I get into these bigger stories, and realize the impact they have, the more journalism appeals to me."

As junior Sophie Hauth, one of Austin's most audacious reporters, adds, "This class forces you outside your comfort zone." And lifts you to a place where the access to powerful stories is addictive, the sense of community empowering, the expectations exhilarating.

"The pace is so much faster here," says on-line editor Sawyer Montgomery, who has spent four years with Austin in room 123, better known as The Newsroom. "He pushes us so much harder than any other teacher or instructor."

The result? "You hold your work to a higher standard," Montgomery says. "There's always that voice in the back of your head. But it's not his voice anymore. It's my voice."

Eliza Kamerling-Brown, center, organizes coverage for an upcoming story on Measure 11.

A voice that says you must nail the story. You don't need an adult to initiate a life-changing conversation. You can't let magazine down.

How do we replicate that kind of initiative, resourcefulness, and team-building in high schools across Oregon?

There are weeks, Austin says, when he spends 50 hours with these students. How many other mentors with a day job are willing to put in that time when they're not paid a dime?

Do other platforms - U.S. Constitution teams come to mind, of course - serve equally well as proving grounds where students can refine the communication skills essential to their survival?

In mid-March, the Grant Magazine staff ventures to New York City. The bill for the trip is $42,000. "We raised every cent of that," Kamerling-Brown says.

Students will meet writers and editors at The New Yorker and The New York Times. They will spend an afternoon at Columbia, hoping to win the magazine's third Gold Crown from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association.

On Tuesday, however, the staff wasn't focused on New York or the unveiling of the N-word issue. It was, instead, plotting an April news story on Measure 11.

A February confrontation involving a knife on campus convinced editors that many Grant students are clueless about the 1994 mandatory minimum sentencing law.

Kamerling-Brown and Rideau were shaping the story package. The cell phones were out, the conversation accelerating. What incident inspired Measure 11? Who would call the district attorney? Who would correct the usual mistakes in the local TV coverage?

Each time I leaned in to make a suggestion at the edge of the whirlwind - Kevin Mannix? Steve Doell? - I realized this crew was way ahead of me.

I beat a retreat. "Keep calm," reads the sign at The Newsroom door. "Get back to work."

-- Steve Duin

stephen.b.duin@gmail.com
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

The Ruling Zanu PF is reportedly struggl;ing to remove all the Gamatox faction members aligned to former Vice President Joice Mujuru who was fired from the party in 2014.Zimbabwe Peace Project reported that in Zanu PF in Manicaland has been battling to remove the last remnants of the gamatox' mainly in the administrative structures of government and quasi government departments."(Gamatox' refers to Zanu-PF members aligned to former Vice President, Joice Mujuru, who was ousted from party for allegedly plotting against President Robert Mugabe.) Manicaland Provincial Affairs Minister, Mandi Chimene and Local Government Minister, Saviour Kasukuwere, are allegedly conducting cleansing ceremonies' in the city of Mutare all in an effort to get rid of gamatox' remnants and replace them with Kasukuwere loyalists who are better placed to push the G40 agenda," said ZPP."On the other hand, People First seem to be gaining ground in the province with known Zanu-PF and MDC-T members jumping ship and jostling for a place in the new party."ZPP said the state through the village heads seem determined to curtail freedom of assembly and expression of opposition party members as the clock ticks towards the 2018 general elections.
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.
News / National

by Whinsley Masara

BULAWAYO police are battling to solve the mystery of a missing 28-year-old woman who vanished on February 3 with her three-year-old daughter.Bonnie MacLaren and her child, Nani, both of Suburbs, were reported by a domestic worker as missing - but police say her brother has since tried to withdraw the missing person's report.Neighbours yesterday told The Chronicle they were worried about them.MacLaren's domestic workers identified only as MaMoyo and Nyoni said they last saw her on February 3 taking Nani to a pre-school in Matsheumhlope suburb.McLaren's brother, identified only as Heymish, claimed that she had gone out of the country as neighbours insisted that there was something not adding up. One reported hearing "disturbances" from the house.Assistant Inspector Abednico Ncube of Bulawayo Police said they received a report of a missing mother and child. He said the three people in the woman's home were now claiming that she was not missing and police investigations would focus on them."They reported to the police that Bonnie and her daughter were missing, but suddenly they now claim no-one is missing, although the two are indeed not home," Ass Insp Ndebele said."With these contradictory and confusing statements, we have sent investigators back to the house to probe the two domestic workers and the brother for a clearer story. We need to understand the story behind the whole drama."A neighbour claimed that the woman had a Nigerian partner, and they regularly heard noise emanating from the house.The neighbour also said they had been wondering about MacLaren's whereabouts as they had not seen her or heard her child playing for some time.A vendor near her house said she had been suspicious and asked one of the domestic workers who said there was no information on the two's whereabouts.Heymish told The Chronicle on Wednesday: "I heard from the workers that she's abroad. I don't know who made the missing person's report. She's not in danger."Later, he said his sister was in Harare and claimed to be chatting with her on WhatsApp.Police sources yesterday said Heymish's mother, Musa MacLaren, who is alleged to be living in Esigodini, was not answering her mobile phone.Asst Insp Ncube said police are appealing to the public for information that may lead to the location of the MacLaren and her daughter."MacLaren is 1,65 metres tall, white, of medium build with brown eyes and black hair. She was last seen wearing a pair of black jeans, black T-Shirt and maroon shoes. She was driving a silver grey Honda Fit with registration number ABA 6888," said Asst Insp Ncube.
News / National

by Tendai Mugabe

President Mugabe said Government has not received meaningful returns from the Chiadzwa diamond fields and that private companies mining there have robbed the State.He said the consolidation of mining activities in Chiadzwa had not in any way affected relations between Zimbabwe and China.This comes in the wake of reports by the private media that the move could affect relations between Harare and Beijing given that one of the affected companies (Anjin) was of the Chinese origin.In his 92nd birthday interview with the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation aired last night, President Mugabe said he told his Chinese counterpart President Xi Jinping during his State visit here last year that Government was not happy with Anjin's operations."I don't think it has affected any of our relations at all. I told President Xi Jinping that we were not getting much from the company and we didn't like it anymore in this country," said President Mugabe."So we wanted it to go back. I told him that here in this house."He said less than $2 billion was remitted from diamond proceeds and those seconded by Government to work with the private companies did not help matters as they also failed to account for the gems."We have not received much from the diamond industry at all," he said."Not much by way of earnings. I don't think we have exceeded $2 billion or so and yet we think that well over 15 or more billion dollars have been earned in that area."So where have our gold or carats have been going - the gems and there has been quite a lot of secrecy in handling them and we have been blinded ourselves."That is our people who we expected to be our eyes and ears have not been able to see or hear what was going on and lots of swindling, smuggling have taken place and companies that have been mining virtually I want to say robbed us of our wealth and that is why we have decided that this area should be a monopoly area and only the State should be able to do the mining in that area."You cannot trust a private company in that area, none at all and we should have learnt from the experiences of countries like Botswana, Angola, Namibia etc. We might go partner with a leading diamond company one which is already well established fine, we may be able to do that but then on good terms."Botswana was telling us the idea, that is President (Ian) Khama that the De Beers they have had to demand a beat more than 70 percent of the earnings that are made by De Beers itself because they reckon that over years De Beers have been having a lion's share of their diamond wealth and this is what we are trying to do now - start afresh."After all, the real kimberlite mining has not been done it was all alluvial so far."Just doing the sands, the loose earth and the conglomerate of course, cutting stones through and getting whatever carats. That is what this Chinese company Anjin was doing."President Mugabe said the economy was not performing to expectations due to various difficulties.Among the challenges, the President said, was Zimbabwe using the US dollar which it does not have control over."Anyway the American dollar is not the currency of Europe, but when we pay Europe what we have here is the American dollar so the same story happens," he said."So we do not print the American dollar and we do not control its flow, international flow the regulation of that flow is by America and so your progress is inhibited. You have to find ways of circumventing these impediments that faces us in trading with other countries and that have just slowed us tremendously."Internally, the President said economic growth was also being slowed by corruption.He said the country had set the Anti Corruption Commission to deal with the vice."Then of course we have got some inbuilt forms of resistance," said President Mugabe."You have in the same system some people who don't think the way you do and have different ideas and do not therefore take the same stance as yourself so they are slow or they think the policies we are taking are not the correct ones so they are not happy and you have also quite some level of corruption in the system private and public and we are looking at how we can get rid of these kind of corruption."
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Friday morning marked the first time in 25 years that Diane Ross family had seen Michael Todd McIntyre, and the meeting came in a courtroom as he was arraigned on murder charges filed in connection with her death.

McIntyre, 51, of New Hudson, was arrested in the 25-year-old homicide cold case on Thursday afternoon. He faces counts of first-degree premeditated murder and felony murder, each punishable by up to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

He was tracked down by Midland County Sheriffs Office Detectives Brent Benzing and Scott Holzinger, with help from the Michigan State Police, FBI and Attorney Generals Cold Case Homicide Team.

During the hearing, Midland County Prosecutor J. Dee Brooks, who is co-counsel on the case along with the Michigan Attorney Generals Office, said McIntyre once had ties to the Gladwin area and has lived with family in Oakland County, as well as been out of the state.

McIntyre, who was brought into the courtroom in a wheelchair, suffered a stroke in January, said attorney Lee Burton of Midland, who represented him during the arraignment.

Midland County Circuit Court Judge Stephen P. Carras set bond at $1 million for each count.

Im stunned that they caught him after this long, said John Timmons, Ross son-in-law.

Its been a long time coming, for sure, added Angie Timmons, Ross daughter and Johns wife. This will bring some closure.

They, along with Angies son, Michael Fountain, and Ross oldest sister, Lindy Barton, and other family and friends, filled the courtroom for the hearing, which was marked by occasional outbursts toward McIntyre.

After, Barton said she was traumatized just seeing the suspect in the case. All these years hes been free, she said. We finally get our answers.

All agreed they didnt think an arrest in the case would ever come, but they still had hope.

The last years though, Ive had a lot of hope, Barton said, noting the case had been reopened by the sheriffs office.

Ross grandson, Fountain, said he did not remember the attack, which he witnessed, and did not recognize McIntyre, but he was glad for his familys sake that an arrest has been made.

Theyve suffered more than I have, Fountain said. I had hope this day would come to give them solace and comfort.

Ross, 43, was attacked by a masked assailant about 1 a.m. while sleeping in her North 11 Mile Road home, just off M-20, on Aug. 7, 1991. Her killer used a broken pool cue to beat her in the head.

Fountain was 5 years old when he witnessed the attack. He ran to a relatives home for help. Ross was found lying on her bedroom floor, covered in blood, but still breathing. She died later that day at the hospital.

Ross had lost both of her legs to a blood disorder, and she was confined to a wheelchair. Ross spent her days caring for her grandson, cooking, cleaning and living a quiet life, Barton told the Daily News in 2013.

The affidavit in the case provides some insights about the investigation, beginning with Fountain telling a relative, Mike was the ghost who killed his grandma. His mother, now Angie Timmons, had dated McIntyre and broke off the relationship about a month prior to the murder.

Also during the attack, containers of coins being collected for Fountain were taken from Ross home. In the days following, a car matching the description of the one McIntyre drove was seized. Found inside was a box of coins, some of which bore the fingerprints of Ross daughter.

When interviewing a witness in 2014, detectives learned McIntyre had contacted her later in 1991 and told her he was planning to take off because he had hit an older woman and did not know if he had killed her or not.

Another witness told detectives she had overheard a phone call during which Ross said she did not have the money to pay the caller. After the call, Ross had explained she was talking to McIntyre, who was angry with her because she did not have the money to pay him for installing a hot water heater in her home.

The cold case was reopened by detectives in 2012 and additional investigation began in early 2013. Stephenson said detectives looking at the case found further information, including additional witnesses and physical evidence.

Michael McIntyre was one of the original suspects in this case, Stephenson said.

Brooks said part of taking a new look at the case included reinterviewing old witnesses, which resulted in new leads. Detectives used further resources, including those offered by the Michigan State Police, FBI and the Attorney Generals Office, to reach out to other witnesses, including some out of the state.

Brooks recalled when the case first began, at the same time he had just started working at the prosecutors office. We were not able to put a provable case together in 1991, he said. That doesnt mean that you let it go.

He said the arrest provides a sort of satisfaction. It was a great effort by Detective Brent Benzing and Detective Scott Holzinger of the Midland County Sheriffs Office, he said.

Attorney General Bill Schuette was in court for the arraignment and spoke at the press conference.

This shows the importance of never closing a cold case, he said, pointing to the law enforcement partnership that solved the case.

Were very pleased that we can start to provide closure for the family of Diane Ross, Stephenson said, pointing to the hard work of Benzing and Holzinger. They are two of the best detectives in the state of Michigan, and have earned compliments from sheriffs offices across the state, the Michigan State Police and the FBI, he said.

The case will next be set for a pretrial conference.
The 8th Maintenance Squadron non-destructive inspection (NDI) shops primary mission is to conduct preventive maintenance for aircraft and identify abnormal wear before critical maintenance is necessary.

NDI provides timely results with the analysis of oil and processing of magnetic chip detectors.

If there is a small crack in the area we inspect, we would be able to find that small crack and makes sure it gets the repair it needs before it turns into a big crack and a big problem, said Staff Sgt. John Stevens, 8th MXS NDI shift supervisor.

Without NDI inspecting oil from aircraft engines, failing components might not be detected and could possibly result in the loss of an aircraft.

During our inspections, we check for the safety of flight parts, and check for extra stress on parts like the landing gear, Stevens said. We inspect areas to make sure that the critical components are not likely to break when pilots need them most.

The preventative maintenance tests ensure aircraft remain safe and reliable.

Our inspections are scheduled in accordance with intervals that engineers have dictated, Stevens said. When someone does a visual inspection and they arent confident on the parts current status, they call us to back them up due to the fact that visual inspections arent as accurate as using NDI equipment.

NDI allows inspectors to catch cracks or abnormalities that the eye cant see and would have otherwise gone unnoticed.

I enjoy my job because of the position Im put in and the roles the Air Force allows me to perform, being a first-line supervisor to many great Airmen, Stevens said. Were a family here; were a small section and an even smaller career field. Everyone gets along well and looks out for each other.

Its that comradery and dedication that allows the Wolf Pack NDI shop to keep going day after day and accomplish the mission.

Without NDI, planes wouldnt fly, Stevens said. "Our inspections are key, and our crew works 24/7 to ensure the safety of our aircraft and aircrew."
Yokota Airmen execute jump training

Staff Sgt. Justin Bender, 374th Operations Support Squadron survival, evasion, resistance and escape training NCO in charge, prepares to jump out of a C-130 Hercules while flying over Yokota Air Base, Japan, March 2, 2016. The training not only allowed the SERE personnel to practice jumping, it helped loadmasters and other aircrew members perform personnel drop training. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman David Owsianka/Released)
News / National

by Tendai Mugabe

President Mugabe says he is still very much around and any discussion about his succession is misplaced because he was given a mandate by the people of Zimbabwe that runs until 2018.He said he could not have accepted the mandate if he knew he would not be able to complete the term.The President also dismissed reports doing the rounds in the private media that he wanted First Lady Dr Grace Mugabe to succeed him, adding that leaders in Zanu-PF were appointed through a congress.He said this during a wide-ranging birthday interview with the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation that was aired last night."Why successor, I am still there! Why do you want a successor? Unoda kuti ndikurove chibhakera ugowira pasi to feel I am still there. Ndozvazvinoitwa here? Izvozvo ndozvinomutsa tsekwende dzana Mai (Joice) Mujuru dzatiri kuona idzi. Vanhu vave kutsvagirana mishonga, vave kuenderana kun'anga. Dzimwe nguva kuurayana."When we went to Congress in 2013 and the people said you are the candidate in 2013, I did not say I was a candidate to retire, only to retire midway. I never said that. I was a candidate for the term, for the term, the term is a five-year term. Isn't it?"Otherwise, why did I accept ndichiziva kuti ndinogumhinha kana kuti ndichiziva kuti ndine chirwere, kana handikwanisi? But can you say handikwanise?"Ndaive nedzimba ngani? Nhatu at 91. Zimbabwe, Sadc, AU. Vakadzi vatatu at 91 ungavakwanise iwe?"President Mugabe said zanu-pf's discussion about succession was alien to Zimbabwe.He said those who were making clandestine manoeuvres thinking that they would succeed him outside congress were fooling themselves.Said the President: "Kuti hanzi uyu akazosiyiwa ari panzvimbo inhaka here? Hatigadze nhaka isusu. It's ridiculous and for that matter vamwe vanoti President anoda kuzoti mudzimai wake asare ari ipapo."Ndekupi kwawakambomuona kana musystem yedu achinzi mukadzi wangu unozogara nhaka yangu? Kune vekwaGushungo hazviitwe izvozvo. Kwenyu zvinoitika? Vakuru vanozosara voona kuti ndiyani vane kodzero yekugara nhaka."Vanombotanga vaona kuti uyu anosara akabata pamusha sarapavana. Vozogadza nhaka. In a democratic party you don't want leaders appointed that way to lead the party. Saka vaye vanoti pinda iwe ndogozopindawo kuzvinyepera. It doesn't matter who. They have to be appointed properly by the people, properly by the people kugathering yeCongress. Usina kuitwa appoint ikoko hapana. Successor yekuti appoint a successor hameno kuti yakabva kupi pfungwa idzodzo. It's not part of our culture."Commenting on the infighting in zanu-pf, President Mugabe said the internal strife was peripheral.He said it was playing up mainly in the urban areas but the grassroots structures were intact."Right at the grassroots and the middle system of the party is very intact," said President Mugabe."Some of the things are childish but we have said whatever their cause, wherever they are happening, they are affecting the party to some extent but not in any substantial way. But we would want to see the party avoiding that completely and remain dedicated and united."President Mugabe said the party did not like quarrels adding that the rural areas where majority of people resided were quiet.He said the private media was exploiting the small quarrels in the party and in some cases magnifying them in terms of their effects.He added that Zanu-PF was not short of members and it would chuck out troublesome members.In the same vein, the President dismissed the so-called grand coalition of opposition parties saying they were not a threat to Zanu-PF.President Mugabe refuted claims that he was guiding Amai Mugabe who is the Zanu-PF secretary for Women's Affairs in her political career.He said the First Lady was independent and the decision was entirely hers.President Mugabe said even some of his family members were in politics by their own choice.He said he told them that politics was not an easy go and they should not blame anyone for whatever they met in their political journeys.He said he gave the same advice to the First Lady."I said so to Grace. I said fine, yes, I will support you but coming into politics the decision is entirely yours. You are free and so there she is. Ideas are entirely her own. That is where we have individual ideas  the area where we are allowed in the party to have individual ideas."But of course salient ideas, policy related ideas have to be the same and so that is the area where are the same. She leads the women."These are ideas from the women and not from me. The women have their own ideas, their own cries, zvichemo zvavo. Ndokwazvinobva ikoko. And of course from the family point of view she will express herself."President Mugabe said the First Lady recently expressed her dissatisfaction when the First Family's dairy Alpha Omega was almost bombed but she was grateful that it was prevented by the authorities.Turning to the issue of war veterans, President Mugabe said the freedom fighters were part and parcel of Zanu-PF.Said the President: "The war veterans are part of the party. The war veterans are within the party. I am a war veteran myself. You mean the welfare of war veterans yes, we have been worried about their welfare. The welfare of some of them who are not employed, some have grown old."The party being just the sponsor of Government has been urging the Government to pay the fees, whether these are school fees or health fees and look at the families of the war veterans and this has not been going well in Government and we are sorry about this one."I was just talking to (Chris) Mutsvangwa who is Minister telling him that I will talk to (Sydney) Sekeramayi tomorrow so that we have a meeting with the war veterans perhaps next week properly called. We don't want them to just come in this irregular manner, kungozvisunda kunge zvavakaita musi uya. We know they are orderly people. They are well disciplined. We want to hear how they are coping and what their problems are."On regional and continental politics, President Mugabe said the current crop of leaders had potential to lead but they lacked ideology.
BANDUNG, Indonesia, (March 2, 2016) Six members of the Hawaii Army National Guard visited the city of Bandung, Indonesia, to participate in Hawaii's State Partnership Program's seventh Noncommissioned Officer Subject Matter Expert Exchange, Feb. 22-26.

The NCO exchange is designed for military personnel from Hawaii and the Indonesian NCOs to learn each other's military tactics, procedures, and culture all while building a lasting friendship.

"This is a great opportunity for us to build interoperability and capacity as NCOs in support of the United States Pacific Command's theater security cooperation plan," said Sgt. Major Ronald Oshiba, HIARNG operations senior enlisted advisor.

Thirty-one Indonesian Soldiers were split up into four squads and assigned a HIARNG mentor to learn classroom and hands on instruction. Topics such as leadership, rank structure, how to evaluate a casualty, map reading and how women have evolved in the U.S. military were covered.

"The class about women in the military was enjoyable and very interesting," said Second Sgt. Dara Indah, the first female Indonesian NCO to attend the course. "It gave me motivation and inspires me to do my best. It made me more proud to be a woman in the Army."

Mentors from the Indonesian Army presented classes such as their basic rank structure and their 11 principles of leadership they live up to.

"We benefit greatly from the Indonesian Army because we learn the way they operate, while exchanging experiences and culture," said Sgt. 1st Class Christian Stazskow, SMEE mentor. "Culturally we are a lot alike. The hardest part of this exercise is saying goodbye because after a week of training together we develop a life-long friendship."

We have a great partnership, said Chief Sgt. Hardi Kurmiwan, Indonesian Army.

"We learn from the U.S. Soldiers and they learn from us...we train together," said Kurmiwan.

Every morning before training began each squad performed a motivational motto, a loud rhythmic chant.

"Our squad leaders always encourages us to do our motto so all of us go to class with the same spirit," said Kurmiwan. "So when we yell and clap the person with no spirit will forget his problems."

Stazskow plans on using this technique at home to motivate his Soldiers.

"The best thing I can bring back home for my Soldiers is the Indonesian NCO spirit," said Stazskow. "They have the greatest spirit out of any Soldiers I have ever met. They come with a positive attitude and are fully engaged while they train."

After the classroom instruction, the Soldiers were able to apply what they learned in the field during an infantry patrol practical exercise.

"The exercise is a new thing for some of us," said Sgt. Major. Tommy Effendi, Indonesian Army. "I learned that the U.S. Army really appreciates life, the safety of your Soldier is a priority. If one of your Soldiers is injured you carry them to safety, treat their wounds and you never leave them behind. The U.S. really respects humanity and human rights."

Effendi mentioned that he hopes the NCO exchange will continue not only next year but for many years to come.

"We are looking forward to continuing and enhancing our partnership because I feel that our NCOs have learned just as much as we have shared," said Sgt. Major Ronald Oshiba. "I know we are going to go back to the U.S. as better NCOs ourselves."
Donald Trumps distinctive rhetorical style  think of a drunk with a bullhorn reading aloud James Joyces Finnegans Wake underwater  poses an almost insuperable challenge to people whose painful duty is to try to extract clarity from his effusions. For example, last week, during a long stream of semi-consciousness in Fort Worth, this man who as president would nominate members of the federal judiciary vowed to open up libel laws to make it easier to sue  to intimidate and punish  people who write negative things. Well.

Trump, the thin-skinned tough guy, resembles a campus crybaby who has wandered out of his safe space. It is not news that he has neither respect for nor knowledge of the Constitution, and he probably is unaware that he would have to open up many Supreme Court First Amendment rulings in order to achieve his aim. His obvious aim is to chill free speech, for the comfort of the political class, of which he is now a gaudy ornament.

But at least Trump has, at last, found one thing to admire from the era of Americas Founding. Unfortunately, but predictably, it is one of the worst things done then  the Sedition Act of 1798. The act made it a crime to write, print, utter or publish, or cause it to be done, or assist in it, any false, scandalous, and malicious writing against the government of the United States, or either House of Congress, or the President, with intent to defame, or bring either into contempt or disrepute, or to excite against either the hatred of the people. Now, 215 years after the Sedition Act expired in 1801, Trump vows to use litigiousness to improve the accuracy and decorousness of public discourse.

The night before his promise to make America great again through censorship, Trump, during the Houston debate, said that his sister, a federal judge, (signed) a certain bill and that (Supreme Court) Justice Samuel Alito also signed that bill. So, the leading Republican candidate, the breadth of whose ignorance is the eighth wonder of the world, actually thinks that judges sign bills. Trump is a presidential aspirant who would flunk an eighth-grade civics exam.

More than anything Marco Rubio said about Trump in Houston, it was Rubios laughter at Trump that galled the perhaps bogus billionaire. Like all bullies, Trump is a coward, and like all those who feel the need to boast about being strong and tough, he is neither.

Unfortunately, Rubio recognized reality and found his voice 254 days after Trumps scabrous announcement of his candidacy to rescue America from Mexican rapists. And 222 days after Trump disparaged John McCains war service (I like people that werent captured). And 95 days after Trump said that maybe a protester at his rally should have been roughed up. And 95 days after Trump re-tweeted that 81 percent of white murder victims are killed by blacks. (Eighty-two percent are killed by whites.) And 94 days after Trump said he supports torture even if it doesnt work. And 79 days after Trump said he might have approved the internment of Japanese-Americans during World II the Second World War. And 72 days after Trump proved that he does not know the nuclear triad from the Nutcracker ballet. And so on.

Rubios epiphany about Trump being a con man and a clown act is better eight months late than never. If, however, it is too late to rescue Rubio from a Trump nomination, this will be condign punishment for him and the rest of the Republican Partys coalition of the timid.

Once to every man and nation, comes the moment to decide, In the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side. So begins James Russell Lowells 1845 poem protesting Americas war with Mexico. The Republicans moment is here.

We are about to learn much about Republican officeholders who are now deciding whether to come to terms with Trump, and with the shattering of their party as a vessel of conservatism. Trumps collaborators, like the remarkably plastic Chris Christie (I dont think [Trumps] temperament is suited for [the presidency]), will find that nothing will redeem the reputations they will ruin by placing their opportunism in the service of his demagogic cynicism and anti-constitutional authoritarianism.
News / National

by Staff reporter

Parliament yesterday ejected Bulawayo Senator Matson Hlalo from the Upper House following a decision by the MDC-T to recall the outspoken legislator from the August House.The recalling of Sen Hlalo is a culmination of factionalism that has dogged the opposition party pitting MDC-T leader, Morgan Tsvangirai and national executive member Nelson Chamisa.Acting Senate President Charles Tawengwa, made the announcement yesterday.Sen Hlalo who was within Parliament building did not attend the sitting ostensibly after receiving the news of his pending expulsion through the grapevine.The tiff between Tsvangirai and Hlalo arose after the latter took the opposition party to the High Court challenging the decision to recognise Gift Banda as Bulawayo provincial chairperson.
Denver mom named Lachelle Heartly wanted answers when her 11-year-old son was beaten on the way to school by bullies. The attack happened on January 29, and up until now, she still doesn't have answers.

This is yet another issue that parents have to address: Bullying is not a new thing; for as long as people can remember, bullies have always existed. But has this mean streak gone on for too long and too far? Lachelle's son's case is hardly the first to happen.

Parenting reported that during that day, her son came home early from school complaining of a headache. A week later, the school contacted her to view a video of an incident involving an attack.

When the video showed her son Clay being dragged to the back of the school bus, unconscious, but the worse part is that the video shown to her was clearly altered. "It was snippets. They cut and pasted what they wanted me to see. And I would just like to see the entire thing," said Heartly.

The school said that they cannot release the whole video due to student piracy laws. However, the mother thinks the bus driver could have done something to protect her son or help him after the incident. Even more unfortunate is that school bus bullying is becoming a concern among parents, as they noticed that kids are more vulnerable in these situations considering that the only adult on the bus is one who cannot react to every incident.

Statistics regarding the negative effects of bullying is becoming alarming. For instance, 40% of suicide victims were bullied, and more than two thirds of school shootings were conducted by those who were bullied.

Bullying incidents have been steadily rising, at more and more dangerous costs. Are adults failing their children with these statistics?
A preview of "Captain America: Civil War" unfinished version draw high praises to Spider-Man and Black Panther. While most fans feel that it may resemble "The Avengers 2.5", the initial screening also proves that the movie is genuinely about Captain America.

"Captain America: Civil War" is the first movie in the Phase Three plan of Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). While many fans believe that "Civil War" may focus more on the Avengers and not just Captain America, actor Chris Evans have more than once stated that the film is actually his character's story. This has been proven true in the screening of the unfinished version of the movie.

According to Devin Faraci of Birth. Movies. Death., the movie will certainly become another blockbuster from Marvel Studios and Disney. As Marvel opened screening for the incomplete version of "Captain America: Civil War," he was able to interview the people who took part in it and noted some similarities from their feedbacks.

Most of them said that "Captain America: Civil War" is absolutely a sequel to "The Winter Solider" as opposed to what most fans believe. The story is certainly focused on Cap and Bucky.

They also commended the extraordinary performance of Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), saying that Boseman was a great addition to the Marvel superhero line-up. Spiderman was also exceptional in "Captain America: Civil War."

Apart from Spiderman (Tom Holland) and Black Panther, there will also be an old character that will be introduced to the film, Screenrant reports. "Captain America: Civil War" will also feature Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and War Machine (Don Cheadle).

Lastly, a stand-off will happen at the last part between Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Steve Rogers (Chris Evans). Faraci was told that this will be brutal both physically and emotionally. However, this reviews isn't final until the movie is completely done. However, if the reviews prove correct, then Phase Three would have a good start.

On that note, take a look at the movie trailer of "Captain America: Civil War" in the movie below. This will be released on May 6, 2016.
Steve Wedel from Oklahoma and a veteran teacher at Western Heights High School posted a letter to his blog addressed to his student's parents. His message to the parents is to love their children just as much as they love them. The letter has been viewed by thousands of people already.

Parenting reports that Mr. Wedel also blamed the incompetent lawmakers for cutting the funds as he struggled to educate the students. He appealed to the parents to vote for people who will aid the teachers to edify and nurture their children.

"I love my job. I love your kids. I call them my kids. I keep blankets in my room for when they're cold. I feed them peanut butter crackers, beef jerky or pop tarts when Michelle Obama's school breakfast or lunch isn't enough to fill their bellies," Steve said.

"I comfort them when they cry and I praise them when they do well and always I try to make them believe that they are somebody with unlimited potential no matter what they go home when they leave me," Wedel continued to explain. "Sometimes when they get sick at school they can't go home because you and person you're currently shacking up with are too stoned to figure out it's your phone ringing."

"Sometimes they go home to sleep on the neighbor's back porch because your boyfriend kicked them out of the house and his dog is too mean to let them sleep on their own back porch," Wedel added. "They go home to physical and verbal abuse. They go home looking for love and acceptance from the people who created them... and too often they don't get it."

The teacher was concerned about the welfare of his students. And he wanted to get the attention of parents to love and care their children. He is also struggling with the needs of the students.

Meanwhile, Daily Mail also reports the same situation when a teacher sent a note scolding the parents for packing an unhealthy lunch of chocolate, cracker, pickle and marshmallow. The parent who is a family doctor was outraged when he received the letter from a teacher at Kirksville Primary School.

The letter ended with a demand asking the parents to sign the letter, although they declined to do so.
A New York woman, who has known she was adopted since the age of four, was extremely shocked after she discovered that her birth mom was actually her co-worker for two years. Now, she is hoping to have a good relationship with her long- lost mother.

Jenney Thomas, 40, from Rochester, NY, has been searching for her birth mom for 15 years, she, however, didn't have any luck. Hence, she turned to a reality show, "Long Lost Family," a reality series that highly features touching stories of individuals who have been separated from their birth families and are yearning to find them.

After signing for the show, Thomas found out that she already met her birth mom 10 years ago and they been colleagues for two years at a Rochester hospital, where she worked as a part-time patient care technician while Nita Valdez, her long-lost mother, was a patient transporter.

"I was just in shock," she told The New York Post after she discovered that she had not only seen her but she actually worked with her birth mom, who had gotten pregnant at 17 years old before giving her up for adoption. "I didn't expect that, not in a million years."

"I had looked in so many faces for so many years, [thinking] 'could that be her?" Thomas said. "Is she looking at me because she knows me?' All the while I had looked at the woman who once knew me as her daughter."

According to The Wrap, Jenney's birth mom was a daughter of a minister, who was greatly embarrassed by the pregnancy out of wedlock. Thus, Valdez ended up placing her daughter in social service.

Jenney and Nita's story will be featured on March 13 at 10 p.m. on TLC. The emotional episode is titled 'Your Mom's Been Here the Whole Time,' according to the report of Syracuse.
The Pope who champions the cause of the poor and the oppressed openly rebuked rich patrons who give huge amounts to the Church, but which are considered as "dirty money" gained from illegal and immoral activities. Pope Francis issued such admonition during his general audience at St. Peter's Square last Wednesday.

As per Yahoo News report, Pope Francis directed his speech at the weekly general audience he conducts at the Vatican to the Church's rich patrons. He said, "I think of some benefactors of the Church that say 'take this offer for the Church', and it is profit from the blood of those abused, treated as slaves, workers with poorly paid jobs"

According to Catholic Agency, Pope Francis took a cue from the Book of Isaiah when he rebuked the act of offering dirty money to the church. He said that God does not like "the blood of bulls and lambs, especially if the offering is done with hands dirty with the blood of their brothers."

Nearing the end of his speech, he concluded it by saying, "I say to these people: 'Please, take back your cheque, burn it'. The people of God, the Church, does not need dirty money." His message certainly left many people in deep thought after leaving St. Peter's Square.

This was not the first time that Pope Francis openly issued stinging rebukes to people who profit a lot of money from exploitation. He is known to have also denounced slavery and corruption.

The resilient Pope Francis has been issuing attacks on the mafia that are in Italy and Mexico. He also made an unprecedented expulsion of unrepentant mafia members, condemning them to Hell. Such statements ignited fear in the hearts of many of a possible retaliation from mafia members.

Now that Pope Francis has said that the Church does not want the dirty money of rich patrons gained from exploitation activities, there would be people who will feel offended at such a strong statement. Perhaps for the pope, what matters to him is that he made people realize the depravity of their actions.
Contrary to longstanding beliefs, a new clinical trial suggests that first-time moms over the age 35 may not face greater likelihood of cesarean delivery. This could be possible if labor is induced before their due date.

Forbes reported that researchers from Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust in the United Kingdom have found that older first-time moms who had their labor induced during the 39th week of pregnancy did not face any increased risks of C-section. The study, published in the March issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, claimed that labor induction did not pose any negative effects on the mothers and their newborns.

The researchers, led by Kate F. Walker, conducted the study by recruiting 619 first-time moms with low-risk pregnancies. Half of the women, with ages 34 and up, were randomly assigned to have a labor induction during their 39th week of pregnancy, while the rest waited until labor begins naturally.

The researchers found that majority of the women with planned induction showed no increased risk of needing a C-section compared to the other group. Moreover, they did not find any difference in health on the moms and newborns under labor induction.

Despite the positive findings, Walker said that the study was not comprehensive enough to determine effects on rare complications. "The ideal course would now be to perform a much larger trial to prove a reduction in stillbirths," she added.

In an article of WebMD, Dr. William Grobman, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said that there is no clear evidence if it is beneficial for women who have healthy pregnancies to seek induced labor. "This was a very good study, but it shouldn't lead to any massive change in practice," he commented.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the rate of labor induction in the United States has been slightly declining in the past years after two decades of steady rise. At present, labor induction is only advised for women who have certain medical conditions that may harm the baby in the womb.
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News / National

by Staff reporter

As part of efforts to boost the tourism sector, Government has relaxed the visa regime for 37 countries including China while it has removed visa requirements for all visitors from the Southern African Development Community.Zimbabwe uses a migration management system with a three tier visa model classified into categories A, B and C. Category A refers to countries whose nationals are exempt from visa requirements while those in category B obtain visas at the port of entry on arrival. Category C nationals are required to apply for visas prior to travel.According to one website, Immigration principal director Clemence Masango said with immediate effect China, along with 36 other countries, had been moved from Category C to B. The other countries include Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Algeria, Turkey and Cuba. All SADC countries have now been migrated to Category A.Only Angola and Madagascar had remained outside category A.Masango however said while China is now in Category B, there are still some conditions attached to the eligibility criteria for its nationals.Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) chief executive officer Karikoga Kaseke said the process is a positive step in the right direction but more needs to be done as well.Meanwhile, Zimbabwe was ranked poorly under the 2016 Visa Restrictions Index, published by international firm Henley & Partners. The index, which provides insight into the development of visa policies over the last 11 years, ranked Germany first while Zimbabwe was ranked 78 along with three other countries (Benin, Cuba and Morocco) with visa-free access to 59 countries.With a German passport, travelers can enter 177 out of 218 countries and territories without a visa.
A jetset lifestyle doesnt have to be all private planes and decadent digs. In Paste Travels Jet-Set Bohemian series, we blend the best of high and low for just the right balance  enticing everyone from backpackers to luxury boutique hotel lovers to come along for the ride.

To master the art of jetsetting bohemian-style, its all about timing. Unless your friends invite you to hop on board the private jet or yacht to cruise the Caribbean by winter and Mediterranean come spring, youre better off snagging deals to these hotspots before season is in full swing.

Most of the jetset crowd makes a similar summer circuit that revolves around the Mediterraneans glitziest islands and principalities: May in Monaco, June in Ibiza or Mallorca, and July in Saint-Tropez, with jaunts to Capri, Corsica and Croatia thrown in.

Living in the South of France, Im already perfectly poised for the highlights of the yearthe Cannes Film Festival and Monaco Grand Prix. The fashion crowd flocks here (along with tons of tourists) for these parties in May that you probably wont get in to unless you happen to be friends with the right director/actor/rapper.

really pops come summer with rose served on every terrace and yacht parties in the bay of Saint Tropez, but late winter is when youll see these cities at their best. The weather hovers in the 50s making it prime for the regions many outdoor activities. Theres a reason why some of the worlds top pro cyclists train on these roadsover 300 days of sunlight and numerous trails winding through Provences hills and around seaside cliffs make it a dream for cyclists, hikers and climbers. Old towns may seem sleepy and not every beach bar and restaurant will be open, but youll see the more authentic side of these towns before the locals leave to make room for summer tourists.

The party island of Ibiza is another that has a very Jekyll and Hyde personality. Tales of summer seem more outrageous than the next, with rumors of private clubs carved into caves and secret party boats where only the most privileged are awarded entry. Budget travel to Ibiza is doable, however, thanks to ferries from mainland cities like Valencia and Barcelona and hostels in the party-heavy areas of San Antonio and Playa den Bossa (home to one of the nightlife heavy hitters, Space Ibiza). Trading in a villa or five-star hotel can save you, but partying here isnt cheap, with entry sometimes being upwards of $100.

Skip the party scene entirely and arrive when the island shuts down between the closing party in September and the first event of the year in May. Now is when the island that drew the likes of Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell back in the 60s comes to life. Rent a car and hit each corner of the island exploring Ibizas hidden beaches like Atlantis, lying under the Torre del Pirata (or Pirates Tower) near Hort Creek, or join the artists at the Las Dalias hippie market in the town of Santa Eularia where you can snag handmade jewelry and tie-dyed tapestries.

, nestled next to mainland Italy just under the French island of Corsica, is another Mediterranean island that heats up come summer as megayachts pull into port up north in resort-heavy Porto Cervo. Technically Italian, Sardinia has a distinct character all of its own thats apparent in everything from the language to the cuisine. If you want to hit the heart of the island, head to the center to one of the medieval towns nestled in the Supramonte mountains, such as Oliena, when boutique hotels start opening their doors in early spring.

One of the islands best restaurants, Su Gologone, started here in 1970 and since then has transformed into a sprawling resort of bohemian bungalows named after artists whose work can be found inside. Giovanna, the founders daughter, continued her fathers tradition of serving traditional Sardinian fare like spit-roasted suckling pig and handmade gnocchi at the centerpiece restaurant, but she also added her own touch to other parts of the hotel. Youll quickly notice that Giovanna not only has a passion for art and artifacts (each room showcases a piece of Sardinias history as a living museum), she also happens to share my love of colorful pillows and hammocks, hand-painted fabrics and tapestries floating in the resorts relaxation areas and out on the terraces of wishes and dreams. The artist also recently opened up her atelier to the public, transforming the studio into a suite stocked with art supplies and canvases. Now guests staying here have all the tools they need to unleash their inner artist in between visits to the beach and hikes in the nearby mountains.

, an island along the Adriatic coast, attracts celebslike Tom Cruise and Beyoncewho give credence to the nickname: the St. Tropez of Croatia. Super yachts line the port each summer bringing a crowd thats anything but discreet. Those of us who arent able to hop on board can still live like the rich and famous for a a few days posting up in a cabin here with The Yacht Week.

I love a good beach party, but would rather skip the crowds (especially when electro festival Ultra is in town) and curl up in a cozy guesthouse in late April or early May, just as the weather starts to warm up. The Croats were masters of house-sharing long before Airbnb started, and hosts are usually more than willing to share some of their islands secrets over a welcome cup of coffee.

Lane Nieset is Pastes Jet-Set Bohemian columnist and a freelance writer covering all things travel from her home base in Nice, France.
Since 1987, Brooklyn Brewery has seen the beer scene turn over. As it evolves, brewmaster Garrett Oliver watches and makes the beer that interests him. Whether influenced by the low gravity of UK bitters, the growing beer culture in Scandinavia, or the continually changing American palate, Oliver finds something to pique his interest in both the history and future of beer.

For the most part, Brooklyn has been ahead of the curve. They introduced Scorcher, a session IPA, in 2004, and confused the world with its lesser alcohol content. Similarly, Oliver recalls the 1990s, when beers such as IPAs required their full name (India Pale Ale) to relay their message. Today, with 4,000 breweries open, hes watching a new development in the IPA world and the potential boom or bust of sour beers. And hes opinionated on those topics, as well as what Brooklyns role should be as modern brewers carve a new niche in the marketplace after years of being blanketed by louder, larger macro brands.

Paste: With a sister brewery in Sweden (Nya Carnegiebryggeriet), how do you view the growth of American style beers in Europe?

Garrett Oliver: Weve gone from a situation where, as a younger brewer, I would go overseas and say, Hey Im Garrett, and Im a brewer in the United States, and they would say, Oh yes, so sorry. Their outlook was basically, Your beers are dismal and nobody has any interest in them at all. They didnt know what was going on in American craft beer. Now everybody knows.

Whats fascinating is, take IPA: now the number one craft beer style. When I started brewing professionally in 1989, IPA was a historical British style that almost nobody brewed. At that time, IPA really wasnt anything in the United States. Today, IPA is not a historical British style, its a modern American style. The place where you are least likely to taste a British style IPA is in Britain. What you have, by and large in the British brewing scene, is a super American outlook. And you see that being replicated all over the world.

Were proud that weve made an impact, but eventually it gets a bit boring because everywhere you go people are brewing American IPA. We have 10,000 of those in the United States, so Im not so interested in the foreign versions. Whats great is to see other countries move past that and discover themselves. Look at all the beer coming out of Brazil with distinct flavors that we cant do in the United States because we dont have those ingredients. Thats something that really excites me.

Paste: How do you view that evolution of the IPA in the bigger picture? Is that evolution a natural process?

Oliver: What we see right now, I would call it part of a recovery process. People often dont realize that in a place like New York in the 1880s-1890s, you would have seen the most diverse beer culture in the world. We had everything: massive imports from Germany and the UK. We had New York breweries that specialized in weissbier or porter or IPAs. There was so much Guinness being drunk in New York City that they built a Guinness brewery on Long Island.

We forgot that history. We had everything already. When it comes back, we act like its new. What we have going on nowsour beers, IPAs, they do come back in slightly different forms with new ingredients. People might have a bigger cross pollination of ideas, with the way that people and ideas can travel these days. But I think that understanding the traditions is super important to knowing who you are and where you are in this flow of history, and that makes this whole thing so much deeper.

One of my concerns, and Im not sure theres anything I can do about it, is I feel that were giving our history away. IPA is a good example: black IPA, white IPA, wheat IPA, this IPA, that IPA. Anything with hops in it is now an IPA. India Pale Ale is an amazing story and it was super specific in its heyday. Were throwing that out the window to the extent that you have new beer drinkers coming in saying, I dont really understand what IPA is. Were throwing away our nomenclature, and nomenclature is power. The French understand this really well. Theres champagne and theres rose champagne. Theres no such thing as red champagne, there will never be red champagne. If you say to any chef anywhere in the world, Make me a hollandaise sauce, he makes you essentially the same sauce. If you add tarragon, its a different sauce. It gets a different name and you leave the style name of that food alone. When you invent something, it gets a different name.

To me thats really important because were going to end up with eight style names and nobody will know what they mean because they wont mean anything. Look at the way wine is respected in the restaurant world. Part of that is because people can grasp on and understand it. It can be explained. The fact that we now have the Cicerone program is really important. Programs like that will help hold the line so we can have a nomenclature. I think that has no negative effects at all on creativity. People will keep doing exactly what theyre doing, only theyll be able to describe it to people.

At Brooklyn Brewery weve never been super traditionalwe are in our overall brewing methodsbut Brooklyn Lager is our main beer. What style is Brooklyn Lager? Its closest to a Vienna lager but its very much its own thing. Most of the things weve made dont necessarily fit into styles. Sorachi Ace is definitely within the saison style, but it has a twist.

We dont really think about the beer culture as a static thing. As you see these things flourish in the United States, I look at an arc of history, like a big flowing river, and we are 10,000 years down the river and we get to throw our own rock in. You might be creative and you might be a good brewer but youre part of a flow of thousands and thousands of people who have been making this wonderful drink. And that should be good enough.

Paste: What do you think when you see beer styles youve made earlier now catching on as the next big thing?

Oliver: These things come in waves, and I guess its just like being a musician. The early punk bands, they said there were only 25 people at each show but each person who went those shows then went and started a band. I think that should be an effect you hope to have. Its a serious form of flattery if people are doing something you came up with. We didnt get our stuff out of thin air either. There was somebody there before you and hopefully you learn something from it.

Paste: Are you ever surprised at what catches on?

Oliver: The rise of IPA is really interesting to me because Americans are famous throughout the world for hating bitterness and for having a sweet tooth. So you would have thought IPA would be the last thing to take off here, but instead, it becomes the main style.

Theres a big debate now among brewers as to whether sour is the next IPA. Some brewers who were pioneers in sours say absolutely not, and some people are saying definitely. Its one of those things where there can be a fine line between where something can be just for geeks and where a wider range of people can enjoy it. I think there will be a sweet spot for sour beers and that brewers will put out gateway beers into the range of sours.

And theres a new aspect that Ive never seen before, I would say that right now sour beers have maybe one-quarter of one-percent of the craft beer market. However, these same beers are about 85% of the talk. If you go to a rare beer festival, 85% of the beer will either be sour or funky. Its the biggest discrepancy between reality and aspiration that Ive ever seen. Does this aspiration turn into realityor stay where it started? I think it will take off, certainly in pockets. But how fast it goes and where it goes, that will be an interesting thing to watch.
Hidden amongst the fog and mists of the South China Sea is Hong Kong, a city of a million faces and personalities. Its Chinese, but its not China. Its British, but no longer part of the Commonwealth. Its Asia, but more diverse than most western cities.

This port city, which is made up primarily of Hong Kong Island and mainland Kowloon, serves as many travelers first foray into Asia and is perfect for those seeking a taste of the colonial old with a large spoonful of the newon steroids. Without a doubt, Hong Kong is the ideal destination for anyone with a keen eye and an adventurous appetite.

Hong Kong is a city of hills overlooking the stunning and always changing Victoria Harbour. Although you can find good views of the skyline and harbor throughout the city, the greatest of them can be seen from Victoria Peak (pictured at top). Located atop Mount Austin on Hong Kong Island, Victoria Peaks view is the postcard shot of the city. Millions flock to the topaccessible via the ancient peak tramto take in Hong Kongs impressive skyline at sunrise, sunset, and at night once the citys billions of lights have been turned on. This being Hong Kong there are tons of restaurants, along with a multistory mall, available for you to enjoy once youve taken your photos, but dont fill up, theres way too much good food in Hong Kong for you to waste any meals.

Hong Kong is a mega-city in the most literal sense. Its made up of sprawling concrete, glass, and steel, with spots of greenery thrown in like sprinkles atop a scoop of ice cream. However, what many visitors ignore is Hong Kongs proximity to beautiful hiking trails, none of which are more popular than The Dragons Back. By spending an afternoon on the trail, which is easily accessible via Hong Kongs freakishly efficient public transit, youll get incredible panoramic views of neighboring islands, along with one thing thats certainly hard to come by in Hong Kong: quiet. Take a walk on The Dragons Back and youll feel less guilty about ordering that that second (or third) plate of noodles that youre sure to get later on in the day.



Photo by Max Bonem

There are too many restaurants in Hong Kong for one to ever visit all of themtoo many incredible dumplings, too many delicious roast geese, too many options. What makes it even harder is that Hong Kongs dining scene doesnt stand still, its always evolving. One such example is Little Bao, located in the SoHo section of Hong Kong Islands Central district. The restaurant itself is set up like a pint-sized American diner, if your local diner was in Brooklyn or Portland, of course. The kitchen is completely open air and everything is made fresh right before your eyes. The fried chicken bao is delicious, served with the caramelized brussel sprouts. Everything smells like truffles due to their popular fries that are tastefully tossed with truffle oil. Serving casual western staples prepared with traditional Chinese ingredients, Little Bao represents where Hong Kong is going. Or maybe, its the other way around. Regardless, its a great spot to soak up the previous nights questionable decision making.

Located on the north side of Victoria Harbour, the Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade is one of Hong Kongs most scenic walks. It is also home to some of Hong Kongs most active residents and visitors. Made up of miles of pedestrian-only traffic, the promenade is a popular haunt for runners, joggers, and elderly locals practicing their tai chi as the city just starts to arise from the previous night. Go for a run and take in the epic view of the harbor or use the promenade as a means for post-dinner digestion. Regardless, if youre staying anywhere in the southern part of Kowloon, Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade is there for the taking.



Photo by Max Bonem

When you come to Hong Kong, there are a few things you simply have to eat. Arguably at the very top of that pantheon is dim sum, an art unto itself in the city of a billion dishes. Although there are hundreds of dim sum restaurants to choose from, Din Tai Fung (pictured above) should be considered. Yes, the small chain started in Taiwan and their most famous item, soup dumplings, isnt part of typical Hong Kong-style dim sum, but who the f*ck cares? Theyre the definition of pleasure food and should be consumed without guiltno matter how much they cost you.

Years ago, chefs and restaurant owners in Hong Kong banned together to put non-western cities on Michelin Guides map. Flash forward to now and you can find heaps of Michelin-starred restaurants throughout Kowloon and Hong Kong Island, but if youre looking for the best of the best, Tim Ho Wan, the Dim Sum Specialist, cannot be missed. Their menu is ever changing, but standouts include rice with chicken feet and pork ribs, teochew dumplings, and, of course, their renowned barbecue pork bunsthe ones worth the trip to Hong Kong on their own. On top of that, Tim Ho Wan is also the cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant chain in the world. Yes, there will be a line and theres also a good chance youll be seated with strangers if youre dining alone, but come hungry, order a ton, and youll leave a happier human being. Guaranteed.

Beyond the hustle and bustle of Tsim Sha Tsui and the business of Central lies a quieter place, a different Hong Kong. Although British rule turned Hong Kong into a thriving, multicultural wonderland, an older and more traditional side of the city still remains and one such location that will never change is Wong Tai Sin Temple, located in the Chuk Un district. Constructed with strong ties to the elements of feng shui and acting as a temple for followers of Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism, Wong Tai Sin is never quiet. You wont stumble upon Wong Tai Sin, but if you make the trip, you can leave Hong Kong knowing youve seen a bit of the old along with the never-ending new.

Joy Hing is not fancy. Joy Hing is not trendy. Joy Hing has no website or social media presence or anything else that would garner unwanted attention in the Internet era (although Anthony Bourdain did visit it on his Hong Kong episode of The Layover). The restaurant caters to dock and construction workers, laborers who work long hours and need a filling meal to keep them going. Similarly, youll see businessmen conducting conference calls from the same tiny tables that the rest of the clientele dine at. Joy Hing is famous for roasted meats of all varieties, but go in knowing what you want as the staff doesnt have time for too many questions and english wont get you far at this hole in the wall in the Wan Chai district of Hong Kong Island. Get some roast duck, some roast pork, and, if youre lucky or arrive early enough, some suckling pig. Its greasy, no frills, and so old school that youll be wondering how much longer Joy Hing will exist without it actually becoming hip.

Max Bonem is a writer and eater currently traveling through Southeast Asia. You can follow his travels via his blog, Instagram or Flickr.
Current GOP presidential front-runner/three-time husband/four-time bankruptcy filer/short-fingered vulgarian Donald Trump and the unreliable narrators of Randy Newmans songs are both known for telling it like it is, regardless of how violently xenophobic or terrifyingly uncouth it may be.

The two possess a harrowingly similar worldview, so much so that its difficult to tell them apartespecially as Trumps escalating antics continue to blur the lines of reality and fiction. After all, the protagonist of Newmans Rednecks would also refuse to denounce former Grand Wizard of the KKK David Duke. What other presidential candidate, aside from David Duke himself, has ever had the chutzpah to do the same?

Speaking of questions, heres another: Can you tell which of these quotes emerged from the poisoned tongue of human soundbite Trump, and which are (mercifully fictional) Newman song lyrics?

We give them money, but are they grateful? Notheyre spiteful and theyre hateful.

Its money that I love.

Let me tell you something about myself: Im a college man and Im very wealthy. Ive got no time to trifle with trash like you, because I must be about my business.

They say that money cant buy love in this world. But itll get you a half-pound of cocaine and a sixteen-year old girl, and a great big long limousine on a hot September night.

Im dreaming of a white presidentsomeone whom we can understand. Someone who knows where were coming from and that the law of the jungle is not the law of this land.

Didnt used to be any spades here, now you got em. Didnt used to be any Mexicans here, now you got em.

Got to have a yellow woman when youre a yellow man.

Ive been around the world. Had my pick of any girl.

Why would someone beautiful as she love someone old like me? Maybe its the money. Jeez, I never thought of that. Goddamn it.

I aint sayin Im better than you are, but maybe I am. I only know that when I look in the mirror, I like the man.

Im all right, so I dont care.

Let me tell you a little story. Just this morning my wife and I went to this hotel in the hills. Thats rightthe Bel-Air Hotelwhere a very good friend of ours happens to be staying. And the name of this young man is Mr. Bruce Springsteen. Thats right, yeah. Oh, we talked about some kind of woodblock or something and this new guitar we like. And you know what he said to me? Ill tell you what he said to me. He said, Im tired. How would you like to be the Boss for awhile?

Well, yeah.

It kind of pisses me off that this Supreme Court is going to outlive me. A couple of young Italian fellas and a brother on the Court now, too. But I defy you, anywhere in the world, to find me two Italians as tightassed as the two Italians we got. And as for the brother, well, Plutos not a planet anymore, either.

I dont care what you sayyoure livin in the greatest country in the world when youre livin in the USA.

In America, every man is free to take care of his home and his family.

I love Miami. Its so hot and the women down here are so impure.

Im glad Im living in the land of the free. Where the rich just get richer, and the poor you dont ever have to see.

All around, even our old friends put us down.

South America stole our name.

No one likes us. I dont know why.

Asias crowded. Europes too old.

Lets drop the big one and see what happens.

The world is a horrible place.

Answers: Every quote but the last can be attributed to the diseased minds of Newmans narrators. But Trump could utter any, or all, of them tomorrow, and no one would bat an eyelash. And isnt that just perfectly terrifying?

Megan Koester is a writer and comedian (obviously) who lives in Los Angeles (somewhat less obviously). You can follow her on Twitter at @bornferal. While she appreciates your Facebook friend request, she probably will not accept it.
Dear parents: It is March of 2016, and the current frontrunner for the Republican partys presidential nomination is a bloviating, dissembling narcissist with a talent for fomenting xenophobia. Please take your kids to see Zootopia. Kendrick Lamar and Beyonce Knowles have both been accused of racism for performing songs that celebrate and solemnize black experiences on national television. Please take your kids to see Zootopia. Sundays Academy Awards ceremony undercut its own entreatments for inclusion with tone-deaf ethnic jokes plus blatant pandering. Please take your kids to see Zootopia.

It says a lot about the state of Americas cultural dialogues on acceptance and discrimination that a Disney movie feels this urgent, but maybe a movie about animals living under the impression of harmony is a long-term solution for our short-term failures. Then again, were talking about a cartoon where TVs Snow White teams up with Michael Bluth in a sort-of riff on 48 Hours that expands to include references to The Godfather and Breaking Bad. Suggesting that Zootopia packs enough meaningful education on the insidiousness of bigotry to cleanse all traces of prejudices from our future generations puts too much pressure on the film. You need more than cuteness wrapped around a social message to affect that kind of change.

So what, though? Zootopia is good, bordering on great. Better than that, its smart in the way it approaches race relations, if unsophisticated and childish. But there are worse things a childrens movie can be than childish, and in Zootopia that word sheds its pejorative implications and instead feels befitting in its innocence. The story takes place in the sprawling zoological metropolis of the title, a place where beasts of all makes and modelslarge and small, meek and ferocioussomehow manage to coexist in an approximation of civilized society. You may rightly wonder why or how predators ever managed to evolve beyond their primal need to hunt, kill and eat lesser animals, but you would be missing the point. This is the driving theme of the entire movie: that we need not be defined by what we look like or by the expectations of others. We are who we choose to be. Anyone can be anything.

Take, for example, Zootopias plucky protagonist, Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin). From the days of her youth she is bound and determined to grow up to be a cop, against the wishes of her anxious parents (Don Lake and Bonnie Hunt) and in utmost defiance of her schoolyard bullys taunts. But grow up to be a cop she does, and off to Zootopia she goes to serve its citizens alongside a law enforcement body comprised of hippos and elephants, rhinoceri and cheetahs, Cape buffaloes and, well, pretty much any other kind of critter you can imagine. In contrast to Judy, theres Nick (Jason Bateman), a streetwise fox with an airtight hustling game thatd put Irving Rosenfeld to shame. Nick doesnt care what other people think of him, and so hes totally fine with shouldering the burden of stereotyping.

Most of the films dramatic tension hinges on their unlikely team-up. Judy is given meter maid duty by her superior, Chief Bogo (Idris Elba), who, like everyone else, cant take a fluffy little bunny rabbit seriously as a police officer. But she chances her way into the departments major ongoing investigation of the mysterious disappearances of 14 of Zootopias citizens, and bereft of aid from her compatriots in the Zootopia Police Department, she must call on Nick to help her crack the case. Its a classic odd couple pairing combined with a classic fish out of water narrative, though in light of the films anthropomorphic cast, the absence of any literal fish out of water is a mild disappointment.

Zootopia really gets going once Judy and Nick start on their neo-noir buddy cop caper, but the films initial setup and continuous worldbuilding are pleasurable on their own merits. Judys arrival within the city is one marked by pure wonder: As she stares up, sideways, and all around as she travels through one geologically themed district after anotherTundratown, Sahara Squarewe share in her rapture. This is a beautifully animated film marked by a vibrant palette and by an impressive nuance in its characters expressive ranges. When Nick recalls the very real, very ugly childhood incident that solidified his philosophy of ambivalence, we see the memory play in full across his face; Judys body language on returning to her dingy apartment after a rough first day on the force says more about her sense of defeat better than the films musical cues can hope to. It is not enough that Zootopia adorns its players with clothing and asks that they walk upright. The film humanizes them best through emotion.

Emotion, of course, is the cornerstone of Zootopias success. This is a movie thats all about big, heartfelt honesty between its principals and its audience. If the text is somewhat basic, it is still painfully familiar: A third-act exchange Nick has with Judy, in which her latent, innate biases get the better of her, hits pretty close to home, no matter that theyre talking about rabbits and foxes. But as much as Zootopia mimics real life, it isnt real life. Real life, the film tells us, is messy. Its a damn sight messier than any Disney joint crafted to delight and amuse kids can fully realize, anyways. That doesnt stop Zootopia from ringing true, though, or from enlightening its viewers while entertaining them. Simple though its politics may be, the film is effectiveand coming from a mainstream studio, it is even just daring enough to make a difference.

Directors: Byron Howard, Rich Moore, Jared Bush

Writers: Jared Bush, Phil Johnston

Starring: Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, Jenny Slate, Nate Torrence, J.K. Simmons, Maurice LaMarche, Raymond S. Persi

Release Date: March 4, 2016

Boston-based critic Andy Crump has been writing online about film since 2009, and has contributed to Paste Magazine since 2013. He also writes for Screen Rant, Movie Mezzanine, and Birth.Movies.Death. You can follow him on Twitter and find his collected writing at his personal blog. He is composed of roughly 65 percent craft beer.
For years, the fight between Silicon Valley and law enforcement leaders over access to encrypted cellphone data has been largely philosophical, a struggle to balance privacy concerns against the ability of police to stop or investigate criminal acts and terror attacks, writes the L.A. Times. But for Mark Sandefur, the debate is deeply personal. Sandefur's son, Larry Daniel Kaufman, was among the 14 people killed at the Inland Regional Center on Dec. 2 as a husband and wife sprayed an office holiday party with gunfire during a terror attack.

On Thursday, Sandefur weighed in on the dispute between technology companies and law enforcement. In a letter released by an attorney representing several relatives of victims, Sandefur wrote that Apple should help FBI agents trying to access encrypted data on an iPhone 5c belonging to one of the San Bernardino shooters, Syed Rizwan Farook.

"Recovery of information from the iPhone in question may not lead to anything new. But, what if there is evidence pointing to a third shooter? What if it leads to an unknown terrorist cell?" Sandefur wrote in the letter to Apple's chief executive. "What if others are attacked, and you and I did nothing to prevent it?"

Yesterday was the deadline set by Judge Pym for anyone wishing to submit an Amicus Brief to the Court prior to her ruling on March 22, 2016. Privacy advocacy groups the American Civil Liberties Union, Access Now and the Wickr Foundation filed briefs on Wednesday in support of Apple along with many others.

Amicus Briefs Supporting Apple

Apple published a list of all of the Amicus Briefs supporting their position against the government's case along with 'Letters to the Court' as follows:

Letters to the Court

Last Minute Amicus Curiae Brief Filed by San Bernardino County District Attorney makes Bizarre Claim

In a strange twist of events, a last minute court filing by Michael Ramos, the San Bernardino County District Attorney states the following:

"The iPhone is a county owned telephone that may have connected to the San Bernardino County computer network. The seized iPhone may contain evidence that can only be found on the seized phone that it was used as a weapon to introduce a lying dormant cyber pathogen that endangers San Bernardino's infrastructure."

Patently Apple - San Bernardino County District Attorney's Application to Participate as Amicus Curiae...

Judge Pym, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, will deliver a ruling in the case between the FBI and Apple at a hearing set for March 22.

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.
I had always been raised in church. My parents were very active on the leadership teams of any church we went to. We started non-denominational and then we moved to Texas and became members of the Assemblies of God, a very Pentecostal denomination. Being raised the A/G and not being able to pray away the gay left me feeling terrified and suicidal. I obviously wasnt good enough, so why keep trying? What if everyone finds out? What if this looks bad on my parents? It was a life spent living in constant fear. I could play the heterosexual and super spiritual son well enough, but the facade was cracking and I didnt know how long I could maintain it.

I had never really had an issue with whether or not God (or some sort of higher power) existed. I had a broken arm that was healed when I was 5 or 6. A week or two after the arm was broken, I was under the pews at church playing with LEGOs (how parents kept kids quiet back then), and I remember a distinct voice saying to me, You know, you dont have to wear that anymore. Being filled with childlike faith, I was like, OK. I then put both of my feet on either side of the cast and pushed it off, came out from under the pew, handed the cast to my father, and said, Jesus says I dont have to wear this anymore. My dad freaked out and we went back to the doctor the next day and he said there was no sign that the arm had ever been broken. My parents still have the cast. So, my walk with God has always been an issue of theology. I like to joke that agreed on loving each other, but we fought over what exactly to believe in.
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A man is in the habit of taking his girlfriends home and bedding them in his wife's presence to get rid of her, a Harare Civil Court has heard.Tedious Mavhere reportedly brought several women at his matrimonial home and had sexual intercourse with them in his wife, Joyce Masikani's full view.Masikani, who was seeking a protection order against Mavhere told the magistrate Mrs Barbra Mateko that he assaults her for reprimanding him.She said Mavhere was starving her, spending all the money spoiling his girlfriends."He brings women in my presence and have sexual intercourse with them in front of me," Masikani said."He said the house belonged to him and has the right to bring and bed whoever he wants as the head of the house. Some time back when I was sick, he brought a woman to stay at our matrimonial house and they would have me sleep on the floor while they had sex on my matrimonial bed."He forcefully takes my money and spends it on his girlfriends. If I reprimand him he severely assaults me and now he has since moved out of our house. He is staying with his women," she said.Responding to his wife's allegations, Mavhere told the court that he should be the one seeking protection as he is a victim of Masikani's abuses.He said Masikani has denied him sex for a very long time, which resulted in him having girlfriends to fulfil his sexual desire.Mrs Mateko ordered Mavhere to stop abusing his wife and to keep peace with her at all times.
Sometimes a sluggish iPhone or MacBook iTunes error doesn't require a trip to the local Apple Genius Bar or hours spent sifting through online help tutorials.

Instead, explain the problem in 140 character or less to the team behind the new Apple Support Twitter account(Opens in a new window).

Launched today, @AppleSupport is available to answer any mobile, computer, or operating system-based questions you have (or at least point you in the direction of an answer).

In its first three hours since going live, the account responded to more than 400 distress calls, covering everything from Apple Music and smart quotes to Apple IDs and the iCloud.

Like the company's other support pages, inquirers are asked to direct message (DM) the team with more information.

Also, keep an eye on the account for additional tips, including today's tweet with "awesome hidden tricks" for creating checklists in the iOS Notes app.

Apple Support has already garnered more than 65,000 followers. But don't expect the team to return the favor: At press time, the account was following 18 accountsall Apple products, programs, or executives, including Eddy Cue(Opens in a new window), Phil Schiller(Opens in a new window), Angela Ahrendts(Opens in a new window), Tim Cook(Opens in a new window), and Apple Music Help(Opens in a new window).

The latter debuted in October, manned by Apple employees from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. PT (9 a.m. to 11 p.m. ET) to answer questions about the company's music-streaming program.

While Cupertino has largely stayed off social media@apple(Opens in a new window) is an egg accountthe tech titan appears to be slowly growing its social presence. Beats by Dre also boasts a support account(Opens in a new window). And you can follow the App Store(Opens in a new window) and various iTunes categories.
SAN FRANCISCOWhile Apple faces down the FBI in court and law enforcement calls for backdoors to encryption services, a researcher at the RSA Conference here asked an important question: Would backdoors actually help?

Crypto expert Klaus Schmeh, currently a consultant at Cryptovision used his knowledge of cryptography and some lengthy Googling to see if backdoors could have made a difference in criminals cases. His answer: probably not.

The Cases

After 20 days of combing through news websites, Schmeh found a corpus of 50 criminal cases that involved encryption in some way. Of these, the majority (16 cases) were about child pornography. Another seven cases were murders, six were terrorism-related, and five involved espionage. The other 16 cases fell into various other categories.

In 33 of the 50 cases, the police were not able to break or bypass the encryption. In fact, they were only successful in 11 cases, with several unaccounted.

In all the cases, the encrypted files were obtained by confiscating a device of some kind. This surprised Schmeh, who expected to find at least a few cases of wiretapping or data interception. However, it might simply be that in those cases, law enforcement did not wish to discuss the use of such controversial tactics. "In most cases the police lost, and this is certainly one of the reasons why [FBI Director] Comey wants to have backdoors in encryption products," said Schmeh.

An interesting point is that in two of the 50 cases Schmeh profiled, it was the victim of the crime and not the suspect or perpetrator who held encrypted information.

Do Backdoors Work?

In all the cases Schmeh looked at, 25 were solved without the police breaking the encryption. In only three out of the 50 cases did police neither solve the crime nor crack the encrypted files. This, said Schmeh, revealed that backdoors are not a "magic bullet" for investigations.

"It would have been crucial, but would not have been a guarantee," said Schmeh.

In the cases where law enforcement was able to decrypt the files, it was primarily by circumventing the encryption. In the case of Anna Chapman, the Russian spy captured in the U.S., investigators found a piece of paper where Chapman had written her passwords. In another case, an FBI agent downloaded the contents of an encrypted Personal Digital Assistant that the suspect had left unlocked. Schmeh also mentioned one case, where it seemed like Canadian law enforcement successfully brute-forced a password with random guesses, but it took 2.5 years to complete.

Call for Help

Schmeh proposed one alternative to adding a backdoor to encryption system, or forcing companies to create specialized tools to break open secured devices. He suggested the police could publish the ciphertextthat is, the encrypted textand ask the public for assistance in breaking it.

Encryption systems that use a password-derived key (and not a public key), Schmeh explained, frequently have an encrypted keycheck string before the ciphertext. That keycheck string can be separated from the ciphertext and subjected to a brute-force attack that will eventually yield the correct key and, in turn, the password to decrypt the rest of the ciphertext.

This approach, said Schmeh, would allow law enforcement to crowdsource a solution while still keeping the ciphertext secret.

Interestingly, Schmeh had several historical examples of law enforcement having published ciphertext in an effort to help an investigation. While many of these were fascinating (and mysterious!) they were all examples of classical or manual encryption. Basically codes written out by hand, and not the complex algorithm-driven encryption used in digital devices today.

Don't Open the Door

It's important to note the distinction between backdoors in encryption and what Apple is currently fighting in the courts. Apple's complaint hinges on being asked to create a special version of iOS that would allow the FBI to unlock the phone themselves. A backdooor for encryption, on the other hand, would create some kind of mechanism for law enforcement to decrypt files without the key. The research Schmeh presented focused on encrypted drives and files, and scenarios where police would want backdoors, not the kind of tool the FBI wants from Apple.

That's not to say that there aren't those in Washington calling for the creation of backdoors. The U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said during her speech at RSA that encryption could thwart law enforcement. Using the phrase often used when attacking encryption, she said that "going dark is a very real issue." On the opposite side, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said at RSA that he did not support backdoors and that he support strong encryption.

Schmeh was humble in his presentation, taking pains to point out the limitations of his research. He was, for example, limited to reports in the public press and in languages he could read. There were also several cases where the press had insufficient details. But still, he concluded that backdoors were too much of a risk to employ.

"There will be some cases where police might profit from backdoors, but there aren't too many of them in my collection. They might be helpful in some cases, but the price we pay for them is too high," concluded Schmeh.

If you're concerned about security and surveillance, consider getting one of the best VPN services to protect your Web browsing.
SAN FRANCISCOWhile arguments continue about whether Apple should crack an iPhone at the behest of the FBI, and if the government should require backdoors into encryption systems to keep criminal communications from "going dark," Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter argued that strong, unbroken encryption was critical.

Speaking at the RSA Conference here, Secretary Carter said "I'm not a believer in backdoors or a single technical approach to a complex problem." He went on to say, "we're foursquare behind data security including strong encryption."

A so-called backdoor would allow law enforcement to decrypt encrypted communications in order to conduct investigations. But privacy advocates argue this is intrusive, while security experts contend that backdoors are nothing more than vulnerabilities that can be exploited by hackers or nation states.

But at the same time, Carter was careful to not link his comments too closely with the ongoing case between Apple and the FBI regarding an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters. In that case, the Department of Justice has ordered Apple to create a special version of iOS that would disable a security feature that erases iPhone contents after 10 failed attempts to unlock the device. With that disabled, the FBI could brute-force the passcode and eventually retrieve the data.

"The specific case I can't really get into," said Carter. "It's a law enforcement matter not a defense matter."

From his perspective, strong encryption is the lifeblood of the Department of Defense. "DoD data security including encryption is absolutely essential to us," said Carter. He gave the example of needing to connect vehicles and systems securely in order to operate effectively. "None of our stuff works unless it's connected. There's no reason to buy all these ships and tanks if I can't connect them."

Secretary Carter said that industry and government needed to work together in order to solve the issues of encryption and law enforcement. "I don't think we ought to let one case drive a general conclusion or solution. The only way we're going to get to a good solution is by working together," he said.

His statements on cooperation echo those espoused by NSA Director Admiral Rogers and U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch at RSA.

Carter warned that, barring that cooperation, there are two possible outcomes, neither of which are desirable. The first is that Congress writes a law regarding encryption without the input of the security industry. Such a law, said Carter, could end up being written "in an atmosphere of anger or grief, which isn't the right answer." (The House Judiciary Committee confirmed as much this week when Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican, told Apple that "I don't think you're going to like what comes out of Congress" regarding encryption legislation.)

The alternative, Carter said, is that Russia or China makes a decision about how to handle encryption and data security, although he did not elaborate on how such a decision would impact U.S. policy.

Cyber Defense At Home

Though the larger thrust of his talk was to discuss ways in which technology professionals could work with the government, Secretary Carter did touch on other cyber operations currently being handled by the DoD.

He mentioned that in addition to traditional military operations around the world, the U.S. military is leveraging its cyber capabilities against ISIL, also referred to as ISIL. "We're going to defeat ISIL, no question about it," said Carter. "I'm looking for ways to accelerate that defeat."

Although Carter was tight-lipped on the details, he did provide a rough outline; DoD had been interrupting ability to command and control its forces and to make them doubt their communications. "It's a very effective tool at shutting down their ability to organize their forces," said the Secretary.

Carter also reiterated that the U.S. would consider cyber attacks as acts of war. "I don't care if it's with a keyboard and a bomb," he said, though he acknowledged that the state of cyber diplomacy is still developing. "It's fair to say that the world is feeling its way along as a foreign policy and national security issue."

If you're concerned about security and surveillance, consider getting one of the best VPN services to protect your Web browsing.
Lethal weapons controlled remotely (a.k.a. drones) are one thing, but what about lethal weapons that aren't controlled at all (a.k.a. killer robots)?

The U.S. Department of Defense intends to study the feasibility of the second category, but would prefer that you call them "autonomous kinetic options." That's according to Melissa Flagg, a deputy assistant secretary of defense in the DOD's Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Directorate. She talked about the autonomous weapons plans, which are still very conceptual, at an industry conference yesterday, Ars Technica reports(Opens in a new window).

"We need to understand and know that it doesn't necessarily need to happen, but we also have to put the options on the table because we are the worst-case scenario guys," she said.

The goal is not to send Terminator-style robots into the battlefield. Instead, it's to develop a technology that's compatible with existing systems but can handle tough decisions on its own, such as whether to pull the trigger if communications with headquarters are lost.

An early version of that technology has been operational in Israel since 2011. Called the Iron Dome(Opens in a new window), it's designed to automatically intercept and destroy short-range rockets and artillery shells. Some of the Dome's components, such as intercepting missiles, are built by Ratheon(Opens in a new window) and other U.S. companies.

There's no shortage of warnings against autonomous weapons development from academics and business leaders. Human Rights Watch and Harvard Law School last year released a report that strongly discouraged their development. One of their biggest concerns was that it's unclear who would be held responsible if the technology malfunctions.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, and professor Stephen Hawking were among the 1,000-plus artificial intelligence and robotics researchers who endorsed an open letter last year warning against the technology.

"The key question for humanity today is whether to start a global AI arms race or to prevent it from starting," the letter said.
Microsoft on Friday announced details of the next Windows 10 update, which brings improvements for Cortana, a new log-on experience, and a few other goodies.

The updateBuild 14279is rolling out today to Windows Insiders in the "Fast" ring, with three new languages for Cortana  Spanish for those in Mexico, Portuguese for Brazil, and French for Canada.

"For each new market and language, the Cortana team works to develop a custom experience that is relevant in each individual market and language," Microsoft said(Opens in a new window). "For instance, in BrazilCortana is fond of pasteis, which is a common food found in many regions across Brazil. And in Mexico, we added local flavor to reflect the accent and language of the country."

Microsoft encouraged those running the Windows 10 Insider Preview in these languages to give Cortana a try, and provide feedback about how it works.

With this update, Cortana can also help you save information you need to remember. Just say, "remind me to read [that book everyone has been talking about]" or "remind me to wash the car" and Cortana will make sure you don't forget. You can set specific details like a location, time, and people if you wish, so that Cortana will surface your to-do when it's most relevant. You can view and edit these in the same place you see your reminders in Cortana today.

Meanwhile, if you have a custom Lock screen background set, you will now see this image on the login screen as well, Microsoft said. Besides that, Microsoft is integrating its Sway tool with the Photos app in Windows 10, letting you quickly turn your albums into interactive, Web-based presentations. You'll be able to easily add section headers, text narration, cations, and other details to add some pizazz to your images. Plus, an update to the beta Xbox app for Windows 10 will include some new features like a Gamerscore Leaderboard and an updated "Featured" section.
The governing board of Southern Californias regional air quality agency voted 7-6 to fire its long-standing executive officer amid concerns from the boards new Republican majority that the agency needs to be more business friendly.

Executive Officer Barry Wallerstein had worked for the South Coast Air Quality Management District for more than 30 years and has been its top staffer since 1997.

Wallerstein declined to comment moments after the 7-6 vote was announced.

I need a few days to digest this, he said to reporters as he walked from the air districts auditorium.

The board named Michael OKelly, the districts chief financial officer, as acting executive officer.

All seven Republican members of the air board voted to fire Wallerstein. The five democrats and one independent voted against it.

But Orange County Supervisor Shawn Nelson, a Republican board member who voted to oust Wallerstein, said party politics were not at work.

This had nothing to do with party issues, Nelson said. I felt it was appropriate thing to do based on my five years experience on the board.

Nelson declined to elaborate on specifics but said that some had complained that Wallerstein wasnt aggressive enough with the natural gas leak at Porter Ranch in Los Angeles County.

During his tenure, Wallerstein had a reputation for pushing ahead with air pollution regulations needed to meet federal health standards in a region with the worst smog problem in America.

Yet, he has often faced criticism from business advocates, including Inland economist and logistics industry consultant John Husing. But Wallerstein also has received push-back from environmental groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, which sued the district over the amount of allowable pollution from power plants.

Wallersteins departure comes as the region struggles to meet the federal health standard for smog. Southern California failed to meet the ozone standard during 83 days last year, and the Obama administration recently approved even tougher standards for the future.

The region also missed a 2015 federal deadline to clean up diesel soot and other kinds of fine-particle pollution, which is associated with early death, heart disease, stroke and stunted lung development in children.

Wallerstein was praised by public health advocates during the air district board meeting Friday, March 4, in Diamond Bar. About 40 people urged the board to retain Wallerstein, arguing that his dismissal would be mean more pollution, especially in minority communities.

You are with big oil and big gas, but who is with us? asked Stephanie Gonzales of the Coachella Valley.

Andrea Hricko, a professor of preventive medicine at the University of Southern California, said she and other USC health experts have not always agreed with Wallerstein, but he has made great progress in the regions battle with smog.

For decades, his leadership and vision has helped to improve air quality and health for millions, Hricko said, reading a statement signed by 19 air pollution scientists from Southern California universities.

But we still do not have healthy air in the Southland, and the job is not done. Thus, we need to ensure continued strong leadership and vision at the AQMD.

But the praise did not affect the board, which then went into closed session and voted to fire him.

Board discussions about Wallerstein were held in a closed meeting as he waited and sometimes paced in the districts auditorium.

Outside, members of the Sierra Club club chanted, Keep Barry.

The air district is governed by a 13-member panel that consists of elected officials and other appointees from Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

The Republican takeover of the board was no accident.

In December, California Republican Party Chairman Jim Brulte, a former Inland lawmaker, told the Sacramento Bee that the power shift was deliberate.

Weve been focused on the South Coast Air Quality Management District for quite some time, Brulte said to the newspaper. We didnt tell anyone about it. We just worked quietly with Republican officials..

In November, elected officials from cities in Orange County unseated Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido, a Democrat and clean-energy advocate. Dwight Robinson, a Republican councilman from Lake Forest who has been outspoken about the effects of air pollution regulations on businesses, took Pulidos place.

That gave Republicans a seven-member majority on the board, effective last month.

In recent years, two Inland Republicans  San Bernardino County Supervisor Janice Rutherford and Wildomar Councilman Ben Benoit  replaced Democrats on the air board, respectively, former Riverside Mayor Ron Loveridge and San Bernardino County Supervisor Josie Gonzales.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9471 or ddanelski@pressenterprise.com
At the age of 101, Charlotte Brewer personifies a lifelong love of learning. A diagnosis of macular degeneration about 25 years ago has caused a very gradual but steady decline in her eyesight. After being declared legally blind in 2005, the Hemet resident started taking classes offered by the Braille Institute in Rancho Mirage.

Charlotte has taken all of our independent living skills classes and for the past eight years has been coming once a week and taking all the enrichment classes we have to offer, Student Adviser John Billings said. She has a lot of energy, has a sound mind and lets you know what she thinks and wants. Charlotte is a wonderful woman who is still going strong at 101.

Many residents from local retirement communities and assisted living facilities meet in Hemet to take the Braille Institute bus for a one-hour drive to the desert.

I think one of the greatest things Braille does is offer the camaraderie that our people need and want, Billings said. Friendships are made here that more than likely would not have formed otherwise.

Brewer said she is learning how to live with low vision and challenges herself with the classes she takes.

Im not learning Braille but Ive taken a variety of classes on cooking, basic housekeeping and vision problems and how to overcome them. I have to learn a whole new way of life, she said. Everyone there is very friendly; everybody helps everybody else.

She adds: I wanted to learn more  not just take what I already knew. I didnt get to finish my education when I went to work. I was always very good at reading, writing and math. If I had been able to continue I wouldve been a nurse.

Brewer has three sons, 14 grandchildren, five great grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren. Growing up on the east side of Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh, her father was a steel mill worker before moving the family to a rural farm when Brewer was in second grade. She attended a multiple-grade, one-room schoolhouse through eighth grade.

Known as Charlotte Reed back then, Brewer took her eighth-grade exit exam in 1927 and started working rather than continuing with academics.

In order to attend high school from where she lived, she would have had to provide her own transportation and there would be a tuition charge for high school. Since the family could not afford the expense, she did not go on, explained her oldest son, Lloyd Nixon, 78.

In 1937, she took a five-day, four-night bus ride to California and settled in Riverside. It cost her $38 for the one-way trip and meal tickets.

She met and married Chester Nixon during her first year in California. She was employed by A.M. Lewis Company and then by Riverside Unified School District as a cafeteria worker at what is now Central Middle School. In the 1960s, she began working at Bourns Electronics and after five years transferred to its engineering department, where she was in charge of filing blueprints and revisions.

Charlotte and Chester Nixon divorced after 25 years. In 1965, she married Owen Brewer and their marriage lasted 33 years until he passed away in 1999. The couple was living in New Mexico at the time but in 2003 Brewer returned to California to live closer to Nixon, in Hemet.

She wasted no time in getting out into the community and finding things she liked to do that would keep her busy.

I went to the Simpson Center to get acquainted with people and things and to see what was on their schedule, Brewer said. I found a pinochle class on Tuesdays and an exercise class.

Though new classes at the Braille Institute in Rancho Mirage starts in May, people may start at anytime in the term.

Information, 760-321-1111 or brailleinstitute.org/ranchomirage

Contact the writer: dianerhodes.writer@gmail.com
Canyon Lake now has a full-fledged city manager  only the second time in a four-year stretch that the small, gated community could make that claim. .

City Council members unanimously appointed veteran municipal employee Aaron Palmer to the citys top administrative post Wednesday, March 2, while also naming him city treasurer.

They voted 4-1 to give Palmer a three-year contract with an annual salary of $130,000, plus benefits. Councilman John Zaitz cast the dissenting vote, saying he thought the process was handled improperly, though he did not offer details. Still, he said he supported hiring Palmer, 45, who has nearly 20 years of employment in city government.

In a recent interview, Mayor Tim Brown said he

hopes the hiring will end the revolving door of the city managers office, which began in 2012 when the council did not renew the contract of Lori Moss. Since then, City Hall has functioned with three temporary appointments and one city manager who lasted only a year.

I think that we have the potential for a long-term stay, Brown said of Palmer.

Also, the council agreed to retain Ariel Hall temporarily as part-time City Clerk. Hall had been functioning over the last year as the third interim city manager since Moss departure. She declined to seek a contract extension and plans to relocate out of town with her family.

City Councilwoman Dawn Haggerty thanked Hall for her service during a period that included a dispute with Riverside County fire officials over the cost of fire protection and emergency medical services. The disagreement resulted in the shutdown of the citys lone fire station. The city is now looking into forming its own fire department.

She did a remarkable job stepping in at a difficult time, Haggerty said.

Palmer will oversee a handful of City Hall employees plus various consultants who help with planning, public works, engineering and other functions. A Southern California native, he was a governmental analyst in San Bernardino, San Carlos and Big Bear Lake before spending six years as Adelantos deputy city manager. He most recently worked two years as chief administrator of a small city in Utah.

Palmer said a major goal will be to ensure the city government maintains financial solvency following a period when some thought the city was headed for bankruptcy and possibly disincorporation.

The big issue now is public safety, especially the fire situation, Palmer said.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9690 or michaelwilliams
Moreno Valley will get a new auto dealer near Stoneridge Towne Center under an agreement where it will reimburse part of the sales tax proceeds to the company.

Hyundai of Moreno Valley is planning to open this fall at a 4.9-acre parcel at 27500 Eucalyptus Ave., not too far from the Moreno Valley Auto Mall where six dealerships owned by Moss Bros. are located.

The City Council approved an agreement Tuesday, March 1 with M.R.S. Brown, the company that owns the franchise, for the tax rebates under which the company promises to hire 30 percent of its workforce locally.

The Hyundai franchise is the first new auto dealer to be built in the city in about 12 years, Economic Development Manager Michele Patterson said.

It is estimated to generate $400,000 in sales tax annually to the city, she said. Combined with property and utility users taxes and business license fees, the city expects to reap $1.87 million over four years.

Under the agreement, the dealer will get a sales tax rebate of $240,000 over the first four years.

The dealer expects to hire 30 employees, six of which would be local hires, Patterson said.

Mike Brown, owner and president of the company, said he looked at several cities and credited Moreno Valley city staff for helping him in his dealings acquiring the property.

Kudos to you in promoting both the growth and attracting new business to the city, he told the council Tuesday night.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9558 or ighori@pressenterprise.com
News / National

by Staff reporter

ZANU-PF yesterday handed three-year suspensions to War Veterans minister Christopher Mutsvangwa, his wife Monica, the women's league national secretary for administration Esphinah Nhari and expelled 16 youth league members in a clear backlash by President Robert Mugabe over their insults against his wife Grace.Mutsvangwa has been in the eye of a storm after allegedly insulting First Lady Grace when he had a verbal showdown with Zanu-PF national commissar Saviour Kasukuwere.The expelled youth league members include Godfrey Gomwe (Harare), Godfrey Tsenengamu (Mashonaland Central), Vengai Musengi (Mashonaland West), Khumbulani Mpofu (Bulawayo), Edmore Samambwa (Midlands), Tamuka Nyoni (Matabeleland North) and Washington Nkomo (Matabeland South).Mpofu, Samambwa, Nyoni and Nkomo were youth league provincial chairpersons before the expulsion, while Gomwe, Tsenengamu and Musengi were ousted after a vote-of-no-confidence in their provinces last year.All the expelled and suspended persons are loyal to Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa who is engaged in a bitter succession battle with a faction led by Grace.Mutsvangwa immediately told the Zimbabwe Independent in an interview that he would contest his suspension."The disciplinary committee misdirected itself. It was accuser in a court of first instance. It should actually be reviewed," Mutsvangwa said."Mashonaland West never ever called me for a hearing so there was never due process and natural justice."Finally, my politburo ticket is from war veterans' constituency after my election in Masvingo. Zanu-PF has an obligation to rule in a just manner as per national constitution. It is also its call as a revolutionary party. I fought for justice in war and peace. I am ready to take up the gauntlet once again," he said.Mugabe, in an address to the nation a fortnight ago, savaged Mutsvangwa in what many saw as a signal of his looming fall in both government and the party. This was after he allegedly organised war veterans to protest against Grace's verbal attack of Mnangagwa and military commanders at a rally in Chiweshe. The war veterans were dispersed by riot police using tear gas and water cannons."For him (Mutsvangwa) to have called a meeting about which we knew nothing, about, in circumstances in which he had not clearly sought permission from the authorities in violation therefore of the law, and he being a minister, he cannot at the end after the law and order officers have taken action against the meeting and the war veterans complain that he was ill-treated. He must bear the responsibility," Mugabe thundered, adding that Mutsvangwa would pay for his misdemeanours.And in yet another revealing hint of how Zanu-PF's deadly succession brawls may pan out, Mugabe sprang to the defence of his influential wife and excoriated Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa's allies who had been attacking Grace over the past few weeks. Without mincing his words, Mugabe also accused Mutsvangwa of having misled war veterans into trooping into Harare for meetings and protests. In a heated exchange of words with Kasukuwere late last year, Mutsvangwa challenged the commissar to stop abusing the "institution of marriage" by dragging the First Family whenever he is cornered. Many saw his statement as an attack on Grace."We will always respect the institution of marriage and he is confused and conflating the institution of marriage and that of the state," Mutsvangwa said.Mutsvangwa said Kasukuwere had failed as a commissar, adding that since the latter became head of the party's commissariat, Zanu-PF had experienced a yawning ideology deficit.Grace, in her 'meet-the-people rallies, also took the war to Mutsvangwa's doorstep, accusing war veterans of boasting and abusing the role played by freedom fighters during the 1970s liberation war.At the 2015 Zanu-PF annual conference in Victoria Falls, Mugabe also took a swipe at state security service chiefs for dabbling in the succession battle engulfing Zanu-PF as he seems to suport his wife and her allies.
Corona police seized thousands of dollars of counterfeit Monster Energy apparel Wednesday, March 2, from a home in the 6500 block of Chapman Drive in Corona.

The investigation began in September, when Monster representatives voiced concerns about phony gear being sold at a Circle City liquor store, a Corona Police Department news release states.

As a result of the search, a suspect has been identified and detectives are seeking an arrest warrant. The suspects name was not immediately available.

The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to call Det. John Healy at 951-279-3635, or email him at john.healy@discovercorona.com.
Re: No lily-white hands for Ted Cruz [Letters, Feb. 29]: David Baker asserts that the misinformation about Marco Rubio put out by Rick Tyler, former national spokesman for the Ted Cruz campaign, was done with Cruzs full knowledge and blessing. Mr. Baker fails to offer any evidence to support his claim. Given the grueling schedule the candidates have, it is hard to believe they could know everything their staff is doing at all times.

Cruz fired Tyler over the incident, which demonstrated more accountability than we have seen with Benghazi, Fast and Furious and the IRS scandal combined.

The senator has a reputation as a man of high integrity and a record that supports that reputation.

David Baker says Ted Cruz is a lying snake, and while we all know the grass in Washington is full of snakes, Ted Cruz is not one of them.

Rich McDermith

Highland

UCR students should hit the books instead

Re: UCR students stage Black Lives Matter rally [Local, March 1]: So Alexander Wilson wants UC Riverside to say something about what is happening on other campuses, like in the case of three white students who threw things and shouted racial slurs at a black female student at UC Davis.

Where is the outrage in the liberal media over the Marine in a Washington, D.C., McDonalds who was allegedly accosted by Black Lives Matter people, who then beat and robbed him? How many officers have died since the group started?

All lives matter, but when you say that, they go ballistic.

This group serves no purpose but to look for a reason to fight. Tell the students to go back to class, and spend their spare time studying.

John W. Burns

Fontana
UPDATE (Saturday, Nov. 19): Cabazon family sues Edison over Good Samaritans electrocution

The family of a good Samaritan possibly electrocuted when he checked for victims at the scene of a Cabazon car crash have retained attorneys for possible legal action related to the death.

Rory Nason, 33, of Cabazon stopped about 1 a.m. Friday, Feb. 26 to see if there were any victims to rescue from a burning car that had struck a power pole. What he didnt see was that power lines had come down in contact with the car.

As his fiancee and children watched from their car, Nason braved flames and live electrical wires, then suddenly collapsed and was possibly electrocuted, sheriffs officials said in a news release. He died at the scene. No one was found inside the burning vehicle.

There is no doubt he was electrocuted from a wire that came down, attorney Wylie Aitken of Santa Ana said by phone Thursday, March 3. This particular wire involved could have come down for a number of reasons and the cause will be investigated.

A news release from Aitkens law firm says the survivors retained attorneys to represent their interests against Southern California Edison.

The Riverside County Sheriffs Department is investigating Nasons death, while the California Highway Patrol is looking into the car crash into the power pole, which is considered a hit-and-run because the vehicles occupants left the scene.

The hit-and-run investigation is not complete, Officer Darren Meyer wrote in an email. Any witnesses are asked to contact the CHPs Beaumont office.

The Nason family has received an outpouring of community support, including a candlelight vigil, a fundraising car wash and an account at www.gofundme.com/h5reevac that has raised more than $10,000.

Services for Nason are scheduled at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 5, at Miller-Jones Mortuary in Menifee, according to an obituary posted on the mortuarys website. There will be a viewing at 1 p.m. Nasons survivors include his fiancee, Ashley Pingree; three children; and his mother, Lori Nason.

There obviously is an outpouring of love, concern for the family, Aitken said, but they need privacy now because this is a very hard time for them.

The Aitken Aitken Cohn firm, with offices in Santa Ana and Riverside, previously represented the surviving members of the Vego family in a case against Edison after three members of the family were electrocuted in the backyard of their home on Jan. 14, 2011 in San Bernardino.

A civil case resulted in a settlement with Edison for an undisclosed sum of money. Two children, ages 10 and 17, saw their family members die.

The plaintiffs said Edison improperly installed and maintained power lines at the Vego home, causing the lines to contact one another, explode and fall to the ground, and that a backup safety system failed, leaving the lines improperly energized, according to a law firm statement.

In a settlement with the states Public Utilities Commissions Safety and Enforcement Division, Edison admitted to safety violations, according to state documents. A falling conductor started a small grass fire. One resident was electrocuted when he contacted a section of the conductor lying on the ground, then two other family members tried to help him and also were electrocuted.

Contact the writer: gwesson@pressenterprise.com
MSJC student recognized

SAN JACINTO  A Mt. San Jacinto College student has won a scholarship from the Alliance of Hispanic Serving Institutions Educators.

Marina Henriquez is among the recipients of the groups 2016 Seed to Tree Student Scholarship. Each winner will receive free travel to the organizations annual conference at Cal State University Channel Islands in March, lodging and conference registration, along with $500, a news release states.

Henriquez is an anthropology major, has a 4.0 GPA and mentors students, the release states.

 Staff report

LOMA LINDA  Bob Marckini, a former patient at Loma Linda Universitys James M. Slater, M.D. Proton Treatment and Research Center, has earned the National Association of Proton Therapys Lifetime Achievement Award.

Marckini founded Brotherhood of the Balloon, an organization of prostate cancer patients who received proton therapy, and wrote You Can Beat Prostate Cancer.

 Manny Otiko

MORENO VALLEY  The citys Animal Services Division will host a rabies vaccination and dog-licensing clinic Saturday, March 5 at the Moreno Valley Animal Shelter.

The event is set for 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Dogs must be on a leash. The shelter is at 14041 Elsworth St., Moreno Valley. Rabies vaccinations will be $6 per vaccination, payable by cash or debit card. Dog licenses can be paid for by cash, check or debit card. Microchips are $10, which includes the procedure.

Information: animalshelter@moval.org

 Anne Marie Walker

ONTARIO  The Southland Symphony Orchestra will present Mozart Masterpieces on Sunday, March 6.

The 4 p.m. performance is at Bethel Congregational Church, 536 N. Euclid Ave., Ontario.

A $5 donation is requested and includes door-prize tickets. The show will include a silent auction fundraiser for the orchestra.

Information: southlandsymphony.com.

 Staff report

SAN BERNARDINO  Cal State San Bernardino professor emerita Sant Khalsa will speak Monday, March 7, on campus.

The 5:30 p.m. talk will be at the Robert and Frances Fullerton Museum of Art. It coincides with Intimate Landscapes, an exhibition of Khalsas photographs that is on display at the museum through Saturday, March 12.

Khalsa uses art to examine environmental and societal issues in the American West, a news release states.

Information: raffma.csusb.edu.

 Staff report

MENIFEE  A Self Defense for Women Workshop will be offerred Tuesday, March 8, at Mt. San Jacinto Colleges Menifee Valley Campus.

The event, set for 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m., is in Room 805. The hands-on workshop is for women only. Participants will learn and practice self-defense moves and strategies.

The class is presented by the colleges diversity committee and the Riverside Rape Crisis Center.

Information: Vera Stamenkovic, vstamenkovic@msjc.edu.

 Staff report

REGION  Children can get free burgers in exchange for reading this spring.

The San Bernardino County Library has partnered with In-N-Out for the Cover to Cover program, which begins Saturday, March 5, and runs through April 16. For every five books read, participants will receive an achievement award and voucher for a free hamburger or cheeseburger.

The program is for children between 4 and 12. Each child may earn up to three awards and vouchers. Participants can sign up at any San Bernardino County branch library.

Information: sbclib.org

 Staff report

HEMET  The Sage Society of Hemet will present, How Can I Keep from Singing? The English Choral Tradition on Tuesday, March 8.

The event, set for 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m., is at Miller Jones Mortuary, 1501 W. Florida Ave. Visitors are welcome. Refreshments will be served.

Diane Mitchells presentation will feature video and audio examples of sacred and secular music from the past five centuries.

 Staff report

Send items for possible inclusion in Community Notes to community@pressenterprise.com.
An Ontario man who died in a traffic crash Wednesday, March 2, has been identified.

Robert Garcia, a 48-year-old Ontario resident, was crossing Mission Boulevard at 7:11 p.m., near the intersection of Oakland Avenue, when he was hit by a passing car, an Ontario Police Department news release states. Garcia was pronounced dead at the scene.

The vehicles driver, a 21-year-old Montclair man, told police he could not see Garcia. The driver was injured during the accident and taken to a local hospital.

Sgt. Jeff Higbee said the driver was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Anyone with information on the crash is asked to call Officer Eric Ericson at 909-395-2828.
Updates with comment from Riverside County, background

Riverside County officials will not discuss the circumstances surrounding the five-day disappearance of a woman with schizophrenia who, according to her father, went missing from outside a county-operated psychiatric facility in Riverside after being denied entry.

Sloane Pettit, 51, was located Wednesday night at the Path of Life homeless shelter on Hulen Place, Riverside police Lt. Christian Dinco said. It wasnt clear how Pettit got to the shelter. She was last seen Friday, Feb. 26, several miles away at the psychiatric facility on County Farm Road, near the Galleria at Tyler.

County officials would not discuss whether Pettit had been turned away from the facility or whether an investigation is underway to determine if any mistakes were made.

We cannot provide you with any information to confirm or deny the matter youve inquired about, Kimberly Trone, public affairs manager for Riverside University Health System, wrote in an email.

When pressed for more information, Trone responded: In general, it is the practice of the County of Riverside that all individuals seeking care in one of our facilities are evaluated and treated, per protocol. All questions and concerns relating to patient safety and procedures are promptly reviewed and appropriate corrective actions are taken when necessary. We respect the privacy of all individuals in our community as this is their right under the law.

Since being found, Pettit has been taken to a crisis stabilization unit in Indio, said her father, Tom Pettit.

He said he had been moving his daughter to facilities that could give her better care as she became increasingly difficult to manage. Her parents petitioned last month to have the Riverside County Public Guardian appointed as her conservator, and a hearing was scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 25.

But she didnt appear. Tom Pettit said that without his being notified in advance, she was driven from the Riverside treatment center where she had been staying to Luanns Room and Board in San Bernardino. However, Luanns was not set up to administer medications to Sloane, her father said, so he asked that she be taken to the Riverside County psychiatric facility.

That transfer was to take place Friday, Feb. 26, and the county facility had agreed to accept her, her father said. An employee of Luanns said Thursday, March 3, that Sloane was dropped off at the county facility. But what happened next is unclear.

Tom Pettit said Sloane was denied entry because of a paperwork or identification issue. The Public Guardians office was called to pick her up, but by the time someone arrived, Sloane had vanished.

I feel that we have been badly harmed by the mental health system, and so has Sloane, Pettit said Wednesday before his daughter had been found. There is a litany of mismanagement, which is beyond belief.

A phone message left with the Public Guardians office Wednesday was not returned Wednesday or Thursday.

Staff writer Gail Wesson contributed to this report.
What an A-plus idea. Make every child a voucher student. Instead of kids being forced to attend a school based on geography, parents would receive a tax-funded voucher that could be used at any school  public, charter, private or parochial. Let competition reign.

Thats what could happen in Arizona. State Rep. Justin Olson, R-Mesa, has proposed HB2482. The Arizona Senate passed identical legislation last month. According to the Associated Press, the bill adds all public students over three years while maintaining existing enrollment caps. But that cap goes away in 2020, allowing all 1.1 million public school students to get a voucher.

HB2482 is stuck in the Arizona House. Olson is now offering to make significant changes to round up votes, reported Capitol Media Services, including keeping at least until 2025, a cap that limits how many youngsters are eligible to take tax dollars for a private education.

Great reforms seldom happen in one swoop.

This is terrific to hear, Timothy C. Draper told us; the Silicon Valley venture capitalist spearheaded Proposition 38 in 2000, Californias most-recent attempt to pass school vouchers. Although leading in early polls, massive spending by the teachers unions sent it down to defeat. He said, There is no question in my mind that school vouchers, because they allow the parent to choose the school that is best for their child and the money follows that choice, are the single best solution for education. Arizona, like California, is ranked near the bottom of the 50 states in education. Something has to be changed.

The California Teachers Association has attacked vouchers as elitist because some schools maintain exclusive admissions policies and charge tuition and fees far above the amount provided by the voucher. But Mr. Draper said, For the poorest children, school vouchers offer a real choice and a chance at the American Dream rather than the current system that traps them in bad schools and stacks the odds against them. When you are already failing your children, why would you continue to cling to a system that is failing? What do you have to lose?

What about California? In addition to Mr. Drapers 2000 attempt, a 1993 voucher initiative, Prop. 174, was defeated after a teachers union ad blitz. Alas, nothing is happening in California with vouchers, he lamented, because the unions are keeping a lid on it. But we can hope  and look to the Grand Canyon State.
Riverside attorney Jane Carney has been appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown to the California State University Board of Trustees.

Carney, 73, said being named to the board was an honor. She applied last year when she learned that board chairman Lou Monville, a Riverside businessman, would be leaving in June.

When I learned that Lou Monville was terming out and that he was the only person from the Inland Empire to ever serve on that board, clearly something had to happen, Carney said. Its important for the Inland Empire to have a member on the board so they dont forget we exist.

Carney was one of four new trustees appointed by Gov. Brown: Jean Picker Firstenberg and Thelma Melendez, both of Los Angeles, and Lateefah Simon of Oakland. Lillian Kimbell, of Woodland Hills, was reappointed to her position. All terms are for eight years and must be confirmed by the State Senate. The Board of Trustees next meets March 7-9 and the new trustees are expected to be in attendance.

Carney serves on a number of Southern California boards, including at UC Riversides School of Public Policy and the James Irvine Foundation. She has lived in Riverside since 1977. She was once named Citizen of the Year by the Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce and Woman of the Year by the California State Senate.

A graduate of UC Davis School of Law, Carney married the late Francis M. Carney, a founding UCR professor of political science and history, the same year she moved to Riverside. She practiced law in Riverside until retiring in 2010. She specialized in mergers and acquisitions, general business and corporate law. Most recently she shared partnership in a law firm with Richard Roth who is now a state senator.

In her other roles, Carney spent 12 years on the board of the South Coast Air Quality Management District, served on the Riverside Community College Districts Board of Trustees and was president of the Riverside County Bar Association.

Carney said there are some key issues she expects to help impact as a trustee.

The four-year completion rate (in the CSU system) is quite low, she said. We have to address that.

She pointed to a study that shows at current rates, Californias job market will have a million more jobs than it does college graduates to fill them by 2030.

That would be an enormous loss, Carney said.

The biggest current issue the CSU administration is facing is its protracted stalemate in negotiating a contract with its faculty union. The California Faculty Association has said its members will strike on all 23 campuses for five days in April.

Carney said she does not have in-depth knowledge about the situation.

Having been married to college professor for so long, I value the work they do, she said of the faculty. They are key to any success and every success. Its very import they be treated fairly and compensated fairly. I think theres room for change on both sides.
Federal wildlife officials have given the U.S. Army the go-ahead to move dozens of desert tortoises out of an area where the military had planned to conduct maneuvers.

An effort to relocate the animals in 2008 was stopped because of a higher-than-expected death rate among the tortoises that had been moved.

An 83-page analysis by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists found that moving an estimated 59 tortoises would not jeopardize the survival of the species, which is threatened with extinction. The finding, called a biological opinion, allows the animals to be moved from a 22,000-acre area where the Army had planned tank maneuvers and live-fire training.

The appropriate Fort Irwin officials could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon.

Of the 580 tortoises moved in 2008, at least 51 were killed by coyotes or dogs, according to the Fish and Wildlife analysis completed on Friday. Another 121 died from unknown causes.

A study published in 2010 in the scientific journal Endangered Species Research found that drought conditions in 2008 made normal coyote food sources such as rabbits scarce, so the hungry canines turned to tortoises. The animals moved by the Army generally fared no better or worse than those living in wild areas of the Mojave Desert, the study found.

To give the tortoises a better chance of surviving, Fish and Wildlife is limiting the relocations to spring and fall months, on days when temperatures stay below 95 degrees. That gives the Army a few weeks to move the tortoises this spring. The tortoises will be moved to military land, according to a Bureau of Land Management spokesman.

Ileene Anderson, a biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity, said Monday that if the Army moves tortoises in the coming weeks, many could again die in the jaws of coyotes. The Mojave Desert region, as in 2008, is seeing a drought phase when prey species favored by coyotes, feral dogs and other predators wont be as plentiful, putting the tortoises at higher risk, she said.

This new period of scarcity follows two wet years of plenty that bolstered the predators numbers, she said.

We know there are more predators on the landscape, Anderson said. We hope they (the Army) learned their lesson and are not trying to translocate during a drought year, she said.

Last month, more than 50 tortoises displaced by the BrightSource Energy Co. solar development in northeastern San Bernardino County were moved to public land near the Nevada border. Officials so far have not reported problems.

Follow David Danelski on Twitter: @DavidDanelski
Now that Cardinal George Pells four days of giving evidence to the Royal Commission are over, hes finally addressed the media from a hotel in Rome, a far cry from earlier this week when he arrived by the back door with an apparently very heavy-handed security detail.

His statement, hand-written on hotel stationary, came after he at last met with sexual abuse survivors, a hour-ling meeting he called hard and honest and occasionally emotional.



One suicide is too many, Cardinal Pell told waiting media in Rome. Too many. And there have been many such tragic suicides. I commit myself to working with the group that is trying to stop this, so that suicide is not seen as an option for those who are suffering.



Suicides rates in Ballarat are endemic, with no example more chilling than the grade four class from St Alipius Primary School in 1974, from which one-third of the boys are dead, believed to be from suicide.

Cardinal #GeorgePell has pledged to help the victims of sexual abuse by clergy in Ballarat. https://t.co/t7k85SBBRs pic.twitter.com/UPcgfB5hqD  ABC Current Affairs (@amworldtodaypm) March 3, 2016

Survivor Philip Nagle told Cardinal Pell that it was vital to focus on suicide prevention.

I think he gets that bit, he told media. I think he thought I was going to talk about the past and bring up all that stuff. We just talked about the future.



Fellow survivor David Ridsdale, nephew of notorious paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale, told media that the meeting was extremely emotional, and that they met on a level playing field. We met as people from Ballarat.



You can read Cardinal Pells statement in full below:



I have just met with the Ballarat group of survivors, support people and officials. Ive heard each of their stories and of their suffering. It was a hard and honest and occasionally emotional meeting. I am committed to working with these people from Ballarat and surrounding areas. I know many of their families and I know of the goodness of so many people in Catholic Ballarat, a goodness which is not extinguished by the evil that was done. We all want try to make things better actually and on the ground. Especially for the survivors and their families. And I undertake to continue to help the group work effectively with the committees and agencies that we have here in the church in Rome, and especially the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. One suicide is too many. Too many . And there have been many such tragic suicides. I commit myself to working with the group that is trying to stop this, so that suicide is not seen as an option for those who are suffering. I too, despite the separation of distance want to help make Ballarat a model and a better place for healing and for peace. Now I shouldnt promise what might be impossible. We all know how hard it is to get things done. But I do want it known that I support the work to investigate the feasibility of a research centre to enhance healing and to improve protection. The church-going people of the Ballarat diocese are known for their loyalty and for their charity and I urge them to continue to cooperate with the survivors to improve the situation. I owe a lot to the people and community of Ballarat, I acknowledge that with deep gratitude. It would be marvellous if our city became well known as an effective centre for the example of practical help for all those wounded by the scourge of sexual abuse.

If this post has been in any way triggering, please call the suicide prevention hotline Lifeline on 13 11 14.

Source: ABC / SMH.



Photo: Twitter.
News / National

by Staff reporter

Former Vice President Joice Mujuru - who formally presented herself to the nation on Tuesday as the leader of the new political outfit, Zimbabwe People First (ZPF) - has described President Robert Mugabe as a backward and power-hungry man who wants to take the nation down with him to his grave.In an exclusive interview with the Daily News yesterday, the former and long-standing deputy to Mugabe also said the increasingly-frail nonagenarian was fatally "indecisive" and in the bad habit of reneging on, and scuttling even those things that he would have initially agreed to."To be honest with you, I felt very betrayed (when I left Zanu-PF), because you would have sacrificed your life, your family and even yourself to the whole cause and then all of a sudden things turn the opposite way."If I had done something wrong, one would feel it was my problem and it was going to catch up with me," Mujuru said, as the deep respect that she once had for Mugabe appears to be waning fast - while she prepares to take him head-on in the eagerly-anticipated 2018 national elections.Mujuru was hounded out of the ruling party in late 2014 on a cocktail of untested charges that included her and her allies being accused of plotting to oust and kill Mugabe, fanning factionalism, engaging in corruption and dabbling in witchcraft.Commenting on these charges, she said yesterday that it was now "clear for all to see" that she was innocent as Zanu-PF's deadly ructions had worsened after she left the party."When you have done virtually nothing you feel betrayed. I knew one day the truth was going to come out and I am sure it is now clear to all and that everyone is seeing what is happening."Rome is burning and is Mai Mujuru still there? If Mai Mujuru wanted to assassinate Mugabe why is she walking scot-free?" she asked rhetorically.Mujuru, who has previously referred to Mugabe as her father, having known him since she was 18, tore into the man - daring him and her other Zanu-PF tormentors to avail the incriminating evidence that they claimed they had against her."You can actually see that these were just fabrications, that they just wanted to get rid of me... I was a hindrance to those who wanted to get closer to Mugabe. The unfortunate thing is that he bought those lies. I felt betrayed," she said.Mujuru said as the "madness" got worse, she went and told Mugabe that she was quitting, "waved goodbye and left him in silence" just before Zanu-PF's disputed 2014 congress.She said for a long time while she was still within the ranks of the ruling party, she had been of the view that Zanu-PF could be "renewed from within", but this had proven to be impossible."The country is now the laughing stock of the world right now and yet we used to be number one left, right and centre. Where are we now? Which number one position can you claim now?"Number one of gossip, number one of occupying a podium and shouting at people who are busy developing their nations? That is our only number one position," she said tongue-in-cheek and in obvious reference to Mugabe who is notorious for his biting anti-West rhetoric."He abused the respect that was shown to him. Our people have been impoverished so much that to leave Parliament you would have to first think what you will do, and how you will earn a living."He has the reins to make you turn left or right and use you, and do whatever he wants," Mujuru said.And as Zimbabwe's economy continues to plummet precipitously, she said the question that many were asking her was "why did you go to war?", given the widespread suffering in the country.This was one of the major reasons which had driven her and other "reformists" who were still in Zanu-PF, to contemplate leading a fresh revolution for the betterment of all Zimbabweans.Asked if she was going to join the opposition trenches if she had not crossed swords with Mugabe and her erstwhile Zanu-PF comrades, the widowed ex-VP said although she had tried her best while still in the ruling party, her "voice was drowned"."It is I who told President Robert Mugabe that I am leaving because of what was happening in the party. But because of wanting to save face, he said something else," she said amid much mirth."Of course, he would never come out in the open and admit that he was lying," she added.Describing Zimbabwe as a "concoction of trouble and confusion", Mujuru said most of the country's problems could be traced to Mugabe, adding that this could be seen even in his "ridiculous" belief that she had dabbled in witchcraft."Those who talk of witches are the biggest ones. I don't know what they were talking about, I was born an apostolic faith follower... people must have laughed to such a lie and say how can a head of State believe such a lie."You occupy such a high post and believe in such things? How backward!" Mujuru exclaimed, saying further that all these lies were aimed at keeping Mugabe in power."He loves power. There are people like that," she said ruefully.Asked if Mugabe, who once urged her to dream bigger and aim to succeed him when she was appointed VP in 2004, had a succession plan she said, "maybe in his pocket"."In my 10 years as his deputy, he never discussed anything with me... I was never promised anything... and I don't think he ever promised anyone".Asked about her relationship with the First Family, particularly First Lady Grace Mugabe, who was her tormentor-in-chief ahead of Zanu-PF's damp squib 2014 congress, Mujuru said it had been "cordial" for many years.
Ever wondered how creative, over-achiever peeps landed their dream job? Cue Pez Profile  our brand spankin new content series, which gets us chatting to legends killin it in their industries. Were kickin off the series with Catherine Biggs / Biggsy is a Dublin-based Special Effects Hair & Make Up Artist, who has spent her fair share of time in Oz, having done work on humans, horses and mannequins. She has accidentally walked on sets during takes, helped actors pee behind bushes on awkward sets, and has worked on some freaking-legit feature films such as Australia, The Great Gatsby, King Arthur and Mad Max, which just saw her land a bloody BAFTA & Oscar combo  go get em Biggsy!

MOST EMBARRASSING WORK RELATED SITCH YOUVE EXPERIENCED? One time I thought my career was over because Nicole Kidman accused me of bursting a capillary in her face. But I didnt and she was super nice to me about it the next day. Ive knocked over lights and bits of the set and ruined shots, Ive had to pee behind bushes and hold actors dresses up as theyve peed behind bushes! Oh and I once thought Jerry Bruckheimer was a photographer and asked if I could take a look at his pictures. He wasnt a photographer  just the biggest film producer of all time.

WHAT IS ONE PIECE OF ADVICE SOMEONE IN THE INDUSTRY HAS GIVEN YOU THAT YOULL NEVER FORGET? I worked on a film called The Eye Of The Storm years ago. It was with Geoffrey Rush and Charlotte Rampling and a whole load of other brilliant actors. I remember how cool they all were and they just didnt give a shit about ridiculous nonsense in the film industry. They had seen it all and done it all and were so good at their jobs. I love it when people can give you advice without words. Instead, they just passed on their epic energy.



WHAT WOULD YOU TELL YOUR TEENAGE SELF RIGHT NOW? I wish my teenage self could come and give me some advice now! I was driven and knew what I wanted then. But maybe Id tell my young self to buy better clothes and learn more about the history of things.

WHAT SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNEL ARE YOU RELIGIOUSLY ON AND WHY? Im a bit shit at social media. Instagram would win my prize for a daily check. Pictures are easier than words.



YOURE OBVIOUSLY KILLING IT IN YOUR INDUSTRY, BUT DO YOU THINK YOURE KILLING IT? I definitely dont think Im killing it or that Ive made it! I dont really know what that is yet. I think success is mastering something. So even when you have mastered something you still have to practice it everyday. I swear to god I learn something new everyday. A 20 year old model taught me a deadly highlighting trick last week on a fashion shoot. Today I learned not to spray blood into the wind in a battle scene. But I suppose if people want me to do their shoots thats a good thing?



Biggsy on set.

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOURE TORN BETWEEN PERSONAL BELIEFS AND PROFESSIONAL OBLIGATIONS? I think Im lucky that those jobs havent come my way. Im not crazy about guns so I try and leave set when theyre waving them around. I dont like shows that glamourise violence but its hard to get away from it when you do special effects make up. I do a lot of charity work and work on short films for free if I love the story and what it stands for. I support new film makers that want to tell a great story with integrity.



WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUD BE DOING IF YOU WERENT DOING THIS JOB? A nurse. My mother is a nurse and shes an excellent human.

IF WE LOGGED INTO YOUR NETFLIX ACCOUNT WHAT WOULD WE SEE IN YOUR RECENTLY WATCHED LIST? Lots of half watched series  Im shocking bad at not finishing a series. And movies  Clue and Cowspiracy.

WHAT IS YOUR GO TO SONG/FOOD/BEVERAGE FOR A PRODUCTIVITY PICK-ME-UP? I always have a coffee machine on the make up bus, and a bunch of vitamins on my desk.

Go to song would be an epic sound track in the morning (Braveheart is great) to get the actors in the zone, disco and anything from Hall and Oates.



HOW DO YOU KEEP CHILL AF OUTSIDE OF WORK?

We work crazy hours (14-16 hour days) so outside work is part of work sometimes! I love a good podcast on the drive to work and the local news and weather on the way home! I have lots of friends with sweet jobs in PR and Music so Im a very good plus 1. I also do lots of yoga.



MOST USED EMOJI?

WHAT WOULD YOUR LAST MEAL BE? Im a vegetarian since watching Cowspiracy (mentioned above) so I would like a make your own veg pizza with 14 bottles of red wine as my last meal please Pedestrian!



CURRENT INSPO?

I love old peoples street style, especially in Dublin. And the video for Justin Beibers Sorry  I want all their clothes and dance moves.

CURRENT STATE OF MIND?

Happy cause Mad Max won the Oscar for BEST HAIR & MAKE UP a few days ago!



WHERE ARE YOU CURRENTLY BASED? I am currently based in Dublin. I like seeing my family and friends after being away so long. I also like how funny people are here without even trying.





HOW HAS YOUR APPROACH TO WORK CHANGED OVER TIME? I am not the youngest person on set anymore. That upsets me! Ah no, its nice to be the one that now looks after all the baby make ups. I am more responsible now for the cast and for the team and I love that.

DESCRIBE THE SPACE YOU CREATE YOUR WORK IN. We have make up rooms when were in the studio and we work from trucks when were on location. I own many puffer jackets and hiking boots. Today I was shooting on the mountains just south of Dublin and when I worked in the desert in Africa I had to wear goggles because of the sand storms. Being a film make up artist is probably one of the least glamorous jobs in the world!



CAREER HIGHLIGHT & LOWLIGHT?

Highlight  teaching women going through chemo how to do their make up so they feel good enough to leave their house. Travelling and meeting interesting brilliant people.

Lowlight  homesickness.

MOST CRINGE-WORTHY THING YOUVE WRITTEN ON A CV, COVER LETTER OR LINKEDIN PROFILE? My first CV had a passport photo of me on it. Oh good lord what was I thinking?

All deets courtesy of Biggsy & Pedestrian Jobs.

Dont let your dream job slip you by  Love your work!

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and get yourself signed up to our Daily Job Alerts.
York is the self-declared "Factory Tour Capital of the World." When visiting, you can tour snack food factories, musical instrument makers and wineries. However, the most unique factory tour I've come across in the area is of the Harley-Davidson Vehicle Operations Plant.

Since 1973, Harley-Davidson has been manufacturing some of their famous motorcycles from a large plant on the outskirts of northeastern York. The factory currently produces a variety of motorcycle styles, including the Touring, Softail, Trike, and CVO models. Whether you love motorcycles or just enjoy seeing how things are made, a tour of the factory offers a great opportunity to learn more about the process of building these amazing machines.

The visitor center is filled with motorcycles that visitors can inspect up close.

Visits to the the Harley-Davidson Vehicle Operations Plant start in the visitor center and gift shop. Here, visitors can get a close-up look at nearly a dozen Harley motorcycles, and learn a bit about how they are made and what is done on the factory floor. I personally enjoyed the opportunity to sit on a motorcycle during my visit. Having never ridden on one before, it was fun to get a feel for the bikes and see what they look like on the showroom floor.

Tours of the factory leave from the visitor center at regular intervals throughout the day. These basic tours are free and will take you all throughout the factory over the course of about 60 minutes. They start with a 10-minute introductory video, which, despite being somewhat promotional, does offer a great overview of the company's history.

From there, visitors are handed headsets and eye protection before being led onto the factory floor. Because the factory can be loud at times, tour guides speak through headsets, which makes sure that everyone can hear what it being said. This is a great idea because even in a small group, it would have been hard to hear what the guide was saying at times without the earpiece.

The tour's walking path takes visitors through nearly the entire factory, as workers go about the process of building a motorcycle. In places where the work can't be seen, such as in the welding and painting areas, short videos are shown to demonstrate the process that takes place.

The assembly line at the Harley-Davidson Vehicle Operations Plant.

Walking through the factory, I was impressed by both the coordination and detail of the work being done. While some steps are mostly handled by robots, many parts were still primarily completed by skilled workers. This was most evident while walking by the assembly line. Hundreds of workers were lined up, each completing one step in the process of building a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Their jobs, which had to be completed in 80 seconds to keep the line moving, worked together to build a bike. It was amazing to see a motorcycle go in as little more than a painted frame and come out as a functioning bike ready to ship.

Of course, before shipping, the motorcycles have to go through a quality control test. The workers in this area likely have the most coveted jobs in the factory, as they are required to sit on each bike and perform a variety of tests to make sure it was built correctly. I can think of no better job for a motorcycle lover than to ride and test bikes all day, even if it is from within an immovable testing lab.

All too soon, my tour of the Harley-Davidson Vehicle Operations Plant was finished. Even as someone who has little interest in motorcycles and will likely never own one, I found the tour and the process of making one to be fascinating.

If you do love motorcycles, it's worth noting that Harley-Davidson offers an even more in-depth tour for $35 known as the Steel Toe Tour. On this tour, you are given access to several other areas of the factory, including a much more detailed look at the assembly line, and leave with a commemorative reflective vest. These tours depart several times a day, but it's best to call ahead to reserve space should you be interested in taking the Steel Toe Tour.

Free tours like the one I took leave at regular intervals between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Monday through Friday. Tickets are given out on a first-come, first-served basis, so it's best to arrive early during peak times. Children younger than 12 are allowed in the visitor center, but are unfortunately not allowed on either of the tours.

Information about the tours and additional safety requirements can be found on the Harley-Davidson website.

Jim Cheney is the writer behind UncoveringPA, Pennsylvania's most read travel blog. He has traveled to every county in Pennsylvania and to many countries in North America, Europe, and Asia. He lives in Harrisburg.
Lebanon Valley College this year is celebrating its 150th anniversary.

The first president of the liberal arts college in Annville, Lebanon County, was Thomas Rhys Vickroy who was named to that post in March 1866.

According to Lebanon Valley College, Vickroy and the Rev. George Washington Miles Rigor, an original member of the college's board of trustees, guided the college through its founding.

The college started its first academic year on May 7, 1866, with five degrees - bachelor of elements, bachelor of science, mistress of arts, bachelor of arts and bachelor of biblical science.

There were 49 members in the first class at the school. Tuition, room and board was $206.50 a semester.

The college began its celebration last month with the debut of a commissioned music piece, "Sesquicentennial Celebration: For the 150th Anniversary Celebration" by Dr. Justin Morrell, assistant professor of music.

For more information about the 150th anniversary, go to www.lvc.edu/150.
Two firefighters suffered burns on their hands and ears after they were caught in a gas explosion in the basement of a Littlestown home Friday morning.

The fire was at the home of Claire Tesno, 82, who was at the local YMCA when the explosion occurred.

A neighbor had called Tesno's daughter, Andrea Clise of Westminster, Md., to tell her about the gas leak at her mother's home.

"I was on the phone with the neighbor when it blew," Clise said. She was in Boston on business, and hopped on the next plane, arriving within hours at BWI.

Extensive damage

Her mother is doing OK, Clise said. "She's strong. Thank God she wasn't home and she wasn't hurt. Now our concern is with the two firefighters," she said.

The house is not currently habitable, Morgret said. Clise said her mother will be staying with her.

Gas exploded in the home's HVAC vents, Morgret said. The kitchen has extensive damage, with the cabinets destroyed and exterior wall bulging out. The garage wall is also bulging out.

There was also some fire in the home when the explosion occurred, as combustible materials caught fire and burned themselves out, Morgret said.

Morgret said there is no hazard for the rest of the neighborhood. He said Columbia Gas checked other homes in the area, and everything checked out.

Russell Bedell, Columbia Gas spokesman, said they were called to the neighborhood when a neighboring property owner reported a gas odor this morning. When workers found it was coming from Tesno's house, they shut off the service before the explosion occurred.

Readings were taken at neighboring houses, and they were normal, Bedell said.

Morgret said they may never determine exactly what the ignition source was that caused the gas to explode. The investigation is continuing with the fire marshal and Columbia Gas.

Shaken neighbors

Jeannie Hopwood, who lives down the street, said she was on her driveway with neighbors when they heard an ambulance and fire trucks arrive.

"All of a sudden it just blew," Hopwood said. "There was a big bang, and smoke came out the front and back."

She was worried her neighbor may have been at home,and saw injured firefighters coming out of the house.

"We were standing there and then there was he explosion - it made you jump," said neighbor Frances Leidy. "There was a great big bang, and we saw stuff coming out the front door," she said.

Neighbor Rose Dembow said she smelled gas several days ago outside and believes the gas company came to investigate. Morgret also said someone in the neighborhood had called Columbia Gas in the past few days about a possible gas leak.

Bedell confirmed that Columbia Gas did receive a call Thursday for an odor of gas. He said they sent a service technician and investigated the area around the house where the explosion occurred today, and found normal readings.

Adams County has been hit hard by fire in recent weeks. There were three fatal fires in the past two weeks, Morgret said.

"We gotta get back and evaluate everybody - this is going to be straw hat broke the camel's back," he said. Morgret said he is planning to arrange for crisis counselors to meet with firefighters over the weekend.

Safety tips

Bedell offered these tips for the public in the event of a gas odor:
Altoona Diocese scandal

The Attorney General's office this week used a chart graphic to detail what it says is 40 years of the sexual molestation of children in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese at the hands of priests and church leaders. The Attorney General's office has dedicated a second hotline for calls pertaining to the investigation.

(Mark Pynes/PennLive)

The volume of calls to the hotline set up to field calls regarding the investigation into child sexual abuse by priests and religious leaders in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown has been so high, authorities have set up another line.

State Attorney General Kathleen Kane on Thursday said the hotline had, within 24 hours of being established, received approximately 80 calls, and that the call volume was increasing so rapidly, another dedicated line was opened.

"The information is coming in as we expected it to," Kane said on Thursday.

The hotline - 888-538-8541 - was established amid the release of a grand jury report documenting the rape of hundreds of children by diocese leaders over 40 years. The report, released Monday, found that more than 50 priests and leaders from the eight-county diocese had for decades molested children, the youngest of them six years old. The report found that, in some cases, law enforcement authorities had given the diocese on pass and opted not to investigate further.

The investigation is ongoing, and officials from Kane's office have indicated that one phone call could change everything. The statute of limitation has expired for all the cases detailed in the grand jury report, Kane said. Richard Serbin, an Altoona attorney who has handled hundreds of cases involving victims of sexual abuse from the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese told PennLive on Wednesday that he knows of scores of cases involving priests who are not named in the grand jury report and for whom, the law could still be applicable.

Kane has assured potential callers that that they "will be taken seriously."

The head of Philadelphia SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests), Karen Polesir, said each call to the hotline could potentially lead to more predator priests being exposed or punished.

" . . . Every call represents a troubled person heading towards help and potentially exposing more priests, nuns, bishops, seminarians and other church staff who have committed or concealed heinous crimes," Polesir said.

"Calling the AG's hotline is the best course of action for anyone with any knowledge or suspicions about child sex crimes or cover ups."

Polesir urged anyone who was reluctant to break their silence - particularly employees, to tell someone.

"It's crucial that no one stays quiet while this investigation proceeds," she said. "We implore current and former Catholic employees to find the courage to call. Please stop being part of the problem. Please start being part of the solution."

Poliser stressed that any "seemingly insignificant" piece of information could prove crucial to law enforcement.

"It's also liberating for many when they do summon the strength to pick up the phone and disclose information or suspicions about abuse," she said.

SNAP is urging anyone who may be a victim or who may have information about the abuse to refrain from calling church officials.

"Often, when Catholic staff learn of abuse, they re-double their efforts to keep a lid on it," Poliser said. "Sometimes, they intimidate victims, threaten whistleblowers, discredit witnesses, destroy evidence, and even help predators flee overseas."

The grand jury investigation found that church officials, including Bishop James Hogan and Bishop Joseph Adamec for years knew of the allegations and even kept files of the information but concealed it. In some cases, they influenced law enforcement to dismiss the cases.
Victor Nelson Virola

Victor Nelson Virola

A Columbia drug dealer pleaded guilty Thursday to charges related to the death of a user found dead in a convenience store there last fall.

The prosecution of 23-year-old Victor Nelson Virola comes as law enforcement across the state step up efforts to hold drug dealers accountable for user deaths, and marks the latest salvo in a desperate attempt to curb a sweeping epidemic of opiate use nationwide.

Virola pleaded guilty Thursday to involuntary manslaughter, drug-dealing, and related counts in the death 21-year-old Kody McKain last September.

Virola admitted he sold baggies of what was perceived as heroin to McKain, but authorities say the bags contained pure fentanyl, a synthetic and highly powerful morphine substitute.

McKain died from an overdose in the bathroom of a Columbia Turkey Hill store on Sept. 5.

In court Thursday, McKain's family told Lancaster County Judge James Cullen that McKain didn't deserve to die, the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office reports.

Columbia police and the Lancaster County Drug Task Force determined Virola sold the fatal batch to McKain, and during a raid at Virola's North Third Street home detectives reportedly found additional amounts of pure fentanyl.

Virola reportedly admitted to selling drugs to McKain for some time.

Virola was sentenced this week to the maximum allowable jail term, two-and-a-half to five years, on the involuntary manslaughter charge -- as requested by McKain's family -- according to Assistant District Attorney Kevin McGarry, who prosecuted the case.

Virola received a four-to-10-year prison sentence, overall.

In courtroom quotes provided by the DA's office, McGarry called heroin and opioid abuse, "a scourge on the community," one made worse, he said, "when dealers pass off fentanyl as heroin, even though it's 50 to 100 times more potent."

It is believed to be the first prosecution in Lancaster County regarding a fentanyl-induced death, the DA's office reports, although there have been charges filed in other heroin-related deaths there.

"We take these cases very seriously and will do all we can to hold the dealer responsible," District Attorney Craig Stedman was quoted as saying after Thursday's sentencing hearing.

"We have a public-health crisis on our hands as more and more people are dying from heroin and heroin mixtures," Stedman added. "We need to do more on all fronts: treatment, education, aggressive prosecution of dealers, as well as cutting off the flow of heroin into our country."
Communities are still reeling after a report detailed the rape of hundreds of children by more than 50 priests from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown.

State Attorney General Kathleen Kane announced this week that a statewide grand jury had found sexual abuse taking place within the diocese for the last 40 years. The report included graphic descriptions of children being abused by priests and religious leaders.

The grand jury, which had been investigating the issue for two years, gathered evidence that revealed a history of diocesan officials taking action to conceal child abuse as part of an effort to protect the institution's image. Through its investigation, more than 115,000 documents were uncovered.

Also uncovered was the existence of a "secret archive," with documents showing that Diocese bishops James Hogan and Joseph Adamec were at the forefront of a child-abuse cover-up.

The evidence shows several instances in which law enforcement officers and prosecutors failed to pursue allegations of child sexual abuse occurring within the diocese.

In response to the allegations, Adamec, who served as bishop for more than 20 years, responded that the he had protected the children of the diocese and looked out for their best interests. In no way, Adamec said, did he cover up abuses.

Altoona -Johnstown Bishop Mark Bartchak apologized and promised reforms, including publishing a list of all priests who are the subject of credible abuse allegations.

"I acknowledge there are a number of recommendations made in this report involving how we respond to allegations of abuse. I take them seriously," Bartchak said.

The attorney general's office is taking the claims of abuse seriously as well. Aside from continuing to investigate the issue, it has set up a hotline to learn about the sexual abuses performed by priests and religious leaders within the diocese.

About 24 hours after the hotline went live, the attorney general's office had received 85 tips and leads.

Altoona-Johnstown lawmakers are calling on their fellow legislators to support the passage of bills that would remove the civil and criminal statute of limitations entirely in child sex abuse cases.

A graduate of Bishop McCort High School in Johnstown, State Rep. Frank Burns, D- Cambria, said legislators have to do everything they can to create a strong disincentive for this type of behavior.

"These victims are my friends, they're my fellow classmates," Burns said. "When this report came out it hit close to home for me."

Confronted with revelations of widespread child abuse, church members and residents in this community reacted with shock and disgust, as well as silence and disbelief.

One of them, a woman who identified herself as a practicing Catholic, said she was "disgusted" and would no longer be donating to the church, fearful that her contributions were being used for hush money to cover-up allegations of sexual abuse.

John Salveson, the founder of the Pennsylvania-based Foundation to Abolish Child Sex Abuse, doubted if the latest clergy-abuse report will effect change.

"This is what the Catholic church has been doing for decades," Salveson said."I would say it's unbelievable, but I've been doing this for a long time."

Salveson said the news caused an outcry with every report and every case that made headlines over the years, from clergy abuse cases coming to light to the Jerry Sandusky case.

And every time, talk of the statute of limitations for civil cases and criminal prosecution came up with little or no change, he said.

"I don't know what it's going to take for Pennsylvania's legislators to do something about this," Salveson said. "What the hell is wrong with these people?"
HARRISBURG- Attorneys representing an accused student impostor filed a motion in Dauphin County court on Friday asking to reduce his bail to $50,000.

Artur Samarin, 23, has been in Dauphin County prison since Feb. 23, after Harrisburg police arrested him on identity theft charges for living his life in the city as 18-year-old "Asher Potts."

In the court motion, Artur Samarin's attorneys asked to reduce the existing $220,000 cash bond because Samarin is penniless and cannot post bail.

"The petitioner has a right to bail before a verdict under the constitution," his attorneys wrote in their request for a downward modification.

Samarin "is not charged with any violent crimes and does not pose a risk to the public," the motion said.

The motion also notes that Samarin has no prior criminal record, is not addicted to drugs or alcohol and has no record of flight to avoid arrest or attempts to escape.

If Samarin is released on bond, his attorneys wrote that he would live with Rashida Pullin, the mother of Samarin's high school friends. In the months prior to his arrest, Samarin had been living with Pullin.

"For the petitioner, who is presumed innocent, continuation of bail...at its current level will effectively deny petitioner his right to bail pre-trial and hamper the preparation of his defense," said the motion by Adam Klein and Clarke Madden, of Smigel, Anderson and Sacks.

A Carlisle couple who run a bond company has previously said they would post bond for Samarin if it were lowered.

If the petition to lower bond is granted, Potts would face a $70,000 bond, because he has a separate $20,000 bond from two charges filed in Swatara Township.

Court records accuse Samarin of using falsified documents to enroll in Harrisburg High School and obtain a Pennsylvania driver's license as "Asher Potts." Samarin had already graduated from high school and attended two years of college in the Ukraine.

Police later added charges including two sex crimes for an alleged relationship with a 15-year-old girl in 2014 when he was 22.

Prior to his arrest, Samarin was considered a model student at the school and was involved in many extracurricular activities. Since his arrest, two drastically different portraits have emerged of Samarin.

Friends say Samarin simply wanted an education and was mistreated by a local couple who helped him stay in the United States after his visa expired. Samarin's attorney called the couple "bad people."

But an attorney representing Stephayne and Michael Potts said the couple had altruistic motives and nothing to gain by helping Samarin. The attorney said the couple became aware of troubling things about Samarin last year, including his real age, that caused them to seek out the FBI. But the attorney, Corky Goldstein, declined to elaborate on what exactly troubled the couple.

District Attorney Ed Marsico said his office was still reviewing the motion to lower Samarin's bond.

"We will file an appropriate answer," he said.

A hearing date for the bond reduction motion had not been scheduled.

It is unclear who is paying for Samarin's defense team or whether the attorneys are working pro-bono. Klein has previously said he could not say.

Goldstein said he is representing the Pottses pro-bono, as they also have no financial resources.
Jose Flores-Medina

Jose Flores-Medina

A Lancaster man was convicted Thursday of raping a 17-year-old girl and now faces up to 47 years in prison, the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office reports.

On Thursday morning, the jury found 39-year-old Jose Flores-Medina guilty of rape, unlawful contact with a minor, and corruption of a minor for an April 11, 2015 encounter at Flores-Medina's North Broad Street home.

Authorities say Flores-Medina, who was a friend of the victim's friend, forced the victim to have sex while covering her mouth.

Flores-Medina will be sentenced in about three months.

After the verdict Thursday, his bail was raised to $1 million. Flores-Medina had been free on bail through the trial, the DA's office reports.

During it, Flores-Medina reportedly took the stand and maintained his innocence.
News / Press Release

by PDP

The predatory politics, which Zanu PF is expanding most of its energy on by expelling and purging its senior party officials, instead of concentrating on government business, has resulted in the country facing serious economic challenges.On Thursday, the Zanu PF Politburo meeting chaired by Robert Mugabe announced the fresh expulsions, which claimed the scalp of Chris Mutsvangwa and eight other party officials.This kind of primitive politics in Zanu PF or in any political party or organisation does not build the country's economy but instead destroys and shatters the people's hopes and aspirations for a better Zimbabwe.We have seen that for the past two years, Zanu PF has spent its time on expelling or suspending its senior officials including the former vice president Joice Mujuru on various spurious and laughable charges instead of concentrating on serious issues of how to turn around the country's economy and social service delivery.It is also regrettable that on the other hand, an opposition party has followed suit and this week expelled and recall from Parliament one of its senior officials, Senator Matson Hlalo. Senator Hlalo was as a result ejected from the Senate at yesterday's sitting.It is of great concern that the opposition party has shown that it has no agenda or plan and has chosen to abandon its duty as the main opposition party in Parliament by concentrating on factional and petty politics.Instead of consolidating its minority but important presence in Parliament, the opposition party has shown to focus on personal fights dumping the electorate, which voted for them in 2013.Zimbabwe as a result is facing a serious socio-economic crisis that is threatening the livelihoods of millions of citizens as companies continue to close and thousands of people lose their jobs.Essentially, Zimbabwe is on a shut-down' as the divisions in Zanu PF and government have intensified. Zanu PF factional fights are now being fought in the arena of public policy, where government ministers and senior government officials are issuing contradictory policy statements that are sending confusing signals to both domestic and foreign investors.Sadly the long suffering people of Zimbabwe are bearing the brunt of Zanu PF's factionalism as public officials waste the dwindling public resources in pursuit of factional interests that are of no benefit to the man and woman in the street or village.Zimbabwe's economic recovery prospects remain in the dark as the factional fights in Zanu PF characterised by expulsions and counter expulsions continue.What is happening is Zanu PF is a clear statement that the party has failed and as the People's Democratic Party (PDP) we reiterate our position on the establishment of the National Transitional Authority (NTA) as the Zanu PF government has proved to be clueless."Another Zimbabwe is Possible"
Screen Shot 2016-03-04 at 7.07.42 AM.JPG

(PennDOT traffic camera)

UPDATE: The roadway was reopened at about 8:45 a.m.

An accident involving multiple vehicles has closed Interstate 83 northbound in York County, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

The accident was first reported at about 6:41 a.m. Friday near Exit 28, the exit for Route 295 in Manchester Township, according to York County 911.

York County 911 is calling the incident a "multi-vehicle pile up."

Initial dispatches from the scene indicated that at least 12 vehicles are involved in the crash.

The northbound lanes of the interstate have been shut down between Exit 32, the exit for Newberrytown in Newberry Township and Exit 28, accorindg to PennDOT.

For more traffic information, follow live traffic updates, accident reports and road closures below from PennDOT, Total Traffic Network and other Twitter sources.

Get a look at conditions on local roads -- via PennDOT traffic cameras -- anytime here on PennLive. For Pennsylvania Turnpike updates and possible travel delays visit the Turnpike website here.

Tweet us at @pennlive with any incidents you see on your commute or send a submission to submissions@pennlive.com.
Stephayne and Michael Potts helped a Ukrainian man enroll in Harrisburg High School, but did not know he was older than he claimed, according to their attorney, Corky Goldstein.

The couple found out that Artur Samarin was 23, instead of 18, a few months ago, about the same time several other troubling things came to light about the young man they had taken in like a son, Goldstein said.

Goldstein could not reveal what exactly troubled the couple, but he said it was enough to cause them to question what they knew of Samarin and ask him to move out of their Harrisburg home. They also contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation, since they knew the case carried immigration implications.

Their concern did not stem from Samarin's relationship with a 15-year-old girl, Goldstein said, because they did not know of any alleged intimacy. But Goldstein said the full story would come out eventually.

Goldstein provided new details from the Potts' point of view Thursday after agreeing to represent the couple pro-bono. The attorney representing Samarin, however, strongly objected to Goldstein's characterization of the couple and situation.

The couple has few financial resources, Goldstein said, but needs help navigating the legal system after Samarin's arrest last week for identity theft charges and two sex crimes relating to the 15-year-old girl.

The identity theft charges allege a conspiracy to use false documents to enroll in school and obtain a Pennsylvania driver's license. But no charges have been filed against the Potts, who acted as adopted parents of Samarin.

The couple allowed Samarin to use their last name, and he became known as "Asher Potts," Goldstein said. The couple never had children of their own.

Goldstein said he had reached out to District Attorney Ed Marsico to see if charges would be brought against Stephayne Potts for helping Samarin.

"They wanted to do the right thing for him, whether they were right or wrong," Goldstein said. "If they did anything improper or illegal, they're willing to own up to whatever she did....If charges are filed, she will turn herself in."

The beginning of 'Asher Potts'

The relationship between the Potts and Samarin began in the Townhouse Apartments in 2012 or 2013, Goldstein said. The Potts had a one-bedroom apartment and Samarin was living in an apartment with about four other international students who came to the United States as part of a work program.

Samarin befriended the Potts and shared stories about violence in Ukraine. He even reportedly showed them bullet and knife wounds on his body. Eventually, the other students had a falling out with Samarin and reportedly told him he had to move out.

That's when Samarin asked to stay with the Potts, and they agreed to let him sleep on their couch.

The Potts were evicted from the apartment in June 2013, according to online court records. They moved into a house on Fourth Street and brought Samarin with them. In this home, Samarin had his own room and bathroom, Goldstein said.

Although Samarin said in a jailhouse interview that the Potts took money from him, came up with the idea to pretend he was five years younger and took advantage of him through excessive chores, Goldstein said none of that was true.

"They had nothing to gain," from the relationship with Samarin, Goldstein said. "She did all the cooking. They bought him clothes and took care of him. They even bought him plane tickets" to visit colleges.

The couple simply wanted to help him to succeed and achieve his dream of becoming an astronaut, Goldstein said.

Adam Klein, the attorney representing Samarin, however, strongly disagreed with Goldstein.

"This characterization of Mr. and Mrs. Potts is utter nonsense," Klein said. "These are bad people. The truth will come out soon enough."

Samarin eventually started a relationship with a 15-year-old girl in 2014, according to police reports. The Potts spent time with the girl's parents for Thanksgiving, Goldstein said.

"They became good friends," Goldstein said of the parents. "They were glad he found a girl he liked."

But the Potts reportedly didn't know anything about the alleged sexual relationship that triggered two sex crimes against Samarin.

Although the Potts eventually went to the authorities about Samarin's identity, they don't wish any ill-will toward him, Goldstein said.

The negative comments Samarin made about the Potts broke Stephayne's heart, Goldstein said.

"That's so far from the truth," he said. "They only tried to love him and take care of him like a son."

Trying to avoid the 'media frenzy'

Samarin moved in with the parents of some school friends in October. The Potts, meanwhile, got evicted from the home on Fourth Street over unpaid rent. They moved into a home in Dillsburg, but this week were served with an eviction notice there as well for bouncing their first two rent checks, according to court records.

The couple has relocated to an undisclosed home and paid their rent upfront with help from friends, Goldstein said. They're trying to lay low, he said, to avoid the "media frenzy," that's surrounding the case.

"They're okay right now," he said. "I do know that they are very poor, with very limited funds. They've tried to make a go of it for 20 years. A lot of people fall into that. It doesn't mean they aren't good people."

The hoopla over Samarin's identity prompted Michael to lose his job as a security guard, Goldstein said.

Stephayne previously worked at the bookstore at Harrisburg Area Community College, where she was taking classes, but she no longer works there, Goldstein said.

"They really don't have any money coming in," he said.

The Potts' history

Michael's mother, Carolyn Potts, who lives in Arizona, said Stephayne had been studying to become a writer. She has already written two books under the name Sara R. Rock, Carolyn Potts said.

Both books are autobiographical in nature, she said.

Michael has held a series of jobs, including one at the state liquor store, Carolyn Potts said. He got robbed several times while working at the store even chased one robber into the street, where they fought, she said.

Carolyn Potts said her son has long struggled with keeping jobs because of his mindset, and social skills, which can be considered, "odd," she said.

He nearly died in a car wreck in 1977 and suffered brain damage. Still, she said he remains highly intelligent, but sometimes lacks the social skills to know when he's annoying someone or upsetting them.

Michael has a wonderful baritone voice and previously sang in a group at a Jewish temple in Harrisburg that the couple attended, Carolyn Potts said. Stephayne grew up Jewish and Michael converted, Potts said.

The couple has been married since 1995. Despite many financial struggles, "they stick together," Carolyn Potts said.

Potts, who spent a month with Samarin last year, said she believes her son and his wife were simply trying to help the young man, not use him for any gain of their own

"I have a feeling (Samarin) tends to exaggerate," she said. "I know Stephayne wanted him to do chores, but I don't think it was a slave environment."
The Swatara Township Wal-Mart was evacuated due to a bomb threat Friday afternoon, marking the second time a caller threatened to blow the store up in recent months.

Police responded to the Walmart at 6535 Grayson Road just after 2 p.m. after emergency dispatchers fielded an anonymous call indicating a bomb had been placed in the store.

Wal-Mart in Swatara Twp.

The store was evacuated without incident, according to police. And officers from multiple agencies responded to help take bomb-sniffing K9s through the store.

No explosives were found during the search.

Police continue to search for the person who placed the threatening call.

The prior bomb threat at the same Wal-Mart led police to arrest a Philadelphia woman.

Quadirah Huger, of Philadelphia, had called in the threat to the store at about 10:50 p.m. on Dec. 2, according to police

Huger made the call as part of a child custody dispute that she had with a store employee, police said. Police did not find any explosive devices, and the store reopened.

Police obtained a felony arrest warrant for Huger on charges of terroristic threats, threat to use weapons of mass destruction and harassment in connection with the incident.

The Swatara Township Wal-Mart also was evacuated due to a bomb threat in November of 2014.

Someone left a threatening note in the store on Nov. 29. The store was evacuated and searched. The store reopened after bomb-sniffing K9s did not find any explosives in the store.
Aedes aegypti mosquito

This 2006 photo provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a female Aedes aegypti mosquito in the process of acquiring a blood meal from a human host. On Friday, Feb. 26, 2015, the U.S. government said Zika infections have been confirmed in nine pregnant women in the United States. All got the virus overseas. Three babies have been born, one with a brain defect. (James Gathany/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention via AP)

(James Gathany)

An Army soldier shows Aedes aegypti larvae, a vector of the Zika virus, found in Brazil, Friday, Feb. 19, 2016. (AP Photo)

Experts say travel by U.S. college students this spring to impacted areas could lead to a rise in Zika virus infection rates here, prompting renewed warnings and an urging of precautions for those willing to chance it.

Colleges across Pennsylvania are among those warning students who plan to travel to Zika virus hotspots this spring break to take preventive measures, while others are cancelling school trips altogether amid new concerns about travel's role in the virus's explosive spread through the Americas.

At Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, media relations manager Rose Ravasio said the University has canceled plans for approximately 17 nursing students to take an annual trip to provide care in Nicaragua over spring break.

"Unfortunately, the highly dynamic nature of this situation means that the University is cancelling all official academic and service trips to these areas for the immediate future," Ravasio added. "Individuals considering spring break travel to one of the areas included in the (Centers for Disease Control) CDC alert should strongly consider alternate destinations."

The CDC alert referenced extends to parts of Central and South America, the Caribbean, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Samoa and Cape Verde.

And while there are no official restrictions on travel to these regions, caution is strongly encouraged by institutions and health officials who cite the lack of a vaccine or other preventative medication for the virus which is spread through mosquito bites, unprotected sex or from mother-to-child.

The latter group is at particular risk with evidence linking the virus to microcephaly and serious birth defects in newborns.

So far, CDC and other health guidelines on Zika have been shared with students at Temple University, Millersville University, Lebanon Valley College, Dickinson College and The Pennsylvania State University.

This as concerns continue to grow over whether U.S. college students heading south for spring break could bring the virus back to the U.S., where researchers say it could be further spread by mosquitoes or other means.

A health worker fumigates a cemetery to help prevent mosquitoes which can carry Zika viruses, on the outskirts of Lima, Peru, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. (AP Photo)

Benjamin N. Haynes of the CDC's Division of Public Affairs told PennLive the number of Zika cases among travelers visiting or returning to the United States "will likely increase" in the coming weeks and months.

Haynes also acknowledged the presence of mosquitoes capable of spreading the virus here, but pointed to recent outbreaks in the continental U.S. of chikungunya and dengue, both spread by the same type of mosquito, that he says were relatively small in number and geographically limited.

For Zika to cause an outbreak in the U.S., Haynes said, all of the following must happen:

* People infected with the virus must enter the United States.

* An Aedes mosquito in the United States must bite the infected person during the relatively short time that the virus can be found in the person's blood.

* And the infected mosquito must live long enough for the virus to multiply and for the mosquito to bite another person.

For now, at least, the greatest risk remains to those who travel abroad to affected areas.

In total, there are currently 153 travel-related cases in the continental U.S., with as many as 37 potential cases being watched in Pennsylvania. There were no locally acquired cases reported in the continental U.S. as of Wednesday, Mar. 2.

The travel-related cases confirmed thus far include one on the campus of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., where the virus was reportedly contracted by a student who traveled abroad over winter break. The student is said to be recovering and feeling well.

But the case drew renewed attention from college officials across Pennsylvania, many of whom are now monitoring the situation and their campuses closely, although none who spoke with PennLive reported cases of the virus at their schools.

They are aware, however, that the numbers are expected to rise as travel to impacted areas continues.

Caio Julio Vasconcelos, pictured, was born with microcephaly, a birth defect linked to the Zika virus. (AP Photo)

This as up to half of American college students prepare to travel for spring break, with many traditionally choosing CDC-flagged places including the Caribbean, Mexico and Puerto Rico as their destinations.

In response, and with no official travel restrictions in place, these universities and colleges have been largely limited to spreading awareness of the dangers and preventive measures associated with Zika, while also suggesting travel alternatives.

At the Pennsylvania State University in State College, spokesperson L. Reidar Jensen said no university programs have been cancelled as a result of the virus, but that, "some travelers have voluntarily made changes to itineraries or plans based on guidance from the CDC and World Health Organization (WHO)."

In a letter to students from administrators at Temple University in Philadelphia, those choosing travel to Central and South America or the Caribbean are urged to take precautions, including the use of mosquito repellant, the covering of exposed skin, use of permethrin-treated clothing and gear and staying and sleeping in screened-in or air-conditioned rooms.

The CDC is also urging the practice of safe sex or abstinence, while watching for the symptoms -- including fever, rash, joint pain, conjunctivitis, muscle pain and headache -- associated with the virus. Even the Catholic church is considering condoning artificial contraception to avoid pregnancy in response to the outbreak, after Pope Francis signaled his support late last month.

With eight students studying abroad in Central and South America, Dickinson College in Carlisle said it has shared similar guidelines with those students and their parents.

At Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Val Angeli, director of health services, also said "All students and athletes who travel should seek medical assistance should they have any symptoms when they return to campus."

So far, there is little to no screening of returning passengers for symptoms happening at American airports.

In fact, the Department of Homeland Security has said the U.S. will not screen arriving travelers for the mosquito-borne virus that is primarily afflicting Latin America and the Caribbean.

Water Pollution Biologist Maiko Ferro examines a sample of material being tested for West Nile Virus at the DEP state labs in Harrisburg. (Daniel Zampogna/The Patriot-News)

At the Harrisburg International Airport, spokesperson Scott Miller confirmed the lack of screening measures in place there, saying, "We're not required to do anything," but "if somebody says we can or should do something we will."

Miller pointed out that anything required of airports would likely be done in larger, gateway cities, adding, "We have no non-stop flights to South America or the Caribbean."

South America has been especially hard hit by the virus, with millions infected and governments there launching desperate attempts to curb the spread.

Central America and the Caribbean, meanwhile, remain under the same CDC-imposed level 2 alert urging the use of enhanced precautions.

Jay Harry, a Lancaster travel agent, recently returned from both regions where he says he heard almost no mention of the virus, beyond a few signs instructing people to wash their hands and take precautions.

"Other than that there wasn't much discussion of it," Harry said.

That's likely because the virus represents a potential threat to the area's lifeblood in the form of its massive tourism industry, and remains a touchy, if not somewhat taboo, subject as a result.

Tourism officials maintain the virus poses little risk to travelers, but a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll found that, of those who were aware of the Zika virus outbreak, 41 percent said they were less likely to travel to affected regions.

At travel agencies like Harry's, he said, there have been "one or two" couples who cancelled trips because of the virus, but that it hasn't had much of an impact, yet, beyond that.

"We explain all the options and dangers and that realistically they are taking a chance, but most places we send people tend not to be affected," Harry said.

Terri Bigler, owner of Zeller Travel Inc., also in Lancaster, said he's not required to warn clients of the dangers, but always does.

"People have heard about it, but it hasn't truly affected anything just yet," he said.

"At the moment no one has canceled plans because of it."
shutterstock_higher electricity costs.jpg

(Shutterstock)

Michael Mann's recent opinion column, (Political attacks won't stall climate change, Feb. 25 PennLive) had a lot to say about climate change policy, but left out one key fact - EPA's Clean Power Plan, by the agency's own estimation, will do astonishingly little to limit global emissions despite the enormous costs that will result from the rule.

The fact is the Clean Power Plan will barely move the needle on worldwide emissions. This is due in large part to countries like China and India developing their nations into modern economies and using more energy. While doing little to lower global emissions, the rule will significantly increase costs. Independent studies have shown that the Clean Power Plan will lead to higher electricity costs nationwide, with costs increasing in Pennsylvania by as much as 16 percent per year, due to renewable energy being more costly than traditional sources and the high costs of installing new gas and electric lines thanks to Pennsylvania's heavy regulatory climate.

So why should we unnecessarily handicap our own economy - especially by means of a regulation that was so legally dubious the Supreme Court took the unprecedented step of freezing the rule before a lower court even heard the first arguments? For these reasons, the Pennsylvania Chamber led 165 other state and local chambers in filing an amicus brief in federal court to support legal challenges to EPA's costly rule - not because climate change isn't a major challenge, but because EPA's Clean Power Plan is just about the most ineffective - and costly - way of addressing it.

SAM DENISCO, vice president, Government Affairs, Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, Harrisburg.

http://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2016/02/political_attacks_wont_stall_c.html
metcalfe.jpg

Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, is planning to introduce a bill to terminate state employees who fail to file a financial interests statement annually.

(File photo/PennLive.com)

A state representative sees a double standard in the way state law treats public employees versus elected officials when it comes to transparency of their financial interests.

Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, points out the law prohibits elected government officials from holding office if they fail to file a financial interests statement. Meanwhile, for the state government employees who are required to file this paperwork, the penalty can be as little as a $250 fine.

"This is ridiculous," said Metcalfe, who chairs the House State Government Committee. "Taxpayers deserve the same degree of transparency from public employees as public officials."

This week, he began circulating a memo (see below) seeking legislative support to change the law and make the penalty as stiff for state employees as it is for elected officials.

State employees, particularly those in the executive branch, whose job responsibilities involve the authority to enter into contracts, commit public funds, and make recommendations for expending public funds are required to file these annual statements that reveal their source(s) of income, gifts, officer positions on boards, among other information. The forms are due to their employer by May 1.

Those who don't file them by the deadline receive anywhere from seven to nine notifications from various entitles before the commission issues an order to pay a $250 fine.

Metcalfe said if it takes nine notifications to get an employee to comply with the law, that alone should be grounds for firing.

"It really should raise a red flag," he said. "Why aren't they complying? If they are that lazy or that negligent, they shouldn't be employed by the state to begin with. And if they are not filing because of something they want to hide, then they should be terminated."

Robert Caruso, the ethics commission's executive director, said Department of Human Service income maintenance caseworkers - who hold positions that determine a person's eligibility for public assistance - tend to be the biggest offenders of the financial interests statement filing requirement.

In fact, he said a group of caseworkers challenged the filing requirement all the way to the Commonwealth Court, which upheld the ethics commission's ruling that they had to file financial interests statements. The state Supreme Court refused to hear the case, letting the lower appellate court ruling to stand.

He said in 2015, 273 of the 756 employees whose names were turned over to the ethics commission for not filing financial interests statements were income maintenance workers.

"State employees aren't banned from holding outside jobs. So by filing a form and disclosing that information, it lets the public and employer know there may be a potential for conflict between the public employee's private interest and public interest as a commonwealth employee," Caruso said.

But Tom Herman, president of SEIU Local 668, which represents the caseworkers, said they are entitled to their due process granted them through a management directive in the governor's Code of Conduct.

"It is highly inappropriate for Representative Metcalfe, or any legislator, to interfere in this process," Herman said in a statement. "His comments, by virtue of his position, constitute gross interference with the due process afforded to these employees by law.

"Representative Metcalfe should devote his time to passing a budget that serves the citizens of the commonwealth instead of blaming some workers without all the facts, micromanaging, and otherwise shifting attention from his own dereliction of duty to the commonwealth."

Caruso is familiar with the rules related to filing of financial interests statements and he said Metcalfe is only looking to make the rules consistent "so I do think it's fair."

Metcalfe finds the pattern of abuse by a particular group of employees from the same department disturbing.

"The only way to address this situation in a manner that restores public trust is to pass this legislation which will lead to tougher and swifter penalties for state employees who refuse to comply," he said."It only takes five minutes to fill it out."
FILE - In this April 16, 2014 file photo, Jerry DeLemus, of Rochester, N.H., sits with a group of self-described militia members camping on rancher Cliven Bundys ranch near Bunkerville, Nev. Federal agents arrested DeLemus Thursday, March 3, 2016, in New Hampshire. He faces multiple federal charges in Nevada. (AP Photo/Ken Ritter, File)
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FILE - In this Monday, June 24, 2013 file photo, Bonhams employees adjust a spray paint work by urban artist Banksy at Bonhams auction house in London. Scientists have applied a type of modeling used to track down criminals or map disease outbreaks to identify the graffiti artist, whose real name has never been confirmed. Geographic profiling is used by police forces to calculate from multiple crime sites where the offender most likely lives. Here, the researchers used the location of 192 Banksy artworks in London and Bristol, western England. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)
News / Regional

by Staff reporter

A MINISTRY of Primary and Secondary Education inspector who allegedly murdered his wife who was a lecturer at Midlands State University (MSU) has claimed that he killed her in self-defence.Fred Nyamhanga Shavi (63) appeared for initial remand before the magistrate Judith Taruvinga for the alleged murder of his wife, Netsai Ncube (48), a lecturer in the department of Agriculture, Livestock and Wildlife Management at the MSU.Shavi, of Southdowns suburb in Gweru, was not asked to plead and was remanded in custody to March 16. According to Shavi's warned and cautioned statement, he alleged that Ncube brought "an object" into their bedroom as she slept between 2am and 3am on February 27 intending to attack him. He did not name or specify what the object was, but prosecutors described it as an iron hoe.Shavi alleged that Ncube attacked him first, before he wrested the weapon from her. "Early Saturday, between 2am and 3am, Netsai woke up saying she was visiting the toilet. After a while and as I looked up through the bedroom door, I noticed that she was holding an object. On entering the bedroom, she proceeded to where I slept and swung the object intending to strike me. We wrestled and I managed to get the weapon and struck her and she groaned," said Shavi.He said he then fled the scene, leaving Ncube alone and bleeding.Shavi said he visited his mother and relatives in Sanyati."I left home fearing for my life as my brothers-in-law were known to be violent. Later, I phoned Xmas Mutero to go and check on Netsai's condition and possibly take her to hospital. I voluntarily handed myself over to the police at Sanyati Police Station," he said.Shavi also alleged that the couple had a history of marital problems centred on infidelity. He did not say anything about Arnold Kapenzi, also a lecturer at the MSU who allegedly committed suicide amid claims by his friends that he had an affair with Ncube. The friends said Kapenzi panicked after his alleged lover was killed by her husband.
Opinion / Columnist

Former Vice President Joice Mujuru has finally come out of the cocoon and she addressed her maiden Press conference as the leader of an outfit called Zimbabwe People First, or simply, People First, on Tuesday.She held her presser at Harare's Meikles Hotel, which was attended by a lot of individuals and interests from spectators outside the hotel, civic society, diplomats to the media.In her haul were people that are supposed to form the core of the political party, who are former members of the ruling Zanu-PF party and were either expelled or fell by the wayside in the last couple of years. We shall attempt to profile these individuals. But it was supposed to be a Joice Mujuru show - she was the centre of attraction.Addressing her first media conference was a significant and symbolic step, perhaps to be dwarfed only by an inaugural congress or some kind of convention which may come in the next few weeks and months. Since her acrimonious ejection from Zanu-PF, the former Zanu-PF second secretary and widow of General Solomon Mujuru had kept her silence, save for an occasional statement or two in the private media and the Blueprint to Unlock Investment and Leverage for Development (BUILD) "manifesto" she published in the same private media in September last year.In the interim, she was spoken on her behalf largely by Mr Rugare Gumbo, another Zanu-PF ejectee and counterpart, Didymus Mutasa.It was a fortnight ago when she finally opened up to the pirate radio station Voice of America's Studio7 and the Sunday Times of the UK (that should be symbolic isn't, it?) On Tuesday, she addressed local and international media and largely rehashed the BUILD manifesto and talked about investment climate in the country, corruption, civil servants, farm ownership, rejoining the Commonwealth and prospects for a coalition with the other opposition parties.Many analysts, pundits and students of political science are looking at ways to frame the new party, to understand it and predict the future of Zimbabwe's politics especially in light of 2018, the election year that is just on the horizon. There are first impressions that People First has made:Thieves FirstWe are happy that this is probably the first time this is mentioned, but the reader will now know that the name "People First" may actually have come from Zanu-PF's resolutions at the 14th Annual People's Conference, which, discussing the State of the Party, recognised that "Zanu-PF belongs to the people and, as such, puts the people first . . ."And never mind about Morgan Tsvangirai's former aide Maxwell Shumba who claimed to have registered a party in the same name. The coinage is to all intents and purposes Zanu-PF's and this highlights the extent to which the new party is just but a fake Zanu-PF  perceivably.This moral burden has weighed on the proponents of People First so much so that at some point they were compelled to label themselves as "the original Zanu-PF".It is only fakes that will feel the need to validate themselves as such.Mujuru was forced to defend her band on Tuesday stating: "Let me now address a certain level of scepticism which is bound to be directed at ZPF by some stakeholders, that scepticism that you were in ZANU-PF for many years, why should we believe that you will transform this country?"My simple answer is that People First is a new entity with new values and followers from every political party in Zimbabwe including those that have never joined any political party before."The truth of the matter is that these are people who were comfortable in Zanu-PF and only left because they were chucked out. The one attribute that these people would like to flaunt, or more specifically sell at this point, is that People First will be a "reformed" Zanu-PF, the desirability or acceptability of which remains dubious.But many honest people will know that Mujuru is not the best person to talk about rooting out corruption or multiple farm ownership when she is generally described as a corrupt, greedy, deal-cutting individual.Bitter First, Shona FirstThat the People First comprises disgruntled, rejected and ejected people from Zanu-PF is a trite point to make.In fact, Mujuru should have rallied all these people earlier but she kept the silence she is now telling us was strategic as she needed to consult. The truth of the matter is that the people from the districts and provinces that were purged because of her association in the larger plot to unseat President Mugabe looked up to her before, during and after their removal from the party.What happened on Tuesday was a feeble attempt to raise hopes  if ever people can have faith in her. But the most shocking part of the core team and personae around Mujuru, what appears to be a deliberate move to surround herself with Shona speaking people, or people commonly associated with all other provinces except Midlands and Matabeleland.The top faces seen at the Press conference include Dzikamai Mavhaire, Rugare Gumbo, Didymus Mutasa, former ambassadors Agrippa Mutambara and John Mvundura, David Butau, Claudius Makova, Retired Major Kudzai Mbudzi, Bright Matonga, Kudakwashe Bhasikiti, Sylvester Nguni, Jealous Mawarire, Ibbo Mandaza, Elliot Kasu. There you go, that's the misnomer of People First!One of too manyIt is surprising that some sections of the media announce her holding of a Press conference as a grand entry  the umpteenth time that the phrase has been used, nay abused. If truth be told, this was an ordinary day on the Zimbabwean political scene where parties are formed everyday and at the last count there were over 20 registered political parties in Zimbabwe.They also break up every day, which is why President Mugabe last week in Masvingo laughed off the prospects of People First, predicting there would be a series of People-something parties.It remains a clear and present possibility, especially for a group of people that are only joined by bitterness rather than ideology and any organic sentiment and process. Thus Mujuru sounded ever so hollow when she said: "Today is a historic day. Today we present ourselves to you in humility and the humbling comfort of the people's support. This is a day of great significance in our country's political history. Today we confirm our existence or the existence of a viable home-grown inclusive political party. It is now public knowledge that the Zimbabwe People First is here."Well, not much of a surprise there!A stuttering start,Rugare's ruminationMany of those that followed the address will agree that this was not a convincing outing for she who would be President of the Republic. She was a bunch of nerves, stuttering and tripping as she hardly took her eyes off the prepared script.She failed to distinguish between "gender" and "agenda". She failed to distinguish between "stipulate" and "stimulate" and she huffed and puffed on. The PF leader had clearly not rehearsed for the show and she was exposed and there is no better way to illustrate that than the anxiety that was registered on the person of Rugare Gumbo, who the cameras caught more than one time with his hands clasped together as if in supplication and prayer.By the way, Gumbo and Mutasa are the think-tanks of the new party and clearly the anxieties of the former are totally understandable in that context.The deed had to be done but Mujuru was clearly struggling. Going forward, the political landscape will be interesting  and this is not self contradictory  people will be waiting to see the real politicians in People First, not a bunch of losers brought together by bitterness and seeking to expropriate the glory of their former party. People First is open to going to bed with existing parties in a coalition, which seems to excite some quarters.If they amount to anything, the better for our democracy.And if they manage to shake Zanu-PF from its current mindless fratricide, it will be even better!
Boyne City celebrates undefeated regular season after win over Roscommon

BOYNE CITY  Over the course of the 2022 season, the Boyne City football team has learned a lot about their squad.
Iran to export 1.65 mbpd in March

Reuters/Raheb Homavandi/Tima



A general view shows a unit of South Pars Gas field in Asalouyeh Seaport, north of Persian Gulf, Iran November 19, 2015.

NEW DELHI/DUBAI

Petroleumworld.com 03 04 2016

Iran, OPEC's No. 3 producer, is expected to raise its oil exports in March to around 1.65 million barrels per day from 1.5 million bpd a month earlier on the back of higher crude shipments to Europe, two industry sources told Reuters on Thursday.

State-run National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) is expected toship around 250,000-300,000 bpd to Europe this month after it finalised term deals with France's Total and Spanish refiner Cepsa, effective from March 1, said the sources, who are familiar with Iran's exports.

The French oil major has a contract to buy about 200,000 bpd, while Cepsa's deal was for about 35,000 bpd, one source said. Total is expected to lift at least 5 million barrels in March, the source added.Litasco, the trading arm of Russia's Lukoil, Cepsaand Total have become the first buyers in Europe after thelifting of sanctions and lifted trial cargoes in February,trading sources told Reuters.

Hellenic Petroleum, Greece's biggest oil refiner,has said it will receive its first shipment of Iranian crudeoil at the end of March. Tehran is working to regain market share, particularlyin Europe, after the lifting of international sanctions in January. Oil exports rose by 500,000 bpd to 1.5 million bpd in February, a senior NIOC official said on Tuesday.

The sanctions had cut Iranian crude exports from a peak of2.5 million bpd before 2011 to just over 1 million bpd in recentyears.

Tehran has said it would boost output immediately by 500,000bpd and by another 500,000 bpd within a year, ultimatelyreaching pre-sanction production levels of around 4 million bpdseen in 2010-2011.

But even a gradual increase in its exports would come ata time of global oversupply, with producers around the worldpumping hundreds of thousands of barrels every day in excess ofdemand. Oil prices are near 11-year lows at around $37 a barrel.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Venezuela and non-OPEC Russia agreedlast month to freeze output at January levels in the firstglobal oil pact in 15 years.

Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said last week thefreeze was "laughable". Iranian sources say the country would beprepared to discuss a production pact once output reaches pre-sanctions levels.






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THAT BURNING SENSATION

IN FISH I TRUST

AWKWARD EQUALS LEGIT

I am not a friendly person. I admit it. Parties fill me with dread. Cities and airports always inspire a white-hot loathing for my fellow man. Any social gathering that includes another living soul who doesnt also happen to be my dog inevitably gives me a case of the shakes.Im not proud of being a misanthrope. It doesnt make me edgy, cool or hip. Its just one of those things: Some of us are born with an extra toe, or a harelip or, in my case, an overriding need to hunker down by myself in a cave by the river. Not a van. A cave. Theres a difference.Facebook, then, has always been a bit of a...challenge... for me. Facebook - and all social media, for that matter - is one big, messy, digital orgy ofBlech. Just thinking about it has my left eye twitching up a storm.So, for the first few years of the social media revolution, I went into Deep Amish mode and spent most of my time alone, shaking a defiant fist at the Internet, weaving straw hats and inventing an appropriately-archaic alternative to the modern zipper. At some point, however, one of my bosses told me it was time to put down the pitchfork, join the living and create a Facebook account. Be social, dammit!So, yeah, I joined the rest of the world online and, I have to admit, its not all bad.of the farmer playing AC/DCs Thunderstruck on the anvil? Thats cool. Links to videos of? They almost make me like cats for a second or two. And, yes, I can now share pictures of my dog with other people who live in caves with their dogs.Win-win.Facebook lets you create friendships, without enduring bad breath, damp handshakes and the excessive use of the word. Bro. It took me longer than it probably took any of you to grasp the obvious benefits of social media, but Ive gotten there. Still, I have to admit that since joining Pinkbike, Ive been grappling with a problem: Figuring out who is real and who is simply some sort of Matrix-y, spam-delivering, robo virus.Yeah, I know, this crap out shouldnt be hard if you happen to be under the age of 93, but sometimes you get a Facebook invite and it looks legit:So, you click Acceptand by the time you wake up the next morning, your newsfeed is filled with the social-media equivalent of what nurses at the free clinic commonly describe as a burning sensation when you pee.Youve been tainted. According to your newsfeed, you now like Oakley sunglasses and you want the world to know that if they rush on over to www.wanker.com, they can score a set of counterfeit, purple and yellow Randy the Macho Man Savage-edition Flak Jackets for the low, low price of just $24.99! You also heartily endorse Candy Crush Saga. And some sex tape featuring Rihanna (ok maybe that last part is true).Its not a big deal, I know, but itannoying. So, Ive created my own simpleyet effectiverubric for sifting real friends, from fake ones.I recently received a friend request from a guy named Joe. I accepted immediately. Why? Because his profile image contained a shot of a guy holding a fish. Maybe Im just naive, but I trust anyone holding a monstrously ugly fish. There's a kind of unbridled honesty about a man with his arm up a catfish or guy french kissing a steelhead. You're not trying to fool anybody with a fish. Hence, fish equals legit.Whats not legit? All of the guys who want to be your friend and whose Facebook profile suggests that they are also 22-years old, perky, buxom and that they like to party. Maybe your name really is Larry and youre a 53-year old accountant at Merrill Lynch who you just happens to also look a lot like a female Russian porn star. I suppose its possible. But, Im declining your friend request, and accepting the one from Fish Guy. Sorry.Initially, I was too accepting of anyone who looked like a fellow cyclist. So, if youre profile picture shows a perfectly crisp, well-composed image of a rider ripping through a corner, Im not buying it for a second. I clicked Accept on way too many of those things and got burned just as many times.You know what I believe in now? Awkward pictures. Bear with me here. If you're a con man hell bent on cooking up an identity, you're not going to half-ass your Facebook profile photo--you're going to try and make yourself look good. Look appealing. By that logic, normal people have nothing to lose by simply being their lumpy, awkward selves. They just want to be friends--they're not trying to sell you on the latest herbal "male enhancement" supplements. Thus, if your Facebook profile page contains images of you doing the following, we can safely be friends:(1) You either (a) wearing outdated riding gear from the `80s or (b) covering yourself in neon spandex;(2) You humping around on your bike with the worst possible riding style; or(3) You simply looking undeniably spastic in an unflattering fashion.There you have itthats my approach to making new friends on Facebook.I admit, my method lacks a certain degree of scientific rigor, but it's proving effective. So, to every awkward spastic out there either hugging or biting a large fish, I heartily extend you my friendship. Better yet, lets get off the computer and just go for a ride. You know, the real kindwith bikes and dirt and crashing. Cheers.
Megan Rose

Steve Burns

George said

Tito Tomassi

Deborah Motsch

Jordy Whelan

Bradford

Writers Note:

Sarah Rawley

MENTIONS:

The Yeti Trans NZ saved the best for last with a grand finale - spectacular panoramic views overlooking Lake Wakatipu and the Remarkables, as racers plummeted down three stages to complete a monumental week of racing. Although its 18km felt short in distance, the final days course did not lack in scenery, roots or rocks - the three core essentials of an epic trail - leaving racers with a lasting impression of New Zealands premier mountain biking. said, race organizer. .The event headquarters perched at the base of the Ben Lemond Reserve provided the launching point for racers to pedal from their bunks at Pinewood Lodge , straight to the top of Queenstown Bike Park . Twenty-seven mountain bike trails create a tight fitting, intricate network of 30km down the steep side of the mountain averaging in grade of 37.1 along the Gondola vertical rise of 450m.Rose upped the ante on the first transition with a hill climb challenge up Skyline Road. The time to beat - 25:21. Amy Krahenbuhl aka Big Red (Santa Cruz, CA), Open Women not only won, but she destroyed Roses PR with a time of 21:30, and was awarded a tandem paragliding trip from Gforce Stage 1 combined several trails in the bike park for a fast ride down the mountain. , said Jack Menzies aka Jack the Ripper (Canmore, CAN), the 14-year-old who ended up 26th in a competitive field of 60 Open Men.Racers ended back at the bottom of the Gondola and enjoyed a moment of reprieve and scenic ride from the Gondola cabin, before one more big climb to the Ben Lemond Saddle at 1326m. At about 800m, soft-pedaling evolved into pushing along alpine tussocks and shrubs. Stage 2 paralleled parts of the transition, giving racers a view into what they would be flying down. said(Sydney, AUS), Open Men.Halfway down the stage, racers peeled off onto the brand new Missing Link Track, finished literally the night before in headlamps, thanks to the Queenstown Mountain Bike Clubs GSD aka get shit done, mentality. The loam factor was at an all-time high in the home stretch, eating unsuspecting racers front wheels meters before the finish line.A short n sweet transition along Beeched As brought racers up to the third and final stage of the race - a fast and furious root assault along Fernhill Loop, and then back into the bike park for a swift finish through jumps to the finish line.Flynn George (Colorado Springs, CO), Open Men won every single on Day 5 and ended up second overall behind Carl Jones (Rotorua, NZL).,Back at the event headquarters, riders cheersd with special edition Yeti Trans NZ brews from Queenstown Brewers , and reveled in their week together. Adult summer camp was coming to a close, but in the meantime, more celebratory drinks were to be had downtown., said(Annecy, FRA), who ended up 8th overall in Open Men despite a massive mechanical on Day 3. This event would not have happened without the passionate energy coming from the volunteers.  said(Annecy, FRA) who took the top step in the Open Womens category.The media team also deserves a special shoutout for their tireless efforts running around the courses to capture the action and staying up into the wee hours of the night to edit photos and push out daily updates. said(Taranaki, NZL), media assistant.Throughout the week there were a few casualties on the media team including a trampoline incident, separated AC joint, skinned up elbows, and multiple crashes. When queried on what was really going on behind the lens, Whelan said no further comment could be made.Unfortunately, Aaron Bradford (Seattle, USA) could not return as the crowd had hoped for on Days 4 or 5, as the injuries he sustained were more than superficial gashes. Bradford will have a skin graft on Monday in New Zealand and then take it easy for a couple months which means canceling his trip to Chile and Argentina for the first two rounds of the Enduro World Series (EWS).,said. .For those who missed out on this epic adventure, registration will open for the 2017 Yeti Trans NZ in mid-September. The field will be limited to 120 riders, so if youve been meaning to make the trip, stay tuned for future updates on Facebook and Instagram . Videos from Days 4 and 5 will be released next week, and photos will be made available directly from the photographers. Hashtag your photosto make their way on to the live stream of the Trans NZs Media HQ. For more information email megan@ridingbc.com or subscribe to the newsletter at www.transnz.com Megan has been riding and racing bikes all over the world for 13 years and organizing bike events for the past six years. She splits her time between British Columbia, Canada, and New Zealand, running the BC Enduro Series and the new Trans BC for 2016, and running the Trans NZ race. Over the past two years, Megan has personally races in over 24 enduro races, timed over 58 days worth of enduro races, and personally organized 22 enduro races. Megan and her team look forward to bringing you the best of the best from all of these perspectives.The Queenstown Mountain Bike Club formed in 2003, the main goal to develop the mountain biking trails and the biking community in Queenstown. Since 2003, the Queenstown Mountain Bike Club has been instrumental in the development of popular mountain bike areas such as the 7 Mile Bike Reserve, Rude Rock, Wynyard Bike Park, Gold Digger and Huck Yeah  the newest addition to the Queenstown Bike Park. The Queenstown Mountain Bike Club is purely run by mountain bike loving volunteers. 8 committee members and heaps of regular diggers are responsible for mountain biking in Queenstown being so rad.(Keystone, USA), Open Women 4th overallDAY 5: OPEN MEN1. Flynn George 19:582. Lindsay Klein 20:253. Carl Jones 20:34DAY 5: OPEN WOMEN1. Deborah Motsch 24:102. Agata Bulska 25:063. Katie Oneill 25:29DAY 5: MASTER MEN 40+1. Randal Huntington 21:152. Christian Wingate 23:013. Damian Walsh 24:08Visit www.transnz.com for full Day 5 and overall results.
Amaya Awaits Buyout Offer, Playtech Rumoured To Be Among Investors

March 04, 2016 Giovanni Angioni

Those interested in the future of PokerStars, Full Tilt, and all the other brands owned by Amaya Inc. will have to wait for a bit longer to know whether the Toronto- and London-listed company will be privatized or not.

On Feb. 1, the company announced that it expected to receive a non-binding all-cash buyout offer to come from a group of investors led by the Amaya CEO David Baazov before month's end. One month after the announcement, nothing official has been communicated and no offer has been presented to the public.

This, however, does not mean that things are not moving along and that the largest online poker operator may not change ownership in the near future.

With a note published on Amaya's corporate website on March 2, the special committee of independent directors of Amaya, appointed on Jan. 31, 2016, provided an update on the steps that the Montreal-based company is talking "to conduct an independent review of alternatives in light of Amaya's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, David Baazov, having advised the Board of Directors of Amaya that he and a group acting with him intend to make an offer to acquire Amaya."

Although the company has explicitly stated that "Amaya has not received an offer from Mr. Baazov or otherwise," the committee has already proceeded to engage the international investment bank Moelis & Company LLC to provide an independent valuation of Amaya's securities in connection with any offer that may be made by Mr. Baazov."

Additionally, Amaya has also restricted Baazov's access to sensitive and confidential information and has "implemented processes and restrictions and established guidelines regarding the ongoing management of Amaya in the context of a potential offer for Amaya by a group led by Mr. Baazov."

Who Is Trying to Buy Amaya?

Although Baazov's name is the one that the public discussed the most since the news broke out, the Amaya CEO is not alone in the venture that aims to get control of the company. As it came out only a few days after the intention to make an all-cash buyout offer became public, Baazov is not the only member of the company's top management ready to join the acquisition.

"Amaya has been notified that Amaya's Executive Vice President, Corporate Development & General Counsel (Marlon Goldstein), along with three other employees, may be participating in Mr. Baazov's potential transaction proposal," Amaya stated in back in February.

Word on the street is that Playtech might be interested in the operation and is allegedly considering to take control of the world's largest poker site. On March 3, Bloomberg mentioned Playtech in the list of potential bidders and explained that the Isle of Man-based company founded by Teddy Sagi may be one of the investors mentioned by Baazov earlier this year.

"Potential bidders, said to include Playtech Plc, have held discussions to join a takeover bid being planned by Amaya's chief executive officer and chairman David Baazov rather than launching their own, according to people familiar with the matter," Scott Deveau wrote for Bloomberg.

Playtech hasn't confirmed any of the rumors regarding its involvement in Amaya's buyout operation, although the company's chairman, Alan Jackson, explicitly mentioned the fact that Playtech is currently looking a number of strategic acquisitions.

"Playtech has always been highly disciplined when acquiring businesses and capabilities to ensure that they meet stringent criteria," Jackson said on Feb. 25, when he presented the full year results for the year ended Dec. 31, 2015. "We are currently in live discussions on a number of potential acquisitions in the Gaming division."

As discussed here on PokerNews, it seems that Playtech, which was once linked with a possible takeover of bwin.party, is in advanced talks to acquire OpenBet, a sports-betting platform controlled by Vitruvian partner, a private equity firm.

OpenBet's clients include Ladbrokes, William Hill, Paddy Power, Betfair, and Sky Betting and Gaming, all of whom are companies that Playtech already supplies with either casino or poker products, or both in some cases.

It is thought OpenBet would cost Playtech in the region of 250-300 million and is thought an acquisition could spark competition questions due to the contracts it already has in place with the aforementioned UK bookmakers.

Should the rumors turn out to be accurate, the presence of Playtech in Amaya's new ownership could represent an obstacle for the expansion of the company's assets into the United States since back in the 1990s the company's founder and majority shareholder Sagi was jailed for stock fraud.

Image courtesy of Reuters.com

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The Online Railbird Report: Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky Big Winner After Banking $255K

March 04, 2016 Chad Holloway Executive Editor U.S.

In this week's Online Railbird Report, which seeks to keep you updated on the high-stakes cash game action on PokerStars, we look take a look at Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky's big win.

Sulsky was far and away the week's biggest winner after banking $255,433 in 4,031 hands spread across 14 sessions. The next closest winner was Daniel "d2themfi" Isaacson, who won a modest $84,310 in 489 hands over 10 sessions. Meanwhile, Timofey "Trueteller" Kuznetsov came in third on the leaderboard with $69,317 in profit, which came in 1,721 hands over 17 sessions.

On the flip side, Andres "Educa-p0ker" Artinano had a losing week after dropping $282,953 in 2,911 hands over eight sessions. Still, the Spaniard sits atop the yearly leaderboard, albeit it now with "just" $637,917 in profit.

Another player who had a bad week was Sami "LrsLzk" Kelopuro, who lost $102,244 in 3,025 hands over 36 sessions.

Isaacson vs. Haxton in Pot-Limit Omaha Action

According to HighStakesDB, on Thursday, February 25 a $100/$200 pot-limit Omaha game broke out between Isaacson and Isaac "philivey2694" Haxton. After three and a half hours, during which they played 488 hands across nine tables, Isaacson walked away an $84,300 winner. Here's a look at the two biggest hands from the match.

Isaac Haxton

Hand #1: Isaacson ($28,920.20) opened for $680 and then called when Haxton ($29,420.05) three-bet to $2,120. The flop saw Haxton lead out for $2,159, Isaacson raised to $10,795, and Haxton three-bet to $27,300.03. Isaacson called off for $26,800.20 total and just like that there was a $58,000.40 pot on the line.

Isaacson:

Haxton:

Both players had flopped a flush draw, but Isaacson's was best in that regard. The two agreed to run it twice, and Isaacson locked up half the pot after making the said flush on the first turn and river run out. No diamond appeared on the second, which came the turn and river, but Isaacson backdoored two pair to scoop the entire pot.

Hand #2: Haxton ($43,414.86) limped and then called when Isaacson ($30,168.92) exercised his option with a raise to $680, which brought about an flop. Isaacson bet $1,438, Haxton raised to $4,285.24, and Isaacson just called to see the turn. Isaacson check-called a bet of $7,400 and then check-called off for $17,803.68 when the completed the board on the river.

Haxton showed the for a counterfeited two pair, but it was no good as Isaacson held a full house with the to win the $60,397.84 pot.

Kuznetsov Takes Kelopuro for $116,400 Playing PLO

On Saturday February 27, Russia's Kuznetsov finished atop the daily leaderboard after winning $48,000 playing PLO against Kelopuro. The two returned on Sunday, and history repeated itself, albeit to the tune of $116,400.

According to HighStakesDB, the duo played met for two short sessions, and surprisingly there were no huge hands. In the biggest, Kuznetsov ($19,000) raised to $680, Kelopuro ($20,918) called, and the flop came down . Kelopuro check-called a bet of $1,078.50, action went check-check on the turn, and the paired the board on the river.

Kelopuro led out for $2,408.65 and Kuznetsov raised to $9,200. Kelopuro proceeded to move all in for $19,359.50 and Kuznetsov called off his last $8,041.50 to create a $38,160 pot. Kuznetsov showed the for queens full of sevens, but it was no good as Kelopuro held a bigger boat with the .

Not a Good Leap Day for Artinano; Sulsky Wins Big

On Monday, February 29, Sulsky and Artinano squared off at the $100/$200 no-limit hold'em tables and the former managed to take his opponent for $118,900 over the course of the four-hour match.

In the biggest pot of the day, which was a sick hand, Sulsky ($79,281.77) raised to $460 from the button holding the and then called when Artinano ($40,958.77) three-bet to $2,000 with the . The flop was gin for Sulsky, who raised Artinano's $1,999 bet up to $5,477.16.

Andres Artinano

A call was made and Artinano hit his card when the peeled off on the river. He check-called a bet of $9,216.15 and amazingly the spiked on the river to give Sulsky quads! Artinano checked, Sulsky bet $33,384.62, and Artinano called off for $24,265.46 only to watch the $81,917.54 pot pushed to his opponent.

On Tuesday, the two were back at it and again things went well for Sulsky, who topped the daily leaderboard after taking Artinano for $160,900 across three tables in six hours.

In the biggest pot of the day, Sulsky ($41,243.42) opened for $460 and then called when Artinano ($62,953.51) three-bet to $2,000. When the flop came down , Artinano checked and Sulsky bet $2,318.84. Artinano woke up with a check-raise to $7,154.82, Sulsky called, and the paired the board on the turn.

Artinano led out for $7,323.05, Sulsky raised to $14,646.10, and Artinano called before checking the river. Sulsky moved all in for $17,442.50 and Artinano called with the . It was no good though as Sulsky held a full house with the to lay claim to the $82,486.84 pot.

Kelopuro Books a Win at $100/$200 PLO Tables

On Wednesday, March 2, Kelopuro finished as the biggest winner of the day after winning $91,200 off Kuznetsov after two and a half hours and 441 hands at the $100/$200 PLO tables.

The biggest of those hands happened when Kuznetsov ($36,452.27) raised to $680, Kelopuro ($43,285.73) called, and the flop came down . Kelopuro check-called a bet of $958.66 and then checked the turn. Kuznetsov bet $2,516.49 and then called when Kelopuro check-raised to $10,904.79.

When the completed the board on the river, Kelopuro bet $20,131.92 and Kuznetsov called. Kelopuro tabled the for a wheel, and it earned him the $65,310.74 pot as Kuznetsov simply mucked.

Biggest Winners/Losers from Feb. 25  March 2

Winners Profit Losers Loss Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky $255,433 Andres "Educa-p0ker" Artinano $282,953 Daniel "d2themfi" Isaacson $84,310 Sami "LrsLzk" Kelopuro $102,244 Timofey "Trueteller" Kuznetsov $69,317 "Chung ho" $61,722 Elior "Crazy Elior" Sion $64,056 Mikael "ChaoRen160" Thuritz $57,090

Biggest Winners/Losers of 2016

Winners Profit Losers Loss Andres "Educa-p0ker" Artinano $637,917 Alex "Kanu7" Millar $558,835 Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky $335,614 Daniel "w00ki3z." Cates $242,695 "Cobus83" $257,285 "candela2005" $212,068 "hhecklen" $116,312 "40and7" $175,332 Mikael "ChaoRen160" Thuritz $97,914 "I_Mr_U_Bean" $173,210 "bazzzzzzz" $87,377 "Aron0621" $161,152

*Lead photo courtesy of globalpokerindex.com.

Data and hands obtained from HighStakesDB.com

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Sharelines Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky was online poker's biggest winner of the week with $255,433 in profit.

Andres "Educa-p0ker" Artinano dropped $282,953 this week to finish as week's biggest loser.
Translation, bear confirming: "It was always a crock, wasn't it?."

The saviors of the earth will move on.

Peak warmism has already hit, and the global warming movement is now on its long glide path through loss of government funding, budget and hiring cuts, less media attention, on the way to unfashionability, embarrassment, and eventually obscurity, a historical footnote like phrenology (which was once the rage in elite academic circles).

James Delingpole, who writes at Breitbart:
Montgomery, AL, police officer Aaron "A.C." Smith (Photo: Montgomery County Detention Center)

Montgomery, AL, police officer Aaron "A.C." Smith, 23, has been arrested and charged with murder in the shooting death of Gregory Gunn.

Montgomery County District Attorney Daryl Bailey stated during a Wednesday afternoon news conference that "probable cause" was found in an investigation by the State Bureau of Investigation to arrest Smith. Smith was booked in the Montgomery County Detention Facility with a $150,000 bond, WSFA TV reports.

The investigation started shortly after Gunn, a 59-year-old black man, was shot and killed by Smith, a white police officer, in the city's Mobile Heights neighborhood early last Thursday morning.

Gregory Gunn (Photo: WSFA TV via family)

Montgomery police have said Smith was on routine patrol when he noticed what he believed to be a suspicious man walking down the street. Smith engaged Gunn, and there was a struggle that continued for about a block. At some point Smith fired his weapon and fatally struck Gunn.

Bailey said the investigation is ongoing and will take time, but once it is complete, it will be turned over to a grand jury.
Jackie Lacey (Official Photo: L.A. County DA's Office)

Jackie Lacey, district attorney of Los Angeles County, wrote a column for the Los Angeles Daily News:

When allegations of excessive force are leveled against law enforcement officers, it causes me deep concern. I understand the public's anger over what they may perceive as unjustified uses of force by those we entrust to protect us. I take these cases  and the public's demand for accountability  very seriously.

As the county's top prosecutor, it is my legal and ethical obligation to remain impartial until a rigorous and thorough investigation is completed in each and every case.

Since I took office in December 2012, there have been more than 290 officer-involved shootings throughout Los Angeles County.

My office conducts an independent investigation every time a police officer or sheriff's deputy shoots someone in the line of duty. We send our District Attorney Response Team (DART) to the scene immediately. Each team consists of an experienced prosecutor and a seasoned investigator. They are on-call 24/7 every day of the year.

We believe that being present at the scene of an officer-involved shooting reminds everyone affected  law enforcement officers, the family of the injured or deceased, witnesses and the community  that impartial prosecutors are watching.

By law and protocol, the DART team does not take over the investigation. The law enforcement agency involved must complete its own internal investigation and present its findings to our office for the possible filing of criminal charges.

After a comprehensive review of all of the evidence presented, there is only one question that we, as prosecutors, must answer: Can we prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officer acted unlawfully?

In every case, we issue a detailed report that summarizes the event, witness statements and our legal findings. The report is public.

Sometimes, there is confusion over the district attorney's role when a law enforcement agency finds that an officer-involved shooting was out of policy or the officer used improper tactics. Acting out of policy and using improper tactics are not crimes.

But they may  and often do  result in costly civil lawsuits. State, county and city officials may make risk-management decisions: They settle these lawsuits for large amounts of money rather than go to trial and risk multimillion-dollar jury verdicts.

Our mission to represent the people of Los Angeles County is clear and unambiguous: We apply the law and file criminal charges based solely on the facts and the law  not on emotion, anger or external pressure.

When justice is perverted and decisions are made based on anything but the evidence, such as the defendants social status, position in the community, education, job, power or lack of power, then we have failed and our community suffers irreparable harm.

My job is to make certain that every shooting is thoroughly reviewed in accordance with the law. To that end, I am confident that if you look at our legal analysis based on the evidence we had at the time, you will find that we made the right call in every case.

I am proud of the work we do.

You can read the entire column from the Los Angeles Daily News.
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Hundreds of protesters gathered outside of the Republican Fox News debate at the Fox Theatre in Detroit, Michigan Thursday evening, chanting Flint Lives Matter, Dump Trump, with some holding arrest Gov. Snyder signs.

Dozens cheered and clapped as a woman shouted repeatedly, Go home, Republicans! Youve wrecked Detroit and poisoned our children. We dont want you here. Get out!, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Watch here:

Protesters pointed out to the Detroit Free Press that the Republicans had not even discussed the Flint water crisis.

Our message is clear and quite frankly it surpasses politics, said Rev. Charles Williams II in a statement reported by MLive. Fix Flint now.

In the midst of the Flint water crisis many feel Republicans in the Senate have been silent on passing a bill to support the rebuilding of the infrastructure of Flint, the statement continued. Activists will gather in front of the Fox Theatre and stage a protest demanding a Republican response from candidates and its party.

Not a mention of the Flint water crisis thus far, nor the fact that Governor Snyder sent the man who made the mistakes in Flint to Detroit to be empowered to make similar mistakes in Detroit schools.

Update: Republicans mentioned Flint only to defend Gov Snyder and blame Democrats for the Flint water crisis.


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After abandoning Marco Rubio, Fox News will host a debate where they will be powerless to stop the GOP from crumbling under Trump.

Audio of Sarah Jones and Jason Easley discussing the Trump/Fox chaos:

New York Magazine reported that Fox has bailed on Trump:

According to three Fox sources, Fox chief Roger Ailes has told people hes lost confidence in Rubios ability to win. Were finished with Rubio, Ailes recently told a Fox host. We cant do the Rubio thing anymore. Ailes was already concerned about Rubios lackluster performance in GOP primaries and caucuses, winning only one contest among the 15 that have been held. But the more proximate cause for the flip was an embarrassing New York Times article revealing that Rubio and Ailes had a secret dinner meeting in 2013 during which the Florida senator successfully lobbied the Fox News chief to throw his support behind the Gang of 8 comprehensive immigration-reform bill. Roger hates seeing his name in print, a longtime Ailes associate told me. He was appalled the dinner was reported, the source said.

Fox News formerly could be counted on to save the Republican Party, but as the debate tonight will likely demonstrate, Fox is powerless to stop Trump. Megyn Kelly and company will definitely try, but if the network has given up on Rubio, it is a sign that Fox News may unload both barrels on Donald Trump in a last ditch effort to deny him the delegates that he will need to clinch the nomination.

The Republican Party is crumbling, but there may be little that Fox News can do to save the GOP from Trump.
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Megyn Kelly showed why Donald Trump has been so afraid of facing her by completely owning him at the Fox News Republican debate.

Video:

Before the clips rolled, Megyn Kelly said, Mr. Trump, one of the things that voters love about you is that they believe you tell it like it is, but time and time again in this campaign, you have told voters one thing then reversed yourself in weeks or even sometimes days.

Kelly used three sets of clips of Trump giving differing statements on troops staying in Afghanistan, George W. Bush lying about Iraq, and whether the US should accept Syrian refugees.

Trump described his flip-flopping as being flexible. It is easy to see why Trump has been avoiding Megyn Kelly. She has owned Donald Trump during this debate. As bad as the video proof of his flip-flops was, Kellys later destruction of Trump on the Trump University case was worse. Megyn Kelly did what Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and John Kasich cant do. She ate Donald Trump for lunch.

Kelly seems to have Trumps number, and thanks to her position as the future of Fox News, she can go after the Republican frontrunner in a way that other members of the corporate media are terrified to attempt. Donald Trump is having a bad night, and Megyn Kelly is a big reason why.
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Do you like to grab your popcorn, head out to the nearest railroad tracks, and watch the boxcars full of Christians being hauled away to the FEMA camps?

Neither do I.

Because its not happening.

You wouldnt know that from reading Pat Robertsons CBN News, which just published a piece by the president of Massachusetts-based MassResistance, Brian Camenker, who argues there is a big push on to silence Christians:



Some say American Christians are paranoid, that theyre feeling targeted and persecuted. But is it possible America is facing a growing anti-Christian agenda?

MassResistance says they are a pro-family activist organization that educates people to help them confront the attacks on the traditional family, children, religion, and society. They say they give citizens and activists everywhere the tools and strategy to effectively confront the anti-family forces against them.

Its just a shame they arent as willing to confront the facts as they are to push their own prejudices. Invoking the holocaust has, as Mike Huckabee and others have shown, become a regular feature of the Republican Partys culture war.

Camenker complains in his article that, Some on the frontline of the culture wars have responded with a resounding yes. They feel it up close and personal  right in their faces:

Im particularly sensitive to that because Im Jewish, Brian Camenker, with Mass Resistance, told CBN News.



I saw what happened to Jews in the 1930s and 40s and much of that same thing is happening to Christians now, he said. Theres an organized movement to demonize Christians.

If you see any death camps, shout out. As I have repeatedly shown here, the Religious Right uses the same language of gays as Nazis used of Jews, presenting them like a parasite infecting society. Camenker should be ashamed of peddling such lurid fantasies.

He is not alone of course, and proud of the fact that others share his shameful delusions:

Maggie Gallagher, with the American Principles Project, agreed.



What were seeing very clearly is an effort to target them [Christians] legally when possible and then to humiliate or deprive them of social respect, she said.



Much of this comes from abortion and gay rights groups and their supporters.



They see Christianity as refusing to affirm the things they wish to indulge in, said Peter Sprigg, senior fellow for policy studies at the Family Research Council.



Both Sprigg and Rev. Bill Owens, with the Coalition of African-American Pastors, are frequent targets of gay rights groups.



They cannot accept any moral code that says what they do is wrong and in order to avoid any sort of guilt that might come upon them if anyone says that what theyre doing is wrong, they want to eliminate that kind of communication from the culture altogether, Sprigg explained.



Owens continued, Theres a strong agenda to silence Christians. You see it every day. You cant walk out of your house and not see something anti-Christian.

Oh dear, Christians wont affirm the things we leftists want to indulge insince when do we care?

We  LGBT people, women, atheists, religious minorities  just want them to leave us alone, and not try to force us to do the things they like to indulge in.

Thats the only problem here. There is most definitely persecution going on, but it is not against, but rather than by, so-called Christians like Camenker.

The people being treated like Jews in Nazi Germany are gays, who are actually being treated like they were treated in Nazi Germany, with the added blow that they are accused by these so-called Christians (like Scott Lively) of having driven the Nazi movement before, bizarrely, throwing themselves (?) into concentration camps.

As Bernie Sanders said in a tweet, In many states, its legal to fire someone for being gay or deny someone housing for being transgender. Were gonna change that!

It is not, it might be observed, legal to fire somebody for being Christian, or deny someone housing for being an evangelical. And no, were not trying to change that.

In fact, throughout most of the country  twenty-nine states  you can be fired for being gay. There are some exceptions, for example, government employees, and some cities offer protections the states do not.

A 2011 study by the Williams Institute highlighted the extent of workplace discrimination of LGBT people. Many of us have personally witnessed or even experienced harassment from evangelicals in the workplace.

Impossible to find are incidents of gays trying to force gayness on unwilling Christians.

The truth is, in exactly zero states can you be fired for being a Christian, let alone risk being carted off to a concentration camp based on your beliefs, however hateful and bigoted. The worst you might have to do is bake a cake.

Thats a pretty rough life. Victims of the Nazis would have been so lucky to have had to bake cakes. You can almost hear Hitler laughing from here.

In fact, far from discrimination, there is wide-spread support for gay rights among Americans according to polls. Not widespread support for persecution of Christians, because the two are not the same. Equal rights for all does not mean fewer rights for one, whatever absurd claims might be made to the contrary.

Yet according to Camenker, the Supreme Courts marriage equality ruling demonizes the biblical beliefs of Christians and them along with it.

Far from it. It doesnt even stop Christians from demonizing gays. Rather, it prevents Christians from imposing their religious beliefs on other people, which is, after all, something prohibited by the First Amendment.
PPP polls of Iowa, Arizona, North Carolina, and Missouri revealed that four long-term Republican incumbents could lose their seats if they obstruct President Obamas Supreme Court nominee.

According to PPP:

-All these Senators start out with pretty mediocre approval ratings. John McCains approval is a 26/63 spread, Roy Blunts is 25/48, and Richard Burrs is 28/44. Only Chuck Grassley within this group is on positive ground and his 47/44 spread is down considerably from what we usually find for him as he loses crossover support from Democrats because of his intransigence on the Supreme Court issue. Further making life difficult for this quartet is the incredibly damaged brand of Senate Republicans. Mitch McConnell is vastly unpopular in these four states, coming in at 11/63 in Iowa, 16/68 in Arizona, 16/69 in Missouri, and 19/65 in North Carolina. McConnell will be an albatross for all Senate Republicans seeking reelection this fall.

-Strong majorities of voters in each of these states want the Supreme Court vacancy to be filled this year. Its a 56/40 spread in favor of filling the seat in Iowa, 56/41 in Arizona and Missouri, and 55/41 in North Carolina. Whats particularly important in the numbers is the strong support for filling the seat among independents- its 60/38 in Missouri, 59/37 in Arizona, 58/38 in Iowa, and 55/38 in North Carolina. Independent voters will be key to determining whether these incumbents sink or swim this fall, and they want the vacancy filled.

-What voters especially have a problem with is Senate Republicans saying theyre going to reject President Obamas nominee for the Supreme Court no matter who it is. Super majorities of voters in all four of these states- 69/25 in Arizona, 66/24 in Missouri, 66/25 in North Carolina, and 66/26 in Iowa say that the Senate should at least wait and see whos put forward before deciding whether to confirm or deny that person. Even Republican voters- 56/35 in Arizona, 54/38 in North Carolina, 52/37 in Missouri, and 50/39 in Iowa think their Senators are taking far too extreme of a position by saying they wont approve President Obamas choice without even knowing who that choice is.

-The Supreme Court issue really could make a difference at the ballot box this fall. Voters by a 34 point margin in Arizona and Missouri, a 21 point margin in North Carolina, and a 14 point margin in Iowa say that theyre less likely to vote for their Republican Senators this fall if they refuse to confirm a nominee to the Supreme Court no matter who it is. This is again something where we find the Republican Senators could particularly pay a price with independent voters. Independents in Arizona say 61/18 theyre less likely to vote for John McCain because of this issue, and its 55/16 for Richard Burr with them in North Carolina, 55/20 for Roy Blunt with them in Missouri, and 48/24 for Chuck Grassley with them in Iowa.
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There is a relatively well-known quote attributed to the author of The Art of War, Sun Tzu or Sun Wu, that says the wheels of justice grind slow, but grind exceedingly fine. The agreed meaning is that although it seems that well-connected people and rich criminals seem to operate with impunity, eventually the law catches up to them and they face justice. Recently, Americans witnessed the slow wheels of justice eventually come to rest on the seditious armed militia men at the Bundy Ranch and Oregon wildlife center last month, but not all of the governments enemies were apprehended; until yesterday. Interestingly, but not surprising, one of the anti-government insurgents also happened to be the co-chair of Republican presidential aspirant Donald J. Trumps campaign.

On Thursday, the husband of a New Hampshire Republican legislator and official Trump campaign co-chair of New Hampshires Veterans for Trump coalition, was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The man, Jerry Delemus, was arrested on nine federal charges for his participation in the seditious armed standoff nearly two years ago at Cliven Bundys ranch. The nine charges include conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States of America (sedition), threatening a federal law enforcement officer (also sedition), and several firearm charges.

In 2014, the seditious Tea Party crusader and brazen Donald Trump supporter answered Bundys call to armed rebellion against the United States and traveled across the country to join the various militia groups looking for a war against the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Apparently Delemus believed, like Bundy and most Republicans, that the United States government overstepped its authority by owning land and expecting Cliven Bundy to do what every other cattle rancher does; pay grazing fees.

Likely thinking that the government had forgiven, forgot, or just overlooked a blatant act of sedition against the United States, Delemus took another trip this past January to join the Bundy boys sedition, armed invasion, and occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Preserve in Oregon. For a so-called warrior patriot, it is apparent that Delemus never read The Art of War. If so, he too would have learned that although slow, the wheels of justice grind away to a bad end for criminals; even if they are married to a Republican legislator and even if it takes a couple of years.

Delemus wife, Susan Delemus, a Republican New Hampshire legislator announced her husbands arrest to the former chairman of New Hampshires Republican Party, Jack Kimball. A typical anti-government Republican, Kimball immediately used Facebook to issue a call for all New Hampshire patriots to come together ASAP to protest this tyranny in the most visible way possible. Likely, the call to be most visible includes coming together with plenty of weapons and ammunition; it is the same call that eventually led to Delemus being arrested on Thursday.

The former chair of the New Hampshire Republican Party said that Mrs. Delemus complained to him the FBI just rolled up with lots of vehicles and Agents who were in tactical gear. They forced their way into Jerry Delemus and Sues condo with weapons drawn and arrested Jerry and took him away. It is noteworthy that there were absolutely no Republicans complaining when the Bundy armed militias drew, and trained, their weapons on federal officials doing their jobs, or the Bundy insurgents forcing their way, with weapons drawn, into the Malhauer Wildlife Center; but then again Republicans are not known for maintaining even a semblance of continuity of conviction; about anything.

There is not a lot known about Jerry Delemus save that he thinks anything less than political violence is a lie and is a seditious militant and insurgent in opposition to the United States. But his Republican lawmaker wife has a less-than-admirable history. The media, both local and national, have quoted both Jerry and Susan Delemus multiple times about their unwavering support for Donald Trump. In fact, state legislator Delemus earned a little notoriety after claiming that every politician in America but Trump was lying to her through the television. Mrs. Delemus said,

Weve got people in positions of power who I know for a fact are liars. Liars! I watch the TV  My president comes on the TV and he lies to me! I know hes lying. He lies all the time.

Four years ago the Republican legislator made the TV news after angrily assailing, in person, state officials in a failed attempt to keep President Obama off the 2012 general election ballot in New Hampshire. Her outrageous contention caused the New Hampshire assistant secretary of state to fear for his safety.

Two weeks ago Susan Delemus made the news again for jumping in to protect Donald Trump from an old South American priest who happens to be running the Vatican over Trumps imagined feud with Pope Francis; a feud that the Pontiff is likely unaware was ongoing. Mrs. Delemus wrote in defense of Trump on her Facebook page that The Pope is the anti-Christ. Do your research.! Now, it is unclear where Delemus spent her research time investigating the Popes secret identity as the anti-Christ, but there is nothing in any serious liturgical literature, or the Christian bible, identifying the head of the Holy Catholic Church as the mortal enemy of Jesus Christ.

It is probably the case that Donald Trump has no input into whether or not a seditious criminal was co-chairing his New Hampshire Veterans for Trump campaign coalition, so it is irresponsible to even attempt to tie Trump directly to an insurgent against America. However, this incident does, like so many others, expose the type of American that is flocking to support the Donald. At least New Hampshire residents can rest easy that a seditious militant in their midst is safely where he belongs, and only have to worry about the insurgents Republican legislator wife going off the rails in support of Trump.
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Tonights Republican presidential debate was not a game-changer. In fact, Im not sure it will have any impact on the race.

Obviously, this is a bad outcome for those of us who are anti-Trump, so I wish I could report otherwise. But I just didnt see anything that seems likely to (1) cause Trump to lose support or even (2) cause the considerable anti-Trump sentiment in the party to deepen.

Here are my impressions and grades of the four candidates and Megyn Kelly, the fifth debater, who attacked Trump more effectively than anyone else tonight.

Donald Trump: He was the Alpha Male once again. He dominated the stage. He was untruthful and nasty, but less nasty than usual. He bragged about his anatomy.

He insisted that members of our military will obey illegal orders if he issues them because he is a great leader. He exudes confidence.

When Trump struggled, it was usually due to the questioning of Megyn Kelly (see below). Kelly isnt running for president, though.

Grade: B

Marco Rubio: Rubio had some good moments, but I dont think we saw his A game tonight. In the first half of the debate, his attacks on Trump sometimes struck me as ankle biting, which feeds into Trumps little Marco put down.

In the second half of the debate, Rubio went mostly positive. Hes always good when hes positive, but the themes he sounds just havent been enough to carry him to the top. I fear they wont be enough now to save his presidential bid.

I also feel that Rubio dropped the ball late in the debate when he was asked, in effect, to say why Trump wouldnt be a good foreign policy president. This was his opportunity to clobber Trump on specific matters such as Israel and Syria. In my estimation, Rubios response was too general.

Grade: B-

Ted Cruz: He had a very good night, I think. Coming off of Super Tuesday, he seemed energized, whereas Rubio seemed a little tired.

He handled Trump better than Rubio did tonight. Rubio often tried to interrupt Trump, usually unsuccessfully. Cruz handled Trumps interruptions by telling him to control himself and to count to ten or breathe, breathe. It worked (for Cruz, not for Trump).

Cruzs answers were consistently strong. His best one might have been a condemnation of the left for ruining Detroit. Jonathan Last has an excellent summary of other effective Cruz moments  a highlight reel, if you will.

Grade: A

John Kasich: It was more of the same from the Ohio man tonight. If youve seen any of the debates, you know what I mean.

His problem-solving, above-the-fray line hasnt gotten him to 10 percent in most states, but it has worked fairly well in a few enclaves. It may carry the day in Ohio.

Kasichs unwillingness to attack Trump may go beyond just trying to look like the adult in the room. I cant help but suspect he wouldnt mind being Trumps running mate.

Thus, when asked about a commercial his campaign ran months ago suggesting that Putin would be a good running mate for Trump, Kasich said Im not going to take the bait and gave us a mini-trip around the world  i.e., a superficial discussion of a few hot spots.

Grade: C+ insofar as running for president concerned; higher for purposes of the VP sweepstakes.

Megyn Kelly: As I said above, Kelly caused Trump his most uncomfortable moments tonight. And she managed it without being called out by the tycoon  a rare instance in which he restrained his nasty side.

In one round, Kelly played video clips showing Trump reversing himself on a three issues: Afghanistan, Syrian refugees, and whether Bush lied about WMD. Trump looked less than Trumpian when he tried to explain away some of his past positions as begrudging or meekly stated.

In the end, Trump said you have to be flexible. Maybe thats good enough, but Trump, for once, was clearly on the defensive.

In another round, Kelly basically entered the debate over Trump University on the side of Rubio. Appropriate or not (I dont think it was), she landed what may have been the biggest blows of the night.

Rubio was saying that Trump U got a D-minus rating from whichever outfit it is that rates such enterprises. Trump said it got an A. Kelly came down on Rubios side.

She also noted that when Trump counter-sued the lead plaintiff in a suit against him over his University, the court dismissed his case and required him to pay the other sides legal fees. In addition, she quoted some harsh language against Trump by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The best Trump could do was say lets see what happens with the case in a few months. This enabled Cruz to say that Republicans cant risk nominating a candidate with something like this hanging over his head. We dont want to be debating Trump U this summer, Cruz argued.

Grade: A (if youre down with moderators becoming debaters, Candy Crowley style)

Trump also didnt look great when Chris Wallace used charts to show that Trumps figures dont add up when it comes to balancing the budget. Wallace was prepared with full screen shots demonstrating that the savings Trump could obtain by eliminating the Department of Education and the EPA, and by negotiating better deals with drug companies would be woefully inadequate. Trump was left to allege other, unspecified alleged savings.

Unfortunately, it doesnt seem realistic to hope that moments like these will derail, or even slow down appreciably, the Trump express. In my estimation, this debate fell short of the pre-Super Tuesday one as an anti-Trump night.

Perhaps the two debates taken together and coupled with aggressive multi-state advertising will take a big toll on Trump. But Im not counting on it.
One of the Founders and CEO of NedAirland, a Dutch premium air company looking to make an impact says, "There's plenty of evidence of the benefits and a growing demand for clean air." He says, "NedAirland offers a top quality product that's easy to use." NedAirland will deliver it all for you. The crew will get out, sample the fresh air, seal the can and get it straight to you.

NedAirland - Dutch is in the air!

PR-Inside.com: 2016-03-04 13:20:27

Press Information

NedAirland

Heyermansstraat 1C





3202VG





Spijkenisse



Alain

Founder

+31636308969

email

http://www.nedairland.com





# 776 Words

Heyermansstraat 1C3202VGSpijkenisseFounder+31636308969

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMedia ContactNedAirland,Heyermansstraat 1C, 3202VG,Spijkenisse, Zuid Holland, Netherlands+31636308969 / +31631522627info@ nedairland.com NedAirland Launches New Webshop for Sale of Fresh, Dutch Air  Ludic, Fun, GiftNetherland based company, Nedairland launch their latest canned air launch salesNetherlands, 2016  Nedairland launch their new web store for the sales of sampled, sealed, certified Dutch air in delfts blue cans. As recognized canned Air sellers, this new platform NedAirland is the company's most refined, sealed and certified canned air for pure air.Canned fresh air. This might seem absurd to anyone not smothered routinely in oppressive pollution, but in places like China that suffer from poor air quality, millionaires are being made selling fresh air.One of the Founders and CEO of NedAirland, a Dutch premium air company looking to make an impact says, "There's plenty of evidence of the benefits and a growing demand for clean air." He says, "NedAirland offers a top quality product that's easy to use." NedAirland will deliver it all for you. The crew will get out, sample the fresh air, seal the can and get it straight to you.Want something more exclusive? Want a piece of, for example, the Red-Light district in Amsterdam? No problem  NedAirland will even document and certify the product for you!Want something thats not available in the shop? Please, DO NOT WORRY. Just submit a request and NedAirland will take care of it!So, you probably all know the Dutch and the Netherlands, right? Wooden shoes, tulips, cheese and Amsterdam with all of its famous  legal  tourist attractions.So it makes sense to go for the obvious when you really, really need a souvenir or a Dutch related (business) gift. You will want the Delfts-blue wooden shoe, ceramic keychain, right?Wrong.You need something pure, something so Dutch, you even get proof with the product itself. You need something long-lasting, a memorabilia that will take you back to the amazing moments you had, you want something amazing to stun your professional partners with, you need something so amazing, far-fetched but ironic, that your friend will laugh but cherish the gift after all.Canned airThis is where the NedAirland team comes in.Believe it or not, but the team actually consists of experts in sampling activities.The NedAirland team will get out to that special place in the Netherlands, professionally sample the air according NedAirland procedures (wow, right!), seal the sample within the can and best of all, will deliver it to you with:-Photographical proof-A sampling report-CertificateContaining coordinates and seal-numbers, making it a real product, with real meaning and memories to go with it.So, yeah. This is pretty much the real deal!You will receive a typical Dutch can, Delfts-blue -of course!- with real, sampled air.If you are searching for that one special souvenir, the perfect and most clever (business) gift or if you just want to surprise your friends with this special gift, look no further;Most people will have a chuckle at the canned and jarred air that has exploded on the market. Once opened, everything is gone in a second. Products like NedAirland however, are sold in delft-blue cans that offers a lasting memory; Far more joy to the customer and far less waste than expected. In addition, the proof that will be delivered in the form of photographs, sampling report and certificate, makes it a serious product, more than just a hint of Dutch.When asked about where they see their product going, one of the founders says "There is already a huge market for clean air, but pure oxygen will soon become the next Red Bull. Athletes, gamers, party goers - soon it will be energy drink in one hand, oxygen in the other."  Sure!Bottled water had plenty of skepticism when it first hit the market, now it's completely commonplace. So will canned air hit the same jackpot? The team at NedAirland is betting on it. And why shouldnt they!For more information about the products available in the store, kindly visit http://www.nedairland.com/shop/ About NedAirlandNedAirland is a new business startup launched January, 2016, which delivers Fresh Canned Dutch Air to interested clients. The NedAirland crew task is to go out, sample the fresh air, seal the can and get it straight to the client. The team can also get air of a requested location, and will even document and certify the product for the client!For more information about the company, visit http://www.nedairland.com/about-us/ ###DUTCH IS IN THE AIR!
Ibrahim Wala is the Director of Media and Publicity of #IStandWithBuhari. In this interview with PREMIUM TIMES Festus Owete, he speaks on the groups plan to organize a nine million man march for President Muhammadu Buhari across the world as well as other issues.

Excerpts:

PT: Your organisation, I Stand With Buhari, sounds political. What basically is your goal and why do you have this organization at this time when there are no elections?

Wala: It may sound political but the name was carefully articulated to connect Nigerians with the good leadership traits of the man, Muhammadu Buhari. Understandably, the name rings a political bell because of the name Buhari, being a politician. Do not forget that he is the same man we all stood by because of his good characters as a leader.

The mere fact that the name dominated the space in every political news page during the campaign for the elections, everything connected to it (name) must be seen as political.

With all sense of responsibility, we agree with those who say #IStandWithBuhari is nothing but politics. However, the #iStandWithBuhari is an affirmative statement by Nigerians, in total support and solidarity with the actions and leadership style of President Muhammadu Buhari to change Nigeria. We must also understand the importance of coming to terms with the reality that election was a mere transitional stage. The stage we are in today is the moment of regaining all we have lost during the elections. The most important thing to do as a nation is to forget about our political differences and all that has happened to us in the days of context. These are the days of action and development.

PT: Are you saying this has nothing to do with President Buhari, the politician and his party, the All Progressives Congress?

Wala: This is about our own Nigeria; it is not about drumming political support for the person of Mr. President. It was intentionally conceived for the purpose of building a platform that will help in sensitizing Nigerians on the importance of effective governance. It is through such interactive platforms that Nigerians can easily be informed on the policies and programs of the administration of Mr. President. We must not continue with the I dont care attitude. If we do care in the process of choosing our leaders, we must also care when they are in office.

PT: Why now and why standing only with President Buhari?

Wala: This is it! I was waiting for you to ask. I must commend Nigerians for taking advantage of the new media as an instrument of change. First and foremost, the effective use of social media prompted Nigerians to the level of systemic decay in our country. The avalanche of information relating to corruption, impunity, bad governance, poor level of infrastructure, etc, coming out on daily basis overwhelmed the entire citizens. Before you knew it, there was a subconscious call for action because Nigerians understand what went wrong. This means that we knew our problems and without mincing word, we had our solution.

The solution was the outcome of the 2015 presidential elections. On the list of issues responsible for bringing Nigeria backward is corruption, which is more like a Starfish. It has strong tentacles that is capable of transmuting into multiple starfish, especially at the point you want to kill it. Despite all the ceremonial effort to kill corruption by the past administrations it has instead led to a state of failed economic, social and political institutions resulting in unemployment for Nigerian youth and looting of our aged parents pension funds and leaving little or no hope for the present and future of Nigeria. Understanding that the task ahead for the government is huge, its also clear that corruption will fight back.

Therefore, #iStandWithBuhari represents a wake up with physical and intellectual revolution strategies to create and guarantee the future of the Nigerian youth by showing solidarity with the principled character and ideologies of President Muhammadu Buhari.

PT: Are you aware that many Nigerians are becoming impatient with the president because they believe he has not lived up to expectation? Some of them believe he is only focussing on corruption leaving other areas unattended to.

Wala: The previous administration depleted our treasury and we saw the revelations from the EFCC that has to do with the so called respected elders and individuals in high places bleeding our resources without considering what the future holds for the younger generations. This means that Nigeria has been stabbed and it is bleeding furiously before the emergence of the Buharis administration. Since the nation has been stabbed, the only way to cure the nation is to remove the arrow of impunity and there is no such way that the arrow can be removed without the body (Nigeria) filling temporal pain to enjoy the everlasting comfort. This explains the need for deep-rooted institutional reforms by way of expunging all the corrupt elements within the institutions. Glad to know that every man and woman on the street understands and appreciate the situation we are in. What sacrifice for a better for a better!

PT: How do you intend to achieve with this?

Wala: If you now agree that the ultimate objectives of the #iStandWithBuhari initiative is to galvanize the entire Nigerian citizens into giving emotional support to their president, then we must also agree on how it can be achieved. But before we dwell on that, lets take a look at the direction Mr. President is headed  fight against corruption, zero tolerance to impunity, building a stronger economy that will foster financial inclusion for all, building stronger institutions, empowering the masses, compliance with Treasury Single Account, good governance, restoring global confidence, etc. None of these can be said to be for the benefit of a particular political party. They are all instruments for developing a nation for the collective benefit for all. In achieving this task, the #iStandWithBuhari Organization has carefully developed strategic programs and activities that will ensure easy implementation. The most prominent of the programs and activities is the AFFIRMATION MARCH which is coming on March 31, 2016.

PT: Is this not another million man march in the making? We saw a similar thing in the days of the former military head of state, Sani Abacha and in the days of Goodluck Jonathan when a group, Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN), organized rallies for his re-election.

Wala: Why do you think the previous leaders agreed with the idea of the million man match? The answer is simple. Even when Abacha was a military dictator, he knew very well that there is power in numbers, there is power in peoples opinions and this is what democracy is all about. Therefore, in justifying democratic objectives, the people must be involved and these people must be in numbers. For us to affirm to the President our moral support, we must mobilize Nigerian citizens on the basis of a roll call. Everyones opinion must be counted and affirmed because the only language that politicians understand and appreciate is the language of mass mobilization.

To respond to the part of your questions that relate #iStandWithBuhari with TAN, I must totally disagree with you because TAN was a campaign instrument towards the difficult period when there was little hope for the friends of the then president. It was strictly meant to ensure that their principal won the election. Ours is about encouraging President Buhari to stand firm in achieving his noble objectives which is in the interest of the nation.

In essence, this is the reason why mass mobilization is relevant in a situation where few are justifying their selfish and hidden agenda against the wish of the entire citizens. Our wish is to let us end corruption so that any other thing will fall in place. On this note, the Nine Million Nigerians Anti-Corruption Day Global Affirmation March is scheduled to hold in Nigeria and all major cities around the world simultaneously on Thursday 31st March 2016. The Nigerian venue for the March is Abuja.

PT: How do you fund your activities?

Wala: Permit me to highlight key notes in some of the document we made public, which captioned What We are Not They are Not a political organization, Non partisan and not affiliated to the APC, Not illegally sponsored by Government, and also not personally sponsored by PMB or a politician. and We are not TAN and we can never tarnish our image. Expanding on the aspect of funding or sponsorship, #iStandWithBuhari is an independent organization that is mindful of integrity and also frowned at corrupt practices. We will not take part in any form of indecent activity or accept to be used as a conduit pipe to any public office holder in the name of seeking for sponsorship or any form of financial support. One of our core values is the fight against corruption and abuse of law. This is why we restrict our sources for funding to the following: Contributions by members of #iStandWithBuhari; sales of merchandize or souvenirs (branded TShirts, mugs, key holders, calendars, etc); transparent fund raising process and partnership with local and international stakeholders and groups.

PT: So, after President Buharis days in office, what happens?

Wala: #iStandWithBuhari as an organization will surely outlived the days of President Buhari in office. The characters of role models in leadership positions have always outlived their days. Why are we still reading about the likes of Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela, Zik of Africa, Sardauna of Sokoto, etc?
The Executive Secretary, African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), Emmanuel Nnadozie, a professor, was in Nigeria recently. He spoke with PREMIUM TIMES Business Editor, Bassey Udo, on the state of the economy, Naira devaluation and corruption.

PREMIUM TIMES: How has your mission to Nigeria been?

Everything has gone very well. It gave me the opportunity to see firsthand some of the projects we support in Nigeria, such as the National Institute for Legislative Studies and the African University of Science and technology.

The vision of the Foundation is to see an Africa that is capable of achieving its own development. We have a five-year strategic plan ending this year. From next year, a new five-year strategy will run from 2017 to 2021. It is a strategy that essentially tries to provide the substance to promote an Africa capable of achieving its own development.

The strategy will build human institutional and leadership capacities; promote and build soft capacities relating to the society; change in mindset, improvement in attitudes and the ways people do business.

Specifically, we target critical areas identified by countries. Almost every African country wants to industrialize. They want to diversify their economies and become less dependent on primary commodity exports. They want to add value, and so, for us the challenge is how do we produce the critical skills needed for these things to happen.

How do you create or build the institutions necessary for promoting structural transformation? For a country like Nigeria, our challenges concern security, infrastructure and, the industrialization, and more importantly, youth unemployment. So, our priority areas of intervention would generally focus on these areas.

PREMIUM TIMES: How would new Nigerian institutions benefit from your support?

Most of the time, policies are designed, but the issue is how to make sure that things needed to be done are done. So, theres still a significant challenge of lack of implementation. That one is something that we can tackle very quickly. But as we go along the road and we have other discussions which will help us now to look at what we could be considered to be the serious capacity needs because we do a needs assessment whether of skills as well as of institutions. And then we can come up with a strategy that we can use to do that.

PREMIUM TIMES: The Buhari administration has been in power for more than eight months. It appears the economy has been stagnant and nothing seems to be working. Whats your view on this?

Any new administration will always need some time to really get started. Its never easy, especially when its a new political party that comes into government. So, you wont expect to see them able to move as quickly as the party that succeeded it.

Regarding the economy, I think the administration has been unlucky. It came into office when the price of crude oil  Nigeria primary export commodity  has collapsed in a very significant way. So, it means revenues have declined in a major way. That definitely will create problems for any administration in power.

In other words, theyll not be able to make the necessary social investments or capital expenditures needed to really drive the economy, or to really re-energize the economy.

PREMIUM TIMES: Whats the way forward?

The way forward is to see this price collapse as an opportunity not as a crisis. For far too long Nigeria has been talking about diversification, economic transformation, agricultural modernization and a massive industrialization, and these have never really happened. Now is the opportunity.

This is a rude awakening to say this is the time to tackle these problems and make the necessary investment in energy, in rail, road infrastructure and improve the business environment for businesses to invest and utilize the resources here.

So, at present, prudence is very important to manage the little resources that the country has and avoid the excesses and wastages of the past. Government has to stop the leakages in the economy so that it maximize available revenue.

Government has to improve upon the revenue collection to build on the work done on domestic resource mobilization. Nigeria has not done very well in mobilizing available resources, and so theres efficiency issues.

But the largest proportion of the problem is illicit financial outflows. So, when money is in short supply is a time to say, wait a minute, were losing billions of dollars every year.

For the whole of Africa, its over to $50 to $60 billion and Nigeria is number one on the list in terms of where this problem is happening.

So we have to stop the bleeding by paying attention to strengthening the capacity of all the stakeholders or organizations and departments that work in this area, especially Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank, the Customs agencies, the legal profession, specialized accountants.

We have to establish a Transfer Pricing Unit, because the greatest source of illicit outflows is really business, especially the role of big companies and multinationals, who use all kinds of tax avoidance mechanisms, tax evasion, transfer mispricing and so on, to really siphon money out there.

Its really a big loss of revenue to the government. So my advice would be prudent management of resources we have already. Government should begin to do something to improve the environment for businesses, pay serious attention to economic diversification right now, and of course do some belt tightening. I think the exchange rate policy has to be looked at very carefully.

PREMIUM TIMES: Do you think the Naira should be devalued?

Economics is not as intuitive as some other subjects. Many times one has to do counter-intuitive things. Thats what economics teaches us. But, unfortunately, many people dont listen to people who have spent some time understanding how economics works.

One needs a safety valve, and that really is what you have to pay attention to. My suggestion would be, if the administration is in doubt, it should bring different parties together, representatives of business, stakeholders and other non-governmental bodies, and then have a discussion to really understand what their own points of view are, and theyll be surprised what they would learn. That would help them to really know what policies to do. Im not going to prescribe to them.

The Central Bank of Nigerias policy of allocating foreign exchange may not be achieving the desired goals considering the disparity between the official exchange rate and the parallel rate, the incidence of smuggling, and its not possible for them to police how the FOREX given is utilized.

PREMIUM TIMES: Whats your view on the fight against corruption?

I completely agree with President Muhammadu Buharis statement that if Nigeria does not kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria. No country can stand the massive level of corruption, otherwise it will be completely destabilized and the economy will be in ruins.

And therefore, if anybody is in doubt, it can see precisely how corruption can lead to state failure. Some signs of it happened in some parts of the country, because of certain things that happened. So, its a worthwhile fight, and its something that needs to be done.

But, having said that, the end does not always justify the means. You have to be sure that in fighting this evil called corruption, you dont undermine your own systems, your own democracy, or your own judicial system.

Its important that the rule of law be followed. This is a country thats based on a constitution, and I believe that people are innocent until proven guilty. You cant judge and condemn people and sentence them in the media. You must ensure that you have systems in place to make sure that you take them through the process of the law and ensure that they get a fair hearing, and if they are guilty, then they should go to jail. The maximum penalty should be put on them. So, my point is that we have to fight this fight.

PREMIUM TIMES: Do you have any plans to train EFCC and ICPC to help in the corruption fight?

If we have a request from the Nigerian government to support in that area, well be more than happy. Some years ago, we did a study on corruption in Nigeria, and I was reading the book that we wrote at the ACBF on corruption using Nigeria as the case study, and it seems to me that even though this was many years ago, its the same story that were still talking about today.

In that document, we identified some of the capacity needs that still need to be addressed to effectively fight corruption. So, this depends on what the government thinks, that theres a role we can play in supporting the anti-corruption crusade which we completely subscribe to.

PREMIUM TIMES: What are these identified needs?

They are information, education and sensitization from the leadership. Theres no successful fight against corruption without a crusader at the top who leads by example. He or she has to be incorruptible.

One must have institutions that will either prevent corruption or fight it, if its already there; that will enforce the law. So, theres a collection of institutions that we know, starting from the parliament or the National Assembly. They have a critical role to play.

Also, the oversight and audit roles, for example, and then any range of organizations from the justice system, from law enforcement and the police force, and to those in audit and procurement department, Auditor General and the rest, then also to the other societies, the media, and other civil society.

So, theres room in strengthening areas weaknesses exist  in human as well as institutional capacities so that they can play their roles effectively. Fighting corruption is not just an enforcement issue; its a mindset as well.

You want to start educating younger people to begin to think differently about corruption, so that they dont believe that what they see everyday is the way things should be. I remind people that in the Nigeria we grew up in, there was corruption, but it was not something everybody aspired to be corrupt, to making it overnight.

Its all linked to the issues of patriotism as well. Fundamentally, for Nigeria to really survive, it has to pay attention to the issue of unifying the country and creating a nation where people are very patriotic and believe in it. Weve never had a sense of pride in our nation, and this is what encourages people to go and loot from the centre, either for themselves or for their community.

PREMIUM TIMES: Do you see a new Nigeria?

Nigeria is almost on a precipice. Nigerians have to put in the required effort to ensure their country succeeds. Its not just the president or the administration that need to do this. Its every Nigerian that has to put in their effort. Im optimistic that the country will find ways of overcoming the challenges its facing with ethno-religious fragmentation, challenges of security, and of course, the economic challenges its facing right now.

Im optimistic, because it seems to me that no matter what, deep down, everybody wants to see Nigeria succeed. But, maybe when they feel theyve not be included completely, they begin to agitate for one thing or another. But, if one goes deep down, one will realize that everybody wants to belong to a strong and powerful nation. Nobody wants to be part of a small country, except for some misguided people.

For me Nigeria has to pay attention to the youth. There are far too many young people who are becoming educated, but nothing to do, and normally this should be a demographic dividend for a country like this. But, if this is not managed properly, it could become a demographic nightmare

PREMIUM TIMES: Can we win the war against illicit fund transfer?

Its a war thats winnable if the will is there and the leadership is ready to move in that direction. Its not a war that can be won overnight. The starting point is to acknowledge theres a problem. Secondly understand the magnitude of the problem; third is how do we plug the hole and stop the bleeding. Nigeria has Financial Intelligence Unit, Customs, Central Bank that follows transactions and a Finance Ministry that will do overall policy. So, if one strengthens the judicial system and train those who specialize in this area, one can begin to tackle this problem as quickly as possible. The Transfer Pricing Unit that has to be at the Central Bank or wherever they feel they should be.

You need specialists, and they have to receive competitive salaries so that they are not hired away by these multinationals because thats what happens. People build the skills and the multinationals will hire them to come and advise them to evade taxes as well.
Zimbabwes President, Robert Mugabe, says his successor must be chosen democratically and that his wife would not automatically inherit the role.

He said on Monday in Harare that this was a serious warning to feuding members of the ZANU-PF party and that he was still in charge after 36 years in power.

Why successor, I am still there. Why do you want a successor, I did not say I am a candidate to retire. Leaders were elected not appointed.

In a democratic party, you dont want leaders appointed that way to lead the party. They have to be appointed properly by the people, at a gathering of the people, at a congress, he said.

Mugabe said he was not behind his wife Graces quick rise within ZANU-PF, which has led to reports that she has plans to succeed her husband.

Others say the president wants to leave the throne for his wife. Where have you ever seen that, even in our own culture, where a wife inherits from her husband?

The former liberation fighter was chosen in 2014 to lead his party for another five years, automatically becoming the ZANU-PF presidential candidate for Zimbabwes 2018 presidential vote.

He will be 99 if he wins and completes that term, his last under a new constitution.

Mugabe said he wanted to live to 100, and that he was fit and still did daily morning exercises.

I am happy because I am about to reach the age I want. You know the age I want to reach  100 years. So only eight years remaining.

Zimbabweans follow his health with keen interest and some fear the government could be paralysed and the country raven by instability, if he dies without resolving the succession issue.

Fighting over leadership of a post-Mugabe ZANU-PF, has intensified since late 2014, when Mugabe accused his deputy, Joice Mujuru, of plotting to oust him and fired her.

Mujuru is expected to launch a new political party this week.

Mugabe said Mujurus party was doomed to fail and that ZANU-PF was still intact.

(Reuters/NAN)
A Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday struck out a bail application filed by former Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh.

Justice John Tsoho said he could not give bail because there was a subsisting remand order by a Lagos Magistrate Court, and there was no application to set it aside.

Mr. Tsoho said Mr. Badeh, a retired Air Chief Marshal, only filed an application for bail, and not to set aside the order of the magistrate court obtained by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

The judge had on Monday reserved March 4 for his ruling on the bail application.

Mr. Badeh has been in the custody of the EFCC since February 8, and is facing a 10-count charge of criminal breach of trust and corruption to the tune N3.9billion. He denies wrongdoing.

Samuel Zibiri, counsel to the former defence chief, had asked the court to admit Mr. Badeh to bail on self-recognition or on liberal terms pending his arraignment by the anti-graft agency.

He argued that Mr. Badeh had voluntarily honoured the invitation of the EFCC on February 8.

Mr. Zibiri also said Mr. Badeh had been detained for more than the period required by the Constitution without trial.

However, Cosmos Ugwu, counsel to the EFCC, opposed the application, saying the commission should be allowed to complete its investigation.

Mr. Ugwu argued that the applicants current detention in Lagos was not related to the earlier issues that led to his invitation and subsequent detention in Abuja.

Mr. Badeh was to be arraigned before Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Thursday, but the case was shifted to March 7 owing to the absence of the judge.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arrested the Speaker of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly, Ogbonnaya Francis Nwaifuru.

Mr. Nwaifuru was picked up at about 11a.m. Friday at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, by operatives of the commission, after he ignored two previous invitations by the agency, the EFCC said in a statement.

The EFCC said Mr. Nwaifuru was first invited on October 20, 2015 to appear before the Enugu zonal office of the commission but did not respond to the invitation. A reminder letter was sent to him on November 19, 2015, which he also failed to respond to.

The lawmaker who is representing Izzi West state constituency in the Ebonyi State Assembly, allegedly diverted and misappropriated N60 million constituency project fund before his emergence as speaker.

As of press time, the speaker was still being grilled by operatives of the commission.

As speaker, Mr. Nwaifuru has no constitutional immunity against prosecution under the Nigerian Constitution.

His arrest came two days after operatives of the EFCC arrested three top officials of Imo State government for allegedly diverting N2 billion bailout fund given to the state by the Federal Government for payment of salary arrears of the states civil servants.

The suspects are: Obi Paschal Chigozie, principal secretary to the Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha; Uzoho Casmir, director of finance and Iheoma Kenneth, treasurer.

Their arrest followed an investigation into the alleged diversion of the said money which revealed that the cashier had made cash withdrawal of N456.532 million between September 3, 2015 and October 10, 2015 from the Government House account domiciled in Zenith Bank.

However, it was revealed that the said amount was given to an aide of the Chief of Staff to the Governor, following approval and directive by the principal secretary to the governor.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has arrested a suspected internet fraudster, Tonwerigha Tombrown, for allegedly duping an Irish businesswoman, Izabela Glogowska, of 53,000 (equivalent of N11.6million) in an online scam.

Glogowska alleged that Tombrown, who posed as a prominent online trader, Michael Freeman, tricked her into sending him 1,000 via Western Union/Money gram as payment for a business deal, a statement by the EFCC said Friday.

She added that he later pretended to be one Ben Andrews demanding additional 10,000 claiming that there was a policy change.

The same Andrews advised her to send the money to Tombrown in Nigeria, and the money was later diverted to a fake account.

Efforts to recover her money proved abortive, hence she petitioned the EFCC.

The suspect would be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded, the EFCC said.
A National Youth Service Corps member, and medical doctor, Ogboji Kelechi, has died of Lassa Fever in Kaduna State.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the corps member, who was serving at St Louis Hospital, Zonkwa, in Zango Kataf local government area of Kaduna State, contacted the disease from one of his patients whom he treated.

Mr. Kelechi was a native of Igweledoha Amagu Ikwo local Government Area of Ebonyi state.

The Director General of NYSC, JB Olawunmi, in a release extolled the selfless service of the late Dr Ogboji.

The DG described the late medical doctor as an exceptional corps member who was fully dedicated to his duties and in the process paid the supreme price.

The DG also called on the corps members serving in health institutions to always apply standard precautionary measures in the discharge of their duties so as to protect themselves from the hazards of the profession.

Meanwhile, the family of the late Dr Ogboji has called for an enquiry into the circumstances leading to the death of their son.

The deceaseds elder brother, Wilfred Ogboji, who spoke to reporters in Abakaliki, accused St. Louis Hospital Zonkwa in Zango Kataf local government area of negligence.

My brother Dr Ogboji Kelechi died on 20th Feb 2016. He died of Lassa fever because after his death they had to take him to Jos University Teaching Hospital where they said they were going to conduct an autopsy but along the line they collected his saliva, blood and urine which they used to confirm that it was a case of Lassa Fever.

I am in pain and in deep sorrow because it is a very deep loss to us and our father too has been sick for a very long time. He has diabetes and I pray that God will strengthen him for me.

We are not comfortable with his death and the way he was handled in his place of primary assignment where he served because I was made to understand that my brother was sick for about two weeks. They dumped him in the hospital and they were busy treating him with malaria.

I believe that if they had taken him to a better hospital he would not have died.

Why didnt they take his samples and conduct a test as the malaria drug they were giving him was not working.

We are calling for an inquiry by NYSC into how he died. They should go to where he served at Louis Edet Hospital in Zonkwa and confirm how he was treated to find out how he died.
An Ikeja Chief Magistrates Court on Friday granted bail in the sum of N1 million to a 23-year-old trader, Obinna Obaji, who allegedly defiled a three-year-old girl by fingering.

The Chief Magistrate, Tajudeen Elias, in his ruling, ordered the defendant to produce two sureties in like sum as part of the bail conditions.

Elias said Obaji should deposit N100, 000 into the Chief Registrars Account, pending the determination of the case.

Obaji, a trader of No 32, Orisumbare Street, Iyana Ipaja, a suburb of Lagos, was arraigned on Feb. 29 on a one-count charge of sexual assault, but he pleaded not guilty.

The prosecutor, Benedict Aigbokhan, told the court that the defendant committed the offence at his residence on Feb. 21.

Aigbokhan said that the defendant was living in the same compound with the victims mother.

It was when the victim, a three-year-old girl, wanted to urinate that her mother discovered that she was finding it difficult to urinate and also crying.

The mother saw marks on her daughters vagina and when she asked her what happened, the girl said it was the defendant that inserted his hand into it, Aigbokhan said.

The prosecutor said the offence contravened Section 404 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

Elias, however, adjourned the case to April 13 for the Department of Public Prosecutions advice.

(NAN)
Research experts in Nigeria under the aegis of Academic Staff Union of Research Institutions (ASURI), on Friday took to the streets in Abuja, protesting governments lack of funding of research institutes.

They therefore called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly for the immediate review of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) Acts 2011.

Such review, according to them, would extend the scope of distribution of funds to research institutes and colleges in order to avert economic collapse of the country.

The Vice President of ASURI, Nnamdi Onunka, and General Secretary, Theophilus Ndubuaku, said the protest was intended to call the attention of the government to the urgent need for improved funding of research institutes and colleges of agriculture and forestry in the country.

Mr. Onunka said, On the basis of the change mantra of the present administration, there has been high expectations that the government will pump money into research, even if it means borrowing money from any willing lender, but the 2016 budget proposal revealed that the expectations may be unfounded after all.

He stated that while ASURI acknowledged that technologies are generated in Nigerian universities through research, the union considered it preposterous that TETFUND does not extend research funding to Nigeria research institutions.

They said more technologies are generated in research institutes.

Mr. Onunka lamented that most of the technologies generated in research institutes are largely funded by researchers with their personal income.

If they do not conduct research, publish and sponsor their training for higher degrees (Msc and PhD), they will stagnate and perish, he said.

Mr. Ndubuaku commended the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) for its role in the establishment of Education Trust Fund, but however, claimed that it was embarrassing as a major stakeholder in nation building to play down the complimentary roles of other tertiary institutions in the education sector.

We implore President Buhari, members of the National Assembly, wealthy Nigerians and vibrant Nigerian press to do what is needful to put Nigeria to work by paying inevitable attention to research institutes and their colleges.

Given that the determination of most research projects in the universities are individual interests and not based on institutional mandate, it can only be described as a crazy policy for a country with such abundant natural resources and large population to concentrate almost all available research and extension fund to universities and none for research institutes.

This is the bane of Nigerias technological development.

All lovers of Nigeria should support the immediate review of the TETFUND Acts to extend the scope of distribution of the overflowing fund.

The government should secure the political will to confront any opposition and do what is fair, just and exigent regarding research funding which is a sine qua non to averting the economic collapse of Nigeria, Mr. Onunka added.
The family and friends of Patience Paul, a 15-year old girl who was allegedly abducted and forced into a marriage in Sokoto, will meet with the police this morning, PREMIUM TIMES has learnt.

Isaac Paul, the girls brother, told PREMIUM TIMES over the phone that they would also meet with Imam Imam, Governor Aminu Tambuwals spokesperson.

The meeting is holding by 10 a.m. at the police headquarters in Sokoto, Mr. Paul, 28, said.

The Sokoto State government on Thursday launched an investigation into the alleged abduction and forced marriage of Miss Paul.

Mr. Imam said on Thursday that the government had been unable to contact the victims family to shed more light on the allegation.

In the interim, the Human Rights Commission was asked to present an interim report and update the public with all information as it becomes available, Mr. Imam said.

The Sokoto State Human Rights Commission had also contacted the Sultanate Council and the State Police Command for a briefing, Mr. Imam added.

Below is a petition written by the family to the police in September last year. We are publishing it unedited.



Paul Isaac Adaji,

Gidan Kukah area, (Rungin Sambo)

Sokoto North LG.

18/09/2015

The commissioner of police

Sokoto state

Sir,

Complaint of Abduction against Suleiman, Monde and Ibrahim Tukur of Gidan Kukah, in Rungin Sambo Area Sokoto

With due respect sir, am here to lay my complaint against the above-named persons. Suleiman and Monde are brothers and also our neighbours, while Ibrahim Tukur is a civil defence officer.



Sir my sisters name is Patience Paul and the fathers name is Paul Adaji. She got missing since morning of the 12th of August 2015 to an unknown destination. Before she got missing, her character in the house was noticed to have changed. She no longer went to school frequently and the kind of friends she keeps was not ok by her father.



So a plan was made by me, my father and one of my younger sister (Hope Paul) who came from the village to see us, that whenever shes going back, she would be going with her (i.e. the Patience Paul). So it was arranged and booked that they would be leaving on the 13th of august 2015, but unknown to me and my daddy that my younger sister who came from the village has disclosed to her that shes leaving Sokoto.



So sir, this was the actual reason she left home. Though I was very furious with that my sister for doing such a thing. So that very same day sir, we started searching for her. There is this Zuru man living opposite our house with his grown up children who are also married and living with him, its a very big compound. We suddenly noticed the wifes coming out to peep at us so I sent one of my elder sister (Anna) to go in there and ask them if the girl is in there. She came back to tell us that while she was going in she overheard one of them saying even if they ask, she would tell them she didnt see any girl. Some almajiri children playing outside the mans house were asked if they saw her entering the house, they said yes that, she even fetched some water for one of the wifes.



So I picked up my bike and ran to where the elderly man of the house is working, which is not too far from the house. I reported everything to him and how some almajiri children testified that she entered the house. The elderly man started quarreling, that nobody fetched water in his house that morning.



So I said to him, am just like one of his sons. I didnt come for quarrel but just for him to come and check because its possible that one of his wives is harboring the girl. The man refused. So just as I was about to leave the place, one of his grandsons who was there now testified that they saw her fetching water for one of the wives. Can you hear that I said to the man, this is your own son speaking, let it not be as if we are laying again you. That was when he agreed to come and help me check. So he came and did almost 20 minutes before coming out. When he came out, he asked me to go in and check for myself. So I said to him that am going nowhere, that if shes there they should just let her out for me, thats all I want. So one of his grown up child now pleaded with me so I entered. He started showing me empty drums that nobody fetched water in his house that morning for anybody. So that means the almajiri children and his grandson is lying?



I began to think as I leave the house. So that very day coincidentally am having a test in school, because am a student of Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto. And also working with Sokoto Guest Inn hotels. So I left for school hoping to come back and report the case to the police. On reaching home from school, my in law (Monday) came to informed me that he has seen a civil defense officer who will assist us.



I now said Ok, am even trying to report the case to the police too. So we invited them into the case and they started investigating the house the following day. It almost results into quarrel between us. So the civil defense guy now calls one of the mans son aside. I dont know what they discussed, but he came back and told us to leave the case for him. So three days after, the civil defense guy came with one of his friend (Almu) to inform us that they have seen where the girl was. We were excited, so we now asked them to come and show us the house or place so we can further confirm by our self since they said they saw her where other Christian girls were kept too.



They started giving us excuses that we should not worry, that the girl they saw was our sister, and the name we gave them was the name they called and the girl was brought out to them. So it continues for another week, going into the third week they refused to bring the girl or agreed to come and show us where they saw her. They even stopped coming to brief us on the ongoing development. So I began to suspect the civil defense guy and his friend Almu.



So I reported the case to kwani police station when one Inspector Aminu advised me to report the guy to his office that his boss will take action against him. So we traced his office to Sokoto south which he told us he is working, they said they didnt know him. So we came back and started calling him and his friend, they keep telling us they are on duty or busy. So on Friday 4th of September the civil defense guy now asked me to meet him behind police barracks in gidan igwai area. I came and we met, I started quarreling that why they should prolong the case like that he started pleading that he was very busy thats why. So he told me again that the girl is no longer where we thought but now with Hisbah people. So I now asked him to tell me who handed over the girl to them, he said its the two sons of the zuru elderly man (monde and sule) for what reason he said he didnt know. So I asked him to give me the number of one of the Hisbah people whom I spoke to that very hour and he confirmed to me that yes the girl in question is in their custody. I also spoke with one of their commander who also said that the girl is now Aisha that she has converted to Islam and she has been taken to the kings palace. So I now ask him with whos consent did they do what they did? He was unable to answer me straight forward so we now booked an appointment with him the following day by 11am. That same night I ran back to kwani police station and report the new developments but inspector Aminu was not around. So they asked me to come back the following day been on Saturday 5th of September. I came he was still not around so one officer directed me to go to CIB office and lay complain to the commissioner of police, that they will investigate the matter and bring everyone to booked. So far the police have arrested the above named parsons and also confirmed from Dr kasarawa the commander of hisbah in our area interrogation is already going on but not impressive.

Thats the reason am here sir. I happened to know one of the late sultans son popularly known as (Dan Sarki) where am working. I reported the case to him and he instantly called the head of HISBAH in sokoto who came and also said that the girl in question is in sultans palace, he told the prince to give him till Monday to bring the girl out but up to this hour shes still not out, if I call either of them, they keep telling me they are working on it. They are working on it and time is going and delay can be very dangerous. So on Tuesday 8th September, I went to my parish priest and I also reported the case to him and he asked me to see him the following day after calling someone on phone.

Please sir, I want you to use your good office and investigate this matter and bring every one that has a hand in the kidnap of my sister to book. Hope to hear from you soon.

Thanks

Yours faithfully

N.B

Fathers name: Mr. Paul Adaji

Elder brothers name: Isaac Paul
The Nigerian Army said on Friday that its Special Forces Team B, 7 Division Garrison, conducted fighting patrol in which they cleared Boko Haram terrorists hideout at Lawin Meleri, Matiri Bulaka and Aljeri villages.

During the operation, the soldiers killed five Boko Haram terrorists and also rescued 63 persons held captives by the terrorists, a statement by the acting director, army public relations, Sani Usman, said.

The statement also said troops recovered 1 Dane gun and 1 Light Machine Gun Bipod Stand and detonated 1 Improvised Explosive Device enroute.

The army said in a separate operation, troops of 81 Battalion and 251 Task Force Battalion of 25 Task Force Brigade, 7 Division Nigerian Army, demystified Boko Haram terrorists spiritual power base at the Alagarno forest, Borno State.

The troops, based on tip off, conducted a clearance operation around Alagarno forest general area, destroying terrorists camps at Mosa, Ariwuzumari and Kagalmari, as well as Missene, Joba, Yajiwa and Sansan.

During the operations, the troops were able to clear all the camps, killing quite a number of terrorists and recovered Boko Haram terrorists flags hoisted on some premises, destroyed their logistics base and recovered 31 motorcycles, assorted foodstuffs, a donkey and a pick up van, AK-45 rifle with registration number 17714 and a Dane gun.

Other items recovered include 2 boxes of 7.62mm ammunition, 4 loaded magazines of AK-47 rifles and 2 magazines pack, the statement said.
President Muhammadu Buhari has congratulated former President Olusegun Obasanjo as he turns 79 years old on March 5, 2016.

Mr. Buhari said the former president has contributed immensely to the institutionalization of democracy in Nigeria and Africa through his personal sacrifice, extensive local and international networks, and God-given wisdom.

President Buhari believes that Chief Obasanjos place in global history is assured for successfully handing over power to a civilian government in 1979 after serving as a military Head of State, and returning to power in 1999 through elections to stabilize the polity, during which he most remarkably negotiated a debt relief for Nigeria, a statement by Mr. Buharis spokesperson, Femi Adesina, said Friday.

The president warmly commends Chief Obasanjos vision and commitment to the growth of Nigeria and Africa, which translated into a historical growth rate of 6 percent for the Nigerian economy after a long period of slow growth, and also created a rippling effect that buoyed other African economies.

As he turns 79, the president avers that the former presidents regular shuttles across Nigeria and Africa to counsel on economic, social and political issues, and his willingness to head election monitoring teams that have heralded smooth transitions in many countries are legacies which generations will remain grateful.

President Buhari prays that the Almighty God will grant the Balogun of the Owu lineage, who is also the Ekerin Balogun of the Egba clan, long life and strength to continue his service to humanity.
A former national chairman of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, Victor Umeh, who was arrested Wednesday by the State Security Service, has been released.

Mr. Umeh was arrested at his Aguluzigbo country home in Anambra State and taken to Abuja reportedly for questioning over his alleged sponsorship of the pro-Biafra group, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

He was released Friday morning, the partys deputy secretary, Jerry Obasi, confirmed.

Mr. Obasi however said the arrest was politically motivated by Mr. Umehs opponents in the forthcoming Anambra Central Senatorial re-run election.

While describing the arrest as obnoxious and despicable, Mr. Obasi expressed regret that the SSS had become a willing tool in the hands of politicians who use the service to intimidate political opponents.

We condemn in strongest terms the unlawful harassment and intimidation of Chief Sir Victor Umeh, our former National Chairman who was whisked away from his house at the earliest hour of yesterday in what seemed like a commando and gang arrangements by the DSS.

It is quite unfortunate that Nigerians, especially political stalwarts of other political parties are now branded names using government agencies like the DSS to intimidate opponents with a view to either stopping them from running for elections or to clamp down on their chances politically especially those whose chances of winning elections are obvious just as in the circumstances which Chief Umeh was arrested, he said.

It is quite absurd and alarming that the DSS deliberately whisked Chief Umeh away in a rickety van thereby bringing his personality to odium.

The most disappointing of them all is the obvious fact that these black movies are being acted under the watchful eye of President Muhammadu Buhari. It is sad that security agencies under the present administration are willing tools in the hands of the highest bidder rather than concentrating on their constitutional duty of maintaining law and order.

Democracy should be civilized and not militarized unless in the circumstances where we are heading towards a police state and anarchy.
The United States Ambassador to Nigeria, James Entwistle, on Friday said no fewer than 40,000 maternal deaths

are recorded in Nigeria annually.

Mr. Entwistle said in statement in Lagos that many pregnant women in Nigeria often delay in seeking health care until potentially life-threatening conditions arose.

There are 40,000 maternal deaths per year in Nigeria. We believe that no mother should die from preventable causes.

Unfortunately, the state of primary healthcare in Nigeria paints a dismal picture for the future of many children.

The excessively high maternal, neonatal and under-five death rates are reflections of inadequate availability and access to quality health services, he said.

He expressed his governments readiness to partner General Electric (GE) in bringing quality health services to women and children in the country.

The envoy also said his government, through USAID, had for many years been partnering Nigeria in improving health services as well as in educating Nigerians on the importance of health care.

According to him, the partnership is my governments commitment to engage in effective and innovative alliances with the private sector in supporting Nigerias critical development needs.

We look forward to continuing this partnership with the GE and the government of Nigeria. Every dollar invested in health multiplies the benefits for productive activities.

Together, we can support Nigerias efforts to be a stable and prosperous country, built by healthy and strong people, he added.

(NAN)
The Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, on Friday said the senator representing Kogi West, Dino Melaye, displayed hollowness by delving into a matter as private as his marriage to his wife.

Mr. Melaye, who represents Kogi West senatorial district, had on Wednesday cited Mr. Oshiomholes marriage to a Cape Verdean as an example of Nigerians refusing to patronise made-in-Nigeria goods.

What are those factors limiting the production of these goods? We must tackle them. We must also begin to look at our legislation, then we will begin to talk about made-in-Nigeria goods, Mr. Melaye had said.

We will also move in order to encourage made-in-Nigeria products and begin to talk about made-in-Nigeria women.

Apologies to my uncle, the Governor of Edo State, we must as a people stop paying dowries in dollars and pounds. It is time for my colleagues here to become born again.

A statement issued by the governors spokesman, Peter Okhiria, said the attack was unprovoked, urging Mr. Melaye to apologise.

Our attention has been drawn to the unprovoked verbal assault launched by one Senator Dino Melaye on the governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, while making a contribution on the floor of the Senate on the need to patronize made-in-Nigeria goods.

As a nephew of the governor and member of the same party [with the governor], we expected Senator Melaye to tender an unreserved public apology to the comrade governor.

It is an open secret that Senator Melaye cannot maintain a decent matrimonial home hence he could descend to this pedestrian level of using the hallowed chambers to cargorise women as if they were pieces of items for purchase.

Any responsible individual that is truly worth to be called a senator, a position that convokes respect, decorum and decent public conduct, should know the limits of his verbal diarrhea.

The liberty of free speech guaranteed in the hallowed chambers does not impose lunacy on anyone to disparage other Nigerians, let alone pry into their matrimony in a very derisive manner.

We had intended to ignore this uncomplimentary comment as one of the several empty displays of the senator, but the fact that it tends to reduce women to pieces of tissue calls for this response.

As we probed into Dino Melayes humanity, we were reminded that he is a man known for his vainglorious rodomontade and the childish display of his ostentatious lifestyle, which complement his love for foreign items.

Many of such Euro-centric mentality he has persistently displayed on social media, to underscore his materialistic eccentricity, hence his dialectical opposition to made-in-Nigeria goods.

But an attempt at making women wear the garb of goods to be picked off the shelves was to take the issue to a ridiculous and irresponsible level.

By delving into the private affair and marriage of the comrade governor, Senator Melaye has exposed himself as a simpleton and a court jester whose words and tactlessness cannot be taken seriously by matured people.

We advise that Mr. Melaye should mend his ways with his ex-wife and concubines before coming to the village square to display his crass ignorance and emptiness to the Nigerian people.

If he has anything to offer, Dino Melaye should concentrate on making good laws for the people of Nigeria rather than descend to a ridiculous level, thus displaying to the whole world his unworthiness to sit in the hallowed chambers of the Nigerian Senate, the statement added.
President Muhammadu Buhari has paid tribute to renowned scholar and elder statesman, Eskor Toyo, describing him as a role model whose guiding principle was to live for the good of less privileged people.

As late Mr. Toyo is laid to rest tomorrow, Mr. Buhari said in a statement by his spokesman, Femi Adesina, that the professor would be long remembered as a fearless advocate who never stopped confronting the problems of social injustice, discrimination and poverty in Nigeria.

President Buhari added that with his tireless efforts and advocacy on many issues central to the prosperity of Nigeria, including social justice, human rights and the war against corruption, Mr. Toyo had left a most worthy and commendable legacy for other patriotic Nigerians to build upon.

The president said Mr. Toyo would be eternally honoured and celebrated for his life-long commitment to a better Nigeria and Africa, and as a fountain of knowledge who was a great mentor and role model to his students and admirers.

Mr. Buhari extends heartfelt condolences to the Toyo family, the government and people of Akwa Ibom State.

He prays to God to grant Mr. Toyos soul eternal rest and comfort his family, friends and admirers.
The Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, has reiterated the pledge of the Nigerian Army to sponsor the education of children of army personnel who lost their lives during the counter-insurgency operations in the North East.

He made the pledge through the Chief of Administration of the Army, Adamu Abubakar, a Major General, during the presentation of the Group Life Assurance cheques to the next of kins of each of the bereaved families at the Army Headquarters Friday in Abuja.

Mr. Abubakar said the cheques were to provide succour to the bereaved families to cushion the economic impact caused by the loss of their bread winners.

He also said that aside from the cheques, the Nigerian Army would sponsor four children each of the bereaved families, from primary up to the tertiary level of education.

The families present at the occasion were full of gratitude to the army for showing commitment in alleviating their plight.

Fridays event came about two months after the wife of the president, Aisha Buhari, appealed to the Nigerian government to strive toward prompt payment of entitlements to the families of fallen soldiers.

Mrs. Buhari made the call at the 44 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital in Kaduna where soldiers who sustained injuries while fighting insurgents were being treated.

The families of the gallant soldiers who lost their lives in the course of fighting insurgency in the North East must be promptly paid because they are national heroes.

I am appealing to the Chief Army Staff to ensure such payments, she had said.
The Mile 12 Perishable Traders Association on Friday appealed to the Lagos State Government to reopen the market to mitigate the financial losses that could accrue from produce wastage.

Femi Odusanya, spokesman for the association, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that reopening of the market would guarantee continuous food supply to the state.

Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State on March 3 ordered a temporary closure of the market following violence between the Yoruba and Hausa communities in the area.

The governor said the decision to shut the market and restrict movement on the streets were to aid security agencies to restore the peace in the area.

Odusanya said: We plead with the government to review its order on the closure of the market to reduce the quantum of produce to be wasted.

We have over 20 trucks each filled with sixty baskets of tomatoes worth N5,000 per basket rotting in the trucks in the market because of the delay in offloading them.

This is aside the over eighty trucks of tomatoes and pepper meant for the market parked at Ibafo, Ogun State.

To waste these produce would amount to huge financial losses for traders who are struggling to survive under the harsh economic climate of the country.

Odusanya said that prolonged closure of the market would have negative multiplier effects on the prices and availability of foods in the state.

Mile 12 Market plays a vital role in providing food to various markets and households in the state.

With the abrupt closure of the market, high cost of food items arising from food scarcity will be experienced in the state within days.

Odusanya said that the traders were victims of the fracas that ensued between commercial motorcyclists and the residents of Mile 12 community.

The market has nothing to do with the brawl but it is so unfortunate that by virtue of our location we are affected by the situation that has paralysed economic activities.

(NAN)
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.




PEORIA, ILL., March 04,2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Caterpillar Inc. Files Forms 4

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT/Euronext: CATR) informs its stockholders that today, in accordance with Section 16(a) of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, two Forms 4 (the report on Form 4 being a statement of beneficial ownership of its officers, directors and 10% owners) were filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). The Forms can be found on the SEC Internet site (www.sec.gov).

Caterpillar files electronically with the SEC required reports on Form 8-K, Form 10-Q, Form 10-K and Form 11-K; proxy materials; ownership reports for insiders as required by Section 16(a) of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended; and registration statements on Forms S-3 and S-8, as necessary; and other forms or reports, as required. All of the forms and reports filed electronically with the SEC are available on the SEC Internet site (www.sec.gov).

Caterpillar also maintains an Internet site (www.Caterpillar.com) and copies of its annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and any amendments to these reports filed or furnished with the SEC are available free of charge through Caterpillar's Internet site (www.Caterpillar.com/secfilings) as soon as reasonably practicable after the relevant document has been filed with the SEC.

CONTACT: Rachel Potts, Corporate Public Affairs, +1-309-675-6892

This is a disclosure announcement from PR Newswire.

SOURCE Caterpillar Inc.
NEW YORK, March 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Daniel A. Pollack, court-appointed special master in the Argentina bonds litigation, issued the following statement today:

"I am pleased to announce that the Republic of Argentina has continued to reach Agreements in Principle with its Bondholders, large and small. There are now Agreements in Principle in place with 10 additional Bondholders involving settlements of an aggregate of $6.7 million. These settlements are all subject to the conditions that the Argentine Congress lift the Lock Law and the Sovereign Payment Law, and that the Court lift the Injunctions that have been in place for the last several years. The Court has done so, conditionally, but a few parties have appealed that Order of the Court. It is the hope of all concerned that the appeals will be expedited so that there can be clarity as to the finality of the Order. The settlements are both with funds and individuals, including Tortus Capital II, Tortus Capital III, Biagini, Vefling, Schivardi (2), Piol, Ercolani, Beltramo and Settin. These settlements are all within the parameters of the Propuesta published by the Republic on February 5. I will have no further comment on these settlements today."

SOURCE Daniel A. Pollack
Johnson, a six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion, will join Habitat and nearly 100 Lowe's Heroes employee volunteers to help raise the walls of Jamie Gordon's new home, the first of the 1,000 committed. Gordon has always dreamed of owning a home for her family, but faced the financial challenges that come from being a single mother. Now, she is able to build a place to call her own and bring her family together.

"There is truly nothing like spending the holidays at your home with family," Johnson said. "I'm honored to help frame the first house in this initiative alongside the Gordon family, and support Habitat and Lowe's in their efforts. This program will help families all across the U.S. establish a solid foundation, and provide a place to create special memories."

Over the coming months Lowe's and Habitat for Humanity will work to meet their goal through a variety of partnership events, including Habitat's National Women Build Week builds in May and critical repairs to homes throughout the year with Habitat's Neighborhood Revitalization program. During National Women Build Week, which leads up to Mother's Day on May 8, Lowe's will partner with more than 300 Habitat communities across the country to build and restore homes and neighborhoods.

"Lowe's has partnered with Habitat for Humanity for over a decade because we believe that a safe, stable home is a source of strength, pride and security for families,"said James Frison, Lowe's director of community relations. "This partnership allows us to provide valuable support in a special way directly in the communities where we live and work."

Lowe's partners with Habitat for Humanity to build homes and revitalize communities around the country. Since 2003, Lowe's has committed more than $63 million to Habitat and helped more than 5,500 families improve their living conditions. Anyone interested in volunteering can learn more at Habitat.org/Lowes.

About Lowe's in the Community:

Lowe's, a FORTUNE 50 home improvement company, has a 50-year legacy of supporting the communities it serves through programs that focus on K-12 public education and community improvement projects. Since 2007, Lowe's and the Lowe's Charitable and Educational Foundation together have contributed nearly $250 million to these efforts, and for more than two decades Lowe's Heroes employee volunteers have donated their time to make our communities better places to live. To learn more, visit Lowes.com/SocialResponsibility and LowesInTheCommunity.tumblr.com.

About Habitat for Humanity International

Driven by the vision that everyone needs a decent place to live, Habitat for Humanity has grown from a grassroots effort that began on a community farm in southern Georgia in 1976 to a global nonprofit housing organization in nearly 1,400 communities across the U.S. and in over 70 countries. People partner with Habitat for Humanity to build or improve a place they can call home. Habitat homeowners help build their own homes alongside volunteers and pay an affordable mortgage. Through financial support, volunteering, or adding a voice to support affordable housing, everyone can help families achieve the strength, stability and self-reliance they need to build better lives for themselves. Through shelter, we empower. To learn more, visit habitat.org.

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SOURCE Lowe's Companies, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.lowes.com


SAN FRANCISCO, March 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- La Scuola International School today announced that it has become the first preschool-eighth grade school to offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Program in San Francisco.

The IB curriculum is recognized around the world for its progressive approach to learning, which emphasizes academic rigor as well as transferable skillssuch as global citizenship, cultural understanding, teamwork and languagepreparing students for higher education as well as real life. La Scuola's current Reggio Emilia method of instruction complements the IB with its focus on child-centered learning and creativity.

"It has been an incredible three years learning and working with our teaching teams to implement the IB curriculum. Our children and teachers have benefited tremendously from collaborating with exceptional educators in Reggio Emilia, Italy and throughout the global IB network," said La Scuola's Head of School, Valentina Imbeni, Ph.D.

Chief of Schools Officer for IB, Andrew MacDonald, added, "La Scuola joins a global community of schools that share a common goal to develop knowledgeable, caring young people who will readily negotiate their futures and make contributions resulting in a more harmonious and peaceful world."

La Scuola was founded in 2002 as an Italian language playgroup and has grown into one of the Bay Area's most respected innovative language immersion programs as well as a center of excellence for Reggio educators. As the only IB World School that combines the Reggio/IB approach with Italian language immersion, it receives visitors from around the world at its Dogpatch and Alamo Square campuses. La Scuola has a rolling admissions policy and offers tours of the campuses by appointment.

For more information about La Scuola, please visit: www.lascuolasf.org

To visit the campus, please contact Dunja Solari: [email protected]

For more information about the IB World School programs, please visit: www.ibo.org

Contact:

Carrie Barnes

(215) 239-4643

[email protected]

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SOURCE La Scuola International School

Related Links

http://www.lascuolasf.org


BROOKFIELD, Wis., March 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Nurse.com, the leading healthcare brand of OnCourse Learning, is supporting the efforts of the Jonas Center for Nursing and Veterans Healthcare by serving as a Co-Chair Benefactor Sponsor at the 10th Anniversary Gala Celebration on Friday, March 18, at The Rainbow Room in New York City.

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Since its establishment in 2006, the center has partnered with schools of nursing in 50 states, supported more than 1,000 Jonas Nurse Leaders Scholars and provided more than $25 million in funding to nurses pursuing graduate degrees.

"At this tremendous milestone, it is an honor to celebrate with those who share our vision for and our dedication to America's nurses," said Donald Jonas, who co-founded the center with Barbara Jonas, his wife. "These achievements could only have been realized with our partners and supporters. To Nurse.com and all those who have joined our cause, we are deeply grateful."

"Over the years, numerous Jonas Nurse Scholars have shared stories with Nurse.com about how they pursued graduate degrees and enriched the lives of so many thanks to the generosity of the Jonas Center," said Janice Petrella Lynch, MSN, RN, Nurse Editor/Nurse Executive for Nurse.com. "These outstanding nurses hope to pay it forward by helping those in need and making the world a better place."

Representatives from Nurse.com and OnCourse Learning will be among 300 supporters and scholars at the Jonas Center gala, which also will serve as a celebratory dinner and awards ceremony.

Honorees being recognized at the gala for enhancing the nursing profession through professional and charitable endeavors are Johnson & Johnson, which launched its Campaign for Nursing's Future in 2002 to address the most profound nursing shortage in U.S. history, and retired Lt. Gen. Patricia D. Horoho, RN, who in 2011 became the first woman and first nurse to be named U.S. Army Surgeon General.

"Nurse.com and OnCourse Learning provide invaluable resources to the nursing community and the Jonas Center is thankful for this support," said Darlene Curley, MS, RN, CEO, Jonas Family Fund and Executive Director, Jonas Center. "We look forward to continuing our collective efforts in the coming years as we work side-by-side in our aligned missions to advance the nursing profession."

OnCourse Learning is a leading provider of workforce solutions and education in the healthcare, real estate and financial services industries.

Nurse.com is the largest print and digital magazine dedicated to registered nurses, providing news, employment opportunities, and continuing education programming through the publication and its complementary digital products including blogs, e-books and social media outlets. To learn more, visit Nurse.com.

About OnCourse Learning

OnCourse Learning delivers licensure, regulatory and compliance education solutions throughout the nation's leading industries including financial services, healthcare and real estate. Through trusted industry expertise, compliance management and technology solutions, OnCourse Learning focuses on advancing the e-learning environment for individuals and businesses to help to build new careers, empower employees through knowledge and identify efficiencies in corporate training management. OnCourse Learning offers a full suite of educational products including state and federally approved pre-licensing and continuing education programs, accredited course content, exam prep tools, publications, e-books, events and a sophisticated and customizable learning management system and course-authoring tool. To learn more, visit OnCourseLearning.com.

For media inquiries, contact:

Barry Bottino, Communications Director

847-908-8007

Email

SOURCE OnCourse Learning

Related Links

https://www.oncourselearning.com


ROCKVILLE, Md., March 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Dramatic changes in demographics, lifestyles, and eating patterns are helping to drive packaging innovations, according to market research publisher Packaged Facts in the report Food and Beverage Packaging Innovation in the U.S.: Consumer Perspectives.

Among the mega-trends feeding into package development are changing population distribution, fewer married couples, more people living alone, smaller household size, and multi-generational households. These demographic shifts are leading to changes in household dynamics and eating behaviors, such as multi-shopper households, more meals being eaten alone, and snacking more often and on more occasions. Also changing is the balance between perishable foods merchandised in stores' so-called "perimeter departments" vs. shelf-stable and frozen foods merchandised in the center-store aisles. Yet another influence is the rise in smaller-footprint stores.

With one- or two-person households now representing 61% of all U.S. households, packages sized to serve one or two people are a big trend. Such formats include single-serve fare, meals for two, multi-packs of individual portions, and resealable packages. A growing number of marketers are packaging fresh produce for on-the-go snacking convenience. Resealable, stand-up packaging is booming because it stands out on store shelves, saves space both at retail and in consumers' kitchens, and allows consumers to use only what they need, while the rest can remain fresh for future meals. Marketers are also switching to pouches to give their brands a more contemporary look to appeal to Millennial consumers. At the same time, smaller sizes are springing onto retail shelves as a way to control portion size and reduce calories per serve, particularly in snack foods and beverages. The Coca-Cola Co., PepsiCo Inc., and Dr Pepper Snapple Group all offer a variety of their carbonated soft drink brands in 7.5-ounce mini cans.

According to Packaged Facts, almost seven out of 10 people say freshness, followed by food safety, are their highest priorities in food and beverage packaging. The top three features consumers want in food and beverage packaging are tamper-proof, easy to open, and resealable. Other packaging benefits popular among consumers are portability, lighter weight, and no-mess dispensing.

When it comes to communicating values, an increasing number of marketers are putting their products in packages that are see-thru or have see-thru windows. Transparency in packaging taps into consumer desire for transparency about how food and beverages are producedboth figuratively and literallyas companies that are transparent about their ingredients, sourcing, and business practices reap the benefits in consumer goodwill and trust.

Eco-friendly packaging is also growing, especially for single-serve bottled water, which has come under attack by environmentalists in recent years as epitomizing the wasteful nature of modern society. Recent innovations in eco-friendly packaging include Coca-Cola's PlantBottle, which the company calls the world's first PET plastic bottle created solely from plant-based materials, and Nestle Waters North America's new bottle for its Resource Natural Spring Water, which is made from 100% recycled materials.

From in-store purchase through consumption, packaging for food and beverages is evolving to intersect with consumer needs and desires. Besides containing and protecting the contents, packaging serves as a billboard to make products stand out from their competition on store shelves and to communicate marketers' values. It's no wonder, then, that categories and brands are benefiting significantly when marketers merge consumer trends with packaging innovation.

For more information or to purchase Food and Beverage Packaging Innovation in the U.S.: Consumer Perspectives please visit: http://www.packagedfacts.com/redirect.asp?progid=87824&productid=9268880.

About Packaged Facts  Packaged Facts, a division of MarketResearch.com, publishes market intelligence on a wide range of consumer market topics, including consumer demographics and shopper insights, consumer financial products and services, consumer goods and retailing, consumer packaged goods, and pet products and services. Packaged Facts also offers a full range of custom research services. Reports can be purchased at www.PackagedFacts.com and are also available on www.marketresearch.com and www.profound.com.

For more essential insights from Packaged Facts be sure to follow us on Twitter and Google+.

Press Contact:

Daniel Granderson

240.747.3000

[email protected]

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SOURCE Packaged Facts
KINGSTON, N.Y., March 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley has received state support to transform its Mary's Avenue Campus in Kingston into a single, state-of-the art hospital and to redevelop its Broadway Campus into a "medical village."

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Albany Friday awarded $88,756,441, the second highest single award in the state, to HealthAlliance through a competitive process to help pay for the projects.

Expected next steps include Kingston Planning Board approval of HealthAlliance's architectural and construction plans and a state Department of Health certificate of need approval.

Once approved, the planned Mary's Avenue and Broadway campus transformations will be the most comprehensive construction and facilities renovations and conversions in the 122-year history of the two hospitals.

All current HealthAlliance services will remain available throughout the transformation.

"HealthAlliance thanks our elected officials for their support of our transformation plan," said HealthAlliance President and CEO David Scarpino.

The new, expanded HealthAlliance Hospital, currently in development, will provide technologically sophisticated surgical, diagnostic and therapeutic services for acute and critical care inpatients. It will also house the Emergency Department, which is projected to be larger than the current ED on Broadway to meet growing community needs. Its expanded capacity and new life-saving equipment will offer an unprecedented level of readiness to care for a full range of emergency visits, currently at more than 45,000 a year. The new ED will also have an enlarged Fast Track walk-in care center.

The new complex, which will emphasize patient comfort, privacy and efficiency, is expected to be completed two years after approvals.

The medical village will be a neighborhood focal point, providing advanced, easy access to the finest conventional and integrative health services. Plans are already well in the works for community partners to offer primary care, behavioral health and other support services and for HealthAlliance to offer a new Outpatient Center for Rehabilitative Care and other facilities. Compatible retail shops will provide additional amenities.

The village is expected to open in phases starting as early as two years after approvals.

"We have worked tirelessly to develop a comprehensive project plan that will efficiently serve our community's needs," Scarpino said. "We're excited to enhance our technology and facilities in the new, single hospital and deliver a superior experience for patients."

"These advancements, including the new and expanded Emergency Department with its Fast Track program, will be designed for walk-up accessibility and urgent timeliness so staff can focus on providing patient-centered care, which has consistently been shown to improve patient health outcomes," Scarpino continued. "Patients will feel more welcomed, more comfortable and better cared for than ever before."

Fast Track provides emergency-level care to patients who have minor illnesses and injuries but still require prompt care. Most Fast Track patients are discharged within 90 minutes.

"Speaking for the entire Board of Directors of HealthAlliance, we are so pleased to be recognized by New York State for the vision and hard work put forward by the HealthAlliance leadership, staff and partners," said HealthAlliance board Chairman Thomas Collins. "This award enables us to transform our community hospital into a 21st-century model of first class healthcare delivery."

The transformed hospital and medical village are critical elements to a new "Healthy Neighborhood Initiative" HealthAlliance is developing with the educational and training institutions located between the two campuses, with city and county officials, and with community organizations and healthcare providers.

"The Healthy Neighborhood Initiative will significantly enrich the city's economy through workforce development and educational partnerships," said Collins. "And it supports city and county economic-development goals for the emerging Health and Education Innovation District."

"As you can see, the HealthAlliance transformation not only creates a neighborhood-based approach to providing high-quality health services across the entire continuum of care. It also provides Kingston with a landmark opportunity to become a best-practice model for other cities in New York struggling with similar issues. The transformation is part of a broader initiative for a competitive, revitalized inner city."

HealthAlliance received the funds from the Capital Restructuring Financing Program award from the state DOH and the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York after completing a competitive grant process.

It submitted its grant proposal this year as part of a state program to provide capital funding for DSRIP projects. DSRIP, or the Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment Program, supports hospitals and other providers in improving how they provide care to Medicaid beneficiaries and other patients.

HealthAlliance submitted its proposal as part of a Westchester Medical Center-led partnership known under DSRIP as a preferred provider system.

An independent review board stringently scored each proposal in the state to determine the amount of funding, if any, each intended project would receive.

About HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley

HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley is the alignment of HealthAlliance Hospital: Mary's Avenue Campus and Broadway Campus, as well as Margaretville Hospital, Mountainside Residential Care Center and Woodland Pond at New Paltz. As the parent organization with a unified governance structure, the goal of HealthAlliance is to strengthen the quality of care and bring forward enhanced technology to serve the present and future healthcare needs in the Hudson Valley. HealthAlliance and its affiliate facilities are committed to providing compassionate, patient-centered care and ensuring patient safety, privacy and dignity to all. For further information about HealthAlliance, visit our website at hahv.org.

CONTACT:

Lynn Nichols

Director of Marketing

845-334-3116

Email

SOURCE HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley

Related Links

http://hahv.org


If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this





Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here
  Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013.
New Delhi, Feb 29 : The government on Monday described as "unfortunate" a letter written by 34 US lawmakers to Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing concern over violence against religious minorities in India.

"It is unfortunate that these members of Congress while applauding India as a pluralistic society with a longstanding commitment to inclusion and tolerance have chosen to focus on just a few incidents," external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said in a statement.

"India is proud of its status as the world's largest democracy. The Indian Constitution guarantees fundamental rights to all its citizens, including minority communities. Aberrations, if any, are dealt with by our internal processes which include our independent judiciary, autonomous National Human Rights Commission, vigilant media, and vibrant civil society," he said.

In the letter dated February 25 and released to the media by the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, the 34 US lawmakers said that their strong support for the US-India partnership has encouraged them "to relay our grave concerns about the increasing intolerance and violence members of India's religious minority communities experience".

"We urge your government to take immediate steps to ensure the fundamental rights of religious minorities are protected and the perpetrators of violence are held to account," the letter stated.

"Of particular concern is the treatment of India's Christian, Muslim and Sikh communities. On June 17, 2014, more than 50 village councils in the Bastar district of Chhattisgarh adopted a resolution banning 'all non-Hindu religious propaganda, prayers and speeches' in their communities," it said.

According to the US lawmakers, the ban "effectively has criminalised" the practice of Christianity by around 300 families in the region a day after a mob, including members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal, attacked and injured six Christians at the village of Sireiguda.

"Since the ban was implemented, Christians in the Bastar district reportedly have been subjected to physical assaults, denial of government services, extortion, threats of forced expulsion, denial of access to food and water, and pressure to convert to Hinduism," they alleged.

Stating that they were also concerned about the "nearly country-wide beef ban", the US lawmakers referred to the killing of Mohammad Hasmat Ali in Manipur in November for stealing a cow and the murder of Mohammad Saif in Uttar Pradesh in September.

The letter also called for recognition of Sikhism as a distinct religion as not doing so prevented practitioners of the religion "from accessing social services and employment and educational preferences available to other religious communities".

"Mr. Prime Minister, we applaud India as a pluralistic society with a long-standing commitment to inclusion and tolerance," it stated.

"We also applaud your statements about religious freedom and communal harmony, including your promise in February 2014 that your government would 'ensure that there is complete freedom of faith... and not allow any religious group, belonging to the majority or minority, to incite hatred against others'. We urge you to turn these words into action by publicly condemning the ban on non-Hindu faiths in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh, and the violent assaults and other forms of harassment against religious minorities throughout India," it stated, adding that steps should be taken against activities of groups such as the RSS.

The letter was signed by Senators Roy Blunt, Amy Klobuchar, James Alankford, Al Franken, Tim Scott, Ben Sasse, John Boozman and Steve Daines and 26 members of the House of Representatives, including Joseph R. Pitts, Keith Ellison, Brad Wenstrup, Jim Costa, Trent Franks, Ted Poe and Mark Walker.

In his statement on Monday describing the US lawmakers' letter as unfortunate, Swarup reiterated that the Indian government was "fully committed to the constitutional principles which underpin the nation of 1.25 billion people as a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society".
Washington, March 1 : US space agency NASA announced that it is planning to build a supersonic passenger jet which will be as quiet and efficient as possible, the media reported on Tuesday.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden on Monday said that it has awarded a first contract, worth $20 million, to the US company Lockheed Martin to develop a preliminary design of an aircraft which surpasses the speed of sound, EFE news reported.

Despite using a jet engine, which traditionally causes loud noise, the sound levels produced by the new aircraft would be minimal.

The new design would also meet the requirements for reduction of pollution as it would optimize fuel consumption.

"NASA is working hard to make flight greener, safer and quieter," said Bolden.

The design and the construction of the new supersonic aircraft will take several years and NASA estimates that first flight tests would start around 2020.

Commercial supersonic flights were cancelled when British Airways and Air France ceased their Concorde operations in 2003. The Concorde aircraft was capable of travelling at a maximum speed of 2.180 kph, more than twice the speed of sound.

The safety and profitability of the aircraft, known as the "White Bird", became questionable following the crash of a Concorde in Paris in 2000, which killed all 113 people on board.
Washington, March 1 : NASA scientists are closer to solving the mystery of how Mars' moon Phobos was formed.

In late November and early December 2015, NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission made a series of close approaches to the Martian moon Phobos, collecting data from within 500 kms of the moon.

Among the data returned were spectral images of Phobos in the ultraviolet.

The images will allow MAVEN scientists to better assess the composition of this enigmatic object whose origin is unknown.

Comparing MAVEN's images and spectra of the surface of Phobos to similar data from asteroids and meteorites will help planetary scientists understand the moon's origin - whether it is a captured asteroid or was formed in orbit around Mars.

The MAVEN data, when fully analysed, will also help scientists look for organic molecules on the surface.

Evidence for such molecules has been reported by previous measurements from the ultraviolet spectrograph on the Mars Express spacecraft.

The observations were made by the Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph instrument aboard MAVEN.

MAVEN's principal investigator is based at the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics while NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the MAVEN project.
Shimla, March 1 : The judiciary and legislature in Himachal Pradesh seem to be on a collision course over the high court's order to ban the movement of vehicles of the legislators and their parking on the sealed roads in the state capital.

In a rare show of solidarity, the assembly on Tuesday slammed the high court over the issue. Calling for making the judiciary accountable too, the members, cutting across party lines, said the judges of the high court were not above the constitution and can't take arbitrary decisions.

Their contentions came in the wake of the high court order in November last that stayed vehicle permits issued by the state government for sealed roads or restricted roads in Shimla.

Assuring the house, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said the government would not compromise with the prestige of the legislators and would ensure that their respect and dignity is maintained.

He said the road near the new Metropol, the residential accommodation of the legislators on Mall Road, would be used for the parking of the legislators' vehicles.

Speaker B.B.L. Butail, whose vehicle was also fined after the high court directive, blamed the state home department for the mess as it had misinterpreted the high court order.

The issue was raised in the assembly by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member Hans Raj before Question Hour.

Congress member Sanjay Rattan said the judiciary was challenging the legislature, which was unjust.

He said in a democracy the elected members should not be insulted in this manner.

The chief minister said he too was concerned about the issue.

"The assembly is a constitutional body and the MLAs have their own dignity. It should be respected at all costs. The rights and privileges of the MLAs should be protected," he added.
Islamabad, March 2 : Ties between India and the US are blossoming as the two countries, after 12 years of talks, are closer than ever to signing an agreement to share military logistics, said a Pakistani daily.

An editorial "US-India relations" in the Daily Times on Wednesday said that two weeks ago, India was up in arms about the proposed sale of up to eight Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter jets, worth $700 million, from US to Pakistan.

The Barack Obama administration characterised the sale as contributing to "US foreign policy objectives and national security goals by helping to improve the security of a strategic partner in South Asia" as the fighter jets would enhance "Pakistan's ability to conduct counter-insurgency and counterterrorism operations" and thus the sale was approved.

"Despite the sale being approved, the fact that loud voices were raised so publicly against this sale by a number of US lawmakers was almost unprecedented ever since 2001's US-led war on terror began -- to be sure, such concerns have been raised by US lawmakers before, but almost always in private," said the daily.

It noted that the airing of these contrarian opinions was thus indicative of a shift in criticality of Pakistan for the US.

"Initially appeasing Pakistan was necessary for it provided the US logistical support to invade and subsequently remain in and fight in Afghanistan, but since the withdrawal of most troops the landscape has changed and a new chapter is beginning in this historically transactional relationship."

It went on to say that India's angry reaction to the sale compounded matters further, "given the context, coming as it did at a time when the US and India are starting a new chapter in their own historically fluctuating relationship".

"And now we see the results of this blossoming relationship, as India and US are closer than ever to signing an agreement to share military logistics, after 12 years of talks."

The finalisation of this Logistics Support Agreement (LSA) would allow the two militaries to use each other's land, air and naval bases for resupplies, repair and rest.

The editorial observed that already the US has offset Russia, India's historically strongest ally, as the country's biggest supplier of arms.

"Suffice it to say, the sale of eight paltry fighter jets pales in comparison to deals of this magnitude. But the world would hear nary a peep from Pakistan, in sharp contrast to India's protestations. As US lifts its focus from Afghanistan and Iraq, the lure of India as an ally has become stronger than ever, especially with the rise of China."

"...however the negative implications of shoring up India's military in a volatile region must be recognised by the US or another crisis will brew up in the near future."

The daily warned that India and Pakistan have a tenuous balance of power and "India's military strength would usher in a new destructive era of arms race that must be avoided at all costs".
Dubai, March 2 : The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is preparing for the world's longest commercial flight which will take off from Auckland and travel to Dubai on Wednesday.

The Emirates flight, with a duration of 15 hours 13 minutes, landed in Auckland from Dubai earlier on Wednesday, Xinhua reported.

The return flight is estimated at a duration of 17 hours and 15 minutes, but the airline said the service would cut journey duration by almost three hours each way.

It marks the start of a daily direct service between Dubai and New Zealand, which the airline said would add 125 million NZ dollars ($82.92 million) a year to the New Zealand economy.

The first service was operated with a double-decker A380, but the airline will have the Boeing 777-200LR, carrying up to 266 passengers, regularly flying the route.

"We anticipate high demand for the route, providing a further boost to inbound tourist traffic in New Zealand that exceeds three million a year," Emirates president group services Gary Chapman said.

The service would give New Zealand exporters more capacity through Dubai, which would particularly benefit those with perishable goods for markets in the Middle East and Africa.

New Zealand Transport Minister Simon Bridges said the service increased New Zealand's connectivity with the rest of the world.

"The United Arab Emirates is our primary entry point to the Middle East, and one of New Zealand's top 15 trading partners. Being a trading country, we rely on effective air services to create much needed connections with the rest of the world," Bridges said.

"Direct flights will encourage even more trade and tourism between the two countries, by offering more choice to passengers and freight customers."

The route is expected to become the world's second longest commercial flight when Emirates launches a service between Dubai and Panama later this month.
Seoul, March 2 : South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-Ahn on Wednesday warned officials of possible cyber attacks from North Korea, instructing them to block such attacks in advance.

Hwang visited a centre in Seoul for countermeasures to internet infringement, saying that a close cooperation system should be built between the military, the government and the civilian sector to blockade the North Korea's possible attacks in cyberspace in advance, Xinhua news agency reported.

The prime minister said that top North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had ordered officials to muster up capability for anti-South Korea terrorist attacks, which raised possibility for the North Korea's cyber provocations.

South Korea's spy agency reportedly made mention of such an order without revealing where the agency got the information from.

Hwang said North Korea had staged massive cyber attacks against South Korea after conducting nuclear tests, instructing officials to detect such attacks at a right time and recover attacked networks successfully.

He also urged people to update security vaccines on their computers and smartphones and to refrain from opening suspicious emails or text messages in order to minimise possible cyber attacks from Pyongyang.

His comments came amid rising concerns about Pyongyang's terror attacks following its fourth nuclear test on January 6 when the it tested what it claimed was its first hydrogen bomb.

On February 7, Pyongyang launched a long-range rocket using banned missile technology.
Canberra, March 3 : Airplane debris suspected to be of the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 flight found off the coast of Mozambique, would be transferred to Australia for examination.

Australian Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Darren Chester on Thursday said the debris is a piece of metal of about one metre in length, which was found in a Mozambican beach, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The debris is to be transferred to Australia where it will be examined by officials from Australia and Malaysia, as well as international specialists," the minister said.

Chester said the location where the debris was found is consistent with drift modelling commissioned by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) and reaffirms the search area of the missing plane in the southern Indian Ocean.

The piece was found three days ago by local fishermen accompanying an American tourist along the coast of Vilanculos, Inhambane province, and was handed over to the Mozambican National Civil Aviation Institute on Wednesday.

Last year, an aircraft flaperon was found on the island of La Reunion, which lies at the same corner of the Indian Ocean as Mozambique. The flaperon was later confirmed to be the only debris from the missing aircraft.

Malaysian Airline Flight MH370, a Boeing 777-200ER, disappeared on March 8, 2014, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, with a total of 239 people on board.

Two years into the disappearance, the search operation in the southern Indian Ocean has yielded no concrete results so far.
Bengaluru, March 3 : Industrialist Vijay Mallya on Thursday objected to the State Bank of India's (SBI) interlocutory application (IA) before the debt recovery tribunal, seeking his arrest in the Kingfisher Airline's multi-crore loan default case.

"We have filed our objections against the bank's IA on the ground that it (tribunal) is not the forum to seek a defaulter's arrest or impound his passport," Mallya's counsel told IANS here.

The IA also sought a directive from the tribunal to the authority concerned for impounding Mallya's passport, evaluate his assets and claim on the $75 million (Rs.516 crore) severance package British liquor major Diageo and its Indian arm United Spirits Ltd (USL) signed with him on February 25 here.

Tribunal judge R. Benkanahalli posted the IA for next hearing to Friday and gave notice to Mallya for filing objection, if any, after the bank counsel's arguments on Wednesday.

"The quasi-judicial tribunal is meant to facilitate banks and financial institutions recover speedily outstanding loans and avoid procedural delays in civil courts," Mallya's counsel said.

SBI's advocate also admitted that he had filed four IAs before the tribunal for Mallya's arrest, impounding his passport, inventory of his assets in India and other countries and first right over Diageo's sweetheart deal in lieu of his resignation as chairman and non-executive director of USL.

Mallya, who is also an independent lawmaker from Karnataka in the Rajya Sabha, is reportedly in New Delhi to attend the on-going budget session of Parliament.

A SBI-led consortium of 17 state-run and private banks filed an application before the tribunal a day after (February 26) seeking a directive to Mallya for paying the amount Diageo and USL agreed to pay him over the next five years, including $40 million this year and the balance $35 million by 2020.

Debt-ridden Kingfisher Ltd owes the consortium Rs.7,800 crore as combined loans, including Rs.1,600 crore from lead bank SBI that were raised from 2004-12.

The defunct airline suspended operations in October 2012 due to a staff strike over non-payment of salaries and other dues and the civil aviation regulator DGCA terminated its licence subsequently.

The SBI-led consortium moved the tribunal after CBI director Anil Sinha expressed concern over its delay in acting against Mallya at the seventh CBI conference on combating financial crimes on Wednesday in Mumbai.

"We had recently (July 2015) registered a case of cheating and fraud against Kingfisher and its erstwhile management involving allegations of defrauding banks up to Rs.7,800 crore, borrowed as loans/advances by the bankrupt airline during 2004-2012," Sinha recalled at the day-long conference, organised by the CBI in partnership with Indian Banks' Association (IBA).

Observing that there was a growing sense of anguish among the public over increasing bad loans as non-performing assets, Sinha said while banks were strict on retail borrowers, the big borrowers and large-scale fraudsters were able to not only evade the law, but also enjoy the fruits of crime.

"Undue delay in identifying and reporting such a fraud has jeopardised the cause of justice to the offenders benefit, giving them opportunity to divert funds and destroy evidence," Sinha added.
Patna, March 3 : Around three dozen farmers in Bihar's Vaishali district have refused to reap their standing wheat crops to make space available for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's function on March 12, officials said on Thursday.

Farmers of Sultanpur near Hajipur, the district headquarters of Vaishali and about 30 km from Patna, have been protesting against attempts by local authorities to cut their unripened crops for Modi's function.

"These farmers are adamant not to cut their crops and threatened to protest if forced to do so," a district official told IANS from Hajipur.

According to officials, the farmers have made it clear that they would not go for early harvest of standing crops since these would fetch low prices in the market. "Farmers have also rejected the offer of adequate compensation."

The land on which Modi's function is proposed to be held belongs to nearly 40 farmers.

"We will not allow the administration to harvest our unripe crops at any cost. Even if they offer us five-fold compensation, we will not go for early harvest; it is our (final) decision," an angry farmer, who did not want to be named, said.

A team of local officials, during their visit to the area two days ago, said that the farmers should cooperate to clear their farmland for the prime minister's function.

But the farmers said they would harvest only the fully ripened crops by March-end.
"We make war that we may live in peace."

--Aristotle

"I exhort you never to debase the moral currency or to lower the

standard of rectitude, but to try others by the final maxim that

governs your own lives, and to suffer no man and no cause to escape

the undying penalty which history has the power to inflict on wrong."

--Lord Acton

"Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the

highest political end...liberty is the only object which benefits all

alike, and provokes no sincere opposition...The danger is not that a

particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern...

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

--Lord Acton

"It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry,

Peace, Peace--but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from

the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the

field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life

so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it,

Almighty God! I know not what course others may take;

but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"

--Patrick Henry

"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine

patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now,

deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we

have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."

--Thomas Paine

"The way to secure liberty is to place it in the people's hands, that is,

to give them the power at all times to defend it in the legislature and

in the courts of justice"

--John Adams

"Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will

within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I

do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often

but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights

of the individual."

--Thomas Jefferson

"No man has a natural right to commit aggression on the equal rights of

another, and this is all from which the laws ought to restrain hima?the idea

is quite unfounded that on entering into society we give up any natural rights."

--Thomas Jefferson

"An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his

fellow citizens."

--Thomas Jefferson

"The protection of our citizens, the spirit and honor of our country, require

that force should be interposed to a certain degree."

--Thomas Jefferson

"To draw around the whole nation the strength of the General Government

as a barrier against foreign foes... is [one of the] functions of the General Government on which [our citizens] have a right to call."

--Thomas Jefferson

"It is our duty still to endeavor to avoid war; but if it shall actually

take place, no matter by whom brought on, we must defend ourselves. If our house be on fire, without

inquiring whether it was fired from within or without, we must try to extinguish it."

--Thomas Jefferson

"I am ever unwilling that [peace] should be disturbed as long as

the rights and interests of the nations can be preserved. But whensoever hostile aggressions on these

require a resort to war, we must meet our duty and convince the world that we are

just friends and brave enemies."

--Thomas Jefferson

"By nature's law, man is at peace with man till some aggression is

committed, which, by the same law, authorizes one to destroy another as

his enemy."

--Thomas Jefferson

"I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against

every form of tyranny over the mind of man."

--Thomas Jefferson

"Our duty to ourselves, to posterity, and to mankind, call on us

by every motive which is sacred or honorable, to watch over the safety of our beloved country

during the troubles which agitate and convulse the residue of the world, and to sacrifice to

that all personal and local considerations."

--Thomas Jefferson

"It is an essential attribute of the jurisdiction of every country

to preserve peace, to punish acts in breach of it, and to restore property taken by force within

its limits."

--Thomas Jefferson

"By nature's law, man is at peace with man till some aggression

is committed, which, by the same law, authorizes one to destroy another

as his enemy."

--Thomas Jefferson

"Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy,

and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it. But the temper and folly of our enemies may

not leave this in our choice."

--Thomas Jefferson

"We must indeed all hang together, or, most assuredly,

we shall all hang separately."

--Benjamin Franklin

"I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people

by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent

and sudden usurpations."

--James Madison

"Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without

it nothing can succeed."

--Abraham Lincoln

"At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we

fortify against it? Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a

blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted)

in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a

track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years. At what point, then, is the approach of danger to be expected?

I answer, if it ever reach us it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot,

we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time,

or die by suicide."

--Abraham Lincoln

"The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the

support of a cause we believe to be just; it shall not deter me."

--Abraham Lincoln

"Property is the fruit of labor...property is desirable...is a positive

good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement

to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor

diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall

be safe from violence when built."

--Abraham Lincoln

"We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean

the same thing. With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and

the product of his labor; while with others, the same word many mean for some men to do as they please

with other men, and the product of other men's labor. Here are two, not only different, but incompatible

things, called by the same name - liberty. And it follows that each of the things is, by the respective

parties, called by two different and incompatible names -

liberty and tyranny."

--Abraham Lincoln

"If all do not join now to save the good old ship of the Union this voyage

nobody will have a chance to pilot her on another voyage."

--Abraham Lincoln

"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points

out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust

and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again;

who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause;

who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at worst,

if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with

those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

--Theodore Roosevelt

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs,

even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy

much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that

knows not victory nor defeat."

--Theodore Roosevelt

"The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth

of private power to a point where it comes stronger than their democratic

state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism - ownership of government by

an individual, by a group."

--Franklin D. Roosevelt

"War has been waged against us by stealth and deceit and murder.

This nation is peaceful, but fierce when stirred to anger. This conflict was begun on the

timing and terms of others. It will end in a way, and at an hour,

of our choosing."

--George W. Bush

"When the conduct of men is designed to be influenced, persuasion, kind unassuming persuasion, should ever be adopted. It is an old and true maxim that 'a drop of honey catches more flies

than a gallon of gall.' So with men. If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him

that you are his sincere friend. Therein is a drop of honey that catches his heart, which, say

what he will, is the great highroad to his reason, and which, once gained, you will find but little trouble in convincing him of the justice of your cause, if indeed that cause is really

a good one."

--Abraham Lincoln

"To arrive at a just estimate of a renowned man's character one must judge

it by the standards of his time, not ours."

--Mark Twain

"It is with trifles and when he is off guard that a man best

reveals his character."

--Arthur Schopenhauer

"When men speak ill of thee, live

so as nobody may believe them."

--Plato

"He that has light within his own clear breast may sit in the center,

and enjoy bright day: But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts benighted walks under the

mid-day sun."

--John Milton

"Character consists of what you do on the third

and fourth tries."

--James A. Michener

"We should be too big to take offense and too noble to

give it."

--Abraham Lincoln

"I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the

content of their character."

--Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"A man's character is his guardian divinity."

--Heraclitus

"Character develops itself in the stream of life."

--Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

"Do what you know and perception is converted into character."

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Of all the properties which belong to honorable men, not one is so

highly prized as that of character."

--Henry Clay
Beijing, March 4 : China will raise its defence budget by seven to eight percent in 2016, compared with last year's 10.1 percent, an official said on Friday.

The announcement was made by Fu Ying, spokeswoman for the Fourth Session of the 12th National People's Congress (NPC) at a press conference at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Xinhua news agency reported.

The exact figure will be published on Saturday in a budget report to the session.

A growth rate within the range might be the lowest for years since 2010, when the figure stood at 7.5 percent.

The spokesperson said the raise in 2016 is in line with China's national defence need and fiscal revenue.

China's economy expanded 6.9 percent year on year in 2015, the slowest in one fourth a century, weighed down by a property market downturn, falling trade and weak factory activity.

Premier Li Keqiang will unveil the government's GDP target on Saturday.

The figure is expected to be in a range between 6.5 and 7 percent, compared with the "approximately 7 percent" target announced by Li last year.
Kolkata, March 4 : US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has denied an Indian teen girl's claim that she was selected for its prestigious Goddard Internship Program (GIP) under the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS). However, the girl still sticks to her stand.

Eighteen-year-old suburban West Bengal resident Sataparna Mukherjee has attested to being the "youngest Indian to have been chosen for a NASA research project".

The resident of Madhyamgram in North 24 Parganas district claimed in an interview to IANS that the space agency had offered her a full scholarship to pursue graduation, post-graduation and PhD (as NASA faculty) in aerospace engineering at its "London Astrobiology Centre in Oxford University."

In an e-mail to IANS, a NASA official clarified: "We have no record of anyone by that name receiving an internship, scholarship or any form of academic or financial assistance from any NASA institute, center or program."

Further the official highlighted: "The program noted by multiple Indian media outlets does not exist."

The agency said its NASA GISS education program is the New York City Research Initiative (NYCRI), "where teams of high school and undergraduate students and faculty work alongside graduate students and the lead scientists of NASA-funded research projects at universities within a 50-mile radius of New York City..., or at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) under the mentorship of a GISS scientist."

NASA said the NYCRI application deadline has just passed and applications for its summer program were currently under review. "Selections have not been made."

However, an unfazed Mukherjee, who claims she is scheduled to leave for Britain in August, maintains she has the necessary documents to prove her assertions.

Mukherjee had earlier sent a screen-shot to IANS of a purported correspondence from the space agency stating "Goddard Internship program as an employee and researchist. Technical writing for NASA's Applied Earth Science and Technology Development Program."

Quizzed on NASA's reaction, Mukherjee told IANS that the agency was issuing denials to maintain confidentiality.

"I have the necessary documents and I can't send them via mail as I was asked by NASA to maintain confidentiality. I also have my visa. You can come and see them."

On the widespread media coverage and the interviews she willingly appeared for, the student said she was "forced by media channels" to tell her story.

"Since I am the only Indian selected, I was asked to maintain confidentiality. They (NASA) are denying it now because it's in the news now."

Mukherjee has maintained she had posted a paper on NASA's website on black hole theory which landed her the scholarship. She had also talked about getting through an exam (as one of top three scorers) for doing major in English at the Oxford University. However, even after repeated requests she failed to provide documentary evidence.

Media reports have quoted Sataparna as saying she verified the authenticity of the NASA website at the Chennai office of the British Council.

However, the British Council termed the claims as "false".

"British Council would like to refute and condemn false claims as they are baseless and without any premise. As per our records, nobody with this stated identity visited or contacted our office in Chennai," a British Council official told IANS over e-mail.
Pune, March 4 : India's pioneering film archivist and film scholar P.K. Nair, the founder and former director of the National Film Archive of India (NFAI), passed away here on Friday morning following prolonged illness, said filmmaker and film archivist Shivendra Singh Dungarpur. He was 82.

Nair, who was in critical condition since the last 10 days, passed away at 11 a.m. at a hospital here due to cardiac arrest, Dungarpur told IANS.

"Tomorrow (Saturday) his body will be kept from 8 a.m. in the morning at NFAI and the cremation will take place after that," Dungarpur, also the founder director of Film Heritage Foundation, added.

Dungarpur directed a documentary film "Celluloid Man" in 2012, which explored the life and work of Nair.
Ankara, March 4 : Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is expected to visit Iran on Friday to promote ties and smooth out growing differences between the two neighbours over Syria and Iraq.

The two-day visit comes days before a round of peace talks on March 9 to be held under the auspices of UN's Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura in Geneva, Xinhua reported.

Turkey supports opposition rebel forces in Syria and considers President Bashar al-Assad regime to be illegitimate. Iran, along with Russia, stands by Assad and provides military backing to the government forces.

"Both Turkey and Iran need each other as they are being impacted by what has been happening in their neighborhood," Mehmet Seyfettin Erol, professor of international relations at Ankara-based Gazi University, said.

"As the major powers gear up for peace talks for Syria, Turkey and Iran, the two regional heavyweights must be able to talk to each other frankly," he said.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu acknowledged last week in parliament that both countries have different views on regional matters.

Davutoglu's visit also aimed to tap into Iranian market after a July 2015 sanctions-ending deal with world powers on its nuclear programme.

The visit was organised "to develop and reinforce political, cultural and economic ties and cooperation" between the two countries, Iranian embassy in Ankara said in a statement on Thursday.
The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha addresses during a press conference in New Delhi on Oct 3, 2015. Image Source: IANS/PIB

President Pranab Mukherjee presents the Standard to 119 Helicopter Unit, at Air Force Station, Jamnagar, in Gujarat on March 4, 2016. Also seen Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal ... Image Source: IANS/PIB

Jamnagar, March 4 : The decision to allow a probe team from Pakistan into the Pathankot IAF base will be a "political decision", Indian Air Force chief Arup Raha said on Friday.

The IAF, he told media persons here, wants a "closure" to the terror attack in January with action taken against the perpetrators.

Asked if the IAF will have any problem on allowing the Pakistani team into the base, Air Chief Marshal Raha said: "If government allows the team, why should we object?

"Whether to permit or not to permit (them) into the Pathankot base will be a political decision. I will not comment on it... But we need to pursue this so that there is some outcome.

"We want a closure of the case with appropriate action against those who attacked the base," he added.

The January 2 terror attack on the IAF base at Pathankot in Punjab left seven security personnel dead, while security forces killed all six terrorists involved in the attack. All of them were said to be from Pakistan.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's foreign affairs advisor Sartaj Aziz said on Wednesday that the probe team may visit India in the next few days.

Responding to another question on the security of airbases, the IAF chief said lessons have been learnt post the Pathankot attack.

"After Pathankot, we did learn few lessons. The terrorists are well trained, well armed and on a suicide mission. We have to be better prepared," he said.

Air Chief Marshal Raha added that walls, with a second line of security in terms of barbed wires will be erected at all critical airbases, so that any intruders can be stopped and quick response teams can reach in time to neutralise them.
Beijing, March 4 : China's defence spending will increase by about 7 to 8 percent this year, the government said on Friday, adding that the rise was lower than that of last year.

"China's military budget will continue to increase but it will be lower than last year's," Fu Ying, spokesperson for National People's Conference (NPC) - China's parliament - told reporters here.

"I can give a rough estimate. It will be between 7 and 8 percent. The exact increase will be announced tomorrow (Saturday)," Fu said at the Great Hall where the eleven-and-half-day NPC session begins on Saturday.

Since 2010, this will be the lowest hike in defence spending by China whose military budget grew by 10.1 percent (over $135 billion) in 2015.

China's economy expanded 6.9 percent year-on-year in 2015, the slowest in a quarter of a century, weighed down by a property market downturn, falling trade and weak factory activity.

The announcement comes at time when there is tension between the US and China over the militarisation of the South Sea.

"By sending aircraft (to South China Sea), the US is provoking the resentment of Chinese people. The US is provoking tension. There is a big question on the ulterior motives of the US," Fu said.

The spokesperson said the hike in 2016 is in line with China's national defence needs and fiscal revenue.

Xinhua news agency added that Premier Li Keqiang will unveil the government's GDP target on Saturday.

The figure is expected to be in a range between 6.5 and 7 percent, compared with the "approximately 7 percent" target announced by Li last year.

(Gaurav Sharma is the Beijing-based correspondent of IANS. He can be contacted at gaurav.s@ians.in)
Mumbai, March 4 : Calling P.K. Nair a "beloved son of cinema" for his passion for movies, their preservation and restoration, Indian film fraternity members on Friday mourned the demise of the country's pioneering film archivist and film scholar, who set up the National Film Archive of India (NFAI).

Nair, who won the epithet 'celluloid man' for his impeccable body of work as the founder and former director of the NFAI, breathed his last on Friday morning at a Pune hospital following prolonged illness. He was 82.

Filmmaker and film archivist Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, whose 2012 documentary film "Celluloid Man" explored the life and work of Nair, termed Nair's death as "the end of a great chapter".

On an emotional note, Dungarpar, who considers Nair his "spiritual father", told IANS: "He contributed to developing not only film archiving, but also a generation of filmmakers. He was the man responsible for NFAI."

Dungarpur tweeted: "I am deeply saddened by the loss of my mentor P.K. Nair who taught me to love and live for cinema."

Mumbai-based film historian SMM Ausaja told IANS: "After Feroze Rangoonwalla, this is the second blow to the world of cinema archivists. And it's a very small niche world as it is."

Nair's interest in films began with 1940s Tamil mythological dramas such as "Ananthasayanam" and "Bhakta Prahlada". His stint with the NFAI started in 1965 as assistant curator. And 17 years later, in 1982, he became its director.

When he retired in April 1991, he had collected over 12,000 films, of which 8,000 were Indian. These include the works of legendary filmmakers such as Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, Mrinal Sen, V. Shantaram, Raj Kapoor and Guru Dutt; and then there were films of international stalwarts like Ingmar Bergman, Akira Kurosawa, Andrzej Wajda, Miklos Jancso, Krzysztof Zanussi, Vittorio De Sica, and Federico Fellini.

It is for this reason -- and his lifelong dedication to his passion -- that he will remains a celebrated name in the world of films.

Condolences came in from several quarters, who hailed Nair for his work in preserving the country's rich cinematic history.

Filmmaker Hansal Mehta, who had an audience member in Nair for his movie "Aligarh" at a film festival in Mumbai, tweeted: "RIP PK Nair, celluloid man and inspiration. Privileged that he made the long trip to Regal and watched 'Aligarh' at MAMI. Salute."

Actress Shilpa Shukla, referring to a bout of unexpected showers in Mumbai on Friday morning, shared: "No wonder the thunder - Rest in peace beloved son of cinema who never abandoned her. Shri PK Nair, regards and prayers."

Veteran movie critic Anupama Chopra said that Nair had "single-handedly preserved India's cinematic heritage".

"We all owe you. Salute and thanks for the education and inspiration," added the wife of celebrated filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra.

Even actress Renuka Shahane, who had once posted an exhaustive blog on Nair's work, wrote: "Oh no really sad news! PK Nair saab no more. A great archivist who painstakingly preserved our celluloid history for us. Deep gratitude."

Filmmaker Sangeeth Sivan shared: "His passion for cinema was unparalleled and so is his pioneering work. RIP"

Even the younger generation in Indian filmdom realises the value of Nair's work.

"Masaan" writer Varun Grover tweeted: "PK Nair saab goes beyond the end-credits. A man who loved cinema so much that he singlehandedly discovered many lost gems and archived them. He founded and then managed NFAI for many years - literally starting the culture of film conservation and archiving in India. Legend.

"Fighting a million bureaucratic battles along the way, he never lost that bonafide film-buff zeal. Sadly, we haven't learnt much from him. If you want to see a man become one with cinema, do watch Shivendra Singh Dungarpur's documentary on PK Nair saab - 'Celluloid Man'. Great man, huge loss."
Tokyo, March 4 : Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday ordered the suspension of construction of a new US military base in Okinawa prefecture.

"The government has decided to accept the court-mediated settlement plan," said Defence Minister Nakatani.

The Abe administration has been clashing for months with the Okinawa government over the latter's attempts to move the Futenma base from its present location to Henoko Bay, north of the prefecture's main island, EFE news reported.

In November 2015, the Japanese government gave the go ahead for the construction of the new complex despite an order by Okinawa governor, Takeshi Onaga, revoking a permit to build the base, which had been granted by the previous government.

The two governments already have three cases in court regarding this issue which could finally be resolved now as the agreement plan proposes the three cases be withdrawn and the matter be resolved through talks.

The Tokyo government had agreed with Washington to move facilities to Henoko, an area much less populated than the current base in Futenma, in order to reduce its impact on local population.

The local government, however, rejected the shift on grounds that it poses a threat to the area's environment and might prove to be detrimental to the local population.

The current base at Futenma, spread over 1,186 acres, is located in the centre of Ginowan town with a population of 94,000, surrounded by housings and public buildings, and has for years witnessed protests from citizens over the noise and possibility of accidents.

Okinawa is home to more than half of the nearly 47,000 troops that US maintains in Japan as well as 74 percent of US military facilities in the country.
Mosul, March 4 : At least fifteen Islamic State militants and two Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers were killed on Friday in attacks launched by the IS in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

The security official of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, Ghayath Al-Surji, said that IS launched major attacks against Kurdish forces in the areas northwest of Mosul, Efe news agency reported.

The clashes lasted more than four hours, which led to the intervention of the international coalition with air strikes against the attackers.

Also, Al-Surji said more than twelve jihadis and six Peshmerga were injured in the fighting.

Kurdish troops managed to destroy two car bombs driven by the IS fighters who tried to attack Kurdish defence lines.
Mumbai, March 4 : Veteran actor-director Manoj Kumar on Friday said the Indian government's decision to honour him with the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award, comes as a "pleasant surprise". He said it will take him some time to digest the news.

"It's a pleasant surprise. I was sleeping, and I started getting calls from my friends. I thought they were kidding, but when I read the news myself, I realised that it's for real," Manoj Kumar, 78, told IANS over phone.

"Let me digest the fact that I am getting this award. It is certainly one of the most prestigious awards we have. I am extremely satisfied with whatever I have achieved in my life, and my family is extremely happy with this news," added the actor, most of whose works have dwelt upon patriotic themes.

The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is conferred by the government of India for outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema. The award consists of a Swarn Kamal (Golden Lotus), a cash prize of Rs.10 lakh and a shawl.

The honour is given on the basis of recommendations of a committee of eminent personalities set up by the government for this purpose. This year, a five member jury - Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Salim Khan, Nitin Mukesh and Anup Jalota - unanimously recommended Manoj Kumar for the prestigious award.

Having starred in films like "Upkar", "Hariyali Aur Raasta", "Woh Kaun Thi", "Himalaya Ki God Mein", "Roti Kapda Aur Makaan" and "Kranti", the National Award winner and Padma Shri awardee has also directed over five films, including "Roti Kapda Aur Makaan".

Manoj Kumar's last big screen appearance was in the 1995 film "Maidan-E-Jung". He says he will try to be more active in the film industry now.

"I have been absent from the limelight, and that's my mistake. I have been wanting to make a movie and will soon make one as I want to be more active," he said.

(Uma Ramasubramanian can be contacted at uma.sagit@gmail.com)
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Thiruvananthapuram, March 4 : As the Election Commission announced the date for elections to the new 140-member Kerala assembly, the stage is set for what many call a "game changer" polls in the southern state.

Not only the two traditional alliances -- the ruling Congress-led United Democratic Front and the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) -- which have dominated the political landscape in the southern state since the 1970s, but the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance also will fight it out in the poll arena.

The Election Commission on Friday announced that polling in Kerala will be held on May 16. Counting of the votes will be taken up on May 19.

According to the Election Commission figures, 2.56 crore voters in Kerala are eligible to cast their votes in 21,498 polling booths.

Despite opposition accusations of scams and other wrong-doings, the Oommen Chandy-led UDF government is expecting to create history by retaining power. It would be the first ever time that incumbents retain power in Kerala if this happens.

On the other hand, the Left opposition is equally determined to ensure that history repeats itself - that power in Kerala alternates between the Congress and the Left opposition.

The BJP on the sidelines yet is claiming that "the lotus will bloom this time" in the southern state.

Hindu Ezhava leader Vellapalli Natesan's newly launched Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS) joined the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA on March 3.

Should, in the unlikely event, the BJP-led NDA win in Kerala, it would be the first ever time that the saffron party or a Hindutva combine would have come to power in the state that hoisted to office India's first elected communist government on April 5, 1957.

The BJP has as yet no representative in the state assembly.

As things stand now, the Indian Union Muslim League, the second biggest ally of the Congress in the UDF, has announced its candidates list for 20 of the 24 seats it will contest.

The Congress, mired in factional feuds in the past, has selected candidates at the constituency level. The list is now being vetted at the state leadership level, though the final clearance will come from the high command in Delhi.

"Tomorrow, we are meeting to prune the list we have received. It will be sent to the Congress high command, who will make the final selection," V.M. Sudheeran, the president of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee, told reporters here on Friday.

Meanwhile, the CPI-M too is busy finalising its distribution of poll tickets. It is, however, on the horns of dilemma: Whether 92-year-old political warhorse V.S. Achuthanandan or politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan be made the chief minister, should it return to power.

On the flip side, the LDF will now have to deal with UDF allies who have since switched sides. Seat-sharing could be difficult and existing LDF allies may feel the heat.

"The seat-sharing mechanism will be worked out when LDF leaders meet," said CPI-M state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.

The BJP has already completed one round of discussions and is expected to field all its popular state leaders, including former union minister O. Rajagopal.

However, it would not be until next week when all three formations will finalise their respective candidates. Thereafter, a keen political contest will be witnessed in Kerala.

(Sanu George can be contacted at sanu.g@ians.in)
Aden, March 4 : Unknown gunmen attacked a care home for the elderly in Yemen's southern port city Aden on Friday, killing 17 people including four Indian nurses, a security official said.

The home was run by Christian nurses and the Missionaries of Charity, Xinhua news agency reported.

A group of well-armed gunmen stormed the home in Sheikh Othman district and opened random fire after killing the building's guards, a security official said.

Seventeen people were killed, including four Indian nurses working there, the source said.

A senior official of Aden's local government told Xinhua that suspected gunmen of the Yemen-based affiliate of the Islamic State (IS) group were behind the terrorist attack.

Aden, Yemen's temporary capital, has been witnessing chaos and lawlessness during the past weeks, resulting in the assassination of Aden's former governor, several high-ranking security officers and judges.

The turbulent and complicated security situation in Aden and neighbouring southern provinces is one of the biggest challenges for the Saudi-led Arab coalition forces operating in Aden.

The Saudi-led Arab coalition has dispatched thousands of soldiers from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Sudan and Bahrain into five anti-Houthi southern provinces to support and train local Yemeni security forces.

Yemen has been gripped by one of the most active regional Al Qaeda insurgencies in the Middle East and the affiliate of the IS.

The situation in the country has deteriorated since war broke out between the Shia Houthi group, supported by former president Ali Abdullash Saleh, and the government backed by the Saudi-led Arab coalition.
New Delhi, March 4 : The Election Commission here on Friday said all the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in the upcoming assembly polls in five states will have a specially designed symbol for None of the above (NOTA).

"We have worked with the National Institute of Designs to prepare a symbol (for NOTA)," Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi announced at a press conference.

Till now the NOTA - an option provided to voters to reject all candidates as per a Supreme Court ruling - did not have symbol and used to appear in the last panel on all EVMs.

In a move that would have far-reaching impact for enhancing transparency and credibility in the poll process, Zaidi said in order to avoid confusion about "name sake" among candidates, the photographs of candidates would also appear on the voting machines' panels.

The NOTA option was introduced on October 11, 2013.

In September 2015, the Election Commission decided about a specific symbol\ to facilitate the voters in exercising their option on "none of the above" candidates.
New Delhi, March 4 : Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar on Friday said that Hyderabad University research scholar Rohith Vemula was his icon and not parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

"If you ask me, Afzal Guru is not my icon; Rohith Vemula is my icon," Kanhaiya told the media here when asked what he thought of Azfal Guru who was executed in the Tihar Central Jail here on February 9, 2013, for his role in the December 2001 Parliament House attack.

Arrested on February 12 on sedition charge, the JNU students leader was released from the Tihar Jail on Thursday evening after the Delhi High Court granted him interim bail for six months.

Condemning the February 9 event on the campus where anti-national slogans were raised, Kanhaiya said: "We strongly condemn what happened at the university on February 9. It's for the court to decide if that was 'raaj droh' (treason) or not. We've full faith in the judiciary."

Kanhaiya also asserted that JNU students could never be anti-national.

"I want to tell this to the country's people that we study at the JNU with subsidy generated from the taxes paid by you. I want to assure the taxpayers of this country that a JNU student can never be anti-national. Your tax money is not used to fund any anti-national activities in the JNU."

Rohith Vemula, 26, a Dalit research scholar, was found hanging in his Hyderabad University hostel room on January 17. He was one of the five research scholars suspended by the university in August last year after an assault on an RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) student leader. The suspension was later revoked.
Chennai, March 4 : Over 5.79 crore voters in Tamil Nadu will be eligible to elect a new government on May 16 casting their vote in 65,616 polling stations in 234 assembly constitutencies, said Election Commission of India on Friday.

In the neighbouring Puducherry, over 9.27 voters will be able to exercise their democratic right on May 16 in 913 polling stations in 30 assembly constituencies.

Counting of votes will be held on May 19, along with the three other states - Assam, Kerala, and West Bengal - where assembly elections will be held.

The terms of current Tamil Nadu and Puducherry assemblies are set to expire on May 22 and June 2 respectively.

According to the poll panel, Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) will be deployed in 17 assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu and three in Puducherry.

In order to facilitate the electors in identifying the candidates, the commission has prescribed an additional measure by way of adding provision for printing the photograph of candidate also on the ballot to be displayed on the electronic voting machine and on postal ballot papers.

This will also take care of likely confusion when candidates with same or similar names contest from the same constituency, the Commission said.

The poll commission also said the model code of conduct comes into play immediately in the poll bound Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
Geneva, March 4 : The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Friday issued a six-point plan to guide EU member states in solving the refugee crisis which is showing no signs of abating.

"We are running out of time, and strong leadership and vision are urgently needed from European leaders to deal with what is, in my view, a situation that can still be managed if properly addressed," Xinhua quoted UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi as saying in a statement.

"This is as much a crisis of European solidarity as it is a refugee crisis," he added.

UNHCR suggested fully implementing the 'hot spot' approach and the relocation of asylum seekers out of Greece and Italy while returning those who do not qualify for refugee protection.

The UN agency also called for increased support to Greece to address the humanitarian emergency, while ensuring compliance with all EU laws and asylum directives by member states.

The agency also proposed to make available safer, legal ways for refugees to travel to Europe through humanitarian admission programmes, private sponsorships, family reunion, student scholarships and labour mobility schemes.

The safe-guard of individuals at risk, including unaccompanied and separated children, and the implementation of measures preventing sexual and gender-based violence were integral to the plan.

Finally, UNHCR called for Europe-wide systems of responsibility to achieve a managed and orderly solution to the crisis which has already seen close to 135,000 migrants reach EU soil this year.

"Europe has successfully dealt with large-scale refugee movements in the past, during the Balkans Wars for example, and can deal with this one, provided it acts in a spirit of solidarity and responsibility sharing," Grandi concluded.

European heads of states will meet Turkey on March 7 in Brussels.
Moscow, March 4 : Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday expressed concern over North Korea's statement on a recent sanctions resolution adopted by the UN Security Council.

"Obviously, there is serious concern. We are very closely following the development of the situation and hope that all regional and relevant countries will show restraint and balanced approaches in this complex situation," Xinhua quoted Peskov as saying.

Earlier in the day, North Korea issued statements, strongly condemning the new UN resolution and warning to take resolute measures against it.

North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test on January 6 and went ahead with a long-range rocket launch on February 7. The move has been condemned by the international community.

The UN Security Council on Wednesday unanimously approved a new package of sanctions against North Korea, which includes a ban on all exports of coal, iron, iron ore, gold, titanium ore, vanadium ore and rare earth metals from Pyongyang.

It also prohibits the supply of all types of aviation fuel, including rocket fuel, to North Korea, and requires all countries to inspect cargo destined for and coming from Pyongyang.
Mumbai, March 4 : The Hindi remake of Malayalam hit film "Traffic" is set to release on April 29, Fox Star Studios which will be presenting the movie, announced.

"Traffic" is an emotional thriller based on a road trip from Mumbai to Pune. The plot is about a day in the lives of a few people who are at the same traffic junction in Mumbai in the beginning of the day, and how their fates get entangled because of an incident.

The film captures a police car which races to deliver a live heart (organ) from Mumbai to Pune just in time to save the life of a 13-year-old girl.

"Traffic", directed by late Rajesh Pillai who died the day after the Malayalam film was released, is produced by Deepak Dhar of Endemol India and presented by Fox star Studios, read a statement.

The Hindi remake will feature actors Manoj Bajpayee, Jimmy Sheirgill, Divya Dutta and Sachin Khedekar.
Imphal, March 4 : Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh on Friday sought the suspension of fencing along the India-Myanmar border in the state and suggested an all-party delegation should meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others on the issue.

The chief minister stated his view on the last day of the assembly budget session on Friday in reply to a calling attention motion moved by I. Ibohanbi of the Trinamool Congress and Khumukcham Jaikishan of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The two legislators said they were concerned over reports that the border fencing would lead to a loss of at least 1,000 square km of Manipur land, a significant chunk given the fact that the north-east state's total area is just 22,327 square km.

Ibobi said: "There is no problem in areas covered by 19 boundary pillars. However, there is dispute in areas covered by nine pillars." He said Manipur will never compromise on its territory.

He said the Surveyor General of India and other officials had conducted a survey in these areas in January and July last year.

Many in Manipur are still sore over India 'gifting' away the Kavo Valley, an area rich in forest products and much bigger than Manipur, to erstwhile Burma soon after the Independence.

Tribals settled in border villages recently told reporters and Information Centre of Hill Areas Manipur (ICHAM) representatives that the proposed fence will pass through the middle of their habitations.

In case of Hollenphai village, for example, a larger chunk will go to Myanmar. The Choro Khunnou in Ukhrul district will entirely go to the neighbouring country.

The border fencing was suspended when visiting home ministry officials found it was to be located deep inside Manipur.

ICHAM president M. Rajendro said: "The joint team surveyed the border areas on December 20, 2015. There was no representative of the Manipur government. Most lands covered by the boundary pillars numbered 78 and 79 are being usurped."

The Assam Rifles, manning India's border with Myanmar, has been demanding border fencing to check the movement of insurgents, drug traffickers and other undesirable elements who sneak into Manipur from the no-man's land.
Panaji, March 4 : Environmentalists are hoping that Goa Governor Mridula Sinha will take a dim view of a bill that takes away the coconut palm's status as a tree, making it easier for people to cut it down.

"We hope she will keep her word and does not give assent to the amendment," green activist Prajal Sakhardande said.

Sakhardande, fashion designer Wendell Rodricks and other activists had met Sinha to urge her to refuse assent to the bill.

The controversial amendment to the Goa, Daman and Diu Protection of Trees Act, which derecognises coconut palm as a tree, was passed by the assembly in January.

"When we met her, the governor told us that the coconut palm was an essential part of Goa's cultural idenitity and that she supported our cause," Sakhardande said.

Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar told reporters on Friday that the bill had been sent to the governor for her assent.

The opposition and the environmentalists have slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led coalition government for supporting the bill which, they say, will facilitate "mass massacre of coconut trees in the state".

The MLAs of the ruling coalition said the amendment would allow farmers to cut down old and non productive trees without red tape.

The opposition also alleged that the amendment was made to facilitate easy clearing of coconut grooves, a common sight in Goa, to make way for real-estate development.

Green activists have been meeting Governor Mridula Sinha to apprise her of their concerns.

The Congress has said that if voted to power in the 2017 assembly elections, it would accord the status of 'state tree' to the coconut palm.
New Delhi, March 4 : Purno Agitok Sangma, former Lok Sabha speaker and acclaimed politician from the northeast known for his wit and humour, who passed away on Friday, said that God had four boxes with him when he created India.

"When God created India and the people of India, he had four boxes to distribute," Sangma said in an article titled "Peace in Northeast" in the book "Peace Initiative - Northeast India Perspective", edited by Thomas Vattathara and Elizabeth George.

"The first one was to be distributed to the people of the North. When God opened it, he found that it was 'beauty'," Sangma, who was serving as the chairman of the Northeast MPs' Forum till the time of his death, wrote.

"The people were not happy at that, they were worried that if the North had taken beauty, what would be left for them? God told them not to worry that he had something special for them," Sangma continued.

He said when God opened the second box, it was the box of "brains".

"Thus, you find most of the thinkers, and those who run this country are from the South. So the people from West questioned that if both 'brains' and 'beauty' are lost, then what is left for them?"

God, wrote Sangma, assured them that they need not worry, and would get whatever they deserve.

"He opened the third box one and it was the box of 'wealth'. So you find Maharashtra and Gujarat are very wealthy states."

The people of the northeast, Sangma quipped, then asked what was left for them if beauty, brain and wealth were all gone.

"God opened the fourth box and found that it was the box of 'emotions and ego'. Therefore, we are very 'emotional and ego-centric people'. I would like to add the brighter side of us - we are musical and singing people."

Sangma sent the audience of hundreds into splits when he narrated the same at the Northeast MPs' Forum meet at the Constitution Club in New Delhi in August last year.

"You see, we people from the East have this ego - 'Moi Axomiya', or 'Aami Bangali'," he said during the meeting on August 4.

Sitting beside him were Gaurav Gogoi, Assam MP and son of Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, and union Ministers from the northeast Kiren Rijiju and Sarbananda Sonowal among others.

Gogoi was among the 25 Congress MPs who were suspended the previous day from the Lok Sabha for five consecutive sittings for causing disruptions over the Lalit Modi and Vyapam scams.

Sangma said that he was very happy that Gaurav Gogoi was suspended from the Lok Sabha because it brought attention to MPs from the northeast.

"I am very happy. Gaurav is appearing all over the TV channels," he said as the MP in question squirmed and smiled and Rijiju and Sonowal could not help repressing generous grins.

Sangma'a stint as the Lok Sabha Speaker from 1996 to 1998 is remembered for his handling of the house with wit, humour and wisdom.

He also served as a teacher in Don Bosco, Dibrugarh, where union minister Sonowal, the BJP's chief ministerial candidate for Assam for the April assembly elections, was his student.

(Aroonim Bhuyan too was student of Sangma in Don Bosco, Dibrugarh. He can be contacted at aroonim.b@ians.in)
Thiruvananthapuram, March 4 : As in the past, women outnumber men in the latest electoral rolls of Kerala released on Friday ahead in the May 16 assembly polls.

According to the figures released by chief electoral officer E.K. Majhi here, there 13, 301,435 women voters as against 12, 326,185 men.

Kerala will go to the polling stations on May 16 to elect 140 legislators and the results will be declared on May 19.

"There will be 21,498 polling booths in 12,038 polling locations... 60 more polling booths compared to the 2011 assembly polls," Majhi told reporters here.

There will be 1.50 lakh poll officials including police officials who will ensure smooth conduct of the poll, he added.

Majhi said that in the latest revisions, the names of 38,399 duplicate voters in the list were removed as were another 82016 voters who passed away.

"This was done following the representations made by various political parties' representatives to the chief election commissioner when he visited here recently. People who have not enrolled can continue to do so till the date of nominations, which is April 29," he said.

The electronic voting machines that will be used have already arrived and the first round of checking is over.

A total of 12 assembly constituencies spread in 10 districts will have the newly-developed voter verifiable paper audit trail machines where the voter can countercheck after pressing the button, if he his vote has been registered in the name of the candidate he wished.
Kolkata, March 4 : Ridiculing the Congress and the CPI-M for their proposed electoral alliance in West Bengal against her Trinamool Congress, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said she would like to campaign in Kerala to expose the two parties which have reduced the coming assembly polls in the southern state into a "farce".

"I certainly would like to go to Kerala to expose the CPI-M and the Congress, their unethical alliance in Bengal. I want to give a message to the people of Kerala about the lack of morality of the two parties," Banerjee, also the Trinamool supremo, said at a media meet here.

Dripping sarcasm, she said the Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Congress,, which are principal adversaries in Kerala, should form a "joint venture" for the polls in that state, and divide the assembly seats equally between themselves.

"What is the need for holding elections in Kerala? The elections there have now been reduced to a farce. The CPI-M and the Congress can equally divide the seats among themselves. They can enter into a joint venture there.

"If they are in an alliance in Bengal, what is the rationale for fighting the elections against each other in Kerala? If elections are not held in Kerala, the Election Commission would save money, and the people would not face harassment on account of the elections."

Terming the Congress-Left Front proposed electoral tie-up as "unethical", she said it was not important whether they announce their alliance officially or not. "They are holding joint processions, rallies, selecting candidates jointly. It is their business."

Banerjee said the Trinamool was formed in the 1990s as she did not accept the "covert unholy understanding" between the CPI-M and the Congress then. "This has been going on for long. Now this has come into the open."

She also held out an invitation for any Congress leader who was contemplating leaving the party over its likely tie-up with the CPI-M. "If anybody comes out (of the Congress), we are ready to welcome him."

A section of Congress leaders, including former state party chief Manas Bhuniya have deep reservations about any understanding with the CPI-M, which has been the Congress' arch foe in the state for decades.

Banerjee also tried to club the Bharatiya Janata Party with the Congress and the CPI-M led Left Front. "The BJP has also been with them for long, because it does not like the Trinamool's policy of maintaining communal amity.

"But I tell you, the Congress, BJP and CPI-M candidates will lose their deposits. People will give them a befitting reply."

West Begnal will have a six-phase poll schedule between April 4 and May 5. Keral is slated to hold single-day poll on May 16.
New Delhi, March 4 : The tobacco growers association here on Friday urged the government to intervene against the Graphic Health Warning directive issued by the health ministry.

The new advisory mandates a revision in the existing warning from 40 percent to 85 percent on both sides of the pack from April 1, 2016.

The farmers, protesting here under the banner of the Federation of All India Farmers Associations (FAIFA), said that by high taxation and pictorial warnings against tobacco use, the government was helping the foreign tobacco suppliers build up a strong market in India.

"The steps government has taken against tobacco ... is a threat to the livelihood and survival of the tobacco growers. The onslaught on cigarette industry through punitive taxation and stringent regulations have caused the decline in the revenue of the tobacco growers," said P.S. Murali Babu, general secretary of FAIFA.

The government was discriminating by not enforcing pictorial warnings on the illegal and contraband cigarettes, thereby creating an impression that such products are safer.

"The farmers fear that the larger graphic health warnings, if implemented, will further lead to increased growth of illegal and smuggled cigarettes in India, thereby affecting their livelihood," president of FAIFA B.V. Javare Gowda told IANS.

Tobacco is an important cash crop and mostly grown in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

In the last two years, 25 tobacco growers have committed suicide due to the steep fall in tobacco prices due to high taxation.

The delegation, protesting for the last two days, has also met union Health Minister J.P. Nadda over the issue.
Chandigarh, March 4 : BSF troopers gunned down a Pakistani intruder along the India-Pakistan border in Punjab's Ferozepur district, a senior BSF official said on Friday.

The intruder, who was accompanied by another person, was spotted by troopers near the border security fence near Border outpost (BoP) Dona Raja Deena Nath in Ferozepur sector early on Friday.

On being challenged, the intruders did not stop and the BSF troopers fired on them, said Border Security Force's Deputy Inspector General R.S. Kataria.

"One Pakistani intruder was interdicted and one other managed to escape taking cover of wheat crops, wild growth and dense fog. During search of the area, dead body of one unidentified Pakistani intruder was found ahead of the border security fence," he said.

During search of the area later, the BSF recovered a mobile phone with a Pakistani SIM card and some Pakistani currency.
New Delhi, March 4 : Elections to assemblies will be held in Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in April-May, it was announced on Friday, in the biggest popularity test for political parties since the 2014 Lok Sabha battle.

Nearly 170 million people will be eligible to vote in the staggered exercise that will see a two-phase polling in Assam, a six-phase balloting in West Bengal spread over seven days, and a day's battle each in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

Assam (126 seats) will vote on April 4 and 11, and West Bengal (294 seats) on April 4-11, 17, 21, 25 and 30 and May 5, Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi told the media.

Kerala (140 seats), Tamil Nadu (234 seats) and Puducherry (30 seats) will go to the polls on May 16. Counting of votes in all five states will take place on May 19.

Within hours of the announcement, West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress announced its candidates for all the 294 assembly seats but it also expressed its displeasure over the decision of spreading the voting into six phases.

The key players in the five-state electoral battle include the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Left, Trinamool, AIADMK, DMK, Asom Gana Parishad, the AIUDF as well as the NR Congress that rules Puducherry.

Although the BJP is a contender for power only in Assam, the outcome in all five states is important to it because of the two major defeats it has suffered in Delhi in February 2015 and in Bihar later in November.

However, before two consecutive defeats in Delhi and Bihar, the BJP formed governments of its own in Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand whereas it shared the taste of power in the country's only Muslim majority state Jammu and Kashmir for the first time.

While the Congress is in power in Assam and Kerala, it faces a stiff challenge in both states.

After Lok Sabha polls debacle, it lost badly in all the states including Maharastra, Haryana and Delhi but performed well in Bihar, where it formed the grand alliance with Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United and Lalu Prasad-led Rashtriya Janata Dal.

A resurgent BJP has tied up with regional groups like AGP and Bodo People's Front to dislodge the Congress in Assam. The Left is confident of returning to power in Kerala, where the BJP is determined to open its account in the state assembly and has tied with SNDP's political outfit Bharath Dharma Jana Sena.

The Trinamool stranglehold has forced the Congress and the Left in the state -- for decades bitter enemies -- to try to close ranks. Although, the BJP is a minor player in the state, but is leaving no stone unturned.

Ranged against the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu is the Congress-DMK alliance. The BJP is also trying to team up with the DMDK while several other regional parties may float a Third Front in the state.

The Congress is the main opposition in Puducherry.

For the first time in elections in India, the NOTA (None Of The Above) category would be represented by a "symbol" - like party symbols - and photographs of all candidates would figure on the electronic voting machines (EVMs) with their symbols, Zaidi said.

He said the Model Code of Conduct would come into effect immediately in all five states.

The April-May polls will be the biggest electoral contest in the country since the Lok Sabha election brought the Narendra Modi-led BJP to power nationally.

The number of voters will be 19.8 million in Assam, 25.6 million in Kerala, 57.9 million in Tamil Nadu, 65.5 million in West Bengal and 927,034 in Puducherry.

Zaidi said elaborate security arrangements have been made for all the five states to ensure fair and free elections.

Central armed police forces and state armed police drawn from other states would be deployed in the five states during the poll period.
New Delhi, March 4 : A group of 232 sociologists has urged President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to rein in violence in educational institutions across the country.

These sociologists from different universities and prestigious colleges and other institutions have written to the president and the prime minister on the issue.

The signatories to the letter brought up an incident at Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh on February 23, where Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarathi Parishad activists allegedly disrupted violently an event at which Vivek Kumar of Jawaharlal Nehru University was invited to speak.

"They attacked Professor Vivek Kumar," the sociologists said in the letter to the president.

They said the activists also abused and threatened Professor Rajesh Misra of the Lucknow University for his Facebook post.

"The constitution of India guarantees to all citizens the right to their beliefs and to peaceful expression of these beliefs, but we are deeply disturbed by the ongoing events in the country and feel the urgent need to make a public statement," they said.

"We are, therefore, deeply concerned at the growing attacks on students, faculty and staff of various universities by organisations which seem to have the backing of the authorities and the police," the academics added.

The group includes teachers and professors from renowned institutes like the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi University, Jamia Millia Islamia, St. Xavier's College, Guwahati University, Mumbai University and many others.
New Delhi, March 4 : Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar on Friday said that Hyderabad University research scholar Rohith Vemula was his icon and not parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

"If you ask me, Afzal Guru is not my icon; Rohith Vemula is my icon," Kanhaiya told the media here when asked what he thought of Azfal Guru, who was executed in the Tihar Central Jail here on February 9, 2013, for his role in the December 2001 Parliament House terror attack.

"According to me, Guru was a citizen of India and a resident of Jammu and Kashmir. The people have a constitutional right to protest if they think someone did not get justice," he added.

Rohith Vemula, 26, a Dalit research scholar, was found hanging in a Hyderabad University hostel room on January 17. He was one of the five research scholars suspended by the university in August last year after an assault on an RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad student leader. The suspension was later revoked.

"People who play with our constitution... we have to stand up against their evil designs. The sacrifices of our (army) jawans and our farmers who commit suicide... and Rohith Vemula... will not go waste. They are trying to divide the country," the JNU student leader said without naming anyone.

Kanhaiya, who did not evade even a single question from the media, said: "I am not a politician. That's why I will not run away from your questions. I am a student. I want to become a teacher in future, so it is my responsibility to answer all questions."

Arrested on February 12 on sedition charge, the JNU students leader was released from the Tihar Jail on Thursday evening after the Delhi High Court granted him interim bail for six months.

Condemning the February 9 event on the campus where anti-national slogans were raised, Kanhaiya said: "We strongly condemn what happened at the university on February 9. It's for the court to decide if that was 'raaj droh' (sedition) or not. We've full faith in the judiciary and the constitution."

"Despite all efforts, they (government) have not been able to fabricate truth. The constitution is not a video that can be doctored," said Kanhaiya.

Kanhaiya also asserted that JNU students could never be anti-national.

"I want to tell this to the country's people that we study at the JNU with subsidy generated from the taxes paid by you. I want to assure the taxpayers of this country that a JNU student can never be anti-national," the JNUSU leader said.

"Your tax money is not used to fund any anti-national activities in the JNU. There is a conspiracy to defame the JNU."

"There are some dark clouds... I want to tell them that there will be rain after the dark clouds. These dark clouds can't hide the red sun and the blue skies. The rain will push away the dark clouds."

Kanhaiya said that the law on sedition was a "black law" and it was framed by the British to supress the voice against injustice during the British Raj.

"Sedition law is a black law and shouldn't be used on students. We understand the limits of freedom of speech. We don't want freedom from the country, but freedom within the country. We want to make the country stronger and united. There is a difference between 'raaj droh' (sedition) and 'desh droh' (treason)," said Kanhaiya.

"I personally feel that sedition charges against JNU students Umar (Khalid) and Anirban (Bhattacharjee) and others should be withdrawn," he added.

"Our government has become the government of one party. Not just one party, but one office. We have to make them realise that they are here for the whole country. They are answerable to parliament. I have no personal differences with them, only ideological differences," the JNU student leader said.
Kolkata, March 4 : Terming the staggered six-phase assembly election schedule announced for West Bengal as a "result of the stepmotherly" attitude towards the state, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday accused the CPI-M, Congress and BJP of hatching a conspiracy to defame the state.

"We welcome the Election Commission's announcement of the polls schedule. But we see some districts will have polls on two dates. In contrast, Kerala, Tamil Nadu will have single-day polls. Even a state like Assam, where there are problems of violence and communal clashes, will have two-day polls.

"But Bengal will have seven polling days. Not that we have problems with it. It will work to our advantage. But we find it disturbing. We don't like this step-motherly attitude shown towards Bengal," Banerjee, also the Trinamool Congress supremo, said at a media meet here.

She alleged that her opponents were giving Bengal a bad name as they were unable to combat her politically.

"Those who cannot fight politically, they always try to defame Bengal by hatching conspiracies. CPI-M, Congress, BJP do it all the time," she said.

Asked to comment on the Election Commission's decision to send a large number of central police force personnel for the Bengal polls, Banerjee shot back: "The Election Commission can send even ten crore voters also. We will be very happy. Ultimately, people will decide."

She said the discriminatory attitude to states like Bengal and Bihar (which also had six phase assembly elections late last year) was "not proper".

However, Banerjee hastened to add that she had no problems with the EC decision.

"It is the prerogative of the EC. We will fight the battle, no problem. But sometimes I feel disturbed when some political parties which did not do anything for 34 years (a reference to the CPI-M led Left Front which ruled the state from 1977 to 2011), just because now they are in the opposition, now they create a nuisance."

The six-phase Bengal assembly elections with seven polling dates is spread over a month in April-May.
New Delhi, March 4 : Secret documents supplied to Pakistan's spy agency ISI by five Indians, including a BSF constable, can be used to counter Indian forces, a charge sheet filed by Delhi Police has said.

The police last week filed the charge sheet before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sumit Dass accusing the five - BSF Head Constable Abdul Rasheed and retired army Havildar Munawwar Ahmad Mir of supplying secret documents to operatives of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

According to informed sources, police alleged that Rasheed, Mir, schoolteacher Sabar, then soldier Fareed Ahmed and library assistant Kafaitullah Khan alias Master Raja, in connivance with another suspect, supplied the secret documents to Faisal, a Pakistan-based intelligence operative.

Faisal, who is on the run, persuaded Khan to gather sensitive information about the movements and other operations of the Indian Army to a Pakistan-based handler, the police said.

Khan collected the documents from Rasheed, Mir and Ahmad and paid them handsome money. Saber helped Khan to establish contact with Mir, said the police.

The chargesheet said the secret documents contained crucial information about the army, including their deployment in various places.

It added that confidential documents can directly and indirectly be useful to an enemy country and were likely to affect India's sovereignty, integrity and security.

"The documents can be used by the enemy to counter the moves of Indian forces," the chargesheet said.

Police have stated that the accused used Whatsapp, Viber and other technology to pass on the secret information and documents to one other.

A joint operation by Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir Police led to the arrest of the five accused in November and December.

Kafaitullah Khan, a resident of Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, was arrested from New Delhi railway station on November 26. Rasheed was held in Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir.

According to police, Kafaitullah's interrogation led to the arrest of Rasheed. Followed their arrest, police picked up Mir and Saber from Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir and Ahmed from West Bengal.

Mir took retirement in 2011 after serving with a Rashtriya Rifles (Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry) battalion, police said.

All the accused are in judicial custody and lodged in Tihar Jail.

The court, which was scheduled to take cognizance of the charge sheet on Friday, adjourned the case for March 17 for consideration of the investigation report.

The accused have been charged under various sections of the Official Secrets Act.

Police recovered documents, compact discs and details of bank accounts of the accused.

Police also cited conversations, contents of Whatsapp messages and call detail records of the accused persons. Police cited 23 witnesses to back its case.

(Amiya Kumar Kushwaha can be contacted at amiya.k@ians.in)
New Delhi, March 4 : A 50-year-old Delhi Police head constable was killed after a speeding vehicle hit him while he was positioned at a check post here on early Friday, police said.

Abdual Sabbar Khan, a resident of Rajasthan, was hit by an auto rickshaw around 2 a.m. while he was on vehicle checking duty in Timarpur in north Delhi along with two other policemen.

"Khan died on the spot," said a police officer.

Police said the auto rickshaw driver, identified as Dheer Singh, 34, fled from the spot with his vehicle but was arrested later and booked under charges of rash and neglegent driving.

The officer said that Khan, who was deputed at Timarpur police station, was inducted in Delhi Police in 1986.
New Delhi : Kanhaiya Kumar's genius as a public speaker is self evident from his first speech in JNU on February 11 and the one he made on the campus after returning from Tihar Jail on March 3. The CPI feels it has a legitimate right to hitch its wagon to this new star.

The JNU affair has in fact opened up many possibilities. Some of these may be imaginary. The Communist Party of India, the original one, suddenly has stars in its eyes. It hopes Kanhaiya Kumar will boost it to its original glory, before the party split in 1964. The CPI became its rump. The CPI-M became the senior party which proceeded to rule West Bengal and Tripura for decades without a break. Intermittently, in Kerala too.

Kanhaiya won the JNU Students Union president's election as the CPI-affiliated All India Students Federation (AISF) candidate. Naturally, the parent party, otherwise limp and wan, finds its morale boosted.

Visit Ajoy Bhawan, its headquarters, and there is a comradely swagger in everyone's walk. Overnight, they are feeling superior to their cousins, the CPI-M, who have otherwise dwarfed them all these years but who, alas, have no SFI (CPI-M's student wing) star on the JNU firmament. Kanhaiya's persona has brought about CPI-M's unexpected status reversal vis-a-vis the CPI.

Even in their abysmal decline, the CPI-M at least has nine members in the Lok Sabha, the CPI has only one. How then has a windfall like Kanhaiya come CPI's way? According to Hindu belief, the party must have done some good in its past life.

Ironically, Kanhaiya is not a creature of Ajoy Bhawan. He got his Marxism from his parentage. Begusarai in Bihar, where his family lives, was called "Little Moscow". Senior communist leaders Chandrashekhar Singh and Indradip Sinha were legends in the region.

Indeed, when the Indian communist movement split nationally, the Bihar unit remained intact. Under its Secretary General Jagannath Sarkar, the CPI was so powerful that its alliance with Indira Gandhi in New Delhi made Jayaprakash Narayan initiate his movement in Bihar.

The leftist culture from which Kanhaiya comes is not necessarily linked to the CPI in the rigid doctrinaire sense. He came up on the strength of his leadership skills and oratory and won the union election without the support of any CPI infrastructure, which is non-existent in the campus.

He was able to forge a wide coalition which included Umar Khaled, Anirban Bhattacharya and others recently charged with sedition.

Kanhaiya, Omar and Anirban are all comfortable under a broad left umbrella. But if the parent bodies - CPI and Marxists-Leninists begin to claim them as their respective wards, there will be difficulties.

The CPI and CPI-M do not dispute the Afzal Guru hanging, but the CPI-ML does. There is a whole lot of confusion as to who shouted which slogans at the function to observe Guru's hanging on February 9. Bollywood should consider a Roshomon II, where the truth remains tantalizingly elusive.

It was just as well that Kanhaiya's release was celebrated nationwide thanks to the change of heart of some TV channels. But this is only a release on bail for six months. Moreover, bail has been granted as a kind of largesse handed out by the Delhi High Court to somebody whose guilt is presumed. The JNU faculty has been advised to keep the students on the straight and narrow, something, presumably they were not doing so far. This is the tone of the judgment.

The CPI would like Kanhaiya's focus to be on the campuses the ABVP is trying to unsettle. "If we bring in the S.A.R. Geelani's arrest, the focus will get diverted to Kashmir and other issues," says a senior CPI leader.

The CPI-ML, which has traction on the campus, has a different take on Kashmir, Afzal Guru and therefore on Geelani. In any case the parent party's hold on Omar and Anirban is, at best, tenuous because the two have had serious difference with the leadership.

At this moment Omar and Anirban have no formal affiliation with a national party. Who then is fighting for their bail? Senior lawyers like Kapil Sibal, Rajeev Dhawan and Indira Jaisingh got involved in the Kanhaiya matter because that is where the BJP lawyers diverted the focus by their undisguised hooliganism in court.

This leaves Omar and Anirban without real political godfathers. Bright young lawyers, holding the brief for these two, are waiting for the police to frame charges. But the two are in danger of being forgotten during the fortnight in judicial custody because the media is capricious and has its mood swings conditioned by ratings.

The only one who can help them remain in focus is Kanhaiya. Because without his cohorts, he too will lose steam.

The general assumption is that the RSS is driving the "nationalism" debate. It is a difficult debate to negotiate in a sound byte format. On the other side of this polarised turf, the Left, Dalit and Muslim convergence cannot give comfort to the Hindutva establishment.

The Left is propagating the line that the Gujarat Police model has been replicated in Delhi. This strengthens the AAP line that the police takes dictation from the union government and does not allow it to function. The Left and AAP have not necessarily been on the same page so far. Is this another novelty emerging?

(A senior commentator on political and diplomatic affairs, Saeed Naqvi can be reached on saeednaqvi@hotmail.com)
Srinagar, March 4 : The Srinagar international airport is ready to start operation of night flights, an Airport Authority of India (AII) officials said here on Friday.

R.K. Shinde, director, AAI said at a media conference here that the Srinagar airport is now ready to start night operations and it was now for the various airlines to apply for permission to the director general of civil aviation for obtaining the necessary clearance.

He said Srinagar International Airport has been rated as the second best airport world over in terms of customer satisfaction ratings.

"Basically, we are ready, the infrastructure is ready. Since this airport is a civil enclave, it was supposed to be cleared by Indian Air Force," he said, adding it has already cleared it for night operations up to 10 p.m.

"Now, it is for those airlines, which are interested to commence the operations, to take a call. The only thing that they have to obtain is a clearance from the DGCA. Once the clearance from the DGCA is there night operations from this airport will be started.

"A team of DGCA is expected to visit the airport this month to take stock of facilities for starting the night operations," said Shinde.

On security, he said that more measures have been taken to strengthen the security at the airport, particularly after the Pathankot attack.

"This is a hypersensitive airport and that is why since the beginning, we have Jammu and Kashmir Police for anti-hijacking purpose and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

"After the Pathankot incident, we have taken a number of steps to further strengthen the security like multiple checking of the passengers as well as luggage, secondary ladder-point checking... we have deployed additional Quick Response Teams which move to and fro and keep the vigil in the airport area," Shinde said.

He said the manpower of security forces has also been strengthened at different positions at the airport.

The director said that considering the continuous growth of the airport, AAI has planned its expansion for which works are already in the pipeline.

"The expansion has been considered to handle the traffic to the tune of 5.72 million passengers per annum by the end of 2023 - an increase from 2.04 million passengers per annum right now. The building size, right now, is around 19,700 square metres. We are going to add an additional capacity of 33,000 square metre and this expansion will be on the left side of the existing terminal because we are already in a constraint.

"We will then have two additional aircraft stands, so that total stands will become 11. Also we will be having a common user domestic terminal to handle the domestic cargo in better manner,' he said.

Shinde also said that they will soon have free wi-fi at this airport in coordination with BSNL.

"The equipment installation is over and maybe within a week's time we will commission free wi-fi system," he said.
New Delhi, March 4 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that poverty is the biggest challenge for environment and its eradication is one of the fundamental goals of the government.

"I am sure all of us agree that poverty is the biggest challenge for environment. Therefore, eradication of poverty is one of the fundamental goals of my government. Guided by our core values, we are working towards achieving this goal with sincerity," Modi said while addressing an International Conference on Rule of Law for Supporting the 2030 Development Agenda.

"We want to ensure a conducive environment for 1.25 billion Indians to develop and make them prosper," he added.

The prime minister said his government was encouraging education, skill development, digital connectivity and entrepreneurship to provide an enabling ecosystem for the youth.

"The rule of law dictates that no one can be punished for another's misdeed. We need to recognise that there are many people who are least responsible for the problem of climate change. They are also the people who still wait for access to modern amenities. They face the adverse impact of climate change more than anyone else," he said.

"The poor, vulnerable and marginalised groups have fewer resources to cope with climate disasters. Unfortunately, their present and future generations are also burdened by laws and agreements on environment," said the prime minister.

Talking about climate justice, Modi said problems faced today are not unique.

"The problems we face in India today are not unique. Other civilisations have also faced similar problems and were able to overcome them. I believe that through our collective efforts we will succeed as well," he said.

He said fulfilling the demand for energy was vital to achieve developmental goals and that the first challenge he took as prime minister was generation of 175 gigawatt renewable energy.

"We are well on our way to achieving this objective," he said.

Pointing out that sustainable development was the responsibility of the world at large, the prime minister said India always prayed for the welfare, peace, fulfillment and sustainability of all and at all places and for all times.

"Anything not sustainable cannot be called development," he said.
New Delhi, March 4 : Permanent representatives of India, Brazil, Germany, and Japan to the United Nations on Friday called for a more representative, legitimate and effective Security Council which was reflective of the current geo-political realities.

Directors general on United Nations Affairs and permanent representatives met here and discussed the developments on the Security Council reform agenda at the Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) in moving towards text-based negotiations.

A joint statement issued after the meeting said that the G-4 members reiterated their commitments as aspiring new permanent members of the reformed UN Security Council, as well as their support for each other's candidatures.

"They expressed full support to the chair of the IGN in the 70th General Assembly Session in her important role of facilitating a concrete outcome of the process," it said, adding that the meeting emphasised the G-4 resolve to work together with all member states, including within the IGN process, and to accelerate outreach towards achieving an early and meaningful reform of the council.

"The G-4 meeting emphasized the core message that a more representative, legitimate and effective Security Council which is reflective of the current geo-political realities is needed more than ever to better address global conflicts and crises," the statement said.

"They also reaffirmed their view of the importance of developing countries, in particular from Africa, to be represented in both the permanent and non-permanent categories of an enlarged council," the statement added.

The next meeting of the directors general will be held in Japan in June 2016. The previous such meeting had taken place in Brasilia on July 10, 2015.
Patna, March 4 : Around three dozen farmers who refused to reap their standing wheat crops before ripening to make space available for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's function in Vaishali district of Bihar on March 12 forced authorities to change the venue, officials said on Friday.

"Faced with protest by dozens of farmers, who have refused to reap their standing crops, the function venue has been shifted," a district official said.

Bharatiya Janata Party's Bihar unit president Mangal Pandey confirmed to the media here that the venue has been changed.

Farmers of Sultanpur near Hajipur, the district headquarters of Vaishali and about 30 km from Patna, had protested against the attempts by local authorities to hustle them into cutting their unripened crops for Modi's function.

"These farmers protested that they had not yet been paid compensation for their crops harvested in 2014 and 2015 to make space available for Modi's election campaign rally. They refused to harvest their crops this time and threatened to protest if forced to do so," officials said.

According to officials, the farmers made it clear that they would not go for early harvest since it would fetch low prices in the market. "Farmers also rejected the offer of adequate compensation."

The land on which Modi's function was proposed to be held belongs to nearly 40 farmers.

A team of local officials, during their visit to the area three days ago, said the farmers should cooperate for the prime minister's function. But the farmers said they would harvest only the fully ripened crops by March-end.

Modi will visit Bihar on March 12 also to attend the closing ceremony of the Patna High Court centenary function.
New Delhi, March 4 : A 16-year-old Tibetan, who had set himself on fire during a protest, died at the Safdarjung hospital here, said hospital officials on Friday.

Dorjee Tsering had self immolated during a protest against the Chinese government in Dehradun on Monday. He was taken to anearby hospital and later referred to Safdarjung Hospital.

According to the doctors at the burns department, Tsering had suffered 98 percent burns.

Tsering is second Tibetan to die after self immolation this week.

Earlier, a Tibetan Buddhist monk had self-immolated and died on Monday in the Chinese province of Sichuan.
New Delhi, March 5 : The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Friday issued a show cause notice to Kerala chief secretary in a 2014 case of torture of a house maid by police, asking why an interim relief of Rs.3 lakh wasn't recommended to be paid to the victim.

The state government has been given six weeks to respond.

In September 2014, the maid named Leeba Ratheesh was tortured by police in Cheranallur Police Station in the state's Ernakulam "The conduct of the erring police officials seems to have transgressed all the limits on its power and the same amounts to a gross violation of the human rights of the victim," said an statement from the NHRC.

As per NHRC findings, Ratheesh was taken to the police station on a complaint of missing gold from the house of her employer, kept in detention for 38 hours and tortured.

"She was also denied food and drinking water during the custody. After she was released on bail, her friends took her to the district hospital, Ernakulam. On medical examination, it was found that she had suffered serious spinal injuries due to police torture," NHRC stated.

Justice D. Murugesan, member of the commission, on the basis of the material on record, has observed that the extent of police torture meted out to the victim is clearly established.

NHRC later received a report confirming that Leeba was tortured by six police personnel - a sub-inspector, an assistant sub-inspector and four woman police constables. They were suspended from the service and a criminal case was registered against them.
Mumbai, March 5 : Central Board of Film Certification chief Pahlaj Nihalani says that there is zero corruption in the functioning of the board currently and issues of corruption that had been reported about it were from before his appointment.

"Whenever there is a delay, corruption takes place and becomes a problem for everyone. Definitely I can say, from my knowledge and observation, they didn't even accept gifts that come during Diwali, so I'm proud of my staff. They have accepted the challenge and they're doing it day and night.

"The working days were earlier Monday to Friday, but they have also started working on Saturdays and Sundays... they're giving me support and not allowing any delay in the certification. So I think there is no corruption at all, zero corruption," said Nihalani at a press meet at the launch of his Society magazine cover.

Asked about incidents of corruption in the board as seen when former CBFC CEO Rakesh Kumar was arrested by the CBI for bribery related to certification of a film in August 2014, he said the case against Kumar was still going on.

Asked that if like Kumar, people tried to bribe him as well, he replied: "Yes, because people never leave their habits, they want to get away with the work, by hook or by crook. But some 'good' people are there in the industry, who don't bother whom, why, or where they're offering. But I got the opportunity, somebody has offered me also."

Nihalani also said that under his leadership, there was no delay in certification of films, since the board was calling the directors to certify the films in 2-3 days, despite the official deadline being of 21 days. Online certification is another crucial feature that is close to being implemented, he added.
New Delhi, March 5 : A campaign to raise awareness of the necessity to get children tested for chronic kidney diseases was launched here on Friday.

The initiative was keeping in mind the the high number of chronic kidney diseases in children which has led to complications including slower rate of growth and urinary incontinence or the loss of bladder control.

Under the campaign, parents and general public will be informed about various types of techniques to diagnose kidney diseases in children.

Pregnanant women will also be made aware about renal ultrasounds and perinatal tests especially to detect if the child in the womb is healthy and does not have any congenital kidney abnormalities or any kind of dysfunction.

According to doctors in India, estimates indicate that anywhere between 200,000 and 400,000 people develop end stage kidney disease (kidney failure) each year.

"Kidney disease can affect children in various ways, ranging from treatable disorders without long-term consequences to life-threatening conditions. The kidney ailments usually happen in two extreme scenarios either among children born in poverty or the ones born in affluent society," said Ramesh Jain, head of Centre for Kidney Transplant and Renal Sciences at Saroj Super Speciality Hospital.

He said the campaign will help educate general public about the importance of identifying and treating childhood kidney diseases that originates in childhood.

Among the symptoms for kidney diseases for childrens include haemorrhage, fever, rashes, bloody diarrhea, severe vomiting and stomach pain.
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor Susan Martin has announced that she will return to her faculty position in the Department of Classics on July 1.



Dr. Martin has worked for UT for more than 35 years and has served as UT Knoxville's chief academic officer since 2009.



"I am sad and we will miss her greatly on my team, but I know that UT is in a much better place because of her superb leadership," said Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek. "I credit her leadership and her vision for so many of the transformational changes we've been able to make in recruiting, supporting, retaining and graduating our students."



A national search to fill the position will begin soon.



Cheek said Dr. Martin helped to hire nearly all of UT's current college deans and has recruited many world-renowned scholars to the faculty. He said her leadership has helped UT make more strategic data-driven decisions that have led to better service for students and greater support for faculty and academic programs.



Dr. Martin oversaw the development of UT's Vol Vision strategic plan as well as UT's re-accreditation and subsequent development of the new Experience Learning initiative.

She also led large-scale improvements to student advising and academic support services and the creation of the One Stop Student Services Center, the Tennessee Teaching and Learning Center, and UT Service-Learning.



Dr. Martin said, "I will be forever grateful to Chancellor Cheek for the opportunities he has afforded me to move the university forward. Our strong partnership has resulted in many successes as we have worked to strengthen academics at UT."



In 2014, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities honored UT with its Trailblazer award for the university's big steps to improve graduation and retention rates. The association noted UT's innovative approaches that can be modeled and replicated by other universities.



Dr. Martin said she is grateful to have worked with many talented professionals who helped improve the undergraduate and graduate student experience.



"I look forward to returning to my starting point at UT, the Department of Classics, to re-establish the connection with teaching and research that I have really missed," she said.



Born and raised in Berkeley, Ca., Dr. Martin joined the faculty in 1981. A scholar of Roman law of the classical period, she has two bachelor's degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master's and doctorate from the University of Michigan.
Hyderabad, March 5 : Son of a Andhra Pradesh minister has embroiled in a controversy after he allegedly misbehaved with a woman here.

The incident occurred on Thursday but the victim's relatives alleged that police made an attempt to hush up the case as it involves Ravela Sushil, son of Andhra Pradesh's minister for social welfare Ravela Kishore Babu.

A woman lodged a complaint with Banjara Hills police station on Thursday night that two persons in a car misbehaved with her on Road Number 13, Banjara Hills when she was walking.

She said the occupants appeared to be in inebriated condition. They called her inside the car and even held her hand.

After the woman called for help, locals manhandled them. The accused were brought to police station and the woman lodged a complaint, naming the driver and another person.

They did not know that the other man is minister's son.

On her complaint, police registered an FIR only against driver Appa Rao but let off Sushil.

Some television channels broke the story on Friday and reported that the minister's son was not named in the FIR.

The complainant and relatives demanded immediate arrest of the minister's son.

Police said they will take necessary action after investigation and recording a fresh statement by the complainant.
United Nations, March 5 : The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has documented a total of 3,081 civilians killed in Yemen since March 26, 2015, a UN spokesman told reporters here on Friday.

In February 2016 alone, at least 168 civilians were killed and 193 injured, around two thirds of them by the Saudi-led Arab coalition airstrikes, deputy UN spokesman Farhan Haq said at a daily news briefing.

"Fighting and indiscriminate shelling by members of the Popular Committees affiliated with the Houthis and allied army units loyal to former president Saleh resulted in an additional 49 civilian casualties during February, mostly in Taizz, Ibb and Al Jawf," Haq was quoted by Xinhua.

"There have also been worrying allegations, which the Human Rights Office is still working to verify, that coalition forces dropped cluster bombs on a mountainous area to the south of the Amran cement factory, where a military unit loyal to the Houthis appears to have been the target," he said.

Stephen O'Brien, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said on Thursday that since the start of the conflict in Yemen, more than 2,000 children have been killed and injured during the fightings, including more than 90 deaths this year alone.

The Saudi-led coalition started daily air bombing on the Shiite Houthi rebels and their allied forces since March 2015, vowing to drive out the rebels and retrieve Sanaa, the capital.

Yemen has been mired in an all-out civil war since September 2014, when the Shiite Houthi group backed by forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh invaded the capital Sanaa and drove President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile. The war has killed nearly 6,000 people.
Some 25 million has been made available in Scotland to fund an estimated 500 new and refurbished affordable homes in rural areas.

The new Rural Housing Fund aims to increase the supply of long term affordable housing in rural areas over the next three years through grants for building of new homes and refurbishing existing buildings.

The funding is split into two parts. The main fund will offer grant and loan support. There will also be a feasibility fund offering up to 10,000 grant to help developers scope out potential projects and develop robust, fully evidenced, applications for main funding.



Support will be available for new build, refurbishment of empty properties and conversion of commercial and non-domestic properties for residential housing. The resulting properties will have to be offered either for sale or rental at an affordable level.

The fund will be available to legally constituted bodies which may include private landowners, private developers, community development trusts and housing trusts amongst others and collaboration is encouraged between different providers.

Good quality, affordable housing is essential to help attract and retain people in Scotlands remote and rural communities. We are committed to improving lives across all areas of Scotland by making sure homes are affordable, attractive, and warm, said Housing Minister Margaret Burgess.

We know building affordable housing in rural areas presents different challenges compared to urban areas which is why we are ensuring this fund is open to rural interests, including community bodies, private landlords and landowners, she added.

The move has been widely welcomed. Derek Logie, chief executive of Rural Housing Scotland, said that it has the potential to offer a huge boost to the delivery of affordable rural housing.

We are particularly pleased that community organisations can apply to the fund and access feasibility support. Developing affordable rural housing has many challenges. We hope the Rural Housing Fund will help rural communities to overcome these and deliver good quality, warm and affordable housing, he added.

Scottish Land and Estates also welcomed the move but warned that a consistent private housing policy is still required to rejuvenate the sector.



We are delighted that recognition has been given to the additional problems and costs that developing new housing in rural areas brings, said Katy Dickson, policy officer for business and property at Scottish Land and Estates.



Previous schemes such as Rural Homes for Rent, which we were at the forefront of developing, were pioneering in their delivery of affordable rural housing but it should be recognised that many land-based businesses are consistently delivering homes at an affordable level without the help of public money, she explained.



We now need to see consistent private housing policy. The Scottish Government is providing this fund to assist the development of rural affordable housing while also taking the Private Tenancies Bill through parliamentary process. The Bill may result in a reduced number of landlords willing to let properties, particularly at affordable rents, she pointed out.

The long term health of the private rented sector is absolutely crucial in rural areas where social housing is lacking. We fully support more security for tenants but this must come hand in hand with the robust and comprehensive grounds which landlords were promised at the outset of the Bill. We are now in a situation where the landlords position has been so eroded that there is little incentive to take on the risk of letting property, particularly at a lower than market rent, she added.
As the 35th Annual Riverbend Festival approaches, Erwin Marine Riverfront is getting ready to auction boat slips for the event.



For the rental of slips in past years, boaters were required to sign up on a first-come, first-serve basis. This year, Erwin Marine Riverfront (formerly MarineMax) announces the launch of an online Ebay for Charity Auction for the rental of the riverfront boat slips during the 10-day event.

To maximize the Riverbend experience for more boaters, including out-of-town boaters, Erwin Marine Riverfront plans to launch the first of two seven-day auctions on Thursday, March 10 at 9 p.m. The second auction will begin on Thursday, March 17 and will end on Thursday, March 24.

The two weekends during the 10-day festival will be auctioned as Package A (Friday-Tuesday, June 10-14) and Package B (Tuesday-Sunday, June 14-18).

In addition to the online auction, several changes to occur in this years Riverbend slip rental process are:

1. Erwin Marine Riverfront now manages the rental of slips at City of Chattanooga Marina (just down river of the riverfront) which offers approximately 50% more space than years past with new, 50ft. slips to rent for the festival.



2. Ebay for Charity Auction - Erwin Marine Riverfront wanted a way to give back to the community and will be donating a portion of the auction proceeds to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.



3. The goal is to host more boaters who will be able to experience the festival; from yachts to house boats and runabouts; from locals to boaters in neighboring cities. An online auction allows all of this to be accomplished.



"Erwin Marine Riverfront is excited about the outcome of the auction and the opportunity for more of our boating community to enjoy the festival on Chattanooga's 21st Century Riverfront," officials said.

More information can be found online at www.erwinmarinesales.com/riverbend. Erwin Marine Riverfront will host an informational Launch Party at their location at 201 Riverfront Pkwy. in Chattanooga on Thursday, March 10 at 6 p.m. to share details about this years Riverbend slip rental process, along with rules and regulations, with any interested party. All are invited to attend.



To learn more about the 35th Annual Riverbend Festival, visit: www.riverbendfestival.com.






Rendering of the new Hayden facility expansion This expansion signifies our commitment to invest and grow our business, said Wayne Exton, CEO of AGC AeroComposites. We want to have a world-class facility that accommodates our current needs and gives us the capacity needed for the future.

AGC AeroComposites, a composites and metal structures manufacturer for the aerospace and defense industry, unveiled plans today for a 50,000 square foot expansion at its Hayden, Idaho facility. The expansion will feature a state of the art layout that is maximized for efficiency, more clean room space, room for cutting-edge technology and a new executive office suite.

This expansion signifies our commitment to invest and grow our business, said Wayne Exton, CEO of AGC AeroComposites. We want to have a world-class facility that accommodates our current needs and gives us the capacity needed for the future.

Groundbreaking is scheduled to take place in March 2016 and completion is projected for late 2016.

About AGC AeroComposites

AGC AeroComposites supplies the aerospace & defense industry with composite and metallic aerostructures and components. The companys global footprint is comprised of strategically located sites providing local and immediate support to customers. Integrated solutions range from early stage design, rate production, to full-term sustainment making AGC AeroComposites the industrys trusted lifecycle partner. AGC AeroComposites is jointly owned by Acorn Growth Companies and The Edgewater Funds.
Under Becks leadership, we are well positioned to grow our impact in the region by investing in long-term customer relationships in the region.

Steven Douglas Associates is excited to announce the opening of a new office in Baltimore, Maryland as the most recent expansion of their national footprint. Managing Director Matthew Beck has transferred from our Florida headquarters and is leading the companys efforts in this market.

"The opening of SDAs Baltimore office is a natural outgrowth of the strong customer and partner base we already enjoy in the Mid-Atlantic and up and down the east coast," said Steven Douglas Associates President Matt Shore. "Under Becks leadership, we are well positioned to grow our impact in the region by investing in long-term customer relationships in the region."

Matt Beck has been with SDA for over four years and has been instrumental in the companys significant growth. He has a proven track record of delivering mid management to executive level talent to various organizations including small to Fortune 500 companies throughout South Florida.

Prior to joining Steven Douglas Associates, Matthew spent over 6 years with a Fortune 1000 recruiting firm in South Florida holding progressive roles in both sales and management. In his new role, Matt will continue to lead Steven Douglas Associates national Sales, Marketing and Operations executive search practice and he will be launching a local Finance and Accounting practice in Baltimore.

Steven Douglas Associates, one of the nation's leading boutique search and project-based professional services firms, has been a recognized leader in identifying and providing access to top talent for corporate clients since 1984. Their client base is industry agnostic and ranges from start-ups and emerging middle-market to Fortune 500 companies and private equity firms.

The Steven Douglas Associates firm is composed of two synergistic divisions: The Search Division is focused on placing professional staff to executive level management in the areas of Finance and Accounting, Wealth Management, Information Technology, Sales, Marketing, Operations, Human Resources and Health Services. The Interim and Project Services Division helps businesses effectively manage change by providing them access to experienced and talented professionals on an as-needed and variable basis in the areas of Finance and Accounting, Information Technology, and Human Resources. For more information, visit their website at http://www.stevendouglas.com.
The harrowing work 'Khojaly 613' evoked the full horror of the Khojaly Massacre History is always the subject of debate and interpretation, and this evenings commemoration is not intended to stir tensions, but to ensure that such atrocities are not repeated.

On 25 February, a moving classical concert took place amidst the stunning 17th century classical surroundings of Cathedrale Saint-Louis des Invalides in Paris  the cathedral for the French armies  in commemoration of the victims of the Khojaly Massacre in 1992. This was the worst single atrocity of the ArmenianAzerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh that claimed the lives of 613 civilian victims in 1992, including 106 women, 63 children and 70 elderly people. The evening was attended by more than 600 people, including Senator Andre Reichardt, President, FranceCaucasus Group, French Senate; composer Pierre Thilloy; Andre Sadry, Secretary, National Association of the Families of the Martyrs of Oradour-sur-Glane, and many Ambassadors, including HE Anar Karimov, Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Azerbaijan to UNESCO; HE Anguel Tcholakov, Bulgarian Ambassador to France; HE Homidjon Nazarov, Tajik Ambassador to France; HE Rasa Mikiclaite, Lithuanian Consulate; HE Calixte Madjoulba, Togolese Ambassador to France; HE Patricio Hales Dip, Chilian Ambassador to France; HE Jean-Paul Guevara Avila, Bolivian Ambassador to France; Adil Embarch, Councillor from the Morrocan Embassy to France, and HE Ali Ahani, Iranian Ambassador to France. The concert was organised by the Azerbaijani Embassy to France, the Paris branch of The European Azerbaijan Society (TEAS) Foundation, the Ulduz Association and the Association des Amis de lAzerbaidjan.

H.E. Elchin Amirbayov, Azerbaijani Ambassador to France, said: Up to this day, this massacre sadly remains unknown by French society and constitutes the most terrible episode in the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The extent of this massacre is comparable with that in Oradour-sur-Glane during World War II, which has left indelible traces in the memories of our French friends. This massacre, which was intended to provoke panic amongst a fleeing population, was followed by a policy of ethnic cleansing, which saw almost a million Azerbaijanis forced to leave their historic territories, whilst Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven surrounding regions were occupied, accounting for around 20 per cent of their country.

We must never let these innocent victims be forgotten! The Khojaly Massacre is engraved on the spirit of all Azerbaijanis. But, Khojaly is also a voice that must be heard across the world. This is due to the international Justice for Khojaly campaign that was launched on 8 May 2008 by Mrs Leyla Aliyeva, Vice-President, Heydar Aliyev Foundation. Thanks to this campaign, several countries around the world have recognised this act of barbarity. The event today fits perfectly within the structure of this campaign, with the principal objective of achieving the restoration of justice in the region.

Marie-Laetitia Gourdin, Director, TEAS France, said: I would like to thank our partner organisations, with whom we are associated this evening, under the communal banner of the international Justice for Khojaly campaign. It is an honour for TEAS to be represented at the prestigious Cathedrale St-Louis des Invalides to render homage, together, to the memory of the Khojaly Massacre victims.

History is always the subject of debate and interpretation, and this evenings commemoration is not intended to stir tensions, but to ensure that such atrocities are not repeated. The tragedies of today should not cause us to forget those of yesterday. The millions of refugees today must not make us forget the approximately one million Azerbaijanis who have been waiting for more than 20 years to regain their lands that are still occupied by Armenian troops.

Tonights concert notably features a work by Pierre Thilloy that is particularly touching, commissioned by TEAS, and entitled 'Khojaly 613'. This work pays homage to the soul of the victims of the massacre. As Pablo Casals, the famous Spanish cellist, orchestral leader and composer said: Music hunts hatred for those who are without love. It gives peace to those who are without sleep, and consoles those who cry.

She added: Tonights concert aims at giving some closer to the victims. Justice and peace is the only path Azerbaijan and Armenia should take to eventually live in harmony as neighbours, as they did in the past.

Mirvari Fataliyeva, General Secretary, Association des Amis de lAzerbaidjan, said: The events of Khojaly date back to 1992 and leave a deep wound for all Azerbaijanis and all friends of our country. This gathering, commemorating this sad date, is also there to remind us of the horror of all massacres committed in the world. Last year, we joined TEAS and the Azerbaijani Embassy in France to organise the first screening of the independent documentary 'Endless Corridor' in Paris, and in 2016 we are organising a panel discussion Khojaly  the truth about a massacre in the National Assembly. This date must not be forgotten, so we will continue to discuss it and will support the Justice for Khojaly campaign, launched a few years ago.

LOrchestre Lamoureux, under the baton of Azerbaijani conductor Ayyub Guliyev, performed the concert. This orchestra is well-versed in playing Azerbaijani classical repertoire, as the Artistic Director is Pierre Thilloy, Director-General of the Festival De Soie et de Feu (Of Silk and Fire Festival) and former Composer-in-Residence for the French Embassy in Azerbaijan. It aptly began with the Funeral Ode by Gara Garayev in the arrangement by Mustafa Mehmandarov, and also included Azerbaijani works by Vasif Adigezalov and Fikret Amirov.

European pieces included the 'Dream of Mengele' by the composer, clarinettist and writer Helios Azoulay, a disturbing work inspired by the hideous, sadistic experiments of Josef Mengele on inmates of the Auschwitz Concentration Camp; and the Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber, a poignant and emotional piece featuring a gently ascending and descending melody that is frequently performed at funerals.

The commemoration concluded with a performance of the tone poem 'Khojaly 613' by French composer Pierre Thilloy, played in the presence of the composer, featuring Azerbaijani violinist Sabina Rakcheyeva, the first Azerbaijani graduate from the Juilliard School in New York and Cultural Advisor, TEAS, and Helios Azoulay on clarinet.

The evening was dedicated to the memory of the Khojaly victims and those Azerbaijanis who have one wish  to return home and live in peace with their neighbours.
IATEFL, 2016 TESOL President's Award IATEFL is being honored in recognition of its mission to link, develop, and support English language teaching professionals worldwide.

TESOL International Association announced today that the International Association of Teachers of English (IATEFL) is being honored with the 2016 TESOL Presidents Award. The award honors individuals or organizations outside of TESOL that have demonstrated a commitment to English language instruction and education. IATEFL Past President Susan Barduhn, PhD will accept the award on behalf of IATEFL from TESOL President Andy Curtis, PhD during the Presidents Keynote Session at the 2016 TESOL International Convention & English Language Expo in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. IATEFL President Marjorie Rosenberg will also speak via recorded message.

IATEFL is one of the largest professional associations of English Language teachers in the world, with members from nearly 135 countries, and 125 associates, which are local teaching associations, around the world. Since its founding in 1967, it has developed a rich array of networks and a number of different routes by which teachers and other ELT professionals can participate in its activities. IATEFL also has 15 Special Interest Groups that enable members to develop their particular interests and skills.

IATEFL is being honored in recognition of its mission to link, develop, and support English language teaching professionals worldwide. For five decades, IATEFL has worked as a colleague association to advance the ELT profession, notes President Curtis. As both our organizations celebrate 50 years of excellence in advancing the ELT profession, it seems particularly fitting that the award be presented to our sister organization.

Each year TESOLs president selects an individual or organization whose work for the field of English language teaching reflects TESOLs core values. Past recipients of the TESOL Presidents Award come from diverse backgrounds and include The British Council, UNICEF, and the Peace Corps.

About TESOL International Association

Founded in 1966, TESOL International Association is a professional community of educators, researchers, administrators, and students committed to advancing excellence in English language teaching for speakers of other languages worldwide. With more than 12,000 members representing over 150 countries, TESOL fosters the exchange of ideas, research, and peer-to-peer knowledge, and provides expertise, resources, and a powerful voice on issues affecting the profession. Through professional development programs, its international conference, special interest groups, and publications, TESOL engages tens of thousands of professionals to collaborate globally and create a world of opportunity for millions of people of all ages who want to learn English.
The Largest Broker of Data Center Infrastructure Services such as Colocation, Managed Hosting, Cloud and related Network Services. We can't think of a better way to express our appreciation to the people and companies that helped make 2015 the best year of our 16 year history

Colotraq, the foremost global sourcing advisory firm and master agency for data center infrastructure services, announced today that it will be hosting their biggest party yet at the Channel Partners Conference in Las Vegas on March 17th.

The event will be held at Drais Rooftop Nightclub and will feature a top Las Vegas DJ, boundless drinks and breathtaking views of the Vegas Strip. In attendance will be a cross-section of the industrys leading data center, managed hosting, cloud and network services vendors and agents. "We can't think of a better way to express our appreciation to the people and companies that helped make 2015 the best year of our 16 year history" said Dany Bouchedid, Colotraqs Founder & CEO.

The event will be proudly sponsored by some of Colotraq's premium vendor partners including Cologix, Equinix, 365 Data Centers, Digital Realty/Telx, Internap, NTT Communications, Peak 10, and Telstra among others. Since this event is by invitation only and tickets are limited, if you would like to attend this celebration, please contact us or one of our sponsoring partners.

About Colotraq

Colotraq is the foremost global sourcing advisory firm and master agency for colocation, managed hosting, cloud and related network services. Since 1999, Colotraq has been helping find data center infrastructure solutions for businesses and institutions worldwide through its unrivaled network of over 400 service providers in over 1,300 cities across 140 countries and territories. Colotraq can instantly match customer requirements from a single rack to thousands of square feet of data center space along with managed or network services.
JetNest Logo JETting the world While NESTing your business!

A new service has been launched to introduce entrepreneurs, executives, professionals and others to the international business community, while providing opportunities to experience a major global city, network and collaborate with like-minded individuals, and meet global investors and prospective business partners.

The service is being offered by JetNest, a startup partially funded by hedge fund manager and New York Times best-selling author Christopher Farrell. JetNest was established to meet the needs of entrepreneurs and others who want an extensive, personally and professionally enriching overseas experience  without neglecting their current business or job.

The company assembles carefully selected groups of no more than 30 individuals and brings them to a single global business and financial center where they live, work, collaborate and explore for a full month. Participants  called JetNesters  are offered workshops on local laws, customs and business practices, and attend intimate, invitation-only events where they meet locally based investors and potential business partners. Participants living quarters are technologically equipped and offer full Internet access, enabling them to stay connected to their jobs or businesses on an ongoing basis.

The first JetNest group will travel to Buenos Aires, Argentina in September 2016. Subsequent trips are scheduled for Amsterdam and Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Our shrinking, increasingly interconnected world has made it essential for most entrepreneurs and business executives to have international experience and a global perspective, said Ekaterina Lyapustina, JetNest founder and chief executive.

Spending time in a dynamic, culturally rich city can stimulate the intellect while unleashing creativity. However, international travel can be a lonely experience, and most people find it extremely difficult to connect with overseas investors and others who can help expand their businesses. JetNest was established to help smart, adventurous and ambitious people overcome such challenges.

Lyapustina, who immigrated to the United States from Russia at age 18, is an international marketing consultant and a specialist in intercultural communications. She has visited more than 50 countries and has helped clients launch marketing initiatives in over 15 nations worldwide.

We are creating unmatched opportunities for enterprising individuals to live together in an exciting environment where they can share their hopes, dreams, ideas and passions. Participants will expand their perceptions, gain new insights, and develop relationships that can benefit them for a lifetime.

About JetNest

JetNest was established to help entrepreneurs, business people, creative professionals and others gain the international experience and perspective needed to succeed in todays global economy. The company assembles small groups of carefully selected individuals and brings them to an intellectually stimulating and culturally rich international business center, where they live, work, collaborate and make connections with like-minded individuals and global business partners. For more information, please visit http://www.jetnest.com
On February 24, 2016 the Encina Wastewater Authority Board of Directors announced plans to promote Assistant General Manager Michael Steinlicht to the position of General Manager, effective March 1, 2016.

Mr. Steinlichts career at EWA has been focused on serving his community by protecting the local environment and creating efficiencies throughout the Encina Water Pollution Control Facility (EWPCF). His efforts have directly resulted in increased self-sufficiency, reduced waste, and operational cost savings for EWAs member agencies and the over 411,000 North County residents they serve. He has pioneered strategies and processes that consistently improve technologies and work efforts in order to mitigate operational, environmental safety, and fiscal risks.

Mr. Steinlicht joined EWA in 1992 when he managed the cogeneration plant. This part of the facility recaptures methane to produce clean, renewable energy and provide over 80% of EWAs annual electricity needs (enough electricity to run 2,000 San Diego homes for a year). He was promoted to manage the Maintenance Department in 1997 and again promoted to lead the General Services department in 2001. In this position, he provided executive leadership for EWAs Capital Improvement Program, Maintenance and Fleet Program, Information Systems, Purchasing and Inventory Control, and Asset Management Plan. Innovation and success in these positions led to Mr. Steinlichts promotion to Assistant General Manager in 2009. From then until 2013, his leadership and fiscal discipline led to a 10% reduction in operating expenses. Despite 12% growth in the average daily volume of wastewater treated over the past six years, Mr. Steinlicht has maintained negative growth in operating expenses.

Mr. Steinlicht has proven to be an exceptional leader and great asset to our member agencies and citizens, said Keith Blackburn, Chair of the EWA Board of Directors. His leadership, discipline, deep knowledge of the entire EWPCF, and commitment to his community exemplify our culture of excellence and innovation, and commitment to protecting the Pacific Ocean through fiscally responsible decision making. Were honored to have Mike take the helm as our new General Manager.

In addition to his responsibilities at EWA, Mr. Steinlicht serves as an Officer of the EWA Board of Directors as Auditor/Treasurer. He is the San Diego County alternate board member and Secretary/Treasurer of the Southern California Alliance of Publicly Owned Treatment Works (SCAP), a legislative advocacy group dedicated to regional water issues.

Mr. Steinlicht holds a Bachelor's of Science in Business Administration, and has attended post-graduate studies in leadership at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Prior to joining EWA, Mr. Steinlicht managed a 3-megawatt energy cogeneration system, and served with honor in the United States Navy.

Mr. Steinlicht and his wife Pamela have three adult sons and have lived in San Marcos, California since 1989. Their interests include traveling by cruise ship, desert camping, and spending time with family and friends.
Zika Virus ELISA kit "The availability of these kits will help determine exposure to Zika virus in humans and animals and allow for rapid testing of various Zika vaccines," said Dr. Masarrat Ali, Director of Research and Development at ADI

San Antonio, Texas-based biotech company Alpha Diagnostic International, Inc (ADI) has developed several ELISA test kits for the detection of major Zika viral protein antibodies (Capsid, Envelope, prM, and NS1). The ELISA kits are available for humans as well as monkeys and mice that can be readily used in ongoing research and vaccine development projects on animal models of disease. For more details, please visit:

http://www.4adi.com/objects/catalog/product/extras/Zika_Vaccines_ELISA_Flr.pdf

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared Zika virus as an international public health emergency, prompted by growing concerns that it may cause severe birth defects (microcephaly). ADI was the first company to release Ebola and MERS ELISA kits, which played a major role in the testing and development of vaccines for these emerging diseases. ADI has again responded promptly to the Zika virus threat by cloning and expressing several key antigenic proteins from Zika virus (Capsid, Envelope, prM, and NS1) and raising antibodies to these Zika proteins for the development of antibody ELISA kits. These ELISA kits have high sensitivity and require only a tiny drop of blood or serum to conduct the test. Within two hours, results are clearly evident through a visual color change and can also provide quantitative data. The ADI Zika virus detection ELISA kits are for research use only (RUO). "The availability of these kits will help determine exposure to Zika virus in humans and animals and allow for rapid testing of various Zika vaccines," said Dr. Masarrat Ali, Director of Research and Development at ADI. Zika virus belongs to the Flavivirus genus which consists of West Nile virus, Japanese Encephalitis virus, Yellow Fever virus, Dengue virus, and Tick-Borne Encephalitis virus. ADI has antibody ELISA kits available for of all these related viruses.

ADI is the first company to develop a number of Zika virus ELISA detection kits and is currently developing Zika virus antigen and antibody rapid tests. The rapid tests will help to quickly identify potential exposure to the virus in field or remote area testing applications. ADI has opened communications with CDC and health officials in the State of Texas for donating some of the ELISA kits to enable immediate testing needs.

About Alpha Diagnostic International, Inc. (ADI)

ADI is a privately held, U.S. biotechnology company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. ADI develops, manufactures, and supplies novel diagnostic and quality control reagents and test kits for use in basic biological and disease research in humans and animals. An important mission of ADI is to develop and supply diagnostic and validating solutions for promoting global health through improved vaccine therapeutics and mitigating the spread of human and animal diseases.

Contact Information

Alpha Diagnostic Intl, Inc.

6203 Woodlake Center

San Antonio, Texas 78244

Toll Free: (800)-786-5777

Office: (210) 561-9515 Fax: (210) 561-9544

Email: customerservice(at)4adi.com

Media Contact

Lubna Akhtar

lubna(at)4adi.com
Past News Releases RSS

Today America gets its first lesson in the Gulen charter schools scandal with the first trailer, website, and theatrical NYC premiere announced for KILLING EDa new documentary film from Visual Truth Projects and award-winning director Mark S. Hall that uncovers a shocking fact: that over 150 publicly funded, privately owned charter schools in America are in fact a Trojan horse introducing a variety of abuses. Hall, who previously directed SUSHI: THE GLOBAL CATCH (2012), uses KILLING ED to expose the largest charter school network in the countrythe Gulen Movementwhich receives over $500,000,000 a year directly from American taxpayers.

The forthcoming documentary exposes how the group has gained political power and financial reward in the USA through a lack of transparency and regulation in the ever-growing charter school movement that has become a part of Americas education system. A two-minute trailer for KILLING EDreleased broadly todayjuxtaposes interviews with education advocates and Gulen school teachers against footage of Bill Gates, Lieutenant Governor of Texas Dan Patrick, Dr. Diane Ravitch (Research Professor of Education at NYU), and others with scenes of conflict in Turkey unraveling a sophisticated business front which presents itself as a benevolent enterprise and discounts any criticism as Islamophobic. But the trailer tells a different story, taking a turn at :45, when Noel Hammatt, a former board member of the East Baton Rouge school district, says Ive never known a school to be raided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This is a first.

Hall remarks, People deserve to know the truth. I went in without a specific viewpoint, independent and without affiliation to any foundation, party or group, so that the truth could be told in a pure form. He continues, My hope is that KILLING ED will enlighten a nation with a shocking first-hand look inside these troubled, publicly funded institutions. In doing so, the film reveals the motivations of the leader at the helmand all those in the film that seek to protect us from the unchecked infiltration of our children, politicians, tax coffers, and communities.

A Shocking Realization

What started as due diligence for a non-profit ended up being a five-year trek to uncover the worst case scenario of the privatization of education, which has emerged as a result of the often misunderstood charter school model. Director/Producer Mark S. Hall visited 24 charter schools around the US (19 of which were Gulen-affiliated). He conducted 44 interviews with politicians, experts, parents, teachers, charter advocates, Turkish-Americans and Turkish journalists. Ultimately, he interviewed former followers of Gulen to discover the origin of the Gulen Movement and discovering, shockingly, the apparent destination of many millions of American tax dollars annually.

Originally, charter schools were intended to educate students who were having difficulty learning and had dropped out of traditional public schools. Freedom from many of the regulations required for public schools was given to those who wanted to develop new ways of teaching within the public education system. However, a lack of oversight and regulation, generally, has led to the worst case scenario of a little-known but rapidly growing Islamic movement using public funds for anti-democratic activities such as purchasing influence, oppression of female teachers, as well as gender pay and religious discrimination and - as the film outlines - the apparent funneling of these public school dollars for its startling political objectives in the nation of Turkey.

Screenings

KILLING ED will have its premiere in New York City at the Cinema Village (Cinema Village, 22 East 12th Street, New York, NY 10003) March 25  31, 2016. Other screenings are in the works across the country and individuals and groups can book a screening for their community or organization via the Tugg.com platform. Digital/DVD/BluRay release dates will be announced in March.

Factoids about Gulen Schools



60,000+ students

150+ schools in U.S. (with 12 new schools applied for)

Over 1,200 schools worldwide

$500M+ in taxpayer-funded revenue each year

FBI investigations in four states

Congressional investigation into Gulen-paid Turkey trips for politicians

Over 5,000 Turkish employees on H1-B visas

Operated by followers of Turkish Islamic cleric, Fethullah Gulen

Gulen Movement named a terrorist organization by Turkish government

Movements charters support other follower's businesses (catering, buses, construction, school furniture, curriculum, etc.)

About Mark S. Hall

Mark S Hall is a risk-taking documentary filmmaker and lawyer based in Austin, Texas whose curiosity and unusual set of skills drive him to tell complex stories for the public good. The award-winning producer and director of SUSHI: THE GLOBAL CATCH (2012), Hall is now taking on a much bigger fish: the growing Islamic movement of imam Fethullah Gulen. It was as an impartial citizen that he stumbled upon a troubling story while volunteering at a nonprofitdue diligence led him to his next big catch. His new feature-length documentary film KILLING ED discusses the corruption and corrosive influence of a little-known, global Islamic group based in Pennsylvania known as the Gulen Movement that operates one of the largest network of taxpayer-funded charter schools in the U.S. that are the worst-case-scenarioschools with questionable academic, labor, and H1-B visa standards.

Halls previous documentary feature, SUSHI: THE GLOBAL CATCH, premiered in June 2011 at the Seattle International Film Festival where it won a Special Jury Prize. SUSHI examines the traditions, global growth and potential consequences of what a cuisine in a rapidly globalizing world. The film has screened in theaters, television and at prominent festivals in over 40 countries worldwide. It received a major market theatrical release in August, 2012 through the New York distributor, Kino Lorber, Inc. Halls television-focused work includes MISSION ON SEVEN (2010), a half-hour documentary exploring the film archive at the Harry Ransom Center, which won a Platinum Award at the Houston Worldfest Film Festival in 2010. He lives in Austin, Texas.
Shawn Saathoff, Executive VP of Acoustiblok utilizing ARTVIS at power generator plant in Brazil Lahnie Johnson, President and Founder of Acoustiblok and Thermablok said, We have been very pleased with the results of the Acoustical Real-Time Video Imaging System and anticipate using it as our key diagnostic on large scale problems such as this.

Acoustiblok Inc., a NASA Spinoff listed company is now pioneering the use of the ACOUSTICAL REAL-TIME VIDEO IMAGING SYSTEM (ARTVISTM) in the U.S and internationally. Truly revolutionary, ARTVIS allows one for the first time to actually "see" sound in real-time (as you would see thermal contours with a Flir infrared camera). Not only can one measure the intensity and overall frequency content of the noise and its reflections, but also visually identify the direction, source and frequency spectrum of the noise.

Normally acoustical studies can require hundreds of sound measurements and take literally months to produce. Unfortunately, even at that, they are more than likely significantly hypothetical with much conjecture, especially when dealing with many noise sources simultaneously. And while the acoustical studies can be difficult for the customer to interpret, and very costly, the REAL cost to the customer is implementing a solution that has far less results than expected.

By using the ARTVIS, the acoustical engineer (and the customer) is able to see sound in the same manner as a thermal camera enables one to see heat images. The ARTVIS instrument can rapidly and conclusively identify specific noise sources, their intensities and frequencies as well as sound reflections, leading to an optimum and cost-effective application of sound attenuation materials. Needless to say, the savings to the customer can be staggering.

Recently, Acoustiblok engineers and consultants brought an ARTVIS system down to Brazil to identify noise problems at a very large diesel power generator plant that had problems with noise complaints from the surrounding community. The plant was also on the verge of being fined by the local government for non-compliance with noise regulations. Acoustiblok consultants were called in to identify the cause of the problem and propose a solution.

Acoustiblok determined the Acoustical Real-Time Video Imaging System was the best tool for the project because there are three large facilities with diesel generators at the location. They suspected one of the facilities was the prime cause of the noise complaints, however the data taken by previous acoustic consultants could not separate the noise generated from one facility verses another (there were 28 massive generators operating in one building alone). Acoustiblok advisors knew the ARTVIS could show both the intensity and source of noise, making it possible to determine the relative contribution of one facility verses another to the high noise levels.

A senior Acoustiblok engineer on the project said, The client was extremely impressed with the ARTVIS results. The system was able to quickly and accurately pinpoint the noise sources and the specific frequencies." The Acoustiblok consultants were then able to advise the client on the best sound abatement products for the different types of noise problems within just a few days.

Shawn Saathoff, Vice President of Acoustiblok and a consultant on the project added, The value of the Acoustical Real-Time Video Imaging System on this particular project is that it enabled the customer, who had a minimal background in acoustic measurement, to actually 'see' the sound that was propagating through and outside of the facility. Our biggest challenge was getting the acoustic camera to Brazil, as the microphone array was about four feet in diameter. ARTVIS is truly an ideal tool as it enables one to view sound as if you were in an anechoic chamber.

The Acoustical Real-Time Video Imaging System is a highly specialized apparatus used to locate and analyze sound sources, most often for steady state and dynamic phenomena in real time. Because of the systems speed to get from the data capture stage to the final result, and the ability to provide analysis of both steady state and dynamic phenomena, it is considered a giant step in innovation for the acoustic and sound abatement industry.

Other applications where the ARTVIS is particularly useful are situations where there are several potential sources of noise or if the noise source is moving (such as a train or automobile). The system is also effective at detecting noise leaks and identifying the source and direction of the noise. This is particularly important in the low frequency range, where the acoustic wavelengths are long and it is difficult to determine the direction of noise through normal bi-aural hearing.

Lahnie Johnson, President and Founder of Acoustiblok and Thermablok, an advanced aerogel insulation company said, We have been very pleased with the results of the Acoustical Real-Time Video Imaging System and anticipate using it as our key diagnostic tool on large scale problems such road, city, rail, and industrial noise because ARTVIS can quickly and easily identify all of the noise sources and the frequency ranges. This enables us to determine optimum noise control solutions since we can identify the specific sources, frequency ranges and intensity of the noise problems. Power generator plants tend to have multiple noise sources with a wide frequency range that make pinpointing the noise sources difficult even for experienced engineers.

About Acoustiblok, Inc. - Quieting the World

Acoustiblok Inc., a NASA Spinoff listed company headquartered in Tampa Florida, provides acoustical soundproofing solutions for noise-related issues. The 20 year old company develops, manufactures, and markets acoustical and thermal products around the world, earning the industrys highest ratings from architects, builders, and consumers, including the top award in the British House of Commons regarding sound abatement. Considered green, Acoustibloks products have proven benefits in health and medicine, transportation, public safety, consumer goods, energy and the environment, and industrial productivity.

Primary products include Acoustiblok viscoelastic polymer based soundproofing material, Acoustifence outdoor acoustical fence, AllWeather Sound Panels, QuietFiber insulating material, Quiet-Cloud industrial sound absorption panels, and Acoustiblok Wall-Cover. Acoustiblok products are used in industrial, residential, commercial, and marine sectors worldwide. The companys products are all made and sourced in the United States. http://www.acoustiblok.com

Acoustiblok Inc. ships products to more than 60 countries through a network of stocking distributors in the United States, on five continents across the globe and throughout the Mid-East.

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The vocal blends of Jim Ricketts and Crystle Elam will thrill audiences in Ringgold on March 11.

The duo will bring their ministry to Ringgold Depot at the corner of Depot Street and U.S. 41 on Friday, March 11, at 7:30 p.m. Also appearing will be bluegrass pickin' of the Holder Brothers.



Randall Franks from TV's "In the Heat of the Night will emcee.

The event is a fundraiser for the Pearl and Floyd Franks Scholarship Fund. The Share America Foundation, Inc., a Georgia non-profit, presents scholarships to talented musicians who excel in the Appalachian musical arts.

Ricketts and Elam share Jesus through song combining years of performing experience.

This allows us so many wonderful opportunities to meet folks and share the goodness of the Lord, Jim said.

The group won the North America Country Music Association International 2012 Traditional Gospel Duet of the Year and Crystle won the Horizon award for traditional female vocalist. They also won Traditional Gospel Duet of the Year from the Tennessee Country Gospel Music Association in 2011.

Guitarist Garrett Holder, of Ringgold, was selected as the recipient of the 2015 Pearl and Floyd Franks Scholarship.

He is a graduate of Oakwood Christian Academy in Chickamauga, and attends Dalton College.



Holders brother Trevor, who began playing banjo at age 11, a Pearl and Floyd Franks Scholarship Designee, is a sophomore at Heritage High School in Ringgold.
Logic20/20 Inc., a Seattle-based business and technology consulting firm, announced today that it has acquired Brainbox Consulting, a Seattle-based business intelligence, data warehousing and SharePoint consulting firm. The partnership began nearly a decade ago, when both companies were tapped to work on a deeply complex BI project. The camaraderie and synergies have persisted throughout, both companies augmenting one anothers skillset. The acquisition celebrates the two teams as human compliments and as a value multiplier for our combined clients and employees.

The partnership made sense. The Northwest values locally cultivated and long-term business relationships. Partnerships cannot be built overnight, said Christian OMeara, CEO of Logic20/20. The wealth of knowledge and expertise between us is one element. However, the real world experience working alongside each other through the years is frankly the most important component.

Logic20/20 opened for business in 2005 with the dual purpose of offering a superior, differentiated experience in working with, as well as working for, a consulting company. Within Logic20/20s DNA is the ability to simply leverage advancements in technology to deliver business outcomes. This resulted in their early adoption of cloud computing to drive business efficiencies. Leveraging cutting edge technologies within the cloud to build solutions from advanced data platforms through to innovative marketing sizing analysis, Logic20/20 continues to bring cost efficiency, speed of deployment and value to their clients.

Brainbox Consulting was founded in 2005 with a mission of helping clients access their most actionable information  and share the stories they find there. Brainbox utilizes an innovative assessment model, combined with a proprietary virtual services consulting model that provides a long-term, collaborative team with the right personnel at the right time for their clients.

The combined firms are better positioned to expand offerings across business lines and technology. said Adam Nathan, Founder/CEO of Brainbox, This development deepens our industry knowledge, better positioning us to help our clients transform the way they do business.

The partnership will bring Brainboxs innovative assessment and roadmap assets, Virtual Services Model, SharePoint capabilities and expertise in Tableau Software together with Logic20/20 advanced data platforms, machine learning solutions and management consulting capabilities, will solidify Logic20/20 as a leader in advanced analytics strategy consulting.

According to Travis Jones, Managing Director of Logic20/20: Brainbox is a market leader in BI assessments and helping clients develop and execute on their technology roadmap. Combining this with the breadth and depth of Logic20/20s capabilities in business intelligence, systems integration and our management consulting experience, we will be able to provide our clients with actionable business insights to deliver outcomes that make a real difference to their business.

About Logic20/20 

Logic20/20 is a Seattle-based consulting firm with expertise in business and technology. We create simplicity and efficiency in complex environments to help you realize your organizations potential. We deploy our project management and technology consultants on an individual and project basis. Our experienced consultants are dedicated to the successful completion of your projects in an actionable and maintainable way. For more information, please visit: http://www.logic2020.com

About Brainbox 

Brainbox Consulting is a Seattle-based firm focused on business intelligence, data warehousing, and SharePoint collaboration solutions. Our offerings include state-of-the-art data visualization, sophisticated data integration and portal services related to content management, workflow and search. Our mission is helping clients access their most actionable information  and share the stories they find there.

For press relations, please contact Chau Saenz at chaus(at)logic2020(dot)com or 206.576.0414
What Once Broke Me follows Banyan for eight months on her spontaneous trip from Australia to the African island of Mauritius as a way to explore and heal.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, postpartum depression is a condition that occurs in nearly 15 percent of births.

Having experienced a bout of postpartum depression after the birth of her fourth son, as well as a history of childhood sexual abuse, What Once Broke Me by Rosie Banyan provides an introspective look at how trauma affects a person as an adult, even when they have moved on and lived a successful life.

What Once Broke Me follows Banyan for eight months on her spontaneous trip from Australia to the African island of Mauritius as a way to explore and heal. Towards the end of the book, she travels with her two youngest boys to live in a small urban village in Vanuatu, with the desire to discover a simple life, living without power, running water or first world amenities of any kind.

My trip to Mauritius was essential to my personal well-being as well as my relationship with my husband and family, Banyan said. It allowed me to disconnect and fully connect into finding myself.

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Banyan also went to many healers in natural medicine, including Bowen Therapy and Reiki. These forms of healing lead her to learn about a persons emotional, physical and spiritual bodies and the need for balance.

As I gained healing from these various therapies, I became qualified in what bought results for me, Banyan said. I want everyone to know that you are not just stuck with a broken life, but instead those things that have been taken from you can be healed, changed and released.

Banyan is now a Bowen Therapist, Reiki and Sheichem Master, Practitioner of Neuro-linguistic programming, Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist, Intuitive Healer and Medium.

For more information, visit http://www.RosieBanyan.com

What Once Broke Me: Permanent Freedom from My Past

By Rosie Banyan

ISBN: Hardcover  ISBN 978-1-5035-0806-4, Softcover  ISBN 978-1-5035-0805-7

eBook  ISBN 978-1-5035-0807-1

Available in softcover, hardcover, e-book

Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Publisher Xlibris Press

About the author

Thriving in the academic world of finance and business. Banyans bubble of reality burst just after the birth of her fourth son. A wave of postnatal depression debilitated her and forced her to look at the horrors of her sexually abusive childhood. She sought answers to who she was and each time she experienced a healing method that helped her, Rosie studied and became qualified in that field to then help others. She became a Bowen Therapist, Reiki and Seichem Master, Clinical Hypnotherapist using NLP methods, Journey worker and Intuitive Healer. Rosie's connection to spirit as a medium and psychic was ignited.

# # #

For review copies or interview requests, contact:

Muriel Cross

317.602.7137

mcross(at)bohlsengroup(dot)com
In an increasingly global economy, the state of Georgia continues to make inroads on the international landscape with its extensive reach abroad, strong diplomatic and consular presence, and growing economic engine. Given the states international focus, Governor Nathan Deal has deemed March 8th International Day, and to commemorate the occasion students at the International Charter School of Atlanta (ICSAtlanta) will welcome First Lady Sandra Deal, a former public school teacher, who will share a story with first-grade students.

Opened in August 2015, ICSAtlanta, the first and only dual-language immersion K-4th grade state charter public school in the state of Georgia prepares students for a successful future by promoting academic excellence through rigorous instruction, bilingualism, the integration of cultural competency and respect throughout all aspects of the curriculum, which will enable students to make the most of their individual talents.

It is an honor to be chosen to share International Day with Mrs. Deal, says Pamela Spalla, ICSAtlanta Principal, who leads the internationally-focused school which features French, German, Mandarin, and Spanish language tracks. To highlight the global perspective of our school while sharing Mrs. Deal's love of reading is modeling for our students the goal of being life-long learners.

Through Mrs. Deals literacy program, the First Lady has visited and read to all 159 counties and 181 school districts in Georgia to encourage student reading. Mrs. Deal, the daughter of educators, has dedicated her life to encouraging childhood education, and is now augmenting her efforts by highlighting the importance of developing global citizens who will not only have a competitive advantage but also provide the state with a multilingual and culturally astute workforce  further catapulting Georgia into the international spotlight.

As Georgia's First Lady, I have had the privilege of visiting several schools abroad. Having served as a host family for international students, I learned the value and importance of educating myself about other countries and cultures, says Mrs. Deal. Reading at the International Charter School of Atlanta is a great way for me to connect with students who are developing into global citizens and our future leaders. Hopefully my visit will foster their love of learning and instill in them a desire to read more extensively.

Date: Tuesday, March 8th, 2016

Location: ICSAtlanta, 1335 Northmeadow Parkway, Ste. 100, Roswell, GA 30076

Time: 10:45am-11:15am

Website: http://www.icsatlanta.org

For additional information about the event, please email ICSAtlanta Governing Board Chair, Marisa.Kashapov(at)ICSAtlanta(dot)org.
Acquisition of top-tier talent with the necessary critical thinking and problem solving skills acquired through a STEM education continues to be a top-level concern to C-levels and executives of every industry.

STEM Premier today released their annual national rankings of top science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) high school students. Students from all 50 states with STEM Premier profiles were ranked and rated based on an algorithm of over 30 profile metrics including achievements, experiences and more.

With a projected 2.4 million job openings in STEM through 2018, according to the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce, along with the disproportionate influence of STEM in all sectors; the concern for STEM worker shortages remains central to the economic vitality of the U.S. Acquisition of top-tier talent with the necessary critical thinking and problem solving skills acquired through a STEM education continues to be a top-level concern to C-levels and executives of every industry.

The STEM Premier Top 100 includes high-achieving juniors and seniors across the country whose accomplishments include participation in the prestigious Coca-Cola Scholars program, along with students who have competed in such high-profile contests as the Intel Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Competition, and the Siemens Math, Science Technology Competition.

While reports, including one compiled by the National Student Clearinghouse, show that the share of STEM bachelors degrees awarded to women has been ticking down over the past decade, and as companies address inequalities and bias in STEM-related fields, STEM Premiers annual rankings offer encouragement. The top 100 students not only reflects a full range of diversity, but more than 50% are female.

STEM Premier is an online platform solution that assists students in designing a career pathway, educators in recruiting top talent to their schools and employers in developing a stable, continuous talent pipeline. The platform allows students ages 13 and up to build personal profiles showcasing their skills and talents so colleges, technical schools and companies can connect directly with students.

"Inclusion in the STEM Premier Top 100 is an extraordinary accomplishment, said Dr. Donald Tylinski, President and Co-founder of STEM Premier. "These individuals were selected from students in over 12,000 high schools nationwide, all who demonstrate leadership and a commitment to academic excellence. We look forward to seeing the contribution they make to their communities, and in the world, in the future."

The final selection of students represents 32 states and include: Presidential Service Award Winners, National Merit Scholars, Girl Scouts, Eagle Scouts, Members of HOSA, 4-H, FBLA, DECA, and members of Mu Alpha Theta. Students that made the Top 100 also represented the acclaimed engineering curriculum Project Lead The Way (PLTW). Other top students included participants in competitions hosted by SkillsUSA, TSA, First Robotics, Siemens, Intel, VEX Robotics, and Cyberpatriot.

For a full list of the national Top 100 rankings, visit stempremier.com/rankings.

About STEM Premier

STEM Premier is the first online solution that assists students in designing a career pathway, educators in recruiting top talent to their schools, and employers in developing a stable, continuous talent pipeline. STEM Premier is a subscription-based, multi-channel network connecting academic institutions, corporate partners, and government agencies to a pool of qualified STEM talent in the U.S. and global markets. For more information, go to http://www.stempremier.com.

Media Contact:

Deb Owen

STEM Premier, Inc.

812.797.2987

djo(at)debjowen(dot)com
Tony Coles, MD, a leader in the biotechnology industry, will deliver the commencement address at the summer graduation ceremony of the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. The ceremony will be held on Tuesday, August 9, 2016, at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore, Maryland.

Dr. Coles is a founding investor and chairman and chief executive officer of Yumanity Therapeutics, a company focused on transforming drug discovery for neurodegenerative diseases caused by protein misfolding such as Alzheimers, Parkinsons and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). He also serves as chairman and chief executive officer for the privately held company TRATE Enterprises.

Dr. Coles (at left) currently serves on the board of CRISPR Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing transformative gene-based medicines for patients with serious diseases. He is vice chair of the board of trustees for Johns Hopkins University and a member of the board of trustees for Johns Hopkins Medicine. He is also a member of the board of directors of McKesson Corporation, a leader in the health care services industry.

Tony Coles is a business leader who is working to find solutions to some of our greatest health care challenges, said Bernie Ferrari, dean of the Carey Business School. He exemplifies what it means to practice business with humanity in mind and we are very pleased to have him as our commencement speaker.

Dr. Coles received his undergraduate degree at Johns Hopkins University before earning his medical degree from Duke University. He also has a masters degree in public health from Harvard University.

Previously, Dr. Coles was chairman and chief executive officer of Onyx Pharmaceuticals, based in South San Francisco, CA. During his tenure, Onyx introduced two innovative cancer medicines and established the company's international presence. Prior to joining Onyx, Dr. Coles was president, chief executive officer and a member of the board of directors of NPS Pharmaceuticals. He previously held executive positions at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Merck.

Dr. Coles was named to the National Institutes of Health working group tasked with charting the course for President Obamas Precision Medicine Initiative, now part of the PMI Cohort Program Advisory Panel. He also serves as a member of the council for the Smithsonian Institutions National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC; a member of the board of trustees for The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City; and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank and publisher.

David M. Rubenstein, the co-founder and co-chief executive officer of The Carlyle Group, will deliver a graduation address at the Carey Business Schools spring commencement on May 17, 2016.

Founded in 2007, the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School supports business knowledge development and education through its own initiatives, innovations and collaborative programs across the Johns Hopkins University. The Carey Business School creates and shares knowledge that shapes business practices while educating business leaders who will grow economies and societies and are exemplary citizens.
Ernest Hemingway, photographed here in 1939, spent much time in Wyoming fishing for trout and of course writing. Hemingway fell in love with the land, the people and the trout fishing  which he described throughout his life in letters and stories.

Many of even the most avid Ernest Hemingway fans arent familiar with his longtime love affair with Wyoming, says author Darla Worden, who researched and wrote an article on Hemingways ties to the state, "Hemingway's Wyoming: A Cockeyed Wonderful Country," just published in the spring 2016 issue of Big Sky Journal magazine. Worden, who also hosts the Left Bank Writers Retreat in Paris each June visiting Parisian Hemingway landmarks and sharing his writing tips, followed in Hemingways Wyoming footsteps for the article, personally visiting many of the sites mentioned in her article.

As a Wyoming native, it was exciting to discover that Hemingway actually visited and finished his novel "A Farewell to Arms" near my hometown of Sheridan, says Worden. Then visiting his cabin at the Bar BC near Jackson was another thrill  to think of him exploring my native state, a place that I sometimes have taken for granted, forgetting that its arguably one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Hemingway first arrived in Wyoming, in the tiny ranching town of Big Horn, in 1928, on the heels of his success with the publication of "A Sun Also Rises." Hemingway fell in love with the land, the people and the trout fishing  which he described throughout his life in letters and stories, Worden writes in the article. After stays at two area ranches and at the Sheridan Inn, catching trout and finishing "A Farewell to Arms," he continued up through Yellowstone National Park and on to Jackson Hole for fishing on the Snake River with then wife Pauline before returning to Sheridan.

Hemingways routine was to write in the morning and fish in the afternoon, writes Worden, adding that his fishing log, which he kept throughout his life, shows that he and Pauline caught 600 trout during their month of fishing in Wyoming.

On a second trip in 1930, while at work on his bullfighting book (which would become "Death in the Afternoon"), Hemingway and Pauline rambled farther north to a remote ranch on the outskirts of Yellowstone National Park with fishing on the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River  a trout fishermans dream that he would later call the best fishing in the world.

Wyoming isnt the only place where Worden has followed Hemingways travels. A trip she took to Paris visiting the sites in his famous "A Moveable Feast" formed the basis for her Left Bank Writers Retreat in Paris, now in its seventh year. Worden founded the six-day small-group writing workshop and literary tourism experience with a focus on the writing techniques and literary landmarks of Hemingway and the cohort of now-famous writers who lived on Pariss Left Bank during the 1920s, writing and congregating in the citys cafes and bars to share ideas.

About Darla Worden:

Darla Worden is a writer who lives in Jackson, Wyo., Denver, Colo., and Paris, and is principal of WordenGroup Public Relations, with offices in Jackson Hole and Denver. Worden, who hosts the annual Left Bank Writers Retreat, which takes place on the historic Ile Saint-Louis in the heart of Paris, has written widely for magazines and authored several books. She writes the popular blog Frenchophile and is currently working on a book about Hemingway.

Contact: Darla Worden, WordenGroup Public Relations, darla(at)wordenpr(dot)com, 303.777.7667
Vertafore, the leader in modern insurance technology, today announced bold plans for its cloud-based Customer Community, where customers can interact with the company, receive up-to-the-minute updates, access customized content, and provide feedback on products. Up to this point, Vertafore product teams have lacked an intuitive tool to gather direct customer feedback and crowd source ideas to prioritize product enhancements. The new online space was designed to increase connection between Vertafore and its customers, while also providing a forum for peer-to-peer sharing. The Vertafore Customer Community is hosted on the Salesforce cloud, ensuring all data and member information is secure. Access to the community will be available in Spring 2016.

Customer feedback is the key source of intelligence that dictates our product roadmap and is critical in our daily operations, said Greg Wright, senior vice president of agency and carrier solutions at Vertafore. The most effective way to obtain feedback is through an online community that users can access any time, over any device. Every department at Vertafore will benefit from this Customer Community. It will help us deliver relevant content that solves technical problems, and helps them become better insurance professionals.

For many companies, the traditional approach to customer interaction has been siloed  customers received emails for important product news, had access to separate support databases for technical issues, or resorted to social channels for product feedback. The innovative new Vertafore Customer Community centralizes people, processes, content, and tools to create a platform of engagement. Using the online community, customers will learn how to take full advantage of Vertafore solutions with increased product information, educational resources, and access to other users to collaborate on experiences. At the same time, Vertafore will be able to have two-way conversations with customers and create an idea center for enhancing its technology suite.

Key benefits of Vertafores Customer Community include:



Vertafore Ideas Platform  Members have a direct line of communication to Vertafore product teams to address their most pressing technology needs. Feedback will be used to enhance product features and capabilities.

Business Process Collaboration Users can connect with other Vertafore customers to discuss business trends and opportunities and share best practices on how to use Vertafore technology solutions.

Build Social Connections  In addition to collaborating on business opportunities, members can connect on more personal levels by supporting professional development goals or forming groups around common interests.

Mobile Access  The community is mobile-first and device agnostic so customers can engage when and where they choose.

Personalized Information  Relevant content and resources are suggested to each member based on their interests and behavior.

Secure and Scalable  Community cloud leverages the trusted Salesforce platform, so all data and member information is always safe, no matter how many members you have.

Vertafore is frequently on the leading edge of best practices in the tech industry. Launching a community like this is another example of Vertafore putting their customers at the forefront of their design process and commanding the insurance industry forward, said Sean Butterfield, account manager at Salesforce.

The new Vertafore Customer Community is designed to complement NetVU, the Network of Vertafore Users, and is aligned with similar best practices from other world-class technology companies. Provide your information and to get more details about this exclusive online space for Vertafore customers.

About Vertafore

Vertafore offers the broadest and most adaptable technology solutions to better prepare the insurance industry for digital disruption. The Vertafore product line is built on a platform, empowering customers and other solution providers to adapt and thrive as the market changes. Vertafores platform features fast innovation, partnerships with the best technology companies, and customizable solutions to help companies remain independent during a time of industry disruption. As the leader in modern insurance technology with the largest customer base in the industry, Vertafore connects every point of the distribution channel, from agencies and carriers to MGAs, MGUs, and state governments. For more information about Vertafore, visit http://www.vertafore.com, read the companys blog, and follow the company on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

 2016 Vertafore Inc., Vertafore and the Vertafore logo are trademarks of Vertafore and its subsidiaries. All other marks appearing herein are the property of their respective owners. All rights reserved.
Beginning January 2016 and lasting throughout the year, Omni Financial has partnered with United Way of Indian River County for their second annual Workplace Campaign, in an effort to contribute to the local community and help those in need through a financial pledge. Employees of Omni Financial will be contributing to the local United Way, and the company will match these donations dollar-for-dollar.

Omni Financial has been in business for nearly two decades and works with clients in every state. They help clients deal with tax penalties and liens, bank levies, trust fund recovery penalties, payroll taxes and corporate restructuring. They also help with installment agreements, tax and collection appeals and asset protection. They have managed over $450 million in tax debt and have represented over 30,000 businesses and individuals for tax debt relief.

Omni Financial is happy to once again be a part of the United Ways Workplace Campaign, said Omni Financial Branch Manager of Vero Beach, Florida Andrew Russell. I know that our employees are very proud they are able to make a contribution to the community, and were proud of them for their dedication.

The mission of the United Way of Indian River County is to improve lives by bringing the community together to help those in need and make a difference in the area.

United Way is a global organization. It has provided help to people and communities for over 125 years. Besides fundraising for those in need, the group also coordinates relief services, counsels and refers clients to cooperating agencies, and makes emergency assistance grants. They have helped people in every situation, from victims of severe weather to the citizens of Flint, Michigan, who are in need of clean water.
Global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP continues to strategically grow its private equity capabilities with the additions of shareholders Christopher R. Machera and Adam S. Tope as well as Of Counsel Christopher P. McHugh in its New York City office. McHugh will also work in the firms Washington, D.C. office. Machera, who previously served as vice president and Associate General Counsel for Goldman Sachs; Tope, whose previous position was at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP; and McHugh, who previously served as counsel to Commissioner Kara M. Stein at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), join Greenberg Traurig during a critical time of growth for the firms Corporate Practice.

Machera focuses his practice on representing private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies in various transactions, including acquisitions, dispositions, minority investments, and general corporate governance matters. While at Goldman Sachs, he served as internal counsel to the Merchant Banking Division, focusing on private equity transactions. He earned his J.D. from Duke University School of Law, and his B.A. from Hamilton College.

Tope represents private equity, real estate, hedge fund, and venture capital sponsors in the formation, structuring, and operation of domestic and offshore investment funds. He provides his sponsor clients with comprehensive representation from entity formation through the fundraising process to ongoing operational advice. Topes practice also includes advising private equity-related cross-border mergers and acquisitions and investment adviser and fund compliance matters. In addition to representing sponsors of funds, Tope also represents institutional investors, sovereign wealth funds, and family offices in acquiring and selling positions in private equity, real estate, venture capital, and hedge funds in the United States and abroad. He earned his J.D., cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center, and his B.S. from Cornell University.

McHugh, who is experienced in advising clients in all aspects of regulation under the Investment Advisers Act, will focus his practice on investment fund and investment adviser matters. He will represent investment advisers and investment funds, including hedge, private equity, offshore, and real estate funds, with fund formation, operational, and compliance related issues. He will advise clients on a variety of private fund matters, including: preparing private placement memoranda, partnership agreements, and subscription agreements; fund structuring; negotiating with investors counsel; and drafting operating agreements for the fund manager. McHugh will assist clients with SEC and state filings, SEC registration, regulatory compliance, adequacy of disclosure documents, Form ADV, custody and soft dollar matters, and investment performance advertising and marketing issues. In addition, he represents institutional investors in their investments in private funds. He earned his J.D. from Boston College Law School and his B.A., magna cum laude, from Duke University.

We are proud to welcome Chris Machera, Adam Tope, and Chris McHugh to the firm; they are strong examples of the type of high-caliber attorneys joining Greenberg Traurig as we continue to effectively grow our Corporate Practice to meet the needs of our clients, said Alan I. Annex, deputy chair of the firms Global Corporate Practice. Chris Macheras work at Goldman Sachs with the Merchant Banking Division, Adam Topes extensive experience in the formation, structuring, and operation of investment funds, along with Chris McHughs SEC work, will be a great asset to our private equity and hedge fund clients and further support a critical area of focus for the firm.

Joining Greenberg Traurigs New York Corporate Practice was a unique opportunity for me, and I am thrilled to join the talented team of attorneys here, especially during this time of expansion, said Machera. I look forward to leveraging my skills to better serve the firms private equity clients.

Tope, before practicing law, was president and CEO of a technology incubator that was ranked one of the 500 largest online companies by a leading technology magazine. In his role at Greenberg Traurig, he will continue to advise start-up companies in a variety of corporate matters.

Im excited about joining Greenberg Traurig and helping expand the firms fund formation capabilities, said Tope. I am drawn to the firm not only because of the business know-how and skillset of its attorneys, but also because it provides me with the right platform to continue to better address client needs while also widening my client network.

Machera, Tope, and McHugh join Greenberg Traurig during an exciting time in the firms New York office, with the recent additions of former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, Marc L. Mukasey, Robert S. Frenchman, and Laurence A. Levy, all joining from Bracewell.

In addition to the Oct. 1, 2015 opening of Greenberg Traurig's Berlin office with 55 attorneys, Greenberg Traurig's Global Corporate & Securities Practice has achieved unprecedented growth during the last year. Shareholders who joined the practice since January 2015 in New York include, Nanette Aguirre, Meredith J. Beuchaw, Iskender H. Catto, Joseph Cosentino, Frank Martire, Stephen M. Pepper, Ivan J. Presant, and Allan D. Reiss. Also joining the practice were, in Amsterdam, Thedoor Melchers; in Berlin, Dr. Henrik Armah, Claudia Hard, Dr. Josef Hofschroer, and Dr. Peter Schorling; in Chicago, John P. Boelter, Raymond F. Bogenrief, and Stacey T. Kern; in Dallas, Christina A. Tate; in Denver, Thomas B. Romer; in Fort Lauderdale, Flora R. Perez; in Houston, Derek J. Anchondo; in London, Dorothee Fischer-Appelt and Joel Wheeler; in Mexico City, Miguel Flores Bernes, Victor Manuel Frias Garces, Jose Raz Guzman, and Miguel Moises; in Miami, Marc L. Druckman; in New Jersey, James A. Dempsey and Seth E. Zuckerman; and in Tokyo, Koji Ishikawa and Koichiro Ohashi.

Greenberg Traurigs Corporate Practice comprises more than 400 lawyers who advise public and privately held companies on global mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructurings, private equity and venture capital, underwritten and syndicated offerings, commercial finance and syndicated lending, cross-border transactions, and general corporate matters. The groups industry experience includes transactions in a wide range of fields, from the pharmaceutical, medical devices, and life sciences fields, to representations involving clients in the aviation, banking, energy, health care, manufacturing, technology, and telecommunications sectors.

Greenberg Traurigs Private Equity Practice

Greenberg Traurigs Private Equity Practice utilizes the collective experience and resources of the firm to help clients achieve their goals. An experienced team of private equity attorneys leverages the firms unique geographic platform and extensive range of practice and industry capabilities across the firm, which distinguishes Greenberg Traurig from other large firms. To learn more about Greenberg Traurigs Private Equity Practice, click here.

About Greenberg Traurig, LLP

Greenberg Traurig, LLP is an international, multi-practice law firm with approximately 1900 attorneys serving clients from 38 offices in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The firm is No 1. on the 2015 Law360 Most Charitable Firms list, third largest in the U.S. on the 2015 Law360 400, Top 20 on the 2015 Am Law Global 100, and among the 2015 BTI Brand Elite. More information at: http://www.gtlaw.com/.
Milton Hershey School and SkillsUSA students honored at the district competition. Students who participate in SkillsUSA are receiving a valuable career experience, said Michael DeAcosta, SkillsUSA Advisor for the MHS chapter.

Milton Hershey School students involved with SkillsUSA recently were awarded for their career and technical education skills in a district competition.

Based on the students chosen career concentrations and CTE pathways, MHS teachers and staff helped train them for the event. The following students received medals for their exceptional skills in a concentrated area:



Elijah Conniff  Gold Medalist for Extemporaneous Speaking

Justice Baumgardner  Gold Medalist for First Aid/CPR

Rebecca Jay  Gold Medalist for Job Interview

Alex Ziegler  Silver Medalist for Customer Service

Raymond Van Zandt  Silver Medalist for Architectural Drafting

Mark Johnson, Josi Daugherty, Tianna Ford and Stephanie Ferreira  Bronze Medalists for Crime Scene Investigation Team

Matt Rocktashel  Bronze Medalist for Architectural Drafting

Xena Pironti  Bronze Medalist for Graphic Communications

Participating in the SkillsUSA competition has been a very educational and entertaining experience. It's exciting to be able to utilize the public speaking skills I have developed through the Law, Public Safety and Security career pathway, said senior Elijah Conniff.

SkillsUSA is a partnership of students, teachers and industry working together to ensure America has a skilled workforce. The program helps students develop technical skills and excel through educational programs and competitions.

Students who participate in SkillsUSA are receiving a valuable career experience, said Michael DeAcosta, SkillsUSA Advisor for the MHS chapter. They also are recognizing the dignity of work and developing skills and knowledge for the world of work.

All MHS high school students are required to choose a CTE pathway beginning in ninth grade. The schools CTE program offers 11 hands-on training career options. Programs like SkillsUSA provides students with additional career exposure and preparation.

To learn more about Milton Hershey Schools Career and Technical Education program, visit mhskids.org.

ABOUT MILTON HERSHEY SCHOOL

Milton Hershey School is one of the worlds best private schools, offering a top-notch education and positive home life to children in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade from families of lower income at no charge.
On the day before NASA astronaut Scott Kelly was set to return to Earth after nearly a year on the International Space Station, three women with ties to NASA and the space program spent a day at GPS. Their mission was to encourage young women to pursue their dreams, to find mentors and to consider a future in the space program.

Dr. Deborah Barnhart, the CEO of the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, U.S. Space Camp, and a retired Navy Captain, was one of the first females certified to fight on and drive Navy vessels. Her message, that there is a place for everyone in the space program, was supported during a morning assembly and at several sessions with students during the day. Science, PE, and math classes met with the women and learned that artists, lawyers, photographers, accountants, psychologists, and others in a wide variety of professions are employed at NASA.

Retired NASA astronaut Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger shared a video of the space mission she experienced from preparation to orbit to reentry. She flew as a mission specialist aboard Discovery, was the flight engineer during ascent and re-entry, and operated the robotic arm during the crews two-week mission to the International Space Station. My dream started in the third grade, she told the girls, and if you work hard, stay positive, and find mentors, your dream can come true as well.

Dr. Andrea Hanson, an exercise physiologist and biomedical engineer at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, related the many methods used in training and in space to keep the astronauts healthy, explaining that in space, Your posture changes, fluid shifts, a sense of smell is lost, and you experience muscle loss. She described resistive exercise machines, cycle ergometers, and second generation treadmills used in the microgravity environment.

Both Ms. Metcalf and Dr. Hanson attended U.S. Space Camp as young girls and encouraged the students to attend one of the week-long sessions in Huntsville, home of the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, or apply for a college internship at the NASA Space Center in Houston.
Not only are we encouraging members to meet their fitness goals, says Lee Sloan, president, the National Fitness Center, we are offering a once-in-a-lifetime grand prize.

With premier health clubs throughout Tennessee, the National Fitness Center recently announced an exciting Check-in and Win contest at their Maryville location. Gym members who check-in on Facebook have the chance to win a dream vacation -- just by showing up to workout! One member and a guest will win a trip to Hawaii.

During a designated 90-day period, gym members must check-in on Facebook 20 times to be eligible for a chance to win. Its as simple as that. Getting in shape was never so rewarding!

Not only are we encouraging members to meet their fitness goals, says Lee Sloan, president, the National Fitness Center, we are offering a once-in-a-lifetime grand prize. Events like this set the National Fitness apart from any other health club in Tennessee.

Hawaii features some of the most breathtaking vistas in the world, and offers activities for nature lovers and adventurers alike. Surf on Waikiki Beach, explore volcanos, delve into history at Pearl Harbor, or zip line through lush tropical forests.

Maryville, Tennessee is just one of the convenient NFC locations, joining others in Knoxville, Morristown, Oak Ridge, and Sevierville. Programs include group classes, functional training, free weights, cardio, indoor track and more. For more information about our Maryville gym, visit http://www.nfcgymsmaryville.com/.

Learn more about all of the NFC locations in Tennessee. Visit http://nfc1.com/.
Superintendents, principals, teachers and education technology experts are gathering together at NWEA Fusion East between March 8-9th to discuss ways theyve succeeded in turning their visions of increasing student learning into reality. At a time when many states and districts are fundamentally reconsidering K-12 assessment systems, participants will explore how they use high-quality assessments in the classroom to help students grow. After the conference, attendees will return to their districts with new and improved strategies to further heighten their students learning.

Ron Clark, the founder of Ron Clark Academya highly acclaimed, nonprofit middle school located in Southeast Atlantawill join Fusion East as a keynote speaker.

This conference is open to all of NWEAs 7,600 partner schools and districts. Media are also invited to attend (RSVP required) to connect with individual teachers and administrators about assessment. Media can also sit in on a panel discussion exploring how districts and school leaders can increase educators understanding of assessments and the methods for using them effectively and interview panelists.

WHAT: NWEA Fusion East

WHEN: Tuesday, March 8Wednesday, March 9, 2016

WHERE: Baltimore Marriott Waterfront

700 Aliceanna Street

Baltimore, Maryland 21202

WHO: Keynote by Ron Clark, the 2000 Disney American Teacher of the Year and a two-time New York Times Bestselling author

About NWEA

Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) is a global notforprofit educational services organization known for our suite of assessments, including our flagship interim assessment, Measures of Academic Progress (MAP), and Skills Navigator, a skills mastery and progress monitoring tool. More than 7,600 partners in U.S. schools, school districts, education agencies, and international schools trust us to offer prekindergarten through grade 12 assessments that accurately measure student growth and mastery, professional development that fosters educators' ability to accelerate student learning, and research that supports assessment validity and data interpretation. To better inform instruction and maximize every learner's academic growth, educators currently use NWEA assessments with nearly eight million students. Learn more at nwea.org.

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OPKO Health, Inc. announced today that the founders of its GeneDx subsidiary, John Compton, PhD, and Sherri Bale, PhD, together with the GeneDx Chief Medical Officer, Gabriele Richard, MD, will be honored at a testimonial dinner in conjunction with the American Academy of Dermatology meeting in Washington, DC. on March 4, 2016. The Foundation for Ichthyosis and Related Skin Types, which was founded 35 years ago to support the needs of patients and families with rare inherited skin diseases, have cited Drs. Compton, Bale, and Richard for their 30 years of work to identify the genetic basis of these disorders, both at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and, subsequently, at GeneDx, a diagnostic sequencing laboratory which they founded in 2000.

Dr. Bale noted, Dr. Compton and I left the NIH to start GeneDx so that the fruits of our research efforts could be used to directly benefit patients by providing clinical diagnostic, carrier, and prenatal testing for families with ichthyosis and other rare skin disorders. This was something that could not be done in a Federal facility at that time.

Dr. Phil Frost, the CEO and Chairman of OPKO Health, Inc. is himself an NIH-trained dermatologist, and received this honor from FIRST in 2010, when he and Dr. Gerald Weinstein were honored for their early research on epidermal biology which laid the building blocks for others to make major advances in the study of the ichthyoses. Dr. Frost stated, I am proud that GeneDx is part of the OPKO family, and that we continue to support and serve the rare skin disease community.

About OPKO Health, Inc.

OPKO Health, Inc. is a diversified healthcare company that seeks to establish industry-leading positions in large, rapidly growing markets. Our diagnostics business includes Bio-Reference Laboratories, the nation's third-largest clinical laboratory with a core genetic testing business and a 420-person sales force to drive growth and leverage new products, including the 4Kscore prostate cancer test and the Claros1 in-office immunoassay platform. Our pharmaceutical business features Rayaldee, a treatment for SHPT in stage 3-4 CKD patients with vitamin D insufficiency (March 29, 2016 PDUFA date) and VARUBI for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (oral formulation launched by partner Tesaro, IV formulation in Phase 3). Our biologics business includes hGH-CTP, a once-weekly human growth hormone injection (in Phase 3 and partnered with Pfizer), and a long-acting Factor VIIa drug for hemophilia (entering Phase 2a). We also have production and distribution assets worldwide, multiple strategic investments and an active business development strategy. More information is available at http://www.opko.com.

About GeneDx

GeneDx is a world leader in Genomics with an acknowledged expertise in rare and ultra rare genetic disorders, as well as one of the broadest menus of sequencing services available among commercial laboratories. GeneDx provides testing to patients and their families in more than 55 countries. To learn more about GeneDx's complete list of testing options, please visit http://www.genedx.com or email genedx(at)genedx(dot)com.
BLK Hospital is happy to partner with National Cancer Center of Uzbekistan.The hospital shall be engaged in working together to strengthen each other's capabilities in cancer care, said Naresh Kapoor, Executive Director BLK Super Specialty Hospital.

Known for its excellence in healthcare Industry, Indias leading BLK Super Specialty Hospital recently signed an MoU with National Cancer Center of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Association of Oncologists of Uzbekistan, which is countrys biggest oncology facility. Among others, the pact focuses on developing educational, scientific and medical cooperation to achieve excellence in cancer care. The MoU also focuses on the provision of medical diagnostics and consultation to the people of Uzbekistan with assistance from BLK Super Specialty for next three years.

The pact with Cancer Center is expected to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the field of cancer treatment as well as creating more opportunities for medical, diagnostic and counseling for the population of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Experts from BLK Super Specialty Hospital would also participate in development of joint international projects and conducting research on mutually agreed topics for benefit of both countries.

Naresh Kapoor, Executive Director BLK Super Specialty Hospital said, BLK Super Speciality Hospital is extremely happy to partner with National Cancer Center of the Republic of Uzbekistan, one of countrys biggest cancer facilities. For next three years, the hospital shall be engaged in working together to strengthen each others capabilities in cancer care. For this the hospital shall initiate research programs and joint international projects. The Hospital will provide highly qualified medical experts, facilitate students exchange program and assist professionals working for doctor degree programs.

The MoU will also pave way for education and training of health professionals from Uzbekistan in India to exchange experiences and techniques. It will also mend ways for organizing conferences, seminars, round table discussions and symposium on mutually agreed topics. Scientific articles, thesis and reports by professors and teaching staff shall be promoted at these occasions.

Prof Sarimbek Navruzov, Chairman, National Cancer Center, said, This MoU will pave the way for further cooperation and mutual understanding between the two countries for improving the health care facilities for people of Uzbekistan. I am certain that the pact will help in increasing intellectual and innovative resources between the two countries.

The pact is believed to be a breakthrough in the health care sector of Uzbekistan by many as the initiative by the New Delhi based hospital will lead to an increased number of medical professionals in country in the field of surgery, urology, cardiology, oncology, pediatrics, dentistry, ophthalmology and therapeutic studies with the cooperation and initiatives. It is also believed to be beneficial in long term to promote better relationship between the two countries along with improving health standards worldwide.

About BLK Super Specialty Hospital

BLK Super Specialty is one of the largest private hospitals in the National Capital Region (NCR) of Delhi with a capacity of 650 beds including 130 critical care beds. The outpatient services are spread over two floors with 57 consultation rooms. All ambulatory services are smartly designed to ensure quick access to interventional services. The Hospital has 17 state-of-the-art well equipped modular operation theaters and a world-class pathology lab. The Hospital is equipped with most modern infrastructure, and eminent doctors drive its Centers of Excellence. The hospital has Asias largest Bone Marrow Transplant Units. We have deployed very high-end technologies such as Cyberknife VSI, TriologyTxLinear Accelerator, Bi Plane Neuro Interventional lab which are geared to address complex medical needs of patients. Our infrastructure and services stand testimony to BLKs philosophy of A Passion for Healing. The hospital is owned and managed by Radiant Life Care, which also manages Mumbais iconic Nanavati Super Speciality Hospital.

For further information please contact us @

BLK Super Speciality Hospital

Mamta Singh

+91-9958290363

mamta.singh(at)blkhospital(dot)com
Its truly heartwarming to see the love and support families find with the American Autism Association...we feel privileged to help raise awareness and funds for this incredible nonprofit organization.

Ami Bennett Agencies has unveiled a new charity campaign in their ongoing community involvement program serving the families of greater Camas and Vancouver, WA. The American Autism Association serves families who face the many difficulties inherent in raising children with autism. Compassionate community members who wish to join the campaign may contribute here: https://www.crowdrise.com/letsadvocateforchildrenwithautism/fundraiser/amibennett/setup_success/member.

The American Autism Association was only started in 2010, but their impact has already been significant. Their mission is to help families affected by autism who either cannot financially help themselves and their children, or who simply do not know how to help themselves. Providing no-cost educational services and essential therapeutic interventions, they strive to provide better care for children on the autism spectrum, as well as raise autism awareness and acceptance so that individuals may function as meaningfully and independently as possible. In just a few short years, the American Autism Association has helped over 6000 families through their Hotline, developed and maintained 12 therapeutic recreational programs for low-income families, and raised over $400,000 to expand their programs and assistance. They rely heavily upon kind-hearted donors and volunteers.

Its truly heartwarming to see the love and support families find with the American Autism Association, said Ami Bennett, owner of Ami Bennett Agencies. Its a perfect fit for our new community enrichment program, and we feel privileged to help raise awareness and funds for this incredible nonprofit organization.

Utilizing its own resources and seeking the help of its vast network of customers and business partners, Ami Bennett Agencies marches on to ensure customers, friends, family and neighbors are always in good hands. Social media and an email awareness campaign will be used to help the agencys caring team to spread the word about the campaign for the American Autism Association. They have also featured the cause in their monthly magazine, Our Hometown, which is delivered to thousands of households in the Camas and Vancouver metro areas. The electronic Flipbook version of the current issue may be viewed here: http://www.amibennettagencies.com/Our-Hometown-Magazine_46.

Supporting their latest Community Cause has never been easier, as Ami Bennett Agencies has pledged to donate $10 to the American Autism Association for each and every recommendation they receive for an insurance quote, with no purchase necessary. Readers who would like to view the campaign, recommend a friend or make a personal donation may do so by visiting: http://www.amibennettagencies.com/Lets-Advocate-For-Children-With-Autism_8_community_cause.

The agency just recently launched their master charity program, promising to choose a new local organization, family or person every two months to receive support. Information about past campaigns is available at: http://www.amibennettagencies.com/community-cause. To learn more about Ami Bennett Agencies and the American Autism Association, readers may visit: http://www.amibennettagencies.com/ and https://www.myautism.org/.

About Ami Bennett Agencies

Serving families from offices in Vancouver and Camas, WA, Ami Bennett Agencies is a full service, award-winning insurance firm whose mission is simple: to provide the best insurance and financial services in the industry, while delivering consistently superior service. Ami Bennett and her team of caring professionals believe in protecting all the things which are most important to their clients (their families, homes, cars and more), and in helping to prepare long-term strategies to enable financial success. The dedicated experts at Ami Bennett Agencies may be reached by calling 360-834-3992.
National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson and Rep. Peter Roskam will hold a public forum on March 9 to hear what taxpayers need from the IRS to fulfill their tax obligations

National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson and Rep. Peter Roskam, Chair of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight, will hold a public forum to discuss what taxpayers want and need from the IRS to comply with their tax obligations on Wednesday, March 9, at 5:30 p.m. at the Glen Ellyn Civic Center in Glen Ellyn, Ill. Members of the public and the media are invited to attend the forum.

During the last two years, the IRS has been developing a Future State plan envisioning how it will operate in five years and beyond. It is continuing to develop a path for how it gets from the Current State to the Future State, including refinements to the vision along the way. A central component of the plan is the creation of online taxpayer accounts as a convenient but non-exclusive channel through which taxpayers will be able to obtain information from and interact with the IRS.

In the National Taxpayer Advocates 2015 Annual Report to Congress, Ms. Olson expressed concerns about whether the IRSs Future State plan adequately addresses taxpayer needs. She recommended the IRS solicit comments from taxpayers and tax professionals regarding the Future State plan, including their thoughts on the extent to which taxpayers will continue to need telephone and in-person assistance. To further public awareness and dialogue, she announced plans to hold a series of public forums around the country. The objective of the public forums is to ensure the Future State plan will better reflect the needs and preferences of U.S. taxpayers as they seek to comply with the tax code.

The March 9 public forum, the first to be held in a local community, will feature an invited panel consisting of representatives from the small business and local taxpayer communities and the following members:

Andrew VanSingel, Director, Low Income Taxpayer Clinic

Prairie State Legal Services, Inc.

David Marzahl, President & CEO

Center for Economic Progress

Vijay Raghavan, Assistant Attorney General

Consumer Fraud Bureau

Office of the Illinois Attorney General

Mark Mirsky, CPS MST CGMA

Managing Director

ROI Business Services, LLC

The forum will conclude with an opportunity for public comment.

Local Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) staff will be available to talk with attendees about unresolved tax issues and help determine if their situation qualifies for TAS assistance. TAS generally is unable to assist taxpayers with return preparation questions, but can provide assistance to taxpayers who have already filed their returns with the IRS for the current or past years and are experiencing problems that meet our case-acceptance criteria.

Ms. Olson will conduct the hearing in collaboration with Rep. Peter Roskam, who represents the 6th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives. Roskams subcommittee is responsible for IRS oversight. The public forum will take place in the Clayton Room, Glen Ellyn Civic Center, 535 Duane St., Glen Ellyn IL 60137.

For information about the forum, go to TaxpayerAdvocate.irs.gov/public-forums.
National College for DUI Defense We are excited about our MSE line up of speakers with the best and most recognized lawyers and experts in the field of DWI Defense," says Doug Murphy, a Regent with NCDD.

The National College for DUI Defense (NCDD) and the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association proudly announce the agenda for the 23rd Annual Mastering Scientific Evidence (MSE) in DWI/DUI Cases to be held in New Orleans, beginning on March 31, 2016 through April 2, 2016, at the Royal Sonesta Hotel.

MSE is the preeminent DWI/DUI Scientific Evidence seminar in the country. The 23rd Annual Mastering Scientific Evidence Seminar features renowned speakers, who conducted peer-reviewed scientific research proving the fallibility of the standardized field sobriety tests. This seminar will feature not just science, but real defense trial strategies to employ in challenging police pseudo-scientific evidence and demonstrating reasonable doubt. After all the presentations are made, a mock jury trial will take place on a real DUI/DWI blood test case involving an accident and medication. Lawyers will learn proven winning trial strategies in defeating alleged alcohol/drug impairment cases from the best lawyers and experts in the country.

We are excited about our MSE line up of speakers with the best and most recognized lawyers and experts in the field of DWI Defense. It is expected to be one of the best and most heavily attended MSE seminars we have ever held, said Doug Murphy, one of the co-course directors for the seminar, and a Regent with the National College for DUI Defense.

The focus of the seminar is to educate DUI defense attorneys who

represent drivers accused of impaired driving in cases involving alcohol and drugs. Held over a two and a half day span, presenters and topics included:



Dr. Jimmie Valentine - Advanced Gas Chromatography

Dr. Al Staubus - Etg, Hair Follicle, SCRAM & Other Drug Marker Testing

Dr. Carrie Valentine - Vehicular Accident Risk of Drugs and Alcohol in the NHTSA Sponsored Virginia Beach Study"

Jim Nesci - ELISA & LCQQQMS: (Enzyme-Linked Immuno Sorbant Assay) & (Liquid Chromatography Triple-Quadrupole Mass-Spectrometry)

Dr. Fran Gengo - Pharmacology of Ethanol & Drugs: The Disconnect Defense

Inese Neiders - Psychological Nuggets to Reach Jurors in Science Cases

Dr. Lance Platt - Drug Recognition Evaluation and Other Falsities

Janine Arvizu - Accreditation Issues & Crime Lab Problems

Jim Medley - Kinesiology & Physiology of Field Sobriety Exercises

Lenny Stamm - Persuasive Bench Trial Tactics

Amanda Culbertson - Blood Analysis Discovery: What to look for and do with the records

John Henry Hingson, III. - Keeping the Faith: How to Use Good Faith (US v. Leon) to Prove Bad Faith (AZ v. Youngblood)

Tyrone Moncriffe - Storytelling and Making Science Persuasive in Closing Argument

Ron Moore - Alcohol Pharmacodynamics: Absorption, Elimination and Retrograde Extrapolation

Ed Fiandach - Framing the Issues: How to Curse their Case with Devil Words

Tim Kulp - Breath Testing & the Source Code

Lynn Gorelick - Drugs & Prescriptions that Alter Alcohol Metabolism

ABOUT THE NATIONAL COLLEGE FOR DUI DEFENSE:

With over 2000 members, the National College for DUI Defense is the largest organization of DUI defense attorneys in the world. Through its educational programs, the College trains lawyers to represent persons accused of drunk driving. NCDD's members have extensive experience litigating issues regarding breath blood and urine tests for alcohol and other drugs. NCDD has appeared as amicus curiae in several drunk driving cases before the Supreme Court of the United States.

UPCOMING EVENTS:
Hollywood Airbrush Tanning Academy is pleased to announce that their newly launched Connecticut branch is now accepting new airbrush tanning students for the month of March. Their most recent certified airbrush tanning student Tanya Merentis came from New York and is presently setting up her own independent airbrush tanning business under the guidance of the academy. Headquartered in Los Angeles, Hollywood Airbrush Tanning Academy has expanded to Connecticut to cope with the high demand for their hands-on airbrush tanning training program. The academys former student Tammy Becker now serves as the trainer in this new location.

A resident of Carmel, New York, Tanya Merentis had previously attended another airbrush tanning training program before coming to the Hollywood Airbrush Tanning Academy. However, she felt her training was incomplete because she did not have the opportunity to spray tan models. Tanya mentioned that she was overwhelmed with all the information she got from the academy and was very happy with the training she received from Tammy. Like all students at the academy, Tanya is receiving continued help and support from the Hollywood Airbrush Tanning Academy while setting up her spray tanning business.

With increasing awareness of the negative impact of traditional tanning, the popularity of spray tanning has increased significantly all over the world. Hollywood Airbrush Tanning Academy was established in 2011 by Simone Emmons, one of Americas most prolific airbrush tanning experts in Los Angeles. Under Simones leadership, her academy has done exceedingly well in promoting the concept of sunless tanning. Over the last few years, the academy has also helped over 300 aspiring spray tanning professionals to build a rewarding career in this emerging field. In spite of her busy schedule, Simone still trains new students every week in Los Angeles.

Discussing her current schedule, Simone says, My location in Los Angeles is already booked with new students for the whole month of March. I have students coming from the following cities: Altascadero, CA, Yorba Linda, CA Marysville, Ohio, Orlando, Florida, Pasarobles, CA and Fresno, CA and Niles, Ohio. However, I'm taking on more students now for April since I'm all booked up for March. We are hoping that more people from the East Coast will now consider attending our Connecticut location for spray tanning training.

The spray tanning program is unique because it provides hands-on and private spray tanning training to individuals who want to start a Mobile or Salon Airbrush Tanning Business. According to Emmons, this spray tanning program gives individuals a leading edge in starting an Airbrush Tanning business immediately after finishing with the training. When signing up for the training program, students will get access to the basic online airbrush tanning course first to get them acquainted with spray tanning equipment, spray tanning solutions, skin types, how to use the spray gun and so much more. This online course is intended to prepare them for the hands-on training course.

Anyone interested in signing up for the next class can call (818) 674-9621 for more information.

About Hollywood Airbrush Tanning Academy:

Hollywood Airbrush Tanning Academy is located in Los Angeles, California and offers an extensive Spray Tanning Certification program to individuals who want to start their own full or part-time airbrush tanning business. Founder and trainer, Simone Emmons is a professional spray tanning expert and teacher and has trained over 300 entrepreneurs from 27 states (and counting) including international students from Trinidad, South Korea, Kuwait and Canada. Simones airbrush tanning business has recently won the Best of Los Angeles Award 2015 for airbrush tanning in Los Angeles. The spray tanning training provided by the Hollywood Airbrush Tanning Academy is private and hands-on and prepares the student to start in business immediately. Prior to the hands-on training, over four hours of videos lessons are provided to students covering everything from safety and technique to marketing and Search engine optimization. Hollywood Airbrush Tanning Academy does not sell any of their own products and provides training and education on all equipment and tanning solutions in the sunless industry. The academy provides hands-on training classes in Los Angeles and Connecticut area as well as online airbrush tanning certification classes.

Visit HollywoodAirbrushTanningAcademy.com to sign up for the next spray tanning class or call Hollywood Airbrush Tanning Academy at (818) 674-9621 for more information.
CPS Will Force Employees To Take Furlough Days; Teachers Union Says It Will Strike

By aaroncynic in News on Mar 3, 2016 11:06PM



SEPTEMBER 11: Chicago public school teachers and their supporters picket in front of the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) headquarters on September 11, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. More than 26,000 teachers and support staff walked off their jobs yesterday after the Chicago Teachers Union failed to reach an agreement with the city on compensation, benefits and job security. With about 350,000 students, the Chicago school district is the third largest in the United States. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Just after laying off 62 employees on Monday, Chicago Public Schools told all its employees Thursday they would need to take three unpaid furlough days sometime between now and June 30.

Schools officials say the $120 million in cuts already made to its central office and school budgets have made progress in plugging its current $480 million budget hole and next years $1.1 billion deficit. But CPS CEO Forrest Claypool said in a letter to all employees that more savings were needed. CPS estimates it will save $30 million with the furlough days.

Claypool tried to lay the blame on the lack of funding from Springfield and Gov. Bruce Rauner for the continued financial hurt. Governor Rauner is more interested in forcing bankruptcy and taking over our schools than addressing the unequal funding issues that hurt districts like ours across the state, wrote Claypool.

Claypool also said that CPS continues to negotiate in good faith with the Chicago Teachers Union to reach an agreement in its contract fight.

But the teachers union is not having it. Calling the move an "insult to injury to every teacher, paraprofessional and clinician, CTU reps said that the move all but guarantees a strike on April 1.

The mayor is already seeking a 7 percent pay cut and todays directive adds another reduction in salary and benefits. They should have never extended the school year in the first place if they couldnt afford to do so," said CTU President Karen Lewis, adding that the move only strengthens our resolve to shut down the school district" on the 1st.

The letter from CPS:




Sleep-Deprivation Can Give You The Munchies, New Study Says

By Mae Rice in News on Mar 3, 2016 9:55PM



Photo via Leonard Towers on Flickr

The munchies are most commonly associated with stoners covered head to toe in Cheeto dust, but soon, compulsive snacking could also be associated with Cheeto-dust-covered tired people.

A new study from an international teamincluding several University of Chicago researcherssuggests that sleep-deprivation can make you less able to inhibit intake of palatable snacks, much like a (totally legal) bong rip.

Published in the the journal SLEEP, the study is impenetrably titled Sleep Restriction Enhances the Daily Rhythm of Circulating Levels of Endocannabinoid 2-Arachidonoylglycerol. Erin Hanlon, a University of Chicago research associate in endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism (and a paper co-author), broke down what that means to UChicagoNews.

We found that sleep restriction boosts a signal that may increase the hedonic aspect of food intake, the pleasure and satisfaction gained from eating, she said. Sleep restriction seems to augment the endocannabinoid system, the same system targeted by the active ingredient of marijuana, to enhance the desire for food intake.

Its a fun science fact, but it has serious public health implications. Sleep deprivation is much more common than being high; 40 percent of American adults, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, sleep less than six hours a night. This study suggests that this sleep-deprived swathe of the U.S. population is at a higher risk for obesity.

Heres how it worked, as UChicagoNews explained: The researchers found 14 participants, all of them healthy and in their late 20s, and tested their ability to turn down unhealthy but excellent snacks (cookies, candy) two hours after a meal that fulfilled 90 percent of their daily caloric needs.

(For context: Thats a hearty meal.)

They tested each participant under two circumstances: once after four days averaging 7.5 hours of sleep a night, and again after four days where they averaged 4.2 hours of sleep a night.

In their more sleep-deprived state, participants were much more likely to succumb to snackingespecially in the afternoon and evening.


Best Of The Former Tribune Reporter's 'Whiskey Tango Foxtrot' Press Tour

By Mae Rice in Arts & Entertainment on Mar 4, 2016 6:19PM



Author Kim Barker at the world premiere of 'Whiskey Tango Foxtrot' on Tuesday. (Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)

In Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, which came out Thursday, Tina Fey plays a war reporter in Afghanistana character based on a real Chicago Tribune reporter, Kim Barker.

Barker, who now reports for the New York Times, is sharp, funny, and deeply informed about international affairs, as she demonstrated in a 2011 memoir about her time reporting abroad titled The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan. (The film is based on that book, which has since been republished as Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, with Fey on the cover.)

Barker has also recently pulled off an incredible media feat: A press tour worth following from publication to publication. Though certain details crop up everywhere, Barkers a fountain of storiesand all the pieces on her, read together, give readers an immersive look at what happens when Hollywood meets the Middle East. (Spoiler: Hollywood insists that every interaction gets a couple notches sexier.)

Below, weve rounded up some highlights.

Barker tells Refinery 29 how her love interest in the movie, and real-life friend, dealt with his fictionalization:

"Sean and I always knew that would happen... After the movie, I was messaging with him on Facebook, and I [told him], 'So, dude, we totally do it in the movie.' He's like, 'Yeah, I knew it because I saw that trailer... I can live with that.' I said, 'Also, I should probably tell you that you're such a dumbass that you take a public bus outside of Kabul on a reporting trip.' You see the dot dot dot and then stop, the dot dot dot and then stop. And I go, 'Oh, and I kind of rescue you from the Taliban.' He's like, dot dot dot stop. He's like, 'Wait, it's going to take me some time adjust to this.'

Barker recounts visiting the Whiskey Tango Foxtrot setwhich, spoiler, was not in Afghanistanin a first-person piece for the Times:





The movie didnt seem real until I visited the film set in New Mexico for two days last spring. The first morning, a van drove a few of us on a bumpy dirt road for several minutes, until popping over a hill. The scene below looked like Afghanistan, with its beige terrain, onslaught of dust and scrubby gray vegetation. Then there was a military Humvee, with men dressed as Marines hanging out nearby. I sucked in my breath. My handler asked if I had PTSD or flashbacks. Not exactly, especially once I caught sight of the extras playing Taliban members. They seemed to be mostly of Mexican heritage, their turbans were tied like Christmas bows and they were eating Kind bars. This was definitely not Ghazni Province.

Barker tells RedEye about arriving in Tehran on one of her first trips to the Middle East, and immediately discovering that the region was not what she expected:







I thought I was going into a place that was scary, you know, evil empire, she said. And so they tell you basically as youre flying into Tehran, OK, ladies ... Gear up, get your stuff on. And its like, you know, Welcome to the Islamic Republic of Iran; dress appropriately.  Wanting to look the part and look conservative, she put on a thing that looks like a graduation gown, a headscarf and baggy pants. After arriving and waiting nine hours or so to get fingerprinted, she finally met her fixer, a paid local who would be an interpreter/guide and set up interviews ... and who was wearing lipstick, a cute, stylish white jacket, tight black pants, high heels and a red see-through scarf tied like a Hollywood movie star, Barker said. ... And she looks me up and down, she goes, Well, clearly the first thing we have to do is take you shopping,  Barker recalled, laughing.

Barker talks to her former Tribune colleagues about maintaining her sense of self through the recent media blitz:





"If people want to mix me up with Tina Fey and her character, that's going to happen. But I know who I am and my friends know who I am," she said. "And they know I'm kind of bemused by this whole idea. I'm going around, I've got fake eyelashes and, look at me, man, I've got TV anchorman hair. I'm coiffed. Look at the makeup on my face. Have you ever seen me with this much makeup on my face?"


Jia Kang, a senior economist and political advisor, answers questions during an exclusive interview with China.org.cn in Beijing on Thursday. [Photo by Guo Yiming / China.org.cn]

Foreign remarks on China's "economic collapse" should not be misinterpreted against the general picture of the upbeat performance after several rounds of structural reforms, said Jia Kang, senior economist and political advisor during an exclusive interview with China.org.cn in Beijing on Thursday.

"Against the backdrop of mounting downward pressure, China still has ample weapons in its arsenal' to broker sound and stabilized growth," explained Jia, who formerly served as the director of the Institute of Fiscal Science Research under the Ministry of Finance during the ongoing annual sessions of China's legislature and its top political advisory body in Beijing.

Ratings agency Moody has raised a red flag over China's growing government debt, further capital outflows and uncertainties to implement economic reforms as it lowers its outlook on the country's sovereign bonds from stable to negative on Mar. 2.

Ahead of Moody's pessimism, concerns over China have already roiled global markets amid waning investor confidence. Billionaire George Soros said China's hard landing is practically unavoidable, a slump that will worsen global deflationary pressures, drag down stocks and boost U.S. government bonds.

Is China's economy really heading for a collapse? Economists are doubtful.

"On the bright side, foreign pessimism serves as a wake-up call for China as the country faces more problems and daunting pressures," Jia told the reporter. "On the other hand, we should not misinterpret those remarks and avoid drawing irrational conclusions."

Bearish arguments won't draw the economy into recession, but self-inflicted errors will, he added.

The Chinese government still has ample measures in its toolbox to promote growth. On Monday, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) announced it will reduce the reserve requirement ratio for banks by 0.5 percentage points, the first such operation in China in 2016.

"Stabilized growth is gathering momentum as several rounds of interests and bank reserve cuts are producing desirable results," he said, and adding that Monday's cut signaled additional, bold pro-growth measures on the horizon amid economic overhauls.

Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation.
Response to the announcement of the summer 2016 publication of DC Super Hero Girls: Finals Crisis, the first graphic novel in the DC Super Hero Girls line of books and merchandise for teenage girls, has been so strong the publisher is adding a second volume. DC now plans to publish book two, DC Super Hero Girls: Hits and Myths, by the same creative team of writer Shea Fontana and artist Yancey Labat, in November.

First announced in early 2015, DC Super Hero Girls is a multipronged franchise of books, animated media, apparel, toys and other merchandise produced by DC, its parent Warner Bros., and partners at Random House, Mattel, and Lego. Focused on girls aged 6-12, the line is an indication how much the demographics of American super hero fandom and comic book readershipwhich historically have been dominated by teenage boys and older male fanshave changed in recent years. Indeed a new generation of teenage girls are demanding super heroes, toofemale super heroes.

In an exclusive interview, writer Shea Fontana, who is writing both the DC Super Hero Girls graphic novel series as well as a series of web-based short animations, said, The fans have been so supportive and are totally digging the webisode shorts that have been released so far, Fontana said. Lots of moms and dads have told me how excited they are to share DC Super Hero Girls with their daughters and how they wished something like this existed when they were kids.

DC Super Hero Girls is based on teenage versions of seven multi-ethnic female heroes in the DC Comics universe (Wonder Woman, Batgirl, Supergirl, Katana, Bumblebee, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn) while they attend Super Hero High School in Metropolis.

The teen girl super heroes, their personalities (and the usual teen social status hijinks) will be laid out in the first book, Finals Crisisthe title is a reference to Final Crisis, a famous DC super hero comics series. We get a chapter from the point of view of each of the main characters which allows us to really get to know them and their unique personalities, Fontana said.

Even though she's a teen, Wonder Woman is the same strong, empowered leader that we've admired for the past 75 years, Fontana said. The series depicts villainous characters like Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn, before they go bad. Harley is still the wisecracking jokester and Ivy is still a genius biologist, but as teenagers, they're just discovering how they want to use their powers in the world.

Book Two, Hits and Myths, she said, will build on the relationships established in the first book, and introduce new characters and go to a place that the DC Super Hero Girls have never explored before.
In 2009, 15-year-old Alex Cooper told her devout Mormon parents she liked girls. She knew they would be upsetthe Latter-day Saints Church taught that homosexuality was an aberration and a sin. But she didnt expect them to kick her out of the house, or what happened next, a story she recounts in Saving Alex: When I Was Fifteen I Told My Parents I Was Gay, and Thats When My Nightmare Began.

Coopers parents told her she was going to live with her grandparents, but instead, they dropped her off with Tiana and Johnny Siale, a couple in Utah practicing reparative therapydesigned to cure her homosexuality. She writes, These people, they were total strangers. I had never seen them before in my life. Why would my parents leave me with total strangers?

The Sialeswho had no training or credentials as therapistssubjected Cooper to eight months of captivity, servitude, beatings, and torture, including punishment for several attempts to escape: she had to wear a backpack full of rocks and stand facing a wall for up to 18 hours a day. Visitors to the Siales' house saw it, but no one in the Mormon-dominated town helped her, and Cooper decided to survive and bide her time.

All I cared about was that I did not have to stand with my toes five inches from the wall, she writes, that I no longer had to count numbers higher and higher, or watch my own mind struggle to maintain a grip on reality, or feel my pulse spike without reason.

Finally, the Siales allowed her to attend a local high school, and Cooper found allies in a sympathetic teacher and a fellow student who led her to the schools chapter of the Gay-Straight Alliance. They introduced her to Paul Burke, a Salt Lake City lawyer who would spend many pro bono hours fighting to both hold the guardians who abused Cooper accountable and for her right to resist her parents' efforts to try to change her sexual orientation. After a months-long battle, Cooper was granted court orders to protect her right to be an openly gay teenager, including a court order affirming her right to date girls, making her the first openly gay teenager to live under legal protection in Utah.

Ultimately, she decided not to prosecute the Siales. As long as I was sitting in a courtroom looking at them I couldnt move on with my life, and thats what I needed to do, Cooper told PW. She also reconciled with her parents. Soft-spoken and reticent, Cooper hesitates to talk about them, saying, This has been hard on them too.

Saving Alex is intended for both secular and Mormon readers. Coopers cowriter Joanna Brooks, whose work on Mormon Feminism (2015, Oxford) pointed out womens struggles in the Mormon Church, signed on to the project as a continued effort to improve the lives of disenfranchised Mormons. Our shared goal has been to tell this story in a way that doesn't flinch from talking about how difficult life can be for LGBT Mormons, but that doesn't demonize or draw caricatures about the Mormon community, Brooks told PW.

Gay conversion therapy for minorswhich also was practiced by some evangelicals but is now widely repudiatedhas been banned in California, Illinois, New Jersey, and Oregon, as well as the District of Columbia. President Obama has called on more states to ban the practice. In 2015, California Senator Ted Lieu introduced the Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act to make it illegal nationwide; the bill has yet to pass the House or Senate. On February 16, Lieu and several other members of Congress wrote an open letter to the FTC, urging the ban.

Cooper, who now lives in Portland, Ore., with her girlfriend and works for a nonprofit, hopes Saving Alex will make a contribution to the movement. She will speak and sign books at a book launch event on March 8 that will be covered by the New York Review of Books, Huffington Post, Associated Press, Religion News Service, Readers Digest, and other media outlets.
A giant panda named Ai Bao arrives at the Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea, March 3, 2016. A pair of Chinese giant pandas arrived in South Korea Thursday on a 15-year lease, marking the first time in 22 years that the endangered bear species enters the South Korean territory for joint research purpose. [Photo: Xinhua/Yao Qilin]

A pair of giant pandas left Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport and arrived at the Republic of Korea (ROK) on Thursday, starting their new life in the country, sources with China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda (CCRCGP) said.

The pair of pandas, Yuan Xin and Hua Ni, were warmly welcomed at a ceremony in the ROK, receiving the new names Le Bao and Ai Bao, according to the center.

Names suggestions were collected from people in China and the ROK. A total of 8,500 people, including 3,000 Chinese and 5,500 ROK people offered suggestions, the center said.

The names, which translate to happy baby and love baby, signify the happiness and joy brought by the pandas to both Chinese and ROK people, it said.

The arrival of the pair of pandas marks the first time in 22 years that the endangered species has entered the ROK for joint research purposes.

China previously loaned a pair of pandas to the ROK in 1994. They were returned to China four years later.

Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation.
ROCK ISLAND -- Outside Quad City Towing Inc. Thursday morning, Bart Johnson waited as his pickup truck swung into view.

A towing company employee slid out from behind the wheel, letting the 21-year-old from Hillsdale climb in and conduct a quick inspection to make sure everything was as he'd left it over five months ago.

"It's over," he said.

In September, he was stopped by a Rock Island County Sheriff's deputy for improper lane usage and told he was driving on a suspended license. Citing that offense in a forfeiture case filed a month later, prosecutors sought to keep the vehicle.

Mr. Johnson contested the allegation, with the case ultimately ending this week in a settlement agreement that let him get his truck back, if he paid $500 to Quad City Towing Inc. for towing and storage charges.

Mr. Johnson said the initial plan was to settle the case Tuesday, but when he tried to pay in cash, he was told he instead needed a traveler's or cashier's check. In the time since his truck was seized, Mr. Johnson said his driver's license had expired, so he also had to make an extra trip to renew it.

Finally, on Thursday -- with a new driver's license in hand -- he returned to the courthouse and waited several hours for a break in the busy court schedule to sign the settlement order in front of Assistant State's Attorney Justin Umlah.

Mr. Johnson said the last few days had been "hectic" with little time to imagine what it would be like to have his truck back.

Shortly before 11 a.m., with the court order signed, he showed his driver's license to a clerk at the Rock Island County Sheriff's Office and handed over the check. Then he could get his truck.

After flashing his driver's license again at Quad City Towing Inc., Mr. Johnson waited anxiously as his truck was driven around to the front of the building.

"I can see the finish line," he said, breaking into a grin.

Mr. Johnson said he believed forfeiture laws need to be "fine-tuned" so average people can more easily navigate the complicated process. He said that without the free help of Cambridge-based attorney Larry Vandersnick, "I probably wouldn't have it (the truck) back."

When prosecutors first filed the forfeiture complaint, they alleged Mr. Johnson's license had been suspended since a DUI arrest three months prior. Mr. Johnson pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor offense in July and, as part of an agreement, was placed on one year of court supervision and had the suspension of his driver's license rescinded.

Mr. Johnson said he kept driving, believing he legally could. But when he was stopped for driving on a suspended license, he learned paperwork from the DUI hearing was not sent by the clerk's office to the Illinois Secretary of State.

Rock Island County State's Attorney John McGehee maintains Mr. Johnson should have waited for written confirmation that his driving privileges were valid before driving. Defendants usually are advised of that at the time of a plea, Mr. McGehee said.

The suspended license charge eventually was dropped and Mr. Johnson pleaded guilty to the traffic citation for improper lane usage.

Mr. McGehee said Thursday's settlement was reached after a careful review of the facts, including Mr. Johnson's prior drinking-related driving history. Mr. McGehee said facts of the DUI case -- including police finding Mr. Johnson inside his car, in a ditch, with alcohol in his truck -- came into play when it was decided to pursue the civil forfeiture case.

"This was a message that was sent to him that he really needs to be extremely careful," Mr. McGehee said. "And hopefully he got the message that he can't drink and drive."

Mr. Vandersnick -- out of state this week, but kept abreast of developments by phone -- said he gave Mr. McGehee "credit" for being willing to review the case and reach an agreement, saving Mr. Johnson from additional months without a vehicle.

A former prosecutor and judge, Mr. Vandersnick said he is working to draft legislation aimed at revising forfeiture laws in Illinios. The legislation, he said, proposes shifting the burden of proof in forfeiture cases from property owners to the state. Another proposal, he said, would speed up forfeiture cases to avoid seized property being kept for months before a court resolution is reached.

The proposed legislation also seeks to reduce incentivizing forfeitures by decreasing how much of the proceeds go to law enforcement, instead requiring a larger portion go to the state or county governments.

Back at Quad City Towing, the time was fast approaching noon. Mr. Johnson, a farmhand in Barstow who usually starts his day at 7 a.m., said he figured there wasn't much point in trying to get to work.

"That's enough for one day," he said as he got in his truck, pulled out of the parking lot and eased the vehicle back onto the road.
ROCK ISLAND - Democrats Amy Beeding and Tammy Weikert are contesting the March 15 primary election for Rock Island County Circuit Clerk.

Ms. Weikert is the current circuit clerk, appointed to the position by the Rock Island County Board in July to replace Lisa Bierman who retired. Ms. Beeding, an active union member, has worked in the circuit clerk's office since 2006 and is the current deputy clerk.

The winner of the Democratic primary will face Republican Jeff McKinley in the Nov. 8 election. Unopposed in the Republican primary, Mr. McKinley is an assistant state's attorney for Rock Island County.

The two Democrats have plenty of experience in the circuit clerk's office and say they have plans to improve its service.

Ms. Weikert's tenure as circuit clerk began controversially when she appointed Ms. Bierman's daughter, Sara, to a $51,000-position in the office. The decision drew public criticism and Ms. Weikert terminated Sara Bierman's employment.

In a recent interview, Ms. Weikert said she learned from the error and puts a great emphasis on maintaining high ethical standards in the office. Ms. Beeding said the controversy was part of the reason she decided to run, saying it damaged public trust that she wants to restore.

The circuit clerk's office was hit hard by the county's early retirement program last year with about a quarter its 40-member staff leaving. Most of the positions have since been filled, but the loss of so many experienced staff members has been difficult, according to both Ms. Beeding and Ms. Weikert.

As a result, both say they would place an emphasis on training, if elected.

The circuit clerk's total budget is $1.8 million. The four-year position pays an annual salary of $90,000.

The office is responsible for maintaining a record of all traffic, civil and criminal cases filed and heard in Rock Island County. It also collects and disburses court fines, fees and child support and is responsible for maintaining a record of all court proceedings.

Name: Tammy R. Weikert

Party: Democratic

Age: 43

Family: Married to Frank Weikert. Four children ranging in age from 19 to 22

Address: 14505 85th Ave Court W., Taylor Ridge

Political experience: Former secretary for the Rock Island County Democratic Womens Club; managed Lisa Bierman's campaign for circuit clerk.

Occupation: Rock Island County Circuit Clerk

Education: Black Hawk College Business Information Technology classes and training courses related to circuit clerk systems

Name: Amy Beeding

Party: Democratic

Age: 41

Family: Husband Brad, son Bradley and daughter Samantha

Address: 505 Oaklawn Ave., East Moline

Political experience: Worked on several political campaigns as a result of AFSCME membership

Occupation: Deputy Clerk II at Rock Island County Circuit Clerk's office and owner of small business in Moline.

Education: Graduated from JD Darnall High School, Geneseo, and attended Black Hawk College for a short time.

Why are you running for office?

Weikert: The opportunity to implement electronic access for court patrons, making the court more accessible and expanding non-taxpayer generated revenues defines is why I am running. With my leadership ability, vision and technology experience I can accomplish this task, but it is my passion which inspires me. My service to this office for the last 18 years has given me the opportunity to immerse myself in the need for increased access, assistance to self-represented litigants, and provided me the experience needed to transform the clerks office to the circuit clerks office of the future. As we prepare to move to the new courthouse, we will have the opportunity to include many new technologies to improve the court experience of those we serve.

Beeding: After lengthy conversations with my husband, co-workers and friends I made the decision to run for the circuit clerk because I truly believe I can make the clerk's office a better place for the staff and I will to work to find better ways to streamline services for the citizens of Rock Island County. Although unavoidable at times, I believe our elected official should be that, elected and not appointed.

What is your top priority if you're elected?

Weikert: The early retirement incentive in 2015 brought a 25 percent reduction in staff. This formed my decision to make training and cross-training my top priority in order to ensure outstanding service and absolute accuracy with court records. As the keeper of the court records I will work to deliver the tools we need to provide these services. This is the fundamental responsibility of the Clerk of the Circuit Court.

Beeding: My top priorities are to regain the trust of the public, rebuild morale in the office and find more effective and efficient ways to fast track services that will once again rival the service provided anywhere in the State of Illinois.

Can you identify any specific steps you'd take to give the public greater access to court documents that are part of the public record?

Weikert: The Illinois Supreme Court mandated by Jan. 1, 2018, mandatory electronic filing of civil cases for the entire state. With implementation of an approved electronic filing system this will expand access to individual case documents and case information, and give attorneys electronic access to all of the documents in their cases. Our job is to make the implementation process as smooth and seamless as possible. I have already started the work to bring e-filing to Rock Island County. The application process will include clearly defined standards and a demonstration of the system to the Rock Island County Bar Association. Access will continue to be available inside our office to electronic records for everyone after e-filing begins.

Beeding: With today's technology, imaging and electronic filing are already a reality. We have public access terminals that will allow for electronic records to be displayed to the public. Access is governed by rules, orders and policies set by the Illinois Supreme Court and local jurisdiction. Currently anyone can visit the courthouse and view court files that are not impounded or sealed; records are also currently available online at www.judici.com.

What approach will you take to working with the county board when it comes to agreeing budgets and staffing for your office?

Weikert: Last year I had to make tough decisions to prevent layoffs, protecting three union positions by moving those salaries to circuit clerk-managed revenue funds. Over the long term the fund cant sustain these salaries. While I'm glad we succeeded there is still much work to be done. I am committed to over-the-horizon plans to sustain the progress we've made thus far. Going forward I am drafting a five-year budget to adequately plan financially. With the budget tracking to procedures I created we can monitor our funds, confirming we are within budget. While this is not an easy project, it is one I am working tirelessly on.

Beeding: I will work diligently with the county administrator and county board. I am concerned with expenditures as I am also a taxpayer. By law the circuit clerk has to meet certain requirement, such as adequate clerks to be present in numerous court hearings that occur daily and for the office to function efficiently. My obligation would be to the public, the judicial system and to the staff. I do not take any one's employment lightly. It is to every one's benefit that we work together to streamline expenses without sacrificing services or cutting jobs.
ROCK ISLAND -- The candidates for Illinois state representative District 72 took on the meaning of the Black Lives Matter movement, negative political campaigning, Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan and Gov. Bruce Rauner during a lively forum Thursday organized by the NAACP.

Democratic candidates Glen Evans, Mike Halpin, Kate Hotle and Jeff Jacobs were present, as was Republican candidate Jordan Thoms, although his GOP primary opponent Brandi McGuire was not in attendance.

The forum was held before a large crowd at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center and was moderated by Augustana College Political Science Professor Dr. Chris Whitt.

Most of the candidates came out strongly against the negative mailers that have been circulated throughout Rock Island County and primarily have targeted Ms. Hotle, a Rock Island alderwoman, and Mr. Jacobs, an attorney.

Speaker Madigan's Democratic Majority, a political action committee, has spent thousands on mailers accusing Ms. Hotle of using her position on the city council to divert tax dollars to her employer, although there's no evidence to support the claim.

"A lot of untrue things have been said about me, but you expect that when you have an independent voice and stand up for the people," Ms. Hotle said to loud applause.

Mr. Evans, a Rock Island minister, added, "It's a sin and a shame. I've never seen politics like we're seeing in this campaign."

Mr. Jacobs has been targeted by negative mailers from Mr. Halpin, also an attorney, that have accused him of taking money from donors involved in outsourcing jobs.

Mr. Jacobs said he was tired of what he called the "chainsaw politics" he sees as being practiced by both Speaker Madigan and Mr. Halpin that are designed to cut people down instead of focusing on policy issues.

"I'm tired of the Mike Madigan, Mike Halpin chainsaw politics," said Mr. Jacobs. "I think it's wrong."

Mr. Halpin said he was opposed to campaigning that's untrue but said it was important to draw distinctions, which he believes is what his campaign has done.

All of the candidates expressed frustration at the ongoing budget impasse, although there were differences in how they thought the problems in Springfield should be addressed.

Mr. Thoms, who works as the marketing manager for Fyre Lake, said it was important to introduce term limits "for all politicians" to prevent elected office from becoming a career.

Speaker Madigan, who took a verbal beating throughout the forum, has been in office "way too long," Mr. Thoms said.

But Mr. Jacobs said term limits could push politics further into the hands of lobbyists and

political staff, although he did say he supported term limits for leadership positions, such as Speaker Madigan's.

Mr. Halpin also didn't shy away from criticism of Speaker Madigan, although he added that Gov. Rauner's attempts to weaken unions was "unacceptable."

"For me, Speaker Madigan is part of the problem. Republican leadership is part of the problem. Gov. Rauner is certainly part of the problem," he said. "They keep kicking the can down the road and keeping us down."

In case there was any doubt, Mr. Evans noted "when it comes to Speaker Madigan, I'm really not a fan." Mr. Evans said the speaker had tried to keep him off the ballot by challenging his petitions when he ran for state representative in 2012.

Gov. Rauner also took his share of hits, especially from the Democrats, who criticized his attempts to weaken unions. Even Mr. Thoms, the only Republican present, was not keen to come out in favor of any efforts to take away collective bargaining rights.

"Right now, there's too many issues that are more important," he said of any effort to install right-to-work laws, either statewide or in parts of the state. "This is not something that I find important."

The candidates were asked several questions related to the African-American community and the NAACP, one of which prompted Mr. Jacobs to come out for reform of civil forfeiture laws, which he suggested were being used unfairly against minorities.

"We need to change how the law is dealt with when it comes to civil forfeiture," he said. "It's aimed at the minority community, and it's wrong."

On a question about the meaning of the Black Lives Matter movement, there's was general agreement among the Democrats that more needed to be done to combat inequality.

"To me the Black Lives Matter movement is the millennial generation's version of the NAACP," said Ms. Hotle. "It's young people from the black community rising up and saying there's more to be done. ... When my friends of color bring this issue up, I know that it's my job to listen."

Answering the same question, Mr. Thoms said more needed to be done to get illegal guns off the streets, and Mr. Halpin said he supported increased use of police body cameras.

Mr. Jacobs praised the Black Lives Matter movement, saying it was doing a good job of exposing inequality, an issue he said he hopes to address if elected.

The winners of the March 15 primary will contest the general election in November for a chance to replace state Rep. Pat Verschoore, D-Milan, who is retiring.
The lawyer from Seattle may have discovered what could be a piece of tail section from Flight MH370 that disappeared March 8, 2014 with 239 people aboard. The airliner is believed to have crashed somewhere in a remote stretch of the southern Indian Ocean.

According to New York Magazine, Gibson has also spent much of the past year searching for traces of the missing airliner. Gibson has traveled to the Maldives Islands to investigate reports of a plane flying low at the time of the disappearance, Reunion Island to interview a man who found another section of the plane and met with former Australian Transport Minister Warren Truss to discuss Australia's seabed search for the plane.

"I'm not surprised that he pursued this mysterious disappearance of the plane," said Vladimir Gololobov, who described his friend as eccentric, bright and kind. He met Gibson nearly two decades ago while the American was in Siberia on business trips.

"He is interested in things that are very mysterious and makes you wonder what happened," Gololobov said.

The 58-year-old Gibson, who grew up in California, told The Associated Press he came to Mozambique as part of a dream to see every country in the world.

"It has been my ambition since I was 7 to visit every country in the world. Malawi was number 176, Mozambique was number 177," Gibson said.

Dave Ryan, a Seattle attorney who befriended Gibson in law school, said Gibson traveled a lot and had different business ventures around the globe.

He would take off to Tajikistan and come back with pieces of mortars, for example, or visited Cambodia at a time when few tourists did, Ryan recalled. "He collected interesting stuff as well as stories and made a lot of fascinating friends."

Gibson's friends say they do not believe he's motivated by fame but that he is genuinely drawn to the mysterious.

In the past Gibson has traveled to Siberia to investigate a meteor crash, Ethiopia to search for the lost ark and Central America to find out why the Maya civilization disappeared, according to New York Magazine.

"At the same time he loves to travel and meet people. I think he ran across enough different people whom the disappearance of the flight had touched. He knows his geography and knows how to get around," Ryan said. "I think he was interested in looking for himself."

In an interview, Gibson said of his search: "I wanted to go out to a place where debris washes ashore from the open Indian Ocean, because of my personal interest, also because it's a nice trip out to an island. It's a beautiful place."

Gibson said he graduated from University of Oregon and received a degree from a law school that was then at the University of Puget Sound south of Seattle. Gibson also served as a staffer to the late Washington state Sen. Ray Moore and a state senate committee for several years before and after law school.

His father, Phil S. Gibson, served as Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court from 1940 to 1964.
Press release submitted by Renaissance Rock Island

Ribbon Cutting and Open House for City of Fultons Single Family Purchase Rehabilitation Program homes on Sunday, March 13

FULTON, IL- Economic Growth Corporation (GROWTH), in partnership with the City of Fulton, will open the doors of four homes for sale through its Single Family Purchase Rehabilitation Program on Sunday (Mar. 13) to the public from 1:00-2:30 p.m. A ribbon cutting ceremony will officially begin the open house at 1603 7th St., Fulton at 1:00 p.m.

The featured homes have been rehabilitated and are ready for prospective homebuyers to purchase. This event will also provide an opportunity to learn about the Down- Payment Relocation Assistance Program that targets three Thomson Prison employees with up to $3,392 in down payment and closing cost assistance towards a purchase of a home within Fulton city limits. Buyers agents are welcome and encouraged to attend.

This partnership between GROWTH and the City of Fulton demonstrates how partnerships strengthen the local housing economy. Fultons use of the Attorney General Funds is not like any other, it has improved the local housing stock in addition to creating a unique employer-assisted housing program that provides Fulton new housing programs and incentives to attract families to relocate to Fulton, said GROWTH President Brian Hollenback.

The ribbon cutting will begin the open house at 1603 7th St., Fulton. This home features 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, and is 1,120 square feet. The homes that will be showcased during the open house in addition to 1603 7th St. are: 822 Fowler Road, 1220 13th Ave., and 822 9th Ave.

We are excited to partner with Economic Growth Corporation to bring the Single Family Purchase Rehabilitation Program to Fulton. The program not only allowed the city to rehabilitate 4 homes, but through our partnership we are also able to offer homebuyer assistance to Thomson Federal Prison employees wishing to purchase a home in Fulton, Ed Cannon, Fulton City Administrator said.

Central Bank representatives will be at 1603 7th St. to discuss financial incentives and information during the event, while Fulton community leaders will be present throughout the event.

Karrie Kenney, Central Banks Market Manager and Real Estate Lender stated, Central Bank Fulton is pleased to partner with GROWTH to provide housing assistance and financial resources to families choosing to live in Fulton. We are honored to invest in the community we serve and are excited to be included in the upcoming Ribbon Cutting and Open Houses. Central Bank will be available on March 13 to answer questions from prospective homebuyers regarding financial incentives and options. We look forward to assisting families with their dream of home ownership. Kenney said.

In July of 2014, GROWTH as lead and fiscal agent of the Northwestern Illinois Housing Coalition was awarded $3.5 million in Illinois Attorney General National Foreclosure Settlement Funds. Over $3 million, or 87% of the total grant award, has been invested on community revitalization efforts throughout northwestern Illinois.

Of the $3,500,000, the City of Fulton was awarded $250,000. The City of Fulton worked in close partnership with the GROWTH and identified a program that best fit the needs of the community. Fultons grant award was leveraged with debt from Central Bank 1:1 and created the Single Family Purchase Rehabilitation Program in order to maximize the resource for greater impact in the community. Seven units will be impacted through the program over a 12 month period through rehabilitation and down payment assistance. A task force was formed through the City of Fulton and identified the four homes in Fulton which GROWTH acquired.

On September 25th, the City of Fulton and GROWTH co-hosted an informational session for the local community including local contractors, material suppliers, REALTORS, and lenders to learn more about the Program.

The four homes are on the final stages of completion, and will be officially placed for sale during the open house on March 13th. Those that worked on the homes and the general public will have plenty of time to network and talk with Fulton community leaders and GROWTH to learn more about the impact of the Program in their community.

Rock Island Economic Growth Corporation (GROWTH)

GROWTH is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit community based development organization based out of Rock Island, IL., and has been using a unified regional approach identifying new partnerships and new opportunities to bring national housing resources to the region since 2009.

Northwestern Illinois Housing Coalition

GROWTH serves as the lead member and fiscal agent of the Northwestern Illinois Housing Coalition (NWIHC), an initiative in collaboration with the City of Fulton, City of Morrison, City of Sterling, City of East Moline, City of Moline, and the City of Rock Island. Since 2009, GROWTH as lead of the Northwestern Illinois Housing Coalition has made a $44 million impact in northwestern Illinois.
Macquarie Media has made the Content Directors position redundant at now Magic 2CH.

It brings to a close Mardi Coles 8 year run with the Sydney station. Mardi started as a casual, moving into the Content Directors position in 2014.

Macquarie Media aligned 2CH to its Magic branding just a few weeks ago, which also saw networked content and talent from both Brisbane and Melbourne join the 2CH line-up.
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The fourth session of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the national advisory body, opens at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 3, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua]

As the meetings of NPC and CPPCC begin, China faces numerous challenges, economic headwinds, global political issues and cultural dilemmas; each has domestic, as well as international facets. The first two issues are covered daily in exhaustive detail, but solving China's cultural dilemmas may be, in the end, the key to the other issues.

Over the millennia, China's diaspora has reached every corner of the globe. During the declining years of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of new China, Chinese workers, in vast numbers, sought opportunity in foreign lands. It was not an easy transition, as they were often met with hostility from locals, and brutal working and living conditions from their employers. Denied basic rights and therefore unable to defend themselves, they became the choice for exploitation, before and after slavery was abolished. They built the railroads in the America's and Asia, they took the place of slaves in Caribbean sugar plantations and provided the cheap labor, the expanding colonial powers needed to expand and run their empires.

With the rise of new China, Chinese at home and abroad, are having to adjust to a new perception of China, not as an over populated, decadent weakling, but a vibrant rising world power. But, like the ripples on a pond caused by pebbles and the wind, the reactions to China's fast changing status, has been far from simple or monolithic.

As the world rushes to learn Chinese and gage the opportunities and challenges presented by China's rise, the essence of what it means to be Chinese is in transition. From protests in the U.S. against the manslaughter conviction of a Chinese police officer, to domestic identity issues in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Xinjiang and Tibet, to a rising confidence of Chinese abroad that they will be protected, all are examples of how the essence of being Chinese is taking a new shape, both at home and abroad.

As stated, the issue of identity is far from simple or monolithic, but it is an essential piece of China's future. A strong shared identity is essential is to develop the kind of national social resilience, the glue, which can help it weather ever changing economic and political tides.

Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation.
The Pardee RAND Graduate School (PardeeRAND.edu) is home to the only Ph.D. and M.Phil. programs offered at an independent public policy research organizationthe RAND Corporation.
The Iran nuclear deal is the most robust nuclear agreement ever reached in the nonproliferation arena, but Iran's behavior in the days since the deal was implemented has hardly been perfect, Colin Kahl, deputy assistant to the president and national security advisor to the vice president, said during a conference held today at the RAND Corporation's offices in Washington, D.C.

Kahl's remarks opened a daylong series of panel discussions that drew a range of opinions on the deal and its aftermath, but also general agreement that despite some improvement, the agreement has not halted Iran's provocative behavior in the region.

Dalia Dassa Kaye, director of the RAND Center for Middle East Public Policy and a senior political scientist at RAND, agreed that what has emerged since Iran met its commitments under the deal on Jan. 16 is a mixed picture, with progress on some fronts, but continued recalcitrance elsewhere.

Kahl noted that Iran has tested ballistic missiles, behaved provocatively in the gulf, detained U.S. sailors, and continued to support the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and other U.S. foes. Still, he said, Iran worked quickly to meet its commitments under the nuclear deal, released the detained sailors and other American prisoners, and its recent elections appear to have delivered gains for Iranian moderates.

Photo by Scott Robinson

Kahl stressed that the nuclear deal has had the collateral benefit of establishing new lines of communication between Washington and Tehran. This communication, he said, helped to facilitate Iran's early progress toward implementation of the deal and prevented the detention of the U.S. sailors from escalating into a prolonged crisis.

What we have seen in the months since the agreement was reached  is that there is the potential for Iran to realize that its interests lie more in international integration, he said. This realization, however, should not be expected to take hold immediately. This is not going to be a light switch, he said.

Still, several of the panelists suggested the existence of a new dynamism in the relationship between the United States and Iran.

We should not underestimate what a game-changer this has been. Don't be complacent about what it can achieve, and the potential challenges. But it's important to remember there could be opportunities, Dassa Kaye said.

Alireza Nader, a senior international policy analyst at RAND, said the Iranian government recognizes the need for lines of communication with the United States, even though it still considers the United States an enemy. For now, he said, Iran's leaders are saying 'let's talk.'

Iran hasn't been emboldened and it hasn't moderated. Iran's interests and policies are essentially the same. What has changed is that Iran is now using diplomacy as a foreign policy tool, Nader said during a panel moderated by Steve Inskeep, host of NPR's Morning Edition. The panel also included Hamid Biglari, managing partner of the TGG Group and Robin Wright, a contributing writer to The New Yorker and a joint fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Photo by Scott Robinson

Prince Turki AlFaisal, chairman of the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, said the nuclear deal closes Iran's path to nuclear weapons for the next 10 to 15 years, but does not decrease the long-term threat posed by Iran's desire to spread its influence in the region and beyond. The nuclear deal lasts for a blink of an eye, and then what happens? he said.

Chuck Freilich, a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School and former Israeli deputy national security adviser, agreed that the nuclear deal carries no long-term guarantees. Iran will most likely observe it at least for the next few years  then the question is (what happens) beyond that 10 to 15 years. I have no doubt that they will push the envelope to the utmost, he said.

Karen Elliott House, chairman of the RAND Board of Trustees and author of On Saudi Arabia: Its People, Past, Religion, Fault Lines  and Future, said a recent visit to Saudi Arabia revealed a public that is focused not just on the nuclear deal, but also on Iran's broader conduct. They are focused on Iranian mischief-making throughout the region, she said.

Photo by Scott Robinson

House added that some in the region believe the agreement, and the lifting of economic sanctions on Iran, has made Iran a bolder threat. People in the region believe that they are more emboldened and they have the money now to do things. House, AlFaisal and Freilich spoke during a panel moderated by Nadia Bilbassy-Charters, bureau chief of Al Arabiya Washington.

James Dobbins, senior fellow and distinguished chair in diplomacy and security at RAND, said the agreement could lead to opportunities for further engagement between Tehran and Washington and when they arise they ought to be seized.

I'm not suggesting that there are opportunities immediately on the table, but I do think that we need to  see when, if and where Iranians are willing to engage in meaningful dialogue, he said.

Dobbins spoke during a panel hosted by David Ignatius, columnist and associate editor of the Washington Post, that also included Stephen Hadley a former national security adviser now a principal in the consulting firm of RiceHadleyGates; and Ellen Laipson, president emeritus and distinguished fellow at The Stimson Center and a former vice chair of the National Intelligence Council.

 Scott Orr
Nara Won has been named vice president of business development and strategy for Alticasts operations throughout the Americas.





Nara Won will play an integral role in addressing our work with operators in the North American and LATAM markets, said John Carlucci, president and CTO of Alticast US . His strong engineering background, his proven ability to understand industry trends, and his focus on addressing customer needs all will help us capitalise on next-generation video opportunities.Won was most recently was vice president, business development for Humax Americas, where he was responsible for the companys cable industry business activities, including the rollout of set-top box, gateway, IoT and media hub solutions. Previously, he spent more than a decade with Texas Instruments growing from chief application engineer to application manager. Prior to Texas Instruments, he held engineering positions with NHN and Hynix. Won holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in Computer Science from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).In addition to Won, Alticast also announced two other personnel appointments within its Americas unit: the promotions of 15-year Alticast veteran, Jae Park to vice president, business development and of industry veteran Mike Fallon to vice president, technical service.
As we see a surge in inflation globally, it is now critical that everyone is aware of the implications this will have along every step of the insurance and reinsurance value chain.
Geopolitical Futures strongly incorporates an understanding of geography and history into our model and forecasting methodology. Understanding geography as well as critical moments in a region's history helps explain the dynamics between nations we observe today. One key moment in Latin America's history was its independence movement. In the early 19th century, external factors created a situation ripe for independence in Spanish America. However, several personalities played critical roles in initiating the movement, including Simon Bolivar, Jose de San Martin and Miguel Hidalgo. Each man left his mark on history. Here, we take a closer look at Bolivar, who had a unique vision for a unified region and future regimes. He helped lead independence movements in present-day Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. Although he was a central figure who inspired the initial stages of the political systems we see in Latin America today, his vision for a unified region ultimately failed to materialize.

Demands for Autonomy Emerge

Spanish America's independence movement started around 1810, when the first official declarations were asserted and battles were fought. However, the seeds for independence were planted about 20 years prior. Until the 1790s, Spain had the resources to govern Spanish America from a distance. It separated its territory into viceroyalties, and each viceroyalty responded directly back to the monarch. There was comparatively little interaction between them at this time.

Then, in the 1790s, Spain got absorbed into wars with France and Great Britain. A byproduct of this was that the Spanish colonies, now with several generations of American-born inhabitants, found themselves with a high degree of political and economic autonomy. Parallel to these events, the Spanish colonies saw the success of the French and U.S. revolutions, which proved that independence was possible. The viceroyalties enjoyed greater autonomy, and this helped re-enforce an independent sense of identity and regionalism. When the fighting in Europe settled, Spain moved to re-exert its presence in the Americas in a phase some historians refer to as a recolonization. Not surprisingly, many in the colonies, including American-born leaders, rejected the idea of answering once again to an overseas imperial power. When Napoleon's troops invaded Spain in 1808, the Spanish American colonies had an opportunity to push for independence.

Like many revolutions, not all participants shared a clear picture of what the end goal should be and how to get there. Some called for complete independence, while others wanted greater autonomy under Spanish rule or to remain loyal to Spain. Though inspired by the U.S. and French revolutions, Bolivar did not intend to model an independent state in Spanish America after these nations. He envisioned independent countries brought together under a pan-American entity. While Bolivar wanted to unite all the freed viceroyalties under a common ruler, he strayed away from the U.S. federal model and embraced a system with a strong central leader. Bolivar outright rejected the implementation of a pure federal model in the newly freed lands of Spanish America. He did not believe that a federal system could withstand the turbulent environment and political factions present in Spanish America.

Bolivar's Influence

Bolivar was a product of the Enlightenment. He was born into Caracas aristocracy, and his station in life enabled him to travel and study in Europe, where he became very familiar with the leading schools of political philosophy. Under the tutelage of Simon Rodriguez, Bolivar was strongly influenced by philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In line with the views prevalent in the Enlightenment, Bolivar subscribed to Rousseau's "general will" concept, which calls on the intellectual and educated elite to identify what is in the best interest of the people. Bolivar believed that past subjugation under Spanish colonial rule left many of the American people ignorant and unable to acquire knowledge, power or civic virtue. Therefore, in the name of the greater good, Bolivar believed that these people should be freed.

Bolivar's vision for an independent Spanish America ultimately promoted the inclusion of a strong central government. He sought an ad hoc political model that combined elements of monarchy, republicanism and federalism in an attempt to find the right balance between control, stability and unity in a new pan-American entity. Furthermore, his actions showed that he envisioned himself to initially be the primary leader of this emerging American grouping. He held the highest executive offices, which acted as a dictatorship, in Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Venezuela with several of these terms overlapping. The hodgepodge of political philosophies and methods for implementing them in the newly independent nations fluctuated through the years. In his 1819 Angostura address during the wars for independence in Venezuela and Colombia, Bolivar said, "regular elections are essential to popular government." Seven years later, he remarked, "we shall avoid elections, which always result in that great scourge of republics, anarchy." There was a clear contradiction in his approach to governance at different times.

The Weakness of the New Regimes

In the final years of the region's independence movement, Bolivar sought to set up regimes in countries that mixed republican principals and authoritarian rule. He feared that introducing too much liberty to uneducated masses would result in anarchy, thus necessitating a strong central authority. This idea of what a government should look like is reflected in the 1826 Constitution of Bolivia. This document created four separate branches of government: the executive, the legislative, the judicial and the electoral college. However, the executive office was heavily weighted with power. The president would serve for life and be succeeded by the vice president, who would be chosen by the president. Furthermore, the president had the power to appoint and remove officials, as well as full control of the armed forces.
Maybe the U.S.-Russian cease-fire will hold in Syria, or at least tamp down the level of violence in that country. But whether it does or not, there are a few American assumptions about the U.S. approach to the Syrian civil war that need to be seriously revisited. Maybe Washington policymakers don't really believe in these assumptions. I suspect that's the case; after all, those assumptions are not holding true. And here's why.

Must Bashar Assad go? The logic is certainly compelling. He's a war criminal responsible for the deaths of scores of thousands of innocents. Without his departure, ISIS will continue to feed on Sunni disaffection and alienation; Sunni opponents will never give up the fight; and Russia and Iran will have won. The only problem is that in reality, Assad is not going, and there is no constellation of forces that appear willing or able right now to make that happen. Unless the Iranians and Russian President Vladimir Putin are willing to sacrifice him -- and for what, you might ask -- it seems Assad is here to stay. That's hard to accept if you argue that there can be no definitive solution with Assad around. But perhaps that is precisely the point. There will be no determinative end state; perhaps just a stalemate locked in with a predictable level of accepted violence. Which leads us to the next point.

The notion of a unified, cohesive Syria is dead, and that begs a related and broader question: Is there an end game in Syria? Perhaps, but not one that provides the stable, inclusive, non-sectarian future envisioned by the International Syrian Support Group. Once the authoritarians in Iraq, Syria, and Libya went the way of the dodo, the odds that the polities in these countries could hold together were long indeed. Tribes with flags, one observer said of the Arab states -- excepting Egypt.

This doesn't mean the redrawing of these countries' borders. But it does mean that what happens within those borders is likely to be quite different than what we've seen for the past half century or so. It's hard to imagine -- and Iraq is no great precedent -- that in Syria, Alawite and Kurds would agree to surrender power to a centralized Syrian state on the assumption that it would protect their interests to do so, and certainly not after five years of bloody civil war. The age of Alawite dominance in Syria, furthermore, is over, and in that context you can count on Iran to ensure a decentralized Syria so that Tehran's Alawite allies remain relevant. On the other side, the country's Sunni majority and its Saudi backers wield predominant influence in Damascus.

The exact nature of the new Syria is unclear. But it will be based on some kind of a confederal structure where various confessional groups will maintain control of autonomous areas. Syria will continue to be messy, with areas that include a mix of Sunnis and Alawite. But it's hard to envision a workable alternative.

Arabs and Turks will not come to the rescue: They will all continue to meddle, but their goal will not be to save Syria so much as to protect their own, narrow interests. And the elusive notion of a regional Sunni army will not rescue Syria. The Saudis are overstretched in Yemen and talk a bigger game than they're willing to play. Their real goal in Syria is to check Iran's growing influence, but Riyadh is simply unwilling to commit sufficient resources to do so -- a reticence not shared by Tehran. As for Turkey, if Ankara did send in ground forces, it would be to check the Kurds, not to fight the Islamic State or overthrow Assad.

So will the U.S. cavalry? We need to be honest about what the United States has been and will be willing to risk in Syria. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry made clear in his Congressional testimony this week that the United States has a Plan B should the cessation of hostilities fail. That seems to imply a more concerted effort to support the Syrian opposition, and perhaps consideration of some kind of no fly zone or safe area that would put more U.S. assets on the ground and in the air. Is this a bluff, or a real contingency? And more important, what would it accomplish? Is Washington prepared to challenge the Russians and Iran and trigger a hotter proxy war by upping the level of U.S. assistance, or even intervening directly? Would that produce the kind of painful stalemate that would compel Russia to negotiate a transition without Assad? There really are no good options, let alone choices free of risk, in pursuit of such a goal. And nothing indicates that U.S. President Barack Obama is prepared to risk more than the Russians are in Syria in order to force them to the table.

The shadow of Iraq and Afghanistan still looms large, and there's no will in Washington to own Syria, or to engage in nation-building. Listening to the Republican and Democratic candidates only suggests that none of them has ideas that are compelling, new, or workable -- from John Kasich's Sunni army, to Ted Cruz's carpet bombing campaign, to Hillary Clinton's no fly zone -- an idea in search of a strategy.

If there ever were really good options in Syria, there aren't anymore. Iran and even Russia are willing to sacrifice quite a lot to protect what they believe are their vital interests. The United States is not, and that should be clear by now. Whatever is done in Syria can be coordinated by Washington, but the United States isn't going to pay the estimated $100 billion required to rebuild the country, nor to provide the peacekeepers needed to oversee the process.

Syria is only part of the problem: If Syria's were the only crisis in the region, or neatly cut off from the interests of a range of regional actors, perhaps the problem would be more tractable. But Syria is part and parcel of a turbulent region that is on the whole in crisis. No regional party or set of parties is prepared to co-own a Syria solution, and neither are the big outside powers. Russia has its own agenda, and the U.S. administration seems determined to avoid confronting Moscow and being drawn deeper into conflict. A U.S.-Russian agreement on the core issues, including Assad's future, might be the first step in imagining a transition to a more stable future. If you're looking for Hollywood endings you won't find one in the blood and tragedy of Syria. I suggest you go to the movies instead.

(AP photo)
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China Southern Airlines is set to resume its Nepal-China flights from April 26 after nearly seven months of halt.

Issuing a press release on Wednesday, the airline informed that direct flights of Kathmandu-Guangzhou will resume from next month as the fuel crisis has finally ended.

The Chinese company was forced to cancel its operation to and from Nepal following fuel crisis since September.

"We will be operating three flights a week on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from the end of April," said the press release.

Beside the China Southern Airlines, three other Chinese airlines, Air China, China Eastern and Sichuan Airlines, are operating direct flights connecting Nepal and China.
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Price: $ 355 Seller State of Residence: Arizona Property Address: Cummins Creek Road State/Province: Washington City: Curlew Type: Recreational, Acreage Zoning: Residential Zip/Postal Code: 99118 Location: 852**, Tempe, Arizona

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--- WE ARE PLANNING TO MOVE THIS OFFER TO A SEALED BID AUCTION AT THE END OF MAY ----The house is an iconic Greek Revival with large white columns and often sought after for pictures, movies and special events. It features a dining room, living room, parlor, library wall, and there is a 30 x40' 'man-cave' on the second floor. The 2000 sq ft Carriage House is a unique structure and has plenty of room for a workshop and storage.If you are looking for THEE place to live in Angelica you have found i...

Price: $ 185,000 Seller State of Residence: NY Property Address: 2 West Main Street Zip/Postal Code: 14709 Number of Bedrooms: 4 Number of Bathrooms: 2.5 Property Type: House Sale Type: Existing Homes Year Built: 1848 For Sale by: Owner Location: 147**, Angelica, New York

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Middle East and China investors are currently ruling the London residential real estate market. Russia investors, on the other hand, choose to rent most of the time.

According to the Super-Prime London Insight report by Knight Frank in February, despite of the sluggish economy in China and all the geopolitical issues around the world, London's prime real estate continued to attract foreign investors.

Knight Frank, global head of residential Andrew Hay, explained that Middle Eastern investors are attempting to widen their span of property ownership options and many of them see London as a potential market.

Hay further stated that UK properties are apt for both residential and commercial purposes for foreign investors, especially those looking to broaden their territories and assets. Most of the time, these investors come from foreign countries like United States and Germany.

The consultancy firm also revealed that London's top residential locations include Mayfair and Kensington, which are considered prime developments with an estimated value of over $14.32 million.

Numerous properties have experienced several jaw-dropping transactions with the highest price at $5,730 and $11,460 per square feet in Mayfair and Knightsbridge, respectively. Recently, these new prime real estate properties had experienced an increase in terms of overall transactions from one-fifth in 2012 to one-third in 2015.

However, Hay revealed that investors from Russia still command the market, although most of them are renting and not actually purchasing assets. Hay thought that the Russians are bidding their time, waiting to see how things play out back home. Frank also pointed out that the country's oil-related economic downfall and economic sanctions play vital roles.

Experts say that demand of investors is currently centered only in a few parts of the property markets. They stressed that countries like Singapore and Hong Kong, where acquisition costs have significantly increased, have been diverting people's interest.

London, according to them, is an exception as its demand for residential properties continues to surge, CNBC reported.
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Iraqi security forces on Thursday continued operation to clear the Islamic State (IS) militants from the vast rural area in Salahudin province, while the troops repelled IS attacks on security forces in the western Anbar province.

Iraqi soldiers on their vehicles drive on February 2, 2016 towards Alsjarih area, east of the city of Ramadi, the capital of Iraq's Anbar province. [Photo/Xinhua]

The troops, together with allied paramilitary Hashd Shaabi units and local tribal fighters continued their advance in Jazira area, which stretches in the open land in west of Samarra and the provincial capital city of Tirkit, some 170 km north of Baghdad, a source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The troops, which were covered by Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition air power, engaged in sporadic clashes with IS militants in several areas, the source said without elaborating.

The troops also extended their advance to Tharthar Lake on the provincial border between Salahudin and Anbar, cutting the IS supply routes between northern and central Iraq, the source said.

The major offensive resulted in killing of 50 militants and the destruction of more than 30 booby-trapped vehicles, in addition to seizing large amounts of weapons and ammunition in three days, the source added.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, also the commander-in-chief of Iraqi forces, arrived in Samarra, some 120 km north of Baghdad, and visited the troops in the Liyn area, some 20 km west of Samarra, according to the official Iraqiya television.

In Iraq's western province of Anbar, dozens of IS militants with a suicide truck bomb attacked an army position in Hamdhiyah area, a provincial security source anonymously told Xinhua.

The troops fought fierce clashes with the attackers and managed to repel the attack, leaving 15 IS militants killed and destroying the suicide truck bomb by anti-tank guided missiles, the source said.

Last month, the security forces and allied Sunni paramilitary units recaptured Hamdhiyah area and raised the Iraqi flag on some buildings after fierce clashes with IS militants.

Government troops and allied militias have been fighting for months to retake control of 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.
In this Friday, May 15, 2015 photo, Boy Scout David Fite, 15, prepares to hang hand-made cloth streamers with volunteer Carlos Pabon outside the Nettelhorst School in Chicago. With the help of Pabon and others, David decorated the street scene in preparation for the city's nearby Gay Pride Parade. (AP Photo/Martha Irvine)

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By MARTHA IRVINE, AP National Writer

CHICAGO (AP)  David Fite had already earned the 21 Boy Scout merit badges needed to earn the coveted rank of Eagle. But he still had to complete a community service project.

Now 16, he'd always been a gung-ho scout, dutiful, polite and committed. But he'd also been disappointed with the organization's longstanding ban on openly gay scouts and leaders, so much so that he'd considered quitting. "I knew it wasn't right," said Fite, who has many family friends who are gay or lesbian  some of them honorary "aunts" and "uncles" who've given him money for camp and other scouting projects over the years.

Instead of leaving his beloved Troop 115, the usually quiet teen decided to make some noise, writing letters and speaking out with other scouts and adults who also opposed the bans. And he knew his Eagle project was his best chance to make a statement. Though the Boy Scouts lifted the ban on openly gay scouts in 2013, the ban on gay leaders remained when laid out his proposal early last year: community service projects in Chicago's main gay and lesbian neighborhood.

It's what a Boy Scout does, he said  stands up for his family and his community.

"In my mind, I knew I was doing the right thing," he said.

His plan had two parts. First, he, family members, including his mother, Jennifer Fite, and grandparents, and a group of volunteers and students at Chicago's Nettelhorst School would decorate around the school for the nearby Gay Pride Parade in June 2015. Then he and his mom would host a meal and dance party and distribute backpacks, transit cards and other gifts for young people who gather regularly for support and socializing at the Center on Halsted, which serves Chicago's lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual residents. Some are homeless or "couch surfing" with friends because their families have kicked them out.

It was shortly after Fite completed his Eagle project that the Boy Scouts lifted their ban on openly gay leaders, too. These changes have not been without controversy. Several religious denominations, including Mormon and Southern Baptist, collectively sponsor close to half of all Scout units. In response to the changes in policies on openly gay scouts and leaders, some churches have considered creating their own scouting organization. Boy Scout officials in states such as Utah also say they've had trouble raising funds since the bans were lifted.

For Fite, part of his Eagle project's purpose was to show the gay community "that not everybody in the Boy Scouts is like that."

In September, he made his final project presentation to the local Scout council, detailing what he had done and showing photos. He entered the session nervously, but emerged smiling broadly: He won final approval. He received his Eagle award at a ceremony at a Roman Catholic Mass last month  and said earning the award on his own terms felt important.

"I'm also proud of the Boy Scout organization for making this change and being the change that other people want to see in the world," he said. "I think it says that if you fight hard enough, you can change anything."
NAL title on the line: Will West Valley or U-Prep win?

U-Prep and West Valley battle for the NAL title and top speed in CIF Northern Section playoffs Friday.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday vowed to give Nigeria the needed support to defeat the terror group Boko Haram.

Although Erdogan, who is on an official visit to the West African country, did not specify the areas in which Turkey would support Nigeria, he told reporters in Abuja that the two countries will explore all collaborative means to combat terrorists.

According to him, it is better for Nigeria and Turkey to collaborate to defeat the menace since they suffer the same constant threats from terrorists.

He urged authorities in Nigeria, and citizens alike, to remain resolute and united in the fight against Boko Haram, saying this will go a long way to end the constant attacks.

Upon arrival to Nigeria on Wednesday, the Turkish leader, who had 150 businessmen in his entourage, met with President Muhammadu Buhari.
Greg Barnette/Record Searchlight Melvin Baldwin-Green and Tanishia Williams are shown in Shasta County Superior Court last month before a jury announced its verdicts.

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By Jim Schultz of the Redding Record Searchlight

A Redding pair convicted last month of sex-trafficking, pimping and kidnapping, among other charges, lost a bid on Thursday to have their sentencing postponed.

But Shasta County Superior Court Judge Greg Gaul also left the door open on a possible reconsideration of a defense motion to continue next week's sentencing of Melvin Baldwin-Green and Tanishia Savannah Williams.

Baldwin-Green, 27, and Williams, 23, are due to be sentenced March 11 after being convicted by an eight-woman, four-man jury of multiple felonies that could send the pair to prison for the rest of their lives.

Those felonies include abduction for the purpose of prostitution, pimping a minor, child abuse, kidnapping, kidnapping for extortion and human-trafficking a minor for a sex act, pandering and false imprisonment by violence.

Baldwin-Green was also convicted of forcible rape.

Shasta County Deputy Public Defender Jeremy West, who represents Baldwin-Green, filed a motion in court this week to delay the sentencing as he investigates claims of potential juror misconduct that have been raised by members of his client's family.

That motion to continue was also supported by defense attorney Rob Hammonds, who represents Williams.

Although Gaul denied the motion to put off the sentencing, he said he would reconsider that issue should new information come to light that would warrant it.

That juror in question will also be quizzed before the sentencing to determine whether she knew members of Baldwin-Green's family and had interaction with them through her job.

Baldwin-Green, who claims he did not receive a fair trial in Shasta County because he's black and who also desires a new trial, was arrested along with Williams in March 2014 on suspicion of abducting a 16-year-old Sacramento girl and pimping her in the North State.

But the case against the pair later grew to include six other victims, all from the Sacramento area, including one who told detectives she was threatened with torture and death before being dumped naked by them in a remote area near Red Bluff in February 2013.

Shasta County Chief Deputy District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett has said she was sure that race was not a factor in the prosecution of the case.

"This case was prosecuted on the evidence and its merits, not on race," she said. "And I have confidence that the jurors made their decisions based on the evidence and nothing else."
Andreas Fuhrmann/Record Searchlight

Anderson High School ROP senior Nicholas McCue helps work a fire last month while training with the Redding Fire Department.





SHARE Greg Barnette/Record Searchlight Mountain Lakes student Dustin Waterman, from left, West Valley student Nathaniel Hambelton practice strapping West Valley student Haley McPeek to a backboard Thursday during their public safety class at the Shasta-Trinity ROP campus in Redding. Greg Barnette/Record Searchlight North Valley student Ken Lowther, from left, and West Valley student Crystal Aultman change oil Thursday during their automotive technology class at the Shasta-Trinity ROP campus in Redding.

By Alayna Shulman of the Redding Record Searchlight

From the outside, the small campus off Highway 273 in south Redding looks pretty standard.

But inside the classrooms at the Shasta-Trinity Regional Occupational Program, you'll find firefighting equipment, $2,000 medical dummies and engines that will soon power real cars.

Some 300 juniors and seniors from Trinity and Shasta counties earn class credits and work toward job certification every day at the campus, and it's all free. Much like with college majors, the kids study under a program of their choosing, including administration of justice, nursing assistance, cosmetology, cooking and more.

"That really is the ROP difference," said Superintendent Charlie Hoffman. "It's very technical."

The local program is one of 74 regional occupational centers or programs in California, but one of only about 20 that operate as an independent joint-powers authority with a governing board of representatives from member schools.

"They tend to be in much larger urban areas," Hoffman said.

Hoffman said a big part of the draw is that students can explore a career without any risk. In other cases, a course taken for fun can lead to a career path.

That was the case for Zachary Hale, an 18-year-old Anderson High School senior who signed up for shop class for fun but now plans to make a career of it.

"It was an elective, and then when I got here, I liked it," he said. "It feels like you're being more of an adult than at regular school."

Andrew Nail, a 17-year-old West Valley High School junior studying firefighting, already knew he wanted to go into that industry, so having a place where he could both get class credit and work toward certification for a job once he graduates was the perfect fit.

Nail said he also feels like he's making valuable career connections thanks to the program.

"If you don't go through this program, you don't get your name out there near as good," he said.

While adults can pay to take certain classes, Hoffman said his center's chief mission is getting high school students ready for careers.

"This ROP is always focused on serving high-school students," he said.

That's, in part, because most area schools can't afford to offer such high-tech classes. Having a regional center that each member school pitches in to fund creates the necessary critical mass to get kids that exposure without decimating budgets, Hoffman said.

"It's very difficult to start up and operate these programs," Hoffman said. "The high schools already are asked to do a herculean task. We specialize in this. It's all we do."

The program is not available to students of Shasta, Foothill and Enterprise high schools because their administration chose not to participate, Hoffman said.

Students interested in taking classes at the center should contact their school counselor.
Attorney Fred Kelly Grant talks to a group of tea party members Monday at the Redding Rancheria.

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Controversial lawyer defends property rights

By Ryan Sabalow

A conservative property-rights attorney Monday told a group of about 50 tea party activists in Redding the only way to fight a global effort to impose burdensome environmental regulations that lock up public land and hinder private property rights is to appeal to local government leaders to demand "coordination."

Idaho attorney Fred Kelly Grant's theories drew nods of approval from the assembled conservative activists from Shasta and surrounding counties who'd gathered to hear the attorney speak at the Redding Rancheria. But they have been dismissed as bogus legal interpretations fueled by conspiracy theories by his detractors, who say Grant's cries of coordination are being echoed by misguided north state officials in the fight over forest road closures, water-use restrictions and dam-removal plans.

On Monday, Grant warned the assembled tea party activists of what's at stake. He said every time a government implements a "smart growth" plan or begins a discussion about sustainable growth and development, they're merely repackaging the United Nations' "Agenda 21" under a different name. Agenda 21, Grant says, is an effort by well-funded global environmental groups and their political supporters to limit public land use and hinder property rights.

"Every form of government has implemented some form of Agenda 21," Grant said.

He cautioned the global effort could soon have local consequences. He said he'd seen federal documents approving global courts usurping the nation's legal authority.

"That sounds treasonous," responded an aghast Gennie Seely, an 82-year-old Shasta Lake woman.

"You said that. Not me," Grant said. But he added such "conspiratorialist" matters would soon be discussed in detail in an upcoming book he's writing.

"If you give me a grand jury and you gave me three weeks (to make a case to the jury)," said Grant, a former federal prosecutor from Baltimore. "I bet you I'd get an indictment."

Not everyone agrees

Grant's theories have gained local followers.

Siskiyou County is paying Grant $10,000 to help block tearing down four Klamath River dams. He also was the featured speaker at a rally in Redding in 2009 protesting the Shasta-Trinity National Forest's road-closure plans. A host of local officials from several north state counties and municipalities attended a meeting with Grant earlier in the day. Shasta County activists have formed their own "coordination committee."

But Grant's conspiracy assertions and legal theories  including coordination, the belief federal and state authorities must give local governments equal say in land-use and endangered-species decisions  have been dismissed by some government agencies.

Agenda 21, Grant's critics say, was a nonbinding resolution the U.N. passed that merely urged countries to make environmentally friendly decisions.

A least two agencies, the state Department of Fish and Game and federal Department of the Interior, have told Siskiyou County officials the coordination laws the county cites do not apply to them.

Grant's detractors include Glen H. Spain, the northwest regional director of Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, a commercial fishing group that supports tearing down the Klamath River dams to help threatened coho salmon.

Spain, an attorney, said talk of ominous global conspiracies only cloud complex local issues that have grown far more contentious than they need to be.

"That's not dialogue," Spain said. "That's monologue."

Spain said Grant's theories that espouse federal and state agencies must have local buy-in on every land-use and protected species decision also are off base.

"What he represents is a very strict constructionist view of the 10th Amendment, one that has long been superseded by 200 years of constitutional law and litigation," Spain said.

The 10th Amendment, which Grant cited several times during his talk, says: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

Not county supremacy

Grant told the crowd he's not reviving the discredited "county supremacy" movement, in which a Nevada county once threatened federal employees with prosecution under the 10th Amendment, something he said had no basis in law.

Instead, he says law is clear that federal and state governments must include local officials' wishes in their plans, based in part on the 10th Amendment as well as a law Congress passed in the 1970s saying the federal government "shall" coordinate with local agencies.

"Coordination," he said, is another form of supremacy because it's mandated by federal law.

"It's not outside the system. It's within it," he said. He added later: "There is not one federal agency spared from coordination with local governments."

He listed "success after success" over the years in which the coordination process was used by local agencies across the West to block grazing restrictions on federal land, reverse forest closures or to get federal agencies to back off from protected-species restrictions.

After the Monday afternoon meeting, Grant told the Record Searchlight the coordination process can't be used by a local government to control a federal agency. Nor is it a "magic bullet" to get everything a county wants.

"It's a conflict-resolution process," he said.

Grant said there's a difference between a federal or state agency paying a local government lip service by pretending to hear what they have to say and ignoring their wishes entirely.

He got chuckles from the crowd when he said the difference between legally binding "coordination" and cooperation was similar to how his late wife used to pretend to listen to him then do what she wanted anyway.

"You don't have to believe what I say, just read the law," he said.
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By Damon Arthur of the Redding Record Searchlight

While state officials begin mailing out fire prevention fee bills this month, a statewide anti-tax group is asking residents to sign up for a share of a refund should the organization's lawsuit to stop the fee prevail in court.

Officials with the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association said residents of rural areas who pay the annual fire prevention fee must file a Petition for Redetermination within 30 days of the date on their bill for a chance at receiving a refund.

The Taxpayers Association sued the state in October 2012 claiming the fire fee is an illegal tax. The state collects about $70 million annually, the association said.

The annual $152.33 bill is sent to residents living in "State Responsibility Areas" where the primary firefighting agency is the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Residents who own property located within a fire protection district receive a $35 discount on their bill.

The association plans to ask the state to refund the money if it wins the court case. A judge last year allowed the association to represent all those who pay the fee. But to be part of the "class" represented by the suit, residents have to file a Petition for Redetermination within 30 days of receiving their bill.

Residents who have already filed petition in past years don't have to file again, according to the association. Information about filing a petition is available at www.firetaxprotest.org.

Residents can also opt out of the lawsuit, said Lorice Strem, a legal secretary at the association. Opt-out requests can be sent to the association at 921 11th St., 1201, Sacramento, CA 95814, but they must be post-marked by Monday.

Strem said the association has received 15 opt-out notices.

Micah Grant with the California Board of Equalization said 21,719 fire fee bills will be sent out this year to Shasta County residents. The state collects about $3 million a year from county residents.

Board of Equalization member George Runner said he supported the effort to repeal the law.

"Californians who live in rural areas already pay taxes to fund essential fire services," Runner said in a news release. "It's a shame this unfair and illegal tax continues to extract dollars from hard working people. The Legislature and governor should repeal it."

The board sends out fire fee bills alphabetically by the county where a property is located. Bills for Alameda and Alpine counties were mailed out March 1.

Shasta County bills will be mailed May 25-27; Siskiyou County bills are mailed May 27 to June 1; Tehama, June 3 to June 6 and Trinity June 6 and 7.
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Redding Police responded to reports of a man armed with a handgun, hiding in a residential neighborhood Thursday morning.

Redding Police officers began a search of the neighborhood in the 1600 block of Willis Street in Redding at about 6:30 a.m., according to Corporal Levi Solada.

A Redding police dog, Chyr, and a California Highway Patrol helicopter joined the search as officers were aware school children were waiting at bus stops in the area, said Solada.

Emergency dispatchers received a 9-1-1 call from a person who observed a suspicious person attempting to hide in a nearby yard and around 7:30 a.m. officers located a man attempting to hide on the porch of a residence in the 2000 block of Placer Street, according to law enforcement.

The man was identified as wanted felon Joshua Kemp, 35, of Redding, who surrendered to police and was taken into custody, said Solada.

Kemp was not armed, but police continued to search the area for the alleged firearm he was reportedly in possession of. Police dog Chyr conducted a search for the firearm and located it buried under some thick brush, according to Solada.

The firearm was loaded with a round in the chamber, which Kemp allegedly hid in a backyard of a residence where he was hiding, according to law enforcement.

Kemp was booked into Shasta Count Jail on the suspicion of a felon in possession of a firearm and an outstanding felony warrant.

Kemp's bail is currently set at $10,000. Warrant charges were for possession of a concealed weapon and narcotics, according to Solada.
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By Kevin Rector, The Baltimore Sun

BALTIMORE  As the nation debates the war on drugs, Baltimore has already begun to redraw the battle lines.

Baltimore police have shifted the departments strategy to focus more on large-scale, violent players in the drug trade and less on addicts committing lesser offenses.

The result on the street: Drug arrests dropped by nearly 50 percent last year, according to a data analysis by The Baltimore Sun. Police didnt just arrest fewer people for marijuana  small amounts of which were decriminalized in 2014  but for other illicit drugs, including heroin and cocaine, and for crimes ranging from possession to distribution.

Were reinventing a process, said Deputy Police Commissioner Dean Palmere. Times change, policing strategies change, cultures change within major cities, and you have to continually alter the fluid processes of dealing with crime.

A national cadre of law enforcement officials, including Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis, are espousing a new approach to community policing thats less involved in the lives of individuals in the throes of drug addiction. Davis has said he wants to use limited police resources to go after those who intimidate neighborhoods and commit violent crimes, not people who need medical care.

Palmere said the department has been focusing more on gunmen than heroin users, for instance. He noted that gun arrests have increased significantly in recent months, jumping more than 65 percent so far this year over the same period last year.

The drug strategy shift follows a long-term trend of fewer arrests in Baltimore after law enforcement abandoned zero-tolerance policing that resulted in mass arrests for minor offenses and strained police-community relations.

Police officials have also acknowledged that arrests dropped off after six officers were charged in connection with Freddie Grays death a week after his April arrest. Gray had suffered spinal injuries while in a police transport van. Prosecutors have questioned whether the officers patrolling in a high drug-trafficking area had reasonable cause to stop Gray, which many say led to uneasiness among many officers about doing their jobs.

But while the total number of arrests in Baltimore dropped by nearly 30 percent to 24,130 in 2015, the number of arrests for controlled dangerous substances dropped even more precipitously  by nearly 50 percent to about 6,400. That was almost twice the decline in illicit drug arrests in the previous year.

Critics say the departments new approach is wrong-headed.

Anthony Barksdale, the citys former acting commissioner who helped lead drug enforcement initiatives in the department under past administrations, said drug arrests not only take people involved in violence off the streets but also can put people with valuable street intelligence across the table from detectives working homicides and shootings.

A decline in drug arrests means less information  the lifeblood of good police investigations  and could be a contributing factor to the department clearing just 30 percent of homicide cases last year, the deadliest on record, Barksdale said.

How many opportunities of gathering intelligence are lost now because cops are saying, Oh, a joint? Thats bull----? Barksdale said. If you dont have the basic intelligence of the drug game coming into the detectives or coming into your specialized units, youre lost in Baltimore. Youre done.

The department is reimagining the war on drugs as grass-roots activists, mayoral candidates and state lawmakers continue to debate drug policies and as law enforcement officials and politicians push for change on the national level.

Policymakers are grappling with the whole notion that our incarceration rate is a national disgrace and that drug incarcerations are particularly hard to justify, said Peter Reuter, a University of Maryland public policy and criminology professor who founded the RAND Drug Policy Research Center.

Many feel there is a better way to solve these problems, he said.

A sharp rise in heroin overdoses statewide and in suburban communities far removed from the traditional heroin corners of Baltimores urban core has further sharpened the debate about how to combat drugs. Republican Gov. Larry Hogan created a task force that recommended expanded access to treatment. Democratic Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake also convened a task force, and some leading mayoral candidates are calling for an end to the war on drugs.

Theres strong recognition that we arent going to arrest our way out of the problem, said Kurt Schmoke, former mayor and now president of the University of Baltimore. Its no longer a problem of those people. Its everybodys problem.

Schmoke said the nations drug war has been a cancer on the body politic for years, with a focus on more policing that has done little to stem violence. Instead, he said, it has led to mass incarceration, thousands of young Baltimore residents with criminal records and few job prospects, and drug addicts being treated as pariahs rather than as patients capable of rehabilitation.

Some lawmakers, medical professionals and community leaders like Schmoke want to further decriminalize illicit drugs, though the idea is not expected to gain traction in Annapolis this year.

Opponents say such proposals push drug policy in Maryland in the wrong direction.

In a city made famous as a hotbed of heroin abuse by pop culture depictions of inner-city street life  think HBOs The Wire  the idea that police should soften their approach to drug crime is fraught with controversy.

Residents who say police disproportionately target young black men in their neighborhoods also lament the domination of local drug gangs. And last years spike in violent crime has stoked concerns that failure to take a hard-line approach on all drug crime can lead to violence. Baltimore recorded 344 homicides in 2015, the most ever on a per-capita basis.

In some ways, whats being debated politically is already happening on Baltimores streets.

As the state decriminalized the possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana, starting in October 2014, the number of arrests for such small amounts dropped from 3,387 in 2013 to 1,884 in 2014, and then to just six in 2015.

But arrests for possession of more than 10 grams of marijuana in Baltimore also declined sharply, from 1,368 in 2014 to 493 arrests in 2015, data show. And police made fewer arrests last year across nearly every other category of drug offense  from simple possession to distribution, misdemeanors to felonies.

That has affected the courts. David Walsh-Little, chief attorney in the felony trial division of the Office of the Public Defender in Baltimore, said the percentage of his attorneys cases that are drug-related dropped by 10 percent in January, compared to January 2015. In 2011, drug cases represented about 35 percent of all felony cases in the division, he said. So far in 2016, that number is closer to 23 percent, he said.

Baltimore police are working on an experimental program that they hope to launch this year to divert low-level drug offenders to treatment and support services while allowing them to avoid arrest.

Steve Cook, president of the National Association of Assistant United States Attorneys, said a crackdown on drugs in the mid-1980s dramatically reduced violent crime, and that those efforts shouldnt be dismantled now.

Cook said that common sense would tell you that Baltimores decline in drug arrests and increase in homicides last year are inextricably intertwined, because the drug trade is violent. Not only is it inherently violent itself, but it perpetuates violence because people go out and commit robberies to get the money to support their drug habits, he said.

Fundamentally, how do you think most of our gangs are funding their activity? Its largely through drug trafficking, and much of it is territorial, and then that breeds more violent crime, he said. The notion that the two are unconnected would be a hard sell.

Barksdale said the department should consider reconstituting its Violent Crime Impact Division, a specialized unit that he helped lead and that gained a reputation for taking violent criminals off Baltimores streets.

While the unit was later dismantled amid allegations of heavy-handedness  it was at the center of many city settlements in police brutality cases  Barksdale said those problems could be fixed and that it worked, pointing to the number of homicides dropping below 200 in 2011.

Baltimore knows the drug issue fuels violence here, so how can you not get that a decline in drug arrests increases the violence? How can you not get that? Barksdale asked.

Palmere said the Police Department is combining the best of older drug policing models and the violent crime division, which he used to lead, with new strategies from across the country. He said community-minded approaches are replacing past models, and that this chance actually increases the amount of intelligence coming into the department.

Weve never stopped debriefing or interviewing people to gain information, he said. In fact, weve actually built a better rapport in the communities to seek information.

The department has not steered away from the street-level dealers, Palmere said, but rather officers are more strategic about whom they target. The department is using analytics from partnerships with federal law enforcement agencies  enhanced last summer by the departments War Room  to prioritize cases against drug organizations with links to violence.

Were basically able to rank these organizations, he said, pointing out that felony narcotics arrests are up 1 percent compared with this time last year.

Palmere said police are well aware that drugs and violence are deeply intertwined in Baltimore, but neither he nor Davis is worried that the decline in drug arrests drove the increased violence last year.

Were not going to arrest our way out of a crime crisis, he said. Its not a numbers game. Weve been in a numbers game in the past and, frankly, it didnt get us to where we want to be.

Tessa Hill-Aston, president of the Baltimore chapter of the NAACP, said drugs cannot be ignored, and that police should be going after drug traffickers. But she agreed that focusing solely on the guys on the corner and locking up addicts does not help the city move forward, she said.

Yes its a nuisance to society, but everybody does not need to go to jail, she said. Jail is just a holding tank where they arent getting any help.



2016 The Baltimore Sun

Visit The Baltimore Sun at www.baltimoresun.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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Water, water everywhere. Unfortunately, it's not enough.

The El Nino everyone was counting on to bail California out of the drought that has lingered for four years appears to have wimped out after a January just wet enough to get our hopes up.

Remember that great snowpack in the Sierra? Remember how so much rain fell that Folsom Dam actually had to release water?

Forget that. Now, with a bone-dry February almost behind us, the state finds itself once again facing below-average precipitation and badly lagging its conservation targets.

This El Nino winter has so far delivered only half the precipitation that had fallen by now during the last two big El Nino years.

Meanwhile, the state's urban water districts have blown their conservation mandates for four straight months, dragging the state below the 25 percent cut Gov. Jerry Brown ordered last summer.

Hello, low-flow toilet. Welcome back, short shower. Oh, so you haven't decided to leave town this summer after all, then, crispy brown lawn.

It's dispiriting, no doubt about it. Doubly so, because winter has masked the visual cues that served as a daily reminder of the drought's urgency.

The lake beds aren't dry; the Central Valley isn't brown. Ski resorts actually have snow and even Death Valley is alive with wildflowers.

But long term, those images of abundance are a dangerous illusion. Unless California gets "a miracle March and an awesome April," as the State Water Resources Control Board's Felicia Marcus put it, California will continue to be yoked to this dry spell.

We'd say there has to be a better way, but the truth is, we all already know what the better way is: Double down. Stay the course. Pay no attention to how full the lakes are, and get back to the realization that water is scarce here.

Turn off the sprinklers and fix the leaks in the plumbing. Install drought-tolerant plants and drip irrigation. Muster the money and political will to price the water at its full value, and work as a community to find ways to stop dousing yards with drinking water.

Look to the example of places like San Diego County, where a host of initiatives, large and small, mitigated dry spells for water users there.

We hate to be nags, but we all know what has to happen. If there were a shortcut, by now California would have found it.

There isn't. We prayed for rain, and this little slacker El Nino gave us our answer. Now we just all have to dig deep and get back into the conservation mindset that sustained us last summer. Here's hoping it turns out to be enough.

This is a modified version of an editorial originally published by the Sacramento Bee.
'The H-1B programme is neither high-skilled nor immigration: these are temporary foreign workers, imported from abroad, for the explicit purpose of substituting for American workers at lower pay'

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Friday stoked another controversy when he said he has softened his stance on H-1B visas for highly-skilled workers, but took a U-turn soon by vowing to abolish the visa programme, popular among Indian techies.

"I'm changing. I'm changing.

We need highly skilled people in this country, and if we can't do it, we'll get them in. But, and we do need in Silicon Valley, we absolutely have to have," Trump, 69, said during the Republican presidential debate in Detroit.

Responding to a question on his views on immigration in particular highly skilled people, Trump said America needs highly skilled professionals.

Trump's website, however, calls for eliminating the H-1-B class of visas that allow companies to import high-skilled workers from countries like India.

"We do need highly skilled, and one of the biggest problems we have is people go to the best colleges," Trump said.

"They'll go to Harvard, they'll go to Stanford, they'll go to Wharton, as soon as they're finished they'll get shoved out.

"They want to stay in this country," he said.

"They want to stay here desperately, they're not able to stay here.

For that purpose, we absolutely have to be able to keep the brain power in this country," Trump said in response to a question.

"So you abandoning the position on your website?. . ." he was asked.

"I'm changing it, and I'm softening the position because we have to have talented people in this country," Trump said.

However, within an hour of his statement, which was interpreted differently by immigration experts, Trump clarified his position.

"The H-1B programme is neither high-skilled nor immigration: these are temporary foreign workers, imported from abroad, for the explicit purpose of substituting for American workers at lower pay," Trump said.

"I remain totally committed to eliminating rampant, widespread H-1B abuse and ending outrageous practices such as those that occurred at Disney in Florida when Americans were forced to train their foreign replacements," he said in his statement.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio immediately slammed Trump for his policy change.

"Tonight Donald Trump finally took an actual position," Rubio said in a statement provided by his campaign.

"But as soon as the debate was over, his handlers made him reverse himself. The Republican nominee cannot be somebody who is totally clueless on so many issues, including his signature issue," he said.

Image: Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump (centre) talks with rival candidates Marco Rubio (left) and Ted Cruz (right) at the conclusion of the US Republican presidential candidates debate in Detroit, Michigan, March 3, 2016. Photograph: Jim Young/Reuters
IMAGE: JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar after his release.

'In order to restore things to even keel, the government would be very well advised to cut its current political losses and work towards healing wounds across the nation.'

'It still has its work cut out. It will have to work very hard to repair the political damage among Dalit and tribal communities,' says David Devadas.

The government would be well advised to cut its losses on the Rohith Vemula suicide, and try and retrieve the conservative middle ground which the 'Modi wave' had covered so effectively in 2014.

It needs to do this as quickly and quietly as it can -- for the countrys sake, as much as for its own.

Let us make no mistake. What has been happening over the past few weeks in and about Jawaharlal Nehru University was not primarily about JNU. It was more to do with the narrative about Vemula's suicide at the Hyderabad Central University on January 17.

The government and the political outfits backing it, most prominent among these the student party, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, were eager to turn the Vemula narrative from one about the government oppressing Dalits to the point of suicide into a narrative about a strong regime taking on 'anti-nationals' vigorously.

It has not worked.

The sooner the government realises this, the better it would be. Even if one is not much bothered about the political fortunes of the government, one must be concerned about the effect it has had on the polity and the nation overall.

One must, of course, acknowledge that the government's nationalist versus anti-nationals framing of the issue has worked very well with its core backers. Those are the ones who never thought that the government had mistreated Dalits anyway -- at the Hyderabad Central University, where Vemula committed suicide, or at other universities and places in the country.

Core Hindutva nationalists were always convinced that 'quota-wallahs' were up to no good, sponged off the State, gave nothing back to society, and deserved little from it. Some were convinced that it was natural that 'quota-wallahs' did not make it.

The convictions of such core supporters do not help the government at this point. What matters for it politically is that Dalits by and large voted for the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2014 general election, but are likely to be unimpressed by these attempts to re-frame Vemula's suicide.

In fact, those who attempted to defend the government -- from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyathi Parishad, among JNU authorities, during police investigations, and on the floor of Parliament -- alienated many Dalits further by engaging with Mahishasura narratives.

The reason they did so was that, from their perspectives, it was as cut-and-dried a case (Durga good, Mahishashura bad) as the nationalist-versus-anti-national binary. Some tribal and Dalit communities apparently do not see it that way. Whether they are right or not is not relevant politically. What matters more is that not knowing what others think and believe is not a good way to start trying to win them over.

Too many targets

The government and its backers might have been better off if they had focused tightly on the political imperative at hand -- to cover over the Vemula suicide narrative. But when a chance presented itself at JNU, they failed to keep their eye on the ball.

Not only did they look away, they looked away in three different directions simultaneously.

First, the fact that they did not go after those who had actually shouted vicious anti-India slogans during the fracas at JNU showed that were only misusing the chance to flex some muscle on the political stage.

Most people now seem to agree that those slogans were not raised by JNU students but Kashmiris who disappeared wraith-like when the going got tough -- tough, that is, for those whom the government's backers now had in their sights.

These decided to go after two other targets instead, and to do so simultaneously. These were JNU and the political Left. Now, anyone other than a Tollywood action film script-writer might have realised that taking on two such major targets with one shot, and hoping to rectify the damage done by Vemula's suicide too with the same shot, was a trifle unrealistic.

As things have turned out, the government and its backers have ended up strengthening both targets. The tired, lacklustre. Left parties have been energised. Since JNU Student Union President Kanhaiya Kumar's release, they have found an electrifying new public speaker who is on the way to becoming a national-level star.

Targeting the JNU proved equally costly. The JNU community came together with sagacity and, without challenging the law or the regime, dug in its collective heels. Most of the university faculty, staff and students have stood together with remarkable unity, deftly avoiding any unseemly behaviour or violence.

In trying to target too many opponents with one issue, the government and its backers have damaged themselves more intensely than they might have imagined. For, they have brought a large part of the national Opposition together in defence of JNU. The Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party and other parties with stakes at a national level came together with the Left parties.

The very day after Kanhaiya was arrested on February 12, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, Communist Party of India-Marxist General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI leader D Raja and others were at a public protest on the university campus.

That evening, a band of perhaps 20 from the ABVP tried valiantly to shout down these leaders' speeches to a gathering of about 2,000 students and teachers. Rather than ask them to pipe down, a number of teachers and some students quietly formed a human chain to ensure that the ABVP band did not come any further into the meeting they were trying to disrupt.

The die was cast that evening. The divergent tactics of these sides determined which side would prevail. Quietly stymied, the ABVP students stopped trying to disrupt further protests. The teachers and students kept assiduously to their non-violent, inclusive, methods.

In order to restore things to even keel, the government would be very well advised to cut its current political losses and work towards healing wounds across the nation.

It still has its work cut out. It will have to work very hard to repair the political damage among Dalit and tribal communities. That can best be done through sober hard work. The thing to avoid is any impression of arrogance or a patronising attitude.

For the moment, the government would be best off not alienating academics and universities anywhere in the country any further. The JNU matter has brought it very negative publicity across the world. Not only must that damage be repaired, the government should go out of its way to reassure academics and universities across the country that their autonomies and space for research will be safe.

Meanwhile, the government would do well to project purposefulness on the sort of economic, developmental and other programmes which brought it such a wave of support in 2014.

Cutting its losses on the course on which it has embarked since February 12 might seem like a loss of face, but the alternative could be worse.
'To take his fight forward -- for "azaadi within the Indian system, not outside India" -- he will have to enter the very arena that has both his tormentors and apparent benefactors.'



'The former are easy to identify, but it is those who come bearing gifts that he has to be wary of,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.

The night of March 3 has been a night of bonfires, in the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus, in assorted newsrooms, among the vocal percentage of Netizens (which, in any case, is about 1 per cent of the total user base). Also presumably the 69 per cent that did not vote for the present government but which believes -- in the face of Constitutional niceties -- that, given its numerical strength, it has more claim to governance despite not being in government.

And so everyone has found a new star. Kanhaiya Kumar, the falsely accused, wrongly beaten and thrashed, sadly jailed student union leader of Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Judging by the nearly one-hour extempore speech he delivered last night in the JNU campus soon after his release from custody, it is evident that the country's best orator has finally found his match in a 29 year old.

But the hopes of the 69 per cent, that Prime Minister Narendra Modi may have met his match not just oratorically but otherwise, too, are not only premature but also terribly, terribly misplaced.

It is one thing to capture the public imagination for a while, it is one thing to deliver captivating speeches -- and, yes, Kanhaiya Kumar is very good at the latter, having already done the former as the underdog in the fight against an unfair system -- but it is another thing altogether to ride that wave into a zone from where one is empowered, enabled to make the change that one has so ardently argued for, even suffered for.

Sure, India is turning into a start-up economy, but its politics is a long, long way from encouraging outliers and lone-wolf disruptors. The truth is, start-up disruptors of the Indian system inevitably end up as upstarts.

It is so wonderful to have a young demographic, but alas, that also means the absence of a long-term memory. As someone slowly creeping into the eminence grise category, I would like to caution the Kanhaiya coronators that he is not the first that the Indian public has set great store by, nor is he going to be the last.

And, it is educative to look at how successful the others before him have been.

One need not delve too far into the past to pluck out names. Just a few years ago there was an old man, a Gandhian from Maharashtra who sat on a dharna in New Delhi's Jantar Mantar and who, for a while, looked like bringing down the elected government of the day with his peaceful satyagraha.

Today, does anyone even ask after Anna Hazare, or what he is up to in his village, Ralegan Siddhi?

One of his lieutenants, a highly educated, aware man realised the truth of the Indian system, that disruptors can only disrupt, they cannot do anything. To make any meaningful, worthwhile change, one has to enter the Augean Stables.

Which is what Arvind Kejriwal did, when he abandoned Anna, started a political party, and rode to power in an unprecedented election in Delhi. Because he realised that all the support for their satyagraha, the huge public marches, the prime time TV focus, all of it amounted to zilch if they didn't enter the Chakravyuh of power, of electoral politics.

Entering it is the easy part, but the system is designed in such a way that all those who enter politics with the rallying cry of change, poriborton or call it what you will, find that the labyrinthine corridors of power are not welcoming of any alteration in building plans.

In effect, one gets co-opted into the very same system that one had set out to challenge, cleanse, change.

How successful has Arvind Kejriwal been in the one year in power? Where is the Lokpal, on the strength of which demand he roused the public's imagination?

Or, to rewind a little further, listen to what a newly-elected, genuinely young prime minister had said at the Congress' centenary celebrations in Mumbai in December 1985, and compare it to how Rajiv Gandhi ultimately ended up four years later.

In the first flush of such huge public adulation, it is easy to get carried away. It is a heady feeling, the sense of power and popularity. There is a reason why so many of our actors resort to psychotropic substances, how else can one bridge the chasm between illusion and reality?

For the political class, it is power that gives this high. Without it, the numbers cheering for you mean little. With it, the numbers may wane but your high continues.

Kanhaiya Kumar is at that sweet spot that so many others have found themselves earlier. He is the latest star of the anti-establishment brigade. There is tremendous expectations of him among those flocking to him. From the JNUSU, his net has been cast enormously wide, his footprint wider.

As I write this, there must be more than one political party raring to enrol him. As the election fever rises in the summer, he will find himself a star campaigner for all those taking on the ruling alliance.

His prosecutors have no doubt turned a student union leader into a national figure -- howsoever briefly -- with their miscalculations and misdeeds, and have done Kanhaiya a huge favour.

But he will soon realise that it is a double-edged sword that he has been handed.

To take his fight forward -- for "azaadi within the Indian system, not outside India" -- he will have to enter the very arena that has both his tormentors and apparent benefactors. The former are easy to identify, but it is those who come bearing gifts that he has to be wary of.

It is not an easy choice. Should he confine himself to campus politics, or dream bigger? There are two templates before him. He can either end up as Anna Hazare, albeit a youthful one, or an Arvind Kejriwal.

That, in short, is the beauty as well as agony of the Indian system. It welcomes change-makers, but is resistant to change.

It is a tantalising thought from one of the nation's finest epics, one I keep asking myself. If Abhimanyu could break out of the Chakravyuh, would the war have ended differently?

IMAGE: JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar seen after reaching the campus upon his release on bail in New Delhi, March 3, 2016. Photograph: Kamal Singh/PTI
US admiral's suggestion for a revival of strategic maritime quadrilateral with Japan, Australia and India leaves China livid, says Rajeev Sharma.

Admiral Harry Harris, who heads the United States Pacific Command, praised India sky high and threw barbs at China in his speech on Wednesday, March 2, at the Raisina Dialogue jointly organised in New Delhi by the Observer Research Foundation and the ministry of external affairs.

Admiral Harris went one step further to rile China by strongly pitching for initiating a quadrilateral security dialogue involving the US, Japan, Australia and India -- a loose grouping that was in existence for a brief while but was aborted about a decade ago because of immense pressure by China on Australia.

Admiral Harris is the first Asian American to achieve the rank of admiral, the highest ranking Japanese American, and the first officer from the US Navy's P-3 maritime patrol aviation community to achieve 4-star rank and given these solid credentials his policy recommendations cannot be taken lightly by anyone.

The top American soldier's pitch for the four countries forging closer maritime operation has come a few months after India hosted Japan and Australia for its first-ever high-level trilateral dialogue in New Delhi.

Apart from issues of maritime security, freedom of navigation patrols and trilateral cooperation in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the three countries' top diplomats had also discussed revival of the Strategic Quadrilateral. Interestingly, this time, Australia is very keen on the entity's revival.

Admiral Harris batted for the Strategic Quadrilateral thus: 'An idea to consider is perhaps expanding this tri-lateral to a quadrilateral venue between India-Japan-Australia and the United States.'

He expanded his thought by saying: 'India's historical and cultural influence extends from Southeast Asia to Mongolia and from Indonesia to the steppes of Central Asia -- and to the United States where approximately 3.5 million Americans of Indian descent live and thrive.'

He explained why he uses the term 'Indo-Asia-Pacific' rather than the commonly used 'Asia Pacific,' saying that the Indian and Pacific Oceans are the economic lifeblood that links India, Australia, Asia, Oceania and the US together.

Look how eloquently Admiral Harris batted for closer India-US strategic ties at China's expense: 'Expanded cooperation with India will not only be the defining partnership for the rebalance, it will arguably be the defining partnership for America in the 21st century. Let's be ambitious together.'

'On the security front,' the admiral said, 'India is beginning to exert its leadership in the Indo-Asia-Pacific. We are ready for you. We need you. Let's be ambitious together.'

Admiral Harris spoke in detail about China's soft underbelly, the South China Sea and underlined the need for Indo-Asia-Pacific nations employing naval forces to ensure the entire region remains secure, stable, and prosperous considering the $5.3 trillion in trade traverses each year from the Indian Ocean and through the South China Sea.

His remark 'India, indeed, stands like a beacon on a hill, building a future on the power of ideas... not on castles of sand that threaten the rules-based architecture that has served us all so very well' is being seen as an attack on China's recent actions of reclaiming islands in the South China Sea for building military facilities there.

Expectedly, China's reaction to Harris-speak was fast and furious. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hong Lei responded to the admiral's remarks in Beijing on Thursday thus: 'We have no objection to relevant countries' normal cooperation, but we believe that relevant cooperation should not be targeted against a third party.'

India-US strategic cooperation has grown manifold since the Narendra Modi government took over in May 2014. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar returned from a visit to Washington a few weeks ago where an agreement for a series of joint India-US exercises scheduled to take place this year was inked. US Defence Secretary Dr Ashton Carter and his deputy Frank Kendall will visit India next month.

When President Barack Obama visited India in January 2015, India and the US for the first time ever had come up with a separate statement on the South China Sea. Oceans are key to India-US strategic cooperation. Modi has subtly hinted this by noting about India-US synergy that 'our destinies are linked by the currents of the Indian Ocean.'

While intensifying India-US relations is good, India will do well to remember that it must not isolate and infuriate China.

Rajeev Sharma is an independent journalist and a strategic analyst who tweets @Kishkindha.
'Under the guise of Maoism, the state is presently determined to clear out the whole Bastar area of its tribal population.'

'Militarisation is increasing as are cases of rape, pillage and plunder.'

The Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group was formed by Isha Khandelwal and Shalini Gera in July 2013. These gutsy human rights women lawyers chose Jagdalpur, which is the district headquarters of the tribal area of Bastar in Chhattisgarh, in order to help a large swathe of the tribal population who had no recourse to legal help.

Last month both lawyers were forced to leave Jagdalpur due to police harassment and are presently shuttling between Raipur and Bilaspur. Meanwhile, the Bastar Bar Association has passed a resolution stating that no 'outside' lawyers can practice in Jagdalpur courts. Both Khandelwal and Gera are presently registered with the Delhi Bar Council.

Isha Khandelwal, below, left, spoke to Rashme Sehgal on behalf of the Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group.

Both you and Shalini have in your statement released to the press complained of constant harassment by the police.

We have been here for the last two-and-a-half years. We started work here in 2013. During our first year, things did not go so badly. There were suspicions about outsiders coming and working in Bastar, but these were more in the nature of general questions.

We were focusing on undertrial prisoners and the prevailing jail conditions. Many of the undertrials had been languishing in jail for six and seven years and their cases were taken up before the Bilaspur high court. We also focused on helping local lawyers by filing Right to Information applications to get information.

Gradually our role changed. We started doing cases and helped to get the tribal activist Soni Sori (above, left) released. She had been jailed for two-and-a-half years and was released one month before the 2014 elections. This helped us gain credibility.

What went wrong?

Post the elections of 2014, we saw the state becoming more offensive and during the last one-and-a-half years, we have seen an increase in cases of fake encounter, torture, illegal detention and sexual violence. Independent journalist Malini Subramanian was writing about the prevailing situation here.

Once Soni was released, the villagers began reaching out to her with their stories of torture and abuse. This did not go down well with the state government.

I believe, under the guise of Maoism, the state is presently determined to clear out the whole Bastar area of its tribal population.

This is not my perception alone, but the conviction of a number of activists who are working here and are raising their voice against these atrocities.

But how can you evict the tribal population in Bastar? They have been living here for hundreds of years and are presently protected by the Forest Rights Act.

During the last one year, the war here has become more intense. This can be best illustrated by three incidents of sexual violence perpetuated by the CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) and the police.

In the first such case, which happened in October in Bijapur, three women were raped and 15 women reported cases of sexual violence. This was followed by two more cases of women being gang-raped, stripped and made to walk naked through their village.

In the third incident, 13 women were gang-raped. Their homes were looted as were their food supplies. We have documented evidences of these atrocities.

All three incidents were confirmed by a fact-finding team of Women Against Sexual Violence and State Repression. Another activist Bela Bhatia, who was also part of a fact-finding team, confirmed these incidents.

We went as lawyers and managed to get an FIR registered (for the first incident) but no action was taken against the perpetuators. The police dismissed it as one more incident of Maoist propaganda.

Fortunately, after the third incident, (on the fifth day following the alleged rapes) a National Commission of Women team ensured that an FIR was lodged.

All these incidents, I believe, are building up to something but for the present, it is a presumption that is all.

You are making serious charges of alleged gang-rape.

Following our complaints, members of the Naxalite Peedit Sangharsh Samiti came and threatened activists Bela and Sori. It is obvious that there is a connection between members of the NPSS and the police and the latter are using them for reasons of social mobilisation. That alone explains how its members could go around attacking us with so much immunity.

They first indulged in sloganeering. Members of the NPSS are known to have thrown stones at Malini's house. Our landlord was taken away for questioning. There was so much pressure put on him that he was forced to ask us to vacate.

Soni started receiving threats in January end. In the first week of February she was warned that if she entered the villages of Bastar, she would be burnt alive.

Militarisation is increasing as are cases of rape, pillage and plunder. The number of arrests and surrenders are also increasing.

In January this year, the police claimed they had killed 36 Maoists but most of these 'encounters' are proven to be false.

We are challenging the official narrative and that is why we are being hounded by the local police.

I will give you a recent incident of a so-called 'encounter' that happed in Bastar district in February. Sori heard someone had been shot dead and the police claimed he was a Naxalite.

During the last one year, Sori has emerged as the voice for the tribals of Bastar. She has been very bravely picking up every issue and raising it.

The person killed had seven children. She pointed out that the man killed had opened a bank account just one month ago and to do so, he would have been given police clearance.

He also had an Aadhar card and a ration card. Sori took his wife and kids had held a press conference in Raipur. Sori took them to meet the DGP (director general of police) and tried to get an FIR registered against the IGP (inspector general of police) of the Bastar District S R P Kalluri.

On the night of February 20, someone informed her that she was going to be attacked. Sori wanted to go home because she was scared for her kids.

When we heard of this, we thought her home would be attacked as had happened in the case of Malini whose home was stoned. None of us had thought it would be a physical attack.

That was a very shameful act to put grease oil mixed with some corrosive substances on her face.

The problem is that the state administration does not want any kind of information to go out. They don't want anyone to ask questions. They do not want to give space for any kind of protest.

What about the local journalists? Why do they not speak out?

Journalists also have been silenced. Two local journalists were arrested on charges of being Maoist sympathisers. We are very connected to people outside this area, but no local person has the strength to fight against the establishment.

Take the example of young journalist Santosh Yadav who was working as a stringer for several newspapers. The local villagers used to go to him with their complaints. He was living in the Dardhan district. He directed a lot of local villagers to us.

He was arrested and the police kept him naked in their thana. They then tried to buy him over by offering him money if he agreed to become an informer.

When the police once tried to highlight a fake encounter case, Santosh had questioned them on their claims. He had a public altercation with the local SP (superintendent of police). Two years later, the police arrested him.

But surely the police cannot hope to empty out Bastar district of its entire tribal population.

Bastar has a population of 25 lakh (2.5 million). Entire villages are getting emptied. A major displacement drive is on. Many of these tribals are moving to Andhra Pradesh.

It is obvious there is a corporate hand behind this as many MoUs have been signed.

Malini questioned the actions of the security forces in her writings. The police came to her house at 11.30 pm saying they had a complaint against her. Our landlord was taken away for questioning. The police are going to ridiculous lengths to prove they are right.

You are saying there is no one to speak out on behalf of the tribals.

The state is oppressing all voices of dissent, whether it be journalists, academicians and activists. They do not want any obstruction. I am very worried. The war is going to intensify. Something very sinister is afoot. There is an immediate need of intervention from civil society.

But there is nobody left. All the local CPI (Communist Party of India) leaders have been threatened. Bela Bhatia is still there (in Bastar), but she has also been questioned.

Presently we are shuttling between Raipur and Bilaspur. We are living out of suitcases, but I hope we will be able to return to Jagdalpur very soon.

EARLIER IN THE SERIES:
IMAGE:Prasanna Prabhu, trustee, Art of Living at a press conference in Mumbai.

The Art of Living foundation will hold a three-day World Culture Festival in New Delhi (March 11-13), a mega event celebrating the foundations 35 years. It hopes to bring together 3.5 million global citizens

The festival will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the World Culture Festival will witness the worlds largest stage set up over an area of 7 acres. This will be an attempt to enter the Guinness Book of World Records for the Largest temporary stage in the world. The festival emphasises co-existence and celebrates diversity by bringing together the power of 3.5 million people on a common platform.

The other highlights of the festival are:

35,973 artists are expected to perform at the festival which includes

8,000 musicians playing 40 instruments in a musical symphony,

650 drummers from South Africa and several tribal artists from Indian states such as Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Sikkim and others.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder, The Art of Living, said, With the World Culture Festival, we hope to foster deeper understanding between people of different faiths, nationalities and backgrounds. By showcasing rich cultural traditions of dance, music and art from around the world as well as yoga, this festival will be a unique platform for spiritual and religious gurus, politicians, peacemakers and artists to spread the message of global peace and harmony in diversity.
Silencing all critics' post the February 9 event in the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus, students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar asserted on Friday that nationalism cannot be anyone's 'patented' idea while stating that he has full faith in the Indian Constitution as it was a document which can't be 'doctored'.

Speaking to the media a day after he was released from Tihar Jail after he was charged for sedition, Kanhaiya thanked everyone who supported him and alleged that a conspiracy was afoot to malign the JNU campus and its students.

"The JNU row is not a new one. This controversy that has been forged to malign our campus is also not new. Whenever there have been attempts to suppress democratic voices, the JNU stands up and tells that the JNU thinks today, while the society thinks tomorrow. The media is the fourth pillar of democracy and JNU is a historic institution that is trying to fight for the future," Kanhaiya said.

Asserting that the JNU students can never be anti-national, he added that he was part of the fight to not let those succeed who use the Constitution as a tool against those who raise their voices for nationalism.

"The Constitution calls for equality, brotherhood and harmony and it is not a video that can be doctored, it is a document written by the revolutionary men and women of this country. There are many who are attempting to create a divide in this country but the sacrifices of jawans, farmers and Rohith Vemula will not go to waste," he said.

Stating that there was a lot of difference between patriotism and sedition, Kanhaiya said that the British had made the sedition law to suppress the voices of freedom fighters. He added that he condemns what happened on the night of February 9 but it was up to the court to decide if it was sedition or not.

"We will not say anything based on merit. We believe in the law and the constitution. The government belongs to the nation, but it has turned into the government of a party. We need to make them realise that they owe their allegiance to the nation. The way the campus is facing the ire of the nation because of a conspiracy, we want to tell the nation that JNU is the voice of the nation. Sedition must not be used to attack students, we know the meaning of freedom," he said.

Talking about Afzal Guru, he clearly stated that the Parliament attack convict was not his hero and it was Hyderabad University scholar Rohith Vemula.

"Guru was a citizen of this nation, he was from Jammu and Kashmir and the law punished him. He is not an icon for me, Vemula is. There will a Vemula in every house," Kanhaiya said.

The JNU students' union president, however, downplayed a media poser as to whether he would campaign for the Left in the upcoming West Bengal Assembly polls.

"I am not a political leader. I am a student which is why I am not thinking about it now. I want to become a teacher in the future. First, I will fight for the rights of the students at the University and Bengal is too far now," he said.

However, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury earlier told ANI that Kanhaiya would campaign for the Left in Bengal.

"All students supporting Left will participate in the campaign along with Kanhaiya. For the first time, the nation can see the power of the youth of Left," Yechury said.

Earlier, the government had warned Kanhaiya after his release that he must help the concerned authorities to see that activities similar to the February 9 event are curbed in the university rather than enjoying the publicity.

"He is enjoying the publicity, what else is there? The question is let him condemn those slogans and distance himself from that. Let him help the authorities to see that such activities are curbed in the university," Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu told ANI.

"They must study and stay away from politics. If they are interested in politics, they can leave studies and join politics. He can join any political party. His favourite party is now in single digit in the Parliament. Let him join that party. Let him not use the grab of students and students union to take up the cause of Afzal guru, Yakub Memon and Maqbool Bhatt. All these three people are anti-nationals," he added.

Kanhaiya, who was released last evening after being granted a six-month interim bail by the Delhi high court, led a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance regime at the Centre.

"I am not asking for freedom from India, I am asking for freedom in India," he said.

"I would like to thank everyone at the JNU. All the people , whether media, political people, non civil society , who stood for saving JNU and those who want justice for Vemula, I want to salute them," he added.

In a sarcastic tone, he said, "I want to thank the people sitting in Parliament deciding wrong and right, the police and those few media channels."


India on Friday dismissed the possibility of joint maritime patrolling with other countries in the Asia Pacific region, days after a top American military commander hoped it will happen in the near future.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said that India is in for joint military exercise but not for joint patrolling.

"As of now, India has never participated in joint patrolling. But we do participate in joint exercise. So the question of joint patrolling at this stage does not arise," he said addressing reporters at South Block.

He was asked a question on the remarks made by Chief of US Pacific Command Admiral Harry Harris. The American commander had pitched for a quad-lateral security dialogue among India, Japan, Australia and the US even as he hoped joint patrolling in the Asia Pacific region will happen in the future.

Harris had hoped that in "not too distant future", American and Indian Navy vessels steaming together will become "a common and welcome sight" throughout Indo-Asia- Pacific waters.

"I don't respond to what the US Admiral has said. Our viewpoint will come to you if we at all consider any such thing from our side. It may be his calibrated thinking," Parrikar said.

He said that the government and the defence ministry will take all decisions in the interest of the country. While the US is keen that India joins them in joint patrolling, the Indian government is conscious of not drawing itself into a tussle between the US and China.

Meanwhile, asked if India would sign the long-pending Logistics Support Agreement with the US, the minister said that anything that will be done would be in the interest of the country.

"It has to benefit the nation on various counts. We definitely would say that this government is very active on almost everything. We don't like to unnecessarily delay things. So we definitely do paper work, discussions are going on many things," Parrikar said.

Defence sources have told PTI that India and the US could sign a key military logistics agreement as top officials from the two sides meet here in April to look at ways to deepen the bilateral ties in the critical sector.

They have said one of the key areas of focus during the visit of US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter to India in April will be three contentious agreements that Washington has been pushing for long.

Known as the "foundational agreements", these pacts are -- Communications and Information Security Memorandum of Agreement, Logistics Support Agreement and Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement.

"Discussions are on. Logistics agreement, tweaked as per India's interests, is doable and may be signed. However, some more discussions are to be held on BECA," the sources have said, adding that CISMOA needs detailed discussions and clarifications.
In an apparent hate crime, a gurdwara in the US state of Washington was vandalised by a "naked" man who desecrated sacred items of the Sikh worship place, drawing condemnation from the community leaders.

The incident occurred on Wednesday when Jeffrey C Pittman, 44, broke into the gurdwara in Spokane.

Deputies say that Pittman was arrested early Thursday morning wearing nothing but a sheet taken from the temple's furnishings. He was also holding the gurdwara's ceremonial sword.

He also desecrated sacred items of the gurdwara.

Pittman was booked in Spokane County Jail connection with charges of burglary, malicious mischief and malicious harassment, which is the state's statute for a hate crime, The Seattle Globalist reported.

"All religions should be respected. Any crime committed due to someone's religious beliefs will be a priority and fully investigated," said Spokane Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich in a statement.

"They (deputies) detained Pittman after a short altercation. The damage is estimated to be several thousand dollars and there was damage to religiously sacred items of the Temple," Knezovich said.

Gurdwara priest Gurjwet Singh Augla said he and another man were able to detain the person until police arrived.

"We don't know the motivations behind the vandalism yet, but we do know that police are treating the case seriously and that the perpetrator has been arrested. There are no immediate indications that bias was involved," a statement issued by the the gurdwara said.

"No house of worship in America should ever be vandalised. The Sikh articles of faith, which include the turban and beard, show our commitment to equality, justice and freedom for all. These are not just Sikh values, they are American values," the statement said.

Rajwant Singh, chairman of the Sikh Council on Religion and Education, expressed shock and anguish over the vandalising of the Sikh gurdwara in Spokane, Washington.

"This is terrible news for Sikhs in the Spokane area and nationwide," he said.

"This kind of incidents should not become norm for us or for the country," he said.

"This can change and Americans can appreciate our values once they know that Sikhs believe in equality and tolerance towards other religions," said Singh, who is also the senior adviser to the National Sikh Campaign.

The incident is the latest in a number of hate crimes against Sikhs in America.

A gurdwara in a suburb has been vandalised with hateful anti-ISIS graffiti in December. In September, a Sikh-American father was viciously assaulted in a suburb outside of Chicago after being called "Bin Laden".

In 2012, a gunman with Neo-Nazi ties walked into a Sikh gurdwara and shot and killed six innocent Sikhs in Oak Creek, Wisconsin.
Describing the detection of a 30-metre long tunnel from Pakistan to the Indian side as a major success, the Border Security Force said on Friday that it was dug with an aim of pushing in armed terrorists into the Jammu region.

"We were carrying out our regular monthly clearing operations when we found a well-constructed tunnel," Rakesh Sharma, inspector general of the BSF, Jammu Frontier, said, noting that it was being dug with a JCB machine.

"It was aimed at pushing in terrorists into the Jammu region," he told reporters.

Terming the detection a major success, the IG said if not detected in time, Pakistan would have succeeded in pushing in 'fidayeen' and other terrorists inside the Indian territory.

"Pakistan was objecting to our efforts to clear grass as it was anticipating that the BSF would be able to detect the tunnel. We resisted Pakistan's attempts and went ahead with the clearance operation during which the tunnel was found," Sharma said.

The tunnel is approximately 10 feet below the ground and has a length of 30 metres from their end to this side, he said.

"But it was blocked on our side. It was a dead end. It had no exit as they could not complete it further. It came close to the border fencing," the IG said.

"One person can sit and easily move inside the tunnel which has come up in the vicinity of Allah Mai Di Kothi border outpost of ours from the Pakistani post of Afzal," he said, adding that a probe was on.

This is the fourth tunnel unearthed by the BSF in the region since 2012.
At least 16 people, including four Indian nurses were killed when gunmen opened fire at an elderly care home in Aden in Yemen. The care hiome was attacked by four gunmen, who first killed the security guard, and then fired randomly at residents.

The Islamic State is being blamed for the attack, though no group has claimed responsibility. The IS has been gaining ground in Aden in the past few months. Aden was declared the temporary capital, since Sanaa remains in the hands of Huthi rebels since September 2014.

In September last year, six Indians were killed after their boat was hit in Saudi-led air strikes in Yemen. The six were among the seven who were initially reported missing when two boats, Mustafa and Asmar, carrying a total of 21 Indian nationals, came under aerial attack on September 8.

Also in September, at least 29 people were killed and many others wounded in a suicide bomb attack in Sanaa.

India does not have an embassy in Yemen. It was shut down in April after evacuation of its nationals.

Image for representation only
Try going past the Ballandur lake, southeast of Bengaluru, and you may probably choke. Once a bountiful lake, years of neglect, rampant encroachment and dumping of untreated sewage and industrial waste have virtually turned it into a large septic tank.

In May 2015, things took a perilous turn when a portion of the lake started foaming due to pollution and caught fire! Though the incident caught the attention of many people, not much has changed since.

Now, the non-profit Namma Bengaluru Foundation, founded and supported by Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar, has taken up the cause of saving the lake.

In an open letter, the foundation has sought to reach out to Bengaluru residents to help give the lake a fresh lease of life.

We reproduce the letter here.

My Dear Friends and Fellow Bengalureans,

Warm (or perhaps fiery) greetings from me.

Possibly I do not need an introduction. Nevertheless, for those who still dont know me: I am the disrepute of Bengaluru -- the frothy, foamy, toxic-filled, foul-smelling Bellandur Lake, which many claim has put Namma Bengaluru to shame on international landscapes.

Let me say, I owe this claim to fame to: a) the city's mindless administrative machinery, b) unlawful encroachers and c) all those who consider dumping waste (solid, liquid or industrial) in my waters their birth right!

For over 20 years now, while you have seen rapid development all around, I lay unattended, silently paying the price for this unprecedented urbanisation.

My dear friends, do you know -- Article 21 of our Constitution states clean air, water and environment to be the Fundamental Right of citizens of India? I wonder why these Fundamental Rights arent applied to the countrys natural resources like me! Has none of your grandparents told you they drank water from me and played by my side in their childhood, decades ago?

I wonder, how am I less important in your life today after having been a part of Bengaluru for so long?

Bengaluru has grown beyond reasonable predictions, but there's been a sharp decline of 79% in its water bodies between 1973 and 2013, affecting the physical, chemical and biological integrity of our city. But thats not what you should be shocked about. I have something more dreadful to share.

I am exceedingly poisonous now.

My waters are harmful and so contaminated that coming in close contact with me will prove damaging to you.

The concentration of acids, bases and salts in my waters is 1592.0 microSiemens/cm, which is three times over the desirable limit and with the alkalinity ranging between 500 to 600 mg/l, you cannot dare imagine to drink of me anymore!

Hang on, the horror doesn't end here. My activist friends have informed me that my coliform count at present is greater than 1600 MPN/100 ml, which means I am choking on a bacteria that is typically found in our environment -- including feces of human beings and other warm-blooded animals.

Further, my E.coli levels that should normally bear no trace stand at 110 MPN/100 ml, which shows I am carrying disease-causing micro-organisms putting all of you to great risk.

Friends, these figures are no joke.

If you reside near me or if you have been in contact with me in recent times, then chances are you have fallen victim to waterborne infections causing nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

You would have or will also suffer other severe effects and in extreme cases, my pollutants could damage your lungs, skin, eyes, kidneys, nervous system and prove to harm you in more ways than one!

To be honest, I am weary and as frustrated as you are with the way government agencies like Bangalore Development Authority, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, Karnataka Industrial Area Developmental Board etc, have responded to my deteriorating health.

Perfect in the act of passing the buck, they have quietly and criminally signed my death warrant. I am suffocated by indiscriminate disposal of industry effluents & sewage wastes, building debris and all the poison that is being dumped into me without any treatment.

I am dying gradually and extremely painfully, but the authorities clearly are least concerned!

I too wanted development, but illegal and reckless encroachment on my lake bed has caused me immeasurable harm.

Does anyone care that I have been ripped down from 892 acres to 700 acres in quick time? Also, no one is bothered about maintaining the 30.0 metre No-development Buffer Zone around me, which would have at least served as protection.

I find activists and friends who come to me shouting slogans, giving me a ray of hope. I have also felt the concerned touch of a handful of scientists, engineers and ecologists. But I fear that all this may be too little, too late!

I heard a little bird once say, "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

I beg to differ and want to scream out saying: I AM NO LONGER CAPABLE OF ACCEPTING THINGS I CANNOT CHANGE. IT IS NOW TIME TO CHANGE THE THINGS I CANNOT ACCEPT. But I can fight only if YOU help me right now, my friends.

Death is not too far away from me. It is a matter of time before I become a thing of the past and the world will then know me as "Bellandur -- the Lake that was".

With the Cauvery unable to cater to all your water needs and with groundwater levels falling at an alarming rate, I am perhaps your only hope.

I am Bengaluru's largest water body and restoring me is one real way you and I can ensure better times for our city.

As citizens of Bengaluru, it is your responsibility to stall the irrational encroachment of land in the name of development; it is also your duty to restrict decision makers from misusing their discretion and allowing unchecked pollution and land grabbing; it is for you to safeguard the natural resources of our city and above all it is your actions in time that can change the course of our future.

I will be happy to hear from you, for your support matters. Do write to me on how you think I can fight this battle for survival. Science, engineering, legal means or through policy. I will ask a few expert friends of mine to take a look at these, while I remain eternally thankful to you.

Let me conclude by saying, we do not remember days of our lives, we remember moments. And I would like to forget and erase these terrible years of poisonous life that I have been living. This would be possible only if you help me get a fresh lease of life.

Yours forever and foamingly,

Bellandur Lake
Ukraine: growing despair among over three million civilians in conflict zone  UN report

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 3 March 2016 Related Document(s) Report on the human rights situation in Ukraine 16 November 2015 to 15 February 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Ukraine: growing despair among over three million civilians in conflict zone  UN report, 3 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56d9520240c.html [accessed 22 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.

3 March 2016 - Despite a decrease in the number of civilian casualties in the east of Ukraine over the past few months, a new United Nations report shows that the conflict is severely impacting on the daily life of civilians, with a growing sense of despair and isolation affecting those living in the conflict zone, especially in the areas controlled by the armed groups.

"There is a terrible sensation of physical, political, social and economic isolation and abandonment among the huge number of people - more than three million in all - who are struggling to eke out a living in the conflict zone. They are in urgent need of greater protection and support," said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, in a news release.

Daily struggle for survival

The latest in a series of reports on Ukraine by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which covers the period from 16 November 2015 to 15 February 2016, places particular focus on the daily struggle for survival by people living around the 'contact line,' which separates the self-proclaimed 'Donetsk people's republic' and 'Luhansk people's republic' from the rest of Ukraine.

According to OHCHR, many homes have been damaged and looted. Local administrations are not functioning, and access to basic public services is, at best, limited. Water and food are expensive and difficult to acquire. Freedom of movement is severely hampered by check points with, at times, hundreds of vehicles waiting to cross the contact line and passengers forced to spend the night in freezing temperatures.

Map of Ukraine Civilian casualities along the contact line

Residents of territories under the control of armed groups are particularly vulnerable to human rights abuses, the report says, describing how they live in an environment characterized by the growth of parallel governance structures, a complete absence of rule of law, reports of arbitrary detention, torture and incommunicado detention, and no access to real redress mechanisms.

"I am particularly concerned by the lack of space left for civil society, the vulnerability to abuse of people deprived of their liberty, and the complete absence of due process and rule of law in territories under the control of the armed groups," Mr. Zeid said.

The report describes how a recent wave of arrests in the self-proclaimed 'Donetsk people's republic' has had a further chilling effect on the ability of people to exercise their already heavily circumscribed rights to the freedom of expression, religion, peaceful assembly and association.

Allegations of violations perpetrated with impunity

During the reporting period, UN human rights monitors also documented allegations of violations perpetrated with impunity by Ukrainian law enforcement officials-mainly elements of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU)-including enforced disappearances, arbitrary and incommunicado detention, and torture and ill-treatment.

"I urge the Ukrainian authorities to ensure prompt and impartial investigation into each and every reported human rights violation," Mr. Zeid stated. "Accountability is critical to bring justice for victims, curtail impunity, and foster long-lasting peace, and it is also important as a deterrent to further violations by State authorities. Each violation that goes un-investigated and unpunished saps the State's moral and legal authority."

The High Commissioner also called on the Government of Ukraine and the self-proclaimed 'Donetsk people's republic' and 'Luhansk people's republic' to take action to clarify the fate of missing persons and to prevent other people from going missing. "The clarification of the fate of the missing should be a key priority of any peace negotiations," he stressed.

Meanwhile, the human rights situation in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea remains very difficult, according to the report, with Crimean Tatar demonstrators facing prosecution and others being arrested for alleged membership in 'terrorist' organizations. Last month, the prosecutor of Crimea filed a request with its supreme court to designate the Mejlis, the self-governing body of the Crimean Tatars, as an extremist organization and to ban its activities. OHCHR qualified this as a "significant and worrying" development.

Ceasefire remains tenuous

The UN report also shows that the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine remains tenuous, with reported violations to it, the continued occurrences of indiscriminate shelling and the presence of anti-personnel mines and remnants of war. During the reporting period, 78 conflict-related civilian casualties were recorded in eastern Ukraine, bringing the estimated casualty figures since the beginning of the conflict to more than 30,000 people, including at least 9,160 killed and 21,000 injured (figures include civilians as well as Ukrainian armed forces, and members of armed groups).

"The implementation of the Minsk Agreements is the only viable strategy for achieving a peaceful solution in certain areas of eastern Ukraine controlled by armed groups, which, in turn, is key for resolving the human rights crisis in Ukraine. This includes the restoration of effective control by the Government of Ukraine over the border with the Russian Federation and the withdrawal of foreign fighters, mercenaries and military equipment," the High Commissioner stressed.
Libya 'needs to move ahead now, or risk division and collapse' UN envoy tells Security Council

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 2 March 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Libya 'needs to move ahead now, or risk division and collapse' UN envoy tells Security Council, 2 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56d95481d5.html [accessed 22 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.

2 March 2016 - Libya needs to move ahead now or risk division and collapse, the top United Nations official in the country warned the UN Security Council today, while presenting the latest report on political and humanitarian developments.

It is with a very heavy heart that I begin my briefing to you noting that humanitarian situation in Libya has deteriorated further, against the background of poor funding for the humanitarian response, Martin Kobler, the Secretary-General's Special Representative and Head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), told the 15-member Council.

Libya is a country of six million people, with significant resources. But, across the country, the UN estimates that 2.4 million individuals are in need of some form of humanitarian assistance. In addition, more than 40 per cent of the health facilities in Libya are not functioning, and over one million children under the age of five are at risk of being affected by a vaccine shortage.

It is now imperative that Libyan political actors take responsibility in the higher interest of the Libyan people to stop human suffering, urged Mr. Kobler, adding that the process towards a democratic transition has continued to meet a number of milestones but at the same time remains precarious.

No effective State institutions

Two weeks ago, on 17 February, Libya marked the fifth anniversary of the 2011 revolution which toppled the dictatorship of Muammar Gaddafi. However, five years on, the UN envoy highlighted that the current political and military vacuum is allowing terrorist groups and criminal networks to establish deep roots, as Libya has no effective state institutions.

According to the Special Representative, the overwhelming majority of the Libyan people are in favour of the Libyan Political Agreement, and support the formation of a Government of National Accord that can effectively address the existing threats.

The overwhelming majority want and deserve peace  now, Mr. Kobler insisted. Some of those politically responsible on both sides, however, still refuse to listen to the voices of the Libyan people and pursue their own narrow political interests. In my last briefing to the Security Council, I promised to broaden the basis of support to the Libyan Political Agreement.

He underlined that with his colleagues and the international community, they have persistently reached out to those who are opposing the Libyan Political Agreement. However, until now we are unable to convince them to go the way of peace and unity, he reported.

Latest political update

On 15 January, the Presidency Council presented a cabinet for approval by the House of Representatives. The House of Representatives voted to endorse the Libyan Political Agreement in principle, but it requested the Presidency Council nominate a new and smaller cabinet, he said.

After days of deliberations, on 14 February the Presidency Council finalized a new list of candidates for a streamlined cabinet. On 22 February, the House of Representatives met to consider the Presidency Council's second cabinet. However, its session was interrupted by a minority of parliamentarians who opposed the vote, and who, Mr. Kobler explained, resorted to threats and intimidation preventing the majority to freely express its vote.

Nonetheless, this majority gathered 100 signatures in support of endorsement of the new

cabinet and its programme, he continued. I am convinced that a positive vote could have taken place on 22 February, had the leadership of the House of Representatives shown the resolve and determination to put the Government of National Accord to a vote.

Mr. Kobler informed the Council that he has written to the Speaker of the House of Representatives to register the will of the democratic majority, and formalize its endorsement of the unity government. Failing such recognition and a positive endorsement by the House of Representatives by early next week, Libyans have to go on. I intend to reconvene the Libyan Political Dialogue to explore the way forward in line with the Libyan Political Agreement, he noted, highlighting how he intends to proceed.

Terrorist groups taking advantage of vacuum

On the security front, Mr. Kobler said that Da'esh, or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), is taking advantage of the political and security vacuum and is expanding to the West, East and to the South. While Libya's financial resources are dwindling, the criminal networks, including human smuggling, are booming, he warned.

During an assault last week, Da'esh reportedly killed 17 people, beheading several of them. The terrorist group has also continued to carry out multiple beheadings and atrocities in their stronghold, Sirte.

Da'esh in Libya constitutes an urgent and growing threat to Libya, the region and beyond. However, the fight against violent extremism can only be sustainable if it is led by a national unity government that puts in place and prioritises a national agenda to address the country's most immediate challenges and works to meet the aspirations and expectations of the Libyan people, stressed the UN envoy.

On the issue of gender equality, Mr Kobler told the Council he has continued to strongly advocate increased women participation in Libyan political life, in particular by calling for a 30 per cent share of ministerial posts in the Government of National Accord. Sadly, my calls have not been heeded, he said.

Finally, he underlined that Libya's neighbours, are suffering direct consequences of the country's instability and that he is committed to fully engage with them in reaching a political solution to the crisis.
Amid signs of hope in Syria, UNICEF chief sees 'harsh evidence' of war's toll on children

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 2 March 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Amid signs of hope in Syria, UNICEF chief sees 'harsh evidence' of war's toll on children, 2 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56d9550a40d.html [accessed 22 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.

2 March 2016 - Wrapping up his visit to Syria, the head of the United Nations children's agency has urged both the Government and armed opposition groups to facilitate access to all children in need, especially so the UN and its partners can implement a nationwide immunization programme.

Senior Government officials in Damascus have agreed that together with WHO [World Health Organization] and our partners, including the Ministry of Health, we can go ahead and immediately plan and seek to implement a nationwide immunization programme against childhood diseases, UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Anthony Lake said yesterday in Homs.

This will require sustained access in all besieged and hard-to-reach areas, and that both government and armed opposition groups facilitate access to all Syrian children, he said.

Possibility of Peace

He said his previous trip had come on the eve of the third anniversary of the Syrian war, after two years of people suffering. This time, he completed the visit on the eve of the fifth anniversary, amid a ceasefire, which offers the Syrian people the possibility of peace.

Everywhere I have visited  in Damascus, Homs, Hama and Al-Salameya  people spoke of hope, Mr. Lake said. Hope that there will be peace, hope that peace can be found in more than a diplomatic piece of paper, hope that peace will return in their daily lives. The children I met in their class rooms spoke of their hopes for their futures  as doctors, engineers, teachers.

UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake visits a recreational activities session for children in a shelter for displaced families in Homs. He is accompanied by UNICEF staff and volunteers from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (March 2014). Photo: UNICEF/NYHQ2014-0292/Sanadiki

He visited the encircled neighbourhood of Al Waer, where he saw things that he had not seen two years ago, such as shops open for business, people walking freely, children learning in classrooms above ground instead of huddling in basements for fear of snipers. Even in the shattered old city of Homs, people displaced by the fighting are returning.

Signs of Havoc

But with that hope, there were still signs of havoc and harsh evidence of the toll the war has taken on children, he said. Entire neighbourhoods have been flattened. A children's centre in Al Waer, formerly an orphanage, was struck by a mortar attack two years ago, killing eight children and injuring 30 more.

In Homs, doctors took him into a surgical ward as they treated a victim who had just been shot in the face by a sniper. The doctors had only old surgical instruments with which to remove pieces of the patient's shattered jawbone. The anaesthetic medicine was past its expiry date.

He said that the doctors, nurses, and especially the father of the victim, expressed their anger  not only at the Government, which continues to deny access to surgical and medical supplies to such areas, but also at the United Nations and the whole world.

We can't blame him because the world has allowed this suffering to go on for five long years, Mr. Lake said.

Over the past five years, with our partners such as the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, UNICEF has reached more than 10 million people, mostly children, with water, health and nutrition services, education and supportive counselling.

But there are so many more children to reach, he said. There are more than eight million children who need assistance: six million inside Syria and more than two million who have fled the violence to neighbouring countries.

For every time we educate a Syrian child, wherever she may be, we are helping build Syria's future, he said.

UN and Inter-agency Humanitarian Convoys reach Moadamiyeh

Meanwhile, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported today that medical supplies that were initially not allowed to be included in convoys for Moadamiyeh in Syria by security services on the 29th of February have been delivered today. However, some surgical items were still rejected from entering the area.

OCHA also reported that inter-agency humanitarian convoys to the Kafr Batna sub-district in East Ghouta are planned for tomorrow, Thursday. The convoys are expected to be carrying food, nutrition and health supplies for an estimated 20,000 beneficiaries. Further convoys to reach additional areas in East Ghouta are planned for the coming days.

The second round of inter-agency humanitarian convoys to the Four Towns - Madaya, Zabadani, Foah and Kafraya - is tentatively scheduled for Saturday. The Four Towns were last accessed on the 17th of February, when three joint convoys reached approximately 60,000 beneficiaries.
DPR Korea: Ban welcomes Security Council measure tightening and expanding sanctions

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 2 March 2016 Cite as UN News Service, DPR Korea: Ban welcomes Security Council measure tightening and expanding sanctions, 2 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56d95550481.html [accessed 22 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.

2 March 2016 - The United Nations Security Council today unanimously adopted a resolution that imposes new sanctions and tightens some of its existing measures against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), due to the country's ongoing nuclear and ballistic missile-related activities that threaten international peace and security.

Today's unanimous action by the Security Council has sent a clear message that the DPRK must return to full compliance with its international obligations, said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a statement issued by his spokesperson, in which the UN chief urged the East Asian country to abide by the resolution and called upon all UN Member States to ensure its implementation.

This firm response by the Security Council should put an end to the cycle of provocation and lead to the resumption of dialogue in accordance with the unified view of the international community, he added.

The Secretary-General also reiterated the critical role of international assistance in safeguarding the lives of millions in the country, while renewing his call on the DPRK to do more for the lives of its people. Genuine improvement in human rights is a necessary basis for long-term security and stability, he stressed.

In the resolution, which was sponsored by the United States, the 15-member body condemned in the strongest terms the nuclear test conducted by the DPRK on 6 January, noting that it was in violation and flagrant disregard of the Council's prior resolutions. It further condemned the country's launch of 7 February, which used ballistic missile technology and was a serious violation.

As a result of such incidents, the new measure expands sanctions against the DPRK by imposing a ban on all exports including coal, iron, iron ore, gold, titanium ore, vanadium ore and rare earth metals, and banning the supply of all types of aviation fuel, including rocket fuel.

 

UN Security Council unanimously adopts resolution 2270(2016), imposing additional sanctions on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in response to the continued pursuit of a nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programme. UN Photo/Rick Bajornas

The new resolution also requires States to inspect all cargo to and from the DPRK, not just those suspected of containing prohibited items, as was previously the case. It also bans leasing or chartering of vessels or airplanes and providing crew services to the country, and registering vessels, while calling on States to de-register any DPRK owned or controlled vessels. Additionally, it decides that States shall ban any flights and deny entry into their ports of any vessel suspected of carrying prohibited items.

Regarding financial sanctions, the resolution broadens their scope by imposing an asset freeze on all funds and other economic resources owned or controlled by the DPRK government or by the Worker's Party of Korea, if found to be associated with its nuclear or ballistic missile programme or any other prohibited activities.

An additional 13 individuals are designated in the resolution as subject to the travel ban and asset freeze, including several representatives of the Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation and the Tanchon Commercial Bank. It designates 12 new entities as subject to the asset freeze, including the Ministry of Atomic Energy and the Reconnaissance Energy Bureau, described as the DPRK's premiere intelligence organization.

The text also tightens existing financial restrictions by banning the opening and operation of any offices of DPRK banks abroad, as well as the opening of new offices of foreign financial institutions in the DPRK under all circumstances, unless approved by the Sanctions Committee in advance.

Turning to the arms embargo, which has been in effect since 2006, the resolution broadens its scope to include small arms and light weapons, which had previously been excluded. It includes a provision that imposes a ban on the transfer of any item, except food and medicine, if a State has reason to believe that it can contribute to the development and capabilities of the DPRK's armed forces.

Finally, the 19-page text underlines several times that measures imposed by it are not intended to have negative effects on the country's citizens. Measures imposed [] and this resolution are not intended to have adverse humanitarian consequences for the civilian population of the DPRK or to affect negatively those activities, including economic activities and cooperation.
Syrian and Russian forces targeting hospitals as a strategy of war

Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 3 March 2016 Cite as Amnesty International, Syrian and Russian forces targeting hospitals as a strategy of war, 3 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56d9574b4.html [accessed 22 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.

Russian and Syrian government forces appear to have deliberately and systematically targeted hospitals and other medical facilities over the last three months to pave the way for ground forces to advance on northern Aleppo, an examination of airstrikes by Amnesty International has found.

Even as Syria's fragile ceasefire deal was being hammered out, Syrian government forces and their allies intensified their attacks on medical facilities.

"Syrian and Russian forces have been deliberately attacking health facilities in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law. But what is truly egregious is that wiping out hospitals appears to have become part of their military strategy," said Tirana Hassan, Crisis Response Director at Amnesty International.

"The latest string of attacks on health facilities north of Aleppo appears to be part of a pattern of attacks on medics and hospitals, a strategy that has destroyed scores of medical facilities and killed hundreds of doctors and nurses since the start of the conflict."

The organization has gathered compelling evidence of at least six deliberate attacks on hospitals, medical centres and clinics in the northern part of the Aleppo Countryside governorate in the past 12 weeks. The attacks, which killed at least three civilians including a medical worker, and injured 44 more, continue a pattern of targeting health facilities in various parts of Syria which amounts to war crimes.

Amnesty International researchers spoke to medical workers from the six medical facilities and several humanitarian organizations in Turkey and Syria, who described their struggle to cope with the high number of civilians in need of medical treatment following the recent escalation of airstrikes on the area in February 2016.

Several medical workers from Anadan and Hreitan, two towns north-west of Aleppo, told Amnesty International that the Syrian government's strategy is to empty an entire town or village of residents by targeting hospitals and infrastructure to facilitate the ground invasion.

A doctor from Anadan said: "Hospitals, water and electricity are always the first to be attacked. Once that happens people no longer have services to survive. This is what happened in Anadan. By mid-February most of the residents had fled the city after the field hospital and medical centre were attacked on 2 February. The field hospital is barely operating and the centre closed. The problem is that not everyone is able to leave the city. The ones who stayed behind are elderly people who are in desperate need of medical treatment."

"Hospitals in opposition-controlled areas around Aleppo became a primary target for the Russian and Syrian government forces. This eliminated a vital lifeline for the civilians living in those embattled areas, leaving them no choice but to flee," said Tirana Hassan.

All of the people interviewed by Amnesty International said that there were no military vehicles, checkpoints, fighters or front lines near the hospitals that were attacked and that the hospitals were exclusively serving their humanitarian function.

Deliberate attacks on civilians not directly participating in hostilities and on civilian objects, including hospitals and other medical facilities, violate international humanitarian law (also known as the laws of war) and amount to war crimes. Under the laws of war, hospitals and medical units enjoy special protection. They only lose their protection from attacks if they are being used outside their humanitarian function to commit "acts harmful to the enemy" such as to store weapons.

Even in the case of such misuse, a warning has to be issued setting a reasonable time limit and an attack can only take place after such a warning has remained unheeded.

"We have repeatedly called on the Syrian and Russian governments to abide by international humanitarian law and have urged Russia to conduct credible, independent investigations into its forces' attacks on hospitals and other serious violations," said Tirana Hassan.

"All medical workers and all health facilities should be respected and protected instead of being targeted. The injured and sick people are stranded at the Turkish border or dying inside Syria because hospitals have become the new front line in the offensive on the northern part of the Aleppo Countryside governorate. There is no excuse for a government to prevent people from accessing medical care. There is no excuse for deliberately targeting hospital after hospital."

Background and testimonies

According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, a local monitoring group, at least 27 hospitals, including eight in Aleppo governorate, have been targeted by Russian and Syrian government forces since September 2015. The Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) told Amnesty International that since December 2015 at least 13 hospitals had been targeted in Aleppo by airstrikes and one by a surface-to-surface missile on 15 February. A total of four medical staff workers and 45 civilians were killed in these 14 attacks.

Physicians for Human Rights has reported that, since the conflict began, at least 346 attacks on medical facilities have been carried out by parties to the conflict, with 705 health workers killed. Syrian government forces and their allies have been responsible for the overwhelming majority of these.

Amnesty International's researchers focussed on six attacks in northern Aleppo between December 2015 and February 2016.

The offensive on the northern part of Aleppo Countryside

During the last week of January 2016, Syrian government forces supported by Russian airstrikes began a ground offensive in the northern part of the Aleppo Countryside governorate to break the siege imposed by non-state armed groups on the towns of Nubul and Zahraa. This cut off the supply route from both this area and Turkey to Aleppo city. On 1 February, the Syrian government forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces, which include Kurdish, Arab and Assyrian groups, continued their offensive in the same area.

Civilians who fled the northern part of the Aleppo Countryside governorate to the Bab al-Salam border crossing into Turkey told Amnesty International that Russian and Syrian government airstrikes escalated in the first week of February, forcing thousands of people to flee. With no functioning hospitals left in the area, many of those injured in the airstrikes were forced to drive for hours to obtain medical help. Interviews with doctors and medical workers in and around Aleppo indicate that health facilities were among the first buildings targeted in a series of airstrikes at the start of the offensive, which they believe were intended to reduce the capacity of health facilities and prevent the injured from receiving medical treatment.

Tel Rifaat

Two doctors and an activist from Tel Rifaat who left two days before the People's Protection Unit (YPG), part of the Syrian Democratic Forces, took control of the town on 15 February told Amnesty International that all three health facilities, including a field hospital, a rehabilitation centre and a kidney dialysis centre were directly targeted by missiles during the week beginning on 8 February, just as the ground offensive on the town began. The attacks injured six members of the medical team and three civilian patients and left the population with no working medical facility.

Doctor "Faraj" (his real name has been withheld for security reasons), who manages the field hospital, rehabilitation and kidney dialysis centre, told Amnesty International:

"The Kurds started gaining control of some villages in the northern part of Aleppo Countryside at the beginning of February and they were advancing towards Tel Rifaat. As they approached, Russian and Syrian forces targeted medical facilities. As a result, the civilians injured from the indiscriminate shelling had to be transferred to the Syrian/Turkish border because the hospitals were no longer operational."

Several weeks before the current offensive, on 19 December 2015 at 2.45pm, a direct airstrike destroyed a centre in Tel Rifaat which provided medical care for children with special needs. According to the centre's manager, it had been set up in 2014 and received 250 children per month from all over the northern part of Aleppo Countryside.

Maskan village

A doctor from the Independent Doctors Association (IDA) in Turkey told Amnesty International that the field hospital they support in Maskan, a village in the northern part of Aleppo Countryside, had to be evacuated on 1 February because of intensifying airstrikes and an imminent ground invasion of the village. A day after the medical staff and patients evacuated, the IDA received images of the field hospital destroyed by an airstrike.

The Syrian government gained control of the deserted village on 15 February. Amnesty International reviewed the images of the destruction and a video of government forces inside the field hospital claiming that the facility was used by terrorists to treat the war wounded. International humanitarian law protects hospitals and health facilities carrying out their humanitarian function, including providing medical treatment to wounded fighters.

Anadan

Doctors and a medical worker in Anadan told Amnesty International how two airstrikes on 27 January and 2 February by Russian or Syrian warplanes partially destroyed a field hospital and rendered a rehabilitation centre out of service. A physiotherapist at the rehabilitation centre said:

"The airstrikes intensified on 1 February. The next day at 8.30am the centre was targeted by a missile. I was on my way to work when I saw and heard the explosion. When I arrived I saw the driver's body at the entrance, two patients and five from the medical team severely injured. We had to transfer them outside of Anadan. Now the centre is out of service. We lost a lot of expensive equipment. We provided treatment to whoever is in need and we have been operating since 2014."

Hreitan

Baghdad Hospital in Hreitan was directly targeted on 25 December 2015 and severely damaged. A doctor and another medical worker at the hospital told Amnesty International that a Russian or Syrian warplane fired missiles directly at the hospital, injuring 10 medical staff and at least 20 civilian patients, and leaving the facility in ruins. Medical worker Ali Hamedo was killed by the strike. The hospital has been unable to function since.

Doctor "Abdullah" (his real name has been withheld for security reasons) from Hreitan said: "Not even underground hospitals are safe. We moved the hospital underground a year ago assuming that it will be protected from the airstrikes. But the missiles were able to penetrate the underground levels. We have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to equip the hospital and provide treatment to the injured and sick but now Hreitan has no more hospitals."

A family from Hreitan who fled the attacks on 6 February told Amnesty International that they were the last ones to leave. The father said, "I have lived in Hreitan all my life and I have never seen it deserted. Very few families remained because they can't leave the city. The airstrikes destroyed the city's infrastructure including hospitals so there are no more services for us to be able to survive."

According to the Russian Ministry of Defence, Russian warplanes carried out strikes on "terrorists' objects" in Aleppo between 4 and 11 February but denied targeting civilians. The Russian authorities continue to deny killing any civilians or damaging any civilian infrastructure in Syria, despite strong evidence indicating many hundreds of such deaths and multiple attacks on civilian buildings. On 11 February, the Russian Ministry of Defence accused the US-led coalition of being responsible for the attacks on the northern part of Aleppo Countryside, an accusation denied by the USA. According to the US Central Command (CENTCOM), the US-led coalition carried out strikes on the armed group calling itself Islamic State in Mar'a in the northern part of Aleppo Countryside between 1 and 4 February.

Copyright notice:  Copyright Amnesty International
China: Congress Should Reform Rights-Abusing Laws

Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 3 March 2016 Cite as Human Rights Watch, China: Congress Should Reform Rights-Abusing Laws, 3 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56d957e14.html [accessed 22 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.

China's National People's Congress (NPC) should reject or revise laws that undermine domestic and international human rights protections, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to NPC Chairman Zhang Dejiang. The NPC, the highest organ of state power in China, is to begin its annual meeting in Beijing on March 5, 2016.

"Since Xi Jinping became president, the Chinese government's assault on free expression, peaceful protest, and human rights defenders has been unrelenting," said Sophie Richardson, China director. "Any efforts the National People's Congress can make to reject rights-eroding legislation will be a glimmer of hope for people across China."

Human Rights Watch urges the NPC to:

Announce an intention to bring the State Security Law and the Counterterrorism Law, both passed in 2015, and the draft Cybersecurity Law into conformity with international law;

Reject the draft Foreign NGO Management Law, which would place broad and vague limitations on foreign organizations, among other restrictions;

Announce an intention to revise Detention Center Regulations and the Criminal Procedure Law to minimize torture in detention;

Seek revisions to the draft Charity Law to meet international standards; and

Ratify the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights.

The National People's Congress consists of approximately 2,900 delegates who come from a tightly restricted pool of candidates vetted by the Chinese Communist Party, and who are elected by representatives of provincial-level people's congresses whose members have been similarly selected.

While it is regarded as having little or no authority over the Communist Party, the real power-holding institution, NPC members have on occasion expressed their dissatisfaction with the government or pressed for revisions to proposed legislation on issues such as property rights.

"The National People's Congress has the opportunity to reject laws that undermine China's constitution and international law," Richardson said. "Will it stand up for those rights - or approve further erosions?"

Copyright notice:  Copyright, Human Rights Watch
What you need to know about Powerball and the $580 million jackpot
Come downtown Tuesday to the "Illumination Celebration" and see the Storybook Capital of Texas get lit up.

The new lighting design features trees filled with twinkling lights and special lighting for the various Storybook Sculptures all over downtown.

The celebration will begin at 6 p.m., with food trucks selling tasty goodies and students from the Abilene Independent School District performing at various locations. Glow sticks will be the key accessory for the evening.

The switch will be flipped at 7:30 p.m.

The Abilene Cultural Affairs Council has created a nighttime version of the GooseChase mobile scavenger hunt app just for the event.

A crew from PBS will be on hand to film the celebration for a five-minute segment on the public television show "Voices in America," hosted by James Earl Jones.

Glow-in-the-dark items will be available for purchase at the event.

Anyone donating $25 to the Abilene Arts Alliance Star Light Star Bright campaign will receive a "glow party pack" to use during the celebration. To donate, visit the Abilene Cultural Affairs Council office, 1101 N. First St., or www.abilenecac.org.

Glow packs will be available for pickup at the event.
Lou David Allen literally may be a rocket scientist, but he likes to keep his presentations down to earth.

So, the general public need not fear that his upcoming Chautauqua Learning Series talk, "Our Sun and Galaxy," will be so far out there that it's incomprehensible.

"It's not going to be quantum mechanics," Allen said. "I can tell you that."

Allen, who lives in Merkel, will speak at 11 a.m. March 12 in the Rode Gallery at Buffalo Gap Historic Village. Admission is free.

Allen, who earned a bachelor's degree in physics from Abilene Christian University in 1962, likes to keep his talks fun as well an enlightening. He will show slides and use everyday objects, such as pickups, to illustrate the power of the sun.

After graduating from ACU, Allen immediately landed a job with NASA. It was during the space race with the Russians, he said, when NASA was hiring as many engineers as it could, even recent college graduates.

He later worked for General Dynamics and Raytheon before returning to ACU to get a master's degree in business administration. Today, he still tinkers with ideas and has a patent with NASA. In a previous interview, Allen explained that even though he left his science career behind years ago, he didn't leave science behind.

"Once a scientist," he said, "always one."

IF YOU GO

What: Chautauqua Learning Series, featuring Lou David Allen

When: 11 a.m.-noon March 12

Where: Buffalo Gap Historic Village, R. Lee and Ann Rode Gallery

Admission: Free; fore information call 325-572-3365 or visit www.tfhcc.com


Coach Valentine's legacy honored with park rededication Friday

Under new policies adopted in December by the city's parks board, the name change will stand for at least 50 years.
A familiar face to many Abilenians will introduce the first speaker in the 2016 Texas Author Series program Monday at the Abilene Public Library.

Carl Trusler, who retired in 2013 from his longtime medical practice in Abilene, will introduce the speaker, Tom Hutton, also a retired physician and a medical school professor. The two men were classmates at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, graduating in 1972.

Trusler noted that the title of Hutton's book, "Carrying the Black Bag: A Neurologist's Bedside Tales," pretty well dates both of them.

"No doctor carries a black bag anymore," Trusler said.

Hutton, who is retired from the faculty of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine, lives on his ranch near Fredericksburg. His talk will begin at noon Monday in the second-floor auditorium of the main library at 202 Cedar St. An optional lunch will begin at 11:45 a.m. The program is free; the lunch is $5. Guests may bring their own lunch.

Hutton will kick off the annual Texas Author Series, which will include three more talks: March 28, and April 11 and 25.

Trusler said Hutton had such a good reputation as a neurologist that he would refer his own patients to Hutton. The two shared the same values as physicians, including actually touching patients, Trusler said.

Even though technology is a major part of modern medicine, Trusler said, a trust is built between doctor and patient by physical touch.

Hutton's book is a collection of stories about serving patients during his 30-plus years as a physician.

A synopsis of the book at Amazon.com says the book is part memoir and "part homage" to his patients. "'Carrying the Black Bag' invites readers to experience what it is like to be a doctor's hands, eyes and heart," according to the synopsis.

Trusler, who worked with Hospice of the Big Country for several years after retiring from his practice, said he is looking forward to introducing a former classmate and doctor who practiced when black bags still were in use.

"He's a gentle person," Trusler said. "He is one of God's people."

IF YOU GO:

What: Texas Author Series

Texas Author Series When: Monday, lunch at 11:45 a.m., program at noon

Monday, lunch at 11:45 a.m., program at noon Where: Abilene Public Library, 202 Cedar St., second-floor auditorium

Abilene Public Library, 202 Cedar St., second-floor auditorium Speaker: Tom Hutton, "Carrying the Black Bag: A Neurologist's Bedside Tales" Hutton, retired neurologist and professor at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine, lives on a ranch near Fredericksburg.

Tom Hutton, "Carrying the Black Bag: A Neurologist's Bedside Tales" Hutton, retired neurologist and professor at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine, lives on a ranch near Fredericksburg. Admission: Free; lunch, $5, or bring your own

UPCOMING PROGRAMS

March 28: Pam Morsi, romance novelist, "Mr. Right Goes Wrong"

April 11: Chuck Bailey, Austin lawyer, "Texas Political Memorabilia" and "Picturing Texas Politics: A Photographic History from Sam Houston to Rick Perry"

April 25: Nicole Sparks and Jenna Marwitz, of Brownwood, authors of slow cooker cookbooks, including "It's Our Crockin' Life"
Since New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has endorsed Donald Trump, he has been:

Humiliated by video showing Trump ordering him onto the plane and telling him to 'go home.'

Condemned by his former finance co-chair Meg Whitman. ('The Governor is mistaken if he believes he can now count on my support, and I call on Christie's donors and supporters to reject the Governor and Donald Trump outright. I believe they will. For some of us, principle and country still matter.')

Excoriated for his disastrous TV interview on Sunday. Phrases like 'train wreck,' 'off the rails' and 'disaster' were used to describe his appearance.

In other words, if it had not been obvious to him before this weekend, his political career is essentially over. He has gone from someone admired for his political talent to the object of derision as an errand boy for someone who espouses fascistic ideas (e.g., punishing the press) and openly displays his bigotry (e.g., retweeting a Mussolini quote). Christie is now signed up with the man who the Anti-Defamation League on Sunday was compelled to call out for pretending initially not to know who David Duke is:

'The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is providing information on extremists and hate groups to all of the presidential candidates, including Donald Trump, who earlier today in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper indicated he did not know anything about notorious former Klansman and racist hatemonger David Duke. Last week, Duke endorsed Trump's candidacy for president.

'David Duke is a notorious anti-Semite and racist and his name is synonymous with bigotry,' said Jonathan A. Greenblatt, ADL's CEO. 'Duke is a perennial candidate for elected office and perhaps America's best known racist and anti-Semite. He is a former Imperial Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. His message is racist, anti-Semitic, and anti-American to its very core, and he's clearly exploiting Mr. Trump's candidacy to get publicity for himself and his hateful ideas.' ...

'The last thing we want is for white supremacists to use this campaign to mainstream their bigotry,' Mr. Greenblatt said. 'It is imperative for elected leaders and political candidates like Mr. Trump and others in the public eye to disavow haters such as Duke and the other white supremacists who have endorsed his candidacy. By not disavowing their racism and hatred, Trump gives them and their views a degree of legitimacy. Even if it is unintentional on his part, he allows them to feel that they are reaching mainstream America with their message of intolerance.'

Christie perhaps fancied himself as Trump's VP or attorney general. If he did, he was not thinking clearly. To begin with, it is less and less likely with each passing day that Trump will ever become president. Moreover, Christie himself has so soiled his reputation that it is doubtful he would ever be confirmed for a Cabinet post. And with his awful Sunday interview, Trump will undoubtedly look for a different running mate if it gets to that.

Trump has rendered Christie an isolated, pathetic object of scorn. Other Republicans should take note.

Jennifer Rubin wrote this for The Washington Post.
Jodey Arrington, Lubbock

My family and I are extremely grateful for the strong support we've received from tens of thousands of people all across the 19th District of Texas. We have been humbled by the outpouring of support for our message of strong leadership and conservative West Texas values.

We've met many wonderful and hard-working people from the Big Country who want and deserve a strong voice for our values and interests in our nation's capital. Our strategy from the outset was to focus on the grass roots - getting support from folks in communities throughout the district as well as endorsements from local leaders and organizations. In response, we received more grass-roots financial support from more individuals throughout the district than all other candidates combined. We earned the support of seven mayors.

I placed a priority on running this race in a manner that reflects the values of West Texans, and I'm proud to say we've stuck to that despite a flood of high-priced false attack ads and misleading campaign tactics. We have told the truth and run on my record without resorting to falsehoods to tear down opponents. I will not resort to deceptive campaign tactics and false claims to win this race. However, I will hold my opponent accountable for not being honest with the voters.

Washington is broken and in need of conservative leaders who are not afraid to stand up for the constitutional principles that have made our country exceptional. Anne and I are grateful for your trust and support and look forward to working with you during this runoff to ensure we are electing a U.S. representative who truly believes in strengthening our nation and empowering We the People.
Today in history: On March 4, 1829, Andrew Jackson, the new president of the United States, is host of an open house at the White House. Jackson had been sworn in and addressed Congress before returning to the White House to meet other politicians, celebrities and citizens. The crowd grew to 20,000. The gathering got out of hand with dishes and crystal broken and the floors muddied as people sought out the president. To get people out, tubs of juice and whiskey were set out on the lawn. Still, the tradition continued until assassination attempts changed policy.
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Huang Qi, founder of the Chengdu-based rights website Tianwang, was detained on Feb. 18 en route to a region worst-hit by the devastating 2008 Sichuan earthquake, alongside two fellow activists. He had plans to investigate claims of an illegal government land grab, as well as an appointment to meet three Japanese journalists writing about the post-quake reconstruction program. Huang, who has already served several stints in jail linked to his rights activism, was released on Feb. 22, and spoke to Xin Lin of RFA's Mandarin Service about his experiences:



RFA: Can you tell us what happened to you on the night of Feb. 18?



Huang Qi: On Feb. 18, I went with three Japanese journalists to Longchi township near [quake-hit] Dujiangyan. They wanted to investigate various problems with the post-quake reconstruction program. At about 9.00 a.m. on the second day of our drip, we arrived at the home of [activist and petitioner] Yang Xiuqiong in Mianyang, to speak to some of the people protesting the government's seizure of Yang's land under the pretext of post-quake reconstruction, and the detention of her husband in a 'political study class.'"



At about 10.00 p.m., five security guards burst into Yang's home and accused us of holding an illegal assembly. As soon as I heard this, I knew they were going to frame us for something. I had expected they would use tactics like these to stop us from carrying out an in-depth expose of problems with the post-quake reconstruction process.



None of these five people would show us any ID, although they flashed their red armbands at us, and said they were in the citizens' security brigade, and that they should count as official ID. I said that was ridiculous, and that police enforcing the law should be able to show official identification, not to mention paperwork relating to questioning and arrest. Then I proceeded to call the police and report them.



When the police picked up the phone, the security guards made as if to run outside, but Yang wouldn't let them leave, and shut the door, barring their exit. Less than a minute later, more than 40 riot police and plainclothes officers charged into the apartment and surrounded it. They had called them up, saying that there was a fight, so they sent in the riot squad. We were taken to the Chengjiao police station in Mianyang and locked up.



[Later], three state security police came from Chengdu to take me back there, and three state security police also came from her hometown to escort her back [there]. She remains on forced vacation near the Xichang satellite base to this day.



On the way back, the Japanese journalists told us that they had also been detained on the same night by more than 20 people as they were interviewing residents in the worst-hit disaster area of Beichuan county, and also taken back to Chengdu.



RFA: Why did the state security police get involved?



Huang Qi: The Chinese government pays great attention to the post-quake reconstruction program in the wake of the May 12, 2008 earthquake. Everyone knows that, 28 days after the quake hit, the authorities sentenced me to five years' imprisonment. They were mostly afraid that I would blow the whistle on corruption surrounding the tofu buildings scandal [which led to the widespread collapse of school buildings], but also particularly the land grabs and forced demolitions and evictions carried out by local government in the name of post-quake reconstruction, not to mention their detention and imprisonment of any farmers who complained about it.



These were the issues that the Japanese journalists wanted to cover on this trip, to do a comparison between post-quake reconstruction in Japan and in China. I think that if the figures and the stories had emerged, then people would have begun to have doubts about the post-quake reconstruction program in China, and that's the main reason why the authorities moved in at such speed.



RFA: Will the Japanese journalists continue to investigate this issue?



Huang Qi: They won't be continuing with this work, although the authorities here haven't the clout to repatriate them to Japan. The government has acted against international law here. My belief is that the authorities don't want to shout this affair to the skies, so perhaps the Japanese media will pursue the story. Since the earthquake, we at Tianwang have seen more than a dozen of our colleagues go to jail, but we won't give up. The main issue is that the post-quake reconstruction program has created a very large group of new victims in Sichuan province.



Reported by Xin Lin for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated by Luisetta Mudie.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspects a test-fire of a new large-caliber multiple launch rocket system at an undisclosed location in photo released by the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on March 4, 2016.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Friday ordered his military to be in "pre-emptive attack" footing, ready to use its nuclear weapons at any time, ratcheting up tensions after the U.N. Security Council imposed harsh new sanctions on Pyongyang for its nuclear program.

The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted Kim as stressing "the need to get the nuclear warheads deployed for national defense always on standby so as to be fired any moment.



"Now is the time for us to convert our mode of military counteraction toward the enemies into a pre-emptive attack one in every aspect," he said as he supervised military exercises, according to KCNA.

The fresh torrent of hostile rhetoric was condemned by diplomats, while experts voiced doubts that North Korea has developed the capacity to miniaturize a nuclear warhead and put it on a missile that can reach the United States.

Inside North Korea, meanwhile, state media are reporting a groundswell of volunteers to join the nations military.

KCNA TV reported that more than 1.5 million North Korean youth voluntarily enlisted in response to a call from the military issued a month or more earlier than the normal April-May recruiting season, and that leader Kim Jong Un sent out letter of appreciation for the volunteers.

Senior-high students and collegians have pledged to hold the guns in order to protect the fatherland and to defend the revolution. Even the retired soldiers working in factories and farmlands not to mention a large number of KWP workers and youngsters have been asked to re-enlist to the active service, said a recent state TV report.

Local sources told RFAs Korean Service, however, said the students were in fact forcibly drafted.

The central government instructed students and youngsters to hold pep rallies stressing the tense political situation surrounding the country, a source in North Hamgyung Province told RFA on Tuesday.

Who would want to join the military out of their own will if not for the order from the government? the source asked.

The source added that under North Koreas system, local authorities could only host such a rally with guidance from the central government, which dictates even the smallest details including the size and procedure of events encouraging voluntary enlistment.

The residents forcibly mobilized to those events in cold weather wouldnt dare utter a word of complaint, the source said.

The people have been struggling to complete their assignments under 70-day Battle in preparation for the 7th Korean Workers Party Congress (in May), but their suffering has doubled or tripled due to the tense political situation, the source added.

Military recruiting, which normally occurs from April through May, started about a month earlier this year, a second source in North Hamgyung Province told RFA.

If you dont join the military at a time they are being mobilized by the order from the top, you will be branded as reactionary, and you and your family will suffer, added the source.

Thats why 1.5 million people have joined the military said the source.

Reported by Jieun Kim for RFAs Korean Service. Translated by Hee Jung Yang. Written in English by Paul Eckert.
Aung San Suu Kyi (C), chairwoman of Myanmar's National League for Democracy (NLD) party, leaves parliament after the new lower house session in Naypyidaw, Feb. 1, 2016.

More than half of the cabinet members in Myanmars new government led by the National League for Democracy (NLD) will be non-party intellectuals, NLD senior member and spokesman Win Htein said Friday.

He made the remark following a meeting the NLDs central executive committee at the Naypyidaw home of party chairwoman Aung San Suu Kyi to discuss the appointments of chief ministers in the countrys 14 states and divisions, upcoming transfer of power from current President Thein Sein to an NLD leader, and formation of a new government.

Win Htein also said the NLD-led administration will reduce the number of ministries from 36 to 21 or 22, and that some civil servants may be required to undergo additional job training.

As for the appointment of chief ministers in the countrys 14 states and regions, he pointed out that the constitution specifies the posts should be filled by members from the party that wins the elections.

The NLD, which swept general elections last November by beating the army-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), already has internally nominated members of parliament for state and regional government leadership roles, he said. None, however, has been identified by name.

Although the NLD won the majority of seats in most parts of the country in the elections, it failed to do so in western Rakhine state and northern Shan state, which have strong ethnic parties.

The Arakan National Party (ANP) won the majority of seats in the Rakhine state parliament, while the USDP took most of the seats in Shan state, followed by the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD).

Aung San Suu Kyi, however, has appointed NLD lawmaker Nyi Pu as chief minister of western Myanmars Rakhine state, Win Htein said.

The NLD, which doesnt have many members in war-torn Shan state, will consider appointing the chief minister from parties that are strong there, he said.

Rakhine party splits

The move, however, has caused consternation among members of two ethnic political parties in restive Rakhine state.

The ANP has said it will stand as an opposition party to the NLD-led government if it its members are not allowed to lead the provincial government, and that it will end its political alliance with United Nationalities Alliance (UNA), a coalition of eight ethnic political parties that want a federal political system giving more autonomy to ethnic states.

The ANP, which represents the ethnic Rakhine people in Rakhine state and Yangon region, was established in January 2014 after the Arakan League for Democracy (ALD) and Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP) agreed to merge.

Our party made this decision to terminate our political alliance with United Nationalities Alliance (UNA) and already announced what we decided, said ANP general secretary Tun Aung Kyaw. Thats why we have no reason to correct our decision.

The ALD, which disagrees with the ANP's stance, said on Friday that it would hold a press conference to inform the public about the rift.

Vote for president

Meanwhile, the upper and lower houses of the National Assembly and the bodys military deputies are preparing to submit their nominations for president on March 10.

A vote by the combined houses will determine the next leader of the country, and the two runners-up will become vice presidents.

Aung San Suu Kyi, whose two sons are British nationals, as was her late husband, cannot become president because the constitution bars anyone with foreign relatives from holding the office. She has, nevertheless, said she will be above the president.

The ceremony during which power will be transferred to the new president will be held at parliament, but Thein Sein will not attend, Win Htein said.

We want to hold presidential power-transfer ceremony simply according to the constitution, and we dont want to spend too much money on it, he said.

He also said the NLD would host a dinner that evening with artists, actors and government ministers and vice ministers.



Reported by Win Ko Ko Latt and Wai Mar Tun for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
A Tibetan spiritual leader urged Tibetans on Friday not to self-immolate in protest against Chinese rule, following the recent deaths of two Tibetans who set themselves ablaze and died.

This week, two young Tibetan children, one in Tibet and one in India, have burned themselves to death, Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje, one of two claimants to the title of 17th Karmapa, the head of the Karma Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism, wrote in a post on his Facebook page.

These events pain me deeply, he said. I could not bear to think of it when I heard the news, and for that reason I want to make a request of my fellow Tibetans at home and abroad.

"I ask all of you to continue living good and healthy lives," he said.

The first death by self-immolation occurred Monday when Kalsang Wangdu, an 18-year-old Tibetan monk from Maretsokha Aryaling monastery, burned himself to death to protest Chinese rule near his monastery in Kardze (in Chinese, Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefectures Nyagrong (Xinlong) county, according to a source in the region.

The same day, Dorje Tsering, a 16-year-old Tibetan student living in India, set himself on fire to protest Chinas policies and rule in Tibetan areas after telling his parents he hoped to do something for the cause of Tibet, a Tibetan source in exile told RFA. He was hospitalized but died of cardiac arrest late Thursday, Agence France-Presse reported.

He was the eighth Tibetan to self-immolate outside China since 1998, according to the London-based rights group Free Tibet.

The Karmapa noted that despite the nearly 150 Tibetans inside Tibet and abroad who have self-immolated to make a strong statement against Chinese rule and call for Tibets independence, no one in the international community has responded to those acts in ways that help the Tibetan cause.

Within Tibetan society, people will applaud them for a few days, saying, Hes a hero, Shes a heroine or That is incredible, he wrote. But that does not help."

It is important to deeply consider the physical pain of those who set themselves on fire and the mental suffering of the relatives they leave behind, as well as whether this will help or harm Tibet, immediately, within a short while, or in the long term, he said.

Sense of community

The Karmapa implored his fellow Tibetans to increase their sense of community and abandon their attachment to old ways, a reference to self-immolations.

The Tibetan land is vast, but the Tibetan people are few in number, he said. Therefore, it is critical that every individual Tibetan remain alive in order to preserve the land and people of Tibet.

In particular, most of those who have immolated themselves have been young," he said. "They are our hope and lifeblood for the future. This non-stop expenditure of life is a severe drain on Tibet as a whole.

There have been 144 self-immolations by Tibetans living in China since a wave of fiery protests began in 2009.

Most protests feature demands for Tibetan freedom and the return of spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who has lived in exile in India since an abortive uprising in 1959. A handful of self-immolation protests have been over local land or property disputes.

Reported by Rigdhen Dolma for RFA's Tibetan Service.


A large part of Moldova's military equipment dates back to Soviet times and is in urgent need of replacement, Defense Minister Anatolie Nosatii told RFE/RL, adding that the money allocated by the government for defense amounts to a small sum but is still important for its badly underfunded and underequipped army.

Moldova, one of Europe's poorest countries, was part of the Soviet Union until 1991, when it declared independence. It has a long border with Ukraine and has been hosting hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees since the start of Moscow's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

Russia has some 1,500 troops in Moldova's Moscow-backed separatist region of Transdniester, a sliver of land sandwiched between Moldova proper and Ukraine.

"Some 90 percent [of our military equipment] is of Soviet origin and dates back to the 1960s to the 1980s.... You cannot modernize a ZIL-131 [military truck] or an antiaircraft system made in the 1970s," Nosatii said.

The pro-European government of President Maia Sandu accelerated its EU bid after Russia invaded Ukraine and in June was given candidate status alongside Ukraine.

Moldova's armed forces consists of 6,500 professional personnel, while 2,000 conscripts are being recruited annually for compulsory military service. The military also employs 2,000 civilians as auxiliary personnel.

Nosatii told RFE/RL that the 0.5 percent of the gross domestic product allocated for defense by the government -- roughly $25.5 million -- while small, is still very important for the implementation of modernization projects.

Nosatii also spoke about the equipment shortages that the Moldovan military faces because of insufficient funding.

The Defense Ministry covers only partially the contents of the so-called "emergency backpack" that contract soldiers, who account for the bulk of Moldova's armed forces, must have at the ready for unexpected situations, Nosatii said.

Nosatii, who was appointed in August last year as defense minister in Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita's reformist government, told RFE/RL that his ministry's current priority is to provide every member of the armed forces with one of these individual first-aid medical kits.

Moldova has been cooperating with foreign partners, including NATO, in its efforts to supply the first-aid kits to its military personnel, Nosatii said.

Besides the first-aid kit, the emergency backpack must also include personal items such as underwear, socks, gloves, a woolly hat, food, and a flashlight, Nosatii said, adding that the state can only partially cover the cost of such equipment.

"For example," Nosatii told RFE/RL, "if the state provides four T-shirts [for daily usage] but the backpack has to cover seven days of deployment, the remainder of three or more T-shirts must be bought by the soldier."

Nosatii said that supplying Moldova's small military with equipment has been a permanent underlying problem but that the ministry has obtained aid from Moldova's external partners.

"You can't demand that a soldier perform his duties when he doesn't have what he needs, when he's cold, lacks military equipment, or is forced to buy it himself," Nosatii said.

Military equipment donated by Moldova's Western partners this year consists of protective gear such as helmets, flak jackets, and waterproof and winter clothing.

Earlier this month, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht visited Moldova and said Berlin is prepared to provide drones and other military equipment to Chisinau.

Lambrecht also said the German Army is ready to provide military training to Moldova.

She said Berlin also realizes the importance of supporting Moldova in the wake of energy shortages stemming from the war in Ukraine.
Leaders from Britain, France, Russia, and Germany pledged to work toward a more substantial peace process to resolve the crisis in Syria, even as a U.S.-Russian-brokered truce began to show signs of unraveling and a major Syrian opposition group dismissed the chance for new talks.

A spokesman for British Prime Minister David Cameron said the British leader discussed a road map for Syria in a March 4 conference call with his counterparts from Moscow, Berlin, and Paris.

The Kremlin said in a statement after the call that the four leaders had agreed to support a road map for resolving Syria's crisis, as well as the need to observe the truce conditions while continuing to fight against terrorists in Syria.

Meanwhile, a major Syrian insurgent group said the Syrian government was mobilizing forces to capture more territory, and a cease-fire was impossible while Damascus and its allies kept up attacks.

The comments were made by Jaish al-Islam, an influential player in the Syrian opposition, and shows how much the opposition is at odds with its Western backers over the success of the truce, which came into effect February 27.

The truce does not include terrorist groups such as the Islamic State and the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front.

The agreement has slowed the pace of the war, but rebels fighting Assad say the government has kept up attacks on strategically important frontlines.

The opposition has yet to say whether it will attend peace talks planned for March 9.

Mohamad Alloush, head of Jaish al-Islam's political office, told Reuters that regime forces had taken take new areas using "all types of weapons, particularly planes and barrel bombs in some areas.

His group, in a separate statement, said the war had not stopped as far as it was concerned, and that a cease-fire was not possible while "militias and states kill our people.

The agreement was the first of its kind during the conflict that has killed more than 250,000 people and sent millions of refugees fleeing across the Middle East and Europe.

UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said March 3 that the agreement was holding but remained fragile. The U.S. State Department also said March 3 there had been no significant violations in the preceding 24 hours.

The Syrian government has made significant territorial gains against rebels since January 1, backed by Russian air power and fighters from Iran and the Lebanese group Hezbollah.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, and BBC


ASTANA -- Beijing has handed over to Kazakhstan four Kazakh citizens who were convicted in China on charges of drug trafficking and murder.

Kazakhstan's Prosecutor-General told RFE/RL on March 4 that the Kazakh citizens will serve their prison terms in Kazakhstan.

The convicts' identities and prison terms were not provided.

The office representatives said though that 22-year-old Kazakh woman Aqzharqyn Turlybaeva, who was arrested in China in March 2014 and sentenced to life in prison for illegal drug trafficking, was not among the convicts handed over to Astana.

A Kazakh-Chinese agreement on exchanging citizens sentenced to prison terms was signed in 2011 and ratified by Kazakhstan in November 2013 and by China in July 2015.

Since January 2015, Chinese authorities have executed a Tajik citizen Hasan Yusufov and Kyrgyz national Svetlana Kulbaeva, who had been convicted of drug trafficking.


Russia's escalation of hostilities in Ukraine this week, just as a cease-fire in Syria was kicking in, was as cynical as it was predictable.

We've seen this movie before, after all -- albeit in reverse.

When Russia intervened in Syria's civil war back in September, it was accompanied by a de-escalation in Donbas.

Moscow's bait-and-switch tactics illustrate that Ukraine and Syria are two fronts in one war Vladimir Putin's regime is waging on the West and on the rules-based post-Cold War international order.

Putin wants a world where might makes right; One divided into spheres of influence in which great powers decide the fates of small nations.

And he wants to make the world safe for dictators -- whether they be Ukraine's Viktor Yanukovych or Syria's Bashar al-Assad.

As Kadri Liik of the European Council on Foreign Relations wrote recently, "he wants to win his ideological debate with the West, by showing that democratic regime change and humanitarian interventions sow chaos."

In Ukraine, he is trying to demonstrate his mastery over the former Soviet space. And in Syria he is trying to lay claim to the mantle of world power.

And any de-escalation on one of these fronts, will invariably be accompanied by an escalation on the other.

Putin is at war with the West, and he is not going to stop until he gets what he wants -- or until he is defeated.

Keep telling me what you think on the Power Vertical's Twitter feed and on our Facebook page.
Progress was seen but no breakthrough made during talks aimed at jumpstarting a fragile peace deal in Ukraine, ending with Moscow and Kyiv failing to agree on a proposal to hold elections in eastern Ukraine this year.

Following the multiparty talks in Paris on March 3, Russia said it was prepared to support the election proposal presented by Germany and France. But Ukraine quashed early optimism by saying polls would not possible until security was established.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, who described the four-hour meeting as "frank, direct, and without holding back," announced that the talks had underlined the importance of adopting an electoral law to hold elections in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region in June.

But when asked by journalists if there had been a breakthrough, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin responded by saying: No, I don't have that impression."

Klimkin said Ukraine continues to insist that all commitments for a cease-fire and withdrawal of weapons be carried out before such elections are held.

"We must be able to ensure these elections are organized safely; we need our territory to be secure. Without security we can't deliver on anything further," Klimkin added.

Kyiv has long insisted there must be a total cessation of hostilities in the country's east, where Ukraine has battled Russia-backed separatists since early 2014, before it will pass the laws needed to authorize elections there.

Although violence in the east has diminished, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has reported sporadic violations by both sides of the cease-fire established by the Minsk II agreement, which was signed in the Belarusian capital in February 2015 by Ukraine, Russia, the separatists, and the OSCE.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was prepared to push separatists in the east to abide by the cease-fire and participate in the polls. But he said Ukraine's refusal to go along with any hard deadline thwarted a consensus on the matter.

Lavrov said the group agreed on beginning mine clearance in 12 areas in the conflict zone, and banning all firing drills and military exercises near the contact line.

"This will reduce the risk of provocations, the risk of unexpected or unintentional incidents. These are good agreements that need to be implemented," he said.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier expressed frustration after the negotiations in Paris, saying he was "not satisfied with the way Kyiv and Moscow are operating the negotiations here... I'm afraid the situation in eastern Ukraine really isn't being viewed seriously enough... It can escalate again at any time."

A Western diplomat said France and Germany would continue to push Ukraine to adopt elections laws and hold polls in the first half of the year.

"Failure to reach a consensus on elections does not mean that there is no progress at all," the unnamed diplomat said.

During a visit to Ukraine last month, Ayrault and Steinmeier called on the government to pursue the legal and constitutional reforms needed to allow local elections to take place in the east.

However, a political crisis has been consuming Kyiv's attention, and aides say the French and German ministers have begun to worry that political dysfunction is preventing Kyiv from delivering on its commitment to hold elections in the east.

Beyond the contentious issue of holding elections in the east, the four top diplomats agreed to "the release and exchange of all prisoners and people held in illegal detention between now and April 30," Ayrault said after the Paris talks.

They also agreed to establish by April 30 a mechanism to "prevent and settle incidents connected with cease-fire violations," as well as ensure access to the conflict zone by truce monitors."

The Paris meeting was called to carry out the Minsk II accord, which established a cease-fire and called for elections and other measures to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine that has claimed more than 9,100 lives.

With reporting by AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa, TASS, and Interfax


It will take Ukraine at least 20 to 25 years to join the European Union and NATO, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said March 3.

"Ukraine will definitely not be able to become a member of the EU in the next 20 to 25 years, and not of NATO either," he said in a speech at The Hague.

While Juncker did not explain why Ukraine would have to wait so long, his speech was aimed at reassuring Dutch voters that this year's free-trade agreement between Ukraine and the EU was not a first step toward quickly joining the European Union.

Despite his prediction, the EU has been paving the way for visa-free travel to the bloc for Ukrainian citizens while providing Kyiv with a generous $40 billion bailout along with the United States and the International Monetary Fund to help it maintain economic stability amid a war with Russia-backed separatists.

NATO also sent a reassuring message to Ukraine last year by holding military exercises there in a show of force against Russia, which has repeatedly denounced the alliance's eastern expansion as a threat to its national security.

But Juncker's comments suggest that Ukraine's ambition to join Europe, frequently expressed by leaders in Kyiv, will not be fulfilled anytime soon.

Based on reporting by dpa and 112 International TV


A Lithuanian court has jailed a former military medical officer after finding him guilty of spying for neighboring Belarus.

The Vilnius district court sentenced Andrej Osurkov to three years in prison on March 4, ruling that Osurkov was paid by Minsk to provide information about Lithuania's armed forces to the Belarusian intelligence service for five years.

Osurkov was arrested in January 2014. He pleaded guilty.

In November, the same court sentenced a former employee of Lithuania's air traffic control service, Romualdas Lipskis, to three years and three months in prison after finding him guilty of spying for Belarus.

In 2014, Belarus sentenced two Belarusians to eight and 10 years on charges that they provided intelligence to Lithuania.

Based on reporting by Delfi and Interfax


A funny thing happened when the shaky ceasefire brokered by Russia and the United States kicked in this week in Syria.

Almost immediately, Moscow began re-escalating the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Pro-Moscow separatists increased their attacks near Luhansk, intensified their shelling of four villages in the Donetsk region, and moved 88 tanks up to the cease-fire line near Debaltseve.

It was all as cynical as it was predictable.

It's happened before, after all -- albeit in reverse: when Russia intervened in Syria's civil war back in September, it promptly de-escalated in Donbas.

Moscow's bait-and-switch tactics illustrate that Ukraine and Syria are two fronts in one war that Vladimir Putin's regime is waging on the West and on the post-Cold War international order.

Putin wants a world without rules, one where might makes right; One divided into spheres of influence in which great powers decide the fates of small nations.

WATCH: The Daily Vertical -- Putin's Bait And Switch

And he wants to make the world safe for dictators -- whether they be Serbia's Slobodan Milosevic, Ukraine's Viktor Yanukovych, Libya's Muammar Qaddafi, or Syria's Bashar al-Assad.

"The Russian president wants to win the ideological debate with the West, by showing that democratic regime changes and humanitarian interventions sow chaos, and that supporting 'legitimate' regimes can be a way of resolving crises more fruitfully," Kadri Liik, a senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, wrote recently.

This means propping up autocrats, like Assad. And when that fails, as was the case with Yanukovych, it means manufacturing counterrevolution and mayhem.

In this sense, Putin has conflated the pro-Western colored revolutions in Ukraine and Georgia with the chaos that erupted in the Middle East in the aftermath of Arab Spring.

Putin's antirevolutionary fervor, and his desire to establish Russia as a conservative bastion of traditional values, is reminiscent of the Holy Alliance, the partnership among the monarchies of Russia, Austria, and Prussia in the aftermath of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars.

Just as the Holy Alliance sought to protect the divine rights of kings, Putin is seeking to preserve what he sees as the inalienable right of autocrats to rule unhampered.

The difference, of course, is that in 1815, Russia's aims were largely shared by other European rulers and it had the staunch backing of two of the continent's strongest powers -- Prussia and Austria -- in its antirevolutionary crusade.

Today, the Kremlin's crusade is supported by...Marine Le Pen.

"Kremlin policy envisions a global struggle between sovereignty and outside interference, while the West prefers casting it as a clash between democracy and authoritarianism," political commentator Ivan Krastev, head of the Center for Liberal Strategies in Sofia, wrote in a recent commentary.

Ukraine and Syria also represent two steps in Putin's quest to restore what he sees as Russia's imperial greatness.

In Ukraine he is trying to demonstrate his mastery over the former Soviet space; in Syria he is trying to lay claim to the mantle of world power.

He needs both. And any de-escalation on one of these fronts, will invariably be accompanied by an escalation on the other.

Putin is at war with the West, and he is not going to stop until he gets what he wants -- or until he is defeated.

"Russia is seeking to undermine what the West considers the global institutional order, and not because it wants to return to Soviet 'imperialism,' but because it has chosen to champion the fight against worldwide revolution led, it believes, by Washington," Krastev wrote.

"That formula has the potential to provoke endless conflict."

NOTE TO READERS: Be sure to tune in to today's Power Vertical Podcast where I will discuss the topics raised in this post with guests Michael Weiss, Kadri Liik, and Andreas Umland.
Moldovas Constitutional Court has ruled that the president should be elected by popular vote, reversing a 16-year-old constitutional amendment that gave lawmakers the power to choose the head of state.

The decision was the latest chapter in the continuing political turmoil that erupted in 2009 when President Vladimir Voronin's second constitutional term expired.

The court made the decision in response to a complaint filed by opposition lawmakers, who argued that the amendment had violated the constitution.

Court President Alexandru Tanase said March 4 that the decision would help avoid a new crisis in the country, which has seen months of anticorruption protests prompted by the disappearance of more than $1 billion from three banks in 2014.

Under the decision, incumbent President Nicolae Timofti, who was elected in 2012 and completes his term later this month, will stay on afterwards as acting president until parliament sets a date for direct presidential elections.

Lawmakers will have up to two months to do that.

Protesters have been demanding early elections, a move that would favor pro-Moscow opposition parties.

Under the current system, a candidate needs 61-vote majority in Moldova's 101-seat parliament.
Iran's moderates and reformists have had nearly a week to celebrate their return from a decade of political marginalization in elections that recast the ranks of the parliament and the clerically dominated Assembly of Experts, which selects and oversees the supreme leader. But how much has really changed?

Here are nine things you should know about the results of the latest voting under Iran's tightly controlled, carefully vetted, political system.

Hard-Liners Were Dealt A Blow...

The results of the votes demonstrate a rejection of hard-line views and policies.

The message was particularly emphatic in the capital, where moderates won all 30 seats reserved for the parliament and 15 of 16 Tehran seats in the Assembly of Experts.

"Tehran is the political hub and the definitive center of power," says analyst Saeed Barzin, highlighting the psychological blow.

Two clerics known for their radical worldviews failed to keep their seats in the Assembly of Experts. Out is Ayatollah Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, a longtime supporter of hawkish ex-President Mahmud Ahmadinejad known for his hard-line views, including saying recently that people's votes don't matter in an Islamic system. Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, the current head of the Assembly of Experts and former judiciary chief who has opposed any loosening of social norms, was also defeated in Tehran. Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, who heads the powerful Guardians Council, snuck in at the bottom of the Assembly of Experts list from Tehran.



"People didn't trust those who don't value their vote and opinions, they voted for the opposite side," the popular news site Asriran.com argued on March 1.



"The election results were surely a big victory for moderate forces and a terrifying failure for hard-liners," Saeed Laylaz, an economist who advised former reformist President Mohammad Khatami, told the Financial Times.



...But They're Not Gone



Despite the embarrassing defeat in Tehran, hard-liners reportedly won 78 races for the 290-seat parliament. Moderate forces have so far been declared winners in 83 races and independents 60. The fate of a further 69 seats will be decided in run-offs expected in April.

Hard-liners remain in charge of powerful state bodies, including the judiciary and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) that are so actively involved in state repression. Those powerful bodies are unlikely to veer in the near future from their course of repression.

And while some reports question the health of the staunchly conservative and anti-Western supreme leader, 76-year-old Ali Khamenei, he continues to have the final say in Iran's religious and political affairs.

Reformists Are Not Back

The reformist gains are a boost for the pro-reform camp that was able to reconnect with voters. But it doesn't mean that Iran is seeing a reemergence of the reformist movement that rose to prominence with the 1997 election of Mohammad Khatami as president.

Many of the reformist camp's most prominent figures were disqualified from these elections. The reformists responded with a so-called List of Hope -- an alliance of reformists, moderate conservatives, and pragmatists supportive of the relative moderate who swept into the presidency in 2013, Hassan Rohani. Rohani has called publicly for greater rights for women, "the right to think freely" for Iranians in "their private lives," and greater Iranian diplomatic engagement with the world, although his progress has been confined to the last of those areas, most notably through the nuclear deal reached with world powers in July.

But Washington-based political analyst Ali Afshari says the reformists elected to parliament in these elections have a "weak" reformist agenda, suggesting they're not supportive of some of the reformist's more liberal and pro-democracy demands.



"It's not clear, after entering the parliament and facing pressure and threats from the establishment, to what extent they will remain firm on their stances," Afshari tells RFE/RL.



For instance, one reformist lawmaker-elect quickly came under pressure over a quote that appeared after the vote suggesting that women should be allowed to choose whether or not they want to wear the hijab, the Islamic head scarf. Parvaneh Salahshuri reportedly made the comment in a February 29 interview with Italian journalist Viviana Mazza but, following hard-line criticism, said that her comments had been "misunderstood." In an interview with the hard-line Tasnim news agency, Salahshuri said while there could be differences in the way the wearing of the hijab is enforced, "there is no doubt that it should be observed." Tasnim quoted her as saying that she "apologizes "and understands "the sensitivities" regarding the issue.



Parliament Looks More Moderate



The hard-liners appear to have lost their dominance in the parliament, where they have openly challenged Rohani's outreach efforts, including the nuclear deal and other engagement with the international community, as well as social policies they deem too liberal.

London-based analyst Barzin even speculates that the incoming parliament is likely to be controlled by pro-Rohani forces.



"The parliament will be split almost evenly between a pro-government camp, the [right-wing] principlists, and the independents. Each bloc has about 25 percent of the seats. Some 25 percent of the seats have gone to [run-offs in] the second round, and will probably again split between the three trends," Barzin says.



A more cooperative parliament could make it easier for Rohani to advance his economic agenda, pave the way for foreign investment, and bring modest social changes.

No Major Foreign Policy Changes Are Expected

Iran's role in Syria, where the IRGC is supporting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, is unlikely to change as the results of these elections.



On the other hand, analyst Barzin says the moderate win in parliament could positively affect Iran's ties with regional rival Saudi Arabia by empowering Rohani. The Saudis broke their ties with Iran after an attack by hard-liners on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, which itself followed the execution of a Shi'ite cleric accused of violent extremism, Nimr Al-Nimr, a move that was strongly condemned by Iranian officials.



With greater support at home, Rohani and his foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, will be in a stronger negotiating position for outreach efforts that have been criticized by hard-liners, argues Barzin.



"A stronger government should mean the possibility of [a] greater approach [to] a political solution [to] the crisis in relations with Saudi Arabia," says Barzin.



Despite Appearances, There's No Seismic Shift In The Assembly



The elimination from the Assembly of Experts of current Chairman Yazdi and the hawkish theologian Mesbah Yazdi is significant.

Farzan Sabet, a nuclear security fellow at Stanford University and managing editor of a website, IranPolitik.com, which focuses on Iranian politics, says hard-line defeats there are "a win for those who wanted a more moderate assembly."

Yet the assembly's composition doesn't appear to have undergone major changes, although it is perhaps too soon to tell.

"We don't fully understand what kind of new assembly we are looking at," Sabet says.

And anyways, Sabet adds, the results of any major shift "would mainly be seen in a potential future supreme-leader transition, rather than in the short term."

Analyst Ashfari cautions that "the majority of seats are still controlled by the hard-liners, those [on the list] of the influential Qom Society of Seminary Teachers, and those loyal to [Supreme Leader Ayatollah] Khamenei."

Ex-President Khatami Remains Influential



The reformist former President Mohammad Khatami (1997-2005) remains popular despite a media and public-speaking ban and and his failure to achieve many of his stated reform goals. He has been given credit for much of the support that reformist and moderate forces received in these elections, partly the result of a YouTube clip encouraging his supporters to vote for candidates from the "List Of Hope."



Tehran-based professor Sadegh Zibakalam noted that some of those elected to parliament from Tehran are relative unknowns deeply indebted to Khatami for their victory. "This shows the depth of people's trust in the senior figures of the reformist movement," Zibakalam said in the Iranian daily Arman on February 28.



Speaking on state-controlled television on March 1, moderate conservative lawmaker Ali Motahari (who won reelection from Tehran) said the long-running media ban on Khatami had resulted in the opposite of its intended effect. "Those who enforced the ban on Khatami did so to prevent him from influencing the elections. But we saw that this policy resulted in [Khatami] having a greater influence."

Elections Are Seen As The Only Option For Change

Many Iranians want to see a stronger economy, more jobs, good ties with Western countries, and more freedom. Rohani's election to the presidency three years ago and last week's gains by relative moderates highlight those desires.

The 63 percent turnout last week suggests that despite the heavily restricted nature of the Iranian elections and the sharply disputed reelection of Ahmadinejad in 2009 and subsequent crackdown, many Iranians still believe the ballot box is the only option to achieve gradual change in the Islamic republic. Some of last week's voters have said they cast their ballots knowing that the elections were not free but rather a choice between bad and worse.



Khamenei Wins, Too

The elections are seen as a victory for Rohani and the moderate forces that are supportive of last year's nuclear accord, under which Iran has significantly limited sensitive nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.



But Rand Corporation senior analyst Alireza Nader noted that they are also a win for Khamenei, who had urged even those who don't approve of him to vote. Nader said in a March 2 analysis that the sizable turnout "eases Khamenei's fear of his regime losing legitimacy in the face of economic malaise and popular dissatisfaction."

He added, citing popular disillusionment from 2009 election and the Green Movement whose leaders were subsequently put under house arrest: "Khamenei's concerns are framed by the massive 2009 Green uprising that shook the Iranian regime to its core. [Rohani's] presidency, the nuclear agreement, a slight improvement in the economy, and Iran's reduced international isolation and improved regional position have made the regime much more stable since 2009. And the recent elections add to this momentum."
OPEC members will meet with Russian producers around March 20 for new talks on an oil output freeze in a move that should boost oil prices, Nigeria's petroleum minister said on March 3.

The comments by Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu at a conference in Abuja, Nigeria, spurred a rise in Brent crude prices to about $37 a barrel on March 4.

Nigeria has been one of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' strongest advocates of an output freeze to lift prices.

"We're beginning to see the price of crude inch up very slowly," Kachikwu said. "But if the meeting that we're scheduling, it should happen in Russia, between the OPEC and non-OPEC producers, happens about March 20, we should see some dramatic price movement."

"Both the Saudis and the Russians, everybody is coming back to the table," he said. "I think we're very humbled today to accept that if we get to a price of $50, it will be celebrated. That's a target that we have."

The Russian Energy Ministry on March 3 said it was ready for talks, but the date and venue had yet to be agreed.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AFP, and Bloomberg


ST. PETERSBURG, Russia -- A concert scheduled in St. Petersburg by Russian rock musician Andrei Makarevich has been cancelled by city officials.

Makarevich, leader of the band Mashina Vremeni (Time Machine), wrote on Facebook on March 4 that administrators at the Lensovet Culture House cancelled his April 7 concert over what they described as threats from a group called "The Patriots of Leningrad."

Many of Makarevichs concerts have been cancelled across Russia since 2014 after he publicly criticized Russia's role in Ukraine.

Last year, pro-Kremlin lawmakers and commentators in Russia branded Makarevich a traitor for his public stance against Moscows forceful annexation of Crimea in 2014 and Russia's military support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Aleksandr Kobrinsky, a member of St. Petersburgs municipal legislature, criticized the cancellation of the concert.

Kobrinsky told RFE/RL that he has asked the city prosecutors office determine whether the cancellation was legal.


Serbia's President Tomislav Nikolic has dissolved the country's parliament and called for early elections on April 24 -- a move requested by Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic.

Nikolic announced the decision on March 4,a day after Vucic's government called for the move so that a new cabinet with a "clear mandate" can pursue reforms and put Serbia on the path to European Union membership.

Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) has been allied with several small parties in a coalition government.

It is well ahead in opinion polls, putting Vucic on track to lead the next government as well.

The SNS won 131 seats in Serbias 250-member parliament through elections in April 2014.

That was enough to control a majority in the legislature but short of the two-thirds majority needed to make constitutional changes required for Serbia's accession to the EU.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP


Turkey's prime minister was headed to Iran -- the first trip in two years by a top Turkish leader -- as the two regional rivals continue to jostle for advantage over Syria's chaos, and bolster trade ties.

Ahmet Davutoglu, who was to set to arrive in Tehran on March 4, was expected to discuss trade issues now that international sanctions imposed against Iran for its nuclear programs have been lifted.

But he was also expected to discuss the sharply different views between Ankara and Tehran on the Syrian crisis.

Iran's Shi'ite regime supports the Shi'ite leadership of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey is among his most outspoken critics and backs the Sunni opposition. Turkey is also close to Sunni Saudi Arabia, which has cut its diplomatic ties with Iran.

The visit comes amid a cessation of hostilities in Syria sponsored by the United States, Russia, and the United Nations which has largely held for the past week.

Despite their differences on Syria, Turkey and Iran have largely maintained cordial diplomatic relations over the years.

Based on reporting by Reuters
The trial of Nadia Savchenko, a Ukrainian pilot whose jailing in Russia has been condemned by Kyiv and the West, is drawing to a close. Savchenko, 34, is charged with complicity in the killing of two Russian journalists who died in shelling in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. She denies guilt and says she was seized in Ukraine and illegally transported to Russia.

Savchenko had been expected to make her final statement March 3, but the trial was abruptly adjourned until March 9 after bitter exchanges in the courtroom. The prepared text, which the hunger-striking Savchenko wrote out by hand, was posted on her Facebook page after the hearing. Here is RFE/RLs English translation.

I accept neither guilt, nor the verdict, nor the Russian court. In the case of a guilty verdict there will be no appeal. I want the whole democratic civilized world to realize that Russia is a third-world country, with a totalitarian regime and a petty tyrant-dictator, where human rights and international law are spat upon.



It is an absurd situation when those who abduct people subject them to torture then act as if they have a right to judge them! How can one talk about a fair trial? In Russia, there are no trials or investigations -- only a farce played out by Kremlin puppets. And I find it superfluous to waste time in my life participating in it!



And so there will be no appeal, but this is what will happen: After the verdict I will continue my hunger strike for 10 more days, until the verdict comes into force -- and this is regardless of the translation [of the verdict] into Ukrainian, because they can drag that out for a long time, too. In 10 days I will begin a dry hunger strike [refusing both food and water], and then Russia will have no more than 10 days to return me to Ukraine, where they abducted me! And I dont care how they justify it! I have heard that [Ukrainian President] Petro Oleksiyovych Poroshenko is quite adept at diplomacy. I hope his diplomatic skills will suffice to reach agreement in Russia with a certain idiot -- after all, he promised my mother that I would be home in time for the May holidays of 2015.



And while they are bargaining over me, my life will be draining away and Russia will return me to Ukraine in any case -- it will return me, dead or alive!



Throughout these 10 days, day and night, my sister will be standing at the jail gates, and she will wait and see whether they release me or not. And if you put her in jail, my mother will come and take her place. She is 77, will you put her in jail, too? In that case my friend will take her place, and after her -- Ukrainian after Ukrainian! And remember -- you cant shove everybody in here. And while my compatriots are standing there, simple, honest, and decent Russians living in nearby homes will bring them hot tea, sandwiches, and warm blankets, because each one of them understands that tomorrow their child could be in my place, in this prison of all peoples called Russia!



That is how Maidans (revolutions) start! Do you need that?! You fear it like the plague! So it is better for the Kremlin to return me to Ukraine as soon as possible, and alive!



And those in the world with democratic values ought to learn their history lessons before it's too late and remember that there was a time when Europe was tolerant toward Hitler, and America wasnt decisive enough, and this led to World War II. Putin is a tyrant with imperial manners and a Napoleon and Hitler complex put together. The [Russian] bear doesnt understand human language, he understands only the language of force. Therefore, unless we become more decisive and determine the right priorities on time, we will soon have World War III.



And I, as a politician now, wont shake Russia's hand in the political arena. It is not right to extend a hand to someone who kept you in handcuffs and your people in chains. But every time I make a political decision, I will always think how it would affect ordinary people, both in Ukraine and Russia. Because in Russia, in spite of everything, there are many honest, kind, and decent people.

Translated by Anna Shamanska


A 23-year-old Ukrainian is being held in custody in the United States after pretending for four years that he was a high school teenager.

Artur Samarin, who attended two years of college in Ukraine before traveling to the United States, overstayed his U.S. tourist visa in 2013.

But an American couple in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania helped him stay in the United States by obtaining a birth certificate and false social security number for him  using the name Asher Potts.

He became an honors student at Harrisburg High School and a student representative on the local school board.

He also participated in a school military program and was accepted to a prestigious flight school.

In fact, he so impressed community leaders that the mayor of Harrisburg in 2013 declared October 27 as "Asher Potts Day."

Samarin is now charged with identity theft and sexual assault after he confessed to having sex with an underage teenage girl.

Based on reporting by AP, CNN, and ABC-TV


The United Nations Children's Fund on March 3 expressed concern about the health of an elderly former staff member who was jailed in Iran last week.

Baquer Namazi was arrested on February 22 and taken to Tehran's Evin Prison, where his son Siamak has been jailed since October. Both Namazis are dual U.S.-Iranian citizens.

Baquer Namazi, now 80, was an Iranian provincial governor who served as UNICEF's representative in various African countries before retiring in 1996.

"Current and former UNICEF colleagues are deeply concerned about the health and well-being of Baquer," UNICEF said in a statement. "We hope he will be reunited soon with his wife and loved ones."

The elderly Namazi has a serious heart condition which requires special medication, his wife said.

Iran has not issued formal charges against either man. Friends of Siamak Namazi have said that he may have become a pawn in factional struggles among hardliners, pragmatists, and reformers.

Elections in Iran last week strengthened centrists and reformists allied with President Hassan Rohani.

With reporting by Reuters
WASHINGTON  It is the great, democratic virtue of presidential campaigns that they subject candidates to every kind of stress, eventually revealing their core, their character. For Donald Trump, the test has been political success.

After leading the Republican field for six months, and in some quarters receiving adulation nearly equal to his self-regard, how has Trump responded? Has he been sobered? Has his rhetoric and temperament matured?

No. Decidedly, no. The realistic prospect of executive power has only increased Trumps swagger. He has threatened a Republican donor who opposes him. I hear the [Ricketts] family, he tweeted, who own the Chicago Cubs, are secretly spending $s against me. They better be careful, they have a lot to hide!

Trump has threatened the media, promising to open up the libel laws so he can more easily sue outlets that differ in their view of the truth about him. I think the media is among the most dishonest groups of people that Ive ever met. Theyre terrible. he said recently. Referring specifically to The Washington Post, he added: If I become president, oh, do they have problems. Theyre going to have such problems.

Trump has attempted to smear and intimidate a district judge, Gonzalo Curiel, who is presiding over a lawsuit for fraud against Trump University, with its distinguished faculty of cardboard cutouts and allegedly bankrupt real estate investors. Trump accuses Curiel of hostility against him because Im very, very strong on the border. Another shrill pipe of the ethnic dog whistle.

This is more than the personality disorder talking. Trump roots his intimidation in a worldview  the need for the strong hand. It is the most consistent commitment of Trumpism.

As early as 1990, Trump criticized Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev for not having a firm enough hand. He cited Chinas butchers of Tiananmen Square as examples of his conception of power: They were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength. That shows you the power of strength. Our country is right now perceived as weak ... as being spit on by the rest of the world.

Following allegations last year that Vladimir Putin had killed several high-profile journalists, Trump responded, Hes running his country and at least hes a leader, unlike what we have in this country.

And Trumps supporters seem to welcome this aspect of his appeal. According to a Vox analysis of the South Carolina Republican primary vote, the best statistical predictor of Trump support is an inclination toward authoritarianism  a belief in the need for aggressive leaders and policies. So Trump, if he wins the nomination and the presidency, will feel a mandate for his menace.

There is a moment in the 1957 movie A Face in the Crowd when the TV personality turned power-mad sociopath, Lonesome Rhodes, says, Im not just an entertainer. Im an influence, a wielder of opinion, a force ... a force. On the evidence, Trump is reaching that point of intoxication.

We have seen the lengths to which Trump will go to threaten and intimidate his enemies, armed mainly with social media. It seems reckless beyond reason  reckless with the republic itself  to arm him with the immense power of the executive branch.

Consider the inherently threatening quality of the words: Trumps military or Trumps FBI or Trumps IRS. The grant of vast influence to a leader of such vindictive temperament is utterly frightening.

In a certain way, Trump may be excused for his adolescent view of strength  the power of the tantrum, of the crude putdown, of the dirty trick. Trump has no evident knowledge of American history or of a conservative ideology. He lives only in the vivid present of his wants and needs. He is squandering an inheritance he does not value, that he does not even understand.

But what excuse can be made for Gov. Chris Christie? His endorsement of Trump was evidently made out of pique and ambition. It is humiliating for the governor of a great state to make himself the subordinate of  the junior partner to  a cut-rate Mussolini.

Christie has, in the past, shown leadership on entitlement reform and the fair treatment of Muslims. Now his enduring reputation will be a willingness to swallow any foolishness, any prejudice, to serve the cause of Christie.

Trumps conception of leadership is to become large by making others small. In a reality television star, this is a job qualification. In a president, it would raise the prospect of serious damage to our democratic system.
A. Benton Chafin Jr. grew up on a farm in Russell County, part of a family that used to grow burley tobacco used for cigarettes.

I worked in tobacco my whole life, he said.

So it might have been a little unusual to see Chafin, now a conservative Republican state senator from Russell, stand up on the Senate floor Thursday to support of legislation that, in effect, restricts smoking.

To Chafin, however, House Bill 1348 protects something more important than the right to consume some of a dwindling Virginia cash crop in a private setting.

Our children deserve to be protected, he told colleagues in asking support for the legislation, which would prohibit smoking in vehicles when children under 8 years old are present. Violating the law would bring a $100 civil fine.

We have all kinds of laws that protect our youth, he said. Automobiles are dangerous ... and they are dangerous because they are also a confined space.

Chafin pointed to studies that say concentration of exposure to secondhand smoke is 27 times greater in a confined space like a car.

The science is there, he added, saying the legislation, sponsored by Del. Todd E. Pillion, R-Washington, is a bill that has come of time.

On Feb. 16, Pillions bill had cleared the House of Delegates on a 59-38 vote. Opposition to the bill was less on health grounds, and more that the government should have limited ability to police legal behavior in a private setting.

But its supporters include House Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford, who in 2009 backed landmark public health legislation with the administration of Gov. Timothy M. Kaine to restrict smoking in Virginia restaurants.

The three doctors in the House of Delegates  Dels. John M. OBannon III, R-Henrico; T. Scott Garrett, R-Lynchburg; and Christopher P. Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, also supported the bill.

Stolles physician sister, Sen. Siobhan S. Dunnavant, R-Henrico, voted against the measure, which passed 27-12 and now heads to the governor for consideration.

While Dunnavant, an OB-GYN, does not smoke and is opposed to smoking, her reasons echoed those of others who voted against the bill.

Its a slippery slope when you start regulating what people can do on their property, she said. Theres a fine line between mandating and codifying behavior as opposed to educating and inspiring people to make good, healthy choices. I think the government needs to stay out of our business a little bit more.

Chafin said tobacco is an adult product that adults should enjoy, but said the law is necessary because parents should refrain from smoking in vehicles with children, but they are not always doing so.

When children get a certain age, theyll say Mommy, please dont smoke, and Daddy, please dont smoke,  he said.

But I am a parent and a grandparent, and I want my grandchildren to have healthy development and a bright future, added the former tobacco farmer, who now raises cattle.
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COVID-19 drove a dramatic increase in the number of women who died from pregnancy or childbirth complications in the U.S. last year, a crisis that has disproportionately claimed Black and Hispanic women as victims. A government report released Wednesday lays out grim trends across the country for expectant mothers and their newborn babies. It finds that pregnancy-related deaths have spiked nearly 80 percent since 2018, with COVID-19 being a factor in a quarter of the 1,178 deaths reported last year. The percentage of preterm and low birthweight babies also went up last year, after holding steady for years. And more pregnant or postpartum women are reporting symptoms of depression.
Legislation that would set a minimum age of 16 to get married in Virginia is one step closer to passage.

The Virginia Senate on Thursday voted 32-8 to advance House Bill 703 at the urging of Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel, R-Fauquier, who said current marriage laws are not protecting children.

I dont mean 16 or 17 years old, but 13 years old or 12 years old, she said.

Vogel and Del. Jennifer L. McClellan, D-Richmond, the sponsor of House Bill 703, got behind the legislation after learning that, under current law, there is no minimum age for a court clerk to issue a marriage license to a pregnant child as long as the girl has parental consent.

The result, she said, has been licenses issued in some extreme cases to children barely out of puberty.

Vogel sponsors companion legislation Senate Bill 415, which cleared the Senate Feb. 9 on a 33-7 vote. Vogel told colleagues Thursday on the Senate floor that current law has, in some cases, become a veil to cover up abuse and prevent people from being prosecuted, often with the consent of the parent or guardian.

Under the bill any child between 16 and 18 would have to petition the court for approval to be eligible to receive a marriage license.

The bill in its current form not only raises the minimum age for marriage, but also takes away the power of a clerk to issue marriage licenses to minors by requiring a judge to be involved. The judge must determine that the marriage is not being compelled by force, threats or persuasion.

The court must consider the age difference and any criminal record of the underage couple to be married. It states that, in the event of a pregnancy, the wishes of parents or guardians are not sufficient to grant emancipation to an underage child to marry.

McClellans bill passed the House 66-33 before heading to the Senate, which amended the legislation and passed it on a 32-8 vote Thursday. It now heads back to the House, which will consider the Senate substitute.

The House currently is deciding Vogels Senate version of the bill, which passed the House General Laws committee Wednesday.

In debate on the bill in both chambers, some lawmakers raised concern that it removes a measure of parental control from decisions affecting their minor children.

Sen. Thomas A. Garrett, R-Buckingham, a former prosecutor, said current law allows prosecutors to pursue criminal charges if they believe a crime has been committed. He told Senate colleagues that he did not agree with removing the option of marriage from the choices of a young person and replacing the insight and judgment of parents with that of the court.

Vogel, however, said more needs to be done to bring Virginias marriage laws in line with current laws that protect children from domestic abuse and sexual violence.

In the most extreme abuses of the current law, parents are not always acting in the best interests of the child and children are being victimized, she said. Thats why we need to protect them.
Lt. Colonel Cornelius Manthe (Retired Army) died on Thursday, March 3, 2016, in Blacksburg, Va. He was 94.He is survived by his daughter, Cornelia of Blacksburg; and son, Bruce also of Blacksburg and Colonel Brian Manthe (USMC, retired) of Pennsylvania.His grandchildren are Matt, a graduate of Clemson University currently living in Florida, Caitlin, a student at Towson University in Maryland, Jeff a graduate of the University of Virginia currently in Austin, Texas and Mark, a graduate of Roanoke College currently residing in Charlottesville, Va.Cornelius joined the Army during World War II, proudly serving our nation in both World War II and Korea. After retiring, he completed his Bachelor's degree at the University of Maryland in 1964, during which time he worked for department of the Army, retiring in 1983.He leaves this earth to be with the love of his life, his wife Maggie, who passed away in 2011.A reception will be held by the family from 2 to 4 p.m. on Sunday March 6, 2016 at McCoy funeral home. His final internment will be at Arlington National Cemetery at a date and time to be scheduled.
Obituaries 10-21-22 Advisory: Obituary information will only be accepted if sent through a funeral home or cemetery. The Wave does not assume responsibility for any incorrect information that is printed in the obituary section John E. Hynes...

Obituaries 10-7-22 Advisory: Obituary information will only be accepted if sent through a funeral home or cemetery. The Wave does not assume responsibility for any incorrect information that is printed in the obituary section John F. Keane...
Craig spent about $200,000 in campaign funds on legal fees to try to undo the plea.

The allegations that gave rise to his guilty plea were the misdemeanor charges for disorderly conduct and interference with privacy that the State of Minnesota filed against him, the D.C. Circuit opinion says. Because those allegations did not concern the Senators campaign activities or official duties, the legal fees he expended trying to withdraw his plea constituted personal use.

The decision upholds a lower court ruling that Craig pay $242,533 to the Treasury Department  $197,533 from the Craig Committee and a $45,000 penalty  for using campaign money for legal representation on the disorderly conduct charge.
Shaun McCutcheon, whose 2014 Supreme Court case opened the door to more money in politics, has a new political cause in Donald Trump.

McCutcheon, an Alabama engineer, was elected this week as a delegate to the Republican National Convention, and hes pledged his support to the billionaire real estate mogul. Alabama was one of seven states Trump won during Super Tuesday, the biggest night so far in the 2016 presidential primaries.
Images: Westinghouse

Based in Pennyslvania and now owned by Toshiba, Westinghouse bid to partner with the UK Government to deploy its SMR technology last year  a move that would advance the UK from buyer to global provider of the latest nuclear energy technology. Westinghouse's Preston facility employs over 1,000 people and recently achieved the requirements necessary to manufacture Westinghouse SMR fuel in the UK, something that no other SMR technology provider currently offers.The manufacturing study will focus on reactor pressure vessels (RPVs)  one of the largest and most demanding parts of any reactor. The Nuclear AMRC will provide a professional, independent assessment of the current Westinghouse design, and determine an optimal manufacturing solution. Nuclear AMRC has extensive experience in design for the manufacture of large complex parts for safety-critical applications, drawing on broad academic and industry knowledge.Mike Tynan, chief executive officer at The Nuclear AMRC (and previously chief executive of Westinghouse UK), said: "Innovative and advanced manufacturing techniques are fundamental to the cost-effective production of UK small modular reactors."A key component of the manufacturing study will be identifying efficiencies within the advanced manufacturing process to significantly reduce capital costs and drive project savings. These savings, coupled with the UK's strong nuclear supply chain and Westinghouse's commitment to SMR technology, would promote economic growth and job creation in the UK's nuclear industry. The study will utilise expert knowledge of local manufacturing capabilities to identify potential suppliers for when the Westinghouse SMR enters production.Jeff Benjamin, senior vice president for new plants and major projects at Westinghouse, said: "The Westinghouse small modular reactor is innovative and industry-leading technology that builds upon our extensive reactor and fuel technology expertise. The efficient construction of Westinghouse small modular reactors can play an important part of the UK's future by creating local manufacturing jobs to develop safe, clean and economical energy."In the Autumn spending review, George Osborne announced new funding to develop SMRs in the UK. The Nuclear AMRC is working with the principal technology vendors in support of their drive for a UK small modular reactor and with companies across the UK to help them seize existing opportunities and be ready for the potential of technologies such as SMRs.SMRs promise to be much more affordable in the UK than the large scale reactors planned for projects like Hinkley Point C, which has struggled to secure investors and has strike prices inflated by the expense of financing the multi billion pound project.Tynan has previously explained that: "Because SMRs will be built in relatively high volumes in factory conditions, there are a number of very practical steps that would significantly reduce their capital cost. These include modular construction of the reactor unit; modularisation of concrete infrastructure; design for manufacturing; and the use of advanced production processes such as electron beam welding and hot isostatic pressing.He believes that significantly reducing SMR production costs is eminently achievable and added that it will be equally important for UK companies to deliver indigenous intellectual property on SMRs to achieve the best economic value for the UK.
EXILED Malian quartet Songhoy Blues are an inspirational band for more reasons than their classic African blues now being played far away from their war-torn homeland.



A Tuareg rebellion in the northern region of the country paved the way for a takeover by jihadist extremists, who imposed a ban on music.



French troops intervened on the side of the military government and the country remains in crisis.



The four fled to the capital city of Bamako and formed Songhoy Blues.

After being picked up by Damon Albarn's Africa Express they have shot to stardom in the UK and beyond.



They are among the courageous musicians in Mali whose story is told in the stunning film They Will Have To Shoot Us First, which starts the evening's double-bill.



Veteran women performers Khaira Arby and Disco are the stars of the fight for freedom.



Director Johanna Schwartzs film follows them as they were among the hundreds of thousands forced into exile.



Its a joyous return for Khaira and Disco to their Timbuktu home to offer hope to those who endured life under the Islamist's oppressive Sharia law.

Music is the message of hope and its universal appeal can cross borders.



In the second-half Andy Morgan, co-writer of the film, is in conversation - in French with English translation - with band members Aliou Toure, Oumar Toure, Garba Toure and Nathanael Dembele.



The talk is interspersed with songs and the meaning of the words translated and explained.



The band have a deep attachment to the home-grown songs and dances, which blend the traditional and modern styles.



The Songhoy are one of the many ethnic groups in Mali, hailing from the banks of the Niger River between the ancient cities of Timbuktu and Gao,

In Mali music is everything.



And musicians play a lot of important roles, telling the people what is happening in society, in politics and the outside world.



Despite the constant sense of excitement and jubilation, their songs are serious and poignant.



They love their homeland despite the violence they've experienced and it's that unflinching faith in their roots that has allowed them to act as ambassadors for their country far beyond its troubled borders.



But tonight it is a case of dancing in the seat as the band's terrific guitar hooks draw everyone in.




A TWEET by Katie Hopkins claiming Muslim men raping white women is consistent with Islamic teaching is being reviewed by the Metropolitan Police.



The controversial columnist (pictured) made the comment last Friday after prison sentences totalling 102 years were given following the Rotherham child sex abuse trial.



National group Tell MAMA, which records anti-Muslim incidents, lodged a formal complaint after receiving numerous calls from the public.



Founder and director Fiyaz Mughal said: This is the modus operandi of Hopkins. She is playing to a specific audience and trying to elicit responses from it, by being far more stereotypical of Muslims.



So, suggesting that people should be afraid of Muslims, she links the followers of Islam to paedophilic tendencies at a time when the Rotherham grooming scandal has just returned verdicts.



She is in effect, playing dog whistle politics and suggesting that nearly three million of our fellow citizens are a threat. Lock up your white daughters is her chant.



He added: This is repulsive and bigoted and has no place in social comments in 2016.



The Met Police confirmed a complaint had been received on Sunday. As is routine, the allegation will be reviewed and assessed by specialist officers, he added.
JUNIOR doctors have announced further strike action and will launch a judicial review into the governments decision to impose a new contract on them.



The British Medical Association (BMA) claim Jeremy Hunt, health secretary, failed to undertake an equality impact assessment (EIA) prior to the government imposing new terms and conditions on junior doctors.



The changes include curbing of the junior doctors pay package and changes to what is classed as unsociable hours.



Guaranteed pay increases linked to time in the job are also expected to be scrapped and replaced with a system linked to progression through set training stages.



As a result, the BMA will launch a judicial review and its members will walk out on strike for three 48-hour periods - the first of which will begin at 8am next Wednesday, March 9.



Dr Johann Malawa, BMA junior doctors committee chairman, said: This is yet another example of the incompetence which the government has demonstrated throughout its handling of the dispute.



Imposing this contract will seriously undermine the ability of the NHS to recruit and retain junior doctors in areas of medicine with the most unsocial areas, where there are already staffing shortagesThe strike action, which will involve all junior doctors, except those on-call to provide emergency cover, will take place from 8am on Wednesday until 8am on Friday.



A spokesman for Rotherham Hospital said: As with the previous industrial action related to the junior doctors' dispute, we are undertaking detailed planning to minimise the effects on patients.



We will have more details about the impact of the strike in Rotherham closer to the time of the action.



The BMA also plans to hold two further 48-hour strike from April 6 to 8 and April 26 to 28.
TWO teenagers will shadow their MP for a day as part of International Women's Day.



Emma Walker and Annabel Lees, who attend Wickersley Schools sixth form, will spend the day in Westminster on Tuesday, March 8, after being invited to London by Wentworth and Dearne MP John Healey.



As well as shadowing their MP, the programme includes a tour of 10 Downing Street and the chance to watch the Women and Equalities Select Committee and the International Womens Day debate in the House of Commons Chamber.
The Diamond Mining Company (DMC), one of the companies ordered to stop operations in Zimbabwes Marange fields by the government, plans to sue the nations administration for alleged breach of contract, according to Rapaport citing a report from Reuters.

Mines and Mining Development Minister Walter Chidakwa told diamond miners in the country February 22 to cease excavation because their licenses had expired.

Ramzi Malik, DMCs general manager, said the firms joint venture with the state-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) stipulates that renewing licenses was the governments responsibility, according to the Reuters report February 24.

Asked whether the DMC would go to court if the government did not reconsider its position, Malik said: "I am sure we will," according to the report. If you are removing the concession it means you are in breach," he was further cited as saying.

The DMC is a 50-50 joint venture between United Arab Emirates-registered Pure Diamonds and the ZMDC, according to the report.

Chidhakwa said February 22 the governments decision was not negotiable and police would be deployed to protect the mines, Reuters said. Unknown people broke into the mine and stole solar panels, generating batteries and office equipment Monday night, and fuel from generators and earthmoving equipment was drained, Reuters reported, citing Malik.

"The value is in thousands of dollars. There is going to be a lot of loss, a lot," Malik was cited by the news agency as saying.




Kimberley Diamonds has secured a $2.8 million working capital loan facility for its Lerala diamond mine in Botswana.

It said in a statement that the working capital loan facility, coupled with a rights issue planned for March-April 2016, was expected to provide full funding required to take the Lerala diamond mine to production.

Lerala was set to commence mining this month and production of diamonds in April, while the first sale of diamonds was scheduled in June 2016, it said.

The company had entered into sales, marketing agreement and an off-take agreement with DDA Trading BVBA, a Belgian based diamond auction house which specialises in the sales and marketing of rough diamonds for the international diamond trade.

DDA would be supplied with run-of-mine rough diamonds from Lerala to the total value of at least $5-million, at an agreed discount to valuation.

Kimberley Diamonds considers that with the $2.8 million working capital facility the Lerala Diamond Mine should be fully funded to enter production and commence sales of its diamonds, the first of which is currently scheduled for June 2016, it said.

Kimberley said it had to date raised A$13-million under a debt facility with Zhejiang Huitong Auction Company and A$1-million under a diamond sales agreement with Restwell Investments.



Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished




De Beers Group chairman Philippe Mellier has pledged the companys continued involvement in Namdeb and Namibia, according to IDEX Online citing a report in The Namibian.

Mellier said that despite the volatility in the global diamond market in 2015, the outlook was promising with Namibia potentially playing a key role.

The De Beers chairman highlighted the recent N$10 million ($650,000) investment that De Beers Namibia Holdings pledged to support government efforts to educate children, particularly girls, in marginalized communities as evidence of its commitment.

Mellier also referenced the 10-year sales agreement between De Beers and the Namibian government, which has been agreed in principle but has still to be finalized.

Importantly, it also means that more of the value generated by Namibia's diamonds will remain in the country, with cutting and polishing companies among those that will realise this benefit, he said.




Three illegal miners reportedly died in Marange early Wednesday morning after they were trapped in a shaft.

Zimbabwean police confirmed the incident, but said the number of victims was between five and seven.

However, unnamed sources cited by The Herald newspaper said the number of trapped people was between 15 and 20.

Illegal miners invaded the diamond fields last week when Harare ordered mining firms out of Marange saying their licences had expired.

They were given a 90-day ultimatum to remove their equipment.

Police arrested 50 illegal miners last week.

Mines minister Walter Chidhakwa had claimed that security had been beefed up in Marange, but the latest development showed that the problem was far from over.

Police chief spokesperson Charity Charamba said the area where three bodies were retrieved, previously belonged to Diamond Mining Company and was waterlogged.

This, she said, was frustrating efforts by the rescue teams.

"Around 1:30am (Wednesday) the police were patrolling around the diamond fields when they saw some people in the diamond fields," she was quoted as saying.

"The people ran away when they saw the police and when the police arrived at the shaft they saw a person who was lying unconscious with some back injuries.

"When that person gained composure, he informed the police that there were some more people who were trapped in the mine. He said maybe five or seven people were underground.

"Our team from sub aqua unit was called since the place is water-logged and so far three bodies have been retrieved."



Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished




HNTB Corporation promoted Jeff Konrad, PE, to vice president of rail in Pennsylvania District. The firm also expanded its team of transportation professionals within its New York and Pennsylvania offices.

Konrad provides railroad project management for the firms passenger rail clients including Amtrak and New Jersey Transit. Konrad has 27 years of experience in the management and design of highway and railroad projects with extensive knowledge in bridge replacement, bridge inspection and structural rating and construction inspection.

Jeff has produced outstanding results and is most deserving of this vice president designation, said Yassmin Gramian, PE, HNTB Pennsylvania district leader and senior vice president.

HNTB also hired Christopher Harding, a professional land surveyor, who comes to the firm with extensive background in railroad project management. Previously, Harding was director of track design and layout for Amtrak in Philadelphia and, prior to that, a principal civil engineer and special projects engineer for Consolidated Rail Corporation.

The firm added Paul Adams, PE, as its project director and vice president in the firms rail transit practice, located in the Newark, New Jersey office. Adams brings more than 40 years of industry experience as a senior program manager and transportation consultant. His experience includes program management and construction management for rail and tunnel projects throughout the New York region. Adams served as an engineering consultant to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, playing key roles in number of critical areas, including Superstorm Sandy recovery and resiliency for Port Authority Trans Hudson, the Lincoln and Holland tunnels, security strengthening programs for port authority facilities and technology management programs, among others.

Adams is providing strategic support for the firms ongoing work with clients including Port Authority Trans Hudson service, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Amtrak, and Metro-North Railroad.

HNTB also welcomed Dean Kimball, AIA, LEED AP, who is the architecture department manager and associate vice president, based in HNTBs Manhattan office.

Kimball has more than 30 years of experience in transportation, encompassing rail transit, multimodal facilities and aviation projects. His experience includes historic building rehabilitations and improvements, such as Grand Central Terminal. Kimball has worked extensively with Metro-North Railroad, Long Island Rail Road, the Connecticut Department of Transportation and Amtrak, among others.

In his new role, Kimball is leading the architectural practice group in New York, working primarily in the areas of transit and aviation.
Atara Biotherapeutics Inc. (ATRA) plans to initiate two phase III pivotal trials of Cytotoxic T Lymphocyte product candidate activated against Epstein-Barr virus (EBV-CTL) for the treatment of patients with EBV post-transplant Lymphoproliferative disorder (EBV-PTLD) following hematopoietic cell transplant or solid organ transplant towards the end of this year.

The company expects initial data from the dose escalation portion of its phase I trial of STM 434 for the treatment of ovarian cancer in the first half of 2016.

The company had cash of $320.5 million at year-end 2015, which is expected to be sufficient to fund its planned operations through 2018.

ATRA closed Thursday's trading at $18.30, down 6.11%.

Banco de Sangre de Servicios Mutuos, Puerto Rico's largest blood bank, has entered into a purchase agreement with Cerus Corp. (CERS) for the use of the company's INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets and plasma to help protect the local blood supply during the Zika outbreak.

Early this month, the FDA and WHO issued guidance documents that acknowledged the risk of Zika virus transmission via blood transfusion and identified appropriate blood safety measures to reduce transfusion risks, including the use of pathogen reduction .

Zika virus disease is caused by Zika virus that is spread to people primarily through the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito. There is no vaccine yet against this virus.

CERS closed Thursday's trading at $5.65, up 7.41%.

Immunovaccine Inc. (IMV.TO) (IMMVF.OB) is the latest to join the global race in finding a vaccine against Zika virus. The company has initiated Zika virus vaccine program using its DepoVax platform.

The first human trial involving DPX-RSV, the company's vaccine candidate for respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, is underway, and results are expected to be released this spring.

IMV.TO closed Thursday's trading at C$0.55, up 11.11%.

Merck KGaA, Pfizer Inc. (PFE) and Verastem Inc. (VSTM) have entered into an agreement to evaluate Avelumab, an investigational fully human anti-PD-L1 IgG1 monoclonal antibody, in combination with Verastem's VS-6063, an investigational focal adhesion kinase (FAK) inhibitor, in patients with advanced ovarian cancer.

Avelumab is being co-developed by Merck KgaA and Pfizer under a global strategic immuno-oncology alliance signed in November 2014. Avelumab is currently under clinical investigation across a broad range of tumor types.

A phase I/Ib clinical trial of Avelumab in combination with VS-6063 is expected to begin in the second half of 2016. Financial terms of the agreement between Merck KGaA, Pfizer and Verastem have not been disclosed.

VSTM closed Thursday's trading at $1.43, up 13.49%.

Tobira Therapeutics Inc. (TBRA) has a couple of catalysts lined up for this year.

The company expects to report 12-week interim data from its phase 2a study of Cenicriviroc in obese patients with suspected fatty liver disease, dubbed ORION, in the second quarter of 2016.

Another indication that is being explored with Cenicriviroc is non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. A phase 2b study of Cenicriviroc in patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis is underway. The topline data from this study, dubbed CENTAUR, is anticipated in the third quarter of 2016.

TBRA closed Thursday's trading at $6.75, down 3.02%.

Vitae Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VTAE) is on track to report top-line clinical efficacy and preliminary biomarker results from its multiple ascending dose, clinical proof-of-concept trial of VTP-43742 in psoriatic patients by the end of the first quarter of 2016.

A phase 2a proof-of-concept clinical trial of VTP-38543 in atopic dermatitis is underway, and the company expects to report top-line efficacy results in the second half of 2016.

The company had cash of $59.4 million at year-end 2015, which is expected to be sufficient to fund its projected operating requirements through the end of 2016.

VTAE closed Thursday's trading at $9.80, down 9.68%. In after hours, the stock fell another 20% to $7.84.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
A recent research, comprising of two studies, suggests that consuming over 900 ml or around 6 cups of coffee a day may lower the risk of multiple sclerosis, adding one more perk to the growing list of benefits associated with the beverage.

The two studies - one conducted in Sweden and the other in the U.S. - quizzed participants about their coffee drinking habits right from when they were aged 15-19 until they were at 40-plus. The participants included healthy adults and those with multiple sclerosis.

Using the data, the researchers estimated the coffee consumption at and before the start of multiple sclerosis symptoms and compared this tally with that in the healthy groups.

In both studies, it was found that those drinking fewer cups of coffee every day had a higher risk of multiple sclerosis, even after accounting for other potentially related factors.

In the Swedish study, drinking more than six cups (900 ml +) every day was associated with 28-30% lower risk of multiple sclerosis. In the U.S study, the risk was lowered by 26-31% among those drinking more than 948 ml daily.

The higher the quantity of coffee drunk, the lower the risk of multiple sclerosis, and the scientists attribute this link to the neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory properties of caffeine that is present in coffee.



There is about 60 to 100mg of caffeine in a 150ml sized cup of instant Coffee, 40 to 90mg in espresso Coffee and 3 mg in decaffeinated Coffee, according to the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University New South Wales.

However, given the limitations of the two studies, the scientists conclude that more research is needed to establish a link between coffee consumption and multiple sclerosis as well as to understand the mechanisms that underlie the relationship.

The research findings are published in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.

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Republican presidential front runner Donald Trump hit back at Mitt Romney a day after the 2012 Republican nominee blasted the controversial real estate tycoon.

Trump called Romney "a choke artist"' in response to the latter describing him "a conman."

Romney, who lost to Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election, Thursday called on primary voters to block Trump's path to the nomination. He is the latest to join a set of Republican heavyweights who have come up publicly against Trump's White House dreams.

Including the Super Tuesday victory, Trump has won 10 of 11 state primaries so far, sending alarm bells to the Republican party leadership, which is reportedly scrambling to prevent him from becoming the nominee for the November presidential poll.

"If we Republicans choose Donald Trump as our nominee, the prospects for a safe and prosperous future are greatly diminished," Romney said in a speech in Utah.

The former Massachusetts governor called Trump phony and a fraud, alleging that dishonesty is his hallmark.

Trump responded to Romney's remarks with a scathing counter-attack.

Speaking at a Republican presidential debate in Detroit, and while addressing an election campaign in Maine later, Trump recalled how Romney begged for his endorsement four years ago. "I backed Mitt Romney. He was begging for my endorsement. I could have said, 'Mitt, drop to your knees.' He would've dropped to his knees," Trump said.

Trump claimed Romney had plans to run for Republican presidential nomination. "If Romney did decide to run, Clinton would destroy him," Trump said, adding that he was targeting Romney from the start of the race because the Republican party could not withstand another election loss.

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Tochka hit kills 70 of invaders, hirelings in Mareb

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MAREB, Mar. 04 (Saba)  At least 70 of the mercenaries and invading troops were killed in a Tochka missile attack on al-Mas camp in Mareb province, a military official said Friday.



The official explained that 11 military vehicle and troop carriers and a room of operations were destroyed in the attack.



On Thursday, the missile force of the army and committees launched a Tockha type missile on forces of invaders and mercenaries at the camp, making significant losses in their ordnance.



The Tockha hit its target accurately, a military official affirmed, pointing out that huge blasts were occurred at the camp.



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[04/March/2016]
Gunmen kill 16 in care house in Aden

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ADEN, Mar. 04 (Saba)  Gunmen attacked a retirement home in Sheikh Othman district of Aden province, killing 16 people and injuring others, a local official said Friday.



The gunmen opened fire at people and staff in the house, which led to the killing of 16, including four Indian nuns and a guard, the official explained.



He pointed out that this crime came as a result of the insecurity state and acts of assassinations and bombings and terrorists spread in the southern provinces.



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[05/March/2016]
Millennial Moms Review: 2022 Acura MDX is pretty close to the perfect family car

I dont know if perfect is attainable, especially considering weve got the world of options when it comes to modern vehicles. Were spoiled and, as such, we have very specific needs and wants. Driving-wise, the 2022 Acura MDX is one of my favourite ...
A first-of-its-kind journey along India and Pakistan border

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Mar-04-2016 08:57 TweetFollow @OregonNews Saudi Arabia Steps Up Media Campaign Against Lebanon's Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah To understand the Saudi's belligerent attitude, we must better illustrate the full picture of the restive Middle-East region.

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah

Photo courtesy: uprootedpalestinians.blogspot.com

(BEIRUT) - In recent weeks, Saudi-affiliated media outlets launched a vicious campaign against Lebanons Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah. Saudi-funded Middle East Broadcasting Center (MBC) and Al Arabiya news channel invited so-called moderate political analysts to political debates, letting out a stream of invectives against Lebanons Hezbollah movement. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Lebanese took to the streets to protest the MBC channel's parody of Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah. To understand the Saudi belligerent attitude, we must better to elucidate the full picture of the restive Middle-East region: Lebanons domestic situation A: Eliciting the political views of Lebanese people Following French colonial rule and due to Lebanons ethnically, culturally diverse society and bitter memories of civil war there is no government surveys in Lebanon to illuminate peoples opinion regarding wide range of issues. Thus, Saudi regime seeks to arouse Lebanons public response and find out the degree of Hezbollahs popularity by childish provocative acts. B: Saudi Arabias worst fear: Hezbollah Is 'Stronger Than Ever' After constituting a necessary quorum and forming new alliance, Lebanon finally may got a new president, ending the everlasting political vacuum. Saudi Arabia fears that political stability in Lebanon can work to Hezbollahs benefits. The fact that prominent figures from pro-Saudi March 14 Alliance (e.g., Samir Geagea) ,Changing horses in midstream and accepting Gen. Michel Aouns bid for presidency, harbingers Saudi Arabias and its protege, Saad Hariri diminishing role in Lebanons political arena. Regional developments A: Yemen The international community unanimously condemned Saudi air strikes, targeting Yemeni cities and civilians in past couple of days. European Union (EU) issued a non-binding political statement asking states to stop selling arms to Saudi regime. In the meantime, as the dismal failure of "Operation Decisive Storm" in Yemen becomes more evident, the regime in Riyadh, in a desperate need of vindicating its failure in Yemen, seeks to demonize Lebanons Hezbollah. B: Syria Syria peace talks and emerging spectrum of durable truce between rebel groups and Syrian Arab Army (SAA) put the Saudi regime in totally untenable position, as cease-fire and siting at negotiation table, tacitly means accepting the legitimacy of incumbent Syrian government. Saudis cannot accept the crushing defeat of their five-year interminable and above all costly attempts to overthrow Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and the dream of installing a puppet regime in Damascus. Hezbollahs unwavering support for Syrian people and government raised the ire of Saudis despot, Salman. It has been evident now that Saudi regime resort to asinine behaviour whenever facing political and military debacles. C: Iran Saudi regime is flabbergasted as mass turnout in Irans parliamentary election and failure of boycott calls evinced the all-time high popularity of Iranian political establishment and served as a shattering blow to Saudi Arabias agenda in the Middle-East. Saudi domestic dilemma A: Extremism Adopting devious Wahhabism ideology by House of Saud has made Saudi-funded media outlets to wage a psychological warfare and spreading calumny against their political opponents in order to muster public support and religious sympathy, especially against Iran. Saudi leaders who repetitively showed their utter disrespect for Islam endeavour to present their bizarre interpretation of Islam Wahhabism as a bulwark of Sunni faith against Shiite powerhouse Iran. B: The role of US and Israel U.S., Saudi and Israeli interests in the Middle-East are closely intertwined. Saudi fears can also mirror Israeli anxieties. Thus, the central premise of Middle-East crisis is Israeli-Saudi common animosity against Hezbollah as their number one enemy. _________________________________________

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Do Kansas' drug-induced homicide laws actually help with fentanyl?

As drug overdoses related to fentanyl rise in Kansas, does a state law allowing drug dealers to effectively be charged with homicide have any impact?
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[JAKARTA] When a powerful earthquake shook Indonesia on Wednesday night (2 March), local scientists quickly tapped social media to contain panic that a great tsunami would result like what happened in Sumatra island in 2004.

The epicentre of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake was located 800 kilometres from the coastal city of Padang, West Sumatra. Indonesias Agency for Climate, Meteorology and Geophysics (BMKG) released an early tsunami warning in Sumatra, causing thousands of people to immediately evacuate from Padang and in Meulaboh, Aceh, which had the highest number of casualties in the 2004 tsunami.

Abdul Muhari, an expert in tsunami science at Indonesias Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, was among the first scientists to turn to social media to clarify the tsunami warning and calm the public with scientific evidence that the earthquake would only create minor tsunami, which is negligible.

Using Facebook and Twitter, Muhari posted a picture from the UNESCO International Oceanographic Commission (IOC), showing that the earthquake only created a 10-centimetre minor tsunami in Cocos Island and a 20-centimetre minor tsunami in Christmas Island.

Both islands, which are Australian territories located in the Indian Ocean, were the nearest spots from the earthquake source.

As soon as there was an early warning about the tsunami, I checked the sea level data at the IOC to confirm the real situation out there and I found the data from Cocos and Christmas islands, Muhari tells SciDev.Net.

He says it was unfortunate there was no data from Indonesian islands near the earthquake spot, such as Mentawai, Tanah Bala and Enggano, although Indonesias Geospatial Information Agency (BIG) has committed to provide sea level data to the IOC.

Our tsunami detection system didnt work during the event. Whenever theres a disaster, the device just doesnt seem to work, Muhari rues. I think we are poor in terms of device maintenance.

Another scientist, Endra Gunawan, an expert in earthquake geology from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), also filled in the data gap by posting a picture on Facebook of how the earthquake would affect Sumatra.

Like Muhari, he told people to calm down because the earthquake was not a megathrust earthquake like the 2004 Sumatra earthquake, which occurs in subduction zones where two crustal plates are colliding.

It was not a megathrust earthquake because it happened outside the subduction zone. I could see this when the BMKG released the picture of the earthquake source, Gunawan explains.

As soon as he heard the news of the earthquake, Gunawan says he ran to his computer to model the change in Sumatra geology. On his Facebook page, he showed that the earthquake has moved Sumatra 2 centimetres from its previous place  a significant movement as it covered a third of its annual movement rate of 6-7 centimetres.

This piece was produced by SciDev.Nets South-East Asia & Pacific desk.
Cholesterol levels -- the most common risk factor for heart attacks -- have decreased in northern Sweden over the last 20 years. Since medical drugs only account for a third of the decrease, the reduced risk of cardiovascular disease is greatly thanks to a change in lifestyle. This according to a study published in the European Heart Journal.

Researchers at Umea University and Sunderby Hospital in Lulea, both in northern Sweden, have found a general decrease in cholesterol levels, which was more pronounced in older people, women without university education and in people with high risk of cardiovascular disease.

"The most important reason for the decreased cholesterol in the population of Norrbotten and Vasterbotten counties in northern Sweden is most likely a change in lifestyle, such as a reduced intake of fat, together with an increased intake of fibre from fruit, vegetables and grains," according to Mats Eliasson, professor at the Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine as well as doctor at Sunderby Hospital in Lulea.

The study, which has now been published in the European Heart Journal, shows that the average level of blood cholesterol in the population has decreased from 6.2 to 5.5 mmol/L between 1994 and 2014. The decrease was more pronounced in the elderly than in younger participants, but no difference was found between men and women. The group with the largest decrease was people with high risk of cardiovascular disease, who had been treated for high blood pressure, diabetes and previous heart attack or stroke.

At the beginning of the study in 1994, people with high risk of heart attacks had at least as high cholesterol as healthy individuals. In 2014, the levels of these high-risk individuals were considerably lower than in the population on the whole. High cholesterol levels in obese people as well as in women without university education were noted at the beginning of the study, but had completely disappeared 20 years later.

The results show that an important part of the decrease in people falling ill and people dying in heart attacks can be explained by lower cholesterol in the population. Cholesterol-lowering drugs, often called statins, are more often prescribed these days and was used by 14 per cent of the population in 2014, which is estimated to contribute to a third of the decrease in cholesterol levels.

"Seeing that women without university education now have the same low cholesterol levels or that obese persons have equally good levels as normal-weight persons confirms that health care is now offered at the same terms," says Marie Eriksson, associate professor and statistician at Umea University and co-author of the study.

"We can see that the improvement is most noticeable among those who profit the most from it, which indicates that the efforts on primary and secondary preventions in health care centres and heart clinics have contributed successfully. However, there is still room for improvement, both by continuously encouraging an improved lifestyle and through the use of medical drugs. The constantly decreasing cholesterol levels are pointing towards a continuous reduction in cardiovascular disease."

Even if the risk of cardiovascular disease has been heavily reduced in the last 10-20 years, it is still the most common cause of death in Sweden, especially when it comes to heart attacks. High cholesterol levels is the most important cause of disease followed by smoking and high blood pressure.
Chemists from Queen's University Belfast have developed a new approach which now allows for rapid screening and identification of 'legal highs' or novel psychoactive substances (NPS).

Conducted by researchers in Queen's School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, in conjunction with Forensic Science Northern Ireland, the project was funded by the Department of Justice's Asset Recovery Community Scheme which uses assets seized from criminals.

Published in the Royal Society of Chemistry's journal, Analyst, the new approach will now enable statutory agencies to identify the actual substances contained within the legal highs more quickly, thereby enabling more prompt public health messages to be issued out to communities.

In addition, as well as allowing agencies to build a comprehensive and 'live' picture of which drugs are currently in circulation, it is envisaged that the new rapid identification approach will also help speed up related criminal prosecutions.

Background

'Legal highs' are substances used like illegal drugs, and have been responsible for a growing number of deaths in the UK over the last decade.

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Known as 'legal highs' because when first produced they were not covered by existing drugs legislation, they are now set to face a total ban from 6 April 2016, when the UK government's new Psychoactive Substances Act, comes into force. The ban covers (with the exception of a number of listed compounds such as alcohol, caffeine, etc.), 'any substance intended for human consumption that is capable of producing a psychoactive effect', with those caught producing or supplying such drugs facing a maximum prison sentence of seven years.

New approach

Devised by Professor Steven Bell and PhD researcher Louise Jones in Queen's School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, the new approach combines rapid screening for known drugs with in-depth analysis of new compounds. The screening works by detecting the characteristic vibrations of the bonds within the samples by focusing a laser on the sample and measuring the energy of light scattering from it.

The vibrations are chemical signatures of the compounds, so when they have been recorded, they can be searched against a 'library' of known compounds. They are then either identified as known compounds or marked as new variants which can then be taken for further analysis in the laboratory.

In the Queen's study, 75 per cent of more than 200 previously samples seized by the PSNI, could be identified immediately. In the future, it is hoped that this will allow for laboratory facilities to be freed up for in-depth investigation of those compounds identified as new and unknown.

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Speaking about the work, Professor Steven Bell, said: "The production of these drugs is constantly evolving and unfortunately there have been many instances of highly dangerous variants appearing, causing multiple fatalities before the threat they posed was recognised.

"In 2014 alone 101 new psychoactive substances were identified. As a result of the new approach devised at Queen's, we predict that we will be able to identify many more substances and at a much more rapid pace as our work in this area progresses. This will not only aid in the creation of new legislation but will also enable more meaningful information to be available to the Community, Police and Public Health agencies, with the aim of saving lives and preventing serious injury."

Impact

Praising the work to date on the new approach, Justice Minister David Ford said: "The importance of this valuable work cannot be overstated. Legal highs continue to be a major problem on our streets and because so many compounds are available, it is very hard to keep ahead of those producing them.

"Whilst there's still work to do, this research will help Forensic Science Northern Ireland to identify what's in these legal highs more quickly, enabling them to identify substances and get public health messages out to communities. It is also very satisfying that this work is funded by the Asset Recovery Community Scheme which uses the assets seized from criminals to support projects aimed at preventing crime."

Stan Brown, Chief Executive of Forensic Science Northern Ireland, added: "This rapid screening will speed up the routine front-end processes of drugs analysis in Forensic Science Northern Ireland. It makes for earlier detection of previously unknown substances which in turn speeds up the processes of declaring such substances psychoactive and therefore illegal under the new NPS legislation."

Speaking about how the new technique could impact on the streets, Inspector Robert Murdie, PSNI, said: "By quickly identifying the substance we will be able to use new powers to tackle NPS production, supply and importation, enabling us to move further up the criminal food chain and prevent such potentially dangerous substances being offered for sale.

"Police will continue to address and confront this threat through a range of tactics and every available legislative opportunity but the drug and NPS problem can only be solved by working collaboratively with our colleagues across the health, judiciary, expert research and local communities.

"I would ask anyone who is aware of any individual involved in the supply of drugs or NPS to contact their local police on 101. Information can also be passed anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111."

Owen O'Neill, the Public Health Agency's Lead on Drugs and Alcohol, said: "The PHA welcomes this initiative. Novel Psychoactive Substances pose a real threat to the health and well-being of our population. Services working with users of these substances report that these substances often cause very acute reactions presenting a real risk to life. This initiative will help further our understanding of these risks and ensure that users of these substances are well informed about the risks."

The next stage of the work will be to begin work on live casework samples.
When the first antibiotics became available 70 years ago, they were often described as miracles of human ingenuity, rather like plastics or bright permanent dyes, which were discovered at roughly the same time. Packaged in vials or pills, they seemed like our inventions rather a chance gift of evolution and one that evolution might also rescind.

And so it proved. At first bacterial populations expressed only low levels of resistance to antibiotics. But soon, microbes were showing resistance to every new antibiotic within a few years of its introduction. Today, as scientists look for replacements for our dwindling stock of antibiotics, evolution is never far from their minds.

Given the failure of the pipeline for conventional antibiotics, scientists have been looking at the bacteria-killing potential of other classes of compounds. Typically, these are billed, at least initially, as less likely to trigger resistance.

But are they really?

One group of compounds again in the news is the bacteriocins, potent antimicrobial peptides (bits of proteins) that bacteria secrete that kill closely related bacteria. They were the subject of R. Fredrik Inglis' doctoral research in the lab of Angus Buckling at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.

"When people again started proposing bacteriocins as novel therapeutics, we wondered if they could evolve resistance," said Inglis, who is now a research scientist at Washington University in St. Louis.

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To find out, he and his colleagues ran an "evolution experiment," growing a strain of bacteria sensitive to a bacteriocin in the presence of a strain that produces the bacteriocin but is itself immune to it. By repeatedly transferring bacteria to fresh growth media, they were able to follow the bacteria for about 70 generations.

Their results, published Feb. 26 in the online edition of ISME Journal, the journal of the International Society Microbial Ecology, showed this bacteriocin isn't resistance proof, but that strains that became resistant to it also became weaker, Inglis said.

Inglis attributes this success to the fact that the bacteriocin targets a receptor on the bacteria's cell surface that is essential to its survival. This reduces the chance of resistance evolving -- or at least makes resistance extremely costly in many natural environments.

Because they are specific to particular strains of bacteria, bacteriocins will not replace general antibiotics, but they could be used to target strains of multidrug resistant or highly virulent bacteria.

Would you like a little iron with that?

The bacterium was Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a prototypical multidrug resistant pathogen that serves as a model organism in the Buckling lab. Once limited to burn wounds, P. aeruginosa now causes severe hospital-acquired infections and persistent lung infections in cystic fibrosis patients.

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Most P. aeruginosa produce bacteriocins called pyocins, typically several of them. The strain in this experiment produced three, two of which have rod-like structures and a third, called an S-type pyocin that is soluble and disappears in liquids.

The scientists knew that the S-type pyocin, which kills by degrading DNA, had to enter bacteria to kill them. They also knew that it entered bacteria by sneaking through siderophore receptors.

Siderophore receptors are the bacterial equivalent of Achilles' heel. Like all living organisms bacteria need iron, an element that easily swaps electrons, to conduct the business of life. Iron is one of the most abundant elements on the planet, but very little of it is in a soluble form bacteria and other living things can use.

This is particularly true within the human body, where iron is concealed in cells and large iron-binding proteins as a first line of defense against infection. So to garner enough iron to survive, bacteria secrete small molecules called siderophores to seek out iron in the environment and bring it back into the cell through siderophore-specific receptors.

Since bacteria make more of these receptors under iron-poor conditions, Inglis and his colleagues ran two sets of experiments: one in iron-rich media, and the other in iron-poor media.

When iron was freely available, the bacteria didn't need to make the siderophore receptors and resistance to the pyocin evolved easily and often. "We had replicate evolving populations and the majority of them evolved resistance," Inglis said.

When iron was limiting, the bacteria had to express the receptors to survive. Resistance to pyocin didn't evolve very often and, when it did, the resistant bacteria grew very slowly. So resistance was costly in the iron-poor environment.

To test resistant bacteria farther, the scientists took bacteria that had evolved resistance under iron-rich conditions and transferred them to iron-poor ones. Even though resistance evolved easily in iron-rich conditions, which suggested that the resistant bacteria weren't at a competitive disadvantage, when the resistant bacteria were under iron limitation, they grew poorly.

Why might this be important? In the iron-poor environment of the human body, where the iron concentration is about one atom per 1.6 liters of blood, initially susceptible P. aeruginosa might find it difficult to develop resistance to pyocin and resistant P. aeruginosa might grow so slowly the immune system would be able to clear them, Inglis said.

Taking bacteria seriously

The pyocin-resistance experiment is part of a larger reconsideration of bacteria not just as threat to our health but also as organisms in their own right, with their own ecology and evolutionary histories.

In retrospect, it is somewhat bizarre that nobody in the golden era of antibiotics questioned why soil bacteria make medicines for human illnesses.

The usual explanation was that soil bacteria are fiercely competitive, continually fighting for living space in the soil under our feet and that antibiotics are a happy side-effect of this ongoing microbial battle.

Chastened by the rise of resistance, scientists aren't sure this basic assumption is entirely true, in part because the concentrations of antibiotic compounds in natural environments are so low as to be undetectable.

Some have proposed that antibiotics are inter-cellular signaling molecules and that both producing and receiving organisms may have developed enzymes that inactivated the antibiotics (resistance) in order to turn off the signal.

Others, including Washington University's Gautam Dantas, assistant professor of pathology and immunology in the School of Medicine, have suggested that antibiotics might serve soil bacteria as sources of carbon and nitrogen; in this case inactivation (resistance) is really just digestion.

Inglis himself has made an intriguing suggestion. Perhaps bacteriocins, if not antibiotics, exist not to help bacteria but rather to ensure their own survival. In an experiment published in 2013, Inglis and colleagues showed that bacteriocins can act primarily as selfish genetic elements promoting their own transmission in the population.

Antibiotic resistance looks very different from a bacterial point of view than from our own.



What is the difference between antibiotics and bacterocins? The canonical answer, biologist R. Fredrik Inglis said, is that antibiotics kill a broad spectrum of bacteria -- they might, for example, kill all susceptible gram-negative bacteria -- but bacteriocins are narrow spectrum agents, inhibiting the growth of only closely related bacterial strains.

Antibiotic production is not very common among bacteria. The antibiotics developed as drugs were produced by fewer than 100 bacterial species and nearly 50 percent of them by a single bacterial genus, Streptomyces. In contrast, 99.9 percent of bacteria produce bacteriocins.

But Inglis said both terms are basically historical artifacts that do not define a class of compounds or its natural function, only its application.

"'Bacteriocin' is a catch-all term that describes functionally and structurally disparate things," he said. "Some bacteriocins poke holes in the cell membrane, some degrade DNA. They have completely separate evolutionary origins. They're not the same thing at all, but they kill bacteria, so we call them bacteriocins."
Chimpanzees often use tools to extract or consume food. Which tools they choose for which purpose, however, can differ depending on the region where they live. Researchers of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, have thus initiated the 'Pan African Programme: The Cultured Chimpanzee' and, since 2010, have collected data on chimpanzee behavior, demography and resource availability across Africa following a standardized protocol. This is how the researchers encountered a thus far unknown behavior: In West Africa chimpanzees throw stones at trees resulting in conspicuous accumulations at these sites. Why exactly the animals do this the researchers do not yet know, yet the behavior appears to have some cultural elements.

Chimpanzees have been studied for almost 60 years at a few long-term field sites, which are mainly located in East and West Africa. They are proficient tool-users, using sticks to fish for termites, to dip for ants, to extract honey, and even using stone or wooden hammers to crack open nuts. Outside the foraging context male chimpanzees sometimes throw branches and stones during displays, or leaf-clip to solicit sex from females. This research has therefore been fundamental for providing insights into natural chimpanzee behavior and most importantly into the differences between populations. However, at the same time it has also become clear that chimpanzee behavior observed at such a small number of sites is unlikely to be representative of other chimpanzee populations.

In an effort to overcome this limitation, researchers of the Department of Primatology at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology have initiated the 'Pan African Programme: The Cultured Chimpanzee' (PanAf) to better understand the ecological and evolutionary drivers of behavioral diversification in chimpanzees. Following a unique standardized protocol, data on chimpanzee behavior, demography and resource availability have been collected since 2010 at 39 different temporary research sites across Africa. "The PanAf project represents a new approach to studying chimpanzees and will provide many interesting insights into chimpanzee demography and social structure, genetics, behavior and culture," says Hjalmar Kuehl of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research. "The Pan Af is only possible due to the numerous collaborations with chimpanzee researchers, field workers and national wildlife authorities in 14 countries across Africa." Since chimpanzees were not habituated to human presence at these sites, the researchers rely on a wide spectrum of non-invasive sampling methods, including remote camera traps.

After discovering conspicuous piles of stones next to trees at four research sites in West Africa, the field teams placed camera traps next to them. For instance, at the site of the Chimbo Foundation in Guinea Bissau some impressive videos were recorded which confirmed the researchers' suspicion that chimpanzees were responsible for these stone piles and were regularly visiting these trees. "The PanAf cameras filmed individual chimpanzees picking up stones from beside, or inside trees, and then throwing them at these trees while emitting a long-distance pant hoot vocalization," says Ammie Kalan of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Importantly, the behavior results in accumulations of rocks at these locations. Whereas it is mainly the adult males practicing this behavior in the context of ritualized displays, some camera traps also revealed females or juveniles doing it. The behavior has only been observed in West Africa and appears to be independent of any foraging context, in which the majority of tool-use behaviors were previously described in chimpanzees.

"This study reports a new chimpanzee behavior not known previously and highlights the potential of the PanAf project to uncover unknown facets of the life of chimpanzees, our closest living relative," says Christophe Boesch, director of the Department of Primatology at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. "As the stone accumulation behavior does not seem to be linked to either the abundance of stones or the availability of suitable trees in an area, it is likely that it has some cultural elements."

Chimpanzees are often used as a model for the evolution of early hominins. Due to the conspicuous accumulations of stones associated with this newly discovered behavior, it raises questions regarding the interpretation of stone accumulation sites in archaeology. Intriguingly, the authors also suggest that this behavior could shed some light on the origin of ritual sites in hominin evolution.
Corporate social responsibility, or CSR -- a name for the actions companies take to advance social good, above and beyond that which is required by law -- continues to draw interest from practitioners and academics alike. One question that practitioners have is whether CSR impacts their firm's performance.

Frank Germann, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business, and his fellow researchers -- Charles Kang from Tulane University and Rajdeep Grewal from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill -- examined how CSR relates to firm performance. While the researchers found that, all else equal, CSR does in fact benefit firms financially, it's also increasingly being practiced by companies to offset "bad" behaviors.

"Firms can expect to benefit financially from engaging in corporate social responsibility," Germann said. "Increasingly, however, firms engage in both corporate social responsibility and corporate social irresponsibility (CSI). Our results indicate that firms that engage in both CSR and CSI engage in CSR after they have engaged in CSI to make amends for their past CSI."

One aspect that is new about the study is the finding that firms' CSR and CSI are increasingly correlated.

"Although one would think that CSR and CSI are mutually exclusive -- that a firm does either 'good' or 'bad' -- increasingly, many firms do both good and bad at the same time," Germann said. "Our comprehensive data shows that the correlation between CSR and CSI has increased sharply since the early 2000s."

Some firms engage in CSR to offset their past CSI, while other firms engage in CSR, the researchers speculate, because it is simply part of what they do.

"The latter firms can expect to see significant financial returns from their CSR investments. This finding should be of particular interest to managers. Hopefully it will encourage them to act more conscientiously," Germann said. "Furthermore, both the general public and managers should find it interesting that companies do not seem to be able to 'wash away their sins.'"
According to two Harvard professors and their collaborators, a 2015 landmark study showing that more than half of all psychology studies cannot be replicated is actually wrong.

In an attempt to determine the replicability of psychological science, a consortium of 270 scientists known as The Open Science Collaboration (OSC) tried to replicate the results of 100 published studies. More than half of them failed, creating sensational headlines worldwide about the "replication crisis" in psychology.

But an in-depth examination of the data by Daniel Gilbert (Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard University), Gary King (Albert J. Weatherhead III University Professor at Harvard University), Stephen Pettigrew (doctoral student in the Department of Government at Harvard University), and Timothy Wilson (Sherrell J. Aston Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia) has revealed that the OSC made some serious mistakes that make this pessimistic conclusion completely unwarranted:

The methods of many of the replication studies turn out to be remarkably different from the originals and, according to Gilbert, King, Pettigrew, and Wilson, these "infidelities" had two important consequences.

First, they introduced statistical error into the data which led the OSC to significantly underestimate how many of their replications should have failed by chance alone. When this error is taken into account, the number of failures in their data is no greater than one would expect if all 100 of the original findings had been true.

Second, Gilbert, King, Pettigrew, and Wilson discovered that the low-fidelity studies were four times more likely to fail than were the high-fidelity studies, suggesting that when replicators strayed from the original methods, they caused their own studies to fail.

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Finally, the OSC used a "low powered" design. When Gilbert, King, Pettigrew, and Wilson applied this design to a published data set that was known to have a high replication rate, it too showed a low replication rate, suggesting that the OSC's design was destined from the start to underestimate the replicability of psychological science.

Individually, Gilbert and King said, each of these problems would be enough to cast doubt on the conclusion that most people have drawn from this study, but taken together, they completely repudiate it. The flaws are described in a commentary published March 4 in Science.

Like most scientists who read the OSC's article when it appeared, Gilbert, King, Pettigrew, and Wilson were shocked and chagrined. But when they began to scrutinize the methods and reanalyze the raw data, they immediately noticed problems--problems that started with how the replicators had selected the 100 original studies.

"If you want to estimate a parameter of a population," said King, "then you either have to randomly sample from that population or make statistical corrections for the fact that you didn't. The OSC did neither."

"What they did," added Gilbert, "is create an idiosyncratic, arbitrary list of sampling rules that excluded the majority of psychology's subfields from the sample, that excluded entire classes of studies whose methods are probably among the best in science from the sample, and so on. Then they proceeded to violate all of their own rules. Worse yet, they actually allowed some replicators to have a choice about which studies they would try to replicate. If they had used these same methods to sample people instead of studies, no reputable scientific journal would have published their findings. So the first thing we realized was that no matter what they found--good news or bad news--they never had any chance of estimating the reproducibility of psychological science, which is what the very title of their paper claims they did."

"And that was just the beginning," King said. "If you are going to replicate a hundred studies, some will fail by chance alone. That's basic sampling theory. So you have to use statistics to estimate how many of the studies are expected to fail by chance alone because otherwise the number that actually do fail is meaningless."

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According to King, the OSC did this, but they made a critical error.

"When they did their calculations, they failed to consider the fact that their replication studies were not just new samples from the same population. They were often quite different from the originals in many ways, and those differences are a source of statistical error. So we did the calculation the right way and then applied it to their data. And guess what? The number of failures they observed was just about what you should expect to observe by chance alone--even if all one hundred of the original findings were true. The failure of the replication studies to match the original studies was a failure of the replications, not of the originals."

Gilbert noted that most people assume that a replication is a "replica"' of the original study.

"Readers surely assumed that if a group of scientists did a hundred replications, then they must have used the same methods to study the same populations. In this case, that assumption would be quite wrong. Replications always vary from originals in minor ways of course, but if you read the reports carefully, as we did, you discover that many of the replication studies differed in truly astounding ways--ways that make it hard to understand how they could even be called replications."

As an example, Gilbert described an original study that involved showing White students at Stanford University a video of four other Stanford students discussing admissions policies at their university. Three of the discussants were White and one was Black. During the discussion, one of the White students made offensive comments about affirmative action, and the researchers found that the observers looked significantly longer at the Black student when they believed he could hear the others' comments than when he could not.

"So how did they do the replication? With students at the University of Amsterdam!" Gilbert said. "They had Dutch students watch a video of Stanford students, speaking in English, about affirmative action policies at a university more than 5000 miles away."

In other words, unlike the participants in the original study, participants in the replication study watched students at a foreign university speaking in a foreign language about an issue of no relevance to them.

But according to Gilbert, that was not the most troubling part.

"If you dive deep into the data, you discover something else," Gilbert said. "The replicators realized that doing this study in the Netherlands might have been a problem, so they wisely decided to run another version of it in the US. And when they did, they basically replicated the original result. And yet, when the OSC estimated the reproducibility of psychological science, they excluded the successful replication and included only the one from the University of Amsterdam that failed. So the public hears that 'Yet another psychology study doesn't replicate' instead of 'Yet another psychology study replicates just fine if you do it right and not if you do it wrong' which isn't a very exciting headline. Some of the replications were quite faithful to the originals, but anyone who carefully reads all the replication reports will find many more examples like this one."

"These infidelities were a problem for another reason," King added, "namely, that they introduce additional error into the data set. That error can be calculated, and when we do, it turns out that the number of replication studies that actually failed is about what we should expect if every single one of the original findings had been true. Now, one could argue about how best to make this calculation, but the fact is that OSC didn't make it at all. They simply ignored this potent source of error, and that caused them to draw the wrong conclusions from their data. That doesn't mean that all one hundred studies were true, of course, but it does mean that this article provides no evidence to the contrary."

"So we now know that the infidelities created statistical noise," said Gilbert, "but was that all they did? Or were the infidelities of a certain kind? In other words, did they just tend to change the original result, or did they tend to change it in a particular way?"

"To find out," said King, "we needed a measure of how faithful each of the hundred replications was. Luckily, the OSC supplied it."

Before each replication began, the OSC asked the original authors to examine the planned replication study and say whether they would endorse it as a faithful replication of their work, and about 70 percent did so.

"We used this as a rough index of fidelity, and when we did, we discovered something important: The low-fidelity replications were an astonishing four times more likely to fail," King said. "What that suggests is that the infidelities did not just create random statistical noise--they actually biased the studies toward failure."

In their Technical Comment, Gilbert, King, Pettigrew, and Wilson also note that the OSC used a "low powered" design: They replicated each of the 100 studies once, using roughly the number of subjects that were used in the original studies. But according to King, this method artificially depresses the replication rate.

"To show how this happens, we took another published article that had examined the replicability of a group of classic psychology studies," said King. "The authors of that paper had used a very high-powered design--they replicated each study with more than thirty times the original number of participants--and that high-powered design produced a very high replication rate. So we asked a simple question: What would have happened if these authors had used the low-powered design that was used by the OSC? The answer is that the replication rate would have been even lower than the replication rate found by the OSC."

Despite uncovering serious problems with the landmark study, Gilbert and King emphasized that their critique does not suggest any wrongdoing and is simply part of the normal process of scientific inquiry.

"Let's be clear, Gilbert said. "No one involved in this study was trying to deceive anyone. They just made mistakes, as scientists sometimes do. Many of the OSC members are our friends, and the corresponding author, Brian Nosek, is actually a good friend who was both forthcoming and helpful to us as we wrote our critique," Gilbert said. "In fact, Brian is the one who suggested one of the methods we used for correcting the OSC's error calculations. So this is not a personal attack, this is a scientific critique. We all care about the same things: Doing science well and finding out what's true. We were glad to see that in their response to our comment, the OSC quibbled about a number of minor issues but conceded the major one, which is that their paper does not provide evidence for the pessimistic conclusions that most people have drawn from it."

"I think the big take-away point here is that meta-science must obey the rules of science," King said. "All the rules about sampling and calculating error and keeping experimenters blind to the hypothesis--all of those rules must apply whether you are studying people or studying the replicability of a science. Meta-science does not get a pass. It is not exempt. And those doing meta-science are not above the fray. They are part of the scientific process. If you violate the basic rules of science, you get the wrong answer, and that's what happened here."

"This paper has had extraordinary impact," Gilbert said. "It was Science magazine's number three 'Breakthrough of the Year' across all fields of science. It led to changes in policy at many scientific journals, changes in priorities at funding agencies, and it seriously undermined public perceptions of psychology. So it is not enough now, in the sober light of retrospect, to say that mistakes were made. These mistakes had very serious repercussions. We hope the OSC will now work as hard to correct the public misperceptions of their findings as they did to produce the findings themselves."
FLORENCE, S.C.  Senate President Pro-tempore Hugh K. Leatherman Sr. said Friday the $400 million agreement to fix South Carolinas shoddy road system is a good start, but ultimately wont work because it takes away from the states general fund.

He said the announced deal would give money to the department of transportation and take away funding from other critical state agencies.

What does that do when you take money out of the general fund and put it towards fixing the roads, Leatherman asked. Youre taking money from education, taking money public safety, taking money from mental health, taking money from all other agencies that provide services to our people.

The deal in its current form would put $400 million a year towards repairing crumbling roads, without raising the gas tax or cutting income taxes. DOT leaders previously said state roads would take at least $1.2 billion annually to progress crumbling roads.

Leatherman said he doesnt know if the proposed deal would do enough to remedy the entire problem.

Its hard to judge until we see all the amendments come through, he said. It seems like the $400 million is a number everybody feels like needs to be done. Now, how we fund that, well have to see how the Senate acts on that. I can assure everybody we will find adequate funding for our roads.

Despite concerns, Leatherman remained optimistic that the Senate will pass a bill in coming weeks.

Im excited about where we are. Were on that bill and weve made a lot of progress on that bill, he said. This something we must do this year, its not an option. Ive cancelled all Senate committee meetings to make sure Senate does what its supposed to be doing, and thats working on our roads issue. People are expecting it and I intend to do it. 

If a bill passes, it will go back to the House for approval then make its way back to Senate conferences, which Leatherman plans to be the driving force on.

The debate over road funding has grown contentious in the past year, specifically between the Senate leader and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

Last week, Haley accused Leatherman of sending money exclusively to Florence for road repairs, with no economic development to show for it.

Where is the economic development? Haley said. It is in the Lowcountry, the Upstate and the Midlands, but we have the best roads in Florence because that is where the Senate president lives. We have to get our priorities straight.

Leatherman said Haley may have forgotten about Honda of South Carolina, Otis Elevator, QVC, Ruiz Foods and Johnson Controls  all major companies located in Florence.

Ill let the governor say what she wants to say and Ill try not to second guess what shes thinking, Leatherman said. Maybe the governor ought to come down here and listen to the people in the Pee Dee section of South Carolina.

The people of Florence chose to tax themselves, he continued. DOT didnt have the money, they wanted their roads fixed so they put a tax on themselves and Im glad they did. I work hard to make sure the people in this state, particularly in the Pee Dee, are really happy with the deal when we get their roads fixed. Well possibly get something done this coming week, thats my intent.

In a Thursday afternoon statement, House Speaker Jay Lucas (R-Darlington) also criticized the Senates move, calling their proposal a Band-Aid rather than a true fix.

For 323 days, the Senate has had every opportunity to show leadership and propose a real, long-term solution for road repair in South Carolina, Lucas said. The current Senate amendment simply kicks the can further down the road and frankly, into a pothole. The General Assembly has been using general fund dollars to slap a band-aid on roads for years with very little to show for it.
Although JCPOA Implementation Day permitted dollar transactions with Iran, using the currency has often led to grief for bankers around the world, a seminar organised by Dubai-based law firm Fichte and Co. Legal Services heard on 2 March.

US fines and penalties [against international banks] have been astronomical," said Matthew J. Thomas, partner at Blank Rome law firm in Washington DC, in Dubai to address the seminar.

Although many believe that sanctions on Iran involving non-US actors have been lifted, what Thomas called the exceedingly complex US sanctions regime on Iran and other countries left banks still in doubt about the advisability of dealing with them at all.

Non-US persons could be held liable for "causing" violations of primary US sanctions and these procedures were often aimed at overseas banks, especially in Europe, with severe penalties involved.

Iran has been subject to a primary US embargo since 1979. From 2009-13, the US implemented a series of escalating secondary sanctions against Iran, to dissuade non-US actors from dealing with it on energy, shipping, defence and finance.

The JCPOA left the primary embargo largely intact, eliminating most (but not all) secondary sanctions, Thomas said.

In 2015, BNP Paribas was hit with a settlement of $8.83bn from the US Justice Department over claims it violated sanctions on Sudan, Cuba and Iran from 2004-12.

Thomas said ING Bank NV paid $619m, HSBC $1.9bn, and Commerzbank AG $258m, to settle recent claims made against them from US government agencies.

The banks are paralysed with fear they are going to make this sort of mistake [again], he said.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is one of the US Treasury Departments main enforcers of trade sanctions against countries, terrorists, drug traffickers and WMD development.

It also tracks Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs), who may be barred from doing business with the US in countries where punitive measures have otherwise been lifted.

"Thousands of new compliance professionals have been hired [by banks] since 2010," he said, adding that they were in effect doing the work of OFAC, which has little more than 200 staff, by other means.

Non-US persons can be liable for violating US sanctions, Thomas said, speaking a day later at the 12th Annual Marine Money Gulf Ship Finance Forum, before an equally rapt audience. Geographical proximity makes Dubai the business hub most likely to benefit from renewed business ties to Iran.

The focus was on eliminating indirect or commingled Iranian interests from transactions, in entities with pooled revenues like tanker pools, or agency businesses, he said.

The UAE Central Bank has not approved UAE banks to do business with Iran yet, said Asad Jafree, managing partner, Insignia Consulting, at the same time adding that with $20bn of GCC placements from Iran, many UAE banks were very eager to obtain exposure.
A witness to the fatal police shooting of Alejandro Alex Nieto in a San Francisco park said Thursday that Nieto had his hands in his jacket pockets when officers opened fire, contradicting the testimony of the officers who said Nieto pointed a Taser at them that they mistook for a gun.

Antonio Theodore took the stand on the third day of a civil trial at the U.S. District Court in San Francisco. Nietos parents are suing the city for wrongful death, arguing that four officers used excessive force when they fired 59 shots at Nieto on March 21, 2014, at Bernal Heights Park.

The city says Nietos pointing of his Taser caused police to mistake the device for a pistol and shoot in self-defense. Nieto, a 27-year-old City College of San Francisco student with a history of erratic behavior, carried the Taser for his job as a security guard, and authorities said that when it was recovered its barb-like electrodes had been released.

Theodore said he went to the park around 6:30 p.m. to jog with his dog and passed Nieto near a bench on the western side. He kept jogging, and upon approaching the gate to the east, observed two police cars. He said he stopped to see what was going on from a trail above the access road  about 115 feet, he estimated, from where the shooting would take place.

He described how one of the patrol cars drove up the road, stopped and then continued toward Nieto, whom Theodore described as walking down the road in a very calm and casual way. The car pulled up close to Nieto before two officers got out and took positions behind their doors.

One officer yelled stop  the officer on the drivers side, Theodore testified. After the stop, he fired the first shot at the man in the red jacket. He then fired another shot. Then a third shot. Then the person fell on their knees, and after a second he got a fourth shot and fell on his face.

Theodore said that he could see Nieto and the officers clearly, despite a minor astigmatism, and that Nieto kept his hands in his jacket pockets during the encounter. He said he hadnt spoken with police after the incident because he was scared and didnt trust them; he said even facing the officers in court made him nervous.

City attorneys, who did not have a chance to cross-examiner Theodore on Thursday, believe that his story is not credible and that he didnt have a clear view. The officers who first confronted Nieto, Richard Schiff and Lt. Jason Sawyer, testified earlier that Nieto threatened them before pulling the Taser from his hip and pointing it, causing it to emit a red laser beam.

It was tragic, Schiff said. But unfortunately, I was forced.

Also taking the stand Thursday was Justin Fritz, whose 911 call about a suspicious person drew officers to the park. He said he didnt see the shooting, but heard two volleys of gunfire with a pause in between and had to duck for cover as bullets ripped into trees near him.

Fritz, who had gone to the park to walk his dogs with his partner, said that when he initially passed Nieto, who was next to a bench and appeared to be eating, he didnt notice anything unusual. Minutes later, though, his partner told him hed seen a gun on Nietos hip and that Nieto appeared to be practicing drawing it.

Fritz called 911 and was torn between the dispatchers request that he remain and watch Nieto and his partners pleas that they flee the park. All I could keep playing in my head was an active shooter situation like Columbine, Fritz said.

Retreating toward stairs that led to the street, Fritz kept an eye on Nieto while trying to conceal himself. At that point, he said, Nieto didnt appear to be making any wild gestures or talking to himself.

But Fritz lost sight of Nieto, and roughly 45 seconds later, shots rang out  first a volley of what sounded like eight or nine blasts, he said, then a 10-second pause and another volley. Still on the phone with the dispatcher, Fritz took off down the stairs with his partner.

Oh s, theres gunfire! Theres gunfire! Fritz can be heard saying on a recording played for the jury. Theyre firing at me! Help! Help! Help!

The account of a pause in gunfire, also described in Theodores testimony, is likely to be a key area of dispute. Adante Pointer, an attorney for Nietos parents, argues that it was unreasonable that officers would empty their guns and even reload when faced with a subject who did not fire back.

But city attorneys  and prosecutors who cleared the officers of charges  say police faced a threat that appeared to be life-threatening. Two later-arriving officers shot at Nieto after he went to the ground, saying his head and the stun gun were raised.

Earlier Thursday, Officer Nathan Chew, one of the later-arriving officers, testified that as he entered the park he heard six or seven shots. He said he drove to where Schiff and Sawyer were parked, with their guns trained toward Nieto, who was on the ground in what Chew described as a prone position with an object in his hand that appeared to be a gun that emitted a red laser beam.

Though he couldnt recall hearing any gunfire coming from Nieto, Chew said he shot five times because he feared for his life and that of his fellow officers before he saw Nietos head drop.

Kale Williams is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kwilliams@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfkale
Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and other city officials want to add 17,000 units of affordable and market-rate housing over eight years and protect another 17,000 units at a time when 1 in 4 residents is facing displacement.

Getting there is not easy. It may require the City Council to pass dozens of laws to protect tenants and ease the way for development.

On Thursday, Schaaf and other officials released a 52-page report from the citys housing Cabinet  a mayor-appointed committee of 110 renters, activists, finance experts, lawyers and elected officials  that includes dozens of ideas for how to pay for the affordable housing and keep Oakland the multiethnic haven its been for generations. Many would require City Council approval.

So we can keep Oakland Oakland, the mayor said in a news conference Thursday to present the report. So we can preserve that secret sauce we love, she added, trotting out whats become a well-known Schaaf cliche.

Among the proposals highlighted in the report are increased housing and retail along transit corridors, tighter protections for tenants, and a program enabling the city to turn blighted properties into affordable housing. The report also recommends that developers pay fees when they build market-rate units, which would help fund public services and pay for the city to build its own affordable housing.

In many ways, the efforts were taking here are to save the soul of the city, Council President Lynette Gibson McElhaney said Tuesday in a meeting with The Chronicles editorial board.

Newcomers flood in

In recent years, Oaklands economy has been on the rebound, with commercial projects blossoming downtown as well-heeled refugees from San Francisco flock in. Sunset Magazine recently moved its offices to the citys Jack London Square waterfront, and next year Uber will take over a former Sears department store, one block from the 19th Street BART Station.

But the boom has also deepened the economic disparities. Rents are rising faster than salaries, and now many Oakland residents are spending too much of their income on rent, Schaaf said. At the same time, a sudden surge of new residents is putting pressure on the citys limited housing stock.

In some ways, its great as mayor to have the problem that people want to come to your city, Schaaf said at the news conference Thursday. But the speed at which its happening is surprising.

Councilman Dan Kalb, who served on the housing Cabinet, told of a teacher hired to work at Emerson Elementary School in North Oakland who couldnt find an affordable place to live.

She ultimately left and got a job in east Contra Costa, he said. We wanted to keep her, and we lost her.

Priced out

Councilman Abel Guillen, who also took part in the Cabinet, said people are sleeping in cars and parks in his district near Lake Merritt because they cant afford rent.

Yet several mom-and-pop landlords showed up at the news conference to challenge the mayor, wondering why they werent included in the decision-making process.

Jill Broadhurst, who heads the East Bay Rental Housing Association  a trade group representing small-property owners  told The Chronicle that she believes landlords will bear the brunt of the proposed changes, which would make it hard to raise rents, evict tenants or convert rentals into condominiums.

The vast majority of rental property owners in Oakland own only a few units and live on-property, Broadhurst wrote. They invest heavily in their community and care greatly about quality-of-life issues  much more so than transient renters.

But Schaaf said the point of the Cabinet was to stave off an affordability crisis in Oakland, not protect the rights of landlords.

Intricate document

She acknowledged that it will take months for the council to consider each policy highlighted in the report. While the housing crisis is basic and immediate, the means to solve it are complex and intricate.

Thats why were not counting on one fix, Schaaf said. Its about 20 tweaks. Its a very voluminous, intricate document, and thats why we think its going to work.

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan
Oakland officials are poised to sign a deal with the same developer they picked last year for a controversial high-rise project on East 12th Street  which turned out to violate a state law governing the sale of surplus land and was eventually killed.

On Thursday, the City Council said Michael Johnson is again the citys No. 1 choice to develop the same piece of public land, an acre lot abutting Lake Merritt. This time, Johnsons company, UrbanCore, is partnering with the nonprofit East Bay Asian Local Development Corp. and pushing plans for a 360-unit building, in which a third of the units would be affordable.

This is the most important project in our companys history, and in my 38-year career, Johnson said at a Monday hearing of the councils Community and Economic Development Committee, at which three bidders vied for the Lake Merritt parcel.

The meeting drew hundreds of people to Oakland City Hall, many of them pledging support for one of Johnsons competitors  a Peoples Proposal for 133 units of affordable housing, conceived by a group of Oakland residents whod come together because they were angered by the councils previous deal with Johnson.

For us, the fight is not over, said Amy Vanderwarker, a spokeswoman for the Peoples Proposal. This whole fight started last year when UrbanCore also had an exclusive negotiating agreement with the city, but we stopped that  the land still has not been sold.

Johnsons previous project  a 24-story market-rate apartment tower  was all but finalized last year when the city abruptly pulled the plug in July, after a memo from the city attorneys office leaked to the press. The memo said city officials had ignored a state law when they began negotiating with Johnson.

Because the parcel is surplus land, the council had a legal obligation to offer it to school districts and government agencies before entering talks with a private developer.

Johnson told The Chronicle on Thursday that he doesnt believe the city did anything wrong. I think at every step everybody was well intentioned and working in good faith.

By the time Oakland officials killed that project, the council had worked out a deal that required Johnson and his former Colorado-based partner, United Dominion Realty, to pay an $8 million fee for rights to purchase the parcel  for an additional $5.1 million.

The $8 million fee was supposed to fund construction of affordable housing in Oakland. Opponents still slammed the deal, and Councilman Abel Guillen called it a silver lining for a process that had raised questions from the beginning.

In July, the city put the East 12th Street parcel out to bid.

Johnson, who lives in Oaklands Adams Point neighborhood, has worked on publicly funded projects in Oakland and the surrounding area for decades. Hes forged a strong political connection with Councilman Larry Reid, who is a chief backer of a transit village that UrbanCore is planning to build near BARTs Coliseum/Oakland Airport Station. In 2003, he did a major rehabilitation project in Richmond in partnership with Richmond Neighborhood Housing Services, a nonprofit that at the time was run by Lynette Gibson McElhaney, who is now the Oakland City Council president.

At the committee meeting Monday, McElhaney stressed the importance of providing opportunities for local African American developers like Johnson.

Johnson is also the developer behind San Franciscos Fillmore Heritage Center, which was supposed to bring 80 housing units, a nonprofit jazz museum, and a new iteration of Yoshis jazz club to a historic retail corridor. It began with good intentions and ended with Johnson defaulting on his loan payments to the city. Yoshis was saddled with millions of dollars in construction debt before it opened, and its owners filed for bankruptcy in 2012. A replacement club, the Addition, shuttered last year.

San Francisco has since taken over ownership of the Fillmore Heritage Center property.

Joshua Simon, who heads East Bay Asian Local Development Corp., which is partnering with Johnson on the new East 12th development, said hes confident their project will move forward.

We were pleased when the city turned it into an open request for proposals, Simon told The Chronicle on Thursday. We thought it was an important site, and we thought the best minds in the city should be applied to that site.

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan
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Washington

The same strategy that Martin Shkreli used to get away with a 5,000-percent price increase on an old drug is used by many other drugmakers to maintain sky-high prices on billions of dollars' worth of medications.

Before the price hike that made him infamous, the former CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals had to ensure that no competitor would be able to launch a cheaper version of Daraprim, the 60-year-old anti-infection pill that is no longer under patent.

Shkreli had the perfect weapon: a tightly-controlled distribution system which would make it virtually impossible for a competitor to obtain enough Daraprim to develop their own version.

Shkreli, who resigned in December, did not invent the closed distribution technique. And his former company, Turing, noted Daraprim was already distributed under such a system when it acquired the drug.

Many larger drugmakers have also turned drug distribution into a powerful tool against competition. The strategy takes advantage of a simple fact: If generic drugmakers can't get their hands on the original product, they cannot perform the tests needed to develop a generic version. Typically generic drugmakers purchase drugs in bulk from third-party suppliers. But when the original drugmaker controls the drug's distribution, they can simply refuse to sell.

The effect on patients is higher prices for drugs that would otherwise be available as low-cost generics. Doctors said these tactics "continue to stand in the way of patients' access."

"The most effective way to improve access and lower prices is to ensure that generic drugs get to market as quickly as possible," said Dr. Ameet Sarpatwari, of Harvard Medical School, who has studied the issue.

At least 40 drugs worth an estimated $5.4 billion are sheltered from competition by distribution hurdles, according to a study commissioned by the Generic Pharmaceutical Association, an industry trade group.

The Food and Drug Administration is aware of the misuse of distribution programs. The agency said in a statement it has received 100 letters from companies that say they have been blocked from obtaining drugs for testing purposes.

The agency's own regulations prohibit drugmakers from using certain types of distribution plans to block generic access, but the agency does not penalize companies for the practice.

The trend began in 2007, when the FDA began requiring risk-management plans for certain drugs.

The plans often feature various restrictions to make sure drugs are used safely, including limits on who can distribute them. But drugmakers realized the measures could also be used to keep their drugs away from competitors.

And even drugs that didn't require risk-management could utilize the strategy.

Daraprim is an example of a drug that has no major safety risks and was previously available through various wholesalers and distributors. But last June  three months before its sale to Turing  Daraprim was moved into a closed distribution program, allowing the manufacturer to refuse sales to competitors.

The effect for patients was jarring. The drug  which treats an infection mainly found in people with HIV and cancer  had previously been available through local pharmacies.

Now it is distributed through a specialty division of Walgreen's, which sells the drug at Turing's list price of $750 per pill. In the months after the price hike, some patients faced co-pays as high as $16,000 when trying to fill a prescription.

"Mr. Shkreli set up a very complicated system to ensure profits and patients have really suffered," said Sean Dickson, of the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors.

Turing said it has improved access to Daraprim, including making it available through a patient assistance program for those that can't afford it.

Drugmakers argue closed distribution simply protects their interests, making sure drugs are shipped and handled appropriately.

But generic drugmakers said the tactics threaten their business model.

"It undermines the whole generic drug approval process," said Steve Giuli, an executive with generics firm Apotex Corp.
Yahoo Chief Financial Officer Ken Goldman on Thursday reassured investors that the struggling company is serious about exploring all of its options, including a sale.

His remarks come as some Yahoo shareholders complain the sale process isnt moving fast enough. Goldman said the committee of three independent directors tasked with examining potential deals has been working quickly.

Its more active than anyone can possibly believe, Goldman said at a Morgan Stanley conference in San Francisco.

But some people familiar with the Sunnyvale companys business remain skeptical.

A former Yahoo executive said its baffling why the company has taken so long to provide interested buyers with a data room where they can view confidential information about Yahoo.

You have to start to wonder what they are waiting for, said the former executive, who declined to be named because of his close ties with the company. If I were them, I would sell the company as fast as I could. The business is only getting worse.

Yahoo, an Internet search pioneer with more than 1 billion monthly active users, has struggled over the years to regain its relevance. Last month, the company announced plans to cut its workforce by 15 percent, nearly 1,600 jobs.

The number of visitors to Yahoo sites declined 7 percent in January, and time spent on the sites dropped 4 percent from a year earlier, said Neil Doshi, an analyst with Mizuho Securities USA Inc., citing data from research firm comScore.

We expect Yahoo will be more vulnerable a year from now to losing users and ultimately ad dollars to larger platforms like Facebook, Google and high-profile startups like Snapchat and Pinterest, Doshi wrote in a note to investors.

But separating Yahoos core business from its investment stakes is complicated. Yahoo executives believe the Internet properties are undervalued, with analysts focusing too much on the companys stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.

At the beginning of last year, Yahoo planned to pursue a tax-free spin-off of its Alibaba stake along with its small-business division, only to suspend those efforts in December. Instead, Yahoo said it will examine spinning off its core business and shares in Yahoo Japan, a process that could take nine to 12 months. The company said it will also consider a sale of its core business.

Goldman said its possible a sale could be announced before the spin-off takes place.

Already, Verizon has expressed interest in buying Yahoo. CEO Marissa Mayer may also be exploring ways to take the company private through private-equity firms.

But Mayers time is running out.

Yahoo is facing mounting pressure from activist shareholders who are threatening to overthrow the companys board. New York hedge fund Starboard Value, led by Jeffrey Smith, is expected to file a slate of board candidates before the deadline of March 26. If Starboard challenges Yahoos management for board seats, shareholders will determine the winner at the companys annual meeting. Any delay in pursuing a sale is playing right into Jeff Smiths hands, a former Yahoo executive said.

One way Yahoo could try to avoid the showdown with Starboard is by offering board seats to the activist shareholder. Two Yahoo board members have left in recent months. The company has not filled their seats, leaving seven directors remaining.

The question is, Would any activist want anything less than control of the board? said Robert Peck, an analyst with investment bank SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

Wendy Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: wlee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @thewendylee
San Francisco saw a 34.6 percent reduction in gunfire between 2014 and 2015, the most of any city in California, according to a report by the shot-detection company used by the city.

The dramatic drop in gunfire was the fifth-largest of the more than 60 cities nationwide that use ShotSpotter, the technology that instantly notifies police of the whereabouts of gunfire and counts how many shots were heard.

The high-tech crime-fighting tool notified the San Francisco Police Department 1,071 times last year about possible shootings, said Officer Albie Esparza, a police spokesman.

In San Francisco our focus has been on reducing gun violence and it appears that our efforts and community partnerships are having the desired effect, Police Chief Greg Suhr said in a statement.

The department, which pays about $206,000 a year for the ShotSpotter system, did not immediately provide data on whether the reduction in gunfire was accompanied by fewer people getting shot. The homicide rate for San Francisco, the bulk of which involved gunshot victims, actually climbed from 45 in 2014 to 52 in 2015.

Esparza stressed that a reduction in gunfire means fewer chances for people to become shooting victims.

The city with the biggest drop in the nation in gunshots was Huntington Station, N.Y., which saw a 50.2 percent reduction. San Francisco ranked fifth in the nation behind Atlantic City, N.J., Brentwood, N.Y., and New Haven, Conn.

Other Bay Area cities that employ ShotSpotter, a private company based in Newark and backed by venture capital, reported decreases, too.

East Palo Alto went from getting 682 gunfire ShotSpotter calls in 2014 to 500 last year, about a 27 percent reduction. The Richmond Police Department reported a 5 percent decrease, and Oakland a 13 percent decline.

Capt. Ersie Joyner III of the Oakland Police Department said the city saw a double-digit decrease in nonfatal shootings. Homicides in Oakland, however, climbed from 80 in 2014 to 83 in 2015.

ShotSpotter CEO Ralph Clark said gunfire alone  whether or not the bullets pierce someone  should be counted in how people view gun violence.

When you understand that kids are irreparably damaged from hearing constant gunfire around them, you cant look away from that, he said.

ShotSpotter detectors are placed throughout cities and, once the sounds have been vetted by a computer system, notify the police department how many rounds have been fired and where.

Most of the activations in San Francisco were around the Mission, Bayview and Northern districts, said Officer Grace Gatpandan, a police spokeswoman.

In a sense, its a way for us to get ahead of people calling 911, she said. We get calls all the time of people reporting shots fired but we already know about it.

ShotSpotters National Gunfire Index report, published Wednesday, found the bulk of gunfire incidents across the country to be in the late evening and early morning, with nearly half concentrated in the four-hour period between 9 p.m. and 1 a.m.

The report also found that Christmas was the most popular day nationwide in 2015 for people to fire their guns, excluding New Years Eve, New Years Day and the Fourth of July, holidays that usually see spikes due to celebratory shooting and not necessarily an uptick in crime. Firework booms picked up by the system were omitted from the analysis, company officials said.

Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov
Under a barrage of parental objections, a federal judge tightened security measures to protect the personal data of up to 10 million California public school students  including names, addresses and Social Security numbers  which were ordered released under seal to a group of attorneys suing the state.

Yet the outpouring of concern also means the court cant process each parents objections to the data release individually. That means parents wont be able to opt out by submitting a special form that individual districts have been distributing.

The moves stem from a class-action lawsuit initiated by Morgan Hill parents concerned about state oversight of special education programs. The suit has become a sideshow, at least for now, to a legal battle over access to the student data  information that the plaintiffs say they need to prove their case.

The planned data dump of all student health, academic and behavioral records dating to 2008 had parents and privacy experts worrying about the possibility of the information leaking out or falling into criminals hands.

Initially, U.S. District Court Judge Kimberly Mueller in Sacramento ordered the information to be handed over under seal, monitored by a special magistrate as well as a security expert, and available only to a handful of legal representatives.

But Monday, she limited access further, requiring attorneys and representatives of the Morgan Hill parents to conduct searches of the data at offices of the state Department of Education, with help from state staff. The student information would remain under the control of the state at all times.

State officials, who could not be reached for comment on the new order, have fought the release of any student data. Plaintiffs representatives also did not respond Thursday to calls for comment.

Mueller said she amended her order after a large number of parents mailed written objections to her office.

The court construes the objections in bulk as objecting strongly to public disclosure of personal identifying information contained in (state) educational records, she wrote in Mondays ruling.

The decision offers a measure of victory to concerned parents, yet removes parental control over their childrens data. Given the number of objections filed by parents, there was no way to process them and remove their children from the data transfer, the judge said.

The court has not and cannot realistically review the objections individually, the ruling states.

Parents and many district officials believed mailed-in objections would serve as an opt-out of the process. And a February court order appeared to back that belief, saying, If you object to the disclosure of your or your childs protected personal information and records, you must notify the Court by April 1, 2016.

Instead, the judge ordered all objection letters to be archived in sealed boxes and stored in a secure room until further order of the court.

Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jilltucker
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St. Patricks Day is quickly approaching, but instead of stocking up on Guinness beers and whiskey, some Bay Area Irish Americans hope folks will load up on some knowledge.

The 13th annual Irish-American Crossroads Festival returns with a monthlong program to celebrate the Emerald Isle. Festivities start with Eileen Ivers and Her Band in Connecting Roots: From Irish Traditional to American Roots Music at 8 p.m. Friday, March 4, in San Rafael, followed by The Childrens Hour of Music and Dance on Saturday, March 5, and other family-friendly activities.
RABBI MIRIAM MIDLARSKY-LITCHENFELD

Background: She was born and grew up in Boulder, Colo. Her parents were Orthodox, but rebelled, becoming less traditional, then joined Conservative synagogues where she and her brother and sister were bat and bar mitzvahed. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, taught environmental education in New England, then moved to Santa Fe, N.M., where she taught Hebrew and worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. She studied at Hebrew Union College, the Reform rabbinical school, and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York City where she was ordained in the Conservative movement in 2003 and where she met her husband, Ted.

They lived in Pompton Lakes, N.J., where she taught at a Jewish day school and where their daughter, Tali, who's now 12, was born. They moved to New Orleans in the summer of 2005, a month before Hurricane Katrina. Their son, Ari, was born that November back in New Jersey to where they were evacuated. She later helped rebuild the adult Jewish education Melton School in post-Katrina New Orleans. In 2008, the family came to Niskayuna where daughter, Shuli, was born, where her husband is the rabbi at Congregation Agudat Achim at 2117 Union St. and where she has taught high school comparative religion and Hebrew and leads a service for young children. She's on the faculty of the Hebrew Academy of the Capital District in Albany.

You're an educator rather than a rabbi leading a congregation. Was that your plan when you were a seminary student?

Teaching is my passion. Since my junior year at Madison, I've been teaching or studying in synagogue or a school in one form or another. The Hebrew Academy is a Jewish day school of about 70 students. I teach Judaic studies in middle school and Torah and Mishnah to fourth- and fifth-graders. I lead prayer services for the students and created an opportunity for them to explore their relationship with Judaism through art, discussion and movement. The classrooms are multi-age, which allows us to encourage independent learning and inquiry. My general studies co-teacher and I are going with our classes to Daughters of Sarah  a Jewish nursing home  to deliver food packages for Purim, the holiday that commemorates the Jews' triumph over Haman, who wanted to annihilate the Jews. We celebrate with gifts of food to friends and neighbors and money to the poor and dress up in costumes.

I study the Bible in Hebrew with my students and give them the tools to decode the Torah text, the five books of Moses. I encourage students to see how these lessons are relevant to their lives. The Mishnah is a multivolume work of Jewish law that interprets laws given in the Torah so people will know how to observe them. The key for me is to encourage students to love being Jewish and to give them the knowledge and tools to interact with from this rich religious tradition.

The ecumenical movement has had a profound impact on Christianity, emphasizing unity of the faith and cooperation among Catholics and Protestants. Is there a similar movement in Judaism?

Yes, to some degree in terms of breaking down barriers. We see a partnership in Capital District Board of Rabbis in bringing Orthodox, Conservative and Reform leaders together and also being part of the interfaith community. I saw it in the synagogue in New Mexico that housed Reform, Conservative and Orthodox prayer services and the Orthodox synagogue that met in a Reform synagogue in New Orleans after Katrina. More and more I meet Jews of all stripes who hate labels and want to break down the divisions.

You will be the moderator of an interfaith discussion at your synagogue on Sunday, March 13, with four other women and how they reconcile their faith with their feminism.

Rosh Hodesh is the celebration of the new Jewish month, traditionally a day associated with women, so feminists started Rosh Hodesh groups for women to learn about Judaism together. Sadie Schneider, a feminist, intellectual and dedicated congregant, was instrumental in forming our Rosh Hodesh group about 30 years ago. There was a fund created in her honor that helps sponsor a larger yearly program of which Faithfully Feminist is one.

The format is based on the book "Faithfully Feminist: Jewish, Christian and Muslim Feminists on Why We Stay," which contains 45 essays by women on their battles with their religion and feminism.

The participants are the Rev. Sara Baron of Schenectady's First United Methodist Church of Schenectady, Dr. Mussarat Chaudhry of the Islamic Center of the Capital District and Al-Hadiya Center in Latham, Sister Carol Davis, a Roman Catholic at the Dominican Retreat and Conference Center in Niskayuna, and Rabbi Debora Gordon of Congregation Berith Sholom in Troy. There will be a dairy lunch and then each woman will tell a story that illustrates her relationship with feminism and religion. They might be inspired by the book or an event in their own lives. I will facilitate a conversation with the women and questions from the audience. All are welcome. I hope to inspire a conversation that will illustrate both our similarities and differences, but most importantly how we can learn from each other.

 Rob Brill

The Faithfully Feminist" program at Congregation Agudat Achim on Sunday, March 13, begins with a dairy luncheon at 1 p.m. The cost is $18 and $10 for students with reservations made by Monday at www.agudatachim.com. There is no charge for attending just the discussion that begins at 1:45 p.m. The Niskayuna synagogue is at 2117 Union St.
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The engineer of the Metro North Railroad train that derailed in the Bronx, killing four people and injuring 60 after he fell asleep, will get a federal pension, LoHud reports.

William Rockefeller has been awarded a disability pension by the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board, the Westchester news site reports.
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"We're more popular than Jesus now," said John Lennon during an interview with the London Evening Standard 50 years ago today on March 4, 1966.

The words would turn Christians across America against the Beatles, easily the biggest pop music act in the world at the time.

Lennon made the remark to journalist Maureen Cleave for a series called "How does a Beatle live?"

The full quote was: "Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that. I'm right and I'll be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now. I don't know which will go first, rock 'n' roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me."

No one in Great Britain paid much attention when the story ran. But, months later, when the teen magazine Datebook across the pond splashed the "more popular than Jesus " quote over its front page without context, America's Bible Belt took notice.

It was not pleased.

Beatles records and memorabilia were burned in bonfires. Disc jockeys refused to play the band's 45s (vinyl singles).

The reaction and criticism dampened the Beatles' enthusiasm to tour the U.S. in August. But the tour went on despite the protests. The band received threats over the phone and faced picketing by the Ku Klux Klan, which at one venue nailed a Beatles album to a wooden cross.

In Memphis, someone set off a firecracker on stage, further wracking nerves. Manager Brian Epstein pressed Lennon to make an apology for the "more popular" remark.

A reluctant Lennon told a reporter, "If you want me to apologize, if that will make you happy, then OK, I'm sorry."

By the end of August, the Beatles had had enough of touring. The band's concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco on Aug. 29 was its last. From then on, they would perform together in the studio.

See mostly candid Beatles photos from 1966 in the above gallery.
WASHINGTON  In a significant victory for the Obama administration, Chief Justice John Roberts on Thursday refused to block an Environmental Protection Agency regulation limiting emissions of mercury and other toxic pollutants from coal-fired power plants.

Roberts rejected an application from 20 states that said a federal appeals court in Washington had effectively thwarted their victory in the Supreme Court in June, when the high court ruled that the EPA had failed to take into account the punishing costs its mercury regulation would impose. In that 5-4 decision, Michigan vs. Environmental Protection Agency, the Supreme Court ruled that the agency had run afoul of the Clean Air Act by deciding to regulate the emissions without first undertaking a cost-benefit analysis to show the regulation to be appropriate and necessary.
DETROIT  Hillary Clinton said Friday the nation needs a new bargain for the economy and called upon all the presidential candidates to offer a credible strategy for raising wages as her primary race against rival Bernie Sanders shifts to a series of Rust Belt contests.

Clintons address at Detroit Manufacturing Systems, a manufacturer of instrument panels for cars, offered her the opportunity to contrast herself with both Sanders and business mogul Donald Trump, the leading Republican candidate.

Anyone running for president owes it to you to come up with real ideas, not an ideology, not an old set of talking points but a credible strategy designed for the world we live in now, Clinton said in remarks pointed at both rivals.

Sanders, who is trying to stage an upset in next weeks Michigan primary, has accused Clinton of supporting trade deals that have had disastrous consequences for workers. And he has sought to diminish Clintons standing by implying she waffled when she initially called the Trans Pacific Partnership trade as the gold standard as secretary of state but later opposed the deal.

Clinton made clear to differentiate with Republicans, saying there were so many insults at Thursday nights Republican debate it was hard to keep track. She said the biggest insult of all was to the American people and the economy was an afterthought during the Republican debate.

In the address, Clinton called for a clawback of tax benefits for companies that ship jobs overseas, rescinding tax relief and other incentives intended to encourage domestic investment. Revenue raised by this clawback would then be used to support investment in the United States.

The Democrats focus on manufacturing jobs and trade policy is forming the backdrop for Michigans primary and contests on March 15 in Ohio, Illinois and Missouri amid global economic weakness.

President Obamas decision to rescue the U.S. automakers still reverberates through the nations manufacturing belt, but many communities have struggled with the shift of factory jobs to Mexico and Asia.

Trailing Clinton in the chase for delegates, Sanders has criticized her past support for trade deals, including the North American Free Trade Agreement and normalizing trade relations with China.
1 Tougher abortion rules: New Kentucky abortion clinics would have to meet more strict medical standards before they could open under a bill that has cleared a state Senate committee. The bill would require abortion clinics to get a certificate of need from state regulators and meet standards of an ambulatory surgery center. Derek Selznick with the ACLU of Kentucky said the bill is designed to shutter the states few freestanding abortion clinics. Republican Gov. Matt Bevins administration supports the bill, saying the state needs power to regulate the clinics to keep the procedures safe. The U.S. Supreme Court is reviewing a similar law in Texas.

2 Comatose son: A man who put his infant son in a vegetative coma by shaking him as a 2-month-old in 1991 has been charged with homicide after the son died last year at age 23. Forty-six-year-old Christopher Barber served five to 10 years in a Pennsylvania prison for injuring Christopher Kostenbader in Saylorsburg. Kostenbader was on life support until he died last year. An autopsy determined it resulted from complications caused by his 1991 head injury, and police say Barber is therefore responsible for the death.
MONTGOMERY, Ala.  Colvin Hinson, his wife and their 13-year-old daughter were asleep when a neighbor started banging on his front door and calling his name in the middle of the night. Hinson got out of bed, but a barrage of gunshots sounded before he could even turn the door knob.

Opening the door, Hinson was confronted by a ghastly scene: Next-door neighbor Gregory Gunn lay dying in the grass. Empty shell casings were on the ground, fired by what city officials say was a 23-year-old police officer working an overnight shift.
VALDOSTA, Ga.  Among the many ways Donald Trump has redefined presidential politics, he stands alone for how he has used large, protest-ridden rallies, often bubbling with raw anger, to fuel his candidacy.

The Republican front-runner says the huge events are evidence of a movement of a silent majority frustrated by everything from the nations uneven economy and immigration laws to a government run by stupid people.

And you know what? he asked from the stage in Louisville, Ky., this week. Its not about me. Im a messenger. Its really about you. Were going to take our country back and make it great again.

While Trump generally exaggerates his crowd sizes, thousands routinely line up for hours to attend. There are almost always protests, and the response to them isnt always peaceful. Yet Trump supporters, some driving hours to see the former reality television star, appreciate the boisterous performance and see in it a strength they dont find in Washington leaders.

Hell yeah, Im voting for Trump ... thats a man right there  a man, said Joe Hash, a building contractor, after a raucous rally Monday at Virginias Radford University.

In Texas last week, Arlene Smart attended her fourth Trump rally. Its just the feeling, said Smart, who said shed be traveling the country to his events if she didnt have a construction business to run. Theres pride in America. Theres a reason to believe.

Detractors see something darker.

Its a spectacle driven by pure hate, said Michael Marmol, a 20-year-old student who was ejected from the Radford event after he yelled at Trump over his plan to construct a wall on the Mexican border.

Indeed, crowds from Nevada to New Hampshire have devoured Trumps hour-long offerings of economic populism and unrepentant nationalism, all wrapped in promises to win, win, win and make you so proud of this country again.

A natural showman, Trump peppers his speeches with humorous asides, imitation and dramatic acting. In Texas last week, he threw water across the stage and then tossed the bottle behind him to mock a rivals sweat. He frequently holds events in open airplane hangars, circling in his private jet with giant gold T-R-U-M-P letters as thousands hold cell phones up to capture its descent as soaring music from the movie Air Force One plays.

But the atmosphere sometimes turns darker, with booming chants that can shake arenas. Young men pound their fists in anger, attendees sometimes shout racial slurs.

Trump protesters have also become increasingly common.

Get em outta here, get em outta here, Trump often booms when he spots one. Are you protesting, darling? he asked a demonstrator at Radford. He mocked another: He just got on television. Hes happy. Sometimes, he suggests theyre high on drugs.

Two protesters at Trumps rally in Louisville on Tuesday have filed police complaints alleging Trump supporters assaulted them. Video of one incident shows a black woman being shoved by numerous white men, at least one screaming scum at her as shes led out.

Video of a fall rally in Birmingham, Ala., captured Trump supporters physically assaulting Mercutio Southall Jr., an African American activist Trump ordered removed.
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DETROIT  Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio headed into the 11th debate of the Republican presidential race Thursday in an ever-more-urgent scramble to take down Donald Trump  with an ever-more-nervous GOP establishment wishing them luck.

Trump pronounced himself ready for his rivals to bring it on, batting away any suggestion of standing above the fray.

I cant act overly presidential because Im going to have people attacking from every side, he said on NBCs Today show. A very good man, Ben Carsons not there anymore, so now were going to have more time for the fighting.

With Carsons exit from the race this week, the field of Republican candidates has narrowed to four, including Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

But any number of predictions that GOP voters would coalesce around one anti-Trump candidate as the field narrowed have come and gone without a change in the overall dynamic.

Trump, with 10 state victories, continues to dominate the conversation and the delegate count.

That has GOP establishment figures gnashing their teeth over the prospect that it may soon be too late to stop Trumps insurgent candidacy, and reviving talk of a brokered convention and an irreparably damaged Republican Party.

Romney: Trump a phony

Mitt Romney, the partys 2012 nominee, on Thursday made a rare public appearance to denounce Trump as a phony who is playing the American public for suckers.

Also publicly criticizing Trump: House Speaker Paul Ryan, who was Romneys running mate, and 2008 GOP nominee Sen. John McCain. Ryan said Trumps more controversial ideas disfigured conservatism, and McCain voiced concern about Trumps uninformed and indeed dangerous statements on national security.

Rubio has been denouncing Trump on both policy and personal grounds as he tries to emerge as Trumps chief rival. He dramatically shifted his tone in the last debate and unleashed a torrent of criticism on Trump. His sparring with Trump deteriorated into a weeklong series of tit-for-tat insults and taunts on everything from bed-wetting to bad tans.

But for all of that, Rubio still came out of Super Tuesdays 11-state round of voting with just one victory, in the Minnesota caucuses.

In advance of Thursdays debate, Rubio signaled his intent to continue his efforts to unmask Trump as a con artist who hasnt laid out serious policy proposals.

Turning the nomination over to Trump would mean the end of the Republican Party, Rubio claimed.

A rejuvenated Cruz, with three Super Tuesday victories to showcase, is insisting that the campaign is now down to a two-person race  me vs. Donald Trump,

Cruz is urging his GOP rivals to prayerfully consider dropping out of the race to give him a clear shot at the front-runner. Carson may be gone, but Cruzs suggestion to drop out seems to be going nowhere with Rubio and Kasich.

Rubio hopes for Florida

Rubio dismissed Cruzs Super Tuesday trifecta as inconsequential and pinned his own hopes on a March 15 victory in his home state of Florida, which awards all 99 of its delegates to the winner.

Kasich, meanwhile, said its important to stop Mr. Trump, and argued that hes the candidate best positioned to do that, by winning his home state of Ohio on March 15.

Speaking to reporters in Detroit in advance of the debate, Kasich said that if he wins Ohio, the Republican primary will likely end with a contested convention in Cleveland.

Thursdays debate, sponsored by Fox News, was the first time Trump would face his rivals since scooping up seven victories on Super Tuesday.

It was also the first time to face questioning from Fox News Megyn Kelly since the two clashed in the first primary debate. Thats when Kellys tough questioning about Trumps treatment of women blew up into a running argument between Fox and the candidate. Trump, who dismissed Kelly as a lightweight and a bimbo, ended up boycotting a subsequent Fox debate, claiming the network was unfair.

Trump has continued to pile up delegates during the long, and so far unsuccessful, effort to topple him.

He leads the field with 329 delegates. Cruz has 231, Rubio 110 and Kasich 25. It takes 1,237 delegates to win the Republican nomination for president.
NUIQSUT, Alaska  Rising from the edgeless, wind-scoured, snow-covered tundra on Alaskas North Slope lies a million-pound drilling rig pulling the first commercial oil from a reserve set aside nearly a century ago.

ConocoPhillips is the first oil company to draw crude from the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, an area the size of Indiana that President Warren G. Harding dedicated as an emergency oil supply for the U.S. Navy in 1923.

Getting to this point took compromises with Alaska Natives while keeping environmental concerns in mind. The Bureau of Land Management, which controls the reserve, in 2013 identified 12 million acres that could be available for development while setting aside 11 million acres to protect wild animals and grazing lands.

The drilling rig first began pulling up oil in October, and at peak production will produce 16,000 barrels a day from the Colville-Delta 5 field or, as its more commonly known, CD5. It also will serve as a launch pad for another nearby fields in Alaskas Arctic.

The Colville-Delta 5 field itself is an extension of ConocoPhillips Alpine field, located about 5 miles to the east.

Weve spent more than a dozen years trying to achieve the permits to do the development, to complete the development, Jim Brodie, the capital projects manager for ConocoPhillips in the reserve, said of the $1 billion project earlier this month after reporters toured the North Slope facility last month. Its a sizable investment.

The project included a 6-mile gravel road; four bridges over channels of the Colville River, including one 1,400 foot-expanse; 32 miles of pipelines; and miles of communications and electrical infrastructure that tie the field back to the main Alpine facilities. Oil that is being brought up goes back to Alpine for processing, and then is sent 800 miles down the trans-Alaska pipeline for shipment out of Valdez.

The oil is being drilled on surface land which is owned by Kuukpik Corp., an Alaska Native village corporation for the nearby community of Nuiqsut, located about 25 miles south of the Arctic Ocean, or 625 miles north of Anchorage.

Village residents who live a subsistence lifestyle objected to the original plans for one of the bridges over the Colville River to the oilfield, worried that it might interfere with fishing access.

Brodie said ConocoPhillips pulled its permit package to come up with an alternate plan, working with the community and the elders and established a new location for the Nigliq Channel Bridge, which caused a reroute of the road.
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A San Francisco family is facing a tough struggle nobody should have to encounter.

Last April, Arlene and and Adrian Brock learned their son had a rare cancer, and now 18-month-old Apollo is days from receiving a bone marrow transplant.

Adding to the family's grief, last month Adrian lost his job as the residential manager of a San Francisco building.

As an employee of Structure Properties his family received a place to live rent-free, and now Adrian and his wife face must find a new home in San Francisco by the end of the month. The family is bound to the city as Apollo is receiving treatment at UCSF Children's Hospital and spends most of his time there, lying in a hospital bed hooked up to machines.

A rare disease

Apollo is suffering from a rare form of the blood cancer myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) in which the bone marrow fails to produce healthy red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. He's one of only 50 people in the world with the monosomy 7 strain.

Apollo was diagnosed at seven months after a family vacation.

"He got really sick when we got home," Adrian said. "Two days passed and he kept getting worse and worse. Family members were telling us to go to the hospital because they thought he might have pneumonia."

The doctor initially diagnosed Adrian with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), but it became clear he was suffering from something more serious as his condition worsened dramatically.

"As a parent, I felt bad because he was moaning in the middle of the night," Adrian said. "He was in so much pain."

Apollo was rushed to the emergency room one night and doctors told the parents the boy needed a blood transfusion.

"It was terrifying," Adrian said. "The doctors really had no idea what was going on. We were like, 'What is happening? Is he OK?'"

After an eight-day stay in the hospital and countless blood and neurological tests, doctors diagnosed Apollo with MDS.

In the last four months, he has undergone two surgeries and four chemotherapy treatments and spends most of his time at UCSF.

A surprise eviction

Adrian said Structure Properties alerted him of his termination as the regional manager of 1010 Bush St. on February 17 and was given until March 31 to move from his apartment.

Structure Properties confirmed that Adrian's position ended on March 1 because the company is no longer managing the building.

In a statement, Structure said it was aware of Adrian's family situation and gave a seven week extension for moving out even though his contract called for a 10 day notice.

"Given his unfortunate family situation and the illness of his child, we went above and beyond to ease Adrian's transition by offering him two different employment opportunities, one of which would provide alternative housing where he and his family could live rent free," the statement read. "We also offered to pay his health insurance for an extended period of time and a severance that would have more than covered his moving and transition costs. Adrian turned down all of our offers to provide assistance."

Adrian said the company offered $3,000 in severance (Structure Properties claimed they offered up to $5,000 in writing) but he refused to sign the paperwork because he claims they owe him commission fees and payment for overtime that exceeds the severance amount.

Adrian said he didn't accept the job offers because he doesn't agree with the company's business practices. For example, he claimed portions of the building he managed were turned into dormitory style living with bunk beds to maximize profits.

What's more, one of the jobs was a construction position that wouldn't provide the flexibility he needs to help care for Apollo and the other was managing a building in Oakland that, he said, had far lower pay than his S.F. salary and would provide his family with a studio.

Adrian feels moving into a small space across the Bay wouldn't be a good choice for his family and his son's health.

Apollo is scheduled for his bone marrow transplant on March 9.

"They have to completely destroy his immune system and then it takes time to build back up over five to nine months. He has to live in the cleanest household imaginable. If he gets an infection there's an eight to 10 percent chance of death."

How to help

The Brock's family friend Joseph Bautista set up a Go Fund Me site to help pay for Apollo's medical bills. The site has raised over $8,000 since it was launched last spring.

Bautista first met Adrian through a martial arts group five years ago. "He's been good to us and since we're like one big family, we wanted to help as much as we could," Bautista said.

Bautista now owns the martial arts school Eskabo Daan and says Adrian has helped mentor high school kids who needed support and direction. "He's a person who has gone above and beyond what most people wouldn't do for someone who's not their own blood," he said. "I want to give that back the best I can.
An appeals court stripped state officials Thursday of their power to take tax revenues from cities battling over funds from Californias redevelopment agencies, which were abolished in 2011.

When the state eliminated more than 400 redevelopment agencies, which used local taxes for construction and maintenance projects, their funds were left in the hands of the city governments that had sponsored them. Cities used the money to wind up the agencies projects and pay off their debts, and then were supposed to transfer the remaining funds to counties to redistribute to schools and other tax-supported programs in their county.

Hundreds of disputes

But the transition has not been peaceful and has led to hundreds of legal disputes over whether cities were wrongfully pocketing redevelopment money or had improperly used it for highways or other projects.

Anticipating such disputes, the 2011 law channeled those conflicts to courts in Sacramento, where judges have ruled for the state in most cases. But until Thursdays ruling, another law authorized the state to sidestep the courts and impose tax penalties on the cities for the disputed funds. That legislation, passed in 2012, allowed state finance officials to decide whether a city was improperly withholding redevelopment funds, and, if so, to withhold the same amount of money from the city in sales and property tax revenues.

State officials havent yet used that authority, which H.D. Palmer, deputy director of the state Department of Finance, described Thursday as a last resort. But the Third District Court of Appeal in Sacramento said any such action would violate Proposition 22, a constitutional amendment approved by California voters in 2010 to halt the Legislatures practice of redirecting local tax funds to fill deficits in the state budget.

3-0 ruling

The people took away from the Legislature the authority to withhold (local) tax revenue from local governments, Justice George Nicholson said in the 3-0 ruling. He noted that the state could still go to court over any wrongfully withheld redevelopment funds.

Palmer said the case involved about $24 million held by nine communities around the state, including Hercules and Suisun City in the Bay Area. He said most other cities have complied with the states requests.

But Michael Colantuono, a lawyer for 13 other cities challenging the states authority, said many cities are still appealing judges decisions on redevelopment funding. He said large numbers of them might have dropped their appeals and settled their cases if the court had upheld the states power to withhold tax revenues.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko
Fairfield Fire Department / Fairfield Fire Department

FAIRFIELD  A driver had to extricated from a pickup truck that slid off Barlow Road and landed on its side atop a stone wall as light snow fell early Friday.

Firefighters were dispatched to the accident scene shortly before 7 a.m. Friday, where the 57-year-old male driver was trapped inside the Toyota Tacoma 4x4 truck on Barlow Road, near its intersection with Barlow Place.
A family in Washington D.C. who recently lost their grandmother, Virginia Gray, was shocked and upset to find a different woman in their relative's casket when they arrived to her pre-burial viewing.

Last month, Gray, 83, was taken to a hospital after losing consciousness. She died shortly after, per NBC Washington.

The viewing, which was held a few days later, ended up not being the loving farewell they had hoped; upon arrival, Gray's grandchildren found that the person in the casket was not Gray, but rather a deceased stranger wearing clothes the family had previously left for her to be buried in at the funeral home.

"My heart dropped," relative Tawana Murphy told NBC. "I was in disbelief."

Gray's grandson, Quentin Gray, echoed the sentiment. "Lunacy is what it is. It's unspeakable," he said. "I've never heard of anything like this."

Nevertheless, despite the obvious mixup, Dimensions Healthcare Systems denies any wrongdoing on the hospital's end.

"Prince George's Hospital Center has a thorough verification process prior to releasing any bodies from the morgue to include verification of the patient's name and medical record number on the body bag, ID bracelet, morgue log and pick up slip to name just a few of the check points," they stated. "Throughout the verification process, all of the information matched and we are confident that we released the right individual to the funeral home."

An employee at Horton's Funeral Home, the organization that picked up Gray's body, also denies negligence on their part, telling the New York Daily News, "We've never misplaced anybody."
France's national police force warned parents to keep photos of their children to themselves  if they want to do what's best for them.

"You can all be proud moms and dads to your magnificent children, but be careful," a Facebook post from the French gendarmerie read. "We remind you that posting photos of your kids to Facebook is not without danger!"

What dangers? Turns out there are a couple. One reason is the very understandable worry of sexual predators targeting children after seeing photos online. The other reason is more specific to France and is centered on "social or psychological problems that children could face later in life," according to an article from The Verge.

Under French law, publishing photos of someone without their consent, including children, is illegal, and penalties could be up to a year in prison and a fine of close to $50,000, if convicted.

A French child could later feel that his or her right to privacy was breached from those oh-so-cute photos you posted of them at the age of 4, and sue.

The Verge quoted attorney Viviane Gelles, as telling French newspaper Le Figaro, French law says that "parents are charged with protecting the image of their children."

Eric Delcroix, a French Internet law expert, also spoke with Le Figaro and said, "We often criticize teenagers for their online behavior, but parents are no better."

"Children at certain stages do not wish to be photographed or still less for those photos to be made public," the Telegraph quoted Delcroix as saying.

Good point.

Jay Parikh, vice president of engineering at Facebook, said in a media event last year that he hopes to have a system in place for Facebook that will warn people before they post media that contains children or other family members onto the social network.

The warnings from France's national police force resulted from the "Facebook motherhood challenge" that asked moms to post three photos of their children that make them "proud to be a mother."
A Greyhound bus driver ordered a San Francisco woman to the back of the bus, called her a racial epithet and had a security guard escort her off, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Alameda County Superior Court.

The civil rights complaint details a series of racist incidents two years ago against passenger Toni Young, who is African American, by bus driver Cynthia Lara, who appeared to be white. Since the incident, in April 2014, Youngs lawyer said she has suffered psychological trauma, including post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety. The lawsuit is seeking punitive damages from the bus company.

Greyhound officials said they were unable to provide any information or answer questions about the incident because of the pending litigation.

It was shocking to me that we have an incident like this reminiscent of the Rosa Parks incident many years ago, said Michael Adams, the attorney who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Young.

Adams pointed to a widely condemned incident last year in which a group of African American women were kicked off a Napa Valley Wine Train for laughing and talking too loudly, spurring the hashtag #LaughingWhileBlack.

Society seems to be backsliding, he said.

Young, 45, had boarded the bus at the San Francisco station and was on her way to Sacramento for a family celebration. She transferred at the Oakland station and took a seat at the front of the bus.

Thats when Lara, the driver, told her she had to get up because the bus was expecting an elderly woman to board at Sacramento, Adams said. Young explained that she was getting off at Sacramento so the matter was irrelevant, but the driver insisted she get up anyway.

My client quietly said to her, You dont have to have an attitude about this, Adams said, paraphrasing the exchange.

As Young was complying and getting out of her seat, Lara then loudly asserted that she did not have any attitude, the complaint said, and called for a security guard to remove Young from the bus. The lawsuit alleges that Lara then loudly muttered the racial epithet.

The security guard escorted Young off, where she waited at the Oakland station for several hours for the next bus. She asked the guard for paperwork to file a complaint, but he said they were out of forms, Adams said. She also asked to speak with the station manager, but the guard told her the manager was not at the station.

By the time Young reached Sacramento, the family celebration was over.

It was the most dehumanizing incident of my life, said Young, who runs a San Francisco cookie shop with her mother. I will never ride a Greyhound bus again.

Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov
Felipe Dana/AP

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)



Three Zika virus cases confirmed in the East Bay today have brought the total number of reported cases in the Bay Area to five, according to area health officials.



Alameda County public health officials said today the county has one confirmed case and Contra Costa County health officials said they have two confirmed cases.



Neither county is releasing any more information about the cases.



San Francisco public health officials on Thursday said a resident tested positive for the Zika virus.



Napa County health officials said on Wednesday the California Department of Public Health confirmed a case in that county.



County healthy officials in all four counties said there is no threat to public health.



The San Francisco Department of Public Health received confirmation from the California Department of Public Health on Feb. 4.



Health department spokeswoman Rachael Kagan said officials delayed announcing the confirmed case to the public because the case posed no public health threat.



Department officials may reconsider that policy and the department is working to with San Francisco communities of residents who are from countries where transmission is occurring.



The resident of San Francisco who contracted the virus has recovered.



The disease generally causes mild symptoms such as fever, joint pain, red eyes and a rash.



But the virus also appears to be linked to a birth defect called microcephaly, which causes children to be born with smaller heads, San Francisco health officials said.



Zika virus is usually spread by mosquitoes but doctors have also identified cases in which transmission has occurred through sexual intercourse.



San Francisco health officials said the transmission of the disease is not occurring in the U.S., but U.S. health officials are warning people, especially pregnant women, to consider delaying travel plans to countries where transmission is occurring.



Those countries are mostly in Latin America and Caribbean, including Puerto Rico. Brazil has reported an increase in cases of microcephaly.



Officials with the Centers of Disease Control are encouraging people who are traveling to countries where transmission is occurring to protect themselves from mosquito bites.







(707) 253-4773








The latest Republican debate started with U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump defending the size of his hands from attacks by U.S. presidential candidate Marco Rubio. Then, Trump, who wants to be the next president of the United States, also boasted about the size of his, um, pole (not the polls; though he bragged about those, as well).

Look at those hands, are they small hands?" said Trump, who is leading the partys fight for the nomination. "And, he referred to my hands, 'if they're small, something else must be small.' I guarantee you there's no problem. I guarantee.
Yes, Donald Trump is the frontrunner in a crowded Republican primary field. Yes, he can draw votes from Democrats. Those two facts dont mean Trump can win in the general election. As the GOPs 2012 nominee Mitt Romney argued during a speech designed to stop the Trump surge in its tracks, Trump relishes any poll that reflects what he thinks of himself. But polls are also saying that he will lose to Hillary Clinton.

Trump has defied reports that he has gone too far and that his campaign is doomed before, but the general election is a different ballgame than the GOP primary. Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg produced research that shows a Trump nomination threatens to drive moderate Republicans from the party. Whats more, The Donalds anti-immigrant, anti-Latino, anti-Muslim and anti-women remarks threaten to pump up turnout among Democratic voters in November.

To save the party from a Trump nomination  and an exodus of GOP voters  Romney outlined the case against Trump. Hes crude, quoth the Mittman. His language and absurd third-grade theatrics set a bad example for children. Trump is clueless about foreign policy. His protectionist schemes could lead to a recession.

Most of all, Romney railed, Trump is a phony.

Republican super PACs have amassed information about Trump University that suggests that the now-defunct institution  the subject of three lawsuits that allege fraud  did not live up to its marketing. Trump says that Trump U had a Better Business Bureau rating of A+. Trump has claimed that he handpicked instructors, but FactCheck.Org found a top executive deposition that attested Trump picked none of the instructors. Worse, the most recent known rating  from 2010  from the Better Business Bureau was D-.

The super PAC American Future Fund produced a video that features Sherri, a single mother who sank $35,000 into Trump U  trusting him, she was was a huge mistake. And: All of it was just a fake. America, do not make the same mistake that I did with Donald Trump. I got hurt badly, and Id hate to see this country get hurt by Donald Trump.

Theres more, but you get the idea.

Pundits are taken with the symbolism of the straight-laced Romney going after the blowhard billionaire in a language blunt with put-downs. The most striking part of Romneys address, however, is his failure to endorse an alternative candidate. Instead, Romney laid out a course that ends with a contested convention.

Alas, Romney noted, the rules of political history have pretty much all been shredded during this campaign. And: Given the current delegate selection process, that means that Id vote for Marco Rubio in Florida and for John Kasich in Ohio and for Ted Cruz or whichever one of the other two contenders has the best chance of beating Mr. Trump in a given state. Translation: Vote for anyone who can keep Trump from walking into the Cleveland convention with the 1,237 delegates needed to win the nomination outright.

Cruz spokesman Ron Nehring would argue to the contrary. The best way for Cruz to win the nomination is to win winner-take-all states.

As Sacramento GOP wise man Rob Stutzman explained, party regulars see a progression of fire breaks. The next fire break is: Deny Trump 50 percent. If Kasich and Rubio dont win their home states, the party establishment goes to Plan B  a one-time independent conservative candidate runs against Trump and the Democratic nominee to stop a stampede of voters fleeing the Grand Old Party. Think: The Alamo.

Debra J. Saunders is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: dsaunders@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @DebraJSaunders.
Wednesday, Dr. Ben Carson declared himself out(ish) of the race to be the Republican presidential nominee. Specifically, he stated, "I do not see a political path forward in light of last evening's Super Tuesday primary results."

This wasn't exactly a shocker. In eleven elections Carson was unable to break double digits in any states except Alabama and Alaska. Still, he did manage to collect eight delegates - Three in Iowa, two in New Hampshire and three in Virginia. Those eight people are required to show up at the convention and vote for Carson. How is that going to play out?

If he is still a nominee, those people will have to go through the delegate dance and vote for him for at least one round. But, if he officially withdraws from consideration before or at the convention, state rules take effect.

His three Iowa delegates will have to vote for him at the convention in Cleveland even if he flies overhead in an airplane with a banner saying, "Really! I don't want these votes!" Iowa Republican Party rules mandate that delegates vote for their assigned candidate, "regardless of whether any such candidate has withdrawn from the race or otherwise does not have his or her name placed in nomination at the Republican National Convention." Same goes for the three Virginia delegates, according to David D'Onofrio, Communication Director of the Republican Party of Virginia. Harsh! (Remember that Rand Paul, Carly Fiorina, Jeb Bush and John Kasich each won one delegate in Iowa. I am going to the conventions and promise to find and interview these indentured servants.)

In New Hampshire, state law (not a party rule) demands that, where a candidate wins delegates but withdraws before the convention, his delegates are "free to support any candidate of his political party who may be his choice as a candidate for president."

In other words, so long as Carson has not technically withdrawn, his New Hampshire delegates are still technically bound to vote for him.

Incidentally, this is a big reason why candidates almost never say, "I quit" or "The campaign is over" or post the lyrics to "Someday" by Mariah Carey. They always say their campaign is "suspended." As a "suspended" campaign, the candidate still has control over their delegates who would otherwise be free to vote for other people. This can be leveraged for a sweet timeslot to give a speech at the convention, party backing of a run for another office or any number of goodies. With an election this close, any candidate with delegates in his back pocket is going to be treated like Frank Sinatra in Vegas.

NOTE: Some people mistakenly believe the "suspension" versus quitting has something to do with campaign finance and debt, but it does not. The Federal Elections Commission does not care about suspended versus quit status. The misconception about campaign finance likely stems from the fact that suspending a campaign (and not quitting) is a way for a stalled campaign to continue receiving federal matching funds, but no presidential candidate has signed up for matching funds since 2000.
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SACRAMENTO  The Democratic-controlled state Assembly approved six tobacco-control bills Thursday, including legislation that would increase the minimum smoking age in California to 21 from 18.

Despite the objections of Republicans, who called many of the measures government overreach, the tobacco bills now head to the state Senate, which is expected to approve the legislation next week and send it to Gov. Jerry Brown for his signature.

They include a bill that would define e-cigarettes as tobacco products and require them to be regulated the same way. Other bills would allow counties and cities to ask for voter approval on tobacco taxes and to expand tobacco-free-workplace rules in public places.

This is a major setback for tobacco interests in California and a great step forward in our efforts to protect public health, said Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, who authored the bill to regulate e-cigarettes.

But the most contentious bill approved Thursday would make it a crime to sell tobacco to anyone under 21. That bill was approved in a 46-26 vote during a special session on health care.

While two Republicans voted to raise the smoking age  Catharine Baker of San Ramon and David Hadley of Torrance (Los Angeles County)  the chorus of opposition came mostly from GOP members. Tobacco companies are major contributors to California elections, with Philip Morris giving $200,000 to the California Republican Party on Dec. 1, according to the Secretary of States Office.

Five Democrats voted against the bill: Sebastian Ridley-Thomas of Los Angeles, Tom Daly of Anaheim, Mike Gatto of Los Angeles, Adam Gray of Merced and Rudy Salas of Bakersfield.

Diabetes bigger threat

At what point do we restrict the life of the individual freedom? asked Assemblyman Rocky Chavez, R-Oceanside (San Diego County), who opposed the bills. Is smoking bad? Yes. But I would argue that Big Macs are bad also. If you look at diabetes in our country for the youth, its a much bigger threat than smoking. But I would not be on this floor saying get rid of Big Macs.

Hawaii was the first state to raise the smoking age to 21, under a law that went into effect Jan. 1. Californias statewide bill follows legislation approved unanimously Tuesday by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, which raised the legal smoking age to 21 in the city.

Raising the legal age works, said Assemblyman Jim Wood, D-Healdsburg. Its been proven in other areas. Teen smoking is enabled by buying for the younger. Eighteen-year-olds are much more likely to buy tobacco products for their 14-, 15-, 16-year-old friends. But 21-year-olds dont do that. Healdsburg raised the age for buying tobacco to 21 in 2014, but tobacco-industry legal threats deterred the Sonoma County town from enforcing the law.

Under the statewide bill by Sen. Ed Hernandez, D-West Covina (Los Angeles County), military personnel would be exempt, so 18- to 20-year-olds who enlist could still smoke if they have a military ID.

Republicans tried unsuccessfully to stall the tobacco bills by asking for a vote to close the special session before the measures were taken up.

I think this body does a disservice to our adults by taking away their rights, said Assemblyman Donald Wagner, R-Irvine. Should they smoke? No. I dont. I dont encourage my children to, but they are adults. Its our job to treat our citizens as adults and not nanny them.

Brown, who does not typically comment on bills before they reach his desk, has not weighed in.

Jennifer Kent, director of the state Department of Health Care Services, said in an interview with The Chronicle last year that with any proposal to keep tobacco out of the hands of children and create healthier workplaces, The administration is saying we are interested in talking to you.

E-cigarette limits

Under the Leno legislation, e-cigarettes would be banned at work, schools and public places, just as tobacco products are under the states Smoke Free Act.

Defining e-cigarettes as tobacco products will make it a misdemeanor to provide the popular vaping products to minors.

The fastest market segment of this rapidly growing, multibillion-dollar e-cigarette industry is among middle and high school students who have never smoked a traditional cigarette before, said Leno, who added that the tobacco industry has made a major investment in e-cigarettes as a means of hooking young people on their products.

Today, California fought back, he said.

California became the first state in the mid-1990s to ban smoking in virtually all indoor workplaces, including bars and restaurants. A 20-foot smoke-free buffer zone outside public buildings was added in 2004.

Another bill approved Thursday would apply the states smoke-free laws to more public places previously not covered, such as small businesses, break rooms and hotel lobbies.

Twenty-plus years ago, California led the nation in addressing the issue of smoke in the workplace, said Assemblyman Mark Stone, D-Santa Cruz. We have since lost ground to quite a few other states, because there are exceptions to the workplace smoking rules. ... We are closing the loopholes that had been in the bill before and catching us up with other states.

Save Lives California, a coalition that includes the California Medical Association and the American Lung Association, also backs a November ballot initiative to increase the cigarette tax by $2 a pack. The current state tax is 87 cents. Supporters of the measure are collecting signatures to place the tax on the ballot.

Melody Gutierrez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MelodyGutierrez
If it ever felt ambiguous as to whether your company was monitoring your cell phone activity on a work phone, it looks like Apple will make it absolutely clear with their next iOS update.

Still in its beta stage, the new iOS 9.3 has a new feature that will prominently display the message, "This iPhone is managed by your organization" on the phone's lock screen if a phone is being tracked by an employer.
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What some may have considered impossible under Steve Jobs is finally happening: A new Apple office will be established outside of Cupertino.

The city of choice will come as no surprise. Apple will be leasing office space in San Francisco, particularly CBS Interactive's building at 235 Second St. in the SoMa district, Reuters reported.

The space is enough for 500 employees at 76,000 square feet, Reuters suggested, and the move is supposedly a bid to remain competitive with other tech companies for talent.

Jobs previously advocated for employees to make the commute to Cupertino for work, but that logic has not held, as other Silicon Valley competitors have created outposts of their Peninsula campuses, to ease the commuting strain on their employees.

A recruiter quoted in the report by Reuters said that the company's decision to require employees to commute to Cupertino was a turn off to some prospective employees.

The article speculated that Apple may have plans to move employees from recently acquired companies Beats and Topsy Labs to the new location, but that is unconfirmed. A former Apple employee noted that Topsy began seeing Apple employees dropping into its offices to work from San Francisco after its acquisition, which crowded the formerly 75-worker company space.

With no indicator as to which employees will be housed at the fancy new offices at Second Street, 2013 Apple data provided by Reuters showed that 14 percent of the Apple workforce call San Francisco home. With an estimated 500 slots open at the new offices, that figure will leave a large number of employees forced to continue that traffic- and angst-filled, 90-minute trek to Cupertino.

Whoever the lucky San Francisco workers are, they are expected to move in as soon as late summer, according to Reuters. Apple's larger "spaceship" campus won't be open until about January 2017, CEO Tim Cook recently said at a shareholders meeting.
1 War on Islamic State: The United States gave Jordan eight refurbished helicopters on Thursday for the battle against Islamic State extremists along the kingdoms borders. Pro-Western Jordan is part of a U.S.-led military coalition against Islamic State, which controls large parts of neighboring Syria and Iraq. The kingdom also faces internal threats from Islamic State sympathizers. Earlier this week, Jordanian troops killed seven suspected Islamic State-linked militants in a raid in the north of the country. The suspects had allegedly plotted attacks in Jordan.

2 Readying nukes: The South Korean Yonhap news agency says North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered his countrys nuclear weapons made ready for use at a moments notice. Kim also said his country will ready its military so it is prepared to carry out preemptive attacks, calling the current situation very precarious. Yonhap cited a statement issued by North Koreas official news agency KCNA on Friday. The statement was seen as a reaction to U.N. sanctions placed on North Korea following a recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch.
Owens Video

The Santa Fe Police Department has released

showing Scott Owens being arrested for drunk driving and stalking an ex-girlfriend. The video shows Owens arguing with cops and refusing to take a breathalyzer test. In 2011, Owens was acquitted of vehicular homicide charges in a drunken driving crash that killed four teens near Santa Fe in 2009. Last Friday was Owen's third DWI arrest. He was also arrested in 2012.

Federal Spending Still High

A new report from

shows about a third of the state's total economic activity is from federal money flowing into New Mexico.

New Mexico was fifth in the United States in dollars spent per capita by the federal government at $14,026. This included Social Security, management contacts, grants, salaries and retiree pensions. Federal dollars pay for national labs, military bases and public lands and monuments.

Economic development folks and lawmakers have been trying to

and reduce reliance on federal money.

Top PED Staffers Resign

Joey Peters over at New Mexico Political Report has discovered that three top

employees, including a deputy secretary, have recently resigned or transferred.

Sudden Death

New Mexico Health Secretary Retta Ward, who just imposed new medical cannabis program rules last month,

after a suspected medical incident led to a car crash in Santa Fe.

Election Analysis

Mark Oswald over at the Albuquerque Journal North has

on this weeks Santa Fe municipal election and the three uncontested City Council races. Oswald observes that not many people around here seem to want to have to make the effort to hold office and ultimately decide the tough issues.

Solar Power in Orbit

This is pretty cool tech stuff. Kevin Robinson-Avila reports, The Air Force Research Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base is

for a new light-weight, flexible solar array that it built to power satellites and other spacecraft.

The Roll-Out Solar Array, or ROSA technology, uses flexible, advanced solar cell materials that make it far more compact and lighter than traditional solar arrays, reducing costs for launching and operating spacecraft, said John Merrill, program manager for Advanced Space Power at AFRL in Albuquerque. The system, which will be deployed on the International Space Station next year for further testing in orbit, caught the attention of the Federal Laboratory Consortium, which selected the AFRL in February for a 2016 Excellence in Technology Transfer Award.

Martinez Campaigns for Rubio

Gov. Susana Martinez wont

. Instead, shes headed to Kansas and Florida to campaign for Marco Rubio. While all four Republican candidates pledged to support the Republican Partys presidential nominee this fall, Martinez has not said if she will.

Holms Fans Head to Vegas

Lots of New Mexicans are headed to Las Vegas for the weekend to watch

defend her title on Saturday. KOB blogs that many of them have been following her career for years. KOAT put together a list of where you can

and a list of all the cover charges.

Santa Fe Reporter
BENGALURU: The Finance Minister Arun Jaitleys budget proposal for the year 2016-17 is a clear strategy for Indian economy's resilience amidst the current global economic turmoil. He has extended a detailed breakdown of the financial goals of the government for ensuring macro-economic stability and prudent fiscal management and boosting on domestic demand with continued pace of economic reforms. The roadmap for this budget also includes focus on vulnerable sections through funding rural sector schemes and agricultural reforms.

The proposed budget carries several reasons for the urban youth of India from middle to upper class sections of society to be attentive this time. From something as basic as cigarettes becoming more expensive, to entrepreneurial and housing tax breaks, the 2016-17 budget has a lot in store.

Homegrown has selected a few of the beneficial and important clause of this proposed budget, steering away from long-drawn debates regarding the implications of the same, and choosing to focus on the raw clauses themselves. Here is brief look at the breakdown that will affect the urban youth.

Taxation

 Excise duty has been raised from 10 to 15 percent on all tobacco products apart from beedis.

 1 percent excise imposed will be imposed on articles of jewelry, except silver.

 1 percent pollution cess will be levied on small petrol, LPG and CNG cars, and diesel cards of certain specifications will have 2.5 percent, and 4 percent for higher-end models and SUVs.

 Service tax: 0.5 percent Krishti Kalyan cess to be levied on all services, bumping up the service tax chargeable from 14.5 percent to 15 percent. This is including the Swachh Bharat tax of 0.5 percent, levied as of November 15, 2015.

Personal Finance

 There will be no changes in the existing income tax slabs, however the ceiling of tax rebate for tax-payers with income up to 5 lakh per annum will be raised from 2000 to 5000 to lessen tax burden. The debate surrounding the controversial EPF (employees provident fund) taxation on 60 percent of the withdrawal will be settled at the budget debate in Parliament.

Start-up India

 Previously, the Prime Minister indicated a three-year tax holiday to the start-up sector in India, and this time the government has allotted a 10,000 crore fund to finance new-age entrepreneurs.

Housing

 Home loans: For first home buyers, an additional interest deduction of 50,000 per annum for loans up to 35 lakh sanctioned during the next financial year, for houses whose value doesnt exceed 50 lakh. This deduction is in addition to the 2 lakh deduction already existing on home loans.

 Housing rent: For those living in rented houses, deduction for rent paid will be raised to Rs 60,000 from the current 24,000.

 Housing construction: service tax will be exempted for houses less than 60 sq. m.

Education

 Ten public and ten private institutions will be provided with regulatory architecture to emerge as world-class Teaching and Research Institutions.

 To setting up a Higher Education Financing Agency, an initial capital base of 1000 crores is allocated.

 Plan is proposed to set up a digital repository for School Leaving Certificates, College Degrees, Academic Awards and Mark sheets.

 Massive open online courses to be implemented for entrepreneurship education and training.

Read Also: Get to Know the World's Most Powerful Passports in 2016

What's Costly and What's Cheap? 10 Takeaways from Budget 2016
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The Advance Cookbook Taste-off is happening on Saturday, March 19, from 9 a.m. to noon. That said, we'd like to give attendees and the finalists in the contest a "taste" of what's to come.

First, you may purchase tickets to the Taste-off through the Advance's marketing department. A limited amount are available through EventBrite although contestants have been sent wristbands for their friends and families. Those serve as tickets.

While contestants are being judged, the program will kick off with the Rev. Terry Troia of Project Hospitality. The organization that focuses on Staten Island's neediest populations from Shore to Shore hosts the upcoming "Dine Out For Hunger," this year on Thursday, April 21.

The theme of the Taste-off this time around is "The Market Place," a nod to the weekly marketing supplement delivered through the Advance to houses all over the Island. It's a sampling event on that Saturday where guests can walk around the room and take bites from food stations.

Boars Head will dole out noshes from new product lines. Joe Mozz of Port Richmond who distributes to stores around the Island will offer fresh mozzarella nibbles.

During the day, Flagship Brewery will put forth a "Seasonal Brewing Demo" for the crowd. Guests will hear from author and chef Michael Gibney who is in the works with television segments based on his "Sous Chef: 24 hours on the Line" (Ballantine). He will be on hand for a book signing and the easy-reading tome will be available for purchase at the event.

The "Soupman" Larry Thomas will chit-chat with guests in a "Q&A" session hosted by Advance ad rep Brant Levine.

In between, Pamela Silvestri will introduce each finalist to the audience of supporters. This year, the contenders come mainly from Staten Island but also from Long Island and New Jersey.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Will a specialty grocer on the North Shore fly if it's got a focus on beer -- small-batch, mainstream plus kegged varieties to be sold by the growler (jug) to go -- along with the snacks and literature that pair along with it?

Ryan Barker thinks it will. And the manager at beer-centric Adobe Blues in New Brighton is looking to open a place over the summer called "Ryerson's Beer."

"I think what we're doing here is great -- and I plan to continue [at Adobe]," he said of he borough's booming brew culture.

He wants his business venture to be on the North Shore because that's where he's settled with his wife.

"I've lived up here for 11 years now...Yeah, 11 years, wow," he said with a laugh.

The name of the developing concept, "Ryerson's," hails from his own roots in the retail business. Barker comes from Colo, Iowa. His family maintained a successful John Deere store called Ryerson's Implement, a sales and service shop for tractors and combines. Ryerson is his mother's maiden name.

"My grandfather started Ryerson's and ran it until the mid-'70s and then after he died my grandmother took over the business. She had to jump in and run a successful business after he had a heart attack," Barker said.

But to take the namesake and small town concept and relate it to beer and the food that comes along with it, says Barker, "I think Staten Island need something like this."

"It's essentially a specialty grocery store. I plan to build a community around it -- a book club that has do with drinking; books that feature beer..." he explained. "There's a lot of stuff to do. A lot of stuff to learn. A lot of stuff to eat and drink."

In the meantime, he wants Staten Islanders to take his survey so he can get an idea of exactly what folks want -- snacks, cheeses, literature, beer kits, brands, location.

Here's the link to the his website: RyersonsBeer.com. To sign up for the mailing list, click here.

Feel free to share your two cents in the comments section below. Will it fly with the North Shore crowd?
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Angela "Big Ang" Raiola is gone, but she won't be forgotten, in part thanks to a mural in the works in West Brighton.

The mural of the Staten Island reality star who died last month will be unveiled Sunday at 11 a.m. (just before the St. Patrick's Parade) on her sister's children's boutique store, The Country Mouse, at 570 Forest Ave.

It comes two weeks after Ang died suddenly of complications from cancer -- a death that shook the reality-television world and stunned family members and friends who watched her survive two bouts of cancer prior to the third diagnosis.

The unveiling will be marked by a vigil, which will include kids games, music and some words of remembrance.

Ang's sister, Janine Detore, was approached by a fan and artist, Danielle Mastrion, to paint the mural, which will be a close-up portrait of Ang over a floral pattern.

"Ang is all over; she's everywhere, but I'm happy it's next to me now because it's very comforting to see her," Detore said.

Mastrion was joined by Newark-based artist GET LOST ALOT and the prolific Staten Island street artist and curator Kwue Molly. Molly, by the way, will be the subject of a new exhibition opening Friday night at Richmond Hood Co. Here's more information.

Mastrion's work can also be seen on Wave St. in Stapleton. Her's is a portrait of a child surrounded by colorful flowers (see video to the right).

The three artists' work will be a permanent fixture in West Brighton when the mural is unveiled Sunday, just before the Staten Island St. Patrick's Parade.

It's the second known Big Ang mural on Staten Island -- the first was a temporary one on the side the the Funkey Monkey, formerly the Drunken Monkey, where Ang worked as a bartender.

Detore said in the short three months the mural was there, it became somewhat of a tourist attraction for Big Ang fans who wanted a picture with it.

The permanent mural will be a reminder to the community of the mark Ang left, such as her personality on "Mob Wives," her charity donations, said Detore, who will be performing alongside her husband Dominick in a Broadway show, "My Big Fay Italian Midlife Crisis," on March 31 to raise money for Ang's preferred Charity, St. Jude Children's Hospital.

It also memorializes a somewhat controversial but undoubtedly pop-cultural figure on Staten Island.

"My sister will never be forgotten in the family," Detore said. "But the mural will just keep her around, for people to remember her and everything she's done."
BROOKLYN, N.Y.-- The convicted Staten Island serial killer known as "Son of Sal" was sentenced to 75 years to life Friday morning in Brooklyn Supreme Court.

Last month, a jury found Salvatore Perrone, 67, of Sunnyside, guilty of three counts of second-degree murder in connection with the deaths of three Brooklyn shopkeepers in 2012.

Rahmatollah Vahidipour, 78, was killed Nov.16; Isaac Kadare, 59, was found dead in his store on Aug. 2 and Mohamed Gebeli, 65, was shot on July 6.

"You are lucky, sir, that we don't have the death penalty in New York," Judge Allan Marrus told the defendant after sentencing him. "There's no question you committed these crimes. There's only one person in this courtroom that thinks he didn't do this, and that's the defendant. He's in denial."

During the court proceeding, Perrone's attorney, Howard Kirsh, made a motion to set aside the verdict, but the judge declined. Kirsh also said he would be filing a notice of the appeal after the sentencing.

The basis of the appeal, Kirsh said, is Perrone feels he had inadequate counsel and didn't get a fair trial because he was thrown out of the courtroom numerous times for outbursts throughout the trial.

"You can't get into the minds of these people, because if you do you'll never get out," said Kirsch, who was appointed by the court to represent Perrone. "He's very calculated. He's not that crazy."

He was dubbed "Son of Sal" by his neighbors who were made uneasy by his odd behavior and Clove Road home that was an eyesore in the community.
BROOKLYN, N.Y. -- For one son, this was deeply personal.

The cold-blooded man convicted of casually murdering his father was a family friend who had been a daily part of their lives for 25 years.

"I don't understand why you did it," said Mourad Gebeli, 36, during Salvatore Perrone's sentencing Friday in Brooklyn Supreme Court. "What did he do to you? We always treated you with love and respect. Nobody here knows you like I do."

"I didn't shoot your father," Perrone, 67, blurted out while Gebeli was speaking.

"You're a liar. You're a piece of s---," Gebeli replied.

The Sunnyside serial killer was sentenced to 75 years to life for the murders of three Brooklyn shopkeepers in 2012. Last month, he was convicted of three counts of second-degree murder.

Rahmatollah Vahidipour, 78, was killed Nov.16; Isaac Kadare, 59, was found dead in his store on Aug. 2 and Mohamed Gebeli, 65, was shot on July 6. All three victims were murdered in their shops.

Perrone, a former garments salesman, would frequently visit Gebeli's Brooklyn store to do business with the family, Mourad said.

"I would have sold everything I had and given it to him," he said. "The way my father was taken away from me was really hard. He did this because he's mental, and he lost everything.

"I wanted him hanged."

For the other family members, this was a deranged stranger who turned their lives upside down and showed no remorse for his despicable actions.

They, too, were searching for answers, but instead got a defiant and rambling speech by a killer still proclaiming his innocence. Perrone insisted he had alibis, and even tried to implicate his former girlfriend and roommates in the kilings.

"I'm seeking the truth in this senseless tragedy," Perrone said to the families.

"You son of a b----," another family member said.

COULDN'T BEAR TO LOOK

The grieving family members couldn't even bear to look at the defendant while he was speaking, and shortly into his monologue they all stormed out of the courtroom.

Before Judge Allan Murrus issued the sentence, the loved ones had an opportunity to address the court.

"You're a cold-blooded murderer whose name I don't allow to cross my lips," said Vahidipour's daughter, Marjan, 42. "You will die pathetic and alone. You will rot in jail. God will punish you for this."

"He was my mom's only son," said Kadare's sister, Jacklyn Kadare. "He was a special man who cared about everyone and anyone. I hope this barbaric animal suffers and rots in jail."

The judge, also, didn't hold back when addressing the defendant. Marrus referenced all Perrone's outbursts and questioned his mental stability while comparing him to other serial killers. Except, in one of those cases, the judge said, the killer showed remorse and took responsibility.

"You are lucky, sir, that we don't have the death penalty in New York," Marrus told the defendant after sentencing him. "There's no question you committed these crimes. There's only one person in this courtroom that thinks he didn't do this, and that's the defendant. He's in denial."

During the court proceeding, Perrone's attorney, Howard Kirsh, made a motion to set aside the verdict, but the judge declined. Kirsh also said he would be filing a notice of the appeal after the sentencing.

The basis of the appeal, Kirsh said, is Perrone feels he had inadequate counsel and didn't get a fair trial because he was thrown out of the courtroom numerous times for outbursts throughout the trial.

"You can't get into the minds of these people, because if you do you'll never get out," said Kirsch, who was appointed by the court to represent Perrone. "He's very calculated. He's not that crazy."

"(Defending him) was like chocolate cake and ice cream, if you're lactose intolerant," Kirsch added.

He was dubbed "Son of Sal" by his neighbors who were made uneasy by his odd behavior and Clove Road home that was an eyesore in the community.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A 26-year-old man was fatally stabbed inside his Sea View home early Friday morning after a dispute with his domestic partner turned violent, police said.

The stabbing happened just after midnight inside the victim's home at 1070 Manor Road, near Fanning Street, an NYPD spokeswoman said.

The victim was taken to Staten Island University Hospital in Ocean Breeze with a stab wound to back, police said.

He was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Police are questioning his 35-year-old partner, a male, who is in custody, the spokeswoman said.

Charges are pending.

The identity of the victim has not yet been released pending family notification, police said.

Cops roped off the apartment on Manor Friday morning.

Blood stains and a crimson-soaked rag were visible on the residence's front porch.

The death would mark the seventh homicide on Staten Island this year -- and the sixth fatal stabbing.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Miss New York, Jamie Lynn Macchia, went to the head of the class Thursday, serving as Port Richmond High School's principal for the day.

The Eltingville native, and Wagner College graduate, who dazzled the Miss America pageant stage in September, spent the day meeting and greeting students, teachers and staff, and participating in the full Red Raider experience.



She had breakfast with young female student leaders, and spoke at an assembly where she talked to students about the importance of community service and leadership.

She got a morning cooking lesson by Port Richmond's award-winning culinary students, before participating in a press conference - luncheon with student government, student newspaper editors, and television- show hosts of "Good Morning Port Richmond" the daily news show produced in the school's TV studio.

And she wound up the day with a visit to the Wagner College Raider Center, to discuss the high school's partnership program with her Grymes Hill alma mater.

Macchia told students she will be hosting a special fundraiser talent show for pediatric cancer at Port Richmond on May 14. The show, called "Lights, Camera, Action!" is open to the public.



"We are extremely thankful to Jamie for her visit, and for inspiring our students with her story, and message of charity, leadership, and most importantly Raider Pride," said Port Richmond Principal Tim Gannon.
Ferry.jpg

Two Staten Island ferries cross in our busy New York Harbor. July 27, 2015 (Staten Island Advance/ Jan Somma-Hammel

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - The NYPD will increase its presence near the Staten Island Ferry's Whitehall Terminal in Manhattan to cut down on harassment and scamming of tourists there.

Police Commissioner Bill Bratton told radio host John Gambling on AM970 The Answer on Thursday that with the reported incidents of not only violent crime but constant hassling of tourists increasing, he will step up the patrols.

"I'm actually going to be putting a permanent detail of officers like we have in Times Square down in that area so that we truly do have a familiarity with these cast of characters, these scammers," Bratton said. "But the public really needs to be mindful of the potential to be scammed and to the best of our ability we try to deter that. But this is kind of a shared responsibility on the part of the public."

A task force is being created to address the scamming that goes on, with fake vendors purporting to sell tickets to the free Staten Island Ferry to tourists, as well as fake tickets or tickets that have been price-gouged for tours of Liberty and Ellis Islands.

"Buyer beware," Bratton said, cautioning New Yorkers to be careful when money exchanges hands. "We have officers, units, details that specialize in that particular crime. So for example, Times Square, down by the Battery [Park] in terms of people selling tickets for the Staten Island Ferry, which is free, or selling bogus tickets to the Statue of Liberty tours we have specialized units as well as officers."

He noted that tourists are often targeted partly because "that's a group that would be more ignorant of the fact that the Staten Island Ferry is free. You don't need a ticket ... or that the idea of there's a kiosk for legitimate sellers for the Staten Island Harbor tours. So that's really where we try to focus a lot of our energy. We are so dependent on those 58 to 60 million people that come to New York."

Dominick DeRubbio, president of the Staten Island Young Democrats, is putting together the task force, expected to meet for the first time next week.

Members of Staten Island's Community Board 1 will sit on the board, as will the Staten Island Ferry Riders Committee, the National Park Service, and representatives from the offices of Borough President James Oddo, Sen. Diane Savino, Assemblyman Matthew Titone and Public Advocate Letitia James, DeRubbio said.

He had hoped to get Manhattan's Community Board 1 involved, as well as other city agencies like the Department of Transportation and the Parks Department, but even without them, he will move forward with the task force.

"I think it's phenomenal that the NYPD is adding additional resources down there," he said. "I just hope there's enforcement.

"If there's no enforcement, they'll act as a deterrent to some extent" but once regulars get the sense that they won't be penalized, they'll continue their ways, he fears.
Hula group creates global connection When the pandemic ushered everyone indoors, Moorpark resident and longtime dancer Lisa Rauschenberger decided to get people back outsidesocially distanced, of course. She began to hold weekly hula lessons at...

Hospital offers safe option to dispose of meds, narcotics Los Robles Health System is working to crush the opioid drug crisis by raising awareness about the dangers of opioid misuse and the importance of safe and proper disposal of...

Rotary works to promote worldwide peace, goodwill The Rotary Club of Simi Sunrise recently invited administrators and principals from the Simi Valley Unified School District to attend a meeting and receive the book The Nonviolence Handbook: A...

Free books and Halloween treats Big fun awaits kids at local little libraries

Simi Valley has about 20 registered Little Free Libraries that offer free books for children, teens and adults. In addition to providing free books to the community, the Little Free...
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Gatestone Institute:

The mainstream media and their stable of "experts" consistently underestimate North Korea's missile and nuclear weapon capabilities. The gap between how the media report on the North Korean nuclear missile threat and the reality of the threat has become so wide as to be dangerous.

In the aftermath of North Korea's latest nuclear test on January 6, 2016, for instance, and its launch of a mock satellite on February 7, 2016, the American people were told that North Korea has not miniaturized a nuclear warhead for delivery by missile nor could the missile strike the U.S. with any accuracy.

Mirren Gidda, for example, writing in Newsweek, inexplicably claims "International experts doubt that North Korea has manufactured nuclear weapons small enough to fit on a missile."

Yet this commonplace assertion that North Korea does not have nuclear-armed missiles is simply untrue.
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About Kate

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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!



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He said that QSR, the largest KFC franchisee in NSW by store numbers, would continue to be run by its current management team, and his level of involvement would not change.

As revealed by Street Talk on Thursday , Restaurant Brands will purchase Mr Copulos' business, QSR, in a cash and scrip deal.

"Really the way I see it we are just moving the business into a bigger brother," Mr Copulos said. "My association doesn't change. My role is really putting together and building teams, and they do the work."

Mr Copulos' private investment vehicle, Copulos Group, was once a major shareholder in ASX-listed KFC franchise group Collins Foods but he sold down.

In recent years, he has been critical of the way the company has been managed. "We didn't see eye to eye," he said. He was particularly critical of Collins Foods' Sizzler chain; the company took a write-down on the business soon after he left the board.

Restaurant Brands chief executive Russel Creedy said he began talking with Mr Copulos in December.

"We were looking for a business that could stand alone, that would not be run out of New Zealand at all. There is nothing to really change. The odd tweaks here and there, but overall it's a pretty neat business."
A referendum to recognise Australia's first people in the constitution might still be several years away but this week their representation in Federal Parliament took a big leap forward, with Opposition Leader Bill Shorten's announcement of two prominent Indigenous Australians to join Labor's ranks.

The path for aboriginal activist - and the father of reconciliation - Pat Dodson into the Senate representing Western Australia is virtually assured. He has been nominated by Mr Shorten to fill a casual vacancy created by the resignation of right wing senator, Joe Bullock. That requires only rubber stamping by the West Australian Parliament, which is expected in coming weeks.

Mr Dodson's first day in the Senate is expected tobe budget day, May 10, and while the talk of a double dissolution might be unsettling for senators, Professor Dodson will no doubt find himself in a winnable spot on the ALP's senate ticket, should a double dissolution occur. Otherwise, he has four years still to run on his term.
Controversial Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir has been ordered to stop forcibly segregating men and women at its public events after a NSW tribunal found the practice constituted sexual discrimination.

Former NT News journalist Alison Bevege sued the organisation and five of its members for sexual discrimination after she was forced to sit in a designated women's and children's section at a public lecture hosted by the group on October 10, 2014.

Ms Bevege, then a freelance journalist, told the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal she attended the lecture, titled "the politics and plots of the American led intervention in Iraq and Syria", with the intention of writing an opinion piece and asking questions of the speakers.

She was "scared" to attend on her own so she arranged to go with a male friend, the tribunal heard.
Athens: European Union Council president Donald Tusk has urged illegal economic migrants not to risk their lives to make the perilous trip to Europe "for nothing".

Mr Tusk said on Thursday he wants to end the illegal sea transit of migrants from Turkey to Greece. He spoke after meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Ankara and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Athens.

Mr Tusk is on a trip through Balkan states and Turkey to try build support for cohesion on how to deal with hundreds of thousands of migrants  a crisis that threatens to tear the bloc apart  before an EU summit on Monday.

Speaking earlier in Greece, which has been a primary gateway of migrants flooding into Europe for more than a year, Mr Tusk said anyone who was not a refugee should stay away.
As forest fires shrouded Singapore in a blanket haze last year, CBRE Group's Lloyd Jenkins sat down with a group of high-level property investors at the city state's five-star Fullerton Hotel and showed them pictures of white beaches and clear, blue skies. This is Perth, he said, and there's a lot of opportunity.

Jenkins, managing director at CBRE in Perth, and property developers are trying to drum up investment in the Western Australia capital. Housing values as measured by CoreLogic dropped 3.7 per cent last year, the worst performance among the nation's capital cities as the mining boom dissipated.

While a recovery may be some way off, Perth property is cheap now relative to the record prices on the nation's east coast. This is the right time for cashed-up Chinese investors that have favoured the overheated markets of Sydney and Melbourne to snap up deals, according to Jenkins, a nearly 30-year veteran of the real-estate industry. He's establishing a residential marketing division for Perth this month ahead of what he expects will be a pickup in interest.

"The market starts in the so-called nerve centre of Australia, being Sydney, and it works its way until yield compression gets to a point that it's not worth playing; then they move north to Queensland and then eventually they cross the Nullarbor," Jenkins said.
Anchorage Capital Partners, the private equity firm that made hundreds of millions of dollars by floating Dick Smith, was asked by the stricken retail group for help just months before its collapsed.

Sources say Dick Smith approached Anchorage in December in search of a lifeline, as its relationships with its secured creditors National Australia Bank and HSBC soured, and fears grew that the banks were close to pulling the pin.

It's not clear who made the approach, and specifically whether it was Nick Abboud, the chief executive Anchorage appointed in 2012.

But the talks were ultimately fruitless and a few weeks later the banks put receiver Ferrier Hodgson in control of the business, which was faltering under debts of $400 million.
If workdays have become a joyless slog, maybe it's time to grab some greenery. A 2008 study published in the journal HortScience found that workers who were in the proximity of plants tended to be happier with their jobs and their overall lives.

Look at the cutest photo you can find for about one to two minutes before beginning a specific task. Credit:Daniel Munoz

Decorating your office is about more than just showing your style. Turns out, the objects that surround your desk can play an important role in boosting your on-the-job focus, energy and overall happiness. Here are three quick and easy ways to spruce up your office with science.

"If folks had access to plants, they rated their job satisfaction - and overall life satisfaction - much more positively than folks who didn't have any plants," said Tina Cade, Ph.D., a professor of horticulture at Texas State University who worked on the study.

The difference even spreads to how well we get along with our office mates. Research subjects who tended plants saw a benefit in their satisfaction with co-workers and intraoffice communications, making plants a potential antidote to an overly political workplace. Cade credits the effect to what is known as the biophilia hypothesis, which suggests that people feel more comfortable around other living things.

The researchers also looked at the effect of having windows in your workplace and found that, while the windows predictably provided a boost in job satisfaction, this effect was really only noticeable in women. In fact, the group with the highest overall job satisfaction score was men who had access to plants but had no windows. Both men and women without access to either were, by far, the least satisfied.

"You definitely don't want to be the person with no window and no plant," Cade says. "Out of the hundreds of people in the study, they were the only ones who were completely miserable or dissatisfied with life and their job."

2. Puppies and kittens
Gone are the days when the business world expected men to act like men and never ask for help. Or are they?

While no management consultant would advise male leaders to clam up instead of asking their subordinates for assistance, research suggests that men who seek help are perceived as less than - less competent, less strong, less of a leader.

The trend was clear: men who asked for help were perceived as weaker than those who didn't.

In a series of experiments that followed Wharton Business School MBA students on spring-break leadership adventures around the world, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh, Duke University and the University of San Diego showed that while women leaders could ask for help with impunity, men incurred a "competence cost".

The study, published last year in the journal The Leadership Quarterly, took advantage of situations where asking for help was inescapable - scaling a volcano in Ecuador, traversing a glacial ice cap in Antarctica, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. Each day, one participant in the group was randomly selected as a leader and later assessed by others in the group.
After marrying Maria, Casey developed a particular interest in bilingual theatre and cultural expression through art. This led to his involvement in several multicultural theatre productions, including Conversations with Charlie, for Vietnamese-Australian theatre company Citymoon, where he played the lead, in 1996. He also directed and co-wrote Homer Rules: The Odyssey, an original, demotic adaptation of Homer's Odyssey, for the Greek-Australian Take Away Theatre company in 1999, and directed, wrote and acted in several productions for French-Australian company Theatre LOTE Fantastique during the 2000s.

Casey taught at NIDA, the Australian Institute of Music, and Ensemble Studios. His infectious methods and enthusiasm for his craft inspired both new and seasonal performers. However, it was his work in physical theatre that truly made a mark. Within this genre, Casey taught classes in mime for the Bell Shakespeare theatre company, alongside Steven Berkoff, and several workshops in biomechanics and actors' body movements for NIDA. He had a commanding presence both on the stage and in the classroom, with a deep, clear voice that would take over any room.

He also developed programs and taught students the art of body movement and performance in making and playing music and musical theatre at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. His ability to articulate the connection between mind and body in performance and his development and understanding of the Meyerhold biomechanical actor-training method made him a sought-after industry expert.

Between the 1980s and early 2000s, Casey joined Kai Tai Chan at the One Extra Dance Company as well as physical theatre company Legs on the Wall and acrobatic group The Leaping Loonies. He was equally at home with Shakespeare, Aristophanes, Chekov or a backflip. He performed with the Australian Opera, Company B at Belvoir St Theatre, Fortune Theatre and many other Australian theatre companies.

In 2005, Casey met French-born journalist Florence Decamp, they formed a loving relationship and she encouraged him in his writing. Her influence, along with his children's connection to their cultural heritage, his historian eldest son's never-ending quest for his familial past and his dying father's storytelling, inspired Casey to spend his final years chasing his grandfather Cornelius Casey's story, the ghost of a man who served with the First Australian Imperial Forces in World War I and who died before Kerry Casey was born.
Last Saturday, a mate and I visited the Oxford Hotel on Oxford Street, Leederville, where two pints of draught Italian Peroni were rung up at a wallet-emptying $27.

The only good news was that it was my mate's round.

The price of beer is going through the roof. Credit:Arsineh Houspian

Now Peroni is not a particularly exotic beer. You can buy a carton of it for around $47 or so.

Perhaps it was the special Peroni point-of-sale taps that had been installed at the Oxford  maybe we were helping pay those off?
Journeys towards justice and equality tend to involve two steps forward and one step back. With same-sex marriage and gay rights in Australia, the one step back has at every stage been a painful one. Each setback has denied many Australians  in the words of the first openly gay member of the House of Representatives, Liberal Trent Zimmerman  "the opportunity to love and be loved, to be full and flourishing members of our community, and to simply be themselves".

As hundreds of thousands of people of all sexual and ideological orientations celebrate Sydney Mardi Gras this weekend  with federal Labor leader Bill Shorten making his march debut  we salute those who have fought so hard for a fair go, and those who keep fighting.

Illustration: John Shakespeare Credit: John Shakespeare

The Herald also recognises and regrets wholeheartedly the part we played in one painful event on the journey to equality. In 1978 hundreds of protesters gathered at Taylor Square in Darlinghurst to call for the decriminalisation of homosexual acts. Police intervened, the gathering erupted and charges were laid. The Herald then published the names of 53 people involved. Last week we acknowledged and apologised to the 78ers for the hurt and suffering that reporting caused. It would never happen today.

We hope that apology, along with the ones delivered by the state's Parliament and the NSW Police, will help the healing and as such constitute a step forward.
JANINA GREEN: DARK MATTERS

There's a quiet radicalism to Melbourne artist Janina Green's longstanding photographic practice, which features to thrilling effect in the major survey Dark Matters, curated by the CCP's Naomi Cass and Pippa Milne. Where themes of domesticity and femininity, not to mention motifs relating to the landscape and still life, may not ring alarm bells, Green's negotiation of such terrain is far from conventional. Her methods are as meticulous and studied as they are disruptive  hand-colouring silver gelatin prints, presenting work on vast swathes of document paper and piecing together bodies of work in unlikely stanzas. Despite being nostalgic, its effect is vital and dynamic, with Green's photographs of domestic pots, familial happenstance, loaded objects, place and the female form, shaping an elusive and poetic tenor. A series of four identical photographs of a basic ceramic vase assume the guise of monochromes, with each image coloured a different electric hue; a photograph of a solitary, towering tree in a cow paddock lists elegantly, like a woman in in profile; pine plantations, waterfalls and a sparsely populated Macau vista make for landscapes made strange. Whatever the case, Green's work repeats the same coda: it's not what you see, but how you see it. Until March 24; Centre for Contemporary Photography, 404 George Street, Fitzroy, 9417 1549, ccp.org.au

Janina Green, Fitzroy 1989/2016 hand coloured silver gelatin print on fibre based paper 60 x 50 cm

NICHOLAS MANGAN: BRILLIANT ERRORS

This intriguing suite of works by Nicholas Mangan acts as something of a residue to Ancient Lights, his major installation at Chisenhale Gallery in London and Artspace Sydney in 2015. Comprising three densely layered, multipart, framed images, Brilliant Errors is an interesting exercise in obscure threads of research, resonance and image association. The works take the form of office pin boards  albeit framed beneath Perspex tinted a searing orange  populated by various disparate references to the sun and its effects as an activating, causal agent. NASA data and recordings of solar activity, brain scans, cross-sections cut from tree trunks, glowing cityscapes, human sacrifice, research notes and cartoonish illustrations of the fiery mass itself clash and coalesce here in striking arrangements. Mangan's conceptual basis leads us back to Soviet-era Russian biophysicist Alexander Chizhevsky and his assertions about the sun's powerful influence over "human excitability", various epidemics, insect infestations, electrical usage and plane crashes. Mangan's work leads us to wonder, shake our heads, and wonder again. Last day today; Sutton Gallery, 254 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, 9416 0727, suttongallery.com.au
Burton's artwork is featured in Blaze 10, a group show designed to showcase the talent and passion of emerging artists in the ACT, held each year at the Canberra Contemporary Art Space. CCAS curator Sara d'Alessandro decided to celebrate the show's tenth anniversary with a collection that references the unique nature of Canberra's art community.

The value of creative growth in Canberra informs the work of Christopher Burton, an artist whose monochromatic graphite abstracts aesthetically reimagine urban spaces. To create his most recent piece, Aggregation (2016), Burton pored over a map of the capital, ignoring iconic landmarks in favour of pinpointing studios, exhibition spaces and artist meeting places. By emphasising these spaces with tonal layers, Aggregation highlights the presence of Canberra's art community and, in doing so, stakes a claim for the recognition of the significance of the arts within the city. Burton's flowing, minimalist lines subvert Griffin's clear cut urban aesthetic, resulting in the depiction of a social and cultural landscape that is complex, layered and evolving.

In 2016, a new generation of artists are emerging from Canberra's undergrowth, imbuing the city with a current of creative energy that has the potential to alter its rigid lines forever.

As a city, Canberra invites meditation on the nature of an ideal democracy  you only have to drive along Commonwealth Avenue to realise that the capital's geometric axes are intended to invoke thoughts of integrity and transparency. Many argue that there's a striking beauty to Walter Burley Griffin's attempt to create a structural aesthetic capable of connecting the city to a carefully tamed natural topography. But what, dear Walt, of the value of organic, unplanned and even messy creative growth in urban environments?

Millan Pintos-Lopez, The perversion of the divine, 2016, paint on deconstructed plywood.

When d'Alessandro talks about the arts in Canberra, her rich Italian accent becomes spiked with enthusiasm. "When I arrived in Canberra from Italy last year, I knew the big Australian artist names, and maybe 10 others. I knew only a handful of galleries. I had to quickly try to figure out how it all worked." The former museum curator found herself impressed by the vitality of the arts in Canberra, and the protective friendships that bind the city's artists. "Canberra has very few private investors or private galleries. Because of this, the strength of the community is the community itself."

With this in mind, d'Alessandro gave Blaze 10 a subtitle: "A Real Sum is a Sum of People", an eponymous nod to a sequence of photographs by Arte Povera artist Mario Merze. Created in 1972, the series of 11 photographs document an increasing number of people sitting at a restaurant table, with each photograph numbered in neon in accordance with the Fibonnaci sequence (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 etc.). In the context of Merz's work, the Fibonnaci sequence refers to growth and evolution, into infinity. By placing the integer sequence adjacent to imagery of warm conviviality  a group meal at a restaurant  the photographs celebrate the infinite possibilities of friendship and creative exchange.

Recognising correlations between Merz's depiction of the potential of community with her experience of the arts in Canberra, d'Alessandro encouraged her stable of emerging talent to create innovative pieces that reflected the nature of Canberra's art community and demonstrated their capacity for creative development within it. D'Alessandro has been pleasantly surprised with the results. "Each of the eight artists in Blaze 10 listened to me when I asked them to break out of their comfort zone and create something they wouldn't necessarily have thought of creating. They are brave in their work."

Joel Arthur, a former resident at CCAS, is a young artist who embraced d'Alessandro's challenge before it was even issued. Since graduating from ANU's School of Art in 2014, Arthur has moved away from representational still life paintings that attempted to describe optical distortions through the depiction of transparent and reflective materials towards more abstract creations that raise similar questions over the role of perception in painting. For Blaze, Arthur created two diptychs, Static Systems and Screen II (2016). The large oil and acrylic pieces feature layer upon layer of independent geometric patterns. By creating optical distortions that force viewers to question their perception, Arthur's layered paintings generate meditation on the nature of community, with its evolving and overlapping connections, kinships and rifts. As the viewer gazes upon his abstract lines, they are encouraged to consider not just what they can see, but what they might see. When connected to the exhibition's overarching interest in the power and potential of Canberra's art community, this sense of possibility is strangely  if almost intangibly  heartening.
But now, three years later, she is still performing the show to enraptured audiences. As one of her friends noted on Davey's 53rd birthday, "Why stop now, just as things are becoming interesting?" As it happens, Davey and I both studied at the Victorian College of the Arts  around the same time. "You remember," she says, "there was this obligatory nude thing at college. In performance-making classes. It was all about body image. Vulnerability. Confessional nudity." I rack my brains. I don't think I got that memo. My husband and I took our places inside. We were directly at muff level. So what makes her want to take her clothes off? Is she an exhibitionist?

She describes her career as a nude performer as a quest for authenticity. "Being nude is the most profound kind of normal there is," she says. "People often come up to me after a performance and say 'You're so brave!' Which makes me think, 'Am I so hideous?"' But there is no question: as she has grown older it has become harder and harder. "Sometimes I feel like I've just rubbed myself all over with a cheese grater and going out into the audience feels like bathing in acid." One night she heard a man in the audience mutter, "Jeez, if I have to look at one more pair of saggy tits" So she visited Elizabeth Burton, a 65-year-old stripper in Sydney, to ask her how she coped with ageing.

Burton said: "I look down and I see all the wrinkly skin on my legs and I'm thinking: 'Far out. I look like crepe-paper woman.' "But you don't need to be brave to take your clothes off, you just need to like what you live in." One day, some time after this, Davey watched a young woman with Down Syndrome dancing naked around a room. "As I watched her, I suddenly understood what burlesque is. It is, fundamentally, an assertion: I am beautiful and I am worthy of your regard." ANNI DAVEY Anni Davey during a routine with Circus Oz in 2001, 10 years after breaking her neck in a fall. Credit:Ponch Hawkes

Anni Davey is a trapeze artist who was on tour with Circus Oz when she broke her neck in two places at the Edinburgh Festival in 1991. This is what happened. At a press call, in the presence of TV cameras and an entourage of journalists, Davey was hanging upside-down holding her trapeze partner, Lisa Small, by the wrists as they swung through a series of elegant acrobatic moves. Then, the foot loop supporting Davey snapped. Both performers fell. Small landed on her feet. Davey fell head-first to the ground, breaking her wrists and neck. She remembers the news cameraman shouting, "Don't anybody move her!"

In Edinburgh hospital, she spent five months in traction. The doctors drilled holes in her head and screwed a metal ring into her skull  like a halo. In fact it's called a halo frame: it was connected to four steel rods attached to a fibreglass vest, strapped around her torso. A team of four men and two women, "the turning team", turned her on her back, then side, then back, every two hours. Day and night. But during this ordeal in the spinal ward, Davey knew that she was going to get up and walk again. The girl in the next bed was 17 and would never walk. The man in the next room could communicate only by flickering one eyelid. "I was the lucky one!" says Davey. "When you're in the midst of nurses and patients who are so resilient, so glorious and so cheerful, you hang on to the fact that you've been fortunate. You will get back to your happy place soon enough. Life will resume." Three years later, Davey made a comeback. She founded a troupe of aerialists called Club Swing with three other women, one of whom was Small, her partner in the Edinburgh accident.

It was in a tent in the Melbourne city square and most of the audience on that opening night knew about the accident. The atmosphere was electric. "I remember making my entrance with M People's One Night In Heaven pumping, and the roar from the crowd was incredible." When Davey climbed the rope and reached out for the bar, suspended high in the air, the audience went berserk. As you may have guessed, Anni and Maudie Davey are twins. "What is it with you two?" I ask Anni Davey. "Do you have the risk-taking gene or were you brought up to live dangerously?"

She says that when she was 17, she was offered a job at the Tax Office. Coming back from the interview, she was travelling up the steep escalators at Kings Cross Station in Sydney, when she saw a friend. She burst into tears. "You don't have to do it," he said. "You just don't!" So she didn't. She wanted to work in the theatre, like her twin, but she wasn't drawn to what she calls the "pretendy" arts. She, like Maudie, is in search of authenticity in performance.

And she, more than anyone, knows that in the circus, if you fall, you are actually falling. Not pretending. Ten years after the accident, Davey was finally back in the big show with Circus Oz. My sister-in-law, Sarah Cathcart, was there. "What I remember," she tells me, "is Anni hanging upside down, suspended by a strap and pulling a television off the ground with her hair. I was so exhilarated and inspired by her sheer guts and determination, I wanted to shout." Davey says: "I think people who knew about the accident were particularly taken with that act because it's a simple and direct connection, hanging a heavy object from my hair." REBECCA MARSHALL

Rebecca Marshall heads a Critical Incident Response Team. Credit:JasonSouth If I were balanced precariously on a ledge, contemplating jumping, I would like Senior Sergeant Rebecca Marshall on speed dial. She has coaxed people down from buildings and bridges. She has persuaded hostage-takers to lay down their weapons and come out of apartment blocks or offices with their arms up. "Ninety-five per cent of the time, people have got themselves into a situation which has escalated so quickly that they cannot see a way to come back from it. They want me to help them come back," she says. Marshall joined the police force when she was 18. Now she is 33. That's young to be a manager in the Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT). They do their work in so-called high-risk incidents. These include suicide attempts, hostage situations, sieges, confrontations with violent offenders. Any of these events could be defused by a skilled negotiator. Like Bec Marshall.

"Throughout your policing career, you learn how to identify what's going on. Drugs. Mental health issues. Other forms of trauma. You make mistakes. You also make right choices. You just learn from hard, hands-on experience." And from being self-reflective. "I was never a person who knew how to talk about what was happening to me. I didn't grow up with those skills. I had to learn them." Marshall says that when she is in the middle of a dangerous incident, the key is to suspend judgement. "You don't know what has led a person into getting themselves into such a fix."

And you have to find the way to connect. Like the time police were trying in vain to coax a suicidal man down from a bridge. She says: "When I arrived, I noticed his four-wheel-drive, parked at the base of the bridge. It had kids' car seats. So I asked him some hard questions about how his children were going to cope without him." That's what persuaded the man to come down. "If I hadn't seen the kids' car seats, I may never have found a way in, a way to reach the guy." She describes some hair-raising situations. One of her first jobs involved a psychotic man who was holding his stepchildren hostage. Over three hours, he threatened to stab them or shoot them. The man had been on a drug binge for five days. He issued an ultimatum. If you don't get in here in 30 seconds, I'm going to blow the house up and stab the kids. Next minute, a massive 20-metre ball of fire roared from the house.

She had no choice but to go in. The man was apprehended. The children were retrieved. Scared, but safe. "Were you fearless as a kid?" I ask. Marshall laughs. "I can be a big sook." This is the way she looks at it: "If you are in a situation where something has to be done, and you're the police officer there, well who else is going to do it? "If you have to go into that house, you know that the first person who enters might get injured. You don't think about being brave. You think about being sensible. You do your risk assessment and trust you'll have the right skills to take on anything. I'm supported by so many people.

"If you get scared, and think, 'I shouldn't go there', well, you probably shouldn't. Your risk assessment is working. Generally in that situation, you'll wait, get support and work out your best options." "Are people frightened of you?" "No. I don't want anyone to be frightened of me." She cites compassion as one of the most important qualities for a police officer. Loyalty. Resilience. Emotional intelligence and being a team player are also vital. "I'd like to believe that all police officers bring a strong moral code to the job when they join. That's why they've signed up. To do the right thing."

KOBRA MORADI Kobra Moradi was fetched from her cot minutes before a bomb landed on her family's home in Kabul. Mr and Mrs Moradi lived in a tiny three-room house in Kabul in Afghanistan. Their baby, Kobra, was laid in a little cot in the middle room, while they sat in an adjacent room with relatives, planning their escape from the war-torn city. Her father owned a hotel in the city, but the Taliban was on his case. He had already been imprisoned as a communist sympathiser, after the Taliban discovered that government officials had stayed in his hotel. Farsi-speaking Hazaras, like the Moradis, are despised by the Taliban. The tradition of persecution is long and bloody.

As the night drew in, Kobra's father said, "Go and get the baby!" Her mother replied, "Why? She is asleep." Her father explained that he was worried that she might cry. So her mother fetched Kobra from the middle room and carried her into where the rest of the family were talking in hushed voices. A few minutes later, a bomb dropped on the house. It destroyed the middle room. Kobra Moradi is now 20 and doing a double major in law and international relations at La Trobe University. She dreams of becoming a human rights lawyer. She is determined to defy the double oppression which was her destiny.

"I was born a girl," she says. "I was born Hazara. I was born in a country riven with lawlessness." But she says that the hole in the middle of the family's old house is a symbol for her. She was spared. "In fact, when people come to our home in Melbourne," she says, "it is like a Harry Potter moment. So, this is the girl who lived!" After the bombing, the family fled to the Hazara city of Jaghori, but the Taliban followed close behind. Then one night, Moradi's father disappeared. Her mother raised her seven children alone in a house built in the middle of a mountain. They grew potatoes in the warmer months and stored food for the snow-bound winters.

"My daddy told my mother that no matter what happens, we had to go to school," Moradi tells me. So she, her five sisters and little brother went to a community school. No books. No pencils. The older children taught the younger ones. Then one day, her mother heard from a relative. Her husband was alive and safe in Australia. "Australia? What the hell? Where is that?" laughs Moradi. Her father had been an asylum seeker. After spending six months locked up at the Woomera Detention Centre, he got a temporary protection visa and then finally, permanent residency in 2004. One more year passed as he worked, picking onions and plucking chickens, doing farm work and butchery, all the while sending money to his family.

Meanwhile, his wife and family were preparing the documentation required to migrate to Australia  a task that took two years. Then they boarded a plane. "The only technology we had ever seen was a small black-and-white TV and an old Nokia phone," says Moradi. "So when we took our seats on the plane we were terrified. So how is this going to work, then? How is this thing going to fly in the air?" On a warm day in December 2005, eight people passed through immigration at Sydney Airport and walked towards the man who had waited for them on the other side of the world for seven years. Moradi will never forget it. "My mother and father threw their arms around each other and sunk to the ground, hugging and crying."

The grief and anguish of separation was finally over. "We didn't care what anyone thought of us. They fell down and all of us children fell on top of them." This summer, during her university vacation, Moradi flew to Indonesia to work at the Cisarua Refugee Learning Centre near Jakarta. At 20, she is also the director of dialogue, empathic engagement and peace-building, Kabul. And the writer she most admires is Simone de Beauvoir. The woman who said: "We are not born women. We become women."
Growing up in Taiwan, choreographer and dancer Huang Yi adored the Japanese manga series Doraemon. The story of a time-travelling robotic cat with a pocket full of gizmos capable of correcting the mistakes of family history sung of a hopeful alliance between man and machine. It directly appealed to a boy whose parents' investments had gone sour, forcing the family to quit their luxurious home for a succession of rooms not much larger than a king-sized bed.

Shamed and bankrupt, Huang's parents, both ballroom dancers, made several suicide attempts and the boy did his best to please them, to become an obedient, considerate child and not add to their worries. He internalised his feelings, studied dance and taught himself basic computer programming in high school, all the while longing for a companion as loyal and selfless as Doraemon.

Taiwanese dancer and choreographer Huang Yi performs a duet with KUKA the robot. Credit:Jacob Blickenstaff

Those childhood years of studied emotional detachment and unfulfilled desire for a robot friend have come together to shape a unique theatrical production which has its first Sydney performance as part of the Spectrum Now Festival.

Huang Yi & KUKA weaves together the art of modern dance with the precision of mechanical engineering in a duet between human artist and a large robotic mechanical arm designed for factory floor tooling.
JAZZ

RAVI COLTRANE



Bird's BasementMarch 3

A new jazz venue in Melbourne is something to celebrate, and Bird's Basement is new on several fronts. Albert Dadon's sleekly elegant club has been purpose-built for the site (a basement room in a CBD tower), and its concept is also new for this city: two shows a night, with international artists in residence for up to a week.

Ravi Coltrane swept his audience up in the music's impassioned embrace.

It's wildly ambitious and  on the basis of two visits in its opening week  extremely impressive. The club buzzes, with diners ensconced at almost every table and waiters moving swiftly to ensure attention is focused on the music. And the music came courtesy of Ravi Coltrane, whose quartet is christening the room this week, and whose name carries a legacy to match that of the venue's fabled sister club (Birdland) in New York.

Opening with a taut, slightly fractured take on Monk's Epistrophy, Coltrane then moved on to a handful of mid-tempo originals and a spirited sprint through Ornette Coleman's Bird Food. The saxophonist's immaculate control on tenor lent his tone a marvellous fluidity, even when his phrases were at their most swift and incisive. His band members were all keenly responsive: pianist Glenn Zaleski answering Coltrane's improvised comments with adroit chordal responses, and bassist Dezron Douglas and drummer Kush Abadey often switching between different time-feels to maintain an air of unpredictability.
Waves from the tsunami hit residences after a powerful earthquake in Natori, Miyagi prefecture, in March 2011. Credit:AP But perhaps most striking are the vast walls of concrete that now choke small harbours, tower over homes and obliterate beaches as part of the Japanese government's mission to defend the coast of their nation. In 2011, a shocked leadership did what it felt it must to protect its reeling people, adopting a grand plan to "fight" the force of nature. Students use a rubber raft to get food from their dormitory that submerged following the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami. Credit:AP Within months, plans to build super seawalls of up to 17m in height along more than 400km of the coastline of the worst-hit Fukishima, Miyagi and Iwate prefectures at a cost of $US10 billion were approved.

The eventual aim is to stretch Japan's seashore fortifications from a pre-existing 9500km to cover 14,000km of its entire 35,000km coastline. A 14.7-metre high seawall in Koizumi. Credit:Marieluise Jonas But seawalls are dividing more than the ocean and the land as locals vow to learn from the lessons of 2011. "In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, the idea of protecting the land with giant structures became a kind of symbol," says Associate Professor Satoquo Seino of Kyushu University's school of engineering. Vessels stranded in Kesennuma, Miyagi prefecture, in March 2011. Credit:AP

"The academic community was unable to sufficiently discuss and offer advice. The atmosphere was that doubts raised about building infrastructure designed to save lives were interpreted as taking human life lightly and questioners were bashed," she said via email. It is exactly these doubts that are at the heart of a group of academics led by Melbourne's RMIT University and funded by the Australian government and the Japan Australia Foundation. "My concern is that it's a huge environmental disaster to build these enormous structures that provide a false sense of security," says RMIT landscape architect Marieluise Jonas. Quite apart from slicing through communities, ecosystems and tourist spots, experts doubt the seawalls will be any match for a tsunami of the magnitude of 2011's once-in-a-1000-years nightmare.

Seawall advocates point to the village of Fudai, where 3000 people escaped the perils of the mega tsunami thanks to a 15m wall and floodgates that were built  and largely ridiculed  in the 1970s. Yet, not only was Fudai spared the largest surge, but none of the new seawalls come close to reaching the 40m needed to have any hope in a replay of March 11. That day's onslaught smashed through 90 per cent of Tohoku's pre-existing seawalls. Kamaishi's 10m walls, then the largest in the world, simply crumbled on impact. Ms Otsuka, a Japanese teacher and seawall opponent, cites figures that showed death rates in seawall-free settlements were a quarter of those where walls existed. "What we say is whenever there is a big earthquake, just run away. There is nothing that stops it. If you don't feel that sense of urgency, you don't run," says Ms Otsuka, who believes that had her family known to climb 10m up a hill behind her mother's home, they would have been spared. Working alongside Dr Jonas, she is educating Kesennuma locals around disaster risk reduction, an effort that she says is "purely" about the memory of her deceased family and friends. "I'm extremely sad and resentful of the fact that the recovery program is creating even more danger for the people. Someone has to tell the world in order not to repeat the mistakes that my mother made," says Ms Otsuka, who helped organise Kesennuma's Future Proofing workshop in January.

Indeed, many of those who died five years ago had run towards seawalls  and some of those had watched from atop the walls as the wave approached. Not that all seawalls sit near communities. In the village of Koizumi, 40 of 1800 residents died. Now rehoused uphill and 3km inland, survivors can visit a bare patch of scrub where their village used to sit. Where there was once a sea view is now a 14.7m, 2km-long concrete wall. At a cost of $440 million of central government funds, the edifice defends rice paddies and not a single building  or human  whatsoever. Given the local government has set aside less than one-third of that to help Kesennuma's now-homeless residents relocate, says Ms Otsuka, the imbalance is "staggering". Just as Fudai is held up as an exemplar of man's dominance over mother nature, Okushiri Island has come to illustrate the ecological folly of many thousands of tons of concrete sitting on a seashore. There, the small island's population has diminished in line with the local fishing and tourism industries, which have shrunk by 50 and 30 per cent respectively since seawalls were built after the 1993 tsunami. With run-off from the hills to the sea obstructed, the waters have lost nutrients and reefs have silted up.

"This island used to be called the Island of Treasure because of the high price of abalone and urchins and they just disappeared," Ms Otsuka says. The very fishermen the walls were built to protect have had their livelihoods slowly, painfully eroded. In Prime Minster Shinzo Abe, the structures have support from the top. His position speaks of a long and deep connection between the government and construction mandarins. So ingrained is that relationship, says Dr Seino, that the construction industry is preserved as a kind of reserve corps in a country prone to natural disasters. Protesting the walls' march is not popular for other reasons, too. Without the structures, local government will not go ahead with any rebuilding, a technicality that has been played off against communities which have an understandable desire to get on with life. In parts of Kesennuma, virtually nothing has moved forwards. A high school building sits as it was on the day of the tsunami, debris included.

Yet one of the plan's most prominent detractors is also Mr Abe's wife, Akie Abe, who has tapped into the traditional belief that forests are the friends of the sea. Mrs Abe's support may be something of a win for campaigners, though it's unlikely the PM will bow to protest  or indeed, Australian academics. Dr Jonas points to historical architecture and habits that may benefit a new Kesennuma. But the most sensible solution, she says, is the simplest: Move uphill. Residents such as Keiko Sugawara, whose family survived, albeit frostbitten, say she has never had input into the plans. "The tsunami itself was a natural phenomenon but the disaster was man-made," she says via email. "It is just impossible for me to stay silent  I feel such a sense of threat that we are inching our way towards the disappearance of the future of this town. "If there is no reconsideration of this, the coastline of Japan will become a sight that is too terrible to bear."

With the community and its leaders racked by post-traumatic stress disorder, careful, participatory decision-making should be undertaken, Dr Seino says. One of Future Proofing's most positive outcomes, says Dr Jonas, was sharing experiences learnt by women's groups after Queensland flooding and Tasmanian bushfires. When Australian women banded together, they could not have known their strength would go on to inspire women facing similar upheaval in Kesennuma. And they might understand better than most that at the heart of campaigners' arguments is something far less tangible than death tolls and poured concrete. The sea is not only part of Tohoku's famed, island-dotted coastline, it is part of the Japanese spirit. "After the tsunami, after all that loss, we couldn't hate the sea," says Ms Otsuka.
Two gay refugees who fell in love at the Nauru detention camp say they are virtually prisoners in their home: holed up in fear for their lives after being bashed and verbally abused in a nation where homosexuality is illegal.

As Sydney prepares for Saturday night's Mardi Gras parade - an event that showcases Australia as a global model of acceptance of gay and lesbian people - the federal government is refusing to rescue the two young Iranian men it sent to a country where they could be jailed for their sexual orientation, according to lawyers.

A digitally altered photo of two gay Iranian refugees, Nima and Ashkan, who say they are being persecuted at Nauru, where homosexuality is illegal.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has so far refused to help the refugees, who say they have been repeatedly beaten, had rocks thrown at them and been called "human rubbish". His department says refugees at Nauru can accept resettlement in Cambodia.

The Human Rights Law Centre and international LGBT rights group All Out have begun a petition calling on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to urgently intervene and bring the men to Australia. The refugees, known by the pseudonyms Nima and Ashkan, live in the Nauruan community. They say they spend their lives confined in a tiny unit with the doors locked and window shades drawn - leaving just once a week to buy food, escorted by a case manager.
On Thursday morning, at an hour when most people are still going through their wake-up yoga routines or walking their dogs, the nation's political leaders were at work.

With bright Canberra sunshine pouring through the windows of the Mural Hall, they convened for an International Women's Day breakfast at Parliament House.

Over corn fritters and fruit platters, the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader addressed the crowd, one after the other. And if you closed your eyes, it was difficult to tell them apart.

Both men spoke earnestly of the need to tackle domestic violence and economic inequality. Both referred glowingly to their wives and how they were the real experts on gender equality. Both made self-deprecating jokes.
Fyodor Dostoevsky, the 19th Century Russian author, once famously challenged his brother to try out a strange task: Don't think about a polar bear right now. "Try to pose for yourself this task: not to think of a polar bear, and you will see that the cursed thing will come to mind every minute," Dostoevsky writes in "Winter Notes on Summer Impressions".

Since then, people have puzzled over what happens in the brain when we try intentionally to ignore things. Can we actually succeed in ignoring certain information, and improve our focus on everything else? Or does trying to ignore something actually divert the brain toward that thing, sucking up brain space like Dostoevsky's polar bear?

Can we actually succeed in ignoring certain information, and improve our focus on everything else? Credit:Getty

In the past, psychological research has been divided. But a new paper from researchers at Johns Hopkins University reconsiders that debate, and suggests that learning to ignore certain things is a powerful tool for helping people focus.

You can try the basic task for yourself with this video quiz below. Does learning what to ignore help you speed up your search?
You can almost feel the Queensland heat when you look at the "Journeys North" portfolio  that's one thing that hasn't changed since 1988.

"Journeys North" is a photography project completed nearly 30 years ago, in the year of the bicentenary, when six Queensland-based photographers were sent to create a record of Queensland life at the time by capturing scenes from across the state  from the beaches to the dry interior, to the tropical north.

Eyes right, Coolangatta (from 'Journeys north' portfolio) 1986-87 Gelatin silver photograph on paper. Purchased 1987 with the financial assistance of the Australian Bicentennial Authority to commemorate Australia's Bicentenary in 1988 Collection: Queensland Art Gallery. Credit:Graham Burstow

The photographers involved  Graham Burstow, Lin Martin, Robert Mercer, Glen O'Malley, Charles Page and Max Pam  each travelled over a period of about eighteen months, observing daily life scenes of Queensland in black and white film.

Now, Queensland Gallery of Modern Art is re-examining the portfolio of works, focussing on how the state has evolved in the intervening years.
The man responsible for finding what could be the second piece of the doomed flight MH370 aircraft headed to Mozambique on the advice of West Australian academics.

Blaine Gibson found a piece of horizontal stabiliser skin, a part of an aircraft's tail, while scouring the coast of the African country on the weekend.

Last year he also spent time beach combing in Western Australia in search of debris from the plane and while here spoke with oceanography experts, whose information helped him to determine where to focus his search efforts.

Mr Gibson is an American lawyer who has been travelling to remote islands around the Indian Ocean for the past year at his own expense in a quest to solve the mystery of what happened to the flight, which vanished almost two years ago with 239 people on board.
Almost a week after Rocky Eiao wandered off into the harsh and unforgiving bush in outback NSW, a woman's body has been found.

Police believe the body is that of Ms Eiao, 25, who walked off into rugged terrain at Girilambone, in north-west NSW, last Friday.

Adrian Newtown, who owned a farm where Rocky Eiao worked, helped in the search for the young woman. Credit:Prime 7 News

One of the dogs that had stayed with Ms Eiao was found dead near the body.

Ms Eiao, who worked as a sheep shearer, had set off from her hometown of Nyngan, north-west of Dubbo, with her boyfriend and another friend for a drive through the bush.
Maybir had subjected the youngster to repeated acts of violent abuse under the guise of "punishment" in accordance with a "bizarre" discipline regime inspired by religion and a movie about Spartan soldiers called 300.

Maybir was also sentenced for 10 additional offences for assaulting and abusing Levai in the four months leading up to his death, including the production of child abuse material. His total non-parole period is 31-and-a-half years.

However, he found the case was not in the worst category of murder because there was no evidence of premeditation and sentenced him to a maximum of 38 years with a non-parole period of 28-and-a-half years for murder.

Justice Hulme said Maybir "exhibited extreme religious views and parenting philosophies" and considered himself to be a saviour of single mothers. He referred to himself as being "the General of the Army of the Helpers" and said the army "carried out the will of God".



The abuse of Levai began when Maybir became involved with James, a single mother of three, in January 2013. At the time he was recording his album Invisible Road, and they immediately began a sexual relationship.

He was also recording an artist called Subliminal, for an album called Resist The Dark Force. His record company "took a strong stance against the music industry ... opposing their ideals and how they push sex, drugs and alcohol in the form of music", he told his trial last year.



James has already been convicted and sentenced to at least 10 years' jail for manslaughter by gross criminal negligence over the death of her son for failing to seek any medical assistance until after he was dead.

Giving evidence at his trial in return for a reduction in her sentence, James said she had come under the influence of her partner's "bizarre" Christian philosophy, allowing him to punish her child violently and inflicting similar punishments herself. Her infatuation with and submission to Maybir was described as "cult-like". Prior to meeting him, the evidence showed she was a caring and diligent mother.



A number of the punishments are recorded on a mobile phone video, either by Maybir or James, including one incident in which the boy's siblings were ordered to take turns hitting him in the stomach and the face.

On one occasion, Maybir incited Levai to insert his finger into his younger brother's anus as part of his attempt to convince James her children were being sexually abused by a male member of her family. The incident was recorded on video and Justice Hulme said it is obvious Levai had no idea of what Maybir was insinuating.



On other occasions Levai was also forced to run laps, crouch on the floor with his arms outstretched for hours on end, and repeatedly spanked, slapped and punched.

He was often denied food and water, forced to sit outside in cold weather without warm clothing and on one occasion forced to eat his own faeces.
CCTV footage shows Michael Rooke fleeing as shots are fired. He desperately tried to yank open the door to the Aarows club to get away from his attackers. A motive for the shooting has never been uncovered and Judge Gregory Farmer said in the Downing Centre District Court on Friday that the intercepted phone call with Fayad was inconclusive, establishing only that they wanted to get rid of a "freak". A gunman fires at Michael Rooke. Ahmadzai claimed he was not the hooded man standing with the gunman in the Aarows car park but Judge Farmer said overwhelming circumstantial evidence proved otherwise.

Two days before the shooting, Ahmadzai undertook internet searches on his mobile phone for phrases such as "how to release trigger in King Cobra .38" and "revolver safety check". Jailed: Wassim Fayad. Credit:Ben Rushton On the night of April 30, Ahmadzai and two others stole two cars, yet didn't realise that one, a Toyota van, had a camera mounted to the rear vision mirror. It captured audio of one of the men praying and of Ahmadzai saying "you got to cock the thing back" and "put one in the chamber". Hours after the shooting in the early hours of May 1, several news articles on the incident were accessed on Ahmadzai's phone and the phone of his wife, Fatima Elzamtar.

Months later, the unsolved shooting featured on the television show Wanted. Ahmadzai, who was then in custody for other matters, made three phone calls to his wife to question her on detail from the show. He pretended he didn't know about the incident but was clearly asking due to his "consciousness of guilt", Judge Farmer concluded. He also spoke via phone to one of his co-accused, who was about to flee the country. The co-accused said, "I wish I could see him now just so I could finish him before I go" to which Ahmadzai replied, "No way, are you serious?"
"That brought my life to a grinding halt," she says. "I broke my leg really badly. I was in and out of hospital for a year. There was a six-week period where I had a major operation every Wednesday for six weeks. My leg was likely to be amputated below the knee. What saved my leg was surgery they'd been doing since World War Two, called cross-legged surgery. They sewed my legs together  which is quite ironic for a promiscuous 19-year-old. Lucy Perry leaving the Royal Commission into child abuse on 2 March 2015. Photo: Louise Kennerley "So I was a mermaid for a month, and my left leg fed my right leg with blood supply," she says. She rolls up the legs of her pants. "Usually, you have to make love to me before I show you this," she says. Photo Nick Moir

Each of her calves looks like it has been bitten by a bear. "I've never lost a scar competition in my whole life," she says. Perry married at 21 and "had three humans I pushed out of my vagina". She lived in Turramurra with her husband, Bruce, and started her own creative-services company. "Our last major client sold hinges and drawer-runners," she says. "It was so boring, I could've stabbed myself in the eye." Marketing hinges is "really tricky", apparently, "because they're inside cupboards, so you can't show the f---ers". In 2004, Perry took three steps to relieve the tedium. First she became a doula, or childbirth support person. Then she started up Beer and Bubs, a childbirth program for men, which still runs in pubs across the country. Finally, she became involved with the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia, after seeing the hospital's Australian co-founder, Catherine Hamlin, interviewed on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Perry priced her doula's fee at the cost of one fistula operation, then donated the money to the hospital. "But after travelling to Ethiopia and seeing the way women in developing countries suffer and do so with such grace and gratitude, I came back to Australia and I couldn't support women in this country any more. I found I wanted to slap the birthing mother, because she was being so ridiculously demanding." Perry channelled her relentless energy into communications work for the hospital and, in 2012, became CEO of a new organisation, Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia (Australia). In less than three years, she raised $7 million for a network of hospitals and a midwifery school. "I'm pretty proud of that," she says, "because it's pretty hard to raise money for a vagina charity. We were talking about smashed-up vaginas in Africa. That's a tough subject."

She tried to make it fun to deal with Hamlin Fistula. She launched an appeal to have people pay not to come to their Christmas party, but her most successful initiative was simply asking people to repeat what she had done as a doula and to donate $600, the cost of a single operation. "That made people feel fabulous," she says. Then came the Royal Commission which, she says "signalled both the beginning and the end of my life". She had contacted the police when she first heard of the investigation into Knox. She told them that, at 15 years old, she had travelled from Roseville College to Knox to appear with Knox boys in a performance of the musical Guys and Dolls. At a rehearsal, the headmaster had groped her in front of about 50 students, who had "roared laughing". She didn't want to press charges  "I couldn't be bothered," she says  but hoped her statement might lend an insight into Paterson's character. When investigators asked her to testify, she was happy to take the stand, and was overwhelmed by the support she received from the survivors of the Knox rapes. Thirty days later, she was fired from her job, by a board of volunteers. "They said I raised too much money in Australia," she claims, "so all the other entities around the world were intimidated." Then her marriage broke up after 20 years. "I didn't see that coming," she says. "So 2015 was a shit sandwich, on some levels." But she quickly fell into a new relationship. Her appearance at the Royal Commission had gained her hundreds of new followers on Twitter and one of them, "Doc" (because he has a doctorate) became her "landing pad". She lived with Doc for about eight months while her children, now aged between eight and 12, stayed with their father in Turramurra. Perry says she has always been the breadwinner, and she travels a lot for work, and the children want to stay at their schools  but also she can't bear to live on the North Shore anymore. It's "a slow way to die". So she spends hours driving across Sydney and back.

When Perry was offered the CEO's job at the orphans' charity Sunrise Cambodia, she flew to Cambodia with Doc, "And I saw stuff on the trip that was heartbreaking," she says. The charity's founder, Geraldine Cox, took her to meet a community that lived on a garbage dump and scavenged for food among hospital waste. One woman hacked open a garbage bag with a hook, found half an apple and ate it while she spoke to Perry through an interpreter. "And it smelt so bad," she says, "and Doc smells really nice, and I remember just burying my nose in his chest to get his smell." At this point, our lunch arrives. Strangely, thoughts of the dump (and fistulas) do nothing to put me off my chicken. Although I do feel guilty eating from a $55 share plate. Perry was in the news most recently in November, when she tweeted that the Australian Graphic Design Association (AGDA) awards night was a "joke" and a "sausage fest" because most of the winners were men. The association threatened to take action against her, which brought the story to the media. "The funny thing is," she says, "only a handful of people saw the tweets, until it was in the Sydney Morning Herald, and then a couple of million people saw the tweets." Perry noted the obvious appeal of the word "sausagefest", and this month launched the Sausagefest campaign for Sunrise Cambodia, to encourage people to raise funds by hosting a barbecue. Saturday sees Sunrise Cambodia's International Women's Day event, Get the Girls Out, a swim at Coogee's women-only pool, McIver's Baths at 7am-9am.

She has already found a donor to fund an educational centre near the dump in Cambodia. She split up with Doc but there are now back together again. She knows she is lucky, that we are all lucky in Australia. "When you spend time with some people living on a dump, it makes you appreciate the basics of life so much more. I kiss my pillow, I love it so much." TIMELINE 1973 Born in Johannesburg, South Africa 1995 Married Bruce 1993 Started up creative services firm, Pure Graphics

2003 Son, Hudson, born 2004 Created Beer + Bubs program; began to volunteer for Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia 2005 Daughter, Harlow, born 2008 Daughter, Sheba, born 2012 Appointed CEO Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia
Saturday's Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is set to be a momentous occasion after the NSW Police Force added its voice to formal acknowledgments that the discrimination and mistreatment of gay rights protesters at the first Mardi Gras in 1978 was wrong and unjust.

Friday morning's long-awaited and unexpected apology by the police force to Mardi Gras founders the "78ers" follows last week's bipartisan state government apology and that of The Sydney Morning Herald.

On June 24, 1978, more than 500 activists took to Taylor Square in Darlinghurst in support and celebration of New York's Stonewall movement and to call for an end to criminalisation of homosexual acts and discrimination against homosexuals. The peaceful movement ended in violence and public shaming at the hands of the police, government and media.

"This morning I spoke with the commissioner and I have his full support in saying that the NSW Police force is sorry for the way that the Mardi Gras was policed on the first occasion in 1978 and for that we apologise," said Superintendent Tony Crandell, NSW Police spokesman for sexual and gender diversity, speaking at a Mardi Gras press conference.
The University of Sydney has admitted it "lost" a notebook computer containing sensitive information about students using disability support services, in a major privacy breach that has shocked and angered students.

As the Baird government is urged to tackle privacy law reform, the university warned on Friday it could not "absolutely guarantee the security" of a confidential database containing students' names, dates of birth, contact details and disability diagnoses.

The University of Sydney has alerted NSW Police about the potential privacy breach. Credit:Fiona Morris

A notebook computer containing the Disability Assist Database was "lost in transit" on Monday night, students were told in an email.
A record number of homeless people are sleeping rough on inner Sydney streets, in what lord mayor Clover Moore has described as a tragedy requiring urgent action.

Volunteers counted 486 people sleeping on City of Sydney streets in the early hours of February 23  more than at any time since the street counts began in 2008.

Lord mayor Clover Moore is distressed at the record numbers of people sleeping rough on the streets of Sydney. Credit:John Donegan

"This is a tragic situation and I'm deeply saddened by the dramatic rise in numbers," Cr Moore said. "We urgently need the state and federal governments to find opportunities to provide affordable housing and increase social housing with support services."

The number of rough sleepers in February grew from a low of 274 in 2012 to 365 last year, and now to 486. The count is conducted twice a year, to capture seasonal fluctuations. But the number of rough sleepers recorded last winter, 352, was also a six-year high.
The Liberal National Party's Brisbane City Council campaign has been embroiled in a $3.3 million land sale controversy for the third day running, drowning out what it says are its positive messages for voters.

While Lord Mayor Graham Quirk was at the Mt Gravatt Men's Shed announcing a $16 million election commitment to social enterprises, the media event was again dominated by the council's attempted sale of land to LNP donor Tan Boon Seng.

Graham Quirk has accused the state government of a "grubby" intervention into the Brisbane City Council election. Credit:Chris Hyde

Deputy Premier Jackie Trad rejected the council's application for exemption to the public tender requirement last week, more than six months after the application was made.

That, along with subsequent publicity, Cr Quirk said, was evidence of a Labor Party plot to destabilise his election campaign just 2 weeks out from the March 19 poll.
Politicians will often fall back on the "we followed the rules" line.

Just a whiff of scepticism is all it takes to turn voters on an issue. And nothing can turn them as quickly as the perception a political donation has led to an advantage for the donor.

The politics of perception  it's delicate, it's public controlled and it's something politicians still struggle to understand let alone master.

But the black and white of political donation rules doesn't take into account the shade perception brings to the issue  and how that can colour an issue.

The Palaszczuk Government promised an inquiry into political donations in Queensland, as part of a list of commitments it made to independent Peter Wellington, while courting his support to form government.

He gave it, but the inquiry is yet to be set down. First it was waiting for a permanent Crime and Corruption Commission head, then a permanent non-government chair for the Parliament Crime and Corruption Committee.

Now it's waiting for direction. Does it include unions or not? How far back does it go? Does the CCC have to conduct it, or is it something the government could set up itself, much like the independent inquiry into greyhound racing. For an administration that has set up nearly 70 reviews and inquiries, it has been strangely reticent to move forward on what had been a key element of its attack on its predecessors.

But donations are something that other states have dealt with. NSW banned, which the High Court upheld, donations from property developers, as well as capping what candidates can accept from others.
Australia's 2 million rental properties are gaining access to cheap solar power under a new Digital Solar scheme which divides the savings between landlords and tenants.

Backed by Melbourne-based startup Matter, Digital Solar brokers deals between renters and their landlords which sees the property owner pay for the installation of solar panels and then sell electricity to the tenant at a cheaper rate than power from the grid.

Home solar panels haven't made economic sense for renters and landlords until now. Credit:Justin McManus

The arrangement saves renters an average of $300 per year on their power bill, while making a $1500 annual profit for the landlord  with installation costs covered in four to six years. It's an untapped market, with solar panels only on the roof of 1 per cent of Australian rental properties, says Matter co-founder Simon Barnes.

"The problem has always been that if you're a tenant then you don't want to pay to put solar on someone else's roof, while if you're a landlord you don't want to pay for solar panels when you're just giving the tenant free power," Barnes says.
Distance has proved no obstacle for the 25-year-old Hubble Space Telescope, which has captured images of the most distant galaxy yet.

The images of the infant galaxy known as GN-z11, released overnight on Thursday, are a record-breaking step back in time to when the universe was just three per cent of of its current age.

They represent a new cosmic distance record because they identify and measure the distance to the farthest galaxy seen so far.

The collection of stars that make up galaxy GN-z11 are about 13.4 billion light years away from Earth.
Hundreds of flyers calling the Holocaust the "greatest swindle of all time" have been distributed around Melbourne's top university.

About 300 Holocaust denial leaflets were found at the University of Melbourne's city campus car park on Monday afternoon, the first day of semester one.

The University of Melbourne. Credit:Shannon Morris

The anti-Semitic flyers claimed Holocaust studies was "replete with nonsense, if not sheer fraud" and included a link to a Holocaust denial website claiming to provide "the facts  not the Hollywood production".

Dvir Abramovich, chairman of national Jewish human rights body the B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation Commission, said it was "utterly sickening that these repugnant flyers" had infiltrated the university.
Farmers have called for two new water pipelines to be built in country Victoria, to give certainty for parched farms and deliver a major economic boost to the bush.

The push comes as the state government prepares to make its first ever order from the controversial Wonthaggi desalination plant to top up Melbourne's storages.

Altona Beach provided a cool refuge on Friday as Melbourne's temperature approached a revised forecast high of 36 degrees. Credit:Jason South

The Victorian Farmers Federation has called for a new pipeline to be installed around Wedderburn and surrounds, north-west of Bendigo, where some farmers have been carting water to keep livestock alive for almost three years.

They have also called for a pipeline to be installed around Mitiamo, north of Bendigo, to deliver water for stock and domestic use across an area of about 100,000 hectares.
An interstate truck driver, accused of killing his girlfriend's baby daughter more than a decade ago, has been found not guilty of manslaughter.

The Crown case against Brett Penrose was that he had either struck, thrown or shaken 11-month-old baby Charlotte Keen when she was in her cot and her mother, Renee Jones, was out with friends at Wodonga in December 2004.

Baby Charlotte Keen who died in 2004.

But defence barrister John Kelly, for Mr Penrose, told the jury they could not rule out Ms Jones as having been the attacker.

"The problem for the prosecution is there is a welter of evidence that points away from Mr Penrose and points fairly compellingly, you might think, towards Renee Jones," Mr Kelly said during his closing address.
The State Government has been accused of turning its back on local workers as bacterial problems at the Elizabeth Quay water park continue to bug Colin Barnett.

A day after the WA Premier blamed the bacteria-related closure on children with bad hygiene, it was revealed the major plumbing contract for the water park job was outsourced to a Queensland company.

On Thursday Mr Barnett was severely criticised after he urged WA kids to take a shower before they played in the park to help combat the bacteria.

WAtoday revealed last month that the water park was forced to close after a potentially harmful variety of bacterium was detected in water samples.
A tip out policy basically pools a percentage of tips collected by waiters and distributes it to non-frontline staff who are contributing to an operation's success. If a bill came to $100, then $1.20 would go into a tip pool, regardless of whether an actual tip had been earned. A waiter who repeatedly failed to make tips would find a compounding debit and would need to earn real tips to clear it. "The pressure was always on to make tips because a waiter who couldn't tip out has their target rolled over into their next shift and the next until they can tip out," Jen said.. General manager of Jamie's Italian, Steve Taylor, confirmed the restaurant did have a gratuities practice. "Jamie's operates a tip out policy which allows for some of the customer tips to be shared among the kitchen team, bar and host team and the food runners as they all contribute to the customer's experience," he said.

"These tips are shared based on the number of hours each team member works on a given shift." Mr Taylor said wait staff tipped out 1.2 per cent of their total sales. "The rest stays with the waiter - sometimes they haven't made enough in a shift to cover that, but it runs over the full week and usually balances out," he said "We have had waiters finish the week in negative, but have never deducted any monies from them or their wages." 'Tip slips' and 'billing glitches'

Other WAtoday readers have recounted billing anomalies at the popular eatery. Kelvin said he had been to Jamie's Italian twice and claims both times the bill was incorrect. "Once a meal was costed in twice. The other time an unordered meal was added to the bill," he said. Kelvin said on both occasions it was pointed out, staff apologised for the error and fixed the bill without fuss. "But it made me wonder if it's actually policy to add random stuff to the bill?" he said

"It's hard to tell from a sample size of two, but they've been 100 per cent wrong with me." Another diner, Claire, said she'd been to Jamie's twice and had the tipping screen show up both times on the eftpos that was presented to her. "The first time, the waitress motioned towards the screen and asked if I would like to tip, then watched my every move," she said. "The second time, another waitress just stood beside me as I awkwardly pressed 'no' on the screen. Both times made me feel very uncomfortable." Claire said she felt the eftpos tip screen made her less likely to place her spare change in a tip jar.

"That's something we normally do after a nice meal and good service," she said. Boanne went to Jamie's for a special Christmas dinner special. "We very rarely get out much as we have three children. When we do, it's a real treat that we save for," she said. Boanne claimed the service was average, the food was "quite tasty", but the bill left a bad taste in their mouths. "My husband was scratching his head and said that he couldn't work out why we had been charged so much," she said

Boanne claimsthey paid via eftpos, but when the tip window came up and her husband didn't realise and mistakenly entered his PIN number. "This should have picked up by the waitress who was standing over him watching him enter the number - and she kept watching as he became confused and entered it again," she said. "The waitress didn't say anything." Boanne said they were "gutted" once they realised what had happened on the way back to the car. "It was our mistake, however, we feel she could have let us know about the tip window. We will not be going back."
A bushfire in Brigadoon which had threatened lives and homes has been brought under control.

Firefighters say there is no longer a threat to lives and homes.

A bushfire emergency has been issued for Brigadoon.

For up-to-date fire conditions in WA, go to the DFES website or follow DFES on Twitter.

The Department of Fire and Emergency services issued a 'bushfire advice' for the area in and around Camargue and Cathedral Avenue saying that the fire was under control but not contained.
Annika knew the Nevalainen family from when they lived in Lekvad, a hamlet of winding gravel roads, vast fields and few people. When night falls, the only lights are from the lanterns on distant farm porches. Demonstrators chant pro-Islamic State slogans in front of the provincial government headquarters in Mosul, Iraq, in 2014. Credit:AP By Nevalainen's account, given on Kurdish television once she was out of the Islamic State's territory, she dropped out of school when she was 14 and fell for her boyfriend, a Muslim from North Africa who was five years older and had emigrated to Sweden on his own by 2012, according to records from the Swedish migration board. It was a little less than a year after they met that the pair left for Syria, in the summer of 2015. A French army Rafale fighter jet taking off from the deck of France's aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle last year. French jets bombed Islamic State targets in the Iraqi cities of Ramadi and Mosul. Credit:AP

In a jarring video that appears to be addressed to her parents and was obtained by a Swedish tabloid, the Aftonbladet, a bearded young man who seems to be her boyfriend and identifies himself as Mokhtar Mohammed Ahmed speaks into the camera in Swedish, saying, "You can just forget about this little girl, because she is never coming back". The circumstances of how she eventually did come back remain unclear. Senior Kurdish officials say she was rescued on February 17 by Kurdish special forces without a shot being fired. The officials said they were able to locate her using information derived from her occasional use of the internet, but they offered no details. An Islamic State patrol in Khazer, Iraq. Credit:AP A sheikh interviewed in the Kurdish city of Irbil said he had been approached to try to get her out by the girl's uncle, who he said worked for UNICEF. The sheikh said he had received photos of landmarks from Tel Keif, a village near Mosul, that Nevalainen was able to send to identify her whereabouts. He claimed he had been able to arrange her escape with smugglers and was supposed to be paid $US35,000 ($47,600). He said that the next thing he knew, he saw the girl on television - and that he had never been paid. The release of foreigners by the Islamic State is rare; most cases have involved ransoms. Kurdish officials denied that any ransom was paid, and the Swedish government and the girl's parents have declined to provide any details.

Peshmerga forces of Iraq Kurdistan Regional Government patrolling the outskirts of Mosul in June 2014 to prevent infiltration of IS who seized Mosul. Credit:Getty Images Nevalainen's case highlights how even villages in the heart of rural Sweden are grappling with the presence of increasing numbers of Muslim refugees, some of whom may bring with them preconceptions about the West and even allegiances to groups in fiery Middle East conflicts. In his video, the young man believed to be Nevalainen's boyfriend says the reason he and Nevalainen left Sweden was racism. The aftermath of a car bomb in the northern city of Irbil, Iraq, in April last year. Credit:AP "You have forced me to leave because you would not let the two of us live in peace," he said. He says with anger: "I can't live there because they are racists. I can't live with racist people. Damn racists."

Kurdish officials said Ahmed was killed fighting in Ramadi, in western Iraq, sometime last autumn. It is not clear if Nevalainen was forced to marry another fighter or if she lived with other women. A militant hammers away at a face on a wall in Hatra, a large fortified city recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage site, south-west of Mosul, Iraq, in this image from a militant video released in April 2015. Credit:YouTube/AP The number and activities of extremists in Sweden has grown greatly over the past 15 years, according to terrorism experts. Sweden now has more would-be jihadis per capita going to fight for extremist groups than any European country other than Belgium, according to a 2015 study by the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence. Recruiters for the Islamic State and for al-Qaeda affiliates active in Syria and other groups, including al-Shabab, target the second generation of immigrants, terrorism experts said. "The issue of the foreign fighters is quite serious given the numbers, but until last year there were very few barriers to people going," said Magnus Ranstorp, the research director at the Centre for Asymmetric Threat Studies at the Swedish Defence University.
"Which also may be one of the weaknesses of our prison system," he said. Members of the police bomb squad put on their protective gear prior to examining the site of an explosion in Jakarta in January. Credit:AP "They are put together in the same prison then they can communicate, they could make a plot of attacks. They can regroup." Inspector General Tito said Rois had already been sentenced to death over the Australian embassy bombing. Indonesian police investigate the Jakarta blasts in January. Credit:AP

"But he will still be legally processed [over the Jakarta attacks]," he said. "If he is really involved there is a strong reason to accelerate the execution." Hendro Fernando, who Inspector General Tito said was considering attacks in Bali, at an international school and Jakarta airport, was one of 40 people arrested after the January attack. Six or seven of those arrested are believed to be directly connected to the Jakarta attacks. Police seized nine weapons from Hendro in Bekasi, east of Jakarta, which had been stolen from Tangerang prison and sold to the extremists. However, Inspector General Tito said the guns were intended to be transported to Santoso  Indonesia's most wanted fugitive terrorist  in Poso, Central Sulawesi, and had nothing to do with the terror plot.

"But apart from that they are thinking also about attacking Bali, about attacking airport, about attacking schools," he said. "I repeat, it was still at the stage of an idea. So they haven't gone there ... they were perhaps inspired by the Bali bombings." Indonesia needed to neutralise terrorism at a state level via law enforcement and countering extremist ideologies, Inspector General Tito said. But terrorism was a global threat that would remain as long as IS existed in Syria and Iraq. "That is correct that Indonesia can contribute to solve this global threat," Inspector General Tito said.

"But in my personal observation, a global response via the international community to solve the problem which is in Syria and Iraq is more important." Singapore-based terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna told the forum there were now 24 groups in Indonesia that had pledged allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. IS's strategy was to create two caliphates, or states, in south-east Asia, he said. One would be led by Santoso in eastern Indonesia and the other would be in the Sulu archipelago in the Philippines. "So in the next 12 months we are likely to see two provinces established, one in Indonesia and one in the Philippines," Dr Gunaratna said.

Earlier this year four Islamic terrorist groups in the southern Philippines merged to form a satellite extension of IS, according to a video posted on a jihad website. Australian Attorney-General George Brandis also warned last year that IS had identified Indonesia as a location for a caliphate. Dr Gunaratna said the recent Jakarta attack had clearly demonstrated that Indonesia had to fix its prison system. "The threat was organised from within the prison. It was directed from Syria," he said. Dr Gunaratna said rehabilitation should be mandatory for all prisoners convicted of terrorism offences.
Mumbai: New legislation in India to crack down on the practice of forcing mainly the poorest women to clear other people's excreta will have little impact unless deeply entrenched sexism and caste bias are changed, activists said.

Manual scavenging, a euphemism for disposing of faeces from dry toilets and open drains by hand, has long been an occupation thrust upon members of the Dalit group, traditionally the lowest ranked in India's caste system.

'Baby' became a manual scavenger in Alwar, Rajasthan, when she married into a family that had done this work for centuries. Credit:Mian Ridge/File

At least 90 per cent of India's estimated 1.3 million manual scavengers are women, according to campaign group Jan Sahas.

"It is not just a case of caste discrimination, but also gender discrimination, as women are forced to do this basest of jobs," said Ashif Shaikh, founder of Jan Sahas, which says it has liberated more than 21,000 Dalit women from the practice.
In a statement from jail, where he is serving a five-year sentence for sodomy that was widely seen as part of a politically motivated vendetta against him, Mr Anwar said it was time for Malaysians to stand together and put aside personal vendettas.

Mr Anwar said Mr Najib has "wreaked havoc" in the country with "the most severe scandal" in Malaysia's history.

Bangkok: Malaysia's jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has declared support for his arch-nemesis Mahathir Mohamad in efforts to topple embattled Prime Minister Najib Razak.

In 1998 while he was prime minister, Dr Mahathir turned viciously against Mr Anwar, forcing him from the post of deputy prime minister.

Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad in his office in Kuala Lumpur last week. Credit:Bloomberg

"We must together chart a new way forward to save our beloved nation," Mr Anwar said in a statement from his cell, where he is suffering serious health problems.

Dr Mahathir, 90, this week quit the long-ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), saying he could no longer support a group seen as supporting corruption under Mr Najib's leadership.

Dr Mahathir, who led the country for 22 years before stepping down in 2003, has agreed to sign a declaration with several opposition leaders seeking to remove Mr Najib, the 62-year-old son of a former prime minister who has close ties to the Australian government.
Seoul: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered his country to be ready to use its nuclear weapons at any time and to turn its military posture to "pre-emptive attack" mode in the face of growing threats from its enemies, official media said on Friday.

The comments carried by official KCNA news agency marked a further escalation of tension on the Korean peninsula after the UN Security Council imposed harsh new sanctions against the isolated state for its nuclear program.

Kim made the comments as he supervised the exercise of newly developed multiple rocket launchers, KCNA reported. It did not mention the date of the drills but said the new weapons had South Korea within range.
Washington: FBI agents are planning to seek interviews with former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton's aides in coming weeks, as an investigation into her use of private email for official business enters a new phase, according to two people familiar with the inquiry.

Investigators would also like to interview the Democratic presidential front-runner herself, the pair said. The Federal Bureau of Investigation was striving to complete its probe by May or June and pass its findings along to prosecutors for potential action, they said.

The interviews of aides who served Mrs Clinton while she was at the State Department would examine how the server was set up and used, and what precautions  if any  were taken to protect sensitive data, according to the people, who described the matter on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing.

Investigators are almost finished examining computers and other physical evidence as part of the inquiry, which is focused on whether Mrs Clinton's use of private email while serving as the nation's top diplomat led to the improper handling of classified information, according to the people.
Al Wathey, Heyligers uncle is the one that brought Dr. Hess to St. Maarten.

PHILIPSBURG:--- Leader of the United Peoples Party Theodore Heyliger made contact with the leader of the National Alliance on Thursday SMN News learned from reliable sources. According to the information SMN News received is that MP Lloyd Richardson made the contact with the National Alliance and while MP Richardson was driving around with the National Alliance representative he led that person to Pointe Blanche where they picked up Theodore Heyliger who informed the National Alliance leader that he is willing to form a national government with the current coalition but the coalition would have to give him full control over three of the government owned companies, namely GEBE, Harbor and PJIAE. Heyliger also said that if the three political parties forms the national government he wants then, they will have to leave out all of the independent Members of Parliament, namely MP Cornelius de Weever, MP Leona Marlin, MP Maurice Lake and MP Silvio Matser. The outcome of the impromptu meeting is not known.

This (Friday) morning Heyliger is on a radio station on the French side stating that none of the MP''s from the coalition asked him for their support on Wednesday when MP Matser was arrested. However, SMN News learnt that MP Hyacinth Richardson asked MP Lloyd Richardson if he was willing to sign in for the meeting to take place but MP Heyliger called all his MPs to the conference room in the Parliament building where they stayed until the meeting was officially postponed, an MP from the current coalition told SMN News that it is so disgusting to hear MP Heyliger lying about the reason they did not sign in for Wednesdays Parliamentary debate. He said after the meeting was postponed until Monday the UPP members walked out of the conference room laughing.

MP Heyliger also said during the radio interview that none of his relatives are involved in the medical tourism hospital. SMN News interviewed Al Wathey who brought the group of people that are interested in building the medical tourism hospital on Watheys land in Simpson Bay next to Royal Palm Hotel, SMN News also got all phone contacts from Al Wathey as to how to reach Dr. Hess regarding the tourism hospital. It is with a myth that MP Heyliger could lie to the people of St. Maarten and expect that he will not be exposed. One of the things Heyliger has to tell the people is if he is asked to collect his salary at the end of the month, did the people of St. Maarten that voted for him did so because they expect him to represent them or betray them while their country is under seige.
Network Box USA honored With Multiple Wins at Recently Concluded 12th Annual 2016 Info Security PGs Global Excellence Awards(R) Event

HOUSTON, TX  (Marketwired)  03/03/16  Network Box USA, Inc., (), a leading Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) in the domestic market, today announced that it has won several key awards in the Info Security PGs Global Excellence Awards Event held on February 29, 2016 in San Francisco. The company walked away with the Gold in the coveted categories of Integrated Security & Unified Threat Management (UTM) and Security Products & Solutions for Healthcare, as well as a Grand Trophy which recognizes overall outstanding leadership and achievement in information security.

For the last 16 years, the Network Box team has made it its mission to reshape the way managed security services are deployed. As attackers develop and practice new approaches to compromising sensitive information, companies are hard-pressed to keep pace, let alone overcome. Since day one, weve invested enormous amounts of time and resources into creating solutions that represent some of the most innovative and effective security technologies available today, said Pierluigi Stella, CTO of Network Box USA, Inc.

More than 50 luminaries across a broad spectrum of industries from around the globe took part in the judging process, and their average scores determined the Winners of the 2016 Global Excellence Awards, an annual ceremony organized by Info Security Products Guide (the industrys leading information security research and advisory guide). Winners were announced during the awards dinner and presentation on February 29, 2016 in San Francisco, which witnessed a robust turnout from finalist, judges as well as industry peers.

Stella added, We are extremely elated and honored that our Next Generation Managed Security platform (the only one in the market thats completely managed and monitored, updated in true real-time, and fully scaleable) has been awarded this prestigious industry recognition. We aim to maintain an upward trajectory as we continuously redefine the concepts of managed security service and network security.

The Network Box security solution is a remotely managed unified threat management (UTM) service which combines multiple applications including firewall, intrusion prevention and detection, VPN, content filtering, AV, anti-spam, anti-phishing, and anti-spyware; one in a single, sophisticated mix of hardware and software. It enables businesses to combat hackers, worms, backdoors and other online menaces, easily and cost-effectively.

Network Box USA also won awards in the categories of Security Products & Solutions for Education, for Small Businesses & SOHO, and Managed Security Services.

Network Box USA () is a leading Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) in the domestic market. Our mission is to produce, configure and maintain enterprise-level security solutions that are exceptional and affordable. We believe that companies of all sizes should be equipped with optimal security posture and quality of protection.

With three ISO certifications (ISO 9001, 20000, 27001), 16 Global Security Operations Centers, a Global Security Response Center, and a proprietary UTM device that is truly integrated with the management solution, we are clearly in our own space, separated from traditional, complex end user managed UTM strategies. This creates security operations efficiencies, allows customers to meet compliance requirements and addresses their budgetary concerns.

Since 2000, we have served thousands of global companies, organizations, and government agencies with award-winning, state-of-the-art cyber security built on the Network Boxs comprehensive protection, real-time technology. To date, the Network Box solution has won over 100 international awards.

Adopting a model of true real time protection, which extends across all modules of the Network Box UTM, we create and PUSH protection to our devices, globally, within seconds, ensuring true real time protection for all our clients. In the United States alone, Network Box USA protects in excess of 150 banks and credit unions.

Network Box USA is headquartered at 2825 Wilcrest Dr, Suite 259, Houston, Texas 77042. For more information, call 832-242-5758 or (toll free) 888-315-8886; fax: 713-933-0290; email . Follow us on and .

Info Security Products Guide plays a vital role in keeping end-users informed of the choices they can make when it comes to protecting their digital resources. It is written expressly for those who are adamant on staying informed of security threats and the preventive measure they can take. You will discover a wealth of information in this guide including tomorrows technology today, best deployment scenarios, people and technologies shaping info security and market research reports that facilitate in making the most pertinent security decisions. The Info Security Products Guide Global Excellence Awards recognize and honor excellence in all areas of information security. To learn more, visit and stay secured.

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Anomali Threat Intelligence Platform Awarded Best Next-Generation Threat Intelligence Solution by Cyber Defense Magazine

REDWOOD CITY, CA  (Marketwired)  03/03/16  , the provider of the market-leading ThreatStream threat intelligence and Harmony Breach Analytics platforms, announced today that Cyber Defense Magazine, the industrys leading electronic information security publication and media partner of the , has named the companys ThreatStream platform the best next-generation threat intelligence solution. After many months of review and judgment by leading independent information security experts, Cyber Defense Magazine has chosen ThreatStream from among its competition and named the companys product a winner.

Anomali, formerly known as ThreatStream, provides products that unlock the value of threat intelligence for security operations and incident-response personnel. The Anomali products  ThreatStream Threat Intelligence Platform, Harmony Breach Analytics and Anomali Breach Detection Reports Service for small and medium sized businesses  address the threat intelligence big data and scalability problems and provide threat intelligence customized for your business. Anomalis products provide relevant threat intelligence to track attackers at each phase of the attack chain.

Were thrilled to recognize next-generation innovation in the information security marketplace; thats why Anomali has earned this award from Cyber Defense Magazine. Some of the best Infosec defenses come from forward-looking players who think outside of the box, said Pierluigi Paganini, editor-in-chief, Cyber Defense Magazine.

This is Cyber Defense Magazines fourth year of honoring next-generation Infosec leaders. This years judges consisted of CISSP, FMDHS, CEH and certified security professionals who vote based on their independent review of the nominated companies. Full details of all award winners can be found here:

Cyber Defense Magazine is the premier source of IT Security information. We are managed and published by and for ethical, honest, passionate information security professionals. Our mission is to share cutting edge knowledge, real world stories and awards on the best ideas, products and services in the information technology industry. We deliver electronic magazines every month online for free and limited print editions exclusively for the RSA Conferences and our paid subscribers. Learn more about us at .

Anomali delivers earlier detection and identification of adversaries in your organizations network by making it possible to correlate tens of millions of threat indicators against your real time network activity logs and up to a year or more of forensic log data. Anomalis approach enables detection at every point along the kill chain, making it possible to mitigate threats before material damage to your organization has occurred. Headquartered in Redwood City, Calif., the company is privately held and has received venture capital backing from General Catalyst Partners, Google Ventures, Institutional Venture Partners, and Paladin Capital Group, as well as individual investors. To learn more, visit and follow us on

Steve Byford

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Civitas Learning Welcomes Leading Colleges and Universities to Austin Summit as Institutions Look to Advanced Analytics to Help Students Succeed

AUSTIN, TX  (Marketwired)  03/03/16  Civitas Learning announced today that University of Texas at Arlington and the University of Edinburgh are among the most recent institutions to join a community of nearly 100 colleges and universities now collaborating with the Austin-based education technology firm. The community of forward-thinking colleges and universities are using data science and design thinking to understand, streamline, and improve outcomes on the complex pathways students take through higher education.

The University of Texas at Arlington sees analytics as a critical strategy to its future success and has recently created an Office of University Analytics to reframe the use and importance of data to improve outcomes and shape policy. UTA was recently named as a Carnegie Classification Research-1 highest research activity university and is a pioneer in online education. It is the 5th most diverse university in the nation; the largest producer of baccalaureate-prepared nurses in Texas; and has the 3rd largest School of Engineering in the state. Leveraging innovation, excellence and access, UTA is aligned to be the Model 21st Century Urban Research University.

And joining from Civitas Learning International, the University of Edinburgh is one of the oldest English speaking universities in the world, and consistently ranks in top 20 lists of the worlds top universities. An innovative institution, the University of Edinburgh is exploring the use of data analytics to support and improve the student experience. They have recently appointed a Chair of Learning Analytics to help expand scholarly research in these areas.

Institutions like UT Arlington and the University of Edinburgh are paving the way for unprecedented improvements in learning and college completion for students across the socioeconomic spectrum, said Dr. Mark Milliron, Chief Learning Officer and Co-Founder of Civitas Learning. Were humbled by the opportunity to work and learn with leaders from these institutions and the growing community thats coming together during our Summit at SXSWedu.

The Summit will be the first time Civitas Learning has opened its partner sessions to the public, and will highlight the analytics work undertaken by a number of leading institutions. Among the sessions, Angela Baldasare (University of Arizona), Joe Schaefer (Strayer University), and Gerald Napoles (Lone Star College), will share perspectives on the use of predictive analytics to deliver tailored interventions to individual students. Additional programming includes a panel of foundation leaders from the Lumina Foundation, Kresge Foundation and the Greater Texas Foundation discussing the growing role data and analytics play in grant making.

Civitas Learning partners with colleges and universities to provide a scalable analytics infrastructure to transform disconnected data into actionable insights that help every student succeed. Our provides administrators, faculty and advisors with a 360-degree view of student behavior and engagement, and the ability to identify and deploy interventions in real-time, through intuitive apps. Our network includes more than 880 campuses reaching more than 3.2 million students worldwide.

Ted Eismeier
Researchers in Photonic Sensors, Fibre-Optic Communications Win SPIE-Supported Innovation Prizes at Photonics21 Annual Meeting

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM and CARDIFF, UNITED KINGDOM  (Marketwired)  03/03/16  Researchers reporting on miniaturisation of versatile mid-infrared sensors and increasing capacity of ultralong-haul fibre-optic communications were honored with Photonics21 Student Innovation Awards at the today in Brussels. is a sponsor of the awards and of the event.

The awards were presented by Photonics21 Executive Board Member (Politecnico Milano) and President (Jenoptik).

, Vienna University of Technology, won for the paper Miniaturized mid-infrared sensors, on work utilizing quantum cascade lasers (QCLs).

, Instituto de Telecomunicacoes, won for High performance and efficient digital signal processing algorithms.

Prizes included a check for EUR 2500 for each winner. Along with SPIE Europe, award sponsors are Hamamatsu, Jenoptik, and LioniX.

Photonics is driving innovation in the 21st century, and making the difference, said Mertin in his welcome remarks. Photonics21 is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, he noted: a successful decade of cooperation among industry, science, and politics.

, EU Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society, spoke in a keynote talk on the successful digitisation of European industry, asserting that photonics will play a key role in shaping European industrys future.

Tomorrows agenda includes talks by Mertin, on the impact of digitisation on Europes economic system, and by , EC Head of the Photonics and Organic Electronics Unit, DG Communications Networks, Content and Technology, on progress made by the Photonics PPP, and opportunities and challenges for 2016 and beyond.

Other speakers, parallel work group sessions, and project presentations will address Photonics PPP planning for the Horizon 2020 work programme for 2018-2019, the impact of the International Year of Light 2015 on awareness, and digital transformation issues.

Since 2014, the Photonics21 Association has acted as a mouthpiece of the European Technology Platform Photonics21 and its more than 2000 members in working with the European Commission in the Photonics PPP.

SPIE Europe Executive Director serves on the Photonics21 Board of Stakeholders.

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.

Contact:

Amy Nelson

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+1 360 685 5478
What you need to know about Powerball and the $580 million jackpot

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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.
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Liftoff! An Atlas V rocket carrying the IIF-12 GPS satellite took off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 8:38 a.m. EST (1338 GMT) on Feb. 5, 2016.

MUNICH  Satellite and rocket builder Orbital ATK on March 1 said it would begin substantial investment this year into a commercial satellite in-orbit servicing vehicle that should be operational by early 2019 without any government development support.

The company said it is also throttling up spending on a new launch vehicle with substantially more lift capacity than its newly re-engined Antares rocket, with early development co-funded by the U.S. Air Force.

The new vehicle, which will target commercial and government satellite markets, will not include any of the reusability features that competitors SpaceX and United Launch Alliance have incorporated into their rocket designs.

Addressing a conference call with investors, Dulles, Virginia-based Orbital ATK Chief Executive David W. Thompson said he has not bought the hype over reusability's near-term business case.

"It may be intuitively appealing. We don't throw airplanes away and so on," Thompson said, referencing the pro-reusability argument often employed by Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX. "Past experience with launch vehicle reusability has been mixed at best in terms of achieving sustainable cost reductions. So I am a skeptic with regard to many of the claims that have been made for cost reductions."

The wave of interest in reusable rockets that started with SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket's spectacular attempts to return its first stage to Earth intact has spread beyond the United States to Europe and even to Asia.

European governments that are spending several billion dollars on a next-generation Ariane 6 rocket are regularly peppered with questions as to why, given the SpaceX program, Ariane 6 has no reusability feature.

Thompson outlined the skeptics' case:

"It's still too early to say whether in the real world  of launch rates and refurbishment cost and payload penalties and so on that relate to reusability  whether it's going to make economic sense to reuse some or a large part of the launch vehicle," Thompson said.

"Our system does not contemplate reusability. We'll have to wait to see whether that's a good judgment or not," he said.

Orbital surprised investors by announcing that, while it is steering clear of reusable rockets, it's going all-in on three investments that will consume a combined $75 million in free cash flow in 2016 and between $250 million and $300 million in cash in the next three years.

Thompson said that, once fully operational at the end of the decade, the three projects could generate $500 million in incremental annual revenue. He declined to provide the split among the three  a new generation of precision weapons, the new launch vehicle and commercial satellite in-orbit servicing  both in terms of spending and revenue potential.

Orbital's more-muscular launch vehicle is being co-funded with the U.S. Air Force. In 2016, the Air Force is contributing $50 million in research; Orbital's share this year is $30 million.

Thompson said the new vehicle would borrow on the former ATK business relating to solid-fueled rockets, and ongoing ATK work on NASA's Space Launch System and would feature a liquid-fueled upper stage that he declined to detail.

The three investments, he said, all carry internal rates of return that are more than acceptable  between the mid-teens to nearly 30 percent. Here too he declined to say which was which.

The satellite in-orbit servicing project has no government support now and none is expected, Thompson said. While the government will surely be a customer, the business is a conventional commercial effort.

Thompson said the company would be announcing details of the project, including one or more anchor-customer agreements, later this year.

Closing the business case on a system that would service telecommunications satellites in geostationary orbit  refueling is the principal mission, but minor repairs are also a possibility  has scuttled multiple servicing projects in the past. Insurance issues abound, both for a service provider and for the company whose satellite is being serviced.

Thompson said Orbital's vehicle borrows from the company's GEOStar satellite design combined with elements from the Cygnus cargo vehicle's autonomous rendezvous technology and ATK's work on servicing NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.

The first of these new geosynchronous orbit-servicing vehicles will commence operations in early 2019 "if the project proceeds as expected," Thompson said.

Orbital was shut out of the latest NASA order for follow-on cargo-supply missions under the Commercial Resupply Services contract that dates from 2008. SpaceX won all five of the missions ordered by NASA in December. Thompson said they company hopes for one or two more missions from NASA to serve as gap-fillers before the CRS-2 contract begins in 2019.

Orbital is one of three companies  SpaceX and Sierra Nevada Corp. of Sparks, Nevada, are the other two  that have won contracts for an undetermined number of supply runs to the space station between 2019 and 2024.

CRS has been a nicely profitable business for Orbital and CRS-2 "will have improved terms relative to CRS-1," Thompson said, adding that Orbital was counting on 10-12 CRS-2 missions over the contract's life.

This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.
A graphic using data from the Center for Responsive Politics claimed that SpaceX was among the top ten corporate donors to Trumps campaign, providing $10,000.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk denied the donation on Twitter Wednesday, saying SpaceX has not donated to any candidates campaign.

A Center for Responsive Politics spokesman said they made a matching error that incorrectly identified a donor as a SpaceX employee.

SpaceX, like many other companies, does donate to congressional campaigns. [Inverse]

.@curtismcauliff SpaceX has not donated to any presidential campaign

More News

NASA could make a decision within a week on the future of the InSight Mars lander. That spacecraft was scheduled to launch this month, but NASA postponed the mission in December because of problems with one of its key instruments, a seismometer. The project has developed a plan to launch the mission in 2018 at an additional cost of about $150 million, and presented that proposal to NASA this week. A decision on whether to approve that plan or cancel the mission altogether could come within a week, a NASA official said Wednesday. [SpaceNews]

The U.S. Air Forces youngest weather satellite, DMSP-19, stopped responding to commands Feb. 11. Officials do not know the cause of the problem, or if the satellite can be recovered. The Air Force has reassigned DMSP-17, which launched in 2006 and had been serving as a backup, into a primary role. [SpaceNews]

The Air Force could continue to fund development of Aerojet Rocketdynes AR1 engine even if it is not selected by United Launch Alliance. Aerojet Rocketdyne CEO Eileen Drake said in an interview that a selection of the AR1 by ULA for its Vulcan rocket is not a condition for additional Air Force funding to complete work on the engine. ULA is considering the AR1 but has stated that Blue Origins BE-4 is their current preferred choice. Drake said Aerojet has held discussions with at least two other unidentified launch providers about using the AR1. [SpaceNews]

The Pentagon plans to spend $22 billion on space in 2017, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said this week. Carter mentioned that spending level in a speech earlier this week in San Francisco, where he discussed emerging threats in space and stated that the Defense Department must now prepare for, and seek to prevent, the possibility of a conflict that extends into space. Carter didnt elaborate on the $22 billion figure, which is more than twice what the Air Force said last month it plans to spend on unclassified space projects. [SpaceNews]

The head of Orbital ATK believes satellite servicing is more promising than reusable launch vehicles. David W. Thompson said in a conference call with investors this week that while reusable rockets are intuitively appealing, he is skeptical that they can provide sustainable cost reductions. Orbital ATK is planning a new launch vehicle, which he said will not incorporate reusability. Thompson also said that the company will provide more details about its satellite servicing initiatives, including customer agreements, later this year. That work is commercially funded with no government investment. [SpaceNews]

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Scott Kelly is back in the U.S. after his nearly one year in space. Kelly arrived in Houston late Wednesday night, a little more than 24 hours after the Soyuz spacecraft returning him and two Russian cosmonauts landed in Kazakhstan. Among those greeting him in Houston were presidential science adviser John Holdren and Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden. President Obama also spoke with Kelly by phone earlier in the day. [CBS/AP]

China has plans for a heavy-lift launch vehicle similar in size to the Space Launch System. The Long March 9 could place about 130 metric tons into low Earth orbit, a payload capacity similar to upgraded versions of the SLS. Chinese officials said the rocket could be used to support Mars exploration plans as well as sending humans to the Moon. The vehicle, though, is still in its earliest design phases and is not expected to launch until at least 2030. [gbtimes]

The head of Air Force Space Command is close to a lock to becoming the next Air Force Chief of Staff. Gen. John Hyten has been widely rumored to be a top choice for the services top post, and another candidate, Gen. Lori Robinson, is expected to instead take over Northern Command. Hyten is not a fighter pilot, which in the past would have been a handicap but, under current Defense Department leadership, could work to his advantage. Hytens space experience could help elevate the importance of space systems within the Air Force should he become Chief of Staff. [Breaking Defense]

An American company is in negotiations to launch a satellite on an Indian GSLV rocket. An Indian government minister told the nations parliament Wednesday that the U.S. firm, identified as only a leading space company, is in talks with Antrix, the commercial arm of the Indian space agency ISRO, about launching a communications satellite on a GSLV. Neither the size of the satellite nor the proposed launch date were disclosed. [IANS]

ESA has released the first images from its latest Earth science satellite. Sentinel-3A, launched last month, returned the images on Monday. The sampling of images released by ESA include color images of the Strait of Gibraltar and Southern California. The spacecraft and its instruments are still undergoing testing and calibration, and routine science observations wont begin for a few more months. [BBC]

Low Pay, High Payoff

A survey indicates that employees at SpaceX are among the most stressed in the tech industry, but apparently think its worth it. The survey, performed by Seattle company PayScale, found that 88 percent of SpaceX employees who responded indicated their jobs have high stress, tops among the 18 companies included in the study. However, 92 percent of SpaceX employees said their jobs have high meaning, also highest among the companies included. Another Elon Musk company, Tesla, ranked second in both categories. That high job meaning comes in spite of money: SpaceX ranked 14th in early career median salaries, at $78,500. [GeekWire]

This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.
Depending on where you live, either this Tuesday or Wednesday (March 8 or 9), there will be a total solar eclipse. But to seeit, you'll have to journey to Indonesia, sail on a ship or fly in an aircraft over the North Pacific Ocean.

Remember: Never look directly at the sun, even with sunglasses. Space.com discusses the safest ways to observe the sun in this infographic.

A calendar conundrum

If you were to go to Indonesia for the eclipse, you would be to the west of the international date line, where the calendar date will be Wednesday, March 9. The narrow path of totality  where the moon's dark cone of shadow, called the umbra, will track across the Earth  begins here, and then stretches eastward across the Pacific Ocean. Roughly three-quarters of the way east along the eclipse track, it crosses the date line, and correspondingly, the date will transition from Wednesday, March 9, to Tuesday, March 8. So, here, we have the unusual circumstance of an eclipse beginning the day after it ends! [March 2016 Solar Eclipse - Mostly Out to Sea]

You can watch next week's total solar eclipse live in a webcast hosted by the Slooh Community Observatory. The Slooh broadcast will begin March 8 at 6 p.m. EST (2300 GMT) and will stretch until 9 p.m. EST (2600 GMT). You can also watch the webcast on Space.com, courtesy of Slooh.

The story of the shadow

How Solar Eclipses Work: When the moon covers up the sun, skywatchers delight in the opportunity to see a rare spectacle. See how solar eclipses occur in this Space.com infographic (Image credit: Karl Tate, SPACE.com Contributor)

The moon's dark umbral shadow will first strike the Earth's surface over the eastern Indian Ocean about 900 miles (1,400 kilometers) west of Sumatra at 0017 GMT on March 9. Just 2 minutes later, the shadow will sweep across central Sumatra and then envelop the much smaller islands of Bangka and Belitung. In the Makassar Strait, a cruise ship with more than a thousand rabid eclipse chasers will be waiting for the arrival of the lunar shadow. Totality here will last 2 minutes and 45 seconds. Should unfavorable weather conditions prevail, the ship will utilize its mobility to seek out a location where good breaks in any cloud cover may afford a view of this amazing spectacle.

Then, it's on to southern Borneo and northern Sulawesi.

After passing across the Molucca Sea, the umbra will pass over Halmahera, before heading out over the open waters of the South Pacific. Traveling to the northeast, the shadow will pass 335 miles (540 km) south of Guam, where local residents will see 84 percent of the sun obscured.

Viewers 350 miles (560 km) east of Manila, Philippines, will see the maximum duration of totality  4 minutes and 9.5 seconds. The umbra does not make contact with any other land masses, although it will narrowly miss Wake Island  one of the most isolated islands in the world  providing those few who man the Wake Island Airfield a chance to see more than 99 percent of the sun covered at maximum eclipse. As Maxwell Smart might have said, "Missed it by that much!"

The shadow will leave the surface of the Earth at 0336 GMT, about 900 miles northeast of the Hawaiian Islands.

In all, the moon's umbra will take 3 hours and 21 minutes to trace a path, like a black crayon, that will stretch for 8,800 miles (14,200 km) and will average 78 miles (125 km) in width.

Unexpected bonus for airline passengers

If you draw a line from Anchorage, Alaska, to Honolulu, the totality path of the eclipse will cross this line at almost a right angle; it might just be possible for an aircraft either traveling north from Honolulu to Anchorage, or south from Anchorage to Honolulu, to possibly intercept the moon's dark umbral shadow.

And that is precisely what Alaska Airlines intends to do!

The passengers who board Alaska Airlines flight 870 in Anchorage are probably wondering why it differed from the regularly scheduled departure time (compared to other days) by 25 minutes, but that is necessary in order to try and intercept the shadow on route to Hawaii. The aircraft, a 737-800, plans to rendezvous with the moons dark umbra at 5:35 p.m. Hawaii-Time on Tuesday, at a point 695 miles (1,120 km) north of Honolulu.

Certainly, this rare opportunity to catch a glimpse of nature's greatest sky show will trump any in-flight movie! [Last Year's Total Solar Eclipse in Amazing Photos]

In the partial-eclipse zone

Hawaii and most of Alaska will see a partial eclipse near sunset on the afternoon of March 8. Alaskans will see the passing new moon take only a small scallop out of the sun, but from Honolulu, 70 percent of the sun's diameter will be eclipsed at 5:36 p.m. Hawaii Time (0330 GMT on March 9). If you live in the visibility zone of this eclipse, the most important thing to keep in mind is to never look at even a portion of the sun directly without proper viewing glasses. Such special eyewear has filters specially designed for viewing the sun, and can be found at some science stores, planetariums and online. An alternative is to purchase a piece of number 14 welder's glass from a welding supply store. Sunglasses are not acceptable for viewing a solar eclipse, and your eyes can be permanently damaged by looking even for a fraction of a second at any eclipse. Telescopes and binoculars must be outfitted with special filters before they can be safely used. Only during the total phase can the sun be viewed directly without any special filters.

For more details on this eclipse, check out Fred Espenak's EclipseWise.com.

Next on the eclipse docket

On Sept. 1, an annular ("ring of fire") eclipse will sweep across southern Africa and Madagascar. Then, next year, on Feb. 26, yet another annular eclipse will cross parts of southern Chile and Argentina and will then sweep across the Atlantic Ocean, moving over land again in Africa and touching parts of Angola, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, before leaving Earth just to the west of the mining city of Lubumbashi in a brilliant, ringlike sunset.

And then, on Aug. 21, 2017, a total solar eclipse will come to the United States. It will be the first time since 1979 that the umbra will touch down over the 48 contiguous states, taking 90 minutes to streak from the Pacific coast of Oregon to the Atlantic coast of South Carolina. It will be the first coast-to-coast total solar eclipse since 1918. Without a doubt, the "Great American Eclipse of 2017" will be one of the big events of that year. Space.com will provide extensive coverage on all aspects of that event as we get nearer to it, so stay tuned!

Editor's note: If you safely capture an amazing photo of the March 8 total solar eclipse and would like to share it with us and our news partners for a story or gallery, send images and comments in to managing editor Tariq Malik at spacephotos@space.com.

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, the Farmer's Almanac and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, New York. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
NASA astronaut and Expedition 46 Cmdr. Scott Kelly and his Russian counterpart Mikhail Kornienko enjoy the cold fresh air back on Earth after their historic 340-day mission aboard the International Space Station.

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly is back on Earth after a 340-day stay in space, but the "one-year mission" is far from over.

The goal of sending Kelly and cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko to the International Space Station for nearly a year was to learn about the ways that long-duration spaceflight affects the human body and psyche. The two space travelers returned home to Earth on March 1, but the science experiments that will study the two men are still in progress.

The information collected before, during and after this extended stay in space will soon be in the hands of scientists, who will analyze it to better understand how humans might fare on a long trip to Mars or some other destination. Today (March 4), scientists involved with the One-Year Mission answered questions about the mission during a news conference on NASA TV, as well as via a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" (AMA) earlier in the day. [Welcome Home! Year-in-Space Astronaut Scott Kelly's Earth Return in Photos]

NASA astronaut Mark Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko are taking the ultimate space trip: one year in space on the International Space Station. See how their epic yearlong space station mission works in this infographic (Image credit: By Karl Tate, Infographics Artist)

The typical stay on the space station lasts only six months, and while Kelly and Kornienko are not the first people to spend a year in space, the international One-Year Mission is the most in-depth study of how a mission this long affects the human body.

"From the perspective of NASA's Human Research program, [the One-Year] Mission is not yet over just because the flight has landed," John Charles, associate manager for international science for NASA's Human Research Program, wrote during the Reddit AMA.

In today's news conference, Charles told reporters that the studies conducted on Kelly and Kornienko have not been completed and that no conclusions can be made yet. Many of the studies require studying Kelly prior to, during and after flight, which means tests and sample collection will continue now that he is on the ground. Some of the experiments will not have their final data sets until September.

In addition, some of the blood and urine samples Kelly collected during flight are coming back to Earth on a SpaceX vehicle in May. That means scientists will still be working on their results well into 2017, and perhaps beyond.

"The data analysis is only now beginning in earnest," Charles said in the news conference.

Scientists also conducted tests on Kelly's twin brother, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, to see how spaceflight affects humans on a genetic level.

"Especially for the Twins Study, the metabolic data that were acquired are going to be batch analyzed, which means that all the samples or most of the samples will be analyzed by the same technician, with the same hardware, at the same time and the same place," Charles said in the news conference. "So any differences we'd see are not related to variations between the technician or the location or the time or how long they were in the freezer and so forth."

Scott M. Smith, nutritional biochemistry laboratory manager for NASA's Human Research Program, wrote in the AMA that scientists anticipated publishing a "main paper" about the Twins Study "with likely smaller piece papers to follow."

Back on the ground

As soon as Scott Kelly exited the Soyuz space capsule on March 1 when it landed in Kazakhstan, he underwent tests to see how well an astronaut might be able to perform physical tasks on the surface of Mars immediately after completing a long spaceflight.

"What I've been told is that he completed all the testing, which, in itself, is a real accomplishment because it's a lot of work to do after a very strenuous  and, I think, harrowing  episode when you land in the Soyuz," Charles said. "So he has continued to perform at very significant levels. He's been there for all the studies; he's been a full participant and seems to be doing it by taking it in stride."

So, if Kelly's year in space had been a trip to Mars, would he have been able to land on the Red Planet, get into a spacesuit and immediately begin work?

"I get the sense that he could have," Charles said. "That's my strictly qualitative, nonprofessional assessment having never interacted with the spacesuits myself. But if he couldn't, I can't imagine somebody that could have."

During the NASA news conference, a reporter asked Charles what his top three concerns are for long-duration spaceflight, and how the One-Year Mission addresses those concerns.

At first, Charles' response sounded organized. He mentioned concerns about the psychological impacts of a trip to Mars, where astronauts are confined to a small space with the same group of people. He also noted that a ship traveling to Mars might have long radio delays with Earth, making it impossible to talk to friends and family in real time.

But the answer quickly spiraled away from a short list of three items. Charles said the people in NASA's human spaceflight division are concerned about the changes in astronaut circadian rhythms and sleep-wake cycles, the need for medical care on a trip to Mars (when astronauts can't even talk to a doctor on the phone in real time because of the radio delay), radiation exposure once astronauts leave the protective shield of Earth's magnetic field, the challenge of providing nutritious food that is also satisfying to the astronauts so they don't lose interest in eating, changes to astronauts' vision, changes in bone integrity and bone loss and changes in muscle function. And NASA is concerned about how those problems will affect the astronauts not just while they're traveling to Mars, but also once they return to Earth.

"Essentially, every kind of body system that you can imagine is influenced by the factors of spaceflight," Charles said. "You name it  we're interested in all of it."

"Missions like this help us to answer the questions that we have in front of us," Charles continued. "So, at the end of the space station era or thereafter, we can give a 'go' to the manager of the Mars program and say that yes, we think we understand what needs to be done to keep astronauts happy, healthy and performing at [a] high level  not just alive, but performing at a high level for the duration of the Mars missions."

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko returned to Earth after nearly a year on the International Space Station. The results of the studies on the two men will take time for scientists to process. (Image credit: NASA)

Another yearlong mission?

While the tests on Scott Kelly and Kornienko will be extremely useful, Julie Robinson, chief scientist for the International Space Station Program, said there is still a need for more test subjects in order to fully understand how long-duration spaceflight affects the human body.

"We really would like to see 10 or 12 crewmembers with long-duration data [prior to a human Mars mission] in order to be confident  that we know what all the risks are and alleviated them all," she said. "So, at its core, scientifically, we need more subjects."

Charles confirmed in the Reddit AMA that "NASA's Human Research Program has requested additional year-long missions on ISS, but all the other aspects of such missions must be considered by all the partner agencies, so no final decision has been made one way or the other."

"One thing that's really important is getting this first set of data back," Roberts said, referring to the data on Kelly and Kornienko. That information may suggest to NASA scientists that they should either try to send up more long-duration crews right away, or wait until later in the life of the space station.
Were Europe in agreement, it would be unproblematic to accommodate 2-3 million refugees, given the Continent's population of a half billion people. From such a perspective, the current spat actually seems somewhat ridiculous. But in the run up to next week's EU summit, Europe is gripped by strife. Europe's greatest achievement, the opening of its borders through the Schengen agreement, is at stake, and the increasingly toxic atmosphere between countries has reached alarming dimensions.

First, Austria decided not to invite Greece to the West Balkan Summit the week before last, at which an agreement between 10 countries was reached to close the borders. Athens was rejected because it is viewed as having followed a policy of simply waving refugees through. In response, Greece withdrew its ambassador from Vienna and cancelled planned meetings in Athens with the Austrian interior minister. Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico in turn warned Greece that if the country didn't move to secure its borders that, "there will be one single hotspot and it will be called Greece." Perhaps, he added, it may be necessary to sacrifice Greece for the sake of Europe's well-being.

The refugees are encountering a Europe that was already fatigued and disunited even before their arrival, weakened as it had been by years of the euro crisis, frequent disagreements between Germany and France (once the motors of European unification), anxiety over the special wishes demanded by Britain and the threat of Russia's aggressive stance in the east. In a Europe where immigration policies are among the most controversial issues and right-wing populism is on the rise seemingly everywhere, nationalist tendencies have emerged as a frequent specter since the very beginning of the refugee crisis.

The Limits of German Power

Europe's weakness, though, is also the product of a Germany that is having trouble fitting into its leadership role on the Continent. For decades, German politicians have sought to eschew expressing Germany's own interests, instead emphasizing what is best for Europe and trying to be the best Atlanticists possible, exercising restraint when it came to their role in the EU.

This changed during the euro crisis. Merkel took advantage of the country's economic strength in order to pursue German interests. Paramount among these interests, she believed, was a stable euro, and to achieve that she imposed levels of austerity on Southern Europe that left her at times looking like a stern and scolding school teacher. Germany assumed a dominant role in Europe.

That may also have influenced Merkel at the outbreak of the refugee crisis to announce policies that had been conceived in Germany -- with her now famous line "We can do it" -- but that would also inevitably have consequences for the rest of Europe. She did this without consulting with others. In that sense, this sentence, as nice as it may have sounded, was also a pretension to power. It hid a European "we" inside the German one. No previous chancellor had done such a thing before, but the limits of German power were quickly exposed. Rather than slipping into Merkel's "we," most of Germany's partners instead formulated their own positions and blocked the admission of any appreciable number of refugees or pursued their own strategies for keeping them at bay.

Indeed, the notion of a united Europe is currently under extreme duress, and no summit or compromise on refugees is going to be able to fix that overnight. The Europe of today is a collection of states that have become dangerously foreign to each other.

For Chancellor Merkel, Monday's special EU summit is decisive because she wants to show in the run-up to important regional elections in Germany on March 13 that her refugee policies are actually starting to have an impact. To the majority of voters in her party, the conservative Christian Democratic Union, this means lowering the number of refugees arriving in Germany.

Merkel is still focusing primarily on a deal with Turkey. Prior to the summit, Germany and Brussels launched a significant diplomatic offensive to make the meeting a success. European Council President Donald Tusk visited Turkey on Thursday, preceded by the deputy chief of the European Commission, who traveled regularly to Ankara for talks. The message from Europe to Turkey is that the action plan agreed to in the fall needs to be implemented.

In order to be able to push Ankara to take back as many of refugees as possible, Greece is seeking to declare Turkey as a safe country of origin. Last week, Ankara signaled to EU officials for the first time that it could imagine the possibility of at least taking back economic migrants.

'A Turning Point in Refugee Policy'

In order to avoid appearing totally isolated in Europe, Merkel has recently set about slowly, but very clearly, transforming the main emphasis of her refugee policies. Although Merkel, like many others, initially pushed for the distribution of the refugees across the EU, the German chancellor is now emphasizing border protection as the highest priority.

No one in the Chancellery is speaking anymore of the kinds of humanitarian gestures seen in September, when Merkel opened Germany's borders to the thousands of refugees stranded in Budapest. The German public mood has changed and the populace would not be pleased were Berlin to allow the refugees currently trapped at the Macedonian border to come to Germany. Chancellery officials may view the crisis in Idomeni as proof that border closures lead to chaos, but the closures have been advantageous to Merkel nonetheless, even if Berlin officials aren't saying as much. The number of refugees coming to Germany, after all, has dropped significantly.

Others in Germany, though, are admitting the advantages. "There has been turning point in refugee policy through the closure of most of the Balkan Route," Bavarian Governor Horst Seehofer told SPIEGEL. "Germany is a beneficiary." It is a statement that puts Seehofer in agreement with the government in Vienna, which has accused Germany of making a public fuss about the border closures while profiting from the development at the same time.

Ugly Images, Welcome by Some

As ugly as the images coming from Greece are -- and they even have the potential to get worse in the coming days -- they are unlikely to cause too many European governments to lose any sleep. They send a message of deterrence to those who might be considering making the trip. On Thursday, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, whose country currently holds the six-month rotating presidency of the EU, said he wants to see no new refugees arriving in Greece in the future. "We need to bring it back to a level from which we can see zero," he said. "It has to be really considerably lower than it is today."

During a visit with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Thursday, European Council President Donald Tusk appealed to "economic migrants" not to come to Europe. "Do not believe the smugglers," Tusk said. "Do not risk your lives and your money. It is all for nothing. Greece or any other European country will no longer be a transit country."

Many of the migrants now being held up in Greece -- the majority of whom want to continue on to Germany -- are assembling in and around Athens. Ferries transport them from the Greek islands to the harbor at Piraeus in the Athens urban area. They disembark the ferries by the hundreds, with weary faces and carrying plastic bags and backpacks. They often have children in tow and can sometimes be seen pushing the elderly in wheelchairs out of the ship's belly. Sometimes a ship arrives carrying as many as a thousand refugees.

Piraeus these days feels more like a catchment basin than a harbor. It's not known precisely how many refugees are currently staying in the port area, but estimates put the figure anywhere from 1,500 to 5,000. They've used towels and cardboard boxes to build shacks, with tents erected in the rare places that have any lawn. Laundry dangles from seemingly every small palm or spruce tree as it dries. Families are camped out in the waiting halls.

Camping Out in Athens

Meanwhile, hundreds of Afghans are spending their nights on Victoria Square in Athens, where they string up plastic tarpaulins from bare tree branches to protect themselves from the rain. When asked how she feels about the scenario unfolding in front of the window panes, a cafe owner breaks down in tears.

Thousands are now residing outside the city center, for example at the old Elliniko airport along Athens' southern coast across from Aegina island. Journalists are currently banned from entering these "official" camps, allegedly because those helping the refugees have been overwhelmed by the media attention. It is largely Afghan nationals who are being housed here, people who have little to no chance of being able to continue their journey. There are no shower facilities and only nine Porta-Potties can be found in front of the entrance. The stench in the terminal building is oppressive, with heaps of trash piling up between tents and blankets.

A small and wiry Greek woman named Hala runs back and forth between the tents. She holds her mobile phone in front of her mouth like a Walkie-Talkie. She's the sole person responsible for ensuring that the hundreds of people staying here are provided with water and at least something to eat. Hala says the situation here is "surreal."

Scenes like this are one of the reasons that Greece will top the agenda at Monday's summit. Merkel wants to prevent the country from drifting into chaos. "We did not keep Greece in the euro to abandon the country now," she says.

On Wednesday, the European Commission announced that 700 million in emergency aid would be earmarked for Greece and other countries heavily affected by the refugee crisis through 2018. Just recently, the EU dispatched experts to the affected areas in order to work together with the UN Refugee Agency to build up the infrastructure necessary for providing care to the refugees. It's the first time that a humanitarian relief mission has ever been conducted inside the borders of the European Union.

Fending for Themselves

The Greek government itself ignored the refugee crisis for as long as it could. It pursued a strategy of merely waving the refugees through as they arrived in the country. Athens knew that it would soon be stuck with the entire burden if it didn't. And that, it appears, is exactly what is happening now.

The thousands of refugees in the tent city at Idomeni have been left to fend for themselves because, officially, the camp still doesn't even exist. The Greek government is also hopelessly overstrained in other places. For a long time, the country wasn't even registering refugees after making the crossing from Turkey to one of the Aegean Islands. After his election in January 2015, Tspiras at least established a Migration Ministry, albeit with a miniscule staff of 20.

In October, his government promised to set up shelter capacity for another 50,000 people within three months. In addition, so-called "hotspots" were to be set up on five Aegean islands to receive and count refugees and then transfer them to the mainland.

But very little happened. By January, only a single reception facility had been opened, on Lesbos. This is why the Greek prime minister has involved the last institution in his country that is still able to act reliably and quickly: the military. Greek soldiers are now to erect tent camps and repurpose barracks as provisional living spaces in Athens, Thessaloniki and elsewhere. The decision came so unexpectedly that some mayors only learned from the newspapers that their municipalities would soon be home to thousands of migrants.

Giannis Mouzalas openly admits that his country is not able to handle what is currently taking place. Greece, he notes, is still suffering badly from the effects of the euro crisis. Mouzalas, the minister responsible for immigration, is sitting with tired eyes in his office at the Interior Ministry. He repeatedly points out that it is a humanitarian crisis. "Actually, everything," he answers when asked what kind of help his country needs the most. He goes down the list: containers, personnel, tents, food, medical assistance. And money, of course.

'What Are We Supposed to Do?'

"The situation in Piraeus is horrifying," Mouzalas says. The faster images of the misery are disseminated around the world, the better, he says, so that aid might finally arrive. And it needs to come quickly -- before Greece sinks into chaos.

Mouzalas, who isn't a member of the ruling Syriza party himself, nevertheless defends his government's policies. He says there was never a time when Greek officials simply "waved refugees through," as they have been accused of doing. "What are we supposed to do if they don't want to be here?" he asks.

When asked how the Greek and European refugee problem should be solved, he is vague, saying only: "We'll see." He lights a cigarette and says he hopes that the plan being hammered out with Turkey will be successful. "That's actually our last chance," he says.

Ironically, Mouzalas says, relations between Germany and Greece are better now -- in the middle of the refugee crisis -- than they have been in years. Germany has provided extensive help to Greece from the very beginning, he says, particularly by taking in so many people.

The place where the dramatic developments in recent weeks got their start is the Spielfeld border crossing on the Slovenian-Austrian border. Only 80 asylum applications per day are now being accepted here, with 3,200 people being allowed through if they intend to travel onward to Germany. By imposing such limits, Austria set off a domino effect throughout the Balkans, essentially closing off the route all the way down to Macedonia.

Officer Michael Puchegger only allows those refugees to pass who don't make any mistakes. Their passport can't be forged, they cannot have an entry in the international criminal registry and they have to give the right answers to the questions they are asked at the border.

It is here -- where not that long ago some 8,000 refugees were passing through each day -- where the clash of cultures can be better observed than anywhere else. Refugees who are afraid of Fortress Europe encounter a Europe that is afraid of refugees.

Questions at the Border

On a recent Tuesday, Nayah, from Aleppo, covered in black from the top of her head to the soles of her feet like her mother, drags herself and her three children the final few meters to the Austrian flag. Aside from her, there are no other refugees around. The corridor she walks through is secured on both sides by razor wire and there is a massive metal door at the end. In between are metal turnstiles and a maze of fencing.

The first questions are simple: Family name, first name, former place of residence. Then comes the decisive moment: Where do you want to go? "Almania," says Nayah. The interpreter translates: "Germany."

"Why Germany?" the police ask. Silence and mumbling comes in response.

The correct answer only comes following a bit of friendly assistance from the interpreter: "Because we want to ask for asylum in Germany." "Five for Germany," the policeman calls out, and waves the Syrians through.

Wrong answers at this point in the journey would be: "I want to go to Germany to work as a teacher," or "because my brother lives there." Those who slip up, even just once, are sent back to Slovenia, and from there, if they don't apply for asylum, onwards to Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia and Greece.

It is rare that Austria takes on the kind of leading role on the diplomatic stage that it has in recent days. "Normally, we prefer to hide and to say: Austria is such a small country, we would like to pay the children's rate for our security, please," jokes one high-ranking official in the Austrian Foreign Ministry. But these days, the situation is reversed, with Vienna -- in this existential EU crisis -- setting the tone regardless of what Berlin or Brussels thinks. It's almost as though Austria once again wants to flex its muscles in the Balkans, its Habsburg-era sphere of influence.

The push by normally docile Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann has triggered annoyance in Berlin and unequivocal rage in Athens. On Tuesday, Greek Prime Minister Tsipras even went so far as to accuse Faymann of panic and "spasmodic moves" due to upcoming presidential elections in the country.

Faymann, a member of the center-left Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPO), is indeed under pressure. On the one hand, 29-year-old Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, a member of Faymann's conservative coalition partner, the Austrian People's Party (OVP), is wildly popular. On the other, though, the right-wing populist Freedom Party of Austria (FPO), led by Heinz-Christian Strache, is leading in nationwide public opinion polls.

Fear in the East

It has only been since Faymann freed himself from unquestioned loyalty to Angela Merkel that his party's poll numbers have risen slightly. "Austria is not a waiting room for Germany," Faymann said during European Council President Donald Tusk's visit to Vienna on Tuesday. Germany, the Austrian chancellor continued, should pick up its refugees from Greece and countries neighboring Syria in the future. "In the refugee crisis, we need common European solutions," Faymann told SPIEGEL. "As such, I am proposing a fund to which every EU member contributes, just like with the bank bailouts. The money should be used to cover the costs of the asylum applicants."

On a per capita basis, Austria received more asylum applicants last year than Germany did. That means that criticism from Austria carries much greater weight than that from countries to its east, where opposition is even stronger. In most formerly communist EU member states, the electorates are largely xenophobic and the belief is widespread that refugees would bring epidemics, terrorism and Sharia law into their countries. The influx, many in Eastern Europe believe, is but the advance guard of an expansive Islam seeking to take over the Christian West.

Far-right parties across the region have profited from such fears, while Czech President Milos Zeman has taken the lead in his country. "The Islamic refugees are bringing Sharia into our country. That means unfaithful women will be stoned, thieves will have their hands chopped off and our beautiful girls will be forced to wear the burqa," he has said.

From the Eastern European perspective, the refugee crisis is a German problem. "It's a simple concept. I invite guests over and when I decide there are too many, I knock on my neighbor's door and say: Take care of my guests," Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico said in mid-February.

The construction of Fortress Europe, which was never supposed to be built, is quite far along in Eastern Europe and in the Balkans. There are fences between Turkey and Bulgaria, between Hungary and Serbia and between Greece and Macedonia. Slovenia has once again begun using Yugoslavia-era customs barracks on the Austrian border. There are still alternative routes leading through Croatia and Albania, but soon, the Balkans will only be traversable to those with even more money.

In the Serbian town of Sid, authorities have established a kind of preliminary deportation station. Here, roughly halfway between Greece and Austria, those refugees who have been picked up along the trail are divided into groups, with only Syrians and Iraqis allowed to continue their journeys north. Afghans are now forced to turn around as are those from the Maghreb, many of whom try to claim they are from Syria. Croatian police check out the migrants right on Serbian territory.

All Eyes on Turkey

Construction of the fortress is continuing regardless of what the EU decides at its summit on Monday. Indeed, the expectations are low for the gathering. It's not even clear if the summit will result in a summit statement, as is normally the case. Whereas Germany would like to see a binding document, Poland and Hungary don't, arguing that the focus of the meeting will only be on the implementation of previously agreed measures.

Angela Merkel's top priority is a deal with Turkey in an effort to protect the EU's external borders. The Greek border is of particular concern and both NATO and the European border control agency Frontex have been tapped to reimpose order there.

Officials in the Chancellery believe that the first step must be that of bringing illegal immigration into the EU almost completely to a stop. All other issues will get short shrift at the summit. The idea of establishing mandatory refugee quotas for EU member states is dead. Instead, Ankara is to be offered that a "Coalition of the Willing" will accept refugees directly from Turkey, but only after the border is secured -- if the country agrees to take back economic migrants.

As such, Turkey is to be the guest of honor at the summit. First, EU heads of state and government will meet together for lunch with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu before EU members meet amongst themselves without their guest from Ankara.

EU politicians are already talking about significantly increasing their offer of 3 billion in financial aid for Turkey. European Commissioner Gunther Oettinger told SPIEGEL: "Europe should offer Turkey further financial support beyond 2017. When it comes to the regular payment of benefits that Turkey offers refugees in the form of shelter and food, annual sums quickly add up to six or 7 billion."

Thus far, Turkey hasn't done much to stop migrant smugglers or to prevent refugees from traveling onward to Greece. To be sure, the EU implementation report that will be presented at Monday's summit is careful to praise every truck and boat full of refugees stopped by Turkish authorities. But there has not been a sufficient reduction in the number of refugees crossing the Aegean into Greece. In February, 56,335 refugees crossed the narrow strip of sea from Turkey's west coast to the Greek islands -- for a daily average of 1,943.

Traffic at the Border

For Europe, it is also alarming that the share of Syrians among those now arriving to Greece is plunging. "The numbers reflect a dropping percentage of Syrians (from 69 to 38 percent) and a growing percentage of Afghans (from 18 to 24 percent) and Iraqis (from 8 to 25 percent)," according to the report.

How does the EU intend to confront such migration pressures in the future? How can the Schengen agreement, which guarantees border-free travel within the EU, and the Dublin Regulation, which regulates asylum applications, be saved? The dangers to Europe as currently constituted are not just visible at the razor-wire fences in Southern Europe, but also in Kiefersfelden, the Bavarian mountain town on the border with Austria.

On "travel days," when vacationers and day-trippers make their return journey toward Munich from the mountains around Kitzbuhl, traffic now backs up in the town. Locals hardly go out on the streets anymore and customers from Austria, who used to regularly frequent the town's shops, no longer come at all. The reason for the changes is the fact that the nearby A93 highway has for months been reduced to a single lane due to border controls. The result is a traffic jam stretching almost 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) into Austria. And a huge amount of traffic in Kiefersfelden as people try to avoid the backup.

"If there was a fire at peak traffic times, not even the fire department would be able to make it through," says Mayor Hajo Gruber. He says the Bavarian interior minister has promised that traffic on the A93 will no longer be reduced to a single lane for border checks in the future. "I'm hoping for some relief," Gruber says. "The federal police badly needs more personnel and different structures if it wants to avoid these traffic jams."

The Bavarian threat to use its own state police to implement strict border controls in the future is also taking shape. The Bavarian Interior Ministry and state police force have already asked Gruber where they might be able to set up mobile office units for border control officers.

The Costs of Losing Schengen

The recent hindrances to cross-border traffic are minor in comparison to the drama taking place in Southern Europe. But it shows that a Europe of open borders is endangered everywhere, even in places where cohesive trans-border regions have developed.

According to a European Commission report, the reintroduction of internal border controls within the Schengen area would reduce EU economic output over a 10-year period by between 500 billion and 1.4 trillion. Just the direct costs for border controls will cost between 5 billion and 18 billion annually.

Europe is risking its future by closing its borders. Not only will its economic power suffer, but also its global political influence. In the concert of large geopolitical powers, individual European countries do not have a loud voice, not even Germany. The United States and China are only interested in the EU as a whole. Size is decisive. If Europe is unable to present itself as a unity, it will be marginalized.

Nothing would make European dissent more clear than the reintroduction of controlled borders on the Continent. Furthermore, the European project lives, both at home and abroad, from the successful unification of erstwhile enemies. And the current disagreement over refugee policy has threatened to destroy that unity. It is akin to gambling with the Continent's future. Europe in recent decades has become known as a liberal continent, whereas Fortress Europe would scare away the very people the countries of Europe would most like to attract: students, experts, engineers and scientists.

Mid-May to mid-July marks a decisive phase for the Schengen area. That's when the temporary border controls currently in place -- allowed by the Schengen agreement in "exceptional circumstances" -- are set to expire. If Greece is unable to tighten up its external border by then, which seems likely, then the internal border controls may be extended by two years.

Progress on the Refugee Issue

The European Commission plans to present a roadmap on Monday. It calls for the removal of all internal border controls, including those undertaken by Germany, should the EU's external borders be adequately protected by the end of the year. Berlin has thrown its support behind the plan.

In the next several weeks, the Commission intends to make progress on the refugee issue with a variety of initiatives. Among them is the reform of the Dublin Regulation. The rule requires refugees to apply for asylum in the first EU country in which they set foot, but it has been de facto suspended since the beginning of the crisis. The Commission proposal calls for asylum applicants to be distributed among EU member states for the duration of their application proceedings. That would shift the burden away from member states on the EU periphery to all European countries. In addition, it calls for the alignment of the divergent asylum standards applied by member states.

Finally, the European border control agency Frontex could be expanded into a real border protection agency. That, at least, is the proposal made by the Netherlands, in its capacity as the current EU Council presidency. Greece in particular would like more support when it comes to border protection. But a proposal calling for European border officials to be deployed on the borders of an EU member state even over objections from that member state is a controversial one. Countries like Poland and Greece see that as a significant violation of their sovereignty.

In Piraeus, the port city next to Athens, the huge blue cargo doors slowly sink to the quay as the cavernous ferry opens. The sound of chains scraping across the concrete and a shrill beeping fills the warm air as Blue Star 1 lands. The trip from Mytilini, on the island of Lesbos, via Chios to Athens normally takes 11 hours, but the Blue Star 1 arrives only after a five-and-a-half hour delay due to strong winds on the northern Aegean.

Doaa Darwish, 25, sits on a low wall in front of the Pericles ferry terminal. She is wearing leggings and rubber boots, a silver ring pierces her left eyebrow. Behind her, baby sleepers are drying on a laurel bush in the midday sun. Doaa Darwish is from Yarmuk, a suburb of Damascus -- and she has finally arrived in Europe along with her three-month-old son Alaa and her two younger sisters. They traveled through the war zone to the Turkish city of Antakya and then on to the Greek islands of Farmakonissi and Leros via the city of Izmir on Turkey's west coast. She medicated her baby for the boat trips so he would stay calm.

Stuck for 10 Days

The trip took 25 days and was so stressful that Doaa stopped lactating. Her sister Walaa heads off in search of powdered milk. The sisters hope to continue their journey as soon as possible, with their first destination being the city of Idomeni on Greece's border with Macedonia. Doaa's husband, who is in Berlin, has sent her the telephone numbers of men who can help her get to the border. One of them wants to bring her directly to Macedonia. But his asking price is high.

"We are three young Syrians with an infant," says Doaa. She thinks that will convince the Macedonian border guards to let them cross and will help them as they travel onwards to the north. The youngest, Esmaa, has only just turned 14. She had to come along because, as a minor, she is the one that makes them eligible for family reunification once they get to Berlin. Only then can they apply for their parents from Damascus to join them.

Doaa says that she is so agitated that she can't sleep anymore, adding that, from what she has seen so far, she isn't particularly fond of Greece. She says it's disgusting here and that she has tried to avoid visiting the restrooms. Instead of eating, she smokes. The sisters take turns charging their smartphones. One of them always stays on the wall in front of the laurel bush, the only place where they can get free Wi-Fi reception.

When Walaa comes back, she looks horrified. She says: "Some people have been stuck here for 10 days already!" But that won't happen to them, she says. Doaa nods.

By Giorgos Christides, Julia Amalia Heyer, Walter Mayr, Peter Muller, Ralf Neukirch, Conny Neumann, Rene Pfister, Jan Puhl, Mathieu von Rohr and Christoph Scheuermann
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Original airdate 3/23/16.JIM BEAVER RETURNS A dangerous creature is accidentally released into an old house, attacking a mother and her child, leaving them both in a coma. Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) learn that Bobby (guest star Jim Beaver) and Rufus (guest star Steven Williams) once tracked the same entity so the Winchesters look to the past to come up with a plan to catch the monster before any one dies. Stefan Pleszczynski directed the episode written by Robbie Thompson. (#1116) Original airdate 3/23/16.DC'S Legends of TomorrowStar City 2046 (8:00-9:00 p.m. ET) (TV-14, LV) (HDTV)THE TEAM ENCOUNTERS A VERY DIFFERENT OLIVER QUEEN When a malfunction sends the Waverider crashing into 2046 Star City, our heroes face a startling version of their own future where they never stop Savage (guest star Casper Crump) and never return home. The city is in ruins and overrun by criminals, which thrills Rory (Dominic Purcell). Sara (Caity Lotz) is despondent over the destruction of her home and stunned when she learns what happened to her old friend, Oliver Queen (guest star Stephen Amell). Steve Shill directed the episode written by Marc Guggenheim & Ray Utarnachitt (#106). Original airdate 2/25/16.THE 100Wanheda: Part 2 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET) (TV-14, LV) (HDTV)MICHAEL BEACH (SONS OF ANARCHY) GUEST STARS Bellamy (Bob Morley) and Kane (Henry Ian Cusick) risk life and limb to rescue Clarke (Eliza Taylor). In an attempt to avoid worrying about her daughter, Abby (Paige Turco) focuses on whether to open Mount Weather as a medical facility. Meanwhile, Murphy (Richard Harmon) plots to betray his former Chancellor (Isaiah Washington). Marie Avgeropoulos, Devon Bostick, Lindsey Morgan, Chris Larkin and Ricky Whittle also star. Mairzee Almas directed the episode written by Aaron Ginsburg & Wade McIntyre (#302). Original airdate 1/28/2016.FRIDAY, MARCH 25THE VAMPIRE DIARIESPostcards from the Edge (8:00-9:00 p.m. ET) (TV-14, LV) (HDTV)DAMON'S DARK DESCENT When his experience in the Phoenix stone leads him to do the unthinkable, Damon (Ian Somerhalder) finds himself without a care in the world, spiraling out of control and under the influence of a dangerous and reckless Julian (guest star Todd Lasance). Refusing to give up on his brother, Stefan (Paul Wesley) attempts to reason with Damon only to uncover the devastating reason for his descent. Elsewhere, Caroline (Candice King) begins having some dangerous side effects as a result of her supernatural pregnancy and is forced to turn to Valerie (guest star Elizabeth Blackmore) for help. Meanwhile, Bonnie (Kat Graham), Nora (guest star Scarlett Byrne) and Mary Louise (guest star Teressa Liane) attempt to track down a ruthless vampire hunter named Rayna (guest star Leslie-Anne Huff) after they suspect that she has reemerged. Zach Roerig and Michael Malarkey also star. Pascal Verschooris directed the episode written by Rebecca Sonnenshine (#712). Original airdate 2/12/2016.THE ORIGINALSDead Angels (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET) (TV-14, V) (HDTV)KLAUS FACES OFF WITH AN UNLIKELY FOE When a powerful weapon that could take down the Mikaelsons for good ends up in the wrong hands, Klaus (Joseph Morgan) finds himself in a tense standoff with an unlikely foe. Meanwhile, Elijah's (Daniel Gillies) attempt to reclaim control of The Strix leads to a violent showdown and the emergence of a potential new leader. Elsewhere, when a new coven of witches tries to influence Davina (Danielle Campbell) into helping them locate the elusive weapon, she quickly realizes she may be in over her head. Charles Michael Davis, Phoebe Tonkin and Yusuf Gatewood also star. Darren Ganet directed the episode written by Kyle Arrington and Michael Narducci (#312). Original airdate 2/12/2016.
Jason Patric (Rush, Narc), Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond, In America) and Hope Davis (American Crime, The Newsroom) Set to StarWAYWARD PINES, last summers No. 1 scripted series on broadcast television, returns for a second season Wednesday, May 25 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. From executive producer M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, The Visit), the 10-episode, psychological thriller is based on the rich world created by author Blake Crouch in his international best-selling series of books.Starring Jason Patric (Rush, Narc), two-time Academy Award nominee Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond, In America) and Emmy Award and Golden Globe nominee Hope Davis (American Crime, The Newsroom), the 10-episode, second season will pick up after the shocking events of Season One, with the residents of Wayward Pines battling against the iron-fisted rule of the First Generation. Dr. THEO YEDLIN (Patric)  a new resident of Wayward Pines  awakens from suspended animation and finds himself in the middle of this rebellion, as he tries to understand what Wayward Pines really is and help preserve the endangered human race.Also joining the second season are cast members Tom Stevens (Cedar Cove), returning from Season One as JASON HIGGINS, a member of the First Generation and Pilchers young acolyte; Nimrat Kaur (Homeland) as REBECCA, who has her own secrets she keeps from Theo, her husband; Josh Helman (Mad Max: Fury Road, X-Men: Days of Future Past) as XANDER, a resident working to undermine Wayward Pines from within; and Kacey Rohl (Hannibal) as KERRY, one of Jasons lieutenants in the civil war going on in Wayward Pines.Season One of WAYWARD PINES ranked as Summer 2015s No. 1 broadcast scripted series among Adults 18-49. The series  about a Secret Service agent on a mission to find two missing federal agents in a sleepy Northwest town, and the shocking results of his investigation  ranked among Summer 2015s Top 10 broadcast programs overall among Adults 18-49. The series earned a multi-platform average audience of 9.4 million, which represents a +145% increase versus its Live+Same Day audience  the largest multi-platform lift versus Live+Same Day ever for a FOX drama.WAYWARD PINES is a production of 20th Century Fox Television. The series is executive-produced by Donald De Line (Green Lantern, The Italian Job), Ashwin Rajan (Devil, The Visit), Blake Crouch and M. Night Shyamalan. Mark Friedman (Believe, The Forgotten) also serves as executive producer and showrunner. Like WAYWARD PINES on Facebook at facebook.com/WaywardPines. Follow the series on Twitter at @WaywardPinesFOX and join the discussion using #WaywardPines. See photos and videos on Instagram by following @Wayward Pines.
The call comes with a number of further milk price reductions; from 2nd March First Milk members supplying their creamery pools have seen another reduction in their milk price, Muller has announced a 1.35ppl cut to their suppliers. Meanwhile, Arla has given its direct suppliers 12 months notice on their contract as theyre struggling to find a market for this milk.

Mr Harrison, who steps down from his role as NFU dairy board chairman later this month, said:

I wont lie  its really difficult out there for many dairy farmers and I honestly dont see the situation changing in the short-term. The market remains extremely tough and buyers are concerned with the impact of the forthcoming Spring Flush. But AHDB Dairy figures show daily deliveries are coming back in line with February 2015 levels.

To help manage supply and demand at processor level weve seen Dairy Crest, working alongside their farmer group Dairy Crest Direct, bring in a new production balancing scheme. We need more milk buyers to show responsibility in trying to match supply and demand  and this needs to be done alongside farmer suppliers.

We desperately need help from the government and the EU who must both do more to ensure a sustainable future for the dairy sector and help make tools available for farmers to manage volatility.
MIDDLETOWN  City police arrested a state police dispatcher Wednesday on one count each of risk of injury to a minor and enticing a minor, both felonies.

Jeffrey Paul Norton, a 48-year-old Waterbury man, turned himself in to the Middletown Police Department, according to The Middletown Press.

Police said Norton was released on a $1,500 non-surety bond and is due in court on March 16, according to the Press. Norton has worked for CSP since 2004 and most recently was a dispatcher fro Troop I, though he is now on administrative leave, Trooper First Class Kelly Grant told the Press.
F acebook has bowed to pressure over its tiny tax bill in Britain and agreed to a shake-up that will result in the Silicon Valley giant paying millions of pounds more to the Treasury.

From next month advertising revenue earned from major UK clients such as Tesco or Unilever will be routed through Facebooks UK operation rather than exported to Ireland. It will pay tax on profits earned at the normal UK corporation tax rate of 20 per cent.

The move follows a huge row when it emerged that Facebook paid just 4,327 in corporation tax in the UK in 2014, despite Britain being one of the companys biggest markets outside the US.

A statement issued by Facebook this morning said: On Monday, we will start notifying large UK customers that from the start of April, they will receive invoices from Facebook UK and not Facebook Ireland.



What this means in practice is that UK sales made directly by our UK team will be booked in the UK, not Ireland. Facebook UK will then record the revenue from these sales.

In light of changes to tax law in the UK, we felt this change would provide transparency to Facebooks operations in the UK. The new structure is easier to understand and clearly recognises the value our UK organisation adds to our sales through our highly skilled and growing UK sales team.

Facebook sources said the company had been working on the new tax structure for about a year.

They said the decision was partly driven by the growing scale of Facebooks operations in the UK, where it has 850 staff and is building a new office in Fitzrovia.

What is the Google tax?

The other factor was George Osbornes new diverted profits tax set at 25 per cent and aimed at companies using contrived structures to move profits out of the country.

Facebooks first higher tax bill will be paid in 2017.


F ormer President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been detained by federal police as part of a fraud inquiry into state oil company Petrobras.

It follows a raid on the home of the politician, who ran Brazil between 2003 and 2010.

Over 30 search warrants and 11 detention warrants were being carried out, the police said, according to a report by the BBC.

It emerged that the once wildly popular leftist president had been linked to Brazil's biggest ever corruption case earlier this week.

Lula has denied allegations of corruption.

Federal prosecutors who uncovered a huge corruption scheme at oil company Petrobras has started looking into whether Brazil's former president received undue favours from engineering firms they are investigating.

In a letter to the Supreme Court made public on Monday, the head of the investigation, Deltan Dallagnol, argued for a federal probe because some of the alleged gifts were made while Lula was still in office.

The prosecutors suspect favours were extended to Lula by executives of engineering firms Odebrecht and OAS that have been charged with corruption and money laundering in the massive bribery and political kickback scandal involving contracts with state-run Petroleo Brasileiro.

Lula has already faced police questioning over the financial dealings of one of his sons and now faces questioning by Sao Paulo state prosecutors over his alleged ownership of a beach-front penthouse property and country estate.

Brazil has been rocked by the growing Petrobras scandal that has ensnared dozens of members of its business and political establishment and could now implicate Lula.

Additional reporting by Reuters
H ollywood script-writers short of an idea or two would do worse than look for inspiration on AIM, Londons junior stock market.

The colourful tale of Petroceltic would certainly fit the bill  swashbuckling explorer looks for oil in the high seas, gets captured by activist investor, which turns into a two-year war.

The latest scene is still playing out, but suffice it to say shareholders have accepted there will be no happy ending.

Through his vehicle Skye Investments, Petroceltics chairman Robert Adair, who is the Irish oil explorers second-largest shareholder with a 19% stake, said he would reject Worldviews audacious 3p-a-share takeover bid worth 6.4 million, which was made when the price was 18p.

Adair said Angelo Moskovs investment firm, which already owns 29%, would have to increase its bid significantly to be taken seriously, telling the Standard: Worldview tends to be a rule unto itself and lives in an alternative reality.

Investors were encouraged that the cut-price deal would not go ahead as shares in the company, which is seeking funding from its lenders, rose 0.94p to 7.74p.

Talking of Hollywood, 2015 was a blockbuster year for the film industry, but analysts are predicting 2016 will be a different story.

UBS slapped a sell rating on Cineworld, which earned the FTSE 250s version of the Razzie award as the cinema operator was the mid-cap indexs worst performer, down 30p or 5.6% at 502p.

The Swiss broker said the film slate for this year was skewed towards childrens films, such as the BFG, which are cheaper to view.

TODO: define component type brightcove

On the wider market, it was a less than box-office day for traders, but the FTSE 100 managed to climb 23.84 points to 6154.30 as miners propped up the blue-chip index thanks to a rise in industrial metals prices.

Schroders found itself at the bottom of the FTSE 100 as analysts took the axe to their forecasts, a day after its annual results for 2015. Citi cut its rating to neutral and forecasts a 5% fall in earnings this year, causing the shares to slide 91p to 2647p.

BT shrugged off Deutsche Banks concerns about the business, climbing 2.7p to 477.95p as Goldman Sachs called its value compelling and restored its Buy tip.

Dart Group, which owns the Jet2 airline, flew 34.5p higher to 586p as it revealed annual operating profits would be slightly better than expected after lower-than-anticipated losses during the winter season.

LGO Energy, the Trinidad oil firm formerly known as Leni Gas and Oil (after its founder, Australian entrepreneur David Lenigas), edged down 0.06p or 15% to 0.34p when it said it would require substantial new funding to repay its creditors.
A pple has won the backing of fellow tech giants including Google, Facebook and Microsoft in its battle with US authorities over encryption on its devices.

The iPhone-maker is fighting the Federal Bureau of Investigation's court order asking it to build software to unblock the smartphone used by one of the perpetrators of a December shooting in San Bernardino, California.

In a rare show of unity from Silicon Valley, Google, Facebook and Microsoft, plus more than two dozen other internet and tech firms, have filed legal papers asking a judge to support Apple's position.

Apple has argued that disabling the password protection and allowing access to the device would set a dangerous precedent and threaten customer security.

It has also claimed that it is a matter of free speech in that computer code is a form of expression.

It follows a long-running debate over how much governments and law enforcement should be able to monitor digital communications.

Family members of some of the victims of the San Bernardino shooting, which claimed 14 lives, have sided with the government.

They dispute Apple's stance, arguing that the government had a valid warrant, and that "one does not enjoy the privacy to commit a crime."

TODO: define component type apester

The families have also asserted that Apple "routinely modifies its systems" to comply with Chinese government directives.

The San Bernardino shootings were carried out by Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, who were inspired by Islamist militants.

'Radicalised': Tashfeen Malik and Syed Rizwan Farook (Picture: AP) / U.S. Customs and Border Protection via AP

They couple were killed following the attack in a shootout with police.

The FBI wants access to their phone data to examine any links with militant groups.

Additional reporting by Reuters
T housands of jobs at high street stalwart BHS could be at risk after the company behind the retailer put forward proposals that may lead to the closure of up to a quarter of its UK stores.

The department store chain is considering putting its 164 stores into a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) in order to slash its rents and exit loss-making sites, less than a year after the chain was sold for a token 1 by the retail veteran Sir Philip Green.

Darren Topp, the chief executive of BHS said: The CVA proposal is a necessary milestone in resetting BHS to ensure its long-term future.

Some of our stores are loss-making as we are being charged rents that are too high relative to todays market. The CVA will address this issue.

A CVA  a form of insolvency  will need the backing of 75% of BHSs creditors at a vote on 23 March to proceed. The company said just 77 of its stores would be unaffected by the move.

Seller: Sir Philip Green with daughter Chloe (Picture: Dave Benett) / Dave Benett

Forty stores across the country are at risk of closure if the group and its landlords cannot agree to substantially reduce rents there over the next 10 months.

It is hoped that the store closure number will be kept to a minimum, BHS said.

A further 47 stores have been identified as being viable if rents can be cut by 25 per cent to 50 per cent. The property agent Savills has been hired to help with the latest review and KPMG is set to supervise the CVA.

Based on an average number of 50 employees per store, if 40 were to close, 2,000 jobs could be axed. However, the figure could also be higher if some of the 47 stores also under review closed. The company has some 8,500 direct employees and 1,500 contract staff. BHS also revealed it is planning to restructure its head office and cut management in stores.

The moves follow 12 months of efforts to improve the fortunes of the loss-making retailer. Its sale by Sir Philip to the little-known Retail Acquisitions was announced on 12 March last year.

The group, headed by the former racing driver Dominic Chappell, is backed by a number of investors, including brokers and lawyers.

Despite concerns that the sale heralded a future break-up of the BHS, Retail Acquisitions insisted it wants to steer the group back into the black.

In December it hired turnaround specialist Aidan Treacy, a former finance director at the dairy giant Unigate, as its chief financial officer.

BHS has also introduced food and new fashion lines to a number of shops.

But the challenges facing BHSs new owner include its underlying pension deficit, which rose to 139 million in the year to 31 August 2014.

The retail analyst Nick Bubb said: BHS sound confident of winning the landlord CVA, so BHS will live to fight another day and the situation is not completely hopeless, given the success of the food halls and new concessions.
Four months after the departure of its revered artistic director, Dior presented its latest ready to wear collection in Paris today.

Still mourning the loss of Raf Simons, who left the house abruptly in October citing a decision to focus on other things, the Dior team set out to celebrate the essence of the French fashion house which focused on the things it does best.

In the charge of head designers Serge Ruffieux and Lucie Meier, caretakers at the brand in lieu of a new leader, Dior presented a love letter to its most iconic and celebrated design staples.

Accordingly, the show began with Christian Diors beloved bar jacket and served as a homage to the shape, with bars in a host of shades including acid yellow and floral print velvet among this collections focal points.

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It seemed Ruffieux and Meier were keen to tell the world that Diors legacy was safe in their hands.

Embroidered wool dresses, nipped in at the waist and trimmed with ornate embellishment, confirmed this. As did a series of brocade pencil skirts which could only have looked more at home in a Dior collection had Monsieur Dior designed them himself.

But this was no history lesson, with Simon's quest for modernity very much visible here too.

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty

Pioneering a new neckline, roll necks slashed at the front to form oversized collars came layered underneath brocade jackets and sloppy wool overcoats.

Shoulders also became a point of interest with pretty bardot dresses - sliced across the breastbone and inset with vibrant prints - among this collection's strengths. The result was a presentation that invigorated.

While rumours regarding Simons replacement continue to circle within the fashion industry, todays showcase served as proof that two of the houses leading designers are more than up to the challenge of creating a collection that pushes Dior forward while simultaneously tending to its past.

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty

This was a fact compounded by the number of handbags in this collection - some models carried three at one time.

Under no illusions as to what it is that keeps tills running in Dior stores across the globe, the house unveiled a moveable feast for accessory lovers with handbags, jewellery and sunglasses aplenty on offer.

Keen to appeal to the fashion shopper, cuff earrings and single drop earrings featured throughout. The designers also unveiled a portfolio style handbag.

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty

The collection, a polished, well executed production by an experienced design team, served as a pleasant surprise to those who expect a fashion house to flounder during a time of unrest.

It also served as a commendable job interview for Ruffieux and Meier who have not been ruled out of Diors leadership race. While Dior bosses remain tightlipped regarding Simons replacement, an announcement is expected imminently.

Earlier this week the house announced plans to unveil its cruise collection in the UK where it will do so under the direction of a new creative director.

A show staged at Blenheim Palace - a venue loved by Christian Dior who staged two catwalk shows at the Duke of Marlborough's residence during his lifetime - is scheduled to take place on May 31.
Jonathan Anderson may be known to the industry as a designer who takes him self seriously. But today in Paris he injected a sense of fun into his collection.

At Loewe's latest showcase, the Dalston-based designer encouraged his French audience to break a habit of a lifetime with a soundtrack of stop smoking guided meditation.

There were other elements of kitsch too, from the plexiglass cat faces which hung around models necks to the clear cube seating filled with Bic razors, light bulbs and scouring pads.

But alongside novelty was seriously good craftsmanship.

Francois Guillot/AFP/Getty

Anderson, who was recruited by the LVMH-owned fashion house in 2013 to inject his brand of forward-thinking energy into the 170 year old luxury Spanish label, has long been a champion of fashion which is both exciting and unexpected.

In keeping with Loewe's DNA, fabrication served as the beating heart of this collection.

Fusing the leather on which the house build its foundation with the hyper-modern materials for which Anderson is renowned, this was a collection that married wit with top level luxury.

Boucle tweed was given the Anderson treatment with heavily textured edges while fine cashmere knit dresses were updated with the addition of swinging chainmail sleeves and studded popper trims.

Francois Guillot/AFP/Getty

Revered for his clever use of proportion, the designer also presented foiled leather bodices which topped bandage tops and tiered skirts crafted from silk scarves.

Anderson, who also shows his eponymous label in London, recently became the first person to win designer of the year for both men's and womenswear at last year's British Fashion Awards.

The collection on offer this morning served to showcase Anderson's skill not only on a technical level but a commercial one as well.

Francois Guillot/AFP/Getty

To this end, accessories were a focus of the collection with many models carrying multiple bags, with next season's must-haves ranging from fur shoppers to shearling satchels.

Ever the savvy publicist, Anderson also took the opportunity to unveil the brand's latest campaign.

Previewing its forthcoming adverts a season ahead of its wide release, three images were showcased across Paris for the duration of fashion week.

In a nod to the 'buy now' revolution currently occupying the major fashion houses, items from the campaign, along with selected pieces from the catwalk show, were available for pre-order immediately after the show.
You can tell a lot about the influence of a fashion label by the clothes people are wearing on the front row of its show. So it's revealing that at the latest presentation of Vetements - a brand generating major buzz right now - there were as many items by the label on the audience as there were on the catwalk.

The fact that the crowd also included Kanye West is further proof of its influence.

But Vetements is no international superbrand with multi-million pound backing, but a young label run by a pool of talent which counts a democratic approach to fashion as its USP.

Since bursting on to the scene 18 months ago, the label, which is masterminded by a 16-strong design team led by founder Demna Gvasalia and his brother Guram, has served as fashion catnip for Paris's notoriously elitist fashion scene thanks to its seasonless and street-wise approach to creating clothes.

Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty

As a select group of industry insiders congregated in a Parisian church clutching single red roses - the show invitation - it was clear that yesterday's production would be anything but orthodox.

For one, Gvasalia and his gang chose to show men's alongside womenswear, with most pieces unisex.

For another, many of the models were cast from the designers' friends and Instagram and not agencies as is standard practice.

As for the clothes, things were equally off-kilter. Tartan clashed with velvet, coats hung from belt loops and suits with exaggerated shoulder pads were layered over slogan hoodies. This was bad taste in the best possible way.

Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty

As an homage to the trend-weary consumer, many of the clothes were not new but a continuation of cult items from the past few collections. The floral print dresses and sawn-off jeans were all familiar territory, as were the thigh-high cowboy boots - of which Rihanna is a fan.

An air of purposefully unfinished construction also permeated the collection, with labels sown onto the back of suit jackets and shirts with missing sleeves.

It was bonkers in places. But pick apart the collection and this isn't an offering reserved only for the adventurous dresser. A frilled polka dot chiffon dress and a series of mannish trench coats will appeal to more conventional shoppers looking to inject some edge to their wardrobes.

Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty

The show comes at the beginning of the most important week in Gvasalia's career.

On Sunday, the 34-year-old wunderkind will unveil his debut collection for Balenciaga. After eight years at Margiela, along with a stint as head womenswear designer for Louis Vuitton, Gvasalia replaces Alexander Wang who quit the prestigious French fashion house to return to his own label in New York at the end of last year.

But while Gvasalia is busy making waves across Paris, his influence is felt nowhere more so than in London where key pieces from Vetements's spring collection, including its cropped jeans and a DHL print t-shirt, have waiting lists.

Only time will tell if the branded nylon tracksuits and tartan kilts from this collection will generate the same buzz. Judging by the reaction at yesterday's show, it's looking like a safe bet.
Review at a glance









I f you require proof that stand-up can find humour in unlikely places look no further than Felicity Ward. In What If There Is No Toilet? the gangly Australian discusses her irritable bowel syndrome and fear of not being able to get to the lavatory on time. It is much funnier than it sounds.

Ward has always appeared nervy and now we know why. As she reveals in her trademark high-velocity delivery, she used to suffer panic attacks and would go to the bathroom four times an hour to avoid an embarrassing public poonami. Frankly its impressive that she can perform for the full 70 minutes without excusing herself.

While this issue forms the spine of the act, Ward opens things out, discussing various aspects of her battle with mental illness. She unearths the light side of depression, playfully dubbing the intrusive voice in her head Beryl. Weird things get her down, from hairless cats and German magicians to late night radio: Music to have car accidents to.

This confessional set is as personal as comedy gets. Ward is painfully truthful about how she has negotiated her way through her emotional minefield. While there is no cure, gradually she has emerged from the darkness and learnt how to manage her condition.

What could be downbeat is ultimately extremely upbeat, thanks to her zippy style and clownish physicality. In this era of oversharing she proves that there is no such thing as too much information if you are making people laugh. Moving, honest and gutbustingly funny.

Until March 5, Soho Theatre (020 7478 0100, sohotheatre.com)

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A new South Kensington arts hub would level the field for galleries and private collectors outside London and give them a base in the capital, it has been claimed.

Five Grade II-listed terrace houses in Cromwell Place near the V&A will be turned into offices, viewing spaces and warehouses that can become permanent galleries or be rented for short periods if the plan gets the go-ahead. Art dealer John Martin, who has joined forces with property adviser Scott Murdoch, said the projects hybrid approach was driven by rising rents in the capital which have forced out some commercial galleries from traditional areas such as Mayfair.

Mr Martin, who founded Art Dubai, the Middle Easts first contemporary art fair, where Picassos and Warhols have changed hands, said: London is hugely successful, it is where much of the audiences and many of the collectors are and it is where galleries want to be, but that all drives up rents and makes it harder to operate.

The conventional gallery model is hugely inefficient. Many commercial galleries do 50 per cent of their business at art fairs, so having a permanent gallery just increases overheads.

There are brilliant galleries doing great work in Belfast, Edinburgh, all around the country, which cant afford to set up a permanent base in London. This could level the playing field and there are private collectors who could use it to set up short-term shows.

Mr Martin said he hoped the buildings, with 35,000 square feet of space, could be home to 30 permanent galleries and several associate businesses and will open by 2018 if planning permission is granted. Among its backers are veteran developer Sir Stuart Lipton, who said the gallery would broaden Londons art world into an interesting new destination.

@RobDexES

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Review at a glance









C ate Blanchett, who co-produced this drama, obviously rates real-life TV producer Mary Mapes, whose attempts to explore the far from impressive military record of George Bush Jr led to her being traduced by Right-wingers and, ultimately, hounded out of her job at CBS.

Its commendable of Blanchett to link herself to such a controversial figure. And, not surprisingly, shes magnetic as Mary (especially during a phone call between Mary and her abusive, Republican dad). Yet something about James Vanderbilts shouty script makes you want to cover your ears.

As the film seems half willing to admit, Mapess scoop wasnt fit for purpose. Along with a man she clearly viewed as a father substitute  living legend Dan Rather (Robert Redford, far less annoying than usual)  the 60 Minutes journo made a series of duff decisions. She didnt have a reliable whistleblower, she didnt have documents that could be authenticated. But she allowed herself to be rushed by her dead-eyed bosses into going on air. Said bosses, and the general obsession with ratings, were partly to blame, but so was Mapes.

In a speech were meant to applaud, Mary refuses to apologise for her actions and compares herself to not-always-by-the-book Watergate legends Woodward and Bernstein. Surely two wrongs dont make a right. As demonstrated by Spotlight, patient journalists can, and do, find ways to expose bad behaviour.

TODO: define component type brightcove

This could have been a knotty human drama about a flawed working-class man and his flawed surrogate daughter, who tried and failed to call a privileged father and son to account. Where Bush Sr was able to keep Bush Jr safe from harm (and not just during the war in Vietnam), poor Rather couldnt protect Mary. Or even himself. So yes, the rich bullies won. A personal tragedy with political overtones. Now that would have given Blanchett and Redford something to shout about.

Cert 15, 125 mins

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T he 1975

March 4-9, O2 Academy Brixton, SW9 (0844 477 2000, buy tickets )

Five nights in London for the returning indie pop band, who are aiming to step up to the A-list with an ambitious new album.

Foxes

March 4, Roundhouse, NW1 (0870 389 1846, roundhouse.org.uk)

Louisa Allen now has two albums of shiny pop to draw from, but will probably still play her biggest hit: her guest vocal on Zedds Grammy-winning song Clarity.

The Internet

March 9, Koko, NW1 (0870 432 5527, buy tickets)

This un-Googleable electronic soul band are a spin-off from the Odd Future hip hop collective, touring to promote a recent third album.

Fat White Family

March 9, Coronet, SE1 (0871 230 6230, coronettheatre.co.uk)

The reprobate indie rock band from Brixton recently released a surprisingly listenable second album, and bring their sleazy rock and unspeakable lyrics to a theatre venue.

Grimes

March 10, O2 Academy Brixton, SW9 (0844 477 2000, buy tickets )

Inventive electronica producer Claire Boucher is as much about the visuals as the music, and ought to put on a spectacular show this week.
O ne of Jesuss harder sayings, for all of us, not just for professional critics, ordains: Judge not, that ye be not judged (Matthew 7:1). He didnt leave it there either. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again, he warned. And then he went on to ask, doubtless in a spirit of disinterested enquiry: And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brothers eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Nicely put, sir.

A O Scott is the chief film critic of the New York Times. In May 2012, he published a captious review of Avengers Assemble, the superhero film that has since grossed $1.5 billion and still enjoys a 92% Fresh rating on the aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes.

Although he conceded the film was not without its pleasures, Scott complained of its grinding, hectic emptiness, the bloated cynicism that is less a shortcoming of this particular film than a feature of the genre and that it was little more than a giant ATM for Marvel and its new studio overlords, the Walt Disney corporation.

Samuel L Jackson, one of the films stars, called him out on Twitter, saying: A O Scott needs a new job! Lets help him find one! One he can ACTUALLY do! A fine old row ensued, a bit of a landmark case, as fans on social media increasingly denounce the irrelevance of specialised professional critics. Who says your opinion is better than anybody elses? Whats the point of you? Why should you get paid for that?

So now Scott has written a book in defence of criticism, reviewing even, contending that criticism, far from sapping the vitality of art, is instead what supplies its lifeblood: that criticism, properly understood, is not an enemy from which art must be defended, but rather another name  the proper name  for the defence of art itself. He even pushes it so far as saying that criticism, far from being a minor, petty, secondary art, is in fact larger than the others... It is not parasitic, but primary. All art is also criticism of previous art, he suggests.

Having been first a literary critic, the child of two professors and a graduate of Harvard, Scott works his way through all the classic references, beginning with Kants Critique of Judgment and its paradoxical proposal that the judgment of taste must involve a claim to ... subjective universality  ie that everyone can be in fundamental agreement about the nature of beauty. To give up on this claim is to retreat into niches and coteries, he says.

We should all aspire to become critics, he suggests. To be sure, critics are fallible, critics get it wrong, either overpraising the new or failing to recognise its value, in any case operating in a world in which the fragile authority of journalism is increasingly undermined. But we should try.

Criticism as an actual job is a recent and contingent phenomenon: the professional critic is a creature of print, he admits. And this species, not always beloved, appears at present to be facing the prospect of extinction. Writers and editors, he says mournfully, have begun to feel like blacksmiths and buggy-whip dealers contemplating the ascendance of the automobile.

The largest retail supplier of criticism in the world today may well be Amazon, he laments, while there is also a brisk market in critical derivatives, tranches of aggregated opinion securitised by Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic.

More book reviews 1 /24 More book reviews Recovery by Russell Brand Will Russells brand of self-help prove quite so addictive? By Nicholas Lezard. Read review A Life in Questions by Jeremy Paxman Paxo refuses to answer all the really good questions, says David Sexton. Read review Politics: Between: The Extremes by Nick Clegg The basis of this book makes it impossible not to warm to Clegg, says Melanie McDonagh. Read review Serious Sweet by A L Kennedy Thank heavens for London in this tale of self-obsessed lovers. Read review The Last Royal Rebel: The Life and Death of James, Duke of Monmouth by Anna Keay Born a kings b****** and destined for a traitors death. Read review Man Up: Boys, Men and Breaking the Male Rules by Rebecca Asher Getting to the bottom of why boys will be boys. Read review The Course of Love by Alain de Botton A philosophical novel that does run smooth, says Johanna Thomas-Corr. Read review The Tree Climbers Guide: Adventures in the Urban Canopy by Jack Cooke How I gave this book a proper test and ended up with a broken ankle. Read review Reader, I Married Him: Stories Inspired by Jane Eyre Brontes classic tale in the imaginations of other writers, says Claire Harman. Read review Moranifesto by Caitlin Moran Caitlin comes clean about politics  the world according to our funniest feminist. By Rosamund Urwin. Read review Spark Joy An Illustrated Guide to the Japanese Art of Tidying by Marie Kondo Theres no messing wih Marie, says Katie Law. Read review Cockfosters Stories by Helen Simpson After 50, a womans life gets better not worse. By Katie Law. Read review Stalins Englishman: The Lives of Guy Burgess by Andrew Lownie Joker in the spying pack. By Richard Bassett. Read review Even Dogs in the Wild by Ian Rankin The darkness that lies at the heart of the novel is offset by a lightness of touch, says Mark Sanderson. Read review Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink by Elvis Costello Elvis proves not quite so lyrical on the page, says Nick Curtis. Read review The Importance of Elsewhere: Philip Larkins Photographs by Richard Bradford His poetry paints better pictures than any camera, says David Sexton. Read review Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith Morality wins out over macabre murders, says Melanie McDonagh. Read review The Grownup by Gillian Flynn Calling all Flynnies: the con girl whos like gone girl. Read review

Yet he holds out that metrics arent everything  everyone who actually reads knows that the essence of written discourse is qualitative, a clunky, or maybe just shy, way of saying some write, and think, and judge, better than others. Heck! Not quite so democratic, after all. It may even be possible for these paragons to be properly rewarded again, online, as readers reacquire the habit of paying for some of what they had grown accustomed to receiving for nothing, he hopes.

In a closing peroration, he argues that criticism is more than ever necessary in our culture of surplus, of perpetual over-stimulation. What am I supposed to watch, to read, to feel, to dream about? What do I want? This state of wondering paralysis cries out for criticism, which promises to sort through the glut, to assist in the formation of choices, to act as gatekeeper to our besieged sensoria.

Gatekeepers, yet! Chekhov, however, in conversation with Gorky, said: Critics are like horseflies which prevent the horse from ploughing. The horse works, all its muscles drawn tight like the strings on a double-bass, and a fly settles on his flanks and tickles and buzzes ... he has to twitch his skin and swish his tail. And what does the fly buzz about? It scarcely knows itself; simply because it is restless and wants to proclaim, Look, I too am living on the earth. See, I can buzz, too, buzz about anything. Maybe were all critics now, buzzing away  but then we always have been.
S an Francisco has Silicon Valley; London has Silicon Roundabout. Next? LAs Silicon Beach. Nicknamed the coolest place in America, Venices star continues to rise. With the likes of Google, VICE, YouTube and Snapchat moving into the citys Venice neighbourhood, the haven for hippies has a rapidly growing tech scene where new-gen cool kids rub shoulders with some of the industrys biggest power players.

Where to stay

One Fine Stay is the grown-ups Airbnb, with a beautiful portfolio of properties in the Venice area, from studios off Electric Avenue to family-friendly spaces in Pacific Palisades. Theres also the Rose Hotel, which is set to relaunch this summer with 23 rooms and suites furnished with pieces sourced from the Rose Bowl flea market. (onefinestay.com; therosehotelvenice.com)

The Rose Hotel

What to see

A sea of shredded abs and toned torsos awaits on Venices famous Muscle Beach. Once a favourite haunt for a young Arnold Schwarzenegger in his bodybuilding days, the stretch is a prime spot for LAs urban athletes to peacock their skills.

1800 Ocean Front Walk (venicebeach.com)

Where to drink

Kickstart your day with a cup of joe at Blue Bottle or Intelligentsia Coffeebar  both serve superlative brews with old-school service. (bluebottlecoffee.com; intelligentsiacoffee.com)

For something stronger, check out House Beer, founded in 2013 by a band of brothers who wanted to create a truly modern American lager. Now its on tap all over LA, from Whole Foods to the Ace Hotel. (housebeer.us)

Venice Beach Skate Park

Where to eat

Gjelina is a Venice institution. Go for the wood-fired pizza, topped with house-smoked charcuterie. Sister deli Gjusta has the best banana bread in town.

1429 Abbot Kinney Blvd (gjelina.com); 320 Sunset Ave (gjusta.com)

Wallflower is set in a sexy industrial space on Rose Avenue. Chef Harryson Tobing specialises in South East Asian food and does a mean char siu pork belly.

609 Rose Ave (wallflowervenice.com)

Where to shop

Abbot Kinney Boulevard has the best lifestyle and fashion stores. Go to Rag & Bone at 1118 for LA cool-girl denim (rag-bone.com); Urbanic Paper Boutique at 1644 for smart stationery (urbanicpaper.com);

Kit and Ace at 1130 for athleisurewear in lightweight cashmere (kitandace.com)

Paper goods at Urbanic

How to get there

Virgin Atlantic flies direct to Los Angeles International airport. For seasonal fares, visit virgin-atlantic.com

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter: @EsMagOfficial
L ondon is in the throes of a chemsex epidemic that is destroying parts of the gay community. Not only is it causing levels of HIV and STIs to soar uncontrollably, it is creating a new addiction that has devastating consequences, according to recovering chemsex addict Jack Sutherland. Using club drugs such as crystal meth, mephedrone and GHB (a solvent otherwise used to degrease industrial machinery) massively enhances sex drives, lowers inhibitions and makes dopamine levels go through the roof. So its no surprise its become an integral part of Londons gay club scene.

You only need to get on Grindr or any other sex app, theres always someone looking for a chem hook-up, no matter what time or day of the week, says Sutherland. People come to London to be gay. A lot of them are young and naive and get caught up in drugs, which are relatively inexpensive and accessible. Its glamorous: hot bodies, no shirts on in a club and then 10 hours of what they call a chill-out. My understanding is that excessive amounts of crystal meth and GHB create about 2,600 whatever levels of dopamine. A normal sexual encounter is less than 10 per cent of that. Its such an extreme that this isnt even going to register. In other words, for anyone who gets addicted, sex without the chems becomes impossible.

Sutherland, a former bodyguard and PA to Michael Stipe of REM, drag artist Ru Paul and Mickey Rourke, has written an extraordinarily frank memoir about his addiction and recovery, called Stars, Cars and Crystal Meth. We meet at Shaka Zulu in Camden, where he works as head of security. With his shaven head, neatly trimmed beard, tattooed arms and broad shoulders, he looks every inch the bouncer, although he speaks with a surprisingly gentle, almost West Country burr and occasionally pats his rounded belly, a result, he says, of binge-eating biscuits by the packet at night. Not ideal, but better than what he was doing before.

Sutherland has written an extraordinarily frank memoir about his addiction and recovery / Daniel Hambury

As a chronicle of chemsex orgies and hook-ups, crystal meth addiction, two suicide attempts and a bipolar disorder, Sutherlands book is sensational and eye-wateringly candid. In person he appears to be no less open, particularly when talking about the sheer amount of sex he had. It was probably the equivalent of 15 straight men. How many partners? I couldnt even count, he replies flatly, neither ashamed nor proud. Thousands? Yes, easily, easily. Tens of thousands? Yeah, I dont know, Ive been very sexually active. Id miss work sometimes and go out pure cruising all night long. How many encounters would that involve? In a day? Maybe 15, 20 or 25, although not necessarily coming to a climax.

Sutherland describes becoming so animal-horny at chemsex parties that hed have sex for days on end with strangers he wouldnt normally find attractive. When youre on it, you have no inhibitions, youre not afraid. And then when youre sober and back in reality, you think, Ive had sex with six random strangers six times in 12 hours, what have I done? Part of the problem is that prEP and PEP [pre and post-prophylaxis] drugs means you dont need to be afraid of HIV any more. While Sutherland himself has always been a top, active rather than passive, he has never tested positive.

Adopted at birth by academics John and Guilland Sutherland, Sutherland has been in and out of therapy and rehab  and relapsed several times. Today he manages his bipolarity with quetiapine and will have been sober for three years in July thanks to an intuitive recovery course he went on at Camdens Margarete Centre. He attends two NA (Narcotics Anonymous) meetings a week.

"When youre sober and back in reality, you think, Ive had sex with six random strangers six times in 12 hours, what have I done?"

While the most unsettling consequence of his addiction has been his loss of libido, the crystal meth has also destroyed his teeth (three fell out while he was doing the book). He reckons his final dental bill will top 30,000.

In spite of coming out as gay to his parents and close friends years ago, Sutherland remains sexually conflicted, calling himself more the Ronnie Kray style of gay than Stephen Fry. This book will effectively out him to his colleagues, about which hes incredibly nervous. At work they dont have a clue. The security industry is very male-dominated and masculine, especially on club doors. However, several months into his therapy he had a breakthrough. I realised my biggest issue wasnt being gay, it was the rejection at being adopted and the fact that my [biological] mother didnt want me. Although hes been tempted to track her down  he knows her name  hes too scared of being rejected a second time. Ive got friends who are adopted and weve got this secret pact where we understand each other; no one else gets it, he says, his voice wavering. Today Im very angry. I can understand that, on paper, what she did was brave but I cant imagine a mother giving her child away to a complete stranger. His eyes well up.

For the past four years Sutherland has lived with his partner Jeison Valencia, who is 25, Colombian and works at Harrods. They met almost five years ago and formed a civil partnership in 2012. Sutherland credits Valencia with helping him get sober. Jeison is my best friend, my love and my saviour. But their relationship is platonic. Im 42 and the fact that sex doesnt work for me is really depressing. Some people say you can retrain your brain to have enjoyable sex but I dont know. He goes on to explain, bizarrely, that he still uses Grindr to try out the occasional anonymous hook-up. Its distinctive bleep goes off on his phone at least once during our interview. I keep hoping that with the right person and set-up Ill get horny, but it doesnt happen.

But this doesnt bother him unduly. Im still an addict but Im not powerless over drugs and alcohol and today Im happier than Ive ever been. Even so, this is hardly a book youd want your parents to read, which makes it all the more extraordinary that it was ghosted by his own father, John Sutherland, an esteemed academic, former chair of the Man Booker Prize and professor of English at UCL.

Why did they do it together? Our motives were very different. My father probably wouldnt admit it but hes a compulsive writer and wanted to write a top-selling book with a glamorous story. The final chapter on his recovery is the only part Sutherland himself wrote, and for him by far the most important.

"How many partners? I couldnt even count. Thousands? Yes, easily, easily.

And although Prof Sutherland has written many a literary tome, his most memorable remains his own confessional memoir, Last Drink to LA (2001), in which he describes how he hit his rock bottom (more than 30 years ago) after waking up in bed beside an African-American man with an amputated penis. Still, Sutherland has nothing but admiration for his father. No matter how Ive fucked up my life, hes always taken my hand and said well work it out. I wouldnt be here today if it werent for him. Notably absent from the book is Sutherlands mother, an editor at the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. My mum didnt agree with the book but what I love about her is that after hearing my reasons why, she supports it.

Apprehensive as he is at the prospect of publication, Sutherlands main purpose of the book is to help other addicts. I want to let people know that however bad you are, however long youve been in active addiction, you can get your life back. If I can help one person still suffering, it has to be worth it.

Stars, Cars and Crystal Meth is published on March 17 by Faber (12.99)
N ine people have been charged with conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and money laundering offences after police swooped on a dozen addresses across London and Essex.

Officers seized more than 300,000 cash, approximately 10 kilos of cocaine and a number of vehicles when they executed search warrants on Tuesday.

The raids came after a joint investigation by the National Crime Agency and Metropolitan Police Service Organised Crime Partnership (OCP).

Following the long-running investigation, it is alleged that members of the criminal group supplied controlled drugs across London using mopeds, under the pretence that they were learning the taxi 'knowledge' to avoid detection from law enforcement.

Niall Kellaghan, 28, from New Eltham, Joseph Maloney, 32, from Shoreditch, Dean Standen, 32, from Eltham, Jack Lynam, 26, from Surrey Quays all appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court this morning.

Appearing in the dock alongside them were Jay Tripp, 33, from Fyfield in Essex, Frederick Jennings, 19, from Lewisham, and Daniel Ward, 32, from Beckenham.

Thelma Flaherty, 60, from Surrey Quays and Daniel Harris, 32, from Theydon Bois in Epping also faced charges at the same court.

All nine have been charged with conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and money laundering.

Eight were remanded in custody until their next appearance on April 1 at the Old Bailey, while Frederick Jennings was released on bail until the same date.

A further three people  a 60-year-old man from Walworth, a 31-year-old man from Shoreditch and a 32-year-old woman from Epping have been bailed for three months pending further enquiries.

Head of the Organised Crime Partnership Spencer Barnett said: We will continue to work in collaboration with our partners to identify and investigate serious criminality and bring offenders to justice.
A City worker was arrested after he lost it with rail staff as tempers flared during a night of chaos on parts of Londons train network.

Police were called after reports that two rail workers had been assaulted at Cannon Street station shortly after 9pm. The commuter, who was dressed in a blue suit and carrying a black briefcase, was seen trying to go back through the barriers after the alleged clash on platform five.

Commuters said they were prevented from leaving the station as staff and police sought to resolve the incident.

It followed hours of chaos as the network struggled to recover from an electrical fault which damaged part of the line near New Cross.

Commuter chaos: Waterloo station / Nigel Howard

Services to and from Cannon Street, Charing Cross, London Bridge and Waterloo East were thrown into disarray. Delays, diversions and cancellations led to packed platforms.

Other stations, including Waterloo, were also busy as the network creaked under the growing number of commuters.

James Perrett, 25, witnessed the incident at Cannon Street and described how the middle-aged commuter allegedly confronted staff. Mr Perrett, who works at a retail office in the West End, said: I couldnt believe what I was seeing. He was clearly a high-flying City worker who had just lost it. People were shouting after him to stop as he went back through the barriers.

A message came out over the station tannoy saying a member of staff had been assaulted and no-one should leave the station until the suspect had been located.

British Transport Police said a man was reported to have spat on the floor and swung a bag at rail staff.

'Mayhem': Frustrated commuters wait for trains at Cannon Street / Mark Williams

A spokesman added: A 46-year-old man from Blackheath was spoken to by officers, and all parties have agreed for the incident to be resolved by community resolution. The individual was briefly arrested.

TV producer Jackie Mendez, 54, was at Waterloo East, where she said the situation was abysmal.

Her usual 40-minute trip home to West Wickham took two hours. She said: There were no announcements so people were screaming at staff to let them know what was happening.

Frustrated passengers took to social media to express their anger at the delays. Evelina Petitto wrote: Southeastern worse than ever tonight. Packed like sardines, people travelling in the toilet. #shame.

A joint statement from Network Rail and Southeastern said an electrical fault near New Cross damaged rail and signalling equipment on lines from Charing Cross to south London and Kent, leading to disruption.

Engineers worked through the day to reopen the line for rush hour but there was still a major knock-on effect on later services.

The firms added: We apologise for the disruption.
T housands of council tenants have been overcharged for water and sewage services, say lawyers who brought a High Court test case.

A judge ruled that Southwark council charged one tenant an amount that exceeded the "maximum charge" allowed.

Mr Justice Newey said his ruling was "of considerable importance" because numerous tenants could be affected, and the case could also have implications for other landlords.

Lawyers said approximately 37,000 tenants were affected by the case, and the ruling could provide a lifeline for individuals at risk of losing their homes due to arrears.

The judge said for decades Southwark had collected from many of its tenants charges to properties for water supplies provided by Thames Water Authority, and then Thames Water Utilities Ltd.

The charges were challenged by one tenant, Kim Jones, represented by solicitors firm Deighton Pierce Glynn and Martin Westgate QC.

The judge said the question raised by her challenge was whether Southwark had charged tenants more than was permissible under the 2006 Water Resale Order.

A key issue was whether the authority had been acting "as an agent", or had "bought and re-sold water and sewerage services".

The judge said that, at least until 2013, "the relationship between Thames Water and Southwark was not one of true agency but rather involved Southwark buying water and sewerage services form Thames Water and re-selling them to its tenants.

"As a result, the 2006 Order applied and served to limit what tenants could be charged.

"The amount that Southwark charged Miss Jones exceeded the 'maximum charge' allowed under the 2006 Order."

Deighton Pierce Glynn said in a statement that the council had overcharged approximately 37,000 tenants "because tenants have been required to pay water and sewerage charges to Southwark council that are significantly in excess of the amount Southwark is liable to pay to Thames Water".

The statement said a further High Court hearing will take place to decide whether the overcharging ended in July 2013, when the council and Thames Water changed the nature of their relationship, or whether it is continuing.

The solicitors said: "The most immediate effect of the judgment is that Southwark council tenants at risk of losing their homes due to arrears are likely to have a defence that at least some of their arrears are due to unlawful overcharging."

Richard Livingstone, Southwark council's cabinet member for housing, said the ruling would not benefit anyone and the authority was considering its next steps.

Mr Livingstone said: "We are very disappointed with this decision. Southwark council, along with many other council landlords and housing associations, has been providing a service to Thames Water by billing tenants for their water, and collecting their payments.

"We have received a commission to cover our administration costs and the risk of non-payment, and any surplus has gone back into the housing revenue account which pays for improvements to tenants' homes and investment in new homes."

Mr Livingstone added: "If the council terminates the relationship with Thames Water, tenants will be charged exactly the same as they are now but will be responsible for sorting out their own water bill, and there will be a financial loss to the council's Housing Revenue Account of 2.3m, which will have a detrimental impact on service provision."

Additional reporting by the Press Association.
A nightclub popular with celebrtities has had its opening hours slashed after a gang brawl which saw up to five people knocked unconscious.

Love & Liquor, a favourite with stars including Rita Ora and Tinie Tempah, had its licence reviewed last week following a massive brawl on the dancefloor which spilled out into a riot on Kilburn High Road.

The venue has been trying to market itself as a West End-style nightclub in recent times, police said, but they warned of further serious violence if things did not change.

CCTV footage played at the meeting showed at least five people who appeared to be left unconscious in the fight between two rival gangs last November, with one person subjected to what police called a most ferocious attack.

A catering company boss who claimed he was bottled and feel to the floor during the violence later told police: There were just constant kicks and punches as I was on the ground.

Upmarket clientele: Love & Liquor in a publicity photo

I couldnt get up nor could I get out until someone dragged me out to the toilets.

After a meeting at Camden town hall last week, a string of licensing conditions were imposed on the club, including having its closing time brought forward from 3am to 1am.

Its CCTV coverage has to improve, drinks must be served in plastic cups rather than glasses after 9pm three days a week and flat surfaces in the toilet cubicles have to be designed out to prevent drug use.

Michael Bromley-Martin, on behalf of the club, had argued that a new person was ready to takeover, investing 500,000 in the venue, renaming it as The Hudson, changing its music policy and transforming the whole business model.

But he claimed the clampdown on opening hours would make the new business plan unviable.

The Standard has approached Love & Liquor for comment.
A London doctor left critically injured after being hit by a lorry in Las Vegas has been flown back to the UK.

Dr Sebastian Kola-Bankole, 35, from Camden, was left fighting for life after being struck yards from the Hard Rock Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip on February 15.

The NHS doctor underwent several operations on his spine, ears and arteries and his friends set up a GoFundMe page to cover the costs of the expensive US medical treatment, along with his repatriation back to the UK.

Writing on the fundraising page, friend Alexander Ademokun confirmed that Dr Kola-Bankole had today safely returned to the UK.

He posted: He landed this afternoon and has been transferred to intensive care for assessment.

So caring: Dr Sebastian Kola-Bankole from the Royal London Hospital,

I can't thank you all enough for your support to help bring Seb home, we genuinely wouldn't be here without all of you.

I also want to thank the doctors that looked after him in the US, they've done an incredible job and we are all grateful.

I also want to say a massive thank you to all Seb's friends and colleagues in the NHS who have rallied round to make things happen here.

We are so grateful and proud to have an NHS.

The fundraising page, which was set up less than two weeks ago, has raised almost 200,000.
T hree so-called 'grotspots' in London have been picked to receive a timely spring clean ahead of the Queens 90th birthday.

Church Lane in Tooting, South Road in Erith and Queen Caroline's Draw Dock in Hammersmith were selected for a spruce-up.

They were among 12 of the country's most litter-blighted areas selected as part of the 'Clean for the Queen' campaign.

The scheme aims to encourage volunteers to clear the streets so the country is at its best for Her Majestys birthday celebrations.

Adrian Evans, the campaign's director, said: "Why do so many people chuck away what they should really be putting in a bin?

"We're trying to play our part in saying 'listen guys, throw away responsibly'."

According to Keep Britain Tidy, more than two million pieces of rubbish are dropped on UK streets every day, an increase of 500 per cent since the 1960s.

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The cost of the clear-up leaves councils with a bill of nearly 1bn a year.

Local authorities have welcomed the initiative as many have had to reduce services in the face of budget cuts.

Thousands are set to take part in the clean-up campaign over the weekend.

The Queen's 90th birthday is on April 21 before an official celebration in June.
A university student was left devastated after being told she could not defer her exams after her father died abroad.

Saima Haq, 18, wrote to the University of Westminster asking to sit her March exams in July following the sudden death of her father Amir Ul Haq in Tanzania.

But the first year biochemisty student said despite showing the university the burial permit, they refused her claim for mitigating circumstances because the evidence was not sufficient to support her request.

Miss Haq told the Standard: I was in shock that they rejected me so soon and with no sympathy.

I understand the policy is in place to treat all students equally, but not every student has a parent die abroad.

In a case like this, they should have taken the initiative to just accept that it's not easy for us to provide original documents right now.

Response: The University of Westminster said Miss Haq's claim was not mitigating circumstances / Saima Haq

Miss Haq, who lives in Hounslow, said she was asked to explain why the documents were not original copies.

She said: In a country like Tanzania, it is not a simple process to obtained typed up documents translated into English.

The medical report I gave was handwritten, which the uni have said does not have a clear medical opinion, even though it has been stamped by the hospital.

To add insult to injury, Miss Haq said the university sent her eight separate rejection emails for the eight exams she asked to defer.

A University of Westminster spokesman said: We are very sad for her loss, but cannot comment on individual students due to data protection.

However, we have clear and robust procedures for students submitting exam deferral requests, which must be substantiated by original, independent documentary evidence.

Students fully complying with this procedure will be granted deferral.

We are committed to proving support and guidance to our students, especially during difficult times and bereavement, and offer a wide range of academic and personal support services.
Z ac Goldsmith, the Conservative mayoral candidate, has said he is torn on whether to back compulsory sex education for all London schools.

He said he is struggling with the issue because he is a strong supporter of free schools, which are independent and so not obliged to teach the subject.

In an interview with PinkNews, Mr Goldsmith said that even though there are some communities in London with views on homosexuality that are not as mainstream or as accepting as the majority, he could not commit to backing mandatory sex education which would teach all children it is acceptable to be gay.

He said that religious views should be between individuals and God, adding: I dont think its for you or me or law to interfere and regulate that set of beliefs, but where your beliefs begin to have an impact on wider society, its a different matter.

He added he wants to be a pansexual mayor, saying: I want to be  I would use the term pansexual here, if my understanding is correct. The Mayor for all of London. London is a beautiful, big, diverse city and needs a Mayor that can speak for everyone.

Asked to define the term pansexual, Mr Goldsmith said it is someone who loves the world, surely? Is that right?

He said of sex education: I struggle with this issue. I struggle with it because on the one level, I want the outcome that good-quality sex and relationship education provides, but on another level, Im very, very strongly supportive of the Governments free schools agenda, which allows parents to set the ethos and the direction of schools.

"I think its the right policy. I backed it very strongly in Parliament, I backed it very strongly in my constituency.

He added: Im torn on the issue about mandating what schools would do because for me it goes against the grain, and its something that I think the Mayor working with local authorities should be able to identify and target areas and schools where that approach doesnt work  as opposed to having a one size fits all approach.

Asked who his gay icon is, he said: Kylie Minogue, you cant go wrong with that.
B oris Johnson today launched a devastating new attack on David Camerons EU deal, saying it condemns Britain to be stuck hook, line and sinker in an un-reformed Europe.

In an interview with the Evening Standard, he said the country will have no bargaining power left if it votes to stay in the European Union on terms that meant no real change.

We will never be able credibly to argue for any reform in Europe again, he warned, adding Britain would be the frog in the boiling saucepan of water. He went on: We will be signed up to this thing lock, stock and barrel  hook, line and sinker.

The Tory truce on Europe shattered today when Liam Fox, the former Defence Secretary, suggested that Mr Cameron will have to resign as Prime Minister if the public votes Leave on June 23. Asked if the PM could stay after losing, he replied: Yes, constitutionally, of course. Downing Street is insisting that Mr Camerons position would not be affected, fearing that his critics may turn the EU referendum into a showdown on the Tory leaders future. Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith attacked the spin and smear tactics of the Remain campaign, saying the acrimony will I fear have consequences long beyond 23 June.

The City of London Corporation, the Square Miles local authority, last night formally backed a vote to Remain. Policy chairman Mark Boleat said City firms of all sizes and in different sectors are voicing their concerns about the risks of leaving.

Labours Chuka Umunna piled in: This is a humiliation for Boris Johnson. The City has made a clear statement that jobs are safer with Britain in Europe.

TODO: define component type apester

Downing Street has effectively taken control of the Remain campaign, co-ordinating powerful interventions by business leaders, military figures and even foreign leaders.

Mr Johnson insisted his relations with the Prime Minister were always friendly. Asked about Mr Camerons attack on him in the Commons  which included a jibe about him using the vote to further his ambitions  Mr Johnson claimed: I didnt actually notice. I was so wrapped up in meditation on the European treaties that Im afraid, whatever it was, passed me by. He told the Evening Standard that he finally lost hope that Mr Cameron would restore the sovereignty of parliament after the PM produced drafts of proposals for a new law supposed to make Westminster over-ride the European Court of Justice. It became obvious that the whole exercise was just, you know, circular, he said. It all ends up as an elaborate attempt to suck and blow at once... It just doesnt work.

He said prospects were not encouraging for Mr Camerons deal to be honoured in full by the EU.

Mr Johnson told of his frustration that EU regulations stopped him from doing his job effectively as Mayor. He revealed that City Hall was almost forced to spend hundreds of millions on digging wider tunnels for Crossrail 1 so German trains could use them. What a load of cobblers, he said. You are not going to get German trains running on Crossrail. He criticised regulations for blocking him from requiring safer lorries because Renault doesnt yet have its models ready. So, female cyclists get crushed because those tipper trucks are not designed to save lives, said the Mayor.
P olice are appealing for help to trace a 12-year-old girl who has gone missing after becoming embroiled in family court proceedings.

A High Court judge decided earlier this week that identity of Arisara "Zara" Miles could be revealed so that the public could help to trace her.

Mr Justice Baker, who is based in the Family Division of the High Court in London, said police should make the youngster's details public.

Police said Zara and her father Trevor Miles left their home in Exeter, Devon, on November 10 last year and flew to Bangkok, Thailand.

Officers said her whereabouts were not known and an international investigation had been mounted.

A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police said Mr Miles had failed to attend a meeting arranged by Devon County Council to address concerns about Zara's welfare.

He said officers were working with international police agencies to try to locate Zara and ensure her safe return to the UK.

"We are concerned for the welfare of Zara and it is important that both she and her father return to the UK," he said.

"We are appealing to the public for any information which may lead to locating Zara - her safety and well-being is the highest priority at this time."
T he baby of a woman stabbed in Sutton Coldfield town centre has been born in hospital.

Police said the baby is doing well but the childs 40-year-old mother remains in a critical condition following the attack in Trinity Hill on Friday afternoon.

She was taken to hospital by air ambulance at about 4pm after being stabbed in the town centre.

In a statement, West Midlands Police said: The baby has been born is hospital and is doing well.

The 40-year-old victim remains in a critical condition.

A 41-year-old man was arrested in connection with the attack and remains in custody, West Midlands Police said.

Earlier Chief Inspector Julian Harper told reporters: "They [the man and woman] are believed known to each other.

Two members of the public - both men - suffered minor injuries after intervening and are being treated.

Mr Harper praised those who came to the woman's aid.

He said: "I would certainly like to give a big thanks to those individuals who have got involved, those members of the public who have dived into a volatile situation with complete disregard for their own safety and their actions should be commended.

Anyone with information should call police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
A British tourist and his French friend have been arrested after they posed for naked pictures at Perus world famous Machu Picchu ruins.

According to local media the men, identified as Adam Burton, 23, and Eric Xavier Mariec, 28, were detained after they removed their clothes and used a mobile phone to take photographs.

The men were then taken to a police station and were later charged with moral misconduct, according to reports.

A spokeman for the Foreign Office said it was in contact with authorities in Peru "following an incident involving a British national in Machu Pichu".

Adam Burton, 23, and Eric Xavier Mariec, 28 were photographed naked at Machu Picchu Police Region Cusco / Police Region Cusco

Surveillance was increased at the Machu Picchu ruins in 2014 after a surge of nude photos were taken at the Unesco World Heritage site.

The citadel was built at the height of the Inca Empire in the 15th century / AFP/Getty Images

The citadel stands 2,430 metres (7,972ft) above sea level and was built at the height of the Inca Empire in the 15th century.

Last June, British woman Eleanor Hawkins, 23, from Derby, was jailed for three days along with three other tourists when they posed naked on a mountain in Malaysia.

The group was charged with causing a public nuisance.
D rinking six coffees a day could dramatically cut your chances of developing multiple sclerosis, a study claims.

Consuming more than 900ml - the equivalent of two Grande coffees in Starbucks or six small cups of the drink - may offer up to a 30 per cent reduced risk, experts found.

The neurological condition affects more than 100,000 people in the UK and most often occurs from the ages of 20 to 40.

Symptoms including fatigue, vision problems and difficulty walking.

Researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Johns Hopkins University in Maryland and the University of California, Berkeley, examined data from two studies which tracked people with and without MS, comparing their coffee intakes.

Results showed the risk of MS was consistently higher among people who drank fewer cups of coffee every day in both studies.

In a Swedish study, those drinking 900ml of coffee daily had a 28 to 30 per cent lower risk of developing MS, with a similar range shown in US research.

Scientists think caffeine, which is known to help protect the nervous system and has been shown to suppress inflammatory responses in the body, could be the key to why coffee has an effect.

The authors, writing in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, stressed theirs was an observational study, so no firm conclusions could be drawn about cause and effect.

But they concluded: "Lower odds of MS with increasing consumption of coffee were observed, regardless of whether coffee consumption at disease onset or five or 10 years prior to disease onset was considered.

"In accordance with studies in animal models of MS, high consumption of coffee may decrease the risk of developing MS."

Dr Emma Gray, head of clinical trials at the MS Society, said: "This study provides new evidence that the link between the risk of developing MS and coffee consumption is worth exploring.

"There are more than 100,000 people with MS in the UK and we don't yet fully understand what causes it.

"While more studies are needed in this area, we welcome any research that offers new insights into risk factors for MS."
A huge site which is home to historic nuclear bunkers in Berkshire could be yours after it was put up for rent.

The site - billed as a secure storage facility  was previously home to the famous Greenham Common Airbase.

It is described in an advert on property website Rightmove as offering "probably the most secure above ground storage in the UK".

The bunkers are made from reinforced concrete and sit on a 1,679 sq ft area of land surrounded by secure fencing.

Situated near Newbury, the bunkers have been listed on Rightmove - although the price is only available on asking.

The advert also states that planning permission has been granted for a huge car park on the site.

Greenham Common airbase, which first opened in 1942, was made famous by the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp anti-nuclear protest which was held outside its gates in the 1980s.

The airfield was used by both the Royal Air Force and United States Army Air Forces during the Second World War, and by the United States Air Force during the Cold War.

Placed by Quintons in Newbury, the advert reads: "The bunkers and igloos are the former nuclear missile silos for the former Greenham Common Airbase.

"The bunkers are constructed of concrete with steel doors and are considered to be highly secure, probably the most secure above ground storage in the UK.

"The bunkers occupy part of a site which again is secure with quadruple fencing. The remaining land has planning consent for over 6,000 cars."

In 1993, two years after the Cold War came to an end, the infamous airbase was declared surplus to requirements by the Secretary of State for Defence and the facility was closed and put up for sale.
A dog seized by police was allegedly kept in kennels without exercise for two years.

Rottweiler Vinnie was impounded in 2013. According to the BBC, the trained guard dog attacked three people.

It is the second case to emerge within months in which a dog seized by officers has been kept in kennels for years.

The Rottweiler was held in the same private kennels as a pit bull called Stella, seized by Devon and Cornwall Police in 2014.

Stella had been kept in a 3ft by 9ft cage since she was taken in by the force.

Police said the illegal pit bull breed was the only dog too dangerous to walk due to her aggressive behaviour" out of the "hundreds" it had seized in the last two years under the Dangerous Dogs Act.

Such cases were extremely rare, police added.

The BBC reported Vinnie had been trained as a guard dog and police said he was used to attack three people.

In a statement issued to the BBC, police said: "Vinnie the Rottweiler was a dog seized and placed into kennels in 2013.

"Vinnie was a legal breed and was seized after it had bitten three people. Later the courts granted a destruction order on the dog who was put to sleep in the early to mid part of 2015.

"Within the last 100 dogs we have seized only Stella was deemed too dangerous to be exercised and instructions given to the kennel specifically in relation to this.

"It is important to stress that despite the very best effort of the police, the judicial process is not accelerated when a dog is placed in kennels. This is immensely frustrating for the police who hold animal welfare in the highest regard."

According to RSPCA guidelines, provided to all police forces, dogs must receive at least 30 minutes exercise away from their kennel at least once a day.
O ne of Nigerias most senior ministers has raised hopes of a breakthrough in the hunt for more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by Islamist terror group Boko Haram.

Lai Mohammed, minister for information and culture, told the Standard that valuable time had been lost since 276 girls were abducted in Chibok in Borno state in April 2014 in what had become a national embarrassment.

But he claimed that successes by the Nigerian army had decimated Boko Haram and created the prospect of new leads about the 219 girls who remain missing.

Mr Mohammeds comments, in an interview in the capital Abuja, came as campaigners in Nigeria and international researchers warned that girls and women forced into sex with Boko Haram fighters were being ostracised after their release. Children born as a result of rape by the terror group are being branded hyenas among dogs, a report states.

There is conflicting evidence about the danger that Boko Haram still poses in north-eastern Nigeria, seven years after it began military operations to create an Islamic state in 2009. Nigerias president Muhammadu Buhari claims the group has been technically defeated but it continues to mount suicide bombings and other attacks.

A military offensive has pushed Boko Haram out of several states and Mr Mohammed said the armys successes made him optimistic of progress in the search for the Chibok schoolgirls.

We lost a lot of valuable time. Its a bad situation. Its a national embarrassment, he said. We will continue and as we dismantle them [Boko Haram] I think we will make a breakthrough. He insisted that victory was being achieved as he highlighted army advances in Borno state and its main town Maiduguri. This time last year 70 per cent of Borno was controlled by Boko Haram. It will take a while for the violence to stop but all of the roads to Maiduguri are open now. They can no longer launch attacks like before.

He added: When you decimate them you cannot fight them like a regular army. They now attack soft targets What the government is doing is improving intelligence gathering, prevention. The scale of destruction is such that it will take many years to rebuild.

Education minister Adamu Adamu expressed concern about the influence of Islamic State, to which Boko Haram has pledged allegiance. He said: Part of the problem is the internationalisation of the problem with Isis. While the Nigerian government seeks to counter Boko Haram militarily, a national stability and reconciliation programme, supported by the British Council, has begun to help victims of conflict and prevent further violence.

One of those leading the work is Hamsatu Allamin, a 58-year-old mother and human rights campaigner based in Maiduguri who tries to reintegrate women and girls freed from Boko Haram. She says her aim is to persuade community and Islamic leaders that the women are victims, not a threat. Some have babies, some are pregnant, and they dont get access to services because they are stigmatised, said Ms Allamin, who helped organise the Bring Back Our Girls campaign. She added: I use a faith approach and ask people what does the Prophet say  they are victims so how can you help?

Research by London-based organisation International Alert and Unicef states that children born of sexual violence are at even greater risk of rejection, abandonment and violence. Their report says some freed women are referred to as annoba, or epidemics, and that popular cultural beliefs about bad blood and witchcraft form the basis of this fear.

About 1.5 million Nigerians from the north-eastern states affected by Boko Haram continue to shelter in refugee camps because they are unconvinced that it is safe to return to their homes.

Paul Arkwright, Britains High Commissioner for Nigeria, said he was optimistic about this country and about President Buhari, while cautioning that Boko Haram are still a threat. The view from Maiduguri is more robust. Ms Allamin said: If they can attack communities 5km from Maiduguri, when you are losing men, its shameful. Where you cannot secure lives you have not won the war.@martinbentham
D onald Trump swatted away a barrage of attacks last night from his rivals in the Presidential election by bragging about the size of his manhood.

The billionaire shut down his opponents in the latest Republican debate by saying that he had no problem in the trouser department.

Mr Trump was on the defensive all night and was under fire over his temperament and experience.

Mr Trump appeared to make a remark about the size of his genitals on TV / AP

The mood was ugly and the insults were from the playground with Texas Senator Ted Cruz telling Mr Trump to learn not to interrupt - count to 10.

Donald Trump's most controversial comments

The debate came as the Republican establishment has begun a concerted campaign to stop Mr Trump from becoming their nominee in a civil war with the grassroots who support him.

Earlier in the day Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican Presidential candidate, called Mr Trump a phony, a fraud in a blistering speech.

CNN analyst Gloria Borger said watching the debate was was like watching the Republican party tearing itself apart.

Mr Trumps manhood comment came early on when he took issue with his rival Marco Rubio referring to an old criticism by Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter that he is a short fingered vulgarian

Mr Trump said: I have to say this, he hit my hands. Nobody has ever hit my hands. Ive never heard of this one.

The former host of The Apprentice held up his hands and said: Look at those hands. Are they small hands? If theyre small, something else must be small

Apparently referring to his manhood, he said: I guarantee you theres no problem. I guarantee that.

TODO: define component type apester

Mr Trump was put under intense pressure by moderator Megyn Kelly who screened video clips which showed him changing his mind on the war in Afghanistan, letting in Syrian refugees and the Iraq War.

She said that the real estate mogul claims to tell it how it is but his record showed otherwise.

Mr Trump waffled and rambled for five minutes and seemed unable to come back with a coherent response in one of his worst moments of the campaign.

Miss Kelly said that Mr Trump he had changed his mind so much that voters were entitled to know what his core was.

Mr Trump said: I have a very strong core. Ive never seen a successful person who did not have a degree of flexibility.

The crowd at the debate were the rowdiest yet with people regularly shouting out from the audience.

On stage the candidates often spoke over each other and the moderators had to intervene repeatedly to restore order.

Mr Trump mocked Mr Rubio as Little Marco to which he sarcastically called him Big Donald. Mr Trump called Mr Cruz lyin Ted.

Miss Kelly raised the issue of Trump University which has resulted in an ongoing class action lawsuit from 5,000 people who claimed they were conned out of up to $35,000 each for a worthless education.

She said that an appeal court ruled that the victims were similar to those of crooked financier Bernie Madoff

Mr Rubio, a Florida Senator, seized on this and said: (Trump) is trying to do to the American voter what he did to the people who signed up for this course.

Hes trying to con people into giving them their vote.

Mr Trump shot back that Mr Rubio was the real con artist.

Mr Cruz stepped in and said: Let me just ask the voters at home. Is this the debate you want?

If we nominate Donald, were going to spend the summer and fall with the Republican nominee facing a fraud trial.

Mr Cruz also landed a solid blow by pointing out that Mr Trump had donated money to Hillary Clinton 10 times including four cheques for her failed 2008 Presidential campaign.

Mr Trump responded that as a businessman he had to get along with everyone.

With four candidates left Ohio governor John Kasich got more time to speak and tried to make himself look like the only adult on stage.

His biggest cheer was when he said that voters were yearning for somebody who is going to bring America back, and lets stop fighting.

The debate was the first time Mr Trump had faced Miss Kelly, a Fox News presenter, since last August when she grilled him on his sexist comments in the first Republican debate.

Mr Trump afterwards mocked her as a bimbo, made a crude reference to her being on her period and boycotted the next debate she hosted.

This time Mr Trump was more respectful and said: Nice to be with you. Youre looking well.

Another moment of levity happened when Mr Cruz tried to stop Mr Trump interrupting by saying: I know its hard not to interrupt, breathe, breathe.

Mr Trump replied: Ill breathe to which Mr Rubio said: When theyre done with the yoga can I answer a question.

Mr Trump remains the leader among Republican voters by some margin and leads comfortably in national polls.

He has won 319 of the delegates who will choose their partys Presidential candidate, followed by 226 for Mr Cruz and 110 for Mr Rubio.

The most anticipated primary coming up is Michigan on Tuesday when 59 delegates are up for grabs.

A candidate must win 1,237 delegates to clinch the Republican nomination.
Review at a glance









K ane Robinson emerged not long after Dizzee Rascal and has rapped for Gorillaz, but though the east Londoner has respect, he hasnt yet reached household name status.

Kano - Made in the Manor

His fifth album, his first for six years, stomps around demanding attention in places  the opener, Hail, is a rap-metal revival we could do without, while New Banger and 3 Wheel-ups summon the urgency of the most aggressive grime  but mostly he sounds surprisingly laid-back, even vulnerable.

On Deep Blues, a smouldering piano piece made with Damon Albarn, he castigates himself for being online looking at Rolexes while a friends mum was ill. Strangers is a soulful tune about the mates hes lost along the way.

Best of all, on My Sound he unites horn blasts, a deep bass rumble and a relaxed melodicism to confirm that his sound puts him out on his own in UK rap.

(Parlophone)
Lately people have been fond of saying that theyve never seen a presidential campaign like this one. Theyve never witnessed a presidential candidate like Donald Trump, or Bernie Sanders.

But America has indeed seen candidates with more than a few similarities before, namely their populist approach. Lets discuss two of them.

The first, Huey Long, was a candidate for president in 1935. Nicknamed The Kingfish, Long was governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1932 and a U.S. senator from 1932 until he was assassinated in 1935.

Like Trump, he was called a demagogue and a would-be dictator. Others called him a populist, like our other current anti-establishment candidate Sanders, and some of Longs policies share a similar motivation to those of Bernies.

Long proposed a Share the Wealth program with the motto Every Man a King, where he would redistribute wealth in the country in an effort to eradicate poverty and homelessness during the Great Depression. Part of his plan was to put a limit on how much wealth someone could amass as well as give every family $5,000.

Long was shot a month into his presidential campaign by the son-in-law of a judge who would have lost his seat on the bench if one of Longs plans had succeeded. Yet Longs political machine stayed active for many years after his death. His brother became governor of Louisiana, and small factions of the regime he created are still operating in the 21st century.

Two successful novels were written with the Huey Long story as likely material. It Cant Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis depicted an American dictator who emphasizes patriotism and major economic change. Lewis gives his protagonist populist characteristics  he rises to power on the strength of his charisma and by promising to restore America to greatness and prosperity. His fascist and totalitarian characteristics develop over time.

Robert Penn Warrens All The Kings Men won the Pulitzer Prize in 1947. It tells the story of a southern politicians rise to power in the 1930s. The politician embraces intimidation and corruption, creating powerful enemies, all while his approval ratings climb among the populace, who respond to his passion as much as anything. Warren said the novel was not a fictional retelling of the Long story, but he didnt deny that Long was an influence. The novel was later made into a movie starring Sean Penn.

The second 20th century politician who broke the mold for our current populist candidacy was another southerner, George Wallace. Wallace was the Governor of Alabama for many years from the early 60s into the 80s. He ran for president four times, in 64, 68, 72 and 76. He survived an assassination attempt in 1972 that put him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

Like other men mentioned here, Wallace was considered a populist, but his lasting legacy has been his segregationist positions. He was on the losing side of history when he advocated against African-American civil rights. Another parallel to todays campaign: Wallace was called a fascist and received support from white supremacy groups, including the Ku Klux Klan.

Later in his life, Wallace recanted his segregationist position.

So Trump and Sanders arent unique in American history. What would be different is if a campaign resulted in the United States electing a populist president. That really hasnt happened yet.

Pundits characterize Trumps so-called silent majority as a populist insurgency.

Trumps political confection of nationalism and nativism has mobilized the Republican electorate in ways that make that establishment irrelevant, Al-Jazeera wrote.

The New Yorker called Sanders a populist prophet.

Bernie Sanders has spent decades attacking inequality. Now the country is listening, the magazine said.

However, the National Review disagrees that either candidate is truly populist, writing, They may pay a lot of lip service to the common sense of common people, but when it comes right down to it, both candidates apparently think people are too stupid to make their own choices.

Thats a more cynical take than most. I dont believe that people are hoping that Trump or Sanders will be able to make all their decisions for them. They genuinely believe that these candidates understand them. Theyre so tired of Congressional dysfunction that they want anyone who represents a change from the status quo.

Does Trump actually represent their interests? Or does he just pretend to? That remains to be seen.

Would Sanders policies improve the quality of life of the 99 percent? Or would he destroy our country as we know it? Well probably never find out.

Populism is usually thrown around in political circles as another word for pandering to the masses. Are these guys just telling us what we want to hear? Thats happened before, too.
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In January this year, China s overall finished steel exports amounted to 9.5 million mt, down five percent, with 609,000 metric tons of this volume arriving in Latin America, down 48 percent, both on year-on-year basis, according to Alacero, the Latin American steel association. Accordingly, in the given month Latin Americas share in China s finished steel exports decreased from 11.6 percent to 6.4 percent year on year.
Friday, 04 March 2016 17:41:22 (GMT+3) | Istanbul

Demand for import flat steel in Turkey is still slack this week, while import flat steel offers to Turkey have continued to increase due to the rising movement of prices of raw material and semi-finished steel products. However, since prices of import and domestic flat steel are almost the same in the Turkish market, buyers prefer locally produced flat steel due to price and delivery time advantages.

While ex-Ukraine hot rolled coil (HRC) prices to Turkey have increased by $5/mt week on week to $305-310/mt CFR for April production , Ukrainian cold rolled coil (CRC) offers to Turkey for April production have risen by $40/mt to $370-380/mt CFR as compared to March production

On the other hand, Russian producers - who are faced with new dumping margins of 9.42-13.66 percent resulting from the antidumping trade case for HRC exports to Turkey - have not made any HRC offers to the Turkish market this week, while ex-Russia CRC offers for April production are expected to be announced at increased levels in the coming week.




Friday, 04 March 2016 21:17:58 (GMT+3) | Sao Paulo

A source from a major Brazilian rebar producer told SteelOrbis that the company will export around 7,000 mt per month of rebar to African and South American countries over the next three months.





According to the source, the exports cover a few grades and thicknesses, but chiefly the CA-50, 10mm thickness product, at an average FOB price of $332/mt.





The source mentioned that the domestic demand for rebar is facing a heavy decline, estimated at 35 percent on a yearly basis, due to the crisis affecting the Brazilian civil construction market.





With the crisis, we had no alternative other than increasing exports, he said, adding that the other domestic producers are expected to do the same.




Friday, 04 March 2016 12:04:00 (GMT+3) | Istanbul

Demand for Turkish merchant bar in the export market is still slack, while merchant bar prices have increased by another $30/mt during the past week after the deals concluded following the $10/mt rise seen in merchant bar export prices during the previous week. The upward movement seen in import scrap and semi-finished steel quotations in Turkey has continued in the same period, supporting the rises seen in Turkish merchant bar export prices.



Export offers from Turkish merchant bar producers are at the following levels:

Product Price ($/mt) FOB Angle 390-410 IPN-UPN 400-420 Flat bar 410-430 IPE 400-420

All prices are on FOB basis and for April shipment.
In The Boy and the Beast, the latest animated feature from Japanese director Mamoru Hosoda (Wolf Children), a street urchin is taken in and raised by anthropomorphic animals. But it is the world of man, not beast, that makes this coming-of-age movie most touching.

The son of divorced parents, 9-year-old Ren (voice of Luci Christian) takes to the streets after his mother dies in an accident. Through an alley, he stumbles onto a parallel world where hes taught discipline by Kumatetsu (Jon Swasey), a volatile bear-like creature.

The films first act is an uninspired fantasy variation on The Karate Kid, as Ren  renamed Kyuta  is tutored not by a human elder, but an animal.

Unfortunately, the character design of the animals is, by comparison, flat and underdeveloped. Watching the lion-man Iozen (Sean Hennigan), you might find yourself wishing that his mane would shift in the wind a little bit as he moves.

After Kyuta has grown from feral child to awkward young man (Eric Vale), our hero spends more time among humans, where he meets Kaeda (Bryn Apprill), a teenage girl who, like him, also feels like an outcast. The dynamic between these lost teens lends the film needed emotional weight.

Ultimately, Kyuta must choose between living in the world of beasts or humans. Despite the films fantastical elements, his choice is easy: The human conflicts are more resonant.
ST. LOUIS  A jury in federal court here Friday awarded $2.5 million to a man who spent five years in prison in a case that involved two former St. Louis police officers, one of whom was convicted of stealing money and planting drugs.

Finally, after 13 years of fighting, Ive got exoneration  in my eyes, Michael Holmes said after the verdict. He called it a measure of exoneration because although his conviction was reversed, he is still fighting to be declared innocent.

Holmes claimed in his lawsuit and on the witness stand that former officers Shell Sharp and Bobby Lee Garrett, lied when they said that they found him with drugs in a 2003 raid.

Holmes was later charged, convicted at trial and sentenced to 20 years for crack possession and five more years for possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, despite proclaiming his innocence.

His 2007 appeal was rejected.

But both officers reputations were called into question in 2008 and 2009. Defense lawyers said Sharp lied on search warrants, and prosecutors later dismissed some of his cases. Federal prosecutors accused Garrett of stealing money, dealing drugs and planting evidence on innocent people.

Garrett and a partner, Vincent Carr, were arrested in December 2008 and accused of planting evidence, stealing drug money, dealing drugs and arresting an innocent man. Criminal defense lawyers told the Post-Dispatch that dozens of clients had complained about Garrett over the years.

Another officer, sentenced to three months in prison for stealing money, said Garrett had pressured him into taking it.

Garrett was sentenced to 28 months in prison; Carr got 12 months.

A judge tossed out Holmes criminal conviction in 2011. Prosecutors said at the time that other officers at the search could have testified in a new trial, but that the seized drugs had been destroyed and they wouldnt call Sharp or Garrett.

It was not clear who must pay the damages.

David B. Owens, one of Holmes lawyers with the Chicago firm Loevy & Loevy, said it could be years before Holmes sees any money. The search occurred before the city assumed local control of the police department from the state, and Fridays verdict occurred afterward. A pending state lawsuit seeks to clarify the liability.

Holmes 2012 lawsuit was one of a series against Garrett, Sharp and their partners or associates, claiming corruption that led to years spent in prison.

Missouri officials settled a suit against Sharp and Vincent Carr for $1 million in December 2014. That plaintiff, Stephen Jones, was freed in 2010 after 12 years.

Another civil suit, against Garrett was settled for $20,000 that year.

Most of the other suits were dismissed on procedural grounds or because the plaintiffs were still behind bars.

In closing arguments Friday morning, Roshna Keen, one of Holmes lawyers, said that in a sense he is still imprisoned by the effect of officers lies. She said Garretts method of operation was to charge the innocent and let the drug dealers go so he could steal their money.

She asked jurors what a year wrongly imprisoned is worth. Is it $500,000 a year? Is it more. Is it less?

Robert Isaacson, of the Missouri attorney generals office, said not one nickel should go to Holmes, whom he characterized as a drug dealer using lies for profit.

But the jurors took only about an hour, including lunch, to decide in Holmes favor. Keen said their speed showed whom they believed.

Outside the courtroom, Holmes told a reporter he suffers from PTSD and nightmares from his time behind bars.
Education experts say that as the world becomes more interconnected, more college students should take advantage of study-abroad programs.

The problem is only an estimated 10 percent of students take advantage of those opportunities.

Even more troublesome is that some colleges offer few, if any, overseas study options. Harris-Stowe State University is one of those schools.

But on Friday, the school begins the process of improving the options.

Early in the morning, two Harris-Stowe juniors  Darius Terrell and Zackary Davis  will board a flight that will take them from St. Louis to Dallas to Beijing and finally to Ningbo in the eastern part of China where they will stay for the next several months taking business classes and studying Mandarin.

Terrell and Davis are the first Harris-Stowe students to participate in any long-term study abroad programs.

For Terrell, 22, it will be only the third trip hes taken by airplane.

Ive never been more nervous and Ive never been more excited, he said. But I couldnt pass up this opportunity. If you get a chance, why not do something extraordinary?

Both students are going as part of a push by the administration of President Barack Obama to increase the number of college students experiencing overseas education.

Of the small number of students who participate in study abroad programs, minorities make up the smallest slice.

Beginning in 2014, the White House started bringing together more than 40 historically black colleges and universities to partner with different Chinese universities to establish the HBCU-China Scholarship program.

It calls for the schools to collaborate in creating thousands of scholarships to ease the way for minority students to study abroad.

Fara Zakery, dean of Harris-Stowes business school, led the universitys efforts. Last summer, she along with other Harris-Stowe administrators and students took an exploratory trip to China to sight-see and work out the details.

It resulted in a five-year agreement between Harris-Stowe and Ningbo University, where four students  two women and two men  will travel to China each year for their choice of either a semester-long or year-long study abroad experience.

Terrell and Davis are the only two students going this year. The full complement of four students will begin making the trip starting in the fall.

Each student will get a full ride, including room and board, tuition, airfare and insurance. Students are responsible for only their passports and visas.

Chinese universities have international students every year, but hardly any African-Americans, Zakery said. This is a chance for our students to see another part of the world and learn a different culture and learn to start thinking globally.

For Terrell, an accounting major, it will be his second trip to China. He was on the 2015 exploratory trip with Harris-Stowe administrators.

For Davis, 22, a finance major, it will be his first time traveling out of the country.

I knew it was going to happen at some point, I just didnt know when, he said.

The two are scheduled to arrive Saturday in Ningbo about 10:30 p.m. Chinese time. They will be met by an English-speaking representative from the university, who will take them from the airport to their dorm where they will share a suite.

On Monday, they will meet with Ningbo Universitys director of admissions, go to orientation and then start their classes. All courses, with the exception of their Mandarin lessons, will be taught in English.

They will be among about 500 international students studying at the university.

For both Terrell and Davis, the next four months will represent a significant leap out of their respective comfort zones.

Terrell learned how to say hello, thank you and goodbye in Mandarin during last summers trip. Davis knows how to say only hello.

Zakery, the business school dean, said she expected both students to be different people when they come back this summer.

We saw how that two weeks in China did magic for our students last year, she said. Imagine four months. Imagine how much they are going to grow personally and professionally. This is the best professional development opportunity they could have because they have to live in it. This is going to get rid of any limitations they have in their thinking.

Zakery said she would be at the airport early Friday to see her students off. Just to be there and get in some last-minute support, she said.
State Sen. Sam McCanns record  as a workers champion or Democratic stooge  is the focus of a hard-hitting and high-dollar Republican primary playing out across eight counties in west-central Illinois.

McCann, of Plainview, a senator since 2011, is being challenged on March 15 by Bryce Benton of Springfield, a state trooper and novice in legislative politics. Gov. Bruce Rauner, a fellow Republican, actively supports Benton. Its the only challenger Rauner backs over a GOP incumbent in the primary.

A political fund led by Dan Proft, a conservative talk-radio host in Chicago who backs Rauners fiscal policies, has spent more than $1.3 million on a wave of television and radio spots attacking sleazy Sam McCann and promoting Benton. McCanns sparser run of TV ads portray him as bravely standing up for workers. He also has a radio ad attacking Profts role in the campaign.

No Democrat has filed for the primary in the 50th District. It runs from Springfield west to the Mississippi River and south into Godfrey, and includes Calhoun, Jersey and part of Macoupin counties.

Labor organizations have provided more than 80 percent of the $480,000 in contributions to McCann since December, when Benton formally entered the race. That total includes $200,000 reported Tuesday from the Illinois Education Associations political action committee. The 50th District includes an estimated 25,000 state employees.

McCanns troubles with the governor date to August. Thats when he was the lone GOP senator to join Democrats in trying to override Rauners veto of a labor-backed bill to settle the states disputes with its employee unions in binding arbitration. The governor said the measure would favor special interests. On Thursday, McCann voted for a similar bill that passed the Legislature.

For those positions, the Illinois AFL-CIO and numerous state labor organizations are supporting McCann with money and campaign workers.

The negative ads by Profts political action committee, called Liberty Principles, call McCann the favorite of House Speaker Michael Madigan, the states most powerful Democrat. They also pound him on previous business-tax issues and lawsuits over credit-card debt, and accuse him of abusing mileage reimbursements from the state and his campaign fund.

McCann said he was proud of every mile Ive driven for the constituents.

The candidates are to face off at 6:30 p.m. Monday in a debate hosted by the Springfield State Journal-Register. The newspaper will stream the debate live on its website, sj-r.com.

Liberty Principles has bought ads for nine other legislative candidates, but total spending for them is only $530,000.

Its no easy task to take on an incumbent senator, said Proft of his anti-McCann campaign. Look, hes the only Republican to be endorsed by the AFL-CIO. The (public employee) unions, along the with Chicago Democrats, are largely responsible for destroying Illinois economy.

Political action committees are independent, but alliances are clear enough  Rauner donated $2.2 million to Turnaround Illinois, a PAC created to promote his agenda. Turnaround Illinois gave $1.8 million to Liberty Principles, according to campaign reports. (Conservative activist Rex Sinquefield of St. Louis also gave $25,000 to Liberty Principles.)

The AFL-CIO is supporting McCann, said its state political director, Bill Looby, because, If you stand for working people, we need to be there for you.

Bentons campaign has received $58,000 in direct contributions, including $25,000 from Liberty Principles. His second-biggest backer is the family of James Bruner of Jacksonville, frequent GOP donor and former McCann contributor.

Benton, 33 and a state trooper for five years, said, The governor is engaging in Republican principles, trying to rein in spending. Benton, a member of the troopers union, said, I believe a majority of state employees understand the state is in trouble. Others in the district who are not state employees feel that their voices are being ignored.

McCann, 46, said he is an anti-tax social conservative who has the backing of labor, businesses and Illinois Citizens for Life. That sounds to me like the trifecta, he said. Saying you cant be pro-labor and pro-business is just being lazy. My constituents spoke clearly (of the veto). The governor was upset, but Im proud of how I voted.

Both candidates are driving the district, dropping into every lunch meeting and political gathering that will have them. Rosemarie Long, chair of the Sangamon County (Springfield) GOP Central Committee, which endorsed the incumbent, said of the race: Its certainly lively.
JEFFERSON CITY  Just days after contributing more than $618,000 to a group working to wipe out the earnings tax in St. Louis and Kansas City, wealthy financier Rex Sinquefield gave the organization an additional $452,000.

The more than $1 million donated by the retired St. Louis investor appears to be the lone funding source for the group, which was formed in February to persuade residents to vote no in April when the earnings tax question is on the ballot.

The 1 percent earnings tax is charged to anyone who works or lives in the states two largest cities as a way to generate funds for services, such as police and fire safety.

In St. Louis, the tax generates more than $160 million, representing about one-third of the citys general fund revenue.

No formal funded campaign has been started to promote reauthorization of the tax.

Nearly nine out of every 10 voters supported the tax when a question of its future was on the ballot in 2011. If voters turn it down in 2016, the tax would be phased out over the next decade.

In addition to bankrolling the Vote NO on the E tax campaign, Sinquefield also gave $500,000 to state Sen. Kurt Schaefer, a Columbia Republican who is running for attorney general. Schaefer has since introduced legislation that would end the earnings tax in St. Louis. Another four bills calling for the end of the tax are pending in the Missouri House.

At a hearing Wednesday in Jefferson City, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay argued against ending the tax, saying it would result in dramatic cuts or tax increases. Sinquefield contributed $100,000 to Slay in 2015.

Neither Sinquefield nor representatives of the campaign fund could be reached for comment Friday.
Two GOP presidential hopefuls might not want to hear this, but its time for Congress to do away with the special status that grants Cuban migrants the automatic right to legally reside in the United States as soon as they set foot on U.S. soil. Theres no longer anything special about Cuban conditions that should endow them with this unfair, special advantage.

Millions of immigrants from Central and South America make the extremely dangerous trip to the U.S.-Mexico border in hopes of sneaking across without visas. Upon setting foot in America, their status is illegal.

Understandably, they want a better life for themselves and their families. But that doesnt make illegal migration excusable. The only correct way is the legal way, which involves applying for a visa, making countless trips to U.S. consular facilities and waiting months or years for permission to enter. That process is overdue for reform.

Why should Cubans get an automatic place at the front of the line? It all dates to the Cold War and Fidel Castros Communist revolution in Cuba. The United States declared a unilateral economic embargo in 1962 and later offered safe haven to Cuban citizens who managed to escape Castros oppression.

Last year, President Barack Obama restored full diplomatic relations with Cuba and opened the way for ending some trade and travel restrictions. He will travel to Cuba this month. His rapprochement drew apoplectic rebukes from GOP presidential hopefuls Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida. The two senators are Cuban-American.

Neither has had great success attracting widespread support among American Hispanics, partly because most Latino voters dont share the two candidates favored migratory heritage and reject their get-tough stances against immigrants who dont enjoy the Cubans special status.

Yes, news continues to emerge from Cuba of political repression. But most Cubans who fly daily to Mexico and then rush to the Texas border readily admit that they are coming for economic reasons, not persecution.

In 2015, the migration rate of Cubans entering through the Texas border crossing at Laredo nearly doubled from 2014 levels. Theyre coming because Cubans sense that the door could be about to close.

Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, has sponsored a bill to remove their special status, arguing that Cubans should be treated the same as everyone else. Hes right, and many legislators from both sides of the aisle agree.

Just about everything else in the U.S. immigration system is harshly unfair, especially to those at the lowest rung of the economic ladder. Comprehensive immigration reform is unlikely to pass anytime soon, even though its long overdue.

But ample agreement exists right now on the special-status issue. Congress should close the Cuban migratory loophole.
Police terrorism? Not so fast

Many St. Louis police officers have long been skeptical (to the point of turning them off) about the value of dashboard-mounted cameras in patrol cars, to say nothing of body-worn cameras. What happened Sunday evening may change a few minds.

A dashboard camera caught part of a traffic stop at Jefferson Avenue and Cherokee Street around 5 p.m. It showed polite conversations between police and the two adults and four children in the vehicle. No guns were drawn, and even though the car was improperly tagged and the children werent properly restrained, no citations were issued.

This was a far different version of the event from the one that swept social media and caused a demonstration outside police headquarters on Monday. Social media described cops pointing guns at the children. Modern day terrorism, one posting railed.

The sensationalist version was good enough for state Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D-University City, who made a big deal of it at a Senate committee hearing Monday. After Police Chief Sam Dotson released the video on Wednesday, she was still claiming that the whole story hadnt been told.

Moral of the story: Question authority if you like, but question social media strenuously. Trust but verify. Video isnt foolproof, but its pretty darned good. And it helps keep people safe, cops and citizens alike.

Junk science leaves mushers in the mud

Alaskas famous Iditarod sled-dog race begins this weekend. Unfortunately, with the El Nino effect and global warming causing Alaska to heat up twice as fast as the lower 48, race officials were faced with a slight problem: No snow on the ground in Anchorage for the official start of the race. So the Alaska Railroad moved seven hopper cars full of snow down from Fairbanks.

The race used to start in the Anchorage suburb of Wasilla, whose former mayor, Sarah Palin, calls global warming junk science.

Alms for the billionaires

Forbes magazine is out with its annual ranking of the worlds richest people. Tragically, because of a slump on the worlds financial markets, the 20 wealthiest people in the world are worth $70 billion less than they were a year ago.

Of course, theyve still got a combined net worth of $827 billion  an average of $41.35 billion each. So cancel the food drive.

Microsofts Bill Gates is again the richest man in the world, though his net worth dropped by $4.2 billion to a mere $75 billion. Carlos Slim, the Mexican telecoms tycoon, had a really bad year: His wealth dropped from $77.1 billion to $50 billion.

There were 1,810 billionaires last year, 16 fewer than the year before. It was the first time in seven years that the number of billionaires decreased. Its a start.

Hero appreciation

Supporting military veterans is something that can unite even the members of the Missouri House. The House voted unanimously on Monday to cap tuition at $50 a credit hour for veterans who enlisted after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. This measure helps ensure that veterans can receive higher education degrees and improve their employment and earnings potential. Current in-state tuition for undergraduates is $276 a credit hour. The bill (HB2156), sponsored by Rep. Charlie Davis, R-Webb City, made changes to the Missouri Returning Heroes Education Act.

Farm fancy

So how about turning Grants Farm into a mini-Silver Dollar City-East? A business plan (between laser-engraved bamboo covers) submitted by Anheuser-Busch heir Billy Busch to his siblings includes building a small brewery for his Kraftig beer business, and then eventually adding food shops, a mini-theater, a childrens playground and, the topper, two custom bronze statues of August A. Gussie Busch (dad to Billy and the gang) with baby elephants and their mother, Gertrude Buholzer Busch, possibly on horseback.

Older brother Adolphus likes the plan. Andy, Peter, Trudy Busch Valentine and Beatrice Von Gontard dont. This means the future of Grants Farm is still in limbo.

S. Dakota governors correct call on transgender issue in schools

South Dakotas Republican governor, Dennis Daugaard, took a bold step this week by vetoing a bill aimed at restricting transgender students access to school restrooms. Its a bill that some members of his party passionately wanted passed, and similar bills are working their way through other state legislatures around the country. Daugaard correctly assessed that the bill went too far and set the state up for federal litigation. He reasons that this is an issue best left for local school officials to resolve.

The instances where such cases arise tend to be few and far between. Some schools have the ability to present solutions for transgender students that state legislators dont account for when writing restrictive legislation. Other schools exist in welcoming communities where the presence of transgender students isnt such a big deal. In this case, local control is the best way to go, and Daugaard deserves praise for telling his fellow partisans to kindly mind their own business.
If the execution is carried out, it too will leave a grieving family, in addition to having lost a little boy who might have survived if he could have gotten to the hospital in time.
LONDON MARKET CLOSE: FTSE 100 ends higher; Mordaunt makes UK PM tilt

Friday, October 21, 2022 - 17:22

The pound regained some poise on Friday afternoon but remained in precarious territory, after falling below the $1.11 mark in afternoon trade.

The pound was quoted at $1.1203 at the close on Friday, down versus $1.1294 at the London equities close on Thursday. It hit an intraday low of $1.1063 not long after midday.

Sterling was hurt by continued political uncertainty. Speculation about who will join Penny Mordaunt in throwing their hats in the ring in the race for Number 10 continues. Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, one-time neighbours at Number 10 and 11 Downing Street - but now bitter rivals - have pockets of support from Tory MPs.

Adding to the pressure on sterling, disappointing UK retail sales data showed a bigger-than-expected decline in September, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.

Retail sales fell 6.9% annually in September, with the decline accelerating from a 5.6% fall in August. It also was worse than FXStreet-cited market consensus, which had expected a fall of just 5%.

The pound had initially found some support on Thursday after Liz Truss called an end to her disastrous tenure as prime minister - poking above $1.13 - but has since been dragged lower.

The FTSE 100 index closed up 25.82 points, or 0.4%, at 6,969.73 - closing out the week up 1.6%.

The FTSE 250 lost 182.38 points, or 1.1%, at 17,206.55, but still managed to gain 1.0% this week, and the AIM All-Share ended down 1.04 points, or 0.1% at 785.40 - but advanced 0.8% over the past five days.

The Cboe UK 100 closed up 0.4% at 696.31, the Cboe UK 250 ended down 1.0% at 14,694.15, and the Cboe Small Companies lost 0.3% at 12,240.46.

In European equities on Friday, the CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.9%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt gave back 0.3%.

The Tories have begun to declare their allegiances in the party's second leadership contest of the year as speculation mounts over who will seek to replace Truss at the helm of the party.

Supporters of Johnson are backing the former prime minister to make an extraordinary political comeback, while ex-chancellor Sunak and Commons Leader Mordaunt also have the public support of several MPs.

Mordaunt become the first to declare her candidacy, with a pledge to re-unite the bitterly divided party.

The leader of the House  who finished third in the last leadership election  said she had been encouraged by the support she had received from fellow Conservative MPs.

There has also been no declaration yet from Sunak, who did not answer questions from reporters as he left his home on Friday morning.

Whoever does win will face an immediate test, choosing whether to go ahead with the planned Halloween statement setting out how the government intends to get the public finances back on track, Downing Street has said.

Work is continuing in Whitehall, led by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, in preparation for the medium-term fiscal plan to be announced on October 31 along with an updated set of economic forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility.

However, a Number 10 spokeswoman said it would be up to Liz Truss's successor to decide whether to proceed with that approach and with the same timetable.

In London, blue chip miners helped push FTSE 100 higher. Glencore gained 3.6%, Anglo American 3.1%, Antofagasta 2.7%, and Rio Tinto added 1.6%.

Retailers, however, were showing weakness after the disappointing UK retail sales data. A profit warning from Adidas did nothing to help the mood either.

JD Sports closed down 6.1%, Frasers 4.0%, Burberry 2.2%, and Next shed 2.9%.

On Thursday, Adidas lowered annual guidance as it struggles with "deteriorating traffic" in China and high inventory levels.

The sports apparel maker said it has needed to turn to "higher clearance activity" to try and shift stock.

It lost 9.0% in Frankfurt.

Deliveroo gained 3.6%.

The London-based online food delivery service said gross transaction values rose 8.3% annually in the third quarter to 1.70 billion from 1.57 billion, though orders fell by 1.1% to 72.8 million from 73.6 million.

Deliveroo said the decline in orders was due to a difficult consumer environment. With economic data on Friday showing that UK consumer confidence remains near record lows, this seems unlikely to change anytime soon.

InterContinental Hotels gave back 2.2% but reported strong revenue growth in the third quarter to September 30, saying that high global employment levels are boosting occupancy levels.

Revenue per available room, or RevPAR, rose 28% year-on-year and now exceeds its pre-pandemic level, being up 2.7% on the third quarter of 2019.

In the third quarter of 2022, the average daily rate increased by 13% compared to a year ago and was up 11% on 2019.

Chief Financial Officer & Head of Strategy Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson will leave the company in six months time to become CFO of Flutter Entertainment in the first half of 2023.

IHG has started the process of finding a new CFO.

The euro stood at $0.9802 Friday evening, down against $0.9822 at the close on Thursday.

Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JP148.03, compared to JP149.77 late Thursday. The yen was staging a fightback after the open on Wall Street, after nearly hitting JP152 during the Asia session.

Stocks in New York opened higher on Friday, with the DJIA up 1.1%, the S&P 500 index up 0.9%, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.6% higher.

Brent oil was quoted at $92.84 a barrel late Friday, down from $93.29 late Thursday. Gold was quoted at $1,643.70 an ounce Friday, up against $1,641.90 from Thursday.

In the international economics events calendar next week, Monday will be dominated by a slew of composite PMIs, with Japan overnight followed by Germany, eurozone and the UK in the morning then the US in the afternoon. A quiet Tuesday will be headlined by a US house price index.

On Wednesday, there is Chinese GDP, retail sales and industrial production overnight, then on Thursday attention will be on the European Central Bank interest rate decision at 1315 BST. Friday will be headlined by a Bank of Japan rate decision.

In the local corporate calendar on Monday, there are half-year results from Dr Martens, while education publishing firm Pearson will issue a third quarter update.

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In China military officers were recently given detailed lifestyle rules as part of the ongoing effort to curb the persistent corruption in the military. The new rules expressly forbid a lot of the social practices that have been a part of Chinese culture for thousands of years. Military officials are now limited on how much they can spend to entertain senior officers coming to visit. Taking note of modern communications the new rules also limit the number of inspection-type visits as well as how much the travelers can spend. In doing all this the reformers are not only attacking opportunities for corruption but also emulating Western practices. It has not been lost on many Chinese military analysts that Western forces are more effective in combat in part because they are more austere in many ways that the Chinese military is not.

These lifestyle rules are but the latest attempt to curb corruption and evolved from earlier rules. For example in early 2015 the Chinese Communist Party issued an order that all promotions in the military now required candidates to meet strict weight and physical fitness requirements. In this case the thinking is that one way to curb paying bribes get promotions (enabling the promoted officer to steal even more) is to take advantage of the fact that corrupt officers tend to be overweight because they are more interested in getting rich than in being good soldiers. The corrupt officers drink more, eat more and exercise less than officers devoted to their military duties. Thus is anyone bribes their way past the new regulation they would be instantly recognizable as dirty (and fat). The reformers quickly noted that officers were willing to lose weight and exercise more, but the ornate banquets simply shifted to smaller portions of more expensive food as well as handing out more non-edible, and more expensive, gifts to honored guests. That led to the new lifestyle rules.

Many officers use a combination of greed and respect for tradition to resist efforts to curb corruption. Each new effort is seen as a challenge, not something that will eliminate any of the corruption that defines relationships between officers. Even NCOs and lower ranking troops, taking a cue from their superiors, feel free to grab whatever they can get away with. As a result decades of anti-corruption efforts have had little impact on the military. Then again corruption in the military has been a problem in China for thousands of years. Yet many of the latest new regulations are clever in that they take advantage of the fact that fat officers have long been symbolic of corrupt (and often ineffective) officers and it is hoped that any officers who continue to bribe their way past the new regulations will be called out by an angry public with access to photos of the fat officers on the Internet. For the new rules to work at all the Communist Party has to resist calls for exceptions for special cases (seen by most Chinese as yet another form of corruption) which would be publically ridiculed anyway. Now the reformers know that officers dont mind getting thin and austere as long as their bank balances remain fat. So far efforts to curb military corruption has done little to reduce public ridicule, especially via the Internet. Not that corrupt officials dont try, by hiring (from firms that specialize in this sort of thing) Internet shills to try and shout down those ridiculing the chubby and probably corrupt officers. Nevertheless the Chinese Communist Party gets credit for its persistence and that, according to tradition, is how things really get done in China.
A Russian firm has developed a new ATV (All-Terrain Vehicle) design apparently intended for the most extreme terrain. Called the Sherp, it costs $65,000 and is amphibious and able to handle swamps, snow, sand, ice and just about any type of terrain. Sherp is 3.4 meters long, 2.52 meters wide and 2.3 meters high. It moves on four 1.6 meter self-inflating tires. The vehicle weighs 1.3 tons and has a top speed of 45 kilometers an hour on land and six kilometers an hour in water. Carrying capacity is one ton and it seats up to four plus cargo. The vehicle has an electricity generator and carries 258 liters (62 gallons) of diesel for its 44 horsepower engine. Sherp is built for extremes of terrain, which describes much of northern Russia. Most Western ATVs are more specialized.

For example in 2015 Chinese airborne and light infantry units began receiving a locally made amphibious ATV. This is an 8x8 vehicle apparently based on the Canadian Argo design, which has been around since the 1960s and has been regularly upgraded, refined, improved and extensively used all over the world. The Chinese ATV can carry six people (including the driver), weighs 1.7 tons and has a max payload of about a ton. If used amphibiously the ATV can only carry about a third of a ton. Max road speed is 60 kilometers an hour. The ATV is 3.9 meters (12.7 feet) long and 1.8 meters (5.9 feet) wide. The Chinese military has several thousand of these vehicles, many (if not most) of them with non-combat units.

Western manufacturers have built hundreds of different ATV models, a growing number of them modified for military use.
While the military has not tried to halt the momentous and unexpected (to them) power shift the new government was elected to do things that could hurt the military. The incoming parliament contains a majority of members elected to do something about the rampant and decades old corruption in the tribal north. That would upset some decades old scams that directly benefit many active and retired military leaders.

At the moment the corrupt businesses in the north that operate freely with (well paid) army protection dont seem alarmed. Chinese firms are proceeding to restore businesses in the north that had been shut down by rebel activity. There is an attitude of impunity in the north which means someone is going to be very disappointed and angry by the end of 2016. The attitude seems to be that the Chinese will be able to offer effective economic inducements to get their way with the new reform government. This has worked elsewhere in the region and since the Chinese have long experience with Burma even many Burmese are inclined to regard the restoration of corrupt Chinese influence as inevitable. Several neighboring countries are trying to avoid this, especially India. But so far the smart money is on the Chinese.

This attitude is encouraged by the recent (2015) completion of a new oil pipeline to China. Terminating on the northwest coast (Rakhine State) the 770 kilometer pipeline can move about 4.5 million barrels of oil a day. Back in 2013 a 2,500 kilometer natural gas pipeline from Burmese gas fields into China was completed and began operation. About a third of the pipeline is in Burma, the rest is in China. This pipeline delivers 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year. This is equivalent (in terms of energy) to 15 million barrels of oil. The Burmese gas replaces the more expensive liquefied natural gas in three provinces of southwest China as well as eliminates the need for 30 million tons of coal a year (a major source of air pollution). The success of the pipeline deal led to a January 2016 agreement that has Chinese firms investing over $9 billion to develop a SEZ (Special Economic Zone) around the pipeline terminal that will include a deep water port and a huge (1,000 hectare/2,500 acre) industrial park.

Not all the illegal operators up north seem so sure that they, along with their Chinese allies, will be able to bribe and bully their way out of any restrictions the newly elected reform government might apply. For example the outgoing government, for whatever reason, is now more active enforcing existing laws regarding the north. Thus two government officials were recently fired after being accused of illegally allowing heavy earth moving equipment to be sold and delivered to illegal jade mining operations in the north. There is panic in the illegal jade industry just now. Kachin State has been the site of three major jade mining accidents (all landslides) since November 2015. Over 150 died because the jade mining often involves removing most of the vegetation on a hillside. With the trees and shrubs gone there is nothing to hold soil together when there are heavy rains. All this has brought a lot of unwanted publicity to the jade trade. Burma is the main source of jade on the planet and is a $30 billion a year operation. Yet only about one percent of that is taxed and half of the jade is found by illegal mining operations and is quietly sold to Chinese traders. Most of the illegal jade trade is controlled by generals who have connections inside China. The rest is controlled by tribal rebels, mainly the Wa of the UWSA (United Wa State Army). Most of the jade is in the northern tribal territories and the army is constantly fighting with tribal rebels who are seeking to make some money in the jade producing areas.

The military leaders are not eager to give up the jade profits. A lot of the current fighting in Kachin State is a continuation of this decades old Jade War. Local tribes also point out that all the illegal jade and gold mining ruins many water supplies (streams and lakes) but since outsiders (military and tribal warlords) dominate and protect the illegal mining, no one cares about some bad water except a few locals.

Kachin is also where most of the illegal drug production takes place. Again the army and tribal warlords profit most from this. The drug production requires access to large quantities of industrial chemicals. The source is usually China or India and the pressure is on both countries to halt these questionable exports. Heroin production requires locally grown poppy plants treated with special chemicals. The local raw material has grown in northern Burma for thousands of years. Burma is currently the most prolific portion of the Golden Triangle (the ancient poppy growing area where the borders of China, Burma, Laos and Thailand meet) and that keeps all manner of gangster, rebel and ethnic warlords in business. In 2015 over 800 tons of opium (the raw material for heroin) were produced in the triangle, over 90 percent of it in Burma, which is also where most of the opium is processed into heroin (ten tons of opium yields one ton of heroin). Global production of opium is currently about 7,000 tons. Back in the early 1980s 2,000 tons of opium were produced a year, nearly all of it for legitimate medicinal products. There was some illegal production in the Golden Triangle but only a fraction of what it is now.

Chinese communists shut down opium production in China during the late 1940s. Some Chinese producers moved to Burma, Laos and Thailand. The Thais soon shut it down and Laos was never a big producer. Burma, run by a military dictatorship, needed the money, and didn't crack down until the 1990s, in large part to destroy the military power of Chinese drug warlords who grew strong off their heroin profits. Heroin production then picked up in Pakistan, where it was soon driven across the border to Afghanistan. The Afghan Taliban heavily taxed drug production in the late 1990s and even halted production for one year (2000) because of oversupply and falling prices. Opium has always been all about money. By 2010 military pressure on the Afghan drug gangs allowed the Golden Triangle, especially Burma, to regain more of the world heroin market. Afghanistan is still the leader, but Burma has over ten percent of the market and is gaining as is Colombia (with a much lower share). But everyone in the Golden Triangle knows that the opium industry has been suppressed many times in the past, it just takes the cooperation of the major governments up there to make it happen again. For decades Burma usually did not cooperate but the new Burmese government says it will. That might also mean a shutdown of methamphetamine production as well. Called "yaba" ("crazy drug") locally, most of it is smuggled out via Thailand. Since 2010 production of yaba tablets has soared. The meth labs are easier to conceal than poppy fields and the meth labs are believed to produce several hundred million tablets a year. But only as long as they can get the industrial chemicals required to make meth. The tribal rebels, especially ethnic Chinese tribes (like the Wa and MNDAA) use the profits to buy more weapons for their fighters, and run their rebel organizations. Recently India has agreed to shut down the illegal chemical smuggling. China is also trying to shut down the corruption that enables drug gangs to bribe chemical shipments past border security.

All this actual and predicted changes in the tribal north stem from the November 2015 national election where veteran reform advocate Aung San Suu Kyis party won 80 percent of the available seats in parliament. These were the first nationwide elections in 25 years and the first to actually take power since the 1960s. The new government is expected to take action on two issues (ethnic unrest and Chinese encroachment) the military was reluctant to tackle, as was the current elected (but still military dominated) government. The military was always in favor of getting the economy growing rapidly, something decades of military rule had prevented. But many military leaders had prospered during the dictatorship because they could be corrupt (to get rich) without fear of prosecution. The new government is under a lot of pressure to crack down hard on corruption in order to increase economic growth and reduce the widespread poverty. Such a crackdown would also cause tensions with China, which has, for over a decade, invested heavily in the tribal north via corrupt deals with the military. Unwinding all these unfair (especially to local tribes) deals will be painful for the Chinese as well as prominent Burmese military leaders and businessmen.

While the army is seen as the most dangerous armed group up north some of the tribal rebel militias turn against the people they were founded to protect. While most tribal armies seek to maintain themselves without becoming what they are supposed to be protecting their people from a growing number of these tribal rebel armies (with uniforms, officers, flags and so on) are sliding over to the dark side.

An example of this is the growing number of tribal refugees fleeing rebels who are more aggressively recruiting new fighters. In some cases the tribal militia recruiters are conscripting (kidnapping) young men and when word of that gets around many potential victims flee, often with their young wives and children. Sometimes the conscription rumors are government propaganda but all too often the rumors are true.

The main reason so many more tribal rebels have gone bad (been corrupted) up north can be tracked back to the growing (since the 1990s) Chinese influence. China has always (for thousands of years) been a major economic presence in the north but mainly as a source of goods the local tribes could not make for themselves. The tribes had little to trade so the trade was low level. In the 18th century that began to change when a booming economy in China created enough wealth for the many wealthy Chinese to buy opium from northern Burma. The sap of the poppy plant was long used as a traditional pain killer but was too expensive to produce to be a widespread recreational drug like alcohol or cannabis. The Chinese government suppressed the opium trade but then China went into two centuries of economic (and political) decline. This was reversed in the 1980s when the communist rulers of China made some extreme (for communists) reforms that caused an economic boom that is still underway. The new market economy created demands for raw materials that, it turned out, were present in northern Burma. The Chinese often found it easier to deal with corrupt generals than work out legitimate deals and that led to the many harmful (to the locals) mining and lumbering deals in the north. Many of these illegal operations were created and sustained by trial warlords. The army was bribed but the tribal warlords made most of the money. One recent example was the sudden (since 2009) appearance of a huge tin mining operation in northern Shan state that has made Burma the third largest tin producer in the world. All the ore mined is trucked across the border to China. The UWSA runs the tin operation, as well as a large chunk of the nearby illegal Jade mining operations. Unlike the jade mines, the tin operation was apparently based on rich tin deposits that have now been depleted. That and the economic slowdown in China is making the tribal tin operation a short-term thing.

Despite their involvement in many of the corrupt industries up north nearly all the tribal rebel groups agree that an end to the government corruption and constant army interference in the north would be a good thing. The tribal rebels, in anticipation of the post (since 2011) military government, have formed new coalitions to negotiate a peace deal. This was never possible with the army because the military was responsible for a lot of the corruption and illegal dealings up north. It was the generals, for example, that aided the Chinese in carrying out many large scale economic deals in the north that are now stalled by widespread tribal opposition.

February 23, 2016: In the north (Shan State) the army sent in over 2,000 troops to help out one of its tribal allies. All this began in mid-January when fighting broke out between TNLA (Taang National Liberation Army) tribal rebels and the pro-government SSA-S (Shan State Army-South). These two groups have long been at odds over a number of issues. The army is always trying to bribe tribal warlords to help protect, rather than hinder, the lucrative scams the military has long operated in the north. This usually works when it exploits existing tensions (and sometimes ancient feuds) between two tribes. This sort of thing is seen as another form of corruption up north and most of the tribal rebels openly condemn it. To make these unpopular deals work the army has to help the bought and paid for tribal allies when necessary. This is one of those situations.

February 18, 2016: The government signed an agreement with India to continue joint naval patrols along the maritime boundary in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal. This reduces smuggling because it is much more difficult to bribe patrol ships from two different countries simultaneously. The joint patrols also make it less likely that there be any international incidents over different interpretations of incidents.
Harmonic Releases Documentary on Making of NASA TV UHD, North America's First Consumer UHD Channel

Harmonic now has a documentary short available that examines the making of NASA's first ultra-high-definition (UHD) TV channel. The video is available on the Harmonic channel: www.harmonicinc.com/resources/videos/nasa-uhd.

SAN JOSE, Calif.( )

Harmonic now has a documentary short available that examines the making of NASA's first ultra-high-definition (UHD) TV channel. The video is available on the Harmonic channel: www.harmonicinc.com/resources/videos/nasa-uhd.

NASA TV UHD, the first noncommercial consumer UHD channel in North America, showcases the breathtaking beauty and grandeur of space using high-resolution images and video generated on the International Space Station and other current NASA missions, as well as remastered footage from historical missions. The Harmonic documentary discusses the technical challenges NASA and Harmonic overcame -- within a matter of months -- to put NASA TV UHD up on one satellite link along with NASA's existing SD and HD channels.

"Our signal is up on the bird, and so that's exciting -- to be blazing a new trail and leveraging the very latest state-of-the-art technology in television and video," said Peter Alexander, chief marketing officer at Harmonic.

Further information about Harmonic and the company's products is available at www.harmonicinc.com.

About Harmonic

Harmonic is the worldwide leader in video delivery infrastructure for emerging television and video services. Harmonic enables customers to produce, deliver and monetize amazing video experiences, with unequalled business agility and operational efficiency, by providing market-leading innovation, high-quality service and compelling total cost of ownership. More information is available at www.harmonicinc.com.
Golar GenPower Brasil Participacoes S.A. ("Golar GenPower"), a joint venture between LNG Power Limited (UK), a standalone non-recourse subsidiary of Golar LNG Limited and GenPower Participacoes S.A., today announced that it has signed a framework agreement for the supply of LNG to the natural gas fired power generation project it is developing in the Brazilian state of Sergipe.

Golar GenPower and ExxonMobil Titan LNG Limited ("ExxonMobil") have agreed heads of terms covering the supply of LNG to the approximately 1,500MW Porto de Sergipe project. The agreement also establishes a framework for LNG to be supplied exclusively from ExxonMobil for expansion phases and other projects that Golar GenPower is pursuing in Brazil. The LNG supply is conditional on execution of a fully termed LNG Sale and Purchase Agreement ("SPA"). Golar GenPower intends to bid at the upcoming 2016 Leilao A-5 Power Auction.

This framework agreement is a significant step towards a positive final investment decision on the Porto de Sergipe project which Golar GenPower hope will be the first of several Brazilian opportunities jointly delivered over the coming years.
Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO) announced the top-line results from the LEADER trial, which investigated the cardiovascular safety of Victoza (liraglutide) over a period of up to 5 years in more than 9,000 adults with type 2 diabetes at high risk of major adverse cardiovascular events. The trial compared the addition of either Victoza or placebo to standard of care and met the primary endpoint of showing non-inferiority as well as demonstrating superiority, with a statistically significant reduction in cardiovascular risk. The primary endpoint of the study was defined as the composite outcome of the first occurrence of cardiovascular death, non-fatal myocardial infarction or non-fatal stroke. The superior reduction of major adverse cardiovascular events demonstrated by Victoza was derived from all three components of the endpoint.

The safety profile of Victoza in LEADER was generally consistent with previous liraglutide clinical studies.

People with type 2 diabetes generally have a higher risk of experiencing major adverse cardiovascular events. Thats why we are very excited about the results from LEADER, which showed that Victoza, in addition to helping people with type 2 diabetes control their blood sugar levels, also reduces their risk of major adverse cardiovascular events , said Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen, executive vice president and chief science officer of Novo Nordisk. LEADER is the largest and longest Novo Nordisk clinical trial to report to date, and we look forward to sharing the detailed results with the medical community and submitting the findings to the regulatory authorities.

The detailed results are planned to be presented at the 76th Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association in June 2016.

Conference call

On 4 March 2016 at 2.00 pm CET, corresponding to 8.00 am EST, a conference call for investors will be held. Investors will be able to listen in via a link on the investor section of novonordisk.com.
OLDWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- A.M. Best has affirmed the issuer credit rating (ICR) of aa of the Maiden Re  ARI Reinsurance Trust Agreement (trust) (Mt. Laurel, NJ). The outlook for the rating is stable. Concurrently, A.M. Best has withdrawn the rating due to Maiden Re managements request to no longer participate in A.M. Bests interactive rating process. The beneficiary of the trust, ARI Mutual Insurance Company and ARI Casualty Company (collectively known as ARI), both corporations organized under the laws of the state of New Jersey, has been acquired by AmTrust Financial Services, Inc. and is no longer an active client of Maiden Reinsurance North America, Inc. (MRNA) (formerly Maiden Reinsurance Company), a corporation organized under the laws of the state of Missouri.

This trust agreement, with an effective date of Jan. 1, 2010, is between Maiden Reinsurance Company (Maiden Re, the grantor), ARI (the beneficiary) and State Street Bank and Trust Company, a Massachusetts trust company (the trustee). The trust collateralizes liabilities assumed by MRNA from ARI. MRNA and ARI are wholly responsible for determining the liabilities (the collateral base), which consist of case loss reserves, incurred but not reported losses and unearned premiums, net of open balances. The collateral base of the trust represents the amount ARI expects the trust to secure as payments under various reinsurance agreements with MRNA.

A.M. Bests ICR for the trust considers the following: an evaluation of specific risks, such as market and operational risks, which may affect the value of the assets in the trust; whether the amount in the trust will be sufficient to meet MRNAs obligation to pay an amount equal to the collateral base; the duration of the investment asset in the trust; and the uncertainty surrounding the treatment of the trusts assets in the event of MRNAs impairment or insolvency. A.M. Best is not responsible for determining the adequacy of the collateral base, any errors or miscalculations of the collateral base or whether the collateral base accurately reflects the current liabilities under the various reinsurance agreements between ARI and MRNA.

This press release relates to rating(s) that have been published on A.M. Bests website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see A.M. Bests Recent Rating Activity web page.

A.M. Best is the worlds oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

Copyright  2016 by A.M. Best Company, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160304005641/en/

A.M. Best Company, Inc.

Yuhmei Chen, 908-439-2200, ext. 5236

Senior Financial Analyst,

Insurance-Linked Securities

[email protected]

or

Elmo W. Chin, 908-439-2200, ext. 5227

Assistant Vice President,

Insurance-Linked Securities

[email protected]

or

Christopher Sharkey, 908-439-2200, ext. 5159

Manager, Public Relations

[email protected]

or

Jim Peavy, 908-439-2200, ext. 5644

Assistant Vice President, Public Relations

[email protected]

Source: A.M. Best Company, Inc.
SANTA ANA, Calif., March 4, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Cal/OSHA issued citations to ExxonMobil Refining & Supply Company today after it discovered the company did not repair faulty equipment at its Torrance refinery for four years, exposing workers to possible serious injury or death.

Cal/OSHA opened an investigation following a hydrofluoric acid leak at the refinery's alkylation unit on September 6, 2015. Investigators found that the leak was related to a temporary clamp that was installed on a three-inch nozzle flange following an earlier leak in 2011. The nozzle was not replaced until January, 2016.

"This is a case, a minor repair could have prevented workers at this refinery from exposure to a life-threatening acid," said Cal/OSHA Chief Juliann Sum. "These citations and penalties are a wake-up call that refineries must follow strict safety protocols to protect their employees."

The three citations issued today include one willful-serious, indicating the employer was aware of the hazardous condition and did not take reasonable steps to address it, and two general citations for ExxonMobil's failure to conduct a hazard analysis and identify and address the 2011 leak. Proposed penalties total $72,120.

ExxonMobil mitigated the leak caused by the faulty clamp within 48 hours of the release. The company also removed tank 5C-31 from service, where the faulty nozzle was attached, to make repairs. Before ExxonMobil was allowed to restart operations in January, a complete inspection of the alkylation unit was conducted to ensure there were no additional leaking flanges or nozzles.

Cal/OSHA previously issued 19 citations with proposed penalties of $566,600 to ExxonMobil following an explosion on February 18, 2015 that injured four workers. Today's citations are unrelated to that incident.

Cal/OSHA's Process Safety Management Unit is responsible for inspecting refineries and chemical plants that handle large quantities of toxic and flammable materials. Health and safety standards enforced by the PSM Unit, including adequate employee training, are intended to prevent catastrophic explosions, fires and releases of dangerous chemicals.

Cal/OSHA helps protect workers from health and safety hazards on the job in almost every workplace in California. Cal/OSHA's Consultation Services Branch provides free and voluntary assistance to employers and employee organizations to improve their health and safety programs. Employers should call (800) 963-9424 for assistance from Cal/OSHA Consultation Services.

Employees with work-related questions or complaints may contact DIR's Call Center in English or Spanish at 844-LABOR-DIR (844-522-6734). The California Workers' Information line at 866-924-9757 provides recorded information in English and Spanish on a variety of work-related topics. Complaints can also be filed confidentially with Cal/OSHA district offices.

Members of the press may contact Erika Monterroza or Peter Melton at (510) 286-1161, and are encouraged to subscribe to get email alerts on DIR's press releases or other departmental updates.

Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Email

The California Department of Industrial Relations, established in 1927, protects and improves the health, safety, and economic well-being of over 18 million wage earners, and helps their employers comply with state labor laws. DIR is housed within the Labor & Workforce Development Agency. For general inquiries, contact DIR's Communications Call Center at 844-LABOR-DIR (844-522-6734) for help in locating the appropriate division or program in our department.

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/calosha-cites-exxonmobil-for-failing-to-repair-equipment-that-exposed-workers-to-dangerous-chemical-leaks-300231305.html

SOURCE California Department of Industrial Relations, Cal/OSHA
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 03/04/16 -- Prospero Silver Corp. (TSX VENTURE: PSL) ("Prospero" or the "Company") reports that the board of directors of the Company has approved the granting of 1,365,000 stock options (the "Options") pursuant to the Company's Share Option Plan to directors, officers and employees of the Company. The Options are exercisable at a price of $0.05 per share expiring on March 2, 2021 and vest immediately.

About Prospero Silver Corp.:

Prospero is a Canadian resource company with the majority of its staff based in Mexico and who work for its wholly-owned subsidiary Minera Fumarola, SA de CV. Prospero's objective, as a project generator, is to quickly evaluate properties it acquires for their suitability to provide size potential and/or amenability for strategic joint ventures. For additional information on Prospero, readers are encouraged to see the disclosure documents filed under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com, and to visit the Company's website at www.prosperosilver.com.

Neither the TSX nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX) accepts responsibility for the adequacy and accuracy of this press release.

Contacts: Prospero Silver Corp. William Murray Chairman 604-288-7813 www.prosperosilver.com

Source: Prospero Silver Corp.
SEATTLE, March 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Seabourn, the world's finest ultra-luxury cruise line, celebrated another milestone in the construction of its new Seabourn Encore, with the ship touching water for the first time today. Following a traditional ceremony to commemorate this significant occasion, the ship will be "floated out" from its dry dock to its outfitting dock at Fincantieri's Marghera shipyard in Italy, where it will undergo final construction until the ship is delivered at the end of 2016.

During the ceremony, the ship's "madrina" cut the cord to begin the water flow to the ship's building dock. Marnie Tihany, the director of business development for Tihany Design and wife of hospitality designer Adam D. Tihany, served as the madrina of Seabourn Encore. Adam Tihany is the visionary who will bring Seabourn's bespoke aesthetic to life aboard Encore.

"Seeing Seabourn Encore in the water is a very special moment and represents another important step toward the completion of our highly-anticipated ship," said Richard Meadows, Seabourn President. "We continue to hear from our guests and travel industry partners about their excitement for this incredible ship, and they are just as eager as we are to welcome her to the Seabourn family later this year."

Seabourn Encore is being fashioned by hospitality design icon Adam D. Tihany, with contemporary interiors and modern design elements and innovations consistent with the line's reputation for understated elegance. The ship will expand and build on the line's award-winning and highly acclaimed Odyssey-class ships, which revolutionized ultra-luxury cruising with enhanced accommodations and innovative amenities when they were introduced between 2009 and 2011. Seabourn Encore will maintain the line's high ratio of space per guest, enabling highly personalized service by close to one staff member for each guest on board. The 40,350-GRT ship will be configured with one additional deck and new expanded public areas, and is expected to carry just 600 guests, based on double occupancy. In addition, every suite will feature a private veranda.

Seabourn will continue to reveal renderings and updates about Seabourn Encore via the dedicated microsite: http://encore.seabourn.com. Filled with imagery, details and news of the ship's continuing progress, including "sunsets until launch," the microsite offers an inside look at the most exciting Seabourn launch in years.

For more details about the award-winning Seabourn fleet, or to explore the worldwide selection of Seabourn cruising options, contact a professional travel advisor, call Seabourn at 1-800-929-9391 or visit www.seabourn.com.

Notes to Editors:

Seabourn is consistently ranked among the world's top travel choices by professional critics and the discerning readers of prestigious travel publications such as Departures, Travel + Leisure and Conde Nast Traveler. Its stylish, distinctive cruising vacations are renowned for:

Intimate ships with no more than 300 suites

Unique itineraries visiting must-see cities and hidden gems where larger ships cannot follow

Intuitive, gracious service provided by a staff passionate about pleasing our guests

Spacious all-suite accommodations with sweeping ocean views - many with verandas

Gourmet dining experiences as fine as the best restaurants anywhere

Open bars throughout the ship and fine wines poured with lunch and dinner

Seabourn is a proud member of World's Leading Cruise Lines. The exclusive alliance also includes Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Cunard Line, Costa Cruises, AIDA, P&O Cruises UK, P&O Cruises Australia and fathom. Seabourn is a brand of Carnival Corporation and plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL and NYSE: CUK). It has formed a partnership with United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to help protect World Heritage, and also supports the Ocean Conservation & Tourism Alliance, dedicated to education and promotion of best practices for protecting the marine environment.

Click to Tweet: [email protected] celebrates float out of new Seabourn Encore with the ship touching water for the first time today

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160304/340577

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/seabourn-celebrates-float-out-of-new-seabourn-encore-300231170.html

SOURCE Seabourn
WASHINGTON, March 4, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "In war, there are no unwounded soldiers." The quote attributed to Argentinian Jose Narosky talks about the toll of battlefield experiences. It sits as one of the centerpieces for the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial, just around the corner from congressional offices in Washington D.C. The quote and memorial serve as a reminder of the sacrifice service members make when they serve our nation, and the importance of taking care of them when they return home.

In the Cannon House Office Building Thursday, Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) called on Congress to take action to help wounded veterans with two key policy items: covering the cost of starting a family for veterans who lost that ability due to injury, and fixing a loophole in health care coverage for some wounded veterans.

That loophole can force some of the most seriously injured service members onto Medicare health coverage from TRICARE. This causes their annual premium to jump by more than $1,000. Some can progress enough in their recovery to return to work, but they must wait to return to TRICARE and the lower premiums.

Ryan Kules is the director of Combat Stress Recovery at WWP. An improvised explosive device severed his right arm and left leg in 2005. Two years later, he had to transition to Medicare health coverage. While Ryan's recovery has fueled a successful civilian career, he told the Joint Veterans' Affairs Committee about the impact this has had on him and his family.

"In the next few months, I will finally be able to transition back to the more reasonably priced TRICARE plan I prefer. But my family, like so many others, has felt for the last eight years as though we were being made to pay an extra annual expense for no reason at all."

WWP is also seeking help for wounded veterans who lose the chance to start a family, because of wounds they sustain serving their country.

Ryan shared the story of Matthew and Tracy Keil. A bullet struck Matthew's spine, leaving him paralyzed. Matthew and Tracy were able to scrape together the money for one in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment, but not everyone can afford the expensive procedure. WWP wants Congress to authorize the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to offer IVF in appropriate instances.

WWP takes advocacy for injured veterans very seriously. Previous bills created by WWP and passed by Congress have led to more than $2.5 billion in benefits for wounded service members, their families, and caregivers. These laws will continue to help families cope with the visible and invisible wounds of war. The American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial reminds us all of the cost of war every veteran pays. It is why WWP is committed to a lifetime of service to these servicemen and women.

WWP offers 20 programs and services to injured veterans, their families, and their caregivers  all free of charge. Among them, Benefits Services, a partner in the process with wounded veterans as they navigate the VA. The Benefits Services team helps the transition to life after injury by identifying wounded veterans' individual needs and working to ensure access to government benefits they earned. Through fiscal year 2015, the Benefits Service team has secured more than $160 million for wounded veterans and their families.

About Wounded Warrior Project The mission of Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) is to honor and empower Wounded Warriors. WWP's purpose is to raise awareness and to enlist the public's aid for the needs of injured service members, to help injured servicemen and women aid and assist each other, and to provide unique, direct programs and services to meet their needs. WWP is a national, nonpartisan organization headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. To get involved and learn more, visit woundedwarriorproject.org.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160304/340592 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160304/340591

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wounded-warrior-project-calls-on-congress-to-take-action-300231169.html

SOURCE Wounded Warrior Project
Migrants and refugees wait to continue their train journey to western Europe at a refugee transit camp in Slavonski Brod, Croatia, February 9, 2016.REUTERS/Darrin Zammit Lupi

ZAGREB (Reuters) - Croatia proposed amending its border control and defense laws on Friday to enable the army to help police manage flows of migrants, as Western Balkan states effectively close their borders to those fleeing conflict or poverty in the Middle East.

Around 700,000 migrants have passed through Croatia since last September. At least 30,000 are currently stuck in Greece, prevented from traveling up the Balkans to wealthy western Europe, most often to Germany.

The Croatian government's proposed amendments would allow the army to help protect the country's borders in exceptional security or humanitarian circumstances. The army would follow police instructions.

"It doesn't mean we will activate this tomorrow, but we want to have this option," Prime Minister Tihomir Oreskovic told a cabinet session.

Parliament must approve the legal changes. Neighboring Slovenia approved a similar amendment last month.

Oreskovic had said this week on a visit to Germany that Croatia favored a European Union-wide solution to the migrant crisis rather than unilateral actions by individual countries.

(Reporting by Igor Ilic; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - An environmental rights activist known for her fight to stop hydroelectric plants and mines from encroaching on indigenous lands was shot dead early on Thursday in Honduras, prompting hundreds of students to protest in the capital.

Berta Caceres, a 43-year-old teacher, was shot and killed by two men at her home in La Esperanza, Honduras, 112 miles (180 kilometers) west of the capital, Tegucigalpa, Honduran Security Minister Julian Pacheco said, condemning the attack.

One other person was wounded in the incident, which is under investigation. The police have arrested a suspect, and are also questioning two witnesses, the government said in a statement.

The murder rate in Honduras is one of the highest in the world.

Caceres, who had received death threats, won the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2015 for her struggle to prevent the construction of a $50 million dam that threatened to displace hundreds of Indians.

In protest at her murder, students from the National Autonomous University blocked streets near campus, broke windows of a local Burger King and threw rocks at riot police, who responded with tear gas.

"The cowardly killing of Berta is a tragedy that was waiting to happen. For years, she had been the victim of a sustained campaign of harassment and threats to stop her from defending the rights of indigenous communities," said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International.

The project, which was subcontracted by a local company to Chinese builder Sinohydro [SINOH.UL], has been temporarily suspended thanks to protests led by Caceres.

(Reporting by Gustavo Palencia and Enrique Pretel; Editing by Steve Orlofsky and Sandra Maler)
Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron speaks as he launches the official Conservative campaign to stay in the European Union, in London, Britain February 24, 2016. 2016. REUTERS/Alex B. Huckle/pool

By John Irish and Elizabeth Pineau

AMIENS, France (Reuters) - France and Britain agreed on Thursday to a 2 billion euro ($2.11 billion) project to build a drone, as the two allies firmed up military ties amid conflicts in Syria and Libya.

President Francois Hollande and Prime Minister David Cameron met in northern France as part of a bi-annual summit commemorating the centenary of the Battle of the Somme in which 600,000 British and French soldiers died.

The two leaders also sought to show their unity on the Syria crisis before a conference call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday.

Paris and London want to apply pressure on Moscow to stop supporting advances by the Syrian government on Western-backed rebels that they say will be key players in any peace deal.

Cameron and Hollande announced plans for what they said was a new multi-use unmanned aircraft that would be ready for technical checks in 2020 and operational a decade later.

"This will be the most advanced of it kind in Europe," Cameron told a joint news conference, saying the project would create significant numbers of jobs in both countries.

Each side will contribute equally to the Future Combat Air System project, based on a 120-million-pound joint feasibility study agreed in 2014, official said.

Britain's BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce, along with Dassault Aviation, Safran and Thales of France, are taking part, they added.

France and Britain, both permanent veto-wielding members of the United Nations Security Council, are engaged in air strikes on Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq.

Hollande and Cameron are also backers of the "moderate" Syrian opposition and repeated their concerns that President Bashar al-Assad's forces and allies including Russia were continue to target rebel forces despite a new cessation of hostilities deal.

"We are putting pressure on all the players so that the bombings don't start again and that there is a real negotiation in which the opposition has its place," Hollande said, referring to inter-Syrian peace talks that are due to resume on March 9 in Geneva.

"We need Russia to understand that there is an opposition that should not be confused with Islamic State," he said.

Both men said it was vital that the government was in place before the Spring to ensure that Islamic State did not use migration routes across the Mediterranean to send fighters from Libya to Europe.

"I don't think we can wait to start talking to the government ... we can't have another migration route opening up, Cameron said.

(Additional reporting by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Andrew Callus and Andrew Heavens)
By Neil Marks

Georgetown (Reuters) - A major riot left 16 people dead in Guyana's overcrowded main prison after inmates were angered by the seizure of illicit cell phones, officials said on Thursday.

The army, police and fire services are on site under the command of the superintendent of prisons.

"We have a crisis on our hands ... as a result of several incidents that commenced at around 9:23 last night," Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan said at a press conference in Georgetown.

Scores of relatives are waiting outside the prison, and have clashed with officers as they seek information about the safety of their relatives. Five prisoners remain in the hospital.

President David Granger said a three-member panel would be convened to investigate the incident.

The prison was built for 600 inmates though currently houses more than 900.

The riot started after a regular monthly raid for illegal items was conducted just after midday on Wednesday. Some marijuana and 19 cell phones were seized, according to Kevin Pilgrim, the superintendent of prisons.

Guyanese law provides for two phone calls per week.

"Persons will clearly state that is inadequate and they will do what they have to do to get (more)," Pilgrim stated, adding that officials helped smuggle the cell phones into the prison.

"I will not sit here and deny that we don't have some officers who are corrupt. That is a fact," he added.

(Writing by Girish Gupta; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
By Chris Arsenault

TORONTO (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Honduras must do more to protect land rights activists, campaign groups said, after the killing of an award-winning indigenous environmentalist on Thursday.

Berta Caceres, winner of the 2015 Goldman Environmental Prize, was shot dead by two men at her home, Honduran security minister Julian Pacheco said,condemning the attack.

One person, a security guard at the house, was detained in connection with the killing in La Esperanza,112 miles (180 kilometers) west of the capital Tegucigalpa, Pacheco told local media.

Threats against Caceres and other activists had increased after protests against the construction of the $50 million Agua Zarca dam that threatened to displace hundreds of Indians.

Caceres, a 43-year-old teacher, had been granted emergency protection measures by the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights, but she had said the Honduran government was not implementing the procedures.

"The Honduran state must act immediately to find Berta's killers and protect her family and colleagues," Billy Kyte, a campaigner with Global Witness said in a statement.

"Indigenous people are being killed in alarming numbers simply for defending rights to their land."

With at least 101 activists murdered since 2010, Honduras is the world's most dangerous country to be a land rights or environmental campaigner, Global Witness said.

The Central American country of 8.5 million people has seen a surge in large resource projects including dams, mines and agricultural plantations, and this growth is linked to killings of activists, campaigners said.

Of all the land rights activists murdered worldwide, nearly three-quarters of the deaths were in Central and South America, Global Witness reported in 2014, with indigenous people disproportionately targeted.

Pacheco told reporters a special team of criminal investigators had been dispatched from Tegucigalpa as part of the investigation into Caceres' death.

U.S. ambassador to Honduras James Nealon took to twitter to offer American assistance and resources to "help bring these criminals to justice" for the "abhorrent crime against indigenous leader Berta Caceres".

(Reporting By Chris Arsenault; Additional reporting from Anastasia Moloney in Bogota; Editing by Astrid Zweynert. Please add:; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org)
Racist City Employees Are on Notice, and 9 Other Greater Cincinnati News Stories You May Have Missed This Week

Catch up on local government, politics, sports, celeb sightings and Halloween fun.
North Korean general cargo ship Ryo Myong is shown on this Eikon ship-tracking screen off the coast of Shandong Province in this March 3, 2016 illustration photo. REUTERS/Thomas White/Illustration

By Megha Rajagopalan

DANDONG, China (Reuters) - Hours after the United Nations imposed tough new sanctions on North Korea, vehicle traffic on the bridge linking the isolated country with the Chinese border city of Dandong was lighter than usual, but drivers reported no increase in cargo inspections.

A representative from a Dandong-based company that facilitates cross-border trade said local authorities had this week restricted how many vehicles could cross into North Korea each day, from 300-400 earlier to about 100, a sign that sanctions are having some early impact.

The sanctions, described by the United States as the harshest imposed by the U.N. against any country in two decades, are aimed at starving North Korea of funding for its nuclear weapons program.

Their effectiveness falls largely on implementation by China, North Korea's neighbor and main ally, which has a spotty record of enforcing previous sanctions.

China accounts for roughly 90 percent of trade with North Korea, much of it passing through bustling Dandong, facing North Korea across the Yalu river, and trucks carrying pipes, timber and sacks of food rumbled across the bridge on Thursday.

However, shopkeepers working on the Chinese side of the border said the number of trucks carrying goods between the two sides had fallen in the past three days.

"Who knows why? Lately the international situation has become tense," said a woman selling souvenirs beneath a bridge linking the two countries.

The U.N. Security Council resolution, drafted by the United States and China and voted into effect on Wednesday, calls for the inspection of all cargo coming in or out of North Korea.

At a customs inspection lot in Dandong on Thursday, the drivers of three vehicles with North Korean license plates returning home - a Mercedes, a BMW and a Lexus minivan - went inside to show their passports. A customs inspector asked the Lexus driver what was in the packages loaded in the minivan but did not look inside them.

COAL, CRYSTAL, SNOWMOBILES

China said it consistently carries out its responsibilities as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council.

"We will abide by the resolution and hope all parties will comprehensively implement the resolution," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a regular briefing in Beijing.

Among other provisions, the sanctions include a ban on imports of luxury goods including expensive watches, lead crystal and snowmobiles.

The sanctions also ban North Korean exports of coal and iron ore other than for "livelihood purposes" and if proceeds do not go to fund the North's weapons programs - wording that leaves room for interpretation and continued trade.

"The seemingly key part of the sanctions is framed in such wording as 'livelihood' that it is virtually impossible to verify," said Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

"Also, China's central government does not have complete control over mineral trade with North Korea. A lot of it is up to the three northeastern provinces, which means there are going to be even more ways to get around the sanctions," he said.

China imported $1 billion worth of North Korean coal last year, according to Chinese data.

"It is difficult to foresee broad and consistent implementation of the new resolution, especially from players such as China, to create barriers that North Korea cannot find its way around," Andrea Berger wrote in an analysis for 38 North, a Washington-based North Korea monitoring project.

(Additional reporting by Jack Kim in SEOUL and Jessica Macy Yu in BEIJING; Writing by Tony Munroe; Editing by Alex Richardson)
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 6-K

REPORT OF FOREIGN ISSUER

PURSUANT TO RULE 13a-16 OR 15d-16 OF THE

SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the month of March, 2016



(Commission File No. 001-33356),

Gafisa S.A.

(Translation of Registrant's name into English)





Av. Nacoes Unidas No. 8501, 19th floor Sao Paulo, SP, 05425-070 Federative Republic of Brazil

(Address of principal executive office)







Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file

annual reports under cover Form 20-F or Form 40-F.



Form 20-F ___X___ Form 40-F ______







Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting

the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(1)



Yes ______ No ___X___

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting

the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(7): Yes ______ No ___X___ Indicate by check mark whether by furnishing the information contained in this Form,

the Registrant is also thereby furnishing the information to the Commission pursuant

to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934: Yes ______ No ___X___ If Yes is marked, indicate below the file number assigned

to the registrant in connection with Rule 12g3-2(b): N/A

GAFISA S.A. CNPJ/MF n  01.545.826/0001-07 NIRE 35.300.147.952 Publicly-Held Company Minutes of the Board of Directors Meeting held on March 03, 2016 1. Date, Time and Place: On March 03, 2016, at 4:00 p.m., at the Companys headquarters, at Avenida das Nacoes Unidas 8.501, 19 andar, Pinheiros, Sao Paulo, SP. 2. Call Notice and Attendance: As all members of the Companys Board of Directors attended the meeting, the summoning was dismissed and the instatement and approval of the quorum were verified. 3. Composition : Chairman : Odair Garcia Senra. Secretary : Renata de Carvalho Fidale. 4. Resolutions: The following was resolved, unanimously and without any restrictions, by all present members of the Board of Directors: 4.1. To close, due to expiration, the share buyback program issued by the Company, approved by resolution of the Board of Directors on February 2, 2015, by means of which 1,000,000 Companys common shares were acquired and approved for repurchase. 4.2. To approve, in accordance with Article 30, 1st "b" of Law n  6,404/76 of CVM Instruction n  567/15, and Article 22 (s) of the Companys Bylaws, a new share buyback program ("Share Buyback") of shares issued by the Company, to be held in treasury for future cancellation or disposal, during the next 18 months, i.e., until September 2, 2017, up to a limit of 8.198.565 common shares, as detailed in the Notice on Trading of Own Shares, prepared in accordance with Annex 30 - XXXVI of CVM Instruction No. 480/09, which is now presented and approved by this Board for disclosure. 4.2.1. In addition to the provisions of CVM Instruction n 567/15, the approval of the acquisition of shares by the Company via the Share Buyback program is conditioned to the maintenance of Gafisas Consolidated Net Debt to Equity ratio in a level equal or lower than 60% at the time of the shares purchase. 4.3. The members of the Board of Directors hereby grant authority to the Companys Executive Officers to determine the opportunities in which operations will be performed, as well as the amount of shares to be effectively traded, in accordance with the limitations set forth herein and those set out in CVM Instruction n 567/15. 5. Closing: With no further matters to be discussed, these minutes were prepared and duly executed. Signatures: Odair Garcia Senra (Chairman), Renata de Carvalho Fidale (Secretary). Directors : Odair Garcia Senra, Claudio Jose Carvalho de Andrade, Francisco Vidal Luna, Guilherme Affonso Ferreira, Jose Ecio Pereira da Costa Junior, Mauricio Marcellini Pereira and Rodolpho Amboss

I certify that this is a true copy of the minutes drawn up in the appropriate book. Renata de Carvalho Fidale Secretary

GAFISA S.A. CNPJ/MF n  01.545.826/0001-07 NIRE 35.300.147.952 Publicly-Held Company NOTICE ON TRADING OF OWN SHARES GAFISA S.A. (Bovespa, GFSA3) ( Gafisa  or  Company ), in compliance with CVM Instruction 480/09, presents the following information provided for as Appendix 30A-XXXVI about the trading of its own shares. 1. Justify the purpose and expected economic effects of the operation in detail: The objective of this operation is the acquisition of shares with a purpose of effectively using the Companys available funds, aiming at medium-term and long-term profitability. Additionally, a portion of the shares to be acquired might be reserved to the exercise of options and/or shares to be granted in the Stock Option Plan previously approved by the Company's shareholders at General Meeting. The acquisition of shares by the Company via the Share Buyback is conditioned to the maintenance of Gafisas Consolidated Net Debt to Equity ratio in a level equal or lower than 60% at the time of the shares purchase. 2. Inform the number of shares (i) outstanding and (ii) already held in treasury: The Company has 375,666,433 shares outstanding (in accordance to Art. 8, paragraph 3, item I of CVM Instruction No. 567/15) and 10,584,757 shares held in treasury. 3. Inform the number of shares that may be purchased or sold: The Company may purchase up to 8,198,565 common shares issued by the Company, an amount that, added to the treasury shares, is equivalent to 5% of the outstanding shares, as per item 2 above. 4. Describe the main characteristics of the derivatives that the company intends to use, if any: Not applicable, as the Company shall not use derivatives for the purposes of this operation. 5. Describe any voting agreements or voting guidance between the company and the counterparty in the operations: Not applicable, as the Company shall carry out the operations on the stock exchange at market prices and is unaware of who the counterparties in the operations will be. 6. For operations carried out outside organized securities markets, inform: (a) the maximum (minimum) price at which the shares will be purchased (sold); and (b) where applicable, the reasons justifying the operation at prices more than ten percent (10%) higher, in the event of a purchase, or more than ten percent (10%) lower, in the event of a sale, than the volume-weighted average quotation for the ten (10) preceding trading days: Not applicable, given that the operations shall be carried out on the stock exchange at market prices, and not outside organized securities markets.

7. Inform the trades impacts, if any, on the companys ownership structure or management: Not applicable as the trading will have no impact on the Companys ownership structure or management. 8. Name any counterparties, if known and, in the event of a related party, as identified by the accounting rules governing the matter, further provide the information required under Article 8 of CVM Instruction No. 481/09: Not applicable, as the Company shall carry out the operations on the stock exchange, and is unaware of who the counterparties in the operations will be. 9. Name the intended allocation of the funds raised, where applicable: Not applicable, as the company will not raise funds given that the shares purchased will be held as treasury stock and later used for cancelation or sale. 10. Name the maximum period to liquidate the authorized operation: The acquisition under the Program and hereby approved will be in force for up to 18 months, beginning on March 3, 2016 and ending on September 2, 2017. 11. Name the institutions acting as intermediaries, if any; The following financial institutions will act as intermediaries for transactions involving the acquisition of shares: (i) Itau Corretora de Valores S.A., Corporate Taxpayer ID 61.194.353/0001-64, with headquarters at Sao Paulo, SP, at Avenida Brigadeiro Faria Lima 3.400, 10 andar, (ii) Votorantim Corretora de Titulos e Valores Mobiliarios Ltda., Corporate Taxpayer ID 01.170.892/0001-31, with headquarters at Sao Paulo, SP, at Avenida das Nacoes Unidas 14.171, Torre A, 14 andar, and (iii) BTG Pactual Corretora de Titulos e Valores Mobiliarios S.A., Corporate Taxpayer ID 43.815.158/0001-22, with headquarters at Sao Paulo, SP, at Avenida Brigadeiro Faria Lima 3.729, 10 andar. 12. Specify the funds available for use pursuant to Article 7, paragraph 1, of CVM Instruction No. 567/15: The acquisition of shares under the Program shall be made through the debit of the balance available in the Company's Investment Reserve account, which according to financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015, amounted to R$268,659,126.75. 13. Name the reasons why the members of the Board of Directors feel confident that the repurchase of shares will not harm the discharge of obligations before creditors nor the payment of mandatory, fixed, or minimum dividends: The members of the Board of Directors understand that the current financial situation of the Company is compatible with the possible Program execution in the approved conditions and are comfortable that the stock buyback does not affect the fulfillment of obligations to creditors or the payment of mandatory dividends, calculated according to the applicable law and approved by the shareholders meeting. The amount to be used in the possible buyback of up to 8,198,565 common shares would correspond to approximately between R$20,000,000.00 to R$25,000,000.00, considering the average prices of the last thirty days, an amount that is not material for the Company. Furthermore, such investment represents less than 3% of the cash equivalents according to financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015.

The potential amount to be employed in the Program  considering the level of obligations to creditors  does not affect the full payment capacity of financial commitments , nor the payment of mandatory dividends.
Darren Young in front of a drainpipe which runs across his neighbour, Kath Porter's property. Young expects a permanent solution will cost the property owner dearly due to the solid retaining wall.

Unsightly poo on Kath Porter's driveway has been cleaned up by Wellington City Council, and a temporary solution installed to prevent the mess dripping down her property any longer.

Council contractors were sent to clean up the stink at Porter's Vogeltown property on Thursday afternoon, as well as sending cameras down the mains pipe to check for blockages.

Footage determined the main system was clear, so council contractors got permission from a second neighbour to run a temporary diversion into their private lateral.

CAMERON BURNELL/FAIRFAX NZ An open wastewater drain pipe has now been temporarily repaired after leaking raw sewage onto the drive for the last few days.

Kath Porter said while the emergency job "doesn't look the best", she was pleased to have a driveway free from the mixture of poo and toilet paper.

READ MORE: Poo from neighbour's drainpipe overflows on to woman's driveway

"They put disinfectant down and it smelt lovely."

Although the council has cleaned up the mess, for now, Wellington Water spokesman Alex van Paassen gave assurances ratepayers would not be fitting the bill.

"As this is a private drainage issue, we will be working with the owner to develop a permanent solution, and to recover all costs that the council has incurred on the property owner's behalf, including the temporary solution put in place yesterday."

The property owner did not wish to comment.

"I've seen the paper today and that's enough. I better not," she said.

The contractor who drilled the hole was not sent by Wellington Water, but by the property owner, Van Paassen said.

"Our understanding is the contractors who cut the hole were engaged by the landlord of [the property where the problem is occurring]."

Porter's neighbour, Darren Young, said it was clear a more permanent solution would be needed to fix the lateral system, but suspected the costs would be high due to the solid retaining wall.

"Any work that's down that wall will have to have structural engineers involved and that's where it gets tricky and expensive."

Porter said she has lived in her Vogeltown house for more than 40 years, and said the wall was at least 30 years old.

The temporary diversion through a flexi black hose pipe should hold for "a while", van Paassen said, provided people didn't flush cotton buds, wet wipes and sanitary pads down the pipe.
Organiser and self-confessed motor head, Ken McGeady, is gearing up for the Frankton Thunder this weekend.

Petrol heads, start your engines.

This weekend Frankton Thunder will showcase a range of vehicles from modern motorbikes to vintage cars in the inner city Hamilton suburb.

The inaugural event was planned over a year ago with the help of motor-vehicle enthusiasts, local businesses, the community and vehicle clubs.

Ken McGeady is one of the organisers, and said the event was created after the Small Businesses Association asked how they could promote the Frankton village.

"We felt Frankton was left in the lurch after the V8s, so we wanted to make people aware that it still exists and promote the community and businesses in the area," he said. "So we decided to put on a motoring event that brings a lot of people into the town area, and give it some life."

As well as classic and muscle cars there will also be live music on two stages, a vehicle parade, burlesque show, tattoo competitions, and a pin-up Miss Frankton Thunder competition.

The free event allows the public to walk around the village and admire the vehicles on display. Money raised will be donated to the Child Cancer Society.

Self-confessed petrol head and Hamilton City Councillor Angela O'Leary said she was excited about attending the show.

"I grew up with real bogans - although they probably wouldn't like me saying that.

"They always had their head under the bonnet of a Holden, yes it has to be a Holden, because it can't be a Ford.

O'Leary was a big fan of Frankton, and said it was a prime location.

"Frankton's easy to get in and out of, to walk around and navigate, and kicking it off with the markets tomorrow for the first day is fantastic.

"It will be such a good, free community event for people to wander around and check out."

She credits the organisers for all their hard work, and the support of the community, clubs, and sponsors.

"The organisers are cleary passionate about what they do. They're all into motorbikes and I think it shows there is a need for something like this," she said.

McGeady said the support from the Frankton community has been unbelievable.

"No one has said no to anything, we've had great support." He said they are already looking at developing it more, and will try and make it an annual event.

"I think the reality is we just want people to say, 'that was a lot of fun lets do it again'," he said.

"We want to be able to prove it is a viable thing for Frankton to do."

For more information go to Frankton Thunder Facebook page.
Victoria Tanoi was sentenced to 4 years and 8 months' jail for stealing more than $1 million from her employer to fuel her gambling habit.

An Auckland receptionist who stole more than $1 million from her company to fund her gambling addiction is headed to jail for almost five years.

Victoria Tanoi fraudulently obtained the money over five years by accessing the banking and accounting systems of her employer, Portacom New Zealand.

She fraudulently accessed Portacom's systems 270 times between 2009 and 2015.

The total loss sustained by her employer was $1,037,355.28, of which Tanoi has declined to pay any reparation.

READ MORE:

* More people seek help from Chch gambling addiction services

* StudyLink worker stole $61k to fund gambling addiction

* Gambling addict admits ripping off parents to fund habit

* Gambling a problem among NZ high school students



In Auckland District Court at her sentencing, her lawyer Joshua Grainger unsuccessfully attempted to block publication of her name and photograph, suggesting that members of her family could commit suicide from shame if she were named publicly.

Tanoi had earlier pleaded guilty to eight charges of obtaining a pecuniary advantage by making false entries in a document and one charge of false accounting.

Grainger said his client had stolen the money to fund a gambling problem, which had been hidden from her family.

"We now know why this offending took place. Ms Tanoi's actions were the actions of a woman addicted to gambling.

"Her husband did not know. Her husband just learned of her gambling problem before court today," he said.

The lawyer said Tanoi had indicated that she was remorseful, but Judge Rob Ronayne said that was at odds with her behaviour.

"She is remorseful now that she has been caught," he said.

Describing her offending, he addressed Tanoi directly.

"It [the stolen money] will have been largely for gambling, but how you spent the money is largely irrelevant. You took the money for yourself.

"It was planned and premeditated. It's my assessment that your motivation was greed. It was for your gambling, it was for travel and it was for assisting your family and friends.

"Your offending involved an abuse of a position of power."

Tanoi had been employed at Portacom as a "senior accounts payable clerk" and had been in charge of twice-monthly "payment runs", which were put through the company's desktop banking system.

She was paying money into her own account and those of her family members, Judge Ronayne said.

In 2003 Tanoi committed similar offending and was sentenced in 2007 for 17 fraudulent transactions at a previous workplace where she stole about $100,000.

For the two charges she faced in that case she was sentenced to 300 hours' community work and nine months' supervision. The offending at Portacom began just over two years after the 2007 sentencing for her previous crimes.

Instead of offering to pay any form of reparation, Tanoi mentioned in a report written for the court that she would rather "take her chances when the time comes" should Portacom later pursue a civil case against her to recover any of the money she stole.

She was sentenced to four years and eight months' jail.
Janine Carter in the dock at Waikato District Court on Friday.

A drugged driver who ploughed her unwarranted and unregistered car into the rear of another vehicle, fatally injuring the woman inside, has been sentenced to three years and two months in jail.

Janine Elizabeth Carter was high on P and not wearing her prescription glasses when she drove at speed into the rear of another car that had slowed for roadworks.

That other car was being driven by 69-year-old former district nurse Maureen Joan Davies, who died in Waikato Hospital two days later from injuries she suffered in the impact, which shunted her car almost 20 metres into a hedge.

supplied Emergency services were scrambled to the crash site on State Highway 1 near Karapiro on January 30 last year.

Carter, 37, appeared in the Hamilton District Court on Friday before Judge Philip Connell, who sentenced her to three years and two months in prison.

READ MORE: Guilty plea for killer driver high on P

He also disqualified her from driving for four years.

She had pleaded guilty in October to a single charge of causing Davies' death while under the influence of a controlled drug.

The charge has a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison or a $20,000 fine.

Court documents reveal the January 30 crash happened south of Cambridge 12 to 24 hours after Carter had smoked methamphetamine in Tauranga. She was travelling back to her home in Enderley, but told police she could not remember anything about the journey.

Her car had been seen travelling in an erratic manner, crossing the centre line and causing oncoming trucks to swerve out of the way.

Another driver who was following Carter's Mitsubishi Galant called police to report the poor driving and was still on the phone to them when Carter drove into Davies' Toyota Echo, which had slowed because traffic had backed up ahead because of the roadworks.

Carter had been weaving between lanes and suddenly pulled into the left-hand lane, ploughing directly into the back of Davies' car and propelling it 19 metres. Carter's own car finally came to a stop about 50m up the road.

Davies, a former district nurse with a career spanning 50 years, suffered numerous injuries, including 12 broken ribs. She also experienced several cardiac arrests before she died of her injuries on February 1. Carter was also taken to Waikato Hospital with minor injuries, and it was there that samples of her blood were taken and sent to the ESR laboratory in Porirua for analysis.

The result showed that her blood contained methamphetamine and codeine.

In sentencing, Connell took note of a probation report on Carter, which found she had not followed through on a Care NZ drug treatment programme she had entered.

"That must leave open to question your intention of rehabilitation."

Speaking after the sentencing, widower Stan Davies said he hoped Carter would use it as a turning point.

"She will have some time to consider the seriousness of her actions and the seriousness of methamphetamine.

He said his wife, who he described as "an absolute treasure", had been travelling home to Hamilton herself after attending the 70th birthday in Tauranga of one of her former nursing colleagues.
Welcome to Sunlit Uplands.

This website is dedicated to a renewal of Christian culture. It is inspired by Sir Winston Churchill, a valiant defender of Christian civilization, who believed "we have a great treasure to guard; that the inheritance in our possession represents the prolonged achievement of the centuries." With Churchill, we believe that a "fraternal association" of the English-speaking peoples must "for their own safety and for the good of all walk together in majesty, in justice and in peace.

Our website's title is taken from the great man's Finest Hour speech.



Your comments are most welcome. Thank you for visiting.

Daniel J. Cassidy
Brian Rogers

Rogers Rabbits

www.sunlive.co.nz

Theres been plenty said already about the NZ flag project, to the point that most people are tired of hearing about it.



It hasnt reached feverish levels of passion; Kiwis have failed to get highly patriotic and energised by this discussion. Perhaps were still gobsmacked at the cost. Whatever the reason, the process has failed to generate a level of enthusiastic hype necessary to gain a convincing result either way. To topple the existing flag, any challenger should knock our socks off.



That hasnt happened. I dont see you so fired up about the alternative that the country is fizzing at the gills to get on with it. That doesnt mean the old flag should stay forever, just that now isnt the time for it to be replaced.



Much of the debate has been pointless, a perfectly straightforward democratic process hijacked by those with petty political agendas. That has robbed the campaign of its energy and direction.



Whos flag is it?



Such as the mindset that some people have, to vote against change because it was John Keys idea. Thats pathetic. This is not Keys flag. Its Kyle Lockwoods. Just because Mr Key likes it, doesnt make it a good or a bad flag. Hes just voicing his opinion, which every New Zealander is entitled to do. And we should expect our Prime Minister to have a view. It would be pretty weak leadership if he didnt have a viewand express it. Yes, it cost a lot of money. Too much, and everyone I know agrees. But that shouldnt sway your vote either. Too late, the dosh is blown, and no amount of angst will get it back.



My advice is simple. Just vote for whichever flag you like.



Dont get dragged into whose idea it was, or the whys and wherefores of personalities promoting it; or any guilt trips about historical connections.



Those who fought and died in wars did so to give us, future generations, the opportunity to have choices. Theyre mostly buried under the fern or the kiwi, not Jack or any of his reincarnations. We respect the fallen for their sacrifice and their commitment to freedom.



They would not have expected to influence freedom of choice from beyond the grave.

We could go on for years debating whether the new proposed flag is a worthy contender or not, but no-one has come up with any better.



Im not convinced its the perfect replacement, but I cant suggest anything better. Yes, the challenger has grown on me as time has gone by, but does it have the wow factor?



Yeah, nah. Best we get on with it, then. Pick one. Have a vote. Be part of the process. And happily accept whatever is the outcome then we can get on with the real importance stuff.



Because the old flag aint perfect, but neither is the alternative.



Will anything ever be?



Media above the law?



Since the Police have decided not to prosecute TV3 reporters after they fraudulently and illegally purchased a firearm for the purposes of a story, does this signal to the news industry that we can all go breaking the law for the sake of getting a sensational yarn?



Is a slap on the wrist with a wet bus ticket warning the harshest repercussions we can expect?



The RR brains trust is now brimming with ideas of how we could perform criminal acts, write about it, and then claim it was all just to bring attention to shortcomings of the law. Do not try this at home



The big plan



First up, I plan to sneak into the nearest distillery and attempt to drown myself in the whiskey vat. Not for the purpose of enjoying a near-lethal dose of single malt, but to write an expose on how to thwart the tight security surrounding distilleries. Remind me to take a bucket of ice and a cigar.



Next well go a step better than gunslinger du Plessis-Allan.



Well smuggle a Scud missile into the country and blow up a small but pointless town somewhere, such as Remuera. Not because we dont like the people there; but to highlight how terrorists could do the same, and who knows, unless we bring it to public attention, the bad guys might take a dislike for, say, Ponsonby, and explode it into a 300 metre high plume of righteous indignation and latte.



Also on the hit list: Throwing sex toys at members of Parliament.



Oh hang on, thats already been done, and yes, a similar result to the TV3 firearms case  no charge. Only the dildo-propelling protester wasnt hiding behind the cloak of journalismshe was simply a nutter with no better place to lunge a sex toy.



It would make an excellent story to let a bronze whaler loose in Baywave.



There might be a few casualties, but until our exclusive story, who knew it was possible to create so much fishy mayhem at the hydroslide?



Robbing a train. Just to prove its still possible to stage a spectacular heist. Ive no idea what well do with the stash of pinus radiata logs that were destined for the Port of Tauranga, maybe the gang will each be able to build a small house.



Police will let us off because well do it without de-railing the train. So there cant be any allegations of a miscarriage of justice. Send us your suggestions for spectacular-but-criminal stunts in the name of journalism. Well make you famous, and recommend a good lawyer.



brian@thesun.co.nz

Like Rogers Rabbits' blogger on Facebook for more.



Warning: Dont break the law. We will not be held responsible for whiskey vat drownings or criminal acts performed.
Regional Council staff are combing through the hundreds of pages of the Rena decision this week removing a misspelling of Motiti as in Motiti Island.

Motiti is officially spelled without macrons, something made clear to the Regional Council 18 months ago in a direction by Environment Court Judge Jeff Smith, in accordance with the wishes of the island residents.
The tough financial times dairy farmers are facing due to the low dairy payout has members of the Bay of Plenty Rural Support Trust concerned about farmers and their families.

Things are going to be tough for some time. We need to ensure that all farmers have someone to talk to if they find themselves in trouble, Steve Bailey, the BOP Dairy Chair of Bay of Plenty Federated Farmers.
A Whakatane student on a school camp at Matakana Island was airlifted to Tauranga Hospital overnight.

The Tauranga-based Trustpower TECT Rescue Helicopter was called to the island around 11pm after an eight-year-old girl experienced breathing difficulties.
Mount Maunganuis Bayfair Shopping Centre has plugged into the future with the launch of its two new electric vehicle charging stations.

The new stations will fully charge standard electric vehicles in approximately six hours.

Along with the electric vehicle charging stations, the Bay has also installed two charging points for mobility scooters just inside the main entrance to the centre.

Centre manager Steve Ellingford says they were able to install the charging stations thanks to a grant from the Bay of Plenty Regional Councils Environmental Enhancement Fund.

Fridays unveiling of the stations went really well and there were quite a few electric vehicle owners who turned out for the launch and were also using the stations which was really cool to see, says Steve.

We also hugely appreciated having Transport Minister Simon Bridges with us on Friday to launch the stations, its really fantastic and showed his commitment to electric vehicles.

Fridays unveiling was the culmination of work undertaken by Bayfair that began midway through 2015.

Steve says the centre wanted to offer free-to-use charging stations for its customers to use in order to stay ahead of the pack.

Electric vehicles are the future and for us its about adopting new technology early. We pride ourselves on doing things first, weve carried out a number of environmental firsts here at Bayfair and this was another opportunity for us.

After securing regional council funding, Steve says they were then approached by Powerco and Charge Net NZ who offered to install a rapid charger at the centre too.

The user-pays rapid chargers will provide an 80 per cent charge in 10 to 25 minutes  roughly the same time it takes to order and drink a cup of coffee.

Having Powerco and Charge Net NZ approach us with that offer was just absolutely fantastic, being able to provide a service like this to our customers.

When we were setting up the charge stations people kept asking what they were and once we explained what was happening we had a number of people telling us it was a great idea, says Steve.



One of the two electric vehicle chargers unveiled at Bayfair on Friday.



Tauranga MP Simon Bridges says as the minister for both Transport and Energy and Resources, hes long been a proponent of electric vehicles.

He says it is great to see local businesses getting on board and providing this infrastructure free to the Tauranga community.

While most charging will likely take place at the home or workplace, a network of charging infrastructure is necessary to support the increased uptake of electric vehicles. This will help facilitate longer distance travel and enhance the value of electric vehicles.

Simon believes the benefits of increasing uptake of electric vehicles are far-reaching.

Electric vehicles reduce our reliance on imported fossil fuels, reduce fuel cost and enhance the efficiency of our renewable electricity networks, he says.

Across their life cycle  from resource extraction and manufacturing to driving and disposal  electric vehicles have 60 per cent fewer CO2 emissions than petrol vehicles.

In addition, because of New Zealands high renewable electricity generation, they have 80 per cent fewer CO2 emissions when driven here.

If we start to replace our fleet with electric vehicles, we can begin to significantly reduce New Zealands greenhouse gas emissions.
The Australian-first Aerostructures Innovation Research Hub (AIR Hub) will bring together the best of Victorias aerospace research, design and manufacturing leaders to work with industry on the next generation of air mobility.
81 crash.JPG

A damaged truck remains in a median of Interstate 81 between LaFayette and Nedrow after rolling over Friday morning on I-81 north. The trucks on the left are traveling north on I-81.

(Samantha House)

LAFAYETTE, N.Y. -- Interstate 81 has fully reopened over five hours after a fatal crash south of Nedrow closed one lane of the highway.

The left lanes of Interstate north and south were closed around 7 a.m. after a truck rolled over south of the Route 11 exit (Nedrow) into a median. The left lane of I-81 south reopened around 12:38 p.m. The left lane of I-81 north reopened just before 1 p.m.

The fatal accident happened around 6:41 a.m. between the hamlet of LaFayette and Nedrow near McClary Road.

The truck driver, who was rushed from the scene to a hospital, died. The man's identity will be released after the New York State Police notify his family of his death, said Trooper Jack Keller.

The crash remains under investigation.
81 crash.JPG

A damaged truck remains in a median of Interstate 81 between LaFayette and Nedrow after rolling over Friday morning on I-81 north. The trucks on the left are traveling north on I-81

(Samantha House | shouse@syracuse.com)

LAFAYETTE, N.Y. -- A man was fatally injured Friday morning when the flatbed truck he was driving went off Interstate 81, overturned and rolled several hundred feet, the New York State Police said.

The crash occurred around 6:30 a.m. on I-81, south of Exit 16, in the town of LaFayette.

State police said Jean Edy Silaire, 38, of West Babylon, Suffolk County Long Island, was driving a 2016 Hino flatbed truck north on I-81 when he lost control of the rig for unknown reasons. The truck overturned and rolled several hundred feet before it went into the median and came to rest on a guide rail.

Silaire was ejected and suffered severe head trauma and a broken arm, state police said. He was rushed by ambulance to Upstate University Hospital where he later died.

The left lanes of I-81 north and south were closed around 7 a.m. after the crash south of the Route 11 exit (Nedrow). I-81 reopened about five hours after the crash.

Troopers are continuing to investigate what caused the crash.

Contact Ken Sturtz: 315-766-7833 | Email | Twitter | Facebook | Google+
Glock 40 caliber semi-autom.JPG

This is the same make and model of the Glock .40-caliber semi-automatic handgun that criminals used in 37 shootings in Syracuse between 2009 and last year.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Police finally captured the fugitive last year, hiding behind a house in the city.

Over six years, the suspect had shot 10 people, killing one, and fired shots at 27 more scenes. But over the years, the outlaw had left behind 205 bits of evidence that Syracuse police gathered one-by-one.

They had a description of the suspect, but it wasn't human.

Police gave it a name: "MUF 40-13." It was on a long list of "multi-use firearms" police were tracking from the start of 2013 through the end of 2015. They knew it was a .40-caliber gun, and that it was the 13th of that type on their list.

When police finally recovered it in 2015, they found it was a Glock Model 23 .40-caliber semi-automatic handgun. By test-firing it and recovering a shell casing, they linked it to all 37 shootings in the city over six years.

The gun had left behind a total of 205 casings at 37 crime scenes from 2009 through last year.

The .40-caliber Glock was Syracuse's most often used fugitive gun, said Syracuse police Capt. Richard Trudell, who heads the criminal intelligence section and its gang violence task force.

"That's the big one," he said. "Nothing touches that."

The Glock was one of 148 missing handguns used in multiple shootings that Syracuse police tracked from 2013 to 2015 by using ballistics technology to link shell casings or bullets left at crime scenes.

Police have recovered 77 of those guns. Another 71 are still on the streets.

The technology that matches spent casings to missing guns has shed new light on Syracuse's gun problem.

A gun-sharing network has emerged, with many of the firearms stashed for easy access by gang members, police said.

Police call them community guns. In the winter, when the snow makes it hard to hide them outside, street gangs often stash them under porches and inside vacant homes. In better weather, they're stashed in cut-through areas between street blocks, sometimes in trash cans.

"It's a huge problem, because we're not able to stop the flow of guns," said Clifford Ryans, who founded OGs Against Violence in July in response to a spate of shootings.

Ryans talked to 21 people from July to December who told him they were planning to shoot someone, he said. Ryans believes at least five were planning to use a community gun. He had no specific knowledge of that -- only an assumption based on the easy access people had to those guns, he said.

Gangs use community guns so anyone in the gang can have easy access, Trudell said. They stash the gun so there's less chance of getting caught with it on them and facing an illegal weapons possession charge, he said.

The gangs probably use the same gun repeatedly because they know it works and they have ready ammunition, Trudell said.

Community guns have been around for at least 10 years, Trudell said. It's the new ballistics technology that's revealed the extent they're being used, he said.

"It's obviously a concern for all of us, that there is this term 'community gun,' " said Larry Williams, program director of Syracuse Save Our Youth, which combats gang violence.

"It speaks to the ease of getting guns," he said.

The fallout of police focusing on community guns is reflected in the numbers. Gun arrests jumped from 133 in 2014 to 220 last year. The number of illegal guns police recovered increased from 235 two years ago to 298 last year.

The police department is sending its officers into the areas where the community guns are used most in order to find those weapons, Trudell said.

One of the guns still missing was used in three separate homicides, he said. He said he couldn't give more details on that gun because disclosing more might jeopardize the police investigation.

After the .40-caliber Glock was recovered last year, the new No. 1 became a handgun that's been used 20 times. Another missing handgun was used 14 times.

Trudell wouldn't disclose details about the shootings the Glock was used in. He didn't want to jeopardize the criminal case that's pending in the homicide.

The gun was initially sold legally in Rutland, Vermont, in 1999, according to a trace performed by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. It was never reported stolen, Trudell said. He would not reveal any more information about the gun's history.

It made its first appearance in Syracuse crimes in 2009 on the city's West Side, used by gang members, Trudell said.

The gun's gang-related shootings stayed on the West Side for a while then shifted to the South Side, he said. He knows which gang was using the gun, but wouldn't disclose it.

Police believe most of the guns on their list are community guns.

"These types of guns are definitely kept within the group to be readily used," he said. "That's their whole purpose. That's why we see 37 uses on this one, and 20 uses on that one - because they're being used repeatedly."

He's asking for the public's help in tracking down the missing guns.

"We're trying to get the community to see what we're doing and then to buy in, to tell us that this is the house that the gun is being stored behind," Trudell said. He asked people to call the Syracuse police gun tip line, 315-442-5300. They can also use the TIP411 system through an anonymous tip page on the police department's website or Facebook page. They can also download the SPD Tips app on their phones or text their tips to 847411.

It was help from the community that aided police in snagging their Public Enemy Gun No. 1 - the Glock. Police responded to an illegally parked car last year, which led to a suspicious person behind a house, Trudell said.

After that person came out from behind the house, witnesses told police they'd seen him put a gun there, he said.

That's where Glock Model 23 .40 caliber semi-automatic handgun, formerly known to police as MUF 40-13, was hiding.

 Graphic: Where one gun was used in many Syracuse shootings

Contact John O'Brien anytime | email | Twitter | 315-470-2187
Seneca Couple child abuse.JPG

Angela M. Wheeler, left, and Michael A. Brewer, right

(New York State Police)

WATERLOO, N.Y. -- Two children were choked and subjected to "excessive punishment" by a Seneca County couple, troopers say.

Angela M. Wheeler and Michael A. Brewer were arrested Thursday and charged with abusing and failing to properly care for two children, said the New York State Police. The abuse was initially reported on Dec. 21, 2015 in Waterloo, arrest logs show.

Wheeler, 37, of Seneca Falls, was charged with criminal obstruction of breathing or blood circulation and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child. Brewer, 39, of Interlaken, was charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

The couple physically abused the children, troopers said. The children were choked as a form of punishment, troopers said.

The child abuse investigation was launched soon after the couple was nabbed during a December drug bust.

The Seneca County Sheriff's Office raided 26 Church St. in Waterloo on Dec. 14. Deputies seized heroin, needles and brass knuckles from the bedroom Wheeler and Brewer then shared.

After the search, Wheeler was charged with selling heroin and endangering the welfare of three children who lived in the Church Street home. Deputies said Wheeler kept heroin near the children.

At the time, Brewer was charged with possessing brass knuckles.

Wheeler and Brewer were released on appearance tickets for the child abuse case.

Troopers conducted the investigation with Seneca County Child Protective Services. The children have been placed in the care of a family members, troopers said.
Call it the Haddock Belt. With Syracuse at its center, it stretches from Buffalo to Albany.

Haddock fillets at CJ's Seafoods on Teall Avenue in Syracuse.

It's a piece of America where the Friday fish fry reigns supreme, and haddock is king.

Haddock here beats cod, catfish, flounder, pollock or any other edible finned creature you could name. Only in Upstate New York. And never more so than during this Lenten season, when fish fry dinners pop up everywhere: At taverns, restaurants, VFW halls, churches and volunteer fire departments.

"The volume of haddock consumed on Friday nights in Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse is staggering," said David Bluhm of Channel Fish Processing, a South Boston seafood supplier in business since the 1940s. "Around Syracuse -- the amount of fish that's served on Fridays is enough to blow your mind."

Find a fish fry in Central New York

The reason for the popularity of the fish fry is partly demographic: Upstate has traditionally been home to a large number of Roman Catholics, who abstain from meat on the Fridays during Lent, the 40-day period of sacrifice leading to Easter Sunday.

Fresh haddock fillets, the basis of the traditional Lenten Friday fish fry, are especially popular in Upstate New York with the skin on.

"It goes back to the Catholic immigrants -- the Irish, the Italians, the Germans, the Polish," said Joe Falcone of the Fish Cove in Shop City. "And the working man -- the fish dinner was an inexpensive, easy dinner to bring home. That's why all the traditional Upstate factory towns with Catholic immigrants have the fish fry."

But that doesn't explain why, when Upstaters eat fried fish, they usually eat haddock. Or why other people don't.

"People who are not from around here just don't know about haddock," said Mike Lavelle, who organizes the annual St. Vincent de Paul (Blessed Sacrament) fish fry in Syracuse. Lavelle is also a long-time cook at Syracuse University fraternity houses.

"All I know is the students who come up from New York (City) or New Jersey or other places don't know it and don't care for it," said Lavelle, who now works for Sigma Alpha Epsilon. "I get funny looks if I try to serve them haddock."

Doug Clark, the founder of Central New York's Doug's Fish Fry, has sometimes had the haddock headache, too. When he started the first Doug's, in Skaneateles in 1982, he served cod because a friend had hooked him up with a supplier.

"People would come in and say 'I'll have a haddock dinner,' " Clark said. "And we'd say, 'We don't have haddock, we have cod.' And some of them would turn around and walk out."

In recent years, however, the Doug's locations in Skaneateles and Cortland, which Clark now franchises out, have started buying either cod or haddock, whichever is available. "Frankly, I think a lot of people don't know the difference, even when they say they prefer haddock."

Both haddock and cod are fished in the North Atlantic, and both take well to frying. But haddock has a stronger and more fishy flavor, especially when served skin-on, as is common at many Upstate fish fry dinners.

"In Upstate, if it's haddock, it's going to be skin-on," said Bluhm of the Boston fish supplier Channel Fish. "Without the skin, I don't know if I could tell the difference -- and I've been in this business for 40 years."

"Haddock people like the skin on -- it's more fishy," said Doug Clark, whose restaurants traditionally serve skinless fish.

If it's hard to say why haddock became popular Upstate, it's not much easier to pin down when it happened.

Bill Easterly thinks it dates to the 1960s. His grandparents founded Jim's Fish Fry on Wolf Street in Syracuse in 1944, making it the top contender for the oldest still-operating fish fry in town.

"We originally served a lot of pollock," Easterly said. "I think the switch was in the '60s."

It's possible the change was made because pollock flesh fries up darker than haddock or cod, he said.

"Pollock tastes great," Easterly said. "But it doesn't have the eye appeal of haddock."

Joe Falcone of the Fish Cove agrees. "It's like Thanksgiving -- people prefer the white meat to the dark meat," he said.

The taste in fish, in any case, seems to be a regional thing. Catfish is popular in much of the south and Midwest, while whiting is popular in Chicago and Washington DC -- and in Baltimore, where it's often called "lake trout."

"In New York City they go for cod, and flounder in New Jersey," Bluhm said. "Haddock is Upstate's thing."

Don Cazentre writes about food, beverages, restaurants and bars for syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Contact him by email, on Twitter, at Google+ or via Facebook.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- "I don't think I'll live in a house this nice ever again."

That's how Shannon Sturm summed up the house she and her fiance John Adams share, one of the historic Five Sisters on Park Avenue on Syracuse's West Side.

The five Victorian homes, all built in the 1880s, line the 300 block of Park Avenue, across from Leavenworth Park.

Adams bought the home in 2009, just as the renovation process of the five homes, which spanned much of the decade, was nearing completion. Adams and Sturm remember when their future home was riddled with graffiti and vandalism and the roof was held together with blue tarps.

The exterior is styled the same as it was when it was built in 1883, but the interior and roof are completely redone. Sturm, an architect, helped design the new interior of the three-story home.

Adams wired the home with Cat 6 Ethernet cables, allowing for high-speed Internet in all corners of the 3,214-square-foot home. He also installed a wired home security system.

The open floor plan is easy to maintain and the dual furnaces--one for the first floor, the other for the second and third--allow Sturm and Adams to keep the upstairs cooler, which they prefer for sleeping. It also helps keep the utility bills low. Their average monthly utility bill in the winter is about $160.

Adams and Sturm said they've seen a revitalization in the community since they arrived. Houses, once in disrepair, now being repainted and repaired. The community is welcoming and neighbors are always willing to lend a hand.

"There's a 'borrow a cup of sugar' kind of feel," Sturm said.

They praised the location--quiet, but still only about half a mile from Armory Square and the heart of downtown Syracuse. Beer lovers will enjoy the close proximity to Middle Ages Brewing. Middles Ages also holds its annual anniversary party in Leavenworth Park.

Sturm and Adams, a software engineer, are moving back to New York City for work and regretfully, they'll have to leave their house in Syracuse.

"I wish we could take the house with us," Sturm said.

An open house is scheduled for March 6 from noon to 3 p.m.

THE DETAILS:

Address: 308 Park Ave., Syracuse, NY 13204

Price: $190,000

Size: 3,214 square feet

Acreage: .08 acres

Monthly Mortgage: $695 (based on this week's national average rate of 3.64 percent, according to Freddie Mac, for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage with a 20 percent down payment. Fees and points not included.)

Taxes: $2,508 (based on an assessed value of $98,160)

Built: 1883

School District: Syracuse

Living Room: The living room opens up to the dining area and kitchen on the open first floor. The living room leads to the back door to the backyard. The kitchen pass can serve as either a breakfast nook or buffet counter.

Kitchen: The kitchen features new stainless steel appliances, maple cabinets and dovetail drawers. A granite-topped island, which houses the double sinks and dishwasher, double Much of the first floor has oak hardwood floors, but the kitchen and pantry areas have Italian porcelain tile.

Master bedroom: The spacious master bedroom--one of three in the homes--includes two closets (the larger one for Sturm, the smaller one for Adams, they joked). A door leads to a private balcony, with enough room for a small table and chairs. When it's warm, they like to sit on the balcony, sip their morning coffee and "watch the rest of the city wake up," Sturm said.

Bathrooms: Both the master bathroom and the second full bathroom on the second floor feature the same maple cabinets as the kitchen. The master bathroom has a tiled shower stall, while the other bathroom has a tub. There's a half-bathroom on the first floor as well.

Third floor: A door in the master bedroom leads to the third floor. The highlight of the floor is the octagonal turret, which Adams currently uses as his office.

Agent: Barbara Watkins

Re/Max Masters Real Estate

108 Buchman Close Circle, Fayetteville, NY 13066

Phone: 315-263-5369 (cell) 315-449-9944 (office)

Note: Watkins donates 10 percent of her commision to a charity of the seller's choosing.

To nominate a listing for House of the Week send an email to home@syracuse.com. Contact Jacob Pucci at jpucci@syracuse.com or (315) 766-6747 and follow him on Twitter @jacobpucci.
022608Solar2db

A judge today temporarily blocked NY regulators from imposing new rules that would severely restrict the operations of energy service companies that target residential or small commercial customers.

(Dick Blume)

An Albany judge today issued a temporary restraining order to prevent New York's tough new regulations of energy marketers from taking effect, according to a trade group that sued to block the new rules.

State Supreme Court Justice Kimberly O'Connor issued the temporary stay, according to Bryan Lee, a spokesman for the Retail Energy Suppy Association. The stay gives energy companies time to either comply with the new rules or, more likely, fight them in court.

Officials at the state Public Service Commission, which sought to impose new rules on energy marketers beginning today, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

PSC officials announced plans in February to tighten control over energy service companies that sell electricity or natural gas to residential or small commercial customers. Under the new rules, the companies would be prohibited from serving residential or small commercial customers unless they sold them electricity from renewable sources or guaranteed a cost savings off the utility price.

The Retail Energy Supply Association issued a statement saying the judge's ruling is good for consumers, because the PSC rules would have "effectively eliminated the right of residential and small commercial customers in New York to choose among competitive energy offerings.''

PSC officials said in February the new regulations were designed to protect consumers, who often were promised savings but actually paid higher prices after switching to an energy service company.

This is a developing story. We will update it when more information becomes available.

Related story -- NY regulators to energy marketers: Save customers money or return them to utility
Wounded Journalist

In this Oct. 9, 2014 photo, Associated Press reporter Kathy Gannon answers questions during an interview in New York. It was Gannon's first interview since she and AP photographer Anja Niedringhaus were attacked on April 4, by a gunman in Khost Province in eastern Afghanistan as they prepared to cover the presidential election the next day. Niedringhaus was killed in the attack and Gannon is recovering from multiple gunshot wounds.

(Julie Jacobson / AP)

Kathy Gannon, the Associated Press reporter seriously wounded while covering Afghan elections in April 2014, will be in Syracuse Monday to receive an award from the Tully Center for Free Speech at Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Public Communications.

Gannon's longtime colleague and friend, AP photographer Anja Niedringhaus, was killed in the same attack, when an Afghan police commander opened fire on them as they waited at a checkpoint in Khost, Afghanistan.

Gannon recently returned to work as AP's senior correspondent for Pakistan and Afghanistan, based in Islamabad. She has covered the region for almost 30 years, encompassing the withdrawal of Russian forces in the late 1980s, the rise of the Taliban in the 1990s, 9/11 and the long, U.S.-led war that followed. Gannon was the only Western journalist the Taliban let in during the bombing campaign in 2001.

Her recent work includes stories about the Islamic State's recruiting efforts in Pakistan, the fight for justice by Pakistani women who are victims of sexual violence, an Oscar-winning film about "honor'' killings of women, and four-nation talks trying to broker peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban.

Gannon, a native of Canada, is the author of "I is for Infidel: From Holy War to Holy Terror in Afghanistan.'' She spoke to Syracuse.com from New York, where she continues to receive therapy for her injuries.

In this photo taken in October 2012, Associated Press reporter Kathy Gannon, second from left, and photographer Anja Niedringhaus pose for a photo with Afghan police recruits at the main police training academy in Kabul, Afghanistan. Gannon and Niedringhaus were attacked on April 4, 2014, by a gunman in Khost Province in eastern Afghanistan as they prepared to cover the presidential election the next day. Niedringhaus was killed in the attack and Gannon is recovering from multiple gunshot wounds.

On her health:

I just started back to work at the beginning of this year. .. I just have problems with my left hand. I really don't have a lot of function with it because I was hit with six bullets. Three almost severed my left hand and blew an 8-inch hole in my left forearm, so I had to have a bone transplant ... Two bullets hit my right hand in different places and another shattered my right shoulder blade and punctured my lung.

So I've been healing at different rates for different parts of my body. ... I am able to get some movement. I have three fingers that work very well. So I'm very able to type and

do my work.

 Related link: Anja Niedringhaus photo gallery in The Guardian.

On whether she had second thoughts about returning to Afghanistan:

No, no, I have had no second thoughts at all about returning. I'm absolutely returning to Afghanistan. I won't let any crazy gunman decide my future and force decisions on me.

On what about the region that has held her fascination for so long:

Afghanistan has gone through more than three decades of war. I've certainly followed events as the country has struggled and the people (have struggled). If you ask me what the single thing I enjoy or am attracted to, I suppose it's the people in both countries and the stories they have to tell. Certainly, from a news sense, whether the world has been paying attention to the region or not, if you look back at the history while I've been there, it has been quite extraordinary.

Benazir Bhutto, the first woman to lead a Muslim nation, came to power (in Pakistan) in 1989, (after) the dictator died in a plane crash along with the U.S. ambassador. The Russians left Afghanistan. The mujahedeen took power and proceeded to turn their guns on each other and kill thousands of their own people. And then that led to the rise of the Taliban and then, of course the U.S.-led coalition ... And then in Pakistan, the different democratic governments that were prematurely thrown out by a military-backed president and a military dictatorship.

There's been a tremendous amount of news in both these countries even at times when the world wasn't paying attention.

On operating as a female journalist in a part of the world where women's lives are circumscribed by law, culture and tradition:

I see myself not defined by my gender but by the job I do, which is a reporter. I've tried to do that regardless of where I am, including from when I first began in North America when, as a woman, you were thrown into the lifestyle page as opposed to the news. I think you just have to be very careful in terms of the restrictions that are placed or the expecations that are placed on women, regardless of where they are living.

Certainly in that part of the world there is no question that there is a real gender issue. Women have huge issues that they are struggling to change, in legislation and mindset and perceptions. In some cases it's made it more difficult for me to do my job - not impossible. I've had to wait to see Taliban for six hours but I still got to see the ones I wanted to see. It required me to be more insistent and refuse to leave and finally to get done what I needed to get done. And in some ways it's benefited me. I've had access to both men and women, but certainly women because of my gender.

On what she tells young journalists, like the ones she is likely to meet Monday at SU:

I think while there have been many changes in the world, in our profession the basics are very much the same. I don't think we should be compromising on them. Our job is not to be advocates or to be champions - our job is to be honest recorders of history - honest and as objective as possible. We are there to report on both sides of the story. I think it is so, so important for anyone coming out of journalism to know the basics - to make contacts, to ask the questions, to know how to approach the stories in terms of looking at it not as a participant, not with a judgment, but with an open mind. I think that you do that whether you're covering a local court case in Syracuse or whether you're covering the Taliban in Afghanistan. ... The fundamentals of our profession are the same regardless of where you do it.

On the risks of reporting from a conflict zone:

The lines are so much more blurred, in terms of us once being seen as independent observers; that is not understood in many parts of the world. We've become bargaining chips in conflicts and even become targets in democratic countries that profess to support freedom of the press.... We have become parties to the conflict.

Kathy Gannon will receive the

Tully Free Speech Award

at 7 p.m. Monday in the Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium in Newhouse 3 on the Syracuse University campus. You can follow Tully Center director Roy Gutterman's Q&A with Gannon on Twitter at

#TullyAward

.
Chris Christie

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie answers a question during a news conference Thursday, March 3, 2016, in Trenton, N.J.

(Mel Evans | The Associated Press)

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is putting a much-snickered-at Donald Trump campaign appearance and a few politically bruising days behind him as he gets back to work governing after bowing out of the Republican presidential race.

But with the state's two largest newspaper companies calling for him to resign -- and with less than a third of New Jersey residents saying they still support him -- it's unclear how successful he can be.

In a nearly two-hour statehouse news conference Thursday, Christie ribbed the "armchair psychiatrists" who mocked him over his gaze while standing behind Trump on Super Tuesday, rejected suggestions from newspapers to step down, and told his state's nearly 9 million residents, some of whom gave him a poor review in a recent poll, that he's getting back to work.

"I'm going to do my job," Christie said. "The people of New Jersey will see it and react to it, and I'll do better."

Christie, who ended his campaign last month, said he will continue helping Trump's campaign but doesn't have any more appearances scheduled. Defending his endorsement of Trump, Christie said he believes the billionaire businessman would make the best president out of the remaining candidates and has the best chance to defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton in the general election.

The second-term governor, who said he plans to be in office through the end of his term in January 2018, is refocusing on New Jersey as the state's fund for road and bridge work teeters toward insolvency and New Jersey Transit's rail workers are threatening a March 13 strike that would drastically impact more than 100,000 daily commuters into New York.

The state's debt-laden public pension also has ballooning debt, and Christie faces an adversarial Democrat-led Legislature, with which there has been little agreement on the biggest issues facing the state.

Christie's approval ratings fell to record lows last year as he spent parts of 261 days out of the state on his campaign. While the trips were paid for by his campaign, state taxpayers are on the hook for thousands of dollars for his mandatory state police detail.

Since backing Trump, Christie's approval rating has dropped from 33 percent to 27 percent, according to a Fairleigh Dickinson poll that surveyed 694 New Jersey registered voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

Nine New Jersey newspapers published by the state's two biggest newspaper companies called on him to resign this week, citing his support for Trump.

Christie said the newspapers haven't supported him in the past and they're merely trying to find a way to stay relevant as their readerships decline.

"The only way to do that is to set themselves on fire," Christie said.

A Star-Ledger columnist responded with a list of times the newspaper had backed initiatives supported by Christie, along with endorsing his 2013 re-election campaign.

Christie also faced criticism from some New Jersey Republicans, including former Gov. Christine Todd Whitman over the endorsement.

State Sen. Jennifer Beck told the Asbury Park Press that Christie couldn't continue to serve as governor if he was going to travel the country campaigning for Trump. On Thursday, Christie said he spoke with Beck about her concerns.

"I am pleased that Governor Christie reaffirmed his commitment to invest his time, energy and effort into the serious policy issues that New Jersey faces, and that his time will be spent here in our state" Beck said after the news conference.

Not all Republicans are distancing themselves from Christie, who won the backing of the state's GOP establishment for president.

"The governor can walk and chew gum at the same time," said Somerset County Republican Chairman Al Gaburo. "He can campaign for Mr. Trump or whomever the governor wants to campaign for."
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Could a flood of Chinese tourists start showing up at the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que in Syracuse?

If Chinese leaders take the advice of a U.S. delegation that visited Beijing this week, tourists from China (population 1.3 billion) will visit the iconic Syracuse restaurant to sample "some of the best barbecue in the world."

U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Bruce Andrews offered the tip in a speech to an influential audience of more than 350 Chinese political leaders and travel industry representatives from 21 provincial regions.

Andrews was in China to help launch the 2016 U.S.-China Tourism Year, and to highlight some of the reasons why the United States is a booming destination for Chinese travelers.

"In New York state alone, you can take in a Broadway show, ride a boat behind Niagara Falls, and try some of the best barbecue in the world at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que in my hometown of Syracuse," Andrews said in his speech.

His audience included members of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Andrews has served as the second-ranking U.S. commerce official since his appointment by President Barack Obama in 2014. The Syracuse native has also served an unofficial ambassador for his hometown, where his great-great grandfather served as the city's 13th mayor in 1861.

In his speech in China, Andrews suggested that visitors could watch a New York Yankees game in New York before heading Upstate.

U.S. Deputy Commerce Secretary Bruce Andrews, left, poses with Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang and U.S. Ambassador to China Max Baucus in Beijing. Andrews visited this week to promote U.S.-China tourism.

He also touted California and suggested Chinese visitors could "enjoy the sun and surf at Venice Beach before heading up the California coast to see the tallest trees in the world at Redwood National Park."

Chinese tourists represent a fast-growing source of income for the U.S. tourism and travel industry, according to the Commerce Department.

Chinese visitors spent a record $24 billion in the United States in 2014, officials said. The spending accounted for 57 percent of all U.S. service exports to China that year.

Travel has been growing steadily between both countries. In 2014, about 1.1 million U.S. travelers visited China and spent a record $5.1 billion within the country.

Dinosaur, founded in Syracuse in 1988, now has 10 permanent restaurant locations in the United States.

Contact Mark Weiner anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751
Crude rates continue to slide

Despite a general feeling that VLCC activity was slow last week, the volumes were actually normal.

The oversupply of tonnage weighed heavy on sentiments and rates went down sharply on all major VLCC routes, Fearnleys reported. Earnings for MEG/East and West Africa/East fell to below $40,000 per day and even Caribbean/East rates dropped sharply, due to lower volumes and too many ships. There were still delays being experienced in eastern ports, but thus far, this has had little to no effect on the general sentiment. As anticipated, the soft sentiment continued last week for Suezmaxes with limited activity in the Med/Black Sea and West Africa. A tonnage build up was unavoidable and resulted in rates dropping further below the WS70 mark for voyages from West Africa to Med and Continent. Going forward, we feel that an increase in activity for the remainder of the second week of this month will change the momentum resulting in an upward adjustment in rates as the bottom had possibly been reached, Fearnleys said. Since last week, North Sea and Baltic Aframax rates have continued to move sideways at bottom levels. Crude cargoes ex Baltic are now covered to the 15th of this month and owners saw no signs of a short term recovery. Med and Black Sea expectations were high, due to the heavy March programmes. However, unfortunately for the owners, the reality was very different. The main reason was the amount of prompt ship availability. Two ex Med cargoes loading this week received 10 and 12 offers, respectively. The 10 offer cargo went on subs at WS80 while the 12 offers sent the market further down to an astonishing WS70. charterers saw the window of opportunity and followed up with several Black Sea cargoes, which were all fixed rather quickly at WS85 levels. Even if the low numbers look depressing for owners, we believe this market will recover over the next couple of weeks, as a lot of the ships are now disappearing being committed far ahead and will not come back into position before the end of the month. Meanwhile, Reliance reportedly fixed three VLCCs for period business. The 2002-built DHT Eagle and the similar vintage Britanis were thought fixed for two years at $40,000 per day, while the 2007-built Bunga Kastura Empat was said to have attained $38,500 per day for a three year charter. The 2003-built Aframax ADS Oslo was said to have been fixed to AET for two years at $23,500 per day. Scorpio Tankers (STI) has confirmed it had time chartered-in three Ice Class 1A Handymaxes. Each fixture is for three years at $15,600 per day. STIK said that it also had two consecutive one year options to extend the charters at $16,500 per day and $17,500 per day, respectively. The charters were expected to commence before the end of this month. In addition, STI has the option to timecharter-in up to four more Ice Class 1A Handymaxes on the same terms, the company said. In the S&P sector, Bahri has purchased the 2011-built VLCC Hanjin Ras Tanura for $75 mill, following its foray into the MR market a couple of weeks ago. Greek-based NGM Energy was believed to have purchased the 1998-built VLCC Takachiho II for $21.45 mill. The 2007-built MRs St Johannes and St Marien were thought sold to undisclosed interests, possibly an in-house deal, for $22 mill each, which included a timecharter back to the sellers at $15,500 per day each. Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) has told newswires that it is considering selling its tanker division in the light of massive debts thought to be more than $5 bill. HMM has already said it will sell part of its drybulk assets, plus a terminal in Busan. A meeting with creditors is scheduled in the middle of this month to discuss pushing back debt payments, Splash reported.




Hafnia Tankers has signed a $360 mill credit facility with a consortium of banks.

The money will be used to refinance 12 MRs, provide post-delivery financing for the companys six MR newbuilds to be delivered from CSSC OME in 2016 and 2017 and provide $40 mill for general corporate purposes. It is secured by a first priority mortgage on these vessels.

"We are extremely pleased to have received support from this group of quality financiers, including establishing new relationships with BNP Paribas and Danish Ship Finance. With this facility we have lowered our financing costs and hence lowered our cash flow breakeven," explained Mikael Skov, Hafnia Tankers CEO.

The banks involved were ABN AMRO Bank, Danish Ship Finance, Danske Bank and ING Bank, who acted as joint bookrunners and mandated lead arrangers, while BNP Paribas, Nordea Bank Norge, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken and Swedbank acted as mandated lead arrangers. Nordea acted as Facility Agent.

This facility refinances an existing $340,584,000 credit facility and gives Hafnia significant savings on the interest cost, as well as releases cash, the company said.

The credit facility is comprised of a $124 mill term loan facility, a $100 mill revolving credit facility and a $136 mill delayed draw term loan facility. The credit facility will mature in March 2023 and is priced at LIBOR, plus a margin of 225 bps.
Major Iranian oil shipments still some way off

The Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) was believed to have signed a co-operation agreement with Singapores Pacific International Lines (PIL).

According to a report in the Iran Business News, this agreement could lead to the development of a tanker operation to ship products and petrochemicals from East Asia to as far as West Africa, although PIL is predominantly a containership operator. IRISL head Mohammad Saeidi was quoted by Iranian media as saying that the company plans to expand its current fleet of tankers, containerships and drybulk carriers, Iran Business News reported. Meanwhile, Frontline has reportedly said that securing insurance for oil cargoes from Iran could take another two to three months, potentially limiting Iran's ability to quickly ramp up oil exports. "We have not lifted anything yet, there are still terms of insurance and payments. There are still some outstanding (issues). (But) we expect that to be in place within two to three months," said Robert Hvide Macleod, Frontline CEO said. "That could change, but two to three months (is) our estimate," he told a conference call with investors on Monday, reported Reuters. The US still prohibits US individuals or companies from trading with Iran and insurers are trying to clarify the details of the sanctions. "In terms of volumes, (Iran's) pre-sanctions levels were 2.8 mill barrels of oil per day. Their domestic refineries consumed about 1.8 mill," MacLeod said. "There is a million left to export, which they did on their own ships. Now the post-sanctions volumes available into 2016 looks to be between 1.5 mill to 2 mill barrels." MacLeod said once the insurance issues are resolved, Iran would rely more on international shipping. Iranian tankers have been storing oil and will continue to do so, due to a lack of land storage facilities, he said. "We expect the chartering requirement from Iran to increase and (for) them to fix international tonnage," he said, reported Reuters.




New MRs boost TNG results

Croatian quoted tanker owner Tankerska Next Generation (TNG) reported a net profit of $4.9 mill, revenues of $19.5 mill, an EBITDA of $8.7 mill and EBIT of $4.8 mill for 2015.

The average daily TCE was $16,340 for the six MRs in the fleet, four of which were delivered last year. John Karavanic, TNGs CEO, said; Year 2015 was an extremely intensive period for the development of TNGs fleet and was marked by extensive capital investments and the integration of newbuilding activities and securing their employment. TNG had four newbuildings delivered during the year and managed to secure the employment of the vessels with prominent charterers, which increased the total capital investments in the previous year up to Kuna960 mill. The beginning of the year was markedly effected by the successful completion of the initial public offering followed by the listing of the company shares on the Zagrebs Stock Exchange Official market. With the support of its subscribers, $31 mill was raised, which gave strong support for our intention of expanding the initial fleet. TNG visited the capital markets for the second offering in 2Q15, raising an additional $15 mill. This transaction further strengthened TNGs financial position, while enabling the companys management to promptly react in its future strategy of vessel delivery and acquisitions. Late in 1Q15, TNG acquired the newbuildings Vukovar and Zoilo two 50,000 dwt Eco-designed tankers built in South Korea's Hyundai Mipo. During the third quarter, the funds raised on the capital market were used according to the programme of gaining newbuildings, which was successfully concluded in July by acquiring a third contract for the delivery of an Eco-design product tanker. Vukovar was delivered to TNG on 29th April and was immediately employed on a three year timecharter with STI Chartering and Trading at $17,250 per day. Zoilo, the second vessel, was delivered in July. A contract for its employment was secured for a minimum period of three years with Trafigura at $17,750 per day. The two last newbuildings, Dalmacija and Pag, were delivered in November and December from South Korean shipyard, SPP shipbuilding, and were immediately handed over to charterer, Trafigura. Dalmacija is chartered out on a three year charter deal for $17,750 per day, while Pag is chartered out on a 12-month deal for $19,300 per day. At the end of the third quarter, TNG secured employment for Velebit, the Ice Class product tanker for 12 months, following her redelivery from Stena Weco, whose contract expired at the end of September. She was subsequently chartered out to a prominent charterer, Castleton Commodities UK (CCI) at an increased hire rate of about $18,500 per day. By completing the aforementioned acquisitions and their employment, we have fulfilled the goals set prior to both public offers in terms of vessel quality, purchase price, timing of operational engagement and the contracted charter rate, which fully surpassed our initial plans. Considering that all the newbuildings were not operational during the whole 2015, we expect the full effect on the business results during 2016. In 2015. TNG delivered accumulated vessels revenues of HRK136 mill and EBITDA of HRK61 mill with a growing quarterly dynamics linked to increasing number of operational vessels during the year. Despite a very intensive investment period, TNG generated a net profit of HRK34.5 mill as a result of the business model aimed at the creation of new value, while a very strong financial position at the end of the period gives the management the ability to propose the return on the investment to the companys shareholders. A period of complete integration of the fleet is ahead of us. We expect the normalisation of the level of costs and revenues, due to the fact that all six vessels in the fleet will be fully operational and will generate revenues, consequently creating new value for the company and its shareholders, he concluded.




Sea IT signs up another Swedish tanker concern

Following its recent success with Swedish tanker companies, Sea IT has signed a three year BlueCORE ICT service contract with Donsotank.

The contract covers outsourcing of information technology and communication services on board all vessels operated by Donsotank with the patented BlueCORE. Donsotank had previously installed BlueCORE, an ICT platform specifically developed by Sea IT for the demanding conditions in the marine industry. To achieve our business goals, we build vessels with the highest standard in the world regarding on board environment and communication equipment. Therefore, we are very pleased to establish a long term agreement with Sea IT. Their competence in the area is second to none, said Ingvar Lorentsson, Donsotank managing director. Donsotank owns and operates seven modern product and oil/chemical tankers of 18.000 - 25.000 dwt range. Operating BlueCORE on our vessels is consistent with our quality management. It guarantees that we conduct services at sea with the highest quality, safety and environmental standards, explained Ingvar Lorentsson. With an already strong and robust ICT platform, we look forward to utilise all its benefits and expand it with BlueCONNECT for maximum efficiency.



The patented BlueCONNECT is virtualised software, which provides mail, spam management, file transfer, VSAT beam switch, firewall, crew login and more. It is claimed to be a cost efficient solution. No new, expensive hardware is necessary, as BlueCONNECT integrates with the BlueCORE platform.




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By Will Greenlee of TCPalm

ST. LUCIE COUNTY - A 29-year-old man was arrested Thursday in connection with a Tuesday incident in which he got shot and another man was killed at a mobile home park in northern St. Lucie County, according to the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office and records released Friday.

Phillip L. Gray, of Fort Pierce, was arrested on charges including second-degree murder, robbery with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon after the early Tuesday incidents at Cypress Bay Mobile Home Park in the 6400 block of North U.S. 1.

Under Florida law, if a death occurs during certain felonies, such as armed robbery, kidnapping and rape, all people involved in the felony will be charged with murder. Second-degree means it was not a premeditated killing, but likely resulting from an assault.

Sheriff Ken Mascara and Detective Paul Taylor at a briefing the day of the incident gave an account of the events:

Kyle Davis, 21, of Fort Pierce and another man were at the park with a third man who lives there. They are friends and spend time together watching television and playing video games.

"One of them had just gotten off work and came there; they were saying their goodbyes," Taylor said. "They walked outside, they were smoking cigarettes because they can't smoke in the trailer."

Three assailants, two of whom were identified as Chase Orvis, 27, of Palm Beach County, and Gray, approached.

"All three of the victims were hit, punched, knocked down, all three of them were on the ground," Taylor said.

Taylor said the victims had been friends since childhood, and that none have criminal histories. They said they didn't know the assailants.

Mascara said Davis was "severely beaten," lost some teeth and his glasses were knocked off. He also was pistol-whipped, or struck with a gun. Davis also had a handgun.

Davis said he waited until one his attackers turned to look away, and then pulled his gun, firing his 9mm pistol until the weapon was out of ammunition. Four shots hit Orvis, killing him, and one hit Gray in the stomach.

"As soon as that gun was empty (Davis) went running the other way," Taylor said. "Everybody just kind of scattered."

The third assailant has not been found.

The three victims identified Gray as the assailant with the gun and Orvis as one of the other assailants, records show.

Mascara has said prosecutors indicated the incident was a self-defense case, and no charges would be brought against Davis.

"This was a random act of violence that turned deadly for the bad guys," Mascara said.

Gray was in Lawnwood Regional Medical Center & Heart Institute.
Danae Jean, 30, 900 block of 15th Street, Fort Pierce; out-of-county warrants, Brevard County, aggravated battery on a pregnant female, simple battery.

Travis Walker, 36, 400 block of 14th Street, Fort Pierce; warrant for court order to revoke bond, new arrest, battery, second or subsequent offense.

Kyle Kelly, 20, 300 block of Greenway Terrace, Port St. Lucie; warrant for court order to revoke bond, new arrest, sale of marijuana, possession of not more than 20 grams of marijuana, possession with intent to sell or deliver marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia.

Kiandre Willis, 24, 2100 block of Rustic Way, Jensen Beach; warrants for battery, robbery, battery, prior conviction.

Ivan Rodriguez, 48, 2600 block of Cadet Circle, Port St. Lucie; warrants for attempted first-degree murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, attempted arson of a structure where persons are normally present.

Israel Peterson, 48, 2000 block of 10th Street, Fort Pierce; warrant for attempted first-degree murder with a weapon.

Miguel Rosa-Massas, 36, 900 block of Durham Terrace, Port St. Lucie; warrant for failure to appear, felony charge.

Donald Mcvay, 58, Melbourne; warrant for petty theft.

Michael Slade, 62, 100 block of Gokchoff Road, Fort Pierce; warrant for failure of a sex offender to register quarterly.

Dennis Hansen, 24, 600 block of Horizon Lane, Port St. Lucie; larceny/petty theft, third or subsequent offense.

Phillip Gray, 29, 600 block of Granada Street, Fort Pierce; warrants for second-degree murder, robbery with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Zackary Spears, 20, 1000 block of Bay State Road, Port St. Lucie; warrant for court order to revoke bond, tampering with evidence.

Raymond Parsley, 23, 800 block of Abingdon Avenue, Port St. Lucie; warrant for violation of probation, high speed or wanton fleeing.

Cortney Williams, 33, 200 block of Fallon Drive, Port St. Lucie; out-of-county warrant, Palm Beach County, carrying a concealed weapon.

David Coutu, 28, 7200 block of Kenwood Road, Fort Pierce; warrant for organized fraud.

Andraius Grant, 37, 400 block of 10th Stret, Fort Pierce; warrant for giving a false name while arrested or detained.

Bradley Smith, 23, 500 block of Crosspoint Drive, Port St. Lucie; burglary of a dwelling, structure or conveyance; possession of burglary tools with intent to use.

Paul Hartley, 34, 100 block of Solaz Avenue, Port St. Lucie; warrants for grand theft, forgery, uttering a forged instrument, unlawful representation as a licensee, certificate holder or registrant.

Robert Bond, 54, 1900 block of San Marcos Avenue, Fort Pierce; warrants for high speed or wanton fleeing, resisting an officer without violence.

Allen Hirt, 41, 500 block of Leona Street, Port St. Lucie; warrant for attach unassigned tag.

Karl Kelly, 20, 300 block of Greenway Terrace, Port St. Lucie; warrant for giving false information to a pawnbroker, dealing in stolen property.

David Squiteri, 27, 400 block of Thornhill Drive, Port St. Lucie; second-degree arson.

Dakota Rogers, 21, Yalaha; possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine) without a prescription.

Ronald Viau, 35, 6400 block of Regal Circle, Port St. Lucie; possession of a weapon or ammunition by a convicted felon; driving while license suspended, third or subsequent offense.

Philip Erdman, 61, Englewood; readmit, DUI impairment - blood or breath alcohol level, 0.15 or more - two prior convictions outside of 10 years.
Volunteer victim Jerry Casey (center), of Vero Beach, is surrounded Friday by Indian River County Fire Rescue personnel with Geiger counters checking for radiation contamination during an Indian River County Emergency Management radiological exercise at the North County Aquatics Center parking lot in Sebastian. To see more photos, go to TCPalm.com. (ERIC HASERT/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS)

SHARE Indian River County firefighters Kevin White (front) and Chris Jackson check vehicles for radiation Friday during a mock radiological exercise at the North County Aquatics Center parking lot in Sebastian. The vehicles simulate traffic evacuating from St. Lucie County following a mock nuclear emergency at Florida Power & Light Co.'s St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant on Hutchinson Island. (ERIC HASERT/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS)

By Janet Begley, Special to Treasure Coast Newspapers

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY - It looked like a scene from a Hollywood movie - first responders in hazardous material suits, radiation detectors and decontamination showers set up Friday at the North County Aquatic Center off County Road 512.

But the exercise was just a test for Treasure Coast emergency response officials in case of a nuclear emergency at the St. Lucie Nuclear Plant on Hutchinson Island, about eight miles southeast of Fort Pierce. Indian River County is a host county to take on emergency evacuation from people in St. Lucie County in case of nuclear disaster at the power plant.

Representatives from Indian River County's Emergency Services, Health Department and Sheriff's Office joined with planners from the American Red Cross, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, St. Lucie, Martin and Brevard counties and the state to carry out the evacuation drill. About 85 people participated in the test, including 12 volunteers who played the role of victims.

"This is a regional exercise moderated by FEMA," explained Maria Resto, a radiological planner for Indian River County Emergency Services."We are trying to find out if we have any planning gaps in our emergency evacuation plan."

When the drill began at 9:30 a.m., cars lined up at the entrance to the pool, waiting to be scanned by hand-held radiation detectors. Any car that set off the alarm was moved onto the property, where they were met by emergency responders in hazmat suits, who scanned each occupant for contamination and completed questionnaires. In case of a real emergency, anyone testing positive for radiation exposure would be sent for further screening, decontamination and a dose of potassium iodide, with evacuation to a shelter set up at Sebastian River Middle School, not far from the aquatic center.

The exercise gives officials a chance to look at and possibly refine emergency plans if necessary, said Miranda Hawker, Indian River County Health Department administrator.

"We need to make sure everyone is ready to respond," Hawker said. "If you don't practice your plan, there's a chance you won't be ready."

Alex Sera, the FEMA site specialist for the St. Lucie Nuclear Plant, works for FEMA Region IV in Atlanta, which oversees emergency preparedness in eight states, including Florida.

"We have a number of nuclear power plants in our region," Sera said. "Each plant has a site specialist who supports state and local officials developing plans to respond to emergencies."

The drills are held every two years and evaluated by FEMA and the National Regulatory Commission. So far, the Treasure Coast seems well-prepared to handle a nuclear emergency, Sera said, particularly because the level of cooperation exhibited by local and state agencies is so high.

It was the second time Kathy Allston of Vero Beach played the role of a disaster victim and she thought Friday's drill went very smoothly.

"They seemed to be better organized this time," Allston said. "Everyone was more comfortable with what they had to do."

Terry Moore of Vero Beach also was one of the volunteer victims for the drill and said it was an example of the great job county and emergency services personnel do every day.

"Most people are not aware of the type of training these people go through," Moore said. "They're all top-notch professionals."
SEBASTIAN - An attorney suspended for 91 days last year by the Florida Supreme Court has been given a stiffer suspension.

The case is moot, however, 72-year-old J. Blayne Jennings said Tuesday, because he has retired after nearly 40 years of practicing law.

The state's high court, in an order issued in November and announced this week, accepted Jennings' conditional guilty plea and consent judgment and suspended him for three years retroactive to the original suspension, which became effective Dec. 15, 2014.

Jennings, who was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1974, listed a post office box in Sebastian as his address, but had been working out of an office in Fort Pierce that he said he has since closed.

According to the original consent order, several undocumented immigrants hired Jennings to represent them in cases regarding their employment with Waste Pro after they had been arrested for worker's compensation fraud for allegedly providing false identification.

The Supreme Court agreed to the longer suspension after the Florida Bar received complaints from two more of Jennings' clients, said Bar spokeswoman Susannah Lyle.

Jennings failed to provide his clients with competent, diligent representation and adequate communication, the consent order said.

He failed to thoroughly investigate the cases and made unrealistic promises to the clients.

He also gave inaccurate advice concerning the pending cases to another attorney working with him. The clients then accepted criminal pleas they believed would not hurt their immigration cases, but the pleas ultimately had a negative effect.
The Port St. Lucie City Center on the 55-acre piece of property in front of the Port St. Lucie Civic Center. (FILE PHOTO)

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By Nicole Rodriguez of TCPalm

PORT ST. LUCIE - If the city wants to grab control of the controversial City Center land, it needs to move fast.

The City Council on Thursday agreed to begin negotiating to buy the 22 properties - part of the assets of elusive developer Lily Zhong frozen last year by the Securities and Exchange Commission after the agency charged Zhong with investment fraud.

But time is running short.

"We need to take the opportunity to  have a voice at the table in a way we have not had in the past," Councilwoman Michelle Berger said at the council's winter retreat.

Other parties are interested in buying some of the 22 parcels, but the court-appointed receiver is holding off until having extensive talks with Port St. Lucie, city officials said. The receiver's strategy is simple, interim City Attorney John Fumero said: "Break it up into pieces and sell it fast and easy."

Fumero will try to cut a deal for the land but, at the council's direction, also will look for a Plan B - to ensure the land is developed by a credible developer should the city decide not to buy.

Fumero has until April 18 to report back to the City Council.

The City Center land is just part of Zhong's assets frozen by the SEC. She was blocked from selling any real estate or other property and from accessing her bank accounts until the federal case against her is resolved, officials have said.

February court filings in the federal case against Zhong revealed the receiver had been "in constant contact with the city of Port St. Lucie" since Nov. 12 about possibly selling the land to the city.

Zhong purchased the 22 parcels that encompass City Center nearly three years ago for $500,000 through her company US Investment LLC. She set up a regional EB-5 center, a federal program that requires foreign investors to put down at least $500,000 each and create 10 American jobs per investor in exchange for green cards.

Zhong proposed building a $380 million downtown at City Center, yet she rarely contacted the city about the project. She owes approximately $19 million in delinquent property back taxes.

The receiver and the city have yet to discuss a purchase price, and it's unclear how the outstanding taxes would be dealt with, Fumero said.

Approximately $5 million of the $19 million is owed to St. Lucie County and other taxing authorities, according to city documents. The remaining $14 million is owed to the city in special-assessment fees, documents show. The city likely will work closely with the county while negotiating with the receiver, Fumero said.

Zhong faces six counts of violating the Securities Act and Exchange Act, and could face an unspecified civil fine if she's convicted. The SEC alleges she used money from Chinese investors, intended for Port St. Lucie's City Center and residential projects in Palm Bay, to purchase luxury cars and a boat. No trial date has been set.

The SEC claims Zhong, a citizen of New Zealand, fraudulently raised at least $8.5 million from at least 17 investors between March 2011 and August 2014 through the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, and diverted nearly $1 million to buy the pricey items.

The City Council, however, isn't unanimous in its interest in the City Center property.

Councilwoman Shannon Martin is reluctant to buy the land, and pushed Fumero to have a strong backup plan.

"I'm very concerned with spending money we don't have ..." Martin said. "(And) I'm not interested in the city being in the real estate business and being a real estate developer."
PORT ST. LUCIE - The city Legal Department needs an overhaul to operate efficiently, city officials said Friday.

Preliminary findings by interim City Attorney John Fumero found the department lacks direction, needs a strategic plan to execute its duties and must evaluate the necessity for expensive outside counsel. Fumero provided the update to the City Council Friday at its winter retreat.

'The office of the city attorney needs stability, competence and an overall renovation of its overall operations and structure in order to tackle all of the challenges we are and will be facing,' Fumero's initial report stated.

Mayor Greg Oravec last month called for the review after the Feb. 16 firing of City Attorney Pam Booker for poor performance.

Fumero said the Legal Department relies heavily on outside representatives, often at a hefty price. For one thing, those firms never have been required to provide regular case and budget updates, he found.

As the review continues, Fumero will identify and review the legal staff's workload and the need for additional resources to handle top priorities and cases, such as the Vaccine & Gene Therapy Institute of Florida, City Center and an ongoing lawsuit against the former CEO of Digital Domain.
Port St. Lucie was ranked the No. 1 city in the nation for millennial homeownership by smartasset.com. (FILE PHOTO)

Two economic growth reports about St. Lucie County  and Port St. Lucie in particular  came across my desk this week.

One has city officials giddy with enthusiasm; the other contains much more sobering news for our long-term prosperity.

On Tuesday we learned Port St. Lucie was ranked the No. 1 city in the nation for millennial homeownership by smartasset.com. The report shows 58 percent of Port St. Lucie households with adults younger than 35 own their own homes. That's an increase of 2 percent over the last decade.

Much of the reason, SmartAsset reported, is the affordability of city housing. According to real estate website Zillow, the average price of a home in Port St. Lucie is about $170,000. By comparison, the average price of a Martin County home can set you back $300,000 or more.

Low prices may help area Realtors sell homes; they are not so hot for the local economy, according to economist Bill Fruth of Policom Corp. who spoke at a St. Lucie County Economic Development Council lunch on Tuesday.

Fruth didn't mention SmartAsset's numbers but did point out that more than 36 percent of the county's working population  probably many of them millennials  commutes to other counties for work. Port St. Lucie makes up 60 percent of St. Lucie's working population.

Over the past 20 years, Fruth said, St. Lucie County has enjoyed relatively rapid employment growth  faster than most metropolitan areas in the nation. However, wages haven't gone up as a result; the average wage in the county is one of the lowest in the country.

That's largely because our three biggest income generators revolve around retirement, health care and social services, Fruth said. All those add up to low-wage service jobs. The percentage of the workforce employed in mid- to high-wage industrial sectors is well below national norms.

The Policom report projected growth through 2031. While St. Lucie's population is expected to grow during that period, the quality of the economy is expected to decline and average wages here will still be among the lowest in the nation.

Fruth outlined three scenarios for the county, based on low, medium and high efforts to recruit higher-wage industries. Yet even after adopting the most aggressive of these policies, the county's average wage would only amount to about $50,000 a year  several thousand dollars below what it now is nationally.

I was shocked to see the Port St. Lucie Metropolitan Statistical Area (which includes Martin County) ranks 319th out of 381 areas for economic strength. Take out Martin County and that ranking slips to 364th. While St. Lucie's economic strength peaked during the 2005-2009 residential building boom, it has been on the decline ever since.

What St. Lucie County needs, Fruth concluded, are a number of "game changer" high-wage industries. Ignoring the disastrous way the biotechs and Digital Domain were handled, it's clear why authorities were so keen to have them come here in the first place.

I asked several county officials after the presentation if they found Fruth's projections as depressing as I had. They dodged that question, arguing we need to better leverage the assets we have.

"We've got to increase the visibility of the airport," Assistant County Administrator Mark Satterlee said. "We're going to continue beating the bushes to bring more industry there. That could mean more airport maintenance jobs or scheduled air service. (On the plus side) we do have plenty of industrial land for expansion."

Satterlee also noted the positive impact of boat manufacturing in the county.

A low-wage future for the county isn't necessarily a given, Fruth said.

Pinellas County had a similar mix of retirees and service jobs. Through 2005 though, Pinellas brought in 25,000 new high-wage jobs. Unfortunately, the county became a victim of its own success. It has run out of industrial land and the economy is declining because existing companies cannot expand.

I applaud all those actively involved in trying to bring more balance to our economy  as long as we don't chase more pipe dreams in the process. Port St. Lucie's economic development debacles are emblems of how not to do it.

Yet gaining those "game changers" is likely to be an uphill battle simply because every community in America wants them, too. What's clear is we can't do nothing; we'll just get poorer by the year if we do.
Republican presidential candidate, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush poses with supporters outside a polling place at Eastlan Baptist Church on Feb. 20 in Greenville, S.C. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

I'm an Election Day voter.

I like the bustle of the polling place; I take pride in that little "I voted" sticker.

Mainly, I wait to make sure nothing changes my mind about which candidate to vote for.

The political landscape is always fluid  and it's especially slippery this presidential primary season.

When absentee ballots were mailed to Florida voters a month ago, they listed 13 Republican presidential candidates and three Democrats.

Now, all but four Republicans have put the brakes on their campaigns. Only two Democrats remain.

Yet some early-bird voters cast their ballots before their preferred candidates dropped out  and, in some cases, they want their votes back.

"We've had a few of those calls," said Leslie Swan, the Indian River County supervisor of elections.

"By law, there's nothing we can do," Swan explained. "I apologize to them profusely."

If you voted in mid-February, it seemed reasonable to think former Gov. Jeb Bush would still have an active campaign when the March 15 primary arrived in Florida. But Bush dropped out Feb. 20  three weeks after military ballots were mailed to Florida voters.

Martin County Supervisor of Elections Vicki Davis said about 10 voters have called her office asking to change their ballots.

It's a tiny fraction of the almost 11,000 voters who have already mailed in their ballots.

"We will, of course, count every one of the votes for these candidates ... but at this point it's pretty futile," Davis said.

Sen. Bernie Sanders has beat expectations this election season  and Treasure Coast organizers for his campaign are optimistic he will have a strong showing on March 15.

While Sanders is known for drawing enthusiastic young voters, his local base of about 350 volunteers skews older, in the 40-to-60 range, said Dawn Abate, lead organizer for Sanders' campaign on the Treasure Coast.

Sanders is down in the Democratic primary polls in Florida (33 percent to Sen. Hillary Clinton's 57 percent), but Abate hopes voters will take the long view.

She pointed to data from Real Clear Politics that show Sanders performing better than Clinton against part-time Palm Beach resident Donald Trump, who is leading the GOP field.

Now that Super Tuesday is over, Abate expects a surge in the number of Sanders supporters pound the pavement in Florida.
When I called Dale Doelling on Monday, I expected to talk Sebastian politics with the first-time City Council candidate. Instead, he apologized, saying he'd had a rough 24 hours and was not in the right frame of mind to talk about City Hall.

He said there'd been a tragedy  one he felt partly responsible for.

It involved a teen and a crash. It turns out Doelling was deeply upset at what happened after Alexander Frith held a party to celebrate his 18th birthday Saturday night in Sebastian.

Frith, clad only in a shirt and driving 80 to 85 mph on Blossom Drive, died the next morning after his new Dodge Charger collided head-on with a pickup. Pickup driver Frederick Klein Jr., 51, Sebastian, remained in critical condition Friday afternoon at Holmes Regional Medical Center, Melbourne. Earlier, Frith hit a pedestrian, later released from the hospital, and knocked down a speed sign.

How could Doelling have prevented this?

The story starts three decades ago. And it includes a cautionary tale about people's choices when it comes to caring for their most precious assets.

In the 1980s, Doelling, then a financial planner in Boynton Beach, hired recent law school graduate Ronald Frith as his corporate attorney. The two became great friends, with Frith eventually having a successful legal career at a big bank.

In 2007, Doelling and his family moved to Sebastian. Frith, meanwhile, had hepatitis complications and a liver transplant. By 2011, he'd left the bank on long-term disability, Doelling said. Frith, divorced, then moved to Sebastian with his son, Alex, then 13 and an outstanding student.

"Ron moved to Sebastian to be near my wife and me because we were going to be (Alex's) guardians in case Ron's health deteriorated," Doelling said. Frith's June 29, 2012, will appointed Doelling, who has three children, as guardian. "He chose us because he trusted us to do the right thing for Alex."

Less than four months later, however, the will was changed to make Alex's grandmother, Ernestine Benton, the guardian. Doelling thinks the change was made because he questioned Frith's abuse of painkillers, his purchase of a Ford Mustang for 14-year-old Alex and more.

The old friends became estranged.

"When Ron removed us as guardians, I believe he signed his son's death warrant," Doelling said.

Unbeknown to Doelling, Ron Frith, 60, died in July. Benton, 86, then moved in with Alex. She took care of him until breaking her hip in October and moving closer to her son, Jamie, in Delray Beach, leaving Alex in Sebastian.

Why? Jamie Frith said he was confident Alex would be OK. Alex was only a few months from turning 18; his father's estate provided steady income, and the house looked very well maintained, Alex's uncle said.

On Sunday, however, police found drugs in the home. It was only later that day Doelling found out Ron and Alex were dead.

"Had we been able to step in last July and rebuild our relationship with Alex, I have no doubt that Alex would be alive today, that he would be graduating from Sebastian River High School and that he would be heading off to college soon," Doelling said. "That would have been a great story, but now we have to deal with reality."

On Monday, Doelling wondered, "What compels you to get in a car half-naked and do what he did is anyone's guess."

A day later, Doelling emailed me an explanation, citing his and his wife's anger and frustration.

"Some of the blame lies with us because, in the end, Alex Frith died from an illness far worse than cancer or drug addiction. He died of loneliness. He had no one to love him, to guide him and to help him sort things out when life became complicated. All he had were people that said they were his friends but were really just hanging around because Alex had a house, money and drugs.

"Taking that into consideration, it's not hard to understand why he chose to do what he did on Sunday."

They're some poignant comments about a tragedy that has seriously affected several families. It contains lots of life lessons. Think carefully about your choices of who will take care of your loved ones if something happens to you. Be prepared with more than just money.

And make sure you hug your loved ones tonight.

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By Robert D. Schwartz, YourNews contributor

PORT ST. LUCIE - There may come a point in your life where you are no longer able to take care of your own affairs. It is one of those tough realities of life that no one ever wants to consider. The circumstances of incapacity can be unpredictable. If you do not take the proper precautions, incapacity can become a burden on those around you.

Though you can never fully predict the possible ramifications of incapacity, there are many things you can do to be as prepared as possible. If you become incapacitated without any planning or preparation of these documents, someone will still have to be named to take care of your financial and medical decisions, at which point a court proceeding called a guardianship will be necessary. This type of proceeding requires a lawyer, can be very time consuming, and very costly.

Other concerns include that family members will fight over who should be your guardian, a guardian could be restricted in acting on your behalf or the court could get involved in making decisions about your life.

The first way to be prepared for incapacity is to make sure that you have an up-to-date and properly executed Durable Power of Attorney. A Durable Power of Attorney is a document that allows you to name someone to handle your finances if you are unable to do so. That person can pay your bills, manage your investments or make key financial decisions that are in your best interests. They would also be able to help you become enrolled in any government aid you are eligible for, including but not limited to, the Medicaid Program. As of October 2011, the Durable Power of Attorney statute in Florida (Chapter 709, Florida Statutes) has been changed and updated. If your document was executed before then, you should have it reviewed and most likely updated.

Additionally, if you have a Revocable Living Trust, you should make sure that it includes an incapacity clause or provision. A Revocable Living Trust is set up so at death your assets don't go through probate, but a Revocable Living Trust can also guard against incapacity. The Trust allows your appointed representative to step in and control those assets if you are unable to do so. This person is called a Successor Trustee. The Successor Trustee would not be able to do so without proof of your incapacity. This proof is typically a letter from your doctor, but it can be a court order declaring your incapacity as well. This provides protection for you in that no one can step in and control your assets without showing that it is a necessity.

A Health Care Surrogate document is also important in planning for incapacity. This type of document allows your to nominate someone to make medical decisions on your behalf and in your best interest if you are no longer able to make those decisions. This is also sometimes known as a Medical Power of Attorney. Having a properly executed Health Care Surrogate allows you to make sure that the person(s) you want to be making medical decisions on your behalf, can.

A Declaration Under Florida Life Prolonging Procedure Act, more commonly known as a "Living Will," is another document you should have in preparation of incapacity. It is a statement of your wishes for what life prolonging procedures you want, or don't want, in the event that your become terminally ill and unable to communicate. It is commonly asked for by doctors offices and hospitals when providing treatment, even if it is not normally a life threatening procedure itself.

Incapacity is a scary reality; however it is important not to wait to prepare for it. Many people do not prepare for incapacity until it is too late. Proper planning can make sure that your continued care and well-being is provided for both medically and financially.
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By DLF Media

PORT ST. LUCIE  ProCalcs, a South Florida based HVAC system design company, has made a commitment to donate a percentage of its total March sales to the Boys & Girls Club of St. Lucie County. The donation will be unrestricted funds, so the BGC can use the money as needed.

"The Boys & Girls Club is a great organization," said owner Tom Platania. "The service they provide for the children of St. Lucie County is unmatched. We are extremely happy to be able to support them financially."

The Boys & Girls Clubs of St. Lucie County is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing youth with a world class Boys & Girls Club experience, assuring that success is within reach for every young person who walks through our doors, and that every Club member graduates high school with a plan for the future, demonstrating good character and citizenship and living healthy lifestyles. The club enables all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens.

ProCalcs provides quality services and energy calculations to the southern region as well as other cities in the United States and international markets. They provide fast, reliable, professional HVAC system design to general contractors, architects, builders, engineers, property owners, and HVAC installation companies in search of high-quality heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system design that's priced within your budget. ProCalcs believes in giving back to those in need. It is a proud supporter of the United Veterans, Boys & Girls Clubs and many other charitable organizations. For more information, contact ProCalcs at 772-882-5700 or visit online at http://procalcs.net.
Samsung on Sunday introduced two new models of its flagship Galaxy smartphone line at the annual gala for the mobile world, the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona, Spain.

Both phones have similar features, but one, the Galaxy S7 Edge, has a 5.5-inch display, the same size as the iPhone 6s Plus.

The units have curved screens that support quad HD resolution, as well as a slight curve on the back, making them easier to hold.

To soothe complaints about the battery life of the previous Galaxy generation, the units have received power boosts. The S7 Edge has a 3,600-mAh battery, a jump from the S6 Edges 2,600, and the S7 has a 3,000-mAh power supply, while the S6s battery was only 2,550.

In addition, the units are water and dust resistant, support microSD storage, and run on Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

Fewer Megapixels

Samsung also has made some changes in the Galaxys camera. It has reduced the number of megapixels on the shooters sensor to 12 from 16, but increased the size of the pixels, which should improve the cameras performance in low light conditions.

The pixels in the new Galaxy models are 30 percent larger than those in the iPhone 6s Plus, 1.4 micron compared to 1.22 micron for Apple.

Both Apple and Google have gone the fewer-but-bigger-pixel route with some success, so Samsungs rivals already have done some of the consumer education about the move.

It will work as long as they frame it in terms of bigger pixels get more light, said Daniel Matte, an analyst withCanalys.

Larger pixels also make it easier to incorporate into each pixel autofocusing technology, which allows the camera to take sharper pictures faster.

Autofocus is really fast now  nearly instantaneous anywhere across the image, Matte told TechNewsWorld.

Thats been in DSLRs and quality cameras for a while, and now its migrated to the smartphone market, he added. Thats a big improvement.

Mixed Reviews

Theyre a nice improvement over previous versions, but theyre not groundbreaking, said Bob ODonnell, founder and chief analyst atTechnalysis Research.

There isnt any one feature thats a killer and will massively move the needle in the market, Matte said.

The best addition they made was adding Qualcomms Snapdragon 820, which in certain use cases doubles the performance, Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst atMoor Insights & Strategy, told TechNewsWorld.

Virtual Reality

For consumers who preorder either of the new phone models up to March 18, Samsung is offering a sweet deal: a free Gear VR headset.

In addition,Oculus is offering those who preorder the phones six Gear VR games for free.

Will the lure of a free VR headset help boost initial sales?

Theres not that much content out there for VR, so its more of a gimmick at this point, Technalysis ODonnell told TechNewsWorld.

Theyre going to incent people to try VR, saidGartner Research Director Brian Blau.

Its a nice incentive if youre interested in doing VR with a Samsung phone, he told TechNewsWorld. Beyond that, its not going to change the picture for overall smartphone sales.

Cooling Market

Samsung, as well other smartphone makers, would very much like to change the current picture for smartphone sales.

Were seeing a lengthening of upgrade cycles for smartphones and growth is slowing. Its going to be hard for anyone to do well in the smartphone market in the next few years in terms of growth, Canalys Matte said.

As phones mature, he continued, they become good enough for most people, so its more difficult to sell them.

In the United States, another factor contributing to longer upgrade cycles is the phasing out of phone subsidies.

Now that people are paying full price for their phones, they want them to last longer, ODonnell said.

Lifetimes are extending beyond two years, so just as we saw lifetimes extend for PCs, were going to see them extended for phones, he added.

Nevertheless, Canalys is predicting another double-digit growth year for smartphones this year. Globally, it predicts smartphone shipments will crack 1.5 billion in 2016.

Despite turbulence for certain vendors and countries, it noted in a report released Monday, the industry will still grow by over 10 percent this year thanks to new opportunities.
WinMagic has announced its partnership with Mumbai-based company Know-All-Edge. WinMagic intends to build visibility and boost reselling of its product SecureDoc and SecureDoc CloudSync in India, through this partnership. Know-All-Edge Networks Pvt. Ltd. is a leading system integration company providing strategic solutions in IT, networking, security and computing.

This strategic partnership for WinMagic has been instrumental in building a better partner ecosystem and providing companies with services that can help them keep their vulnerable data safe by preventing data breaches on the cloud. As more companies story sensitive data on the cloud it becomes imperative to focus on ways to keep that data safe. WinMagic focuses on close cooperation and integration with partners by firmly implementing transparent and stable distributor partnerships across India.

Commenting on the partnership Rahul Kumar, Country Manager & Director, WinMagic India stated, WinMagic is a pioneer in providing customers with intelligent key management solutions. The relationship with a focused partner like Know-All-Edge will help us extend our reach in the western region. Know-All-Edge, with its champion team, brings in the focus that we need to capture the market in a big way. The co-operation between the two organizations will help build a reliable channel relationship. We are extremely glad to extend this partnership with Know-All-Edge as a key reseller for WinMagic. The relationship is very strategic for both the parties and would help in creating a strong value in our customers data security strategy.

Krishnakant Mathuria, Managing Director Know-All-Edge Networks said, At Know-All-Edge Networks, it is our constant endeavor to sustain a lifelong business relationship with our clients and providing most advance security solutions by partnering with Global leaders in IT Security and bring forward to our clients disposal. About strategic alliance with WinMagic, he said we want to help our customers address their key challenges in data protection strategy and partnering with them in their security journey by Securely Enabling the Anywhere Enterprise with WinMagics Industry leading intelligent key management for everything encryption, With industry-leading full disk encryption (FDE) technology and industry-first technology like PBConnex and enable customers to streamline their IT processes and help reduce the total IT cost of ownership. By following best practices and leveraging years of expertise and experience in security domain Know-All-Edge Networks priority is to help our customers to minimize business risks, reduce complexity helping secure digital assets from theft and unauthorized access and being partner of choice.

Winmagics solution SecureDoc protects data on the endpoint, where the data is created, regardless of the device or platform where its accessed or saved. And SecureDoc CloudSync is an application that enforces transparent file encryption on cloud folders through policy, to ensure data is protected before it leaves the endpoint.

Technuter.com News Service
HBO has made the decision not to send any advance copies of any episodes of Game of Thrones season six to the media for review. The move comes on the heels of a huge torrent leak last year of the first four episodes of season 5, which resulted in millions of illegal downloads.

The decision was confirmed by president of programming for HBO Michael Lombardo, who stated, "We're not sending out press copies this year, anywhere in the world. There will be no copies for review." The lockdown applies to both physical media as well as digital-screening capabilities.

Last year, the first four episodes of season 5 of Game of Thrones were leaked to a private BitTorrent tracker and then subsequently spread to numerous public file-sharing sites, including the Pirate Bay, Kickass Torrents, Torrentz and EZTV. The source of the leak was never discovered but was thought to be a reviewer who had received the advance screeners. Downloads of the leaked episodes broke records, with millions of viewers acquiring the episodes illegally.

Providing advance copies of upcoming TV series episodes is a common practice in Hollywood, so much so that it is nearly always done in some shape or form. After last year's Game of Thrones leak, HBO enacted a more stringent security policy via a secure online screening system, but it appears even that isn't enough to satisfy the network's concern of another leak.

The showrunners of the series, David Benioff and Dan Weiss, initiated the idea of a season 6 lockdown, and HBO acquiesced.

"It's painful for Dan and David [when leaks happen]," explained Lombardo. "When you have press copies, inevitably friends ask, 'Can I see your copy?' There are things that happen. We talked about the upsides and downsides. Some of the press are fans who might be disappointed, but they'll understand."

In addition to the piracy issue, HBO is also concerned that online spoilers will surface, giving away important plot points. That's of particular concern this season because the plot has now moved past the narrative previously revealed in the books upon which the series is based.

Game of Thrones is HBO's most-watched series as well as its most critically-acclaimed, having received 12 Emmy Awards last year, including the crown jewel, Best Drama Series. The new season officially premieres on April 24.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Security researcher Nils Rodday reveals how a police drone, despite its high-tech and pricey features, can be easily attacked by a hijacker.

At the RSA security conference held in San Francisco, Rodday, who also works for IBM, demonstrated the vulnerability in at least one model of government-owned drones. The manufacturer's name was not revealed as part of the non-disclosure agreement signed by the security researcher.

Rodday discussed (PDF) how the drone model has serious vulnerabilities in its security that makes it an easy target for a hacker who could be more than a mile away.

By simply using a laptop and connecting a cheap radio chip through USB, the hacker can easily exploit the telemetry box's lack of encryption. Once in the system, the hacker can reverse engineer the flight software, and impersonate the controller in order to manipulate the drone's navigation commands. Eventually, the intruder can block all incoming commands from the rightful operator of the drone.

With the vulnerability, Rodday said a hacker can easily inject packets and change waypoints. There is also the ability to alter data on the flight computer and make a different coming home setting. Basically, a hacker can do everything that the original operator is doing.

He also revealed his findings to the drone's manufacturer. The unnamed company reportedly lended the security researcher the high-priced quadcopter for the purpose of testing the system as part of the non-disclosure agreement.

The security researcher had somehow hinted that the quadcopter he tested measures 3 feet wide and has about 40 minutes of flying time capacity. The model is usually deployed by the fire and police departments, although other industries such as windmills, aerial photography and power lines inspection also deploy the device in their respective departments.

Rodday explained that for an attacker to hijack the controls of the drone, he can exploit the Wi-Fi connection, affecting the modules and tablets used. In the same manner, hackers can manipulate the radio protocol, which can jeopardize the communication between the modules and the drones.

Attackers with really serious intent can even go as far as crashing the drones into people or into buildings. Worse, they can use the drones for stealing private information and then sell it on the black market.

While the drone in question can cost as much as $30,000 to $35,000, Rodday said that an attacker will only need hardware parts that cost only $40 in order to set up a professional drone hacking system. He also warns authorities to be extra cautious since the vulnerabilities can be present in a number of expensive and advanced drone models.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
How many swipes to the right does it take until we finally find "the one?"

Trying to find true love using dating apps that focus on swiping is close to impossible. Sure, good looks is always a plus, but what women really want is someone they can connect with on a deeper level.

Apps like Tinder and Bumble are so played out at this point, and can seem useless for those looking for something more meaningful than getting played into a quick hook-up. Now, women can take better control of  and bring some new excitement to  their dating lives by using the Catch, the new dating app that matches women with men based on their personalities.

The Catch emphasizes on the gaming aspect of the dating game, allowing women to feel like they are starring in their own episode of The Bachelorette (hey, if it worked for Kaitlyn, it could work for us!).

"I grew tired of downloading all these dating apps that basically provided the same function  swipe if he's hot," said the Catch founder Shannon Ong. "I needed more than looks. I wanted personality. So I created a cross between The Dating Game and The Bachelorette where 'ladies' can meet 'gents.'"

Here's how the Catch works: the woman is presented with four "contestants" that are picked as a potential match based on their information from Facebook and any additional info they provide on their account. The user then chooses three questions to ask her suitors. The men's answers remain anonymous so that they are picked based on what the woman feels is the most compatible personality. This also means men won't be rejected solely on how they look.

Who better than to serve as an adviser during the app's development than former Bachelorette contestant Chris Bukowski? With his previous experience with competing against other men to win the heart of a woman, plus his passion for apps and the digital space, it seems like the perfect fit.

"I honestly haven't been on many dating apps in the past. I've used Tinder for a bit, but it wasn't for me," Bukowski told Tech Times. "I feel like those apps are more about either hooking up or getting someone that's actually not the person that's on the profile. The Catch gives the female control in ways to really bring out personalities in different men and maybe go out on a date with someone that actually has a personality, some kind of character behind them and someone who they actually would want to go on a date with."

Then, there's the whole game aspect of it, which keeps things interesting.

After getting the answers, the user narrows it down until she finds her winner. The users can then privately chat in hopes that they will set up a date.

"It's kind of like The Bachelorette. Who's getting a rose, who's not getting a rose, so you better come up with your best answer or else you won't get that date," Bukowski said. "From a guy's perspective, you're kind of vying for that girl. Guys are competitive, they are going to bring their A-game, so you're going to want to take the time to answer in detail."

The Catch launched on Thursday for iOS in San Francisco and Los Angeles, with Bukowski revealing the team has plans to launch it in more cities every three months. Good thing, since there is already a waiting list for users who are looking to be part of the next wave of roll-outs.

How does this Bachelor franchise alumni feel about combining love and technology?

"For me, I feel like the Internet in general  and obviously me being on TV  has ruined the whole dating aspect, real-life dating, real conversation. I just feel like everyone is so into being on their phones, and romance has faded a little bit because of it," he said. "But at the same time, I also feel like technology gives us more opportunity to meet someone that we might not have met without it."

"If there are more opportunities to find that perfect someone, why not?"

Users in the San Francisco Bay Area and some areas in Southern California who want to take a leap can download the Catch for iOS for free, or sign up for the waitlist for other cities on the app's website.

Of course, as Bachelor fans, we had to ask Chris who he thinks Ben Higgins will choose.

"I don't think he picks JoJo," he said.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Scientists have yet to find the cure for Alzheimer's disease, but there is a growing body of research focused on early diagnosis and tracking the disease's progression.

A new University of California Berkeley study suggests for the first time that positron emission tomography (PET) scans can be used to follow the progressive stages of the neurodegenerative disease, even in adults who exhibit no symptoms.

Led by Dr. William Jagust, the research team performed PET scans on 53 adults: five young adults who were 20 to 26 years old; 33 retired and healthy adults who were 64 to 90 years old; and 15 retired adults aged 53 to 77 who already showed signs of Alzheimer's.

In the process, the UC Berkeley team looked for the presence of two key proteins - beta-amyloid and tau - which have been linked to the disease in previous studies.

High Levels Of Tau In The Brain

Scientists had considered the buildup of beta-amyloid plaques as the main culprit in the development of Alzheimer's disease, but in recent years, studies found that the microtubule protein called tau has a major role in it. When tau proteins get tangled, its ability to support synaptic connections is damaged.

Prior to the new study, the accumulation of these two proteins has been examined by German researchers in the brains of people who have already passed away. The stages of buildup were assigned based on a scale from one to six.

However, no one had been able to show the buildup stages - which is named as the Braak Staging after Heiko and Eva Braak - among people who are still alive. Thanks to PET scans, it is now possible.

Through PET scans, Jagust and his colleagues found that tau protein actually forms in the brain's medial temporal lobe. This region is responsible for storing memories and is home to the hippocampus.

"Tau is basically present in almost every aging brain," said Jagust's co-author Michael Scholl, a neuroscientist from Sweden.

Scholl said almost all of the elderly in the study had tau in their brain. In their case, the accumulation of tau was independent of amyloid, and could have been driven by aging, he said.

The team tested the participants' episodic memory by asking them to recall a list of words they viewed 20 minutes before. Episodic memory is the type of memory that regulates new information. Researchers found that higher levels of tau in the brain, especially in the medial temporal lobe, were linked to decline in episodic memory.

The Relationship Between Tau And Beta-Amyloid

The research team wonders why some people with high levels of tau in their brain do not often develop Alzheimer's later in life. Additionally, adults who may have beta-amyloid in their brains still end up being cognitively healthy.

Samuel Lockhart, another member of the research team and a postdoctoral fellow at UC Berkeley, said it does not mean that one protein is more vital than the other.

"Our study suggests that they may work together in the progression of Alzheimer's," said Lockhart.

It may be that amyloid facilitates the spread of tau in the medial temporal lobe to other regions in the brain such as the neocortex. However, Jagust said they have yet to find out how amyloid affects tau proteins and vice versa.

"All I can say is that when amyloid starts to show up, we start to see tau in other parts of the brain, and that is when real problems begin," said Jagust. "We think that may be the beginning of symptomatic Alzheimer's disease."

Meanwhile, Jagust believes that PET scans can be used as a tool for early diagnosis and staging. It can open up the possibility of developing therapeutic treatments that target the protein, largely depending on the stage of the disease.

The team's findings are featured in the journal Neuron. It was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

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The average human body is composed of 65 percent water with 11 percent hydrogen, 20 percent fat, and 8 percent ancient DNA from viral invaders, among many other heaps of factors.

Wait, what?

You read that right. Our DNA contains remnants of prehistoric battles between infectious viruses and our ancestors.

Millions of years ago, these viruses inserted their genes into our ancestors' genome, targeting sperm cells or egg cells and embryos.

The viral invaders, which are called endogenous retroviruses (ERVs), were passed down from generation to generation and had picked up mutations that canceled their ability to infect new cells. They eventually became permanent components of the human DNA.

ERVs were originally perceived to be genetic oddities without any real biological purpose. Now, a team of scientists from the University of Utah School of Medicine suggests that ERVs have become genetic weapons that fight against its own kind.

Evolutionary Irony

According to the team's study featured in the journal Science, ERVs are embedded in the genes that regulate mechanisms of our immune system, which is the first line of defense against pathogens and viruses. When these ERVs are removed experimentally, the immune system is crippled.

It's the greatest evolutionary irony: humans defend themselves from viruses with the evolved remains of ancient viruses.

Our immune system's ability to fight against foreign pathogens relies on a well-synchronized response, like a skilled tactician and commander in the battlefield.

When the person is infected, cells ring a silent alarm by discharging interferons, which are proteins that, in turn, trigger nearby cells to activate hundreds of genes that drive away viral invaders.

By studying genomic datasets of human cells, University of Utah researchers found that thousands of ERVs appear to be set off by interferons. As mentioned, when ERVs evolved over time, they had lost the ability to produce new infectious particles.

And so, researchers found one clue that may explain the ancient viruses' modern function: their location.

Instead of spreading aimlessly, ERVs were found to switch on immunity genes, creating new ports for interferons.

A Cell's Self-Destruction

Led by Edward Chuong, the research team tested whether ERVs were indeed crucial for immunity by using CRISPR/Cas9. They focused on one of the viruses known as MER41, which had infected an ancient primate about 50 million years ago. MER41 expanded so abundantly that each of us has 7,000 copies of it in our genes. Nearly 1,000 of it can attract interferons.

A copy of MER41 is close to a gene called AIM2, an important player in the immune system that detects when human cells are infected by bacteria or viruses. AIM2 forces cells to self-destruct to prevent the infections from spreading.

Chuong pointed out that this self-destruction sequence does not happen without MER41. He and his team used CRISPR/Cas9 to remove MER41 in the genes. They found that when the ERV was gone, the AIM2 lacked the ability to execute an effective immune system response against the infection.

Therefore, ERVs are indeed important in boosting the immune system's defense mechanisms, researchers said.

"It's likely no accident that innate immune systems reclaimed some of these viral remnants," said Nels Elde, Chuong's study co-author. "The evolutionary process turned the tables to our benefit."

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Apple is facing quite a legal scuffle with the FBI over the iPhone owned by one of the San Bernardino shooters, but the Cupertino brand is not alone, as Facebook, Google, Microsoft and other big names in the industry are standing with the company.

About 40 firms and organizations are expected to submit a bombardment of amicus briefs in a bid to weaken the government's stance in the case, showing support for Apple.

One notable entity on the list is AT&T, as it agrees with the government up to a certain degree in which it supports the investigation of the incident. However, it remarks that the authorities are asking too much of Apple in this particular matter in an independent filing.

"In this case, however, the government seeks more than what can be supported under the law as it is written today," AT&T says.

The carrier continues to say that the decision should be placed in the hands of the Congress, not the courts, noting that the governments, the courts, consumers and companies need "clear and uniform" rules that underwent a comprehensive legislative process.

Just like AT&T, Intel also expressed its support for Apple separately.

"[C]ompanies like ours are in business to improve the security of our products, and to safeguard the digital lives of those who use them. It's an unprecedented step for the government to require a company to develop technology that weakens security in a commercial product. Such a move chills innovation," Chris Young, senior VP and general manager of Intel Security Group, says.

As part of a group that consists of 15 companies, Amazon, Google and Microsoft agree that forcing Apple to build software is in violation of the company's First Amendment rights.

"Writing computer code can be a creative, complex, and expressive task, and it is a form of protected speech under the First Amendment," the motion reads.

Twitter, LinkedIn, eBay and 14 other companies say that the government is "not only legally unprecedented and unfounded but they will also erode the critically important principles of privacy, security, transparency" in a separate filing.

The authorities are using the All Writs Act of 1789 to get Apple to comply with their demand, but if the company does cooperate, it will, as Apple CEO Tim Cook puts it, set a dangerous precedent. To put that into perspective, investigators everywhere, even from other countries, could start asking the Cupertino brand to provide them with the same treatment, citing this case to force the company to do so.

On the opposite end of the battle, the FBI says that the backdoor it wants Apple to develop will only be used once for the San Bernardino shooting despite Cook's statement that "there is no way to guarantee such control" and that should the tool fall into the wrong hands, it can "unlock any iPhone in someone's physical possession."

Some relatives of the San Bernardino shooting victims also submitted an amicus brief. It should not come as much of a surprise that they are on the government's side on this matter. According to the statement, the information in the iPhone could contain clues that will lead to other accomplices and any other planned attack. If it doesn't yield any detail of the sort, it could nevertheless "explain the motive for this senseless tragedy" or potentially provide "closure" for the victims' family.

However, it's worth noting that not every family member of the San Bernardino victims shares the same sentiment as the majority. The wife of Salihin Kondoker, Anies, fell victim to the shooters, getting shot three times. Fortunately, she survived the whole ordeal. Kondoker sent a letter to the court, and he wrote that the information in the iPhone would be of little value.

"They are worried that this software the government wants them to use will be used against millions of other innocent people. I share their fear," he says.

Other than the already mentioned companies, 32 law professors, Access Now and Wickr Foundation, ACT/The App Association, American Civil Liberties Union, AVG Technologies, Data Foundry and many others are backing Apple up in this long-running legal case.

The San Bernardino attack was carried out by Rizwan Farook and Tasheen Malik, his wife, claiming the lives of 14 victims and wounding 22 others on Dec. 2. The two were killed after a shootout with the police.

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The Amazon Echo family just got bigger with the Echo Dot and Amazon Tap, but what sets them apart from their older smart speaker sibling?

Long story short, they're all pretty much the same. The three are cloud-based speakers that offer the full functionality of Alexa, Amazon's personal virtual assistant similar to Cortana, Google Now or Siri. Simply put, they just have a few differences here and there, but those factors could determine which one a customer will find the most useful out of the three.

Amazon Tap

Right off the bat, Amazon Tap is a smaller and more affordable version, and to make it truly wireless, it's powered by batteries instead of a wall plug like in the case of the Amazon Echo. It has an asking price of $130, and that's $50 less than its predecessor's $180 price tag.

To juice it up, users will have to place the Amazon Tap in a charging cradle that comes with it out of the box. Amazon boasts that it can go for up to nine hours of continuous audio streaming or two to three weeks on a single full charge.

The battery setup does come with compromises, though. Unlike the Amazon Echo, it can't stay on all the time, presumably to conserve battery life. In other words, the microphone button on its front has to be pressed before it can function as opposed to waking it up just by saying Alexa.

Regarding audio quality, it can blast more or less the same output the Amazon Echo can.

Echo Dot

The Echo Dot is probably the most interesting-looking device out of the bunch, sporting a puck-like design and the smallest form factor. However, it didn't really go that far from the Amazon Echo, as it's essentially the same as the original with a toned-down speaker build.

Aside from taking portability to the next level, the Echo Dot needs to stay plugged in to work. It's fitted with one speaker to mainly function as a sort of smart alarm clock or anything else along those lines. Also, it can be connected to speakers via a cable or Bluetooth, turning any audio system into a smarter version instantly.

It should also be noted that the absence of full-sized speakers isn't necessarily a bad thing, as they make the Echo Dot the perfect choice for people who aren't satisfied with the built-in speakers of the Amazon Echo and Amazon Tap, not to mention it's cheaper because of that, coming with a $90 price tag.

Alexa

Amazon's contender in the virtual assistant scene can deliver music streaming from Amazon Prime Music, Pandora and Spotify and Internet radio streaming from TuneIn and iHeartRadio, play audiobooks from Audible and the Kindle Store and read news headlines.

What makes Alexa even more appealing is how it can seamlessly connect to smart home devices, including the Philips Hue, Samsung SmartThings and many others. The developers behind it are also constantly expanding its ecosystem.

Alexa can also book users an Uber ride or order a meal, but more than that, it can also give them the opportunity to partake in one of DC Comics' hugest mysteries, such as the question of who took the lives of Bruce Wayne's parents.

Availability

As of right now, the Amazon Echo, Echo Dot and Amazon Tap are only available in the United States. That's a downer for interested customers in other parts of the world, but the good news is that Amazon has plans to roll out the smart speaker lineup to other markets in the foreseeable future.

Now, there's one big problem with the Echo Dot: it can only be preordered with the Amazon Echo or Fire TV via Alexa with the magic words "Alexa, order an Echo Dot."

Fortunately, CNET has uncovered a workaround to that gimmicky method, and consumers only need the Amazon Shopping app and an Android or iOS device.

For Android users, install the Amazon Shopping app, open it and sign in. Do a voice search and say, "Add Echo Dot to shopping cart." The Add to Cart option should turn up by then.

For iOS users, the method is virtually the same, except there's no voice search involved. Instead, search for "Echo Dot" manually. To add it to the shopping cart, swipe right, as tapping on it won't work.

On that note, Amazon will probably fix this "feature" soon enough, so it might be a good idea to take advantage of it while it's still working.

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A scientific paper on the movement of the human hand stirred controversy as it referenced a Creator throughout, including sections such as design by the Creator. It triggered a debate on Twitter and the scientific community over the quality of editing and peer review at the journal that released, and eventually retracted it.

The paper, authored by Cai-Hua Xiong of Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China and three other researchers, was published in PLOS ONE last Jan. 5.

Titled Biomechanical Characteristic Of Hand Coordination In Grasping Activities Of Daily Living, the paper delved on the mechanics of how people grasp things, measuring hand movements of 30 subjects.

Hand coordination should indicate the mystery of the Creators invention, says the paper, which also concluded that the mechanical architecture [of the hand] is the proper design by the Creator for dexterous performance of numerous functions.

On Twitter, computational molecular evolution expert James McInerney of the University of Manchester criticized the piece and dubbed the journal a joke. He said he published a strong tweet because creationism has been a nuisance to him for more than 20 years now.

Plos One is now a joke. "....proper design of the Creator" absolute joke of a journal https://t.co/AJexYjewoo  James McInerney (@jomcinerney) March 2, 2016

The apparently creationist slant of the paper got Twitter all abuzz with the hashtags #Creatorgate as well as #HandofGod.

In response to an inquiry from Nature, Xiong said the authors are now discussing the issues raised.

Indeed, we are not native speakers of English, and entirely lost the connotations of some words such as Creator. I am so sorry for that, he explains.

In the comments section, the authors made the same acknowledgment, citing translational errors  instead of a belief in intelligent design  for the Creator references.

In a statement appearing in the comments, PLOS ONEs staff also apologized for the language pertaining to a Creator in the research, admitting it was not addressed during review and evaluation. They said they are looking into the issues raised and that they would take steps to correct the published piece.

We apologize for the errors and oversight leading to the publication of the paper, the journal said. It also announced on March 3 that it is retracting the article.

On his blog, biologist PZ Myers said that where there is inherently nothing wrong with the papers data, its researchers made a surprising leap in the abstract as well as conclusion.

Genomics researcher Enrico Petretto of Imperial College London was more straightforward in his comment, saying he and his students and collaborators would be left with no choice but to stop reading, reviewing, and citing PLOS ONE studies if no retraction will be made.

David Klinghoffer, a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute in Seattle, argued that the paper may not exactly be bred by creationist research, with the authors assuming evolutionary remodeling of the hand for millions of years. He also speculated on a language issue, as the authors as well as the editor, Renzhi Han, are all Chinese.

PLOS ONE academic editor and evolutionary biologist Marc Robinson-Rechavi added that no human process is spared from errors  the point, he said, is how the journal responds to the mistake made.

Photo: Nate Steiner | Flickr

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For the seventh time in 10 years, Google (Alphabet) remains on top of Fortune's 100 Best Companies To Work For 2016.

Fortune identifies and ranks the companies in the list through a partnership with the Great Places to Work Institute, which conducts the most extensive survey among employees in the United States. Two-thirds of the score comes from the Trust Index Employee Survey, which asks questions related to management and job satisfaction. The remaining one-third comes from the Culture Audit, which asks questions about benefits and internal communication.

"[T]hanks to sparking the imagination of its talented and highly compensated workers, and by adding perks to an already dizzying array of freebies," Fortune says. The publication added that Google improved health care coverage for its employees in 2015 by offering virtual doctor consultations, in-house breast cancer screenings, among other things.

A Google employee described the perks that they receive as phenomenal, with the benefits including three organic meals daily with unlimited snacks, tea and artisan coffee, free personal fitness classes and nap pods. The list of perks seems endless.

Rounding out the top 5 are Acuity Insurance, The Boston Consulting Group, Wegmans Food Markets and Quicken Loans.

While a tech company holds the top spot, the tech industry is not dominant in the list. The list has been running for 19 years, and of the 12 companies that have been on the list since its launch, only Cisco and SAS are in the tech industry.

The 2016 list also features six newcomers, namely Veterans United Home Loans at No. 30, Hilton Worldwide at No. 56, Power Home Remodeling at No. 59, Encompass Home Health and Hospice at No. 69, First American Equipment at No. 94 and Slalom at No. 100.

All in all, the 100 companies on the list have 1.6 million employees in the United States and 2.5 million more employees globally. The companies also collectively have more than 100,000 job openings, and looking through the list will give applicants a good idea on which ones are the best to send in their resumes to.

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Sony unveiled the new X line at the Mobile World Congress 2016 and the Xperia X and Xperia X Performance are almost ready to land in most markets.

While the Xperia X Performance wants to take on the high-end spectrum of smartphones, the Xperia X is an upper mid-ranger that can find its place in the ecosystem of powerful, yet affordable handsets.

Sony plans to release dual-SIM variants for the Xperia X, as well as for the Xperia X Performance. We took a look at the white papers of the devices (courtesy of Sony's Dev Portal), and we would like to share with you the interesting info we found.

Both devices sport 5-inch screens able to display 1080p resolutions. The Xperia X holsters an Adreno 510 GPU, while the Xperia X Performance was fitted with a more powerful, Adreno 530 GPU.

The camera-combo of the two smartphones is also identical. They sport 23-megapixel rear main cameras and 13-megapixel selfie snappers.

When it comes to internal memory, the dual-SIM Xperia X Performance and Xperia X come packed with 64 GB of storage. This is twice as much as on the single-SIM variants, which have only 32 GB. It should be mentioned that the firmware takes up 15.4 GB of that locker space on the dual-SIM models, leaving as much as 48.6 GB for you to store your multimedia content, work files or your favorite apps.

The Xperia X and Xperia X Performance that pack dual-SIM compatibility require nano-SIM cards to function properly.

Processing power on the more powerful Xperia X Performance comes from the Snapdragon 820 chipset backed by 3 GB of RAM, while the mid-range Xperia X uses a Snapdragon 650 CPU that also works in tandem with 3 GB RAM.

When it comes to features, both handsets have fingerprint sensors, which are already becoming commonplace on new devices.

Sony touts that its Xperia X Performance is waterproof, which could secure it an edge over competitors from the high-end market.

Both devices will come with Android Marshmallow pre-installed.

Last month, Amazon Germany started to take preorders for the single-SIM variants of the two devices, and the price tags took everyone by surprise. The Xperia X was sold for $660, while the flagship Xperia X Performance required buyers to spend as much as $771.

Should the prices be maintained for the dual-SIM versions of Sony's new handsets, things could become interesting for Sony.

Head over to the Sony's Developer Portal to take a closer look at the white paper for the Xperia X [pdf] and for Xperia X Performance [pdf].

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Epic Games, the team behind Gears of War, doesn't seem very happy with Microsoft's Universal Windows Platform (UWP): the head of Epic, Tim Sweeney, wrote a scathing accusation in The Guardian accusing Microsoft of attempting to monopolize video game development on the PC.

Sweeney calls on other developers to join him in opposing UWP to fight for game developers' freedom to sell their games however they would like.

So what exactly is UWP? It's an initiative in Windows 10 that allows developers to create applications that can run across any Windows 10 devices, including PCs, mobile phones and tablets. However, it also forces all UWP-enabled programs to get sold exclusively through the Windows Store. And that's where Sweeney has a problem with UWP.

"Microsoft has launched new PC Windows features exclusively in UWP, and is effectively telling developers you can use these Windows features only if you submit to the control of our locked-down UWP ecosystem," writes Sweeney. "They're curtailing users' freedom to install full-featured PC software, and subverting the rights of developers and publishers to maintain a direct relationship with their customers."

Sweeney also believes that Microsoft designed Windows 10 so that it gives an unfair advantage to its own stores, "while unfairly disadvantaging competing app stores, as well as developers and publishers who distribute games directly to their customers." According to Sweeney, this means that developers can't sell UWP-enabled apps through their own stores or on other sites, such as Steam.

However, Microsoft doesn't agree and responded to Sweeney's accusations with a statement to Eurogamer, pointing out that gamers can still sideload UWP apps bought from sources other than the Windows Store.

"The Universal Windows Platform is a fully open ecosystem, available to every developer, that can be supported by any store," Kevin Gallo, corporate vice president of Windows at Microsoft, said to Eurogamer. "We continue to make improvements for developers; for example, in the Windows 10 November Update, we enabled people to easily sideload apps by default, with no UX required."

Sweeney stated that he, along with other developers, approached Microsoft about their UWP concerns, but that their comments went unheeded.

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Just before the New Year, Seattle made headlines by becoming the first city in the United States to allow Uber and Lyft drivers to form unions.

That controversial December 2015 decision had the Seattle City Council turning in a unanimous 8-0 vote to enable drivers of the ride-hailing apps to unionize, even though the city's mayor, Ed Murray, refused to sign the bill at the time. Still, the decision went into effect, with the reasoning that federal labor law overrides local legislation.

Less than three months later and the controversial decision remains controversial. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce filed a lawsuit against Seattle on Thursday over allowing Uber and Lyft drivers to unionize, as reported by Reuters.

The chamber filed a motion requesting a U.S. District Court judge suspend Seattle's law.

"Seattle and thousands of other municipalities would be free to adopt their own disparate regulatory regimes, which would ... inhibit the free flow of commerce among private service providers around the Nation," part of the 31-page lawsuit, obtained by Reuters, said.



Furthermore, the chamber believes that the ability for drivers of the ride-hailing apps to unionize is a violation of antitrust laws, allowing them to hike prices while not exactly improving their service.

"This ordinance threatens the ability not just of Seattle, but of every community across the country, to grow with and benefit from our evolving economy," Amanda Eversole, president of the Chamber's Center for Advanced Technology and Innovation, said in a statement to Reuters.

She added: "Technology companies are leading the charge when it comes to empowering people with the flexibility and choice that comes with being your own boss, and that is something to be championed, not stifled."

The chamber even points out that Seattle's own Mayor Murray opposed the decision in the first place.

"This has never been tried before, because it is clearly inconsistent with federal antitrust and labor laws," the chamber's chief legal officer, Lily Fu Claffee, told Reuters.

The results of this lawsuit might have some heavy ramifications for how other states deal with Uber and Lyft drivers as well, making it all the more significant.

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3D printing technology vulnerable to major compromise say researchers

A new study from the University of California, Irvine, has revealed that the source code of any 3D printer could be enough to compromise valuable intellectual property, allowing cyber hackers to reverse-engineer and re-create 3D printed objects based off of nothing more than a smartphone audio recording. This could amount to a major security breach in the 3D printing process allowing the hackers to potentially engage in corporate espionage.

The team, led by Mohammad Al Faruque, director of UCIs Advanced Integrated Cyber-Physical Systems Lab, showed that a device as ordinary and ubiquitous as a smartphone can be placed next to a machine and capture acoustic signals that carry information about the precise movements of the printers nozzle. The recording can then be used to reverse engineer the object being printed and re-create it elsewhere. Detailed processes may be decoded through this new kind of cyberattack, presenting important security risks.

In many manufacturing plants, people who work on a shift basis dont get monitored for their smartphones, for example, Al Faruque said. If process and product information is stolen during the prototyping phases, companies stand to incur large financial losses. Theres no way to protect these systems from such an attack today, but possibly there will be in the future.

Al Faruques team achieved nearly 90 percent accuracy using the sound copying process to duplicate a key-shaped object in the lab. They will present their results at Aprils International Conference on Cyber-Physical Systems in Vienna  says the potential for corporate or national espionage using reverse-engineering could be very high.

State-of-the-art 3-D printing systems change digital information inserted in source code to build layer upon layer of material until a solid object takes shape. Referred to as G-code, this source file can be kept safe from cyber robbery with strong encryption. However, the printer releases sounds that can give up the secrets buried in the software once the creation process starts.

My group basically stumbled upon this finding last summer as we were doing work to try to understand the relationship between information and energy flows. According to the fundamental laws of physics, energy is not consumed; its converted from one form to another  electromagnetic to kinetic, for example. Some forms of energy are translated in meaningful and useful ways; others become emissions, which may unintentionally disclose secret information.

The emissions produced by 3-D printers are acoustic signals that contain a lot of information, he said, adding: Initially, we werent interested in the security angle, but we realized we were onto something, and were seeing interest from other departments at UCI and from various U.S. government agencies.

President Obama has spoken about returning manufacturing to the United States, and I think 3-D printing will play a major role because of the creation of highly intellectual objects, in many cases in our homes, Al Faruque said, and suggested engineers think about jamming the acoustic signals made by the 3D printer with a white noise device or similar tool.

The study was funded by a cyber-physical systems research grant from the National Science Foundation.
Anonymous Australia member Adam John Bennett given 2 years suspended sentence for website hacking

Former member of the online hacktivist group, Anonymous was sentenced to 2 year suspended sentence and 200 hours of community service by a Perth court.

Adam John Bennett, 42, was given a suspended sentence for six charges including aiding another person to cause the unauthorised impairment of electronic communications (hacking). Five of the offences occurred in November 2012, when members of the group Anonymous hacked into websites around the world.

Bennett who worked as a life saver at Scarborough Beach, used the pseudonym Lorax for his online activities. He also has his own online radio show which is followed by hundreds of his followers.

Prosecutions charge

The prosecutors told the court that when Bennetts Scarborough home was searched in 2014, the police found the signature Anonymous Guy Fawkes mask, along with audio streaming and studio equipment.

The police also alleged that Bennett along with the members of Anonymous was planning on a mass defacement of thousand of websites to coincide with the 2012 Guy Fawkes Day. They said that Bennett also helped a juvenile, Juzzy to hack into a variety of sites, including those operated by the Australian Agency for Education and Training, the Australian Film Institute, Anchor Foods, and the Food Industries Association of Queensland.

When the public tried to access a hacked site, they found a message from the group in red text on a black background.

Prosecutor Patricia Aloi told the court the plan was to get a much larger number of sites. She said the impact could be described as a nuisance, could be described as lost productivity, and such offending could escalate.

Bennetts defence

In Bennetts defence, his attorney, Darren Renton told the court the hacked web pages were accessible, and only the front page had the Anonymous rant. He also added that the rant was a political ideology and there was no crime involved. He linked Anonymous hacking to digital graffiti.

However, Renton told the court that Bennett accepted he was breaking the law, and it was an illegal way to put forward a political view.

The judgement

Justice McCann said it was not a political ideology, more like immature rants of the schoolyard. McCann said to jail Bennett, who had basically never grown up, would make him a martyr, and he should instead be given the 21st century equivalent of being in the stocks.

Bennett was given a sentence of two years imprisonment, suspended for two years, as well as 200 hours of community service and an intensive supervision order.
Google is building a secret transmitter at Spaceport America and no one knows why

We had earlier reported that Google is testing its 5G drones at its Spaceport America facility in the remote sands of New Mexico. However it seems Google is doing much more than that.

According to an FCC document unearthed by Brian Benchoff at Hackaday, the internet giant applied for an experimental radio license to be built in the New Mexico desert.

Google has asked FCC to treat some information relating to radio experiments as confidential however Hackaday was able to decipher some of the things in the report.

These experiments involve highly directional and therefore high power transmissions at 2.5 GHz, 5.8GHz, 24GHz, 71-76GHz, and 81-86GHz. These experiments will take place at Spaceport America, a 12,000 foot runway in the middle of New Mexico occasionally used by SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, and now Google.

As Benchoff points out, theres a transmitter in the 70-80 GHz band which isnt regulated by FCC, and is normally used for high-bandwidth communications. This band is also used for high-bandwidth wireless routers.

However, Googles secret project has much more than what meets the eye. A normal AM radio station needs 50 KW of power in watts, and can reach a estimate 38 states. Googles secret transmitter is powered at massive 96.4 kilowatt transmitter indicating it is for some specialised purpose.

The transmitter may be tied to the Google Loon project which we reported last month. But, knowing Googles panache for secretive projects, it can also be a alien listening outpost.
IBM begins pink slipping one third of its workforce in US

IBM has begun handing out pink slips to nearly one third of its work force in United States as a part of what it says is a strategy to shift the workforce more toward cloud computing and artificial intelligence operations.

The restructuring exercise which many would describe as massive, comes on back of IBMs January announcement that it would be laying-off staff at its Global Technology Services (GTS) department in the US. Reports claim IBM has extended its laying-off exercise to many other departments in United States.

IBM is aggressively transforming its business to lead in a new era of cognitive and cloud computing, the company said Wednesday in a statement. This includes remixing skills to meet client requirements.

The layed-off employees were pissed of at IBM restructuring exercise. An employee in a post on WatchingIBM stated, I am a GTS Strategic Outsourcing casualty of the mass firing today. My manager told me it was big and widespread, and Id be hearing from a lot of people that will also be notified today.

A soon-to-be-former IBM employee spoke to IEEE Spectrum about the situation: It is bad, really bad. Its a mass lay-off today. It is a sad day for IBM. People are being told not to talk about it. I was told by a manager in getting the news [of my job being eliminated], who was reading off of a script, that one third of the US workforce is being rebalanced, which is what they call it.

Latest areas getting cut: AA IBM CMS Cloud Division; AMS Strategic Technical Services; Global Services Parts Operations; GTS Strategic Outsourcing. Workers are also reporting work is being moved offshore to Hungary and Brazil, claimed another affected by the cuts.

Bloomberg states that IBM had 378,000 employees worldwide at the end of 2015. As part of a strategy to move business focus towards cloud computing services it hired 70,000 new employees in areas key to its new direction and the company claims it has 25,000 current open positions.

However, if the news of this massive lay-off is true than IBM would be left with around 100,000 employees at the end of the exercise.The exact number of employees will lose their jobs in United States is unknown. Also, it is not know whether its global staff will also face the axe but it could also affect IBM workers in the UK after the company warned over 1,300 GTS staff in the UK were at risk of redundancy.

To add salt to injuries, IBM is reportedly paying only one months severance pay to the axed employees as opposed to six months, which it used to operate as a policy.

The big s*** job is that Im only getting 1 month severance instead of the 25 weeks I am entitled when I was hired, a disgruntled former employee wrote on the Facebook group.
Microsoft sues Comcast subscriber for pirating Thousands of Windows 7 and 8 Copies

Microsoft has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit at a federal court in Washington State against a person, or persons, for pirating copies of its software from a Comcast Internet connection. This case filed by Microsoft is unusual, as the company typically doesnt pursue these types of piracy cases. The account was identified by Microsofts in-house cyberforensics team, which logs suspicious activation patterns.

According to the papers obtained by Torrent Freak, Microsoft has not identified the person (or persons) that owns the account, but has the persons IP address, and is now requesting a subpoena from the court to identify this person who activated thousands of copies of Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server and Office 10.

On information and belief, each of these activations and attempted activations constitutes the unauthorized copying of Microsoft software, in violation of Microsofts software licenses and its intellectual property rights, the company says.

The software company has a specialized cyberforensics department, which analyses activation logs to detect activation patterns and characteristics, which make it likely that certain IP-addresses are engaged in unauthorized copying.

The IP address at the center of the asubction (173.11.224.197) is allegedly based in Houston, Texas.

Cyberforensics allows Microsoft to analyze billions of activations of Microsoft software and identify activation patterns and characteristics that make it more likely than not that the IP address associated with the activations is an address through which pirated software is being activated, the company writes in its complaint.

Largely speaking, in many cases, activating pirated copies of Windows doesnt necessarily mean that Microsoft will come after users. However, when several activations are involved, as is the case of the Comcast customer, the company files a legal complaint not only to stop the pirate but also to ask actual and statutory damages.

In this case, the company noticed that a lot of suspicious activity was coming from a single Comcast connection.

Microsofts cyberforensics have identified several thousand product key activations originating from IP address 173.11.224.197, which is presently assigned to Comcast Cable Communications, Microsoft writes.

On information and belief, each of these activations and attempted activations constitutes the unauthorized copying of Microsoft software, in violation of Microsofts software licenses and its intellectual property rights.

The legal complaint also reveals that the pirate used product keys known to have been stolen from Microsofts supply chain or which were used more times than is authorized by the applicable software silence. Additionally, Redmond explains, these products keys were used by someone outside of the region for which they were intended or without the authorized licensee.

At the moment, it is not really transparent if the suspect is a singular user or a company. However, the aforementioned source claims that the latter is more likely from the descriptions used in the complaint and given the fact that it performed thousands of activations. In similar cases filed by Microsoft previously showed that the defendants were computer-related businesses and not individual users.

The full compliant is available here.
The Venezuelan government celebrated on Friday the arrival in the country of the last five crew members of the Emtrasur aircraft that had been held in Argentina since June 6. | Read More
This past week in the Legislature signaled the end of what many feel is the most important phase of our process here. The public hearing portion of the session has now been completed. As many of you know, Nebraska allows public testimony in the form of a hearing on any bill so long, obviously, as it has a current senator introducing it. Every year I will get requests, in one form or another, to introduce bills well after the time allowed for bill introduction. I also have people contact my office or come to the capitol wanting to talk to committees about a bill after public hearings have ended. It is a great system but one that does come with deadlines. We begin all-day debate on the legislative floor Monday, March 7.

Last week, I spoke at length in this column about a constitutional amendment that had been offered dealing with the "Right to Farm." I spoke about the procedure of a constitutional amendment and my misgivings about this idea for this topic. As I said, on its face, this concept appears to be a no-brainer in a state such as ours but, as I have learned during my time here, nothing ever is quite as it seems. I was quoted as saying I felt this measure was dead for this session as a result of committee action that had only two senators favoring advancing the notion. Three senators, myself included, either voted against this amendment or abstained. I abstained from voting for this measure for several reasons but primarily, I was concerned as to whether this offering should be a part of our Nebraska Constitution or should we look at it over the summer and decide if a statutory fix is more in order. Also, I noted in conversation with the various ag groups in the state that support was only lukewarm at best. Members of the committee that are attorneys promised a filibuster on the issue if it were to appear on the floor. I felt comfortable at that point that the wishes of the committee had been fulfilled.

Early this past week however, I was approached by the sponsor of the Constitutional Amendment who assured me he now had the necessary five votes to pull this out of committee if we were to reconsider and that an amendment was to be offered. It is my choice if we are to re-consider and I really had second thoughts but I allowed this if he could assure me he had the majority. We held an executive meeting and the offering was advanced by the necessary number of members of the committee. I still abstained from voting and will oppose this bill when it comes for debate on the floor. The amendment offered will possibly deal with water rights but we may have to get an attorney general's opinion on this.

As I said, I am disappointed this amendment will advance but that is the wishes of the committee and I respect that. As I began this offering, I do respect our system in Nebraska and this is a part of the process.

Hoping to continue the great institution we have here in Nebraska, I want to mention a program offered through the Legislature, the Clerk of the Legislature and the University of Nebraska/Lincoln Extension 4-H Youth Development Office. The Unicameral Youth Legislature will be offered June 5-8. High school students with an interest in law, government, leadership or public speaking are encouraged to give this program consideration. This program is a four-day simulation of legislative activity conducted at the State Capitol Building.

Student senators will sponsor bills, conduct committee hearings, debate legislation and explore the process of the Unicameral. Current senators and their staff personnel will guide the attendees as they consider issues based on current legislative issues. Those attending are housed at the University and daily transportation and meals are provided. More information and registration forms can be obtained from the Unicameral Youth Legislation page: www.NebraskaLegislature.gov/uyl. Registration is due by May 15.

Jerry Johnson is the State Senator for Dist. 23.
Adoration set for St. Isidore

COLUMBUS -- St. Isidore Catholic Church will hold a 24-hour adoration from noon today to noon Saturday in the narthex of the church.

Signup sheets are available at the church.

Fish fries at St. Anthony

COLUMBUS  St. Anthony Catholic Church is hosting its weekly all-you-can-eat fish fries during the Lenten season.

The fish fries will be held from 5:30-8 p.m. each Friday until March 18 at the Parish Center, located in the lower level of St. Anthony Elementary School, 1719 Sixth St.

The event includes deep-fried and baked fish, along with coleslaw, scalloped potatoes and dessert.

Cost is $9 for adults, $8 for seniors over 60 years, $4 for children ages 5-11 and free for children 4 and under.

The fish fries are sponsored by the St. Anthony Knights of Columbus Council 9264.

Soup luncheon at Bellwood

BELLWOOD -- St. Peters Catholic Church will hold a soup luncheon from 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Sunday at the Bellwood Grade School.

The menu will include beef noodle soup, homemade chili and cheesy vegetable, assorted pies and desserts.

Cost is $6 for adults, $3 for students K-8, and free for pre-school children.

The event will include a silent auction throughout, a live auction at 3 p.m., quilt raffle, cake walk and kids games. Items to be won include $500, $250 and two $100 beef certificates.

Breakfast set for St. Isidore

COLUMBUS -- The public is invited to attend a pancake and sausage breakfast from 7:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Sunday at the St. Isidore School cafeteria.

Cost for the breakfast is $6 for adults, $4 for kids and free for children under 5.

Proceeds will support youth missions and the Steubenville Youth Conference.

Rummage sale at Knights hall

COLUMBUS -- Catholic Daughters of the Americas will hold a rummage sale from 8 a.m.-3 p.m. March 12 at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 3115 Sixth St.

There will be 16 different booths at the sale along with a concession stand. Admission is $2

Members of the Catholic Daughters are reminded to bring their donated items for the CDA table between noon-8 p.m. March 11.

For more information, contact Barb at 402-276-4429.

Choir to sing at First Baptist

COLUMBUS -- Nebraska Christian High School Concert Choir of Central City will present a program of sacred music at 5 p.m. March 13 at First Baptist Church, 3210 30th St.

The choir will present hymns of faith and Christian songs appropriate for all ages.

This concert is open to the public.

Performance by Siebert set

ALBION -- The Albion Area Arts Council will present a performance by folk artist Paul Siebert at 3 p.m. March 13 at Zion Lutheran Church.

For more information, call Paul or Lori Hosford at 402-395-2633.

Knights corned beef dinner set

COLUMBUS -- The Knights of Columbus Council 938 will hold its annual corned beef and cabbage dinner and drawing on March 13.

The dinner will be served from 5-7 p.m. at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 3115 Sixth St., with the drawing scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

Admission is $8 for adults and $5 for children. Carry-outs are available, and the public is invited to attend.

CDA meeting planned at hall

COLUMBUS -- Court Little Flower #988 of the Catholic Daughters of the Americas will meet at 7 p.m. March 14 at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 3115 Sixth St.

The education contest awards will be given. Cookies and refreshments will be served followed by the meeting.

Mental health seminar slated

COLUMBUS -- The public is invited to attend a free mental health information sharing sessions from 6:30-8 p.m. March 14 at Word of Life Church.

This presentation will focus on cutting and self-harm and answer the question: Is this suicidal behavior?

All parents, caregivers and youth providers are encouraged to attend. Child care will be provided and bilingual interpretation will be available.

Jill Colegrove from Colegrove Counseling Center will be the presenter.

Rosary Rally at Platte Center

PLATTE CENTER -- The 2016 Public Square Rosary Rally will be held beginning at noon March 19 at St. Joseph Church in the parking lot, 155 A St.

Those attending will be praying for the nation and in support of traditional marriage through the rosary.

For more information, call Merline at 402-563-2905.

Marriage retreat set April 9-10

SCHUYLER -- "SPIN: Spiritual Intimacy in Marriage" retreat, presented by John and Mary Jane Gresham, is a weekend retreat April 9-10 at St. Benedict Center.

It is designed for married couples who are looking to grow in spiritual intimacy with each other and with the Lord when they pray together. Everyone from newlyweds to older married couples will learn spiritual practices that will help them to enter more fully into the grace of their sacrament of matrimony.

The retreat includes talks, personal and couple reflection time, Mass and Reconciliation. It runs from 9 a.m. April 9 to after lunch on April 10.

The program fee is $70 per couple; couples who bring a friend couple with them, i.e. both register together, get a discount of $10.

For more information, call St. Benedict Center at 402-352-8819.

Scholar analyzes Bible's guidance

WASHINGTON (AP)  Anglican scholar N.T. Wright says the Bible contains many overlooked truths, but it doesn't necessarily tell believers how to vote.

The retired bishop says some modern political and cultural issues don't present a clear biblical choice. But other matters are clear, such as Jesus' concern for the poor.

Wright took part in a discussion last week at the National Press Club in Washington on "The Good News and the Good Life." He said making religion a private and personal matter that's separate from the world's concerns isn't how Christians are called to live.

Instead, he said Christians should take seriously Jesus' claim to authority over all things, and join the risen Lord in building his kingdom "on Earth as it is in heaven."

Wright says the New Testament was written to Christians who were struggling with how to live faithfully in a hostile culture, a perspective that he believes is increasingly applicable today.

Pastor fired over China court case

BEIJING (AP)  A leading pastor in a Chinese province where authorities have been cracking down on churches has been barred from the pulpit and removed as head of the provincial state-sanctioned Protestant church association.

Monday's action in Zhejiang (ZHUH'-zhee-ahng) province against Joseph Gu Yuese followed his arrest last month on charges of embezzlement and other economic crimes.

Supporters say the case against Gu was drummed up in retribution for his public opposition to a campaign by Zhejiang officials to forcibly remove hundreds of rooftop crosses from churches. Gu had been senior pastor at Chongyi Christian Church, one of China's largest.

In a related case, a husband and wife who led their congregation in opposing the cross removals were sentenced recently to 14 and 12 years in prison on charges of disturbing social order, illegally organizing people to petition the government and "tricking" congregants into donating money used toward personal expenses.
KCR Offers 6 Cr Help To Nandamuri Hero

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has offered a great gift to Hindupur MLA and star hero Nandamuri Balakrishna. Its known that few days back Balayya met KCR and requested him to regularize some illegal constructions on the Basavatarakam Indo-American Caner hospital campus for the facility of patients, under the Building Regularisation Scheme (BRS).



Responding positively to Balayya request KCR assured that the State government would act charitably towards the hospital as the hospital was running for good cause.As per reports today KCR issued an order exempting the Basavatarakam hospital from paying penalty of 5.72 crore. Just few days back KCR passed orders to regularize the illegal constructions at N-Convention Centre which was owned by King Nagarjuna.









News Posted: 4 March, 2016








Fast track court to trial Dalit girl rape case

Hyderabad, March 4 (INN): Finance Minister Eatala Rajender has announced setting up a fast track court for the trial of gang rape case of a Dalit girl in Karimnagar district.



Addressing a police training camp in Karimnagar on Friday, the minister said that the hearing in the case would be completed in three months. He said that the State Government has already written a letter to High Court requesting for setting up of a fast track case. He assured that the culprits would be given stringent punishment.



The minister said that the government has already suspended two policemen for dereliction of duty. He assured that steps would be taken to prevent recurrence of such incidents in future. He said all the three accused in the case were adults, as per the new law.









News Posted: 4 March, 2016








A prominent US politician has lashed Australia's stance on gay rights as "increasingly" behind the rest of the developed world as Sydney prepares to celebrate the gay and lesbian Mardis Gras on Saturday.

Barney Frank,who was a US congressman for 30 years and is a long-time campaigner for same-sex rights, also described Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's support for a plebiscite on same-sex marriage as laughable.

More than 20 countries allow same-sex marriage, including Canada, the United Kingdom, United States, France, New Zealand, Ireland and South Africa. Mr Frank married his partner Jim Ready in 2012.

Mr Frank said "increasingly" Australia's stance on same-sex rights was "behind much of the developed world".
The family of Chinatown stabbing victim Alan Wong, a 64-year-old disabled pensioner, say they know nothing of claims he was leading a secret double life as a feared criminal nicknamed 'Scar'.

Mr Wong's wife and daughters say he was a loving father with heart problems who needed a walking stick to get around, but the Supreme Court has heard allegations he was a feared senior member of the 14K Triad Society from Hong Kong operating as a loan shark.

The jury has been told there was more than $112,000 deposited into Mr Wong's TAB account over a seven-year period when his family believed he was a small gambler betting only one or two dollars at a time.

Fai Sing (Simon) Yiu, 59, who stabbed to death Mr Wong at lunchtime in Melbourne's Chinatown, has pleaded not guilty to murder, claiming he was acting in self defence when in fear for his life.
"From what I could gather of the Melbourne performances  both of which sold out at the Arts Centre  there was a great response from the audience." The story of a pig who learns to herd sheep, Babe was adapted from Dick King-Smith's book by producer George Miller and Chris Noonan and directed by Noonan. It was a critical and commercial success both in Australia and internationally. A free screening in Commonwealth Park with Westlake conducting the Canberra Symphony Orchestra as part of the EventsACT Canberra Day celebrations will be followed by performances in Sydney and Hobart. While conducting is a talent, conducting the live soundtrack to a film screening is a particular specialisation. Westlake says, "There are two versions of the movie: the movie the audience sees and the movie projected in front of me on a monitor only I can see."

The movie screening for the audience has been remixed from the multitrack tapes sourced from Universal Studios to have its music track removed, leaving only its dialogue, narration, sound effects and ambient sounds. The conductor's movie has a series of digitally created flashing lights, called punches, and diagonal lines, called streamers, to act as visual cues for him to keep the orchestra in synchronisation with the picture and to indicate dynamics and other instructions to ensure dialogue is audible and the film works as it should. It's a system, Westlake says, that goes back to the old Hollywood studio days when composers like Max Steiner, who wrote the music for Gone With the Wind among many other films, used punched holes and streaking lines applied to the projected film stock to help them when they conducted scoring sessions. This will be Westlake's first Canberra visit in a little while though he's no stranger to the city. His father  who was his music teacher  was head of woodwind at the ANU School of Music in the late 1970s and 1980s and in 2004 he was awarded a Coombs Fellowship by the ANU, working at the School of Music. He was composer in residence at the Canberra International Music Festival last year with some of his pieces being played although work commitments meant he was unable to attend the performances. And he came to hear Timothy Kane record some of his guitar music here. Westlake took advantage of the 20th-anniversary performances of Babe last year to tinker with the music a bit. He hadn't really looked at the score in the two decades since he wrote it and he'd had a lot more experience as a composer and orchestrator since then.

"It was the first movie I'd worked on and I was a green, inexperienced composer," he says. Now, having learned a lot in the interim, he was able to enhance the score  not, he says, by changing the melodies or the themes but by doing detail work on the scoring, reinforcing some orchestral textures and giving more richness to the bottom end of the sound, for example. "It's rescored for a slightly smaller orchestra  originally we had access to whatever we needed so we had 80 players. A standard symphony orchestra has far less brass, far less woodwinds, about 56 to 60 players ... and a smaller string section as well." He recorded this new version for ABC Classics and says when Noonan heard it he said it should be added to a version of the film. But he doesn't think the studio would be interested. "It would take a lot of money." As well as revisiting Babe, Westlake has some other commissioned projects coming up including Dream of Flying, an orchestral suite based on the score he wrote for the film Paper Planes that will be performed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and an oboe concerto that will be performed by the Sydney Symphony and soloist Diana Doherty next year. There's also another score for an upcoming Australian film, but he can't say anything about that.

"It's about a year's worth of work." Talking about the difference between concert commissions and writing film scores, Westlake says with the former "all the decisions are essentially in my hands" but with the latter, it's a collaboration  with the film's director, sometimes with the producer, and their input has to be taken on board. With Babe, the originally commissioned score by Hollywood veteran Jerry Goldsmith had been rejected by Noonan and Miller ("It sounded a bit like a cartoon which was not what they wanted; they wanted something a bit more serious") and Westlake was one of several Australian composers to "audition" by writing music for a few scenes. When he was chosen he had two months to write nearly 80 minutes of music. The 1977 song If I Had Words, based on a theme from Saint-Saens "Organ" Symphony, had already been selected by the filmmakers for inclusion. Westlake says he "tried to talk them out of it" but as scenes had already been filmed including it he bowed to the inevitable and incorporated its music into the score in different ways using various instruments and combinations. Westlake also scored the Miller-directed 1998 sequel Babe: Pig in the City which was a more chaotic experience.
Short film festival Flickerfest is headed back to Canberra on March 17, with their 2016 Best of Australian Shorts. Amongst the lineup is Canberra filmmaker Vanessa Gazy's first major short, Foal, a 24-minute period drama.

"It's quite a dark drama about a woman who lives on a remote isolated property, she's got a young daughter and her husband's away and he's been away for an extended period of time as a drover and meanwhile there's a passing horseman who comes and they fall in love," she said.

A still from Vanessa Gazy's short film Foal which will play at Flickerfest. Credit:Martin Ollman

"Meanwhile her young daughter is sort of falling in love in her childish way with him so it's kind of a bit of a strange, unconventional love triangle, and it's about the repercussions of what happens when the husband returns. So it's kind of intended to be a dark feminine story which situates you in a period setting but tries to take a modern take on the feminine and the complexities of femininity."

The short was filmed in 2014 at the rural homestead in Namadgi National Park, just south of Canberra.
The premise is a fascinating one and raises many questions about portraiture, multiple imagery/images, and what is the value/role of the single photographic image in the digital era. It also clearly asserts the role of the photographer as "auteur", the controlling eye behind the camera. In The ONE Project there is no opportunity to discard or edit. The image as presented in the gallery is the result of the curator's insistence on each artist's careful consideration of all the details that go into the making of a photographic image prior to the final click. In this process Wardhaugh takes on the role of "uber auteur" (if you'll forgive my linguistic borrowings) as she has provided a set of conceptual and technical limitations in which her chosen "auteurs" must operate.

The ONE Project curator Hilary Wardhaugh presents a unique approach to the portrait genre in this clever and beguiling exhibition. 28 named artists (and one anonymous) were each invited to take a portrait (subject to be chosen by the artist). They were to use the same Nikon camera and had only one opportunity to make their images. The first artist then passed the camera to the next and so on until the film was exhausted. (As an aside I thought film has 36 frames  where are the other images?). The camera was placed in a box accompanied by a book in which the artists recorded their choice of subject and other pertinent information related to the project. The box and contents are integral to the exhibition as they were to the process that formed it.

Madeline Bishop, 'Charlotte and Tigger' in The ONE Project at PhotoAccess.

The exhibition is installed with the works following the order in which the photographs were made. The artists only saw their work after the installation and so the individual results of the strictures of the process are as much a surprise to them as they are to viewers.

The range of responses is as various as the 28 artists represented. Some, including the curator, have elected to take fairly straightforward images of friends or family in various suburban or rural locations. Others show their subjects in the workplace (Leonie Keogh's The taxidermist) or in "places" where the latter is the subject rather than the figure(s) in that "place". Madeline Bishop's Charlotte and Tigger and Geoffrey Dunn's The space between us exemplify the latter. Throughout the exhibition there is a feeling of intimacy, of the closeness of the relationship between artist and subject. This sometimes results in sentimentalism (Tim Anger's Becca reclining) but also in powerful visual statements (Jeremy Byrne's "Katie - my muse and Denise Ferris' Untitled). The ONE Project is an interesting exhibition whose interrogative premise makes for active participation on the viewer's part. The individual approaches to the curator's demands provide visual and intellectual stimulation while raising pertinent questions about the photographic portrait in particular and the photographic image in general. While, as one would expect, the results vary, the overall impact is very satisfying. A final point - I found it more than ironic that the images as exhibited are inkjet prints taken from the original negatives, some of them in editions of 10 - so much for ONE.

In the back gallery Dean Cross's Fringe Dwellings is an installation consisting of Polaroid photographs and the temporary plywood doors used during construction of houses. The Polaroids are displayed on the doors in various numerical configurations apart from six abutting images placed on the blank wall as one leaves the space. The doors lean against the walls, a positioning that underlines their temporary status  these are used on building sites to prevent people from accessing unfinished buildings.

The Polaroid images are soft-focus views of the suburb of Bonner on Canberra's northern edge. Each shows houses either complete or in various stages of construction but always characterised by the absence of any real human presence. People are present only in the evidence of activity (piles of building rubble, empty parked cars). This aspect of the images is pictorially underscored by the unstintingly repetitive angular geometries of the buildings that populate the almost bleak suburban topography. The implied romanticism of the artist's use of soft focus is quietly disintegrated by the tedium of the unimaginative architecture whose incessant angularity is only broken by piles of rubble or occasionally by trees or the frothy volumes of clouds.




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.
Commonwealth government property values between the city and Russell would increase by as much as 30 per cent if Canberra's light rail is extended, a federal parliamentary committee has heard.

The ACT took its efforts to sell the Turnbull government on a 3.2 kilometre extension of the city to Gungahlin line to federal Parliament's standing committee on transport, infrastructure and cities on Friday, arguing ageing office buildings along Constitution Avenue and undeveloped land in Russell would be significantly more valuable with tram connections.

Environment and Planning Directorate boss Dorte Ekelund. The government's plans for redevelopment of buildings at Anzac Park would benefit from the extended route being planned. Credit:Melissa Adams

The proposed extension would include three passenger stops and could create about 5600 extra passenger trips each day, but Chief Minister Andrew Barr wants federal funding given the Commonwealth would be a key beneficiary.

ACT Environment and Planning Directorate boss Dorte Ekelund made the case as part of the committee's consideration of value capture plans from transport infrastructure. Value capture involves government efforts to capitalise on increases in property value created by infrastructure.
A couple had to be rescued from their car after attempting to drive through flood waters on the Federal Highway near Sutton Road after a wild thunderstorm on Thursday evening.

Canberra man Tom Corra said water was higher than the car's windows, when he arrived at the scene just after it was swept into the middle of the dual carriageway about 6.20pm.

Debris over the road after the flooding. Credit:Tom Corra

The road was closed about 10 kilometres north of Canberra from 7pm in the northbound direction with traffic diverted at Sutton onto the Old Federal Highway until about 9.30pm when one lane on each side was reopened.

"The water was rising pretty quickly," he said.
The emotional moment when baby Ruby Wigg was born. Kate Wigg, of Jerrabomberra, with her sister Emma Fowler, of Bonython, who acted as her surrogate. That lack of information is not least the result of a ban on advertising for surrogacy in the ACT, as elsewhere in Australia. The families eventually found their way to the Canberra Fertility Centre which does facilitate unpaid surrogacy. Kate and Garreth provided the egg and sperm for the embryo that was transferred to Mrs Fowler after a very long, emotional and involved approvals process. Mrs Fowler says she had no hesitation handing Ruby over to her parents when she was born in May last year. "From the very beginning, I just had it set in my mind, 'This baby is not mine, it's biologically theirs and I'm literally just the oven, I'm just keeping it warm and safe until those nine months are up'," she said. "There was never any doubt. I never crossed that line. If someone said, 'Oh, congratulations you're having a baby', I always said, 'Thank you, I'm actually carrying for my sister'. I never allowed there to be a grey area.

"When it actually came to the birth, there was not even a hesitation. It was just amazing she was here and they were a family. When it came to the birth, I was very protective of Ruby and really loved her but I didn't feel she was mine. She wasn't mine to begin with." Unpaid or altruistic surrogacy  such as that in which the two sisters engaged  is legal in the ACT. Commercial surrogacy is illegal. The ACT also bans its citizens from going overseas to use a commercial surrogate. A federal parliamentary inquiry is now investigating the laws and regulations around surrogacy and is due to report in June. Close to 100 submissions have been received, many calling for surrogacy laws across Australia to be made more uniform and for paid surrogacy to be legalised. Others reject the prospect of any surrogacy being allowed in Australia. Concerns have been raised about exploitation of women used as surrogates overseas and the welfare of children born via surrogates in other countries. Submissions have suggested as few as 14 babies a year were born in Australia through altruistic surrogacy compared to as many as 270 babies born through the use of overseas paid surrogates. The Canberra Fertility Centre is advocating for the introduction of regulated, paid surrogacy in Australia. The centre's medical director Dr Martyn Stafford-Bell has suggested fertility centres would act as the go-between for surrogates and families, with the same fee offered across Australia to avoid competition.

He believed paid surrogacy would go through the same journey towards public acceptance as IVF. "I simply see surrogacy as just another branch of assisted reproductive technology," Dr Stafford-Bell said. "It's just totally logical that we should do it." Mrs Fowler said she "had it in the back of her mind" for years to offer to be her sister's surrogate, even before she had her own children. "After I had my children and the struggle became more real for Kate, I just thought, 'We were done having children, why not? Why can't we help her?'," she said. Her husband Cameron and children Brayden, seven, and Isabelle, five, were on board "100 per cent".

"I told the kids, 'Aunty Kate's tummy is broken and she wants to have a family like ours and we're going to help her'. They were just, 'Yep'. They were excited and proud, they were happy. And they understood what was going to happen. They just got it. "We do have a special bond with Ruby and they really love her but she is their cousin." The women had to agree to a series of processes before they started including counselling, police checks, medical checks, legal advice and approval from the John James Hospital Ethics Committee. They were subject to a three-month cooling off period. After the first egg pick-up, the embryos were frozen for six months before they could be transferred. Mrs Fowler was not paid but all her medical costs were met by her sister and brother-in-law. They estimate it cost them more than $80,000. While couples using IVF received the Medicare rebate, couples using a surrogate did not, something Mrs Wigg said should change, particularly for those couples using a surrogate for medical reasons.

She also found some resistance, even within the community, to accepting her as the mother of Ruby. But their obstetrician Dr David O'Rourke was their saving grace. "He was one of very few specialists and people that really got it," Mrs Wigg said. "He always made Garreth and I feel like the parents and treated us like any expecting parents. When we would be in the waiting room he would call out 'Wiggs' rather than call out Emma's name. It was the first time we were acknowledged by an outsider as the parents." The Wiggs' obtained a parenting order from the Supreme Court which saw the Fowlers relinquish any parenting rights over Ruby to them. However, the Fowlers are still listed as Ruby's parents on her birth certificate. And her name is still on Mrs Fowler's Medicare card, not Mrs Wigg's. The sisters are the daughters of Ruth and Peter "Butcher" Lindbeck, who supported them all the way. "We couldn't have gone through the journey without the love and support of family, friends and colleagues," Mrs Wigg said.
Whiplash often follows a car accident after the passengers' bodies are thrown forwards and backwards. With no physical symptoms, it can be hard to prove or disprove.

Drivers in the United Kingdom seem to suffer it more than others, with whiplash making up about 70 per cent of all post-accident claims from 2008 to 2013.

Suspecting this unusually high rate of whiplash had more to do with exaggerated claims than weak neck muscles, the British government announced last year that people could no longer get cash compensation for minor whiplash claims. Further, it was increasing the upper limit in the small claims court to 5000 ($9675), removing the need for lawyers.

And with that, the British government totally smashed the value of a conglomerate business previously called Quindell, which Melbourne-based law firm Slater & Gordon had just bought for a whopping $1.2 billion.
Now, who still defends it? Yes, yes, yes, but apart from you, I mean, Gerard.

Albo and Barnesy to reveal all

After lunching with my publishers on Tuesday, here is the goss. Anthony Albanese will be bringing out his memoirs in August for Random House  quite possibly right in the middle of an election campaign  while Jimmy Barnes will be doing likewise for Harper Collins, with the first of his two-part memoir, Working Class Boy, out in time for Christmas.

Australia can afford to be more generous

Not long before he left for Washington, Joe Hockey mentioned to me that whatever else there was to say about the Australian economy, it boasted something of a miracle in that it had benefited from a <<quarter of a century>>of solid growth. And he was right! And of course it is not as if we don't have problems, but the bottom line is our last recession was indeed the one Paul Keating said "we had to have," and he, in turn, might have been right if such sustained prosperity is the result. So why, right now, are we at an historic low in term of foreign aid? In 2000, Australia was right there with the best of 'em joined 189 countries in signing up to the Millennium Development Goals - to halve world poverty by 2015. Our signed commitment was to reach 0.7% of our Gross National Income for international aid. At the time, we were giving 0.24% of GNI  and though there was some blowback, Prime Minister John Howard, with bipartisan support, at least committed to a compromise level of 0.5% by 2015. But our giving has since fallen away, with successive governments announcing what amounts to $11.3 billion cuts to aid. This, at the same time the UK were putting their commitment in concrete. As their Prime Minister David Cameron said "we won't balance our books on the backs of the world's poor." Our level is now down to 0.21%, and still another $224 million cut for the next budget. Does that seem right to you?
Two faces of Australian Catholicism were on display this week. One was Cardinal George Pell's testimony before the royal commission on child sexual abuse.

Pell could have been discussing the internal workings of a department store. He had his job, others had theirs, he didn't "indulge rumours" and had "no interest" in tracking those rumours down even though they concerned the welfare of the youngest and most vulnerable members of what once would have been called his flock. What his testimony lacked was moral imagination.

Winston Churchill said, "We shape our buildings; thereafter, they shape us". The same is true of institutions and, once again, Pell emerged as a functionary of the institution.

I do not equate religion with spirituality, but it is genuinely spiritual people who make religion meaningful by investing it with humility and compassion. Without those qualities, religion is no more than a series of empty rituals encased, in the case of the Catholic Church, in a medieval pomp which is supposed to embody a Jewish rebel who sided with social outcasts and was openly contemptuous of the religious authorities of his day for their double standards.
Could Australia return to an era of stable government and purposeful reform? It's partly up to Turnbull, of course. But, alone, he can't break the cycle of vengeance. The man he tore down, Tony Abbott, has to agree to put aside the natural human desire for revenge. This week Abbott mounted a three-part campaign to show that he does not agree. On the contrary, he is burning with deep anger and this week he allowed it to emerge forcefully. First, he talked up an essay he has written for the conservative journal Quadrant titled "The Economic Case for the Abbott Government." The essay, as the title implies, was designed to salvage his government's record. But Abbott also challenged Turnbull. The former prime minister described his highly ideological 2014 budget as "a badge of honour". Even some hard-case conservatives were angry at Abbott. "I think he's in a dark space and wants us to lose," said one. "There's now a chance we could lose, unthinkable six months ago" when Turnbull first took the leadership.

Yet, while he was still prime minister, he told colleagues that it had brought his government "to the brink of destruction", a risk he didn't take with the 2015 "play it safe" budget. The truth is that the 2014 budget was a serious misjudgment and a disastrous overreach. With that budget, he broke election promises and proposed radical measures for which he had no mandate. These included a GP co-payment for visits to the doctor, the deregulation of university fees and a six-month wait for the dole for unemployed people under 30. These proposals simply died in the Senate. And the Abbott government's standing in the polls never recovered from that budget. The biggest winner from that budget was Bill Shorten.

Yet, in talking up his essay, Abbott told The Australian newspaper last weekend: "The challenge for Prime Minister Turnbull will be to retain his popularity once he has a credible narrative of his own. Nearly two years on from the 2014 budget, getting spending down remains the critical issue." He's right that it's a critical issue, but it's one on which he made no progress. Indeed, he only managed to make the problem bigger. The Abbott government took power with net government debt equal to 12.8 per cent of GDP, according to the budget papers. Two years later he bequeathed Turnbull net debt of 16.9 per cent of GDP, according to the government's December mid-year budget update. Abbott went on to make the audacious claim to The Australian that: "I'm confident that we could have won the 2016 election with a program of budget savings and lower tax." Part two of Abbott's campaign, building on the fictitious economic credibility asserted in the first, was to give unsolicited advice to the government this week during the regular meeting of the Coalition's MPs and senators.

It was "time for the leadership to take on the savings challenge again", he reportedly told the party room. His comments, the first he's made since losing the leadership, were designed to position himself as a conservative spokesman within the government. Any tax cuts the government might hand out in the May budget, said Abbott, had to be funded by cutting government spending, not by raising taxes. And he congratulated Turnbull on his scare campaign against Labor's negative gearing policy, warning the government against making any move to restrict the generosity of the existing negative gearing tax concession. This was met with enthusiastic cries of "hear, hear"! To Turnbull and his treasurer, Scott Morrison, it sounded like Abbott was trying to box the government in, taking tax options "off the table" before any formal decision. Abbott's supporters certainly think so; they think he succeeded in this little outburst in dealing a death blow to any idea of changing negative gearing. They are right. Scott Morrison took the opportunity to remind the party room that the Abbott government had successfully cut $80 billion from spending, only to reallocate $70 billion of it for new spending. Unsubtly, Morrison was pointing out that Abbott didn't have much of a record.

On Friday a former Liberal minister, the Howard government's Peter Reith, went further. Reith told Sky News that Abbott's position on government spending was "incoherent". Abbott had gone to the 2013 election promising not to cut major programs, and even promised to add a lavish $5 billion-a-year paid parental leave scheme. Reith might have gone further  he might have pointed out that Abbott abolished Julia Gillard's carbon tax, yet continued paying out the $15 billion a year in compensation for a tax that no longer existed. Part three in Abbott's one-man uprising was the most brazenly destabilising. It was to attack Turnbull on a major defence matter. This would round out the trifecta for Abbott in striking poses as a hero for the conservative faction of the Liberal party. First, he was tough on spending. Second he was resolutely opposed to new taxes. Third, he was more serious about national security.

The Australian newspaper reported on Wednesday that it had obtained a draft of the defence white paper which had been written for Prime Minister Abbott. Its report, written by Abbott advocate Greg Sheridan, was headed: "PM pushed back Abbott subs dates". It began: "The Turnbull government's defence white paper delays the acquisition of replacement submarines for the Collins-class boats by nearly a decade, compared with the draft produced under Tony Abbott, in a result the former prime minister says has left him 'flabbergasted'." The basis for the former prime minister's flabbergasting was that the Turnbull document committed to having the first new subs entering service in "the early 2030s" while the Abbott draft reportedly promised the "late 2020s". Sheridan quoted Abbott as telling him: "I'm not just disappointed, I'm flabbergasted at this decision." And: "It's the biggest decision we face. It needs to be made swiftly so that we get the new subs from the middle of the next decade." He said of the existing six Collins submarines that it is "a fragile capability at the best of times." There are three problems with this. First is that the drafts written for the Abbott government are classified. The Defence department has asked the Federal police to conduct a leaks inquiry to find the leaker.

Suspicion immediately fell on the former prime minister, but Abbott and Sheridan both said on the record that Abbott was not the leaker. Nonetheless, many of Abbott's colleagues are themselves flabbergasted that he would, in effect, confirm and endorse the leak with his comments to Sheridan. Second is that the Abbott outrage appears to be built, once more, on a fond imagining of how things might have been, rather than the way they were. In rapid succession, the secretary of the defence department, Dennis Richardson, the chief of the defence force, Mark Binskin, and Abbott's own first defence minister, David Johnston, all attested that defence had consistently told the government that the earliest realistic delivery date was the early 2030s, which is exactly what the white paper says. The third problem for Abbott is that this intrusion has appalled many of his colleagues and confirmed him as a wrecker. Peter Reith spoke for the majority when he called it "a classic case of deliberate destabilisation". Even some hard-case conservatives were angry at Abbott. One defended him: "He puts his dissent on the public record  when those who destabilised him leaked against him, they did it anonymously." But others were harsh: "I think he's in a dark space and wants us to lose," said one. "There's now a chance we could lose, unthinkable six months ago" when Turnbull first took the leadership. The vengefulness of the betrayed leader reminded many this week of Kevin Rudd's conduct after Gillard's lightning coup against him. Asked about this on Friday, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said: "Tony Abbott is no Kevin Rudd." He's right.

The defining difference? Rudd was popular before and after the coup. This meant that there was always a plausible pathway to a comeback for him. This does not justify disruptive conduct. But it does mean that there was a potentially positive purpose to his jihad against Gillard. But Abbott has never been popular. He was the uniquely unpopular prime minister. There is no plausible pathway to a comeback for Abbott. He will justify himself by saying that he is defending his record, that he is speaking for the conservative movement. But however he might rationalise it, the net effect of his destabilisations can only be negative for his party. There is no happy ending here. Can he be assuaged? He has not asked Turnbull for anything for himself. But he asked Turnbull to appoint his former chief of staff, Peta Credlin, to the post of Sex Discrimination Commissioner. And to appoint her husband, Brian Loughnane, former Liberal federal director, to the post of ambassador to the Vatican. Turnbull let Abbott know that the post of high commissioner to London could be available to him, but refused the requests to appoint Credlin and Loughnane.
It was an inspiration to many, the way St Kilda activist Richard James celebrated ageing as one of the joyous stages of life. Richard, who has died at 84, was a passionate crusader for older people, including gay and bisexual men.

In the 1990s Richard became a member of Port Phillip Council's now-defunct Gay and Lesbian Advisory Committee and helped found Vintage Men, an organisation for older gay and bisexual men.

Vintage Men, who met in St Kilda, would travel by bus to march in the Sydney Mardi Gras in Sydney. On one occasion James was interviewed by Elle McFeast for ABC news. After the parade, Vintage Men retreated to a pub in King Street, Newtown. When the large TV screen showed Richard loudly proclaiming their rallying cry, "We're grey, we're gay, we're here to stay", the place erupted into cheers and whistles, more so when patrons realized that Richard was there with them.

Always on the lookout for more media coverage, he decided to appear in drag at a high profile event at Ormond Hall. He discovered that he rather enjoyed the experience  and the following year appeared at the Mardi Gras as Gloria Swanson. His new persona meant that he spent more time in St Kilda, enjoying drag venues and putting on paid performances as the "Baroness of Balaclava" at the Greyhound Hotel. He was also able to indulge his wicked sense of humour.

Richard became a regular star of St Kilda's annual Pride March. Along the way, he learned to sew so he could make his own drag costumes. He couldn't afford to buy them and all those sparkles and sequins were pricey. He also made his own curtains and cushion covers when he moved into John Cribbes House in 2000 as a tenant of the St Kilda (later Port Phillip) Housing Association. There he brought intelligence and an astute sense of politics to the people who needed it most  not just to his fellow tenants but to the broader community, anyone without a voice.

Richard took up painting as the walls of his unit were bare and contributed a number of works to tenant exhibitions sponsored by the Port Phillip Housing Association. Several of his artworks have been donated by his family to John Cribbes House. He supplemented his pension by clipping the local papers for the council media unit.
The penitential prayer with which Catholics begin their Mass, and which Cardinal George Pell would have recited thousands of times, asks God's forgiveness for what they have done and for what they have failed to do.

Few people could have failed to do what they should have done more devastatingly than the cardinal. That is perhaps the most shocking, and damaging, revelation of his four days of testimony to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, given by video link from Rome this week.

Time and time again he said it wasn't his job, it was someone else's, or he might have done something but no explicit request was made so he did nothing.

Watching Pell give evidence, I wondered whether he was handicapped by his unfortunate demeanour: his slow, heavy delivery and unemotional expression can seem pompous, overbearing and unfeeling.
The American Civil Liberties Union believes creating a back door will erode consumers' trust in technology companies, discouraging them from installing important security updates. That would create an environment where cybercrime  such as the hacking of financial information, intellectual property and government secrets  can flourish. A win for the FBI would also set a strong legal precedent whereby any tech company could be forced to help unlock any device for authorities. What is Apple's legal defence? Apple has several weapons in its arsenal. A row of colourful iPhone 5Cs. Credit:Bloomberg

The FBI's request falls under a statute from 1789 called the All Writs Act, which allows federal courts to order individuals or organisations to assist law enforcement with investigations. But the act cannot compel third parties to assist with law enforcement if the task is "unreasonably burdensome", or if it bypasses other laws or the Constitution. A New York judge has set a precedent in the US government's pursuit of iPhone encryption details from Apple. Apple says the request violates the First Amendment because computer code is considered protected speech. It also says being forced to sign off on the software update so the iPhone "trusts" it is false speech. The company argues the FBI's request violates the Fifth Amendment because it forces Apple to be an agent of the state, imposing an unnecessary burden on it. And it argues writing the software would be an "unreasonable burden" because the job would require several staff members and two to four weeks' work. However, the government has agreed to foot the bill.

Apple also says the separation of powers in the US means Congress, not the courts, should decide the issue. What is the FBI's counter-defence? The FBI and other law enforcement agencies are increasingly concerned about how encryption affects their ability to access evidence that's stored on devices. The bureau argues if Apple succeeds in its appeal, it will create a precedent for law enforcement where authorities may have a warrant to search a device but are unable to do so. A survey from the Pew Research Centre found more Americans think Apple should comply with the court order than not. And a global survey from CIGI-Ipsos shows most people favour giving law enforcement access to private online conversations if they're conducting criminal investigations or protecting national security interests.
Australia will consider a renewed push to establish an informal naval coalition with the United States, Japan and India that would stoke fears in Beijing of a "containment" strategy.

The commander of US forces in the Pacific, Admiral Harry Harris, revived calls this week for the "quadrilateral dialogue" between the region's major democracies  an idea floated a decade ago but abandoned amid diplomatic protests by China.

Minister for Defence Marise Payne says Australia has an open mind about Admiral Harris's suggestion. Credit:Dean Lewins

Defence Minister Marise Payne kept the door open to reviving the talks when asked about Admiral Harris' remarks.

"The Australian government has a range of formal and informal mechanisms to consult with close partners and we maintain an open mind about possible new consultative arrangements," Senator Payne said.
Mr Costello said that "all the schedules we've proposed are within the timeframe set by the white paper".

He added that "I can confirm that of the build options sought by the Australian government, DCNS is able to deliver earlier in the hybrid build than in the all-Australian build"  indicating that the hybrid could be done earlier than the 2030s.

DCNS has previously said that a hybrid option would deliver the same number of jobs to Australia  about 2900  as an entirely onshore option but would be faster because the local infrastructure could be built at the same time the first boat or two are being constructed in France.

John White, chairman of German shipbuilder TKMS Australia, said he applauded the white paper's 2030 timeline but also said that his firm could deliver earlier.

"This is a long, complex project and in any such project, it's prudent to have a few years' contingency in the schedule. Defence is to be applauded for that. The Germans have a proven track record of delivery and if selected the Germans could deliver early and that would lead to a saving."
The federal government's decision not to bring forth a bill to revive the Australian Building and Construction Commission has sparked speculation it is backing away from a rumoured double-dissolution election.

But other triggers for such an election remain, and constitutional experts say the ABCC bill does not need to come to a vote in order for the government to use it as a double dissolution trigger.

A second life for the construction watchdog, created under John Howard and abolished under Julia Gillard, is opposed by Labor and the Greens and has previously failed to pass the Senate. It was widely thought the government was preparing for a double-dissolution election, possibly on July 2, triggered by the ABCC bill.

But the absence of the bill from the Senate agenda means it is not scheduled to be debated during the parliamentary week beginning March 15. After March 17 the Parliament will break for Easter and not return until the May 10 budget.
Who'll admit to confusion at the news that there's an investigation into the leaking of plans, or lack of them or somesuch, regarding Australia's submarine fleet?

Why would anyone bother? Everyone knows that Australian submarines leak. It's been a point of honour among the Collins Class subs. They leak for Australia.

If the actual submarines leak, and have been doing so for years, why wouldn't the plans to get new ones in the water leak?

The point, as we are given to understand, is that the new fleet was allegedly due in 2026. Now it's some time in the 2030s.
Pressure from Australia led to Papua New Guinea shelving its plans to reintroduce the death penalty for serious crimes, the country's chief law reform bureaucrat has said

Dr Eric Kwa, the secretary-general of the Constitutional and Law Reform Commission, told a law reform conference in Melbourne that he had been tasked by the PNG government with investigating the most efficient ways to execute prisoners.

Under pressure from Australia, Prime Minister Peter O'Neill has shelved plans to reintroduce the death penalty. Credit:Joosep Martinson

The National Executive Council last year agreed on three methods - hanging, firing squad, and lethal injection - on Dr Kwa's recommendations.

"I was asked to identify the best method to kill the prisoners," he told the audience, to nervous laughter.
The principal of Sydney private school Scots College was going to resign following weeks of controversy at the sandstone institution but suddenly reneged on his decision on Thursday night.

Last week Fairfax Media revealed that the school's former council was not going to renew principal Ian Lambert's contract before it was replaced by the Presbyterian Church over "governance concerns" and a new management committee stacked with church members was installed.

On Friday, a spokesman for the school confirmed that Dr Lambert had written a draft resignation letter to the Presbyterian Church but later withdrew it out of concerns for the future direction of the school.

Last month, the chair of the newly installed management committee, Simon Fraser, said the renewal of Dr Lambert's contract was its "first priority".
John Messara's perceived power in the racing industry is such that a string of prominent industry figures declined to be quoted on concerns about Mr Messara's conflicts of interest.

One racing executive pointed out that the media "won't write a bad word" about Racing NSW because of the commercial arrangements surrounding the publication of form guides and the broadcast rights to races.

Alan Jones and John Messara share a laugh at the Magic Millions Yearling Sale Day on January 6, 2016, at the Gold Coast. Credit:Bradley Kanaris

Asked if Sky Racing commentators were allowed to say anything critical about him or Racing NSW, Mr Messara said: "That's the sort of rubbish people would say. Anyone can write what they like, they have editorial independence."
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard Davies told the dancer, given the pseudonym BZP, he dreamt about having a threesome with her and another teenage student.

Davies, who pleaded guilty to multiple sexual offences against children last year, threatened the girl, then a 14-year-old student at his RG Dance school in Sydney's inner-west.

Paedophile dance teacher Grant Davies told one of his victims "she would never see her family again" if she told anyone he abused her, a royal commission has heard.

BZP disclosed the exchange to a fellow student, given the pseudonym BZM, but said Davies had warned her to be quiet.

"Grant had threatened [BZP], telling her if she told anyone she would never see her family again," BZM told the Sydney hearing on Friday.

In evidence, BZM said Davies would send her repeated text messages when she was 13 years old, stating: "I can't go to sleep until you tell me you love me."

BZM, now in her 20s, told the commission RG Dance students as young as three were instructed to wear skimpy crop tops and shorts, with either a g-string or no underwear.

In evidence, she said Davies would make suggestive comments to students in front of his sister, Rebecca Davies, a co-director of the school which closed after Grant Davies was charged.
Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate has significantly raised the mayoral stakes promising a future council he managed would put forward $160 million to extend light rail south to the Gold Coast Airport after the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

The first section of the light rail runs between Southport to Broadbeach and the soon-to-constructed second section will run between Southport and Helensvale by 2018.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate announces he will push ahead with extending the Gold Coast light rail to Gold Coast Airport at Tugun. Credit:Glenn Hunt

On Friday morning Cr Tate promised to push ahead immediately with a $600,000 technical feasibility study to the future third leg, from Broadbeach south to the Gold Coast Airport at Tugun, if he is re-elected mayor on March 19.

He shrugged off perceptions getting a light rail over Burleigh Hill was a problem.
The investigation will examine whether councils are making decisions without providing transparency to the public.

Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass will examine whether councils are making decisions without providing transparency to the public. Credit:Damian White

Secrecy and accountability at all Victoria's local councils will be investigated by Ombudsman Deborah Glass, including closed council meetings, record keeping practices and confidential decision-making.

Council decisions made behind closed doors are in the crosshairs of Victoria's public watchdog.

"Secrecy in government can create conditions in which improper conduct and poor administration can flourish. It also fuels suspicions of wrongdoing and erodes community trust," Ms Glass said.

Ombudsman Deborah Glass is looking into council decisions made in secret.

"Members of the public who complain to my office about council decisions occasionally mention the fact that decisions were made 'behind closed doors' or 'in secret' as evidence to support their concerns."

Local government is the second largest source of complaints to the Ombudsman with 3410 issues dealt with in 2014-15. Corrections was the largest source of complaints.

The Ombudsman has revealed that there had been at least one complaint against every one of Victoria's 79 councils.
Public hospitals are operating on tight budgets set by state governments who squeeze them for more productivity every year. This means any other source of funding, including charity or insurance payments, are actively sought. Sometimes state governments even set public hospitals targets for how many insured patients they should treat, so public hospital administrators are keen to sign you up as a "private patient" to get extra funding from your insurer, and to meet performance indicators.

Have you ever been asked if you want to use your private health insurance in a public hospital? Depending on who you talk to, you may get different advice about the benefits and risks of using it. That's because it is a hotly contested area with big money at stake. Last year, insurers paid public hospitals more than $1 billion for members care in public hospitals. That is money private hospitals missed out on and that insurers paid for their members instead of state and federal governments picking up the tab. Here is what you should know about being a "private patient" in a public hospital.

Some private hospitals offer a choice of doctor if that doctor has private practising rights in the hospital, but they are not supposed to offer you faster treatment. Some hospitals also offer private rooms if they are available and bonuses such as free newspapers, cable TV and better meals, which you would otherwise have to pay for. There are different opinions about how permissible and ethical these bonuses are. Under the National Health Reform Agreement which sets out funding rules between the Commonwealth and states and territories, public hospitals must "provide all Australians with timely access to quality health services based on their needs, not ability to pay, regardless of where they live in the country". Some doctors privately say that getting a private room reduces infection risk and is therefore superior treatment. In the case of children, it can mean the difference between parents being able to sleep at the hospital with them, too.

If you choose to be a private patient in a public hospital, who pays for your care?

If you use your insurance, the public hospital will receive funding from your insurer for your accommodation which they would otherwise not receive. It also means the federal government's Medicare system pays 75 per cent of your doctors' fees, with the remaining costs split between the insurer and you if you have to pay for any gaps, such as an excess for using your insurance. However, because public hospitals get a windfall for private patients, they often agree to pay for any out of pocket expenses you will be charged for using your insurance. If you are a public patient, about 60 per cent of your care is paid for by the state government and the remainder by the federal government. Considering all of this, some believe the practice of public hospitals signing people up as private patients is cost shifting by state governments on to the Commonwealth because the latter pays more for your care.

Are there rules governing public hospitals' management of this?

At the moment, no Australian can use their private health insurance for medical treatment in an emergency department. However, if you are going to be admitted to a public hospital and it is clinically appropriate, you should be given a choice to be a public or private patient. Under the National Health Reform Agreement, public hospitals must treat you as a free public patient if you want that, regardless of your insurance status. But if you want to use your insurance, national standards say that that decision cannot be made until you or your legal guardian is fully informed of the consequences of that choice. Under the national standards, hospital staff are not allowed to direct patients or their guardians towards a particular choice.
A lawyer and domestic violence campaigner has been selected by the Greens as their candidate for the federal seat of Fremantle vacated by Labor's Melissa Parke.

Kate Davis, the founder of Tenancy WA, says Ms Parke has been a progressive representative for the seat, "despite the Australian Labor Party collapsing in on its values, particularly around asylum seeker policy and climate change".

The Greens have announced Kate Davis as their candidate for the federal seat of Fremantle. Credit:Tenancy WA

"Now Melissa has stepped down, Freo residents are looking for the next progressive candidate to fill that space," Ms Davis said on Friday.

"Freo has always been Green - it's time to reflect that in Canberra."
A "David and Goliath battle" is underway along the Kimberley coast as testing for oil and gas creeps closer to the world's only major wild pearl oyster fishery.

Federal member for Perth Alannah MacTiernan raised concerns of a "perfect storm" in Broome as sound waves for seismic testing blasted oyster stocks, a method the pearling industry called "reckless" and "destructive".

Broome pearl beds are under threat from oil and gas exploration: industry Credit:Cygnet Bay Pearls

Ms MacTiernan is on a parliamentary committee whose latest aquaculture report called for a taskforce to examine the issue.

The committee heard evidence that the whole of the Kimberley and Pilbara pearling area had been "under siege" from oil and gas exploration, particularly seismic testing, in recent years.
Bangkok: Malaysia's prime minister Najib Razak has defiantly lashed out at political enemies who have come together to call for a national movement to remove him from office.

In a dramatic escalation of tensions in his Muslim-majority nation, Mr Najib said 58 signatories to a declaration pledging to plot his ouster, including veteran former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, "have demonstrated the depth of their political opportunism and desperation."

Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad joined with political foes to issue a declaration signed by 58 public figures urging Prime Minister Najib Razak to resign over corruption allegations. Credit:AP

"There is an existing mechanism to change the prime minister. It's called a general election," he said.
"However, it seems evident that now that he is here, life is much easier for him," she said. "He occupies an extremely important role in the Vatican State, which he will not renounce easily ... and he has obtained the much-desired Vatican passport. Public Relations expert and former member of the special commission on economic reforms of the Vatican Francesca Chaouqui is interviewed as she arrives at the "Vatileaks 2.0" trial session in 2015. Credit:Getty Images "No one can touch him now. The cardinal is serene; Australia is far away." Fairfax Media is not claiming that Cardinal Pell's motive was to avoid facing the commission  indeed, he gave evidence to the commission from Rome this week. From right: Spanish Monsignor Angel Lucio Vallejo Balda , Italian laywoman Francesca Chaouqui and journalists Emiliano Fittipaldi and Gianluigi Nuzzi on trial in the Vatican over the leaking and publication of secret documents that revealed waste, greed and mismanagement at the highest levels of the Roman Catholic Church. Credit:Snapper Media

But a Vatileaks-related book published last year claimed that from early 2013 Cardinal Pell was intent on securing a position in the Vatican  and his detractors were spreading rumours that he was "fleeing the aggressive investigation being conducted by the Australian royal commission." Ms Chaouqui says that, given the cardinal's baggage, and the accusations against him, he was the wrong choice for the job of driving reform in the Vatican. "I feared for the reform, I feared that with this situation Pell would no longer have the strength or authority to manage a new structure like the Secretariat for the Economy," she said. Ms Chaouqui is now awaiting trial, accused of leaking confidential COSEA documents to the Italian media. COSEA's recommendations led to the Pope's announcement in February 2014 of Cardinal Pell's appointment as the newly created Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy.

Ms Chaouqui compared this to a "coup d'etat". "He was like an 'ombre', a shadow over our [COSEA] commission," she told Fairfax Media. Cardinal Pell told commission secretary Monseigneur Lucio Balda to "do it very very fast, to organise the Secretariat of the Economy". "The focus is, I am thinking, to come very fast [from] Australia. The work of the commission had not finished yet and we had to do everything very, very fast. "He would call Balda three times a day, he was in such a hurry that that was not normal ... it's not a studied thing but it is to create this organ and to [bring] Cardinal Pell here. "Initially I am happy because I think this is a way to clean up the Vatican."

She scoffed at Cardinal Pell's claim, on the steps of the abuse royal commission's hearing this week, to have the full support of the Pope. "If [the Pope] backed him, Pell would not have had to testify from a hotel in Italy but would have been allowed to do this from one of the 1000 rooms at the Vatican," she said. Ms Chaouqui's claims are partly corroborated in a recent book, Merchants in the Temple by Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi  one of Ms Chaouqui's co-accused in the Vatileaks 2.0 trial. Nuzzi wrote that Cardinal Pell "arrived quietly in the Holy See in the [northern] spring of 2013 with the intention of playing an important role on Francis' team". "He guessed correctly the new climate that the Pope wanted to bring into the Curia and he wanted to play a central role in the project of restructuring the Vatican.
Stars from The Book of Mormon celebrated the show's fifth anniversary on Broadway by lighting the Empire State Building on March 4. The musical officially opened March 24, 2011, at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre.

On hand for the event were current principal cast members Nic Rouleau, Christopher John O'Neill, Nikki Renee Daniels, and Daniel Breaker, alongside company members Grey Hanson, John Eric Parker, Derrick Williams, Tyson Jennette, Lewis Cleale, Nick Spangler, Tommar Wilson, Maia Nkenge Wilson.

Written by Trey Parker, Matt Stone, and Robert Lopez, The Book of Mormon won 2011 Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Original Score, and Best Book, among several others. It tells the story of two Mormon missionaries who get more than they bargained for when they're sent to AIDS-ravaged Uganda.

The company of The Book Of Mormon heads up to the top of the Empire State Building.

( David Gordon)

For tickets and more information, click here.
IN CONTEXT: Rolls-Royce Article Archive (Text, Video, Reviews, Specs, Opinion)

IN CONTEXT: Rolls-Royce Research and Buyers Guide

WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J., March 4, 2016 -- Rolls-Royce Motor Cars North America announced today the results of the company's Dealer Awards for 2015. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Dallas garnered top honors for the second time in three years as North American Dealer of the Year. The Dallas dealership also received accolades for the work of Malcolm Gage, named Sales Manager of the Year for the NA Region. This award is based on a mix of retail sales targets, Bespoke content targets as well as Provenance and Prospect targets.

In addition to Dallas claiming the North American title, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars recognized three additional retail partners for world-class performance in specific categories.

North American Dealers Recognition:

North American Dealer of the Year Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Dallas Global Sales Dealer of the Year Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Westlake Global Provenance Dealer of the Year Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Gold Coast Globally Most Improved Dealer Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Miami

Pedro Mota, president of Rolls-Royce North America, commented "Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Dallas demonstrates that our retail partners can consistently deliver high client satisfaction, even as we grow at a record pace. The criteria for this recognition are extremely high, and it is exceptional to see a dealer receive the award two out of three consecutive years. I'm also impressed that our North American partners have taken global honors in key areas of Sales Performance, Provenance and overall improvement. This is a clear sign that the Rolls-Royce Motor Car brand is maturing in the North American market."

"It is very rewarding to be named the recipient of the Rolls-Royce North American Dealer of the Year Award for the second time in three years," stated Heath Strayhan, general manager of Rolls-Royce Motorcars Dallas. "I am humbled to work with a team whose work ethic is driven by Park Place Dealership's core convictions. This is a team with high integrity who are passionate about providing the highest level of service to our clients. At Park Place, we define excellence as hundreds of little things done right. That's what we strive for every day."

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Westlake achieved the Global Sales award based on effortless delivery and outperforming in sales for the year; an outstanding performance in the Los Angeles metropolitan region, the second largest market for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars globally.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Gold Coast took honors as the top Provenance Dealer in terms of performance. With more than 5,000 owners alone in North America, the client relationship managers at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Gold Coast have excelled at finding "the next owner" for a growing family of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars globally and in North America.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Miami was recognized as the Most Improved Dealer, an impressive feat for a retail partner in one of the top North American markets for the company. The performance is complemented by an all-new facility that opened in downtown Miami in 2015. The new Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Miami showroom is one of the largest in North America, preparing the market for growth with the current and planned expansion of the family including Dawn this year and an all-new new vehicle in 2018.

The successful dealers were presented with specially commissioned awards at the company's annual World Dealer Conference held last week in Berlin. The awards, featuring a contemporary take on the iconic Spirit of Ecstasy, were conceived by the RollsaRoyce Bespoke Design Team at the Home of RollsaRoyce at Goodwood, West Sussex.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars celebrated its second highest sales in the marque's 112-year history in 2015, with 3,785 hand-built motor cars commissioned by customers. RollsaRoyce motor cars were sold in almost 50 countries worldwide through a global network of 130 dealerships. As part of the marque's commitment to long-term sustainable growth, Rolls-Royce announced five new dealerships during the year, with further expansion planned for 2016.
Leeds Bradford outlines future vision as consultation takes flight

LEEDS BRADFORD has launched its development plan outlining how the airport could grow and develop over the next 15 years.

Its Strategic Development Plan (SDP) marks the commencement of a consultation period with the local and regional community as Leeds Bradford asks for views and comments on future developments.

The masterplan highlights how the airport might be developed upto 2030 including extensions to the terminal, improved surface transport access links, an airport hotel close to the terminal, a new commercial hub including an airport village, an innovation park and freight park.

Proposals also include additional apron parking, construction of new taxiways alongside provision of additional car parking facilities.

The aiport contributes 336m in GVA to the Leeds City Region and around 5,200 jobs but if the airport grows in line with the SDP it expects these figures to grow to 724m and deliver over 10,000 jobs by 2030.

John Parkin, chief executive, said: Leeds Bradfords Route to 2030 Strategic Development Plan supports our vision to be an outstanding regional airport, connecting Yorkshire with the world and builds upon the recent investments undertaken at the airport.

We are planning to continue our growth to support the progress of the Leeds City region and maximise the economic benefit our airport can provide as the international gateway to Yorkshire. We are now seeking comments and suggestions from the local community to inform the next stage in the Masterplans development.

The Route to 2030  Strategic Development Plan and Surface Access Strategy documents and information relating to the formal consultation process can be found at Leeds Bradfords website.

In addition Leeds Bradford has arranged for both consultation documents to be viewed at libraries and public buildings across the region during March and April.

See also:

Leeds Bradford Airport rail line branded unachievable
The African Network for Environmental Sustainability (ANFES) aims to ensure that environmental sustainability research agenda and commercial exploitation of local communities natural resources benefit local communities by responding to their needs and aspirations and by improving their livelihoods opportunities.
Authorities warn about rainbow fentanyl Victims often arent aware theyre taking it

The Ventura County Office of Education and state health officials have issued a warning to schools and families about rainbow fentanyl, a form of the potentially fatal synthetic opioid that comes in bright colors. Rainbow fentanyl can be found in...

Cancer support community to host remembrance event Cancer Support Community Valley/Ventura/Santa Barbara invites family members and friends of those who have died from cancer to attend the second annual Evening of Remembrance from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thurs., Nov. 3 at Cancer Support Communitys Garden of Hope,...

Grant advances CSUCI research Cal State Channel Islands assistant professor of computer science Scott Feister and assistant professor of mathematics Alona Kryshchenko recently received $112,480 from the National Science Foundation to continue a grant to support their research project, Enhancing Laser Based Ion Sources...

Healthcare agency recommends flu shots The Ventura County Health Care Agency offers options for the community to receive flu shots through its Ambulatory Care Clinic system, public health clinics and pop-up clinics. Although seasonal influenza viruses are detected year-round in the United States, they are...
House of Cards, the series that helped transform Netflix into the original-content juggernaut that it is today, has always benefited from its creators unique foresight. On the same day that the third season of Beau Willimons show premieredone that featured a Putin-esque villain going toe-to-toe with President Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey)leading Putin critic Boris Nemtsov was shot dead on the streets of Moscow.

The fourth season dropped March 4 at midnight, less than an hour after the conclusion of a particularly rowdy GOP debate in Detroit, Michigan.

During the debate, leading contender Donald Trump was asked by Fox News moderator Chris Wallace how he feels about the Ku Klux Klan, white supremacists, and former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke, whod recently endorsed Trump for president. If you think its bonkers that this question even needs to be asked in 2016, well, youre not alone, but Trump forced the issue by first off-handedly disavowing the endorsement in a presser (saying I disavow, without naming the offending party, or why), followed by a particularly troubling exchange with CNNs Jake Tapper wherein Trump refused to disavow Dukes endorsement, dodging the question by claiming to not know who Duke wasdespite history saying otherwise.

I totally disavow the Ku Klux Klan, I totally disavow David Duke, Ive been doing it now for two weeks, Trump replied on Thursday night.

Well, during the third episode of House of Cards fourth season, President Underwood finds himself in a similar pickle with the KKK. Its primary day in Underwoods home state of South Carolina, and after giving a rousing speech about unity in a predominantly black church, a defaced billboard emerges displaying a blown-up photo of Underwoods father, Calvin Underwood, posing with a hooded member of the KKK. Its accompanied by the words, Underwood 2016.

Who put this up and why? Who knows, Democratic presidential rival Heather Dunbar, a likely suspect, tells the news. And the sins of the father arent necessarily the sins of the son, but its troubling. Very troubling. Stunts like these have the potential to open old wounds. We cant let them happen. We need to rise above it, make clear that no matter who you support, that this type of behavior will not be tolerated.

President Underwood admits that the photo is real, but invents a storythat may or may not be trueof how his father wasnt in the Klan, but was forced to pose for the photo to secure a loan to save the family farm.

In addition to the David Duke hullabaloo, painting Underwoods father as a man with connections to the Klan is even more shocking when you consider that Donald Trumps father, Fred Trump, was arrested in 1927 following a KKK riot in Queens.

According to The Washington Post, On Memorial Day 1927, brawls erupted in New York led by sympathizers of the Italian fascist movement and the Ku Klux Klan. In the fascist brawl, which took place in the Bronx, two Italian men were killed by anti-fascists. In Queens, 1,000 white-robed Klansmen marched through the Jamaica neighborhood, eventually spurring an all-out brawl in which seven men were arrested. One of those men was Fred Trump of 174-24 Devonshire Rd. in Jamaica.

Its not clear from the context what role Fred Trump played in the brawl, continued the piece. The news article simply notes that seven men were arrested in the near-riot of the parade, all of whom were represented by the same lawyers. Update: A contemporaneous article from the Daily Star notes that Trump was detained on a charge of refusing to disperse from a parade when ordered to do so.

Despite several uncovered newspaper clippings from the time saying otherwise, Trump vehemently denied the arrest, telling The Daily Mail, He was never arrested. He has nothing to do with this. This never happened. This is nonsense and it never happened.

As for how that billboard got defaced, well, youll have to tune in to House of Cards fourth season to find out.
Judge Jane Kelly, now being vetted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a potential Supreme Court nominee, has emerged as a leading contender to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia.

Kelly may have the best chance of any nominee: she was confirmed to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2013 by a 96-0 vote; she is from Iowa, home state of Republican Charles Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Chair; and Grassley himself has praised her effusively in the past. All that may make it harder for Grassley to honor his pledge not to hold hearings on a potential Supreme Court Justice, in defiance of custom and constitutional law.

But what does Judge Kelly believe?

Theres not much to go on. Prior to becoming a judge, Jane Kelly served as a public defender for 17 years, which afforded few opportunities for making public statements on the finer points of jurisprudence.

But she has been an appellate court judge for the past three years, and during that time has written 82 opinions for the court. Over the past week, I have read and reviewed all of them. And what emerges is, as her reputation suggests, a moderate, thoughtful jurist without ideological biases, though with a slight tilt to the conservative side of some issues.

Now, a word of caution: These opinions only give hints. In 80 of the 82 cases, Judge Kelly was writing for a unanimous three-judge panel, not simply for herself. Often, such opinions represent a consensus view more than an individual one: The rhetoric and scope of opinions are often adjusted to gain the assent of colleagues.

Moreover, about half of the 82 cases are garden variety criminal appeals, contract disputes, insurance claims, and the other mundane cases that make up the bulk of an appellate courts workload. (Theres a rent dispute involving Smuckers, a former salesman suing Farmers Insurance.) Most of this has nothing to do with the contentious issues to which Supreme Court watchers pay attentionindeed, thats even true of the Supreme Court itself.

But there are some interesting findings.

First, the overwhelming majority of criminal appeals that Judge Kelly wrote the opinions for were rejected. This does not necessarily mean Judge Kelly is tough on crime. The national reversal rate for criminal appeals is only 7 percent, which makes sense, given the heightened standards of review at the appellate level. It does suggest that Judge Kelly is not disproportionately disposed toward criminal defendants as a result of having been a career public defender.

Still, there were some close cases that did suggest a tough on crime perspective. For example, in U.S. v. Axsom, the Eighth Circuit affirmed a 15-year-jail sentence for a child pornography conviction stemming solely from 15 images traded on Limewire (a peer-to-peer technology where batches of files may be shared without an individuals knowledge of whats inside).

In another child porn case, the court affirmed conviction even though the state showed five minutes worth of images to the jury, an act which had no evidentiary value but likely disgusted and prejudiced the jurors. Its easy to imagine these two cases going the other way under a more liberal judge.

When it comes to police conduct, Judge Kelly again appears to be a centrist. Most of her Fourth Amendment opinions (US v. Meidel, Fagnan v. Lino Lakes, Greenman v. Jessen, US v. Guevara, Yang v. Roy, US v. Thompson) find for the police and against defendants complaining of unconstitutional search or seizure. Again, that is usually the case.

But there are some exceptions.

In Peterson v. Kopp, Judge Kelly wrote an opinion granting immunity to an arresting officer for most of his actions, but not for pepper-spraying a defendant who asked to see his badge. That, Judge Kelly wrote, was a First Amendment violation. And in Ziesmer v. Hagen, the appeals court overturned a lower court opinion and allowed a police officer to be sued for injuring someone pulled over at a roadside stop, in an arrest that led to no criminal charges. In these cases, one might imagine a more conservative judge siding with police.

When it comes to hot-button issues that would come up in nomination hearings, Judge Kellys record is also right up the middle.

In Jackson v. Nixon, Judge Kelly wrote a 2-1 opinion upholding an atheist prisoners claim that being effectively forced to participate in an Alcoholics Anonymous-like substance abuse program violated his First Amendment rights to be free from religious coercion. (A similar appeal from a Native American objecting to a 12-step program was rejected, but mostly on procedural grounds.)

This could be read in several ways. Though the petitioner is an atheist, this is actually a conservative-style, pro-religious-liberty holding, not unlike the recent Supreme Court case of Holt v. Hobbs, which required an Arkansas prison to let a Muslim prisoner grow a half-inch-long beard. In terms of the current debates over religious liberty and civil rights laws, Jackson is on the side of individual religious liberty (here, to be free of religious coercion) over a particular public policy (in this case, the rehab program).

On the other hand, affirming an atheists First Amendment rights to be free from the relatively anodyne spirituality of 12-step programs could also be read as extremely liberal. Is the programs suggestion to substitute Good Orderly Direction for the word God really religious coercion? Whether Jackson is a conservative or liberal opinion depends on how you look at it.

On another hot-button issue, immigration, Judge Kelly wrote eight opinions on deportation appeals, affirming seven of them. While, again, standards of review favor upholding the decisions of immigration officials, no one could argue that Judge Kelly is soft on illegal immigration. She affirmed the deportation of a former child slave from Mexico, a Chinese woman fearing reprisal for having three children, and a victim of gang violence (PDF).

Of the eight deportation appeals, the only one Judge Kelly wrote to remand was from an individual who had the help of a fraudulent assistant (PDF). Here, Judge Kelly wrote, the entire application should not have been dismissed simply because the preparer was a liar.

Finally, Judge Kelly wrote a contentious 2-1 opinion in the case of US v. Fast Horse (the Eighth Circuit has jurisdiction over several Native American lands). In that case, Judge Kelly reversed a conviction for sexual assault, because the defendant may not have known that his victim couldnt consent. Judge Steven Colloton filed an angry dissent.

Even here, however, the tea leaves can be read in opposing ways. On the one hand, this is an opinion that makes it harder for women to prevail against sexual predators, which might anger some liberals. On the other hand, it sides with a criminal defendant over the state, which might anger some conservatives.

Perhaps most notably, Fast Horse relied on a particular (and controversial) Eighth Circuit precedent regarding the intent necessary to prove a rape claim: that the defendant must know the victim did not, or could not, consent. (The dissent attacked this court for vacat[ing] yet another conviction of a sexual aggressor who engaged in sexual intercourse with a woman who was passed out or asleep.) This is interesting because judicial nominees often use pat phrases like I would follow Supreme Court precedent to avoid answering questions about abortion. Here, however, is an appellate judge actually doing it: applying a precedent which some might find dubious, because it is the controlling law in the case.

Now, that could apply to Roe v. Wade but also to Citizens United. Which, finally, is the point. Over the course of 82 opinions, Judge Kelly emerges as a thoughtful centrist who would disappoint ideologues on the left and the right. There is no consistent bias in her opinions, and the fact that they may be read in multiple ways attests (for better or for worse) to their centrism.

Contrary to Ted Cruzs outrageous statement at last nights GOP debate that anyone Harry Reid supports must be a constitutional liberal, Judge Kellys record, to the extent it can be interpreted, suggests judicial moderation. It may not matter in todays Senate, but if President Obama is looking for a consensus candidate, its hard to imagine a better one. Jane Kellys opinions are boring in all the right ways.
On Wednesday night, indigenous and environmental-rights activist Berta Caceres was shot dead in her home in La Esperanza, Honduras. And while the Honduran police claim that she was killed as part of a botched robbery, her family, friends and supporters are convinced that her death was a political assassination, particularly after the long string of death threats the 44-year-old had received throughout her career defending natural resources and indigenous lands against corporate projects in Honduras.

It was absolutely a political crime, one supporter told Reuters at a Thursday rally, protesting Caceress death and calling for a full investigation into the murder.

Bertita [an affectionate nickname] Caceres was totally committed to the fight for the defense of waters, rivers, forests, and the land of indigenous peoples and the rights of peasants. Today she has paid with her life at dawn.

Honduras is one of the murder capitals of the world, and one of the most dangerous places to be an environmental activist. After the 2009 U.S.-backed coup earmarked 30 percent of the resource-rich country for mining projects, the Honduran government approved hundreds of dam projects, privatizing indigenous land and natural resources without the consent of the indigenous community.

As a result, several members of the indigenous community became environmental activists, out of necessity to protect their land. Many of these activists were either killed by police at local demonstrations, or gunned down by assassinssuspected to be hired by either the Honduran government, or corporations supporting the projects. Over the past six years, more than 100 environmental activists have been murdered in Honduras alone.

Berta Carceres was one of these leadersas the co-founder of Copinh, a social and political organization supporting indigenous rights in Honduras, she was frequently involved in environmental activism, and resistance to corporate exploitation of indigenous lands. However, she is most known for her activism against the Agua Zarca Dam, a joint project between the Honduran company Desarrollos Energeticos SA (DESA) and Chinese state-owned Sinohydro. While creating cheap energy to fuel mining operations, the dam would also cut off the water supply of the Gualcarque River, a waterway for the Lenca people who depended on it for their livelihood and one that Carceres describes as sacred."

This river has ancestral and spiritual importance to the Lenca people, because it is inhabited by the female spirits. These female spirits guard the riversthe Gualcarque River is also used for gathering food and medicinal plants. It is vital to the entire population downstream, she said in a 2014 interview about the campaign.

This was a violation of indigenous rights from the start, because the national congress granted the concession without providing free, and informed consent, she continued.

The project was eventually canceled, citing ongoing community pressure as the reasonand Carceres was awarded the 2015 Goldman Environmental Prize for her success in organizing her community to stand up to corporate giants, including Sinohydro, the largest hydro-dam developer in the world. Still, death threats against her and her family persisted, causing the Honduran government to assign her police protection, and two of her children to leave Honduras as refugees for their own safety.

Many in her community feel that her death this week was the result of these threats coming to a tragic fruition.

I have no doubt that she has been killed because of her struggle and that the soldiers and the people from the dam are responsible, her 84-year-old mother said in a radio interview on Radio Globo.

I hold the government responsible.
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Swedish cider producer launches a fruit lager

Swedish cider producer Kopparberg is taking its fruit expertise into the beer category with the launch of Kopparberg Fruit Lager.

Best served ice-cold from the bottle and with an ABV of 5%, Kopparberg Fruit Lager will be available in a crisp Lemon & Lime flavour, and aims to extend the drinking occasion in the spring and summer months for younger millennial drinkers, by giving them a refreshing alternative to other lagers on the market.

Kopparberg has created the premium fruit lager to offer consumers a unique drinking proposition. The serve delivers a refreshing balance of flavour, which marries Kopparbergs signature fruit taste with a subtle, premium lager bitterness.

Jodie Alliss, senior marketing manager at Kopparberg comments: Our research demonstrated that fruit is still a hit with our millennial drinkers, as our fruit ciders remain number one in the category. By launching Fruit Lager, we are extending the drinking occasion for those consumers, via an innovative product that combines subtle premium lager bitterness with Kopparbergs expertise in fruit refreshment that fans know and love.

Kopparberg Fruit Lager will be available to purchase in a pack of four 330ml bottles in the off-trade, and in a single 330ml bottle in the on-trade across the UK.

Marketing support for the product launch will form part of Kopparbergs 6m integrated marketing campaign kicking off from May, activated via outdoor, digital, PR, social media, experiential and in-store channels.

4 March 2016 - Felicity Murray The Drinks Report, editor
Republican incumbent John Raney has raised more money than challenger Jess Fields in the race for District 14's seat in the Texas House, while outspending his opponent by almost twice as much.

As of Feb. 1, Raney had $170,173 in donations remaining in his campaign fund, which is $60,928 more than his opponent, but Fields' contributions appear to be picking up speed, according to finance reports.

In the first of Raney's two most recent campaign finance reports filed between July 1 to Dec. 31, Raney had $173,250 in donations and spent $87,100. In the period between Jan. 1 and Jan. 21, Raney raised $9,131, bringing contribution totals for those periods to $182,381. He spent $30,521 during that time, bringing expenditures to $117,621.

While Fields' contribution totals from his two most recent reports, which cover Aug. 2 to Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 to Jan. 21, reach $164,396 -- about $18,000 less than Raney's totals from roughly the same period -- he raised $30,126 over three weeks in January, more than three times as much as Raney raised during that time. Fields also has spent $59,708, almost half as much as Raney's expenditures in the same time frame.

Raney, 68, was voted in to the District 14 seat in a special election in December 2011. He founded Texas Aggieland Bookstore 46 years ago. Raney serves on the following committees: House Appropriations, Higher Education and House Administration.

Most of Raney's spending has gone toward consulting services, totaling about $51,400. He's also spent a little less than $16,000 on mailers and other advertising costs. Other expenses include $2,000 for website design, about $1,000 for Facebook ads and $4,182 to Miramont Country Club and the Brazos Valley Natural History Museum for fundraisers. Raney also paid $5,302 to MB Public Affairs Inc. for "opposition research."

His challenger, Fields, served one term on the College Station City Council starting at the age of 22. Fields, now 27, spent two years as a consultant for the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank based in Austin, but said he left the group in July and moved back to Brazos County to run for office. Fields, now a self-employed consultant, works from home and does marketing and advertising for his family's business in Conroe.

Fields put about $14,000 toward campaign mailers and other advertising and $7,271 toward signs. He's spent far less on consulting than Raney -- just under $10,000 -- but also had a $1,800 in-kind contribution from the Constituents Focus PAC for consulting services. Other expenses include $2,500 for a campaign survey, a $2,500 contribution to the Conservative Republicans of Texas and $2,958 for website design.

On the contributions side, Raney pulled in more high-dollar donations, while Fields picked up more individual contributors.

Raney's largest single contribution came from the Blackridge PAC, at $10,000. Raney's campaign received dozens of PAC contributions in those reporting periods, including the A&M PAC, Texans for Lawsuit Reform, Texas Farm Bureau AGFUND, Union Pacific Fund for Effective Government, Texas State Association of Fire Fighters and Chevron.

He also had several large contributions from individuals, including $5,000 each from H-E-B owner Charles Butt; Randy French, owner of Stylecraft Homes; Texas A&M University System Regent Phil Adams; and Don Adam, CEO of American Momentum Bank.

Mark Kristen, CEO of Kristen Distributing Co., and Robert Johnson, a consultant and campaign accountant from Austin, both gave $2,500, and other sizable donations came from Hunter Goodwin and Casey Oldham of Oldham Goodwin Group, LLC, who gave $1,250 each. District Judge Travis Bryan III, banker Michael Holmgreen and Mark Hussey, Texas A&M vice chancellor for agriculture and life sciences, all gave $1,000.

Other donations from Texas A&M leaders to Raney's campaign include a $3,500 in-kind contribution from Thomas Williams, vice chancellor for federal and state relations, for social media services, as well as monetary contributions from Michael O'Quinn, vice president for government relations, and Paul Ogden, interim executive vice president of the Health Science Center.

Fields' largest contribution came from the Empower Texans PAC at $15,000, followed by $10,670 from the Constituents Focus PAC of Midland. Fields' other handful of PAC contributions also came from the Texas Home School Coalition PAC, the Northeast Tarrant Tea Party PAC and the Texas Land Developers PAC.

Jess Fields Sr. of Kingwood contributed $10,500, making it the largest contribution outside of those from PACs. Mayes Middleton of Houston, owner of Middleton Oil Company and recently appointed member of the Texas Public Policy Foundation board of directors, Monty Bennett of Dallas, CEO of Ashford Hospitality Trust and Mike Killion of Humble, owner of Clutchco International, all gave $5,000. Texas' District 16 Sen. Don Huffines gave $3,000.

Some of Fields' larger contributions came from owners and employees of oil and gas companies in West Texas -- Tim Dunn, owner of Crownquest Operating, LLC gave $2,500, Dick Saulsbury, founder of Saulsbury Industries gave $4,500 and Kyle Stallings, owner of the Permian Basin Acquisition Fund gave $1,000. Two petroleum engineers from Midland also contributed about $2,500.

Notable local contributions include $2,020 from Fred and Shirley Dupriest of College Station, $1,000 from Heath Phillips, CEO of The Baracks Townhomes, $500 from College Station parks and recreation director David Schmitz, $300 from Bryan City Councilman Mike Southerland and $500 from Bryan Mayor Jason Bienski, who also gave $483 to Raney's campaign.

At least nine individuals associated with the Texas Public Policy Foundation, contributed to his campaign, making up about $3,345 -- $2,500 of which came from Windi Grimes of Houston, a director at TPPF. Other contributors include vice president Charles DeVore and policy analyst William Peacock III.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- NASA's yearlong spaceman Scott Kelly took a long-anticipated plunge Thursday, jumping into his backyard pool, astronaut outfit and all.

"Oh, man, that feels good," Kelly said as he floated to the surface.

After nearly a year of space sponge baths, Kelly didn't even take time to change out of his blue flight suit. He walked right up to the edge of the pool, tilted sideways and fell in. It was still dark outside early Thursday morning in Houston -- he'd been yearning for this moment throughout his U.S- record setting mission.

A video of his plunge was posted to his Twitter account Thursday, a day after his return from the International Space Station.

"There's no place like home," he tweeted.

Kelly -- looking and acting remarkably hearty after 340 days in space -- was reunited with his family earlier in the morning in Houston after a flight from Kazakhstan, where his mission ended.

Kelly's girlfriend, Johnson Space Center public affairs representative Amiko Kauderer, and his two daughters, ages 20 and 12, rushed into his arms after he exited the NASA jet. His identical twin, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, and their father were next to greet him. Also welcoming him home: Mark's wife, former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

This last leg of his journey, by plane, took a whole day because of weather delays. So it was in the wee hours -- 27 hours after returning to Earth in a Russian Soyuz capsule -- when Kelly finally got to Houston's Ellington Airport near Johnson Space Center.

"I'm used to going 17,500 mph, but this airplane doesn't do quite that," Kelly joked at a brief welcoming ceremony attended by Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden.

She brought him a gift of beer from President Barack Obama and some apple pie. "Nothing's more American than that!" she said.

Kelly noted that when he left Houston in February last year, he was still 50. Now he's 52, thanks to his Feb. 21st birthday.

"It was a very long trip," he said. "But it feels great. It's great to be back in Texas on U.S. soil."

Before he could go home to his own bed -- and his own pool -- Kelly had to detour to Johnson to endure more medical tests to measure his body's adaptation to gravity. The main reason for the long trip -- double the usual station stint -- was so NASA could gather data that will keep future Mars explorers healthy and happy during the 2 1/2-year expeditions planned for the 2030s and beyond. His brother took part in many of the studies as a ground control and unprecedented genetic double.

The Russian cosmonaut with whom Kelly spent the year in space -- Mikhail Kornienko -- is undergoing his own medical checkups back home in Star City, Russia. The Russians hold the world record for days in space -- 438 -- set back in the mid-1990s at the former Mir space station.

Next up for Kelly: a news conference at Johnson on Friday and a continuing series of tests, expected to last for months and possibly a year.

Ditto for his brother.

"After 340 days off the planet and 5,400 times around it," Mark proudly tweeted, "it's good to have you home, @StationCDRKelly."
In an interview with the Guardian at the time of her award, Caceres was realistic about the risks she faced, but said she felt obliged to fight on and urged others to do so. "We must undertake the struggle in all parts of the world, wherever we may be, because we have no other spare or replacement planet. We have only this one, and we have to take action," she said.

The dangers appear to have increased in recent weeks. After a Copinh march in Rio Blanco on 20 February, she and other participants were confronted by the army, police, local mayor and employees of the dam company. Several were detained and some threatened, the council said in a statement.

It was not the first time. Caceres previously said she had received warnings that she would be raped or murdered if she continued her campaigns. There have also been past reports that hitmen were hired to assassinate her.

Honduras - failing to protect its own

Honduras is a perilous place for activism. Caceres's fellow Copinh leader Tomas Garcia was shot dead by a military officer in a protest in 2013. Several others have been killed this year, according to the council. Caceres had recently moved home because she felt the new house in La Esperanza would be safer.

Between 2010 and 2014, 101 campaigners were killed in Honduras, a higher death toll relative to population than anywhere else, according to the study How Many More? by NGO Global Witness. It said a disproportionately high number of them were from indigenous communities who resisted development projects or the encroachment of farms on their territory.

The United Nations special rapporteur for indigenous rights, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, who met Caceres last November, said she was "saddened and horrified" by the news. "This shows the high level of impunity in Honduras. Beyond the high homicide levels in society, there is a clear tendency for indigenous campaigners and human rights activists to be killed", said Tauli-Corpuz, whose report on the country will come out in a few months.

She noted the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights had raised concerns about Caceres's safety with the Honduran president, Juan Orlando Hernandez, last year and formally called on the government to apply 'precautionary measures'.

"This meant the government had to protect her", Tauli-Corpuz said. "Yet she was assassinated just like that. If someone like her suffers in this way, then what chance is there for others who campaign for the environment and human rights?"

Jorge Alcerro, chief of staff for the Honduran president, Juan Orlando Hernandez, said that security forces would "use all means to find the killers", but he did not explain why she had no police protection at the time of her murder.

'Incredible courage'

Billy Kyte, a campaigner at Global Witness, paid tribute to Caceres for her "incredible courage" and said the government - which is behind many of the controversial projects - must reverse the alarmingly murderous trend in Honduras:

"The shocking news of Berta's killing is a dramatic wake-up call for the Honduran state. Indigenous people are being killed in alarming numbers just for defending their rights. The Honduran state must act immediately to hold the killers to account and protect Berta's family and colleagues."

Jeff Conant, international forests campaigner at Friends of the Earth US, also expressed his sadness and anger: "The killing of Berta Caceres is a horrible shock - but, tragically, it is not a surprise.

"Everywhere in the world where Indigenous and land-based peoples defend the earth and their ways of life, they are persecuted, dispossessed, and, as in the case of Berta and literally hundreds of others in the Honduran resistance movement, murdered in cold blood. We grieve her loss, we demand a full investigation and accountability - and we call for redoubled efforts to support frontline struggles to defend lands and indigenous territories, everywhere."

David Gordon, executive director of the Goldman Prize, echoed these comments: "Berta's bravery in the face of overwhelming repression will be a rallying call for environmental activism in Honduras," he said in a statement.

Naomi Klein, the Canadian author and environmental campaigner, tweeted: "Devastating news. Berta was a critical leader and fierce land defender. Part of a global wave of such attacks."

Take action: Demand justice for Berta NOW!

Jonathan Watts is the Latin America Correspondent for the Guardian.

This article was originally published by the Guardian and is republished here via the Guardian Environment Network. some additional reporting by The Ecologist.
These days, theres an app for everything.

Want to fix a healthy breakfast? Theres an app for that. Want to check the status of your tax return? Theres an app for that. Want to fill your car up with gas? Well, OK, theres no app for thatyet.

But the point remains, technology, particularly personal technology like the ability to perform nearly any task by using your cell phone, is here to stay.

Some would argue thats a bad thing, some, like our younger readers, would say its as essential to life as food and water.

But either way, apps are not fads. They are here to stay.

A mobile app is a computer program designed to run on mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablet computers. Most such devices are sold with several apps bundled as pre-installed software, such as a web browser, email client, calendar, mapping program, and an app for buying music or other media or more apps.

And not only are they in schools, but several local youngsters are taking advantage and building the future with them.

Recently, 5th District Congressman Robert Hurt (R  Chatham) sponsored a district-wide app-creating contest, aimed at sparking ideas and interest from students throughout the district. A team of three students from right here in Franklin County won the contest.

Matthew Brosinski, Ryan Murphy and Devin McCulley designed their app, the VR Atom History Explorer, with guidance from their teacher, William Schmachtenberg, to help chemistry students. The app places its users in a virtual reality in which they learn about atoms, as well as the atoms history.

The Congressional App Challenge is designed to foster creativity among students and encourage them to participate in educational fields pertaining to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

We must continue to foster the growth of the STEM education fields because these fields are increasingly important as our young people prepare for college and enter the workforce, said Hurt.

In a phone interview Wednesday, Hurt said the FCHS team was chosen as the winner of the competition by a panel of people far more skilled than I am at computer-related technology. The panel was impressed with the students creativity and skill level, he added.

This is nothing new, either. Brosinski was on a four-person team from Franklin County that won last years competition.

For his part, Brosinski toured Washington, D.C., and visited with Hurt this week.

Were really happy to see (that) the work we put into it (designing the app) paid off, Brosinski said. Being able to get the app out on time and see it do so well has been a huge honor were really thankful for.

Technology we already have can be used in ways we dont typically expect, he added. I think theres a lot of innovation to be done in this area, and I think our app is a good example of that.

The app will soon be available from Google Play and the App Store.

Everyone in Franklin County can be proud of the work and effort of these students.
A team of three students from Franklin County High School won the second annual Fifth District Congressional App Challenge.

Matthew Brosinski, Ryan Murphy and Devin McCulley designed their app, the VR Atom History Explorer, with guidance from their teacher, William Schmachtenberg, to help chemistry students. The app places its users in a virtual reality in which they learn about atoms, as well as the atoms history, according to a Congressman Robert Hurt (R-Chatham).

The Congressional App Challenge is designed to foster creativity among students and encourage them to participate in educational fields pertaining to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

We must continue to foster the growth of the STEM education fields because these fields are increasingly important as our young people prepare for college and enter the workforce, said Hurt.

In a phone interview Wednesday, Hurt said the FCHS team was chosen as the winner of the competition by a panel of people far more skilled than I am at computer-related technology. The panel was impressed with the students creativity and skill level, he added.

Brosinksi also was part of a team of four FCHS students that won the inaugural competition last year.

Im excited about winning the award for a second time, he said. Im glad that what we (his team this year) made was useful and innovative.

Were really happy to see (that) the work we put into it (designing the app) paid off, Brosinski said. Being able to get the app out on time and see it do so well has been a huge honor were really thankful for.

Technology we already have can be used in ways we dont typically expect, he added. I think theres a lot of innovation to be done in this area, and I think our app is a good example of that.

To design an app, Brosinski said, a person needs not only technical skills, but also creativity and a unique idea.

Brosinski said he has applied to several colleges but does not yet know which one he will attend. However, he said that he plans to pursue a career in computer software engineering, but not necessarily in app design.

The VR Atom History Explorer should be available soon from Google Play and the App Store, he said.

On Wednesday, Brosinski went to Washington, met with Hurt and demonstrated the app to him, and toured the U.S. Capitol.

Honorable mentions went to students from Fluvanna and Albemarle high schools, according to Hurt.
If you closed your eyes, it could have been 1956.

You'd hear lawmakers rhetorically grappling during the Virginia Senate floor session, discussing the need to keep certain books out of school, while others decry censorship.

Instead it was 2016 - and the historic chamber became the battleground for a culture war over what role parents and public schools should play in determining which books their children are taught.

The Republican majority backed House Bill 516, which would require school divisions to notify parents of the use of "instructional material" that contains sexually explicit content. The measure would also let parents review the material, and require schools to provide "non-explicit instructional material" to students if parents wish to opt out.

The bill, sponsored by Del. Steven Landes, R-Augusta, sailed out of the House on a unanimous vote. It was promoted as legislation that would give parents notification and choice when it comes to teaching materials that contain explicit content.

The legislation grew out of an unsuccessful 2013 objection by a Fairfax County mother to the Toni Morrison novel, Beloved, because the woman's son objected to the sexually explicit content in the post-Civil War novel that included descriptions of rape, sex and bestiality.

But Democrats began digging into the language, and concluded that the measure could be used as a first step toward banning of certain books, many of them classics taught in schools.

They said their concern is that a teacher would not be able to do two different lesson plans, which would make it much less likely that they would choose literature that drew objections from parents.

"This makes it much more less likely that they'd be willing to even attempt to use these great works of literature - or even just scientifically or historically accurate science or history lessons," said Del. Alfonso H. Lopez, D-Arlington. "At the end of the day, this is back door censorship."

On Tuesday the issue provoked pointed exchanges between parties - and even among members of the same party - over what is appropriate in literature, public education, the Bible and even the Senate floor speeches.

"Hopefully we see this bill as a notification review and alternative view and not anything beyond that," said Sen. Stephen D. Newman, R-Lynchburg, speaking on behalf of the measure.

But Sen. Adam P. Ebbin, D-Alexandria, said it was not necessary because local school boards already address the issue and a number already notify parents if their children will be taught controversial content.

"Schools can already do this," he said, calling it "the wrong path to start down."

Sen. Janet D. Howell, D-Fairfax, said the legislation - which would make Virginia the first state to pass a law requiring schools to notify parents, according to the American Library Association - would hurt Virginia's reputation as a progressive state open to new investment. She pointed out that Morrison's works have won the national Book Award, the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize.

"Let's just make ourselves look ridiculous," she said sarcastically.

But to Sen. Charles W. Carrico Sr., R-Grayson, "you're dealing with young, influential minds," that can be adversely impacted by inappropriate texts.

"Evil is a seed that grows," he said, switching metaphors to describe it as a kitten. "You feed that evil and it grows and grows ...it's going to grow into a lion and then it eats you," he said.

"Is this the road we are going down?" asked Sen. Mamie E. Locke, D-Hampton, who is an educator. Commenting on the expansiveness of the legislation and what she called its potential to lead to censorship in other disciplines, Locke said the bill, not the educational materials, "is the kitten that is being morphed into the lion."

Sen. J. Chapman Petersen, D-Fairfax City, said great works of art like Michelangelo's David, or the Venus de Milo, could be called into question. Then he struck a nerve among conservatives when he said that the Bible includes references that could be considered sexually explicit content.

That brought perhaps the chamber's most conservative lawmaker to his feet. Sen. Richard H. Black, R-Loudoun, delivered a condemnation of public education and American culture, which he said has "gotten beyond good and decent."

"We need to respect our parents and clean up our schools," he continued, saying that they are "moving in a very dark direction in many respects."

In an effort to make a point in support of the bill, Sen. Thomas A. Garrett Jr., R-Buckingham, editing himself, rose and began reading part of an explicit passage from Morrison's book, before fellow Republican senators rose to cut him off.

The snippet of text Garrett read infuriated Sen. John A. Cosgrove Jr., R-Chesapeake, who decried it as one of the worst "soliloquies ever heard on (this) floor."

The amended bill passed 22-17, with the support of all 21 Republicans and the vote of Democrat Lynwood, Lewis, D-Accomack. It now heads back to the House.
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By Beth Smith of The Gleaner

The first meeting of Henderson Fiscal Court after the unexpected death of Henderson County Judge-executive Hugh McCormick was bittersweet, with those in attendance on Tuesday remembering the legacy of the man who gave decades of his life in service to the community.

"We're flying up here in missing man formation," Interim Judge-executive Bruce Todd told McCormick's widow, Tina, who was present for the meeting.

While the session held a solemn overtone due to Judge McCormick's absence, the business of the county took on an air of interest and some excitement, especially when Henderson County resident Dr. Katy Groves Mussat presented magistrates with information about a new agritourism establishment - the Farmer and Frenchman Winery, 12522 U.S. 41-South - started by her and her husband, Hubert Mussat, a native of Paris, France.

"I know that not everyone has heard about us or knows exactly what we are doing, so I wanted to explain what it is we do, what we're about and how this will impact Henderson County in a positive way," she said. "I'm a Hebbardsville alum and an HCHS grad. I went away to Transylvania University and later to Alabama to complete my doctorate. After years and years of wanting to return home but wasn't able to because of the lack of jobs, I met my husband and business partner. He was born and raised in Paris, but he shared my vision of returning to Henderson County to start a family.

"The challenge for us was to create economic stability for ourselves," she said. "He saw a treasure in my great-grandfather's land and the barn he built in 1940."

The barn has been transformed into a new facility, Mussat said, with the winery located downstairs and a bed-and-breakfast in the upstairs, she said.

"After three years of hard work and planning, we're proud to announce that our small farm, winery and cafe, and our bed-and-breakfast and our event venue will debut in just a few weeks," she said. "As a new business coming into the county, it's important to share our mission with you."

"We don't want our son to have to go through what we did," Mussat said. "We don't want him to have to leave for years before he can come back and start living his dream. We want to strive for a Henderson County that is economically stable and has enough jobs that our kids can stay here, and they don't have to move away to find work. And they don't have to move to bigger cities."

Although the winery's debut is still a few weeks out, Mussat said, 28 couples have already reserved it for their weddings.

"Our events are family friendly," she said.

"We have hiking and biking trails, and we're setting up an archery tournament for the high school," Mussat said.

The Farmer and the Frenchman Winery "has used Henderson County and Tri-State businesses in this first year of our start up. The majority of the businesses used are from Henderson County," she said.

"We're not only investing money in Henderson County, we're also bringing in outside dollars," Mussat said. "Every week, we bring in three or four brides. Most of these brides are coming in from out of town. A lot are coming to Henderson for the first time. And they aren't just stopping at our place. They are going down the street to North South Truck Stop to have lunch. They are checking out our downtown. They are checking out our hotels. That's because on average they have 200 guests that are going to be coming into Henderson, staying Friday, Saturday and Sunday. They want to ensure their guests have enough stuff to do. We have 28 brides in the coming months and 18 of those are from outside of Henderson County. That's new money being funneled into the county.

"Between the months of April and November, Henderson will have 200 people (per wedding). It's hard to fathom the economic impact this is going to have because these people will be using our gas stations, using our restaurants, our hotels, our motels, our bnb's. They're going to be shopping downtown. We look forward to coming up with weekend packages with other Henderson County businesses and agritourism sites."

In the first year, Mussat said, the Farmer and Frenchman Winery will generate nine full time jobs, she said, and between five and eight part-time jobs.

In addition, she said, the business is also seeking a supplemental beverage license to sell beer/malt drinks among other drinks.

Magistrate Charles Alexander asked Mussat what the fiscal court could do to help with the project.

"Just back us in the public, and that you understand what the (supplemental beverage license) is, if there are any questions about what it's for. I always worry that people will think it's like a bar and that's not what it is," she said. "I want people to understand that it's a family operated business."

People wishing to apply for a job at the Farmer and the Frenchman can send an email to katy@farmerandfrenchman.com.

In other business Tuesday:

Award: Honored Cairo Elementary student Connor Stallings as the monthly Judge's Scholar.

Resolution: Adopted a resolution allowing architectural firm Fosse and Associates from Evansville to develop a potential design for a kitchen expansion at the Henderson County Detention Center.

Smith Mills VFD: Approved asbestos testing for former Smith Mills fire department building which is required before demolition can take place. Henderson County Engineer Bill Hubiak told magistrates that the volunteer fire department has agreed to pay the $300 testing fee.
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Beth Smith

Gleaner staff

A Henderson man has been jailed in connection with a residential robbery from last month in which someone was assaulted.

Marcus Bailey, 23, 1400 block of Mattingly Drive, was arrested Friday and charged with first-degree robbery, according to Henderson Police Detective Shannon Troutman.

"We are looking into a possible connection between the robbery Bailey is accused of and the recent home invasions," he said.

Bailey is charged with the robbery that occurred Feb. 25 at a home in the 400 block of South Adams Street.

Troutman said Bailey entered the house around noon and in the process of stealing a large amount of cash, he assaulted a resident.

"Bailey apparently used his fists" to assault the man, Troutman said, adding that it doesn't appear any weapons were brandished.

The victim was treated at a hospital and has since been released, Troutman said.

Bailey was lodged at the Henderson County Detention Center.

Troutman said the investigation is ongoing.

Meanwhile, Henderson police are investigating two home invasions which occurred on Tuesday and resulted in one person being shot.

Lt. John Nevels said the first occurred around 2 p.m. in the 800 block of Clay Street when two black males, both armed, forced their way into the dwelling.

A female resident was home when the men entered, Nevels said. They threatened her and stole money before leaving the scene, he said.

The woman wasn't injured.

Roughly 10 hours later, another home invasion occurred - this time in the 900 block of Village Brook Drive.

During this incident, Nevels said, "There were two people in the house - one man who lived there and another person who was visiting."

The victims said two black males, armed with handguns, forced their way into the home, put the guns to their heads and demanded money," Nevels said.

Police have identified the victims as Henderson resident, Joshua Freedland 33, and Jacob Fridy of Clarksville, Tennessee.

One of the robbers shot Freedland in the leg, and the men then left the residence with items from the house, Nevels said.

Freedland has been treated and released from Deaconess Hospital.

Nevels said investigators are looking into a possible connection between Tuesday's two home invasions.

Police are asking that if anyone saw a suspicious vehicle in the area of Clay Street or Village Brook Drive around the times of the crimes that they call the police department at 270-831-1295.
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By Erin Schmitt of The Gleaner

Marsha's Place is not just there for the first appointment and ultrasound - the pregnancy resource center is there for the journey.

That's what Darla Jones, executive director of Marsha's Place Pregnancy Resource Center, told the approximately 600 people packed inside Henderson County High's auxiliary gym Thursday night for the center's annual banquet.

Marsha's Place is celebrating its silver anniversary this year and those connected to the center are already looking ahead to the next 25 years. The agency recently moved into its new facility at the corner of Third and Elm streets.

"I think the buzz we're seeing in this room is a result of the community involvement we've seen," Jones told The Gleaner. "It's increased over the last year with the building and the moving and all of that and then people just really taking ownership of the organization. It's awesome to welcome 600 of our friends."

The center was founded in 1991 and named after Marsha DeLamar, who moved to Henderson in 1989 with her family.

"My mom was the most loving, selfless compassionate woman, with a strong passion to save the life of every unborn child," said Cassie Danhauer, the youngest of DeLamar's five children.

DeLamar was not afraid to stand up for what she believed in, Danhauer said. DeLamar made the front page of USA Today in 1991 as she prayed with others for women and children to be spared the pain of abortion while attending a sit-in at an abortion clinic in Wichita, Kansas.

Her doctors had once advised her that one of her babies might be deformed and told her that abortion might be her best option.

"I'm so thankful she did not listen to those doctors and chose life because that baby she was carrying was me," said Danhauer.

DeLamar had started a Right to Light chapter in Benton, Illinois, and continued her advocacy in Henderson.

A little more than a year after she moved to Henderson, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. DeLamar befriended a local nurse named Jeanmarie Parrott and the two assembled the Christian Action Council.

The coalition spawned the 501 (c) (3) application for the Crisis Pregnancy Center in Henderson. In April 1992, DeLamar died before the first center opened on the second floor of the historic Soaper Hotel.

"Because Marsha was so instrumental in helping start a pro-life movement in our community, and her loss was so devastating for all of us, it just seemed appropriate to name the center Marsha's Place," said Parrott in a video that played during the banquet.

The DeLamar family awarded Parrott the first ever Marsha DeLamar Champion for Life award. Parrott was the founding director of the center named in her friend's honor.

The center had about 70 to 80 clients in the first year, but grew quite a bit the following year, Parrott said. The center has been growing ever since and has expanded services.

That's why three years ago, during a strategic planning meeting, the decision was made to begin looking at moving into a larger building.

A few videos were played throughout the night recounting the history and work of Marsha's Place.

One video showed three local women with different stories who all found themselves at Marsha's Place after unexpected pregnancies. All expressed gratitude for the help they received at the center.

Jones made sure to recognize all those who volunteered their time in some capacity over the past 25 years. She noted there has been an unbelievable increase in volunteerism in the past year.

One of the center's newest programs is called "Truth Talks." Volunteers visit the middle schools to talk to students about relationship choices.

The response so far has been positive from students, said Jones. She became tearful recalling that one student wrote on a survey that they need this program.

They try to send a team consisting of a man and woman to talk to students. While they have enough female volunteers, there are not enough males, so they are seeking more.

Wellborn Baptist Foundation has supplied money to cover Truth Talks for the first year. She asked visitors to donate money to cover the second year.
Federal appeals court temporarily blocks Biden student debt relief plan

A federal appeals court has temporarily blocked the Biden Administration from moving forward with its student debt relief program aiming to forgive billions of dollars in student loans.
MOSCOW  Captivated by art and history as a youth, Vladimir Feinberg began stealing items from the Hermitage Museum three decades ago and later from the Russian national archives. On Thursday, some of them found their way back to Russia after U.S. investigators tracked them down and returned them to Russia.

Four documents spirited away by Feinberg were among 28 historically significant pieces ranging from military records to architectural drawings present to Russia in a ceremony at the U.S. ambassadors residence.

Feinberg, who now lives in Israel, is believed to have stolen some $24 million worth of works.

The four Feinberg-purloined documents that were brought back include decrees signed by Empress Elizabeth and Emperors Paul I, Alexander I and Alexander II. U.S. Homeland Security agents found the documents in December 2011 when they were being offered for sale by an auction house in Addison, Illinois. The person selling the documents had purchased three of the documents via eBay and the fourth from an individual in Pennsylvania.

The U.S. Homeland Security also returned a decree signed by Emperor Peter the Great valued at more than $12,000, an order signed by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin and sketches from the Russian architect Yakov Chernikhov.

I think the good news here today is that the United States was able to catch the burglars and were able to get the documents and bring them back home. Were bringing them to where they should be, U.S. Ambassador John Tefft told the Associated Press.

The United States has repatriated hundreds of documents and historical artifacts to Russia since cooperation between the two countries in the field of recovering stolen cultural items began in 2007 and the repatriation program has continued to run despite often fraught political relations between Moscow and Washington.

History belongs to the people and the documents should be located in their country of origin, said Aleksandra Arakelova, Russias National Archive director.

Russian archival authorities will return the Feinberg documents to St. Petersburg in a new, more secure, archival building.
To the Editor:

As all home owners of Norwalk are receiving their new valuation on their homes we have to look at what has taken place over the last couple of years that has greatly effected the cost of maintaining a home in Norwalk these days.

After the 2008 revaluation when the values were assessed at the previous high numbers that preceded the crash the mill rate stayed down around 2 to 2.1 based on a high grand list valuation. After 2013 Reval when the full realization of the drop in grand list value was realized the mill rate increased almost 20% over the last four years.

As many know the mill rate is merely a reflection of the grand list value and the city's budget. Given a reasonably flat or slow growth city budget any increase in the grand list would typically drive down the mill rate in a proportional manner.

As the grand list has grown from the dark days of 2008 reaching close to what it was back in pre crash days we have seen no reduction in the mill rate. What the assessor's dept. might say is that assessments have dropped as mill rate has risen but it is very hard to find a large number of residents who have seen any real drop in valuation of their homes that would offset such a large increase in the mill rate.

This issue is not isolated. Most of us know that Norwalk suffers tremendously from inequity of the ECS state education funding which, because of a large grand list and an extremely imperfect formula process, put the burden of funding the education in Norwalk directly on the residents of Norwalk. Lets be clear. All residents support a strong vital education system in Norwalk and understand the budget constraints that school system has to operate on. But it is still a delicate balance for homeowners.

Further we also all know that the big box stores that populate our city pay very little property taxes due to the valuation process that assesses them based on their bricks and mortars building which are just that. They pay no tax on contents or sales. This again forces the cost of operating the city on the residents and not the business's that profit from their location in Norwalk.

Given all the other ancillary tariffs that it has, i.e. highest transfer tax for sales of home, some of the highest building permits fees and on and on puts Norwalk up there as one of the highest taxed cities in a state that is one of the highest in the country.

It seems that, short of all the large corporations that use Norwalk to generate their income paying their share of property taxes, Norwalk residents are left with nothing but the high cost of funding our community, something that will continue to drive long time residents out of Norwalk.

Andrew Glazer

Norwalk
To the Editor:

Right now there is a myriad of selections from the field of aspirants that propose that they are the best candidates to lead our country!

All we hear are accusations, allegations, insinuations, and defamations from each and every candidate! This is not limited to any particular candidate.

Hillary Clinton continues to be attacked for the alleged Benghazi affair and personal e-mail issues as Secretary of State. New Jersey Governor Cristie was cited for his role in the "Bridge" affair. Donald Trump is now under fire for something to do with a university program and an inference to the KKK! Why not a "card carrying pinko commie" reminiscent of the Joseph McCarthy days?

One is reputed to be a Socialist, another of Canadian birth and the dirt goes on!

The bible says "Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone." How about addressing the real issues beginning with our national interest, and our foreign policies. Once these "so called" campaign debates are over and the final options emerge as a result of the selection of the finalists, we will have only two choices, the winner and the loser.

In the final outcome, if we vote in the "winner," we have he, or she, for four years, by popular vote, or the Electoral College! (It's happened before). Right or wrong only time will tell. If it turns out wrong, he, or she, can be impeached. (That's happened before as well).

Although Donald Trump has been the focus of attacks from both party hopefuls for his position on subjects, not "Politically Correct" and he has responded to them accordingly. We now hear that there is a campaign to further discredit him as reported on the front page of The Hour, 3-2-16, "Too Little Too Late?"

Is this approach more important than uniting us was done during WWII when the entire country, regardless of political, social and self interest was at war to overcome two major powers? Our country has been increasingly politically divided since then. e.g. the shift in population growth, particularly in ethnic groups, of which many are non-citizens and are not dedicated to the principals that founded this country and maintain allegiance to their former homelands as convenient!

We need to revisit and learn from that which compelled us to break from our bonds with England and establish "among the powers of earth, a separate and equal station." I charge you to go online and "bone up" on history as it repeats itself and we never seem to learn!! It is the bellwether of the future! What comes around goes around!

Alex Nosevich

Norwalk
Whos minding the store in Hartford? Whos keeping an eye on lawmakers writing our budget, cutting services, tolling our roads and funding our schools? Almost nobody.

The press room in the state Capitol is practically empty as newspapers and radio/TV stations have cut their staffs. There are literally only a handful of reporters left covering the workings of state government.

And there is CT-N, the states answer to C-SPAN, a cable channel dedicated to uncensored, commentary-free, gavel-to-gavel coverage of state government.

Were it not for CT-Ns coverage of public hearings and floor debates, Connecticut residents would be clueless about whats happening in Hartford. Sure, there are a few websites (CT Newsjunkie, CTMirror) and dedicated reporters (Ken Dixon, Chris Keating) on this crucial beat, but they are spread way too thin.

Even CT-N only has one channel on basic cable statewide, and getting even that took a major battle with the cable companies. CT-N also has two streaming channels on the web, but with five or six hearings happening simultaneously on any given day, they cant cover everything.

Until now!

CT-N has just proposed a new State Civic Network with up to 10 channels of coverage via the web. The technology would allow viewers to do a key-word search of archives, wading through hours of coverage to find exactly what matters to them. Citizens (and media) could lift video clips at no charge. And all this would cost cable subscribers just 40 cents a month.

And when that subscription fee goes into effect, CT-N would refund the $3.2 million a year it now gets in the state budget, returning those funds for other uses.

The proposal has sent dozens of cable lobbyists to Hartford, calling such a subscriber fee a tax. And we know how lawmakers feel about raising taxes, even if it means better citizen engagement with the legislative process.

Once again, cable companies are lying to us. While they scream about a 40 cent per subscriber fee, they forget to tell us they already charge subscribers $ 6.06 a month for ESPN, whether you watch it or not. Never watch TNT? Theyll still whack you $1.48 for that channel. Not a Disney fan? Too bad, its costing you $1.21.

A fee for service is not a tax.

Cable companies are raking in billions in profits while complaining about a 40 cent subscriber fee to promote civic engagement. And theyre spending millions in lobbying and political contributions while trying to stifle the very journalism that would expose these manipulations.

Shame on the cable companies. And shame on us if we allow their big lie to halt the creation the CT-Ns State Civic Network. So, if you care about knowing whats going on in Hartford, contact your state representative and state senator and tell them you support the CT-N plan. Lets stop the cable companies and their big lie.

Jim Cameron is the program director at Darien TV79, Town Government Television.
Public education in the United States is one of the greatest opportunities this country offers. And it provides it free to all children. It was not always so. As a nation, we have worked for many years to provide good schools for every child. There have been significant battles with those who objected to their children attending schools with children of a different race, ethnicity, religion, family income, or social class. If a town is big enough to have more than one school, there are often debates over which is better. There are often more opinions than people. One thing is certain: good education for every communitys children is foundational to our nations social, civil, and economic success.

The rough pioneer beginnings of Nebraska meant that there were simply not enough teachers, students  or schools. In the early years of this state, less than 40 percent of school-age children actually attended school. The principle that a good, free, public education with devoted and qualified teachers should be available to every child is what generations of Nebraskans have fought to achieve. Today, every child in every community in this state has free access to the great opportunity of a public school.

The simple answer

Over the past few years, there have been several unsuccessful attempts to bring charter schools to Nebraska. Do we need charter schools in Nebraska? The simple answer is no. The argument that charter schools offer greater opportunities for innovation and change is false in Nebraska. In fact, all schools constantly need innovation and changes. In Nebraska, we have a system in which the Commissioner of Education has invited local school district superintendents to invent and create just such improvements. If the current rules and regulations stand in the way of innovation in our schools, the Commissioner promises to honor requests for waivers to relax any such barrier. Importantly, that means local districts and local officials are still monitoring the expenditure of public monies.

Follow the money

Anyone can go to  or start  a private school right now, but not with public monies. For decades Nebraskans have overwhelmingly said that public monies must be in the trust of public officials  not private interests. The old adage is to follow the money and find the real interests of those who would suggest that public monies flow to private, charter schools. What is the real interest? What is at stake is a huge amount of money that our communities invest in their children and their future. Why are some of our mega-rich interested in the idea of publicly supported private schools? Follow the money. What is at stake in America is a public investment in public education that is approximately the size of the gross domestic product of Australia. Are we willing to give away this investment in our children to those who simply want to make more money? I do not argue with those well-intentioned parents who want the best for their children. I do ask that they think about the other children in our communities. Every child should have access to an excellent education. Charter schools may appear to be an answer for some, but America stands for access to quality education for all children.

Generations of hard work

We are fortunate to live in a state with good schools, good teachers, and supportive communities. We must remember that is the result of generations of Nebraskans who have worked hard for 150 years to build a tradition of good education in our public schools. It is a tradition of community schools, using community resources, decided by local boards in the interest of the communitys children. For those who want an alternative, there are choices and the freedom to choose. But one thing is certain: such a personal choice should never be at the cost of public monies or public school resources.
Adrian Smith has some disturbing positions and should be voted out. Polls show that over 65 percent of Republicans think President Obama should be impeached, yet as corrupt and dishonest as this president has become, Smith has still not called for or supported impeachment proceedings. Apparently, Smith doesnt care what 65 percent of his core voting block thinks, and it is now time for action.

As the old saying goes, politicians are like diapers. They need to be changed frequently and for the same reason. Smith is part of the problem, not part of the solution. His allegiance lies with the Obamas and Clintons, not with the people of Nebraska. The Democrats know they have a strong ally in Smith, as he has made it clear by his action that he will never support impeachment  regardless of how corrupt or dishonest these people become. The powerful protect each other, and Adrian Smith is clearly in the business of protecting corrupt politicians and pathological liars. I have personally contacted his office on the matter, and his logic is nothing more that a pile of excuses.
I was extremely pleased to read in The Grand Island Independent on Feb. 28 that Central Community College had won the prestigious Bellwether Award. This national recognition exemplifies the success that CCC has achieved in guiding reintegration and directing educational success for veterans and military students through faculty and staff professional development.
The Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade in St. Louis will take place on Saturday, March 12, 2016. Leading the 47th annual parade will be parade founder and St. Louis Irish Consul Joseph McGlynn, Jr.; Parade Committee Chairperson Joe Milligan; an Irish Guest of Honor to be named; our Honorary Parade Marshals are Catholic Nuns Sister Rosario Delaney and Sister Laurentia Cusack of Holy Infant School and Parish who have both served their order for over 50 years; Mayor Francis Slay; Parade Director Vince Via; and other dignitaries.

The parade steps off at noon from 20th and Market Streets and proceeds east on Market to Broadway and then south on Broadway where it will disband at Clark Street. Market Street will be closed at 7:30 a.m. from Compton to Broadway. Parade units will stage starting at 7:30 a.m. from Compton to 18th Street.

The parade, also known as St. Louis' "Rite of Spring," will feature over 130 units, including floats, bands, marching units, large helium-filled balloons, and over 5,000 marchers.

A Marine color guard from the 3rd Battalion, 23rd Marine Regiment based in St. Louis will lead the parade. In the past with good weather, more than 350,000 spectators have gathered along Market Street to watch the elaborate floats, marching bands, marching units, dance groups, animal units, novelty units, and motorized units.

The children's favorites - giant cartoon character helium-filled balloons - will be featured in the parade. Each balloon will have its own team of handlers, usually employees of the corporate sponsor of the balloon in question.

McGlynn noted the support the run has received over the years from Anheuser-Busch, "From the very first run 38 years ago, Anheuser-Busch was there supporting our efforts." The 38th Annual Michelob ULTRA St. Patrick's Day Parade Run will precede the parade at 9:00 a.m. The St. Patrick's Day Parade Run is St. Louis' largest locally organized run. It covers a five mile course which will begin on Broadway just south of the Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark hotel in front of the Ballpark Village (Broadway between Walnut and Clark Streets) and conclude at 8th and Market Streets. Runners will then be directed to the Michelob ULTRA Runners Village at The Ballpark Village at 7th and Walnut Streets. Ballpark Village will also be the site of this year's Irish Village featuring a live band, food and beverage which will be open prior to, during and after the parade.

Upwards of 10,000 runners, walkers and wheelchair racers of all ages participated in the 2015 St. Patrick's Day Run. There are 13 different age categories for both male and female competitive runners, ranging in age from under14 to 70-plus years. Prizes will be awarded in age categories for both men and women, including "14 and under" and "70 and over."

Runners may register online at: www.stpatsrun.org. The cost is $29.00 (plus online fee). All runners will be issued timing chips affixed to their bib numbers. The chips are disposable and do not need to be returned. Wearing the chip is the choice of the runner, but only those top finishers with chip recorded times will be eligible for prizes. Runners must register by early March to receive a timing chip. The distinction of "competitive" and "non-competitive" categories has been eliminated. Past top finishers will be issued special bib numbers so they can start closer to the front of the pack.

The Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark is the official hotel of the St. Patrick's Day Run and Parade. For information on special St. Patrick's Day Parade and Run room packages, visit the hotel's "Hotel Specials" page of its website, www.hiltonstlouis.com, or call 314-421-1776.

The Shamrock Village opens at 9:00 a.m. on Parade Day at the Aloe Plaza across from Union Station on Market Street and closes at 4 p.m. The Village will feature a Main Stage and food and beverage booths provided by Maggie O's which is across the street at 20th and Market Streets. Starting at 9:00 a.m. some of the unique inflatable balloons that will be in the parade will begin inflating at Aloe Plaza as part of the pre-parade activities.

The St. Patrick's Day Parade and the Michelob Ultra St. Patrick's Day Parade Run celebration kicks off Friday night, March 11 at the Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark, 1 South Broadway, with cocktails and dinner. For cost and further information, call 314-241-PATS or visit our website at www.irishparade.org.
Tumbleweeds drift past clapboard buildings. A lone rider crosses dusty mountains. A woman waits by a cabin door.

The scenes are not only familiar: they are ritual and legend, fable and allegory, the mythic building blocks of the Hollywood Western. In American Night (2009), German artist Julian Rosefeldt turns an amused yet critical eye to the motifs and conventions of the Western film  as hard and polished as a pearl-grip pistol  and to their pervasive influence within American culture, politics and even foreign policy.

This spring and summer, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum at Washington University in St. Louis will present Julian Rosefeldt: American Night. The five-channel installation combines original footage  shot partially in Andalusia, Spain, a location for Sergio Leones For a Few Dollars More (1965)  with dialogue drawn from classic Westerns, political speeches, hip-hop recordings and other sources.

Known for lush visuals and elaborate staging, Rosefeldts installations occupy a unique place at the juncture of narrative film and installation art  at once paying homage to cinematic history and reflecting upon the means of production. American Night, shot in widescreen, 16mm CinemaScope, replicates the look and feel of genre films from the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Several performers bear striking resemblances to actors of the period, such as Charles Bronson, Sam Eliott and Kris Kristofferson.

Yet American Night deploys its Western trappings to shrewd purpose. The title refers to a filtering technique that allows cinematographers to shoot evening scenes during the day  and to La Nuit americaine (1973), Francois Truffauts influential meditation on filmmaking. The five screens are arranged in a semicircle, like sitters around a campfire. At center, Rosefeldts cowboys solemnly quote John Wayne and Charlton Heston before launching into gleeful impressions of George W. Bush and 50 Cent.

On other screens, the lone rider nervously confronts the ocean, as if unsure of how to proceed, while the womans cabin rolls away, a set mounted on track. Raucous saloon-goers cheer a puppet show debate between Bush and Barack Obama. Modern combat troops, dressed in fatigues, exit a helicopter and storm a ghost town, assault rifles held high and ready.

The effect is playful but pointed, revealing how frontier artifice continues to shape American self-image and ideals of masculinity while legitimizing notions about the necessity  and redemptive promise  of violence.

Out here a man settles his own problems, says a cowboy, quoting John Wayne.

Whether we bring our enemies to justice or justice to our enemies, justice will be done, responds another, quoting George W. Bush.

I say the only technologies worth having are a 6-gun and a movie camera, adds a third, quoting film director Sam Peckinpah.

About the artist

Born in Munich in 1965, Rosefeldt creates complex multichannel film installations that combine sly satire and absurdist irony with political and philosophical rumination.

Though early projects, such as News (with Piero Steinle, 1998), were largely constructed from found footage, Rosefeldts work since 2000 is notable for its lavish production and dizzying precision. Stunned Man (Trilogy of Failure) (2004) shows a bemused figure caught in an almost Chaplin-esque cycle of destruction and and rebuilding. Lonely Planet (2006) centers on a backpacking Westerner who wanders through a series of Bollywood set pieces. Deep Gold (2013-14) adds a new chapter to  and suggests a feminist reading of  Luis Bunuels surrealist comedy LAge dOr (1930).

Rosefeldts work has been exhibited at galleries, museums and festivals around the world, including the Bienal de Sao Paulo; P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York; ARNDT Berlin; and the Tate Modern, London. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Saatchi Collection, London; the Goetz Collection, Munich; and the Berlinische Galerie, Berlin.

Organizers and support

Julian Rosefeldt: American Night is curated by Richard James Krueger, associate professor of art in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts.

Support for the exhibition is provided by the William T. Kemper Foundation, Elissa and Paul Cahn, Nancy and Ken Kranzberg, the Hortense Lewin Art Fund, and members of the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum.

Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum

Julian Rosefeldt: American Night opens with a reception from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Friday, March 4. It remains on view through August 7 in the Kemper Art Museums Garen Gallery.

A lecture by Rosefeldt will precede the opening at 5:30 p.m. in Steinberg Auditorium. The lecture is presented as part of the Sam Fox Schools spring Public Lecture Series. Steinberg Auditorium is located adjacent to the museum in Steinberg Hall.

The Kemper Art Museum is located on Washington Universitys Danforth Campus, near the intersection of Skinker and Forsyth boulevards. Regular hours are 11 a.m.-5 p.m. daily except Tuesdays and 11 a.m.-8 p.m. the first Friday of the month. The museum is closed Tuesdays and university holidays.

For more information, call 314-935-4523; visit kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu; or follow the museum on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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Linkedin Stefani Ribka (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, March 4, 2016

A combination of strong public pressure and legal technicalities has forced the government, via the Attorney General's Office (AGO), to bring to a permanent end the prolonged investigations into two separate legal cases pertaining to former Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chairman Abraham Samad and one of his deputies, Bambang Widjojanto.



It took more than a year for the AGO to decide on terminating the prosecutions of the two, a procedure known in Indonesian legal terminology as deponeering ' a legal action whereby the supreme prosecutor's office halts a case with the backing of the House of Representatives based on recommendations from other relevant law enforcement institutions.



'Finally, based on legal considerations, prior consultation with other high-ranking institutions and my prerogative right as an attorney general, I decide to lay aside, drop the cases against Abraham Samad and Bambang Widjojanto,' Attorney General Prasetyo told a media conference in South Jakarta on Thursday.



Samad had been accused of having been involved in the fraudulent issuance of ID and family cards to a female friend, identified as Feriyani Lim, to enable her to apply for a passport in 2007.



Meanwhile, Bambang had been accused of perjury for allegedly encouraging witnesses to deliver false testimony during a Constitutional Court hearing on the West Kotawaringin gubernatorial election dispute in 2010.



Samad and Bambang were investigated by the police after the KPK named then police chief candidate Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan a graft suspect. Budi was declared a graft suspect one day before he underwent his screening by House of Representatives' Commission III overseeing legal affairs, on Jan. 13, 2015. The South Jakarta District Court later annulled Budi's suspect status. He is now the National Police deputy chief.



Prasetyo admitted that both cases have sparked conflicting debate, pro and con the prosecutions, among the general public.



He revealed that he had consulted with the Supreme Court, the National Police and the House of Representatives before making the decision.



'The Supreme Court and the National Police gave their full consent to our decision, while the House initially gave different perspectives although they gave me full consent at the end,' he said.



Prasetyo's decision to drop the cases against Samad and Bambang has been applauded by many who described it as a major move that should be appreciated as it calmed the public and satisfied their sense of justice.



'Justice is associated with the public's sense of fairness and this decision will cool down the public's anger ['] This is first and foremost the purpose of law enforcement. I salute the attorney general's decision to listen to the public will,' Golkar party politician Leo Nababan said over the phone.



Presidential spokesman Johan Budi declined to say much about the deponeering of the cases, but said it was in the authority of the attorney general to make such a decision.



'Since the beginning, the President has left it to the attorney general to settle the case in accordance with existing legal mechanisms,' Johan said.



KPK commissioner La Ode Muhammad Syarif expressed his relief over the decision, saying that, 'We, at the KPK, will also be performing better in the future and will no longer be burdened by the KPK's past records.'



Legal expert Bivitri Susanti said that deponeering was a very strong mechanism and could be used only by the attorney general through his prerogative right.



'It cannot be challenged anymore in court and this gives legal certainty in the country as well as frees Samad and Bambang from their criminal statuses. It gives back their rights, which were eliminated in the past year,' she said.



Ina Parlina and Haeril Halim contributed to the story
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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, March 4, 2016

Jakarta governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama wants Jakarta's electronic budgeting (e-budgeting) system to be used as a model for both the state budget and regional budgets.



The administration will produce a template for e-budgeting that can be used by regional administrations across the country, the governor said.



"If there is a template, other cities across Indonesia may replicate it or just use it as a reference [to develop their own system]," Ahok said on Thursday.



The Jakarta city administration began to use the e-budgeting system for its 2014 city budget.



If President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo materializes the government's plan to use an e-budgeting system for the state budget, Ahok said he would propose the city's e-budgeting model.



Apart from e-budgeting, the governor said his administration is currently promoting a tax form e-filing system for Jakarta residents.



Through an electronic system, the budgeting and tax records are transparent. Data is easily traced through the application, he said, adding that, with such a transparent taxation system, more people would voluntarily pay their taxes.



For example, the city administration received a 25 percent increase in restaurant tax payments in January and February this year, compared to the same period last year, Ahok explained. (bbn)(+)
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Linkedin Joan Lowy (The Jakarta Post) Washington  Fri, March 4, 2016

Airline-safety standards are changing in the wake of the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 nearly two years ago, but the head of one of the world's top air crash investigation agencies says it's not happening fast enough.

On Wednesday, the International Civil Aviation Organization, the UN agency that sets global aviation standards, moved to address some of the more glaring safety gaps. Planes in "distress" will have to automatically report their position and other critical information at least every minute to help searchers find the wreckage. But the requirement will only apply to planes built six years from now or later.

It could take even longer to implement another ICAO change requiring new planes have a reliable means to recover information stored in "black box" data and cockpit voice recorders, rather than scouring the ocean floor for the boxes. Several existing technologies could do that, but ICAO's timeline means it could be a decade or more before planes equipped with those technologies begin entering service.

Chris Hart, chairman of the US National Transportation Safety Board, told The Associated Press that more should be done to put available technologies to use quickly.

"We are concerned about the slow pace of progress at both the national and international levels," Hart said. "We believe this is long overdue."

Here's a look at what has changed, what has not and what is in the works.

FLIGHT TRACKING

As a result of MH370, ICAO has approved a requirement that all airliners report their position about every 15 minutes over open ocean by November 2018. Pilots of planes flying over open ocean have typically reported their position about every 30 minutes.

Inmarsat, a provider of satellite flight tracking services, has offered free tracking to all long-haul carriers. But there are gaps in Inmarsat's coverage of the globe.

Another aircraft-tracking provider, Aireon LLC, has partnered with Iridium Communications, which has a network of 66 low-orbit satellites, and says it plans to offer flight tracking of virtually all of the world's airspace beginning in 2018. In order to use the system, planes must be equipped with special satellite communications technology known as ADS-B.

Besides flight tracking, ADS-B can be used to prevent collisions and allow planes to fly closer together. Aircraft manufacturers are already including the technology in new planes, but airlines are still in the process of equipping older planes, which is expensive.

The United States has set a deadline of 2020 for airlines operating in its airspace to equip their planes. There is no international deadline.

FINDING WRECKAGE

Flight tracking is helpful, but may not narrow a search area enough to reliably find a plane. Instead, aviation officials want planes to automatically send out position reports at least once per minute when they are trouble.

At normal flight speeds, minute-by-minute reports would provide authorities with a search area of a little over 100 square miles. If reports are less frequent, the search area grows much larger.

ICAO's newly adopted requirement for automatic, minute-by-minute reports by planes in distress applies only to planes made after Jan. 1, 2021.

Many planes are already equipped to send periodic short automatic messages to ground stations via VFR radio or satellite using a digital datalink system. In 2009, a burst of such brief messages from Air France flight 447 provided searchers enough information to find wreckage from the plane just days after it disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean. However, it still took two years before the plane's black boxes were recovered.

In the case of MH370, the Boeing 777 was also equipped with the technology to send such messages, but the service wasn't in use. Airlines typically use the systems to relay information on how the plane and its engines are functioning so that maintenance personnel and equipment can be positioned at its next destination if needed.

FLIGHT RECORDERS

MH370's flight data recorder was equipped with an underwater locator beacon designed to last 30 days. ICAO standards adopted before the plane's disappearance require the beacons to last 90 days beginning in 2018.

This week, ICAO approved a requirement that new aircraft designs approved after Jan. 1, 2021, have some means for retrieving a plane's recorders, or the information contained in them, before the recorder sinks to the ocean floor. One possibility is a deployable recorder that automatically ejects from a plane upon impact and floats to the ocean's surface. They're widely used in military aircraft, but Boeing says cases where they'll be needed are likely to be fewer than instances in which they accidently deploy, potentially causing injuries and property damage.

An alternative is to have planes in distress automatically relay the data via satellite to ground stations, eliminating the need to search for the box. But there are many unanswered questions about security and custody of the information.

Even then, it might be 2028 or later before planes with either deployable recorders or a means to transmit the recorder's data before a crash enter service because of the time lag between the approval of new plane designs and when they are ready to fly.

The new requirements don't include cockpit voice recordings. MH370 contained a two-hour voice recorder that recorded in a continuous loop. Even if the recorder is ever found, it is likely that critical information from early in the flight was erased.

ICAO also adopted a standard this week requiring planes manufactured after Jan. 1, 2021, to include 25-hour voice recorders to capture an entire flight, as well as crew preparations beforehand. The requirement doesn't apply to planes already in service, which can have lifespans of 20 years or more.
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Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post)  Mon, March 21, 2016

Amid a high non-performing financing (NPF) ratio, Bank Syariah Mandiri (BSM) has recovered performance, translating to an increase in its net income to Rp 290 billion (US$22 million) in 2015.

President director Agus Sudianto acknowledged that the lender experienced poor performance in 2014 as its net income dropped to only Rp 72 billion. Burdened by bad financing, its margin was slashed by 8 percent.

However, he continued, the biggest Islamic bank in Indonesia by assets has restructured many of its non-performing loans and made Rp 423 billion in cash recovery. The margin grew 16.23 percent, from 2014 to 2015.

"The loan restructuring is to get the bank ready for the 2016-2020 corporate plan. We accomplished the change in 2015. The Rp 423 billion cost recovery also exceeded our target of Rp 400 billion," Agus said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

At the same time, he further said, the company prevented the cost of human resources from ballooning through its efficiency program, with costs growing only by 0.74 percent. It was significantly lower than to the 14 percent increase in 2014.

Director of finance Agus Dwi Handaya explained that microfinance registered an outstanding performance with a 54 percent increase in 2015 to Rp 3.5 trillion. For 2016, the bank aimed for more microfinancing through its branchless banking service to reach remote areas, aside from infrastructure financing.

"Since the government funds the infrastructure, then it is relatively safe. But, we will follow our parent company [Bank Mandiri]. If Bank Mandiri wins an infrastructure project, we will join in the financing," Dwi told thejakartapost.com. (ags)
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Linkedin Grace D. Amianti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, March 4, 2016

Publicly listed Bank Central Asia (BCA), the country's top private lender, saw nearly double-digit net profit growth last year amid signs of improvement in the economy.



The bank reported Thursday that its consolidated net profit grew by around 9.3 percent to Rp 18 trillion (US$1.36 billion) last year, from Rp 16.4 trillion a year earlier.



As the bank was impacted by the country's sluggish economy, its net profit growth booked last year was lower than the 15.7 percent increase between 2013 and 2014.



The bank's lower profit growth last year was caused by a relatively flat year-on-year (yoy) increase in loans at 11.9 percent to Rp 387.6 trillion, only a slight rise compared to 11 percent booked in 2014.



BCA president director Jahja Setiaatmadja said the bank's loan growth last year was mainly boosted by corporate as well as commercial and small and medium enterprise (SME) lending, which grew 17.2 percent and 9 percent, respectively.



'The growth in corporate, commercial and SME loans was aided by improvement in the economy and increase in the consumption cycle approaching the end of 2015,' he said in a press conference.



As a slow economy impacts the banking industry, BCA also saw a 56.5 percent yoy increase in loan-loss provision while its coverage ratio rose to 322 percent.



However, it maintained its gross non-performing loan (NPL) at 0.7 percent last year, relatively flat compared to 0.6 percent booked in 2014.



Jahja said the bank also posted third-party funds growth at 5.8 percent to Rp 473.7 trillion last year, of which a 76.1 percent share was contributed by current accounts and saving accounts (CASA).



He said the bank would maintain its loan growth target of 10 percent but would be open to revision in the first half if the economy improved and there was ample liquidity in the market.



'We are still waiting for better loan demand, but we are ready to increase our credit as we will obtain around Rp 4 trillion in extra liquidity on account of Bank Indonesia's easing of the primary reserve requirement [GWM],' he said.



Meanwhile, publicly listed Bank Danamon also reported on Thursday that its net profit stood at Rp 2.4 trillion last year, according to its press statement.



The bank's net profit last year decreased by 8 percent from Rp 2.6 trillion booked in 2014 as it saw zero percent growth in net interest income, which stood at Rp 13.6 trillion last year, relatively unchanged from a year earlier.



Affected by the country's weak economy, Danamon saw its loan decrease by 7 percent to Rp 139 trillion last year, from Rp 129.3 trillion in 2014, with gross NPL increased to 3 percent, from 2.3 percent a year earlier.



'The bank is constantly aiming at improving its asset quality through prudent enforcement of risk assessment procedures, disciplined collection and recovery of debts,' Danamon finance director Vera Eve Lim said in the statement.



The bank's third-party funds grew only 4 percent yoy to Rp 145.7 trillion last year, with its CASA portion decreasing by 15 percent due to a 12 percent increase in time deposit contributions.

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Linkedin Fedina S. Sundaryani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, March 4, 2016

State-controlled mining company PT Bukit Asam has reported increased profits despite a year of falling coal prices.



The publicly listed miner announced that the company's net profits had increased by 9 percent to Rp 2.04 trillion (US$153.9 million) during the January-December period in 2015, from Rp 1.86 trillion in the previous year.



Meanwhile, total revenues rose by 5 percent to Rp 13.72 trillion by the end of the year.



The company's coal production was up 18 percent to 19.28 million tons from 16.36 million tons last year, while its sales were up 6 percent to 19.1 million tons, the company's recently published statement revealed.



Domestic sales increased by 8 percent to 10.05 million tons while its exports were up 5 percent to 9.05 million tons, making up 47 percent of the company's total sales volume.



Meanwhile, Bukit Asam's average selling price (ASP) during the year, according to the company's press statement, decreased by 3 percent to Rp 707,052 per ton to Rp 723,635 in 2014.



Coal prices have steadily declined in the past few years, amid oversupply and declining demand from major coal importer China. The situation has led to steep declines in the profits of Indonesian coal producers.



Bukit Asam corporate secretary Joko Pramono said that the company was optimistic that it would reach its target at the end of the year to increase sales by 52 percent to 29 million tons.



'If you see from our performance ' in terms of operation and sales ' it all increased. In 2016, we will continue to work together with PT KAI [state-train operator PT Kereta Api Indonesia] to support the synergy between state-owned enterprises,' he said.



Bukit Asam revealed that the volume of coal transported by rail increased by 6 percent to 15.8 million tons last year thanks to the opening of the Tanjung Enim-Prabumulih double-track line operation.



PT KAI is expected to increase this cargo volume by 50 percent this year to 23.7 million tons with additional locomotives and train cars.



Meanwhile, the company is seeking to maintain its cost efficiency programs as it predicts that commodity prices will continue to decrease this year.



Bukit Asam managed to cut its production costs by 10 percent to Rp 356,866 per ton from Rp 394,784 per ton. The company's stripping ratio ' the ratio of the volume of waste material that must be removed to retrieve coal ' stood at 4.48, meaning that it had decreased from the previous year's 4.69.



The stripping ratio is one of the determining factors in miners' production costs.



'We will continue the success of 2015 by involving strategies that will strengthen us. We hope that we will go through 2016 in a better condition, that we will continue to evaluate every quarter,' Joko said.



Australia's Newcastle coal price, an Asian benchmark, has dropped to $51.29 per metric ton, as estimated by Reuters in late February. While Indonesia's coal reference price (HBA) had dropped to $50.92 in February from $53.20 in January.
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Linkedin M. Taufiqurrahman (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, March 4, 2016

Terrorism, to quote one dissenting voice in world politics, is what you make of it. There has never been a universally agreed upon definition of terrorism, other than it has four key elements: violence, noncombatant targets, intention of spreading fear and political aims.



It is even more difficult to find a consensus on what causes terrorism. Many have assigned blame to political ideology and/or religious beliefs as the chief reason terrorists become who they are. Others have pointed at socioeconomic factors, such as poverty and marginalization as the root cause of terrorism. Some scholars have also proposed the idea that however irrational it may seem to blow oneself up and expecting to marry 72 virgins in heaven, terrorists in fact behave rationally considering how little resources they have in the fight against the powers that be.



Many have also been debating whether terrorism should be treated as an extraordinary crime. Traditionally, only gross human rights violations can be categorized as extraordinary and that explains why we have an International Court of Justice. The US government, by launching the war on terror certainly categorized it as an extraordinary crime and treats the problem as a security problem.



Following last November's terror attacks in Paris, the French government treated terrorism as an extraordinary crime and has taken measures that liberals in the country considered as violating civil liberties. Critics of draconian counterterrorism measures certainly had a point when saying that the decision to violate civil liberties was not worth taking especially for the type of crime of which the number of casualties is far less than traffic accidents. Since 9/11, foreign-inspired terrorism has claimed about two dozen lives in the US, far fewer than the 400,000 from motor-vehicle accidents.



Our government is also susceptible to such knee-jerk reactions. Barely two days after the Jl. Thamrin attack on Jan. 14, top government officials began clamoring to amend the 2005 Terrorism Law. Within five days after the attack, President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo managed to clinch a deal with the House of Representatives on the law's amendment.



This time the government is focusing on the urgency of preventing terrorism, a nebulous task, defined so vague that many government agencies decided to use this to promote their sectoral interests. The National Intelligence Agency (BIN) wanted to join in on the action and demanded it be given the authority to summon and question terror suspects.



The Indonesian Military (TNI), which after the fall of the New Order regime was given the sole responsibility of handling external security, is also expected to participate in the counterterrorism measures. Many have opposed the plan, as this proposal is reminiscent of the means used by the New Order regime to crush any societal opposition.



And instead of mobilizing BIN and the TNI in counterterrorism measures, why don't we just empower the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT), which has been mandated by law to lead the efforts in dealing with terrorism. Until recently, we have heard more about then BNPT chief Ansyaad Mbai's controversial statements than learning about what they actually did on the ground, fighting terrorism.



The dismal performance of the BNPT reflects what has gone wrong in our fight against terrorism, in that we opt for creating more agencies and passing more regulations, when in fact we have the wherewithal to deal with terrorism and what we need to do is to make maximum use of them.



What if the key to combating terrorism is by building the capacity of existing agencies, including and especially the National Police? The leading institution in the fight against terror. Even with the help from the TNI, the police have failed to arrest Santoso, one of the country's most wanted terrorists in Poso, an area roughly the size of Greater Jakarta.



When asked about why it has taken so long to capture Santoso, National Police's Mobile Brigade (Brimob) chief Maj. Gen. Murad Ismail said his personnel faced many challenges given their lack of exposure to the area's mountainous terrain or the cold weather. But aren't members of Brimob, the most elite unit of the police, supposed to deal with those types of challenges?



On the much-ballyhooed deradicalization program, the government appears to have made little headway. The decision to put firebrand cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir in the same prison as convicted terrorist Aman Abdurrahman has resulted in the latter pledging allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) movement. When the Law and Human Rights Ministry decided to take corrective measures, its policy was not entirely foolproof. Recently, Ba'asyir and Aman were put in isolation where they were still allowed visitors, limited to five family members!



The draft bill of the Terrorism Law has a provision that would allow the government to revoke the citizenship of those who join the fight of terror groups abroad'which in itself is a violation of basic rights, given that Indonesia only allows its citizens single citizenship. But before dealing with problems beyond the country's borders and what these foreign fighters do when they decide to take their fight abroad, I believe the government should focus on problems at hand closer to home.



During a recent focus group discussion organized by the Centre for Strategic and International Study (CSIS), one official from the Attorney General's Office said that the reason the agency had not paid financial compensation to individuals wrongly arrested on terror charges was simply because the Terrorism Law does not have a guideline on it.



It's just another way of saying, in the past 12 years the law has never been properly implemented. And now we want a new one?
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Linkedin Writer National (The Jakarta Post) Jayapura  Mon, March 21, 2016

Nethy Dharma Somba

Labora Sitorus, a low-ranking police officer, fled from his home in Sorong, West Papua when hundreds of officers went to his house to escort him to Cipinang Penitentiary in Jakarta on Friday.

At least 683 officers from the West Papua Police, the Sorong Police and officials from the Justice and Human Rights Ministry were assigned to pick him up at his house in Tampa Garam, Sorong, on Friday, but Sitorus was nowhere to be found.

"Our officers could not find him. His family said he left on Thursday evening," West Papua Police chief Brig. Gen. Royke Lumowa said on Friday.

West Papua Justice and Human Rights Agency spokesman Puji Harinto said officers had tried to bring in Sitorus when they arrived at his house at 8 a.m. local time.

Sitorus, a former police chief brigadier in Raja Ampat, West Papua, was sentenced to 15 years in prison by the Supreme Court in 2014 for illegal logging, fuel hoarding and money laundering. The court approved an appeal filed by prosecutors against his two-year prison sentence that was handed down by the Sorong District Court.

The Supreme Court increased his fine to Rp 5 billion (US$381,679) from the previous Rp 500 million.

He was taken to court when the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) found that he had suspicious bank accounts containing Rp 1.5 trillion.

This is not the first time that Sitorus has escaped. He was given permission to leave Sorong Penitentiary in March 2014 to seek medical attention but never returned. The police re-arrested him in February last year, but he left prison again in October to undergo treatment at Pertamina Hospital.

Sorong Penitentiary officials gave him permission to be treated and undergo therapy at his house after he suffered a stroke and heart problems.

He lived in his house and went about his normal activities. He attended his son's wedding in December last year.

The ministry decided to transfer Sitorus to Cipinang Penitentiary in East Jakarta so that he could be treated for his health problems while serving time.

Justice and Human Rights Minister Yasonna H Laoly said the National Police had been advised to put Sitorus on their wanted list.

"We suspect that rouge officials are helping him escape," he said as quoted by Antara news agency, adding that the ministry was investigating who the rogue officials were.

The ministry has also issued a travel ban on Sitorus and will focus the search in Sorong and its surroundings. (rin)
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Linkedin Tama Salim and Margareth S. Aritonang (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, March 4, 2016

Opposition to a revision of the Terrorism Law is mounting, with rights activists lambasting the changes proposed by the government, taking issue with what they see as the draft bill's disregard for the protection of human rights.



Hendardi, chairman of human rights watchdog Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, said the terrorism bill lacked important provisions.



'The draft bill on terrorism does not take into consideration the handling of victims of terrorist crimes, nor does it address wrongful arrest of suspected terrorists,' Hendardi said in a statement on Thursday.



Without a clear mechanism to regulate their rights in the bill, the wrongly accused would be hard-pressed to demand compensation for misconduct by the authorities, despite provisions that guarantee the protection of individual rights, such as Law No. 31/2014 on witness and victim protection and a 2015 government regulation on compensation for victims of wrongful arrest.



Setara also criticized the definition of terrorism used in the draft, which has come to include the 'threat of violence' as a catch-all phrase to justify preemptive action. It concludes that the inclusion of several articles in the bill would allow authorities to consider written propaganda or hate speech as preliminary forms of terrorism.



'Although Setara believes hate speech belongs to the category of intolerant expression ' the first step towards terrorism ' extending the notion of terror acts to include other forms makes it prone to over-criminalization, potentially impinging on people's freedom of expression,' Hendardi said.



Puri Kencana Putri of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) also touched on the possibility of misconduct, saying the draft did not include any form of remedial recourse or compensation for victims of wrongful arrest. She said the endorsement of the bill in its current form was the same as passing a draconian law that disregarded civil rights.



'From the very beginning, the articles in the bill have an extreme intonation that tends to limit [people's rights],' Puri told The Jakarta Post.



The proposed revision of the terrorism law, according to a copy of the draft bill made available to the Post, includes 17 provisions that are prone to misuse.



Article 28 of the bill grants the police the authority to extend the detention period for terrorism suspects by up to 30 days. Under Article 31, the police are allowed to wiretap people suspected to be connected to acts of terrorism, but only on the condition that the police report this measure to the Communications and Information Ministry.



Furthermore, Article 43A of the bill allows investigators and prosecutors to place terrorism suspects, defendants and former terrorists, along with their families, in rehabilitation and de-radicalization programs for six months as a preventive measure.



Puri said she was extremely concerned about Article 43A, as it gave credence to the possibility that Indonesia would erect its own version of the Guantanamo Bay prison facility run by the US to indefinitely detain terrorism suspects in Cuba.



Al Araf from human rights group Imparsial said the detention of terrorism suspects in accordance with Article 43A could result in human rights violations and the extended detention period provided leeway for torture in captivity.



The House of Representatives will soon establish an inquiry committee comprising members from Commission I overseeing defense and Commission III overseeing human rights and security, and plans to kick off deliberation after the recess period from March 21 to 31.
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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, March 4, 2016

Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin said homosexuality was an illness and therefore Islamic leaders should not provoke Muslims to expel lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people from society.

"The essence of Islam is humanity. Therefore, it is our obligation, especially as religious leaders, to prevent them from being expelled," Lukman said on Thursday.

Same-sex orientation is an illness which is why [LGBT] people need to receive treatment and counseling, either religious or psychological, because with treatment and counseling, homosexual people can, hopefully, alter their orientation, Lukman added.

"We need to embrace them so they will be conscious that they live in a religious society which can't accept homosexuality," Lukman said.

The Ministry of Religious Affairs has demanded that Islamic organizations and all religious affairs offices in provinces, regencies and cities, conduct intensive religious counseling for LGBT people.

Former religious affairs minister and prominent Muslim scholar M. Quraish Shihab made a similar statement.

"We have to take responsibility and show concern to people with same-sex orientation. Don't hate them. They are sick and need to be treated," Quraish said.

He underlined the opposition of Islamic teachings to the act of homosexuality. He cited a story in the Koran about God's punishment against the people of Sodom during the era of Prophet Lut in which the city was completely destroyed as a consequence of rampant homosexuality.

"Even animals don't want to have same-sex relationships. The homosexual act is against human nature," Quraish said.

He argued that same-sex orientation is unjustifiable under the principles of human rights. "Will you let people engage in the act that will destroy humanity?" he said. (bbn)
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Fri, March 4, 2016

JAKARTA: The operation, funding and human resources of the Housing Savings Advisory Board for Civil Servants (Bapertarum-PNS) will be dissolved and merged with a recently established public housing savings (Tapera) management body.



Bapertarum-PNS president director Heroe Soelistiawan said that the merger would see 4.5 million civil servants join the new body.



It will also see a change in the system, including in IT, as Tapera users are expected to be able to access their accounts online.



'We have prepared for this since 2013. Our database system has also been perfected, as the initial preparation for Tapera,' Heroe said.



The board faces challenges in housing financing as it only managed to put 7,000 civil workers into housing last year, far from its target of assisting 756,591 civil servants.



The board currently manages an annual Rp 800 billion (US$60.5 million) housing fund, with Rp 400 billion allocated to aid financing for an estimated 100,000 civil servants, particularly for the downpayments.



The changes from the merger, including a monthly wage cut for members that was stipulated by the future government regulation on Tapera, is expected to take effect next year.



Last month, the House of Representatives passed the Tapera bill into a law despite opposition from employers. The new law will become the legal basis for the establishment of a housing savings program for workers.
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Linkedin Nicholas Paphitis and Derek Gatopoulos (The Jakarta Post) Athens, Greece  Fri, March 4, 2016

Turkey is under growing pressure to consider a major escalation in migrant deportations from Greece, a top European Union official said Thursday, amid preparations for a highly anticipated summit of EU and Turkish leaders next week.

European Council President Donald Tusk ended a six-nation tour of migration crisis countries in Turkey, where 850,000 migrants and refugees left last year for Greek islands.

"We agree that the refugee flows still remain far too high," Tusk said after meeting Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

"To many in Europe, the most promising method seems to be a fast and large-scale mechanism to ship back irregular migrants arriving in Greece. It would effectively break the business model of the smugglers."

Tusk was careful to single out illegal economic migrants for possible deportation, not asylum-seekers. And he wasn't clear who would actually carry out the expulsions: Greece itself, EU border agency Frontex or even other organizations like NATO.

Greek officials said Thursday that nearly 32,000 migrants were stranded in the country following a decision by Austria and four ex-Yugolsav countries to drastically reduce the number of transiting migrants.

"We consider the (Macedonian) border to be closed ... Letting 80 through a day is not significant," Migration Minister Ioannis Mouzals said.

He said the army had built 10,000 additional places at temporary shelters since the border closures, with work underway on a further 15,000.

But a top UN official on migration warned that number of people stranded in Greece could quickly double.

Peter Sutherland said the "inevitable consequence" of closed borders throughout the Balkans "is that Greece increasingly becomes a camp for refugees and migrants."

About a third of migrants trapped in Greece are at the village of Idomeni, on the border with Macedonia. Dwellers at a sprawling camp there hold out hope for crossing in increasingly difficult conditions.

Greek police said 130 people were allowed to cross the border Thursday.

Migrants said Macedonia didn't accept computer-generated stamps issued by the Greek police, and therefore they couldn't prove their identity documents were genuine.

Adnan Abdallah from Syria had waited to cross from Greece to Macedonia for three days, but when he finally was let through, he was turned back because the stamp on his refugee document is computer-generated.

"They say here (in Greece) everything is OK, but on the other side this is not acceptable," he told The Associated Press.

The EU is struggling to hold its members to plans for a Europe-wide solution in dealing with the mass migration.

Hungary has already called a referendum on EU plans for a mandatory quota system for settling migrants, and says it's was considering action to bolster its border fences with additional police and military personnel, and extending the fence to the Romanian frontier.

Earlier Thursday, Tusk told officials in Athens that Europe had little chance of resolving the crisis without full respect of controls on the external borders of Europe's passport-free Schengen area ' signaling pressure on Athens to do more to separate economic migrants from those fleeing war in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere.

He also had a direct message for them.

"I want to appeal to all potential illegal economic migrants, wherever you are from: Do not come to Europe," Tusk said.

"Do not risk your lives and your money. It is all for nothing. Greece, or any other European country, will no longer be a transit country." (bbn)

Elena Becatoros in Idomeni, Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, Raf Casert in Brussels, Jamie Keaten in Geneva, Switzerland, and Pablo Gorondi in Budapest, Hungary contributed.
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Linkedin Anggi M. Lubis (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, March 4, 2016

Unlike previous extraordinary Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) summits, the one scheduled to start in Jakarta on Sunday will result in a declaration that is expected to materialize into concrete actions to address issues in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, a foreign ministry senior official says.



Hasan Kleib, director general for multilateral affairs ' who will lead the summit ' is preparing two documents to be agreed upon by the end of the two-day summit.



The first one is a resolution, which Hasan said is a standard result of a summit, and the other is a declaration.



'The resolution is a standard statement of interest, but the declaration is expected to be more politically, morally binding,' he told reporters recently.



'There are no sanctions whatsoever, but it formulates steps to be taken onward and member counties are expected to follow up on the declaration.'



The drafts of the two documents have been sent to and approved by the Palestinian authority, according to Hasan. He added that the documents have also been distributed to other member countries for

possible input.



Hasan said that the extraordinary summit was requested by Palestine and the OIC secretary-general on Dec. 14 on the sidelines of a UN Conference on the Question of Jerusalem held in Jakarta. The request from the OIC was made formal through a letter dated Jan. 13 and Indonesia accepted it through a formal letter dated Jan. 20.



Palestine requested a meeting that would specifically address issues on Jerusalem and Hasan said that the drafted declaration included steps to solve border issues, in which Palestine claims eastern Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, repatriation of Palestinian refugees, a certain status for Jerusalem, illegal settlements and access to water.



He said that foreign ministers would negotiate the declaration on Sunday, before it is to be discussed and adopted by heads of state and government on Monday.



Hasan emphasized that no other issues but Palestine ' including tensions in the Middle East ' would be discussed in the summit to maintain focus, given the intensifying tension regarding the status of Jerusalem that made Palestine request the extraordinary meeting ahead of the regular OIC summit that is to take place in Turkey in April.



He, however, added that other issues could be discussed in bilateral meetings, if arranged, adding that there had been requests for several bilateral meetings between member countries.



Hasan said that so far 56 countries had confirmed attendance ' including 47 of the 56 OIC member states. Presidents, prime ministers, princes, foreign ministers, special envoys and ambassadors will represent their respective countries.



Indonesia has also invited four observing political entities (Thailand, Russia, the European Union and Bosnia-Herzegovina), the Quartet on the Middle East (the United Nations, the EU, Russia and the US) and the permanent members of the UN Security Council (the US, China, Russia, France and the UK) to attend the summit.



'Nicolai Maladinov, UN Special Envoy for the Peace Process in the Middle East, along with representatives of the International Quartet Committee, will be attending the meeting's sessions so as to apprise them about the current and latest developments in the Palestinian territories and the city of Al Quds/Jerusalem and brief them about the developments on the ground under the aggressive Israeli policies that keep rejecting and flouting all international agreements and laws,' according to a statement published by OIC.



The statement added that OIC Secretary-General Iyad Ameen Madani had contacted international parties, including several European foreign ministers and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and reiterated his stand against the Israeli settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories.
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Linkedin Eric Talmadge (The Jakarta Post) Tokyo  Fri, March 4, 2016

The new UN sanctions on North Korea are out and they are going to pinch Pyongyang hard. But they also beg a big question ' since sanctions thus far have failed to persuade North Korea to roll over and give up its nukes, are more, but tougher, ones really the most effective way to bring the North out of its hardened Cold War bunker?

Is it time to flip the script?

China, a key broker in the North Korea denuclearization puzzle, thinks so. It wants the US and North Korea to sit down for peace talks to formally end the Korean War. That idea has always been a non-starter in Washington, which insists the North must give up its nuclear ambitions first, but some US experts also think it might be a viable path forward.

For sure, advocates of sitting down with a nuclear-armed North Korea are the minority camp in the United States. And even those who do support the idea generally agree sanctions can be a useful tool in pushing negotiations forward, if there is a coherent and internationally coordinated follow-up plan on where those negotiations should go.

But sanctions can also backfire, pushing an insecure and threatened regime into a more defiant, and potentially more dangerous, direction.

Pyongyang gave a hint at that possibility Friday in its first official response to the sanctions, saying the measures were an "outrageous provocation" that it "categorically rejects." North Korea threatened to carry out countermeasures against the US and other countries that supported the sanctions.

While such threats usually amount to nothing, the UN's efforts to change the North's behavior through sanctions haven't amounted to much, either.

"Sanctions have sort of become the default strategy for not having a strategy," said Joel Wit, of the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

"If you don't have a strategy, you don't have objectives, you don't know how to deal with a problem, you press that button," said Wit, who in the 1990s was a US State Department official deeply involved in North Korea negotiations. "You press the sanctions button and pretend that's a strategy. But it really isn't, in and of itself. It's part of a strategy."

UN sanctions have long been the main tool to put international pressure on North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program. They were imposed after its first nuclear test in 2006, then in 2009, 2012 and 2013. But the North has refused to give up its nukes, made them a central part of its military and diplomatic strategies and enshrined its right to have them in its constitution.

In the end, 50 days after the North's Jan. 6 nuclear test, Beijing joined the US in imposing tougher sanctions that were approved unanimously Wednesday by the UN Security Council. But it insisted sanctions alone will never solve the nuclear issue. Instead, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi suggested a "parallel track" approach that separates nuclear talks from negotiations to replace the more-than-60-year-old Korean War armistice with a peace agreement.

"What the Chinese are saying is, what's your strategy, what are your objectives? OK, sanctions, great. But what are you trying to achieve?" Wit said. "As a general rule, the US really hasn't had a strategy."

Wit said an initial step could be to work out a declaration that the Korean War is over and begin a negotiation process toward a more formal peace arrangement, which could involve suspending or halting annual military exercises with South Korea, establishing borders, getting rid of the Demilitarized Zone and cross-recognition, along with the nuclear issue.

In exchange, the North would have to agree to suspend the things Washington doesn't want it to do ' like nuclear tests and missile or rocket launches.

"It would get complicated, no doubt about it," Wit said.

Washington's longstanding demand has been the North must either give up its nuclear program or verifiably demonstrate it is willing to do so before any serious peace talks can start. Pyongyang wants talks first since it says the threat of a US invasion is what forced it to develop a nuclear deterrent to begin with.

Wang's suggestion was for both sides to "meet each other halfway."

The US has recently indicated a little more flexibility on the idea of a "parallel track" in negotiations. The White House said last week that before the latest nuclear test, North Korea sought to discuss a peace treaty with the US but got cold feet after the US insisted denuclearization be part of the discussions.

"I don't think we're in a position to rule out possible discussions on a peace process. But we're not going to decouple that in any way from what really needs to happen, which is complete denuclearization and adherence to the six-party process," State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters Thursday.

David Straub, associate director of the Korea Program at Stanford University's Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, said that given North Korea's past record in negotiations and its current position never to give up nuclear weapons, "it would not make sense to begin parallel nuclear and peace treaty talks."

"There is no support for such an approach in Washington," he said.

Straub noted the US and South Korea, along with China, tried to negotiate a peace treaty with North Korea in now mostly forgotten four-party talks from 1996 to 1998. Another attempt to negotiate through the denuclearization issue and discuss a permanent peace mechanism was made in six-party talks that added on Japan and Russia and were held intermittently from 2003-2009.

"China is well aware of this history of peace treaty talks with North Korea," he said. "But China wishes to deflect international, especially US, criticism that it is not doing enough to induce Pyongyang to give up nuclear weapons." China is by far North Korea's biggest trading partner.

Although Afghanistan is generally placed atop the lists of America's longest wars, the Korean War, which began in 1950, is technically still going on. The armistice ' in effect, a cease-fire ' ended the fighting in 1953.

That may seem like semantics to some. American troops haven't died in a direct, hand-to-hand confrontation with North Koreans since two Army officers were killed in the "Ax Murder" incident along the DMZ in 1976. But it has had a tremendous impact on North Korea's siege mentality, been used to justify its martial law-like restrictions on political and civil freedoms and significantly warped regional security in general.

With few good options and other priority foreign policy issues on its plate, Washington under President Barack Obama has exercised "strategic patience" ' essentially refusing direct talks while keeping the sanctions pressure high and bolstering relations with US allies in the region.

Zhiqun Zhu, director of the China Institute at Bucknell University, said that policy has clearly failed ' North Korea hasn't moved any closer to denuclearization ' and underscores the fundamental problem in Northeast Asian security, which he said isn't North Korea but "distrust between the United States and China."

He called Washington's policy an attempt to "outsource" the heavy lifting on denuclearization to Beijing, which he said no longer sees itself as an ally of Pyongyang and has significant doubts about Washington's intentions as well.

"How can one say that the US policy has not failed?" he said. "Some in Washington may oppose direct talks with Pyongyang ' how can we reward bad behavior? ' but how can you expect North Korea to simply give up the nuclear program without receiving any tangible benefits in return?"

___

AP writer Matthew Pennington contributed to this report from Washington.
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Linkedin Khoirul Amin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, March 4, 2016

New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra plans to invest more in Indonesia on the back of strong performance in the country, with constructing an on-farm dairy processing site among the company's possible investment options.



Fonterra chief financial officer Lukas Paravicini told The Jakarta Post on Thursday that his firm planned to strengthen its grip in Indonesia, where annual milk consumption percapita hit 12 liters-low.



'Yes, we will look at investing further in years to come,' he said when asked if his firm was interested in developing an on-farm dairy processing facility in Indonesia.



Paravicini said that his company's business in Indonesia, run by PT Fonterra Brands Indonesia, was growing at a level higher than the country's economic growth of 4.79 percent last year and that it aimed to book double-digit growth in the coming years.



If an option to build an on-farm dairy processing facility is taken, Fonterra will likely be able to run its business in the country more efficiently as most of its milk powder is still predominantly imported from New Zealand.



New Zealand's milk production hits around 20 billion liters a year, of which around 95 percent is shipped for the overseas market. The figure accounts for 60 billion liters of global tradable milk, from global milk output of 400 billion liters.



National Dairy Council (DPN) chairman Teguh Boediyana said he welcomed investment plans to develop local dairy cattle farming, as it could help reduce the country's dependence on imports and provide jobs for people in rural areas.



'Our local dairy farm can supply only 20 percent of national demand for milk,' he said.



'If there is no any policy to support our dairy farm, we'll likely become a net importer by 2020.'



The number of dairy heads of cattle in the country slumped to only 300,000 in 2013 from 447,000 in 2011, according to DPN data.



In its country of origin, Fonterra partners with local farmer shareholders to produce about 16 billion liters of milk each year.



NH Korindo Securities Indonesia research head Reza Priyambada said that having local on-farming in Indonesia would eventually help enlarge Fonterra's market share as most Indonesian consumers, both affluent and middle-income, were price sensitive.



'If they see that Indonesia is capable of providing raw materials in line with their standard, sourcing raw materials from Indonesia could lower their products' prices and make them more competitive,' he said.



Paravicini informed that Indonesia was a very competitive market and well-positioned for his company to leverage its regional position.



'We will look at Indonesia, how we can use Indonesia as a base for other countries to grow,' he said.



In September last year, Fonterra launched its first Indonesian manufacturing plant located in the West Java industrial city of Cikarang, functioning to blend and pack milk powder for the Anmum, Anlene and Boneeto brands.



The plant cost US$36 million, Fonterra's largest investment in Southeast Asia last year.



The utilization rate of the manufacturing plant has hit 60 percent of its full capacity of 20,000 tons of milk powder a year, or equal to some 80,000 packs of the company's consumer products.



Paravicini said that his firm aimed to run the plant at full capacity in the next six to 12 months to grab a larger sales portion in the market.



In Indonesia, Fonterra's brands compete with brands such as Prenagen, HiLo and Milo.

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Linkedin Stefani Ribka (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, March 4, 2016

The government has been urged to accelerate the resolution of past human rights abuses that have lain dormant for decades.



The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) coordinator, Haris Azhar, said the commission had just been updated by the Attorney General's Office (AGO) that no significant progress had been made.



Replying to the query by Kontras, the AGO said there had been five meetings conducted among the AGO, the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), the military, the police, the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) and various ministries between April 20, 2015, and Jan. 8 this year.



'The point [of the meetings] is that the AGO will solve this problem with reconciliation but there is no standard on what the process will be like,' he told a press conference on Wednesday.



'In the first meeting there was a judicial process mentioned. But in the last meeting, there was no word of it. They suggested a reconciliation process as it is hard for them to gather evidence [for a judicial process],' he added.



Kontras suggested that a presidential regulation (Perpres) should be used to form a special team that directly reports to the presidential office, which could accelerate the process.



It argued that a Perpres would be better than a law as its issuance would not involve the House of Representatives.



'The team could comprise only five people who are competent, willing to solve the cases and have previous experience with such circumstances. The military and AGO need not be involved so as to make sure the process is independent and efficient,' Haris said.



The cases, all decades old, include the 1989 Talangsari incident in Central Lampung, various kidnappings and unresolved shootings in the 1980s, the 1965 communist purge and the May 1998 riots, have seen snail-paced resolution as dossiers compiled by Komnas HAM in 2002 have always been rejected by the AGO for various reasons.



AGO spokesman Amir Yanto said that the process was ongoing and refused to call it 'not a significant update'.



Komnas HAM chairman Nur Kholis acknowledged that the process had been slow due to the AGO's repeated objections. Nevertheless, there had recently been some important progress.



'On Feb. 15 to 19, for the first time, investigators from Komnas HAM and the AGO, 18 of us, sat together to check the dossiers and discuss which mechanism should be taken to address the issue,' he said over the phone on Thursday.



Komnas HAM appreciated Kontras' suggestion for a special presidential team. Last year, it also suggested the same idea but with different personnel, including itself, the AGO and victims.



When asked whether the commission had investigated former generals and high-ranking officials alleged by many to be involved in the cases, Nur refused to disclose anything but said, 'We're working on it.'



Maria Katalina Sumarsih, mother of BR Norma 'Wawan' Irmawan, who was shot dead in the Semanggi II tragedy in 1998, emphasized that the cases should be brought to criminal court to reveal the truth and suspects behind it.



'Compensation is not our objective but the revelation of truth and state confession is.'
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Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, March 4, 2016

The government is aiming to raise the proportion of processed-goods exports from 39.5 percent to 50 percent of non-oil and gas exports this year, in a bid to prevent the trade deficit from widening.

National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) director Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti said there were three main programs to be launched to increase processed-goods exports: integrating central and regional programs, boosting supply and demand, and increasing promotion.

"According to the International Monetary Fund, Indonesia's trade volume will grow 4.6 percent compared to 3 percent in 2016. We are still optimistic," she explained on Friday in Jakarta.

Regarding the integration of central and regional development, she continued, the government would develop regions based on their competitive products. Kalimantan, for instance, would have more smelters to boost the production of refined mining products.

Meanwhile, Sulawesi whose competitiveness is in fisheries will have more fish factories to boost processed-fish exports. "In Sulawesi, high quality fish catches are going straight to Japan. We will push for processing facilities," she said. (ags)
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Fri, March 4, 2016

The National Police's Criminal Investigation Directorate (Bareskrim) raided the office of Jakarta City Council speaker Prasetyo Edi Marsudi on Thursday in relation to a graft case surrounding the procurement of uninterruptible power supply (UPS) units.



Head of the anticorruption directorate at the detective division, Sr. Comr. Ahmad Wiyagus confirmed the raid and said detectives were looking for more evidence in the procurement of the UPS units.



Ahmad declined to comment on the possibility of Prasetio's involvement in the case. After the search, Prasetio said the investigators had seized a pile of documents and a computer belonging to former speaker Ferrial Sofyan.



One suspect in the case, former infrastructure section head of the West Jakarta Education Agency, Alex Usman, is currently on trial.



Other suspects, former head of the Central Jakarta Education Agency, Zainal Soleman, as well as two council members Muhammad Firmansyah from the Democratic Party and Fahmi Zulfikar from Hanura are still awaiting completion of their dossiers.



The suspects are alleged to have abused their positions to help to pass the UPS procurement in the 2014 revised city budget, at a price of Rp 6 billion (US$456,000) per unit in exchange for a 7 percent kickback from the Rp 300 billion budget allocated for the project.
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Fri, March 4, 2016

The Jakarta Police said they were looking into the possibility that Fanny Safriansyah, better known as Ivan Haz, a lawmaker accused of abusing a nanny, may have been under the influence of narcotics at the time of the alleged abuse.



Jakarta Police Insp. Gen. Tito Karnavian said on Thursday that Ivan's urine test showed no trace of drugs. He said, however, the police would carry out a follow-up test on his hair and blood to confirm the urine test.



'[Drug traces] in urine can disappear shortly after consuming the drug. It lasts longer in the hair and blood,' he told reporters at the Jakarta Police headquarters. 'We are looking for a motive [for the alleged abuse]. Is it because of a personal reason or because of drug influence? If the test results are positive for drugs, then the abuse must be committed under the influence of drugs,' he said.



'If it is because of drugs and was conducted repeatedly for years, the sentence must be heavy,' he added.



He did not say what offense Ivan would be charged with if proven to have abused his nanny under the influence of drugs.



Ivan was previously charged under Article 44 of the Domestic Violence Law, with a maximum sentence of five years' imprisonment.
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Tangerang  Fri, March 4, 2016

The Tangerang administration will build a Haj village in Neglasari comprising a dormitory and training center for pilgrims about to depart from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.



Tangerang Mayor Arief Wismansyah said on Thursday that the village would be built on a 10-hectare site near the airport.



Arief added that the project would be funded by his administration and the Banten administration.



'We've allocated Rp 500 million [US$38,000] for the plans such as detailed engineering designs as well as the initial physical construction,' he said, as quoted by tribunnews.com.



Separately, the Tangerang Development Planning Board (Bappeda) head Endrawiyanto said that the province would grant Rp 5 billion for the project.
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Linkedin Prima Wirayani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, March 4, 2016

Tight competition in the retail sector has led publicly listed retailer PT Hero Supermarket to close more than 100 of its stores, although the company is upbeat about improving its business performance.



The firm will shut down more of its Starmart convenience stores this year after closing 50 under-performing Starmarts last year, according to a Hero recent announcement published on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) website.



The remaining stores were sold to Indonesian conglomerate Wings Group's subsidiary PT Fajar Mitra Indah, which operates the emerging FamilyMart convenience store network.



There were a total of 83 Starmart stores operating in the country, according to the company's website.



LBP Enterprise analyst Lucky Bayu Purnomo said on Tuesday that Hero's business was adversely affected by competition in both the middle-upper and middle-lower sized retail business, creating a quandary for the company.



'In the middle-upper size, such as supermarkets and hypermarkets, Hero is head-to-head with Lotte Mart, Carrefour and AEON while in the middle-lower segment it competes with Alfamart, Alfamidi and Indomaret,' he said, adding that the competitors were more aggressive compared with Hero in opening branches.



'A retailer has to prioritize the number of its store in regard to revenues,' he said.



Hero shut down more than 100 stores last year, operating a total of 610 stores as of December 2015.



Stores that were closed included both small- and large-format outlets, including Starmarts, Hero supermarkets, Guardian pharmacies, Giant Ekspres and Giant Esktra stores.



The company's financial report showed that it booked losses of Rp 144.08 billion (US$10.9 million) last year, compared with Rp 43.76 billion profits in 2014, as increased net revenues were unable to tame a spike in costs.



Hero saw a 12.37 percent increase in net revenues last year to Rp 14.35 trillion, compared with Rp 12.77 trillion in 2014. However, its costs went up even higher by 13.24 percent year-on-year to Rp 11.03 trillion.



Hero president director Stephane Deutsch wrote in a company statement submitted to the IDX over the weekend that his firm's losses were caused by lower margins and increased operating costs and wages.



Overall, Indonesia's economic growth weakened to 4.79 percent last year, a level unseen since the 2009 global financial crisis, with a weaker rupiah also diluting shoppers' purchasing power.



NH Korindo Securities head of research Reza Priyambada said that higher overheads were what burdened the company's business last year in addition to its declining number of stores.



Hero will face a tough year in 2016 with fewer stores while its competitors maintain their pace of expansion, analysts have warned.



However, Hero corporate communication senior general manager Natalia Lusnita expressed optimism that her firm's profits and sales would be better than last year, supported by its remaining business units, which were Giant Ekstra and Ekspres, Hero, Guardian and IKEA.



The company will open three Giant hypermarkets, in Palembang, South Sumatra; Manado, North Sulawesi; and Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara.



'Although we have closed many stores, none of our employees has been fired,' she told The Jakarta Post. 'Thus, we remain optimistic that our performance will get better.'

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Linkedin Liza Yosephine (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, March 4, 2016

The government will continue to hand out the death sentence to big players in drug trafficking world despite criticism from foreign countries and human rights activists, arguing that consistency in law enforcement is the key to success in curbing the distribution of drugs.



"The best way to reduce the trafficking of drugs is through consistency. We have no tolerance for drug dealers," said the Jakarta head of the National Narcotics Board (BNN), Brig. Gen. Ali Johardi at a press conference in Jakarta to launch the annual International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) report on Thursday.



The country manager of the UN office on drugs and crime (UNODC) in Indonesia, Collie F. Brown, took the opportunity to reinstate the UN's opposition to the death penalty. Brown urged countries to find an alternative punishment for drug traffickers.



Attorney General M Prasetyo has stressed that a third round of drug convict executions would be carried out this year.



To date, 14 drugs drug convicts have been executed. The previous executions received strong criticism from anti-death penalty activists and caused a temporary souring of diplomatic relations with a number of countries including Brazil and Australia.



Johardi said the government was considering the development of a prison island, which will be used for drug-lord convicts, an idea proposed by BNN chief Budi Waseso.



There is a possibility, the idea was further discussed during the agency's recent meeting with the House of Representatives Commission III overseeing legal affairs, Johardi added. (bbn)(+)
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Linkedin Retno LP Marsudi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, March 4, 2016

As mandated by the 1945 Constitution, for Indonesia independence is the inalienable right of all nations. Hence, it is only natural and right that one of our international obligations is our unwavering support for the Palestinian people, whose inalienable right to self-determination has been denied for too long by Israel's occupying force.



Almost half a century since the establishment of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in 1969, Palestine remains the only nation living under foreign occupation.



Even before that, our founding father and first president, Sukarno, stated in 1962 that Indonesia would always stand by the Palestinians while they were still under Israeli occupation. Throughout, such a spirit has lived on in the heart of every Indonesian both in word and deed.



In more recent times, Indonesia has also rendered concrete support on a number of occasions, both as host and key driver. This includes the Second Conference on Cooperation among East Asian Countries for Palestinian Development (CEAPAD) in 2014, which was aimed at securing commitments to enhance the capacity-building of the Palestinian people.



Last year, at the 60th Commemoration of the Asian-African Conference, the 'Declaration on Palestine', which reiterated the establishment of a sovereign and independent Palestine, was successfully agreed.



In December 2015, Indonesia's steadfast support for Palestine was again reflected through the country's role as host of the International Conference on the Question of Jerusalem. It was undertaken in cooperation with the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP) and the OIC.



Indonesia also co-sponsored the UN General Assembly resolution for raising the flag of Palestine at the UN Headquarters. The monumental hoisting of the Palestinian flag on Sept. 30, 2015, which I personally attended, was a significant step toward Palestine's full membership in the UN.



In addition to unconditional political support, Indonesia has consistently provided much-needed assistance to build the capacity of its Palestinian brethren.



Between 2008 and 2015 Indonesia provided technical assistance and capacity building to 1,364 Palestinians through 137 training sessions, workshops, seminars and scholarships. These programs shall be continued in the future, bilaterally as well as through existing regional mechanisms such as the New Asian-African Strategic Partnership (NAASP), which has been extended until 2019.



This year, Indonesia has responded to the call made by President Mahmoud Abbas of the State of Palestine by hosting the Fifth Extraordinary OIC Summit on Palestine and Al-Quds Al-Sharif in Jakarta on March 7. The summit is a reflection of Indonesia's and the OIC's untiring support for and solidarity with the cause of Palestine and Al-Quds Al-Sharif (Jerusalem).



It will be convened against the backdrop of a deeply worrying situation in Palestine and Al-Quds Al-Sharif. At the same time, protracted conflicts are taking place in many Islamic parts of the world as well as the growing threat of terrorism and extremism. They have somehow eclipsed the world's attention to Palestine.



The peace process between Palestine and Israel is stalling, while new cycles of violence re-emerge in Palestine. Meanwhile, Israel also imposes restrictions on access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque for Palestinian Muslims while, at the same time, seeking to alter the demographic composition, character and status quo of Al-Quds Al-Sharif.



These constitute grave breaches of international law, including humanitarian and human rights law, as well as a disregard for relevant UN resolutions.



Convened under the theme of 'United for a Just Solution', this summit will be the first extraordinary OIC summit to specifically deal with the issue of Palestine and Al-Quds Al-Sharif. It is aimed at strengthening unity among OIC member states and all Palestinians, exploring breakthrough strategies to restart the peace process and resolving the question of Palestine and Al-Quds Al-Sharif as the central cause of the Islamic ummah.



The convening of the summit is also expected to keep the issue of Palestine at the forefront of attention for the international community.



The summit has invited member and observer states of the OIC, members of the Quartet for the Middle East Peace Process, as well as permanent members of the UN Security Council. It will be attended by delegations from more than 50 countries at the heads of state/government, as well as ministerial and high-level representative, levels.



The summit is expected to result in two outcome documents. One is a resolution reaffirming the principled positions and commitments of the OIC to support Palestine and Al-Quds Al-Sharif. The second, a Jakarta Declaration, which has been initiated by Indonesia, contains concrete steps to be implemented by the leaders of the Islamic world to support the cause of Palestine and Al-Quds Al-Sharif.



Indonesia has and will continue to play its part. Our stand for Palestine is in line with Indonesia's foreign policy priorities, one of which is to intensify the country's active role in the region and beyond. However, the solution to this problem cannot be provided by Indonesia alone.



The momentum from the extraordinary summit as well as its two outcome documents shall form new modalities for the OIC and the international community alike to support the plight of the Palestinians, put an end to the horrendous acts by the Israeli occupying power, and realize an independent and sovereign Palestinian state under the two-state solution.

________________________________



The writer is the Indonesian Foreign Minister.
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jambi  Fri, March 4, 2016

Jambi Cultural and Tourism Agency will hold a number of events ahead of a total solar eclipse set to take place on March 9.



Agency head Edi Erizon said that the events would mostly take place in Sarolangun regency as it would be the ideal spot to observe the eclipse.



'On March 6 and 7, we will hold tours to explore the forests where the Suku Anak Dalam tribe lives,' he said, adding that the event was expected to attract many foreign tourists.



In addition, he said, mosques in Sarolangun were scheduled to hold eclipse prayers. Edi said that apart from Sarolangun, there were two other locations in Jambi where people could observe the eclipse clearly, including from Muaro Jambi Temple in Muaro Jambi regency.
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post  Fri, March 4, 2016

Feb. 27, p5



Teacher Ferdinant Tjiong was asleep, along with his wife and two children, when state prosecutors came pounding on a window near their bed at 2 a.m. on Thursday. It was a predawn arrest of a teacher who had been found guilty without evidence, before being acquitted and then, in a cassation case at the Supreme Court, convicted again.



Tjiong and his Jakarta Intercultural School (JIS) colleague Neil Bantleman, a dual citizen of Canada and the UK, were sentenced Wednesday to 11 years' imprisonment each for abusing three kindergarten students at the prestigious South Jakarta school.



There is no need to question the integrity of the judges, especially justice Artidjo Alkostar who is known for having heightened the prison terms of many corrupt officials, but like it or not the guilty verdict of the two JIS teachers has raised concerns about justice and legal certainty in the country.



Your comments:



Why not question the integrity of the judges? As if the skepticism and distrust in this thoroughly corrupt system is not already there



Sorong



How much did the mother pay both the police and the court? This case is tremendously suspicious, since no solid evidence whatsoever has been provided.



Simba1991



The hospital reports from Singapore's world-class facilities were clear in the case of alleged victims two and three: No interference ever happened. The first case had at least some circumstantial evidence that suggested someone had interfered with the child.



The second two were clearly hopping on the bandwagon in the hope of a juicy payout. Magic stones, hidden dungeons and self-healing wounds.



This case was not overturned by the Supreme Court despite Hogwarts-type scenarios being described.



Jakarta Logic



There was no evidence of abuse. It is a plain and simple fact. No evidence, not a shred. Magic stones and secret rooms. Are our judges corrupt?



Notgoodjoke



They were charged with gang raping the same child: 13 counts of gang rape. The child is a boy. So, why didn't he show any sign of anal injury or scars that are consistent with rape?



Chotto Matte



It is an absolute travesty of justice. The justice system often follows no logic or reasoning. I thought you needed evidence before finding someone guilty of a crime. It seems that so many cases are decided by public opinion only. I am fast losing any hope for the future of this country.



Masmon



Doubt and mistrust are already there when anyone with a brain looks at the justice system. Judges above reproach or judges open to political persuasion?



The original case was amateur at best. If these guys are guilty, then throw the book at them. That's a very big if though and justice must be done better than this farce.



Nate78
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Linkedin Erika Anindita (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, March 4, 2016

President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo's weak leadership is to blame for the open bickering between Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Rizal Ramli and Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said, says Fadli Zon.



'This highlights the President's inability to manage his Cabinet, so it's a leadership problem," House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Fadli Zon said in Jakarta on Thursday, referring to the open debate between Rizal Ramli and Sudirman.



Most recently, Rizal poked fun of Sudirman over the Masela block development plan, via his Twitter account. He had openly criticized Sudirman on several prior occasions, most notably in regard to Sudirman's indecision on Freeport Indonesia's operating permit last year, and his granting of an export permit extension despite Freeport's failure to meet government requirements.



In response to Rizal's critic, Sudirman said: "Do not start polemics. You, who pretends to strive for the people, who deceives, who claims to know best, who wants to change the mind of Masela's investors, stop fooling the public because one day your filthy intentions will be uncovered".



Fadli said that such an incident would not occur if all ministers followed policies decided by the President in the Cabinet meeting.



Jokowi should do something, he could use reshuffle as a punishment for those ministers who do not follow the President's policies, said the deputy speaker, adding that the recent open bickering between the two ministers was not merely a signal from the President to reshuffle his Cabinet.



"A reshuffle is the President's prerogative. He can do it whenever he wants," Fadli said.



Speaking separately, House speaker Ade Komarudin called on the ministers to have a more united stance when making public statements.



The clash of opinion between the two ministers occurred as Jokowi cautiously considered his decision on the Masela block. Rizal's team believed the nation's biggest deep-water gas block should be developed via an onshore scheme, as it would provide a greater multiplier effect for local communities.



Sudirman, in contrast, tended to agree with the block developer ' a cooperation between Japan's Inpex and the Netherlands' Shell ' that proposed an offshore development. Inpex currently holds a 65 percent share in Masela and Shell a 35 percent share. (bbn)(+)
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Linkedin Andi Hajramurni (The Jakarta Post) Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi  Fri, March 4, 2016

Villagers in the Kolaka area in Southeast Sulawesi province have been producing forest honey for generations by using traditional methods. They are now trying to explore the potential by offering a higher quality product that can last longer.

Kolaka honey, which comes from the protected forest in the area, is so popular that visitors who go to the province usually buy it as gifts for their friends and loved ones. In Tawanga, one of the villages in Uluiwoi district, East Kolaka regency, locals have been hunting beehives for generations, with the entire process carried out by traditional means.



They look forward to two harvest seasons, of which the peak takes place during the dry period from October to December, when they can reap 10 to 40 kilograms of honeycomb. Honey farmers will see half of the peak output during the other season that starts from April to May.

'The honey seasons starts after the end of our plantation harvest. That is why we can rely on the sales of honey to provide additional earnings,' Harman, 38, a local resident of Tawanga, told The Jakarta Post recently.



The harvesting process follows a tradition. Most of the males in Uluiwoi, including boys, enter the forest to harvest honeycombs. The reapers are called pasoema in the Kolaka language. They work in groups, each comprising five people with a leader, sopir, or tree climbers, and ordinary members.



'We first search for ripe honeycombs and then light torches that will be carried by the sopir to scare bees away when he is climbing the trees. We wait under the tree in a place that is safe from bee attacks and gather honeycombs from buckets lowered by the sopir with a rope,' Kusman, 35, a leader of a pasoema group, explained.



A group can stay in the forest for around a week, carrying various supplies and equipment for reaping and gathering honeycombs. Usually, they can produce 100 kg of honey every trip, which is later sold to collectors at Rp 30,000 (US$2.25) per kg. The income is equally shared and they can earn Rp 3 million to Rp 5 million per person during a honey season.



The sopir face the highest risks in this venture. They are capable of climbing 30-meter trees while carrying knives, ropes and torches to smoke out honeycombs and drive off bees. All of these multitasking jobs are done without protective equipment.



'We're used to bee stings and every year a number of sopir fall, suffer from broken bones and even die,' said Harman, who has been working as a sopir for three years and who said he could climb a 40-meter tree.



Tawanga, a home for 1,087 people, has 23 pasoema groups who sell their harvests to 12 honey collectors. The pasoema groups have made an agreement to avoid conflict by allowing the groups to mark their harvest trees.



'We've agreed that the trees already marked must not be disturbed. But sometimes some delinquent residents infringe others' rights,' said Kusman. In 2015, the Tawanga village head issued a rule to uphold the agreement. Pasoema found breaching the rule are subjected to a fine of Rp 500,000 per tree.



To date, Kolaka honey is mostly produced out of squeezed honeycombs that still contain bee eggs and larvae. It is stored in jerry cans, so the product not only has cleanliness and hygiene issues, but also a shorter shelf life. The remains of honeycombs are usually discarded although they can still be processed into other products.

Old and new: Kusman shows a bottle of drained honey (left) and another bottle of squeezed honey (right). Packaged in a proper bottle, the drained honey is cleaner and more hygienic than the squeezed product.

Looking at the untapped potential in Uluiwoi district, Southeast Sulawesi's AgroForestry and Forestry (AgFor) provides assistance for pasoema groups in four villages in Tawanga, Undolo, Lolambai and Sanggona. These groups hunt beehives in the 11-hectare protected forest located in the upper reaches of the Konaweha River.



AgFor introduced honey-making by means of a draining method in 2012 to the villages. They train the groups to produce honey in a sustainable and hygienic way that can bring more financial benefits for the pasoema groups. A year later, the drained method of honey production kicked off.



Drained honey is obtained by draining instead of squeezing honeycombs and sieving the golden liquid through fine nylon, so that eggs and larvae will be completely separated from the honey. During the process, pasoema members are obliged to wear gloves and masks. They also have to clean the honey containers as well.



'Although it's sieved, honey production won't be reduced and its price is higher than the squeezed honey, thus raising the income of reapers,' Southeast Sulawesi AgFor coordinator Mahrizal said.



The remains of beehives can still produce derivatives like propolis or bee gum for drugs, antioxidants, soap, cosmetics and candles. Bee eggs and larvae can also be processed into side dishes.



The groups are also taught to encourage the bees stay in their original trees by leaving part of the hives intact to enable bee colonies to return and rebuild their homes. This will ensure the continued existence of the bees in the forest because it is still very difficult to breed wild bees in the region, which belong to the species of Apis dorsata or giant honeybee.

Honey production in the four villages has increased during the past two years. In 2014, squeezed honey gathered by reapers amounted to 6 tons and drained honey was only a small proportion of that. A year later production doubled to 12 tons with 650 kg of drained honey.



Mepokoasa Pasoema Uluiwoi (MPU), a cooperative set up by drained-honey makers fostered by AgFor, started buying drained honey early last year.



'Actually, many pasoema wish to shift to drained honey-making but our capital to buy their production is still limited,' MPU chairman Kusman said.



MPU bought drained honey from pasoema at Rp 50,000 per kg and sieved the honey with finer fabric again. After being bottled and labeled 'MPU Honey', it is now sold in Kendari at varying prices starting from Rp 50,000 per kg.



East Kolaka regency can produce 60 tons of honey, which is still fully managed by local communities.



Almost 90 percent of the people in Uluiwoi district are farmers managing plantations with various cultivated crops like cacao, pepper and patchouli as well as horticultural plants.

______________



' Photos by JP/Andi Hajramurni
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Linkedin Haeril Halim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, March 4, 2016

Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) commissioner Laode Muhammad Syarif said on Thursday that the antigraft agency was looking into the alleged involvement of former manpower minister Muhaimin Iskandar in a corruption case implicating his former subordinate, Jamaluddin Malik.



Laode said that the National Awakening Party (PKB) chairman got on the KPK's radar after prosecutors found evidence allegedly linking him to the corruption case involving Jamaluddin, a former director general for the ministry's transmigration area development (P2KT).



In a hearing of Jamaluddin's case at the Jakarta Corruption Court, the prosecutors alleged that Muhaimin received around Rp 400 million (US$30,400) out of Rp 6.2 billion allegedly embezzled by Jamaluddin from the ministry in 2013.



Laode said that KPK investigators would summon witnesses in the near future to confirm prosecutors' findings before making a decision on whether to probe Muhaimin, adding that the KPK was also waiting for the court to deliver a verdict on Jamaluddin's alleged offenses, as well as confirmation of the money transfer next week.



'[Muhaimin's role in the case] is currently being closely examined by KPK investigators,' Laode told The Jakarta Post.



The antigraft body usually moves against potential suspects in a graft case after their roles are confirmed by the panel of judges in a graft verdict. Confirmation through a verdict is one of the several important pieces of evidence that can be used by investigators to develop a case.



During a hearing at the court on Wednesday, KPK prosecutors demanded that the panel of judges sentence Jamaluddin to three years in prison in the case for allegedly extorting money his subordinates and local officials under the supervision of the ministry between 2013 and 2014.



The Rp 6.2 billion was taken from various state projects at the ministry and local agencies supervised by Muhaimin between 2013 and 2014.



Muhaimin did not return calls or reply to text messages from the Post seeking comments on KPK prosecutors' findings during Jamaluddin's trial.



In a KPK investigation document obtained by the Post on Thursday, antigraft body prosecutors revealed details about the alleged flow of Rp 400 million to Muhaimin.



Jamaluddin's subordinate, identified as Sudarso, who has been questioned as a witness by KPK investigators in the case, made receipts for a number of money transfers from Jamaluddin to several high-ranking ministry officials, including Muhaimin, as well as House of Representative lawmakers.



'On the notes made by the witness, there was a transfer marked as 'for Gatsu [Gatot Subroto] 1', which refers to then minister Muhaimin Iskandar, whose office was located on Jl. Gatot Subroto,' KPK prosecutors said in the document.



The document further revealed: 'It was the defendant [Jamaluddin] who first asked the witness 'Pak Sudarso, do we still have money available? The minister has yet to receive an honorarium''.



Sudarso later told Jamaluddin that he was holding onto a sum of money at that time. Jamaluddin then instructed Sudarso to exchange the Rp 400 million in cash to US dollars.



'The witness, after obtaining the US dollars, gave the money to the defendant,' KPK prosecutors explained.



The KPK was scheduled to question on Oct. 23 Muhaimin as a witness during its probe into Jamaluddin, but he skipped the session due to illness. He met a second summons on Oct.28.



The antigraft body later moved to hand over Jamaluddin's dossiers in late October after obtaining testimonies from Muhaimin.



However, Muhaimin failed to show up at hearing for Jamaluddin's case on Jan. 27 when the Jakarta Corruption Court summons him to give testimony.
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Linkedin Farida Susanty (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, March 4, 2016

Players in the country's logistics industry are predicting that the sector will still grow by a healthy margin this year on the back of high domestic consumption and the government's efforts to boost infrastructure development.



The Indonesian Logistics Association (ALI) said the industry could still expand by 10 percent to 12 percent this year after a robust 18.8 percent annual growth in 2015.



'The raw material import and export of finished goods has decreased, but domestic consumption is still there,' ALI vice chairman Mahendra Rianto said on Wednesday.



Last year, the market size of the domestic logistics industry stood at an estimated Rp 2.15 quadrillion (US$163.4 billion), a double-digit increase from the estimated Rp 1.81 quadrillion in the previous year, based on a study conducted by ALI partner, Frost and Sullivan.



Total exports dropped by 14.62 percent to $150.25 billion last year, but imports plunged at an even faster rate of 19.9 percent to $142.7 billion, helping the country book a 2015 trade surplus of $7.51 billion.



However, Mahendra said that the domestic consumption of 250 million Indonesian citizens would still boost the logistics industry this year.



The association also cited improving infrastructure development as a factor that would aid growth.



'When the government focuses on developing infrastructure, there comes opportunity for more utilization of our assets,' he said.



The study from Frost and Sullivan also forecasts the total freight volume to grow by 4.9 percent to around 1.18 billion tons this year.



Sea freight, which accounts for 97 percent of total freight traffic in Indonesia, is also expected to grow by 4.9 percent this year. The improvement of terminal infrastructure, port capacity and equipment are cited as the drivers for the growth.



President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo's administration has pledged to improve the country's connectivity through the maritime highway program, which includes, among other things, the development of 24 commercial seaports across the country, as well as 1,481 non-commercial seaports.



Indonesia's biggest port, Tanjung Priok in Jakarta, is also expected to have its capacity increased by 4.5 million total equivalent units (TEUs) with the opening of its New Priok port this year.



Meanwhile, air cargo, which makes up a much smaller proportion compared to sea freight, is also expected to continue its rapid growth over the past five years.



Frost and Sullivan's global vice president of transportation and logistics practice, Gopal R., said air freight volume was expected to increase by 8 percent this year.



'The key contributors would include general cargo, perishable goods, couriers, pharma and electronics,' he said.



The air cargo market turnover grew by 28 percent to the value of Rp 491 trillion last year.



Mahendra added that the country's e-commerce boom would also aid air cargo growth, as many e-commerce players used it to distribute their goods.



With the expected growth for this year, Gopal also mentioned that the logistics players should focus on air cargo services, warehousing, multi-modal movement and e-commerce as the key services trends this year.



He also was not concerned over the increasing competition that would come with the ASEAN economic community.



'It will give Indonesia the advantage because we seem to be doing more in logistics, more infrastructure development,' he said.
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Mexico City  Fri, March 4, 2016

The Mexican government has made its first direct response to Donald Trump's pledge to build a wall along the two countries' border ' and make Mexico pay for it.

"I say it emphatically and categorically: Mexico, under no circumstance is going to pay for the wall that Mr. Trump is proposing," Mexican Treasury Secretary Luis Videgaray said late Wednesday to Milenio television.

The wall proposal by the Republican presidential hopeful has been criticized widely and fiercely in Mexico, but the government itself has tried to avoid commenting directly on the issue until now.

Trump is leading the Republican presidential contenders and has used especially tough talk on immigration.

His comments came one day after Francisco Guzman of President Enrique Pena Nieto's office told reporters that the government would not engage in verbal duels with U.S. candidates. Instead, he described a plan to reach out with information to campaigns through Mexican consulates in the US.

Former Mexican president Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderon had already derided the idea and compared Trump to Adolf Hitler.

"Building a wall between Mexico and the United States is a very bad idea, it is an idea based in ignorance and that is not supported by the reality of North American integration," Videgaray said. He said there was no way that Mexican taxpayers could pay for that sort of project.

Since he launched his campaign last summer, Trump has taken aim at Mexicans, saying they bring crime and drugs to the US and are "rapists."

Mexico's answer until now had been to remind Americans of the economic contributions made by their citizens and Mexican-Americans. The two countries' trade amounts to more than $500 billion annually. (bbn)
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Linkedin Bambang Nurbianto (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, March 21, 2016

More politicians have spoken out against the spread of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) movement, but have warned people not to commit any violence and discrimination.

People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Chairman Zulkifli Hasan urged the public to narrow the space for the LGBT movement to spread, adding that he considered LGBT to have no place in Indonesia as the act of homosexuality had been warned against in every religion.

"As a movement, the existence of LGBT must be opposed. We must limit its room to move. However, as individual people, they must be protected like any other citizen," said Zulkifli, chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN), as quoted by Antara news agency.

The concept of LGBT has no place in Indonesia because there is not one race, ethnicity or religion in our homeland that permits same-sex relations, he added.

Rocky Gerung, a philosophy lecturer at the University of Indonesia, explained that certain ethnic groups in Indonesia recognize more than two genders. Gender recognition in South Sulawesi, he noted, acknowledged five genders: men, women, feminine men, masculine women and the neutral gender, considered a godly quality.

Based on his belief that same-sex orientation is an illness, Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin has argued that LGBT people required treatment and counseling, be this either religious or psychological, because with treatment and counseling, he said, homosexual people may, hopefully, alter their orientation.

The Ministry of Religious Affairs has now demanded that Islamic organizations and all religious affairs offices in provinces, regencies and cities, conduct intensive religious counseling for LGBT people.

"We cannot be hostile nor hate as they are also citizens of the state. This doesn't mean that we condone or allow for the LGBT movement to shift the religious values and the identity of the nation," said Lukman, who is a senior United Development Party (PPP) politician.

Meanwhile, People's Consultative Assembly Deputy Speaker H. Hidayat Nur Wahid warned against underestimating the LGBT movement as it risks widening the spread of what he called a "social disease".

"The LGBT movement cannot be trivialized. The crime is very closely entwined within society, not only in big cities but also small villages," said Hidayat, who is senior politician of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).

For this reason, the government must take a firm stance on the issue despite the lack of a law that clearly prohibits or punishes homosexuals, he said. (liz/bbn)
Thanks to Declan Butler for alerting me to his major story in Nature News & Comment: First Zika-linked birth defects detected in Colombia. Excerpt:

Researchers have found Colombia's first cases of birth defects linked to the Zika virus, Nature has learned  which are likely forerunners of a widely-anticipated wave of Zika-related birth defects in the country.

The discovery is perhaps no surprise: the virus arrived in Colombia last September, and the country is second only to Brazil in terms of the number of people infected with Zika.

But Colombian researchers hope that plans put in place to closely monitor pregnant women can help to better establish the magnitude of the threat posed to fetuses by Zika. That is a crucial question that scientists have not so far been able to answer with the data from Brazil.

Researchers have diagnosed one newborn with microcephaly  an abnormally small head  and two others with congenital brain abnormalities, says Alfonso Rodriguez-Morales, who chairs the Colombian Collaborative Network on Zika (RECOLZIKA), which made the diagnoses. All three tested positive for the presence of Zika virus. The researchers have submitted a report of their detections to a scientific journal.

Rodriguez-Morales, an infectious-diseases epidemiologist at the Technological University of Pereira in western Colombia, says that he expects to see a rise in cases of Zika-linked birth defects starting in two or three months' time. The RECOLZIKA group  a network of researchers and public-health institutions across Colombia  are already investigating a handful of other suspected cases of microcephaly, which have a possible link to Zika.

The next wave?

Brazil is the only country so far to report a large surge in newborns with microcephaly that coincides with outbreaks of Zika virus. By the time the alarm over a possible microcephaly link was raised there (in October 2015), Zika infections had already peaked in many parts of the country, because the virus first reached Brazil at the beginning of last year.

In Colombia, by contrast, researchers detected the first Zika cases in September, and by December had set up national tracking programmes to monitor pregnant women for signs of infection, and to spot early signs of birth defects in fetuses. Since then, researchers have been waiting attentively to see whether their country might experience a similar rise in birth defects.
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Linkedin Ina Parlina (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, March 4, 2016

Heated tensions within President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo's Cabinet have started to subside, with two working units under the President's direct jurisdiction taking the initiative to set up a mutual commitment to ensure his prioritized development programs are free from unnecessary interference.



The commitment, signed by Presidential Chief of Staff Teten Masduki and National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) chief Sofyan Djalil on Thursday, is aimed at synchronizing the planning and monitoring of national priority programs and will seek to include 12 clusters of priority programs in the National Mid-Term Development Plan (RPJMN) and the annual Government Working Plan (RKP).



Among the 12 clusters are infrastructure development, energy security, food self-sufficiency, agrarian reform, maritime development, rural development and industrialization, as well as Papuan development.



'We will ensure and maintain consistency of the RPJMN and the RKP with the vision and mission or the Nawacita [Sanskrit term for nine programs] of the President,' Teten said on Thursday. 'In reality, there is still a gap, in which the Nawacita has yet to be fully accommodated in the RPJMN and RKP.'



Teten said that adjustments in translating Jokowi's presidential campaign into a national development blueprint were unavoidable due to budget constraints, certain domestic conditions and the political situation of the House of Representatives.



Jokowi recently issued a regulation that allows for more than 200 national strategic projects, including railways and toll roads, to receive special attention from the government. Although it is included on the list, uncertainty is still surrounding the country's first high-speed railway project, mainly because of disagreements between public officials involved in the project.



Teten declined to comment whether the uncertainty of the project was linked to recent heated disagreements among a number of Cabinet ministers, which have escalated to public character assassinations. However, the shared commitment was apparently made to prevent such unnecessary disagreements that might hamper the President's development programs.



According to Teten, the commitment was made to create better synergy between ministries and related institutions in supporting the programs.



Jokowi has obviously provided room for debate during Cabinet meetings, but some of his ministers were unable to restrain themselves from participating in heated public debate and creating confusion over government policies, with the latest incident being the conflicting statements from Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Rizal Ramli and Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said over the controversial plan for the development of the gas-rich Masela block.



According to Sofyan, the two offices have started drafting the 2017 RKP and is also introducing four approaches of planning ' holistic, thematic, integrated and spatial principles ' in the draft.



'Actually, the essence of the President's goal is to reform Bappenas [by transferring it into President's jurisdiction], so that Bappenas can draft a budget plan in line with the President's priority [program],' Sofyan said.



Jokowi, who, according to presidential spokesman Johan Budi, was unhappy with his ministers for bringing internal Cabinet disagreements to the public instead of focusing on their jobs, might soon ask for explanation from all of his ministers involved in the recent public spats, including Rizal and Sudirman.



A number of observers have previously cast doubts over the government's credibility and its ability to run the country effectively, while lawmakers have criticized the government's failure to stop such internal rifts from going online into the wider public.



Separately, Johan said Jokowi's recent call to his ministers to stop bickering was indeed aimed at silencing such publicly expressed disagreements, which may hamper his Cabinet's overall performance. He played down criticism that suggested from the beginning Jokowi should have been able to position himself as the leader and acted sterner with his ministers.



'Having different views is allowed by the President. But they should be expressed inside Cabinet,' Johan said on Thursday in echoing his previous statement.

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Linkedin Hyung-Jin Kim (The Jakarta Post) Seoul  Fri, March 4, 2016

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his military to be ready to launch nuclear strikes at any time, state media reported Friday, an escalation in rhetoric targeting Seoul and Washington that may not reflect the country's actual nuclear capacity.

The threats are part of the authoritarian government's ramped-up propaganda push to signal strength at home and abroad in the face of what it portrays as an effort by South Korea and the United States to overthrow its leadership.

In North Korea's first official response to the UN's recent adoption of harsh sanctions over its recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch, the North also warned Friday it will bolster its nuclear arsenal and make unspecified "strong and merciless physical" measures. A government statement called the UN sanctions the "most heinous international criminal act" aimed at isolating and stifling the country.

"The only way for defending the sovereignty of our nation and its right to existence under the present extreme situation is to bolster up nuclear force both in quality and quantity," the North's official Korean Central News Agency said, paraphrasing Kim. It said Kim stressed "the need to get the nuclear warheads deployed for national defense always on standby so as to be fired any moment."

North Korea has threatened nuclear war in the past, but it is unclear just how advanced the country's nuclear program really is. It is thought to have a handful of crude atomic bombs, but there is considerable outside debate about the state of its arsenal.

Most experts say it's highly unlikely that North Korea currently has a reliable intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching US shores, let alone the ability to arm it with a miniaturized nuclear warhead. But North Korea can probably place nuclear warheads on its shorter-range Scuds and its 1,300-kilometer-range Rodong missiles, which can strike targets in South Korea and Japan, said Lee Choon Geun, an analyst from South Korea's state-funded Science and Technology Policy Institute. Other analysts, however, question this.

Kim issued the nuclear threat while guiding the test-firing of a new large-caliber multiple launch rocket system, in a likely reference to six short-range projectiles that Seoul says North Korea fired on Thursday.

South Korea's Defense Ministry said the projectiles, fired from the eastern coastal town of Wonsan, flew about 100 to 150 kilometers and landed in the sea. Ministry officials said they couldn't confirm whether they were fired by the weapons system referred to by the North Korean news agency. The report did not say when the test-firing occurred.

Thursday's firings were seen as a "low-level" response to the UN sanctions, with North Korea unlikely to launch any major provocation until its landmark ruling Workers' Party convention in May, according to Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

The UN Security Council sanctions, the toughest of their kind in two decades, include mandatory inspections of cargo leaving and entering North Korea by land, sea or air; a ban on all sales or transfers of small arms and light weapons to the North; and the expulsion of North Korean diplomats who engage in "illicit activities."

The North Korean statement described the sanctions as "nothing new" and "not that surprising." Citizens of the capital, Pyongyang, interviewed by The Associated Press on Thursday said they believe their country can fight off any sanctions, in a reflection of official propaganda.

Recent commercial satellite imagery indicates new activity, possibly preparations for a rocket engine test, at a launch site where North Korea fired a long-range rocket on Feb. 6, according to an analysis by the North Korea-focused 38 North website.

In another development that will anger North Korea, South Korean and US officials began formal talks Friday on deploying a sophisticated US missile defense system in South Korea.

The deployment of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, is opposed by North Korea, China and Russia. Opponents say the system could help US radar spot missiles in other countries as well.

The US and South Korea are to kick off large war games next week that North Korea says are preparations for an invasion. South Korea is also taking a much harder line meant to squeeze North Korea's government.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye said Thursday she will cooperate with the international community in trying to end North Korean "tyranny that suppresses the freedom and human rights" of its own people. She recently warned of North Korea's future collapse, and South Korea's National Assembly passed a human rights bill that criticizes the North Korean government's abysmal treatment of its citizens.

In January, North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test, which it claimed was a hydrogen bomb. Last month, it put a satellite into orbit with a long-range rocket that the United Nations and others saw as a cover for a test of banned ballistic missile technology.
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Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, March 4, 2016

In its response to Masela gas block offshore scheme critics, Upstream Oil and Gas regulatory special task force (SKK Migas) said that the offshore scheme design for the block was complete, both from an economic and technical point of view.



SKK Migas has already surveyed the area, researched the best and cheapest vendor to construct the offshore platform, a design for supporting industries and the scheme of economic development, SKK Migas chairman Amien Sunaryadi said Thursday.



He added the study was carried out by both independent institutions and the government's partners.



"To understand the situation, you need to go there first. The Selaru Island nearby the block is small and the tide is high. Among the presidents, only Soekarno has traveled there," said Amien, adding that an onshore facility would disturb the island's tourism and fisheries potential.



A change to an onshore plan of development (POD) would require the engineering design to be started from scratch, he said. "Engineering design would take at least three years, the onshore development will need tough undersea piping as the area is a high wave zone," Amien explained.



SKK Migas has also studied the economic factors, especially the push for a petrochemical company in Maluku, owned by government and regional government whose development would be financed with money from the contract, he added.



With the offshore option, the government's income would be larger; it would have more money to build the derived industry, he said.



The Masela block was signed off in 1998 in the form of a Production Sharing Contract (PSC) signed between Inpex and BPPKA Pertamina, before it had changed its name to BPK Migas and then to SKK Migas. Prior to 2010 the Plan of Development (POD) had been agreed at 2.5 million tons. The FLNG offshore system had been agreed upon and Inpex had already paid more than US$ 200 million for the contract.



Since 2008 there has been an onshore-offshore debate. After drilling in the development well between June 2013 to April 2014, Inpex increased its deposit estimate to 10.37 trillion cubic feet (TCF) from the previous 6.05 TCF.



On September 12, 2014, Inpex submitted a revision to change production from 2.5 million tons to 7.5 million tons but the revision approval has been delayed due to the return of the offshore-onshore debate.



The offshore model will use a Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) Ship as a platform. The ship will be chained, locked into one position. SKK feels that the ship can also be used as a border marker, Amien said.



"The block is very close to Darwin [Australia], we will hoist an Indonesian flag so the block area will not be disturbed by our neighbors," he added. (bbn)(+)
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Linkedin Raras Cahyafitri (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, March 4, 2016

State power firm PLN will be running on all cylinders this year to achieve the government's ambitious electricity procurement program, aiming to break ground for a number of power plants with a combined capacity of 10,000 megawatts (MW).



PLN's director for procurement, Supangkat Iwan Santoso, said a number of big coal-fired power plants were included in the target.



'If we talk about the capacity, the biggest will be coal-fired power plants. We are expecting the groundbreaking of the Jawa 4 power plant, the Cirebon expansion plant, the Cilacap expansion plant, the Jawa 7 and the Jawa 3 this year,' Iwan said on Thursday.



The power plant developments are part of the government's program to supply an additional 35,000 MW of electricity within five years.



As of December last year, PLN had agreed to purchase a total of 17,000 MW from independent power producers. Those agreements guarantee the producers that PLN would purchase the power and deliver it to customers.



In the last two months, new power purchase agreements for around 2,000 MW have brought the total contracted electricity sales up to 19,827 MW.



PLN aims to finalize power purchase agreements for 15,500 MW by the end of the year and the remaining capacity of almost 2,000 MW in 2017.



Following the power purchase agreement stage, 24 power producers with 5,329 MW of capacity are now closing financing before starting construction. Meanwhile, some other producers with 2,920 MW of capacity have entered the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) stage.



Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said praised the progress of the government's flagship program.



'There are problems everywhere. However, PLN, the independent producers and local administration can solve them. We will also ensure that the power producers have funding in place,' Sudirman said.



To date, the country has a total installed power plant capacity of about 55,000 MW. The electrification ratio was at 88 percent as of the end of last year. However, there are numerous areas, particularly outside Java, with lower ratios and frequent blackouts as the demand is higher than the available capacity.



The 35,000 MW program is said to be necessary to support economic growth. In past years, similar programs failed, partly because of financing and problems in land acquisition for the would-be power plants.



Earlier this week, the construction of the Batang power plant in Central Java gained new momentum after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of land acquisition for the project, which has been long delayed amid opposition from local people.



Jarman, the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry's director general for electricity, said that the Supreme Court's decision allowed for the land acquisition to be quickly concluded.



'As soon as the land [acquisition] is completed, financial closure can be reached,' he has said.



The Batang project is being developed by PT Bhimasena Power Indonesia, a consortium consisting of Jakarta-listed PT Adaro Energy, J-Power Electric Power Development Co. Ltd. and Itochu Corp., which won the tender in 2011. The power plant is the first to be developed under a public-private-partnership scheme.

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Linkedin Safrin La Batu (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, March 4, 2016

The Jakarta Police said Thursday that they had detected no serious terrorist threat ahead of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Summit scheduled to take place in the capital on Sunday and Monday.



The Jakarta Police will deploy 4,000 personnel from different units to assist the Indonesian Military (TNI). TNI, which will lead the security measures, has prepared 10,150 personnel, including those from the police.



The summit will be attended by representatives from 43 countries.



Places that will see heavy security included the Jakarta Convention Center in Central Jakarta and 17 hotels where the delegates will stay in Central and South Jakarta, Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Tito Karnavian said on Thursday.



TNI chief Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo said security would be tight, especially on Monday during the state leaders meeting, when military officers would be put on the front line.



Tito said the police were always ready to face any terrorist threats. 'But, I think they will all support this summit, since it will discuss Palestinian issues.'



On Jan. 14, a terror attack hit Jakarta, leaving eight people dead, including four terrorist suspects. The attack has been linked to the Islamic State (IS) group.



Indonesia was selected to host the summit after Morocco withdrew its offer because the country was seen as insufficiently prepared.



The government said it would reaffirm its support for the independence of Palestine at the summit.



Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsuadi said recently that Indonesia's willingness to host the summit illustrated its commitment to return the Palestinian issue back to the attention of the international community by picking the pace of the stalled peace process.



'This summit has been organized in response to concerns regarding the current conditions in Palestine, which have shown no improvement,' Retno said in a discussion at the State Palace recently.



Indonesia is among countries that support a two-state solution for the Palestinian issue and has always criticized Israel for 'occupying' part of Palestinian territory. Indonesia, having the world's largest Muslim population, has no bilateral relations with the Jewish state.



Retno said the summit would underline both the importance of unity between factions within Palestine, namely Fatah and Hamas, and the need for unity among Islamic countries in supporting factors required to achieve a peaceful resolution.



The summit is expected to see the attendance of 10 heads of state, 12 minister-level officials and 21 senior government officials from a total of 56 OIC member states that were invited.



This includes Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba, Mauritian President Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, Gambian President Yahya Jammeh, Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail and the Speaker of Algeria's National People's Assembly (APN), Mohamed Larbi Ould Khelifa.



The first day of the summit will coincide with the car-free day conducted every Sunday on Jl. MH Thamrin in Central Jakarta. Tito, however, said the car-free day would proceed as usual to show that the capital was safe to host the summit.



Delegates to the summit heading to the venue from their hotels around Jl. MH Thamrin would be directed to alternate routes, Tito said.



'There will be special routes for the delegates. So, they will not pass the road where the car-free day is conducted,' he said.



In preparation of the summit, the city administration has fixed holes on main roads, such as Jl. MH Thamrin and Jl. Jend. Sudirman in South Jakarta.

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Linkedin Agnes Anya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, March 4, 2016

The Jakarta Police have moved closer to the conclusion that the large amount of cable jackets found dumped in waterways is related to negligent contractors and copper theft, rather than a sabotage attempt as theorized by Jakarta Governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama.



Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Tito Karnavian told reporters on Thursday that investigators suspected the cable jackets were probably from old cables, left over from work done years ago.



The police recorded two major cable work projects in the area: in 2009 and in 2014.



'The waste may be related to cable theft. The perpetrators might have intentionally left the cables there as 'treasure',' Tito said on Thursday.



Tito said there was a possibility that contract workers put some leftover cables in the waterways while they were working to lay cables underground.



Another possibility, Tito said, was the contractor might have thought that the cost of dumping all the cables properly was higher compared with simply leaving them in the waterways.



The cables in the waterways were like 'hidden treasure' to people who knew of their existence. One scenario the police suspected was that those people later gradually took the copper from inside the cables because taking the copper all at once would require major work.



The copper parts are highly valuable. The cable jackets themselves were also made of metal, although the police have yet to identify the type.



The police have not named the contractors behind the work done in 2009 and 2014.



Since last week, the city administration collected 17 truckloads of cable jackets from waterways throughout the high-security area called Ring 1 ' the home not only to the Presidential and Vice Presidential Offices, but also to several government offices, the National Museum, and the US Embassy.



Jakarta Water Management Agency head Teguh Hendrawan said Wednesday his office had checked the waterways regularly but found nothing until last week. He said his boss' suspicion of sabotage might be true.



City workers also found similar cable jackets in March 2014 and they suspected theft was behind.



Ahok, however, alleged sabotage, suspecting they were part of a plan to flood the vital area.



'I don't know what the motive is. It might have been done by people who do not like me,' Ahok said on Thursday. 'It was also possibly done by people who want me to disburse more money for flooding projects. Well, I don't know.'



Aiming to confirm the suspicion, Ahok and his administration reported the discovery last week to the Jakarta Police, which then formed a joint investigation team with the Jakarta Water Management Agency and state-owned utility company PLN.



Also on Thursday, Jakarta Police special crime director Sr. Comr. Mujiono said police had gathered samples of the metal jackets and were now examining the type in the police laboratory. At the same time, he added, the police were questioning witnesses and experts to unravel the case.



The sample of the metal jackets is also being examined by PLN, which has confirmed the cables were not the company's because they had different specifications from the cables it used.



Mambang Hertadi, spokesman of PLN Disjaya ' a PLN branch in Greater Jakarta ' said that the company used cables with diameters of at least 10 centimeters, while the discovered cables had diameters of between 3 and 5 cm.



Moreover, he added, PLN usually cut cables between 45 and 75 cm, but the cable waste in the waterways had lengths of between 150 and 180 cm.



'I don't know the precise price of such metal cable jackets but 17 truckloads of them certainly have a high value. If you sell them, you can use the money for a minor pilgrimage to Mecca. They are highly valuable,' Mambang said on Thursday.



He said although the cables did not belong to PLN, the company was ready to take responsibility if the police found indications of involvement by the company's vendors. (rez)
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Linkedin Ruslan Sangadji (The Jakarta Post) Palu  Fri, March 4, 2016

The family of an alleged member of the East Indonesian Mujahidin terrorist group killed during a shootout on Sunday plans to bury him in his hometown in Solo, Central Java.



However, the family had yet to receive permission from Central Sulawesi Police to take the body of Dodo aka Pando, said Widayawati, Dodo's mother, on Friday morning.



Widayawati came to Palu with Dodo's brother and her husband's other wife Nining Siti Fajar.



Upon her arrival at Bhayangkara Hospital, Widayawati was able to confirm that the dead body was indeed Dodo by a birthmark on his lower cheek.



"Yes, that is our son Dodo," she told thejakartapost.com on Friday.



Dodo was killed during a shootout with a joint team of police and Indonesian Military personnel in Torire Village, Central Lore subdistrict, Poso regency, Central Sulawesi, on Feb. 28.



Dodo had returned home to Solo two months prior to his death but had stayed at his friend's house, Widayawati recalled.



After a few days in Solo, Dodo traveled back to Poso and Widayawati said that the family had received no word of him until they saw the media reports saying that he had died.



Dodo had been included in the Police's wanted list due to a terror case in Poso.



Central Sulawesi Police chief Brig.Gen. Idham Azis said Dodo had joined the terrorist network lead by Santoso, currently Indonesia's most wanted terrorist, in 2012.



Dodo was Santoso's future son-in-law. He was due to marry Wardah, Santoso's eldest daughter, who is studying at the Ngruki Islamic Boarding School in Solo, according to police investigations.



The Solo native had become Santoso's confidant and had been given the task of publicizing all East Indonesia Mujahidin's activities on the internet. (rin)(+)
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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, March 4, 2016

The prostitution business in the Dadap Cheng In red-light district in Tangerang is well-organized with dozens of women brought in each night to service clients. Operators bring in dozens of women from outside the Dadap area to work as prostitutes, Tangerang regent Ahmed Zaki Iskandar said.



"Each night there are two buses that transport prostitutes to work in Dadap. We don't know who transports the woman there, we are still investigating," he told thejakartapost.com on Friday.



There are up to 300 sex workers in Dadap but the number is thought to double at night with the arrival of sex workers from outside the area.



Sex workers from the former Kalijodo red-light district in Jakarta have reportedly been moved to Dadap following the official closure of the notorious prostitution area on Monday.



The administration plans to close the area in May and is currently spreading information to local Dadap residents.



The regency had previously announced an allocation of Rp 10 billion to carry out the closure. The administration said they would cooperate with the Social Affairs Ministry and the Jakarta Police to arrange a peaceful closure.



There are currently 78 cafes above the green space owned by state-owned airport operator PT. Angkasa Pura I in Dadap that will be evicted.



The red-light district of Dadap Cheng In, located near Indonesia's main international airport Soekarno-Hatta, was established around 1970. The area had been a fishing village but it had developed into a prostitution area as more outsiders had come to live and work there following the development of the airport, kompas.com reported.



The administration also plans to demolish other illegal buildings that surround the cafes.



There has been no protest or complaint yet from local residents regarding the shutdown plan, Ahmed said, adding that his administration planned to build a mosque, park and a culinary center on the cleared land.



Tangerang regency police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Irman Sugema said that his office had conducted raids in Dadap prior to the initiation of an eviction plan.



Police oversaw the collection of data and religious counseling with Tangerang's social affairs office.



The plan to shut down Dadap is in line with the central government's plan for red-light district free Indonesia by 2019. (rin)(+)
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Linkedin Syofiardi Bachyul JB, Hans Nicholas Jong and Ina Parlina (The Jakarta Post) Padang/Jakarta  Fri, March 4, 2016

When an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale struck the west coast of Sumatra on Wednesday night, thousands of residents of Sikakap district, Mentawai Islands, rushed to nearby hills.



Having learned from a devastating tsunami in 2010 and previous drills organized by the authorities, the residents took the prepared paths to higher ground located a kilometer from North Pagai beach.



Fortunately, the tremblor, slightly more intense but further from the islands than that of 2010, caused no damage or loss of life.



But fear remained after arriving at the hill as no shelter or telecommunication facilities to call for assistance were available.



'There was nothing up there. Everyone, including children and the elderly, had to stay there all night,' Sikakap district head Happy Nurdiana told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.



She said the shelters that had been readied after the 2010 tsunami were unusable as were radio facilities that had been installed in 2007.



Mentawai Islands Disaster Management Agency head Elisa Siriparang also lamented the lack of communication facilities. 'When the earthquake occurred, I was on a boat heading to Padang. My cell phone was functioning but I couldn't reach anyone on site,' he said.



She added that several other facilities, including tsunami-warning sirens, were out of service.



Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on the Pacific 'Ring of Fire', an arc of volcanoes and fault lines circling the Pacific Basin.



A massive quake measuring 9.1 on the Richter scale off the northern part of Aceh in 2004 triggered a tsunami that left 230,000 people dead in a dozen countries. Most of the deaths were in Aceh.



Since then escalated preparation efforts for the mitigation of earthquakes and tsunamis had been made along the western coast of Sumatra.



An earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale off the coast of West Sumatra rocked the province in 2009, claiming at least 1,100 lives and injuring thousands more, although no tsunami occurred.



In 2010, a 7.7-magnitude quake caused a tsunami that swept away two villages in South and North Pagai islands, killing at least 23 and destroying hundreds of homes.



The US Geological Survey (USGS) located the epicenter of the quake 280 kilometers off Padang, the province's capital, and 20 kilometers deep. Wednesday's jolt was located 659 kilometers from Muara Siberut, a town in Mentawai, and was 24 kilometers deep.



Rapot Pardomuan, a local rights activist with the Alliance of Indigenous People (AMAN), said the earthquake should be a wake-up call for the central government and local authorities to better equip tsunami-prone areas. 'The central government and local administrations must act,' he said.



Meanwhile, the government praised the preparedness of local residents.



President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo said he believed people in Sumatra now had a better awareness about how to stay safe during natural disasters, particularly earthquakes and tsunamis, as a result of the experience of past disasters.



'Everyone is [now] aware; this is important,' Jokowi said on the sidelines of his visit to Medan, North Sumatra.



'What's important is how people respond immediately by leaving houses and buildings to seek higher ground. And all of that was put into practice last night by the people in Mentawai Islands,' said National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.



But with the risk of tsunamis still endemic in the archipelago, Sutopo said the government needed to increase the budget for tsunami-mitigation efforts.

___________________________________



Earthquake record in Mentawai



* July 6, 2013: 6.1-magnitude earthquake jolted the island and also felt in the Sumatra cities of Padang, Jambi and Bengkulu. No reports of damage or fatalities.



* Nov. 27, 2014: A 4.7-magnitude earthquake shook South Siberut Regency, Mentawai Islands. No reports of damage or fatalities.



* Dec. 18, 2014: A 5.8-magnitude earthquake shook the island again. No reports of damage or casualties.



* July 24, 2015: A 4.8-magnitude quake reported some 110 km west-southwest of Padang. No casuaties and damage were reported.



*Aug. 2, 2015: A 4.7-magnitude earthquake Mentawai again and was also felt in Padang and Painan. No casualties and damage were reported.



Source: Various
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Linkedin Ruslan Sangadji (The Jakarta Post) Palu  Fri, March 4, 2016

The Central Sulawesi provincial administration has set up an integrated team, directly led by Governor Longki Djanggola, to implement programs to deal with schistosomiasis, also known as snail fever.



One of the programs is to improve sanitation systems by constructing toilets on the Lindu Plain, where the dangerous worms are often found. The construction is part of a nation-wide one-million-toilet campaign to encourage residents to stop defecating in the open.



Schistosomiasis is a disease caused by parasitic worms belonging to the schistosoma genus and carried by freshwater snails. There are three types found in humans: Schistosoma japonicum, Schistosoma haematobium and Schistosoma mansoni.



In Indonesia, Schistosoma japonicum is endemic in Central Sulawesi, especially on the Lindu and Napu plains in Sigi and Poso. The number of people at risk of contracting schistosomiasis is 15,000.



The head of the provincial health agency, Ansayari Arsyad, said that although there was no medicine to cure the disease that was available in Indonesia, regular fever treatment in community health centers (Puskesmas) and hospitals had worked well.



'We have also distributed boots and will hand some more to local residents as a preventive measure,' he said.



Ansayari said that in Poso, the worms could be found in six districts: East Lore, Lore Peore, Central Lore, South Lore, North Lore and West Lore. While in Sigi regency, he said, the disease was found in five subdistricts on the Lindu Plain.



Ansayari said his agency had cooperated with the Poso and Sigi regency health agencies to conduct a survey in the relevant subdistricts to find more effective eradication measures of the schistosomiasis worms.



He added that an eradication effort last year had been successful in reducing the incidence rate of the disease in Poso to 1.39 percent and in Sigi to 0.7 percent.



'We have the target of reaching an incidence rate of zero percent this year.'



Separately, Longki said that his administration had also conducted various efforts to prevent the spread of snail fever, including assigning a special team to examine the disease-endemic regions.



Research on schistosomiasis in Indonesia began in 1940, following the finding of schistosomiasis cases in Tomado subdistrict, Lindu plain, Kulawi district, Sigi regency, in 1935.



The research found that 53 percent of 177 residents tested positive after researchers found the worms in the feces sample.



Data at the provincial health agency show that in 1972 a new endemic area of the disease was found in Napu valley, Poso regency. Ever since, snail fever continues to increase in the region.



Health Minister Nila Djuwita F. Moeloek said recently during a meeting in Palu to discuss measures to deal with the disease that the disease had attracted attention from the international health communities.



She said that she supported all programs to combat the disease, requesting local authorities to continuously disseminate information to the people on the danger of open defecation that could cause the fever.



Schistosomiasis starts with the hatching in water of Schistosoma japonicum eggs, called mirasidium, which penetrate the bodies of snails and develop into sporokista I and II, before becoming serkaria.



The serkaria will later swim in the water in search of a new host and they can survive in stagnant water for 48 hours before finding new places to grow.



Serkaria could infect 13 mammals including humans, deer, cats, hog deer, cows, horses and buffalo. Serkaria infects humans through the pores and enters the blood stream before laying eggs in the intestines.



Symptoms of snail fever include coughing and swelling of the stomach. The disease needs an incubation period of 20 years before killing a human sufferer.



The most dangerous scenario, according to Ansyari, was when serkaria reached the liver, where it could grow into adult worms. When the worms lay eggs, they make holes in the walls of the intestine and cause sufferers to defecate blood.
Via Prensa Latina: Dengue, Chikungunya and Zika Viruses Increasing in Costa Rica.

More than 5,000 people were infected with Dengue, Chikungunya and Zika viruses in Costa Rica so far this year, the Ministry of Health announced today.

According to a report issued by the ministry's Health Surveillance Department, dengue fever, which is transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquito bites, has infected so far 4,222 people.

Meanwhile, 1,037 people were infected with chikungunya virus, and another eight have contracted Zika virus since its first case was reported on January 26, the source said.

Due to this complex situation, health authorities urged the citizens to collaborate in eliminating mosquito hotbeds that threaten human life.
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Fri, March 4, 2016

The State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Law provides loopholes that leave it open for various interpretations and counterproductively disrupt the management of strategic sectors in Indonesia, constitutional law experts have said, urging it be revised to remove the problem.



Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution mentioned that branches of production that were essential to the state and affected the livelihood of the masses must be controlled by the state. However, confusion arose during of the implementation of the 2003 law about state-owned enterprises, law expert Satya Arinanto said.



'Since the Constitutional Court was formed [in August 2003], they started to give different interpretations about Article 33 in different cases, such as on cases related to the Electricity Law, the Water Resources Law, the Oil and Natural Gas Law, the Mineral and Coal Law, or the Shipping Law,' he said in a hearing with the House of Representative's commission VI on Wednesday.



According to him, several interpretations that appeared on reading Article 33 were: the state shall control all natural resources, the state can only impose regulations and policies, or the state can only supervise.



Satya was involved in the expert team to amend 1945 Constitution during 1999 to 2002. 'The biggest question was whether we stayed with socialism or turned to capitalism. Eventually, we decided to use a combination of both systems,' he said.



Hence, the state still controlled all natural resources with the additional terms of 'efficiency' and 'fairness' put in the Constitution, he said. Unfortunately, SOEs often run businesses that contradicted these principles by running non-core businesses, ranging from hotels to hospital industries.



'SOEs should be working in public interest sectors, which indeed need the state's presence. For example, intervention from third parties is not allowed in the defense industry,' said economist Ine Minara S. Ruky in the hearing.



Many SOEs, she continued, have privatized their ownership. It is possible to do, according to the law, but the state must hold dominant control, especially in the strategic industries.



However, this led to another interpretation saying that the assets SOEs held in their subsidiaries are not the state's assets and therefore the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) did not have the authority to audit them. This may lead a fraud and corruption in the companies.



'The subsidiaries are not SOEs from a legal point of view. However, from an economic perspective, they are not detached in terms of the cash flow,' said Ine. 'This needs to be clarified in the revision of the law.' (vps/ags)(+)
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Fri, March 4, 2016

Islamic-compliant lender Bank Syariah Mandiri (BSM) is trying to further expand its financing services into micro, small and medium businesses this year, after improving its financing quality in 2015.



With the expansion into such business segments, the bank will not only receive higher income from financing services but also from fee-based income, BSM president director Agus Sudiarto said in Jakarta on Wednesday.



'I hope in 2016 our profits will be higher than last year's,' he said during a press briefing. The bank's net profits more than tripled to Rp 290 billion (US$22 million) year-on-year (yoy) in 2015 as a result of the decline in non-performing financing (NPF) as financing quality improved.



BSM plans to stick to its long-term corporate plan for the 2016-2020 period by focusing on increasing its retail banking portfolio, including micro and consumer. BSM will also focus on boosting its fee-based income.



To support its expansion plan in the micro, small and medium businesses, Agus said that BSM would also provide Laku Pandai financing services in cooperation with Bank Bukopin in the second half of this year.



Laku Pandai is a program that promotes branchless banking and financial services in rural areas with the use of mobile phones.



The program was first launched by the Financial Services Authority (OJK) and participating banks in March 2015 as an effort to increase financial access to people in rural areas. Of the country's population of 240 million only 20 percent has access to banks.



'Laku Pandai is a collaboration with Payment Point Online Bukopin and its partners. Currently, it has 20,000 partners. People in remote areas usually use the payment system to pay electricity bills and phone bills,' the bank's director Agus Sudiarto said.



In order to support the expansion program, BSM received full support from its parent company, Bank Mandiri, which provided a financial injection of about Rp 500 billion last year.



BSM also plans to issue Islamic bonds or sukuk worth Rp 1 trillion this year to refinance its expiring subordinated notes, which were issued by the bank in 2011, he said.



Although the macroeconomic condition last year was not favorable, BSM reduced its NPF from 6.84 percent in 2014 to 6.06 percent in 2015, he explained. The decline in the NPF contributed to the sharp increase in net profits last year.



The NPF ratio was, however, still above the 5 percent benchmark for soundness set by financial regulators; however, BSM is confident that the ratio will fall close to the standard this year.



This year, BSM expects its financing will increase by between 7 percent and 10 percent from Rp 51.09 trillion in 2015. In 2015 financing only grew by 4 percent yoy.



The bank was also able to increase its third-party funds ' an indicator of a company's liquidity - by 3.83 percent from Rp 59.82 trillion in 2014 to Rp 62.11 trillion in 2015. (win)

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Linkedin Jasna Samic (The Jakarta Post) Sarajevo  Fri, March 4, 2016

Recently, a ban was proposed on the wearing of all religious signs in the Bosnian courts. I cannot believe to what extent totalitarianism has started governing in Bosnia (especially Sarajevo) and to what degree woman's hair is seen as an enemy of freedom and democracy.



For days, 'democrats' have called me a 'fashion fascist from the West', because I am against the hijab that is 'every Muslim's duty'.



That is why I would like to point out and strongly underline that the hijab does not have any connection with a headscarf, especially the way it is wrapped around the head these days.



The expression hijab in the Koran means 'the veil hiding God'. In other words one can never see and get to know God, because our intellect is too weak for it.



This is a well-known fact to all teachers who work in religious schools in Bosnia, so why they do not say it openly so? Is it convenient for them that a female person stays as an inferior human being to them?



When I was studying Sufism, I myself respected that rule when going to the tekke of Sinan Agha of Sarajevo.



After all, one sincere and poetic explanation for hiding women's hair was given to me by the rare Muslim democrat and authority, the former sheikh at Sinan's tekke, Fejzulah Hadzibajric: 'When angels came down from the sky they got lost in women's hair, that's why it has to be hidden.'



But what are angels, or where are they? Most probably they too have been exiled from today's 'neophyte society' for giving a space to evil.



Public wearing of headscarf, especially niqab (black Saudi Muslim gowns that cover completely woman's body and face), is the first sign of not obeying God but of female obedience to males.



This is a clear sign or warning of a reinstitution of slavery, especially for women who were oppressed by men from the beginning of monotheistic religions.



Wearing a headscarf and hiding woman's hair is not only an Islamic obligation. Is it necessary to emphasize that Islam is the youngest monotheistic religion? It is a well-known fact that women hide their hair and face with a veil in Catholicism, or shave their heads and wear wigs in Judaism.



Those habits are transferred from the Orient to the Balkans and may stem from the Hadiths (Prophet Muhammad's traditions and behavior), which are quite often apocryphal.



Even if something is written in the Koran (which it isn't) about hiding women's hair, do not forget that Islam is expects from all believers, including women, ultimate humbleness and contrition, to be delicate, not to show off.



In other words, according to Islam, a person who does not go to the mosque is no less Muslim than one who does, not to mention a woman who does not wear the headscarf.



Is there a chance nowadays that Bosnian women are reverting to the darkness of the Middle Ages by willingly becoming slaves of totalitarian males? I'm afraid it is possible.



It is a well-known fact that today's Islam is imported directly from Saudi Arabia and that Wahabbi and Salafis have more and more success in the whole world in general, including in Bosnia.



Sarajevo is looking today less like a democratic European secular city, and more look like a Bedouin village in the middle of a dessert, where a woman is a priori excluded from society and whose primary role is to give birth to males.



First Karadzic and Milosevic opened the door to this foreign Islam in Bosnia by ethnic cleansing (during the war 1992-1995) and after them Izetbegovic with his ambivalent relationship with the state and his weakness toward extreme Islam and foreign currency.



Further, it is well known that the first sign of extreme Islam is the headscarf, wrongly called hijab. After that the other symbols come easy such as niqab, then short beards and short trousers on men.



Next to be expected is excision or clitorydectomia in women, suppression of music and paintings, closure of public schools, burning books and accepting completely the macabre ideology of Islamic State (IS) group.



Although there are many reasons for which West could be criticized and regardless how much it is responsibility of 'present state of Islam', it can be concluded that more rights exist in the West than in other countries.



Why it is not possible to say anything against radical Islam? Why do these foreigners from Saudi Arabia have such power in the Balkans?



What is typical for Western countries is hypocrisy in connection with those questions. In Bosnia, this hypocrisy is caused by fear.



It is symptomatic that many Bosnian women who do not agree with wearing the headscarf, even less so with this religious exhibitionism in public places (schools, courts etc.), do not have the courage to express their opinion publicly.



We have already seen this before, during the aggression in Bosnia in the 1990s, when it was not possible to say anything against extreme Serbs, because you would be labeled as an enemy of the Serbs.



The situation is very similar, except that now we have more and more extreme Muslims.



Christians are scared of being called 'Islamophobic' and they are silent.



Therefore the slavery to a primitive male, mafia boss or corrupt leader is being spread in Bosnia.



Is it necessary to quote the famous writer who said that the tolerance of non-tolerance was a crime?



Bosnian society should decide against the existence of sharia (in which case almost all politicians should lose both arms), or of a real secular country where religion is separated from the state and consequently all religious signs are removed from public places.

____________________________________



The writer is a specialist in Oriental languages and civilizations and has authored books in Bosnian and French.
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post New Delhi  Fri, March 4, 2016

A 16-year-old Tibetan living in India has died in a New Delhi hospital three days after he set himself on fire in a protest against Chinese rule, a hospital official said Friday.

The Tibetan suffered 98 percent burn injuries and died late Thursday, said Pankaj, an official at New Delhi's government-run Safdarjung hospital. Pankaj uses one name.

The Tibetan set himself on fire on Monday in the northern Indian city of Dehradun and was brought to New Delhi for treatment.

It was the second such protest this year seen as an extreme expression of the anger and frustration felt by many Tibetans living under heavy-handed Chinese rule.

A Tibetan Buddhist monk self-immolated and died on Monday near the Retsokha monastery in western Sichuan province's traditional Tibetan autonomous prefecture of Kardze, Radio Free Asia reported. It said the monk called out for Tibetan independence while he burned, then died on the way to a hospital in the provincial capital of Chengdu.

Tibetan exile sources say at least 114 monks and laypeople have self-immolated over the past five years, with most of them dying. Radio Free Asia puts the number of self-immolations at 144 since 2009.

Tibetan monks and nuns are among the most active opponents of Chinese rule in the region and the strongest proponents of Tibet's independent identity, prompting the authorities to subject them to harsh and intrusive restrictions.

Beijing blames the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama and others for inciting the immolations and says it has made vast investments to develop the region's economy and improve quality of life.

The Dalai Lama says he is against all violence. He fled Tibet to India in 1959 amid an abortive uprising against Chinese forces who had occupied the Himalayan region a decade earlier. He has been living in the northern Indian town of Dharmsala since then.
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Linkedin Corry Elyda and Agnes Anya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, March 4, 2016

'Turn Back Crime' has become the new slogan of the police, especially general crimes units, which are popularizing the motto through merchandise and what they wear.



The Turn Back Crime campaign was initiated by international police agency Interpol. According to Interpol, Turn Back Crime is a global campaign to highlight the dangers of organized crime and its effects on our day-to-day lives. Using a variety of media channels, the campaign provides advice on how to stay safe and encourages the general public, businesses and governments to play a role in reducing the impact of crimes.



Since last year, the Jakarta Police have been taking part in popularizing the Turn Back Crime slogan by selling various merchandise like shirts, key chains and tumblers, said Putri Oktavia, a staff member at the general crimes directorate who is in charge of organizing the campaign.



'Since November, we have sold up to 10,000 shirts to people around the country,' she claimed, adding that the shirts were sold at Rp 200,000 (US$15) .



Turn Back Crime stole the attention of the public after a police operation on Jan. 14 showed officers in action as they took on a group of terrorists following the attack in the heart of the capital.



Footage of police officers in dark blue polo shirts with yellow and white letters reading 'Turn Back Crime' embroiled on their chests and khaki pants ' and wearing brand-name shoes and bags ' was aired over and over by national television for days after the incident.



Ever since, the police have come to be seen in a whole new light.



However, despite the merchandising and all the praise heaped onto the police force after its supposedly heroic action, only few people are aware of, let alone fully understand, the Turn Back Crime initiative.



None of the four people asked by The Jakarta Post about the Turn Back Crime campaign had even heard about it.



One girl, Anisa, 25, had a misperception about the 'Turn Back Crime' initiative. She posted a picture of an airplane with the Turn Back Crime slogan on its body and tail with a caption saying 'OMG, the National Police now have their own plane.'



Even some police officers were unsure what the three words are all about.



'I do not really know the meaning. I just like wearing [the T-shirts], as they are more comfortable than the regular uniforms,' said Chief Brig. Ardi Wibowo, a member of the general crimes unit at the South Jakarta Police.



Ardi said the general crimes unit personnel were given one shirt for free and were obliged to wear it every Thursday.



He said he sometimes felt disturbed when civilians wore the same shirt. 'It is hard to differentiate whether they are police officers or not,' he said, adding that it could create problems in the field.



Turn Back Crime is no longer exclusively the pride of general crimes units.



A police control unit (Sabhara) officer, Ratmoko, said he too had bought the shirt. 'The shirt somehow makes us more friendly in the eyes of the public,' he said.



Ratmoko proudly explained that Turn Back Crime was actually a campaign to involve the public, calling on them to be aware of their surrounding so they could prevent crimes.



However, wearing and selling the shirts did not automatically help the campaign, let alone improve the image of the police in the long run.



Fikri Angga Reksa, a 26-year-old researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said that shirts or other merchandise alone would not boost the police's image.



'Fixing the image should start with improving their performance. If they perform well, their image will be good,' he said, adding that the police's current bad image was due to their own actions.



Fikri said the police had no reason to feel heroic about their actions, as they were merely doing their jobs. 'People are excited about their action just because they rarely see the police do their job well,' he said.



Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) lawyer Maruli Rajagukguk criticized the police for wearing the shirt altogether.



'Wearing the shirt should be reassessed, as it is prone to misuse,' he said, adding that the shirt lacked information about the officers, like their names, ranks and units.



He added that police officers should be identifiable when doing their job.
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Linkedin Dara Andriani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, March 4, 2016

The fourth floor at Lotte Shopping Avenue in South Jakarta on Thursday was swarming with fashion devotees and photographers trying to get a glimpse of models garbed in items from Uniqlo and Lemaire's Spring/Summer 2016 collection.

The collection marks the Japanese retailer and French apparel brands' second collaboration after releasing a similar season line last year.

Styles in the collection varied from simple half-tone long-sleeved shirts to a honey-colored oversized unisex cape that would be fitting for the current rainy season. They are loose-fitting to allow the wearer to move easily, a suitable choice for anyone who is often out and about.

With inspiration taken from sportswear, the collection shows off simple yet elegant designs and modest details that boast simplicity and modernity. With warm colors like ginger, mahogany and ash grey dominating the collection, the outfits are arguably something that anyone can wear in their everyday life, as office attire or on a day out with friends.

Customers can try out the collection at all Uniqlo stores starting from March 4 or take a peek first at uniqlo.com/uniqloandlemaire/id. (kes)
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post  Fri, March 4, 2016

Depok has opened a new chapter with its new Mayor Idris Abdul Shomad installed on Feb. 17 to replace Nur Mahmudi Ismail, who had been the mayor from 2006 to 2016. Idris was Nur's deputy from 2011 to 2016, and they are both from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS). Aside from awards Depok received, like the Child Friendly City award from the central government and the Smart City award from newspaper Kompas, its leaders have a knack for issuing policies that become the talk of the town for dealing with matters considered private or trivial. Here are five of them:



Eat using your right hand



People may say 'd'uh' to this policy, because the majority of Depok people eat with their right hand anyway.



Former mayor Nur, however, promoted the policy on a big billboard, prompting criticism from residents who considered the campaign a waste of taxpayers' money.



He issued the guideline after seeing civil servants drink and eat using their left hand, which he considered impolite. He deemed the policy necessary to develop the 'basic character' of people in Depok.



With the policy, he also invited left-handed people to try and eat using their right hand as 'it is not that difficult to eat using your right hand.'



'The policy is too ridiculous. There are other ways to develop someone's politeness, instead of using the right hand while eating,' said Depok resident Jumaidah Rizal Allya. 'He should have taken care of other things that are more important, like traffic jams.'



No Valentine's Day



In many Western countries, Feb. 14 is the day people celebrate love by giving each other flowers or boxes of chocolates. The cultural habit has been adopted by many Indonesians.



However, it is banned in Depok.



The Depok Education Agency issued a circular in January asking schools to prevent students from celebrating Valentine's Day as it was 'not in accordance with Eastern values and culture'.



The circular instead calls on parents and homeroom teachers to engage with their children and students in joint activities, such as recreation, to improve harmony and resilience among family members or students.



A rice-free day



In February 2012, Nur Mahmudi issued a decree stipulating that food sellers in City Hall's canteen provide no rice dishes every Tuesday and sell other staple food such as potato instead.



The policy, popularly known as One Day No Rice, is one of the mayor's efforts to sustain national food security.



Nur also pointed out that consuming too much rice raised the glucose level in the blood and may increase the risk of diabetes.



However, the policy was recently scrapped by current Depok Mayor Idris Abdul Shomad as soon as he took office. Idris, who was Nur's deputy, considered the program ineffective and believed it made public official less productive on Tuesdays. 'There is also some reluctance for Depok citizens to enter City Hall on Tuesdays,' Idris noted, as quoted by antaranews.com.



Family resilience program



Although the Depok administration prohibits the celebration of Valentine's Day, it actually encourages its residents to be more affectionate with their family members.



In the recent circular banning Valentine's Day, the administration called on parents or guardians to involve their children in joint activities both at home and outside.



'The activities include recreation in order to increase harmony and family strength,' it said.



Busker card



Depok's new deputy mayor, Pradi Supriatna, said Depok would issue busker cards to allow 'well behaved' and entertaining street musicians to operate in the city, softening its stance on such performances.



According to a 2012 Depok bylaw on public order, both busking and giving money to buskers are

forbidden.



The bylaw was issued in response to the growing number of street musicians in the city, many of whom were reportedly rather forceful in demanding donations.



Pradi said the new policy would give talented musicians the opportunity to hone their skills and improve the image of the municipality through music.



Later, the cards will become licenses for street musicians to be able to operate in the city. To get the card, an individual should demonstrate 'good behavior' and entertaining skills.



The administration will team up with the Street Musician Institute (IMJ), which proposed the idea, to realize the plan. The IMJ will train street musicians before they are given cards.



The IMJ had previously criticized the bylaw, saying it was unfair to ban all street musicians from operating in the city, because some of them were entertaining and had earned money with good behavior.
A man in Chinatown is on trial for going after his son with a meat cleaver, reports the Daily News. The boy, now 17, was trying to defend his mother during a domestic incident.

A federal appeals court judge rejected Sheldon Silvers attempt to keep documents that werent used in his corruption trial under wraps, reports Newsday. But an unnamed third party might be allowed to keep them secret.

An art party in the Wu Room, the club in the basement of the Wyndham Chinatown Hotel? Oh, yes. The Times has photos.

Flight of the Conchords is going on tour! Theyre at Summerstage in Central Park July 24. Tickets are on sale now.

Happening this weekend: Dustin Hoffman, Sofia Coppola, James Marsden and Jim Jarmusch were among the stars celebrating the opening on the new Metrograph Theater Wednesday evening. The new cinema at 7 Ludlow St. opens tonight with screenings of Taxi Driver and Purple Rose of Cairo. Tomorrow evening Noah Baumbach introduces his dream double feature  Eyes Wide Shut and Babe: Pig in the City. You can reserve a seat online, although availabilities are scarce.
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The Pan American Health Organization has published Zika Epidemiological Update - 3 March 2016. Excerpt:

Figure 1. Countries and territories in the Americas with autochthonous, confirmed Zika virus cases, 2015-2016 (as of 3 March 2016).
Thanks to Joan Harper for sending the link to this report in the Wisconsin State Journal: Officials test water, skin care products in mysterious Wisconsin bacteria outbreak. Excerpt:

Health officials are testing water, skin care products and over-the-counter medications, and interviewing patients and families, to try to identify the source of an outbreak of a bacteria that has sickened 44 people in southern Wisconsin and may have contributed to 18 deaths.

Lab tests suggest a common source of the bacteria, called Elizabethkingia. But the investigation, which started in January, has not revealed the source, health officials said.

Most of the patients are elderly, with serious underlying health conditions. No cases have been reported among children, and there is no evidence of transmission from one person to another, said Karen McKeown, state health officer.

We have not been able to identify the common theme between all of these that would point us to the source, McKeown said. We are pursuing every clue.

Dr. Chris Braden of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is assisting in the probe, described the outbreak as a particularly challenging mystery.

We have collected a lot of data ... and havent identified a source or even a strong hypothesis, said Braden, deputy director of the CDCs National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases. This is a difficult one, even in the experience of doing these types of outbreaks in the past.

The 44 cases are in the following counties: Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Fond du Lac, Jefferson, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Sauk, Washington and Waukesha.

UW Hospital and Madisons Veterans Hospital havent had any cases, and Meriter Hospital has had two since 2014, spokespeople said. Kim Sveum, spokeswoman for St. Marys Hospital, wouldnt say if St. Marys has had any cases.

No cases linked to the Wisconsin outbreak have been reported in other states, McKeown and Braden said.

Nationwide, about 250 to 500 cases are known to occur each year, with a few localized outbreaks in recent years, said CDC spokesman Tom Skinner. The Wisconsin outbreak is the largest, he said.

Though 18 people have died, its not clear if their deaths were caused by the bacterial infection or their underlying health conditions, McKeown said. The conditions include cancer, diabetes, kidney disease and alcoholic cirrhosis.

Elizabethkingia bacteria rarely cause illness in humans, the state health department said. Symptoms can include fever, shortness of breath, chills or cellulitis, a skin infection.

The first cases were reported in late December, and the investigation started in early January. The state Department of Health Services didnt announce the outbreak until Wednesday.

McKeown said doctors and everybody who needed to know were notified in early January. Health officials didnt want to alarm the public, she said.
Via Diario Bahia: Combate ao Aedes: inseticida nas casas brasileiras comeca por Itabuna.[Combating Aedes: Insecticide in Brazilian houses begins with Itabuna] The edited Google translation:

The state secretary of Health, Fabio Vilas-Boas, announced today (3) in Salvador, that Itabuna will be the first city in Brazil to use residual insecticide in homesa new stage in fighting the Aedes aegypti mosquito. This is a spraying process widely used in the fight against mosquitoes in areas where there is the highest number of recorded cases. The secretary, however, did not disclose the date of operation.

According to Villas-Boas the plan is to achieve the spraying of as many homes as soon as possible. The announcement was made at the Administrative Center of Bahia, at a meeting with businessmen and representatives of state media outlets. However, the state secretary of Health warned that in the short term, the most effective strategy to control the disease remains the fight against larvae and mosquito outbreaks.

In Itabuna, the Municipal Health HQ to Combat Mosquito is ready to deal 24 hours a day with patients showing symptoms of dengue, chikungunya or Zika. The HQ has recorded 14,350 visits in January and February.

Apart from medical care, the municipality, with the participation of organized civil society, has also conducted cleanup campaigns in neighborhoods, visiting homes, cleaning streets and warning the population to avoid accumulating water, waste and debris on the streets. Furthermore, the permanent guideline is for houses to be inspected at least once a week.
British man dies of heart attack while having coffee at his Patong hotel

PHUKET: Doctors have confirmed that a British man who passed away whilst having a cup of coffee at a Patong Hotel this morning (Mar 4) had suffered a heart attack. The man had only arrived in the country on Wednesday (Mar 2).

deathhealthpatong

By Darawan Naknakhon

Friday 4 March 2016, 10:42AM

The man suffered a heart attack whilst having coffee at the restaurant of the Seaview Patong Hotel. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

Lt Col Weerapong Rakkhito from Kathu Police was called at 7:45am this morning to investigate the death of a British man who had died at the restaurant of the

Lt Col Weerapong Rakkhito from Kathu Police was called at 7:45am this morning to investigate the death of a British man who had died at the restaurant of the Seaview Patong Hotel on Taweewong Rd.

Police arrived at the restaurant area to find the body of the man, name withheld until his family have been informed, lying face up on the ground near a table.

Lt Col Weerapong said, We found no signs of assault or injury on the victims body.

Hotel staff told us that the victim had come down to the restaurant and had some coffee, about 15 minutes later he said he was suffering chest pains and collapsed on the floor.

Staff attempted to revive him and called the hospital for help. When mediacal staff arrived the man was already dead.

The body was taken to Patong Hospital where doctors have since confirmed that the man died of a heart attack. The British Embassy has been notified, he said.

Police arrived at the restaurant area to find the body of the man, name withheld until his family have been informed, lying face up on the ground near a table.

Lt Col Weerapong said, We found no signs of assault or injury on the victims body.

Hotel staff told us that the victim had come down to the restaurant and had some coffee, about 15 minutes later he said he was suffering chest pains and collapsed on the floor.

Staff attempted to revive him and called the hospital for help. When mediacal staff arrived the man was already dead.

The body was taken to Patong Hospital where doctors have since confirmed that the man died of a heart attack. The British Embassy has been notified, he said.
InterBike Hash comes to Phuket

MOUNTAIN BIKING: The term hash has several definitions, most notably H3, HHH, or Hash House Harriers. Originated in 1938 in Malaysia, the Phuket HHH organised themselves in 1986. A new dimension was added in 2004 with the spinoff formation of the social club called Phuket Mountain Bike Hash. This club, is now proudly hosting a three day mountain bike event on April 29 through May 1 in Phuket.



By The Phuket News

Friday 4 March 2016, 11:08AM

Although it is not a race, some just cant hide their competitiveness but it is fine to ignore them.

The event, called the Phuket InterBike Hash, is the fourth such gathering of mountain bike hashers coming from different parts of the world. At last count, registrants represented 23 nationalities.

Like a regular hash, a route for a mountain bike (MTB) hash is marked by bits of paper, usually off-road and varies in riding time from 1.5 to 2 hours. The trail will cross forests, hills, coconut groves, jungle, rubber trees, and other sorts of plantations. In Phuket, there are lots of single track trails still to be found, thanks to the local folks riding motorbikes.

Most hashers, like nature, are quite social, looking for company, a bit sporty and eager to listen to silly talk while enjoying a drink. Although it is not a race, some just cant hide their competitiveness but it is fine to ignore them, there is no trophy to win anyway.

After the ride, there is a get-together (or circle) to share stories about the ride, tease the people who took care of laying the paper trail. Those folks are called the hares. The after ride includes some food, a beer or two, soft drinks, and a good ole laugh shared by all. Be warned, hashers do get so excited that they will start to sing!

The hash is for anyone healthy enough to go for a low pace run or ride. Although, in all honestly, riding off-road can be quite exhausting. With heat and humidity, as in Phuket, it can be very hot and it cant be stress enough the importance of drinking water, before, during, and after the hash.

Women and men from every nationality have a fun time and usually will gain more fitness; once started its easy to love and most are eager to join the monthly gathering.

Limited to 200 registrants, the Phuket InterBike Hash will take place in the Bang Tao, Thalang area. Find all event details, registration requirements, and contact information on the website - http//phuketinterbikehash.com. New to MTB hashing? Virgins are also welcome!
New B500m underpass to be built at Phuket Airport turnoff

PHUKET: A new underpass is to be built at the airport turnoff on Thepkrasattri Rd to the tune of B500 million, with construction slated to start in July.

transportconstructiontourism

By Tanyaluk Sakoot

Friday 4 March 2016, 02:00PM

Highways Dept workers mark out where the new underpass will be built at the intersection to turn off to the airport. Photo: Phuket Highways Office

The Highways Dept will start accepting bids from construction companies in May, Phuket Highways Office Director Samak Luedwonghad told The Phuket News this week.

The Bureau of Bridges Construction Department of Rural Roads in Bangkok will decide who will build the underpass. The project will cost about B500 million, which will include the tunnel, drains, footpaths, traffic lights and others costs. he said.

The contract stipulates that construction must not take more than 720 days, and according to the contract offered construction must start in July, Mr Samak added.

The funds for the new underpass became available after Phuket residents voted against having two flyovers built on Thepkrasattri Rd to ease traffic congestion in their neighbourhoods, Mr Samak explained.

The budget set aside for the two flyovers together totalled about B400m, he said.

So instead of those funds heading out of the province after the residents voted against the flyovers, we asked the Bureau of Bridges Construction Department of Rural Roads in Bangkok to build an underpass at the airport turnoff for about B500mn, he said.

His office was granted approval, and to expedite the project the same design plans used for the Bang Khu Underpass currently under construction at the northern end of the bypass road are to be used.

The same design plans as the Bang Ku Underpass will be used, and these have been already approved by the Department of Highways Bureau of Location and Design, and this helped to make the process faster, Mr Samak said.

The project has already been approved by public hearings, he added.

But only after the construction company has been chosen, which will take a few months, will we exactly how much the underpass will cost, explained Mr Samak.

According to the plans, the required roadworks entire length will be 1.6 kilometres, and the tunnel itself will be 669 meters long.

The tunnel will have two lanes only, and both those lanes will be dedicated to traffic travellnig northbound, Mr Samak said.

The one-lane northbound left-hand turn at any time with care to travel to the airport will remain as it is now, he added.

Above ground, there will be five lanes dedicated to traffic travelling southbound, he said.

I believe, this project will go well according to plan, and we will pay particular attention to safety with this project, especially after our experience with incidents at other projects  such as the gaping potholes in the road, Mr Samak noted.

Also, with this project specifically, I will order our officers here at the Phuket Highways Department to inspect the construction site often to make sure that all the construction is being done safely and in accordance with the contract, he added.

The airport turnoff currently has no official title, but is instead simply known as the intersection of Route 402 (Thepkrasattri Rd) and Route 4026 (which heads west toward the airport).
Phuket celebrates Thailand National Defence Volunteer Day

PHUKET: More than 105 vessels joined the Royal Navy Fleet Review to celebrate Thailand National Defence Volunteer Day this morning (Mar 4) at Phromthep Cape.

culturemarinemilitary

By The Phuket News

Friday 4 March 2016, 05:17PM

Royal Thai Navy Deputy Commander Adm Narongpon Na Bangchang presided over the ceremony leading Navy officials, residents and tourists to enjoy the maritime show.

Every year, Thailand National Defence Volunteer Day is held to honour Thao Suranari or Khun Ying Moe who helped defend Nakhon Ratchasima from Weingchanv (Lao) in 1827. Since that day, March 4 has been known as Thailand National Defence Volunteer Day.

Todays event included a Navy Fleet Review led by the Navy vessel Luang Buri, patrol vessels and commercial fishing boats and the celebrations included a marine rescue show and more.

Awards were also presented to defence volunteers and officers in recognition of the work and help they have given.

Adm Narongpon said, I am glad to see people come together to pay homage to our heroes/heroines that fought the enemy and protected our Kingdom. Weve learned from them that we must stay together in critical times to help each other.
Sorrayuth quits anchor role

BANGKOK: Bowing to increasing public pressure, embattled TV news anchor Sorrayuth Suthassanachinda decided yesterday (Mar 3) to quit his role as a news show presenter after he was convicted and sentenced for embezzling ad revenue from MCOT.

crimecorruption

By Bangkok Post

Friday 4 March 2016, 08:53AM

Fans of Sorrayuth Suthassanachinda watch his morning news programme on Tuesday (Mar 1). (Photo by Patipat Janthong)

The move came after several companies withdrew advertising from TV programmes hosted by Sorrayuth, as media profession bodies, academics and anti-corruption advocates urged him to step down and demonstrate responsibility after the Criminal Court sentenced him to 13 years and four months in prison on Monday (Feb 29).

Starting this evening [March 3], I quit my duty as a TV host to prevent any impact on Channel 3, and to make everyone happy. Thanks to the Channel 3 family. Thanks to the fans. Thanks for the support. Until we meet again, Sorrayuth wrote on his @sorrayuth9111 Instagram account.

Sorrayuth hosted his morning news talk programme yesterday but Teera Tanyapaibul took over with other co-hosts for the evening news show.

The News Broadcasting Council of Thailand, the Thai Journalists Association and the Anti-Corruption Organisation of Thailand were among critics calling on him to end his news anchor role. Saha Group, the countrys largest consumer product conglomerate, began pulling adverts from his programmes after the court ruling.

A Channel 3 source said the channels executives would not find anyone to replace Sorrayuth to host his news programmes. The channels management has allowed Sorrayuths news team to decide how to handle the programmes themselves, the source said.

The programmes hosted by Sorrayuth are Rueng Lao Chao Nee morning news, the news talk programme Rueng Den Yen Nee (The Top Story This Evening), and the Rueng Lao Sao Arthit news talk show on Saturdays and Sundays.

The public relations section of Total Access Communication Plc yesterday said that the company has withdrawn sponsorship for three TV programmes produced by Rai Som Co and hosted by Sorrayuth, a DTAC public relations source said.

According to Dailynews Online, Thanat Thanakitamnuay, the son of Kitti Thanakitamnuay, chief executive of SET-listed property developer Noble Development Plc, also confirmed the company had withdrawn advertising from all of Sorrayuths programmes.

Mr Thanat said the company would not advertise with Channel 3 until the channel takes Sorrayuth off the air. He said his father has taken a stance against corruption and that the company will not support any media outlets, programmes or show hosts who are involved in graft.

According to Dailynews Online, the Government Savings Bank will not renew a contract to buy advertising space on Sorrayuts programmes as part of efforts to uphold good governance standards.

Prasarn Marukpitak, a former National Reform Council member, yesterday said Sorrayuths decision to step down demonstrates that social sanctions play a crucial role in upholding ethical standards. Khunying Porntip Rojanasunan, who is a spokesman for the National Reform Steering Assembly, yesterday stressed the need for the media to be accountable to society, adding that social sanctions against corruption must be sustained and strengthened.

Following Sorrayuths decision to step down, Pitchayatun Chanphut, or Nong Bright, his co-host on the morning news talks programme, wrote on her Instagram account giving Sorrayuth her moral support. Sorrayuth is not only her colleague, but also like a brother, she said.

I will wait for the day when I co-host the programme with you again to make our news family perfect as before, she said.

Meanwhile, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) will meet 26 TV operators next Thursday (Mar 10) to discuss ethical standards in the wake of the Sorrayuth controversy. The meeting will be the first of its kind called by the telecom and broadcast regulator, said commissioner Supinya Klangnarong.

She hopes that commitments from all participants will be made and that guidelines will be issued to all broadcasting channels to follow in the future if similar cases occur again.

Social pressure has never been so strong on the media, she said. If media organisations fail to regulate themselves, she fears that a portion of society will seek state intervention to impose sanctions.

She added that the Sorrayuth case highlighted the varying ethical standards between different operators. While some channels may temporarily take their anchors off air after a complaint is filed against them, others may wait longer or take no action at all, she said.

Ms Supinya called for a thorough discussion among channel executives to determine their code of conduct, arguing that it would create peer pressure, thus raising ethical standards in the longer run.

The public is also wondering why some media personalities have been targeted while others have been let off the hook, she said.

Read original story here.
Any lover of science literature knows the wonderful Dava Sobel, and I really count it as a privilege to know her  a wonderful spirit. You probably have read her Longitude, Galileos Daughter, The Planets, or A More Perfect Heaven  or at least you should read them.



Dava has produced an entertaining work just out that describes an historic encounter of scientists. The story centers on the great Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, who of course produced his landmark work on the heliocentric model of the universe, but withheld it from publication until near his lifes end to avoid probable persecution.



In the spring of 1539, the young German mathematician Georg Joachim de Porris, known as Rheticus, traveled to see Copernicus, and in their association convinced Copernicus to let him publish the manuscript as De revolutionibus orbium coelstium. Thus, one of the greatest works in the history of science saw the light.



Davas splendid new book is a play that imagines and reenacts the historic Copernicus-Rheticus encounter. And the Sun Stood Still: A Play (90 pp., hardcover, Bloomsbury USA, New York, 2016, $22; ISBN 9780802716941) will delight anyone with an appreciation for the history of science and for the approach of ordinary moments toward greatness.



Here is not only the story of the meeting, but in the script, an immersion into 16th-century Europe, its moments, its situations, and its humanity. A magnificent afterword provides context and illumination.



This may be a relatively brief read, but it is one that will change the way you see astronomical history. It may also change the way you see the present.





Follow Dave Eicher on Twitter, and please check out his Author Page on Facebook.




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Gov. Noem will host veterans fundraiser instead of going to SDPB debate

While Rep. Jamie Smith and Libertarian Tracey Quint will be attending the South Dakota Public Broadcasting gubernatorial debate, Gov. Kristi Noem will be hosting a fundraiser for veterans.
"The first victory we can claim is that our hearts are free of hatred. Hence we say to those who persecute us and who try to dominate us: You are my brother. I do not hate you, but you are not going to dominate me by fear. I do not wish to impose my truth, nor do I wish you to impose yours on me. We are going to seek the truth together. THIS IS THE LIBERATION WHICH WE ARE PROCLAIMING."

Oswaldo Jose Paya Sardinas (2002)
Mira Braneck, Staff Writer

braneckm@grinnell.edu

This past week, SGA passed a resolution resisting the Colleges recent announcement that no students from New Orleans Posse will be admitted next year. The resolution demands that the College admit 10 of the 19 Posse scholars who were originally told they had a one-in-two chance of acceptance to the college. Grinnell Student Power Network (GSPN) also put out a petition, which got over 400 signatures, demanding the same thing.

President Kington called for a meeting with NOLA Posse Scholars on Tuesday, March 1, in which he said he did not support the petition.

At the end, we asked if he agreed with and supported our petition  and his answer was no, said NOLA Posse Scholar Tyreal Samuel 19. We actually knew we were going to get a no, but we were optimistic enough to still ask the question.

He just said that he cant put his hand into admissions, said Bailey Bagneris 19, another NOLA Posse Scholar. According to Bagneris and Samuel, an admission representative was not present at the meeting.

I dont make individual admission decisions, Kington affirmed.

Kington will be meeting with Deborah Bial, the founder of the national Posse Foundation, on March 8 in New York. At the meeting, he will be discussing the relationship between the College and the foundation.

Whether we continue Posse or not, what matters more is what happens to the other 1,600 [students], what we as an institution do for the 1,600 to make sure that every single student that shows up here is given the best possible chance of having this remarkable educational experience, Kington said.

Much of the conversation surrounding the suspension of NOLA Posse has been clouded in legal confidential obligations.

Weve agreed that were going to have private conversations between the foundation and the College about the issues, Kington said. Some of the issues involve confidential information that we will never be able to be public about.

Kington could not disclose any issues that exist between the organization and the College.

Part of it was a fundamental disagreement over a number of issues where the Posse [Foundation] was going on one track, we thought they were going on another track, he

said. I would argue, and I think the people who are informed of the facts would agree  it wasnt just Grinnell being evil. And whats more, all the people who have heard all the facts have agreed that we did the right thing.

Kington raised concerns that spending time discussing the future of Posse at Grinnell detracts from other campus needs.

What I sort of find frustrating is that no one is asking the bigger question  No one, not a single student has said, So what are we thinking about in terms of the big picture  so that all our students can have success? Kingston said. In the light of our broad mission  in our obligation to every single student, what do we do there and how does Posse fit into that broader mission? Thats the right question.

Students in GSPN, including Sean Haggerty 19, feel that the suspension of Posse means Grinnell is not living up to the standards determined in the mission.

I just think [the suspension of NOLA Posse] speaks to a difference between Grinnells espoused ideology and the way Grinnell conducts itself on an everyday level or an actual level, Haggerty said. A lot of student leaders of color come from Posse. To me, its unacceptable to say Grinnell is doing a good enough job on its own bringing domestic students of color. I just think thats not true.  In my opinion, no other program offers what Posse offers to this school.  I think Grinnell is not really living up to its values.

Samuel and Brianisha Frith 19, who is also a NOLA Posse scholar, wrote the petition with DC Posse Scholar Selah Mystic 19 and Haggerty. The petition, written entirely by GSPN members, got 427 signatures.

The resolution, passed during a special session of Campus Council on Friday, Feb. 26, was written by Reform Committee Chair Emmet Sandberg 18. It calls for the admission of the 10 students and for the College to clarify the timeline, process and rationale behind the decision without violating any standing legal confidentiality agreements between the foundation and the College.

Basically what were saying is that because we have no information on the matter that would suggest the College was justified and fully in the right in this, Sandberg said. Were asking the students be admitted because they havent been transparent [and] because we have no real idea of why they did it. It seemed like a decision that  negatively affects diversity on campus.

Campus Council met in an open, special session regarding the resolution. While the meeting was initially supposed to be a closed session, Diversity and Outreach Coordinator, Anita Dewitt 17, pushed for an open session. Had the meeting been a closed session, only members of Campus Council and individuals on the agenda would have been able to be present.

There were several attempts to go into closed session and vote by anonymous ballot at the beginning of the session before the actual vote occurred. There was contentious debate amongst the Council and the senator who initially suggested voting by an anonymous secret ballot left the meeting after backlash.

There was a lot of tension in the room, Haggerty said. There was criticism saying that it wasnt a safe space for certain people in the room.

Ultimately, voting went into closed session, and occurred by roll call. There were 13 votes for the resolution, zero against and four abstaining.

One of the abstentions was the Cabinets vote. If there is no consensus amongst Cabinet members, the vote automatically goes to an abstention. According to Mischa Rindishbacher 16, SGAs Administrative Coordinator, some executives were not in support of the resolution.

Given that I am the figurehead of SGA, I support all the members of SGA and anything that is passed through SGA, said SGA President Dan Davis 16. So my personal beliefs take a side page to what is best for the student body given that they are telling me what they want. So, given that the resolution was passed saying that we support Posse scholars, we support the Posse foundation. We want to see ten students brought into this campus out of the 19 finalists of the Posse scholarship process.  I will be supporting that full-heartedly. That is what was passed, that is what I as SGA President move forward saying.

No member of the executive board was present at the special session of campus council. Davis and Vice President of Academic Affairs Emma Lange 16 were at a meeting with the Board of Trustees. There is not currently a Vice President of Student Affairs, though had there been, Davis said that person would not have been able to be present either.

Davis called their absence from the meeting a scheduling mishap.

We told the person scheduling it that we would not be [able to be] in attendance, and through some overlooking of that fact it was scheduled for 4 p.m. During this time, Davis was presenting at the Board of Trustees meeting. It was a very unfortunate mishap, and it was something that I was not happy about, they said.

We realized that many students thought we were not in attendance because we were trying to pull a fast one or something, Davis said. I can guarantee everyone that that is not the case.

Rindisbacher described the atmosphere of the meeting as heated.

Ultimately, I think we were intimidated and somewhat coerced into voting by [GSPN], he said. My biggest issues and concerns were with the process.

More people came to the meeting than any other Campus Council Rindisbacher has seen during his time at Grinnell.

Resolutions, although they do take a stancethey arent guarantees for anything to come out, Davis said. I cant guarantee this, nor can I make the college or the Posse foundation act against a legal contract.
Megan Tcheng

tchengme@grinnell.edu

Food writer and James Beard Foundation Award winner Anya Von Bremzen joined faculty members and students this past Thursday, March 3, to discuss her 2013 culinary memoir, entitled Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking: A Memoir of Food and Longing. Von Bremzens personal narrative connects the experiences of three generations of her family with the changing social and political scene of their home in the Soviet Union.

Her visit, which was sponsored by the Russian Department; the Russian, Central and East European Studies Concentration and the John Crystal Fund for Distinguished Foreign Visitors demonstrates the pivotal role food plays in connecting culture and history.

Everyone has a food experience. Food stories transcend difference. They bring us together, explained Professor Todd Armstrong, Russian. Food is one of the most intimate ways we can [connect] with each other. Anya Von Bremzen has written one of the most interesting food stories in my mind.

In 327 pages, Von Bremzen tackles over a century of Russian history, starting with the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 and ending with Vladimir Putins 21st century rise. By layering her personal experience with the historical context of a changing Soviet Union, Von Bremzen reimagines the possibilities of the food memoir.

If you want a book to be successful, you really have to ask yourself, Where is the narrative? What is going to turn pages? Von Bremzen said about her literary process. Likewise, when you write a book that is genre-busting you always have to be aware where the narrative drive is coming from. For me and my book, that was from my family story.

Throughout Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking, Von Bremzen roots her experience in her relationship with food. She captures her connection with family and a changing country through her food memories, recalling the nostalgia of classic Russian dishes. In this way, Von Bremzen strives to emphasize the interconnected nature of food and culinary experience.

Food is one of the great universals. Everyone eats. It is something that is so fundamental, more than anything else in life. How you eat and what you eat and who you share food withit is all very much a part of personal experience, she explained.

In her memoir, Von Bremzen specifically harkens back to the periods of shortage and absence that characterized Soviet life.

For me, food evokes a whole gamut of emotion, Von Bremzen said. Sometimes the food was spoiled, sometimes it was terrible and sometimes it was great. There were triumphs about scoring something and frustrations about not having it. Constantly, we fantasized about the food we thought wed never see.

Von Bremzen recognizes the disparity between her current relationship with food as a successful food writer and her prior connection to food as a child growing up in the Soviet Union.

It was very ironic that, coming from my background, I became a food writer. Im probably the only food writer who never saw an avocado as a child, Von Bremzen said. And here I was going to all these fancy restaurants  and in the back of my mind, I always thought, This is very surreal. I wanted to put those two sides of my experience together and write about it.

Beyond her personal experience, Von Bremzen recognizes the importance of connecting her story to Russian history as a whole.

[My memoir] is a way of domesticating and personalizing Soviet history. It looks at everyday life as a political concept, but also as something that existed. People lived itthey had their joys and their sorrows and their tragedies, she said.

During her visit to Grinnell, Von Bremzen hopes to build on the universality of food experience and connect with students and faculty.

By seeing and interacting with the person who wrote the book, you add a more human dimension to a subject like Russian history, that might have been more abstract or academic. My goal is to bring everyday life and academic studies together as much as I can, by example. And food really humanizes everything, Von Bremzen said.
Elle Duncombe-Mills

duncombe1@grinnell.edu

The GrinnellNewburg Community School District has found new allies in AmeriCorps service members, who are working to improve the literacy and employment skills of local students.

The program is currently operating on a one-year grant attained by Grinnell College and has eight service members working in the district. These eight members will soon be joined by 30 more as the AmeriCorps Grinnell Partnership program expands in anticipation of its 11-week summer session, set to take place in 2016.

The AmeriCorps Grinnell Partnership program has two major initiatives: the first, called the Campaign for Grade Level Reading, is directed towards younger children with the goal that all students will read at their grade level by third grade. The second initiative, the Skills Gap Initiative, aims to improve the workplace readiness skills for high school students.

AmeriCorps service members work on fulfilling these initiatives in specific action areas, which include attendance, school readiness, healthy readers, skills gap, family and community engagement, volunteer infrastructure, afterschool enrichment, summer programming and summer learning.

Because it is a capacity-building grant, we all have different pieces of the same puzzle, said Jacob Washington 15, AmeriCorps service member and coordinator of the Family and Community Engagement action area.

Washington added that, while the eight current service members are each working on separate action areas, the bulk of the 30 new members would fall within the Summer Programming and Learning sections.

The importance of expanding these summer programs is particularly potent as a new Iowa law looms for the 2016-17 school year. The law will mandate a certain standard of literacy at the third grade level, forcing students who do not meet the requirements to either repeat the grade or else to take summer courses in literacy.

The idea surrounding [these summer programs] is to create an environment where kids dont have three months of nothing, Washington said.

Indeed, the summer sessions are specifically targeted to combat one of the biggest challenges to primary school literacy: summer learning loss. Research reveals that a three-month summer break off from school, especially for younger elementary students, can significantly set back a childs learning progress. The summer programs will aim to increase literacy skills through engaging and fun activities, and through partnerships between students.

For high school students, the summer programs will involve a highly engaged type of learning as well. According to Washington, the Grinnell community has embraced the Skills Gap Initiative program by creating internship opportunities for the students in a variety of different fields.

Its not necessarily learning s chool stuff, but its learning about how to be in a work environment, thats what they want, Washington said. He added that these summer-specific opportunities will allow high school students to gain soft and hard business skills during a time that otherwise would have contained no formal learning.

AmeriCorps has not yet posted job descriptions for the 30 new service member spots, but reports that the positions will be focused on preventing summer learning loss by working closely with kids to improve and retain their literacy skills. The job descriptions will be posted in mid-to-late March, and applications for the positions will be due in April.

New AmeriCorps service members will be trained in May and stay until the end of the summer session in mid-August, working a total of 11 30-hour weeks. For more information and updates on job postings, individuals can contact the Grinnell College Office of Community Enhancement and Engagement at communityenhance@grinnell.edu.

Looking to the future, the AmeriCorps Grinnell Partnership is setting their goals high with proposals of increased service member numbers and program expansion. The Grinnell College Office of Community Enhancement and Engagement manages the current grant, and is applying for another with the Iowa Commission On Volunteer Service to sustain and expand the program into its next year.

This proposal includes the placement of 46 AmeriCorps service members throughout the Grinnell community, who would work specifically on the campaign for Grade Level Reading in after-school and summer programming.

The AmeriCorps Grinnell Partnership received an approval notice for their first grant in June of 2015, and expect to hear back about the second grant around the same time this year.
Susanne Bushman, Copy Editor

bushmans@grinnell.edu

Is any Nicholas Sparks movie complete without a tragedy? The newest adaptation of one of Sparks books, The Choice, reminds viewers of the impending doom of the heroine in the opening scene showing the male protagonist arriving at a hospital bearing flowers. Though really, this opening scene establishes that the real tragedy of this movie is the lackluster dialogue and painfully obvious religious moralizing.

The plot of The Choice is set up as many Nicholas Sparks films begin: boy meets girl, its extremely obvious that they like each otherthough the lack of on-screen chemistry leaves this up to the filmmakers to make clearbut for some reason they resist their attraction. This particular set of lovers, Travis and Gabby, (played by the most attractive people they could get for this movie) are new neighbors in a small coastal town in North Carolina, annoyed by each others disparate lifestyles. Travis is shown as a salt of the earth guy, drinking beer, grilling out and listening to loud music which disturbs the more uptight Gabbys studying for medical exams. Unlike previous Sparks adaptations, the male lead is not universally attractive, though for plot purposes everyone pretends that he is.

Also standing in the way of true love are Travis and Gabbys boring current significant others. Bringing them together are, the best part of the movie in my opinion, their adorable dogs.

Action picks up when Gabbys cute but boring doctor boyfriend leaves town and she and Travis spend a blissful month together, falling in love.

Up to this moment, I can almost get behind this couple. Sure, the dialogue is forced and the actors have almost no believable chemistry. (Their conversation is filled with non-sequiturs and decidedly non-endearing jabs at each other.) At this point in the story, however, the very construction of the plot no longer feels believable and the romantic hero Im supposed to swoon over becomes too misogynistic for me.

Gabbys boyfriend returns home, Travis finds out that she never broke up with him, they fight, Travis tells Gabby he loves her and somehow Gabby nearly immediately ends up engaged to doctor boyfriend.

Of course, Travis is encouraged to fight for her, and he decides to propose to her. Surprisingly enough, she says no. He demands she say yes. She says no. And so on, and so on, until eventually she says, Okay. Travis inability to take no for an answer and his silencing of Gabbys wishes are just the beginning of this movies demise.

Remembering that no good Nicholas Sparks love story is complete without some kind of brush with death, many years into their marriage, during which they do not age a day, Gabby is in a car accidentafter being stood up on a date with her husbandand goes into a coma. Naturally, her husband, two children and parents are devastated. While I somewhat enjoyed the first part of the movie, at this point I would have preferred a coma, too.

Travis, however, is forced into a moral dilemma. Gabby, presumably actually a doctor at this point (though that plot point mysteriously disappeared along with their forced class conflict/any chance of this movie being redeemable) left instructions that she did not want to be kept on life support indefinitely, should this kind of event take place. Once again, however, Gabbys wishes mean nothing to Travis and he keeps her on the ventilator long after shes likely to reawaken.

But of course, his misogyny is rewarded and Gabby awakens for them to live happily ever after with their children, who share a total of three lines, and dogs, who have unexplained and somewhat magical powers.

Truly, the moral dilemma of this story could be compelling, if not for the fact that Gabby, a trained medical professional, left clear instruction about her wishes in this situation. Travis brushes these off as plans you make for way in the future.

But of course, his misogyny is rewarded, and Gabby awakens for them to live happily ever after with their children, who share a total of three lines, and dogs, who have unexplained and somewhat magical powers.

Aside from the plot, I am forced to wonder at what point starring in these films stopped being a good career move for young and beautiful actors. While The Notebook has become a classic in the romance genre, this movie feels like a bastardization of the beautiful tragedy in that story. With over ten years having passed since Nicholas Sparks glory days, it may be time to make way for someone with newer and fresher ideas about love.

The brightside of the trip to the Strand, however, is the discovery that on Tuesday you get a small free popcorn with the purchase of your movie ticket. Worth it.
Steve Yang, Features Editor

yangstev17@grinnell.edu

From Grinnell to Saudi Arabia, Abel Lomaxs 05 journey to becoming a diplomat involved many twists and turns. After spending time in a series of jobs that included serving as a paralegal, research assistant and consular assistant, Lomax will explain his path to foreign service and how Grinnell helped get him there in his upcoming talk, The Unexpected Ways Grinnell Prepared Me for Diplomacy. The talk will be open to the public and hosted today, March 4 at 4 p.m. in ARH 302. The talk is co-sponsored by the Donald L. Wilson Program in Entrepreneurship and Leadership and the Rosenfield Program in Public Affairs, International Relations and Human Rights.

Lomax, who graduated from Grinnell with degrees in History and French and from Georgetown Universitys School of Foreign Service in 2011, is currently a U.S. diplomat in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. His return to campus is a chance for students to meet with Lomax and to hear about diplomacy from an alumnis perspective.

Professor Sarah Purcell 92, History, was instrumental in bringing Lomax back to Grinnell, as both the director of the Rosenfield Program and as Lomaxs former mentor.

The Rosenfield Program focuses on both international relations and human rights, so Mr. Lomaxs work in the foreign service is directly relevant to our mandate, Purcell wrote in an email to the S&B. We bring experts from all over the globe to campus, and its a great opportunity to hear from one of our own.

According to Purcell, Lomax is close to the end of his current consular tour, where he works with immigration visa applicants and fraud prevention for the Foreign Agricultural Service. Lomax has lived in and traveled to numerous locations for his work such as Morocco and Algeria and he will soon be moving to Pristina, Kosovo as an economics officer.

Abel Lomax is a dynamic and accomplished alum, and I think those who come to hear him speak and meet him will come away with great perspectives, Purcell noted.

She added that Lomaxs speech would be of particular interest to students who are considering careers in foreign service or in the implementation of foreign policy, particularly to hear how Lomax has utilized his Grinnell education as a vice consul in the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh.

Students can use this kind of event to hear about policies, to imagine a path for themselves in the future, and to hear about how Grinnellians thrive after graduation, Purcell wrote.
Column by Chase Booth

boothcha@grinnell.edu

I think its fair to say that one does not simply stumble upon LGBTQIA literatureit must be sought out by interested parties. This is especially true for young adult (YA) literature where coming-of-age themes often dont include explorations of sexual identities, particularly if those identities are queer. Thats why I latched onto Benjamin Alire Saenzs most recent YA novel, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, an honest and compelling coming-of-age story about two young boys exploring identities of family, race and queer sexuality.

Aristotle (Ari) and Dante meet at their community pool and become fast friends despite their opposing personality traits. Ari, our narrator, is subdued, quiet and holds a lot of unresolved anger about his familys dark past. Dante is exuberant, free-spirited and open about his struggles with his racial and sexual identity. Dante is a poet and a philosopher; Ari is a loner and a fighter. Their budding friendship is as easy and innocent as the lazy days of their summer together in Southwest America.

Because Ari narrates the story, its his inner thoughts and struggles which drive the narrative. We learn that Aris reticence may be the result of his familys history of secretshis father fought in Vietnam but refuses to divulge details about what he experienced during the war, and his brother is in jail for a mysterious crime which no one ever talks about. In a way, Ari views Dante as someone who is his complete antithesis. Dante is too open, too liberal with sharing whats on his mind. He has feelings and isnt afraid to express them, even if Ari doesnt want to hear them. And when Dante moves away at the end of the summer, it is he, not Ari, who continues their correspondence. Dante sends frequent letters to his friend from his new home in Chicago about all the new things hes tryingdrugs, alcohol, kissing girls, and his secret desire, kissing boys. When Dante moves back he confides to Ari that he may want something more than just a friendship with him. The novel explores the tension this creates in Ari and Dantes friendship.

I think Saenz, as someone who came out fairly late in life, superbly captures the anxieties which young teens may have in the process of exploring non-conventional identities. Ari, in a rare moment of self-realization, recalls his mother telling him once that, We all fight our own private wars. In reading this book, I could tell that Saenz was writing out some of his own private wars with coming to terms with his identity, both as a Mexican-American and as a gay man. I enjoyed watching Ari think through his emotions, especially since this is the kid who said at the beginning of the novel that, I had a feeling there was something wrong with me. I guess I was a mystery even to myself. Ari coming to terms with himself by the novels end sounds like a corny trope but is masterfully done by Saenz in a forum aimed at young adults.

Saenz also depicts the harsh realities of living with non-normative identities. There are hate crimes, bullying and one particularly awful moment of trans violence which seems out of place in a YA novel. But the violence isnt gratuitous (not that theres an acceptable level of violence), and Saenz deals with it in a very serious and honest way.

Most of all, this novel is adorable and will most definitely make you weep tears of happiness at the end. The writing, although simple, is brilliant. There are so many quotable passages, but this one has stuck with me: I got to thinking that poems were like people. Some people you got right off the bat. Some people you just didnt getand never would get. Saenz offers many astute gems like this for his readers, both apt for the novel and applicable to ones own life. If youre looking for your first foray into queer literature, especially books about coming of age, this novel is a good place to start.
Column by Christian Clark

clarkchr@grinnell.edu

Damn Grinnellians, welcome to the Oscars Edition of the Hot Room. So, I can already feel the great expectation falling down on me. Pay close attention to the title, my beautiful readers. This column will not be me thanking the Academy for recognizing Leonardo DiCaprio after 22 years. Instead, Ill focus on why #OscarsSoWhite is #SoReal and why everyone needs to stop pampering DiCaprio and shitting on Will Smith or any other actor of color. Ill also talk about the most awkward moment in the history of the Academy Awards: Stacey Dash grasping for relevance but not understanding that we have moved on from her. Ill lastly sneak in a little blurb about the whole Beyonce vs. Rihanna debate. (I have a preference, but Ill leave my bias behind and fight facts with facts because hoes lie, numbers dont.)

Okay, so the talk of Hollywood has been about DiCaprio finally being recognized by the Academy. Just a few weeks ago, we were arguing about the severe lack of diversity for this years nominees. First, Ill tell you why the conversation about DiCaprios status as an Academy Award Winning Actor is a slap in the face to all Black, Latino/a, Asian, Indian, etc. actors and actresses. We all know the argument made by Jada Pinkett-Smith about the lack of diversity at the Oscars this year, right? Well, if you dont, she put the Academy on blast for releasing an all-White nominee list. An event that should be celebrating all actors and actresses became an exclusive event to celebrate White people. The main argument posed against Pinkett-Smith and all other people of color (POC) who stood with her was that maybe POC were not good enough or qualified enough this year. This was the ultimate slap in the face and I called bullshit.

So, what does Fox News do best? They go and find any way to discredit Black movements. Introducing Dash as the Black representative who will tell it like it is and set her people straight. In the meantime, everyone is yelling that DiCaprio has to be nominated and awarded an Oscar. Which basically equated to, as Bette Midler put it, the show where DiCaprio is overdue and POC can wait until next year.

While they shouted so viciously that POC just were not that good, no one questioned that maybe DiCaprio was not that good of an actor which would explain his lack of an Oscar until last Sunday. That never crossed anyones minds because they were too busy worshipping a very lackluster White actor. Once again, I call bullshit and would like for this post-racial society to be filed as denied and thrown in the trash. Now, Dash added unnecessary fuel to the fire by being Fox Newss Black puppet. She walked on stage during the ceremonies, smiled, said Happy Black History Month after denouncing it and saying it was promoting segregation, and left the stage. During that entire bullshit-ass skit, the entire room was silent, which is where I would like to applaud the White nominees. You recognized ignorance. I love it. Anyway, she is drastically irrelevant and it actually kind of hurts. I wish she had not embarrassed herself. It was not funny and was just boring. Shes boring, end of story. Moving along to more interesting news.

If you had one ticket to go see one artist, would you go see Beyonce or Rihanna? This has been much of the debate this entire week surrounding the releases of Work and Formation. This severe pettiness began when Rihanna liked a tweet seemingly dissing Beyonce. The Beyhive (Beyonces super fans) began to comment bees on Rihannas Instagram posts and tweeted about Beyonce being better. Now, lets see the numbers. Rihanna has sold a combined 238 million records, making her the second most successful female artist in history, only behind Madonna by about 70 million. Beyonce has sold about 180 million records as a solo artist. Rihanna has recently earned her 14th number one single on the Billboard 100, while Beyonce has five number one singles. Beyonce has won 21 Grammy Awards, while Rihanna has eight. So I ask, who would you prefer?

Thanks for joining me in this special edition of the Hot Room. See you next time and continue to dab in peace!
This is not nail clipping. Instead, this is taking a knife to ones own flesh.  Chinese Premier Li Keqiang

Six weeks ago I wrote about zombie factories in China, over capacity, the power of illusion and how the full picture of the Chinese economy couldnt be known.

Healthy debate ensued with one reader in particular who felt the column was another of those trash China articles.

We ended the discussion on good terms.

Its instructive, in light of the commencement Saturday of Chinas National Peoples Congress, to revisit distortions in the Chinese economy. Some of the numbers cited in the previous column were culled from the European Chamber of Commerce in China, which produced, in 2009, a detailed report on overcapacity.

In late February the chamber weighed in again with an update bearing the kind of executive overview designed to make a readers eyes pop. Steel production has become completely untethered from real market demand, and is now more than double the combined production of the four leading producers, the report noted, meaning Japan, India, the U.S. and Russia. Or, citing the National Bureau of Statistics and the U.S. Geological Survey, in just two years  2011 and 2012  China produced as much cement as the U.S. did during the entire 20th century.

The overcapacity problems had not diminished in the six year span between the two reports but had become even more pronounced. Economic restructuring appeared ever more elusive. And any government pledges to address the problem rang hollow, especially in light of a massive $586-billion industrial stimulus package announced in 2008 that spurred untenable borrowing by state-owned enterprises after the world economy had already headed into crisis.

Ballooning domestic capacity was mismatched against shrinking global demand, especially in old-world, or low-tech industries such as steel and cement. The obvious end result has been a dramatic increase in non-performing loans, which doubled in 2015 to $300 billion (U.S.).

The so-called zombie, or walking dead, factory is the visually arresting image to latch on to. Hobbled, debt-ridden operations kept alive in order to roll over unsustainable debt. A New York Times reporter wrote an eerie dispatch from Changzhi, in Shanxi Province, which he found littered with half dead cement factories. If we ceased production, the losses would be crushing, a manager explained to the Times. We are working for the bank.

True, the zombie factory is not exclusive to China, as my reader made clear. Think of an idled North American auto assembly plant, he wrote. But nothing matches the scale and scope of Chinas trauma, with the added distortion that local governments were setting output targets and local officials were promoted or demoted based on GDP growth.

The governments acknowledgment of the problem, and promises of structural reform, are not new: pledges to halt over-capacity date back years, with minor effect. At the time of last years Congress, Premier Li Keqiang emphasized how wrenching change will be. Vested interests will be upset, he said, before offering his more vivid wrist-slashing image. The future, he added, lies in entrepreneurship and innovation. In December Li said his country needed to speed up the move to knock out backward industries and zombie firms.

On Monday, the Chinese government made a move on that front, announcing that layoffs are coming for both steel and coal workers  1.3 million in the coal industry and 500,000 in steel. (For context, Chinas approximately 150,000 state owned enterprises employ 30 million people.) The countrys social security minister said that the laid off workers will be reallocated, though we dont know what that means. Larger numbers were reported by Reuters, citing unnamed sources projecting layoffs of between five and six million workers. Reduction in coal production capacity is targeted at 500 million tonnes; 150 million tonnes in steel, with a completion date of 2020.

That target date ties in with the governments five-year economic plan, which runs to 2020 and will be finalized (read rubber stamped) this weekend. There will be lots of talk about growth in culture, and the aforementioned innovation, and green tech. All good stuff. Pollution spewing smokestack industries will be relegated to the pages of the past. Or at least thats the promise.

jenwells@thestar.ca

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Toronto Irish Film Festival: A fine tradition that doesnt involve ruining perfectly good pints of Guinness with green food dye, the Toronto Irish Film Festival returns this weekend for its fourth edition at TIFF Bell Lightbox. A showcase for the Emerald Isles vibrant film culture, the festival presents features, docs and shorts along with other events and visits by filmmakers eager to show off their wares.

One such director is Mark Noonan, whos in town for the Toronto premiere of Youre Ugly Too, a dramatic vehicle for Game of Thrones star Aiden Gillen  it plays the TIRFFs opening night gala on March 4. Noonans short They Shoot People also plays the short film program on March 5.

Making its Canadian premiere at the fest on March 5, After 16 comprises nine specially commissioned short films that commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rebellion.

Capping off the TIRFFs three-day program on March 6, Shooting for Socrates situates John Hannah of Damages and Spartacus in a sports drama about events surrounding the 1986 World Cup match between Northern Ireland and Brazil. Spoiler alert: The underdogs didnt win but it nevertheless made for a special day in Belfast.

Japanese earthquake anniversary screenings

March 11 marks the fifth anniversary of the earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tohoku that produced massive tsunami waves and led to massive devastation in much of the country. Two film events in Toronto bring attention to ongoing relief and reconstruction efforts. Screening March 9 at the Bloor, Lost and Found depicts the heart-wrenching work of sifting through the wreckage and returning items to their original owners. Directors Nicolina Lanni and John Choi will attend a post-screening Q&A. Then on March 10, the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre hosts a benefit event for the JCCC Foundations Japanese Earthquake Relief Fund that includes a charity Japanese food fair and a showing of Dogs Without Names, a docudrama about the struggle to care for the countless dogs and cats that the disaster left without homes and families. Director Akane Yamada will also be on hand for a post-screening discussion.

The Crisis of the Real: New Chinese Independent Documentaries

The most fascinating program in TIFF Bell Lightboxs winter slate, The Crisis of the Real comprises eight recent docs representing the fresh perspectives and often anti-authoritarian stance of a new generation of Chinese artists and filmmakers. Its no surprise that art-world provocateur Ai Weiwei is part of this movement. Curated by Toronto-bred, Beijing-based critic and programmer Shelly Kraicer, the series begins March 10 with Pingan yueqing, an investigation by Ai and his team into a clash between rural villagers and government officials. Other selections include Cut Out the Eyes (March 13), a portrait of a blind musician and comedian whose lusty performances are much loved in Inner Mongolia, and Peoples Park (March 15), an extraordinary film consisting of an unbroken 75-minute shot that leads viewers through a busy park on a weekend afternoon in Chengdu. The Crisis of the Real runs to April 1.

Books on Film

Making the tricky transition from page to screen remains a hot topic for Books on Film, TIFF Bell Lightboxs monthly program in which the CBCs Eleanor Wachtel hosts discussions with authors and other people connected to prominent big-screen literary adaptations. The sixth season launches March 7 with a rare 35mm screening of the 1998 version of Rohinton Mistrys Such a Long Journey. Director Sturla Gunnarsson tells Wachtel about the Governor Generals Award winners own journey. Her guests for upcoming instalments include Cheryl Strayed (May 9) and Julie Taymor (June 6).

In brief

TIFF Cinematheques winter special screenings slate continues with Roman Polanskis Chinatown on March 4.

David Bowies recent death will surely add a note of poignancy to the Bloors Labyrinth quote-along screening on March 5.

Themes of occupation and immigration run through the films selected for Minority Report, a Pleasure Dome presentation at CineCycle on March 5.

The experimental film series Early Monthly Segments celebrates its seventh anniversary by presenting a night with local Super 8 maestro John Porter at the Gladstone Hotel on March 7.

The Royals 80s-centric Neon Dreams program revisits director Hal Ashbys neo-noir swan song 8 Million Ways to Die on March 10.

jandersonesque@gmail.com

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CHICAGOKim Barker was sitting at a restaurant table with a handful of old Chicago Tribune colleagues, making fun of her eyelashes.

Nobody would have noticed but she pointed them out  fake eyelashes.

The former Tribune war correspondent who wrote The Taliban Shuffle, a darkly comic memoir about living by her wits during the Afghan war, was in town on a movie-studio junket to promote the books film adaptation, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. Wherever she went during her two-day stay, she was first made camera-ready by a stylist.

So goes the surrealism of this moment in Barkers life  arriving in her old city, shepherded by a team of publicists to talk to people in her own profession about the movie that fictionalizes her life and stars Tina Fey.

This is just temporary. This is one of those 15-minute things, she said, as if trying to convince herself that the statement was true.

Barker kept coming back to the fake eyelashes. She was trying to illustrate the strange experience of straddling a line between the real Kim Barker and the fictional Kim Baker that Fey portrays in the movie.

If people want to mix me up with Tina Fey and her character, thats going to happen. But I know who I am and my friends know who I am, she said. And they know Im kind of bemused by this whole idea. Im going around, Ive got fake eyelashes and, look at me, man, Ive got TV anchorman hair. Im coiffed. Look at the makeup on my face. Have you ever seen me with this much makeup on my face?

The answer is no, and this is probably the place to disclose that Barker is my friend. Most of our interaction during her recent visit to Chicago was spent in a group of old Tribune friends eating, drinking wine and celebrating her alleged 15 minutes. So this piece should not be construed as an objective comment on her book or the movie.

But in a series of conversations during her two days in town, she held forth on her experiences covering Afghanistan and Pakistan, and on the strange path toward having an actress regarded as one of the funniest comedians in Hollywood portray her on the screen.

In the movie, which opens March 4, Fey plays a mid-career TV producer stuck in professional and personal ruts, viewing the chance to cover the war as an opportunity to blow up her life.

Thats not really how it happened. As is the case with several details in Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, Barkers story has been condensed and altered to dramatize the experience of being a woman with no war-reporting experience cast into the chaos of Afghanistan.

Despite the fictionalizing of her reality, Barker feels like the story on the screen captures the essential truth of her experience. The experiences of women journalists covering conflict in a Taliban-influenced Islamic culture are central to the themes of the movie. And gender issues were on Barkers mind when the real story began.

I remember after 9/11 happened, (former Tribune reporter) Kirsten Scharnberg and I went to some Italian restaurant that had white butcher paper on the table and we mapped out how many women were getting sent out and how many men were getting sent out (to cover aftermath of the terrorist attacks), she said. As a journalist, you dont really think that much about the risk or of being terrified. It was just, I want to be one of the people who get to see it. 

In the early assignments after 9/11, mostly male reporters were being dispatched to New York, Washington and abroad. But when a group of older male reporters pulled Barker aside and told her then-editor Ann Marie Lipinski wanted more women on the front lines, she knew a moment of truth had come.

And I kind of felt like I had gotten myself into a situation . . . I sort of boxed myself into a position of OK, now you really have to go.

She introduced herself to the papers foreign editor and stated her intentions. To her surprise, he immediately said, Get ready to go to Pakistan.

She called home to tell her family and my parents were like, why would they send you to Pakistan? You havent even been to Europe.

Nonetheless, Barker started making trips to South Asia in early 2002 and was the Tribunes correspondent there from 2004 to 2009. Officially, she was based in Delhi, but she rarely saw her apartment there. Most of her time was spent travelling in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In Kabul, she stayed in a series of ramshackle hotels and guest houses. Her depiction of them in the book leaves readers with the impression of shabby lodgings that were part newsroom, part psychiatric ward, mostly frat house.

Her learning curve was steep.

My news judgment was crap in the very beginning, she said. Her boss in Chicago would call me and ask, Why dont you have that story? Because thats actually news . . . I was working with these fixers in Pakistan. I swear, I had this one guy who, all he wanted to do was come and eat lunch and breakfast . . . and invite all of his friends.

Foreign journalists are heavily dependent on fixers, locals who speak the language and can set up interviews, interpret and guide a correspondent on working safely in a conflict zone. Barkers relationship with her longtime fixer in Afghanistan was one aspect of her story that the filmmakers did not alter.

She remains close to her Afghan fixer, Farouq Samim, and said she would not have written the book in the style she did if he had not escaped Afghanistan with his family. He relocated to Canada in September 2009, and Barker is planning for him to come to New York for the premiere of the movie.

One fundamental change the filmmakers did make has been the source of much grief directed at Barker from her reporter friends. Screenwriter Robert Carlock made Kim Baker and all of the other journalists in the story into television reporters instead of print reporters. In fact, the Kabul High environment she describes in the book was populated almost exclusively by print reporters, she said.

It was mostly print reporters who were based there . . . The heavy lifting really is done by the print reporters, and you dont see any print reporters in the movie, she acknowledged. Of course, I would love my profession to be up there. Id love it to be like Spotlight.

The filmmakers told her that TV reporters shooting video made for better drama than print reporters taking notes and typing stories. While the depiction of rumpled, khaki-clad Boston Globe reporters in Spotlight didnt seem to undermine the drama in that Oscar-winning movie, Barker said it would be hypocritical for her to complain about it.

When you sell the rights to your book, you accept what happens with that. And overall, if youre going to ask me if Im upset with the movie or happy with the movie, Im pleasantly surprised by the movie, she said. I was terrified and thought what if it turned out to be like Anchorman. That would not do the story justice. It would be humiliating.

She thinks carefully about her humorous treatment of a deadly serious subject.

Some people complain about the book; they say its not that funny. Other people say, Oh, she shouldnt have made it be funny because its war. And I kind of feel like, if Im getting those two reactions, I might have hit the right boundaries.

Barker started thinking about writing The Taliban Shuffle sometime around 2006 in conversations with other correspondents.

We always joked about how somebody should write a funny book. An absurd book . . . going from this weird sort of social life to going out to cover conflict. And trying to tell it in a dark comedy  M*A*S*H*-like  vein, she said. It was just something we always talked about, and at a certain point I was like, oh yeah, Im going to do that. And another friend said Im going to, too. It was just something that you said you were going to do but you probably werent.

But then reality set in 2007 when a troubled Tribune company was bought by real estate billionaire Sam Zell, who immediately voiced disdain for costly foreign reporting. Barker recalled that Zell publicly derided a feature story she wrote because a reporter from the Tribune-owned Los Angeles Times wrote the same story. Zell eventually installed new editors who redesigned the paper, leading to shorter stories and more local news coverage. Things soured quickly.

I was doing everything I could to hold onto my job at the point, she said. I had to write a story about Chicago pizza being delivered to the Illinois National Guard for the Super Bowl. That sounds like a really sweet story  like a story you should do. But I spent a lot of time with those guys . . . and some of them were forced to get up at four in the morning to go eat pizza because the Chicago Tribune was there . . . They were annoyed and I was annoyed and then we write this feel-good story about the war and how great is it that we got pizza to the front lines in Afghanistan.

In 2009, as the Tribune was doing away with most for its foreign-reporting staff, her editors replaced her with another reporter and summoned her back to Chicago. She wanted to stay in Afghanistan and considered taking a job outside of journalism. She was in a quandary. She did not want to come back to the Tribunes metro desk and she did not want to leave journalism. In the end, she did neither.

Barker quit the Tribune, hung around Kabul briefly and then won a fellowship that gave her time to write. She set about working on the book that would become The Taliban Shuffle.

I just loved writing so much, and I still love writing so much, said Barker, who is now an investigative reporter for the New York Times. I knew, for myself, if I didnt take a chance and roll the dice and try to write a book, that I would regret that for the rest of my life.

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If cops, search warrant in hand, want to break down your front door  they can.

If cops, or prosecutors, want to scour the hard drive on your computer for deleted material  they can.

If cops, or prosecutors, want to access your phone records  they can.

Theres been no particular outcry over such invasions of privacy by law enforcement and officers of the court. Thats assuming the proper rules have been followed and permission obtained from a magistrate.

Whats so exceptional about an Apple iPhone?

The same iPhone that can track your movement, your tastes, your web browsing history, your shopping preferences, and make this information available to advertisers?

Apple professes such unconditional commitment to safeguarding their clients privacy rights that the technology giant  most valuable private company on the planet, posting record revenues of $75.9 billion for the quarter that ended in December  is going mano-a-mano with the FBI, indeed with the White House, by refusing to unlock one specific password-protected smart phone that might divulge details about a dead mass-murders potential terrorist connections.

Decrypting the iPhone 5C used by San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook  14 slain, 22 wounded  would require Apple writing new software to bypass security protocols, an iron chastity belt feature introduced in 2014 which beef up security on the companys newer devices. Previously, the company could back-door extraction and, in fact, had complied with some 70 Justice Department investigative requests. Its principled absolutism is a rather newfound virtue, doubtless as much to do with marketing strategy as the companys aversion to Big Brother snooping and its iteration of risks that might be unleashed by cracking open this Pandoras Box: Vulnerability to hackers and cybercriminals, foreign governments demanding the same tool for their own nefarious purposes, precedent-setting danger of intrusion on the privacy and civil rights of citizens.

The iPhone monster is adamant it will fight the chilling order  issued Feb. 16 by a California federal judge  to remove whatever impediments are preventing the FBI from accessing data which might be crucial to unsnarling Farooks associations; whether he and his wife (also killed in a gun battle with police) were lone operators or entangled with terrorist groups that threaten national security. Because you can be damn certain that the next time an attack is committed on U.S. soil, the public, media, elected representatives will howl: Why didnt you protect us? Why couldnt you prevent it? Stack that up against suspicious minds that well remember big-shoulder FBI transgressions in the past. Nobody believes this fight is about one dead guy, one phone.

Apples appeal of the California order will be heard later this month, and the company has made clear it will fight this cause all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary. CEO Tim Cook has called the decryption program being urged of his corporation the software equivalent of cancer.

FBI director James B. Comey emphasized the agency is being increasingly confronted with criminal investigation where vital evidence resides on devices such as mobile phones, tablets and laptops. If we cannot access this evidence, it will have ongoing, significant impacts on our ability to identify, stop and prosecute these offenders.

The agency, argued Apples general counsel, is after nothing less than a backdoor into the iPhone. Comey countered the FBI just wants Apple to remove the snarling cur at the gates. Were asking Apple to take the vicious guard dog away and let us pick the lock.

Twenty-six minutes, Comey contended, is all the time it would take to conduct whats known as a brute force attack on the target iPhone  testing multiple passcodes in rapid succession. Of course, the FBI could have avoided this particular confrontation had it not cocked up immediately after the San Bernardino rampage. It ordered a reset of Farooks password to his iCloud online-storage account (which Apple was sharing with the agency in any event); FBI technicians believed, wrongly, that resetting the password would gain them access to information stored on the iPhone. Instead, that gambit brought down the cyber bars.

Its all shaping up as one of the biggest, most polarizing, clashes between dueling interests in history. Apples rivals have generally lined up on the corporations side because theyll ultimately be impacted too. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg: I dont think building back doors is the way to go, were pretty sympathetic to Tim and Apple. Google boss Sundar Pinchai called the California judges order a troubling precedent.

Intriguingly, Microsoft founder Bill Gates has sort of broken ranks, promoting compromise. This is a specific case where the government is asking for access to information, he told The Financial Times last week. They are not asking for some general thing, they are asking for a particular case. It is no different than (the question) should anybody ever have been able to tell the phone company to get information, should anybody be able to get at bank records.

Appearing on Bloomberg, Gates afterwards said he was disappointed by how his comments had been interpreted. He clarified yet didnt backtrack.

Apple, and most of Silicon Valley, appears to be on the wrong side of public opinion in this stand-off. A poll conducted last week by Morning Consult, a media and technology company in Washington, just over half of Americans believe the corporation should unlock that iPhone, while 33 per cent think it should not cede to the FBIs demands.

There wont be a resolution any time soon, as the matter winds its way through the courts and Congress  the latter, via legislation, where many observers believe this decision should be made. President Barack Obama  still personally loyal to BlackBerry  has expressed his support for the FBI position. Yet the Obama administration last year decided against a legislative remedy, indicating it would rather continue lobbying the tech industry to willingly install backdoor portals rather than ask Congress to formulate a binding law.

Again I ask: Whats so sacrosanct about the iPhone?

Rosie DiManno usually appears Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

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Dick. Dicker. Dickest.

I mean, if weve now reached the point of phallic metaphors in American politics, lets call out the triumvirate of Republican presidential aspirants  Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Donald Trump -- for what they are: Variations on a pecker-head theme. (Leaving aside John Kasich, since he seems to be fighting an undercard off in the grown-ups margin.)

Thats penis, as in both metaphor and direct dis at the size of Trumps manhood. Which is in the schoolboy taunt neighborhood where Marco Rubio took the freewheeling Republican primary season last week, at a Virginia rally. Hes always calling me Little Marcoand Ill admit hes taller than me, hes 6-foot-2, which is why I dont understand why he has hands the size of someone whos 5-foot-2. Have you seen his hands? You know what they say about men with small hands.

Uh-huh, we know. But it was hands up and spread out at Thursday nights Republican debate in Detroit, as the jokey allusion rocked even the establishment crowd at the Fox Theater  clapping and cheering like a daytime talk show audience  when Trump assured Rubio there was nothing wee about his willy. I guarantee you, theres no problem. I guarantee you.

Which motivated CNN to run this headline: Donald Trump defends size of his penis.

For testament of his bona fides, Trump could refer to the infamous declaration from Wife No. 2, Marla Maples, who said of sex with The Donald: Best Ive ever had. But Trump has erased Maples, mother to one of his children, from his biography.

As the Republican primary season sinks deeper into a mosh-pit of slime, it has become abundantly clear to any sane observer that the party of Abraham Lincoln has nothing to offer beyond did-he-just-say-that?!, astonishment, bile, and reactionary buzz.

Its not so much that front-runner Donald Trump is such a buffoon. Its that those struggling to usurp him in the polls are scarcely any better. And now theyre mimicking his style by ratcheting up the insults, the mud-slinging, the preposterous rhetoric, unwittingly  because they are profoundly witless  proving that imitation is the highest form of flattery.

They come not to mock Trump but ape him.

The billionaire businessman spent much of Thursday on the defensive, repeatedly attempting to drown out his attackers by shouting over their taunts with blovian barbs of his own, and one essential Trumphism: I won 10 states, he reminded of the 15 primaries that have been contended thus far. I am by far the leader!

Avuncular Republicans might wring their hands, appalled at where Trump is hauling the Grand Old Party, but they took it in that direction first; Trump is merely building his wacko would-be White House on the foundation they built over the past two decades. With every debate, every cockamamie statement, every vulgar and racist and xenophobic yip, his populist base expands, even after Trumps worst performance of the campaign, in Houston nine days ago. His juggernaut keeps rolling along, which speaks volumes about the cantankerous state of the Republican vox populi.

Theyre a mean, bitter and deeply loco people for whom perceived authenticity checkmates folly and foolishness. It apparently doesnt matter much that just about every Trump promise would hurt the blue-collars and uneducated he professes to love; that Trump-branded clothing is largely made outside America; that his tax-cuts are aimed squarely at the wealthy; that he would get rid entirely of the Environmental Protection Agency and Obamacare (as would all the Republican candidates); that he would issue orders, as Commander-in-Chief, in blatant violation of international war crimes statutes. Former National Security Agency and CIA director Michael Hayden said recently that the U.S. military officially might refuse orders to, for example, target the families of terrorists. Trump, on Thursday: Theyre not going to refuse me. If I say do it, theyre going to do it.

Its all so much make-believe, on Planet Trump.

His rivals  tag-teaming Little Marco and Lyin Ted -- would have you believe that this constituency has been held in some kind of trance, as if hypnotized, and theyre now trying to snap them out of it by playing the blowhards game. This seems particularly illogical for Rubio, who has his eye on moderate voters. But what does moderate mean in the context of Republicans, circa 2016, after two Barack Obama terms defined by GOP obstructionism in Washington?

Rubio scored a direct hit on an issue thats really of meager significance  alleged fraud at the now-defunct so-called Trump University (really, a glorified series of real-estate seminars), where former students are now suing to get their money back. Cruz picked up the bat. Let me just (ask) the voters at home: Is this the debate you want playing out in the general election? If we nominate Donald, were going to spend the fall and the summer with the Republican nominee facing a fraud trial. Trump, obviously peeved, interrupted: Oh, stop it. Its a minor civil case.

Otherwise, hard-ass evangelical Cruz pitched into the conservative wheelhouse, painting Trump as a closet liberal  and there can be no worse accusation in Republic-Land -- who had donated and befriended such conservative gorgons as Hillary Clinton.

It would be overstating the case to claim that Trump was shaken by assaults to the right and left of him in Detroit. But the attacks clearly got under his skin as the face-off deteriorated into reality TV verbal melee and Trump committing the unthinkable  which should, in fact, be seen a strength were politics a more noble arena  by reversing himself on some key platform planks, defending the flip-flop on, say, now calling for increased visas for highly skilled foreigners. Ive changed, he said at one point. And: Ive never seen a very successful person who wasnt flexible.

With his 10 primary victories  four primaries on tap for Saturday  Trump still has won less than half of the delegates awarded to this point. Can he be stopped? Unlikely, unless the three opponents left on the slate collectively manage to prevent anyone from winning the nomination by dividing up what remains of the delegates. That would force the spectacle of a brokered convention.

At the end of a bleakly depressing night, all four refused to break the last taboo standing, each asserting he would support the Republican nominee, whoever emerges triumphant.

Cruz, Rubio and Kasich obviously meant Trump. But the Donald, while sharing the moment of harmony, sounded incredulous.

Even if its not me?!...Yes I will.

Then they all fist-bumped.

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Billionaire Donald Trump  having defied nearly every other unwritten rule of presidential campaigns  spent part of Thursday evening defying perhaps the greatest of all: He gave an impassioned defence of flip-flopping.

Ive never seen a very successful person who wasnt flexible. Who didnt have a certain degree of flexibility ... You have to be flexible. Because you learn, Trump said, after a video montage in which Fox moderators showed him changing his mind about the Iraq War, about whether to admit Syrian refugees, about whether President George W. Bush had lied to the American public. Trump, in essence, faced the kind of accusation that had burdened past nominees like Mitt Romney. And he said: why not? You have to show a degree of flexibility. If youre going to be one way, and you think its wrong, does that mean the rest of your life you cant change?

The crowd cheered.

Floridas Sen. Marco Rubio sought to turn that into a mistake.

Theres a difference between flexibility, and telling people whatever you need to get them to want you to do, Rubio said, repeating an attack line he used several times during the night. You were willing to say whatever you had to say in order to get them to give you their money. And were not going to do that with our country.

Trump reversed himself on a key part of his own immigration platform  calling for an increase in visas for highly skilled foreigners during Thursday nights debate, even though his own campaign website still calls for the opposite.

Im changing. Im changing. We need highly skilled people in this country, Trump told Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly, after she pointed out that Trumps official campaign policy was still  according to the website  that there should be fewer visas given to highly skilled foreigners. We absolutely have to keep the brainpower in this country. Im changing it, and Im softening the position.

That exchange was one of several tough exchanges between Trump and the moderators, and rivals Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Rubio.

After months of flailing and attacking one another, Cruz and Rubio seemed to advance a relatively coherent argument against Trump  arguing that, in private, he had hurt the very blue-collar workers he now wants to represent.

Rubio pressed him about the fact that Trump-branded clothing is often made overseas, and about the widespread hiring of foreign workers on visas at one of Trumps properties in Palm Beach, Florida.

Youre making your clothes overseas, and youre hiring your workers overseas, Rubio said at one point, referring to the widespread hiring of foreign workers on visas at one of Trumps properties in Palm Beach, Florida.

To defend himself, Trump sought to explain the economics of owning a Palm Beach resort. It has a very short season. Its called The Season, Trump said, saying that Americans were not interested in short-term work. Other hotels do the exactly same thing.

Cruz, for his part, pressed Trump about reports that he had given an off-the-record interview to the New York Times editorial board in which Trump supposedly signalled flexibility on his hard-line positions on immigration.

Cruz pressed Trump to tell the Times to release a record of the off-the-record interview.

Trump refused. Earlier in the evening, he had said his respect for the press was too great. I have too much respect for that process to say, Just release that, Trump said.

If, in fact you went to Manhattan and said, Im lying to the American people. ... Cruz said.

Ive given my answer, Lyin Ted, Trump said.

At times, prodded by the moderators, the debate turned for short periods to questions of policy. At one point, a moderator asked Trump about an interview with former National Security Agency and CIA director Michael Hayden, in which Hayden said the U.S. military might refuse orders that Trump has contemplated, including plans to kill the family members of Islamic terrorists.

They wont refuse. Theyre not going to refuse me, Trump said. If I say do, theyre going to do it.

Rubio returned to a line of attack that he hoped  in vain  would sway voters before Super Tuesday, saying that Trump was a phony saviour. He has spent a career convincing Americans that hes something hes not, in exchange for their money, Rubio said. Now hes trying to do it in exchange for their country.

At one point, Trump appeared to promise that he would move that manufacturing to U.S. factories. I will do that, he said.

Hes not going to do it, Rubio said.

That set off a round of crosstalk and insults, with Trump saying to Rubio, Dont worry about it, little Marco.

Moderator Chris Wallace interrupted them, trying to bring order back to a debate that had already  even in its first half-hour  featured a joke about genitals, an insult about Trump Steaks, and candidates repeatedly interrupting one another. Even in this campaign, in which the insult has been the main currency of political discourse, this stood out as an ugly debate.

Youve got to do better than this, Wallace said.

Wallace had one of most powerful moments of the early going, pressing Trump to explain a claim that he would save $300 billion (U.S.) from Medicare drug purchases, when the U.S. only spends $78 billion total on Medicare drug purchases. Trump seemed to dodge the question, despite Wallaces repeated efforts to pin him down.

Earlier in the debate, Wallace asked Trump to respond to Mitt Romney  the 2012 Republican presidential nominee  calling him a phony, and challenging Trump to campaign without insults.

Well, look, he was a failed candidate, Trump said of Romney. He failed miserably.

That, it turned out, was the most high-minded portion of the early minutes of the debate. Within its first 10 minutes, Trump had made what may have been the first reference  although a slightly veiled one  by a presidential debater to his or her own genitals.

He hit my hands. Nobody has ever hit my hands, Trump said, referring to Rubio, who had indeed said that Trumps hands were small in recent days, and intimated the same another part of Trumps anatomy. Trump noted that: Rubio, he said, had implied Something else must be small.

Trump spoke to the national TV audience. I guarantee you theres no problem, Trump said.

This debate was a particularly raucous one, with audiences booing and cheering the attacks between the candidate, and Trump and Rubio talking over each other.

Rubio, in a moment that was only slightly less unprecedented than Trumps self-assessment, defended his strategy of personally attacking Trump. Effectively, he said Trump had started it.

Donald Trump has basically mocked everybody with personal attacks, Rubio said. If theres anyone whos ever deserved to be attacked that way, it was Donald Trump.

The debate was televised on the Fox News Channel. It is being held in Detroit, where voters there and across Michigan will vote in the state primaries on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day in a speech in Utah, Romney echoed a criticism that Rubio and Cruz have been making for a week: That Trump is a con artist, selling Americans on promises he cant keep.

Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud, Romney said in a speech Thursday morning at the University of Utahs Hinckley Institute of Politics. His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University. Hes playing the American public for suckers: He gets a free ride to the White House, and all we get is a lousy hat.

Trump struck back within hours, with a personal cut-down of Romney  whom Trump had endorsed during the 2012 GOP primary. He called Romney a choke artist and a failed candidate.

You can see how loyal he is, Trump said. He was begging for my endorsement. I couldve said, Mitt, drop to your knees, and he wouldve dropped to his knees. He was begging. True. True. He was begging me.

Trump may also face questions about a Washington Post report, published Thursday afternoon, which found that Trump has only given away about half of the $6 million he said hed raised for veterans groups during a fundraiser in Iowa in January.

Thursdays debate comes at a crucial point in this entirely unexpected GOP primary. Trump dominated the primaries of Super Tuesday this week, and now he has a significant lead over his top rival, Cruz, in the race for Republican convention delegates.

But in a divided field, Trump has still won less than half of all the delegates awarded so far. That leaves his opponents with a viable  but risky and destructive  strategy. The only way to stop Trump from winning the nomination may be to stop anyone from winning it: dividing up the delegates so that no one has a majority.

Then, the theory goes, the party would head into a chaotic convention  the first true floor fight for any party in decades  and hope that a candidate other than Trump would emerge.

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The good, even visionary, news in Ontarios recent budget was elimination of student debt to cover tuition, for all families under $50,000 of income and many above. It amounts to free tuition. It doesnt matter if theres no new money provided to do it, or if its just moving money around, as the opposition says. It doesnt matter because a fateful dynamic was finally confronted.

Its about debt and it doesnt just apply to students but to the economy itself. Tuition has been allowed to rise continually, which then must be covered by making ever larger student loans available. This is a formula for disaster: for students, society and economic growth.

How so? The kids finish university, start making money, and it goes to retiring their debt; not to buying homes, starting a business or hiring music teachers for their own kids. Sometimes they emerge from debt but not soon  Barack and Michelle Obama didnt retire their student loans till he became a U.S. senator in 2004. This is the magic of compound interest and always has been. The lenders thrive and the debtors gasp for air. You load 16 tons and whaddya get?

Im indebted to U.S. economist Michael Hudsons new book, Killing the Host, for a simple reminder of these realities. (What ya get is another day older and deeper in debt.) After a distinguished lifetime of economisting, Hudson still manages to be flabbergasted at the con pulled off by the financial sector who claim to add to productivity with their activity versus undermining it. (Theyre responsible for an economic subtrahend, he says, not an increase.) Debt preceded capitalism and almost everything else, and has always been parasitic and economically destructive. That hasnt changed since ancient Mesopotamia.

In feudal times, lords and nobles conquered land, then extracted rent from serfs and peasants who worked it: making money while they slept, said 19th-century economist James Mill. They were a tumour on the body politic. Finance honchos now make money while they sleep or snort coke. Classical economists like Adam Smith or Mill, whom Hudson reveres, exposed the scam and insisted on distinguishing between productive and unproductive wealth. Hudsons hidush, as we used to say in Talmud study  a minute, brilliant twist on a big old truth  is that todays feudal wastrels, sucking up wealth via interest that couldve created something, are in FIRE: finance, insurance, real estate.

The masters of debt always drive up costs to debtors till they cant pay. Then what? In ancient times they took people into debt bondage as virtual slaves. (Hence the term, bonds.) Today theyre more likely to try to conscript the common possessions of a society: natural monopolies like highways (since you cant have competing highways), public schools, or energy utilities. These rules apply to governments as well as individuals. Look at poor Greece, anything that was recognizably its heritage is being privatized in lieu of loan payments.

And so we come to Kathleen Wynnes bad budget idea, equal to her good one on tuition: selling off Hydro One to build some transit she promised but is afraid to raise taxes for. Nothing makes Ontario look as much like Greece as privatizing, i.e. gifting, Hydro to the parasites. Once they get it theyll inevitably jack up rates, if only to pay off the loans they took out themselves (or loaned themselves) to do it. For a one-time return on a subway or two, we give up perpetual funding that could keep the universities tuition-free forever, while growing the economy in tandem. This again is the economic illogic of debt.

Who comes up with the particularly bad ideas? Apparently its former civil servants cum bankers like Don Drummond and Ed Clark who the Liberals love to consult. I can hardly think of a worse combo of arrogance (Yes, Minister) and narrow, greedy economic vision. Why isnt anyone whos actually produced something  as a business person or an echt worker  ever drafted for this stuff?

Hudson is also obsessed by the ancient Near East because its there that people realized debt catastrophes were inevitable and their only solution was periodic massive debt cancellations, as in the Biblical jubilee year. Its still true, he says. The only question is who gets the forgiveness (now called writedowns or bailouts): the lenders, who caused it all, or the debtors, who lose everything?

Rick Salutin's column appears Friday. ricksalutin@ca.inter.net

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      :   ,       ;       
Country

Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Canada Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cuba, Republic of Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Dominican Republic Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Haiti, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Jamaica Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Mexico, United Mexican States Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu US Virgin Islands Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. 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
Editors' pick: Originally published March 4.

The business world was shocked by the car crash death of Chesapeake Energy's (CHK) former CEO Aubrey McClendon, a legendary and brash energy mogul. The timing of his death has raised suspicions.

McClendon was indicted on Tuesday by a grand jury on antitrust charges of conspiring with another company to rig oil and gas leases in Oklahoma to keep prices low between 2007 and 2012. The next morning, he crashed his car in Oklahoma City. He was expected to turn himself in, according to a CNBC report. McClendon had vowed to clear his name and said he was the first person in the oil and gas industry in over 110 years to be accused of a crime related to joint bidding on a leasehold. Yet Oklahoma City police said he had time avoid crashing into an embankment.

The police will likely conclude their investigation later this month.

McClendon left Chesapeake in a shambles, generating huge debt and allegedly mixing his personal and business finances. Chesapeake has suffered more than most oil and gas companies amidst huge declines in oil prices and other issues. The company, which has lost more than 80% of its share price over the past year, is now one of the most dangerous stocks on the market.



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To be sure, over the past two years, Chesapeake has drawn the attention of Federal and state investigators. The company settled one lawsuit with the state of Michigan last year on charges similar to those McClendon was facing.

Yet more recently, Chesapeake cooperated with the U.S. Department of Justice to help bring the McCledon indictment.

Still, it is unclear if Chesapeake will escape further charges. The Department of Justice has not said what its next steps might be.

An Outstanding Entrepreneur

The man who was famous for his gargantuan appetite for risk started as a leasing agent, or "landman." His job involved putting together esoteric leasing and royalty agreements between ranchers and crude producers. Together with another agent, Tom Ward, he co-founded Chesapeake Energy in 1989.

At Chesapeake Energy his group of landmen would focus on regions rich in oil and and persuade landowners to lease the rights to drill beneath their land.

He was also instrumental in the shale oil boom in the U.S. through his endorsement of the hydraulic fracking technique that helped release untapped oil deposits in shale rock formations.

McClendon's willingness to take risks and his business acumen drove Chesapeake to become the second-biggest natural gas producer after Exxon Mobil. It also created a pile of unmanageable debt for the company. This, along with his blurring of personal and professional finances, rattled investors and ultimately attracted activist investors who ousted him as Chesapeake's CEO in 2013.

Chesapeake shares rallied over 23% as the company was not named in the charges filed against McClendon on Tuesday and after oil prices rebounded.

But the company agreed to create a $25 million compensation fund as part of a settlement on racketeering, fraud and antitrust charges with the state of Michigan last year.

Chesapeake won immunity in the McCledon matter in exchange for its cooperation, according to a Bloomberg panel discussion. A Chesapeake spokesperson said that it was unlikely to face charges and that it had made changes to ensure that it would not violate any laws.

Following his departure from Chesapeake, McClendon had started his own energy exploration and discovery company, American Energy Partners. That company has not been mentioned as a target of investigators.

Meanwhile, Chesapeake will hope that it stays off investigators' radar.

Chesapeake is a terrible investment right now. If you want to see a list of the WORST stocks you can own in today's turbulent market, we urge you to take a look at this report called 29 Dangerous Stocks: Sell Now! Inside, you'll see a full list of the market's most overvalued stocks, and learn the process you can use to keep avoiding them in the future. Click here now for a copy.

This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned.
About half of American workers in the private sector are not planning long term for their future, lacking any sort of pension or retirement savings plan. Five demographic groups - employees of small businesses, young workers, low-income income workers, minorities and women - are most likely to go without coverage, according to the AARPs Public Policy Institute.

But various states are developing and looking into options that could offer these types of workers a solution, and grant them easier, cheaper access to retirement plans. Four states -Washington, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Illinois - have so far passed legislation to create different retirement savings plans that are broadly regulated by the states. The plans vary in detail but generally establish automatic IRA payroll deduction for employees whose businesses lacking private plans.

What's more, 25 states in total are looking into retirement savings programs that are set up by the state but are typically managed by private contractors. Some of the measures have stalled, but the overall movement has captured the support of organizations like the AARP and the SEIU. Meanwhile, some trade association groups like the American Council of Life Insurers maintain reservations about state backed plans, calling into question their consistency and legality.

I think this is probably one of the biggest steps the U.S. has taken since the development of the IRA and the 401(k) in the last 40 years, said David C. John, the senior strategic policy advisor for the AARPs Public Policy Institute. There is a growing momentum, not in any particular type of state, but we are seeing this in rural states, Democratic states, a variety of states moving along this path.

Small employers often do not want the hassle and responsibility of setting up retirement plans for their employees, says Karen Friedman, the policy director of the Washington D.C.-based nonprofit organization Pension Rights Center. In that case, or in the case of freelance, contract workers, for example, people still can approach any number of financial institutions on their own and set up an Individual Retirement Account, or IRA.

They can do that, but most of them dont, Friedman said.

Part of the problem people can face is unregulated fees and the complicated navigation that comes with selecting a suitable, affordable private retirement plan. Another issue is the reluctance, or inability, to independently set aside a bulk amount of savings each month.

If people are offered a payroll deduction with a retirement savings plan they are 50 times more likely to go out and participate than go out and find their own plan, explained John. Part of that is the simplicity of the option and part of it also is due to the fact that there is essentially guidance there because a provider and plan has been selected. You dont have to sit and think do I need money for the kids to go to the dentist...the money is just going to be paid out automatically.

State plans are aiming to make retirement saving easier for non-protected workers and generally could prove a more cost efficient option than private plans, Friedman says. While plans differ, states typically are creating programs that establish automatic IRA deduction plans. In the case of Illinois, businesses that have been in existence for at least two years and have 25 or more employees will enroll their workers in the new state program, which will pool assets in a single fund. Employees can determine their contribution level and can also opt out of the plan.



In Rhode Island, most businesses that have five or more workers would be required to participate. Eleven additional states are now in the process of studying similar plans or have created a task force dedicated to the issue.

The state plans would have public regulation, but in some cases, like in that of Illinois or the proposed plan in Oregon, peoples money would be managed by private sector entities the states would contract. That funds manager would be selected by the state because of offerings and low fees, according to the AARP, eliminating the concern for people to gave to deal with maybe being ripped off.

Independent workers could potentially have the chance to opt in to these plans, though that option has yet to be firmly established.

Researchers have estimated that this method of pooling investment funds could produce a slightly greater return than private 401(k) plans, in part because of lower fees.

Yet the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigative arm of Congress, has questioned if states are legally able to offer these programs, or whether they would contradict with federal law and regulations on retirement. It suggested last year that Congress provide states with greater flexibility on coverage.

The life insurance lobbying and trade group The American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) holds some of these concerns, according to John Mangan, regional vice president. He explained the disconnect that exists between state plans and federal laws.

The employees concern is that it does not mesh, he said.

Another issue is how workers in Arizona or Washington or Iowa, for example, could be treated differently with different levels of oversight when it comes to retirement savings.

We want workers treated equally across state lines, Mangan said.

The ACLI supports a number of federal measures on the table, including President Obamas plan to make it easier for employers, not bound by one industry, to join together in a multiple employer plan, known as MEP.

Yvonne Walker, the president of the SEIU Local 1000 in California, notes that money from these plans will only be a supplement to Social Security - and even then, not enough for most people to live off of into their later years.



Still, she says these plans are the best options for many people right now.

It isnt a surprise that on the federal level things are not working real well right now and I dont think we have any choice but to look at state based plans, she said. I dont think we can wait and allow working Americans to keep on working and prevent them from retiring.
Editors' Pick: Originally published March 4.

Don't hold your breath for Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, or, for that matter, John Kasich -- to be getting together for brunch any time soon.

The Republican presidential contenders gathered in Detroit Thursday for their 11th debate of this election cycle, and it was a doozy. The heightened rhetoric of the candidates in the days leading up to the event indicated it was likely to be a bloodbath, and viewers were not left disappointed.

"No matter what happens, the Republican Party is hurtling toward disaster," declaredVox's Matthew Yglesias in the wake of the event.

"It might be too late to beat Donald Trump, but it wasn't too late to give Trump a beating," wrotePolitico's Glenn Thrush.

The debate, hosted by Fox News, appeared in the opening minutes as though it might not be that bad.

Frontrunner Trump fielded a question about 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney's condemnation of him earlier in the day in typical style, calling him a "failed candidate" and moving on to discuss three of his favorite topics -- Mexico, Japan and China. He also reiterated his disavowal the Ku Klux Klan and David Duke, righting a wrong from the previous weekend.

When moderator Bret Baier asked Marco Rubio about how his campaign has increasingly turned to personal attacks over the past weeks as his rival Trump has consolidated his support, the senator defended his offensive. ("If there is anyone who has ever deserved to be attacked that way, it has been Donald Trump, for the way he has treated people in the campaign.") But then, he said he hoped the evening's conversation would focus on the issues.

It didn't.

Trump subsequently admitted that Rubio might not be "that much of a lightweight" before launching into the subject of his small hands. And then he pivoted the conversation to the size of another part of his anatomy.

"He referred to my hands, if they are small, something else must be small. I guarantee you there is no problem. I guarantee," Trump said.

It was all downhill from there.

The evening often devolved into an all-out brawl between Trump, Rubio and Ted Cruz, with John Kasich -- largely cast as the adult in the room -- even getting a few subtle jabs in now and then.

Rubio nailed Trump on his foreign policy knowledge, saying he's "someone who thinks the nuclear triad is a rock band from the 1980s," and hit him on his business practices of manufacturing clothing abroad and hiring foreigners at his hotel.

"He can start tonight by announcing that all the Donald Trump clothing will no longer be made in China and in Mexico, but will be made here in the United States," Rubio said.

Trump's retorts were, in true Trump fashion, largely personal and, at times, petty. "This little guy has lied so much," he said in response to Rubio's clothes manufacturing indictment.

At other moments of the evening, Rubio and Cruz seemed to team up against the boisterous billionaire in attacks on Trump University, over which Trump has become the subject of a class action lawsuit, and calls for the release of the transcripts of off-the-record interviews with the New York Times in which BuzzFeedreports Trump called into question whether he would stand by his own immigration views.

"You know what they got in these courses?" Rubio asked, referring to Trump University. "Stuff you can pull off of Zillow." (Zillow is a popular real-estate website.)

"If we nominate Donald, we're going to spend the spring, the fall, and the summer with the Republican nominee facing a fraud trial," Cruz said of impending Trump University litigation.

Trump's reply: "Give me a break. It's a minor civil case."

The real estate magnate brushed aside calls for him to release the Times transcripts, admitting that while he "may have discussed something" like what was suggested with the publication, he would "never release off-the-record conversations."

"Donald, you could resolve this issue very quickly by simply releasing the New York Times tape," said Cruz.

"I've given my answer, Lyin' Ted," Trump said when pressed repeatedly on the issue.

Even the moderators got down and dirty a little, pressing candidates to give real answers.

Chris Wallace cued up multiple full-screen graphics with budgetary figures while questioning Trump about the feasibility of his tax plans. As Trump tossed out figures and programs for cutting, Wallace responded, "Mr. Trump, your numbers don't add up," pulling out slide after slide.

Megyn Kelly showed three clips of Trump espousing contradictory positions on the war in Afghanistan, George W. Bush lying about Iraq and whether the U.S. should accept refugees.

"I have a very strong core," Trump responded. "But I've never seen a successful person who wasn't flexible."

At times, Trump appeared to become especially flustered. At one point, the Cruz suggested he "count to 10" to calm down and suggested he "learn not to interrupt, it's not complicated."

Near the end of the event, as Cruz encouraged Trump to "breathe, breathe, breathe," Rubio interjected with the joke of the night:

Rubio: When they're done with the yoga, can I answer a question? Cruz: You cannot. Rubio: Unbelievable. Cruz: I really hope that we don't -- we don't see yoga on this stage. Rubio: Well, he's very flexible, so you never know.

Ohio Governor Kasich, staying true to form, largely remained above the fray but did acknowledge dissatisfaction about the goings-on of the debate and the election cycle as a whole.

"This is so much about process, it frankly is boring to me," he said at one point, noting subsequently that he was the person on the stage who, in polling, beats presumed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton more than anyone.

"By the way, I won't need on-the-job training, because I know how to do all of this," he added.

And at the close of the evening, when the candidates were asked whether they would pledge to support whoever the GOP presidential nominee is -- even if it winds up being Trump -- Kasich had the most forceful answer.

"Yeah," he said. "But, and -- I kind of think that, before it's all said and done, I'll be the nominee."
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Tumi Holdings (TUMI) are increasing by 0.38% to $26.31 in pre-market trading on Friday, after Samsonite International (SMSEY) agreed to buy the high-end suitcase maker for $1.8 billion, in a move that expands its luxury luggage products.

Samsonite will pay $26.75 per share for South Plainfield, NJ-based Tumi in an all cash transaction, the company said in a statement.

Yesterday, Tumi's stock surged by 30.15% to $26.20 on reports that the companies were nearing a deal.

"It will meaningfully expand our presence in the highly attractive premium segment of the global business bags, travel luggage and accessories market," Samsonite CEO Ramesh Tainwala said in a statement. "Tumi is a perfect strategic fit for our business," Tainwala added.

Hong Kong-listed Samsonite said it plans to expand Tumi's presence in Asia and Europe and strengthen its business in North America.

Tumi also makes travel and business products such as briefcases and wallets.

"It is a perfect match in many aspects such as retail channels and regional mix, category mix and even price points," Boyoung Kim, an analyst at BNP Paribas, told Reuters. "It can bring huge synergies in the long term."

Last February, Samsonite bought travel retailer Rolling Luggage, which has stores in airports. The company also acquired retailer Chic Accent in October, Reuters noted.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings Team has a "Hold" rating with a score of C+ on the stock.

The primary factors that have impacted the rating are mixed - some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks.

The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures and attractive valuation levels.

As a counter to these strengths, the team also finds weaknesses including a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself and disappointing return on equity.

Recently, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author.

You can view the full analysis from the report here: TUMI

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It's become the "year of capitulation" that many predicted for the oil and gas industry given continued low commodity prices, with companies laying off workers and cutting capital expenditures to stay alive. Now come the divestitures.

So, who's selling? Analysts at energy-focused investment bank Tudor, Pickering, Holt put out a report this week saying that many exploration and production companies are increasingly evaluating divestitures as a way to raise funds. "A sharp reduction in drilling activity is forcing introspection by E&Ps about which programs belong in the portfolio on a go-forward basis," they said.

To that end, the analysts put together a list of companies in which asset sales are "mission critical" and those in which divestitures will help but aren't "crucial."

Among the biggest on the critical list are Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) , which has properties in the dry gas Utica area in Ohio and the Stack region in Oklahoma that could fetch $600 million (and maybe keep it out of bankruptcy).

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Consol Energy Inc. (CNX) is on the list, too, including its properties in the Utica and northeast/Mid-Atlantic as well as coalbed methane assets that could generate $825 million in proceeds (just this week it sold its Buchanan coal mine to a private equity firm-backed company for $420 million).

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And Devon Energy Corp. (DVN) rounds out the top three, including its 50% stake in Canada's Access Pipeline, which carries heavy oil products across the northeastern province of Alberta, which could generate $1 billion in proceeds plus noncore oil and gas properties that could bring in another $1.8 billion.

However, Devon raised $1.47 billion in a stock offering last month -- despite CEO Dave Hager's previous insistence that it didn't need it -- so it can be more patient with respect to divestitures, Simmons & Co. analyst David Kistler wrote recently. That probably comes as little comfort to existing investors, who saw their shares diluted by more than 13%.

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Other potentially big sellers on the critical list include Laredo Petroleum Inc., which could sell its 49% stake in the Medallion crude oil pipeline in West Texas' Permian Basin for as much as $325 million; Oasis Petroleum Inc., which could shed its unit that handles water used for fracking wells for up to $350 million; Stone Energy Corp., which could divest its northeast assets and non-core oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico for as much as $475 million; and Whiting Petroleum Corp., which could jettison its natural gas processing plants and other midstream assets in the Bakken area of the Rockies for $500 million.

Southwestern Energy Corp. also has some small packages of assets it could sell, including its gas storage field for $25 million and its southwest Appalachian conventional producing fields for $100 million. But the analysts think there's a low probability that the company inks a joint venture with a moneyed partner to develop its exploration assets.

Asset sales were a hot topic on fourth quarter conference calls, with companies seeing them as another way to help close their funding gaps, Simmons & Co. International analyst Pearce Hammond wrote in a report Wednesday. "Given the magnitude of the potential sales, the acquisition and divestiture market has clearly moved to a buyer's market," he said.

This is quite a switch from this past year, when oil and gas companies held on to their best properties and only tried to sell the dregs, many times at pre-bust prices, leading potential buyers to turn up their noses.

"It's been prohibitively expensive for high quality assets, especially if a company isn't a forced seller," Ares Management private equity partner Nate Walton lamented on a panel last week at industry conference IHS CERAWeek. Adam Pierce, a managing director at distressed energy investor Oaktree Capital Management, agreed, saying his firm bid on the properties WPX Energy Inc. offered up in Colorado's Piceance Basin earlier this year but "couldn't get to the price it cleared." (The assets were sold to Kayne Anderson- and Warburg Pincus-backed Terra Energy Partners LLC for $910 million.)

Unfortunately for these cash-strapped energy firms, the list of potential buyers right now is pretty short and doesn't include a lot of foreign companies, noted Bobby Tudor, head of Tudor, Pickering, Holt. "Companies don't want to hurt their balance sheet," he said. "The buyer strike is global."

Companies can't afford to be all that selective on asset sales any more as oil prices have sunk lower -- below $30 per barrel earlier this year -- and stayed lower, meaning less money coming in to cover overhead and interest on debt taken on during the $100-per-barrel good times. "The focus is on cash," ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance said at IHS CERAWeek last week.

Companies that could be helped by divestitures but aren't on Tudor, Pickering, Holt's critical list include Anadarko Petroleum Corp., which could shed non-core gas assets that might fetch $1 billion to $1.2 billion; Antero Resources Corp., which could sell some shares in affiliate Antero Midstream Partners LP for $1.9 billion; Continental Resources Inc., which could offer one-third of its Stack properties to a joint venture partner for $300 million; and Range Resources Corp., which could get rid of its Stack/Scoop properties for $125 million.

Others include Concho Resources Inc., notably some of its non-core Midland acreage in West Texas for around $150 million; Encana Corp., namely its Piceance properties for $600 million and its San Juan properties for $450 million; EP Energy Corp., including its Haynesville properties for $350 million; Newfield Exploration Co., including its properties in the Bakken, Arkoma and Eagle Ford for $1.2 billion; Pioneer Natural Resources Co., including Raton/West Texas Panhandle assets for $700 million and northern Martin properties for as much as $1.5 billion; and Rice Energy Inc., including various midstream and oil and gas properties for $1.4 billion. WPX Energy could also sell its midstream assets in the Delaware basin for $600 million.

"Executing non-core asset sales doesn't preclude an equity issuance, but it does provide breathing room and potential catalysts for financially strained companies," the analysts said. No doubt.
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- SunEdison (SUNE) stock is up by 18.42% to $1.80 in late-morning trading on Friday, after the company and its TerraForm Power (TERP) yieldco resolved a legal dispute with shareholders of Latin America Power.

Under the terms of the deal, SunEdison will pay $28.5 million, while TerraForm Power has no payment obligation.

The Latin America Power lawsuit had centered around SunEdison's agreement to pay $733 million for Latin America Power assets in May, Real Money's Carleton English reports today. However, SunEdison never wired the funds necessary to complete the transaction.

Latin America Power shareholders consequently sued, and a New York judge last month issued a temporary restraining order barring SunEdison from making unusual asset transfers during the lawsuit.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates the stock as a "sell" with a ratings score of D.

SunEdison's weaknesses include its generally high debt management risk, 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: SUNE

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.

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"The vehicle just exploded," said the caller on the line with the 911 dispatcher.

And with that, the controversial life of Aubrey McClendon ended. Barely 24 hours after a federal grand jury in Oklahoma City indicted him on conspiracy charges, McClendon, the former CEO who had presided over one of the most dangerous stocks on the market, slammed his 2013 Chevy Tahoe directly into a highway overpass.

Motive? McClendon certainly had one: From 1989 until 2013 he was the CEO of Chesapeake Energy (CHK) , the massive oil and natural gas company he co-founded with partner Tom Ward. From 1994 until 1997, CHK was among the most successful stocks on the U.S. market, gaining 274.9% in value. In 2008, McClendon became the highest-paid CEO among all S&P 500 companies, with a compensation package totaling $112 million.

When McClendon stepped down as CEO of Chesapeake in 2013, the company was the second-largest producer of natural gas in the U.S., behind Exxon Mobil.

Then things began to change for McClendon -- and for Chesapeake. The press began labeling him as "reckless." In 2015, the company filed a lawsuit against the former CEO, accusing him of misappropriating company data relating to available land for his new venture, American Energy Partners. A settlement was reached.

On Tuesday, a federal grand jury indicted McClendon for allegedly conspiring to rig the bidding process for oil and natural gas leases from 2007 until 2012, during his tenure with Chesapeake. On Wednesday, he was dead.





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Along with its former executive's tumultuous final days, Chesapeake has been on a roller coaster of its own.

Although the entire oil and gas sector has been severely punished by plummeting energy prices during the past year, Chesapeake's stock has been teetering on the edge of collapse. From highs near $40 in 2014, the stock hit $1.59 in February. Last month, the stock fell by as much as 50% in one day when the company announced it had hired a law firm to help it restructure the more than $9.5 billion in debt that McClendon left the company with.

Today prosecutors moved to drop charges against McClendon. In return for its assistance in the indictment, Chesapeake is unlikely to face further investigation from the Justice Department. On the news, CHK shares are rocketing back up, by more than 26% at the time of writing.

However, this doesn't mean that Chesapeake is currently a bargain-basement value play back on its way up. The company's fundamentals are still just as rotten as ever. Its debt-to-capital ratio sits above 81%, compared with the collective ratio of its competitors, at 48.21%. Reflecting on this high level of debt, today analysts at Morningstar slapped a "CCC," or "high default risk," rating on the company.

Chesapeake has a net margin of nearly -130% compared with the industry average of -110%. Demand for oil and gas is still expected to be extremely weak this year, and Chesapeake's sales are projected to plunge by a further 23%. Things for this toxic stock aren't going to be getting any better anytime soon. The dire situation is faced by several other energy stocks, notably LinnEnergy.

We may never know what really caused McClendon to swerve across the highway and into the underpass. Suicides among high-profile executives are certainly not unique (remember the sad fate of J. Clifford Baxter, disgraced Enron executive). Although his beleaguered company, Chesapeake Energy might look like a buy right now, but it appears to be subject to as much dooming volatility as the man who founded it, and for that reason should be avoided.



If you want to see a list of the absolute worst stocks you can own right now, I urge you to take a look at this report called 29 Dangerous Stocks: Sell Now! Inside, you'll see a full list of the market's most overvalued stocks, and learn the process you can use to keep avoiding them in the future. Click here now for a copy.

This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned.
We don't just look for growth prospects when selecting stocks; we also look for attractive dividend yields that can provide a steady stream of income. Sometimes you can find such stocks in unexpected places.

The beleaguered manufacturing sector got some good news this week, as new orders for U.S. factory goods increased by the largest amount in seven months in January, rebounding 1.6% after a 2.9% drop in December. Looking at the broader economy, employers added 242,000 workers in February, a bigger-than-expected increase.

Republican presidential front-runner Donald J. Trump has been doing his part to shore up manufacturing. Bragging about the wall he plans to build on the Mexican border, Trump observed that the builders of the Great Wall of China were at a disadvantage because they didn't have Caterpillar tractors. "I only want to use Caterpillar, if you want to know the truth," he asserted.

Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) had no comment on this free publicity. The Peoria, Illinois-based company is the world's largest maker of earth moving machinery. Its products include tractors, bulldozers, scrapers, lift trucks, graders, loaders, compactors, pipe laying machinery, and off-highway trucks. The company also manufactures diesel and turbine engines for its products. Foreign sales amounted to 60% of 2015 revenues.

CAT

data by

YCharts

Caterpillar's share price may remain somewhat volatile, but it has shown a willingness to defend its dividend through good times and bad. That makes it a strong choice for growth-and-income investors.

The share price has been on a roller coaster ride for past two quarters, dropping more than 10% in the last three months of 2015 but then regaining all that ground this year, even as the broader market has struggled.

Does the stock still have room on the upside? It looks that way. The price-earnings ratio is 20, which is reasonable for a well-established brand.

Despite some ups and downs in revenue, Caterpillar boosted its dividend yield by 10% in 2015, prolonging a streak of annual increases that has extended for more than a decade. The current yield is an impressive 4.55%.

The company remains an extremely well-known brand in an industry that will be vital to future economic growth. The manufacturing industry has always been up-and-down, and the economic uncertainties of recent years have added to that.

The stock price may have been bid up too high, as the company's revenue soared in response to the economic stimulus of 2009 and 2010. The decline of 2012 and 2013 was more of a natural correction in the price, rather than a response to surprising bad news.

One of the problems in the old-line manufacturing industry is that many U.S. companies are still paying union wages while trying to compete with companies, both here and abroad, that have non-union (i.e., lower-paid) labor. But Caterpillar has traditionally taken a hard line on labor costs and has managed to get some concessions from workers in recent years.

The company has three large segments: Construction Industries, Power Systems, and Resource Industries, which is mostly mining. While expectations for the mining segment remain cloudy, as the energy sector continues to emphasize "cleaner" forms of fuel, the outlook for construction and power systems remains strong.

In a big cost-cutting move, the company consolidated its Electric Power and Marine & Petroleum Power divisions. Consolidating these energy operations and integrating them within Customer & Dealer Support brought higher efficiencies and a streamlined management.

Caterpillar has been bolder than some of its U.S. rivals in finding new places to put its factories. It opened a major facility in St. Petersburg, Russia, just four years after the Soviet Union fell. It has been manufacturing in Brazil since 1960 and recently expanded operations there.

The company's key competitors are John Deere and Komatsu. Deere also has favorable numbers, but its dividend yield is less reliable that Caterpillar's. Komatsu has a lot of exposure in the faltering Asian-Pacific market.

If you'd like to learn about a group of high-quality, high-yield income opportunities that are far too ignored by most investors, I urge you to check out this free presentation: 11% Yields and No Taxes. Inside, you'll learn about one of the greatest gifts to income investors in the last century, and how you can begin taking advantage of it today for your portfolio. Click here now to learn more.

This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned.


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Blaine Gibson poses for a photo during an interview with the Associated Press in Maputo Mozambique Thursday March 3, 2016. Gibson who discovered an aircraft part in Mozambique that may be from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 says he initially thought it was part of a much smaller plane. Gibson, who has been searching the region's beaches for the debris, said Thursday March 3, 2016 in an interview with that a boat operator who took him to a sandbank named Paluma called him over after seeing a piece of debris with "NO STEP" (AP Photo/Tom Bowker)
The facade of a hotel bears the signs of fighting in Maaloula, Syria, Thursday, March 3, 2016. Maaloula, an ancient Christian town 60 kilometers (40 miles) northeast of Damascus, changed hands several times in the war. Its historic churches pillaged by jihadis and buildings riddled with shrapnel reflect fierce fighting that devastated the town two years ago. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)
People are reflected on a news screen reporting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, in Tokyo, Friday, March 4, 2016. Kim ordered his military on standby for nuclear strikes at any time, state media reported Friday, an escalation in rhetoric targeting rivals Seoul and Washington that may not yet reflect the country's actual nuclear capacity. The threats are part of the authoritarian government's ramped-up propaganda push to signal strength at home and abroad in the face of what it portrays as an effort by South Korea and the United States to overthrow its leadership. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
Contrary to fathers' rights propaganda, father perpetrators (along with stepdads and caretaker boyfrends) dominate the most vicious crimes against children: sexual assault, abusive head trauma, murder-suicides, crimes involving gun violence, and other similar forms of physically violent/fatal child abuse. And as more dads are providing child care (either because mom is working and can't find other care, or because dads are increasingly getting unsupervised visitation/custody through the family courts), more dads are are being found guilty of basic child abuse and neglect as well.



10/25/15 -Because of severe time constraints, we are no longer able to do regular updates at Dastardly Dads. We will occasionally post articles on general studies on child abuse/domestic violence, news pieces involving abusive fathers in custody/visitation situations. We wil also be updating the Killer Dads and Custody lists, while looking for a better, more accessible platform for the data.





7/11/16 - We started this blog on June 24, 2009--just over seven years. And like all good things, it's time to bring this project to a close. It has served its purpose. We have close to 10,500 postings regarding fathers and child abuse, with hundred of those cases being enabled by the family courts, social services, and others in authority. The documentation is clear. It is now time to stop documenting and put that energy into changing the situation that puts thousands of mothers and children at risk every day.






But the tribe has a long way to go
During his speech Tuesday night from campaign headquarters in Florida, Donald Trump invoked the Great Wall of China when justifying the feasibility of his plan to erect a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Great Wall of China, built 2,000 years ago, is 13,000 miles long, folks, the Republican presidential front-runner said. And they didnt have  tractors, they didnt have cranes, they didnt have excavation equipment.

His remarks echoed comments made in August  roughly 2,000 years ago, in campaign terms  when he told Fox News anchor Bill OReilly that his proposed border wall would be peanuts compared with what the ancient Chinese accomplished.

While Trumps departure from his usual loud complaints about China is welcome, WorldViews wonders whether the countrys renowned heritage site is really the best metaphor for his ambitions. Heres some context Trump should perhaps keep in mind the next time he draws the parallel. If you are like me, you might assume the Great Wall of China is one wall  well, it is not:

 Its not one contiguous wall 

Yes, Trump is technically right that the Great Wall of China spans about 13,000 miles. A landmark survey by Chinese authorities in 2012 found that its overlapping series of fortifications measured up to 21,196 kilometers, or about 13,170 miles  more than double previous estimates. But the Great Wall was built over an extended period in different phases and locations.

  and it took a VERY long time to build.

The walls construction began more than 2,000 years ago during an age known as the Warring States period, when a host of small kingdoms battled for supremacy in the Yangtze River valley heartlands of eastern China. The triumphant Qin dynasty embarked on the first ambitious wall project in the 3rd-century B.C., attempting to erect a barrier against rival factions and marauding tribes that would stretch from the plateaus of the hinterland to the sea.

Over the centuries, successive dynasties would add and develop the fortifications, which crisscross a stunning diversity of terrain. The spectacular ruins now traversed by tourists are all largely the work of the Ming dynasty, which began its segments of the Great Wall in the 15th century after making Beijing its capital. The wall, ultimately, didnt protect the dynasty, which was swept away by invading Manchu armies, which went on to set up the Qing dynasty.

 A lot of people died building it.

Sure, the Chinese did not have Caterpillar equipment or John Deere tractors, as Trump giddily exclaimed. But they did have a feudal system of enforced labor that enabled the walls construction. Some historical accounts estimate that as many as half a million workers perished building the fortification, a statistic that defines an era when the brutal power of the central state was paramount. Its said that many of the dead were buried within the walls foundations.

That grim legacy had a real effect on Chinese culture. Because [the Great Walls] construction implied suffering, it is one of the essential references in Chinese literature, being found in works like the Soldiers Ballad of Tchen Lin (c. 200 A.D.) or the poems of Tu Fu (712-770) and the popular novels of the Ming period, notes the United Nations cultural agency, UNESCO.

 It didnt quite do the job Trump thinks it did.

And, of course, the Great Wall of China, for all its majesty, was very porous. While a towering monument to Chinese civilization, it was hardly impregnable. The Mongols, Manchus and others all breached this great defense and went on to establish their dominion behind its ramparts. Perhaps thats the best way for Trump to understand the Great Walls significance  not as a security barrier, but as a work of political propaganda.

(c) 2016, The Washington Post  Ishaan Tharoor
It appears the PA (Palestinian Authority) does not have to concern itself with fiscal transparency as the world, including Israel, continues to send money. In Israel, tax funds were sent recently after holding those funds for a number of months. Israeli officials continue to boast their concern to prevent the PA from collapsing financially all the while the very same PA continues to air inciteful broadcasts on its TV and radio, incitement that encourages continuing terror attacks.

Adding to the PAs good fortune is the European Commission authorization for the transfer of 252.5 million in assistance.

EU Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini announced this is a part of the ongoing EU commitment to the future of the PA, adding the money is for residents of refugee camps as well as for education, health and assisting the poor. The report states that an unspecified amount of the funding will be used for PA hospitals in Jerusalem.

The PA will receive a direct transfer of 170.5 million. The remaining 82 million will be given to UNRWA.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Despite ongoing calls from some cabinet ministers to refrain from returning the bodies of terrorists for burial, Israel on Thursday morning 23 Adar-I announced it has already returned the bodies of the terrorists who perpetrated the attack in Yishuv Eli a day earlier. The bodies were returned in less than 24 hours following the attack.

The two, 17-year-old terrorists from the PA (Palestinian Authority) village of Kariyut were killed by security forces during the attack. The bodies were returned to the families to permit burying them.

Officials opposed to the return of bodies feel that not permitting the families to bury them would serve as a deterrent to prevent future attacks.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Ohio Gov. John Kasich said here Thursday that the Republican Party must stop Donald Trump from becoming the presidential nominee, but urged party leaders to resist the kind of full assault that Mitt Romney delivered.

About an hour after Romney delivered a sweeping indictment of Trump, Kasich told reporters that he disagreed with the 2012 Republican presidential nominees approach to the billionaire mogul front-runner.

I already told Mitt that I dont think you beat Trump by personal attacks. The guy in Chicopee is not interested in name-calling, Kasich said, referring to a working-class town in Western Massachusetts, where Trump drew deep support in Tuesdays primary.

Kasich added, Mitts a good guy. Hes very troubled about the direction of the country.

Kasich said at a news conference in Detroit that it is important that we stop Mr. Trump, but he said that could be accomplished by drawing contrasts with him on policy and record rather than character and personality.

I think the notion that you can beat Trump by calling him names, I dont think you get there that way, Kasich said. Im not going there that way, and Im not using that kind of rhetoric.

Referring to attacks leveled recently at Trump by Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, Kasich said, I dont want to talk about the size of his hands or what kind of a tan he has. Thats not the way to get this done.

Kasich vowed to win the March 15 primary in his home state of Ohio and predicted that the nominating contest would go all the way to the Republican National Convention in July in Cleveland.

We will go all-out, and I will win Ohio, Kasich said. If I win Ohio, then were probably going to go to a convention. . . . Its going to be the most exciting time.

Kasich notched strong second-places finishes in the New Hampshire and Vermont primaries, but otherwise has struggled to break out nationally in a race dominated by Trump. The governor complained about the lack of media attention his campaign has attracted.

This has become an awful lot about eyeballs, Kasich said. Im not here to blame the press. I like the press, Ive worked with the press. But, he added, Ive never really gotten the opportunity to be heard in this country.

Indeed, as a Kasich aide pointed out on Twitter, Kasichs news conference was preempted on cable news by one being held at the same time by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is no longer a candidate but merely a Trump surrogate.

(c) 2016, The Washington Post  Philip Rucker
The following is via OnlySimchas.com:

A torah scroll from the northern Italian town of Biella has been identified as the oldest scroll still owned and in use by a Jewish community.

Using carbon-14 dating the torah scroll was dated to around 1250. Though originally it was believed to be from the 14th century.

Dario Disegni, the president of the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Italy, said: This is exciting news that is of extraordinary importance for Italian Judaism.

The scroll has undergone restoration by an Italian sofer since 2012 and will be returned the Biella synagogue on March 6.

The scroll was one of several ancient Torah scrolls chosen as the one best suited for restoration, after being examined by experts.

Though not rare to find very old Torahs, this scroll is unique because since 1250 it has remained completely intact, without a single piece of parchment substituted. The Biella scroll is not the oldest scroll ever found but the oldest one that is still kosher and in use.

The Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Italy has launched a $22,000 crowd-funding campaign to cover the costs of the Biella scroll restoration.

(Source: OnlySimchas.com)
In January, Donald Trump skipped a televised Republican debate in Iowa and held his own event instead  a rally to raise money for veterans. Trump said it was a huge success.

One hour. Six million dollars, Trump told a campaign rally in Iowa a few days later, boasting about the total money raised. He listed more than 20 groups that would receive money. These people that get these checks are amazing people, amazing people.

More than a month later, about half of the money, roughly $3 million, has been donated to veterans charities, according to a summary released Thursday by the Trump campaign in response to inquiries from The Washington Post.

In recent days, after the campaign initially did not provide details of where the money had gone, The Post had undertaken its own accounting. After contacting each of the 24 charities that Trump had previously listed as his beneficiaries, The Post had accounted for less than half of the $6 million.

Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for Trumps campaign, said Trump still intended to give the rest of the money away to veterans groups. She also criticized the news media for repeated inquiries into what became of the funds.

If the media spent half as much time highlighting the work of these groups and how our veterans have been so mistreated, rather than trying to disparage Mr. Trumps generosity for a totally unsolicited gesture for which he had no obligation, we would all be better for it, Hicks wrote in an email.

Trumps fundraiser highlighted the billionaire presidential candidates remarkable ability to draw people, attention and money to any cause he chooses. Trump enticed enormous gifts from wealthy friends, including Stewart Rahr, a colorful New York philanthropist who calls himself Stewie Rah Rah, the Number One King of All Fun. Their money became life-altering gifts for some small charities, which received $50,000 or $100,000 each.

But the aftermath of that event showed another side of Trumps campaign: its tendency to focus on front-end spectacle over back-end details. The rollout of contributions has raised questions about how long Trump would keep donated funds within the Donald J. Trump Foundation, a personal charity whose gifts can boost his political brand.

Wheres the rest of the money going? said Keith David at the Task Force Dagger Foundation, which offers support to Special Operations personnel and their families.

Davids group typifies the confusion over Trumps money. It was listed by Trump as a group that would benefit from his fundraising. And soon after the Iowa fundraising event, the group got a check for $50,000. It came from Rahrs foundation, with a note that mentioned Trump.

But was that it? The groups board  noting the huge amount of money that Trump raised and the lesser amount of money Trump seemed to have given out  decided it could not be.

Theres a large chunk missing. Im just kind of curious as to where that money went, David said. Id like to see some of it come to us, because we are on the list.

The list, as given out by Trumps campaign Thursday, does not show any more donations going for Davids group.

Trumps veterans fundraiser was, if nothing else, a smart bit of political theater.

It allowed Trump, who was feuding with Fox News Channel at the time, to boycott a GOP debate that Fox was hosting  and, at the same time, claim both the moral high ground and a prime-time TV spotlight for himself that competed directly with the debate he was skipping.

We set up the website. I called some friends. And the sign was just given: We just cracked $6 million, Trump said, savoring the moment at the end. He announced that the money would be divided among more than 20 veterans groups: Theyre going to get a lot of money. Everybody is going to get a lot of money, he said.

Some of that money was raised from small donors online, at the website donaldtrumpforvets.com. That site now says it has raised $1.67 million.

But the bulk of the $6 milllion was raised from a small group of Trumps very wealthy friends.

Not all of them gave in the same way.

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn gave $500,000 and gave it directly to two groups: a charity to help Army Green Berets and another for Navy SEALs. Another $1 million came from Rahr.

Trump offered Rahr a menu of veterans charities, Rahr associate Steve Burns said in an email. Rahr chose 11, based on a review of missions and financials. We felt they were the best ones in helping the vets, Burns said.

The $1.5 million in donations from Icahn and Rahr, which bypassed the Trump Foundation, are easy to track. Associates of the two men said they have given them directly to the charities, and multiple charities said they had received them.

But other benefactors gave their money to the Trump Foundation, so Trump could divvy it up himself. One was Phil Ruffin, a Las Vegas casino mogul, who gave $1 million. He trusts Mr. Trump to make that decision, a spokeswoman said.

In all, Trumps campaign said the Trump Foundation had given out about $1.1 million so far. Hicks, Trumps campaign spokeswoman, did not immediately respond to a question about how much of the money raised for veterans remains in the accounts of the Trump Foundation.

Back in the first days after the Iowa fundraiser, the donations  ostensibly, apolitical gifts to needy veterans  became a centerpiece of Trumps campaign rallies. He would frequently call the leaders of local charities up onstage and hand them a huge check in front of the cameras and the crowds.

I thought I was going to faint, because we had no idea  until that check came up on the stage  we had no idea what we were getting, said Cindy Brodie of Partners for Patriots, which trains service dogs to help disabled veterans.

At the time of Trumps fundraiser, Brodie and her husband had been struggling to keep themselves and the charity afloat. But then a veteran whom they had helped met Trump at a campaign event elsewhere in Iowa.

And then Brodie was being called up onstage by the billionaire and handed an oversized $100,000 check.

But  after the campaign moved on from Iowa  Trumps donations seemed to lag behind his promises. In early February, the Wall Street Journal reported that many groups only began to get their checks after the Journal asked the Trump campaign why they had not.

Trumps figures show the biggest beneficiary was the Navy SEAL Foundation, a Virginia-based group that helps Navy Special Operations forces and their families. It received $450,000, according to Trumps campaign. The Green Beret Foundation, which helps Army Special Forces soldiers and their families, got $350,000. Two other groups got $200,000. Fourteen charities got $100,000 each. Six got $50,000 each, and two others got less.

Our budget is, like, $40,000 a year, said Sarah Petersen, the founder of Support Siouxland Soldiers, which provides emergency relief to homeless or near-homeless veterans in Iowa. Trump gave them $100,000. Our largest donation was $10,000. So this is a pretty big deal for us.

Hicks, the spokeswoman for Trumps campaign, declined to give details about how the rest of the money would be handed out.

We will continue to allocate contributions to groups that have been announced, Hicks said, as well as additional groups that are being considered.

What additional groups?

Hicks could only name one: a Queens, New York-based nonprofit called Veterans-in-Command, which provides housing, food and job counseling to veterans. In that case, the Trump Foundation dipped into its veterans funds to present a donation.

Which happened to solve a political headache for Trump himself.

At the time of the donation, the New York media was mocking Trump for mishandling a past request the group had made for a donation. Instead of money, the Trump campaign had sent them Trump bumper stickers.

He called us, and he apologized, and he did the right thing by us, said Larry Robertson, the Queens groups president. Trump paid off some old debts and paid for one years rent on a new office, a total gift worth about $26,200.

That was 0.4 percent of the money Trump said hed raised for veterans. The Queens group is hoping it is the beginning, not the end, of a relationship.

Were going to have a grand opening. Hopefully hes going to be here, Robertson said in a telephone interview. Its going to be about another week. Hell be here.

(c) 2016, The Washington Post  David A. Fahrenthold
Google announced this week that its testing a payment program called Hands Free that lets users pay for goods without having to reach into their pockets.

The idea behind the program is that anyone can walk in to a store, find what they want and head to the register, requiring only their face and a moments conversation to purchase something. Hands Free is in a limited pilot program at select stores in the Silicon Valley area. Google said that it uses a variety of sensors in a users smartphone, including Bluetooth and WiFi, to detect when shoppers are in a particular store. When at the cash register, the users simply have to say, Ill pay with Google and give their initials to the cashier. The store employee checks the initials and a picture that users have uploaded to their payment accounts to verify that they are who they claim to be.

According to the companys website, stores never get access to consumers full credit card information. Users also get a notification when their Hands Free account has been used, as a fraud-prevention measure.

The program is being tested at locations in Californias southern Bay Area.

Google released a video illustrating how the process works, showing a woman buying goods with little more than a smile and some magic words. The promotional video from Google has strong echoes of the way Apple first promoted its Apple Pay program, highlighting that the current ways we pay  cash, card or the dreaded check  are not as convenient as they could be. Why, the video illustrates, do we still have to fumble around with things in our hands to pay?

Its true that it can be annoying to dig through pockets or purses for a wallet, and that it often seems like the payment process should be a lot smoother than it is. With the advent of chipped credit cards, some shoppers may also like the appeal of paying by phone rather than waiting for the slightly longer transaction times.

But the real push toward mobile payments has come from companies that see the appeal of controlling mobile payments. In addition to payment-focused start-ups and traditional credit card companies, tech firms such as Samsung, Amazon and Apple have turned to mobile payments as an opportunity to raise their profile with customers and become more indispensable in their daily lives.

Samsung has been aggressively advertising its payment system on a television commercial starring comedian Hannibal Buress that highlights the fact that many existing credit card machines can process the companys payment technology.

Despite that push, Apple Pay has the highest recognition when it comes to mobile payments, since the feature is built into every model of the companys flagship smartphone, from the iPhone 6 and beyond. Piper Jaffray recently found that Apples payment system is by far the most requested by merchants. The survey, as reported by Apple Insider, showed that Apple handily beat Samsung Pay, PayPal and Googles Android Pay  which lets users pay with their smartphones  as the top choice (44 percent) when analysts asked software vendors which systems are most requested.

The jury is out on how popular mobile payments are among consumers. A recent survey of 580 iPhone users by the consulting firm First Analysis found that just 20 percent had reported using Apple Pay at least once since December, with just 15 percent saying that they used it often. Those figures were slightly lower compared with the survey the firm conducted last year.

The landscape, however, is a competitive one for businesses. Results from Crone Consulting, published Tuesday by Bloomberg, showed that Apple Pay has 12 million active monthly users, compared with 5 million each for Samsung Pay and Android Pay. Although that puts Apple well ahead of rivals, its worth remembering that Google and Samsung launched their products nearly a year after Apple did and have grown quickly.

Hands Free demonstrates that Google has larger plans in this space. The company said its also planning a program that works solely based on matching your Google Hands Free picture with an image of your face taken at the register. Images and data from the Hands Free in-store camera are deleted immediately, cant be accessed by the store, and is not sent to or saved to Google servers, the company said.

(c) 2016, The Washington Post  Hayley Tsukayama
Less than three weeks before Apple and the Justice Department bring their fight to a California courtroom, a wave of major technology firms and outside groups have linked arms and said they are united against the federal governments demands.

Despite uncertainty among some in the tech industry over whether this was the fight to pick, a slew of big names had either signed on or announced plans to do so on Thursday, many of them worrying about what impact the case could have on privacy going forward.

Relatives of some of the people killed in the Dec. 2 attack in San Bernardino, California, however, filed their own brief Thursday, siding with the FBI and arguing that accessing the phone may help answer questions about the attack.

What if it leads to an unknown terrorist cell? Mark M. Sandefur, whose son was killed in the attack, wrote in a letter to Apple chief executive Tim Cook that accompanied the filing. What if others are attacked, and you and I did nothing to prevent it?

Tech giants such as Google, Facebook and Microsoft are among those signing onto court briefs backing Apple, according to Mozilla, which said it was joining those firms in a friend-of-the-court brief. Twitter filed a joint brief on Thursday with eBay, Reddit and more than a dozen other tech companies arguing that the governments request is unbound by any legal limits and would set a dangerous precedent.

Yahoo planned to file an amicus brief Thursday, and the company is proud to support Apple in this case, Ron Bell, the companys general counsel, said in a statement.

Industry lawyers said that Amazon.com also intended to file or join a brief, but a spokesman for the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Amazon founder Jeffrey P. Bezos owns The Washington Post).

The sheer level of support showed how pivotal the debate over an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino attackers has become in Silicon Valley, as it has blossomed into a public fight over balancing privacy and security.

After FBI agents investigating the San Bernardino attack  which killed 14 people and injured 22 others  determined they could not access the locked phone, authorities sought and obtained a magistrate judges order demanding Apples help. The order directed Apple to write software disabling a feature that erases the phones data after 10 incorrect attempts at trying a password.

Apple has fought that order through public statements, court filings and, this week, a formal objection filed in court.

The Justice Department has said its demands in this case are specific, limited and could offer information for a terrorism investigation. Apple has argued that the case has much broader implications, both for its products and the tech industry as a whole.

On March 22, both sides will continue the fight during oral arguments in the court case. But with that date looming, groups faced a deadline for filing amicus briefs adding their voices to the court record.

Some of the firms that ultimately decided to file briefs did so despite reservations by some of their executives, according to tech industry lawyers. These executives thought that Apple had picked a legal battle that could backfire and hurt the industry, said several lawyers who have spoken to the executives but asked to remain anonymous to discuss these talks.

Still, these executives ultimately thought that a bad ruling here will empower law enforcement to make all kinds of requests, said one lawyer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential matters.

A lawyer for Apple said he has not heard any qualms from the firms he has dealt with that are filing the briefs. All are 100 percent supportive, he said. The only question he heard, he said, was whether Cooks use of the term back door in his public statements was accurate.

In Apples view, the lawyer said, what the government is seeking here is a back door to allow it to hack users systems. . . . Its weakening security. The encryption is protected by a passcode. So if you make it easier to guess the passcode, you are weakening the encryption.

A lawyer representing the families of five people killed in the San Bernardino attack and another person who survived the attack filed a brief arguing that Apple is grandstanding and should be required to comply with the court order.

(c) 2016, The Washington Post  Mark Berman
A Hamas terrorist was killed and at least five others injured when the terror tunnel they were working on in the Khan Yunis area collapsed.

Residents of Gaza border communities continue to warn that they hear heavy equipment working frequently, insisting Hamas is rehabilitating its tunnel network while Israel is ignoring this reality. IDF and government officials insist this is not the case and in fact, there is ongoing surveillance along the border to determine if tunnels are under construction to cross into southern Israel. IDF commanders and Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon insist that the situation is under control and Israel is quite aware regarding the goings-on along the Gaza border.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben-Dahan told Kol Chai Radio that when Bayit Yehudi leader Minister Naftali Bennett supported the cabinet decision to allocate the egalitarian prayer area near the Kosel, he was given inaccurate information.

Kol Chai spoke with the rav about the egalitarian area, which he obviously opposes. When asked why the Bayit Leumi leader did not oppose the proposal at the cabinet meeting, Ben-Dahan explained that he was told the Chief Rabbis of Israel and the Kosel Rav all backed the plan, hence his decision not to vote against it.

Ben-Dahan stressed that efforts are currently underway to change the reality since the information presented to Bennett was clearly inaccurate as Chief Rabbi Dovid Lau Shlita, Chief Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef Shlita and Kosel Rav Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz Shlita are all opposed to the egalitarian prayer area.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Donald Trump was under fire even before taking the debate stage Thursday night.

The Republican front-runner walked into the Fox Theater after being targeted for much of the day by the GOPs last two presidential nominees, who warned voters across the nation that Trump must be stopped.

His three rivals  Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and John Kasich  set out to keep Trump on his heels on what they hope will be remembered as a pivotal day in the 2016 contest. Knowing he would be attacked, Trump warned voters ahead of time that his tone might have to be less-than-presidential.

Here are some takeaways from the 11th Republican presidential debate of the 2016 campaign:

___

THE DONALD STRIKES BACK

Thursday night was among the nastiest debates to date and offered a highlight reel of the best and worst of Trump  including some new material.

Trump called Cruz Lying Ted, repeatedly jabbed Rubio as Little Marco, and charged that Florida voters wouldnt elect Rubio dog catcher.

They were the kind of blunt attacks his supporters love. But they could lead undecided voters to think twice in the primary contests to come  and Novembers general election.

After all, its hard to imagine a sitting president making a joke in public about, well, you know.

___

FLEXIBLE IMMIGRATION FANTASY?

Trump doesnt often talk policy details. We may have found out why.

The front-runner reversed a position posted on his website about visas for high-skilled immigrant and opened the door to a broader shift on immigration when pressed to explain a private conversation with The New York Times.

Having embraced tough immigration rhetoric for much of the last year, Trump said the next president needed flexibility and a little give and take on the issue. He praised Rubios past willingness to embrace compromise on immigration, even though Rubios position has been widely condemned by conservatives.

The tone and content of Trumps message prompted the moderator to cite a Trump negotiating tactic, outlined in his book, which suggests scoring points by playing to peoples fantasies.

Im not playing to anybodys fantasies, an irritated Trump replied.

Yet his inconsistencies on various issues were highlighted time and time again throughout the night. They included his shifts on Afghanistan, Syrian refugees and former President George W. Bushs honesty. As he did on immigration, he often responded by citing the need for flexibility.

___

FRESHMAN TAG TEAM

Rubio and Cruz paid little attention to each other, spending most of the night instead attacking Trump.

While Rubio was the leading Trump aggressor early on, Cruz took shots, too. The Texas senator played the part of a condescending parent multiple times, first ordering an angry Trump to Count to 10, and later telling the front-runner to breathe, breathe, breathe. I know its hard.

Trump seemed at a loss for words on both occasions.

Rubio repeatedly tried to expose Trumps lack of specificity on policy and seized on Trumps unwillingness to refund tuition to many people who paid thousands of dollars to attend Trump University. Trump is having to defend the school in a class-action lawsuit.

___

LOYALTY TO THE NOMINEE

As a growing number of leading Republicans vow never to support Trump, the billionaires rivals went the other way.

Each was asked in the debates final moment whether hed support the partys nominee, even if it were the billionaire businessman. And each responded in the affirmative  even Rubio, who has been Trumps leading attacker in recent days.

The loyalty pledges could undercut the #nevertrump movement started by his Republican foes on Twitter.

But its hard to imagine leading Republicans, such as Mitt Romney and Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, suddenly making an about-face on the point after casting Trump in recent days as dangerous and woefully unprepared to lead the nation.

___

KASICH ABIDES

Kasich again played the adult in the room. He has adopted the strategy in virtually every debate so far, but on a night that was among the messiest to date, his unwillingness to sling mud was remarkable.

His focus on substance allowed him to stand out when the debate turned to the federal deficit and national security, two key issues on which he has years of experience. He scored a big applause at one point by declaring, Lets stop fighting!

Yet Kasich also conceded that he has a narrow path to the nomination. He noted hes not the only one, when asked about adopting a strategy that depends upon a contested convention in July to win: Were all really there, he said.

Hes probably right  with the exception of Trump, of course.

(AP)
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[Written by Rabbi Moishe Lebovits]

KOF-K Kosher Supervision

Volume 5 and Piskei Harav Yisroel Belsky ztl vol 1 (reprint  hard cover) Coming Soon!!

There are many halachic issues that pertain to the mitzvah of being menachem avel. Who begins to talk first? What should one talk to the avel about? When should one come to be menachem avel? Why are the mirrors covered in an avels home? May an item be removed from the avels home? In this issue, we will discuss the halachos and customs of an avels home.

Learning Hilchos Aveilus

Many people are hesitant to learn Maseches Moed Kattan because it talks about inyanei aveilus, and they are concerned that this might create an ayin hara that would result in some harmful event Rl. The Sefer Chassidim[1] comments that before learning this masechta one should daven to Hashem that nothing bad will happen to him. He maintains that Maseches Moed Kattan is a meis mitzvah since some people dont learn it for fear that something bad will happen, so if one wishes to learn it he is doing a great mitzvah. The Knesses Hagedolah[2] says that there is only a concern if one learns it with a group of people, but learning alone is permitted. This masechta is included in the Daf Yomi cycle so it would seem that one may learn it. Furthermore, most Rishonim have a pirush on this masechta.[3] When one learns this masechta he should not delve into it as deeply as he does with other masechtos, but he should learn it quickly.[4]

Even if one would avoid learning hilchos aveilus,[5] there is no need to abstain from learning hilchos menachem avel, since they pertain to one coming to console the aveilim. If one did not learn these halachos then he would not know what to do.[6]

The Mitzvah

There is a big mitzvah[7] to console someone who lost a relative.[8] The pasuk[9] says that it is better to go to a beis avel than to go to a party. We see that Hashem consoled Yitzchak after Avraham Avinu was niftar.[10]

Hashem did so to Yaakov after he lost Yitzchak as well.[11] Therefore, even a great person should go be menachem avel a person of lower stature.[12] (An avel does not have to rise in respect for anyone of great stature[13] because he is immersed in his pain.)[14]

There is a discussion in the poskim if this is included in the mitzvah of doing kindness midOraisa[15] or midRabbanan.[16] Some say that one should train a child to go be menachem avel as well, although the custom seems to be lenient.[17]

The Main Focus of the Mitzvah

When one is menachem avel, he should realize that the main focus is to console the mourners from their pain.[18] Some say it is a tikkun to the deceased by coming to be menachem avel,[19] since the davening there brings a pleasant feeling for the deceased.[20] The customary phrase is HaMakom[21] yenachem eschem besoch shaar aveili Tzion vYerushalayim.[22] Some say that the nusach of eschem (lashon rabim) is said even when being menachem one avel.[23] Some say that the aveilim answer amen after the brachah.[24]

Some explain the nusach as follows: When one consoles an avel, he does not know if it will be effective. However, we know that Hashem always takes care of the good of the tzibbur, and any nechamah which includes the tzibbur will be accepted. Therefore, we add Yerushalayim to the nechamah, which is a consolation for the tzibbur.[25]

Although one can be yotzei the mitzvah with this one phrase, it is better to actually engage the mourner in conversation and ease his pain (see below).[26]

Nichum Aveilim or Bikur Cholim?

Nichum aveilim is kindness for both the living and the one who was niftar.[27] Therefore, the mitzvah of nichum aveilim has precedence over the mitzvah of bikur cholim.[28][EMS1]

Where to Sit  Where to Visit the Aveilim

Some say that the aveilim should sit where the niftar died,[29] while others argue that this is only important when there is no avel, and a group davens in the niftars home out of honor for the niftar. However, if aveilim are sitting shivah, that itself is an honor for the niftar. Therefore, the custom is that the aveilim sit wherever they find it convenient. They may even sit in different homes.[30] However, most maintain that the aveilim should sit where the niftar lived.

Sitting or Standing

According to the letter of the law, the ones who come to console the mourners should sit on the floor (if the mourners are sitting on the floor).[31] One must feel the pain of the mourners,[32] and this cannot be accomplished while standing.[33] However, mourners do not sit on the floor today,[34] so they are mochel and allow the visitors to sit on a chair.[35]

Some say that one should sit when being menachem avel.[36] Others are lenient and allow standing,[37] particularly if there is no room to sit.[38] Some say that the phrase of haMakom need not be said while sitting.[39]

Whom to Be Menachem

One should not be menachem if he is not on good terms with the mourner, since it will cause additional pain.[40]

A man may comfort a woman and vice versa.[41] When visiting a woman, one should be careful to avoid any questions of yichud.[42] Some say he should stand outside of the room and say the nusach[43] to the woman.[44]

It is preferable that men and women who are mourning the loss of a relative should not sit in the same room since there will be a lack of tznius when people come to be menachem avel.[45]

Some say that there is a mitzvah for the aveilim to be menachem each other as well.[46]

One should console a non-Jew who lost a relative if avoiding it would result in friction.[47]

On the Telephone / Letter

A phone call can console the mourner, but will not create a pleasant experience for the deceased.[48] Therefore, it is best to visit in person. If it is not possible, one may communicate by telephone[49] letter,[50] or fax.[51]

Talking to the Mourner

When going to be menachem avel, the mourner has to start the conversation before one talks to him.[52] Some explain that one is supposed to say that Hashems judgment was fair, and the avel is supposed to say it first.[53] Others say that it is the mourners way of showing that he is ready to be consoled.[54] One can say, Hashem should console you, before the mourners begin to talk.[55] Some permit the visitors to initiate the conversation if the mourner signals that he is ready to talk.[56]

In addition, asking about the deceaseds life and manners is permitted even before the mourners begin talking.[57] An avel who took the phone to speak with someone is considered as if the avel began talking.[58]

Many people ignore this rule. Some explain that in times past, some mourners did not talk at all,[59] so it was necessary to wait for him to initiate the conversation. Today the mourners talk, so one may begin talking even if the mourner is quiet.[60] Others say that as long as the mourner began to talk to someone in the beginning of the day, anyone who comes afterwards can begin talking before the mourner starts talking to him.[61]

If the mourner does not begin talking one is allowed to open his remarks before the mourner does.[62] Furthermore, it can happen that the mourner does not know he is supposed to start, in which case the visitors may initiate the conversation.[63] Finally, some say that if one merely says, haMakom etc. it is not considered talking.[64]

What to Discuss with the Mourners

As mentioned above, many people who come to be menachem avel simply say haMakom etc. It is questionable whether this satisfies the purpose of nichum aveilim; however, many feel this is sufficient.[65] There are many proofs from the Gemara[66] and other sefarim[67] that the main goal is to say words of nechamah (words which console the mourner).[68] For example, one should talk about the kindness and goodness of the deceased.[69] Some say that one should mention that the niftar merited being near the tzaddikim.[70]

One may not tell the mourners, What can we do, or, You can deal with it.[71] Use your intelligence when talking to mourners.[72] It is worthwhile to prepare your words before you go to be menachem avel.

Sometimes, the very fact that someone came to the mourners home is a nechamah for the mourner, since it shows honor for the mourner.[73] In such situations, one has fulfilled the mitzvah of nichum aveilim without saying a word.[74] Nonetheless, the main point of nichum aveilim is that one should strive to say words of nechamah to the avel, and a small part of the mitzvah is fulfilled by just saying haMakom.[75] Some maintain that irrelevant topics such as politics should be avoided, since they do not help console the mourner.[76] If these discussions relieve the pain of the mourner, they are permitted.[77]

Those who come to daven at the beis avel, then say haMakom, and leave right away, have lost the main focus of nichum aveilim.[78]

Saying Shalom to an Avel

An avel should not be greeted with shalom or shalom aleichem,[79] and he should not greet others in this fashion.[80] The reason is that the avel is not at peace with himself.[81] The people who are menachem avel should not greet each other with shalom either.[82]

Saying Hello / Good Morning / Good Evening / Mazel Tov

There are some who permit saying hello, good morning[83] or good evening to an avel. According to them, this is not like saying shalom, while others disagree.[84] One may say mazel tov to a mourner.[85]

Being Menachem Many Mourners

One can be menachem many mourners who are sitting in one house, and there is no need to be menachem each one separately.[86] In addition, the accepted nusach of haMakom can be said to many aveilim at one time.[87]

Coming More Than Once

Some say that there is no need to visit the avel more than once,[88] while others say that one should go all seven days of the shivah to be menachem avel.[89] The accepted custom is to go once, but if one has other words of nechamah which would console mourners then there is a mitzvah to visit again.[90]

Chassan / Kallah

Some say that a chassan and kallah should not be menachem avel during the days of sheva brachos, even if the mourner is a relative.[91] Others permit this from the second day of sheva brachos and on.[92]

Many at One Time

Some say that it is better for a large group of people to come at one time than one at a time, since it brings more nechamah to the mourners.[93]

When to Leave

In the days of the Gemara,[94] the avel would nod his head to indicate that he wanted the visitors to leave.[95] This is not practiced today. Instead, one should be sensitive to the avels nonverbal cues, and understand when it is time to leave.[96] This is also comforting to the mourners, since they can be alone when they want privacy.[97]

When to Be Menachem Avel

First Three Days

The first three days[98] of mourning[99] are set aside for crying.[100] Therefore, some say that one should not be menachem avel during that time, since the face of the niftar is still fresh in the mourners mind and he will not be consoled.[101] Others explain that a visit might cause the avel to feel an obligation to talk, even if he is not up to it.[102] However, if one is going just to say haMakom it is permitted.[103] Those who daven at the beis avel may certainly do so during the first three days.[104] If one will not be able to visit later in the week, then he may go during the first three days.[105]

Some prove this rule from the fact that the shevatim came to be menachem avel Yaakov after many days.[106] Since days means two, many days means three. However, others dispute this proof.[107]

Others say that one should certainly visit during the first three days since the mourners are often sitting alone and it is a great mitzvah to console them at this time.[108] Harav Yaakov Kamenetsky ztl said that custom in Lita was to be menachem avel during the first three days.[109] This is the custom of many other gedolim as well.[110]

At Night

There is no reason to refrain from going to be menachem avel at night.[111] However, it goes beyond saying that one should not visit too late at night.[112]

Shabbos / Yom Tov

According to the letter of the law, nichum aveilim is permitted on Shabbos.[113] Nevertheless, the custom among Ashkenazim is to refrain from visiting.[114] The custom is not to be menachem avel on Yom Tov.[115] Nonetheless, if one knows that his visit will give comfort to the mourner, then it is a mitzvah to be menachem avel on Shabbos and Yom Tov.[116]

Chol Hamoed

Some have the custom to be menachem avel on Chol Hamoed.[117]

Tishah BAv

One should not be menachem avel until after chatzos on Tishah BAv. It is permitted to say haMakom even before chatzos.[118]

Some Customs at a Beis Avel

Covering Mirrors

The custom is to cover the mirrors in a beis avel[119] even if the niftar did not die there.[120] There are a number of details regarding this custom, as discussed below.

Many reasons are given for this custom.[121] Some say that looking in a mirror causes joy, and this is not a time for joy.[122] During the mourning period, one should be concentrating on the end of life and not on his appearance. Therefore, the mirrors are covered.[123]

Others offer a different reason: It is prohibited to daven opposite a mirror,[124] as it is difficult to concentrate, and it looks like one is bowing to his reflection.[125] Since davening takes place in the mourners home, the custom is to cover the mirrors.[126]

The rule used to be that the beds should be turned over. This indicated that the man must separate from his wife while he is an avel. Today, we cover the mirrors instead. Logically, it should be necessary to turn over the mirrors, and covering them would not suffice. Nonetheless, the custom is to cover them.[127]

There is no need to cover the mirrors on Shabbos.[128]

The mirrors in a breakfront do not have to be covered.[129] There is no need to cover the mirrors in a room that the avel will not be using.[130]

It is questionable whether a mourner has to cover the mirrors in his own home if he is not sitting shivah there.[131]

Taking from a Beis Avel

Many have the custom not to remove anything from a beis avel until after the shivah, because of the ruach raah that is present.[132] Even items borrowed by the avel, like sefarim, remain until after shivah.[133] Some say that there is no issur involved in removing food,[134] while others say that the whole concern is taking from the room where the niftar died.[135] Others only prohibit actually taking the food from the hands of the mourners,[136] but anything that is not taken from their hands is permitted.[137] Furthermore, some say if it is something which is not meant for the avel to use one should not take it, but if it is money or something else which is meant to take out it is permitted.[138] For example, food which is made for others to have enjoyment from is not a problem of removing from a beis avel.[139] Even according to the stringent view, one who lives in the home may remove food.[140] Some say that this custom has no basis whatsoever, and there are no restrictions at all.[141]

The Steipler ztl refused to use a chair which was taken out of a beis avel, even though it was brought out for him to rest on the landing.[142]

There is a custom to give cake and shnapps after Shacharis in a beis avel. One may partake of these refreshments even if he holds of the strict opinion.[143]

If there is so much food that people brought to the home and it will be thrown out one may partake in the food.[144]

If ones father is sitting shivah and ones mother has food in the freezer for Shabbos and wishes to give it to her son or daughter and their family for Shabbos the food may be taken out of the home.

Lmaaseh, one need not be makpid on this, but he may if he wishes to.[145]

Covering Pictures

Some have the custom to cover pictures in the shivah home.[146]

Offering a Hand to an Avel

Some say that one should not offer his hand to an avel or to someone else at a beis avel because of loeg lrosh (making the avel jealous that he cannot be so friendly since he cannot say shalom).[147] Others only restrict this to the avel, but permit a handshake with other visitors. Still others permit even shaking the hand of an avel and saying shalom.[148] However, the custom in any case is to be stringent.[149]

Giving Tzedakah

It is customary to give tzedakah at a beis avel in memory of the niftar.[150] This is true even if the house where the aveilim are sitting is not the house where the niftar died.[151]

Bringing Food to a Beis Avel

During the shivah many people bring food to the beis avel. Is this practice permitted?

Harav Moshe Feinstein ztl[152] permits this since it is a way of showing comfort to the aveilim.
Its highly questionable whether anyone emerged as the winner in Thursdays Republican presidential debate in Detroit, though the candidates spinmeisters would all quibble with that. There was one clear loser: the Grand Old Party.

The 11th debate of the Republican campaign tested the patience and the limits of viewers and voters. Insults and interruptions overwhelmed sober discussion. The raucous audience, now a staple of the GOP debates, only added to the sense of game-show politics.

Can anyone credibly suggest that the Republicans put their collective best face forward on Thursday night? At a time when the party is in crisis over the possibility that Donald Trump will become the nominee, the debate did next-to-nothing to make Trump or his three remaining candidates look or sound presidential.

Designed to define candidates differences, the debates have become tedious and repetitious rather than enlightening or illuminating. No new information was imparted, no truly new arguments advanced. Even the insults have tiresome.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, who drew criticism earlier for trying to limit the number of debates, must be wishing he had pushed for even fewer, given the tone and tenor of Thursdays forum in Detroit and last weeks mud bath in Houston.

Thursdays debate came at the end of an extraordinary day in the Republican campaign, a day no one can remember ever seeing, when the partys 2012 nominee, Mitt Romney, delivered a scathing attack on the 2016 front-runner as unfit to be president and unworthy to be lead the party.

Romney did what none of Trumps rivals for the nomination has done. He set out a slashing and coherent attack on the New York billionaire. He described Trump as a fraud and a phony, as a failed businessman and an aspiring politician with no ideological moorings. Trumps policies, Romney warned, would be disastrous domestically and dangerous internationally.

It was left to Trumps rivals  Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich  to drive home those arguments on Thursday. At times Cruz and Rubio tried, attempting to unmask Trump on immigration and foreign policy. Meanwhile, Kasich continued his strategy of trying to stop Trump by declining to criticize him.

But then, as if to take a hammer to their own arguments that Trump is not the kind of candidate the party needs to lead them into the fall campaign, Rubio, Cruz and Kasich closed out the evening by saying, however grudgingly, that they could support him if he wins the nomination.

Throughout the evening, Trump only helped reinforce the substance of some of Romneys criticisms. He deflected virtually every question about policy by launching into personal attacks on his rivals or resorting to generalities and broad promises. He struggled to defend contradictory statements he has made in the past.

In an extended exchange with Fox News anchor and his one-time nemesis Megyn Kelly, he tried to talk away a class-action lawsuit brought against Trump University, dismissing it as minor and predicting that after a few more years of litigation, he will win the argument with the dissatisfied students.

Trump dominated the evening in terms of time spent talking, but he also dominated in time spent on the defensive. Given the pattern of the entire campaign and of the past three debates, he probably did nothing to undermine the support he already has.

Its questionable, however, whether Trump added new voters to his coalition  voters he might need if the field narrows further. But its equally questionable whether Kasich, Cruz or Rubio came out of the debate enhanced or standing above one another.

The Republican Party is in terrible turmoil over Trumps candidacy, with members of what passes for the establishment frantic to find a way to slow his march to victory. But winning the nomination outright by accumulating delegates in the primaries and caucuses now seems exceedingly difficult for any of Trumps rivals. The course that seems to have emerged is a collective hold-the-line strategy that would throw the decision to the national convention in July.

Cruz once thought a victory in South Carolina and a big night on Super Tuesday would put him in the drivers seat. That strategy crumbled when Trump won South Carolina and carried seven of the 11 contests earlier this week. Cruz salvaged the night by winning his home state of Texas, Oklahoma and Alaska. But he has yet to show he can truly consolidate conservatives in the way he needs to.

Rubio had tried to play the long game, but its become a much longer game than first envisioned. The Florida senator finally picked up his first victory on Tuesday in the Minnesota caucuses. But on a night when he said the key was accumulating delegates, he fell far behind both Trump and Cruz. In delegate-rich Texas, he managed to come away with just three of the 155 at stake. If that isnt a failure of his strategy, what is?

Kasich came close in tiny Vermont on Tuesday and finished second in Massachusetts, a whisker ahead of Rubio. In the South, he cratered, scoring in single digits. In some of those states, he trailed Ben Carson, who has since gone to the sidelines with all the other candidates who began the race last year. The lone governor left in the race is still looking for his first victory.

A viable  perhaps tenuous is a better term  strategy for stopping Trump requires all three to win their home states. Cruz has delivered. Rubio and Kasich will be tested in Florida and Ohio on March 15, when delegates can be awarded on a winner-take-all basis. If either loses his home state, the pressure will mount to get out.

It seems that all need one another now to keep gathering enough delegates collectively to deny Trump a first-ballot victory at the convention. Under that strategy, chaos awaits the party in Cleveland, and it was chaos that seemed the order of the night in Detroit. The debates, a proxy for the nomination battle itself, have ceased being the partys friend.

(c) 2016, The Washington Post  Dan Balz
For the most part, U.S. presidential campaigns are long slogs punctuated by short gaffes. Think of Rick Perrys oops, Mitt Romneys 47 percent or Howard Deans scream. Like the MVP who misses the game-deciding foul shot in the championship, one mistake can erase a season of disciplined campaigning in an instant.

Then theres Donald Trump. These rules of political gravity do not apply to him. From insulting Sen. John McCain for getting captured in Vietnam to flubbing Jake Tappers question about the Ku Klux Klan, Trumps 2016 campaign has been an extended gaffe.

At Thursday nights Republican debate, Trump gave us plenty of head-scratchers. He said for example that the wives of 9/11 hijackers were whisked out of the country before 9/11. This was in response to a question about his earlier remark that he would not only go after terrorists as commander-in-chief, but that he would also target their families.

Then there was Trump University. In an exchange with Marco Rubio (whom he kept calling little Marco), Trump said the students of his for-profit college gave it high marks and then said he had reimbursed many of the students who asked for their money back.

So far these kinds of gaffes have had no effect. Indeed, it is part of Trumps appeal. He tells it like it is. Hes not afraid to say things that are politically incorrect. Unlike career politicians, Trump is unscripted. Sure, the Beltway mandarins are sickened at the thought of deporting millions of illegal immigrants, but this is exactly the kind of policy the Republican base desires. The fact that elites are shocked is a feature, not a bug. As Michael Kinsley famously observed, a gaffe in Washington is when a politician accidentally tells the truth.

But this game works only if we assume Trump means the shocking things he has been saying. Theres a good chance he doesnt.

This was a theme in Thursdays debate. Sen. Ted Cruz for example attacked Trump three times for writing checks to Hillary Clintons 2008 presidential campaign. He asked how someone who claims to be so tough on immigration could support someone who was on the other side of this issue.

In his own way, Rubio too made this point about Trump. Rubio reiterated his line that Trump is a con man, willing to scam the suckers who enrolled in his for-profit university the same way he is scamming Republican primary voters.

It was the Fox News moderators however who really drove this point home. First they asked him about an off-the-record interview he gave to the New York Times. Buzzfeed reported this week that Trump in January told the paper that his positions on immigration were flexible. This led to a bizarre answer from Trump in which he claimed he would not authorize release of the tape of this interview because he sought to honor the off-the-record agreement he made with the Times.

Then the moderators played clips of Trump contradicting himself in television interviews on whether he supported the Afghanistan war and allowing Syrian refugees into the U.S. Trumps response was not very Trumpian. He tried to explain that he may have said different things to different people, but that was only because he had meant to be consistent. At other times in the debate, Trump tried to make a virtue of his flexibility, explaining that this was what was needed to be effective in Washington.

Trump has said this kind of thing before. He is after all a great deal maker, he assures us.

But on Thursday night, it sounded different. When questioned about his contradictions, the unscripted outsider dissembled. Trump sounded evasive and uncertain. He sounded like a politician, for whom the rules of political gravity may still apply.

(c) 2016, Bloomberg View  Eli Lake / Bloomberg photo by Andrew Harrer)
[By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for the Five Towns Jewish Times]

SOME YOUNG AMERICAN BOCHURIM studying in Yerushalayim have raised an intriguing problem.

The building was once called the Ner Yaakov Yeshiva and Kollel on Rechov Press, in the Geulah section of Yerushalayim. It is located across the street from the Brisker Yeshiva run by Rav Avrohom Yehoshua Soloveitchik Shlita. The building was sold a few years ago. Now, the building is the unofficial dormitory of the Brisk Yeshiva. Some young men attending the Yeshiva of Brisk stay in rented apartments. Others, however, stay across the street in the unofficial dormitory.

The boys in the dorm must pay a monthly rent of approximately $130. In addition, every two months, the costs of all the utilities are divided up and shared by all the dorm boys. On the bottom floor is a Bais Midrash which is rented out to a Yeshiva for Yerushalmis. The meals are provided for just across the street.

The low cost, the nearness of the Yeshiva meals, the close proximity to the Brisk Yeshiva where they learn  this is utter paradise! What could possibly be the problem?

The problem is that the dormitory is on top of a Beis Midrash. The Shulchan Aruch Orech Chaim (151:12) writes as follows: One must be careful from using an aliyah (an attic or second floor) that is above a Bais HaKnesses [this also includes a Bais HaMidrash] regularly for a use which is legnai  indecorous or unseemly. The Shulchan Aruch cites sleeping or lying down as an example of an unseemly activity. He further writes in Part B of this halacha that there is a question as to whether other types of activities are permitted in such a location.

The Ramah adds a qualification. He writes that this halacha only refers to a Shul which was initially established as a shul. However, in a building that was originally built as a regular building and only afterward established as a shul  there one may indeed lay down.

The Ramahs leniency stems from a ruling of the Piskei Mahari. On this Ramah, however, the Mishna Brurah (OC 151:42), citing the Mogain Avrohom who cites the Kneseth HaGedolah, remarks that, nonetheless, one who is concerned for his soul should distance himself from this  especially in the section above the haichal.

And of late, this has become a widespread problem. With few exceptions, Yeshiva after yeshiva has built a floor above the Bais Midrash that is used for dorm facilities. Even though the Ramah permits it, the Mishna Brurah tells us that we should distance ourselves from it.

The Shulchan Aruchs question in Part B about other types of activities is explained by the Mishna Brurah as being based upon the following question: Do we compare a shul to the Azarah in the Bais HaMikdash, in which case the upper sections do not retain a state of holiness? Or perhaps do we compare a shul or Bais HaMidrash to the Haichal of the Bais HaMikdash itself, in which case the upper sections would retain a state of holiness?

It is also interesting to note that if the upper section was built at the same time as the shul or Bais HaMidrash then it is certainly permitted. This is the ruling of the Mishna Brurah too. There is one caveat, though. And it is an important one.

The Mishna Brurah states, (as does the TaZ) that a use which is extremely unseemly, would also be forbidden even in such circumstances where the upper building was built at the same time as the shul or Bais Midrash. Examples of extremely unseemly activities are ones that smell horribly and if a gentile is performing Avodah Zarah there.

The reason for it is that somehow these things prevent the Tefillah from travelling up to heavenly realms. The TaZ compares it to the halachos of Amain found in Orech Chaim Chapter 55. He explains that even though an iron wall will not prevent prayers from reaching our Father in Heaven  this stuff will.

What if it is several floors above the Bais HaMidrash? Would it be okay in such circumstances? The Avnei Naizer in OC #32 says that it is not.

One might point out that surely this is not a new question. The building must have been used as a dormitory beforehand. Surely there is room for leniency then. What was the rationale of the previous tenants or owners?

There is one opinion that must certainly be central to any lenient position espoused. The Aruch haShulchan writes that the issue is not a fully halachic issue, but rather a question as to whether one should make a commemoration of every Mikdash Meat to compare it to the Haichal. This position would indicate that there certainly is room to be lenient.

The TaZ, however, in Orech Chaim 151:4 writes that when he was younger he and his children lived in his Bais Midrash in the city of Cracow, above a shul. He writes that he was punished severely and lost his young son [in an apparent fire]. He placed the blame on the fact that he lived above a shul.

The TaZs very sad narrative seems to indicate that he is not in agreement with the position of the Aruch HaShulchan and that he holds that this law is not a mere commemoration, but actual binding law. The language of the Kneseth HaGedolah is also somewhat frightening. He writes, Whoever I have seen who has made a Bais HaMidrash in his house and he uses the floor that is above this Bais Midrash- did not succeed. Of them, some have lost their wealth, some have died, and some did not merit to be built.

Is there no hope then for the young men on Press Street in Geulah?

The Steipler Gaon zatzal in Kreina DIgrasa Vol. II #86 addresses the issue and writes that in our times in the big cities people are lenient and we may apply the expression, The masses have already trampled here and Hashem watches fools..

Rav Ovadiah Yoseph Shlita has a responsa (Yabia Omer OC VI #26) that one can be lenient on a third floor or above. The Shaivet haLaivi has a similar leniency in his responsa Vol. I #27. Both opinions seem to accept the Aruch HaShulchans underlying rationale. Indeed, the Mishna Brurah himself, seems to reject part of the TaZs halachic structure in comparing this to the case of Avodah Zarah and activities that smell horribly.

Dayan Weiss zatzal in Minchas Yitzchok Vol. II #48 seems to be stringent, however.

An interesting story comes to us from one of our readers in Kiryat Sefer.

I moved into Kiryat Sefer the day it opened almost 17 years ago. For quite a few years all the shuls were in miklatim [bomb shelters] and there were some serious accidents, cholim etc. We went to Rav Chaim Kanievsky [the son of the Steipler Rav mentioned earlier] and asked him what type of tikkun [rectification] we can do. He asked us where the shuls are. Telling him that most of the shuls were located in the miklatim under apartments, he mentioned that his father was very makpid on this. Together with the builders of Kiryat Sefer and the gabboim, a date was set for all shuls to be moved into temporary caravans or permanent buildings.

I cannot tell you exactly how long ago this was but we are talking about at least 12 years ago. It gave us a push to get the shuls built. Also, until we did move out, Rav Chaim told us to cordon off the exact area where the bathroom was located on the floor directly above the shul and not to daven there. Rav Shteinman was also involved with this psak but I cannot tell you exactly what he said. [I] just know that he was also pushing for us to move out of the miklatim.

The conclusions? There is room to be lenient, especially on a third floor. However, one who wishes to be stringent, a blessing will certainly come upon him.

The author can be reached at [email protected]
An editorial in the erev Shabbos Yated Neeman decries the increasing chilul Shabbos in Yerushalayim and recent gestures to the Reform Movement, primarily the decision to create an egalitarian prayer area near the Kosel.

Under the headline The battle over the sanctity of Yerushalayim, Yated launches a scathing attack against Mayor Nir Barkat and his administration for the sharp and alarming increase in chilul Shabbos in the holy city.

Not forgotten is the recent Jerusalem city council decision to permit the Mitcham HaTachana to operate on Shabbos. Also mentioned is the fact the latter is made possible by the absence of the Shas city councilman during the vote. The chareidi and religious parties in the city council maintain a majority of one, and had Shas been there as expected, the Mitcham would not be permitted to operate on Shabbos. Yated adds What is clear is the holy city is besieged and it must be liberated.

The newspaper insists that the Jerusalem of Barkat is not Jerusalem for the mayor views the city as a national symbol void of the Yiddishkheit aspect, citing Har Habayis is the pinnacle of nationalism RL, not a holy place, and therefore permits the trampling of the holy site. Their Kosel is the Eifel Tower of the Frenchman and the Roman Coliseum of this city  the British Big Ben of Jerusalem so they build the cage for foxes to walk on it. Jerusalem is the Berlin or New York to the Israelis, and this is how they wish it to appear. Jerusalem City Hall is doing its best to secularize the city and to perpetuate the destruction.

This is the Jerusalem conquered by the Greeks and Romans as well as the United Jerusalem of Teddy Kollek in the past and of Barkat today. However, it is not Jerusalem! It is Tel Aviv, Haifa or Beersheva living in Jerusalem. This may be what Barkat is striving for but not the major artery that lies in the heart of every Jew.

While Jerusalem is today under Jewish sovereignty, it is not liberated. The city is choking under foreign spiritual occupation led by the general, the mayor. The Kosel, remaining area of our Beis Hamikdash has become a play of worship for a foreign sect which seeks to crush and occupy the queen with a hechsher from the Supreme Court.

The citys designation is the Torah will come forth from it along with the word of G-d, and it has uprooted religion. The State of Israel has her Jerusalem but the Jewish people is still without its Jerusalem and we are compelled to fight this, at least the recent developments, adding the chareidi tzibur must combat this to prevent the mayor from continuing on this path.

The editorial concludes with a quote from Gemara Shabbos;

        

That Yerushalayim was destroyed due to the chilul Shabbos, concluding A real alarm. The battle for to defend Kedushas Yerushalayim

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
About a half year has passed since the current administration has wiped out the accomplishments of the previous administration, the 19th Knesset, regarding state giyur. The liberalized giyur as gedolei yisrael viewed it was removed from the state agenda as part of the coalition agreements signed between the chareidi parties and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. According to statistics quoted by the Yisrael Hayom daily, there were 4,000 converts in 2014 as opposed to 3,600 in 2015, citing the main point is new candidates are not lining up as they were in the past.

A source quoted anonymously by the newspaper explains persons considering giyur began viewing the state giyur as problematic, a system that complicates our lives for not everyone accepts them as Jews when they are done, referring to the chareidi tzibur around the world.

These facts were released in the shadow of reports in the dati leumi community, which quotes the dirty trick as it is being called, played on Rabbi Chaim Druckman Shlita by officials in the office of Rishon LTzion Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef Shlita.

According to reports, during the height of the machlokes surrounding state giyur during the 19th Knesset, with Likud, Bayit Yehudi and Yesh Atid in the coalition, Elazar Stern managed to push through his controversial giyur bill which liberalized state giyur to put it mildly. This was done amid audible objections from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.

Rabbi Druckman explains he tried to serve as a go-between to bring the sides to a compromise. He suggested that whatever the giyur will be, the final signature must come from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, thereby leaving the certification process in the hands of the Chief Rabbinate.

Rav Druckman begins by stating Sterns law was a bad one, and he too was not in favor of it. He felt the status quo pertaining to giyur should have continued and worked to receive chareidi approval for his position as well. He met with Rav Yosef and explains there was an understanding between them  both agreeing his (Rav Druckmans) version was preferable than advancing MK Sterns bill.

It is explained that after Rav Druckman left Rav Yosefs home, an aide to Rav Yosef named David Amar phoned explaining the rav wishes to bring him a letter, adding he should not come up but he would bring the letter down to him (Rav Druckman). Contrary to what was discussed and agreed to, the letter stated Rav Yosef rejects his position. This letter explains Rav Druckman was publicized on chareidi websites, stating emphatically There is no place for Chief Rabbinate backing the cabinet decision regarding giyur even though it is better than the (Stern) giyur bill. It is insufficient and I have already told Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in discussions zu neveila vzu treifa.

Responding to the report, officials in Rav Yosefs Office emphasize Rav Druckman, whom is a well-respected rav, met with Rav Yosef from time-to-time and at the time and the Rishon LTzion gave Rabbi Druckman a letter relating to giyur. This letter shows the facts as they are presented are incorrect.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Whatever critics might say about failed presidential candidate Mitt Romney, everyone at least agrees that he has done well for himself as a businessman. There is no such consensus regarding Donald Trump, the front-runner in this years Republican primaries, who touts his experience in business  particularly his ability to negotiate  as his strongest qualification for the presidency.

Trumps sub-par record as a businessman has been widely discussed, but a recent analysis suggests the extent of Trumps underperformance is vastly greater than previously recognized. The new results emphasize the degree to which Trump has relied on his familys wealth and connections in order to create his fortune.

Isnt he a huge business success? Doesnt he know what hes talking about? Romney asked in a speech Thursday. No. Look, his bankruptcies have crushed small businesses and the men and women who work for them. He inherited his business. He didnt create it.

Last year, Wonkblog examined Trumps performance as an investor based on public estimates of his wealth, including his own claims. His numbers were not only worse than those posted by skilled investors such as Warren Buffett, but Trump has made even less than a Main Street investor would by buying decent run-of-the-mill mutual funds to save money, if that investor had started with as much money as Trump did.

In response, several readers wrote in to defend Trump, complaining that comparing the real-estate business to the stock market is comparing apples to oranges.

Thats true, but it turns out that making money in real estate has been even easier than making money in stocks during the past several decades. Compared to other investors in his business, Trumps performance looks much worse than when compared to ordinary people who save money in the stock market.

In 1976, Trump told the New York Times that he was worth $200 million. Had he put that money in an ordinary fund based on the Standard & Poors 500-stock index, the kind that many people use to save money for retirement, hed have $12 billion today. That is more than the $10 billion he has claimed he is worth. Bloomberg estimates his wealth at $2.9 billion.

Yet compared to that of the average real-estate investor over the same period, Trumps performance is even worse, according to John Griffin, a businessman and a real-estate investor who is also a professor at the University of Texas at Austin.

Griffin used an index of funds known as real-estate investment trusts, or REITs. The managers of these funds rely on their expertise in real estate to earn money for their clients by buying and selling interests in commercial property.

This index has earned 14.4 percent a year since 1976. Had Trump done as well as the average among others in the industry, making investments that returned 14.4 percent over the long term, he would have turned the $200 million he said he had in 1976 into $23 billion as of last year, Griffin calculated.

Trump is an underperformer relative to his peers, Griffin said. If we want somebody else with good investment experience to run for office, we can pick the average guy running a REIT fund.

Independent estimates of Trumps wealth yield similar results.

In 1978, Business Week estimated that he was worth $100 million, about half what Trump claimed at the time. Had he invested that money in the stock market, hed be worth about $6 billion today  twice the $2.9 billion that Bloomberg estimates he is worth now. Had he done as well in real-estate as the average among other investors working in the industry, hed be worth $8.6 billion, according to Griffin.

Even Business Weeks estimate might have exaggerated Trumps wealth in 1978, judging by Trumps tax returns from that time. If so, Trumps performance over the period could be less catastrophic than it appears based on these figures.

Yet there is another factor that suggests these figures actually minimize Trumps underperformance.

In general, an investor who borrows heavily should perform better than average, since the person has more money to invest. Investors can pocket the difference between the interest paid to the bank on loans and the returns on the investments they make with the money, if theyre good investments.

Trump is fond of saying that his businesses multiple bankruptcies only reveal his skill in using the laws and the courts to get an advantage over his rivals. They also reveal that, unlike many investors, Trump borrowed heavily to finance his real-estate projects.

Griffin cited one estimate, from 2000, that Trumps businesses relied on loans totaling 69 percent of what he had put into his projects with his own money. By contrast, the same figure for the funds in the real-estate index is about 36 percent on average, reflecting the fact that many managers have taken a more conservative approach to investing.

Griffins figures on Trump dont account for the improved performance that would be expected from an investor who is so leveraged. Conversely, current estimates of Trumps wealth overstate his success, since they dont account for all the money he lost when his businesses went under. His creditors absorbed those losses.

Somebody paid for those bad decisions, and those were his business partners and the banks that loaned him money, Griffin said. If he plays that strategy with our countrys money, who picks up the tab?

Some have noted that Trump has a lavish lifestyle, speculating that his personal expenses might explain his underperformance. Yet the real-estate index accounts for the fees that managers pay themselves as a salary  about 1 percent of their assets, on average.

Assuming Trump had performed as well as the average manager while also devoting just 1 percent of his assets to his lifestyle, not only would he be worth $8.6 billion today, hed have eight figures a year in play money.

Trumps record is a striking contrast with Romneys, who called Trump a phony and a fraud in his speech Thursday.

In 1984, Romney founded Bain Capital, which has been roundly criticized for laying off workers at the companies in which it invests. All the same, no one can dispute that Romney made boatloads of money.

He established Bain with an investment fund of $37 million. The firm now claims $70 billion in assets under management. According to Forbes, Bains average return on its investments was 173 percent under Romneys leadership. He was so popular with investors that he was able to charge a fee of 3 percent, instead of the 2 percent most of his competitors offered.

Romney is not a billionaire  he was worth only about $230 million in 2012, according to Forbes. Thats partly because he left Bain to pursue his political career, and the firm has struggled since his departure.

One reason that Trump is a multibillionaire, while Romney isnt, is that Trump has received help from his father.

Both men came from wealthy families. As the New York Times reported, Romneys father gave him a loan that he used to buy his first house, for $42,000. While Romney had all the advantages that come from growing up in a wealthy and well-connected family, this is the only evidence of tangible financial assistance from his parents.

Trumps father, however, helped him throughout his career with millions in loans. As The Washington Posts Glenn Kessler explains, Fred Trump was one of two guarantors of a $70 million construction loan from the bank Manufacturers Hanover that financed one of Donald Trumps first major project, the Grand Hyatt in Manhattan, in 1978. Fred Trump also arranged for an unsecured line of credit from Chase Manhattan in the amount of $35 million for his son, which he also used to build the hotel.

Finally, Fred Trump extended a dubious loan to his son for $3.5 million, with casino chips from one of his sons failing casinos as collateral. Regulators later declared that loan illegal.

Fred Trumps connections helped Donald Trump get his start. Since then, he has consistently underperformed relative to the real-estate industry as a whole.

(c) 2016, The Washington Post  Max Ehrenfreund
Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson today announced that a Staten Island salesman was sentenced to 75 years to life in prison for the shooting deaths of three Brooklyn shopkeepers who were killed in separate incidents during the summer and fall of 2012. The defendant used the same rifle in all three incidents to murder three innocent and hard-working family men. He was convicted last month based on forensic, physical, surveillance and other evidence.

District Attorney Thompson said, Its hard to think of anyone who deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison more than this cold-blooded and unrepentant serial killer. He murdered three innocent, honest and hard-working business owners and then spent years acting up in court to delay the fate he received today. I hope his life sentence will bring some comfort to the victims families who have suffered so much loss and grief.

The District Attorney identified the defendant as Salvatore Perrone, 67, of 1173 Clove Road in Staten Island. He was sentenced today by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Alan Marrus to the maximum sentence of 75 years to life in prison, following his conviction on February 10, 2016 on three counts of second-degree murder after a jury trial.

The District Attorney said that, according to trial testimony, on July 6, 2012, the defendant shot Mohamed Gebeli, 65, once in the neck, killing him, inside the victims store Valentino Fashion, located at 7718 Fifth Avenue in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. On August 2, 2012 the defendant shot Isaac Kadare HYD, 59, once in the head and then slit his throat inside the victims Amazing 99 Cents Deals store at 1877 86th Street in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. On November 16, 2012 the defendant fatally shot Rahmatollah Vahidipour HYD, 78, in the head, face and chest inside the victims She-She Boutique at 834 Flatbush Avenue in Flatbush, Brooklyn.

After the third homicide, a photo of the defendant carrying a black duffle bag in the vicinity of the third crime scene was distributed to the media and he was arrested on November 21, 2012. A search at his girlfriends home led to the recovery of the duffle bag. In it, police discovered a .22-caliber rifle that was registered to the defendant and was used in all three murders, according to ballistic analysis of shell casings that were left at the three crime scenes, the evidence showed. The bag also contained a knife with blood that matched Mr. Kadare. Blood stains that matched Mr. Vahidipour were found on the bag itself.

Furthermore, the defendants fingerprints and DNA were recovered from the murder weapon, according to testimony. Cell phone data and surveillance videos placed him in the vicinity of the second and third homicides, the evidence showed. All three victims were killed around their stores closing time and their bodies were covered with clothes or other items in an apparent attempt to conceal the murders.

As YWN reported in 2012, Isaac Kadare was a married, father of four, and was a regular Mispallel in the Sephardic Shul on Ocean Parkway between Quentin Road and Kings Highway, and attended a nightly Shiur in Flatbush.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)
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MANZINI  A woman, who is alleged to have been having arguments with the father of her child, a police officer, yesterday morning set her lovers flat on fire.



The police officer is alleged to have been out of his house, which is situated a kilometre away from the police station-camp. Due to the shortage of houses, some police officers are renting apartments, situated near the police station. The woman will not be named because she has not yet appeared before court.



The woman is said to have arrived at the cops house at around 1am and entered. It is alleged that the two had a fight before the woman left the house, with the small child and headed to the police station, where she informed her boyfriends colleagues that she wanted to lay a charge against her lover and record a statement.



Before police officers on duty proceeded with conversing with her, one of the officers is said to have enquired why the child was not dressed. The woman allegedly felt unwelcomed at the police station. Infuriated, she left. This was after she had allegedly shouted and informed police officers that she was going to burn down the officers rented flat. Information gathered is that the police officer had already vacated the flat at the time and was with one of his friends at the police camp. After a few minutes, security guards from the apartment called the police station and informed the police that the officers flat was on fire.



When the police got there, most of the officers items were completely burnt, including a double bed, clothing, police gear (hats, jungle uniform, jackets, belts, and trousers) among other items.
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By Bill Parry

A 31-year-old Woodhaven mother has been charged with stealing more than $65,000 from her pre-teen daughters malpractice lawsuit settlement and then using the money for plastic surgery on herself and numerous other personal expenses, according to the Queens district attorney.

Megan Mele faces up to 15 years in prison.

The defendant is accused of stealing from her own child, who was disabled at birth and had the money set aside following a lawsuit settlement, DA Richard Brown said. Instead of safeguarding the money for her daughters future needs, the defendant is alleged to have thought only of herself. She allegedly used the childs bank account as if it were her own piggy bankdipping in for money to buy plane tickets, shop online, pay restaurant bills and even splurge on plastic surgery for herself. Her actions, if proven true, are reprehensible and must be punished.

According to the charges, a 2007 settlement was reached in a medical malpractice suit on behalf of Meles daughter, born in 2004, who was diagnosed with a brachial plexus injury to her right arm. Because of nerve damage the child has extremely limited, if any, function from her right shoulder down to her hand.

The mother sued St. Johns Episcopal Hospital over her daughters injury in 2007, according to court records.

The settlement was structured for the girl to receive payments starting after her birthday in 2022. As part of the settlement, an account with more than $50,000 was established at Cross County Federal Savings in 2007 for the childs benefit.

According to the criminal complaint, the defendant was required to submit requests to the court to make any withdrawals from the bank account, which was accruing interest. On March 27, 2015, the defendant allegedly submitted a forged court order to withdraw the funds, purportedly for the child to undergo surgery at a San Diego childrens hospital, and a bank check was issued in Meles name on that date for $47,000, the complaint said.

An investigation revealed that there was no record of the girl being a patient at the San Diego hospital but rather the defendant used a portion of the funds for a trip to Disneyland in California, Brown said. In addition to the trip to Disneyland, Mele allegedly spent the money on a liposuction procedure for a tummy tuck, airline tickets and Amazo n.com purchases, as well as purchases at local retail stores, according to the DAs office.

Mele allegedly filed two more bogus court orders later that year to withdrawal an additional $19,000, the DA said. The bank grew suspicious and the case was eventually referred to the Queens DA.
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By Kevin Zimmerman

Anyone who lives outside the New York City area may wonder why someone who is a Metro Card swipe away from Broadway would bother to see a production of Seussical: The Musical in Middle Village. Well, according to Queens theater buffs, skipping that show at the JC Players would have meant missing out on an incredible theatrical experience.

JC Players production of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flahertys musical mash-up of several books by Dr. Seuss, including Horton Hears a Who and The Cat in the Hat, cleaned up at TimesLedger Newspapers annual Queens Kudos Awards for excellence in theater.

Besides earning the top prize for best musical, Seussical: The Musical received honors for best actor, best actress, best supporting actress, best director and best costumes.

For this third edition of the Queens Kudos, TimesLedger Newspapers solicited nominations from its readers to include more productions than just the Actors Equity-approved showcases that run mostly in Long Island City and Astoria  those shows will receive their due with a second round of Kudos to be awarded in May.

As for eligibility, the only requirements stipulated that a show must have opened between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31 and run a minimum of three performances.

Once the top vote getters in the nomination process were selected, readers were asked to select one winner in each of nine categories through a voting process at the Queens on Cue blog.

Shows from across the borough were acknowledged with nominations. Most were recent Broadway hits, like Parkside Players Urinetown, others were the old chestnuts, such as Maggie Little Theaters Oklahoma, which thrive in the community theater arena.

And even The Bard was represented with multiple nominations from Hip to Hip Theatre Co.s productions of The Merry Wives of Windsor and The Merchant of Venice.

On the following pages, you will find the names and photographs of the 2016 Queens Kudos community theater award winners.

The slate includes musical, play, actor, actress, supporting actor, supporting actress, director, costumes and set design.

Nominees are listed below, and winners are in bold type:

Musical

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Theatre by the Bay

Oklahoma!, Maggies Little Theater

The Pajama Game, Parkside Players

Seussical: The Musical, JC Players

Urinetown, Parkside Players

Play

The Merchant of Venice, Hip to Hip

The Merry Wives of Windsor, Hip to Hip

Three Sisters: Tulsa 1921, The Applied Theatre Collective

Vanities, Parkside Players

Actor

Doug Hendel,The Merry Wives of Windsor

Frank Josephs, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

Jason Marr, The Merry Wives of Windsor

Alan Perkins, Seussical: The Musical

Actress

Alicia Brosky, Seussical: The Musical

Joy Marr, The Merry Wives of Windsor

Emily Mathis, Oklahoma!

Michele Mazzocco, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

Supporting Actress

Annice Auriemma, Oklahoma!

Jenna Kantor, Urinetown

Evangelia Kingsley, The Merchant of Venice

Julia Marshall, Seussical: The Musical

Supporting Actor

Donald Gormanly, Lucky Stiff

Kurt Kingsley, The Merchant of Venice

Joe Paciullo, Oklahoma!

Guy Ventoliere, The Merry Wives of Windsor

Director

Barbara Auriemma, Seussical: The Musical

Murray McGibbon, The Merry Wives of Windsor

David Mold, The Merchant of Venice

Ovi Vargas, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

Set Design

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, John Baratta, John Palmieri and Barry Stein

Oklahoma!, Alan Perkins, Michael Tierney and Ed Voyer

Urinetown, John OHare

Costumes

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Chery Maniello

Oklahoma!, Miriam Denu

Seussical: The Musical, JC Players cast and crew

Urinetown, Parkside Players cast and crew
The government will continue to hand out the death sentence to big players in drug trafficking world despite criticism from foreign countries and human rights activists, arguing that consistency in law enforcement is the key to success in curbing the distribution of drugs.





"The best way to reduce the trafficking of drugs is through consistency. We have no tolerance for drug dealers," said the Jakarta head of the National Narcotics Board (BNN), Brig. Gen. Ali Johardi at a press conference in Jakarta to launch the annual International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) report on Thursday.





The country manager of the UN office on drugs and crime (UNODC) in Indonesia, Collie F. Brown, took the opportunity to reinstate the UN's opposition to the death penalty. Brown urged countries to find an alternative punishment for drug traffickers.





Attorney General M Prasetyo has stressed that a third round of drug convict executions would be carried out this year.





To date, 14 drugs drug convicts have been executed. The previous executions received strong criticism from anti-death penalty activists and caused a temporary souring of diplomatic relations with a number of countries including Brazil and Australia.





Johardi said the government was considering the development of a prison island, which will be used for drug-lord convicts, an idea proposed by BNN chief Budi Waseso.





There is a possibility, the idea was further discussed during the agency's recent meeting with the House of Representatives Commission III overseeing legal affairs, Johardi added.








By Phil Butler

In an alternative universe, what if Yugoslavia still existed? NATOs expansion, the Cold War still being waged, the so-called democratic western nations destroying freedoms in the name of democracy, were already living World War III. At this crucial juncture in history, its absolutely imperative that we examine what has transpired the last 25 years. Yugoslavia and western intervention there, is perhaps the best place to begin. This article calls to question the peace that might have been. More importantly, it calls to question whether or not peace was ever a democratic goal.

Can you imagine Europe today with Yugoslavia as a key player among nations? I can. Yugoslavia was in fact, one of the greatest cultural and human experiments in history. Formed in the crucible that was the conflict in between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire, Yugoslavia melded together peoples of both cultures, and in ways not seen since the time of Alexander the Greats assimilation of peoples after immense conquest. The experiment, if I may call it that, lasted a little over half a century. The ideal was, to form a single state for all southern Slavic peoples. While Yugoslavias creation was partly a geo-strategic move on the part of Britain and France, in order to restrain or block Germany, the underlying idealism was sound and just. The provisions of the so-called Corfu Declaration called for what amounted to a constitutional monarchy not unlike Englands. Rights and suffrage, and core principles of something known as the Illyrian movement, were promising aspects of early Yugoslavia. Even though King Alexander would eventually suspend the constitution and elections, the melding of ethnic groups and cultures still showed promise. War, political machinations, internal and external pressures preyed heavily always on this fledgling world power. As has been the case in many such experiments, ultimately authoritarian rule became the necessity, even desirable.

To end the history lesson, when the national hero turned Dictator and world celebrity, Josip Tito was firmly in control, Yugoslavia played on the world stage. Then when his power waned, opposing forces found their foothold. No scholars or politicians speak of it today, but Titos part in establishing the Non-Aligned Movement of nation states was magnanimous and extremely significant, especially for the people who now live in Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, and the other former Yugoslav regions. Ill get into this further along, but for now it seems important to outline this Non-Aligned Movements ideals.

The NAMs foundations were built in Belgrade in 1961 by the initial ideas of Titos Yugoslavia; Indias first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru; Indonesias first president, Sukarno; Egypts second president, Gamal Abdel Nasser; and Ghanas first president Kwame Nkrumah. To be concise here, maybe reflecting one of NAMs greatest proponents, Cubas Fidel Castro. In a speech given during the Havana Declaration of 1979, Castro laid out the real purpose behind NAM, saying the movement should strive for:

The national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of non-aligned countries in their struggle against imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, racism, and all forms of foreign aggression, occupation, domination, interference or hegemony as well as against great power and bloc politics

So essentially, the NAM was to be an independent movement of nations in between the great powers, with the idea of negating the Cold War was in novel and interesting one. Of course the major powers engaged in this new political and idealistic warfare had at their core strategy, the inclusion of every one of these fledgling independents. As we see today, the battle goes on to fragment, divide and render powerless, countries and peoples everywhere on the globe. This can be seen most easily in the carving up of the former Yugoslavia, and in the fact the resulting states have shown no inclination to be part of NAM now.

Instead, the EU and NATO have been the gravitational pull that moves Croatia and the others. We see the prevalence of Cold War strategy in the fact Belarus and Azerbaijan are the only two members of the Movement in Europe, Azerbaijan and Fiji being the most recent entrants, having joined back in 2011. However, the 2012 NAM Summit saw higher attendance than any previous year, a bit of a sign of our crisis time now, I expect. With a declared purpose of world peace, and fundamental rights and integrity as its dogma, NAM was and is a valid theoretical mediating framework. But let me return to the fantasy case for Yugoslavia now.

Looking at the breakup of Yugoslavia in retrospect, framing what is Washington geo-strategy everywhere takes solid form. The Clinton administrations actions at that time have been parlayed and propagandized with the same Orwellian doublethink the public is mystified with today. Reading Washington think tank propaganda like that of the Brookings Institute reveals this. In Decision to Intervene: How the War in Bosnia Ended from 1998, author Ivo H. Daalder begins:

While many have written eloquently and passionately to explain Washingtonsand the Westsfailure to stop the ethnic cleansing, the concentration camps, and the massacres of hundreds of thousands of civilians, few have examined why, in the summer of 1995, the United States finally did take on a leadership role to end the war in Bosnia.

The truth is a much simpler reality. No one needed a think tank to discover why President Bill Clinton hesitated to intercede in Bosnia. Clinton was in fact, continuing the policies of his predecessor, George Bush the senior, to destabilize the Yugoslavian socialist success. We know now that US covertly trained insurgents played a vital role in fragmenting the region via an organization known as the Atlantic Brigade, which fought in the Kosovo war at the side of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), numbering some 400 armed fighters (Also see Cristian Science Monitor of 1999). Theres not space within this report to reveal the subterfuge and death dealing that came about because of US proxy wars in the former Yugoslavia. I will direct the reader to an expert.

David Hackworth is gone now, he succumbed to cancer a few years back. The legacy of soldiers against war goes on, only with different proponents like those at Veterans Today and elsewhere. As for Bill Clintons playing at reluctance in the region once known as Yugoslavia, the sordid history of genocide and graft seems endless now. Another story I found, the tale of a Frenchman who trained with the Atlantic Brigade, it calls to mind Ukraine, Libya, and Syria of late. You see patterns lead us to the truth more often than not, ask any criminal profiler. The ghastly killing fields of the legitimate country of Yugoslavia, the investments in carving up the pieces left over, stain the hands of US presidents, British lords, and neo-Nazi German industrialists.

In an interview with a French mercenary names Jacques, Jean-Luc Porte reported back in 1999 how the US backed Atlantic Brigade was formed up. The skin head killer of Serbs and Croatians, by his own admission, outlines for us how fascism and Nazis akin to those seen in Ukraine of late, made up a killing brigade effecting the dismemberment of a former great nation. Wounded, rethinking his service to the cause, the Frenchman who joined other multinationals in Albania bore the mark of HOS for Ustashis, a proud brand of Croatian Nazis who joined the Germans in World War II. Not unlike the Banderites of the Ukraine crisis, the various proxy wars in the Balkans were manned by lethal killers from abroad. And top American officials knew full well the breed of murderers they pulled the strings on in Kosovo and throughout the Balkans. Yugoslavia, you see, became the template for Afghanistan and Iraq, Arab Spring, and the current anti-Russia onslaught. The names of Madeleine Albright, Javier Solana, General Wesley Clark and others continue to reverberate. In the former Yugoslavia the friends of key players in government planned a literal carving feast of potential creditor nations and investment bonanzas. The tale of this genocide in the name of democracy is almost too awful to speak of. Most of the people of these nations were set back 200 years, into a kind of medieval existence without hope. The only glimmer of possibility for most former Yugoslavians is quite naturally, the EU and its NATO protectors.

As I write this American, Brit and German planners are already carving up Syria. This Rand Corporation plan is not surprisingly clinical, even matter of fact, about partitioning a sovereign state. For those unaware, Rand Corporation is the Big Brother of all hegemonic think tanks. If you see it in print from these guys, the US military industrial complex invested money in it  period. Certainly there was genocide on both sides of the Albania-Kosovo conflict, as well as the other wars in the Balkans. This is not the point really, for the totality of catastrophe is what I am focused on. First of all the people of the united Yugoslavia no longer have any real voice. Secondly, the breakup of that nation has led to the death or dislocation of millions now. This is another story. But my fantasy Yugoslavia should be an eye opener. Let me conclude.

Yugoslavia was built on an idea that Southern Slavs would not remain a weak and divided people. A united nation of Yugoslavia was not easy prey for imperialist intentions like we see taking place today. It is a fact, that after World War II, socialist Yugoslavia became something of a European success story. Between 1960 and 1980 the country had one of the most vigorous growth rates in the world: a decent standard of living, free medical care and education, a guaranteed right to a job, one-month vacation with pay, a literacy rate of over 90 percent, and a life expectancy of 72 years. To my knowledge, not one of the Balkans states that were created can claim half this prosperity. It was this prosperity which caused western interests to want to destroy Yugoslavia.

Yugoslavias multi-ethnic citizenry also had affordable public transportation, housing, and utilities. The not-for-profit economy was mostly publicly owned, not exactly the poster child for western democratic love obviously. The county could not be allowed to compete with Germany, France, and especially Britain, and the London and Luxembourg bankers could not extract their billions in a socialistic system. Yugoslavia had to die, and the Reagans, Bushs, and Clintons helped make it happen. Award winning author, political scientist, and Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C., Michael Parenti has outlined the Yugoslavia disaster many times. According to Parenti, the U.S. goal has been to transform the Yugoslav nation into a Third-World region:

 incapable of charting an independent course of self-development;

 a shattered economy and natural resources completely accessible to multinational corporate exploitation, including the enormous mineral wealth in Kosovo;

 an impoverished, but literate and skilled population forced to work at subsistence wages, constituting a cheap labor pool that will help depress wages in western Europe and elsewhere;

 dismantled petroleum, engineering, mining, fertilizer, and automobile industries, and various light industries, that offer no further competition with existing Western producers.

Does this strategy sound familiar? Remember the Rand Corporation plan for Syria. Were Ukraine, Donbass, and Crimea understood before the Euromaidan? What is the plan for Russia? This is where the metal meets the meat my friends. In the Balkans catastrophe the West demonized the Serbs. In Libya it was Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, in Syria it is Assad, and the pattern goes on with Vladimir Putin as the biggest trophy head to put on some bankers den wall. If that sounds contrite, I am sorry, this is the world we live in now. By the power of sleeping American citizens drugged stupid with worthless trinkets of super-capitalism  the world is being taken over by tyrants.

But what if Yugoslavia had survived? What if the great ethnic-socialist experiment had worked? Its safe to say our world would be totally different today. For one thing, the EU with the Non-Aligned Movement of nation states (NAM) operating within its current boarders would be less potent, far less influential geo-politically. All of Europe might have led to Belgrade, and from there into the six republics now fighting for crumbs from Brussels. To galvanize how my fantasy Yugoslavian nation might look, Ill leave you with the relative economic situations of current Balkans states, and the Yugoslavia GDP in 1991, positioned at 24th among world nations. As former President Ronald Reagan used to say; Are you better off?

As of 2015, Bosnia and Herzegovina is 112th economically, and conditions are worsening. Still the poor Bosnians think joining the EU will solve all problems. Croatia is currently 76th in the world economically, but Bloomberg just named the country one of the 10 worst on Earth. Macedonia ranks 130th, with agriculture being the only real industry, unemployment in the country is above 30%. Montenegro, despite the sheer beauty of the tiny country, is 149th among world nations. Like some other former republics, Montenegro believes EU ascension will solve everything. Serbia is ranked 87th in GDP, and seems more stable in many regards than her contemporaries. Slovenia ranks 81st in GDP, and is for some a potential miracle if tourism and other industries continue to grow there.

From a personal perspective, I recall a moment of prosperity in the former Yugoslavia, the 1984 Olympics at Sarajevo. Those were the first Winter Olympics ever held in a Communist nation, as I recall. The torch relay through Dubrovnik, then Split, Ljubljana, Zagreb, and countless other Yugoslavian cities, culminated in a proud moment in Sarajevo. The names of the gold medal athletes there have become blurred in my mind now, but the little wolf mascot Vucko, created by the Slovenian painter Joze Trobec is framed in my minds eye for some reason. A cartoon here in Yugoslavia at the time, the little wolf represented the people of these Balkans nations well. Wolves are prominent in Yugoslavian fables, they are the embodiment of courage and strength and the also symbolize winter. And as I type these final letters, I think about what the courageous and strong people of Yugoslavia might have won had their destinies not been interrupted by outsiders? All I know is, 24th place is a far cry from 149th in the Olympics. As for Yugoslavia, that nation is gone forever.

Phil Butler, is a policy investigator and analyst, a political scientist and expert on Eastern Europe.
By Samantha Brletich

Russia signed an inter-governmental agreement in early late January 2016 that would resettle Mongolias debt to Russia which totaled $172 million, 97 per cent of Mongolias total debt. The debt forgiveness signals Moscow is moving closer to Ulan Bataar as it slowly losses grip on other Former Soviet Union Republics economically. Mongolia also presents an increased market opportunity for Russia and its petrol products. The use of financial instruments and debts to bring countries closer to Russia and to gain political concessions are a mainstay in Russias diplomatic toolkit.

The crashing oil market impacted Russias economy by shrinking Russias GDP and the regional economy causing many former Soviet Republics to rethink their economic policies and alliances. Countries heavily interconnected with Russia, politically and economically, suffered because of the crash of the commodities market and Western sanctions on Russia. Remittances dropped among four Central Asia states affecting their GDP. The slowed Russian economy has forced Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstantwo of Russias closest allies out of the Former Soviet Unionto seek economic opportunities elsewhere.

Kazakhstans currency, the tenge, plunged 100 per cent in the last five months and the current exchange rate 352.08 tenge to one US dollar on 18 February. According to reporting on 23 February 2016 from Reuters, Kazakhstans economy will grow only 0.5 per cent, as opposed to the originally forecasted 2.1 per cent. Kazakhstan will also cut its oil output to 74 million tonnes. Kazakhstans is looking to Middle Eastern investors such as the United Arab Emirates. Kazakhstans diversifying economic partners is also reflected in Kazakhstans desire to be a bridge between Europe and Eurasia and to expand its bilateral economic partnerships.

The squeeze prompted discussion of raising rent rates for Russia who leases four of Kazakhstans military and space sites including the Sary Shagan and Emba missile testing sites. Russia, for all four sites, pays $24 million which is not enough according to Kazakhstan MPs. Russia is currently leasing Baikonur Cosmodrome from Kazakhstan for $115 million a year until 2050.

Kyrgyzstan also cancelled plans for a hydroelectric power plant (HPP) as the two companies, Inter RAO and RusHydro, responsible for the project were unable to finance the completion of the Kambar-Ata-1 HPP. Vladimir Putin signed the agreement to construct the HPP in 2012 and costs projected at $3 billion. RusHydro was to build four smaller hydropower plants (HPP) costing $727 million. Citing information from EurasiaNet, Kyrgyz authorities are trying to find a way to avoid paying Russia a $40 million debt for a HPP in the Upper Naryn region.

Results for Kyrgyzstan in the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) are mixed. Kyrgyzstan joined the EEU because of a large population of migrant workers in Russia, to strengthen bilateral ties, and access to traditional and regional markets. Kyrgyzstans inclusion in the EEU generated more migrant workers, about 544,000 Kyrgyz work in Russia today, according to Minister of Economy Kylychbek Dzhakypov. For the migrant workers, remittances dropped 28.3 per cent by the end of 2015; Tajikistans and Uzbekistans remittances dropped by half.

Internally, the resettlement of the debt favors Mongolias government. Mongolias Prime Minister survived a no confidence vote in January 2016 facilitated by Mongolias poor economic performance. Mongolias economy grew only 2.3 per cent in 2015, the slowest in seven years and since the 2009 global economic downturn. A drop in commodity prices, dwindling foreign investment, and a slowdown in Chinese trade contribute. One indicator of increased foreign direct investment is the end of negotiations over the Gatsuurt gold mine deposit permitting mining operations and the end of the dispute over Tavan Tolgoi.

Clearly, the post-Soviet Russia avoids any strategic global competition with the USIs it possible to (re-)gain a universal respect without any ideological appeal?  famously asked prof. Anis Bajrektarevic. Well, here might come an answer: Revived Oil-gas Russian diplomacy.

Debt forgiveness may be way to lure Mongolia to import more energy from Russia. Mongolia in 2014, imported 91 per cent of its petroleum products from Russia including: gasoline, jet fuel, and diesel. As of 2013, Mongolia imported $1.03 billion worth of refined petroleum products accounting for 67% of imports from Russia. In 2011, Mongolia imported 90 per cent of its petrol products from Russia. Trade volume between Russia and Mongolia decreased by 2.8% (May 2015).

Mongolias energy dependence makes it vulnerable to supply shocks and Russian politics as Russia terminated gas supply (Ukraine) during strained relations and spikes in anti-Russia sentiment. During April 2011, Russia cut its diesel supply to Mongolia because of shortages in its domestic supply which drove up costs of mining operations and logistics.

Energy dependence affects mining operations and infrastructure which Mongolia lacks. Improved infrastructure in the country would mainly be used to export mining goods. Concerns of sovereignty and control also drive Mongolias Third Neighbor Policy. Many fear that Chinese and Russian construction projects would make movement of Mongolias mining tonnage more dependent on the two countries. Another argument is that such [railway] links would make Mongolia a natural resource backyard for China and even facilitate a Chinese demographic influx into Mongolia.

Mongolia, to avoid energy dependence, needs to expand the third neighbor policy to avoid over-dependence. Mongolias should use its status as a democracy for increased cooperation and funding from the European Union and other Asian nations such as Japan and South Korea. Mongolias other third neighbors are all democracies. Mongolia also needs to diversify its economy from only exporting mineral resources. Russia will most likely take advantages of opportunities to advance the Mongolia-Russia bilateral relationship and to enhance Russias position in the region.

About the author:

Samantha Brletich specializes in Central Asia Affairs with a focus on regional security, terrorism, economics, and culture.




October Fun Calendar: Plenty to do this month in Beaver County
TRN File photo WDS Global, a Xerox company, came to Wichita Falls in 2010 with hopes of providing hundreds of jobs to local residents. At one point, the business had plans to have up to 750 employees working in the space formerly occupied by Budget Rent A Car. WDS announced in August is was closing the center, which cost the area 115 jobs.

SHARE TORIN HALSEY/TIMES RECORD NEWS Jesse Villa helps install trampolines at the Urban Air Trampoline Park in early January. The facility features 96 trampolines ranging in size from 6-by-6 feet to 7-by-16 feet, many with angled trampoline walls to bounce off. It is one of several new businesses that will open in 2016. TORIN HALSEY/TIMES RECORD NEWS Construction workers with Tippen Steel Erection begin fastening together large, pre-cast concrete wall panels for the new Burlington retail store in 2015. The panels average about 90,000 pounds each. Imperial Construction Inc. was the general contractor on the project that was finished in late October. More than 70 area residents were hired and trained by the time the store opened.

By John Ingle of the Times Record News

A drop in oil prices that began in November 2014 took its toll on jobs in the industry in 2015 with more than 1,200 jobs lost in the North Texas Workforce Development Area.

Monthly estimates provided by Workforce Solutions North Texas show about 100 oil field workers were laid off monthly on average. February and March 2015 marked the highest two-month period, when about 390 jobs were lost in the North Texas WDA.

The 11-county North Texas WDA includes Archer, Baylor, Clay, Cottle, Foard, Hardeman, Jack, Montague, Wichita, Wilbarger and Young counties.

"We've really seen quite a few really since the beginning of last year," Crystal Ojeda, a Workforce Solutions job developer, said of the increase in oil field workers or those who support the industry looking for work. "I think most of the layoffs have already occurred. But, it does impact other ... companies that support the oil and gas industry, anything from trucking to welders. There's a lot of different facets that are affected."

Wichita Falls lost another 115 jobs in August when call center WDS Global, a Xerox company, decided to close down its operation north of Wichita Falls on Airport Drive.

November was another month that saw significant job loss when three companies in the North Texas WDA announced they, too, were closing. More than 50 jobs were affected when Sears announced they were closing their location in Sikes Senter, 70 were affected by Peerless Manufacturing closing, and more than 130 people lost their jobs when Bowie Memorial Hospital closed.

But there is good news, too, Ojeda said. The unemployment rate for Wichita Falls and surrounding communities remained strong in 2015, and that trend should continue. Retailers Burlington and Endurance House opened in 2015, and Advanced Rehabilitation and Healthcare of Wichita Falls opened its new facility on Kemp in October.

"The occupations and industries are expected to grow," Ojeda said. "For example, hospitality is growing."

Home health care and personal care attendants, she said, represent an area that has a need for people and will grow. Work in sectors such as government, business administration, general health care and education will also experience growth.

Henry Florsheim, president and CEO of the Wichita Falls Chamber of Commerce & Industry, said 2015 was a mixed bag, with recruited projects such as aircraft fuel bladder manufacturer Amfuel announcing it will expand its operations to Wichita Falls, bringing almost 300 jobs to the area.

"Our biggest challenge at this point is the oil and gas industry. It filters down into so many parts of our community and we know that we've lost jobs related to oil and gas production, and manufacturers and local investors are suffering as a result, as well," he said. "That's something we can't control. So, we're just going to keep moving forward on our targeted recruitment efforts.

"At the same time, it's been encouraging to see new retail and restaurants coming in because those chains only come in when they see something positive; when they see something that they like about the community."

Also coming to Wichita Falls in 2016 are restaurants Red Robin and Bricktown Brewery - both will go in Sikes Senter - home decor store At-Home, and Urban Air Trampoline Park, among others. Another company that will boost the area economy and job outlook is Durham, North Carolina-based Triangle Brick Company, which is building a plant between Henrietta and Bellevue on U.S. 287.

The chamber board identified in 2015 a few areas of recruitment they will focus on, including aerospace companies. With manufacturers Pratt & Whitney and Alcoa as well as Sheppard Air Force Base already in Wichita Falls, it only made sense to make the aerospace industry a target for recruitment.

"Working with companies like Amfuel along their process, those jobs are coming and that money is going to be spent here," Florsheim said. "We're just anxiously awaiting like everybody else."

Florsheim said the chamber and Wichita Falls Economic Development Board has some prospects on the horizon, and they are hopeful more business will becoming to Wichita Falls.
Frank Masi/Paramount Pictures Tina Fey stars in Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.

SHARE Photo courtesy Disney/TNS A rookie bunny cop and fugitive con artist fox work a case together in Zootopia, opening in theaters this weekend. GRAMERCY PICTURES Aaron Eckhart reprises His role as the U.S. president in London Has Fallen, opening in theaters this weekend.

NEW IN THEATERS

"LONDON HAS FALLEN" Gerard Butler reprises his role from "Olympus Has Fallen." This time, Mike Banning is in London for the prime minister's funeral and discovers a plot to assassinate the world leaders who are there. Co-starring Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett, Melissa Leo and Radha Mitchell. Rated R for strong violence and language throughout.

"ROOM"

Academy Award winner Brie Larson plays a mom who has tried to make life as normal as possible for her 5-year-old son (Jacob Tremblay), although they have been trapped in a small room his whole life. Rated R for language.

"WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT" A journalist (Tina Fey) recalls her wartime coverage in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Also starring Martin Freeman. Rated R for pervasive language, some sexual content, drug use and violent war images.

"ZOOTOPIA" In this animated feature, a fugitive con artist fox and rookie bunny cop work together to uncover a conspiracy. Featuring the voice talents of Idris Elba and Ginnfer Goodwin. Rated PG for some thematic elements, rude humor and action.

ALSO SHOWING

"THE BOY"

An American nanny finds it strange that the family she is working for refers to a life-size doll as their son. She comes to discover that the doll really is alive. Starring Lauren Cohan, Rupert Evans and Ben Robson. Rated PG-13 for violence and terror, and for some thematic material.

"DEADPOOL" The Green Lantern didn't quite work out for Ryan Reynolds, so he has taken on another superhero gig. This time he plays Deadpool, a former Special Forces operative turned mercenary who acquires superpowers after a rogue experiment. Also part of the cast is action star Gina Carano. Rated R for strong violence and language throughout, sexual content and graphic nudity.

"EDDIE THE EAGLE" A biopic about British ski jumper Eddie Edwards. Starring Taron Egerton, Christopher Walken and Hugh Jackman. Rated PG-13 for some suggestive material, partial nudity and smoking. "THE 5TH WAVE" Chloe Grace Moretz plays Cassie, who goes to rescue her brother from alien invaders that have decimated the human population and taken over the Earth. Rated PG-13 for violence and destruction, some sci-fi thematic elements, language and brief teen partying.

"GODS OF EGYPT" Set (Gerard Butler), the Egyptian god of darkness, takes the throne of the Egyptian empire. Now it's up to Bek (Brenton Thwaites), a mortal hero, and the Egyptian god Horus (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) to save the world. Rated PG-13 for fantasy violence and action, and some sexuality.

"HOW TO BE SINGLE" A group of singles in New York City learn to navigate love. With Dakota Johnson, Alison Brie, Leslie Mann and Rebel Wilson. Rated R for sexual content and strong language throughout

"KUNG FU PANDA 3" Po (voiced by Jack Black) must teach his panda family how to fight when a supernatural villain threatens to defeat all kung fu masters. Rated PG for martial arts action and some mild rude humor.

"THE REVENANT" A frontiersman in the 1820s (Leonardo DiCaprio) struggles for survival in the harsh winter after being mauled by a bear, then goes on a quest for revenge. Also starring Tom Hardy. Rated R for strong frontier combat and violence, including gory images, a sexual assault, language and brief nudity.

"RACE" The story of legendary track and field star Jesse Owens, who at the 1936 Olympics faced off against Hitler's vision of Aryan supremacy. With Stephan James, Jeremy Irons, Jason Sudeikis and William Hurt. Rated PG-13 for thematic elements and language.

"RISEN"

Follows the epic biblical story of the Resurrection, as told through the eyes of a nonbeliever. Clavius, a powerful Roman military tribune, and his aide, Lucius, are tasked with solving the mystery of what happened to Jesus in the weeks following the crucifixion, to disprove the rumors of a risen Messiah and prevent an uprising in Jerusalem. With Joseph Fiennes. Rated PG-13 for Biblical violence including some disturbing images.

"RIDE ALONG 2" Ben (Kevin Hart) heads to Miami with his future brother-in-law (Ice Cube) to bring down a drug dealer. Co-starring Ken Jeong. Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence, sexual content, language and some drug material.

"STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS" Thirty years after the defeat of the Empire, a new threat arises in this continuation of the pop culture phenomenon "Star Wars" series. Starring Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill. Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action violence.

"TRIPLE 9" A rookie police officer messes up the heist plans of bad cops who are working with the Russian mob. The cast includes Chiwetel Ejiofor, Casey Affleck and Anthony Mackie. Rated R for strong violence and language throughout, drug use and some nudity.

"THE WITCH"

William and Katherine lead a devout Christian life in 1630s New England. But then their newborn son mysteriously vanishes, their crops fail, and the family begins to turn on one another. Rated R for disturbing violent content and graphic nudity.

"ZOOLANDER 2" Supermodels Derek (Ben Stiller) and Hansel (Owen Wilson) are working again, but a rival company aims to do away with them. Co-starring Will Ferrell, as their arch enemy, and Penelope Cruz. Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content, a scene of exaggerated violence, and brief strong language.
Carter Aviation misses multi-million dollar payment to city

The president of Carter Aviation says his company will soon have a lot of money but right now cant pay the city of Wichita Falls.
SHARE Sean Hoffman

By Times Record News

A Wichita Falls man is jailed after an alleged forgery attempt and short police chase.

According to a police news release, officers were sent to a business the 3600 block of Kemp Boulevard about 8:30 p.m. Thursday.

An employee there said a man had come in and tried to cash a check that appeared to be forged. The suspect was still in the building.

When officers approached him, he walked with them to a part of the business that was less crowded in order to talk but then ran toward the entrance, according to the release.

Police chased him out the front door and to the rear of the building where he jumped into the bed of a running pickup and yelled for the driver to drive away.

The truck began leaving, but the driver stopped when officers ordered him to do so.

Officers arrested Sean Henry Hoffman, 30, for evading arrest.

During the investigation of the initial forgery call, they discovered Hoffman attempted to pass a forged city of Wichita Falls check, the release stated.

Hoffman was taken to Wichita County Jail and charged with forgery, evading arrest and a parole violation warrant.

Public records show Hoffman has a history of narcotics, assault, and evading arrest convictions. His bail was not set as of 11 a.m. Friday.
Barbara Green/Bowie News The Horton Car Museum lights up the night in Nocona. The downtown museum completed an addition in 2015 that doubled its showroom space.

SHARE Bob and Krystal Ferguson, owners of the Red River Station Inn, describe the renovations done to the old building and steps that were necessary to bring it back to life. The two-story, 16-room hotel opened in 2015 on Main Street in downtown Nocona. TORIN HALSEY/TIMES RECORD NEWS Barbara Green/Bowie News Noconas Tales N Trails Museum began construction in late 2015 on the agriculture exhibit barn behind the museum. Patrick Johnston/Times Record News A marching group stops to toss out beads and candy to a family from Oklahoma during the Mardi Gras parade in downtown Nocona in 2015. Some 5,000 to 6,000 visitors come annually for the parade.

By Barbara Green, Special to the Times Record News

Nocona comes off one of its wettest years in history with rainfall of 73.81 inches, more than double the 35-inch average.

That change in the weather pulled the area out of a multiyear drought that kept Nocona in a stage five drought condition for more than a year and a half.

With Lake Nocona filled to overflowing, City Manager Lynn Henley said they have put on hold plans to build a new raw water pipeline. The abundance of rain, followed by strict conservation efforts, was something of a double-edged sword.

"We hope to get revenue back with water sales, where the loss hit our budget hard. Everyone did a good job of conserving, which is good, but now we are out of it, (and) they are still conserving. It's good for the water, bad for revenue," Henley said.

In addition to lost water revenue, Nocona is experiencing declining sales tax payments. Much of the decline is attributed to job loss in the energy industry and a major industry slowdown. Henley said as long as oil stays low, he does not expect that to change.

Downtown Nocona has experienced a major face-lift in the last few years thanks to private business investment. The Red River Station Inn, a remodeled hotel property in downtown, opened in late 2015.

Next door, a new pizzeria is under construction. Down the street, a new addition to the Horton Classic Car Museum was completed and opened in late 2015. The museum addition more than doubled the display space.

Also in Nocona, the Tales 'N' Trails Museum is building a new agriculture barn exhibit area. The slab and framework have been completed, while walls and windows are going in.

Henley said one of his goals for the new year is to get something going in the former Justin building in downtown next to Mary Beckhman Davis Park. The building was donated to the city many years ago, and a cash donation was made for the project.

During 2015, the city tried to get grant funds to help create an event center but were unsuccessful.

"A grant would have helped a bunch, so we will scale back on what we want to do and we can always add on later. We may just fix what we have for now making it look nice when you come into town. It will have restrooms, maybe a new roof and rebrick it. I want to get started," Henley said.

The Nocona Chamber of Commerce has turned its primary efforts to tourism, growing its festivals, which draws thousands of people to town.

It is paying off as the Mardi Gras Nocona Style, now in its sixth year, welcomes an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 people at its Saturday parade.

The Vicari Car Auction and Cruisin' Nocona also fills town with classic car connoisseurs in the spring. Coupled with Bullfest and the Chisholm Trail Rodeo, there is a steady stream of events. An art and music festival is being considered for 2017.

Randy Duckworth took over in mid-2015 as the executive director of the chamber. While the chamber supports the recruitment of business, tourism is its priority, he said.

"The festivals bring tourists who come to Nocona and see how great it is. They may consider moving here. A certain age group may want to put in a business, like the Dirkers and their pizzeria. It might bring more mom-and-pop stores," Duckworth said.

The director said he has a simple philosophy. They need to work to make their town "pristine," so when people come to events, spend money, go home and tell people about what they did or how much fun they had. As more people see they may want to be part of it.

"I think we can grow Nocona. Let's take care of the businesses we have now and when something comes our way we can be ready. Drawing people to town like this doesn't cost an arm and leg. They will come and want to be part of it," Duckworth said.
Times Record News file photo A map of the Wichita Falls side of Lake Wichita shows the proposed paddling trail and amenities planned for the revitalization project. In 2015, the Lake Wichita Revitalization Committee made waves collecting about $500,000 in grants and donations and had their largest collection month ever in December with more than $20,000.

SHARE Dozens of Support Lake Wichita banners, posters, yard signs and other promotional materials have popped up all over Wichita Falls, Lakeside City and surrounding communities. The main kickoff for the promotional campaign began May 14, 2015. Times Record News file photo Times Record News file photo Midwestern State University professor John Martinez (left) presented an economic impact study that found once the Lake Wichita project was completed and attracts businesses and visitors, it could have an annual economic impact of $270 million. Times Record News file photo The Lake Wichita Revitalization Committee has been meeting monthly for nearly three years. Volunteers have taken on the task of getting funding and plans together for a $35 million to $45 million project to improve the quality of the lake for wildlife and recreational use. A Support Lake Wichita sign stands in a median near the intersection of Maplewood Avenue and Midwestern Parkway.

By Claire Kowalick of the Times Record News

Partnership is the key to the booming success of the Lake Wichita Revitalization project.

The idea has been around for decades to make the lake the travel destination it was from 1910 to 1930. The problem was, and remains, getting funds for a recreational project, especially in the wake of one of the worst droughts in North Texas history.

Over the past three years, the city of Wichita Falls, Lakeside City, multiple divisions of the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, Friends of the Reservoirs, Ducks Unlimited and Heroes on the Water have all come to stand behind this visionary project.

Since the $35-$45 million project will be funded solely through grants and donations, all of these entities together have a better chance of getting funding than winging it alone.

The ultimate goals of the group include excavating the lake, establishing a better aquatic environment and creating a paddling trail, boating area, fishing access and more.

In 2015, the Lake Wichita Committee was more public than ever, kicking off a promotional campaign May 14.

Aided by Hoegger Communications, merchandise became available for purchase with the now-recognizable "Support Lake Wichita" logo included on pint glasses, T-shirts, coasters, banners, flyers and yard signs.

Volunteers manned dozens of events including the Hotter'N Hell Hundred race in August to pass out information and collect donations.

Carollo Engineering was chosen in May to collect samples, map the bottom and contour of the lake and provide documentation so the LWC can have an acceptable 404 permit for the Army Corps of Engineers.

At the latest LWC meeting in early January, it was announced that Carollo staff was about one-third of the way done with the process and the first 2016 pre-application meeting will be in the spring.

The group hopes to have the application ready for submission by early summer.

Heavy rains in May and June caused residents to question the necessity of the project as the lake appeared to be full.

But with more than a century of sedimentation slowly filling the lake, even when full it has an average depth of four and a half feet.

Committee members remained vigilant in providing information and donor recognition through a new Web page, daily Facebook posts, and Times Record News advertising and articles.

TPWD Inland Fisheries biologist Tom Lang was a frequent spokesperson for the project and presented the plan at numerous conventions across the country.

In August, he addressed the 145th annual meeting of the American Fisheries Society in Seattle. On Sept. 14, he spoke at the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies Drought Forum in Tucson, Arizona.

"We are already being recognized and watched on an international level," because of the group's gathering of partners for a common goal, Lang said.

In October, Andrew Norris, a fisheries biologist from Australia, surveyed the Lake Wichita project as part of his Churchill Fellowship through the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust.

Norris said similar fish habitat issues face Australia and he was impressed by the community cooperation for the project.

In November, Midwestern State University Professor of Economics John Martinez released his research about the lake project. Martinez found that Wichita Falls could see a positive economic impact of up to $270 million a year beginning about a decade after completion of the lake and amenities.

At the same meeting in November, Gary Baker and Associates unveiled the first artist rendering of a rock jetty along the lake. The company has since released a proposed beach rendering and plans to create other visions of the future to inspire excitement about the possibilities.

A booth in Sikes Senter was set up and the group plans to have volunteers man the booth at various times.

In January, the lake campaign got a big boost with the donation of $20,000 from Larry Ayres, owner of All-American Car Wash. This donation will be used for the required matching funds for the Reservoir Fisheries Habitat Partnership grant the group received in November.

The combined $40,000 will go toward some of the excavation and development of underwater habitat for aquatic life at the lake.

Lang said the grant will allow them to purchase the equipment in 2016 for this part of the project, but they will not finish that project or stock the lake with fish until the long-term project is completed.

The LWC raised more than $500,000 this year in grants, donations and pledges in 2015, with December being the most generous month at about $20,000 in donations.

A group of exercise enthusiasts organized a Zumbathon at the end of January at a space donated by the Wellington with all of the proceeds going to the lake project.

For 2016, Lake Wichita Committee Chairman Steve Garner said it's only going to get better. There are several businesses lined up to make donations and the group is in the process of applying for more than $6 million through various grants.

"I think the spring is going to eclipse the fall donations several times over," Garner said.

His goals for the LWC this year are to cross the first $1 million mark by March and hit $3 million by the end of June.

"A lot more people are seeing the project as something that is actually coming to fruition. When they see us starting on a project (the boat ramps, fishing piers, etc.) that they can actually see, then everything changes," Garner said.

"I'm more excited about project today than when this began three years ago. It means we are just that much closer," Garner said.
Born to an Indian father and a Hungarian mother in New Delhi, his parents separated when he was 9 years old and he later moved to Budapest.

Washington: Independent investor Sunil Sabharwal has become the first Indian-American to occupy a key administration post at the IMF, three weeks after he was confirmed by the Senate. Sabharwal, who was confirmed by the US Senate after a long waiting, assumed the position as Alternate Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund on Wednesday.

Given that the US commends more than 16.81 per cent of the total IMF voting share; this is one of the most powerful position in the International Monetary Fund. US President Barack Obama nominated him for the post in April 2014 and then re-nominated Sabharwal in March 2015. Born to an Indian father and a Hungarian mother in New Delhi, his parents separated when he was 9 years old and he later moved to Budapest. Sabharwal served as board chairman of Ogone, a European e-commerce payment services firm, from 2011-13 and advised Warburg Pincus on its acquisition of easycash, a German network services company, subsequently becoming a board adviser there from 2006-2009.

From 2003-2006, he was senior vice president, strategic investments, at First Data Corp/Western Union and from 1997-2003, held executive posts at GE Capital, including managing director. From 1992-96 Sabharwal worked at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, lastly as principal banker. He has a BS from Ohio State University and an MS from the London Business School.
Contributed photo Margie Johnson Reese, a nationally known arts leader, has been tapped to lead the Wichita Falls Alliance for Arts and Culture, which seeks to develop a support network and long-term, coordinated plan for the city arts and cultural landscape.

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By Richard Carter, Special to the Times Record News

National arts leader Margie Johnson Reese was named the first executive director of the newly formed Wichita Falls Alliance for Arts and Culture just last month, a first step in implementing what could be a massive step forward for the city's artistic community.

The nonprofit WFAAC is a key element in the Arts and Culture Plan for Wichita Falls, commissioned by the Priddy Foundation in 2012. The Priddy Foundation and other foundations also helped with initial funding for the alliance

Reese said she sees the WFAAC as an enabling organization.

"It should be an entity that provides support, whether that is capacity building, information, money and/or systems. It should be an organization that is supportive of arts creativity in Wichita Falls," she said.

"We don't know what that (organization) is or what it looks like right now, but we're going to figure it out," she said.

Reese's first goal is to understand the area's art and cultural needs. Having worked in arts organizations on the West Coast, Dallas and in Africa, she was most recently vice president for programs at the Dallas-based arts and arts education collaborative, Big Thought. As of late January, she was in the process of moving to Wichita Falls, while meeting with area business leaders and members of the education and academic communities.

The driving idea behind the WFAAC, she explained, is to bring area arts organizations, artists, educators and members of the cultural community together to develop a vision for Wichita Falls that centers around both art and culture. "My job," she explained, "is to build the systems that can implement this plan."

"The focus of the Alliance is to create a huge umbrella that will support the creative industry that's as broad as we can imagine it to be."

The alliance will develop initiatives, she said "to determine what the current cultural organizations are doing, and where they need help. They will look into what's happening and not happening in the neighborhoods and in the schools.

"We want to bring all of the creative sectors together and then try to build the connections together. We want to focus on the whole artistic sector and strengthen it where we can."

The foundation Alliance board, which got the WFAAC founded, is comprised of both artists and a variety of stakeholders in the artistic community. Reese hopes to grow the board as the alliance grows, with attributes it needs to meet challenges and develop more opportunities for the arts and culture.

Reese will begin determining artistic needs by first asking questions. "I don't know what support is needed yet in the community," she said.

"People can expect me to talk with them and listen and learn about their organizations. The last thing I want to do is to initiate something that's not going to be helpful."
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Kilronan, Ireland

Give up Paris, the Irish poet W.B. Yeats told fellow writer J.M. Synge, and go to the Aran Islands in order to "express a life that has never found expression."

The budding playwright took the advice and traveled to the islands off Ireland's West Coast. He returned full of ideas, incorporating island ways and dialect into works such as his lyrical play "Riders to the Sea."

Things have changed a bit since Synge made his pilgrimage in 1898, but even today this rocky outpost in Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way remains a place to find respite from modern life and move to a simpler rhythm.

Many visitors treat the islands as a day trip, taking the ferry or flight from Galway. But to really experience the islands' charms, consider spending a few nights. Multiple B&Bs offer reasonable rates.

There are three islands. Most visitors go to the largest, Inishmore. The other two, Inisheer and Inishmaan, are smaller and less-visited, and can be reached by ferry for day trips from Inishmore.

Here are some basics on planning your trip:

Getting there

Aran Island Ferries run from Rossaveal, a one-hour drive from Galway, and take about 45 minutes for the crossing. There's also ferry service from Doolin, near the Cliffs of Moher on the west coast of County Clare. Aer Arann offers short flights from Connemara with shuttle service from downtown Galway to the airport and a shuttle on the other end to the village of Kilronan. However you go, book in advance.

Getting around

You can rent a bike at the harbor in Kilronan and go your own way. Or you can take a minivan tour; vans meet the ferries. For a more leisurely approach, try a pony trap tour.

If you have enough time, there's a lot to be said for simply walking and stopping to smell the wildflowers  and say hello to the occasional sheep. The islands are strewn with ruins and miles of stone walls. Be prepared for all types of weather: Bring layers and waterproof outerwear. It may pour in the morning, then turn sunny and warm by afternoon.

Sightseeing

The big attraction on Inishmore is Dun Aonghasa, (aka Dun Angus), a prehistoric clifftop stronghold with four sets of dry stone walls and a "chevaux-de-frise," a band of jagged upright stones meant to deter attackers (open daily 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m. in winter and until 6 p.m. in summer; admission about $5).

Also worth a look is Dun Duchathair, the Black Fort. Not much is left of the fort, but it has a breathtaking coastal setting. The Serpent's Lair, of Red Bull fame, is a naturally formed pool connected to the ocean by an underwater channel. The rocks can be slippery; wear shoes with good soles.

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The Aran Sweater Market in Kilronan sells garments knit in the famous Aran pattern, as well as yarn and patterns for the crafty.

In Inishmaan, you can visit the cottage where Synge stayed, discoverireland.ie/Arts-Culture-Heritage/teach-synge-john-millington-synge-s-cottage-museum/48987

Food

The quality of the food may come as a pleasant surprise. You'll find delicious fresh fish and hearty specialties like Irish stew and Guinness chocolate cake. Popular spots on Inishmore include Teach Nan Phaidi and Ti Joe Watty's, which has live music weekends and throughout the summer. The economically named The Bar pub serves a stew that will restore you if you've spent the day hiking. The Pier House Restaurant has an elegant dining room with a view.

Accommodations

The Aran Islands Hotel has rooms with balconies and views, starting at around $85. The Seacrest B&B has rooms with baths for about $60 a night, including a full Irish breakfast. Seacrest co-owner Thomas Faherty gives excellent pony-and-trap tours of the island.

visitaranislands.com
This would help insurers to control fraud risks emerging due to unauthorised use of Section 45.

Mumbai: To combat the menace of frauds in the insurance industry estimated at six per cent of a companys total revenue, the Life Insurance Council has associated with Experian India to build a data repository and create a fraud monitoring framework for life insurance companies in India.

One company, this newspaper spoke to, said that it has filed over 150 FIRs against spurious insurance sellers. There are various kinds of fraud like deadman insurance, false applications and companies have undertaken campaigns to make people aware of frauds.

We believe that this framework would help tighten the system, thus helping insurers save money on account of false claims, said Mr. V. Manickam, secretary, Life Insurance Council.

The insurance sector has grown at a compounded annual growth rate of around 20 per cent and with this there has also been an increase in frauds.

With life insurance companies now being added to this framework, Experian will be able to pull out fraudulent applications or policy proposals quickly, said Mr Mohan Jayaraman, country manager, Experian India.

Under Section 45 of the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Act, life insurance companies cannot repudiate a death claim on the ground of mis-statement of facts or deliberate suppression of certain facts after three years from when it was effected.

This means the insurer has a three-year window to reject claims on grounds of any mis-statement or fraud. The repository would certainly help to control fraud risk that may emerge due to unauthorised use of this section, he said.

With 15 of the 24 life insurance companies already a part of this platform, this repository could help in reducing premium rates as insurers need not buffer for such losses, improving operational efficiency & bottom-line of insurers and in keeping bad elements out of the system, he said.

Experian which launc-hed Hunter Fraud Mana-gement Services for the life insurance sector in India said it would help these companies to be a part of the Hunter Closed User Group (CUG) for detection of life insurance frauds.

It already has 43 banks sharing data in the CUG and using the Hunter services to identify potential fraudulent applications. Today, more than 50 per cent of retail banking applications are screened through National Hunter on a monthly basis.
Relieved to win a seat was the reaction of outgoing Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly after he took the fifth seat in a tough election battle in Tipperary.

The deputy Labour Party leader told the Tipperary Star it was a very tough election for him because of the amount of votes that went into Offaly.

They are literally right beside me - a quarter-of-a-mile up the road from my office is Offaly. So to win a seat, I am mightily relieved. Im thrilled for the people who supported me and backed me all this time, he said.

Taking just 10 per cent of the first preference vote, with the bulk of it coming from around the Nenagh electoral area where he picked up 35 per cent of first preferences, Deputy Kelly pointed out that he got as much as 50 per cent of the vote in Ballina and Newport as well as a scattering of votes as far away as Carrick-on-Suir thanks to Denis Landys work and other areas as well.

See this week's Tipperary Star for fullreport
[March 04, 2016]

Research and Markets - New Invoice Process to Cost Facebook Millions in Tax

DUBLIN, March 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The global social networking market is set to grow at a CAGR of around 18% by 2020, according to a recent report available from Research and Markets. The report notes how social network advertising has gained popularity over the last decade due to user participation, and how it offers a solid platform for advertisers to market their brands and products. However, the manner in which advertisers use social media is expected to change in the coming years, as it was revealed today that Facebook Inc. will stop routing advertising UK client sales through their Ireland headquarters.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130307/600769 )



Facebook decided to change its advertising sales operations in an effort to improve company transparency following criticism over alleged tax avoidance. From April, UK advertising customers will receive invoices from Facebook UK rather than Facebook Ireland, a move expected to cost the social media giant millions of pounds in future tax bills. It is not known wht the future implications of this decision will be, but it is anticipated to have a knock-on effect on related areas of the market.







The global in-app advertising market is to grow at a CAGR of 39.97% by 2019, as highlighted in an industry report. Although Facebook's new invoice system may not directly affect advertisers, it could result in changes such as more costly advertising fees and location limits for specific ads.

Similarly, the global mobile ad spending market is set to grow at a CAGR of 38.12% by 2019, as stated in a technology report. This growth could be lower if social media companies are required to charge higher fees due to increased taxes, as advertisers may begin to seek out less expensive alternatives to social media marketing.

For further information on this topic, and a full list of all related documentation, please visit the Social Media section at http://www.researchandmarkets.com/rm/MMLK.

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-04/facebook-to-pay-millions-of-pounds-more-in-u-k-tax

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[March 03, 2016] Increase in New Application Areas for Vibration Meters Will Lead to its Higher Adoption in Several Industries Until 2019, Says Technavio

According to the latest market research report by Technavio, the global vibration meter market is expected to reach USD over 442 million in revenue by 2019. In this report, Technavio covers the present scenario and growth prospects of the global vibration meter market for 2015-2019. This report covers vibration meters for companies in categories that include, manufacturing, chemical processing, oil and gas, and others. "Vibration meters are used to identify, predict, and prevent the failure of machines such as motors, pumps, fans, gears, compressors, turbines, and any other machine that has rotational elements. These vibration meters are known for their accurate condition monitoring ability. Condition monitoring, when carried out properly, can result in significant cost savings. For instance, products like the Fluke 805 vibration meter measures vibrations, analyzes them, and displays results, showing the condition of tested machines," said Amber Chourasia, one of Technavio's lead industry analysts for lab equipment research. "The primary end-users of vibration meters include, the manufacturing, chemical, and the oil and gas industry, all of which are expected to grow at a steady pace until 2019. With equipment condition monitoring regulations being made mandatory for a number of new industries, the number of end-users adopting this technology is bound to increase and lead to a rise in demand for vibration meters during the forecast period," added Amber. Request sample report: http://bit.ly/1oAzA8c Americas: largest region for the global vibration meter market The Americas emerged as the largest market for vibration meters in 2015 primarily due to stringent safety restrictions and equipment maintenance regulations in North American countries. However, the growth of this market during the forecast period will be driven by manufacturing and chemical processing industries in Latin American. The emerging economies in Latin America, uch as Peru, Columbia, Chile, Brazil, and Bolivia, will drive the growth of this segment over the forecast period. Thanks to these encouraging trends, the market in the Americas is expected to grow at a steady pace reaching a YoY growth rate of close to 5.47% by the end of 2020. Healthcare and chemical processing industries are predicted to emerge as the largest end-user segments for the vibration meter market in the Americas during this period.



APAC: second largest region for the global vibration meter market The vibration meter market in APAC emerged as the fastest growing segment ahead of the Americas and EMEA in 2015. The manufacturing industry accounted for the majority share of this market, followed by chemical processing. With increasing investments in the field of manufacturing, demand for vibration meters is likely to maintain a steady growth rate, and reach 9.74% by 2020. Compared to other regions, the healthy Asian economy is one of the major drivers for companies expanding into APAC. With countries such as China, India, South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore considered as part of the top ten countries in manufacturing, the APAC market will continue to witness a robust demand for vibration meters in APAC until 2019.

Vibration meter market in EMEA The oil and gas industry emerged as the largest end-user of vibration meters in the Middle East and Africa regions, whereas in Western Europe, the manufacturing industry was the largest end-user segment. East European countries are also likely to drive the growth of the vibration market over the forecast period. Though the growth of the vibration meter market was less than 2.8% in Europe, the growth in Middle Eastern and African countries remained over 4.6% in 2015, and this trend will likely continue to buoy the vibration meter market in EMEA during the forecast period. Browse related reports: -- Global Meter Data Management Market 2015-2019 -- Global Smart Energy Meter Market 2015-2019 -- Global Motor Control Center Market 2015-2019 -- Global Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) Market 2015-2019 -- Global Smart Water Meter Market 2015-2019 Purchase any 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected]. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160303005058/en/

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[March 03, 2016] The CHILDWISE Monitor Report 2016

NEW YORK, March 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The CHILDWISE Monitor is a comprehensive annual report focused on children's and teenagers' media consumption, brand attitudes and key behaviour, now in its 22nd year. This year, more than 2000 children aged 5-16 across the United Kingdom were interviewed in depth on a range of topics. The 2016 Monitor Survey covers:



- Computers and the Internet: computer ownership and usage, internet access, time spent online, reasons for going online

- Websites and Applications: usage, favourite sites / apps, websites used, downloading and using apps, paying for apps and in-app purchases

- Gaming: devices used for gaming, games console ownership, gaming behaviour, time spent playing, favourite games

- YouTube: frequency of use, devices used for access, reasons for using, activities carried out, favourite YouTubers

- Mobile Phones: ownership, usage, time spent using, who pays, how are calls paid for, monthly spend

- Television Viewing: tim spent watching, channels watched, favourite programmes, TV ownership, on-demand TV







- Reading: favourite magazines, frequency / time spent reading, ebook readers

- Cinema: frequency of visit, who visit with / pays, favourite films

- Children's Equipment: devices used to access different media

- Money: pocket money and earnings, ad-hoc handouts, bank accounts

- Children's Purchasing: categories bought from, buying online

- Sport and Activities: weekly hours in / out of school, opinion on amount of sport in school, activities outside school

- Heath and Wellbeing: how healthy, how happy, life compared with last year, confidence

- Social Awareness: causes of concern, awareness and support of charities

Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p01978904-summary/view-report.html About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.

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Intl: +1 339-368-6001 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-childwise-monitor-report-2016-300230843.html SOURCE Reportlinker

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[March 04, 2016] Ushio America, Inc. Will Begin Offering the Palm-Top Photo Absorption Sensor, PiCOEXPLORER Model PAS-110 in the US Market

CYPRESS, Calif., March 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ushio America, Inc. (HQ: Cypress, California, President & CEO, Shinji Kameda), a wholly owned subsidiary of Ushio Inc. (HQ: Tokyo, President and CEO: Kenji Hamashima), today announced that the company will start offering the super-affordable, palm-top photo absorption sensor (PAS), PiCOEXPLORER, manufactured by Ushio Inc., in the US on April 1, 2016. (Shipment of the product will be scheduled in late July 2016). The PiCOEXPLORER, model PAS-110, can be easily controlled by a smartphone or tablet mobile device; it allows quick density measurement and detection of protein, heavy metals, endocrine disruptors, and DNA. The PiCOEXPLORER enables density measurement and analysis of a sample in an unopened PCR tube, and thus, does not require use of a pipette. In addition, it incorporates a communication function that allows smartphones or tablet mobile devices to display the measurement result as well as download or write programs (including calibration curves) via a network server. By allowing measurement of multiple items with a single nit, the PiCOEXPLORER can greatly reduce both the time and the labor required for measurement, thus making a great contribution to improvement of the measuring environment.



Ushio America will exhibit and demonstrate the PiCOEXPLORER, the next-generation fluorescence detector module that is currently being developed through a panel display, and will demonstrate the "Lab-on-a-Tablet" using a smart device as an optical bench at Pittcon 2016, Ushio booth #1463. The conference will be held on March 6 through March 10, 2016, at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. About Ushio America, Inc.

Ushio America, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of Specialty and General Illumination lighting solutions based in Cypress, California. Established in 1967 as a subsidiary of Ushio Inc., in Tokyo, Japan, Ushio now carries over 2,500 General Lighting and Specialty products. These Lighting-Edge Technologies are provided to a variety of industries such as general illumination, audio-visual, photographic, stage, studio and television, semiconductor, printed circuit, video projection, cinema, UV curing, germicidal, horticulture, graphic arts, flashlight, scientific, medical, dental, ophthalmic, infra-red heating, and many others. For further information, visit www.ushio.com. About Ushio Inc. Established in 1964, Ushio Inc. (TOKYO: 6925) is a leading manufacturer of light sources such as lamps, lasers, and LEDs, in a broad range from ultraviolet to visible to infrared wavelengths, as well as optical equipment and cinema-related products that incorporate these light sources. It also makes products in the electronics field (such as semiconductors, flat panel displays and electronic components) and in the visual imaging field (including digital projectors and lighting). Many of these products enjoy dominant market shares. In recent years, Ushio has undertaken business in the life science area, such as the medical and the environmental fields. See http://www.ushio.co.jp/en/. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/340321 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ushio-america-inc-will-begin-offering-the-palm-top-photo-absorption-sensor-picoexplorer-model-pas-110-in-the-us-market-300230685.html SOURCE Ushio America, Inc.

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[March 04, 2016] Cutanea Life Sciences, Emerging U.S. Prescription Dermatology Company, Launches Digital Presence

WAYNE, Pa., March 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Cutanea Life Sciences, Inc. (CLS), an emerging U.S. prescription product development company, formally unveiled its new digital presence, www.cutanea.com, to the dermatology community in conjunction with this winter's annual gathering of dermatologists from the U.S and around the world. CLS has a stream of innovative product candidates in different stages of development that cover an array of skin conditions, including acne, rosacea, psoriasis and warts caused by human papillomavirus (HPV). Experience the interactive Multimedia News Release here: http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7743651-cutanea-life-sciences-dermatology/ CLS's new digital presence demonstrates the company's intent to change the way that customers think about a valued dermatology partner. CLS believes that it can make an impact in the current state of dermatology practice through its commitment to focus on unmet and underserved patient needs. In turn this will help medical professionals optimize their practice time through CLS products and services. "Our goal is to address the unmet and underserved needs of patients and health care professionals in the dermatology market," said Robert J. Bitterman, Sr., President and Chief Executive Officer of CLS. "Undesired skin conditions can impact a person's health, appearance and self-esteem. Medications which are safe, effective, convenient and affordable are needed to better manage and control various disorders so patients will not be troubled by the psychological burdens of these conditions." CLS management has an experienced team well-versed in the development and commercialization of dermatologic therapies, validated by a long history of successful product launches in the U.S. Over the past few decades, CLS professionals have played a criticalrole in securing U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance leading to the introduction of numerous new, highly recognized pharmaceuticals and medical devices.



Maura Flynn, President, 2015-2016 of the Dermatology Nurses Association, stated: "The DNA welcomes a forward-thinking organization like Cutanea Life Sciences whose expertise, innovation and commitment will bring value to their efforts to provide quality care. Promoting excellence in dermatologic care is the core purpose of our organization." Rosacea is one of the more difficult skin disorders to manage and control. "The estimated 16 million Americans who live with rosacea will always benefit from education, information and hopefully improved treatments to manage this widespread but poorly understood skin disorder," said Samuel Huff, Executive Director of the National Rosacea Society. "I am pleased that Cutanea Life Sciences is addressing these needs."

About Cutanea Life Sciences Cutanea Life Sciences, Inc., headquartered in Wayne, PA, is a specialty pharmaceutical company whose mission is to develop innovative technologies, optimizing intellectual property and therapeutic applications culminating in market leading products to treat diseases and disorders of the skin and related tissue. CLS seeks to improve human health and appearance, and create value for patients and medical professionals by satisfying unmet and underserved medical needs. CLS is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Osaka-based Maruho Co., Ltd., a leading dermatology company in Japan that celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2015. CLS is pursuing therapies for the treatment of acne, rosacea, psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, and various forms of warts caused by human papillomavirus (HPV). It also has a novel soft tissue augmentation agent in early development. CLS intends to direct these products through the required regulatory pathway and, upon FDA clearance, commercialize them directly through a CLS sales force and commercial infrastructure that will focus primarily on dermatology medical practices. For more information, visit www.cutanea.com and follow CLS on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We may, in some cases, use terms such as "predicts," "believes," "potential," "proposed," "continue," "estimates," "anticipates," "expects," "plans," "intends," "may," "could," "might," "will," "should" or other words that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes to identify these forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to numerous important factors, risks and uncertainties that may cause actual events or results to differ materially from CLS's current expectations. CLS's expectations and, therefore, any forward-looking statements in this press release could be affected by risks and uncertainties relating to a number of factors, including the following: the success, cost and timing of CLS's product development activities, studies and clinical trials; the success of competing products that are or become available; CLS's ability to commercialize its product candidates; the size and growth potential of the markets for CLS's product candidates, and CLS's ability to service those markets; CLS's ability to develop sales and marketing capabilities, whether alone or with potential future collaborators; the rate and degree of market acceptance of CLS's product candidates; and CLS's expectations regarding its ability to obtain and adequately maintain sufficient intellectual property protection for its product candidates. Any forward-looking statements that CLS makes in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. CLS assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this press release. Media Contacts:

Karen Dombek

MCS Healthcare Public Relations

(800) 477-9626

[email protected] Andy Hachadorian

Cutanea Life Sciences

(484) 568-4323

[email protected] To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cutanea-life-sciences-emerging-us-prescription-dermatology-company-launches-digital-presence-300230367.html SOURCE Cutanea Life Sciences, Inc.

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[March 04, 2016] Lithium Social Web Sees Significant Growth Adding StubHub, Standard Bank Group And Others To Roster

SAN FRANCISCO, March 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Lithium Technologies today announced that Lithium Social Web (LSW), its social listening and response tool, has added a series of new mobile capabilities, advanced platform integrations and new customers. This builds on a highly successful 2015 for LSW that included a 50 percent increase to the LSW customer roster. Forward-thinking brands that understand the power of harnessing social for powerful and cost-saving customer care have been quick to embrace the features that LSW offers. Recently added brands include StubHub, Flybe, Standard Bank Group and MultiChoice. "More and more consumers use social channels to connect with brands, and those brands that don't have the right tools and strategies in place risk falling behind the competition and losing an entire generation of customers," said Rob Tarkoff, President and CEO of Lithium Technologies. "The new products we're rolling out empower some of the world's leading brands with the technology to drive engagement across their Total Community of stakeholders. It's only going to get harder to meet customer expectations, and I can't emphasize how important it is that businesses get this right." The platform integration includes the ability for brands to seamlessly transition conversations from public to private on Facebook and Twitter. In Twitter, agents can include a custom URL that links users directly to a DM conversation with the brand. On Facebook Business Messenger, agents can initiate private responses directly in the context of a public comment on the brand's page to enable faster resolution. Both features are integrated directly into Lithium Social Web's agent workflows. Additionally, in a further expansion of its analytics portfolio, LSW supports Twitter's new Customer Feedback capability, giving brands the ability to survey customers and extract Net Promoter Score SM (NPS) data. "Studies1 show customers are using social media to shame brands into getting what they want, turnover is increasing, and it is getting more and more difficult to please customers," said Tarkoff. "Brands need to react to this, and use the right tools and strategies to keep pace with these changing consumers."



Analytics have also been improved with LSW's custom analytics dashboard now available on mobile devices. These dashboards can be configured to display insights from social channels most relevant to an individual, team or department, and empower social teams to get deep customer insights and information on issues developing in real-time. Executive teams, product teams and others beyond just the social teams in an organization can now more easily view the analytics, given that they can be accessed on the go. Displaying real-time feedback in an easily accessible dashboard ties stakeholders and customers closer together, effectively reducing response times and improving customer experience. And with the addition of mobile capabilities, teams can now access the insights needed to solve a crisis, capitalize on a trending topic, and everything in between  regardless of where they are. Customer quotes:

"We implemented LSW to ensure we could foster deeper relationships with and identify brand champions among our growing social following," said, Mary C. Hill, Customer Service and Social Media Manager, StubHub. "Plus, we knew it was imperative to make social an important channel for us to connect with customers. With our responsive approach, our fans have learned that they can trust us on social. With the help of LSW, we now have a trusted relationship with customers on social like never-before." Additional details: Lithium Technologies is a Twitter Certified Partner, designated by Twitter to help businesses thrive on the platform. Lithium is also a Facebook Marketing Partner, vetted and approved by Facebook as a platform for businesses to get more from their marketing. All enhancements and integrations are available immediately. About Lithium:

Lithium builds trusted relationships between the world's best brands and their customers, helping people get answers and share their experiences. Customers in more than 34 countries rely on Lithium to help them connect, engage, and understand their total community. With more than 100 million monthly visits over all Lithium communities and 750 million online profiles scored by Klout, Lithium has one of the largest digital footprints in the world. Using that data and the company's software, Lithium customers boost sales, reduce service costs, spark innovation, and build long-term brand loyalty and advocacy. To find out how Lithium can transform your businessand to share the experience enjoyed by 300 other leading brands around the world, visit www.lithium.com, join our community at community.lithium.com, or follow us on Twitter @LithiumTech. Lithium is a privately held company headquartered in San Francisco. The Lithium logo is a registered Service Mark of Lithium Technologies. All trademarks and product names are the property of their respective owners. NPS is a registered service mark, and Net Promoter Score is a service mark, of Bain & Company, Inc., Satmetrix Systems, Inc. and Fred Reichheld. (1) Data taken from a Harris Poll conducted online on behalf of Lithium Technologies within the United States from April 24  May 6, 2015, among a total of 311 corporate executives at companies with revenue of $1 billion or more. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/340403LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lithium-social-web-sees-significant-growth-adding-stubhub-standard-bank-group-and-others-to-roster-300230913.html SOURCE Lithium Technologies

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[March 04, 2016]

Icertis to Present at Procurement Leaders' Americas Congress on March 10th in Miami

BELLEVUE, Wash., March 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Icertis, the leading provider of enterprise contract lifecycle management in the Cloud, will sponsor the Procurement Leaders' Americas Congress being held on March 9-10, 2016 at The Biltmore Hotel in Miami, FL. The company will host a strategic roundtable discussion at the Congress on how to leverage the power of cloud technology in contract lifecycle management (CLM) at 10:45am on March 10th.

Icertis Contract Management (ICM) is an analyst-acknowledged, cutting-edge CLM platform in the Cloud. Icertis was named one of Gartner's "Cool Vendors in Procurement and Sourcing Technology" in 2015. ICM has helped numerous Fortune 500 companies and multinational enterprises, like Microsoft, HBO and AbbVie, increase commercial compliance, enhance productivity and improve contractual governance, strengthening supplier accountabilityand increasing the bottom-line.







About Americas Congress

The Americas Congress is Procurement Leaders' leading US event and brings together CPOs and senior procurement leaders from across the Americas. Aspirational and forward-thinking, the Congress provides a single meeting place for 200+ experts from North, Central and South America to benchmark and share best-practice.

For more information on this conference, please visit the event page

About Icertis

Icertis is the leading provider of contract lifecycle management in the Cloud. Icertis Contract Management (ICM) is an innovative, easy-to-use platform that is highly configurable and continually adapts to complex business needs. With its intelligent workflow and built-in analytics, ICM provides ongoing contractual insights and best-of-breed contract management. ICM enables customers to increase compliance, improve governance, mitigate risk and enhance user productivity, thereby maximizing ROI and accelerating time to value across the global enterprise.

For more information, please visit www.icertis.com

Icertis Media Contact:

Bailey Fox

Barokas Public Relations for Icertis

[email protected]

206-264-8220

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/icertis-to-present-at-procurement-leaders-americas-congress-on-march-10th-in-miami-300230870.html

SOURCE Icertis
[March 04, 2016] Alberta-based Nsolv to receive $13 million in grant funding

Funds will bring company one step closer to commercializing clean heavy oil extraction technology EDMONTON, March 4, 2016 /CNW/ - Nsolv is pleased to announce it has been awarded $13 million in grant funding to commercialize its ground-breaking clean energy technology for heavy oil extraction. The funding will be provided by Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) in accordance with its mandate to bring economically viable, clean technologies to market. "We are extremely appreciative of SDTC's vote of confidence in our technology," says Joseph Kuhach, CEO of Nsolv. "Today's announcement is confirmation that Nsolv is a game-changer for the heavy oil industry. We look forward to working with SDTC and our other partners in commercializing our technology, which supports the federal government's commitment to fighting climate change." Nsolv developed patented technology that uses warm solvent to extract in-situ heavy oil reserves. The technology has many benefits, but most importantly it reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by lowering the amount of energy needed to remove heavy oil from the ground. Nsolv's process uses zero water and very little natural gas to heat the solvent, resulting in an 80 per cent reduction in GHG emissions compared to existing extraction methods. These benefits have been realizedthrough lab testing and Nsolv's pilot project at Fort McKay, Alberta, which produced its 80,000th barrel in January 2016. Nsolv has also been awarded Clean50 and Clean16 awards from Delta Management Group.



"Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) is incredibly proud to support Nsolv," said Leah Lawrence, President and CEO of SDTC. "Our mission is to help Canadian cleantech entrepreneurs move their ground-breaking technologies to commercialization by bridging the funding gap between research and market entry. Nsolv is the kind of technology that has the potential to generate jobs, growth and export opportunities, and to bring lasting economic, environmental and health benefits to Canadians and people around the world." Nsolv is in the process of finalizing a partnership with a major heavy oil producer to construct a commercial-scale facility. Nsolv technology performs well, even in today's low oil price environment, as it is commercially viable at between 5,000 and 10,000 barrels per day. Other extraction methods are not currently commercially viable at this scale.

About Nsolv Nsolv is a privately-owned Canadian, clean-tech energy company devoted to solving the operational and environmental problems of heavy oil extraction. The company has patented warm solvent technology for in-situ projects that produces a higher quality oil product from hard to reach reservoirs for a fraction of the cost, all the while doing better for the environment. With proven technology, Nsolv is now primed for further partnerships, joint ventures and license agreements. For more information: www.nsolv.ca. About SDTC Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) acts as a primary catalyst in building a sustainable development technology industry in Canada, funding and supporting Canadian cleantech projects across a number of sectors. SDTC invests in Canadian companies that through their innovative technologies bring positive contributions to Canada: creating quality jobs, driving economic growth, and preserving our environment. SDTC is a foundation funded by the Government of Canada. For more information, please visit www.sdtc.ca. Media information Joe Kuhach, CEO of Nsolv, is available to discuss the SDTC funding announcement and provide further details about Nsolv. SOURCE Nsolv

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Jewellers having turnover below Rs 12 crore during preceding financial year will be eligible for exemption up to Rs 6 crore during the fiscal.

New Delhi: As jewellery shops across India remained shut for a third day to oppose levy of excise duty, the government today went into damage control, clarifying that the 1 per cent levy on non-silver articles would be only for jewellers with Rs 12 crore turnover and not small traders.

Meanwhile, stepping up pressure, jewellery traders have decided to extend their strike till March 7, saying the new duty will not just hit business during slowdown but also put a significant compliance burden on the industry, which has been weighed down by the import duty and a value-added tax.

Finance Ministry issued a statement to clarify that Budget 2016-17 has proposed a nominal excise duty of 1 per cent (without input tax credit) and 12.5 per cent (with input tax credit) on articles of jewellery."Even for this nominal 1 per cent excise duty,manufacturers are allowed to take credit of input services, which can be utilised for payment of duty on jewellery," it said.

Finance Ministry said central excise officers have been directed not to visit the premises of jewellery manufacturers. It said the Budget provides for excise duty exemption limit of Rs 6 crore in a year for Small Scale Industries in jewellery business (as against normal limit of Rs 1.5 crore). "Thus, only if the turnover of a jeweller during preceding financial year was more than Rs 12 crore, he will be liable to pay the excise duty," the statement said.

Jewellers having turnover below Rs 12 crore during preceding financial year will be eligible for exemption up to Rs 6 crore during the fiscal."Such small jewellers will be eligible for exemptions up to Rs 50 lakh for the month of March 2016," it said.

Indirect tax proposals come into effect from the date Budget is presented in Parliament and so the exemption for small jewellers, with turnover of less than Rs 12 crore a year, would be Rs 50 lakh in March.

Articles of silver jewellery (other than those studded with diamonds, ruby, emerald or sapphire) are exempt from this duty.
Dwayne Johnson recently shared a picture where he stated that he considered Priyanka as his sister.

Priyanka Chopra recently shot a few scenes for her second Hollywood film 'Baywatch', where she will play the part of Victoria Leeds. Her co-star Dwayne Johnson recently shared a picture where he stated that he considered Priyanka as his sister.

Interestingly, while sharing the post, Dwayne also recalled a funny conversation he had with Priyanka a short while back. He recalled how Priyanka had once naughtily told him Oh You are Going Down.

He wrote, "Every great story starts with a great villain... My sistah @priyankachopra is one of the biggest and most beloved stars in the world. When I asked her how she felt about playing opposite me as our main #BAYWATCH villain she simply said with a sly and seductively evil smile, "Oh you're going down..." Cool is the rule, but sometimes bad is bad.

Thank you PC for the strong work week and see you on the rebound in GA.

#GoodLordIGotMyHandsFull #ChopraDontPlay #BAYWATCH"

Priyanka reciprocated the love and posted,

But bad is so gooood Dwayne thank u for the amazing 3 days. Can't wait to come back to #Baywatch https://t.co/MNoz2pTvna  PRIYANKA (@priyankachopra) March 3, 2016

Dwayne recently introduced his co-star David Hasselhoff, better known as The Hoff. David had essayed the role of LA County Lifeguard Mitch Buchannon in the TV series 'Baywatch'. Hasselhoff also produced Baywatch from the 1990s until 2001, when the series ended with Baywatch Hawaii.
Though Rajinikanth has played the character of a don several times in the past, this film promises to be different from his usual roles. (Photo: Twitter)

Rajinikanths Kabali has been in news ever since it has been announced. The actor, who will be essaying the role of an ageing don, has been cast opposite talented star Radhika Apte. This is not the the first time she has signed on a Tamil film. Her first one was All in All Azhagu Raja opposite Karthi. Kabali also stars Tamil actress Dhanshika, who will be playing the role of Rajinikanths daughter.

A still from Rajinikanth's 'Kabali'

We got our hands on fresh new stills that have surfaced on the internet. Kabali has been shot in Malaysia and Chennai. Though Rajinikanth has played the character of a don several times in the past, this film promises to be different from his usual roles.

A still from Rajinikanth's 'Kabali'

The crime-drama directed by Pa. Ranjith, has music scored by Santhosh Narayanan. Fans can expect a trailer release before the end of March as the movie is expected to release only after the elections are over.

A still from Rajinikanth's 'Kabali'

Are you eagerly anticipating the release of Rajinikanth's 'Kabali'?

A still from Rajinikanth's 'Kabali'
Pillais sudden death at age 41 on 27 February a day after the release of his last film Vettah, sent shock waves across the film industry. While there have been conflicting reports about the reason for the premature demise of one of Malayalam cinemas most promising directors, Kamal Haasan lays the blame squarely on the filmmakers addiction to aerated drinks.

Says Kamal, We should not romanticize the facts or hide the truth just because the man is no more. Nothing is forgiven because someone is dead. I liked that over-weight intelligent guy. He was my friend T.K. Rajeev Kumars AD. I had great hopes for him .

Mincing no words Kamal Haasan attributes Rajeshs death to his food habits. No wonder gluttony is condemned in every religion. This guy ate burgers and drank aerated American drinks as if his life depended depended on it,and in total spite of water. His cirrhosis was not alcohol-induced. Much worse pesticides mixed in supposedly refreshing drinks killed him.

Kamal says Pillais death should serve as a lesson to all who guzzle aerated drinks. I can say so much as encomium for his debut film but a better message awaits through Late Mr. Rajesh Pillai: please dont mimic eating habits enforced on us by avaricious merchants. Watch and know what you feed on. Animals in Serengeti know better. I wish Pillai had died in pursuit of a difficult film instead of a simple habit to kick. A lesson for my Modern Malayalee brothers and sisters.

Kamal Haasan says he was planning a film with Rajesh. I was planning to remake his Traffic in Tamil. I went to their 100th day celebrations. I sat with Pillai and my writer friend Sanjay. We almost were about to start when the producer wanted more as his share to make it in Tamil. My production company Raj Kamal Films backed out and they made the film in Tamil with someone else.

Kamal reveals the illness that finally killed Pillai had stuck earlier. Sanjay told me Rajesh was hospitalised and had withdrawal symptoms from excessive aerated drinks. I thought it was a joke. I sent word to Rajesh Pillai to get his act straight and get back to work. He did manage to make a film after that but the damage was done.

Kamal Haasan is deeply saddened by Pillais going. Some might say at least he died doing what he liked best. I think he liked making films more. But he couldnt get his priorities right. A few more years of work and I am sure I would have had a lot to say about him. He has denied me that opportunity.
Rating:

Cast: Prakash Jha, Priyanka Chopra, Manav Kaul, Ninad Kamat, Murli Sharma, Kiran Karmarkar, Vega Tamotia, Rahul Bhat

Director: Prakash Jha

Nations ka bhi mood hota hai. And these days hamare desh ka mood two mele-mein-bichdi fighter-cock sisters ki tarah hai. Left side wali sister ka mood is to shout slogans and demand azaadi from bhookhmari, bhrashtachar, berozgari, corporatisation, sampradayikta and uske Sanghi-sambandhi. Its her wont to implement freedom of speech, kabhi gala faad-faad ke, kabhi Kanhaiya style ki masti mein.

Right side ki saji-dhaji sister ka mood hai Parliament mein pravachan dena, promises karna in very fake Hadi Rani style, left side ko pitwana, prime time pe jhooth bolna. Ek behen kehti hai main nationalist hoon, doosri kehti hai tu anti-national. Which side is what depends on where you are standing. In between all this, police, which should be in savdhan, attention mode, is at ease, unless it is called upon to hound sloganeering-students. Isi national mood ke beechon-beech aa dhamki hai Prakash Jha ki Jai Gangaajal: The End Game.

Even when bad, and recently bordering on downright tortuous in the second half of his films (Aarakshan, Chakravyuh, Satyagrah), Prakash Jha has always been a very interesting writer-director. Hes conventional, anarchic with a special affinity for vigilantism, but always political. And over the years, with films set in the Hindi belt, Mr Jha has, by repeatedly repeating himself, created a genre of films: The Prakash Jha Genre. Mrityudand, Gangaajal, Apaharan, Aarakshan, Chakravyuh, Satyagrah With a few changes here and there, in this genre there is always an issue that is causing distress to the aam janta and the solution almost always lies with the one who wields the lathi, carries a gun. The motto always is that if cops fall in line, if they stop being kirai ke tattu of corrupt politicians, things will change. Dont say!

Jai Gangaajal is a film of that genre. That its called The End Game could, perhaps, be a promise that this is the last one. Perhaps thats why Jha has sprung a delightful surprise and has decided to be the hero of this film. The films plot, now set in stone courtesy Amitabh Bachchans Inquilaab, E. Niwas Shool, Dibakar Banerjees Shanghai and Prakash Jhas own films among many others, can be explained by way of a simple diagram.

Take a piece of paper and draw three circles in a triangle formation. In the circle on the top write Politicians. Here the top dog is Mantri Chaudhary (Kiran Karmarkar), below him is Babloo Pandey (Manav Kaul), and then his bhai Dablu Pandey (Ninad Kamat). Theres an interesting Munna Mardani (Murli Sharma) in the side somewhere.

Now draw a line from Politician circle to the circle below, on the left, and in it write Corporates. No names here. Just men in suits. Next, from the Politician circle on top, draw a line to the circle below, on the right, and in it write Police. On the top here is Abha Mathur, IPS (Priyanka Chopra). Below her is DSP B.N. Singh (Prakash Jha), and then other, lesser khakis.

Now around these circles make dots. Random, tiny dots. Separate and in clusters. Thats the unwashed, suffering people who, in this case, are not just wailing but also found swinging from trees. All are nameless, faceless except two. So make two small faces, sad ones.

The aam people dont get introduced to us ever, even though its for them and their haq that directors create and erect these realistic edifices. Never mind that. Whats relevant is that politicians require money to get elected and this money comes from corporates. In return corporates demand land to set up, in this case, a power project. Land is owned by nameless, faceless kisans, most of whom fall in line because of jeeps that vomit out armed goons ready to strike at a phone call. For the goons to operate freely, its a prerequisite that cops do not react to complaints and hai-hai wails of poor, garib kisans. So the cops must be kept happy and in vishram position, coming into savdhan only when required by their mai-baap.

In zila Bankipur, Madhya Prant, there is aatank hi aatank of the goons of Pandey brothers. They are harassing and torturing kisans to sell their land. Cops arrive, led by B.N. Singh, only to facilitate their kaali kartoots. For long politicians, cops and corporates have had it easy. Theyve been ignoring the completely ineffective IIT-topper, MIT-returned sum-total-of-all-NGOs Pawans bhashan-baazi (Rahul Bhat wasted and mostly forgotten).

Enter new SP, Abha Mathur. Shes svelte and stuffed with idealism, a staunch sense of duty and ready anger and outrage at any wrong, any atyachaar.

She catches some goons harassing a girl and beats them up with her danda, arousing the till-now-napunsak constables. But the corrupt B.N. Singh frustrates her attempts at clean-up. So, at one point, she tells him a few home truths and almost immediately something begins to shift inside him. Enter two aforementioned aam, sad faces and that mother of all crimes in cop films: laying rude, dirty, filthy hands on sarkari vardi.

Like in most Prakash Jha films, change and climax here is pivoted on cops who decide to do their job, and a responsive and bahadur samaj, i.e. the aam aadmi in hordes, baying for blood.

A standard film that rests heavily on the memory, goodwill and screenplay of his Gangaajal (2003), Jai Gangaajal is made better and engaging by sharp performances and the fact that there is no needless melodrama. In this vigilanteism-in-vardi genre, restrain is rare but key. Its almost never to be found when theres a woman in vardi at the centre. Invariably theres a rousing of base emotions over izzat pe or parivaar pe hamla. There is much humiliation, victimisation before, in Ma Kali style, she does vinash of paapi people.

This is where Jai Gangaajal scores. It is calm and focused. Though there are several mob lynchings, there is some weak attempt at instilling faith in the due process of law. Whats also interesting are the small details here  insights into how the corruption machine works, its rules, relations and how feudal and patriarchal it all is on the ground. SP Asha Mathur, for example, is throughout called, tellingly and interestingly, Madam Sir.

As the only woman in an almost entirely male setting, Priyanka Chopra is neither overtly masculine, nor given to grandstanding or hyperbole. Shes agile, restrained and efficient. She doesnt use needless swagger to project power, just seeti-maaro dialogue and moral glare delivered in brief, dramatic scenes.

The film has commendable performances by all, especially Murli Sharma and Manav Kaul. And Priyanka is very good but she is in a supporting role to Prakash Jhas B.N. Singh. He is the protagonist. The films true delight is that an accomplished director, at the age of 64, has become his own muse, his own hero.

And what a find! Jha is excellent. Subtle yet expressive, controlled yet chilling. And with eyes that could bore holes.

His angular, ageing face, with criss-crossing deep lines, is like a monument to the issue itself. Its seen more than it probably wanted to. I could study it for hours.

Though he is fabulous as the corrupt cop, his taut, bahubali frame carries him as the man who seeks to redeem himself. That and his salt-pepper hair, clipped tight and short. Am I sounding like Im in love? I am, I think.
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If Olympus Has Fallen is Die Hard for the 21st century, this film is like the boring and pointless sequels that followed.

Rating:

Cast: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, and Morgan Freeman, Alon Moni Aboutboul, Angela Bassett, Robert Forster, Melissa Leo, Radha Mitchell and Charlotte Riley

Director: Babak Najafi

The sequel to Olympus Has Fallen brings back the characters from that film, president Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart), his chief bodyguard, Mike Banning (Gerard Butler), vice-president Trumbull (Morgan Freeman) and Bannings wife (Radha Mitchell). The US President and other world leaders visit London for the funeral of the British Prime Minister. It turns out to be a set-up for a major terrorist attack that kills the leaders of France, Italy, Germany and Japan, in addition to destroying several London landmarks. Banning manages to save the President but he is on the run in the streets of London seeking a safe area to find the mastermind Aamir Barkawi (Alon Moni Aboutboul).

London Has Fallen is a propaganda film. This was true of good action films like Independence Day and Air Force One as well. London Has Fallen, like other films, embraces a certain viewpoint and conveys it with a level of technical facility and visual dynamism. But it lacks strong performances from heroes and villains that could make the experience entertaining, even for those who disagree with the message of American supremacy.



The heroes are spotless, their actions are justified even when they order a drone strike on the terrorists family compound which results in collateral damage. The villain wants revenge but to me his biggest crime is not being a merchant of death. The fact is, hes a frank bore, bereft of the charisma of Bond villains of yore. The best scene of the film is, in fact, the drone strike. They are science-fiction nightmares come to life. The house is glimpsed from Gods perspective and from there the film cuts to an American workstation several kilometres away where a man who works at the station is ordered to push a button. Next to this very real American power, the films fictitious realisation of Londons plunge into chaos is stale bread.

There is no believability to the threat shown in the film. It is depicted as a series of bombings and the ability of the terrorists to conduct such action is merely waved off as a kind of special magic that only movie villains have, albeit for a limited period of time, before the heroes respond with their own magic to survive explosions and dodge gunfire that kills African-American sidekicks.

The simultaneous murder of several world leaders is window dressing. As long as the American President survives, everything is okay because he, unlike the rest of the world, is not expendable. The English secret service and M16 are totally incompetent, naive and unreliable. Their police state like control of the city is glimpsed but mocked for being easily infiltrated by mercenaries.

Never mind that the UK has never had its political leaders assassinated unlike America which has lost four Presidents in the last to assassinations. Never mind that in the real world a President whose policies trigger two direct terrorist attacks on his person would not be considered successful, popular or electable.

The actors are all wasted, especially Radha Mitchell, Morgan Freeman and Aaron Eckhart who have done better films. Gerard Butler enjoys himself and fits his part well, but he also feels inert and dry rather than charismatic and funny as in his previous films.

If Olympus Has Fallen is Die Hard for the 21st century, this film is like the boring and pointless sequels that followed. It has also been outpaced by reality. Incidents such as the Norwegian attack and the recent Paris attacks have made such fantasies redundant and banal.

The writer is programmer, Lightcube Film Society
People who took aspirin regularly were about 3 percent less likely to develop cancer than those who didn't regularly take aspirin. (File photo)

People who regularly take aspirin over several years may be less likely to develop colon cancer, researchers say.

They found that regular aspirin use for several years was tied to a lower risk of cancer in general, but that was mainly due to a reduced risk of colon cancer.

"We did find that aspirin reduced someone's risk of developing cancer overall," said senior author Dr. Andrew Chan, of Massachusetts General Hospital. "Much of that reduced risk is of cancers of the gastric system."

Aspirin reduces inflammation throughout the body, which may influence cancer risk. Additionally, Chan told Reuters Health, aspirin may affect prostaglandins, natural compounds with a role in the development of colon cancer.

In 2015, the government-backed U.S. Preventive Services Task Force said people taking aspirin for at least 10 years to prevent cardiovascular disease may also have a reduced risk of colon cancer.

Previous research also suggested that routine aspirin use is linked to a reduced risk of overall cancer, Chan and his colleagues write in JAMA Oncology.

For their new work, the researchers used data on 88,084 women and 47,881 men participating in two large studies.

Women were between ages 30 and 55 when they enrolled in 1976, and men were between ages 40 and 75 when they enrolled in 1986. During about 32 years of follow up, there were 20,414 cancers among women and 7,571 among men.

Overall, people who took aspirin regularly were about 3 percent less likely to develop cancer than those who didn't regularly take aspirin.

Aspirin use was not tied to a decreased risk of breast, advanced prostate or lung cancers.

Instead, the lower risk was mostly due to a 15 percent reduced risk of gastrointestinal tract cancers, which was itself mostly due to a 19 percent reduced risk of colon cancers.

The new study suggests aspirin use may compliment colon cancer screening and lead to benefits among people who don't follow recommendations to get screened, write Karen Colbert Maresso and colleagues of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, in an editorial.

They write that about 17 percent of colon cancers could be prevented with regular aspirin use among people who don't get colonoscopies. About 9 percent of colon cancers could be prevented with regular aspirin use among people who do get screened.

In the study, the reduced risk of gastrointestinal cancers was tied to taking 0.5 to 1.5 aspirin tablets per week for at least six years. "What it looks like is even reasonably low doses like a baby aspirin a day has some benefit," Chan said. "What's unclear is if higher doses have more of an effect. I think that question is still open."

The researchers warn that more information is needed on the cost-effectiveness of using aspirin for prevention and the possibility of side effects, including an increased risk of gastric bleeding.
Every year, hundreds of Hyderabadis head to Oman looking for lucrative jobs and a bright career. But reality plays a cruel hand than what was bargained for  utterly alone, some find themselves out on the streets, while others are lost with no one to turn to.

If they have relatives in the country, then they are taken care of. But if a person is coming here with no contacts, they tend to get lost. Many come through channels that are fraud and their stay in the country is considered illegal so they end up living on the streets, until Amnesty International announces another free way back home. But that takes years, says Rita Samuel, who moved to Oman from Hyderabad in 1996. And how does the former teacher, who quit a well-paying teaching job at a college, fit into this chaotic situation?

Well, Rita is their Helpline, quite literally. Helpline Counselling Services is a non-profit voluntary venture set up in 1997 to look after helpless individuals with confidential listening and support services in Oman and across the Globe.

In 1997, one of my office boys friend Srinivas, who hails from Karimnagar, was living in Oman illegally and he met with an accident. The office boy was disturbed and when I asked him what the matter was he broke down. He narrated the entire story and told me how they find it difficult to communicate in the country where they are not well-versed in local language; they dont have easy access to hospitals, police stations and have no legal help. Thats when I sprung in action and with the contacts I had made during my stay, I got Srinivas treated at a hospital and helped him go back home.

It was this defining moment that made Rita realise that she had to help fellow Hyderabadis who were in situations far worse than Srinivas. And thats when she set up a helpline and a website that helped her connect with people in such dire situations. I started the free service, Helpline and over the years the embassy got to know about me too. Presently, I have four people in the panel, who are also from Hyderabad. But most of the time its a One Woman Mission.

Srinivas connected her to many other immigrants who were living in a condition far worse than his. Every week, she would meet them at Ruwi Clock Tower Center and counsel them.

We would also joke, share home-cooked food the intention was to let them know that they are not alone. News spread quickly and she started getting calls from people of other nationalities.

Called Mother Teresa of Oman by people whom she has helped, Rita lost her parents at a very young age; a tragedy that resulted in Rita and her brother growing up with their aunt in Hyderabad.

I joined St Anns School (Class IV), but we were finally put in an orphanage because my aunt already had seven kids to take care of, recalls Rita, who also studied at Osmania University and then pursued leadership in community services from Glasgow University, Scotland.

We always had someone to talk to and thats why I started Helpline, if someone is suffering and has nobody to talk to, they can connect to me.

Presently working with Caledonian Engineering College in Oman, Rita bears the expenses of Helpline from her own pocket.

Social service is the rent I pay for living on this planet, says Rita, who is now planning to meet the Indian CEOs of various companies in Oman and encourage them to help those in trouble. She then plans to meet various Indians and conduct monthly counseling sessions for them.
SAN FRANCISCO  Four prominent cryptographers, who together developed encryption standards now used in millions of online secure transactions every day, debated and disagreed about the Apple-FBI case during a panel discussion at the RSA security conference here Tuesday morning (March 1).

(Image credit: Ron Rivest, Whitfield Diffie, Martin Hellman, Adi Shamir and Moxie Marlinspike during a panel discussion March 1, 2016 at the RSA Conference in San Francisco. Credit: Paul Wagenseil/Tom's Guide)

"I don't think this case is about backdoors," said Adi Shamir, who with his MIT colleagues Leonard Adleman and Ron Rivest developed the RSA encryption algorithm in 1977. "The FBI is asking Apple to do something very specific. It's got nothing to do with placing backdoors in millions of phones around the world."

Martin Hellman, who developed the Diffie-Hellman encryption-key exchange with Whitfield Diffie at Stanford in 1976, disagreed, as did Rivest and Diffie.

"If this becomes precedent, there will be thousands of requests from every law-enforcement agency in this country and in other countries," Hellman said. "I will be signing a legal brief supporting Apple. But if we get into the phone, I want them [the FBI] to tell us what was on it. But I suspect they will keep that secret."

MORE: Apple vs. FBI: What's Going On and Why It Matters

Apple has refused to obey a court order to help the FBI decrypt an iPhone used by Syed Rizwan Farook, who with his wife killed 14 of his co-workers in San Bernardino, California on Dec. 2, 2015 in what was almost certainly a terrorist attack.

"Congress would have to pass a law" to resolve this case, Rivest said. "The good of the country depends on having strong secure privacy."

"We are moving into an era where interaction between people and machines is key," Diffie said. "Who controls machines is he who controls the world."

Shamir, the only non-American on the panel, said that he couldn't disagree with that sentiment, but said that "Apple goofed."

"They put themselves in a position where they could state they could no longer help," he added. "But they failed because they didn't close this particular loophole in which Apple can help the FBI. Apple should close this loophole, and then they can really make the argument."

Moxie Marlinspike, a younger cryptographer who spearheaded the development of the free Signal encrypted messaging and voice-call app, praised Apple for standing up to the FBI.

"We're having this conversation because Apple decided to make a product that actually serviced their customers," Marlinspike said. "We should applaud them for that."

"I might have an unpopular opinion," he added. "Chances are there's nothing on this device. The FBI already has a tremendous amount of information. But they're asking us in case there's a bit more."

Shamir, however, insisted that Apple had made a mistake in choosing this case on which to make a stand.

"Almost everything is aligned in favor of the FBI," Shamir said. "My advice would have been that Apple should have complied this time and waited for a better case that was not so favorable to the FBI. But Apple is right in fighting this all the way to the Supreme Court."

During the panel, Diffie and Hellman received the 2015 Turing Award, an annual prize widely regarded as the Nobel Prize of computing. Rivest, Shamir and Adleman shared the award in 2002.

Hellman said he would be using his half of the $1 million prize to help combat the proliferation of nuclear weapons. He also stressed that the technology industry and the government should try to find common ground, as he himself had with a former director of the NSA who initially opposed the publicizing of the Diffie-Hellman key exchange.

"We need to work with the FBI and the NSA," Hellman said. "Admiral Bobby Inman may have wanted to throw Whit and me in jail back in the '70s, but he and I are now good friends. It is possible for old enmities to blossom into friendships. I would encourage us to put ourselves in the shoes of these agencies to reach conclusions that help the country as a whole."
You know Nicholas Allbrook as one of the most prolific and steadfastly DIY musicians to come out of the bustling Perth psychedelic scene. Whether fronting Pond, playing bass for Tame Impala, or drumming for Peter Bibby, Nick is always unique and fascinating.

Hes now unveiled his latest solo offering, Advance, which is out 11th March via Spinning Top Records. The track serves as the first taste of Nicks forthcoming sophomore solo full-length and hell be celebrating with a national tour this month.

Advance follows on from last years Walrus EP, and is an ode to Nicks Australian roots as well as providing a new insight into the singular and often bizarre mind of one of Australias most interesting musicians.

Nick is a treat to behold live, having appeared at Sydneys At First Sight festival and supporting Unknown Mortal Orchestra during their run of sold-out Australian shows. Check out all the dates and details of his March tour below.

NICHOLAS ALLBROOK NATIONAL TOUR DATES

Thursday, 24th March 2016

Pirie & Co SC, Adelaide SA

Tickets: Moshtix

Saturday, 26th March 2016

Northcote Social Club, Melbourne VIC

Tickets: Northcote Social Club

Sunday, 27th March 2016

Milk Factory, Brisbane QLD

Tickets: Oztix

Tuesday, 29th March 2016

Newtown Social Club, Sydney NSW

Tickets: Newtown Social Club

Friday, 1st April 2016

The Oddfellow, Fremantle WA

Tickets: Oztix
Ne Obliviscaris are one of Australias most respect heavy metal outfits. Beloved by both the local and international heavy music press as well as commanding a fan base across Australia, their position in the local heavy music community is enviable.

However, the respect and prestige they command hasnt exactly translated into zeroes on their bank balances. We have inherited a broken system that is no longer what it once was, yet has not found a definitive new way forward, the band writes.

A system where only the biggest of the big bands are able to make a living and the rest of us sacrifice our whole lives and risk financial ruin every step of the way. This is something with which Ne Obliviscaris are familiar.

In a post announcing their new Patreon campaign, they detail how their international tours actually lost money. For example, their month-long tour supporting Cradle of Filth in Europe left the band AUD$20,644 in the red after factoring in expenses.

So where to from here? they write. Well, we want to create an interactive fan experience unlike any band that has come before us. We want to help create a path, not just for Ne Obliviscaris, but for the countless bands across the world that are working incredibly hard.

And we want to do it by empowering YOU, the fans, so that you get to decide who succeeds and who doesnt. The old establishment is dying. Lets show that we can create our own new way forward and put the power back where it should be.

The band dont have lofty aspirations of buying a private touring jet or solid-gold mansions with the money raised from their Patreon campaign. Instead, theyre hoping to raise enough support to earn the Australian minimum wage.

Minimum wage in Australia is $17.29AUD ($12.36USD) an hour or $656.90AUD per standard 38 hour work week, they write. Our goal is to try and reach a monthly contribution on our Patreon of $17,079.40AUD ($12,211USD).

[include_post id=462214]

Divided by 6 people this works out to $34,158.80AUD ($24,422USD) each per year, the minimum amount one can earn for a full time job in Australia. We have no expectations of wealth or riches. That is of no interest to us.

For us it is much simpler, the dream of being able to do NeO full time and be able to survive financially in the process. At the time of writing, the band have managed to accrue $2,821 per month from 185 patrons.

In return for your patronage, you will get new NeO music, interactive tour video diaries, exclusive merch ranges, pre-sale ticket options, giveaways and competitions, tour podcasts, feature band interviews and much more.

If you would like to live in a world where an Australian progressive extreme metal band with a violinist can actually make a living from their music so that they can dedicate themselves 100% to creating the best music and tour the world as often as possible, then this is for you, the band write.
"Eric G. King, 29, admitted that on Sept. 11, 2014, he lit and threw two Molotov cocktails at the building housing Cleavers office on 31st Street, about a block west of Main Street.









"King had previously expressed anti-government, anarchist sentiments on social media, and had been identified a potential suspect in incidents where anti-government graffiti was spray-painted on a bank building and Kansas City police vehicles, according to federal court records."

We, and today was the Fed Court occasion.Aftermath . . .Developing . . .
Jack Cashill: Why I am Supporting Ted Cruz for President

"I managed to sneak into a Ted Cruz rally Wednesday night in suburban Kansas City. Upon leaving, I no longer counted myself among the uncommitted. I and thousands of others in this overflow crowd had to be thinking the same thought, Why would a conservative vote for anyone else?





That is not to take anything away from the other candidates. This is easily the best Republican crop in anyones memory . . ."

Among the Kansas City Conservative intelligentsia, this nod from one of the most prolific authors in the metro is an impressive recommendation.Take a look:Deets:You decide . . .
Like it or not, there's an overwhelming and urge for most Republicans to support the real white man rather than the faux Latino contenders.

Wall Street Journal: Donald Trump Confronts Attacks in GOP Debate

















As we slouch toward the presidential election it seems like Kansas City's part in flyover country might be critical.Remember that the Kansas caucus is Saturday and the Missouri primary lands on March 15.Thinking that the last time TKC really cared about the GOP presidential contenders was whenBTW, credit to The Donald for making social media posting part of his qualifications for the Presidency.What our TKC blog community notices and nobody else wants to talk about . . .It seems that mainstream Republican strategy has collapsed like ain a cupboard and the GOP is doing too little, too late to stop Trump from thugging out their party.Here's the best news coverage of tonight's festivities . . .Hopefully, more for the morning update . . .
Shipra Malik is a fashion designer who resides in Noida and runs a boutique. She had gone missing, following which her husband filed a complaint with Noida Police. (Photo: Facebook)

Noida: Shipra Malik, the Noida-based fashion designer who had gone missing under mysterious circumstances on Monday, had planned her own kidnapping, according to Uttar Pradesh Police.

The Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Meerut Zone, Lakshmi Singh, on Friday ruled out a case of kidnapping and said that the fashion designer during questioning told the police that she was inspired by a TV crime show.

"As per her (Shipra Malik) statements given so far, it doesn't seem to be a case of kidnapping. Our team has left for verification of her statement. Shipra Malik made PCR call to prove that her husband and family has nothing to do with incident," said Singh.

Read: Missing Noida-based fashion designer Shipra Malik found in Gurgaon

"She came back after seeing pictures of her family on TV and after being informed of missing case that had been filed. No injury has been detected during the medical check-up of Shipra Malik," she added.

The Meerut DIG also confirmed that Shipra called her husband at around 1-1.30 am and informed him about her whereabouts in Gurgaon.

Shipra had left her home on Monday afternoon for Chandni Chowk.

The last call made by victim's mobile phone was to 100. The victim's last location was found to be Lajpat Nagar in South Delhi. The victim's Maruti Swift car was found abandoned 500 metres away from her home in Sector 37.

Shipra is a resident of Noida and runs a boutique. She is married to a local builder. Her husband had filed a missing complaint with the Noida Police.
The mayor also blasted lawmaker attempts to strip the e-tax in Saint Louis and Kansas City, saying the big cities are the economic engines of the state: "I've been down here and I've talked to senators, I've talked to representatives, I've talked to people, and not a single person has offered a single solution for this."

For the very few people in Kansas City who care about language and what words mean . . .Take a look at Mayor Sly blaming Missouri politicos for Kansas City problems again . . .Dead Tree Media backup . . .You decide . . .
FIRST WORD FROM TOP ECHELON KANSAS CITY INSIDERS . . . LOCAL AUTHORITIES PREPARE FOR DOWNTOWN KANSAS CITY MILITIA MOVEMENT PROTEST SCHEDULED FOR SATURDAY MORNING!!!

Potential Protest Notification for March 5, 2016





"A potential protest at the Richard Bolling Federal Building on the 12th street side near Locust, the group is to believe to have affiliation with the group who occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Ranch in Oregon. Protest is to start around 10am and end at 12pm per FPS.



There will be FPS presence and they have informed KCPD . . ."

Right now ourwith important news about a serious protest movement that is scheduled to descendupon downtown Kansas City.Not so long ago . . . Theearned international media attention as a source of serious discord among ranchers frustrated with government control.Now . . .Here's the word that's spreading around Kansas City like wildfire along with a THANK YOU to more than a few people who have forwarded this public info our way.Take a peek.Developing . . .
How's that working out for you?

I went to a movie last night at AMC at the Ward Parkway Shopping Center.What caught my attention was that they have removed entirely the ticket booth that previously housed 4 to 5 employees operating the 4 ticket dispensers and 4 cash registers.The ticketing is now done by 7 automated kiosks and one employee offering help to the very few that needed it. It was exceptionally fast and efficient way to get exactly the service I needed.As I filled up my own drink with Coke and the self-serve beverage station . . .Dr. Phils famous tagline, Hows the working out for you kept running through my head.is the only place that has warned of the logical consequences of stupid economics and how it can only lead to unemployment.And so to all those demanding an increase in minimum wage, Ill ask hows that working out for you?##############
Govt said there were fears among people that if they gave up their land on lease, they could over the years lose its ownership. (Photo: AFP)

New Delhi: As much as 12 lakh hectares of cultivable land is lying unused in the country and one of the reasons for this was the existence of different leasing laws in different states, government said in Rajya Sabha today.

Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said this after many opposition members expressed fears of "corporatisation" of agriculture after a recent meeting in NITI Aayog where a draft Land Leasing Bill was discussed with states.

During Question Hour, Congress member Shantaram Naik asked what was the need felt by the government to hold such a meeting and whether the government wanted to introduce private companies in development of agricultural lands. Similar apprehensions were expressed by some other members including D Raja of the CPI.

In his reply, the Agriculture Minister said while people had harboured "doubts" over the meeting, in reality it had "nothing to do with the industry". Singh said that land and its management fell within the jurisdiction of states and the role of Centre was only advisory in nature.

Referring to the meeting held in Niti Aayog, he said it was only continuation of the work initiated during UPA government's rule when Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, who was present in the House, was a minister.

Singh said there were fears among people that if they gave up their land on lease, they could over the years lose its ownership. This, he said, was because different laws related to leasing of land were in practice in various states.

Maintaining that 12 lakh hectares of land was not under cultivation, Singh said that Niti Aayog has constituted an experts' group on September 7, 2015 to prepare a draft model agricultural land leasing Bill in consultation with state governments and the Centre was only playing the role of an advisor.
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A piece of debris found along the eastern African coast between Mozambique and Madagascar may be from the tail section of the Malaysia Airlines plane that disappeared two years ago, NBC News reported.



Citing US, Malaysian and Australian investigators who have looked at photos of the possible debris, NBC said the piece could be a horizontal stabilizer from a Boeing 777, the same type of plane as the flight MH370 aircraft that was en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur when authorities lost track of it in March 2014.



Reuters could not immediately confirm the report, and Mozambican authorities have no information on the sighting of such an object off the coast of Inhambane province, according to Interior Ministry spokesman Inacio Dina.



The US National Transportation Safety Board declined comment, and referred questions to the Malaysian authorities who oversaw the investigation. Boeing also declined to comment, referring all questions to investigating authorities.



NBC said the debris was found on a sandbank in the Mozambique Channel by an American man who has been tracking the investigation into the missing flight.



Engineers who have looked at the debris have said there is a good chance it belonged to MH370, NBC said, citing sources close to the investigation.



NBC cited sources as saying the piece looks like it belongs to a Boeing 777 and that Boeing engineers were examining the photos.



Australian authorities told NBC they were arranging for an investigation of the piece, which could have drifted to the sand bar. Authorities there have said they are stepping up their search for the missing plane, which had been carrying 239 passengers.



The report comes after authorities said last year that they had found a piece of the plane's wing on the shore of Reunion island in the Indian Ocean on the other side of Madagascar.



Authorities have said other reported debris was not wreckage from flight MH370. - Reuters
Jaipur: When students are reeling under the pressure of board exams, 77-year-old Shiva Charan Yadav in Rajasthan will be appearing for class 10 board exams for the 47th time. The grey-haired mans fervent efforts are indeed commendable.

Hailing from Khohari village in Rajasthan, this old man hasnt tied the knot yet  his urge to come out with flying colours in the board exams has brought his personal life to a standstill. He has vowed to himself that he will get married the day he clears his Class 10 exams. His first attempt at the exam was in the year 1965. Despite repeated attempts, he has always been put down by his low grades in one or the other subject.

According to media reports, the old man said, "Each time it so happens that I pass in some subjects, but fail in others. For example, if I get enough marks in mathematics and science, I fail in Hindi and English. This time, I hope to pass all."

Yadav was almost off the hook in the year 1995 when he partially cleared his exams; however, low marks in mathematics impeded him from achieving the feat.

Though some of his neighbours mock him, there are people at his village who applaud his perseverance.

Like a 15-year-old appearing for board exams, Yadav is often seen visiting the nearby temple to offer prayers before such that he can fare well in his exams, shares a villager.

The 77-year-old is confident that this he will clear the exam and finally get married.
Amanatullah Khan said that he was merely criticising the anti-Dalit and anti-minority policies of the BJP-led govt at the Centre. (Photo: Twitter)

New Delhi: Delhi Police has registered a case on the basis of a complaint by a lawyer who alleged that AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan used abusive language against Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an event in Red Fort last month.

"We have registered an FIR in respect of non-cognisable offence under IPC Section 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) on the basis of a complaint," a senior police official said today, adding the police are also examining a video in connection with the event.

However, Khan has not been technically named in the FIR, which was registered at north Delhi's Kotwali Police station yesterday on the basis of a complaint by advocate Vivek Garg, who had earlier lodged several complaints against the city government with Delhi's Anti-Corruption Branch.

On Wednesday, Delhi unit of BJP had filed a complaint with the police against Khan accusing him of using "abusive language" against Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an event in Red Fort on February 16 and demanded action against him.

A delegation of BJP leaders, including party's Delhi chief Satish Upadhyay, has met Commissioner of Police Alok Kumar and submitted the copy of a video it claimed to have obtained from social media. Upadhyay has claimed that the Okhla MLA had made the remarks at an event organised by the Delhi government's Urdu Academy last month.

An AAP spokesperson has questioned the veracity of the video. However, Khan has defended his alleged remarks, saying that he was merely criticising the "anti-Dalit" and "anti-minority" policies of the BJP-led government at the Centre.

"What wrong did I say? I just said that the Modi government is against Dalits. I spoke against the policies of the government considering the way it is suppressing the rights and freedom of Dalits, minorities and students and sending them to jail after framing them in false cases," Khan has said.
Patna: District administration had to face tough time persuading farmers to clear their cultivable land for Prime Ministers rally which is to be held on March 12. Farmers of Hajipur stopped the administrative officials on Thursday while they were doing inspection of the location for Prime Ministers rally. Despite repeated requests these farmers are not ready to cut their crop and they have even threatened to protest if we put much pressure on them. We have informed our seniors about the situation and we will wait for their direction, a district level official said.

Modi is to visit Bihar on March 12 for the first time after the assembly elections and will also hold a rally in Hajipur which is around 30 kilometers from the state capital Patna. According to sources, efforts are also being made to use influence of political leaders of the BJP to persuade farmers. A source said farmers have even refused compensation which was offered to them by the district administration.
The CBSE also mentioned part of the Prime Ministers radio address in which he had mentioned that final examinations for grade 10th and 12th will be conducted in the coming days. (Representational image)

New Delhi: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has issued a notification asking schools to encourage students, teachers and parents to download the Narendra Modi mobile app so that they can share their experiences with the Prime Minister. The notification comes after the Modi in one of his Mann ki Baat radio addresses urged students to face examinations with confidence and optimism while seeking their response through the app.

In its notification, CBSE has invited students, teachers and parents to give a feedback of their experiences about examinations through the app. Students can share their experiences of taking examinations while teachers and parents can also narrate their experiences, the CBSE notification said. The Prime Minister will also be sharing some of his own thoughts, it added.

All school heads are requested to encourage their students, teachers and parents to download the app and share their experiences on how to overcome the stress of taking examinations, the CBSE notification said. The CBSE also mentioned part of the Prime Ministers radio address in which he had mentioned that final examinations for grade 10th and 12th will be conducted in the coming days.

Modi said it is his wish that students who have got success, share their experiences on how they have spent the tension-free days of examination, regarding the atmosphere in the family, teachers, elders, efforts made by them, or any tips or suggestions. You must have had good experiences. This time you can send your experiences on Narendra Modi App, the PM had said in his Mann ki Baat address on January 31, the CBSE notification said.

In his address on Sunday last, the prime minister had said he was full of confidence ahead of his examination (generalbudget) by 125 crore people, a trait which he wanted students to emulate when they appear for their examinations for Class X and XII.
Erode: In an unprecedented case, a subordinate judge of the Sathyamangalam court in Erode district in western Tamil Nadu has allegedly sought an explanation from an office assistant in the court for refusing to wash his inner garments.

In a letter dated February 1, the copy of which has been obtained by DC, the sub-judge of Sathyamangalam, D.Selvam, has directed office assistant S.Vasanthi to reply within seven days as to why she had not washed the clothes properly and refused to wash the inner garments.

Interestingly, the letter does not carry the official seal but has been allegedly signed by the sub-judge.

In the letter, the sub-judge states,You do not properly wash the clothes put for washing in the house of the sub-judge. Especially, you feel very embarrassed to wash the inner garments and throw them away. When the officer and his wife questioned you about it, you talked back. Hence, you should respond within seven days as to why should disciplinary action not be taken against you.

When contacted, office assistant, Vasanthi told DC that she had been asked to wash the clothes, clean the dishes in the house of the sub-judge.

On February 1, the sub-judge asked me to wash his inner garments. But I refused. So, he and his wife asked me to get out of the house. Then, he asked me to give an explanation within seven days, Vasanthi said, in her taped conversation with DC.

The office assistant had to finally tender an apology and get back to work at the sub-judges house. I have to save my job. So, I gave an apology and rejoined work.
Chennai: Union Minister of State for Environment and in-charge of Tamil Nadu affairs Prakash Javadekar air-dashed to Chennai on Thursday to make one last frantic bid to prevent DMDK chief Vijayakanth from joining the DMK-combine, but failed to get audience with Captain, who chose to be away at his Rishivandhiyam constituency, less than four hours drive from the city.

Mr Javadekar had met Vijayakanth during his last trip on Sunday and promised to be back on Wednesday after consulting with party high command about the DMDK chiefs views and demands.

He arrived Thursday morning without the usual fanfare and drove to Vijayakanths brother-in-law Sudeesh house in Virugambakkam, where the stars wife Premalatha was also present.

When he tried to raise the alliance issue with Premalatha and her brother, he was told that Captain was away at his constituency and so nothing need be discussed down. Javadekar had to return empty-handed, said a BJP source wishing anonymity.

The minister thereupon drove to the Institute of Ocean Management at the Anna University and undertook a 'review' before taking the flight back to Delhi early evening.

The task of forging alliances with Tamil Nadu parties for the coming elections is being handled directly by the BJP high command. "We were in a commanding position in 2014 and the others were more than willing to wait and talk to our leaders", lamented a BJP senior.

As the curtains come down, the BJP will face the polls without the DMDK and PMK. Indicating that the BJP is not keen on having truck with parties not opposed to corruption, Muralidhar Rao.

BJP national general secretary, in the city on Thursday ruled out alliance also with AIADMK. "Media is speculating that we are going either with the AIADMK or DMK. We don't want to go with either of them. Several community groups have approached us (for alliance)", he said.

It appears that during his Sunday meeting, Mr Javadekar had a tough time coming under fire from the Captain, who pointed out that the Central ministers did not bother to meet him during their Chennai trips whereas they called on Jayalalithaa, who had ill-treated him after being his ally in the 2011 state polls. Also, Mr Vijayakanth reportedly expressed unhappiness at BJP deciding to admit actor Sarath Kumar into the NDA.

"If you think I am still in the NDA, why didn't your leaders see me during their Chennai trips and why wasn't I told before your party decided to admit Sarath Kumar?" he reportedly asked Javadekar, according to the BJP source.

Attempts by Murlidhar Rao and Pon Radhakrishnan to placate Captain failed, even as the DMK stepped up efforts to seal poll pact with him. After forming the rainbow alliance for 2014 LS polls, the BJP had not convened any meeting of its allies nor did it participate in joint agitations.
Narendra Modi to flag off a few trains in presence of Railway minister Suresh Prabhu and his deputy Manoj Sinha during the function. (Photo: PTI)

Hajipur: The proposed venue for programme of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to unveil some Railway projects on March 12 here is facing difficulties with farmers refusing to cut their crop in the 60 acre field in Sultanpur village prematurely.

Farmers of Sultanpur village under Hajipur Industrial Area police station, some 6 km from district headquarter here in Bihar's Vaishali district, are refusing to part with their wheat crop which would be ready soon, to clear the venue for the PM's programme on March 12.

District Magistrate Rachna Patil said, "We are looking after the matter." Chief Public Relations Officer of East Central Railway (ECR) Arvind Kumar Rajak said that in view of the protest, alternative venue was being looked into. The DM Patil also not ruled out the alternative venue.

The PM is scheduled to dedicate the Digha-Sonepur rail-cum road bridge besides the new Railway bridge at Munger at a function to be hosted by ECR on March 12.

The PM might also flag off a few trains in presence of Railway minister Suresh Prabhu and his deputy Manoj Sinha during the function. Besides, the Railway programme, the PM would be attending closing function of centenary celebration of the Patna High Court on the same day.

Earlier, at a meeting on Wednesday between ECR General Manager A K Mittal and Chief Secretary Anjani Kumar Singh, it was decided that over twelve farmers who would lose their crop at the venue, would be compensated. Sub Divisional Officer (SDO) of Hajipur Ravindra Kumar is trying for past two days to convince the farmers to make available the land.

One of the affected farmer Raja Ram Rai said to be close to RJD, said the wheat crop in their field was like a "young son for us which we do not want to sacrifice."

Media reports suggested that local BJP strongman Nityanand Rai, who is presently BJP Lok Sabha member from Ujiyarpur in Samastipur district, might broker peace with the agitating farmers.
Purno Agitok Sangma, a man with many feathers in his cap, passed away at 68. (Photo: PTI)

Guwahati: Purno Agitok Sangma, a man with many feathers in his cap, passed away at 68, on Friday morning. The former Speaker of the Lok Sabha and chief minister of Meghalaya died of heart attack at his residence in New Delhi.

Sangma attended parliament on Thursday. On Friday morning his secretary found him dead on his bed. Sangma served the 16th Lok Sabha as its speaker from 1996 to 1998.

He also was the chief minister of Meghalaya from 1988 to 1990 besides serving as union minister in various governments.

Read: Congress leaders pay tributes to PA Sangma, Sonia calls him a 'tall leader'

From a humble beginning in a small tribal village in the Garo Hills of Meghalaya, Sangma rose to the exalted office of the Speaker of Lok Sabha by sheer dint of his merit and commitment for the people.

Sangma was born on September 01, 1947 in village Chapahati in the picturesque West Garo Hills District of Meghalaya.

He graduated from St Anthony's College and went to Dibrugarh University in Assam for his Masters degree in International Relations. He also obtained a degree in Law.

Before joining politics, he had been a lecturer, a lawyer and a journalist. He began his political life as a worker of the Congress Party. His rise through the ranks of the party was phenomenal. In 1974, he became the general secretary of the Meghalaya Pradesh Youth Congress, he was its vice-president for some time. He was appointed the general secretary of the Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee in 1975 and held that post till 1980.

Sangma entered the national politics in 1977 when the country was preparing for the sixth General Elections. He was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Tura constituency in his home state on the Congress ticket. The 30-year-old Sangma entered the portals of Parliament at a time when the nation was witnessing a major political change with the Congress Party losing power at the Centre for the first time since Independence.

Sangma was inducted into the Union Cabinet and assumed the office of the Deputy Minister in charge of Industry in November 1980. After two years, he shifted to the Ministry of Commerce as Deputy Minister and held the post till December 1984. For a short while, he also served as the Minister of State for Home Affairs. Sangma took over as the Minister of State for Labour with Independent Charge in October 1986.

Sangma was said to be a Minister who could reply to a heated debate in Parliament without the aid of officials' slips from the Officers' Gallery.

He became Meghalaya Chief Minister in 1988.

Sangma returned to the Lok Sabha in 1991 following the General Elections and was inducted into the Union Cabinet by Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao. Sangma was given the Independent Charge of the Ministry of Coal. In February 1992, he was given the additional responsibility of assisting the Prime Minister in the Ministry of Labour.

In September 1995, Sangma took over as the Minister of Information and Broadcasting, the post he held till the General Elections to the 11th Lok Sabha.

Sangma was elected to the Lok Sabha for the fifth time from the Tura constituency in the 1996 General Elections. On May 23, 1996, he was unanimously elected the Speaker of the 11th Lok Sabha with universal support cutting across all political parties.

Sangma, undoubtedly, had all the credentials for the august office - legal training, long experience as a parliamentarian as well as a Minister, reputation for impartiality, transparency, humility and wit and wisdom. From the time he assumed office of the Speaker, Sangma executed his responsibility with flair. He had a unique approach to parliamentary reforms. He ensured that rules were observed by the members even in the midst of stormy debates. His concern for decorum, freedom and dignity of the House had earned him the reputation of an outstanding parliamentarian. His hearty laugh, quick wit, boundless enthusiasm, impeccable demeanour and earthy wisdom made him a household name, with people from all over the country showering compliments for the rare skill with which he conducted the proceedings of the House.

He was expelled from the Congress on May 20, 1999, along with Sharad Pawar and Tariq Anwar for raising the banner of revolt against Sonia Gandhi over her foreign origin. After the expulsion, he went on to form the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) with Sharad Pawar and Tariq Anwar.

He later split the NCP. Sangma merged his faction with Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress, forming the Nationalist Trinamool Congress.

He resigned from his Lok Sabha seat on October 10, 2005 as a member of All India Trinamool Congress and was re-elected as NCP candidate on February 2006.

On June 20, 2012, Sangma resigned from the UPA constituent NCP after opposition from Sharad Pawar over his presidential candidature.

The BJP declared PA Sangma as it official candidate for the presidential poll on June 21, 2012. Pranab Mukherjee was, however, declared the winner in the polls.
News Oct 21st, 2022 at 12:40

Spending on IT this year by the UK travel sector is projected to hit 1.98 billion, the highest level seen in data analysed covering the last 15 years...
New research from EyeforTravel predicts that Asia-Pacific growth will continue even in the face of economic anxieties



(TRAVPR.COM) UK - March 4th, 2016 - Dominating the economic narrative at the start of this year has been Chinas slowdown. Chinese manufacturing and exports continue to perform badly, and GDP growth in 2015 was probably closer to 5% than the much-doubted official rate of 6.8%. However, even within this gloom, Asia-Pacific delivered the most striking tourism numbers in 2015, and will likely continue to see some of the most dynamic changes in 2016 according to EyeforTravels Full Year Round-Up and Forecast 2016 report.

In 2015, countries across region experienced notable, and often record breaking, growth:

 Chinese travel continued to reach new highs, with a reported 120 million outbound journeys, 4 million of which were reportedly made in Golden Week alone.

 South Koreans took 21.2% more overseas journeys in 2015.

 In the first half of 2015 Indian arrivals to the US increased 18.7% compared to 2014 and arrivals to the UK increased by an estimated 13% in the first three quarters of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014.

 Japan saw arrivals grow by a staggering 47.5%.

 Arrivals to Australia grew by 7.1%.

EyeforTravels Head of Research, Alex Hadwick, is optimistic about 2016 given these numbers: Although the past is not necessarily a guide for the future, after such strong figures we are unlikely to see a collapse in demand. We expect that countries in Asia-Pacific will continue to see some of the more dramatic growth rates globally in both inbound and outbound travel.

The report highlights India and Japan in particular as countries to watch in 2016. It expected the former to continue its outbound travel growth trajectory, with a forecast of 10% growth in outbound travel in 2015. Even though the report notes that inbound growth to Japan is likely to fall back from 2015 levels, 2016 is still predicted to see 25-30% more tourists entering Japan in 2016.

As regards, the elephant in the room  China  Alex Hadwick said that as we predicted at the start of 2015, China is facing some economic headwinds that mean the primary beneficiaries of outbound travel were regional tourism hotspots. We dont expect this dynamic to change. We also expect a softening of the rate of outbound growth as the purchasing power of the yuan declines and consumer sentiment remains below recent levels. Nonetheless, wage growth data remains positive and a general transition to a services economy is by no means a bad thing for tourism. Indeed, the Chinese government is actively supporting the tourism industry as part of its One Belt One Road policy, so I think that as industry we dont need to buy into the bearish sentiment surrounding China just yet.

For more head over to the report: http://www.eyefortravel.com/mobile-and-technology/eyefortravel-full-year-round-and-forecast-2016

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Hyderabad: The GHMC authorities are themselves disappointed with the garbage collection method in the city. The problem lies with both the public and the sanitation workers, they say. Many do not follow the segregation rule at home while the sanitation workers too dont insist on it.

In several colonies the specialised vehicles do not transport garbage and the old, blue tricycles are still used. Also, 44 lakh bins are yet to be distributed. Ms Kanika Gupta of Sainikpuri said, My family segregates waste at home. The green bin is used for kitchen waste and plastics go in the blue one. But we get the blue tricycle, which is not specialised to accept segregated waste. Contents of both the bins are dumped into the vehicle and our efforts are wasted. The sanitation worker says they are yet to get the specialised vehicle.

Meanwhile, complaints of garbage being burnt continue to pour in. GHMC commissioner B. Jana-rdhan Reddy, during a recent meet with the mayor and corporators had said that door to door garbage collection was not up to the mark. Involvement of citizens and Residential Welfare Associations will help the GHMC take up the civic works, the door-to-door garbage collection is not up to expectations. Proper awareness is needed for the people and the sanitation staff, he added. The GHMC has appealed to residents who got the bins to follow the two-bin policy as the state government has spent Rs 41.40 crore to procure the bins. Tippers will transfer garbage to transfer stations where waste will be collected in two piles. Segregated waste will then be transported to Jawaharnagar.
The ICMR hopes to get a live virus so that government labs can start working on it, Swaminathan said. (Photo: AP)

Hyderabad: Indian scientists were aware of Zika virus way back in 1950s and had even stored a vial of the pathogen, which has now emerged as a global health threat, a senior government official said on Thursday.

"We have that report and in fact, they (Indian scientists) even saved a vial of that virus from that time. So, in our virology institute in Pune, except the virus was dead, couldn't be revived. This is the advantage of having a repository. (It) couldn't be revived. Because, in those days, we don't know how they stored it. The scientists, even in 1951 or 52 thought about storing a vial...," Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director-General Soumya Swaminathan told reporters.

She was replying to a query about Indian scientists being aware of the virus that first surfaced in 1940s in Africa.

She was here in connection with the ongoing 17th International Congress on Infectious Diseases.

To deal with Zika, Swaminathan said, surveillance and testing of people is being done in the country at present, besides looking at the issue of developing a vaccine.

"India, at the moment, for Zika, what we are doing is surveillance. Making sure that we equip our labs to be able test for Zika. We want to find out if there is any Zika circulating. So, we are testing people who present with fever, just like a dengue but a dengue negative. We have not found any case so far, but we will continue this exercise," she said.

The ICMR hopes to get a live virus so that government labs can start working on it, Swaminathan said.

Zika disease is caused by a virus transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes. People with Zika virus usually have symptoms like mild fever, skin rashes, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain, malaise or headache. These symptoms normally last for 2-7 days. There is no specific treatment or vaccine currently available for the infection, whose latest large outbreak was reported from Brazil.

According to WHO, Zika was first identified in Uganda in 1947 in rhesus monkeys. It was subsequently identified in humans in 1952 in Uganda and Tanzania. Outbreaks of Zika virus disease have been recorded in Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific.

Early last month, the WHO declared Zika virus a public health emergency.
Tribune News Service

Patiala, March 4

The 48th session of the three-day Punjab History Conference on Social Change in the Post-Partition Punjab Region began at the Punjabi Universitys Science Auditorium here today. It is being organised by the Punjabi Universitys Punjab Historical Studies Department.

Daljeet Singh Cheema, Education Minister, Punjab, was the chief guest on the occasion, while Prof Prithipal Singh Kapur, former Pro-Vice-Chancellor of GNDU and a noted historian, delivered the inaugural address. Panjab University Vice-Chancellor Jaspal Singh presided over the inaugural session.

Daljit Singh Cheema threw light on the agony of Partition. He appreciated the people of Punjab for their efforts regarding the preservation of heritage of this region.

Professor Prithipal Singh Kapur talked about the importance of this conference with regard to exploring newer aspects of the region during the post-Partition Punjab.

In his presidential address, Jaspal Singh eulogised the momentous achievements that Punjabis have made after partition. They have played a stellar role in bringing about the Green Revolution that changed the overall landscape of the progress that India has made. The literature produced by them has reflected the agony that the country faced in the wake of Partition.

Professor Narayani Gupta from Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi, in her general presidents address on Heritage and History- A Fraught Relationship, said the study of both history and tradition, especially in the context of the partition of Punjab in 1947, was important to be deeply explored to know the truth about various aspects that had deep impact on the life of Punjabis on both sides of the border.

Dr AS Chawla, Dean Academic Affairs, Punjabi University, Patiala, proposed the vote of thanks. Prof Balwinderjit Kaur Bhatti, director of the conference, welcomed and introduced the audience about its theme.

At the end of the conference, three issues of bi-annual journal The Panjab Past & Present, proceedings of 47th session of Punjab History Conference and Sita Ram Kohli Memorial Lecture were released.

The Vice-Chancellor honoured Professor KTS Sarao (Delhi University); Professor Ishrat Alam (Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh); Professor Sucheta Mahajan (JNU, New Delhi); Professor Radha Sharma (GNDU, Amritsar); Professor Muhammad Y Ganai, presidents of different sections and speaker of the Sita Ram Kohli Memorial Lecture, respectively. He also honoured Dr Jagjit Kaur, guest of honour, and Professor Kirpal Singh, founder head of the Punjab Historical Studies Department.
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 4

The maid held for a theft at a house in Sector 9, Chandigarh, was earlier also arrested in a case of theft by the Panchkula police. Sources said she had a lavish lifestyle and also possessed a laptop and a scooter.

Madhu Sudan Vij, a resident of Sector 9, had complained that he had employed Sarabjit Kaur, alias Chavi, as maid and she allegedly committed a theft of Rs 1.35 lakh and two gold coins after getting duplicate keys of the house made from the market.

Police officials said Chavi was arrested and she confessed to the crime. The police also recovered two gold coins and Rs 90,000 from her. The police said the accused was a Class VIII dropout and hailed from Amritsar.

In January 2015, she was arrested in Panchkula for stealing Rs 1.59 lakh from the house of a hotelier, said a police official.

The sources said the accused was residing at Khuda Jassu village in a two-storeyed house. She enjoyed a lavish lifestyle and used to drive an Activa scooter, the police official said. The interrogation of the accused revealed that she was fond of wearing branded clothes.
Foreign Secretary S Jaishankars sudden homily just two days ago on not talking with Pakistan looks rather outdated. Jaishankar had argued that Pakistani action against Pathankot airbase attackers would take precedence over talks. He appeared to be overruling the Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad who had delinked talks from the Pakistani probe into Pathankot. Now the outcome of the US-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue may force India to rethink its position. Indian strategic analysts were worked up over the US-Pakistan Joint Statement mentioning Kashmir. But they underplayed the prominent place to Pathankot in the joint document and in remarks by Sartaj Aziz and John Kerry.

Azizs account of the Pakistani probe moved Kerry to appreciate Nawaz Sharifs stated commitment to bring the perpetrators of the Pathankot attack to justice. The column ticked, the US moved on to the main purpose of the strategic dialogue  creating the right environment for the Quadrilateral of Afghanistan, Pakistan, the US and China to achieve a political settlement with Taliban. India, despite weathering repeated attacks on its Afghan consulates and providing substantial aid, is on the sidelines of the peace process. Aziz painted India as being opposed to the reconciliation process. With so much of global diplomatic capital expended on this, he raised fears of the damage recalcitrant countries can inflict.

Not only will Islamabad try to trip India each time it tries to assist in the Afghan peace process, there will be a loss of standing among Central Asian countries, some with backs to the wall against resurgent Islamists could do without a breach within the ranks. Russia and China want rapproachment as they had agreed to admit India and Pakistan in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) provided their bilateral quarrels were compartmentalised. The US instead is keen on India building more intensive ties in eastern Asia. It may turn out to be a useful ploy to insert India vigorously in East Asian geopolitics but for now it is the other flank that craves attention.
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 4

Blame game has begun among political parties in Haryana with each one holding the other responsible for violence during the Jat agitation.

Addressing mediapersons in Sirsa today, Leader of the Opposition Abhay Singh Chautala alleged that both BJP and the Congress had made people clash in the name of reservation.

He alleged that the BJP was following RSS agenda of dividing people on basis of castes and communities for their narrow political ends.

First, the BJP and the RSS did not stop Kurukshetra MP from spitting venom against one particular caste and now, they are befooling people in the name of unity of 35 Biradari, Abhay Chautala alleged.

He said former CM Bhupender Singh Hoodas hand in the riots had already been exposed after an audio of his political aide, Prof Virender Singh, became viral. He also accused the Manohar Lal Khattar government of leaving people at the mercy of arsonists by not taking any step to contain the violence.

On the other hand, Haryana Cong spokesman Ran Singh Mann held the BJP and the INLD responsible for the violence.

People of Haryana had started remembering Hooda regime since the Khattar government had proved an utter failure in the past 16 months of its rule. Both BJP and INLD were scared of Hoodas increasing popularity and hence they had orchestrated violence to defame the former CM and to divide people for their political interests, said Mann. Mann also described the audio involving Prof Virender as doctored. The ruling party BJP has already been alleging political conspiracy behind the violence.

Finance Minister Captain Abhimanyu said the conspiracy was aimed at destabilising the government. The government, he said, was determined to expose those behind the conspiracy.
Gurvinder Singh

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, March 4

Nearly 2,500 members of various unions, a majority of whom were MGNREGA workers, protested outside the Deputy Commissioners office for about two hours today.

They gathered at Chatar Singh Park and walked down to the Mini-Secretariat. Tarsem Jodhan, CITU, Punjab, vice-president said the downtrodden and the underprivileged in the state have been facing problems from all aspects, and the government has been indifferent to their problems.

He raised points about several problems the people of the state were facing, including the increasing farmer suicides, problems faced by MGNREGA workers including non-payment for years, rising unemployment, problems of brick-kiln workers and owners and industrial labourers.

Healthcare was absent in the state, he said, adding that people need to get together to fight for their rights. Apart from that, he also raised slogans in favour of Kanhaiya Kumar saying he was implicated in a false case and saffronisation of the country was increasing. He said there was jungle raj in the state, as law and order was completely absent.

Some members, including Jodhan, also met ADC (Development) Apneet Riyait and apprised her of several problems being faced by MGNREGA workers such as non-receipt of old-age pensions, Shagan scheme, etc.

She said the issue of payment of MGNREGA workers would get resolved soon as the payments would come directly to the accounts of beneficiaries.

The same would be the case with Shagan scheme. She said the officials would be directed to look into the particular cases.

Commuters inconvenienced

Traffic went for a toss as nearly 2,500 members of the unions, including MGNREGA workers, walked down to the DC office from Chatar Singh Park at Model Town. The situation particularly went worse near Bharat Nagar Chowk, causing great inconvenience to commuters. They said the government should work out a way so that people can express themselves, but it should not cause inconvenience to people at large.

DC staff on 'kalam chhodo' strike

Ludhiana: Work got affected as the District Office Employees' Association held a 'kalam chhodo' strike at the DC office today against not having received salary for the past three months. People coming to the DC office had to face inconvenience. "We are facing financial difficulties as we have not received salaries for the past three months, which has gotten too much," an employee said. "We have been managing without pay for the past two months, and have not received salary for the third month in a row now. This has really put us in dire straits and we're left with no choice but to strike," a female employee said..
New Delhi, March 4

An Indian nun was among four nuns killed in a terrorist attack at a retirement home run by the Missionaries of Charity in Aden, Yemen, today. A group of terrorists stormed the elderly care home run by the Kolkata-based mission and sprayed bullets at the residents, killing sixteen people.

The dead included two Yemeni women staff, eight elderly residents and a guard.

Earlier, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted that four Indian nurses were killed in the attack as she asked all Indians living in danger zones to return home. The External Affairs Ministry late tonight said only one Indian nurse was killed. Of the four nurses killed, only one is Indian  Cecilia Minz, MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.  Agencies
Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 4

Three days after a top Admiral from the US invited India to join a four-nation grouping to patrol areas like the South China Sea, New Delhi has outrightly rejected the idea saying it has so far not considered it.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, on being asked about the statement by US Pacific Command Admiral Harry Harris, said: Our viewpoint will come, if at all we consider it. As of now, India has never taken part in any joint patrol; the question of joint patrol does not arise.

If we take any decision, the Ministry of Defence will brief you very clearly, Parrikar said.

Parrikars opinion is line with New Delhi existing policy of keeping away from any such grouping that may anger China which is locked in a territorial dispute with six other nations.

On March 2, Admiral Harris invited India to join in a four-nation grouping to jointly patrol seas and air space over contested waters.

Admiral Harris, speaking at a function in New Delhi said: India, Japan, Australia, the United States and so many other like-minded nations can aspire to patrol together anywhere international law allows. The idea of safeguarding freedom of access to international waters and airspace is not something new for us to ponder.

He had cited the words of the US Ambassador to India Richard Verma to buttress his views: I echo Ambassador Vermas vision that, in the not too distant future, American and Indian Navy vessels steaming together will become a common and welcome sight throughout Indo-Asia-Pacific waters, as we work together to maintain freedom of the seas for all nations.

Considering the $5.3 trillion dollars in trade that traverses each year from the Indian Ocean and through the South China Sea, we all have a vested interest in ensuring our region remain secure, stable, and prosperous.

'Adequate funds for Rafale'

The government has kept "adequate money" for the purchase of Rafale fighter jets from France while provisions have been made to continue the process of raising a mountain strike corps, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said here.

Addressing a press conference here, he said the total defence budget for 2016-17 was Rs 3,41,000 crore, including defence pensions, and this came to 17.23 per cent of overall expenditure of Rs 19,78,060 crore.

As Rs 70,000 crore had been allocated in this year's budget for defence acquisition, he said that excluding defence pensions, the budget figure was Rs 2,59,000 crore, which was 13.09 per cent of overall expenditure.

To a query on the purchase of Rafale fighter jets, which has been stuck over price negotiations with France, Parrikar said that the government had "kept adequate money for Rafale deal".

"I am a tough negotiator. Let me save money for the nation," he said in answer to another query.

Answering a query on a China-centric mountain strike corps, which was cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) in September 2013, Parrikar said: "Whatever arrangements need to be made, have been done."
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 4

Two days after a top Admiral from the US invited India to join a four-nation grouping to patrol areas like the South China Sea, New Delhi has out rightly rejected the idea saying it has so far not considered it.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, on being asked about the statement by US Pacific Command Admiral Harry Harris, said: Our view point will come, if at all we consider it. As of now, India has never taken part in any joint patrol, the question of joint patrol does not arise. If we took any such decision, the Ministry of Defence would brief you, Parrikar said.

His opinion is in line with New Delhis policy of keeping away from any such grouping that may anger China, which is locked in a territorial dispute with six other nations.

On March 2, Admiral Harris invited India to join in a four-nation grouping to jointly patrol seas and air space over contested waters. Admiral Harris, speaking at a function in New Delhi said: India, Japan, Australia, the United States and so many other like-minded nations can aspire to patrol together anywhere, as international law allows. The idea of safeguarding freedom of access to international waters and airspace is not something new for us to ponder.

He had cited the words of the US Ambassador to India Richard Verma to buttress his views: I echo Ambassador Vermas vision that, in the not too distant future, American and Indian Navy vessels steaming together will become a common and welcome sight throughout Indo-Asia-Pacific waters, as we work together to maintain freedom of the seas for all nations. Considering the $5.3 trillion in trade that traverses each year from the Indian Ocean and through the South China Sea, we all have a vested interest in ensuring our region remain secure, stable, and prosperous.

Parrikar refused to comment on the reports that India was close to signing the foundational agreements: Logistics Support Agreement, Communications and Information Security Memorandum of Agreement, and Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for geospatial intelligence with the US.

The discussion on these agreements, he said, was taking place in the defence ministry and any change in Indias stance would be intimated by the government. US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter will visit to India next month.
Simran Sodhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 3

For the second time this year, Afghan forces stepped up to the challenge and protected the Indian consulate which was attacked yesterday. In January this year, the Indian consulate in Mazir-e-Sharif had also come under attack and the Afghan forces fought off the terrorists.

Yesterday, Afghan forces killed four suicide bombers who had targeted the Jalalabad consulate. The four attackers were killed before they could enter the consulate compound.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said senior officials of both National Directorate of Security (NDS) and Afghan National Police (ANP) visited the Consulate after the attack to reassure the Consulate officials of their complete cooperation.

Our Consulate in Jalalabad came under attack yesterday by a group of five terrorists at 12 noon. The attackers approached the Consulate in a van rigged with explosives...

No member of the Consulate was injured except superficial injuries in right hand of one of the local staff members. Three persons reportedly died in the attack. The National Directorate of Security (NDS) reported that 19 persons were injured, mostly Afghan National Police (ANP) guards, two of whom have serious injuries, Swarup said.

Swarup said additional forces, both from the ANP and NDS, had been deployed around the Consulate. Electricity lines that were knocked out due to an explosion were repaired and power was restored on priority, he added.
New Delhi: Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury said on Friday that Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Students' Union president Kanhaiya Kumar, who was released from Tihar jail yesterday, will campaign for the Left in the upcoming West Bengal Assembly polls.

"All students supporting Left will participate in the campaign along with Kanhaiya. For the first time, the nation can see the power of the youth of Left," Yechury said.

He added the CPI(M) wants the assurance from the Centre that arrangements will be made for a 'fair' election so that the people of Bengal can come out and vote without any hesitation. "There should absolutely be no violence, which is all we want. You cannot leave this responsibility on the state police," he said.

Asserting that the Left will win in Kerala this time, Yechury stated the rampant corruption prevalent in the state right now would be alleviated by the Left as they are committed to bettering the life of the people. He also flatly ruled out any chances of forging an alliance with Congress despite admitting that the Left was facing a massive challenge in West Bengal.

In West Bengal, the polling for 294 assembly seats will be held in six phases starting from April 4 to May 5. The first phase would take place in two parts- April 4 and 11. The second phase polling will be held on April 17, third on April 21, fourth on April 15, fifth on April 30 and sixth on May 5. In Kerala, voting for 140 assembly seats would be held in a single phase on May16.
Jamnagar, March 4

President Pranab Mukherjee today honoured the Indian Air Force's elite 119 Helicopter Unit, involved in various counter-insurgency operations, including the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai to flush out terrorists, for their outstanding performance.

Mukherjee also accorded 'Colours' to 28 Equipment Depot, the air armament stores division which "provides lethality" to fighter and bomber squadrons of IAF units.

Addressing a function at the crucial and one of the oldest Air Force stations, he said India is firmly committed to peace and equality for which the country needs effective deterrence and a strong defence force.

"The nation is striving hard for all-round economic growth and social empowerment of its citizens. However, we remain equally focused on building capacity to defend our sovereignty and territorial integrity.

"Our Armed Forces give us confidence in the nation's ability to face any aggression and safeguard its interests.

The Air Warriors, who stand before us today, epitomise the grit and the determination in fulfilling their responsibilities by upholding the highest standards of service ethos," the President said addressing men and women of the Air Force.

Mukherjee, who is the Supreme Commander of the defence forces, said the Indian Air Force has been fulfilling its role of protecting the Indian skies and safeguarding the sovereignty of the nation and also provided aid to citizens during natural calamities.

"The massive relief operations undertaken by the Indian Air Force during many natural calamities in the past is all etched in our memories. Such operations are shining examples of the fortitude and determination of its gallant air warriors," he said.

The President honoured 119 Helicopter Unit with 'Standard' and the 28 Equipment Depot with 'Colours' for their outstanding performance.

119 Helicopter Unit was raised in Guwahati in March 1972 as 'Angels of Mercy' with Mi-8 helicopters.

Initially, the unit flew extensively in support of counter insurgency operations in Nagaland and 'Operation Falcon' in Arunachal Pradesh to check Chinese incursion.

It took part in 'Operation Cactus' in November 1988 (which is India's intervention for restoration of government's rule in Maldives) and played a major role during the 'Atlantique Crisis' of August 1999 (in which a Pakistan's Navy plane was gunned down) and 'Operation Black Tornado' after the terrorist attack on Mumbai in November 26, 2008, Mukherjee said.

The unit now operates the newly acquired Mi-17 V5 helicopters. It had undertaken humanitarian aid and disaster relief operations in Gujarat and Nepal recently.

The 28 Equipment Depot, which deals with all facets of air armament stores, has completed 62 years of service to the nation.

The Depot played a significant role in the operations of 1965, 1971 and 1999 wars by providing huge quantity of explosive stores in serviceable condition to the units engaged in operations.

"It would not be wrong to say that this Depot provides the lethality to the fighter and bomber squadrons of the Indian Air Force. In the years gone by, the Depot has been a trend-setter in innovation and has successfully modified the life-expired live missiles into its training version," the President said.

During the programme, there were fly pasts by three Mi-17 helicopters each with the national flag and a Jaguar fighter aircraft.  PTI
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, March 4

Skill development is a high priority for the state government and multiple initiatives are being taken across demographics and geographies in this regard, claimed Chief Minister Harish Rawat while addressing the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) Uttarakhand annual session 2016 held here yesterday. The theme of the session was Partnerships, Innovations and ICT for Skill Development. A skilled youth with access to livelihood was the key to future growth and development of the state, he added.

Shreekant Somany, Chairman of the CII Northern Region, delivering the theme address, said, Only 2.3 per cent of the workforce in India has undergone formal skill training as compared to 68 per cent in the UK, 75 per cent in Germany, 52 per cent in the USA, 80 per cent in Japan and 96 per cent in South Korea. Large sections of the educated workforce have little or no job skills, making them largely unemployable. Therefore, we have to necessarily focus on scaling up skill training efforts to meet the demands of employers and drive economic growth. He elaborated on how Uttarakhand could overcome its cost disadvantage in manufacturing through focus on skill development for productivity enhancement. Dr Pankaj Pandey, Additional Secretary, Training and Technical Education, shared the work the Uttarakhand Skill Development Mission was doing.

Dr R Rajesh Kumar, Additional Secretary, Industries and MD of SIIDCUL, shared the draft start-up policy for Uttarakhand with the members of the CII & Young Indiansthe youth wing of the CII. Confederation members and Yi members lead by Akshit Batra, Chair of Yi Dehradun, and Pavitra Arora, Co-Chair of Yi Dehradun, gave many innovative ideas such as setting up start-up hubs on the model of Silicon Valley, creating an innovation council with industry partnership.

Prashant Mahadik, Chairman of the CII Uttarakhand State Council, said, The importance of skill development cannot be overemphasised for a young state like Uttarakhand. Skill development lies at the heart of addressing issues such as inclusive growth, growth itself and competitiveness of the states nascent economy. Skill development has been a focus area of successive governments since the inception of the state. However, the challenge is so huge that we need to look at partnerships and innovative models for addressing the same.

Suresh Redhu, vice-chairman of the CII Uttarakhand State Council, proposed a vote of thanks. He said the use of ICT, because of its enhanced reach and low cost, could be a game changer for skill development in the state. He added that we should skill the youth of the state for the emerging sectors of the economy such as e-commerce and green businesses.
Kuala Lumpur: Families of 12 passengers on Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 on Friday sued the carrier and the government, ahead of a filing deadline next week on the second anniversary of the plane's disappearance. The Boeing 777 carrying 239 flew far off course for unknown reasons after leaving Kuala Lumpur for Beijing on March 8, 2014. Lawyer Sangeet Kaur Deo, who is representing 10 families, said the lawsuits involve a passenger from Russia, one from China and the rest from Malaysia. AP

Denmark ready to send troops to fight IS in Syria, Iraq

Copenhagen: Denmark is ready to send F-16 fighter jets and 400 troops to Iraq and Syria to fight the Islamic State group, Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said on Friday. "It is a serious decision to send Danish men and women on a mission in the world's hot spots. Therefore, I am grateful that the government's proposal enjoys broad support from the parties in parliament," Rasmussen said. The Danish contribution, which also includes a transport aircraft, would be available from mid-2016. AFP

Turkey jails two facing trial over Aylan death

Istanbul: A Turkish court on Friday sentenced to jail two people smugglers on trial over the death of Aylan Kurdi, the young boy who became a poignant symbol of refugee suffering when his lifeless body washed up on a Turkish beach. The court in the resort town of Bodrum found Syrian nationals Muwafaka Alabash and Asem Alfrhad guilty of trafficking migrants and sentenced them to four years and two months. AFP
Seoul, March 4

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his country to be ready to use its nuclear weapons at any time and the military to be in pre-emptive attack mode in the face of growing threats from its enemies, state media said on Friday.

The comments, carried by the North's official KCNA news agency, marked a further escalation of tension on the Korean peninsula after the UN Security Council imposed harsh new sanctions on the isolated state for its nuclear programme.

North Korea, known for belligerent rhetoric, has previously threatened pre-emptive attacks on its enemies, including South Korea and the United States. Military experts doubt it has yet developed the capability to fire a long-range missile with a miniaturised warhead to deliver a nuclear weapon as far as the US.

Kim made the comments as he supervised military exercises involving newly developed rocket launchers, KCNA reported. It did not mention the date of the drills but said the new weapons had South Korea within range. South Korea's defence ministry said the North launched several projectiles off its coast into the sea, an apparent response to the UN sanctions.

Kim said North Korea should "bolster up (its) nuclear force both in quality and quantity" and stressed "the need to get the nuclear warheads deployed for national defence always on standby so as to be fired any moment," KCNA quoted him as saying. "Now is the time for us to convert our mode of military counteraction toward the enemies into a pre-emptive attack one in every aspect."

Kim criticised South Korean President Park Geun-hye in his first direct published mention of her by name for acting "in league with the US scoundrels," adding, "her hysteria will precipitate only her ruin in the long run, KCNA said.

A spokesman for South Korea's Unification Ministry, which handles relations with the North, said Kim's comments were not helpful and may have been intended for the domestic audience, to boost morale in the face of the new UN sanctions.  Reuters

Park vows 'stern' response

If North Korea launches a provocation, we must respond with stern punishment to clearly show the price North Korea has to pay and our determi-nation to protect our nation.  Park Geun-Hye, South Korean President
Washington, March 4

Upholding the religious freedom rights of Sikhs in the US armed forces, an American court has ruled in favour of a decorated Sikh Army Captain who had demanded that the military accommodate his articles of faith and abandon its impromptu discriminatory testing.

Captain Simratpal Singh, 28, in a lawsuit filed against the Department of Defence demanded the US military accommodate his articles of faith and dump the discriminatory testing.

"Thousands of other soldiers are permitted to wear long hair and beards for medical or other reasons, without being subjected to such specialised and costly expert testing of their helmets and gas masks," Judge Beryl A Howell swiftly ruled in Captain Singh's favour last evening.

The US Department of Defence, which had granted and then extended Captain Singh's temporary religious accommodation until March 31 this year, remains scheduled to make a final decision on Singh's permanent accommodation by that deadline.

Captain Singh, who is a West Point graduate, Ranger, and Bronze Star Medal recipient, has successfully passed the safety tests required of his unit.

"The US Constitution and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act make it crystal clear that Captain Singh's right to practice his faith and serve in our military are not mutually exclusive," said Amandeep Sidhu, Partner at law firm McDermott Will & Emery that represented Captain Singh.

"We are grateful that the court is on the right side of religious freedom with its ruling, which begs the question: does the world's largest employer really want to be on the wrong side of history?" he said.

The testing that the military planned to impose on Captain Singh is not required of any other soldiers, even the tens of thousands with medical or religious accommodations, and including previously accommodated Sikhs, he said.

Given that Captain Singh has passed the standard safety tests, further testing would clearly be discriminatory, he claimed.

"We have been advocating for the simple, straightforward, equal right to serve for years, and held onto the belief that the military would correct this injustice once they realized their mistake," said the Sikh Coalition's Legal Director, Harsimran Kaur.

"The military's treatment of Captain Singh, a decorated soldier, makes it clear that they deliberately want to squash diversity and religious freedom in their ranks; that is not something that any court, or American, should ever tolerate," Kaur said.

Last year, retired US Generals called on the US Department of Defence to eliminate the ban on observant Sikhs.

These generals joined US Senators, and national interfaith and civil rights organisations, who had previously signed letters in support of American Sikhs' right to serve.

"What is so sad about the Army's position in this case is how unnecessary it is," said Eric Baxter, Senior Counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.

"Thousands of service members protect our country while wearing beards, including observant Sikhs. There is absolutely no evidence that there is any problem with providing a permanent accommodation so Captain Singh can continue to faithfully serve his country and Sikh beliefs," Baxter said.  PTI
There has been increasing focus on the use of tolls and public-private partnerships in recent years as an answer to our highway funding woes. Instead of taking the straightforward and long-overdue step of raising fuel taxes, governments are setting up toll lanes or turning to third party companies to build and maintain roads in exchange for toll revenue.

News out of Texas is a perfect example of why this is not the answer.

The Wall Street Journal reports that a Texas toll road operator is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection  because even the fastest speed limit in the country wasnt enough to lure drivers to pay for the privilege of traveling between Austin and San Antonio.

The 41-mile stretch of State Highway 130 has a posted speed limit of 85 mph and was supposed to give drivers a faster alternative to the busy truck route of nearby I-35. But the road isnt seeing enough traffic to allow its operator, SH 130 Concession Co. and two affiliates, to pay back creditors, reports the WSJs Tom Corrigan.

As the paper notes, the Texas company is not alone. Several other toll road operators have filed for bankruptcy in recent years.

Meanwhile, The Hill reports that a new study from Ball State University's Center for Business and Economic Research contends that fuel prices are likely to remain low for the foreseeable future  which should make it politically easier for states to raise fuel taxes.

The study focused on Ball States home state of Indiana, noting that the cost of driving 100 miles is now half what it was in the 1930s and, according to generally accepted economic models, an increase in gasoline taxes of 5 cents will have no appreciable impact on key measures of employment or GDP in Indiana.

The Indiana Legislature is considering a proposal to raise the states gas tax by 4 cents.

Its not alone. Even though the federal government has resisted a fuel tax hike at the national level, six states implemented fuel tax hikes last summer.

If state legislators are putting on their big-boy pants and implementing fuel tax increases, why can't federal lawmakers do the same?
Bengaluru: Expressing displeasure against the state government over the manner in which it is functioning with regard to Police Complaints Authorities, the High Court on Thursday warned, for the second time, that it will report to the Supreme Court.

The court observed that despite clear directions by the Supreme Court, the state is yet to establish the authorities in true spirit. Meanwhile when the court was informed that the state has filed an affidavit before the SC that it has established such establishments in district and taluk levels, the court took state to task observing that despite hearing the case for almost an year and concrete steps have still not been taken for effective functioning of it, and further added that it will report to the Supreme Court.

The court had earlier directed the state government to submit the annual reports received from the State Police Complaints Authority along that of District Police Complaints Authorities.

The decision of the State in the matter of establishment and functioning of the State Police Complaints Authority and the District level Police Complaints Authority, should be in public interest. Ad-hocism and uncertainty appears to be largely prevalent and the same will not bring the requisite dividend. Non-furnishing or delay in furnishing of the infrastructure for effective functioning of the Police Complaints Authorities both at the State and District level, would frustrate the object with which they have been established pursuant to the mandamus issued by the Apex Court in Prakash Singhs case. Delay in taking the decision(s) and/or their implementation, would be detrimental to public interest, the court had observed.

The court has now adjourned the matter to March 9 after the state informed that it will report on the meeting which was held in presence of Member Secretary, Karnataka State Legal Services Authority, the Registrar, State Human Rights Commission and the Secretary, and others.

Notice to Congress leader

The High Court on Thursday ordered issue of notice to Congress party leader M.Narayanaswamy following election petition filed against him and others, for violating election code in the recently held Council polls. It is alleged that Narayanaswamy asked voters to swear in the name of god that they would vote for him.
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Fingers still chilled from a 15-minute, 65 mph boat ride across Grand Lake, even Kevin VanDam  who hails from frosty Kalamzoo, Michigan  expressed some appreciation for the wind-chill factor. The first couple of casts on the day were less than he desired.

I need to switch gloves, he said, and tossed a pair of well-worn black husks to the deck of his boat.

Wednesday morning, the start of his final day of practice going into his silver anniversary as a Bassmaster Classic contender, the four-time champion and holder of numerous Classic records said that the lake conditions are unusual and that fishing might be pretty tough on Grand Lake O the Cherokees.

Who will come out the winner on Tulsas BOK Center stage Sunday afternoon is anyones guess, he said.

Timing will be everything on these fish, he said, which indicates a modicum of luck, or at least patience, involved.

Its being at the right place at the right time, he said.

Relying on timing with a cold-blooded animal with a pea-sized brain is a risky gambit.

Its going to be hard to be consistent day-to-day, he said.

A record-setting fifth Classic win awaits VanDam if he puts the timing together. People always wonder if its his time again.

Since his fourth and last win  the second of back-to-back Classics in 2010 and 2011  people have asked about No. 5.

He does not tire of the question.

Im the only guy in the field who gets to talk about it, he said with a grin.

Hes appreciative of what it means to be in the Bassmaster Classic  always has been  but since last year, his first time to fail to qualify for the Classic since he started fishing professionally in 1991, he can now personally relate to what others have felt many times.

Now he faces Grand Lake  muddy and cold and different than any have seen it at this time of year. Predicting who might win and how he might win is a pretty hard call, he said.

The water is muddy, its not going to clear up, not much anyway, and its still pretty cold, he said as he eyed a fish-finder display that registered 46.5-degree water.

It hasnt changed much at all since Sunday. It might warm up a little, but it wont be much. Not enough to make a real big difference.

No, this will be a tough tournament, he said.

New gloves on his hands, he made a couple of casts that felt better. As the sunlight broke over the rocky shoreline to put a pinkish glow on his head and shoulders, he yanked back on his custom KVD Tour rod like a bullwhip.

Thats a good sign, he said, lifting a green monster into the boat, a 4-pound fish with a belly so distended it looked closer to 5.

Not 20 minutes from the boat ramp, VanDam had his first fish on and off the boat, and he was off to check out other spots.

He just made this tough lake look pretty darned easy.

Again, the question. Could this be his year?

Really, Grand Lake is tough, he said.

He pointed to many shorebirds dive-bombing the surface, pointed to baitfish that looked like storm clouds filling his sonar screen at 12 to 15 feet deep, and used the example of that big fat bass to point out a problem.

Grand Lake was hit by a spring flood and fish went crazy reproducing, successfully, because the young could hide in flooded brush and grass. Now theyre all back in the main lake, in the cold water, and a lot of them arent doing well in those conditions. VanDam pointed out some sickly baitfish at the surface. A 5-inch white bass slowly swam past, its dorsal fin leaving a wake at the surface of the chocolate-milk water.

Tell me some big hawg wont be slurping that up. he said. Thats exactly what will happen to that fish.

The bass are fat, full, cold, and the water is murky. Its tough to get a big fat bass to bite on a plastic dinner when so much fresh meat is floating around.

They dont need to eat but just once in awhile, he said.

It was mid-morning by the time VanDam hooked a second fish, another fatty, a bookend to the first. Yet another came to the boat just after a lunch stuffed in his mouth as he drove, only slightly slower, over punishing wind-whipped waves.

What he caught them on and where; thats all off-the-record.

Grand Lake is going to be fickle, he said. It will indeed be tough  no matter that he caught 12 pounds on the practice day without really trying.

But, again, could this be the year for No. 5?

Someone always figures them out, he said.

Four times in the past 25 years, that someone has been Kevin VanDam.
School leaders who had been bracing for a 3 percent state funding cut in March got a gut-punch on Thursday when state officials handed them an additional 4 percent reduction.

Ive been sick to my stomach, Wagoner Superintendent Randy Harris said. We are going to start spit-balling ideas, but I dont know if anybody has an absolute, great answer at this point. Weve got to shift the monkey off the schools back and put it back on the Legislatures back.

Although state education officials wont notify schools of their cuts in dollars and cents until next week, Tulsa Public Schools officials say they will lose at least another $2 million  on top of Januarys $2.1 million state funding cut.

First-year Superintendent Deborah Gist said she was deeply disappointed by Thursdays news.

To manage the first mid-year cut, we have already made incredibly difficult decisions to identify reductions that minimize classroom impact, Gist said. A reduction of this magnitude means that we will again have to evaluate one critical service against another and ultimately, none of these choices best serve our students, teachers and families.

She added, Oklahomans must come together to ensure adequate funding for our schools  failing to do so not only hurts our students, but limits our advancement as a community.

After the first round of state budget cuts in January, TPS announced it would cover the loss with savings to the tune of $900,000 for workers compensation, $501,000 from a limited hiring freeze, $547,000 from vacant positions and $97,000 in travel costs. And another $120,000 budgeted for professional development will simply not be spent.

Tulsa School of Arts and Sciences is a highly sought-after charter high school that has been preparing to relocate to a new facility and begin an expansion into middle school grades in 2016-17.

Executive Director Eric Doss said because charter schools like his are almost solely reliant on state funding, the midyear cuts are particularly difficult to manage.

We dont have any local funds to kind of buoy us up. Because were so far into the year, what its going to do is hurt our carryover balance and weve spent the last five years trying to build that up, Doss said. Our enrollment will be 375 and weve got 240 kids already on our waiting list, so theres a real desire for what were doing.

Its very frustrating. We cant cut transportation; we dont have transportation. We cant cut sports; we only have cross country.

A number of districts across the state have notified state education leaders that they will immediately abandon the traditional, five-day school week for a four-day week, in hopes of eking out some monetary savings.

According to data from the Oklahoma State Department of Education, at least 35 school districts began the 2015-16 with four-day school weeks by lengthening the number of minutes in the school day.

Oktaha Public Schools is among the districts making the switch now, with Fridays class day off the first of many to come, said Superintendent Jerry Needham.

We had enough snow days built into the calendar to go ahead and do the four-day week now. It serves two purposes: one is to save money and the other was for people to experience a four-day week  students, parents, community, Needham said. Unless you shorten the contract days for personnel, youre talking about saving one percent. One percent for us is $60,000. Were down where one percent matters.

Needham has already laid off 11 of his districts 45 support employees since Christmas, including custodians and teachers assistants.

The devastating cuts are painting a clearer picture of the even harsher realities public schools face for fiscal year 2017, when state revenue collections are expected to run lower still.

Curriculum, programs, personnel, activities, transportation, four-day week. Theres not anything  especially after the announcement today  theres not anything any school can say is not on the table for consideration to be cut next year, Needham said.

In November, Wagoner Public Schools leaders began a conversation with their teachers and parents about the possibility of switching to a four-day school week for the 2016-17 academic year. Superintendent Harris estimates the move would save his district up to $200,000, the equivalent of about four teachers salaries.

He is preparing to take the recommendation to the local school board at its meeting on Tuesday, but now hes contemplating whether the switch could be made immediately to help balance the current years budget.

Wagoner stands to lose $305,000 on top of the $145,000 it was cut by the state in January. Harris said district officials had identified up to $270,000 in cuts and planned to use carryover funds to balance their budget, but Thursdays action will require additional spending cuts.

Ive got to see if the squeeze is worth the juice, Harris said. I dont want our teachers to feel pressure to get the material covered before testing and before the end of the year. If we waited until next year, we would have the ability to plan  but when our boat is sinking, weve got to figure out a way to plug the holes.
The man alleged to be the shooter in a Feb. 21 west Tulsa homicide was arrested Thursday after he fled from police.

A Tulsa Police Department K-9 unit assisted in the arrest of Shane Vanderpool, 38, after he ditched his car near 31st Street and U.S. 169 shortly after noon, homicide Sgt. Dave Walker said. Vanderpool was taken to a hospital before being taken to jail.

Tulsa Jail records show that he was booked into the jail on complaints of first-degree murder, eluding and resisting arrest about 5:50 p.m. He also was jailed on previously filed charges that include DUI, driving under suspension and unlawful possession of a controlled drug, records show.

Investigators attempted to pull over the car Vanderpool was driving, a dark gray Chevrolet Impala, near 21st Street and Memorial Drive to speak to him about the shooting death of 23-year-old Blaine Wells in February.

Rather than stopping, Vanderpool fled through east Tulsa, police said. Officers lost sight of the car near 24th Street and 141st East Avenue but located him on foot shortly thereafter.

The K-9 officer captured Vanderpool near the U.S. 169 exit to 31st Street, Walker said.

Police initially described Vanderpool as a source of suspicion in the homicide, but later Thursday they pegged him as the suspected shooter.

Wells was shot Feb. 21 while riding in the backseat of a friends car in the 5100 block of South Indian Avenue in west Tulsa. A man got out of a white vehicle and shot into the cars back window while it was at a stop sign, striking Wells in the head, police have said. Wells died two days later after being taken off life support.

Initially, police received information that the shooting might have been the result of a drug transaction, Walker said.

We investigated that angle and talked to many people that were forthcoming, but it was apparent they were not involved in the murder of Wells, he said.

Investigators think the shooting was the result of a vendetta and that its possible Wells was not the target, Walker said. Other people were in the vehicle when Wells was shot.

We interviewed several people that told us there was a feud between two rival white gangs that may have been the reason Wells was shot, Walker said. We looked into this and developed several people that had potential to being involved in the murder.

An arrest report also says the shooting might have been gang-related. It cites the Universal Aryan Brotherhood and the Irish Mob, both white prison gangs, as the two gangs in question.

Vanderpool matched the description of an Irish Mob gang member and drove a vehicle matching the one involved in the shooting, the report states.

We have a lot of work yet to be done on this case, and even though we speculate the motive may have stemmed from a vendetta, that has yet to be proven, Walker said.

A witness identified Vanderpool from a photo lineup as the shooter. Police also found the white 2008 Nissan Altima they believe was involved in the shooting.

Vanderpool has been convicted in Tulsa and Wagoner counties on charges ranging from possession of marijuana to knowingly concealing stolen property to using a vehicle to facilitate the discharge of a firearm, Oklahoma Department of Corrections records show.

He has served various stints in prison and was last released from DOC custody in April 2009.

Police are still looking for people with knowledge of what happened.

Anyone with information may contact Crime Stoppers by phone at 918-596-COPS (2677), online at bit.ly/crimestopperstips or via text message at CRIMES (274637).

Text tips should begin with Tip918.

The homicide tip line may also be reached at 918-798-8477 or emails sent to homicide@cityoftulsa.org.
OKLAHOMA CITY  State officials on Thursday announced deeper cuts to state agencies following a revenue failure that is worse than originally expected.

State-appropriated agencies were initially told in December to make cuts of 3 percent for the current fiscal year.

On Thursday, officials announced an additional cut of 4 percent, bringing the amount to 7 percent.

These midyear cuts are already into the bone at some agencies, and next years cuts may go right through the bone unless serious actions are taken, Finance Secretary Preston Doerflinger said. The governor and legislative leaders recognize the severity of the situation and are working on solutions, but Im convinced there are still rank-and-file legislators who have yet to grasp the seriousness of the challenge at hand.

This deepened cut isnt pleasant and should serve as a reality check and call to action for anyone who thinks this problem fixes itself with short-term budget gimmicks. This is a long-term problem that will require tough, long-term solutions.

The combined cuts total $412.8 million from general revenue in reductions to state agencies for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30.

We still dont know where the bottom is, said Senate President Pro Tem Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa. We havent stopped bleeding yet.

At some point, agencies will have to look at reducing personnel, he said.

The deeper cuts call into question how much money was certified for spending next year, Bingman said.

It may not be as solid as what was projected two months ago, he said.

House Minority Leader Scott Inman, D-Del City, and Senate Minority Leader John Sparks, D-Norman, called on lawmakers to tap the states Rainy Day Fund to stabilize current year cuts to core services, such as education.

Inman said the cuts will create longer waits at hospitals and larger class sizes, among other things.

Absolutely we should tap the Rainy Day Fund for this year, Sparks said. We know we are in an emergency situation today.

Lawmakers can have a bill on Gov. Mary Fallins desk by Wednesday, Sparks said.

The Rainy Day Fund has $385 million, of which $144 million could be accessed to offset the revenue failure, said John Estus, a spokesman for the Office of Management and Enterprise Services.

Legislative and policy leaders have said they are reluctant to tap the fund for the current crisis because the next fiscal year budget picture is also expected to be poor.

Although lawmakers are reluctant to tap the fund, they have not ruled it out, House Speaker Jeff Hickman, R-Fairview, said.

This is a brutal time for schools, State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister said in a statement Thursday. A second General Revenue failure means schools will have lost nearly $110 million since the start of the spring semester alone, and that does not take into account next fiscal year, which looks equally bleak.

Many rural districts have said they will immediately go to a four-day school week for the rest of the year, she said.

Educators are facing heartbreaking decisions that ultimately will affect students in the classroom, she said. Our schoolchildren are the ones who will pay the steepest price.

Department of Corrections Interim Director Joe M. Allbaugh in a Feb. 19 letter to Gov. Mary Fallin said his agency needed a $23 million supplemental appropriation to make it through the fiscal year. On Thursday, he told his board that the figure had risen to $38.7 million with the additional cuts.

As of today, our state prison population is at 123 percent, said Board of Corrections chairman Kevin Gross. We have converted all of the available day rooms, gymnasiums and most places offering treatment to housing areas. We cant keep cutting from nothing. We are down to the bare minimum and are setting ourselves up for something to happen.

In addition, officials expect to have $1.3 billion less in crafting the fiscal year 2017 budget.

The dire budget situation is the result of depressed energy prices, tax cuts and other factors.
BENGALURU: Will the former lokayukta Justice Bhaskar Rao be the first judge in the country after Independence to face trial in a court of law? Sources in the government told this newspaper that the Department of Personnel & Administrative Reforms (DP&AR) is sieving through the 500-page document, which was sent by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on February 11 to the government seeking permission under Section 197 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) to prosecute the former anti corruption ombudsman and retired chief justice of Karnataka in the First Information Report (FIR) 56/2015.

The FIR was registered by the Lokayukta police in July last year in the multi-crore extortion and corruption racket in the Lokayukta against former joint commissioner and public relations officer, Lokayukta Syed Riyazathullah, Ashok Kumar, Srinivasa Gowda, Shankare Gowda, V. Bhaskar alias 420 Bhaskar and Justice Rao's son Y. Ashwin in the extortion racket. Later the case was transferred to the SIT.

"The Department is examining the SIT submission for prosecution under the backdrop of the 2015 Supreme Court judgement on 197 CrPC. The examination will take some time because the government would not like to be hauled up later for an oversight or an error of judgment, while granting permission for prosecution of a judge," said an official source. "The final sanction for prosecution will however, rest with the Governor, who is the appointing authority after the government gives its nod to the SIT," he added.

The SIT has sought permission to prosecute the former lokayukta under most of the sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code under which the other accused have been booked in the case. Besides the investigating team has also sought permission to chargesheet Justice Rao under Sections 202 (intentional omission to give information of offence by person bound to inform) and 217 (public servant disobeying direction of law with intent to save person from punishment or property from forfeiture) of the IPC.
1994

Muslim extremists convicted in bombing

Four Muslim extremists were convicted in New York City of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing that killed six people and injured more than 1,000. The government called the verdict an unmistakable message against terrorism in America. The blast of 1,200 pounds of explosives in a rented van on Feb. 26, 1993, blew a five-story-deep crater in a garage beneath the trade center and wrecked the skyscrapers power and emergency systems. Nidal Ayyad, Mohammad Salameh, Ahmad Ajaj and Mahmud Abouhalima were sentenced to 240 years each.

1998

Court says same-sex harassment illegal

In an important sex discrimination case, the Supreme Court ruled that federal law protects employees from being sexually harassed in the workplace by people of the same sex. The unanimous decision carried the law of sexual harassment  itself largely a creation of Supreme Court rulings over the last 12 years  beyond the classic male-female context. Conservative Justice Antonin Scalia said it was the conduct itself, and not the gender or motivation of the people involved, that determined whether sexual harassment amounted to discrimination because of sex.

2006

Funeral protest bill rushed through Legislature

Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry signed legislation to keep protesters at least 500 feet from military members funerals from an hour before a service until an hour after it. The bill was rushed through the Legislature to protect soldiers families from protests by the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas. Funerals for soldiers from Guymon and Skiatook were being planned as the Legislature acted. In 2011, the Legislature expanded the protest distance to 1,000 feet and extended the prohibition to two hours before and after the funeral. Gov. Mary Fallin signed that bill.

2013

Construction approved for I-244 bridge

State transportation officials approved a contract to begin construction on the eastbound Interstate 244 bridge across the Arkansas River next to the westbound bridge, which was nearly complete. Both bridges were on Oklahomas list of structurally deficient bridges. The contract was for $41 million of which $38 million was from federal funding. The job was expected to take 18 months. It was completed in 2014. The eastbound bridge includes an an observation deck on its northeast portion to overlook Tulsas Cyrus Avery Plaza and the historic 11th Street bridge.
More and more we hear Donald Trump's supporters described as mad-as-hell voters, angry voters and such. The press would lead you to believe that only the wild-eyed and crazy folks are angry.

If you are not mad as hell at the direction and shape the politicians have put our country in, then you might want to take one more hard look at the state of affairs in the U.S. It ought to be pretty clear to all by now that holding hands and singing "Kumbaya" is not getting the job done.
Pat Gwin, Cherokee Nation Natural Resources director, will speak to the group about the progress of the seed bank of the Cherokee heirloom crops, which shares seeds with its citizens. Gwin has been involved in establishing the seed bank and coordinating all aspects of it, from growing plants to packaging the seeds. He will also talk about the Cherokee Nations use of Oklahomas native plants.
El joven murio cuando se disponia a recoger el anillo de compromiso, por lo que la joyeria hizo hasta lo imposible para contactar a su novia y poder entregarlo.


ELEVEN will premiere new US horror series Damien, a spin-off of the horror classic The Omen.

The series stars Bradley James and Barbara Hershey and premieres in the US next week, and the trailer looks pretty good for this one.

It premieres on ELEVEN 9:30pm Monday March 14.

A continuation of the classic horror film, The Omen, Damien follows the mysterious child from the 1976 motion picture who has grown up seemingly unaware of the satanic forces around him.

A series of events follow photo journalist Damien Thorn as he goes from a Catholic Church in New York to Damascus in the Middle East, where Christians are being brutally assaulted and deported from their village.

After returning to New York, Damien becomes increasingly clouded by a darkness he cannot identify and discovers that certain people who try to help him suffer terrifying deaths.

As Damien gradually begins to remember his childhood, he must now come to terms with his true destiny: he is the Antichrist.

To get you into the mood ELEVEN has perfectly scheduled a repeat of The Omen the night before 9:30pm Sunday March 14.
Adam Liaw returns to SBS with a new series, Destination Flavour: Scandinavia later this month.

Across the 7 part series Liaw meets the godfather of the new Nordic food revolution Claus Meyer and head chef Torsten Vildgard from Studio, renowned chef Claus Henriksen, inspirational chef Christian Puglisi of Relae, daring chef Niklas Ekstedt of Ekstedt, meatball extraordinaire and chef Mathias Pilblad, the first Swedish female chef awarded a Michelin star Titti Qvarnstrom and Maaemos head chef Esben Holmboe Bang.

Ive been fascinated by Scandinavia for as long as I can remember. As a kid it was this wintery wonderland of kings and queens on the other side of the world, straight out of a Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale, he said.

But it wasnt until I visited recently that I fell in love with the food. Food in Scandinavia mixes traditional comforts with a contemporary elegance that is as much a social movement as it is a style of cooking. New Nordic cuisine is a barnstorming influence on modern food. 

The latest stimulating series of Destination Flavour sees Adam Liaw head to the striking Nordic region to reveal that there is so much more to Scandi fare than pickled herring and meatballs. From the regions traditional Viking past to the latest in the new Nordic food revolution, Adam explores all that is wonderful about Scandinavia in Destination Flavour Scandinavia from 31 March on SBS.

Take a journey with Adam as he visits what is possibly the cleanest, healthiest and happiest part of the world and immerses himself in Scandinavian culture, history and, of course, cuisine. He travels to Denmark, Norway and Sweden and explores the new Nordic food revolution that has spread like wildfire across the region and rest of the world. In this evocative and stylish Scandi food adventure, Adam investigates the future of global and local food trends sparked by innovative Nordic influence.

Adam also looks in-depth at why and how this region is so well-known for its glee factor at The Happiness Institute with director Meik Wiking. Join Adam on this joyful journey as he tours Scandinavia creating authentic dishes along the way, such as salmon gravalax, roast boar, real Danish pastries and the national dish of stegt flaesk.

Thursday 31 March at 7.30pm on SBS.
On Monday Four Corners reporter Adele Ferguson returns to investigations on the Commonwealth Bank and unscrupulous tactics in the life insurance industry.

This is another joint ABC / Fairfax investigation. A 2014 report on the subject won the Gold Walkley Award.

Its the bank thats spent two years rebuilding its reputation after being exposed for ripping off its customers in a devastating financial advice scandal. The Commonwealth Bank is adamant that its learned its lesson.

We will be the ethical bank, the bank others look up to for honesty, transparency, decency, good management, openness. David Turner, Chair Commonwealth Bank

Now, the reporter who broke open the financial advice scandal, Adele Ferguson is back, with another investigation into the Commonwealth Bank.

Six months in the making, this joint Four Corners/Fairfax investigation, focuses on the insurance arm of the bank, CommInsure.

Theyre in the business of selling the kind of insurance policy you hope you never have to claim. Insurance to cover you or provide for your family if the worst should happen, like a serious health condition or death.

But this investigation will reveal how CommInsure uses unscrupulous tactics to take consumers money and avoid insurance payouts, leaving customers paying money for nothing at the most difficult moment of their lives.

They are extraordinary allegations. They are certainly the biggest thing Ive heard as a litigation lawyer working in the insurance world. Lawyer

The findings will be released in a series of stories through Fairfax Media and ABC platforms culminating in the Four Corners broadcast on Monday night, detailing the full revelations.

Monday March 7 at 8.30pm on ABC.
On this Mardi Gras weekend, gay writers, performers and producers have shared their thoughts on gay representation on Australian television.

In an excellent article for News Corp, Shannon Molloy speaks to writers Sarah Walker and Michael Lucas, director Jet Wilkinson, producer David Sale and director / producer Tony Ayres.

Ayres nods to early casting in The Block and Australian Idol as bold, brave casting more than a decade ago.

They just show you the world, he says. Its a sample of the community, what you might see walking down the street. I think the rest of TV could do that.

In the US, Modern Family, features same-sex parents with a child among its core characters.

And in situations like that, being gay doesnt mean being other. Its part of the broad story, he says.

I think the time is nigh for gay characters to be mainstream characters, when sexuality is just part of the character and not the defining part. I think were still catching up a bit.

Michael Lucas notes House Husbands inclusion of Gyton Grantley as Kane hasnt scared viewers away.

Writer Sarah Walker recalls working on a mainstream drama when she wrote a same-sex relationship into the script. When it aired, a storm of controversy erupted and everyone at the network freaked out.

I was told there was to be no mention of gays and lesbians on the show  no references at all.

That show would most likely be Home and Away which Walker and the controversy when policewoman Charlie Buckton played by Esther Anderson fell in love with Joey Collins, played by Kate Bell. The network famously cut a gay kiss. Ironically it was actually News Corp that enflamed the situation with volatile articles before episodes had even aired, giving Seven cold feet.

There is however, one angle in the article I disagree with: that there a reluctance to include homosexual characters in mainstream shows.

On the contrary I see it increasing all the time. Off the top of my head: Wentworth, House Husbands, Neighbours, Janet King, Offspring, A Place to Call Home, The Family Law, Please Like Me, The Principal, Peter Allen: Not the Boy Next Door, Molly, Glitch, Carlotta and Dance Academy. And thats without looking back on Prisoner, Sons and Daughters, Pacific Drive, Water Rats, GP, Sweat, Raw FM, Breakers, The Secret Life of Us, All Saints, Rush, Love My Way, Satisfaction, The Circuit and of course Number 96.

Then you have and almost every reality show at one stage or another including gay participants, plus documentaries and shows such as Q&A, The Project, The Feed, Insight and breakfast TV which discuss gay issues with regularity.

Shows that dont have a gay character somewhere in their universe are beginning to stick out like a sore thumb. Its true that television still leans terribly toward young, good-looking white gay males. Females, seniors, ethnic and disabled gays are lagging behind.

But the key to inclusion is always to avoid tokenism, having sustained, fully-rounded characters where sexuality is but one part of their make-up.
Mehbooba invoked her late father Mufti Sayeed, saying he had not joined hands with BJP as a party but it was a coalition between the Central government and the people of J&K. (Photo: PTI)

Jammu: After two-month suspense, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti on Friday dropped hints of going ahead with BJP in government formation, saying she was "not afraid" of criticism over it but wanted the Centre to send out a "signal" that it will do "everything" for the welfare of people of Jammu and Kashmir.

She invoked her late father Mufti Sayeed, saying he had "not joined hands with BJP as a party but it was a coalition between the Central government and the people of Jammu and Kashmir" with an aim of benefitting the people of the state.

"For us, the decision taken by my father, if that aim and that aspiration is fulfilled then I am not afraid if people blame me for going with BJP whether they feel good or bad. If people are benefitted then there is no issue," Mehbooba said while launching party's membership drive here.

"When it came to the benefit of people, my father did not care about the party. He rose above everything and joined hands with BJP for the welfare of the people", she said.

Insisting that she was not an "adamant" lady, she said her party leaders want the formation of the government but she will do that when she feels that the bigger aim was fulfilled. And if the aim of forgoing an alliance with BJP is fulfilled, then she has no objection in forming the government, she said.

"If I feel that the aim is fulfilled, which is the need of the hour, situation is not normal in Jammu and Kashmir after Mufti's death. My father did not join hands with BJP as a party. The coalition was between the Central government and the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

"If they send such a signal that for the people of Jammu and Kashmir for their welfare they will do everything. It is such a huge country, its treasures would not run empty," Mehbooba said.

She went on to add, "If at any time I feel that they (Centre) have space in their hearts for the people of Jammu and Kashmir and a framework which we have made and they are ready to put colours in that framework, then I do not have any hesitation in becoming Chief Minister of this state would be a matter of honour."

Mehbooba, whose party has 27 MLAs in the 87-member Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, said "if the promises are not fulfilled and the formation of the government means to keep away from the elections for five years, then she was not ready (to become the Chief Minister).

"If I feel that these are only hollow promises and nothing will come out of it and that our MLAs would become ministers and we would not have to face elections for 4-5 years, then I am not ready (to form the government)," the PDP chief said.

PDP, along with 25-member BJP, ran a coalition government headed by Mufti Sayeed for 10 months before the sudden demise of the then Chief Minister on January 7.

The state is currently under Governor's Rule since January 8 as Mehbooba, seen as successor to her father, did not stake claim for government formation.

"You all are important for me. That is why, instead of taking oath, I have come to meet you," she told her party workers. She said she was not an adamant lady but wants peace in Jammu and Kashmir.

"You saw how two young officers lost their lives," she said apparently referring to the Pampore encounter last month in which two Army Captains were killed while flushing out three terrorists holded up in a government building.

"Yesterday an encounter took place and a child who died in it had scored 98 per cent marks. Why did he pick up weapons if he was good in studies? We have to work to make such an environment where these kids don't take to the gun but work to strengthen this country," she said.

She said her father had a dream of bringing about peace in Jammu and Kashmir to bring an end to the bloodshed.

"People are being killed in fake encounters like that of Machil. Hindu, Muslims are being killed. India and Pakistan, the bloodshed which has going on, has to stop. If Wagah border can become a symbol of peace then why not our borders (in J&K)? Why do they remember nationalism when it comes to making borders friendly with Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir" she said.

She said the aim of her party was to motivate any government in Centre to help set up peace in the state. "Mufti sahib had this confidence that he can change the flow and can open Srinagar-Muzaffarabad route. He had this hope that he can make Vajpayee hold talks with Hurriyat. He always used to think about the people of J&K, welfare of India and the betterment of India and Pakistan", Mehbooba said.

She referred to the arrests made by Pakistan in connection with the Pathankot terror attack and said it was a "major achievement" of the Modi government.

"When Mufti joined hands with BJP, his aim was to bring peace between Kashmir and Jammu regions. He used to say that people of Jammu have their own aspirations and that is why they voted for BJP," the PDP chief said.

She said Mufti had joined "a party (BJP) which got such a huge mandate" with the hope that all the works which were left incomplete would be completed, the healing touch policy which PDP started would move ahead, peace would be restored in the state, the state would develop and "the treasury of the country will flow into the state".

Mehbooba said she does not want to be a big leader but her aim was to take forward the aspirations of her father who wanted to showcase Jammu and Kashmir to the whole world as an example of a single Muslim-majority state of India living at peace with the rest of the country.

Mufti Sayeed strongly believed in "the idea of India, the idea where Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and all others could co-exist under the umbrella of our democratic set-up. Irrespective of caste, creed or colour, our democracy provides equal right of vote to everybody and at times with one vote you can make a king or break a government," she said.

She said Sayeed was "so impressed with the democratic set-up of India and that is why he followed the path of Indian democracy at the time when people in Kashmir used to raise voice for plebiscite. At that time, it was a sin in Kashmir to talk about Indian democracy."

The PDP chief said, "People used to say that Mufti sahib is very good and honest man but he is an Indian. But he followed his path and the time came when the people who were favouring plebiscite for 22 years signed an accord in 1975 and followed the path of democracy", an apparent reference to late National Conference leader Sheikh Abdullah.

She said that Mufti Sayeed used to tell Prime Minister Narendra Modi that there is no alternative to peace with Pakistan and "we felt very good" when he went to Lahore to meet Nawaz Sharif.

"Dr Manmohan Singh, I know him personally is a very good and honest man and he too wanted to visit Pakistan but he could not as he did not have the massive mandate which Modi enjoys," said Mehbooba, whose party earlier had an alliance with Congress.

Referring to questions raised by some sections over the "benefits" of Modi's visit, Mehbooba said, "I must say that today now Pakistan has arrested all the accused who were involved in Pathankot terrorist attack. Did it happen earlier?"

Noting that Pakistan has said people involved in such attacks were non-state actors, she said, "May be it is right. If they had control on them, then thousands of their own men would not have been killed daily. But yes as you sow so shall you reap."

She said that, "Today one of the biggest achievement of Modi is that because of his Pakistan visit the borders are peaceful."

"We see animosity every day but the need is to see friendship," the PDP chief said about Indo-Pak ties.

Contending that borders need to have schools and hospitals, she said, "but we are making bunkers. But why do we need them (bunkers) in Jammu and Kashmir and not in other places. If peace can be maintained in other parts of the country why not in Jammu and Kashmir?"

She said the cross-LoC trade which was initiated has not been able to flourish.

"My father once told the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi that the state has been restricted to a prison as he wanted roads to open so that trade could flourish on either side of the border," Mehbooba said.

"I must tell you that he had this hope that he can make the leaders in the Centre ready to make Suchetgarh border function on the patterns of Wagah border," she added. She said war was not an option as Pakistan had started the Kargil war but they did not win it.

"We too had deployed our army on borders in 2002 but did we go to war because at that time Atal Behari Vajpayee came to understand that it was better to pull an ear than to cut it out. War is not an option as no war can be decisive as we in India would lose more as we have developed a lot as compared to Pakistan," she said.

She said that PDP joined hands with Congress in 2002 when there was NDA government at the Centre and the party removed POTA but NDA did not say anything.

"Vajpayee extended full support to us. Dr Manmohan Singh also tried but could not take forward the dialogue which was initiated with separatists during Vajpayee's tenure," she said.

She regretted that the dialogue with Pakistan and ceasefire on borders could not be taken forward.
There are reports Netflix is in talks with the BBC to air the new-look Top Gear. The talks are understood to be in early stages.

If a deal was done it would likely be compared to Amazon Primes deal with Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, sans the steep price tag.

But it wouldnt necessarily mean Netflix would land first run rights in Australia.

While Netflix secured Danger Mouse for North and Latin America, Nordic territories, Benelux and Japan, it has aired on ABC in Australia.

According to The Guardian a number of international broadcasters are keen to buy the show having seen a showcase in Liverpool last month, including Australia and Germany.

The BBC and Netflix declined to comment.
New Delhi: A Noida-based fashion designer who had gone missing from Delhi under mysterious circumstances has been found in Gurgaon, senior Uttar Pradesh police officer Sujit Pandey said on Friday.

According to media reports, she was alone when the police found her in a village on Jhajjar Road. "Shipra Malik who had gone missing has been found in Gurgaon," said Meerut IG Sujit Pandey.

29-year-old Shipra Malik left her home in Sector 37 Noida on February 29 for Chandni Chowk in Delhi and was untraceable since then. Her Maruti Swift car was found abandoned 500 metres away from her Noida home.

Her husband, Chetan Malik, who is a local builder, had filed a missing complaint with the Noida police.

Last month, a 25-year-old Snapdeal employee went missing after taking an auto rickshaw from the metro station near Delhi. On her return after 40 hours, she said that her abductors released her without causing any harm.
The United States has allocated over $266 million in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict in Donbas in 2014.

U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt said this in an interview with Segodnya Ukrainian daily.

"Since the onset of the conflict in 2014, the United States has provided Ukraine with over $266 million in security assistance to help the Ukrainian armed forces to better control and secure borders, to operate more safely and effectively and to defend the sovereignty of Ukraine," the Ambassador said.

According to him, after the new National Guard of Ukraine was successfully trained, the instructors of the Joint Multinational Training Group (JMTG-U) conduct theoretical and practical training in the field with the soldiers of the Ukrainian army and the new Ukrainian special forces on a wide range of military skills.

ol
The ministry for foreign affairs of Ukraine and Ukrainian Crisis Media Center have presented the new website of the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the United Nations under the domain name www.ukraineun.org.

The press service of the foreign ministry reports.

"The ministry for foreign affairs of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center have presented the new website of the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the United Nations under the domain name www.ukraineun.org. The aim of the new website is to cover activities of Ukraine as a non-permanent member of the Security Council for the period 2016-2017," a statement said.

Users will be able to see information on the priorities of Ukraine's membership in the UN Security Council, measures to counter Russian aggression, Ukraine operation in other agencies of the UN and international peacekeeping missions. The site will also feature speeches of the Ukrainian delegation and the main documents of the Security Council.
Ahead of a meeting of heads of state or government of the European Union (EU) with Turkey on 7 March in Brussels, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has today issued recommendations aimed at helping States solve the refugee situation in Europe.

"We are running out of time, and strong leadership and vision are urgently needed from European leaders to deal with what is, in our view, a situation that can still be managed if properly addressed," said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. "This is as much a crisis of European solidarity as it is a refugee crisis. The collective failure to implement the measures agreed by EU Member States in the past has led to the current escalation in the crisis," he added.

The situation is quickly deteriorating with some 30,000 people now in Greece, almost a third of whom are in Idomeni just near the border with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Although the Greek authorities and military have ramped up their response, thousands are sleeping in the open without adequate reception, services, aid or information. With tensions mounting, the situation could escalate quickly into a full-blown crisis. UNHCR is supporting the Greek Government's efforts by deploying staff, helping coordinate the response and providing emergency shelter, technical support and information to refugees and migrants.

"The participation of all EU Member States in a solution is critical to managing it effectively," Mr. Grandi said. "It should not just be left to the entry countries of Greece and Italy, and those such as Austria, Germany and Sweden, who welcomed so many."

High Commissioner Grandi has proposed a plan to EU Member States to manage and stabilize the refugee situation. The plan includes six key points, intended as broad guidance:

1. Implement fully the so-called "hot spot" approach and relocation of asylum seekers out of Greece and Italy and, at the same time, return individuals who don't qualify for refugee protection, including under existing readmission agreements. 2. Step up support to Greece to handle the humanitarian emergency, including for refugee status determination, relocation, and return or readmission. 3. Ensure compliance with all the EU laws and directives on asylum among Member States. 4. Make available more safe, legal ways for refugees to travel to Europe under managed programmes - for example humanitarian admission programmes, private sponsorships, family reunion, student scholarships and labour mobility schemes - so that refugees do not resort to smugglers and traffickers to find safety 5. Safe-guard individuals at risk, including systems to protect unaccompanied and separated children, measures to prevent and respond to sexual and gender-based violence, enhancing search and rescue operations at sea, saving lives by cracking down on smuggling, and countering xenophobia and racism targeted at refugees and migrants. 6. Develop Europe-wide systems of responsibility for asylum-seekers, including the creation of registration centres in main countries of arrival, and setting up a system for asylum requests to be distributed in an equitable way across EU Member States.

UNHCR's proposals make clear that equitable sharing of responsibility is key to bringing about a managed and orderly solution, and that EU Member States would need to agree a system of percentages of asylum-seekers for each Member State to take.

"Europe has successfully dealt with large-scale refugee movements in the past, during the Balkans Wars for example, and can deal with this one, provided it acts in a spirit of solidarity and responsibility sharing," said High Commissioner Grandi. "There is really no other option than working together to solve this."

UNHCR's paper "Stabilizing the situation of refugees and migrants in Europe Proposals to the Meeting of EU Heads of State or Government and Turkey on 7 March 2016", 3 March 2016, can be downloaded here:

http://www.unhcr.org/56d94f7e9.html

According to a recent UNHCR survey of Syrians and Afghans arriving in Greece, the vast majority cited conflict or violence as their main reason for leaving their country. UNHCR is continually calling on governments with influence to address the root causes that are driving so many people from their homes.

For further information on this topic, please contact
With tension high in Burundi, the number of people who have fled the country and sought shelter in neighbouring states has passed the 250,000 mark. People continue to arrive. UNHCR fears the total could go higher still.

The average rate of new arrivals per week has been more than 1,000 in Tanzania, 500 in Uganda, 230 in Rwanda and 200 in Democratic Republic of the Congo. There have been small numbers of spontaneous returns.

Cool heads and continuing international attention are important for averting a further deterioration of the situation. The right to leave the country and seek asylum should be respected.

Despite recent high-level efforts to engage the government, we have not seen significant improvements in the security and human rights situation on the ground. The deteriorating economic situation is also a cause for concern and could trigger further displacement.

UNHCR's latest figures show that 250,473 people have been registered as refugees in Democratic Republic of the Congo (21,186); Rwanda (73,926); Tanzania (131,834); Uganda (22,330); and Zambia (1,197) since early April last year, when President Pierre Nkurunziza announced plans to run for a third term, which he later won.

Although there has been a slight lull in violence recently, refugees arriving in the host countries continue to report human rights violations in Burundi and difficulty in leaving the country. We have also been receiving a growing number of refugee reports about detention and sexual and gender-based violence during transit.

Some 1,700 Burundian refugees have arrived in Democratic Republic of the Congo so far this year. Many are living in poor rural areas, where conditions are harsh, and about two-thirds (14,772) are in Lusenda camp, which is nearing its capacity of 18,000.

Overcrowding is a problem in all host countries, including Tanzania, which has taken in more Burundians than any other. Nyarugusu camp hosts some 143,000 people, including almost 80,000 who have arrived since last April. The decongestion of the camp is a priority and new arrivals go to Ndutu, while others at Nyarugusu are sent to the recently reopened Mutendeli camp. Another camp is planned at Karago, but capacity there and at Mutendeli is limited by insufficient water reserves.

In Rwanda, close to 48,000 Burundian refugees are living in Mahama camp, the largest camp in Rwanda, and more than 26,400 in Kigali and other towns. As the insecurity persists in Burundi they are running out of savings, which will increase their need for assistance. The government, meanwhile, has clarified that it has no plans to relocate Burundian refugees and will keep its doors open.

In Uganda, about two thirds of Burundian arrivals in the past year are being hosted in Nakivale Refugee Settlement (14,876) in the South-West Region, 21 per cent in the capital Kampala, and the remainder in Kyaka II, Oruchinga and Kisoro settlements. Most are young women and children, with a disproportionately low number of young men. Work is under way to extend settlement areas at Nakivale and other locations. Access to water continues to be a problem and UNHCR is delivering by truck in Nakivale, which is costly and unsustainable.

As with the other asylum countries, funding is a major problem which is affecting access to education, health care, livelihoods, counselling and more, though Uganda allows people to work and travel.

UNHCR requested US$175.1 million for the Burundi humanitarian response in 2016 and has to date received US$4.7 million, or about 3 per cent. We thank donors for their generosity to date but appeal for more funding urgently.

For further information on this topic, please contact:
Ahead of a meeting of heads of state of government of the European Union (EU) with Turkey on 7 March in Brussels, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is today issuing recommendations aimed at helping States solve the refugee situation in Europe.

The situation is quickly deteriorating with around 30,000 people now in Greece, about a third of whom are in Idomeni just near the border with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Although the Greek authorities and military have ramped up their response, thousands are sleeping in the open without adequate reception, services, aid or information. With tensions mounting, the situation could escalate quickly into a full-blown crisis. UNHCR is supporting the Greek Government's efforts by deploying staff, helping coordinate the response and providing emergency shelter, technical support and information to refugees and migrants.

High Commissioner Grandi has proposed a plan to EU Member States to manage and stabilize the refugee situation. The plan includes six key points, intended as broad guidance:

1) Implement fully the so-called "hot spot" approach and relocation of asylum seekers out of Greece and Italy and, at the same time, return individuals who don't qualify for refugee protection, including under existing readmission agreements.

2) Step up support to Greece to handle the humanitarian emergency, including for refugee status determination, relocation, and return or readmission.

3) Ensure compliance with all the EU laws and directives on asylum among Member States.

4) Make available more safe, legal ways for refugees to travel to Europe under managed programmes - for example humanitarian admission programmes, private sponsorships, family reunion, student scholarships and labour mobility schemes so that refugees do not resort to smugglers and traffickers to find safety.

5) Safe-guard individuals at risk, including systems to protect unaccompanied and separated children, measures to prevent and respond to sexual and gender-based violence, enhancing search and rescue operations at sea, saving lives by cracking down on smuggling, and countering xenophobia and racism targeted at refugees and migrants.

6) Develop Europe-wide systems of responsibility for asylum-seekers, including the creation of registration centres in main countries of arrival, and setting up a system for asylum requests to be distributed in an equitable way across EU Member States.

UNHCR's proposals make clear that equitable sharing of responsibility is key to bringing about a managed and orderly solution, and that EU Member States would need to agree a system of percentages of asylum-seekers for each Member State to take.

UNHCR's paper Stabilizing the situation of refugees and migrants in Europe: Proposals to the Justice and Home Affairs Council of the European Union, 2 March 2016 can be downloaded here: http://www.unhcr.org/56d94f7e9.html

According to a recent UNHCR survey of Syrians and Afghans arriving in Greece, the vast majority cited conflict or violence as their main reason for leaving their country. UNHCR is continually calling on governments with influence to address the root causes that are driving so many people from their homes.

ADDITIONAL QUOTE

High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said:

"We are running out of time, and strong leadership and vision are urgently needed from European leaders to deal with what is, in my view, a situation that can still be managed if properly addressed. This is as much a crisis of European solidarity as it is a refugee crisis. The collective failure to implement the measures agreed by EU Member States in the past has led to the current escalation in the crisis."

"The participation of all EU Member States in a solution is critical to managing it effectively. It should not just be left to the entry countries of Greece and Italy, and those such as Austria, Germany and Sweden, who welcomed so many."

"Europe has successfully dealt with large-scale refugee movements in the past, during the Balkans Wars for example, and can deal with this one, provided it acts in a spirit of solidarity and responsibility sharing."

For further information on this topic, please contact:
A Syrian refugee woman waits with her children for an opportunity to cross the border from Greece in to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.  UNHCR/A. Zavallis

GENEVA, March 4 (UNHCR) - Warning Europe was running out of time to solve the current refugee situation, the UN refugee chief today outlined a detailed six-point plan ahead of a key meeting of European Union leaders and Turkey in Brussels next week.

Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, called for strong leadership and vision to address what he said was "as much a crisis of European solidarity as it is a refugee crisis."

"The collective failure to implement the measures agreed by EU Member States in the past has led to the current escalation in the crisis," Grandi added.

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, notes the situation is quickly deteriorating with some 35,000 people now in Greece, of whom nearly 20,000 are in the Idomeni region with around 11,000 on or near the border with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Although the Greek authorities and military have ramped up their response, thousands are sleeping in the open without adequate reception, services, aid or information. With tensions mounting, the situation could escalate quickly into a full-blown crisis.

But Grandi also said it was not too late if the right actions were taken now.

"We are running out of time, and strong leadership and vision are urgently needed from European leaders to deal with what is, in our view, a situation that can still be managed if properly addressed," he detailed.

UNHCR is supporting the Greek Government's efforts by deploying staff, helping coordinate the response and providing emergency shelter, technical support and information to refugees and migrants.

Grandi's plan to EU Member States to manage and stabilize the refugee situation calls for:

1) The full Implementation of the so-called "hot spot" approach and relocation of asylum seekers out of Greece and Italy and, at the same time, to return individuals who do not qualify for refugee protection, including under existing readmission agreements.

2) Step up support to Greece to handle the humanitarian emergency, including for refugee status determination, relocation, and return or readmission.

3) Ensure compliance with all the EU laws and directives on asylum among Member States.

4) Make available more safe, legal ways for refugees to travel to Europe under managed programmes - for example humanitarian admission programmes, private sponsorships, family reunion, student scholarships and labour mobility schemes - so that refugees do not resort to smugglers and traffickers to find safety.

5) Safe-guard individuals at risk, including systems to protect unaccompanied and separated children, measures to prevent and respond to sexual and gender-based violence, enhancing search and rescue operations at sea, saving lives by cracking down on smuggling, and countering xenophobia and racism targeted at refugees and migrants.

6) Develop Europe-wide systems of responsibility for asylum-seekers, including the creation of registration centres in main countries of arrival, and setting up a system for asylum requests to be distributed in an equitable way across EU Member States.

UNHCR's proposals make clear that equitable sharing of responsibility is key to bringing about a managed and orderly solution, and that EU Member States would need to agree a system of percentages of asylum-seekers for each Member State to take.

"Europe has successfully dealt with large-scale refugee movements in the past, during the Balkans Wars for example, and can deal with this one, provided it acts in a spirit of solidarity and responsibility sharing," said High Commissioner Grandi.

"There is really no other option than working together to solve this."

For more information, click here.
Modi is scheduled to dedicate the Digha-Sonepur rail-cum road bridge, besides the new railway bridge at Munger at a function to be hosted by ECR. (Photo: PTI)

Hajipur: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's function to unveil some Railway projects on March 12 here was on Friday shifted to a new venue following farmers' refusal to cut their crop prematurely in a 60 acre field in Sultanpur village, chosen as venue of the programme earlier.

"The PM function would now be held at Chhokia village," District Magistrate Rachna Patil said.

The farmers are refusing to prematurely cut their wheat crop, which would be ready soon. The DM said 80 acres at Chhokia village under Ganga bridge police station was today finalised as the new venue for the PM's function on next Saturday.

The new spot for PM's function is about 6 km away from the previously chosen one at Sultanpur village under Hajipur Industrial Area police station in Bihar's Vaishali district.

East Central Railway (ECR) Chief Public Relations Officer Arvind Kumar Rajak, who had gone to the Chhokia village earlier in the day for the PM's programme, also confirmed it as the final venue.

BJP MP from Ujiyarpur Nityanand Rai appears to have helped in choosing the new venue as the land there belongs to his supporters.

The DM said apart from the farmers' protest, the other reason for changing the venue was to accommodate more people at the function. Modi's programme during the Lok Sabha elections had taken place at Sultanpur village.

The PM is scheduled to dedicate the Digha-Sonepur rail-cum road bridge, besides the new railway bridge at Munger at a function to be hosted by ECR on March 12. The PM might also flag off few trains at the function where Railway minister Suresh Prabhu and his deputy Manoj Sinha would also participate.

Besides the Railway programme, the Prime Minister would attend the closing function of centenary celebration of the Patna High Court on the same day at capital Patna.
Rwanda. Burundian refugees prepare a meal at the Bugesera Reception Centre, Rwanda in this file picture taken in 2015.  UNHCR/K. Holt

GENEVA, March 4 (UNHCR) - With tension remaining high in Burundi, the number of people who have sought shelter in neighbouring states has now passed the 250,000 mark, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency notes, cautioning that people continue to flee and numbers could rise further.

UNHCR's latest figures show that 250,473 people have been registered as refugees in Democratic Republic of the Congo (21,186); Rwanda (73,926); Tanzania (131,834); Uganda (22,330); and Zambia (1,197) since early April last year, when President Pierre Nkurunziza announced plans to run for a third term, which he later won.

The average rate of new arrivals per week is more than 1,000 in Tanzania, 500 in Uganda, 230 in Rwanda and 200 in Democratic Republic of the Congo. There have been small numbers of spontaneous returns.

"Cool heads and continuing international attention are needed to avert further deterioration this year, and the right to leave the country and seek asylum should be respected," UNHCR spokesperson Melissa Fleming told a news briefing in Geneva.

"Despite recent high-level efforts to engage the government, we have not seen significant improvement in the security and human rights situation on the ground. The deteriorating economic situation is also a cause for concern which could trigger further displacement," she added.

"Although there has been a slight lull in violence recently in Burundi, refugees arriving in the host countries continue to report human rights violations and difficulty in leaving Burundi. We have also been receiving a growing number of refugee reports about detention and sexual and gender-based violence in transit," Fleming said.

Some 1,700 Burundian refugees have arrived in Democratic Republic of the Congo so far this year, down on the 2,051 of October last year, but still a steady flow. Many are living in poor rural areas, where conditions are harsh, and about two-thirds (14,772) are in Lusenda camp, which is nearing its capacity of 18,000.

Overcrowding is a problem in all host countries, including Tanzania, which has taken in more Burundians than any other. Nyarugusu camp hosts some 143,000 people, including almost 80,000 who have arrived since last April. The decongestion of the camp is a priority and new arrivals go to Ndutu, while others at Nyarugusu are sent to the recently reopened Mutendeli camp. Another camp is planned at Karago, but capacity there and at Mutendeli is limited by insufficient water reserves.

In Rwanda, close to 48,000 Burundian refugees are living in Mahama camp, the largest camp in Rwanda, and more than 26,400 in Kigali and other towns. As the insecurity persists in Burundi they are running out of savings, which will increase their need for assistance. The government, meanwhile, has clarified that it has no plans to relocate Burundian refugees and will keep its doors open.

In Uganda, about two thirds of Burundian arrivals in the past year are being hosted in Nakivale Refugee Settlement (14,876) in the South-West Region, 21 per cent in the capital Kampala, and the remainder in Kyaka II, Oruchinga and Kisoro settlements.

Most are young women and children, with a disproportionately low number of young men. Work is under way to extend settlement areas at Nakivale and other locations. Access to water continues to be a problem and UNHCR is delivering by truck in Nakivale, which is costly and unsustainable.

As with the other asylum countries, funding is a major problem which is affecting access to education, health care, livelihoods, counselling and more, though Uganda allows people to work and travel.

UNHCR requested US$175.1 million for the Burundi humanitarian response in 2016 and has to date received US$4.7 million, or about 3 per cent. We thank donors for their generosity to date while appealing for more urgent funding.

To find out more about our work in Rwanda, please visit the UNHCR Rwanda website.
Former Chief Minister of Meghalaya PA Sangma passes away at 68. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: Former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno Agitok Sangma died of a heart attack in New Delhi on Friday. He was 68. Parliament sources said the end came this morning after he suffered a heart attack.

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan announced the news of his death in the House, which was adjourned for the day.

While expressing deep grief over Sangma's passing away, Mahajan said he knew how to run the House with a smile and "I learnt this from him."

"A man of masses, Sangma strove relentlessly for the amelioration of the marginalised sections," the Speaker said.

Condoling the death of Sangma, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was "a self-made leader whose contribution towards the development of the North East is monumental. Saddened by his demise."

Sangma's tenure as Lok Sabha Speaker "is unforgettable. His down-to-earth personality and affable nature endeared him to many," he said, adding "Sangmaji was deeply influenced by Netaji Bose."

Shri PA Sangma was a self-made leader whose contribution towards the development of the Northeast is monumental. Saddened by his demise.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 4, 2016

Shri PA Sangma's tenure as Lok Sabha Speaker is unforgettable. His down to earth personality & affable nature endeared him to many.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 4, 2016

Sangma ji was deeply influenced by Netaji Bose. Here's a programme both of us attended in 2012 on Azad Hind Fauj. https://t.co/Jbp1emCrVe  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 4, 2016

Former prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi too condoled the demise of the former Lok Sabha Speaker, saying the north-east has lost an important voice.

Dr. Singh India has lost one of the tallest leaders from north-east who represented India in various forums as the Speaker of Lok Sabha.

Recalling his contributions as a public representative, the Congress president said that the nation had lost a tall leader.

The Congress vice-president said Sangma's demise is a great loss to the nation. "Deepest condolences on the passing away of veteran leader & former LS Speaker Shri PA Sangma. His demise is a great loss to the nation," he tweeted.

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor also expressed grief at Sangma's demise, saying he was admired by all.

"It's deeply saddening and shocking news for all of us because he was in the house till two days ago. He was a very popular figure whatever the political differences the people may have with him, everyone used to like and admire him because he always used to laugh and was universally liked," said Tharoor.

"Our thoughts, our prayers go out to him and his family. This is a tragic development and India has lost a very important north-east leader. The whole country should mourn his passing," he added.

Congress leader Renuka Chowdhary on her part said Sangma's memories would always remain with the people of this country.

"He was a wonderful orator, who always had a smiling face. His memory will always be with us," Chowhdary said.

Sangma was a nine-time member of Lok Sabha and the Speaker in the 11th Lok Sabha. He had also held important portfolios in the central government. He was also the Chief Minister of Meghalaya from 1988 to 1990 and Leader of Opposition in the assembly from 1990 to 1991.

Born on September 1, 1947 in village Chapahati in the picturesque West Garo Hills District of Meghalaya, Sangma grew up in the small tribal village and struggled hard to rise in life.

After completing his graduation from St Anthony's College, he went to Dibrugarh University in Assam for his Masters degree in International Relations. Subsequently, he also obtained a degree in Law.

A Congressman who was one of the founding members of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), was expelled from it in July 2012 when he refused to accept his party's decision to quit the race for India's President. In January 2013, he had formed the National People's Party.
Chennai: With recent reports stating that heart diseases account for about 19 per cent of all deaths in India, and that as many as 32,339 persons had died in Chennai of heart failure last year alone, doctors and researchers have been taking matters into their hands by introducing new techniques of treatment.

The rate of deaths due to heart attack is increasing especially among the youth of Tamil Nadu. Cardio-vascular deaths in Tamil Nadu is 24 to 30 per cent of all deaths, said Anand Gnanaraj, Senior Consultant Interventional Cardiologist, Apollo Specialty Hospitals, Vanagaram.Considering the need to reduce the death rates due to the disease in Tamil Nadu, Apollo Hospital, Vanagaram, launched the CrossBoss Catheter in Tamil Nadu.

A decade ago, it was seen that most patients with 100 per cent blocked arteries were either managed medically or sent for surgery with long recovery periods before they returned to their regular routine. However, with development in technology, it has been found that today all these blocks can be cleared in angioplasty that can be performed successfully in a few hours.

The Cross Boss Catheter, which is the latest technology int-roduced in India for the treatment of 100 per cent blocked arteries, can be used to cross the 100 per cent block, either through the tough lesions or can travel behind the blocked segment and exit beyond the lesi-on, said Anand. A StingRay Balloon is used to get back into the actual passage of the blood vessel using specialised wires, he explained.Arun Kalyanasundaram, Specialist in Interventional Cardiology, Seattle Heart and Vascular Institute, introduced the method to doctors.
AKKAR, Lebanon, 3 March 2016  Once upon a time, in a small tent of tarpaulin stretched across wooden mattress frames, Tamara told her version of an old fairy tale. I had also lost my shoes, but not because I had to leave them behind for a prince to find me. And that spell only lasted until midnight, she says.

Last night, in order to heat up our tent, I was forced to burn them.



Shelter against the cold

Tamara is 13 years old, and her family shelter in the Bekaa Valley, in Lebanon. With the temperatures plummeting to below 0 C in parts of Lebanon, she is among the more than half a million vulnerable refugee children living in informal tent settlements, or in host communities, who are facing severe hardship.

Abu Muhannad is father to Tamara and her seven siblings. The family lived in a suburb of Damascus, in the Syrian Arab Republic. They fled when their neighbourhood came under fire, three years ago, and they have been living in this tent camp for a year. Now, the family struggle to keep warm in this makeshift shelter that does not protect them from the elements. Last night, I woke up because of the cold, he says. My children were clinching to each other in their sleep, trying to get warm, so I covered them with my blanket.



Cash assistance

To this day, one in five refugees in Lebanon are living in an open field or an unfinished building, living conditions that are inadequate and pose a great health risk to children, says UNICEF Deputy Representative in Lebanon Luciano Calestini. For them, getting by through winter is a matter of life and death.

To meet the needs of families like Tamaras, UNICEF runs a cash assistance programme. Through the programme, every child below the age of 15 living in an informal tent settlement, as well as the most vulnerable Lebanese and Palestinian children, is entitled to US$40. This winter, the caregivers of more than 200,000 Syrian, Lebanese and Palestinian children have received a debit card. They can withdraw the money and use it on what they find is most important for their child.
The speech given by Kanhaiya Kumar in JNU after his release from jail is very effective, whatever he said is true, says Nitish Kumar. (Photo: PTI)

Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday expressed his support to JNU Students' Union President Kanhaiya Kumar's assertions of freedom from poverty and intolerance, saying the "talented" youth leader was more nationalist than those levelling sedition charge against him.

"The speech given by Kanhaiya Kumar in JNU after his release from jail is very effective, whatever he said is true. Kanhaiya Kumar said we do not talk of freedom from India but freedom in India and demanded independence in this regard," Nitish told reporters at Patna Airport on his return from Nepal.

"Kanhaiya Kumar put forth his views for freedom from hunger, poverty and intolerance," he said and hailed the JNUSU President for putting his views effectively.

"These prove that our new generation has a lot of capability. The coming forward of such a talented student and youth will strengthen the roots of democracy in the country," he said.

The Bihar Chief Minister hailed CPI for launching a campaign in favour of JNUSU President and said, "Kanhaiya Kumar is more nationalist than those levelling sedition charge on him. I extend my good wishes to JNUSU President."

In a veiled dig at Narendra Modi government, Kumar said, "They think they can silence people on the basis of their brand of thinking and divide people as well the society."

"By raising emotional issues like 'Love Jihad', 'Ghar Wapsi', beef eating and now sedition, they wish to divide the society, but they will not succeed," he said.

Backing the "ideologically alert" JNU students who had put across their views with clarity, he said, "This is not appreciated by them. They want to impose their views on everybody and those who differ with them are branded anti-national." Nitish came down heavily on the BJP-led NDA government for not fullfilling the promises made before 2014 polls.

"They had promised to bring back black money but now have brought an amnesty scheme to convert black money into white. After presentation of general budget 'acchhe din' (good days) of common people did not come, but it has come for those having black money," Kumar said. Farmers and youths have also been let down by the general budget, he added.
United Nations/Costa Rica Workshop on Human Space Technology San Jose, Costa Rica, 7 - 11 March 2016

Registration is closed for this event

Information for Participants

Introduction

A five-day international workshop on human space technology in San Jose, Costa Rica , from 7 to 11 March 2016 is being organized by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs in cooperation with the Government of Costa Rica and co-organized by the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), as part of the Human Space Technology Initiative (HSTI) within the framework of the United Nations Programme on Space Applications.

The Workshop will bring together senior experts, professionals, and decision-makers from public sectors, academia and industries worldwide. The Workshop participants will exchange information on achievements in human space programmes and discuss how to promote international cooperation by further facilitating the participation of developing countries in human space exploration-related activities. It will also focus on creating awareness of the benefits of human space technology and its applications, building capacity in microgravity science education and research, and exploring participation in space commercialization.

Background and Objectives

The establishment of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) and its Scientific and Technical and Legal Subcommittees coincided with the time of the launch of Sputnik in 1957 and the first human space flight by Yuri Gagarin in 1961. In its resolution establishing the Committee, the General Assembly stressed that this body was created to review the scope of international cooperation in peaceful uses of outer space, to devise programmes in this field to be undertaken under United Nations auspices, to encourage continued research and the dissemination of information on outer space matters, as well as to study legal problems arising from the exploration of outer space.

The Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies came into force soon before the first human, Neil Armstrong, set foot upon the surface of the Moon in 1969. This treaty established, inter alia, that "exploration and use of outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries, irrespective of their degree of economic or scientific development, and shall be the province of all mankind".

The Third United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful uses of Outer Space (UNISPACE III) was held in Vienna in 1999 and recognized that large human space exploration missions exceed the capacity of a single country and that cooperation should be privileged in this area, and thus, recommended the development of future space science programmes, in particular, through international cooperation. One year later, in 2000, the first long-duration crew went on board the International Space Station (ISS). In 2009, the ISS attained a six-man crew operation.

In 2010, the Office for Outer Space Affairs launched the Human Space Technology Initiative (HSTI) within the framework of the United Nations Programme on Space Applications. HSTI aims at promoting international cooperation on human space flight and space exploration-related activities, creating awareness among countries on the benefits of utilizing human space technology and its applications, and building capacity in microgravity education and research. Under HSTI, various activities have been initiated.

In 2011, the United Nations/Malaysia Expert Meeting on Human Space Technology was held in Putrajaya, Malaysia, from 14 to 18 November. The meeting, the first of its kind in the United Nations, focused on facilitating a discussion on the benefits of human space technology, capacity-building and microgravity research in general and on identifying potential opportunities for developing countries to cooperate in human space technology activities and to take part in space science research.

In 2013, the United Nations/China Workshop on Human Space Technology was held in Beijing, China from 16 to 20 September. The objectives of the workshop were to enable participants to exchange information and views on human space exploration and human space technology and its applications and to put forward constructive and innovative proposals on promoting international cooperation in microgravity science, capacity-building and education, and human space exploration.

There has been a steady trend within last decades towards a series of commercially-funded space exploration activities. Traditionally, space exploration and its related activities have been government-driven because of their high costs, with space industries acting as contractors to major national or international space agencies. Now, space industries, through technological innovation and the development of new business models, have been shifting from mere contractors toward independent competitors to launch their own activities following their initiatives in space, and they have become significant stakeholders in space exploration and its related activities.

Reaffirming the achievements made at the Expert meeting and Workshop, the Office for Outer Space Affairs, together with the Government of Costa Rica and IAA, is organizing the Workshop in 2016 as a further extension of the United Nations/China Workshop. The objectives of the Workshop are as follows:

Exchanging information on the latest developments and future plans of human space flight and space exploration and commercialization

Promoting capacity in microgravity education and other areas of space research and technology

Identifying potential opportunities for new space-faring and emerging countries to participate in the growing field of space commercialization and exploration-related activities

Identifying the role of space industry in space commercialization and exploration-related activities

Fostering research and technology development in space exploration towards the next-generation low cost instruments for fundamental physics

Creating awareness on the benefits of human space technology and its multiple applications, in particular for global health and education, to promote sustainable growth in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Discussing the way forward in international cooperation on human space flight activities in preparation for UNISPACE+50

Programme

The comprehensive programme will include plenary and working group sessions. The plenary sessions will consist of keynote speeches and technical presentations that will address achievements and plans at national, regional and international levels as well as the broad perspective of human endeavors in space. The working group sessions will provide sufficient time for participants to discuss the corresponding topics and formulate recommendations.

The Workshop will cover the following topics:

National, regional and international space programmes Achievements, current activities and future plans International cooperation

Microgravity science Research results and spin-off benefits Space- and ground-based microgravity facilities

Capacity building and education Awareness of human space technology and its applications Education and outreach activities in microgravity science United Nations Zero-gravity Instruments Project (ZGIP) United Nations Drop Tower Experiment Series (DropTES)

Human space flight and exploration Utilization of space stations in low Earth orbit Future human spaceflight activities beyond low Earth orbit Participation of new space-faring countries and emerging countries in human space exploration

Space industry and commercialization

Participation of space industry and the private sector in human space cooperation Public-Private Partnerships in space exploration and commercialization Commercial space activities and opportunities (space tourism, cargo transportation, in-space resource recovery)

Environmental issues and natural hazards Low-orbit, in-space facilities for climate monitoring Next-generation sensor arrays for global monitoring Space-bound early warning global systems

Next-generation low-cost experiments in fundamental physics Joint opportunities in space exploration for fundamental science in cosmology and particle physics A deep space mission roadmap for cosmology research Next-generation deep space experimental facilities for particle detection



The detailed Workshop programme will be made available soon.

Participants

Applicants must have a university degree and well-established professional working experience in a field related to the topics of the Workshop. Applicants should ideally be involved in the planning or implementation of space programmes in relevant governmental organizations, international or national agencies, non-governmental organizations, research or academic institutions, or industries.

Financial Support to Selected Participants

Within the limited financial resources available to the co-sponsors, a number of qualified applicants from developing countries, who have expressed the need for financial support will be offered financial support to attend the Workshop. This may include the provision of a round-trip air ticket between San Jose and the applicant's nearest international airport of departure as well as daily subsistence allowances to cover room and board for the duration of the Workshop. En-route expenses or any changes made to the air ticket must be the responsibility of the participants.

Due to a limited availability of financial resources, it is usually not possible to provide assistance to all qualified applicants who express the need for financial support. Applicants and their nominating organizations are therefore strongly encouraged to find additional sources of sponsorship to allow them to attend the Workshop.

Language of the Workshop and Presentations by Participants

English is the official working language of the Workshop. Selected participants who are funded by the co-sponsors of the Workshop will be required to prepare a presentation of approximately 10 to 20 minutes on topics relevant to the Workshop objectives and the programme. Presentations on actual on-going projects will be of particular interest to participants of the Workshop.

Dates and Location of the Workshop

The Workshop will be held in San Jose, Costa Rica, from 7 to 11 March 2016. All selected and invited participants will receive information with details on room, board, and other local arrangements.

Deadline for Submission of Applications

Complete applications and abstracts should be submitted to the Office for Outer Space Affairs through its online registration page .

Applications for participation must be received by the Office for Outer Space Affairs no later than 11 January 2016 , from applicants seeking for funding support and no later than 31 January 2016, from self-funded applicants . Only complete applications with all the requested information and signatures will be considered.

Life and Health Insurance

Life and major health insurance is the responsibility of each selected participant or his/her nominating institution or government. The co-sponsors will neither assume any responsibility for life and major health insurance nor for any other expenses related to medical treatment or accidental events.

Further Information and Contact Details

For questions related to the programme and the application process of the Workshop, please contact Mr. Takanori Miyoshi, United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs:

Mr. Takanori MIYOSHI

United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs

E-mail: takanori.miyoshi[at]unoosa.org

Tel: (+43-1) 26060-8716

For questions related to local arrangements for the Workshop, please contact Ms. Marcela Zamora Ovares, the point of contact for Costa Rica:

Ms. Marcela ZAMORA OVARES

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica

E-mail: mzamora[at]rree.go.cr

Tel: (+506) 2539-5448

Additional resources, information and links

For the latest information and updates about the Workshop, it is advised that you frequently visit this Workshop webpage.
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Bengaluru: The BJP leaders of Chamarajanagar and Mysuru are a happy lot for two reasons. Firstly, they have been able to make inroads into the strong fortresses of the Congress and Janata Dal (Secular).

Secondly, three saffron party candidates have romped home in the recent taluk and zilla panchayat polls in Varuna, the constituency of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah,much to the embarrassment of local Congress leaders.

The results of the panchayat polls point to a polarisation of votes especially in the backward Chamarajanagar district, where Lingayat votes decide the fate of candidates. For the first time, even the Nayak community reportedly supported the BJP which helped the party win good number of seats in Gundlupet, Chamarajanagar, Nanjangud, HD Kote and Mysuru rural district.

The performance of BJP has been improving from one election to the next, so has its penetration into rural pockets. The party, which was not finding place to put up a banner in villages a few years ago, has now graduated to the point of giving a stiff fight to Congress and JD(S).

Mysuru rural district BJP president, Hemanthkumar Gowda told Deccan Chronicle that people of the region supported Mr Siddaramaiah who played the Ahinda card to woo voters of backward classes, Scheduled Castes/ Tribes and minorities.

But Mr Siddaramaiah focussed his development on the Kuruba community to which he belongs, neglecting others. Naturally this has hurt other communities who have grouped to support the BJP. So, Lingayats, Nayaks and other forward communities supported the saffron party in many taluks.

Mr Gowda sought to know the contributions of Mr Siddaramaiah to his home district claiming that everything was being managed by Mr Rakesh Siddaramaiah, his son. Even the son of Public Works Minister Dr H.C. Mahadevappa has been running a parallel government on behalf of his father, he alleged. There will be exodus of leaders from Congress and Janata Dal Secular to BJP in Mysuru and Chamarajanagar district in the coming months, he asserted.

A senior Congress leaders admitted that the Bharatiya Janata Party was slowly growing in rural areas of Mysuru and Chamarajanagar districts due to the faulty policies of the state government.
ASUW Representatives Plan Trip to China During Spring Break

While some of their University of Wyoming classmates will be basking in the sunshine or volunteering in projects across the country during spring break, eight Associated Students of UW (ASUW) representatives will be in China as part of a leadership exchange program.

They will travel to Shanghai, China, on a six-day trip visiting Shanghai Normal University and Shanghai University. They leave Friday, March 11; UWs spring break is March 14-18.

Students are Clinton Harper, international studies graduate student, from Palmdale, Calif.; and Emily Kath, a political science senior, who also receives credit hours in the Master of Public Administration program; Anya Tracy, a speech, language, hearing sciences senior; and Ben Wetzel, a chemistry/molecular biology freshman, all from Powell.

Also going are Shelby Lewis, mathematics/international studies sophomore, and Mackenzie Muirhead, international studies/French senior, both from Cheyenne; Brian Schueler, an international studies/economics senior, from Buffalo; and Richard Yang, computer science/computer engineering senior, from Laramie.

Both Shanghai Normal University and Shanghai University are leading universities in the Peoples Republic of China. For the past several years, UW and the two Chinese schools have shared resources, with UW students and faculty visiting the two universities, and students and faculty from the two Chinese institutions coming to Wyoming in exchange programs.

The ASUW student contingent will visit both Shanghai campuses to meet with student leaders and administrators. Schueler, ASUW president, and Kath, ASUW vice president, will lead the trip. Schueler has been to China multiple times, starting in summer 2013 and, again, for the 2013-14 school year, as well as trips last year and this year.

Schueler says the students are contributing most of their own money for the trip, and also received support from ASUW and the Cheney International Center in UW International Programs. The UW Student Affairs Office assisted with organizing the event.

Every trip to China is an adventure. Like many of my previous trips, I know that we will be welcomed very graciously by the people there, Schueler says. I also believe we can demonstrate the importance that these international partnerships have on our educational experience here at UW. We hope to strengthen this strategic partnership.

He and Kath interviewed 15 students -- ranging from freshmen to graduate students in a wide range of academic disciplines -- who applied for the program, and set up the committee to select the final contingent.

We had an amazing group of applicants, and we were able to put together a great group of eight students, Kath says. Brian does have experience traveling to China, so he will be helpful with the language.

This will be Schuelers seventh journey to China.

Ive studied at North East Normal University in Changchun, Jilin, China, and Capital University of Economics and Business in Beijing, he says. I did travel down to Shanghai Normal University when I was there last summer to discuss the idea of having a student delegation. Even though it was a tradition, I wanted to make contact just to get the idea out there. This will be my first trip to Shanghai University.

Kath says the trips focus is to share ideas and to gain information about how student government works at the two Chinese institutions, plus learn what student life is like in China.

A lot of us have not been to China. So, a lot of this trip will just be sharing of culture, whether it be through student theatrical productions for the delegation, dancing, calligraphy, food, of course, and things like that, she adds. The trip is really to gain a sense of the culture.

Schueler says this will be a fantastic opportunity for his fellow ASUW representatives.

We also look forward to encountering a different culture and learning new ideas and more understanding of China, he says. ASUW represents all students on this campus and, so, in addition to the benefits that will accrue to UW and to us as individuals, we hope that this experience also can help ASUW better represent one of our largest international cohorts on campus.
UW Cuts Ribbon on Pharmacy Research Laboratory

Assistant Professor Jared Bushman, right, watches while a colleague works in the UW School of Pharmacys new L.S. Skaggs Research Laboratory. (UW Photo)

University of Wyoming President Dick McGinity and College of Health Sciences Dean Joe Steiner cut the ribbon on the new L.S. Skaggs Research Laboratory today (Thursday).

The ALSAM Foundation is appreciative of the support the University of Wyoming gives to its School of Pharmacy, says Ronny Cutshall, the foundations president. The foundation is pleased to be able to lend its financial support to the improvement of the laboratory facilities of the School of Pharmacy.

The ALSAM Foundation funds have improved the research infrastructure at the School of Pharmacy and allowed the school to hire Jared Bushman, a leader in regenerative medicine.

This gift has made it possible for Bushman to successfully conduct his research. The funding that provided innovations to Bushmans lab augmented the startup package and provided his team with the mechanisms to transfer existing grants from Rutgers University to UW. In addition to a modernized laboratory, the funds were used to construct a revolutionary surgical suite, which is an integral part of Bushmans research.

The Skaggs family has been dedicated advocates and financial supporters of pharmacy education for many years, Steiner says. Through the ALSAM Foundation, established by Mr. and Mrs. Skaggs, they have had a profound impact and have immeasurably improved pharmacy education and research in the Western states. Their wonderful children have carried on this remarkable tradition. I am so happy that they honored us by providing the funding for this research laboratory, and I expect to see great discoveries coming from it.

The remodeled laboratory has provided space for Bushman to hire a postdoctoral fellow, a graduate student and two undergraduate students. The restructured space allowed for expansion of the research team, resulting in the submission of three research proposals based on data generated in these new facilities. Using the laboratory space as a research training site for pharmacy students, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, the school can achieve its graduate teaching mission: creating pharmacists who are scholar practitioners.

UW President Dick McGinity, right, shakes hands with College of Health Sciences Dean Joe Steiner during the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the L.S. Skaggs Research Laboratory. (UW Photo)

Bushman has an interdisciplinary background in pharmacology and neuroscience that has merged with biomaterials and regenerative medicine. He is joined by an impressive team, and their work aims to create a new clinical standard for peripheral nerve regeneration through allografting, which is organ or tissue transplant between genetically non-identical people.

Currently, the gold standard for peripheral nerve regeneration is a sensory autograft -- transplanting a nerve from one part of the body to another in the same individual. Given the large number of patients who experience severe peripheral nerve injury and disease, and the current limited-function recovery, peripheral nerve regeneration through allografting is an important step forward.

The laboratory is named after L.S. Sam Skaggs, whose ultimate goal was to alleviate human suffering. An entrepreneur and philanthropist, he was born in 1923 and served for four years in the U.S. Army Chemical Warfare Service during World War II. When he returned home, he worked in the familys retail drug store, Skaggs Drug Centers.

After the sudden death of his father, Skaggs became the president of the 11-store chain. He expanded the business and acquired new companies that soon branched out across the country. By 1965, he operated 65 drug stores with sales of $89 million.

He was a pioneer in the first successful food-and-drug-stores combination. By his retirement, Skaggs Companies had become American Stores Company and was operating nearly 1,700 stores. Skaggs was a huge supporter of education and health research.

The L.S. Skaggs Research Laboratory is a tribute to Skaggs unwavering dedication to alleviate human suffering and supports the research, scientists and students who make it possible, Steiner says.
Wyoming Business Tips for March 13-19

A weekly look at Wyoming business questions from the Wyoming Small Business Development Center (WSBDC), part of WyomingEntrepreneur.Biz, a collection of business assistance programs at the University of Wyoming.

By Nicholas Giraldo, WyomingEntrepreneur.Biz market researcher

What can small business owners do to grow their business during an economic downturn? Carl, Gillette

Bloomberg News recently declared Wyoming in recession. Wyoming legislators are grappling with shortfalls.

In uncertain financial times, small business owners offer the best hope. Small businesses drive economic growth. They create jobs, deliver vital goods and services, generate sales tax revenue, and contribute to the unique character and livability of neighborhoods. None of that changes during an economic downturn. However, in tight economic times, small business owners need all the resources and assistance they can get.

The National League of Cities released a report in 2010, outlining policies to promote small business growth. Here are some highlights:

Business fundamentals -- The League of Cities found small businesses fail when business owners lack certain management and business skills, such as general management training, financial advising and assistance with formulating a business plan.

Bottom line -- Resources that help small businesses with these fundamentals lay the groundwork for economic growth.

Access to capital -- Raising capital for startup costs, operating expenses and expansion financing helps small businesses succeed, but qualifying for financing can be a high hurdle.

Bottom line -- Loan assistance programs or alternative loan programs encourage small business growth.

Expand your marketing -- A lack of marketing resources and specialized marketing knowledge also contributed to small business failure.

Bottom line -- Resources like shop local campaigns and specialized marketing programs can be used to introduce small businesses to new markets and can aid small business growth.

Supportive culture -- The League of Cities found communities with a supportive business culture have higher levels of small business growth. For example, some cities create regional technology councils or forge partnerships between local government and private businesses.

Bottom line -- Does your community support a strong entrepreneurial culture?

So, where can Wyoming small businesses turn during a downturn? Local Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) often provide the best resources for small business owners, according to the League of Cities.

The Wyoming SBDC helps with business fundamentals, access to capital and expanding your market. Other resources include the Wyoming Business Council and its business resource network, which consists of about a dozen agencies. Those agencies have additional resources to help small businesses grow even in a struggling economy.

Visit www.wyen.biz to learn more about the Wyoming SBDC and the network of business resources available to Wyoming small businesses.

A blog version of this article and an opportunity to post comments are available at http://wyen.biz/blog1/.

The WSBDC is a partnership of the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Wyoming Business Council and the University of Wyoming. To ask a question, call 1-800-348-5194, email wsbdc@uwyo.edu, or write 1000 E. University Ave., Dept. 3922, Laramie, WY, 82071-3922.
Lucknow: Here is another controversy waiting to explode. A BSP worker Balmukund Dhuria posted a picture on his Facebook page in which Ms Mayawati is depicted as Goddess Kali and is shown holding the severed head of HRD minister Smriti Irani. She can be seen stomping on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Balmukund Dhuria also wrote a post on his Facebook account hailing Mayawati and said, Bhajpaiyon Hoshiyar, nahin chalega jhuth, beimaani ka vyapaar, behanji hain taiyar, abki bar BSP sarkar.

Balmukund Dhuria is said to be a close aide of BSP state president Ram Achal Rajbhar. However, after the Facebook post, he denied having known the man. Dhuria was apparently pulled up by the party leaders over the post and he then deleted it from his page. But, by then the image had already gone viral on the social media.

When questioned by reporters, Dhuria said such pictures keep emerging on the internet and cartoons should not be taken seriously. State BJP president Laxmikant Bajpai condemned the cartoon and said that when people do not have reasonable arguments, they resort to such acts. He said that BSP workers should not start worshipping Goddess Kali. Mayawati recently had taken on HRD minister Smriti Irani in Rajya Sabha blaming government for mishandling the Rohith Vemula suicide issue. Hitting back at her, the minister had said that she would offer her head at Mayawatis feet.
The government has lined up a series of incentives to encourage electronics industries such as offering land at subsidised rates, waiving electricity bills for 15 years along with uninterrupted power supply, and 100 per cent return of VAT and CST etc.

Hyderabad: After the Information Technology sector, the electronics sector will be the major job provider for the youth in Telangana state over the next five years. The Telangana government has set an ambitious target of attracting $5 billion investment in the electronics sector, which in turn is expected to yield 2.50 lakh additional jobs. The state government has earmarked 900 acre around the Shamshabad international airport for setting up electronics manufacturing units.

The government has lined up a series of incentives to encourage electronics industries such as offering land at subsidised rates, waiving electricity bills for 15 years along with uninterrupted power supply, and 100 per cent return of VAT and CST etc. These will be part of the TS Electronics Policy that will be unveiled by the government in a month.

Earlier, efforts of YSRs government to make Hyderabad an electronics hub by setting up the Fab City had failed. But this experience served as a lesson for the Telangana government, which did considerable research on how to devise a successful model. The Fab City project was done without identifying focus areas for development. It lacked direction and vision. In a way, it was done to benefit certain individuals and firms by allotting valuable land on the citys outskirts. Fab City was basically about producing semi-conductors, which is highly expensive. Its difficult to attract investments in this sector. But our new electronics policy is being devised in a scientific manner. Lot of research was done to identify key areas for growth, said Mr K.T. Rama Rao, the minister for IT.

The existing market of the electronics manufacturing industry in India is $100 billion and is expected to increase to $400 billion by 2020. However, current domestic production is not keeping pace with the anticipated growth of the industry. We have identified five key areas, which include production of LEDs, mobile phones, supply chain, semi-conductors design and strategic electronics. The idea is to tap the global and local market in these specialised areas by providing employment to lakhs of local youth, Mr Rao added.

The IT department aims to attract $5 billion investment out of and create 2.50 lakh jobs for the states youth. Though mobile phones are currently manufactured in the country, the phone components are imported. The state government will encourage production of mobile phone components in the city, thus saving foreign exchange.
New Delhi: After three weeks of confinement, the feisty JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar took to the path of freedom on Thursday, post his release from from the four walls of Tihar jail. Breaking through a slew of charges, Kanhaiya's interim bail came as a relief.

Slogans like Punjiwaad se azaadi, Bharat se nahi, Bharat main azaadi etc reverberated across the JNU campus on Thrursday night. Students were seen basking in the newfound glory that was earmarked by Kanhaiyas release. Not only students but also teachers were found rejoicing Kumars feat. The students took out a victory procession from Ganga Dhaba to various hostels and ended at the Administrative Block. Stairs of Administrative Block were occupied even before Kumar arrived.

Heres what Kanhaiya Kumar had to say:
New Delhi: Assam, Kerala and West Bengal, politically crucial for both the Congress and the BJP, along with Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry will hold Assembly polls between April 4 and May 16 in a schedule spread across one and a half months. There will be single-day polling in TN, Kerala and Puducherry on May 16, while elections in West Bengal will be in six phases, like in 2011, and in two in Assam.

NOTA gets a symbol

The first phase in West Bengal, to be held in areas affected by Left-wing extremism, will have two polling dates  April 4 and April 11. The other phases will be held on April 17, 21, 25, 30 and May 5. Assam will go to polls in two phases on April 4 and 11. Counting of votes in all the states will be held on May 19, CEC Nasim Zaidi announced on Friday.

The BJP, after being drubbed in Delhi and Bihar is pinning its hopes on Assam, the only state among the four going to polls where it stands some chance of giving the ruling Congress a fight, especially after its alliance with the AGP. The elections will also see for the first time a symbol created by the National School of Design and allotted to the NOTA (None of the above) option that will be placed at the bottom of the list of candidates.

Phase wise

Assam

Two phase polls on April 4 and 11

West Bengal

Six phase polls on April 4 and 11 (under Phase one), 17, 21, 25, 30 and May 5

Single Phase

Elections for Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Assemblies on May 16

May 19: Counting of votes
New Delhi: India will cut the flab in its 1.2-million-strong Army in view of the sharply rising amount needed for defence pensions. The move will not affect the Armys fighting formations.

Defence minister Manohar Parrikar on Friday said the Army has been asked to calibrate the move, which essentially means that the Army will identify the wings in which it has excess unproductive manpower and its extent.

As part of fiscal accountability, the Centre is also utilising money from an account in which, till June last year, about $3 billion (about Rs 20,000 crore) was lying unused though it was supposed to fund acquisitions by India from the US under the Foreign Military Sales Agreement. The Centre has used money from this account to clear some liabilities and the account now contains about $1.7 billion, Mr Parrikar said.

Sources said it was because of mismanagement earlier that such a huge amount of money was lying idle. The Army is expected to assess its manpower situation in all wings and inform the Centre.

Experts say cutting the Armys flab makes good sense in order to make it a leaner and meaner fighting machine provided there is adequate technological upgradation, which has not happened in India.
Is the state government merely showing lip service to soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the sake of the country? (Representational image)

Bengaluru: Is the state government merely showing lip service to soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the sake of the country? The answer seems to be yes going by the sorry plight of families of several martyrs, who are waiting for benefits from the government for the last five years.

Lt Col C.N. Nanjappa, who belonged to the Army Aviation Squadron, became a martyr in Operation Falcon on April 21, 2011. Hoping for a piece of land in Mysuru, his family members submitted an application to Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) but the agency is yet to allot a site to the family. The district administration had given financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh to the family only in March 2013.

In the case of Havaldar Girish belonging to Madras Regiment, who too sacrificed his life in Operation Falcon on April 3, 2011, the government has so far, given compensation of Rs 1.5 lakh as against the promised sum of Rs 3 lakh. Out of Rs 3 lakh, Rs 2 lakh was for compensation and Rs 1 lakh for agriculture land or cash in lieu of it.

Gunner Ashok Mayannanavar of 191 Field Regiment and C Yoganand of Medium Regiment became martyrs in Operation Meghadoot on September 5 and June 9, 2013 respectively. While the government had given a compensation of Rs 1 lakh and another Rs 1 lakh to meet the cost of agriculture land, there was no mention regarding cash compensation as against a free site worth Rs 4.5 lakh to Gunner Mayyannavar. Only 50 per cent of compensation has been given to Yoganand. An application seeking allotment of agriculture land has been pending in the office of the deputy commissioner since 2013.

With regard to Lt Col E.K. Niranjankumar belonging to 10 Engineering Regiment, the government had given cash compensation of Rs 5 lakh and is waiting for an application to provide facilities as the family members have not returned to Bengaluru after they took the mortal remains of Lt Col Niranjankumar for the last rites to Kerala last month.

Lt Col Niranjankumar from Bengaluru became a martyr in a terrorist attack at Patankot airbase on January 3, 2016. The government is still examining the issue of giving agriculture land or a free site or cash against it for want of applications from the family members.

However, the government had given a special compensation of Rs 25 lakh to families of Seopy Mahesh P.N., Subedar Nagesh and Lance Nayak Hanumanthappa Koppad who were killed in Operation Meghadoot on February 3, 2016. Similarly, Rs 25 lakh special compensation was given to Sepoy Sadashiv Maruti Morey who died in Operation Rakshak.

Raising the issue in the Legislative Council, Mr B.J. Puttaswamy of BJP bemoaned the negligence of officials in extending benefits to the bereaved families of soldiers. Why do officers have to wait for the families to give applications, what is preventing them from going to their houses to collect it. The bureaucrats do not understand the extreme circumstances in which our soldiers function. Such officers should be posted to places like Siachen to get a first-hand experience of the weather conditions.

Capt Ganesh Karnik of BJP flayed the CM's Media Advisor Dinesh Ammin Mattu's reported statement in Udupi that youths were joining the army just for the sake of a job. He said Mr Mattu did not know how the families of retired personnel send their kin to the army to serve the country. "They do not join the army for the sake of feeding themselves but with the intention of serving the motherland.
BENGALURU: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has so far arrested 25 people for their suspected links with banned global terror organisation - Daesh from across India. Out of the 25, Karnataka tops the list of alleged Daesh sympathisers with eight arrests so far by the agency.

The head count of suspected Daesh sympathisers from the State increased after the NIA on Friday took over the investigation in a case involving Mohammad Sirajuddin, son of Mohammad Sarwar of Kalburgi, who was arrested in December last year in Jaipur for alleged links with Daesh increasing the figures given by the Ministry of Home Affairs recently from seven to eight.

According to the Union Minister of State for Home Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary the NIA had till recently arrested 24 accused out of whom seven each are from Karnataka and Maharashtra, four from Telangana, three from Uttar Pradesh one each from Jammu and Kashmir and Tamil Nadu, Sirajuddin is the eighth alleged Daesh sympathiser from Karnataka.

He was working with the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) in Jaipur, when he was arrested under Sections 13, 18 and 38(1) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act by the Rajasthan Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS), on the grounds of being actively associated in promoting the ideology of Daesh and inciting other persons to become member of the banned terror organisation through the use of online social media forums and exhorting them to indulge in terrorist and anti-national activities, said an NIA source. Sirajuddin was earlier working in Bengaluru before being transferred to Jaipur in 2014 by the IOC.
Tag Team Action

The opening match of the night was a fairly nice one to get us kicked off, with The Vaudevillians in actions against Hugo Knox and Tucker Knight. The match was a good one to start off with, as Aiden English and Simon Gotch were dominant throughout, not allowing Knox and Knight to get a foot in the door.

Lots of grappling was used in the early goings, before the match became slightly more open a few minutes in. But before Knox and Knight could gain any sort of advantage, the former NXT Tag Team Champions hit the Whirling Dervish and got the three count.

Caught on Tape

We were then shown a backstage segment with Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady calling out the NXT Tag Team Champions, The Revival after we saw the CCTV tape of them attacking Enzo in the parking lot a few weeks back. Cass told Dash and Dawson that there will be nowhere to run next time they meet and that they will be the new NXT Tag Team Champions.

Dash and Dawson were next to spout their feelings, calling Enzo and Cass cowards. We found out shortly after that a match will take place between the two teams at WWE Roadblock. Its great to see this match on the card and to reward them for their work in NXT, an Enzo and Cass win would certainly top their career off in the developmental league.

Women's Wrestling

Much like the first match of the show, this one was fairly balanced overall. Emma and Santana Garrett grappled for the majority of the match with the Australian keeping Garrett in the corners for a chunk of it. Emma showed great heelish behavior by standing on the hair of Garrett when she was down, continuing the development of her character.

Garrett fought back into the match but couldnt gain an advantage, instead, Emmas partner in crime Dana Brooke pulled the hair of Garrett and stopped her from gaining momentum. Emma finished the match by applying the Emma Lock dead center in the ring leaving nowhere to run and Garrett tapped out. From here, Emma should carry on a good run of form winning matches and working her way back up the womens division.

Cocky No More

The NXT General Manager, William Regal announced that Nia Jax and Eva Marie will face Women's Champion, Bayley and Asuka in tag team action next week. A match which has been building in the last few weeks should throw up some great spots.

With Asuka showing that she clearly wanted a shot at Bayley's Women's Title, how will the duo work together to overcome the dominant Jax and Marie. More to the point, will they be able to work together? We shall see.

Cold Welcome

We finally found out who NXTs newest superstar was this week, with that man being none other than, Austin Aries.

He was received with a huge pop from the crowd which was pretty quiet for the rest of the night, so that was a positive sign for Aries. What happened seconds later will be something Aries didnt want from his unveiling, being attacked on the ramp by a disgruntled Baron Corbin.

The two men scrapped before Corbin hit The Greatest Man who Ever Lived' with the End of Days before ripping Aries shirt from off of his back and throwing it in Regals face. He shouted An eye for an eye referring to the decision Regal made regarding leaving him out of the #1 Contendership re-match, receiving some fantastic heel heat from the crowd.

Austin Aries makes his NXT Debut. Photo: WWE

The Drifter - The Marine

Another week, and we still know little about The Drifter. Each week he comes out and each week he is still mysterious, with little information given to us. Even though we dont know much, one thing we do know is that he is good in the ring and it showed again in this match. Samson dominated the ex-marine Steve Cutler, not letting him get into the match before hitting a neckbreaker and getting the win.

Hopefully, we will find out more information about Samson in the coming weeks because the mysterious persona is starting to get tiring, and isn't winning over the fans.

A Champion Returns

Former two-time NXT Tag Team and one time NXT Champion, Neville made an appearance this week against current champion, Finn Balor in a non-title match. The two high flyers put on a fantastic show, especially considering this match wasnt even for the title.

The match started off slowly with grappling between both men, equally impressive as each other. A slow build was key for the spots which occurred halfway into the affair. The current champion got the upper hand when he threw Neville over the top rope, landing chest first on the floor which was a good addition to the match. Neville hit Balor with a perfectly executed moonsault from the middle rope not too long after, and then showed impressive strength when lifting Balor off of his feet to suplex him. This was the last stand out moment of the The Man That Gravity Forgot.

Balor showed off his high flying skill, diving over the top rope and landing on Neville. Both men having their standout moment from the match was a nice touch, but Balor came out on top, hitting the Coup de Grace and then Bloody Sunday to get the win.

Overall it was a fantastic match and a great way to end the show which reminded us just how good Neville can be. Balor gave the RAW superstar a round of applause along with the rest of the NXT Crowd before Neville raised The Demons hand which was a great show of respect between both men.
Last month, World Health Organization declared Zika virus outbreak as a Public Health Emergency. Even if the mosquito-borne virus causes no reason of symptoms in most cases, it has been connected to a rise in number of cases of microcephaly which is a fatal birth defect. Google collaborates with UNICEF and supplies funds, people and tools to battle the disease.

Google will donate UNICEF $1 million to help in their move to fight Zika virus. The company has its own engineers assisting UNICEF analyzing data to detect how to map and expect the virus. The tech giant will also give half million additional to UNICEF and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) in support to the work of their own employees on the field.

The said funds will be used by UNICEF to increase awareness, lessen mosquito populations, helps vaccines development and support the prevention of virus transmission. The organization anticipates 200 million affected or susceptible people in Latin America will get the help they needed, as reported by Mashable.

In order to map and expect the scattering of the virus, Google has assigned teams of designers, engineers and data scientists in analyzing data such as travel patterns and weather. The alarming outbreak has been associated to a neurological sickness called Guillain-Barre syndrome and birth defects, according to Online News Planet.

"Ultimately, the goal of this open source platform is to identify the risk of Zika transmission for different regions and help UNICEF, governments and NGO's decide how and where to focus their time and resources," Google.org director Jacquelline Fuller wrote in a blog post. "This set of tools is being prototyped for the Zika response, but will also be applicable to future emergencies."

In addition to Google's effort to help fight Zika virus, it added 16 languages in order for people to get more information and understanding about the virus including overview and symptoms. The company has noticed that information search for Zika virus has surged to 3,000% starting November of last year. Being the owner of YouTube, Google has included creators in Latin America such as the Brazilian physician Drauzio Varella to increase awareness about the prevention of the Zika virus on their channels, as reported by USA Today.

With the $1 million grant from Google along with the additional $500,000, UNICEF will be equipped with the funds they needed together with the tools and manpower to combat the Zika virus that links to birth defects and neurological illness. The said funds will be used to raise the community's awareness, development of vaccines and prevention of the disease.
Roofstock Inc. has collected $13.25 million in Series A funding to be used in an online marketplace for single-family rental homes that has been occupied. The platform will be launched on Thursday with a keen inventory of central Florida homes from institutional real-estate agents.

Roofstock Inc. delivers an online marketplace enabling investors to commit in rented investment homes from institutional sellers. It was incorporated in 2014 and has headquarters in Oakland, California. It runs Roofstock which is a cloud-delivered platform enabled by technology. It gathers participants under one roof and sells homes, as reported by Bloomberg.

The company will have inspectors to determine the condition of homes and make buyers comfortable to buying them even without visiting the site. The buyer will obtain the house and its present lease according to Roofstocks' exemplar. Currently, Roofstock is taking homes where tenants currently pay their rents and have leased for at least one year, Wall Street Journal reports.

Roofstock has the ability to interpose liquidity into market with assets that cannot be easily converted into cash. Usually, selling of single-family rental homes will have tenants leave the house. As the vacated home stays in the market for many months, the sellers miss on the possible collection of the rent.

The company gets its funding from Bain Capital, Ron Conway, Khosla Ventures and Marc Benioff to name a few. Prices are already determined to prevent lost time during the negotiations. The closed deal will be delivered through electronic document and e-signatures to speed up the process, according to TechCrunch.

"You'd never vacate an apartment home to sell it, so why should we vacate a rental home," asks Gary Beasley, co-founder and CEO. Before Roofstock, "there was no efficient way to buy and sell investment homes that have tenants in place."

The Roofstock platform will soon start in Florida with future plans of expanding throughout the U.S. Bain Capital Ventures invested $7 million in Series A-1 in that closed in December while Matt Harris, the managing director adjoin Roofstock's board.
The enterprise business service from Hewlett-Packard, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise reported its quarterly result on Thursday. Although the earning fell by negative currency impacts but the company booked a better than expected revenue and profit.

Hewlett-Packard Enterprise is one of Hewlett-Packard companies which split its business into two separate companies. Hewlett-Packard decided to separate its personal computer and printer business from its technology services, which finalized in October 2014. The two publicly-traded companies are Hewlett-Packard Inc. which operates personal computer and printer business, and Hewlett-Packard Enterprise as technology service company.

Hewlett-Packard Enterprise has four divisions: enterprise group, enterprise services, software, and financial services. All four of them are focusing on the enterprise level technology service, with enterprise group as core service.

On Thursday, the company reported its revenue in the first quarter ended in January were at $12.72 billion, fall from $13.05 billion in the previous quarter. The revenue earned the company 41 cents per share. Although its revenue fell, but it beat analysts estimation which forecasted of $12.68 billion revenue and 40 cents per share.

Reuters reported that enterprise group business, which generates more than half of its total revenue increased 1% to $7.1 billion from last year's result. Hewlett-Packard Enterprise also keep its adjusted profit forecast in 2016 at $1.85-$1.95 per share. Following the result, the company's share were up 6.4% to $14.47 in extended trading.

CEO Meg Whitman said in a statement as quoted by CNBC, "During our first quarter as an independent company, we saw the progress that comes from being more focused and nimble." She also said, "We delivered a third consecutive quarter of year-over-year constant currency revenue growth, and excluding the impact of recent M&A activity, we saw revenue growth in constant currency across every business segment for the first time since 2010."

Fox Business reported that rise of cloud services poses a challenge for HP Enterprise and other enterprise technology vendors. Cloud services allow companies to run their computing needs on the cloud servers, without purchasing servers and computing infrastructures. As an effot to focus on its core strength, HP shut down its cloud service last October and cooperated with Microsoft in providing online programs for Windows 10 operating system and other technology services.

Corporate technology vendors were facing fluctuation since the beginning of 2016, as a result of market turmoil. Currency factors were weigh on HP Enterprise revenue along with customers withhold the purchase. CEO Whitman affirmed that HP Enterprise had acknowledged the pattern in January, but she said business began to elevate starting February.

Although its quarterly result beat the estimation, but HP Enterprise business was slowing down in the first quarter ended in January. Nevertheless, the company's share was up, showing investors' confidence to company's performance.
Russian energy company GazProm sign a loan agreement with Bank of China. GazProm The 2 billion ($2.17 billion) on a 5-year loan, and the largest loan the company has ever borrowed from single lender.

On Thursday, GazProm announced the Russian energy company has signed a  2 billion($2.17 billion) agreement with Bank of China for 5-year loan. In a statement as quoted by Financial Times the company said, "This is the largest deal in Gazprom's history based on the size of financing obtained directly from one credit organisation, and the first bilateral credit deal with a Chinese bank."

Two years earlier in 2014, GazProm signed a deal with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) to supply $400bn of gas to China for the next 30 years. Reuters reported that capital expenditure in 2016 for the project with CNPC is estimated at around $2.3 billion, with total project cost at $55 billion.

After the deal, GazProm tried to find financing package to build a new pipeline to transport gas to China. Last October, GazProm raised 1 billion($1.09 billion) via a three-year Eurobond.

Following the declining relationship with the West, Russian companies and banks look to Asia as funding alternatives. As Western world imposed sanction on Russia over its involvement in Ukrainian conflict. The sanctions has restricted access for Russian companies into European and Western capital market.

Nevertheless, Western sanction has increased cooperation between China and Russia. Wall Street Journal reported that Western sanctions are increasing Russia's economic reliance on China.

Whereas GazpProm announced the loan from with Bank of China, as the world's biggest energy consumer, China gain benefit as well. The deal has further expanded China's investment in Russian energy sector, giving China more acess to Russia's huge hydrocarbon reserves.

Last September, China and Russia has signed another memorandum to on Russian gas supply from the country's Far East to China. This will create a new route for gas transport to China along with two other gas pipelines. China also agreed to increase its stake in $27 billion liquefied-natural-gas project in the Arctic.

Beside GazProm and energy sectors, other Russian companies also look to China for debt and equity financing. Among the list are mining company Norilsk Nickel, petrochemical company Sibur and AFK Sistema, state development bank VEB, Megafon and Yamal LNG.

GazProm has secured its 2 billion ($2.17 billion) loan on a 5-year term from Bank of China. The loan was recorded as the largest loan GazProm has ever borrowed from one lender. While Russia and China are increasing cooperation on energy sector and other sectors as well.
Citigroup, a US-based financial and banking service provider, is reportedly in negotiation to appoint Armando Diaz as the global leader of capital equities trading. Armando Diaz will replace Kevin Russell, who stepped down from the bank in 2015. Currently, Kevin is the chief investment officer of O'Connor hedge-fund arm of UBS Group.

In his role, Diaz will report directly to Derek Bandeen, chief of equity sector at Citigroup. Recently, Diaz held a position as the global leader of execution services at Millennium Management, an investment firm. This is the second start for Diaz at Citigroup after 2008 when he joined the bank to manage the institutional capital trading business in the US. In 2011, Diaz left Citigroup to join Millennium, from where he departed in July, as reported in Bloomberg.

In addition, the bank is in discussion to appoint two veterans from Goldman Sachs Group. Citigroup will name Quentin Andre as the global head of structured sales. Moreover, Dirk Keijer will be appointed as leader of derivatives sales unit in Africa, Middle-East and Europe. Andre is entering Citigroup from Goldman Sachs, where he worked as leader of Europe marketing and structuring business. Keijer headed the sales business arm in Europe.

According to Jamie Forese, leader of Institutional Clients Group at Citi, the bank intended to invest in stock offering sector in order to boost its profitability. These appointments signify the bank's effort to construct a robust stock offering business. In 2015, Murray Roos was appointed as leader of global stock sales as well as prime finance unit. The US-based lender also hired John Lowrey as leader of global money electronic execution. Previously, John Lowrey was the chief executive officer of Chi-X Global.

The bank named Stephen Roti as managing director and leader of global corporate stock sales unit. Stephen joined Citigroup from Nomura. On the contrary side, Charles Lytle is leaving Citigroup to join Goldman Sachs as the co-leader of corporate banking business unit. Charles Lytle is replacing Phil Shelley, who left Goldman for Barclays, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL reported.

Meanwhile, David Livingstone, a former banker at Credit Suisse, has been appointed as Citigroup's country officer for Australia. David will join the office from June 1 and will report to Francisco Aristeguieta, chief of Asia Pacific business. David joined Credit Suisse in 2010, where he managed cash markets and investment banking business for Middle East, Africa and Europe till 2013.

Stephen Roberts, the current Citi Australia boss, will be promoted as chairman. There had been gossips that Tony Osmond, leader of investment banking business in Australia, might replace Roberts. According to Aristeguieta, it is important to earn a profit in Australian units as it is the biggest businesses in the area and that David with his vast experience will help the country office to achieve success, as reported by THE AUSTRALIAN BUSINESS REVIEW.

Citigroup aims to build a strong business in stock offering sector by appointing veterans from various financial service providers. The bank is moving forward to maintain its position in the banking industry.
LISA MCKINNON/THE STAR Mrs. Olson's Coffee Hut will reopen Friday, March 4 at its new location in Oxnard's Channel Islands Harbor.

SHARE LISA MCKINNON/THE STAR Mrs. Olson's Coffee Hut is returning with such longtime menu favorites as the Seafood "Real" Crab and Shrimp Omelette. LISA MCKINNON/THE STAR Members of the Mrs. Olson's Coffee Hut kitchen crew pose for a group photo Thursday while preparing test batches of pancakes and potatoes. The restaurant will reopen at its new location on Friday, March 4. Pictured from left are: Juan Marquez, Luis Ballatta, Edgar Garcia, Gabriel Prado, Benito Cruz, Francisco Cruz and Carlos Rasandiz. LISA MCKINNON/THE STAR Pair wine with Bavarian-style pretzels Friday when the Pretzel Guild of Santa Barbara visits The Ojai Vineyard tasting room. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/TIM HAUF A kayaker approaches Anacapa Island, one of the Channel Islands featured in the documentary West of the West. The film will have its Ventura premiere Sunday. An optional Dine in Paradise fundraiser includes a meal at Paradise Pantry.

By Lisa McKinnon of the Ventura County Star

Grab a welcome-back breakast at Mrs. Olson's Coffee Hut in Oxnard. Pair pretzels with wine in Ojai. Learn how to raise backyard chickens in Camarillo and Newbury Park. Yep, there's plenty to do, see and taste in and around Ventura County this weekend.

1). WELCOME THE RETURN OF AN OLD FRIEND

After a two month absence from the breakfast-and-lunch scene, Mrs. Olson's Coffee Hut will reopen Friday morning at its new location in Oxnard's Channel Islands Harbor.

The space more than doubles the seating that was available at the restaurant's original spot, which it occupied for more than 40 years in nearby Hollywood Beach. The menu of pancakes, Mrs. Olson's classic potatoes, chilaquiles and barbecue tri-tip sandwiches remains the same, along with the kitchen crew that produces them.

Also returning: the restaurant's original phone number and hours of operation: 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily. (2800 S. Harbor Ave., Suite A, 805-985-9151)

2). DO THE TWIST

Ever tried pairing pretzels with wine? A special Friday-afternoon event at The Ojai Vineyard tasting room will give you the chance to do just that - and with the soft, Bavarian-style twists made by the Santa Barbara-based Pretzel Guild, to boot.

Five wines will be available by the glass and bottle (no flights) during this "wine bar"-style event from 4 to 6 p.m. Also featured: poetry by Catherine Abbey Hodges, winner of the inaugural Barry Spacks Poetry Prize, and music by cellist Rob Hodges.

(109 S. Montgomery St., 805-798-3947, http://www.ojaivineyard.com)

3). WHET YOUR APPETITE

Whet. A transitive verb meaning "to make keen or more acute."

Will "whet" pop up Saturday, when 40 or so local students compete in the Ventura County Spelling Bee from 1 p.m. on the CSU Channel Islands campus at 1 University Drive in Camarillo?

Nah. Too easy. But if previous bees are any indication, food words pulled from a variety of cultures and the pages of Larousse Gastronomique will play a role in helping determine who will advance to the national bee in Washington D.C.

In other words, expect the bee to whet your appetite - whether you attend in person or watch via the live stream available from 1 p.m. on The Star's website, http://www.vcstar.com.

For a previous Star story about the bee, click on http://bit.ly/1VTUgTY.

4). MEET SOME CHICKS

Learn about raising chickens for eggs during "Chick Day" sessions at two Healthy Pet locations in Ventura County. The tutorial will be provided by Dare 2 Dream Farms of Lompoc, which also will have a limited number of chicks ranging in age from two to 12 weeks available for purchase.

The events will take place from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday in Newbury Park (67 N. Reino Road, 805-498-7600) and from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday in Camarillo (850 Arneill Road, 805-484-1114).

5). ENJOY DINNER AND A MOVIE

Your choice of lunch or an early dinner is included in tickets for "Dine in Paradise," which on Sunday will feature a meal at Paradise Pantry in downtown Ventura, followed by the Ventura County premiere of "West of the West: Tales from California's Channel Islands," a documentary about the national park right off our coast.

Seatings for the meal are available at noon and 2, 4 and 6 p.m. at the restaurant (222 E. Main St.). The menu includes such choices as duck confit soup, Tuscan-braised beef over mushroom polenta and the prosciutto-wrapped Italiano sandwich.

The film is scheduled for several showtimes at Century 10 Downtown Theater (555 E. Main St.). An evening screening is included with "Dine in Paradise" tickets, $35 ($15 for children), with proceeds going to the Channel Islands Park Foundation.

For information and tickets, go to http://bit.ly/1QPFGZ0.

Lisa McKinnon is a staff writer for The Star. Her Cafe Society column appears in the Sunday Life section and Fridays in the Time Out section. For between-column updates, follow 805foodie on Twitter and Instagram and "like" the Facebook page VCS Eats. Please send email to lisa.mckinnon@vcstar.com.
SHARE Courtesy of Rodgers & Hammerstein: An Imagem Company, www.rnh.com Cabrillo Music Theatre will screen "The Sound of Music" at Muvico in Thousand Oaks on Sunday.

Events/festivals

Ventura County

Wild and Scenic Film Festival:

Ventura Hillsides Conservancy presents its seventh annual film festival featuring 10 award-winning short films each night, popcorn, food, beer, wine and a high-end raffle offering original artwork, outdoor gear, restaurant gift cards and more. March 4-5, Poinsettia Pavilion, 3451 Foothill Road, Ventura. $15-$30. 643-8044; venturahillsides.org.

Minecraft at the Movies:

A limited number of players - up to about 100 - will receive Super League team jerseys and play the imaginative building block video game as part of the Mega-Sized Video Game Series. Players will need their Super League credentials and a laptop with Minecraft version 1.8.0 or higher. Tickets must be pre-purchased. 10:30 a.m. Saturdays, through March 12, Muvico Thousand Oaks 14, 166 W. Hillcrest Drive, Thousand Oaks. $60 general admission, $40 with the promo code "Carmike." 494-4702; superleague.com/carmike.

Ventura Gem Show:

The 54th Annual Gem, Mineral, Lapidary & Fossil Show will feature more than 50 exhibits, door prizes, silent auctions, a "Country Store" flea market and plant sale and children's activities. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. March 5, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 6, Ventura County Fairgrounds, 10 W. Harbor Blvd., Ventura. Free. 312-8467; vgms.org.

Jewish Film Festival:

The 13th Annual Jewish Film Festival of Ventura County will showcase films that explore the diversity of the Jewish experience throughout the world. Featured films include "Dough," the story of widowed Jewish baker and a Muslim Darfur refugee who become close, "Farewell Party," a dark comedy set in a convalescent home and "The Price of Sugar," a historical look at the Portuguese Jews who once owned sugar plantations and slaves in the Caribbean. March 5-13, various locations, Ventura. For a complete schedule, visit vcjff.org.

Dudley House Open House:

The 1892 Dudley Historic House Museum will feature docent-led tours accompanied by period music in the parlor and upstairs library landing. 1-4 p.m. March 6, Loma Vista Road and Ashwood Avenue. Free. 642-3345; dudleyhouse.org.

Mobile Business Event:

California Lutheran University students will bring mobile businesses to campus, including trucks selling clothes, yarn and other goods, as a means of gaining marketing experience. The community is invited to shop at the Yarnover Truck, Jennifer Lauren Boutique, the Library Store on Wheels and more. 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 10, 60 W. Olsen Road, Thousand Oaks. 493-3512; callutheran.edu.

UP NORTH

Santa Barbara International Orchid Show: The 71st annual orchid show, this year titled "Wild World of Orchids," features more than 50 exhibitors and vendors from around the world. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. March 4-6, Earl Warren Showgrounds, 3400 Calle Real, Santa Barbara. $14 general admission, $12 seniors and students, free for children 12 and younger. For tickets and information, visit sborchidshow.com.

SPECIAL SCREENINGS

Ventura County

"The Sound of Music":

As part of its fundraising Muvico Film Series, Cabrillo Music Theatre presents a screening of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical film starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. Reservations requested. 6 p.m. March 6, Muvico Thousand Oaks, 166 W. Hillcrest Drive, Thousand Oaks. Donations encouraged. 497-8613; cabrillomusictheatre.com.

"The Hunger Games: Catching Fire":

Thousand Oaks Library presents a free screening of the film starring Jennifer Lawrence. 7 p.m. March 8, Newbury Park Branch Library, 2331 Borchard Road, Newbury Park. 449-2660; toaks.org/library.

UP NORTH

"West of the West":

Santa Barbara Maritime Museum presents a premiere screening of the film exploring the history of the Channel Islands, told from the viewpoint of those who experienced life there. The evening will feature guest appearances by Joe Walsh of The Eagles and the film's directors and a Chumash blessing. 7:30 p.m. March 5, Arlington Theater, 1317 State St., Santa Barbara. $55 general admission, $45 museum members. 962-8404, ext. 115; sbmm.org.

LECTURES AND APPEARANCES

Ventura County

Writing Talk:

As part of its Literature, Arts & Lecture Series, Oxnard College presents editor and poet Kate Gale of Red Hen Press, who will give a talk titled "Independent Publishing of Fiction, Memoir and Poetry," in which she will discuss writing and how to get published. Gale will also deliver a short reading of her poetry. 1-2 p.m. March 9, 4000 S. Rose Ave., Oxnard. Free. 986-5800; oxnardcollege.edu.

Yoga Talk:

As part of its Literature, Arts & Lecture Series, Oxnard College presents yoga teacher Nisahna Engel giving a talk titled "Why Practice Yoga?" in which she will discuss yoga's origins, the eightfold path and a simple secret for recharging the body and brain. 1-2 p.m. March 16, 4000 S. Rose Ave., Oxnard. Free. 986-5800; oxnardcollege.edu.

Channel Islands Anthropology Talk:

CSU Channels Islands Professor of Anthropology Colleen Delaney, Ph.D., will discuss the Channel Islands as they were to ancient people and why they remain important in "The Prehistory of the Channel Islands and Coastal California: A 10,000 Year Retrospective." 6-8 p.m. March 7, Camarillo Library, 4101 E. Las Posas Road, Camarillo. Free. 437-8400; csuci.edu.

Ayurvedic Medicine Lecture:

Thousand Oaks Library presents "Herbs and Spices: Do They Impact Human Health," a lecture by CSU Channel Islands Associate Professor of Biology Nitika Parmar, Ph.D. in which she will discuss Ayurvedic medicine and which spices might fight infection, boost the immune system, reduce inflammation, help prevent cancer, improve heart health and other benefits. 7 p.m. March 10, Grant R. Brimhall Library, 1401 E. Janss Road, Thousand Oaks. 449-2660; toaks.org/library.

Business @ Sunrise Talk:

CSU Channel Islands President Richard Rush will speak about the university's first 15 years at the Oxnard Chamber of Commerce's Business @ Sunrise event. Advanced reservations are requested and discounted if made by March 7. 7:15 a.m. March 10, Residence Inn by Marriott at River Ridge, 2101 Vineyard Ave., Oxnard. 983-6118; oxnardchamber.org.

UP NORTH

Asian Art Talk:

Santa Barbara Museum of Art presents art historian, Asian art curator, author and educator Meher McArthur giving a talk titled, "An Appreciation of Japanese Art and Aesthetics." 3 p.m. March 6, 1130 State St., Santa Barbara. $8 general admission, $5 SBMA members.

Wildlife Photographer:

UCSB Arts & Lectures will host wildlife photographer, explorer and conservationist Steve Winter, as he gives his illustrated National Geographic Live presentation "On the Trail of Big Cats: Tigers, Cougars and Snow Leopards." 3 p.m. March 6, UCSB, Campbell Hall, 574 Mesa Road, Santa Barbara. $25 general admission, $15 UCSB students. 893-3535; artsandlectures.ucsb.edu.

DANCE CLUBS

Ventura County

Poinsettia Ballroom Dancers:

The group's weekly dance features ballroom and Latin music. 7:30-10 p.m. Mondays, Poinsettia Pavilion, 3451 Foothill Road, Ventura. $12 general, $10 members. 415-8842.

Channel Cities Jazz Club:

The Club hosts a public dance with live music performed by the house band and guest jammers on the third Sunday of every month. Food and beverages are available for purchase. 1-4:30 p.m., ongoing, Pacific Corinthian Yacht Club, 2600 S. Harbor Blvd., Oxnard. $10 general admission, $7 members. 487-3062; channelcitiesjazzclub.org.

Country Lovers Western Dance Club:

The Country Lovers Western Dance Club holds a dance featuring a dance lesson and music by DJ Jammin' Country. 6:45-9 p.m. Tuesdays, Ventura Moose Family Center, 10269 Telephone Road, Ventura. $6 general. On the third Saturday of each month, the club hosts a social dance at House of Dance, 3007 Bunsen Ave., Ventura. 456-9067; countrylovers.com.

Oxnard Ballroom Dance Club:

The club will hold a weekly dance party featuring live Ballroom, Line Dancing, Latin and Swing music. Light refreshments included. 6:30-10 p.m. Thursdays, Oxnard Performing Arts Center, 800 Hobson Way, Oxnard. $12 general admission, $10 Club members. 340-5226 or 407-1709.

CLASSES

Ventura County

Readers' Theater Classes:

The Santa Paula Theater Center will offer a six-week series of readers' theater classes for actors and community members under the direction of Judy Blake. Participants will develop characters, tell stories, develop creative expression and take part in a culminating performance. 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturdays, through March 26, 125 South 7th St., Santa Paula. $60. 525-4645; santapaulatheatercenter.org.

Drawing Class:

The Ventura County Arts Collective presents an eight-part drawing series based on the book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain." Artists of all skills levels are invited to participate. 6:30-8 p.m. March 3 through April 21, Pacific View Mall, 3301 E. Main St., Suite 2167, Ventura. $140 early registration (before March 1), $160 regular registration. To register, email vcartscollective@gmail.com.
Star file photo A mother and daughter check class lists at Meiners Oaks Elementary School.

SHARE Star file photo A mother and daughter check class lists at Meiners Oaks Elementary School.

By Claudia Boyd-Barrett, Special to The Star

Weighing the impact of declining enrollment, stretched finances and costly repair needs across the Ojai Unified School District, a committee has tentatively voted to recommend closing Meiners Oaks Elementary School.

Members of the district's 7-11 committee met Thursday night to formally present their views on closing a school for the first time since they began reviewing the idea about four months ago. After a vigorous debate, the committee voted 6-5 in favor of removing students from Meiners Oaks Elementary School on the district's west side.

Meiners Oaks is one of five elementary schools in the district, all of which seen enrollment decline over the past decade.

"The student population is basically static over the next 5 or 10 years, but it is also 30 or 35 percent (down) from where it was 10 or 15 years ago," said committee member Steve Quilici, who voted in favor of the closure.

Committee members Dave White, Demetri Corbin, Marianne Ratcliff, Glenn Fout and Linda Jordan voted against the motion. However, Jordan said later she would vote in favor of removing students from Meiners Oaks after the committee overwhelmingly recommended that the school board consider repurposing the school to house the district's headquarters, an environmental learning hub, nonprofit groups and Ojai's Valley Oak Charter School.

The committee did not vote on where students currently attending Meiners Oaks would go. However, several members suggested the students could attend nearby Mira Monte Elementary School. Although both schools are currently under capacity, Meiners Oaks has greater repair needs than Mira Monte, and keeping it open would be costlier to the district, those in favor argued.

Several committee members spoke passionately against closing a school. Ratcliff said the savings projected from closing a school would not be enough to justify the disruption to families and potential loss of students to other districts and private schools. She said the district should instead try to increase attendance and enrollment, and ensure a full accounting of all students who qualify for additional state funding.

"We would be making a big mistake, not only academically but financially, to close any one of our schools," she said.

However, assistant superintendent Andrew Cantwell and some other members highlighted the potential for improved teacher collaboration and a reduction in combined grade classes as a result of a larger student population on one site. Committee member and teacher's union vice president Merv Van Auker said closing a school could also free up some limited funds for much-needed teacher salary increases.

Ojai teachers are currently the lowest paid in the county, Cantwell said.

Other suggestions floated Thursday included turning the district's current headquarters and alternative Chaparral High School in downtown Ojai into affordable housing for teachers. Several members expressed support for the idea.

The committee must still take public comment on its recommendations before holding a final vote and presenting their decision to the district's board of education. A public hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. March 17 at Chaparral Auditorium, 414 E. Ojai Ave.
New Delhi: India on Friday ruled out joint maritime patrolling with the United States in waters of the Asia-Pacific region, days after a top American military commander hoped it would happen in the near future. Defence minister Manohar Parrikar said India is in for joint military exercises with other countries, including the US, but not for joint patrolling.

As of now, India has never participated in joint patrolling. But we do participate in joint exercises. So the question of joint patrolling at this stage does not arise, he told reporters at South Block. He was asked a question on the remarks made by the chief of the US Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris.
STAR FILE PHOTO The Casitas Municipal Water District has made an offer to buy Golden State Water Companys Ojai system.

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By Claudia Boyd-Barrett, Special to The Star

The Casitas Municipal Water District has offered Golden State Water Company $23.7 million for its Ojai water system, but the company said Thursday the franchise is not for sale.

Casitas attorney Jeffrey Oderman submitted the purchase offer to Golden State Water's attorney George Soneff in a letter dated Feb. 26, after the municipal district's board of directors approved it unanimously.

The offer marks the latest in a drawn-out battle by Ojai residents and Casitas to wrest control of the city's water system from the private company and into public hands.

As of Thursday, Golden State had not formally responded to Casitas' offer, other than to acknowledge receipt of the letter, Oderman said. But in a statement to the Ventura County Star, Golden State Water's senior vice president of regulated utilities Denise Kruger said the company does not intend to sell its Ojai assets.

"Golden State Water has proudly served the Ojai community for more than 85 years, and we look forward to providing reliable, safe water service for generations to come," the statement said. "Our Ojai system is not for sale."

The company's intransigence means Casitas will likely attempt a takeover of the franchise through eminent domain. That process requires legal and court proceedings that could drag on for up to a year, estimated Ryan Blatz, an attorney for citizen's group Ojai Friends of Locally Owned Water or FLOW, which has been leading the takeover fight.

Casitas and Ojai FLOW have already spent over two years tied up in legal proceedings with Golden State Water after the company sued them unsuccessfully in court over their financing strategy for the takeover. The strategy involves creating a special district to allow Casitas to tax Ojai residents to pay back the cost over time of acquiring the Golden State Water franchise.

Ojai voters overwhelmingly approved the takeover plan in 2013, with 87 percent voting in favor.

"The reason why Casitas got involved is because the citizens of Ojai requested our assistance, and they voted unanimously to tax themselves to do this at no expense to Casitas' current ratepayers," Casitas board member Russ Baggerly said. "It was the right thing to do."

Baggerly accused Golden State Water of "gouging the citizens of Ojai very extremely" and speculated that the company doesn't want to sell the franchise because it makes a lot of money.

Blatz said Golden State Water charges Ojai ratepayers about three times more for their water than Casitas Municipal Water District charges its customers, once additional fees are factored in. Even with the cost of purchasing Golden State Water, Ojai ratepayers would come out ahead, Blatz said.

Both entities take water from Lake Casitas, although Golden State gets most of its water from wells in the Ojai Valley. The water sources would remain the same if Casitas buys the franchise, Blatz said.

Casitas based its $23.7 million purchase offer on an appraisal by Bruce W. Hull and Associates, a firm the district contracted to assess the value of Golden State's Ojai assets, including pipelines, water rights, wells, tanks and pumping stations. According to the letter, Golden State Water refused to assist with the appraisal.

Blatz said Golden State Water could object to an eminent domain takeover on two fronts: the eminent domain strategy itself and the price offered for the franchise.

"We would hope that Golden State would do the right thing, accept a reasonable amount of money and move on," Blatz said. "However, nothing we've dealt with with them in this entire process has ever gone the easy way."
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By John Scheibe of the Ventura County Star

Some 15 members or associates of the notoriously violent MS-13 gang were arrested this week in an operation involving numerous law-enforcement agencies, including Oxnard police.

The arrests were part of what is being called "Operation Matador" and were announced during a Thursday news conference in Santa Maria by Ralph Martin, the city's chief of police.

Some 150 law enforcement agents, including some from the Oxnard Police Department, took part in the operation which began at 3 a.m. Thursday, Martin said. The operation also included the detention of another 40 people suspected of either being active gang members or committing crimes in and around Santa Maria, authorities said.

Search warrants were served at a dozen places, Martin said, including one in Oxnard. Other locations include Santa Maria, Bakersfield and Columbus, Ohio.

Martin said the operation against MS-13 follows an increase in violent crime in Santa Maria, although none of those arrested have been linked to any of the 18 homicides that have taken place in that city since January 2015.

'MS' stands for Mara Salvatrucha.

Eric Sonstegard, an assistant chief of police for Oxnard, said on Friday that his department was very happy to participate in the operation.

"Oxnard police have conducted lots of similar operations with the help of other" law enforcement agencies, Sonstegard said.

Sonstegard noted that Oxnard police investigators are following MS-13's threat to Santa Maria.

"If things are happening there, they could be happening here too," he said. While MS-13 members have been present in Oxnard at times, Sonstegard said police have been vigilant and have done a good job in curbing their activities in Oxnard.

The gang began in Los Angeles in the 1980s and came as people from El Salvador were fleeing the upheaval brought by civil wars in Central America, many of them coming to Southern California.

Sonstegard, who used to investigate gang activity when he worked as a police officer for the Los Angeles School District before joining Oxnard police in the 1990s, said MS-13 "is one of the more ruthless and violent street gangs around."

Oxnard has had an injunction against gangs for more than 10 years.

In addition to the Oxnard and Santa Maria police departments, other law enforcement agencies that participated in Thursday's operation included the FBI, the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Department and the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Department.
SHARE

Re: your story March 2, Casa losing crisis contract:

Reading about Casa Pacifica no longer providing crisis assessments for children, I worry that misguided priorities will eclipse concerns for vulnerable and precarious children.

Casa Pacifica came into being to serve children whose lives are torn apart by neglect and abuse. The Behavioral Health Department, unfortunately, has long been criticized from within and without as too often motivated by bureaucratic concerns for self-preservation. Nor can the principle of "continuity of care" justify this change; that should have been operational throughout Mental Health decades ago.

Additionally, the new providers of children's crisis services likely will include many who chose not to work with children knowing they lack the necessary spirit and skills, and without the former, they will not learn the latter, no matter their paper credentials.

Be careful, Ms. Crandall, that your focus on the spreadsheet does not misplace a vital service at the expense of suffering clients without voice or power.



Patrick C. Barker, Ventura

Editor: The author is a forensic psychologist.




The grand opening date for Sugar Factory American Brasserie is almost here and to celebrate the infamous candy emporium will launch two separate, week-long social media contests from Monday, Feb. 28, through Friday, March 4. At the end of the week, two lucky winners will receive the grand prize of a meet and greet with the gorgeous Kim Kardashian on Friday, March 4.

The first contest, a Rubber Duck Hunt, will be a scavenger hunt for Sugar Factorys adorably iconic mascot, a yellow rubber duck. One riddle each day will be posted on Sugar Factorys Twitter account, @SugarFactory, and its Facebook page, facebook.sugarfactory.com. Each riddle will hint at a major location within Paris Las Vegas that participants can seek out a hidden duck. At the end of the week, one winner will be chosen to meet the beautiful Kardashian at the grand opening.

Participants whod like the chance to meet the bombshell, but cant make it down to Paris Las Vegas to search for the little duck, will still have a shot at the grand prize. The second contest that will simultaneously occur will be a social media quiz about Sugar Factory and their sweetly decadent products. Sugar Factorys Twitter account, @SugarFactory, will post a question once a day for participants to answer. All answers to the questions can be found by searching through the Sugar Factory website, www.SugarFactory.com.

Once the answer has been found, participants must re-Tweet @SugarFactory with the correct answer and their name will be added to the pool of eligible contestants. One winner will be chosen on Friday, March 4, for the grand prize of meeting Kim K. on the red carpet on that evening. All participants in each contest must be in Las Vegas on Friday, March 4 to be eligible.

Sugar Factory American Brasserie will open its doors on Friday, March 4, with a star-studded grand opening. Celebrities in attendance will include: Kim Kardashian, Holly Madison, Mel B, David Arquette, Bella Thorne and more.

For more information please visit www.SugarFactory.com and follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SugarFactory.
Guwahati: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi here on Friday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of a personal attack in the Lok Sabha while asserting that people of Assam would respond to it in the ensuing assembly polls in Assam like in Bihar. In an obvious reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modis jibe in the parliament in which he said some people grow in age but do not mature, Mr Gandhi told an election rally in Silchar, Launch personal attacks at me as much you want and enjoy it but do answer my four questions.

In the same breath, Mr Gandhi referred to his questions about employment generated by Make in India and the scheme brought by the government to unearth black money, which he called fair and lovely, among others. Mr Gandhi said, In his over one hour and 15 minute speech in parliament, he launched personal attacks at me. He narrated me quotes of Indira and Rajiv Gandhi. But did not answer a single question I had asked him. I respect him. He is the Prime Minister. I asked him four questions but he did not answer.
Representatives of ADB and SHB at the signing ceremony. ADB signed with HDBank and SHB an agreement to provide guarantees of up to US$100 million per year. - VNA/VNS Photo Tran Viet

These agreements enable the trade finance programme (TFP) to provide guarantees of up to US$100 million per year.

The beneficiaries are exporting and importing companies, including small and mediumsized enterprises in the country, Steven Beck, ADB's head of trade finance, said at the signing ceremony held in Ha Noi.

"The agreements will help increase economic growth and create jobs," Beck said.

HDBank Chairman Le Thi Bang Tam said joining the ADB's TFP programme was part of her bank's determined effort to improve its financial management capacity and service quality.

"This is a golden opportunity for HDBank to expand its business into the world market," Tam said.

TFP's loans and guarantees will be complemented by workshops and seminars to increase knowledge and expertise on trade finance, resulting in more support for export and import companies in Viet Nam.

Previously, ADB had signed onto the programme with nine other Vietnamese banks, including Military Joint Stock Bank, Viet Nam Export Import Commercial Joint Bank and Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank.

ADB's TFP has been operating in Viet Nam since 2009. The programme has conducted more than 4,300 transactions and supported $6.5 billion in trade in the country.

Across Southeast Asia, the TFP has supported more than 6,000 small and medium-sized enterprises since 2009, through some 10,000 transactions valued at over $20 billion in sectors ranging from commodities and capital goods to medical supplies and consumer goods.

HDBank has more than 20 years of experience in the banking sector and has total assets worth more than VND100 trillion ($4.47 billion), with 220 offices nationwide.

SHB had total assets worth VND205 trillion as of December 31, with 7,000 employees in Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia.
According to a source of VIR, Airport Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) is in the process of choosing a consulting contractor to start negotiations with Aeroports de Paris to sell a strategic stake.

Aeroports de Paris proposed to meet ACV this week to talk about the purchase, said Vu Anh Minh, head of the Department of Company Management under the the Ministry of Transport (MoT).

According to Minh, in the second quarter of 2016, the two sides are going to finish negotiating the main points. The sale is expected to be completed in the third quarter of this year.

Besides, on April 1, ACV is going to start operating in the joint stock company model, as announced earlier. The first shareholders meeting will be on March 16, 2016.

According to the plan ratified by the prime minister, ACV is going to sell part of the state stake and more shares in order to bolster its chartered capital to VND22.4 trillion ($1 billion). The company will thus be one of the biggest in Vietnam in terms of chartered capital.

The state is going to hold 75 per cent of this newly inflated chartered capital. 1.4 per cent of the shares will be sold to employees at a concessional price, while 0.13 per cent will be sold to the labour union. The stake on offer to the strategic investor is 20 per cent. A 3.47 per cent stake, equal to 77.8 million shares, will be made available to the public. In mid-December 2015 all 77.8 million ACV shares offered to the public were sold at an average bidding price of VND14,334 ($64 US cent).

ACV was established in 2012 as a result of the merger between three airport corporations in the north, south, and central Vietnam. ACV has one of the largest capitals in the field of transport infrastructure. It currently manages 22 civil airports and has three subsidiaries. It is also an investor in ten airport operations services companies.

Aeroports de Paris owns and manages fourteen civil airports and airfields in the Ile-de-France (Paris) area. It provides passengers, airlines, and cargo operators, as well as couriers with facilities and other related services. It had a shareholders equity of $4.81 billion as of December 31, 2014, with the French government being the controlling shareholder, holding a 50.6 per cent stake.
Canon and Panasonic are two such enterprises. Representatives of Panasonic and Canon told VIR that they would not expand their operations in Vietnam in 2016. However, the reasons were undisclosed.

Having entered Vietnam in 2001, Canon currently runs three printer factories in the country. Its first, located in Hanois Thang Long industrial park, began exporting printers May 2002.

The $97 million ink-jet printer factory in the northern province of Bac Ninhs Tien Son industrial zone (IZ), which was built in 2007, currently has a capacity of eight million units per annum. The plant is expected to reach the output of 10.8 million products per year and employ 5,400 local workers by 2016.

The company also operates a $50 million factory in Bac Ninh provinces Que Vo IZ, manufacturing low-cost laser printers for export chiefly to Japan, the US, and Europe. The factory has an annual capacity of 8.4 million units and creates 3,000 jobs.



illustration photo source thesaigontimes.vn

Panasonic, entering Vietnam in 2005, has invested about $234 million in its Vietnam facilities to date, to produce TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, and electrical components.

In November 2014, Panasonic Eco Solutions Vietnam Co., Ltd., a Panasonic Corporation subsidiary, opened its new $18.5 million wiring device and circuit factory in the southern province of Binh Duong. The factorys initial capacity reached 30 million wiring devices and 5.15 million circuit breakers. This capacity will be doubled by 2018.

In addition to the wiring and circuit factory, Panasonic currently operates four other factories and an R&D centre, namely Panasonic Industrial Devices Vietnam (PIDVN), Panasonic System Networks Vietnam (PSNV), and Panasonic Appliances Vietnam (PAPVN) in Hanois Thang Long Industrial Park, Panasonic AVC Networks Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City, and a Panasonic R&D Centre Vietnam Co. Ltd in Hanoi.

According to Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO)s 2015 survey on Japanese enterprises operations in Asia and Oceania, which was released on February 23, almost 64 per cent of the over 1,000 Japanese enterprises operating in Vietnam in the survey have plans to expand local operations. These figures are buoyed by prospects of high economic growth and major benefits from the recently-established ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

The percentage of respondents in Vietnam planning to expand operations was rather high compared to other countries in the region, such as Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, China, and Malaysia, which sported percentages of 52, 49, 55, 38, and 45, respectively.

According to the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA)s statistics, as of December 20, 2015, Japan was Vietnams second biggest foreign investor with the total registered capital of $44.9 billion in 4,944 projects. In January 2016 alone, Japanese firms registered $62.3 million in nine new projects and $72.2 million in expanded projects.
Speaking at the conference, Phung Tan Viet, vice chairman of the municipal Peoples Committee assured those in attendance that the local governmental authorities are committed to providing a solid business climate conducive to the needs of Italian companies.

Currently, a delegation of leading Italian business leaders is in Danang evaluating business opportunities, particularly in the tourism and hospitality industries and looking for prospective business partners.

Tourism plays an important role in economic relations between Vietnam and Italy and the seminar addressed opportunities for increased travel by Italian tourists thanks to the many cruise ships stopping in Danangs harbour year-round.

At the seminar, Italys Livorno cruise port and Danang port signed a cooperation agreement for the current year.

Last year, the ports total commercial trade with Italy reached nearly US$7.1 million.
A migrant boy waits to enter a makeshift camp at the Austrian Slovenian border near the village of Sentilj, Slovenia. (Photo source: Reuters/Leonhard Foeger)

ANKARA: EU President Donald Tusk on Thursday (Mar 3) issued a blunt warning to economic migrants not to come to Europe, and chastised EU countries which have taken unilateral action to tackle the crisis.

On a busy day of diplomacy, Tusk visited Greece and Turkey, the two countries on the frontline of Europe's worst migration crisis since World War II, and acknowledged that the number of people seeking to reach EU territory from Turkey remained "far too high".

His travels were aimed at building momentum ahead of a critical summit between EU and Turkish leaders on Monday where Brussels hopes to take concrete decisions leading to a lasting reduction in the flow of migrants and refugees fleeing war, poverty and persecution.

After talks in Athens with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, Tusk told economic migrants it was pointless to try to reach the European Union. "I want to appeal to all potential illegal economic migrants wherever you are from: Do not come to Europe," Tusk said. "Do not believe the smugglers. Do not risk your lives and your money. It is all for nothing."

In Ankara later, Tusk sought to encourage Turkey to take further action to sharply cut the numbers of migrants and refugees taking to unseaworthy boats to cross the Aegean to the Greek islands.

"We agree that the refugee flows still remain far too high and that further action is needed," he said after meeting Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

"It is for Turkey to decide how best to achieve such a reduction," Tusk added, floating the idea of a "fast and large scale mechanism" to ship back irregular migrants from Greece. "It would effectively break the business model of smugglers," he said.

'UNILATERAL ACTIONS'

According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), 120,369 migrants arrived in Greece after crossing the Aegean from Turkey so far this year. At least 321 died en route. From Greece, the migrants then seek to move through the Balkans towards the richest EU states and above all Germany.

With thousands stuck on the Greece-Macedonian border after Austria and Balkan states began tightly restricting migrant entries, Tusk lashed out in Athens at "unilateral" actions by EU members as "detrimental to the European spirit of solidarity".

The border restrictions have left Greece with a huge bottleneck of people as Macedonia lets only a trickle through.

Tsipras said he would like to see sanctions imposed on EU states that undermine joint decisions by the 28-member bloc. "Greece will demand ... sanctions to those who do not respect (European solidarity treaties)," he said at a press conference with Tusk.

Deputy Defence Minister Dimitres Vitsas said there were now nearly 32,000 migrants on the Greek islands and the mainland, and a senior UN migration official said the number could surge to 70,000 in the coming weeks.

On Wednesday, the EU unveiled a 700-million (US$760-million) emergency aid plan to help Greece and other member countries, the first time humanitarian aid has been used within Europe instead of outside the bloc.

Greece has been the main point of entry for the 1.13 million migrants who have arrived in the EU over the past 14 months, and has asked for around 480 million (US$520 million) to help shelter 100,000 refugees.

The United Nations has warned of a looming humanitarian crisis on the Greek-Macedonia border, where aid agencies have reported a lack of food and tents and warned that the wintry weather is taking a toll on people's health.

'SAVE SCHENGEN' PLAN

Tusk said in Ankara his final aim was "the total reduction and in fact elimination of this phenomenon which means illegal migration and this business model of smugglers".

The crisis has raised fears for the EU's Schengen passport-free zone as more states bring back border controls, with both Sweden and Denmark announcing another temporary extension of border identification checks on Thursday.

But sources in Brussels said the EU would on Friday unveil a "roadmap" to restore the Schengen zone by November.

The plan, a draft of which has been seen by AFP, includes quickly creating an EU coastguard system and strengthening Greece's external borders.

Meanwhile in the northern French port of Calais, a group of Iranian migrants sewed their mouths shut in protest at the demolition of the so-called Jungle migrant camp.

The camp is a magnet for people hoping to reach Britain and many have refused to leave for other accommodation, although there has been no repeat of the violent clashes that erupted on Monday.

The Calais situation topped the agenda at talks between French President Francois Hollande and British Prime Minister David Cameron in northern France on Thursday.

Hollande warned of "consequences" for the management of migrants with Britain if the country voted to leave the European Union.
Here is an urban area being built in Linh Dam area in Ha Noi. The investors will have to present a land use right certificate and project documents to gain permission to sell the apartment or buildings to customers. - Photo vietnamplus.vn

This is the first time the department has published such a list.

As the projects are completed, they will add 10,163 apartments and 585 low-rise buildings in the capital city, Deputy Head of the department's Housing Management and Real Estate Market Division Vu Ngoc Thanh said.

The investors had previously informed the department of their upcoming projects to gain permission to sell the apartments or buildings to customers, Thanh told Tien Phong newspaper.

But now, things have changed, Thanh said, adding that the investors' projects would be confirmed by the department based on whether conditions for sale in the market were appropriate.

To qualify, the investors will have to present a land use right certificate, project documents, designs approved by an authorised agency and a construction licence.

"The announcement aims to help buyers avoid risks and to constrain the investors' mobilisation of capital for the wrong purpose," Thanh said. Thus, it prevents investors from using the capital provided by the buyers for conducting other business activities, instead of using it for the building project.

"It will also be a channel to cleanse the market. With the list, buyers will know which investors are qualified for sales. These announcements will be made regularly to protect the buyers' interests," Thanh said.

The list of 26 projects includes real estate developer Nam Ha Noi Urban Development Joint Stock Company, which is undertaking two projects with a total of 2,368 apartments; Tasco JSC, with 258 low-rise buildings; UDIC Urban Infrastructure Development and Investment Corporation, with a project of 324 apartments; and Hai Dang Real Estate Investment JSC, with the Hai Dang City project of 896 apartments.

Investors from other sectors are also included, such as Vietnam National Packaging Production and Import Export Corp (Packexim), with a project of 222 apartments in Tay Ho District, and Vicem JSC, with 100 apartments in Thanh Xuan District.

Chairman of Viet Nam Real Estate Association Nguyen Tran Nam said the mobilisation of capital and pay-in-advance purchase of houses always carried latent risks.

He said the announcement of qualified investors would help protect the rights and interests of customers because those investors were being monitored to ensure they followed regulations.

The qualified investors and their projects are listed on the Construction Department's website: soxaydung.hanoi.gov.vn.
Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova, pictured on Feb 4, 2016, has not played since exiting the Australian Open in the quarter-finals in January. (AFP/Andrei Golovanov)

LOS ANGELES: World number seven Maria Sharapova has withdrawn from next week's BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells after failing to recover from a troublesome forearm injury, it was confirmed on Thursday (Mar 3).

The Russian star said in a statement issued by tournament chiefs she had pulled out in an effort to return to full fitness. "I am extremely disappointed that I am unable to compete in this year's BNP Paribas Open," said Sharapova.

"I have been focused on healing my left forearm injury and tried to get my body to be 100 per cent ready to play this event, as it is one of my favourite events on the WTA and so close to my home in LA. I know the tournament will be a great success this year and I will be anxious to return next year and hopefully many years after."

Sharapova has not played since exiting the Australian Open in the quarter-finals in January.

Her withdrawal from Indian Wells is the third time this year she has withdrawn from a tournament because of her forearm injury, having also missed tournaments in Brisbane and Doha. Mariana Duque-Marino moves into the main draw for Indian Wells following Sharapova's absence.

This year's tournament takes place from Mar 7-20.
Joao de Abreu, President of Mozambique's Civil Aviation Institute (IACM), holds a piece of suspected aircraft wreckage found off the east African coast. It will be sent to Australia where experts will examine whether it is a new piece in the puzzle of missing flight MH370. (AFP/ADRIEN BARBIER)

KUALA LUMPUR: Australian and Malaysian officials were moving to retrieve and examine suspected aircraft wreckage found on the east African coast to determine whether it came from missing flight MH370, Malaysia's transport minister said on Thursday (Mar 3).

The one-metre long piece of debris found on a Mozambique beach could provide fresh clues into the mystery of the Malaysia Airlines flight, which disappeared two years ago.

"From the pictures shown, there is high probability the plane debris is from a Boeing 777 plane," Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.

While cautioning that this needed to be verified, his comments appeared to be firmer than the "high possibility" he had mentioned on Wednesday.

MH370, which was carrying 239 passengers and crew when it vanished on Mar 8, 2014 on an overnight flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, was a Boeing 777.

Transport Minister Darren Chester of Australia, which is leading a vast oceanic search for wreckage, said the debris would be transferred to Australia to be examined by officials and experts, including from Boeing.

Mozambique aviation authorities displayed the recovered fragment for the first time on Thursday in Maputo and said they were communicating with Malaysia and Australia over sending the piece for analysis.

The painstaking search effort has scoured the seabed in the remote Indian Ocean, where the plane is believed to have gone down.

If confirmed to be from MH370, the debris would be only the second shred of physical evidence in one of aviation's great mysteries. Last July, a wing fragment was found washed ashore on the Indian Ocean island of Reunion and later confirmed to be from MH370.

That was the first proof that the plane had met a violent end, but otherwise shed little light on what caused the disaster, and the search could cease by mid-year.

Liow said officials from Australia's embassy in Mozambique had been dispatched to retrieve the new object. Malaysian civil aviation experts and representatives of the airline also were en route to Mozambique.

"We would like to get hold of the debris as soon as possible, so that's why we are working with Australia in the fastest manner," Liow said.

DON'T 'THROW IN THE TOWEL'

The latest find comes just days before the disaster's two-year anniversary. Liow said a Malaysian-led team of international investigators probing MH370's disappearance - a separate effort from the Australian-led search - will issue a statement on Tuesday on the anniversary.

He did not say whether the statement would contain new revelations.

International agreements require annual updates from investigators in accidents where aircraft cannot be found.

The American amateur investigator who found the washed-up debris on a sandbank in Mozambique told AFP that experts must be "cautious" about identifying the piece.

"We don't know what it is, which plane it is from," said Blaine Gibson, a lawyer from Seattle who has travelled the world to try to solve the mystery.

Theories of what caused MH370 to vanish include a hijacking, rogue pilot action, or sudden mechanical problem that incapacitated the crew, but there is no evidence yet to support any particular theory.

Voice370, an international next-of-kin network, issued an emotional appeal on Thursday for the search to be continued beyond the expected mid-year shutdown.

"We believe that they should not throw in the towel, close this case and simply chalk it up as an unsolvable mystery," the group said in a statement.

Many next-of-kin accuse the airline and the Malaysian government of letting the plane slip away through a bungled response, and of wanting to end the search so the truth about what happened remains hidden. The airline and government strongly deny the accusations.
On March 2, Korean plastic injection moulding machine manufacturer Woojin Plaimm and Minh Nguyen Supporting Industries Joint Stock Company (Minh Nguyen) signed a comprehensive strategic cooperation agreement to manufacture components for Samsung Electronics HCMC CE Complex in Saigon Hi-tech Park (SHTP) in particular and multinational corporations in general.

Accordingly, Woojin Plaimm will supply machines and maintenance services for Minh Nguyens Phuoc Thanh high-tech research, application and production complex in SHTP.

Woojin Plaimm will undertake to support the training of machine operators in the country to enhance productivity.

The Vietnamese supporting industries have ample opportunities to develop as several large foreign groups, such as Canon, Samsung, Huyndai, Nokia, Toyota, and LG, plan to increase localisation rates in the country. However, few Vietnamese enterprises can adapt to these foreign groups requirements due to their low management capacity and lack of technology. Vietnamese enterprises manufacture almost exclusively packaging and simple spare parts, leaving the more sophisticated services to their foreign counterparts, said Le Hoai Quoc, head of SHTPs management board.

Thus, increasing cooperation with foreign enterprises in high-tech supporting industries will enable Vietnamese enterprises to enhance their management and competitive capacities, he added.

Quoc noted that, to date, Minh Nguyen was considered the only first-tier Vietnamese supplier for Samsung HCMC CE Complex in SHTP.

Covering an area of four hectares, Minh Nguyens $71 million complex has a designed annual capacity of 20 million products, including plastic and metal electronic components as well as moulds for the plastic industry. The complexs machines will be imported with a 70 per cent automation rate. The complex, which is expected to come into operation in the second quarter of 2016, will create 1,000 jobs.

As of now, there are four Vietnamese first-tier suppliers that can adopt Samsungs strict requirements on quality, namely Viet Hung Packaging Company Limited, Thang Long Packing Import-Export and Production JSC, TDBH Pattern Manufacture Mechanical Commercial Co., Ltd., and Thanh Long Electronic Production JSC.

Apart from these four, Samsung currently has 28 other partners listed as second-tier suppliers.


A group of youths are seen drinking at a sidewalk pub in Vietnam Tuoi Tre

The conference on sharing international experience in making youth development policies was co-hosted by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the United Nations Population Fund in Vietnam (UNFPA).

The UNFPA is a UN organization formed in 1969, whose work involves the improvement of reproductive health, including the creation of national strategies and protocols and providing supplies and services.

The ministry and the UN agency had worked with each other to conduct research and compile the first national report on Vietnamese youths for initial assessments of the impacts of policies on education and training, labor and employment, as well as healthcare for youths, said Vu Dang Minh, general director at the Department of Youth Affairs under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Inferior stature

Statements made at the conference agreed upon the progress Vietnam has made in the development of youths, while pointing out the difficulties and challenges for Vietnamese youths in making the most out of their potential.

According to the national report, as of 2014 there were over 25 million Vietnamese citizens from 16 to 30 years of age, accounting for 27.7 percent of the countrys total population.

The current literacy rate among the said group is 96.3 percent, with the figures for male and female youths being 96.7 percent and 95.8 percent respectively.

In terms of physical fitness, the average height of male Vietnamese youths is a mere 164.4cm, 13cm lower than the global average, while that of female youths is 153.4cm, 10cm lower than the world average.

These numbers show young Vietnamese are falling behind their peers in the region when it comes to height, with Japanese and South Korean youths surpassing them by 8cm, Chinese youths by 7cm, and Thai and Singaporean youths by 5-6cm.

Statistics in the report also indicated a poor performance by young Vietnamese in terms of physical attributes, especially stamina and strength, in comparison with the world average.

Meanwhile, injuries and road accidents are two of the most serious health problems youths in Vietnam face, with 30.8/100,000 youths from 20 to 24 years old dying from traffic accidents.



The heights of Vietnamese youths in comparison with global averages, according to statistics recorded

from October 2014 to October 2015. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Smoking hard, drinking harder

The report identified the shortcomings of previous surveys on youths risk behaviors such as smoking and drinking, saying they were conducted on relatively small samples using interview or self-assessment forms, which means current available statistics may not accurately represent the real status of the issue among Vietnamese youths.

The figures still, however, showed a reasonably high percentage of Vietnamese youths who smoke or drink, in the face of several programs to contain the communitys consumption of alcohol and cigarettes.

This might be accredited to Vietnams lack of rehab programs for young cigarette and alcohol addicts.

General director Minh underlined some suggestions offered at the conference, among them a need for a program to improve the physical fitness of youths and models for reducing risk behaviors and consequently lowering smoking and drinking rates.

Low involvement in policymaking

On another note, the portion of youths who have participated in any part of a policymaking process is extremely low (14.4 percent), where young people who receive tertiary education have higher participation than those who work unskilled jobs or live in rural areas.

This is, according to the report, due to various reasons such as policymakers not consulting and coordinating with youths, or young peoples failure to demonstrate their role as owners of the country.

Those who did involve themselves in the making of policies argued that their opinions were not taken seriously enough or actually used in the drafting and implementing of the policies, which discouraged them from joining future policymaking activities.

The report also covered a wide range of other aspects such as education, labor, and employment.

Vietnam is on its way toward amending the Law of Youths with a new approach based on their rights, according to Nguyen Van Tuyet, vice chairman of the National Assembly Committee on Culture, Education, Adolescents, and Children.

With that in mind, the conference was a chance for Vietnams policymakers to acquire valuable experiences from other countries to amend the Law of Youths, as well as composing youth-focused policies in the near future.
Hyderabad: The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a special leave petition moved by Hestia Holdings Ltd, a subsidiary of Sujana Universal Industries Ltd, against an order of the Hyderabad High Court over the recovery of a Rs 106-crore loan taken from Mauritius Commercial Bank.

A single judge of the Hyderabad High Court had upheld an earlier order of a trial court in the city for execution of a decree passed in favour of the Mauritius bank to recover the loan from Hestia Holdings.

The Mauritius bank had moved an execution petition before the Hyderabad city civil court based on a decree by a court in the United Kingdom, claiming that Sujana Universal Industries Ltd stood guarantor for the loan availed by its Mauritius-based subsidiary Hestia Holdings and has to repay Rs 106 crore.

The civil court allowed the execution petition. Sujana Industries in which Union minister Y.S. Chowdary is a non-executive director, and Hestia Holdings Ltd moved the High Court contending that a foreign decree is not executable in India. A single judge of the High Court upheld the order of the civil court that allow the execution of the UK court decree.

UK decree in line with Indian law

According to Mauritius Commercial Bank counsel Sanjeev Kumar, a two-member bench of the apex court comprising Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman concurred the directions of the High Court.

He said that the bench had upheld the findings of the single judge that the judgement and decree of the UK court were in accordance with the Civil Procedure Rules, 1998 of the UK, It cannot be said that it is not a judgement on merits so as to claim exclusion from execution under Section 13(b) of the Indian Civil Procedure Code.
Customers receive their remittance from Maritime Bank in Ha Noi. - VNA/VNS Photo Tran Viet

According to the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV)'s HCM City branch, most of the remittances flew into production and business.

Industry insiders said that the remittances were poured significantly into the city thanks to the recovery of domestic investment channels, especially real estate, where the government has so far not allowed foreigners to own houses in Viet Nam.

Nguyen Hoang Minh, deputy director of the SBV's HCM City branch, said that a significant amount of the remittances had been sold to commercial banks thanks to the stability of the local foreign exchange rate. Last year, more than 22 per cent of the remittances were sold to the banks.

Experts forecast that the remittances to HCM City this year would continue to be optimistic, reaching roughly $5.5 billion, the same as last year, thanks to the city's economic growth.

To attract more remittances, besides the government's policies to encourage overseas Vietnamese to invest in their homeland, domestic commercial banks have also put on many promotional programmes for their money transfer services.

According to a recent World Bank report entitled "Migration and remittances fact book 2016," Viet Nam received nearly $12.3 billion in remittances in 2015. The country is the 11th largest recipient of remittances worldwide, and ranks third in the Asia-Pacific region after China and the Philippines, according to the report.

Statistics from the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs showed that some five million Vietnamese are residing in 103 countries and territories around the world. Between 1993 and 2015, Viet Nam received total remittances of about $109 billion, accounting for 6.8 per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) over the period.

Remittances into Viet Nam have increased about 22.4 per cent annually in the past two decades, with an exception in 1997 and 2009 when economies in the world faced a financial crisis.
Police officers in Nghe An Province, located in the north-central region, said Tuesday that 51-year-old Hoang Thi Dao, a resident of Vinh City, which is the provincial capital, had been captured for abusing trust in order to appropriate property, pending further investigation.

According to police case files, Dao spent four years in Taiwan, from 1998 to 2002, working as an exported laborer, after which time she returned to Vietnam and started taking money from Vietnamese workers with a promise to help them get exported as well.

Early June 2012, Dao informed the workers in her labor export ring of the vacancies at a food processing factory in Taipei, at VND120 million (US$5,400) each.

She asked them to pay an initial fee of VND5 million ($225) for vocational training and health checks.

Dao went on and said a Dutch employer was in need of 50 workers for grass-tending and cow-herding with a favorable salary. Those who wished to apply were required to pay a deposit of $500 to Dao.

The transactions took place at Daos private house, where she gave handwritten receipts to the payers and pledged to refund their money in full should they fail to go abroad as promised.



Handwritten receipts that Dao gave to the workers. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Dao then took the workers to Hanoi for health checks and promised to book their flights in 3-5 months, while collecting an additional $1,300 each for visa applications and air tickets.

After waiting in vain for their flights and several failed attempts to reach Dao on her phone, the tricked workers reported the case to police officers.

For fear of getting caught and having to refund the appropriated sum, Dao sold all her properties in Nghe An and moved to the Central Highlands region to start anew as a cosmetics wholesaler, where she was arrested following a police raid on her house.

Investigators approximated the total amount of money Dao received from nearly 100 workers at over VND1 billion ($45,000).

Dao could be sentenced to life imprisonment if convicted, according to Vietnamese laws.
This site includes audio files featuring sounds and music that relate to Virginias waters, from the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean. Virginia Water Radio is produced by the Virginia Water Resources Research Center , which is solely responsible for the show's content. Thanks to George Wills of Blacksburg, Va., for designing the Virginia Water Radio logo.
The encounter that began in the forest of Dabbamarka following the ambush by the red guerrillas on the joint search party comprising personnel of 208th CoBRA battalion and district reserve group in the mid-noon of Thursday ended on Friday morning. (Representational image)

Raipur: At least three jawans of Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA), the elite anti-Naxal wing of CRPF, were killed and 13 others injured in the 24 hour-long-gun battle between security forces and Leftwing extremists in Chhattisgarhs south Bastar district of Sukma that ended on Friday morning.

The encounter that began in the forest of Dabbamarka following the ambush by the red guerrillas on the joint search party comprising personnel of 208th CoBRA battalion and district reserve group in the mid-noon of Thursday ended on Friday morning.

The encounter ended when reinforcements rushed to the spot to rescue the trapped jawans and evacuate the injured ones. The rebels fled the spot when 700 strong contingent of reinforcement rushed to the spot to rescue the trapped jawans, a senior police officer posted in Bastar told this newspaper.
Five women arrested and charged for protests over their removal from a Phnom Penh neighborhood appeared before the Supreme Court on Friday, appealing their case and asking to be released.

The ten women are accused of illegally taking over public property and resisting public officials during protests in May 2012.

The women were protesting their ouster from the Boeung Kak neighborhood, much of which was leveled to make room for a development project in 2008. Under questioning, the five defendants denied wrongdoing.

Wearing a black T-shirt that said Hunger for justice, defendant Chan Navy, 62, tearfully told the court Friday she had seen her home destroyed and now had no house to live in. If you dont believe me, just go see for yourself, she said. I am this poor.

Supporters say the women committed no crimes and that their arrests are aimed at stifling further government dissent.

Activist leader Tep Vanny told reporters after the hearing that she hoped the Supreme Court would release the women, even though weve never had justice from the judicial system in Cambodia.

A verdict is expected March 16.
The Cambodian government on Friday approved a new regulation that will impose fines for public smoking.

The sub-decree banning public smoking was approved by the Council of Ministers at its weekly meeting on Friday and is part of a tobacco control law passed last year.

The ban focuses in part on smoking in restaurants and offices, where inhaling second-hand smoke can be particularly dangerous.

This regulation is a message to the public to come to more comprehension about the impacts of cigarettes and smoke from them, Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said, adding that most smokers in Cambodia are among the older generations.

Yel Daravuth, a doctor and technical officer for the Tobacco Free Initiative, said the ban will help lead to decreases in smoking, which annually kills more than 10,000 Cambodiansabout 30 per day.

The ban, which includes penalties of up to $12 in fines, follows the January announcement from Prime Minister Hun Sen that he had finally quit smoking after 30 years.

In this post, Im asking my Cambodian people to quit smoking, he wrote on Facebook. Especially the youth.
Health officials say they now doubt there is a new outbreak of HIV in Kandal province, following an investigation.

Only four out of 279 people tested positive for the virus in Peam village, Sambour Meas commune, in Kandal in February, according to a joint statement by the World Health Organization and the Ministry of Health.

Health officials had worried of an outbreak similar to that in Battambang in 2014, when an unlicensed doctor treated people with dirty needles, perhaps infecting more than 200 people.

However, experts now say Cambodia will not likely meet its goal of eliminating HIV transmissions in the country by 2025.

Ke Sovannroth, a lawmaker on the public health committee, said the setbacks in the fight against HIV have damaged the credibility of the health care system. Our medical system has lost all the trust of its people, he said.

Cambodia had once been noted for its progress in preventing and mitigating the impact of HIV and AIDS, bringing its prevalence rate down from a high of 2 percent in 1997 to 0.7 percent in 2010, according to government data.
A senior Afghan diplomat says he remains "optimistic" that peace talks with the Taliban will start within days, dismissing speculation by some officials they will be delayed.

Afghan ambassador to Pakistan, Hazrat Omer Zakhilwal, told VOA Friday that "there is a lot happening in the background" to get the talks under way. He said the planned starting date of the first week in March was "indicative" that plans are moving forward.

But a Pakistani security official with knowledge of efforts Islamabad is making to persuade the Taliban's Qatar-based political office to send someone, said "no headway has been achieved so far."

The official, requesting anonymity, told VOA the talks are "not happening this week because no one from their [Taliban] side has yet agreed" to come to Islamabad.

A Taliban political spokesman said last week he was unaware of any planned talks with Kabul.

The four-way talks are expected to involve diplomats from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States, as well as Taliban representatives.

U.S. support for peace

In a video conference Friday with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, President Barack Obama stressed U.S. support for a peace process that he said "reduces violence and ensures lasting stability in Afghanistan and the region."

The White House says both presidents intend to use the July NATO summit in Warsaw to reaffirm international support for peace in Afghanistan.

Obama also congratulated Ghani for the progress he has made, including record government revenues and efforts to fight corruption, and praised the bravery and sacrifices of Afghan security forces.

Obama announced late last year that he is postponing the withdrawal of most U.S. forces in Afghanistan one year until he leaves office in January 2017.

U.S. troops are training Afghan forces in taking full responsibility for providing their own security against the Taliban and other militants.
Turkish tanks shelled Islamic State positions in northern Syria and not those of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, Turkish military sources said on Friday, after the YPG said it was being targeted.

The Syrian Kurdish YPG said in statement that two Turkish tanks fired dozens of shells at its positions in the area of Afrin in northwest Syria.

The French news agency AFP reports that since mid-February, Turkish howitzers stationed just inside the border had on successive days shelled targets of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed wing, the People's Protection Units (YPG), inside Syria, with the military saying it was responding to incoming fire.

But Washington had urged Ankara to halt its fire in the run-up to the partial cease-fire in Syria.

Since then, there have been no reports of Turkey shelling the PYD, which Ankara accuses of being the Syrian branch of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Police station bombing

Meanwhile, Turkish officials say Kurdish rebels have detonated a car bomb near a police station, killing two police officers and wounding about 35 people.

Officials say the attack took place in the town of Nusaybin in southeastern Turkey near the border with Syria.

Security forces in Nusaybin are currently fighting against militants linked to the Kurdish Workers' Party - the PKK.

Most of the victims were believed to be police officers, but at least two of the wounded were civilians.

The early-morning blast was reported to have caused extensive damage to the regional traffic police station.

The PKK has been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish government in Turkey's southeast. The Turkish government considers it a terrorist organization.

WATCH: Video footage from scene of car bombing



Istanbul incident

On Thursday in Istanbul, Turkish police shot dead two women who used guns and grenades to attack a police station. There were no reports of any police being hurt.

The women initially fled after firing at the station and hid inside a nearby building. Police surrounded the site and launched an assault that ended with the women dead.

The identity of the two attackers was not immediately known.

Istanbul has experienced attacks by both Kurdish rebels and far leftist rebels.
Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United Nations said Friday that there was no need for a new Security Council resolution on more humanitarian aid for Yemen.

Abdallah al-Mouallimi said a political settlement was the only solution for Yemen, where 80 percent of the civilian population is in dire need of food and medicine.

Al-Mouallimi told reporters that the U.N. envoy for Yemen agreed that a new resolution was unnecessary.

A U.N. spokesman said the council would make its own decision.

Council members began talking informally this week about a possible new resolution calling for a greater humanitarian push in Yemen.

The council's current president, Angolan Ambassador Ismael Gaspar Martins, said the situation in Yemen was "evolving toward a very drastic one ... before our eyes."

Saudi Arabia is leading an Arab coalition in launching airstrikes against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen in a drive to return the internationally recognized government to full power.

U.N. human rights officials say more than 3,000 people have been killed and 6,000 wounded since the airstrikes began a year ago. Civilian neighborhoods and buildings have been destroyed.

Earlier Friday, Yemeni officials said militant gunmen burst into a retirement home in Aden, killing at least 15 people, including four Christian nuns from India who were working as nurses.

One witness said the gunmen tied up the elderly residents before shooting them.

No one immediately claimed responsibility, but an Islamic State allied group and militant separatists have carried out previous attacks in Aden.
The president-elect of the Central African Republic, Faustin Archange Touadera, has said farmers in the country cannot even get to their fields because of insecurity. Central Africans are waiting to see how he will deal with the problem when he takes office next month. VOA spoke to farmers and cattle herders in northern CAR about the problems they face, and a potential solution.

Touadera spoke about the insecurity in the CARs rural areas in a televised debate, just three days before he won the presidential election on February 16.

He was responding to a question about his economic policy. He said this would have to take account of realities.

He said currently farmers cannot even get to their fields, so his priority would be to relaunch agriculture, notably in certain sectors, but he hesitated to say which sectors.

The livestock sector in the CAR has been devastated since 2013, with most cattle driven away or slaughtered. But in some parts of the country, farmers complain that armed nomadic herders are still grazing cattle on their fields and turning farmland into no man's land.



Many farmers feel nomads are destroying the fields with their cattle and thought this would stop once Touadera was elected.

Farmers and cattle herders who spoke to VOA agreed that better security, better policing and impartial arbitration of disputes are all needed.

An additional way of avoiding disputes that some cattle herders are talking about would be to fence in their animals.

Some have been discussing the idea of fencing in large parks with barbed wire, where their cattle could be fattened before being driven in trucks to the market.

One herders, Mahmat Abib, told VOA some herders like this idea although others prefer to drive their cattle through the bush to the market in the capital, Bangui.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization recommends reducing cattle movements as one way to avoid conflicts and improve productivity.
New Delhi: Three AIADMK men - Nedunchezhian, Ravindran and Muniappan - facing death sentence in the Dharmapuri bus burning incident pleaded for mercy on Friday in the Supreme Court, saying that the incident took place as they were miffed by Jayalalithaas conviction.

Making this submission before a three-judge Bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi, Arun Mishra and Prafulla C. Pant, the convicts sought commutation of death sentence into life imprisonment.

The Bench was hearing a review petition filed by the three convicts seeking reconsideration of the judgment dated August 30, 2010, which upheld both the trial court and Madras High Court verdict. The apex court had stayed their execution in January 2011.

The case relates to the death of three girl students  Kokilavani, Gayathri and Hemalatha  of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University. The bus in which they were travelling along with 44 other students and two teachers was torched by a mob of AIADMK supporters on February 2, 2000, after the conviction of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in the Pleasant Stay hotel case.

Senior counsel L. Nageswara Rao, appearing for Muniappan argued that the killing of the three girls was not pre-meditated. It happened during mob frenzy soon after the trial court gave its verdict against their leader Jayalalithaa.

In Tamil Nadu people are emotionally attached towards their leader. If something goes against their leader, people resort to protests, agitations, demonstrations and some even commit suicide, said the counsel. He further argued that the killing was not pre-planned but a spur of the moment reaction.

Senior counsel Sushil Kumar, appearing for the other two convicts said the intention of the convicts was only to destroy the public property. They thought that the bus belonging to the Agricultural University belonged to the government.

At this juncture, the bench asked the counsel to apprise the period of life sentence that could be awarded. The Bench posted the matter for further hearing on March 11.
Chinas slowing economy is having an impact on government spending, including the countrys closely watched military budget.

Fu Ying, a spokeswoman for Chinas largely rubber-stamp parliament, told reporters Friday the military will see an increase of seven to eight percent this year.



The announced increase is the first time Chinas spending on defense has slipped below double-digit growth in six years, and follows more than a decade of nearly consistent double-digit growth.



The official figure will be announced Saturday when Chinas National Peoples Congress, the countrys top legislative body, begins its annual meetings in Beijing, Fu Ying said.



Chinas military budget is based on two key things: the needs of military development as well as economic development and government revenues, she said.

Last year, China announced it was cutting its massive military by 300,000 troops, even as its territorial claims in the region have increasingly been a point of controversy.



'New normal'



Analysts said the reduction is very much in line with what China describes as its new normal for slower economic growth.



With overall GDP growth in China moving below seven percent, it would be appropriate, I think, in the eyes of the leadership to calibrate defense expenditure more in line with that new normal, said Alexander Neill, a Shangri-La Dialogue senior fellow for Asia at the Institute for International Institute for Strategic Studies in Singapore.

For more than a decade the PLA (Peoples Liberation Army) has been the recipient of a lot of cash from the central leadership and this may very well represent a gradual tapering down of that, he added.

Transparency concerns

China is the worlds second biggest military spender, and while its annual budget last year increased by 10.1 percent, for a total of more than $135 billion, it still pales in comparison to the United States.

But the accuracy of the figures China releases is unclear as transparency has long been a concern, notes Jagannath Panda, an analyst at the Institute of Defense Studies and Analysis in New Delhi.



We dont know how transparent and how true it is, Panda said, adding that the reduction could be made for some technical reasons. There are so many gray areas in the Chinese military defense industry. We don't know where the funding comes from? How fundings are submitted? where are the expenditures really happening, or have happened?



Such concerns, however, are overblown, said Wang Dong, a political scientist at Peking University. Wang said Chinas military expenses actually account for about two percent of its annual economic growth, which is largely in line with what other countries spend.



He said Chinas leaders note that much of the growth in the defense budget is actually related to the increasing role China plays internationally.



We can point to many examples including Chinas huge increase in its commitment into the United Nations peacekeeping operations and its contributions to counter-piracy operations, he said.



Budget messaging

Still, the decrease in funding comes at a time when Chinas rapid construction of artificial islands and rigid claim to almost all of the South China Sea is raising concern among its neighbors. Part of the reason for the decrease in spending could also be aimed at calming nerves in the region.

The political message is perhaps a rebuttal of that. It is saying that China is prepared to reduce and curb defense expenditure, said Alexander Neill. He said the reduction could also be a political message that China is willing to show restraint.

By slowing its budget growth, China appears to be trying to send a subtle message that it is not a security threat and that its neighbors should see it as a country that is seeking cooperation, said Jagannath Panda.

Still, there is no way that China is going to relax their positions on territorial and security issues.



He adds that there also may be a domestic message to the reduction as well, given the widespread problem of corruption in the military. In the past, high levels of spending led to massive corruption problems and President Xi Jinping may be looking to address the problem and exert more control over the military complex.
China says it will increase its defense spending by seven to eight percent this year, following years of double-digit increases in military spending.

A spokeswoman for China's parliament, Fu Ying, told reporters Friday the exact figure will be released Saturday after parliament opens its annual session.

China has piled resources into defense over the past two decades as it asserts its territorial claims in the South China Sea. Last year Beijing increased its military spending by 10.1 percent, bringing it to $136 billion.

That figure is about one-quarter of the amount the United States spent on defense last year.

China critics, however, say Beijing spends more on defense than it reports.
Americans traveling to Cuba later this month are being moved out of Havana hotels to make room for President Barack Obama's entourage and being sent tantalizingly close to a place U.S. law effectively forbids them from visiting: the beach.

Obama will make his historic trip to the Communist-ruled Caribbean island on March 21 and 22 with hundreds of people in tow, crowning 15 months of warming relations after more than half a century of Cold War animosity.

Cuba is already experiencing a tourism boom and March is traditionally its busiest month. The Obama visit has put additional strain on hotels that have already been booked to capacity for much of the high season.

Major Havana hotels are being cleared, according to the head of a U.S. travel company who asked not to be identified for concern it would damage future business relations.

"Just got notice that the Capri, Panorama, Nacional, half of Parque Central and potentially other hotels have been told to send all guests to Varadero from the 19th to 23rd of March," he wrote in an email.

The Varadero resort, an hour's drive east of Havana, is Cuba's most sought-after tourism destination, with sandy white beaches, shimmering waters and plentiful hotels.

But the beach is off limits to Americans, as U.S. restrictions on travel to the island expressly forbid tourism in Cuba. Americans are limited to authorized travel such as educational and cultural exchanges. This means most U.S. visitors are concentrated in Havana, where there are lots of cultural sites and activities, a rocky seafront and scarce hotel rooms.

"The Cuban government is clearing out Havana hotels and sending visiting U.S. groups to Varadero Beach for a long weekend," said Collin Laverty, president of Cuban Educational Travel, which organizes authorized U.S. travel groups.

"Tourism will be hard to avoid for a few days as U.S. visitors are surrounded by white sand, turquoise water and all-you-can-eat-and-drink bars and buffets," he added. "But we will try."

Cuban travel agencies were not immediately available for comment.

Following the U.S.-Cuban detente announced by Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro in December 2014, American visits to Cuba soared 77 percent in 2015 to 161,000 visitors. Cuba is expecting a similar increase this year.

Obama, a Democrat, has loosened travel restrictions to the once-forbidden land, as well as some other trade barriers. But only Congress, currently controlled by Republicans, can lift the U.S. embargo and its ban on tourism, in place since the early 1960s.
An Egyptian student enrolled in a U.S. flight school is set to appear in an immigration court Friday to face questions about whether he should be deported over threatening comments he posted on social media about U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Emadeldin Elsayed, a 23-year-old student from Cairo, is appearing before a Los Angeles immigration judge after posting on his Facebook page that he would be willing to serve a life sentence for killing Trump. He said he believed the world would thank him.

Immigration authorities have held Elsayed in jail in Orange County, California, since February 12.

Elsayed's attorney told reporters it was clear his client was not making a serious threat.

After posting the comments in early February, Elsayed was interviewed by U.S. Secret Service agents. He was told that he would not be charged with a federal crime, but that his student visa had been revoked.

The flight school's owner told reporters he had revoked Elsayed's permission to study there at the request of federal authorities.

The owner has also said he would be willing to reinstate Elsayed if it were cleared by the government.

Elsayed has said he posted the comments about Trump after the controversial candidate said he would ban Muslims from traveling to the United States. Elsayed said although he was angry, he never planned to harm anyone.
Malawi is experiencing an upsurge in mob violence. In three recent incidents 11 people have been killed and a courthouse has been burned.

The latest incident occurred Tuesday in Nsanje district in the south. A mob pounced on seven men accused of possessing human bones for witchcraft.

Joseph Misomali saw it happen.

We were at home when we heard people shouting close to our house," he said, speaking to VOA by phone. "Then I ran to the place only to find seven people being beaten up. But when I was told that it was an issue to do with human bones I was shocked. I was afraid because I associated that with witchcraft, which is dangerous on my part.



He says shortly after that he saw the mob set fire to the suspects. he mob even overpowered the police who tried to intervene.



Body parts used in witchcraft

It is believed that the body parts are taken to bordering Mozambique and Tanzania, where witchdoctors believe that potions made from the human body parts, in particular those from albino individuals, bring good luck and wealth.



About a month earlier on January 26, a mob in the southern district of Neno had killed four people, aged between 69 and 89, after a 17-year-old girl died, struck by lightning according to local media. The crowd accused the elderly residents of practicing witchcraft.

And on the night of February 3, angry residents in South Lunzu Township in Blantyre set fire to the Magistrates Court. People feared the court would grant bail to three suspected murderers who locals said they wanted dead.



Reactions



Malawians are reacting differently to this spate of mob attacks.



I feel that its quite wrong because everybody has a right to a fair trial, and generally we are taking about people being killed. It's irrational, said Gerald Manda, a primary school teacher in Blantyre.



But businesswoman Mercy Chanza says people are frustrated. She says they think the courts are being too soft on criminals.

If the culprits were being caught and given necessary punishment, there was no need to be going on with mob justice because they would have trust in judicial system, she said.



Mlenga Mvula, a spokesman for the judiciary, disagrees. He says the courts must give any person a right to appeal. He says you can not blame the upsurge in mob justice on the courts following the law.



If any party is dissatisfied with judgement, they are even told you are at liberty to appeal against this ruling. So they are given the procedures to appeal and the magistrate immediately writes those grounds and forwards them to the High Court. But none, if not few who come to say, Ok I am appealing.'"



Judicial system ignored



Mvula says most people engaged in mob justice are ignorant of Malawi's laws.



He says his department is currently requesting about $80,000 to run a nationwide awareness campaign on how the judicial system works.



National police spokesman Nicholas Gondwa says police are also trying to educate people on how they could handle crime suspects.



We are always on the ground doing community policing meetings," he said. "We are sensitizing members of the general public on these things  mob justice - to at least prevent these things from happening. But people out there are deliberately giving us deaf ears, maybe to frustrate our effort.



Gondwa says mob justice destroys evidence and makes it harder for police to investigate the alleged crime.

He said police have arrested eight people in connection with the mob killings in Neno and the investigation is ongoing into the recent incident in Nsanje.




Several U.S. technology giants have formally backed Apple in its high-profile legal battle with the FBI over whether the company must weaken the security features of an iPhone that belonged to one of the San Bernardino terrorist attackers.

Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Yahoo were among the companies that filed a joint legal brief Thursday in support of their competitor, the California-based Apple.

"If the government arguments prevail, the Internet ecosystem will be weakened, leaving Internet users more vulnerable to hackers and other bad actors," the statement said.

The FBI has asked Apple to write new software that would help unlock the iPhone used by Syed Farook, one of the shooters who killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California, last December.

Apple refused the request, saying it cannot be asked to hack one of its own devices. The company says the creation of a "backdoor" could endanger a wide array of devices while raising privacy concerns.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said Wednesday he opposes "a single technical approach" as a solution to the complex legal battle.

"I don't think we ought to let one case drive a general conclusion or solution," Carter said in remarks at a San Francisco tech event. "We have to work together to work our way out through this problem."

Carter also warned that legislation written by Congress to deal with the issue "may be written in an atmosphere of anger and grief" and it may not contain the necessary understanding of current security technology to create an effective law.

Apple filed a formal objection to a federal order to assist the FBI on March 2.

On Thursday, six relatives of victims of the San Bernardino attack filed their own legal brief in support of the U.S. Justice Department.

"One does not enjoy the privacy to commit a crime," the statement said.
Humanitarian groups say the partial cease-fire in Syria is an improvement, but the "cessation of hostilities" agreement needs stricter, sustained enforcement.

While the recent agreement to cease hostilities represents important progress, its incumbent on everyone to double down and turn this agreement into a sustainable cease-fire, said Neal Kenny-Guyer, CEO of Mercy Corps, which has been working in Syria, feeding about 570,000 people each month.

At a briefing Thursday in Washington, Kenny-Guyer said constant clashes, airstrikes and shelling on the ground continue, although at a much reduced level, which has allowed humanitarian organizations to reach areas that were previously inaccessible.

[Wednesday], there were five airstrikes at the entrance to Aleppo city. Since Monday, thereve been fighting and shelling in and around Aleppo, and the main road has been subject to intermittent closure. Yesterday [the road] was closed completely. Theres also clashes 15 kilometers from the Turkish border, he said.



Kenny-Guyer said that suffering at the current level must not continue. Ive been engaged with almost every major humanitarian crisis since the killing fields of Cambodia, but still the scale and magnitude of the Syrian crisis, the suffering of ordinary civilians of children and mothers, continue to astound and shock me.

While humanitarian assistance is sustaining some lives, its not the solution to the Syrian crisis. Ultimately, the solution is political, he said.

Bombing hospitals

Since the Russian intervention in Syria last year, a hospital there is hit or bombed every two days, according to a doctor who has just returned from a medical mission in the country.

Zaher Sahloul, head of the Syrian American Medical Society, a humanitarian organization, said that in the past year 75 percent of his group's medical centers were bombed, "And we lost many of our medical staff.... This is something we have to highlight, because it is not normal."

Sahloul cited the Geneva Conventions. "We have to respect doctors, nurses and medics. Even if, in the worst situation, they are providing health care to people perceived as the enemy, they should be protected and this is not happening in Syria.

Neighboring countries

Oxfam International President Raymond Offenheiser said its important to think of Syrias neighbors and the impact the war has had on them. They need investment fast if they are going to help support the millions of refugees pouring into their borders, he added.

Lebanon and Jordan, which host nearly 2 million refugees, have spent the equivalent of nearly 7,000 percent of their fair share. In other words this is what they are spending of their national budgets as a share of the U.N. appeal to support the refugees that are actually present in their own countries, he said.



According to Offenheiser, there also is enormous pressure on the school and health systems.

Lebanon, for example, is hosting more than 1 million refugees. Thats about 30 percent of its population. Since January of last year, its borders have been effectively closed to refugees ... and Syrians who wish to obtain legal residency have now to sign a pledge they wouldnt work or they have to find a Lebanese citizen to sponsor them,

Offenheiser said in Turkey, which holds about 2 million Syrian refugees, some towns have seen their populations double, with still about 600,000 unregistered refugees inside the country.

Finally, he said in Jordan more than 83 percent of its more than 600,000 Syrian refugees actually live outside the camps. So while we see the pictures of the Zaatari camps thats not where most people actually are. They are in towns and cities all over Jordan.

Offenheiser called it the "biggest humanitarian crisis since World War II, and I think we have to imprint that in our minds and realize the seriousness of the crisis and the scale of it.
In India, a program to equip millions of homes with energy efficient bulbs and undertake a street light retrofit is expected to lead to a significant conservation of energy in the power-starved country and reduce its carbon footprint.

A year ago, Harsh Singh, who lives in a low income neighborhood in New Delhi, was given two LED (light emitting diode) lamps by the state-owned power company for about 10 cents each. He paid another 20 cents every month for a year in his electricity bill. His investment has paid off.

My monthly bills have come down by about Rs 100 ($1.5). And the children are also happy because they get bright light, said Singh.

Delhi is among 10 states where the government has distributed more than 70 million LED bulbs in the past year. The target is much more ambitious; by 2018, the government wants to switch 750 million household bulbs and 35 million streetlights across the country to LEDs.

The rapid shift in India has become possible by putting these lights, whose price tag in the market is 10 times higher than incandescent bulbs, within reach of consumers like Harsh Singh by allowing them to pay in easy installments.

A dramatic drop of nearly 75 percent in prices in the past year has given further momentum to the program. Saurabh Kumar, head of state-owned Energy Efficiency Services Ltd, which is spearheading the program, attributes this to bulk purchases by the government.

A virtuous cycle started happening. When we started the program two years ago, the delivered price was Rs. 310 ($4.5) for a seven watt LED bulb. Last month the prices have come down to Rs. 64 ($1), said Kumar.

Following lead of China, Japan

In making the switch to LED technology, India is emulating countries like China and Japan.

The Climate Group, a non-profit that advocates cleaner technologies, says LED is not just environment-friendly, it helps consumers save money and enables the government to fill energy gaps.

It is a win-win-win situation, it is a triple win. So its a non-brainer when it comes to seeing that LED makes an absolute case for rapid transition, rapid scale up in a country like India or anywhere in the world for that matter, said Krishnan Pallassana, India director of The Climate Group.

India estimates the energy savings in the past year add up to about 2,000 megawatts, or enough electricity to light up the small Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh. The government hopes to scale that up 10 times in the next two years, saving $6 billion every year.

The conservation is a boon for a country beset with chronic power shortages  in hot summer months, cities and villages routinely plunge into darkness.

The southern state of Andhra Pradesh, which is at the front-lines of Indias LED push, is already reaping the benefits. Here, virtually every household has been handed two LED bulbs in the past year and street lights across cities glow with the same white light.

Ajay Jain, secretary of the State Energy Conservation Mission in Andhra Pradesh, said the switch to LED has reduced demand in peak evening hours when power outages were the worst.

The savings in electricity bills is also a boon for local civic bodies. Forty percent of the money used to go for electricity bills. Now they are able to spend on development activities, for citizens - roads, drainage or water supplies, said Jain.

After household and street lights, the government is turning its attention to selling energy efficient fans and agricultural pumps to consumers. As with bulbs, the key will be to slash costs through bulk purchases.

However, the push with energy efficient technologies into rural areas and smaller towns will encounter challenges, warned Pallassana of The Climate Group. He said the infrastructure to install LED is not adequate in many places and needs upgrades.

The awareness and technical understanding if you particularly go to some of the interior towns and cities of India. It is lacking at this point of time and we need to raise that awareness and technical capacity at that level, he said.

Still, energy economists have welcomed the beginning. Along with cleaner energy such as solar, they say the switch to LED will play a key role in enabling the worlds third largest polluter meet its goal of reducing its carbon footprint. That is not going to be easy in a country that needs to massively scale up its power generation to bring electricity to the 40 percent of its population still not connected to the grid.

The savings will be around 100 billion units (of electricity) ever year, and most importantly the carbon dioxide emissions will reduce by somewhere around 65 million tons every year, said Kumar of EESL who is optimistic the program is going faster than anticipated.
More than a million Iraqis are in danger of being killed if the poorly maintained Mosul dam collapses and the Tigris River rushes out. The government began urgent maintenance work on the dam Thursday. Authorities have warned people who live along the Tigris to move at least six kilometers away from the banks

Maintenance work began Thursday to shore up the dam's weakening structure, undermined by years of conflict and neglect. Iraqis living near the Tigris River are worried.

"We are afraid and we don't know if it's true or not true that the dam could collapse. We are worried because we have family and kids. And we are stressed. We live very close to the Tigris," said a local man.

The dam needs regular maintenance because the ground underneath it is unstable. The government this week signed a $300-million deal with Italy's Trevi group to repair and maintain the structure for 18 months. But many Iraqis fear the dam could collapse before the Italian engineers arrive and assemble their machinery.

''It is certain that the rising water levels will have a negative impact on citizens. We hope the relevant authorities will work hard to resolve this problem in order not to let the water leak into commercial interests and homes of locals, said Baghdad resident Raad al-Quraishi.

As the snow melts, the water pressure grows. A gate was opened to ease some of the water pressure, raising the levels of the Tigris River. But officials have downplayed the danger.

"The quantities of water which flowed into the Tigris River have been utilized well in the agricultural plans drawn up by the Ministry of Water Resources in accordance with the Ministry of Agriculture. And big quantities of water have been used to flourish and revive the marshes which suffered a lot from water scarcity in the previous season," said Ali Radhi Thamir of the state committee on irrigation and drainage projects.

The U.S. Embassy said this week that the risk of the dam collapsing is "serious and unprecedented." U.S. and Iraqi governments are working on a plan to evacuate as many as 1.5 million Iraqis living along the Tigris.

The dam deteriorated during the conflict, including a temporary capture by the Islamic State militants. Its maintenance has remained insufficient in part because Islamic State still controls the factory that produces the cement for the dam's foundation.
In the city of Kostanay in northern Kazakhstan, the ribbon of St. George, a black-and-orange symbol of resurgent Russian patriotism that was adopted by separatists in Ukraine, hangs from every second car's rear-view mirror.

Most people in this town and the surrounding region are ethnic Russians, distinct from the mainly Muslim ethnic Kazakhs who are in the majority nationwide and control the main levers of power in this oil-producing former Soviet state.

Demographically, the region therefore has much in common with Ukraine's Crimea peninsula and the eastern Donbass region, whose majority Russian-speaking populations pulled out of Kyiv's orbit with help from Moscow.

There is no separatist rebellion in northern Kazakhstan, but the ethnic Russians, who make up more than a fifth of the country's 18 million population, are feeling increasingly insecure and some sympathize with the separatists in Ukraine.

The Ukraine experience has made the Kazakh authorities highly sensitive to any signs of disloyalty by ethnic Russians.

Ethnically based political parties are banned.

Last year, a court in eastern Kazakhstan sentenced a user of Vkontakte, a Russian-based social network, to five years in prison for posting a poll which asked people whether they would support the idea of that region, which also has a big ethnic Russian population, becoming part of Russia.

"Their bodies are in Kazakhstan but their minds are in Russia," said political analyst Dosym Satpayev, talking about what he described as the significant portion of the Kazakh population influenced by Russian media.

"There are signs that [the authorities] in Kazakhstan are beginning to realize it also faces a separatist threat," said Satpayev, who runs the Risk Assessment Group, a think tank.

There are no signs of Moscow promoting separatism in Kazakhstan, although it wants to keep the country in its orbit.

But it remains unclear who will succeed aging President Nursultan Nazarbayev and whether the new leader will maintain close ties with Russia. Ukraine's break with Russia prompted separatist upheavals there.

Moscow has a clear interest in what goes on in its neighbor. At 3.7 million, Kazakhstan's Russian diaspora is the second-biggest after Ukraine and its northern and eastern regions are home to major industrial enterprises with Russian links. Northern Kazakhstan is a major coal and grain region.

Russian Orbit

Most of the landmarks in Kostanay, a city of 200,000, date back to the 19th century, when the territory became part of the Russian empire and settlers arrived. More people arrived from Russia when Kazakhstan became part of the Soviet Union.

Kostanay lacks the glitz that oil wealth has given to the cities of Astana and Almaty. People live in nondescript grey apartment blocks built en masse under Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, who oversaw a large-scale campaign to turn "virgin lands" in Kazakhstan into farmland.

Today, most people in Kostanay speak Russian. The Kazakh language can barely be heard in the streets, in contrast with southern Kazakhstan, where ethnic Kazakhs generally use it.

Although the Russian and Kazakh economies are reeling from the slump in the price of oil - both countries' main export - nearby Russian cities such as industrial Chelyabinsk remain a magnet for job seekers.

The Kostanay region, meanwhile, has been hit hardest among Kazakhstan's administrative units, according to official data.

Some locals working across the border acquire a second, Russian citizenship, which is illegal but possible due to lack of coordination between Russian and Kazakh authorities.

Crimea Scenario

Perhaps mindful of the legal penalties, people in Kostanay do not express separatist sentiments in public. Many say they display the St. George's ribbon to commemorate the Soviet victory in World War II, not because of any association with the pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine.

But some in the city sympathize with the pro-Russian movements in Ukraine and see parallels with Kazakhstan.

"I think Kazakhstan won't be able to make it without Russia," says 19-year-old Vladislav, who declined to give his full name because of the sensitivity of the subject. "As for the Crimean scenario, everything went fine there - which cannot be said of Donbass and nobody wants the latter, nobody wants a war."

Some ethnic Russians in the region have gone further, and fought alongside the separatists in Ukraine.

Last February, a Kostanay court ordered the detention of two people who had fought in Ukraine. It is illegal under Kazakh law to participate in armed conflicts abroad.

Another Kostanay man, kung fu instructor and masseur Vyacheslav Tretyakov, posted pictures of himself and other armed fighters in eastern Ukraine throughout 2014 and 2015 on social networks.

Tretyakov, who now lists his location as Erbil, the capital of Iraq's Kurdistan region, did not reply to online contact requests, but an acquaintance from Kostanay told Reuters his social network account was genuine.

Angry Reaction

The Kazakh government under the 75-year-old Nazarbayev has nurtured close relations with Moscow, but pushes back hard against any sign the country could fracture along ethnic lines.

The office of the president, who has run Kazakhstan since 1989, said last month the country's security council had discussed the dual citizenship issue and measures to prevent people illegally obtaining second passports.

In an apparent attempt to change the ethnic balance, the government is also encouraging ethnic Kazakhs to repatriate and people from southern regions to move to the north by offering financial assistance and easier access to education.

The government also reacts angrily to any hint that Russia covets its territory.

In 2014, Kazakhstan's foreign ministry officially protested over comments by deputy Russian parliament speaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky who said Kazakhstan had been given Russian lands during the Soviet era.

In the same year, Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Nazarbayev for establishing modern Kazakhstan, adding that Kazakhs had never had a state before. Although it never rebuked Putin directly, shortly afterwards Kazakhstan announced it would celebrate the 550th anniversary of the Kazakh Khanate in 2015.
Hyderabad: The University of Hyderabad, in the news for all wrong reasons for the last two months following the suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula, appears to have slid in the university rankings within India.

A survey carried out by the US News and World Report has placed the UoH at 13 among the 14 Indian institutions. The list places the UoH behind three other Central universities: Aligarh Muslim University at 7 and Delhi University at 9 and Banaras Hindu University at 10. Among the six universities in the list, the UoH figures last. This is a comedown for the UoH which generally figures among the top 10 Indian universities. In January last year, UoH won the Visitors Award for the best Central University from the President.

IISc top ranker, 6 IITs on the list

The list of university rankings within India is topped by the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru and Punjab University is ranked second. Asked about the rankings, UoH incharge vice-chancellor Prof. M. Perisamy told this newspaper that the university should have been ranked higher.

Panjab University and Aligarh Muslim University were placed higher than UoH because they have affiliated colleges, he said. As far as research studies are concerned, UoH is regarded as the best in the country, Prof. Perisamy said. Students JAC convener Venkatesh Chouhan said UoH was a role model to the country.

IITs took six spots on the US News and World Report list: Bombay at 3, Delhi 4, Madras 5, Kanpur 7, Kharagpur 8 and Roorkee at 12. The Aligarh Muslim University is ranked 7, University of Delhi 10, Jadavpur University 11 and All India Institute of Medical Sciences, 14.

The rankings were based on 12 indicators: Global research reputation, regional research reputation, publications, books, conferences, normalised citation impact, total citations, percentage of total publications that are among the 10 per cent most cited, international collaboration and number of PhDs awarded.
For decades Israel has prided itself as the only real democracy in the Middle East, but some senior Israeli officials are saying newly proposed legislation could tarnish that image.

This week, the Knessets Constitution, Law and Justice Committee introduced a controversial bill that would allow 90 of the parliaments 120 members to expel legislators who support armed struggle against Israel, incite racism and negate Israels existence as a Jewish and democratic state.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu initiated the proposed legislation after three Arab Knesset members met relatives of Palestinian assailants killed in clashes. Some of those attackers reportedly killed Israeli civilians.

The three lawmakers, Jamal Zahalka, Haneen Zoabi, and Basel Ghattas of the National Democratic Assembly, better known by its Hebrew acronym Balad, met the families in Jerusalem. First, they stood up and quietly recited the first chapter of the Koran in memory of all the occupations victims, they said in a statement. Then they tried to help their hosts retrieve the bodies of 10 assailants being held by police.

Anti-Israeli attacks at issue

The action enraged Jews who in the past five months have been facing a surge of attacks. When members of Knesset stand at attention in memory of childrens murderers, we shall act just as people would do in Britain, Canada and the United States, if someone would stand [to pay tribute] to the memory of Jihadi John or other murderers, Netanyahu said. A democracy has a right to defend itself, he added.

Balad is a small party and champions turning the State of Israel into a "state of all of its citizens." Its previous leader, Azmi Bishara, left the country when security services suspected him of passing intelligence to Hezbollah, considered by much of the West as a terrorist organization.

The chairman of the Knessets law committee, Nissan Slomiansky, said that Israeli laws already prohibit support of an armed struggle against Israel, incitement of racism and negating Israels existence as a Jewish-democratic state. Knesset members who violate these laws cannot claim parliamentary immunity so the causes for eviction are reasonable."

Shame on you

Right wing legislators supported the motion, sometimes wholeheartedly.

Oded Forer of the secularist and right-wing nationalist political party Israel Beitenu blasted the Arab legislators. Shame on you who do not condemn terror, who support it and think they ought to be in this house, he said.

Nava Boker of Netanyahus Likud faction said whoever stands for a moment of silence to the memory of murderers, causes 13 and 14-year-old children to go to the streets and murder Jews.

To ensure continued democratic representation, the bill provides that a dismissed legislator be replaced by the next person on their list of candidates. In last years elections, Balad and three other Arab parties were afraid that by running separately they might not pass the threshold for entering the parliament, so they formed the Joint Arab List. But, if all three legislators of Balad are evicted, only one Balad member would enter the Knesset. The next two people on the joint list are from the Islamic movement.

The bills critics warned of a slippery slope. Today Arabs are unwanted and tomorrow it will be leftists, said Zehava Galon of the left-wing Meretz party.

'Problematic' legislation

The most prominent critic was Israeli President Reuven Rivlin who said proposed legislation showed a problematic understanding of parliamentary democracy. The Knesset should not be a body that investigates and punishes.

The non-partisan think tank Israel Democracy Institute agreed, noting that legislators are not professional judges but members of parliament who have political interests.

Opposition legislators argued that the proposed law is superfluous since the causes cited for eviction are criminal acts and convicted offenders would be removed from the Knesset anyway.

Miki Rosenthal of the Zionist Camp said the law could, however, be used to intimidate members, to silence uncomfortable views.

We are here to represent our community, democratically. There were elections, Ahmad Tibi of the Joint Arab List told the committee. You can agree or disagree, love or not love what they are doing, but the proposed law is a parliamentary translation of the slogan Death to the Arabs, he said.

The bill is expected to go to the full Knesset next week for the first of three plenum votes.
Hundreds of thousands of people forced from their homes are now living in the Diffa region of eastern Niger. Makeshift camps are everywhere on each side of the RN1, the country's main highway. The asphalt is boiling hot.

Here, refugees from Nigeria live next to displaced people from Niger. They are two nationalities but have one common fear: Boko Haram.

Mataram Kodogo, a Nigerian, fled her village with her eight children for the relative safety of the Ngourtoua camp.

It was 2:30 a.m.; it was a Thursday. Boko Haram arrived in our village, shooting, killing people," she said. "It was every man for himself. People were fleeing undressed, without shoes. I put my baby on my back, took another child under my arm, and I dragged another.

Others in the camps tell similarly horrible stories. Even with the Niger army on patrol, displaced people and refugees are scared. Daily life is not easy.

Hunger problem

The food situation is at best precarious. Last year, the United Nations estimated that the region's harvest would not meet local needs, falling short by 100,000 tons of cereals.

The U.N. refugee agency has said efforts to help the displaced are complicated because they are spread out for 30 kilometers along RN1 instead of being in a proper camp. Aid officials aren't even sure how many people they are dealing with.

"We know that many people have no IDs," said Karl Steinacker, the U.N. agency's representative in Niger. "It is extremely difficult to say where they are from. But, as of right now, we have more displaced people than Nigerian refugees."

He estimated the Diffa region's total population at 700,000, including 100,000 Nigerian refugees. "And at least half of them are displaced or in need, he told VOA.

Many refugees or displaced people say they would return to their homes if security improved, but the chances of this seem remote. Boko Haram is still active along the Komadugu Yobe River, the natural border between Niger and Nigeria.
Zimbabwes President Robert Mugabe said late Thursday that he will not back down on his decision to seize control of the diamond industry. Last month, Mugabe gave foreign mining companies 90 days to stop work and leave the country.Scaring away foreign investors may be the last thing Zimbabwe needs right now.



In a wide-ranging interview on state television, Mugabe said Zimbabwe has received less than $2 billion for what he said has been $15 billion worth of diamonds mined since 2009



So where have our carats have been going? We have been blinded ourselves. Lots of swindling, smuggling has taken place and companies that have been mining virtually, I want to say robbed us of our wealth. And that is why we have decided that this area should be a monopoly area and only the state should be able to do the mining in that area," he said. "You cannot trust a private company in that area, none at all. And we should have learnt from the experiences of countries like Botswana, Angola, Namibia etc."



Mugabe included the Chinese mining company Anjin in his indictment, a surprising move for some.



China is a key investment partner for Zimbabwe. Officials have referred to China as the country's all-weather friend since the U.S. and European nations imposed sanctions in 2002 over rights violations and vote rigging.

But Mugabe says he addressed his concerns about Anjin with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on his landmark visit to Zimbabwe late last year.



I dont think it has affected any of our relations adversely at all. I dont think so. I told President Xi Jinping that we were not getting much from the company and we didnt like it any more in this country. So we wanted it to go back. I told him that here," he said.

Anjin is one of nine foreign mining companies now fighting Mugabes move in court. The case opened this week in Harare.

The government said last month that under the new system, the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company - in which the government will hold at least 51 percent equity - will now mine the countrys gems.

But Zimbabwean economist John Robertson says the government isnt actually ready to take over diamond extraction.

That is a nonsensical statement. You actually need cash to do the actual job in mining. Now they need capital, now they need to bring in proper techs to extract the real value from what is available. And the money to do that isnt there," he said. "The people that are supposed to bring in the money are thoroughly discouraged by the fact that they have to invest 100 percent of their capital and only be allowed to earn an income from only 49 percent of that capital."



The government says this new system is in line with the broader indigenization policy which since 2008 has forced foreign companies and landholders to cede control to black Zimbabweans.

Mugabe says the law was meant to return the economy to the hands of blacks who were marginalized during British colonial rule.

But analysts say that policy and others have sunk Zimbabwes economy to unprecedented lows. Unemployment is above 80 percent, and the government relies on foreign aid to fund social sectors like education and health.

In 2008, the Kimberly Process suspended Zimbabwe from trading in diamonds following reports that senior government and military officials had taken control of the mines and were smuggling the precious stones. Rights groups reported that the diamonds were collected through forced labor.

The suspension was only lifted in 2009 when Harare convinced the Kimberly Process - a world body aimed at stemming the flow of conflict diamonds - that normalcy had been restored.
President Barack Obama and his family will continue calling Washington home after he leaves the White House next year, at least for a little while.

Obama was having lunch Thursday in Milwaukee with people who had written him letters when one asked where he would live during his post-presidency.

Were going to have to stay a couple of years in D.C., probably, so Sasha can finish, he said. Transferring someone in the middle of high school? Tough.

Obamas daughters attend a private school in Washington. Malia, currently a senior, is expected to leave home for college next year. Sasha will be a sophomore in high school when Obama departs office in January 2017.

The president said that the family's plans beyond Sashas graduation were not yet clear.
The United Nations has designated the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, made up of musicians from Israel, the Palestinian territories and other parts of the Middle East, as a Global Advocate for Cultural Understanding.

The orchestra was co-founded in 1999 by Argentine-Israeli conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim and the late Palestinian literary scholar Edward Said as an instrument of peace and tolerance.

Within the orchestra, music is seen as a vehicle of cultural understanding. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he appreciates the orchestras approach in fostering dialogue and tolerance.

Every performance is a testimony to the power of music to break down barriers, to promote cultural understanding and to build bridges between communities, Ban said.

The secretary-general said that as a U.N. Global Advocate, "the orchestra will work closely with the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations to build mutual respect among peoples of different cultural and religious identities, highlighting the will of all people around the world to reject extremism and embrace diversity and tolerance.

Barenboim, who has been a U.N. Messenger of Peace for nine years, said the orchestra would not spare any energy in fulfilling its mission. However, he added, there are limits to what it can do.

Lets face it  music cannot bring peace," he said. "It will not solve the problems. It will not solve the terrible crisis we have in Syria at the moment, and all the other conflicts in the world. But music is an example of the necessity of dialogue, because the instruments play one against the other sometimes, and always peacefully.

Tyme Khleifi, 26, a violinist from the Palestinian city of Ramallah, has spent half her life as a member of the orchestra. She said she agreed that music alone would not solve the worlds problems. She also told VOA that coming from a conflicted part of the world as she does, it is not easy being part of such an orchestra.

It is not easy to come face to face with human beings you normally grow up viewing or thinking of as your enemy," Khleifi said. "Just confronting that and reckoning with it and coming to terms with it is a huge thing, and so that is why actually every member of the orchestra, the people who decide to come back, are very courageous for doing so and for making that decision.

Another member of the orchestra, Israeli violinist Guy Braunstein, said it is naive to think music can bring peace, but he said it can break down barriers among communities.

The acceptance of what we do with the instruments is important," he said. "It should be escorted by the acceptance that we are equal, with and without the instruments.

The musicians said that ultimately, success would come when the orchestra could play freely in Tel Aviv, Damascus, Beirut, Ramallah or East Jerusalem. The world would be a far better place, they said, if their political leaders knew the joy and fulfillment that comes with playing in concert with one another.
Allegations of sexual abuse by United Nations peacekeepers and staff rose in 2015, despite the institution's "zero tolerance" policy on such misconduct.

According to a new report from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, released Friday, there were 99 such allegations last year, compared to 80 in 2014.

The majority  69  were made against troops and police in 10 U.N. peacekeeping operations, nine of which are current and one is closed. There were 30 cases of sexual exploitation and abuse  or SEA in U.N. jargon  against staff members.

"That anyone serving under the U.N. flag should prey on the vulnerable is truly an abomination," said Atul Khare, under-secretary-general for field support, at a news conference Friday. "We will never, never agree to protectors turning into predators."

He said the U.N. would work to make sure that prevention measures are robust, and that where incidents occur, victims receive support and allegations are vigorously investigated so justice can be served.

The U.N. has instituted remedies for victims, including financial compensation and mechanisms to assist and encourage victims in reporting allegations.

Spotlight on peacekeepers

The U.N. has more than 100,000 troops and police from 122 countries, working in 16 operations  most in very difficult and dangerous environments.

More than half the peacekeeper-related abuse allegations were made against just two U.N. missions  MINUSCA in the Central African Republic with 22 allegations, and MONUSCO in the Democratic Republic of Congo with 16 allegations.

"The particularly high number of claims of abuse in C.A.R. is striking," Richard Gowan, U.N. expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told VOA. "The U.N. mission there clearly has even worse standards of discipline than U.N. operations as a whole, and cleaning it up has to be a priority.

Missions in Haiti, Liberia, Ivory Coast and Mali accounted for nearly 40 percent of the allegations. Peacekeepers in Sudan's Darfur region, Abyei  on the border of Sudan and South Sudan  and Cyprus were the subject of four allegations.

A third of all the allegations involved the abuse or exploitation of children. Fifteen paternity cases have been filed in the 69 cases.

Gowan noted that one of the root problems in containing the SEA issue should be focusing more attention on the countries that are sending "ill-prepared and ill-disciplined troops to serve on U.N. missions."

Strengthening U.N. response

Secretary-General Ban already has taken a series of steps to try to stem peacekeeper abuse. These include firing the head of MINUSCA last year, and holding a video conference with the heads of all peacekeeping missions and their force commanders to reinforce his "zero tolerance" position.

Last month, he appointed Jane Holl Lute, a former U.S. official with extensive experience in U.N. peacekeeping, to coordinate the U.N.'s response to SEA.

The report released Friday details more significant steps, including asking troop-contributing countries to agree to on-site court martial proceedings when allegations amount to sex crimes under their national laws.

The secretary-general also is urging countries to provide DNA samples from their accused peacekeepers to assist investigations.

Additionally, there is renewed focus on vetting troops for prior abuse allegations, and where such allegations are widespread or systemic, entire contingents could be repatriated.

Their replacements would come from different troop-contributing countries, so repeat offenders could effectively be drummed out of the lucrative U.N. peacekeeping business.

Transparency and accountability

The U.N. has no authority to prosecute peacekeepers for crimes. It can only repatriate them and hope their home country will follow through with prosecution. In several past cases, some troop-providing countries have not investigated or even responded to the U.N. regarding allegations.

An official with the U.S. mission to the United Nations said Friday that its delegation is working on a Security Council resolution that would push for greater transparency and accountability by countries.

"The point of the resolution is to send a strong signal that the Security Council will not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse in U.N. peacekeeping," the American diplomat said.

The diplomat said the draft proposes the council endorse several of the secretary-general's decisions, including to repatriate military and police units when there is evidence of a pattern of SEA, or when countries have not taken steps to investigate SEA allegations or to inform the secretary-general of progress in an investigation.

The United States, while not a significant contributor of troops to the U.N., does provide more than a quarter of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations' annual $8 billion budget.
Children are outside playing and many people are going to the shops safely for the first time in months in Aleppo, Syria, thanks to a partial halt to the war that is providing relief, even if most doubt that peace will take hold.

"Look at the markets. Where were all these people hiding?" said a bewildered Mahmoud Ashrafi, speaking to Reuters by telephone after picking through opposition-held areas of Aleppo wrecked by barrel bombs and airstrikes.

While the "cessation of hostilities" has fallen short of halting the five-year war across the country, parts of Syria have enjoyed an unusual period of peace since the U.S.-Russian agreement came into effect Saturday.

The United Nations hopes the agreement will lead to talks on settling the conflict that has killed more than 250,000 people and created refugee crises in the Middle East and Europe. More aid has been delivered into opposition-held areas since the agreement came into effect.

Just a few weeks ago, Syrians in opposition-held parts of Aleppo were trying to leave, fearing President Bashar al-Assad's advancing forces were about to impose a siege after cutting rebel supply lines north of the city.

But this week, some of those who fled Aleppo, which has seen some of the Syrian war's worst bombing and house-to-house fighting, have returned.

Aleppo resident Jamila al-Shabani said she had been out seeing parts of the city she had not visited in a long time because of what she described as her "self-imposed confinement" at home.

"People were afraid to go out," she said.

"The park yesterday was a beehive where children and families flocked," added Abdullah Aslan, another Aleppo resident contacted by Reuters. "Families fell safer" when they venture out.

Before the war, tourists enjoyed Aleppo, Syria's second city and one of the oldest inhabited in the world. Architectural gems  bathhouses, palaces, churches and mosques  studded Aleppo's streets, making it one of the richest historical sites in the Middle East. Souks that traced their history back four millennia sold spices, the city's trademark laurel soap and the antique textiles that were coveted in Europe.

Bustling market

Residents contacted by Reuters described bustling scenes in the market, some likening it to the last-minute rush before the start of a big religious holiday.

"People are more assured," said Abdul Munim Juneid, an orphanage supervisor.

On the other side of the city, which is under government control, residents have also noticed a drop in insurgent shelling. But like Syrians in rebel-held territory, residents remain cautious and fearful.

"Now, to a small degree, it is different. But there is still fear that any moment they will shell peaceful neighborhoods," said Suheib Masry, 28.

Both rebel groups and the Syrian government say they are respecting the cessation-of-hostilities agreement, while accusing each other of violating it.

The pace of the war is virtually unchanged in some parts of northern Syria, notably on front lines near the border with Turkey where rebels report attacks by government forces seeking to seal the frontier.

The government is saying little about military operations in those areas, where rebel forces viewed as moderate by the West fight in close proximity to jihadists who are not included in the cessation-of-hostilities agreement.

While the government says it is cooperating with international efforts, the opposition is voicing deep misgivings. It says aid deliveries are reaching a fraction of those in need and that Assad is pressing his war effort in violation of the agreement.

Army helicopters have dropped leaflets calling on rebels to lay down their arms and vowing to fight those who resist.

'Calm before the storm'

Residents in the town of Jisr al-Shughour, captured by rebels from government forces last year, fear it is only a matter of time before the next offensive begins. They say there has been no letup in government shelling there.

"There is a lot of fear. There is paralysis with no buying or selling, and those who have assets are trying to get rid of them," said Abdullah Akhras, talking from a village near the town. "It's the calm before the storm. This truce is nothing more than a preparation for a huge battle. They [the government] are now amassing forces to begin on every front."

Still, in opposition-held areas near Damascus, people are using the relative calm to see to long-neglected tasks, such as repairing damaged homes and even tending to gardens.

"We now see the kids in the neighborhood going and coming and playing," said Badran al Doumi, owner of a furniture store in Douma, east of Damascus.

The noise of vehicles has replaced the sound of warplanes that so frequently bomb the area, residents say.

Instead of carrying reports on casualty tolls from government attacks, the social media feed of a civil defense service operating in the area showed rescue workers repairing vehicles, cleaning mosques and hosting a children's party.

Just nine kilometers (five miles) away across the front lines in government-controlled areas of Damascus, Samira al-Shawki, 60, hoped the calm would last.

"The sounds of blasts are fewer to a degree, but we want it to stay this way," she said.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye says her country must make it clear the North Korean regime will not survive if it does not give up its nuclear program.

Park made the remarks in a televised speech for newly commissioned military officers Friday, a day after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his military to be ready to use its nuclear weapons "at any moment."

Park said to expect a fiercer backlash than usual from North Korea in response to new international sanctions on Pyongyang that went into effect Wednesday.

Also Friday, a North Korean cargo vessel was stopped in the Philippines after inspections mandated by the new sanctions resulted in the discovery of some safety violations.

The MV Jin Teng was held in Subic Bay, Philippines, north of Manila. A report to the coast guard said inspectors found no suspicious cargo, but spotted safety violations such as missing or damaged equipment that must be corrected before the ship can leave port.

On Thursday, North Korea fired six short-range missiles off its eastern coast, according to Seoul's Defense Ministry, which said the projectiles flew up to 150 kilometers before landing in the sea.

The North Korean news agency also quoted Kim on Friday threatening to carry out "a preemptive attack" on his country's enemies.

North Korea often threatens nuclear strikes during times of elevated tensions. But experts question whether the North has the ability to place its nuclear weapons on long-range missiles.
Hungry people are angry people. In the makeshift tent camp just meters from Macedonia, here on the Greek side of the border with the rain sleeting down overnight Thursday, refugees expressed deep anger at the conditions they are enduring and fury with a razor-wire fence the Macedonians have erected to block their progress deeper into the promised land of Europe.

United Nations officials say at least 10,000 refugees are here  mostly Syrians, with some Iraqis and North Africans among them  and their number is expected to increase by nearly 2,000 a day. Greek officials have warned that this month at least 70,000 refugees will be trapped in Greece, creating a humanitarian crisis for a cash-strapped country struggling with debilitating debt since the 2008 financial crash.

The Syrians have come from all over their war-shattered country: from the ancient, half-razed city of Aleppo; Homs, once known as the capital of the Syrian revolution; Palmyra, another ancient town now in the hands of jihadists; Deir ez-Zor; and the Syrian capital, Damascus. They have survived barrel and cluster bombs dropped by a regime that has preferred to wreck a country rather than relinquish power.

They have fled the clutches of Islamic State militants. They have endured five years of civil war, navigated minefields to brave illegal crossings into Turkey, dealt with unscrupulous human smugglers and survived perilous Aegean Sea passages in small, overcrowded boats that only the foolhardy or desperate would risk.

And now their hoped-for European destinations  Germany, for most  are blocked by the small Balkan country of Macedonia and beyond by border restrictions in Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia on the Balkans route to western Europe. Austrias leaders now say they will not be the "distribution hub" for Germany, if refugees make it that far.

Hungry, cold and ill

"Where are we meant go? What are we meant do? asked Abdul, a former olive farmer, whose wife is expecting a third child any day now. The couple's 2-year-old daughter and 10-month-old son sleeping fitfully as we talk in a thin tent bought for $16 by their father and erected on the platform of Idomeni's gloomy railway station.

As Abdul vents, the rain intensifies. In the tents lining the platform, a chorus of coughing rises from young and old.

Abduls parents are in Germany. On his smartphone, he shows me photographs of his family farm and its 1,000 hectares of olive trees on the outskirts of Aleppo. "There is no one there now," he says sadly.

Like most of the Syrians VOA talked with here, into the early hours of Friday, Abdul has given up on Syria. "There is no future there," he remarks sadly, glancing at his young children.

Aleece, sitting with her 6-year-old daughter at an adjacent tent, fled Palmyra several month ago.

"Syria is beautiful  or was, she says. She has ruled out returning there.

She and her husband Ahmed, a barber, want to go to Germany with their three young children. She has a brother there. Other relatives are in Raqqa, the de facto capital of Islamic State militants. "We have not talked to them for weeks," Aleece says.

Both families have exhausted their cash. The adults have eaten nothing for two days, the kids very little. All are ill with coughs and flu, but in the morning they will crowd the razor-wire fence and face Macedonian troops armed with tear gas and rubber bullets as well as Slovene and Polish soldiers there to provide support. They will observe the water cannons, Humvees, armored personnel carriers and the dogs, and scream and plead to be allowed to continue their journey.

Stopping the refugees

There are no signs that Macedonia's government will have a change of heart. And to avoid more refugees traveling to northern Greece, authorities here are attempting to stop refugees who have arrived on Aegean islands from Turkey to board ferries to the Greek mainland. Travel agents on the islands of Lesbos and Leros say they have been instructed not to allow the asylum-seekers to buy tickets for public ferries.

Ferry companies have been asked to reduce services, partly so that ferries can be used for emergency accommodations.

The Greek authorities appear to be trying to slow the refugees from reaching the mainland, while they try desperately to persuade other European Union countries to open their borders and to cope with the challenge collectively. More than 130,000 refugees have arrived in Europe this year alone with 400 drowning at sea, according to the UNs refugee agency.

After meeting Thursday with European Council President Donald Tusk in Athens, Greeces Prime Minister called for sanctions to be imposed on EU states that refuse to take in their share of the thousands of refugees arriving in his country. Alexis Tsipras also promised to provide dignified living conditions for refugees trapped in Greece.

But that promise appeared to be falling far short in Idomeni, where many of the refugees have been for more than a week.

In the sprawling makeshift camp around the railway station, refugees complained of hunger and cold. Outside tents, families tried to keep open-air fires going but they sputtered in the rain. The only warm place was a tea house a hundred meters or so from the railway station. It was crowded with refugees seeking shelter from the rain or electrical outlets to recharge their phones.

Abdul said no doctors had visited their area of the encampment, and he worries about his wife.
A Tibetan schoolboy living in India has died four days after setting himself on fire to protest Chinese rule, according to hospital officials in New Delhi.

Dorje Tsering, 16, died from a cardiac arrest late on Thursday at the hospital where he was taken after setting himself ablaze at a housing settlement for Tibetan refugees in the northern city of Dehradun on Monday.

As he lay dying, his face disfigured by scarring and breathing with the aid of machines, a person at his bedside began recording footage of Tsering. In the unsourced video, translated by VOA's Tibetan Service, Tsering identifies himself as a student at Tibetan Homes school in Mussoorie.

"And what to say now," he says, momentarily trailing off, his eyelids nearly swollen shut. "On February 29, 2016, I set fire to my body like a vigil lamp. The reason why I set myself ablaze is, in 1959, the Chinese invaded Tibet. Because they took away Tibet , I have ardently always wanted to do something for Tibet since I was very small. Yesterday, I felt that things [in Tibet] were helpless unless I self-immolate myself and, now, to explain what self-immolation can do is, people are shocked

"They say he burned himself for his country," he continues in a halting voice muffled by an oxygen mask. "Now when they think like that, what can happen is England, USA, Africa, everywhere alike around the world, will pay attention to Tibet. When they pay attention, they will support Tibet and we, Tibetans, will get help.

"Lastly, victory to Tibet and May His Holiness the Dalai Lama live long for eons and eons," he says.

Hospital spokeswoman Poonam Dhanda told AFP that Tsering, who died around 9 p.m. local time (3:30 p.m. UTC), was the eighth Tibetan to mount such a protest outside China.

His death came after an 18-year-old Tibetan monk in China self-immolated on Monday to protest Beijing's ironclad control of the Himalayan region.

VOA's sister-agency Radio Free Asia called the monk's protest the first of its kind in China this year, bring the total number in the country to 144.

Scores of Tibetans living in-exile in India's northern hill town of Dharamsala on Wednesday held a candlelight vigil in solidarity with both of the Tibetan activists. The exile Tibetan government issued a statement urging young people to find other constructive ways to express their feelings and work for Tibet.

The Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje, a leading young Lama who is the head of a Tibetan Buddhist sect, also issued a statement calling upon Tibetans to stop sacrificing themselves in protest.

"Within Tibetan society, people will applaud them for a few days, saying 'Hes a hero,' 'Shes a heroine,' or 'That is incredible.' But that does not help," he said. "It is important to deeply consider the physical pain of those who set themselves on fire and the mental suffering of the relatives they leave behind, as well as whether this will help or harm Tibet, immediately, within a short while, or in the long term.

"The Tibetan land is vast, but the Tibetan people are few in number," he added. "Therefore it is critical that every individual Tibetan remain alive in order to preserve the land and people ... For the sake of our homelands future, to relieve the hardships of our people, we should treasure each single breath we take."
Kakinada: Senior Kapu leader Mudragada Padmanabham has alleged that the state government is taking to illicit methods and trying to snoop on his private space. According to him, his phone calls are being allegedly tapped by the government.

He told reporters on Friday at his residence at Kirlampudi village in East Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh that Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu is trying to cheat him and evade his earlier promise of inclusion of the Kapu community in the BC list.

Throwing light on how the Chief Minister had created a hue and cry over the issue of his phone being tapped for dubious purposes, he said that the minister is resorting to similar practices in order to defeat his political opponents.

Padmanabham will again launch indefinite hunger strike from March 11 at his residence, demanding inclusion of Kapu caste in BC list and sanctioning loans for the community people under Kapu Development Corporation without showing any discrimination.

A protest was launched on similar lines on January 31 by Mudragada. It took an ugly turn as protesters took to violence and wreaked havoc; they took to vandalism and even burnt a train and two police stations.
These are the five most popular songs in the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles Chart, for the week ending March 5, 2016.

February 28 saw the Academy Awards handed out, so were distributing our own trophies this week.

Number 5: Flo Rida "My House"



The award for Best Artist Named After a State goes to Flo Rida, who holds in fifth place with My House. Rida spends another week in fifth place with My House, which last month surpassed one million U.S. sales. His touring schedule is filling up fast: on April 28, hell take the stage at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, before hitting eight cities in Germany in early June.

Number 4: Justin Bieber "Sorry"



Our trophy for Best Timing goes to Justin Bieber, who posts two Top Five appearances during his birthday week. Justin turned 22 years old on March 1, and he started partying on February 27 in Los Angeles. Guests included his friend, model Hailey Baldwin, and Diddywho presented him with a Bad Boy Entertainment jacket. By the way, the website Celebrity Net Worth says Justin Bieber is worth a cool $200 million. Happy birthday, indeed.

Number 3: twenty one pilots "Stressed Out"



Our award for Best Costume Design should go to twenty one pilots, who once made their audience wear ski masks during a performance. During the 2013 MTV Movie Awards, this duo performed in ski masksand also made the audience wear them. They explained this was a way to catch audiences off guard, while also making their music faceless and more relatable. By taking their faces away from the songs, listeners can make them their own.

Number 2: Justin Bieber "Love Yourself"



Narrowly missing the award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role is Justin Bieber, who almost turned up in Kanye Wests new album, "The Life Of Pablo." Speaking with Fader Magazine, producer Fonzworth Bentley says Justin contributed a freestyle rap to the song Ultralight Beam, but doesnt appear on the final version.

Number 1: Rihanna Featuring Drake " Work"



Winning Best Original Score are Rihanna and Drake, who score a major hit every time they work together. Their latest joint effort Work jumps from fourth to first place. This is their second prize-winning collaboration after Whats My Name back in 2010. In addition, they reached seventh place on the Hot 100 in 2012, with Take Care.

Thanks for checking in on this weeks award ceremony, and dont forgetwell do it again in seven days!
With an estimated 500,000 Syrian refugee children in Turkey not attending school, the government is continuing to push for more educational programs. In a suburb of Istanbul, a pilot project is addressing the massive problem of educating children living outside refugee camps.

It is the end of another day at Istanbuls Ataturk school. More than a thousand Turkish children stream out and head home.

For others, the school day is just starting. Around the corner at another entrance, 700 impatient Syrian children wait to enter. Welcoming them is Sitki Dayar. He is the coordinator of this pilot project by the Turkish Ministry of Education that started last year --- a parallel school for Syrian children with Syrian teachers. According to Dayar, from the beginning they were overwhelmed.

He said they were asked by the Education Ministry to provide four classrooms, thinking four would be enough, but ultimately had to open 18 classrooms. If we had the capacity, he said, we could double again the number of classes, such is the demand.

Syrian parents turn up nearly every day bringing new children. As in the rest of the world, some are a little anxious about leaving their parents for the first time.

The program teaches the basics of grammar, reading and writing in Arabic; but, Mohamed el Hummadi says there are also foreign language classes, including Turkish.

When this school opened, it solved a major problem for many students. The existence of this school, especially for children between the ages of 5 to 10 years old, is very important, so that this generation can learn knowledge and culture, which is a good thing, he said.

The school was established after Syrian children struggled to integrate within the Turkish state schools, like this one, said principal Ercan Polat.

Polat said that when Syrians go to Turkish schools, they follow Turkish curriculum in Turkish. Because of the language barrier, the students can't follow the courses. When the semester ends they may have learned a little Turkish but failed in other subjects.

There is growing concern among some parents, like Besma Fistik, that time is running out.

"A whole generation would [go] directly to terrorism. No education. No money. They won't find anything for earning money. More trouble will be happening with the Syrians, especially in Turkey," said Fistik.

With educational projects like this one, there is hope.

"I want to be a doctor to build Syria," said one child.

Wanting to return home to rebuild their country is a sentiment repeated by many of the children. The hope is that, with education, this generation of Syrians can start to build a brighter future.
Turkey has sentenced two Syrians to four years in prison over the deaths of a toddler and his family, who drowned en route to Turkey.

Turkish state media said Friday the Syrians, Muwafaka Alabash and Asem Alfrhad, were convicted of human trafficking and given prison terms of four years and two months.

Their victims included 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi, a toddler who became a visual symbol of the refugee crisis when media published a photograph of his tiny, lifeless body washed up on a Turkish beach.

The other refugees who perished included Aylan's mother and brother.

The two Syrians' trial opened February 11 at the criminal court in Turkey's western resort town of Bodrum, where the toddler's body was discovered.

Aylan and his family were among hundreds of thousands who attempted a risky Mediterranean Sea crossing in hopes to be able to travel farther north for a better life in the prosperous countries of northern and western Europe.

The Eurostat statistics agency reported Friday that a record 1.25 million asylum seekers arrived in the European Union in 2015, more than double the figure from the previous year. It said Syrians made up the largest group of refugees, followed by Afghans and Iraqis.
Zika forest is a quiet place, where leaves flutter in the breeze and monkeys play in the trees. From the outside, it doesnt appear remarkable.

It takes only a short walk into the woods, however, to find the imposing 37-meter tower that scientists at the Uganda Virus Research Institute were using to research yellow fever in 1947, when they isolated an unknown virus in the blood of a rhesus monkey.

The Zika virus, named after the forest in which it was discovered, remained relatively unknown for years. But, recent fear of the disease has gripped the world, and particularly Latin America, as Brazil deals with an outbreak while preparing to host the Summer Olympics.

Julius Lutwama, senior principal research officer at the virus institute, says the extensive work he and his colleagues have done set the foundation for current understanding and research on Zika.

"It was isolated here," Lutwama said, noting the significance of the institute's role in Zika's discovery. "The good thing is that it was known before, and it wasnt really starting from scratch when this outbreak started."



Studying mosquito-borne illness

Research at the institute has continued well beyond the Zika virus.

Scientists here have discovered 27 viruses and 224 species of mosquitoes. Theyve worked on roughly 80 viruses, including Ebola and West Nile, once obscure illnesses that have become global threats because of air travel and urbanization.

Louis Mukwaya, a mosquito researcher at the institute, said there is more work to be done  and more cause for worry  well beyond the facilitys confines.

"You know, viruses, diseases, dont observe boundaries," he said. They can move easily "from Sudan or Zambia or Uganda. They may be here today, but [in] a few years to come, you may find them in the United States, Europe. So we should all be concerned."

Rising concerns

The symptoms of Zika virus are usually mild, so people have not been that concerned  until now, amid reports that Zika could be sexually transmitted and have mutated to cause the birth defect microcephaly in newborns. Zika also is suspected of a link to Guillain-Barre syndrome, which can cause temporary paralysis.

In Uganda, researchers say that with proper funding, they would be happy to look into further study.
Ukraine's foreign minister, Pavlo Klimkin, reported no breakthrough after Thursday's talks in Paris on the conflict in eastern Ukraine, saying he believes the Russians are not ready to discuss anything in detail.

Klimkin told reporters the talks with the Russian, French and German foreign ministers were lively but very difficult, especially on the issue of Ukrainians being held prisoner by Russian-backed rebels in the east. He said he presented the Russians with letters of appeal written by the mothers of some of those being held.

Klimkin also said there needs to be more progress toward security and a lasting cease-fire if elections are to be held in eastern Ukraine at the end of June.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said nothing as he walked right past the microphones and reporters after Thursday's meeting.

But France's Jean-Marc Ayrault called for a prisoner exchange, and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters he is unsatisfied with the way Russia and Ukraine have been leading the negotiations so far.

Russia and Ukraine signed the Minsk accords more than a year ago. They were supposed to have led to a lasting cease-fire and a political settlement in Ukraine.

The fighting has eased, but there has been almost no progress toward a permanent peace.
The United Nations refugee agency says the number of people who have fled Burundi because of violence and political tension has climbed to a quarter-million.

Spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said Friday that camps are becoming overcrowded in all the host countries, especially Tanzania, which has taken in more than 130,000 Burundians since early last April.

She noted the U.N. agency has received just 3 percent of the $175 million it asked for to deal with the Burundian refugee crisis.

Burundians began fleeing the country almost a year ago after President Pierre Nkurunziza announced plans to run for a controversial third term, which he later won.

At least 400 people have been killed since then in clashes between police and protesters and other acts of violence in the Central African country.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited Burundi last month, urging the president to hold talks with opposition leaders to end the turmoil.

Nkurunziza agreed to a dialogue, but his move to exclude certain opponents led the main opposition group to reject the plan as a "false opening."

The East African Community (EAC) has named former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa as the new mediator for the talks whenever they take place.
The United Nations human rights office says civilian casualties are mounting in conflict-ridden Yemen.

The new reports also says more than 3,000 men, women and children have been killed and nearly 6,000 wounded since the Saudi-led coalition began its bombing campaign against the Houthi rebels nearly one year ago.

This report is replete with alarming statistics. The U.N. human rights office only deals with civilian casualties. It agrees the numbers would be much higher were the deaths and injuries of fighters included.

During February, the agency recorded a total of at least 168 civilians killed and nearly 200 wounded. It said around two-thirds of these casualties were a result of Saudi-led coalition airstrikes. Human rights office spokesman Rupert Colville said the largest numbers were in the capital, Sanaa.

In November last year, there was a marked decrease in the airstrike casualties, but since then they have again risen sharply with the number killed almost doubling between January and February," he said. "And, the number of civilian casualties recorded last month was, in fact, the highest since September.

Colville sad fighting and indiscriminate shelling by local fighters in the Popular Committees group affiliated with the Houthis and allied army units loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh are adding to the casualty figures. He said last month, the Popular Committees killed and wounded dozens of civilians in the cities of Taizz, Ibb and Al Jawf.

He said civilian infrastructure continued to be destroyed or damaged in February. He accused both warring parties of deliberately targeting protected civilian sites.

There have also been worrying allegations  which we are still working to verify  that coalition forces dropped cluster bombs on a mountainous area to the south of the Amran cement factory, where a military unit loyal to the Houthis appears to have been the target, said Colville.

Cluster munitions are inherently indiscriminate in nature. Children are major victims of these weapons. They are attracted to their small, shiny appearance and play with them, often with fatal consequences. Human Rights Watch says the deliberate or reckless use of cluster munitions in populated areas amounts to a war crime.
A top U.N. refugee official has criticized European Union leaders for calling on migrants not to come to Europe.

Speaking to reporters Friday in Brussels, UNHCR Europe bureau director Vincent Cochetel said that 91 percent of migrants arriving in Greece from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq are fleeing conflict zones and not looking for work.

"The inconvenient truth is that refugees are still coming to Europe because the wars in the neighborhood of Europe are not solved. I know there is an attempt by some European leaders to re-qualify the problem but we are getting a bit tired to hear about irregular migrants when we are talking about Syrians fleeing from Allepo, Cochetel said. To call them irregular migrants is a bit of a shortcut. And we believe that European leaders should use the appropriate terminology to describe this movement."

'Do not come to Europe'



Cochetel's reaction came after EU Council President Donald Tusk warned potential migrants Thursday against traveling to Europe.

"I want to appeal to all potential illegal, economic migrants wherever you are from. Do not come to Europe. Do not believe the smugglers. Do not risk your lives and your money; it is all for nothing. Greece or any other European country will no longer be a transit country," Tusk said.

Under international law, people fleeing conflicts have the right to apply for asylum.

The statistical office of the European Union, Eurostat, reported Friday that a record number of more than 1.2 million first-time asylum seekers arrived in the EU in 2015, more than double the figure from the previous year.

It said that the largest group of refugees came from Syria, followed by Afghanistan and Iraq. The highest number, more than a third, applied for asylum in Germany. Hungary and Sweden were second and third. Finland had the highest percentage increase (822 percent) compared to a year earlier, followed by Hungary (323 percent) and Austria (233 percent).
The U.S. economy had a strong net gain of 242,000 jobs last month.

Friday's report from the Labor Department said the unemployment rate held steady in February at an eight-year low of 4.9 percent.

The number of jobs created was higher than most economists had predicted. Jobs grew in health care, retail, food services, construction and education. Mining, which includes the oil industry, hit hard by plunging crude prices, lost jobs.

President Barack Obama said the economy was pretty darn great now, and he criticized his Republican political rivals for talking down the economy. He said economic data showed the doomsday rhetoric coming from some political campaigns was fantasy.

The data showed 7.8 million Americans were still unemployed, which was about 800,000 fewer than a year ago. Another 6 million who want to work full time could find only part-time employment.

The number of people who were working or at least looking for work, called the participation rate, increased half a percentage point over the past few months.



WATCH: VOA Business Correspondent Jill Malandrino talks to Phil Davis, CEO of PSWInvestments about today's employment report and the markets

US trade deficit



A separate report showed that the U.S. trade deficit worsened in January, when exports were at their lowest level in more than five years. The strong U.S. dollar means U.S.-made products are more expensive on global markets, and that hurts sales.



While the job market continues to improve, a survey found that some business leaders across the nation were growing more pessimistic about the economy.

Valerie Rainey of the American Institute of CPAs helped conduct the study and said financial executives at both large and small companies expressed growing concerns about profits and revenues. In a VOA interview, she said that made them less likely to invest in expanding their operations.
The United States is sending an elite team of disaster experts to respond to Ethiopia's worst drought in 50 years, it said Thursday.

Around a dozen members of the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) have arrived in Ethiopia to coordinate the U.S. response to the drought.

They will be joined by DART logistics, nutrition, and water, sanitation and hygiene experts in the next few days.

USAID responds to around 65 disasters a year, including the recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa and last year's Nepal earthquakes.

"With the announcement of the DART, we are acting to prevent a major humanitarian crisis and protect Ethiopia's hard-earned development progress," USAID's administrator Gayle Smith said in a statement.

U.S. President Barack Obama visited Ethiopia, a close U.S. ally, on his 2015 trip to the continent of his father's birth.

He has made food security a priority of his development agenda, saying in 2013 it was a "moral imperative" to end hunger on the world's poorest continent.

Worst impacts still ahead

Ethiopia's government and the United Nations have asked for $1.4 billion to feed 10.2 million Ethiopians  the third-largest appeal globally after Syria and Yemen.

An additional 7.9 million chronically food insecure people are receiving rations through the Ethiopian government's Productive Safety Net Program, supported by the United States and other donors.

Yet funding shortages mean food aid is in short supply and malnutrition will increase dramatically if donor money runs out in May, the United Nations has said.

"The worst impacts of this drought still lie ahead," USAID said in a statement. "The scale and severity of this crisis is expected to far outstrip available resources."

Ethiopia's spring rains started in late February, but many farmers do not have seeds.

USAID is providing almost $4 million of maize and wheat seeds for more than 200,000 families.

Ethiopia is one of the flagship countries for the U.S. government's global hunger initiative, Feed the Future, which seeks to boost small farmers' yields.

Some Feed the Future farmers are contributing maize to the disaster response, USAID said.

"It is imperative ... to save lives and ensure that tens of millions of people aren't pushed back into extreme poverty," it said.
Jawaharlal Nehru University student union leader Kanhaiya Kumar makes a speech to fellow students after being released on bail in New Delhi. (Photo: AP)

New Delhi: In an apparent attack at the Left Parties, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu on Friday advised JNU students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar to help the concerned authorities to see that activities similar to the February 9 event are curbed in the university rather than enjoying the publicity.

Read: We want freedom from oppression, poverty, not from India, says Kanhaiya

"He is enjoying the publicity. What is there? The question is let him condemn those slogans and distance himself from that. Let him help the authorities to see that such activities are curbed in the university," Naidu said.

"They must study and stay away from politics. If they are interested in politics, they can leave studies and join politics. He can join any political party. His favourite party is now in single digit in the Parliament. Let him join that party. Let him not use the grab of students and students union to take up the cause of Afzal guru, Yakub Memon and Maqbool Bhatt. All these three people are anti-nationals," he added.

Read: Watch: JNU students chief Kanhaiya Kumars fiery freedom speech

Kanhaiya, who was released last evening after being granted a six-month interim bail by the Delhi High Court, led a scathing attack on the BJP-led NDA regime at the Centre.

"I am not asking for freedom from India, I am asking for freedom in India," he said.

"I have many differences with the Prime Minister but I agree with his tweet - Satyameva Jayate. I also say Satyameva Jayate, the truth shall triumph, because it belongs to the country and the Constitution," he added.

Read: Police calls for vigil against clashes post Kanhaiya Kumar's release

Hundreds of JNU students assembled near Ganga Dhaba in the campus after dinner to welcome their students union president Kanhaiya Kumar, who was released from judicial custody on interim bail in a sedition case. Mr Kumar was received by students with loud cheers and louder slogans.

The students took out a victory procession from Ganga Dhaba to various hostels and ended at the Administrative Block. Stairs of Administrative Block were occupied even before Kumars arrival with other students.

Read: Kanhaiya Kumar released from Tihar jail, reaches JNU

The students continuously shouted slogans like "red salute (lal salam) to Comrade Kanhaiya" and "we want azaadi from RSS and BJP". He reached the Administrative Block at 10.15 pm and was received amid loud cheers and slogans of azaadi.

Kumar also shouted slogans with the rest of the students. He gave red salute to other JNU students, who are his co-accused in the sedition case, countrymen and people across the globe for their support to the Save the JNU campaign.

Read: 2 videos of JNU event 'manipulated,' finds forensic probe: sources

The 28-year-old said that he saluted the soldiers guarding the country.

"But the soldiers, who die at the border are the sons and brothers of those who die within the country," he said, while referring to the farmer suicides.

Kanhaiya further said the crackdown on JNU was planned because the university students spoke out against the death of Hyderabad University research scholar Rohith Vemula.

"This attack is to de-legitimise the UGC protest and to prevent justice to Rohith Vemula. The fight which was initiated by Rohith Vemula, all of you and peace-loving people in the country, will be pursued by us and we'll win this battle," he said.

"I would like to thank everyone at the JNU. All the people, whether media, political people, non civil society , who stood for saving JNU and those who want justice for Rohith Vemula, I want to salute them," he added.

In a sarcastic tone, he said, "I want to thank the people sitting in Parliament deciding wrong and right, the police and those few media channels."
Since Vladimir Putins returned to the Kremlin in 2012, Russians have experienced a large-scale attack on freedom of speech and assembly. That is the conclusion of a group of experts who met this week in Washington to discuss the human rights situation in Russia.

According to conference participants, since Putin returned to the Russian presidency after serving a term as prime minister, authorities have severely cracked down on opposition activists, labeling them traitors and members of a fifth column. Non-governmental organizations also have been persecuted, with Russias parliament adopting special laws targeting so-called foreign agents and undesirable organizations.

Paula Dobriansky served as U.S. Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs from 2001 to 2009. She is currently a senior fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Universitys John F. Kennedy School of Government.

She told Wednesdays conference that the Putin administrations wave of repression is, on one level, hard to explain, given that he remains very popular, at least according to Russian polls.

Dobriansky suggested Putins high popularity rating masks the actual fragility of his hold on power.

We know that economically, that Russia is facing a lot of economic strains. Capital flight is very substantial over the last several years," said Dobriansky. "The ruble has halved [in value]. Theres been no modernization economically, and we know that oil prices have dropped, of which Russias economy is predominantly dependent on.



According to its critics, the Kremlin decided to try to preempt the kind of mass protests that often accompany an economic crisis, and a wave of blackmail, intimidation and direct and indirect threats against its political opponents has followed. In such an atmosphere of fear and hatred, not everyone can find the strength to speak out against the government.

Wednesday's conference took place just a few days after the first anniversary of the assassination of Boris Nemtsov, the former Russian deputy prime minister and leading Putin opponent who was shot to death just steps away from the Kremlin on February 27, 2015.



Five suspects were arrested in connection with Nemtsov's murder, including Zaur Dadayev, a former officer in a security battalion loyal to Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnyas Kremlin backed leader and one of Putins most vocal supporters.



Following Dadayevs arrest, Kadyrov called him a "true patriot" of Russia.



Participants in Wednesdays conference also called attention to an incident last month, when Kadyrov released a video on social media that appeared to depict two other leading Russian opposition figures, former prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov and Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr., in the crosshairs of a sniper rifle's scope.



U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Robert Berschinski told the conference that 2015 was one of the darkest years in recent Russian history, and 2016 is off to no better a start.



The climate of impunity in the country has only deepened. The organizers of the Nemtsov murder remain at large and unprosecuted," Berschinski said. "And as we just heard, other activists are also in the crosshairs  literally, in some cases, but only thus far digitally. And yet not one word of condemnation has come forward from the Russian government. Those who have been targeted know, and we know, what ultimately has been put in the crosshairs  the Russia that Boris Nemtsov devoted his life to support: a Russia strong enough to respect the rights of its own citizens and to uphold the norms of international behavior.

Carl Gershman, president of the Washington-based National Endowment for Democracy, told the conference that Chechnyas Kadyrov represents the most extreme, lawless and violent component of the campaign of repression.



Kadyrov has been involved in the murder of many prominent Russian democrats, including the great journalist Anna Politkovskaya and human rights defender Natalia Estemirova," said Gershman. "Nemtsovs murder, for which there is also considerable evidence also pointing to Kadyrovs complicity, represented a wholly new level of intimidation against the opposition: the assassination, directly in front of the Kremlin, of a former high-ranking government minister, who at the time was one of Russias most prominent opposition figures.



Still, Gershman said, the opposition has refused to be intimidated: on the anniversary of Nemtsovs murder, the slain opposition activists colleague Ilya Yashin published an expose of Kadyrovs activities and the Kremlins support for him, titled A Threat to National Security.

I am humbled and amazed by the courage of these Russian democrats, Gershman said.



Last May 26, just weeks after he spoke in the U.S. Congress at a symposium memorializing his friend Boris Nemtsov, Vladimir Kara-Murza (Jr.) suffered a severe poisoning that resulted in multiple organ failures and a coma that nearly led to his death. Miraculously, he survived: doctors had only given him a 5 percent chance to live. And he has now returned to Russia to continue his work for freedom, democracy and human rights," said Gershman.

The courage of Russias democratic opposition, Gershman said, inspires optimism for the country's future.
Dozens of people died in a road traffic accident Thursday when a Pfochez bus was involved in a collision with a minibus near Kwekwe, Midlands province.

The Officer Commanding Midlands province, Senior Assistant Commissioner Abigail Moyo, told journalists that several people were also seriously injured in the accident.

Senior Assistant Commissioner Moyo said police are carrying out investigations to determine the cause of the accident.

Some witnesses said the bus, which was travelling from Kwekwe to the provincial capital, Gweru, developed a mechanical fault and collided with the oncoming minibus. The witnesses said several people died on the spot.

Police had not yet released the number of the deceased last night with some reports putting the figure at between 20 and 36. This could not be independently verified by VOA Studio 7.
While the military and other security agents should be apolitical, according to the countrys laws, in Zimbabwe they are heavily involved in politics and recently, President Robert Mugabe, said they were involved in a fierce succession war raging in the ruling party.

Sections 208, 211 and 218 of Zimbabwes constitution, which govern the operations of security services, including the Zimbabwe Defense Forces, forbid the military from participating in partisan politics or interfering in electoral affairs.

According to Section 211, Sub-section 3 of the constitution, the Defense Forces must respect the fundamental rights and freedoms of all persons and be non-partisan, national in character, patriotic, professional and subordinate to civilian authority as established by the nations supreme law.

Section 208, Sub-section 2 of the constitution, which outlines the expected conduct of members of the security services, stipulates that it is illegal for the security sector to be partisan and to further the interest of a political party.

It reads in part, Neither the security services nor any of their members may in the exercise of their functions act in a partisan manner, further the interests of any political party or cause, prejudice the lawful interests of any political party and that serving members of the security services must not be active members or office bearers of any political party or organization.

The military has been openly involved in the politics of the ruling Zanu PF party and at some point when Mr. Mugabes leadership was under threat from the opposition, army generals came out and declared that only those with liberation credentials would be allowed to rule Zimbabwe.

The army has been used to campaign and run elections and there has been heavy militarization of government departments and ministries.

Experts say while all this is illegal, it has not been challenged because the security forces were carrying out services in support of their commander in chief President Mugabe.

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights senior programs manager, Dzimbabwe Chimbga, says the military has no role whatsoever in the governance of the country.

Chimbga said, The army, the police and any other security apparatus should not be involved not only in the issue of succession but the issue of governance itself that is left to the civilians in accordance with the constitution of Zimbabwe.

While concurring with Chimbga, political analyst Dr. Pedzisai Ruhanya of the Zimbabwe Democracy Institute, argues that indications are that the military is currently siding with President Mugabe in the current succession fights in the ruling party.

But should the military decide to be belligerent, to be adversarial to President Mugabe the leadership of the country, they will be thwarted without doubt and they know it and they will not do it and it is not desirable, it is illegal it is unconstitutional and it must not be supported by any quarter in this country, said Rupanga

But Vivid Gwede, another independent political commentator, says with the succession fights intensifying in the ruling party, the military could think otherwise.

Gwede said, We dont know whether this will remain the case given that succession issues also have to do with the personal future of some of the leaders of the security forces.

Independent political analyst, Fortune Gwaze, however, says he does not see this happening, adding that while it has happened in West Africa it has never occurred in southern Africa.

There are no indications or precedences as and when the military has defied a directive from the commander in chief because that is tantamount to treason

A member of the Zanu PF Youth League, Jawet Mhizha, argues that Zimbabwe has a disciplined military that is respected on the continent and the world over.

He says the military is therefore fully behind its commander-in-chief President Mugabe, adding that there is nothing wrong if the military dabbles in politics for the good of the country.

Whatever their involvement it would be in the interest of the country and protect the sovereignty of this national called Zimbabwe, said Mizha

Analysts agree, however, that the military could advise President Mugabe, who to choose as a successor and it is clear that they want someone who would protect their interests and preserve the liberation war legacy.

Succession fights continue in the former liberation party with Mr. Mugabes deputies, Emerson Mnangagwa and Phelekezela Mphoko, aligning themselves to the two main factions.

Mnangagwa reportedly belongs to the so-called Team Lacoste, which has the backing of most war veterans and the military, while Mphoko belongs to Generation 40 that allegedly has the backing of First Lady Grace Mugabe.
An expelled member of the ruling Zanu-PF party Youth League has challenged First Lady Grace Mugabe to leave the kitchen if she cannot stand the heat.

Former Zanu-PF Mashonaland Central youth chairperson, Godfrey Tsenengamu, also charged that they were used to hound former Vice President Joice Mujuru, who was expelled from the party for allegedly attempting to topple President Mugabe.

The ruling Zanu-PF Politburo on Thursday purged some members of the party allegedly linked to vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa in a move some analysts say is aimed at weakening the vice president and diminishing his chances of succeeding president Robert Mugabe.

The ruling party spokesman Simon Khaya Moyo announced the three-year suspension of War Veterans Minister Chris Mutsvangwa, his wife Monica, and Womens League secretary for administration Esphina Nhari.

The party also expelled seven youth chairpersons and other party members bring the total to 16. Mutsvangwa has indicated that he will appeal.

Tsenengamu said his expulsion is unconstitutional.

Zimbabwe Democracy Institute Director Pedzisayi Ruhanya said the current purges are similar to what was faced by former vice president Joice Mujuru.
Volcanic activity worldwide 4 Mar 2016: Bromo volcano, Tungurahua, Nevados de Chillan, Telica, Neva...

Fri, 4 Mar 2016, 16:36 16:36 PM | 16:36 PM |

Steam plume from Alaid volcano seen on yesterday's NASA Suomi NPP satellite image

Glow from Suwanose-jima's active crater tonight

Ash plume from Manam volcano this morning

Ash emission from Telica yesterday evening

View of the lava lake in Masaya's Santiago crater on 1 March 2016 (image: OrgNicAmbTv)

Nevado del Ruiz' eruption column today (photo: Luis Guillermo Velasquez / La Patria)

Strombolian eruption at Tungurahua on 2 March (photo: E. Gaunt - OVTIGEPN)

Eruption of Nevados de Chillan volcano yesterday

Volcano Activity Summary for 4 Mar 2016:

: A new eruption is occurring at the volcano, satellite images show. A pronounced steam plume with possible ash content can be seen drifting west from the volcano, at estimated 13,000 ft (4 km) altitude. In addition, NASA's MODIS and VIIRS sensors have been detecting an intense heat source from the volcano's summit lately.Tokyo VAAC raised the aviation color code to orange.: The (probably) strombolian-type activity that had started a few days ago continues at the Otake crater and is visible as bright glow from neighboring islands.: New activity has been reported from the volcano this morning. A pilot reported an ash plume at approx. 10,000 ft (3 km) altitude extending 50 km to the SE. A plume, along with a thermal signal, can also be seen on the latest satellite image.: The latest eruptive cycle of the volcano might have ended. No more eruptions (explosions, ash emissions) have been observed during the past 2 weeks and seismic activity has returned to normal levels as well, our friend Oystein Andersen from Jakarta reported.You can find photos and more detailed reports of the latest eruption at his website : The volcano has remained mostly calm during the past 24 hours. Sporadic weak ash emissions occurred at night, but glow could no longer be seen from the crater.: The activity of the lava lake in the Santiago crater has been increasing in the past week. In a recent bulletin, INETER mentions that the previously two ponds in two adjacent vents have now joined, probably as a result of erosion by the violently degassing and convective lava.The following video taken on 1 March evening gives a good impression:: An explosion occurred at the volcano this morning, producing an ash plume that rose 3000 m above the summit. The eruption was accompanied by Ash falls occurred later in several nearby towns to the NW including Chinchina, Villamaria, Manizales and Palestine.The regional La Nubia airport was closed today after noon.: The volcano is in a phase of mild to moderate strombolian activity. Incandescent bombs are ejected to the upper slopes of the volcano, generating avalanches. Ash plumes rise up to a few km above the crater and drift mostly in westerly directions.Apparently, the large vent-clearing explosion on 27 Feb has opened the conduit to allow a sustained slow rise of magma and more gradual release of gas pressure in small discrete explosions (= strombolian activity).In its latest report , IGEPN published a series of remarkable photos taken during cloud-free periods at night.: A small eruption occurred at the volcano again yesterday, the first activity since the mild explosive activity on 7 February. Starting around noon, the volcano began to emit a steam plume of variable intensity, sometimes mixed with ash. The activity took place at one of the new craters that had formed in early February.According to SERNAGEOMIN, seismicity and other monitored parameters had shown little fluctuations during most of February, but then started to increase at the end of the month, possibly related to a slowly ascending body of magma. Yesterday's new activity is likely the result of this and could be a precursor of more activity in the near to medium future.
The dispute continues to heat up between Saudi Arabia and Lebanon. After the cancellation of the Saudi gift of 3 billion dollars to the Lebanese Army, and the recall of Gulf citizens present in Lebanon, the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Ministers for the Interior of the Arab League  from which Syria has been excluded - qualified Hezbollah as terrorists.

Hezbollah is the main organisation of the Lebanese Resistance to Israel. Created after an Israeli invasion in 1982, it models itself on the Bassijis of the Iranian Revolution, and receives the support of the Syrian Arab Army. Initially composed exclusively of Shia families, the resitance network now also includes Sunni and Christian combatants.

Principally supported by Syria during the period 1982-2005, it turned progressively to Iran after the Syrian Arab Army left Lebanon. During the period 2006-2013, it received a considerable arsenal from the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution. However, since the election of Sheikh Rohani in Iran, Hezbollah has been developing its own sources of finance by relying on the Lebanese and /or Shia diaspora overseas, mainly in Africa and Latin America. Following the signing of the 5+1 agreement with Iran, on the 14th July 2015, Hezbollah engaged with the Syrian Arab Army against the jihadists, while progressively distancing itself from Teheran.

Hezbollah entered Lebanese political life in 2005. Certain of its members lost no time in accepting corruption and adopting the life-style of other Lebanese politicians. The considerable funds that the party had to manage also attracted all sorts of opportunists. Despite this, the dedication and the selflessness of its combatants has never failed.

So today, Hezbollah manages a number of public services that the state has abandoned. Its adversaries or rivals therefore qualify it as a State within the State, but it would be more objective to consider it as the only State in a country which has widely failed (no public budget for the last 11 years, the incapacity to ensure the elementary public services such as water, electricity and the collection of refuse, a hobbled army unable to resist Israel, etc.).

Saudi Arabia, which has just unofficially announced that it now possesses the atomic bomb, is presently attempting to upend the regional equation. The line of fracture will no longer be between the resistance or collaboration with Israel, nor even between the Shias and the Sunnis, but between Persians and Arabs.

As of now, the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Holland, and now also the Gulf States, consider Hezbollah  which is the leading figure of the Resistance to Israel  as terrorist. As for the the European Union, it has established a facade of distinction between the military arm of the party, which it also qualifies as terrorist, and the political arm (2 ministers and 14 deputies, including two Sunnis and a Christian) with which it maintains good relations.

Since 1992, Israel has been accusing Hezbollah of perpetrating terrorist attacks overseas, like the attacks in Buenos-Aires (1992 and 1994), or the attack in Bourgas (2012)  noting that Bulgaria is a member of the European Union. However, these accusations, which have been widely developed and spread around for years, seem to be made up of whole cloth.

Saudi Arabia, which has been secretly allied with Israel since at least 2013, and participated in the operation in Yemen under Israeli command, seems to want to bring Hezbollah into the Iranian orbit so that Teheran  now allied for certain subjects with Washington  will transform it into a mere Shia militia to the detriment of the Resistance.

Washington, which was hoping to hand over to the Islamic Republic of Iran the role which was once managed by the Shah, that of the Near East Police, must now deal with the demands of both Saudi Arabia and Israel.
On the 1st March 2016, the Tribunal in Washington DC condemned the Syrian Arab Republic to a fine of 347,622 million dollars for its supposed responsibility in the terrorist attacks perpetrated on the 9th November 2005 in Amman.

Syria, whose embassy in Washington is presently closed, was not represented during the audiences.

The attacks were perpetrated by Iraqi kamikazes linked to Al-Qaida. Among their victims were the famous Syrian film director Moustapha Akkad (The Message, Lion of the Desert, Halloween). Mossad had evacuated all Israeli citizens from the three targeted hotels in the hours before the attacks .

The prosecution lawyer, F.R. Jenkins, had already obtained a condemnation of Syria in 2013, to a fine of 25 billion dollars  the most important sentence ever pronounced by a US tribunal  for its supposed responsibility for the attacks in Rome and Vienna in 1985.

In that case also, the judgement was pronounced in abstentia.
Historically, the neo-conservatives were a small group of US Trotskyites who were recruited by the CIA to fight against the Soviet Union. They joined the Republican Party and served under Presidents Reagan and Bush Senior.

However, they turned against Bush Senior when he failed to complete the destruction of Iraq at the end of Desert Storm, and sided with the candidacy of Bill Clinton and the Democratic Party.

Nonetheless, they rejected President Clinton when he wound down the war in Kosovo. While he was enmeshed in the Lewinsky scandal, they rejoined the Republican Party and prepared the candidacy of Bush Junior.

But the weather changes all the time ... the neo-conservatives have just published an open letter against the candidacy of Donald Trump [1]. By doing so, they are preparing their return to the Democratic Party, should the Democrats present the candidacy of Hillary Clinton.

In this case, Donald Trumps candidacy will have the advantage of clarifying the situation by officially closing ranks between the neo-conservatives and the liberal hawks and by confirming the leadership of Hillary Clinton over the War Party.
The Presidents address to the joint session of the two Houses of Parliament kicks off the Budget Session. It is typically an enumeration of the governments achievements and the policy outlook for the year ahead, and is prepared by the government. The motion of thanks to the President sums up the debate on that document.

On behalf of the government the PM replies to the debate, and is expected to dwell on the specific points raised by the Opposition parties. Mr Modi hardly did any of that. Indeed, from that perspective, the PMs reply appeared about as sterile as the Presidents address itself, though it dripped with sarcasm against Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi. It was evident that in his reply on Thursday Mr Modi was skipping questions about his governments performance, and going political instead in the run-up to the Assembly elections in five states.

The PM targeted Mr Rahul Gandhi without mentioning his name. The Congress leader was widely thought to have made a notable speech the previous day in which he focused on the government not living up to key promises made last year. But Mr Modi went personal in response, saying some people grew in age but did not mature, and spoke from an inferiority complex. Earlier PMs have not gone down that road.

In order to turn the tables on the Congress, the PM quoted his predecessors  Nehru and Rajiv Gandhi  to urge that the Opposition should question the government but not obstruct Parliament. But these things are context-specific and raise as many questions as they answer.

Mr Rahul Gandhi raised sharp questions on the governments promises regarding black money, unemployment and high prices of essentials. He also made points concerning Pakistan  saying that Mr Modis sudden visit to Lahore got Islamabad out of the small cage in which the UPA government had placed it after the Mumbai attack  and the Naga accord.

The Congress leaders speech appears to have found its mark. Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley sought to strike back the same day, but their observations were non-specific, essentially meant to wound Mr Gandhi  a tactic advanced the following day by the PM himself. A little less focus on overt politics and point-scoring, and more attention on the unglamorous work of government, alone is the way forward. To retrieve the Budget Session, it would be useful if the government genuinely reached out to the Opposition and engaged in fair give and take.
Photo: CFX Comics

On the 12th of February, 2015, after four days in an intensive care unit, Syed Murtaza Shah succumbed to the injuries he had sustained in a boisterous exchange with fellow students and their cohorts. He was 16 years old. He was also a student of mine.

These three sentences constitute the opening of Badmash Elite, an article by international journalist Farhad Mirza about the death of one of his students while he was a teacher at a Pakistani high school. In it, Mirza examines the culture of violence within Pakistan and the rigidity of the Pakistani school system, but he does it through the lens of his own guilt following Murtazas death. I cannot help but regret the fact that us teachers have demonstrated a chronic inability to introduce our students to the most important debates of our times, he writes.

Mirzas essay was powerful, but to him it didnt quite communicate the deeply personal element he wanted to convey. Thats where Anser Shaukat, a Pakistani-born illustrator, came in. Working in tandem with Creative Frontiers Comics director Gauher Aftab, the pair chopped up Mirzas 5,000-word essay and offset it with Shaukats illustrations, creating a new storytelling format designed to reach those who needed it most: Pakistani youth.

Aftab and Mirza then recruited another artist, Yahya Ehsan, to illustrate two more powerful articles that had previously run in The Friday Times (a Pakistani newspaper) and on Al Jazeera America; the former was More Than Just a Footnote by Raza Rumi, and the latter was Malala, the Muslim Feminist by Rafia Zakaria. All three illustrated features were published on the anniversary of the Peshawar massacre, which occurred on December 16, 2014, when armed Taliban fighters stormed a public school in Pakistan and slaughtered 144 people, mostly children between 12 and 16.

We wanted to present different cases of violence and tie them together with a narrative of how physical bullying, gender marginalization, or other types of bigotry eventually lead people toward extremes to solve their problems, Ehsan said. In other words, they wanted to give the people of Pakistan a tool to examine how extremist violence takes root in their country. All three writers and two illustrators talked recently with Vulture to discuss their inspiration, why they think an anti-violence project like this is so important, and how it was received in a country where voicing anti-extremist views can lead to death threats.

Photo: CFX Comics

Click here to enlargeBadmash Elite.

Farhad Mirza, author: Pakistan has a rich tradition of satirical cartoons, and I wanted to build on that while also creating a new style of representation. I didnt want it to be melodramatic, but I wanted a certain abstract element there. I was also worried about misrepresenting the complexity of the issue, so I asked Anser to work with metaphors a lot more than I was doing in my writing. I felt like if his drawings were based on metaphors they would open up the article where Id closed it off. For instance, rulers are instruments that are usually used to further a childs learning, but here theyre being used as weapons and tools of judgment  something inherent in the class structure in Pakistan.

Often kids would get into fights because one believed their father earned more than the other kids, or because someone wasnt wearing the right shoes. As a teacher I would try to get my students to think critically about the society in which they were being brought up, because thats every childs right. But it caused problems. One day I was approached by the older brother of a student who very gently suggested I stick to the curriculum. It was the most respectful threat to my life Id ever received. Those sorts of experiences culminated in a reflection on the educational system in Pakistan and the way violence plays into that system.

Anser Shaukat, illustrator: When I first read Farhads article I thought about how to build a visual metaphor out of what he was saying. Some images came to me right away, like the first panel in which the surgeons are looking down, which turns into the victim looking up. That created a compositional relationship, almost like a mirror. Other images, like the one of two heads screaming at each other, which is based off the optical illusion of the two faces and the candlestick, came toward the end. I started off working in graphite, but halfway through I realized the graphite line wasnt communicating the angst and violence of the article, so I switched to ballpoint pen. Theres a certain static vibration in the line quality  an oscillation that I felt was reflective of the article.

This is a medium young people are going to understand. They read comic books from abroad, but a lot of times those arent relevant to whats happening in our country. There are a lot of things they face while growing up  a lot of places theyre being exposed to violence. We dont want to completely shield kids from these topics because whats happening in society is going to start to affect them. This is a way to talk to them and get them to engage with the issues.

Photo: CFX Comics

Click here to enlarge More Than Just a Footnote.

Raza Rumi, author: This article was published last year on the first anniversary of the death of my colleague, who was my driver in Pakistan. There was an assassination attempt on me, but unfortunately he died because he was driving at the time. The idea was to show how the violence in Pakistan affects the underprivileged and the poor the most, so the passages chosen for the project were meant to amplify that message. I liked how the mood Yahya created through graphics corresponded to the dark tone of my piece. To me, this is a powerful vehicle for conveying ideas which otherwise would get lost in longer essays and impersonal journalistic reporting.

Yahya Ehsan, illustrator: Razas article gave rise to emotions of helplessness and isolation  the feeling you get in your stomach when terrible things are going to happen and theres nothing you can do. His words show how class-based dehumanization can lead people toward violence as an outlet to the frustration and denial they face at every step of their lives.

With both authors I was given free rein to interpret the emotions I wanted people to connect with while reading the articles. The subject matter was dark, so I wanted to balance it with a Pop Art style and harmonious colors to let the reader emotionally connect with the message. We used simple shapes and compositional choices to convey emotion within the narrative and Islamic-art-inspired motifs to create associations between people and ideas usually judged to be in conflict. Pakistan has a very low literacy rate but a climbing mobile-user population, so using visuals to convey a message is very important when trying to reach people who are vulnerable to the brainwashing of a village preacher or radical youth group.

Photo: CFX Comics

Click here to enlarge Malala the Muslim Feminist.

Rafia Zakaria, author: I have been writing about the relationship between women and Islam for a long time. One of the challenges for Muslim women is that so much of their lives  their aims, ambitions, and political views  is reflected by others. It is very difficult to excavate space to speak for ourselves and also to show that we have varying viewpoints. In Pakistan theres a common belief that Malala leaving the country is tantamount to abandoning it, but I think ideas in this piece highlight how Malala has maintained her identity even while achieving international fame. I love that we were able to translate these ideas into a visual format. The visual depiction adds depth and dimension to the story beyond the written word. Its particularly authentic here because Pashtun culture, to which Malala belongs, is a very visual culture, so this project pays homage to that as well.

Yahya Ehsan, illustrator: Rafias piece is a refreshing take on Malala from within the framework of Muslim feminism. Malala has become a divisive personality in Pakistan because of the amount of coverage shes received in the foreign press, but this article let us realign her identity as someone struggling against oppression of women from within Islam rather than from a secular standpoint. We often forget that if a culture is accepting of aggressive attitudes, its only a matter of time before violence is used for personal gain. Afterward, whether someone justifies their crimes with religion or racism or personal victimization, people only see the end result and forget to think about where that aggression toward other human beings really came from.

This project was important to me because I have three young daughters, and since the Peshawar massacre I can feel the tension whenever theyre not around me. This is the same as Paris, the same as San Bernardino, and its going to happen again. As an artist all I can do is use my skills to try and make a contribution because I want to make a safer world for my kids to grow up in.
Bale. Photo: Chris Jackson/2014 Getty Images

With Batman v Superman hitting screens this month, Yahoo! asked Christian Bale to reflect on his turn in the suit. The former Caped Crusader reveals in the interview that he originally wanted to play up Bruce Waynes complexities more, and that he thinks his performances found in the Dark Knight trilogy didnt quite nail it. Batmans this very, very, very dark, messed-up character, he explains. Bale wanted to use the suit as a means of, Its his true monstrous self that he allows to come out in that moment. That was the goal, but Heath Ledger ruined the plans with his Joker, a complex scene-stealer played with villainous brilliance. Though Bale sounds like he never got closure with his character, he adds that Nolans saga, overall, did nail what it was going for, and that hes not offering anymore Bat action (for now?).

Roll the relevant portion of the interview below:

And take solace in the fact that Bale got to try his hand at playing another very, very, very complex character in another Knight movie, which comes out this weekend.
Kiss! Photo: Nick Briggs/Carnival Films

Anyone who watched the final installment of Downton Abbey when it aired last December in the U.K. already knows exactly whats going to go down during Sundays final U.S. broadcast of the show. No doubt those people are smugly sipping their tea with a Dowager Countess-esque look of superiority on their faces, while the rest of us writhe in a state of uncertainty because we cant take the suspense. We must know.

We must know whether Edith ultimately finds happiness with Bertie, and whether Anna and Bates have a baby, and whether Robert gets the opportunity to spew additional blood all over the Downton dining room. Obviously we cant find out until we tune into PBS on Sunday. But while were waiting, let us count all the things that really should happen in the final episode of Downton Abbey.

1. Edith and Bertie need to get married.

Obviously Edith doesnt need a man to be complete; she has a thriving career and a lovely, albeit secret, daughter. But Edith was so close to finally achieving the hat trick of happiness  fine romance, fulfilling job, happy family  that having it stolen away by Mary just seems way too unfair. Robert promised in episode eight that his daughter would probably surprise us all somehow. Lets hope she surprises us by getting back together with Bertie and having the most awesome wedding ever, complete with the 1920s version of a flash mob led by Molesley.

2. Give Thomas some damn job stability, would ya?

Thomas has had a very rough go of it lately. Really, hes had a rough go of it throughout every season of Downton Abbey, though its been easy to overlook that since, at the same time, hes often been doing the work of Beelzebub. But clearly Thomas has reached the point of permanent reform, and the poor, recently suicidal guy deserves to be able to know he can stay at Downton for the long term. Id love to see Carson retire from his post, with full benefits from the Crawleys, so he can spend more time learning how to cook for Mrs. Hughes, thereby giving Thomas the opportunity to be head butler.

3. Anna and John Bates need to have their baby and that baby had better be healthy, do you hear me, Julian Fellowes?

After all their woes, it would not surprise me at all if Anna Bates went into labor, delivered a healthy child, then had to turn over the child to Sgt. Willis because, at five minutes old, the infant was already being unjustly framed for murder. But lets hope that we get to see Anna and John welcome a son or daughter with no complications and nothing but joy. They deserve that, and so do we.

4. Isobel finally finds happiness with Lord Merton.

Isobel has never had a partner in the entire history of Downton Abbey, though shes come close. If, as she requested, she gets the blessing from Lord Mertons asshat of a son, Larry Grey, then she can finally be with a man who truly admires her in a way the Crawleys never have, quite.

5. Mrs. Patmore restores the reputation of her inn and becomes a frolicker with Mr. Mason.

Patmore is a hard worker and it would be nice to see her attempt at running a B&B fully succeed in the wake of House of Ill Repute-gate. But more importantly, Id like to see confirmation that she and Mr. Mason are an item. After all those decades spent slaving away in the kitchen, yelling at Daisy, and practically going permanently blind, Patmore deserves half a shot at getting laid.

6. The whereabouts of Mrs. Hughess sister, Becky, are finally explained.

Remember when Carson and Mrs. Hughes were talking about buying a cottage together, before they decided to get married, and Mrs. Hughes said she couldnt make that kind of commitment because she had spent all of her savings on Becky, her mentally challenged sister? Well, what the hell happened to Becky? Mrs. Hughes mentioned her in last seasons finale, for the first time, and has never mentioned her since. Are she and Carson both providing for Beckys care? Did Becky come to their wedding, because I didnt see her there, although, to be fair, I have no clue what the woman looks like. The point is: Wont someone please think of Becky?

7. Mary finds out shes pregnant.

After officially committing to a relationship with Henry Talbot, Mary Crawley decided to marry him about ten seconds later. I realize they just tied the knot an episode ago but, given the timeline of their relationship, she should be pregnant with their second child by the end of the finale. Or at least their first. Yes, it would be nice to see Mary expecting another baby in the finale, and finding a way to make peace with the notion that her second husband couldnt possibly also die in a car accident after the birth of their child. That kind of thing doesnt happen to a woman twice in one life. (Although this is Downton Abbey )

8. The Dowager Countess and Cora reconcile.

Even though the Dowager Countess sent the Crawleys  but really Robert  a dog as a peace offering, she and Cora still have not reconciled since the fallout over the installation of Cora as president of the hospital. They need to bury the hatchet, though preferably not until theyve had a tense conversation sprinkled liberally with wry comments from Dame Maggie Smith.

9. Tom sets up his repair shop and maybe starts to find romance.

Earlier this season, Tom expressed interest in setting up a repair shop on the edge of the village, which would allow him to keep one foot in the world of Downton and one foot in the work he was doing when we first met him. I suspect well find him working toward that in the series conclusion. It also would be nice to see a hint that, maybe, he can find a new special someone to replace Sybil. May I suggest Laura Edmunds, the co-editor of Ediths magazine and a smart woman who may have taken a shine to Tom when they were all watching Henrys race at Brooklands?

10. Daisy leaves Downton  and maybe runs into an old friend?

Ever since she almost quit her job in a fit of fight-the-power rage that immediately dissipated when she realized the Crawleys were giving Mr. Mason the Drewess farm, Daisys obviously been itching to walk her feet out of the Downton kitchen. In the previous episode, she got word that she passed all of her exams with flying colors, so it seems like its time for her to find work elsewhere. Daisy was the first servant we saw bustling about the estate in the very first episode of Downton Abbey; it would be appropriate if the last thing the series shows us is Daisy, hard at work in a job that doesnt require any menial labor. And wouldnt it be nice if shes confidently strolling through London, not far from the Ritz, and just happens to run into good ol Alfred?
In House of Cards, Sadness Caves are never created nor destroyed; they only change form and occupant. Doug Stamper has been liberated from his Sadness Cave, where he spent the first half of last season recovering from injuries sustained after Rachel (R.I.P.) tried to beat him to death with a rock. He is in Franks inner circle once again  Id say hes out of the darkness, but everything on this show is lit so gloomily theres barely any light to be found, even when the spotlight of Franks affection shines on you  and this leaves a Sadness Cave vacancy.

Where, oh where, shall we find the soul wounded enough to fill this vital set piece?

So begins Chapter 40, the first episode of the fourth season. Lucas, whom you may remember as the editor-turned-sometimes-boyfriend of Zoe Barnes (also R.I.P.), is in prison. Hes serving a ten-year sentence for cyberterrorism, an interesting life choice he made under the guidance of one Gavin Orsay (who skipped town/America), owner of the beloved Cashew (who is in a better place and, miraculously, is still alive).

This miniature gritty prison drama is living inside House of Cards like a Russian nesting doll. And how does it distinguish itself from all the gritty prison dramas that came before it? By being EVEN GRITTIER. This, one assumes, is the reason why the episode opens with Lucas narrating some pornography for his bunkmate, who is jerking off beneath him. As one does. How does the roomie feel about this X-rated storytime? Damn, youre good with words.

As for the characters you probably care more about, Frank is exactly where we left him: He is running for reelection and Claire isnt taking his calls.

Frank actually points when he speaks, failing to employ the standard politician thist. If I were to make a list of reasons why Frank is unlikeable, this wouldnt necessarily rank high  hes murdered a lot of people and at least one dog  but its an odd fumble for someone who is supposed to be so calculating and hyperaware of the optics of everything he does.

These scenes cut back and forth between Franks private and public selves. We watch him stumble behind the scenes, mispronouncing words and boldly scribbling out a scripted reference to his wife, though clearly rattled by it, as he workshops something better to say. When he gets to that line in public, he skips right over it like it never belonged there in the first place.

Meanwhile, Claire is in Dallas, allegedly laying groundwork for the primary, but really gearing up for a run of her own. Also, shes crashing at her childhood estate where her mother still lives. Once it became clear that we would, in fact, meet Claires mom, I wrote in my notes: WILL WE MEET THE COLD-BLOODED GENIUSES WHO SIRED THIS CHEEKBONE UNICORN? The casting gods bless us with Ellen Burstyn as Elizabeth, who is distant, formal, and still disdainful of Frank after all these years. Vibe-wise, it seems like Burstyn is going for marginally less creepy than what she was up to in Flowers in the Attic. Which is a great choice.

Everything in Claires world is almost eerily quiet. Frank is surrounded by cheering crowds and chaos. With Claire, we get some of that classic House of Cards imagery, the symbolism thats about as subtle as Ben Afflecks back tattoo. All the furniture in Elizabeths house is covered with white sheets, as if the whole place is closed for business and its only residents are ghosts. Both Claire and her mother are wearing all white for the first half of the episode. The fact that Claire is, as potential campaign manager Leann (Neve Campbell) puts it, lily white, is among the biggest obstacles between her and the congressional seat she desires. As the episode progresses and Claire reveals her dark ambitions to more and more people, her wardrobe follows suit. By the final scene, shes wearing all black.

Frank has a vivid, gruesome fever dream of beating Claire  the sound in this sequence is so brutal, its actually easier to get through it if you cover your ears instead of covering your eyes  and hes woken, gently, by his one-time threesome buddy Meechum. Whatever happens with the Underwood marriage (  its probably not going to end well), I think we can all sleep a little more snugly at night knowing that this Frank-Meechum relationship is as strong as ever.

Lets take a moment to acknowledge the way that House of Cards manages to make Claire  a wealthy, gorgeous, cis, straight, white woman  the underdog of an election. Are we actually supposed to hope she succeeds in derailing a young black womans plans to ascend to a congressional seat in a majority-black district? Because yeah, no.

Frank outmaneuvers Claire, sending Doug the henchman to threaten Leann and then crash her meeting with Congresswoman Doris Jones. This whole conversation is a little confusing. Is Claire actually a Democrat? Frank is a very confusing Democrat, so I guess Claire, by the laws of the HoC universe, could also be a Republican. (In case youre wondering: All TV Republicans are mislabeled Democrats. Its a grand, bizarre tradition that includes everyone from Ainsley Hayes to Fitzgerald Grant.) But Claire is all about putting a Democrat in the governors mansion so  anyway, Im not sure I follow this part. Feel free to clear it up in the comments! Claire dangles the promise of federal funding for a particularly improbable breast-cancer center (run by Planned Parenthood at a VA hospital in Texas) in front of Doriss face. Doris does not take the bait. I know we only just met her, but I like Doris a lot.

As the media is abuzz with rumors about the crumbling Underwood marriage  in this case, rumors = facts  Frank shows up at Elizabeths house to do some damage control. She is still so underwhelmed by him, and I love it. She might as well be living in that trailer park where you came from, Elizabeth says of Claire. And Frank, whom she deems to be white trash that happens to live in the White House, cannot be saved by the clout of his office. Not even being president could give you any class. This is vicious and accurate; I am into it on both counts.

When Claire gets back, Frank decides a cool thing to do in this situation is throw the news that Elizabeth has had cancer for three years in Claires impeccable face. He demands Claire tell the public that this is why she returned to Dallas, which hoo boy, her mom is not going to like that. Frank pinky-swears that if Claire shows up for the State of the Union, he wont mess with her campaign. So, that should go smoothly.

Frank rubs Claires back while she gives her fake speech about her mothers dignity. He commends her for being such a thoughtful and caring wife. Every pore in Claires face clenches and burns.

Back to Lucas: We learn that his cellmate is in jail for a murder he probably didnt commit, and Lucas is working with the Feds in exchange for placement in witness protection, which he gets. Dont worry, though. Lucass new digs are still dimly lit, depressing as hell, and totally qualify as a Sadness Cave. Hes freaking out because once Frank Underwood finds out that hes free, hell have him murdered  past behavior being the best predictor of future behavior and all. Lucass lawyer assures him that POTUS doesnt learn about this stuff unless the attorney general tells them, which almost never happens. So, how soon do we think Frank will get the dirt on Lucas? I give it five more episodes.

Claire and Elizabeth have a really sweet bonding moment  by which I mean its tense and not tender at all, but at least mom hugs her and delivers some stellar Frank advice: Youve got to put him in his place. Moms always know the right thing to say.

Correction: An earlier version of this recap incorrectly said Frank Underwood is a Republican. he is a Democrat.


Frank Underwood, plotting more deceit. Photo: David Giesbrecht/Netflix

Its that time again: Election season! For both the U.S. and the incumbent in the Netflix world, Frank Underwood. #FU2016 resumes on March 4, when House of Cards season four arrives right on campaign schedule to politick alongside Donald Trump. Hows Francis doing in the polls? To know that, we have to rewind back to season three, where all those decades of behaving despicably finally caught up to our least favorite commander-in-chief and First Lady. As a quick refresher, weve once again recapped all the best  and most likely essential to season four  moments from last season in 20 GIFs. (Spoilers ahead, obviously.)

Episode 1, Chapter 27

Doug Stamper lives! And hes taken a pretty hard (yet creative) fall off the wagon of sobriety.



Episode 2, Chapter 28

The First Lady, denied her appointment as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, schemes her way there anyway  but not before the first of many walks of shame amid the press.



Episode 3, Chapter 29

Even at a fictionalized state dinner with a fake (albeit very Putin-inspired) Russian president, Pussy Riot will riot.

Not that Viktor Petrov didnt deserve it; hes a creep who gets Franks entire cabinet hammered then kisses Claire just to be smug.



Episode 4, Chapter 30

Solicitor General Heather Dunbar pulls a fast one on Frank.

Naturally, Frank reacts by breaking Jesus.



Episode 6, Chapter 32

Gay-rights activist Michael Corrigan, a prisoner of Petrovs Russian government, commits suicide after refusing to read the White Houses prepared apology for his release.

Claire, in a rare moment of genuine empathy, defies Petrov  in turn, sabotaging Franks months-in-the-making peace deal.



Episode 7, Chapter 33

Frank and Claires marriage is now one flinch away from divorce.

Nothing a cry for help, er, short-lived new dye-job cant fix!



Episode 9, Chapter 35

Frank Underwood, having made it to the presidency without a single vote, finally has to run for election.

Stampers life, meanwhile, continues to unravel without a President to commit crimes for.



Episode 10, Chapter 36

Frank nearly has another bisexual encounter  this time with his shady biographer, Thomas Yates.

Cashew returns! Only, Gavins abandoned her while on the run from the FBI, having been sucked into Stampers search for Rachel.



>

Episode 11, Chapter 37

Jackie Sharp betrays Frank Underwood, who tricked her into a fake presidential run under the promise that hed make her his vice president in return.

Remy Danton, fed up with the way Frank mistreated Jackie, resigns from the White House  and politics, entirely.



Episode 12, Chapter 38

Remy and Jackie get back together! Only problem: Shes married now.

With White House chief of staff now Stampers for the taking, he regains Franks trust by finally destroying the evidence of Claires abortion that Stamper gave to Dunbar to expose.

Episode 13, Chapter 39

Stamper ties up loose ends once and for all and buries Rachel, literally.

Claire, now ousted as ambassador to the U.N. and feeling subordinate to her husband, leaves Frank mid-campaign.



On to November!
New Delhi: In another twist, IT products firm Adcom said on Friday that it sold mobile handsets to Ringing Bells for Rs 3,600 a unit and was unaware of its plans to resell the device at Rs 251. Adcom also warned of legal action against Noida-based Ringing Bells in case the latter's activities adversely impact its brand name or cause any other kind of losses.

Ringing Bells had unveiled what is being touted as the world's cheapest smartphone. The devices, which were showcased resembled that of Adcom's Ikon 4, which is already available in the Indian market at Rs 3,999.

"Yes, it is true that although we sold the handsets to Ringing Bells earlier, like we sell Adcom mobiles to lakhs of users, we were absolutely unaware of the reselling plans of the company in question. Furthermore, we still haven't been able to evaluate their pricing policy, as we sold the handsets at Rs 3,600 per unit," Advantage Computers (Adcom) Founder and Chairman Sanjeev Bhatia said in a media statement.

He further added, "We are deeply grieved by this incident where our mobile phone has been presented to masses for Rs 251, and therefore, would not hesitate from taking any legal actions against the company, in case the entire fiasco impacts Adcom's brand name or subsequently we face any other kind of losses."

Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had already said the government was monitoring Ringing Bells and would take action if it fails to deliver the Rs 251 handset. Bhatia said he would like to assert that Adcom is in no way connected or linked to Ringing Bells or Freedom 251 and bears no responsibility whatsoever, in the whole swindle and regrets the inconvenience caused to its customers from all over the country.

A new entrant in the flourishing Indian mobile handset market, Ringing Bells had recently unveiled its cheapest smartphone. However, concerns have been raised by the industry on feasibility of a 3G smartphone at such a low price.

Ringing Bells has said the manufacturing cost of the phone is about Rs 2,500, which will be recovered through a series of measures like economies of scale, innovative marketing, reduction in duties and creating an e-commerce marketplace.

The I-T Department is also looking into the financial structure of the company and has obtained documents, including those from the Registrar of Companies (RoC), in this regard. A series of complaints were made to the Telecom Ministry against the company.

Apart from BJP MP Kirit Somaiya, the Indian Cellular Association (representative of mobile handset manufacturers) had also approached the Ministry asking it to get into depth of the issue. They said the price of the device with the said specifications could not be below Rs 3,500 even after a subsidised sale.

Despite controversies, Ringing Bells managed to receive over six crore registrations in two days.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
Knight of Cups. Photo: Courtesy of Broad Green Pictures

Terrence Malicks last cinematic devotional, To the Wonder, offered a radiant vision of Mont Saint-Michel, an island abbey off the coast of Normandy that glowed with the intensity of the Holy Grail. His newest cine-liturgical montage, Knight of Cups, focuses on the lower sphere, a world of facades and garish materialism: Hollywood. If movies are, indeed, both a product of and a road to hell, Malick is doing his damnedest to transcend the medium.

His protagonist is Rick (Christian Bale), a reasonably successful screenwriter with the potential  if he makes a pact with someone who speaks in the seductive tones of you-know-who  to be very rich. As it stands, hes a trapped and writhing soul, albeit one that gets to sleep with one gorgeous woman after another.

Knight of Cups opens with snatches of The Pilgrims Progress as intoned by John Gielgud before settling into an episodic allegory (each chapter separated by tarot cards) of a fallen knight whose grail has receded from view. Ricks estranged father (Brian Dennehy) says in voice-over that this young knight forgot he was the son of a king, fell into a deep sleep, and didnt cherish the precious pearl that was bestowed on him. Finally awake, a groggy Rick thinks back on how he lost that pearl.

All of this is accompanied by a syntax that is unique and, as such, treasurable. There is no palette like Malicks. Brad Pitt, co-producer and star of The Tree of Life, once said (after Malick blew off a Cannes press conference) that the director was like a man with a great butterfly net, grabbing at images. My impression is that he contrives a semi-coherent script, shoots it, and then, in the editing room, removes much of the dialogue and narrative tissue, paring down the film to archetypal gestures. Theres more variety in his weave than there was in To the Wonder: Scenes in which Ricks father raves about a son who died (sometimes with the sound below the level of audibility) while Wes Bentley as Ricks bitter, unstable surviving brother totters and moans burn through Malicks haze. But archetypes have a way of turning into abstractions or, worse, cliches, and Malick repeats himself so much the movie comes to feel like self-parody.

Its not always clear if the leggy beauties (Imogen Poots, Freida Pinto, Natalie Portman, several others) are meant to be a distraction or a source of potential deliverance. I guess it depends. Ricks ex-wife (Cate Blanchett) is a doctor who treats the poor, setting her admirably apart from the studio creatures. She tells him, You never really wanted to be totally inside our marriage. Or outside it either. Late in the film, Portman seems like the keeper (Have I found you?), but shes already married, and the plot takes a turn for the bleak. Malick starts and ends with a diaphanously dressed blonde (whose face we never see) in the surf while Rick says, in voice-over, Where will I meet you? Which way shall I go? How do I begin? I think shes meant to be the One, although the other women gambol in the waves, too, often with arms upraised. An uncharitable viewer might say Malick makes the Higher Beach Blanket movies.

Damnation is when the pieces of your life never come together. Thats Hollywood for you. Malicks spectacular set piece takes place outside a vulgar chateau amid immaculately dressed industry types and still more willowy women. The host is played by Antonio Banderas, a proud lothario who says that you cant have just one woman: Sometimes you want strawberry, sometimes raspberry. Ryan ONeal is a guest  meant, perhaps, to suggest personal and professional wreckage in the wake of one of Hollywoods most successful love stories.

The obvious message is, Go East, young man. And maybe theres a hidden message: that Malick is preparing, like Prospero, to abjure his magic. He has told the story of humanitys fall from grace so many times that you wonder if his wand is starting to sputter.

*This article appears in the March 7, 2016 issue of New York Magazine.
Tina Fey in Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. Photo: Paramount Pictures

The war sort-of comedy Whiskey Tango Foxtrot stars Tina Fey as an Afghanistan-based news correspondent, which means that, if nothing else, she now has more foreign-policy experience than Sarah Palin. Damn, I hoped it would be great  harsher and sicker (in the Terry Southern, National Lampoon sense) than all the over-earnest War on Terror films of the last decade. Behind the camera are Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Saturday Night Live, and gonzo-comedy vets: writer Robert Carlock, co-producer Lorne Michaels, and directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, who wrote Bad Santa. The source material is Chicago Tribune South Asian bureau chief Kim Barkers barbed memoir, The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan. There was the potential here for another M*A*S*H (Robert Altmans movie, not the aggressively humanistic TV series).

I know what youre thinking: Dream on. Maybe that kind of movie would be made for premium cable or Netflix or Amazon these days, but Whiskey Tango Foxtrot turns out to be a weak broth. I was rooting for it so hard that I told myself I liked it even as it missed one mark after another. But in the end its just shapeless and apolitical.

Well, there is a watered-down feminist message, if thats your idea of political. Feys Kim Baker  the loss of an r from Bakers name strikes me as symbolic, as if the writer were telling us the jokes would be more family-friendly  is now a lifestyle-news TV producer instead of a newspaper reporter. Shes tapped for Afghanistan because the big-deal correspondents have moved on to Iraq, and because shes single and without kids. Pretty humiliating, right? When she arrives in Afghanistan, shes doesnt know the language so she cant hear the Afghans ridicule. Shes also a klutz. And shes quickly reminded of her not-hotness  the movies view, not mine  by the presence of a conventionally gorgeous Aussie blonde TV reporter played by Margot Robbie. Still, Baker is told, a 4 or 6 at home is, given the paucity of Western women, a 10 in Afghanistan.

I have a female colleague who gets annoyed that Fey seems to go out of her way in her movies to deride her looks, as if she werent such an attractive woman. So the movie makes hay out of the way an Afghan government official (Alfred Molina), whose job is to crusade against alcohol and immorality, constantly puts the moves on her. Presumably for commercial reasons Whiskey Tango Foxtrot needs a love story, so Martin Freeman turns up as a Scottish photographer who starts out sleazy and evolves into a puppy dog. Hes adorable, but by the time he starts talking about getting serious the helium has gone out of the movie.

You might have winced when you read that Molina plays an Afghan official. You might again when you read that Christopher Abbott  best known from Girls but revelatory in last years film James White  is Bakers fixer and translator, Fahim. So its another movie in which non-Westerners are played by Americans and Brits with ruddy makeup. For the record, Molina is amusing and Abbott, on his own terms, entirely credible. But the response on social media has been justly fierce. Doesnt Hollywood ever learn?

Reading Barkers book, I was struck by how incisive it is, and how the carnage is not just tragic but the product of chaos and misdirection. Its packed with episodes that would have been startling onscreen and with crazy-scary characters whod have burned a hole in the screen. Barkers descriptions of U.S.-endorsed president Hamid Karzai and his murderous, corrupt family are brutal. But Karzai isnt in the movie, and criticism of how the occupation is being managed is confined to exasperated looks by a general (Billy Bob Thornton, whos superbly caustic). The only real criticism is reserved for higher-ups at Bakers TV network, who dont think Americans care about the day-to-day outrages of life in Afghanistan. That seems rather hypocritical given how much is left out of this movie!

I liked watching Fey, whos learning to be a real actress  to stop pulling sitcom faces and just be. Its fun to watch her go from helpless to hard-charging, mastering the language and trying to see past the propaganda on all sides. But the part isnt filled in, and the movie has a huge omission: When Baker announces that she has gotten too used to the madness of Afghanistan  that shes worried its starting to seem too normal  the sentiment comes out of nowhere. Her dramatic arc, like the films, disintegrates.

How did Whiskey Tango Foxtrot go wrong? My guess is in the usual way. The people holding the purse strings probably said that Americans dont like politics, that theyd be offended by absurdist comedy when American soldiers are dying in Afghanistan, and that the heroine had to be likable and meet a cute guy. Those calculations are in the name of selling more tickets in the multiplex, but the odds are the movie will bomb anyway for having no distinct point of view. Its not so much bad as dismayingly bland. Its WTF for all the wrong reasons.
the real estate

The Only Reason We Got It Was That I Lied

The Only Reason We Got It Was That I Lied
You, Me and the Apocalypse Home Sweet Home Season 1 Episode 6 Editors Rating 5 stars * * * * * Previous Next   Previous Episode Next Episode  Pauline Quirke as Paula, Mathew Baynton as Jamie, Anastasia Hille as Mary. Photo: Nick Briggs/WTTV Productions Limited

Now this is what Ive been waiting for. By far the most revealing episode to date, Home Sweet Home finally begins to weave together the many disparate story lines of You, Me and the Apocalypse.

Sure, learning that the main characters are related does feel a bit deus ex machina, but shouldnt we have seen that coming? After all, Ariels hacker group is called Deus Ex. And once you step back to look at the show as a whole  now that we know this is the story of an exceedingly dysfunctional family brought together by the end of days  its fairly clear that seeds were planted right from the beginning.

We open, as always, in a bunker under Slough. New to the usual crew is Diana Riggs mysterious and potentially evil Sutton, along with Dr. Samuel (Max Brown). Sutton looks thrilled to be there; Dr. Samuel  slightly less so.

Nineteen days earlier, the place is well-stocked and ready to make it through the end of the world. We learn that the bunker was set up under Suttons estate with the soul purpose of keeping Sutton alive. (Shes sick with an unknown disease.) Her assistants enter with a large crate, which turns out to contain an unconscious Ariel.

When Ariel wakes up, Sutton explains that she needs blood to live, but it has to be clean. Ariels blood has already been drawn and is off to be tested. If it doesnt meet Suttons exacting standard, it seems like hell be killed. Ariel wants to know if this is a sex thing, which Sutton laughs off  as she reveals, she is his grandmother. A long time ago, she apparently faked her death, and now all of her children think shes dead. Among those children are Scotty and Rhonda, and they are actually Ariels aunt and uncle, which is how Sutton tracked down Ariel in the first place.

As Ariel lies there, strapped to the hospital bed, unsure if he is going to live or die, he begins to hear voices. Hes unsure if God or the Devil is talking to him, and we dont know if hes drugged up, but given that he might come from a whole family of messiahs, the voices might be real. At this point, anything is possible.

When Sutton comes back, she reveals that Ariel has hepatitis, so hes no use to her. As Dr. Samuel is about to kill him, he reveals that he has a twin  and that twin has a daughter. If Sutton wants her great-granddaughters blood, shell have to spare Ariels life.

This is such a fun and bizarre series of scenes. Lets pause for a moment to recognize the treasure that is Diana Rigg. Shes so wonderfully evil as Sutton. When she says, Theyre sexy when theyre a little scared, I became pretty convinced that shes the best villain on network TV right now.

Elsewhere in Slough, Jamie has returned home to find his adoptive mother, Paula, living at his house. Paula isnt pleased to see that Jamie has brought Mary back with him, and despite Daves best efforts to keep things light, the meeting turns into a tense mom-off. Jamie decides he cant take it and goes back to work at the bank, where he forgives peoples outstanding mortgage payments and lets the homeless take refuge inside. Mary stops by to drop off lunch, but then starts to preach The Gospel of Jamie to anyone who will listen. Jamie tells her to take her spiel outside. She does, and is instantly crushed by a pile of falling bricks.

The video of Marys death reaches the Vatican, and when Father Jude sees it, he tells Celine theyre headed to Slough. Presumably, theyre going to investigate Marys claim that Jamie is the Messiah. However, when they get there and find Jamie digging Marys grave, Father Jude drops a huge bombshell: Hes Jamies father.

Jude tells Jamie the story: When he found out Mary was pregnant, he panicked and left her. He asks for Jamies forgiveness, but Jamie holds him responsible for Mary abandoning him in that parking lot as a baby. Jamie leaves. Thats when Celine sees a picture of Layla, whom she recognizes as the mother of Frankie, a.k.a. Jane Doe. Paula, Dave, Jude, and Celine split up to find Jamie, who has gone to a local clinic that runs human test trials on a drug called Nocturnapram, which will supposedly keep any comet survivors alive despite the lack of sunlight.

Okay, so: The fact that a new drug has been invented and undergone tests since the comet was first announced is absolutely impossible, but thats beside the point. You, Me and the Apocalypse operates on its own logic, and its a hell of a lot more fun if you dont ask questions and just enjoy the ride. Moving on.

By joining the study, Jamie guarantees a supply of Nocturnapram for Paula and Dave. Now that he knows his life has been a lie, he decides that the study may be the first worthwhile thing hes ever done. At least it will give others hope. Jamie feeling so defeated in the face of life-altering news is a really nice way to ground the show in some sense of reality. Few other shows allow their characters such genuine sadness and anger in rapidly changing circumstances, so its nice that Jamie, as the audiences lens into the world, channels the shock and despair any of us would feel in his shoes.

Paula, Jude, Dave, and Celine break into the Nocturnapram test center and tell Jamie that he has a daughter. Jude reminds Jamie that if he doesnt go and find Frankie, hell be abandoning her just like Jude abandoned him. This initially doesnt change Jamies mind about the trial, but then  in the shows best moment so far  Paula tells Jamie that she wants him to understand how much she loves him by letting him love someone else just as much. You pour it all in, until you dont know where you end and she begins, she says. And you hope that will be enough.

Jamie leaves the drug trial, forgives Father Jude, and heads off to find Frankie.

Meanwhile, Spike is staying with Scotty and Gaines in Washington. While Scotty is busy panicking over Ariels escape, Spike cant believe that he never revealed that he had a boyfriend and that he hasnt done anything to try and find his twin sister, Rhonda. Spike decides to take matters into his own hands, so he hacks the phone line at the police department.

When Rhondas neighbors catch her breaking into her old house and alert the police, Scotty listens in on the call through his computer. He knows shes going to go hide at his high school, and he tries to get Scotty to come with him. Too bad Scotty and Gaines are about to head into a meeting with the president. In what feels like a detail that will become significant, the president is clearly more interested in populating his bunker with hot women than with skilled scientists, though it seems like there he may have motives aside from the obvious.

Spike finds Rhonda hiding out in the school and their reunion scene is really sweet. (Also, we now know that Mathew Baynton and Jenna Fischers characters are nephew and aunt, and you can totally see the resemblance in this scene.) Unfortunately, U.S. Marshal Tess Carter tracks Rhonda to the school as well. Shes about to find her hiding in a bathroom stall when she receives a tip: Rhonda was allegedly seen carjacking someone in town. After Carter leaves, Spike and Rhonda find Scotty hiding in a locker. He just placed a fake phone call to the police.

Rhonda and Scotty reconcile, and Scotty takes Rhonda to his secret country home in Virginia. Gaines arrives (and we learn his first name is Arnold), and then he tells Scotty that he needs to distance himself from the McNeil family. Rhonda is a liability, and now that Scotty has lied to the police, he is too. Someone has to help the president carry out Operation Genesis, so Gaines has to say good-bye. Scottys plaintive I love you was just heartbreaking to watch, but it was nice to see Rhonda stand by her brothers side as Gaines drove away.

So there you have it: Home Sweet Home pulls back the curtain on You, Me and the Apocalypse to reveal the story of a maniacal dying womans mission to reunite her long-estranged family in the hopes of saving her own life during humanitys last days. It was clear all of the stories would merge, but weaving them all together like this feels like a narrative magic trick. I thought we were watching a campy network comedy, and it turns out weve been watching something else entirely. Now, we can look forward to watching this bizarre family reunion play out. Isnt it nice to see a show that reveals satisfying answers to its mysteries?

With four episodes left, there are still plenty of lingering questions to resolve, too. Will the comet actually hit Earth? What happens with Operation Genesis? And how does everybody end up in the bunker? As much as Im enjoying You, Me and the Apocalypse, Im glad its a finite series. Much like the end of the world, its a lot easier to appreciate when you know it will soon be gone.
Police stand guard outside Georgetown Prison after a riot and fire at the facility. (Photo: AP)

Guyana: A major riot left 16 people dead in Guyanas overcrowded main prison after inmates were angered by the seizure of illicit cell phones, officials said on Thursday.

The army, police and fire services are on site under the command of the superintendent of prisons.

We have a crisis on our hands ... as a result of several incidents that commenced at around 9:23 last night, Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan said at a press conference in Georgetown.

Scores of relatives are waiting outside the prison, and have clashed with officers as they seek information about the safety of their relatives. Five prisoners remain in the hospital.

President David Granger said a three-member panel would be convened to investigate the incident.

The prison was built for 600 inmates though currently houses more than 900.

The riot started after a regular monthly raid for illegal items was conducted just after midday on Wednesday. Some marijuana and 19 cell phones were seized, according to

Kevin Pilgrim, the superintendent of prisons.

Guyanese law provides for two phone calls per week.

Persons will clearly state that is inadequate and they will do what they have to do to get (more), Pilgrim stated, adding that officials helped smuggle the cell phones into the prison.

I will not sit here and deny that we dont have some officers who are corrupt. That is a fact, he added.
Historic Waco Foundation will hold a Texas Independence Day celebration from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday at Downtown 301, located at 301 S. Second St.

The event will include a silent auction, a barbecue buffet dinner, an open bar, and live musical entertainment from Johnny Rodriguez and Kayla Ray.

Cost is $100.

For tickets, call 753-5166.

Free dental care

Texas Mission of Mercy, a mobile dental clinic that delivers pain-relieving dental care at no cost to underserved Texans, will be at Marlin High School, 1400 Capps St. in Marlin, on Saturday.

Patients seeking care need to arrive by 6 a.m. to register. Doors will open at 7 a.m.

Service will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis, and the clinic will stop accepting patients once capacity is reached.

Patients must bring their current medications.

For information or to volunteer, call Sara Harney at 512-448-2441, ext. 203, or visit www.tdasf.org.

Westphalia fish fry

Westphalia Knights of Columbus will have a Lenten fish fry from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday at the Westphalia Parish Hall Pit, 144 County Road 3000 in Lott.

Cost is $9 for a plate of catfish, shrimp, french fries, beans and cole slaw.

For more information, call Ronnie Ranly at 770-8366 or Junior Hering at 721-1916.

Hiawatha exhibit

Pearce Museum at Navarro College, 3100 W. Collin St. in Corsicana, will have an opening reception for a The Legend of Hiawatha exhibit from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday.

The exhibition features 24 original oil paintings by Ed Copley, who was inspired to create this series as a visual narrative of Henry Wadsworth Longfellows poem The Song of Hiawatha: 1807-1882.

Copley will sign copies of his book, The Legend of Hiawatha: Stories and Paintings by Ed Copley, from 7 to 8 p.m.

The exhibit will be on display at the museum through April 8.

For more information, call 903-875-7438.

Robinson food pantry

Shepherds Heart Food Pantry, 106 W. Lyndale Drive in Robinson, will be open from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday for residents in need of supplemental food.

New clients will be asked to complete a registration form and all clients are asked to present a drivers license or state ID card.

For more information email robinsonfood pantry@gmail.com or call 307-7225.

Submit items for Briefly in printed or typed form to Briefly, P.O. Box 2588, Waco 76702-2588; fax to 757-0302; or email to goingson@wacotrib.com.
Texas State Technical College will receive a $262,809 grant administered by the Texas Workforce Commission and offer training for employees of two international companies operations in Waco and Brownwood.

TSTC will use the grant to set up training programs for 145 employees of Domtar Personal Care of Waco and 3M Manufacturing of Brownwood.

The money came from the workforce commissions state-funded Skills Development Fund. The fund is intended to connect businesses with technical or community colleges to develop workforce training programs to meet the businesses needs.

This was just a very timely opportunity to partner with Domtar and be a recipient of the workforce commission funds and strengthen West Texas and Central Texas all at once, said Eliska Smith, provost of the Abilene, Breckenridge, Brownwood and Sweetwater campuses of TSTC.

Workforce commission Chairman Andres Alcantar said a skilled workforce can spur job creation.

Its important that they have people with the right skills  people that help them increase productivity and really support the basis for job creation, Alcantar said. Youve been doing it for a number of years. Youve been willing to undertake it while transforming the manner in which you do business. And those things are greatly appreciated by us at the Texas Workforce Commission.

Electrical and industrial technicians, mechanics, raw material coordinators, process technicians and maintenance operators will participate in the training. They will receive an average wage of $17.61 after completing the training.

Greg Linscott, plant manager of Domtars Waco facility, said the grant is imperative to the new training.

Were focusing on a couple different things, Linscott said. Leadership development for employees but also some technical skills for development with electrical classes. So realistically, we probably wouldnt be doing the training without the grant process, so its worked out real well for us.
A Lacy Lakeview man who said he acted in self-defense when he cut two men with a knife in 2013 was sentenced to 25 years in prison Thursday.

Jurors in Wacos 54th State District Court deliberated about 30 minutes before deciding that 63-year-old Michael Alan Hodges deserved the minimum sentence on each of two counts of aggravated assault.

The jury deliberated about 4 1/2 hours Wednesday before rejecting Hodges self-defense claims and convicting him.

Hodges, an Army Special Forces veteran who served in the Gulf War, was charged as a habitual criminal because of prior convictions in Oklahoma for aggravated assault, attempted murder and domestic violence and battery.

Because of the habitual criminal designation, he faced a minimum of 25 years and up to life in prison.

Its called the three-strike rule for a reason, prosecutor Brandon Luce told the jury in summations Thursday. We are on the third strike.

Defense attorney Ron Moody said Hodges will appeal his conviction.

We never argue with the jurys verdict, Moody said. I thought there was a real issue of self-defense, but obviously the jury didnt see it that way. We respect their verdict and are appreciative that they gave him the minimum.

Hodges will be 75 years old before he can seek parole.

Jurors convicted Hodges of cutting Mark Cashaw and Anthony Scott outside his Lacy Lakeview apartment in August 2013.

The three told differing versions of the incident, but prosecutors say Hodges embellished his accounts by testifying that more than two men approached him that night and that Scott was holding a knife.

Prosecutors said his trial testimony was different from the version he told investigating officers, who arrested him after determining his self-defense claims were not justified.

In summations, Luce reminded jurors of the testimony of Larry Goldfine, a friend of Hodges, who said Hodges punched him in the face because Hodges thought he insulted him.

When do you think you would be on your best behavior? Luce asked. Would it be when you are out on bond and waiting trial for assaulting two men? This defendant punched his friend in the face while he was out on bond in this case.

Prosecutor Ryan Bownds asked the jury for a lengthy prison term for Hodges.

He said Hodges record of violence is escalating and asked which juror would be willing to step forward to write a letter to the family of Hodges next victim if he is allowed to get out and commit other assaults.

Scott, 54, and Cashaw testified that they were returning from a store when they saw Hodges near his truck as they cut through the apartment complex parking lot on the way back home.

Scott and Hodges had been in a heated exchange two days before and Scott asked Hodges if he had a problem with him, he said.

Cashaw, 57, said Scott and Hodges started arguing, and Scott approached Hodges truck. They continued to argue, and Hodges pulled a knife, Cashaw said.

Cashaw said he moved in to break it up, and Hodges slashed him across the back of the neck behind his right ear when he stepped between the men.

As Cashaw walked away, he saw Hodges lunging at Scott with the knife, cutting Scott multiple times on the neck, chest, fingers and chin.

The injuries were not life-threatening.
McLennan County Commissioners Court candidate Cory Priest, who lost the primary election Tuesday by 29 votes, has retained a lawyer to fight for a new election after county officials confirmed about 600 voters likely received the wrong ballots.

Priest, who had challenged incumbent Kelly Snell for Precinct 1, said voters contacted him, questioning the integrity of the primary election.

Because ensuring election integrity is critical to the function of our county, I have retained Joe Nixon with Beirne, Maynard & Parsons LLP to represent the voters of McLennan County and me in this process, he said.

County leaders have said the ballot matter only affected the two commissioner court races: Precinct 1 and Precinct 3.

Snell beat Priest with 50.24 percent of the vote, compared to Priests 49.76 percent. Snell received 3,068 votes, and Priest received 3,039 votes.

Snell said he had not heard an official report about ballots, other than confirmation that some had problems.

County leaders said Wednesday the incorrect ballots were issued at the polling center at First Assembly of God Church on Bosque Boulevard, and staff was reviewing the exact number of mishandled ballots and whether there were similar issues at other locations.

When told that Priest plans to contest the election, Snell said, I guess he can do what he wants to do.

I dont know why he would do that, but thats up to him, Snell said. A man can do what he wants to do if hes got the money.

County leaders have said human error prevented several hundred people from voting in the Precinct 1 and Precinct 3 county commissioner races. County leaders blamed the vendor of the equipment used Tuesday at polling locations and said this was the first joint primary election with vote centers since purchasing the equipment 10 years ago.

To start the process, Priest said he must first formally file for a recount of the primary election. He submitted paperwork to the McLennan County Republican Party on Thursday and will submit the paperwork to McLennan County on Friday.

Priest said the recount likely will happen next week. After the recount, he will file for a new election with an area judge.

If I dont file, the people dont have a voice because nobody else is going to get it done, Priest said.

Elections Administrator Kathy Van Wolfe said once the election is canvassed, the local political parties will set a recount date. March 11 is the deadline for a recount.

Jeb Leutwyler, outgoing McLennan County Republican Party chairman, could not be reached for comment after hours Thursday.

Deposit required

Candidates requesting a recount must put up a deposit for the work to recount the ballots, and the money is returned if the count changes the outcome of the original election.

Van Wolfe said it would cost about $3,300, based on the number of polling locations and days residents were allowed to cast their ballots. The deposit amount also depends on whether the recount request is for a hand count of ballots or for the recount to be done electronically.

He had a very small margin, she said. I would think that anybody with that small of a margin would ask for a recount.

Van Wolfe said she doesnt know of a process to file for a new election.

I dont think thats an option, she said. He can contest the election, but it still is the election that we had.

Van Wolfe said Priest would have to file a lawsuit, and if a district court decides his point is valid, the court would decide how to move forward.

Priest said if Ben Matus were smart enough, he would ask to piggy back in the effort to contest the election.

Precinct 3 Commissioner Will Jones, who has held the seat since 2012, received 3,890 votes during the primary election, or 55.9 percent, while Matus, his opponent, received 3,069 votes, or 44.1 percent.

Matus said if the results were closer he would have been interested in a recount, but that wasnt the case.

Thats a lot of ground to make up, he said.

But, he said, hes more interested in the race being contested, though he doesnt think he can participate.

Dont have the funds

Hes got money. I dont, Matus said of Priest. Im already into this election big time. I just dont have the funds to pursue that.

Matus said hes heard several reports from residents of troubles at the polling locations and wonders if there werent more problems than originally admitted by the county.

Jones said he probably shouldnt comment on a contested election because of potential pending litigation against the county. Before Priest proposed the lawsuit, Jones said on Wednesday that he wanted a full explanation of what happened with the ballots and that the county may need to rethink its use of voting centers.

Priest said he slept like a baby Tuesday night.

It is what it is. I lost, he said.

But then he received information Wednesday about the mishandled ballots. So few people already vote in local contests, if those individuals lose confidence in the countys elections, they wont return to the polls, Priest said.

Whoever wins, wins. Whoever loses, loses. But the voters have to win, he said. If I were in office, I would have already came out and made a statement and said there needs to be a new election because there was a misfire.

County Judge Scott Felton did not return a call for comment Thursday. Felton said on Wednesday he looked forward to a recommendation from Van Wolfe about how to prevent errors from happening in the future during elections.

No matter what election it is or who the candidates are, the voters must always win, Priest said. The integrity of the ballot box must be protected, and the process must be precise. The importance of having an accurate election comes before the importance of any results.
Two Bloomberg View columnists, Francis Wilkinson and Ramesh Ponnuru, wondered how Super Tuesday would shape the rest of the race. Now theyre making sense of the night: whos up and whos down, and what is the path to a Republican nominee other than Donald Trump?

Ponnuru: It has shaped up to be a big night for Trump, as we expected. He won Alabama and Massachusetts, confirming the breadth of his support. Ted Cruz won Texas and can therefore stay in the race, and won Oklahoma too. Cruz can also say that Marco Rubio has shown scant ability to win and should drop out in his favor.

Wilkinson: Is that scent in the air the smell of GOP leaders deciding Cruz is not such a bad guy? In some ways, I guess this is a better outcome for them than a Trump sweep. But it does, as you say, put pressure on Rubio. Cruz has won three states, including the biggest so far  Texas. Rubio keeps coming up short. The only clarity Super Tuesday results provide is that Trump is still very much the front-runner for the nomination, and his rivals are falling short. Do you think that dynamic is changeable?

Ponnuru: Trump is not going to lose momentum because of winnowing. Theres unlikely to be much winnowing: I dont see Rubio Cruz, or Kasich getting out. And Trump would get some of the votes of any candidate who dropped out. The bottom line is very simple: Trump is likely to win the nomination, and the only thing that will stop him is if Republican minds change.

Wilkinson: Well, its hard to see minds changing decisively if the candidates remain locked in place. Anti-Trump messages dont seem to be very effective at peeling away his voters. But even his plurality wins are often decisive. Georgia is a big state and he won it big. The strange thing about this GOP election is that as shocking as it has been, Trumps lead has been firm for months.

Ponnuru: I keep hearing people say that anti-Trump messages dont move people, but how much of a test have we actually seen of that premise? We have not seen millions of dollars in ads against Trump, precisely because of that candidate dynamic. Everyone who thought a few months ago that Trump could not go the distance assumed that at some point those ads would run. It may be that we dont see those ads until after Trump wins the nomination and Hillary Clinton runs them.

Wilkinson: I have never understood the lack of coordination in attacking Trump. There is constant talk of how the establishment wants to bring him down but no real action. Its got to come soon or not at all. Meanwhile, it looks like we could have a long contest on the GOP side. Its a remarkable situation: a candidate barreling toward the nomination of a party whose leaders dont want him.

Ponnuru: So what comes next? On the Democratic side, it sounds as though Hillary Clinton is moving on to the general election. On the Republican side, the question is whether a drumbeat begins that Rubio should drop out of the race  and, if so, whether he responds to it any more than John Kasich has. As I suggested earlier, I doubt it: Rubios supporters will say that the terrain gets friendlier to him from now on.

Wilkinson: Clinton is moving but her negatives remain high. The mess on the GOP side is almost certainly a help to her. Its hard to imagine how nasty a general election would be between Clinton and Trump or Cruz. But the quality of nasty might be quite different. Trump is already talking about being a common sense conservative. He sounds like hes moving into general election rhetoric already. And a Trump general election will be as wild as a Trump primary.

Ponnuru: Let me outline a possible scenario where a Trump general election would not be a wild ride. If I were the Democrats confronting Trump as the Republican nominee, I would run an early ad onslaught against Trump  and, as I suggested earlier, that ad campaign might well drive his numbers, which are already pretty bad among voters in general, further down. If the race starts to look put away, can even a showman as talented as Trump keep holding the attention of the media and the public?

Wilkinson: I do not doubt Trumps ability to hold attention. THAT he does very well. But, yes, the Democrats will run a blistering campaign and they will likely begin it before Trump is even free and clear of the primary. His negatives in a general election are huge. But as someone who underestimated him, Im wary of saying this guy is a dead duck.

Ponnuru: I wouldnt say hes a dead duck as the nominee (and I dont think its yet absolutely certain that he will be the nominee). Im one of the many who underestimated Trump, so I hear you. But what I really did was overestimate the Republican Party. For all the controversy, Trump has had a pretty free ride. We have, as yet, no reason to think he will do well when that ends  as end it will.

Wilkinson: Amen.

Ramesh Ponnuru, a Bloomberg View columnist, is a senior editor for National Review and a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Francis Wilkinson writes on politics and domestic policy for Bloomberg View.
Indian authorities should take all measures necessary to protect Sindhu Sooryakumar in the face of the abhorrent threats against her, said Sumit Galhotra, Senior Research Associate of Committee to Protect Journalist Asia Programme. (Representational Image)

Washington: A US media watchdog has called for an investigation into reports of a Malayalam TV news anchor receiving thousands of threatening telephone calls.

Indian authorities should take all measures necessary to protect Sindhu Sooryakumar in the face of the abhorrent threats against her, said Sumit Galhotra, Senior Research Associate of Committee to Protect Journalist Asia Programme.

Journalists should feel free to raise questions, including during times of controversy, without fear of reprisal, he said. Sooryakumar received thousands of threatening phone calls following a broadcast she hosted last week, in which she discussed a ministers comments on JNU.
42-year-old Crystal Leah Gambino killed her husband and a couple he met after catching the three in bed together at her house. (Representational Photo: Pixabay)

North Carolina: According to reports, a recent 911 call to authorities in North Carolina suggests that 42-year-old Crystal Leah Gambino killed her husband and a couple he met after catching the three in bed together at her house.

According to a report in The Daily Mail, the 911 call was made by Crystals brother-in-law. He described Crystal as being moderately crazy and said she had called another relative and told them that she killed her husband, 40-year-old Giovanni James Gambino, and two other people.

Police identified the other two victims as Geoffrey Glenn Gilliland, 39, and Stephanie Lynn Sanchez, 33, The Charlotte Observer reported.

According to reports, the 911 caller told the operator, My sister-in-law has told her family that she killed her husband. She caught him sleeping with another woman. She told them she cleaned up the bullet casings and took care of the bodies. She said she put the woman's body in a wheelbarrow and wheeled her out into the backyard to a burn pile.

After investigation, the police did not clarify whether the body of Stephanie Sanchez was found in the yard or whether Gambino intended to take it there.
The Air Force Museum Theatres 2016 Living History Film Series continues on Saturday, March 12th at 4 p.m. celebrating Women in History month. Filmmakers Kara Martinelli and Adam White Womens Air Racing to the big screen with their new documentary film Beyond the Powder : The Legacy of the First Womens Cross-Country Air Race. Dr. Terry Von Thaden, granddaughter of Louise Thaden, winner of the first Womens Cross Country Race along with Lin Caywood and Susan Beall, 2014 Race Team Members will join Martinelli after the film to share their personal experiences and insight.

Beyond the Powder is a one hour film documenting the 1929 Womens Air Derby, and the women who continue to fly the cross-country race today as the Air Race Classic. The film will highlight the societal and aviation challenges women faced in 1929, exploring the history of the race, while comparing the race as it is flown today. Filming wrapped in 2014, following that years Air Race Classic, a contemporary race with over 50 teams of women pilots. Beyond the Powder is produced by Hemlock Films and Western Reserve PBS, directed by Kara Martinelli. Narration provided by Law and Order:SVU and NBCs Aquarius actress Michaela McManus.

The first Womens Air Derby in 1929 was flown from Santa Monica to the finish line in Cleveland, kicking off the National Air Races. The eyes of the country watched as these brave women made history flying cross-country, breaking into a competition that was thought to be for men only. They encountered sabotage, death, and all the difficulties of flying at the dawn of aviation. Today the Powder Puff Derby continues as the Air Race Classic. The modern day racers carry out the legacy of the original racers with their adventurous and rebellious spirit. Showing that they were more than just their make-up, the original Derby contestants have inspired those flying today to truly push beyond the powder.

The theatres March 12th event is the second of eight Living History Film Series events planned for 2016. The Series brings aviation history alive through films and guest speakers. The Living History Film Series is sponsored by Texas Road House and the Boeing Co. Holiday Inn Dayton-Fairborn is the official hotel partner for the series. Tickets are available at the theatres ticket counter or by emailing theatre@afmuseum.com for $10 per film ($8 for Friends Members). Discounts for school or youth groups are available with advance reservations.

The theatre is operated by the Air Force Museum Foundation, Inc., a Section 501(c)(3) private, non-profit organization that assists the Air Force in the development and expansion of the facilities of the National Museum of the United States Air Force. For more information on the Air Force Museum Foundation, visit www.airforcemuseum.com. The Air Force Museum Foundation is not part of the Department of Defense or any of its components and it has no governmental status.

The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, is the worlds largest military aviation museum. With free admission and parking, the museum features more than 360 aerospace vehicles and missiles and thousands of artifacts amid more than 19 acres of indoor exhibit space. Each year about one million visitors from around the world come to the museum. For more information, visit www.nationalmuseum.af.mil.
Beirut: A key rebel bastion east of the Syrian capital was hit by at least two air strikes on Friday, in the first aerial bombardment there since a fragile truce began, a monitor said.

"Two air strikes hit the edge of the town of Douma in Eastern Ghouta and one person was killed," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

He said the strikes were conducted by either Syrian or Russian planes, and could not identify whether the individual killed was a civilian or a fighter.
In Pakistan, "there is lack of knowledge on what constitutes sexual harassment", said Shaden Abdellatif, a spokeswoman for ride-hailing service that launched in the teeming eastern city of Lahore on Thursday.

Islamabad: Uber is teaching its drivers in Pakistan how not to sexually harass women, a spokeswoman said on Friday, after the popular transport app launched in the conservative country where women are often hassled on public transport.

In Pakistan, "there is lack of knowledge on what constitutes sexual harassment", said Shaden Abdellatif, a spokeswoman for ride-hailing service that launched in the teeming eastern city of Lahore on Thursday.

"It seems it is not part of the conversation in basic education", she added, saying only Uber drivers in Lahore and in the Egyptian capital Cairo had to undergo the training.

California-based Uber was officially banned from the Indian capital Delhi after one of its drivers raped a young woman passenger there in 2014 in a case that made international headlines.

Women in Pakistan have fought for their rights for decades in a country where so-called honour killings and acid attacks are commonplace and where females face routine public harassment.

The seminar was brief about half an hour of the four hours of training that Uber's several hundred drivers in Lahore receive and will continue to be conducted for newly-joined drivers in the future.

Trainees were also told not to contact women after dropping them off, or to pass their passengers' phone numbers on to others.

"Our primary objective is that drivers understand that sexual harassment is not just about assaulting or harming someone," said Tooba Fatima, from Pakistan-based social enterprise RABTT, which designed the seminar.

"Making someone uncomfortable is harassment, whatever your intention is," Fatima said.

"People here tend to stare, make comments on the way one is dressed, ask questions about who you are going to see or why. And it is the woman who ends up being told: 'You should not be out so late', 'Why would you go here or there'."

Abdellatif said the company is trying to offer "a safer space in public transport for women through educating the drivers, even on a very basic level".

Three quarters of Pakistani women do not participate in the labour market, mainly due to a lack of safe transportation, according to a study by the International Labour Organisation.

But there has been a slew of recent initiatives to redress the balance, such as "The Pink Rickshaw" scheme in Lahore, which aims to empower working-class women by providing them with vehicles to transport other females.

The government of Punjab province meanwhile launched an awareness campaign last year called "Women on Wheels" to highlight gender-based violence and street harassment.

Uber, which launched its service at a price of 13.7 Pakistani rupees ($0.13) per kilometre, hopes to expand to other cities in Pakistan outside Lahore.

The start-up valued at over $50 billion is now present in 69 countries and some 380 cities.
I have been following with a heavy heart the testimony being given by Cardinal George Pell before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The questions being asked and the experiences being discussed have taken me back to 10 years ago when I was representing a courageous woman who reported suffering a life of serious sexual abuse by members of the clergy, and other organisations in the Ballarat region.

George Pell, by John Spooner.

Annie Jarmyn is a name that may be familiar to some. Her name will always be linked with the demise of our governor-general at the time, Peter Hollingworth.

I first met Annie in 2002. I had just started with Shine Lawyers as a new solicitor during a time when the firm was heavily involved in representing survivors of sexual abuse as they struggled to obtain some sort of justice for what had happened to them many years ago.
This he has achieved despite the fact almost every Republican elder opposes him. They always have. During the last election season the Republican candidates cancelled a scheduled debate when the relevant news outlet announced Trump would be the moderator. Now, some Republican heads are spitballing ways they can use party rules to deny him the nomination even though his mandate from Republican voters is so strong.

This, too, is a party now out of control. But in truth it has been slowly spiralling out of control for years. Do you think Trump is heinous on immigration because he wants to build a wall to keep out Mexicans? So does the establishment's own Ted Cruz. Do you think Trump's declaration that climate change is a hoax makes him unworthy of office? Here's the other establishment candidate, Marco Rubio: "I do not believe that human activity is causing these dramatic changes to our climate the way these scientists are portraying it." At least he seems to believe the science is in. He just chooses not to accept it.

It's true in a sense that Trump has stolen the Republican party. But it's also true it was there for the taking. There are many reasons Trump is succeeding  anger and disillusionment among a humiliated electorate is one of them. But there's also the fact that the Republicans have been training their voters to indulge every reactionary prejudice for years. Trump simply does this better, louder, and with less varnish than his rivals. Can we be surprised when he vanquishes them? Can the Republican establishment really cry foul when he outdoes them?

And is it so different here? Well, in a way, yes. A moderate is presently in the top job and the reactionary forces aren't yet taking endorsements from former Ku Klux Klan wizards (they'll have to settle for Reclaim Australia for now). But there's an important commonality too: that the contradictions that were once holding conservative parties together, and delivering them political success, have now fallen apart. The most important of these is the contradiction between liberal economics and the politics of "values".

It's hard to be the staunch defenders of family, culture and tradition while you're also staunch advocates of things like high-skilled immigration and workplace "flexibility" of the kind WorkChoices offered. It's hard to believe the market should be free to exploit and commodify whatever consumers will tolerate  sex, culture, children  and yet pretend we are bound together by inviolable, sacred values.
Cardinal George Pell has pledged to help those "wounded by the scourge of sexual abuse", in the final act of his appearance at the child sex abuse Royal Commission.

"One suicide is too many, and there have been many such tragic suicides," the cardinal said on the doorstep of the Rome hotel where over four nights he was grilled about what he knew of paedophile priests in Melbourne and Ballarat in the 1970s and 1980s.

"I commit myself to working  to try to stop this so that suicide is not seen as an option for those who are suffering," the cardinal said.
WA Councillors will have to declare any gifts or travel contributions online within 10 days for the public to see as part of new disclosure requirements.

Previously, the Local Government Act only required disclosures of gifts and contributions to travel once a year.

Councillors like Lisa Scaffidi must now disclose gifts within Credit:Louise Kennerley

The amendment comes after a Corruption and Crime Commission report last year found Perth Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi engaged in serious misconduct by accepting and keeping secret a $US36,000 ($A48,889.79) trip to Beijing from BHP Billiton.

Several travel scandals involving Ms Scaffidi and the council were exposed by the CCC last October.
A man in his thirties has received serious head injuries after being assaulted at his home in North Yunderup, near Mandurah, early on Friday morning.

The man was attacked at his home on North Yunderup Road and Police and St John Ambulance officers were called to a residence at about 2am.

Police attend a North Yunderup home after a man was assaulted on Friday morning. Credit:Richard Polden

The man was first taken to Peel Health Campus before being transferred to Royal Perth Hospital, where he is in a critical but stable condition.

Mandurah detectives and forensic officers are currently at the North Yunderup home investigating the incident.
Google: Somoza's Reign of Terror.voices:



In 1967 Somoza ordered the killing of six hundred people at a demonstration. Throughout the late 1960s and 1970s the United States trained the Nicaraguan National Guard and sent arms. When Nicaragua suffered an earthquake in 1972, Somoza stole most of the money sent by international aid organizations and governments to repair the damage and help the people. Somozas power rested on the ruthlessness of the National Guard and the support of the United States, who considered him a trusted friend because he always voted with the United States at the United Nations. When the Central Intelligence Agency invaded Guatemala in 1954, they used Nicaragua as a base of operation.



In the late 1970s even the middle class became disgusted with Somoza and worked for his removal. Somozas assassination of popular newspaper editor Pedro Chamorro, galvanized the whole nation for the battle to oust the dictator.



In 1878 the Sandinistas took the lead as the people looked to them for direction. A number of popular insurrections spread throughout Nicaragua in 1977 and 1978. Somoza sent in the National Guard to brutally suppress the revolts. They killed thousands of people, including children playing in the streets, but they realized that even with their superior weaponry they were no match for the poorly armed people. The people refused to give up even in the fact of massive losses.



Insurrection followed insurrection. The Sandinistas made another daring raid, this time on the National Palace, and held hostage many of Somozas family and close associates. Again Somoza was forced to give in to their demands. This action prepared the way for the final insurrections and battles leading to the triumph of the revolution on July 19, 1979.



President Reagan was in office from Jan 20 1981 -Jan20 1989.



Reagan's actions could not have funded the enemies of THIS Somoza.



And, anyway, Reagan always funded the ENEMIES of America whom the left wing Dem politicos supported.



Googling Regan and the Iran Contra affair, one finds the following, and I quote:



"Ronald Reagan's efforts to eradicate Communism spanned the globe, but the insurgent Contras' cause in Nicaragua was particularly dear to him. Battling the Cuban-backed Sandinistas, the Contras were, according to Reagan, "the moral equivalent of our Founding Fathers." Under the so-called Reagan Doctrine, the CIA trained and assisted this and other anti-Communist insurgencies worldwide.





Oliver North

Assisting involved supplying financial support, a difficult task politically after the Democratic sweep of congressional elections in November 1982. First Democrats passed the Boland Amendment, which restricted CIA and Department of Defense operations in Nicaragua specifically; in 1984, a strengthened Boland Amendment made support almost impossible. A determined, unyielding Reagan told National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane, "I want you to do whatever you have to do to help these people keep body and soul together."
No significant changes to his lifestyle or family stresses had occurred and he had bank accounts, two national trust funds, two houses and three vehicles. There was no record of him having a life insurance policy, the report said. MH370 captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, whose sister says has unjustly been accused of hijacking the plane. Credit:Fairfax Media "I want to tell the world that he is a good fellow," Ms Sakinab said. "His life is surrounded by love and he has an unblemished flying record. He wouldn't stoop so low as to murder more than 200 people." Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tong Lai has suggested he is unaware of what is in the report to be released on Tuesday. Credit:AP

Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai has indicated he is still unaware of what is in the report to be released on Tuesday. "I will make an announcement once I receive it," he told the state news agency Bernama. French police officers carry the flaperon which washed up on Reunion Island in July last year. It was later confirmed to be from the missing plane. Credit:AP However, experts say that unless the plane can be found in a designated 120,000-square-kilometre area of the Indian Ocean the mystery may never be solved. Countless theories have emerged about the fate of the plane that vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, including that it was taken by aliens, shot down by US jet fighters or stolen by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Relatives of passengers and crew members have issued an emotional plea for authorities to keep searching for the plane beyond the search's expected midyear completion date. They have also accused the Malaysian government of legal maneuvering that could deny them compensation from the airline. "The government is trying to protect one of its businesses instead of allowing its citizens access to justice," Grace Nathan, a Malaysian lawyer whose mother was on the plane, said. She represents Voice 370, an international support group for relatives of the victims. Since the plane's disappearance, the Malaysian parliament has passed legislation to restructure Malaysia Airlines into a new entity, Malaysia Airlines Berhad. Voice 370 said in a statement that as all monies, assets and the airline business have been transferred there may be nothing left in the original business to sue.

It called the move to shield the airline a "despicable act of irresponsibility and cowardice". Lawyers for the relatives have also complained that new rules have made it more difficult to pursue claims. But Mr Liow told the New York Times the restructuring would not affect any compensation awarded to the relatives of passengers and crew because the airline's insurance company would cover the cost. Many relatives have rushed to file claims before a statutory two-year deadline on Tuesday. An Australian-based woman, Jennifer Chong, whose husband Chong Ling Tan was on the flight, filed a claim in Australia last week, alleging the airline was negligent in failing to ensure passengers' safety.

In February, a Malaysian woman K. Sri Devi, filed a claim seeking $US7.6 million ($10 million) in damages for the loss of her husband S. Puspanathan on the flight, alleging negligence and breach of contract by the airline and government agencies. More than 42 families have already accepted compensation. Malaysia Airlines issued a statement last week reiterating its "continued commitment to uphold all its obligations". Despite a search costing $180 million the only piece of wreckage confirmed to be from MH370 was found on a beach on France's Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean in July 2015. A metre-long sheet found washed up on a beach in the African nation of Mozambique on Thursday will be sent to Australia where aviation officials will examine it to see if it is from MH370.

The Australian Transport Safety Board said the discovery fitted with estimates of where wreckage from the plane could have drifted if it crashed in the search area. Martin Dolan, of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, who is heading the search, told Fairfax Media in late February that, with three-quarters of the search area completed, he remained optimistic the plane would be found. "We are not at the stage where we are throwing in the towel by any means," he said. "But governments have put a limit on the search they are willing for us to undertake." The Malaysian government has announced that, unlike on last year's anniversary, it will not host a commemorative service for the relatives of the passengers and crew members on Tuesday.
Donald Trumps Co-Chair of the Veterans For Trump Coalition in New Hampshire, Jerry Delemus, was just arrested by the FBI on nine charges, including conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States.Jerry Delemus, a significant component of Trumps campaign effort to attract veterans, is a Tea Party activist who made trips to take part in the Bundy Ranch stand-off. According to the indictment being brought against him, Delemus was a mid-level leader and organizer of the conspiracy who, among other things: recruited, organized, trained and provided logistical support to gunmen and other followers and organized and led armed patrols and security checkpoints.Delemuss connection to Trump is certainly a factor, but its also damaging to the Republican party as a whole. Jerrys wife, Susan Delemus, is a GOP lawmaker in the state of New Hampshires House of Representatives. News of the incident first broke when Susan called Jack Kimball, the former chairman of the New Hampshire GOP to let him know that the FBI was raiding their house.
In 2015, National Customs Service inspectors at the Chacalluta border complex in the Arica and Parinacota Region of Chile recorded the seizures of 300 units of Seahorses and 33 Green Turtle shells.

The species were retained by Chilean Customs in accordance with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and were sent last Wednesday to the National Service of Fisheries and Aquaculture (SERNAPESCA) for disposal. The ceremony was attended by the mayor of Arica and Parinacota, Mr. Ricardo Sanzana.

Aricas Regional Director of Customs, Mr. Emilio Araya, explained that two seizures in 2015 prevented seahorses from being brought into the country. This species, costing over 6,000 US dollars per kilogram on the informal market, is endangered due to smugglers selling it for use as amulets or aphrodisiacs.

In the first case, a passenger was intercepted carrying 47 units of seahorses while taking a bus from Tacna to Arica. In the second case, a passenger traveling from Lima to Iquique was intercepted and the seahorses he was transporting were seized. "In total, this amounted to more than one kilo of this species, which is first captured and then dehydrated for transfer," said Mr. Araya.

Turning to the turtle shells, some 33 units of green turtle shells were retained for examination between 2013 and 2015. According to Mr. Araya, "Whenever our inspectors detect endangered species protected by CITES, these are seized and are held on our premises, prior to following the regular channels such as informing specialized bodies, like SERNAPESCA or SAG (Department of Agriculture and Livestock)".
Customs enforcement: our global contribution to securing borders and trade

The 35th Session of the Enforcement Committee (EC) took place in Brussels from 29 February to 3 March 2016. More than 150 Customs delegates participated in the Session along with the representatives of the CITES Secretariat, Europol, International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), INTERPOL, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), UNESCO, United Nations Office on Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and others.

In her opening address, the Director of the WCO Compliance and Facilitation Directorate, Ms. Ana Hinojosa, introduced the theme of this years meeting, Customs enforcement: our global contribution to securing borders and trade. She underlined the importance of the meeting addressing evolving and emerging threats and how Customs, as a community, can better respond to them. The WCO is very well aware of the challenges Customs administrations face and strives to be ahead the curve and develop tools and instruments that can meet Members emerging needs in the constantly changing operational environment.

In his keynote address, Mr. Wil van Gemert, Deputy Director of Europol and Head of the Operations Department, emphasised the need for a consolidated and cooperative approach to combat cross-border crime, for which Customs-Police cooperation is a pre-condition to achieve success.

The pressing issue of illicit trafficking of cultural objects was addressed as a priority at the EC. The round-table, focusing on the international and national responses to this problem, raised interest among the delegates who welcomed the increased attention to this issue and proposed sharing expertise and knowledge for the development of the specific training modules in order to tackle the issues of identification, seizure, detention and investigations related to illicit trafficking of cultural objects.

During the round-table on Customs and security, the delegates acknowledged that Customs administrations, irrespective of their powers and mandates, have a critical role to play in contributing to global and national security. While recognizing challenges in this context, collaboration with other relevant authorities was re-emphasised as critical in this domain.

In the area of the Environmental Programme, delegates expressed their support of the WCO Secretariat in relation to advocacy and operational activities as well as cooperation with the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC) and the Royal Foundations United for Wildlife International Taskforce on the Transportation of Illegal Wildlife Products.

At the round-table on the global situation and enforcement on New Psychoactive Substances (NPS), this evolving phenomenon was discussed and the delegates agreed to support regional operational activities in this regard.

During the elections of the EC Chair and Vice-Chair, many delegates supported the current tandem of the United Kingdom and Senegal and praised them for the clarity and efficiency of the Committee meetings structure and deliberations. Therefore, the current Chair, Mr. Jeremy Lee from the United Kingdom Border Force was confirmed in his position as a Chair and Mr. Ismaila Diop from the Directorate General of Customs in Senegal was re-elected as a Vice-Chair of the 36th Enforcement Committee that will take place in spring 2017.
iolo said: Its not nonsense. You do not even understand the difference between a socialist and a egalitarian. Click to expand...

I understand a great deal, child. Knives are equal or unequal in sharpness, because whey are for cutting or stabbing. What are human beings for? Every human being is an end in him/herself, not to be used by a lot of rich thieves like tools, which is why all decent people are socialists, as you know.
The Russian Armed Forces are testing a new, yet unnamed disposable rocket-propelled grenade launcher, according to a Russian defense industry source. According to Russian industry sources quoted by the TASS news agency, the new launcher slightly resembles the Swedish AT-4 system. The new launcher is shatterproof and protected against occasional drops. As of early 2016, Russian Armed Forces are equipped with a number of disposable rocket launchers, including the RPG-26 Aglen (Surf), RPG-27 Tavolga (Meadowsweet), RPG-28 Klukva (Cranberry), RPG-30 Kryuk (Hook), RPG-32 Barkas (Launch ship)  all are disposable anti-tank grenade launchers. These are operated in addition to RPG-7 and RPG-29 reusable rocket launchers.

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Defense ministers of France and the United Kingdom endorsed today the plan to launch the development of full scale operational demonstrator of the Future Combat Air System Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) next year. This phase will prepare for the full-scale development of unmanned combat air system (UCAS) operational demonstrators by 2025. At a cost of 2 billion this demonstration programme, the most advanced of its kind in Europe, will be centered on a versatile UCAS platform that could serve as the basis for a future operational capability beyond 2030.

The first phase of the program was launched at the Brize Norton Summit in 2014, at an investment of 120 Million, where France and the UK explored the feasibility of such future combat air systems. The first phase was a two-year feasibility study, which will continue next year into the follow-on demonstration programme. The project partners are Dassault Aviation, BAE Systems, Rolls Royce, SNECMA/Safran, Finmeccanica Airborne and Space Systems Division and Thales. The FCAS program continues following previous research programs conducted separately in the UK and France, including the BAE Systems Taranis and the international collaborative nEUROn program lead by Dassault Aviation.

The next phase will be a technical review, scheduled for 2020. Under the research programs the two countries will also to analyse the future combat air environment including how manned and unmanned systems might operate together.
Field and grass fires have been burning in Graves, McCracken, Calloway Counties
By West Kentucky Star Staff Mar. 04, 2016 | 06:48 AM | PADUCAH, KY

The Kentucky Cancer Program encourages everyone to take part today in Dress in Blue Friday, as part of the eighth annual nationwide campaign to promote colon cancer screening.

Colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in men and women combined in the nation and state. The mortality rate in Kentucky is the highest, claiming more than 800 people each year.

KCP staff will be at Texas Roadhouse in Paducah today with information on how you can be screened for colon cancer. Texas Roadhouse will also donate a part of today's proceeds to the Kentucky Cancer Program.

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By The Associated Press Mar. 03, 2016 | 10:38 PM | FRANKFORT, KY

A committee of business and tourism officials and educators would advise Kentucky school districts on when to start the school year under a bill that has cleared the Senate Education Committee.

Republican Sen. Chris Girdler of Somerset had wanted to prevent school districts from starting prior to the first Monday closest to Aug. 26 each year. He said the earlier start dates were hurting the state's tourism industry.

But school officials and some lawmakers protested, arguing local districts should be allowed to decide for themselves. The compromise bill would create advisory committees to study the issue and make recommendations to local school boards. The school boards would then decide when the school year should start.

The bill now heads to the full Senate for debate.
Linn County Commissioners John Lindsey, Will Tucker and Roger Nyquist said this week they strongly oppose a proposal by a coalition of environmental groups to develop a nearly 500,000-acre Douglas-fir National Monument in Linn and Marion counties.

Tucker said the monument would encompass most of the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management forest lands in Linn County, plus almost 50,000 acres of private land, if they became available for purchase.

This is very scary that this is being proposed, Tucker said. Were definitely against this. We need to stop it now.

According to a website devoted to the monument plan, the total acreage would be 481,324 acres. It would include 401,693 acres of U.S. Forest Service property, 31,761 acres of BLM property, 1,272 acres of state forest lands and 46,598 acres of privately held land.

But Andy Kerr, a conservation lobbyist and one of the coalitions leaders, said the monument overlay would not impose regulations on state or private lands, unless they were acquired by the federal government.

Included in the proposal would be Gordon Meadows in the far northeast corner of Linn County, Iron Mountain, Jumpoff Joe, Moose Creek near Cascadia and the Three Pyramids.

This is the worst case of land grab, Tucker noted in an email. The old trees they talk of, the 300- to 900-year-old trees are already protected. The private industrial owners apply practices that meet or exceed protections in the Oregon Forest Practices Act. The BLM and Forest Service are both working on management plans that exceed the Oregon standards and are rewriting them as we speak. One of the leaders of this effort has been actively suing the federal government on logging practices, both are very strong environmentalists.

Tucker added, We do not need more protection, we need better science applied to forest management. We do not need more private land to be taken from private ownership. We need more public access to federal lands and federal land returned to Oregon, or the resource of Douglas fir managed as a resource.

Kerr, who owns the Larch Company, said the coalition considers the draft proposal as a way to start a conversation.

This would be an investment of enduring conservation on behalf of future generations of these magnificent Douglas fir forests, Kerr said.

Kerr said that in most ways, management would not be much different. Significant portions are already allocated under the Northwest Forest Plan. Areas not allocated, but that have mature and old growth forests, arent being logged either.

Kerr said clear cutting of timber, especially of old growth forests, is a practice of the past.

The timber industry has lost its social license to log older forests, Kerr said.

When asked why the national monument issue is being proposed, Kerr said, Why not?

Plans change, administrations change, he explained. In the future, old growth forests could be opened up again. It is in the national interest and local interest, too, to protect these forests.

Kerr said that unless the public believes returning to the age of clear cutting is possible  which he said wont happen  the highest and best use of these forests is for conservation and recreation.

Kerr said that a national monument designation would draw tourists to the area.

They will spend money locally while they are enjoying the forest, he said. The difference is in branding. If it shows up as a different color on the map, they will think, Hey, heres something special, and come see it.

Kerr said the best way to capitalize on ancient forests is to market them, brand them, enjoy them.

If you think you can go back to the old days (of logging), give it a try, he added. I dont think you will be successful.

Kerr said there are half as many lumber mills and half as many mill jobs as there were in 1995 when the Northwest Forest Plan went into effect.

Yet, the milling capacity is 25 percent greater, he said. We will continue to see mills automate, resulting in fewer jobs.

Kerr added, Its time for local economic interests to look at these forests in a different way, to quit thinking that the only value to these forests is making studs.

The real question, according to Kerr, is, What do we want to see 20 years from now?

According to the proposal, the northern boundary of the national monument would abut the Opal Creek Scenic Recreation Area, Opal Creek Wilderness and Bull of the Woods Wilderness. The southern boundary would be the hydrologic divide between the South Santiam and McKenzie River watersheds. The eastern boundary would be the Cascade Crest and the western boundary would generally follow the existing boundary of the Willamette National Forest.

The proposed monument would include all of the Middle Santiam and Menagerie Wilderness areas, Quartzville Creek Wild and Scenic River and a portion of the Mount Jefferson Wilderness.

It would encompass 752 square miles (487,000 acres) and dwarf other national monuments in Oregon such as the Oregon Caves, 4,558 acres; John Day Fossil Beds, 13,944 acres; and the Newberry National Volcanic Monument, 50,000 acres.

The proponents blame long-term industrial logging for fragmenting the forest lands, leading to a monoculture of tree farms, not natural mixed age and species forests.

Timber harvesting would be allowed for about 30 years before being banned completely.

Key goals would include:

Landscape conservation and restoration of Douglas fir ecosystem.

More and better fish and wildlife habitat.

Watershed conservation and restoration of nature and people.

Helping the climate through carbon storage.

Opportunities for educational and scientific study.

Outdoor recreation.

Spiritual renewal.

The monument would be administered by either the National Park Service or the U.S. Forest Service with the edict of conservation and protection of the natural environment. Only uses that are compatible with that goal would be allowed in the national monument.

The draft plan notes that magnificent views would be preserved and activities such as driving, hiking, birding, hunting, fishing, mountain biking, horseback riding, camping would be some of the many ways a national monument could be enjoyed by the general public.

Dave Furtwangler, president of Cascade Timber Consulting in Sweet Home, said he has not been contacted by proponents of the monument plan, even though the more than 140,000 acres the company manages is intermingled throughout the Sweet Home Ranger District of the Willamette National Forest.

Nobody has called us about it, Furtwangler said.

Furtwangler said developing a national monument Would create a lot of issues for us. We have cost-share roads in that area with the U.S. Forest Service and those roads probably would not be maintained in the way we could make use of them. It would devalue our property.

Furtwangler said Cascade Timber Consulting  which manages the Hill family properties  is not the only private company that would be affected.

We have concerns, its one of those things you dont know where its coming from, Furtwangler said. It came as a big surprise to us.

Furtwangler said that he doesnt know of any organized efforts to oppose it.

Its kind of out there and most of us look at it and cant believe it would be possible, Furtwangler said. This would take some of the most productive forest land in Oregon, good for timber growing ground. It would be a shame to see something like this happen.

State Rep. Sherrie Sprenger, R-District 17, represents much of the area that would be in the monument overlay area.

I am extremely nervous about this, greatly concerned, Sprenger said. The more I learn about this effort the greater my concern is.

Sprenger said old growth forests are already protected.

The last thing we need to do is tie up more federal land with regulations, Sprenger said.

Sprenger said that even if communities like Idanha and Detroit are not in the monument area itself, they would be completely surrounded.

Sprenger said she is also concerned that private timber land owners, whose properties would be surrounded by the monument overlay, would eventually lose access to their properties and be put in a negative negotiating situation when it came time to sell.

What kind of negotiating position does the private landowner have? Sprenger said. Sure, they can sell, but their land isnt worth much because they dont have a good position to negotiate from.

Jude McHugh, a spokeswoman for the Willamette National Forest, said forest officials are aware of the proposal and we have no additional information on the proposal, nor anything to add at this time.

McHugh said decisions of this nature lie in the hands of elected officials and outside of our processes.

Allison McKenzie of Grow Santiam, an economic development group representing the North Santiam Canyon, said 42 percent of jobs in communities in that area are in wood products.

In Oregon, we take pride in protecting our natural resources and special places, McKenzie said. These lands are already so well protected.

McKenzie called initial news about the proposal, a red flag waving in the wind.

President Obama could declare the Douglas fir National Monument without seeking approval of Congress through the American Antiquities Act of 1906.

The first national monument was Devils Tower in Wyoming, established by President Theodore Roosevelt.

The draft plan notes, The goal of creating a new national monument to the Douglas-fir forest is not merely to preserve the scattered fragments of older forest that remain today, but to restore ecological and hydrological integrity to a region that has undergone profound alteration since large-scale industrial logging began after World War II.

Thanks to the efforts of many dedicated people, some excellent groves of ancient Douglas-fir forest are permanently protected in places like the Middle Santiam and Mount Jefferson Wildernesses. However, most of the older Douglas-fir forest stands in the area only have some level of administrative protection, which is subject to change as administrations change.

The topic will be among the afternoon workshops Friday during the annual Public Interest Environmental Law Conference at the University of Oregon.

Presenters will be Kerr; Stephen Sharnoff, research associate at the University of California at Berkley; and Dominick DellaSala, president and chief scientist of the GEOs Institute.
Rita Redmond was a true lady who felt that every pupil had something to gift to the world
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In exploring tensions more to do with roots, language and class than skin colour, Mongiwekhaya's autobiographical play tells an unfamiliar new story about South Africa. The show is also notable as the unflashy directorial debut of actress Noma Demuzweni, recent stand-in in Linda at the Court, and soon to play Hermione in the West End Harry Potter.

Ben is a privileged college kid, a black South African who's returned to Johannesburg after growing up in America. In a club, he meets Skinn, a white girl with pink hair, gold leggings, and an attitude. But when the sober Ben is accused by the police of drunk driving, the teenagers' cocky brio lands them on the wrong side of the law.

Officer Buthelezi is not having a good night: a restraining order is about to prevent him seeing his wife. He rages against it, but his superiors don't want any trouble - this corrupt police force can't be seen to be corrupt. His simmering anger has a history - he fought as an MK solider against apartheid - but it comes to boiling point this Friday night, and Ben bears the brunt.

What starts as a little messing around soon takes on a more serious complexion: Ben may be black, but Buthelezi still sees him a traitor against everything he struggled for. And it's not just his wealth: it's the fact that he no longer speaks Xhosa, his native tongue, and has adopted a Westernised name.

Mongiwekhaya can be heavy-handed as he tangles with thorny knots of class, racism, and identity. At its best, I See You illuminates unfamiliar societal tensions, but there are moments of exposition and accusation that clang. Still, he achieves an interesting balance: we're encouraged to at least understand the motivation behind the inexcusable police brutality, and while Ben is an innocent victim, his arrogant sense of martyrdom rankles. You see why he'd attract the ire of a generation who fought for his freedom.

I See You is largely about control. Buthelezi feels his hard-won control is being taken away (he shouts at his wife "you belong to me"), and seeks to impose his will elsewhere. Ben can't accept that there might be a situation where his money and education don't help. Even Skinn is engaged in a (pretty sketchily drawn) battle against a controlling older boyfriend. But not everyone can hold the reins all the time, Mongiwekhaya seems to imply, no matter how much their own peculiar brand of privilege convinces them they deserve to.

Desmond Dube as Buthelezi is outstanding: a still, somehow very present actor, yet you feel the ball of rage churning inside. Jordan Baker has a sparky energy as Skinn, but Bayo Gbadamosi as Ben never quite finds the depth to his character's resistance.

Dumezweni's stages the play with extreme simplicity - virtually set and prop free, with only changeable overhead lights to give a sense of place. It's a contrast to the specificity of the script, but allows for a fleet production; when Skinn and Ben talk on the phone, the actors physically interact as if chatting in the street. What you gain in freedom is lost, however, in atmosphere: there's a little sense of the menace of a confined police van, for instance. Although there are a few nail-biting moments, I See You is rarely very affecting - but as a window onto the power and identity struggles of another society, it's certainly a fascinating watch.

I see You is at the Royal Court till 26 March.
Oregon lawmakers have approved a specific funding plan for fifth-year college programs, although fewer students now will be eligible to use it.

Senate Bill 1537, sponsored by State Sen. Sara Gelser, D-Corvallis, passed the House of Representatives on Wednesday on a 47-11 vote and is now headed for the governors desk.

The bill establishes criteria for whats now being called the postgraduate scholar program. The program allows school districts to use state school money to cover books and tuition for graduates taking classes at community colleges.

The new postgraduate program wont cover as many students as the old fifth-year programs did, however.

Mid-valley fifth-year programs have been around since as early as 2003. They work on a premise  encouraged by passage of Senate Bill 300 in 2005  that students remain covered by K-12 district funds until they graduate. That meant schools could allow seniors to put off receiving their diplomas and take up to a years worth of college courses on the districts dime.

The programs artificially lowered the graduation rate of participating districts and chafed lawmakers who represent metro areas. Some complained the state school fund was never meant to go beyond students senior year in high school, and that it wasnt fair to allow smaller districts to do something that larger districts couldnt without breaking the states bank.

Gelser sponsored SB 1537 to create a funding plan that allows students to get their diplomas on time while still taking advantage of the programs.

Students can become post-graduate scholars only if they have all their credits for a diploma; have filled out the federal financial aid form known as a FAFSA; have applied for and accepted all the grant-based aid for which they are eligible, such as a Pell Grant; and have applied for the new community college grant program known as Oregon Promise, which is open to recent Oregon graduates with at least a 2.5 grade point average.

Students who receive funding through Pell or Oregon Promise will not be considered part of the postgraduate scholar program. Districts will be allowed to tap state school funds only for students who arent covered by the other programs.

During the first week of session, I was very worried as it appeared that there wasnt a path forward for this bill, Gelser wrote in an email to the Democrat-Herald. However, superintendents and impacted students rallied and brought the bill back to life.

What started out as a bill about sideboards became an example of great policy, and what can happen when communities work together across district lines. Im so glad students will have this opportunity moving forward, and am grateful I had a chance to play a part in protecting these incredibly effective programs.
Lois Ann Fenker

June 22, 1948  Feb. 10, 2016

Lois Ann (Motz) Fenker, 67, of Lacey, Washington, formerly of Seattle, died unexpectedly Feb. 10, 2016.

She was born June 22, 1948, in Grand Junction, Colorado, to Merle Bud and Joan (Leeper) Motz, the third of five daughters. She was a librarian, devoted to improving systems and services in public libraries, and defending intellectual freedom and the right to read for all. She retired from the Seattle Public Library in 2009, having served as assistant director during the building of the renowned downtown library.

She is survived by her husband of 40 years, John A. Fenker; mother Joan (Leeper) Motz; and sisters Janet Motz of Lone Tree, Colorado, Myrna Kennedy of Colorado Springs, Colorado, Eulee Motz of Glendale, Wisconsin, and Beverly Fett of Colorado Springs, Colorado. She had no children.

Lois grew up along the Colorado River on a peach ranch near Grand Junction, Colorado. She earned her bachelors degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and her MLS from the University of Denver.

Her first library position was at the Longview (Washington) Public Library in 1971, where she fell in love with her husband, John, and the Pacific Northwest, and stayed with them both the rest of her life. From the Ft. Vancouver Regional Library, she moved to the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, where she served as assistant director from 1988 to 1999.

Lois was a loving wife, daughter, sister and aunt; and a kind, caring and loyal friend. She enjoyed reading and loved walking along the Oregon Coast, and then later around Green Lake and up and down the hills of downtown Seattle. She adored the cats in her life: KiChi in Vancouver and Corvallis, Ashley in Corvallis and Seattle, and her black twins Bix and Daphne in Seattle.

Her husband and a few close friends witnessed her cremation on Feb. 18 at Funeral Alternatives in Lacey, Washington, gathering afterwards at a farewell reception at the welcoming home of local friends.

A bench in her memory is planned for the public library in Corvallis. Donations towards this may be sent to the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library Foundation, 645 N.W. Monroe Ave., Corvallis, OR 97330, In Memory of Lois Fenker.

Please sign the guestbook and leave condolences at www.FuneralAlternatives.org.

Arrangements are with Funeral Alternatives of Washington, Lacey.

Thomas T.J. Robert Rozell Jr.

Nov. 25, 1963  Feb. 24, 2016

Thomas T.J. Robert Rozell Jr. died at his home in Albany on Feb. 24, 2016. He was 52 years old. He was well loved!

Born on Nov. 25, 1963, in Medford to Thomas and Nancy Rozell, he grew up mostly in Salem, Central Point and Medford. He spent a few years in Michigan with his mom and brother. Before his senior year, he returned to live with his grandparents, graduating from Crater High School in 1982. Following high school, he attended the University of Oregon and remained a faithful U of O Duck.

T.J. began working in the car business for his dad when he was 15. He worked in banking a few years, but ultimately realized that he belonged on a car lot. Some say he missed his calling as a sports commentator, which leads to the many things he enjoyed.

T.J. enjoyed sports, all kind of music  Jimmy Buffet in particular  cars, sports, memorabilia, player statistics, crunching numbers in general, pre and post-game comments, anticipating said comments well, you get the idea. He was intelligent, articulate and outrageously funny. More than that, he was a sensitive man who loved deeply. And he loved his boys!

He struggled with drinking, but found support through family, AA and a revitalized faith and newfound church community. After beating his addiction, he felt a strong passion to encourage others struggling with theirs.

T.J. is survived by his son, Nicholas Rozell; stepson Riley Conner; grandma Mildred Rozell; dad Thomas Rozell; mom Nancy Rozell; brother Michael (Elaine) Rozell; uncles Jim Rozell and Ernie (Danette) Rozell; nephews Daniel, Ryan and Jeff; ex-wife Angie (David) Patterson; and Angies seemingly countless family members who are heartbroken by this loss.

T.J. loved Jesus, his family and many friends. He loved being a dad to Riley and Nick. He sought after and attained a great deal of success. Recent years, however, brought him much wisdom and understanding. He knew that his love for his sons, family and friends is the good stuff, you know, true success. This gave T.J. a lot of peace. Oh, and did we mention how proud he was of Riley and Nick? He sure did love those boys!

Please join us for a memorial to celebrate T.J.s life at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 12, at Al Hutchinsons Auto Center, 1800 S.W. Ninth St., Corvallis, 97330.

Patrick J. OToole

Aug. 21, 1924  Feb. 23, 2016

Patrick J. OToole passed away Feb. 23, 2016, at the age of 91.

Born Aug. 21, 1924, in Portland to Phillip and Erma OToole, he graduated from Washington High School and served in the Army Air Corps from 1943 to 1946. Pat attended Oregon State University and lettered for three years on the crew team. Pat met Harriet McGill at an OSU baseball game and they married in 1949. They were married 60 years until Harriets passing in 2009. He graduated from the University of Oregon in 1951 with bachelors degree in business administration.

A longtime Corvallis resident, Pat owned and operated OToole Motor Company for more than 35 years. Pat and Harriet raised four children in Corvallis; all attended Crescent Valley High School. He loved fishing, crabbing, clamming, and hunting, racquetball and golf. A loyal OSU Beaver fan, he served on the Beaver Club Board of Directors for many years. Always in search for the perfect lawn, he was an avid gardener, and an expert at growing tomatoes. Loved by many for his dry wit and sense of humor, he was a loyal friend, loving dad, grandfather and husband, and an Irish prankster.

Pat is survived by children Dan OToole, Mary Casey, Tim OToole and Patty OToole-Perkins; sons-in-law Dan Casey and Eric Perkins; daughters-in-law Kitty OToole and Gail OToole; grandchildren Ryan, Angie, Theresa, Hannah, Patrick, Griffin, Molly, Kyle and Kasey, and three great-grandchildren.

Friends of Pat are invited to join his family in a celebration of his life at 2 p.m. on St. Patricks Day (of course), Thursday, March 17, 2016, at Trysting Tree Golf Course in Corvallis. Wearin o the green encouraged.

Patricia Anne Greg

March 16, 1948  March 2, 2016

Patricia, 67, of Albany died March 2.

Dont cry because its over, smile because it happened (Dr. Suess).

A private family gathering will be held.

Johnson Funeral Home in Salem is handling arrangements.

Death notices

Henry Coleman, 92, died March 4 at his home in Corvallis. Please leave your thoughts and condolences at www.mchenryfuneralhome.com.

Martha Condon, 82, died March 3 in Springfield. Please leave your thoughts and condolences at www.mchenryfuneralhome.com.

Elizabeth McCrackin, 86, died March 4 at her home in Corvallis. Please leave your thoughts and condolences at www.mchenryfuneralhome.com.
The United Steelworkers voted Tuesday to ratify a new four-year contract with ATI by an overwhelming 5-1 margin, said R.J. Hufnagel, a union spokesman.

The new contract ends a lockout that has lasted more than six months at ATI Albany Operations, the former Oremet plant. About 180 workers had been on the picket line along 34th Avenue since mid-August.

We will be entering the plant as early as March 14. The majority of guys are extremely happy and very satisfied, said Justin Rosenbaum, ATI Albany Operations melting maintenance lead millwright and shop steward for USW Local 7150.

Its been a long, hard journey. Nearly seven months out of work was stressful for a lot of people, Rosenbaum said.

He added that local workers received much community support, including motorists honking as they went past the picket line.

Across the country, the lockout impacted 2,200 steelworkers at 12 facilities.

The strength and solidarity of our union paid off with a fair contract that contains virtually none of the drastic concessions ATI sought to arbitrarily impose, said USW International President Leo W. Gerard, in a news release.

Contract talks between ATI and United Steelworkers stalled last year because of reductions to health care benefits, and changes to pensions and work rules.

According to the USW news release, the contract also protects union jobs against outside contractors, maintains the grievance procedure and introduces a new profit-sharing system that allows USW members a bigger share in ATIs future success.

A tentative agreement between the union and ATI was reached on Feb. 22, 10 days after the National Labor Relations Board filed an unfair labor practice complaint against the company.

Due to the ratification vote, the union asked that the charges be withdrawn and the complaint was dismissed by the National Labor Relations Board on Thursday, said an agency representative.

Unemployment benefits for local locked-out ATI workers expired in mid-February.

This week, the Oregon House of Representatives and Senate both passed a bill that would extend unemployment benefits for up to an additional six months for locked-out workers. As of Thursday afternoon, that bill sat on Governor Kate Browns desk awaiting her signature.

An ATI executive was unable to be contacted regarding the ratification vote on Thursday afternoon.

The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations praised the bills approval in a news release.

By passing this law, Oregons legislature has taken a step forward to enact a policy decision that will ease the burden on working families during lockouts, said Tom Chamberlain, Oregon AFL-CIO president.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 03/03/2016 (2423 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Fitting words were stamped on the Winnipeg Art Gallery crate that contained a stone sculpture originally mined from a quarry on the cold, windswept shores of Baffin Island.

Protect from the elements.

Inside the crate was a sculpture of a mother and baby made from serpentinite, a green stone, by Cape Dorset artist Kiugak Ashoona. The Officer of the Order of Canadas work is just one of almost 8,000 pieces of art on loan to the gallery by the Nunavut government.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESSA tour of the WAG where they are opening 300 crates holding nearly 8,000 Inuit art pieces that have been loaned to the gallery from the Nunavut Government. Dr. Stephen Borys, WAG Director and CEO gestures towards a ceramic piece by Donat Anawak while in one of the vaults that holds the WAG collection of Inuit artwork and the newly arriving pieces that have been cataloged. 160303 - Thursday, March 03, 2016

For five years, the Nunavut art, some of which is made from heavy stone that requires hydraulic equipment to move, to a tiny ivory kayak carving that Darlene Coward Wight, the WAGs curator of Inuit art, held in the palm of her hand, mingles with the gallerys own collection of Inuit art  the worlds largest.

This is a little bit like Christmas for a curator, Coward Wight said at a news conference Thursday in the gallerys basement vault, where WAG workers were busy studying, collating and storing the artworks.

Both the Nunavut and WAG collections will be the centrepieces of a new Inuit Art Centre to be built next to the gallery. The gallery is planning for construction to begin late this year. The new facility has already received a $15-million commitment from the Manitoba government and a $1-million donation from BMO.

This will be a bridge to the North, emotionally and economically, with Nunavut, said Stephen Borys, the WAGs executive director and CEO. It lets the voice of the Inuit be heard through the art theyve created.

The art had been stored across the country, from Iqaluit, Nunavuts capital, to galleries in Toronto, Peterborough, Ont., and Yellowknife. The collection was amassed in Yellowknife and shipped in six trucks under tight security to Winnipeg.

Many of the paintings are from Baker Lake, Borys said, but the Nunavut collection also includes sculptures made from stones mined from a quarry near Cape Dorset, on the southern tip of Baffin Island.

The curators were surprised to find ceramic pieces made in Rankin Inlet, which create a southern contrast to a sculptural collection made mostly from stone, whalebone, antlers and fur.

Visitors to the gallery will get an opportunity to see some of the pieces at an exhibit in September, Coward Wight said.

Future exhibits will provide a chance for families of the artists to see the pieces, Borys said.

Most of the works havent been on public display since they were purchased by the governments of Nunavut, the Northwest Territories or the federal government, he said.

Scholars and researchers have already begun studying both collections, and Coward Wight said she already saw one sculpture in the Nunavut collection that was similar to one in the gallerys, which will help identify when the Nunavut piece was created.

While the artworks are in safe hands in the WAGs climate-controlled vault, located in the basement of the Memorial Boulevard gallery, climate changes effect on the Arctic threatens the future of Inuit art, Coward Wight says.

Some of the (Cape Dorset) quarry could be under threat if there are tidal changes, she said.

One whalebone carving unveiled Thursday is hundreds of years old, Coward Wight said. Whales have been hunted in the Arctic for centuries and hunters left the bones on the shore, which artists later collected and carved. Inuit hunters no longer hunt whales, she said, and the site where the bones sit is now archeologically protected, preventing artists from picking up old whalebones and working with them.

Shifts in attitudes in the south away from mammal-related art  such as the use of walrus tusks, which are made of ivory and whalebones  also affect Inuit arts future availability, Coward Wight said.

The United States, for example, already forbids the importation of sea-mammal materials.

alan.small@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter:@AlanDSmall

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This article was published 04/03/2016 (2422 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

VANCOUVER  If 80 per cent of life is just showing up, in politics the total is probably closer to 90.

Canadas first ministers emerged from two days of talks this week with an agreement on a plan to develop a framework for climate policy action.

It would be easy to mock.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau leads Canada's premiers to a news conference during the First Ministers Meeting in Vancouver, B.C., Thursday, March 3, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

But serious observers who study the difficult politics and policy of climate change believe Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the provincial and territorial leaders did more than just show up at the Vancouver Convention Centre.

Maybe the most significant thing is, for the first time since Ive been premier, and for the first time in 10 years  I guarantee  premiers have sat around the table with the national government and talked about climate change, B.C. Premier Christy Clark said after the dust settled Thursday.

This is not the end. I understand that. But I hope Canadians will look at it and say, they got together, they made progress, its a start.

The 14 first ministers overcame some deep divisions over carbon pricing to find a workable solution that satisfied all parties  at least until four working groups make public their deliberations next October.

A pan-Canadian policy plan is promised for early 2017.

Its not the shining new Canadian target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions promised by Trudeau during last falls election campaign, nor the finished carbon blueprint that was supposed to be drafted within 90 days of the December climate summit in Paris.

But the eight-page Vancouver Declaration stuffed with common recognition of issues may just loosen the policy gridlock thats bedevilled Canadian climate action for 25 years.

Form follows function, said Celine Bak, the whip-smart president of clean tech investment tracker Analytica Advisors.

She cited the inclusion of federal and provincial finance ministers, who will receive the report on carbon pricing mechanisms, the role of economic development ministers in clean-tech economic growth and competitiveness, and the promised public reporting of the working groups.

It may not be obvious how well thought out this plan was, said Bak.

The plan is one part. Provincial buy-in is another.

The lubricant may be federal deficit spending.

The federal budget is going to be a very key moment to see how much resources are put on the table, Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger told an evening panel late Thursday at the adjacent Globe clean-tech conference.

The declaration leads to next months federal budget leads to next years policy plan leads to next decades carbon reductions.

The global scale, decades-long gestation period, diffuse impacts and baked-in economic underpinnings of the climate change problem all serve to make it an extremely difficult public policy issue for politicians tied to four-year electoral cycles.

As Perry Belgarde, national chief the Assembly of First Nations observed in Vancouver this week: We have to start making decisions that will affect seven generations down the road.

Yet most of the media attention focused on the passing (and disputed) economic impacts of carbon pricing in the short term.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne appeared to set the agenda back to square one when she framed the leaders conference as a discussion over whether climate change is really a pressing policy challenge.

If weve had the initial discussion about agreeing on what the problem is, and agreeing on the magnitude of the problem, then well be able to move to, Well, how are we actually going to do this?  Wynne told reporters earlier this week.

But the political cajoling may obscure all that actually is happening on the climate front.

Canada recently has witnessed oil producers combining their innovation efforts under COSIA, Canadas Oil Sands Innovation Alliance, to share environmental technologies. When Alberta Premier Rachel Notely introduced a carbon tax and hard caps on oil sands emissions late last year, she was flanked by executives of four major oil companies.

Canadas stock exchanges have more clean tech companies listed on them than any other stock exchange in the world.

We are a great mash-up here of the leadership its going to take to address climate change, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson told the Globe delegates to open the convention, with Trudeau in attendance.

Probably the most remarkable aspect of this weeks talks was the loose media access  a stark contrast to the highly controlled events typical under the previous Harper government.

Reporters freely wandered the halls of the convention centre, mingling among premiers as they casually greeted visiting indigenous leaders. The atmosphere gave at least the appearance of candour.

Holding the first ministers meeting adjacent to the Globe clean tech conference, where some 2,000 delegates from more than 50 countries enthused about the opportunities of the coming energy revolution, also helped fan a feeling of optimism too often absent from climate negotiations.

From the indigenous leaders who were invited to speak with the first ministers on Wednesday to the environmental groups who hawkishly eyed the final communique, the refrain was the same.

Its a start. They showed up.

 Follow @BCheadle on Twitter
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This article was published 02/03/2016 (2424 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

VANCOUVER  The premiers of Canadas two most populous provinces joined forces Wednesday to push for federal help for Bombardiers CSeries aircraft.

Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard drew support from his Ontario counterpart in calling for Ottawa to back the airliner, saying the CSeries is important to the Canadian economy.

The CSeries is probably the most important innovative project now in Canada that will benefit all of Canada, yes Quebec, but also other parts of the country, Couillard said outside climate change talks in Vancouver.

The province wants the federal government to join it in contributing US$1 billion to the troubled jet program at Bombardier (TSX:BBD.B).

Quebec has secured a 49.5 per cent stake in the CSeries and two of five seats on a separate board after agreeing last October to the financial contribution.

The Montreal-based aircraft manufacturer would hold the three remaining seats and have the right to appoint the subsidiarys chairman.

However, Ottawa would gain two additional seats on an expanded seven-person board if the federal government joins in.

Couillard said he understands it takes time for Ottawa to consider the proposal, but he likened Quebecs case to federal support for the auto industry in the past.

This plane was designed and invented in Canada. It is the first commercial airliner certified in Canada. Made in Canada. We have to support that.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne supported Couillard.

Its an important national company and if we look at the sectors that are our strengths in this country, and in Ontario, aerospace is one of those sectors, and Bombardier is a very, very important company in Ontario, she said.

The federal government has said it was continuing to evaluate the request for funding.

The narrow-body CSeries planes, which are two years late and over budget at US$5.4 billion, are set to enter into service in the coming months.
Opinion

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This article was published 03/03/2016 (2423 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If you decide to call women skanks, whores and bitches on Twitter and then decide to run for public office, you should expect that those comments will come back to bite you. Thats the thing about the Internet: its forever.

A technology expert such as Liberal Southdale candidate Jamie Hall should know that and yet, there he was on Wednesday afternoon, apologizing for tweets made in 2011 and 2012. They include such bon mots as If a whore screams in the bedroom and no one is around to hear it, is she really a whore? (That one was accompanied by the hashtag #trees.)

I have countless friends that are women  my girlfriend, my mother, my sister, my grandmas who are no longer with me  and I am not by any means sexist, Hall told reporters on Wednesday, claiming that the sexist tweets were sent during the promotion of his sexist novel, 7 Deadly Women, as though that makes it better.

Jamie Hall, a candidate for the Liberals in Southdale, resigned Thursday over sexist and derogatory Twitter comments. This tweet is from March 1, 2016, after getting the official nomination.

The NDP called for Hall to step down. I dont think the NDP has many legs to stand on in that regard, considering one of their candidates that they have, Hall said.

Hall was referring, oh so coyly, to NDP Fort Rouge candidate Wab Kinew, a former MC who has written and performed misogynistic rap lyrics. NDP critics took to Twitter Wednesday with shouts of double standards.

And they arent wrong, exactly. Sexism and misogyny, whether it appears in tweets or in songs, should absolutely be examined and called out. Everyone makes mistakes and has done stuff they are not proud of. And, these days, those mistakes are often a Google search away.

Kinew was a well-known public figure long before running for the NDP. Hall was well-known in some circles, and hey, I get where the Liberals were coming from: businessman and technology expert does sound objectively better than club/foam party promoter and sex novelist.

But the critical difference is in how Hall and Kinew handled their past transgressions. Hall apologized only after he was called out.

In his 2015 book, The Reason You Walk, Kinew apologized for his lyrics. Since then, hes been publicly committed to working to end gender-based violence  and, for that matter, misogyny in hip hop. Big picture I believe women should be leading the conversation about ending gender based discrimination & violence in our society, Kinew tweeted last night. But theres a role for men like me to play & that is to let other men know misogyny is not acceptable & help make the public sphere safe.

Halls apology, meanwhile, hit every square on an Insincere Apology Bingo card: Satire! It was a joke! Free speech! I love women  my moms a woman!

Deflection is never a good look, and there is a wide gulf between saying youre sorry because you got caught and saying sorry because youre sorry.

Kinew is not getting a free pass despite his lyrics, as several folks have charged. Rather, people are choosing to accept Kinews apology because he chose to own his past mistakes, which speaks to growth as a human being as well as leadership. Be the change and all of that.

Hall doesnt seem to understand why his comments are problematic, only that they are problematic. And thats a problem.

And it was likely the problem that took him down in the end. On Thursday, Hall resigned. As a woman, I cannot accept comments that disparage women, Liberal leader Rana Bokhari said in a statement. Manitobans have every right to expect and demand a high standard of their candidates and MLAs.

Thats correct. Lets hope that his replacement is properly vetted.

jen.zoratti@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @JenZoratti
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This article was published 27/02/2016 (2428 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg senior is dead after a stolen pizza delivery vehicle collided with the car he was driving near the McPhillips Street Casino early Saturday.

Winnipeg police spokesman Const. Eric Hofley said a 71-year-old man was rushed to hospital in critical condition, but he died of his injuries.

The driver of the other vehicle, a 22-year-old woman, was also taken to hospital where she is still listed in critical condition.

Jason Halstead / Winnipeg Free Press Police investigate at the scene of the collision near McPhillips Street Station casino.

The names of both drivers have not been released.

Jerry Cianflone, owner of Pizza Hotline, said on Saturday hes still trying to get hold of the driver, but from what he has been told the driver came out of a building at Sherbrook Street and Ross Avenue and saw a woman sitting in his vehicle.

He tried to stop her by standing in front, but she put it in reverse and then took off, Cianflone said.

That was the last he saw of it.

Cianflone said all Pizza Hotline drivers use their own vehicles for deliveries.

This is just terrible, he said.

Its just so sad and unfortunate truthfully, sorrow needs to go out to the family of the gentleman. He didnt deserve what happened to him. Its really sad.

I want to send our deepest and sincere sorrow from all of the Pizza Hotline family.

Its not known if the man was leaving the casino when his Buick Regal was struck when turning northbound on McPhillips Street from Jarvis Avenue west of McPhillips.

Susan Olynik, vice-president of Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries, said she had no information about who was in the collision.

But Olynik said, that on behalf of MLL, we are saddened by this tragic accident and we extend our deepest sympathy to the family.

Hofley said the incident began when a Honda Civic was stolen at about 1:10 a.m.

He said the Civic was travelling south on McPhillips a short time later and sideswiped a car, driven by a man who was not injured.

The Civic continued south and struck the car outside the casino at about 1:30 a.m. The intersection was blocked for several hours by police as they investigated.

Hofley said alcohol and speed are being considered as factors in causing the collision.

He said members of the police Central Traffic Unit are continuing to investigate and no charges or arrests have been made.

No arrests have been made and police are asking the public that if they have any information to call investigators at 204-986-6271 or CrimeStoppers at 204-786-TIPS (8477).

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
Winona

Thursday

10:28 a.m.  Charges of fifth-degree possession of a controlled substance were referred against Daniel Adam Cleo Byler, 22, South Milwaukee, Wis., following a traffic stop on the corner of Broadway and Vine Street. The car Byler was in was stopped after police ran the plates because of a cracked windshield, and discovered that the owner of the car had a warrant. Byler wasnt the owner, but it turned out he also had a warrant for his arrest in Wisconsin for theft. The driver, Arin Matthew Dehnke, 26, Fountain City, was cited for not having proof of insurance.

4:37 p.m.  An man reported a burglary attempt on 50 block of Wild Ridge Drive. A small safe had been thrown from the second story of the home, but it didnt break.

7:39 p.m.  Zachary Adam Odegaard, 21, Fountain City, was cited for driving with a suspended license following a two-car accident at the intersection of Fifth and High Forrest streets. Odegaards car was broadsided while traveling north on High Forest Street by Brittany Marie Turvey, 26, Winona, who was east on Fifth Street. Odegaard complained of knee and head pain and was taken to the hospital by a private party.

Friday

12:55 a.m.  Charges of driving while intoxicated were referred against Damien Thomas Pehler-Isakson, 22, Fountain City, who was also cited for driving without a valid license following a traffic stop at Broadway and Franklin Street. His blood alcohol level measured .10.

Winona County

Thursday

10:18 a.m.  Walter Deon Bullock, 24, Lewiston, was cited for violating a domestic assault no contact order after using Winona County jail phones to instruct someone to contact a third party for him.

1:43 p.m.  A solar panel was reported stolen from a flow gauge on the Whitewater River in Elba.

8:20 p.m.  Charges of fifth-degree possession of a controlled substance are being referred against Brandon Michael Hennessy, 27, Lewiston following a traffic stop on County Road 25. A search of the vehicle turned up two pipes with white residue on them, which tested positive for methamphetamine.
The Winona County Climate Dialogue began Thursday, as 18 people from across the county gathered to learn about and discuss how changing weather patterns might affect the area, and what Winona County should do to prepare.

The dialogue exists to answer the question, How can Winona County best address future extreme weather and a changing climate in order to remain a healthy, vibrant, and prosperous community?

The moderated dialogue, which runs through Saturday, is the product of a collaboration between two Minnesota organizations, the Jefferson Center and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP).

The Jefferson Center, a nonpartisan civic engagement and public policy organization, helps people participate in government through dialogues, said Kyle Bozentko, director of the organization, as he greeted the participants Thursday morning.

Anna Claussen, director of rural strategies at IATP, said her organizations role in the dialogue is to include the concerns of rural residents in policy decisions about climate change.

The dialogue uses the Jefferson Centers model of the citizen jury, which gives a group of citizens a chance to learn about a topic, deliberate together, and develop an informed solution to a pressing public issue. The group is randomly selected, but balanced to be a representative slice of the community.

After hearing from experts, participants will write a statement of top challenges and opportunities and outline the next steps for the area.

For the Winona climate dialogue the participants, most of them in shirts and jeans, were a blend of ages, cultural backgrounds, jobs. Some had lived in Winona their whole lives, while others had moved to the area recently. All said they loved where they lived and cared about its natural beauty.

The citizen jury heard two presentations Thursday, the first by University of Minnesota climatologist Mark Seeley, who outlined climate trends in Minnesota and Winona over the past century.

Seeley, who communicated with the group by video, told them he did not focus on climate models that predict the future, but rather on studying actual historical data.

I work with measurements and the technology by which we measure things, he explained.

To begin his talk, Seeley showed a slide listing four different weather events that had happened on March 3 in Minnesota.

In 1905, it was 71 degrees Fahrenheit. In 2014, it was -44 degrees with 30 inches of snow on the ground. In 1979, Lake Superior was 97 percent covered in ice. And in 1985, nearly 19 inches of snow fell in a famous blizzard.

We live in one of the most highly variable climates in the world. Were known for that, he said. But looking at historical data, its possible to observe trends, extreme days notwithstanding.

Seeley detailed three significant trends in Minnesota: higher minimum temperatures, more moisture in the air, and more precipitation in the form of large thunderstorms.

Seeley also noted that while the climate is changing everywhere, its rate of change can differ depending on the geography in question.

Some of the most pronounced temperature change has occurred in and around Minnesota, he said. He pulled up a slide showing the percentage change over 100 years. Minnesota showed warming at two degrees per century, from the late 1800s to 2015. The months of December, January, and February were four degrees warmer per century.

In addition to warmer temperatures, Minnesota has also seen rainfall increasein the form of thunderstorms. For example, Seeley said mega-rain events, defined as dumping six inches of rain or more across at least 1,000 square miles, happened seven times between 1866 and 1987. But between 2002 and 2012, there were five more mega-rains.

One of them was one familiar to those in the room: the August 2007 storm that dumped 14 inches of rainor moreacross Winona, Fillmore, and Houston counties.

To conclude his talk, Seeley brought some of the consequences of the weather changes, both observed and associated. The wide-ranging list included strain on sewer and drainage systems, changes to fisheries, a longer growing season, invasive species coming to the area, and increases in insurance premiums.

This is a clear mandate for us to adapt and adapt at all levels of government, local, all the way up to the state, Seeley said. It is not going away. If anything, its going to become even more important in the future.

After Seeleys talk, the dialogue participants took time to discuss the important facts in small discussion groups. Their work after each presentation will help them formulate a set of recommendations for the county.

Throughout the day, participants said they were eager to learn about the topic of climate change, regardless of their personal views on the matter.

Participant Dick Brown farmed his whole life on a piece of land near Great River Bluffs State Park in Dakota, before he retired and passed the farm to his son.

Asked why he had applied to be on the jury, Brown said, To see how far my viewpoints are off, to see if they can convince me that Im wrong.

Karrin Geier, a mental health rehab worker for Family and Childrens Center in Winona, moved to town five years ago, and said she appreciated the areas natural beauty but wanted to learn more about it.

I dont know anything about the environment around here, she said. She thought for a moment. These are the kind of things that everybody should know about.

Tim Fleet, who moved to the area from Ohio about 10 years ago, said he is very concerned about the climate, but always thought Winona was pretty well insulated from the effects of climate change.

Its far from rising seas, he pointed out, and far enough inland to be protected from very severe temperatures. Winters are cold, and the air is clean.

But Seeleys talk had given him a new perspective.

It is going to make a difference here, Fleet said, wondering aloud whether ice fishing would be affected, or air quality.

Its not going to be devastating but it is going to change things. We ought to learn whats coming.
Winona County will hold a public meeting Saturday as part of its efforts to address what officials say is becoming a critically low number of foster homes in the county.

The meeting will be from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Saturday at the County Office Building, to educate people on the potential of becoming a foster parent, what options there are and the current need.

County foster care licensor Jenny Losinski said that the need is especially urgent right now, with only two active homes licensed with the county.

Without more, Losinski said theyve had to use private services, which also fill up and cost money, and move children to out of county locations.

Already being removed from their home is hard enough, Losinski said, without the move.

Its taking these kids out of their community, Losinski said. Its taking everything from them that theyre used to, instead of just one thing.

The county does attempt to get children to relatives or significantly-involved adults with a connection to them first, which reduces the number of placements out of the area significantly.

Some children are with private agencies because of specialized needs, but many are out of the county or at private facilities because there is no room closer to their community.

Losinski said the majority of teenagers are put in private agencies or out of the county, which can complicate care by forcing them to be moved back and forth without being able to make a stable connection or get the best care possible.

Not only does it affect the children, but the lack of foster homes in the county has a direct impact on community services bottom line.

The Minnesota Legislature last spring approved more than $23 million to go to counties statewide for child protection, part of a push by Gov. Mark Dayton and lawmakers to find ways of adding resources amid a number of high-profile child abuse and death cases in the state.

Winona County received an allocation of $150,000, which was to be meted out in two chunks, and the money was used to hire a full-time worker for child protection services.

Still, the department still struggles with meeting the demands of the state, one of which is visits to all foster children on a monthly basis. When they are placed out of county, it significantly increases the driving time and expenses of the trips.

Losinski said that despite that strain, the first issue is the needs of the children and those of current foster parents. And while staff doesnt have a specific number in mind for how many more homes the county could use, an increase is needed.

The more the better, Losinski said. Because then they can support each other.

David Knight, a member of the countys Citizen Review Panel, which monitors child protection services, said that no matter what area of the country you go to, many counties struggle with the same issue.

Its always been a need and will probably always be a need, Knight said. Theres never enough of them.

But there is a variety of ways to be involved with the foster program.

There are both long-term and short-term homes needed, emergency placements and support for foster parents who need time off.

Losinski said that they hope the meeting will create an opportunity for people to come and learn in a relaxed environment, without being pressured. Interested attendees can call and register, or just show up, and Losinski said the county are planning to hold meetings quarterly going forward.

Its taking these kids out of their community. Its taking everything from them that theyre used to, instead of just one thing.  Jenny Losinski on the impact of Winona Countys lack of licensed foster-care homes
Eight years ago, Kathy Redig was ordained a Roman Catholic priest, in defiance of church law, which denies women ordination to the priesthood. For eight years she has led the All Are One Roman Catholic Church, celebrating Mass in the Lutheran Student Center on Huff Street.

The Daily News sat down with Redig to talk about the role of the church and religion in contemporary life and politics. The interview has been edited for clarity and length.

How do you see your relationship with the Catholic Church?

Most of us have grown up with religion, for good or bad, and I think many of us within the Catholic Church really love the upbringing that we had in the Catholic Church ... unless you were abused by a priest. Thankfully that was not something I ever saw or was aware of until my adult years. I loved the sisters. I even went to the convent for two-and-a-half years, because I thought I was being called to that ... when I was growing up in the 50s and 60s thats all women could do was become nuns.

The one thing I want people to know about me is that I have always loved the Catholic Church. Its been a big part of my life. The only reason I do what Ive done is that I want the Catholic Church to be the best church that it can. When I see it not serving people and if I can do something about that, then I want to do that.

As for getting ordained ... why would you do that, unless that were truly who you were because of the flak youre going to take? I knew in this small town, in the bishops seat, this was not going to be received well by everyone. I received some anonymous letters, hate mail, and I had somebody chase me down at the post office saying, Kathy, you have to not do this. Ill pray for you. I knew who the man was, and I said to him, Well, thank you. Ill pray for you,too.

What is your prayer then, for the Church?

I think our Church Fathers need to sit down with women and just have an honest conversation.... and really listen  weve listened to the men for years and years  just listen to us. The hierarchy needs to sit down with youth and find out, What do you need? If the most important thing is to get women or to get youth into our churches, then why dont we turn ourselves inside out trying to figure out how to do that, to work at that.

Thats why any of us want to be a part of anything ... because what we have to say matters. Were willing to do whatever if we know were needed. Its not enough to just tell people we need you without really caring what they think or whats important to them.

I see that as important  being able to listen to each others stories.

How do politics fit into this discussion?

I think the mix of (politics and religion) is bad when you, as a political candidate for instance, you want to impose your religion on everyone else and you will not see anybody elses side or listen to anybody elses story.

We all need to be better listeners. Thats what is wrong with our Congress right now, they just cant sit and talk and listen. Even if each side doesnt get everything that they want, wheres the place of everybody getting something? Can we find some middle ground here?

Then does faith have a role in public life?

We use our faith to guide us in life. Hopefully to be the best people we can be. That shows itself, hopefully, in politics. It shows itself in education. It shows itself right down the line in everything.

It should educate us, it should convict us, really, it should convict us to be a certain kind of person. Then I think you would see people, whether its on the Supreme Court or in Congress or the President of the United States doing certain things because they just believe so strongly this is what God is calling them to do.

I dont think religion should be something that you just do on Sunday. It has to instruct all of your life.

They dont have to talk about it all the time. Show by your actions what you say you believe. I cant tell you the number of times Ive heard from people that they dont go to church anymore because everyone there is a hypocrite. They see how they live during the week.

The only thing that faith really should have to do with anything that any of us do out in the world is help us to be better people. Now, everybody is going to look at that a little differently  you know thats what people do and thats why theres a bazillion churches, because everyone sees it differently. But whatever you do, just be true to yourself.

Its just being consistent. Your faith should help you to live a true life ... thats the place of faith in politics and in life  to make you the best person you can be and show it by your actions.

An example?

I think this is what Pope Francis was doing in regard to Mr. Trump. As I heard it, he didnt even mention Trump by name but he said that if youre keeping people from moving to freedom, if youre fighting against migrants getting a better place to be, thats not a very Christian action. Mr. Trump took that personally. Hes objecting. He said, Im a Christian. Well, if youre going to say you are, then you have to act a certain way. There are certain things we dont do if we say were following our brother Jesus.

Its not like he  Francis  is just anyone. He is the head of the Catholic Church and we do expect leaders to make some statements on faith from time to time. Hes not saying that anybody has to do a certain thing, hes just saying that to be a Christian it means that you reach out to those who are less fortunate, you dont stop them from going to freedom ... So I think the two can work well together, but its like anything in life, whats so very important is balance.

What sort of balance?

The very conservative folks who see no place for women, womens rights to her body, for abortion or even birth control, thats looking very narrowly at a particular issue and expecting the whole country to react in the same way.

Having said that, realize there are going to be people who will fight you to the death against abortion, or whatever issue they very strongly believe in. I will very much more believe with Cardinal Bernardin, who looked at life as a seamless garment. So many times the people who dont want life to end in the womb might be the same people who vote against food stamps and who vote for capital punishment. If youre for life, then be for life from birth to death.

Do you foresee a time when the official Church welcomes you and your parish back into the fold?

If it never happens in my lifetime, its all right. If our All are One Catholic Church does no more than serve the people that we serve then we will have considered it a success. Because there are many people who come to us and say if it werent for this church we wouldnt be going to church. So it fills a need, and as long as it does, well be there.

And as long as I have strength in my body and Im not senile, Ill be there ... much to the consternation of the bishop, Im sure  but thats all right.
Understanding the need to work with all Dear Editor: Over the past several years, Ive had the opportunity to serve on county-wide boards and committees with Ryan Marquardt, an independent candidate for the Madison County Board of...

Vote to support our public schools Dear Editor: Like many of you, I am proud to be a graduate of Iowas public school system. Like many of you, I am proud of the education our students...

Inside the Iowa House Iowans are exhausted and fed up with politicians deciding their every move, and the issue of reproductive freedom is no different. Earlier this summer when the US Supreme Court overturned...
Mercy Chikhosi Nyirongo, the country director of ZOE Ministry Malawi, will speak Wednesday at First United Methodist Church, 615 Broadway in Baraboo, about the orphan empowerment program she operates in Malawi, Africa. Dinner will be served at the church at 5:30 p.m., followed by a presentation for all ages at 6:15 p.m. and a one-hour presentation for adults at 6:30 p.m. The presentations are free and open to the public. Donations will be accepted to help cover the cost of the dinner.

Despite being born into poverty and married as a teenager, Nyirongo, the mother of three children, pursued her dream to become a nurse. After graduating in 2010 from Africa University in Zimbabwe with her bachelor of science degree in nursing, Nyirongo received her masters degree in public health from Walden University in 2014.

Nyirongo has worked as a nurse-midwife, a research nurse and the health coordinator of the Malawi United Methodist Church where she created community-based health care strategies focusing on nutrition, water and sanitation, malaria control and early childhood development. The target populations of the program were malnourished children under age five, people living with HIV/AIDS and pregnant women.

Since 2013, Nyirongo has been leading ZOE Ministry Malawi, an orphan empowerment program that provides assistance to orphans and vulnerable children. The group-based program offers participants training in agriculture, health and hygiene, and vocational skills. Founded in 2004 as the Zimbabwe Orphans Endeavor, ZOE has transformed the lives of over 30,000 orphans and vulnerable children. ZOE is now active in Rwanda, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Liberia, India and Guatemala.

Malawi is a landlocked country located in southeast Africa. Approximately the size of Pennsylvania, with an estimated 2013 population of over 16 million people, Malawi is bordered by Mozambique, Zambia and Tanzania.

We invite the community to join us to hear Mercys presentations and to learn how our United Methodist principles -- Do no harm, do all the good you can, stay in love with God -- are being lived globally, said Marianne Cotter, pastor of First United Methodist Church.

For more information, contact the church at 608-356-3991.
Governments should have no interest in products that require public officials sign nondisclosure agreements, especially when it comes to new technology that can invade the privacy of law abiding citizens.

Last year the issue arose in California where a sheriff wanted her county to spend $502,000 for cellphone location equipment but would not offer details on the equipment to the elected officials, because the purchase required that she sign a nondisclosure agreement. Despite this unbelievable stipulation, Santa Clara County officials went ahead with the purchase, but when they asked for a demonstration of StingRay surveillance equipment in action, Sheriff Laurie Smith informed them that only people with badges would be permitted.

StingRay is but one of the brand names for what are known as cell site simulators. They capture all of the cellular information being transmitted in a given area; meaning you could be a law-abiding citizen driving through a suspects neighborhood, and what you say on your cellphone can be monitored and captured by law enforcement. Absent a warrant, that conversation is none of the governments business.

But the nondisclosure agreements are having more insidious consequences, with reports of law enforcement agencies entering into plea agreements rather than prosecution to the point where the use of StingRay or similar technology might have to be disclosed at trial.

This is wrong in a number of ways, and its led to a bipartisan push in Congress to do something about it.

U.S. Reps. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, have written to FBI Director James Comey to address growing concerns about the use of StingRay by local police, possibly under the direction of federal law enforcement.

Sensenbrenner told the Journal Sentinel that the federal government needs to be more forthright with Wisconsin residents about the use of such technology.

While Stingray technology is a powerful tool that helps intelligence agencies and law enforcement find wrongdoers, it should not have been deployed on our streets under a veil of secrecy, Sensenbrenner said.

Jackson Lee said its wrong to put gag orders on police agencies and said the FBI should immediately replace any nondisclosure agreements with guidance mandating that local police get probable cause warrants before using StingRays.

Were glad to see a bipartisan push on this issue. The nondisclosure agreements have led to blind expenditure of taxpayer money, are costing taxpayers money when government bodies are obligated to defend against lawsuits, have caused less vigorous pursuit of justice in some cases and prevent legitimate questioning of technology that invades the privacy of law-abiding citizens.

Lift the gag order. If government bodies want to continue to use taxpayer money on cell site simulators, theyre going to have to come out into the open.
In our minds, the fundamental question at the heart of debate about the Guantanamo Naval Base detention center is this: Are we as a nation at war against terrorism?

The answer is, without question, yes.

Today, we remain convinced the best place to house, interrogate, evaluate and prosecute enemy combatants taken prisoner during this conflict, including 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, is the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, not a domestic prison.

To this end, Congress should oppose President Obamas proposal, submitted to Congress on Tuesday, for closing Gitmo. Under the ill-defined plan, dozens of detainees would be moved from Gitmo to U.S. soil; other detainees would be moved to foreign countries. The status of future detainees remains unclear.

Today, Guantanamo holds 91 prisoners.

We will give Obama credit  to this point, at least  for involving Congress as opposed to attempting executive action. Consultation with members of Congress about Gitmo is crucial. Perhaps through dialogue, the Obama administration and Congress can reach agreement on a reasonable plan for the future of Gitmo, its detainees and future detainees from the war on terror, but the plan offered by Obama last week is short on specifics and produces more questions than answers.

Congress has waited for seven and a half years for President Obama to provide a plan to achieve his goal of closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, said Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Armed Services Committee who actually supports closure of Gitmo. What we received today is a vague menu of options, not a credible plan for closing Guantanamo, let alone a coherent policy to deal with future terrorist detainees. After years of rhetoric, the president has still yet to say how and where he will house both current and future detainees, including those his administration has deemed as too dangerous to release. ...

Even within his own party, Obamas plan met with trouble.

Ive repeatedly said I do not support the transfer of prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay military facility to Colorado, said Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colorado, who supports closure of Guantanamo. Ive voted to close the prison, but I believe military detainees should be held in military prisons. Colorado does not have that type of facility. This plan has done nothing to change my mind.

Frankly, we cant imagine the prospect of taking detainees from Gitmo excites the leadership of any state.

This issue is bigger than Obamas desire to satisfy a promise from his first campaign for president before he leaves office. Discussion about Guantanamo must focus on the most effective way to hold enemies of America who are captured on the field of battle and keep the homeland safe until the war on terrorism is won.
JUNEAU | A 48-year-old Neosho man was formally charged after he allegedly stole a vehicle and television from Safe Ride Ron.

Brian Krieger is charged with felony take and drive vehicle without consent and misdemeanor theft of movable property valued at less than $2,500. If convicted he faces up to 6 and a half years in prison and $20,000 in fines.

On Dec. 29 at 8:34 a.m. officers were dispatched to Sunnyside Trailer Park, N6550 Highway 151, for a report of a stolen vehicle. The complainant, Ron Gafner, a driver for Dodge Countys Safe Ride Program, reported that someone stole his handicap accessible van and a flat screen television.

Gafner reported that on Dec. 29 at 1:30 a.m. he picked up a man, identified as Krieger, who had too much to drink at Tower Lanes, 1660 N. Spring St., Beaver Dam.

Gafner drove Krieger to an address on Lakecrest Drive where Krieger was unable to make contact with anyone in the building and was unable to get inside. Krieger eventually returned to the vehicle.

Gafner said he offered to drive Krieger to a motel, but Krieger told him he didnt have any money. Gafner then drove Krieger to Kwik Trip, 1200 Madison St., so Krieger could use the ATM.

Gafner said Krieger told him he couldnt get any money from the ATM. Gafner offered to drive Krieger anywhere he needed to go and Krieger told him he had nowhere else to go.

I felt sorry for him. It was blowing. It was cold, Gafner said.

Gafner took Krieger home, gave him some bedding and allowed him to sleep on his couch.

When Gafner woke up in the morning, he discovered Krieger was gone and so was his 42-inch flat screen television and a green, 1994 Plymouth Voyager minivan with a Wisconsin disabled plate, belonging to one of Gafners friends. Gafner said that the blanket he loaned Krieger was also missing.

The van was located Dec. 30 in the city of Milwaukee and was taken to a secure facility.

Krieger was arrested on Jan. 3 after his ex-wife contacted police with his whereabouts. According to the criminal complaint, his ex-wife told police that Krieger knew he was in trouble and wanted to see his children before he turned himself in. Officers met with Krieger and took him into custody.

Krieger was interviewed by officers on Jan. 12. According to the complaint, he told officers that he had contacted his ex-wife on Dec. 24 in an effort to arrange a meeting with his children. He allegedly admitted that on Dec. 24 he took a tan colored Chevrolet Cavalier without permission from the Slinger area in Washington County. He said he found the keys in the vehicle and drove it away from the scene.

On Dec. 28, Krieger said the car broke down in Beaver Dam so he walked to the Tower Lanes Bowling Alley where he tried to find a ride. He said that he was picked up by Gafner in the early hours of Dec. 29 and Gafner offered him a place to stay for the night.

Krieger allegedly admitted to officers that in the early hours he woke, took the flat screen television from Gafners home and took the van. He said he drove to Milwaukee and the vehicle ran out of gas so he slept in the vehicle that evening.

Krieger told officers he sold the television for $80. He allegedly said he was taken to the Mental Health Complex in Milwaukee County on Dec. 30 where numerous drugs were found in his system. Krieger told officers that he didnt take any drugs but someone must have slipped him some. He told officers he had methadone, heroin and marijuana in his system, but did not recall purchasing or using the drugs.

On Jan. 3, Krieger said he was released from the Mental Health Complex and he attempted to contact his ex-wife to see his children. He turned himself into the Waukesha Police Department later that day.

When asked why he did what he did, Krieger allegedly said it was because of an addiction. He told officers that he is an alcoholic and has used drugs in the past. He said he tried to get his life on track but when his ex-wife refused to let him see his children he started making bad decisions. Krieger asked officers to communicate his remorse to the victims of his crimes.

Krieger was previously convicted of taking and driving a vehicle without the owners consent in 2014 in Dodge County.

Krieger will make his initial appearance in court on March 14 at 9 a.m.
A New Lisbon man faces charges after being caught in the middle of a lewd act on an underage relative.

Dakota R Myer, 23, is charged with sexual assault of a child under 16 repeater and incest repeater. Both charges have penalties of two to six years in prison.

According to the criminal complaint, police were alerted to an incident Feb. 18 after a relative caught Myer in the middle of acts on the underage relative. Myer then fled from the house.

He admitted to police he had performed sexual acts on the girl and instructed her to touch him. The victim said she was asleep for most of the experience due to medication she had taken.

Myer is due in court at 9 a.m. March 9 for his initial appearance. He is currently detained in the Juneau County Jail.
Tens of thousands of Wisconsinites came to the state Capitol last Thursday to declare their support for immigrant rights and civil rights. In a remarkable expression of faith and frustration, they let legislators know that they oppose a pair of bills that were clearly designed to target immigrants with the cruelty, insensitivity and irresponsibility that Wisconsin has historically rejected.

Those who marched on the Capitol, and who eventually occupied it from top to bottom, came not just to defend their own interests but to defend Wisconsin values. Noting the embrace by states such as Arizona of stereotyping, scapegoating and discrimination, they carried signs that read: Wisconsin is not Arizona.

Thats right.

Historically, Wisconsin has been better than Arizona and other states that embrace the ugly politics of Donald Trump and his fellow hate merchants.

The question when it comes to our treatment of immigrants is whether Wisconsin is becoming something different from what is has been  and what it should be.

At issue are a pair of legislative proposals that seek to impose on Wisconsin the values of Trump and his take-America-backward campaign. One measure would erect barriers to local governments that want to issue local ID cards to people such as immigrants.

The other bill would withhold state funding from so-called sanctuary cities. The bill would prohibit cities that seek to advance public safety from assuring residents who help with police investigations and otherwise work with local officials that they will not be targeted because of their immigration status.

Latinos and immigrants are serious about ensuring these bills dont pass and they are willing to use their economic power to protect their families and community. And they are willing to do it again if necessary, said Christine Neumann-Ortiz, the executive director of Voces de la Frontera in Milwaukee, which played an important role in mobilizing businesses across the state to close Thursday  in order to allow immigrant workers and their allies to attend the demonstration in Madison and to illustrate the massive contribution immigrants make to the state.

Their pleas were disregarded by Assembly Republicans, who acted as empty-headed Trumpettes in approving both of the bills.

The Senate has also approved the bill banning local ID cards, but there was an indication Friday from a spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald that the Senate is not likely to take up the sanctuary cities bill, which Voces de la Frontera correctly identifies as racist, anti-immigrant legislation.

Thats exceptionally encouraging. But the pressure from the Trump wing of the Republican Party will continue on Republican legislators. So the great mass of Wisconsinites must continue to push back.

Wisconsinites should support the ongoing efforts of immigrant rights groups and the Latino community to ensure that this state does not embrace the sort of anti-immigrant bias that divides us and that harms our economy.

I think thats what mainstream America has to understand, that the Latino, that the immigrant community is highly important (to the states economy), and that Latinos want to contribute, says Luis Montoto, the programming director for the Spanish-language radio station La Movida. Latinos, all we want is one word, and that is opportunity.

That is a fact.

And legislators should govern based on facts  not the anti-immigrant fantasies of Donald Trump and his kind.
A California man is being held in the Columbia County Jail on a felony domestic abuse charge that includes allegations of stabbing the victim less than a month earlier.

On Wednesday night Portage police officers were called to house on Volk Street where there had been a domestic disturbance. When they arrived, the officers met Thomas Morales, 39, Moraless girlfriend, and his girlfriends cousin.

The DA has this case and she states that she considered more serious charges, but at this point is not changing the charges, Assistant District Attorney Christine Genda said in court on Thursday.

The defendant, from the information that we have, had just moved to Wisconsin from California about two weeks ago and it seems like they have kept this court busy just this week.

The alleged victim had just appeared before the judge charged with misdemeanor bail jumping, the second time in two days, charged the day before with misdemeanor disorderly conduct and criminal damage to property. When police arrived on the scene, an officer noted that it seemed that they had been drinking and the woman was free on bail on the condition of absolute sobriety.

Following the womans arrest on Tuesday, Portage police reported that a man involved in the incident had fled, but had been bragging earlier about being a fugitive from California.

Morales has no previous cases in Wisconsin, but according to Portage police, had told them that in California he is on parole for so many cases that he didnt even know anymore.

What that means, I cant tell you, said Genda, referring to Moraless comment as cited in the complaint, but what I can tell you is that he has a conviction in 2014 of inflicting corporal injuries on a spouse/co-habitant and our information from our reports is that (the victim) stated that the defendant stabbed her three weeks ago in California.

The night he was arrested, according to what police were told by his girlfriend and her cousin, there was an argument that escalated to the point of Morales chasing his girlfriend through the house and yelling that he was going to kill her.

The woman ran from the house and came back later, at which point the argument resumed and again escalated, leading to Morales pinning the woman on a bed with his hands around her throat.

She wasnt able to breathe and became lightheaded, she told officers.

The womans cousin called the police and when they arrived, Morales said that the women had attacked him, showing scratches on his back and chest.

The circumstances certainly are serious and the defendants ties to this community are certainly non-existent, said Judge Alan J. White.

And we do not have any idea where he will be residing at all. The court certainly feels $7,500 cash bond is appropriate here.

Morales is charged with strangulation and suffocation, as domestic abuse, as a repeat offense, misdemeanor battery as a repeat offense, and disorderly conduct as domestic abuse as a repeat offense, carrying a possible 10-year prison sentence.
Columbia County is among the Wisconsin counties affected by an outbreak of a bacterial infection that has been confirmed in 44 patients  18 of whom have died.

But state health officials wont say, at this point, how many cases of Elizabethkingia anophelis infection have been diagnosed in Columbia County, or whether any of the deaths of infected people occurred in Columbia County.

Patient confidentiality is the principal concern, said Julie Lund, spokeswoman for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.

Thats why all that state officials are saying now is that the bacterial infection has been identified in 44 people  nearly all age 65 or older, with underlying health conditions such as compromised immune systems  in the counties of Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Fond du Lac, Jefferson, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Sauk, Washington and Waukesha.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent five employees to Wisconsin to help the DHS pinpoint a link to those that have been infected by the bacteria.

Where it comes from, and how its transmitted, remain a mystery, Lund said, though the bacteria does not seem to be transmitted from person to person.

Of the people we have identified as having the bacteria, none has been in contact with each other, she said.

Forty-four people in southern and southeastern Wisconsin have tested positive for the infection, and all have serious underlying health conditions, state Health Officer Karen McKeown said  meaning that its uncertain whether the deaths were caused by the bacteria or by the patients health conditions. None of those infected are children, she said.

People infected with the bacteria, and the families of those who died, are being interviewed by state and federal health officials.

State health officials were first notified of six cases between Dec. 29 and Jan. 4 and alerted health care providers and laboratories statewide of the presence of the bacteria.

After the initial cases were reported and state health officials notified local partners, the number of cases began to grow steadily, with one dating back to November 2015.

Symptoms include fever, shortness of breath, chills or skin rash, health officials said.

Generally, Lund said, a person who experiences these symptoms should contact a health care provider if the symptoms seem serious enough to warrant medical attention.

The website microbewiki.com describes Elizabethkingia anophelis as a yellow-pigmented, rod-shaped cell.

CDC officials said Elizabethkingia (named after Elizabeth O. King, who first described the bacteria in 1959) is a common organism in the environment, including water and soil. However, it rarely causes infections.

A variety of potential sources, including health care products, water sources and the environment, are being tested, CDC officials said, but none of these have been found to be a source of the bacteria.

The challenge stemming from the outbreak, Lund said, is that officials dont yet have any advice for people on how to prevent Elizabethkingia infection, or what to do if they are infected.

But while the bacterias appearance is a medical mystery, for most people there is no cause for alarm.

If youre young and youre healthy, Lund said, dont freak out.
The highest-profile races on the April 5 Wisconsin ballot are likely to be the primary contests for the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations. It is possible that both fights could be settled before the 2016 campaign reaches Wisconsin, but our bet is that voters will get a chance to weigh in on continuing contests on the Democratic side between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton and on the Republican side between Donald Trump and whichever Republican finally emerges as his clear rival.

While the attention will be on the presidential competitions, there will be an equally important contest on the April 5 ballot. Voting for a place on the state Supreme Court will determine whether Wisconsins historic commitment to judicial independence and integrity will be renewed.

The good news is that Wisconsinites appear to be excited about addressing the damage done to the courts by Gov. Scott Walker and his hyperpartisan allies. Walker and his corporate and legislative minions have sought to make the Wisconsin Supreme Court an extension of the governors administration. But under the Wisconsin Constitution, voters are given the power to push back against executive overreach. And they are doing just that.

The Feb. 19 primary for the state Supreme Court seat of the late Justice Patrick Crooks drew 563,386 voters to the polls.

That was a significantly higher turnout than had been predicted.

Why so?

We believe that it is because Wisconsinites are justifiably agitated about the governors assault on the courts.

Last fall, Walker seized on the death of Crooks to appoint a crony, Rebecca Bradley, to the high court.

Bradley is a Walker creation. She was named by the governor to three judicial openings in three years: Milwaukee County Circuit Court, state Appeals Court, state Supreme Court. And she has mounted a campaign that is so closely tied to the governors campaign donors and political networks that her claims of impartiality are unconvincing.

The voters just dont seem to be buying Bradleys slickly packed and very expensive political appeal.

Despite the fact that Bradley was campaigning as an appointed incumbent, despite the fact that she and her allies spent heavily before the primary, despite the fact that she had a lot of support from the powerful interests that are aligned with the governor and his party, Bradley won only 44.7 percent of the vote.

A striking 55.3 percent of Wisconsinites voted for candidates who stressed judicial independence and integrity.

To get a sense of how significant that number is, consider this: In 2008, Barack Obama was considered to be a very big winner in the presidential race, and he only won 52.9 percent of the vote. Or consider this: When George H.W. Bush trounced Michael Dukakis in 1988, Bush won just 53.4 percent of the vote.

If the supporters of judicial independence and integrity make up 55 percent of the potential electorate in the April 5 Supreme Court election, Bradleys challenger, state Appeals Court Judge JoAnne Kloppenburg is in a very strong position.

Kloppenburg ran almost even with Bradley in the primary. While Bradley secured her 44.7 percent, Kloppenburg won 43.2 percent. The rest of the vote went to Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Joe Donald, another critic of Bradley, with 12.1 percent.

Last week, Donald endorsed Kloppenburg, uniting the independence-and-integrity bloc. Donald praised Kloppenburgs experience and dedication to the rule of law, adding, I also appreciate that her campaign is based on hope not fear: She is running because she believes deeply in the power of the law and our courts to make our communities and our state a better place for all our citizens.

Big-money interests and the governors allies will continue to pull for Bradley. And history suggests that they will go negative.

But Wisconsinites are getting tired of Walkers crude divide-and-conquer politics, just as they have grown increasingly frustrated with the governors determined efforts to maintain control of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of state government.

If Kloppenburg builds a coalition of Wisconsinites who are sick of the cronyism that is on display in the governors appointments, and if the voters begin to see through the ugly messaging that this governor and his allies employ in order to maintain their authority, she can win.

Walker and his allies will always have the money advantage. And they are more than willing to use the power of their positions to remake Wisconsin in their image. But the evidence is mounting that Wisconsin is over Walker  and Walkerism. If that is the case, then Walkers favored jurist, Rebecca Bradley, is indeed vulnerable.
As this short session of the Legislature stumbles toward its end, it has offered us yet again another example of how good intentions end up muddying the waters for a solid piece of legislation.

The Oregon Senate on Wednesday passed House Bill 4002, sending the measure to Gov. Kate Brown for her signature.

This is the bill that directs the state to come up with a plan to address a problem with chronic absenteeism in Oregon schools. Weve talked about this bill, and this issue, before: As The Oregonian reported two years ago in a groundbreaking investigation, Empty Desks, nearly 100,000 Oregon students are chronically absent  that is, they miss at least 10 percent of the school year. You dont need to be an education expert to guess that students who dont attend classes regularly are less likely to graduate from high school.

Well go out on an additional limb and argue that this rate of absenteeism likely is one reason why Oregons high school graduation rate, although its shown signs of improving lately, is nowhere near where it needs to be.

House Bill 4002 isnt revolutionary, by any means, but it could be useful: The statewide plan is due back to the Legislature by Dec. 1, and it will include, among other things, best practices that are working in school districts around the state to help improve attendance. All of this strikes us as a sensible step forward.

But the bill doesnt stop there: The bill also includes a provision for a three-year pilot project to develop a model that addresses the role that trauma plays in absenteeism. Heres Rep. Margaret Doherty, D-Tigard, a former teacher, explaining the reasoning behind this: Students who are exposed to abuse, neglect, alcohol and drug addiction, or even divorce and other traumatic experiences during their childhood understandably have trouble focusing on their academics.

Thats undoubtedly true. But expanding the scope of the absenteeism project seems to us to run the risk of watering it down to the point where it tells us little beyond what we already know  and, worse, gives us little in the way of achievable steps to get more students into more classrooms more often.

No one doubts the honorable intentions behind pushing for the trauma study. But heres a case where a narrower approach likely would have been a better bet to generate results. (mm)

Its all over in Salem

A barrage of early-afternoon press releases on Thursday trumpeted the news from the Capitol: The Legislature had adjourned, a couple of days short of its constitutional deadline for its sessions in even-numbered years.

The adjournment at the end of what has been a stormy session (mid-valley Sen. Sara Gelser called it the weirdest session ever) was made possible by a sudden truce between lawmakers, which allowed a number of bills that had been held up through various stalling techniques to finally get pushed through.

While we would like to imagine that this truce represented a stirring return to bipartisanship in the halls of the Capital, the truth is that minority Republicans finally realized that they had little chance to stop the last big-ticket item on the docket, the bill to eliminate coal from the states energy supply by 2030, and engaged in some high-level negotiations that resulted in Democrats agreeing to scuttle unrelated bills on debt collection, cigarette sales licensing and bonding authority for Trimet.

Weve spent plenty of time already reflecting on many of these bills, and theres plenty left to be said. But in the meantime, we think we can speak for many Oregon residents (and, likely, the legislators themselves) when we say were glad this session is over. (mm)
Even though temperatures flirted with 60 degrees last weekend, area lakes still have a thick ice pack  much to the benefit of ice fishermen but also to the peril of those who are not careful.

Local experts emphasize there is no such thing as 100 percent safe ice. Mike Green, a DNR warden supervisor based in Baraboo, estimates there is at least 10 inches or more of ice on Lake Delton and Mirror Lake. The general rule of thumb is that ice will support a human when it is at least two inches thick.

Green said despite general ice safety guidelines that are posted on some DNR websites, the agency stresses that its the responsibility of individuals to check ice conditions before heading out. Youre really at your own risk, he said.

He noted Mirror Lakes current ice conditions. Theres a foot of ice in one spot and 50 yards away theres 4 inches (of ice).

DNR Conservation Warden John King said he has noticed fewer people on southern Wisconsin lakes recently. People arent as willing to go out and risk it. I think thats a pretty good indication that safety is starting to be questionable, he said.

King advised that if people do still want to go out they should bring the proper equipment including a self rescue spike which he says many sporting goods shops sell.

You need something that will grab a hold of the ice and help you pull your weight out, he said.

He noted if someone were to fall through ice into open water the main thing to do is to remain calm. Not panicking is probably one of the most important things to remember.

Once youre out, you have to quickly get yourself to a place where you can get warm and dry off. You have a very short time frame before hypothermia is going to start kicking in. And getting medical attention is something to do to be on the safe side, said King.

While 8 to 12 inches of ice is a general parameter to drive a car or small truck onto ice, King said due to a relatively mild winter in the southern part of the state he has noticed far less vehicle traffic on area lakes compared to northern Wisconsin.

Delton Fire Department Chief Darren Jorgenson said his crews on average get a call or two each winter season to rescue people who have fallen through ice-covered bodies of water, but this year has not had any calls.

Jorgenson warned that although Lake Delton is still mostly ice covered, changing weather can quickly alter ice conditions. I would certainly advise people to be very aware following a period of several warm days, followed by several colder days, he said.

He also noted the danger of underlying currents, especially near where Dell Creek feeds into Lake Delton. Stay away from places where there is a current underneath the ice because the current degrades the quality and the thickness of the ice much more than standing water, said Jorgenson.

With temperatures expected to climb to near 60 degrees again next week the ice will continue to melt  perhaps setting the stage for an earlier than normal complete breakup. The average date lakes break open completely in southern Wisconsin is within the first week of April.
USDA announces $1 billion debt relief for 36,000 farmers

The USDA announced a program to provide $1.3B in debt relief for about 36,000 farmers who have fallen behind on loan payments or face foreclosure.
The campaign for Ann Roe, who is running for Congress against Lyin' Bryan Steil has come out with the best one-liner of this cycle so far: I can't argue...

11 months ago
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W&M senior named Luce Scholar

Luce Scholar Rebecca Schectman '16 will spend her Luce year working abroad in Asia beginning in July. Photo by Marisa Spyker Photo - of - Hide Caption

While many William & Mary seniors are busy searching for first jobs or applying to grad schools, Rebecca Schectman is gearing up for an entirely different adventure.

The 22-year-old senior is one of 18 students and young professionals across the country who will travel to Asia for one year in July as a member of the 2016-17 class of Luce Scholars. Schectman, an international relations major whose focus is on humanitarian aid and international development, is only the second W&M student in the programs 40-plus-year history to be awarded this prestigious opportunity. Jason Ferguson '03 spent a year in Taipei from 2009-10 working for National Taiwan University's Population and Gender Studies Center and Women's Research Program.



Founded by Time Inc. Editor-in-Chief Henry Luce in honor of his parents, who did missionary work in China, the Luce Scholars program is a nationally competitive fellowship that offers stipends, language training and individualized professional placement in one of 14 countries in an effort to provide young leaders with a deeper understanding of Asian culture and practices. In order to apply, a candidate must be under 30 and nominated by one of 75 eligible universities.

"Rebecca Schectman's success in the prestigious Luce Scholarship competition is a testament to the outstanding abilities of W&M undergraduates interested in global and regional issues," said Steve Hanson, vice provost for international affairs and director of the Reves Center for International Studies. "All of us at W&M know that Rebecca will take full advantage of this opportunity, and go on to make a real difference in the world."

Along with her application, Schectman submitted four letters of recommendation, including one from her advisor, Professor of International Relations Michael Tierney. I could not be happier, said Tierney. In addition to being a brilliant student and a fantastic research collaborator, Rebecca is one of the nicest people I know. The honor is well deserved.

Schectman, while contemplating her post-graduation plans, was encouraged to apply for the fellowship by Lisa Grimes, director of fellowships in the Charles Center. I knew I wanted to spend a year working abroad , but I hadnt really considered Asia, or this scholarship, because I didnt have any experience there, said Schectman. But then I realized thats exactly what the Luce Foundation is looking for.

While Schectman didnt have experience in Asia, she has enjoyed a well-traveled life interacting with myriad cultures from around the world. As a student at Charlottesville High School, she was a family mentor, along with her mother, for the International Rescue Committee, assisting newly arrived refugees with acclimating to life in the U.S., learning English and finding jobs. We were their first friends and their point of contact for any kind of living questions like how to use public transport or apply for a job, she said. It was a great way to get to know somebody who I might not have been friends with before.

Those experiences turned out to be incredibly formative for Schectman, who chose international relations as her major with an aim to practice humanitarian aid in developing countries. During her time at W&M, shes worked as a research fellow with AidData  an innovation lab that seeks to track development financing in foreign countries  studied abroad in Argentina and traveled to Uganda as a fellow with UNICEF. Her time there was spent facilitating a crowdsourced data collection program in which Ugandans are encouraged to send in information about the state of development and aid in their communities.

I really loved working directly with the people on the ground who are the recipients of these aid projects, she said. I think its important that their voices are incorporated into this whole process.

In Asia, she hopes to pursue a similar kind of work helping residents of impoverished areas and displaced people. In the coming weeks, shell work with the Luce Foundation and the Asia Foundation to tailor her year abroad to fit her professional interests. Im hoping for placement somewhere in Southeast Asia, like Thailand, Malaysia or Myanmar, she said. But anywhere would be great. Im just thrilled and honored to be given this opportunity.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo described his new office as a waste and misallocation of resources at the Pastors and Leaders Retreat of the Fountain of Life Church, Ilupeju, Lagos on Friday.There is no need for a new Vice Presidents house; it is a kind of waste; we are now in a situation where we cannot abandon it; it has to be completed and used for a different thing, he said.According to the Vice President, his current residential quarters at the Aguda House in Abuja is spacious, well equipped and up to standard. However, as N6 billion were already spent on the project the administration would complete its construction and use for other purposes.He also touched on the controversial allocation to the State House Medical Centre, saying the clinic is designed not only for workers at the state house but for all Nigerians and expressed his hope that in future it would be reorientated to provide higher medical services to those in need. Among other issues discussed were data resources in the country, education, business, entrepreneurship, judicial system problems, corruption and other.
What does it mean to be Charitable?

Full of love for and goodwill toward others. Liberal in benefactions to the needy Merciful or kind in judging others.

Charitable as an Organization

Spiritual Charity

Material Charity

Charitable as Individuals

Individual Charity to Fellow Believers

One [Jehovahs Witness] family suffered a sudden, compound tragedy. The father had taken his young daughter to the store with him. On the way home, they were in an automobile accident. The daughter was killed; the father, severely injured. Upon his release from the hospital, he was at first so disabled that he could do nothing for himself. His wife was too distraught emotionally to care for him alone. So a couple in the congregation took this grieving couple into their home and cared for them for several weeks. (Read here):

When a financial crisis left some of Jehovahs Witnesses in Ancon, Ecuador, without work or income, their fellow Witnesses decided on a way to raise money for them; they prepared food to sell to fishermen returning from a night of fishing (pictured at right). All in the congregation cooperated, including the children. They started at one oclock each morning so that the food would be ready when the boats came in at four oclock. The money raised by the Witnesses was shared according to each ones need.

Individual Charity to Non-believers

Charity to Non-Witness Refugees

Individual Charity to Opposers

Individual Charity to the Destitute

Personal Charity Encouraged

We cannot anticipate every situation that would call for a display of goodness. As we face new challenges, then, let us seek light from the Scriptures, pray for Jehovahs holy spirit, and do our very best to carry out his good and perfect will. (Romans 2:9, 10; 12:2) We can be confident that Jehovah will bless us abundantly as we keep on displaying goodness.  Watchtower, January 15, 2002, pp 19-20

One way we can imitate Jehovahs goodness is by showing sincere concern for those not related to us in the faith  August 2003 Our Kingdom Ministry p1

When we have the opportunity, let us willingly forgo our preferences in behalf of others. By displaying love that does not look for its own interests, we help to maintain peace within the congregation and with our neighbors  February 15, 2009 Watchtower, p21

Often, the best form of givingand the most rewardingis giving of ourselves, in the form of our time and energy  November 15, 2011 Awake! p.8

Are Jehovah's Witnesses Charitable?

Why this matters

Why Material Charity is Not Enough

Some claim that Jehovahs Witness do not do any charitable work in the community. Perhaps this is due to the fact that we are not covered in local news media for cleaning up blighted neighborhoods in poor urban areas, or since we do not buy food trucks and give free meals to needy people during the Christmas season, or you may have been taken by the many lies told by our opposers. In any case, this is a misconception that will be addressed below.Jehovah said, This is the fast that I choose: . . . It is to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your house, to clothe someone naked when you see him, and not to turn your back on your own flesh. Then your light will shine through like the dawn, and your healing will spring up quickly. Your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of Jehovah will be your rear guard. (Isaiah 58:6a, 7, 8a)It is our hope that you examine the evidence below with an open heart and mind, and see that the Witnesses are charitable!The word charity comes from the Koine Greek word charite, often translated as grace, mercy, or undeserved kindness. It is in reference to a gift given for free, without the expectation of receiving anything in return.What exactly does it mean to be charitable? According to Websters Dictionary, charitable means:Synonyms of charitable are: Philanthropic, humanitarian, altruistic, benevolent, public-spirited, and so on.A stricter definition as defined by Oxfords Dictionary is: (Of an organization or activity) officially recognized as devoted to the assistance to those in need.Using all of these definitions, it becomes quite obvious that Jehovahs Witnesses are undoubtedly charitable. In fact,could qualify as a charitable person by these definitions.Additionally, since we are a religious organization and are thus tax exempt in the US, IRC 501(c)(3) requires that we meet certain criteria, which includes being charitable in order to maintain that status. Needless to say, we have.Case closed, right? One would think so! Let us consider some ways we are charitable first as an organization, and secondly, as individuals.As Christians, Jesus is our example of charity. As a human, he demonstrated the type of charity that should be of utmost importance to Christians: the preaching and disciple-making work. (Mark 13:10, Matthew 28:19-20) Before his death, he stated his purpose for coming into the world: For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. (John 18:37) [Emphasis mine]. When giving his disciples instructions and commissioning them to preach, Jesus stated: You received free, give free. (Matt 10:7-8). How do Jehovahs Witnesses imitate Jesus in this manner?While many will claim that Jesus was all about material acts of kindness and generosity, his own statements demonstrate what was most important to him; the charity of a spiritual nature, without cost to the recipients. Like Jesus, we prioritize the preaching work. Each year, Jehovahs Witnesses spend millions of hours preaching and teaching. From Sept 1, 2013, through Aug 31, 2014, Jehovahs Witnesses reported nearly 2 billion hours in the preaching work, and averaged almost 10 million Bible studies conducted each month! Do you really think we do no charitable works during all that preaching? Jehovahs Witnesses are so well-known for their preaching work that it has drawn the ire of some to the point of inciting prejudicial bans specifically targeted at limiting or stopping our work altogether. (Read about one such case here .)- As did Jesus, Jehovahs Witnesses also perform this ministry without cost. (1 Cor 9:18) Hence, we can say that we are not peddlers of Gods Word (2 Cor 2:17). What are some examples of this?Beginning in December 2012, Jehovahs Witnesses in Bangkok showed their concern for the education of youths. They met with staff and students at schools throughout the region, offering them the October 2012 Awake! entitled: How to Succeed at School.More than 650,000 copies were distributed, and a spokesman for Jehovahs Witnesses stated: Awake! highlights the time-tested wisdom found in the Bible, which truly benefits people today. Jehovahs Witnesses believe strongly in the value of education, so we were happy to make this issue available to everyone, without charge.Jehovahs Witnesses have also recognized the need for individuals to learn to read and write. In 2011, we assisted over 5,700 individuals in basic literacy. We have done this across the globe. Over time, we have helped 40,000 people learn to read and write in the nations of Ghana, Zambia and Mozambique alone. These literacy courses come without cost to the recipients. ( Read here .)United States. Daily, Jehovahs Witnesses receive dozens of requests for spiritual help from inmates in U.S correctional facilities. We also arrange for regular visits to jails, prisons, state hospitals, youth facilities, and substance-abuse facilities, even arranging congregation meetings inside the prisons. In one case, 32 prisoners attended. ( Read here .)Jesus was also a practical man, realizing the importance of material charity. He encouraged his disciples to give gifts of mercy. (Or Give in charity or give to charity; Luke 12:33; New English Bible: A Translation in the Language of the People). Jesus healed the sick. (John 6:2) He also provided food for some 5,000 individuals. (John 6:4-13) While he did not specify ways in which his followers must be materially charitable, he did, however, see the need to organize efforts. He and his disciples took up a common fund for the poor. (John 12:6; 13:29) First Century Christians took up collections to give assistance on a larger scale. (Acts 2:44-45) How do Jehovahs Witnesses imitate Jesus in this manner? Local congregations take care of anyone who falls in need. There are two contribution boxes located in each Kingdom Hall, the Local and Worldwide Work boxes. Members are at liberty to decide which one to contribute to, and how much to contribute. They can also contribute to both. Monies donated are, in part, utilized to assist those in the local congregation and abroad.At times, some may be in need of assistance from their local congregation. If anyone falls in need, that person is free to bring this to the attention of the Elders of that congregation, and request assistance. The congregation does not just extend assistance to anyone who requests it; there must be a genuine need for it. The Elders will meet to determine whether the person has simply fallen on hard times and genuinely needs assistance, or if he is able but unwilling to work. The Bible makes it clear that one has to work, if he is able, to support himself. If he is unwilling to work, assistance will not be extended to him. (2 Thessalonians 3:6-12)The individual would also have to exhaust other resources such as looking for more suitable work, applying for Unemployment Assistance, requesting help from family within the congregation, or accepting assistance from family members that offer it to him. If he refuses to use these resources, congregational assistance will not be extended to him. (Philippians 4:10-13)There even may be a time when no one is able to help the individual or family and if this happens, do we simply leave our fellow worshipers to public shelters? In harmony with James 2:16, we will not simply send them off telling them to keep warm and well-fed, however, the Elders will discuss how much financial assistance is needed, and set aside the necessary funds. (2 Corinthians 8:14)A similar arrangement is in place for those who may be homeless. The Elders will seek out other local Witnesses who can accommodate them with shelter until such time arrives when that accommodation is no longer necessary. This assistance is thorough and given until the individual or family no longer needs it.- Jehovahs Witnesses use voluntary contributions to the worldwide work, which serves as a common fund, earmarking a certain amount for disaster relief as a rainy day fund, so-to-speak. If anything more than what is available is needed, then the governing body will discuss diverting more funds to a particular disaster relief event. Donations are anonymous and there is no specified amount to give. (We do not tithe, openly or secretly, as our opposers claim. 2 Corinthians 9:6, 7) You can trust that these funds go directly to relief efforts, since we have no administration expenses because all the work is performed by unpaid volunteers. (2 Cor 8:20) ( Read here .)In harmony with the Bible at Galatians 6:10: Let us work what is good toward all, but especially toward those related to us in the faith, we give practical assistance to people who are Witnesses, and those who are not as well. We also provide the emotional and spiritual support the people in the affected region need at those times. (2 Corinthians 1:3,4) Here is one example:Starting in 2011, after floods and landslides killed hundreds of people, Jehovahs Witnesses provided 42 tons of non-perishable food items, including 20,000 bottles of water, 10 tons of clothing, 5 tons of cleaning supplies, as well as medicine and other items. There are many more examples of this in various places like Japan, Congo, and Canada. ( Read here .)We have also been recognized for our disaster relief and refugee care inand others. Think about the extent of this assistance, and perhaps the millions of dollars used to give others the help they need. This has not gone unnoticed.- Jesus provided a caution that we would do well to heed; he cautioned against making a show of charity  charity intended to glorify the giver rather than God. At Matthew 6:1-4, Jesus warned his followers to not practice their righteousness in front of men to be noticed by them, because they would have no reward with [their] Father who is in the Heavens. Put simply, our charity is not for the purpose of receiving praise from onlookers, but is to help our brothers and sisters and anyone else who needs it.Though we do not blow a horn ahead of ourselves when we perform good works, some have seen our good works. (Matthew 5:16)In October 2000, a disastrous flood struck the Piedmont region. Again, the Witnesses promptly went into action to help provide relief. These fine works also did not go unnoticed. The Piedmont Region awarded them a plaque for their precious voluntary work in support of the Piedmontese population affected by the floodings.Consider some statements published in our Jan 15, 2002 Watchtower: The newspaper Il Centro reported: The first to arrive with relief supplies in the affected areas were the Jehovahs Witnesses of Roseto [in the province of Teramo] . . . Besides meeting periodically to pray, those faithful to Jehovah work in a practical way, holding out a hand to those who suffer, without worrying about which religion they belong to. [Emphasis mine]The mayor of Nocera Umbra, one of the towns most affected, wrote to the Witnesses: I thank you heartily and personally for the aid offered to the population of Nocera. I am sure that I express the sentiments of all its citizens. Additionally, the Ministry of the Interior awarded the Congregazione Cristiana dei Testimoni di Geova (Christian Congregation of Jehovahs Witnesses) a certificate of merit and a medal to testify to the work done and diligence offered in activities connected with the emergency that arose in the Umbria and Marche regions.In June 2013, Hungary experienced heavy rainfall, which caused rivers to flood. Witnesses were asked by the HMHR (Hungary Ministry of Human Resources) to assist in mitigating flood damage. 900 volunteers from 72 Congregations reinforced the riverbanks. The volunteers were asked by the authorities to wear a badge card with their name, the name of their home city and the words Jehovahs Witnesses,.In a message to a local congregation, a local Hungarian Red Cross representative was moved to say: We owe you thanks and respect, since we rarely see examples of such unity and willingness to helpnot to mention how far you traveled! I proudly highlight your marvelous example in our city! ( Read here .)What we have discussed so far proves that, as an organization, Jehovahs Witnesses are charitable. We are also charitable as individuals. Let us see how.- By taking care of our brothers and sisters in affected areas, as well as others, we are alieviating other relief organizations who do not have to worry about helping such ones, relaxing the burden on those organizations and the local social infrastructure. Without the relief we provide, other organizations would be that much more taxed.Jesus was compassionate. He reached out to those in distress because he was deeply moved. The Bible uses a term to describe this compassion; he was moved with pity. This is an emotion that touches the very essence of a persons humanity and thus, moves them to action! (Matt 20:29-34) Jesus often times took it upon himself to give practical help to those in need, even on one occasion, being moved with pity to heal a leper. (Mark 1:40-42). How have Jehovahs Witnesses imitated Jesus in this regard?Personally, I feel that I am a part of a true brotherhood, and Id like to share a personal experience of mine. Three years ago, my wife and I fell on hard times. I was in between jobs and receiving unemployment benefits. I made the congregation elders aware of our situation, and even assured them that we could meet our basic necessities even with the reduced income. One day while sitting at home, my doorbell rings. To my surprise, one of the elders wives came over with a few bags of groceries for us. Speechless, I simply thanked my sister with a hug, and promised myself to pay it forward to others who may be in need.This is evidence that Jehovahs Witnesses do not simply leave charitable acts to their organization, nor do they simply donate money to large organizations in hopes that the money will get to where it is said to go  they get personally involved, wherever they can, and this is encouraged in our publications.These publications relate many experiences of kindness and charity to those of our brothers and sisters. Here are just a few:This is taken from the 2002 Yearbook of Jehovahs Witnesses, p 48 A young man, baptized just this year, received his first student talk assignment in the main auditorium of the Kingdom Hall. He felt that giving the talk was such a privilege that he began to save money to buy a new suit. By the time he had saved $30, he learned of a sister in the congregation who had no money for medicine. He gave the sister the entire $30 he had saved, saying: Jehovah will love me just as much when I give that talk in my old suit as he would if I gave it in a new one!This is taken from the 2004 Watchtower, December 15, p 22 From the June 1, 2011 Watchtower, pp7-8 While Jehovahs Witnesses strive to be charitable toward those related to us in the faith, we also work what is good toward all (Galatians 6:10). What examples do we have?On the October 2015 JW Broadcast program , Gerrit Losch, a member of the Governing Body, shared a real-life experience of a non-Witness individual who wrote to a local paper about Mr. and Mrs. Nice Guy. He explained how his neighbors had been kind to him after his wife died. Since his wife passed away, they have been super, he wrote. He related how they have been helpful and does chores for a seventy-four year-old retiree. What made this even more amazing is that they were black, he was white, they were Jehovahs Witnesses, and he was a drop-out Catholic. (Listen here at 15:00 mark):Even while engaging in our ministry, acts of kindness and charity to non-believers are random. Consider this experience from our May 2013 Watchtower, p 12 For instance, while preaching from door to door on one occasion, a pioneer was quickly dismissed by an elderly widow. She said that when he rang the doorbell, she was on a stepladder in the kitchen, trying to replace a lightbulb. It isnt safe for you to be doing that alone, he said. The pioneer then changed the bulb and went on his way. When the womans son learned about what had happened, he was so impressed that he tried to find the brother in order to express his appreciation. Eventually, the son accepted a Bible study.Our November 2011 Awake! , has this experience: A sister named Karen saw three women stranded on the side of a road as she drove by. Two of the women needed to catch a flight. Even though they were waiting on a Taxi, which was running late, Karen offered to drive the women 45 minutes to the airport. The experience ends noting that two of the women Karen helped were Jehovahs Witnesses, with one of the women being inactive. Still, this account qualifies as helping non-believers. Why? Because our sister had no idea the women were Jehovahs Witnesses prior to assisting them.Our May 2017 Watchtower is filled with ways we can help "foreign residents" and non-Witness refugees. Page 7 paragraph 19 helps us to see a way we can assist these refugees. It states: "our primary mission is to help [non-witness refugees] spiritually, not materially". This does not mean that we will not help them at all, but that it is not our primary mission and making it clear that we are not there to help them indefinitely. We have helped ones with material assistance, but only after we have helped our brothers first. We do not let perishable supplies go to waste, but neither are we an aid organization with unlimited funding. We are a religious organization who helps our brothers. Focusing that help on our brothers in no way diminishes that we are performing charity, even if only our brothers were to benefit.The June 15th, 2009 Watchtower relates this experience:A man was opposed to the refurbishing work proposed for the Kingdom Hall adjacent to his property. The local brothers responded kindly. Observing that the boundary wall between the Kingdom Hall and the neighbors property needed repair, they offered to do the work at no cost. They worked hard and, in fact, rebuilt most of the wall. They handled the situation so well that the neighbor had a change of heart. He now helpfully keeps an eye on the Kingdom Hall property.In our May 2015 Awake! magazine , two formerly homeless men named Joe and Martin shared their experiences. Joe first accepted literature from a sister and began attending meetings where he was treated with kindness and respect. Eventually, what he learned caused him to give up the bad habit of smoking which benefited his health and saved him money. He also learned the value of hard work, and the congregation assisted him in finding housing and other things he qualified for.Martin one day simply walked into a Kingdom Hall with the same clothes on that he had been wearing for months. He eventually accepted a Bible study, and after making changes in harmony with Bible principles, received help from the Witnesses to find a job and a place to live.In these two real-life experiences, Jehovahs Witnesses assisted the homeless men in two very practical ways: They assisted the men in bringing their lives in harmony with Godly standards, and gave them material assistance which paid good dividends to the two men, who are now Jehovahs Witnesses.In our 2005 Yearbook , we read of loving Witnesses caring for orphans in harmony with James 1:27. A baptized Witness mother died, and she left behind four young sons, who came under the care of the grandmother. After the grandmother died, Witnesses took good care of the boys by paying their rent, buying them clothes, and studying the Bible with them.We encourage individual acts of charity in our publications as well. Note these examples:and many more!After considering these few examples of organizational and individual charity, what do you think?Let us recap. Jehovahs Witnesses are charitable in the following ways: We set aside funds for humanitarian purposes. Helping people, even of a different religion, to recover after a disaster strikes. Showing selfless concern in both our preaching work and relief efforts. We are known for our public Ministry, spending millions of hours each year preaching and helping some to learn to read and write (using a specially designed publication we provide) so that they can learn to read their Bibles and we help people make positive changes in their lives, many turning around from criminal and high risk lifestyles. Helping their brothers and sisters in the faith and non-believing strangers in need.Our opposers would like you to believe that the only thing Jehovahs Witnesses are concerned with is giving out literature, and that we care nothing about the community. The truth is that we do not take efforts to make sure the world sees our charitable efforts, so they will often go unnoticed by most. We show concern for our communities by trying to follow the footsteps of Jesus closely by imitating him and his example of spiritual and material charity. (1 Peter 2:21) The message that we bring has helped people become honest in dealing with their fellow man, abandon destructive habits like smoking and heavy drinking, to treat their families with love and respect, and to love God.Keep in mind that Jesus never told his disciples to go, and open food drives for people of all nations, but instead, he commanded that they go and make disciples of people of all nations. (Matt 28:19, 20) To say that Jehovahs Witnesses are not charitable because they are not primarily concerned with feeding and clothing the homeless is to say that Jesus was not charitable because he was not primarily concerned with feeding and clothing the homeless. In fact, Jesus corrected those who only wanted food from him. He said: Work, not for the food that perishes, but for the food that remains for everlasting life, which the Son of man will give you. (John 6:27) This shows through his own words, that Jesus primary purpose was to feed people spiritually.




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Duncan Hawthorne to lead UK's Horizon Nuclear Power

04 March 2016

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Horizon Nuclear Power, the wholly owned UK subsidiary of Japan's Hitachi, announced today the appointment of Duncan Hawthorne as chief executive officer effective 1 May. Horizon said Hawthorne joins "as the company continues to progress its lead Wylfa Newydd project, which will generate enough secure, reliable low carbon electricity to power five million homes."

Horizon plans to deploy the UK Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR) at two sites - Wylfa Newydd, which is on the Isle of Anglesey, and Oldbury-on-Severn, in South Gloucestershire. Hawthorne announced last month his plans to retire from his position of president and CEO of Canadas Bruce Power.

Duncan Hawthorne (Image: Horizon)

Tatsuro Ishizuka, deputy chairman of the board of Hitachi Europe and chief executive of Hitachi's nuclear power system business in Europe, said Hawthorne brings experience gained from many years in the UK nuclear Industry. This combined with the international operation, project development and commercial activities he has been involved in for the last 20 years makes him the "perfect choice for Horizon", he added.

Hawthorne, who has led Bruce Power since its formation in 2001, has held a wide range of leadership positions in Canada, the UK, and the USA. He served as chair of the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) Atlanta Centre and until recently was president of WANO's governing board. His contribution to the Canadian energy sector was also recognised when he was awarded Energy Person of the Year by the Energy Council of Canada in 2005. In addition, he has been on Horizon's board of directors since 2013.

Hawthorne, who began his career as a craft apprentice in the Scottish electricity industry, said Horizon has "ambitious plans for the future" and that he hoped to be able to add his experience in plant operations and leadership "to help complement the many talented people who already are part of the Horizon workforce".

Formed in 2009 to develop new nuclear power plants in the UK, Horizon was acquired by Hitachi in November 2012. The company is developing plans to build at least 5400 MWe of new nuclear power generation plant at the two sites. Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy in November last year reached a regulatory milestone in its progress towards deployment of the UK ABWR, following confirmation that British regulators will move to the final step of the Generic Design Assessment. This process for the UK ABWR is on schedule for completion by the end of 2017.

Tom Greatrex, chief executive of the UK's Nuclear Industry Association, said: "Horizon's commitment to new nuclear generation capacity in the UK is underlined by Duncan's appointment. His global experience in nuclear power will be a great asset as Horizon progresses with plans to build the ABWR at Wylfa Newydd. The NIA looks forward to working with Duncan in his new role, and wish him every success."

Katsumi Nagasawa, vice president and executive officer, and president & CEO of Power Systems Company of Hitachi, said: "The appointment of someone of Mr Hawthorne's calibre is a tangible demonstration of our commitment to succeed in this vital project."

In January, Hitachi announced the incorporation of a new UK company - Hitachi Nuclear Energy Europe - as part of its strategy to enhance its UK presence for the engineering, procurement and construction of Horizon's new nuclear power plant development at Wylfa Newydd. Hitachi Nuclear Energy Europe will lead Tokyo-headquartered Hitachi's work in a proposed joint venture with potential partners Bechtel Management Company and JGC Corporation.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

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Hungary signs cooperation accords with UAE

03 March 2016

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Hungary has signed agreements with the United Arab Emirates covering nuclear energy and other sectors, the country's foreign ministry announced on 2 March. The documents were signed during Hungarian minister of foreign affairs and trade Peter Szijjarto's two-day visit to Dubai and Abu Dhabi this week.

The UAE and Hungarian foreign ministers after signing the MoU (Image: UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

"The fact that the Persian Gulf nation has the highest per capita electricity consumption in the world, is one of the highest consumers of water and imports almost all of its food requirements designates the main areas of cooperation between the two countries in which Hungarian enterprises can achieve success," Szijjarto said.

Szijjarto noted that the UAE is in the process of building a four-reactor nuclear power plant at Barakah and said that Hungary had agreed to train nuclear engineers and experts in the Middle Eastern country.

Agreement was also reached for Hungarian businesses to play a role in the development of the UAE's renewable energy, food, water management, chemical and air traffic sectors, he said.

The Hungarian Export-Import Bank Plc has opened a $406 million credit line, he added, to facilitate cooperation between companies from the two countries.

"The most important task in this area is for small- and medium-sized Hungarian enterprises to play as large a role as possible in bilateral economic cooperation, because bilateral trade has so far significantly depended on multinational companies," Szijjarto said.

During the visit, Szijjarto met H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE's minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation, and they signed a Memorandum of Understanding on setting up a joint UAE-Hungarian committee.

In a $20 billion deal announced in December 2009, Enec selected a consortium led by Korea Electric Power Corporation to build four APR-1400 reactors. Cold hydrostatic testing were completed at Barakah 1 last month and the unit is now over 84% complete, with a start-up target date of 2017. Construction began on unit 2 in 2013, and is now 64% complete, while work began on units 3 and 4 in 2014 and 2015 respectively. Overall, construction of the four units at the site is over 58% complete, the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation said.

All four units are scheduled to enter service by 2020.

The plant will supply about a quarter of the UAE's electricity needs and avoid the emission of up to 12 million tonnes of greenhouse gas. The plant will also free up oil and gas supplies for export.

Hungary announced last month that it had agreed to further cooperation with Iran on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Szijjarto led talks in Budapest with Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, saying that the two countries would "continue and expand" the training of Iranian nuclear experts as well as establish research and scientific cooperation in the use of nuclear energy.

Hungary operates four Russian-supplied VVER-440 pressurized water reactors, which started up between 1982 and 1987. Though originally 440 MWe gross, these units at Paks have been upgraded and will be modified further to give 500-510 MWe gross. In early 2014, Hungary and Russia signed a cooperation agreement which included the construction of two new VVER reactors of up to 1200 MWe each at Paks. The first new unit is to be commissioned in 2023, with the second following about two years later.

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by World Nuclear News

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US and South Korea launch new commission

04 March 2016

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The USA and South Korea have formally launched the High Level Bilateral Commission (HLBC) to facilitate strategic dialogue and technical exchanges on peaceful nuclear cooperation between the two countries as required under their bilateral nuclear cooperation agreement.

Cho Tae-yul and Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall launch the HLBC in Washington DC

(Image: US Department of Energy)

The commission was formally launched yesterday in Washington DC by US deputy energy secretary Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall and South Korean vice minister for foreign affairs Cho Tae-yul, who will serve as its co-chairs. In particular, the senior-level forum will examine the management of used nuclear fuel, the promotion of nuclear exports and export control operations, assurances of nuclear fuel supply, and nuclear security.

Establishment of the HLBC was mandated under the terms of the nuclear cooperation agreement signed by the USA and South Korea last year. Commonly known as 123 agreements, because they are required under paragraph 123 of the USA's 1954 Atomic Energy Act, such cooperation accords are mandatory for any exchange of nuclear goods and services with the USA.

The 20-year agreement was signed in June 2015 after several years of negotiations. The 1973 agreement it replaced had placed constraints on South Korea's nuclear fuel cycle which the country had come to see as excessive. In the two decades following the signature of the first agreement South Korea had itself become a nuclear exporter, building the first power reactors in the United Arab Emirates and supplying heavy components for nuclear power plants under construction in China and the USA. The 2015 agreement provides more freedom for South Korea to manage its nuclear fuel cycle and opens up the future possibility of uranium enrichment and reprocessing, activities that were strictly prohibited under the 1973 agreement.

Sherwood-Randall said that the USA and South Korea had shared over 30 years of close nuclear cooperation. "The creation of the HLBC reaffirms our nations' deep commitment to our joint efforts on nuclear safety and builds on our history of mutually beneficial collaboration in this area," she said.

The HLBC will hold its first meeting in Seoul on 14 April.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

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From Jeff Wise's blog:





Blaine Alan Gibson, a 58-year old lawyer who lives in Seattle, Washington, has spent much of the past year traveling around the Indian Ocean region trying to solve the mystery what happened to Malaysian Airlines Flight 370. Hes been to the Maldives to talk to villagers who say they saw a large plane fly low overhead the day after the disappearance; visited Reunion Island to interview the local who found the flaperon from MH370; and met with Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss to discuss the ongoing seabed search. He has no professional background in aircraft accident investigation or journalism, and no professional accreditation. He is simply motivated by the desire to know what happened to the airliner. I do not have a theory, he emailed me last September. I am just looking for evidence that may have been prematurely dismissed.





Last week, Gibson found himself in Mozambique searching for debris on local beaches. On February 27, he says, he hired a boat captain to take him someplace where flotsam from the ocean tended to wash up. The captain chose a sandbar called Paluma a half-dozen miles from the coastal town of Vilankulos. They arrived at around 7 a.m., and after about 20 minutes on the flat, low stretch of sand the boat captain spotted something unusual and handed it to Gibson...



The comments to this post are particularly interesting.





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Labels: MH370
Evidence mounting aspirin can lead to lower risk of certain cancers.

Heart health benefits from taking a low-dose aspirin tablet every day have been touted for years by the medical community, but a new study shows the wonder drug may lower the overall risk of getting cancer, primarily colon and gastrointestinal tumors, according to CBS News.

But you better start right away because the benefit was only seen after taking the tablets almost every day for six years, or so say the authors on the study.

Senior researcher Dr. Andrew Chan, from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, said there is scientific evidence that aspirin has an effect on certain biological pathways the may lead to cancer, and it has been shown to reduce inflammation and the amounts of some cancer-causing proteins. Dr. Chan adds that even though the evidence has reached a point that shows aspirin can help prevent colon cancer, the general population should not take aspirin for cancer prevention, without consulting their primary health care physician.

The study involved over 130,000 women and men who participated in the Nurses Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, which over a 30-year period, found 20,000 concurrences of cancer in some 88,000 women, and 7,500 cancers in about 48,000 men. The findings revealed taking low-dose aspirin two or more times each week was associated with a three percent lower risk for cancer overall, with a 15 percent lower risk of gastrointestinal cancers and a 19 percent lower risk for getting cancers in the colon and rectum.

The study did not find an association between aspirin and some other major kinds of cancer, such as breast, prostate, or lung cancer.

According to Eric Jacobs, the American Cancer Societys strategic director for pharmacoepidemiology, the Society does not have a current recommendation on the use of aspirin, despite mounting evidence of the benefits. Jacobs says people should consider the benefits of taking aspirin along with concerns for the higher risk of stomach bleeding. He recommends anyone thinking about starting a low-dose aspirin regimen should consult with their primary physician before starting, as they would be aware of your overall health and can make a determination of whether the therapy would be in the best interest for the individual.

He also reminded aspirin would not be a substitute for colon cancer screenings, which all Americans over 50 years of age should discuss with their doctor.

The study was published in the journal JAMA Oncology.
Co-Exist company employees

By: Mahesh Sarin

(Scroll down for video) A company in the United Kingdom, has announced that it plans to introduce period leave for women during their menstrual cycles.

Co-Exist of Bristol, said in a statement that women will be allowed to take time off during their period and work overtime later to make up for the lost time.

The director of the company, Bex Baxter, said that she pushed for the new policy because she saw female employees writhing in pain during their periods, and they were unable to take off from work.

She called it unfair. Co-Exist employs 24 people, seven men and seventeen women.

Baxter said that the details of the period policy had not yet been publicized and the matter would be discussed later this month.

The company wrote that the purpose of the period policy is to create a positive approach to menstruation and the menstrual cycle that empowers women and men and supports the effectiveness and wellbeing of the company.
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By: Chan Yuan

A millionaire was arrested on a charge of assaulting a police officer after allegedly dragging a police officer with his Jaguar, following a traffic stop, police in the United Kingdom said.

London police said that they have arrested 77-year-old Harry Djanogly, after being accused of hitting the accelerator when Officer Robert McDonald grabbed hold of the steering wheel.

Djanogly was charged with dangerous driving and assaulting a police officer. In court, Djanogly told the court that he was speeding to a hospital because he believed that his wifeas life was in danger.

When he was pulled over for speeding in his silver Jaguar, he explained his situation to the officer and drove away. After stopping at a red light, McDonald came through the window and grabbed the steering wheel.

Djanogly claims that he then accidentally took his foot off the brake. He denied putting his foot on the accelerator. The officer suffered leg injuries and stress.
Pepper spray (illustration)

By: Tanya Malhotra

A little girl was rushed to a hospital after spraying pepper spray in her eyes while playing under the living room table of her home, police in Austria said.

Herzogsdorf police said that the 2-year-old girl suffered from injuries to her eyes after finding her 29-year-old motheras can of pepper spray and spraying it into her eyes.

The mother told police that she bought the can of pepper spray for protection, and her two-year-old daughter found it and played with it under the table, where her grandfather and grandmother were sitting.

The can was supposed to have been stored out of reach of the child, and it is unclear at this time how she got hold of it.

The girl broke the seal and then pressed the button.

The girl screamed in pain and then struggled to breathe. She was then taken by ambulance to a hospital, where she was treated and released.
Ellis C. Battista

By: Feng Qian

A man broke into a store to get a pack of cigarettes, but he did not steal it.

Instead, he left the money on the counter.

New Mexico police arrested the man who was accused of entering the convenience store and leaving behind $6 for the pack of cigarettes.

24-year-old Ellis C. Battista of Las Cruces, was charged with a felony breaking and entering.

Battista went to the 24-hour convenience store about 3:30 a.m. To his disappointed, the store employee was not there and the door was locked.

Battista broke the door and took his favorite pack of cigarettes. He then took out $6 to pay for the item. Battista raised the money to the surveillance camera to prove that he paid, and left the store.

Police said that the surveillance camera also showed Battista knocking on the front door several times in an apparent attempt to get someone to open it.

When nobody responded, he kicked the door in and broke it. A witness called 911. Damage to the door is estimated at $800.

Battista was arrested and was transported to jail.
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
Teen girl (illustration)

By: Mahesh Sarin

A teen was arrested on a charge of terrorism after attempting to marry an ISIS fighter in Syria, police in Austria said.

Now, the 18-year-old woman, who was not identified, has been sentenced to serve six months in prison after being convicted of terrorism.

According to the police, the teenager of Vienna, was arrested along with a large group who were captured on the border between Romania and Bulgaria.

The woman told police that she was heading to Turkey, and planning to marry a young man. She refused to identify the young man.

However, investigators believed that the woman was planning to travel to Syria, and marry an ISIS fighter. The woman also discussed the objectives of the Islamic State in chat rooms on the Internet.

The woman was sentenced to six months in prison instead of three years sought by prosecutors because she was working as an assistant in a kindergarten and a longer sentence would have disrupted her job.
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Wrexham Looks To Renew Fairtrade Town Status Amid Fairtrade Fortnight

This article is old - Published: Friday, Mar 4th, 2016

A number of Fairtrade events are to be held in the area, as Wrexham Council renews its commitment to ethically-sourced products and equitable international business to help achieve Fairtrade Town Status for the area.

To celebrate Fairtrade Fortnight, the Wrexham Fairtrade Coalition are organising a number of breakfast events where people will come together to share a Fairtrade drink and a snack together.

The main event will be at the Methodist Church in Regent Street on Saturday 12th March from 10am to noon. There will be other Fairtrade breakfasts at Coleg Cambria, Glyndwr University and various local schools and churches. The town will also be welcoming a coffee grower from Uganda, Nimrod Wambette, who will share his experiences of being a Fairtrade producer.

Wrexham Fairtrade Coalition say: Lots of people think that fair trade is sorted as they see many major chocolate bars are now fairly traded but still only something like 5% of the chocolate sold in the UK is fairly traded so theres still a long way to go.

Fairtrade is about better prices, decent working conditions and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers. Its about supporting the development of thriving farming and worker communities that have more control over their futures and protecting the environment in which they live and work.

The Wrexham Fairtrade Coalition is a group of local organisations  the council, schools, churches, voluntary organisations, community groups and retailers  that come together to raise awareness of Fairtrade across the county. Duncan Rees, Chair, said We believe our consumer choices can change the lives of some of the poorest communities in the world and we are pleased that the people of Wrexham are doing their bit to increase the use of fairly traded products.

In order for Fairtrade Town Status to be renewed, the coalition requires a reaffirmed resolution of support for Fairtrade from Wrexham Council, and a continued commitment to use Fairtrade products within its operations.

The councils Executive Board will discuss the resolution on Tuesday, March 8th and a report proposing the resolution will be presented by Cllr Hugh Jones, Lead Member for Communities and Partnerships.

The decision will take place during Fairtrade Fortnight, which runs from February 29 to March 13.

Wrexham was the first town in North Wales to be awarded Fairtrade Status in 2003.

Cllr Hugh Jones said: We at Wrexham Council want to publicly renew our commitment to Fairtrade products and practices, and its very fortunate that the decision will be made during Fairtrade Fortnight 2016.

Wrexham was the first town in North Wales to gain Fairtrade Status in 2003, and we want to ensure that the area is recognised as one which supports Fairtrade and its efforts to ensure producers of everyday products such as sugar and coffee receive a fair deal.

We hope that the move also encourages community groups, places of worship, businesses and other organisations in the area to support Fairtrade and use Fairtrade-branded products.

We as an authority have an opportunity and the determination to be a strong community leader in the effort to promote Fairtrade, and we hope to use that wherever possible.
About 50 people gathered at the Pete V. Domenici United States Courthouse in downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico March 2 to voice their anger over the latest killing of a resident by law enforcement. Because the latest fatal shooting was committed by a US marshal, the federal courthouse, where the Marshals headquarters is located, was chosen for the protest action.

The vigil was held to protest the predawn fatal shooting of 23-year-old Edgar Camacho-Alvarado and its aftermath, and the discrepancies between official and witness accounts of the incident.

Protesters held signs reading Jail killer cops, Release the autopsy now, and End police brutality, while they chanted for transparency, truth and justice in front of the buildings entrance.

Ten US marshals went to a mobile home park on west Central Avenue on February 20 to arrest 25-year-old George Bond, who was a suspect in a 2014 murder in a neighboring county and was believed to be hiding out in a trailer three units away from the residence where Edgar Camacho-Alvarado lived. According to his family, Camacho-Alvarado was working on his truck when the marshals showed up. In a short while, he was dead, shot to death by a marshal.

Edgars older brother Carlos Camacho told reporters that their mother was in bed, heard a shot and ran to the front door, where Edgar was dying. Carlos said that the marshals asked her, Whats his name? before leaving his body, lying in front of his truck, for 14 hours while they had a standoff with Bond, which ended with Bonds arrest. Camacho also said that his 11-year-old brother witnessed the incident and that the marshals confiscated his cell phone.

Carlos Camacho told reporters that his brother wanted to marry his girlfriend in a few weeks. He was really happy; he was really excited about everything. He was young; he was getting ready for life. And they just took it away.

Pepe Sanchez, who was at the protest, and with whom Edgar had once worked at UNM Hospital, told a World Socialist Web Site reporter that he was a good guy, responsible, always on time, who had a lot of respect for everyone.

Two days after the killing, Robert Gorence, an attorney for Camacho-Alvarados family, held a press conference in which he accused the marshals of shooting the young man in almost what you would call execution style.

Its almost inexplicable, but we have evidence  that Edgar was dragged from the house, after having been struck multiple times, taken outside, given commands to give up a weapon, as hes gurgling and flailing his arms, and shot a fourth time, Gorence stated.

Gorence called on authorities to release more information on the incident, and announced his intention to have an independent autopsy conductedit will be a month before official autopsy results are releasedand to file a lawsuit. Gorence added, All were asking right now is to get answers. So far that has been completely stonewalled.

At the time, as the Albuquerque Journals report on the press conference put it, New Mexico State Police, which is leading the investigation into the shooting, and other agencies have shed little light on how Camacho-Alvarado ended up being shot when officers were actually searching for Bond. They have not described what happened, commented on the familys account of the shooting nor said whether Camacho-Alvarado had a gun.

On February 24, the New Mexico Department of Public Safety published an update on its investigation of the case. According to the NMDPS account, Deputy US Marshal Paul Hernandez, who was gathering information at the scene, noticed a young man (Camacho-Alvarado) following him, who brandished a handgun before Hernandez reached for his own weapon.

The young man then fled and when Hernandez caught up with him in front of the family trailer, Camacho-Alvarado raised his gun and Hernandez fired four shots, one of which struck him fatally. Later, two other marshals secured Mr. Camacho-Alvarado by moving him from the steps, handcuffing him, and rendering first aid.

The marshals also claimed to have found a gun, which had been stolen a year before and with a not visible serial number, near Camacho-Alvarado, and ammunition in his residence, something the marshals had been tight-lipped about before.

The NMDPS also mentioned that he was a convicted felon and was wanted on a felony warrant, without mentioning that the convictions were for nonviolent larceny arrests.

The discrepancies in the case were disquieting enough to prompt a February 27 editorial in the Journal, entitled Federal lawmen should face same rules as locals, that bemoans the predawn raid  that went bad and left a man dead, and the marshals account [that] doesnt square with the account given by the dead mans family.

The editors opine, This is one case where lapel camera footage would have come in handy, and suggest that the Department of Justice, whose recent investigation of the Albuquerque Police Department found a pattern of excessive force, constitutional violations and contempt for the public, practice what it preaches.

The editorial concludes, This officer-involved shooting is a case where the government exercised the ultimate in police powers. It is unacceptable that the same tough standards dont appear to apply at all levels of law enforcement. In fact, the killing of Camacho-Alvarado is another demonstration that these standards are flouted at all levels of law enforcementbe they city, county, state or federal.
US Admiral Bill Gortneythe head of NORAD (the Canada-US North American Aerospace Defense Command) as well as the US Northern Commandis claiming that Russias use of cruise missiles in Syria has major implications for US military strategy in the Arctic.

In a recent interview with the Canadian Press, Gortney voiced concern about a series of attacks on the Islamic States capital in Raqqa, in which Russian ships fired missiles from the Caspian Sea at targets in Syria some 1500 kilometers away. There was no tactical or operational requirements for any of those shots, said Gortney of last Novembers Russian cruise missile strikes. They were telling us they have this capability and can employ it globally.

Although Gortneys remarks were aimed first and foremost at US policymakers, the fact that they were made to a Canadian news agency is no accident. The US and Canada are, both jointly and separately, seeking to expand their military capabilities in the Arctica region deemed to be of rapidly growing geopolitical significance because of the escalation of tensions between Russia and the North American imperialist powers, and because of its untapped resource wealth.

Gortney proceeded to warn of the danger of a cruise missile attack from the far north, raising the scenario of rogue forces seizing a ship in the Northwest Passage or, alternately, cruise missiles being fired from Russia. He stated that NORAD lacked advanced radar capacity in the region to track potential attacks, meaning that warning of a missile attack would be reduced.

Gortneys identification of an alleged Russian threat in the Arctic is part of a concerted campaign by US imperialism to portray Moscow as an aggressor that must be confronted by a global military buildup. In 2014, the Obama administration backed a fascist-led coup in Ukraine that brought to power a pro-western government, which adopted a confrontational course towards Russia and waged a civil war against its own population. Under US leadership, NATO seized on the Ukraine crisis to massively expand its military capabilities in Eastern Europe and the Baltic so as to encircle and isolate Russia.

While Russias intervention in Syria is a desperate attempt by the Kremlin to defend the interests of a criminal oligarchy by propping up its sole ally in the region, it is essentially of a defensive character. The United States has waged unending war in the Mideast for the past quarter century, throwing a series of countries into chaos and killing and displacing millions of people.

Washingtons drive to overthrow Bashir al-Assad and establish a puppet regime in Damascus as a step towards consolidating its hegemony over the worlds most important oil-producing region has created conditions in which a clash between Russian and US forces, or those of its allies, could quickly explode into a direct conflict between NATO and Moscow with the use of nuclear weapons.

The Arctic is yet another region where US imperialism is determined to counter Russian influence. The remarks of the NORAD commander were significant, since they revealed that US military strategists, along with their Canadian counterparts, are working on missile defence strategies, including improved radar surveillance.

Gortneys comments were made in the wake of the publication last month of a report from the influential Conference of (Canadian) Defence Associations that urged Canadas Liberal government to join the controversial US ballistic missile defence (BMD) shield. While portrayed in the media as purely defensive, the BMD program is, in fact, highly provocative and destabilizing. It is aimed at providing the US with the capacity to wage a winnable nuclear war against Russia or China.

Canadas Liberal government is about to embark on a full-scale review of Canadas military-defense policy, prompting a sustained campaign by the national-security establishment and corporate media for a major hike in military spending. The Canadian Press article that reported Gortneys remarks complained bitterly that the issue of the Arctic has barely registered in Liberal policy statements.

Last month, Canadas military announced it will expand its Arctic training base at Resolute Bay so that it can conduct operations all year round. The center, opened in 2013 by the previous Conservative government as part of its high-profile drive to assert Canadian sovereignty in the region, currently has the capacity to host 120 soldiers. We need to build (on) what weve got right now in terms of capacity, Lt.-Col. Luc St-Denis told the National Post. January to April is a small season. There is potential for more than that, especially in the springtime and summertime.

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan has also vowed to expand the Canadian Rangers, a paramilitary unit which operates in the far north. Sajjans announcement came at the end of exercise Arctic Ram, two weeks of military operations by Canadian reserves at the Resolute Bay facility.

These moves are being justified by pointing to Russias expanding military presence in the Arctic. Last August, Russia held military exercises involving over 1,000 soldiers and 50 special vehicles in northern Siberia.

During the same month, the Kremlin submitted a claim to the United Nations asking for sovereign rights over 1.2 million square miles of the Arctic Ocean and sea-floor around the North Pole. The claim is part of a series of competing territorial claims by states bordering the Arctic Ocean, including Canada, the US, and Denmark.

The United States is the only country in this group not to have signed the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), an instrument of international law which stipulates that the waters up to 200 nautical miles from the coast of a state constitute an exclusive economic zone, with provision for larger zones in the case of sea-shelves. The claim made by Russia and a competing claim filed by Denmark in late 2014 are based on the contention that an undersea ridge close to the North Pole is actually an extension of each countrys continental shelf.

US and NATO propaganda notwithstanding, Russias renewed focus on the Arctic, which has included the reopening of a number of Soviet-era bases above the Arctic Circle and the publication of a new naval strategy, pales in comparison to US imperialisms drive to achieve global hegemony by building up its military forces on every continent, and in cyber and outer space. Last May and June, NATO held major air exercises above the Arctic Circle, involving 4,000 soldiers and 100 aircraft, with Russia the clear target.

The scramble for sovereignty over the Arctic, which represents another flashpoint in the growing war danger, is being driven by economic as well as geostrategic considerations. According to estimates by the US Geological Survey, approximately 30 percent of undiscovered natural gas reserves and 13 percent of oil reserves lie above the Arctic Circle. The region is also likely home to valuable deposits of rare materials valued at between $1.5 and $2 trillion.

The growing importance of the Arctic was reflected in the report the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) recently drew up on the US pivot to Asia at the request of the US Congress. That report devoted 14 of its roughly 200 page s to discussing US strategy in the Arctic .

The CSIS report left no doubt that Russia, and even China, are viewed as US strategic rivals in the Arctic Ocean. It denounced Russias aggressive behavior and cautioned that a US Navy review of its Arctic operations carried out in early 2014 was obsolete. (I)n light of renewed tensions with Russia, declared the report, these assessments are now out of date.

The CSIS report urged the US Navy to deploy more submarines in the region and to carry out a comprehensive review of its Arctic operations. It noted a recommendation from the Department of Homeland Security that three heavy and three medium icebreakers are urgently required, since the US has only two such ships currently in operation and often has to rely on leased icebreakers from allies. However, it went on to complain that at the current pace of planning and construction the new icebreakers will only be deployed in the late 2020s.

CSIS also warned against a planned drawdown of US troops based in Alaska. Following publication of the report, Army Chief of Staff Mark Milley told a late February Senate Appropriations Committee hearing that he would not withdraw the 4-25 Infantry Brigade Combat Team from its Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska as planned. The original proposal, unveiled last July, had been to cut the combat team to battalion task force status, a move involving a reduction from 4,000 to 1,050 soldiers.

US concern over Chinas role in the region is bound up with the opening of the Northern Sea Route (off Russias Arctic coast) and the Canadian Northwest Passage to regular sea traffic due to the effects of climate change. Beijing, observed the CSIS report, is now weighing the possibility of an alternative trade route from the Pacific, through the Arctic to the Atlantic Ocean, allowing it to bypass congested and contested sea lanes in the Indian Ocean. The report explicitly labelled the Bering Straitwhich separates Alaska from Russia and the Arctic Ocean from the Pacificas a potential choke point.

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Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am Mr.Dee and an English speaking tour guide in Jeju island. The actual purpose of this blog is to introduce island of Jeju. So, please, take a look around and I hope you get some ideas and information for your future traveling.
The state of Illinois has been without a budget since July 2015, as part of an impasse between Democrats and Republicans over how best to implement an austerity budget. Along with critical social programs, higher education has become a target for drastic cuts by both parties, ultimately serving the interests of the financial elite. Multiple universities and community colleges have not received state appropriations for more than eight months.

Chicago State University (CSU), located in Chicagos South Side, is one of many institutions that now confront devastating financial circumstances. The universitywhich serves 4,500 students of largely working-class backgroundshas declared a state of financial exigency and could run out of funds to keep the institution open as early as the end of March.

Last Friday, CSU administration issued a notice of potential layoffs for all 900 faculty, staff and administration due to a lack of state funding, which amounts to over 30 percent of its operating budget. Other universities like CSU have also issued layoffs, cut budgets, and have relied on financial reserves that are rapidly being depleted.

As part of the budgetary impasse and the bipartisan assault on education, Monetary Award Program (MAP) grants for low-income students have also been frozen. Universities with more substantial endowments are able to weather the lack of funding temporarily, but those schools without such fallbacks will have to cut financial assistance for low-income students.

Reporters from the World Socialist Web Site spoke to students and faculty about the attacks on public education.

Angel, a student at CSU, spoke about the education budget being held hostage to the political infighting between the Republicans led by Governor Bruce Rauner and the Democrats led by Illinois Speaker of the House Mike Madigan.

I think its extremely upsetting that we have these cuts happening, she began. CSU is on the verge of becoming extinct. We see the political games that Rauner, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Mike Madigan want to play with education.

Theres an overwhelming need for education for us. But the big corporations want to keep the wealth where it is, for the 1 percent. These people dont need MAP grants. They dont need financial aid. They have their tuition paid for four times over before they are even born. Im a student for whom $1,200 is the difference between me and a degree, or me being on unemployment or working a minimum wage job.

During the recession, there was so much forgiveness for the banks and the corporations tanking the economy, but theres no forgiveness for education. Yes, our enrollment has dropped over the past years, but its not the students fault. I had to move out of the dorm because I couldnt afford it without MAP grants. Why is the mismanagement of billions of dollars overlooked and swept under the rug, but they can cut education? It just goes to show that money rules the world. Its really sad. Money controls our political system.

A tenured professor at CSU with 15 years experience said, I cant believe it. We worry about our students and that is our main concern. Students need to finish their education. These are underserved students in the South Side of Chicago.

Things have gotten quite bad that some of our students live in cars. There are students that want education so badly that they will sacrifice everything for it. Our kids deserve better than this. If you cut education, what are the alternatives? You will destroy the economy and we will lose many intelligent people. This is chaos.

One student spoke about the chaotic impact of the impending layoffs on students academic lives, noting that it was going to affect many of her peers because they were going to have to change majors. She also expressed concern that she would not fulfill her dream of becoming a teacher.

When asked about the motive behind the cuts to higher education, she said that she didnt understand why it was happening. She was concerned that the cuts would have a domino effect on education as a whole, from colleges all the way down to the elementary level. She also expressed concern that [the U.S. is] heading in a different direction as a country. People from other countries can see what is going on and wonder, Why is this happening? in regards to a wealthy country like the U.S.

Kristen spoke about how the budget cuts impacted faculty and other employees. Its very unfortunate that its coming down to budgets having to be cut, with people losing their jobs. The students are affected too. Were the ones that are suffering. The rich people have money to survive on. Its not fair that we dont have the same equal opportunity to get an education, to keep our jobs, or anything for that matter.

Eman, a student from the University of Illinois Chicago spoke about the impact of the cuts. My father works at CSU, she said. I find it absolutely insane that the governor is trying to cut funding off from higher education to fix the state budget when this is going to be affecting families.

Students that receive MAP grants are affected by this, and my father has three (including myself) that are in college and him losing his job after all these years because the state has yet to have a budget is ridiculous.

Another CSU student, Jasmine, noted, We have students who dont even know if theyre going to graduate or whats going to happen if the school closes down. We have all these student loans, and people are probably not even going to get to finish. Everybodys got to think about what theyre going to do about their education, and its all of a sudden! Its unfair! First they started with the elementary schools, with Chicago Public Schools, and now theyre going to take away all the colleges. What are we going to do?

Micaiah, a transfer student to CSU, noted, Theres no reason why a school thats been around 150 years should close because theres no funding. Most of us dont get fed on a silver spoon. The government is preventing us from getting an education with these cuts. Its unfair. Education should be a right, not the privilege of the rich.

Everything thats happening to CSU comes down to capitalism. They want to say capitalism makes you better and everything else. At the end of the day, capitalism has hurt so many working class people. Businesses are making money off us regardless, so they dont care if we get an education or not. They still get their money, we lose our homes, and have homeless people. Its all because of capitalism. Regular working American people have lost their jobs, theres no money for education, or to put food on the table. They say its the land of the free, but are we really free?

Students were also shocked to learn about the money spent on war while money for education was being squandered. Reporters also noted that the increase in military spending is in preparation for war with China and Russia, and almost definitely in escalation of the wars in Syria and Iraq. Horrified, one student responded that the possibility of a war with Russia could be a catastrophe.
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told parliament on February 23 that the government will sign an Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ECTA) with India in mid-June. Indian governments have been pushing for such an economic agreement since 2003, seeking to strengthen Indias strategic and economic influence in the region.

In response, nationalist groups, including the Sinhala-chauvinist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the pseudo-left Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) and some professional associations, have stepped up a virulent anti-Indian campaign that serves to pit Sri Lankan workers against their class brothers and sisters in India.

Successive Indian governments have asked their Sri Lankan counterparts to sign a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) covering investment, trade, service and commerce. However, the agreement has been shelved because of opposition by sections of business that fear being marginalised by big Indian companies. These are the interests that are being defended by the chauvinist anti-Indian agitation of the nationalist groups.

When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Sri Lanka last March, just two months after Maithripala Sirisena was installed as president, the issue was raised again.

Sirisena came to office via a regime-change operation instigated by Washington to oust former President Mahinda Rajapakse, who had tilted toward Beijing. As the US has aggressively developed its military and strategic pivot to the Indo-Pacific to confront China, the Indian ruling elite has increasingly lined up with Washington as a means of securing its own great power ambitions.

Modis government regards the economic agreement with Sri Lanka as critical. It is not just the economic benefits that Indian investors would be able to exploit. Encouraged by the US, New Delhis aim is to thoroughly integrate Sri Lanka into its strategic alignment against China, long seen as Indias rival.

Amid ongoing differences within Sri Lankas corporate elite over the agreement, Wickremesinghe told parliament the pact was still in the negotiation stage.

Some Sri Lankan business layers calculate that they can profit from entering Indias market, which is still officially growing, even though that expansion is increasingly precarious under conditions of worsening world slump. The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, which represents big business, has expressed support for ECTA, while cautioning the government to secure favourable terms.

These interests intersect with those forces in the Sri Lankan ruling elite that opposed Chinas influence on Sri Lanka and backed Rajapakses ouster. These include Wickremesinghes United National Party (UNP). Over the past year, the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government has moved to strengthen strategic ties with India and the US.

Wickremesinghe declared in parliament that the agreement with India was part of his governments pledge to create one million jobs in five years. He boasted that further free trade and economic agreements would be signed with the US, European Union and China.

The governments job-creation claim is a fraud. Its aim is not to provide decent jobs, but to keep driving down the living and social conditions of the working class, both urban and rural, in order to attract foreign investment. Indian workers and poor are facing a similar assault under Modis government.

Wickremesinghe branded those opposed to the agreement as traitors who would be suppressed. This threat is a warning to the working class that the government is preparing repression against anyone opposing its reactionary big business agenda.

The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) opposes this agreement as part of the governments offensive to drive down the conditions of the working class and the poor and to implement austerity measures. But the SEP also strongly opposes the poisonous anti-Indian campaign of the nationalist groups, which seek to divert the mounting discontent of workers in a chauvinist direction, dividing the working class across India and Sri Lanka.

The Government Medical Officers Association, the Sri Lanka Association of Professionals and the Sri Lanka Engineers Association held a march against ETCA on February 11 in Colombo. The demonstrators shouted and displayed slogans such as: When you give the country to India, are we to jump into the sea? Jobs for Indians and unemployment for us and National security is in danger.

These associations maintain that their members jobs will be destroyed when the doors are opened to Indian medical, engineering and technological services. The truth is that these organisations have no record of defending jobs or democratic rights, which have long been under attack by the Sri Lankan ruling class. They are seeking to channel social unrest behind the interests of that same class and the privileged middle-class layers that rest on it.

The JVP is in the forefront of inflaming chauvinism. The February 14 editorial of the JVPs weekly Lanka incited hatred toward Indian workers, saying there are 42.5 million uneducated jobless people in India. According to the editorial: This massive labour force which is ready to sell their labour for a pittance will flood into Sri Lanka, intensifying an already acute job crisis here, bringing down wages.

Accusing the government of preparing to sign the deal secretly, the editorial concluded: It was in this way that 1987 Indo-Lanka accord was signed. It warned that the JVP would bring people onto the streets in opposition.

This was a reference to the JVPs reactionary patriotic campaign from 1987 to 1990 which claimed that the Indo-Lanka accord would divide the country. The Colombo and New Delhi governments had signed the accord to deploy Indian troops to Sri Lankas north and east to disarm the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, hand minor privileges to the Tamil elites and defend Colombos rule.

During the JVPs fascistic campaign, launched in the name of protecting the motherland, its gunmen killed hundreds of trade union leaders, working-class militants and political opponents. After the breakdown of secret talks with the JVP, President Ranasinghe Premadasa used this terror as a pretext to kill over 60,000 rural youth, JVP leaders and members.

Todays anti-Indian agitation is backed by a group of members of parliament from President Sirisenas Sri Lanka Freedom Party and chauvinist parties such as the National Freedom Party and Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP). Proclaiming themselves a united opposition, they support former President Rajapakse. They shed crocodile tears that jobs will be destroyed because professionals will come from India. During the Rajapakses regime, they supported every attack by his government against workers and the poor.

Likewise, the FSP, a faction that broke away from the JVP, has welcomed the struggle against the agreement. The February 14 edition of the FSPs weekly Janarala voiced contempt for Indian workers and the poor, declaring: As the large unemployed work force [in India] likes to work for a penny, they would flood in to work here. Then Sri Lankans would have to either lose jobs or work for a small wage.

The Inter University Students Federation, controlled by FSP, has also sought to channel the discontent of students behind this chauvinist campaign.

Workers, youth, poor people and intellectuals should reject the ETCA and also oppose the reactionary anti-Indian campaign which is aimed at dividing the workers in the two countries. A united offensive of the working class throughout the sub-continent is needed to fight the attacks of the ruling classes in Sri Lanka and India and the threat of war. Jobs and living conditions can be safeguarded only under a socialist system, with production completely reorganised on the basis of human need, not corporate profit.

Against the drive to austerity and war, the SEP fights for a Union of Socialist Republics in South Asia as part of the struggle for international socialism.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has sought to justify her policy of erecting new walls around Fortress Europe with humanitarian phrasesmost recently in a Sunday talk show. On Tuesday, she adopted a very different tone.

At a press conference with Croatian Prime Minister Tihomir Oreskovic in Berlin, she commented on the refugee crisis in Greece and the Balkans with the brutality associated with Christian Social Union (CSU) leader Horst Seehofer, or officials of the nationalist AfD (Alternative for Germany).

Merkel repeatedly stated that a policy of waving [immigrants] through the borders, i.e., not properly checking papers and detaining refugees, had to be ended. She added that asylum seekers have no right to choose the country where they seek asylum in Europe. She said there were no grounds to compare the situation on the Greek-Macedonian border, where refugees have been assaulted by police, with the situation in Hungary last September.

The Chancellor stressed that Berlin would no longer accept refugees directly, and that there are many preparations being started in Greece. She said that so-called hot spotsi.e., concentration camps to register refugees run by the Greek militarywere now partly built. Speaking on refugees attacked with tear gas at the Greek-Macedonian border crossing at Idomeni on Monday, Merkel advised them cynically to use possible accommodation and overnight options in Greece.

Merkel repeated her criticism of Austria and the Balkan states, which had agreed at a summit last week to seal off the so-called Balkan route. Instead, she stressed that this was not sufficient to implement the decisions agreed at the EU summit on 18 February.

When I say we have to return to the Schengen system, then that means of course that Greece has to protect the borders, Merkel said. She insisted it was not just a matter of protecting the Greek-Macedonian border on the Macedonian side to prevent new routes for refugee flows and further destabilization. She regretted that we did not start first with the NATO mission and better protection of external borderswith the result that there are many more people in Greece.

In other words, for the Chancellor the problem is not that refugees in the heart of Europe are being confronted with barbed wire fences, and tear gas administered by police armed to the teeth, but rather that refugees are allowed into Europe in the first place.

Berlin is therefore working feverishly on a common European solution, to reduce the number of refugees drastically and over the long term, according to the German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere. This amounts in practice to the police-military walling off of Europe.

The military intervention in the Aegean by NATO under German leadership is currently commencing. In close cooperation with Frontex and the Greek and Turkish coast guards, its declared aim is the complete sealing off of the sea route between Turkey and Greece, which is a key crossing point for refugees seeking to flee the multiple war zones in the Middle East. A report by the ARD TV station, with the telling title Under German leadership, revealed that the German combat support ship, Bonn, a 174-meter [r] Colossus and three other NATO warships have already been cruising in the Aegean Sea.

At the same time, Berlin is expanding its cooperation with authoritarian regimes in North Africa and Turkey. Berlin is recruiting them as gatekeepers for Europe, charged with repelling refugees at the continents external borders, or to deport them directly without bureaucratic hurdles, should they manage to overcome the existing barriers of Fortress Europe.

De Maiziere is touring North Africa to negotiate a deportation treaty with the Moroccan monarchy, the Bouteflika regime in Algeria, and the counterrevolutionary Essebsi government in Tunisia, which is full of former functionaries of dictator Zine Abedine Ben Ali, who was toppled in 2011.

At the EU summit on Monday, the Turkish government, in exchange for money and diplomatic concessions, will be requested to close its borders to refugees completely, and stop refugee boats before they leave Turkey.

Merkel is pressing ahead with her aggressive course with the backing of export-dependent German business interests, which have benefited more than any other country from the European market.

Last week, all four major German business associationsthe Federal Association of German Industry (BDI), the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts (ZDH), the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) and the Confederation of German Employers Associations (BDA)published a joint declaration explicitly backing the policy of the Chancellor and the government to secure and control Europes external borders.

The militarization of Europe and the brutal crackdown on refugees are directly connected to an intensification of attacks on the working class. In Berlin, Oreskovic stressed that the Croatian government is a reform government, which aims to improve the investment climate in general, pay back debt and reduce the budget deficit to below 3 percent, while fulfilling the Maastricht criteria. He hoped to intensify cooperation with Germany.

Oreskovic lined up demonstratively behind Merkel. Croatia and Germany are partner countries in the EU and Nato, and he was definitely prepared to support a European solution. We must be prepared to support the Greeks.

He hinted that such support did not only consist of 700 million in aid already agreed, but may also include the use of soldiers. If we need such an option, then the police will have to protect our border, and if necessary, maybe the military, he explained.
Barack Obama spoke Thursday to an audience at the United Community Center on the south side of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The president came to congratulate Milwaukee on beating out 19 other cities by signing up the greatest proportion of its residents for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for coverage in 2016.

With the Healthy Communities Challenge, the White House targeted 20 of the nations poorest citiesincluding Detroit, Philadelphia, Chicago and Milwaukeeto sign up people for health insurance under the program commonly known as Obamacare. Milwaukees prize for winning was a visit by the president.

Obamas remarks were notable for both their cynicism in painting the ACA as a great boon to the health and wellbeing of residents in Milwaukee and other communities across the U.S., as well as for what he purposefully omitted to say. Listening in, one would never have suspected that he was speaking in Americas fifth most impoverished big city, which has been devastated by deindustrialization, unemployment and low wages.

Milwaukee won the competition by signing up about 89,000 people in the area for both new and renewed Obamacare coverage for 2016. Health care is not a privilege for the few, but should be a right for all people, the president said. He told his audience, Youre proof that the Affordable Care Act works.

But the presidents argument that signups for Obamacare prove that the law champions health care as a right for all people is undermined by an examination of ACA plans both in Wisconsin and across the country. What quality of medical services are people receiving and what are they paying for it? And how is the ACA contributing to alleviating the conditions of poverty and suffering, which have led to declining lifespans across the U.S. in broad demographic categories?

Milwaukee had a poverty rate of 29 percent in 2014, according to the U.S. Census. The poverty rate among African-Americans was 39.9 percent, and 31.8 percent among Hispanics. More than 42 percent of the citys children live below the poverty line, defined as $24,008 for a family of four in 2014.

The ACAs individual mandate requires people without health insurance from either their employer or a government program such as Medicare or Medicaid to purchase insurance from private insurance companies at the exchanges set up under the legislation, or pay a tax penalty. Under the ACA, low-income individuals and families receive modest subsidies to go toward the premiums.

It is likely that some of those uninsured Milwaukeeans who have yet to sign up for ACA coverage are exempt from the finesand remain uninsuredbecause they qualify for an economic hardship exemption due to poverty.

Obama touted the affordability of the plans on offer in Wisconsin, saying, Most folks shopping have found that they can buy a plan for less than $75 a month. And a quick search on Wisconsins ACA exchange did indeed find that a family of four with a household income of $30,000 living in the vicinity of the United Community Center would receive subsidies that covered all or most of monthly premiums for the least expensive bronze plans.

The president did not, however, refer to the reality facing many families who are buying coverage: staggering deductibles. In the plan cited above for a family on Milwaukees south side, the deductiblethe amount that must be paid out of pocket before all but certain essential medical tests and services are coveredwas $10,000!

A study by Freedom Partners, which opposes Obamacare from the right as akin to socialized medicine, found that deductibles for ACA plans have risen in 41 states this year, with 17 of those states experiencing deductible increases in the double digits. For Wisconsin as a whole, bronze plan deductibles rose an average of $482, with deductibles across all plans rising by an average of $477.

The truth behind these figures is that low-income families insured through these high-deductible plans will more likely than not be forced to self-ration, forgoing needed medical services because they cannot afford to pay for them out of pocket before coverage kicks in.

While Obama did not mention this inconvenient reality, he did insist that The Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, is saving lives and its saving money. In an admission that the aim of the legislation is to cut costs, he said that the ACA is forcing hospitals to work on quality of care as opposed to quantity. He repeated the spurious claim that better health care could be achieved through government, corporations and health care providers spending less.

Obama also attempted to directly link what he described as a steady economic recovery in the U.S. since the Great Recession to Obamacare. He claimed that 14 million new jobs had been created since the ACA was signed into law six years ago this month.

Such statements are cold comfort to residents of Milwaukee, who as part of Americas Rust Beltincluding Detroit; Cleveland, Ohio; Buffalo, New York and other citieshave been ravaged by decades of deindustrialization. Manufacturing jobs in the cityonce home to the Pabst Blue Ribbon brewery, the American Motors Company, and the Allis Chalmers agricultural equipment manufacturerhave declined by more than 75 percent from their peak in the 1960s.

Similar to Obamas recent visit to the Detroit auto showin which he praised the alleged comeback of Michigan and its auto industry in the midst of the Flint water crisis, the contract struggle in auto and the crumbling of Detroits schools and infrastructurethe presidents visit to Milwaukee was a cynical maneuver aimed at shoring up his support among the ruling elite as a defender of big business and the banks.

In his last year in office, Obama particularly seeks to defend the legacy of his signature domestic program, the ACA, the aim of which is to cut costs for private insurers, corporations and the government, while rationing health care for the vast majority of Americans.

The author also recommends:

Milwaukee, Wisconsin: The social crisis in Americas Rust Belt

[17 July 2014]

Escalating Michigan crisis overwhelms Obamas visit to Detroit

[21 January 2016]
Germanys Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe opened a three-day oral hearing on Tuesday into the banning of the neo-fascist National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD). The Bundesrat, the representative body of state governments at federal level, applied for the ban in 2013.

A previous attempt to ban the right-wing extremist party failed in 2003 because so many intelligence agents were found to be in its leadership that the court considered their presence to be an immovable barrier to a fair hearing. At the time, the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, and the German government joined with the Bundesrat in supporting the ban.

The banning of the NPD is supported by all parties in the Bundestag, from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU)/Christian Social Union (CSU) to the SPD, the Greens and the Left Party. The Bundesrat was represented in court by, among others, Saxonys state premier Stanislaw Tillich (CDU), Bavarias Horst Seehofer (CSU), and Baden-Wurttembergs Winfried Kretschmann (Greens).

If the Constitutional Court decides to ban the NPD, it will be the third time a party has been banned in the history of the Federal Republic, and the first in 60 years. In 1952, the neo-Nazi Socialist Reich Party (SRP), and in 1956, the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) were banned.

The case is based on article 21 of Germanys Basic Law, which states that parties shall be unconstitutional, if by reason of their aims or the behaviour of their adherents, [they] seek to undermine or abolish the free democratic basic order or to endanger the existence of the Federal Republic of Germany. Germanys highest court can only reach a decision with the votes of six of its eight judges.

According to a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights, proportionality must also be considered. According to this, the intentions or goals of a party are not sufficient for a ban; it must be capable of actually realising its unconstitutional goals.

The supporters of a ban justify this assault on the constitutionally guaranteed rights of freedom of opinion and organisation by arguing that the NPD cultivates an anti-Semitic worldview close to National Socialism and provokes an atmosphere of fear with marches against refugees, anti-immigrant agitation and threats on local politicians.

Such positions, they further argue, cannot be supported with state funds. The NPD, which currently has representation in the Mecklenburg-Pomerania state parliament and in several municipalities, and until 2014 had been represented in the Saxony parliament for 10 years, has obtained millions through the state funding of parties.

Heribert Prantl, the head of the Suddeutsche Zeitungs domestic affairs desk, who has been especially vigorous in his support for an NPD ban, justified this by arguing that protection for a party ends where the protection of people who are victims of that partys actions begins, and when right-wing extremist agitation encourages right-wing extremist violence.

Constitutional Court President Andreas Vokuhle described a party ban at the beginning of the hearing as both a sharp and double-edged sword which must be used with caution: it limits freedom so as to ensure freedom. A sensitive problem of the free legal order was involved because freedom can be abused to abolish freedom and thus turned against itself.

Such attempts to portray the proceedings in Karlsruhe as a careful and difficult balancing act between democratic principles, on the one hand, and the protection of freedom and the vulnerable, on the other, obscure its real character.

A ban of the NPD would be reactionary in every sense: it would not weaken the right-wing extremist tendencies in society, but strengthen them; it would set a precedent for the suppression of all, especially left-wing, opposition; and it would strengthen the states repressive apparatus, a key source of right-wing, authoritarian developments. This is demonstrated by considerations of principle, as well as the current case and lessons from German history.

Strengthening of authoritarian tendencies

Such a drastic limitation of democratic rights as represented by the banning of a party always strengthens right-wing and authoritarian tendencies even when it is initially directed against a right-wing extremist organisation. Three years ago, the Partei fur Soziale Gleichheit declared in a statement entitled Why we reject a state ban of the neo-fascist NPD:

The banning of a political party represents a serious breach of the democratic rights of the working class. As masses of people turn their back on official politics because they feel they are not represented by any of the parties in the Bundestag, the ruling elite is reacting by attacking the right of assembly and setting itself up as arbiter of which parties people may or may not support.

History has repeatedly shown that, in the final analysis, such curbs of democratic rights only strengthen and encourage the most right-wing and reactionary sections of society. The workers movement, however, is weakened, because it needs democracy and freedom like air to breathe.

This assessment has since been confirmed.

The failure of the first NPD ban in 2003 showed how closely the state apparatus and right-wing extremist movement are intertwined. It was revealed at the time that 30 of 200 leading NPD officials, more than one in seven, worked for the intelligence services.

The agents were not only active as informers, they carried out leading functions in the NPD with financial support from the state. In North Rhine-Westphalia, for example, NPD chair Udo Holtmann and his deputy Wolfgang Frenz both worked for the domestic intelligence service. The Constitutional Court rejected the application to ban the party at the time with the revealing justification that the NPD was essentially a state organisation.

To enable the bringing of a new case to ban the NPD, all intelligence agents in the NPD leadership had to be abandoned or withdrawn. The Constitutional Court laid great significance on this point, demanding testimonies from the interior ministers at state and federal level in written form.

Significantly, the NPD partially tore itself apart with internal quarrels during the period in which the agents were withdrawn. Over the last five years alone, it has changed its chairman four times and lost considerable influence. It only avoided financial bankruptcy because the federal administrative court waived half of a fine of over a million euros for a false report by the party on its finances.

The suspicion is thus suggested that the agents, in close collaboration with their supervisors in the intelligence agencies, formed the organisational and political backbone of the party and held it together.

The crisis of the NPD has in no way led to a decline of right-wing extremism in Germany. Quite the contrary: Organisations like Pegida and AfD, thriving on the anti-refugee agitation whipped up by politicians and the media, have in part or entirely adopted the NPDs politics. Many former and current NPD members are involved in these organisationspotentially also agents that have been withdrawn from the NPD. NPD members are also found in new neo-Nazi parties such as the Right and the III Way, which are more militant than the NPD.

If the NPD is in fact banned, it will not mean the suppression of the neo-Nazi scene, but rather a clearing of the decks in the right-wing swamp and a reorganisation of the extreme right under pressure from, and with the assistance of, the state.

The authoritarian dangers bound up with a ban of the NPD are also illustrated by the high-handed attitude of the court. The eight judges of the second chamber in this case are the court of first and last instance. They are subject to no control. Yet they are not politically neutral. Representatives of the established parties are here deciding which parties will be allowed to compete in elections and which will not.

Constitutional Court Judge Peter Muller (CDU), who is leading the proceedings as court reporter, was state premier in Saarland until 2011. In this position, he spoke out strongly and clearly against the NPD. As interior minister in the state of Thuringia, another judge, Peter Huber (CSU/CDU), even published a pamphlet against the NPD in 2010. In normal legal proceedings, both judges would have had to recuse themselves. But not in the NPD case. The judges also have the last word when it comes to determining their own impartiality. They brushed aside a motion from the NPDs lawyer claiming a conflict of interest.

Historical precedents

There are several precedents in history where bans on parties initially directed against right-wing extremist organisations were used to suppress the workers movement.

When a right-wing extremist murdered Foreign Minister Walther Rathenau under the Weimar Republic in 1922, the protection of the republic law was passed. This established the legal basis for the dissolution of organisations hostile to the constitution and the persecution of anti-constitutional statements. This measure was used overwhelmingly against the left. It did not prevent, but rather encouraged, Hitlers rise to power. Under the Nazis, judges who during the Weimar Republic had used it to persecute communists, Social Democrats and trade unionists continued to do so.

In 1952, the banning of the fascist SRP served to prepare the ban of the KPD. It was aimed at creating the impression that the state not only took action against the left but also the right. Only three days after the application to ban the SRP, the application to ban the KPD was filed with the Constitutional Court. However, the KPD case lasted until 1956.

Ultimately, the judges did not confine themselves to a political ban on the KPD, but also confiscated its finances and those of many members, condemned hundreds of communists to long prison terms (some stood before the same judges who had imprisoned them under the Nazis) and ensured that they lost their jobs and were blacklisted in their professions.

The Stalinists were deeply discredited by that point due to the suppression of the uprisings in East Germany and Hungary. But the ban was not directed against Stalinism. It aimed to intimidate all who dared to call capitalism into question.

The case to ban the NPD has a similar purpose. Its main task is to newly define the criteria, under conditions of deepening social and political tensions, under which a political party can be banned and suppressed. The initial target is the NPD, but it will ultimately be used against any political organisation or movement opposed to the capitalist system.
The Sydney Catchment Authority (SCA), which oversees the dams, water catchments and the overall health of water supplied to Australias largest city, has axed five out of six of its senior scientists jobs.

Those to lose their positions include the director of science, two scientists specialising in microbiology and catchment management, and the principal scientist for physical chemicals. Another senior scientific testing position has been downgraded to an advisory role.

Academics and water management experts have denounced the cuts, which wipe out decades of water monitoring expertise. They have warned that the decision could lead to a serious degradation of water supplies to Sydneys 4.5 million residents.

Last year the New South Wales (NSW) state government merged the SCA with the State Water Corporation, which is responsible for rural and regional water in NSW, to form WaterNSW. The new agency has eliminated over 80 jobs, including those of the five senior scientists, as well as project management personnel, administrative workers, senior economists and engineers, during the past six months.

None of the unions or professional organisations covering these workersthe Australian Professionals, the Australian Services Union or the Community Public Sector Unionhas issued a statement opposing this job destruction or warned of its implications.

University of NSW Associate Professor Stuart Khan, a water contamination expert, told the Sydney Morning Herald that the job destruction was the worst thing to happen [to water management] in decades  It will take one more emergency  to remind us what a stupid mistake this is.

The newspaper reported that four scientists from WaterNSWs Penrith facility, in Sydneys western suburbs, decided to take redundancy packages after being told that their responsibilities would be significantly diminished and their annual salaries cut by up to $50,000.

The SCA was established in 1999 by the state Labor government after dangerous chlorine resistant pathogensGiardia and Cryptosporidiumwere discovered in the Warragamba Dam, Sydneys main water supply (see: Damning documents in Sydney water contamination scandal).

The SCAs task was to monitor water quality in the catchment and deal with possible biological and chemical contaminants, including those from the agricultural and coal mining industries that may degrade water supplies. The Sydney catchment area has 21 dams and covers more than 16,000 square kilometres of land in the south and west of the metropolitan area, including several large towns.

WaterNSW management last week declared that the job cuts were part of structural changes at the agency, designed to achieve greater efficiency. NSW Water Minister Niall Blair insisted there would be no deterioration in Sydneys water quality or water safety monitoring in the state.

Blairs assurances are worthless. The job destruction is a cost-cutting measure to make the water industry a more attractive proposition for privatisation. Finance industry corporations and others seeking to profit from any sell off of the industry regard senior scientists and others involved in the evaluation of water catchment areas as an impost on potential profits.

Over the past two decades consecutive governments throughout Australia have sold off or corporatised various state-owned assetselectricity, gas, airlines, public transport, insurance and other key industries. The privatisation agenda was set in train by the Hawke and Keating federal Labor governments from 1983 to 1996 and carried forward by federal and state governmentsLabor and Liberal-National Coalition alikebacked by the trade unions.

While the water industry is one of the last remaining state-owned and run essential services, it is being systematically undermined in line with growing demands from the finance industry in Australia and internationally.

State governments have increasingly contracted out maintenance and other key aspects of the water industry, including large capital worksdams, desalination plants and other facilitiesto the private sector. Between 2010 and 2013, Sydney Water, the state-owned agency that delivers Sydneys water, slashed 450 jobs, including by outsourcing 135 maintenance positions at six Sydney locations.

In December 2013, the federal governments Infrastructure Australia released a paper identifying 10 Australian water assets that could be privatised at an estimated enterprise value of $37.5 billion. It recommended Sydney Water be sold off. Other calls have been made for the privatisation of the Queensland Bulk Water Supply Authority, the Water Corporation of Western Australia and South Australia SA Water.

Former Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Graeme Samuel last year called for all Australian governments to consider privatising water assets.

There is no logical reason why governments need to own the maintenance companies that maintain the supply of water to customers, Samuel told the Australian Financial Review. They dont need to own the companies that install the pipes, they dont need to own the pipes, they dont need to own the dams, they can all be owned by the private sector 

Encouraged by the unions, which have rubberstamped outsourcing and other privatisation measures, NSW Liberal Premier Mike Bairds government announced plans in 2015 to sell off another $20 billion in public assets.

Late last year, the NSW government moved to privatise the last remaining state-owned electricity assets (see: Australian state government sells power generator for next to nothing) and passed legislation ending Sydney Waters monopoly.

The NSW government is currently investigating private involvement in the states 28 wastewater facilities and last year the state-owned Hunter Water Authority, north of Sydney, outsourced the maintenance and operation of its 25 treatment plants to the multinational company Veolia.

The elimination of water scientists jobs is another step toward privatisation of this essential service and will be followed by further job cuts.

* * *

The World Socialist Web Site spoke this week to one senior scientist whose job was axed. Concerned about any future victimisation, the scientist wished to remain anonymous. He began by explaining the impact of the SCAs merger into WaterNSW.

We hoped that the SCAs science component would not just be preserved but expanded. We wanted the lessons learnt from the Sydney water crisis of 1998, not just about monitoring Giardia and Cryptosporidium and that sort of thing, but our scientific understanding of the catchment, modelling, downstream river movements and other important processes to be applied across the state. Instead of that we were told that it was necessary to improve efficiency and they cut work on catchment, environment and science.

This is really wrong, not just because I lost my job, but because the skill levels have declined and this is going to have an impact on the community. It may not happen straight away but as soon as there is a drought, major bushfires or something else, it will open up the catchment to all sorts of issues and create another water crisis.

In the past there was a multiple barrier approach to water safety: catchment, river, reservoir and treatment. This has been mostly reduced to the water treatment barrier. The science component has been heavily cutfrom a 15-member science program group to a 6-member groupwhich means we dont have the knowledge base, and important development projects will not be carried out.

Asked about NSW Water Minister Blairs reassurances that there would be no degradation of water quality or frontline services, the scientist said: Of course he says that, but if there are serious problems in the catchment areas caused by mining, coal seam gases, bacteria or even a big bushfiretherell be nobody to deal with it.

We were overworked, in some cases doing the work of three people, but we kept things under control. Now there are none. If something happens in ten months, who will be responsible? No one. The water minister and other politicians who have destroyed peoples lives will probably be gone and whoever is left will say, Oh dear, mistakes have been made and we have to change this.

In this industry there has to be a proactive approach. Its about high capacity knowledge development and preparation for the safety of the entire community. The disappearance of five scientists is not going to produce an immediate collapse, but its like a building. If you remove five pillars from the building it will stand until there is heavy wind or a flood and then it will collapse.

Water quality advisors are needed, not just for day-to-day operations but to look at trends. Previously we were dealing with the Sydney catchment area. Those that are left have to deal with the whole state. More toxins and other things are being disposed into the catchment areas and they will not be properly monitored.

At the end of the day, SCA had a $120 million operating budget. The scientists they cut probably cost about $1 million per year and the catchment people might take it up to about $3 million, which is probably less than 2 percent of the budget.

Im not interested in scare-mongering or exaggerating, and Im not opposed to change, but weve gone back by about 20 years and Im worried and disturbed about it. The people still there will work very hard but standards will drop and this is going to produce a problem sooner or later and people need to be warned about it.

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Sydneys water crisisa systemic failure

[11 September 1998]
The UK Conservative governments immigration policies are exerting mounting pressure on the already stretched resources of the National Health Service (NHS).

Set up to be an Independent, non-statutory, non-time limited, non-departmental public body that advises the government on migration issues, the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) is anything but independent. Last year, Prime Minister David Camerons Conservatives asked the MAC to look into ways of restricting the most popular route of workers into the UKthe Tier 2 (skilled workers) visa.

Many nurses from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) would fall into this category. Since 2011, the Tier 2 visa system has an annual cap of only 20,700 visas that can be issued. The rich can come and go as they please under the Tier 2 visa system, as anyone earning over 150,000 is exempt from the cap.

Nursing was placed onto the shortage occupation list for Tier 2 visa entry in November 2015 by the MAC, which is supposed to fast-track visa applications. However, the Royal College of Nursing recently released figures showing that 2,341 nurses were refused the right to work in the UK last year alone. This exposed the fact that placing nursing on the shortage occupation list has been nothing but a cynical gesture.

Any worker hoping to gain employment in the UK with a Tier 2 visa must already have a job and be sponsored by his or her employer, who pays a fee. In the case of the NHS, it supplied workers with a job offer (nursing) and sponsorship and had actively recruited from the shortage occupation list. But, at the last hurdle, many nurses had their visa application denied.

NHS hospitals were relying on these nurses to take up the strain caused by a chronic lack of staffing. An example is the high-profile Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge, which was placed into special measures in 2015 by the QCC (Quality Care Commission), due to concerns over serious staff shortages. Addenbrookes had over half of the visas it applied for denied (66 of 123).

Between April and November 2015, East Lancashire Hospitals NHS was hit with the highest number of refusals300 out of 300 applications.

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals and North Cumbria University Hospitals both had around 240 refusals. The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kings Lynn had more than half its requests refused, with 157 applications made and 82 denied. Central Manchester University Hospitals had 195 applications and 75 refusals. Bedford Hospital applied for 150 visas and had 45 refused, and Luton and Dunstable Hospital had 31 applications and 15 visas refused.

These numbers stack up as a stark reminder of the cuts that have ravaged the NHS. In total, the NHS has lost out on the hiring of more than 1,000 desperately needed trained nurses due to this immigration policy.

What is posed is not a short-term staffing crisis, however, as a six-year employment limit is placed upon applicants of the Tier 2 visa, before they have to leave the UK. The final blow comes in the form of the 35,000 minimum pay packet that a worker must be in receipt of if he or she is to obtain a visa. No ordinary nurse can hope to be paid this wage under the regime of austerity, where nurses pay has fallen by 14 percent in real terms since 2010.

Cameron was unabashed in spouting nationalist rhetoric to justify restricting visas in June 2015 when he said, As part of our one-nation approach, pushed forward by my Immigration Taskforce, we have asked the Migration Advisory Committee to advise on what more can be done to reduce levels of work migration from outside the EU. [emphasis added]

Seven thousand fewer nurses came to the UK in 2014-2015 compared with 2003-2004, according to Christie & Co, a consultancy.

Cameron is bowing to the most right-wing elements of his party, seeking to gain favour with supporters of the anti-European Union UK Independence Party. The crisis created in a vastly overstretched NHS benefits the propagandists of the ruling elite who routinely denounce the UKs public health care system as outmoded and inefficient, to argue for a privately run health care system.

Another important factor in the governments policy of refusing visas to overseas nurses was revealed in a Guardian report in January. It detailed how many hospital trusts were being told to cut staffing levels in a bid to save millions of pounds, even though ministers had been giving advice just three years earlier to increase them after the Mid-Staffs care scandal. The Kings Fund estimates that in order to save 1 million, a health care trust would have to sack 25 nurses.

Michael Hodges, director at Christie & Co., described the shortage of nurses as a homegrown problem.  Essentially we are suffering poor workplace planning as a result of austerity measures in recent years.

According to research published in the Sunday Mirror last October, up to 35,000 doctors and nurses4 percent of the total workforcecould be made redundant to cut costs, based on the current expected NHS deficit.

Monitor, which regulates Foundation Trust Hospitals that are semi-independent of NHS control, found that most of their hospitals have been identified as financially challenged. Between April and June of last year, an overall deficit of 930 million was reported across Englands 241 NHS hospital trusts, with three out of four trusts in the red.

In an attempt to quash criticism, a spokesperson for the Department of Health said, We want more home-grown staff in the NHS and our recent changes to student funding will create up to 10,000 more nursing, midwifery and allied health professional training places by 2020.

This is an outright lie. The government is stripping away bursaries from nurses and turning them into student loans. With the spiraling costs of tuition fees and loan repayments, this will only serve to deprive students from a working class background from entering the medical profession without first amassing huge amounts of debt.

The decision to deny working visas to overseas nurses must be opposed by all workers. Cutting staffing levels to demonstrate the government is tough on immigration and is driving down wage costs is incompatible with any conception of public health care. Restricting skilled workers rights to work where there is an urgent demand for their skills demonstrates the callous attitude of the ruling elite towards those who are employed in and use the NHS.

The total dismantling of the NHS is under way, with many hospitals stacking up huge debts with no way of making further savings other than to cut staffing levels to dangerous levels.

For more information visit: nhsfightback.org
The Republican presidential nominee in 2012, Mitt Romney, denounced the partys current presidential frontrunner, billionaire Donald Trump, in a remarkable speech Thursday at Utah State University. In the 20-minute address, broadcast by all the cable networks to a national television audience, Romney called Trump a fraud, a threat to democracy and a man grossly unfit to be president.

The speech lays bare deep divisions within the US ruling class as a whole, which are ripping apart the Republican Party.

Romney, who made his fortune in private equity investing, focused his criticism on Trumps positions on economic and foreign policy. Trumps nationalistic economic policy would instigate a trade war that would raise prices for consumers, kill export jobs, and lead entrepreneurs and businesses to flee America, he said.

Significantly, he criticized Trump from the right on the question of cutting Social Security and Medicare, which Trump claims to oppose. Romney declared that Trumps refusal to reform entitlements and to honestly address spending would balloon the deficit and the national debt.

Romney ridiculed Trumps claims that he would put his business acumen to work for the US economy as a whole. He asked, And what ever happened to Trump Airlines? How about Trump University? And then theres Trump Magazine and Trump Vodka and Trump Steaks, and Trump Mortgage? A business genius he is not.

In terms of foreign policy, Romney warned that Trumps anti-Muslim rhetoric was alienating US allies in the Middle East and helping ISIS, and he attacked Trumps professed admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

His language was particularly scathing on Trumps persona, the bullying, the greed, the showing off, the misogyny, the absurd third-grade theatrics.

Romney concluded with a warning of the authoritarian and antidemocratic direction Trump would lead the country, although he stopped short of using the word fascist:

Mr. Trump is directing our anger for less than noble purposes. He creates scapegoats of Muslims and Mexican immigrants, he calls for the use of torture and for killing the innocent children and family members of terrorists. He cheers assaults on protesters. He applauds the prospect of twisting the Constitution to limit First Amendment freedom of the press. This is the very brand of anger that has led other nations into the abyss.

It is unprecedented in US history for the titular leader of one of the two major capitalist parties to go on national television to denounce his likely successor in such terms. With this declaration, Romney would seem to have burned any bridges to supporting Trump if he goes on to win the Republican nomination.

Trumps rise has been fueled by his demagogic and empty appeals to widespread anger, under conditions in which the Democratic Party and what passes for the left in American politics, no less than the Republicans, have pursued a policy entirely dedicated to the enrichment of Wall Street. The immense tensions within the United States are provoking sharp conflicts within the ruling class itself and threatening to break apart political institutions that have existed for generations.

Romneys remarks followed the issuing Wednesday of an open letter signed by 95 Republican foreign policy experts denouncing Trump and declaring they could not support him in the November election if he won the nomination. The group consists of some of the most ruthless defenders of the interests of American imperialism, but they attacked Trump for advocating trade war and torture, and for using hateful, anti-Muslim rhetoric that endangers the safety and Constitutionally guaranteed freedoms of American Muslims.

The signatories include former Bush administration officials like Michael Chertoff, Eric Edelman, Peter Feaver, Frances Townsend, Philip Zelikow and Robert Zoellick, as well as academic and media advocates of the war with Iraq like Max Boot, Eliot Cohen, Niall Ferguson and Robert Kagan.

As this list of war criminals and their apologists demonstrates, those figures in the Republican Party opposed to Trump are just as reactionary as the billionaire demagogue. They object to his social demagogy, however limited, because the next administration, whether Republican or Democratic, will be tasked with the destruction of what little remains of a social safety net in the United States.

They fear that by his inflammatory language and bullying tactics, a Trump nomination, let alone a Trump presidency, could provoke political explosions both internationally and within the United States.

Romneys critique of Trump notably leaves out entirely the long history of Republican Party collaboration with and encouragement of racist and antidemocratic forces, going back to the southern strategy of Richard Nixon, which sought to co-opt the George Wallace movementthe political figure whom Trump most closely resembles in his style and political focus, if not biography.

Romney called on Republican voters to support any of the remaining three candidates opposing TrumpTexas Senator Ted Cruz, Florida Senator Marco Rubio or Ohio Governor John Kasichvoting tactically for whichever was best positioned to defeat Trump in their state. In effect, he was calling for the decision on a nominee to be thrown into the Republican National Convention set for July 15-18.

Romneys denunciation of Trump received immediate support by leading figures in the Republican Party establishment, including Senator John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee in 2008. There was a wave of approving commentary in the American media.

Both Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan have declared that they would support Trump if he wins the nomination. Most big financial backers of the Republican Party have held back from any direct confrontation with Trump, led by the Koch brothers, the billionaires who have already poured $400 million into Republican campaigns for 2016. A Koch spokesman reaffirmed after Romneys speech that they would take no position in the presidential primaries.

Romneys speech dominated media coverage leading up to the debate Thursday night in Detroit, where the four remaining Republican candidates took the stage in the Fox Theatre. The first question posed to Trump was to respond to Romneys remarks, which he did in typical fashion, attacking Romney as a failed candidatewho should have beaten President Obama very easily.

Neither his three rivals nor the trio of moderators from Fox News sought to press the issue, and Romney went unmentioned for the rest of the debate. But the final question posed to all the candidates was whether they would commit themselves to support the Republican nominee. Cruz, Rubio and Kasich all pledged to support Trump if he won, while Trump pledged to support the eventual nominee if he lost.

The entire debate consisted of efforts by the four candidates to strike the most right-wing possible posture on every question raisedimmigration, terrorism, social issues like gay marriage and abortion and military spending. There was little or no discussion about the actual conditions of life facing hundreds of millions of working people.

When, after 90 minutes of a debate in Detroit, the interviewers finally asked the obligatory question about the lead poisoning of children in Flint and the mass unemployment and deindustrialization throughout southeast Michigan, the candidates had difficulty disguising their lack of interest in the subject. They either made perfunctory statements of sympathy, or, in the case of Cruz, took the opportunity to launch into a diatribe against any interference with the operation of the market.

In their prepared summations at the end of the debate, Trump, Rubio and Kasich repeated familiar, empty phrases. Cruz, however, again struck the most openly right-wing stance, making an extraordinary appeal to soldiers in the military and to police officers to support his campaign, pledging to end all restrictions on their use of force, and, in the case of the police, to have their backs against any criticism of the wave of police killings of unarmed citizens.

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What political conclusions must be drawn from Trumps Super Tuesday?

[3 March 2016]
The World Socialist Web Site Autoworker Newsletter spoke with Fiat Chrysler workers at the Warren Truck Assembly plant in suburban Detroit Thursday about the political significance of the rise of Republican frontrunner Donald Trump and the dangers this posed to the working class.

Hundreds of workers during the afternoon shift change took copies of the Newsletter, which included the March 3 WSWS perspective What political conclusions must be drawn from Trumps Super Tuesday?

The WSWS spoke to workers just hours before the Republican debate in downtown Detroit, and a day before Trump was set to appear at a campaign rally at Macomb Community College, also located in the working-class suburb of Warren. Michigans primaries will be held on March 8.

As workersblack, white and immigrantrushed into the plant to start their shifts, many expressed their hostility to the right-wing candidate. Very few identified themselves as Trump supporters. One who did, a woman worker, repeated the candidates visceral hatred of immigrants for supposedly causing crime and high unemployment.

Several workers who stopped understood that Trump was trying to exploit widespread social discontent over falling living standards, job insecurity and a general distrust of the government and other official institutions.

People are looking at all of these political insiders in Washington and they are looking for change, Dean, a worker with two decades at Chrysler, said. But Trump has billions. None of these politicians speak for the working class.

Donna, another veteran worker, said, People are angry. They want a bully. He doesnt know anything about politics. Its never going to change until we change it. But they keep blinding us with all their different agendas. They never think about the fact that with no wages, no pensions, no health care, who will buy the products that will make them richer?

There are a lot of people that are angry, ignorant and fearful, Keith said. Another worker said, Trump never had to work a day in his life. Now all of sudden hes worried about us? Thats a laugh.

Hes a fool. Somebody has to be behind this so when Trump drops out the Republican candidates left will look more reasonable, Evan, a young worker, said.

The hostility to Trumps racist and xenophobic demagogy did not translate into support for the Democrats. People are fed up, and they dont believe any of the politicians, a worker said as he rushed by. They want changebut that is how Obama got in.

There is no recovery, another worker said. The politicians and the media say the economy is doing great but theyre making money, and theyre not feeling it like we are.

The only good thing about the Trump campaign, Chuck, another veteran worker, said, is that he is smoking out all the racist idiots.

Chuck was angry with the Democrats too, though he said he planned to vote for Bernie Sanders. A WSWS reporter pointed out that Sanders was trying to keep workers tied to the Democrats, who, no less than the Republicans, are controlled by the billionaires. The Democrats also promoted identity politics, the reporter said, and claimed that the problems in America would be solved by elevating more blacks, Hispanics and women into positions of political and corporate power.

We already have a black president and a black attorney general, Chuck said. That hasnt solved anything.

Chuck, who said he reads the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter, continued, Workers need our own partybut it has to be international. The capitalists are scared of workers getting together. [Fiat Chrysler CEO] Sergio Marchionne thinks that workers are stupid and tries to pit us against each other. But you know what, there is something called the Internet. Workers can get online and see what a worker is making in Germany or another country.

In 1980, President Reagan won the majority of the vote in Macomb County, long a bedroom community of workers known as a union stronghold. At the time, the Republican candidate exploited economic worries over the collapse of the auto industry, and the lack of any alternative presented by the Democrats or the United Auto Workers (UAW), to gain support for his attack on social programs and criminalization of the most oppressed sections of the working class.

The decades-long attack on workers and the endless wars and assaults on democratic rights carried out by both big-business parties have shifted workers and young people in Macomb County, like their counterparts throughout the US, to the left. Child poverty in the mostly white county increased 50 percent between 2005 and 2011. More than 12 percent of the countys residents now live below the official poverty rate.
Europe

UK Eurostar strike threat

Around 100 senior Eurostar staff based at St Pancras station in London are being balloted over the alleged victimization of a union representative. They are members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT). Any strike would be held over the Easter weekend beginning March 25.

Big vote by Scottish council staff in Glasgow to fight pay cuts

Glasgow council workers employed in refuse collection, street cleaning and the parks service have voted by a 95 percent majority on an 80 percent turnout for industrial action including strikes. The members of the GMB union are opposing proposals from Glasgow council to cut pay and conditions after years of pay freezes.

Rally to oppose UK closure of tax offices

The Public and Commercial Services union held a rally outside the House of Commons UK parliament building in London on Tuesday. It was held in protest of the plans by Her Majestys Revenue and Customs (HMRC) tax collecting service to close 137 out of 170 offices across the country. In February, HRMC announced 150 compulsory redundancy notices with more to follow.

CCTV staff in Glasgow to strike

CCTV (closed-circuit television) operators working for Community Safety Glasgow (CSG), an arms-length organization of Glasgow City Council, are to strike next week. The 18 members of the UNISON union are protesting against only receiving a basic 8.25 an hour for working 12 hour shifts. Other staff working similar shift patterns for CSG and Glasgow Council receive an additional 7,500 a year bonus. The CCTV staff are seeking parity.

Ballot of Scottish lecturing staff ends Friday

A ballot of college lecturers in Scotland launched by the Educational Institute of Scotland-Further Education Lecturers Association (EIS-FELA) on February 12 closes today. The lecturers across 16 colleges are seeking a pay increase and pay equality across the colleges. Lecturers have been awarded a 1 percent pay rise.

Strike at Icelandic aluminium smelter

The planned strike by workers at the Rio Tinto Alcan aluminium smelting plant in Straumsvik, Iceland went ahead February 23. Those striking are from the export section. Aluminium smelting continued, but the company was not able to ship finished products. As the strike began, pickets prevented Rio Tinto management members trying to carry out their work duties loading aluminium onto boats in the harbour.

Negotiations between the Hlif union and Alcan management have been taking place since 2014. A strike threat in the smelting department last December was called off as workers were persuaded to continue negotiations.

Georgian miners call off strike

Around 1,000 coal miners working at the Dzidziguri and Mendeli pits near the city of Tkibuli have returned to work after more than two weeks on strike. They were seeking a substantial wage increase and better working conditions. The value of their wages has diminished due to the devaluation of the Georgian currency, the lari. The rate of income tax they pay also increased at the beginning of the year.

On February 24, the miners stormed the headquarters of the company owning the two pits. Following talks between the strike committee and management, the miners agreed to end their strike. Most miners will receive a 5 percent pay rise with extra increases for those in high-risk roles.

Dublin bus drivers in dispute over radio ban

Bus drivers in the Irish capital of Dublin will boycott the use of the Dublin Port Tunnel from Tuesday next week. The tunnelone of the longest in Europeis some three miles long. The drivers, members of the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) are taking the action to protest the ban on drivers using radios in their cabs. They have defied the ban and are continuing to use their radios. They have been threatened with disciplinary action.

NBRU has called for the boycott of the tunnel, as a ban on use of radios would mean drivers in the tunnel would be unable to get notification of emergencies happening in the tunnel.

Irish retail staff oppose pay cuts

The 14,000 staff working for the retail giant Tesco may be balloted by their union Mandate if the company pushes ahead with plans to cut pay.

Tesco plans to bring in new contracts for around 1,000 long-serving staff in April.

Protest by Turkish car workers halts production

Car production workers at the Oyak-Renault plant in Bursa, which is jointly owned by Renault, walked out on Monday after the company dismissed 15 employees via text message. They continued their strike and protest on Tuesday. Police were called and 15 were arrested. The strikers are demanding reinstatement and a pay increase.

Middle East

Egyptian doctors continue struggle over police attack

Egyptian doctors, including those in public hospitals, organised in the Doctors Syndicate, last week stepped up their action by refusing to charge for medical care. This follows a series of protests throughout February in defiance of a ban.

The protests result from an alleged attack by police on two doctors at Matariya teaching hospital on January 28. The doctors say they were attacked after refusing to provide a falsified report on the injuries of two police officers that attended the hospital.

Iranian sugarcane workers protest privatisation plans

On Sunday, over 500 staff at the Haft Tapeh sugarcane factory held a protest outside the companys office to protest unpaid wages, for a wage increase and to oppose plans to privatise the plant, which workers fear would eventually lead to closure.

Strike threat by Tunisian telecom staff

Staff working for Tunisie Telecom have threatened to go on strike at the end of the month if the company does not abide by a previous agreement. The agreement was signed in May last year and comprised a backdated pay and bonus increase.

Africa

Nigerian energy workers give strike warning

Workers at the Nigerian Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IEDC) gave a seven-day notice to strike on Monday. They are seeking the reinstatement of 400 workers who were recently sacked. The National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) accused the IEDC of sacking them without following an agreed procedure.

The Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) is supporting the NUEE and says if the 400 sacked workers are not reinstated within seven days they will cut gas supplies to the company and stop electricity production.

NUPENG members employed by the Nigerian Gas Company are also demanding a 16-month backlog of wages be paid to the electricity employees, and that the government intervene over redundancy payments owed to 5,000 workers, sacked under a previous termination program.

Nigerian energy workers threaten walkout

Members of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), at the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NNRA) issued a three-day strike warning on Monday. It follows a 14-day period in which management tried to resolve outstanding issues.

The issues include the dictatorial methods employed by the company director general, victimization of union representatives, ignoring negotiated agreements, lack of promotion, and the failure to provide equipment to measure radiation levels. The union accuses the company of arbitrarily cutting pay and recruiting staff in violation of normal procedure.

Strike by Nigerian council staff

Workers in six councils in Nigerias Federal Capital Territories (FCT) resumed their strike on Monday after promises to pay three months outstanding wages were not honoured. One worker, speaking anonymously to the Daily Trust, said elections due to take place on March 19 would not go ahead as the gates of the Nigerian Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) will remain locked due to the strike.

Nigerian doctors strike threat

Doctors in Osun state have threatened to go out on strike if six months of wage arrears are not paid within the next two weeks. Doctors in the six states of the West Zone are threatening to take solidarity action in support of their Osun colleagues.

The chairperson of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) said the Osun doctors were not being paid the correct rate and were paying higher taxes than their associates elsewhere. The NMA went on to suggest the federal government investigate the practices of Osun state administration.

Strike by South African casual university staff

South African workers at the university in Potchefstroom went on strike last Friday. Workers at the campus of North-West University joined other campus workers across South Africa in striking against casual labour.

They are demanding that all those employed on campus must be direct labour. Over 100 striking casuals are protesting low wages, poor treatment by their contractors and racial discrimination. The strike has been deemed illegal and some workers have already been sacked. Academic functions have continued throughout the strike.

Namibian zinc miners continue strike

Miners at the Ross Pinah Zinc mine in Namibia are continuing their eight-week strike to demand a wage rise and increases in increments.

The Mineworkers Union of Namibia (MUN) have been pressing for a wage increase of 12.5 percent, an allowance of N$2,300 (US$147) for underground work, doubling of medical cover, and an equal bonus system. Although the union has reduced its wage claim and scrapped its demand for underground payment and production bonus, the company increased its sole pay offer from 5 to 5.5 percent. The union said it would not call off the strike unless they come up with something its members can agree on.

Strike by Tanzanian process workers

Tanzanian fish processing workers downed tools at the VicFish Company in Mwanza on Monday demanding a pay increase. Strikers say they have a very low living standard and are demanding an increase from Sh3,850 ($1.76) to over Sh10, 000 ($4.7) in daily allowances. Their other demand is for workers who have been employed for years without an official contract to be made permanent.
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I don't know how it is with you, but for me the shocker of the week was this . Now, look at the photo. Who would be the man hanging on ...
VALDOSTA, GA (WTXL) - The ACLU is looking into filing lawsuits, after nearly 30 black students are kicked out of Donald Trump's campaign rally at Valdosta State University Monday.

The rally was held at VSU's P.E. Complex.

The students, who say they were silently protesting, had tickets to the event, and claim they were kicked out before it even began.

The students say they did nothing wrong, but Valdosta Police say the group was being disruptive, and Trump's campaign asked for the students' removal.

Maya Dillard Smith, executive director of the ACLU of Georgia, says some of those students have reached out to them, claiming they were kicked out and considered a threat because of race: "At a big rally like this, it might be easy to lump everybody together, and say these ones were disruptive theses ones weren't but there doesn't appear to be any evidence that the students in question, the students that were ejected, the students that we have been in communication with, the students that we are considering representing, did anything, in fact."

The ACLU is still investigating the matter. Trump's campaign says they did not know about the incident.
MADISON, Fl. (WTXL) -- Eyes were peeled and hands were clapping for the arrival of the Amtrak train as it traveled across the big bend just a few weeks ago.

And in Madison, the excitement surrounding a possible return to the rails was high. Madison City Commissioner Jim Catron said, "When the inspection train came through here about two weeks ago, there were people from Valdosta, people from Hamilton County, Florida. Down here, they're interested."

Having the Amtrak service back up and running for the City of Madison can bring some notable benefits.

Aside from the nearby Valdosta and Wild Adventures Theme Park, there are other attractions. "You have of course within easy driving distance, the Stephen Foster Cultural Center in White Springs", said Catron. "You have Suwannee River State Park."

The potential economic impact to downtown businesses just blocks away from the train stop has local business owners ready looking forward to its [train] arrival.

"I think it'd be great", said Cindy Poire, owner of Madison Antiques Market and Interiors, "You can't beat foot traffic. You can't beat word of mouth advertising. People who come and they see our downtown, everybody falls in love with it."

Amtrak's return to the area won't come overnight though, with Catron describing the process like it was making sausage: "It's painful to watch but if you want to have the right spices in there, you need to make sure they're added."

When asked about other benefits the Amtrak Service would provide, Catron said that it can help ease traffic during high-volume evacuations if a hurricane ever threatens, saying "Resuming passenger rail would be to provide access for emergency exit. Had that been done at Katrina more than I think it was. You would've had fewer people in difficulty."
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP)  The Florida Supreme Court says an artist can sue UPS in state court over two paintings taken from their shipping tube while in transit and sold at auction.

The court ruled Thursday that artist Ivana Vidovic Mlinar's lawsuit can go to trial, rejecting UPS' argument that federal law applies.

Mlinar didn't purchase insurance in 2005 when she shipped her paintings, "Advice" and "The Messenger," from a Florida package store using UPS. The paintings were headed to a New York City exhibit. She valued them at $30,000.

While the paintings were with UPS, someone opened the shipping tube and removed them. UPS told Mlinar the paintings had been lost. The package store paid her $100.

UPS sold the paintings for an unknown fee to a company that auctioned them.
MORVEN, Ga. (WTXL)--A south Georgia woman is arrested in Morven for having seven pounds of marijuana.

Brooks County deputies say 25-year-old Dahn Pinkney was getting into a vehicle with the pot around 11 a.m. Thursday near Ernest Lawson Park. The Brooks County Sheriff's Office Narcotics Division received information she would be in that area.

Deputies say she's charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and being within a thousand feet of a park.

The Morven Police Department assisted the sheriff's office.
Every incumbent and candidate running for Congress pays lip service to jobs, jobs, jobs. But many of them support trade policies that send jobs, jobs, jobs to low-wage, anti-labor union hell holes abroad. Last June, fast track authority for the TPP narrowly passed in Congress, 218-209 . 190 Republicans and 28 Democrats voted for it. Blue America is backing candidates campaigning against TPP supporters in both parties, namely

 Tim Canova vs Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23)

 Lou Vince vs Steve Knight (CA-25)

 Alan Grayson vs DeSantis and David Jolly (FL-Sen)

 Carol Shea-Porter vs Frank Guinta (NH-01)

 Duwayne Gregory vs Peter King (NY-02)

 Pat Murphy vs Rod Blum (IA-01)

 Dave McTeague vs Kurt Schrader (OR-05)

 Paul Clements vs Fred Upton (MI-06)

Yesterday the Economic Policy Institute released an extensive report on how transpartisan corporate trade policies have been toxic for American workers and how the looming dozen TPP-- being shoved down our throats by both parties' establishments-- could be the worst of all. One of the key points is that the dozen-country agreement will do nothing to restrict the kind of currency manipulation that has driven the deficit between the U.S. and the TPP partners, which translated to a loss of 2 million American jobs (over half in the manufacturing sector).

Currency manipulation acts like a subsidy to the exports of the manipulating country, and a tax on U.S. exports to every country where U.S. exports compete with the currency manipulators exports. In this way, currency manipulation increases U.S. imports, suppresses U.S. exports, and inflates U.S. trade deficits. As past EPI research has shown, currency-manipulation-fueled trade deficits have reduced U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), eliminated millions of U.S. jobs, driven down U.S. wages, and propelled the outsourcing of U.S. jobs to currency manipulators.



Many members of the proposed TPP, including Malaysia, Singapore, and Japan, are known currency manipulators. Others, namely Vietnam, appear to be following the lead of currency manipulators by, for example, acquiring excess foreign exchange reserves to depress the value of their currency. Currency manipulation explains a substantial share of the large, persistent U.S. trade deficit with the 11 other TPP countries that has not only cost millions of U.S. jobs but also increased income inequality and put downward pressure on American wages.







Many members of the proposed TPP, including Malaysia, Singapore, and Japan, are known currency manipulators. Others, namely Vietnam, appear to be following the lead of currency manipulators by, for example, acquiring excess foreign exchange reserves to depress the value of their currency. Currency manipulation explains a substantial share of the large, persistent U.S. trade deficit with the 11 other TPP countries that has not only cost millions of U.S. jobs but also increased income inequality and put downward pressure on American wages. We cant afford a trade agreement that not only allows but would intensify these harmful trends:

 The $177.9 billion U.S. goods trade deficit with the 11 other TPP countries reduced U.S. GDP by $284.6 billion (1.6 percent) and eliminated 2 million jobs in 2015.



 The 2 million jobs lost due to the U.S. goods trade deficit with TPP member countries in 2015 included 418,900 direct jobs in commodity and manufacturing industries that competed with unfairly traded goods from TPP member countries.



 The currency-manipulation-fueled trade deficit with TPP countries in 2015 was also responsible for the loss of 847,200 indirect jobs in supplier industries, and an additional 759,700 respending jobs. These lost respending jobs are jobs that-- in a U.S. economy still suffering from low demand-- would have been supported by the wages of workers who would have had jobs were trade with the TPP member countries balanced.



 The U.S. trade deficit with TPP member countries in 2015 cost 1,057,200 manufacturing jobs (52.2 percent of the jobs lost due to the U.S. trade deficit with TPP member countries). Within manufacturing, by far the largest losses occurred in motor vehicles and parts, which lost 738,300 jobs (36.4 percent of total jobs lost). Other manufacturing industries with large losses include apparel (181,900 jobs lost or displaced, equal to 9 percent of total jobs lost) and computer and electronic parts (163,900 jobs, or 8.1 percent).



 The U.S. trade deficit with TPP member countries was also responsible for significant job losses outside of manufacturing in 2015. Industries that lost jobs include health care and social assistance (204,200 jobs, 10.1 percent); retail trade (142,800 jobs, 7 percent); accommodation and food services (101,800 jobs, 5 percent); finance and insurance (42,700 jobs, 2.1 percent); agricultural industries (41,600 jobs, 2.1 percent), and education services (37,300 jobs, 1.8 percent).



 Each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia lost jobs due to the U.S. trade deficit with TPP member countries in 2015. Net job losses were greatest in California, which lost 227,500 jobs (constituting 1.38 percent of total state employment). Michigan experienced the greatest jobs lost as a share of state employment (5.12 percent).



 In the 10 hardest-hit states (jobs lost as a share of all state jobs), the share of jobs lost due to the U.S. trade deficit with the TPP countries in 2015 ranged from 1.83 percent to 5.12 percent of total state employment.



 Seven of the 10 states with the highest job losses (as a share of total employment) are in the Midwest or Southeast, in states where manufacturing (especially of motor vehicles and parts) predominates: Michigan (214,600 jobs lost, equal to 5.12 percent)... In the 20 congressional districts with the largest shares of jobs lost, net losses ranged from 11,400 to 26,200 jobs, and jobs lost as a share of overall employment ranged from 3.89 percent to 7.66 percent. Michigan had 10 districts in the top 20 job-losing districts.

We asked Paul Clements, the progressive Democrat running for the southwest Michigan seat Fred Upton occupies how he and Upton differ on trade policies. The multimillionaire Republican, whose own family's business (Whirlpool) devastated the area's economy by moving its factories to other countries, has been one of Congress' most loud spoken advocates of off-shoring and outsourcing. He told us that "Poorly negotiated trade deals forced good paying American jobs overseas-- NAFTA alone has cost this country nearly 700,000 jobs. These are good, family-sustaining jobs with benefits and pensions that boost the middle class, but they are sent abroad by the same people who fund Fred Upton's campaigns, then get richer themselves. The TPP is going to be bad for the average person in Michigan and bad for the country. That's why I would vote against it as a member of Congress."





As you can see from the maps below, southwest Michigan (and neighboring northern Indiana) are among the worst victims of the kind of currency manipulation that leads to job losses. Another 9,700 jobs were lost in Upton's district last year.









Another example of a progressive Democrat challenging a Republican who voted for this is Pat Murphy's race against corporate tool Rod Blum in northeast Iowa. Last year the district lost another 5,100 jobs to bad trade policies. Pat, the former Speaker of Iowa's state House of Representatives, told us that "Due to free trade we lost 750 jobs in Marshalltown 2 years ago, so I know the negative affects of these policies firsthand. We need to get rid of trade policies that export jobs to low wage countries and lowering the quality of living for working class Americans. I am strongly against all Free-Trade proposals including the TPP. In Congress, unlike Congressman Blum, I will work to protect our workers and our jobs."





He has a primary against a corporate shill and "ex"-Republican the DCCC is pushing, Monica Vernon. She doesn't have a record on trade but she has a record of making contributions to the Republicans who voted for all the bad policies. I asked Pat about it and he knew just what I mean. "Throughout my life," he said, "I have worked to support candidates and causes that protect Iowa's working families, while my primary opponent, Monica Vernon has supported free-traders like Phil Gramm, Tom Latham and Republican candidates up and down the ballot."





When Fast Track Authority for the TPP came up in Congress last June, Peter King didn't join the 50 Republicans-- including New Yorkers John Katko, Chris Collins, Chris Gibson, Dan Donovan and Long Island's Lee Zeldin-- who stood up for their constituents instead of the special interests who were pushing another in a series of dysfunctional corporate trade pacts that have cost his own parts of Nassau and Suffolk counties thousands of jobs. "Congressman Kings votes last summer for Trade Promotion Authority jeopardized American jobs, plain and simple," said Suffolk County Legislature Presiding Officer DuWayne Gregory, who is challenging U.S. Rep. Peter King in New Yorks 2nd Congressional District. "NAFTA cost New York more than 56,000 jobs, yet my opponent was willing to sacrifice Congresss power to amend a trade deal whose signatories represent 40 percent of the worlds GDP. What does that mean for his constituents? It means Peter King simply cant be trusted to protect Long Island jobs."

Up in New Hampshire, Carol Shea-Porter is well on the way to winning her seat back from Tea Party nut Frank Guinta, who never met a corporate trade policy he didn't love, despite the fact that another 3,400 people lost their jobs to these corporate trade policies last year alone. He was eager to vote for Fast Track and that puts him at odds with the working families of New Hampshire and with Carol. When we asked her a few hours ago, she told us that "As a member of the House Trade Working Group while serving in Congress, I worked on promoting fair trade policies. I support the export of goods and services, not jobs. I never voted for any trade agreement because they were never fair. Bad trade agreements hurt workers, they hurt Main Street businesses, and they hurt our economy."

Blue America was very excited to learn this week that Oregon progressives finally have a legitimate candidate to run against head Blue Dog and TPP booster Kurt Schrader! Dave McTeague, who served 10 years in the state legislature was inspired to jump into the congressional race by Bernie, who he has endorsed, just started campaigning. He told me last night that on February 16th he attended Schraders local town hall meeting where he indicated his support for the TPP "saying it was 'good on the labor side,' which is flatly contradicted by an AFL-CIO report recently issued. After I cited Public Citizens Trade Watch report concerning weak environmental provisions, Mr. Schrader discounted the opposition, saying they were predisposed to oppose the TPP. Schrader's Blue Dogs provided the key votes for the Fast Track approval process, preventing Congress from making changes to the TPP that was negotiated in secret. The TPP raises alarming issues: giving power to multinationals to challenge labor and environmental laws in any TPP countries; biased three member tribunals deciding cases, no standing for workers or unions to bring disputes forward; opening up U.S. markets to goods made in countries with extremely poor labor standards and little to no rights to organize an independent trade union; and so much more. Somebody has to challenge this; which is why I've joined the political revolution that Sen. Sanders has called and decided to challenge Schrader (a four term Blue Dog Democrat) in Oregon's 5th District Democratic primary."

The first time I spoke with Tim Canova, last year, he wanted to talk about the TPP and the fact that his congresswoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, was one of the paid-off Democrats who backs it. Tim called it "a gift to giant corporations that undermines both our national sovereignty and our constitutional framework. Its investor rights provisions would allow wealthy investors to challenge our national, state, and local laws as infringements on their anticipated future profits. These cases would not be decided in U.S. courts but by arbitration judges who regularly represent these same corporations in similar cases. This is exactly whats been happening under similar provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). For instance, TransCanada, an energy giant, recently announced that it would sue the U.S. for $15 billion under these NAFTA provisions for President Obamas decision not to move forward with the Keystone XL pipeline. TPP would expand these investor rights provisions to a dozen countries, thereby undermining laws intended to protect our public health and safety and the environment by shifting the costs of compliance from big corporations to taxpayers. Food labelling laws, such as labelling for genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), would be certainly be challenged, as would a host of measures intended to address climate change. The TPP would also undermine U.S. labor standards and speed up the outsourcing of American jobs to countries that do not respect the most basic human rights and labor rights of their own citizens. In addition, the TPP threatens to raise the price of prescription drugs and other medicines by giving big pharmaceutical corporations new monopoly rights to keep lower cost generic drugs off the market."




Republican presidential candidates Marco Rubio and Donald Trump argue as Ted Cruz and John Kasich listen during the Republican presidential primary debate at Fox Theatre in Detroit on Thursday. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Since taking office, President Reuven Rivlin has made sincere and serious efforts to bring the Arab sector closer. It is not easy. The presidential institution has no executive powers. But the President has moral power. Rivlin's efforts deserve every support. In the past year, the prime minister made statements that made Rivlin, by the grace of propaganda lies, the arch-racist. The truth is somewhat more complex. Netanyahu's statements were not successful. In practice, however, the five-year plan , which includes an investment of billions, proves that the current government is doing more for the Arab sector than any previous government ever did.

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Rivlin sought to link the historic step the government has made and the atmosphere of reconciliation which he is trying to promote. He planned an event to launch the five-year plan. Not just cocktails and burekas. He invited all of the Arab community leaders, senior ministers and general directors from the governmental ministries. Rivlin wanted to seat them around round tables so that unmediated close familiarity will help cooperation and the implementation of the five-year plan. Knesset members were also invited. Jamal Zahalka was the only person who made it clear that he it would not come to the event.

President Reuven Rivlin (Photo: Eli Mendelbaum)

Meanwhile, something else happened. Zahalka and two of his friends from Balad met with the parents of murderers from the last wave of attacks. These people do not represent the Arab sector. This is Balad, a fascist and nationalistic party that identifies with instransigence and murder, and sometimes pretends that it represents the secular part of the Arab sector. Balad is so secular, that it regularly identifies with Hamas, even more so than with the Palestinian Authority. Balad previously called for Abbas to be fired because his cooperation with Israel, while Zoabi accused him of treason.

In the backdrop of that, there are the growing tensions in recent years between the Arab communities leaders and members of Knesset. The community leaders are at the forefront: they are in charge of education, sewage and construction plans. They want and need the cooperation of the ministers and senior officials. Out of loyalty to their positions, they announced they are all intending to attend the event at the President's Residence. They have the opportunity to meet with director-generals who are supposed to implement the five-year plan. They want to be included.

They did all come. The only one who was absent was the head of a community who was in mourning. MKs Zouheir Bahloul from the Zionist Union and Issawi Frej from Meretz also showed up. An hour and a half before the event was to begin, Zahalka decided that he too wanted to be there. Zahalka did not have a change of heart. It's safe to assume that the main reason for him deciding to come was the fact all Arab community leaders were there. Even though it was made clear to Zahalka that his last-minute shenanigan did not meet President Rivlins approval, and that Rivlin did not want him to attend, Zahalka showed up. He was not allowed in. MK Ayman Odeh, in response, decided that he too would not attend the event. In a choice between the Arab community leaders and Balad, the known moderate leader of the Joint List chose Balad.

MK Jamal Zahalka (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)

That is the story. The president wants to promote the five-year plan. He wants the citizens of Israel, including the Arab ones, to have full rights. But he didn't want any provocations. Rivlin sought to bring together those who work for that goal, and stand in the way of those fighting against reconciliation and integration. But part of the left wing, the part represented by this editorial in Haaretz, determined that "Rivlin decided to add more fuel to the cocktail of hatred and racism... he joined all those who undermine democracy, trying to destroy it ... he joined the campaign of incitement and persecution, the objective was to eliminate the authentic Arab representation in the Knesset."

MK Ayman Odeh (Photo: Knesset Spokespersons Unit)

I'm reading it and I can't believe it. Here and there, I admit, I criticized the president. Criticism, not incitement. I made no foolish accusations of racism. Just like Haaretz systematically tries to turn Israel into a racist country, it is now doing that to a president who is trying to be conciliatory and bring people together. Even his turn came.
One of Jordan's most popular newspapers, Al-Ghad, apologized on Tuesday for publishing a job advertisement for Jordanians to work in Eilat.

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The job notice in Monday's Al-Ghad inspired outrage on Jordanian social media networks. "An administrative error resulted in the publication of advertisement looking for Jordanian laborers, who will come to Eilat," the newspaper wrote as part of its apology. The newspaper emphasized that the advertisement was not published intentionally, because it is not consistent with Al-Ghad's policies,"which, as everyone knows, oppose normalization with Israel."

Job advertisement in Al-Ghad

Critics of the Jordanian newspaper point out that it did not publish its apology in a prominent place. "The newspaper should have published its apology on its fron tpage," Lamis Andoni, the Jordanian journalist for the New Arab, wrote.

According to Arab press outlets, this was the second consecutive week in which Al-Ghad published the Eilat job advertisement. The advertisement, which does not reveal the name of the company behind it, says 45 construction workers are needed for various projects in the city. The specific hiring criteria include permanent residency in Aqaba and a local ID. Interestingly, it does not call for a criminal history report.

Al-Sabeel, a newspaper affiliated with the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood and known for its loathing of the Jordanian authorities, published a collection of Jordanian responses from social media regarding the job advertisement. "Anyone who works there with them has no honor," wrote Kifah Marabiah. "One who disregards an Islamic duty does not belong to Islam." According to the newspaper, some social media users claimed that Israeli employers seek to take advantage of high unemployment among youth in Jordan in light of the Syrian refugees who have settled in the Hashemite Kingdom.

"Send us your phone number," wrote Mahmoud Obeid, seemingly in jest. He added, "In Jordan, we do not want Jordanian workers; instead we want workers from Syria and Egypt. So we are going to work in Israel. Our state has become troublesome for us. We have turned into a minority, a group of foreigners in our homeland."

Raeda Jaber wrote: "Working with them is strictly forbidden because it requires paying for the blood of the sons of Palestine."

Local Jordanian news outlets reported that the job advertisement provoked tension in the corridors of Al-Ghad's offices. Jumana Ghneimat, Al-Ghad editor-in-chief, was reportedly furious about the advertisement and sent a warning to those she deemed responsible. She emphasized that this issue "is not up for discussion" and will not happened again.

Israel and Jordan have recently increased cooperation on employing Jordanian workers in hotels in Eilat, which has taken away jobs from undocumented asylum seekers. In recent months, hundreds of workers arrived in Eilat from Aqaba in the framework of agreements between the neighboring states.
Minister of Education Naftali Bennett announced on Wednesday details on the new committee to recommend new material in schools to reflect the cultural richness and history of non-European Jews whose origins lie in the Middle East, North Africa, and other Muslim-majority areas. The committee is to be headed by Israeli Moroccan-descended poet Erez Biton, a former recipient of the Israel Prize.

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The Biton Committee is to be comprised of several subcommittees, each mapping the relevant topics under its purview, examining them, and suggesting ways of enriching the school curriculum with more content related to Mizrahi topics. Recommendations are set to be presented to Minister Bennett in approximately three weeks.

Erez Biton. Heading the new committee. (Photo: Eli Segal)

The Ministry of Education is calling for the public to also take part in the efforts and suggest new ways and ideas for implementing new content in the curriculum.

"Today, we started a revolution of inserting the heritage of Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews into the education system," said Minister Bennett. "We cannot raise a generation that only knows part of its heritage. Today, we bring the Sephardic and Mizrahi heritage back to the youths  the heroic tales of transit camps, and the fathers of Zionism who came from Europe, but also from Tunisia. We cannot educate youths to 'love thy neighbor as thyself' when the youths don't know their neighbors, who comprise half their class."

As part of the initiative, three new episodes of 1981 documentary mini-series Pillar of Fire, about the history of Zionism, are set to be produced to recognize the role Mizrahi Jews took in Israels founding.

The Mizrahi Jewish revolution will not remain between school walls, said Minister Bennett. We will change the treatment of Mizrahi culture in all areas, including television. The era of telling half of the story is over. We are one people with one story, full and complete.

He said the new TV episodes and additions to curricula will complete the half of the story that has been lost.

Biton said that before the original airing of Pillar of Fire, he and some Mizrahi intellectuals petitioned the High Court of Justice with a demand to add content about Mizrahi Jews contributions to Zionism and the creation of Israel. The series was ultimately aired with gaps, he said. The new episodes will fill these gaps about their role and significant contribution.

According to Biton, among the important figures ignored by the series was Yehuda Bibas, A Spanish-Moroccan Jew who began his activities before visionary of the state Herzl, and worked and advocated funding a Jewish state in the land of Israel. The goal is to enrich the knowledge and educated about Mizrahi identity.
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Police officer Sgt. Maj. Kobi Sapir is suspected of prohibited consensual sexual activity and extortion and intimidation of a 17-year-old girl, the Tel Aviv Magistrates Court cleared for publication on Thursday.

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Sapir, 40, was arrested on Monday after the girl, who has been staying in an institution for at risk girls, filed a complaint against him at the polices Internal Affairs Department. She told police that she met Sapir when he was stationed at the Shekhunot police station in Tel Aviv, where he serves as the dispatcher. He later got in contact with her, they met and had sex.

Sapir is suspected of using sensitive information about the girl that he was exposed to in his capacity as a dispatcher, and taking advantage of her vulnerable mental state to pressure her to sleep with him.

Sergeant Major Kobi Sapir

The complaintant also told police that when she told Sapir that she was going to file a complaint against him, he pointed his pistol at her and threatened her.

Initially Sapir was suspected of rape, but the charge was later lowered to prohibited consensual sexual activity. He has been released to house arrest until next Friday.

Since the allegations were made public, another woman came forward, saying Sapir had taken advantage of his position in order to have sex with her, but she has not filed an official complaint.

Sapir claims the sexual relations with the two women were consensual, and denies that he pressured or threatened them. His attorneys noted Sapir has no criminal record and has been in the police force for over 15 years. The divorced father of three used to command a motorcycle unit, but due to injury he was recently given a non-operational role.

Sapir's defense lawyers also claimed that the complainants are both legally adults, so the relations Sapir had with them are permitted by law. They further argued that the 17-year-old complainant is suffering from mental issues, is not reliable and is known to make complaints against people.

The court noted that based on the investigation materials and Sapir's version of events, at the very least there is a reasonable suspicion for breach of trust.
Over 100 Ukrainian Jews fled war-torn Ukraine and arrived in Israel this week as many have been leaving their country of birth due to violence and frequent anti-Semitic attacks.

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They were assisted by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ), which has been spearheading a project of bringing Jews to Israel from countries engulfed by war.

(Photo: Hillel Maeir /TPS)

Sisters Marina and Alexandra Prokopovych, aged 17 and 15 respectively, were among the new immigrants who arrived in Israel. They had lived in the small suburb of Rakytne. Both were severely beaten at their high school in what began as a nationalistically-motivated attack, but which spilled over into overt anti-Semitism.

IFCJ Director of Communications Tali Aronsky told Tazpit Press Service (TPS) that the girls were called separatists and Zhids (Jews) prior to the assault because they spoke Russian instead of Ukrainian.

The girls sustained serious injuries as a result. One suffered concussions and had to get stitches. Even the teachers joined in the beating. The father remembers similar things that happened when he was younger, but he decided that it was time to leave when it happened to his daughters, she said.

Dmytro Prokopovych, the girls father, also remembers that he had switched schools three times due to his ethnicity. He himself suffered fourteen concussions from similar attacks during his childhood and he maintains that anti-Semitism is still very prevalent in post-Soviet Ukraine.

I recently discovered that my familys real surname is Evenbach and not Prokopovych. It was my grandfathers surname. My father would not be admitted to university with this surname in Soviet times so he changed it to his mothers maiden name, Dmytro recalls.

IFCJ founder Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein decided that efforts to rescue Jews in countries with prevailing anti-Semitism were insufficient. The IFCJ then began actively searching for Jews suffering in countries affected by war. Many of the immigrants receive additional funds since they were forced to leave behind homes that have become essentially worthless due to the conflicts.

We dont wait for the Ukrainians to call us up. We go to them and we also give them more support. We offer them $1,000 per family and $500 for every child in addition to what they get from the government, Aronsky told TPS.

The new immigrants will be given guidance and career advice. Aronsky said that the organization has also reached out to other countries such as Venezuela, Uruguay, Turkey, and even several Arab countries and has managed to bring some 2,355 Jews to Israel. Aronsky was unable to divulge the identities of the Arab countries due to security concerns for the Jews involved.
The Templeton Foundation has awarded Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, who served as chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, the Templeton prize, a prestigious award granted to an individual who "has made an exceptional contribution to affirming life's spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery, or practical works." Rabbi Sacks is also set to receive $1.5 million.

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The British Rabbi Sacks is a theologian, a lecturer, a prolific writer, and holds three different honorifics - doctor, lord, and rabbi. He completed his service as chief rabbi three years ago.

He is to receive the Templeton Prize in May for his contribution to modern religious discourse through his many books and lectures.

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks

At a press conference at the British Academy in London on Wednesday, Jennifer Simpson, a member of the Templeton Foundation's board of trustees and granddaughter of John Templeton, said: "After 9/11, Rabbi Sacks saw the need for a response to the challenge posed by radicalization and extremism and he did so with dignity and grace."

Simpson added: He has always been ahead of his time and, thanks to his leadership, the world can look to the future with hope, something we are very much in need of right now."

She also lauded Sacks for how he built a network of organizations that introduced a Jewish focus in areas including business, womens issues and education, and urged British Jewry to turn outward to share the ethics of their faith with the broader community.

Rabbi Sacks joins a list of 45 Templeton Prize winners. In his most recent book, "Not in God's Name", which argues against religiously motivated violence, he writes: "Too often in the history of religion, people have killed in the name of the God of life, waged war in the name of the God of peace, hated in the name of the God of love and practiced cruelty in the name of the God of compassion. When this happens, God speaks, sometimes in a still, small voice almost inaudible beneath the clamor of those claiming to speak on his behalf. What he says at such times is Not in My Name."

At the press conference, he dedicated part of his speech to religious violence, saying that secularization has left a vacuum filled by religious fundamentalism.

Rabbi Sacks said greater efforts need to be undertaken to address violence. "A message of love as powerful as the message being delivered by the preachers of hate" can effectively counter violence. He added that the message "really has to speak to young people and we have to use the same social networking, the same technology as the extremists and we've got to do it as well and better than they do."

He further said that "religion, or more precisely, religions, should have a voice in the public conversation within the societies of the West, as to how to live, how to construct a social order, how to enhance human dignity, honor human life, and indeed protect life as a wholeEach religion, and each strand within each religion, will have to undertake this work, because if religion is not part of the solution it will assuredly be a large part of the problem as voices become ever more strident, and religious extremists ever more violent."

The Templeton Prize selection committee is comprised of researchers and religious leaders including Christians, Buddhists, Jews, Muslims, and Atheists.
At the age of 16, while Amir Goldenthals friends were busy with matriculation exams, he was at the end of the first year of undergraduate physics - and starting his doctorate.

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The unprecedented decision by the heads of the Department of Physics and the Center for Neuroscience Studies at Bar-Ilan University - to allow the young teenager to begin his doctoral studies - proved very quickly to be successful, when Goldenthal completed his bachelor's and master's degrees with honors, published articles in international scientific journals, and was selected to attend a convention of Nobel Prize winners in Japan, which was set to bring together past and future world influencers.

Goldenthal with Professor Kanter (Photo: Dana Kopel)

Recently, the nearly-20-year-old Goldenthal has been coming to the university every day by taking two buses from Ashdod. His doctoral dissertation work involved breakthroughs in understanding neurological diseases such as epilepsy, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. In the coming days Goldenthal will travel to a medical research center in Germany alongside his supervisor, Prof. Ido Kanter, Director of the Department of Physics and the Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center. They were invited by a senior researcher in neuroscience to apply their findings with patients who suffer from brain injuries.

"I was always interested in physics and biology, but I never imagined I could engage in research that may help in treating sick people," says Goldenthal. "We are beginning to understand things that happen in the brain, such as an epileptic seizure, but we have a long way to go."

Prof. Kanter, a world-renowned physicist who was awarded a professorship at the age of 33, takes care to drive Goldenthal to the bus station every evening after they finish another day of research. "Amir's talent is extraordinary by any measure. He won a prize at the Nobel Laureates Conference in Japan for best research paper, he gives lectures to first-class scientists and has received high praise. I predict he will gain a high status in the community, in Israel and around the world."
WASHINGTON - The United Nations Children's Fund said on Thursday it is worried about the health and well-being of one of its former officials, an elderly man jailed in Iran for more than a week.

Baquer Namazi, whose son Siamak has been jailed in Iran since October, was himself arrested on Feb. 22 and taken to Tehran's Evin Prison, his wife said last week on social media. Both the elder Namazi and his son are dual US-Iranian citizens.

Baquer Namazi, a former Iranian provincial governor, served as UNICEF representative in Somalia, Kenya, Egypt and elsewhere before retiring in 1996, UNICEF said in a statement.

"Current and former UNICEF colleagues are deeply concerned about the health and well-being of Baquer Namazi," the statement said. "We hope he will be reunited soon with his wife and loved ones."

Baquer Namazi is 80 years old and has a serious heart and other conditions which require special medication, his wife Effie Namazi said last week.
Most Israelis who left Jerusalem in 2014 moved to nearby cities, as did many of those who left Tel Aviv, data released by the Central Bureau of Statistics this week showed.

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CBS data showed that Jerusalem's migration balance stood in 2014 at minus 6,740 people, because while 10,351 people moved into the city, 17,091 left it.

Most of those who left the capital (14,128 people) moved to other cities, while only 2,963 moved to the countryside. Among them, 1,464 moved to the nearby Beit Shemesh; 797 to the settlement of Givat Ze'ev, which is only about 5 kilometers away from the holy city; 787 moved to the settlement of Beitar Illit, 10 kilometers away from Jerusalem; 685 moved to Mevaseret Zion, a suburb of the capital; 228 moved to Geva Binyamin, also 5 kilometers away; and 212 moved to Tzur Hadassah.

Jerusalemites that moved further away preferred Tel Aviv, with 1,454 relocating to the white city, while 658 moved to Bnei Brak, 369 to Haifa, 345 to Ramat Gan, 297 to Netanya, 292 to Petah Tikva, 257 to Ashdod, 236 to Rishon Lezion.

Moving from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv itself also suffered from a negative balance, as 21,449 people left it, while only 20,519 moved there. Former Tel Avivians were not willing to go too far from central Israel, with neighboring Ramat Gan taking in 2,107 people, Holon getting 1,289 people, neighboring Givatayim getting 1,222 new residents, Petah Tikva 1,120, and Bat Yam not far behind with 1,107 of the former Tel Aviv residents.

While many of the Jerusalemites moved to Tel Aviv, not many took the opposite direction with only 445 Tel Avivians moving to the capital. Hundreds of Tel Aviv residents moved further away from the city, with 891 moving to Rishon LeZion and 665 to Kfar Saba.

One of the biggest cities in the north, Haifa, was also left with a negative balance at the end of 2014, with 8,855 of its residents leaving. Out of that, 952 went to the countryside, while 7,903 moved to other cities. Most of those people moved to the nearby Krayot: Kiryat Motzkin (537), Kiryat Yam (500), Kiryat Ata (450), and Kiryat Bialik (431).

Tel Aviv, meanwhile, received 851 of Haifa's residents, while Ramat Gan welcomed only 200 former Haifa residents. Rishon Lezion got 109 people, Givatayim got 100, and Eilat got 160 people.

Down south, Be'er Sheva lost 5,057 of its residents, with most (4,179) moving to other cities and only 878 moving to the countryside. Once again Tel Aviv took in many of the movers - 321 people. Jerusalem took in 159, Rishon got 145 and Haifa got 100 residents.

Ashdod, another large southern city, with 1,019 of its residents moving to Ashkelon, 518 to the nearby Gan Yavne, 335 to Tel Aviv, and 82 to Haifa.
Three letters written in February 1948 in the then-besieged Old City of Jerusalem were uncovered recently at the Kedem Auction House in the city. The letters shed light on the reality faced by residents of the Jewish Quarter during the siege of Jerusalem by Arab forces in the first phase of the War of Independence.

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The three letters bring the besieged Old City back to life, along with the many struggles inside it, said Meron Eren from the Kedem Auction House. They are further historical evidence of the dedication of those who chose to stay in the besieged city and fight for it.

The letters were written three months before British forces left the city and the Old City was conquered by Jordan. One of them is a call for help signed by the first rabbi of the Western Wall, who was killed three months later when the Old City was shelled.

Have mercy on the men, women, and children, and take drastic measures where needed so that we dont perish, God forbid, reads the letter signed by Rabbi Yitzchak Avigdor Orenstein, the Western Walls first rabbi. The letter was sent as a cry for help to Israels then-Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Herzog.

The Old City residents lives are in grave danger. British troops have been shelling the Jewish Quarter over the last nights, harming the sanctity of the synagogue, wrote Rabbi Orenstein who signed the letter alongside Rabbi Yisrael Mintzberg, Rabbi Shalom Azoulay, and Rabbi Benzion Chazan.

Orenstein, who was appointed as Chief Rabbi of the Western Wall in 1930, insisted on returning to the Old City when the siege began even though he had been visiting other parts of Jerusalem. When asked why he was endangering himself, he replied that if someone is destined to sacrifice himself for the sake of the sanctity of ancient Jerusalem and its holy sites, I am hereby committed to do so more than anyone else.

Orenstein and his wife were killed on May 23, 1948 when the city was shelled. Their deaths came about three months after the rabbi signed the now-discovered letter.

The auction house also discovered another letter from February 1948, this one from Rabbi Yisrael Zeev Mintzberg. This letter, too, addressed Chief Rabbi Herzog. Mintzberg, a community rabbi, further described the difficult situation in the city. A bitter day for the residents of the holy city, the soldiers were raging once more, shooting the residents. They continuously fired shells and mortars for several hours and destroyed several homes.

In a third uncovered letter, sent four days later, a group of 25 young members of the Beitar organization asked the Jerusalem Religious Council for assistance in preparing for the upcoming Jewish festival of Passover.

Three months after the three letters were written, on May 13,1948, British forces left the Old City. Three days later, an Arab counter-offensive commenced that resulted in the conquest of positions in the city manned by the Jewish Haganah defense force. Four days later, Jordanian forces entered the city, and on May 28, the Old City surrendered to the Jordanian forces.

Jewish residents were expelled, to return only in 1967 with the citys liberation.
Israeli ambassador to Egypt Haim Koren expressed regret on Thursday about the decision to oust Egyptian MP Tawfik Okasha from parliament because of their meeting.

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"This step is contrary to the relations between the two countries, but this is an internal Egyptian issue which is not tied to Israel," Koren said in an interview with BBC Arabic.

Koren told his interviewer that when the Egyptian ambassador to Israel presented his credentials to Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, the Israelis warmly received him.

Okasha was ousted from the Egyptian Parliament for five years 467 out of 595 MPs on Thursday supported the decision to remove him from office. Okasha was called the "normalization legislator" and was pelted with shoe by a fellow parliamentarian last Sunday.

BBC Arabic interview with Israeli ambassador to Egypt Haim Koren

Koren said that the Israeli embassy in Cairo was happy to meet with anyone who was interested. "My presence is accepted everywhere in Egypt. We have good relations with Egypt. I meet daily with Egyptian officials and members of the government," said the ambassador. "There is a need to include content related to peace between the two countries in Egypt's education system. I talk with many Egyptians who turn to me. We respect everyone's wishes, even if they wish the meeting be kept secret and not be publicized."

Egyptian MP Tawfik Okasha receiving a shoe beating

The interviewer asked if the two countries share intelligence information, and Koren replied: "We work with Egyptian authorities on a daily basis and share our opinions and our knowledge with them. We have understandings regarding the situation in Sinai. Due to current situation in the region, it's natural that we cooperate in various fields. Egypt's biggest enemy today is terrorism - Hamas in Gaza and the Islamic State in the Sinai. There is no chance that we will act against Egypt. It is in Israel's interest that Egypt develops and succeeds."

The ambassador added: "I think the leadership in Egypt believes that Egypt should cooperate with Israel against terrorism so that the situation doesn't deteriorate as it has in Yemen and Iraq. It is no secret that we were enemies in the past, but from our perspective, Egypt will never again become an enemy. I think President al-Sisi is leading Egypt in the right direction."

Koren was asked if Israel was involved in talks between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan on the construction of the the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which will block the flow of the Nile River to Egypt. He noted that it is known that the Nile River is very important for Egypt, but Israel has no need for the river's water and therefore has no interests regarding the project. He vehemently denied that Israel is involved in this matter, whether it be technical or financial support.
A Dutch Jewish teacher suspected of sexually abusing children has been arrested in Tel Aviv earlier this week, two years after the Netherlands asked for his extradition, the Dutch Telegraaf reported on Thursday.

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The teacher, 28, has been in Israel for three years. He was arrested on Monday and was brought to a remand extension hearing at the Jerusalem District Court the next day.

According to reports in the Netherlands, the suspect was born to a Reformist family in Amsterdam and became more observant a few years ago. He attended a yeshiva in Jerusalem, while teaching at a private school of languages in central Israel. In 2010, the suspect returned to the Netherlands, where he started working at the Cheider School in Amsterdam - a prestigious ultra-Orthodox institution that includes a kindergarten, a primary school and a high school.

The suspect

In 2012, a 16-year-old student told his parents that the teacher sexually assaulted him in a side room. The parents turned to the school but were ignored, so they turned to the media. The school - where 200 children aged 2-18 study - said it "held a clarification conversation with the teacher."

That year, other students at the school, younger than 10, started suffering symptoms of anxiety, and a doctor who examined them raised the suspicion that they were also sexually abused. It was only at that point that a police investigation was launched.

The reports, published in the popular newspaper Telegraaf, embarrassed many in the Jewish community in the Netherlands and led to great public pressure for the school's administration to join the police complaint.

But the teacher, who was fired for "inappropriate behavior," left the country for Israel, with his attorney at the time claiming that "his departure is unrelated to the reports. He announced his intention to leave in advance and it should not be interpreted as him running away."

The teacher denies the accusations made against him and said through his lawyer that he will resist extradition.

Lawyer Hila Nawi, who represents some of the Dutch victims in Israel, told Ynet: "I'm happy that a legal fight that has been ongoing for three years is nearing its conclusion. For two years we've been working with the Israeli State Attorney, the Dutch State Attorney and the Dutch Police in an effort to reach an extradition request. The families experienced great suffering, and some have fallen apart."

After an extradition request is made, the requesting country is required to present the indictment against the wanted suspect to the Israeli State Attorney, which examines it. Meanwhile, the suspect is imprisoned until a decision in his case is made. The State Attorney then asks the District Court to declare the suspect extraditable, and then an indictment and an extradition order are issued against him. Israel then coordinates the extradition with the Interpol.
COPENHAGEN - Denmark's government will present proposals soon to expand its mission against Islamic State into Syria, including air strikes, Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen's office said on Friday.

If approved by parliament, F-16 fighters, C130J transport aircraft and 400 military personal, including special operations forces and support staff, would take part in the Syria campaign by the middle of the year. Danish forces have already seen action against Islamic State in Iraq.

Parliament is expected to vote on the proposals in separate readings on April 1 and April 19. The main political parties have already said they backed the proposal, at a cross-party committee meeting that included the defence and foreign ministers.

Denmark's expanded mission into Syria comes after direct requests from France and the United States, Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen told reporters after the committee meeting.
Hezbollah believes it can bring any future war into Israeli territory, according to a report published Thursday in Foreign Affairs that cites sources close to the party.

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It will not look like the 2006 war at all, a source told Lebanese journalist Nour Samaha. Another said that Israels biggest concern is over Hezbollahs experience in Syria, as it now has the experience to be offensive rather than just defensive.

Hezbollah rally marking 15 years since Israel's withdrawal from south Lebanon (Photo: Reuters)

While more than 1,000 Hezbollah fighters have died in the Syrian quagmire, Samaha notes that the groups military campaign means it has also gained a level of tactical experience and weaponry that has made it a far more threatening force.

An unnamed source told Samaha that the Syrian fighting led Hezbollah to develop a sophisticated command-and-control structure, including advanced telecommunications networks, the use of drones for reconnaissance, and the ability to maintain long supply line  all of which the group hopes it can use effectively against Israel.

Funeral of Hezbollah fighter killed in Syria (Photo: EPA)

Hezbollahs weapons arsenal has been allegedly upgraded as well, writes Samaha. The article reports claims that the group now has tactical ballistic missiles, Scud missiles, Fateh-110 Iranian missiles, and M-600 missiles, a Syrian modified version of the Fateh-110.

Jeffrey White, a defense analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, is quoted as saying that Hezbollah can now use guided munitions to hit targets throughout Israel with accuracy, including command posts, airfields, and major economic targets.

This alleged capability was recently touted by the groups secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah, as a way to strike Haifas chemical plant and kill thousands. Whats more, White said the group apparently possesses sophisticated air-defense systems and naval cruise missiles that could target the IAF and Israeli oil platforms.

Hassan Nasrallah in a televised address (Photo: AFP)

Samaha reiterates reports that Hezbollah is not imminently seeking war  partly because of political considerations in Lebanon. Nevertheless, she recognizes the inherent instability in the border region where so many conflicting interests compete, pointing to two Hezbollah attacks in the Shebaa area  planting an IED near a military base in January and firing missiles at an IDF patrol in 2015  as evidence that Shebaa is the soft underbelly of Israels security and a likely future flashpoint.

What will happen, however, is getting more difficult to predict by the day, she writes.
Syrian opposition coordinator Riad Hijab said Syrian President Bashar Assad, Russia and their allies had carried out 90 air strikes in the country since a ceasefire was declared last weekend.

Speaking at a news conference in Paris, the former Syrian prime minister said that the conditions of the truce had not been met, and that medical and food supplies were being blocked and failing to get to those who need them. "We believe that the current conditions are not favorable for these negotiations, no aid has entered the besieged areas and detainees have not been released," he said. He added that the United States had made a lot of concessions to the Russians.
This has been a long time in the making, but in our continuing pursuit to bring only the best of firearms, 2nd Amendment and defence related news to our readers, we are very excited to announce the next step in our evolution as a company.

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Abderraouf Ben Habib Jdey is a fugitive who is wanted as a suspect in plans for a possible terrorist attack to be conducted in Canada or the United States.

A Canadian citizen who was born in Tunisia, Jdey was born in 1965, stands 183 centimeters tall, weighs approximately 95 kilograms, and has brown hair and brown eyes. He has a scar on his forehead, and is also known as Farouq Al-Tunisi, Abd Al-Rauf Bin Al-Habib Bin Yousef Al-Jiddi, and A. Raouf Jdey.





Jdey immigrated to Canada in 1991 and studied biology at the University of Montreal. He went to Afghanistan in 1999 and received combat training and experience there with the former Taliban government. He authored a suicide letter stating his intention to become a martyr for jihad and also appeared in a well-known martyrdom video that was later found in the house of a leader of the al-Qaida terrorist group in 2001.

He returned to Canada in 2001 and consorted with extremists there on methods of joining the jihad. He left Canada, but authorities are concerned that he may attempt to return there or to the U.S. to plan or take part in a terrorist attack.

The Rewards for Justice program is offering a reward of up to five million dollars for information leading to Jdey's arrest or prosecution.

The U.S. guarantees that all reports will be investigated and the identity of all informants will be kept confidential. If appropriate, the U.S. is prepared to protect informants by relocating them.

If you have information on this man, contact the Regional Security Office at the nearest U.S. Embassy, and the tip line at www.rewardsforjustice.net or e-mail information to info@rewardsforjustice.net. In North America, call 1-800-877-3927.
As a homeowner, you probably already know that you should be working to maintain your home. But, chances are, you Read More
The Global and United States Hydrobike Market Report has been published by QY Research recently. Hydrobike Market Analysis and Insights This report focuses on...
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry recently met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. The two addressed the full breadth of issues in the bilateral relationship, including climate change, the response to North Koreas ongoing violations of UN Security Council resolutions, human rights and traffickinig in persons, and concerns about rising tensions in the South China Sea.

We are two powerful nations, the two largest economies today, said Secretary Kerry, and we have an ability, therefore to be able to make good things happen when we decide to.

A country of common concern is North Korea. The nuclear test conducted by North Korea last month and the subsequent ballistic missile launch violated multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions and posed a threat international peace and security. The United States and China agreed that North Koreas actions merited a strong response from the Security Council, which recently adopted a resolution on the matter.

An area of growing tension between the two countries is the South China Sea. We believe, said Secretary Kerry, that it is important for a diplomatic solution. . .to occur which follows the rule of law. . . . We want to halt the expansion and the militarization of occupied features. We think everybody benefits by true demilitarization.

Maritime and territorial claims should be clarified through the use of international mechanisms such as negotiations or arbitration. Secretary reiterated that the United States is committed to freedom of navigation and overflight.

In his remarks to the press, Secretary Kerry expressed hope that the U.S. and China could continue to expand their cooperation to bring a lasting peace to Syria. The enforcement of U.N. Security Council resolution 2254 has made it possible for 114 trucks to deliver humanitarian assistance, food, and medicine to people who, in some cases have not had help in two years.

China and the U.S. continue to find common ground on countering climate change.

Addressing the overall relationship, Secretary Kerry stressed that the U.S. and China will continue to cooperate when and where their interests and values align.
THAT THERE MAY BE A FAIRER SOCIETY IN GHANA - ONE IN WHICH ALL THE PEOPLE, NOT JUST A POWERFUL AND GREEDY FEW, BENEFIT FROM THE NATION'S WEALTH!
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Guwahati: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) will together contest the upcoming Assembly election in Assam.

AGP leader Prafulla Kumar Mahanta on Wednesday announced his party has sealed the deal with the BJP.

AGP chief Atul Bora made the alliance announcement after a meeting with the BJP top leadership, including the party's national president Amit Shah, at his New Delhi residence.

Mahanta said a formal announcement about the alliance will be made by the two parties in a day or two where the number of seats to be contested by them would be made public.

BJP's chief ministerial candidate Sarbananda Sonowal, AGP president Atul Bora besides others were present in the meeting.

Meanwhile, BJP supporters in Sivsagar district of Assam vandalised the party office in the district, opposing the alliance with the AGP. Similar protests by the AGP supporters are also anticipated in the days to come.

Thousands of the AGP members, mostly grassroot party workers, had taken to streets in different parts of Assam a few days back and opposed any alliance between the AGP and the BJP in the state.

Congress has already announced that they will fight alone in the 126 Assembly seats and the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) announced to fight in 60 seats.

The BJP has also forged an alliance with the Bodoland Peoples Front (BPF) to jointly fight the Assembly polls in Assam.
Raipur: The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans, who were injured during a gun battle with the Maoists in Chhattisgarh`s Sukma District yesterday, were brought to a hospital here on Friday.

CRPF`s CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) battalion personnel were trapped in violence-affected forests of Sukma for over 18 hours, after they were ambushed in the jungles of Dabbanarka.

The encounter resulted in deaths of two CRPF jawans and left 14 injured.According to reports, as many as three rescue teams were rushed to get the ambushed CoBRA team to hospital. The difficult terrain of the area makes it difficult for the chopper to land and rescue the injured men.
Noida: Shocking details have emerged about the circumstances that led to the disappearance of Noida fashion designer Shipra Malik from Noida on Feb 29.

We are looking into the matter, it doesn't seem like a case of kidnapping prima facie, a senior police official said on Friday, hours after Shipra was found in Gurgaon.

While Shipra is reported to have claimed that she was kidnapped by three people from Noida and taken to Gurgaon, the police is certain that there's more to the story.

As per reports, the police suspect that she staged managed her own abduction as she was under pressure over certain loans that she had failed to repay. Some lingering personal disputes also played a role, reports added.

The Noida Police questioned her two brothers and her father before coming to the conclusion that Shipra was never abducted, reports added.

As per reports, Shipra had gone to Jaipur on Feb 29 and stayed their in an ashram for a couple. She later came to the Gurgaon  the police traced her to a village 30 kms from the city.

: Shocking details have emerged about the circumstances that led to the disappearance of Noida fashion designer Shipra Malik from Noida on Feb 29.

We are looking into the matter, it doesn't seem like a case of kidnapping prima facie, a senior police official said on Friday, hours after Shipra was found in Gurgaon.

While Shipra is reported to have claimed that she was kidnapped by three people from Noida and taken to Gurgaon, the police is certain that there's more to the story.

As per reports, the police suspect that she staged managed her own abduction as she was under pressure over certain loans that she had failed to repay. Some lingering personal disputes also played a role, reports added.

The Noida Police questioned her two brothers and her father before coming to the conclusion that Shipra was never abducted, reports added.

As per reports, Shipra had gone to Jaipur on Feb 29 and stayed their in an ashram for a couple. She later came to the Gurgaon flat  the police traced her there.
New Delhi: At a time when JNU students union leader Kanhaiya Kumar, who was arrested for organising a controversial event sympathising with the 2001 Parliament attack case convict Afzal Guru at the university campus recently, is being projected as a hero, the grand nephew of Chandrashekhar Azad has said that some misguided youths are causing great damage to the nation.

Speaking to reporters, Pandit Sujit Azad said, Revolutionary freedom fighter Chandrashekhar Azad made supreme sacrifices for the sake of the nation. He said that his head can be severed but he cannot be forced to bow down before the enemies of Mother India.''

''Azad and his revolutionary brothers had dreamt of ''Swaraj''. For attaining freedom for the Mother India, he and other freedom fighters endured unimaginable hardships. Can we allow their sacrifices to go in vain? We will behead anyone who indulges in anti-national activities or shows disrespect to the national flag.''

Sujit Azad and some other members of the Bhagat Singh Brigade also hoisted the national flag atop the Administrative block in the Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Sujit, however, said that he had no idea whether Kanhaiya Kumar was shouting anti-nationals slogans during the controversial Afzal Guru event.

The reactions from the revolutionary freedom fighter's family come in the wake of reports of a rousing welcome given to Kanhaiya Kumar after his release from the Tihar Central Jail.

Shortly after returning to JNU, Kumar addressed a huge gathering of highly elated students who shouted slogans of ''Azadi'' ''Azadi''.

Kumar and four other JNU students were charged with sedition and violence in connection with the Afzal Guru event.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday sought response from CBI on Delhi government's plea to return them the documents seized during raids at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's principal secretary Rajendra Kumar's office here in December last.

A bench of justices Ranjan Gogoi and P C Pant also issued notice to CBI on AAP government's plea challenging the Delhi High Court decision allowing the probe agency to retain the documents seized during raids.

It had put on hold the trial court's direction to hand over the seized documents to the Kejriwal government.

CBI had raided office of Kumar on December 15 last year and registered a corruption case against him and others alleging "he had abused his official position by favouring a particular firm in the last few years in getting tenders from a Delhi government department".

While seeking stay on operation of February 10 decision of the High Court, Delhi government alleged that there was "illegality in passing the order and setting aside the well- reasoned decision of the trial court".

It said that "CBI under the garb of search warrant cannot seize documents indiscriminately which are not in any way related to the case".

Senior advocate Rajiv Dhawan, representing Delhi government, submitted that the "investigating agency cannot enjoy absolute immunity not to reveal the relevance of the documents seized during investigation until the stage of filing of the charge sheet".

Delhi government in its plea contended that the trial

court had rightly held that the court has all the powers to refrain CBI from abusing its authority during the search.

The high court, however, in its February 10 judgement had overturned the trial court decision directing CBI to return original documents seized during raids, saying the lower court had "exceeded its jurisdiction".

It had said the observations of the special judge in his January 20 order directing CBI to hand over the original documents to Delhi government, were "neither justifiable nor desirable" and tantamounted to "unnecessary interference in the investigation".

The high court order had come on CBI's plea challenging the January 20 order, claiming that the trial court's decision would interefere with probe which was at the initial stage.
Washington: India has denied visas for a delegation from the US government agency charged with monitoring international religious freedom, the agency said on Thursday.

The delegation from the US Commission on International Religious Freedom had been scheduled to leave for India on Friday for a long-planned visit with the support of the U.S. State Department and the U.S. embassy in New Delhi, but India had failed to issue the necessary visas, the commission said.

"We are deeply disappointed by the Indian governments denial, in effect, of these visas," USCIRF chairman Robert George said in a statement.

"As a pluralistic, non-sectarian, and democratic state, and a close partner of the United States, India should have the confidence to allow our visit," he said.

George said USCIRF had been able to travel to many countries, including those among the worst offenders of religious freedom, including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, China, and Myanmar.

"One would expect that the Indian government would allow for more transparency than have these nations, and would welcome the opportunity to convey its views directly to USCIRF.

The Indian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last year, despite a much-heralded fresh start in U.S.-India ties under Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi , the United States ran into problems arranging visits by the head of its office to combat human trafficking and its special envoy for gay rights.

A U.S. State Department official referred queries on the visa issue to the Indian government, but highlighted remarks by President Barack Obama on a visit to Delhi last year, in which he made a plea for freedom of religion in a country with a history of strife between Hindus and minorities.

In its 2015 report, the bipartisan USCIRF said incidents of religiously motivated and communal violence had reportedly increased for three consecutive years.

It said that despite its status as a pluralistic, secular democracy, India had long struggled to protect minority religious communities or provide justice when crimes occur, creating a climate of impunity.

Non-governmental organizations and religious leaders, including from the Muslim, Christian, and Sikh communities, attributed the initial increase in violence to religiously divisive campaigning in advance of the countrys 2014 general election won by Modi.

The report said that since the election, religious minorities had been subject to derogatory comments by politicians linked to Modi`s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and numerous violent attacks and forced conversions by Hindu nationalist groups.

U.S. law allows for imposition of sanctions on countries the commission terms "of particular concern," but the USCIRF`s recommendations are not binding and these are not automatically imposed.
New Delhi: A day after making a fiery speech at Jawahar Lal Nehru University, JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar on Friday thanked everyone who supported the movement initiated by him.

Addressing the media, Kumar said, People from all walks of life supported us.

I want to tell everyone and those who are taxpayers of this country that JNU students are patriotic and not anti-nationals. It is an attempt to defame our university. JNU has never and will never support anything unconstitutional. Video can be doctored, but not Constitution," he said.

"Sacrifice of farmers, jawans and Rohith Vemula will not go wasted. Whenever a revolution started, government tried to suppress it. The sedition law was made by British to suppress us," he added.

Referring Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kumar said, "We don't have any personal grudges against you. We have ideological differences."

On the Afzal Guru issue, he said, "As a JNUSU president, I call him a citizen of India who was prosecuted by the Indian law. For me Rohith Vemula is icon, not Afzal Guru."

Kanhaiya who was booked over sedition charges was released on Thursday.

The JNUSU president today announced that he will campaign for upcoming Kerala and West Bengal Assembly polls for the Left Front.

However, denying that he is a politician, he said, "I'm a student, not politician. Glad that JNU chose me."

West Bengal will see balloting on seven dates in a six-phase election: April 4, 11, 17, 21, 25 and 30 and May 5.

Kerala will see election on May 16.
New Delhi: A group of 232 sociologists has urged President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to rein in violence in educational institutions across the country.

These sociologists from different universities and prestigious colleges and other institutions have written to the president and the prime minister on the issue.

The signatories to the letter brought up an incident at Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh on February 23, where Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarathi Parishad activists allegedly disrupted violently an event at which Vivek Kumar of Jawaharlal Nehru University was invited to speak.

"They attacked Professor Vivek Kumar," the sociologists said in the letter to the president.

They said the activists also abused and threatened Professor Rajesh Misra of the Lucknow University for his Facebook post.

"The constitution of India guarantees to all citizens the right to their beliefs and to peaceful expression of these beliefs, but we are deeply disturbed by the ongoing events in the country and feel the urgent need to make a public statement," they said.

"We are, therefore, deeply concerned at the growing attacks on students, faculty and staff of various universities by organisations which seem to have the backing of the authorities and the police," the academics added.

The group includes teachers and professors from renowned institutes like the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi University, Jamia Millia Islamia, St. Xavier`s College, Guwahati University, Mumbai University and many others.


New Delhi: Secret documents supplied to Pakistan`s spy agency ISI by five Indians, including a BSF constable, can be used to counter Indian forces, a charge sheet filed by Delhi Police has said.

The police last week filed the charge sheet before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sumit Dass accusing the five - BSF Head Constable Abdul Rasheed and retired army Havildar Munawwar Ahmad Mir of supplying secret documents to operatives of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

According to informed sources, police alleged that Rasheed, Mir, schoolteacher Sabar, then soldier Fareed Ahmed and library assistant Kafaitullah Khan alias Master Raja, in connivance with another suspect, supplied the secret documents to Faisal, a Pakistan-based intelligence operative.

Faisal, who is on the run, persuaded Khan to gather sensitive information about the movements and other operations of the Indian Army to a Pakistan-based handler, the police said.

Khan collected the documents from Rasheed, Mir and Ahmad and paid them handsome money. Saber helped Khan to establish contact with Mir, said the police.

The chargesheet said the secret documents contained crucial information about the army, including their deployment in various places.

It added that confidential documents can directly and indirectly be useful to an enemy country and were likely to affect India`s sovereignty, integrity and security.

"The documents can be used by the enemy to counter the moves of Indian forces," the chargesheet said.

Police have stated that the accused used Whatsapp, Viber and other technology to pass on the secret information and documents to one other.

A joint operation by Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir Police led to the arrest of the five accused in November and December.

Kafaitullah Khan, a resident of Jammu and Kashmir`s Rajouri district, was arrested from New Delhi railway station on November 26. Rasheed was held in Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir.

According to police, Kafaitullah`s interrogation led to the arrest of Rasheed. Followed their arrest, police picked up Mir and Saber from Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir and Ahmed from West Bengal.

Mir took retirement in 2011 after serving with a Rashtriya Rifles (Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry) battalion, police said.

All the accused are in judicial custody and lodged in Tihar Jail.

The court, which was scheduled to take cognizance of the charge sheet on Friday, adjourned the case for March 17 for consideration of the investigation report.

The accused have been charged under various sections of the Official Secrets Act.

Police recovered documents, compact discs and details of bank accounts of the accused.

Police also cited conversations, contents of Whatsapp messages and call detail records of the accused persons. Police cited 23 witnesses to back its case.


New Year: Every year about hundreds of South Korean tourists visit Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh to pay tributes to their legendary queen Hur Hwang-ok .

A South Korean delegation met Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Monday and discussed the details about the proposed memorial of the queen Hur Hwang-ok also known as Princess Suriratna .

According to the historical evidence, Princess Suriratna from Ayodhya, travelled to Korea and married King Kim Suro of Karak Clan in 48 AD.

As a tribute to their legendary queen Hur Hwang-ok, descendants of the Karak clan visit Ayodhya every year. They consider Ayodhya as their maternal home. According to an estimate, South Korea has about 60 lakh people are Karak descendants at present.

Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his South Korea visit last year in May, has announced to strengthen the linkage of Korean people with Ayodhya. Both the countries also agreed for a bigger monument of Queen Suriratna, also know as Hur Hwang-ok at Ayodhya.

UP CM Akhilesh Yadav during a meeting with the delegation said the proposed memorial to the princess would be constructed as per the Korean architecture from its own resources.

Yadav urged the delegation led by Kim Ki-jae, President of Central Karak Clan Society, to provide the design for the memorial at the earliest, so the government could proceed further.

The Chief Minister had a detailed discussion on bilateral cultural ties, mutual cooperation and issues related to development with the Korean delegation.

He said association of South Korean citizens with Uttar Pradesh would be made strong and extensive.
New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Friday that they are ascertaining reports of Indians being killed in an attack on an old age home in Yemen`s southern port city Aden on Friday.

"We have seen the reports and are trying to ascertain the details," MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup told the media.

Unknown gunmen attacked a care home for the elderly in Yemen today, killing 17 people including four Indian nurses, a security official said.

The home was run by Christian nurses and the Missionaries of Charity, Xinhua news agency reported.

A group of well-armed gunmen stormed the home in Sheikh Othman district and opened random fire after killing the building`s guards, a security official said.

Seventeen people were killed, including four Indian nurses working there, the source said.

A senior official of Aden`s local government told Xinhua that suspected gunmen of the Yemen-based affiliate of the Islamic State (IS) group were behind the terrorist attack.

Aden, Yemen`s temporary capital, has been witnessing chaos and lawlessness during the past weeks, resulting in the assassination of Aden`s former governor, several high-ranking security officers and judges.

The turbulent and complicated security situation in Aden and neighbouring southern provinces is one of the biggest challenges for the Saudi-led Arab coalition forces operating in Aden.

The Saudi-led Arab coalition has dispatched thousands of soldiers from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Sudan and Bahrain into five anti-Houthi southern provinces to support and train local Yemeni security forces.

Yemen has been gripped by one of the most active regional al Qaeda insurgencies in the Middle East and the affiliate of the IS.

The situation in the country has deteriorated since war broke out between the Shia Houthi group, supported by former president Ali Abdullash Saleh, and the government backed by the Saudi-led Arab coalition.

(With Agency inputs)
New Delhi: Hours after reports claim that four Indian nuns were killed during a terror attack in an old care home in Yemen's Aden city, Missionaries of Charity clarified that among the causalities only one was from India.

Sister M Anselm was from Jharkhand, 2 sisters were from Rwanda & one was from Kenya. A priest from Bengaluru is missing, ANI quoted Missionaries Of Charity Spokesperson Sunita Kumar as saying.

"This happened when the sisters were serving breakfast. There were five sisters present when the incident happened. One of them is a superior who wasn`t located by the gunmen, but the other four were shot dead. The Indian nun was sister M Anselm from Gumla in Jharkhand, the two sisters from Rwanda were sister Marguerite and sister Reginette, and sister Judith from Kenya," said Kumar.

The superior, sister Sally who hails from Kerala, survived after she hid herself from the gunmen after a guard sounded a warning cry about the attackers, she added.

"All of the old people in the home were unharmed but all the workers were killed. It`s amazing that all this happened within seconds," Kumar added.

Meanwhile, External Affairs Minister took to Twitter to lament the death of the reported four Indians.

Yemen - Four Indian nurses have been killed in a terrorist attack today. I am sorry the nurses stayed back/returned ignoring our advisories. I appeal to all Indians in such danger zones to please come back to India, Swaraj tweeted.

Yemen - Four Indian nurses have been killed in a terrorist attack today. I am sorry the nurses stayed back/returned ignoring our advisories.  Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) March 4, 2016

I appeal to all Indians in such danger zones to please come back to India.  Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) March 4, 2016

The development comes shortly after the External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said that government was trying to find out details of the Indians killed in the attack.

"We are trying to ascertain the details of the Indian victims," he said.

According to reports, the nuns were first handcuffed and then shot at point blank range.

Father Tony, a priest from Bengaluru who was present at the home, was praying in the chapel when the incident happened and escaped unharmed, however, he is still missing.

The terrorists, numbering between 2 and 4, asked the guard to open the gate of the elderly home on the pretext of visiting their mothers. On entering inside, they first shot dead the gate keeper and then started shooting randomly on the inmates, DNA quoted officials in India's camp office in Djibouti as saying.

No terror group immediately claimed credit for the slaughter.Missionaries of Charity nuns also came under attack in Yemen in 1998, when gunmen killed three nuns in the Red Sea port city of Hodeida.

The home, set up by Mother Teresa in 1992, houses 61 elderly destitutes.

A Xinhua report earlier, quoting a local security official, said that 17 people including four Indian nurses were killed.

A group of well-armed gunmen stormed the home in Sheikh Othman district and opened random fire after killing the building's guards, the official said.

A senior official of Aden's local government told Xinhua that suspected gunmen of the Yemen-based affiliate of the Islamic State (IS) group were behind the terrorist attack.

Aden, Yemen's temporary capital, has been witnessing chaos and lawlessness during the past weeks, resulting in the assassination of its former governor, several high-ranking security officers and judges.

(With Agency inputs)
Thiruvananthapuram: A day after walking out of the Kerala Congress (M), the three key rebel leaders on Friday met CPI-M leaders to explore the possibility of co-operation with the Left Democratic Front in the coming Assembly polls.

Former MP Francis George, Dr KC Joseph and Antony Raju, both former MLAs, who left the KC-M, a constituent of ruling Congress-led UDF, held talks with CPI-M state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan and LDF convener Vaikom Viswam.

Confirming the meeting, Balakrishanan told reporters that LDF liaision committee would take a final decision on how to associate and co-operate with the former KC-M leaders.

LDF will discuss and finalise what stand should be taken, Balakrishnan said.

Stating that CPI-M led LDF was ready to face the polls, Balakrishnan said the party expects to announce its list of candidates by March 20.

"The plan is to announce the list of candidates of all the constituents of the Front," he said.

Asked whether there was any confusion on the candidature of party veteran and Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan, Balakrishnan said the party never discussed the candidature of any particular leader.

It will take a decision only after discussing with all the candidates of the party and LDF, he said.

The party was of the opinion that the poll date of May 16 would give them more time. "We do not have to hurry on many matters," he said.
Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister on Friday expressed her displeasure over the six-phase election saying, CPI(M), Congress and BJP who can't fight us politically always spread canards against the state.

"Whatever the Election Commission decided we will follow it. But we don't like it that Bengal is always treated in a step-motherly manner," the Trinamool Congress chief said.

"We welcome Election Commission's decision to go for six-phase poll. We will fight the battle. But In Bengal, which is a peaceful state, elections are being held in six phases spread out in seven days," Banerjee said.

Within an hour of the election schedule being announced for West Bengal, the ruling Trinamool Congress released its list of candidates for all 294 assembly seats, re-nominating Saradha ponzi scam accused Madan Mitra.

Banerjee said the party has nominated 45 women candidates, up from 31 in 2011. The number of Muslim candidates has risen from 38 five years ago to 57.

West Bengal with 294 Assembly seats will vote on April 4-11, 17, 21, 25 and 30 and May 5.

The Trinamool stranglehold has forced the Congress and the Left in the state -- for decades bitter enemies -- to try to close ranks. Although, the BJP is a minor player in the state, but is leaving no stone unturned.
Moscow: President Vladimir Putin told the leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Italy during a conference call Friday that the Syrian regime`s decision to hold legislative polls in April does not contradict the peace process.

"The Russian side noted that a decision by the Syrian authorities to hold parliamentary elections in April, 2016 is being conducted in accordance with the existing Syrian constitution and does not interfere with steps to build the peace process," the Kremlin said following the conference call.
Nairobi: At least 25 people were massacred and 120 wounded when gunmen in army uniforms attacked then torched a UN camp that was sheltering civilians in South Sudan last month, the UN said today.

The updated toll comes two weeks after the two-day gun battle inside the camp in the northeastern town of Malakal, with a report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) detailing the failure of peacekeepers to protect the civilians sheltering at the base.

Over 47,000 people lived in the camp, after fleeing for safety from a civil war that broke out in December 2013. The UN has said the attack was a possible war crime.

Reports of troops in government army uniforms storming the camp and "firing on civilians" were "credible", OCHA said, contradicting initial UN claims that the fighting was between tribal "youths".

"About 3,700 families' shelters were destroyed or damaged during the fighting and fires, along with multiple humanitarian facilities, including clinics, water tankers, nutrition centres and schools," OCHA reported.

Residents say 46 people were killed in the February 17-18 attack, while the UN has now updated to 25 an earlier toll of 18.

Those killed include three aid workers, two of them South Sudanese health workers for medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF). One was murdered as he administered care, MSF said.

"Other people who tried to put out fires or help the wounded were deliberately targeted and shot," said MSF, which treated 46 people for bullet wounds.

Residents say some were burned to death in the deliberate fires that razed sections of the camp, where civilians lived in segregated ethnic plots to dampen tribal tensions.

"The 47,000 people living in the camp had already suffered through two years of violence and were forced to seek shelter amid inhumane, substandard conditions," MSF said. "As a result of this attack, many are now left with nothing."

The UN said in December 2014, one year into the conflict, that "tens of thousands" had been killed, but has been unable to keep a clear toll of the conflict.

"We've lost count," UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said on Wednesday, when asked how many had died.

Since the attack in Malakal, clashes elsewhere in the eastern small town of Pibor on February 21 forced thousands to flee as gunmen looted five aid agency bases, including an MSF clinic.

After winning independence from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan erupted into civil war in December 2013, setting off a cycle of retaliatory killings that have split the poverty-stricken, landlocked country along ethnic lines.
Mumbai: The total number of Indians visiting Australia has increased by 18.6 per cent in 2015, making India the eighth largest inbound market for the continent nation.

The number rose 2,33,100 last year as compared to 1,97,000 Indian tourists who visited Australia in 2014, according to data from Tourism Australia.

Australia is now eyeing over 2,50,000 visitors from India visiting the country's dramatic landscapes, culinary delights and culture.

Last year, about 68 per cent of Indians travelled to Australia for leisure (1,58,500), while 26,400 went for business, 14,800 short-term education and 33,500 for other purposes.

Of the leisure travellers, 60,500 visitors were on holiday in December while 98,000 visited friends and relatives.

Indian visitors contributed over Australian Dollar (AD) 1.1 billion to the continent nation's economy in 2015, up 38 per cent over the previous year, the data showed.

In terms of expenditure, India is the 10th largest source market for Australia.

The average spend for Indian visitors in 2015 was AD 5,185, it added.

For the year 2015, Indian visitors spent a total of 14 million nights in Australia, an increase of 38 per cent over 2014.

It also revealed that the average length of stay for all visitors from India was 65 nights, with a 46 per cent doing a repeat visitation.

Indian leisure visitors stayed an average of 56 nights, it added.

The top five Aussie attractions that appeal to Indian travellers are the beaches, iconic landmarks, wild life, food and wine and the Great Barrier Reef.

Tourism Australia targets big cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and tourists mainly between the age group of 35-54 with an average household income over USD 45,000.
Sao Paulo: Former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva reacted Friday with defiance to his brief detention for questioning in a corruption probe, saying he feared no one.

"If they wanted to hear from me, they only had to call and I would have gone, because I owe nothing to anyone and fear nothing," he said at a news conference in his first remarks since being released.

Lula, 70, said the decision to detain him at his house and take him to a police station for questioning in the Petrobras corruption network probe showed "lack of democratic respect" and "judicial authoritarianism."

"It would have been so simple to invite me to testify. (The judge) did not need to send police to my house and the house of my sons," he said.

"They preferred to show power, arrogance, to make a show."

Prosecutors said Lula was targeted as part of an investigation into a vast embezzlement and bribery conspiracy centered on Petrobras, the national oil company.

The corruption scandal, which has already seen a Who's Who of Brazilian politicians and businessmen face charges, is believed to be the biggest ever in Brazil.

Officials said about 200 federal police and 30 auditors fanned out across three states, serving 33 warrants for search and seizure and 11 for detention for questioning.

Lula was not arrested, but was held for questioning over alleged "favors" received from corrupt construction companies implicated in the Petrobras kickbacks scheme, prosecutors said.

In particular focus is a luxury seaside apartment and a country house that prosecutors say they believe were given to him as bribes. Lula says the properties do not belong to him.

The police interview, held at an airport near his home, lasted more than three hours, the Globo news site reported.

Lula, who was president from 2003-2010, remains one of Brazil's most influential figures and his fate is closely linked to that of his successor, President Dilma Rousseff, and the future of the ruling Workers' Party.
Beijing: China's defence budget this year is likely to rise at its slowest pace since 2010, in line with the decelerating economy, by a much lower figure than had been expected, although it probably does not represent the true spending number.

Fu Ying, spokeswoman for China's parliament, said the figure would increase by about seven to eight percent from 2015, following a nearly unbroken two-decade run of double-digit budget increases.

Fu told a news conference the actual figure would be released on Saturday, when the annual session of China's largely rubber-stamp legislative body opens.

It will be the first single-digit rise in spending since 2010, when the military budget logged a 7.5 percent increase.

Defence spending last year was budgeted to rise 10.1 percent to 886.9 billion yuan ($135.39 billion), which still only represents about one-quarter that of the United States.

The U.S. Defense Department budget for 2016 is $573 billion.

China's leaders have routinely sought to justify military modernisation by linking defence spending to rapid GDP growth. But growth of 6.9 percent last year was the slowest in 25 years, and a further slowdown is widely expected in 2016.

"One simple reason for the lower increase is that double digit growth is now harder to sustain," said Bonji Obara of the Tokyo Foundation think-tank.

"But another reason is that China's anti-corruption campaign means less money is being siphoned off and spending has become more efficient," he added, referring to President Xi Jinping's vigorous efforts to root out graft.

The defence budget had been widely expected in military and diplomatic circles to log another impressive increase.

Fu said the budget was based on China's national defence needs, the state of its economy and the performance of its fiscal revenues.

China has been repeatedly criticised for a lack of transparency in its defence spending and its intentions.

"China needs to be transparent and explain its military spending to the international community," Japanese Defence Minister Gen Nakatani said in Tokyo ahead of Fu's announcement.

"It's crucial that China does not upset the regional balance and that it firmly contribute to international stability."

China's military build-up has rattled nerves around the region, particularly because China has taken an increasingly assertive stance in its territorial disputes in the East and South China Seas.

"By bringing down military spending to a level in line with economic growth, China can deflect criticism from overseas and at home," added Obara, a former military attache at Japan's embassy in Beijing.

"The level of spending is enough for China to meet its goals of becoming a global presence."

Xi is also now seeking to drag the People's Liberation Army into the modern age, cutting 300,000 jobs and revamping its Cold War-era command structure.

However, the reforms have run into opposition from soldiers and officers worried about job security.

Beijing is also feeling public pressure to show it can protect its claims to the South China Sea after the United States began conducting "freedom of navigation" operations near islands where China has been carrying out controversial reclamation work and stationing advanced weapons.

Fu said the United States was militarising the South China Sea with constant deployments of ships and aircraft.

"Our expansion and building of islands and reefs in the South China Sea is really necessary, and the Chinese people all support it," she said.

If the United States continues to boost its military presence in the region, China will have to build more islands and deploy more weapons, the influential state-run Global Times said in an editorial.

"If two nuclear powerhouses engage in a competition to test each other's willpower, the whole world will face the repercussions," it said.

While Beijing keeps secret the details of its military spending, experts have said additional funding would probably go towards beefing up the navy with anti-submarine ships and developing aircraft carriers beyond a sole vessel in operation.

China last year confirmed it was building its second carrier.
Washington: Congressman Ami Bera, the only Indian-American lawmaker in the current Congress, has endorsed two other fellow community members running for elected offices in the November general elections.

Bera, 51, yesterday announced that he was supporting Kesha Ram, who is running for Lieutenant Governor in Vermont and Pramila Jayapal, who is running for Congress in Washington state's 7th Congressional District.

"We need more women and more members of the AAPI community running for office," said Bera, who is the third-ever Indian-American lawmaker in the US Congress.

"Kesha and Pramila represent the next generation of leaders. Their focus on serving their communities and fighting for progressive values sets a powerful example to younger women," she said.

"I'm thrilled to have the support of Representative Bera as I continue to work on solutions that help our community get ahead," Ram said.

"Having the support of another member of the AAPI community will be crucial as I continue to fight for solutions and make investments that grow our economy and create opportunity for Vermonters," Ram said.

"As a candidate with nearly three decades of service to my community I'm proud to have the support of Bera, who shares my commitment to service, and I look forward to joining him in Congress," Jayapal said.

"With the strength of the AAPI community, we can create real change that expands economic equality and opportunity for all," she said.

Bera's parents immigrated to the US from Rajkot, Gujarat in 1958.
Washington: Donald Trump today fired back at his party's top leader Mitt Romney by labelling him as a "choke artist", a day after the former White House aspirant blasted the Republican presidential front-runner as "a conman" and asked primary voters to block his path to the nomination.

Romney, 68, who was defeated by President Barack Obama in his 2012 re-election, yesterday joined a growing chorus of anxious Republican leaders who appeared to have ganged up against

Trump in a last ditch effort to prevent him from becoming the nominee for the November presidential poll.

"If we Republicans choose Donald Trump as our nominee, the prospects for a safe and prosperous future are greatly diminished," Romney said in a speech in Utah.

"Mr Trump's bombast is already alarming the allies and fuelling the enmity of our enemies. Insulting all Muslims will keep many of them from fully engaging with us in the urgent fight against ISIS, and for what purpose? Muslim terrorists would only have to lie about their religion to enter the country," Romney said.

"There's plenty of evidence that Mr Trump is a conman, a fake. Trump has changed his positions not just over the years, but over the course of the campaign. And on the Ku Klux Klan, daily for three days in a row," he said.

Responding to Romney's remarks 69-year-old Trump criticised the former Massachusetts governor for "begging" for his endorsement four years ago only to sharply criticise him now.

"Well look, he (Romney) was a failed candidate, he should have beaten president Obama very easy," Trump said at the top of a Republican presidential debate in Detroit.

A few hours later Trump, while addressing an election campaign, called Romney a failed presidential candidate who ran a "horrible campaign," and repeatedly labelled him a "choke artist".

"I backed Mitt Romney. He was begging for my endorsement. I could have said, 'Mitt, drop to your knees.' He would've dropped to his knees," Trump said.

He repeated this later in the night.

"He failed miserably, and it was an embarrassment to everybody, including the Republican party. It looked like he went away on a vacation the last month. So, I don't take that, and I guess, obviously, he wants to be relevant. He wants to be back in the game," Trump said.
Brussels: The migrant crisis poses possibly the most serious threat to the European Union`s existence since the bloc`s foundation as the ghosts of nationalism increasingly haunt the post-war dream of unity, political veterans warn.

While the EU has previously weathered storms ranging from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the eurozone debt crisis, they believe the huge influx of refugees and migrants taps into more dangerous currents that could yet sink the bloc.

Their best hope for the EU is that this threat to a European ideal of solidarity, a dream born from the ashes of World War II, shows that, then as now, an everyone-for-himself approach does not work.

"I really believe it`s the most serious crisis in many years the European Union is facing, probably even the most serious since the beginning of the process of European integration," Jose Manuel Barroso, who headed the European Commission from 2004 to 2014, told AFP.

Barroso warned of "old demons of xenophobia and intolerance" in Europe, saying the migration crisis goes beyond economic issues and is causing splits over whether to admit foreigners of a different religion or race.

"It has an existential nature because it is polarising," the Portuguese statesman said by phone from Princeton University in the United States where he now teaches. More than 1.25 million asylum seekers have poured into Europe since the start of 2015, fleeing war and poverty in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa.

In terms of sheer numbers it is the biggest migration crisis to face the continent since 1945, but political veterans warn that the real danger is the rifts it is causing between the 28 EU member states.

Daniel Cohn-Bendit, a Franco-German former member of the European Parliament, is concerned Europe might not be able to forge the kind of joint solution it crafted recently for the divisive eurozone debt crisis.

"Today, we have the impression there is an unbelievable insensitivity and that it is everyone for himself. That`s very dangerous for the European idea," Cohn-Bendit said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who opened up Germany`s borders to more than a million migrants last year, won praise from Barroso, Cohn-Bendit and others for setting an example for other Europeans.

"Only Merkel has a European stature. The rest are political dwarves," said Cohn-Bendit.

The refusal of several national leaders, for example the hardline Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, to stick to EU law in handling the flow of migrants is of particular concern to many observers.

Alain Lamassoure, a French member of the European Parliament, said this made it "the most serious" crisis the EU has faced.Since adopting a 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 over 600 people.

Guy Verhofstadt, a former Belgian prime minister and leader of the Liberal group in the European Parliament, warned that the crisis could even "wreck the European project."

In the last few months Europe has seen "the return of political leaders who think that we can resolve problems by hiding behind national barriers," Verhofstadt said.

For example, the passport-free Schengen zone, a pillar of European unity and free travel, could collapse as many of the 26 member countries reintroduce temporary border checks to curb the flow of migrants.

Verhofstadt urged the EU to quickly deploy border guards on the external borders -- a measure member states are trying to draft by June -- as well as to handle asylum and migration issues.

"The only way out is to take a leap forward into deeper European integration," said Verhofstadt, a leading federalist.

But just as the EU`s founding father Jean Monnet wrote in his memoirs that "Europe will be forged in crises", senior figures see hope that the bloc is more resilient than it is sometimes given credit for.

"At the beginning the positions are sometimes very distant but through negotiation and compromise, at the end there will be a common approach," Barroso said.
Aden: At least 16 people, including four Indian nurses, were killed when gunmen opened fire Friday at an elderly care home in Yemen`s main southern city of Aden, security officials said.

Four gunmen stormed the facility in Aden`s Sheikh Othman district, killing a guard before tying up and shooting employees, the officials told AFP.

Dozens of stricken family members arrived at the site following the attack, witnesses said.

One official said the attackers were "extremists" and blamed the Islamic State group, which has been gaining ground in Aden in recent months.

The dead nurses were Indian nuns, the officials said, adding that the rest of those killed were Yemenis working at the home.

No group claimed responsibility for Friday`s attack, the first of its kind in Yemen, where the internationally-recognised government is grappling with an Iran-backed rebellion on one side and a growing jihadist presence on the other.

President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi has declared Aden Yemen`s temporary capital as Sanaa remains in the hands of the Huthi rebels and their allies since they seized it in September 2014.

Further east, a suspected drone strike hit a vehicle carrying al Qaeda militants in Shabwa province, killing all four on board, local government and tribal sources said Friday.

Only the United States is known to operate armed drones over Yemen.

Al Qaeda and IS have stepped up attacks in Aden despite the efforts of the government and its backers in a Saudi-led coalition battling the Huthis and their allies to secure it.

However, most of the jihadists` attacks have targeted coalition forces and pro-government Yemeni troops.

Late on Thursday, gunmen in Aden shot dead Hussein al-Wuhayshi, a leader of local pro-government militia formed in the south in 2011 to fight Qaeda, along with his brother, a security official said.

On Monday, suicide car bombing in Sheikh Othman hit a gathering of loyalist forces killing four people and wounding five others, according to a security official.

A suicide bombing last month in Aden claimed by IS killed 14 soldiers.

The rebels controlled Yemen`s main port city for months before government loyalists pushed them out in July.

Because of the unrest gripping Aden, Hadi himself and many senior officials in his government spend most of their time in Riyadh.

Qaeda has been well-established for years in south Yemen, but now faces competition from IS, which has mounted a series of deadly attacks, particularly in Aden.

In December, suspected jihadists blew up a small deserted Catholic church in Aden, completely destroying the building which was attached to a cemetery and built in the 1950s when Aden was a British protectorate.

More than 6,000 people have been killed in the Yemeni conflict with more than 80 percent of the population in dire need of food, medicine or other basic necessities, according to the United Nations.
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Cairo: Frenchman Christophe Naudin arrived early Friday in the Dominican Republic after being extradited by Egypt over his alleged involvement in the escape of two pilots jailed in a drugs case dubbed "Air Cocaine."

Naudin, a 53-year-old criminologist and aviation security expert who was arrested in Cairo on February 4, is wanted in the Caribbean nation on suspicion of helping pilots Pascal Fauret and Bruno Odos flee to France in October after they had been sentenced to 20 years in prison for drug trafficking.

The pair, who maintain their innocence, were arrested in March 2013 as they were about to depart from Punta Cana in a private jet found to be carrying 680 kilos (1,500 pounds) of cocaine.

Convicted of drug trafficking in August, they were released pending appeal but barred from leaving the Caribbean nation.

They somehow managed to flee and return to France -- an escape that Dominican prosecutors allege Naudin facilitated.

Prosecutor Francisco Dominguez said Naudin would be charged with conspiracy and the trafficking of migrants.

Naudin arrived in Santo Domingo shortly after midnight, said Tessy Sanchez, a spokeswoman for the attorney general`s office.

Naudin will make an initial court appearance within 48 hours of arrival, the prosecutor told journalists.

Fauret and Odos fled back to France vowing to clear their names, but were rearrested in November near the French city of Lyon.

On February 11, an appeals court in the Dominican Republic upheld the 20-year prison sentences for the two pilots.

Paris has ruled out extraditing them.

But France`s foreign ministry on Thursday confirmed Naudin had been extradited.

"France has done everything it could to support Naudin," a statement said. "Our embassy in Santo Domingo is following the situation closely and is ready to provide consular assistance."

Naudin`s wife Michele said he would not receive a fair trial in Santo Domingo.

"The Dominican Republic has already said he will be convicted. We know that there is no justice there, and France knows this, yet it let him leave" Egypt, she told AFP.

The affair has prompted keen interest in France, after Interpol in November issued arrest warrants for Fauret and Odos, as well as a far-right member of the European Parliament accused of involvement.

Olivier Cadic, France`s senator representing overseas nationals, called Naudin`s extradition "very bad news for our country."

"There is real concern at how France has managed this affair," he told AFP.
Dusseldorf: A German court on Friday convicted an Islamic State "storm trooper" who helped track down deserters for the jihadist group in Syria, sentencing him to 4.5 years in prison.

Nils Donath, a 25-year-old German national, had travelled to Syria in October 2013 to join the jihadist group which controls a large swathe of Syria and Iraq.

Prosecutors, who had sought a sentence of four years and nine months, said at the trial that tasks Donath took on at the IS included assisting in interrogations, prison guard duty, as well as participation in the jihadist group's "storm troops," a special assault team.

As a member of this unit, Donath took part in 10-15 missions, in which he helped to track down IS deserters, fully aware they would be tortured to death, according to the prosecution.

Donath has been in police custody since his arrest upon his return to Germany in January 2015.

During the trial that opened in January, he told the court of his troubled teenage years, when he was a "pothead" before he converted to Islam in August 2011.

But he later "slipped into radicalism" and joined a local jihadist group called the "Lohberger Brigade" that he travelled with to Syria.

Thousands of Europeans have headed for Syria to fight for the IS group, and concern is growing about the threat that returning jihadists pose on their home soil.
Phnom Penh: Unable to pay his way out of jail, Kong Chamroeun was remanded in a Cambodian prison pending trial for stealing $80 of company property, a crime his family said he did not commit.

"We had nothing, just empty hands," said his girlfriend, Lorn Chenda, who alleged police tried to extort Chamroeun for $2,000 in "compensation" in exchange for not pressing charges.

With Chamroeun, 28, behind bars for 10 days and no one else to turn to, Chenda used her smartphone to appeal directly to Cambodia`s highest authority - Prime Minister Hun Sen. She recorded a five-minute video detailing the alleged extortion attempt and urging the self-styled strongman to intervene, then posted it on his Facebook page.

The next morning, Chamroeun was freed and his case dismissed.

"We never expected the prime minister would help us," Chenda, 26, told Reuters.

"This is the smallest problem for the prime minister to have to solve himself, and it was solved very quickly."

Chamroeun`s release was fortuitously timed, coinciding with Hun Sen`s new infatuation with Facebook, which he adopted with gusto in September last year and now has two million followers.

Experts say he is using Facebook to quickly recoup some lost popularity ahead of a 2018 election tipped to be the biggest test to his three-decade rule.

Hun Sen`s strategy appears to be out of the playbook of bitter rival the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP).

The opposition`s social media campaigns were a hit with young, urban voters in a disputed 2013 election that stunned Hun Sen`s ruling Cambodian People`s Party (CPP) and sharply reduced its house majority.
Kuala Lumpur: Leaders from across Malaysia`s political spectrum joined forces Friday to call for the removal of scandal-hit premier Najib Razak, in a sharp escalation of a festering corruption crisis.

"We call upon all Malaysians, irrespective of race, religion, political situation, creed or parties, young and old, to join us in saving Malaysia from the government headed by Najib Razak," read a joint statement endorsed by heavyweights from the ruling party, opposition, and civil-society groups.

The historic alliance brought together previously bitter political foes and was led by 90-year-old former premier Mahathir Mohamad, who has spearheaded calls to remove Najib over allegations of corruption and misrule.

Speaking at a Kuala Lumpur press conference, Mahathir -- who quit the Najib-controlled ruling party earlier this week in protest -- said the disparate group shared "one goal."

"We must rid ourselves of Najib as prime minister," he said.

The call is the biggest challenge yet to Najib, voicing a growing sense of public disgust with his tenure. Najib, 62, has been under fire for a year over allegations that billions of dollars were stolen from a state firm he founded, and his own acceptance of a murky $681 million overseas payment.

Reports also have emerged of the luxurious lifestyles, lavish spending and jet-set travels of his family.

Even before the graft allegations emerged Najib had faced mounting criticism for muffling dissent, allowing multi-racial Malaysia`s ethnic divisions to widen, and poor economic stewardship.

Najib denies wrongdoing, saying the corruption accusations are part of an unspecified political conspiracy.

He has counter attacked by curbing multiple investigations and purging his ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) of critics, essentially shutting off any internal party challenges.

Whistle-blowers have been arrested, while media outlets reporting on the allegations have been muzzled, raising growing concern for rights and freedom of expression.

"Today Malaysia is badly tarnished," the joint statement said, calling for broad political reforms.

Those present included former deputy premier Muhyiddin Yassin, whom Najib sacked last year after he called for a probe into the funding mess.

They also included top leaders of Malaysia`s opposition parties and of an electoral-reform movement that staged huge demonstrations last year over the scandals.

Critics allege that perhaps billion of dollars were skimmed from state investment firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) in complex overseas transactions.

1MDB was established in 2009 by Najib. It denies wrongdoing.

But US authorities are reportedly looking into 1MDB-related fund flows, while Swiss, British, Singaporean and Hong Kong authorities have acknowledged scrutinising the affair.

Swiss authorities said recently they believe up to $4 billion may have been stolen from Malaysian state firms and that they were investigating possible fraud and money-laundering.

Najib at first hotly denied accepting the mysterious $681 million payment put in his personal bank accounts in 2013.

But the government now claims it was a gift from the Saudi royal family, most of which was returned.

The Saudis are yet to officially confirm that claim, which is broadly ridiculed in Malaysia as far-fetched.

An investigative report this week by the Wall Street Journal said it found fresh clues that the money originated from 1MDB, and no Saudi involvement.

Najib`s office did not immediately offer comment."The momentum is building against Najib and is stronger than before. It can possibly snowball into bigger pressure, but the resistance from the government and UMNO will be strong as well," said Wan Saiful Wan Jan, head of the Malaysian think tank IDEAS.

Najib has weathered the pressure by rallying loyal UMNO leaders and using the party`s tight grip on the country to secure his position.

The new movement announced no plans for public protests. Its future strategy was not entirely clear.

The escalating crisis has brought warnings that fears of political instability could impact foreign investment just as the Malaysian economy`s reliance on energy exports is being strained by low oil prices.

UMNO has dominated Malaysia since independence in 1957 by championing the rights of Muslim Malays, Malaysia`s majority ethnic group.

But voters have increasingly rebelled against its divisive racial politics, authoritarian tactics, corruption, and an electoral system seen as pro-UMNO.
Hong Kong: One of five "missing" Hong Kong booksellers who was detained on the mainland returned to the city Friday and met police, the government said, in a case that has provoked fears of increasing Chinese interference in the semi-autonomous region.

Lui Por, who has been missing since October, was among three of the booksellers who Hong Kong police said earlier this week would be released on bail.

"Police met with Lui Por, who returned to Hong Kong from the mainland, this morning," a brief government statement released late Friday said.

"Lui requested to have his missing persons case closed and expressed that there was no need for assistance from the Hong Kong government or police," it said, adding he refused to provide any more information.

Hong Kong police had said that Lui and his counterparts Cheung Chi Ping and Lam Wing Kee, would all be released on bail.

However, police on Friday were not able to immediately provide information about Lam and Cheung when contacted by AFP.

Pro-democracy lawmaker Albert Ho, said Lui "must be very scared" to say he would drop his case.

"It`s just to show to the mainland authorities that he will keep quiet," Ho told AFP.The five booksellers from Hong Kong`s Mighty Current publishing house, known for its salacious titles critical of Beijing, went missing last year, only to turn up in mainland China.

One who apparently disappeared from Hong Kong, Lee Bo, appeared on television on Monday and insisted that he had not been abducted by mainland authorities.

In the Phoenix TV interview, Lee said he had "resorted to illegal immigration" to get to the mainland as he did not want to draw attention to his visit and that he made the trip so he could cooperate in an investigation.

The other four booksellers, who are under criminal investigation on the mainland, also appeared on Phoenix Sunday admitting to smuggling illicit books into China in sombre, sometimes tearful, interviews.

In their first appearance since they were detained, fellow booksellers Cheung, Lui and Lam blamed the company`s illegal book trade on colleague Gui Minhai in their interviews.

Gui, a Swedish citizen, confessed he had "explored ways to circumvent official inspections in China", in the interview Sunday.

Such confessions are more usually paraded on state television -- Phoenix is a private channel which broadcasts both in Hong Kong and the mainland.

Amnesty International on Friday sent Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying an open letter regarding the booksellers, urging him to take action.

"Amnesty International calls for the Hong Kong government to urge the mainland authorities to immediately and unconditionally release the booksellers and facilitate their return to Hong Kong, or another destination of their choice," the letter said.

The case has heightened fears of increasing mainland Chinese interference in Hong Kong and sparked international condemnation.

Britain had said the disappearance of Lee, a British citizen, was a "serious breach" of an agreement signed with Beijing before the city was handed back to China in 1997 which protects its freedoms for 50 years.

Washington has called on China to explain the disappearances and the EU has urged an investigation.
Warsaw: NATO on Friday accused Russia of complicating the search for a solution to the Syrian conflict by bombing moderate opposition groups battling President Bashar al-Assad.

"Moscow's challenge to the international rules-based order now extends to Syria and the Eastern Mediterranean," NATO deputy secretary general Alexander Vershbow said at an annual conference in Krakow, Poland.

"As Russia has provided greater levels of military support for President Assad -- including bombing moderate opposition groups, and driving tens of thousands of civilians from Aleppo and other cities -- it has made it even more difficult to find a long-term end to the violence and a negotiated peace and political transition."

French President Francois Hollande and British Prime Minister David Cameron had yesterday also called on Russia and the Syrian regime to "immediately stop attacks on the moderate opposition".

Speaking ahead of peace talks set for next week, Vershbow said he hoped the "current cessation of hostilities can be developed into something much longer lasting".

Air strikes and fighting have been drastically reduced by an unprecedented ceasefire brokered by Russia and the United States but some intermittent clashes and shelling continue, and many residents fear that the truce may not hold.

"Russia could still use its influence over Assad to be a force for peace in the Middle East. But it is still unclear whether this is Moscow's ultimate aim," Vershbow said.

His comments come on the heels of a stark warning earlier this week by NATO's top general that "Russia and the Assad regime are deliberately weaponizing migration in an attempt to overwhelm European structures and break European resolve."

Syria's conflict, which spiralled from widespread anti-government protests into an all-out civil war, has forced millions of people to flee their homes.

Of the record 1.2 million asylum seekers that arrived in the European Union in 2015, fresh figures published today showed Syrians were the largest group, numbering nearly 363,000.

More than 270,000 people have died in Syria since the conflict erupted in March 2011.
Qarku i Tiranes: Albania must carry out a "deep reform" of its justice system before it can be considered for European Union membership, the bloc`s foreign policy chief said during a visit to Tirana.

The country, which has been a NATO member since 2009, became a candidate for EU membership in 2014 but was told it would need to tackle corruption and organised crime before it could be admitted.

"A deep reform of the judicial system will open the way to the beginning of negotiations for Albania to become part of the EU," said Federica Mogherini on Thursday.

The Venice Commission, an advisory body of the Council of Europe, has been helping Albanian and foreign experts draft a reform bill, due to be presented to parliament soon.

Lawmakers voted in December to adopt laws that would have barred anyone who had been implicated in corruption scandals or criminal activities to stand in an election for public office.

But arguments around the constitutional amendments necessary to bring the bill into force have blocked the process for weeks.

The Albanian government hopes to begin negotiations on EU membership by the end of the year.
Seoul: Leader Kim Jong-Un has ordered North Korea's nuclear arsenal to be readied for pre-emptive use at any time, in an expected escalation of military rhetoric following the UN Security Council's adoption of tough new sanctions on Pyongyang.

The North's nuclear warheads must be deployed "on standby so as to be fired at any moment," Kim was quoted as saying by the North's official KCNA news agency on Friday.

He also warned that the situation on the divided Korean peninsula had become so dangerous that the North needed to shift its military strategy to one of "pre-emptive attack".

Such bellicose rhetoric is almost routine for North Korea at times of elevated tensions.

While the North is known to have a small stockpile of nuclear warheads, experts are divided about its ability to mount them on a working missile delivery system.

Washington downplayed Kim`s threat as posturing.

"We have not seen North Korea test or demonstrate the ability to miniaturise a nuclear weapon and put it on an ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile)," a US defence official told AFP.

Still, the official added, "our forces are ready to counter-eliminate strikes if necessary".In Seoul, President Park Geun-Hye promised South Korea would mete out "stern punishment" in the event of any North Korea provocation as she warned of a "fiercer" backlash than usual from Pyongyang over the latest UN sanctions.

According to KCNA, Kim made his comments while monitoring the test firing of a new, high-calibre multiple rocket launcher on Thursday, just hours after the UN Security Council unanimously adopted the US-drafted resolution penalising the North for its fourth nuclear test in January and long-range rocket launch last month.

South Korea`s defence ministry said the North had fired half a dozen rockets about 100-150 kilometres (60-90 miles) into the sea off its eastern coast on Thursday.

In a clear threat to the neighbouring South, Kim said the new rocket launcher should be "promptly deployed" along with other "recently developed" weaponry.

In the wake of the "gangster-like" UN resolution pushed by the United States and its South Korean ally, North Koreans are now "waiting for an order of combat to annihilate the enemy with their surging wrath", he added.

The Security Council resolution adopted late Wednesday laid out the toughest sanctions imposed on Pyongyang to date over its nuclear weapons programme and will, if implemented effectively, apply significant economic pressure on Kim`s regime.

It breaks new ground by sanctioning specific sectors key to the North Korean economy -- such as mineral exports -- and seeking to undermine the North`s use of, and access to, international transport systems.Kim said the resolution had opened a "very dangerous phase", coming just days before the United States and South Korea kick off annual joint military drills that Pyongyang views as provocative rehearsals for invasion.

The exercises involving tens of thousands of troops are scheduled to begin next Monday.

The Security Council resolution ushered in the fifth set of UN sanctions to hit North Korea since it first tested an atomic device in 2006, and was the result of arduous negotiations between the US and China, Pyongyang`s sole major ally.

China had been reluctant to endorse tough sanctions out of concern that too much pressure would trigger the collapse of the pariah regime, creating chaos on its border.

The measures Beijing finally signed off on are extremely tough on paper, but experts have warned that some of the language is vague enough to allow varying levels of enforcement.

China`s commitment could depend on the outcome of formal talks that opened Friday between Seoul and Washington on the possible deployment of an advanced US missile defence system in South Korea.

The THAAD system fires anti-ballistic missiles to smash into enemy missiles either inside or outside the Earth`s atmosphere during their final flight phase.

Its deployment is strongly opposed by China and Russia, with Beijing saying it would undermine its own nuclear deterrent and has the potential to "destroy" relations with Seoul.
Bangkok: A botched robbery by four Mongolian men on a Bangkok gun shop Friday left one of the intruders dead after a dramatic daytime shootout in the city's Chinatown district, police said.

The men, who police said held Chinese passports, stormed the store with BB-guns in an effort to steal real firearms.

But the were thwarted after the owner of the store opened fire on the robbers.

Armed police quickly joined in the firing and three of the raiders were wounded, with one dying later in hospital.

Officers are still hunting for the leader of the network, who they said has entered Thailand several times.

"They planned the operation well, first surveying the shop one day ahead of the robbery," national police chief Chakthip Chaijinda told reporters at the scene.

"Their purpose was to steal guns but we don`t know what they planned to use the guns for," he said, adding the men were Mongolian.

The besieged store, "Inter Arms", is on a popular street for trendy bars and restaurants in the capital city`s historic Chinatown neighbourhood.

Gun ownership is widespread in Thailand and watchdog groups say the kingdom has one of the highest gun murder rates in Asia.

The Thai government does not provide a specific breakdown for annual gun murders, but Gunpolicy.org website, an online database of gun statistics run by the University of Sydney, estimates 3.48 murders per 100,000 people in Thailand -- a ratio on par with the United States.

According to the Interior Ministry, there are 6.1 million registered firearms in Thailand, a country with 67 million people.

But Gunpolicy.org puts the number at closer to 10 million after accounting for weapons purchased on the booming blackmarket.
Moscow: Russian investigators on Friday filed murder charges against a nanny after she beheaded a four-year-old handicapped girl in her care and brandished the severed head in a Moscow street.

The Investigative Committee said suspect Gyulchekhra Bobokulova, a 38-year-old native of Muslim-majority Uzbekistan, would undergo psychiatric and drug tests to determine "her mental condition."

The maximum punishment for the murder of a minor is life in prison although women offenders cannot be sentenced to more than 25 years in jail in Russia.

A defendant cannot be sentenced to jail term if found to be legally insane.

"The investigation is currently taking exhaustive measures to study the personality of the accused and establish the motives of the crime she committed," the Investigative Committee said in a statement.

Bobokulova -- whom the media have dubbed "the bloody nanny" -- was detained on Monday as she was waving a child`s severed head outside a metro station in northwestern Moscow.

In a court on Wednesday, the 38-year-old told journalists that "Allah ordered" the killing.

Video footage that emerged on the Internet appeared to show the mother-of-three saying the attack was "revenge" for President Vladimir Putin`s bombing campaign in Syria, which began in September.

The Investigative Committee swiftly said she had "long been diagnosed with schizophrenia", while the Kremlin called her a "deranged person."

Some have suggested that the Uzbek nanny might have been radicalised by Muslim hardliners.

Moskovsky Komsomolets daily reported Friday investigators were focussing on Bobokulova`s 48-year-old partner Mamur Dzhurakulov, who was detained in Tajikistan, another Muslim-majority nation in Central Asia, several days ago.

One of Bobokulova`s sons, Rakhmatillo Ashurov, was questioned by Uzbek police and said his mother had become very devout after meeting Dzhurakulov, the newspaper said.

Bobokulova`s son reportedly also said his mother wanted to take him to the Islamic State in Syria where she could "freely wear an Islamic veil and live according to Sharia law" and where he could "join jihad."

The son said he had told his mother he wanted to move to the United States or South Korea and had no plans to travel to the Islamic State, the newspaper said.
Seoul: South Korea and the US were set to open talks today on the possible deployment - vehemently opposed by China - of an advanced US missile defence system to counter the growing threat from North Korea.

South Korea's defence ministry said initial discussions would focus on potential locations, as well as cost-sharing and a timeline for installation of the THAAD system.

The system fires anti-ballistic missiles into the sky to smash into enemy missiles either inside or outside the Earth's atmosphere during their final flight phase.

The interceptor missiles carry no warheads, instead relying on kinetic energy to destroy their targets.

Seoul and Washington announced their intention to begin formal talks on its deployment following Pyongyang's long- range rocket launch on February 7, which was widely regarded as a covert ballistic missile test.

The first official meeting has been on hold amid fierce opposition from China and Russia, with Beijing warning the deployment had the potential to "destroy" relations with Seoul.

China sees THAAD as a threat to the effectiveness of its own nuclear deterrent, arguing that it could be used to monitor Chinese missile launches as far inland as Xian in the northwest.

The defence ministry in Seoul stressed today that any deployment would be solely aimed at countering North Korea's "increasing nuclear and missile threats".

"North Korea has continued its nuclear tests and long- range missile provocations and defied South Korea and the international community's deterrence efforts," the ministry said.

China is South Korea's most important trade partner and - in deference to Beijing's sensitivities on the issue - South Korea had previously declined to formally discuss bringing in THAAD.

But North Korea's continued testing - and Beijing's previous resistance to imposing harsh sanctions on Pyongyang - triggered a change in Seoul's stance.

There is already a THAAD battery stationed in Guam, and Japan, the US's other key ally in the region, is also considering taking on the system.
Ankara: Turkish armed forces launched new artillery strikes on positions of the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria, local media reported on Friday.

Turkish artillery fired shells from howitzers positioned in its border region against IS targets in the north of Syria`s Aleppo province, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported reported.

A fragile ceasefire backed by Turkey has taken effect in Syria, but the deal does not apply to territory held by the IS group and Al Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front.

This was the second time within a week that Turkey had shelled IS targets in Syria, after a period of over a month when there had been no reports of Turkish strikes against the extremist group.

Turkey had on February 28 shelled six IS targets in Syria a total of 41 times, a senior government official said this week.

From mid-February, Turkish artillery had also on successive days shelled targets of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) inside Syria, with the military saying it was responding to incoming fire.

But Turkey has not shelled any positions held by Syrian Kurdish fighters inside Syria since the ceasefire was implemented from at midnight last Friday, the official said.

Washington had urged Ankara to halt its fire on the PYD and its People`s Protection Units (YPG) militia.

The issue of the Syrian Kurds had caused a rare rift between Ankara and Washington, which regards the YPG as the most effective fighting force on the ground against IS and wants Turkey to focus on the fight against jihadists.
(Reuters) - Cancer care provider 21st Century Oncology Holdings Inc said it was investigating a breach of its computer network, but had no indication that patient information had been misused. The Federal Bureau of Investigation had advised the company of the breach in November but had asked it to hold off on making an announcement so as to not impede the investigation, 21st Century Oncology said on Friday. The Fort Myers, Florida-based company operates 145 cancer treatment centers in the United States and 36 in Latin America. The company said an investigation by a forensics firm it had hired showed that the intruder may have gained access to its database in early October. The database contains personal information of some patients, including their names, social security numbers, physicians, diagnoses and treatment, as well as insurance data, the company said. The FBI said on Friday the investigation remained ongoing and no further comments would be provided for now. 21st Century Oncology is notifying about 2.2 million of its current and former patients that certain information may have been copied and transferred, the company said in a regulatory filing. (1.usa.gov/1LZ28Oe) The company said it would offer one year of free identity protection services to the affected individuals. (Reporting by Natalie Grover in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
By Tim Hepher PHOENIX (Reuters) - Airbus is seeking airline support for a new 400-seat jetliner provisionally dubbed the A350-8000 as competition escalates with Boeing over the world's largest two-engined jets, airline and aviation industry sources said. After talking up the possibility of a new member of its A350 family, the European planemaker has swung into an active pre-marketing phase as it responds to a recent upgrade in the competing Boeing 777. While Boeing has scored successes in the Gulf with its biggest-ever twin-engined jet, the 406-seat 777-9, Airbus is expected to aim its design at airlines that do not always require the performance needed for extreme Gulf conditions. "It would have similar capacity and range (as the 777-9) and substantially lower seat-mile costs," Airbus sales chief John Leahy said in an interview on the sidelines of the Istat Americas air finance conference. "We are showing it to airlines right now." The project is the latest move in a game of leapfrog played by Airbus and Boeing over the past decade in the market for big twinjets, valued at about $1.9 trillion over 20 years. It marks a shift in priorities after the oil price collapse eased pressure on Airbus to upgrade its larger four-engined A380, the output of which is declining because of slow sales. Two airlines whose stance could be decisive in whether Airbus launches the new jet are Singapore Airlines and British Airways . Singapore took delivery of its first smaller A350-900 model this week and has long been weighing up the 777-9. Both airlines declined to comment. In Singapore, where Airbus' planemaking president, Fabrice Bregier, stopped over on Thursday after a China visit, a company spokesman declined to comment. The A350 XWB (Extra Wide Body) family was launched after a string of setbacks in 2006 to compete with Boeing's mid-sized 787 Dreamliner and the larger 777. Boeing responded to the all-new jet by upgrading its existing 777 family to include the 777-9, one of a pair of jets also known as the 777X series. Boeing has sold 306 777X jets. But after an initial burst, sales have hit a lean patch. Airbus has sold 181 A350-1000s. KEY DECISIONS The new, bigger A350 would use a derivative of the latest Rolls-Royce Trent XWB planned for the A350-1000. One person briefed on the plans said it would boost thrust to just over 100,000 pounds from the current 97,000. Airbus believes that would compete well for a large majority of the industry's needs and eclipse the heavier 777X. Boeing dismissed the proposal. "Were not surprised that Airbus is attempting to fill a hole in its product lineup after losing market share to the 777X. At the end of the day, well still have the better airplane," Marketing Vice-President Randy Tinseth told Reuters. Some analysts said a key to the project would be how easily Rolls-Royce could expand a full slate of projects, even without pushing performance to the limits needed by Mideast carriers. "This sounds like they are making a virtue of its lack of hot-and-high performance compared to 777-9 when maybe its the case that Rolls cant afford, or doesnt want to, do a much bigger and substantially new engine," said Nick Cunningham of UK-based Agency Partners. One engine expert estimated the upgrade could cost half a billion dollars and require a bigger fan and new materials. Rolls-Royce was not immediately available for comment. To give the new jet enough capacity and range, Airbus would boost the maximum takeoff weight to just over 319 tonnes from 308 tonnes on the A350-1000, the person briefed on the plans said. But it would sacrifice some range compared with the 8,000-mile A350-1000. Airbus says it has not made a final decision on whether to launch a new A350 and will provide an update at the Farnborough Airshow in July. It has been weighing what to call the new member of the A350 XWB family, reflecting deeper decisions on market positioning that can affect billions of dollars in sales. It needs to strike a balance between protecting sales of the A350-1000, by emphasizing what is new, without weakening its long-held mantra of commonality between related aircraft. Until now, the possible new model was widely known in the industry as the A350-1100, continuing a sequence from the 276-seat A350-800 to the 315-seat A350-900 and 366-seat A350-1000. Sources now say it is being pre-marketed with a surprise new identity, the A350-8000, although a final decision has yet to be taken. An earlier working title was A350-1000 XL. Leahy confirmed Airbus was reluctant to call it A350-1100. "You don't want it so close to the 1000 that it is an either-or decision. You have the 1000 and another airplane, with equal gaps of 40 seats between the 900 and 1000 (models), and then whatever this becomes." Eight is a number widely used by planemakers and is seen as a symbol of success in a key battleground for sales: Asia. "Eight is a very nice number out in Asia, but we are not going to comment until we launch the program," Leahy said. If the name is confirmed, Airbus will be hoping to bury any association with the last jet to use the 8000 model code: a VIP version of its A340, only one of which was ever built. (Editing by David Goodman, Adrian Croft and Peter Cooney)
By Julia Harte and Julia Edwards

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - FBI Director James Comey told a congressional panel on Tuesday that a final court ruling forcing Apple Inc to give the FBI data from an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters would be potentially precedential in other cases where the agency might request similar cooperation from technology companies.

The remarks were a slight change to Comey's statement last week that ordering Apple to unlock the phone was "unlikely to be a trailblazer" for setting a precedent for other cases.

Tuesday's testimony from Comey and remarks before the same U.S. House Judiciary Committee by Apple's general counsel, Bruce Sewell, brought to Congress a public fight between Apple and the government over the dueling interests of privacy and security that has so far only been heard in the courts.

On Feb. 16, a federal court in California instructed Apple to write special software to unlock the iPhone 5c used by gunman Rizwan Farook, an order the company is contesting.

Sewell and Comey's remarks also clarified some areas where the two sides fundamentally disagree. Comey said the tool created for Farook's iPhone would not work on other models. But Sewell said the tool that Apple was being asked to create would work on any iPhone.

"This is not about the San Bernardino case. This is about the safety and security of every iPhone that is in use today," Sewell said.

Committee members seized on Comey's statement that the case could set a legal precedent allowing the agency access to any encrypted device.

"Given... that Congress has explicitly denied you that authority so far, can you appreciate our frustration that this case appears to be little more than an end run around this committee?" asked the panel's ranking minority member, Michigan Representative John Conyers.

Comey responded that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was not asking to expand the governments surveillance authority, but rather to maintain its ability to obtain electronic information under legal authorities that Congress has already provided.

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He also acknowledged that it was a "mistake" for the FBI to have asked San Bernardino County officials to reset the phone's cloud storage account after it was seized. The decision prevented the device, which was owned by the county, Farook's employer, from backing up information that the FBI could have read.

Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, shot and killed 14 people and wounded 22 others last Dec. 2 before they were themselves killed in a shootout with police. The government has said the attack was inspired by Islamist militants and the FBI wants to read the phone's data to investigate any links with militant groups.

Comey told a congressional panel last Thursday that the phone could have "locator services" that would help the agency fill in a gap in its knowledge of the route the couple traveled as they fled.

"We're missing 19 minutes before they were finally killed by law enforcement," Comey said. "The answer to that might be on the device."

A federal judge handed Apple a victory in another phone unlocking case in Brooklyn on Monday, ruling that he did not have the legal authority to order Apple to disable the security of an iPhone that was seized during a drug investigation.

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said on Tuesday at the RSA Cybersecurity conference in San Francisco that she was "disappointed" by the Brooklyn ruling, and rebuffed Apple's claim that its Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination was being violated.

The Justice Department is "not alleging that [Apple has] done anything wrong, Lynch said, but is treating the company as a third party holding data valuable to an ongoing investigation. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance testified in support of the FBI on Tuesday, arguing that default device encryption "severely harms" criminal prosecutions at the state level, including in cases in his district involving at least 175 iPhones.

(Reporting by Julia Edwards and Julia Harte; Editing by Bill Rigby and Grant McCool)
By Megan Rowling BARCELONA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - In the Caribbean island state of Barbados, rainwater collection has been promoted as a way to boost scarce supplies of fresh water. But there's a catch: environmental health officers then reported an increase in mosquitoes breeding in household water storage tanks. In a country battling a high rate of dengue fever and some recently detected cases of Zika, controlling the population of the Aedes aegypti mosquito - which transmits both viruses to humans - is a high priority. Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum, team leader for climate change and health with the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, says there is a cheap and easy answer: covering rainwater tanks with mosquito nets. But first the connection between climate and health issues must be made - and that doesn't always happen. In Barbados, it did. The country was one of seven to take part in the first global project on adapting public health systems to climate change, launched by the WHO and the U.N. Development Program in 2010. Key aims of the work in Barbados were to improve water storage facilities to eliminate mosquitoes, give technical advice on building and maintaining water tanks, and raise public awareness about safe ways to harvest rainwater. "It is about healthy urban planning - whereby your urban design, and your water and sanitation services all take into account the health risks and opportunities that arise," said Campbell-Lendrum. Pressure to analyze the health impacts of climate change and extreme weather - and to explore how efforts to deal with climate stresses could themselves shape health risks - is increasing as Zika gathers pace. WHO figures show that active Zika outbreaks have been reported in around 40 countries or territories since the start of 2015, with three quarters of them in the Americas. In that region, the Aedes mosquito is found in all countries except Canada and continental Chile, according to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). The Zika infection itself produces none or only mild symptoms in many cases, but scientists are trying to establish whether it causes microcephaly in babies, a condition in which infants are born with unusually small heads and can suffer developmental problems. Zika also has been associated with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare disorder in which the body's immune system attacks part of the nervous system. There is no treatment or vaccine for Zika infection, and the WHO has said it will take at least 18 months to start large-scale clinical trials of preventative shots. That means the focus for now is on understanding where and how the virus is likely to spread, eliminating mosquito breeding sites - from water tanks to flower pots, gutters and used tyres - and taking precautions against mosquito bites. EL NINO INFLUENCE? Climate scientists have a role to play in the fight against Zika because mosquito-borne infections are strongly affected by weather and climate conditions, Campbell-Lendrum said. It remains unclear if and how climate change and the powerful El Nino weather phenomenon that has brought drought and floods to different parts of the world in recent months may have influenced the spread of Zika, he added. "But it is certainly highly plausible that these unusual weather conditions have made it easier to transmit the virus," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Meteorologists have warned that El Nino, a warming of Pacific Ocean surface waters, could be succeeded later in the year by its opposite - La Nina - which also causes extreme weather around the globe. That is something scientists will need to monitor closely in the coming months, matching projections of climatic conditions that favor breeding of Aedes mosquitoes with information on where people from places with the infection are traveling. Erin Coughlan de Perez of the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Center said that as knowledge grows about the links between climate factors and Zika, it could be used to target public health measures in at-risk areas, to head off outbreaks. IMPROVING RESPONSE In a January report on the health impacts of El Nino, the WHO warned that above-average rainfall was expected in parts of South America until May - particularly Ecuador, Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina. That could cause floods and increases in vector-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue, chikungunya and Zika, said the report - the first of its kind. "We are paying much more attention to the links between climate and weather and health, and trying to use this information and this understanding to improve the response," the WHO's Campbell-Lendrum said. Madeleine Thomson, a senior scientist with the International Research Institute for Climate and Society, said it is now increasingly accepted that climate factors need to be a core consideration for the health sector, but the resources to put that into practice have yet to follow. The fact that global warming will make populations in some parts of the world more vulnerable to mosquito-borne diseases like dengue and Zika "is not rocket science", she said. "The key thing is how do we use that knowledge to better control Zika and other emerging infectious diseases that will come down the pipeline?" Thomson will attend a meeting called by PAHO in Washington this week to define the public health research agenda for Zika, which is expected to include weather and climate influences. The researcher noted that scientists will have to draw on what they already know about dengue, given that Zika is likely transmitted by the same mosquito species. URBAN SLUMS Dengue - which causes flu-like symptoms and can develop into the deadly dengue haemorrhagic fever - is the world's fastest-spreading tropical disease, with the annual number of cases increasing 30-fold in the last 50 years, according to the WHO. The failure to control dengue is rooted partly in the fact that the mosquitoes thrive in small amounts of stagnant water in urban areas, and their eggs can survive dry seasons. Unplanned urbanization favors the transmission of dengue and Zika, experts say. That's a problem at a time when the world's cities are mushrooming, particularly in poorer countries with slums that lack a reliable water supply and decent housing. "It's really a recipe for disaster, for increasing disaster risk - and it reinforces the need for us to get out ahead of this with effective planning," said Robert Glasser, head of the U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR). The spread of Zika has shown that the emergence of a virus or disease can affect all countries, including rich ones, making international cooperation, early detection and rapid response systems essential, he added. A new global agreement to prevent disasters, adopted in Sendai, Japan, last March, included the need to address biological hazards such as pandemics - largely in response to the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa. But efforts to join up ministries and agencies working separately on health and disasters are still at an early stage, with a conference due to bring them together in Bangkok next month. "These viruses do not respect silos within government, and they don't respect borders either across governments, and this is the main reason we need to break down the silos in almost every direction," Glasser said. (Reporting by Megan Rowling; editing by Laurie Goering. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org)
By Stephanie Nebehay and Gabriela Baczynska GENEVA/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The build-up of thousands of migrants and refugees on Greece's northern borders is fast turning into a humanitarian disaster, the United Nations said on Tuesday as the European Union prepared to offer more financial aid. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said clashes at Greece's border with Macedonia on Monday - when migrants battered down a gate and were tear-gassed - simply underlined the urgency with which the EU needed to act on the crisis. But Austria - which last month limited the number of migrants it lets through to 3,200 a day - stuck to its position that it did not want to become an overcrowded waiting room for thousands wanting to make it further north. Croatia, which is also on what is now the well-trodden migrants route northwards from Greece, said it might deploy its armed forces to help police control flows. But near Idomeni, on the Greek-Macedonian border itself, a tent city mushroomed, prompting some despair among those trapped there. "Macedonian police put us here, the Greeks don't want us back," Yase Qued, a 16-year-old from Afghanistan, told Reuters. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) called for better planning and accommodation for at least 24,000 it said were stuck in Greece, including 8,500 at Idomeni. "Europe is on the cusp of a largely self-induced humanitarian crisis," U.N. refugee agency spokesman Adrian Edwards told a news briefing. "The crowded conditions are leading to shortages of food, shelter, water and sanitation. As we all saw yesterday, tensions have been building, fuelling violence and playing into the hands of people smugglers," he said. Migrants have become stranded in Greece since Austria and other countries along the Balkans migration corridor imposed restrictions on their borders, limiting the numbers able to cross. Police chiefs from Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia, meeting in Belgrade, agreed to improve the system of joint registration of refugees to unblock gridlocks in Greece. The burgeoning crisis adds to last year's chaos when more than a million migrants and refugees arrived in the EU, many fleeing the war in Syria and walking from Turkey northwards. Around 131,000 have reached the continent so far in 2016. CRISIS AID The European Commission, the EU executive, said it would float a plan on Wednesday to offer emergency financial aid for humanitarian crises inside the 28-nation bloc - comparable with operations it has launched elsewhere in the world. Officials said the Commission plan would allocate 300 million euros ($325 million) this year to helping any EU state, not only Greece, deal with such crises, and 700 million in all over the three years to the end of 2018. The Greek government said it had asked the Commission for 480 million euros worth of assistance, including ambulances, blankets and personnel to help with 100,000 asylum seekers. Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker spoke to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and European Council President Donald Tusk was on a visit to Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Greece and Turkey. Tusk's tour comes ahead of a special European Union summit on the crisis next Monday. Germany's Merkel said television pictures of migrants desperate to make their way into western Europe via the Balkans drove home the urgency of the summit. "The pictures show us clearly every day that there is a need for talks," she said after meeting Croatian Prime Minister Tihomir Oreskovic in Berlin. "We also naturally need to deal with the very difficult situation in Greece and see how we can fulfil what the (European) Commission demanded from us, namely to end the politics of waving people through and to return to the Schengen system as soon as possible and to the greatest possible extent." The difficulty of reaching agreement on an issue which goes to the heart of public fears for security and safety in many countries was underlined by Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann, who honed in on comments from German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere that suggested he thought Austria might wave through too many migrants. "What is not acceptable is to say that they should definitely come and then the interior minister says he is against waving people through (to Germany)," Faymann told a news conference after a weekly cabinet meeting. "Then how should they go to Germany?" The UNHCR, meanwhile, urged all EU member states to reinforce their capacity to register and process asylum seekers through their national procedures as well as through an EU relocation scheme. "Greece cannot manage this situation alone," Edwards said. Despite commitments to relocate 66,400 refugees from Greece, EU member states have so far pledged just 1,539 spaces and only 325 people actually have been relocated, he added. (Additional reporting by Lefteris Papadimas in Idomeni, Francois Murphy in Vienna, Aleksandar Vasovic in Belgrade, Paul Carrel in Berlin and Alastair Macdonald in Brussels; Writing by Jeremy Gaunt; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
BERLIN (Reuters) - Resettling refugees from Turkey to Europe will not be at the top of the agenda of a European Union summit next Monday in tackling the bloc's migrant crisis, a spokeswoman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday. The summit will prioritize where the European Union is in terms of protecting its external borders and how it can help Greece, Christiane Wirtz told a regular government news conference. "The redistribution of refugees themselves is not top of the list because the other points are necessary requirements first before we can pursue this point," she said. (Reporting by Joseph Nasr and Caroline Copley; Editing by Michael Nienaber)
ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian National Petroleum Corp (NNPC) is to be split into 30 independent companies within weeks, the group's head said on Thursday, in a restructuring designed to help tackle corruption at the state oil company. Mismanagement and graft at NNPC has hampered an industry that provides around 70 percent of national income in Africa's biggest crude producer, and plans to break up the company are part of efforts to dismantle opaque structures that enabled theft. "For the first time, we are unbundling the subset of the NNPC to 30 independent companies with their own managing directors," Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, also minister of state for petroleum who was appointed head of NNPC last year to overhaul the company, told a conference in Abuja. "Titles like group executive directors are going to disappear and in their place you are going to have chief executive officers, and they are going to take responsibilities for their titles," he said. President Muhammadu Buhari has made reforming the nation's oil sector a priority as a slump in oil prices has hammered the economy, since crude exports account for around 95 percent of foreign earnings. Last year the former military ruler fired the NNPC board and brought in Kachikwu to lead corporate reform efforts. Kachikwu also told the conference members of OPEC plan to meet other oil producers in Russia around March 20 for new talks on an oil output freeze. (Reporting by Alexis Akwagyiram and Camillus Eboh; Editing by David Holmes)
By Ayla Jean Yackley ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The release of two prominent Turkish journalists following a ruling by Turkey's top court that their rights had been violated is a "clear defeat" for President Tayyip Erdogan, one of them said on Wednesday. Can Dundar, the editor-in-chief of opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet, and his colleague Erdem Gul were freed last Friday after the constitutional court ruled their detention was "unlawful" and violated their individual freedom and safety. The two journalists, who still face trial and potential life sentences, were arrested in November and charged with intentionally aiding an armed terrorist organization and publishing material in violation of state security. Their detention has deepened concerns about media freedom in Turkey, which aspires to join the European Union. Erdogan says the case is not about press freedom but about espionage and says he does not respect the court ruling. Cumhuriyet published photos, videos and a report last year that it said showed intelligence officials trucking arms to Syria in 2014. "Erdogan is having trouble accepting the ruling because this was a clear defeat for him. We have a president who is not accustomed to defeat," Dundar said at a news conference. Dundar also said he would defy an order to surrender his passport and would attempt to travel overseas. The court's decision, which affirmed Dundar and Gul were acting as journalists, should pave the way for an acquittal at a first hearing on March 25, Dundar said, but added it was unclear how the judiciary would now act after Erdogan's intervention. "DIRTY BARGAINING" Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, a close ally of Erdogan, echoed the president's remarks on the case on Wednesday, saying the court ruling should not affect the journalists' trial. "It is wrong for the constitutional court to see itself as the primary court and intervene in the whole judicial process," Davutoglu told a news conference, adding that the case was about revealing state secrets and espionage. Advocates of free speech criticized the government's stance. "The words Mr Erdogan used ... is setting up a climate of intimidation and even threats against journalists. What he does is really dangerous," said Christophe Deloire, secretary general of Reporters Without Borders.. Dundar chided the EU for failing to press Turkey over basic rights, saying Brussels was too focused on securing Ankara's cooperation in stemming the flow of migrants from the Middle East to Europe. "While we were in prison, there was bargaining going on over money for refugees. We see this as dirty bargaining to keep refugees off European territory," he said. "It appears Europe is willing to concede its long-term principles for short-term gains." (Reporting by Ayla Jean Yackley; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Nick Tattersall and Gareth Jones)
DONETSK, Russia (Reuters) - A Ukrainian woman pilot, on trial in Russia on charges of complicity in the killing of two Russian journalists, told a court on Thursday she was going on hunger strike to protest at the length of what she said was an unjust legal process. Nadezhda Savchenko, 34, had been expected to deliver a final speech to the court in southern Russia in her trial, but the judge abruptly adjourned proceedings until March 9, even though the session still had some time to run. Sources close to Savchenko, considered a political prisoner and hero by many in her native Ukraine said she had planned to deliver a speech scathing of the Kremlin. She denies the charges against her. "I am going on a dry hunger strike starting today. You bloody fools!," she shouted as proceedings broke up. A "dry" hunger strike means she will also refuse water as well as food. "You snatched me and have kept me in jail for nearly two years," Savchenko, who wore a traditional Ukrainian blouse, shouted from a metal cage in the courtroom. Savchenko's defense lawyer Ilya Novikov called her case a "show trial". State prosecutors' allegations center on Savchenko's conduct during the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine pitting pro-Kremlin rebels against the Ukrainian army. In June 2014, prosecutors say that Savchenko, who had been transferred from the air force to fight with Ukrainian ground forces, had helped direct artillery fire in the Luhansk region where a shell killed two Russian television reporters. Her defense lawyers told the court on Thursday that the time and location of calls made from her mobile phone disproved the allegations. Elected a member of Ukraine's parliament while in captivity, she faces up to 25 years in jail if found guilty. Western politicians and rights groups have called for her release. A verdict in the case is expected soon. (Reporting by Sergei Pivovarov and Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Andrew Osborn and Richard Balmforth)
By Lisa Barrington and John Davison BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian rebels said on Wednesday they were under fierce government attack near the Turkish border despite a cessation of hostilities agreement and a representative cast doubt on whether U.N.-backed peace talks would go ahead on March 9 as planned. The agreement drawn up by the United States and Russia came into effect on Saturday and has slowed but not entirely stopped a conflict that has been going on for almost five years. Both the government and rebels have accused each other of violations. The agreement does not include Islamic State or al Qaeda's Nusra Front, which is widely deployed in opposition areas. The United Nations said on Tuesday a new attempt at peace talks would begin on March 9 in Geneva, urging warring sides to ensure the cessation agreement take hold to allow them to come to the table. But opposition official George Sabra said the date for a resumption of talks remained "hypothetical" as long as the truce did not fulfil humanitarian demands including a release of detainees held by the government. "What is the value of a truce if its overseers - meaning America and Russia - do not push all sides to abide by it?" Sabra told Arabic news channel Arabiya al-Hadath on Wednesday. The White House said it had seen a reduction in air strikes against the opposition and civilians in Syria in recent days but was concerned by some reported tank and artillery attacks. Washington was also aware of reports of possible chemical weapons use by the Syrian government, the State Department said, adding that it could not confirm them but that they were being investigated. Israel said on Tuesday Syrian forces had been dropping chlorine barrels on civilians over the past few days. There was no immediate comment from Damascus, which has denied breaching the terms of the truce. The opposition is pressing for full humanitarian access to rebel-held areas and for detainees to be released - terms set out in a U.N. Security Council resolution passed in December. Opposition officials say an increase in aid access has fallen short of what is required. A senior U.S. official said Washington was working with Moscow to improve access to besieged areas and the World Health Organisation said it had delivered medical supplies to the besieged town of Mouadamiya on Wednesday, after reporting some medicines had been removed from a previous aid delivery. CHALLENGING President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview broadcast on Tuesday that insurgents had breached the deal from day one, and the Syrian army was refraining from responding to give a chance for the agreement to last, warning that there "are limits". Five months of Russian air strikes have turned the momentum Assad's way in the war that has killed more than 250,000 people and created refugee crises in neighboring states and Europe. Antony Blinken, deputy U.S. Secretary of State, said in Geneva that major and regional powers were monitoring the cessation of hostilities to "prevent any escalation" but it was a "challenging process". "The best possible thing that could happen is for the cessation of hostilities to really take root, and to be sustained, for the humanitarian assistance to flow and then for the negotiations to start," he said. While residents of some parts of Syria are describing an unusually calm spell, rebels say government forces backed by Russian air strikes have continued offensives in areas of strategic importance in northwestern Syria. The Syrian government is saying very little about military operations in those areas, where the Nusra Front is widely deployed in close proximity to groups fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army that have accepted the agreement. A rebel official and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said government forces pressed an offensive against insurgents in Latakia province at the Turkish border on Wednesday. Fadi Ahmad, spokesman for the First Coastal Division, an FSA group, said government forces had brought in reinforcements for the battle and that fighting was as intense as anything preceding the cessation of hostilities. "The battles were today very fierce," he said. The Syrian government, backed on the ground by Iranian forces and Lebanon's Hezbollah, has prioritized securing the Turkish border through which rebel groups are supplied with weapons from states seeking Assad's downfall. The area being fought over in Latakia overlooks the rebel-held town of Jisr al-Shughour in neighboring Idlib province, and the Ghab Plain, where rebel advances last year were seen as a growing threat to Assad. A rebel commander in northern Syria said: "Battles continue in vital areas that the regime wants, and where there was no truce in the first place. There is bombardment and battles." "We are in the fifth day and there is no change in these areas," he said, in reference to areas in the provinces of Latakia, Homs and Hama. Fighting also flared anew in Aleppo between insurgents and an alliance including the Kurdish YPG militia, the Observatory said. A report by the Institute for the Study of War showed Russian strikes in support of government forces and their allies had hit a number of areas in Aleppo, Idlib, Homs and Hama provinces since the truce deal took effect. While battling Syrian insurgent groups in Aleppo province, the YPG is also fighting Islamic State with the help of a U.S.-led alliance further east. The group said on Wednesday that 43 of its fighters were killed in an Islamic State attack on two towns near the Turkish border at the weekend. (This version of the story corrects the number of years the conflict has been going on to "almost five" in paragraph 2.) (Writing by John Davison/Tom Perry; additional reporting by Tom Perry and Ali Abdelatti in Cairo; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
ACCRA (Reuters) - Turkey stands ready to help fight the growing threat of terrorism in west Africa under a new strategic partnership that aims to boost trade and other ties with the continent, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday. Addressing members of Ghana's parliament during a two-day visit to Accra, Erdogan said Turkey was well placed to help African countries combat terrorism, an allusion to its decades-long fight against Kurdish separatist rebels as well as other groups including Islamist militants. "Turkey has a vast experience in combating terrorism and we understand those countries suffering at the hands of terrorism best," he said, citing recent attacks by Islamic militants in Mali and Burkina Faso. At least 28 people from 12 countries were killed in January when Islamist jihadists attacked a hotel and a restaurant in the Burkina Faso capital, Ouagadougou. The attacks followed a similar raid on a luxury hotel in Mali's capital Bamako in November which left 20 dead. Erdogan said developing countries, including in Africa, needed to push harder for reforms of the United Nations Security Council to make it more responsive to their needs in times of crisis, adding that the body as currently constituted only served the interests of a few "elite" countries. The Security Council's five permanent members are the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France. "The Security Council of the United Nations is not active in Syria, in northern Africa, or northern Iraq ... and its failure to interfere in troubled countries should be of concern to all and that's why we need to push for reforms in the Council," he said. Erdogan, accompanied by some 150 Turkish businesspeople, is keen to open up new markets for his country's exporters, to seek new investment opportunities in fast-growing African economies and boost Ankara's diplomatic profile on the global stage. Turkey is set to significantly expand its trade with Africa, Erdogan said, though he gave no figures. His tour of west Africa also includes Ivory Coast, Guinea and Nigeria. (Reporting by Kwasi Kpodo; Editing by Gareth Jones)
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's justice ministry has submitted a request for parliament to lift the immunity from prosecution of the leaders of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), state-run Anadolu Agency said on Friday. President Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly called for MPs from the party to face prosecution, accusing them of being an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group. Anadolu identified those targeted by the request as HDP co-leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag and party deputies Selma Irmak, Sirri Sureyya Onder and Ertugrul Kurkcu. The request was submitted to the prime minister's office, it said. Turkish MPs have immunity from prosecution. The mainly Kurdish southeast has been hit by the worst violence since the 1990s after a two-year PKK ceasefire collapsed last July, triggering nationalist calls to prosecute politicians accused of being close to the PKK. The opposition nationalist MHP asked parliament on Thursday to discuss requests to lift the immunity of MPs as part of the fight against terrorism. Demirtas alone is the subject some 60 dossiers in parliament calling for the lifting of his immunity, including some related to his calls for street protests, but as yet there have been no moves in the assembly to open the way for his prosecution. (Writing by Daren Butler; editing by David Dolan)
By Mehreen Zahra-Malik ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - U.S.-based ride-hailing service Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] launched in Pakistan on Thursday, venturing into a country where credit cards are rare and security is a concern. Uber's launch comes shortly after rival service Easy Taxi, backed by German firm Rocket Internet, pulled out of Pakistan amid a broad exit from Asia, where competition from local ride-hailing start-ups including Singapore-based Grab Taxi and China's Didi Kuaidi is strong. Uber's Pakistan launch is part of a $250 million drive into central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, Shaden Abdellatif, Uber's head of communications for the region, told Reuters. It launched its low-cost uberGo service across Lahore at 13.7 Pakistani rupees (13 U.S. cents) per km, a price Abdellatif said was low enough to attract as many customers as possible. And in a departure from its usual business model, Uber customers will be allowed to pay in cash, rather than credit cards, which are rarely used in Pakistan. "The response to our arrival has been fantastic - both from riders and drivers," Abdellatif said. In Pakistan, Uber must contend with one of the lowest Internet penetration rates in Asia. The safety of both passengers and drivers will also be a major challenge in a country with a high crime rate and an intractable Taliban insurgency. In neighboring India, the government temporarily banned Uber after an Uber driver was accused of rape. Abdellatif said all Uber drivers would go through rigorous screening, as well as undergo mandatory training aimed at raising awareness about sexual harassment. "We are also engaging the local law enforcement on ways we can develop the incident response process," she added. Uber, currently valued at over $50 billion, has expanded more quickly globally than any company in history and is operating in 300 cities in over 60 countries. (This version of the story corrects region in spokeswoman's title paragraph 3) (Editing by Miral Fahmy)
MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Ukrainian woman pilot on trial in Russia over the killing of two Russian journalists plans to tell a court to release her within 10 days of pronouncing its verdict or she will starve herself to death. Nadezhda Savchenko, 34, was captured by pro-Moscow rebels in eastern Ukraine in June 2014 and denies any wrongdoing. The helicopter pilot, who faces up to 25 years in jail if found guilty, has become a national hero for many in Ukraine who see her as a symbol of anti-Kremlin defiance. Savchenko said on Thursday she was going on hunger strike to protest the length of what she said was an unjust legal process after the judge in her trial adjourned proceedings just as she was about to deliver a final speech. On Friday her sister published on social media the text of what she had planned to say in court. Peppered with excoriating criticism of modern Russia and President Vladimir Putin, it makes clear Savchenko plans to try to use her hunger strike to force Moscow to do a deal with Ukraine to release her. Once the verdict is pronounced the text of her speech shows she plans to deliver the court an ultimatum. "Russia will have no more than 10 days to return me to Ukraine from where they snatched me," she wrote. "TOTALITARIAN REGIME" Referring to a possible deal for her release that might involve Russia, Ukraine and the West, she wrote: "While this trading over me continues, life will be leaving me, and Russia all the same will return me to Ukraine dead or alive." It is unclear whether the court will allow her to read out the speech. Her defense lawyers have accused Moscow of conducting a "show trial" and Western politicians and rights groups have called for her release. "I want the entire civilized and democratic world to understand that Russia is a third-world country with a totalitarian regime and a despotic dictator, in which they spit on human rights and international law," Savchenko wrote in the text released by her sister. Putin, she wrote, was a "tyrant with imperial ambitions suffering from a Hitler/Napoleon complex." Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Friday Kiev would redouble its efforts to bring Savchenko home. "This farce absolutely cannot continue," his press service quoted him as saying. State prosecutors' allegations center on Savchenko's conduct during the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine, which pits pro-Kremlin rebels against the Ukrainian army. Prosecutors say that in June 2014 Savchenko had helped to direct artillery fire in the Luhansk region where a shell killed two Russian television reporters. Her lawyers say the time and location of calls made from her mobile phone disproves the allegations. A verdict is expected in the case soon. (Reporting by Dmitry Solovyov; Additional reporting by Natalia Zinets; Editing by Andrew Osborn and Gareth Jones)
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JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Almost 16 million people face hunger in Southern Africa because of a drought exacerbated by an El Nino weather pattern and that number could climb to almost 50 million, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday. "El Nino is progressing toward a potential regional emergency requiring a coordinated response," WFP said in a report on the unfolding situation. In January WFP said 14 million people in the region faced hunger. The figures exclude South Africa, where President Jacob Zuma said last month that 2.7 million households would be affected by the drought. Regional breadbasket South Africa had its driest year on record in 2015, threatening the key maize crop and pushing spot prices for the grain 100 percent higher over the past year. For the region as whole, WFP said many areas had recorded their lowest rainfall in 35 years between October 2015 and January 2016, the main planting window for grains such as the staple maize crop in the southern hemisphere winter. The drought conditions are also hurting livestock, a key source of wealth for many rural households in the region. "Limited water availability and poor pasture are worsening livestock conditions. The number of livestock deaths is already increasing in parts of Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe," WFP said. (Reporting by Ed Stoddard; Editing by James Macharia)
A la une

La sterilisation du chat ou de la chatte, a quoi ca sert ?

 En 4 ans, un couple de chats peut donner naissance a plus de 20 000 chatons , explique le ministere de lAgriculture et de la souverainete animale.  Chaque annee, les refuges recueillent des milliers de chatons quils tentent de sauver et placer a ladoption.  Les avantages de la sterilisation Que ce soit pour le male ou []
By Enrico Dela Cruz

MANILA, March 4 (Reuters) - The Philippines' 2016 coconut oil exports are expected to drop 11 percent from a year ago as an El Nino weather pattern crimps domestic output, a top industry official said on Friday.

Lower shipments by the world's top coconut oil supplier may underpin global prices of the commodity, which fell 6 percent last year when the Philippines' exports exceeded industry forecasts. It may also boost demand for palm oil-based alternatives from top suppliers Indonesia and Malaysia.

Total coconut oil exports by the Philippines are expected to hit 750,000 tonnes this year, said Yvonne Agustin, executive director of industry group United Coconut Associations of the Philippines (UCAP), lower than last year's 840,000 tonnes. UCAP had estimated 2015 shipments at 804,000 tonnes.

"Local coconut production may be lower because of below-normal rainfall," Agustin told Reuters by phone.

The Southeast Asian nation has suffered losses in crops, including rice and corn, since last year because of the El Nino, which is marked by a warming of sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific and brings scorching weather across Asia.

But local weather forecasters expect the weather event to gradually weaken over the next three months, bringing relief to the country's coconut industry that has been battling falling output from ageing trees and damage from natural disasters.

A super typhoon that wreaked havoc in central Philippines in 2013 uprooted millions of coconut trees, cutting supply and pushing up prices of coconut oil and palm oil-based alternatives. Prior to that, the country's annual coconut oil exports averaged 990,000 tonnes between 2009 and 2013 .

The Philippines ships coconut oil - its top agricultural export that is used in food, detergents and biofuels - mainly to Europe and the United States. The commodity is traded in the European vegetable oil market. (Reporting by Erik dela Cruz; Editing by Manolo Serapio Jr. and Himani Sarkar)
Pursuant to the synthetic buyback authorization given by the annual general meeting on 28 April 2015, EOS Russia will recommence buybacks. This program will start mid-March 2016. Exact date will be communicated before the start of the buyback program. For further information, please contact: ir@eos-russia.com EOS Russia is an investment company headquartered in Stockholm. The overall objective of the company is to offer attractive returns via investments in the Russian electricity industry. EOS Russia's shares have been listed on First North, a marketplace operated by the Stockholm Stock Exchange, since 25 June 2007. Remium Nordic AB is the Certified Adviser.
Finnish English

Tikkurila Oyj

Stock Exchange Release

March 4, 2016 at 2 p.m. (CET+1)

Tikkurila's Annual Review 2015 has been published at http://www.tikkurilagroup.com/investors. The Annual Review consists of two PDF reports: Financial Statements 2015 and Tikkurila GRI 2015 Corporate Responsibility Report. Financial Statements 2015 provides an overview of Tikkurila's business operations and includes Financial Statements and the Corporate Governance Statement for 2015. Tikkurila GRI 2015 introduces Tikkurila's sustainability approach and the reported Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) G4 disclosures for the reporting period 2015. The reports have been published in Finnish and English.

The published reports can be found as attachments to this release.

Tikkurila Oyj

Jukka Havia, CFO

For further information, please contact:

Minna Avellan, Director, Investor Relations and Brand Concept Development, mobile +358 40 533 7932, minna.avellan@tikkurila.com



Tikkurila is the leading paints and coatings professional in the Nordic region and Russia. With our roots in Finland, we now operate in 16 countries. Our high-quality products and extensive services ensure the best possible user experience in the market. Sustainable beauty since 1862.

www.tikkurilagroup.com

HUG#1991912
Latvian English

Riga, 2016-03-04 16:23 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- JSC Latvijas Balzams informs that in compliance with the decision from March 3, 2016 by the Council of Latvijas Balzams, Seymour Paul Ferreira has been recalled from the position of the Chairman of the board and Intars Geidans has been appointed as a the new Chairman of the board.

Intars Geidans has proved himself as dedicated manager working for Latvijas Balzams in the position of Director of Logistics Department for 5 years.

Intars Geidans holds a Bachelor degree in Business Administration from the University of Latvia.

Ronalds Zarinovs will continue to fulfil his duties of deputy chairman of the board and Jekaterina Stuge  her duties of the board member.

Intars Geidans has been assigned sole representation rights of the company, while all the other board members have the right to represent the company together with another member of the board.



About JSC Latvijas balzams:



JSC Latvijas balzams is the largest producer of alcoholic beverages in the Baltics with a history steeped in tradition since 1900. It is part of the leading wine and spirits holding company in the Baltic countries, Amber Beverage Group, which is part of SPI Group.



JSC Latvijas balzams represents 26% of the Baltic alcoholic beverages market. Our greatest pride, Riga Black Balsam, is one of the oldest beverage brands in Europe, dating back to 1752.



The company has a distillery for strong alcoholic beverages and a sparkling wine and light alcoholic beverage production plant in Riga. JSC Latvijas balzams employs 600 people and is one of the biggest taxpayers in Latvia.



With more than 100 product names, the company is represented in almost all segments of strong and light alcoholic beverages, with many market leaders in Latvia. Among the companys products are such worldwide renowned brands as Stolichnaya Premium Vodka, Moskovskaya Vodka, Riga Black Balsam, and the most popular local sparkling wines  Rigas Sparkling Wines.



JSC Latvijas balzams is one of the most significant exporters in Latvia. Its products are available in more than 160 countries through SPI Group and in over 35 markets through direct export. The companys quality management system is certified in accordance with ISO standards. Our beverages have won hundreds of awards in various international and domestic competitions and has obtained numerous quality certificates. JSC Latvijas balzams was awarded a silver medal in the Sustainability Index 2014, improving its overall performance compared to the previous year.


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ELKO  Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospitals community investment committee recently put its efforts into donating time and money to the local community.

Last year the hospital established the Committee Investment Program, which was a strategic process to look at in-kind and charitable donations, said public relations director Hope Cripps. The structure of that is to have representation from diverse areas of practice and departments in the hospital.

Cripps went on to say that having committee members from different parts of the hospital helped give the group a well rounded opinion on what projects to invest in.

Previous to the creation of the committee, Cripps and another hospital employee would review potential charitable events for the hospital to get involved with and decide where NNRH should donate its money.

Since the committee came into existence about a year a go Cripps no longer makes decisions about what charities the hospital focuses on, though she does still work with committee during their meetings.

NNRH administrator Carla Lougy, who has served on the committee since it was organized, said being a part of the charitable process of the hospital allows her to help the community she grew up in.

I like being a part of the committee and being a part of the community, she said. My family grew up here so thats important for me to see what direction its going.

The committee has been involved in charitable events such as Relay for Life and the Polar Plunge. Cripps said that for events like the Polar Plunge it is actually the hospital employees who donate out of pocket, along with the hospital.

Hospital CEO Rick Palagi said the Polar Plunge to raise money for the Special Olympics was fun to take part in, but noted that it was awkward to have to jump into cold water wearing silk boxer shorts.

It was a little weird when one of our support people called my wife and wanted to know what size boxer shorts I wear, he said, laughing.

With high school seniors around the area looking to graduate this spring, one of the biggest projects the committee undertakes each year is the scholarship awards.

Applicants from the four high schools in the county are asked to write about a health-care related topic.

[The committee] has set aside a pot of about $4,000, which is $1,000 each for high school seniors every year, Cripps said. That one is the longest meeting of the year. The committee sat down with every singe application, ranked each application and awarded scholarships.

Even though NNRH treats patients every day, Palagi said he see the programs the hospital donates to as part of their larger mission of serving the health needs of the community.

Last year we were about $8 million in uncompensated charity care; thats what we provided to people that couldnt pay or couldnt pay their bill in full. he said. If we can make donations in a way that help people increase their ability to know how to buy stuff at the grocery store or eat healthier ... maybe then theyre not going to have that sick event that causes them to come into the emergency department.
Susanne (Susie) Westwood Appodaca passed away on Sunday, February 28, 2016 from complications of a heart attack. She was 51 years old.

Susie was born on September 9, 1964 in Reno, NV to Vernon and Joan Westwood. She was raised on the family ranch in Clover Valley and attended school in Wells, NV. She graduated in 1983. She was on the Cheerleading squad her Sophomore and Junior years. Susie was also quite the welder, consistently out welding all the boys in her class. Susie was active in the Rodeo Club her Junior year. She was quite the horsewoman, competing in Western, English and Gymkhana classes, winning many trophies and buckles.

She married Jim Appodaca in November, 1983. They had a daughter, Tasha, on June 19, 1984. The couple moved to Tustin, CA USMC base, where Jim was stationed. They later moved to Kaneohe, Hawaii. While there, the couple separated and Susie and Tasha moved back to Wells where Susie went to work as a Black Jack dealer, working at various casinos. Susie also worked as a Cocktail Waitress at Red Lion for a couple years. She eventually moved to Colorado Springs, CO and went to work for Broadmoor Casino. She moved back to Winnemucca, working at the Winners Hotel as a Black Jack dealer for several years. Susie finally got a job that would be her favorite job for the rest of her life  Haul Truck Driver. She loved driving haul truck and had hundreds of entertaining stories about coworkers, weather, bosses, pranks and bus rides. She worked for Chimney Creek, then for Twin Creek when Newmont bought them out. When she moved back to Elko, she went to work for Ledcor with her sister, Shari. After that job was finished, she went to work for Bald Mountain Mine. She worked there the next 12 years, until they were bought out by Kinross. She was eagerly looking forward to working for her new company.

Susie was a longtime Denver Broncos fan. Through thick or thin, she cheered on her team, proudly wearing her blue & orange jerseys. She was beyond ecstatic when her Broncos won the Super Bowl this year.

Susie enjoyed crocheting, making wonderful heavy blankets for family and friends. She also enjoyed puzzles, and had a slight addiction to Candy Crush. She loved going on long rides, either in a car or on off-road vehicles. She was a rock hound, picking up rocks all over the country. She was always up for an adventure of any kind. Susie was always interested in the weather, astronomy and any kind of weather-related phenomenon. She loved her family and friends fiercely, especially her granddaughter, Luxy.

Susie was preceded in death by her parents, Joan (2010), Vernon (2015), cousin, Kelly Whited and both sets of grandparents.

She is survived by her uncles, Jim (Anna) Whited, Wells, NV & John (LaVeeta) Westwood, Vanderhoof, BC, Canada. Sister, Shari (Rich) Temoke, Elko, NV; brothers, Jeff (Wendy) Westwood, Washoe Valley, NV; and Gary(Michele) Westwood, Spring Creek, NV.; son-in-law, John Dvorak; nieces and nephews, Ashley Westwood, Brian Westwood, Grant Westwood, Brooke Westwood, Amanda Westwood & Reed Westwood. Cousins, Tracy (Mike) Leach, Beckey Westwood, Maple Valley, WA, and Keven Westwood, Maple Valley, WA.; plus many, many friends.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, March 5, 2016, 2pm at the Basque Center, 1601 Country Club Drive, Elko, NV.

We love you, Susie. We will miss your great stories and big, sweet smile. Rest easy.
Unless youre a tiger trimmer in Tanganyika, the tranquilizer gun has not lived up to its potential. During its preliminary promotion, it was touted as the greatest invention since the rope. But, in the livestock business, it has never quite fulfilled its expectations. The biggest problem seems to be its predictable unpredictable results.

Most large-animal vets have tranquilizer guns. Some of my colleagues learned the fine art of using one. The rest of us have stuck away with our fleams and hog cholera vaccine. I suspect operator error had a lot to do with our failures.

Dr. Green said he and Dr. Corley used it with success when they were gatherin wild cattle down in Mississippi. It gave them an advantage over better ropers in the area. Even a good roper has to get within throwin distance.

The Outlaw family had eight cows and one uncatchable wanderin bull. The bull was part Braymerthe uncatchable part. Mr. Outlaw kept em in a scrubby pasture next to his neighbor. This neighbor practiced rotational grazing and his pasture was lush. Mr. Outlaws bull spent most of his time at the neighbors. Since the bull managed to crawl back through and breed the eight cows every spring, Mr. Outlaw saw no reason to be concerned.

When the threats became unbearable, Mr. Outlaw finally agreed to sell his wanderin bull. He called on Drs. Green and Corley to expedite the matter.

Our boys arrived on the scene, chased the bull back onto the Outlaws property and began to trail him through the brush. The bull took a breather in a clearin and our ballistic vets pulled down and nailed him with the tranquilizer dart. They got him roped and staggered to the open-top trailer, where they tied him in. The bull laid down and passed out.

Mr. Outlaw was pleased: Im takin him over to Bryan BrothersOughta get a pretty penny for him!

Yup, said Dr. Green. But hed be worth more if he walked outta the trailer, fer sure.

You bet, Doc. How long you reckon itll take this tranquilizer to wear off?

Forty-five minutes to an hour.

Great! I better git goin!

That afternoon, they saw Mr. Outlaw back home at the coffee shop.

Howd it go? they asked.

Oh, fine, fine. Made a lotta money. Only had one problem. He was still down when I got there. I had to run him through the car wash twice to get him awake enough to sell!
ELKO  The County now has a partner in its fight with the governor's office and Ormat Technologies Inc. over tax abatements granted for geothermal power plant construction.

Elko and Lander county cases were combined because the legal issue in both is identical and the Nevada Supreme Court would be duplicating its work if it heard them separately.

Both suits were filed after Ormat was awarded tax abatements by the Governor's Office of Energy in 2015. Both counties had originally denied the abatements  Lander in 2010 and Elko in 2011. In 2014, Ormat filed a second application with the Governors Office of Energy and it was awarded.

The counties challenged the GOEs decision by filing petitions for judicial review. On June 17, 2015, the First Judicial District Court denied both petitions. The suits are waiting to be heard by the state Supreme Court.

Elko County Manager Rob Stokes said when Ormat asked for the abatement originally, counties had the ability to deny tax abatements, but then the Legislature changed the law so only the state could decide to deny or award them.

Stokes said Ormat told the County that its project wasnt viable without the tax abatement, but the company still built the plant after commissioners said no. The company then applied for a tax abatement again  after the facility was built.

One of the issues in both suits is whether pre-existing renewable energy facilities can apply for partial property tax abatement credits.

Stokes said the commissioners were against tax abatements because other components of the economy, such as mining and ranching, were not getting them.

Both counties argue that the law concerning tax abatements was written for renewable energy facilities that are not yet in existence. So they dont think it is appropriate to apply property tax abatements to projects retroactively.

The facility in Lander County, McGinness Hills power plant off Grass Valley Road, and the Elko County facility near Tuscarora were both built in 2012. In 2015, the Bureau of Land Management approved a second power plant on public lands at the McGinness Hills site.

The company argues that the law does not preclude Ormat from applying for a second time for a partial property tax abatement credit.

Ormat also argues that the law does not apply only to new renewable energy facilities. It states the regulations provide a two-step process for applying for the tax abatement. The applicant is required to submit a pre-application six weeks prior to commencing construction of the renewable energy facility and the applicant must then submit an application to demonstrate the renewable energy facility meets the statutory requirements, according to court documents.

Ormat continues to argue that the term construction does not mean something not yet in existence and cannot be interpreted into some type of a deadline.

The GOE said the financial benefit the facility brings to the state far exceeds the loss of the tax revenue to the state.

Stokes said since these types of tax abatements are only partial it impacts local governments rather than the state, but its the state that makes the decision.
I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy  geography  commerce and agriculture in order to give their children the right to study painting, poetry, music and architecture 

That quote from a letter to his wife is John Adams 1780 version of a human vision which has become a big part of the American Dream. Most of us today still believe in making the choices and sacrifices that will help our children and grandchildren have a much better life than we have today. We want to provide a basis for them to be not just materially better off, but also culturally, spiritually and humanly.

Its the legacy we owe because its the one we inherited from our parents and grandparents. They worked on farms, in factories and retail shops and went to war so we could become entrepreneurs, business owners, engineers, economists, doctors, etc., so our children can study literature, architecture, arts and music.

In our own cases, as economists and policy analysts, we learned we must practice politics as Adams did (but fortunately not war) because our professional studies showed us that our generations abilities to pay forward the legacies we inherited are now severely challenged by the turns America politics have taken.

Consider the economic progress made in the last century and the human wellbeing gained from it. A three-minute coast-to-coast telephone call available only between phone company offices in major cities cost three days average wage 100 years ago. Today it costs either nothing (included in our monthly rate) or so little that we dont even know what it costs  we just make it without even thinking about cost. And instead of going to telephone offices, we call from anywhere we please  a car, beach or restaurant  to wherever the other party is.

Rons 85-year-old mother, who started as a barefoot Dust Bowl, Depression-era Kansas farm girl without phone service or other basic amenities now talks on her cell phone regularly to her granddaughter 1700 miles away. Geoffs two small children can see and speak to their East Coast grandmother thanks to the technology he carries in his pocket.

Similarly, a century ago people spent 25-30 percent of their income on food, almost all eaten at home from quite limited local products and requiring great preparation and clean-up time. Today in the dead of winter in Nevadas high desert you get the richest variety of worldwide produce in Winnemucca or Australian lobster at a Basque restaurant in Elko. And the total cost of food is down to about ten percent of the family income, with half of that spent at restaurants, many with great atmosphere and service.

Also in the last century, U.S. infant mortality has declined by roughly a factor of ten.

Until roughly the time of Adams, economic and human progress was so slow as to be a non-factor in peoples lives. Because he and other American Founders built on and improved their British social, political and economic legacies, America has experienced tremendous growth. They left us the rule of law, limited government with separation of powers, personal liberty and individual rights, strong property rights and high levels of economic freedom that made it all possible.

However, all that has eroded significantly in the last half century, as government now highly taxes and over-regulates nearly every aspect of our lives and businesses. That has helped produce in the last eight years the lowest sustained rates of growth since at least the Great Depression, with the prospect of more of the same for the indefinite future. America was a Camelot of freedom, opportunity and prosperity, but it will decline unless we make great changes to restore its foundations.

Ronald Reagan said, You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our childrens children say of us that we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done.

Thats why we do politics.
When I became a Member of Congress, I brought with me perspectives gained while serving as an emergency room physician and as a member of the Army Reserve overseeing a section of a combat support hospital in Iraq. My experience taught me access to health insurance does not always mean access to health care. This is something we know too well in Nevada.

This challenge was underscored on a recent trip to Elko County. During that visit, several community members approached me about the lack of doctors here who accept Medicare. I later read a letter to the editor by Bob Swenson who highlighted his struggle to access care as a new Medicare patient. Bob is a member of the Medicare in Elko Work Group  concerned citizens who are raising awareness and looking for answers.

I understand access to health care, especially through Medicare, can be difficult for communities around Nevada. That is why strengthening Medicare and increasing access to health care services are among my top priorities in Congress. I have advanced legislation to increase the number of physicians in our state, stabilize Medicares reimbursement system, and ensure Medicare covers stays at skilled nursing facilities.

There are several reasons why Elko County faces an access to care challenge. While the percentage of residents with health insurance is high, the number of doctors, particularly primary care physicians is low. According to the University of Nevada School of Medicine, our state is severely short on generalists and specialists.

To address this issue, I reached across the aisle and joined my House colleague Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL), to introduce H.R. 1117, the Creating Access to Residency Education or CARE Act. This bill would establish federal grants for states like Nevada to create new residency programs or increase slots in existing ones. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, more than half of physicians stay or return to practice in the communities where they completed residencies. More residency slots mean more doctors and better access to care. And because the grants would be administered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, a condition of the residencies would be to see Medicare and Medicaid patients.

Of course, Medicare only works if it is on sound fiscal footing. For years, the formula determining reimbursements for physicians treating Medicare patients  the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR)  contained a flaw that threatened access to Medicare services. The flawed formula called for annual drastic cuts in reimbursement rates for doctors who took Medicare patients. Because the result of such cuts would be physicians reducing or eliminating their Medicare practices, Congress would step in and pass a short-term fixes, known in Washington as the Doc Fix. But this problem needed a long-term solution and so I set out to find one.

I joined with Rep. Alyson Schwartz (D-PA) to introduce legislation called the Medicare Physician Payment Innovation Act. Our bill repealed the flawed formula and moved Medicare towards a payment model that rewards the quality of care, not the quantity of care. In early 2015, the House and Senate finally took action on a long-term SGR fix like the one Rep. Schwartz and I developed. The permanent fix strengthens the Medicare reimbursement system so seniors can continue to receive the care they need, while saving taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars.

Once seniors gain access to care, they should not have to worry about bureaucratic billing technicalities determining whether or not Medicare will reimburse that care. That is why I again took bipartisan action and teamed with Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT) to introduce H.R. 1571, the Improving Access to Medicare Coverage Act.

Currently, Medicare covers stays at skilled nursing facilities (SNF) if patients have three consecutive days of hospitalization as inpatients, not counting the day of discharge. However, hospitals increasingly care for Medicare beneficiaries on outpatient observation status. H.R. 1571 would fix this by allowing observation stays to be counted toward the three-day mandatory inpatient stay for Medicare coverage of SNF services.

Nevada is a great place to work, raise a family, and retire. Im running for U.S. Senate because I believe together we can build a stronger Nevada. A big part of that is improving access to and delivery of health care. If elected, I pledge to continue working on this issue until Nevada and Elko County are considered some of the best places in the country for access to quality health care, especially for Medicare patients.
Federal officers outside the residence building of Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Andre Penner (AP)

Brazils federal police this morning raided the home of former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, along with that of his son Fabio Luiz Lula da Silva. Officers arrived at Lulas home, which is located some 20 kilometers from Sao Paulo in the small community of Sao Bernado, at around 6am, before taking him away for questioning, according to local media reports.

The police operation is linked to the nationwide Lava Jato investigation into corruption allegations at state oil company Petrobras. Some 200 officers and around 30 tax inspectors took part in Operation Aletheia (named after the Greek word meaning the search for truth).

Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in a file photo from 2015. NELSON ALMEIDA (AFP)

Pressure has been growing on the former Brazilian president. On Saturday, at a celebration to commemorate the 36thanniversary of Lulas Workers Party in Rio de Janeiro, he made it clear he expected to be called to give evidence as part of Lava Jato. Lula said he believed details of his bank accounts would be revealed and that his telephones had been tapped. If this is the price I have to pay to prove my innocence, then I will do it. All I want afterwards is a letter confirming my innocence, he joked, prompting applause and laughter from those in attendance.

The former president, who has taken the offensive in defending himself, also said at the celebrations that the accusations against him had been whipped up by the media.

Federal police say that Lula is obliged to cooperate with the investigation, which has affected the countrys main businesses, along with a number of leading politicians.
Mexican Economy Minister Luis Videgaray.

Mexico has no intention of helping Donald Trump with his megalomaniac plans. The Republican favorite in the presidential race to the White House has repeatedly stated that he will call on Mexico to help finance the construction of a wall at the US-Mexican border. But, perhaps unsurprisingly, the Mexican government doesnt want to know. Under no circumstances will Mexican public resources be allocated to pay for it, said Economy Minister Luis Videgaray on Thursday.

Videgaray added that building a wall to separate the territories along one of the longest borders in the world, which runs for more than 3,200 kilometers, is a terrible idea, absurd, the fruit of ignorance and not based on the reality of integration in the United States. In fact, more Americans cross the border into Mexico nowadays than Mexicans traveling north, he added in an interview on Milenio Television.

Whoever the American people choose as president will find a constructive attitude and dialogue in Mexico Mexican Economy Minister Luis Videgaray

In a more diplomatic tone, Videgaray went on to speak about the fact that Trump may become the next American head of state, a possibility that, just a few months ago, seemed absurd. Whoever the American people decide will become president will find a constructive attitude and dialogue in Mexico, he said.

The 69-year-old mogul has said that he would deport 11 million undocumented Mexicans who live north of the Rio Grande, whom he has called criminals. The wall, he said, will keep Mexico from sending drug dealers and rapists. Theyre sending people that have lots of problems, and theyre bringing those problems to us...The Mexican government is not our friend, Trump said in June 2015 while announcing his bid for the Republican nomination.

Meanwhile, Mexicans have started a social and cultural movement to counter a campaign based on insulting his neighbors. Former Mexican presidents Felipe Calderon and Vicente Fox have compared the billionaire politician to Adolf Hitler.

English version by Dyane Jean Francois.
Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava in his Zurich home. Carlos Spottorno

Santiago Calatrava speaks six languages, and in just about all of them, along with a few others, newspapers around the world have converted the Spanish architect into one of the most controversial members of his profession. Italian journalists have described his bridge over Venices Grand Canal as an imbarazzante serie de errori (embarrassing series of mistakes), while The New York Times in 2013 headlined one story: A star architect leaves some clients fuming, listing the cost overruns, delays, slip ups, and leaks that have led to a number of high-profile lawsuits around the world. His project at Ground Zero in Manhattan, a vast underground interchange crowned by two wings at the feet of the new skyscrapers, is now four years behind schedule and looks set to run $4 billion over budget, twice the original cost. And thats without going into the controversy of his emblematic designs in Valencias City of the Arts and Sciences.

Calatravas initial response to the media feeding frenzy was to keep a low profile. But, angry at the criticism, he has now decided to tell his side of the story, agreeing to meet EL PAIS at his elegant lakeside home in Zurich. If you hide away, and other people are making trouble for you, in the end you have to say, Come on! Come here and just look. The whole thing has been blown out of proportion. So far, Calatrava is winning the lawsuits: he was absolved in Venice, and two courts in Spain have thrown out accusations that he charged for work he never undertook; a court in Valencia has partially upheld his claims for compensation for libel from a Spanish website (calatravatelaclava.com), while he reached an out-of court settlement with a winery in La Rioja unhappy with his work. He is appealing the 2.9 million fine issued against him in relation to problems with the roof of a conference center in the northern city of Oviedo.

So far, Calatrava is winning the lawsuits: he was absolved in Venice, and two courts in Spain have thrown out accusations that he charged for work he never undertook

In the meantime, the media charm offensive is in full swing. Over the course of two days, albeit under the watchful eyes of his PR director, he shows us round his home and his studio, and is more than happy to discuss the many controversies he has become embroiled in.

We arrive at his home and are greeted by Mike Pfister, his right-hand man, who tells us that Calatrava is taking a pre-lunch nap. The architect follows a daily routine that begins at 5.45am, when he goes running by the lake, followed by breakfast, and then he spends three hours painting and drawing.

Our first glimpse of Calatrava is from behind, in his meeting room. Hes talking in French to one of his disciples about a design for a bridge in China, which will be his first move into Asia. He then turns to Pfister and tells him something in German, then back to French, and finally to us, in Spanish, explaining the Latin roots of the word religion.

Born in 1951 in the small Valencian community of Benimamet, he was the youngest of five siblings, all much older than him. His father, who he says encouraged his artistic tendencies, died when he was 12. He was then sent to live with his uncles family. At the age of eight he began studying art, and from the age of 13 spent the following four summers living with a Swiss family, where he learned French and German. At 17 he moved to Paris to study Fine Arts, but the riots of 1968 frustrated those plans, and so he returned to Valencia and began studying architecture. Then, one day, he came across a book about Le Corbusier, which he says changed his life. His offices in Zurich are a stones throw from the French architects only construction in Switzerland.

Calatrava rarely responds directly to a question, instead answering through metaphors, anecdotes, and stories that often invoke the great artists: asked if he believes his work will endure through the centuries, he recalls the words of Spanish writer Antonio Machado.

The architect in his studio. He spends his mornings drawing and painting. Carlos Spottorno

Those who dream of doing things that will be remembered think like Machado: I never pursued the glory of leaving something of my song in the memories of men.

And what are you pursuing?

The same as Machado: messages in a bottle.

His Spanish has lost its Valencian intonation, and after living abroad for so many years, his accent is now like Switzerland: neutral

His Spanish has lost its Valencian intonation, and after living abroad for so many years, his accent is now like Switzerland: neutral. He moved there four decades ago, aged 22, after finishing his architectural studies, matriculating at the Polytechnic Institute, where Einstein studied. After completing his doctorate he soon began making a name for himself: I realized I could create works of art with the tools of architecture and engineering. To celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Polytechnic he suspended a glass swimming pool from the inside of the library dome: It was filled with water and people bathed naked in it, even the dean. It was wonderful to see their bodies splashing about from underneath.

He met his Swiss wife, Robertina Marangoini, a year after arriving in Zurich. They married soon afterwards, and she became his business manager. Thanks to her connections, Calatrava was introduced into the higher echelons of Swiss society.

Theyve been together for 42 years and have four children. The couple spends the winters in New York and the summers in Zurich, when they are not traveling. Calatravas career took off in 1990, and Marangani says the next 15 years were a whirlwind, and their happiest time. Along the way he has won many international prizes and been invited to build some of the worlds most prestigious buildings. We went to live in Paris, it was marvelous, she says, adding: The last few years have been hard. Now all I seem to do is answer letters and talk to lawyers. We have to protect ourselves, which we have, but not enough.

Marangoni is Calatravas shadow. They make a perfect team: he is the seducer, making the broad brushstrokes; she takes care of the details. Ingvar Nohlin of Swedish engineering company HSB, who oversaw the Turning Torso residential tower in Malmo in 2001, remembers negotiating Calatravas fees with Marangoni. She wanted 16 percent of the final cost of the project. Youve got to be joking, he says he told her. Things don't work like that in Sweden, explaining that such a deal would be an invitation to allow costs to overrun. Calatrava and Marangoni negotiated the same final costs deal in Valencia, says Ignacio Blanco, a former United Left deputy in the regions parliament. The overrun costs have been significant, meaning he has made a lot of money at the taxpayers expense, says Blanco, adding that Calatrava billed Valencia City Hall almost 100 million over the 20 years it took to build the City of Arts and Sciences.

A model of the Stadelhofen station in Zurich, one of Calatravas projects. Carlos Spottorno

Instead, Nohlin offered Calatrava and Marangoni 16 percent of the initial budget for the Turning Torso project, which they accepted. He believes they did so because it was an important international showcase that opened the door to work in the United States. The 190-meter tower was inspired by one of Calatravas sculptures, the top floor of which twists 90 degrees from the ground floor. Nohlin says work was delayed by a year at huge expense because of a miscalculation by Calatravas design team, adding: My structural engineer saved him.

As the 54-story building rose, the problems mounted with it, and the property developer behind the project was eventually taken to court. But Nohlin admits: Its the best thing I have built. We managed to construct an extremely complicated building. Everybody here is very happy. It put Malmo on the map.

Our clients were looking for something extraordinary to help grow their cities. Spain is a good example after the Bilbao effect. It worked in some places and not in others

Back in Calatravas living room, he explains that during what he calls his period of refuge he focused on personal work, referring in part to a series of charcoal studies of the nude female form that dominate his studio. Zubin Mehta is a great friend, conductor of the Israeli Philharmonic, one of the best on the planet One day I said to him Zubin, you live in a highly competitive universe, and are constantly subject to criticism and hassle. And the guy says to me: The music cleans me. Theres no need to say any more. In all modesty, I can say: my work cleanses me. Its hygiene, pure and simple.

Sitting next to him, Mike Pfister discusses the good times, when up to 150 people were working for Calatrava: that figure has now fallen to around 90, located around the world. Between 2000 and 2007, he says, our clients were looking for something extraordinary to help grow their cities. Spain is a good example after the Bilbao effect. It worked in some places and not in others. People had little experience of construction. We don't take clients on simply because they have the money to pay for a project. They wanted something special but didnt know what it was exactly. On the subject of the many cost overruns associated with Calatravas projects, Pfister says: A lot of people believe that if you spend enough on a building to begin with, then you wont have to spend much later on. But its the same if you buy a Seat or a Ferrari: they both have to be maintained. Money allows you to see problems. Everything here is well looked after. Its part of Swiss culture.

Robertina Marangoni, the wife of the architect. Carlos Spottorno

Later in the day, we join Calatrava aboard a tram and head up to the university, where one of his sculptures stands outside the Law faculty. The architect designed the library and also renovated the cafeteria. Inside, he orders a fizzy drink, sits down, and begins to answer our questions like a boxer fending off blows. At one point, he bangs on the table, clearly irritated: The fruits of what we have done are there. They are the most positive thing that have been put on the table in the whole country during this extraordinary period. Thats how I see things. I know what Spain was like before democracy.

Some architects have said that your team grew to such a point that you were no longer able to take care of all the details.

Calatrava insists over and again that the problems associated with his work are not his fault

I don't see it like that. Its possible to work with people who are located in different places.

Calatrava insists over and again that the problems associated with his work are not his fault: In Valencia, for example, the construction companies botched the job. Those huge companies are only as good as the people they employ on the ground. They either know how to do what they do, or they dont. They are careful, or they are careless. Either that, or they are only looking out for the interests of the company. They say, Lets do this as cheaply as possible and as quickly as we can. This is what happens. And even if you get mad and you confront them, they take no notice.

Whats more, he says he has been made a scapegoat, and that in the immediate wake of the crash of 2008, it was clear that building companies in Spain were cutting corners. Things were moving too fast, and then suddenly, everything was derailed. It was all about saving money. The mood changed. That led to what I call the systematic search for somebody to blame and making an example out of the innocent.

Calatrava works on a bridge design for China. Carlos Spottorno

Again, he searches for a metaphor. Its a biblical thing, like the Israelites being banished from Egypt. Moses frees them and when they are in the middle of the desert they say to him: Why don't we return? Were sick of eating manna. Its all about waves, do you see what I mean? He continues: We need to change a few things in Spain. For example, the private prosecution: that dates back to the Inquisition. Out of nowhere, somebody speculates that I might have shared out some money with somebody else. Are we crazy? Its all very strange. All I can do is focus on my profession. That is what I have been doing all these years. And I have to say, that by doing so, I have been awarded 22 honorary doctorates. I probably have more than just about any other Spaniard.

Are you able to be objective about your mistakes, to engage in self-criticism?

Youve no idea. That is the key to self-improvement. My wife would probably say that Ive taken self-criticism to psychopathic levels. They say that Bach was never happy with his work because he was always looking to a higher level. Self-criticism is necessary.

Can you give us an example?

I dont know. You go to see a work and all you see are the mistakes. Self-criticism is very personal. Criticism is for the critics.

elpaissemanal@elpais.es
As was widely expected, Socialist Party (PSOE) chief Pedro Sanchez was unsuccessful on Friday evening at a second investiture vote, at which deputies in Spains lower house once more rejected his candidature as prime minister.

Sanchez had already lost a first vote on Wednesday in Congress, after a day of debate. In the wake of inconclusive general elections, held on December 20, Sanchez needed a majority in that first round if he were to be successful. But from a total of 350 seats, he only counted on 90 from his own group and 40 from emerging center-right group Ciudadanos, with whom the PSOE signed a policy agreement last week paving the way for this weeks bid to form a minority government. There were 219 votes against and one abstention on Wednesday  Sanchez needed 176 votes for an absolute majority.

Sanchezs speech touched on corruption, which he defined as the venom that weakens democracy

At the second vote, on Friday evening, Sanchez would have only needed a simple majority to become prime minister  i.e. more yes votes than no. But once again, he failed to garner support outside of his party and Ciudadanos. The only difference between tonights vote and Wednesdays was a vote in favor from the Canarian Coalition, which voted in favor instead of abstaining. As such, Sanchez secured 131 votes in favor, and 219 against  far from the simple majority he needed.

Unlike on Wednesday, when party chiefs had the whole day to debate Sanchezs plans for a government  plans that were harshly attacked by the incumbent Popular Party (PP) and emerging anti-austerity group Podemos  Sanchez had just 10 minutes to lay out his bid to form a government, while other parties had between three and five minutes each in response to state their positions ahead of the vote.

Sanchezs speech touched on corruption, which he defined as the venom that weakens democracy. He also pledged to reform the Spanish Constitution, which he described as being the best inheritance of our parents, but one that was in need of change.

You have not come here with a real program, one that would have secured you the support you need Acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy

The ambition of forming a government is in your hands, he concluded. Change can only come from pacts, dialogue and cross-party agreements. In a few minutes it will be clear whether we have been able to think in the general interest or not.

Then came acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoys speech, which he opened by clearly and concisely stating that his party would be voting no to the investiture of the Socialist Party candidate.

You have not come here with a real program, one that would have secured you the support you need, Rajoy said in reference to Sanchezs plan for government. As such, we cannot support a fictional program.

Then it was the turn of Spains third-most-voted party at the elections, anti-austerity group Podemos. Its leader, pony-tailed former political science professor Pablo Iglesias, used his time to remind Sanchez that a leftist coalition was possible. You know how we are going to vote, Iglesias told the assembled deputies. But tonight we can start to work so that there is a government like the one in Valencia [where a leftist coalition is in place in the region]. I accept the condition that the PSOE be in that government, but accept that the rest of the progressive parties are there too. Lets all compromise and start to work together.

In the wake of Friday nights vote, another two-month period will now begin during which the parties can seek a new agreement to form a government. If that fails, Spain will be forced to hold fresh elections later in the year, most likely in June.
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Istanbul (AFP) - A Turkish court on Friday sentenced two Syrian people smugglers to more than four years in prison over the drowning of Aylan Kurdi, the toddler who became a symbol of Europe's refugee crisis when his lifeless body washed up on a Turkish beach.

The court in the resort town of Bodrum found Syrian nationals Muwafaka Alabash, 36, and Asem Alfrhad, 35, guilty of trafficking migrants and sentenced them to four years and two months, the Dogan News Agency said.

But it cleared them of causing the death of five people "through deliberate negligence", a charge that carried a sentence of up to 35 years in prison.

Pictures of the three-year-old Syrian toddler face down in the sand on a Turkish beach triggered global anguish and the public outcry, to a certain extent, spurred the EU into greater action in the crisis.

He drowned after his family decided in early September to make the risky journey across the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece in an overloaded open boat.

Aylan's mother Rihana and brother Ghaleb, four, and two others also died in the same accident as they attempted the crossing from Bodrum to the island of Kos.

Aylan's father Abdullah Kurdi had been implicated in the tragedy, with Turkish authorities originally accusing him in absentia of being responsible for the deaths and driving the boat at the time of the disaster.

However, prosecutors had dropped the legal proceedings against Kurdi, who now lives outside of Turkey, at an earlier stage in the trial.

- 'The true organiser' -

A lawyer for the defendants, Kemal Ertugrul, said the pair would not have been jailed if they were Turkish and reaffirmed the past accusations against Abdullah Kurdi.

"There is one name missing from the real organisers and culprits," he said.

"Nobody is looking for him. All the witnesses and those who experienced the disaster said the organiser is Abdullah Kurdi. Therefore I will file a criminal complaint against him."

Story continues

Asem Alfrhad said during the trial Abdullah Kurdi was the "the real criminal here... who became a hero on television but did not even testify."

His family, many of whom are now based in Canada, had previously rubbished similar allegations against him broadcast by foreign television as "ridiculous".

Kurdi became a prominent figure through media interviews following Aylan's death and delivered an "alternative" Christmas message in Britain in 2015, aired on a rival channel at the same time as Queen Elizabeth II's traditional address.

- 'Break the business model' -

The sentencing of the two men came as European Union head Donald Tusk was to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for talks on how to stem the massive flow of migrants into Europe.

Speaking in Istanbul the day earlier, Tusk had expressed determination to "break the business model of smugglers" floating the idea that migrants could be shipped back to Turkey from Greece.

Experts agree that smashing the rackets of smugglers who have operated in Turkey for months with apparent impunity is key to solving the crisis.

"The EU has seen few improvements in Turkey's control of the vast mafia networks that channel refugees," wrote Marc Pierini, visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe, estimating traffickers earned at least 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion) in 2015.

Turkey has become the major hub for Syrian, Afghan, Iraqi, Eritrean and other refugees and migrants seeking to undertake the risky crossing to the European Union in a flow that has caused huge alarm across the continent.

The Turkish government struck a deal with the EU in November to halt the flow of refugees, in return for three billion euros ($3.2 billion) in financial assistance.

But the deal and wintry weather in the Mediterranean do not appear to have deterred the migrants, with people still arriving on the Greek islands daily.

According to the latest figures from the International Organization for Migration, 125,819 people have crossed the Aegean from Turkey to Greece so far this year. But it said arrivals have been below average so far in March, with 2,771 recorded.
The EU's Donald Tusk was due to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for key talks on the migrant crisis Friday, after saying the number of people trying to enter the bloc via Turkey remained "far too high". The Istanbul meeting is the last stage in a regional tour for the EU President, also taking in Greece and Slovenia, ahead of a Turkey-EU summit in Brussels next week where immigration will top the agenda. Tusk has pulled no punches on the tour, earlier issuing a blunt warning to economic migrants not to come to Europe, and chastising European countries which have taken unilateral action to tackle the crisis. After talks in Athens with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Thursday, Tusk told economic migrants it was pointless to try to reach the European Union, which is struggling because of the migrant crisis to maintain its prized Schengen passport-free travel area. On a busy day of diplomacy, Tusk then traveled to Ankara, where he said he wanted to reduce the number of people coming into the EU from Turkey. "I want to appeal to all potential illegal economic migrants wherever you are from: Do not come to Europe," Tusk said. "Do not believe the smugglers. Do not risk your lives and your money. It is all for nothing." He sought to encourage Turkey to take further action to sharply cut the numbers of people taking to unseaworthy boats to reach Greece. The two countries on the frontline of Europe's worst migration crisis since World War II. "It is for Turkey to decide how best to achieve such a reduction," Tusk said after meeting Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, floating the idea of a "fast and large scale mechanism" to ship back irregular migrants from Greece. "It would effectively break the business model of smugglers." - 'Detrimental to European spirit' - On Friday the EU also plans to unveil a "roadmap" to restore the Schengen zone -- a keystone to the spirit of European unity. The crisis has raised fears for the zone as more states bring back border controls, with both Sweden and Denmark announcing another temporary extension of border identification checks on Thursday. But sources in Brussels said the EU's "roadmap" on Friday would outline a plan to restore the Schengen zone to full force by November. The plan, a draft of which has been seen by AFP, includes quickly creating an EU coastguard system and strengthening Greece's external borders. At the Greek-Macedonian border, migrants from countries like Egypt and Pakistan -- and therefore not classed as refugees -- remained undeterred, despite the many hurdles. "I know the border is closed but I want to go to Germany, I will try, try, try," said Mohamed, an Egyptian who plans to pay smugglers to sneak into Macedonia through the hills. -"Egypt is bad, there is no work."- According to the International Organization for Migration, 120,369 migrants arrived in Greece from Turkey so far this year. At least 321 died en route. With thousands stuck on the Greek-Macedonian border after Austria and Balkan states began tightly restricting migrant entries, Tusk lashed out in Athens at "unilateral" actions by EU members as "detrimental to the European spirit of solidarity". Tsipras said he would like to see sanctions imposed on EU states that undermine joint decisions by the 28-member bloc. His Deputy Defence Minister Dimitres Vitsas said there were now nearly 32,000 migrants on the Greek islands and the mainland, and a senior UN migration official said the number could surge to 70,000 in the coming weeks. On Wednesday, the EU unveiled a 700-million-euro ($760-million) emergency aid plan to help Greece and other member countries, the first time humanitarian aid has been used within Europe. Some 1.13 million migrants have arrived in the EU over the past 14 months.
(Bloomberg) -- A long-awaited audit report on a troubled Malaysian state investment company has been classified secret, with lawmakers banned from taking copies outside parliament amid political tensions in the country over financial scandals.

The Auditor Generals report on 1Malaysia Development Bhd. has been categorized under the Official Secrets Act by the National Security Council, according to Tony Pua, a member of the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee investigating the company.

At a PAC hearing Friday, those present were required to sign a form that acknowledged they were aware of the reports secrecy, and werent allowed to bring it outside the parliament, said Pua of the opposition Democratic Action Party. The committee has 14 members of which 9 are government lawmakers.

Debt-ridden 1MDB has been the subject of investigations by local agencies including the central bank, as well as countries such as Switzerland and Singapore amid allegations of financial irregularities. An interim report from the Auditor Generals Office last year did not find any suspicious activity, while the attorney general dismissed the central banks request to start criminal proceedings against the company.





Delayed Report





The submission of the final audit report to the PAC had previously been delayed. Prime Minister Najib Razak chairs 1MDBs advisory board. The auditor general classified the final report under the Secrets Act after some of the interim one became public, the Malaysian Insider reported, quoting PAC chairman Hasan Arifin.

Financial woes at the company, which included almost defaulting on a loan, led it last year to announce plans to wind down much of its business. It agreed to sell its power assets to China General Nuclear Power Corp. for 9.83 billion ringgit ($2.4 billion) and pared its stake in a Kuala Lumpur property project for 7.41 billion ringgit.

The Wall Street Journal reported in July that about $700 million may have moved through government agencies, banks and companies linked to 1MDB before apparently appearing in Najibs accounts. Both the premier and 1MDB have consistently denied any wrongdoing, with Najib saying the funds were a donation from the Saudi Arabian royal family. The attorney general cleared him in late January of any graft in the case.

Story continues





Anwar Statement





Najib has also faced a public campaign by former premier Mahathir Mohamad to get him out, with Mahathir warning their United Malays National Organisation and the broader ruling coalition risk losing the next election due by 2018 if Najib stays on.

Mahathir, who announced this week he would leave the ruling party, led opposition and civil society groups on Friday in calling for the removal of Najib from office through non-violent and permissible ways. In response, the government said Najibs critics "have demonstrated the depth of their political opportunism and desperation."

"In 2013, the Malaysian people expressed their will and elected the current government, led by Prime Minister Najib," the government said in a statement. "If Tun Mahathir wants to change the government, he must follow democratic process and await the next election, in line with Malaysias laws and federal constitution."





Coming Together





Jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, a one-time deputy to Mahathir who was fired after a dispute over economic policies in 1998, is backing his former mentor.

Anwar was arrested soon after Mahathir fired him and spent six years in prison on convictions for abuse of power and sodomy. He was released in 2004 after Mahathir retired and a judge overturned the guilty verdict for having sex with a man. Anwar was sentenced to five years in prison in February 2015 on separate charges of sodomy. He has maintained his innocence.

He said in a statement Thursday he supported political parties and individuals including Mahathir to build up strength and common understanding together.

"The 1MDB scandal involving the Prime Minister is the most severe scandal in our history and has badly damaged our nations image," Anwar said.





--With assistance from Manirajan Ramasamy.





To contact the reporters on this story: Shamim Adam in Kuala Lumpur at sadam2@bloomberg.net; Niluksi Koswanage in Kuala Lumpur at nkoswanage@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rosalind Mathieson at rmathieson3@bloomberg.net Linus Chua
Oil prices rose in Asia Friday after Nigeria said key crude producers plan to meet in Russia later this month to discuss a proposed output freeze.

The pick-up follows a week of gains for the battered commodity, which in January was wallowing near 13-year lows below $30 a barrel owing to overproduction, a supply glut and a slowdown in the global economy.

Nigerian oil minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu said Thursday that the meeting will be held on March 20 and predicted there will be a "dramatic price movement", Bloomberg News reported.

At around 0400 GMT, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for April delivery was 24 cents higher at $34.81 a barrel. Brent for May rose 11 cents to $37.18 a barrel.

Both have gained about $2 since last week.

Crude has picked up recently following speculation over plans by major oil producers including OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia to cap output.

Market strategist Bernard Aw from IG Markets Singapore told AFP that for the potential meeting between OPEC members and Russia to bear fruit, the major producers have to be present.

"If the big players such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, agree to freeze output, it could help somewhat. But, the fundamentals of the market remain largely unchanged, it is still quite oversupplied.

"Maybe in the short term it will help development in the oil market, we could see a return to maybe $40," Aw said.

Another boost to the hammered commodity was US Energy Information Administration (EIA) data released Thursday showing oil production falling to just over nine million barrels per day in the week to February 26.

"There were a series of positive developments in the oil market... If this keeps up, then I think we will see a more sustainable rebound in oil markets, at least for the near term," Aw added.

Oil is still down about six percent this year on speculation a global glut will be prolonged amid brimming US stockpiles and the outlook for increased exports from Iran after the removal of sanctions, Bloomberg reported.

Saudi Arabia, Russia, Qatar and Venezuela agreed on February 16 in Doha that they would freeze output if other producers followed suit in an effort to tackle the oversupply problem.
The United Nations on Friday reported a "deeply concerning" increase in allegations of sex abuse by its peacekeepers, with 69 claims last year against troops from 21 countries. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for on-site court-martials while the United States said it was preparing the first Security Council draft resolution on measures to tackle the wave of accusations. For the first time, Ban released the nationalities of troops facing allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation in his annual report as part of a new push to pressure countries to take action. Topping the "name and shame" list was the Democratic Republic of Congo, whose troops faced seven allegations, followed by Morocco and South Africa, each hit with four accusations. Most of the allegations involved troops and police from African countries: Cameroon, Congo, Tanzania, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Gabon, Ghana, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and Togo. Peacekeeping police from Canada and Germany, as well as soldiers from Moldova and Slovakia, also faced allegations. Two UN missions accounted for the majority of claims: the MINUSCA force in the Central African Republic and MONUSCO in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but there were also cases in Ivory Coast, Mali and six other missions. The 69 allegations represent a "marked increase" from 52 in 2014 and 66 the previous year, said the report that described the increase as "deeply concerning." At least 22 children were sexually abused by peacekeepers, according to the report, but that figure may be higher as the age of the victims was not always determined. - No prosecution - None of last year's cases have yet resulted in criminal prosecution, according to the report. Under UN rules, it is up to the country that contributed the troops to investigate and prosecute those accused of misconduct while serving under the UN flag. But human rights groups have complained about the lack of accountability for UN peacekeepers: many have avoided investigation altogether in their home countries or received light punishment. A proposed US resolution would push the UN to expel entire peacekeeping contingents whose soldiers face sex abuse allegations if no action is taken by their countries to investigate or prosecute them. The UN chief has ordered the repatriation of troops from the Central African Republic, but a Security Council resolution would significantly raise the stakes on this issue. "The point of our resolution is to send a strong signal that the Security Council will not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse in UN peacekeeping," said a US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The United States is the biggest financial contributor to UN peacekeeping, funding 28 percent of the UN's $8.3 billion-budget for the 16 missions worldwide. The United Nations has been badly shaken by the wave of allegations of sex abuse by the troops it deploys in missions with a clear mandate to protect civilians. An independent panel concluded in December that the United Nations had grossly mishandled serious cases of child rape in the Central African Republic despite the official zero-tolerance policy on sexual violence. The UN chief is recommending a six-month limit for investigations, establishing on-site courts martial for soldiers and requiring peacekeeping countries to provide DNA samples of their soldiers on missions. Defending UN efforts to root out such crimes, UN peacekeeping under-secretary-general Atul Khare said that "anyone serving under the UN flag should prey on the vulnerable is truly an abomination." "We will never, never agree to protectors turning into predators," said Khare. The Security Council will discuss the report and the proposed US resolution during a meeting next week, diplomats said.
At least 16 people, including four Indian nurses, were killed when gunmen opened fire Friday at an elderly care home in Yemen's main southern city of Aden, security officials said. Four gunmen stormed the facility housing dozens in Aden's Sheikh Othman district, killing a guard before tying up and shooting employees, the officials told AFP. Screams of elderly residents echoed from the home during the shooting rampage, witnesses said. They told AFP that they saw bodies of slain workers with their arms tied behind their backs scattered on the floor as the aged residents cried out in fear. The dead nurses were Indian nuns, the officials said, adding that the rest of those killed were Yemenis working at the home. No group claimed responsibility for Friday's attack, the first of its kind in Yemen, where the internationally-recognised government is grappling with an Iran-backed rebellion on one side and a growing jihadist presence on the other. One official said the attackers were "extremists" and blamed the Islamic State group, which has been gaining ground in Aden in recent months. President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi has declared Aden Yemen's temporary capital as Sanaa remains in the hands of the Huthi rebels and their allies since they seized it in September 2014. - 4 dead in drone strike - Further east, a suspected drone strike hit a vehicle carrying Al-Qaeda militants in Shabwa province, killing four, local government and tribal sources said Friday. Only the United States is known to operate armed drones over Yemen. Al-Qaeda and IS have stepped up attacks in Aden despite the efforts of the government and its backers in a Saudi-led coalition battling the Huthis and their allies to secure it. However, most attacks have so far targeted coalition forces and pro-government Yemeni troops. Late on Thursday, gunmen in Aden shot dead Hussein al-Wuhayshi, a leader of local pro-government militia formed in the south in 2011 to fight Al-Qaeda, along with his brother, a security official said. On Monday, suicide car bombing in Sheikh Othman hit a gathering of loyalist forces killing four people and wounding five others, according to a security official. The rebels controlled Yemen's main port city for months before government loyalists pushed them out in July. Because of the unrest gripping Aden, Hadi himself and many senior officials in his government spend most of their time in Riyadh. Al-Qaeda has been well-established for years in south Yemen, but now faces competition from IS, which has mounted a series of deadly attacks, particularly in Aden. In December, suspected jihadists blew up a small deserted Catholic church in the city dating from the 1950s when Aden was a British protectorate. More than 6,000 people have been killed in the Yemeni conflict with more than 80 percent of the population in dire need of food, medicine or other basic necessities, according to the United Nations.
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Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan

I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General

I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox

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There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur

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An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan".

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Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully

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By Ben Blanchard and Michael Martina BEIJING (Reuters) - China's defence budget this year is likely to rise at its slowest pace since 2010, in line with the decelerating economy and by a much lower figure than had been expected in military and diplomatic circles. Fu Ying, spokeswoman for China's parliament, said the figure would increase by about seven to eight percent from 2015, following a nearly unbroken two-decade run of double-digit budget increases. China's military build-up has rattled nerves around the region, particularly because China has taken an increasingly assertive stance in its territorial disputes in the East and South China Seas. Fu told a news conference the defence budget would be released on Saturday, when the annual session of China's largely rubber-stamp legislative body opens. It will be the first single-digit rise in spending since 2010, when the military budget logged a 7.5 percent increase. Defence spending last year was budgeted to rise 10.1 percent to 886.9 billion yuan ($135.39 billion), which still only represents about a quarter of that of the United States. The U.S. Defense Department budget for 2016 is $573 billion. China's leaders have routinely sought to justify military modernisation by linking defence spending to rapid GDP growth. But growth of 6.9 percent last year was the slowest in 25 years, and a further slowdown is widely expected in 2016. "One simple reason for the lower increase is that double-digit growth is now harder to sustain," said Bonji Obara of the Tokyo Foundation think-tank and a former military attache at Japan's embassy in Beijing. "But another reason is that China's anti-corruption campaign means less money is being siphoned off and spending has become more efficient," he added, referring to President Xi Jinping's vigorous efforts to root out graft. The defence budget had been widely expected in military and diplomatic circles to log another double-digit increase. Fu said the budget was based on national defence needs, the state of China's economy and the performance of its fiscal revenues. China's official Xinhua news agency said the slower pace of the increase reflected both economic realities and Beijing's determination to pursue peace, but noted it still face complex security threats, including from terrorism, and would not let down its guard. "There are many reasons for China not to be able to sleep without worries," it said in a commentary. China has been repeatedly criticised for a lack of openness in its defence spending and its intentions. "China needs to be transparent and explain its military spending to the international community," Japanese Defence Minister Gen Nakatani said in Tokyo ahead of Fu's announcement. "It's crucial that China does not upset the regional balance and that it firmly contributes to international stability." James Curran of the University of Sydney said this year's defence numbers - which still represent a hefty rise - would add to anxiety among U.S. allies and Washington about Xi's intentions. "There are provocative actions in the South China Sea, and this announcement on top of that is only going to increase concerns about what this means for the region and intensify the idea of a regional arms race." Xi is seeking to drag the People's Liberation Army into the modern age, cutting 300,000 jobs and revamping its Cold War-era command structure. However, the reforms have run into opposition from soldiers and officers worried about job security. Beijing is also feeling public pressure to show it can protect its claims to the South China Sea after the United States began conducting "freedom of navigation" operations near islands where China has been carrying out controversial reclamation work and stationing advanced weapons. Fu said the United States was militarising the South China Sea with constant deployments of ships and aircraft. "Our expansion and building of islands and reefs in the South China Sea is really necessary, and the Chinese people all support it," she said. If the United States continues to boost its military presence in the region, China will have to build more islands and deploy more weapons, the influential state-run Global Times said in an editorial. "If two nuclear powerhouses engage in a competition to test each other's willpower, the whole world will face the repercussions," it said. While Beijing keeps secret the details of its military spending, experts have said additional funding would probably go towards beefing up the navy with anti-submarine ships and developing aircraft carriers beyond a sole vessel in operation. China last year confirmed it was building its second carrier. ($1=6.55 yuan) (Additional reporting by Megha Rajagopalan, Nobuhiro Kubo in TOKYO and Colin Packham in SYDNEY; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Nick Macfie)
By Andrea Shalal SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Tuesday warned China against "aggressive" actions in the South China Sea region, including the placement of surface-to-air missiles on a disputed island. "China must not pursue militarization in the South China Sea," Carter said in a wide-ranging speech at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. "Specific actions will have specific consequences." Asked what the consequences could be, Carter told reporters the U.S. military was already increasing deployments to the Asia-Pacific region and would spend $425 million through 2020 to pay for more exercises and training with countries in the region that were unnerved by China's actions. He said China's behavior had fueled trilateral agreements that would have been "unthinkable" even a few years ago. The United States has carried out several freedom of navigation exercises in the South China Sea recent months, sailing near disputed islands to underscore its rights to navigate the seas. U.S. Navy officials say they plan to conduct more and increasingly complex exercises in the future. Carter said the Pentagon also planned to spend over $8 billion in fiscal 2017 alone to expand its fleet of powerful submarines and undersea drones. "There is no question that there are consequences for these actions," Carter said. "We have plans in all three of these categories. You'll see them unfolding." Carter underscored the U.S. military's determination to safeguard maritime security around the world, and particularly in the South China Sea region, which sees about 30 percent of the world's trade transit its waters each year. The U.S. defense chief also took aim at both Russia and China for their actions to limit Internet access, as well as state-sponsored cyber threats, cyber espionage and cyber crime. He said the Pentagon would spend $35 billion over the next five years to beef up cybersecurity and develop offensive cyber options to defeat the Islamic State militant group and other enemies. In his prepared remarks, Carter drew a sharp contrast between such behavior by Russia and China and what he described as much healthier U.S. actions to preserve Internet freedom. "We don't desire conflict with either country," he said. "But we also cannot blind ourselves to their apparent goals and actions." Carter also cited U.S. concerns about Chinese and Russian efforts to develop anti-satellite weapons that could destroy critical U.S. national security satellites, citing China's 2007 anti-satellite test that created over 3,000 pieces of debris (Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Mohammad Zargham and Leslie Adler)
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The technician who helped manage Hillary Clinton's private email server for her work as secretary of state has given security logs to investigators that he said show no signs of foreign hacking, the New York Times reported on Thursday. Bryan Pagliano is cooperating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation's criminal inquiry into the email setup in exchange for limited immunity by the U.S. Department of Justice, according to the Times, citing unnamed people who know about the investigation. With limited immunity, his testimony cannot be used in a prosecution against him, the Times said. The investigation has overshadowed Hillary Clinton's campaign to become the Democratic Party's candidate in the November presidential election. Clinton has apologized for the arrangement but says she did nothing wrong and that she believes the government will vindicate her. Pagliano, who helped set up and run the email system in Clinton's New York home, told investigators that the logs he handed over indicated that no intrusion occurred, the Times said. The security logs show who accessed the server and when, though they may not capture more sophisticated hacking, the Times said. Pagliano was still working at the State Department's Bureau of Information Resource Management as recently as last September, but has since left, a department spokesman said on Monday. The spokesman declined to say when he left or why. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is doing its own analysis of whether the server was attacked, according to media reports. FBI agents plan to seek interviews with Clintons aides in coming weeks and would like to interview Clinton herself as their investigation enters a new phase, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing two people familiar with the inquiry. The interviews would look into how the server was set up and used and what precautions were taken to protect sensitive data, according to the people, who described the matter on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing, Bloomberg News said. Investigators were almost finished examining computers and other physical evidence as part of the inquiry, which is focused on whether Clintons use of private email while serving as the nations top diplomat led to the improper handling of classified information, according to the people. Pagliano previously worked on Clinton's failed 2008 presidential campaign, and ended up joining her at the State Department in 2009 as a political appointee, working as a technology specialist and maintaining Clinton's email server. His employment ended with Clinton in February 2013, but he stayed on as a contractor. More than 2,000 of Clinton's emails contain classified information that could harm national security if leaked, according to the State Department. The government forbids sending or storing such information outside secure, government-controlled channels, and has prosecuted people for breaches. The FBI and the Justice Department have declined to comment on their investigation, including who might be its target, beyond confirming its existence. Pagliano's lawyer did not respond to requests for comment. A Clinton spokesman said the campaign is pleased that Pagliano is cooperating, but declined to respond to questions. For more on the 2016 presidential race, see the Reuters blog, Tales from the Trail (http://blogs.reuters.com/talesfromthetrail/). (Reporting by Jonathan Allen, additional reporting by Mark Hosenball; Editing by David Gregorio and Andrew Hay)
By Julia Symmes Cobb BOGOTA (Reuters) - The first case of birth defect microcephaly linked to the mosquito-borne Zika virus has appeared in Colombia, a doctor said on Friday, although the national health institute said it had no information on the case and could not confirm it. Much remains unknown about Zika, including whether the virus actually causes microcephaly, a condition defined by unusually small heads that can result in developmental problems. Colombia, seen as a key test case of the impact of the virus, has 42,706 cases of Zika, including 7,653 pregnant women. A study of 28 women in Colombia's Sucre province infected with Zika during pregnancy has so far yielded one baby with microcephaly, said Alfonso Rodriguez-Morales, a doctor and researcher at the Technical University of Pereira. It was not immediately known when the child was born. "The only infection that would explain what is happening is the Zika virus," he said. One case does not prove an overall link between the virus and microcephaly, Rodriguez-Morales told Reuters in a phone interview, but his team has ruled out other potential causes of the defect in this child, including rubella, herpes, syphilis and toxoplasmosis. The two other babies born to women in the study had cranial defects that are being investigated and could not so far be linked to Zika, Rodriguez-Morales said. The virus is present in all three babies and the women, whose infections have been confirmed by lab tests, remain under observation. The country's national health institute said it could not confirm the case because no samples from the patients had been sent to its laboratories. The institute currently is monitoring 28 children with potential microcephaly, not all related to Zika, but so far no case of the defect is linked to the virus, the institute told Reuters. Rodriguez-Morales said researchers have sent the samples to the institute. The potential case was first reported by science journal Nature. "We'll really see the impacts of Zika on newborns and pregnancy during the next two or three months," Rodriguez-Morales said. "One will be able to see the real magnitude of the problem." Colombian health officials last week reported a "probable" case of microcephaly possibly linked to Zika in an aborted fetus. The health minister has said original estimates of microcephaly cases may be too high. Brazil said it has confirmed more than 640 cases of microcephaly, and considers most of them to be related to Zika infections in the mothers. It is investigating more than 4,200 additional suspected cases. (Reporting by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Bill Trott)
RABAT (Reuters) - The European Union's senior diplomat said on Friday the union disagrees with a court ruling invalidating its farm trade deal with Morocco and the accords with Rabat do not violate international law. The EU has appealed a European Court decision announced on Dec. 10 to cancel the trade deal with Morocco in response to a suit filed by the Polisario Front, which wants independence for the Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara. The complaint, brought to the court in 2012, involves trade of agricultural products, processed agricultural products and fisheries. The court said the deal should exclude the disputed territory of Western Sahara. European Union Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini made an unplanned visit to Rabat to calm tensions after Morocco said it had suspended contact with European Union institutions to protest against the court decision. "The (European) Council disagrees with the ruling of Dec.10 ... that is why an appeal has been lodged at the European Court," Mogherini told reporters in a joint news conference with the Moroccan foreign minister. "The EU remains convinced that their accords with Morocco do not violate international laws," she added. Mogherini said trade will not be affected by the ruling. An EU source had said that would remain the case while the ruling is being appealed. Morocco has controlled most of Western Sahara since 1975 and claims sovereignty over the sparsely populated stretch of desert to its south, which has offshore fishing, phosphate reserves and oilfield potential. Morocco's annexation of Western Sahara prompted a rebellion by the Polisario Front backed by Morocco's neighbour Algeria. The United Nations brokered a ceasefire in 1991, but talks have since failed to find a lasting settlement in Africa's longest-running territorial dispute. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is making his first visit to the region and said he is planning to restart negotiations between the Polisario independence movement and Morocco to resolve their conflict and allow refugees in Southern Algeria to return. Rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch accuse Morocco of continuing to use excessive force against activists and repressing political freedom in Western Sahara. Rabat invests heavily there, hoping to calm social unrest and independence claims. (Reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi; Editing by Dominic Evans)
By Dasha Afanasieva and Lefteris Karagiannopoulos ANKARA/ATHENS (Reuters) - EU Council President Donald Tusk told illegal economic migrants on Thursday not to risk their lives or money to make a perilous trip to Europe "for nothing" but said unilateral actions by European Union states to deal with the crisis must stop. The ultimate aim was to eliminate the illegal sea transit of migrants from Turkey to Greece, Tusk said after meeting Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Ankara and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Athens, although he said no specific numbers had been agreed with the Turks. "It's not about numbers, it's about the ongoing and permanent process ... which means for me, the total reduction and the total elimination of this sad phenomenon," he told a joint news conference with Davutoglu in Ankara. Tusk was on a trip through Balkan states and Turkey to try to drum up support for cohesion on how to deal with hundreds of thousands of migrants - a crisis that threatens to tear the bloc apart - before an EU summit on Monday. Speaking earlier in Greece, which has been a primary gateway of migrants flooding into Europe for more than a year, Tusk said anyone who was not a refugee should stay away. "I want to appeal to all potential illegal economic migrants wherever you are from: Do not come to Europe. Do not believe the smugglers. Do not risk your lives and your money. It is all for nothing," Tusk said. Up to 30,000 refugees and migrants have been stranded in Greece from progressive border closures further up the "Balkan corridor", the route taken to get into wealthier central and northern Europe. "At Monday's summit, Greece will demand that burden sharing be equitable among all countries in the bloc, and sanctions for those that do not," Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said after meeting Tusk. "We ask that unilateral actions stop in Europe," Tsipras said in a view echoed by Tusk. Austria and countries along the Balkans migration route have imposed restrictions on their borders, limiting the numbers able to cross. Many of the migrants hope to reach Germany. Macedonian police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of migrants who stormed the border from Greece on Monday. EMERGENCY CONTROLS The European Commission will present on Friday a list of necessary steps to lift emergency border controls that are currently in place inside the Schengen zone and restore the proper functioning of the free-travel area, officials said. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told a lecture in the Hague on Thursday that Austria had been wrong to close its border with another Schengen country. "That has nothing to do with protection of external borders. Restoring borders between two Schengen countries will destroy the common market," he said. EU officials have told Reuters that European governments, and particularly Germany, are looking to Turkey to reduce the number of migrant arrivals in Greece to below 1,000 a day at most as an initial condition for discussing taking some Syrian refugees directly from Turkey. Ahead of Monday's meeting of EU and Turkish leaders, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Turkey must ensure the numbers drop towards zero. "If there were to be a target figure, it would be zero," one EU official said, noting that 1,000 people a day would mean an unsustainable 350,000 people a year arriving in Greece. Tsipras said Greece would continue to do whatever it could to ensure no migrant or refugee was left helpless. But he added Greece could not bear the burden by itself. "We will not allow Greece or any other country to be turned into a warehouse of souls," Tsipras said. "We are at a crucial moment for the future of Europe." (Additional reporting by Ercan Gurses in Ankara; Editing by Nick Tattersall and Andrew Heavens)
A fresh European push to resolve one of its bloodiest crises in decades floundered when Ukraine and Russia said Friday they could not agree on polls in areas under the control of pro-Moscow separatists. France and Germany held a new round of talks with Ukraine and Russia in Paris on Thursday as part of mediation efforts to try to end the 23-month war in the east of the former Soviet republic. The fighting has killed nearly 9,200 people since April 2014 and raised alarm across eastern European states about what they see as Russian President Vladimir Putin's aggressive foreign policy stance. But Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said the proposals discussed in Paris failed to address Kiev's security concerns or the alleged -- and repeatedly denied -- presence of active Russian forces in the war zone. "No agreements were reached," Klimkin tweeted early Friday. "It was a very difficult meeting," he separately told reporters in Paris. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also confirmed that "no consensus" was reached at for elections in separatist regions to be held by the end of June. Berlin and Paris argue that the crisis could finally be settled if the rebel-run regions hold Western-monitored polls that may be recognised as valid by Kiev. - 'Security first' - But Ukraine insists it cannot accept such elections until a lasting and fully-verifiable ceasefire is established first. "Our position -- security first," Klimkin wrote on Twitter. Kiev has also expressed fears that Russia -- already having annexed Crimea in 2014 -- may try to unsettle the country further by exerting influence over the separatist provinces of Donetsk and Lugansk within a reunified Ukraine. A rebel vote also threatens to unleash a popular backlash against President Petro Poroshenko at a critical stage, with the parliamentary coalition that ousted Ukraine's Moscow-backed leadership in February 2014 now breaking at the seams. The resulting stalemate appears to be undermining EU efforts to return calm to the outer edge of the 28-nation bloc's eastern frontier and focus on new concerns such as the migrant crisis and the possibility of Britain leaving the union. - Kiev blamed - "We underlined the importance of adopting an electoral law to hold local elections by the end of the first half of 2016," French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said after the four-way meeting in Paris. He also called for the release and exchange of all prisoners and people held in "illegal detention" by the end of April. But Klimkin's subsequent comments showed that Ukraine was not ready for the vote. And his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier did little to hide his frustration over how the talks went. "I am not satisfied by the way in which Kiev and Moscow have been leading these negotiations," he told reporters. Steinmeier had first floated the idea of the insurgents conducting their own elections in the coming months at a UN Security Council meeting on Monday. Both Moscow and a top separatist negotiator blamed the failure to achieve progress on Kiev. Lavrov said Ukraine was the only side at the meeting to reject the idea of setting a firm deadline for elections in rebel-run parts of the east. "We were ready to support it but the Ukrainian side requested that it not be insisted upon," Lavrov said in comments posted on the Russian foreign ministry website on Friday. And Donetsk separatist negotiator Denis Pushilin described Kiev as the main stumbling block to a settlement. Klimkin in turn said Russia in particular "was not ready to discuss some issues in detail". He appeared to be referring to the belief in Kiev and the West that Putin had orchestrated and backed the revolt in reprisal for Urkaine's decision to strike a landmark free trade agreement with the European Union. Putin has denied any role in the conflict and admitted only to some off-duty or vacationing Russian soldiers fighting alongside the rebels of their own free will.
Reuters

Indian private lender Axis Bank reported a better-than-expected 70% jump in second-quarter profit on Thursday, as bad loan provisions slid and asset quality improved. Net profit rose to 53.3 billion rupees ($644.72 million) in the three months to Sept. 30 from 31.33 billion rupees a year ago, Mumbai-based Axis Bank said in an exchange filing. Provisions for bad loans dropped 68% year-on-year to 5.5 billion rupees, while the gross bad loan ratio, a measure of asset quality, improved to 2.50% at the end of September from 2.76% at end-June.
An Istanbul court on Friday ordered into administration a Turkish daily newspaper that is sharply critical of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, adding to growing alarm over freedom of expression in the country. The Zaman newspaper, closely linked to Erdogan's arch-foe the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, was ordered into administration by the court on the request of Istanbul prosecutors, the state-run Anatolia news agency said. There was no immediate official explanation for the court's decision. The move means the court will appoint new managers to run the newspaper, who will be expected to transform its editorial line. Hundreds of supporters were gathered outside the paper's headquarters in Istanbul awaiting the arrival of bailiffs and security forces after the court order. "We will fight for a free press," and "We will not remain silent" said placards held by protestors, according to live images broadcast on the pro-Gulen Samanyolu TV. "Democracy will continue and free media will not be silent," Zaman's editor-in-chief Abdulhamit Bilici was quoted as saying by the Cihan news agency outside its headquarters. "I believe that free media will continue even if we have to write on the walls. I don't think it is possible to silence media in the digital age," he told Cihan, part of the Zaman media group. - 'Last free edition' - It was not yet clear when the bailiffs would arrive. Sevgi Akarcesme, the editor-in-chief of the paper's English language edition Today's Zaman, said on Twitter that staff were working on the "last free edition" of their newspaper. Gulen has been based in the United States since 1999 when he fled charges against him laid by the former secular authorities. Turkey has asked the United States to extradite him but Washington has shown little appetite for doing so. Despite living outside of Turkey, Gulen built up huge influence in the country through allies in the police and judiciary, media and financial interests and a vast network of cramming school. Ankara now accuses Gulen of running what it calls the Fethullahaci Terror Organisation/Parallel State Structure (FeTO/PDY) and seeking to overthrow the legitimate Turkish authorities. There have been numerous legal crackdowns on structures linked to the group and on Friday Turkish police arrested four executives of one of the country's largest conglomerates, accusing them of financing Gulen. Boydak Holding group president Haci Boydak, director general Memduh Boydak and two board members were questioned at their homes in the central city of Kayseri. Gulen supporters decry the accusations as ridiculous, saying all he leads is a more informal group known as Hizmet (Service). - 'Just before EU summit' - The effective seizure of the newspaper by the state comes amid growing concerns over freedom of expression in Turkey under Erdogan's rule. The Cumhuriyet newspaper's editor-in-chief Can Dundar and Ankara bureau chief Erdem Gul were released on an order from Turkey's top court last week after three months in jail on charges of publishing state secrets. But they still face trial on March 25. Meanwhile almost 2,000 journalists, bloggers and ordinary citizens, including high school students, have found themselves prosecuted on accusations of insulting Erdogan. "By lashing out and seeking to rein in critical voices, President Erdogan's government is steamrolling over human rights," said Andrew Gardner, Amnesty International's Turkey expert in a statement. Independent pro-Kurdish television channel IMV TV was taken off air in Turkey last weekend following accusations that it broadcast "terrorist propaganda" for militants. The decision on Zaman comes as Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu heads to Brussels Monday for a crucial summit meeting with EU leaders. The news broke as Erdogan was holding talks in Istanbul with EU President Donald Tusk. Critics have accused the EU of turning a blind eye to the situation with media freedom in Turkey in exchange for Ankara's cooperation in the refugee crisis. Opponents say Erdogan, who served as premier from 2003-2014, has become an increasingly polarising figure unable to tolerate any criticism. However the government angrily dismisses allegations it is cracking down on the press, saying the cases against Cumhuriyet and pro-Gulen media have nothing to do with freedom of expression.
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's "Game of Thrones" heated up on Friday, as the country's jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim offered support to his old enemy, former premier Mahathir Mohamad, in efforts to oust the current prime minister, Najib Razak. Anwar's offer marked a seismic shift in Malaysia's political landscape, as the vendetta between the two has seethed since Mahathir sacked Anwar as deputy prime minister in 1998 and had him jailed on sodomy charges that many observers said were politically motivated. A year ago, Anwar was jailed again on sodomy charges, that he said were concocted by Najib's government to eliminate the threat he posed to its grip on power. In a statement issued from jail on Thursday, Anwar said he would "support the position" of those in civil society, political parties and individuals "including Tun Dr Mahathir" in the push to remove Najib. "He (Najib) is responsible for continuing to engage in selfish political acts, wreaking havoc upon administrative institutions, and burdening the Rakyat (people) with continued economic crisis," Anwar said. Najib has faced sustained pressure to resign since the middle of last year over his links to a financial scandal involving state-owned fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad and deposits into his private accounts that the Wall Street Journal reported in mid-2015 as totaling almost $700 million. The newspaper last week reported that it had traced more deposits, raising the total to over $1 billion. Najib has maintained that he has not used the funds for personal gain, and has since been cleared of any criminal offence or corruption. With Anwar behind bars, Mahathir has been Najib's harshest critic. Last week, Mahathir quit the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the party that has led every ruling coalition since Malaysia's independence in 1957, saying it had become Najib's party and he didn't want to be associated with corruption. Najib's banker brother, Nazir Razak, has likened the political drama currently gripping Malaysia to HBO television's medieval fantasy saga "Game of Thrones". Anwar was the ruling party's rising star in the late 1990s and was once thought to be Mahathir's intended successor, until they fell out over how to steer Malaysia out of the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997-98. The former deputy prime minister has since waded through a deluge of legal problems, having spent a few years behind bars for the sodomy convictions and a corruption charge. He was considered the government's biggest threat as the head of a three-party opposition coalition, that won the popular vote while losing a disputed election in 2013. But last year, he was sent back to jail for five years after the country's apex court upheld a second sodomy conviction. Nurul Izzah, Anwar's eldest child, said in a separate statement that the shared "zeal" to remove Najib does not absolve Mahathir of "his past abuses of power and wrongdoings, including huge economic miscalculations". Mahathir is scheduled to hold a ceremony on Friday afternoon to bring together what he described as a "core group" of people to sign a memorandum of understanding on how they will work together to topple the prime minister. Malaysians will be waiting to see if Mahathir accepts Anwar's olive branch. (Reporting by Joseph Sipalan; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
A man was found dead close to the iconic dragon playground around Block 29, Toa Payoh Lorong 5 on Thursday (March 3) evening.

The police told Yahoo Singapore that they received a call at 6.13pm that day regarding the incident.

Upon arriving at the scene, officers found a 60-year-old man kneeling face down on a path leading to the playground. Paramedics pronounced the man dead at the scene.

According to The Straits Times, retiree Santha Sarasamma, 73, was walking back to her home at Block 29 around 6.25pm when she spotted three people gathered around a kneeling man. As she approached the group, she realised the man was dead as his neck was twisted into an unnatural position.

One side of his face was pressed on the ground, and his hands were cupping his mobile phone, she said.

Police are investigating the unnatural death.
Leader Kim Jong-Un has ordered North Korea's nuclear arsenal to be readied for pre-emptive use at any time, in an expected escalation of military rhetoric following the UN Security Council's adoption of tough new sanctions on Pyongyang. The North's nuclear warheads must be deployed "on standby so as to be fired at any moment," Kim was quoted as saying by the North's official KCNA news agency on Friday. He also warned that the situation on the divided Korean peninsula had become so dangerous that the North needed to shift its military strategy to one of "pre-emptive attack". Such bellicose rhetoric is almost routine for North Korea at times of elevated tensions. While the North is known to have a small stockpile of nuclear warheads, experts are divided about its ability to mount them on a working missile delivery system. Washington downplayed Kim's threat as posturing. - 'Stern punishment' - "We have not seen North Korea test or demonstrate the ability to miniaturise a nuclear weapon and put it on an ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile)," a US defence official told AFP. Still, the official added, "our forces are ready to counter-eliminate strikes if necessary". In Seoul, President Park Geun-Hye promised South Korea would mete out "stern punishment" in the event of any North Korea provocation as she warned of a "fiercer" backlash than usual from Pyongyang over the latest UN sanctions. According to KCNA, Kim made his comments while monitoring the test firing of a new, high-calibre multiple rocket launcher on Thursday, just hours after the UN Security Council unanimously adopted the US-drafted resolution penalising the North for its fourth nuclear test in January and long-range rocket launch last month. South Korea's defence ministry said the North had fired half a dozen rockets about 100-150 kilometres (60-90 miles) into the sea off its eastern coast on Thursday. In a clear threat to the neighbouring South, Kim said the new rocket launcher should be "promptly deployed" along with other "recently developed" weaponry. In the wake of the "gangster-like" UN resolution pushed by the United States and its South Korean ally, North Koreans are now "waiting for an order of combat to annihilate the enemy with their surging wrath", he added. The Security Council resolution adopted late Wednesday laid out the toughest sanctions imposed on Pyongyang to date over its nuclear weapons programme and will, if implemented effectively, apply significant economic pressure on Kim's regime. It breaks new ground by sanctioning specific sectors key to the North Korean economy and seeking to undermine the North's use of, and access to, international transport systems. Pyongyang on Friday rejected the sanctions as "unfair, illicit and immoral" and vowed to keep building its nuclear arsenal. "The strengthening of our nuclear deterrent is a legitimate exercise of our right to self-defence, which will continue as long as the hostile US policy is in place," the foreign ministry said in a statement. - 'Dangerous phase' - Kim said the resolution had opened a "very dangerous phase", coming just days before the United States and South Korea kick off annual joint military drills that Pyongyang views as provocative rehearsals for invasion. The exercises involving tens of thousands of troops are scheduled to begin next Monday. The Security Council resolution ushered in the fifth set of UN sanctions to hit North Korea since it first tested an atomic device in 2006, and was the result of arduous negotiations between the US and China, Pyongyang's sole major ally. China had been reluctant to endorse tough sanctions out of concern that too much pressure would trigger the collapse of the pariah regime, creating chaos on its border. The measures Beijing finally signed off on are extremely tough on paper, but experts have warned that some of the language is vague enough to allow varying levels of enforcement. China's commitment could depend on the outcome of formal talks that opened Friday between Seoul and Washington on the possible deployment of an advanced US missile defence system in South Korea. Its deployment is strongly opposed by China and Russia, with Beijing saying it would undermine its own nuclear deterrent and has the potential to "destroy" relations with Seoul.
By Jack Kim SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his country to be ready to use its nuclear weapons at any time and the military to be in "pre-emptive attack" mode in the face of growing threats from its enemies, state media said on Friday. The comments, carried by the North's official KCNA news agency, marked a further escalation of tension on the Korean peninsula after the U.N. Security Council imposed harsh new sanctions on the isolated state for its nuclear programme. [nL2N16A112] North Korea, known for belligerent rhetoric, has previously threatened pre-emptive attacks on its enemies, including South Korea and the United States. Military experts doubt it has yet developed the capability to fire a long-range missile with a miniaturised warhead to deliver a nuclear weapon as far as the United States. Kim made the comments as he supervised military exercises involving newly developed rocket launchers, KCNA reported. It did not mention the date of the drills but said the new weapons had South Korea within range. South Korea's defence ministry said on Thursday the North launched several projectiles off its coast into the sea, up to 150 km (90 miles) away, an apparent response to the U.N. sanctions. [nL3N16B1CG] Kim said North Korea should "bolster up (its) nuclear force both in quality and quantity" and stressed "the need to get the nuclear warheads deployed for national defence always on standby so as to be fired any moment," KCNA quoted him as saying. "Now is the time for us to convert our mode of military counteraction toward the enemies into a pre-emptive attack one in every aspect." Kim criticised South Korean President Park Geun-hye in his first direct published mention of her by name for acting "in league with the U.S. scoundrels," adding, "her hysteria will precipitate only her ruin in the long run," KCNA said. A spokesman for South Korea's Unification Ministry, which handles relations with the North, said Kim's comments were not helpful and may have been intended for the domestic audience, to boost morale in the face of the new U.N. sanctions. Responding to the report, a U.S. Defense Department spokesman, Commander Bill Urban, said, "We urge North Korea to refrain from provocative actions that aggravate tensions and instead focus on fulfilling its international obligations and commitments." Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said that given the sensitive and complex situation on the Korean peninsula, China hoped the parties would maintain restraint, and "be careful in their words and actions, and not take any actions that would exacerbate tensions in this situation". The latest U.N. sanctions, drafted by the United States and China, the North's main ally, punish the isolated country following its fourth nuclear test, in January, as well as last month's satellite launch, which the United States and others say was really a test of ballistic missile technology. Later on Friday, North Korea rejected the Security Council resolution as a "criminal act" masterminded by the United States and vowed to continue boosting its nuclear deterrent and move forward on the path to become a "satellite superpower". "Our response will involve the full use of various means and tools including a strong and ruthless physical response," KCNA quoted an unnamed government spokesman as saying. POSSIBLE ENGINE TEST EYED South Korea and the U.S. militaries are set to formally begin talks on Friday on deployment of the advanced anti-missile Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system with the U.S. military in the South. China and Russia oppose the deployment of THAAD, which has powerful radar capable of penetrating deep into their countries, but South Korea and the United States have said it is needed in response to the heightened missile threat from the North. Johns Hopkins University's 38 North project, which monitors North Korea, said recent commercial satellite imagery showed new activity in the isolated country, including a convoy of trucks at its satellite launch station that could be preparations for a rocket-engine test. The site on the North's west coast is the upgraded rocket station where it launched a long-range rocket on Feb. 7 that put an object into space, but was condemned by the Security Council as violation of past resolutions that ban the use of ballistic missile technology by the North. On Thursday, South Korean President Park repeated a warning to the North to abandon its nuclear ambitions and said she would work to "end tyranny" by its leader. They were the toughest-ever comments against Pyongyang by Park, whose recent hard line against the North is a shift from her earlier policy of "trustpolitik" that focused on trying to engage in dialogue. North Korea's Rodong Sinmun, the official daily newspaper of the ruling Workers' Party, on Friday carried three pages of a report and photographs of leader Kim supervising the rocket launch drills. It also ran a full-page commentary insulting Park as "a wicked woman who does everything evil against the compatriots in the North." (Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Washington and Megha Rajagopalan in Beijing; Editing by Tony Munroe and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
For the first time in years, hundreds of Syrians nationwide took advantage of a nearly week-long ceasefire on Friday to resume anti-government protests under the slogan "The Revolution Continues!" Waving the three-starred tricolour flag that has become the uprising's emblem, demonstrators in opposition-held areas of Aleppo, Damascus, Daraa and Homs called for the downfall of President Bashar al-Assad's regime. "You could say we've gone back to the beginning," said Hasaan Abu Nuh, an activist from the flashpoint rebel town of Talbisseh in central Homs province. Syria's conflict first began in March 2011 with widespread protests against the regime. Demonstrations were at their largest on Fridays, and activists early on began assigning themes to the weekly marches. But by 2013, a fierce government crackdown and heavy shelling had stamped out most attempts to stage protests. Abu Nuh said the last demonstration in Talbisseh was in June 2012. Since then, rocket attacks and air strikes made residents too afraid to gather in large numbers. However, a landmark ceasefire that came into effect early last Saturday has brought relative calm to opposition areas. On the first Friday since the truce began, crowds across the country returned to the streets, waving banners reading "The Revolution Continues!" "People are so, so happy. There was crying, there was joy, but there was also a lump in people's throats," Abu Nuh said. "There were a lot of young guys that used to protest with us who weren't there today because they've been killed," he told AFP by phone. In Syria's second city, Aleppo, hundreds of people took to the streets in the opposition-held eastern neighbourhoods. "With this truce, we have the opportunity to express why we came out to the streets in the first place, which is the downfall of the regime," said Abu Nadim, an activist in the city. He said he also wanted to show the world that demonstrators in Aleppo and elsewhere are not "armed gangs, but a people demanding freedom and the downfall of the regime". Abu Nadim is responsible for coming up with slogans and painting them on large, white banners. AFP spoke to him while he painted "Long live Syria, may Assad fall!" ahead of a protest where nearly 100 people marched carrying similar signs. Aleppo has been divided since 2012 between government forces in the western districts and rebels in the east. When Friday's crowd passed through a neighbourhood near the front line, they could hear the sound of sniper fire coming from a government-held district. But no one budged, an AFP correspondent there said. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, protests also took place in the towns of Atareb and Azaz in Aleppo province, parts of Idlib province in the northwest, and Daraa in the south. More than 270,000 people have been killed since Syria's conflict began, and millions have been displaced.
My heart always swells with pride whenever our island nation is mentioned in the international arena  especially on the arts front  and the Singapore Biennale, returning for the fifth time in October, 2016, is the single best product to come out of this little red dot. Prepacked bak kut teh and chicken rice notwithstanding.

The past few Singapore Biennales have left us with many memorable pieces. Who can forget Tatzu Nishis Merlion Hotel, and bask in the voyeuristic gaze of the Merlion for those lucky  or unlucky guests  who spent a night there? Or the educational-but-never-preachy All Lines Flow Out from Charles Lim?

Even though this edition, themed An Atlas of Mirrors, is more than seven months away, a fair bit of buzz has already been generated, with the announcement of the first 10 participating artists. Among them are Cultural Medallion winner, Han Sai Por and rising star Fyerool Darma, who are the oldest and youngest participants this edition, at 73 and 29 years old respectively.

Arts heroine, Han, is still churning out breathtaking works in her seventies. Her collaboration with the Singapore Tyler Print Institute in 2013 was dubbed as breakthrough, as she delved deeper into her unbridled obsession with nature, but this time, letting go of the pre-existing medium shes comfortable with (i.e. stone/marble) and played with highly textured paper pulp.

20 Tonnes by Han Sai Por

20 Tonnes by Han Sai Por

Best known for large-scale works in hard, unyielding materials, such as 20 Tonnes and Art Tree, the petite lady makes an 180-degree about turn and uses flimsy paper to reinterpret her Seed and Flora Series.

Penetration by Han Sai Por

Penetration by Han Sai Por

Tan Siuli, head curator of SAM and a member of the Singapore Biennale 2016 10-member curatorial team, is drawn to the portraits in Darmas Moyang (meaning Ancestor) exhibition:

This body of work delved into the (forgotten) histories and narratives of the Malay Archipelago, and I am interested to see how Fyerool will further his explorations in this area for his SB2016 commission.

Story continues

We were keen to know what the direction of the SB2016 is, and how it would differ and set itself apart from the previous biennales.

While past editions introduced contemporary art with a more international tenor to audiences here, I think there is now more interest in the art coming out of this region. Singapore Biennale 2013 took on a new direction with its focus on Southeast Asian art, and Singapore Biennale 2016 will build on that by looking at the relationships and shared narratives between Southeast Asia and Asia.

On what can be done to further advance the visual arts culture in Singapore, Tan believes grounds-up initiatives and private patronage are key. An idea enmeshed in the art renaissance of the past, our neighbours such as Indonesia still embrace the concept of patrons who commission artists to produce works. This allows artists to have a relatively steadier flow of income, which affords them the breathing space to continuously produce brilliant works without having to worry about basic needs.

If we saw more of these independent efforts in Singapore, the art scene might be a little livelier, and develop in interesting and unexpected directions!

Tan notes that the local art scene has come a long way in the last decade. Now, she sees packed museums during weekends and fresh graduates enthusiastically inquiring on how they, too, may become a curator. She believes education and being more involved with our neighbours are crucial in developing our very own artistic identity, Singapore has made huge strides in establishing the necessary infrastructure for a well-rounded art ecosystem. What needs to continue is continuous investment in art education, and the institutions that play a role in cultivating the artists, art audiences and patrons of the future. We must be doing something right there.

A lot of creative exchange can happen  for now its only happening in incidental pockets. A concerted effort to engage in dialogue and creative exchange with the art scenes in Southeast Asia may yield insights into our own, and open up new avenues for development.

We couldnt agree more.

The Singapore Biennale will take place between 27 October 2016 and 26 February 2017.

This article Singapore Biennale 2016: Tan Siuli On What Excites Her appeared first on Popspoken.
Turkish armed forces launched new artillery strikes on positions of the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria, local media reported on Friday. Turkish artillery fired shells from howitzers positioned in its border region against IS targets in the north of Syria's Aleppo province, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported reported. A fragile ceasefire backed by Turkey has taken effect in Syria, but the deal does not apply to territory held by the IS group and Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front. This was the second time within a week that Turkey had shelled IS targets in Syria, after a period of over a month when there had been no reports of Turkish strikes against the extremist group. Turkey had on February 28 shelled six IS targets in Syria a total of 41 times, a senior government official said this week. From mid-February, Turkish artillery had also on successive days shelled targets of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) inside Syria, with the military saying it was responding to incoming fire. But Turkey has not shelled any positions held by Syrian Kurdish fighters inside Syria since the ceasefire was implemented from at midnight last Friday, the official said. Washington had urged Ankara to halt its fire on the PYD and its People's Protection Units (YPG) militia. The issue of the Syrian Kurds had caused a rare rift between Ankara and Washington, which regards the YPG as the most effective fighting force on the ground against IS and wants Turkey to focus on the fight against jihadists.
By Ayla Jean Yackley and Daren Butler ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish authorities seized control of the country's largest newspaper on Friday in a widening crackdown against supporters of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, an influential foe of President Tayyip Erdogan. Police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse a few thousand supporters who gathered outside Zaman newspaper's offices and chanted, "Free press cannot be silenced." Rights groups and European officials criticised the confiscation of Zaman and its sister publication, the English-language Today's Zaman, which occurred on the eve of a summit between Turkey and the European Union and as concerns mount that the Turkish government is stifling critical media. Administrators were appointed to run Zaman at the request of an Istanbul prosecutor, state-run Anadolu Agency reported. Officials were not immediately available to confirm the reports. Erdogan accuses Gulen of conspiring to overthrow the government by building a network of supporters in the judiciary, police and media. Gulen denies the charges. The two men were allies until police and prosecutors seen as sympathetic to Gulen opened a corruption probe into Erdogan's inner circle in 2013. "It has been a habit for the last three, four years, that anyone who is speaking against government policies is facing either court cases or prison, or such control by the government," said Abdulhamit Bilici, editor-in-chief of Zaman. "This is a dark period for our country, our democracy." Zaman is Turkey's biggest selling newspaper, with a circulation of 650,000 as of the end of February, according to media-sector monitor MedyaTava website. Police in riot gear pushed back Zaman supporters who stood in the rain outside its Istanbul office where they waved Turkish flags and carried placards reading "Hands off my newspaper" before they were overcome by clouds of tear gas, live footage on Zaman's website showed. Officers then forcibly broke down a gate and rushed into the building. The footage showed them scuffling with Zaman staff inside the offices. EU STANCE "Zaman Media Group being silenced in Turkey. Crackdown on press freedom continues sadly," Kati Piri, the European Parliament's rapporteur on Turkey, said in a tweet. The EU is accused of turning a blind eye to Turkey's human rights breaches, including the deaths of hundreds of civilians during security operations against Kurdish militants, because it needs Turkey's help curbing the flow of migrants. The crackdown on Zaman comes at an already worrying time for press freedom in Turkey. Two prominent journalists from the pro-opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper are facing potential life sentences on charges of endangering state security for publishing material that purports to show intelligence officials trucking arms to Syria. Authorities have previously seized and shut down opposition media outlets associated with the Gulen movement. The state deposit insurance fund said this week that an Islamic bank founded by Gulen followers might be liquidated within months. The Zaman takeover came hours after police detained businessmen over allegations of financing what prosecutors described as a "Gulenist terror group", Anadolu said. Memduh Boydak, chief executive of furniture-to-cables conglomerate Boydak Holding, as well as the group's chairman Haci Boydak and two board members, were taken into custody. Nobody from the company, based in the central Turkish city of Kayseri, was available to comment. The Committee to Protect Journalists, the New York-based advocacy group, expressed "alarm" over the court ruling against Zaman, and executive director Joel Simon said in a statement it "paves the way to effectively strangle the remnants of critical journalism in Turkey." (Additional reporting by Melih Aslan; Writing by David Dolan and Daren Butler; Editing by Gareth Jones, Toni Reinhold)
Two Italians kidnapped last July in Libya were freed Friday in a raid on Islamic State group hideouts in a city near the capital, officials in Libya and Rome said. The announcement came a day after Italy said that two other nationals abducted at the same time had probably been killed in clashes between jihadists and local militiamen. "Two Italian hostages were released... in Sabratha after an operation targeting several houses after information reached security forces that Daesh elements were there," the city's mayor Hussein al-Dawadi said, using an Arabic acronym for IS. "They are now at a police station in Sabratha," 70 kilometres (40 miles) east of Tripoli, he added. Gino Pollicardo, 55, and Filippo Calcagno, 65, said in a statement released by the Sabratha municipality: "We are free and are relatively well physically but are psychologically exhausted. We urgently need to return to Italy." - 'Convoy attacked' - In a video posted on the municipality's Facebook page, the pair were seen wearing tracksuits, with long beards and dishevelled hair. Pollicardo's tearful wife told Italian media: "It's over. I spoke to him on the phone." The foreign ministry in Rome confirmed the releases, saying that the two "are no longer in the hands of their captors". "They are now under the protection of the Sabratha military council and are in good health," a statement added. The men were among four employees of Italian construction company Bonatti who were kidnapped in July 2015 in the Mellitah region west of Tripoli. Rome's prosecution office, which is investigating the kidnappings, said the two others, Fausto Piano and Salvatore Failla, had been separated from Pollicardo and Calcagno. Italian media reports said Piano and Failla had been in an IS convoy that was attacked by militiamen from Fajr Libya (Libya Dawn), the armed wing of the non-recognised government based in Tripoli. The Italian foreign ministry said Thursday that photographs of the aftermath of the clashes included images of bodies that could be theirs. A statement from the Sabratha military council said that more than 20 IS members -- "mainly Tunisians" -- had been killed over the past two days. It said its forces were working with the Sabratha municipal council to identify those who had helped and sheltered IS fighters in the city. Chaos has engulfed Libya since the 2011 NATO-backed ouster of dictator Moamer Kadhafi and rival administrations are being urged to sign up to a UN-brokered national unity government to help restore stability. The internationally recognised government is based in the far east of the North African country. IS and other extremist organisations have exploited the power vacuum, making gains along the oil-rich coastal regions and triggering concern among Western nations over jihadists controlling territory just 300 kilometres (185 miles) from Europe. Sabratha in the west has been the scene of intense fighting between local militias and IS since a US attack last month on an IS training camp on the outskirts of the city killed 50 people. IS subsequently seized the centre of the city, only to be pushed back to its outskirts last week. On Wednesday, the United Nations said at least 28 civilians including five children have been killed in fighting across Libya so far this year.
SEOUL (Reuters) - The United States blacklisted North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's right-hand man on Thursday, after U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to impose harsh new sanctions on the isolated state over its nuclear weapons programme. Hwang Pyong So, vice chairman of the North's powerful National Defence Commission headed by Kim, was one of several officials added to a list of Specially Designated Nationals by the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control. Hwang, who holds the rank of Vice-Marshal in the North Korean army, heads its General Political Bureau, often seen as the most powerful position in the military after Kim, who is the supreme commander. North Korea faces tough new sanctions for its nuclear weapons programme under the resolution passed unanimously by the Security Council on Wednesday, drafted by the United States and backed by the North's main ally China. The U.S. Treasury added Hwang to its list along with 16 individuals who are now subject to a travel ban and asset freeze. The measures are also designed to block U.S. nationals from dealing with them. It also added O Kuk Ryol, one of a geriatric trio said to be behind North Korea's nuclear weapons programme. Hwang, who is in his mid-60s, is a close confidant of Kim Jong Un and has had an unprecedented rise to the top rungs of North Korea's leadership in the space of a few years. He was associated with Kim in the late 2000s when the young man was first named in state media reports announcing his party and military credentials. He was in the Organisation and Guidance Department (OGD), a powerful and secretive body that finalises appointments within North Korea's leading circles and rose to be its second-in-command, according to South Korea's unification ministry. (Reporting by James Pearson; Editing by Alex Richardson)
Venezuela's opposition-controlled legislature resolved Thursday to ask the Organization of American States to intervene in its standoff with President Nicolas Maduro and the judiciary. Tension in the recession-racked oil giant has reached the boiling point since the opposition won control of the National Assembly in December, dealing a severe blow to the socialist "revolution" launched by Maduro's late mentor Hugo Chavez in 1999. Since then, the Supreme Court has repeatedly stymied the opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), which has vowed to use its landslide election win to force Maduro from power before his term ends in 2019. The legislature said recent events had "seriously affected democracy" in Venezuela, and invoked article 20 of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, which provides for the OAS to take measures aimed at restoring democracy in the event of an "unconstitutional alteration of the constitutional regime" in any member state. The opposition earlier postponed its planned announcement of its strategy to oust Maduro, saying the latest Supreme Court ruling had forced the delay. It did not set a new date for the announcement. The opposition is seeking to dislodge Maduro by constitutional means, after mass protests in 2014 swept the country and left 43 people dead but failed to oust him. The two most obvious options -- a recall referendum or a constitutional amendment reducing the presidential term from six years to four -- face likely rejection by the Supreme Court or the National Electoral Council, both of which the opposition accuses Maduro of packing with allies. The opposition has been locked in a power struggle with the high court since its landmark election win. The court first reduced MUD's powerful two-thirds majority, ruling that three of its lawmakers could not take their seats because of a pending case over alleged electoral fraud. Then on Tuesday the court stripped the legislature's power to remove justices from the bench, voiding MUD's bid to review the recent appointment of 34 Supreme Court judges -- passed by the previous legislature in an 11th-hour session on the eve of the opposition takeover. - New protest violence - The institutional power struggle comes against the backdrop of a crippling economic crisis exacerbated by the crash in the price of oil, which long funded Chavez and Maduro's lavish social spending and subsidies. Despite holding the world's largest oil reserves, Venezuela's economy contracted 5.7 percent last year, its second year of recession. MUD, a motley coalition that spans the political spectrum but is dominated by the center-right, is united mainly by its shared hatred of Maduro. It has been divided over the best strategy to pursue his ouster. Radical opposition leaders sought to force him from power with street protests in 2014, but the main figures, such as Leopoldo Lopez, were jailed, and the protests eventually fizzled out after descending into deadly clashes with police and counter-demonstrators. The Supreme Court is meanwhile likely to reject any constitutional maneuvers to oust the president -- which could also include convening a constitutional assembly to draft a new charter or declaring Maduro in breach of duty. Moderate opposition leader Henrique Capriles, MUD's candidate in the past two presidential elections, said Wednesday he favors the option of a recall referendum, which enables voters to remove elected officials midway through their terms. But that would have to be validated by the National Electoral Council, which like the Supreme Court has been less than friendly to the opposition. Highlighting the tension gripping the country, violence broke out Wednesday at a protest over the recent Supreme Court ruling in the western city of San Cristobal, the cradle of the 2014 protests. Students threw Molotov cocktails and stones at police, authorities said, with at least two protesters injured in the clashes, according to an AFP reporter.
The human gut is a complex and amazing system, and the more we learn about it, the more amazed we are. It turns out
Student Information Systems

Barrington School District Adopts Online Student Registration

New Hampshire's Barrington School District SAU 74 has adopted a customized online student registration system in an effort to ensure student data is up to date on the first day of school and to replace a paper-based process.

"Our parents were tasked with filling out a variety of forms every school year," said Nancy Vincent, director of technology for the district, in a prepared statement. "We're streamlining this process by eliminating paper and modernizing our approach to the student registration process."

The district chose a solution from PowerSchool, which also provides Barrington SD's student information system (SIS). The new tool allows families with more than one student to snap information from one child's entry to another and features SmartForm technology, which collects data based on previously entered information and choices.

"We're eliminating an extensive amount of hours that administrators previously spent inputting data into our SIS," added Vincent. "The solution will increase efficiency at the district and provide a user-friendly experience for our families."
STEM

Penn State Campus Collaborates with High Schools on STEM Exposure

A Pennsylvania university is reaching out to local high schoolers to participate in a workshop that will introduce them to STEM-related careers and education. In mid-March Penn State New Kensington will be hosting the "STEM Exploration Workshop," inviting students from three counties in the region to meet with local employers and participate in team activities on a Saturday.

According to organizer Debra Novak, a STEM/youth coordinator at the university, the goal is to provide the students with an opportunity to learn more about the application of science, technology, engineering and math in the real world. This time around the emphasis will be on safety in science. People from local agencies and companies doing emergency response cleanup, waste treatment, wetlands restoration and sustainable resource work will be on hand to answer questions. The teens will also compete in real-world projects and tour a local waste management company.

While the event is free for participants, expenses are being covered by a multi-county business-education partnership, a workforce investment board and the university itself.

This is just one in a stream of STEM events run by Penn State New Kensington. In 2010 the university hosted a "Women in STEM" symposium that brought more than 300 female students to the campus to learn about career and internship options.

The university also hosts "Kids in College," a series of summer camps for students in grades 1-12 with STEM-related classes in design and rocketry and related topics.

A "STEM Academy" targets high schoolers to take dual-enrollment courses in STEM majors.

"The academy provides students with the advantages of earning college credits while in high school and exploring a career path that is STEM-related," said Novak in a press release. "It also provides an opportunity for high school teachers to work with campus faculty to develop the talents of college-bound and workforce-bound students whose career interests will require advanced knowledge of STEM areas."

Novak also manages "Courses on Math, Engineering, Technology, Science" (COMETS), a program for girls in grades 7 and 8 who are interested in STEM fields. Volunteer mentors from the Penn State community share their experiences in STEM jobs and work with the girls over eight months in brunch meetings, a camp, demonstrations and projects.

The region is home to many manufacturing and other companies that anticipate big growth in their need for STEM-educated workers. "Our programs are directed at introducing and supporting the necessary pathways for students in our area districts for success in STEM jobs," explained Novak.
- Uhuru Kenyatta signed into law a bill that allows men to marry as many women as possible in May 2014

- Parliament had passed the polygamy bill in March 2014 despite protests from female parliamentarians who stormed out

- The law legalises polygamy and does not put a cap to the number of women a man can marry

Yes polygamy is legal in Kenya and once two parties agree to a union, not even the first wife can stand in their way. There is also no limit to the number of women one man can marry.

READ ALSO: Three Women Share Secrets Of Successful 30-Year Marriage To One Man

The bill signed into law allowing men to marry more than one wife was passed by parliament in 2013 amidst protest from female MPs.

Even then, it could have come way after several of the politician had got their way; here are some of the politicians with more than one partner.

1. Esther Passaris

Passaris recently revealed on live TV that she was in a polygamous marriage and she is not proud or sad about it.

Speaking during the Morning Express show on KTN, she said there is nothing she can do about her marital status.

Passaris is married to Pius Mbugua Ngugi, the owner of Thika Coffee Mills. She is the CEO of several businesses including Adopt A Light.

2. Moses Wetangula

The Bungoma Senetor's other wife came to the limelight when she sued him for child neglect in 2013.

READ ALSO: Twin sisters marry one man on the same day (photos)

The woman narrated how she started cohabiting with Wetangula before formalising their union in 2011 under bukusu customary marriage.

She was however in court demanding child upkeep and maintenance costs from the CORD co-principal who she said he had abandoned her yet they were not divorced.

READ ALSO: Research: Kenyan Men Most Faithful In Africa

Wetangula admitted that indeed he was married to her under Bukusu customary laws but denied he had abandoned her.

In August 2014, a man sensationally claimed that Wetangula had snatched his wife in what served to underscore the senators polygamous tendencies.

READ ALSO: PHOTOS,VIDEO: See Cameroonian Man Who Has 100 Wives And 500 Children

Carlson Okello accused Wetangula of resulting in his break up with wife Nancy Kibabi who is currently a nominated member of Bungoma county assembly.

3. Bonni Khalwale

The Kakamega senator and self-styled bullfighter has two wives; Adelide and Josephine Khalwale and he never shies away from parading them in public.

While he never delves into details of his polygamous life, he has severally declared to have more than one wife and several children.

4. Joy Gwendo

Kisumu county nominated senator was in the eye of a storm over her relationship with a married man Thomas Mbewa.

She was in fact labelled a husband snatcher until Mbewa publicly declared that indeed his first wife new about his relationship with Joy Gwendo.

Mbewa said in 2014 that he was engaged to Joy Gwendo and soon they would formalise their union. He is yet to make that public but it does not rule him out of the polygamous club.

5. Ayub Savula

The first time and youthful Lugari MP is married to two wives whom he has built identical mansion-like houses in his rural home in Manyonyi village.

The former journalist-turned politician was elected in 2013 succeeding Cyrus Jirongo who unsuccessfully vied for the Kakamega senatorial seat.

6. Nicholas Bowott

Former KANU era senior most politician and retired president Moi's right hand man Biwott has two wives.

The former Keiyo South MP and wealthy politician -who earned the title Total Man in his hey days- is married to a Kenya and a Jewish woman.

Margaret Kamar is Biwot's first wife with the Jewish woman his second wife.

7. Dalmas Otieno

In 2013, Dalmas Otieno upped his polygamous status by marrying a third wife at a colourful traditional ceremony in Homa Bay county.

READ ALSO: Former beauty queen exposes her relationship with politician

Dalmas Otieno (right) with Uhuru Kenyatta in Homa Bay county

The former cabinet minister married Dorothy Atieno, aged 33, and she is currently Homa Bay county Executive Committee Member for Tourism Culture and Sports.

8. Danson Mungatana

When Mungatana is mentioned, Cecilia Mwangi and Mwanaisha Chidzuga quickly comes to mind. However these are not the only women in the former Ganze MP's life.

Apparently Mungata has another wife but had children with both Chidzuga and Cecilia Mwangi, former miss Kenya.

READ ALSO: Love for former MP Mungatana makes TV anchor go gaga, see what she did

While Cecilia recently announced that she broke up with Mungatana, Chidzuga took to twitter to reaffirm her love for Mungatana and we can as well say he qualifies into the polygamous club.

9. Sospeter Ojaamong

While Judy Ojaamong is the Busia county governor's know wife with whom he attends public events with. It is said that the governor has more than three wives.

READ ALSO: Governor Could Be Sued For Being Deadbeat Dad

There have been several court cases in which women have sought child upkeep and maintenance money from the governor, claiming that they cohabited with him at different times before he abandoned them.

Do you have any suggestions or comment to add? Send to news@tuko.co.ke

Source: TUKO.co.ke
- President Uhuru has traveled out of the country more than three times in less than two weeks

- In the period, he has visited Israel, Djibouti and Tanzania

- He now heads to Ghana on Saturday, March 5, where he will attend the west African country's 59th Independence Day celebrations

- Uhuru's visit will also help strengthen trade ties between the two countries

READ ALSO: See Uhuru in Tanzania with EAC leaders

President Uhuru Kenyatta will yet again depart the country on Saturday, March 5, for Ghana in his fourth trip out of the country in two weeks' time.

Through a statement, State House spokesperson Manoah Esipisu has revealed that the head of state will be attending Ghanas 59 Independence Day celebrations during his two-day visit among several other things.

Uhurus visit is also expected to deepen trade and investment ties between Kenya and the West African nation.

READ ALSO: Kenya left out of Uganda oil deal?

The visit is also seen as President Uhuru returning a hand for Ghana after Mahama visited Kenya in December 2014, where he attended the Jamhuri Day celebrations at the Nyayo National stadium.

Kenya has a good rapport with Ghana where goods are exchanged between the two countries. Among the goods exported to Ghana include sugar confectionary, plant and equipment, plastics, jute, medicaments and articles of rubber.

On its part Ghana imports cocoa, wire products, machines, tools and natural rubber.

This is the fourth trip Uhuru has made out of the country in less than two weeks. He was in Israel for a four-day, returned and headed to Djibouti for a summit where countries contributing soldiers to the AMISOM mission in Somalia were meeting.

He then visited Tanzania for a meeting among East African region leaders.

READ ALSO: President Uhuru Kenyatta, Magufuli pledge to work together

Uhuru has already travelled more than former President Mwai Kibaki did in his entire 10-year reign.

Image: Uhuru Kenyatta/Facebook

Source: Yen

Source: TUKO.co.ke
Northern Ireland police are warning that another attack is "highly likely" after a prison officer was seriously injured by a car bomb in Belfast.

The 52-year-old married father suffered leg wounds and is in a stable condition in hospital.

He had been driving to work just after 7am when the device detonated under his vehicle in Hillsborough Drive, an explosion that also forced the evacuation of houses and a massive police search of the area.

Officers are investigating whether the bomb became dislodged as the car was driven over a speed bump.

PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Stephen Martin said: "We are grateful that he has survived this attack  that was not the intention of those who carried it out.

"We still have people in our society who want to kill and their primary targets are police officers, prison officers and soldiers."

He warned people that the upcoming Easter festivities also mark the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising.

"There are people within dissident Republican groups who want to mark Easter 2016 in an entirely more sinister way," he said.

"We believe the threat is extremely high at the moment - it's at the upper end of severe - and we need community support.

"It is not inevitable that anyone needs to lose their life."

At the scene of the bombing, resident Lisa Flavelle told Sky News that she feared a return to the violence of the past, saying: "The look on everybody's faces this morning - this is a different scenario, things have changed.

"There's something of the likes we haven't seen in quite a long time."

Sky News' Ireland Correspondent David Blevins said: "This bears all the hallmarks of a dissident Republican attack.

"Renegade Republicans who oppose the peace process, who believe Sinn Fein surrendered, if you like, have continued to be active, although security forces and police have been very successful in thwarting attacks of this nature."

Story continues

Assistant Chief Constable Martin said attacks were being thwarted "every day", adding: "We want to be tackling burglaries, anti-social behaviourwe don't want in 2016 to be dealing with this.

"The people here who are engaged in this are a small number.

"These people need to wake up get off the stage."

Various community leaders and politicians condemned the car bomb attack, including Stormont First Minister Arlene Foster who called it "despicable".

Anyone who witnessed suspicious activity in the area can call police on 101.
By Ami Miyazaki and Linda Sieg TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's ruling party kicks off a debate this month on whether to expand the pool of foreign workers to cope with a greying, shrinking population, challenging a longstanding "taboo" on immigration, the head of a new party panel said on Thursday. With demand for labour at its highest in 24 years, firms such as Subaru car maker Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd are turning to what is effectively a system of back-door immigration. But rather than rely on immigration, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants to focus on drawing more women and elderly into the workforce to fill the gaps, and has made raising Japan's rock-bottom birth rate a priority. "The question is how to ensure workers," Yoshio Kimura, a member of Abe's Liberal Democratic Party in parliament's upper house, told Reuters. "The biggest problem for Japan's economic growth is the shrinking population." The only way to ensure growth was to increase the size of the workforce, Kimura said in an interview, adding that monetary and fiscal policies were reaching the limit of their capacity to spur growth. "Breaking a 50-year taboo, we will tackle the debate on accepting foreigners as workers," he said, adding that he expected some LDP members to oppose the idea. In 2014, foreigners made up 2.1 million, or about 1.3 percent, of Japan's population, including around 500,000 ethnic Koreans, many of them born and brought up in Japan. It was unclear, however, if the panel's recommendations would use the term "immigration", which would imply long-term residence rather than short-term stays, a sign of how sensitive the topic is in a nation that prizes its cultural and ethnic homogeneity. "This may not be appropriate before the upper house election," Kimura said. The poll is set for July. Kimura gave few details of possible proposals, but said one idea could be to ease conditions for foreign workers to extend visas to stay on for work. Some members of Abe's cabinet, including the minister for administrative reform, Taro Kono, have suggested that demographic trends make it vital to have an immigration strategy. Japan's population is forecast to fall below 100 million by 2048 and decline further, to about 87 million by 2060, when 40 percent of people will be 65 or older. Abe wants to hold the line at 100 million by 2060, a fifth below current levels. (Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has ordered his country to be ready to use its nuclear weapons at any time.

According to the official KCNA news agency, he also told the country's military to be on "pre-emptive attack" mode in the face of growing threats from its enemies.

It comes after the UN adopted its toughest sanctions to date in response to Pyongyang's fourth nuclear test and rocket launch.

Mr Kim said North Korea should "bolster up (its) nuclear force both in quality and quantity" and stressed "the need to get the nuclear warheads deployed for national defence always on standby so as to be fired any moment".

He added: "Now is the time for us to convert our mode of military counteraction toward the enemies into a pre-emptive attack one in every aspect."

North Korea has previously threatened pre-emptive attacks on its enemies including South Korea, Japan and the US.

The Pentagon has downplayed the risk from North Korea's nuclear arsenal.

"The US government assessment has not changed," a spokesman said.

"We have not seen North Korea test or demonstrate the ability to miniaturise a nuclear weapon and put it on an ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile.)"

Sky's Defence Correspondent Alistair Bunkall said: "This is a direct response to the new UN sanctions. North Korea is trying to show its own people it is strong, and show the world it won't be pushed over.

"But whilst it would be foolish to dismiss North Korea's threats, it's unclear just how capable its nuclear arsenal is.

"Next week the US and South Korea begin annual military exercises on the peninsular - this always gets a reaction from Pyongyang."
SWNS

<p>Americans are still waiting for their Goldilocks moment  four in five say theyve never found their perfect fit for certain items.</p><p>According to a new poll of 1,000 people 250 lbs and over and 1,000 people under 250 lbs, 52% struggle to find clothing, mattresses (40%) and bathtubs or shower enclosures (38%) that fit their body types.</p><p>In fact, about two-thirds (67%) find themselves struggling frequently with finding items that fit their body size needs.</p><p>This was especially true for those 350 lbs and over, as 41% admit they always struggle, compared to only 23% of those under 250 lbs.</p><p>Despite frequency, almost three-quarters (74%) of all respondents find themselves feeling frustrated when they are searching for an item that accommodates their needs.</p><p>Conducted by OnePoll on behalf of <a href="https://www.bigfigmattress.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" data-safelink="true" data-linkindex="1">Big Fig Mattress</a>, the survey asked respondents how they go about their everyday lives despite challenges they may face because of their body type. </p><p>Results found that seven in 10 respondents feel less confident when they struggle with finding items that fit their size needs.</p><p>When asked about other emotions respondents experience, those 250 lbs and over are more likely to feel set apart from others, citing embarrassed (59%) and isolated (53%).</p><p>While those who are under 250 lbs tend to lean towards disappointed (51%). </p><p>Even so, those 250 lbs and up were more optimistic than those under (35% vs 23%).</p><p>The average respondent has crossed off about five brands or retailers because they dont carry products that meet their physical needs.</p><p>However, for those who are 250 lbs and over, 72% have eliminated between three and eight stores.</p><p>Almost one in five (18%) of those under 250 lbs cited that all stores carry their size, compared to only 2% of those who are 250 lbs and up.</p><p>"This survey makes it clear that the 'all' part of 'one size fits all' couldn't be further from the truth," said Jeff Brown, president, Big Fig Mattress. "Almost two in five respondents haven't found something that they felt was made for them. Everybody and every <em>body</em> deserves a long-lasting and comfortable mattress to support a good night's sleep, regardless of your size."</p><p>Products made for all body types are an issue no matter what the product, with respondents needing to stand on furniture to reach something (46%) or finding that clothing is either way too long or too short (46%).</p><p>And ill-fitting items arent just an inconvenience, 61% of respondents say that clothing, vehicles (59%) and mattresses (50%) that arent made for their body type have a big impact on their quality of life.</p><p>More than half of those 250 lbs and over (53%) believe their life is more difficult than for someone who is considered normal sized.</p><p>But that doesnt mean respondents are only dwelling on the negative  almost half (44%) frequently make light of their struggles. </p><p>When asked how they do so, respondents outlined things like, I speak to myself. I'm beautiful and special. I'm impeccable," and Remind myself that if this is the biggest problem I have, then I am doing just fine in life."</p><p>The survey also asked about relationship status and how respondents are navigating integrating their lifestyles with another uniquely sized person.</p><p>Seventy-four percent of all respondents are in a relationship and living with their significant other.</p><p>Almost half (45%) are mixed-size couples, meaning they have a noticeable difference in body size or type.</p><p>Because of this, couples face challenges like finding a place to live that accommodates both people (40%), struggling to share a mattress comfortably (40%) and having items that one person uses but the other never would such as step stools (34%).</p><p>In the end, more than two-thirds (68%) of all respondents agree that its difficult to navigate a one size fits all world when people have varying body types.</p><p>We believe and support being body positive, in body acceptance, and in making positive life choices, noted Brown. Bigger figured people deserve the same level of quality products and choices as everyone else. Its important to accept that all bodies are different and require more from product manufacturers, and I think the data makes that clear.</p><p><strong>MOST DIFFICULT ITEMS TO FIND FOR A SPECIFIC BODY TYPE</strong></p><ul><li>Clothing - 52%</li><li>Mattress - 40%</li><li>Bathtub/shower enclosure - 38%</li><li>Chairs/couch - 35%</li><li>Bike/scooter - 34%</li><li>Vehicle - 31% </li></ul><p><em>Survey methodology:</em></p><p><em>This random double-opt-in survey of <strong>1,000 Americans under 250 lbs and 1,000 Americans 250 lbs and up </strong>was commissioned by <strong>Big Big Mattress</strong> between <strong>September 8 </strong> and <strong>September 21</strong>. It was conducted by market research company <a href="https://www.onepoll.us/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" data-safelink="true" data-linkindex="2">OnePoll</a>, whose team members are members of the <a href="https://www.mrs.org.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" data-safelink="true" data-linkindex="3">Market Research Society</a> and have corporate membership to the American Association for Public Opinion Research (<a href="https://www.aapor.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" data-safelink="true" data-linkindex="4">AAPOR</a>) and the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research (<a href="https://www.esomar.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" data-safelink="true" data-linkindex="5">ESOMAR</a>).</em></p>
By Marja Novak LJUBLJANA (Reuters) - The Slovenian parliament passed legislation late on Friday that is aimed at speeding up the processing of asylum seekers in a country that in recent months has been flooded with migrants on their way to Western Europe. In line with the new law, the government will have to process asylum requests as quickly as possible. It currently takes several months for each request to be resolved. "With the new legislative framework the government wants to enable fast and efficient decision making about asylum requests," Interior Minister Vesna Gyorkos Znidar told the parliament. "The whole of Europe is under big (migration) pressure, we are at the breaking point. We (the EU) need to adopt decisions at this moment that will prevent the migrant crisis of 2015 from being repeated," she said ahead of the parliamentary vote. The parliament rejected the opposition demands to determine the maximum number of people who would be able to get an asylum in the country each year. Since October, when Hungary sealed off its border with Croatia and pushed the migrant route west to Slovenia, almost 500,000 migrants passed Slovenia on their way to Austria and other Western European countries. Only about 460 of those have requested asylum in Slovenia, which with two million people is the smallest country on the Balkan migrant route. About 10 of those migrants have so far been granted asylum in the country. But many Slovenians fear that the number of asylum requests may surge in the coming months as Western Europe is gradually closing its borders to migrants. In recent weeks, Slovenia saw a number of protests by local citizens against migrant centres in their cities, claiming migrant arrivals would threaten security. Last week, the Slovenian police revealed that an agreement between Slovenia, Austria, Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia has been reached to limit the flow of migrants to about 580 per day per country. As a consequence thousands of migrants are being detained on the Greek border with Macedonia. (Reporting by Marja Novak; editing by Chris Reese, G Crosse)
By Tom Miles and Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - Syria's cessation of hostilities is holding but remains fragile after six days in which incidents have been contained in the provinces of Homs, Hama, Latakia and Damascus, U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said on Thursday. De Mistura said that his office was working closely with Russia and the United States to investigate any fighting and "to quickly intervene in order to make sure that the parties on the ground defuse the situation". "Unfortunately we have to admit - like in every cessation of hostilities or ceasefire and in particular in this one - there are still a number of places where fighting has continued, including parts of Hama, Homs, Latakia and Damascus. "The situation therefore could be summarised as fragile, success is not guaranteed but progress has been visible, ask the Syrians," de Mistura told reporters in Geneva. Halting the fighting and stepping up aid deliveries in Syria, especially to nearly half a million people in besieged areas, are vital to pave the way for peace talks, he said. De Mistura, who suspended a first round last month, plans to resume talks with the Syrian government and opposition parties on March 9. But the format for the indirect talks is flexible and some parties could turn up days later, he said. "The important thing is to start the momentum reaching the point when the political aspect will be addressed because that is what will make the endgame a stable one in Syria," he added. Jan Egeland, who chaired a humanitarian task force of major and regional powers trying to improve access to besieged areas, said that there had been progress, with some 236 trucks delivering aid to 115,000 people in the past three weeks. "We believe that the cessation of hostilities will lead to a big leap forward in reaching many more people, hundreds of thousands of people in the hard-to-reach areas and the remaining besieged areas," he added. (Reporting by Tom Miles and Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Dominic Evans)
KKR has agreed to buy into seeds provider Advanta Enterprises in a deal which values the business at about $2.25bn.
Published On Mar 04, 2016 By Abhishek for Honda Amaze 2016-2021

Watch First Drive Video of 2016 Honda Amaze Facelift

Its time for another facelift and this time its the Honda Amaze that has gone under the knife. We took it for a short spin to check out the changes

The Amaze was pretty much a landmark car for Honda in India. It was a car that was born out of government regulations that forced Honda to make the Amaze the way it is. Hondas entry into the cut-throat compact sedan segment was also Hondas first diesel offering in India. After selling 2 lakh units since its launch in 2013, Honda has finally decided to give it a much-deserved facelift.

Design

Like they always do, Honda has attended to minor details to refresh the Amaze from the outside. The front is where most of the changes have taken place. First up, is the shiny big grill which gets more chrome and is bolder as well. The bumper has been reworked as well and are more flared now adding a little more muscle.

The Amaze gets new fog lights as well which seem to have been borrowed from the older gen City. Turn indicators find themselves on the ORVMs which are now electrically foldable.

The sides remain the same with the very prominent character lines being present and the 10-spoke alloy wheels (the petrol variant gets a different design). The rear gets new combination tail lamps which look good as well. Overall, wed say Honda has done justice with the facelift and the Amaze seems a lot more characterful than before.

Interiors

If there was one part about the Amaze that was one of its biggest Achilles heels, it had to be the interiors. The Amaze was (and still is) one of the most spacious cars in its class, but the overall design was pretty bland. Honda tried sprucing it up by adding a big display touch screen unit, but that wasnt of much help.

The moment you get inside the new car though, you see a refreshing change. The entire dashboard has been re-designed and it looks pretty good. Its a very cohesive design and nothing looks out of place. The black and beige dual tone combo remains with classy silver inserts all around.

Towards the center, you have an all-new audio system that gets Bluetooth, USB and AUX. No, its not a touch screen unit but still is a lot better than what the Amaze had earlier. Also new, is the air-con unit which now gets climate control and no knobs to play with at all. Again its classy to look at and feels good to use as well.

Finally, as you move your eyes towards the speedo console, you see some more changes. Firstly, the steering gets audio mounted controls. The speedo console has been borrowed from the current City and now gets a multi information display which gives out the range, average fuel consumption, instantaneous fuel efficiency, time and the ambient temperature.



The seats remain the same but get new fabric. The Amaze remains one of the most spacious cars in its class and now can boast of some very good interiors as well.

Engines

Engines remain unchanged and the diesel is still noisier than the competition and not to mention one of the most fuel-efficient. The diesel mill is the 1.5 litre i-DTEC pushing out 100 PS and 200 Nm coupled to a 5-speed gearbox while the petrol is the 1.2 litre i-VTEC which pushes out 88 PS and 109 Nm of torque.

The new addition here is the CVT gearbox that you can buy with the petrol engine that Honda claims is not only convenient to use in traffic but more efficient than the manual gearbox as well. With the CVT gearbox, the Amaze is also slightly more powerful with 90 PS and 110 Nm of torque. We are yet to drive the CVT and will comment on the cars performance and efficiency once we get our hands on it real soon.

Is the Amaze a better buy now?

Definitely. The Amaze was the 'go-to' car if space and efficiency were key priorities. Now, Honda has added a lot more appeal to the car by sprucing up the exteriors and totally revamping the insides. Yes, performance-wise and feature-wise the Ford Figo Aspire still betters the Amaze, but then the Honda offers the extra benefit of peaceful ownership in terms of better after sales service and better resale. With prices starting at Rs. 5.29 lakh for the petrol and Rs. 6.41 lakh for the diesel, the new Amaze is not a lot more expensive than its less equipped predecessor. If its space, efficiency and reliability that you are looking at, the Amaze fits your bill a whole lot better now.
watch now

CRAFT Singapore, the city-state's first-ever craft beer festival, launches Friday in hopes of luring lager and ale guzzlers to more independent fare.

The festival comes on the heels of a global boom in craft breweries, also referred to as microbreweries, that has seen larger players acknowledging the competition. Anheuser-Busch InBev , the world's largest brewer, announced purchases of three craft brewers in the month of December alone. Microbreweries are broadly classified as small, independent operations producing limited volumes. In the U.S., annual production for an individual craft brewer is capped at 6 million barrels or less. Singapore is home to around a dozen microbreweries, with four alone opening last year, Charles Guerrier, founder of CRAFT Singapore, told CNBC. But the island nation's most popular beerin term of total volume salesstill remains Tiger, made by Heineken -owned Asia-Pacific Breweries (APB), according to Euromonitor. Indeed, craft accounts for only around 2 percent of Singapore's beer market share, noted Winston Kwang, owner of Beerstyle Distribution, a local company specializing in the import of American craft beers. Industry observers highlighted a few factors behind the lower volumes.

"We're not yet at the stage where there's strong demand for local craft beer. Unlike the U.K., where people get very territorial about their pints, Singapore has always latched onto foreign brands, but I'm sure we'll be seeing more people apply national pride to beer in addition to their food," explained Guerrier.

The widest range of craft beer available in the city-state is mainly imported from Belgium, with 6.92 million liters imported in 2014, Flemish government agency Flanders Investment and Trade said in a market report last year. Moreover, the country's tough regulatory environment doesn't make it easy for local breweries, especially as capacity limits mean economies of scale are tough to achieve. "It is quite difficult to operate here in Singapore as taxes are very high on alcohol and rents are very high. This has led to lots of multi-tap craft bars importing beers in from oversees," noted Scott Robertson, brewmaster at Brewerkz, which has been operating in the country since 1997. But things are starting to change. In fact, APBthe nation's leading brewerhas already joined the craft movement in an attempt to cash in on the global trend. APB owns Archipelago Brewery, a craft brewer that uses Asian flavorings such as lemongrass, tamarind and coriander.

When asked whether APB will expand its craft portfolio beyond Archipelago, the firm refused to comment. Some believe commercial brewers may eventually snap up craft names in Asia, as has been the case in the U.S. and Europe. "Of course, bigger players may eventually start buying smaller players here, it's a likely trend," said Steve Spinney, master brewer at Little Island Brewing Company, one of Singapore's craft names. The city-state can easily accommodate at least 20 microbreweries and when that happens, "big guys are not going to like it," he said. Others voiced a more cautious outlook. "No matter how much craft beer grows, it's not exponential growth that will unsettle the big boys," said Kwang from Beerstyle Distribution. Kwang, who has been in the industry for nearly a decade, believes none of Singapore's craft brew pubs or breweries boast the branding or volume to warrant an acquisition now or over the next few years.

Little Island Brewing Company
MetLife is the largest life insurance company in the United States. About 100 million consumers worldwide rely on it for life insurance, annuities, and other safety net products. But is it too big to fail?

A federal judge says it isn't and yesterday struck down the U.S. government's determination that MetLife needs to build up its capital reserves and submit to tight regulation to ensure its financial well-being.

"From the beginning, MetLife has said that its business model does not pose a threat to the financial stability of the United States," the company's chief executive, Steven Kandarian, said in a statement.

The decision is seen as a victory for big business, and it was quickly followed by a report that General Electric, which owns Genworth, might be next in line to challenge its designation as "systemically important" to the U.S. economy. Wall Street is also pressing AIG and Prudential to respond.

Dodd-Frank

The "too big to fail" test was created by the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010. Instituted after the financial crisis of 2008, it was initially aimed at banks but was later extended to other major companies who were so important to the economy that their collapse could trigger another crisis.

MetLife is one of the few financial powerhouses that did not receive any government assistance during the financial crisis.

Kandarian has argued that life insurance companies don't carry the same risks as other financial institutions, since in most cases, funds are not subject to immediate withdrawal. Most life insurance policies, for example, pay out only when the policyholder dies.

Kandarian also contends that insurance companies are adequately supervised at the state level. That argument may not sit well with consumer advocates, who just this week formed organizations in Connecticut, Colorado, Florida, Ohio, and Virginia. They plan to pressure insurance commissioners, attorneys general, and state lawmakers to hold public hearings on the proposed mergers of health insurers, such as Aetna with Humana and Anthem with Cigna.

A U.S. Treasury spokesman took issue with the decision by U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary Collyer, saying regulators had conducted "a rigorous analysis of MetLife, including extensive engagement with the company, and determined that material financial distress at MetLife could pose ... a threat to the financial system."

Effect on consumers

What does all this mean for the consumers who buy insurance? To hear Wall Street tell it, it means that MetLife will be able to price its products more competitively, since it will not be held to tighter capital rules. It would also be more easily able to return more money to shareholders and sell off parts of the company, according to analysts quoted by Insurance Journal.

MetLife's Kandarian has indicated a desire to "separate" one or more retail units, most likely the variable annuity product line. Variable annuities are closely tied to stock market fluctuations and are thus more volatile.

The issue came up at Wednesday's White House briefing, where spokesman Josh Earnest declined to respond to the specific ruling but said that "one core component of Wall Street reform legislation that was passed early in President Obamas presidency included giving regulators the tools that they need to regulate non-bank financial institutions."

"This is one of the lessons that weve learned from the Great Recession  that its not just banks on Wall Street that could potentially shake the foundation of our financial system if they make a bunch of risky bets that go bad without proper oversight. Worse yet, it could also put taxpayers on the hook for bailing them out," Earnest said.
How did Fred Rogers anchor children (and their parents) to his incredible neighborhood? Simply put, he did not value style over substance. Everyones favorite neighbor replaced the flashy production values that made other television franchises a success with a successful effort at building an honest relationship with each viewer. He addressed our specific concerns. He introduced us directly into his world by taking us on trips to meet his friends and by introducing guests who stopped by. These are all things we do when we are in a relationship with someone we care about.

As do most credit unions, Im sure you care about your members. How can you replicate Mister Rogers success at creating an emotional connection on a personal level?

First, lets start with why. A recent study by Motista showed the importance that emotional connections play in building a relationship with consumers. Of those surveyed, people who were emotionally connected with a brand were four times more likely to proactively seek that brand to fill a need. How great would it be if each one of your members called your credit union to get preapproved for an auto loan before even stepping foot on a dealers lot? The Motista consumers were also fifty percent more likely to advocate for and recommend the brand to their friends and family during casual conversation. So those refer a friend campaigns youre running? You wouldnt need to rely on those for membership growth. Take all of those $50 bills you would hand out for the campaign and invest them in serving while making an emotional connection with your existing members.

You know why focusing on serving your existing members, keeping them satisfied, and creating an emotional connection is important but how do you do it? Its not easy. It cant be done quicklyat least not if youre doing it properly. There is no Dummies Handbook to Making an Emotional Connection with Your Members but I can offer three things to start building the foundation to be successful:

Build your brand on one idea that demonstrates a strong (and relevant) value proposition that your members could not easily get anywhere else. Focus your efforts (and budget) on fulfilling this value proposition. If youre promising it in your messaging, be sure that each department and each team member at your credit union can fulfill that promise. Dont stray from your focus over time. Control your marketing ADD. Keep it simple. Above all else, keep it consistent. You can always innovate and upgrade your brand, but you must always keep it differentiated from your competitors.

Mr. Rogers had a true gift for being able to establish an emotional connection with each of us, even if we had never met him. We all believed we had a relationship with him  a relationship built on caring and appreciation. Thats what keeps us, and generations beyond us, coming back for more. Your credit union could do the same, just follow in the footsteps of everyones favorite neighbor, Fred Rogers.

And loving other people is food for the spirit. Fred Rogers
The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) this week released guidance on how to comply with changes to the Department of Defenses Military Lending Act (MLA). The guidance, Complying With Recent Changes to the MLA Regulation, was issued as a regulatory alert (16-RA-04).

Starting Oct. 3, lenders will be required to determine the military status of all applicants for many forms of consumer credit. The MLA places certain protections over covered borrowers, including a cap on annual percentage rates,

Compliance with related changes for credit card accounts will be required starting Oct. 3, 2017.

The alert contains an enclosure that explains the types of credit that will be affected, the new consumer protections that will be provided and the steps credit unions will need to take to comply.

One notable exception to the changes involves Payday Alternative Loans (PALs), which under the MLA, one application fee in a rolling 12-month period can be excluded from the military annual percentage rate.
On Thursday, March 3, 2016, a large coalition of Oakland renters, clergy, teachers, homeowners, unions, community organizations, small business and landlords filed a proposed anti-displacement ballot initiative that strengthens fair and equitable protections for Oakland tenants most impacted by the Citys growing housing crisis!

Oakland Renters, Homeowners, City Workers and Clergy Push For More Renter ProtectionsOakland Renters, Homeowners, City Workers and Clergy File Anti-Displacement Housing Initiative Offering Stronger Tenant Protections for Oakland FamiliesBy Lynda Carson - March 3, 2016OAKLAND On Thursday, March 3, 2016, a large coalition of Oakland renters, clergy, teachers, homeowners, unions, community organizations, small business and landlords filed a proposed anti-displacement ballot initiative that strengthens fair and equitable protections for Oakland tenants most impacted by the Citys growing housing crisis.Oakland is presently facing a massive displacement of its renters as a result of never ending rent increases, and a weak pro-landlord rent stabilization ordinance. Oakland officials have been fueling the economic cleansing http://tinyurl.com/hf92gus taking place in the city, and the renters are being terrorized by skyrocketing rents, and greedy landlords evicting them by the thousands.Oaklands Renters Upgrade initiative was filed on March 3 at Oakland City Hall, and the Oakland renters movement is part of the growing renters movement seeking stronger renter protections in other cities of Northern California, including the City of Richmond http://tinyurl.com/j9xpphe , and Alameda http://tinyurl.com/z7thhwl , where renter protection initiatives were also filed recently.The renters movement in San Mateo and San Jose are also preparing to file and introduce their own initiatives and ordinances to help lift up tenants from across the region.If approved by voters, Oaklands Renters Upgrade would expand Oaklands current Just Cause for Eviction law and provide greater ability for the city to enforce existing laws amidst a wave of unfair evictions and widespread harassment as the demand for housing in Oakland grows.The Renters Upgrade would: Expand eviction protections to almost 45% more Oakland renters by making those protections apply to units built after 1983 and 1995. Establish a 5% rent cap  half of the current rent cap (10%) Establish a rent stabilization board with the majority of members comprised of current tenants Require improved tracking and a publically accessible database for all rent increases to ensure increased internal city communication with the various departments in charge of housing; and Require that the City prioritize resources for the enforcement of all protections and a program for the tenant protection ordinances implementation.On behalf of the many Oakland renters who have struggled for over thirty years with the abuses of a landlord-written ordinance, this is a proud day to finally begin the process of qualifying a real rent control measure that will ensure justice and fairness for tenants., said James Vann of the Oakland Tenants Union.Finding affordable housing in Oakland for many is becoming a daunting task. Finding quality, affordable housing is a problem for everyone, including teachers, janitors, city workers, all working families, says Paula Beal, an Oakland renter. I am a renter, a senior citizen and a grandmother and I am personally affected by the issues addressed in this initiative, I have been displaced multiple times in the last several years because I am not protected by our City's current tenant laws. The Renters Upgrade is a common sense initiative that would help me and other long-time renters, elders, youth, working families stay in our homes and near our communities.The foreclosure crisis is responsible for displacing thousands from Oakland. Ive been an Oakland homeowner for over 35 years. We saw the foreclosure crisis displace thousands of homeowners from this city and now were seeing this recent housing boom make it difficult for renters, who make up 60% of Oaklands population, to remain here. It's not fair, its not what Oakland is about and its time we as a community, work towards a solution, says Shirley Burnell, West Oakland homeowner and lifelong Oakland resident.Rent hikes in California have outpaced the national average during every month of 2015, according to ApartmentList.com, http://tinyurl.com/zccoulx . Of the ten most expensive cities in California, San Francisco is at the top of the list followed by Santa Monica, Marina Del Rey, Palo Alto, West Hollywood, Berkeley, Pacifica, San Mateo, San Rafael, and Foster City.Another recent survey also reveals that the fair market rents in Oakland have almost doubled since 2011. Additionally, in the top ten cities throughout the nation with the greatest rent increases during recent years, Oakland tops the list according to Smartasset.com, http://tinyurl.com/z2m7roh , surpassing San Francisco, New York City, San Jose, Houston, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Denver, Colorado Springs, and Chicago.The housing crisis in Oakland has become so severe, that the City is listed as #4 on the list of cities across the nation with the highest rents for one bedroom apartments. The median price for a one bedroom apartment in Oakland now is $2,200, according to the latest report from Zumper.com http://tinyurl.com/z3wfpuz for February.Just Cause Eviction Protection OrdinanceBack in 2002, there was also a huge struggle in Oakland that took place in the effort to protect renters with a just cause eviction protection ordinance that went into effect http://tinyurl.com/zuyjct8 , and the community effort has resulted in protecting thousands of renters from unjust no-cause evictions.In this struggle, community members raised around $80,000 and more to fund the just cause campaign to bring it to the voters, and the landlord/real estate members that were in opposition to the renter protections spent around $500,000 to defeat the measure. In the end, the supporters of just cause eviction protections won with a narrow margin victory of less than 3,000 votes.Rent control has been a huge success in protecting renters and stabilizing communities in other cities in California http://tinyurl.com/6rlj3zx , and just cause eviction protections have also been a huge success in protecting renters in numerous cities.The current broad coalition supporting more renter protections in Oakland which includes city workers, homeowners, small landlords, clergy who have lost scores of congregants to the housing crisis, nurses, teachers and tenants; are united in a desire to stop rising rents and displacement disrupting the lives of thousands of working class people and Black families in Oakland.Coalition Members Include: Alliance of California for Community Empowerment Action: California Nurses Association: Causa Justa :: Just Cause: East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy: Oakland Community Organizations: Oakland Rising: Oakland Tenants Union: SEIU Local 1021:Proposal To Move Eviction Case System From Oakland To Hayward Will Cause HomelessnessAnother problem Oakland renters are currently facing: It appears that the low-income communities of Oakland and Berkeley have been placed at further risk of homelessness if a proposal to consolidate eviction cases in Hayward http://tinyurl.com/j8kdy79 moves forward, and takes effect.The Alameda County Superior Court reorganization proposal by Judge Morris Jacobson, http://tinyurl.com/hps7pgv , which includes the proposal to consolidate eviction cases in Hayward, will severely restrict poor, elderly, and disabled tenants access to justice, according to the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board.According to public documents from the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board, http://tinyurl.com/zgab8mw , Oakland and Berkeley are at the epicenter of the housing crisis in Alameda County. With roughly 46% of the countys tenants and home to over half the countys individuals in poverty, there are more evictions in Berkeley and Oakland than anywhere else in Alameda County.In a proposed December 14, 2015, letter from the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board to Judge Jacobson, the board points out that the Hayward Courthouse is not easy to reach by way of public transportation for tenants residing in Oakland and Berkeley, and will have a disparate impact on our countys most vulnerable population.With such tight deadlines to meet, the consequence of being an hour late to a court date in an unlawful detainer action (eviction case) can make the difference between being housed or losing ones home by default judgement, according to the board.The proposal to move the self-help center to Hayward will also make it much more difficult for the poor, disabled, and low-income communities of color in Oakland and Berkeley to fight against evictions, if they try to represent themselves.Community activists are urging people to send letters to Judge Jacobson http://tinyurl.com/h4ss8bd . Tenant and housing activists urge people to contact Judge Morris Jacobson. People may write directly to Judge Jacobson and tell him that the community at large in Oakland and Berkeley totally disagrees with the decision to move the eviction case system to Hayward http://tinyurl.com/h4ss8bd , because it will result in more homelessness. Our most vulnerable community members in Oakland and Berkeley may be deprived of their most basic constitutional and human rights, if the plan to consolidate eviction cases in Hayward occurs.Know Your RightsJust Cause Eviction Protections - Know Your RightsClick belowEviction Defense Center - 510- 452-4541East Bay Community Law Center - 510- 548-4040Bay Area Legal Aid: 510- 663-4744 or 663-4745: Legal Advice Line- 800-551-5554Tenants Together: 415- 495-8100 http://www.tenantstogether.org/ Pro-Tenant AttorneysAndrew Wolff 510- 834-3300Leah Hess 510- 451-3103Phil Rapier 510- 444-6262Jeffrey Carter 510- 548-4774Roxanne Romell 510- 465-3210Bill Simpich (civil rights attorney) 510- 444-0226Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com >>>>>>>
Jubilee USA Launches Puerto Rico Radio Spots Ahead of Florida Presidential Primary communications [at] jubileeusa.org) by Greg Williams

Jubilee USA is running radio spots focused on Puerto Rico's debt crisis in Florida ahead of the state's March 15th presidential primary.

Jubilee USA is running radio spots focused on Puerto Rico's debt crisis in Florida ahead of the state's March 15th presidential primary. The ads first ran in Texas ahead of the state's "Super Tuesday" primary. The radio placement urges presidential candidates to address the crisis. Florida's primary may play an important role in the US presidential election and is home to more than 1 million Puerto Ricans.



"Puerto Rico's debt crisis is a critical campaign issue," stated Eric LeCompte, executive director of Jubilee USA, a religious development coalition. "The American citizens on the island are being treated like second class citizens and the Puerto Ricans in Florida are voting with the crisis on their minds."

Jubilee USA's radio placements emphasize the humanitarian crisis facing the US territory. Puerto Rico cut health funding by $42 million last year and is now battling the Zika virus spreading on the island. Nearly half the population lives in poverty and the government is cutting social services. Puerto Rico's government has said it cannot make its next debt payment in full.



At a recent Republican debate, Florida Senator Marco Rubio repeated his opposition to granting Puerto Rico access to Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection. While former candidate Jeb Bush supported bankruptcy protection, the other remaining Republican candidates have not spoken in detail about the Puerto Rico crisis. The remaining Democratic candidates support bankruptcy protection. Congress is actively considering bankruptcy tools for Puerto Rico to restructure the $72 billion debt.



"Congress needs to provide Puerto Rico with comprehensive tools to resolve the crisis in a timely way," noted LeCompte. "If Congressional action is not comprehensive, Puerto Rico will still be knocking on the doors of Capitol Hill."


M 4, Friday, 5:00pm, Emergency Rally to protest the assassination of Berta CaceresSenator Feinsteins Office1 Post St.(nr. Montgomery BART Station)SFBerta Caceres, Indigenous leader of the Lenca people, renowned environmentalist and defender of human rights in Honduras, was assassinated in her home in La Esperanza, Honduras.She had received several death threats most recently for her involvement in the just causes of the Honduran people. She was a recipient in 2015 of the prestigious Goldman Environmental Award.Caceres was an outspoken opponent of the military coup that overthrew the democratically-elected government of Mel Zelaya in June 2009, and denounced U.S. military bases in Honduras. The coup took place 6 months into the administration of President Obama, with the support of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.We will gather at Senator Feinstein's office, and demand U.S. Out of Honduras, Stop funding death squads and terror in Honduras and we will express solidarity with the Honduras people in struggle.Info: Bay Area Latin America Solidarity Coalition | | email: balasc6 [at] gmail.com / 415  821-6545
State Farm Celebrates Scholarship Recipients

Students had the opportunity to meet and thank State Farm representatives for the opportunities created by their scholarship support.

March 4, 2016

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. The annual State Farm Scholars luncheon, which took place on Feb. 19 in the Young Main Lounge, brought company representatives to Illinois Wesleyan's campus to meet with many of this years 100 scholarship recipients that are supported by this State Farm Companies Foundation program.

Illinois Wesleyan President Eric Jensen welcomed the scholarship students and representatives from State Farm to the luncheon. Jensen expressed his appreciation to State Farm for their commitment to the State Farm Scholars program, and the many other ways in which the company supports the University and its students.

Kevin Callis, a 1985 Illinois Wesleyan graduate and vice president of operations and corporate law for State Farm, spoke on behalf of the company. Callis also commented on the close ties and long-standing partnerships the State Farm Company has had with Illinois Wesleyan, and the many Illinois Wesleyan graduates it employs. Joining Callis at the luncheon were 16 other State Farm representatives, including eight IWU graduates.

Katherine Henebry '19 and Brock Taylor '18 spoke on behalf of the current group of scholarship recipients. In addition to expressing thanks to the company, they commented on their Illinois Wesleyan experiences and the difference the State Farm scholarship program has made and the opportunities it has created for them.

Over the eight years of the State Farm Scholars program, approximately 275 Illinois Wesleyan students have benefited from this scholarship program.

To learn more about the State Farm Scholars program, contact Van Miller, director of annual giving, at (309) 556-3127.
The National Labor Relations Board has ordered Samsung to refrain from coercively interrogating employees and to cease the use of an agreement to arbitrate claims.

The mutual agreement required employees to waive their rights to pursue class or collective actions as a condition of employment.The ruling comes after an employee started speaking with other employees about her plans to file a lawsuit against Samsung for unpaid wages.Employee Jorgie Franks asked other employees if they would be interested in joining a lawsuit with her because they worked too many hours compared to what they were being paid. Franks determined that based on the hours she was working and her income, she was being paid minimum wage.Franks attempt to join other employees in a lawsuit against Samsung went against Samsungs Mutual Agreement to Arbitrate Claims that required employees, as a condition of their employment, to waive their right to pursue any class or collective actions against Samsung, even through arbitration.The agreement stated that neither Samsung nor the employee could litigate any action against the other except through individual arbitration.The NLRB panel affirmed an administrative judges finding that Samsungs practice of having new employees sign a Mutual Agreement to Arbitrate Claims as a condition of employment violated the National Labor Relations Act.The NLRB ordered Samsung to rescind all mutual agreements and give notice to all employees that it will no longer maintain or enforce the Mutual agreements to Arbitrate claims.The NLRB also ordered that Samsung stop the practice of coercively interrogating employees about any protected concerted activities after finding that a human resources administrator unlawfully interrogated Franks on two occasion regarding her plans to file a lawsuit against Samsung and her discussion about it with other employees.The human resource manager called Franks and informed her that other employees felt very uncomfortable with her conversation and told her not to talk to other employees about her concerns, and instead contact the human resource manager directly.After Franks discussed the potential lawsuit with another employee, the human resource manager contacted her again by email asking if anything changed after their prior conversation and asking why she did not follow her request that she not discuss the lawsuit with other employees.Franks testified that she was nervous and tried to be vague in her response and informed the manager that she was uncomfortable further discussing the situation.The NLRB determined that the human resource manager had interrogated Franks on both occasions, finding that the managers interrogation coerce[d] the employeeso that he or she would feel restrained from exercising rights protected by the National Labor Relations Act.The NLRB panel determined that the managers conversation and email to Franks were calculated to elicit a response from Franks to gain information about her bringing a collective action lawsuit.The NLRB ordered Samsung to cease and desist from interrogating employees or interfering with or restraining employees from exercising their guaranteed right to act with other employees in protected concerted activities. The Board further ordered Samsung reimburse plaintiffs attorneys fees and litigation expenses.The case iscase number 12-CA-145083, before the National Labor Relations.
Miami, FL Patients taking medications are aware there are side effects to watch out for, but they may not realize that some medications come with a risk of a life-threatening condition known as Patients taking medications are aware there are side effects to watch out for, but they may not realize that some medications come with a risk of a life-threatening condition known as Stevens Johnson Syndrome. Lawsuits have been filed against drugmakers, doctors, and other health care providers, alleging patients were not adequately warned about the risk of the serious condition, which can leave survivors permanently scarred and disabled.

The(2/16/16) reports on Becki Conway, an SJS survivor who was the 37-year-old mother to five children when she developed SJS. At the time, Conway was reportedly struggling with depression and anxiety. She sought help from a doctor friend who prescribed her a combination of Lamictal and Depakote, even though Lamictals black box warning cautions against taking the two drugs together.Within two weeks of beginning the medication, Conway developed the first symptoms of SJS, although she didnt know it at the time. She developed pain in her ears and chest pain. Because the chest pains seemed to be the most urgent problem, doctors ordered tests on Conways chest, not realizing she was battling Stevens Johnson Syndrome. After being released from the hospital with a Benadryl injection, Conways symptoms grew worse. She developed a skin rash and blisters in her mouth.A doctor then diagnosed Conway with Stevens Johnson Syndrome, gave her a steroid shot and released her. Ultimately, Conway wound up in the hospital, where she was transferred to a burn unit. Most of her skin peeled off and her eyes were permanently damaged. Conway filed a lawsuit against the doctor who prescribed the two medications and against Sparrow Health System. The lawsuit was settled in 2014.Both Conway and her husband say no one - from the doctor who prescribed the medications to the pharmacist who dispensed them - warned them about the risks of mixing the two drugs, nor that she could develop a life-threatening allergic reaction.Stevens Johnson Syndrome is a rare allergic reaction to medication. Although some medications warn about the risk of developing a serious skin rash, few actually alert patients to the risk of a life-threatening allergic reaction. They also dont always warn what symptoms to watch for. Making matters worse is that many doctors have no experience with Stevens Johnson Syndrome, so the condition is often misdiagnosed, delaying treatment and increasing the risk that the patient will continue to take the medication that has caused the reaction in the first place.Patients may also not realize that a drug that has previously been tolerated can suddenly cause an allergic reaction.Stevens Johnson Syndrome is the less severe form of toxic epidermal necrolysis. Both are potentially fatal and often result in permanent scarring, blindness and organ problems even when the victim survives.Recently, the US Supreme Court declined against hearing Johnson & Johnsons appeal of a verdict against it linked to Stevens Johnson Syndrome. The lawsuit initially resulted in an award for around $63 million, but with interest the amount owed to the victim and her family could be closer to $140 million. That lawsuit involves Samantha Reckis, who developed SJS when she was seven years old.
The Padres have brought in southpaw Christian Friedrich on a minor league deal, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune tweets. It appears that hell join the major league side of camp.

Friedrich will presumably join a lively bullpen battle in San Diego. Indeed, hes not even the only southpaw to enter the fray today, as the club also reportedly reached terms with veteran Matt Thornton.

The 28-year-old Friedrich, a former first-round draft pick, had spent his entire previous career in the Rockies organization. He was designated for assignment and claimed by the Angels just a few weeks back, but that claim was reversed when an issue arose in his medicals.

Friedrich first reached the majors as a starter back in 2012, but didnt stick at the time. He spent all of last year in the Colorado pen, making for his first full MLB campaign, but was only able to manage a 5.25 ERA with 6.9 K/9, 3.9 BB/9 to go with a 47.4 percent ground-ball rate over his 58 1/3 frames of action.
The rate at which religion tends to find its way into virtually all that we do has become very alarming. However, the issue is not with the various religions, but with those who believe and follow these diverse believes.

It is no news that everyone is free to practice whichever religion suits him or her, but it is sad to note that that freedom has been abused and to a great extent has become man's captivity.

People, especially Africans, tend to always throw away rationality in their dealings with religion and issues regarding belief. Some go as far as terming their irrational as "faith". For instance, one is sick but because his/her religious leader has spoken on exercising faith by not using medications, he/she follows the rule dogmatically and the end result is not palatable.

The great German philosopher, Immanuel Kant noted that"the autonomous man, insofar as he is autonomous, is not subject to the will of another. He may do what another tells him, but not because he has been told to do it. He is therefore, in the political sense of the word, free."

It is in trying to address this issue of freedom and rationality that this article has been written. For this piece, Christianity will be the focus and the major reason is because Christianity is the most populated in the world. Bringing it back home to Africa, and narrowing it down to Nigeria, statistics show that Nigeria has the largest Christian population of any country in Africa, with more than 85 million persons belonging to various denominations.

Some major examples of rather controversial Christian practices will be presented, as to help draw the line between religion and rationality. For all the examples that will be highlighted below, the basic rule or yardstick of judgement will be if the practice or act by these preachers, pastors or prophets follow any biblical principle.

It is only rational that if one says he/she is a Christian, then the Bible is the perfect book by which his/her actions would be measured. One would find out that most of the examples do not borrow from the Bible, nor follow any rational principle. Hence the question, "why are many people still deceived?"

1. Pastor makes members eat grass

A certain Pastor Lesego Daniel, who is the founder and Head Pastor at Rabboni Centre Ministries, said that he was basically trying to prove that humans can be controlled by "the spirit" and they can eat anything to feed their bodies.

This clearly is a case of debasing humans to the level of ruminants. And of course some will defend the act by saying there was a time when a certain king was made to live among lower animals for about seven years.

A pastor made his congregation eat grass to prove the potency of the holy spirit

Then the question becomes how does it relate? In the Bible story, the act was a punishment, but here was a full congregation being used for a so called "spirit experiment".

It is still a mystery how the South African pastor got to convince adult members of his church to resort to eating grass.

2. Holy ghost foot mats

The same pastor made headlines again when, in a bid to deliver members of his congregation, he used them as "holy ghost foot mats".

Pastor walking on his members during deliverance service

The pastor in question was practically walking on his members and one would be forced to ask, where in the Bible was such a miracle module presented?

3. Drink petrol-pineapple juice

The thought behind this action is rather simple, Jesus is said to have turned water into wine, hence this same man of God thought it wise to turn petrol into pineapple juice.

A viral video showed the clergyman praying for a bottle which, according to him, contained petrol, to be turned into pineapple juice.

He then offered it to his congregants to drink. Some of them were exclaiming how sweet and nice it tastes, some said it tasted like the blood while some others begged for more. The blood?

4. Human-donkeys and fake messiahs

Controversial Prophet Penuel was not satisfied with having fed his followers live snake, asking them to take off their underwear and eat them; the man of God called one of his members simply identified as Thabiso, he commanded him "by the power of God" to turn into a horse and according to the churchs Facebook update, indeed it happened.

The man of God was said to have ridden on the horse, a perfect replica of Christ's triumphant entry. And again if your righteous mind has not been totally lost, you will want to question the rationale behind this miracle. Why continue to debase ourselves all in the name of religion?

Only recently, a church was discovered in Tanzania where the pastors feet must not touch the ground until he finishes his preaching. According to a Facebook user who posted it online, the able-bodied brothers in the church have to carry him on their back one after the other until the end of the service.

Pastor whose legs does not touch the floor until his sermon is ended

5. Don't drink rat poison for healing, even if your prophet says it is okay to do so

Pastor Light Monyeki of the Grace Living Hope Ministries commanded his congregants to drink rat poison as a demonstration of the power of faith.

The police are investigating the case of five chuch members' death shortly after visitng such a deliverance session.

Conclusion

The Christian holy book warns that in the "end time" there will be so many fake pastors, preachers and prophets. Many of them will come well prepared to deceive, however, if Christians can just be rational a bit and think twice before leaping-in-faith, then perhaps certain issues will not rear-their-ugly heads.

Experts have said timelessly that religion is not the problem, but the people who practice these religions are. If Christians can do more of operating according to what the Bible says in conjunction with what is rational, then they won't be swayed by just any wind of doctrine that blows by.

Source: Legit.ng
Editors note: The traumatizing ordeal the Bayelsa-born teenager, Miss Ese Oruru experienced at the hands of her alleged abductor, Yunusa, is a sorry tale. But the most sad part the tale is that when the Kanu emirate should have stepped up to the occasion and rescue this young girl it failed to do so.

Kess Ewubare highlights the pitfalls in the narrative by the Emir of Kano Malam Muhammadu Sanusi II, that he did his best to secure the girl's release.

Ese Oruru was abducted from her Bayelsa home, moved to Kano and forced to marry one Yunusa Yellow.

The pains of losing a child

No doubt, the case of Ese Oruru, the teenager who was abducted from her Bayelsa home and moved to Kano for a forced marriage to one Yunusa Yellow is indeed a pathetic story. Eses kidnap saga began in August 2015, when she was allegedly abducted in Opolo, Yenagoa local government area of Bayelsa state, by Yunusa, who hails from Kano state.

Ese who was 13 at the time of her alleged abduction was allegedly converted to Islam and betrothed to Yunusa.

There are different narratives about the Ese kidnap saga, depending on the side one stands, her parents claim the Emir of Kano Malam Muhammadu Sanusi II, played an active role in ordering the abduction of Ese and keeping her at his palace for almost a year.

They maintain that they had made trips to Kano since August 2015, where they unraveled the plights of their daughter. The parents said they have involved the police, but efforts to get the Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi, at whose palace the girl was believed to be held at the time to resolve the matter and ensure the return of the 14-year-old to them proved futile.

Ese's mother said she was told that Ese had converted to Islam and renamed Aisha, She said she was also told that Ese was no longer her daughter. Ese's father said he was told his daughter was an 18-year-old adult and not 14, hence she was capable of making decisions for herself.

His best wasn't good enough

The above narrative is however in contrast to that of the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II who blamed police and other para-military agencies over the failure to return Ese Oruru to her family.

In a Vanguard report of February 29, 2016, Sunusi II said: I ordered Eses repatriation since September 2015 through the Assistant Inspector General of Police incharge of Zone 1, but to my surprise the issue is still hanging in between the sharia commission , Hisbah and the police.

He maintained that the: Police are those behind this delay. I have done my best for her and even directed for action, its unfortunate that the police are delaying this matter.

The above comments by Sunusi II came after he ordered the state sharia commission to liaise with office of the assistant inspector general of police, zone 1 to commence process of returning the 14 years old teenager, Ese Oruru. This new order came 6 months after the teenager was cruelly and wickedly carried away and stolen from her parents, family and loved ones.

For someone who is well educated and who also happens to be a parent, the lame excuse that the police and other para-military agencies should be blamed over the failure to return Ese to her family since September 2015 is an insult to our intellect. Even more disturbing is the allegation from the girls parents that the abducted girl was housed in the emirs palace for some time.

While it would be improper to accuse the Emir Sanusi of culpability in the Ese kidnap saga, Emir Sanusi may well however have a case to answer as to why he did not expedite the repatriation of the abducted girl back to her parents within days since he was fully aware that she was abducted by one of his subjects.

In saner climes, the emir will be making his defence before a court instead using the media as an avenue to pass the blame onto security agencies for his glaring lapses.

The media succeeded where the emirate failed

For now, the narrative by Eses mother that the abducted teenager was kept in the emirs palace for over almost a year has placed a moral burden on the Kano emirate. It is important that Emir Sanusi clears the air and tell us precisely his role in this kidnap episode and why he failed to live up to the high standards expected of him.

Meanwhile, kudos must go to media organisations like Legit.ng, The Punch, the Nation, AIT, Channels, Tribune, the Sun, Vanguard, This Day among others, who succeeded where the Kano emirate failed by championing the release of Ese Oruru from her pedophile abductor, Yunusa, who has gotten her pregnant. May he be punished severely for his crimes against the Oruru family and his crimes against humanity.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily represent the editorial policy of Legit.ng.

Source: Legit.ng
- Senator Dino Melaye had supported a motion seeking Nigerians to buy 'made in Nigeria' products

- The senator mocked Governor Oshiomole for marrying a 'foreign' wife

- Melaye is known for his controversial motions in the Senate

Dino Melaye mocked Oshiomole for marrying lara from Cape Verde

It was Dino Melaye who started it all. The controversial senator needs no introduction. He is the chairman House Committee on Federal Capital Territory, a self-confessed born again politician and self-styled anti-corruption activist. Senator Melaye has been in the eyes of the storm of lately.

It was he who proposed on the floor of the Senate that the house should consider banning or regulating the social media. Even though he got a lot of flacks for that unregulated outburst, he still has not backed down from his many bizarre faux pas.

In one breath, in his brief public life, he has 'transformed' from being a hard-spending, lavish life style to a self-styled anti-corruption activist.

READ ALSO: "We must start appreciating made in Nigeria women"

The senator took his outrage a notch a few days ago when he fired a shot at the Comrade Governor of Edo state, the irrepressible Adams Oshiomole. Well, we all know Oshiomole's story.

The fiery and loquacious labour leader who himself is not known to shy away from controversy had taken a new wife after the unfortunate demise of his first wife. The move had sent tongues wagging.

The dashingly beautiful wife of 'Osho baba' is not a Nigerian. She is from Cape Verde. She is much younger than Oshiomole. Many had worried how a much older Oshiomole will find the energy to cope with the nuptial demand.

But Osho recently proved doubters wrong when the First Lady of Edo gave birth to baby boy. 'Osho baba' showed to detractors that he was in charge.

But we all thought we had got used to the drama of Oshiomole's fairy tale wedding when Melaye added his voice to the charade of patronise made in Nigeria product' on the floor of the Senate.

The lazy and 'undistinguished' senators of Nigerian Senate known for their many off the cuff and superficial interventions on national issues were entertaining themselves on one of their circus shows.

What really happened

This week on the floor of the Senate, Senator Melaye while contributing to a motion initiated by another joker of a senator, Eyinnaya Abaribe seeking the need to patronise products made in Nigeria, mocked Oshiomole for marrying a foreign wife.

Melaye, who is from Kogi West senatorial district, while contributing to the motion, took a swipe at Oshiomole, saying Nigerians should not emulate the governor whom he said opted not to patronise made in Nigeria women but a foreign one.

Melaye was referring to Iara, the wife of Oshiomole, whom he married from Cape Verde in the region. In his characteristic boisterous, holier than- thou postulation, Melaye had said:

'I want to celebrate the Made-in-Nigeria senator for bringing up this motion. In considering goods produced in Nigeria, we must look at the enabling factors that will necessitate the goods.

It is beyond having one made in Nigeria attire and having over 70 designers attires in your wardrobe. We must reduce the allocation for made-in-Nigeria goods and services to the basics. What are those factors limiting the production of these goods?

''We must tackle them. We must also begin to look at our legislation, then we will begin to talk about made-in-Nigeria goods. We will also move in order to encourage made-in-Nigeria products and begin to talk about made-in-Nigeria women.

Apologies to my uncle, the Governor of Edo State, we must as a people stop paying dowries in dollars and pounds. It is time for my colleagues here to become born again. What is wrong with finding a foreign wife?''

Now it beats my imagination why a Senator of the Federal Republic should target a sitting governor and a member of his party over his personal choices.

How does Oshiomole marital choices put food on Nigerians table? How does it affect the price of garri in the market or put fuel in our cars?

And even if Oshiomole's marital decision can solve all our problems as a nation, how does the warped analogy by Melaye justify patronising made in Nigeria goods?

Has it not been said that out of the abundant of the heart the mouth speaks?

Perhaps Dino Melaye has an axe to grind with the Edo governor. Otherwise, why raise such personal issue on the floor of the House?

READ ALSO: Oshiomole's daughter defends her dad over his marriage

Now lets take a holistic view of Melaye's needless rant. Does marrying from outside of Nigeria makes a leader less patriotic? Does marrying from else-where makes a man or woman less Nigerian? Why should where a person come from determine love relationship?

What if Oshiomole is a private citizen? There are many Nigerians who found love outside of the shores of Nigeria. While should Oshiomole be singled out? Is there any clause in the Nigerian constitution that banned public officials from marrying outside Nigeria?

If we condemn Nigerians for marrying foreigners, we can as well condemn inter-marriage between the various tribes. This is what makes the outburst of Dino Melaye a hollow analogy.

Targeting Oshiomole's marriage is even more dangerous because by doing that, you are mocking Nigerians who have found love outside and who may find themselves in a position of power tomorrow.

Now, what has marrying a foreign wife got to do with being an authentic Nigerian? I thought the question of patronising 'made in Nigeria' is buying Nigerian products produced in Nigeria by our industries.

When did women become objects to be picked off the shelf with a made in Nigeria tag? Now I get it, Dino Melaye is a chauvinist who still consider women as goods to be bought off the shelf. It's a shame.

READ ALSO: Melaye under fire for tacit attack on Oshiomole

It is not surprising, like many patriarchal thinking Nigerian men, Dino Melaye is a worst example of men who still see women as object. No wonder he picked on Oshiomoles wife. It's a shame. I am happy Nigerians have seen through the hollowness of his argument and put the Senator where belonged.

Meanwhile, it will be nice to ask if Melayes has been patronizing made Nigeria goods with his advertised exotic foreign made cars and expensive lifestyle. While I am not holding brief for Oshiomole, I believe there are other matters of public importance that should engage the time of our senators.

In any case, if they want to preach patriotism they should begin with themselves. And someone should tell Melaye and the senator who moved that frivolous motion that Nigerians are not deceived by the Sermon on the Mount.

Source: Legit.ng
YIT signed the purchase agreement for the land areas related to the Central Pasila Tripla project with the City of Helsinki and Senate Properties. In addition to the plots, YIT buys the old Pasila railway station from Senate Properties. The debt-free purchase price for the old Pasila railway station is

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Governments move to allow carmakers to import up to 2,500 units of cars a year in the country without homologation, seems to be working in favour of auto enthusiasts. Earlier, we have seen German carmaker Mercedes talking about how it intends to bring in new products in the country which it otherwise wouldnt have planned, as the economics wouldnt work at all.

Now, another German luxury automaker, Audi has revealed that it is planning to bring in a new product in the country, thanks to this ruling. The car in contention is the Q2 SUV which is Audis entry-level cross-over SUV and sits under the Q3 in companys line-up.

Audi Q2 had made its public debut at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show and later its production started at Audis Ingolstadt plant. Technically, it is based on Volkswagens highly versatile MQB platform, the same platform which also underpins the new gen Volkswagen Polo, and the Audi Q7.

Globally, the SUV is sold with multiple engine and transmission options. The petrol line-up includes a 150 PS 1.4-litre TSI motor and a 115 PS 1.0-litre TSI engine while diesel options include a 150 PS 2.0-litre TDI unit and a 115 PS 1.6-litre TDI engine. There are two transmission options to choose from, a 7-speed DSG and a 6-speed MT, while customers also have the option to choose between regular FWD and Quattro AWD configurations.

Currently, Audi happens to be the third largest luxury car seller in the country. Mercedes Benz commands the top position while BMW is placed at the second spot. Back in 2014, Audi was the market leader and had achieved a first-of-its-kind feat of selling more than 10k luxury cars in a single year.

Last year, Audi sold 6,463 units and it expects similar numbers in the current year, as most of its upcoming launches are in high-value segment which dont contribute much to sales numbers. Upcoming launches from Audi happens to be the R8, Q8 SUV and the A8 sedan, all of which are scheduled for second half of the year.

Talking about the Q2, once launched, it wont have a direct competitor in the country, however it will certainly draw buyers who will be considering to purchase a Mercedes GLA, BMW X1 or a Volvo V40. Though there is no official word on pricing, we expect the prices to be in the Rs 28-32 lakh range (ex-showroom). It is not clear which variant of Q2 will come to India, European Q2, or the Chinese Q2L with long wheelbase.
University of New Hampshire scientists have conducted the first study of oyster farming-nitrogen dynamics in New Hampshire, providing the first solid research on the state's oyster farming industry and the role oyster farms play with nitrogen removal. The research, which was funded in part by the NH Agricultural Experiment Station, contributes to a growing body of research on how oysters affect the nitrogen content of estuaries such as Great Bay.

The research was conducted by Ray Grizzle, research professor of zoology at the UNH School of Marine Science and Ocean Engineering; Krystin Ward, research assistant at the UNH Jackson Estuarine Laboratory; Chris Peter, research associate at the UNH Jackson Estuarine Laboratory; and Mark Cantwell, David Katz, and Julia Sullivan with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development.

"Every oyster that is harvested represents some amount of nitrogen leaving the system. We're beginning to quantify nitrogen dynamics and how the oyster farms on Great Bay affect it. Secondly, we're putting some numbers on the oyster farming industry itself," Grizzle.

Stretching 15 miles inland, Great Bay is a drowned river estuary with 144 miles of shore. According to the NH Water Resources Research Center at UNH, Great Bay has experienced a deterioration of water quality and aquatic life as a result of high nitrogen levels. A 2009 study indicated that nitrogen had increased 42 percent over the previous five years. Researchers also report that eelgrass declined by 64 percent between 1990 and 2008, and adult oyster populations have decreased from 125,000 in 1997 to 10,000 in 2009.

In this study, UNH researchers studied oysters at six sites in Great Bay over a three-year period beginning in 2010. The scientists measured the amount of nitrogen in different components of the oyster body, in different sizes of oysters, and at different farm sites.

"Oysters feed on organisms that contain nitrogen, mostly phytoplankton, single-cell plants. When they feed upon these plants, they digest some of them and some go out as waste. But a significant percentage of them are incorporated into the oyster's body -- the shell and soft tissue," Grizzle said. "We wanted to see how much nitrogen is in farm-raised oysters, what factors cause nitrogen content to vary, and how oyster farming compares with other ways to remove nitrogen from the estuarine system."

Researchers found that the nitrogen in farmed oysters varied depending on size of oyster, farm site, age of oyster, seasonal variability, water quality, and time of harvest. They also found that the farmed oysters with the most nitrogen were those at sites that had the most nitrogen in the water. Overall, the average nitrogen content in the shells and soft tissue was comparable to that found in previous studies ranging from Cape Cod to the Gulf of Mexico.

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Those who manage the Great Bay Estuary now are using this research to determine the amount of nitrogen that could be removed by oyster farming. "We have about 50 acres of oyster farms now. We are now modeling different levels of oyster industry size and how it would affect nitrogen removal in Great Bay," Grizzle said.

"It's never going to be a huge amount of nitrogen. I suspect it will be below 5 percent of the nitrogen that goes into the estuary, but 5 percent is 5 percent," he said.

According to Grizzle, the destruction of the natural oyster reefs in Great Bay likely has contributed substantially to the increase in nitrogen. Great Bay used to have many more natural oyster reefs, but in the 1990s, two oyster diseases hit the estuary. As a result, Great Bay has about 10 percent of the natural oyster reefs it had 30 years ago, and they are not in good shape.

"If we were at ten times the amount of natural reefs, the oysters would be filtering a substantial amount of water through their bodies. Some of the estimates have been upwards of 90 percent. That's the far end, but probably half would not be an exaggeration. So when they are filtering that much water, they are removing all of the particles and would have affected water quality," Grizzle said.

"However, we're getting to the point now that there may be as many oysters on farms as there are on natural reefs. We need to begin to look more carefully at how farms compare to the reefs in terms of the habitat they provide, the amount of water they filter, and the spawn they put out. We need to look at the farms in a more ecological manner," said Grizzle, who estimates Great Bay could sustain 100 acres of oyster farms.

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Although Grizzle doesn't see oyster farms as being a substantial solution to reducing nitrogen in the entire Great Bay, he believes it could have a measurable impact on Little Bay. Using floating rafts may be a viable option for future oyster farming on Great Bay.

But even if oyster farming does not become a major solution to reducing nitrogen in Great Bay, Grizzle emphasizes that oyster farming still provides valuable ecosystem services. "When the discussion focuses on one factor like nitrogen removal, people think that if it doesn't work, we shouldn't do it. Oysters provide habitat. They filter the water. They clear the water. Eel grass could expand. All of these ecosystem services come along with the farms," he said.

Going forward, Grizzle plans to research ways to increase production on oyster farms such as how to grow oysters more quickly.

Jay Baker, owner of Fat Dog Shellfish Co., said Grizzle's latest research adds to a growing body of work that demonstrates the value of farmed oysters in improving coastal water quality and mitigating human impacts to sensitive estuarine waters.

"While much of this work has focused on nutrient removal efficiencies of existing oyster populations and the results of enhancing wild stocks, Dr. Grizzle's work highlights the important role our industry can and does play in making coastal waters cleaner, and creating habitat for other valuable species," Baker said.

"Oyster aquaculture is one of few truly sustainable industries, and Ray Grizzle's great work continues to move this from abstract concept to a quantified and well documented fact. Both Dr. Grizzle and UNH have played a key role in not only improving our understanding of the value of restored and farmed oyster populations in Great Bay and the Northeast, but also in promoting shellfish aquaculture and sharing valuable knowledge and experience with new growers. The result is what has been called the 'New Hampshire Oyster Renaissance,' and we thank Dr. Grizzle and UNH for their great work," he said.
The U.S. and its Sunni Arab allies fear that Iraq is on its way to becoming subordinate to Iranian foreign policy. Because of effective Iranian aid in dealing with ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) the Iraqi government has become less enthusiastic about needing more American and NATO troops in Iraq. In addition Iraq has made it clear that Saudi Arabia should not even consider sending troops into Iraq to fight ISIL. The Saudis did not suggest this but are planning to send troops into Syria. The Saudis have no border with Syria but do have land access to Jordan and Iraq. Thus Iraq is emphasizing that Saudi forces are not welcome in Iraq even if they are just passing through.

Meanwhile Iran supports the increasingly aggressive and autonomous behavior of the Iran-backed Iraqi Shia militias that are assisting the Iraqi Army in the fight ISIL. The Shia militias are also taking control of territory in urban and rural areas, displacing the police and local government. Because of that by late 2015 the Iraq government saw more American troops as saviors. At the end of 2015 there were several thousand American troops already in Iraq and more (most of them Special Forces) on the way. The government has made it clear to Iran (which is very hostile to U.S. forces in Iraq) that some American troops were essential. The presence of American troops also makes it less likely that Iran will attempt anything too ambitious (like invading or backing a takeover by Shia militias) and everyone knows that. But now Iran appears to have convinced Iraqi leaders that American troops come and go while Iranian forces are always next door. Most Iraqis are more concerned with Iranian meddling than anything the Americans might do. At the same time Iraqis are wary of the other Gulf Arabs, especially Saudi Arabia. For example the Saudi ambassador to Iraq suggested that the Iran backed Shia militias in Iraq should stand aside and let the Iraqi Army deal with ISIL. That comment was widely condemned by Iraqi Shia clerics and politicians. The Shia politicians running Iraq have to move carefully because Iran, Saudi Arabia and America are making demands, often contrary ones, on Iraq.

One little mentioned advantage Iraq has right now is generally secure borders. The Syrian border is the only one that is really dangerous. The borders with Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran and Turkey are all well-guarded and pose little risk that ISIL or other hostile groups can get in from there. Jordan in particular has been very successful in keeping ISIL out. For example recently Jordanian security forces got a tip that a number of ISIL men appeared to have established themselves in a town near the Syrian border. When police raided the building they were met by gunfire. After a brief battle seven of the Islamic terrorists were killed, 13 arrested and large quantities of weapons and bomb making materials seized. Despite its long Syrian border the Jordanians have managed to make it very difficult to ISIL men to sneak across and when they do they have a hard time keeping their presence secret.

Since January American warplanes have been attacking banks and other sites used by ISIL to store cash and pay its staff. The U.S. believe these attacks have destroyed over a billion U.S. dollars in ISIL cash and caused an acute money shortage. Around Mosul Kurdish troops report more ISIL deserters showing up complaining that their pay has been cut or they have not been paid for months. These men risk their lives deserting because ISIL publically executes those who leave without permission or disobey any orders. These public executions are increasingly common in Mosul. Many of these deserters are unskilled foreigners attracted to ISIL in large part by the prospect of regular pay and a better life in general.

The air attacks on ISIL finances are part of the preparation for the attack on Mosul. This will require about 25,000 combat troops (eight Iraqi Army brigades and two brigades from the Kurdish north). Most of the Iraqi brigades are still being trained and are not expected to be ready until the end of 2016. Iraqi politicians talk of taking Mosul sooner but American advisors consider that unlikely unless the government wants to send in poorly trained troops. That might work if the ISIL defenses are too disorganized and poorly prepared to resist. That is a difficult assessment to make but the government might take a chance. They can always blame the Americans if it doesnt work. Meanwhile advancing Kurdish and Iraqi forces have pushed the ISIL defenders back towards the city itself. Until mid-2015 ISIL put up a lot of resistance to these advances but ISIL decided that the constant air attacks made it preferable to keep casualties down by delaying the advance and not trying to stop it. That was good for morale and ISIL fighters knew that they would be safer and able to cause more casualties when fighting from inside Mosul. But a growing number of ISIL men are not too encouraged by that prospect, in part because they see a growing armed opposition forming among the civilians still inside the city. Iraqi government propaganda plays this up and there is enough evidence of such a resistance within the city to convince a growing number of ISIL men that it is worth risking execution by fleeing Mosul. Many of these men are not deserters (although all would be executed if caught) and plan to show up and rejoin ISIL in Syria or elsewhere. ISIL record keeping is not thorough enough to prevent that sort of thing.

ISIL morale is low for many reasons, not just because of the increased danger and unpredictable payroll. ISIL men know that in Iraq ISIL has lost nearly half the territory the organization had seized by the end of 2014. The situation is a little better in Syria but even there ISIL is losing towns and key roads it had controlled for over a year. Foreign ISIL recruits are also dismayed to find that life in ISIL controlled territory was less ideal (in an Islamic way) than they were led to believe. In fact ISIL areas are run like a police state. Punishments are harsh and quickly administered for the smallest infractions (actual or suspected). Recruits from the West are especially dismayed by this. ISIL recruits are also unhappy to find that some of their leaders are unworthy. There is corruption in ISIL and while ISIL punishes this (like it did recently when the ISIL finance minister was executed in Mosul for stealing) that is still not what many recruits expected. Even more demoralizing has been the execution of ISIL police on corruption charges.

The growing number of air attacks dont just hit concentrations of ISIL fighters but also convoys carrying ISIL supplies. It has become increasingly difficult for ISIL to supply all its forces because of the growing number of attacks on trucks and supply storage areas.

March 2, 2016: In the Kurdish north oil exports (via a pipeline to Turkey) are expected to resume soon once repairs are complete. PKK bombed the pipeline on February 17th and Turkey had to make sure the area was clear of PKK rebels for bringing in the repair teams on the 27th. PKK has been attacking the pipeline inside Turkey repeatedly and that has cut Kurdish oil exports (and revenue) about 20 percent during 2015. The Kurds use this money to run their autonomous government and pay for their military operations against ISIL. The Arab dominated Iraqi government is reluctant to send the Kurds cash or military aid.

The Iraqi government has hired an Italian construction firm, for nearly $300 million, to make needed repairs on the Mosul Dam (on the Tigris River). Italians were involved in building the dam and in December 2015 Italy announced it was sending 450 troops to help Iraq guard the Mosul Dam. Aside from the fact that an Italian firm is one of the owners of the dam and its 750 MW electricity generating plant, there is a humanitarian aspect to providing the dam with more security. This is the largest dam in Iraq and because of shoddy construction during the 1980s requires constant maintenance to prevent it from failing. If the dam did come down over half a million Iraqis could die from the flood and subsequent water shortages. The wall of water created by a dam collapse would be about five meters (16 feet) high when it reached Baghdad. The power generating plant would also be lost along with the credibility of the Iraqi government, which has long acknowledged that the dam is important but rarely comes through when troops are needed for security or money is required to make the constant (and essential) repairs. The deal with the Italian firm did not say when the repairs would begin but engineers who have seen the dam recently report that a collapse could occur soon.

March 1, 2016: Iraqi casualties from ISIL inspired violence has remained at a lower level for the sixth month in a row. In February 670 Iraqis (security forces and civilians) died, down 21 percent from 849 in January and down 31 percent from the 980 in December. This is also down more than a third from February 2015. So far in 2016 most (60 percent) of the dead are civilian while the rest include Iraqi security forces, including army, Kurds and the many Sunni and Shia militias. All this is part of a trend because there were 888 dead in November, 714 in October and 717 in September. This decline in deaths (from earlier in 2015) is mainly because the government has improved the leadership in the security forces and one result of that is fewer friendly casualties. In contrast during August 2015 1,325 Iraqis died, 1,332 in July, 1,466 in June and 1,100 dead in May. The increase after May was largely because the government began its promised June offensive a little late but still in June. Since January (when nearly 1,400 died) monthly terrorist related deaths were usually 1,100-1,200 a month. This is because most of the ISIL violence was of the terrorist, not military, variety. Another factor is the difficulty obtaining accurate data on casualties in ISIL held areas. Thus the actual Iraqi total deaths since late 2014 are probably 20-30 percent higher once you include ISIL losses.

The death toll for all of 2015 was about 13,400, compared to 15,600 in 2014. Thats still a big jump from 2013 when the death toll was 8,900 for all of Iraq and only ten percent of those were terrorists while the majority were Shia civilians killed by Sunni Islamic terrorists. Despite an expected increase in combat casualties in mid-2016 when the attack on Mosul begins the total 2016 deaths are expected to be at least 20 percent lower than 2015. While 2015 was 14 percent less deadly than 2014 both years were much less than the worst year. That was 2007 when nearly 18,000 died. Then as now the main cause of the mayhem and murder was Sunni fanatics who want to run the country as a Sunni dictatorship. Still Iraq was a lot less violent than neighboring Syria where the 2015 death toll was 55,000, which was down 38 percent from the 76,000 in 2014. Thats over 69,000 dead (down 24 percent from 91,000in 2014) for the two countries where ISIL is most active. The death toll has declined in both Iraq and Syria because ISIL has become less effective and in Syria there is a lot more war weariness. Most of the rebels and government forces in Syria are just playing defense and even ISIL has been less active in attacking compared to 2014.

A more widespread problem is coping with the needs of the more than three million people driven from their homes by ISIL violence since 2014. Most of these refugees have been relocated inside Iraq and most want to go home (especially to Mosul and surrounding areas.)

February 29, 2016: American commandos (from Delta Force) captured what was described as a key ISIL leader near Mosul and that man is being interrogated by U.S. investigators before being turned over to Iraqi forces.

February 28, 2016: In Baghdad two ISIL suicide bombers got into a Shia neighborhood and detonated their explosives in a crowded market. This left 73 dead and over a hundred wounded. The Shia neighborhoods in Baghdad have long been a prime target for Sunni Islamic terrorists and despite extensive security the bombers keep getting in. This is a major embarrassment to the pro-Iran Shia dominated government and ISIL knows it.

February 27, 2016: In Anbar over 500 ISIL men and their families were apparently ordered to leave Fallujah for Mosul. That will leave only a few hundred ISIL fighters in Fallujah. ISIL can get away with depleting the Fallujah garrison because most of the Anbar population is either pro-ISIL or anti-government. Nearly all the Anbaris are Sunni Arabs and while most dont like ISILs heavy handed rule (lots of restrictions on lifestyle plus heavy taxes) the local Sunnis tend to doubt promises by the Shia dominated government that with ISIL out life will be better. That was not the case before ISIL took over in 2014 and many Anbar Sunnis do not believe the government has changed. That said many, if not most, Anbar Sunnis are willing to stand aside and not interfere with government efforts to fight ISIL. That means the government forces in Anbar cannot depend much on local tribes to fight the remaining ISIL gunmen in Fallujah. For the moment the government is concentrating on clearing ISIL out of western Anbar and putting more troops on the Syrian border before turning towards the few ISIL men left in eastern Anbar (Fallujah). Meanwhile the government is using a lot of non-Sunni militias to keep the peace in Anbar and despite orders to behave some of these non-Sunni militiamen do not try to hide their hatred and distrust of all Sunni. Despite that these militia have also proved effective at defeating ISIL attacks, be they by gunmen or suicide bombers. These attacks continue and some of the efforts using suicide bombers, usually wearing army or police uniforms, work and account for most of the security forces casualties in Anbar.

February 25, 2016: Turkish F-16s bombed a suspected PKK base near the Turkish border in northern (Kurdish) Iraq. The Shia Iraq government is not happy with this Turkish incursion, nor the presence of some two thousand Turkish troops in a training camp (for Iraqi Kurds and their allies) north of Mosul. Fortunately the February 26th elections in Iran brought in more moderate politicians who are openly encouraging better relations with Turkey (and the West).

February 18, 2016: Iran revealed that it had sent special operations troops (Saberin) to Iraq and Syria. Those in Iraq are there mainly to ensure security around some very important Shia shrines in southern Iraq. The Saberin in Syria are apparently for special combat missions. The Saberin are modeled on the British SAS and U.S. Special Forces. At the same time the Saberin were headed to Syria many, if not most, of the 2,000 trainers and advisors from the IRGC (Revolutionary Guards) have been withdrawn. Many of these appear to have been shifted to Iraq where Iran wants its military well represented as Iraq seeks to clear ISIL out of Anbar province and Mosul.
He earned his name, Lion King, because his fur had become so matted that he looked like a lion. King was a well-known stray who spent years lingering around a neighborhood in Omaha, Nebraska. The chow chow, estimated to be 5, survived off the scraps fed to him by sympathetic locals. He found shelter under the porches of abandoned houses.

Hearts United for Aniamls

"Neighbors said they had seen him around in north Omaha for about three years," Lori Hook, a staffer at Hearts United for Animals (HUA), told The Dodo. Although King needed a home, most rescues avoided the neighborhood due to high levels of crime and gang activity, Hook said. But when HUA heard about King's plight, the organization decided to take its best shot at saving him from another day alone. The organization worked with people in King's neighborhood for three weeks last December to help him - but it wasn't easy. "We set a trap to capture him, but he was too street-smart for the trap," Hook said.

Hearts United for Animals

Although King was wary around adults, he found comfort in being near other dogs - and children. "[He was known for] following kids to their bus stop every morning, every day," Hook said.

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Hearts United for Animals

"I think that's when they dumped the green paint on him, and even though they did that to him, he still loved him. [King] still followed them to their bus stop."

Hearts United for Animals

"Finally, when it started to freeze out for a couple weeks in a row and he couldn't eat his food anymore because it was frozen solid, he was lured onto an enclosed porch where a lady had been feeding him," Hook added. "He kind of kept hanging around that same house, to be near her husky mix." The first order of business after King's rescue was shaving off his fur.

Hearts United for Animals

"He had to be shaved down to the skin," Hook said. "It was just like cement, trying to get through his fur because he'd never been combed and then he had all that paint stuck in there. It was just disgusting." Despite having been on his own for so long, King was surprisingly healthy aside from the matted fur, broken teeth and worms.

Hearts United for Animals

With time, he learned basic commands and how to walk on a leash. "He's still here with [HUA] now, learning how to trust people," Hook said. "He still reverts to being a bit skittish." Hook said King is up for adoption and is waiting for a forever family that will understand his needs as a dog who, more than likely, was abused before he was rescued. In the meanwhile, King is enjoying life at HUA with his new best friend, a cute beagle named Queenie. She's definitely a love interest worthy of royalty.

Hearts United for Animals

King rooms with Queenie at HUA and is quite the protective gentleman over his sweetheart, Hook said.

Hearts United for Animals

While King in general is a rather stoic dog who doesn't exhibit many reactions, his love for Queenie is undeniable - and so is his unfaltering love of children.

Hearts United for Animals

Recently, King paid a visit to a local elementary school as an ambassador for HUA, which educates children about puppy mills, animal shelters and pet care. It was a major milestone for King, and he was on his best behavior, even giving a few tail wags when petted.

Hearts United for Animals

King can now hold his head up high with the knowledge that he'll never have to spend another cold winter outdoors, or another day all on his own - he's finally safe from harm.

Hearts United for Animals
She was just doing her civic duty.

Yesterday morning in Gaithersburg, Maryland, the Montgomery County Police Department's emergency communications center received a call about an injured bald eagle in the woods, unable to fly and in need of help. That was when Jennifer Gill, an animal services division officer, went to the scene.

The first thing Gill did upon arrival was wrap the female bird in towels. Then, with the help of a Maryland Department of Natural Resources official, she placed the eagle in a carrier and transported her to the Owl Moon Raptor Center for further care.

"She's looking brighter this morning," Suzanne Shoemaker, founder and director of the Owl Moon Raptor Center, told The Dodo. "She's on her feet and she's alert. We'll see how she continues to recover. We're optimistic."An examination revealed the eagle had some internal bleeding and an injury on her left shoulder, the center wrote in a recent Facebook post. "We are providing supportive care and medications to reduce pain and inflammation. We will bring her to Bennett Creek Animal Hospital for X-rays when she is stable and stronger."The raptor center believes that Trust was likely hit by a car while feeding on deer caracass.
He might be the loneliest chimp in the world - but he just made a friend. Ponso is a roughly 40-year-old chimp who was abandoned to die on a deserted island off the Ivory Coast after being used in medical testing. He was kept alive for years by a villager named Germain, who would drop off bananas and bread for the aging chimp as the island had no natural food sources. Last week, Germain and a friend, Mohamed, stopped by to drop off Ponso's daily meal, and they brought an extra-special gift along: a brand new teddy bear.

A.Gazel/Collectif SOS Ponso

"Ponso was very interested by the teddy bear we bought," SOS Ponso, a group dedicated to helping him, wrote on Facebook. "He took it and brought it on the island, far from Germain and Mohamed." A video shows Germain and Mohamed calling to Ponso as they row up to the island. He runs out to greet them, climbing up a nearby tree. Once they land and he sees the teddy bear, he rushes down and grabs it, carrying it a few yards away before sitting down to play with it.

Dodo Shows Wild Hearts Guy And Wild Shark Have Been Best Friends For Decades

The video also shows the men handing food to Ponso, who inspects each item carefully before laying it aside. SOS Ponso says his lack of immediate interest in food is a good sign, as it indicates he's well-fed. After receiving the food, Ponso reaches out to grab Germain's hand, seemingly in thanks. In another video, Ponso can be seen playing with Germain, laughing out loud when his human friend makes noises and tickles him. While roughhousing with a chimp generally isn't a good idea, it's clear the two have a special relationship.

After all, for the past several years years, Germain was all he had. Ponso was one of dozens of chimps who were abandoned on a string of islands off the Ivory Coast and Liberia by the New York Blood Center (NYBC), which had used them for years in often painful medical testing. There were 20 chimps in Ponso's group when he was left on the islands more than 30 years ago. Within months, half of them were dead or missing in what one aid group called a "veritable massacre;" the animals were completely unprepared to live on their own after lifetimes in tiny cages.

Cages at NYBC's testing center where the chimps were kept. | Jeff Topham

They continued to die off, and for years Ponso, his mate and their two children were the only survivors. At some point NYBC stopped sending food or medical care, knowingly leaving them to die. Unable to watch them starve, Germain began to stop by to feed them, despite his limited resources. In 2013, Ponso's tiny family died within days of each other. According to Germain, Ponso helped him bury them by throwing dirt over their graves. For years, few people knew of Ponso's plight, and his only source of food and comfort was the man who came to feed him.

A.Gazel/Collectif SOS Ponso

But last spring, NYBC announced it was cutting off funding for a better-known colony of chimps off of Liberia, a move that primatologist Jane Goodall called "completely shocking and unacceptable." Animal welfare groups rushed to one of the Liberian islands, where they found the chimps had been left without any fresh water. Since then, a team led by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), and fueled by public donations, has spearheaded efforts to feed and care for the Liberian chimps - while pressuring NYBC to take up the responsibility of caring for them.

A.Gazel/Collectif SOS Ponso

If there's one bright spot, it's that the little-known story of Ponso - the chimp who was left to die in a much more secretive manner - came to light. A group of supporters formed SOS Ponso to raise money for the elderly chimp - who spends his days alone on the island despite his social nature - and to make sure he receives a shipment of fresh food every day. HSUS hopes to turn the Liberian island into a sanctuary for the chimps who live there, so they can live out their days safely and in peace, but Ponso's future is a bit less certain. As there's no method for safely introducing him to the Liberian chimps, he can't be moved to the larger colony, HSUS told The Dodo, and taking him out of the country would require documentation and papers. But but that could change soon, SOS Ponso said.

A.Gazel/Collectif SOS Ponso
In our collective memory theres a consensus that the United States invaded Haiti in 1994 to restore democracy and inject the island with an 18-month dose of revitalizing American can-do, but that memory would be an illusion. Learning the wrong lesson from Vietnam, Bill Clinton destroyed the island to save it, handing the whole mess off to the United Nations and a Babylon of international agencies. And yet, 10 years later, Haiti was still languishing in democracys neonatal intensive care ward.

Out went the elected president in a coup detat, in came another iteration of the United Nations peacekeeping mission, a 10,000-strong force of soldiers, police and bureaucrats, including, in 2007, a U.N. official whose husband was a freelance journalist and novelist named Mischa Berlinski. Berlinski remained with his wife in Haiti until 2011, occasionally firing off reports about the country for the New York Review of Books, which earned him the scorn of the writer Amy Wilentz , the apparent gatekeeper of all things Haiti, who accused Berlinski of ignorance and racism. Berlinski, Wilentz argued, thinks, like many U.S. foreign policy types, that interventions are good, saving places like Haiti from outright barbarism. Readers of Berlinskis marvelous new novel, Peacekeeping, however, might find themselves puzzled by Wilentzs snarky accusations.

Berlinskis first novel, Fieldwork (2007), was set in northern Thailand, another of his wifes postings. It garnered splashy reviews by Stephen King and Hilary Mantel, a National Book Award nomination and a $50,000 Whiting Award.

[Review: Fieldwork, by Mischa Berlinski]

Anyone who has read Fieldwork will immediately recognize in Berlinskis second novel what can now be understood as the authors MO. Not only does he choose to immerse himself in exotic locales, he also insists on anchoring himself, Mischa Berlinski, journalist and novelist, as the narrator, intermediary and witness. The result is not fictionalized autobiography but something a bit more playful or maybe even spellbound, as if Berlinski had gone native into his own books, unable to pry himself out of the dynamics of the storys spectacle.

In an authors note at the end of Peacekeeping, Berlinski explains, I am not I, you are not you, which seems perfunctory as far as assurances go. If one good meta-wink deserves another, then Im not me, either, Bob Shacochis reviewing this book. Rather, in an alternative universe, Im the fellow who met Berlinski in a bar in Port-au-Prince, where the two of us made a pact to write novels about Americans who want to make the world a better place. And then we died laughing, real tears rolling down our cheeks.

Seriously, despite the fact of Haitis geopolitical purgatory, a nation occupied and molested by external (and internal) forces for centuries, when youre not suppressing the urge to weep for the suffering of Haitians, theres much to laugh at in Peacekeeping. For starters, the protagonist is Terry White, a.k.a. Terry the White, a U.N. policeman stationed in the far-flung city of Jeremie on Haitis coastline. After 20 years as a deputy sheriff in a Florida Panhandle county, White, the stereotype of the southern lawman, lost his career, his home and his inner compass when he played in the Big Boy sport of Florida politics. He was a know-it-all, writes Berlinski. Even Terry Whites kindnesses had about them some trace of superiority. The U.N. mission in Haiti offers him a chance to reboot himself.

[From our archives: Our hidden haitian problem, by Bob Shacochis]

White is passionately committed to protecting good people from bad people. Haiti, of course, feeds and frustrates the noble desire of such personalities, never more so than when White enters into the orbit of Johel Celestin, a light-skinned, Kennedyesque district judge who speaks with the clipped inflections of educated American speech.

Celestin, who went to New York as a child fleeing the brutality of the Duvaliers, returned to Haiti six years ago, long enough to have developed a tactile sense of intolerance for the injustice crushing the lives of everyday Haitians. He has reluctantly decided, with Whites prodding, to become a candidate for the Haitian Senate. His entrenched opponent, Sen. Maxim Bayard, also light-skinned and a former exile, seems to be an easy target, appearing to represent the moral bankruptcy infecting the core of Haitian politics. But in the hands of an accomplished novelist such as Berlinski, no characters assigned roles are what they seem to be.

Celestins lover and future wife, the blue-eyed, ebony-skinned Nadia, is presented as a foil to these three men and their various shades of pale. She hovers and swoops as the storys avatar of blackness, the vessel through which flows the terrible history of Africans in the New World.

Peacekeeping gallops ahead toward the horizon of tragedy, yet the novel is brightened by the authors sense of the absurdities that saturate an enterprise like a U.N. mission and the weird, byzantine intimacies at the ground level of globalization. Berlinski is also delightfully deft with dialect and bawdy humor  to do otherwise would be a disservice to Haitians and the brilliant spectrum of their culture. In this respect, the novel belongs next to Herman Wouks Dont Stop The Carnival, a comedy about a white Americans middle-age crisis in the Caribbean, until Berlinskis narrative suddenly reaches a disaster. Then it resembles Thornton Wilders masterpiece The Bridge of San Luis Rey.

Author Mischa Berlinski (Louis Monier)

But too often Haiti has been a stage for the kabuki performance of our good intentions, as well as a mirror reflecting the vanity of our exceptionalism, and its never a bad idea to look toward Haiti for a reality check on who we are in the world. Peacekeeping, in that sense, is a welcome bearer of enlightenment and a raw reminder of the limits of empathy.

Bob Shacochiss most recent novel is The Woman Who Lost Her Soul.
America haunts the International Pop exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. American power, American culture, American consumerism, American speed, the big, white toothy American smile. The first work you encounter upon entering this ambitious and absorbing exhibition bears the stamp of American might: Antonio Henrique Amarals XX/XXI (20th/21st-Century Tribute) depicts four mouths with grotesque tongues, chattering against a background of stars and stripes.

The red, white and blue in Amarals 1967 painting arent meant as an affectionate tribute. Amaral was Brazilian, and in 1967 his country was under the thumb of an American-supported military dictatorship. Like many other artists in this wide-ranging show, he processed American imagery into a trenchant critique of the worlds reigning hegemon.

International Pop, first seen at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, is an effort to rewrite the history of the Pop art movement, which has traditionally been studied as an American and British phenomenon, dominated by a few male artists with household name recognition: Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg. All of those artists are present, but they dont hog the wall space. Instead, the exhibition focuses on Pop as it grew simultaneously in Argentina, Brazil, England, Germany and Japan. And it includes a refreshing body of work by women artists and artists who are not otherwise well known in the United States.

[For once, a major exhibition doesnt diminish the role of women]

But while it aims at an account that doesnt place America at the center of things, much of the art on display keeps returning to the Yankee idee fixe. If you were an artist working in the decades after the Second World War, and you were determined to appropriate visual ideas from popular culture, it wasnt easy to avoid the obvious icons: Coca-Cola, Marilyn Monroe, hamburgers, rockets, cartoons and cars.

Merely invoking an iconic image, however, doesnt always make your purpose, or your ideology, clear. And that remains the central problem and fascination with so much Pop art. Is it ironic, or celebratory, or some uncertain confusion of the two? In Amarals case, its pretty clear whats going on. But when Pop artists take up subjects such as women and sex, its a lot more slippery.

Pin-ups, nudes and Hollywood bombshells abound in this exhibition, but when male artists pass them on under the guise of new work  in collages or carefully painted facsimiles  do they also pass on the misogyny lurking behind the original? And when artists take the capitalist market as their subject and create art objects that are meant to circulate like commodities, have they in fact stood back and commented on the market? Or did they just take advantage of it?

The lifecycle of Pop, unfortunately, was often a vicious circle: It began with critique, evolved into irony and ended as commodity. Which is to say, Pop largely created the art world we know today.

When Richard Hamilton, a seminal figure in early British Pop, defined the emerging phenomenon in 1957, he might have been describing the current moment: Pop, he said, was popular, expendable, low cost, mass produced, young and also Witty, Sexy, Gimmicky, Glamorous, Big Business.

[Kennicott on the ugly, ugly art market today]

Those same values make much of the contemporary scene entirely tedious and insipid, but when he celebrated them more than a half century ago, they were radical. Among the many things this exhibition does well is recapture the shock of that moment, the urgency of the change that so many Pop artists embraced. A few dates, taken from a comprehensive and fascinating chronology published in the exhibition catalog, set the stage: The Bretton Woods Conference, in 1944, laid the groundwork for a more cohesive international economy after the Second World War; in 1948, Coca-Cola started its aggressive campaign to dominate international markets; in 1950, CBS gave the first public display of color television, on eight sets in D.C.

There was an explosion of images, perhaps as shocking, thrilling and confusing to people then as the international adoption of the smartphone is to people today. There was also a burst of communication and travel that began to erase borders. And a proliferation of products and ideas that were more widely shared by disparate people around the planet than anything that had happened before. The sense that we all inhabit one small planet, and are one big unruly family, didnt begin with the Internet.

You see the crazy, not-yet-fully processed chaos of these changes in scrapbook pages (made in the late 40s and early 50s) by the British Pop artist Eduardo Paolozzi, full of magazine clippings and simple collaged juxtapositions of classic art and commercial trivia. By the late 1950s, Hamilton was working in a fascinating hybrid style that mixed the reticence of abstraction with clear reference to the contours of classic Pop fetish objects, like cars. By the mid-1960s, there was a full-on Pop sensibility percolating around the globe, even behind the Iron Curtain, where the commercial and political images of the West had special meaning.

And yet, even as Pop was flourishing, there were worries. In 1964, a major art dealer who had championed Pop was already fretting about how famous its artists were becoming, and how difficult it was to get good material: Everybody is a star now and they seem to shine without our help, Ileana Sonnabend said. I think its safe to be pessimistic about getting anything at all.

International Pop is focused on the 1960s and 70s, and it doesnt take up the aftermath of the movement, if one can even call it a movement. The curators have cast a wide net when it comes to what qualifies as Pop, and thats smart. Inevitably, the very idea of a cohesive movement with a coherent ideology about art and the market falls apart. Early Pop was, by nature, anti-establishment and anarchic. As the definitions of whats Pop and whats not get looser, the range of material proliferates and you may feel as if youre not looking at Pop art so much as a wild mashup of all the crazy antecedents of what is on view at contemporary galleries today.

But the curators wont be disappointed if youre overwhelmed and confused. In the end, International Pop attempts not so much to rediscover Pip as to challenge the notion that Pop comprised any kind of unified purpose or style, writes curator Darsie Alexander in the catalog introduction.

Mission accomplished, but with the happy side effect that the art is fascinating, provocative, often thrilling, and all those other things Hamilton said it should be, including Witty, Sexy, Gimmicky and Glamorous.

International Pop is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through May 15. For more information, visit http://www.philamuseum.org.
Thelma Golden used to be mistaken for her own assistant. But these days, there arent many in the art world who dont know the 50-year-old director and chief curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem.

Twenty-five years ago, before her closets were written up in O magazine and her 2008 wedding featured in Vogue, Golden was a young curator at the Whitney Museum  its first black curator, actually. Her looks didnt match peoples assumptions about who got to be a mover and a shaker in the world of art. But Golden, who has a knack for turning setbacks into ambition, now calls those early cases of mistaken identity liberating.

It allowed me the opportunity to not only create a deep impression, she says, but also was a way that I personally made goals that moved me toward being known and being understood.

Golden is quite small, with close-cropped hair and an earnest face. Today, in her office at Studio, shes wearing a bold print dress created by her fashion designer husband, Duro Olowu. Theres no mistaking her for anyone else.

Increasingly, Golden is becoming known beyond the realm of curation. Last year, she was seated next to President Obama at a White House state dinner, leading a flurry of people to ask, Who was that woman? Let culture critic Greg Tate, profiling Golden in the Village Voice years ago, answer it: A stone-cold player. A highbrow mack-diva of the first magnitude.

Thelma Golden at the Museum Of Modern Art's 2015 Party In The Garden in New York City. (Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)

In the summer, she was appointed to the board of directors of the Barack Obama Foundation, which will erect his presidential library on Chicagos South Side, leading one critic to speculate  Golden is this revered  that she might be too good for the job. Shortly before that, Studio announced that it would soon be starting construction on a bigger, $122 million home, yielding stories about the growing importance of the museum and its charismatic director.

Collaborative curation

Throughout her career, Golden has proved adept at putting together shows about race and identity politics that are deeply controversial at the time but years later, look prescient. Studio was founded almost 50 years ago as a showcase for important black artists who had been left out of the official (read: white) canon, and Goldens relationship with the museum stretches back to her days as a college intern there, plus a year after college before she joined the Whitney. When Golden returned in 2000 as Studios deputy director, art critics knew the institution as sleepy and genteel; she helped to boldly reshape it. Her first major contemporary exhibition, Freestyle, announced the dawn of the post-black era  a movement of artists who no longer wanted to be explained or contained by the label black, even as they were steeped in racial consciousness. The New Yorker pronounced the museum post-Golden. In 2005, Golden became its director.

Golden has cultivated deeply personal relationships with many of the artists she has championed, becoming so close with one that she witnessed the birth of her child.

As a curator, Ive always understood my curatorial practice as being highly collaborative with artists, says Golden, whose run-on sentences sometimes have a Zen quality. Theres a story for each of them. I know exactly when I first saw the work, or came to understand how I understood the work  or how maybe I didnt understand the work and thats what moved me into a conversation with them.

Now, a decade into helming Studio, Golden is no longer directly curating shows. Instead, she is in what she calls the institution-building phase of her career. She lives a few blocks from the museum, and has constructed a travel-heavy, cross-continent marriage with her Nigerian-born, London-based husband. Shes charismatic, but seems guarded compared with her persona in older interviews, in which she brimmed with audaciousness  perhaps because shes mellowed or because of the heat she has felt in her career for being a first.

In the early 1990s, about the time Golden was being mistaken for her assistant, conservative art critic Hilton Kramer called her undereducated and dismissed her career as a vehicle for political correctness. In the early 2000s, when she was the subject of a New Yorker profile that described her hobnobbing with Bill Clinton and a wealthy collector, she was derided by a wholly different camp for being a sellout. Golden was stunned by the criticism. But she has nurtured the same absorbing passion since she was a child, and has proven herself not easily thrown off course.

An early love of the arts

Golden grew up in a middle-class neighborhood of Queens, one of two children, with parents who nurtured her love of art and sent her to private school on Long Island. By the time she was 10, she was reading the New York Times every morning, with a particular interest in the arts pages. Golden has said that for her, looking at art is a full-body affair, akin to how some people experience action films. I am someone who is totally experiential, she says. As a girl, in what would become what she calls the leitmotif of her life, Golden arranged and rearranged tiny art reproductions  postcards shed gotten at the Museum of Modern Art, cards shed pulled from an art-collecting board game called Masterpiece  on her bedroom walls.

Golden happens to have a copy of that old board game in her office, and when the topic comes up, she climbs on a chair and digs it off a high shelf. Masterpiece hasnt been produced in decades, but this past summer, to celebrate Goldens 10 years as Studios director, her staff scoured eBay and gave it to her, knowing the role it played in shaping a little girls future. The cover features a 1970s vision of art-world mover-shakers  a collection of rich white people at an auction, wearing ascots and furs.

This is what completely and totally moved me, Golden says, pulling out the art cards. This is Nighthawks, Edward Hopper. She holds up another. This is a gorgeous Toulouse-Lautrec. . . . I remember so much spending these years looking at these images.

During high school, Golden attended a private school within walking distance of the Whitney, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim, the Frick and the Cooper Hewitt. Every day after classes, she crafted her own private tours. She interned at the Met, where, she says, walking past all of those great artworks while delivering memos affected her on a cellular level. . . . Its what made me know that what I was doing as a high school intern  I wanted to do that for the rest of my life.

The amazing thing about Golden is her laser focus, how her singular ambition made the heroes of her childhood into her contemporaries. Curator Lowery Stokes Sims, whom she idolized as a teenager, became her boss and mentor. In a college literature seminar, she swapped stories with James Baldwin about her fathers Harlem, without imagining that one day she would be a key part of the neighborhoods cultural life. Its enough to make you think that sufficient quantities of talent and drive can forge a reasonable facsimile of fate.

In Goldens office, the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves are stacked with brightly colored art books, catalogues, magazines and a Barbie doll extravagantly styled by fashion designer Byron Lars. Two apples sit beside her computer, along with a bobblehead of conceptual artist Dave McKenzie, which Golden refers to as Little Dave. The art in her office changes periodically  now it features, among other things, a crude and strangely captivating portrait of Michelle Obama as a bird, wearing pearls and clutching a fish in one talon.

Theres also a self-portrait by conceptual artist and close friend Glenn Ligon thats never taken down. It symbolizes what Golden calls an over-20-year constant conversation about art and art-making and the meaning of art in the context of life with an artist who has influenced her as a curator perhaps more than any other. It was Ligon and Golden who cooked up the concept of post-black. They speak daily and seem to share a brain. Back in the day, Ligon would communicate with Golden post-verbally by faxing her wordless notes featuring what she calls little pre-emoji drawings.

Museum as think tank

In a Ted Talk in 2009, Golden posited the notion of the museum as think tank and the exhibition as the ultimate white paper. This idea that museums could forecast a wiser, more inclusive society was born of necessity.

She has said that when she double-majored in art history and African American studies at Smith College in Northampton, Mass., there was no mention of black art in either department. So she had to imagine her way to a future in which she could curate not just art, but also change. She made waves early on with Black Male, her 1994 Whitney show, which played with the myths and stereotypes of African American masculinity. That show provoked anger, again, from opposite camps  conservative critics who charged her with abandoning taste in favor of racialized politics, and African Americans who wanted more uplifting images of black men.

What I learned from Black Male is the important space that museums can create for a dialogue with and through art about the issues in our world, Golden says. In the #BlackLivesMatter era, at a time of growing consciousness about how racial identities are constructed and maintained by newsrooms, politicians and police forces, that show feels prophetic.

By the time of Black Male, Golden had stopped reading reviews. She had made that decision the year before, after working on the 93 Whitney Biennial, which was heavy on themes of race, class and gender, and which many reviewers dismissed as self-indulgent self-expression and a melange of social complaints. (But, again, hindsight: New York recently pronounced that biennial the moment in which todays art world was born.)

When Golden joined Studio, her comfort with uncomfortable conversations led her to mount Black Romantic, an exhibition of populist black art, meant to highlight a debate within the African American community over what art should be. She was upfront about the fact that some of this kind of art made her skin crawl  such as those paintings featuring naked black women with these 38 DDDD breasts and 40-inch hips sitting on stools with stars and Africa coming between their legs, she told one interviewer. But that was the point. She talked the concept over with Ligon, who thought that such an exhibition seemed transgressive, which was a good thing. He knew, again, that these were questions that I had to ask, Golden says.

At a recent opening for several exhibitions, Golden is the center of a whirlpool of people, resplendent in a fluttery print dress and boots with see-through heels, chatting with a tall man in a brown hat who turns out to be the comedian David Alan Grier. The crowd is young and beautiful and lively; this must be the most unstuffy think tank in the world.

Established and emerging artists are shown side by side, and one particular photo by newer artist Nona Faustine catches the eye. Its a self-portrait. She stands completely naked on a wooden block in the middle of Wall Street, site of a former Colonial slave market. Cars zip by. It is the past brought into the present, the artists solemn gaze pinning you to the spot. Her vulnerability invites your sympathy, your embarrassment and maybe even your anger. It is startling and upsetting and  as with so much of the art Golden champions, this is the point  you cant look away.
The easiest way to get a sense of the three-venue Curators Office exhibition Geometrix: Line, Form, Subversion would be to visit the location on Dupont Circles gallery row. But the selection there is so intriguing that viewers will probably want to continue to the other two venues  a warehouse in Northeast Washington converted to artist studios and a home in Bethesda, Md. The three parts overlap, and a few of the 44 artists are represented in more than one place, but each array has a slightly different vibe.

Geometry connotes straight lines and regular forms, but thats not what curator Andrea Pollans mischievously educational exhibition delivers. Curves occur as frequently as right angles, and even tightly patterned compositions can have a freewheeling quality. Amy Lin loops blue dots atop a smaller spiral of magenta ones, and Linn Meyerss off-white atoms ripple and coalesce on milky black plastic. Perhaps the furthest from Euclidian principles are Peter Foxs jungles of multicolor drips, each applied with an eyedropper.

Cubism and De Stijl may be inspirations for such participants as Ted Gahl, Logan Grider and Lori Ellison (the title of whose Bedford Boogie Woogie invokes Mondrian). Vivid color renders the linear sensuous in such abstractions as Jason Gubbiottis green-heavy flip-phone-shaped Grooms Lake and Warren Isensees pink-grounded, twin-menorah-shaped Snake Eyes.

A few of the artists simulate a third dimension, while others enter it, often with unexpected materials. Travis Childers constructs a metallic stripe painting from staples, and Alex Ebstein builds a still life out of twine and hand-cut PVC yoga mats. Seth Adelsberger surrounds a central void with an elaborate, and irregularly shaped, wooden frame. Jason Hughes etched a pattern on glass that draws its intricacies on the wall with shadows. Conversely, Charles Cohan flattens a 3-D form by turning the plan for Tokyos Narita Airport into a stark black outline.

Most of the pieces arent that minimal. Vivid colors and freehand gestures challenge the grids, whether the results are dense and multi-chromatic, as in Andy Moon Wilsons mosaic-like drawings, or as direct as John Zinssers crosshatching of thick purple strokes. Such pictures may not be subversive, but their verve transcends plain geometry.

Maggie Michaels. "Drop," 2003. (Maggie Michaels/G Fine Art)

Geometrix: Line, Form, Subversion On view through April 16 at the Curators Office at Gallery 2112, 2112 R St. NW; 703 Edgewood Studios, 703 Edgewood St. NE; and 5706 Newington Rd., Bethesda. 202-360-2573. curatorsoffice.com.

Maggie Michael

Washington abstractionist Maggie Michael paints in series, such as the recent Perfect X, that are characterized more by visual motifs than different techniques. Nearly all of her pictures contrast hard-edged shapes, sometimes stenciled, with looser gestures, and employ a variety of pigments, including ink, acrylic, latex and spray paint. These liquids and more flow through the American University Museums A Phrase Hung in Midair as If Frozen, which surveys Michaels output since 2002, the year she earned an MFA at AU.

Although the artist emphasizes paints fluidity, she can apply pigment so thickly that it becomes sculptural. This is most evident in the shows earliest pieces, the Clones (one of which is also in Geometrix). These single-color pools of latex paint were poured onto panels, then shaped into near-identical blobs. Theyre playful yet spartan, with an austerity not evident in the other pictures, even quiet recent ones such as the lovely Violin Mantra: Dark Room Puddles Develop Blue Skies.

As her titles suggest, Michael likes words; the shows title can be found, upside down, in one picture on a wall busy with dozens of small ones. Her basic style may be traced to Abstract Expressionism, but the use of text, collage and neon-bright colors recalls Pop Art. The nonrepresentational imagery courses like the rivers that inspire her, with fragments of the actual world carried along as flotsam.

Maggie Michael: A Phrase Hung in Midair as If Frozen On view through March 13 at the American University Museum, 4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW. 202-885-1300. american.edu/museum.

Kesha Bruce

A pair of paintings from Kesha Bruces previous Morton Fine Art show hang alongside the current one, Magical Spells and Reminders. These renderings of mystical guardians are precursors of two newer pictures of silhouetted patchwork figures that wear crowns. But the recent work is in a different style, and most of it is not figurative. Instead, it emphasizes what the Arizona-based artist calls a personal, magical alphabet that developed from her drawings. Among the glyphs are a teardrop shape and a cross with arms of equal length.

The latter is featured in The Crossroads, a potent collage-painting that is mostly in bloodlike shades, with white and black marks and glittery areas. The mixed-media piece began, as did the others, with bolts of cloth from a defunct Seattle upholstery factory. The artist painted and cut the material, assembled the roughly rectangular scraps and then painted some more.

The process yields works that suggest both mid-20th-century abstraction and traditional hand-printed fabrics. Bruces symbols are new to her, but they tap into something ancient.

Kesha Bruce: Magical Spells and Reminders On view through March 17 at Morton Fine Art, 1781 Florida Ave. NW. 202-628-2787. mortonfineart.com.

Wings From Chains

Wonder Woman and a little girl do laundry. Stock images of a 1950s housewife are printed on an apron. A woman emerges from a flower whose petals are gray flatirons. Such comic images of domestic emancipation are commonplace in Wings From Chains, organized by the Athenaeum on the occasion of the national meeting of the Womens Caucus for Art last month in Washington.

The 14 local artists contributions are well-made and often witty, even if some of the jibes appear dated. A collaged landscape has mountains made of female nudes, probably cut from magazines such as Playboy, whose philosophy is little studied these days. And although statistics indicate that women still do more housework than men, washing and ironing are perhaps not as central as they once were.

More contemporary are Ann Stoddards series of headscarves and wedding veils, demonstrating shared aspects of Muslim and Western womens garb, and Cherie Redlingers charcoal of a female figure, altered by breast-cancer surgery yet essentially intact. Its one of the simplest pieces here, and one of the most powerful.

Wings From Chains On view through March 13 at the Athenaeum, 201 Prince St., Alexandria. 703-548-0035. nvfaa.org.
Loves Labors Lost (London, 1598), the first of Shakespeares printed plays with his name on the title page: Newly corrected and augmented by W. Shakespere. (Folger Shakespeare Library)

Days after arriving in London in 1603, King James I issues a warrant naming Shakespeares acting troupe The Kings Men. A law student summarizes his favorite plot device from Twelfth Night in a diary entry from 1602. A vicar of Stratford-upon-Avon describes Shakespeare as a natural wit without any art at all, and an early critic calls him an upstart crow.

The Folger Shakespeare Library uses these and a host of other rare documents  many never before shown in the United States  to create a surprisingly intimate portrait of the worlds most famous author. With primary documents dating from his lifetime and just after his death, Shakespeare, Life of an Icon examines Shakespeares career as poet and playwright and looks at his fast-rising reputation and how he was viewed by his contemporaries.

We want it to be the King Tut exhibition for Shakespeare, said Heather Wolfe, the Folgers curator of manuscripts. I hope visitors are amazed by how many documents survive showing people responding to Shakespeare and his works in his own lifetime.

On view through March 27 in the librarys Great Hall, the exhibition is part of The Wonder of Will, a year-long commemoration of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeares death. Through December, the Folger will present special programs and performances that explore the authors life and his world.

Among the highlights is First Folio! The Book That Gave Us Shakespeare, an exhibition that will bring a copy of the first collected edition of Shakespeares works to all 50 states. The Folger owns 82 of the 233 surviving copies of the 1623 book, the original printed source of 18 Shakespeare plays.

Life of an Icon examines the author as poet, playwright and man, as well as icon. It includes the only surviving copy of the first edition of Titus Andronicus, the first of Shakespeares plays to be printed; the only existing letter written to Shakespeare, although never sent; and a section of a play thought to be written in his own hand.

It offers a glimpse of Shakespeares personality  including several stories of cavorting with fellow playwright Ben Jonson and other pals  and examines his reputation during his life and after his death.

Little time is spent on whether Shakespeare actually wrote all the plays attributed to him. Its a question that has been around for centuries, Wolfe said. There are no documents that suggest another writer, but there are many that are unambiguous about what he wrote, she said.

In conjunction with the exhibition, the Folger has launched shakespearedocumented.org, a website displaying 400 print and manuscripts documents. Working with 30 institutions in the United States and Britain, the library has created the most authoritative resource of primary sources focused on Shakespeares life and career. Intended for scholars, teachers and the general public, the website allows visitors to search a wide range of documents with references and allusions to Shakespeare and his work during his lifetime and in the years after his death.

The Wonder of Will continues with Americas Shakespeare, opening April 7, and Will and Jane: Shakespeare, Austen and the Cult of Celebrity, opening in August.
Recommendations   Exceptional  Excellent Very Good Availability information is based on distributor records. Wines might not be in stock at every listed store and might be sold at additional stores. Prices are approximate. Check Winesearcher.com to verify availability, or ask a favorite wine store to order through a distributor.

Chablis has four appellations signifying quality: At the top are grand cru and premier cru, which are from specific vineyards, then Chablis and, last, petit Chablis. There are seven grand cru and 40 premier cru vineyards, giving terroir fiends a lot of wines to experiment with to glean the subtleties of the different sites. Here are four examples of Chablis  three from premier cru vineyards  and a fine California chardonnay. If you are a chardonnay skeptic, these could very well convert you.

Gautheron Les Fourneaux Premier Cru 2014

  

Chablis, France, $30

Les Fourneaux (the ovens) faces south and southeast, and its one of Chabliss warmer sites, producing fuller, riper-styled wines. This lovely wine is rich and full, though not buttery and oaky; it features ripe tree-fruit flavors and stony minerality to give it backbone. Alcohol by volume: 13 percent.

Distributed by Wine Traditions: Available in the District at Arrowine and Spirits, Cork Market; on the list at Cashions Eat Place, Johnnys Half Shell. Available in Maryland at Finewine.com in Gaithersburg. Available in Virginia at Arrowine and Cheese in Arlington, Tastings of Charlottesville, Wine Cabinet in Reston.

Bernard Defaix Fourchaume 1er Cru 2014

  

Chablis, France, $32

This features stony, bright fruit with peach, apricot and red currant flavors and a long finish. A lovely wine. ABV: 13 percent.

Distributed by Winebow: Available in the District at Cleveland Park Wine and Spirits, Rodmans.

Gautheron Chablis Cuvee Emeraude 2012

  1 / 2

Chablis, France, $24

It seems to defy gravity, although it does pour directly into the glass. On the palate, its ethereal, with an entrancing lightness of texture and body, displaying red berry and stone-fruit flavors. ABV: 12.5 percent.

Distributed by Wine Traditions: Available in the District at Arrowine and Spirits, Cork Market. Available in Virginia at Vienna Vintner, Unwined (Belleview); on the list at La Cote dOr in Arlington.

Simonnet-Febvre Cote de Lechet Chablis Premier Cru 2012

  1 / 2

Chablis, France, $30

Cote de Lechet is in a cooler area of Chablis and yields a more austere, mineral wine than sunnier vineyards do. This wine speaks of earth more than fruit. If youve ever wondered what wine fiends mean by minerality, try this and youll understand.

Distributed by M. Touton Selection: Available in the District at Circle Wine & Liquor, Cleveland Park Wine and Spirits, Harrys Reserve Fine Wine & Spirits, Rodmans; on the list at Fiola Mare. Available in Maryland at Beer, Wine & Co., Bradley Food & Beverage and Cork 57 Beer and Wine in Bethesda; Choice Wine & Beer in Wheaton; Downtown Crown Wine and Beer in Gaithersburg; Meridian Beer & Wine in North Bethesda; Old Farm Liquors and Spin the Bottle Wine Co. in Frederick; Pine Orchard Liquors in Ellicott City; Rodmans (Kensington); Wine Harvest (Potomac); on the list at Grapeseed in Bethesda, Peacock Restaurant & Lounge in Easton, Red Horse Steak House in Frederick.

Wild Horse Chardonnay 2014

 

Central Coast, Calif., $18

This excellent chardonnay features delicious stone-fruit flavors and enough oak to give it body and structure without making the wine taste like a tree. ABV: 13.5 percent.

Distributed by RNDC: Available in the District at Calvert Woodley, Circle Wine & Liquor, District Liquors, Harris Teeter (various locations), Rodmans, Safeway (various locations), Tenley Wine & Liquor, Whole Foods Market (various locations); on the list at Himalayan Heritage. Available in Maryland at Bakers Liquors in Chester; Festival Wine & Spirits in Annapolis; Laurel Beer, Wine & Spirits; McHenry Beverage Shoppe in McHenry; Ye Old Spirit Shop in Frederick. On the list at Costas Inn and Osteria Da Amedeo in Baltimore.
Super Tuesday, the moment of truth for several among our wacky band of presidential candidates, has come and gone. Whos still standing? Who will soon retreat home to nurse wounds  and possibly a large drink?

To help passionately committed voters mourn or celebrate right now, I thought it would be fun to have cocktails keyed to particular candidates. I reached out to mixologists with geographic connections to the runners and asked for recipes. They could be funny, cheeky or respectful, but there were rules: The ingredients had to be relatively easy to source or substitute for, and the drinks had to taste good  partisan if they chose, but the cocktails had to stay palatable.

Some of them are way better than they have any right to be.

Of course, many candidates might rather be caught taking a bribe than drinking a fancy cocktail. Craft cocktails, after all, probably seem an effete quaff of the elites, one that would immediately lose the candidates a vast number of the kind of voters who were really annoyed back in 2003 when poor John Kerry ordered a Philly cheesesteak with Swiss cheese.

But we, the people, can enjoy them without fear of media reprisals. In fact, depending on who wins this thing, I may try to down enough of them to sleep through the next administration.



I Couldve Stayed Home and Made Cocktails. (Dixie D. Vereen/For The Washington Post)

[Make the recipe: I Couldve Stayed Home and Made Cocktails]

I Couldve Stayed Home and Made Cocktails (Hillary Clinton)

Source: Gina Chersevani, Buffalo & Bergen, Washington

I was glad Chersevani, Beltway insider and Washington cocktail queen, included a little bitter amaro and grapefruit peel in her drink for Clinton. If I were the former secretary of state, Id be just a little sour and bitter by now; Not only has she had years of questions about her hair and her emails and her husbands dalliances, but this is the second time she has gone from being the clear, anointed choice of her party to ending up with a real fight on her hands, and this time a fight with an older white guy who  despite those qualities  came to be viewed as the hip, youth-inspiring alternative to Scoldy Establishment Mom.

Not fair! If I were Clinton, I might just have shaved that mature hairdo by now and tried going with an Imperator Furiosa look, just to remind people how long I had been out there gladiating.

Chersevani has taken some of those sour feelings and whipped them into a perfect Clintonian quaff: smart, peppery and sophisticated, shaken with egg white to produce a smooth, unruffled surface. It might even look good in a pantsuit.

Optional garnish: A rolled-up dollar bill from her much-maligned speakers fees.



The Bernie Bees Knees. (Dixie D. Vereen/For The Washington Post)

[Make the recipe: The Bernie Bees Knees]

The Bernie Bees Knees (Bernie Sanders)

Source: Justin Gellert, Caledonia Spirits, Hardwick, Vt.

Its probably particularly off-base to make a fancy cocktail to represent Sanders, who in his amiable rumpledness seems like a guy whod just order whatever beers on tap, and probably buy one for the guy next to him, too.

But to go local  as I felt Sanders would  I tapped Gellert, who came back with a habanero-heated riff on the classic Bees Knees cocktail, made more honeyed with his companys Barr Hill Gin, a cocktailers favorite that has raw honey added before bottling. To many Vermonters, Gellert says, Sanders is already the bees knees. And even if the results werent so good for Sanders on Tuesday, with that habanero shrub, youll still be feeling the burn/Bern.

Optional garnishes: Powdered unicorn; a tantalizing whiff of something that could be authenticity or just higher taxes.



The RMS Kasich. (Dixie D. Vereen/For The Washington Post)

[Make the recipe: The RMS Kasich]

The RMS Kasich (John Kasich)

Source: Lara Mielcarek, Velvet Tango Room, Cleveland

Kasich has spent so much of his time in the Republican debates seeming like the nice guy, the good guy, the tempered guy who, in an indy comedy, would get the girl and open a Frogurt. Unfortunately, this Republican primary hasnt been a sensitive indy comedy. Its been more like Animal House meets Rambo: First Blood.

And in the lead-up to Super Tuesday, Kasich opened his nice-guy mouth wide enough to jam his foot into it, not least when he referred to an early campaign when women came out of their kitchens to support him. That remark, in combination with his action to defund Planned Parenthood, had bartender Lara Mielcarek thinking throwback. She turned to a classic Punch Romaine  not coincidentally, the drink that was served to passengers at the last dinner aboard the Titanic  for inspiration for her brandy, champagne and citrus beauty. The drink, she notes, is sure to get you as sedated and doe-eyed as a housewife grown thick-tongued at midday.

Optional garnish: The New York Timess editorial boards endorsement of Kasich, flamed gently and uselessly over the surface of the drink .



That Boy Aint Right. (Dixie D. Vereen/For The Washington Post)

[Make the recipe: That Boy Aint Right]

That Boy Aint Right (Ted Cruz)

Source: Brad Hensarling and Jason Pollard, the Usual, Fort Worth, Texas

Given his tea party roots, I thought Cruzs drink might end up with some actual tea in it, but instead, Hensarling and Pollard came up with a drink of ingredients representing qualities they would like to see more of in Cruz. The mezcal stands for tolerance and appreciation of our Mexican brothers and sisters, Hensarling says, and the bonded apple brandy is a nod to the Founding Fathers, who  unlike the notoriously combative senator  were able to see past their differences and work together to create a Constitution that serves as a nonpartisan backbone for the legal and political system that governs our daily lives.

Assembled, its a delicious and balanced drink. When flavors in a cocktail just shout over one another rather than play off each other in a complementary fashion, its hard to get a good idea of what the drink is really supposed to be about, says Hensarling, who clearly watched the debates.

Hensarling even made a pitch for drinking it in moderation, with friends. A few libations can certainly improve any conversation, but too many and youll start sounding like Ted Cruz, whose voice is really nothing more than the resonating echoes of the most ignorant banjos that have ever been picked in the heart of the South.

Optional garnish: A tiny floating raft of Canadian poutine hidden under a Texas bluebonnet.



Ryesing Up, Reaching Out. (Dixie D. Vereen/For The Washington Post)

[Make the recipe: Ryesing Up, Reaching Out]

Ryesing Up, Reaching Out (Ben Carson)

Source: Aaron Joseph, formerly of Wit & Wisdom, Baltimore

Rather than incorporate some sleep-inducing herbal tea into his take on Carson as the Calmest Guy in the Padded Room, Joseph played off the retired neurosurgeons recent fruit salad of their lives comments. The name of the drink, he notes, is inspired by the dedication Ben Carson has shown for improving himself from his underprivileged background and becoming what we now see today, an educated individual who has used his hands and mind to help improve those around him.

Joseph brought in multiple citrus fruits  a nod to Carsons current home state of Florida  to a cocktail with a base of rye whiskey from Maryland, where Carson spent much of his life. Joseph notes the drinks smooth and clean taste reflects Carsons demeanor. (As bad as Carson has often been as a candidate  surely Tuesday did him in?  that calm voice is one Id want to hear if I was going under the knife. Unfortunately, its a voice weve barely been able to hear during the screech-fests of the debates, and when we did hear it, too often it was saying inscrutable things about the pyramids and how its owner stabbed someone.)

Optional garnish: A caffeine pill.



El Candidato. (Dixie D. Vereen/For The Washington Post)

[Make the recipe: El Candidato]

El Candidato (Marco Rubio)

Source: Brendan McMahon, Beucherts Saloon, Washington

McMahon, who owns a Capitol Hill bar but lives part-time in Rubios home state of Florida, drew on Rubios Cuban heritage for a riff on the classic El Presidente, using an aged Havana Club and citrus.

I would love to make a deeper Rubio connection here, positing that this cocktail stays robotically on message until the mid-palate, when it suddenly realizes this is its make-or-break moment, develops a personality and starts delivering powerful bursts of flavor, of the above- and below-the-belt variety. (You know what they say about men with small hands, Rubio said of Trump at a recent rally.)

But I cant: This drink is good all the way through.

Optional garnish: Serve with repeated reminders that Barack Obama knows exactly what he is doing.



The Towering Inferno. (Dixie D. Vereen/For The Washington Post)

[Make the recipe: The Towering Inferno]

The Towering Inferno (Donald Trump)

I opted to take Trump myself. Theres just so much to work with: the anger! The orangeness! The hair! But there were so many questions. Should I use only white spirits, to express Trumps not-even-dog-whistle-anymore appeal to a disgruntled white demographic? Should it be carbonated, to suggest the Trump bubble everyone thought would have burst? Given his demagoguery, should his drink incorporate any non-native ingredients?

For a quick consult, I turned to Brooklyn-based drinks historian David Wondrich. To be honest, his drink should probably be based on Polish vodka and Mexican agave nectar, while denying that those are the ingredients, Wondrich said in an email. And it should be very, very white, with a huge orange twist.

I ended up going with Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey, a troublingly popular spirit that appeals to the basest instincts of our palates with its powerful blast of cinnamon. Then, because Trumps so oddly angry for a guy born into millions, I cut it with bitter Cynar and topped it with milk. Unstirred, theres a Trumpish wall between the milk and the liquor. A few drops of Peychauds on top visually represent the GOP bloodbath that has resulted from Trumps campaign. A dangling ringlet of orange peel or a yellow floof of cotton candy finishes the towering inferno.

Optional garnish: A smear of New Jersey bridge tar, left behind when Chris Christie tried to glom onto it.

Allan is a Hyattsville, Md., writer and editor. Follow her on Twitter: @Carrie_the_Red.
The Shakespeare Theatre Company has a long tradition of inviting Hollywood tough guys to star as tragic heroes. Now the theater has added another distinguished protagonist to a long list that includes Harry Hamlin as Henry V, Patrick Page as Coriolanus and Stacy Keach as Richard III: Faran Tahir, who played the terrorist leader Raza in the first Iron Man movie, as Othello.

Such casting is potential box-office bait for guys who might blanch at the idea of accompanying their wives or significant others to a play.

Whatever I can do to get those husbands to go to the theater, I will do, Tahir said in a phone conversation the day Othello opened at Sidney Harman Hall (the play runs through March 27).

[Peter Marks reviews Shakespeare Theatres Othello.]

Director Ron Daniels and I have been talking about doing Othello for years, said Tahir, who hadnt acted onstage for four years. But we had to find the right time for me, and the right theater to support it.

Daniels met Tahir about 20 years ago when he cast the actor as Oberon in A Midsummer Nights Dream at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Mass. They have stayed in touch, even as Daniels has continued his work in Boston and in London as an honorary associate director of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Tahir has spent the past two decades working mostly in television, with recurring roles on such shows as JAG, 24 and Criminal Minds, as well as appearances in blockbuster movies including Iron Man and Star Trek. Tahir says he would prefer to think of those years as time spent raising his kids, commuting easily between Los Angeles and his home in San Diego.

But now that Tahirs children are 20 and 17, he feels free to travel more and connect to his theatrical roots.

I started off in theater. I dont draw those film/TV/theater lines, he said. Its about what story is being told, and how.

The son of a Pakistani theater director and radio host (and the grandson of a playwright), Tahir figured his father would enthusiastically support his decision to become an actor. He did not. He kept asking, Why do you want to do it? Does it go beyond ego feeding and trying to become a star?  Tahir recalled.

Entering the field with flexible expectations was helpful for an actor who, for better or worse, has been cast many times as a post-9/11 terrorist. The role of Othello may be yet another one typically played by an actor with brown skin, but Tahir isnt focused on that. He sees the part as an opportunity to get the storytelling right.

This is a story about a man driven to jealousy, he said. Too often, we have this idea of either glorifying or demonizing people when we should be humanizing them. Thats what weve attempted to do with this Othello. 

Put another way, Daniels and Tahir have embraced the contemporary relevance of the story while avoiding hitting viewers over the head with a politically driven point of view.

It is very interesting where we are today in our political discourse, Tahir said. We are asking the question Can you be American and a Muslim at the same time? Its funny that to Shakespeare, it was okay for the Moor to be a general, but it was not okay for Desdemona to marry one of the Venetians. . . . It is a very intriguing question: How and when are those lines of racism drawn?

Danielss staging will make it clear that Tahir is playing a Muslim  as most Shakespearean scholars now agree Othello was  but not a bad guy, like Raza in Iron Man. And by giving Tahir a chance to explore moral ambiguity, theater brings a welcome change.

The real pleasure that I have, he said, is telling a story and acting it out onstage.

Engaging audiences

As a recent American University graduate living in the Logan Circle neighborhood in Northwest Washington, Randa Abu-Rahmeh had walked past Studio Theatre many times. But she had never been inside  that is, until she interviewed to become the theaters first community engagement manager.

She got the job. Now Abu-Rahmeh, 22, is tasked with getting more young people brunching on 14th Street NW to come inside, too.

Her job grew out of an effort to draw in more patrons from the District, as well as a grant from a Doris Duke Charitable Foundation program called Building Demand for the Arts. The 18 arts organizations that received the grant  including Imagination Stage  each had to partner with an artist and designate a target demographic group. After consulting with Kent Gash, who directed Choir Boy at the theater last year, Studio chose African American LGBT youth.

That may seem like an awfully specific audience, but Cheryl Ikemiya, a senior program officer for the foundation, said the $40,000 exploration grant comes with a lot of leeway. Its a big experiment, she said. We were thinking about things like changing demographics. Who comes to the theater? Is it really reflective of our society? Are we attracting younger audiences? Are we attracting millennials?

In her first month on the job, Abu-Rahmeh has formed alliances with the nearby Whitman-Walker Health clinic and D.C. public schools, which will be sending students to see Hedda Gabler at Studio. She hopes both efforts will help her reach black LGBT youth. But her broader goal is to get more neighbors of all demographic groups to see Studio as more than that big warehouse-y looking building with faces on it.

Midsummer headed to China

While Studio looks to become better known in Logan Circle, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is bolstering its reputation abroad.

The theaters 2012 production of A Midsummer Nights Dream  remounted last year as its annual Free for All performance  has been chosen as the headlining act for the 2016 Macau Arts Festival, which begins April 30 in the Chinese city known for its casinos and cosmopolitan vibe. Other international acts include Robert Wilsons globally touring production of Krapps Last Tape, French choreographer Jerome Bels collaboration with the Swiss troupe Theater HORA, and Obsession, a work by Japanese choreographer Saburo Teshigawara.

Midsummer director Ethan McSweeny went to Macau last month on a scouting trip, and theater staffers are busy trying to figure out how to pack donkey heads, chandeliers and fairy costumes into boxes that can get through customs. Several cast members will reprise their roles, including Adam Green, who by playing Puck for the third time, will finally put a girdle round the earth.
Round Two of Donald Trump vs. Megyn Kelly turned out to be not much of a fight. During the prime-time debate Thursday night, Kelly landed a series of blows that seemed to leave the GOPs front-runner reeling.

The candidate and the cable news host he seems to love to hate mixed it up for a second time since August at the Republican debate in Detroit. This time, Kelly put the partys front-runner on the defensive with tough questioning about his failed for-profit school, Trump University, and by airing a series of video clips in which Trump made contradictory statements about accepting Syrian refugees, the war in Afghanistan and President George W. Bushs record on the Iraq War.

How is this telling like it is? asked Kelly, the co-moderator at the event, after showing Trump on both sides of the issues  in one instance, as Kelly noted, in the course of a single day.

It was, in some respects, almost a payback performance by Kelly, whom Trump has savaged since the first Republican debate during the summer. In that encounter, Trump objected to Kellys opening question about his history of making disparaging comments about women. He later suggested that Kelly was biased and angry: You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her  wherever, he said, in a comment many interpreted as vulgar and sexist.

Trump then began a long campaign of taunting Kelly on Twitter, calling her a lightweight reporter, so average in every way, and suggesting she was a bimbo.

Republican Donald Trump is saying he "most likely" won't attend the debate Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly is set to co-moderate. Here's a look back at the clash that started with an earlier debate in August 2015. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

Kelly has remained professional throughout Trumps attacks on her, generally refusing to respond at all. The pair havent spoken since the first debate; he has appeared on several Fox News programs since then but not her prime-time program.

[Rivals pile on Trump in GOP debate]

On Thursday, Kelly, who is an attorney, came prepared to challenge Trump with a series of nearly prosecutorial questions and factual statements that countered Trumps assertions.

At one point it appeared that the debate was between Kelly and Trump, not among Trump and rivals Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and John Kasich.

When Trump argued that the Better Business Bureau had given Trump University an A rating for its business practices, the Fox host pointed out that its last rating  in 2010  was a D-minus as a result of numerous complaints from former students.

Lets bring the viewers up to speed, said Kelly over Trumps objections. Let me set the record, then you guys can have at it. Trump University, a business that you started, was marketed to many people, and now there is a class-action [lawsuit] of over 5,000 plaintiffs against you, Mr. Trump.

When Trump countered that the lead plaintiff was abandoning the suit, Kelly fought back.

1 of 17 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  Top quotes from the eleventh Republican presidential debate View Photos The candidates shared these comments during the Fox News GOP debate in Detroit. Caption The candidates shared these comments during the Fox News GOP debate in Detroit. Wait 1 second to continue.

Okay, stand by, she said. What happened in that case was you countersued her. The court threw out your countersuit, made you pay her legal fees.

Once more, Trump attempted to object, but Kelly kept at it. Stand by, she ordered again. This is what the court of appeals found. They said the plaintiffs against you are like the Madoff victims, a reference to convicted financial felon Bernard Madoff.

Fox News then cut to a screen shot of the U.S. appeals court ruling, with a quote reading, victims of con artists sing the praises of their victimizers until they realize they have been fleeced.

The Detroit debate was supposed to be the third encounter between Kelly and Trump, but the second meeting never happened. The billionaire businessman boycotted the last Fox News-sponsored Republican debate a few days before the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 1. Trump objected to having Kelly as a moderator and walked away after Fox issued what he deemed to be disrespectful comments defending her participation.

Trumps absence from that event seemed to hurt Fox. The Iowa forum, sans Trump, attracted just 12.5 million viewers, or only about half the 24 million who tuned in to see Trump and Kelly in the August debate. The August event was the highest-rated primary debate ever.

[GOP debates clear loser: the GOP]

Trump greeted Kelly pleasantly when Thursdays debate began, saying, Youre looking well tonight when she addressed him for the first time. There was no mention of the earlier unpleasantness between the candidate and the journalist, or Trumps on-again, off-again feud with Fox News.

But Kelly seemed to succeed in rattling the hyper-confident Trump later in the evening when she rolled out the video clips of Trumps contradictory comments  the kind of package that Fox News deployed against Rubio and Cruz in the January debate that Trump skipped.

In response, Trump said he likes to be flexible and is willing to change his mind in the face of new facts.

Kelly offered a withering retort: You change your tune on so many things. People are saying, what is his true core?

I have never seen a successful person who didnt have a certain degree of flexibility, Trump responded. You have to be flexible because you learn.

On the issue of accepting Syrian refugees, for example, he said he changed his position because the number had increased significantly. Trump has advocated a complete ban on immigration to the United States by Muslims.

But Trumps response opened him up to an attack from Rubio. Theres a difference between flexibility and saying whatever you want to get [people] to do what you want, Rubio said.
Our readers share tales of their rambles around the world.

Who: Gay and T. Woodson Woody Rogers (authors) of McLean; daughter Anne Davis of Leesburg; and daughter Kathryn Purselle, along with her husband, Matt, and children, Louise, Caroline and Thomas, all of Decatur, Ga.

Where, when, why: For eight days in September, we took the family to Yosemite National Park and San Francisco to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. We stayed in a house in west Yosemite (inside the park, about 20 to 30 minutes from Yosemite Village) and a house in San Francisco (close to the waterfront and Golden Gate Bridge). Rather than going to a foreign country, we wanted to see one of our own countrys famous national parks and iconic cities.

Woody Rogers captured this shot on a whale watching cruise in Monterey Bay, Calif. (T. Woodson Rogers )

[Interested in sharing your own What a Trip story? Apply here.]

Highlights and high points: We spent four nights in Yosemite Valley and were awed by its beauty and diversity: the golden meadows, the huge sequoia trees, the steep cliffs and rock climbers on El Capitan. There was little water in the falls, as we had expected, but the large, boulder-strewn creek beds provided some wonderful climbing for Matt and his three children. In San Francisco, we stopped for a whale-watching cruise. We saw orcas (killer whales) harassing a humpback whale; after they tired of that and left, we saw humpback whales lunging out of the water to feed. The activities were so unusual that even the ship captain and his crew had their cameras out. After that, we were off to enjoy the hills and unique beauty of San Francisco for four days. As cyclists, my wife and I appreciated how bike-friendly the city is but were awed at those steep, steep hills.

Cultural connection or disconnect: We thought that Chinatown would be a tourist spot, but when we visited on Saturday morning, it was like visiting a bustling local farmers market. There was a festival in progress, but we were amazed by the number of people doing their weekly grocery shopping.

Biggest laugh or cry: Gay and Woody had one short cry, which, luckily, soon became a laugh. We had two rental cars, and on the day we went to Muir Woods, we needed both. Those in the first car left while we searched for the keys to the second car. After 15 minutes of tearing the house apart and what seemed like hours of worry, we called our family members in the first car and realized that they had the keys.

How unexpected: We knew there were fires in California, but we didnt realize how close they would be to Yosemite  and we were surprised by how much the smoke obscured our view of the valley. The sights were still grand, but not as clear as they could have been. Luckily for us, by the end of our first day, the wind picked up, and by the third, most of the smoke had been blown away.

Fondest memento or memory: Being with flexible, hardy, happy travelers from 9 to 76 years old! We left early each morning and didnt return until dinnertime or later, doing lots of walking, hiking and rock climbing every day. Everyone stayed upbeat and positive and was a joy to be with.

To tell us about your own trip, go to washingtonpost.com/travel and fill out the What a Trip form with your fondest memories, finest moments and favorite photos.


A view of La Lanchas thatch-roofed bungalows, perched on a hillside in a tropical forest above Lake Peten Itza in Guatemala. (Mary Beth Sheridan/The Washington Post)

We were hungry, we were tired, it was pushing 8 p.m., and now we were crawling along a dirt road through a Guatemalan forest in an SUV, slamming into potholes the size of steamer trunks.

Finally, we swerved off the road. Welcome to your new home, our driver announced.

Before us rose a giant, peaked, open-air pavilion with a thatched roof. Dozens of tiny candles twinkled in the warm night, illuminating tables set for dinner and stone stairs snaking down the mountain to bungalows. As we sank into a couch near the bar, gratefully accepting cool washcloths and glasses of mixed pineapple, orange and hibiscus juice, we could dimly make out the huge lake below the pavilion, a view framed by lazy palms and an orange tree.

It looked as perfect as a movie set. That was no accident.

La Lancha is one of three small hotels in Central America owned by film director Francis Ford Coppola. (The other two are in Belize.) Situated on the banks of Guatemalas second-largest lake, Peten Itza, La Lancha is the smallest and simplest, with just 10 bungalows  though its one of Guatemalas most exquisite boutique hotels. Its said to be Coppolas favorite.



A dining area at La Lancha. (La Lancha)

My 14-year-old niece Megan and I traveled to this part of northern Guatemala last August for the same reason most tourists do: to see the Mayan ruins at Tikal, a major pre-Columbian political and military center. Although many foreigners day-trip from Guatemala City, an hours plane ride away, we decided to linger awhile. I loved the idea of a nature retreat  a place of no TV, of birdsong in the morning, of monkeys swinging through the trees. A jungle getaway, but with a decent wine list, thanks to Coppolas California winery.

Coppola started building his hotels after falling in love with the jungle in the Philippines, where he had filmed Apocalypse Now in the late 1970s. At his Guatemalan hotel, we felt as if we were immersed in the tropical forest  complete with a daily wake-up call from howler monkeys. But it was nature with a movie directors touch: Hillside paths were lined with carved tree-branch banisters, a lovely swimming pool was tucked into a scenic overlook, rolled-up umbrellas appeared at our casita before each evenings downpour.

After checking in on our first night, we settled into a dinner table overlooking the darkened lake. A cool glass of Coppola Pinot Grigio took the edge off the humid night. But if the wine list was pure Napa, the cuisine paid homage to Guatemala. My fish was from the lake, expertly grilled with garlic butter and served with a cilantro sauce and beans and rice. Megan ordered a traditional Mayan dish known as kakik, a turkey stew flavored with achiote and coriander. Delicious, she pronounced. (For the less adventurous, the restaurant also offers a good steak.)



A shrimp dinner served at La Lancha. (La Lancha)

Our room, too, combined Guatemalan heritage with a California sense of chic. Colorful woven blankets covered the crisp sheets on the queen-size bed and the pullout couch in our bungalow, and embroidered peasant blouses (huipiles) hung like tapestries on the pristine white walls. But the room also featured air-conditioning, bathrobes and an espresso machine. The hotel does its best to be green, with organic bath products provided in large containers in the marble-floored shower and with stoppered glass bottles in the room regularly filled with drinking water. (Fresh cookies made with locally grown nuts also appeared daily.) Everything was spotlessly clean. For Megan, the best feature of the cabin was its covered deck, where she spent late afternoons lounging in the hammock and looking out at the tranquil blue waters of Peten Itza.



Inside one of the resorts rain forest casitas. (La Lancha)

The lake isnt nearly as famous as Atitlan, a volcano-ringed body of water in southern Guatemala. But we found it mesmerizing, its water turning from green to turquoise to pale blue as the day wore on, with lightning zapping its far shore during evening rainstorms. The water was strikingly clear, perfect for swimming, and we spent one morning quietly paddling along several miles of shoreline in one of the hotels two canoes, provided free to guests. There is no real beach, though  just a dock  and most days we recovered from our morning hikes by lazing on chaise longues near the pool.

The hotel is not for the faint of feet. It was 98 steps up the hill from our bungalow to the restaurant in the pavilion, and another 200 steps from our casita down to the lake. This all suited Megan just fine  she was in training for the high school track team. As for me, I was happy to have an excuse to work off the hotels thick, homemade tortillas. The hotel staff skipped up and down the steps like ancient Spartan foot-runners, in one case hauling a massage table to our bungalow. (Theres no spa, but a masseuse is on call.)



Guests at La Lancha can relax on hammocks while listening to the sounds of the rain forest. (La Lancha)

About the only complaint I noticed in La Lanchas guest registry was about the cost of its excursions. And they are indeed pricey for Central America. On our first full day, we traveled with a guide and a few other guests across the lake in a small wooden motorboat, or lancha, to the town of Flores, with its pretty, Spanish-colonial-era pastel houses. The trip ran us $80 per person, including a tour of Flores and a hike in the nearby Ixpanpajul nature reserve, where we swayed on remarkable wood-and-metal footbridges that stretched hundreds of feet between the treetops, as birds flitted by at eye level.

The highlight of our stay, of course, was visiting the Tikal ruins. The park was as impressive for its towering gray Mayan pyramids as for the wildlife in the surrounding jungle  spider monkeys, toucans, parakeets and raccoonlike animals known as coati. It was $135 each for the trip, which included transportation in an SUV, a four-hour private tour, and breakfast and lunch.

Most costs at La Lancha, though, werent that high for such a well-tended boutique hotel. Our lake-view room, during the low season, was just $199 per night (plus the 22 percent tourism tax). In addition, we got a $100 credit for staying four nights. This year, rates start at $149 for the rain forest casitas and $259 for the ones with lake views, though they are higher during the winter holidays and in the peak season of Jan. 1 to April 30, when there is less rain. A glass of wine was about $10, which seemed reasonable for a remote area of Guatemala, where the wine selection is not exactly plentiful. (The hotel wine list consisted of a dozen Coppola offerings, including red, white and sparkling.)



A woman prepares food at the resort. (La Lancha)

The hotel charged about $50 for the hour-long ride to the airport, a princely sum in Guatemala. But I paid it because I didnt want to trust my fate to a taxi and I couldnt imagine renting a car and wending my way along dirt roads in the dark, even though I speak Spanish. (The State Department rates the threat of violent crime in Guatemala as critical, though it notes that U.S. tourists generally arent targeted.)

The hotel occupancy was quite low in August  maybe because its not well known or because the season of heavy rains was approaching. On our last night, we were the only guests at La Lancha. Megan and I joked about it being our hotel  with a helpful employee occasionally popping up to take a drink order or to offer a towel as we emerged from the pool. Maybe were characters in a secret movie, Megan ventured. If so, it was a movie with a happy ending.

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Guatemalan textiles, straight from the weavers hands to yours

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This weeks best travel bargains around the globe.

Land

The Peninsula New York, in Midtown Manhattan, has a family package that includes 50 percent off an adjoining room, plus other kid-friendly perks. The Camp Peninsula deal starts at $1,350 per night and includes two connecting rooms, a kids picnic lunch at the pool, free dining for children age 10 and younger, an in-room tent, welcome and turndown amenities for kids, a scavenger hunt, and unlimited movies on demand. Add about $200 tax. By comparison, the starting rate for a junior executive suite is $995, and the connecting superior room is from $695. Use promo code NYFAMILY. Info: 800-262-9467, peninsula.com/newyork.

Geringer Global Travel is offering $250 off a 13-day Bhutan trip led by the countrys former U.N. ambassador, Lhatu Wangchuk. With the discount, the Oct. 31 trip starts at $5,370 per person double and includes 12 nights hotel accommodations; a flight from Bumthang to Paro; round-trip air from Bangkok to Paro; all meals, including dinner at the ambassadors home; transfers and ground transportation; entrance fees; Bhutan visa; and taxes. Book by April 15. Info: 877-255-7438, geringerglobaltravel.com.

Stay for three nights at a select Astotel property in Paris from March 26 and receive the third night free. The Easter Extend-Your-Weekend deal applies to seven hotels in the ninth arrondissement. For example, the three-night package at the Hotel Astra Opera starts at $318, including taxes, a savings of $135. You must pay in full at the time of booking. Info: en.astotel.com/promo/special-easter-offer.

Sea

Save 20 percent on three voyages with Disney Cruise Line. The deal applies to a three-night Bahamas cruise departing March 25 (valid on veranda cabins with restrictions); a seven-night Western Caribbean cruise on April 24 (applies to ocean-view cabins); and a 12-night Norwegian Fjords and Iceland cruise leaving June 17 (inside staterooms). For example, a couple aboard the Disney Magic cruise sailing from Dover, England, to Copenhagen pays from $4,962 for a guaranteed inside stateroom, including taxes. Info: 800-951-3532, disneycruise.disney.go.com.

Victoria Cruises has a two-for-one offer on select 2016 cruises along Chinas Yangtze River. The deal applies to the Three Gorges Highlights cruise, which sails for four nights from Yichang to Chongqing or for three nights on the reverse itinerary. The price starts at $880 per couple, including port charges. To receive the discount, you must purchase the shore excursion package, which is also two-for-one and costs $90 per couple. The two-for-one promotion also applies to the luxury amenities program, which provides such VIP perks as upper-deck cabins and free WiFi; price is $200 per couple. Sale is valid on superior cabins only. Service charge of $25 per person, in lieu of tips, applies. Book by March 31. Info: 800-348-8084, victoriacruises.com/about/specials.

Air

Norwegian Air Shuttle is offering fares from $178 round trip for nonstop service from BWI Marshall to Guadeloupe or Martinique. Taxes are included. Seasonal flights operate through March and from November through January. Lowest fares are mostly sold out in March. Connecting flights on other airlines start at $1,042 to Guadeloupe and $741 to Martinique. Info: norwegian.com/us.

Package

Apple Vacations has discounted an all-inclusive vacation to Grand Bahia Principe Coba in Mexicos Riviera Maya. The deal starts at $899 per person double for Saturday departures in May and includes round-trip air from BWI Marshall, a junior suite with meals and drinks, airport transfers, and taxes. Priced separately, the trip costs about $250 more per couple. Book by March 17. Info: 800-517-2000, applevacations.com.

 Carol Sottili, Andrea Sachs

Submit travel deals to whatsthedeal@washpost.com. Prices were verified at press time Thursday, but deals sell out and availability is not guaranteed. Some restrictions may apply.
Its December on Tasmania, and my shoulders are baking in the late afternoon sun as Greg Irons, the owner and director of Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary, climbs into an enclosure with two Tasmanian devils. Prince and Prada, a male and a female, are siblings that were hand-raised at Bonorong after their mother abandoned them.

Prince is reluctant to emerge from his burrow, but Prada ambles up to Irons and climbs in his lap. Look at this, the ferocious Tasmanian devil, he says. Youve been a good girl today, havent you, sausage? he asks, scratching the top of her head. Her white whiskers quiver.

He stands up, Pradas head resting on his elbow, one hand cradling her hindquarters. Her left paw dangles languidly over his arm. I give her a pat, the black fur softer and less wiry than it looks. Im going to have to put you down now, he says, kneeling. She springs to the ground, grunting in protest.

Although this is my first time meeting Irons, its not my first visit to Bonorong. I have the good fortune of visiting Australia annually  a perk of being married to an Aussie  and, as an ardent animal lover, have seen my share of the countrys sanctuaries, zoos and parks. But its Bonorong that I keep coming back to.

Located about 45 minutes outside Tasmanias capital of Hobart, Bonorong is the anti-zoo. There is no train ride, no tinny narration by overenthusiastic guides. Instead, there are typical Australian fauna and species unique to Tasmania. Many of the animals are temporary residents: injured or orphaned, theyre released if and when its appropriate. Bonorong also runs wildlife rescue and seabird rehabilitation programs  and houses the worlds only retirement community for Tasmanian devils, called Devils Run. And Devils Run is why Im meeting with Irons.

Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary is home to typical Australian fauna as well as species unique to Tasmania. (Eagranie Yuh)

While the Looney Tunes character snarls like a maniac, the actual Tasmanian devil is a timid, carnivorous marsupial about the size of a Jack Russell terrier, though stockier, lower to the ground and with a bigger head. Its black fur is punctuated by a white stripe across its chest.

Devils used to be all over Australia, but they became extinct on the mainland prior to European settlement, Irons explains. Now found only on Tasmania, the species, listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, has a number of factors conspiring against it. Many of the crepuscular creatures are hit by cars each year as they scavenge roadkill from busy streets. Some are attacked by dogs. Less common these days is deliberate poisoning by people who view the devil as a pest. But the most prominent reason is what Irons calls The Disease: devil facial tumor disease (DFTD), a contagious form of cancer that has decimated the wild devil population.

On the devils odds, Irons is both sanguine and pragmatic. Its an incredibly hardy animal. It can eat any form of meat. It can have one big feed and not eat for five days, no worries at all, and it only needs a little bit of water to survive, he says. But can they handle the threats they face? Yeah, they can handle one. But can they handle all four, at the same time, when they all live on one island? Nah, probably not.

In response, the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program has established an insurance population: captive breeding devils that represent the known genetic strains in the wild. In conjunction, there are vaccine-development projects and international research collaborations, and there have been several releases of captive populations into controlled areas. Because of the fragility of the wild devil population, Prince and Prada cant be released. If we released them in the wrong spot, we could provide a bridge for the disease and make it worse, Irons says.

Three years ago, Irons inquired about starting an insurance population at Bonorong and learned that the real need was space for older devils that were past breeding age. (Devils typically live to be 5 or 6 and breed between ages 2 and 4.) Once a devils done its thing, what do you do? Just euthanize it? Thats not right, he said. Thats where we said, Why dont we build a giant retirement village? 

From Bonorongs upper level, we make our way down to Devils Run, which sprawls across the bottom of the sanctuary. Past visitors frantically photographing four baby wombats bottle-feeding from a rangers lap, past another group cooing over a sleepy koala radiating the smell of menthol, we head down a sloped meadow speckled with gray Forester kangaroos and their smaller, redder cousins, the Bennetts wallaby. Some are eating out of visitors hands while others laze in the shade. Suddenly, a sprinkler goes off, sending marsupials careening in every direction.

Irons unlatches the Devils Run gate, and we follow the path through the acres-long space that spans the width of Bonorongs property. He points out a bungee cord dangling from a tree. We attach meat to it so if a devils not with others, it has to have a bit of a fight to get a meal. A few feet over, a gnarled log buttressed with twigs and rocks doesnt look like much, but apparently its prime real estate. Its just really appetizing, Irons says. We have 40 dens, and theres always a devil in there.

Greg Irons cradles Prada, a female Tasmanian devil who was hand-raised at Bonorong. (Eagranie Yuh)

Further on, he points to a stack of large, flat rocks that form a squat burrow. Suddenly, a small face peers around the back of it: black nose, brown snout, white whiskers. Above bright black eyes, pink triangular ears sit at attention. And just as quickly, its gone.

Do you know which one that was? I ask.

Nah, he says. I couldnt see well enough to see the markings. But it was definitely a female.

How can you tell?

The females have a pointy nose. The males are boof heads, he said, using Australian slang for someone with a large, squarish head (and often an implied lack of intellect).

Unlike Prince and Prada, who have seen a daily stream of visitors from Day 1, the retired devils are used to a more solitary lifestyle. Although Devils Run is an important educational tool for Bonorong, the point is not for visitors to see a geriatric devil; the point is for the devils to have a place to roam in peace while they live out their days. At the moment, there are only eight residents in Devils Run, which slims our sighting odds. If there were 20 in here, youd probably only see one or two, Irons says.

Weve already seen one, so Im happy. But on our way out, we get even luckier. One of the devils concrete ponds is being refurbished, so a bright-blue paddling pool is immediately visible  and inside it, a devil stands the equivalent of knee-deep in water. He considers us for a moment, then clambers out of the pool before shuffling away on a wonky left hip. The rustle of grass, the flick of his tail, and hes gone.

Yuh is the author of The Chocolate Tasting Kit and blogs at thewelltemperedchocolatier.com.

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A Coast Guard HH-52A helicopter that will be exhibited in the Air and Space Museum was used to rescue people from a fiery collision of two Liberian ships, an oil tanker and a freighter, near Galveston, Tex., in 1979. (Chris Kilgore/Family photo)

Even before the Coast Guard helicopter got airborne that morning, the crew could see the glow from the fire on the horizon, 40 miles away.

Two ships, one of them a fully loaded oil tanker, had collided in the Gulf of Mexico near Galveston, Tex. Both were ablaze, and one was steaming in circles out of control. Dozens were dead, and more than 20 survivors were trapped on board.

Three men  a battle-tested Vietnam War aviator, a veteran Coast Guard pilot on his last duty watch and a young crewman who took his Bible on every flight  scrambled into the orange-and-white helicopter and prepared for takeoff.

They radioed that they were Rescue 1426. The rescue designation gave them air priority, and 1426 was the choppers tail number. In the pre-dawn darkness, they removed the wheel chocks and ran up the engine. The ungainly aircraft, top speed 100 mph, got ready to lift off.

It was shortly after 5 a.m., Nov. 1, 1979.

On April 14, the Smithsonian Institutions National Air and Space Museum, the nations premier steward of aviation heritage, plans to unveil its first aircraft from the U.S. Coast Guard  the old Sikorsky HH-52A helicopter, tail number 1426.

Thirty-six years after it flew into the inferno outside Galveston, plucking 22 sailors from the blazing ships, it will hang from the ceiling of the Air and Space Museums Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center with other famed aircraft of the past.

Until a few years ago, the harrowing story of Rescue 1426 had been mostly forgotten.

The helicopter was discovered in 2012 by retired Coast Guard aviators who found it at a vocational school in California, where it was used to train mechanics.

They had it shipped across the country to a facility in Elizabeth City, N.C., where it was taken apart, refurbished piece by piece, and last month trucked to the Udvar-Hazy Center, in Chantilly, Va., for reassembly.

The Coast Guard Aviation Association, the fraternal group behind what it calls Project Phoenix, had rejected four previous candidates, including one it bought on eBay, before it focused on 1426.

At the time, the association was just seeking a sound, restorable aircraft, suitable for Smithsonian display.

It was unaware, at first, of the helicopters history.

[Men of a Coast Guard weather ship finally get their medals.]

Did I know at the beginning? said retired Coast Guard Rear Adm. Robert L. Johanson, who heads the project. No. I didnt know anything about it. . . . But we found out.

No time to waste

A few minutes after 5 a.m. that Thursday, the search-and-rescue hotline rang at the Coast Guard air station at Ellington Field in Houston.

The on-call rescuers, J.C. Cobb, 38, and Chris Kilgore, 31, and crewman Tom Wynn Jr., 24, were sleeping in the ready area of the hangar.

Their zip-up orange flight suits and black zip-up boots were placed by their beds, where they could dress in seconds.

The Coast Guard station in Galveston was calling to report a ship collision just outside the entrance to Galveston Bay.

An outbound Liberian freighter, the Mimosa, empty except for its wooden packing dunnage, had collided with a Liberian tanker, the Burmah Agate, loaded with more than 300,000 barrels of Nigerian crude.

The collision ignited the Burmah Agates oil, spilling into the Mimosa. Both ships were ablaze, and flaming oil was spilling onto the surface. Sailors were dying on the ships and in the burning water.

Cobb, Kilgore and Wynn bolted from bed, dressed and got the ready helicopter out of the hangar.

Cobb, a lieutenant commander and 20-year Coast Guard veteran, took the right-hand, pilots seat.

He had almost 4,000 hours of flying under his belt. He had flown to seven plane crashes, innumerable sinkings, floods and fires. The only thing I havent been to is a train wreck, he said.

Kilgore, a lieutenant junior grade who had flown Army helicopters in Vietnam and had been shot down twice and wounded once, was in the left-hand, co-pilots seat. He had flown his first combat mission in Vietnam when he was 19.

Wynn, a petty officer and aviation electricians mate second class, was the son of a Coast Guardsman and had grown up with the service. He was wearing a gunners belt that tethered him to the ceiling.

The cargo door, through which he could hoist survivors with a metal rescue basket, was open.

As they got ready to take off, Cobb and Kilgore noticed that the helicopters radar altimeter wasnt working. This was a crucial instrument that helped tell how far off the surface they were.

It was against Coast Guard regulations to fly over water at night without it, Cobb said in a telephone interview last month.

He and Kilgore paused. Both of us knew the regs, Cobb said. Both of us knew what was going on. I made the decision.

They took off and headed for Galveston.

A Coast Guard relic

The old helicopter had been sitting outside at the North Valley Occupational Centers aviation facility in the Van Nuys area of Los Angeles for about five years when Bob Johanson first saw it.

Its paint had faded in the sun. And there were wooden steps and a railing leading up to the cargo door.

The facility, which trains aircraft mechanics, had acquired the HH-52A after the model was phased out by the Coast Guard in 1989. Rescue 1426 had been there ever since.

[Wreck of a U-Boat, attacked by Coast Guard, is found off Cape Hatteras.]

The HH-52A was a curious helicopter that could land on water to make rescues. It had a boat hull and carried an anchor.

Johanson and the Coast Guard Aviation Association had been searching for a good helicopter since 2005. The Coast Guard is marking the centennial of its aviation service this year, and the Smithsonian had long wanted a Coast Guard aircraft, said museum specialist Roger Connor.

In 2005, the association had found three HH-52As languishing in the weeds at the Armys Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.

The hope was that one of them, using parts from the others, would be restorable, Johanson said in a telephone interview last month.

But the work was going to cost a lot of money and take a lot of time, and the plan foundered.

In 2009, the association discovered an old HH-52A for sale on eBay and purchased it for about $9,000, Johanson said. But restoring that turned out to require time, and space, and that plan didnt work out either, he said.

In 2012, Johanson, who lives outside Annapolis, learned about another one in California and went to take a look.

Aside from the weathering, it was in excellent shape. Its tail number was 1426.

Johanson asked if the school would part with it so it could go to the Smithsonian. The school was amenable but didnt want to lose such a good training tool.

So a trade was arranged.

The Coast Guard was then getting rid of a fleet of small Falcon jets, and a deal was made to swap one of the jets for the schools HH-52A.

By then, Johanson said, the association had uncovered the helicopters history.

A sea of fire

As Rescue 1426 neared the collision site, the three Coast Guardsmen could see the fire raging on the tanker.

There was a sea of fire around it, so its got a fire footprint much larger than the tanker itself, Kilgore, 67, of Rowlett, Tex., said in a telephone interview last month.

As the helicopter hovered near the tanker, Wynn, 61, spotted a burned body, covered in oil, face down in the water, he said in a telephone interview last month.

He dropped a data marker buoy with a radio transmitter so the body could be recovered later.

Then he spotted more bodies. These were on the deck of the ship, and they were blackened and on fire.

Theres men burning on the fantail, he told the cockpit.

How many? he said Kilgore asked.

I see at least two, maybe more, Wynn said he replied.

We couldnt save them, he recalled. There was just no way.

The helicopter resumed its search for survivors.

Suddenly, as Wynn remembers the sequence of events, there was a huge explosion aboard the tanker, and a mushroom of fire erupted.

A blast of heat blew into the helicopter and hit him in the face. I could feel that hot, hot air, he said. The aircraft was tossed, but Cobb quickly regained control, Wynn said.

It was intense, Cobb, 74, of Ingram, Tex., recalled. I wasnt frightened. Maybe I should have been.

Moments later, Wynn said, he saw two people perched on a railing under an overhang at the back of the tanker. They were there because the deck was too hot, they said later, and were getting ready to jump.

Wynn lowered the rescue basket, directing Cobb over the intercom  right a few feet, up a few feet, down a few feet.

Because of the overhang, Wynn could only swing the basket toward them. He tried a few times. Finally he got it close enough that the men leaped off the railing, grabbed the basket and climbed in.

They would have died if theyd missed, Wynn said.

He hauled them in.

Finding no more survivors on the tanker, the helicopter flew to the Mimosa, some distance away, where a group was clustered together on the ships bridge.

The Mimosa was out of control, steaming in circles around its dropped anchor.

Plus, it had a forest of cargo cranes on its deck that made rescuing the sailors even more hazardous.

As Wynn lowered the basket, several men grabbed it and jumped in. He pulled them up and lowered it again. More piled in, and he retrieved them.

The chopper began to fill up. As space ran low, Wynn had the sailors sit on one anothers laps.

Cobb and Kilgore, meanwhile, struggled to keep the helicopter over the burning ship.

They were worried about the stress on the aircrafts transmission and kept a close eye on its weight and balance.

Finally, there was no more room inside, and it was time to go. Rescue 1426 was crammed with 12 survivors and the three Coast Guardsmen.

There was 15 of us! Wynn said.

Cobb now had to transition from a hover to forward flight, which required the helicopter to head toward the surface to gain speed, Cobb recalled.

We were in a really high hover, Cobb said. Were at maximum power. We kind of rolled off the side of the ship . . . [to] lower the nose and try to pick up forward air speed.

We descended toward the water, and were picking up speed, we want to stop our descent at, you know, 15 feet, and kind of skim along the water, he said. And . . . the helicopter wouldnt climb. Were just blasting along the water.

It was interesting, he said. What we did was we just kind of milked it up. Wed pull up a little bit, get a little bit higher. . . . We milked it all the way up to 300 feet. I thought I was in hog heaven when I got to 300 feet.

Cobb made for a nearby oil rig and dropped off the survivors.

The aircraft made two more trips to the Mimosa that morning, rescuing six sailors on one run and four on another, Kilgore recalled.

By then, another helicopter had arrived to help. Rescue 1426 was low on fuel, and it headed back to Houston.

More than 30 men, most of them Taiwanese sailors from the Burmah Agate, died in the collision, according to an official report. Twenty-five of the Mimosas 26-man crew were saved. The Burmah Agate burned for two months.

The three men from the 1426 went separate ways after the Coast Guard. Kilgore became a lawyer. Cobb became a registered nurse. Wynn went into business, taught in a Florida prison and served as a missionary.

All three plan to attend the Smithsonian unveiling next month.

It has been 35-plus years since I have seen Chris and Tom and the 1426, Cobb wrote in an email. I trusted my life to the men I served with. . . . That bond survives.
Grant Nielson, 4, left to right, Madison "Maddie" Nielson, 2, and McKinley Nielsen, 1, play with bubbles supplied by their father, Jesse Nielsen, right, while their mother, Jennifer Nielsen, right center, looks on at the family's home in Arlington. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)

Forget the campaign going on in the rest of the country. Jesse and Jennifer Nielsen are in the midst of a presidential election within their own household.

Should they vote for Reagan? Opt for Kennedy?

The Arlington couple needs to choose a presidential namesake for their fourth child.

The Nielsens have three children, all named for presidents: Grant, 4, for Ulysses S., who was in the White House from 1869 to 1877; Madison, 2, for our fourth president, James; and little girl McKinley, 1, named for William, who was elected in 1896.

Theyre expecting their fourth in May. Since five presidents have shared surnames with a predecessor, the Nielsens are down to just 36 options to choose from.

Jesse Nielsen, left, watches as his daughters, Madison "Maddie" Nielson, 2, center, and McKinley Nielsen, 1, bottom center, play with bubbles while Jesse's son, Grant Nielsen, 4, top center, stands next to his mother, Jennifer Nielsen at the family's home in Arlington. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)

Some names are clearly out: Can you imagine baby Fillmore, Van Buren or Buchanan? Not hardly.

This baby will be a girl, which rules out more. A boy could be named for President Arthur (21st president Chester A., that is) or Jackson (Andrew, seventh president) or Harrison (either Benjamin, No. 23, or William Henry, No. 9). But not a daughter.

Theres no one choice, really, that were like, Oh, we really like that one,  Jennifer Nielsen said.

And everywhere they turn, they get more advice.

One friend pointed out that Presidents Grant, McKinley and Madison, appear on the $50, $500 and $5,000 bills, respectively. He opined that 50-cent coin Kennedy would be the best fit for an obscure monetary theme.

[All the presidents on our money  even the $100,000 bill]

Even Grants preschool class has gotten in on the task. The 4-year-olds teacher went through the list of presidents of the United States, asking the children which name they preferred for Grants baby sister.

Jennifer Nielsen, left to right, poses for a portrait with her children, Grant Nielson, 4, Madison "Maddie" Nielson, 2, McKinley Nielsen, 1, and Jennifer's husband, Jesse Nielsen at the family's home in Arlington. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)

Grant, Madison and McKinley Nielsen are still a bit young to understand the weight of history that comes with their names. They have received books about presidents for birthdays, and their parents have taken them to the White House for family photographs, dressed in red, white and blue.

Who lives in the White House? Jennifer asks, and Grant responds, Bock Obama!

Everyone that lives in the White House, you guys have a name similar to, his mom tells him. Grant, unmoved, keeps playing Minecraft on an iPad.

Madison babbles on about her new sister as she snacks on popcorn and raisins. I want it to be a girl. Im gonna be a big sister. My baby. Im gonna paint her room.

Her mother asks her what the babys name should be, and Madison responds with her favorite theme: Princess!

Grant chimes in with a name suggestion, too: Doo Gada.

[Presidential: The Posts podcast series on all 44 presidents]

The Nielsens didnt set out to saddle their children with presidential expectations.

In fact, Civil War general Ulysses wasnt on their mind at all when they named their first son. Grant was simply the only name that Jesse, who owns a government contracting firm, and Jennifer, who works a few hours a week at an organization that deals with refugee issues, could agree on.

Jesse, 35, and Jennifer, 33, did have James Madison in mind when they named their now-

almost-3-year-old daughter, who usually goes by Maddie. The couple met at James Madison University and wanted to pay tribute to the institution.

Only after baby Madison was born did their friends point out that Grant was a president, too.

At that point, a presidential name still wasnt a mandate. They debated when they were expecting their third child  stick with the theme? Or give her a nonpresidential name?

The theme won.

They named her McKinley, the most obviously presidential name yet.

The first thing my brother said was, Oh, McKinley was assassinated,  Jennifer said.

That was going to be true no matter what they named their third child  they would have gone with Lincoln if they had had a boy.

[The Posts 1901 article on McKinleys assassination by an anarchist in Buffalo]

Now theyve marked themselves as the presidential family. Everywhere she goes, Jennifer says, acquaintances ask which presidents name this fourth baby will get. Friends have suggested Taylor (Zachary, No. 12). Ford (Gerald, No. 38). Tyler (John, No. 10).

So many people are into this now, and they come up with facts and tell us, Jennifer said.

One consideration is off the table: the presidents politics. The Nielsens, who are Republicans, decided when McKinley was born that if they were comfortable naming their daughter after a man whose life ended in assassination, then they were comfortable naming her for a Democrat.

We already decided, theres too few names to be that selective, Jennifer said. It has to be about what we want to call the kids, not who the presidents were.

For the moment, Reagan seems to be ahead in the familys polling, followed by Kennedy and Monroe. Or maybe Pierce, Jennifer adds.

At least they know they wont be combing the list of the 44 presidents names a fifth time. After baby Reagan  or Kennedy, or Pierce  is born, their presidential family will be complete.
To the catalogue of anxieties her patients explore during therapy  marriage, children and careers  psychologist Alison Howard is now listening to a new source of stress: the political rise of Donald Trump.



(Steve Brodner for The Washington Post)

In recent days, at least two patients have invoked the Republican front-runner, including one who talked at length about being disturbed that Trump can be so divisive and popular at the same time, said Howard, who practices in the District.

What had happened to Trump during his childhood, the patient wanted to know, to make him such a bad person?

He has stirred people up, Howard said. Weve been told our whole lives not to say bad things about people, to not be bullies, to not ostracize people based on their skin color. We have these social mores, and he breaks all of them and hes successful. And people are wondering how he gets away with it.

Hand-wringing over Trumps rapid climb, once confined to Washingtons political establishment, is now palpable among everyday Americans who are growing ever more anxious over the prospect of the billionaire reaching the White House.

With each Trump victory in the GOP primaries and caucuses, Democrats and Republicans alike are sharing their alarm with friends over dinner, with strangers over social media and, in some cases, with their therapists. A recent Washington Post/ABC News poll showed that 69 percent of Americans said the idea of President Trump made them anxious.

[How people answered poll questions about a President Trump ]

For some, Trumps diatribes against undocumented immigrants, Mexicans and Muslims evoke unpleasant flashbacks of dictators. For others, his raw-toned insults conjure memories of high school bullies.

Type Trump and phrases such as scaring me or freaking me out into Twitters search engine, and a litany of tweets unfurl, including one posted two weeks ago by Emma Taylor as she lay in bed in Los Angeles: I literally cant sleep because I just thought about how Trump may actually win the Presidency and now Im having a panic attack.

Its like a hurricane is coming at us, and I dont have any way of knowing which way to go or how to combat it, Taylor, 27, a Democrat, said in a phone interview. Hes extremely reactionary, and thats what scares me the most. I feel totally powerless, and its horrible.

Democrats arent alone in their Trump anxiety.

1 of 45 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  What Donald Trump is doing on the campaign trail View Photos Businessman Donald Trump officially became the Republican nominee at the partys convention in Cleveland. Caption Businessman Donald Trump officially became the Republican nominee at the partys convention in Cleveland. Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event at Trump Doral golf course in Miami. Carlo Allegri/Reuters Wait 1 second to continue.

Whitney Royston, 30, a Republican who works as an event coordinator in Littleton, Colo., said the prospect of a Trump presidency scares her because hes a sideshow. He doesnt have anything to say. All he does is tell other people to shut up. If he were to become president, I fear that our world would come tumbling down.

To divert herself, Royston said, she fantasizes that someone will pop out of left field to become the Republican nominee.

Divine intervention, a hail Mary, Royston said. She acknowledged that shes not overly optimistic, considering that she hoped for the same kind of miracle to stop Barack Obama in 2008.

Alarmed by another wave of news coverage about Trumps growing strength, Nancy Lauro, 52, a Brooklyn art teacher, sat at her computer recently and searched Google for information about acquiring Italian citizenship. She also inquired about Ireland, where she has family roots.

As phobias and fears ago, Lauro said later of her query, this is not a pathological response to a normal situation, but a normal response to a pathological situation. Picking up ones life feels impossible, but I keep flashing on those people who fled Germany when the writing was on the wall and those who didnt. When do you take action to get out?

Trump-inspired angst is apparently sufficient that on Super Tuesday, as he was piling up victories, Google recorded a 350 percent increase in users submitting the question, How can I move to Canada?

A radio disc jockey in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, last month launched a website inviting Americans to relocate if Trump wins. Over several weeks, some 400,000 visitors have checked out Cape Bretons official website  100,000 more than all of last year.

I call it the basket of golden eggs! Mary Tulle, the head of Destination Cape Breton, said of Trumps effect, the delight in her voice betraying not an iota of anxiety. Our doors are open to everybody!



Amanda Long is a massage therapist in Arlington, Va., who has been dealing with clients stressed about the Trump campaign. (Kate Patterson/For The Washington Post)

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, right, greets New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie during a campaign event in Palm Beach, Fla., on March 1. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Amanda Long, an Arlington, Va., massage therapist, is not among those fantasizing about escape. But she has grown accustomed in recent weeks to clients laying down on her table and bellowing, Can you believe this guy?

Long allows her clients to vent for a few minutes before she tries to quiet them, if only so they can relax and she can attend to their aches.

It stresses me out to listen to it, she said. I cant give you a good massage if Im grabbing your shoulders like Donald Trumps orange face.

Its frightening

If there is an unofficial capital of psychotherapy, its New Yorks Upper West Side, where its easier to find a therapist than a parking space.

Judith Schweiger Levy, a psychologist in the neighborhood, has noticed a recent uptick in Trump references among her patients, including a middle-aged businesswoman who blurted out this week that her sister is supporting the billionaire.

She was so upset and worried that she could have a sister  someone so close to her  who would have zero problem with Trump, Levy said. Another patient  also a woman  all she could talk about was Trump and how hes crazy and frightening.

Ruminating on Trumps effect, Levy said: Part of the reason he makes people so anxious is that he has no anxiety himself. Its frightening. Im starting to feel anxious just talking about him.

Another psychologist, Paul Saks, who practices in Greenwich Village, said Trumps recent refusal to immediately disavow David Duke, a former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, has riled a patient who is the grandson of Holocaust survivors.

This is really resonating with him and troubling him, Saks said. Just that Trump has survived and that theres such a cataclysmic shift in the Republican Party  an institution thats part of our way of life even if youre not a Republican  is going to disturb a lot of people.

Mary Libbey, a psychologist on Central Park West, isnt hearing about Trump from her patients. But she finds herself expressing her own anxiety about him to friends and colleagues.

It helps me to talk about it, she said. Im terrified that he could win. His impulsivity, his incomplete sentences, his strange, squinty eyes  to my mind, hes a loosely held-together person.

Is Donald Trump being flexible, or is he flip-flopping? His critics say he picks the most convenient positions, but he says he's just changing. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

A great entertainer

The assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Pearl Harbor. The rise of Joe McCarthy in the 1950s. The Cuban missile crisis. The slaying of John Kennedy. Richard Nixons resignation. The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Americans are not unacquainted with anxious moments.

What makes Trump distinct is that hes a demagogue who has become a vessel for peoples anxiety and anger, said Michael Kazin, a Georgetown University history professor. But Kazin likes to remind anxious friends that Trumps slice of the Republican pie is 35 to 40 percent, and Republicans in general account for perhaps a third of the population.

Half of his own party is against him, Kazin said. And even if he is elected, hes not a hardened right-wing ideologue. Above all, hes a great entertainer. Hes a con man who cons himself.

In 1964, Republican Sen. Barry Goldwaters presidential campaign inspired anxiety among voters who feared that he would start a nuclear war. But President Lyndon Johnson crushed Goldwater in a landslide.

Dan Seely, 86, who lives in New Hampshire, was a Republican in those days. He voted for Johnson because he feared Goldwater.

Seely, now a Democrat, is more afraid of Trump because he believes the billionaire has captivated the public in a way that Goldwater never did. I see his signs on their front lawns, he said. It makes me wonder who these people are that they think he can be a suitable leader of the free world.

Ken Goldstein, a Los Angeles-based author and businessman who is a Democrat, recalled meeting with a business associate recently and feeling astounded when the man said he thought Trump would be great for America.

You just realize you have nothing more to say to that person, he said.

Goldstein finds small comfort imagining Trumps defeat, if only because his followers are still there.

Who are these people? he asked. Are they at the grocery store, are they sitting next to me at Dodger Stadium? That makes me nervous.
Voter fraud and implementation costs were among the concerns that Republicans raised Thursday about a bill that would make Maryland the third state to automatically register eligible residents to vote.

Del. Eric G. Luedtke (D-Montgomery), who sponsored the legislation, testified before the House Ways and Means Committee that his proposal would make the registration process more secure and convenient, while encouraging more residents to vote. He emphasized that residents would be given a chance to opt out before they are enrolled, addressing concerns from critics who say people shouldnt be forced to register.

Regardless of party, we can all agree that our democracy is premised on the idea that the citizens will have an opportunity to make their wishes known at the ballot box, Luedtke said.

[Democrats propose automatic voter registration]

But Republican Cynthia L. Jones, a former member of the St. Marys County Board of County Commissioners, said she worries about the potential effect of the legislation on the integrity of Marylands voter rolls.

Who is going to be responsible to see that people who are not eligible to vote are not allowed to vote? Jones said. Somebody at the department of motor vehicles, I dont believe, has the time, energy or expertise to determine whether or not thats an eligible voter.

Luedtkes bill would require the state to automatically register eligible residents to vote when those residents conduct business with the Motor Vehicle Administration and state social-service agencies, unless the individuals opt out. The agencies would have to provide proof of citizenship for those they enroll through the State Board of Elections.

The legislation also would require Marylands public colleges and universities to allow students to register to vote or update their registration information through the online portals they use to sign up for classes.

The proposal comes amid a nationwide debate over Republican efforts to enact voter-identification laws that critics say create barriers to voting for many low-income and minority individuals.

[Virginia voter-ID lawsuit is part of national push by Democrats]

It also fits with Democrats plans to spur greater voter participation in heavily Democratic Maryland after Republican businessman Larry Hogan won the governorship in 2014.

The other states to adopt a universal registration system are Oregon and California, also both heavily Democratic. Oregon registers all eligible voters who receive drivers licenses, and then mails ballots to them at election time. California automatically adds eligible voters to its voter rolls when they renew their drivers licenses, but the state offers people an opportunity to opt out.

New Jerseys Democratic-majority legislature passed a universal registration measure last year, but Gov. Chris Christie (R), a close friend of Hogan, vetoed it.

Del. Kevin B. Hornberger (R-Cecil) said the local costs for implementing Luedtkes bill concerned him.

The bill would cost the state about $8 million up front for information technology and personnel, and roughly $800,000 a year to maintain and operate, according to a report from the states legislative analysts.

Luedtke said he is working on ways to mitigate some of the financial impacts. I think its worth spending money to get it right, to make sure that people are able to exercise that right, he said.

House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) has co-sponsored the legislation, and aides to Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) have said he generally supports efforts to increase the number of eligible registered voters.
Rich Leotta and his wife, Marcie Goldman, parents of slain Montgomery County Police Officer Noah Leotta, listen to speakers at a MADD news conference on ignition locks in February. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

Marylands House Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved a bill to require more convicted drunk drivers to use ignition locks  legislation the panel has blocked in the past but which has received new attention since the drunk-driving death of a police officer in December.

The bill has been introduced for the past seven years, but had never before been called for a vote by Del. Joseph F. Vallario Jr. (D-Prince Georges), the judiciary committee chairman. Advocates have repeatedly blamed Vallario and Marylands strong alcohol lobby for the bills failure.

Sen. Jamie Raskin (D-Montgomery), a sponsor of the bill in the Senate, said a shocking number of drunk-driving fatalities in Maryland, broad support from law enforcement agencies and emotional testimony by the father of slain Montgomery County Police Officer Noah Leotta made a difference this year.

There has never been such broad sentiment for the interlock before, Raskin said, using the name of the ignition-lock device. Theres a growing sentiment that we have to stop being permissive about drunk driving and the alcohol-related crimes.

[Ignition lock kept this Md. woman from driving drunk multiple times]

The Maryland House of Delegates Judiciary Committee approved a bill to expand the use of ignition lock devices among convicted drunk drivers on March 4. Rich Leotta, father of Montgomery Police Officer Noah Leotta who was killed in December by an allegedly intoxicated driver, talks about his dedication to getting the bill through the Senate. (Ovetta Wiggins/The Washington Post)

The bill will now go to the full House for consideration. The Senate version is scheduled for a hearing in the Judicial Proceedings Committee next week.

Under the bill, motorists convicted of driving at or above the states legal blood-alcohol limit of 0.08 percent would be required to breathe into a tube before they can try to start their vehicles. Under current law, ignition interlocks are placed on the cars of people convicted of driving with a blood-alcohol content of 0.15 percent or higher.

The effort to expand use of the ignition devices has been embraced by police and the Leotta family in the months following the young officers death. Leotta, 24, was on duty at a drunk driving checkpoint when he was struck and fatally injured by a vehicle whose driver was intoxicated and had previous drunk-driving convictions.

His parents, Rich Leotta and Marcia Goldman, have channeled their grief into advocating for tougher drunk-driving laws. They were in the room when the House panel unanimously approved the bill Thursday night, and Rich Leotta grew emotional after the vote, talking about the ignition-lock bill and other steps lawmakers have taken this year to stiffen penalties for drunk driving.

It is all for Noah, he said.

[Father of slain officer calls for more use of ignition locks]

The ignition-lock bill advanced on the same day that the Maryland Senate unanimously approved a bill authorizing prison sentences for adults who provide alcohol to people who are underage or host a party where someone younger than 21 is drinking.

That legislation  drafted after a teenager got drunk at party in Montgomery County, crashed his car and killed two passengers  was discussed in the House Judiciary Committee Thursday night but no vote was taken.

Just as the ignition-lock bill was dubbed Noahs law, the legislation that passed the Senate is known as Alex and Calvins Law after Alex Murk and Calvin Li, teenagers from Rockville who were killed last June shortly after graduating from Thomas S. Wootton High School.

[We felt invincible: Report details deadly wreck, party that preceded it]

They and their driver, 18-year-old Sam Ellis, had been at a party at the home of Kenneth Saltzman, 49, who was issued two criminal citations for allowing underage drinking. A judge levied the maximum fine of $2,500 for each violation.

Alex and Calvins law would stiffen the penalty to up to a year in prison and a fine of $5,000 for a first offense, and up to two years in prison and $7,500 for a second or subsequent offense.

Twenty-six other states include the possibility of jail time for adults convicted of providing alcohol to people younger than 21.

[Stiffer penalties approved by Senate panel]

During hearings, law enforcement officials, advocates and family members of drunken driving victims pleaded with lawmakers to pass the bill. David Murk and Paul Li, the fathers of the dead teenagers, gave emotional testimony, with Li telling the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee his heart was shattered in pieces when he went to the morgue to see his sons body.

The judicial committee took the unusual step of voting on the bill before the testimony was finished. It passed unanimously, as people in the audience cheered and members of Murks and Lis families wept.

Josh Hicks contributed to this report.
A man suspected of firing shots at moving vehicles in Manassas  and believed by police to have fled into a house afterward  was apprehended Thursday night and charged with firing at an occupied vehicle. No injuries were reported.

Manassas City police were still searching for a second suspect in connection with the shootings. Police had said the men might have high-powered rifles and automatic weapons in the residence.

After several hours, officers searched the house with SWAT officers, police dogs and robots. Manassas Police Chief Doug Keen said no one was found inside.

Its been a good night, Keen said. We took a violent criminal off the street, no one in the community was hurt and all the law enforcement officers went home.

Investigators found weapons in the house, Keen said, but it was cluttered and the type and number of weapons were not described.

The incident started to unfold at about 1:30 p.m. in the 9600 block of Aspen Place, where police were called for the report of shots fired, police said on their Facebook account. At least three vehicles were struck by shots. They said in the afternoon that after the shots were fired, the two men reportedly fled inside a home in the same block.

Patty Prince, a Manassas spokeswoman, said Thursday evening that even though police shut down the block and surrounded the home, authorities were unsure whether the men were inside the townhouse. The police presence was precautionary and based on a tip that the men were heavily armed inside the home.

Police warned neighbors to stay away from the scene.

A spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said the agency sent a special response team to the scene, along with assistance from the Northern Virginia Gang Task Force.

Prince said police evacuated about 25 families from half a block of townhouses in the area around the scene. Officials had kept students who live near Osbourn High and two elementary schools near the scene. All students were eventually released when the situation was deemed safe.

Police arrested Manuel Gonzalez, 23, near Potomac Mills mall several hours after the incident, Keen said. Gonzalez was also charged with offenses including possession of a firearm by a felon and use of a firearm in commission of a felony.

Witnesses told police that Gonzalez fired at a blue vehicle as it left the scene and that a second man was seen with him. Police continue to investigate the incident.

This report has been updated.
A District man Friday was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the non-fatal shootings of two off-duty D.C. police officers during separate altercations on Suitland Parkway in 2014.

A D.C. Superior Court judge sentenced Romeo T. Hayes, 29, to a decade in prison and his brother, Ronald J. Hayes Jr., to 16 months in jail in connection with the shootings.

According to prosecutors, during the early morning hours of Aug. 13, 2014, Romeo Hayes left the Opera Ultra Lounge in the 1400 block of I Street NW with a friend. The two men drove to the club in a red Nissan Altima that was stolen from a car rental agency at Washingtons Reagan National Airport.

One of the off-duty officers involved in the shooting was also at the nightclub. Authorities said there was no evidence that the officer  a female  and Hayes had any interaction at the nightclub.

On the way home from the club, Hayes, who was sitting in the passenger seat of the Altima as a friend was behind the wheel, pulled out a 9mm semiautomatic Glock 17 pistol with an extended magazine and began shooting from his vehicle at a nearby vehicle driven by the female officer, as both cars were approaching the Alabama Avenue exit. One of the bullets struck the officers vehicle.

[Two off-duty D.C. police officers shot following night out at a night club]

As the officer tried to chase the Altima, the cars approached a red light where, authorities say, an off-duty D.C. police detective happened to be sitting in his SUV while on his way to work. Prosecutors said Hayes fired multiple shots at the detective, striking him in his left forearm. The detective then rammed his SUV into the Altima, at which point Hayes fired three more shots at the detective, striking him in his chest and shoulder. The Altima then sped off.

When Hayes and his friend returned to a residence in Glenarden, Md., prosecutors say, he gave the gun he used in the shooting to his brother Ronald, who then hid the weapon.

Romeo Hayes then returned to the stolen vehicle and drove off. Police who had been alerted to the earlier shooting spotted Romeo Hayes in the vehicle and began a high-speed pursuit which ended about 4 a.m. in the 5500 block of Hunt Place NE, where Romeo Hayes was arrested.

In November, Romeo Hayes, 28, entered what is known as an Alford plea, in which he acknowledged that the government had enough evidence to secure a conviction, but denied the allegations. As part of the deal, Romeo Hayes pleaded to eight felony counts, including assault with intent to kill and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence. Romeo Hayess 20-year-old brother, Ronald, pleaded guilty to one count of tampering with evidence in the case. Ronald Hayes is currently serving a 12-year sentence on two counts of vehicular manslaughter in a separate case in Prince Georges County.
An elementary school volunteer arrested on charges of producing child pornography pleaded not guilty Friday to 13 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor to produce child pornography during his first appearance in federal court.

A federal grand jury indicted Deonte Carraway, 22, on Monday after authorities said he admitted to filming children performing sex acts on one another at his direction. Carraway, of Glenarden, faces related felony charges filed in Maryland.

Carraways initial appearance and arraignment Friday was the first time family members of children in the case have seen him since he was arrested in early February. He entered the courtroom shortly before 2 p.m. wearing an orange jumpsuit and escorted by U.S. marshals.

Tears rolled down the cheeks of women sitting in the audience after Carraway stepped in with his hands shackled and the right side of his hair styled in a bleached high top. A victim coordinator for the court rose to hand the women tissues before the proceedings.

The defendant spoke only to respond to the judges questions, leaning in to a microphone to mostly answer, Yes, sir.

After the nearly 30-minute proceeding, Carraway was taken out of the courtroom.

His public defender declined to comment on the matter, as did officials with the U.S. attorneys office in Maryland.

Carraways case has shocked Prince Georges County, leaving parents wondering how a library volunteer tasked with shelving books two days a week was able to, as police have said, be alone with students and record and abuse them on school grounds during the school day.

[He always had six or seven kids around. Its a little strange.]

Carraway victimized at least 17 children between the ages of 9 and 13, police said. In addition to his alleged actions at Judge Sylvania W. Woods Elementary School, where Carraway worked before becoming a volunteer, police said he abused or recorded children at the Glenarden municipal center, a public pool, a church in Bowie and in private homes.

Law enforcement officials said Carraway handed out phones to children and communicated with them via an anonymous messaging app called Kik to exchange and collect explicit images of them. He told the children they were part of a club and pulled them out of class to exploit them, police said.

The case was brought to officials attention after an uncle of a student checked the childs phone, found a nude photo and reported the matter to police. That students family has sued the school system, and three other lawsuits have been filed in the case, including a class-action suit and a complaint against the city of Glenarden.

One woman who identified herself as the mother of a victim attended Fridays hearing. She said she wanted to look at Carraway. The woman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect her childs identity, said the case has been emotionally difficult for her and her family.

Im just glad he is locked away and not hurting these babies anymore, the woman said.
Montgomery County animal services officer Jennifer Gill rescued an injured bald eagle that might have been hit by a vehicle in the Potomac area of Maryland. (mcpdmedia/YouTube)

Montgomery County animal services officer Jennifer Gill rescued an injured bald eagle that might have been hit by a vehicle in the Potomac area of Maryland. (mcpdmedia/YouTube)

A Montgomery County animal services officer rescued an injured bald eagle, which was later named Trust, in the Potomac area.

It started about 8:45 a.m. Thursday when, police said, they received calls about an injured eagle in the area of River Road and Riverwood Drive. It is believed the eagle had been struck by a car as it was eating a deer carcass.

Officer Jennifer Gill went to the area and was told by a resident that the eagle was spotted walking into nearby woods. She found the eagle in the woods with an injury that prevented it from flying.

[Watch live: Mr. President and The First Lady nest at National Arboretum]

Gill wrapped the eagle in towels, and Danny Thomas, an officer with the Maryland Natural Resources Police, helped her put the eagle in a carrier. The eagle was taken to the Owl Moon Raptor Center in Boyds, Md.

Animal services officer Jennifer Gill holds an injured bald eagle she helped rescue from the woods in Potomac. (Courtesy of Montgomery County Police)

An examination at the center found that the eagle had suffered a soft tissue injury. Authorities said the injury appeared to be relatively recent because the eagle was otherwise at a healthy weight.

Gill named the eagle Trust.

In a post on Facebook, the Owl Moon Raptor Center thanked the officers involved for going the extra mile to rescue this gorgeous creature.

They also said Trust was on her feet, resting comfortably, and a little brighter. The raptor center said the eagle has some internal bleeding and sustained an injury to the left shoulder. She is on medication to help reduce inflammation and pain, according to the center.

The center said it plans to take the eagle to Bennett Creek Animal Hospital for further examination and X-rays in the coming days. Once the eagle undergoes a thorough examination and rehabilitation, it will likely be released back into the wild. That process could take up to two months, officials said.

Bald eagles have made a resurgence in recent years after having previously been on the endangered species list. They are considered a protected species, according to the natural resource police. Experts say that vehicles are one of the biggest killers of bald eagles.

On Friday, Suzanne Shoemaker  the founder and director of the Owl Moon Raptor Center  said the rescued eagle may have been hit by a car as it was eating a deer carcass, which was found in the area.

A close look at the talons on an injured bald eagle that was rescued in Potomac. (Courtesy of Montgomery County Police)

When a car comes by eagles will often fly off from it, and they can fly into the path of a car, according to Shoemaker. She said Trust was doing well.

It is perky and eating fresh fish, said Shoemaker, whose center last year took in and helped rehab more than 160 birds of prey. Shoemaker said the eagle was on its feet and acting alert.

[How officials will try to figure out what killed 13 bald eagles on a Maryland farm]

As development has encroached on their habitat, eagles are eating less fish and are scavenging more. They often are hit by vehicles as they eat carcasses on roads or are sickened from eating out of dumps or landfills, experts said.
Sayed Robbie Javid, 19, was arrested and charged with assault of a police officer. (Courtesy of Fairfax County Police)

A 19-year-old man has been charged with falsely claiming that a burglar was in his home and shooting what turned out to be a starter pistol at officers when they arrived to help, Fairfax County police said.

The incident began about 5 p.m. Wednesday when a man whom police later identified as Sayed Robbie Javid called 911 claiming there was someone in the home who did not live or belong there.

When police arrived at the home in the 6200 block of Larkspur Drive, they said, a gunman  who was later identified as Javid  emerged from the house and fired toward two officers.

Police took cover from the shots, and Javid retreated inside the home, officials said.

The incident lasted several hours at the Franconia area residence and involved SWAT units. At one point, Javid walked out of the homes front door, armed with a handgun and a long gun that authorities said they thought at the time was an assault rifle.

A starter pistol that police said a Fairfax County man used to shoot at officers. (Courtesy of Fairfax County Police)

He was ordered to drop the weapons. At first, he dropped the long gun but not the handguns.

Officers then shot bean bags and foam projectiles. Javid dropped to the ground, and a police dog subdued him. Javid was treated at an area hospital for a dog bite and other minor injuries, according to police.

[One suspect in custody after shots fired from home at Fairfax Co. officers]

An investigation revealed that Javid was home alone at the time he made the emergency call to police. Authorities also found that the pistol he had allegedly fired at officers who came to his home was a starter revolver. That type of revolver, police said, fires cartridges that create a muzzle flash and smoke. It is the same repeating explosive sound of an actual bullet being fired, police said in a statement.

Based on these elements, officers instincts were to find immediate cover and safety, as they believed the pistol they saw and sounds they heard were from a real firearm, police said.

The long gun turned out to be a pellet rifle, police said.

At first, police had said they were unsure of the motivation behind the shooting incident. But after an investigation, they found that there had been a family argument earlier in the day at the home.

A pellet rifle that was located inside a home in the Franconia area of Fairfax County, Va. (Courtesy of Fairfax County Police)

In that incident, police said, they responded to a report of a father and son arguing. They were in disagreement, police said, over the sons poor conduct. The two began to physically fight, police said. The father, whose name was not released by police, was later charged with assault of a family member.

Javid is charged with assault of a police officer and falsely summoning police.
A D.C. police officer on the force just three years was among those honored for helping subdue a man who had abducted a child in a stroller and was swinging a knife.

The officer, Ammar Rahim, was named the 3rd District officer of the year during the departments annual awards ceremony Thursday night at Gallaudet University. The incident occurred March 3, 2015, in Northwest Washington.

Rahim, along with officers Perry Morgan, James DaRe, Christopher Brown and Matthew Rider, had earlier been awarded the Medal of Valor, the departments second-highest honor.

Police said a man, apparently high on PCP, stabbed a woman in the neck on a street near Howard University and took off with her baby. Police said the attack was random.

As police officers pursued the man, D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said, he lunged at Rahim and cut him on the left side of his neck. He throws the baby down on the sidewalk and then runs, Lanier told the audience at the ceremony. Were very lucky we didnt lose an officer. Were very lucky we were able to get that child back unharmed.

[D.C. police statement on Medal of Valor]

Rahim and the officers who helped him were among 40 sworn and civilian members of the D.C. police force recognized at the 16th annual ceremony.

In her opening remarks, Lanier noted that while driving to the event, she listened to the police radio as officers responded to an elderly man found unconscious on a sidewalk. She said one officer began CPR and another, using a portable defibrillator, revived the victim.

Happens every day, she said to applause.

Others received awards for solving decades-old murder cases, making an arrest in nine burglaries in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood and catching a robber who targeted taxi drivers. One officer was recognized for making 65 arrests and seizing eight weapons.

Also honored was Officer Keith Byrd, who was one of the first emergency workers to rush into the Metro tunnel at LEnfant Plaza on Jan. 12, 2015, to reach dozens of commuters trapped on a train in blinding smoke. One woman died, and more than 85 people were injured.

[D.C. police officer recounts rescuing people trapped on smoky train]

In an interview last year, Byrd said he helped firefighters care for the woman who died, and then jumped onto the tracks and made his way 386 feet to the back of the stalled train. He and firefighters put a man having a heart attack onto a cart that runs on rails and pushed him to the station, all while doing chest compressions. The man survived.

The incident involving the baby occurred about 2:30 p.m., when officers dispatched for the womans stabbing saw a man holding a knife and pushing a stroller south on Fourth Street near Bryant Street in Northwest.

Officers DaRe and Brown closed in on the man and called for help. Morgan, Rider and Rahim, who had completed crisis-intervention training three months earlier, also responded.

They did all the right things that day, said D.C. Police Cmdr. Stuart Emerman, who heads the 3rd District. The officers communicated loud verbal commands for the suspect to put down the knife and let the baby go. The childs safety is always a priority during any encounter.

Police said officers pursued the man several blocks south, near the Howard campus, to Anna J. Cooper Circle. There, police said, the man turned towards the officers while pointing the knife. Rahim bravely moved closer to the suspect in an attempt to subdue him, according to a police statement. The suspect lunged at him with his knife, cutting the officer on the neck.

The statement adds, The suspect then unexpectedly began using the baby in the stroller as a shield. Rahim said in a statement: I wanted to apprehend the individual safely and without any incident.

Police said the man finally dropped the knife and threw the baby stroller to the ground and ran away, leaving the child facedown. The man was caught a few blocks away, and the baby was unharmed.

The 25-year-old suspect pleaded guilty to assault with intent to kill and assault with a dangerous weapon, and is scheduled to be sentenced next month.
A raccoon (similar to this one) bit a man in Fairfax County this week. (Courtesy of Fairfax County Police)

A man fought off a raccoon that bit him and eventually killed it by putting his foot on its throat in Fairfax County. And two women were bitten by foxes in separate incidents in the county.

The incident with the raccoon happened Thursday about 11 a.m. in the Clifton area.

Police said the man was awakened by a raccoon in his home. Its not immediately clear how the animal got inside.

The man fought off the raccoon and was bitten during the struggle. The man managed to put his foot on the raccoons throat until it stopped breathing, according to police.

He then bagged and transported the animal to the Fairfax County Animal Shelter, police said. The man got medical treatment. There were no immediate details on how badly he was hurt.

A fox photographed in Calais, Vt. (Toby Talbot/Associated Press)

About 8 a.m. Wednesday, a woman was running on a trail in Riverbend Park on Potomac Hills Street when she came upon a fox, which bit her.

She went to Reston Hospital Center and was undergoing preventive treatment for possible exposure to rabies, police said. Authorities temporarily closed the trail.

An hour later, another woman went to check on her chickens in the 9100 block of Potomac Woods Lane  about two miles from Riverbend Park  and she was confronted and bitten by a fox, police said. The woman also went to the Reston hospital for treatment.

It was not clear whether it was the same fox. Police said the fox or foxes remain on the loose.

It was not known whether the animals in each of the incidents have rabies.

The incidents come after authorities warned residents to watch out for a rabid raccoon that was in the 3700 block of Military Road in Arlington on Feb. 28. The raccoon was captured and euthanized by authorities. It tested positive for rabies.

[Rabid raccoon caught and euthanized in Arlington]

There have been other reports of fox attacks in Northern Virginia.

In February, officials in Arlington said a couple was attacked by a fox as they walked in the 4400 block of North Old Glebe Road. The man kicked in the direction of the fox as it lunged toward him, according to an animal control officer. The fox, police said, charged at the man a few times before taking off.

Another fox bit and scratched a woman in February as she was in her yard in McLean.

[Authorities search for couple and possible rabid fox after attack in Arlington]

Officials are reminding residents to be careful and to keep pets on leashes.

Anyone who believes they may have been exposed to a sick animal or bitten by one should call 703-691-2131.
Its the nature of transportation politics to artificially simplify issues that in reality are quite complex. This letter about the D.C. regions biggest highway project is an antidote to oversimplification.

The writer defies a political perception that the battle of I-66 is strictly between drivers from the outer suburbs and NIMBY Arlingtonians.

Dear Dr. Gridlock:

I have no problem with the points of view discussed in your column on the recent deal to widen I-66 inside the Capital Beltway. But there are aspects never mentioned: the impact on Arlington County drivers and on jobs in Arlington.

[I-66 deal more like armistice than peace treaty]

The omission from any discussion continues the half-century-old myth that the only drivers on I-66 are those from suburbs outside the Beltway commuting to and from jobs in the District. And it does nothing to offset all the whining from Arlington County antis, both self-appointed and elected.

Job locations and driving patterns have radically changed in the past 50 years, with the greatest increase in job locations outside the Beltway. And the result has been that rush-hour traffic on I-66 now goes both ways. As a county resident who uses I-66 to travel back and forth to Tysons Corner, Reston, Herndon and Dulles International Airport, I can attest to three things.

First, the traffic backup on I-66 and the Dulles Connector Road extends halfway to McLean both mornings and evenings. Second, driving westbound on I-66, there is a solid stream of cars entering from the ramps at Ballston and Falls Church at any time during daylight. (Widening I-66 westbound has really helped with that.)

Third, when driving eastbound, the volume of traffic drops off to unimpeded flow after the majority of drivers exits at Falls Church and Ballston. Just as the widening of I-66 inside the Beltway westbound has helped tremendously, widening it eastbound in the same stretch will also.

The root cause of the traffic problem on I-66 is the Arlington County governments continued effort to place the blame elsewhere. If only those pesky folks in the burbs would just stay there. The long-range strategic plan for Arlington County growth has for decades been to build upwards  both high-rise offices and apartments  along the Metro lines.

The idealistic assumption was that all commuting by an increasing number of Arlington County residents would be done by using Metrorail or buses. Alas, such socialistic rigor was defeated by freedom to choose.

A considerable number of Arlington County residents actually want to work outside the Beltway or elsewhere where a car is the only way to commute.

 Eric Briggs, Arlington

Ive been to enough meetings with Arlingtonians to know that county residents are no more monolithic in their views about the Virginia Department of Transportations HOT lanes plans than the residents of Montgomery County are about light rail and bus rapid-transit programs.

Over the past year, transportation officials in the administration of Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) have made several major changes to the high-occupancy toll lanes plan that address some of the concerns raised by Briggs and other Arlingtonians  although Ive yet to encounter anyone who is completely satisfied.

The state dropped the idea of rush-hour tolling in both directions in favor of tolling only in the peak direction  eastbound in the morning and westbound in the afternoon. Arlington residents whose reverse commutes include job sites such as Tysons Corner that are outside the Beltway were among those who had complained about this part of the plan.

In fact, it was likely that more of those reverse commuters would pursue routes other than I-66 if they had to pay a morning toll.

They also were among the travelers who complained that eastbound I-66 needed to be widened, since thats the way many of them come home in the evening.

All this has been troubling to Arlingtonians who live near the alternative routes and feared the spillover traffic from I-66.

I can tell you at least three different routes between McLean and Rosslyn, Briggs said. Just making it more difficult on I-66 doesnt make drivers give up and go home; they just take to the back streets. Those who think expanding I-66 will ruin the neighborhood dont even consider it might reduce the traffic on their very own street.

Im hopeful the states current plan will work, because it brings such a variety of resources to bear on I-66: the HOT lanes system of traffic management, the extra revenue from tolling to use on programs that help people leave cars behind and the extra lane eastbound.

You can have your say during a new round of I-66 design hearings this coming week. Theyre all from 6 to 8 p.m. These are the days and locations:

Monday: Washington-Lee High School cafeteria, 1301 N. Stafford St., Arlington.

Tuesday: Eagle Ridge Middle School cafeteria, 42901 Waxpool Rd., Ashburn.

Wednesday: VDOT Northern Virginia District Office, 4975 Alliance Dr., Fairfax.

Dr. Gridlock also appears Thursday in Local Living. Comments and questions are welcome and may be used in a column, along with the writers name and home community. Write Dr. Gridlock at The Washington Post, 1301 K St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071, or email drgridlock@washpost.com.
Liqin Guo looks after son Henry, 1, and daughter Hillary, 7, after voting in the presidential primary at Rachel Carson Middle School in Herndon, Va. on Super Tuesday. (Allison Shelley/For The Washington Post)

Despite a big push by advocacy groups and signs of increased voter interest, turnout among Asian American and Muslim American voters seemed to be typically low in last weeks Virginia presidential primaries, activists say. Now, the focus turns to November.

Flurries of phone banking, community events and social media messages in a variety of languages drew some first-time primary voters and elicited better-informed responses from older immigrants than in the past, according to those who work with Asian Americans and Muslim American groups.

But the efforts also misfired at times, and those behind them are vowing to do better in Novembers general election.

We reached out the best we could, but we got a lot of wrong numbers and disconnects, said Irene Bueno, a Filipina American lawyer and member of the Asian American and Pacific Islander Leadership Council, which is affiliated with Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.

Shekar Narasimhan, a businessman and political activist in McLean who recently co-founded an Asian American super PAC, said turnout appeared disappointingly poor even though many Asian Americans felt that the stakes in this primary were higher than usual.

A diverse group of voters check in among a diverse group of election officers at the polling station at Colin L. Powell Elementary School in Centreville, Va. on Super Tuesday. (Allison Shelley/For The Washington Post)

People made a lot of calls but we only reached about 30 percent of our potential voter base, Narasimhan said. We will have to quadruple that number by November and get up to 75 percent to reach the turnout we hope to achieve in Virginia.

[Struggling to emerge from the political shadows]

Across Fairfax County, which has the states largest number of Asian Americans and a sizable population of Muslim Americans, overall voter turnout in both the Democratic and Republican contests averaged about 21 percent. No official breakdown by ethnic group is available yet.

Across Virginia, many immigrants from Asia  a mix of Hindus, Christians, Muslims and Buddhists  are middle class and well educated, but they have tended to be shy or unenthusiastic about voting, with turnouts generally below 25 percent except for presidential elections. The largest groups are from China, India, the Philippines, Korea and Pakistan.

Abdul Rashid Abdullah, a Muslim American, served as chief election officer at a busy and ethnically diverse voting precinct in Herndon where turnout was about 25 percent. He said many people there really felt it was important to vote, including a noticeable number of first-timers.

Abdullah, who was involved in pre-primary voter outreach efforts at the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) in Sterling, said those efforts were eager but not especially sophisticated. Now we are starting to get more strategic, looking more at who and where voters are. For the general election, we will be much better prepared.

Among Muslim Americans who voted in the Sterling and Ashburn areas of Loudoun County, community leaders said, many were concerned by the harsh anti-Muslim rhetoric of Republican Donald Trumps campaign and were motivated to express that through their votes.

Emotions were high, and people wanted to vent their feelings, said Syed Ashraf, an outreach volunteer at the ADAMS mosque. Trump won the state but trailed in Loudoun and most of the rest of Northern Virginia.

One Muslim lawyer who voted in Ashburn said her children did not want to go to the polls with her because they were nervous about encountering unfriendly Trump supporters. On the other hand, Muslim students in an eighth-grade civics class at a private, mostly Muslim school in Reston said they were well received by voters of all stripes when they conducted an informal exit poll at one elementary school.

[Dvorak: Trumps bigotry has inspired Muslims like no candidate before]

I didnt expect to see so much openness in people, said Yusra Sadiq, 14, after standing outside the polling station for several hours with a clipboard of questions in her hand.

We asked people what they were looking for in a candidate, and a lot talked about wanting one that was honest, she said. One man told me that people who complain but dont vote lose the right to complain. I thought about that for a long time.

Among Asian activists and election watchers, the anecdotal consensus was that Clinton was the most popular candidate among voters in their community, especially women. One volunteer in Tysons Corner, who drove a group of Korean American and Chinese American retirees to the polls, said they were all excited to vote for a woman.

Ting-Yi Oei, a retired educator from Fairfax who chairs the Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans of Virginia, said many voters from that group were concerned about anti-immigrant and racist sentiment in the election, but also intrigued by the wide variety of backgrounds and personalities in the race.

You had a Jewish candidate and a woman candidate and others with extreme views. It makes things more engaging, Oei said.

One especially energetic volunteer for Clinton was Monica Lee, 23, a second-generation Hmong American from Minnesota who recently moved to Virginia. She said she hosted phone banks in her apartment and helped organize a rally for Clinton at the Eden Center, a Vietnamese cultural and commercial hub in Falls Church, which featured a traditional dragon dance.

Lee said her parents and older siblings had long been active in politics and civic life. With college just behind her, she has come east to join the staff of a nonprofit Asian American advocacy group. This is my time, and this is my calling, she said.
Nova Armory's owner-in-training, Lauren Pratte, 16, holding a 1939 Coach shotgun. The photo was included in a news release sent Friday by the gun store, which is owned by Laurens father. (NOVA Armory)

The fight between a planned Arlington gun store and its neighbors escalated this week with an exchange of threats between state lawmakers and the business owner  in the voice of his 16-year-old daughter.

A news release issued Friday by Nova Armory quotes Lauren Pratte, the daughter of business owner Dennis R. Pratte, and describes her as the gun stores owner-in-training. It includes a photo of Lauren, smiling and holding an antique gun.

The release says a letter sent to the stores landlord by seven state legislators this week amounted to dog-whistle politics. It warns local agitators  an apparent reference to the state delegates and senators as well as neighborhood opponents  that the business might sue if the gun shop fails to open.

The actions of these local crazies against our business is approaching the level of tortious interference,  the news release quotes Lauren Pratte as saying. If youve posted on Facebook, agitated people on the local communitys online forum, made harassing phone calls, or sent angry emails designed to interfere with our business relationship with our landlord, you are on my attorneys list. So if you dont see NOVA Armory open for business, you better worry about seeing us in court.

[Can Va. state legislators stop a gun store from opening in Arlington?]

Dennis Pratte declined requests for an interview.

The letter from lawmakers, sent Wednesday on official General Assembly stationery, calls for property owner Katya Varley to reconsider leasing a storefront at 2300 N. Pershing Dr. to the gun store.

Signed by Dels. Patrick A. Hope (Arlington), Alfonso H. Lopez (Arlington), Richard Sullivan (Arlington) and Mark Levine (Alexandria) as well as Sens. Barbara A. Favola (Arlington), Janet D. Howell (Fairfax) and Adam P. Ebbin (Alexandria), all Democrats, the letter warned of potentially nefarious and illegal activities and said NOVA Armory is already marketing aggressively to residents of surrounding states, including much of the East Coast.

The store is not yet open. But opposition to its existence has been building since the plans became publicly known late last week.

Dennis Pratte on Friday canceled plans to meet Monday with the executive board of the Lyon Park Citizens Association. He also canceled plans to attend a community meeting in April.

Instead, according to a notice posted Friday on the Nova Armory website, the Lyon Park executive board was invited to a meeting at the store next week. The notice also said that there would be an Open House at the store on March 12 and that it would open for normal business on March 19.

The cancellation of Mondays meeting infuriated neighborhood activists. At this point, your antics and attitude have given me the very clear impression that youd rather call names and threaten litigation than work with the community, Aaron Schuetz, a civic association leader, told Pratte in an email.

Pratte previously was the owner of the Falls Church-based Nova Firearms and the now-closed My Gun Factory in McLean.

[Residents planned to meet with officials on gun store]

Last week, a text message sent from a phone number associated with Nova Armory said that the store will specialize in high-end skeet, trap and hunting shotguns . . . engraved shotguns that are works of art.

Yet, the companys website says the store will offer low-cost online gun sales. Basically, if it has a trigger, we probably have it & we have it at the lowest possible price, the site says.

Its that kind of language that has alarmed the residents of Lyon Park, who note that the store would be across the street from a private day-care center that serves both school-age and younger children.

Supporters note that gun stores are legal in Virginia and that this one has all its required licenses and would be located near an active military base, Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall. The debate has also raged on competing pro and anti petitions online.

Karen Taylor Soiles, a physical therapist who rents space in the same three-story commercial building where Nova Armory intends to open, said her landlord and most other tenants are avoiding discussion about the shop, although its the prime topic at every neighborhood gathering.

My patients have been voicing their concerns, Soiles said. My lease is up in May, and I dont know what to do. . . . I wasnt looking for this, but it came to my doorstep.

Edwin McDermott, an Arlington gun owner who signed the supportive petition, said that a legally operated shop like that provides a service to law enforcement personnel, the military and anyone who wants a gun for sport or protection.

Modern society, McDermott said, wants to prohibit a thing instead of control behavior. The Supreme Court has said over and over again, no right is absolute . . . but weve gotten to the point that any kind of negotiation is considered surrender.

Correction: Earlier versions of this story described the Lyon Park Citizens Association as being against the opening of the NOVA Armory gun store. The association has taken no position on the store. The article has been corrected.
Finland's Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ms. Lenita Toivakka (Photo: kepa.fi)

Minister Toivakka and her delegation will meet several Vietnamese Ministers and join numerous events where Finnish and Vietnamese partners are signing cooperation agreements or launching new collaboration projects.



The visit will support the Finnish business delegation in fact finding and networking. After visiting Hanoi, the delegation will travel to Ho Chi Minh city and Binh Duong province.



"Finland and Vietnam share a mutual desire to develop their trade and economic relations. This visit provides an excellent opportunity to take further steps towards strengthening the relationship between our countries," Minister Toivakka said.



The delegation includes a large presence of Finnish experts from the education sector, such as Aalto University Executive Education and Finland University of Applied Sciences.



Other firms participating in the delegation include Cimson Oy/NEBA, Claned Group Oy, Comptel Corporation, EduCluster Finland Oy, Eltel Networks Oy, FCG Finnish Consulting Group Oy, Finnish Water Forum-Finnvera, KaukoInternational Oy, Niras Finland Oy, Nokia Corporation, Nordautomation Oy, Outotec, Tekes, Vaisala Oyj, Vicus Capital Advisors Oy and Watrec Oy.



In addition, the Minister and her delegation will visit Ton Duc Thang University in Ho Chi Minh city, where she will present a lecture on education and innovation.



Vietnam and Finland have strong, friendly relations that for decades have been based on traditional development cooperation. Bilateral trade has been growing steadily during the last few years, expanding by more than 30 percent in 2015 over a year earlier./.
Lawmakers in Virginia on Thursday reworked and advanced legislation that would prohibit the government from punishing religious organizations that discriminate against same-sex couples.

The bill is a more narrowly focused version of one that made waves last month after a gay delegate from Fairfax implored his colleagues in an emotional floor speech to consider the sweep of history and act with fairness. The measure passed the House anyway, but it hit a roadblock in the usually more moderate Senate.

Now lawmakers are back with a bill that the House sponsor, Del. C. Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah), said is an effort to craft a compromise while protecting the religious freedom of people who feel under attack by shifting cultural attitudes.

Gay rights activists and the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia said the bill still amounts to a license to discriminate and would not pass constitutional muster. Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) has said he would veto bills that seek to erode gay rights.

The bill passed a House panel Thursday afternoon along party lines, except for Del. Joseph R. Yost (R-Giles), who did not vote. The full House is set to vote on the bill Monday, followed by the Senate, where Sen. Charles Bill W. Carrico (R-Grayson) is the sponsor.

The bill and others like it around the country proliferated in reaction to the Supreme Courts decision last summer affirming the right for gay couples to marry in all 50 states.

Although lawmakers could not cite any examples of discrimination against those with religious objections to same-sex marriage, advocates for the bill said its a preemptive strike against the potential for that to happen in the future.

Im not sure everybody believes that there isnt a goal on the other side of this debate to circumvent what we believe to be our constitutional protections, Gilbert said. This is an added layer of protection centered around a current flash point in the debate concerning religious liberty which is same-sex marriage.

[Va. Republicans vow to protect religious rights after gay marriage ruling]

Claire Guthrie Gastanaga, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia, said the free exercise of religious beliefs is already protected under the First Amendment, Virginias statute for religious freedom and the states Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

However, she said, the bill seeks to elevate one type of religious belief above all others.

Its unconstitutional on its face, in reference to only giving special privileges to people who have a certain belief, which is a belief about marriage, she said. Its unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination. The government cant do that.

Previously, the bill protected discrimination against not just gay married couples, but also transgender people and anyone straight or gay who has sex outside marriage.

In another change, the earlier version applied to a long list of entities with sincerely held religious beliefs, including individuals, private companies and trusts. Now it says only clergy, religious organizations and anyone affiliated with those organizations can discriminate without fear of penalty, such as losing tax benefits, grants, contracts, loans, scholarships, certification, accreditation or jobs.
At the opening ceremony of the Korea-Vietnam FTA Support Centre. (Photo: VNA)

The FTA between Vietnam and the Republic of Korea (VKFTA) came into effect on December 20th last year. It covers different matters from reduction or elimination of customs duties; rules of origin; customs administration and trade facilitation; to sanitary and phytosanitary measures; technical barriers to trade; competition; intellectual property and transparency.



The center aims to provide enterprises with not only accurate information on the VKFTA but also support those who face difficulties particularly in terms of non-tariff trade barriers and certificate of origin granting.



According to Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai, the VKFTA has offered more opportunities in cooperation and investment between the two nations.



Trade between the two countries has expanded at an average growth of 23 percent annually over the past decade. Last year, the two-way trade hit USD36 billion, up 23 percent from 2014, making the RoK one of Vietnams three largest trade partners.



The RoK mostly shipped to Vietnam computers, electronics and components, machinery and fabrics while Vietnams exports to the RoK include textiles & garments, crude oil, seafood, wood and timber products.



Kim Jae Hong, KOTRA President said the Center would help companies from the two nations apply the VKFTA with flexibility and bolster their exports to China, the US and the EU.



The same day, the KOTRA and the Vietnam Directorate for Standards, Metrology and Quality inked a Memorandum of Understanding to simplify administration procedures that Korean companies have to go through when exporting to Vietnam. The Korean side also agreed to transfer technology in safety evaluation to Vietnam./.
ENVIRONMENT

Grizzly bears may lose endangered listing

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Thursday proposed stripping Endangered Species Act protections from the grizzly bear in and around Yellowstone National Park, saying the animals numbers have rebounded sufficiently in recent decades.

The number of grizzlies in the greater Yellowstone region, encompassing parts of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, has grown to an estimated 700 or more bears today, up from as few as 176 in 1975, when they were formally listed as a threatened species throughout the lower 48 states.

At that time, the grizzly had been hunted, trapped and poisoned to near-extinction. Its estimated population well exceeds the governments recovery goal of 500 animals in the region. Environmentalists have raised concerns that while grizzlies have made a comeback, their recovery could falter if federal safeguards are lifted, a move that would open the animals to public hunting outside the national park boundaries.

 Reuters

W.Va. governor vetoes gun bill: West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin (D) on Thursday vetoed a proposal for a second straight year that would let people 21 and older carry hidden guns without permits or training. Dozens of police officers and sheriffs deputies filled the governors lobby as he vetoed the bill over their safety concerns. Unlike last year, though, the GOP-led legislature has ample time to override Tomblins veto and cement the bill into law. The National Rifle Association quickly called for lawmakers to start the veto override process, which the House is expected to do as soon as Friday.

Texas trooper who arrested black motorist is fired: A Texas trooper who arrested a black female motorist later found hanged in her jail cell has been fired after being charged with misdemeanor perjury on suspicion of lying in the arrest report he filed for the July incident, officials said Thursday. The director of the Texas Department of Public Safety sent a letter dated March 1 to Trooper Brian Encinia notifying him that he had been terminated as of that day, they said. Encinia, who arrested Sandra Bland, 28, in July, was indicted by the grand jury in Waller County, outside of Houston, in January. He is suspected of making false statements in the arrest report about the reason he removed Bland from her vehicle.

 From news services
Howard Markel is a physician, medical historian and the George E. Wantz distinguished professor of the history of medicine at the University of Michigan.

Every epidemic, from the black plague to Zika, follows a similar arc. Theres the first mysterious case, then more cases and ultimately the triumph of medicine or the decimation of a population. These contagion crises often feature heroes, villains, scapegoats and scientific sleuths. In true Hollywood fashion, they can also be really scary. But some works nail the narrative and drama better than others. Heres a dose of microbial storytelling well worth reading or watching:

The Plague, Albert Camus

In this 1947 novel, Camus writes about a plague sweeping through an Algerian city. Though Camus had no formal epidemiological or medical training, his portrayal of a communitys battle against a terrible disease is pitch-perfect, capturing the agony of quarantine and the fear of being stricken. It also boasts one of the grossest opening scenes in all of modern literature: The main character, physician Bernard Rieux, steps on a dead rat in his path. A short time later, he realizes that a dead rat had no business to be on his landing.

On the Mode of Communication of Cholera, John Snow

The story of Snows intrepid investigation of Londons cholera epidemics of 1849 and 1852 has been chronicled many times, in books, films and even comic books. But I always recommend reading Snow himself rather than his explicators. His dogged determination  evidenced by the in-depth maps he made, the notes he took and the people he interviewed  led him to ultimately link the cholera cases to a specific water source (a pump on Broad Street) and remain a marvel in scientific thought. Indeed, Snow changed the world, inspiring cities to provide clean water, sanitation and sewage systems.

Contagion, directed by Steven Soderbergh

The production team of this 2011 motion picture did its homework by visiting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, interviewing health officers about their work and shadowing doctors and scientists. It shows. The film superbly captures the chaos, fear and management of a modern-day, airborne and deadly plague traveling around the world. As an added bonus, you get to see a number of movie stars melt before your eyes after they contract the fictional infection.

An Enemy of the People, Henrik Ibsen

In this heated 1882 drama, a doctor discovers that his citys water supply is tainted with a deadly poison. Eventually, the physician is ostracized and run out of town, a poignant example of what can happen when a majority of people choose not to believe a scientific truth. There are many enemies of the people in this play: the microbe itself; the fickle townspeople; the mayor who denies the doctors data because he has a vested interest in a new health spa, which draws its water from the contaminated source; and even the doctor, who does not understand how to negotiate the complex social layers of an epidemic.

And the Band Played On, Randy Shilts

Written as tautly as a great detective story, this 1987 book describes the early years of the AIDS pandemic as it unfolded in San Francisco and New York. Shilts was the first journalist in the United States to exclusively cover the disease. In doing so, he captures the many scientific rivalries, the confusion, the blame, the shame and the unhealthy amounts of scapegoating in this epic tale, all with insight and understanding. The book is a brilliant social history of how our nation responded to (and, for a long time, ignored) the most devastating pandemic of our era. Even though the tome weighs in at more than 600 pages, its hard to put down.

Arrowsmith, Sinclair Lewis

Lewiss 1925 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel features a bacteriologist-doctor named Martin Arrowsmith. After Martin discovers a potential cure for the bubonic plague, he is sent to conduct an experimental trial on the fictional island of St. Hubert, where an epidemic is raging. Caught in a maelstrom of death and disease, Martin must decide between being a healer and being a scientist by denying his control group this potential lifesaver.

A Journal of the Plague Year, Daniel Defoe

This 1722 book by Defoe (of Robinson Crusoe fame) depicts the experiences of a man living in London in 1665 during the merciless bubonic plague epidemic. Defoe chronicles how the plague transformed a great European capital. Most important, it shows that our predecessors contagion anxiety is not all that different from our own.

Twitter: @Howard Markel

Read more from Outlook and follow our updates on Facebook and Twitter.
Anne Boyd Rioux is a professor of English at the University of New Orleans and author of the biography Constance Fenimore Woolson: Portrait of a Lady Novelist.

Can young people be lured away from Twitter and Instagram to books, the kind that come between two hard covers? If not, what are the consequences  for the kids, the future of books, civilization itself? These are some of the questions New Yorker writer David Denby poses in his thoughtful and provocative book, Lit Up.

America, Denby argues, is in a reading crisis. Books require sustained attention and patience  two qualities necessary for a moral education. And yet these attributes are undermined by the instant gratification of tweets, likes and clicks. Can young people still be taught to read the difficult work that strengthens perception, judgment, and character? he wonders.

Seeking answers, Denby observes students and teachers at three very different schools: a progressive magnet public high school in Manhattan, a troubled inner-city public school in New Haven, Conn., and a well-respected public high school in Westchester, NY. Not surprisingly, what he finds depends on the school. Where does he see the most reason for hope? Thats where the book becomes surprising.

[Its not just about reducing screen time: a rethinking of how we view kids]

"Lit Up: One Reporter. Three Schools. Twenty-four Books That Can Change Lives" by David Denby (Henry Holt)

Denby begins at the Beacon School in Manhattan, where he chooses a 10th-grade English class taught by a popular teacher named Sean Leon. Leon encourages his students to read challenging literature with the theme the individual and society. The class reads books that skew decidedly dark and existential, such as Brave New World, 1984 and Slaughterhouse-Five. Students are pushed, too, by their parents toward academic achievement. Teachers have the freedom to design their own curricula and ignore test preparation, rarities in the American educational landscape.

In this class of 32, the students  virtually none of whom read outside of school  develop the ability to engage difficult texts and examine their own lives. As Denby sees it, Leon is largely successful, having asked the philosophical, spiritual and moral questions that will equip his students to rise above the stultifying effects of technology, the media and middle-class apathy.

This is all rather encouraging, as far as it goes. As Denby reluctantly comes to realize, Beacon and Leons success is only one example. What happens in other communities with different socioeconomic environments?

It is here that Denbys book is most engaging. At James Hillhouse High, an inner-city school in New Haven, Denby observes classes where the majority of students are African Americans whose families live below the poverty line. The school has few resources, and theres a noticeable absence of computer education and pre-college counseling. Moreover, Denby notes, the students basic need to simply survive in a poor, violent community trumps all other concerns. Theres little room to explore the larger themes of the individual and society, as the Beacon students do.

Despite the schools shortcomings, however, one teacher, Jessica Zelenski, works patiently to command the students attention. By showing students how literature relates to their lives, she helps transform skeptical non-readers into curious, engaged ones. Zelenski tells Denby that shes less interested in teaching skills than in showing kids how to enjoy life more and see that there are other worlds. With that knowledge, perhaps they might break out of the cycle of poverty and violence. Still, how far this will take them is a question that Denby, unfortunately, does not pursue with much rigor.

His next stop  Mamaroneck High School, in the affluent, largely white New York suburb of the same name  offers, as you might expect, a stark contrast to Hillhouse. The resources here are comparatively vast. And yet at what should have been a thriving school, Denby finds teachers fed up with students indifference to reading. They estimate that only about 20 percent bother to read the assigned texts; instead, the vast majority use online summaries. (Denby reports anecdotal evidence that teachers across the county suspect similar numbers at their schools.) In response, Mamaronecks teachers initiated a program mandating personal reading alongside assigned texts. The strategy is to create a culture of reading in the school, with class time devoted to recommendations and book groups. It sounds like a promising idea, but Denby doesnt follow up sufficiently. Did the personal reading ignite interest in class assignments? Denby devotes so little space to Mamaroneck and Hillhouse that they feel like afterthoughts.

Had Denby spent more time at these schools, he might have more fully recognized another pressing issue that education researchers have noted: that students who dont see themselves reflected in literature tend to disengage from it. What difference did it make that teachers at Hillhouse and Mamaroneck offered their students more diverse and contemporary choices than Leon did at Beacon? Denby doesnt address the question, nor does he examine the value of literature when it allows students to encounter the experiences and inner lives of people wholly different from themselves.

Two of the most fundamental merits of literature  that it can make us feel less alone in the world and can help us to develop the empathy required for humane living  go almost unnoticed. Denby does take note of how the female students in Leons class at Beacon seemed irritated with the male characters who dominated the literature he assigned. In fact, two poems by Sylvia Plath were the only female-authored texts Leon included in his year-long theme of the individual and society. When Denby questions him on his nearly all-male list of texts, Leon responds that he could find no more suitable works by women. Intensity mattered more than inclusiveness, Denby concludes. There the matter rests.

Many readers might understandably throw the book down at this point, as I did. I hope they will pick it up again, however, if only to push themselves to think more deeply than Leon and Denby do about what value literature serves, what constitutes important literature, and how we can make sure that deep reading and literature endure. The questions Denby raises (and fails to raise) are, as he suggests, vital to our future, regardless of how much they have been sidelined by those devices we all carry around in our pockets.
Ha Long city received ASEAN Environmentally Sustainable Cities Award in 2008 (Source: VNA)

The High-Level Seminar on Environmentally Sustainable Cities (ESC) is the flagship collaborative initiative by 18 East Asia Summit (EAS) participating countries (consisting of ten ASEAN member states, plus Australia, China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, the US and Russia) to foster concrete activities on ESC in the region.



Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Vo Tuan Nhan said the seminar, the seventh of its kind, takes place following an array of the worlds important events relating to environmental protection and sustainable development.



He cited the Paris Agreement reached by 195 nations at the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21) in Paris late last year as an example.



Such commitments have opened up many opportunities and challenges for each participating nation in environmental protection as well as ESC development, the official said.



During the two-day seminar, delegates share their experience to help the member countries establish and maintain a regional ESC network more efficiently.



They will also compare notes on challenges hindering the development of ESC such as environmental pollution, climate change, biodiversity and water security.



Over the past years, a number of Vietnams cities have joined the ASEAN ESC Model Cities Program and three of them have received the ASEAN Environmentally Sustainable Cities Award such as Ha Long in northern Quang Ninh province, Da Nang and Hue in the central region.



With the support of the Global Environment Fund, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is teaming up with the Asian Development Bank to set up a project on sustainable cities in an effort to strengthen institutional capacity and policies to address challenges regarding environmental pollution and climate change in urban areas./.
Hillary Clinton has a knack for turning triumph into tedium.

On Tuesday night, after her Super Tuesday wins all but guaranteed her the Democratic presidential nomination, she served up a victory speech that was a bowl of mush.

We know weve got work to do, but that work is not to make America great again, she said. America never stopped being great. We have to make America whole. We have to fill in whats been hollowed out. We have to make strong the broken places, restitch the bonds of trust and respect. . . . Instead of building walls, were going to break down barriers and build ladders of opportunity and empowerment.

Filling holes, stitching bonds, breaking barriers, building ladders: Is this an election or a public-works project?

[Chat with Dana Milbank about this column at 12:30 p.m. on his Facebook page]

Minutes later, Donald Trump, in his own Super Tuesday victory speech, made quick work of Clinton. She wants to make America whole again, he said, and Im trying to figure out: What is that all about?

Good question. All talk lately has been about Republican disarray  pandemonium, The Post called it  over Trumps seemingly inexorable march to the GOP nomination. Thats as it should be: Trumps bigotry and xenophobia are a disgrace to the party.

But Democrats would be foolish to think this guarantees victory for Clinton in November, because, for all his faults, Trump has an advantage: He connects with Americans feeling economic anxiety. With his talk of China killing us on trade and Mexico destroying us on manufacturing jobs, he has the potential to best Clinton in an area that traditionally benefits Democrats: a perception that he cares about the problems of ordinary Americans.

This empathy gap propelled President Obama past Mitt Romney in 2012 and nearly allowed socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to topple Clinton in the primaries. If Clinton cant fix the problem, it could doom her in November.

But there is, in this case, a silver bullet for Clinton: She can make Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) her running mate.

Though formal deliberations have yet to begin, the notion of a Clinton-Warren dream team has already been contemplated at Clintons campaign headquarters in Brooklyn. And there is likely to be more such talk, for several reasons:

Putting the liberal icon on the ticket would reunite the party and energize Sanders supporters who feel Clinton didnt go far enough in adopting his theme of economic justice.

An all-female ticket would electrify Democrats and widen a gender gap that is already wide enough to swallow Trump, long accused of misogyny.

Above all, Warrens passionate populism would provide a perfect antidote to the oft-bankrupt billionaire Trump. If Clinton embraced Warren, and more of her agenda, she could match Trumps appeal to disaffected, white, working-class voters.

Clintons problem can be seen in last months Quinnipiac University poll of voters nationally. Asked whether Clinton cares about the needs and problems of people like you, only 42 percent said yes  a strikingly low number for a Democrat. Sanders rated 61 percent in the poll, and Obama (though not the best at establishing bonds with the common man) has generally been in the high 60s.

Clinton scored only six points better than Trump. Compare that with summer 2012, when Obama enjoyed a 22-point advantage over Romney on a similar question.

This is worrisome for Democrats because the empathy gap was key to Obamas win in 2012. Among voters who prioritized a president who cares about people like me, Obama beat Romney by 63 points. If Trump, with his talk of ripping up trade deals and bringing home jobs, closes that gap, he would be difficult to stop.

Enter Warren, who declined to run for the nomination and remains neutral. Based on how well Sanders did, the charismatic Warren, in retrospect, probably would have beaten Clinton.

On the eve of Super Tuesday, she had an op-ed in the Boston Globe reminding all of her empathy bona fides. I graduated from law school nine months pregnant with my second baby  and 100 percent unemployable, she began, before making the case for a $15 minimum wage and expanded Social Security.

Warren, from modest means in Oklahoma, has as much populist fire as Trump but rages against Wall Street instead of making scapegoats of China and Mexico. And her populism is more inspiring than Trumps talk of killing and grabbing.

Trump signaled his general-election argument against Clinton on Tuesday night. Shes been there for so long, he said. I mean, if she hasnt straightened it out by now, shes not going to straighten it out in the next four years.

Trump will portray Clinton as a status-quo candidate out of touch with the common man. Warren, better than anybody, refutes that charge.

Twitter: @Milbank

Read more from Dana Milbanks archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
Peter Ackerman is chairman of Level the Playing Field, which advocates for an independent presidential candidacy. Larry Diamond is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law at Stanford University.

The prospect of a White House run by former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg has reignited a critical debate about whether its possible for an independent to be elected president of the United States.

Consider this paradox: Two of the leading 2016 presidential candidates  Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders  have no history of loyalty to either major party. Yet both decided to run in the party primaries  Trump as a Republican, Sanders as a Democrat  while pledging to support their the partys winner should they not win the nomination. That these two very different candidates came to similar conclusions helps illustrate why there is so much dissatisfaction with our nations political system.

As billionaires, people such as Trump and Bloomberg can self-fund an independent campaign, but without adequate liquid resources, all other qualified candidates have no way to mount a serious bid for the U.S. presidency outside the two major parties. This is the product of collusion between operatives from the Democratic and Republican parties who, through the design of hidden rules, jealously guard their duopoly.

Here is one example of an anti-competitive rule: Based on a little-known rider to the 2014 reconciliation bill, Democratic and Republican presidential nominees can now receive $834,000 per person, per year, through their parties for use in the campaigns. But unaffiliated candidates can collect only $2,700 each.

Heres another: If you are the Democratic or Republican nominee, your party will automatically appear on the ballot in all 50 states and the District. If you are an independent candidate, you must get your name on the ballot through 51 separate signature drives, requiring the collection of millions of signatures.

In the 2012 campaign cycle, Americans Elect (which we, respectively, co-founded and supported) completed the largest signature drive in U.S. history. More than 2.6 million people in 41 states signed our petitions demanding that an independent candidate for president appear on their states ballot. The cost was more than $12 million, which is why unaffiliated candidates relying on small donations have virtually no hope of gaining national ballot access.

And here is the most undemocratic rule of all: All those who run as a Democrat or Republican know on Day One that if they win the nomination, they are guaranteed a place in the fall presidential debates. The Commission on Presidential Debates  dominated by Republican and Democratic loyalists  requires all candidates to average at least 15 percent support in the polls just seven weeks before the election.

While 15 percent may seem reasonable, applying such a threshold in a three-way race so late in the election cycle creates an insurmountable Catch-22. Heres why: A candidate needs to have 60 to 80 percent name recognition to have any hope of polling at 15 percent. But the mass media will not seriously cover an independent candidate until his or her debate status is clarified. The cost of achieving 60 to 80 percent name recognition without significant free media exceeds $250 million. Raising that sum in amounts not exceeding $2,700 per person would be virtually impossible.

It is hard for people to believe that these obscure rules matter so much. Yet this is precisely what the two parties count on to distract the public from their pernicious effects.

Recently, one of the co-chairs of the Commission on Presidential Debates, former Republican Party chairman Frank Fahrenkopf Jr. , said on national television that it would be great to see a third candidate in this falls debates. He did not mention that in October he led a behind-closed-doors vote at the commission to sustain the rule that ensures that no independent other than a billionaire has a real chance to be in the debates.

The good news is that these anti-competitive debate rules dont have the force of law. With good will and imagination, they can be modified or eliminated.

Instead, a third candidate for the debates could be determined on the basis of a competitive signature drive across the country. Or unaffiliated candidates could compete for a third spot based on a primary for independents. The winner could be decided by May based on verifiable online voting, where potentially as many Americans could vote as do in the two-party primaries. Ideally, independents would be able to compete in state primary elections at the same time as those for the two major parties.

It would be great if Bloomberg decided to run and give the American voter a nonpartisan choice for president in 2016. But what about 2020 and beyond? We think serious and compelling independent candidates would be willing to run for president if they could count on a fair fight between them and the major party nominees.
A stuffed animal and flowers sit near a swing in Wills Memorial Park in La Plata, Md, where 3-year-old JiAire Lee was found dead last year. (Matthew Barakat /Associated Press)

By now, many of us are familiar with the tragic story of 3-year-old JiAire Lee, who was found dead on a playground in Maryland after his mother pushed him on a swing for nearly two days.

His mother, Romechia Simms, had a history of psychiatric hospitalization and had stopped taking medication for schizophrenia just days before her sons death.

A judge ruled last month that Simms was not criminally responsible for the death of her son. She will receive treatment for her mental illness with many conditions, including regular visits with mental-health professionals and submitting blood tests to prove that she is on medication.

The judge is to be lauded for allowing Simms to remain in the community under a treatment order rather than sending her to prison  where nearly one-quarter of those incarcerated suffer from a serious psychiatric disease. But it shouldnt take the death of a child, or even one encounter with the criminal justice system, for someone with severe mental illness to receive proper treatment.

Marylands mental-health system doesnt have a safety net in place to catch someone like Simms before a tragedy occurs. It is one of only five states without an assisted outpatient treatment law  a program that could have mandated that the mental-health system provide treatment and regular follow-ups for Simms.

Such programs are simple. The law requires the most vulnerable and severely ill patients  those who are most likely to end up homeless or the victim or perpetrator of a crime  to follow court-approved treatment plans as a condition of remaining in the community. The court orders also require mental-health providers to provide adequate monitoring of the patients and the services listed in the treatment plans.

Independent studies of assisted outpatient treatment programs have shown that they reduce hospitalization, homelessness and incarceration while lowering the costs of care for people with severe mental illness. The Justice Department and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration have deemed such interventions to be effective, evidence-based practices for reducing violence and other crime. And this year the federal government created and fully funded a national assisted outpatient treatment grant program, which Maryland cannot participate in until passage of an assisted outpatient treatment law.

Advocates for and family members of people with severe mental illness remain bewildered as to why Maryland has failed to create a similar program for its most severely ill residents. Legislators in New Mexico, one of the other four states without an assisted outpatient treatment law, just last month recognized the anguish that families were experiencing and passed a bill.

In 2014, Maryland had the opportunity to authorize assisted outpatient treatment. With the support of mental-health advocacy groups and families, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene proposed legislation authorizing the program. But the administration decided to table discussion of it because of funding concerns  despite the proven cost savings associated with it.

Meanwhile, the human toll is enormous.

Family members of people with severe mental illness are left helpless. They are forced to watch their loved ones stop taking medications and spiral into psychosis that can ruin their lives, threaten others and cost the state an extraordinary amount of money.

Simms, like many other people with severe, untreated mental illness, ended up in the criminal justice system. She is unusual only in that she will receive treatment instead of going behind bars. In Maryland, a person with severe mental illness is nearly three times more likely to become incarcerated than to receive treatment in a hospital.

If the state had moved forward with assisted outpatient treatment legislation, Simms might not have suffered the psychotic episode that resulted in the death of her child.

It is time for Maryland to dust off the health departments proposal and move forward. Give the mental-health system the tools to intercede before another unimaginable, irrevocable tragedy occurs.

The writer is executive director of the Treatment Advocacy Center.
David Cole teaches constitutional law, national security, and criminal justice at Georgetown University Law Center. His book, Engines of Liberty: The Power of Citizen Activists to Make Constitutional Law, will be released in March.

In 2008, 57 percent of Americans voted, and Barack Obama became the nations first black president. In the 2010 midterms, only 37 percent voted, and Republicans gained control of the House of Representatives, as well as 18 state legislatures. They learned their lesson. The following year, Republican legislators introduced 180 bills in 41 states designed to make it harder to vote. Nineteen states passed 25 laws that limited voting. They included onerous voter-identification laws and registration requirements, restrictions on early voting and increased penalties for volunteers who make mistakes in registration drives. Not coincidentally, the laws all had a foreseeably disproportionate impact on the young, the poor and minority voters  groups that tend to vote Democratic. As conservative strategist Paul Weyrich told the Republican National Convention some 30 years earlier: I dont want everybody to vote. . . . Our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.

Such a self-consciously partisan and highly coordinated strategy of vote suppression is, one might think, profoundly un-American. The nation was founded on the consent of the governed. We the people rejected monarchy for popular sovereignty. Yet as Michael Waldman deftly shows in The Fight to Vote, there have long been two competing strains in American politics.

On the one hand, the nations commitment to democracy is reflected in a long, albeit fitful, drive to expand the franchise to meet the ideal of equal voice upon which democracys legitimacy is premised. On the other hand, majorities have too often sought to exploit their temporary advantage to rig the rules to ensure their continued hold on power even after they have lost the peoples support.

As far back as the founding era, the Federalists, seeing a popular turn toward the Republicans, became the first American ruling group, sensing demographic or political change, to try to withdraw democratic rights as an electoral tactic. Southern whites perfected the practice in the aftermath of Reconstruction, using literacy tests, poll taxes and other means to disenfranchise virtually the entire black population and much of the poor white population to boot.

"The Fight to Vote" by Michael Waldman (Simon and Schuster)

And today, Republicans in many states have pressed voter-identification laws, purportedly in response to a threat of in-person fraud, that impose document requirements that disproportionately bar poor and minority voters while simultaneously foreclosing Election Day registration. Proponents of these laws have cited almost no instances of actual in-person voting fraud. Indeed, given the serious criminal penalties for such conduct and the minimal likelihood that a single vote would make a difference, one judge noted that you would have to be insane to commit voter impersonation fraud. Yet it is a convenient excuse to deny the franchise to poor and minority voters.

Such moves are possible because the Constitutions framers chose not to create a right to vote and instead left the matter largely to the states. The issue has been a source of heated struggle ever since. At the time of the founding, James Madison wrote eloquently that the electors should be not the rich, more than the poor; not the learned, more than the ignorant; not the haughty heirs of distinguished names, more than the humble sons of obscurity and unpropitious fortune. Yet at its founding the nation was a democracy in name only. Slaves were denied the vote and counted as three-fifths of a person  not to afford them any rights but to give white Southerners disproportionate power in Congress. Women were denied the vote. And most states limited the franchise to those who owned property. The country was founded not on the consent of the governed but on the agreement of white male property owners. And they were not eager to give up their monopoly.

The democratic ideal, however, has long had a force of its own, and over time, the franchise has expanded to more closely approximate the promise upon which we staked our independence. It is notoriously difficult to amend the Constitution. After the first 10 amendments, adopted essentially as a condition of ratification, only 17 others have won approval in 240 years. Yet five of them expand voting rights. The 15th Amendment, enacted after the Civil War, prohibited denial of the vote on the basis of race. The 17th Amendment empowered citizens to vote for senators directly. (Senators were initially selected by state legislators.) The 19th Amendment, ratified in 1920, gave women the vote. The 24th Amendment championed the democratic rights of the poor by banning poll taxes. And the 26th Amendment extended the franchise to 18-year-olds.

This remarkable string of constitutional amendments is emblematic of a central theme of Waldmans engaging history: The vote has been protected largely by the people, through the democratic process itself, rather than by court-enforced constitutional law. The courts have long been wary of getting embroiled in what Justice Felix Frankfurter called this political thicket. And not without reason; voting disputes are frequently highly partisan, and if the Supreme Court divides along partisan lines, its own legitimacy is likely to be called into question. No decision has done more to undermine the courts legitimacy in my lifetime than Bush v. Gore. Judicial involvement in partisan disputes is fraught with risk.

But leaving the democratic process to the democratic process also has great dangers. Consider what Southern legislatures were able to achieve in the Jim Crow era. During Reconstruction, black voter turnout approached 90 percent, hundreds of black men were elected to state legislatures, a black man was elected governor of Louisiana, and 16 blacks served in Congress. But in the wake of Reconstruction, Southern states imposed a range of hurdles at the ballot box designed to deny freed black men the vote.

The tactics, especially when coupled with the terror inflicted by the Ku Klux Klan, were brutally effective. In Louisiana, the number of black registered voters dropped from 130,000 in 1896 to a mere 1,342 in 1904. By 1940, only 3 percent of African Americans in the South were registered to vote. And all of this occurred after the adoption of the 15th Amendment, prohibiting denial of the vote on account of race. The courts did nothing to stop it.

It took political mobilization, in the form of the civil rights movement, to reverse the trend. Enactment of the Voting Rights Act, spurred by police brutality directed at civil rights protesters in Selma, Ala., and elsewhere, returned the vote to African Americans. In Mississippi, black registration went from 6.7 percent in 1964 to 59.3 percent in 1968 and to 71 percent by 1998.

Voting rights, Waldman reports, are under attack again today. As the Federalists did in the nations earliest days and Southern whites did in the Jim Crow era, Republicans today are doing their best to make voting difficult for those who they think will not support their cause. Republican appointees on the Supreme Court have exacerbated the problem. In 2013, by a 5-to-4 party-line vote, the court invalidated the most effective provision of the Voting Rights Act, which required states with a history of discrimination to obtain Justice Department approval before changing their voting rules in ways that might disproportionately burden minority voters. And the Roberts court has issued a series of 5-to-4 rulings, including most notably Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, that have struck down reasonable limits on campaign spending, effectively giving billionaires and corporations a constitutionally protected right to buy influence and distort the electoral process. Justice Louis Brandeis, who grew up in the Gilded Age, warned that we can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we cant have both. As Waldman shows, the Republican Party has made its choice clear, today simultaneously seeking to protect concentrations of great wealth and to suppress voting by the poor.

But however successful they might be in the short term, such efforts to undermine democracy are a sign that the Republicans are on the wrong side of history. Political parties seek to restrict the vote when they lack confidence that they will prevail in a full and fair contest. Such limits have worked to entrench power temporarily. Still, Waldmans important and engaging account demonstrates that over the long term, the power of the democratic ideal prevails  as long as the people so demand.
Donald Trump promises that if Americans send him to the White House, hell bring back waterboarding  and techniques that are a hell of a lot worse. Why? Because torture works, he claims, and even if it doesnt work, they deserve it anyway. Thats not Trumps only bright idea for U.S. counterterrorism policy. Hed also bomb the hell out of ISIS, and he favors targeting the spouses and children of Islamic State fighters, too, since with the terrorists, you have to take out their families. That kind of rhetoric from the GOP front-runner has rightly alarmed the foreign policy establishment, prompting an open letter this past week from an array of Republican advisers opposing Trump.

Former CIA director Michael Hayden, who also served as a four-star Air Force general and the director of the National Security Agency, sees a remedy: The military would save us from Trumps excesses if he somehow gets elected. If any future president wants . . . to waterboard anybody, he better bring his own bucket, Hayden has said. The Pentagon would never let him get away with war crimes: The American armed forces would refuse to act, he told HBOs Bill Maher recently. You are required not to follow an unlawful order.

Haydens right that any presidential order to use torture or deliberately target civilians would be illegal. Under international and U.S. law, both are grave crimes, punishable by imprisonment or, under U.S. law, death. Hes also right that military personnel have no duty to obey unlawful orders.

But dont count on the Pentagon to stop President Trump. The billionaire himself, asked at a Republican debate Thursday night what he would do if the military refused to obey his orders, seemed aware of that: They wont refuse. Theyre not going to refuse me. Believe me. . . . If I say Do it, theyre going to do it. (On Friday, he said he wouldnt order troops to violate the law.)



Unfortunately, recent history suggests that hes right. Military resistance is no safeguard against a future president  Trump or anyone else  whos determined to have his way.

Laws can be manipulated, and they can be changed, especially when a president wants them manipulated or changed. The U.S. military has a strong rule-of-law culture, but it also has a strong commitment to civilian control of the armed forces. Generally speaking, thats good, but it also means that officers rarely respond with a flat-out No when senior civilian officials start playing fast and loose with the law. The armed forces have a duty to disobey manifestly unlawful orders, but when top civilian lawyers at the White House and the Justice Department overrule the militarys interpretation of the law, few service members persist in their opposition.

[The unique horror of Donald Trumps foreign policy]

Think back to the first few years after the 9/11 attacks. The Pentagon initially planned to treat Taliban and al-Qaeda prisoners in accordance with the rules laid out in the Geneva Conventions, but the White House considered this inconvenient. (Under those rules, prisoners cant be detained secretly and with no review process, and they most definitely cant be waterboarded.) So the White House found some unusually compliant Justice Department lawyers, and by January 2002, the departments office of legal counsel was instructing the Defense Department that Geneva Convention protections did not apply to Taliban or al-Qaeda fighters.

Colin Powell, the George W. Bush administrations secretary of state and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, objected immediately, as did several top active-duty military officials. The Justice Departments position would reverse over a century of U.S. policy and practice in supporting the Geneva conventions, Powell argued, making the United States vulnerable to domestic and international legal challenges and creating a risk of criminal prosecution for American officials and troops.

The White House ignored such protests; then-White House counsel (and later attorney general) Alberto Gonzales asserted in a Jan. 25, 2002, memo to President Bush that the positionpreserves flexibility for the White House and reduces the threat of domestic criminal prosecution under the War Crimes Act. His logic: If the Geneva Conventions dont apply, then U.S. officials cant violate them.

The same legal sleight of hand occurred with interrogation practices. Before 9/11, no courts or serious legal scholars argued that waterboarding was anything other than torture or that torture was anything other than illegal. But after 9/11, Justice Department lawyers contended that a practice counted as torture only if it was intended to cause the kind of severe pain generally associated with death, organ failure, or the permanent impairment of a significant body function. Since waterboarding and other enhanced interrogation practices were intended to elicit information rather than to cause pain for the sake of pain  and since the pain caused by waterboarding wasnt as bad as death or organ failure  it wasnt torture. (Under this logic, even the use of thumbscrews presumably wouldnt count as torture, as long as the interrogators goal was intelligence, not vengeance.)

[Trump tells it like it is. Thats not necessarily a good thing for democracy.]

Several senior military lawyers offered strenuous objections. For instance, Air Force Maj. Gen. Jack Rives argued that the extreme interrogation techniques approved by the Justice Department violated domestic criminal law and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. But military resistance was largely limited to memos. No one staged a coup; no senior officer resigned in public protest. At the end of the day, the military brass followed orders from their civilian masters.

If history and social psychology have taught us anything, its that most people, civilian and military alike, will go along with the instructions of those they perceive as authority figures, no matter what horrors they have to witness or carry out  and for the most part, thats precisely what happened after 9/11. Although it was CIA rather than military personnel who were implicated in many of the most egregious post-9/11 abuses, military officers went along with plenty of bad actions and sometimes instigated them.

Even firmer resistance from military officials probably wouldnt have stopped the Bush administration from resorting to torture. In the years immediately following 9/11, White House officials turned repeatedly to the CIA for those jobs that made military personnel squirm. And Congress didnt exactly demand compliance with the spirit of the law, either. Though lawmakers eventually passed legislation prohibiting some of the most abusive interrogation practices, they also repeatedly altered U.S. laws in ways that enabled those same abuses to go unpunished. They provided a just following orders defense, for instance, and watered down previous war-crimes legislation, with retroactive application. If the Bush administration eventually abandoned its most controversial detention and interrogation practices, it wasnt because the military rebelled  it had more to do with the fatigue engendered by years of bad publicity, ceaseless external legal challenges and pressure from unhappy U.S. allies.

Weve seen similar dynamics in recent debates about controversial Obama administration practices. Several military leaders have questioned the legality, morality and strategic wisdom of secret U.S. drone strikes outside of traditional battlefields, particularly when the targets are U.S. citizens. But just as they did under President Obamas predecessor, Justice Department lawyers have provided memos offering legal justifications , muting any military resistance. U.S. military intervention in Syria is also arguably illegal under international law, and numerous lawyers in the armed forces have expressed private concerns about this and about the legality of current U.S. action under the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force. But here again, dont expect a mutiny or a coup.

However much we might sometimes wish it to, law doesnt exist wholly beyond politics  and neither does the military. We shouldnt expect troops to stand up against illegal or immoral practices when the White House, the CIA, Congress and most members of the American public cant be bothered to do so.

So if you dont want Trump  or any potential president, now or in the future  to bring back thumbscrews, carpet bombing and the deliberate targeting of innocent civilians, dont count on the military to stop him. Our best hope, against this and all other forms of savagery and bigotry, is exactly what its always been: Citizens need to speak out strongly and repeatedly, in the media, in the classroom, in the neighborhood and on the streets.

And dont forget to vote.

Twitter: @brooks_rosa

Read more from Outlook and follow our updates on Facebook and Twitter.
Robert Kagan is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a contributing columnist for The Post.

A mugger pulls a gun on Jack Benny and says, Your money or your life. Benny is silent, so the mugger says again, Your money or your life! Benny responds, Im thinking it over!

Thus so far the collective Republican reaction to the great question of our time: If Donald Trump wins the nomination, will the party support this would-be authoritarian to inhabit the nations most powerful office? To watch Republicans and conservatives wrestle with this question is to understand how political parties die and how democracies give rise to authoritarian rulers.

Any doubt about Trumps authoritarian inclinations ought to have been answered by now. Yes, its possible, as former Republican Senate majority leader Trent Lott suggests, that he might wind up being the most magnanimous, inviting and generous person you could imagine. But it is more likely that he will wind up being the person he has appeared to be throughout his campaign, only more so. The pattern of recent weeks is that the closer Trump gets to wielding the powers of the presidency, the less presidential he seems and the more he looks like the kind of strongman who brings democracies down.

He has employed threats and intimidation in attempts to silence a critical media  If I become president, oh, do they have problems; get a judge dismissed from a civil trial because hes Hispanic and therefore extremely hostile to me; discourage private donors from giving money to opposition campaigns  they better be careful, they have a lot to hide; and, this week, to gain the obeisant cooperation of the speaker of the House of Representatives  Paul Ryan . . . Im sure Im going to get along great with him. And if I dont, hes going to have to pay a big price. Trumps apparent fascination and, in some cases, evident admiration for Vladimir Putin, Mussolini and the Chinese perpetrators of the Tiananmen massacre would be merely strange if they did not offer a glimpse at what George F. Will has called the style of anticonstitutional authoritarianism by which he would be likely to govern.

Insult after insult flew during the Fox News GOP debate on March 3. Here's a look at some of the choice words rivals Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Donald Trump had for each other, while John Kasich stayed out of the fray. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

Those who hope a President Trump would be different, either because the job would humble him or because he would be hemmed in by our system of checks and balances, are wagering a lot on questionable suppositions. Consider that Trump is displaying these flashes of bullying authoritarianism while he is still courting us. Imagine when he no longer needs to court anyone, when he has amassed a large enough popular following to win the White House. We are supposed to believe that at that point, after a campaign in which his devoted throngs have cheered every threat and insult  against judges and newspapers and speakers of the House  he is suddenly going to become Calvin Coolidge?

Trumps supporters obviously arent worried about any of this. But what about those in the Republican Party who do worry about Trump? Shouldnt they be willing to do whatever is necessary to prevent him from winning the presidency, including voting against him in the general election, if that proves to be the only way?

Yes, there are now woefully belated efforts to block his nomination. But what if these fail, as is quite likely? Are Republican leaders prepared to take the next necessary step?

For many Republican leaders, so far the answer is no. I wouldnt be a very good Republican, said Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), explaining why he couldnt fail to support Trump in the general election, despite the risks. Some argue that a Trump presidency is worth swallowing because at least a Republican would be in the executive office, able to carry out Republican policies and make Republican decisions on critical matters such as Supreme Court nominations. Think of all the damage that will be done if Hillary Clinton and the Democrats are elected, they say.

This would be a stronger argument if Trumps record were not one of doing whatever he needs to do at any given moment to serve his own needs. Who knows whom he would appoint to the court, and why? Maybe he would appoint someone who favored changing U.S. libel laws or had a conveniently expansive view of presidential powers.

The partys bigger problem is that it remains enslaved by the same Manichaean mistrust and intolerance that helped give rise to Trump in the first place. And yes, the other party suffers from that ailment, too. It has displayed its own derangement syndromes, and much of what ails the U.S. political system can be laid at the doorstep of the Democrats. But at the moment the other party is not in the process of nominating a Trump. It is the Republican Party whose failings now threaten the well-being of American democracy. Can party leaders now rise above the party to save it?

Historically, authoritarians have ridden to power in democracies partly because their supporters, in the end, feared and hated their opponents more than they loved the particulars of democracy. Today, it seems, it is Clinton, and everything she supposedly stands for, who must be defeated, even if it means electing a man like Trump. As one Republican official put it, looking ahead to the general election, The penchant to defeat Hillary Clinton will transcend any concerns about the way Trump has conducted himself.

Really? Any concerns? You sometimes get the feeling that if Mussolini himself were about to win the nomination, Republicans would still be talking about Clintons email server.

This is nonsense. Republican voters and the party leaders who oppose Trump should declare now that they wont vote for him in the general election under any circumstances. If people feel better about voting for a third-party candidacy, if one emerges, thats fine, since any Republican vote going to a third-party candidate is a vote taken away from Trump. If more people made it clear now that they wont ever vote for Trump, it might even help stall Trumps drive for a majority of delegates in the coming primaries and open the way for a brokered convention. But so long as leading Republicans continue to say that, at the end of the day, they will stick with their party, right or wrong, Trump will keep rolling and the nation will remain at risk.
Regarding the March 2 news article S.D. governor vetoes bill on transgender bathrooms:

Kudos to South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard (R), who wisely vetoed the Republican-led legislatures bill to require transgender students to use the bathroom of their birth sex rather than that of their gender identity. The pernicious bill would have violated Title IX of federal education law prohibiting discrimination based on sex in federally funded educational institutions. Mr. Daugaard rejected the new twist in the Republican culture wars, where his party is trying to placate its anti-LGBT base, which has been demoralized by the national legalization of same-sex marriage. His veto sends a strong message to other states contemplating such legislation not to go down the path of fear and loathing to troll for votes.

Like despicable voter-ID laws, transgender bathroom laws represent legislation where no problem and no victims exist. In stigmatizing transgender people, such laws would create victims.

Walt Zlotow, Glen Ellyn, Ill.
Donald Trump plays on racial fears and animosities in an ugly, deliberate and dangerous way. This dance with bigotry goes far beyond his temporary amnesia about David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan.

Trump speaks as if he considers whiteness the norm and sees people of color as somehow alien and suspect. He is the only major American political figure in many decades to display such an antediluvian worldview so openly. Trump doesnt tweet dog whistles, he blasts foghorns.

He brags about getting along famously with the blacks and the Hispanics. How long has it been since anyone in public life used such casually exclusionary language? There are about 40 million African Americans and more than 55 million Hispanic Americans, all of them reduced, by Trumps use of the definite article, to sidekick status  the good ones being, I suppose, a bunch of Sammy Davis Jrs. and Ricky Ricardos.

Trumps entire platform, such as it is, can be reduced to us vs. them. The overwhelmingly white, largely blue-collar crowds that fill his gargantuan rallies are buffeted by harsh economic realities and have good reason to be anxious about the future. Trump doesnt give them solutions, he gives them scapegoats.

Recall that he kicked off his campaign for president last year with an outrageous libel against undocumented migrants from Mexico: Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.

In truth, immigrants are significantly less likely to commit crimes of any kind  including rape  than native-born Americans. But facts dont matter when Trump chooses to point a finger of blame. He even makes the preposterous and wholly unfounded charge that the government of Mexico is deliberately sending criminals, including sexual predators, into the United States.

To justify the big, beautiful wall he claims he will build along the border, Trump uses a resonant phrase: We either have a country, or we dont. Together with his campaign slogan  Make America Great Again  those words require a bit of unpacking.

The clear implication is that we once had a great country  but if all those Latinos are permitted to swarm in, we wont have our country at all. It will belong to the encroaching hordes. Never mind that the border is more secure than it has been in decades and illegal crossings have slowed to a trickle. Trumps goal is to create the impression that they are besieging us, and that he will put an end to it.

Perhaps this is what he truly believes. I recall something he said in September, in an interview with Bill OReilly of Fox News, and has since repeated: I was in Paris recently, and Paris doesnt look like Paris anymore.

What could Trump be talking about? The Eiffel Tower hasnt changed. Nor have the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre or the lovely Place des Vosges. But a visitor does share the boulevards with more dark-skinned people, most of them the sons and daughters of immigrants from former French colonies. Trump never spells this out, but Ive only heard him use the line in discussions about immigration.

Theres a history to consider. In 1989, Trump took out a full-page ad in four major New York newspapers to demand the return of the death penalty after five black and Hispanic teens were accused of raping and brutalizing a Central Park jogger. They were convicted and sent to prison  but later exonerated by DNA evidence and released. Trump wrote an op-ed arguing the city should not compensate the men for their years of unjust imprisonment because, even if they did not commit the rape, they do not exactly have the pasts of angels.

Trump still cannot bring himself to acknowledge that President Obama was born in the United States; once a birther, always a birther, I guess. A poll in September showed that two-thirds of Trumps supporters believe Obama is a Muslim; Trump does nothing whatsoever to disabuse them of that false notion.

Several recent polls have shown that a majority of Republicans, not just Trumpistas, support his idea of temporarily banning all foreign Muslims from entering the country. It would be impossible to implement such a policy  just as it would be impossible to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants. But actually doing these things is not the point. Activating populist anger against Muslims and Latinos seems to be what Trump is after.

There are just two possibilities: Either Trump is a bigot or he pretends to be one for political gain. Pick your poison.

Read more from Eugene Robinsons archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. You can also join him Tuesdays at 1 p.m. for a live Q&A.
A main cause of the rise of extremism in the world of Islam has been the cowardice of Muslim moderates, who for decades chose not to condemn bad ideas and ugly rhetoric. Fearing that theyd be seen as ideological weaklings, theyve avoided confronting the cancer in plain sight. It is now clear that a similar dynamic has been at play in the world of conservatism.

Mitt Romney should be congratulated for making a speech calling Donald Trump a phony and a fraud. But where was he in 2012, when Trump was pushing his nasty  and utterly false  campaign casting doubt on President Obamas U.S. citizenship?

By Trumps side in Las Vegas, as E.J. Dionne Jr. reminds us in his book Why the Right Went Wrong. There are some things that you just cant imagine happening in your life, Romney gushed. Having his endorsement is a delight. I am so honored and pleased. And although he generally eschewed birtherism, Romney fed the fires later that year by joking that no ones ever asked to see my birth certificate.

There have always been radicals on both sides of the political spectrum. But what is different about the conservative movement is that, since the 1990s, some of its most distinguished mainstream members have embraced the rhetoric and tactics of the extremes. A memo put out by Newt Gingrichs political action committee that decade urged Republican candidates to use savage rhetoric against their Democratic opponents. Some of the recommended words were failure, pathetic, disgrace and incompetent. In the past month, Trump has called Mitt Romney a failed candidate, Jeb Bush pathetic, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) a disgrace and Obama totally incompetent. Perhaps he read the memo.

It is gratifying to see the National Review mobilize against Trump, decrying his free-floating populism and disdain for the details of public policy. But where were the magazines editors when Sarah Palin put these same forces on full display eight years ago? Loudly cheering her on. National Reviews editor praised her for her plain-spoken, combative way. And he was more restrained than the editor of the Weekly Standard, William Kristol, who called Palin his heartthrob.

Palin knew next to nothing about national or international public policy, but she almost celebrated that ignorance, playing to the anti-intellectualism and anti-elitism of parts of the conservative base. Instead of pointing out that knowledge and expertise are actually things to admire and acquire, not mock, conservative intellectuals expressed admiration. Robert Kagan, a distinguished writer and a contributing columnist to The Post, declared: I dont take this elite foreign policy view that only this anointed class knows everything about the world. Im not generally impressed that they are better judges of American foreign policy experience than those who have Palins experience.

It is courageous of dozens of Republican foreign policy leaders now to sign an open letter condemning Trump publicly and refusing to support his candidacy. But over the past decade, I can recall conversations with some of these individuals in which they refused to accept that there was any problem within the Republican Party, attributing such criticism to media bias.

We still see this denial, with the truly bizarre claim by some in the media that the rise of Trump is really all the fault of . . . Obama. The logic is varied. For some, it is because he has been so weak. The Wall Street Journal editorial page opined, The oldest truism in politics is that demagogues flourish in the absence of leadership. (I must confess to never having heard of that truism and wondered how it would explain the rise of Father Charles E. Coughlin and Huey Long during Franklin Roosevelts reign, or Joseph McCarthy under Dwight Eisenhower.) For others, however, it is because Obama has been too strong, abusing executive power and elevating himself to center stage. Apparently having Oprah share the stage with you leads to authoritarian populism.

Here is a much simpler explanation for Donald Trump: Republicans have fed the country ideas about decline, betrayal and treason. They have encouraged the forces of anti-intellectualism, obstructionism and populism. They have flirted with bigotry and racism. Trump merely chose to unashamedly embrace all of it, saying plainly what they were hinting at for years. In doing so, he hit a jackpot.

The problem is not that Republican leaders should have begun to condemn Trump last year. It is that they should have condemned the ideas and tactics that led to his rise when they began to flourish 20 years ago.

Read more from Fareed Zakarias archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
Fairfax County recently began a process that could lead to the renaming of two high schools that honor Confederate generals. Some at Princeton University want to remove Woodrow Wilsons name from buildings, citing his segregationist policies. Both actions are part of a national debate over who should be honored with school and street names and statues.

The argument for removing references to Confederate generals is straightforward: Those associated with slavery and other shameful elements of our history should not be celebrated. Opponents of the name changes counter that few historical figures can live up to todays standards, and that if we wiped away every name that had a bad association, we would be left with few people to honor.

But a simple test could guide us in these decisions. If a historical figure is being honored principally for an act of human oppression  for instance, taking up arms against the United States in order to perpetuate slavery  that honor should be removed. But if a school, bridge or town is named to recognize a persons positive contribution to society, it should stay  even if that person has other negative associations. We should ask ourselves what we are celebrating, and act accordingly.

Arlington, where I live, provides two major examples. Running through the county is Jefferson Davis Highway. No one can claim Davis is being honored for anything other than his leadership of the pro-slavery rebellion. Its not as though his service in President Franklin Pierces Cabinet earned him the tribute. Its clear to me his name should be removed from the highway.

Running parallel to Jefferson Davis Highway is the George Washington Memorial Parkway. Washington was a slave owner, an aspect of his life that makes most Americans uncomfortable. But the parkway was not named to honor his role in that oppressive institution. The name appears throughout the country because Washington led us to independence and helped establish the good-government principles that have served us so well.

This approach does not mean all questions will be easy to answer. What about Union Gen. Philip Sheridan, who has a statue and circle named for him in the District? As Post columnist Charles Lane has pointed out, Sheridan helped defeat slavery and defend freedmen from the terrorism of the Ku Klux Klan  then pushed Native Americans off their land.

We cant remove the names of everyone who doesnt meet our modern tests of justice. And, of course, there will be some whose actions were so offensive, even in their own time, that we might choose to remove their names from a school or road even if they were not being honored for what now is considered a dishonorable act.

Does this test mean that all Southerners of the Civil War era should be removed from places of honor? Many certainly should be, but worthy individuals could replace those who stood for slavery. Amos Akerman, a white quartermaster in the Confederate Army, was  after the war, as U.S. attorney general  an advocate for the rights of freed slaves and a crusader against the Ku Klux Klan. Robert Smalls, a black Southerner born into slavery, became a hero for the Union and a congressman. We could proudly replace Daviss name on Route 1 with the name of either of these sons of Dixie.

Those who somehow still believe the Confederate cause was noble will object to any change. But most of us, even those who feel attached to Southern figures associated with the war, can agree that we shouldnt be honoring the Confederate mission.

Lets use this test  a candid assessment of an honor  to make such choices. We cant erase the messiness of history, but we can make judgments about what causes to celebrate.
The symposium is the worlds 4th largest symposium on natural rubber, and is considered an extraordinarily valuable event for the rubber industry in Vietnam to expand their business and introduce new products to the market.

More than 20 researchers from Hanoi University of Science and Technology (HUST) and Nagaoka University of Technology and Science (NUT) along with representatives of rubber manufacturing companies from Vietnam and Japan participate in the symposium.

Photo: bnews.vn

A panel of world leading researchers from Japan and Vietnam discuss future development of the rubber industry in Vietnam and the world.

The ESCANBER Establishment of Carbon-Cycle-System with Natural Rubber project is the collaboration among HUST, NUT and Rubber Research Institute of Vietnam (RRIV), funded by Japanese ODA through Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST). It started in April 2011 and will be completed at the end of March 2016.

The new technology developed within the scope of the Project increases the safety of rubber products and promotes uses of natural rubber to replace synthetic rubber. Using low-protein rubber provided by the project, some rubber factories around Ho Chi Minh city have produced trial pieces of laboratory gloves, surgical gloves and kitchen gloves. The project distributed 150,000 pairs of trial laboratory gloves to 16 major hospitals and research institutes in Hanoi to get their feedback. A nurse who used the trial gloves commented, If those gloves are cost-effective enough, well be able to purchase them and reduce allergic reactions of patients and medical workers.

Besides, a high-performance rubber and an advanced polymer with high conductivity have been developed from protein-free natural rubber within the scope of the project. These materials may be useful for the automotive industry or particular applications such as polymer electrolyte membranes in fuel cells.

As one of the outputs, the project has also successfully developed advanced treatment technology of wastewater from rubber processing factories, which efficiently reduces greenhouse gas emissions and recovers methane as an energy resource. It also developed enzymes to decompose cellulosic biomass with rubber to produce sugar and alcohol.

The project has produced critical outcomes which will promote substituting carbon-neutral natural rubber for synthetic rubber made from fossil resources and contribute to reduction of greenhouse gases. As rubber production in Vietnam has been growing rapidly in recent years, development of new natural rubber products will also contribute to Green Development in Vietnam, said Prof. Fukuda, project leader, who has been one of the pioneer researchers in developing advanced technologies for the project./.
First, Donald Trump attacked former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney for being a failed candidate. Then he turned to little Marco Rubio. He angrily listed his recent wins and poll standings. Somewhere in there, he tossed in a lyin  Ted Cruz.

One of the few people he didnt attack was Fox Newss Megyn Kelly  whom he famously lit into at a debate in August and with whom he had sparred for months.

Following his big wins Tuesday night, which put him in a commanding position for the Republican nomination, this might have been the night when Trump could safely shift into statesman mode, acting like a presumed nominee instead of a candidate.

Instead, Trump was under sustained grilling  from Rubio, Cruz and the Fox moderators  like never before, as the debate audience cheered on the attacks.

The night started with a joke about the size of Trumps genitalia  and went downhill from there, often devolving into hard-to-comprehend shouting matches, with Trump repeatedly interrupting his rivals and firing off endless attacks of his own.

Insult after insult flew during the Fox News GOP debate on March 3. Here's a look at some of the choice words rivals Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Donald Trump had for each other, while John Kasich stayed out of the fray. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

At one point, Cruz coached Trump to breathe, breathe, breathe. That prompted Rubio to make a joke about yoga and call Trump very flexible, a nod to the front-runner acknowledging that he has changed his position on assault rifle bans and visas for foreign workers.

This is what the Republican race and, especially, the debates have become  and theres no sign that the slugfest will end, even as Trump wins more and more primaries.

Trump took the stage with a tight smile and a wave that turned into a thumbs-up. His wife had warned him not to get too nasty in his attacks, to act presidential, but Trump said he responded: When you have incoming, you cant be too presidential.

The opening question of the debate forced Trump to again respond to Romneys accusations that the country would suffer with him as president  namely his domestic policy would lead to a recession and his foreign policy would make the country less safe. Romney also listed Trumps personal qualities, which the moderator rattled off as Trump frowned. It was a concern that Rubio and Cruz would echo again and again.

The bullying, Foxs Chris Wallace said, as the crowd cheered. The greed. The showing off. The misogyny. The absurd, third-grade theatrics.

Well look, he was a failed candidate, Trump said of Romney. He should have beaten President Obama very easy. He failed miserably, and it was an embarrassment to everybody, including the Republican Party.

Trump quickly pivoted to talking about trade and how he would improve it as president, but Wallace brought him again back to Romneys attacks, asking Trump to share his views on the Ku Klux Klan and white supremacists. Trump quickly disavowed the KKK and its former leader, but he slammed the media for continuing to bring this question up.

Republican Donald Trump is saying he "most likely" won't attend the debate Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly is set to co-moderate. Here's a look back at the clash that started with an earlier debate in August 2015. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

Throughout the debate, Trump was clearly unhappy with the way he was being treated by his fellow Republicans, though, at the end, they swore that they would support him if he becomes the nominee.

On a day when most candidates lock themselves away with top aides for a final round of debate prep, Trump started his by calling into the morning shows to preempt an expected attack from Romney  and then he flew to Maine to hold a rally where he could counterattack Romney while getting some face time with voters ahead of the states contest on Saturday.

The Romney attack hit Trump differently from those before it, and he responded as if he had been deeply personally hurt and offended. Trump has repeatedly said that he got into the race because Romney let him down by losing, and he decided he would rather win an election and run the White House himself than trust anyone else to do it.

At the Maine rally, Trump said that Romney begged him for an endorsement in 2012 and would have dropped to his knees if Trump had asked him to do so. Trump said he then recorded robo-calls for Romney and hosted a fundraiser for the stiff that attracted so much attention that he had to host two sessions on a rainy day.

Everybodys shoes were so wet, I ruined my carpet, Trump said in disbelief at the rally. This carpet was wiped out, and nobody thanked me for the carpet. Hey: Maybe I can send Mitt a bill for carpet ruined.

At the debate, nearly every question, including those that went to other candidates, put Trump on the defensive. He mocked his rivals, talked over them as they answered questions and even assured the crowd that he doesnt have small hands  as Rubio has said  and he can guarantee other body parts are not small, either.

The Fox News moderators came prepared with questions that seemed to be written with Trumps expected answers in mind, along with full-screen graphics showing that Trumps proposed budget cuts would not yield nearly as much money as he has promised.

Cruz and Rubio, who in previous debates had gone after each other, both locked on Trump instead. They pushed him for specifics on his policy proposals and reprimanded him for his personal attacks. Rubio suggested that someone who doesnt answer questions cant be president, while Cruz said that the stakes in this election are too high for Trump to be the nominee.

Trump had to defend several of his business deals  Trump University, which is caught up in lawsuits alleging fraud; his clothing line, some of which is made in other countries; his Florida resorts, which hire foreign workers during the busiest season instead of hiring locals.

But Trump seemed to become especially agitated when Cruz and Rubio implied that the billionaire couldnt win the nomination or the election. It was an attack that just didnt seem to make sense to Trump.

Just for the record, I have won 10 [states]. He has won three or four, Trump said, referring to Cruz. Last week, in fact, on Tuesday, I was a half a million votes higher than him. I was a million votes higher than Marco, one million votes. Thats a lot of votes.
Republican presidential candidates Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, John Kasich and Ted Cruz feuded over rhetoric, elections and immigration at the March 3 debate in Detroit. Here are the key moments. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

Republican presidential candidates Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, John Kasich and Ted Cruz feuded over rhetoric, elections and immigration at the March 3 debate in Detroit. Here are the key moments. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

The calamity brought upon the Republican Party by Donald Trump was laid bare Thursday by its two most recent presidential nominees, who delivered unprecedented denunciations of the candidate that set the stage for a raucous evening debate.

Mitt Romney awoke from his political hibernation to deliver a sweeping, point-by-point indictment of Trump  of his policy proposals, his business dealings, his erratic judgments, his moral character, and his insults to women, Latinos and the disabled. The former GOP nominee, who sought and accepted Trumps endorsement in 2012, implored Republicans to now reject the billionaire he labeled a phony and a fraud.

Trumps three rivals took up similar attacks later Thursday night at a Fox News Channel debate in Detroit in which the ferocious sparring and name-calling revolved almost entirely around the front-runner.

What started with Trump asserting that he was well endowed in a rejoinder to Rubios campaign-trail joke about his manhood devolved into an ugly affair, with the candidates yelling over each other, at times unintelligibly, as they sought to discredit one another.

Taken as a whole, the day only served to harden the divisions tearing the GOP apart and raise dire doubts about whether its factions could unite in the general election.

In a speech in Salt Lake City, former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney denounced support for candidate Donald Trump, saying Trump "is playing the members of the American public for suckers." Here are key moments from that speech. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

It began at sunrise in Palm Beach, Fla., where Trump phoned into network television shows to mock Romney as a failed politician. Then, in Salt Lake City, Romney gave his speech asserting that Trump was a danger to the nation and to democracy itself; in Washington, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) shared in the dismay; in Trenton, N.J., Gov. Chris Christie called a news conference to insist he was not a prisoner of Trumps; and in Portland, Maine, Trump rallied fans by demeaning Romney with crude language.

The events culminated at nightfall in Detroit, where Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas and Ohio Gov. John Kasich faced Trump and tried desperately to score points against him.

The very first question was aimed at Trump, and for the next two hours the moderators and candidates quizzed, scrutinized and mocked the front-runner. He was on the defensive through much of the event, struggling to explain many of his policy ideas as well as defend his hiring of foreign workers and the manufacturing of Trump-branded clothing overseas.

Youre making your clothes overseas, and youre hiring your workers overseas, Rubio said at one point, referring to the widespread use of foreign workers on visas at Trumps Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Beach.

Trump acknowledged that he brings in foreign workers to do jobs on work visas at his club and, defending himself, said it is difficult to get American employees to work in service for the five-month period he called the season.

We will bring them in and bring them out, he said to boos.

Trump reversed himself on a key part of his immigration platform, calling for an increase in visas for highly skilled foreigners. Im changing, he said. We need highly skilled people in this country.

1 of 29 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  Republican presidential candidates spar during Fox News Channel debate in Detroit View Photos The front-runner, Donald Trump, was suddenly thrown on the defensive, struggling to fend off criticisms from other candidates and hard questions from moderators. Caption The front-runner, Donald Trump, was suddenly thrown on the defensive, struggling to fend off criticisms from other candidates and hard questions from moderators. March 3, 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, left, leads rivals Ted Cruz, center, and John Kasich as they take the stage for the Fox News Channel Republican presidential debate at the Fox Theatre in Detroit. Jim Young/Reuters Wait 1 second to continue.

Trump added, With immigration  as with anything else  there always has to be some tug and pull and deal. . . . You have to be able to have some flexibility, some negotiation.

The evenings fireworks came when the candidates, exhausted after three months of breakneck campaigning, leveled caustic attacks at one another.

This little guy has lied so much about my record, Trump said of Rubio, whom he repeatedly called Little Marco.

One of the lowest points of the night came near the start, when Trump responded to a joke that Rubio had told days earlier about Trump having small hands. You know what they say about men with small hands, Rubio said, pausing to let the audience laugh. You cant trust em.

He hit my hands, Trump said, showing his palms. Nobody has ever hit my hands. Look at those hands. Are these small hands? And . . . if theyre small, something else must be small. I guarantee you theres no problem.

At times, the debate was so focused on the personal that Kasich thundered, Lets stop fighting!

Cruz, too, sought to claim the moral high ground.

I dont think the people of America are interested in a bunch of bickering schoolchildren, he said. They are interested in solutions, not slogans. Its easy to say Make things better, make things great. You can even print it and put it on a baseball cap. But the question is, do you understand the principles that made America great in the first place?

[The GOPs implosion over Donald Trumps candidacy has arrived]

Rubio and Cruz pounced on Trump regarding fraud cases filed against him and a real estate training company known as Trump University. Rubio said the university was a scam.

They asked him for their money back, and you refused to give them their money back, Rubio said, calling Trump a con artist.

Trump said the process needs to play out in court: Its called pending litigation.

The real con artist is Senator Marco Rubio, Trump shot back, bringing up Rubios attendance record in the Senate. He doesnt go to vote. Hes absent. The people of Florida cant stand him. He couldnt get elected as dogcatcher.

Cruz asserted that the GOP cannot afford a nominee facing a fraud trial.

Let me just ask the voters at home, Cruz said, is this the debate you want playing out in the general election?

The 11th Republican debate also marked a return engagement for Trump in his off-and-on feud with Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, one of the co-moderators. She asked him about the possibility that he might change his immigration policies once he gets into office, citing an off-the-record meeting with the New York Times that was reported by BuzzFeed.

Rubio and Cruz tag-teamed Trump, insisting that he give the newspaper permission to release the interview. He has a very simple solution, Cruz said. Simply release the tape.

Cruz seized on the episode and others to prosecute his case that Trump has no ideological core and is flexible on a range of issues important to the conservative base.

Despite the harsh rhetoric, Cruz, Kasich and Rubio all said in response to a question that they would support Trump if he was the nominee, and Trump said he would do the same if one of his rivals won.

The hottest topic in Michigan  the tainted water scandal in Flint  was brought up in only one question, and it came more than halfway through the debate. Only Rubio was given the chance to respond, and when he did so he expressed outrage while also complaining that Democrats have politicized the issue as if somehow Republicans woke up one morning and decided, Oh, its a good idea to poison some kids with lead. Its absurd, its outrageous.

[Heres who supports Donald Trump  and why]

Romney set the tone for the debate with his morning address at the University of Utah, where he methodically litigated the case against a Trump presidency.

Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud, Romney said. Hes playing members of the American public for suckers.

Romney, himself a onetime business titan worth hundreds of millions of dollars, sought to rub away at Trumps golden sheen.

His bankruptcies have crushed small businesses and the men and women who work for them, Romney said. Whatever happened to Trump Airlines? How about Trump University? And then theres Trump Magazine and Trump Vodka and Trump Steaks and Trump Mortgage. A business genius he is not.

Romney said the president helps define the values and principles of the United States for the world and sets an example for young Americans. He asked his audience of roughly 700 students and other guests to ponder Trumps personal qualities: the bullying, the greed, the showing off, the misogyny, the absurd third-grade theatrics.

Trump fired back with a verbal tirade a couple of hours later at his Maine rally. He bemoaned Romneys nasty critique and dismissed him as a choke artist who, in Trumps assessment, botched an easy chance to turn President Obama out of office.

Trump recalled his endorsement on Romney in February of 2012, describing the candidate as yearning for Trumps stamp of approval.

He was begging for my endorsement, Trump said. I couldve said, Mitt, drop to your knees, and he wouldve dropped to his knees. He was begging. True. True. He was begging me.

On the debate stage, Trump dismissed Romney in similar terms: He failed miserably, and it was an embarrassment to the entire Republican Party.

[The Fix: Romney did Trump a big favor by attacking him]

The clash comes at a crucial point in this unpredictable GOP primary season. Trump has won 10 of the first primaries and caucuses, including dominating this weeks Super Tuesday contests, and has a significant lead in the race for Republican convention delegates.

But in a divided field, Trump still has fewer than half the delegates awarded so far. That leaves his opponents with a viable, if risky and destructive, strategy. The only way to stop Trump from winning the nomination may be to stop anyone from winning it  dividing up the delegates so that no one has a majority.

Then, the theory goes, the party would head into a chaotic convention  the first true floor fight for any party in decades  and hope that a candidate other than Trump emerges.

This is just the scenario Romney encouraged when he recommended that Floridians cast ballots for Rubio, Ohioans cast ballots for Kasich, and everywhere else, voters back the candidate best positioned to deny Trump a victory in that state.

It was unclear whether Romneys speech would move any voters away from Trump. It could have the effect of intensifying support for the rebellious outsider.

But within the Republican establishment, Romneys speech drew immediate and enthusiastic praise. Within minutes, McCain issued a statement effectively joining forces with Romney.

I want Republican voters to pay close attention to what our partys most respected and knowledgeable leaders and national security experts are saying about Mr. Trump, and to think long and hard about who they want to be our next Commander-in-Chief and leader of the free world, McCain said.

But not every member of the establishment was speaking out against Trump. Christie has been Trumps most visible endorser of late, standing stone-faced behind Trump at his victory event Tuesday night in Palm Beach. It has sparked mocking memes on social media and laughs on late-night television.

Christie addressed that at his news conference in Trenton on Thursday.

I want everyone to know for those who were concerned: I wasnt being held hostage, I wasnt upset. I wasnt angry. I wasnt despondent, said Christie, who ended his candidacy last month after a disappointing finish in New Hampshire.

OKeefe reported from Salt Lake City. Jose A. DelReal in Portland, Maine, Steve Friess in Detroit and David A. Fahrenthold in Washington contributed to this report.
Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) discusses reaction to his appearance on Super Tuesday with Donald Trump in a news conference. (Reuters)

Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) discusses reaction to his appearance on Super Tuesday with Donald Trump in a news conference. (Reuters)

Chris Christie wants the world to know that he was not being held hostage this week.

Under fire from fellow establishment Republicans for endorsing Donald Trump for president, the New Jersey governor held a news conference Thursday in which he issued a wide-ranging defense of his support for the GOP front-runner and his frequent absences from his home state.

In one prominent appearance this week, Christie introduced Mr. Trump and then stood behind the mogul as he celebrated seven Super Tuesday primary victories that have put him on a path to be the Republican nominee. Christies expressions seemed pained, glassy and vacant, leading to mocking suggestions on social media and cable television shows that the governor looked like he was regretting his endorsement or being held against his will.

I want everyone to know for those who were concerned: I wasnt being held hostage, I wasnt upset. I wasnt angry. I wasnt despondent, Christie said Thursday during a long news conference at the statehouse in Trenton, N.J.

I was not sitting up there thinking, Oh, my God, what have I done?  Christie added, saying he was happy that we had done as well as we had done that night.

[Chris Christies wordless screaming]

Holding a news conference in which he had to explicitly say that he wasnt a prisoner of Trump was another awkward episode for a governor who was once hailed as a rising Republican star but is now a failed presidential aspirant with dismal approval ratings in his home state. According to a poll from Fairleigh Dickinson University, only 35 percent of New Jerseyans surveyed approve of how Christie is doing his job.

Most of the states major newspapers have turned on him. In a joint editorial this week, six Gannett-owned papers called on Christie to resign or face a recall effort. The editorial said Christie spent 261 days outside New Jersey last year as he pursued his presidential bid.

What an embarrassment. What an utter disgrace, the papers said.

The states largest newspaper, the Star-Ledger of Newark, owned by Advance Publications, joined the fray Thursday with its own editorial calling on Christie to quit, saying he had abandoned his duties in the midst of a fiscal crisis in Atlantic City and the state.

Gov. Chris Christie has made it abundantly clear that governing New Jersey is a distant second priority for him, far behind the demands of his personal ambition, the Star-Ledger said. It called the Trump endorsement craven and the moment when [Christie] lost any last shred of credibility.

Some of Christies backers and fellow Republicans in the state also are going after him.

Donald Trump, accompanied by Chris Christie, left, takes questions from members of the media during a news conference on Super Tuesday primary election night in Palm Beach, Fla. (Andrew Harnik/AP)

Hewlett Packard Enterprise chief executive Meg Whitman, one of Christies top supporters, issued a statement this week blasting him for an astonishing display of political opportunism in endorsing Trump, whom Whitman labeled a dishonest demagogue.

One Republican legislator said Christie has to make a decision: Do his job as governor or campaign for Trump full time.

I think hes doing a disservice to the residents of New Jersey who elected him twice to be governor, state Sen. Christopher Kip Bateman told the Record of Woodland Park.

I think he should make up his mind. If he wants to be a surrogate for Trump, thats fine, he said. But he cant neglect his duties as governor.

Christie dropped out of the presidential race after a poor showing in the New Hampshire primary last month. He enthusiastically backed Trump in a surprise endorsement in Fort Worth last week.

Donald Trump is someone who, when he makes a promise, he keeps it, Christie said. No one is going to get inside this guys head. There is no better fighter than Donald Trump.

[While endorsing Trump, Christie takes shots at Rubio]

Christie said Thursday that he had made a choice and people will have to live with it. He also said he is back to work in New Jersey and not a full-time surrogate for Trump.

Ive made a choice. Some people agree with that choice. Some people disagree with that choice, he said, saying he believes Trump is the best candidate to beat Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.

Christie said he makes his opinions known to Trump.

When I disagree with him, I tell him. And when weve been together over the last couple days, I tell him my opinions on things, Christie said.

Brigid Harrison, a professor of political science at Montclair State University, said Christie has little political capital left in New Jersey and, likely, nationwide.

He essentially has committed political suicide with the establishment, she said. He is now damaged goods.

Harrison said that Christie, who loves attention, may be playing second fiddle to someone who wants it even more.

Christie is typically unwilling to share the spotlight with anyone, she said. I think he found the only other person in the world who is less willing to share the spotlight than he is.
The Supreme Court building in Washington. The court recently made a ruling on abortion law in Louisiana. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

The Supreme Court on Friday blocked Louisiana from enforcing a law that threatened to close all but one of the states abortion clinics.

The courts action came just two days after it heard oral arguments in a similar case from Texas, and abortion rights supporters treated it as a positive sign. It came just hours after the justices met to discuss the Texas case for the first time in their private conference.

[Supreme Courts liberal justices unite to attack Texas abortion law]

The court gave no reason for its Friday order; only Justice Clarence Thomas noted that he disagreed and would have let the Louisiana law take effect.

The issue is whether clinic doctors who perform abortions must have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the clinic. It was hotly debated during Wednesdays oral arguments reviewing the Texas law.

1 of 14 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  A Texas abortion clinic girds for battle before the Supreme Court View Photos The owner of the McAllen, Tex., provider challenges the states restrictive rules. Caption The owner of the McAllen, Tex., provider challenges the states restrictive rules. Feb. 27, 2016 Antiabortion demonstrators, who declined to give their names, pray outside Whole Womans Health of McAllen. The Texas clinics owner is challenging a state law that set requirements that the clinic cannot meet. Ilana Panich-Linsman/For The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue.

Abortion providers say the requirement is medically unnecessary  hospitals accept any patient who developed complications after an abortion, they say, whether the doctor had admitting privileges or not.

The privileges are also sometimes difficult to acquire no matter the doctors qualifications, the providers say. Doctors are sometimes turned down because they are from outside the community, do not admit enough patients to qualify or simply because the hospitals do not want to become involved in the controversy over abortion.

The states that have passed the requirements say it contributes to a continuity of care for the patient.

A federal district judge had blocked Louisianas law from enforcement. But a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit stayed that decision on Feb. 24, meaning the law could take effect.

The Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) then went to the Supreme Court, saying the 5th Circuits decision should be blocked at least while the high court considered the similar law from Texas.

Fridays action by the Supreme Court will allow two Louisiana clinics that closed after the 5th Circuits ruling to reopen and saved another from imminent closure, CRR said.

For the third time in a little over a year, the Supreme Court has stepped in to preserve womens ability to get the constitutionally protected health care they need,said Nancy Northup, the centers president and chief executive. Just two days after arguing our case before the Supreme Court to strike down a similar sweeping law in Texas, we look to the Justices to put an end to these sham measures threatening womens rights, health and lives across the U.S.

South Texas's only abortion clinic, located in the border town of McAllen, has become a battleground for abortion activists on both sides. (Whitney Leaming/The Washington Post)

The courts liberal justices during oral arguments Wednesday were dismissive of Texass argument that the admitting privileges requirement was necessary.

Justice Stephen G. Breyer questioned whether there had been a single documented case of a woman not receiving the hospital care she needed because her doctor lacked privileges.

Texas Solicitor General Scott A. Keller said he could not provide one.

So what is the benefit to the woman of a procedure that is going to cure a problem of which there is not one single instance in the nation, though perhaps there is one, but not in Texas? Breyer asked.
President Barack Obama traveled to Milwaukee to celebrate the citys victory in the Healthy Communities Challenge, a competition between 20 cities to increase the number of Americans with health insurance during the latest Health Insurance Marketplace open enrollment period. (Tom Lynn/AP)

President Obama offered a glimpse Thursday of how he might campaign for his partys nominee this fall and seek to cement his legacy in the White House.

The reason for his speech here was the sixth anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, but the setting was telling: Obama defended perhaps the most controversial legislative achievement of his presidency before a Latino-dominated audience, a key constituency for Democrats this fall, in a swing state that will be critical to determining the next commander in chief.

Obama spoke at Bruce-Guadalupe Middle School, which is part of a broader community campus that includes the Milwaukee Latino Health Coalition. There are about 156,000 Hispanic voters in Wisconsin and they account for about 6.5 percent of the electorate, according to the Pew Research Center.

Democrats are betting that Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trumps calls to build a wall on the southern border of the United States and his suggestion that many Mexicans coming to the country were criminals, drug dealers and rapists will drive Latino voters to support the eventual Democratic nominee.

Obama made only passing reference to the presidential race Thursday, focusing instead on gains that he attributed to the health-care law. According to an administration report, an estimated 20 million people have gained health coverage since the law was passed in 2010.

Today, fewer than 1 in 10 Americans lack health insurance, and health-care prices have risen since 2013 at the slowest rate in 50 years, Obama said. The administration described the drop in numbers as historic.

We have seen progress, in the last six years, that the country has sought for generations, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell said in a statement.

Thursdays report was an update of an HHS estimate from September, which found that 17.6 million uninsured adults had gained coverage as a result of the ACA. It said that more than 6 million adults ages 19 to 25 have gained insurance under the law. Gains in coverage among previously uninsured adults were strong across all racial and ethnic groups, according to the report.

You wouldnt know any of this if you listened to the politicians on the other side who are obsessed with repealing this law, Obama said. To them, the facts I just mentioned dont matter.

Obama celebrated Milwaukee as one of the Affordable Care Acts recent success stories. Among 20 cities with large numbers  or a high percentage  of uninsured residents, Milwaukee was deemed by the White House as the most successful at signing people up for health insurance during the most recent enrollment period.

You got nearly 90,000 people to sign up, Obama told the cheering crowd in Milwaukee. You are proof that the Affordable Care Act works.

About 38,000 of those who signed up in Milwaukee were selecting an insurance plan for the first time through one of the marketplaces created by the act, the White House said.

Nationwide, about 13 million Americans signed up for health-care coverage through one of the marketplaces during the most recent enrollment period.

In a separate announcement, HHS said it is ahead of its own schedule in working to shift how Medicare pays for care  from the quantity of tests and services provided beneficiaries to the quality of the care delivered.

Federal health officials had set what they described Thursday as the ambitious stretch goal of having 30 percent of the programs payments reflect this new approach by the end of this year. They met their goal 11 months early, officials announced. In 2014 alone, they said, the result was $411 million in health-care savings.

Obama was introduced in Milwaukee by Brent Brown, a Republican who told the crowd that he had cursed the president and had never voted for him. Brown, who was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, said he was literally a dead man walking. Hope gone, before the acts passage. But then this guy signs this bill . . . and I receive the care I so desperately need.

Swallow your pride as I am doing right now, Brown told Republican lawmakers. Do what is right.

The testimonials and numbers touted by the White House, however, have not done much to blunt attacks on the law from Republicans, who have derided the law as too costly, a jobs killer or a prelude to rationing health care. They also have not resonated with a majority of Americans, who in polls have said that they do not like the law.

For many, the law, also known as Obamacare, has become synonymous with the deep polarization and mistrust in the country. During the past six years, the law has survived two Supreme Court challenges and nearly 60 attempts by Republican lawmakers to repeal it, in whole or in part.

Repeal has been a rallying cry, Obama said.

All of the Republican presidential candidates have said that they would repeal it as one of their first acts in office. Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton has repeatedly praised the law and promised to improve upon it.

In Milwaukee, the president often slipped into a salesmans patter as he celebrated the law, noting insurance under the act for many Americans was less than your cellphone bill, less than a cable bill and in many cases, less than 75 bucks a month.

He rejected the notion advanced by many Republicans that the program was a jobs killer, noting that the country had seen jobs growth in every month since the act became law and that the unemployment rate had plummeted.

Its saving lives and its saving money, and weve done all this while creating millions of new jobs, Obama said. Weve cut our deficits by 75 percent.

Laurie McGinley contributed to this article.
Insult after insult flew during the Fox News GOP debate on March 3. Heres a look at some of the choice words rivals Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Donald Trump had for one another, while John Kasich stayed out of the fray. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

Insult after insult flew during the Fox News GOP debate on March 3. Heres a look at some of the choice words rivals Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Donald Trump had for one another, while John Kasich stayed out of the fray. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

Its highly questionable whether anyone emerged as the winner in Thursdays Republican presidential debate in Detroit, though the candidates spinmeisters would all quibble with that. There was one clear loser: the Grand Old Party.

The 11th debate of the Republican campaign tested the patience and the limits of viewers and voters. Insults and interruptions overwhelmed sober discussion. The raucous audience, now a staple of the GOP debates, only added to the sense of game-show politics.

Can anyone credibly suggest that the Republicans put their collective best face forward Thursday night? At a time when the party is in crisis over the possibility that Donald Trump will become the nominee, the debate did next to nothing to make Trump or his three remaining rivals look or sound presidential.

Designed to define candidates differences, the debates have become tedious and repetitious rather than enlightening or illuminating. No new information was imparted Thursday, no truly new arguments advanced. Even the insults were tiresome.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, who drew criticism earlier for trying to limit the number of debates, must be wishing he had pushed for even fewer, given the tone and tenor of Thursdays forum in Detroit and last weeks mud bath in Houston.

1 of 17 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  Top quotes from the 11th Republican presidential debate View Photos The candidates shared these comments during the Fox News GOP debate in Detroit. Caption The candidates shared these comments during the Fox News GOP debate in Detroit. Wait 1 second to continue.

Thursdays debate came at the end of an extraordinary day in the Republican campaign  the kind of day no one can remember ever seeing  when the partys 2012 nominee, Mitt Romney, delivered a scathing attack on the 2016 front-runner as unfit to be president and unworthy to lead the party.

[GOP divisions appear to deepen]

Romney did what none of Trumps rivals for the nomination has done. He set out a slashing and coherent attack on the New York billionaire. He described Trump as a fraud and a phony, as a failed businessman, and as an aspiring politician with no ideological moorings. Trumps policies, Romney warned, would be disastrous domestically and dangerous internationally.

It was left to Trumps rivals  Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) and Ohio Gov. John Kasich  to drive home those arguments Thursday night. At times Cruz and Rubio tried, attempting to unmask Trump on immigration and foreign policy. Meanwhile, Kasich continued his strategy of trying to stop Trump by declining to criticize him.

But then, as if to take a hammer to their own arguments that Trump is not the kind of candidate Republicans need to lead them into the fall campaign, Rubio, Cruz and Kasich closed out the evening by saying, however grudgingly, that they could support him if he won the nomination.

Throughout the debate, Trump only helped reinforce the substance of some of Romneys criticisms. He deflected virtually every question about policy by launching personal attacks on his rivals or resorting to generalities and broad promises. He struggled to defend contradictory statements he had made in the past.

In an extended exchange with Fox News anchor and his onetime nemesis Megyn Kelly, he tried to talk away a class-action lawsuit brought against Trump University, dismissing it as minor and predicting that after a few more years of litigation, he will win the argument with the dissatisfied students.

Republican presidential candidates Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, John Kasich and Ted Cruz feuded over rhetoric, elections and immigration at the March 3 debate in Detroit. Here are the key moments. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

Trump dominated the evening in terms of time spent talking, but he also dominated in time spent on the defensive. Given the pattern of the campaign and of the past three debates, he probably did nothing to undermine the support he already has.

Its questionable, however, whether he added new voters to his coalition  voters he might need if the field narrows further. Its equally questionable whether Kasich, Cruz or Rubio came out of the debate enhanced or standing above the other candidates.

[Trump comes under attack in debate]

The Republican Party is in terrible turmoil over Trump, with members of what passes for the establishment frantic to find a way to slow his march to victory. But winning the nomination outright by accumulating delegates in the primaries and caucuses now seems exceedingly difficult for any of Trumps rivals. The course that seems to have emerged is a collective hold-the-line strategy that would throw the decision to the national convention in July.

Cruz once thought a victory in South Carolina and a big night on Super Tuesday would put him in the drivers seat. That plan crumbled when Trump won South Carolina and carried seven of the 11 contests this week. Cruz salvaged the night by winning his home state of Texas, plus Oklahoma and Alaska. But he has yet to show that he can truly consolidate conservatives in the way he needs to.

Rubio has tried to play the long game, but its become a much longer game than first envisioned. The senator finally picked up his first victory Tuesday, in the Minnesota caucuses. But on a night when he said the key was accumulating delegates, he fell far behind both Trump and Cruz. In delegate-rich Texas, he managed to come away with just three of the 155 at stake. If that isnt a failure of his strategy, what is?

Kasich came close in tiny Vermont on Tuesday and finished second in Massachusetts, a whisker ahead of Rubio. In the South, he cratered, scoring in single digits. In some of those states, he trailed Ben Carson, who has since gone to the sidelines with all the other candidates who began the race last year. The lone governor left in the campaign is still looking for his first victory.

A viable  perhaps tenuous is a better term  strategy for stopping Trump requires all three to win their home states. Cruz has delivered. Rubio and Kasich will be tested in Florida and Ohio on March 15, when delegates can be awarded on a winner-take-all basis. If either loses at home, the pressure will mount to get out.

It seems they all need one another now to keep gathering enough delegates collectively to deny Trump a first-ballot victory at the convention. Under that strategy, chaos awaits the party in Cleveland, just as it was chaos that seemed the order of the night in Detroit. The debates, a proxy for the nomination battle itself, have ceased being the GOPs friend.

For more Take columns, visit washingtonpost.com/politics.
Grocery stores such as Whole Foods play a prominent role in the lives of Americans, and they are becoming the sites of fruitful, robust design. (Ty Wright/Bloomberg)

Adult residents of city and suburban neighborhoods probably visit their local grocery store or supermarket more frequently than any other retail or service destination. Among all such community facilities  retail shops, restaurants, schools, post offices and even religious structures  none figure more regularly and indispensably in American adults domestic routines than the grocery store.

For some, grocery shopping is a chore; for others, its a ritual. Our most commonly shared retail experience, it is periodically an informal social experience when  in an aisle or checkout line  you cross paths with immediate neighbors or shoppers whom you may not know but who are residents of your community.

You may be on a first-name basis with grocery-store checkout clerks, chatting and exchanging pleasantries as your grocery bar codes are scanned. But you are probably quite indifferent to your grocery stores architecture.

In American suburbs, the typical grocery store is a nondescript, cheaply built one-story masonry box surrounded by surface parking and occupying several acres of land. Or its part of a strip shopping center, along with a drugstore, bank branch, salon, dry cleaner, pizza parlor, Chinese restaurant or other locally operated convenience stores.

But must a grocery store, which can encompass tens of thousands of square feet, inevitably be a nondescript and aesthetically unremarkable box? Must a grocery store be simply an aesthetically mundane warehouse in which groceries are stocked and sold?

[More Lewis: The clamor for open space is constant, but sometimes its the wrong way to go]

Few architects concern themselves with designing strip shopping centers or grocery stores, which are rarely considered opportunities for award-winning architectural invention. Likewise, architectural preservationists and historians devote little time and effort studying, saving or writing books about grocery stores.

But in metropolitan Washington, there are exceptions. Silver Spring-based Torti Gallas and Partners, Rounds VanDuzer Architects in Falls Church and MV+A in the District have demonstrated that grocery stores are, in fact, fruitful design opportunities.

For example, MV+A has designed or co-designed with other firms about 70 Whole Foods Markets throughout the Washington area and in cities across the country, including in Newport News and Charlottesville, in Virginia, Philadelphia; Pittsburgh; Cleveland; Clearwater and Winter Park, in Florida; and University Heights, Ohio.

Built or under construction in this region are stores in Towson, Columbia, Riverdale, Chevy Chase, Vienna, Arlington and Alexandria. In the District, MV+A designed Whole Foods Markets in Georgetown and on P Street NW in Logan Circle.

Whole Foods has been a pioneering innovator, creating a new urban grocery store typology. Other competing, recently constructed supermarket chains have followed suit, aspiring to go beyond merely stocking and selling groceries.

This new type of store appears mostly within relatively dense residential and commercial settings. Such food stores may become urban catalysts, contributing constructively to the visual, social and economic revitalization of evolving city neighborhoods.

Whether free-standing or part of a mixed-use, city block infill development, these food stores can serve as memorably magnetic destinations and aesthetically robust additions to the streetscape, thanks to key design strategies.

[For D.C.s middle class, reality can stifle the American dream]

Street facades, with large windows or glazed curtain walls, ensure that spacious, animated store interiors are publicly visible, day or night. Conversely, facade transparency enables views of the street from inside the store. And daylight penetrates deeply into the buildings often lofty interior, revealing typically an interwoven overhead network of exposed structural members, ducts, pipes and pendant light fixtures.

Newer store types increasingly offer interior social spaces  essentially cafes  where shoppers can meet, sit, talk or have breakfast or lunch by purchasing food and beverages available for on-site consumption. Beer and wine may even be available in some stores, local regulations permitting.

Parking for urban food stores can be underground, at street level and beneath an elevated grocery store structure, or within an adjacent, above-grade parking garage. A structured parking space costs much more than a surface parking space. But by eliminating ecologically unsustainable surface parking lots, a food store occupies much less land, resulting in substantial land-cost savings that offset structured parking costs.

Thus, the 21st-century food store, designed as a multi-functional destination and laudable work of architecture, attracts people who come there for more than grocery shopping.

But creative design alone wont solve the persistent problem of food deserts  communities lacking a conveniently accessible, full-service supermarket. Chain grocery retailers contend that, in many neighborhoods, there are not enough residents able to afford the quantity and quality of foods necessary to financially sustain an attractive food store with at least a modicum of profitability.

This appears to be why Walmart backed out of its commitment to build stores in the District east of the Anacostia River. Nevertheless, local governments and food retailers must continue searching for a strategy to address this socioeconomic challenge. And creative architectural design must be part of that strategy.

Roger K. Lewis is a practicing architect, a professor emeritus of architecture at the University of Maryland and a regular guest commentator on The Kojo Nnamdi Show on WAMU (88.5 FM).
1 of 15 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  Where We Live | Seven Oaks-Evanswood in Silver Spring View Photos Residents are known for their fierce protection of the community in the wake of development, and for a popular annual Halloween party. Caption Residents are known for their fierce protection of the community in the wake of development, and for a popular annual Halloween party. Seven Oaks-Evanswood, a neighborhood in Silver Spring, is known for its mature trees and varied architecture. Evy Mages/For The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue.

If Seven Oaks-Evanswood had a mayor, it might be John Talone.

He champions the Silver Spring neighborhoods mature trees and varied architecture. He sings the praises of his neighbors, who, although they occasionally disagree about nearby development, can be relied upon for thoughtful action and a killer annual Halloween block party. He is so committed to the neighborhood that he bought the house he moved into as a child in 1962 from his parents in the 1990s and still lives there.

The major drawback?

I have a heck of a time cutting my lawn, said Talone, an industrial-equipment salesman. What should be a 20-minute job turns into an hour because so many neighbors come by to chat.

A loyal fondness for the neighborhood runs so deep in Seven Oaks-Evanswood, residents say it is surprising when they get a blank stare when they mention the name to outsiders.

But when they explain they live in the heart of Silver Spring, just blocks from the Whole Foods Market, down the street from the ice-skating rink on Veterans Plaza, and around the corner from the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, eyebrows rise with recognition.

What we are seeing in Seven Oaks is the trend were seeing everywhere: People want walkability, said Liz Brent, a resident and a real estate agent and associate broker with her own team within Keller Williams Capital Properties. They want to feel like theyre in an urban environment, they want a sense of community, and they want transportation. Its all here.

[KingsView Village boasts several shopping and recreation facilities nearby]







Sticker shock: Brent grew up in Chevy Chase. When she returned from living outside the Washington area, she immediately went back to where she was from for all the things she loved about it  the schools, the community, the walkability.

But something had changed while she was away: the price. We rented an apartment in Bethesda and fast realized we werent going to be able to afford the place where we grew up, Brent said.

She began looking farther afield in downtown Silver Spring. In 1996, Brent bought a two-story red-brick Colonial in Seven Oaks-Evanswood. When her family grew out of that house she dropped off personal appeal letters at 18 homes in the two-block area where she wanted to continue living. Shes now in her third home with no intention of living anywhere else.

Perhaps part of the reason for residents fierce devotion to the neighborhood has been because of decades of dynamic development at its doorstep in downtown Silver Spring.

Seven Oaks-Evanswood and Queen Anne, the neighborhood on the other side of Wayne Avenue, have been affected the most by the changes downtown, which currently include the newly opened Silver Spring Library on the top three floors of a modern $64 million building, high-end townhouse and apartment developments, and an extensive overhaul of the former City Place Mall, now rebranded Ellsworth Place. And theres more to come: The light-rail Purple Line is proposed to come up Wayne Avenue, right between the two neighborhoods.

Weve seen a lot of turmoil in our neighborhood, and we work very hard to be involved with how development should happen, where it should happen, said Vicki Warren, a journalist and documentary filmmaker who has lived in Seven Oaks-Evanswood for 31 years. The community has been very active in trying to keep its eyes on the issues and find intelligent and thoughtful solutions, she added.

[Shirlington offers a quiet, convenient lifestyle close to the District]



Living there: According to the citizens association, Seven Oaks-Evanswood is bordered roughly by Colesville Road and Franklin Avenue to the northwest, Caroline Avenue and Sligo Creek Parkway to the northeast, Wayne Avenue and Bonifant Street to the southeast, and Fenton and Cedar streets to the southwest.

Four properties are on the market there, ranging from a three-bedroom, two-bath Cape Cod listed at $399,999 to a five-bedroom, four-bath Colonial built in 2002 for $969,000, according to Brent.



A loyal fondness for the neighborhood runs so deep in Seven Oaks-Evanswood, residents say it is surprising when they get a blank stare when they mention the name to outsiders. (Evy Mages/FOR THE WASHINGTON POST)

An EYA townhouse community, Chelsea Heights, is being built on the edge of the neighborhood, offering homes starting at $700,000.

Last year, 35 homes sold in the area, ranging from a Cape Cod on Wayne Avenue for $374,000 to a contemporary Colonial for $1 million. The average price for a home in Seven Oaks-Evanswood is $542,000.



Schools: Sligo Creek Elementary, Silver Spring International Middle and Northwood High (part of the Downcounty Consortium of high schools in the Montgomery County public school system).



Transit: The Silver Spring station on Metros Red Line is within blocks, and bus routes are plentiful. The area would also be served by Purple Line light rail.



Crime: In the past year, four assaults, 10 burglaries and 22 thefts of personal property have been reported in the Seven Oaks-Evanswood area, according to the Montgomery County Police Department.
An aerial view of U.S. Marine Air Station Futenma in Okinawa. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe decided Friday to suspend work to shift the runways to a less-populated part of the island. (Kazuhiko Yamashita/AP)

In a surprise move, Japans prime minister agreed Friday to suspend construction work at a planned U.S. Marine air station on Okinawa, where opponents have battled to block the project.

The decision was an about-face for the prime minister, Shinzo Abe, who had vowed to continue landfill work at the site while legal battles played out. But there appeared to be no change in his long-range policy to relocate the air base within Okinawa.

Instead, Abe agreed to an out-of-court settlement on three lawsuits challenging the relocation of the U.S. Marine air station at Futenma, in the most crowded part of Okinawa, to Henoko, a remote, relatively unpopulated part of the main island.

As part of the deal, proposed by the courts, Abe agreed to suspend reclamation work at Henoko needed to build two runways that would jut into the sea.

I have decided to accept the courts mediation recommendation and settle with the Okinawa prefectural government, Abe told reporters.





But any celebrations by opponents may be premature.

Abes move was an attempt to find a way out of the current legal mire, and the prime minister said he remained committed to the goal of relocating the air station.

There is no change in the central governments thinking that relocating the base to Henoko is the only alternative to Futenma, Abe said. If the current series of lawsuits continues endlessly, we will remain deadlocked and the Futenma base could remain there for years.

The central government in Tokyo and authorities in Okinawa have been at loggerheads for 16 months since the southern island chain elected Gov. Takeshi Onaga, who vowed to stop the construction of the new air station.

Many Okinawans want the air station at Futenma closed and moved out of the prefecture rather than to the Henoko site. The small island chain bears too much of the burden of Japans security alliance with the United States, including all the noise, environmental damage and crime that comes with the bases, they say.

Groups of protesters demonstrate every day at the construction site, on an existing U.S. military base at Henoko, while the governor has overturned reclamation permits and used multiple bureaucratic opportunities to stall construction. Onaga has also been to Washington to make his case, but the Obama administration insists that this is an issue for Tokyo and Okinawa to work out between themselves.

The relocation plan has been delayed by two years until 2025, military chiefs say. The delays were partly due to demonstrators and a lack of support by the government of Okinawa, Gen. Robert B. Neller, commandant of the Marine Corps, told a congressional hearing Wednesday.
China said Friday that its military spending will grow by 7 to 8 percent in 2016, the smallest increase in six years and a lower figure than many experts had expected, reflecting a slowing economy and a cut in troop numbers.

Although experts say actual spending is significantly higher than the official budget, Chinas military spending is still dwarfed by that of the United States, both in monetary terms and as a proportion of the overall economy.

Nevertheless, Chinas growing military muscle and its robust assertion of its territorial claims in the South China Sea have sparked concerns throughout Asia, helping propel jumps in defense spending in countries including India, Japan and Vietnam.

Fu Ying, spokeswoman for Chinas parliament, said the increase reflected the countrys national defense needs as well as the state of its economy and fiscal revenue.

The Global Times, a nationalist tabloid, had argued this week for double-digit growth in military spending. It also called for China to deploy more weaponry to the South China Sea in response to what it said was Washingtons growing military presence there.

Delegates from the People's Liberation Army stand in line as they arrive at the Great Hall of the People to attend a session of National Peoples Congress in Beijing on Friday. (Andy Wong/AP)

Ni Lexiong, a professor of political science and military expert at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, said he had expected an increase of 12 to 15 percent in response to rising regional tensions.

Obviously it shows that China wants to demonstrate to the West, including the U.S. and the neighboring countries that it has disputes with, that China sincerely wants to solve the problems through peaceful means, he said. But the second reason is that Chinas economy is bad indeed.

[China testing Obama as it expands its influence in Southeast Asia]

Chinas President Xi Jinping is trying to modernize and streamline the countrys military, seeking to make it more effective and simultaneously curb corruption. The Peoples Liberation Army is being trimmed by 300,000 troops, but the 2-million-member force is still the worlds largest standing army.

The increase would be the first single-digit boost in defense spending since 2010, when the budget rose 7.5 percent, and is below the 10.1 percent boost in last years budget. It is roughly in line with official economic growth of 6.9 percent in 2015 and would take the military budget to around $150 billion, about a quarter of Pentagon spending of nearly $600 billion last year.

In relation to the overall economy, Chinas official defense budget amounts to 1.3 percent of gross domestic product, compared with 3.1 percent in the United States.

China has been repeatedly criticized by the United States for a massive land-reclamation effort in the disputed waters of the South China Sea.

[Beijings actions in South China Sea aimed at hegemony, U.S. admiral says]

But at a news conference ahead of the opening session of Chinas National Peoples Congress, Fu rejected Washingtons argument that China is militarizing the strategically important waters.

Talking about militarization, if you look at it carefully, most of the advanced aircraft and warships passing through the South China Sea belong to the United States, she said.

Fu argued that President Obamas strategic re-balance to Asia, as well as recent U.S. naval operations, with warships sailing close to Chinese-controlled islands in the disputed Spratly chain, had raised tensions and heightened emotions.

Chinese people think that its not good that the U.S. sent military ships to areas so close to Spratly Islands to show off its military, and this very much disgusts the Chinese people, she said. Originally on the Spratly issue, the United States said that it did not take sides. But the acts and words of the United States now are stimulating intense emotions in many people, which draws a big question mark over the motives of the United States.

The United States says its naval operations are designed to underline the principle of freedom of navigation through international waters and insists it takes no sides in the territorial dispute.

This week, the U.S. Navy said it had dispatched an aircraft carrier and several other ships to the South China Sea on what was described as a routine patrol. The carrier, the USS John C. Stennis, arrived in the South China Sea on Tuesday, in a region where China has recently deployed surface-to-air missiles and fighter jets, and is thought to be building a military radar facility.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimates that Chinas actual military spending is more than 50 percent above the budgeted figure when items such as military research and development, arms imports, military construction and pension costs are taken into account.

In 2014, the institutes broader measure of military spending scored China as spending 2.1 percent of GDP, compared with the United States at 3.5 percent.

Gu Jinglu contributed to this report.
Nigel Farage, left, head of the U.K. Independence Party and a backer of a British exit from the European Union, with and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels last week. (Yves Herman/Reuters)

The European Union commands no army, navy or air force. It doesnt run a spy service, either, and its Brussels-based bureaucrats cant make decisions about war and peace.

Yet when Britain votes June 23 on whether to leave the worlds largest economic and political bloc, the pillars of Western security could be on the line.

A British decision to exit the 28-member union, experts say, could have disastrous repercussions for a U.S.-led post-Cold War order that relies increasingly on a united Europe to deter adversaries through economic sanctions, to pool intelligence about trans-national threats and to supply the diplomatic muscle to help contain conflicts.

While a British departure would not preclude the E.U. from those roles, the loss of a nation with the worlds fifth-largest economy and defense budget would undoubtedly blunt Europes punch. And it could presage a broader disintegration at a time when Europes adversaries  from Russia to the Islamic State  already sense a level of vulnerability on the continent unlike any seen in decades.

This is a huge call, said Robin Niblett, director of the London-based think tank Chatham House. The U.K. would be leaving the E.U. at a particularly dangerous moment in international relations. That cant be a good thing.

But ironically, security fears may ultimately help those arguing for out more than they do backers of the call to remain in.

[European leaders strike deal to try to keep Britain in the E.U.]

Even as Prime Minister David Cameron has put geopolitical risk at the center of his campaign for Britain to stick with the E.U., advocates of a British exit  known as Brexit  have already begun to bombard British voters with a much simpler and more straightforward message: Europe is a hot mess, and the only way for Britain to stay safe is to dig a wider moat between itself and the continent.

Up to 5,000 jihadists in Europe after training with Islamic State, Nigel Farage, leader of the U.K. Independence Party and one of the countrys most prominent champions of Brexit, recently tweeted. EU open borders make us less safe.

The tweet was linked to a report in which the director of Europol, the E.U.s policing agency, warned that thousands of Europeans had received military training in Syria or Iraq and subsequently returned to the continent, contributing to the highest terror threat in more than ten years.

But the official, Rob Wainwright, has been outspoken in recent days arguing that Brexit would not insulate Britain from that danger. In fact, the former intelligence officer has said it would heighten the risk by limiting British involvement in E.U.-wide counterterrorism cooperation that has built up over decades.

If you take away that infrastructure that [the British police] have helped to design over the past 40 years, it would make the United Kingdoms job harder to protect citizens from terror, he told reporters at Europol headquarters in The Hague.

Experts say that cooperation will not disappear if Britain ends up backing out. But it would have to be rebuilt. In the meantime, Brexit proponents have struggled to explain why Britain would be safer if it pulled up the drawbridge to Europe.

[The U.K. leaving the European Union could mean the end of both of them]

Iain Duncan Smith, a senior minister who defied Cameron by advocating for a British exit, recently told the BBC that free-movement policies on the continent left Britain vulnerable to attack.

This open border does not allow us to check and control people that may come and spend time, he said. Weve seen what happened in Paris.

Left unsaid, however, is that Britain already does extensive checks along its borders. Unlike much of continental Europe, it has opted out of the passport-free Schengen zone, meaning that people do not get into the country unless the government decides to let them.

Also left unspoken by the out camp is the fact that Britains biggest security threat probably comes from within  not from continental Europe  in the form of homegrown extremists.

Still, the referendum  which polls indicate could go either way  is likely to play out against a European backdrop that is far from reassuring. Cameron had given himself until the end of 2017 to hold the vote. But he opted to stage it in June, reasoning that a delay would give the out campaign more time to make its case.

But that could prove a mistake, creating the potential for Britain to make its choice just as summer migrant and refugee flows onto the continent hit their peak. With less than four months to go before the vote, Europe still has no coherent plan for how to deal with an issue that has become intertwined in many voters minds with fears of terrorism.

Its terrible timing, said Jan Techau, director of Carnegie Europe.

Techau said Cameron can still win the argument over security. But the prime minister will be challenged to focus British voters attention on the broader picture of collaboratively boosting Europes external border controls.

You have to make the long-term case, said Techau, a former official in Germanys Defense Ministry. If he lets this thing get carried away by short-term fears, he will lose.

[After British deal with the E.U., Cameron races to win support at home]

To bolster his argument, Cameron has enlisted former military commanders and intelligence chiefs. In an open letter to Britains Daily Telegraph newspaper, a dozen retired leaders of the armed forces argued that the country faces an array of grave threats and that E.U. membership is essential to combating them.

Britain will have to confront these challenges whether it is inside or outside the E.U., they wrote. But within the E.U., we are stronger. Inside it, we can continue to collaborate closely with our European allies, just as we did when we helped to force the Iranians to the negotiating table through E.U.-wide sanctions, or made sure that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin would pay a price for his aggression in Ukraine.

Brexit backers scoff at those claims. Even if Britain leaves the E.U., they argue, the country will remain in NATO  the military alliance whose primary purpose is to defend Europe.

The E.U., by contrast, has never had a defense mission, with opponents of deeper integration  including Britain  beating back attempts through the years to field a European army.

[British pound plummets after Londons mayor backs Brexit]

The original purpose of the union, born from the ashes of World War II, was economic. But the E.U.s architects always had something bigger in mind: the idea that shared financial incentives could end Europes ignominious status as the worlds primary source of violence and instability.

As peace has largely held on the continent in recent decades, the E.U. has become much more of a player in global affairs. Its ability to enact sanctions, pursue diplomacy and mete out development assistance has proven particularly useful in addressing the sort of asymmetrical, 21st-century security threats that a traditional military alliance such as NATO has struggled to confront.

That has made the union an ever more important partner for the United States, especially as direct U.S. involvement in Europe has receded.

But now, a Brexit could erode both E.U. and British influence. For the union, it would mean the loss of a diplomatic heavyweight and a possible open door to future defections as anti-E.U. forces gain ground throughout the continent. For Britain, it would mean cutting itself off from its primary engine of foreign policy gravitas.

And for Washington, it could mean a sudden absence of robust allies across the Atlantic.

An unstable E.U. makes a bad partner to the U.S., said Chatham Houses Niblett.

He said Washington regards the British push for an exit as self-indulgent and strategically irresponsible.

The sense from the U.S. is: You cozy up to China and you split the trans-Atlantic community. If youre not thinking strategically, then youre not a good ally for us,  Niblett said.

Thats why President Obama has been outspoken in backing in. All of Britains other major allies have, as well.

But not Russia. Moscow has made little secret that it would welcome the sort of European unraveling that a British exit could trigger.

A divided Europe is one in which Russia is a much stronger actor, said Ian Kearns, director of the European Leadership Network. Putin would be delighted by Brexit.

Read more

London Mayor Boris Johnson backs Brexit, boosting anti-E.U. campaign

Europe wants Britain to stay in the E.U., but not at any cost

Spring could bring a fresh surge of refugees. But Europe isnt ready for them.
A photo made available by the North Korean Central News Agency shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un guiding a joint drill of military units at an undisclosed location in North Korea. (KCNA via European Pressphoto Agency)

North Koreas Kim Jong Un has ordered his military to be ready to use its nuclear weapons at any time, saying they were needed given the ferocious hostility of new gangster-like sanctions leveled against Pyongyang.

The order, reported in North Koreas official media Friday, is the second outburst in as many days from Pyongyang, an angry response to the new multilateral sanctions aimed at punishing Kims regime for its recent nuclear test and missile launch. On Thursday, the North Korean military fired six projectiles into the Sea of Japan.

The only way for defending the sovereignty of our nation and its right to existence under the present extreme situation is to bolster up nuclear force, both in quality and quantity, Kim said, according to a report carried by the Korean Central News Agency.

[U.N. adopts sweeping new sanctions on North Korea]

Kim stressed the need to get the nuclear warheads deployed for national defense always on standby so as to be fired any moment, the report said.

Pyongyang has a habit of making grandiose threats in colorful language, part of the regimes efforts to maintain a climate of fear within the North Korean population but also to signal defiance to the outside world.

While there are plenty of question marks hanging over North Koreas actual technical capabilities, analysts say Pyongyang is clearly trying to increase its bargaining power.

Irrespective of its actual capabilities, said Omar Hamid, head of Asia analysis at IHS Country Risk, a consultancy, North Korea is likely to calculate that its claimed nuclear deterrent gives it more freedom to use conventional weapons in incidents designed to exert political pressure on South Korea and the United States.

In a rare show of unified toughness, the U.N. Security Council  which counts China and Russia, North Koreas neighbors and closest allies, as veto-wielding members  this week unanimously adopted harsh sanctions aimed at stopping Pyongyang from advancing its nuclear weapons program.

The tough measures were in response to North Koreas nuclear test in January and then a long-range rocket launch the following month, apparently part of its ballistic missile program.

[Punishing North Korea: A rundown on current sanctions]

While previous rounds of sanctions have failed to change the Kim regimes calculus, many analysts have been surprised at the scope of the latest resolution.

1 of 50 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  What life looks like inside North Korea View Photos Scenes from inside the hermit kingdom. Caption Scenes from the hermit kingdom. April 14, 2016 A girl dances ballet at the Mangyongdae Childrens Palace in the Pyongyang suburbs. The large facility, opened in 1989, has hundreds of rooms for various activities, including mathematics, chemistry, computer science, sports, music and dance practice. Franck Robichon/European Pressphoto Agency Wait 1 second to continue.

Fridays KCNA report said that the U.S. imperialists and their followers had committed a ferocious hostility against North Koreas rights as a sovereign state by adopting unprecedented and gangster-like sanctions.

The sanctions make it mandatory for port authorities to inspect ships going to or coming from North Korea. A North Korean cargo ship that docked near Manila was inspected by the Philippine coast guard Friday, wire agencies reported, as the sanctions take effect.

The ship, the Jin Teng, was checked by five coast guard personnel and two bomb-sniffer dogs, but nothing suspicious was found. The ship was loaded with palm-kernel expeller, a byproduct of palm-oil production that can be used to feed farm animals, the Associated Press reported.

Because of the tensions in the region, the report continued, Kim had personally overseen the test-firing of controlled ordnance rockets launched from a new Korean-style large-caliber multiple launch rocket system.

[U-Va. student held in North Korea confesses to severe crime]

The new hardware would further strengthen the striking power of the North Korean army, the report said, so as not to allow the enemies to sleep in peace till the moment they meet their final end in their land.

The next few months will probably be a period of high tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

A South Korean and U.S. working group met for the first time Friday to discuss deploying the sophisticated anti-ballistic missile system known as THAAD, and joint military exercises between the American and South Korean militaries are starting this month.

Sending a THAAD system to South Korea would be a direct response to North Koreas growing missile threat, while the exercises are always a time of increased friction as Pyongyang views them as preparation for an invasion.

Then, in May, North Korea will hold the first congress of its ruling Workers Party in 36 years. Analysts say that Kim, whose legitimacy as the third-generation leader of North Korea is tenuous, wants to have tangible achievements  such as advancements in the nuclear and missile programs  to crow about at the event.

Read more:

North Korea fires projectiles into sea after U.N. passes new sanctions

China backs U.N. move to denounce North Korea over nuclear test

South Koreas president vows all-out push to punish North for provocations
A flag used by the Syrian opposition is unfurled Wednesday amid rubble in the Damascus neighborhood of Jobar. (Amer Almohibany/AFP/Getty Images)

Syrias partial cease-fire showed signs of wobbling Friday amid mounting accusations of government assaults and a lack of promised humanitarian aid deliveries to thousands of besieged people.

Groups opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad issued blistering warnings, saying that ongoing government offensives threaten to throttle the nearly week-old truce and the proposed resumption of U.N. peace talks Wednesday.

But the apparent attacks  by Assads forces and their Russian allies  also point to the gray areas that raised questions about the cease-fire even before it began. Under the provisions, military strikes are still permitted against some groups, including the Islamic State and an al-Qaeda-linked faction that has battled Assads troops.

That gives potential room for airstrikes and ground offensives spilling over against other rebel groups that oppose Assad but that so far say they are willing to abide by the cease-fire.

Rebel fighters in multiple areas of the war-torn country reported heavy assaults by pro-government forces that included suspected airstrikes by Russia, which intervened militarily last year to prop up Assad.

The United States, Russia and other powers came to an agreement on a cessation of hostilities in Syria, but the deal was met with caution and skepticism. (Jason Aldag,Ishaan Tharoor/The Washington Post)

[Next door in Turkey, officials fear Syrian spillover]

Were getting bombarded by 50 airstrikes a day by the Russians, said Abu al-Nour, a rebel who is battling a pro-government offensive in the mountains of the northwestern Latakia province near the border with Turkey. He used a nom de guerre out of concern for his safety.

In echoes of the Friday demonstrations that marked the initially peaceful 2011 uprising against Assad, Syrians in rebel-held areas held rallies, chanting slogans common during the Arab Spring revolts. Images and videos posted on social media showed people taking to the streets in areas besieged for years by government forces.

The agreement to reduce hostilities took effect last weekend as a result of strong backing by Russia and the United States, which support opposing sides in a war that has killed more than 250,000 people and uprooted millions. The countries co-chair a task force that adjudicates reported violations.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, reported that 118 people, including 24 civilians, have been killed in areas covered by the cease-fire during the first five days. The agreement excludes groups that are classified as terrorists, such as the Islamic State and al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra.

The U.N. envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, acknowledged violations in remarks Thursday, but he said in general that the cease-fire has been holding and has greatly reduced violence.

[Syrias proxy battles on display in Aleppo]

De Misturas comments appeared starkly at odds with a statement released later by the powerful rebel group Jaish al-Islam.

The group said the cease-fire had failed to stop pro-government advances, including near the rebel groups stronghold east of Damascus, the capital.

The war, the group said in its statement, effectively did not stop on the ground and has continued near the capital and in flash points such as Homs and Aleppo.

The High Negotiations Committee, a Saudi-backed opposition coalition, also issued statements accusing Assad and his allies of land-grab attempts and attacks against civilians.

The coalitions chief coordinator, Riyad Hijab, said during an address in Paris on Friday that it was too soon for the opposition to decide whether it would participate in the U.N.-backed talks.

He questioned how Russia could be an arbiter of the truce while also active in the conflict. He also pointed out that another key provision to the pact  the rapid delivery of humanitarian aid to Syrians living under siege  had been stalled because of obstruction by the Syrian government.

Hundreds of thousands of Syrians are at risk of starvation because of sieges in multiple locations across the country by both opposition groups and pro-government forces. The majority of those people are besieged by the government, which has been accused of systematically violating the laws of war by denying people access to food and medicine.

Aid convoys are stopped at regime checkpoints for long periods on the excuse of searching them under the eyes of the world, and Syrians are still dying daily from hunger and lack of supplies, said a High Negotiations Committees statement.

The opposition group has promised to observe the cease-fire for two weeks.

U.N. officials and aid workers blame the Syrian government for the obstruction of new deliveries of humanitarian aid. Its clear that the government has been giving us the back-and-forth in all of this, said one official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of a lack of authorization to discuss the issue.

Some aid has reached one stricken area since last Saturday, the government-besieged Moadamiya suburb of Damascus. But the official said the government prevented some deliveries of medical equipment from reaching the suburb, where residents and aid workers warn of deteriorating humanitarian conditions.

The United Nations is overseeing aid deliveries during the cease-fire. On Sunday, the U.N. resident coordinator in Damascus, Yacoub El Hillo, said 154,000 people living in besieged areas would receive food and medical aid in five days.

It is the best opportunity that the Syrian people have had over the last five years for lasting peace and stability, Hillo said Sunday, referring to the cease-fire.

Zakaria Zakaria in Istanbul contributed to this report.
Central American immigrants wait to be transported after turning themselves in to U.S. Border Patrol agents on Dec. 8, 2015, after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border into Texas to seek asylum. (John Moore/Getty Images)

A senior Justice Department official is arguing that 3- and 4-year-olds can learn immigration law well enough to represent themselves in court, staking out an unconventional position in a growing debate over whether immigrant children facing deportation are entitled to taxpayer-funded attorneys.

Jack H. Weil, a longtime immigration judge who is responsible for training other judges, made the assertion in sworn testimony in a deposition in federal court in Seattle. His comments highlighted the plight of thousands of juveniles who are forced to defend themselves each year in immigration court amid a surge of children from Central America who cross the southwestern U.S. border.

Ive taught immigration law literally to 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds, Weil said. It takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of patience. They get it. Its not the most efficient, but it can be done.

He repeated his claim twice in the deposition, also saying, Ive told you I have trained 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds in immigration law, according to a transcript. You can do a fair hearing. Its going to take you a lot of time.

[Unaccompanied children crossing Southern border in greater numbers again]

Legal and child-psychology experts ridiculed Weils assertions, noting that key milestones for 3- and 4-year-olds include cooperating with other children, saying simple sentences and building towers of blocks.

I nearly fell off my chair when I read that deposition, said Laurence Steinberg, a psychology professor at Temple University who is a witness for the plaintiffs in the Seattle case. Three- and 4-year-olds do not yet have logical reasoning abilities. Its preposterous, frankly, to think they could be taught enough about immigration law to be able to represent themselves in court.

Weils deposition came in a case in which the American Civil Liberties Union and immigrant rights groups are seeking to require the government to provide appointed counsel for every indigent child who cannot afford a lawyer in immigration court proceedings.

The Justice Department is contesting the lawsuit.

Weil, in a brief email, said his statements dont present an accurate assessment of my views on this topic and were being taken out of context. He said he would need Justice Department permission to speak further and did not respond to subsequent emails.

Lauren Alder Reid, a spokeswoman for the departments Executive Office for Immigration Review, said in a statement: At no time has the Department indicated that 3 and 4 year olds are capable of representing themselves. Jack Weil was speaking in a personal capacity and his statements, therefore, do not necessarily represent the views of EOIR or the Department of Justice.

She added that Weils comments must also be taken in context as part of a 4-hour deposition in which Mr. Weil spoke about various techniques, procedures, and safeguards that can be employed by immigration judges, as warranted, to provide fundamentally fair hearings to all respondents in immigration proceedings.

[In a crowded immigration court, seven minutes to decide a familys future]

Weil is not just any immigration official. As an assistant chief immigration judge in EOIRs Office of the Chief Immigration Judge  which sets and oversees policies for the nations 58 immigration courts  he is responsible for coordinating the Justice Departments training of immigration judges.

And it was the government itself that offered up Weil as an expert witness in the Seattle case, ACLU attorneys said. Justice Department attorneys in January also submitted his deposition in court to support the governments response to a motion by plaintiffs.

Ahilan Arulanantham, deputy legal director at the ACLU of Southern California and the attorney who questioned Weil in the deposition, said he initially thought the judge had misspoken, because what he said was so outrageous. As I asked further questions, he obviously meant what he said.

This is the person in charge of training immigration judges about how to treat children? And this is the witness the government puts forward to present their views as to how this is supposed to happen? That is horrifying, Arulanantham said. He added that Weils assertions are going to be a significant issue in the case.

Unlike in felony criminal cases in federal court, children charged with violating immigration laws have no right to appointed counsel, even though the government is represented by Department of Homeland Security attorneys.

Although a network of pro bono organizations and a Justice Department program try to help children find attorneys  some paid for by the government  many children are forced to fend for themselves. According to Justice Department figures, 42 percent of the more than 20,000 unaccompanied children involved in deportation proceedings completed between July 2014 and late December had no attorney. It is unclear how often children 5 or younger are forced to defend themselves, but attorneys and advocates for immigrants said it does happen.

Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and other Democrats this month introduced a bill mandating government-appointed counsel for children in immigration court who had crossed the border alone or are victims of other duress such as abuse, torture or violence. In a Feb. 11 speech on the Senate floor, Reid said he was told about one case in which a 5-year-old girl was brought before an immigration judge.

This little girl was clutching a doll and was so short she could barely see over the table to the microphone, Reid said. She was unable to answer any questions that the judge asked her except for the name of her doll: Baby Baby Doll. That was the name of her doll.

At such hearings, children face the same types of immigration charges as adults, ranging from entering the country illegally to overstaying their visas. The children  most of whom cannot speak English and must use government-provided interpreters  are generally asked questions by judges such as when they arrived in the United States and whether they faced persecution in their home countries, according to court documents and immigration attorneys.

But the questions can easily trip up children with no lawyers, the attorneys said. A judge may ask, for example, if the child wants to leave the country voluntarily or would rather be ordered deported. If the child chooses either option, he or she cannot apply for other forms of immigration relief such as asylum in the United States.

In the Seattle case, the ACLU is arguing that failure to provide counsel for indigent children in immigration court violates the U.S. Constitution and federal immigration laws.

The ACLU filed the case in July 2014  along with the American Immigration Council; the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project; Public Counsel, a public interest law firm; and K&L Gates, a Seattle law firm  on behalf of what are now 14 juvenile plaintiffs in deportation proceedings. Three of the plaintiffs are younger than 5.

The Justice Department, which was sued along with DHS and the Department of Health and Human Services, is disputing the idea that all children are entitled to an attorney. Nothing in the Constitution requires the taxpayers to provide counsel to minors in immigration court, Justice Department lawyers said in a 2014 motion. Doing so would cause potentially enormous taxpayer expense, they said.

Weils deposition, taken Oct. 15 in Washington, covered the training of judges and a variety of other topics, with the judge seeking to explain and defend Justice Department immigration court procedures. In all of our policies, the overlying concern is due process, Weil said.

He noted that all defendants, including children, are given an explanation of the charges against them, both in notices to appear in court and by the judge in the courtroom.

Arulanantham then asked Weil: It must be true that theres some children that are so young that even if they receive the notice and even if theyre given an explanation by the judge, theyre still not going to understand whats going on, right?

I have to do a case-by-case basis determination, Weil responded, before declaring that he has taught immigration law to 3- and 4-year-olds.

Elizabeth S. Scott, a Columbia Law School professor considered an expert on children and the law, said, The law uniformly presumes in every other area that younger children lack the mental capacity to make consequential decisions.

Susan J. Terrio, a Georgetown University anthropology professor, said she observed hundreds of children in various immigration court proceedings, many of whom couldnt speak English, for her book Whose Child Am I? Unaccompanied, Undocumented Children in U.S. Immigration Custody.

Some were as young as 10. They were incredibly passive, she said. And they responded with monosyllabic answers.

It didnt appear that they understood anything at all, Terrio said.

Alice Crites contributed to this report.
A Turkish police officer stands next to the body of Aylan Kurdi off the shore in Bodrum, southern Turkey, after a boat carrying refugees sank while reaching the Greek island of Kos in September. (Nilufer Demir/AFP/Getty Images)

A Turkish court on Friday sentenced two Syrian smugglers to four years and two months each in prison over the deaths of five people including 3-year-old Alan Kurdi, who galvanized world attention on the refugee crisis when a photo was published of him lying lifeless on a beach.

The court in the Aegean resort of Bodrum convicted the two of human trafficking but acquitted them of the charge of causing the drowning deaths through deliberate negligence.

The image of the Syrian boys body, face down on a Turkish beach, graphically illustrated the magnitude of migrants suffering.

Alans brother, Galip, and mother, Rihan, were also among the five victims who drowned when their boat went down in the ill-fated journey from Bodrum to the Greek island of Kos last year. While Turkish authorities have given the boys first name as Aylan, his aunt says the family prefers that it be transliterated as Alan.

Trials in Turkey usually take months  even years  to conclude, but the verdict, which came at the end of the third hearing just a month after the trial opened, appeared to be an effort by the country to show that it is cracking down on human traffickers, just before Mondays summit between Turkey and the European Union to discuss the migrant crisis.

Turkey is under pressure to reduce the tide of migrants to Europe and to combat the smuggling rings since it reached a deal with the E.U. in November. Under the deal, Turkey is to get a $3.26 billion fund to help the country deal with Syrian refugees.

The defendants, Syrian nationals Muwafaka Alabash and Asem Alfrhad, had denied any responsibility in the migrants deaths. Instead, they blamed Alans father, Abdullah Kurdi, for the deaths, accusing him of organizing the trip.

The court initially sentenced the smugglers to five years in prison each, but then reduced the term to four years and two months because of the defendants good behavior during the trial and other legal reductions. The pair can appeal their conviction.
Yesterday, European Council President Donald Tusk issued a blunt warning that the European Union (EU) intends to seal off its borders and summarily deport masses of desperate refugees fleeing imperialist wars that are devastating the Middle East.

Speaking from Athens after meeting with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, Tusk said: I want to appeal to all potential illegal economic migrants, wherever you are from. Do not come to Europe. Do not risk your lives and your money. It is all for nothing. Greece, or any other European country, will no longer be a transit country.

Tusk then traveled on to Turkey. At a joint press conference with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Ankara, he called for setting up a system for summary mass deportations of refugees from Europe. We agree that the refugee flows still remain far too high, Tusk said. To many in Europe, the most promising method seems to be a fast and large-scale mechanism to ship back irregular migrants arriving in Greece.

Tusks attack on refugees as irregular or illegal economic migrants is a slander against hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children fleeing bloody conflicts stoked by the US and European powers. Such attacks are designed to allow the EU to shift far to the right, adopting policies previously associated with neo-fascistic forces. Fundamental democratic rights, like the right to asylum, are to be trampled, and extrajudicial deportations based on racial or national origin are to become EU policy.

The flow of refugees from war-torn Syria and Iraq is continuing to increase, with 131,724 arriving in Greece in the first two months of 2016 alone. This is more than the number that fled to Europe in the first six months of 2015. Under these conditions, the hostility of all factions of the European bourgeoisie to the refugees is coming fully into the open.

Tusks comments came a day after NATO commander General Philip Breedlove accused refugees of being enemies of NATO in the service of Russia and Syria, which are deliberately weaponizing migration in an attempt to overwhelm European structures and break European resolve.

No fabrication is too grotesque for the EU powers. A conference organized by Austria and nine Balkan countries agreed to designate all refugees fleeing Afghanistan, a country devastated by an ongoing civil war and NATO military occupation, as economic migrants.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who at the beginning of the refugee crisis tried to falsely align herself with popular sympathy for refugees by stating that Berlin would welcome large numbers of them, signaled her agreement with a hard line against immigrants on Tuesday. (See: German chancellor demands end to waving refugees through the borders)

There is not a right for a refugee to say: I want to get asylum in a particular country in the European Union, she declared. Berlins support for the Schengen treaty of free movement of people inside Europe is based on Greece not allowing refugees into Europe in the first place, she stressed: When I say we have to return to the Schengen system, then that means of course that Greece has to protect the borders.

Tens of thousands of refugees seeking to travel north towards Germany are now trapped in Greece, as Austria and the Balkan states refuse to admit more than a handful of refugees through the border each day. Greek authorities estimated that the number of refugees trying to reach central Europe but trapped in Greece could soon rise to 70,000.

Thousands of refugees have arrived at the Greek-Macedonian border since Macedonian police brutally cracked down on migrants trying to cross the border on Monday. Approximately 12,000 to 15,000 immigrants are therefore blocked at a camp near the border crossing at Idomeni.

This is a makeshift camp. The transit camp is already at full capacity so people are setting up their tents wherever they can, Al Jazeeras Hoda Abdel-Hamid reported from Idomeni. Theyre going to the woods to set up fires when the temperatures fall dramatically.  People are frustrated with each day that passes, theyre getting more and more tired.

A class gulf separates the chauvinist reaction to the refugee crisis by the European ruling elites from the sentiments of masses of working people. In Athens, workers are donating food and toys, and unemployed workers are donating their time in soup kitchens.

Ethnic conflicts and resentments inside the EU are continuing to build, however, as each national government is seeking to block as many refugees as possible from arriving on its territory and is attempting to send as many of them as possible to other countries.

Greeces Syriza (Coalition of the Radical Left) government, which last year imposed a savage austerity package on Greek workers at the behest of the EU, is again playing a reactionary role.

Greek officials are forcing refugees stopped at the Macedonian border to head south to camps in Athens. Media coverage of the camps has been blocked as the government deploys the army to build them and police the refugees trapped there.

After Greece took the unprecedented step of withdrawing its ambassador to Austria to protest Viennas role in preventing refugees from leaving Greece, divisions are now erupting over a German-led plan to deploy warships to stop the flow of refugees from Turkey across the Aegean Sea to Greece.

The deployment, which threatens to cut off Russian access to the Mediterranean, was announced early in February in the context of NATOs broader military buildup against Russia over the Syrian and Ukraine crises. It came only weeks after a Turkish fishing vessel nearly rammed a Russian warship in the Aegean Sea.

While it was aimed at Russia, the deployment has run afoul of escalating divisions among the NATO powers themselves. Last week, NATO officials were still trying to determine the parameters of the naval deployment, amid bitter territorial disputes between Greece and Turkey. After violations of Greek air space by Turkish fighters, during which Greek and Turkish planes engaged in mock dogfights, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced that Greek and Turkish forces will not operate in each others territorial waters and airspace.

On Wednesday, AFP cited multiple anonymous diplomatic sources as stating that Turkish authorities were blocking the deployment to the Aegean. One said that the Turks refused to allow NATO vessels into their territorial waters, demanding that the operations German commander, Rear Admiral Jorg Klein, go to Ankara to determine the area where [NATO warships] might deploy.

The source also denounced Turkey for showing little to no interest in taking back migrants picked up by NATO warships at sea as they attempt the crossing to Greece.

Turkish and German government sources denied the AFP report.
In an exclusive interview with Yahoo News, Ben Carson declined to say that he is officially dropping out of the 2016 presidential race.

The retired neurosurgeon spoke to Yahoo Global News Anchor Katie Couric Thursday afternoon from his home outside Baltimore about the state of the Republican Party and his political future following disappointing Super Tuesday results.

He said hed make a more definitive announcement Friday when he is scheduled to address the Conservative Political Action Conference.

Carson did say he thinks too much attention has been paid to party infighting and not enough to each candidates policies.

I want people to start thinking about the real issues that are threatening America right now, he said. Those issues are not how big someones hands are or how long someones nose is.

If there were a good path forward I would certainly take it, but there isnt, Carson said. And I would say, please look at the policies of each one of the candidates and see which ones really align well with your thinking, and go with the one that is closest to thinking the way that you do.

Several times, Carson refused to endorse anyone for the Republican Partys nomination but promised to support the primarys eventual winner. He said he believes in the intellect of the people to choose the right person.

I would support whoever the people have chosen, he said. And somehow we must abandon the thinking that there are a bunch of politically elite people who know whats best.



Earlier Thursday, speaking at the University of Utah, former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney laid out the case against current GOP frontrunner Donald Trump  calling him a phony and a fraud.

When asked about Romneys speech, Carson said he wishes that Republicans would stop attacking each other because all that does is hand the election over to the Democrats.



I dont think it is the proper place for someone who was the former standard bearer to be attacking the leading contender right now in a negative way, Carson said.

Story continues

Couric pointed out that there is a battle raging for the heart of the Republican Party: between those who feel Trump should be stopped at all costs and those who think hes winning the nomination fair and square. Carson confirmed that he falls into the latter category.

If you reject the will of the people, youre going to fracture the party to such a degree that, I dont care who you put up there, theyre not going to win, he said.

On Wednesday, Carson announced that he would not be participating in Thursdays Republican debate and does not see a political path forward for himself but is still deeply committed to this grassroots movement on behalf of we the people.

Along with millions of patriots who have supported my campaign for president, I remain committed to saving America for future generations. We must not depart from our goals to restore what God and our Founders intended for this exceptional nation, Carson said in a statement.



Carson at the Faith and Family Presidential Forum at Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C., in February. (Photo: Chris Keane/Reuters)



Couric asked if this statement indicates that Carson will stay on the national stage. He replied that before his political bid he was already a frequent speaker all over the United States and that he will continue to be one.

Im not going anywhere. Not when we have these kinds of problems facing our future generations, he said.

Last November, Carson sat down with Couric to discuss the controversy surrounding his life story. His inspirational narrative describing his rise from poverty in Detroit to international acclaim as a doctor at Johns Hopkins attracted intense scrutiny following a surge in his poll numbers.

I dont have any problem with being vetted. That doesnt bother me in the slightest. I do have a problem when people take things and distort them purposely and tell lies, Carson told Couric.

The remaining Republican presidential candidates  Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and businessman Donald Trump  will participate in Thursday nights debate hosted by Fox News in Carsons hometown of Detroit.

(Cover tile photo: Erik S. Lesser/EPA for Yahoo News)
After days of literally below-the-belt mudslinging on the campaign trail, Ted Cruzs apparent mission at Thursdays GOP presidential debate in Detroit was to rise above the fray and raise doubts about frontrunner Donald Trumps temperament.

Throughout the night, the Texas senator seemed to be trying to provoke Trump into losing his temper, addressing him as he would a child each time the GOP frontrunner tried to interrupt his answers.

After Marco Rubio sparred with Trump over a fraud lawsuit related to Trump University, Cruz saw an opening, addressing viewers at home. Is this the debate you want playing out in the general election? Cruz said. If we nominate Donald, were going to spend the fall and summer with the Republican nominee facing a fraud trial.

When Trump tried to interrupt, the Texas senator scolded his rival as if he were trying to tame a 2-year-old in the middle of a temper tantrum. Donald, learn not to interrupt. Its not complicated, Cruz told his rival. Count to 10. Count to 10.

Later, Cruz played that card again when Trump angrily defended his stance on an assault weapons ban, which he previously supported but now opposes. When Trump interrupted to say that Cruz had supported Supreme Court Justice John Roberts  the man, he said, responsible for making Obamacare the law of the land  the Texas senator calmly tried to slap him down again.

Breathe, breathe, breathe, Cruz told Trump.

But Rubio cut into the moment with a joke. When theyre done with yoga, can I answer the question? the Florida senator quipped.

I hope we dont see yoga on stage, Cruz shot back.

Well, hes very flexible, Rubio said pointing to Trump, who had earlier explained away his change in position on several issues by talking up his flexibility. So you never know.

(Cover tile photo: Jim Young/Reuters)
Mitt Romney speaks at the Hinckley Institute of Politics in Salt Lake City. (Photo: Rick Bowmer/AP)

Mitt Romney absolutely will not run for president.

Following a speech the onetime presidential hopeful gave in which he railed against Donald Trump and lobbied for a brokered convention, Today host Matt Lauer asked repeatedly whether he was considering throwing his own hat into the ring.

Have you left the door open just wide enough for you to ride through it on a white horse? Do you want to be considered as an alternative? Lauer asked.

Related: GOP candidates pledge to vote for the man they call a liar

No. The people who can save this party are Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio or John Kasich, Romney said.

Lauer tried again. Under any circumstances  if large numbers of people in the establishment wing of the Republican Party come to you and say, Mitt, youre the guy who can save the day?

There are no circumstances I can foresee where that would possibly happen, Romney answered.

I can foresee, Lauer repeated after him, sensing a caveat.

No reasonable scenario I can imagine, Romney said.

A third time, Lauer pushed. Just slam the door on it. Close the door. Unambiguously, you will not run for president.

I am not running for president, and I wont run for president, Romney replied.

Related: Cruz, Rubio hit Trump on temperament, flexibility

Lauer also asked Romney to explain how he could ask Republicans to not vote for Donald Trump when he so eagerly welcomed the real estate moguls endorsement in 2012.

Just because hes made a lot of money doesnt mean that his economic policies are right for America, Romney said. He followed, A lot of people endorse me that I wouldnt endorse for president.  And frankly, had I heard him say the things Ive heard him say now, I wouldnt have welcomed his endorsement.

Lauer also pressed Romney to explain why he isnt endorsing any of the other candidates yet.



There are three people on that stage who all endorsed me and are friends  actually four, including Donald Trump.



Story continues

Lauer interrupted, Is [Donald Trump] a friend of yours?

We get along, Romney said with a smile. I doubt were going to spend a lot of time together now.

More on the 2016 campaign:

John Kasich argues hes the grown-up on the GOP debate stage

Anyone but Trump: The scorecard

I totally disavow the Ku Klux Klan.  Look at my Twitter account.
As Donald Trump has notched win after win in the GOP primaries and caucuses, conservative and Republican Party elites have begun to panic.

They have created new million-dollar coalitions to take down the New York businessman, rallied around the hashtag #NeverTrump and cheered past nominee Mitt Romneys speech on Thursday morning tearing down the real estate mogul.

But asked at the end of Thursday nights debate whether theyd vote for Trump if he was the Republican nominee, every candidate reluctantly said yes. Although not without making it really, really, really clear they didnt want to.

Support the Republican nominee? said Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, as if he needed to process the question. Ill support Donald if hes the Republican nominee  and let me tell you why. He went on to berate Bernie Sanders as a socialist, and accuse Hillary Clinton of lying to the family of victims who lost their lives in the service of our country, concluding that, We must defeat Hillary Clinton. (Anyone interested in a #NeverTrump sticker, however, can purchase one on Rubios website.)

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas also pledged to support Trump, but made his answer all about himself: I gave my word that I would, he said. And what I have endeavored to do every day in the Senate is do what I said I would do.

Gov. John Kasich said hed do it too. It may have been an easy call for the Ohio governor, since he believes he wont need to cast that particular vote. I kinda think that before its all said and done, Ill be the nominee, he said, and then launched into an explanation of candidate ethics. When youre in the arena, you enter a special circle, and you want to respect the people that youre in the arena with. So if [Trump] ends up as the nominee  sometimes he makes it a little bit hard  but, uh, you know. I will support whoever is the Republican nominee for president.

Finally, moderator Chris Wallace turned the question to Trump. Can you definitively say tonight that youll definitely support the Republican nominee for president, even if its not you? he asked. Even if its not me? Trump said innocently, eliciting laughter from the audience. He couldnt resist answering the question without lobbing one last insult at his opponents.

Im going to give them some credit too, even though they dont deserve it, said Trump. But the answer is: Yes, I will.



(Cover tile photo: Jim Young/Reuters)
Donald Trump at a rally at Macomb Community College in Warren, Mich., on Friday. (Photo: Carlos Osorio/AP)



A brokered national political convention has for decades been something of a political unicorn  much discussed, but never actually materializing. But with more than half the Republican Party opposed to frontrunner Donald Trump, yet also split between his three major remaining opponents, the conditions are as ripe as they have ever been for a showdown on the floor of a Republican National Convention this summer.



That possibility has Trump supporters already hurling accusations that Republicans plan to steal the GOP nomination from their candidate. In a brokered or contested convention, a nominee is chosen through multiple rounds of voting by delegates from all 50 states and six U.S. territories.

Marco Rubios campaign is looking ahead at that possibility and hopes that by openly discussing the arcane mechanics of how voting delegates are selected to the convention, it can defang the Trump-backers argument to some degree.

Trump supporters will be enraged if Trump wins the most states and delegates but falls short of the 1,237-delegate threshold needed to secure the nomination, and then loses during balloting at a contested convention.

But Rubios campaign is already stressing that if such an outcome occurs, it will be the result of a multistep process that is not a secret to anyone. But the state-by-state system of selecting delegates does showcase the fact that to the extent that any real GOP establishment exists in the modern era, its at the less-high-profile state and county levels. A brokered convention would come down to the votes of thousands of little-known local party officials with a deep commitment to the well-being of the Republican Party.

If Donald Trump can get to 1,237 delegates, hell be the nominee and well shut up, said a Rubio ally helping to plan for the convention but not authorized by the campaign to talk openly about the process.

Story continues

But if Trump cannot get that number and has to face a brokered convention, the reply to Trumps supporters will be: Thems the rules.

Of course, the more that Trumps rivals can actually win states rather than come in second or third in them, the less they will need to rely on an argument about the rules in July at the convention in Cleveland.

But if Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, or Ohio Gov. John Kasich all stay in and do well enough to amass a substantial number of delegates of their own and Trump cannot reach the 1,237-delegate threshold, then the convention will be deadlocked and will have to go to multiple ballots, or votes.

Its going to be the most exciting time, said Kasich Thursday, noting that if he wins Ohio there likely will have to be a brokered convention.

Mitt Romney, the GOPs 2012 nominee, advocated Thursday that the Republican candidates adopt an explicit strategy of splitting the vote between Rubio, Cruz and Kasich in order to block Trump from winning the nomination before the convention.

Given the current delegate selection process, that means that Id vote for Marco Rubio in Florida and for John Kasich in Ohio and for Ted Cruz or whichever one of the other two contenders has the best chance of beating Mr. Trump in a given state, Romney said in a high profile speech at the University of Utah in which he flayed Trump as a phony and a fraud.

Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney speaking out against the candidacy of Donald Trump on Thursday. (Photo: Jim Urquhart/Reuters)

Some news organizations reported an effort by Romney lieutenants to organize an anti-Trump effort at the convention. But an attempt to mastermind some kind of overarching convention plot underestimates the complexity of each states process of selecting delegates  and how much national organizational work it would take to influence it.

On the first ballot at a brokered convention, delegates from all states and territories except Colorado, Wyoming, North Dakota, Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam and a few from Louisiana must vote for the candidate who won their support on the day of their states primary or caucus.

But on the second ballot, Thats when the action gets really interesting, the Rubio supporter said. Thats when 55 percent of a states delegates will be free to vote for whomever they want.

By the third ballot, 85 percent of all the delegates will be free agents.



At that point, the 2,472 delegates on the floor of the convention would become major political players whose loyalties would decide the nomination. And the process by which those delegates were chosen will come under a microscope.

Each state is different. Take Iowa for example, the first state to vote in the primary cycle. On Feb. 1, Iowa held caucuses in which Republican voters wrote down the name of their choice for president on pieces of paper. But that night each precinct also chose delegates to a convention for their local county.

A week from Saturday, on March 12, each of Iowas 99 counties will hold conventions, where they will elect delegates to two more conventions. First, the counties will vote on delegates who will attend a congressional district convention. There are four districts in the Hawkeye State, and on April 9 each will hold a convention to elect three delegates to the national convention.

The county conventions also elect delegates to a statewide convention, to be held on May 21. At that convention, delegates will vote again, to elect 15 more delegates to the national convention.

Iowa sends 30 delegates to the national convention in all: 12 from the congressional district conventions, 15 from the state convention, and then the three last slots are filled by the states GOP party chairman and its two members of the Republican National Committee.

Donald Trump and rivals, from left, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and John Kasich head to their podiums at the start of the Republican candidates debate in Detroit on Thursday. (Photo: Jim Young/Reuters)



Now take the complexity and the unique local flavor of that process and multiply it by 56.

The result is that convention delegates are people who are deeply plugged into small relational networks in their communities and states. The time and effort they put into doing the work of running their local party year in and year out is rewarded by a trip to the national convention every four years.

I dont think Trump is that well situated to participate in this process, said the Rubio ally. These are people who have done this for many years, oftentimes under the direction of their Republican governor.

Of course, there may be others who are trying to wrestle away control of the state party, he added.

Ben Ginsberg, a veteran Republican lawyer who is an expert on the nominating rules, said that Trumps campaign is certain to organize its own slates of delegates in as many states as possible.

I also think the Trump people understand the state-by-state need to organize the state conventions and the state executive committees, Ginsberg said Thursday on MSNBC.

Up until the 1960s, delegates were largely controlled by party bosses from the major cities and from Washington, who gathered at the convention to decide the nominee. But in the decades since the nominating process was changed in the 1970s, handing power over to voters more directly through the primaries and caucuses, delegates have been little more than props, stage actors in a nationally televised four-day infomercial for their partys nominee.

But now that system, relatively stable for decades, could be shaken up and transformed again  perhaps more by the little-known men and women who have worked their way up the party machinery in every state than by any group of Washington insiders.

And the hope of Trumps opponents is that they will be open to an alternative in July. Generally speaking, the people who participate in this process are pretty friendly to our candidate, said the Rubio supporter.
(Thinkstock)

All you Yankees will grip your American-given, First Amendment privileges a little tighter after reading this:

Viktor Krasnov, a 38-year-old blogger and unemployed nurse of Stavropol, Russia, appeared in court Wednesday to face charges that he offend[ed] the sentiments of Orthodox believers by writing, among other things, There is no God! on a humorous local website, the AFP reports.

The criminal complaint against Krasnov was filed by a fellow Russian engaged in the online conversation, which took place in 2014. The defendant  simply an atheist, according to his lawyer  also wrote in the same exchange: If I say that the collection of Jewish fairytales entitled the Bible is complete b***s***, that is that. At least for me.

Krasnovs trial is finally underway after a 2015 stint in a psychiatric facility, where was found to be sane. If convicted, Krasnov faces up to a year in prison.



Reports are that the defendant blogger is being prosecuted under laws passed after the punk band Pussy Riot was imprisoned in 2012 for hooliganism, which the Russian Criminal Code defines as a gross violation of public order, clearly expressing contempt for society.

This isnt just a Russian thing, either: A man in Scotland was arrested last month by British police for offensive Facebook comments criticizing the countrys acceptance of Syrian refugees. And last week a Saudi Arabian man was convicted for posting 600 atheist tweets. According to RT.com, his sentence includes 10 years of imprisonment, a $5,300 fine, and 2,000 lashes.

Email me at danbean@yahoo-inc.com. Follow me on Twitter @danielwbean. And for all the hottest tech news and gadget reviews, follow Yahoo Tech on Facebook!


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
Romano Prodi, former Prime Minister of Italy, wrote an article for Italian newspaper La Stampa recently, analyzing the New Normal of Chinas economy. He pointed out that China has made remarkable achievements over the past decades and has become the most significant driving force for global economic recovery due to its stable economic growth under the circumstance of continuing global economic depression.

The main reason for the slowing down of Chinas economic growth at present is that China pays more attention to the quality and efficiency of the growth when adjusting its economic structure. China is shifting industrial structure from labor-intensive industries to research- and innovation-intensive industries, and it is constantly improving product quality and technological content. Prodi held that with its faster paces in industrial structure adjustment and overseas investment, China will connect more closely with international market and embrace a promising future for its economy.

At the beginning of the article, Prodi compared the global economy to a ship struggling on a rough sea. As the growth rate of global economy is lower than that of last year, it is urgent to let a visionary captain point out the direction for the global economy. Compared with general situation of the global economy, China is an eye-catching bright spot which develops its economy in a stable and rational way.

At present, China accounts for one third of the gross global economic growth, and it has become the most significant engine of global economic development due to its constantly growing foreign trade, in both export and import.

Prodi stressed that service industry, which now accounts for more than fifty percent of Chinas national economy, plays the most significant role in Chinas domestic economic development. With the increase in workers salary and labor cost in Chinas tertiary industry, manufacturing, with low added value in industrial structure, is gradually transferred to other countries and regions with lower labor cost.

Therefore, China is tending to develop and produce innovative products, which requires Chinese enterprises to invest more in scientific research institutions and innovative products so as to improve quality of products and make them more competitive in international market. Prodi believed that China is playing an increasingly significant role in international market.

Prodi said that Chinese direct investment abroad had reached $130 billion in 2015, and it keeps increasing. Chinas operations in international capital market, especially merger and acquisition of large-scale overseas enterprises, demonstrate Chinese enterprises eager for new and high technologies.

Prodi said that innovative capacity plays a key role in Chinas social development. With the increase in resident income, China should meet peoples demands in both daily consumption and the improvement of livelihood.

At the end of the article, Prodi said that a series of significant moves, including the Belt and Road initiatives and the establishment of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), will further improve the opening-up of Chinese economic market as well as its integration with the global economy. In the future, as China gradually accomplish industry transformation and upgrade, China will have a promising prospect and lead the global economy to a bright future.

By Chen Xiaochen, correspondent of Guangming Daily in Rome, captial of Italy

Translated by Zhang Zhou

[ Editor: Jiaming ]
Demi has long been an LGBT advocate. Back in 2013, Demi was the GLAAD ambassador for the annual anti-bullying campaign, Spirit Day. Her music video for the song Really Dont Care was filmed at a Los Angeles gay pride event that same year. Shes also been outspoken about her late gay grandfather, who came out in the 1960s.

Demi Lovato has consistently used her platform as a successful artist to send messages of acceptance and support to LGBT people everywhere, GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement.

The 27th annual GLAAD Media Awards will be held at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles on April 2.

Copyright  2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
ABH Holdings S.A., which indirectly holds 100% of shares in Alfa-Bank (Ukraine), still plans to acquire Ukrsotsbank under an agreement signed in January 2016 with Italy's UniCredit, the press service of Alfa-Bank (Ukraine) has told Interfax-Ukraine.

"We firmly declare our development strategy, as well as our shareholders who are ready to invest in Ukraine. We understand that this is one of the promising markets, and we do not plan to abandon any development plans," the press service said, citing CEO Rushan Khvesiuk.

The press service said that the deal will be finalized after the regulator provides all the required permits.

Earlier it was reported that Alfa-Group abandoned its plans to acquire ZUNO online bank from Raiffeisen Bank International, which operates under the license of the Austrian department of financial market affairs and it is presented on the Czech and Slovakian markets.

UniCredit Group (UCG) and ABH Holdings S.A. (ABHH) in January 2016 signed an agreement for the transfer of 100% of Ukrsotsbank (UCG's bank in Ukraine) in exchange for a minority 9.9% stake in ABHH.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has proposed that a possibility of not applying for a permit from the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine to merge for small and medium-sized banks, which market share does not exceed 0.5-1% of the market, Deputy NBU Governor Vladyslav Rashkovan said at a meeting of top managers of the NBU and the committee.

"The legislative initiative of the NBU to relax the bank consolidation procedures provides for the possibility of not applying for a permit to the Antimonopoly Committee to merge for small and medium-sized banks, which market share does not exceed 0.5-1% of the market, which considerably mitigates the process," he said.

Rashkovan said that the concentration of the banking sector is moderate, and merger or acquisition of small and medium-sized banks would not affect competition on the market.

In turn, Deputy NBU Governor Dmytro Solohub pointed at the influence of monopoly and oligopolistic market structures on the prices in the country and the necessity of exchanging the analytical information on the issue with the committee.

He said that the central bank is monitoring prices using the web-scraping method, which allows quickly finding abnormalities on commodity and geographic markets.

According to the report, at the meeting NBU Governor Valeriya Gontareva stressed the importance of increasing competition on the banking and non-banking markets, as well as on the adjacent professional service markets (appraisal, ranking and audit).

Representative of the central bank discussed the creation of artificial monopolies when banks are selected for salary projects of state-run companies.

Criteria for selecting banks to work with the Individuals' Deposit Guarantee Fund, Pension Fund and specifics of operation of banks with insurance companies were discussed.

The NBU and the Antimonopoly Committee plan to invite top managers of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine to the next meeting to create a common strategy for transfer pricing and deoffshorization of Ukrainian business.
Ukraine and Japan have ratified a credit agreement (in the form of exchange of notes) on the Second Development Policy Loan (DPL II) to carry out economic reforms worth $300 million, Finance Minister of Ukraine Natalie Jaresko said in Kyiv on Friday.

"In April we hope that we will receive the credit funds in one tranche and they will be sent to the general fund of the national budget," she said at a joint press conference with Japanese Ambassador to Ukraine Shigeki Sumi.

The minister said that the credit is issued for the period of 20 years with the grace period of six years and credit rate of Libor+0.5%, which is less than 1% per annum today.

Jaresko said that Ukraine has observed 10 conditions on carrying out structural reforms to obtain the funds.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has said the latest Normandy Four' meeting failed to agree upon any conclusions concerning the situation in Donbas.

"No conclusions were agreed upon. Our stance is that security should come first," Klimkin wrote on his Twitter account last night.

The minister also said that he had given his counterparts participating in the meeting "an address from relatives of our inmates ... who need to be released immediately."
The Council of the European Union approved a legislative act on Friday for the year-long extension of restrictive measures on the Ukrainian citizens which the EU deems to be responsible for embezzling public funds, a European diplomat has told Interfax.

The Environment Council made the decision without holding debates, the source said.

EU ambassadors approved the decision on March 2.

The individualized sanctions were due to expire on March 6, 2016. The sanctions banned the blacklisted individuals from travelling into the EU and froze their assets in European banks. Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and his elder son, Oleksandr Yanukovych, are on the blacklist, amongst others.
Ukrainian pilot detained in Russia Nadia Savchenko needs to be released, said spokesperson of the U.S. Department of State John Kirby.

"She needs to be released. We've said that all along. She's been detained for no good reason, and we want to see her released and sent home where she belongs," Kirby said in an interview posted on an official website of the U.S. Department of State on Thursday.

However, he didn't confirm Savchenko's hunger strike already announced, but adding that "we've certainly seen the press reports."

"That certainly doesn't make this any easier and certainly would  we want her released immediately regardless. But obviously, if she is, in fact, launching a hunger strike, then certainly now her health would be an added issue to increase the urgency on that. But she needs to be released," he stressed.

On March 4, Savchenko's lawyer Mark Feygin said his client has gone on a 'dry' hunger strike, which means she will also refuse water as well as food, despite remonstrations from her defense team.

"We tried to persuade her to stop her 'dry' hunger strike, but Nadia refused. She has not been drinking water for 24 hours already and intends to continue her hunger strike until she is returned to Ukraine. This is her main demand," Feygin said.

Savchenko has agreed to a doctor's visit, but has refused to undergo any tests, he said.
Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko, charged with involvement in the death of Russian journalists in eastern Ukraine, has gone on a 'dry' hunger strike, which means she will also refuse water as well as food, despite remonstrations from her defense team, Savchenko's lawyer Mark Feygin told Interfax on Friday.

"We tried to persuade her to stop her 'dry' hunger strike, but Nadia refused. She has not been drinking water for 24 hours already and intends to continue her hunger strike until she is returned to Ukraine. This is her main demand," Feygin said.

Savchenko has agreed to a doctor's visit, but has refused to undergo any tests, he said.

"We, her lawyers, will not be able to visit Nadia during the holidays, and will be able to see her again only on March 9. If she is not taken to the court building due to the state of her health, we will go to the remand center or will look for her in Rostov hospitals," Feygin said.

Savchenko still plans to make her final address and intends to make it at the next court session if she is able to do so.

For his part, Nikolai Polozov, another lawyer representing Savchenko, wrote on his Twitter account that hundreds of people had asked Savchenko to stop her hunger strike, but her decision remained unchanged.

"I informed Nadia of a request from hundreds of people, who wrote to me yesterday asking her to stop her hunger strike. She thanks all of them, but will not change her decision," Polozov said.

Her sister and consuls plan to visit Savchenko on Friday, he added.
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said that Ukraine and personally he would double the efforts to bring our compatriot Nadia Savchenko, who is detained in Russia, back home.

"We'll double our efforts so that to bring Nadia back home. It's extremely important, important for us, important for Ukraine, important for each of us," said Poroshenko following the latest reports about Savchenko's decision to go on a dry hunger strike.

During a national awarding ceremony of prominent Ukrainian women, he said: "I want to recollect a woman, who is a symbol of Ukraine and Ukrainians, of the whole world. Nadia's deed and her behavior made and make a huge contribution for Ukraine."

According to the president, there is no fair justice in Russia. "There is no need to go on this comedy show," he stressed.
Three Ukrainian soldiers have been injured in the anti-terrorist operation zone over the past day, Ukrainian Presidential Administration spokesman for ATO matters Andriy Lysenko has said.

"None of our servicemen have been killed in the hostilities in the past 24 hours. Three suffered injuries," he said at a press briefing in Kyiv on Friday.

According to Lysenko, all was quiet in the Luhansk sector.

In addition to the Grad attack conducted near Krasnohorivka in the morning, the enemy fired 82mm mortars near Opytne in Donetsk sector.

On the whole, "provocations and precision gunfire" of the militia continued along the entire contact line on Thursday, Lysenko said. "The Svitlodarsk bulge, the Horlivka agglomeration and the Donetsk airport were the hotspots. The enemy opens fire in broad daylight and at night, yet the fire intensity and the number of shelling incidents drastically increase after dusk," Lysenko said.

In all, 46 attacks of the militants have been observed in Donetsk region over the past day.

The truce was marred throughout the frontline in the Mariupol region. Militants used 82mm mortars twice. "During one attack of the hostiles, the ATO forces returned fire and firmly stopped the provocation of the militants. In all, 11 attacks on our positions by illegal armed units were observed in the Mariupol sector," Lysenko said.
The U.S. Embassy to Ukraine issued a record number of nonimmigrant visas to Ukrainian citizens in 2015, and since 2014 the U.S. has been issuing visas for business and tourist trips, which are valid for 10 years, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt said in an interview with the Segodnia newspaper.

The diplomat also noted that Ukrainian sailors, aircraft and commercial ships crews were also entitled to 10-year visas starting from October last year.

Besides, Pyatt said there were a number of conditions Ukraine needed to comply with under the visa-free program. These included the joint use of security data bases, e-passports, less than 3% level of visa refusals in the country at large, high level of anti-terrorist activities and high standards of border control.

The ambassador stressed that human relations between the U.S. and Ukraine were very important. He also said he was looking forward to even closer ties, as a powerful bond for relations.
U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt has noted the importance of the unity of all branches of power in Ukraine for the continuation of reforms in the country, in spite of the political crisis.

The most important thing is the continued unity among all Ukrainian democratic forces led by the president, the prime minister, the government and the Verkhovna Rada to support a very serious reform progress that has been made over the past two years, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt said in an interview with the Segodnia newspaper.

It is very important that Ukrainian leaders should continue to demonstrate strong commitment to following the requirements that come with the IMF multi-billion dollar aid package, Pyatt said when commenting on the ways of solving the Ukrainian political crisis.

It is up to Ukrainians to decide on the matter of renewal of their government, while Washington focuses on the progress of reforms, not on personalities, the ambassador said.

Meanwhile, he recalled that Economic Development Minister Aivaras Abromavicius before announcing his resignation met with ambassadors of G7 countries and other diplomats.

As for the matter of champions of reform in Ukraine, the ambassador noted that there were a lot of them in the presidential administration, government and parliament, and in various regional and municipal government agencies, the private sector and the civil society.

Pyatt said that he was inspired by Ukrainians from all walks of life, who stood on the Maidan for freedom, and who continue to fight for the changes to the present day. He called on Ukrainians to be strong, keep fighting for what they believe in. The ambassador expressed his belief that changes were possible.
A passenger prepares to board a flight of Hainan Airlines in Haikou, Hainan province. [Photo/Xinhua]

Airline group and Europe's leading hotelier among potential bidders

HNA Group, China's fourth-largest airline group, and Accor SA, Europe's biggest hotel operator, are believed to be among potential bidders for Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, which owns the Radisson and Park Plaza brands.

A sale could be worth about $2 billion, and a deal could be done as soon as the middle of the year, industry sources told Bloomberg.

No final decisions have been made about the sale, and Carlson is also considering other options for the assets, the sources said.

Spokeswomen from HNA and Accor both refused to comment.

Accor actually signed a strategic supplier-cooperation deal in 2014 with HNA Hospitality Group, the hotel subsidiary of HNA Group.

HNA and Paris-based Accorwhich owns the Sofitel and Ibis brandshave been acquisitive in the hotel and travel industry in recent months.

HNA Hospitality has become one of China's biggest hotel companies with more than 90 hotels in 30 domestic and overseas cities, with 30,000 rooms.

In December, Accor agreed to buy Canada's FRHI Holdings Ltd, parent of the Fairmont, Raffles and Swissotel hotel chains, in a deal worth $2.9 billion. The purchase covers 155 hotels in the three brands including landmark properties Raffles Singapore, The Savoy in London and Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac in Quebec.

Earlier in the year, it also acquired hotel-reservation service Fastbooking.

Last year HNA spent as much as 36.9 billion yuan ($5.65 billion) on mergers and acquisitions, and continued expanding its global business across the aviation, airport management, logistics and tourism sectors.

It is the biggest shareholder in Spanish hotelier NH Hotel Group SA, and agreed to buy 23.7 percent stake in Brazilian airline Azul Linhas Aereas Brasileiras SA for $450 million in November.

It also acquired Swissport International Ltd, the airport luggage handler, from PAI Partners SAS for 2.73 billion Swiss francs ($2.74 billion) last year, and was one of the bidders for London City Airport, losing out to a consortium led by Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board.

Li Lei, deputy director of Minzu Securities Co, said HNA's ambitious overseas expansion is a reasonable method of reducing its business risks.
CHENGDU, March 3 -- The world's deepest subterranean lab in southwest China is building another underground space that will block cosmic rays, helping scientists trace the origin of elements.

Jinping Underground Laboratory, which is 2,400 meters deep in a mountain in Sichuan Province, has begun building a nuclear astrophysics lab, the China Institute of Atomic Energy told Xinhua.

This arm of physics is a frontier science that studies nuclear reactions within stars, the process that creates many elements. Research into this area provides insight into stars' evolution and the origins of elements.

"The lab will offer the world a new top-class platform for conducting precise measurement on nuclear astrophysics," said Liu Weiping, vice dean of the institute.

Researchers hope to use the facility to explore the birth of heavy elements by measuring neutron source reactions, according to Liu.

Scientists say cosmic rays are known to have disrupted previous observations. This new lab will provide a "clean" space for a number of physical and cosmologic experiments, including those concerns with the search for "dark matter."

The facility opened in December 2010 and was expanded in 2014.
Three reasons why China voted in favor of new sanctions resolution on DPRK

The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution to impose new and tougher sanctions against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Wednesday. China, as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, voted in favor of the resolution.

The DPRK announced a nuclear test on Jan. 6, the country's fourth since 2006. On Feb. 7, it launched a long-range rocket carrying a satellite. Afterward, the U.N. Security Council issued a statement condemning the DPRK's use of ballistic missile technology to carry out the launch, promising to adopt a new resolution to deal with the situation.

But why did China vote in favor of the new resolution?

First, the DPRK has repeatedly violated U.N. resolutions, endangering the nonproliferation regime and undermining the authority of the U.N. Security Council. What's more, closer to home, the DPRK has violated multilateral and bilateral agreements involving nuclear or missile technology, threatening peace on the Korean Peninsula and the stability of Northeast Asia.

Therefore, for the maintenance of peace in Northeast Asia and the world, China supports the U.N.'s necessary and appropriate response to the DPRK's nuclear test and satellite launch. The aim of the resolution is to halt further nuclear and missile advances. China, as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, assumes important responsibility for international peace and security.

China also voted in favor of the new resolution because it aims to deter the DPRK's nuclear and missile development program and protect lives of everyday DPRK residents.

The new resolution is a response to the DPRK's wrongdoing, rather than a new containment or blockade policy. It is essential not to stimulate the DPRK to take military action and thus lead to a more serious confrontation or conflict.

The last reason China voted in favor of the new resolution is to bring the nuclear issue back to the table for dialogue and negotiation.

Although China is not at the crux of the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, it has always actively explored ideas and approaches to resolve the problem with all parties involved in an objective and fair way.

China has repeatedly stressed that relevant parties should not give up efforts to resume talks, for the sake of peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. It hopes that all the parties will return to the negotiating table because negotiation is the best way to solve the problem.

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During the annual Two Sessions, top Chinese leaders always join a panel discussion with deputies to the National People's Congress (NPC). For the outside world, it is an important window into the ideologies behind Chinese governance.

During each of the past three Two Sessions meetings, Chinese President Xi Jinping, also General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, participated in the panel discussions with deputies to the NPC from Shanghai on March 5 in 2013, 2014 and 2015. There were three key words in his speeches at these panel discussions.

Innovation

"More efforts should put into enhancing innovation and injecting it with dynamism and vitality," said Xi at the panel discussion during the Two Sessions in 2013.

In the official press release of fewer than 1,000 words on that same day, "innovation" appeared five times.

During the same period in 2014, Xi discussed "adhering to core system innovation" and stressed "strengthening and innovating social governance."

In last year's speech, Xi also talked about innovation, saying,"innovation is the driving force behind development. We must get rid of structural and institutional obstacles and push innovation as a productive force." He also spoke of increasing "financial reform innovation."

Grassroots

President Xi put emphasis on grassroots during the panel discussion of 2013. "To implement policies that benefit the people; focus more on challenges facing the masses; ensure that people live happy and peaceful lives; and ensure social harmony and stability."

"We must designate resources, services and management for the grassroots and provide accurate, more effective management for them," said Xi in 2014.

In 2015, Xi specified the requirements of innovating social governance, saying: "We must take the fundamental interests of the majority as coordinates, starting with the interests people are concerned about mostthose that are closely related to and practical for the people. We must push services and management to the grassroots and transform from management to governance."

Managing officials

During the Two Sessions in 2013, Xi mentioned at least twice that officials at all levels should "transform their working styles."

In 2014, Xi said: "We should focus on improving the quality of cadres and train expert urban management officials. Building and managing cities must be done with a scientific attitude, advanced concepts and true expertise.

In 2015, Xi Jinping stated that "tightening Party discipline is a fundamental guarantee for the Party when struggling in new situations.

The three key words mentioned above are closely related to "people." Soon it will be time observe this year's Two Sessions for any new key words.
China's J-20, J-31 likely to be deployed on aircraft carriers, military expert says

A J-31 stealth fighter has its test flight ahead of the 10th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai, south China's Guangdong Province, Nov. 10, 2014. (Xinhua/Liu Dawei)

China's fourth generation fighters like J-20 and J-31 are likely to be deployed on aircraft carriers, according to a military export.

In an interview with China National Radio (CNR), a military expert Yin Zhuo said China's aircraft carriers are capable to project firepower, troops and information. Yin said the ability of China aircraft carrier's fleet will experience great improvement.

Early-warning aircraft and Space-Based Infrared System will safeguard in-task aircraft carriers in far ocean and far sea areas, Yin added.

The West has questioned Chinas defensive defense policy for it is building a second aircraft carrier entirely using domestic technology. In his previous state visits, China's President Xi Jinping stressed the idea Never do to others what you would not like them to do to you.

Yin said that the idea means that China's aircraft carriers are used to protect the countries' own legitimate interests but not to encroach others'.

Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has come up with the idea to jointly develop offshore and open sea defense. In Yin's words, China is determined to form its blue-water navy. But the blue-water navy is in combination with green-water navy and brown-water navy.

Yin pointed out that at present China's national security interests lie in offshore areas like the Diaoyu Dao and the South China Sea disputes.

"A strong maritime power needs a navy that can maintain its national interests," Yin said.

China also pays attention to open sea. The Indian Ocean is 8,000 to 10,000 kilometers far away from China. Over 60 per cent of Chinas oil imports is shipped through the region every year, Yin said.

The peace and stability of the Middle East and Africa is closely related to Chinese economy as their resources and energy are of strategic importance for China, according to Yin's words.

China is likely to become the biggest creditor country by 2030. More than dozens of millions of Chinese people work abroad. The PLAN's future tasks are to guarantee the safety of overseas investment Chinese working abroad. Yin said, "This is also a task of China's aircraft carriers fleet."
At the exhibition stand of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the Mars probe, which is in golden color, is placed in the center of the exhibition area, Nov. 2, 2015. (Photo/Xinhua)

China is planning to launch its Mars probe in 2020, and make the first landing on the planet in 2021, a satellite expert told media on Friday.

The remarks were made by Ye Peijian, Chief Commander and Chief Designer of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program, also a member of the CPPCC, during the 4th session of the 12th CPPCC National Committee in Beijing.

If the probe could land successfully on Mars in 2021, it would be a gift for the 100 anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China from the aerospace industry, Ye said.
Chinese Ambassador to South KoreaQiu Guohong (2nd L) attends the welcoming ceremony for two giant pandas from China at the Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea, March 3, 2016. A pair of Chinese giant pandas arrived in South Korea Thursday on a 15-year lease, marking the first time in 22 years that the endangered bear species enters the South Korean territory for joint research purpose. (Xinhua/Yao Qilin)

CHENGDU, March 3-- A pair of giant pandas left Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport and arrived at the Republic of Korea (ROK) on Thursday, starting their new life in the country, sources with China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda (CCRCGP) said.

The pair of pandas, Yuan Xin and Hua Ni, were warmly welcomed at a ceremony in the ROK, receiving the new names Le Bao and Ai Bao, according to the center.

Names suggestions were collected from people in China and the ROK. A total of 8,500 people, including 3,000 Chinese and 5,500 ROK people offered suggestions, the center said.

The names, which translate to happy baby and love baby, signify the happiness and joy brought by the pandas to both Chinese and ROK people, it said.

The arrival of the pair of pandas marks the first time in 22 years that the endangered species has entered the ROK for joint research purposes.

China previously loaned a pair of pandas to the ROK in 1994. They were returned to China four years later.
We all like a spring clean every now and then and this impala is no different.

The antelope was pictured grimacing with delight as it was pecked over by an over-zealous tick-eating bird.

British amateur wildlife snapper Chris Hadfield captured the impala's hilarious expressions during a trip to Kruger National Park, South Africa.

The impala, pictured in South Africa's Kruger National Park, gives a satisfied grimace while being cleaned.

Mrs Hadfield, 60, from Durham said: 'The birds, called oxpeckers, are doing a service of cleaning up the impala.

'They eat ticks and tick larvae as some get a lot of these on them. They also clean the ears by removing earwax and they clean debris from the corners of the eyes.'

She added: 'I just love the expression on the impala's face. It's hard to tell if it's uncomfortable or a real relief.'

Although generally believed to help the animal they are pecking, recent research shows that in fact the oxpecker might be a parasite itself.

Oxpeckers do eat ticks, but often the ticks have already fed on the host and no statistically significant link has been shown between the oxpecker's feast and a reduction in parasites.

The animal was having a rest when it let the oxpecker bird clean the ticks and larvae from its fur.
Fu Ying (C, back), spokesperson for the fourth session of China's 12th National People's Congress (NPC), answers questions during a press conference on the session at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 4, 2016. The fourth session of the 12th NPC is scheduled to open in Beijing on March 5. (Xinhua/Ding Haitao)

BEIJING, March 4 -- A spokesperson of the national legislature talked on Friday about what could be China's slowest military budget increase for six years, as the world's second largest economy feels the chill amid rising headwinds.

Fu Ying, spokesperson for the National People's Congress annual session, said military spending is budgeted to grow by around 7 to 8 percent in 2016.

The exact figure will be released in a budget report to the session, Fu told a press conference.

China's defense budget rose by 10.1 percent last year.

A growth rate within the range that Fu mentioned might be the lowest for years since 2010, when the figure stood at 7.5 percent.

The spokesperson said the raise in 2016 is in line with China's national defense need and fiscal revenue.

China's economy expanded 6.9 percent year on year in 2015, the slowest in one fourth a century, weighed down by a property market downturn, falling trade and weak factory activity.

Premier Li Keqiangwill unveil the government's GDPtarget on Saturday.

The figure is expected to be in a range between 6.5 and 7 percent, compared with the "approximately 7 percent" target announced by Li last year.

>>>Related:

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Proposed bill not to restrict overseas NGOs in China: spokeswoman

A new bill to regulate overseas non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in China, yet to be finalized, aims not at restricting them but providing a better legal environment, a spokeswoman for the annual session of the country's top legislature said Friday.

China-Russia relations not affected by external factors: spokesperson

China-Russia relations will continue healthy development and not be affected by external factors, a spokesperson for the national legislature annual session said Friday.

Peaceful settlement for Korean Peninsula issues: spokesperson

In response to queries about the latest resolution of the United NationsSecurity Council on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Fu Ying, spokesperson for the annual session of the National People's Congress, said the resolution called for early resumption of the Six-Party Talks and a solution through diplomatic negotiations in a peaceful way, on which China always insists.
BEIJING, March 4 -- The role of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) is often misunderstood by some people in the West.

Comparisons to Britain's House of Lords or the U.S. Senate are usually the first mistake. Actually China has neither "noblemen" nor the state's rights against federal power.

The CPPCC National Committee, which convenes its annual session each year in March, brings together representatives from all walks of life -- economists, scientists, educators, doctors, diplomats, religious leaders and celebrities. They are the core advisors in China's law-making and decision-making processes.

Script writer and political advisor Wang Xingdong has gone to great lengths in recent years to champion Chinese screenplay, which he says has been tarnished by vulgarity and plagiarism.

He was, therefore, pleased when a top guideline on culture released in October promised funding for writers.

"It would have been forgotten if we had not kept calling for it," Wang said. "This is [our] role in governance."

Artists from Hollywood and Broadway may have similar problems, but they are not invited to hammer out policies. This advantage is absent from the Western electoral system.

The advisory body is an organ for multiparty cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.

Economists, like Jeffrey Sachs, were outraged by U.S.President Barack Obama's trade protectionist remarks, and quite a few well-educated, experienced insiders bridle at the outrageous proposals made by Donald Trump during his presidential campaign. However, they have neither the power nor tools to push their agenda as directly as China's political advisors.

Take Tang Jianwei, a law professor at Renmin University. He was invited to a CPPCC National Committee biweekly consultative seminar in January, which intended to seek advice on law-making for courier services. Tang delivered a speech at the seminar about judicial process in cases concerning disputes.

Yu Zhengsheng, CPPCC National Committee chairman, presided over the meeting, which also saw the minister of transport and a legal work official. Tang's opinions were heard by the leaders, and his role is not mere lipservice.

Herein lies the key difference between China's advisory system and Western congressional hearings or White Houseforums.

In addition to its advisory role, another main function of the CPPCC is supervision.

Ge Jianxiong, a political advisor and historian, last November was contacted by an official with the Ministry of Public Security. He was told that a problem he identified had been solved.

In August, Ge wrote a letter to the CPPCC National Committee because the names of those with some ethnic groups, like the Uygur, were too long to be entered into the identity card system, meaning that many were unable to open their own banking accounts. The ministry updated the computer system.

It is important to note that China's political advisors are not lobbyists. President Xi Jinpingsaid in his speech at the 65th anniversary of the CPPCC in 2014 that the political advisory body should give full play to its advantages: broad representative, well-connected and highly inclusive.

They are not hired by interest groups, although some advisors are business owners themselves.

They are not technocrats either. The top legislature, which is proportionally representative, has the final say in law-making.

Generally speaking, they are experts in their fields whose advice and opinions are taken seriously by top policymakers.

While many Western countries are split by elitism and populism, China's unique "check and balance" system could teach them a thing or two.
Authorities are attempting to manage pests on a Chinese pistache tree (Pistacia chinensis) overlooking the Leshan Giant Buddha in Leshan City, Southwest Chinas Sichuan Province, March 2, 2016. The tree, which is 287 years old, has come under threat from pests in recent years and is in danger of falling down, said local authorities. The Leshan Giant Buddha is a 71-metre tall stone statue, built during the Tang Dynasty, and carved into a cliff face that lies at the confluence of rivers.(Photo/CNS)
Photo taken on June 17, 2015 shows robots working at a truck factory in Jinan, capital of east China's Shandong Province.

In the latest report issued by Moody's Investors Service on Wednesday, the internationally famous credit rating agency downgraded its outlook on Chinas credit rating from stable to negative, while affirming the still-respectable Aa3 grade on its sovereign debt.

But the credibility of Moodys encountered a challenge in the Chinese market since its bearish prediction was not echoed by other voices in the financial market. Neither the currency exchange nor the Asia-Pacific share market seconded the negative outlook.

Generally speaking, operation and supervision of the financial market has shown increased reliance on credit rating tools in recent years. As industry giants, companies such as Moody's and Standard & Poor's now have a major influence.

The downgrading of a sovereign credit rating or outlook from a major player like that often leads to financial panic for implicated country. Even worse, if those involved are major powers, the panic can spill to other countries in the region or other countries encountering similar economic woes.

However, the forecast made by Moody's about China was not followed this time by a market panic. On the contrary, the RMB currency rate remained stable and the Asia-Pacific stock market kept rising following the downgrade.

A weakening of Moodys authority may result from this prediction, which can be attributed to a poor understanding of the Chinese economy.

First of all, Moodys misjudged what rising government debt means for China.

When downgrading Chinas outlook, some of the reasons Moody's cited were uncertainty over authorities' capacity to implement economic reforms, rising government debt and falling reserves. However, one thing that was not taken into consideration was the differences between the debts of China, the U.S., Europe, Japan and other emerging markets.

Since investment is a big piece of Chinas government expenditure, most debts have corresponding assets. This means that the same debt ratio would bring far less burden to China than to other debtors.

Whats more, the reason the Chinese government shouldered more liabilities is that it can partially prevent deflation caused by capital flight.

The moderate expansion of Chinas deficit and debt within its settlement ability is not only good for short-sellers, but also healthy for the overall economy because it indicates that Chinas currency supply is able to meet the demand brought by economic growth.

It also implies that currency creation relies less on foreign countries, and Chinas financial system can be more independent as a result.

Similar to the rising government debt, Chinas failing foreign currency reserve is not necessarily a bad thing for its economy.

The recent decrease in the reserve is mostly attributed to currency conversions of enterprises, financial agencies and residents.

Also, since the beginning of the new century, Chinas policymakers have been distracted by rising foreign reserves as China has paid an enormous amount of seigniorage, or profit from issuing a currency, to western countries.

Therefore, in the past decade, the Chinese government has been encouraging the stockpiling of foreign exchange reserve in State coffers so as to diversify external assets and improve structure.

Even today, when the reserve has been cut down significantly, China still holds more foreign currency than any other country, which is more than enough to meet its foreign settlement demand.

At the same time, constant trade surplus and the influx of direct foreign investment bring the country more reserves.

When Chinas ability to meet foreign settlement demand is not at risk, shortening the foreign exchange reserve means optimizing its structure of foreign assets.

In the long run, this will benefit the economy rather than undermining it.

For international rating giants like Moodys, who misinterpret Chinas national conditions and economy, it is essential to step up their game if they intend to maintain their dominance in the market.

The author is a researcher at Chinas Ministry of Commerce.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

By Anvar Mammadov - Trend:

A committee on financial market stability regulation will be created in Azerbaijan, head of the working group on the establishment of the country's financial market supervisory body Rufat Aslanli said.

He made the remarks March 4 while speaking at a plenary session of the Azerbaijani parliament.

"The Central Bank of Azerbaijan, the ministry of finance and the financial market supervisory body of Azerbaijan will sign a special memorandum," Aslanli said. "Signing of this document has already been agreed upon."

The head of the working group said that the new body is planned to be called the 'Committee for Financial Stability'.

He said the mentioned committee must be set up to ensure stability and sustainability in the financial sector, resolving liquidity issues. This is one of the points of the new mechanism, which consists of three main elements, he said.

The head of the working group said that these elements include improvement of systemically important banks, solving the problems with liquidity in banks regardless of their role in the system, and, finally, the total risk portfolio adjustment.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

Trend:

The State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) sold $100 million to 26 local banks through the auction held by Azerbaijan's Central Bank (CBA) March 4, SOFAZ said.

"SOFAZ offered $100 million for sale through the auction," the statement said. "This amount was fully sold to the banks."

Thus, SOFAZ will continue selling foreign currency through auctions in 2016.

The foreign currency is sold as part of SOFAZ's transfers to the Azerbaijani state budget, which are envisaged to stand at 7.615 billion Azerbaijani manats in 2016.

SOFAZ was established in 1999 with assets of $271 million.

As of January 1, 2016, SOFAZ assets reduced by 9.5 percent compared to 2014 ($37.1 billion) and were estimated at $33.57 billion.

Based on 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 fund's 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.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

By Anvar Mammadov - Trend:

State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) has signed an agreement with the Georgian government on additional supplies of natural gas in the amount of 463 million cubic meters, Director General of 'SOCAR Energy Georgia' Mahir Mammadov said in an exclusive interview with Trend March 4.

Earlier, SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev said that Azerbaijan will additionally supply 500 million cubic meters (mcm) of gas a year to Georgia.

"Previously, we supplied 800 mcm of gas a year to Georgia from the Shah Deniz," he said. "We have managed to increase the supply through that route to 1.5 billion cubic meters (bcm), as well as to 1.5 bcm via a pipeline connecting the two countries in Azerbaijan's Gazakh district."

In accordance with the agreement, Georgia will receive additional gas volumes from Azerbaijan.

Georgian online newspaper 'Georgia Online' reported that according to the country's energy ministry, SOCAR expressed readiness to reduce the price of commercial gas for the Georgian gas filling stations by $35-$40 per 1,000 cubic meters. Compared with 2012, gas consumption in Georgia increased by 40 percent, which made it necessary to purchase additional volumes, according to the country's energy ministry.

Georgia's annual gas consumption stands at 2.4 bcm.

Some 750 to 800 mcm of the gas is being supplied from the Shah Deniz field to Georgia annually, 1.4 bcm by SOCAR, and 200 mcm by Russia.

Azerbaijan exports gas to Georgia via a pipeline linking the two countries in the Azerbaijani district of Gazakh.

This pipeline can pump more than 2.5 bcm of gas a year.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

Trend:

After having signed an agreement with Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR, there is no more need in importing gas from Iran, said Kakha Kaladze, Georgian deputy prime minister and energy minister.

He made the remarks at a joint press conference with SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev, Georgia Online news website reported March 4.

Kaladze said Georgia started simultaneous talks with Iran due to technical problems regarding the natural gas supply from Azerbaijan.

"We had a meeting and talked about how it was possible to receive Iran's gas," Kaladze said. "Theoretically, there is an opportunity for that, but there is no such a need today. We have signed an agreement with a strategically partner country, a company, which will ensure the natural gas supply to Georgia and meet the market's needs."

Georgia and Azerbaijan's SOCAR signed agreements March 4 in Tbilisi, under which the Azerbaijani side will increase natural gas supply to Georgia by 463 million cubic meters and reduce prices for the gas sold at social tariffs, as well as the commercially sold gas.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4



Trend:



The US President Barack Obama has a unique opportunity to assist in establishing peace between Yerevan and Baku which are at loggerheads due to the occupation of Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region by Armenia, Rob Sobhani, CEO of the US Caspian Group Holdings, said in his article published in the Washington Times newspaper.



"President Obama will host and convene the Fourth Nuclear Security Summit beginning on March 31 at the Washington Convention Center," said Sobhani. "Among the scheduled attendees are two leaders who rarely get together because their nations have been at loggerheads for decades."



The author noted that while it is important for world leaders to agree on how best to keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of rogue nations or terrorist groups, the presence of Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and Armenia's President Serzh Sargsyan offer a rare yet historic moment for President Obama to take the lead in solving one of the most troublesome conflicts left from the break-up of the Soviet Empire.



The United States, along with Russia and France, co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, is tasked with resolving this conflict, said Sobhani.



He added that Washington has been too busy with distractions in the Middle East to take a lead role in establishing a lasting peace between Yerevan and Baku.



President Obama may well be in a position to craft a breakthrough that could create a new beginning for the people of Armenia and Azerbaijan by leading a robust diplomatic initiative to find a fair solution, according to Sobhani.



Obama should work with the two leaders to craft a plan that will lead to the withdrawal of Armenian forces from Azerbaijan's occupied territories, he added.



Further, a settlement might well include a Reconciliation and Reconstruction Fund that would invest in infrastructure projects between the two countries, said the author.



The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.



The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council's four resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Baku, Azerbaijan March 4

Trend:

Recognition of any territorial entity is under the powers of the US Federal Government, according to the US law, Hikmet Hajiyev, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry's spokesperson, told Trend March 4.

He was commenting on the "recognition" of the "independence" of Azerbaijan's occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region by the US State of Georgia.

Hajiyev added that the US recognizes Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and sovereignty within the internationally recognized borders.

"After the 15-minute discussions, the House of Representatives of the State of Georgia adopted some sort of a resolution on alleged "recognition" of the regime created on the territory of Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region occupied by Armenia," said the spokesperson.

Hajiyev added that with such pathetic and provocative actions, Armenia tries to harm the peace talks held in line with the international norms and principles, UN Security Council resolutions, as well as the efforts aimed at restoring peace and security in the region.

Thereby, Armenia tries to continue the occupation of Azerbaijani lands and maintain the status quo, Hajiyev said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council's four resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Baku, Azerbaijan March 4

By Anakhanum Khidayatova - Trend:

The United States does not recognize the so-called Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, the US embassy in Baku told Trend.

The embassy was commenting on the information about the recognition of the "independence" of Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region by the US State of Georgia.

"US Foreign Policy is determined by the federal government. The resolution passed by the Georgia State House regarding Nagorno-Karabakh is an expression of opinion by a state legislative body and does not change US foreign policy on the matter," said the embassy.

The House of Representatives of the State of Georgia has adopted some sort of a resolution on alleged "recognition" of the regime created on the territory of Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region occupied by Armenia.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council's four resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @Anahanum
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

Trend:

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received a delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Rogozin.

The president said the visit of Rogozin created a good opportunity for reviewing the agenda of the issues of the bilateral relations between the two counties. President Aliyev noted the effectiveness of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission, saying it fulfilled a number of tasks. The president said both countries characterize the bilateral relations as strategic ties, and described this as recognition of joint achievements in the bilateral cooperation.

President Aliyev said Azerbaijan and Russia had active political relations, and underlined regular ties between the presidents. The president said they discuss many important issues with the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin both during their personal contacts and phone conversations, adding that there is mutual understanding on a number of issues. Touching upon the bilateral trade between the two countries, President Aliyev said active work is being carried out towards increasing the export of Azerbaijani products to Russia.

The president said Azerbaijan is interested in the Russian exports` occupying one of the important, even top places in the country's import. Saying that the cooperation between the two countries is successfully developing in all fields, the president said Azerbaijan attaches great importance to the bilateral relations in political, economic, energy, military-technical and humanitarian spheres.

The president pointed to the creation of a format of cooperation between relevant bodies on the regional scale. President Aliyev said regional forums are being held, adding that there is positive dynamics in this regard. Emphasizing that the two countries` political leadership gave impetus to this process, the president said relevant authorities of Azerbaijan and Russia are working in one direction.

Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Rogozin said: "Dear Mr President, I would like to underline that despite the global economic crisis in recent years and the known processes on the energy market, our Joint Intergovernmental Commission managed to expand cooperation. Today we see that the contacts between the two presidents not just increased, as apart from bilateral relations they already embrace the whole spectrum of regional affairs."

Dmitry Rogozin said the threats existing on the international arena, in the Middle East, including terrorism, are among important issues discussed at the regional level. Saying that the Russian Federation and the Republic of Azerbaijan currently enjoyed the highest level of the bilateral relations, Dmitry Rogozin said the Joint Intergovernmental Commission was discussing the issues of the expansion of the ties in a variety of areas, including economy, culture and education.

He emphasized Azerbaijan's supporting Russia at a time when the country faced sanctions, and hailed the increase in the export of Azerbaijani agricultural products to Russia. Dmitry Rogozin said Azerbaijan's agricultural products were widely popular in Russia, adding that special warehouses were built for storing these products.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4



By Azad Hasanli - Trend:

The Azerbaijani parliament passed the law "On approval of the articles of Agreement of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank" (ABII) at the plenary session March 4.

"ABII member-states consider the contribution in strengthening of the sustainable development, social and economic progress of Asian countries, strengthening of their economy, as well as strengthening of regional resistance to potential financial crises and other external factors as an important condition for cooperation," the agreement said.

ABII's authorized capital is $100 billion, divided into one million shares worth $100,000 each.

Azerbaijan's membership capital hits $254.1 million. The number of shares hits 2,541.

According to the agreement, the bank's resources consist of ordinary resources for ordinary transactions and resources of special funds (for special operations). According to the agreement, both types of these resources were stored and invested separately. However, they may be used to finance the different elements of the same project or program.

For example, the ordinary resources of the bank are its share capital, funds, drawn from other countries, etc. The funds for special operations are any funds deposited in special funds, investment income received through the special fund, the funds received from the issuance of loans or guarantees.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4



Trend:

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree March 4 on additional measures in connection with continuation of reforms in the customs system.

Azerbaijan's State Customs Committee and the Ministry of Communications and High Technologies have been tasked to establish postal offices within six months at customs checkpoints for conducting customs debt payments in line with the Article 244.2 of the country's Customs Code.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

Trend:

Actions by state legislatures of the US around the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are non-binding and don't necessarily represent the country's foreign policy, James Warlick, the OSCE Minsk Group US co-chair, tweeted March 4.

He made the remarks commenting on the reports about the "recognition" of the "independence" of Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region by the US State of Georgia.

The House of Representatives of the State of Georgia adopted some sort of a resolution on alleged "recognition" of the regime created on the territory of Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region occupied by Armenia.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council's four resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Baku, Azerbaijan March 4

By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:

Formula 1's sole tyre supplier Pirelli has confirmed that the Super Soft, Soft and Medium tyres will be available to drivers when the sport visits Azerbaijan for the first time in June, gpupdate.net said.



The 2016 Formula 1 Grand Prix of Europe will be held on June 17-19 in Baku.



The selection is identical to the trio of compounds which will be taken to the opening four Grands Prix in Australia, Bahrain, China and Russia.



For 2016, each driver will receive 13 dry-weather sets per Grand Prix, with Pirelli choosing two sets for the race (only one of which must be used), and a set of the softest compound, only for use in Q3.



Drivers are free to select any combination of the chosen compounds for the other 10 sets.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

By Samir Ali - Trend:

The Baku Court of Appeal considered the complaint filed by Arif and Leyla Yunusovs March 4 regarding the verdict made by the Yasamal district court.

Earlier, the Yasamal District Court of Baku didn't grant their appeal regarding a permission to travel abroad for treatment.

A decision was taken at a preparatory court session to consider Yunusovs' complaint March 11.

Leyla Yunusova was sentenced to eight years and six months in prison with confiscation of property, and Arif Yunusov was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Leyla Yunusova was charged under the articles 274 (high treason), 178.3.2 (fraud by inflicting major damage), 192.2.2 (illegal entrepreneurship), 213.2.2 (evasion from a large amount of taxes), 320.1 (forging a certificate or another official document providing rights or exempting from duties, in order to use or sell that document, as well as making for the same purposes or selling the forged state awards of Azerbaijan, stamps, seals, and forms) and 320.2 (use of deliberately forged documents indicated in the article 320.1) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan.

Arif Yunusov was charged under the articles 274 (high treason) and 178.3.2 (fraud) of Azerbaijan's Criminal Code.

A separate lawsuit was filed for both individuals on the criminal case under article 274 (high treason).

On Nov. 12, 2015, the Baku Court of Appeals changed the measure of restraint with regard to Arif Yunusov to the recognizance not to leave, and Yunusov is currently at home under medical supervision.

On Dec. 9, 2015, the Baku Appeals Court decided to conditionally release Leyla Yunusova.

She was released in the court room.
Azerbaijan State University of Economics (UNEC) has launched the new project with the organization of the Ministry of Education. Members of the young teaching staff of the university will conduct interactive trainings to schoolchildren within the project. The main aim of the project is the formation of the links between the university and school, stimulating the enthusiasm for higher education among the pupils and strengthening the promotion of the science, as well as to use young teachers' potential.

The young teaching staff of UNEC Ramil Jabbarov has conducted interactive training to a group of students of the Lyceum based on Physics, Mathematics and Informatics. Participants have demonstrated special activeness during the simulation based training held by R. Jabbarov. Students have been taught the skills in the form of team games in leadership, public speaking, creative approach to problem solving, analytical thinking and evaluation methods. UNEC students have also showed the support to the pupils' team activities. The schoolchildren assessed each others' activities during the interesting and dynamic training.

Meetings with the other schools' students are planned to be held within the project.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

By Anakhanum Hidayatova - Trend:

The Vice President of the Italian Senate Linda Lanzillotta, as well as the country's former Foreign Minister Franco Frattini will attend the IV Global Baku Forum, Italy's Embassy in Baku told Trend March 4.

The IV Global Baku Forum, organized by the Nizami Ganjavi International Center and supported by the State Committee on Work with Diaspora, will be held March 10-11 in Baku.

The forum will be titled "Towards a Multipolar World".

A number of issues of global concern, as well as the role of interreligious dialogue in conflict prevention, issues of migration, multiculturalism and integration, prospects for energy and global governance and other important issues will be discussed at the forum, and an exchange of views on finding solutions to these problems will be held.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Anahanum
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

By Samir Ali - Trend:

A chain accident involving a passenger bus and several cars happened in Surakhani district of Baku, Azerbaijan March 4.

As many as 21 injured were taken to the Baku City Clinic Hospital No.3 as a result of the accident, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Health told Trend March 4.

The accident took place on the highway to the airport, when a passenger bus collided with several cars and overturned.

Currently, three of the injured are in critical condition. Five of the injured were sent home after receiving first medical aid.

Two injured, who were brought to the hospital, were operated on urgently. The rest were placed in the intensive care unit.

Investigation is underway.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4



By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services revised the outlook on Georgian Oil and Gas Corporation to negative from stable. We affirmed the 'B+/B' long- and short-term corporate credit ratings, S&P said March 4.

The outlook revision primarily reflects the revision of the agency's base-case scenario for GOGC.

"S&P understands the company is now contemplating increasing its investments in 2016-2017," the statement said. "Having successfully completed construction of the Gardabani thermal power plant in late 2015, GOGC is currently considering investing into an extension of this project, estimated at $200 million-$250 million, and constructing an underground gas storage facility worth another $250 million. This will require increase in debt financing and means that the company might be able to deleverage only if both projects are successfully launched, which will not happen before 2018."

GOGC's financial risk profile is constrained by relatively high leverage, the agency's assumption of high volatility of cash flows and ratios during stress periods, and sizable investments required to finance its growth projects, the statement said.

"The company also issued a loan of Georgian lari (GEL) 47 million to its sister state-controlled entity in 2012 and had GEL17 million of cash deposits pledged as collateral for a loan obtained by another GRE," the statement said. "Although the loan is interest-bearing and we assume it will be repaid to GOGC and that the pledged cash will be released by 2017, these transactions heighten the risk that GOGC's funds might be used to finance the activities of other Georgian GREs."

The constraining factors also include the company's lack of long-term strategic planning and a history of unexpected changes in the government's strategic decisions for GOGC. For example, the company abandoned plans to construct the Namakhvani hydropower plant in favor of the Gardabani gas-fired CCPP in 2013. Furthermore, on June 12, 2015, the company announced a potential sale of the Gardabani CCPP to the Georgian government; however, the agency understands that this has now been cancelled.

S&P assesses GOGC's liquidity as adequate. As of Dec. 31, 2015, we estimate GOGC's ratio of liquidity sources to uses for the next 12 months comfortably exceeded 1.2x. The agency's assessment takes into account that the $250 million bond is due May 2017, and that the company needs to refinance it within the next few months to maintain the adequate assessment.

Principal liquidity sources:

 Around GEL191 million of available cash and liquid instruments.

 Cash generated from operations of about GEL170 million.

 Working capital inflows of around GEL50 million.

Principal liquidity uses:

 Maintenance capital expenditures of about GEL72 million.

 Dividends of GEL15 million.

 GOGC has to comply with maintenance covenants, the strictest of which is net debt to EBITDA of 3.5x. The agency believes GOGC has adequate covenant headroom due to meaningful cash on the balance sheet.

The negative outlook reflects the risk that we could lower the rating if GOGS's leverage exceeds our expectations of debt/EBITDA consistently below 4x.

S&P understands that the company is quite likely to proceed with its two large investment projects--the second phase of Gardabani and an underground gas storage facility--which could increase leverage to above this threshold if financed solely with debt. However, we also understand that these projects are subject to availability of financing and a certain share could be financed with equity or project-finance at the project level with no recourse to GOGC. Therefore GOGC's leverage in 2016-2018 will ultimately depend on the type of financing chosen.

S&P assumes that GOGC's importance for the Georgian government will not diminish and that the company will retain its status as the national oil company and will not be subject to privatization in the medium term.

S&P could revisit assessment of the GRE's status if the company were to proceed with both of its investment projects without any government support. The agency also assume that GOGC will not provide any more loans to other GREs at the expense of its own financial profile.

S&P could revise the outlook to stable if the company's leeway in ratios levels increased. That might happen if the company refrained from new large investment projects or if it obtained meaningful equity financing for some of them.

Under S&P's criteria, the agency would need to revise GOGC's SACP at least to 'bb-' to then upgrade the company, provided that the sovereign rating remained 'BB-' and the likelihood of support remains very high. If debt/EBITDA approached close to 2x we could consider an upgrade. A positive rating action on the sovereign would also likely lead to a similar action on GOGC, all else being equal.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4



By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services affirmed its 'BB-/B' long- and short-term counterparty credit ratings on the Bank of Georgia (BoG). The outlook is stable, S&P said March 4.

At the same time, the 'ilA' Standard & Poor's Maalot (Israel) national scale rating was affirmed. The outlook on the national scale rating is also stable.

S&P believes that BoG is likely to withstand negative pressure from the currently challenging operating environment in Georgia," the statement said.

The bank's business position is strong, in our view, reflecting its dominant market share and high pricing power on the domestic market.

S&P considers the bank's capital and earnings to be adequate, based on our view that the bank will continue to generate earnings that will likely enable it to maintain its capitalization.

BoG's risk position is moderate, in our opinion, due to the relatively high level of dollarization in the loan book and aggressive growth experienced in previous years.

BoG's funding is average and its liquidity is adequate. Although BoG's reliance on foreign multilateral funding is significant, we believe it is a reliable source of funding. Concurrently, as Georgia's largest bank, BoG benefits from a broad depositor base.

S&P assesses the bank's stand-alone credit profile (SACP) at 'bb-'. S&P considers that the bank has high systemic importance in Georgia's banking sector.

The stable outlook mainly reflects our view that the bank will maintain its business position and continue to consistently generate adequate earnings in the next 12-18 months. The outlook also incorporates the limited negative pressure we foresee from the current challenging operating environment on the bank's financial performance.

S&P might take a negative rating action if BoG's funding and liquidity profile deteriorates significantly, or if we see that banking industry country risks are growing significantly. We might also downgrade BoG if we take a similar rating action on the sovereign, based on our view that BoG is unlikely to survive a potential default by Georgia.

A positive rating action would follow significant improvement in the domestic operating environment, as well as an upgrade of Georgia. However, we could revise our assessment of BoG's SACP upward if we see that, despite asset quality deterioration, the bank is able to sustain its current capital ratios, with our RAC ratio remaining consistently above 10 percent or if we see that deterioration in the bank's asset quality is less than we currently expect, with the ratio of NPLs not exceeding 7 percent of the loan book at its cyclical peak.
Georgia doesn't need to buy additional volumes of natural gas from the Russian energy company 'Gazprom' anymore, Georgian Energy Minister Kakha Kaladze said March 4, according to website 'Georgia Online'.

"Negotiations with the 'Gazprom' haven't finished yet and the contract hasn't yet been formalized," said the minister. "We sent them our last proposal a few days ago, which was announced by the Georgian side. The proposal is that we must still get 10 percent of natural gas. We don't need additional volumes at this stage. Georgia will be provided with gas during the next few years."

He said that the Azerbaijani state company SOCAR solved the problem of natural gas supply.

Georgia will receive additional 463 million cubic meters of gas from Azerbaijan. The corresponding agreement was formalized March 4 between Georgia and the SOCAR. The document was signed by Georgian Energy Minister Kakha Kaladze and SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4



By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:

Capital ratios of Kazakh banks declined in 4Q15, driven mostly by the expansion of foreign currency assets as tenge weakened 26 percent against the US dollar, Fitch Ratings' Report entitled Kazakh Banks Datawatch 4Q15 said.

The 4Q15 report consists of data in PDF and Excel formats, charts and Fitch commentary, and covers 27 of the sector's 35 banks, comprising 98 percent of the system assets, the report said.

The sector aggregate Tier I ratio fell to 12.7 percent from 13.3 percent (minimum 6 percent) and Total capital ratio dropped to 15.6 percent from 15.8 percent (minimum 7.5 percent), helped by some deleveraging. A proposed new deduction from Total capital of the difference between retail deposits and 5.5x equity (to be phased in 1H16) and the introduction of 150 percent risk weights on some retail loans granted after end-2015 could hurt banks with significant retail operations.

While NPLs fell slightly to 10 percent from 11 percent during the quarter, loan impairment charges rose to an annualised 4 percent of average loans from 0.4%, which, in our view, reflected a restructuring of delinquent or potentially problematic loans by many banks, the report said.

The NBK repo rate rise to 17 percent from 12 percent in 4Q15 had a predictably limited impact on bank margins. However, core and bottom-line profitability of some banks was negatively affected by losses on swap operations as swap rates intermittently hit triple digits in 4Q15. The sector's return on average equity fell to 13 percent in 4Q15 from 28 percent in 3Q15 on annualised basis.

Liquidity cushions remained robust across the sector, mostly in the form of foreign-currency deposits with NBK, with few exceptions. Liquid assets comprised 37 percent of total customer deposits at end-2015. However, the overall scarcity of cheap tenge funding forced banks to refrain from new lending, the report said.

Follow the author on Twitter:@E_Kosolapova
Baku, Azerbaijan March 3

By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:

Freezing of the Turkish Stream project, lobbied by Russia, increases the significance of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) project, Saltuk Duzyol, CEO of TANAP consortium, said in an exclusive interview with Trend March 3.

Turkey's Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAS) expects to receive the first volumes of Azerbaijani gas to be produced as part of the Stage-2 of development of Shah Deniz field via TANAP in 2018.

Duzyol noted that the initial capacity of TANAP will be 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year, of which six billion cubic meters will be supplied to Turkey, while 10 billion cubic meters will be delivered to the EU countries.

TANAP's capacity can increase to 31 billion cubic meters of gas per year as a result of constructing additional compressor stations.

The CEO said that if needed, Turkey can also increase the purchase of Azerbaijani gas via TANAP to 21 billion cubic meters.

Duzyol sees no obstacles for transportation of gas from Turkmenistan and Iran via the pipeline running through Turkey's territory.

It will be possible by constructing adjacent infrastructure and signing relevant agreements, according to the TANAP CEO.

Duzyol added that the considerable decline in oil prices on world markets and the corresponding indexation of gas prices won't affect the cost of TANAP project.

"The decrease in oil prices led to lower prices for goods and services and increased the competition among suppliers. As a result, the project's cost will be less," he said.

TANAP project envisages transportation of gas of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field from Georgian-Turkish border to the western borders of Turkey.

Turkey will get gas in 2018 and after completing the construction of Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), it will be delivered to Europe in early 2020.

The shareholders of TANAP are: the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) - 58 percent, BOTAS - 30 percent and BP - 12 percent.

Edited by SI

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Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4



By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

There are serious controversies between Iran and Turkey on the issue of conflict settlement in Syria since the beginning of its escalation nearly five years ago.



Iran actively supports the Syrian government, while Turkey condemns Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime due to bloodshed in the country. But it is a paradox that all these controversies have almost no influence on the economic and energy partnership between Tehran and Ankara.



It is quite remarkable that the relations between the two countries started to improve considerably after 2002 when Turkey's Justice and Development Party (AKP), led by then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is now the country's president, came to power.



Turkey's late former Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan is considered as the initiator of the Iranian-Turkish friendly relations in the political circles of Tehran and Ankara.



Against the background of existing political controversies, mainly due to Syria and the potential of economic partnership, today Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is going to leave for Tehran.



Davutoglu will discuss the main energy issue for Turkey as for now - transit of the Iranian gas via Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) to Europe, which is being built, according to the Turkish media.



The Syrian crisis, increasing Turkey's investments in Iran are also among the important issues on the agenda.



Observers suppose that Turkey and Iran won't be able to reach common ground on the settlement of the Syrian crisis, but, as before, they will agree that the "Islamic State" terrorist organization (IS, aka ISIS, ISIL or Daesh) really poses a threat to the whole world.



When coming to energy issues, the two countries' positions coincide. From the geographical and economic point of view, Turkey's territory is the most expedient route for supplying Iranian gas to Europe.



Previously, Iran said it shows interest in transporting its gas to Europe via TANAP through Turkey and it is a real chance for Ankara which strives for turning into a regional energy hub.



Moreover, earlier, in an exclusive interview with Trend, Saltuk Duzyol, CEO of TANAP consortium, said he sees no obstacles for transportation of Iranian gas via this pipeline.



It will be possible by constructing adjacent infrastructure and signing relevant agreements, according to the TANAP CEO.



Moreover, freezing of the Turkish Stream project, lobbied by Russia, increases the significance of TANAP project, Duzyol added.



Turkey will receive the first volumes of Azerbaijani gas via TANAP in 2018. The pipeline's capacity will be 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year, with the possibility of expanding to 31 billion cubic meters.

Edited by SI

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Rufiz Hafizoglu is the head of Trend Agency's Arabic news service, follow him on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
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Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4



By Anakhanum Hidayatova - Trend:



The Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), which envisages transportation of the Azerbaijani gas to Europe, is the only real project in this sphere, Italy's Ambassador to Azerbaijan Giampaolo Cutillo told Trend.



Cutillo made the remarks commenting on the recent signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) regarding the deliveres of Russian gas to Italy.



Last week, Russia's energy giant Gazprom, Italy's Edison SpA and Greek gas company DEPA SA signed a memorandum of understanding on deliveries of Russian natural gas through third countries to Greece and from Greece to Italy via an undersea pipeline in the Black Sea.



This memorandum was signed by private companies, according to Cutillo, and the Italian government is not involved in this project.



The Southern Gas Corridor is the only priority for Italy and the EU, said the diplomat, calling the project "the only real one" and almost ready to launch.



Italy may also be interested in other projects, but new projects require a lot of legal, marketing, and organizational issues to be considered, the ambassador said.



"Italy is committed to the Southern Gas Corridor project, and the construction of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) will start soon in Italy," said Cutillo.



Today the Southern Gas Corridor is among the European Commission's priority energy projects, which aims at the diversification of the EU gas supply sources and routes. Azerbaijani gas in considered as the main source for that project.



The project, which envisages the transportation of gas from the Caspian Sea region to the European countries through Georgia and Turkey, has been included in the European Commission's PCI (projects of common interest) list.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Anahanum
Baku, Azerbaijan March 4

By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:

The agreement on freezing the oil output at January levels, which has already received support from a number of countries, is theater and is not meaningful, Arthur Berman, an independent US geological consultant with thirty-seven years of experience in petroleum exploration and production believes.

"It has contributed to a sentiment-based rally in crude oil prices over the last several weeks but is otherwise meaningless," Berman told Trend.

Energy ministers of Russia, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Qatar agreed to freeze the oil output at Jan.11 level. Later, Russia's Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that over 15 countries have joined this initiative.

"First, a freeze on production does nothing to address the over-supply of oil in the world - only a cut would accomplish that," Berman said.

Second, the expert noted, that most of the countries involved in the discussions on freezing oil production level are currently producing at or near their maximum capacity so a freeze is nothing more than the status quo.

Third, according to Berman, Iran, which has huge oil reserves, has not and will not agree to a freeze because they need the money and this is the one of the bigger short-term trade-offs for the nuclear agreement.

Finally, the Middle Eastern members of OPEC - Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait are a block and control half of OPEC production - and Russia reflect the deep geo-political rifts.

He noted that Russia and Iran are fighting a war against proxies of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE in Syria.

This is, among other things, a Sunni-Shia split, Berman said, adding that moreover, Iraq, which also one of the biggest oil producers, is Shia and a satellite of Iran.

"To think that these countries could agree on anything is improbable," expert said.

For oil prices to increase, the biggest over-producers, the U.S., Iraq, Brazil and Canada along with Iran, must decrease their output, according to Berman.

"None of these countries are involved in the so-called freeze discussions," the expert said.

The price of May futures for Brent oil was $37.17 per barrel on March 4 morning. Meanwhile, the price of April futures for WTI oil was $34.79 per barrel.

Edited by SI

Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova
Tashkent, Uzbekistan, March 4

By Demir Azizov- Trend:

Uzbekistan's president Islam Karimov signed a decree appointing Odilkhon Rustamov the chairman of the Uzbekozikovkatholding holding company.

Rustamov has been working as the Deputy Chairman of the State Tax Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan until this appointment.

The company was created according to a decree signed in the previous week by the country's president.

The company was created on the basis of the abolished Association Food Industry of Uzbekistan and will include 176 enterprises of food, oil, fat, meat and milk products.

The authorized capital of the company will be formed through the transfer of state shares to the statutory funds of enterprises, which were part of the abolished association.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 3

By Farhad Daneshvar - Trend:

Iran is expected to increase its daily production of Euro 4 gasoline to 35 million liters in the coming summer.

"We hope to increase the production of Euro 4 gasoline to 35 million liters per day in summer following the implementation of the new phase of Bandar Abbas refinery," SHANA news agency quoted the Iranian deputy oil minister, Abbas Kazemi, as saying March 3.

Once the Oil Ministry manages to produce 35 million liters of gasoline per day, half of gasoline produced in the country will meet the Euro 4 standard, he added.

According to Kazemi, Iran currently produces 24 million liters of the Euro 4 gasoline, which accounts for the 40 percent of the country's gasoline production.

He also voiced the ministry's plan to produce 29 million liters of the Euro 4 gasoline in spring.

Kazemi earlier said that once the projects, including the gasoline production sections at Lavan, Bandar Abbas and Persian Gulf Star refinery come on stream, Iran will only distribute the Euro 4 gasoline to large cities.

The third gasoline production unit of the Isfahan Oil Refinery came on stream on Feb. 3, adding 2 million liters per day to the country's daily gasoline output.

The unit boosted the refinery's total gasoline production to 12 million liters per day, including 8.5 liters per day of the Euro 4 standard gasoline

Daily gasoline consumption in Iran stands at 75 million liters on average.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4



By Farhad Daneshvar - Trend:



Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's upcoming visit to Tehran is aimed at maintaining and continuing trade ties between Tehran and Ankara, an Iranian economist believes.



Jamshid Pazhouian, who is a prominent lecturer at Iran's Allameh Tabataba'i University and Islamic Azad University, told Trend that Turkey has been a main trade partner of Iran over the past three decades.



Saying that Turkey provided Iran with help during the sanctions-era, he added, obviously, it is of great importance for Turkey to maintain its position as a major partner and continue its trade ties with Iran.



Davutoglu leading an economic and politic delegation is expected to arrive in Tehran this evening.



Pazhouian also speculated that Iran-Turkey's dispute over gas prices would be discussed during Davutiglu's visit to Tehran.



Despite the outstanding disagreements between Tehran and Ankara over gas prices as well as differences over the Syrian crisis, Iran and Turkey appear reluctant to spoil the trade ties.



According to a deal inked in 1996 between Tehran and Ankara, Iran is committed to provide Turkey with some 30 million cubic meters of gas per day.



Back in March 2012 Ankara filed a complaint against Iran in the International Court of Arbitration requesting for a 25 percent price reduction. The controversy stirred up in early February when media sources reported that the court has ruled in favor of a 10-15 percent price discount.



Although the controversy seems to many as a sore point in the ties of the neighboring countries, Iran-Turkey ties appear to continue, given the considerable trade turnover over the past several years as well as $10 billion gas trade per year.



The trade turnover between the countries was $13.71 billion in 2014 and $9.76 billion in 2015.



Although the trade turnover dropped by 29 percent in 2015 compared to the preceding year, many observers believe that the decline came amid global economic crisis ruling out the role of the political and economic disagreements in the decline.



Over the past five and following the Syrian crisis, Tehran and Moscow have supported Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey is among Syrian president's most outspoken critics.
Tehran, Iran, March 4

By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:

Relations between Iran and Azerbaijan are strategic in many regards, especially under current circumstances when Tehran has been freed from international sanctions, says Masoud Ahmadi Nia, an expert in Azerbaijan affairs.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's recent visit to Iran was a turning point in bilateral relations between the two countries, Ahmadi Nia told Trend March 4.

Iranian and Azerbaijani officials signed 12 memorandums of understanding on the sidelines of a meeting between President Aliyev and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran Feb. 23.

Ahmadi Nia said that with the agreements signed during President Aliyev's visit, legal grounds were paved for closer cooperation of the two countries.

The expert said the North-South corridor is one of the areas of interest in the two countries' relations.

"This [the corridor], on one hand, can help Azerbaijan connect to the Middle East more closely. Iran, for its part, can use Azerbaijan's territory to connect to Russia," he explained.

Ahmadi Nia added that the two countries can also cooperate on political and security grounds, regarding the growing threat of terrorism in Syria and drug trafficking.
The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, has ordered his country to be ready to use nuclear weapons "at any time" in the face of a growing threat from enemies, its official media said on Friday, Reuters reported.

Kim, who was supervising the exercise of newly developed multiple rocket launchers, also said his country should turn its military posture to a "pre-emptive basis" because enemies were threatening the state's survival, its KCNA news agency said.

The apparent warning to the west comes only days after North Korea fired a volley of short-range missiles into the sea off its east coast.

This followed the UN security council's unanimous approval of the toughest sanctions against the regime in two decades over its nuclear and rocket tests.

North Korea has previously carried out live firing near or across its borders when facing international condemnation.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and governor of the southern Okinawa island Takeshi Onaga agreed on Friday to resume negotiations on the future of the US Marine Base Futenma, Sputnik reported.



In November, the Japanese government filed a lawsuit against Onaga, after he refused to fulfill Tokyo's recommendations to accept the relocation of the US base in Okinawa's densely populated Ginowan city to the Henoko coastal area of Nago city. In response, Onaga launched a retaliatory lawsuit against the Tokyo administration in December.



According to the New York Times, both sides will take the dispute out of the court, but if the new round of talks fails and the matter eventually ends up in court again, they will accept any ruling issued by a judge.



In the mid 1990s, Tokyo and Washington agreed to move Futenma to some other place if Tokyo builds an alternative facility. Tokyo plans envision the base to be closed by February 2019 and relocated within the Okinawa prefecture.



Previous Okinawa governor Hirokazu Nakaima approved landfill work to move the base to Henoko, but Onaga won against him in 2014 and promised to veto the work needed for the new base to be built, and repeatedly insisted that Futenma should be moved outside of Okinawa.




The European Union says Turkey has to do more to reduce the influx of refugees into the continent, Press TV reported.

On Thursday, Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, which sets out the bloc's political direction, said it was up to Ankara to decide what extra action it could take to bring about the reduction.

Many in Europe favored a mechanism that would enable the asylum seekers' "fast and large-scale" return to Turkey, he said at a joint press conference with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, suggesting that the country had better act promptly. It was only this method, he said, that would effectively "break the business model of the smugglers."





Tusk has traveled to Turkey from the Greek capital of Athens, where he had warned economic refugees that they would not be welcomed in Europe, saying they did not stand to much gain by reaching the continent.

"Do not believe the smugglers. Do not risk your lives and your money. It is all for nothing," he said.

Tusk will stay on for a meeting with Turkish President Recep Teyyip Erdogan and is scheduled to meet with Davutoglu again next Monday at an emergency EU-Turkey summit dedicated to the issue of refugees.

The bloc has already offered Ankara three billion euros ($3.3 billion) so it can improve asylum seekers' living conditions. It has also pledged to rekindle the talks on the country's potential EU membership and accelerate visa-free travel across the bloc for Turkish nationals.

The promises reportedly came after a meeting among Tusk, Erdogan, and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, where the Turkish head of state reportedly threatened to flood the continent with refugees.

"We can open the doors to Greece and Bulgaria anytime and we can put the refugees on buses" unless the country was offered financial assistance to help it deal with the asylum seekers, he had said, according to a leaked audio recording of the meeting.

Europe has been facing its biggest refugee inrush since World War II. The crisis, which has notably strained the continent's refugee resettlement policies, saw more than a million asylum seekers crossing onto its soil over the past year.

Most of the asylum seekers arrive in Europe after crossing the sea between Turkey and Greek islands.
Baku, Azerbaijan March 4

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

Members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) have attacked a military unit in Turkey's Mardin province, leaving two dead and 14 servicemen injured, Yeni Safak newspaper reported March 4.

Reportedly, Turkish armed forces launched large-scale operations against PKK after the attack.

The PKK has in recent months become active in the south-east of Turkey, and its attacks on military units and police stations have increased.

Over 200 Turkish servicemen were killed in clashes with the PKK in 2015.

The conflict between Turkey and the PKK, which demands the creation of an independent Kurdish state, has continued for over 25 years and has claimed more than 40,000 lives.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist group by the UN and the European Union.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Refugee crisis is not just a problem for Turkey and Greece, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said during his official visit to Athens Friday, according to Anadolu agency.

Addressing a joint press conference alongside his Greek counterpart Nikos Kotzias following their meeting at the Greek Foreign Affairs Ministry, Cavusoglu said the impact of the refugee crisis on Turkey and Greece has been huge.

"The situation in Syria and Iraq has enormous humanitarian consequences for Greece and Turkey," the Turkish foreign minister said.

Kotzias said: "We both agreed that the refugee/migrant issue is a global one that concerns all of Europe".

The two ministers exchanged views on refugee crisis during their meeting, which came ahead of the extraordinary EU summit to be held in Brussels on Monday.

The two sides also reviewed bilateral relations ahead of the Greek-Turkish High-Level Cooperation Council meeting in Izmir, where prime ministers of both countries were due to meet.

"Greece is Turkey's neighbor," Cavusoglu said.

"Turkey wants to cooperate with Greece; we should take advantage of every chance in order to deepen the current framework of cooperation," he added.

Kotzias appreciated the frank and open discussions with his Turkish counterpart.



"We are working on developing the Greek-Turkish relations on the basis of good neighborly relations and respect for the international law," he said.



"We also discussed cooperation between the two countries in the operational NATO plan in order to tackle the refugee issue," he added.



The Turkish foreign minister expressed his gratitude for having a discussion with his Greek counterpart, saying Kotzias is "someone I truly appreciate and refer to him as friend".



"We both agree," said Cavusoglu, that it is not just enough to sign agreements but we must also implement these agreements in order to deepen our bilateral relations.



We also spoke of projects that will further help our bilateral relations; the Izmir-Thessaloniki link, in addition to the TAP and TANAP projects, the Turkish minister added.
Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu heading a high-ranking delegation arrived in Tehran few minutes ago to mark the first official visit by a Turkish premier in the wake of the nuclear Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Irna reported.



He is accompanied by ministers of economy, customs and trade, energy, transport, communications and development, government officials and representatives of major Turkish media.



The visit follows consultations between the two countries' foreign ministries with the objective of expansion and strengthening of political, cultural, and economic relations.



It is expected that Davutoglu will negotiate with First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri, meet Foreign Minister Mohmmad Javad Zarif and also pay a courtesy call on President Hassan Rouhani.



Considering the combination of the Turkish prime minister's entourage, economic and trade issues will top the agenda of his meetings in Tehran including achieving the 30-billion-dollar outlook in Iran-Turkey commercial ties.



Turkey intends to give a new impetus to its trade ties with neighboring Iran following removal of sanctions thorough a more active role by its private sector in order to take the rising golden opportunity in Iran's economy.



Following Davutoglu's visit to Iran, the upcoming visits by Foreign Minister Zarif and President Rouhani to Turkey are on the schedule.



The 25th round of Iran-Turkey Joint Economic Cooperation Council is scheduled to convene in Turkey later this year.
The stolen Buddha head is displayed at the National Museum of China, the second most visited museum in the world, next only to the Louvre in Paris, France. (Photo : REUTERS)

The head of a Buddha statue that is around 1,500 years old is now displayed at the National Museum of China in Beijing after being gone for two decades, as reported by the Xinhua News Agency.



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=The Buddha head, which was previously listed as stolen, was returned to mainland China by Taiwanese Buddhist Master Hsing Yun of Taiwan, who is the abbot of Go Guang Shan Temple in the city of Kaoshiung.



A private collector, a Taiwanese businessman who wished to remain anonymous, donated the 80-kilogram head to Mater Hsing Yun in 2014.



After learning that what he had received was the head of a Buddhist sculpture from the Youju Temple in Lingshou County in Hebei Province, the Buddhist master immediately announced his intention to return the relic to its place of origin.



The head of the statue was stolen in 1996. Afterward, the rest of the statue was moved to the Hebei Museum in Shijiazhuang.



Last year, the head was reunited with its body at the Foguang Mountain Temple. More than 1.14 million people went to see the sculpture during its stay in Taiwan between May 2015 and Feb. 2016.



"It's fortunate, but it's also regretful," said Master Hsing. "Chinese cultural heritage has been the victim of many thefts in the last century, and Buddhism is not able to avoid it either. Nevertheless, it's fortunate that the lost head came to Fo Guang Shan."



"It's not acceptable to see many lost national treasures of China scattered overseas," added Master Hsing. "After traveling abroad for so long and coming to Taiwan, it should go back home."



The sculpture dates back to the Northern Qi Dynasty (A.D. 550-577) during the Southern and Northern Dynastic period in the 5th century. The dynasty lasted a mere 28 years, so there are very few relics still existing from that period.



The 47-cm Buddha head made of white marble was carved to satisfy an edict of Gao Rui, a royal family member during the Northern Qi Dynasty.



The Buddhist sculpture is set to be housed in the Hebei Museum in Shijiazhung, Hebei Province, after its brief stint in Beijing.


Huawei is said to be working on its own mobile OS to lessen reliance on Google's Android. (Photo : Reuters)

Myanmar has inaugurated on Monday, Feb. 29, the first Huawei Authorized Information, Network Academy (HAINA) in Thanlyin University of Science and Technology in Yangon, Myanmar, the Xinhua News Agency reported.



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Under Huawei's guidance, HAINA aims to develop human resources with information and communication technology (ICT) of Huawei globally.



The report said that the establishment of HAINA in Myanmar is part of the memorandum of understanding signed on Nov. 11, 2014 by science and technology departments of Myanmar and Huawei. The deal provides free assistance in the development of ICT human resources in Myanmar.



Huawei and Thanlyin University of Science and Technology also signed in March 2015 a contract on donation of the HAINA, the report added.



Chinese Ambassador Hong Liang told the press that Huawei is making use of its knowledge in technology to help Myanmar people.



In Myanmar, the rapid development of ICT products has created a shortage of human resources, which prompted Huawei to address the issue through the National ICT Human Resources Development Plan, which covers middle and high schools in remote mountainous areas.



In 2015 alone, Huawei has established 140 HAINAs in over 20 countries globally, benefiting more than 5,000 people.



In December, Huawei joined Cambodia's National Institute of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Communication Technology (NIPTICT) to launch a HAINA to promote telecommunications and ICT training in Cambodia and support the city's development as a hub for ICT in the kingdom, Xinhua reported.



The Chinese company also set up in the U.K. with Henley Business School.



According to an article published by www.4-traders.com, HAINA in U.K. will allow students to learn big data, cloud computing technology, IT storage systems, data center management, computer networks, Huawei technology and other professional knowledge and get Huawei's online learning network resources.



Huawei has worked with more than 100 universities in China, North America, Europe, Australia and other countries to set up HAINA.



The company said that it will continue to increase investment in education in the next three to five years, and work together with more than 500 colleges and universities worldwide to train ICT personnel.


China released its first list of Interpol Red Notices last April 2015, where it named 100 wanted fugitives. (Photo : Getty Images)

A second list of Interpol Red Notices will be released by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) to expand its search for fugitives, according to an article by the Global Times. The announcement was made on Wednesday, March 2.



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According to an online interview with Cai Wei, deputy director of the international cooperation bureau of the Communist Party of China's CCDI, local governments were required to collect information on officials suspected to engage in corrupt behavior.



This information system will allow the CCDI to crack down on the hide-outs of allegedly corrupt officials hiding overseas, Cai said.



Aside from adding more wanted people to the Interpol Red Notice, the commission will also take drastic measures such as implementing border control and freezing assets.



China released its first list of Interpol Red Notices last April 2015, where it named 100 wanted fugitives. 60 percent of the wanted people are reportedly involved in corruption and bribery, according to a report by China News Service.



To strengthen fugitive hunting overseas, CCDI is also conducting training classes and regulating wrongful passport applications.



"This is an effective system to supervise officials, since the exit and entry information of some corrupt officials was unclear," said Huang Feng, head of the Institute for International Criminal Law at Beijing Normal University, in an interview with the Global Times.



Since it launched its "Fox Hunt" 2015, CCDI has managed to capture 857 wanted fugitives hiding overseas, according to data from the Ministry of Public Security.



As part of the strengthened campaign to catch fugitives, China will also step up international cooperation with other countries. The country plans on holding conferences with Canada, and signing memoranda with Australia. China will also open its doors wider to the China-U.S. Joint Liaison Group Anti-Corruption Working Group for more effective cooperation.



Still, some countries are hesitant to sign bilateral agreements and treaties with China due to misconceptions about the Chinese legal system.



"The obstacle to bilateral cooperation is that China has not signed extradition treaties with some major countries where most of the allegedly corrupt officials are hiding," said Ren Jianming, an anti-corruption expert from Beihang University in Beijing.


Self-Immolation (Photo : Free Tibet)

A Tibetan Buddhist monk, named Kalsang Wangdu, burned himself on Feb. 29 outside the Retsoka Aryaling monastery in Xinlong country. Wangdu died from burns.



Wangdu self-immolated to protest the Chinese governments continued control over Tibet. He called for Tibets complete independence from China, Time cited a Radio Free Asia report which based the story on an anonymous source in the Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province.



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ABC checked with the Kardze Police on Wednesday through a phone call and talked to a man named Li who denied the incident. We are now in a period of preserving stability. If such a thing happens, we will make it known to the public, he said.



Other Buddhist monks in and out of Tibet had burned themselves or joined protest actions to pressure Beijing to free Tibet. Since 2009, over 140 Tibetan Buddhist monks in China had self-immolated to push for self-rule and allow the Dalai Lama, who fled Tiber in 1959, to return to his homeland.



Outside China, a 16-year-old Tibetan monk, in exile at Uttarakhand, a state of India, tried to burn himself also on the same day. However, the young monk failed in his attempt and is undergoing treatment at a New Delhi hospital.



However, China refuses to do budge. Beijing continues to blame the Dalai Lama  whom many Tibetan Buddhist monks consider their spiritual leader  for inciting his followers to immolate themselves. In refusing to give up Tibet, China said it has made significant investments to develop the region.



In 2015, Chen Quanguo, Communist Party chief in Tibet, ordered Buddhist monasteries to display Chinas flag to further push members of the religion to be patriotic to China.






WeChat Message Indicates Immigration Intention, Leads to Deportation of Chinese Student Returning to U.S. from Lunar New Year Vacation

Homeland Security Chief Jeh Johnson Tours TSA Security Operation At LAX (Photo : Getty Images)

If Canada deports foreigner after finding child porn images on their mobile phones, in the U.S., incriminating evidence found on a WeChat message led to the deportation of a Chinese student.



The unnamed Chinese wrote as a WeChat message to her friend whom she was to meet on Feb. 26 at the Los Angeles airport, I dont really want to go to school. I just need a temporary [student] identity, quoted Global Times.



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A U.S. customs official who read the message on the Chinese visitors mobile phone, alarmed by the immigration intent of the tourist, immediately sent her back to China. Chen, her friend who was supposed to pick her up at the Los Angeles airport, got a voice message that her friend from China has been deported.



The unidentified Chinese woman has been studying in the U.S. for years, but went back to China for a two-week vacation in February for the Chinese Lunar New Year and attend the wedding of a kin. She was re-entering the U.S. when caught with the damning WeChat message.



What aroused the suspicion of a customs official is the Chinese student went home on a month that is the midterm exams for most American students. The incriminating message was what the customs official needed to validate the suspicion and bar the fake student from returning again to the U.S.



The deported student is one of the 300,000 Chinese youth who entered the U.S. in 2015 to enroll in American colleges and universities. Foreign Policy revealed that at the secondary level, one way the Chinese secure student visas is to enroll in a Christian school even if the students usually come from a non-Christian faith.



In 2014 and the first quarter of 2015, 58 percent of F-1 visas issued to Chinese high school students in the U.S. were in Catholic or Christian schools.






'Attack on Titan' is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hajime Isayama. (Photo : YouTube/Roy Reviews)

"Attack on Titan" fans are expecting and eagerly waiting for the second season of the anime series, which is based on a manga series with the same title. Fans are expecting that "Attack on Titan" season 2 will be released first half of 2016; however, fresh reports indicate that the anime series is pushed back at a later date. It is said that second season of "Attack on Titan," also known as "Shingeki no Kyojin," will be released by the end of this year.



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It should be noted that Araki already announced during "Attack on Titan" Live action (Attack on Titan Part 1: Crimson and Arrow) press conference that the "Attack on Titan" season 2 will premiere this year, Anime News Network reported.



It is said that "AOT" Japanese director Tetsuro Araki is still waiting for additional story arcs of the manga series before moving forward with the anime adaptation "Attack on Titan" season 2. Since the hit anime series plans to stick to the contents of its manga counterpart written by Hajime Isayama, fans should strengthen their patience as the manga series still lacks two story arcs to fill "Attack on Titan" season 2.



Yibada already reported previously that manga policy requires at least four arcs per season. "Attack on Titan" season 1 already covered 34 chapters of the manga series, including its four story arcs - "The Fall of Shiganshina," "104thTrainees Squad," "Battle of Trost District" and "The Female Titan." Now, another four arcs should be completed before they could start the development of the second season.



The delayed release date of "Attack on Titan" season 2 may be a bit disappointing to some, but others took it positively. Aside from lacking of story arcs, another reason why the second season was pushed back is due to the negative feedback received by the two "Attack on Titan" live-action films. With that being said, the creators are now carefully planning the production of "Attack on Titan" season 2 as they don't want to repeat the same mistake happened to its live-action movie counterpart.



Fans should expect that the upcoming season of "Attack on Titan" will be exceptionally better than the first season.



"Attack on Titan" season 2 will follow the story of 104th Trainees Squad fights against the human-eating giants, called Titans. The upcoming season will unveil Eren's source of titan-capabilities, more humans turning into titans, the king being overthrown due to corruption and more. According to rumors, season 2 will focus on "Clash of Titans" story arc and an uprising led by Erwin Smith.



Watch "Attack on Titan" season 2 preview below:






Yellow Wheat Fields Are Scorched To Black In Anyang (Photo : Getty Images)

Even if Internet giants Alibaba and Tencent launched in early 2015 WeBank, an online-only bank and the first in China, the financial institution did not grew as fast as expected. Other Chinese banks too are attempting to convince more rural residents to transact with them.



As of end of 2015, their digital banking platform had over 300,000 users, while total assets exceeded 800 million yuan. To further expand their business, the commercial banks are trying new solutions to entice more farmers and rural residents to borrow from the lenders, reported China Daily.



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Lianing-basd Bank of Yingku, with assets more than 100 billion yuan ($15 billion), is inviting village cadres to help make lending decisions which is expected to lower the banks lending costs and financial risks. After giving farmers information about agriculture and preferential policy information about its online-to-offline platform, the bank studies the feedback of the farmers and the size of their fields, production volume and online transaction data of their products before it makes a lending decision, explained Lin Dean, the bank vice president.



In August 2015, Baoshang Bank Limited, based in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, launched its digital platform. Their target client were small companies and individuals who would want to try using online financial services. Liu Xin, assistant president of the bank, said that right from the start, the bank decided to give their target clients financial service instruments that would meet the demands of emerging economic entities in various scenarios of the online ecosystem.



Despite the slower-than-expected growth, internet companies have drastically altered the countrys financial sector the past few years, pointed out Crowd Fund Insider. The biggest growth were in the areas of peer-to-peer lending, wealth management and mobile payments.






The U.S. and its allies in Iraq and Syria staged 29 strikes against IS group on Wednesday, the coalition leading the operations said.

In a statement released early Thursday, the Combined Joint Task Force said eight strikes near four cities in Syria hit several tactical units and destroyed buildings, weaponry and communications equipment, among other targets.

Separately in Iraq, 21 strikes destroyed vehicles, assembly areas, a supply cache and suppressed a mortar fire position, the statement said.

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The ancient Egyptian relief had been stolen and smuggled out of Egypt in the aftermath of the 2011 revolution

Egypts embassy in Bern, Switzerland received the ancient Egyptian Seven Sacred Oils relief within the framework of a bilateral agreement between Switzerland and Egypt prohibiting illegally importing and exporting antiquities, Minister of Antiquities Mamdouh Eldamaty announced Thursday.

Saaban Abdel-Gawad, supervisor of the Repatriation Antiquities Section, told Ahram Online that the relief is dated to the Old Kingdom and is carved in limestone.

The relief was originally unearthed in 1996 in King Tetis royal tomb at the Saqqara necropolis by an Australian-Egyptian excavation mission.

It includes a list of the sacred oils used in ancient Egypt including those used by the under-taker Anomeen.

Abdel-Gawad said that the relief was bought by a Swiss collector named Jean Claude Candour from a Belgian antiquities trader.

However, when Candour discovered that the relief was stolen and illegally smuggled out of Egypt in the aftermath of January 2011 revolution, he informed Swiss police, who took steps to return the relief to its homeland.

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El-Sisi started his Asian tour last week and has visited Kazakhstan and Japan

Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi met with representatives of major South Korean companies on Friday morning in Seoul, the final stop on his Asian tour.

The meetings included talks with representatives of LG Electronics and Hyundai Motors, where he stressed Egypts stable work environment, security and capacity for development and expansion in the market.

The president also visited Incheon City and its international port, expressing his hopes that the Incheon Free Economic Zone could cooperate the with Suez Canal Free Economic Zone, which is currently under construction.

El-Sisi started his Asian tour last Friday, visiting first Kazakhstan then Japan and finally South Korea.

In South Korea, El-Sisi met with his counterpart, President Park Geun-hye and also visited the county's parliament.

The president also delivered a speech in front of the Japanese parliament.

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There is still no set date for the Egyptian cabinet to present its programme to the parliament for approval, after conflicting statements from officials this week about the schedule of the key vote.

On Wednesday, Speaker Ali Abdel-Al told the convened House of Representatives that if MPs manage to draft and vote on all parliamentary bylaws by next Monday, the cabinet would present its programme later in the same week.

On Thursday, however, Minister of Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Magdy El-Agaty said in statements to the press that the cabinet would programme its programme on 19 March.

He added that the cabinets programme is ready, but the parliament has not yet finished drafting its bylaws, Al-Ahram Arabic website reported.

Later on the same day, El-Agaty told the press that both Prime Minister Sherif Ismail and Abdel-Al had agreed that the government would present its programme on 27 March.

He added that the delay was due to Abdel-Al's attendance at a parliamentary conference in Zambia from 18 to 22 March.

Under Egypt's constitution, the parliament is required to endorse the current cabinet's agenda. If the programme does not win the chamber's trust, the party or the coalition with the largest parliamentary bloc must name a new prime minister.

El-Agaty had previously said that the cabinet would present its programme by the end of January, but then backtracked and said it would take place by the end of February, with the delays attributed to the parliament drafting its bylaws.

The current cabinet was named before the current House of Representatives--the first in three-years--was elected late last year.

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The families of last year's plane crash victims are invited to visit Hurghada as soon as Russia's flight ban to Egypt is lifted, said the Red Sea governor

The families of the victims who died in the Russian airliner crash in Egypt last year will be invited to Hurghada as soon as the ban on flights from Russia to Egypt is lifted, Red Sea governor Ahmed Abdullah said on Friday.

Governor Abdullah made the announcement during the inauguration of the Russian Art Festival in the Red Sea governorate, according to Ahram's Arabic news website. He did not elaborate further.

"The Russian consulate will soon be inaugurated in Hurghada to serve the Russian community there," he added.

There are about 30,000 Russian citizens with permanent residence permits in Hurghada alone.

The Russian Art Festival is being held at the German Cultural Centre in Hurghada for 10 days.

Moscow halted all flights to Egypt, a popular destination for Russian tourists, after the Russian airplane crash in Sinai on 31 October, which killed all 224 people on board.

Militants affiliated with the Islamic State group said that they had smuggled on board an explosive device hidden in a soft drink can.



Russia and other western governments say a bomb had brought down the plane. The official Egyptian investigating team, however, said it has not found any evidence of foul play.



Earlier this month, Egypt President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi appeared to admit that the Russian airliner was deliberately downed.



"Whoever downed the Russian plane, what did he mean? He meant to hit tourism, and to hit relations with Russia," El-Sisi said in a televised speech.



Many tourism companies around the global cancelled their trips to Egypt over security concerns after the incident, which has significantly harmed the tourism sector.

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A car bomb and rocket attack by Kurdish militants in Turkey killed two police officers and wounded 35 people in the southeastern province of Mardin on Friday, security sources said.

The bomb blast, blamed on Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants, caused significant damage to a traffic police station and neighbouring housing in the town of Nusaybin, near the Syrian border, the sources told Reuters.

A clash broke out between police and militants after the explosion, which occurred around 6 a.m. (0400 GMT). Security force reinforcements, along with ambulances and fire engines, were sent to the area, the sources said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

A ceasefire between the PKK and the state collapsed last July and attacks on Turkey's security forces have since increased amid a surge in violence in the predominantly Kurdish southeast. Hundreds of people have been killed.

Two soldiers were killed in a clash in the Idil district of the neighbouring province of Sirnak, which borders both Syria and Iraq and has seen some of the heaviest violence, the Dogan news agency said.

It also said Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had arrived in the province for a brief visit.

Violence has also increased elsewhere in Turkey. A suicide car bombing targeting military buses in Ankara killed 29 people last month. The government said that attack was carried out by a member of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia with help from the PKK.

Turkey has also become a target for Islamic State militants, who are blamed for three suicide bombings - one last year in the town of Suruc near the Syrian border and another in the capital, Ankara, and one in Istanbul in January. Those attacks killed more than 140 people.

The PKK, considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, launched a separatist armed rebellion against Turkey in 1984. More than 40,000 people, mostly Kurds, have since been killed.

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President Vladimir Putin told the leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Italy during a conference call Friday that the Syrian regime's decision to hold legislative polls in April does not contradict the peace process.

By contrast, French President Francois Hollande criticised Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for scheduling the polls for next month, calling the move "provocative" and "unrealistic."

"The Russian side noted that a decision by the Syrian authorities to hold parliamentary elections in April, 2016 is being conducted in accordance with the existing Syrian constitution and does not interfere with steps to build the peace process," the Kremlin said following the conference call.

Moscow added: "It was noted with satisfaction that the ceasefire regime is being observed on the whole, is bringing the first positive results -- and most important -- is creating conditions for the launch of a political process in Syria through the inter-Syrian dialogue under the auspices of the United Nations."

The leaders also "expressed their readiness" to ramp up cooperation to solve the pressing humanitarian problems, said the statement from the Kremlin, which has been supporting the Assad regime with air strikes since late September.

The Kremlin added that the leaders had stressed the need to "meticulously" observe the conditions of the ceasefire by all parties to the Syrian conflict as well as the need to keep fighting militants.

An agreement was also reached to actively assist UN Syria envoy Staffan De Mistura in his efforts to mediate and put an end to the conflict, the statement said.

The Syrian ceasefire, brokered by Moscow and Washington, took effect at 2200 GMT last Friday.

The truce has been holding for the most part but France and Britain have called on Russia to halt attacks on moderate rebel groups in Syria.

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French President Francois Hollande on Friday criticised his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad for scheduling elections in his war-torn country next month, calling the move "provocative" and "unrealistic".

"The idea that there could be elections (in April) is not just provocative but totally unrealistic," Hollande said after meeting in Paris with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Assad's decree for parliamentary elections to be held on April 13 was issued shortly after Washington and Moscow announced a ceasefire plan for Syria.

Also on Friday, Assad's ally Russian President Vladimir Putin told the leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Italy during a conference call that the plan to hold April polls "does not interfere with steps to build the peace process".

At a November meeting in Vienna, world powers agreed on an ambitious but yet to be implemented road map that foresees six months of intra-Syrian talks, leading to a new constitution and free elections within 18 months.

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More than 100 people were arrested in Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos, after bloody riots in the city's biggest food market left at least three people dead, police said on Friday.

"The police have arrested 105 suspects in connection with the disturbances in and around 'Mile 12' market," Lagos state police spokeswoman Dolapo Badmus told AFP referring to rioting which took place on Thursday.

"Three people died in the fracas. The suspects will be charged shortly with murder, arson and breach of public peace," she said.

Local media reports put the death toll at between seven and 10.

The trouble reportedly began on Wednesday when a motorbike-taxi driver knocked down a woman at the market, where much of the city's fruit and vegetables are sold wholesale.

The "okada" rider refused to take the woman to hospital despite appeals from onlookers. She later died, according to the police account.

Irate locals then attacked other "okada" riders, leading to a free-for-all in the area in which a dozen or so cars and buildings were burnt down, Badmus said.

The motorcyclists and market traders are predominantly Hausa, the main ethnic group in northern Nigeria. The wider Mile 12 area is populated by Yoruba, who dominate the southwest.

Ethnic tensions regularly flair in Nigeria, which is almost evenly split between a mainly Muslim north and largely Christian south. Similar clashes have previously erupted in the same market.

The Lagos State government has temporarily shut the market and restricted movement, while armed police and soldiers have been deployed to keep the peace.

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An Istanbul court on Friday ordered into administration a Turkish daily newspaper that is sharply critical of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, adding to growing alarm over freedom of expression in the country.

The Zaman newspaper, closely linked to Erdogan's arch-foe the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, was ordered into administration by the court on the request of Istanbul prosecutors, the state-run Anatolia news agency said.

There was no immediate official explanation for the court's decision.

The move means the court will appoint new managers to run the newspaper, who will be expected to transform its editorial line.

Hundreds of supporters were gathered outside the paper's headquarters in Istanbul awaiting the arrival of bailiffs and security forces after the court order.

"We will fight for a free press," and "We will not remain silent" said placards held by protestors, according to live images broadcast on the pro-Gulen Samanyolu TV.

"Democracy will continue and free media will not be silent," Zaman's editor-in-chief Abdulhamit Bilici was quoted as saying by the Cihan news agency outside its headquarters.

"I believe that free media will continue even if we have to write on the walls. I don't think it is possible to silence media in the digital age," he told Cihan, part of the Zaman media group.

It was not yet clear when the bailiffs would arrive. Sevgi Akarcesme, the editor-in-chief of the paper's English language edition Today's Zaman, said on Twitter that staff were working on the "last free edition" of their newspaper.

Gulen has been based in the United States since 1999 when he fled charges against him laid by the former secular authorities.

Turkey has asked the United States to extradite him but Washington has shown little appetite for doing so.

Despite living outside of Turkey, Gulen built up huge influence in the country through allies in the police and judiciary, media and financial interests and a vast network of cramming school.

Ankara now accuses Gulen of running what it calls the Fethullahaci Terror Organisation/Parallel State Structure (FeTO/PDY) and seeking to overthrow the legitimate Turkish authorities.

There have been numerous legal crackdowns on structures linked to the group and on Friday Turkish police arrested four executives of one of the country's largest conglomerates, accusing them of financing Gulen.

Boydak Holding group president Haci Boydak, director general Memduh Boydak and two board members were questioned at their homes in the central city of Kayseri.

Gulen supporters decry the accusations as ridiculous, saying all he leads is a more informal group known as Hizmet (Service).

The effective seizure of the newspaper by the state comes amid growing concerns over freedom of expression in Turkey under Erdogan's rule.

The Cumhuriyet newspaper's editor-in-chief Can Dundar and Ankara bureau chief Erdem Gul were released on an order from Turkey's top court last week after three months in jail on charges of publishing state secrets.

But they still face trial on March 25.

Meanwhile almost 2,000 journalists, bloggers and ordinary citizens, including high school students, have found themselves prosecuted on accusations of insulting Erdogan.

"By lashing out and seeking to rein in critical voices, President Erdogan's government is steamrolling over human rights," said Andrew Gardner, Amnesty International's Turkey expert in a statement.

Independent pro-Kurdish television channel IMV TV was taken off air in Turkey last weekend following accusations that it broadcast "terrorist propaganda" for militants.

The decision on Zaman comes as Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu heads to Brussels Monday for a crucial summit meeting with EU leaders. The news broke as Erdogan was holding talks in Istanbul with EU President Donald Tusk.

Critics have accused the EU of turning a blind eye to the situation with media freedom in Turkey in exchange for Ankara's cooperation in the refugee crisis.

Opponents say Erdogan, who served as premier from 2003-2014, has become an increasingly polarising figure unable to tolerate any criticism.

However the government angrily dismisses allegations it is cracking down on the press, saying the cases against Cumhuriyet and pro-Gulen media have nothing to do with freedom of expression.

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Water returned on Friday to pumping stations in Aleppo city, a water services official said, after the longest cut left residents without supplies for three months.

"Water has finally arrived from Al-Hafseh, the main water station east of the city to the pumping stations of Sleiman al-Halabi and Bab Neirab inside the city," the official said on condition of anonymity.

"Without electricity, the water will be pumped using generators with fuel provided by the Red Crescent, and water will gradually return to all parts of the city," he told AFP.

Residents had told AFP this week that they had gone about three months without steady water supply, their longest cut in the five-year war.

Once Syria's economic powerhouse, Aleppo city has been divided since 2012 between government control in the west and rebel groups in the east.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the water cut ended after the government repaired a pumping station that provided water to Al-Bab, a bastion of the Islamic State jihadist group further east.

In turn, IS fighters allowed water to be pumped through areas under their control from the Euphrates River into Aleppo city.

But Syria's state news agency SANA said water was once again being pumped from Al-Hafseh "after a 48-day cut by the terrorists of Daesh," or IS.

The clashes tearing Aleppo apart for four years have damaged power generators and pumps that bring water to residential neighbourhoods, leading to intermittent shortages.

But a Russian air strike in November on an IS-held treatment plant had left 1.4 million people in the city without any water at all.

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Russian investigators on Friday filed murder changes against a nanny after she beheaded a four-year-old handicapped girl in her care and brandished the severed head in a Moscow street.

The Investigative Committee said suspect Gyulchekhra Bobokulova, a 38-year-old native of Muslim-majority Uzbekistan, would undergo psychiatric and drug tests to determine "her mental condition."

The maximum punishment for the murder of a minor is life in prison although women offenders cannot be sentenced to more than 25 years in jail in Russia.

A defendant cannot be sentenced to jail term if found to be legally insane.

"The investigation is currently taking exhaustive measures to study the personality of the accused and establish the motives of the crime she committed," the Investigative Committee said in a statement.

Bobokulova -- whom the media have dubbed "the bloody nanny" -- was detained on Monday as she was waving a child's severed head outside a metro station in northwestern Moscow.

In a court on Wednesday, the 38-year-old told journalists that "Allah ordered" the killing.

Video footage that emerged on the Internet appeared to show the mother-of-three saying the attack was "revenge" for President Vladimir Putin's bombing campaign in Syria, which began in September.

The Investigative Committee swiftly said she had "long been diagnosed with schizophrenia", while the Kremlin called her a "deranged person."

Some have suggested that the Uzbek nanny might have been radicalised by Muslim hardliners.

Moskovsky Komsomolets daily reported Friday investigators were focussing on Bobokulova's 48-year-old partner Mamur Dzhurakulov, who was detained in Tajikistan, another Muslim-majority nation in Central Asia, several days ago.

One of Bobokulova's sons, Rakhmatillo Ashurov, was questioned by Uzbek police and said his mother had become very devout after meeting Dzhurakulov, the newspaper said.

Bobokulova's son reportedly also said his mother wanted to take him to the Islamic State in Syria where she could "freely wear an Islamic veil and live according to Sharia law" and where he could "join jihad."

The son said he had told his mother he wanted to move to the United States or South Korea and had no plans to travel to the Islamic State, the newspaper said.

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The plot of land across from Changzhou Foreign Language School, in Jiangsu, where the local government has been burying tainted soil to keep it from fouling the air

(Beijing)  When the new term started in late February, many of the 2,400 students at the Changzhou Foreign Language School in the eastern province of Jiangsu weren't sure they wanted to go back to class.

Some parents decided to keep their children at home, while others have tried to transfer them to different schools. Ever since the popular multilingual secondary school, with classes from the seventh to 12th grades, moved to a new 153 acre campus in September, students have been falling ill. Parents say a foul odor shrouded the school in December, and many students have suffered from rashes, drowsiness and nosebleeds.

Parents told Caixin that 549 students had health done in January. About 140 of them were diagnosed with thyroid nodule calcification  lumps in the thyroid gland  and the number of white blood cells in their bodies had dropped, making them more prone to infections.

When the troubles began, parents suspected that the odor was coming from an abandoned plot of land opposite the campus. Three large pesticide factories were on the site for decades, before they were relocated in 2010. The largest of them was Jiangsu Changlong Chemicals Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of the country's biggest pesticide producer, Shenzhen Noposion Corp.

School officials and environmental authorities who met parents on January 6 insisted that air quality tests showed no risk to human health, but they were mum about what was causing the stink.

After parents' petitioned, the Ministry of Environment Protection said on January 29 that an inspection of the land in mid-January by provincial and Changzhou City environmental authorities found that levels of petroleum hydrocarbons and benzyl chloride in the soil under the closed pesticide factories were above its standards.

The ministry said investigators found 1,500 cubic meters of contaminated soil giving off the pungent smell. The investigation had also unearthed buried solid waste, but authorities failed to give any details about it.

Gao Yuefeng, deputy director of the Changzhou Xinbei District Environmental Protection Bureau, said in mid-February that an investigation conducted between 2011 and 2013 found the soil was tainted "by outdated production methods used by the plant and due to lower environmental protection standards in place at that time." But the level of contamination was not serious, he said.

Daily air quality data from the area of the school showed it met national standards, Gao said. "To be sure, there is no problem with the air now."

The school asked all students to return for the new semester on February 22. A day before the new term was to start, it released a report indicating that air, soil and groundwater near the campus were safe, based on tests done by a private company the school had hired.

But many parents were unconvinced. A group of 1,200 parents have written a letter demanding to know why the school chose the site for the new campus and how the monitoring group was measuring air quality.

Claims by some former workers that the former pesticide plant flouted environmental laws and disposed toxins haphazardly have added to the parents' worries. The actual level of pollution is much more severe than what is stated in the report issued by the environment ministry, said Xu Lixiong, a retired worker from Changlong Chemical.

Waste Dump

In October, Xu and a few other former co-workers told the district environmental bureau that Changlong Chemical had buried toxic waste from the plant at the site, before it moved. Xu said they haven't heard back from the government since the complaint was lodged.

Another former Changlong employee, who wished to remain anonymous, said that between 2008 and 2010, the plant buried unknown amounts of untreated chemical waste, eight to 10 meters below the surface of the ground. Another worker said the waste included residue left over from producing pesticides and other solvents that were marked hazardous to human health. The whistleblowers could not identify the specific kinds of chemicals that were dumped.

Changlong discharged chemical waste once every three days into a river that flowed to the Yangtze River, Xu added.

Gao denied Xu's claims. He said officials from the environmental ministry and the local government had done another investigation in the area in mid-January based on Xu's tip-off, but didn't find any buried hazardous waste.

"We dug 30 holes and spent more than 1 million yuan on a 15-day investigation, but didn't find any solid chemical waste as they claimed," said Gao. "There were only 30 kilograms of herbicide left when the plants relocated."

Xu said the investigators used an inaccurate map of the land and took the samples from the wrong places.

Dirty Fix

The local government said in a report published on the school's website that it started cleaning up the land in late January. The local environmental bureau's review of the project on February 15 said air and soil quality in the area met national environmental standards.

The restoration work included reburying the tainted soil. Covering contaminated dirt with a layer of fresh earth and planting trees was a way to fix the problem recommended by many experts, said Gao.

The local government has canceled plans to build a US$ 300 million shopping complex on the land. Instead, a park will be built, Gao said. He did not comment on whether the plan for the mall was dropped because the site was considered too polluted for development, saying that the government wants to make sure the area is cleaned up quickly since it's surrounded by residential communities.

But this is only a temporary solution to deal with tainted soil, said Zhang Yi, director of Shanghai Institute for Design & Research on Environmental Engineering. "Soil polluted by chemical plants has little capacity to decompose naturally. Simply covering the contaminated layer with clean soil without treating it may even make the problem worse."

Some parents are skeptical that the government's efforts will fix the problem. Some 460 students were absent on the first day of the new semester, and a parent who decided to send her child to school said the decision was difficult.

"The government has wrapped up the case," she said. "We know the land is toxic, but what can we do? The children have to attend school."

(Rewritten by Han Wei)
Fu Ying, the spokeswoman for the NPC's annual meeting, answers questions from reporters at the Great Hall of the People on March 4

(Beijing)  Building projects in the South China Sea do not amount to "militarization" of that body of water, a spokeswoman said at a news conference on March 4, a day before an annual meeting of the National People's Congress starts.

Fu Ying, the spokeswoman for the NPC meeting, made the comments on frictions over the South China Sea while answering questions from foreign and domestic reporters on a range of topics, from domestic policies to foreign relations.

Fu said in response to questions from a correspondent from America's CBS News about China putting military facilities on islands and reefs in the South China Sea that the word "militarization" is a "big label that will mislead the situation."

Then she went on to use the word herself. "Speaking of militarization, if we look at it carefully, don't most of the advanced aircraft and warships passing through the South China Sea belong to the United States?"

Foreign media outlets reported in February that China put surface-to-air missile launchers on an island in the South China Sea. Washington and other foreign governments also complain that China is building on reefs. Beijing counters that the United States exacerbates tensions by sending military planes and ships through the region. China claims most of the South China Sea as its territory, a claim disputed by the United States and countries around the body of water.

Fu said China's building on the islands and reefs was "necessary" and supported by the Chinese people.

"I think the Chinese people all agree that this is not militarization," Fu said. "Having defensive capabilities does not equal militarization. This question needs discussion. We can ask scholars to sit down and talk over what militarization really means."

China's spending on defense will rise about 7 to 8 percent this year compared to 2015, Fu said, the first time the figure had fallen from double digits since 2010. The actual figure will be revealed when the NPC starts.

Defense spending last year was budgeted to rise 10.1 percent year-on-year to 886.9 billion yuan. Experts say the figures do not include the military's spending on research and development.

President Xi Jinping said in the fall that the People's Liberation Army will reduce its forces by 300,000 troops, the largest personnel cut in nearly two decades.

The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a body that gives the government advice, met in the Great Hall of the People in the capital for the second day on March 4. The other half of the "lianghui"  the NPC  will meet from March 5 to 16.
A pair of giant pandas that China gave to Taiwan nearly five years ago saw its first cub born Saturday. The tiny animal will help keep an endangered species alive while further linking Taiwan to China despite decades of old hostilities.

A cub was born Saturday night to two pandas donated to Taiwan by China in 2008. After long being encouraged by their host the Taipei Zoo to procreate, the female gave birth to a cub that measures 16 cm long and weighs 183 g.

Chang Chih-hua, the zoo's secretary, says the birth will contribute to a stronger animal population. He says that for the overall effort to breed pandas, the zoo's birth is not just about adding one more specimen. He adds that in terms of research and education, the zoo will be able to provide a lot of work toward educating society about giant pandas.

The rare birth of a cub anywhere raises hopes for a stronger world panda population. Pandas can only be found in the wild in western China, where their long-term viability has long been challenged by their naturally slow reproductive cycle as well as threats from the human population.

About 1,600 bears are alive, according to the U.S.-based advocacy group Pandas International.

The two adult pandas reached Taiwan as the island's president, Ma Ying-jeou, began to lay aside 60 years of political problems to establish mutual trust with China.

China donated them to make a friendly impression on Taiwan's public, political analysts said at the time. Their names, Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, said together mean unite in Mandarin Chinese. The female cub has not been named.

Beijing claims sovereignty over Taiwan and hopes eventually that the two sides can reunify, but many people on the democratic island prefer more distance from the Communist leadership. The two sides have been separately ruled since the Chinese civil war of the 1940s.

However, Ma's government has signed a series of trade and investment pacts with China, binding Taiwan closer to the worlds second largest economy to help local businesses. In June two sides signed their latest deal, which opens to investment 144 service sectors, such as finance and transportation.

China has also donated or lent pandas to Australia, Japan and the United States, among other locations. Beijing often sends them as goodwill gestures.

The Taipei Zoo plans to keep the newborn rather than returning it to China but will share information with enthusiastic Chinese pandas experts and eventually try to cross-breed the cub with male counterparts outside Taiwan.
A bizarre craze in China for a Korean soap opera about a 400-year-old alien has caught the attention of the international press.

The Washington Post in a piece published on Friday milks the political and cultural implications of the fad surrounding "My Love from the Star" for all they are worth.

"There is no shortage of problems facing China these days: a terrorist attack that recently left 33 people dead and 143 injured, corruption in government, a worrisome slowdown in economic growth," it begins. "So when the country's two highest governing bodies met in Beijing this week, what was the burning issue on the delegates' lips? A South Korean soap opera that has taken the country by storm."

The daily tells of a pregnant woman in Jiangsu Province who nearly had a miscarriage after she spent all night binging on episodes, chicken and beer.

"To be fair, it's hard to overstate just how popular this show is these days. After the show's female lead mentioned 'beer and fried chicken' in one episode, it became one of the most invoked phrases online. Restaurants cashed in and started selling beer-and-fried-chicken meals," the paper said.
Lotte Group founder Shin Kyuk-ho will be spending a couple of weeks in hospital this month to check his mental faculties and determine whether he needs a legal guardian.

The nonagenarian is embroiled in an unsightly power struggle pitting his two sons against one another.

The Seoul Family Court will decide next Wednesday on the details for the examination including where and how to conduct it.

Shin senior is aligned with his first son Dong-joo, chairman of SDJ Corporation, but board and management have endorsed his second son Dong-bin for the chairmanship of Lotte Group.

Naturally the two sons do not agree which hospital should assess their father. Shin Dong-joo reportedly favors Seoul National University Hospital and Dong-bin Samsung Medical Center.
In a Thursday press release, Gazprom said this is the company's first loan deal with the Bank of China.

The Bank of China will give Gazprom a $2.2 billion, five-year loan, the Russian state-run energy company's largest loan agreement from a single credit institution.

Driven by China's growing energy needs, Beijing has been investing tens of billions of dollars abroad to help other countries develop their natural gas resources that can then be exported to China.

In May 2014, the state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation signed a $400 billion contract to buy natural gas from Gazprom over 30 years.

Gazprom, a state-owned oil monopoly, has been hard hit by Western sanctions, which tightened the terms and restrictions on loans from Western lenders to the company.
European Council President Donald Tusk gave a stark warning Thursday to potential migrants thinking of traveling to Europe.

"I want to appeal to all potential illegal, economic migrants wherever you are from," Tusk said. "Do not come to Europe. Do not believe the smugglers. Do not risk your lives and your money; it is all for nothing. Greece or any other European country will no longer be a transit country."

Tusk spoke from Athens, where he met Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras for emergency talks during a tour of nations grappling with the migrant crisis. He's preparing for an important EU-Turkey meeting on the subject in Brussels on Monday.

The United Nations estimates that more than half of the arrivals in Greece are fleeing war in Syria or Iraq and are legitimate refugees, rather than economic migrants.

The process of making that distinction is burdening resources, said Ian Bond of the London-based Center for European Reform.

"It's the sheer effort of trying to separate the legitimate refugees from those who are just economic migrants, which I think is really overwhelming the resources that Greece and its EU partners have been able to put into the problem at the moment," Bond said.

Night and day, on the main highway heading north through Greece, hundreds of migrants walk the last few kilometers toward the border with Macedonia. The frontier remains effectively closed as tightened border controls across the Balkans have had a ripple effect farther south. Only a few hundred refugees from Syria and Iraq are being allowed into Macedonia each day. Thousands of people are camped out at the frontier.

"I think, certainly, anger is building up," said Babar Baloch, spokesman for the United Nations' refugee agency. "People are very restless with families, with children, women, [because] they have been here for many days and there doesn't seem to be a resolution to this."
Australian transport minister Darren Chester says a piece of an airplane found on a beach in Mozambique will undergo testing in Australia to determine whether it is a part of the lost Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which went missing with 239 people on board, just short of two years ago.

Chester told Australian lawmakers early Thursday that it is too early to speculate on the origin of the one-meter-long piece of debris that a private U.S. citizen found washed up on the beach in the southeastern African nation. But he confirmed that the debris would be brought to Australia for analysis, although he could not give a projected date.

He also confirmed that the location of the piece was consistent with ocean drift models used by the Australian experts overseeing the search.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has been coordinating the international search and rescue operation, in support of the Malaysian accident investigation team, in the southern Indian Ocean.

U.S. and Malaysian officials say that based on early reports, the debris likely comes from a Boeing 777 jet -- the same type of plane as the missing flight MH370.

But Malaysian Minister of Transport Liow Tiong Lai cautioned on Wednesday that officials "are not able to conclude that the debris belongs to MH370 at this time." He cautioned against "undue speculation" about the debris

Writing on Twitter, the transport minister says Malaysia's civil aviation authority is working with Australian officials to retrieve the debris.

A U.S. official says the debris appears to be the leading edge of the right-hand horizontal stabilizer of a Boeing 777.

Flight MH370 was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew when it disappeared March 8, 2014 on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

The flight veered far off course about an hour after takeoff, and investigators believe it flew over the southern Indian Ocean for several hours before crashing. Last year, authorities found a piece of what they think is the plane's wing on the shores of Reunion Island.
Six months before the parliamentary election Russian President Vladimir Putin has dropped the key official responsible for holding elections from the list of nominees for the job.

The Kremlin on Thursday released the names of five nominees to the Central Election Commission, one of whom will be elected chairman. Vladimir Churov, the current chief who became notorious for refusing to investigate electoral fraud, is not on the list.

Churov was nicknamed The Wizard by the Russian opposition in 2011 when hundreds of election monitors documented widespread fraud at the parliamentary vote, which spilled into massive anti-government protests.

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov would not comment on why Churov, who has served as chairman since 2007, was not nominated.

One of the nominees is presidential human rights ombudsman Yelena Pamfilova.
North Korea on Thursday reacted angrily to fresh sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council by firing six short-range missiles into the sea.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff here said the missiles were fired into the East Sea from Wonsan, Kangwon Province around 10 a.m. and flew 100 to 150 km.

Military authorities here are trying to find out what exact type they were. They believe that the North fired them as a show of defiance in the face of ever stricter sanctions from the international community over its recent nuclear test and rocket launch.

The tantrum comes ahead of annual joint South Korea-U.S. exercises that start next week. It could also be the regime's way of impressing its own population ahead of a Workers Party congress in May.
The U.S. government on Wednesday began implementing its own sanctions against North Korea, with targets including the powerful National Defense Commission and other agencies. The move came as soon as the UN Security Council passed a resolution mandating tougher sanctions against the North.

The U.S. Treasury and State departments said the separate sanctions target five North Korean agencies and 11 senior officials. Among them are North Korea's army politburo chief Hwang Pyong-so, now considered the North's No. 2 behind leader Kim Jong-un.

The North Korean individuals and agencies included on the U.S. sanctions list will have their assets in U.S. banks frozen and be banned from entering U.S. territories.

Hwang and the other high-ranking North Korean officials do not travel overseas, so the sanctions are largely symbolic.

After approving the sanctions, U.S. President Barack Obama said the latest measures aim to block North Korea's efforts to advance its development of weapons of mass destruction.
The first North Korean vehicle to cross into the Chinese border town of Dandong from North Korea on Wednesday was a small bus, and traffic across the Yalu River gradually picked up. But trucks were notably absent the first day after the UN Security Council slapped fresh sanctions on the North.

Even until the previous night, six to seven North Korean trucks at a time could be spotted crossing the border carrying what appeared to be coal. But the following morning they were gone.

Later in the morning some North Korean container trucks could be spotted at the customs checkpoint in Dandong, but none carrying minerals, which UN member states are banned from buying from the North under the UNSC resolution.

"There are a lot of people in Dandong who make a living trading with North Korea, so the region's economy inevitably takes a hit from the sanctions," a taxi driver said.
Shilla expects the annex to be popular despite a hefty price tag because it is close to the old fortress wall of Seoul and exists in a small bubble of attractive pre-modern structures in the urban sprawl.

Hotel Shilla in central Seoul wants to build an annex that allows guests to experience traditional Korean living. There are already some 20 traditional or hanok-style hotels in the country, but none in the capital.

The Seoul Metropolitan government on Thursday finally approved the plans, which represent the fifth revision since 2012.

The annex will occupy the present site of Shilla's duty-free store next to the hotel. Amended from initial plans to build a huge structure, it will be just three stories high with another three underground and have around 90 rooms.

A new duty-free shop will open in front as well as parking and commercial offices. To atone for pouring yet more concrete into the city, Shilla will build a public park in front of the main gate and a public parking lot next to it. The entire project is to cost W300 billion (US$1=W1,217).

The focus is on traditional design with lots of wood on a village-themed site, a cutting-edge trend in hotel and resort design worldwide, including a traditional pavilion. The project is slated for completion in 2019.

Shilla had been trying to build the project since 2011, when Seoul city authorized lodging facilities in conservation areas. It finally won approval by drastically reducing the number of rooms and revising the design to better accommodate the surrounding area.

Critics had warned that the site is just 30 m away from the old fortress wall, and noted that the Samsung-affiliated company was making no public contribution.
M M Chacko, the man who ran Kasaragod's principal rehab centre for the needy, aged, and persons with intellectual & physical disabilities, dies
#coronavirus-additional cases New COVID-19 cases under 30,000 for 4th consecutive day South Korea's new coronavirus cases stayed below 30,000 for a fourth straight day Saturday with the daily death toll down to its 14-week low for a Saturday. The country reporte...

#BLACKPINK BLACKPINK to headline BST Hyde Park festival next year K-pop sensation BLACKPINK will headline British Summer Time (BST) Hyde Park in London next year, the group's agency and the festival announced Saturday. The four-member act will...
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The true identity of artist Banksy is arguably one of the greatest modern mysteries so if you'd prefer not to have it revealed then perhaps its best to stop reading now.

Scientists from Queen Mary University of London claim they have confirmed Banksy's identiry by using the same types of techniques profilers would use to identify a serial criminal. The research was published in the Journal of Spacial Science this week and claims the elusive artist's profile matches that of Robin Gunningham.

Gunningham was previously 'unmasked' as Banksy by the Mail on Sunday in 2008. The scientists who conducted the research say they used a "Dirichlet process mixture model," which analysed the spatial patterns of Banksy's artworks in Bristol and London, using confirmed locations published in books or other materials.

"Our analysis highlights areas associated with one prominent candidate (e.g., his home), supporting his identification as Banksy," the study says. The scientists are refusing to say they've unmasked him because if you type 'Banksy' and 'Robin Gunningham' into Google you'll find thousands of results linking the two.

The research team said they hope their findings support previous suggestions that analysis of "minor terrorism-related acts," such as graffiti, could be used to help locate terrorist bases before serious incidents occur.

Via Mashable
A bear, a lion and a tiger have been living together in an enclosed sanctuary for the past 15 years.

Affectionately known as 'The BLT', Baloo the bear, Leo the lion and Shere Khan the tiger by police during a drugs raid in Atlanta, Georgia in 2001. The trio were just a few months old at the time. They were discovered underweight and malnourished, cowering in cages under the house.

They have lived in an enclosure at Noah's Ark Sanctuary ever since.

A spokesperson from the sanctuary said that: "Baloo, Leo and Shere Khan eat, sleep, and play together and even seek out grooming and affection from one another, head rubbing and licking each another."

"Their terrifying early months in life bonded the three together and they are truly inseparable despite their obvious differences." they added.

Via The Independent
Just when you thought the US Presidential Election couldn't get any more ridiculous, two candidates for the GOP nomination start discussing penis sizes.

At a GOP debate last night, Donald Trump felt the need to defend the size of his penis after previous comments by Marco Rubio.

On Sunday, Rubio had said that: "He's always calling me Little Marco. And I'll admit he's taller than me. He's like 6'2, which is why I don't understand why his hands are the size of someone who is 5'2. And you know what they say about men with small hands? You can't trust them."

Trump of course didn't like what Rubio was implying and felt the need to address the issue during the debate last night and assure the electorate that all was just fine.

There you go folks. He guarantees it. He also guaranteed he'd build a wall between the US and Mexico if he became President. If that never comes to fruition, then people might have to question this one too.

Via CNN
Charlie Cox says his return as Daredevil "still feels too good to be true"
Fans of Netflix's Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt will know Tituss Burgess well - he's Kimmy's downright hilarious bestie and probably the greatest thing about the show... although we do love Ellie Kempar.

One of Tituss' best moments of the first season had to be his music video for Peeno Noir, which was his spectacular "ode to black penis". Now he's gone and landed himself his own wine "Pinot By Tituss". You can order it on the wines official website but just make sure you enjoy it with caviar, Myanmar, a mid-sized car, a leather bar, and Tom Berenger.






















Link to Profile... NB: Unsigned comments will probably be deleted.

This is a polemical Catholic Royalist blog. It will also attempt to provide a window onto various events, situations and personalities not generally or favorably presented to the purview of the general public in the English speaking world. It also hopes to be a bridge for those who wish to cross over, unite and fight for the truth.Just remember, the Rhine still flows into the Tiber.Dedicated to the Immaculate and Sacred Hearts.
Current world events seen through the clarifying lens of the LORD's inerrant prophetic word. The Lord's Word proclaims a series of 'latter days' events leading to the second coming of Jesus Christ and the establishment of His Kingdom upon the earth in this generation.
This news release is available in Spanish.

As polar ice caps melted at the end of the last Ice Age about 8,500 years ago, the global sea level rose and Panama's Pearl Islands were isolated from the mainland. A new archaeological study by a team including a Smithsonian scientist shows that several thousand years later pre-Columbian colonists hunted a dwarf deer to extinction on an island called Pedro Gonzalez.

The settlers arrived on the 14-hectare island by sea 6,200 years ago and stayed for a maximum of eight centuries, farming maize and roots, fishing, gathering palm fruits and shellfish and hunting deer, opossums, agoutis, iguanas and large snakes--the major predators.

"When I was washing the animal bones from the first test cut in 2008, out fell a deer ankle bone called a calcaneum," said Richard Cooke, archaeologist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and co-author of the study. "It was so tiny that I realized we had come across a population that had probably dwarfed through isolation."

The Pearl Archipelago, named for rich pearl beds encountered by early Spanish explorers, lies about 16 miles off Panama's Pacific coast. The islands are perhaps best known as the location of several seasons of the TV series, Survivor. As Darwin discovered in the Galapagos, islands are hotbeds of evolution. Through time, animals isolated from mainland populations commonly undergo a reduction in size compared to their mainland relatives due to competition for limited food resources. In the case of the dwarf deer, this must have occurred between the time when the island was isolated from the mainland and the time when the settlers arrived.

Adult deer living on Pedro Gonzalez island 6,000 years ago weighed less than 22 pounds, about as much as a beagle. Collagen fingerprint studies by Manchester University biochemist Mike Buckley infer that deer bones on the island were not from the tiny red brocket deer, corzo in Spanish, found in Panama today. Deer bones on the island represent a different group of deer, which includes white-tailed deer and some gray brocket populations found in South America. Only DNA studies will confirm to which deer clade the island deer belong. Buckley found that the 6,000-year-old deer bones belong to the same lineage as a larger deer still found on San Jose island, 5 miles to the south in the Pearl Archipelago. Why it survived there is an unresolved mystery.

About 2,500 fragments of deer bones corresponding to 22 individuals were found in the 4-meter-deep trash heap (midden) that built up in a large hollow near the coast. Some deer bones had cuts indicating butchering, such as disarticulation and slicing meat from the bone, or had the marks of human teeth. Others had been burned or smashed to get at the marrow. Antlers and long bones were often cut for making everyday tools and ornaments. Hunting appears to have been indiscriminate, including adults as well as juveniles.

The number of deer bones decreased in the youngest layer of the midden, and those of older adults were absent, suggesting that the species was becoming scarcer and life expectancies lower. No deer bones were found in later layers left by pottery-using people after 2,300 years ago, indicating that the species had become extinct on Pedro Gonzalez by then.

The history of this tiny deer illustrates just how vulnerable island species can be. The loss of the Pedro Gonzalez dwarf deer may inspire conservation of the population still found on the neighboring island.

###

The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, headquartered in Panama City, Panama, is a part of the Smithsonian Institution. The Institute furthers the understanding of tropical nature and its importance to human welfare, trains students to conduct research in the tropics and promotes conservation by increasing public awareness of the beauty and importance of tropical ecosystems. Website: http://www.stri.si.edu.

Martinez-Polanco, Maria Fernanda, Maximo Jimenez, Mike Buckley and Richard G. Cooke. 2015. Impactos humanos tempranos en fauna insular: El caso de los venados enanos de Pedro Gonzalez (Archipielago de las Perlas, Panama). Arqueobios 1 (9): 202-214.
HNA Group, Accor mulling $2b Carlson Rezidor takeover Updated: 2016-03-04 06:58 By Wang Wen(China Daily)

A passenger prepares to board a flight of Hainan Airlines in Haikou, Hainan province. [Photo/Xinhua] Airline group and Europe's leading hotelier among potential bidders

HNA Group, China's fourth-largest airline group, and Accor SA, Europe's biggest hotel operator, are believed to be among potential bidders for Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, which owns the Radisson and Park Plaza brands.

A sale could be worth about $2 billion, and a deal could be done as soon as the middle of the year, industry sources told Bloomberg.

No final decisions have been made about the sale, and Carlson is also considering other options for the assets, the sources said.

Spokeswomen from HNA and Accor both refused to comment.

Accor actually signed a strategic supplier-cooperation deal in 2014 with HNA Hospitality Group, the hotel subsidiary of HNA Group.

HNA and Paris-based Accorwhich owns the Sofitel and Ibis brandshave been acquisitive in the hotel and travel industry in recent months.

HNA Hospitality has become one of China's biggest hotel companies with more than 90 hotels in 30 domestic and overseas cities, with 30,000 rooms.

In December, Accor agreed to buy Canada's FRHI Holdings Ltd, parent of the Fairmont, Raffles and Swissotel hotel chains, in a deal worth $2.9 billion. The purchase covers 155 hotels in the three brands including landmark properties Raffles Singapore, The Savoy in London and Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac in Quebec.

Earlier in the year, it also acquired hotel-reservation service Fastbooking.

Last year HNA spent as much as 36.9 billion yuan ($5.65 billion) on mergers and acquisitions, and continued expanding its global business across the aviation, airport management, logistics and tourism sectors.

It is the biggest shareholder in Spanish hotelier NH Hotel Group SA, and agreed to buy 23.7 percent stake in Brazilian airline Azul Linhas Aereas Brasileiras SA for $450 million in November.

It also acquired Swissport International Ltd, the airport luggage handler, from PAI Partners SAS for 2.73 billion Swiss francs ($2.74 billion) last year, and was one of the bidders for London City Airport, losing out to a consortium led by Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board.

Li Lei, deputy director of Minzu Securities Co, said HNA's ambitious overseas expansion is a reasonable method of reducing its business risks.
Launch of new board for strategic emerging industries 'on track' Updated: 2016-03-04 08:09 By Li Xiang(China Daily)

A man walks on the trading floor at the Shanghai Stock Exchange in the Lujiazui financial district in Shanghai in 2015. [Photo/Agencies] Shanghai bourse chairman denies plans may be delayed due to uncertain market conditions

The Shanghai Stock Exchange is making "sound progress" in its launch of a new board for strategic emerging industries, the bourse's Chairman Gui Minjie said on Thursday.

Also a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee, the country's top political advisory body, Gui made the comments in Beijing on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the CPPCC which opened on Thursday.

Further reform and liberalization of China's stock markets are closely watched by observers concerned that recent volatilities may delay the process.

But Gui dismissed earlier rumors the launch may be delayed due to the market rout. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index has dropped 19 percent so far this year.

Fang Xinghai, vice-chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said in December that Shanghai must launch the new board this year.

Its creation is viewed as a good way of expanding financing channels for the country's small and innovative enterprises.

It will also serve as a listing destination for overseas-listed Chinese technology companies as many seek privatization and listings on home soil, after seeing their valuations drop on overseas bourses.

Gui also said that the Shanghai authorities had been in contact with counterparts in London about the creation of a trading link between the two markets.

He said that the recent volatility in the foreign exchange market had not affected its preparation, but that any trading link with London would certainly be different to the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect, and that technology and product designs are still being studied.

A feasibility study into the plan was first announced in September, during British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne's trip to China.

Separately, Charles Li, chief executive of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd, also said on Thursday that the authorities in the special administrative region were exploring the possibility of expanding the existing trading link with Shanghai, to include initial public offerings.

Li said that could allow traders to invest in IPOs in each other's market.

While acknowledging that regulatory issues needed to be addressed, Li said that an expanded trading link between the bourses would also allow overseas investors to gain greater access to the mainland equities market, and help improve the pricing of mainland IPOs.
Chinese herb Ginseng trade sees potential Updated: 2016-03-04 08:12 By Lyu Chang and Liu Mingtai(China Daily)

Businessman Sun Hui shows ginseng products at his shop in Ji'an, Jilin province, a major area for ginseng growth, where the annual production of fresh ginseng has reached 4,000 metric tons. [Photo/Xinhua]

Though snow still covered the crops that Zhao Youjun grew at the foot of Changbai Mountain in northeastern Jilin province, he knew the ancient herb would attract a great deal of traders to his small county in just a few months.

The prized herb that Zhao believes could bring huge profits is ginseng, the bitter roots that have long been used in traditional Chinese medicinechewed raw or cooked into meals for their health-enhancing properties.

He said it is the faith in its tonic power that has spurred the growth of ginseng's commercial production as Chinese people buy more health and wellness products.

As a result of its popularity, the wholesale price of top-quality processed ginseng is expected to stay at 240 yuan ($36) per kilogram.

"For thousands of years, we have been using medicine made from dried ginseng to treat ailments. Even today, it is used in many forms to wake you up, whip you into shape or rejuvenate your body," said the farmer.

In Fusong county of Jilin, about 35,000 metric tons of fresh ginseng were traded at Changbai Ginseng Market in 2014, Asia's largest for the root.

The volume accounted for 80 percent of the country's ginseng market. China's ginseng exports declined 36 percent to 1,207 tons in 2014 while the value increased 14 percent to $137 million over the same period.

Local farmers in Fusong have an average annual income of around 43,000 yuan, four times the national average, said Hou Yubing, director of Fusong Ginseng Industrial Development Center.

The industry had a total sales volume of around $2.9 billion last year, he said.

Though China is the world's largest ginseng producer and consumer with dried roots exported to South Korea, Japan and Germany, the exports account for just 20 percent of the global total.

"Then those countries exported ginseng products such as cosmetics, ginseng tea, pills and ginseng-flavor drinks back to China with more added-value, because we still lag behind them in terms of processing and extraction," said Yang Xinyu, a co-founder of Changbai Ginseng Market.

He said at the moment, there are many small players in the business in China but the nation lacks a large-scale ginseng company.

But he plans to expand the businesses to keep track of every step of the ginseng trade, from collection to consumption.

Yang, also president of Changchun Xinyu Medical Co, said the firm is putting a lot of effort into the research and development of ginseng medicine and ginseng health products.

The government is also very supportive of the ginseng industry's development, offering subsidies and help to local growers.

Since 2012, the Ministry of Health (now the National Health and Family Planning Commission) has permitted ginseng's use as a food additive, a move to further boost domestic demand.

Hou said other Chinese companies are also developing high-end ginseng products, such as ginseng peptide, which is purified from the ethanol extraction of ginseng for cosmetic use.

"It will take a long time for such innovation, but we are heading in the right direction," he said.

"We will eventually shift from a supplier of raw-materials to the world's high-end marketplace."
Moody's China outlook downgrade does not tally with facts Updated: 2016-03-04 10:13 (Xinhua)

BEIJING - The decision of rating agency Moody's to cut its outlook on China's sovereign bonds from stable to negative has raised doubts among economists, who said Moody's "just did not get it."

The agency's downgrade was based on expectations over China's fiscal strength will continue to decline, its forex reserves, and uncertainty about its ability to implement economic reforms.

Moody's missed the point when making its decision and it needs to improve its rating ability if it wants to maintain its influences, said Mei Xinyu, a researcher at Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce.

On fiscal strength, there is a fundamental difference between the sovereign debt of China and that of most Western countries, he said.

Behind most of the Chinese government's debt is assets, as a high percentage of government spending goes into investment. That is why a similar debt ratio to China as in some developed countries would pose much less risks or mean much smaller burden on the government, said Mei.

The figures speak for themselves. International institutions usually use two indexes to evaluate a country's fiscal risks -- its deficit should not exceed 3 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) and general government debt-to-GDP ratio should not exceed 60 percent.

Chinese official figures showed that China's fiscal deficit in 2015 accounted for 2.3 percent of its GDP. Moody's said China's government debt was 40.6 percent of its GDP at the end of 2015, and predicted it would rise to 43 percent in 2017, far below the 60 percent threshold.

In addition, Mei sees China's moderate expansion of fiscal deficit and debt on conditions of solvency as something positive, as it means China's monetary supply is adequate to meet economic growth demands.

On another account, even after several months of declines, China still holds $3.23 trillion in foreign exchange reserves.

This is by far the largest in the world and more than sufficient to pay off its foreign debt, Mei said.

What is more, China's trade surplus, which was $564 billion in 2015, and inflows of foreign direct investment, which was $126 billion in the year, is extra "insurance" against possible falling foreign exchange reserves, Mei said.
Finding comfort in the lap of luxury Updated: 2016-03-04 08:01 By Xu Junqian(China Daily Europe)

As Chinese spend on high fashion worldwide, local firms go shopping for brands to expand

Retailers and investors say China's luxury goods industry still has a bright future despite a second consecutive year of losses in 2015, according to consulting firm Bain & Co.

Research by the Fortune Character Institute appears to confirm this optimistic outlook, too.

Last year, the Chinese bought 46 percent of the luxury goods sold worldwide - but 78 percent of that was purchased outside China.

Chinese consumers of high fashion and luxury goods are also becoming increasingly discerning - even emerging as trendsetters, industry insiders say.

To ride this wave, Shandong Ruyi Group, a Chinese textile producer, recently joined the bidding for French fashion group SMCP, according to Bloomberg.

SMCP is estimated to be worth more than $1 billion (916 million euros) and owns affordable luxury brands such as Maje and Sandro, which have surged in popularity among China's middle class.

Ruyi Group is ranked among the top four of China's 500 textile enterprises, and its consolidated annual revenue hit a record 30 billion yuan ($4.5 billion; 4.1 billion euros) in 2013. The group declined to comment on its reported interest in SMCP.

Any such acquisition would be "just a drop in the bucket, as the Chinese are fast climbing on to the upper chain of the luxury industry", says Zhou Ting, director of the Fortune Character Institute. "The (luxury) market remains one of the most lucrative for now and (shall remain so over) the next decade.

"This means, if Chinese companies and investors want a share, they should be more involved in every link of the supply chain, from design and manufacture to marketing and retail."

Things have been moving in that direction of late. For instance, Chinese fashion e-retailer Vipshop Holdings, known for its discounts, invested millions of dollars in November for a minority stake in British company Brand Alley, to introduce more British brands in China.

A month earlier, the company's competitor, Secoo, opened the first cross-border experience store at Piazza Del Duomo, a popular shopping area in Milan.

Li Rixue, founder and CEO of Secoo, established the website seven years ago in Beijing. He calls the Milan store "part of a 10-year globalization plan".

Industry insiders say Secoo's expansion reflects a strategy to target high-spending Chinese tourists in Europe.
Shaolin opens door to Iran Updated: 2016-03-04 08:00 By Xu Fan(China Daily Europe)

Iranians are fans of kung fu and Chinese are fascinated by the 'mysterious' country; now, a film coproduction gives both sides more opportunities to bond

Recent decades have seen more movies made outside China featuring kung fu, and now the martial art will connect China and Iran on the big screen.

Way to Shaolin is the first joint film production for the two countries.

Hojatollah Ayoubi (fifth left, second row), head of Iran's Cinematic Organization, with Shi Yongxin (sixth left, second row), the abbot of Shaolin Temple, and monks and others during a trip to the temple in Henan province. Photos provided to China Daily. A scene from A Separation, an Iranian film that won the best foreign language Oscar in 2012.

When Chinese producer Shen Jian visited Iran last year, he was surprised by the locals' enthusiasm for Chinese martial arts.

Many young Iranians spoke of Jet Li, the Chinese kung fu star, and his 1982 film The Shaolin Temple, which captivated a generation of Chinese and ushered in a golden era for the martial arts genre on the mainland.

"But it was kind of sad that most Iranians have very few opportunities to see Chinese martial arts movies on the big screen," says Shen. "We believe they (martial arts films) have a big market in Iran."

Iran has film censorship rules that guide domestic titles and foreign movies. So, most Iranian movie enthusiasts see Jet Li and his martial arts movies using video discs. Despite its lack of access to global films, Iranian cinema has made its mark in the world at least since the 1990s.

Films such as A Separation, which won the best foreign language Oscar in 2012 and Children of Heaven, the first Iranian movie nominated for an Oscar, in 1998, have ensured that Iranian filmmakers have received critical acclaim at top film festivals around the world.

Iran's local market and its influence in the region have motivated Shen to tap this somewhat virgin field for Chinese filmmakers.

Shen had the idea for a movie during his Middle East tour and now hopes to take advantage of the opportunity.

In recent years, Iran has been seeking more international cooperation in the movie industry to boost its cultural presence in the global market.

In July, Hojatollah Ayoubi, head of Iran's Cinematic Organization, the country's main movie regulator, made his first trip to China.

Ayoubi says the two countries, both with long histories and resourceful filmmakers, can work together to give moviegoers in China and Iran a chance to know each other better, and take advantage of the two large movie markets, the Chinese newspaper Guangming Daily reported.

Chinese classic The Shaolin Temple (1982), starring Jet Li, is still popular among young people in Iran.

"There are reportedly tens of thousands of Iranian youth now practicing Chinese martial arts, which means a movie about the subject is quite likely to win their hearts," Shen says.

Jointly financed by the Chinese studio ShineWork Media and Iran's Farabi Cinema Foundation, work on Way to Shaolin was started during the 2015 Fajr International Film Festival.

Set in present-day Iran and China, the tale is about a young Iranian's journey to learn Shaolin kung fu, one of China's oldest martial arts.

The first version of the script was completed recently and a hunt for the cast is now on. Shen, also the founder of ShineWork, says shooting for the film will begin later this year and the budget for the film is around $10 million (9.2 million euros).

While China's booming film market is seeing a rising number of coming-of-age comedies, Way to Shaolin is an action comedy.

The Shaolin Temple in Central China's Henan province, hailed as the cradle of Chinese martial arts, will provide guidance on the action's choreography and also locations for the movie, Shen says.

"Most foreigners who want to learn Chinese wushu (kung fu) usually seek out the Shaolin Temple. If you visit the temple, you'll see people from different ethnicities and countries practicing there," he says.

Some Chinese movie fans tell China Daily that they would be keen to see a Sino-Iran movie because Iran is a "mysterious" country for them.

Zhang Shaohe, an avid moviegoer from Beijing, says: "Chinese theaters are now dominated by Hollywood films. So, it will be cool to see a title featuring a kung fu hero from a different culture."

xufan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 03/04/2016 page20)
China is on good path, World Bank chief says Updated: 2016-03-04 08:01 By Zheng Yangpeng(China Daily Europe)

Beijing's fiscal and monetary policy transparency 'bolstering confidence'

China has realized the critical importance of communication, and the world is going to see more transparency and clarity in the country's decision-making, according to the World Bank president.

"I met Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday (Feb 24), and he told me they had realized the importance of communication," Jim Yong Kim said on the sidelines of the two-day G20 meeting in Shanghai on Feb 26.

World Bank president Jim Yong Kim (right) talks about the Chinese economy with China Daily reporter Zheng Yangpeng on Feb 26 in Shanghai. Gao Erqiang / China Daily

"A lot of suspicion is that things are happening, but the global community is not sure why things are being done. ... The fact that you tell what exactly your intention is, in terms of fiscal policy, monetary policy, status of structural reform, that kind of communication will go a long way to dispel the doubts."

Such communication is critical on the exchange rate issue, he says, referring to an issue that grabbed global attention during the meeting for central bank chiefs and finance ministers.

Kim cited recent communication by Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China, as showing the nation's progress.

"The biggest issue about the renminbi is people fear they don't know how decisions are being made," the World Bank president says. "Now Zhou is coming out and saying they are looking at a basket of currencies and making decisions based on the yuan's relation with a basket of currencies.

"China is on a very good path. Zhou is communicating, he is even communicating in English, which I think is really important. What you are going to see is more transparency."

The importance of communication also applies to the Chinese economy, he adds.

"Chinese leaders say they are going to move away from a strategy based on investment and exports to consumption and service. That's happening. China is engaging in reforms in the financial sector, hukou (household registration) and healthcare. We're working with them on these reforms so we're much more optimistic about what's happening here than some observers from outside."

However, Kim says it is critical for China to "maintain the momentum of structural reform" and to keep communicating, frequently and broadly.

He revealed that during his meeting with the premier, Li discussed how to foster China's new economic drivers. "This is his top priority. He wants to think about all the different ways that China can grow in the future."

Kim says the World Bank is pleased that Li has trusted the organization to do a third report on policy recommendations on China, about its healthcare reform. The bank previously undertook two studies with a Chinese think tank on China's 2030 growth strategy, and urbanization. Both stimulated wide debate.

Commenting on the World Bank's cooperation with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Kim says his organization will co-finance projects. He welcomed China's embrace of multilateralism and adds that the world expects more Chinese leadership.

(China Daily European Weekly 03/04/2016 page25)
Rare porcelain collection makes a trip home Updated: 2016-03-04 08:00 By Samantha Vadas in London(China Daily Europe)

Sotheby's takes Tang and Qing dynasty pieces on tour ahead of April 6 auction

A rare collection of Chinese porcelain, bought by a British farmer, is expected to sell for at least 20 million pounds ($27.8 million; 25.4 million euros) when it goes to auction in Hong Kong in April.

Roger Pilkington, from the English village of Aldbourne, took less than a decade between in 1950s and the 60s to acquire 100 pieces of Chinese art spanning over a millennium - between the Tang (618-907) and the Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.

This Chenghua Blue and White Palace Bowl is projected to sell for 4 million to 6 million pounds. The Chenghua period in the latter part of the 15th century is the most celebrated in the history of Chinese porcelain. Photos Provided to China Daily A Celadon jade brush washer, one of the items from the Qianlong period (18th century) projected to fetch between 100,000 and 180,000 pounds.

"Pilkington was part of a second wave of Chinese art collectors after the war," says Nicolas Chow, deputy chairman of Sotheby's Asia.

"He bought most of his collection through the greatest dealers in Chinese antiques, Bluett & Sons Ltd in Mayfair, which existed since the '20s and was still in its prime in the '60s and '70s."

Pilkington, one of the most eminent and active collectors of his day, paid up to 5,000 pounds for each item at the time.

"The key piece in the collection, the Chenghua Blue and White Palace Bowl, that we are estimating to sell for 4 million to 6 million pounds, he purchased in 1967 for 5,000 pounds," Chow says.

"That was a lot of money in the '60s, and he was buying the cream in a field that at the time was already very expensive there were lots of collectors of Chinese porcelain, it was a great pastime of English collectors, and the finest pieces were traded quite expensively."

Chow says Europe set the tone for Chinese art collecting for much of the early 20th century.

"You had in the 1920s the Oriental Ceramic Society in England. This interest in collecting really informed much of the collecting history in the second part of the 20th century and also in Hong Kong and in Japan," he says.

"There were also a lot of exhibits of collections from the members that really created a climate of great connoisseurship in England, and it's why today England is one of the great centers for studying Chinese porcelain."

The Pilkington collection, which recently arrived in Hong Kong after being shipped from the UK, has already attracted interest from mainland buyers, looking to repossess a piece of the country's great history.

"I think definitely mainland collectors are excited we've had already a few private viewings at our offices in Hong Kong," Chow says.

"Without a doubt there's an extraordinary fascination with imperial objects objects that were made for the use of the emperor and his entourage."

Over the past 15 years, the price of Chinese art has skyrocketed as a result of the dramatic entrance by Chinese mainlanders into the auction arena, according to Chow.

"In the late '90s and early 2000s, they came in with a huge appetite for buying the best and obviously very few references of market prices because for them it was all new," he says.

"If you look at Western collectors, people build their collections slowly, they take it slowly, but Chinese collectors think, 'I'm going to build this collection today' there's no stopping them."

It's this attitude of snapping up the best by Chinese mainlanders mainly from new money that Chow says is now raising the bar for art collectors and their hip pockets worldwide.

"It's definitely changing market prices to a certain extent because when you're new to a field you don't care about market price necessarily. If there's something you like you will fight to buy it. You don't look at what the last one fetched three to five years ago they're forward-looking," he says.

"A lot of Chinese art collectors are newly rich, none of them have inherited their fortunes, so this is new money and they come from various industries you have movie moguls, people who come from the world of finance, property development and eel farming."

The collection, which has remained intact since it was put together by Pilkington, was on exhibition in London in January before being sent to Hong Kong.

"It was something no one had seen for half a century," Chow says.

"People traveled long distances to see it, it was extremely well received."

It was traveling to Shanghai on March 2 and 3 and then to Beijing, Taipei and Tokyo, where it would be on display before going under the hammer in Hong Kong on April 6.

For China Daily
World starts to see new breed of Chinese rich Updated: 2016-03-04 08:00 By Cecily Liu(China Daily Europe)

China's second-generation wealthy children are emerging into the spotlight, especially with the country's first wave of successful private firms reaching the succession stage.

Unlike family businesses in mature Western markets, China's leading family businesses were established mostly after the country's reform and opening-up started at the end of the 1970s.

A lack of succession plans is understandable, given that the unprecedented economic growth that China has had in the past 30 years has meant the country's top entrepreneurs never dreamed of the wealth they would achieve.

Meanwhile, many of China's second-generation wealthy children, educated abroad, are independent minded with their own career aspirations that don't necessarily include returning to family firms. According to a survey of 500 Chinese family firms released last year, only 20.5 percent of the children want to take up the baton from their parents.

"The future development of Chinese family firms is very significant because private firms are the future drivers of China's economy as it now enters a stage of structural shift, and most of these private firms are family-owned," says Eric Thun, associate professor in Chinese business studies at Said Business School at the University of Oxford.

More than 85 percent of the country's private companies are family-owned businesses, and by July, 747 of these firms were listed on China's stock markets, according to the survey.

The survey was conducted by Said Business School, Peking University's Guanghua School of Management and Harvard Business School. The three universities also joined to launch an executive program targeting Chinese family business owners' children starting this year. The three-week program, spread between Beijing, Oxford and Harvard, costs $45,000.

In the past few years, "family offices", which advise the rich on wealth management, succession and other issues, have mushroomed in China, and many European family offices are increasingly eyeing China. One of the important services they offer is helping their children who are sent abroad to receive the best possible education, work experience and philanthropy motivation, preparing them for future roles.

"Exposure to an international environment is important because they can learn from other established family businesses in Europe, and take these lessons back to China," says Anton Davidenko, of the London-based family office Oracle Capital Group.

Hence, the young leaders of China's future family firms are mostly likely to be internationally educated. "They could become powerful bridges between China and the West," Thun says.
No one-size-fits-all for Chinese tourists Updated: 2016-03-04 07:59 By Mike Bastin(China Daily Europe)





European operators should realize that different age groups now have different approaches to holidays

And so the Chinese New Year holiday has ended for another year and we can now settle down to the Year of the Monkey. Or can we?

Certainly not if you are part of the European tourist industry, for there are many lessons that need to be learned.

Once again, record numbers of Chinese traveled overseas during the Golden Week holiday and not just to neighbouring Asian economies: Increasing numbers ventured to European shores.

An estimated 6 million Chinese traveled abroad during this year's festivities, but my research continues to show that overseas tourism players have made little progress in understanding this growing and increasingly diverse group of customers.

This is not to say that absolutely no progress has been made. In recent years the European tourism industry has catered more and more to Chinese tourists by recruiting more Chinese employees as major part of a their strategy.

But the European tourism industry still appears to perceive Chinese tourists as a homogenous market segment. It is difficult to fathom precisely why this remains the case despite numbers now reaching just over 6 million. It may be the result of some similar but relatively trivial needs across this large and growing group, such as the desire for hot rather than cold water.

Even a cursory demographic profiling of these overseas-bound Chinese New Year tourists reveals a widening range of ages. Increasing numbers of late teens, and early 20-somethings now travel independently to Europe and regard Chinese New Year as one of the few opportunities for a lengthy European holiday experience. At the same time, older, often retired, Chinese tourists form a sizeable part of this tourism tidal wave.

Surely, European tourism operators make some effort at segmenting their customer base by age for European and Western tourists? Of course they do. But it would appear they do not for Chinese tourists.

This oversight turns out to be all the more incredible given the very different needs and wants across the Chinese New Year tourist super-segment.

While European tour operators appear to be trying to tailor their packages to what they perceive to be the typical Chinese tourists, with efforts made to recruit Chinese- speaking employees and staff training programs designed to inform customer-contact staff members about the importance and meaning of Chinese New Year and other significant aspects of Chinese culture, they need to understand that younger Chinese tourists are in fact more interested in acquiring an understanding of European culture.

Furthermore, younger Chinese tourists decide to travel overseas, particularly at Chinese New Year, to "escape" temporarily from their Chinese lifestyles and seek to become ensconced in aspects of European culture. Language is also not that much of a barrier for this intrepid, youthful cohort.

Increasingly independent and self-confident, younger Chinese tourists are also eschewing the multitude of package-holiday deals with rigid itineraries and little opportunity for genuine adventure.

This segment of the overseas Chinese tourist segment, most of whom were born after 1980, are also keen to distinguish themselves, their lifestyles and values from older, more traditional, Chinese tourists.

Paradoxically, therefore, European tour operators need to move quickly and decisively into reverse gear and remove any Chinese-style adaptation to their offering and somehow provide increased opportunities for this group to gain an in-depth understanding of the local cultures.

At the other end of the demographic scale, older and probably more traditional and conservative Chinese tourists are perhaps more easily understood. However, even their needs and wants appear to be understood at a superficial level. European hotels that supply hot instead of cold water and paper slippers have hardly begun to delve deep into the mindset of this, often affluent, segment.

Surveying a small but statistically significant batch of European tourism industry players recently, I was amazed to find that over half were not aware that this year was the Year of the Monkey. And even those who did reply correctly could not even begin to discuss any meaning attached to the Year of the Monkey.

Such an understanding would definitely be received warmly by older Chinese tourists.

Some knowledge of the meaning of the 15 days that start each Chinese New Year and culminate in the Lantern Festival would also be met positively by this age group.

Organized package-holiday deals still appeal to older Chinese tourists, but even here my research reveals change taking place. Even these more conservative tourists are now keen to integrate a little more into their surroundings and almost resent being treated separately from other international tourists. While language remains a barrier, this does not mean that Chinese tourists should be isolated.

Older generations also see a Chinese New Year overseas holiday as one of the few opportunities to learn about different cultures, and they value ancient culture and history more than their younger compatriots.

The European tourism industry should also understand that the process of change across this segment is ongoing and difficult to predict.

It therefore needs the European tourism industry to invest considerably in market research. Simple tick-box questionnaires are not totally useless, but they come pretty close. To gain real insight into the feelings and desires of Chinese tourists it is necessary to employ more modern, qualitative research methods. Observation or even some form of "mystery shopper" approach are probably most suitable, where holiday experiences can be "recorded" without the Chinese tourist being made aware that their activities and behavior are being monitored. In addition, in-depth interviews and focus groups should also be employed to dig deep into the mindset of this group of consumers.

European tour operators should be prepared for demographics to play an important role, but also psychographics. Psychographic segmentation variables such as personality and values will probably usurp simple demographic profiling, and provide a more informed understanding of different types of Chinese tourists, and soon.

Effective market segmentation is widely considered the sine qua non in any brand-building process. In so doing, segmentation should lead to real understanding of different groups of consumers.

The author is a visiting professor at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing and a senior lecturer at Southampton University. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.


Chinese kids abroad need Chinese schools Updated: 2016-03-04 07:59 By Fu Jing(China Daily Europe)

Nation should follow example of countries which have schools in other nations for children of their nationals

A Belgian friend, who runs a medium-sized chemical company and employs four Chinese nationals, recently said a multinational is not worth its name today if it does not employ Chinese and do business with China. His business instinct also led him to open an account at the Shanghai Stock Exchange two years ago, which, however, is being managed by his 15-year-old son. By doing so, my friend says he is guiding his son to fully understand the Chinese economy because he has to rely on it to earn his living in the future.

The urge to know China and share its prosperity have been rapidly growing among Europeans, Americans, Africans and people in the rest of the world. Many of them send their children to special classes to learn Chinese, study Chinese painting or martial arts; some even send their wards to Chinese universities for higher education.

Concurrently, Chinese communities are growing in major cities across the globe such as London, New York, Paris and Brussels as more Chinese enterprises and investors seek opportunities outside China, and more diplomats and journalists are posted overseas. Amid all this, Chinese expatriates are trying to ensure their children do not lose track of the Chinese language and culture while attending schools in foreign cities.

But this is easier said than done. I have been hunting for a secondary school in London for my son, who will finish his primary school education in Brussels in a few months, because I will soon move to the United Kingdom. But it seems my son cannot attend an English-Chinese school in London, for I couldn't find one. Instead, he can apply to about 10 bilingual schools (with either English or French as a compulsory medium), for he has mainly had French as the medium of instruction in Brussels.

The French government has been offering part financial support to schools overseas with its education authorities providing curriculum help. Besides, France has special ministerial-level organizations to take care of such schools worldwide. The French government has also sent 6,500 educators worldwide who work with 15,000 local teachers in about 500 French schools that provide education to about 330,000 students. In fact, France says no other country runs such a big education network overseas.

The United States, the UK, Canada, Japan, Germany and other major economic powers have also opened such schools abroad, which offer more options to their citizens working overseas to get their children educated in their language and culture.

China is a latecomer in this area. Only a couple of decades ago, especially in the previous 10 years, Chinese businesses started expanding abroad and employing Chinese nationals. But since the number of Chinese enterprises and nationals abroad has increased sharply in recent times, we should study and follow the examples set by France and other countries.

Indeed, China has opened many Confucius Institutes in other countries but they mainly work in cooperation with foreign universities. Primary and secondary school education remains neglected while demand keeps rising by the day. It is thus time the Chinese government considered remodeling its overseas education network and raised it to the level befitting the world's second-largest economy. In this regard, apart from focusing on how to finance basic education for Chinese children overseas, the government should also design incentives to attract private partners to ease its financial burden.

Of course, it will not be easy to get the support of foreign countries for the move or design a tailor-made curriculum to meet demand. Perhaps China should use a mutually beneficiary way to win over the other countries' support, citing the example of Beijing and Shanghai, which already have many foreign schools. The idea should be to move gradually forward by, say, opening pilot primary and secondary schools in New York, London, Paris and Berlin.

The author is China Daily chief correspondent in Brussels. Contact the writer at fujing@chinadaily.com.cn
Chinese brands make a mark in Europe Updated: 2016-03-04 07:58 By Cecily Liu(China Daily Europe)

Hisense bought the UK refrigerator brand Fridgemaster in 2012, and used its existing sales force to build the Hisense UK subsidiary. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Companies like Hisense have gone from making products sold under Western names to establishing a reputation of their own

Chinese firms are moving up the value chain by shifting from being low cost manufacturers to branded, high quality producers as their research and development strengths grow.

In the process they are starting to acquire international brands to which they had previously sold products as original equipment manufacturers.

One example is the Chinese white goods maker Hisense, which acquired the UK refrigerator brand Fridgemaster in 2012, and used its existing sales force to build the Hisense UK subsidiary. Prior to the acquisition, Hisense had been making refrigerators for Fridgemaster for about 10 years. As a result, it built a deep understanding of the Fridgemaster brand and good relationships with its employees.

Following the acquisition, Hisense continued to sell products under the Fridgemaster brand to existing outlets, but added its own product lines, which are premium products with more functions, selling at higher prices and branded as Hisense.

"We knew the brand very well and we already knew the United Kingdom market very well through working with Fridgemaster, so we decided on the acquisition," says Louis Hou, managing director of Hisense UK Ltd.

With Fridgemaster's existing team becoming its core employee base, Hisense grew very fast in the United Kingdom. Its UK revenue grew from 8.5 million pounds ($12.4 million; 11.4 million euros) in 2013 to about 30 million pounds in 2015.

Meanwhile, Hisense has expanded beyond the refrigerator business by selling televisions in the UK. In 2015 Hisense added its latest 4K TV to its product range in Britain. Globally, Hisense is the third-largest producer of 4K TVs - which provide a crisper picture with 4,000 pixels of horizontal resolution. That's just after Samsung and LG.

Hou says Hisense's international growth is a good example of a three-stage model of expansion that many Chinese white goods products share. The first stage of expansion is producing as an original equipment manufacturer for Western brands, the second is selling its own branded products overseas through partnerships with local distribution partners, and the third is to manage branding and sales overseas itself.

Hisense reached the third stage in 2009 when it restructured its European business, focusing on setting up subsidiaries to market Hisense-branded products. This restructuring has led to the creation of subsidiaries in Italy, Germany and Spain, followed by the UK in 2012, which was aided by the acquisition of Fridgemaster.

Hisense grew out of Qingdao No 2 Radio Factory, founded by the local government in 1969. It established a globalization strategy in 2006, and it has built 16 overseas companies in North America, Europe, Australia, Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. It remains a state-owned enterprise.

cecily.liu@mail.chinadailyuk.com


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China's leadership in taking forward the global green finance agenda is well supported by its political will and the large commercial market for infrastructure projects, says Sir Roger Gifford, chairman of the City of London Green Finance Initiative.

"China is emerging as a global force in many areas, including geo-political, and as climate change is such a global concern it is an excellent area for China to exercise leadership in, and an area that is almost uncontroversial," says Gifford, who was Lord Mayor for the City of London, in 2013.

Gifford, who is working extensively with green finance through his role as champion for the City of London's Green Finance Initiative and as UK head of the Nordic bank SEB, made green finance a big theme in his year as Lord Mayor.

So when Gifford visited Beijing in September 2013, he proposed to the Beijing government that they should issue a green bond to finance clean energy projects in Beijing. "I believe I was the first person to make the suggestion to the Beijing mayor, that the city should issue a green bond to help clean up parts of the city and provide cleaner energy."

"At the time he thought it was an interesting concept but didn't perhaps know much about it. Since then, the amount of initiatives taken by the Chinese government to understand green finance has greatly grown," he says.

Although Chinese local governments have yet to issue green bonds, the idea nowadays is much more understood, helped by regulatory changes in China which now allow local governments to fund infrastructure projects through bond issuance. "Chinese municipal governments should be encouraged to look at this closely, as they have tight budgets but need money to finance clean energy projects."

The City of London Corporation is the local authority that governs London's Square Mile, the financial center with a great deal of history and global influence. London's diverse and vast investor base made it an attractive city for the People's Bank of China to issue its first offshore renminbi bond.

Seeing green finance as an area requiring close participation by financial sector players, the City of London Green Finance Initiative was set up in 2016. PBoC showed its support as its chief economist Ma Jun gave a speech at the initiative's launch via a webcast.

Gifford says that he expects the PBoC will work closely with the initiative, and together they can facilitate the long term discussions of many green finance agenda items raised as a part of the G20 dialogue, for which China has presidency this year. Importantly, China has led the establishment of a G20 green finance study group, chaired by the PBoC and Bank of England, which will work to present findings during the G20 meeting in September.

"China has been extremely active in developing its domestic green finance market, and it's really positive that China is giving the subject a boost through its G20 leadership," Gifford says, adding that the he considers the Chinese government to be already an authority on this subject.

He says the Chinese government's strong leadership to augment the green finance agenda from a top down approach is useful, in the same way that an agreement to limit temperature increases this century to below two degrees Celsius at the Paris conference is greatly helped by strong political leadership.

On a global level, the Paris conference agreement was significant in creating a consensus. "Even two years ago we've had many scientists who weren't convinced that climate change is manmade, but now we have a consensus that, whatever the reasons, something must be done. I believe China is well up on the curve on understanding how this needs to be translated into action."

Efforts to reform China's green finance industry are also significant for China's structural shift from high growth powered by manufacturing industry towards long term sustainable growth built on a knowledge economy, Gifford says.

He calls China's strong emphasis on green finance as part practicality and part belief. "China knows it has huge infrastructure requirements, needing to be financed. It knows that the country needs more power and needs to reduce pollution in cities, which gives it an imperative to grow green finance. But there's also a growing belief that green finance really works."

To contact the reporter: cecily.liu@mail.chinadailyuk.com


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By Paul Kilby

NEW YORK, March 4 (IFR) - Argentine real estate company IRSA has launched a tender to buy back up to US$420m of its outstanding bonds.

IRSA is tendering for all the US$150m of outstanding 8.5% 2017s and all of the US$120m of 7.875% 2017s.

It is also targeting up to US$76.5m of the 11.5% 2020s, with an option to increase that amount by US$73.5m.

Holders who tender by the early bird date of March 16 will receive a price of 111.00 on the 2020s, 100.50 on the 8.5% 2017s and 100.45 on the 7.875% 2017s.

This includes an early bird premium of US$30 as well as a consent payment of US$10 on the 11.50% 2020s.

Citigroup and JP Morgan are acting as solicitation agents and dealer managers.

This come after the IRSA board approved the issuance of up to US$470m of debt, according to a filing with local regulators.

The company was last in the international capital markets in 2010, when it issued the 2020s. Citigroup, Itau and Santander acted as leads on that occasion.

(Reporting by Paul Kilby; Editing by Marc Carnegie)
(Repeat story published on Thursday)

* Metre-long piece of metal found between Mozambique and Madagascar

* Debris being sent to Australia for testing

* Malaysian official says "high possibility" it from 777 jet

* Families urge officials to concentrate search in same area

By Byron Kaye

SYDNEY, March 3 (Reuters) - A piece of debris found off the southeast African coast that could be from a missing Malaysia Airlines flight is being sent to Australia for testing, officials said on Thursday, two years after the plane carrying 239 people disappeared.

A white, metre-long chunk of metal was found off the coast of Mozambique earlier this week by a U.S. adventurer who has been carrying out an independent search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

The debris will be tested by officials in Australia, with help from Malaysian authorities and representatives of manufacturer Boeing Co.

"It is too early to speculate on the origin of the debris at this stage," Australian Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Darren Chester told parliament.

However, the piece was found in "a location consistent with drift modelling commissioned by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau", he said.

Chester's comments added to a fresh sense of optimism after Malaysia's transport minister, Liow Tiong Lai, said on Wednesday there was a "high possibility" the metal chunk belonged to a 777 jet, the same type of aircraft as MH370.

Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014, with 239 passengers and crew on board shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing.

It is believed to have crashed in the Indian Ocean and an initial search of a 60,000 sq km (23,000 sq miles) area of sea floor has been extended to another 60,000 sq km.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said he had "noted" the report about the new possible piece of debris.

"We will closely track the development of the situation, and maintain close contact with relevant sides. We will also work with relevant countries to make great efforts to continue the search work for MH370," he told reporters in Beijing.

Story continues

A piece of the plane's wing washed up on the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion, on the other side of Madagascar, in July 2015.

Voice370, a group representing families of those on board the missing plane, said the discovery meant the search must focus on the coastlines of Mozambique and Madagascar.

"Debris fields, though subject to some degree of dispersal by the elements, generally tend to make landfall in close proximity," the group said in a statement.

(Additional reporting by Rozanna Latiff in KUALA LUMPUR and Jessica Macy Yu in BEIJING; Editing by Nick Macfie)
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Mar 4, 2016) - Canada Carbon Inc. (the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:CCB)(U7N1.F) is pleased to announce the results of a positive Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") for its flagship 100% owned Miller hydrothermal disseminated and lump vein graphite and architectural marble Project located 80 kilometres ("km") west of Montreal, near Grenville, Quebec. The technical report for the PEA was prepared in accordance with the Canadian Securities Administrators' National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") regulations by the independent engineering firm Tetra Tech of Vancouver, British Columbia, in conjunction with SGS Canada Inc. ("SGS") of Blainville, Quebec. SGS are co-authors of the technical report, and are responsible for the Miller graphite and marble Project's mineral resource estimates contained therein. The PEA demonstrates that the Miller graphite and marble Project combined has robust economics and excellent potential to become a producer of high-value, high-purity specialty graphite products for high-technology applications, and architectural marble products. The technical report also recommends that the Miller graphite and marble Project be immediately advanced to the pre-feasibility stage of development.

The high grade mineralization on the Miller Property is generally found in veins and pods and as such, the discovery of high grade graphite was best achieved by following the mineralization at surface. Accordingly, once significant high grade showings were discovered, the Company conducted sufficient drilling and sampling to result in a resource calculation that confirmed inferred graphite resources to support an initial 10 year mine life. The Company's drill program also confirmed significant inferred marble resources. The drill results indicate that the deposit is still open at depth and on both strike extensions. While the PEA clearly indicates a financially viable project, it assumes that the Company's resources are limited to the estimated inferred resources from drilling completed prior to the resource calculation. The Company plans to adopt a rolling resource approach to manage its deposit and accordingly, would continue to explore while in the resources definition and production stages. This approach would enable the Company to begin production sooner and to utilize the cash flows from operations to fund future exploration. The portion of the Miller Project which is the subject of the PEA and resource estimate occupies only 0.22 km2 of the Company's approximately 100 km2 claims package.

Story continues

PEA HIGHLIGHTS

Highlights of the Miller graphite and marble Project's PEA are summarized below. All dollar amounts are based in Canadian currency unless otherwise stated:

The estimated mineral resources comprise 952,000 tonnes of inferred graphite resources at an average grade of 2.00% Cg within the graphite pit shells (cut-off grade of 0.8% Cg) and 1.2 million tonnes of inferred graphite resources at an average grade of 0.53% Cg within the architectural marble pit limits (cut-off grade of 0.4% Cg).





The architectural marble mineral resources comprise 1.52 million tonnes of inferred marble with an average probability factor of 0.82.





The PEA is based on the Miller project producing and selling two products: specialty, thermally-processed graphite product of >99.99% Cg and marble product suitable for architectural applications. The PEA is not modelled on producing and selling final run-of-mine ("ROM") graphite concentrate product typical of other conventional flake graphite projects;





Mining is expected to occur in three pits (two for graphite and one for marble). Marble will be mined for eight years and graphite will be mined for 10 years;





The marble quarry is expected to produce and sell approximately 150,000 tonnes of architectural marble annually;





Milling, concentrating and thermal processing will occur over 17 years producing a maximum of 1,500 tonnes of specialty high-purity graphite product annually;





Initial Capital Expenditure ("CAPEX") of $44.4 million, with a payback period of 1.9 years (pre-tax) and 2.0 years (post-tax);





Base-case pre-tax Net Present Value ("NPV") of $150 million, post-tax NPV $110 million (8% discount rate); pre-tax NPV of $131 million, post-tax NPV of $96 million (10% discount rate);





Pre-tax Internal Rate of Return ("IRR") of 100.2%; post-tax IRR of 85.0%;





Life of Mine ("LOM") Gross Revenue of $550 million and Operating Expenses ("OPEX") of $231 million;





Selling price for purified graphite at US$13,000 per tonne (CDN$17,333 ) and marble at CDN$184 per tonne; exchange rate used for the estimates is $US:$CDN = 0.75: 1.00;





Life of Mine average cash operating costs of $8,666 per tonne ($6,880 for the first five years) for final graphite product and $54/tonne for marble product.

Canada Carbon Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mr. R. Bruce Duncan stated, "We are pleased that the PEA has confirmed the financial viability of our proposed business model. CCB is positioning itself to be both a marble and low volume high value specialty graphite producer. We have been fortunate to have found significant quantities of quality marble on the Miller property which the PEA has demonstrated to be a profitable commodity. Given the low CAPEX costs for marble extraction, the less onerous quarry permit process and the marble sales contract already in place, the Company's business plan envisions that operations on the Miller property would begin with the extraction of marble. This is the fastest path to cash flow which will in turn be utilized to fund some of the graphite CAPEX costs.

The business model presented in the PEA shows that the extraction and processing of graphite will occur approximately one year after the extraction of marble. While our lower graphite processing volumes result in higher processing costs per tonne compared with large producing mines, our high purity graphite commands higher prices which more than offset the costs (revenues exceed cash mining and processing costs by an average of $8,667 per tonne). While the PEA assumes no more than 1,500 tonnes of graphite produced and sold annually, we believe there is growth potential and our proposed processing facilities are scalable. Given the fixed nature of a significant portion of the operating costs, higher volumes or higher head grade will reduce costs and increase profits. It is our understanding that lower processing volumes will have a positive impact on the permitting process.

We are excited to advance to the pre-feasibility stage of development."

PROJECT OVERVIEW

The 100%-owned Miller hydrothermal disseminated and lump-vein graphite and architectural marble Project is located in the Outaouais Region of southern Quebec, Canada, about 80 km west of Montreal, Quebec and 90 km east of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The closest cities are Grenville, Quebec (5 km to the south) and Hawkesbury, Ontario (8 km to the south). The property is easily accessible from Highway 50, which runs approximately 2 km to the south of the deposit limit, and Scotch road, which traverses the property from south to north. A wide range of local resources are available in the town of Grenville and at the nearby cities of Hawkesbury or Lachute. A local skilled labor force would be able to support a mining operation. A power line crosses the southern part of the property and a railroad passes through the Ottawa Valley near Grenville.

The graphite mineralization is hosted within a marble unit in the Grenville Province. The mineralization comprises disseminated graphite in the marble unit and lump-vein associated with skarn and at the contact between the marble and host meta-arkose and paragneiss. The architectural marble consists of white marble lithologies observed within the entire marble units and bounded by paragneiss and meta-arkose.

The volume used in the current mineral resources estimate does not take into account the material from the historical stockpiles of the Miller mine found on the property. Further work, including volume and grade characterization, will be needed before the stockpiles can be included in the mineral resource.

Mineral Resources

The mineral resources were estimated by Jean-Philippe Paiement, M.Sc. P.Geo., of SGS Geostat with an effective date of February 16, 2016. This estimate is the first mineral resources estimate produced by Canada Carbon since the acquisition of the property in January 2013. The mineral resources for the graphite and architectural marble were estimated separately using different sets of data and parameters.

The mineral resources were estimated based on the following geological and resources block modeling parameters which are based on the geological interpretations, geostatistical studies and best practices in mineral estimation:

Graphite Mineral Resources

Mineral resources were estimated from the diamond drill hole and channel sampling analytical results completed by Canada Carbon since 2013. Analytical data from a total of 99 drill holes and 89 surface/channels, comprising 7,985 assays in total, were used for the mineral resources model.

The graphite mineral resources 3-D modeling of mineralized marble and high grade veins was conducted using a minimal modeling grade of 0.50% Cg over a 2 metre ("m") horizontal thickness.

The interpolation was conducted using Ordinary and Indicator Kriging with composited assays of 1.5 m in length.

The block model was defined by a block size of 5 m long by 5 m wide by 3 m thick and covers a strike length of approximately 860 m to a maximal depth of 75 m below surface. The model is open both at depth and on strike.

The In-pit mineral resources were constrained inside an optimized pit shell. The interpolated blocks of the model located below the optimised pit shell are not included in the mineral resources. The In-pit mineral resources reach 75 m below surface (maximum depth of optimised pit).

The cut-off grade of the reported mineral resources is 0.8% Cg.

The blocks not considered for architectural marble production with graphite grades greater than 0.4% Cg inside the marble pit were also considered as part of the graphite mineral resources.

Architectural Mineral Resources

Mineral resources were estimated from the diamond drill holes completed by Canada Carbon since 2013. A total of 99 drill holes were logged according to marble quality by Canada Carbon. The white marble suitable for production was converted to a positive (1) indicator and unsuitable material received a negative (0) indicator. These binary values were used for the mineral resources model.

The marble mineral resources 3-D modeling of architectural marble was conducted using the geological entries of the database in combination with the geophysical 3D inversion data.

The interpolation was conducted using Indicator Kriging on composited assays of 1.5 m in length.

The block model was defined by a block size of 5 m long by 5 m wide by 3 m thick and covers a strike length of approximately 860 m to a maximal depth of 115 m below surface. The model is open in all directions.

The cut-off grade of the reported mineral resources is 0.6 which represents the probability, on a scale of 0 to 1, that the block is white marble. The In-pit mineral resources were constrained inside an optimized pit shell using the blocks with a probability factor above 0.6. The interpolated blocks of the model located below the optimised pit shell are not included in the mineral resources. The In-pit mineral resources reach 108 m below surface (maximum depth of optimised pit).

Only the blocks within the architectural marble pit where considered as mineral resources.

GRAPHITE AND ARCHITECTURAL MARBLE MINERAL RESOURCES

Mineral Resources within the 2 Graphite Pit Shells Cut Off (%Cg) Category Tonnage Average Cg% Graphite (tonnes) 0.8 Inferred 952,000 2.00 19,000

Mineral Resources within the Marble Pit Shell Cut Off Category Tonnage Average Marble or Graphite (tonnes) 0.6 Prob Marble Inferred 1,500,000 0.82 Prob 1,519,000 0.4 % Cg Graphite Inferred 1,200,000 0.53 % Cg 6,200

1) The mineral resource estimate has been conducted using the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) Definitions Standards for mineral resources in accordance with National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. 2) Mineral resources, which are not mineral reserves, do not have demonstrated economic viability. 3) Inferred mineral resources are exclusive of the Measured and Indicated resources. 4) A fixed density of 2.81 t/m3 was used to estimate the tonnage from block model volumes. 5) Resources are constrained by the pit shell and the topography of the overburden layer. 6) Effective date 16-02-2016

Mining

The PEA proposes a 19-year project life including 1 year of preproduction, 11 years of active mining operations and 7 years of stockpile re-handling. Graphite material will be mined from two open pits and marble will be quarried from a separate pit. Graphite pits will be mined using conventional truck/loader open pit mining. The production cycle includes drilling, blasting, loading and hauling and will be performed by a mining contractor. Over the 10-year life of the graphite mine, the total production is estimated to be 890,800 tonne of graphite material, 1,479,800 tonnes of waste rock and 158,300 tonnes of overburden. The LOM stripping ratio is 1.8 and LOM average mill feed grade is 1.87% Cg, with an initial graphite mill feed grade of 2.45% Cg.

The marble pit is scheduled to produce a maximum annual marble tonnage of 150,000 tonnes. Marble will be cut into blocks using special marble cutting machinery. Low grade graphite mineralization mined from the marble pit will be stockpiled and reclaimed starting in year 9. Over the 8-year marble mine life, the pit is expected to produce 1,182,000 tonnes of marble, 1,206,000 tonnes of graphite material grading 0.53% Cg, 5,031,800 tonnes of waste and 210,500 tonnes of overburden. The overall LOM stripping ratio is 2.2.

Based on the contract between Canada Carbon and a mining contractor, the contractor will mine, move and consume all waste materials produced from the graphite and marble pits off-site. The contractor is to pay Canada Carbon $1.00 per tonne of waste extracted from the pits.

Metallurgy and Processing

Five metallurgical test programs have been conducted on various head grade samples from the Miller deposit, including a pilot plant campaign processing approximately 125 tonnes of a bulk sample from the Miller deposit. The test work indicates that the Miller mineralization can be upgraded by conventional flotation into a graphite concentrate containing approximately 95% Cg or higher. Preliminary graphite concentrate upgrading tests were also conducted, including hydrometallurgical and thermal upgrading purifications. The tests, using a proprietary thermal treatment indicate that a graphite concentrate produced from the pilot plant runs can be directly upgraded to a high-purity specialty graphite containing 99.9998% Cg which may be suitable for nuclear, aerospace and other high-technology applications. The proposed graphite concentration plant will process the Miller graphite using conventional froth flotation, based on the pilot plant test work report produced by SGS Lakefield. The flotation plant is to be located at the Miller site. The concentrate produced will be upgraded at the Company's Asbury site by a proprietary thermal treatment process to generate a high-value, high-purity specialty graphite product which is anticipated to contain higher than 99.99% Cg. The designed annual production rate of the high purity graphite product is approximately 1,500 tonnes.

Project Economics

Over the LOM, the project is planned to produce 19,200 tonnes of the high purity graphite and 1,182,000 tonnes of architectural marble. Below are the highlights of capital cost requirements and the economic results.

Initial capital costs are estimated at $44.38 million. In addition, sustaining capital requirements are estimated at $3.61 million, land acquisition $1.05 million and closure and reclamation costs $1.04 million. Total capital requirements are $50.08 million.

INITIAL CAPITAL COSTS

Capital Category Value

(in CDN $Million) Overall Site $ 1.30 Open Pit Mining $ 0.85 Miller Site Process (Flotation) $ 9.47 Asbury Site Process (Thermal Upgrading) $ 14.92 On-site Infrastructure and Services $ 1.10 Project Indirects $ 8.24 Owner's Cost $1.38 Contingencies $ 7.12 TOTAL $44.38

PROJECT ECONOMICS

Category Unit Pre-Tax Post-Tax Selling Price, Refined Graphite >99.99% Carbon $/tonne US$ 13,000

(Cdn$17,333) US$ 13,000

(Cdn$17,333) Exchange Rate US$: CDN$ 0.75:1.00 0.75:1.00 Selling Price, Marble $/tonne $ 184 $ 184 Cash Operating Cost, Refined Graphite $/tonne 8,666 8,666 Cash Operating Cost, Marble $/tonne 54 54 Refined Graphite Peak Annual Production tonnes 1,500 1,500 Marble Peak Annual Production tonnes 150,000 150,000 NPV (0%) $ Million 268 198 NPV (8%) $ Million 150 110 NPV (10%) $ Million 131 96 IRR % % 100.2 85.0 Payback Period Years 1.9 2.0 Gross Revenue $ Million 550 550 Total Operating Cost $ Million 231 231 Total Capital Cost $ Million 50 50 Pre-Tax Net Cash Flow $ Million 268 n/a Post-Tax Net Cash Flow $ Million n/a 198

* Note: All dollar amounts are based in Canadian currency unless otherwise specified

Cautionary Note: This PEA is considered by Tetra Tech to meet the requirements of a Preliminary Economic Assessment as defined by Canadian Securities Administrators' National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. The economic analysis contained in the technical report is based on Inferred Resources (as defined in NI 43-101) and is preliminary in nature. 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. Inferred Resources are considered too geologically speculative to have mining and economic considerations applied to them and to be categorized as Mineral Reserves (as defined in NI 43-101). Additional trenching and/or drilling will be required to convert Inferred Mineral Resources to Measured or Indicated. There is no certainty that the reserve's development, production and economic forecasts on which the PEA is based will be realized.

Qualified Persons

Independent engineering firms Tetra Tech and SGS Canada Inc. completed the Miller Graphite and Marble Project Preliminary Economic Assessment technical report. Both Tetra Tech and SGS Canada Inc. are independent of the Company under National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") guidelines. The technical information in this news release relating to the mining and metallurgy portions of the 2016 Miller Graphite and Marble Project Preliminary Economic Assessment was prepared by Tetra Tech's Dr. John Huang, P.Eng., an independent Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 guidelines and Dr. Sabry AbdelHafez, P.Eng., an independent Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 guidelines. The technical information in this news release that relates to the geology and mineral resource estimation portions of the report was prepared by Mr. Jean-Philippe Paiement, P.Geo, M.Sc., from SGS Canada Inc., an independent Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 guidelines.

Dr. John Huang, P.Eng., of Tetra Tech, is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") guidelines, and has reviewed and approved the technical related content of this news release.

CANADA CARBON INC.

R. Bruce Duncan, CEO and Director

"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."

About Canada Carbon Inc.

The 100%-owned Miller hydrothermal disseminated and lump-vein graphite and marble Project is located 80 km west of Montreal in the Grenville Township of Quebec, approximately 7 km from the center of the town of Grenville. The Miller Project, which is the subject of the PEA and resource estimate, occupies less than 1/4 km2 surrounding the historic Miller Pit, within approximately 100 km2 of the mineral claims package held by the Company. In addition to the Miller Pit, numerous other historic graphite mines, exploration pits, and showings lie within the Company's mineral claim package and will become the subject of prospective exploration activities. Geophysical anomalies similar to the Miller Pit signature also add a significant number of exploration targets in additional to the historical showings.

The Miller Project has exceptional infrastructure already in place, situated within 2 km of major highways, rail, power and water. Paved roads come within 800 metres of the Miller Project development area, and abut or cross the claim boundaries in many places. Existing forestry roads crisscross the property, permitting vehicle access with very low impact on the environment. All mineral claims lie on private land.

A pilot plant scale flotation concentration program was conducted by SGS Canada (Lakefield), based on a blended 125 tonne sample obtained from all known graphite exposures at the Miller Project. The pilot plant concentrate graded 95% Cg or higher, and was upgraded to 99.9998% Cg by commercially available thermal upgrading techniques. The Company thereafter received a pricing letter for the 99.9998% purity graphite, assigning a market value of US$12,000-14,000/tonne for the high purity material. Upon request by ASTM International, the Company submitted samples of the thermally upgraded Miller graphite (99.9998% purity), for the development of a new nuclear standard test method for natural graphite. Four international laboratories, with membership in Subcommittee D02.F0 on Manufactured Carbon and Graphite Products of ASTM International, have completed the round-robin testing of the Miller graphite. The Company currently awaits the final ASTM report, certifying both the material and the new test method.

On November 16th, 2015 the Company signed a comprehensive agreement to sell 75,000 tonnes of architectural-quality marble material from the Miller property. This agreement was signed subsequent to an independent market assessment of architectural blocks and slabs of the Miller marble, which is the host rock of the Miller hydrothermal disseminated and lump-vein graphite. The agreed base valuation for marble blocks or slabs is $14 per cubic foot, which is approximately $184 per tonne.

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 Canada Carbon Inc.'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 Canada Carbon Inc. 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 Canada Carbon Inc. 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.

Canada Carbon Inc. cautions that the foregoing list of material factors and assumptions are not exhaustive. When relying on Canada Carbon Inc. forward-looking statements to make decisions, investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and assumptions and other uncertainties and potential events. Canada Carbon Inc. 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. 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).
* Canadian dollar at C$1.3390 or 74.68 U.S. cents * Bond prices lower across the maturity curve By Fergal Smith TORONTO, March 4 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar strengthened slightly against its U.S. counterpart on Friday after solid trade data made a Bank of Canada rate cut less likely, even as a surge in U.S. jobs boosted Federal Reserve rate hike prospects.

Canadian exports rose for a third month, including increased trade with the U.S. that supports hoped for reorientation of Canada's economy toward the non-resource sector.

"This is the sort of data they (the Bank of Canada) want to see," said Andrew Kelvin, senior rates strategist at TD Securities. "This would make all else equal a rate cut less likely." The implied probability of a rate cut this year was little changed since before the data, but has fallen to 42 percent from 80 percent last week when Finance Minister Bill Morneau said the government would stick to plans to stimulate the economy in a March 22 federal budget.

The currency gyrated as the market also digested U.S. data.

U.S. payrolls surged in February, the clearest sign yet of labor market strength that could ease fears the economy may be heading into recession.

U.S. crude prices were down 0.14 percent to $34.52 a barrel as gains this week were slightly pared.

At 9:40 a.m. EST (1440 GMT), the Canadian dollar was trading at C$1.3390 to the greenback, or 74.68 U.S. cents, stronger than Thursday's close of C$1.3396, or 74.65 U.S. cents.

The currency's strongest level of the session was C$1.3390, while its weakest was C$1.3472. On Thursday, it touched its strongest since Dec. 7 at C$1.3372.

Canada posted a smaller-than-expected trade deficit of C$655 million ($489 million) in January from a revised C$631 million shortfall in December. Exports rose 1 percent, reaching a record C$46.0 billion, while export volumes surged 3.6 percent.

Canadian government bond prices were lower across the maturity curve, with the two-year price down 2 Canadian cents to yield 0.522 percent and the benchmark 10-year falling 17 Canadian cents to yield 1.24 percent.

The Canada-U.S. two-year bond spread was 1.2 basis points lower at -34.4 basis points, while the 10-year spread was 1.6 basis points lower at -62.4 basis points, as U.S. Treasuries underperformed.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum)
(Makes clear in first para that imports grew faster than exports)

OTTAWA, March 4 (Reuters) - Canada's trade deficit edged up to C$655 million ($489 million) in January from C$631 million in December as imports grew slightly more than exports, Statistics Canada said on Friday.

Analysts in a Reuters poll had predicted a shortfall of C$1.05 billion. January marked the 17th consecutive monthly trade deficit, reflecting the continuing economic damage caused by low oil prices.

Exports grew for the third consecutive month, rising by 1.0 percent to a record C$46.00 billion on higher shipments of consumer goods and motor vehicles and parts. Export volumes jumped 3.6 percent while prices dropped by 2.5 percent.

Imports climbed 1.1 percent to C$46.65 billion as nine of 11 sections increased, with gains in motor vehicles and other parts being offset by a decline in aircraft and other transportation and parts. Volumes expanded by 1.6 percent while prices fell 0.5 percent.

Exports to the United States, which accounted for 76.0 percent of Canada's global total in January, increased by 2.6 percent while imports grew by 1.1 percent.

As a result, Canada's trade surplus with the United States grew to C$3.70 billion from C$3.13 billion in December.

($1=$1.34 Canadian)

(Reporting by David Ljunggren Editing by W Simon)
JUSTIN TRUDEAU cowboy hat

Canada is having a moment.

Ever since the young, attractive, charmingly feminist Justin Trudeau was elected Prime Minister in October, we've been all over the world stage.

In Davos, Trudeau was the star of the World Economic Forum. He's already buddies with President Obama. Even The New York Times has declared Canada once again "hip" since his election.

But Trudeau runs the risk of squandering his moment in the most frustratingly Canadian way.

In an interview with CBS to be aired on Sunday, he talked about America's dominance and said Canadians must always be aware of what's going on with their neighbors to the south.

He added, according to an AP transcript: "I think we sometimes like to think that, you know, Americans will pay attention to us from time to time too."

Come on.

That sort of dejected (and slightly passive aggressive) language that Canadians have always adopted is what makes us such an easy target.

Canada has always suffered from the short-man's syndrome  you would too if you were America's younger sibling. But now is not the time.

After nearly 10 years under conservative leadership, Canada is finally starting to regain its reputation as a progressive leader on issues like immigration, the environment, and human rights.

And the world is paying attention. This week there was a record spike in Google searches on how to "move to Canada" following Donald Trump's victories in seven states on Super Tuesday.

I'm not going to sit here and tell you that Canada is set to become the next global power when America falls. But a lot of folks are looking to the country  and to its leader  for inspiration right now, and that's worth something.

Trudeau needs to do the most un-Canadian thing imaginable and learn to own that popularity.

NOW WATCH: Canada warmly welcomes its first refugees from Syria





More From Business Insider


This article is published in partnership with Time.com. The original version can be found here.

By Hannah Beech @hkbeech

China has stationed surface-to-air missiles on a contested island in the South China Sea and is expanding its footprint in the waterway through energetic island-building. New runways allow Chinese fighter jets to land on disputed turf, while Chinese fishermen are encouraged by the state to ply waters claimed by five other governments. But on Friday, the spokesperson for China's National People's Congress, the legislature that will begin its annual meeting on March 5, placed the blame on the U.S. for escalating tensions in a marine expanse through which more than $5 trillion in trade passes through each year.

"Talking about militarization, if you look into it carefully, the advanced aircraft, warships in and out of the South China Sea, aren't most of them deployed by America?" said NPC spokesperson Fu Ying at a Friday press conference in Beijing. "America made an important decision, which is deploying over 60% of its navy to the Asia-Pacific region ... [The U.S.] is strengthening military deployments with its alliances in the Asia-Pacific region. If we're talking about militarization, what's this? Isn't it militarization?"

In January, the U.S. sent a Navy destroyer through the South China Sea on a so-called freedom of navigation patrol, following a similar excursion last October. The American naval vessels passed within 12 nautical miles of contested islands that China controls. Earlier this week, the U.S. announced that its Navy, along with those of Japan and India, would be conducting joint exercises later this year in waters north of the Philippines. Vietnam and the Philippines have clashed with China over specks of reef and rock in the South China Sea, 90% of which Beijing claims as its own through a nine-dash line that reaches into Southeast Asia. Testifying in Washington last month, the head of the U.S. Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris, declared that China was "clearly militarizing" the South China Sea. "You'd have to believe in a flat earth to believe otherwise," he said.

Story continues

At the Friday press conference, Fu took another view. "Chinese people think it's not right for American warships to show off force near South China islands," she said. "It's irritating. America once promised to be neutral on the [contested] Nansha islands [which are called the Spratlys in English]. Now the actions and comments from America stimulate [tension]. We have questions about America's purposes."

In 2012, the Obama Administration signed off on a rebalancing of U.S. military power toward the Asia-Pacific. Its military presence in the region will be increased by 2020 to 60% of total naval and air forces, as Fu alluded to in her remarks to the press. Despite Washington's assurances otherwise, Beijing sees the rebalancing as a thinly veiled containment of China. Meanwhile, nations with territorial conflicts with China have cozied up to the U.S., even considering the construction of new American military facilities on Asian soil. "The American government's stance on the South China Sea is changing," says Liu Mingfu, a retired colonel in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) who is a frequent hawkish commentator on military affairs, "from being impartial to being partial, from being behind the scenes to intervening publicly."

The Chinese position is clear: the U.S. -- despite its vows that it only wants to keep the peace, as it has done for more than half a century in the Pacific -- is spooked by China's rise. "With the expansion of China's military power, China will gradually gain dominance in the South China Sea but America will not tolerate China's dominance in this area," says Zhao Chu, another Chinese military commentator. "There is no mutual strategic trust between China and America. It's a zero-sum game for both countries."

At the Friday press conference, Fu also announced that China's defense budget would increase by 7%-8% this year, down from the 10% hike in 2015. Last fall, at a massive military parade, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that he would be slashing 300,000 positions from the nation's armed forces by 2017. The pruning is designed to increase the PLA's efficiency; staff reductions mainly affect noncombatants. Still, China's military ranks as the world's second largest, after the U.S.'s. In Djibouti, Beijing is building its first-ever overseas military facility, near the strategically vital Suez Canal. The U.S. and other powers also maintain bases in the Horn of Africa nation.

But it is the much closer South China Sea that matters most to Beijing. After all, 80% of China's oil imports pass through the waterway. Fishing is plentiful and rumors of underwater oil and natural-gas fields are tantalizing. "All Chinese people have the same opinion: it's not militarization, we can't call defense capacity militarization," said Fu on March 4, referring to global concern about China's actions in the South China Sea. "If America cares about the peace and stability in the region, please support China to solve the disputes through negotiations, instead of pushing it to the opposite side."

See original article on Fortune.com

More from Fortune.com
US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton waves after addressing a primary night rally in Columbia, South Carolina, on February 27, 2016 (AFP Photo/Nicholas Kamm)

Columbia (United States) (AFP) - Hillary Clinton scored a resounding victory against Bernie Sanders in Saturday's Democratic primary in South Carolina, seizing momentum ahead of the most important day of the nomination race: next week's "Super Tuesday" showdown.

Four weeks into the White House primaries, the former secretary of state earned her first decisive win of the campaign, after a nail-biter victory in Iowa, a thumping loss to Sanders in New Hampshire, and then a five-point win in Nevada.

South Carolina was the first southern state to vote for a 2016 Democratic nominee, before the race broadens to 11 contests across the country.

"Tomorrow this campaign goes national," Clinton said to a loud roar as she thanked supporters in Columbia, South Carolina, where she emerged with a clearer path to the nomination.

"We are going to compete for every vote in every state. We are not taking anything, and we are not taking anyone, for granted."

US networks called the race for Clinton immediately after polls closed in the Palmetto State, where the majority of Democratic voters are African-American, a voting bloc that she and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, have successfully courted for decades.

Clinton also looked beyond her battle with Sanders, tweaking the man many now see as the likely Republican nominee: Donald Trump, whose campaign slogan is "Make America Great Again."

"Despite what you hear, we don't need to make America great again. America has never stopped being great," she said, reading off a teleprompter.

"But we do need to make America whole again," she added, laying out an argument against the divisive rhetoric favored by Trump, who has antagonized immigrants, Muslims and campaign rivals.

"I know it sometimes seems a little odd for someone running for president these days and in this time to say we need more love and kindness in America," she added. "But I am telling you from the bottom of my heart, we do."

Story continues

- Redemption -

With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Clinton stood at 73.5 percent compared to 26 percent for Sanders.

The comprehensive victory marks a moment of redemption for Clinton who in 2008 lost badly in the state to Barack Obama -- his win here serving as a turning point for his ultimately victorious campaign.

Exit polls in South Carolina showed African-Americans -- who represented 61 percent of all Democratic voters in the primary -- backed Clinton by a stunning 86 percent, more than had supported Obama eight years prior.

Clinton assiduously courted black voters, in part by praising Obama and promising to build on his legacy.

She also campaigned alongside black surrogates, and visited African-American churches and historically black colleges.

South Carolina marked a "great test" for the coming votes in other southern states and showed that Clinton "can get a broad base of support of all demographics," her communications director Jennifer Palmieri told reporters, as the candidate shook hands and posed for selfies with supporters.

"This was significant. We were not expecting that decisive a victory," Palmieri added.

- 'Just beginning' -

Sanders a self-described democratic socialist seeking to launch a "political revolution" in America, was already looking past South Carolina.

Early Saturday he headed to Texas, where he addressed a crowd of 10,000 people, and then Minnesota, two states in play next Tuesday when the Vermont senator needs to keep his head above water if he wants to challenge Clinton deeper into the nomination race.

Sanders swiftly offered Clinton his congratulations, but also insisted he was in it for the long haul.

"Let me be clear on one thing tonight. This campaign is just beginning," he said in a statement after results came in.

Speaking at a rally in Rochester, Minnesota, Sanders made no mention of his loss in South Carolina, instead touching on familiar campaign themes.

"When you have billionaires and Wall Street and corporate America pouring hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars into the political process, that is not democracy, that is oligarchy," he told the crowd.

As the Democrats voted, the Republican race churned on as Trump traded barbs with rival Marco Rubio, who in recent days has launched a fierce assault on the billionaire real estate mogul.

"I want to save the (Republican) party from a con artist," Rubio, seen by many as the man best-positioned to topple Trump, said at a stop in Kennesaw, Georgia.

Rubio accosted Trump for "flying around on hair force one," and having "the worst spray tan in America."

Trump pushed back Saturday, blasting Rubio as a "lightweight" and a "liar."

"The Republican Establishment has been pushing for lightweight Senator Marco Rubio to say anything to 'hit' Trump," the billionaire posted on Twitter Sunday.

- 'Super Tuesday' -

Among Democrats, Clinton leads in the national delegate count at this early stage, having now won three of the first four nomination contests.

Gloria Major, a grandmother and campaign volunteer who supported Clinton in 2008, was among the ecstatic crowd listening to her victory speech in Columbia.

"She has been in battles, she is one woman that can lead this country," Major, who is black, told AFP. "For years she has had our best interest at heart."

The 11 states that hold Democratic nominating contests Tuesday will send a whopping 18 percent of the delegates to July's nominating convention in Philadelphia.

Clinton is ahead in most, but Sanders has the edge in Massachusetts and his home turf of Vermont.
DENVER, CO--(Marketwired - Mar 4, 2016) - GrowCo, Inc. ("GrowCo"), a wholly owned subsidiary of Two Rivers Water and Farming Company (OTCQB: TURV) ("Two Rivers"), announced today that a Colorado investor group, headed by John McKowen, the CEO of Two Rivers, and Tim Beall, the Operations Manager of Suncanna, LLC, has entered into an agreement to purchase the membership interests of Suncanna, LLC, which leases GrowCo's first greenhouse, located in Pueblo, Colorado.

John McKowen stated, "We believe the private investor group's purchase of the Suncanna membership interests will better support GrowCo's growth and the interests of Two Rivers' shareholders."

About GrowCo

GrowCo was formed for the purpose of constructing state-of-the-art computer-controlled greenhouses for licensed marijuana growers. GrowCo is not a licensed marijuana grower or retailer. GrowCo does not "touch the plant" and only provides growing infrastructure, growing materials and administrative services for licensed marijuana tenants. For Breaking News Follow GrowCo on Twitter

About Two Rivers

Two Rivers assembles its water assets by acquiring irrigated farmland with senior water rights. Two Rivers current farm operations convert feed crop farmland into fruit and vegetable crop production in Pueblo County, Colorado. In December 2012, Colorado legalized the personal use and cultivation of marijuana. As a result, Two Rivers is providing greenhouses and processing facilities for licensed marijuana growers in Colorado on land with water rights not used for fruit and vegetable crop production.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking statements," as that term is defined in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Statements that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements and include any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors, including the inherent uncertainties associated with developing and acquiring land and water resources. There can be no assurance GrowCo will be able to initiate and operate its grow facilities in accordance with its business plans. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and neither Two Rivers nor GrowCo assumes any obligation to update the forward-looking statements or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements.
The logo of BMW is pictured during a media preview day at the Frankfurt Motor Show (IAA) in this September 10, 2013 file photo. REUTERS/Pawel Kopczynski

By Edward Taylor and Ilona Wissenbach

GENEVA (Reuters) - After a century building what it calls the "ultimate driving machine", BMW is preparing for a world in which its customers will be mere passengers, and the cars will do the driving themselves.

Days before BMW's 100th birthday, its board member for research and development described plans for a completely overhauled company, where half the R&D staff will be computer programmers, competing with the likes of Google parent Alphabet to build the brains for self-driving cars. (GOOGL.O)

"For me it is a core competence to have the most intelligent car," Klaus Froehlich told Reuters in an interview at the Geneva auto show.

As a high tech world opens new business opportunities, BMW sees its competitors as including firms like internet taxi service Uber and sales website Truecar, which Froehlich described as "new intermediaries".

"Our task is to preserve our business model without surrendering it to an internet player. Otherwise we will end up as the Foxconn (2354.TW) for a company like Apple (AAPL.O), delivering only the metal bodies for them," Froehlich said.

BMW will have to ramp up quickly, striking deals with a new network of suppliers, many from outside the traditional automotive industry.

"We have some catching up to do in the area of machine learning and artificial intelligence, Froehlich said.

Today, software engineers make up just 20 percent of the 30,000 employees, contractors and supplier staff that work on research and development for BMW.

"If I need to get to a ratio of 50:50 within five years, I need to get manpower equivalent to another 15,000 to 20,000 people from partnerships with suppliers and elsewhere," Froehlich said, adding that German schools are not producing enough tech engineers for BMW to hire them all in house.

As software becomes as important as hardware, another cultural shift could see BMW free up resources by licensing out technology produced by its own engineers, such as drivetrains for electric and hybrid vehicles.

Story continues

"Going forward we will sell electric drivetrains," Froehlich said. "We see many smaller manufacturers who cannot afford to develop a plug-in hybrid.

BRAGGING RIGHTS

Germany's premium auto makers are at the center of the country's global reputation for meticulous engineering. Chancellor Angela Merkel will attend BMW's birthday bash at its Munich headquarters on Monday.

But with the expected shift in focus from a car's body to its brains, the risk is that the expertise will accumulate in silicon valley or in China, rather than Germany's carmaking regions of Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemburg.

"In the auto industry the battle will be not for horsepower but bragging rights will be my car is more autonomous than your car," said Manuela Papadopol, director, global marketing automotive for Elektrobit, a software company now owned by Continental. (CONG.DE)

BMW, Mercedes-Benz (DAIGn.SW) and Volkswagen's Audi (VOWG_p.DE) are each making an effort to build a hub for automotive software and services. They clubbed together to buy digital map maker HERE from Nokia (NOKIA.HE) last year to create a neutral platform where smart cars can share data on road and traffic conditions.

BMW's own recent hiring included a 200-strong digital innovation team in Chicago, most of whom had worked for Nokia, the Finnish mobile phone pioneer.

Among the areas Froehlich identified where BMW will still need partners is in cloud computing, the technology of storing data and software remotely and accessing it over the internet. Data gathered from a car's onboard sensors will be combined with remote information, for example about weather and traffic, using next generation mobile networks, also known as 5G.

The ultimate aim would be to build as much expertise in-house as possible, although there could be mutual benefits from working with new outside suppliers.

"The thinking here is: they too have weaknesses and there may be some win win situations," Froehlich said of potential new suppliers. "Nonetheless I need to build our own in-house competence in the next 5 to 6 years."

(Reporting by Edward Taylor; editing by Peter Graff)
Airbus President and Chief Executive Officer Fabrice Bregier stands next to its company logo as he poses for photographers during a group interview with reporters in Tianjin, China, March 1, 2016. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

By Tim Hepher

PHOENIX (Reuters) - Airbus (AIR.PA) is seeking airline support for a new 400-seat jetliner provisionally dubbed the A350-8000 as competition escalates with Boeing (BA.N) over the world's largest two-engined jets, airline and aviation industry sources said.

After talking up the possibility of a new member of its A350 family, the European planemaker has swung into an active pre-marketing phase as it responds to a recent upgrade in the competing Boeing 777.

While Boeing has scored successes in the Gulf with its biggest ever twin-engined jet, the 406-seat 777-9, Airbus is expected to aim its design at airlines that do not always require the performance needed for extreme Gulf conditions.

"It would have similar capacity and range (as the 777-9) and substantially lower seat-mile costs," Airbus sales chief John Leahy said in an interview. "We are showing it to airlines right now."

The project is the latest move in a game of leapfrog played by Airbus and Boeing over the past decade in the market for big twinjets, valued at about $1.9 trillion over 20 years.

It marks a shift in priorities after the oil price collapse eased pressure on Airbus to upgrade its larger four-engined A380, output of which is declining because of slow sales.

Two airlines whose feedback could be decisive in whether Airbus launches the new jet are Singapore Airlines (SIAL.SI) and British Airways (ICAG.L).

Singapore took delivery of its first smaller A350-900 model this week and has long been weighing up the 777-9, while putting pressure on Airbus to offer it a choice.

Both airlines declined to comment.

Airbus planemaking president Fabrice Bregier was visiting Singapore on Thursday, where a spokesman declined to comment.

The A350 XWB (Extra Wide Body) family was launched after a string of setbacks in 2006 to compete with Boeing's mid-sized 787 Dreamliner and the larger 777.

Boeing responded to the all-new jet by upgrading its existing 777 series to include the 777-9, which has outsold the A350-1000 by about 40 percent but has entered a lean period.

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Boeing has disclosed 306 sales of 777-9s and a similar variant, while Airbus has sold 181 of its A350-1000s.

"It is clearly an airplane that is on its own in the marketplace and the airplane is selling very well," Boeing marketing chief Randy Tinseth told the Istat Americas air finance conference, referring to the latest 777 model.

KEY DECISIONS

The new, bigger A350 would use a derivative of the latest Rolls-Royce (RR.L) Trent XWB planned for the A350-1000. One person briefed on the plans said it would boost thrust from the current 97,000 pounds to just over 100,000 pounds.

Airbus believes this would compete well for the majority of airline needs and head off further 777-9 sales.

But some analysts said a key to the project would be how easily Rolls-Royce could expand a full slate of projects as it strives to cut costs, even if leaving the Gulf business to Boeing.

"This sounds like they are making a virtue of its lack of hot-and-high performance compared to 777-9 when maybe its the case that Rolls cant afford, or doesnt want to, do a much bigger and substantially new engine," said Nick Cunningham of UK-based Agency Partners.

One engine expert estimated the upgrade could cost half a billion dollars and require a bigger fan and new materials.

Rolls-Royce was not immediately available for comment.

To give the new A350 more capacity and compete with the 777-9 on long trips, Airbus would boost the maximum take-off weight to just over 319 tonnes, compared with 308 tonnes on the Airbus A350-1000, the person briefed on the plans said.

However it would sacrifice some range compared with the 8,000-mile A350-1000.

Airbus says it has not made a final decision on whether to launch a new A350 and will provide an update at the Farnborough Airshow in July.

Meanwhile, it has been weighing up what to call the new member off the A350 XWB family, reflecting deeper decisions on market positioning that can affect billions of dollars in sales.

It needs to strike a balance between protecting sales of the A350-1000, by emphasising differences without weakening its long-held mantra of commonality between related aircraft.

Until now, the possible new model was widely known in the industry as the A350-1100, continuing a sequence from the 276-seat A350-800 to the 315-seat A350-900 and 366-seat A350-1000.

Now, sources say it is being pre-marketed with a surprise new identity, the A350-8000, though a final decision has yet to be taken. An earlier working title was A350-1000 XL.

Leahy confirmed that Airbus was reluctant to ratify the industry's nickname of A350-1100 but declined to give details.

"You don't want it so close to the 1000 that it is an either-or decision. You have the 1000 and another airplane, with equal gaps of 40 seats between the 900 and 1000 (models), and then whatever this becomes."

Eight is a number widely used by planemakers and is seen as a symbol of success in a key battleground for sales: Asia.

"Eight is a very nice number out in Asia, but we are not going to comment until we launch the programme," Leahy said.

Airbus will however be hoping not to repeat the omen of the previous model to carry the -8000 model number: a VIP version of its A340, only one of which was ever built.

(Editing by David Goodman and Adrian Croft)
A 3D plastic representation of the Facebook logo is seen in this illustration in Zenica

Facebook paid just 4,372 ($6,187) in corporation tax in the United Kingdom in 2014 and 3,169 ($4,005) in 2013less than an average London schoolteacher. But starting from April 1, the tech giant will start paying millions more in taxes to the UK, as it will no longer route advertising revenue generated there to its Irish sister company.

Facebook joins Google in creating new arrangements this year that will see more taxes paid to the UK. The UKs corporation tax rate is 20%. Irelands corporation tax is 12.5%, and it levies even lower rates on some earnings, like those linked to research and development.

Today (March 4), Facebook began notifying large UK customers (which include the supermarket chains Sainsburys and Tesco and the advertising conglomerate WPP) that they will no longer be getting bills from Facebook Ireland from April 1. Instead, their invoices will come from Facebook UK.

The new structure is easier to understand and clearly recognizes the value our UK organization adds to our sales through our highly skilled and growing UK sales team, a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement to Quartz.

Facebook said it was making the move because of changes to tax law in the UK, although it did not specify what changes it was responding to. A new tax measure called the diverted profits tax came into effect on April 1, 2015. It levies a 25% tax on profits deemed to have flowed out of the UK through contrived arrangements that allow tax avoidance. A source with knowledge of the situation told Quartz that the move was being made in response to the diverted profits tax.

Google struck a deal with the UK tax authority in January, which saw it agree to pay 130 million ($185 million) in back taxes over the previous 10 years, after an investigation by the authority. A parliamentary committee criticized that deal for being too low.

Story continues

A source with knowledge of Facebooks situation told Quartz that Facebooks new structure has nothing to do with back taxes, and that it had been planning the move for some time. But the Financial Times reported in January that Facebook was under government scrutiny (paywall). Neither Facebook nor the tax authority have confirmed an investigation.

Theres another difference between Google and Facebooks UK tax structures. Whereas Facebook will no longer let its UK revenue flow to Ireland, Google continues to let UK revenues be recognized by its Irish entity, but more of that money will flow back to its UK entity under its new tax agreement.

This gives complete lie to Googles current claim that it could not pay more tax in the UK, Richard Murphy, a City University professor who tracks Googles tax affairs, wrote on a blog. Of course it could. They really would be wise to take note.

Sign up for the Quartz Daily Brief, our free daily newsletter with the worlds most important and interesting news.

More stories from Quartz:
Marco Rubio

Fox News moderator Chris Wallace confronted Marco Rubio on his job-creation record during the Republican presidential debate Thursday night.

Wallace asked Rubio a pointed question: How many jobs did the Florida senator create compared to his rival, real-estate mogul Donald Trump.

"You have taken to calling Mr. Trump as a con artist who portrays himself as a hero to working people while he's really been, in your words, sticking it to the American workers for 30 years," Wallace said.

"But he has built a big company that employs thousands of people. Question: How many jobs have you created?" Wallace said.

Rubio stood firm.

"First of all, Chris, my point is exactly right," Rubio said. "He has spent a career convincing Americans that he is something that he's not in exchange for their money. Now he's trying to do the same in exchange for their country. This is a fact. He talks about these great businesses that he's built. He inherited over $100 million."

To which Trump cut in and said, "Wrong."

Wallace spoke over Trump, saying, "You'll get your turn," as Trump continued to repeat that Rubio was wrong.

"He talks about how he wants to create jobs in America," Rubio continued. "He can start tonight by announcing that all of the Donald J. Trump clothing will no longer be made in China and in Mexico but will be made here in the United States."

Rubio also defended his record on job creation:

And on the issue of job creation ... the private sector creates jobs. The jobs of those of us in public service are to put in place policies that allow the economy to grow. That's the problem with the Democratic Party  they think government is what creates jobs. Government does not create jobs. Now the way you create jobs is you make America the easiest and the best place in the world to start a business or to expand an existing business.

Trump was then asked to respond to Rubio's assertions about his clothing brand and inheritance.

Story continues

"This little guy has lied so much about my record," Trump said.

Rubio cut in and said, "He can't help himself."

Trump continued.

"I will tell you this," he said. "First of all, I got a call from my sister and brother tonight and they said, 'We had no idea Dad gave you $200 million.' Believe me, I started off with $1 million. I built a company that's worth more than $10 billion and I say it not in a bragging way, but that's the kind of thinking we need. Very low debt, tremendous cash flow."

NOW WATCH: CORY BOOKER: Im going to work hard to make sure Trump doesnt win





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Designer Ralph Lauren greets the crowd after presenting his Spring/Summer 2016 collection during New York Fashion Week in New York, September 17, 2015. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Manhattan designer of stuffed animals on Thursday sued Ralph Lauren Corp (RL.N), accusing it of creating an illegal market for stuffed teddy bears resembling her own.

Samantha Goldberg said Ralph Lauren since 2001 has been selling teddy bears handmade from imported Scottish cashmere by her company, Alvin & Sparky LLC. She said her "Big Teddy" retails for $195, while "Little Teddy" sells for $170.

But Goldberg said she learned around September 2013 that Ralph Lauren had begun selling "substantially identical," non-cashmere knockoffs at a fraction of the price, typically $24.50 to $49.50.

She said Ralph Lauren sells the knockoffs in its own stores, online and through such retailers as Macy's, Bloomingdale's and Saks Fifth Avenue, and has also marketed a cashmere top and pant set for baby boys featuring her bear design, and costing $295.

Goldberg, who said her stuffed animals are also sold by Harrods of London, said she never gave permission for Manhattan-based Ralph Lauren to copy her designs. She is seeking damages and a halt to the alleged copyright infringement.

Ralph Lauren did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Goldberg was not immediately available for comment.

The case is Alvin & Sparky LLC v. Ralph Lauren Corp, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 16-01645.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler)
AP_465844937885

Multiple protests are took place outside of the Fox Theatre in Detroit prior to the Republican presidential debate on Thursday.

The primary group that protested was Fight for $15, an organization campaigning for a $15 minimum wage. The group is joined by protesters carrying signs and chanting against Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, and the Flint water crisis.

"We're here today protesting the hateful rhetoric that has been spewed by the Republican Party, particularly Donald Trump," Hassan Sheikh, a member of the Michigan Muslim Community Council, told The Detroit News.

He continued:

We've seen a rise in hate crimes. We've seen a rise in people being empowered to spew out hateful mindsets. And this is not good for the nation. We live in the greatest nation on earth, and we have to do everything we can to keep it that way.

Sheikh was among the hundreds gathered across the street from the Fox Theatre by 7 p.m., a crowd that would be boosted 10 minutes later by the arrival of buses filled with other demonstrators.

Detroit protest

Earlier on Thursday, fast-food workers in Detroit and Flint walked off of their jobs, as a part of the Five for $15 protest, and rallied by the entrance of the Fox Theatre, according to a press release from the organization.

"It's to help workers get a decent wage and form a union," Taco Bell worker Tyrone Stitt from Flint told the Detroit Free Press. "I feel like the corporations are making billions of dollars off the backs of low-paid workers  and they aren't paying people what they are worth."

CNN's Dylan Byers captured the raucous scene outside the venue on Thursday evening, less than two hours before the start of the debate:

#Break: HUGE protest outside Fox Theater where GOP Debate is taking place... pic.twitter.com/jBt9B7B9nT  Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) March 4, 2016

Photos of the protest surfaced on social media as well:

GOP debate, Detroit style: Hundreds take over the street outside in protest. #gopdebate A photo posted by Kyle Feldscher (@kylefeldscher) on Mar 3, 2016 at 5:01pm PST on Mar 3, 2016 at 5:01pm PST

Outside the FOX Theater in Detroit protestors & supporters alike waiting for the #GOPDebate with @SKrafftFox10 pic.twitter.com/oaOW7vqucR  Corey G (@CGoodFOX10) March 4, 2016

NOW WATCH: Teachers are calling in sick to protest the deplorable condition of Detroit public schools





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By Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi and Rajesh Kumar Singh ZURICH/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Trade tensions between India and the United States intensified on Friday as New Delhi filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization over steep fee increases for U.S. non-immigrant temporary work visas. The WTO said in a statement that India has disputed the doubling of the fees for H-1B and L-1 work visas and limits on their numbers. The visas are typically used by thousands of Indian nationals hired by information technology services firms operating in the United States. The complaint comes just days after the United States won a WTO ruling in favour of its challenge to India's domestic content rules for its solar power subsidy programme after months of negotiations failed to produce a settlement. In its filing, India said the new U.S. visa measures seemed inconsistent with the WTO commitments the United States had made, because the moves treat Indian IT workers in the United States less favourably than their American counterparts. In December, the U.S. Congress doubled the cost of sponsoring H-1B visas to $4,000 each and L-1 visas to $4,500 each as part of a major spending bill. Indian business lobby NASSCOM estimated that would inflate costs for Indian IT export firms by $400 million a year. India is upset that the visa fees were raised without consultation. Its $150 billion outsourcing sector provides about three quarters of the country's annual revenue from the United States. The outsourcing companies send thousands of staff every year to work at client locations. Analysts say the measure will cut 50 to 60 basis points off the profit margins of companies like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys starting this fiscal year, which begins in April. A spokesman for the Indian trade ministry declined to comment on the filing. In Washington, U.S. Trade Representative spokesman Andrew Bates said that the United States "looks forward to discussing our H-1B visa programme with our Indian counterparts." "We are confident that the United States visa programme, which was recently updated on a bipartisan basis by Congress, is fully consistent with our WTO obligations," Bates added. The United States has 10 days to respond to the request, which will go to the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body if the two countries cannot reach an agreement. (Additional reporting by David Lawder in Washington; Editing by Larry King and James Dalgleish)
KUALA LUMPUR, March 4 (Reuters) - Malaysia Airlines said on Friday its revenue per available seat kilometre, a measure of passenger capacity, improved by 10 percent year-on-year for the quarter ended February, as the airline's restructuring made progress.

The national carrier of Malaysia also said it was "evaluating additional Airbus A350s in order to reach a critical fleet size". The airline already has four Airbus A350-900s aircraft on order.

Malaysia Airlines embarked on a restructuring process last year, after the loss of two jets in separate incidents in 2014.

Christoph Mueller, who turned around Aer Lingus during his tenure as CEO of the Irish carrier, was hired to boost the airline's fortunes after Malaysian national investment firm Khazanah took it private late last year.

"We are focused on building momentum with our restructuring in 2016," Mueller said in a statement.

"Diligent execution on efficiency and tighter cost controls has already produced results which have seen us emerging leaner and more focused."

The carrier signed a deal to expand a partnership with Emirates airline in December, which will also saw it exit some loss-making European routes. (Reporting by Praveen Menon; Editing by Miral Fahmy)
Its not easy to break into the ranks, but these six companies have done it.

Meet the newcomers to this years ranking of Fortunes 100 Best Companies to Work For.

Ranging from hoteliers to consulting firms, these companies offer some sparkling benefits for employees along with stellar team building activities that have their workers raving.

From free lunches to free trips to Bermuda, these companies have worked hard to inspire and engage their workers.

See original article on Fortune.com

More from Fortune.com

Veterans United Home Loans

100 Best Companies rank: 30

Employees: 1,700

A private financial services company, Veterans United Home Loans offers its namesake, loans, to military families. And the company makes sure its employees understand the value of money. Before their first day on the job, new hires are sent $10 by the firm as a way to share how money can change someones lives.

And once in the company, employees and their families are invited out for a camping trip every summer that includes fishing, campfires, games, and S'mores.

VUHL also offers discounted gym memberships, and the unlikely choice of pet insurance in its benefits package--which may account for its popularity among employees.

Read more about their perks and benefits here.

Hilton Worldwide

100 Best Companies rank: 56

Employees: 58,800

A Virginia-based hotel and resort chain gone global, Hilton Worldwide is behind brands including Embassy Suites Hotels, DoubleTree, and Homewood Suites. The multinational company offers car washes, an onsite fitness center, and dry cleaning. It also offers a 60 day maternity leave and up to two weeks paid leave for dads and adoptive parents.

Story continues

Other things that make Hilton a great place to work: health insurance for part timers, and a lot of opportunity for promotions.

Read more about their perks and benefits here.

Power Home Remodeling

100 Best Companies rank: 59

Employees: 1,500

Founded in 1992, the residential, exterior remodeling company offers personal travel services, massage therapy, dry cleaning service, and, the cherry on top, also hosts an year-end trip to a tropical destination. Past destinations have included a Caribbean cruise and a trip to Mexico. The company was named No.1 on Fortune's list of the 100 Best Workplaces for Millennials.

Read more about their perks and benefits here.

Encompass Home Health and Hospice

100 Best Companies rank: 69

Employees: 8,000

The Dallas-based home healthcare organization offer employees discounted gym memberships, partial college tuition reimbursements, and paid time off for volunteering. Which is really exciting, because the organization also takes employees and retirees on international medical missions. Those trips have gone to Honduras, Haiti, Uganda and Kenya.

The company also offers free lunch and breakfast on a regular basis.

Read more about their perks and benefits here.

First American Equipment

2016 Best Companies rank: 94

Employees: 11,200

An equipment lender, First American offers each employee a personal iPad and company lap top. Employees also have access to discounted gym memberships. Top employees can earn all-inclusive vacations as a reward for their services, even to exotic destinations such as Bermuda.

The company also sponsors a "Team Build" event for employees to participate in Habitat for Humanity and other housing related charities on a paid day off.

Read more about their perks and benefits here.

Slalom

100 Best Companies rank: 100

Employees: 3,400

The Seattle-based consulting firm has a "no unwanted travel" policy, allowing their workers to stay in their hometown if they wish. The employer also gives workers one-month paid sabbatical every three years. At work, Slalom employees can expect free breakfast on a daily basis, an onsite fitness center and health insurance to part timers.

Read more about their perks and benefits here.

See the full list! For even more on Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For, go to fortune.com/best-companies, where you'll find company profiles, hiring and compensation data, the number of job openings, and much more.
By Rod Nickel

WINNIPEG, Manitoba, March 3 (Reuters) - Canadian uranium company Khan Resources Inc wants Ottawa to suspend aid to Mongolia if it fails to reach a settlement with the Asian country for cancelling Khan's mining license, its chief executive said on Thursday.

An international tribunal ordered Mongolia last year to pay about $100 million to Khan as compensation for having canceled in 2009 its license to mine the Dornod uranium project, which was in development.

Khan maintains that Mongolia planned to grant the rights to Russia's ARMZ, but stopped when its move drew attention.

The money has not been repaid.

"Mongolia ... is not complying," said Grant Edey, Khan's chief executive. "You have to step up and treat them as a bad actor."

Edey said he has not yet met with elected officials in the Canadian government, which was elected in October, to request that it stop aid to Mongolia. Annual Canadian aid to Mongolia is at least C$4 million, Edey said.

Edey plans to meet with a Mongolian delegation scheduled to attend next week's Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) mining convention in Toronto.

Khan and Mongolian officials last met in January to discuss a settlement, with limited progress, Edey said.

"We would like to settle. They say they would like to settle, but they've given more indication of delay than anything else," he said.

A spokesperson for Canada's Global Affairs department could not be reached after business hours. The Mongolian Embassy to Canada said ambassador Radnaabazar Altangerel was not available.

Mongolia is trying to annul the arbitration award in a French court. Khan has filed for court certification of its award in the United States, which may allow it to seize Mongolian commercial assets there.

(Reporting by Rod Nickel; Editing by Sandra Maler)
BRUSSELS, March 4 (Reuters) - There is no new bailout under consideration for Portugal, a spokesperson for the euro zone bailout fund ESM said on Friday, adding the country should continue on its reform path.

Concern among some officials that a new bailout for the country might be needed was fuelled by the rise of yields of Portuguese bonds since the start of the year as the country's new government showed reluctance to continue reforms and fiscal consolidation.

"A new ESM programme for Portugal is not under consideration," a spokesperson for the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) said.

"Reform implementation and a responsible budgetary policy had allowed Portugal to overcome its deep recent crisis and to exit its financial support programme," the ESM said.

"In order to put the country's economy permanently on a sustainable and solid footing Portugal should continue to follow this successful path," the ESM spokesperson said.

(Reporting By Francesco Guarascio and Jan Strupczewski)
Assyrians Find Shelter in Istanbul Church

Their lives shattered by ongoing conflict at home, the Christian Assyrian community of Syria have found safe haven at a small church in Istanbul where fellow faithful embrace them. The church in Istanbul's Samatya district is run by a foundation of the Assyrian community in Turkey, hosts migrants from Syria who were defrauded by human smugglers along their journey to Europe. Migrants have been offered food and accommodation at the church. They await approval of their asylum requests from European countries, where relatives live. Families who fled violence perpetrated by DAESH targeting the Christian community in Syria spend their days at the guesthouse of the church, waiting for their visa applications to be approved while a small group looks for ways to sneak into Europe, like their fellow Syrians who board boats bound for Greek islands off Turkey's Aegean coast. Naaim Lazie, once a businessman running a textile factory in Syria, managed to smuggle his wife and three children to Germany but does not have enough money to pay smugglers, after being defrauded by the first smugglers he contacted. Laazie says he traveled months ago to ?zmir, a hot spot for migrants from Syria due to the proximity to the Greek islands, hoping to join others entering Greece from Turkey. He paid 24,000 euros to two groups of smugglers, but the smugglers abandoned the Lazie family on the beach. He finally managed to get his family aboard another boat and family members managed to travel as far as Germany from Greece. "It was a rough journey for them but they made it anyway. I now await them to settle down there and I will travel later," he says, defiant despite his experiences. Alexy Kazangy similarly paid a large sum to smugglers who promised him a journey to Greece aboard a rubber boat. He paid $1,000 for the journey, but realized he was conned when the smugglers did not show up on the beach. Kazangy has turned to legal procedures, and now awaits approval of his visa application to Germany. "I expect them to facilitate the process for us," he says. Silva Kurtalan, a church volunteer helping migrants, says the majority of the people they host wanted to cross into Europe illegally, and most guests were women "waiting for their husbands who already made it to Europe to take them."
Cuban migrants, like these men and women seen in Puerto Obaldia on May 15, 2015, on their way to the United States have been stuck in Panama ever since Nicaragua closed its borders to them (AFP Photo/Rodrigo Arangua) (AFP/File)

Panama City (AFP) - Panama on Tuesday started direct flights to Mexico for more than 1,000 US-bound Cuban migrants who have been stuck in the country since Central American borders were closed to them late last year.

The first flight left from Panama's international airport. The foreign ministry said in a statement it would land in Juarez, a Mexican city on the US border. Other flights would follow this week.

It emphasized that the flights were a "limited" and "exceptional" measure.

They mirrored flights Costa Rica has been carrying out since January, for some 8,000 Cubans who had been stuck on its territory.

The Cubans aim to get to the United States where a Cold War-era law allows them easy entry and a fast-track to residency.

But their journey, to South America, up through Central America and then Mexico and the US border, was frustrated in November last year when Nicaragua -- a Cuban ally -- closed its borders to them, and Costa Rica dismantled a people-smuggling ring they had been relying on.

Costa Rica in December closed its own border to any more Cuban arrivals as it struggled to clear the migrants from its territory.

That trapped around 1,300 Cubans in Panama, which then availed itself of Costa Rica's example to organize its own flights for them.

Authorities insist the Cubans have to pay the cost of the flights themselves -- around $550 per person, according to Panamanian Foreign Minister Isabel De Saint Malo.

Panama said the flights were only for Cubans already in the country, not for any future arrivals. It also barred media from covering the departure of the first plane.
By Julie Gordon

VANCOUVER, March 3 (Reuters) - Strains over stalled Canadian oil pipeline projects look set to cloud tough talks on Thursday between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the country's 10 provinces on how to tackle global warming.

Trudeau won an election last October on a pledge to do much more than the previous administration to curb emissions of greenhouse gases, which are climbing as firms exploit Canada's vast crude-rich oil sands.

"Canada needs to step up in its fight against climate change," he said on Tuesday at a press conference ahead of the negotiations in Vancouver. As it stands, Canada has no chance of meeting its international climate change targets.

Trudeau is under pressure both from environmentalists who want to curb oil sands production and western energy-producing provinces which say he needs to push through the construction of pipelines to take the crude to coastal ports.

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall is upset that the eastern province of Quebec has filed an injunction against TransCanada Corp's proposed Energy East pipeline, designed to carry up to 1.1 million barrels of western oil per day to eastern ports.

"It does look like a political barrier put up against the project because there's oil involved," Wall told reporters on Wednesday, noting that Quebec has benefited in the past from transfer payments from energy-rich Western provinces.

Trudeau, pressed on the matter, said he did not feel "highlighting points of disagreement or differing views in this country is a threat to national unity".

The 44-year-old prime minister is also trying to revamp a process to approve energy projects that has become so bogged down that some industry players wonder whether another pipeline will ever be built.

Even Trudeau allies such as Alberta Premier Rachel Notley are showing signs of impatience.

"We need the federal government sooner - not later - to play its role in building the national economy and to get our pipelines built," she told reporters on Tuesday.

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The Vancouver meeting was initially intended to create a firm plan for cutting emissions. Instead, in a sign of the challenges, that date has been pushed back by six months.

The provinces, which enjoy significant jurisdiction over the environment, have in many cases adopted different plans to deal with global warming and are wary of Ottawa's intentions.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said on Wednesday the talks would not result in the federal government imposing a solution.

"I don't know exactly what we'll get all provinces to agree to," she told reporters.

Wall opposes Trudeau's plans for a national carbon price, saying he will not sign any declaration that commits the provinces to such a measure.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Alan Crosby)
By John Geddie

LONDON, March 4 (Reuters) - Portuguese government borrowing costs held near one-month lows on Friday, showing little sign of stress as the first of a number of back-to-back tests for its credit rating approached.

Lisbon's bonds have recovered after a sharp sell-off in mid-February, boosted partly by an improving outlook for growth in the world's largest economy, the United States.

U.S. jobs data due later on Friday is expected to confirm a solid trend.

Investors are also relieved that Portugal's new Socialist government tightened its budget plan last month after pressure from the European Commission, but uncertainty remains over whether more cost-cutting will be needed to reduce its deficit.

Fitch is the first of three agencies to assess Portugal's rating over the coming two months, building up to a ruling from DBRS which could junk Lisbon in a move that would make its bonds no longer eligible for the ECB's asset-purchase programme.

"While (Fitch's) rating action would not be overly significant in itself, we see the risk that investors will make inferences...for the crucial review from DBRS," said Commerzbank strategist David Schnautz.

"Overall, we hold on to our cautious stance in PGBs (Portuguese government bonds)."

Fitch rates Portugal at BB+, one notch below investment grade, with a positive outlook. But it warned in January that the country's anti-austerity budget may be unrealistic and could lead to weaker growth and a rating cut.

Analysts expect Fitch to remove its positive outlook, with a chance it switches to a negative outlook.

This would not bode well for a review from Standard and Poor's on March 18, and crucially for a review from DBRS on April 29, the only one of four agencies recognised by the ECB that has an investment grade rating for Portugal, which must have one such rating to qualify for quantitative-easing buying.

Last month DBRS said it was comfortable with its BBB (low) 'stable' rating for Portugal but raised concern about a rout in its bonds that sent yields near a two-year high of 4.38 percent on Feb. 11.

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DBRS said the rise in yields -- partly sparked by investor concerns about its budget plan -- could become a problem given Lisbon's high refinancing burden. Around a third of Portugal's 148 billion euros of outstanding debt falls due over the next three years.

Portugal's 10-year yields were up 2 basis points at 2.89 percent on Friday, while most other euro zone equivalents were a touch lower. But they remained within touching distance of a four-week low of 2.85 percent hit a few days ago.

DZ Bank analyst Martin van Vliet said signs from DBRS that it is comfortable with its rating should ease market nerves for now, barring any "unforeseen circumstances".

The fourth agency whose rating is recognised by the ECB, Moody's, skipped a review of Portugal's junk Ba1 rating on Jan. 15. It said this week that Lisbon still needs significant fiscal consolidation to reduce its large debts, and its banking system is not strong enough to support economic recovery.

(Reporting by John Geddie; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
Across the political spectrum, people warn of a coming time bomb in our retirement system. Many analysts believe the growing population of retirees will overwhelm the Social Security program, and that something must be done to shore up its finances.

However, theres another slow-moving time bomb out there, and thats the gradual retirement of workers in an era where 401(k)-style defined-contribution plans have become dominant, replacing defined-benefit pensions. A new study of the state of U.S. retirement shows that this change leaves Americans woefully unprepared for their non-working years, with resources too meager to uphold their standard of living.

Economist Monique Morrissey of the Economic Policy Institute makes this case with 32 charts that present a sobering picture for our nations retirees. She first analyzed data from the Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances for all families with heads of household between the ages of 32 and 61, covering the thirty years before Social Securitys early retirement kicks in at age 62. And she found major disparities caused by the shift from pensions to 401(k) plans.

Related: The Best States for Retirement 2016

Retirement savings have mostly stagnated since the turn of the century for large cohorts of Americans. On average, families had $95,776 saved in 401(k) or IRA plans in 2013 (the last year studied), compared to $91,243 in 2001. This is not nearly enough to make up for the disappearance of defined-benefit pensions. More important, the averages, which include people who have saved millions, dont show the whole picture.

Nearly half of all working-age families have no money in retirement accounts at all. The median family has $5,000 saved. Even for people between the ages of 56 and 61, the median retirement account savings is a paltry $17,000. While the top 10 percent have at least $274,000 saved, the bottom 50 percent have next to nothing. We are moving toward a retirement system that magnifies inequality instead of just reflecting it, Morrissey said on a conference call Thursday.

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This was not always the case. Pensions used to be far more egalitarian, held by people of modest incomes as much as the wealthy. Pensions were even held relatively equally by white and black populations. (Hispanics, Morrissey points out, always lagged behind.)

The 401(k) revolution changed this. Low-income Americans are more likely to have jobs that dont offer 401(k) plans. And as financial risks are shifted to individual employees, the poor are increasingly unable to afford to put portions of their paychecks into their own retirement funds. Relatively complex 401(k) plans are also more difficult to understand when compared to having a pension benefit manager handle the details.

Related: 10 Great Jobs for Retirees

As a result, higher-income families are ten times as likely to hold a retirement account as lower-income families. Most African-Americans and Hispanics have no retirement savings, and the ones that do have smaller balances. Families without college education mostly dont have retirement accounts, and 82 percent of those lacking a high school diploma dont. Single Americans are also less likely to have retirement accounts.

Looking at retirees through U.S. Census data, Morrissey found that pension plans remain a far more important source of income than retirement accounts, twenty-five years after 401(k) plans became more popular. Interestingly, African-American and female retirees especially benefit from pensions, likely because they hold a disproportionate share of public-sector jobs, among the few that still offer defined benefits.

This switch to 401(k) plans began at the same time that Social Security benefit cuts kicked in with 1983 legislation raising the retirement age. Also in this period, wages started to lag behind productivity, with the labor share of income falling.

The timing couldnt have been worse for switching to a 401(k) system, Morrissey said. But they are so lucrative to Wall Street fund managers, with much higher fees than pensions, that reverting back to pensions wholesale is an unlikely scenario.

In effect, we have kicked two of the legs out of the three-legged retirement stool. Individual savings have stagnated along with wages, as more and more of workers paychecks cover little more than everyday needs. The pension has been substituted with a stock plan that was never intended to serve as an adequate replacement. The new 401(k)s were initially viewed as a supplement to traditional pensions, Morrissey said. Its not surprising that they havent worked out, because they werent intended to serve that purpose.

Related: How Planning to Work in Retirement Could Backfire

The solution, to Morrissey, is to strengthen the one leg of the stool that has remained intact: Social Security. This remains the one program that is critical to retirees across the spectrum, regardless of race, income or education. For low-income seniors, Social Security represents nearly all of their income. Social Security expansion has become a rallying cry for liberals, and with Bernie Sanders support it could become the one piece of his agenda that gets accepted in the Democratic platform, as the best way to arrest the retirement crisis.

Morrissey offered other suggestions for improvement, mindful that Social Security expansion may be unattainable in the near term. First, dont dig the hole bigger by cutting pensions, she said, warning against recent attacks on public-sector benefits, which even now mean more to retirees than 401(k) plans.

The other option Morrissey highlighted was an innovative program out of California called the Secure Choice Plan, a statewide portable retirement savings plan for workers who cannot access one through their job. While still in the formative stages, the California plan is talking about real amounts of money put into these investments, Morrissey said, and theyre talking about pooling investments to keep costs down, and protecting against losses by adding a reserve fund. Its a really innovative idea.

Whatever the solution, the current trend is leaving Americans thoroughly unready to retire. The 401(k) experiment was a historical accident, never meant to provide complete security for workers. It may sound good to control your own retirement, but in practice it just loads risk onto people without the resources to handle it. We are driving more and more retirees to the brink of poverty and robbing them of their dignity in old age, and it has to stop.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
* Attacks on oil facilities on the rise in Nigeria's Delta

* Sophisticated seawater attack signals escalation of violence

* Delta residents complain of neglect, poverty

By Ulf Laessing

LAGOS, March 4 (Reuters) - A sophisticated attack on a sub-sea pipeline in Nigeria's Delta might herald a return to the kind of widespread militant violence that crippled the oil industry in Africa's top producer less than a decade ago.

Attacks on oil facilities have been on the rise in the swamps since President Muhammadu Buhari vowed to shake up a fraud-ridden amnesty programme for rebels who stopped blowing up pipelines in 2009 in exchange for cash and generous contracts.

Adding a new dimension, unknown militants - probably using divers - hit a Shell underwater pipeline last month, interrupting oil flows and forcing the company to shut down its 250,000 barrel-a-day Forcados export terminal for weeks.

Nigeria-based diplomats and security experts say the attack showed a level of skill and inside intelligence rarely seen since the 2004-2009 insurgency, which at its height halved Nigeria's oil output of around 2 millions barrels a day.

"This was an attack that required knowledge of the area and sophisticated equipment," said a Western security source, asking not to be named. "There were underwater attacks before but none recently. The oil firms are really worried there will be more."

Militants tend to attack small overland pipelines or flow stations sitting in hard-to-access mosquito-infested creeks.

The underwater attack has cut 15 percent of Nigerian crude output, dealing another blow to Buhari, who is already having to cope with a collapse of oil revenues due to falling prices, a Boko Haram jihadist insurgency in the north and secessionist calls in the southeast.

The strike came a month after authorities issued an arrest warrant for former militant leader Government Ekpemupolo, better known as Tompolo.

Like other ex-rebel leaders Tompolo became a millionaire through the amnesty by winning contracts to protect pipelines he used to blow up in his fight for a greater share of Nigeria's oil wealth. Others made a fortune with massive oil theft.

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Buhari has vowed to end over-priced state contracts and crude theft. But in the Delta many ex-fighters see the hunt for Tompolo as part of a campaign by mainly Muslim northerners, like the president, against the Christian south. The government denies any such motive.

The swampland's oil provides 70 percent of state income but, like much of the rest of Nigeria, the region has never seen much development. Its roads are pot-holed and villages polluted from oil spills.

"Many angry young men still support the militants because the government is not addressing their grievances," said Alagoa Morris, an environmental activist in the Delta. "They work for anyone who supports them."

TROOPS

Authorities have responded by sending troops to protect oil facilities, a move residents say might fuel tensions as villagers will likely see them as invaders sent by Buhari.

"The militarisation of the Delta makes it worse," said Morris. "People see that the government is only interested in the oil production, not their grievances."

A security official said Tompolo's men were probably behind the sub-sea attack. Activists say it could have been the work of other ex-rebels frustrated about the region's poverty.

Tompolo has disappeared from public view since the arrest warrant was issued, and his spokesman, Paul Bebenimibo, could not be reached for comment.

He had links to the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), one of the most powerful militant groups, which attacked oil facilities and kidnapped expatriate workers.

A previously unknown group called the Niger Delta Avengers has claimed responsibility, warning Buhari of more trouble unless he fulfils a long list of demands such as starting development and cleaning up polluted villages.

Reuters was unable to contact the group or verify its statement. In total, ten oil and gas pipelines or other facilities have been attacked in the Delta since the start of the year, security experts say.

DELTA

Tension has been building in the Delta since Buhari defeated president Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian southerner from the region, in presidential polls a year ago.

The government has extended the amnesty but vowed to shift the focus to job training and away from cash payments, which in the past were collected by "generals" for their "boys".

So far, the attacks have not been as severe as the previous insurgency. But diplomats worry that Delta activists are teaming up with secessionists in the southeast, where Ibgo people who proclaimed an independent state called Biafra sparked a 1967-70 civil war in which more than a million people died.

In the Avengers statement, the group demanded the release of a pro-Biafra leader jailed since October.

On Thursday, groups of former militant leaders denounced the pipeline attacks but also urged Buhari to expand the amnesty to "some of our brothers who are still in the creeks" - still a hideout for militants, pirates and kidnappers.

They also told Buhari the amnesty should be extended to 2019 to give young men time to receive job training.

The government has said it wants to set up vocational centres to train up to 10,000 people annually. But little has happened as the oil price slump has undermined spending plans.

(Additional reporting by Libby George in London, Felix Onuah in Abuja, Anamesere Igboeroteonwu in Onitsha and Tife Owolabi in Yenagoa; Editing by Ed Cropley and Peter Graff)
Planes should report their location every 15 minutes.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) has establieshed new rules to improve the tracking of Singapore-registered aircraft on Friday, March 4.

Under the new rules, planes will be required to report their location at least every 15 minutes, throughout the entire duration of the flight. The new rules apply to passenger planes weighing over 27,000 kg and carrying more than 19 passengers, as well as cargo aircraft of more than 45,500 kg.

There will be a transition period before the new rules kick in. From 1 July 2016 onwards, airlines will be required to track their aircraft either manually or automatically. From 8 November 2018 onwards, only automatic tracking will be permitted.

This move is consistent with the International Civil Aviation Organizations (ICAO) plans to require a 15-minute standard for normal flight tracking by November 2018, CAAS said.

CAAS also noted that the requirement on Singapore airlines flying over any area, which is more comprehensive than the ICAO requirement which is only for aircraft flying over oceanic areas.

CAAS move came a few days ahead of the second anniversary of the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight 370





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Singapore will require all of the city-state's aircraft operators both passenger and cargo services  to ping the location of all their aircraft every 15 minutes throughout flights.

"This move is consistent with the International Civil Aviation Organization's (ICAO) plans to require a 15-minute standard for normal flight tracking by November 2018," the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) said in a press release Friday. "Also, we will impose this requirement on our airlines flying over any area, which is more comprehensive than the ICAO requirement which is only for aircraft flying over oceanic areas."

The new rules will apply to all passenger aircraft of more than 27,000 kg and carrying more than 19 passengers and cargo aircraft larger than 45,500 kg. The requirements will allow airlines to track their planes either manually or automatically from July 1 of this year, but they must all switch to automatic tracking by November 8, 2018.

The rules may not apply much burden on Singapore-flagged passenger carriers.

Singapore Airlines (Singapore Exchange: SIAL-SG) is already in compliance with the new rules, Captain C.E. Quay, the carrier's acting senior vice president of flight operations said in the release.

Tigerair (Singapore Exchange: TAHL-SG) Singapore, which is majority owned by Singapore Airlines, is working with CAAS to better track its planes, the release said.

Ensuring airlines know where their planes are became a hot-button issue after Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, bound from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, vanished with barely a trace nearly two years ago.

The flight is believed to have crashed into the Indian Ocean, diverting far off course for unknown reasons. But a dearth of tracking data has made finding the crash site difficult, with more than 60,000 square kilometers already searched to no avail.

Late last year, a piece of debris determined to be from the plane was discovered on Reunion Island, while earlier this month, another piece that may also be wreckage was found in Mozambique.

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SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore's United Overseas Bank said it would invest $10 million in Israel-headquartered crowdfunding platform OurCrowd as part of the companies' collaboration to help Asian startups raise equity funds.

UOB said the deal would allow accredited investors among its clients invest in OurCrowd's portfolio companies, adding the partnership would help address the funding gap for small and medium enterprises in southeast Asia.

Sassoon Investment Corp, an investment holding company of Singapore-based Sassoon family known for building The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf brand, will also be investing in OurCrowd's Asian expansion.

Crowdfunding is the practice of financing a project or venture by raising small amounts of money from many people, typically through the Internet. OurCrowd has invested over $200 million in 93 portfolio companies and has seen four exits since its 2013 launch.

UOB's move is an example of how the global banking industry has been adopting financial technology by partnering with fintech companies, launching start-up programs or funding them.

Asia has become the second-most funded region for fintech, as investors keen to access to the world's largest unbanked population and a private wealth market about to overtake that of North America, E&Y said in a report last year.

UOB had tied up last year with Singapore state investor Temasek to provide venture debt financing to start-ups in China, India and Southeast Asia.

(Reporting By Aradhana Aravindan; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)
* Uneven progress sparks dissatisfaction among some voters

* Impressive growth over past decade, low debt

* Poorer marks on healthcare, education

* Critics see government handouts rather than reforms

By Tatiana Jancarikova

BRATISLAVA, March 4 (Reuters) - Slovakia stands out in central Europe as a euro zone member that has reformed its economy, kept its national debt low and attracted international investors. But when pensioner Kornel Klatt went into a hospital in Bratislava for surgery, he took his own toilet paper.

Slovakia's growth has not trickled down to health and education, tarnishing Prime Minister Robert Fico's credentials as he heads into an election on Saturday. Although his Smer party is expected to win, it is likely to lose its absolute majority.

Fico has bolstered his ratings with a vocal stance against immigration, but his popularity has fallen in the final weeks of the campaign. Teachers and nurses have staged rare protests for higher wages and more spending on schooling and health .

"I received good medical care, but the building was old, the beds uncomfortable and patients had to bring cutlery and toilet paper," said Klatt, 72, who had hip surgery in December.

When Slovakia broke off from the Czech Republic in 1993, it was much the poorer of the two, with defunct arms factories and an autocratic prime minister who preferred ties with Russia to convergence with the European Union and scared away investors.

That began to change in 1998, when a centre-right government took power. Slovakia joined the EU in 2004 and adopted the euro in 2009. Gross domestic product grew to 77 percent of the EU average in 2014 from 47 percent in 1995, and Fico is promising to reach 85 percent in his next term.

Fico won his first four-year term in 2006 and second in 2012. He reversed some privatisations, slightly raised corporate taxes and expanded worker protection, but Slovakia remained an investor favourite. Strong growth and healthy banks have kept the budget under control and debt at half the euro zone average.

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NOT ROSY ALL AROUND

However, the average Slovak gross wage remains low by European standards at 861 euros ($941.59) per month, less than its regional peers. That appeals to investors, but not to voters.

Slovak teachers, some of whom went on strike last month, are paid less than those in any other country in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, according to OECD data. And at 10.4 percent the unemployment rate is far above the Czech Republic's 6.4 percent. A third of the labour force is out of work is some outlying regions.

Fico's government has tried to address living standards - the minimum wage has been raised to 405 euros a month, for example. But critics say he has resorted to handouts like free train rides for students and pensioners rather than real reform.

Fico's first government cancelled fees for doctor visits, for example, which was popular with patients. The fees were meant to limit needless consultations, though, and save money for more serious treatment. Healthcare in Slovakia ranked 24th among 35 European states last yeare, according to Swedish-based Health Consumer Powerhouse.

In February, the government had to call in army personnel to secure care at one hospital after hundreds of nurses quit in protest over pay.

Fico's health minister and the head of parliament resigned in 2014 after thousands of Slovaks protested in the streets over allegations of overpriced purchases of hospital equipment, the cabinet's biggest scandal.

"I have always leaned left, admired Scandinavian countries, voted for Smer in last election - but I won't support them this time," said Bohuslav Ilavsky, the headmaster of an elementary school in Detva, a town in central Slovakia.

"Fico's welfare packages are pure populism, but he hasn't delivered on his promises to make real change." ($1 = 0.9144 euros)

(Writing by Jan Lopatka, editing by Larry King)
* Second vote on Socialist-led government ends in defeat

* 131 lawmakers back Socialist plan, 219 vote against

* Political parties will hold new round of talks

* New election to be called if no majority reached by May 2 (Adds result of vote, party reaction, writes through)

By Angus Berwick and Blanca Rodriguez

MADRID, March 4 (Reuters) - The leader of Spain's Socialists failed on Friday to win the confidence of parliament to become prime minister, opening a new round of talks between parties who now have just two months to break a 10-week deadlock and avoid a fresh election.

In a first for Spain, Pedro Sanchez lost his second investiture vote, securing the support of only 131 members of the 350-strong assembly for his proposed coalition which sets the country on course for its second election in six months.

Spain's parties have been in fruitless negotiations to form a government since a December vote when Spaniards weary of austerity and corruption deserted the two traditional parties to vote for newcomers.

But the talks, which have often boiled over into vitriolic attacks that have highlighted tensions between Spain's political left and right, are now set to continue at a time when the Spanish economy is staging an uneven recovery.

As on Wednesday when Sanchez lost a first vote, acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's conservative People's Party (PP), anti-austerity upstart Podemos and five smaller parties voted against Sanchez, scuppering his pact with business-friendly Ciudadanos. A small party from the Canary Islands also voted for Sanchez.

Until the last minute the Socialist leader tried to woo Podemos into joining his "government of change" but the party's leader Pablo Iglesias, a pony-tailed former university lecturer, held out for an alliance solely between leftist parties.

"I will continue working to achieve the majority this country needs," Sanchez told reporters after the vote. "Pablo Iglesias has betrayed his party's voters and he is responsible for Rajoy remaining as prime minister."

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Iglesias before the vote compared his dispute with the Socialists to a quarrel between lovers and said Sanchez should embrace the other "monstrous" leftist parties which would be needed to reach the parliamentary majority of 176 seats.

A coalition between the Socialists and Podemos would have to depend on former communists Izquierda Unida and four regional parties from the Basque Country and Catalonia, all of which voted against Sanchez on Friday.

"I again offer you my hand Mr. Sanchez, and after tonight we will be able to get to work," Iglesias, who came third in the December general election, told a restless parliament where speakers were repeatedly interrupted by jeers and whistles.

CLOSER TO NEW ELECTIONS

Sanchez's failure, the first time a candidate had lost both confidence votes since Spain returned to democracy in the mid-1970s, sets the clock ticking on a two-month window for parties to form an alternative majority before May 2.

On that date parliament would be dissolved and Spaniards would have to return to the ballot box, most likely on June 26. Analysts say such an outcome is looking increasingly certain.

Although businesses and investors have so far remained calm about the deadlock, new elections would raise the risk that Spain's economic growth, one of the highest rates in the EU, might be impaired by lost months of political leadership.

Rajoy had branded the Socialist-Ciudadanos coalition a "farce" and a threat to the national interest which sought to undo reforms his government brought in over the past four years.

"He has wasted all our time, he generated false expectations and he has defrauded us," he told parliament before the vote.

Rajoy had moved aside last month to allow Sanchez's bid after he also failed to win support. But he said he would now make renewed efforts to form a grand coalition of centre-left and centre-right parties under him as prime minister.

Lluis Orriols, a political science lecturer at the University Carlos III of Madrid, says it is unlikely Rajoy would be able to win over other parties since both the PP and the Socialists would not budge their red lines.

"We are closer to new elections than to an agreement." (Additional reporting by the Madrid newsroom; Editing by Julien Toyer and Dominic Evans)
The logo of Foxconn, the trading name of Hon Hai Precision Industry, is seen on top of the company's headquarters in Tucheng, New Taipei city, December 24, 2013. REUTERS/Pichi Chuang

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's Foxconn would invest billions of yuan in a technology-focused industrial park in southern China, a Chinese local government website said.

The planned electronics information industry park, located in Nanning, Guangxi province, will begin construction this year and be operational before 2020, the Nanning government's website said. The park will create 70,000 jobs, it said.

Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, referred to the Nanning government's official website when asked about the matter on Friday.

The investment was described as a 100 billion yuan ($15.34 billion) industrial park. No specific investment figure was given.

The agreement was signed last week with top Chinese officials from the provincial and city governments who were pictured with Foxconn founder Terry Gou, according to information on the website that cited a local Nanning newspaper.

(Reporting by J.R. Wu; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)
The Telecom Italia tower is seen south of Rome August 28, 2014. REUTERS/Max Rossi

MILAN (Reuters) - Italian phone company Telecom Italia (TLIT.MI) wants to reach an agreement with investors in fiber optic company Metroweb in coming weeks to development of a broadband network in Italy, two sources close to the matter said on Friday.

Metroweb is a small company controlled by infrastructure fund F2i and state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti through its investment arm Fondo Strategico Italiano.

It has become politically sensitive because the Italian government considers Metroweb the building block to implement a 12-billion-euro project to roll out faster Internet nationwide.

F2i, CDP and Telecom Italia plan to set up a new company jointly owned by Metroweb and Telecom Italia whose aim will be to invest in a broadband network, the sources said.

On Friday CDP chairman met with the heads of F2i and Metroweb in Milan to discuss the issue. Telecom Italia's CEO, who attended the meeting via conference call, was determined to reach an agreement quickly, one of the sources said.

Telecom Italia, CDP, F2i and Metroweb declined to comment on the issue.

(Reporting by Stefano Rebaudo; writing by Francesca Landini)
With Super Tuesday firmly in the rear-view, the primary election calendar now shifts to a few separate contests when voters in four states head to the polls Saturday. However, the nature of the contests could to slow frontrunner Donald Trumps momentum.

There are four Republican primaries or caucuses: Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana and Maine, and all are closed to non-Republicans.

Related: Is Anyone Running This Show? Priebus Leads From Behind as Trump Bolts Ahead

How could that slow down the billionaire who has already won 10 of the previous 16 contests? Because to date the calendar has been predominantly composed of open primaries, meaning Independents, and even Democrats, can cast their ballots in the GOP race.

To date there have been four closed elections: Iowa, Nevada Oklahoma and Alaska. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) won three of those four. Trump, as his nature, has boasted about all the new voters his candidacy is attracting and that he could walk with them at any time to launch a third-party bid.

I signed a letter with the RNC, and I said, you know, I wanna do this as a Republican  the pledges, they call it," he said in Thursday during an interview on MSNBCs Morning Joe. But Im not being treated the right way. I am not being treated properly.

CNN exit polling shows Trump more often than not bests his rivals about Independent voters. But if that bloc is forced to sit out Saturdays vote, it could make the difference between adding to his delegate count on the way to the necessary 1,237 and watching them go to his contenders.

Related: For Trump, Last Nights Debate Was another Episode of Survivor

For example, a Trafalgar Group survey released on Friday found Trump has a narrow lead in Kansas, where 40 delegates are on the line, with 35 percent support to 29 percent for Cruz. Yet 6 percent of voters in the poll said they remain undecided; that group could break for either hopeful, or go to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). Candidates must get at least 10 percent of the vote to qualify for delegates.

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In Kentucky, with a 5 percent threshold, and Louisiana each has 46 delegates up for grabs. Delegates will be distributed proportionally in Louisiana, as will Maines 23 delegates. However, if any candidate gets over 50 percent in Maine, he gets all the delegates.

One or two losses could give fresh hope to the GOP establishment and the Never Trump movement spearheaded by 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney. It could signal bigger trouble ahead for the billionaire, following his good, but not great, showing on Super Tuesday and his vulgar performance in the last presidential debate.

Related: Dump Trump and Lose Voters  Is That Really the GOP Plan?

The former reality TV star is clearly aware of the stakes.

On Friday, he withdrew from his Saturday morning speaking slot at the influential Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) to attend a newly-scheduled rally in Kansas instead.

And there will be little rest for the GOP field. Puerto Rico holds its open primary on Sunday before Hawaii, Idaho, Michigan and Mississippi hold their caucuses and primaries. Hawaii and Idaho are closed competitions.

Democrats will weigh in on their two-person primary, as well. On Saturday, theyll pick either former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in Kansas, Nebraska and Louisiana, followed by caucuses in Maine on Sunday.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
Ukrainian airforce helicopter pilot Nadiya Savchenko sits in the defendant's cage during her trial for murder in the southern Russian town of Donetsk on March 2, 2016 (AFP Photo/Sergei Venyavsky)

Moscow (AFP) - A jailed Ukrainian pilot on Friday refused to give up a hunger strike, after rejecting food and water in protest at delays in her controversial murder trial in Russia, her lawyers said.

Nadiya Savchenko, 34, is demanding she be repatriated to Ukraine after a judge in the southern Russian town of Donetsk on Thursday unexpectedly postponed her final address to court as her trial over the 2014 killing of two Russian journalists in east Ukraine nears an end.

Savchenko's defence lawyers visited her Friday at her detention centre in southern Russia but failed to persuade her to stop the hunger strike.

"Our arguments did not work," lawyer Nikolai Polozov told AFP. "Her only demand is that she be immediately returned to Ukraine."

He added that Savchenko was refusing to allow prison officials or doctors to touch her and any attempts to force-feed her would be seen by her as "torture".

He said she had not been drinking water since the trial was adjourned on Thursday.

In a letter released by her lawyers Savchenko said she would fast until she was returned home "alive or dead."

"Freedom has no price," the letter said.

Her supporters are concerned that by refusing to drink water she may damage her health irreparably or not live long enough to attend the next hearing set for Wednesday.

Refusing both food and water is known in Russia as a "dry hunger strike" and was a method of last resort for some Soviet dissidents under Communism.

Savchenko has fasted before to protest the accusations against her but has never before refused both food and water.

She has already refused food for more than 80 days but broke off her hunger strike in March last year because of severe health problems.

- 'It's crunch time' -

Polozov said her defence team would not be able to visit her this weekend and during public holidays on Monday and Tuesday in Russia.

If she is not in court on Wednesday, her lawyers would start looking for her in hospitals, Polozov said.

Story continues

Another member of the defence team, Mark Feigin, called on Ukrainians all over the world to stage rallies in her support Wednesday.

"It's crunch time because of Nadiya's hunger strike," he tweeted.

President Vladimir Putin's spokesman declined to comment on Savchenko's decision to fast.

"This is not an issue that has anything to do with our agenda," said Dmitry Peskov.

But few doubt that her fate will be decided in the Kremlin, and Western leaders as well as Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko have called on Putin to let Savchenko go.

On Wednesday, the prosecution requested a 23-year prison sentence for Savchenko and a fine of 100,000 rubles ($1,360).

Two journalists from Russian public broadcaster VGTRK died in shelling in June 2014, in Ukraine's eastern Lugansk region.

Prosecutors say Savchenko was involved in the killing in her capacity as a volunteer in a Ukrainian battalion.

She denies the charges and says she was kidnapped and smuggled into Russia.

Savchenko has been elected in absentia to Ukraine's parliament since being held in Russia.

Initially she had planned to launch a hunger strike after the verdict, according to the text of her final word posted on her Facebook page.

Poroshenko said on Friday Ukraine would "redouble efforts" to win Savchenko's return, while lawmaker and former premier Yulia Tymoshenko called on her to halt the strike.

"Your family and the whole of Ukraine need you!" said Tymoshenko.

The US State Department reiterated its call for Savchenko to be released "immediately."

"We want to see her released and sent home where she belongs," said spokesman John Kirby.
Argentina President Mauricio Macri (pictured), his father, and brother Mariano were on the board of directors of an offshore company registered in the Bahamas since 1998, the daily La Nacion reported (AFP Photo/Juan Mabromata)

New York (AFP) - A New York judge on Wednesday removed injunctions preventing Argentina from making payments on its debt, opening the way for a resolution of a decade-old dispute with hedge fund creditors.

Judge Thomas Griesa said Argentina's efforts to reach deals to settle the drawn-out legal case over billions of dollars in defaulted bonds merited the lifting of the injunctions he had placed in 2012.

Griesa pointed to the agreement by the new Argentine government of President Mauricio Macri to repayment terms with most of the major "holdout" bondholders in recent weeks, and to Macri's call Tuesday for the Argentine Congress to cancel its own block on paying the holdouts.

"Circumstances have changed so significantly as to render the injunctions inequitable and detrimental to the public interest," Griesa said.

The injunctions were laid down by Griesa to force Argentina to pay the holdouts before it made payments on any of its other debt.

The previous government of Cristina Kirchner had refused to pay the holdouts, and so the court's block on any other debt payments forced the country to default in 2014, again isolating it from global capital markets.

Macri, who took office in December, quickly moved to resolve the case with a $6.5 billion offer against some $9 billion in holdout claims.

But to make the payments, Argentina must raise new funds on the market, impossible so long as the injunctions were in place.

Lifting the injunctions remains contingent on the Congress removing its own payment ban, Griesa noted, as well as making good on the repayment deals struck over the past month.

"There is a pressing need for certainty and finality," he said.

"The court expects the Republic to continue to negotiate with the remaining non-settling plaintiffs."
For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL  March 04, 2016  Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include U.S. Steel (X), AK Steel ( AKS), Nucor (NUE ), Steel Dynamics (STLD) and ArcelorMittal (MT).

Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1Stock of the Day pick for free.

Here are highlights from Thursdays Analyst Blog:

Steel Stocks Take Flight as U.S. Slaps Anti-Dumping Duties

Shares of major steel makers got a lift Wednesday after the U.S. Department of Commerce ("DOC") levied preliminary anti-dumping duties on imports of cold-rolled steel from Brazil, China, India, Korea, Russia, Japan and the UK.

The commerce department, in its preliminary determinations, found that these countries are illegally dumping cold-rolled steel into the U.S. market and therefore, are subject to anti-dumping duties. The ruling marks yet another victory for crisis-hit U.S. steel companies in their ongoing battle against unfairly-traded, cheap imports that continue to flood the American market.

The DOC, on Tuesday, imposed a whopping duty rate of 265.79% on imports of cold-rolled steel from China. Chinese companies did not respond to the DOCs request for information and thus, got punished with big tariffs. This will badly hit Chinese exporters such as Angang Group Hong Kong Co., Ltd., Benxi Iron and Steel (Group) Special Steel Co., Ltd. and Qian'an Golden Point Trading Co., Ltd. Brazil and Japan exporters received duties of 38.93% and 71.35%, respectively.

The DOC will now instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to start requiring cash deposits based on the duty rates for cold-rolled steel imports from these seven countries. In Dec 2015, the commerce department imposed countervailing duties on imports of cold-rolled steel from Brazil, China, India and Russia including a massive duty rate of 227.29% on China.

Story continues

The biggest U.S. steel producers  U.S. Steel (X), AK Steel (AKS), Nucor (NUE), Steel Dynamics (STLD) and ArcelorMittal USA, a part of ArcelorMittal ( MT)  filed anti-dumping petitions in Jul 2015 with the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) and the DOC against eight countries (Brazil, China, India, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, South Korea and the UK) alleged for illegally dumping cold-rolled steel that is used to make automotive products and appliances, among others.

The petitions charge that an influx of subsidized imports of cold-rolled steel from these foreign producers is causing significant injury to the countrys steel industry. These producers exported over $1.2 billion of cold-rolled steel to the U.S. market in 2014 including $514 million from China.

These imports have captured an increasing share of the U.S. market, thereby hurting production, shipments, selling prices and margins of U.S. steel makers.

The USITC terminated the investigation on imports from the Netherlands in Sep 2015 after concluding that the quantity of imports of cold-rolled steel from the country was negligible during the 12 months preceding the filing of the trade case and hence did not cause or threatened to cause injury to the U.S. industry.

The latest anti-dumping ruling provided a much-needed boost to the stocks of leading steel companies which have been hammered by a tide of cheap imports over the past few years, largely contributing to a slump in steel prices.

U.S. Steel racked up the biggest gain with its shares closing 23.5% higher yesterday. AK Steels shares shoot up 20.1% while Steel Dynamics gained 6.2%. Nucor notched up a 3.1% gain while ArcelorMittal's shares rallied roughly 15.5%.

American steel producers are struggling to cope with falling steel prices as a result of the combined impact of imports and overcapacity in the industry. Low costs of production have enabled foreign producers (especially China) to sell their products at cheaper rates, leading to an industry-wide price decline. Price declines are expected to continue if tariffs are not imposed on imports.

The United Steelworkers (USW) union has lauded the DOCs new ruling stating that it is welcome news for steelworkers at U.S. steel mills and another key step in the ongoing fight to restore fair trade conditions for cold-rolled steel products made in America.

The commerce department will now verify the information submitted by the respondent foreign producers and issue verification reports to interested parties. This will be followed by an opportunity for parties to provide legal arguments on the preliminary decision and the verification reports to the DOC and to participate in a hearing.

The commerce department is expected to issue its final rulings on China and Japan investigations on May 17 followed by final determinations on other five investigations on July 13. The USITC is also expected to make its final injury ruling on China and Japan in June and on five other countries in August. No anti-dumping orders will be issued if the final determinations by these regulators are negative.

The DOC, in Dec 2015, also slapped anti-dumping duties on imports of corrosion-resistant steel from China, India, Italy and South Korea including a staggering anti-dumping duty rate of 255.80% on imports of these products from China. Final ruling of the DOC on the corrosion-resistant steel case is expected in late May.

U.S. steel makers, in Aug 2015, also filled anti-dumping and countervailing duty petitions against seven countries accused for illegally dumping certain hot-rolled steel flat products into the American market. Preliminary determination by the DOC on this case is expected on Mar 14, 2016 with a final ruling in late May.

Favorable final determinations in these trade cases will ensure a fairer and more competitive market for American steel makers and workers.

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an expedition to unlock the mysteries of the Southern Ocean!
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posted by Ezra Levant | -5scMarch 03, 2016I resigned as a member of the Law Society of Alberta yesterday. I actually had to apply for permission to quit.Now, thats not really news  I havent worked at a law firm in 13 years. Im a journalist and activist. But for some reason, there were more than 100 news stories about my resignation.You see, even though I was a non-practicing lawyer, I was still governed by the Law Societys code of professional conduct. Thats supposed to discipline lawyers who do things like steal money from their clients  serious, professional malpractice. But theres also a catch-all provision to discipline lawyers who engage in unbecoming conduct.Well, over the last eight years, left-wing political extremists have abused that provision toclaiming my journalism and political activism was unbecoming.Heres a video I made about complaints number 25 and 26:I had been a lawyer for almost sixteen years. So why did all these nuisance complaints start eight years ago?Not a single one of these complaints against me was ever upheld. I resigned with a perfect record. But each time Id beat one complaint, leftist activists would simply file a new one. Because it cost them nothing  and it cost me thousands of dollars to fight each complaint.The process itself became the punishment. So I applied to get out. But not before I gave the Law Society a piece of my mind.Heres the statement that I read out at the Law Societys headquarters:
Trudeau says pipelines will pay for Canada's transition to a green economySteadfast in his commitment to getting Canadian oil to market, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said putting pipelines in the ground will pay for the country's transition to a greener future.Opening the Globe 2016 Leadership Summit in Vancouver on Wednesday  which deals with tackling climate change and sustainability in business  the Liberal leader dodged questions about whether building controversial energy projects like the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain expansion and Energy East pipeline would directly contravene his commitment at COP21 in Paris to keep global warming below two degrees this century.We want the low-carbon economy that continues to provide good jobs and great opportunities for all Canadians," he told a crowd of hundreds of business, civil society, and science innovators."To get there, we need to make smart strategic investments in clean growth and new infrastructure, but we must also continue to generate wealth from our abundant natural resources to fund this transition to a low-carbon economy.The answer however, wasn't enough for Discovery Planet's Daily Planet host Ziya Tong, who had the privilege of grilling him on stage before conference participants. Given the 28,666 oil pipeline leaks that have occurred in the last 37 years, she asked him how he could even consider projects like Energy East while trying to move towards a clean, green future:We have hundreds and hundreds of pipelines across this country carrying all sorts of different things," he answered, "and we need to make sure that were getting the reassurance of communities, Indigenous people, environmentalists and scientists that were doing it responsibly."Its what Canadians expect of their government and industries, and thats what were going to be working very hard to deliver.
Trudeau ends First Ministers' Conference with "Vancouver Declaration" on clean growthPrime Minister Justin Trudeau ended his second First Ministers Conference meeting with Canadas 13 provincial and territorial premiers by producing a national roadmap to fight climate change.The outcome of the nations leaders day-long meeting on the top floor of the West Building of the Vancouver Convention Centre was the Vancouver Declaration. The agreement between the federal government and all provincial and territorial governments provides a framework for the next steps Canada will take towards creating an action plan that meets or exceeds Canadas international emissions targets while also creating new economic opportunities through sustainable and clean growth.While the original intention for the Vancouver meeting was to come out with a new national target to reduce greenhouse gases, to replace the target set by Stephen Harpers Conservatives, the leaders were able to agree in principle on including carbon pricing in any climate change action plan.But carbon pricing implementation will be regionalized to account for existing provincial programs, such as British Columbias carbon tax and Ontario and Quebecs cap and trade systems.The agreement as spelled out in the declaration, that the transition to a low-carbon economy will happen by a broad suite of measures that will include pricing carbon, said Trudeau during a press conference today. That is something that we have all committed to.A day earlier at the opening session of the GLOBE Conference in Vancouver, B.C. Premier Christy Clark said her government is considering raising the carbon tax, stressing that it could be tax neutral by untaxing other things. She said that B.C.s carbon tax should be a model for the rest of Canada.The Prime Minister also noted today that the leaders will work to ratify and implement the Paris Agreement agreed by world nations last year.This year, we will also work to sign and ratify the Paris agreement, he said said. In addition, my government intends to present to the United Nations a plan that is firmly rooted in collaboration and consultation and represents all of Canada.To achieve our goals, we will build on the actions taken by provinces and territories and will identify additional measures that all governments can take to achieve economic growth and emission reduction objectives over the longer term.Four working groups will be created to determine how different jurisdictions will perform under the following areas: clean technology, innovation, and jobs; carbon pricing mechanisms adapted to each provinces and territorys specific circumstances and in particular the realities of Canadas Indigenous peoples and Arctic and sub-Arctic regions; specific mitigation opportunities; and, adaptation and climate resilience.The working groups will submit their reports, which will be made public, ahead of the next First Ministers Conference this fall.In Vancouver, Trudeau reiterated his plan to provide tens of billions in federal funding for new green infrastructure across the country. He will also work with provinces to expedite existing infrastructure projects.For its part, the government of has committed to supporting climate change mitigation and adaptation through investments in green infrastructure, public transit, and energy-efficient social infrastructure, said Trudeau during a press conference.We have committed to working together with the provinces and territories on how to best lever federal investments into the low carbon economy fund, to realize incremental emissions reductions, to working with other governments and the private sector to advance the electrification of vehicle transportation, and fostering dialogue and the development of regional plans for clean energy transmission.Trudeaus next major meeting will be with outgoing U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday, March 10 in the Oval Office at the White House. Both leaders are expected to sign a continental environment and climate change strategy.
Remarks made by Brian Jean, Leader of the Official

Opposition in the Alberta Legislature. The Albany Club, Toronto,

February 24, 2016.



Excellent article from the Calgary Herald





So thank you again, for that warm welcome.





I am honoured to be your guest here at the historic Albany

Club, and so without further fanfare, let me lay out our situation,

and why it matters to you, here in Toronto.





It matters because Albertas energy industry is a Canadian

champion, an economic marvel that spreads its wealth right across

Canada, and that benefits ordinary Canadians more than they know, and

it is in trouble. And heres the thing any hurt we feel in Alberta

will be felt in the rest of Canada. It will be felt directly in

existing jobs lost, and it will be felt indirectly, in new wealth that

will never be created. So you need to know just how high the stakes

are, and why, therefore, here in central Canada you cant afford to

ignore whats happening to us out west.





We have two problems. Obviously, the world oil market has

not been our friend. And sadly, our own provincial government has not

responded well to the challenge of $30 oil. I will save partisan

comments for the Alberta legislature, but,





I will say this to you: policy matters. And in the current

economic climate, a Wildrose government would be lowering taxes for

Albertans, not raising them. We would be reducing government expenses,

not adding costly new programs. And until all serious energy producers

are paying a carbon tax, a Wildrose government would not foist one on

Alberta producers. But all that said, market slumps are nothing new.

And governments can be changed  something in which our Wildrose party

is keenly engaged.





Albertas second - and much larger - challenge, is a

permanent one, one that wont go away on its own as the market

improves. Let me be blunt. In Canada and outside of it, there is a

coalition lined up against Albertas oilpatch.







All the players dont have the same goal. But theyre all

pushing in the same direction. Some, radical activists, often funded

from abroad, think oil should just stay in the ground. And they know

that by undermining every one of the three pipelines that could get

product to market from land-locked Alberta, they could permanently

cripple, perhaps even kill, Albertas energy industry. Certainly, they

can limit its growth, and by limiting access to buyers, make sure

Canadian oil continues to sell at a discount in the U.S.







Their campaign is all about torquing up supposed

environmental and safety risks, and by scaring the public, to browbeat

politicians into avoiding decisions, and extending the review process,

so that nothing ever gets approved. Rex Murphy called it organised

procrastination. Procrastination implies something might still be done

one day, if we muddle through long enough. Let me tell you friends,

for people in my hometown of Fort McMurray, and across all Alberta,

this is more like the organised choking-to-death of the livelihoods of

hundreds of thousands of people, in Alberta, and in the rest of

Canada.







There are also opportunistic provincial politicians. They

echo the scare stories that these activists peddle. But, thats just

bidding up the price. For them, its about taking a rent as the oil

goes by. Which isnt constitutional, by the way, but that doesnt stop

them from trying, and it does put them in the ranks of active pipeline

opponents.







There are also passive opponents. These are the folks who

refuse to make the connection between the drilling rig in Alberta, and

the gas in their tank. These are the people who tell each other that

our oilsands product is dirty, then they turn around and use oil

that comes from some of the worst regimes in the world.







Unfortunately, these are the people who should understand

what Albertas energy industry means to the rest of Canada. Im

talking about our new federal government here, the people who should

be on our side, who arent pushing back. In fact, between banning

tankers in the waters of northern B.C., and lengthening the pipeline

review process, the Liberal government in Ottawa has made itself part

of the problem. Between them all, real harm is being done.







Ladies and gentlemen, Albertans are proud of sharing their

prosperity. Proud of it. Glad to do it. But, they are tired of being

treated as a pinata.







We need your support, and to show you what a big deal this

is for all Canadians, here are some facts. Theres nothing secret

here. But it is surprising how little you hear of them.







First, Canada is the worlds fifth-largest producer of oil

and petroleum liquids, and the biggest part of that comes from

Alberta. Fifth-largest. That makes Alberta a bigger deal than Iraq,

the Emirates, Kuwait or Venezuela. Indeed, thanks to its energy

industry, Alberta, with about a ninth of Canadas population, was

responsible for nearly a quarter of all Canadas exports!







No offence to my hosts here in central Canada, but the more

than $90 billion in Alberta energy exports in 2014 was more than half

as much again as Canadas second biggest export, which is the

very-fine motor vehicles, the cars and trucks that come out of

Ontarios assembly plants. Ive bought lots of them over the

years!







Its also more than three times the value of the machinery,

engines and pumps, we export. Its five times the value of gems and

precious metal exports, seven times the value of wood products, eight

times the value of aviation exports, and so it goes on.







This may surprise you: Albertas energy exports are ten

times the value of all Canadas exports of cereals!! Which of course,

is something else Alberta sells.







One thing more. For the last decade, Albertas energy

industry has been the greatest attractor of international capital into

Canada. This in turn energises the entire Canadian economy. For, when

our energy operators spend their money in Ontario and Quebec, the

fruits of Alberta energy come back to central Canada. Thats where

they buy their heavy machinery, the pumps, the massive process vessels

fabricated in Ontario, their pickup trucks. In Quebec, bus-maker

Prevost sells hundreds of vehicles to the oilsands producers.









Ladies and Gentlemen, speaking of the oilsands alone, there

are more than 1,100 Ontario companies supplying Albertas energy

industry. Theres another 170 in Quebec. And altogether, across all of

Canada, more than 2,000 companies outside Alberta are doing business

with Canadian oilsands producers inside Alberta.







These are huge investments. But, theyre more than that.

Theyre nation-builders. Theyre like the railways in the 19th

century, or the Trans-Canada Highway in the 20th.







Today, eastern Canada should have access to oil from

Canadas West. What kind of a government wouldnt think that was a

good idea? We need governments that will put their ideologies second,

and the national interest first.







Anyway, investments. Until recently, oilsands investment

alone was running at $30 billion a year,

and 45 per cent of that was spent in central Canada. And

the investments only stand to get bigger.







To build the three oil pipelines presently under

consideration means an investment of $30 billion with almost $430

billion in economic spinoffs for all of Canada over the next 30 years.

Private investment, I should add, that creates jobs and growth. A

different scale of enterprise altogether, to the piffling $250 million

of borrowed money the federal government means to direct our way,

supposedly as aid, in our new state of dependency.







Look, we lose between $30 million and $50 million, every

day, because we dont get the world price, because we have only one

customer  our American friends. $250 million doesnt cut

it.



So, we say this to Ottawa: Keep your borrowed money!

Authorize a pipeline.



Then, Alberta will create jobs. Jobs at home, jobs in the

rest of Canada, tens of thousands of jobs, high-quality jobs,

well-paid jobs!





And lets not forget, friends, a job is not a statistic.

Its somebodys life. Behind every job, theres a Canadian. Somebody

whos struggling to pay their bills and glad to be able to work hard

to support their family and to follow their dreams.





So, all this money flows out of Alberta, and around the

country.



You know, in the eighties, we used to have a bumper sticker

in Alberta that read,



Oil pays my taxes and feeds my family. Well, as surely as

it feeds families in Alberta, it pays taxes and feeds families in

Ontario and Quebec. It comes back to Ottawa as tax revenues, paid on

corporate profits to the federal government. It comes back as income

taxes, paid by the men and women who worked in Albertas energy

sector, and elsewhere in Canada, to service Albertas energy

sector.



All of these taxes help pay for equalization, and for the

federal services that make life better for all Canadians. Thats often

forgotten: for decades, Alberta has been a net contributor to

equalization  one of the four so-called have provinces. In fact,

among all the provinces and territories, only Ontario contributes more

to Canadas wealth than Alberta. Alberta is a huge driver of our

national economy.







Alberta is quite simply the crown jewel of Canadas

economy. And thats why Im telling you that if such a high performing

part of the Canadian economy has a problem if Alberta, a province

that attracts so much investment, generates so much revenue, creates

so many jobs for Canadians in other parts of Canada, especially here

in Ontario, has a problem. If that Alberta has lost a hundred

thousand high quality jobs, if in a world awash with capital, no one

is bidding on productive assets from bankrupt oil companies, or

looking for bargains in Albertas energy industry, if nobody wants to

bet on Alberta. If Alberta has problems like that, then the rest of

Canada has a share of Albertas problems. A huge share. And it doesnt

matter that youre here and were there, you will feel our

pain.







So, whats to be done?



Two things. First, we have to make sure Canadians know the

facts. Second, our governments must take a pro-Canada approach to

industry in Canada. Let me say a few words about both.





We must counter the distortions, with the truth. For

example, if climate change is your issue, Alberta is not your culprit.

The oilsands represent just eight per cent of Canadas greenhouse gas

emissions Our GHG emissions are 0.15 per cent of the global total.

Meanwhile, were developing innovative ways  incredibly innovative

ways  to help Canada meet its carbon-reduction goals, through

efficient processes, and carbon sequestration. The prime minister

wants resourceful? Albertans are resourceful.





Or maybe youve become alarmed about pipeline safety. Then

let me tell you that in Alberta, we have 415,000 kilometres of

pipelines, pipelines of all sizes. Thats half of all the pipelines,

in Canada. And every day, they move oil and gas around Alberta, and

around Canada, reliably and safely.





How reliably? How safely? Ladies and gentlemen, no

technology is perfect. But, since 2000, Canadian pipeline spills have

been miniscule: it has been calculated that proportionately, they are

equivalent to three teaspoons dripped out of a gasoline nozzle over

the course of 50 fill-ups of 50 litres each.





There is no safer way to transport oil, than by pipeline.

Safer than trucks. Safer than rail. Safe, for as long as Canadians

want to drive cars, fly between cities, or eat foods grown on other

continents.







Ladies and gentlemen, the facts are with us. It is up to

Albertans to make the case. What we plead from the rest of Canada is

an open mind and a fair hearing.







The second thing we want is governments to do what theyre

there to do, which is to support Canadians, in their legitimate

efforts to make a living and to build our great country.







A prime minister is not a referee. Hes there to make

decisions and get things done. And while hes prime minister, he needs

to remember whose side hes supposed to be on. For the Prime Minister

of the fifth largest oil producer in the world to go to Davos and

actually tell the world that this is not something we want to be known

for, is profoundly insulting. Its shameful, and unworthy of his

office.







In fact, it suggests to us that Mr. Trudeau, who in 2010

said that Canadas problem was too many Albertans in government, still

feels more at ease in the company of foreign celebrities than with his

fellow Canadians, and is generally in better agreement with

them.







Ill tell you ladies and gentlemen, were proud of our

province, but were even more proud of Canada. So what we find

offensive, is when our elected leader talks long and loud about what

Canada and Alberta ought to be, when he doesnt even understand what

we are.







Im from Fort McMurray. And Im proud of what we do for a

living. The truth is that in all of Canadas long and remarkable

history, Alberta, and its energy industry, have been among the

greatest generators of wealth and prosperity, for millions of

hard-working Canadians, right across the country. They still are. For

now.







What we want to hear is some respect from Ottawa. Some

acknowledgement of what we mean to Canada, and when foreign-funded

agitators are spreading fear and loathing about Alberta, then wed

like to hear a full-throated defence of our province, our industry and

our way of life.







Its time for the federal government, to start saying yes

to the oilpatch, yes to some pipelines, and yes to building a greater,

stronger, more prosperous Canada.







Finally, friends, to get Canada back up to speed, Alberta

has to get back up to speed. So, this is not just Albertas fight,

its a fight for all Canadians. We will not shirk our part. We just

ask that you be our friends in this.
IMDb listing Previous/Other years Since beginning my Blog some 3 1/2 years ago, I've come to the conclusion that all the Oscars ...
Christopher L. Hodapp is the author of Freemasons For Dummies, the worldwide, best-selling introduction to the Masonic fraternity; Solomon's Builders: Freemasons, Founding Fathers and the Secrets of Washington D.C. ; and Deciphering the Lost Symbol. His most recent book, Heritage Endures, was published in January 2018.

Since 2009 he has been on the Board of the Masonic Library & Museum of Indiana, and serves as its Associate Director and Treasurer. In 2021, Chris was named as Public Relations and Marketing Director for the Grand Lodge of Free & Accepted Masons of the State of Indiana.

Chris is also the co-author with Alice Von Kannon of The Templar Code For Dummies and Conspiracy Theories And Secret Societies For Dummies.

As a Freemason, Chris is a Past Master of Broad Ripple Lodge No. 643 and of Lodge Vitruvian No. 767 under the Grand Lodge F&AM of Indiana; he is a member of Indiana's Schofield Lodge 1818 U.D.; and of Internet Lodge No. 9659 in the Province of East Lancashire of the United Grand Lodge of England. Most recently, he was named the Worshipful Master of the Dwight L. Smith Lodge of Research U.D. in Indiana for 2019-21.

In 2018 he was awarded the Caleb B. Smith Medal of Honor by the Grand Lodge F&AM of Indiana for his "distinguished service to Freemasonry in Indiana and worldwide."

Chris is a 33 Mason in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite (NMJ), Indianapolis Valley. He is a Past Sovereign Master of Imhotep Council No. 434 of the Allied Masonic Degrees. He is a founding member of Levant Preceptory, a medieval Knights Templar period recreation degree team in the York Rite, and he is an officer of the Indiana College of the Societas Rosicruciana in Civitatibus Foederatis. He belongs to numerous other Masonic appendant organizations.

As a Masonic author, in 2012 he was named as Friar No. 101 in the Society of Blue Friars. Chris is a Founding Fellow of The Masonic Society, and was the founding Editor in Chief of The Journal of The Masonic Society. He remains a regular contributor today, and its Editor Emeritus.

He was the editor and a contributor in 2004-5 to "Laudable Pursuit: A 21st Century Response to Dwight Smith" by the Knights of the North, a Masonic leadership think-tank focusing on modern lodge solutions. He has written for Indianapolis Monthly, Heredom, Masonic Magazine, Templar History, the Scottish Rite Journal, the Knight Templar Magazine, the Indiana Freemason , the Phylaxis, and numerous other publications.

Chris was a commercial filmmaker for twenty-three years with Dean Crow Productions in Indianapolis. Hodapp and Alice Von Kannon developed scripts for the History Channel program, Brad Meltzer's Decoded in 2010, and contributed material on conspiracies and secret societies for TruTV and the American Heroes Channel. They have both appeared on National Public Radio, the History Channel, Discovery, National Geographic, Smithsonian, and the American Heroes Channel - most recently in 2017 on America: Facts vs Fiction.

Chris and Alice live in Indianapolis with Sophie the Flying Poodle who has them both answering to basic commands. However, they can frequently be found alarming the wildlife and dazzling the rustics in their Airstream trailer as they crisscross the country. Appropriately, their newest book together is RVs and Campers For Dummies, released in June 2021.
Julia Cook couldnt have imagined a decade ago just how far writing a childrens book would take her.

Most recently, the Fremont womans writing took her to Malaysia, where she was a keynote speaker at a conference attended by 400 people from 48 nations. There, she was told that her books are being used on all continents.

An author with 76 titles to her name, Cook began her writing journey while working in the Fremont Public School system.

Cooke was an eighth-grade teacher when she earned a degree in elementary counseling. While attending Wayne State College, Cook said she had very good professor who taught her the beauty of using childrens books to get into kids heads.

If you want to reach a child, you read to them and then you can attach whats in the book to whats already in their brain and that creates a platform for communication with kids, she said.

When Cook couldnt find a book on tattling, she wrote a story which she used with children at Bell Field Elementary School, where she was a counselor.

One day, teacher Jaime Weaklend told Cook that she should do something with her book, because it was working with the children.

So Cook called the number of a publisher she found in a childrens book.
Growing up in a troubled home in western Nebraska was just the beginning.

After being clinically diagnosed with depression as a result of his parents pending divorce, he struggled with suicidal thoughts.

I hated everything about myself, said Joe Gonzales, new youth pastor at the Church of the Nazarene. I did not see any value in who I was. I was heading down a bad path and was even suspended from school for fighting during my sophomore year.

At that point in his life, he had only attended church sporadically. When that changed, he seemed to be moving to a better place, at least spiritually.

I started going to church again and felt Gods presence around me and for the first time in my life I felt safe, he said. I eventually got connected to a local youth ministry because of some friends who modeled the life of Jesus to me and invited me to join them.

He then became a Christian after high school and found himself volunteering with teenagers at a Nazarene church.

I always wanted to revisit the struggles of my youth and be the loving presence to others that I needed myself, he said. I developed a passion for working with youth and families and knew that God was leading me in that direction so I pursued it.

Gonzales loves the energy the youth bring to the table.

I love their creativity and their outspokenness, he said. They keep me accountable to who I am because they can detect dishonesty in an instant. I dont like seeing the emotional (and sometimes physical) scars of trauma that comes with teenage life. I believe my story relates to youth and I want to meet them in the midst of their struggles and empower them to create a new story for their lives.

Gonzales describes his ministry philosophy and approach to his new position.

My intention is to help youth find sacred spaces in their lives, he said. My hope is that in these places youth find that they are safe, that they belong somewhere and are being mentored and challenged to go beyond what they think they are capable of doing. As youth begin to discover sacred spaces, my hope then is that they discover that they are living their lives in a sacred rhythm with God.

Reflecting on his spiritual journey, he has a strong sense of gratitude toward many who influenced him along the way.

I have worked with many youth pastors and senior pastors and have been influenced by them all in some way, he said But specifically Chris Launius the junior high pastor of College Church of the Nazarene in Olathe, Kansas, was a huge influence on me recently.

Launius shared his 15 years of experience working with youth and families with Gonzales and as he saw his ministry teams loyalty and how much they enjoyed working with him it solidified his calling.

When I became a part of his team, I realized it was because he invested in their lives so much, he said. Chris mentored me personally and invested a lot of time in me. He helped me live out my vision for ministry and was not afraid to challenge me in areas in which I struggled.

Although Gonzales said he felt prepared to be a youth minister after working with Launius, his passion for knowledge didnt stop there.

Currently working on a masters of divinity degree through Nazarene Theological Seminary in Kansas City, he was the first in his family to graduate with a bachelors degree from a university.

I attended Southern Nazarene University in Oklahoma City. Someday, I want to consider a doctoral degree.

Having lived in other states, hes happy being back to the place he calls home.

Needless to say, it has been in my heart to come back to the state where I can cheer freely for the Cornhuskers and not be chastised for it, he said. When the door opened at Fremont Church of the Nazarene, I knew it was something I could not pass up. While I have loved working with youth in other places (and I miss them dearly) I always knew at some point I wanted to come back and mentor youth in Nebraska.
Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday urged Nebraskans to think big, not small and embrace the transformative change he would bring to the country as president.

Speaking before a crowd that overflowed the Lied Center two days before Nebraskas Democratic presidential caucus, Sanders said he can defeat Republican front-runner Donald Trump and lead a political revolution that heals the injustice of plutocratic privilege and a rigged economy.

Sanders said recent polling results should dispel any argument that he could not win a general election and he zeroed in on Trump, arguing that in the end the American people will defeat Trump because love trumps hatred.

A capacity crowd of 2,500, including supporters seated in chairs on the stage, filled the Lied Center. Outside, more than a thousand people were unable to get into the performing arts center after waiting in a line that spread across the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus for more than six blocks.

Before delivering his 57-minute speech, Sanders grabbed a microphone and spoke to the overflow crowd outside, which he estimated at 1,500 people.

Maybe Nebraska is not quite so conservative as Ive been told, he said later, as he was bathed in cheers and applause in the midst of his patented call for a political revolution.

Sanders will be matched against Hillary Clinton in the Saturday caucus, and former President Bill Clinton will be in Lincoln and Omaha Friday to make the closing argument for his wifes presidential bid.

Sanders focus on Trump pointed to the Republican front-runners insults (directed at) Mexicans, Muslims, women, the African-American community.

Trumps effort to delegitimize the first African-American president in our history (is) really ugly stuff, Sanders said.

The American people know that bringing people together trumps divisiveness and dividing people, he said.

Young people, mostly students, composed the largest segment of Sanders enthusiastic Lincoln audience. But there was a smattering of ages, a gathering of opponents of the rejected Keystone XL pipeline and at least a dozen cowboy hats.

Jane Kleeb, who mounted the battle against the TransCanada pipeline and its pathway across Nebraska, introduced and endorsed Sanders at the event.

Sanders pledged to lead transformation of the nations energy system away from fossil fuels and into renewable energy, arguing that the future of the planet is on the line as humans confront climate change.

Lets listen to the scientists, not the politicians, he said.

As president, Sanders said, he would tell TransCanada and others in the fossil fuel industry: Pack up; get out.

Jack Rodenburg of Lincoln, a UNL business and math major, preceded Kleeb on the stage and said the fate of humanity is at stake as Earth deals with climate change.

If Sanders is elected, Rodenburg said, political revolution is not only possible, it is inevitable.

Sanders speech repeated the familiar themes of his campaign message.

Campaign finance reform, a massive federal jobs program, free tuition at public colleges and universities, reductions in student debt, health care reform that provides Medicare coverage for all Americans and a reduction in the price of prescription drugs, an increase in the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.

There is nothing we cannot accomplish if we demand change, Sanders said. Keep thinking outside the box; keep thinking outside the status quo.

Sanders acknowledged that some of his critics say: Thats a nice idea, Santa Claus.

But, he said, its all doable in the richest country in the history of the world, especially if corrupt campaign financing and its influence is ended and tax reform requires that the wealthiest Americans pay a larger share of their income in taxes.

Are you ready for a radical idea? Sanders asked. How about an economy that works for working people and not just for the 1 percent?

The American middle class bailed out Wall Street during the Great Recession, he noted, and its time for Wall Street to help young people and the middle class.

Sanders also pointed to differences he has with Hillary Clinton that he said Nebraska caucus-goers should consider on Saturday.

Clinton accepts campaign funding from super PACs and has ties to Wall Street, he said, and he does not.

When he referred to the 4 million individual campaign contributions he has received, he asked the crowd what the average contribution was. And when they shouted back $27, the number he always recites, he smiled.

I love that, he said.

As a senator, Clinton voted to authorize the war in Iraq, Sanders said, and he voted against that authorization.

As president, he said, he would be committed to preventing U.S. involvement in never-ending, perpetual war in the Middle East.

On Saturday, Sanders said, Nebraska can help push the political revolution forward.

And with that, he was off to Kansas, the site of another Democratic caucus that will be held on Saturday.
Senators are making another effort to help a mother who desperately needs health services for her son who has severe autism.

Omaha Sen. Bob Krist told the Health and Human Services Committee Thursday his bill (LB674) is almost exactly like one introduced in 2007, to help families take care of disabled family members in their homes for fair compensation.

Krist said he was aware his bill would not become law this year. But the discussion needed to start, and continue until something is done for the families.

Its an important bill, he said.

Sen. Cap Dierks had a particular family in mind with his 2007 bill, but knew it could help other families, too.

That family was Dee Shaffer and her adult son Brian, who is severely autistic, allergic and disabled. After the bill was introduced, the Department of Health and Human Services told Dierks it would pay the mother, who is a licensed practical nurse, to care for her son at home, if the senator would withdraw his bill.

He withdrew it, and the department signed a contract to hire Shaffer to provide her sons nursing care. But as soon as Dierks was out of office, Krist said, the department looked for ways to stop the contract.

In 2011, Brian Shaffer was switched to managed care, even though there was no dispute that the mother fully performed the services expected of her. The managed care company, Coventry, refused to hire the mother and determined the nursing services were not medically necessary, Krist said.

The mother unsuccessfully filed claims, appeals and lawsuits to restore her private-duty nursing care for Brian.

The Lancaster County District Court did rule that Brian required 24/7 care and that his mother should be paid up to 18 hours a day as a provider. But the department appealed and because of a technicality, the Nebraska Supreme Court dismissed the ruling.

In November, the department did begin paying Shaffer to clean their house.

Dee Shaffer has suffered greatly at the departments hands, Krist said. She has spent all of her personal savings, all of her retirement, all of her cash back from life insurance policies, taking care of her son during the four years plus that she has not received a salary.

This is unconscionable, to put it mildly.

Krist said HHS officials, under a new CEO, have told him there is nothing they can do right now. But wrap-around services would be considered to solve the Shaffers problem and others like it.

If Brian were taken outside his home for care, Krist said, he would surely die.

This is a situation that we need to solve, Krist told the committee. I honestly believe that if we can incorporate all of the different silos of money that are out there we can find a way to keep the family whole, keep the person at home and make sure they have quality service, again, if they are professionally cared for in the home.

Tony Green, HHS deputy director of children and family services, opposed the bill, saying it would significantly change the Disabled Persons and Family Support program, and result either in a large increase in state spending or a reduction of the number of people served within the program.

Funding for the program is limited to $910,000 and has supported an average of 382 people each of the past three years.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. has signed an agreement with Mr. Rashid Al Abbar to open Aloft brands first resort hotel in the Middle East. Aloft Dubai, The Palm is scheduled to open in 2017 complete with beach access.

Aloft Dubai, The Palm will have 192 guest rooms, including 10 suites, with plush platform beds, large walk-in showers and complimentary Bliss amenities. The resort will offer guests access to a 500-metre stretch of beach, complete with sun beds and a gazebo for leisurely lounging. Designed with the needs of the savvy hyper-connected traveler in mind, the hotel will feature SPG KeylessStarwoods industry-first keyless entry system that enables guests to use their smartphone or Apple watch as a room keyand fast and free Wi-Fi throughout the property.

The property will offer the brands signature W XYZSM Bar, a buzzy public space where guests can mix and mingle over good music; re:fuelSM by Aloft, the grab and go eatery open 24 hours a day; an all-day dining outlet and a speciality restaurant. Guests who wish to maintain their workout routine while travelling can do so at re:chargeSM, the fully equipped fitness center, or enjoy a refreshing dip in the outdoor Splash pool. For events and conferences, Aloft Dubai, The Palm will offer over 100 square meters of creative space including four meeting rooms equipped with the latest audio-visual technology.
Turkey's leading low-cost carrier Pegasus Airlines connects two capital cities; Ankara and Amman. Jordans capital Amman is the carriers latest addition to its flight network.

Three times weekly flights between Ankara and Amman will commence on 20 March. Guests can book their flights on the Ankara-Amman route with fares from 60 GBP.

Flights between Ankara and Amman, one of the worlds oldest inhabited cities, will operate three times weekly departing at 11.15 from Ankara Esenboga Airport on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, and returning from Amman Airport at 14.05 on the same days.

Pegasus connects Amman via Ankara to Izmir and Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen in Turkey and Cologne, North Cyprus and Vienna internationally. With the launch of its Amman route, Pegasus now flies to 103 destinations in 41 countries.
A roundup of state government and Capitol news items of interest for Friday, March 4, 2016:

MORE SCHOOLS JOIN TLC SYSTEM: Officials with the state Department of Education announced Friday that 38 school districts have been added to Iowas teacher leadership and compensation program, bringing the total to 332 of 333 Iowa districts in the 2016-17 school year. All Iowa school districts have applied to join the teacher leadership system, said Iowa Department of Education Director Ryan Wise. The 38 newly accepted districts will implement their teacher leadership plans in the next school year. The remaining district, Riceville Community School District, will refine and re-submit its plan for approval, he added. About 25 percent of Iowa teachers will be in leadership roles when the system is fully phased in. With higher expectations for all students today, we must do everything we can to support the complex work of teaching, Wise said. Im pleased that so many school districts have shown they share this commitment by joining the teacher leadership system. Approved in 2013, Iowas teacher leadership system taps into the expertise of top teachers to improve classroom instruction and raise student achievement, and paves the way for more support and greater collaboration for all teachers to learn from each other instead of operating largely in isolation within their classrooms. The teacher leadership system  which sets a minimum annual teacher salary of $33,500 in participating districts -- cost nearly $50 million in fiscal year 2015 and is expected to grow to about $150 million annually by fiscal 2017, which would enable all districts to participate.

IOWA MARKETS ITS TOURISM SITES: Officials with the Iowa Tourism Office said Friday they have launched a multi-faceted marketing campaign in hopes of convincing travelers to spend time and money in Iowa. Shawna Lode, manager of the Iowa Tourism Office, said the state has spent about $1.5 million on television, digital and print advertising in Midwest markets that surround Iowa. Beginning this week, she said, millions of people around the Midwest will see and hear advertising messages inspiring them to consider Iowa as a travel destination. When the weather warms, winter-weary Midwesterners start thinking about where to spend their spring and summer leisure time, Lode said. Our research shows that more than half of travelers plan to come to Iowa during June, July and August. Our advertising introduces them and invites them to Iowa now, when theyre still considering their summer travel options. More than 176 million people are expected to see the Iowa ads, which will air in Chicago, Minneapolis, Kansas City and Omaha, can be viewed on traveliowa.com. Tourism in Iowa generates more than $8.06 billion in expenditures, employs 66,500 people statewide and generates $374 million in state taxes.

INMATE DEATH: Gregory Eugene Simmons, 51, an inmate assigned to the Clarinda Correctional Facility, died Wednesday, according to the state Department of Corrections. Emergency medical assistance was called to Simmons cell shortly after 11 a.m. due to excessive vomiting. Upon entering the cell, medical staff determined that Simmons was not breathing and there was no pulse, said department spokesman Fred Scaletta in a news release. Emergency medical protocols were immediately implemented and a local ambulance service was contacted to transport Simmons to the Clarinda Regional Health Center, where he was pronounced dead at about noon. According to the department, Simmons cause of death was believed to be unknown natural causes, but an autopsy has been ordered to determine the cause of death. In review of the incident by security personnel there was no trauma, injury or foul play discovered, Scaletta said. Simmons was serving a 25-year sentence from Marion County for second-degree sexual abuse. He began serving the prison term on Dec. 13, 2010.
Swedish English

Toronto, March 3, 2016 - Lundin Mining Corporation (TSX: LUN) (OMX: LUMI) (Lundin Mining, Lundin or the Company) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a purchase agreement with an affiliate of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (Freeport) to purchase an interest in Freeports stake in the Timok project located in Serbia. The high grade copper-gold Cukaru Peki deposit is situated on one of the four mineral licenses comprising the Timok project. The project partners are currently Freeport, who is operator of the project, and an affiliate of Reservoir Minerals Inc. (Reservoir) which holds a minority stake in the project and has certain transfer rights as a result of the proposed transaction.

Total consideration of up to US$262,500,000 is payable in stages upon the achievement of key development milestones defined under the purchase agreement, as more particularly described below.

The transaction is subject to Reservoirs right of first offer (ROFO), as well as other customary closing conditions. Prior to entry into the purchase agreement, a ROFO notice was provided today by Freeport to Reservoir, and is open for acceptance by Reservoir for 60 days from the receipt of notice. If the ROFO is not exercised by Reservoir, the transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2016.

Mr. Paul Conibear, President and CEO commented, The acquisition of an interest in the Timok project is consistent with our growth criteria that we have rigorously followed over the last few years. This high quality copper/gold project fits ideally within our overall asset base of operations in the Americas and Europe. This transaction enables the existing Freeport/Reservoir partnership to leverage our proven underground base metals development, construction and operating skill sets to advance the Timok project into operation in a timely manner. The Timok project is expected to enhance the Companys long term copper growth pipeline, while preserving our strong balance sheet. We are very pleased to be able to extend our partnership with Freeport and we intend to advance a meaningful and cooperative relationship with Reservoir to the benefit of all stakeholders including those in Serbia.

Transaction Terms

Under the purchase agreement, and subject to Reservoirs ROFO, Lundin will acquire (1) 100% of Freeports interest in the upper zone of the Cukaru Peki deposit which is characterized by high grade massive and semi-massive sulphide mineralization (the Upper Zone), as well as Freeports interest in all the mineral licenses comprising the Timok project, and (2) 28% of Freeports interest in the lower zone of the Cukaru Peki deposit which is characterized by porphyry-style mineralization (the Lower Zone). Freeport will retain the remaining interest in the Lower Zone. In addition, Freeport has the option to have any new large mineral deposit containing at least four million tonnes of contained copper equivalent characterized in the same manner as the Lower Zone upon the payment to Lundin of two times drilling, study and other similar costs plus other direct costs such as land acquisition costs.

As part of the transaction, Lundin will be appointed as operator of the Timok project until the occurrence of certain events and Lundin will advance the development of both the Upper Zone and the Lower Zone in accordance with approved budgets and work programs. Lundin will have the sole right to propose budgets and work programs relating to the Upper Zone and for certain agreed Lower Zone work, and Freeport will have the sole right to propose budgets and work programs relating to the Lower Zone, subject to specified exceptions.

Until the delivery of a feasibility study Lundin will fund 100% of the Upper Zone development costs, as well as $20 million of agreed Lower Zone work, and Lundin and Freeport will fund 28% and 72% of all other Lower Zone development costs, respectively. After the delivery of the feasibility study, Lundin and Reservoir will be responsible for funding the development of the Upper Zone on a pro rata basis (75%/25% respectively) and each will be entitled to its pro rata share of economic benefits of the Upper Zone. Freeport, Reservoir and Lundin will be responsible for funding of the development of the Lower Zone on a pro rata basis (54%/25%/21% respectively) and each will be entitled to its pro rata share of economic benefits of the Lower Zone.

Key Investment Highlights

High grade copper and gold deposit: High grade copper and gold epithermal deposit overlying potentially large porphyry-style mineralization.

High grade copper and gold epithermal deposit overlying potentially large porphyry-style mineralization. Located in a historic mining region: Project stands to benefit from existing extensive infrastructure which is in place to support the nearby RTB Bor mining complex that has a long mining history.

Project stands to benefit from existing extensive infrastructure which is in place to support the nearby RTB Bor mining complex that has a long mining history. Lundin core competency: Size, quality and stage of the Upper Zone is ideal for Lundin Mining and fits well with our exploration, project development and underground base metals operating skill sets.

Size, quality and stage of the Upper Zone is ideal for Lundin Mining and fits well with our exploration, project development and underground base metals operating skill sets. Staged development: Staged development of the Upper Zone and Lower Zone will allow time to quantify and fully develop the Lower Zone potential to advance this prospective large-scale deposit in an optimal manner.

Staged development of the Upper Zone and Lower Zone will allow time to quantify and fully develop the Lower Zone potential to advance this prospective large-scale deposit in an optimal manner. Balanced acquisition cost: Total acquisition cost is paid over time and is directly tied to key project development and commercial operations milestones.

Total acquisition cost is paid over time and is directly tied to key project development and commercial operations milestones. Excellent exploration potential: Timok project comprises a total of four mineral licenses covering an area of over 200 square km of prospective ground.

Timok project comprises a total of four mineral licenses covering an area of over 200 square km of prospective ground. Minority interest in potential large-scale asset: Provides Lundin with an opportunity to participate in a potential large-scale porphyry deposit.

Transaction Overview

Timok Project Joint Venture

The Timok project is currently held 55% by Freeport and 45% by Reservoir. Freeport is currently operator of the project and is fully funding the project pursuant to a joint venture/shareholders agreement (Timok JVSA) dated December 15, 2015. Upon the delivery of a feasibility study, Freeport will earn an additional 20% interest, for a total project ownership interest of 75%, at which time Reservoir will be required to contribute its pro rata share of development expenditures. Freeport may cease to sole fund at any time, in which case it would not be entitled to earn the additional 20% interest.

Subject to the ROFO, upon the completion of the transaction, Lundins ownership interest in the Timok project will be as follows:

55% of the Upper Zone (Reservoir 45%), and

15.4% of the Lower Zone (Freeport 39.6%, Reservoir 45%)

Following the delivery of the feasibility study upon which Freeports interest in the project will increase to 75%, Lundins ownership interest in the Timok project will be as follows:

75% of the Upper Zone (Reservoir 25%), and

21% of the Lower Zone (Freeport 54%, Reservoir 25%)

Purchase Price

Total consideration of up to US$262.5 million is payable as follows:

US$135 million payable to Freeport upon closing of the transaction

Up to a maximum of US$20 million to be spent by Lundin in connection with agreed exploration and study work on the Lower Zone

US$45 million payable to Freeport upon the earliest to occur of (i) a build decision on the Upper Zone, and (ii) access to any ore body for direct ship ore

US$50 million upon the achievement of commercial production

Up to US$12.5 million in recoupment of project expenditures

Project Overview

The Timok project is located in eastern Serbia and is currently centred on the development of the Cukaru Peki deposit located within the Brestovac-Metovnica mineral license. The project contemplates the development of a high grade massive and semi-massive sulphide deposit and conceptually, an underlying deep seated copper-gold porphyry deposit. The Cukaru Peki deposit is located approximately 6 km south of the famous century-old RTB Bor copper-gold mining/smelting complex. The region has a rich mining history and is complete with the necessary infrastructure and skilled workforce.

Please refer to Reservoirs news release dated January 27, 2014, and to the NI 43-101 Technical Report dated January 2014 for the initial mineral resource estimate for the Upper Zone.

Conference Call and Webcast

Lundin Mining will hold a conference call and webcast on Monday March 7th, 2016 at 8:00 am Eastern time. Details of the call are provided below:

Please call in 10 to 15 minutes before the conference starts and stay on the line (an operator will be available to assist you).

Call-in number for the conference call (North America): +1 734 385 2616

Call-in number for the conference call (North America Toll Free): +1 866 393 4306

Call-in number for the conference call (Europe Toll Free): +46 (0) 8 5661 9361

To take part in the interactive presentation, please log on using this direct link: http://www.investorcalendar.com/IC/CEPage.asp?ID=174778

The presentation slideshow will also be available in PDF format for download from the Lundin Mining website www.lundinmining.com before the conference call.

A replay of the telephone conference will be available approximately one hour after the completion of the conference call until March 14, 2016.

Replay numbers:

North America: +1 404 537 3406

The pass code for the replay is: 65793436

About Lundin Mining

Lundin Mining Corporation is a diversified Canadian base metals mining company with operations in Chile, the USA, Portugal, and Sweden, primarily producing copper, nickel and zinc. In addition, Lundin Mining holds a 24% equity stake in the world-class Tenke Fungurume copper/cobalt mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in the Freeport Cobalt Oy business, which includes a cobalt refinery located in Kokkola, Finland.

On Behalf of the Board,

Paul Conibear

President and CEO

The information in this release is subject to the disclosure requirements of Lundin Mining under the Swedish Securities Market Act and/or the Swedish Financial Instruments Trading Act. This information was publicly communicated on March 3, 2016 at 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

For further information, please contact:

John Miniotis

Senior Manager Corporate Development & Investor Relations

+1-416-342-5565

Sonia Tercas

Senior Associate, Investor Relations

+1-416-342-5583

Robert Eriksson

Investor Relations Sweden

+46 8 545 015 50

Forward Looking Statements

Certain of the statements made and information contained herein is forward-looking information within the meaning of the Ontario Securities Act. Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, the potential exercise of the ROFO by Reservoir, satisfaction of closing conditions, the timing of closing the proposed transaction, the completion of the feasibility study on the timetable proposed, foreign currency fluctuations; risks inherent in mining including environmental hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected geological formations, ground control problems and flooding; risks associated with the estimation of mineral resources and reserves and the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Companys expectations; the potential for and effects of labour disputes or other unanticipated difficulties with or shortages of labour or interruptions in production; actual ore mined varying from estimates of grade, tonnage, dilution and metallurgical and other characteristics; the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses, commodity price fluctuations; uncertain political and economic environments; changes in laws or policies, foreign taxation, delays or the inability to obtain necessary governmental permits; and other risks and uncertainties, including those described under Risk Factors Relating to the Companys Business in the Companys Annual Information Form and in each management discussion and analysis. Forward-looking information is in addition based on various assumptions including, without limitation, the expectations and beliefs of management, the assumed long term price of copper, nickel, lead and zinc; that the Company can access financing, appropriate equipment and sufficient labour and that the political environment where the Company operates will continue to support the development and operation of mining projects. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements. Accordingly, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.


The answer is straightforward C.



WRONG:- Irrelevant. We are concerned with number of people moving to florida. Distance has nothing to do with the argument.

WRONG:- Clever trap. "Likely to retire" is not equal to "definitely retired" ... I am likely to be a movie star does not translate to I am a movie star. Likely introduces a concept of uncertainty and thus cannot be taken as a proper answer.

(C)The total number of people who retired and moved to another state for their retirement has increased significantly over the past ten years.

CORRECT:- Earlier in US there were 1000 people who moved from one state of another after retirement. Out of these 50 % came to florida (meaning 500 people came to florida) Now there were 10,000 people move from one state to another and only 10 % comes to florida (meaning 10 % of 10,000=1000 people) that came to florida.

As you can see the % is decreasing but the actual number has gone up (from 500 people to 1000 people ; there is an increase of 500). This weaken the argument. Infant it kills and buries the argument 6 feet deep in the ground.



WRONG:- At best This tells one side of a story. It tells us nothing about the number of people coming to florida. At worst this option is just out of scope because our argument is concerned with retired people coming to florida and not about people leaving florida.



WRONG:- Reverse answer. This strengthen the argument



heygirl wrote:

In the United States, of the people who moved from one state to another when they retired, the percentage

who retired to Florida has decreased by three percentage points over the past ten years. Since many local

businesses in Florida cater to retirees, these declines are likely to have a noticeably negative economic effect

on these businesses and therefore on the economy of Florida.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument given?

(A) People who moved from one state to another when they retired moved a greater distance, on average,

last year than such people did ten years ago.

(B) People were more likely to retire to North Carolina from another state last year than people were

ten years ago.

(C) The number of people who moved from one state to another when they retired has increased signifi cantly

over the past ten years.

(D) The number of people who left Florida when they retired to live in another state was greater last year than

it was ten years ago.

(E) Florida attracts more people who move from one state to another when they retire than does any other state

Posting an answer without an explanation is "GOD COMPLEX". The world doesn't need any more gods. Please explain you answers properly .

FINAL GOODBYE :- 17th SEPTEMBER 2016. .. 16 March 2017 - I am back but for all purposes please consider me semi-retired. Signature Read More

In the United States, of the people who moved from one state to another when they retired, the percentage who retired to Florida has decreased by three percentage points over the past ten years. Since many local businesses in Florida cater to retirees, this decline is likely to have a noticeably negative economic effect on these businesses.Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?(A) People who moved from one state to another when they retired moved a greater distance, on average,last year than such people did ten years ago.(B) People were more likely to retire to North Carolina from another state last year than people were ten years ago.(D) The number of people who left Florida when they retired to live in another state was greater last year than it was ten years ago.(E) Florida attracts more people who move from one state to another when they retire than does any other state[/quote]_________________
Hi Everyone, Our last post was on April 27, and we know many of you have been wondering about us, if we are okay, and if we were ever going to post again. ...

2 years ago
A 42-year-old Westchester County woman and mother of 8 was found dead in her holding cell in Mount Vernon, New York last July, two days after being arrested for allegedly shoplifting a box of crab legs from a wholesale food market. Today, State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced that his seven month investigation into Raynette Turner's death while in the custody of the Mount Vernon Police Department had found no criminal culpability. The AG's report [PDF] details that Turner died from an enlarged heartthe result of "chronic cocaine and morphine use."

"The fact that we find that a homicide prosecution would be unsustainable...doesn't mean there weren't things that happened that were wrong," said Schneiderman on Thursday.

Governor Cuomo issued an executive order last June that appointed Schneiderman special investigator into the deaths of civilians in police custody. Today's findings are the result of his first investigation in this capacity.

Turner was arrested shortly after 3:00 p.m. on Saturday July 25th, a few blocks from Restaurant Depot in Mount Vernon, on allegations that she had shoplifted a box of crab legs. Court was out of session for the weekend, so she was jailed in anticipation of a Monday arraignment.

Questions immediately arose surrounding the nature of Turner's death, just over two weeks after Texas woman Sandra Bland died in a holding cell, also while being held before her arraignment for a minor violation (in her case, failing to signal while switching lanes). Early reports indicated that Turner had a medical history of high blood pressure, and had undergone weight-loss surgery a year prior to her arrest. On the Sunday night after she was arrested, Turner was taken to Montefiore Mount Vernon Hospital, having told officers that she didn't feel well. She was treated for high blood pressure, and returned to her cell.

Schneiderman's investigation, which involved analysis of surveillance footage documenting "virtually the entire time" Turner was in custody, corroborated police accounts that Turner was checked on regularly.

Schneiderman and his team walked reporters through a powerpoint presentation on Thursday, detailing Turner's movements within and to-and-from her holding cell. The AG's office stressed that police officers granted Turner's request to go to the hospital on Sunday night, and asked about her health throughout the night on Sunday and into Monday, the morning of her arraignment. Turner said repeatedly that she was "feeling better," according to investigators. When she asked to be returned to her cell to lie down a few hours before her scheduled arraignment, the request was granted.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Bragg summarized his team's methodology. "Having determined that there was no physical abuse or assault, the inquiry shifted to attention and care," he said. Bragg added that "the only conceivable theory" for a homicide charge would be criminally negligent homicide. His team determined that a charge of criminal negligence would not hold up.

They did fault one guard, Ricardo Atkinson, for not physically checking in on Turner every 15 minutes, as was his mandate, during the final hours of her life. However, his actions were not deemed grounds for prosecution.

Video shows that Turner vomited several times the day she died. Stressing that the bar for criminally negligent homicide is "very high," Schneiderman's office hinged the defensibility of the police department's actions in large part on the details of Turner's final hours. From the report:

After the hospital visit, on late Sunday and Monday, the Video shows that Ms. Turner appeared to vomit or retch on many occasions. MVPD employees continued to check on her periodically. For example, from 11:45 am to 2:11 pm, MVPD employees were present at or near her cell approximately 10 times; during six of these visits the employees either interacted with Ms. Turner directly or looked into her cell. On Monday, MVPD employees also inquired about Ms. Turners medical condition twice, and, in response, Ms. Turner did not request additional medical attention. Finally, when an MVPD employee discovered that Ms. Turner was nonresponsive, emergency medical services (EMS) was contacted immediately.



"While you can see her vomiting or retching, it was not readily apparent that death was imminent," said Chief of the Special Investigations and Prosecutions Unit Alvin Bragg, reviewing footage stills. "It [vomiting] can be evidence of a medical condition, but symptomatic of non-fatal conditions as well, and she was well enough to walk."

Schneiderman called for "more expedient" pre-arraignment release on Thursday, noting that the State court of appeals has ruled delays exceeding 24 hours "unreasonable."

"There is no good reason why someone arrested for shoplifting should wait 48 hours to be arraigned," he said. The AG's office recommended video conference arraignments to speed up the procedure, and called on the Mount Vernon PD to mandate in-person inmate check-ins, rather than video surveillance check-ins, which were found to be "typical" at the police station.

When Turner's autopsy results were released last October, her husband and son decried them, saying that Turner had used drugs in the past, but that they had no reason to believe that she had relapsed before her death. "It's not the cause of death," Turner's widower said. "It still doesn't tell me why my wife died in a holding cell."

"We met with the family," said Bragg on Thursday. "We did a lot of listening. I think by the end Mr. Turner appreciated the thoroughness, but in terms of words to offer a family in mourningI can only offer condolences."
City Councilmembers and the head of the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development are denouncing Governor Andrew Cuomo's withholding of federal affordable housing funds and plans to micromanage the city's use of that money. Housing Commissioner Vicki Been told the City Council's housing committee on Thursday that the construction of 1,200 below-market-rate apartments have been held up by the governor's withholding of hundreds of millions of dollars in tax-exempt bonds late last year. The governor's plan, announced in January as part of his proposed budget, to require an opaque state authority to approve each use of the bonds in the future, is a "poison pill" that will paralyze the construction of cut-rate housing in the city, she said.

"We could be two years into working through a project, and at the last minute the Public Authorities Control Board, one member, could say, 'I don't approve that project,'" she said. "It introduces enormous uncertainty. Where there's uncertainty there is additional cost."

To recap, the New York Times reported last week that the governor plans to horn in on the as much as $900 million a year the state gives the city in federal bonds for use in his own, not-yet-unveiled housing plan. The move would stifle de Blasio's proposal to build 80,000 new below-market units in the next decade, and has already held up the apartments mentioned, because in November when the city made a by-all-accounts-routine request for $300 million in already-budgeted financing, the state said that only $90 million was available. Yet, as Crain's New York Business reported, the state ended the year with more unused borrowing authority than usual, indicating that the state sat on the money.



Department of Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Vicki Been with Mayor Bill de Blasio (Mayor's Office/Flickr)

In his latest budget, Cuomo proposes to micromanage the city's use of the bonds by requiring that his appointee at the Empire State Development Corporation sign off on bonds going to the city, and requiring that the aforementioned Public Authorities Control Board, controlled by Cuomo and the Assembly speaker and Senate majority leader, approve every affordable housing development proposed in the city using the bonds.

As Politico New York explains:

For years, New York City has received an automatic allocation from Albany, which is based on a formula set by law. This year's allocation, for instance, came in at $283 million. In the past, the governor has always given the city more funding in two disbursements each year, often after other projects throughout the state fall through. The housing bonds, known in the industry as "bond cap" or "volume cap," are responsible for a significant chunk of the affordable housing built in New York City  17,000 of the roughly 40,000 units the city has created over the past two years. De Blasio received $594 million in 2015, and had another $100 million carried over from the previous year.

Brooklyn Councilman Brad Lander called the proposed rules an "assault" on city affordable housing, and said, "It would be catastrophic for our ability to produce and preserve affordable housing if those state poison pills go through."

A spokeswoman for the Governor's Office said the proposals are still up for debate.

"Talks with the Legislature regarding this proposal are ongoing," Dani Lever said. "Everything is still on the table and the state is discussing several options, including certain exceptions or thresholds for size of projects, issuing agencies or specific regions."

Previously, she was unapologetic about the move, telling Politico in January, "Accountability is paramount when we are talking about the distribution of hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars."

Another way to read the scheme is the latest in a long series of maneuvers designed by Cuomo to undercut Mayor Bill de Blasio for having the gall to complain about the governor's petty vindictiveness.
One of the primary deterrents against driving in the city is the lack of easily accessible parking, especially if, like me, you promptly forgot how to parallel park after taking your road test. But if you can park wherever the hell you want and shove your parking tickets in the glove compartment for decades to come, that's quite another story, and one that led diplomats in New York City to accumulate more than $16 million in unpaid ticket debt over the years, thanks to that much-hyped diplomatic immunity. Statistician and New Yorker Ben Wellington took a look at the numbers available through the city's open data portal, and mapped the globe's worst offenders:

Since 1997, the worst offenders have been Egypt, Nigeria, and Indonesia, with diplomats from Egypt racking up nearly $2 million in debt on 17,600 outstanding tickets. And this seems to be at the hands of just a few wayward drivers: Wellington found that four drivers with Egyptian diplomatic plates owed over $724,000 on 6,456 tickets.



(Ben Wellington)

"I was surprised just how many times the worst violators broke the law," Wellington told us. "Parking illegally almost 2,000 times is no easy feat, but one Egyptian diplomatic plate led the way."

But if you look at this over time, Wellington notes, it's quite another story. In 2002, the number of unpaid tickets dropped significantly; just $50,888 was owed for tickets issued in 2003, compared to the $1,402,642 owed for tickets issued in 2002. Why the drop? 2002 was also the year that then-Mayor Bloomberg joined forces with the State Department to crack down on delinquent diplomats, asking the state to confiscate the plates of anyone who failed to pay tickets within 100 days. It worked: the numbers continued to drop to an all-time low in 2007, but have been on the up in recent years. Since 2011, the number of unpaid tickets has climbed from 281 to 1,538, and the open source data currently shows that $185,400 is currently owed for 2015's tickets. (According to the city's Department of Finance, the updated debt is actually a bit lower$176,632.)

A spokesperson for the Department of Finance said that while the department can't account for the recent rise, as it's solely responsible for adjudicating and collecting tickets, "it is something that we're looking to resolve, and we're in the process of examining the entire issue and seeing what we can do."

Since Bloomberg's parking program went into effect, the top offenders have changed, presumably because the previous culprits' plates were confiscated and they were forced to meter park like the rest of us plebes. Between 2003 and 2015, the worst offenders were Indonesia, Italy, and Senegal, and in 2015 alone, Senegal, Qatar, and Nigeria topped the list.

At our request, Wellington also ran a correlation between the amount owed and countries' corruption scores, as quantified by Transparency International, the global coalition against corruption. Though the correlation was low, it showed that countries ranked high for corruption tend to accumulate more debt on their parking tickets, particularly once the corruption score falls below approximately 45 (with 0 being highly corrupt and 100 being very clean).



(Ben Wellington)

A spokesperson for the Mayor's Office for International Affairs couldn't provide any insight into the recent uptick in unpaid tickets, but said that "most diplomats work to ensure their compliance with the Program, paying tickets as they accrue and appealing to the Department of Finance according to established protocol when they wish to contest ticketsjust like any New Yorker."

Looking at the dates, one might guess that with Bloomberg out of office, his policy has fallen by the wayside. Wellington guessed that the greater numbers in recent years may be due to the time it takes to pay a ticket, but noted that this would not explain the 2014 uptick (where the debt jumped from $39,562 to $99,440 after years in the thirty thousands) unless paying these tickets takes several years.

"The release of this data is a great step forward for transparency and the Open Data movement more broadly, so kudos to the Department of Finance for getting it out," Wellington said, adding, "Though the new rules seemed to have reduced illegal parking by diplomats substantially, countries like Senegal, Nigeria and Qatar continue, in 2015, to rack up large amounts of unpaid parking fines."
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Some words of encouragement: today may have been the last snow for the foreseeable future! Next week will possibly see temperatures in the high sixties. Daylight savings is just nine days away! House of Cards is back! Now hug those fragments of joy closely to your chest and brace yourselves for changes coming to 11 subway lines this weekend.

Here's what to expect:

1 trains are not running in either direction between 14 St and South Ferry from 11:30 p.m. on Friday to 5 a.m. on Monday. Free shuttle buses will provide alternate service between Chambers St and South Ferry, and 2 and 3 trains will run local between 34 St-Penn Station and Chambers St. Also, from 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, some northbound 1 trains will terminate at 137 St. And if that wasn't enough for you, from 11:45 p.m. on Friday to 5 a.m. on Monday, downtown 1 trains will run express from Van Cortlandt Park-242 St to 215 St.

2 trains will run local in both directions between Chambers St and 34 St-Penn Station from 11:30 p.m. on Friday to 5 a.m. on Monday. From 3:45 a.m. on Saturday to 10 p.m. on Sunday, 2 service will operate in two sections: between Flatbush Av-Brooklyn College and E 180 St, and via the 5 to and from Eastchester-Dyre Av; and between E 180 St and Wakefield-241 St. And from 3:45 a.m. on Saturday to 10 p.m. on Sunday, E 180 St-bound 2 trains will run express from Wakefield-241 St to E 180 St.

3 trains will run local in both directions between Chambers St and 34 St-Penn Station from 6:30 a.m. to 12 midnight on Saturday and Sunday.

5 shuttle service will be replaced by 2 trains between Eastchester-Dyre Ave and E 180 St from 3:45 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, and from 9:45 p.m. on Saturday to 9:30 a.m on Sunday.

Pelham Bay Park-bound 6 trains will run express from 3 Av-138 St to Hunters Point Av, from 11:45 p.m. on Friday to 5 a.m. on Monday.

Flushing-Main St-bound 7 trains will run express from 74 St-Broadway to Mets-Willets Point from 5:45 a.m. to 12 noon on Saturday and Sunday. From 12:01 p.m. to 11:59 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, Flushing-Main St-bound 7 trains will run express from Queensboro Plaza to Mets-Willets Point.

A trains will be rerouted via the F line in both directions between W 4 St-Wash Sq and Jay St-MetroTech, from 11:45 p.m. on Friday to 5 a.m. on Monday. From 12:01 a.m. on Saturday to 5 a.m. on Monday, A trains will run local in both directions between W 4 St-Wash Sq and 59 St-Columbus Circle. On top of that, from 11:45 p.m. on Friday to 6:30 a.m. on Sunday, and from 11:45 p.m. on Sunday to 5 a.m. on Monday, Brooklyn-bound A trains will run express from 125 St to 59 St-Columbus Circle. And, Manhattan-bound A trains will skill 104 St from 11:45 p.m. on Friday to 5 a.m. on Monday.

C trains will also be rerouted via the F line in both directions between W 4 St-Wash Sq and Jay St-MetroTech, from 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. From 6:30 a.m. to 11:45 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, Brooklyn-bound C trains will run express from 125 St to 59 St-Columbus Circle.

Norwood-205 St-bound D trains will skip 14 St and 23 St from 12:01 a.m. on Saturday to 5 a.m. on Monday.

E trains will be rerouted via the F line in both directions between 21 St-Queensbridge and W 4 St-Wash Sq from 11:45 p.m. on Friday to 5 a.m. on Monday. Free shuttle buses will run between Court Sq-23 St and 21 St-Queensbridge, stopping at Queens Plaza. Also, from 12:01 a.m. on Saturday to 5 a.m. on Monday, E trains will run local in both directions between Forest Hills-71 Av and 21 St-Queensbridge.

F trains will run local in both directions between Forest Hills-71 Av and 21 St-Queensbridge from 12:01 a.m. on Saturday to 5 a.m. on Monday.
News

Woman claims losing Dhs542000 due to relationship in Abu Dhabi

The woman said she knew the appellee for a long time and trusted in him, so she lent him Dhs542,000, which he asked to pay off his financial obligations, as he claimed.
-- 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
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UniFish, the largest fish farming company in Armenia, was declared bankrupt last November and a portion of its assets have been put up for auction.

Harout Gharibyan, who is handling the bankruptcy case, told Hetq that UniFishs debts of US$17 million exceed its assets.

The company owes ACBA-Credit-Agricole-Bank 6.5 million Euros and $5.1 million in loan payments.

And there are a lot of assets to unload. Currently, five business locations located in the communities of Ranchpar and Sayat Nova in Ararat Province (buildings, vehicles, 650 fish tanks, 53 wells, etc.) with a starting bid of 6 billion AMD are on the auction block. So far, there havent been any takers.

Also up for auction is an 826 square meter house and a 1,000 square meter adjacent parcel of land registered under Sousanna Simonyan, the wife of UniFish Director Armen Mkrtchyan. The minimum bid for these is 407 million AMD.

Fish stocks at the five businesses are also being auctioned  some 695,000 kilograms. The minimum bid for the fish is 1.7 million AMD.

In total, some 8.2 billion AMD in UniFish movable and fixed assets are up for auction. The amount more or less equals the $17 million in company debt.

Those with their eye on snatching up UniFish assets are waiting for the asking price to come down and are thus refraining from placing bids right now.

UniFish Exports Ltd., established in 2011, has also been declared bankrupt. Its debt obligations amount to US$1.7 million. It also owes $290,000 to Byblos Bank Armenia, 6 million AMD to ACBA Leasing, 264 million AMD to Spayka Company, and $565,000 to Towerbell Corp.

In 2007, the sole shareholder of UniFish was Armen Mkrtchyan, who founded the company. In 2014, he transferred his shares to a company called M-T Capital Holdings, registered in the Seychelles.

UniFish Exports is owned by Tigran Ghazaryan, who resides in Moscow.

Harout Gharibyan says the reason for UniFish going bankrupt was the devaluation of the Russian ruble, but this claim cannot be confirmed.

Since being declared bankrupt, UniFish shareholders and top management have left Armenia.

Then Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan visits UniFish in 2008

Arkady Gevorgyan, former president of Armenias Union of Fish Farmers, says that the sector is in bad shape due to the fact that Russias middle class, where a majority of Armenias fish exports went, are no longer consuming the product due to a weakened ruble.

In turn, fish exports from Armenia have annually been decreasing. Gevorgyan believes the reasons are a shrinking Russian market and business/legal issues in Armenia.

Gevorgyan also argues that threats made by Armenias Ministry of Nature Protection to reduce water supplies to fish farmers and raise water prices even more, foments an unstable business sector environment.

Its necessary to pass a law regarding fish farming that will regulate relations between fish farmers and state water and land agencies, environmentalists, and other government bodies, Gevorgyan says.

Top photo: Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan visits UniFish in 2011




Mount Greylock Books LLC has published my autobiography as an historian, A Life in History. Long-time readers who want to find out how th...


Ramboll engineer wins young professional 2016 in Denmark



On the 3rd of March 2016 Jens Rosenville from Ramboll Oil & Gas won the prestigious Young Professionals Award awarded by the Danish Association of Consulting Engineers (FRI).



The 1st place was awarded to the 32-year-old engineer because of his innovative solutions, technical skills and great interpersonal skills which were applied in one of the North Sea's biggest gas projects for Maersk Oil UK.



A role model for other young engineers

"Jens Rosenville distinguishes himself by being strong in all the areas required by a consulting engineer. On the Culzean project, where Ramboll designed the steel construction of the platform, he has shown that he is professionally strong and innovative, he can lead a team of employees and he can communicate with clients so that they understand the task and specifically want Jens Rosenville as a part of their future projects. Jens Rosenville is a role model for other young engineers, " says Henrik Garver, Managing Director at FRI.



Professional and personal competences

According to Ramboll's client, Maersk Oil, Jens Rosenville has demonstrated great technical knowledge throughout the project, delivered high quality in his results and also shown extremely good interpersonal skills regarding cooperation.



"It was a pleasure to work with Jens Rosenville in both a professional and personal capacity. His high levels of dedication, technical competence, communication skills and approach to client interaction merit special recognition", says Gareth Lindsay, Lead Structural Engineer at Maersk Oil UK.



The Culzean project is one of the largest gas projects in the North Sea and the largest project for Maersk Oil UK to date. The project is expected to produce enough gas to meet 5% of total UK gas consumption demand and the Culzean field aligns with the UK's commitment to increased gas-fired electricity. The project required an innovative mindset and involved several 'firsts' for Maersk Oil. These 'firsts' included incorporating a twisted base jacket concept, adoption of an under-leg pile system and far deeper water depth than any prior Maersk Oil fixed platform experience.



A true team player

"I am very happy and honoured to be named Young Professional of the year by the Danish Association of Consulting Engineers (FRI). The Culzean project has been an exciting and innovative project and the successful outcome would not have been possible without the hard work, expertise and great cooperation from the entire team, " says Jens Rosenville, who works on a daily basis as a structural engineer in the Offshore, Jackets department in Ramboll Oil & Gas.



The award qualifies Jens Rosenville for the European competition to become this year's Young Professional organized by the European Federation of Engineering Consultancy Associations (EFCA).



In addition, Kristian Mads Arounsack-Jrgensen and Henrik Thoren from Ramboll were among the candidates in the Young Professional 2016 competition in Denmark.



It is the fourth time since 2012 that the winner of Young Professionals competition by the Danish Association of Consulting Engineers (FRI) is from Ramboll.







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Students with homemade butterfly wings on their backs march downtown on the "Day Without Latinos and Immigrants."
Latino protesters and supporters carried signs and chanted inside the Capitol building for "A Day Without Latinos and Immigrants" on Feb. 18.
The Dane County Board on Thursday overrode a veto by County Executive Joe Parisi, voting to move forward with a market study and master planning process for the Alliant Energy Center.

Board members voted 30-6 to proceed with the measure approved Feb. 18.

Parisi and supervisors have clashed in recent months over how extensive a potential redevelopment of the campus should be. Parisi vetoed the Alliant Energy Center market study in a Feb. 26 memo to the County Board, saying he wont support using county dollars or staff time to explore privatizing or eliminating the jobs of the 25 full-time employees of the county-owned facility.

Parisi also repeated his opposition to the potentially high public cost of a full redevelopment of the complex that would likely include a new arena to replace the 49-year-old Dane County Coliseum.

Board Chairwoman Sharon Corrigan countered in a memo saying that the market study and master planning process will create more jobs, protect county workers and make the Alliant Energy Center economically viable. She supported overriding the veto to enable the board to make decisions based on data.

It is the first override of a Parisi veto. The County Board last overrode a veto in 2009.
Cyprus PIO: Turkish Cypriot and Turkish Media Review, 16-03-04 Cyprus Press and Information Office: Turkish Cypriot Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office Server at <http://www.pio.gov.cy/> TURKISH CYPRIOT AND TURKISH MEDIA REVIEW No. 43/16 04.03.2016 [A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS [01] Akinci describes the current negotiating process as the "last chance for federation" [02] Ak?nc? met with Turkey's Minister Isik [03] Tusk discussed the Cyprus problem with Davutoglu [04] Kalyoncu evaluated the water agreement [05] Turkish Minister said that third countries asked them for water [06] Ozyigit condemned the so-called government for the signing of the water agreement [07] The land on which a university in occupied Morfou area will be built allegedly belongs to the self-styled minister of education or his family [08] Angolemli and Durust talked about Morfou's return at the "assembly" [09] Applications for the establishment of more "universities" in the occupation regime are waiting for "YODAK's permission"; statements by Durust [10] Dincyurek resigned from DP; Serdar Denktas preferred not to comment the resignation [11] Havadis media Group and Phileleftheros Media Group launched cooperation [12] Tacoy: "State policy cannot be conducted only with Bayrak" [13] CHP to sue the AKP government for "aiding terrorism" [14] Berkin Elvan's murderer identified almost three years after shooting [15] Columnist assesses the situation in Turkey regarding the change of political system [A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS [01] Akinci describes the current negotiating process as the "last chance for federation" Under the title "The last chance for federation", Turkish Cypriot daily Havadis newspaper (04.03.16) reports that the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mustafa Akinci has argued that if the Cyprus problem is not solved in the current negotiating process, "this will not only be the last experiment of our generation, but it could be assessed as the last experiment for the federal system". In a joint interview with reporters of Havadis and Phileleftheros / Cyprus Weekly newspapers, Akinci said that the negotiations for establishing a federation have lasted for a long time and added that with President Anastasiades they share the view that if they could not find a federal solution, the next generations "will put the emphasis on other solution models". Akinci said that a solution in 2016 is possible and added that President Anastasiades also shares this view. Noting that a will for a solution is now existing at the table, Akinci reiterated his belief that "we do not need years for finding a solution in Cyprus". Arguing that we are passing through a sensitive period now because of the parliamentary elections to be held in May in the government-controlled area of the Republic of Cyprus, Akinci said that after May "speedy developments are possible". "Until then we will try to achieve more progress on the four chapters on which we made progress until now", he said, adding that progress has been achieved on the chapters of Governance and Power Sharing, the EU, Economy and Property. He noted that in the above chapters there are also issues that remain open and they will try to reduce their number as much as possible. Asked what is expected in the next stage, Akinci replied: "I am suggesting the discussion of the Territory and the Security/ Guarantees in a different format where the map, the percentages and the names of the places will be discussed. No concrete decision has been taken yet on these issues. However, on the territory issue we do not want a situation like now to go, talk, to come back, to go back in ten days, and meanwhile these issues to become front-page news in the papers. [?] We want to discuss the territory in a continuous process. And right after the territory we want to complete the Security and the Guarantees with the participation of the guarantors". Replying to a question on the confidence building measures, Akinci argued that the Turkish Cypriot side has done whatever it promised, but the Greek Cypriot side says that a law is an obstacle on the connection of the cell phones networks. He argued that if the obstacle was in the "laws" of the breakaway regime he would meet with the parties and overcome the problem. Asked about the other factors which make the solution possible, Akinci said that the most important issue is energy and reiterated the view that the energy resources in the Eastern Mediterranean will either be turned into a field of cooperation or into a means of conflict. He argued that the most "simple, quick and cheap" route for transferring energy from Israel through Cyprus to Europe is Turkey. Referring to the water which was transferred from Turkey to the occupied area of the island, Akinci said: "Water came from Turkey here. This water came with a new technology. This is an important project. Currently 75 million cubic meters will come. In the future, when Cyprus is united, it is possible to create the capacity for the whole of Cyprus to benefit with this technology. Therefore, this is a factor as well, the electricity-water-natural gas and the mutual dependence which they will create, the dependence in a positive direction. It is a dependence which will create possibilities for cooperation. And the last factor is the following: The international community is really supporting this solution. Turkey, Greece, the UN and the EU need such an example. [?]" (I/Ts.) [02] Ak?nc? met with Turkey's Minister Isik According to illegal Bayrak television (03.03.16) the Turkish Minister for Science, Industry and Technology Fikri Is?k who is illegally visiting the "TRNC" to attend the "1st Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SME) Summit for the TRNC", met with the Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci. Speaking during the visit, Is?k expressed support to Ak?nc? at the negotiations process, stating the following: "We are closely following and supporting president Ak?nc?'s works towards a just and comprehensive solution on the island. Hopefully, we will reach a lasting solution as a result of the negotiations. But, Turkey will continue to stand by the TRNC under any circumstances". For his part, Ak?nc? said that the support expressed by Is?k on the Cyprus issue was very important. "All our efforts are aimed towards creating a bi-zonal, bi-communal atmosphere in Cyprus. We are working towards reaching a just and lasting solution which will not make our people suffer again and which will not harm our equality, security and freedom. Turkey's support on this is so important for us and we will continue to work with good will in order to achieve this goal", Akinci said. "I hope 2016 will be a year which a new political climate will be created and instead of regional conflicts regional cooperation will be on the agenda. We should continue working in order to be prepared for the future", added Akinci. [03] Tusk discussed the Cyprus problem with Davutoglu Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris newspaper (04.03.16) reports that European Council President Donald Tusk who is currently in Ankara for talks on the refugee action plan, held a face to face meeting with Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. Speaking at a joint press conference with Davutoglu, Tusk said that among the matters discussed during the meeting was also the Cyprus problem. Tusk expressed the view that a solution on the Cyprus problem that will be on the benefit of both sides in the island is very important for the security and the stability of the region. (AK) [04] Kalyoncu evaluated the water agreement According to illegal Bayrak television (04.03.16) the so-called prime minister Omer Kalyoncu evaluated his Ankara contacts and the water agreement signed with Turkey to the illegal BRT and TAK news agency. Kalyoncu announced that the management of the water will be the responsibility of the "TRNC". Describing the water agreement signed with Turkey as satisfactory for both "countries", he said that "as a result of uphill struggles we managed to make changes in line with the expectations of our people and obtained gains on the control and management of the water". Kalyoncu also provided information about the changes made on 13 articles of the agreement as a result of long negotiations with Turkey. Stressing that the water project should be used in the direction of peace and convergences, Kalyoncu expressed the hope that the water will open a new era in relations between the two "countries" and bring peace, stability and mutual benefit. "We need a positive relationship with Turkey during a time when our government is preparing for new investments and for the implementation of many reforms and projects" Kalyoncu added. "A bright future and establishment of a federal Cyprus in equality and peace will depend on these good relations" he stated. Evaluating also the economic protocol to be signed with Turkey, he said the final technical arrangements in the protocol were made during his visit in Ankara. [05] Turkish Minister said that third countries asked them for water Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris newspaper (04.03.16) reports that the Turkish Forest and Water Affairs Minister Veysel Eroglu evaluated the water project and stated: "This glory is ours". Eroglu, who was speaking at the Turkish Assembly, about his Ministry's annual budget, went on and added that this is the first time that such a project took place and said that the water transferred will meet the needs of the population in the occupied area of Cyprus for the next fifty years. He also stated that other countries which saw the success of the project started asking for water from Turkey as well. (CS) [06] Ozyigit condemned the so-called government for the signing of the water agreement Turkish Cypriot daily Ortam newspaper (04.03.16) reports on statements by Cemal Ozyigit, leader of the Social Democracy Party (TDP) who in a written statement yesterday, condemned the so-called government for the signing of the water agreement with Turkey and said that the "agreement concerning the management and water supply" envisages articles which enable a private company to administrate the water. Accusing the "government" for the signing of the agreement, Ozyigit said that together with the "economic protocol", the privatization of "electricity, telecommunication and ports" will come into the agenda. "In what way those who approved the privatization of the water, will oppose to the privatization of KIB-TEK, the Telecommunication department and all the other institutions in the country", wondered Ozygit. (AK) [07] The land on which a university in occupied Morfou area will be built allegedly belongs to the self-styled minister of education or his family Under the title "Is this allegation true", columnist Mert Ozdag reports the following in Turkish Cypriot daily Yeni Duzen newspaper (04.03.16): "There are very serious allegations regarding the land on which it is said that the Turkish Nisantasi University will be built in Morfou. What it is mostly said is that the land, on which the university buildings will be constructed, belongs to education minister Durust or his family. In other words, according to the allegations, the minister of education has sold land to the aforementioned university. Of course, the duty of confirming such information belongs to the competent authorities, but if it is true, this is not good. Because, how come the minister of education sells his own land to a university to which he gave a permit? Perhaps there is an illegal situation. However, in your view, is such an alleged sale procedure ethical? In my view it is not. I hope it is not true and I hope it is a lie. We will see". (I/Ts.) [08] Angolemli and Durust talked about Morfou's return at the "assembly" Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris newspaper (04.03.16) reports that a discussion about occupied Morfou took place at the "assembly" between Huseyin Angolemli "deputy" with the Socialist Democracy Party (TDP) and "minister of education" Kemal Durust. Angolemli criticized the recent statements of Durust about Morfou saying that statements like "we are not giving Morfou back, or we are giving it back" at a time when the Cyprus negotiations are taking place are very wrong and they put a burden on the Turkish Cypriot side. Replying to Angolemli's comments, Durust stated that the stance of the Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci does not concern him and added that the fact that the area needs investments is a reality. He went on to add that he tries to reply to questions and problems occurring in the area and while doing so he does not have in mind whether Morfou will be given back to the Greek Cypriots or not. Angolemli took again the floor after Durust's statements and said that even the Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan called on the Turkish Cypriots "Not to give Morfou back". "But he did not say; you shall not give Morfou", Angolemli noted. He went on and wondered why after all these years a new university is to be constructed in the area now. (CS) [09] Applications for the establishment of more "universities" in the occupation regime are waiting for "YODAK's permission"; statements by Durust Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris newspaper (04.03.16) reports that the so-called minister of education Kemal Durust, in statements during the meeting of the so-called assembly, said that 5-6 applications were sent to the so-called Higher Education Planning, Evaluation, Accreditation and Coordination Council ("YODAK") for permission for the establishment of new "universities" in the "TRNC". Commenting on this, Durust said that the "authority" for "giving permission" for the establishment of a "university" should be given to the "parliament". He added that since there are already 12 "universities" in the "country", it would be better instead of increasing the number of the "universities", to increase the quality of education that the existing ones provide. (AK) [10] Dincyurek resigned from DP; Serdar Denktas preferred not to comment the resignation According to Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris (04.03.16), Hakan Dincyurek, so-called deputy with the Democratic Party- National Forces (DP-UG) has resigned from his post. . Dincyurek's official letter regarding his resignation was read out during the plenary session of the so-called parliament. Dincyurek will continue as an independent "deputy" at the so-called parliament. Speaking to the paper about Dincyurek's resignation, Serdar Denktas, chairman of DP-UG stated that he preferred not to comment on this. He said that he does not know the reason of this resignation and added that it would be better to ask Dincyurek for this. The number of seats at the so-called parliament after Dincyurek's resignation has been formed as follows: -Republican Turkish Party (CTP): 21 -National Unity Party (UBP): 18 -Democratic Party-National Forces (DP-UG): 7 -Social Democracy Party (TDP): 3 -Independent: 1 [11] Havadis media Group and Phileleftheros Media Group launched cooperation Under the title "Havadis and Phileleftheros hand in hand for Cyprus", Turkish Cypriot daily Havadis newspaper (04.03.16) reports that within the framework of a strategic cooperation between Havadis Media Group and Greek Cypriot Phileleftheros Group, as of today the Cyprus Weekly newspaper and the in-cyprus.com news portal in English are uniting their power to cover developments happening in the whole of Cyprus seeing the island as a one single country. The paper writes that the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mustafa Akinci has described this cooperation as "a historic step for correct communication". In his message President Anastasiades applauded this cooperation, noting after the lack of communication and the decades of division, there are still serious problems in the two communities understanding each other. (I/Ts.) [12] Tacoy: "State policy cannot be conducted only with Bayrak" Turkish Cypriot daily Star Kibris newspaper (04.03.16) reports that Hasan Tacoy, the secretary general of the Democratic Party (DP) said that "state policy cannot be conducted only with Bayrak" but the help of private channels is also needed. Tacoy stated that private channels in the breakaway regime face various problems mainly due to "unjust competition". As he said, the Turkish channels that broadcast in the occupied area of Cyprus are more influential and have a bigger audience therefore get more commercials than the Turkish Cypriot ones. He went on and noted that the "state policy" should not be left only to Bayrak since all the private channels can be very helpful towards this direction and called the "state financial aid" to be increased. On the contrary he said the aid is to be cut after June and this leaves the private channels to survive only by their own means, which will be impossible under the current circumstances. (CS) [13] CHP to sue the AKP government for "aiding terrorism" Turkish daily Hurriyet Daily News (04.03.16) reports that Kemal K?l?cdaroglu, the leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), will sue the government for supporting terrorism. "This government and its predecessors have been the ones which support and abet terrorist organizations", said Kilicdaroglu and added that their provincial heads of the party will take necessary steps in the following days". Describing the support a legitimate government gives to an outlawed terrorist organization as a crime, K?l?cdaroglu implicitly said that his party would file a criminal complaint against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). "A legitimate government cannot support nor abet an illegitimate terrorist organization. This is a crime. However, this crime has been committed in Turkey and is still being committed," Kilicdaroglu also said, adding that there was no terrorism when the AKP came to power in 2002. "Turkey is now a lake of blood today. They ordered governors, 'Do not touch terrorists.' They made the east and the south east warehouses of weapons. We hear news of soldiers' deaths every day," he said and added that Turkey is one step away from catastrophe. [14] Berkin Elvan's murderer identified almost three years after shooting Turkish daily Hurriyet Daily News (03.03.16) reported that a legal investigation has revealed the identity of the police officer who shot the youngest victim of the Gezi Park protests, 15-year-old Berkin Elvan, almost three years after a tear gas canister that fatally injured Elvan was fired on June 2013. A report by daily Milliyet said that the police officer who caused Elvan's death has finally been identified, almost two years after the teenager succumbed to his wounds following a 269-day coma on March 11, 2014. Camera footage from the incident displayed two police officers shooting tear gas at the spot where Elvan, then 14, sustained his wounds. The footage was retrieved from the camera of a riot control vehicle with water cannon, popularly known as a TOMA, and was sent to the gendarmerie criminal laboratory for investigation. An expert report identified a police officer and a police superintendent as suspects, but it was later determined that only the police officer's position matched the direction from where Elvan was shot. According to reports, the Istanbul Public Prosecutor's Office has since been searching for the suspect and finally identified the officer ? some two years after the footage was retrieved. The officer was transferred to a different province and will testify in the coming days, daily Milliyet reported. [15] Columnist assesses the situation in Turkey regarding the change of political system In a commentary entitle: "Will the AK Party be able to change the Constitution?", columnist Ismet Berkan in Turkish daily Hurriyet Daily News (04.03.16) writes the following: "We have reached the stage where Turkey no longer has a Constitutional Conciliation Commission. Indeed, it was never a very realistic prospect in the first place. A minimum of 367 votes are required to change the Constitution in a vote in Parliament; 330 votes are required to hold a referendum. Anything below that has no meaning. The biggest party in Parliament, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), does not have 330 votes. What's more, in a secret vote there is no guarantee that all 316 votes of the AK Party will be positive. The Parliament Speaker cannot vote either. Even if all ruling party Deputies were convinced and voted as a bloc, they would need at least 14 outside votes. Could these votes be found? Of course they could; this is what conciliation means. The three other parties in Parliament could reconcile with the AK Party on several constitutional articles. But a political system change is not among these articles. The fact that there is no climate of reconciliation for a constitutional change introducing the presidential system does not seem to have led the AK Party to postpone its plans. In the coming period, we should expect the party to form its own commission and write a Constitution that includes the presidential system. AK Party officials will likely visit other parties and look for reconciliation only after the drafting of this text is completed. What will happen if no agreement can be reached and the AK Party's constitutional proposal does not receive 330 votes in Parliament? At this point, there is a strong opinion among many that early elections will be called, in order for the AK Party to reach 330 Deputies to take a constitutional change to a referendum. This opinion is thought to be supported by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and several AK Party members. This desire for an early election is based on the calculation that the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) may not be able to cross the election threshold and the AK Party would receive more than 50% of the votes. Whenever this is openly suggested it is immediately denied: First Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu denied it and then Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Kal?n. It would truly be a weird and extraordinary development for a country to hold elections once again after holding two consecutive elections in the previous year. But this is Turkey. Holding two elections last year was extraordinary enough in itself. Indeed, for an opposition that opened the way for President Erdogan and the AK Party to hold a second election last year, a similar performance would not be extraordinary. Unfortunately, at this moment politics and political struggles in Turkey are only being conducted within the AK Party - covertly and shyly. Although it is not reflected much on the outside, inside the AK Party there are those who automatically support President Erdogan's desired presidential system and there are those who hesitate to support it. We are all watching this political struggle from the outside. That "outside" includes the opposition parties. Probably the opposition is just waiting for the debate in the AK Party to settle and for clarity to arise. They also waited just like this after the June 7 election last year, and we know what happened next". TURKISH AFFAIRS SECTION http://www.moi.gov.cy/pio (AK/AM) Cyprus Press and Information Office: Turkish Cypriot Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-03-04 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/> CONTENTS [01] Greece's political leaders conclude meeting on refugee/migration crisis [02] PM Tsipras to Bild: There are 30,000 refugees in Greece; we can accept another 20,000 [03] Refugee crisis 'neither Greek nor Turkish,' Kotzias and Cavusoglu agree in Athens [01] Greece's political leaders conclude meeting on refugee/migration crisis Greece's political party leaders concluded a meeting on the refugee and migration crisis late on Friday. A joint statement issued after the leaders' council, chaired by Hellenic Republic President Prokopis Pavlopoulos, was backed by all the parties except the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and Union of Centrists. Government sources said there had been full agreement with the government's positions and plan for the refugee and migration crisis at the meeting. They attributed the delay in drafting the joint statement to the PASOK leader Fofi Gennimata's insistence that it include a reference reflecting her view that this could only be achieved by a national consensus government of all pro-European forces. According to the same sources, this was opposed by the other political leaders, who refused to sign if this was included. Main opposition New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the meeting had resulted in a "minimum acceptable framework" on what Greece will strive to achieve at the EU-Turkey summit on Monday but also expressed "reservations" about the government's ability to handle the crisis. He said ND had strongly criticised the government's strategy on this issue up to this point while adding that, "albeit with some delay, it is finally adjusting its strategy to realism". In statements as he left the meeting, Potami party leader Stavros Theodorakis said the political leaders had agreed on the need for solidarity with the refugees but also that irregular migrants must return home and that the security of the Greek islands must be protected. He said that the prime minister did not receive the opposition's backing for use of Greece's veto but also that he did not want to use it. KKE's leader Dimitris Koutsoumbas had walked out of the meeting early, while Union of Centrists' leader Vassilis Leventis finally refused to back the joint statement, calling the meeting a "fiasco". [02] PM Tsipras to Bild: There are 30,000 refugees in Greece; we can accept another 20,000 BERLIN (ANA-MPA/F. Karaviti) - Countries that violate agreements of the European Union and close their borders are "destroying Europe", Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said in an interview with German newspaper Bild published on Friday, adding that there are 30,000 refugees in the country. In the interview titled "Tsipras condemns the closing of the borders", the prime minister asked for a fair distribution of refugees saying that Greece has fulfilled more than 100 pct of its obligations. He also said the situation is difficult but not out of control and that the country can handle another 30,000. "We cannot become a warehouse of souls who don't want to be here," he was quoted as saying, adding that he believed Europe will not abandon Greece because it is defending its fundamental principles. "That which some countries have agreed and decided to do, which is contrary to all the rules, all over Europe, we consider it as a non-friendly action! You cannot agree one thing at a European Union summit and afterwards for some to meet and just decide to close the border. These countries are destroying Europe!" he said, stressing that he considers the refugee crisis as an "existential crisis" for the EU. [03] Refugee crisis 'neither Greek nor Turkish,' Kotzias and Cavusoglu agree in Athens The refugee and migrant crisis is a global problem that concerns all of Europe, not just Greece or Turkey, Greece's Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias said on Friday in joint statements with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, following their meeting in Athens. "We agreed that the refugee issue is not a Greek or Turkish issue, nor can it be confined to relations between Greece and Turkey," Kotzias said. The Greek minister said that they had also discussed the agreement for NATO's involvement in tackling the refugee and migrant issue. Kotzias said that Greece was in favour of building up relations with Turkey "often through difficulties," on the basis of good neighbourship and international law. To the degree that they were able to resolve these problems, Greece and Turkey could be a powerful stabilising factor in the region, he added. The Greek minister also repeated Greece's desire for a solution to the Cyprus problem that reflects the hopes, longings and prospects of the Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot communities, noting that such a solution would also help improve relations between Greece and Turkey. Cavusoglu agreed that the migration crisis was "neither Turkish nor Greek," adding that ways must be found to handle the massive flows and the resulting humanitarian crisis. Both ministers agreed that the solution was to strike the problem at its root by stopping the warn in Syria and the problems in Iraq and Libya. Cavusoglu also noted that Greece and Turkey needed to further develop the existing cooperation framework relating to rescue operations, in order to make it more effective, and pointed to recent changes in Turkish law concerning readmission agreements, saying that 99 pct of the 800 readmission agreements submitted by Greece had been approved. In talks involving delegations, the two sides also examined bilateral agreements designed to encourage investments in both countries, ahead of the high-level Greek-Turkish cooperation council in Izmir next Tuesday. They especially referred to plans for a high-speed rail link between Istanbul, Thessaloniki and the Greek port city of Igoumenitsa, ferry links with Izmir and planned gas pipelines, such as the Trans Adriatic Pipeline and linking pipelines. Asked about air space violations in the Aegean, Cavusoglu said there were legal differences between Greece and Turkey but at the same time noted that "humanitarian issues should not be mixed up with politics," and that territorial disputes should not take precedence over problems involving rescue missions. "The exploratory talks are held to overcome the problems," Kotzias replied, while stressing the need "to systematically tackle the networks of traffickers and criminals that have a turnover of six billion euros." 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White House confrontation over FBI file leads to Scalia killing

by Gordon Duff and Ian Greenhalgh

Editorial note: Revelations on the Allan case, which led to Scalia now lead into the entire Koch network, including the Federalist Society, said to be operating not simply in law schools but Americas high schools as well, and into the Heritage Foundation.

We dont know when it began, maybe at the Presidio under Michael Aquino and the Temple of Set or before. We do know it has victimized thousands of children around the world, not only in America but channeling children through Belgium and the Netherlands into sexual slavery and death.

What is it that makes the powerful desire what is so hurtful and obscene? When we ignored the Franklin Coverup, we opened ourselves to this



Scalia  What really happened?

Justice Antonin Scalia was surprised when he was ordered to the White House. This was not a man you gave orders to, especially not President Obama. It was Justice Antonin Scalia who vacated the long sacrosanct immunity from civil lawsuits, opening the door for a weakened presidency.

Sources say that Scalia was the single actor behind the impeachment of Bill Clinton. President Obama was aware of this and had ordered the FBI to set out traps for Scalia.

We will now outline the downfall of Antonin Scalia. Yes, this is a story of secret societies, operating worldwide and ritual Satanic child abuse that permeates Washington.

When Scalia left the White House after a meeting with the president just before flying to Texas, the manila envelope he was carrying had printouts from a computer seized by FBI Special Agent Jeff Ross of the Salt Lake City, Utah field office, or so informants tell us.

Scalia left the White House carrying slam dunk proof that would lead to the arrest, conviction and, of course, impeachment of a seated Supreme Court Justice, files that contained names of victims and details on sex acts, preferred types along with dates and places.

All of this was on the seized computer and these files went up hill from the FBI to the Department of Justice and directly over to the White House.

There, political advisors leapt on them, seeing a chance to leverage a justice and, in this case, and this is very important, bring down Scalia in such a way that conservatives would be forced to accept virtually any Obama nomination.

When Scalia arrived in Houston and chartered a plane after ditching his US Marshall protection detail, Scalia and his companion, C. Allen Foster.

Foster heads the Order of Hubertus and is co-owner with John Poindexter of the Cibolo Creek Ranch, 25,000 plus acres free for anyone to use, according to John Poindexter, free of charge, so long as they are a supreme court justice, A list celebrity like Mick Jagger or billionaires, others need not apply.

St. Hubertus ritual mask taken from Cibolo Creek ranch (credit: InfoWars.com)

The crux of the story is how they got Scalia. According to sources, Scalia had been providing protection for an international pedophile ring and was murdered by friends who he had informed of the nature of his visit with Obama and the doom it signaled for those around Scalia, prosecution, ruin and Citizens United reversed.

The mechanism Scalia used to provide this protection was the Federalist Society which chooses the judges throughout the US judiciary system so should any unfortunate pedophile find himself in court, the judge was under Scalias control, thus making a successful prosecution difficult to achieve.

The Federalist Society grooms and recruits candidates to become judges at a young age  college age kids; they specifically seek out suitable candidates who have certain moral ambiguities that can be exploited.

Thus a stranglehold is placed on the judicial system of the United States by a group which serves the interests of big business  corrupt corporations, big pharma, the oil and coal barons.

This is how their interests are, time and again, placed ahead of those of we, the people with the result that our environment and our bodies are polluted by the products of these corporations, be it poisons like aspartame and GMO crops in our food, toxins in our ground water (see Flint, MI) or just plain old exploitation of poor people such as the coal miners of West Virginia and Kentucky.

Scalia met with the Order of Saint Hubertus, the patron saint of million dollar dude ranch hunting.

As of yet, no one has identified who was there, it seems that Supreme Court justices are found all the time with pillows over their faces and nobody asks a thing, but this was Texas and they make their own rules down there.

We remember former FBI director and founder, J Edgar Hoover, the man who said ritual satanic child abuse was a conspiracy theory. He is also the man who said the mafia didnt exist.

Scalias talk in Texas was said to have gone like this:

They have us, we are all going down unless we can give them what they want and they are holding all the cards, they have everything.

There was no negotiation with the White House, instead Scalia got, we are told and multiple sources confirm, a pillow over the face and a heroic funeral, one that President Obama refused to attend. Now we know why.

For a seated president to not attend the funeral of a pedophile is unthinkable.

_____

The computer itself belonged to a Stirling David Allen, arrested and charged with child rape and sodomy by the FBI after an investigation that began with a meeting in Rome, Italy.

The FBI had known about Allen for some time, had wanted to arrest him since 2014 but had been blocked, they just didnt know why or who was behind it, not until Justice Scalia died. Within 9 days, Allen was jailed, and the evidence he held began to yield gold.

Allen is being held on these charges with bail set at $250,000.

We were shown an email from Allen where he tells of his January 15, 2016 meeting with Agent Ross at which time his computers were seized by the FBI.

What we are told was on Allens computer and what Allen told agents is astounding. Allen confessed, we are told, not only to his own sex crimes but to being recruited by a powerful international organization that provided him broad protection from prosecution.

From Ian Greenhalgh:

It is very sick, but if you really want to watch and hear the ramblings of a mad man just watch this video where Sterling D. Allan says he is GOD in the flesh, admits to being a paedophile, admits he has committed sexual abuse with an underage child, and says that he is waiting to be arrested. Mr. Allan claims he chose this life before coming to Earth to be a scapegoat which of course is all foretold in his insane alphabetics.'

We are told that Allen became increasingly unstable as his own feelings of guilt and his own public confessions of child sex crimes were inadequate to bring about his own arrest, an arrest he openly asked for time and time again.

Allen, who using his computer skills helped fellow pedophiles scour the internet for vulnerable children.

High level sources confirm that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was murdered, that in itself is neither an original claim nor beyond the realm of likelihood based on circumstances allegedly tied to his death.

By that, we are speaking of the pillow over the head and allegations of a cover-up autopsy, well outside legal requirements for someone of Scalias position.

Sources in the White House confirm that immediately prior to his flight to Texas, ostensibly for a hunting trip with 35 close friends, many of whom are members of the highly secret Order of Saint Hubertus.

As is being reported, initially in the Washington Post with broader allegations made on the InfoWars website, tying the Hubertus Order to Bohemian Grove antics, long subject to speculation in the alternative media.

We became aware of the case in August 2015 when we were shown correspondence between Allen and representatives of the Keshe Foundation. Allen ran several popular websites on alternative energy and was a popular speaker, often appearing on the Coast to Coast radio show with Detroit native, George Noory.

Increasingly it became obvious that Allen had been using these venues for sexual trafficking of children. It wasnt hard to figure out, he did it openly spoke of it constantly (as seen in the YouTube above) and lived as though he were above the law.

Over the next few months, particularly when confronted by Iranian born physicist MT Keshe, who ordered Allen and those around him banned from all Keshe forums, Allen openly flaunted his criminal activities.

What made this particularly insidious is that it was obvious not only that Allen was not acting alone but that he had broad support not only in his home state of Utah, where he was able to avoid prosecution, but in Belgium as well.

There, Allen and associates Hans Bracquene, Dirk Laureyssens and Ad Van den Elshout moved against the Keshe group, securing against Keshes wishes technologies with defense related applications and passing them on to MI 5 in Britain.

When Keshe moved against this group and tried to secure his patents, he found himself being chased down the highway, shots fired, his car run off the road. Police arrested and soon misplaced the culprits, and soon thereafter, representatives of Belgiums royals told Keshe to leave Belgium or be buried there.

On the European end of the FBI investigation, the trail, all of which is easily followed by the breadcrumbs Stirling David Allen has left, leads to the highest and most powerful of the scientific communities where blackmail, kidnapping and torture, threats against families and in particular, threats against children, have placed members of secret societies in positions of power at universities, think tanks, police and counter-terrorism agencies and even the European Space Agency.

More to come
IFAD | D. Paqui

IFAD | D. Paqui

IFAD | D. Paqui

IFAD | D. Paqui

There are three major poverty divides in Ghana: rural-urban, north-south, and between women and men. To meet these challenges, IFAD, the African Development Bank and the Government of Ghana are investing in rural northern Ghana to create viable economic opportunities  particularly for women  while improving market linkages with the south and neighbouring countries. The Northern Rural Growth Programme (NRGP) is spurring agricultural and rural growth and poverty reduction with innovative approaches like District Value Chain Committees (DVCCs). NRGPs experiences were shared during a parallel session of IFADs 39th Governing Council.IFAD-supported NRGP worked in partnership, for example, with the Association of Church Based Development (ACDEP), a local NGO in northern Ghana to establish the DVCCs. Today, DVCCs are a forum for all local actors in the value chain and was designed to ensure that smallholder farmers can secure access to credit and other inputs, and markets (end-buyers). They are responsible for the effective planning, implementation, coordination and monitoring of activities in the maize, soya and sorghum value chains. All value chain actors are represented on the DVCC: farmers organisations (including women producers), input dealers, tractor service providers, local aggregators/buyers/off-takers, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (District Development Unit), Department of Cooperatives and participating banks from the RCB network. The DVCCs Executive Committee has nine elected members who perform their duties on a voluntary basis, and four non-voting members representing the Ministry, the District Development Unit, the Department of Cooperatives, and the RCB network. The Executive Committee manages all DVCC activities, producing annual crop enterprise budgets, reviewing all production loans and endorsing loan applications, and selecting input dealers and tractor service providers under the cashless credit scheme. The DVCC is also the forum for price negotiations with aggregators.The programme uses a financing model that overcomes the problem of smallholder farmers limited access to inputs and services. Local rural and community banks (RCBs), owned and governed by rural communities, are at the heart of this model. The DVCC screens farmers organisations that want to participate in the programme and, with technical advice from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, develops annual crop budgets on an acreage basis that form the basis for production loans. The DVCC also determines prices of inputs and services, enabling it to specify how much credit each smallholder farmer can access. On receiving an application for credit from a farmers organisation, each bank conducts its own due diligence using the Know Your Client (KYC) mechanism developed by NRGP. If the applicant meets the banks requirements, the loan is approved. While the application for the loan is made by the farmers organisation, its individual members receive the credit in the form of services and inputs from named service providers or input dealers. When these inputs or services have been provided, the farmers organisation issues a voucher to the service provider or input dealer, who presents this to the bank for payment. The loans are then repaid when farmers organisations sell their produce either directly, through aggregators, or in some cases by the farmers organisation itself if it has sold produce on spot markets.A new programme, the Ghana Agriculture Sector Investment Programme , is currently building on the experience of NRGP with district value chain committees and the cashless credit system and bringing them to scale at national level.


These "Safe Zone" signs are being posted at Downers Grove North High School in DuPage County

DOWNERS GROVE - Gender neutral bathrooms and changing areas will be designated this spring at Downers Grove North (DGN) and South (DGS) high schools in the next month or so, students were notified this week via email.

A Downers Grove North student says he wants his identity to remain anonymous for fear of grade or activity retribution, but he believes parents should be made aware of the changes taking place.

"This issue is not being discussed in our classes, and it's being purposely kept quiet by the administration," the student told Illinois Review. "They have not notified parents, and I think parents should know what's going on."

Already, triangular signs with rainbows are being posted throughout Downers Grove North saying "Safe Zone."
On Feb. 25, Cook County Circuit Judge Franklin Ulysses Valderrama dismissed in its entirety the complaint brought against the villages of Riverdale and Lincolnwood by a group known as The Coalition for Safe Chicago Communities. Named plaintiffs in the action also included Pfleger, the Rev. Robin Hood, Louvenia Hood, Annette Nance-Holt and Pamela Montgomery-Bosley.

The lawsuit, filed in July 2015 alleged the villages, located in suburban Cook County, allowed gun shops in their communities to sell guns in a manner that disproportionately jeopardizes the lives of African-Americans, causes mental anguish and distress and diminishes the value of their homes and other property. This, the activists complaint said, violated the Illinois Civil Rights Act of 2003, which forbids municipalities from engaging in policies that create have a disparate negative impact on racial and ethnic minorities.
At the age of 77, a resident of Rajasthan village Shiv Charan Yadav is giving his 47th attempt at the class 10 board exams this year.

By India Today Web Desk:

A Rajasthan village has an epitome of perseverance and persistence -- Shiv Charan Yadav, who is a septuagenarian aspirant of the class 10th state board exams. This year, Yadav, 77, would be giving his 47th attempt in the board exams.

It is not easy for this determined man to pursue his dream as he has been living alone in his ancestral house for 30 long years now. Yadav lost his mother at a very tender age of two months, while his father passed away when he was 10. Having seen a tough life, Yadav took a pledge to marry after clearing the crucial exam.

However, Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education's exam seems to be stricter on Yadav. He took his first exam, in 1968, from the Khohari village in Alwae.

"Each time it so happens that I pass in some subjects, but fail in others. For example, if I get enough marks in mathematics and science, I fail in Hindi and English. This time, I hope to pass all," he said in an interview to a newspaper.

According to media reports, Yadav had almost reached his goal in 1995, but he failed in mathematics. It was not only math, but other subjects, including Social Science, Hindi and English, which stopped Yadav from crossing the tough battle.

Keeping his fingers cross this year, this inspiring man said, "This time, I have taken classes from some school teachers."

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Check: Madras HC helps Class 10 student write board exam



Click here to get more education news.

Get latest updates on exam notifications and scholarships across India and abroad here .

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External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today urged all the Indians living in the danger zones to return to India after 15 including four Indian nuns were killed in Yemen.

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj urged all the Indian living in the 'danger zones' to return to India

By India Today Web Desk: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today urged all the Indians living in the danger zones to return to India after 15 including four Indian nuns were killed in Yemen.



"I appeal to all Indians in such danger zones to please come back to India," the External Affairs Minister tweeted.

Reacting to the Yemen incident, Swaraj stated in here tweet that the nuns stayed back in Yemen despite the government advisories.

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"Yemen - Four Indian nurses have been killed in a terrorist attack today. I am sorry the nurses stayed back/returned ignoring our advisories," she said in the tweet.

Four gunmen today attacked an old people's home run by a Kolkata-based Missionaries of Charity in the Yemeni port of Aden. At least 15 people, including four Christian nuns from India were killed in the attack.

The gunmen, who first told the guard they were on a visit to their mother, stormed into the home with rifles and opened fire, one local official said. As well as the nuns, the dead included two Yemeni women working at the facility, eight elderly residents and a guard.

The motive of the gunmen was not immediately known. They fled after the attack, the official said.



ALSO READ:

Old people's home in Yemen attacked, 15 including 4 Indian nuns killed





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By Samonway Duttagupta: Only travellers would understand how important long weekends are. We pray for them. And when the rest of the world is busy planning the new year parties, we open up the holiday list and mark them on our new travel calendars. Then begin the days of research and charting out several itineraries. But, these weekends also don't fail to disappoint us with the maddening tourist rush in most places.

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Also read: Make the most of these long weekends in 2016



The weekend is just around the corner and my sympathies lie with those who haven't been able to figure out where to go. I can understand the pain of finding the best hotels booked and the flights costing a fortune. But trust me, be it this long weekend or any other, I manage to crack the best travel deals. And guess what? I travel really cheap. Don't think I go backpacking every time; I manage to stay in luxury hotels and still manage to round off a four-day trip in less than Rs 10,000. Want to know the secret? Just follow these few simple steps:

Choose your destination wisely: This four-day long weekend is towards the end of March. What kind of destination would you prefer? Most likely, you will opt for Shimla or Mussoorie or Nainital, or even Manali. Or any other hill station in the north, simply because they promise a great escape from the summer heat. Bad choice. Just think about it -- unending traffic jams on the slopes, maddening crowd at every beautiful spot and everything expensive. Your long awaited getaway will be nothing less than a bundle of troubles and needless exhaustion.

Ditch the hills. Or I would rather say, simply avoid following the herd. Choose a place which is going through an off season. Don't worry about the weather -- it won't be hot enough to sweat the life out of you. You can easily hang around in a tee and bear the occasional heat waves. Consider places like Jaipur, Mahabalipuram, Goa, Mandu, Gwalior, Jodhpur and a few wildlife sanctuaries like Jim Corbett or Kanha. This is a great time to experience these destinations that are otherwise flooded with hordes of tourists.

Also read: Getting stuck planning your weekend getaway? These 5 simple tricks will help



Download a few apps: Don't forget you are living in a generation of smartphones and limitless internet access. So, stop wasting your time looking for deals on your desktop, and turn to your phone for the best travel deals. All you need to do is download the right apps. We recommend Goibibo, MakeMyTrip, TripAdvisor and Trivago. Now, don't get confused; I am here to suggest how to put all of them to good use.

Let me take you through the hotel booking steps first:

(a) The moment you download Goibibo, you will get a GoCash of Rs 2,000. Generate your referral code and ask two of your friends to download the app using that code. You will get Rs 1,000 for each referral. This way, you will have a total of Rs 4,000 as GoCash and you can use that for your bookings.

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(b) When you're done with this, open TripAdvisor for zeroing down on the hotel based on the reviews done by real travellers. This app will also give you an idea of how much a night will cost in the hotel.

(c) Now open Goibibo and search for that hotel. You are likely to get a 'Promocode' that offers a certain amount of discount for the property. Apply this code and you will get your discount. Use GoCash on the discounted amount. And voila! Your final price might end up being 50 per cent of the actual tariff, inclusive of the taxes.

(d) If you are booking for more than one night in a hotel, book each room separately. It will help you get a better deal.

(e) After you get your final price, compare the same on Trivago. This app lists out the best prices offered by the hotels in a particular place. Taking a look at this, you can verify if you are getting the best deal.

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(f) Try and book a deal that offers at least one complimentary meal in a day. This will save a lot of money.

Booking the flight:

(a) Search your flights on MakeMyTrip. The flight listing on this app is really cool -- vital information related to the time, cost and carrier are visible at a single glance. You can make your choice in less than two minutes.

(b) After making the choice, check out the deals and cashbacks that MakeMyTrip usually offers on flight bookings.

(c) Compare the same flight on Goibibo. Check how much it is costing you after applying the GoCash. Now, compare the final price to the cashback that is being offered by MakeMyTrip. Choose the one you like, and you are all set!

Book different hotels: Every hotel offers heavy discounts during the off season, including the four and five star properties. After all, the market is competitive and each of them wants to attract most of the tourists. Take advantage of the situation and divide your duration of stay in different hotels. Pick out two or three hotels, avail the discounts each of them offers and save thousands of bucks. Also, this will give you a refreshing change on every single day -- different days, different stays, different experiences.

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Eat local meals: If you manage to include at least one meal a day in your hotel deal, eat the other ones outside. Avoid the big restaurants -- they are there in your city as well. Try the local food offered in the Non-AC dhabas. You will get to experience the authentic flavours of the region and at the same time, end up saving a lot of money.

Drive out: No need to get into the hassle of booking flights or getting bothered about not getting train tickets. Although there's enough time to go far, but it's better to spend time in exploring one place than to spend most of your time travelling and getting tired. Simply choose a destination that's a drive away and you are sorted. It's wiser to spend your money in filling up your fuel tank twice rather can booking expensive flights and paying the local taxi charges. Besides, it offers the convenience of moving around at will and at the same time, provides the freedom to have loads of fun with your near and dear ones.

The writer tweets at @SamonwayDg



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India army, deployed at Malakal in South Sudan under the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and recognised with the acronym IndBatt, took positions and fired at the attackers in order to prevent human slaughter at a shelter camp.

By Jugal R Purohit: It was easy to miss.

Amid the high decibel breakdown leading to the deployment of the Indian Army in Haryana last month, a quieter but similarly determined effort by a band of 2,275 Armymen saw thousands of lives being saved.

Malakal, Pibor and Melut are not locations many in India would be aware of. Most may not even think of them as being of any importance. However, over the last two weeks they have been sites of a rather dogged and remarkable defence in the history of United Nations peacekeeping operations playing out on the soil of South Sudan - world's youngest nation - with the Indian Army as its lead protagonist.

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Tension peaked February 17 onwards when ethnic clashes were reported in Malakal, among the larger towns of the country. Subsequently, refugees putting up at the 'Protection of Civilian Camp' came under fire. To add to the woes, witnessing the lack of stability, nearly 37,000 additional people sought shelter in the camp. The army, deployed there under the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and recognised with the acronym IndBatt, took positions and fired at the attackers in order to prevent the slaughter.

Reports have emerged which state there were killings which took place during this commotion. However, no official data is available.

Matters came to the boil in Pibor, located close to the country's eastern border with Ethiopia on February 23. Simmering for nearly 48 hours since a transfer of power, town residents began seeking refuge in the UN camp since the evening of February 21. The 800 men constituting IndBatt-2, manned by men from army's 7 Kumaon, had the unenviable task of not just securing the base but also frisking those entering to ensure no armed personnel sneaked in. UN estimates listed the figure at over 2000 civilians and other aid workers. Meanwhile that evening, the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) staff sought extrication after reports that armed men were moving towards the facility. Using a mine proof vehicle as a shield from the raging gunfire, the IndBatt-2, got 25 people out, back to the UNMISS compound. Included in this were 11 patients who were subsequently treated within the base.

South Sudan has seen 'tens of thousands of deaths' in the last two years, international press reports quote United Nations officials as saying.

Among the world powers who've deployed their personnel under the UN banner in South Sudan, India is the largest contributor with 2,275 troops.

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Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has applauded Kanhaiya Kumar's speech at the JNU post his release from the jail. He tweeted, "What a brilliant speech by Kanhaiya..."

By India Today Web Desk: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has applauded Kanhaiya Kumar's speech at the JNU post his release from the jail. He tweeted, "What a brilliant speech by Kanhaiya..." #KanhaiyaKumar became the top trending topic on microblogging site Twitter following the speech. Many students were seen wiping tears during Kanhaiya's address.

JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar, arrested for sedition 20 days ago, was released from the Tihar Jail here on Thursday evening and returned to the university campus amid noisy celebrations by hundreds of students and teachers.

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Kanhaiya Kumar in his speech said they are seeking freedom within the country and not from India, as he hurled barbs at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Addressing students at the campus, 29-year-old Kumar, who has been slapped with sedition charge for allegedly raising anti-national slogans, said he had many differences with the prime minister but he agreed with his tweet "Satyameva Jayate" which he had posted in praise of HRD Minister Smriti Irani's fiery speech in Lok Sabha on the JNU row as it is in the Constitution.

"I have many differences with the PM but I agree with his tweet Satyameva Jayate because these words are in our Constitution," he said, as his passionate speech was punctuated by repeated cheers and raising of slogans.

"We are not seeking 'azaadi'(freedom) from India. We want 'azaadi' within India," he said. Thanking all who stood by him while he was in Tihar jail here, Kumar said he believed in the Constitution and Judiciary of India.

Kumar said he had no ill feelings towards anyone and won't indulge in "witch hunting" towards RSS's student outfit ABVP. "There is no animosity towards ABVP because we are democratic. We see them as our opposition," he said.

"We truly believe in democracy and Constitution. We don t look at the ABVP as an enemy, we look at them like the Opposition," he said. "Let me just say it is not easy to get admission in JNU neither it is easy to silence those in JNU," he added.

Kumar said his arrest is a planned attack on JNU. "This attack is to delegitimise the UGC protests, to prevent justice to Rohith Vemula (the dalit scholar in Hyderabad who committed suicide," he said.

Kumar said the struggle of peace loving and progressive sections of the society in the wake of the JNU row and Rohith Vemula suicide will be a long fight.

During the course of his one hour, six minute-long speech, Kanhaiya also referred to Modi's narration of an anecdote related to President Nikita Krushchev of erstwhile Soviet Union in the Lok Sabha.

"When he (Modi) was speaking I wanted to tell him to talk about Hitler as well. He should speak about Mussolini as well after all his guru Golwalker (second RSS chief) had met the former. PM talks about Mann ki baat but does not listen," he said to loud cheers.

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"If you speak against the government, their cyber cell will frame you using doctored videos and count the number of condoms in your hostel," he said. He also dared BJP leader Subramanian Swamy to a debate.

Kanhaiya and the students, who gathered in hundreds, also repeatedly raised the 'Azaadi' slogan, seeking freedom from casteism, patriarchy and injustice among others.

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The Election Commission is likely to announce the schedule for assembly elections in five states, including the crucial West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, today.

By India Today Web Desk: The Election Commission is likely to announce the schedule for assembly elections in five states, including the crucial West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, today.

The poll panel has convened a press conference this afternoon where the dates for election in Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala could be announced.

As per available indications, the polls would be held in April and May this year. States like Assam and West Bengal are likely to have a multi-phased election.

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In West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress, which ousted the Left after more than three decades in power in 2011, will seek to make a comeback. While the BJP has not been able to make much inroads in the state, the Left and the Congress are likely to contest as an alliance.

In Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's AIADMK will face arch rival M Karunanidhi's DMK, which is in alliance with the Congress. The BJP is in talks to partner the DMDK, led by actor-turned-politician Vijaykanth.

Kerala is expected to continue with its bipolar politics in another faceoff between the Congress-led United Democratic Front, and the Left Democratic Front. The BJP, however, is expected to make its presence felt in the state this year.

The only state that the BJP might hope to win in this round of assembly elections is Assam, where the Congress's Tarun Gogoi is currently in power. In both the 2014 Lok Sabha election and the recent local body polls, the saffron party had done well in the northeastern state.

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The Bengaluru police arrested 6 dacoits, these 6 had struck terror by targeting houses on the city's outskirts. This gang was involved in almost a dozen burglaries in west Bengaluru localities.

By Mail Today: The Bengaluru police arrested 6 dacoits, who had struck terror by targeting houses on the city's outskirts. According to police, the gang was involved in almost a dozen burglaries in west Bengaluru localities.

The dacoits have been identified as Dilip, Tejas, Bharath, Arjun, Shashikumar and Puneeth, all aged between 18-22 years. They are college drop-outs and formed a gang last year. They would identify their targets during day-time and strike during nights.

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According to the police, these 6 youths led a lavish lifestyle and had purchased luxury cars and bikes. A special team which got a hold of them used CCTV footage to identify the dacoits in Basaveshwaranagar.

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The Chinese government slammed the US official for making 'irresponsible' remarks and asked Washington to stop its military officials from making 'adverse' comments.

US Navy Admiral Harry Harris, Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, salutes during a welcome ceremony at the Philippine Armed Forces headquarters at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City, Metro Manila in the Philippines August 26, 2015.(PHOTO: REUTERS)

By Ananth Krishnan: A day after Beijing responded warily to United States Admiral Harry Harris calling in New Delhi for an Asian quadrilateral dialogue, the Chinese government slammed the US official for making 'irresponsible' remarks and asked Washington to stop its military officials from making 'adverse' comments.

Speaking in New Delhi, Adm. Harris, who heads the US Pacific Command, called on India, Japan and Australia to step up maritime security cooperation, while apparently hitting out at Beijing, saying that "some countries seek to bully smaller nations through intimidation and coercion". Harris also announced at the Raisina Dialogue that this year's Exercise Malabar, with India and Japan, will take place in the northern Philippine Sea, close to the South China Sea.

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China had on Thursday said that moves such as a quadrilateral security dialogue and naval exercises "should not be targeted against a third party", amid rising tensions with the US over the South China Sea dispute.

On Friday, Beijing responded more sternly, even calling for Washington "to put some restraint" on its officials from commenting adversely on China.

We have noted that some officials of the US military have been saying negative words," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said, referring to Admiral Harris. "We urge the US government to put some restraint on them and stop them from irresponsible sensationalisation and hyping up so as to avoid undermining regional peace and stability."

On Friday, Chinese officials announced a 7 to 8 per cent hike in defence spending, with the budget set to be formally approved at the annual session of parliament, or the National People's Congress, which opens on Saturday. NPC spokesperson Fu Ying hit out at the US ahead of the session, saying Washington was provoking tensions in the South China Sea and was "hyping the issue (because it) wants more (defence) appropriation".

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China's military outlay this year will for the first time cross $150 billion, rising by around 7 to 8 per cent to four times India's outlay.

By Ananth Krishnan: China's military outlay this year will for the first time cross $150 billion, rising by around 7 to 8 per cent to four times India's outlay, officials said on Friday.

The defence budget, which will be formally approved by the Chinese Parliament or National People's Congress (NPC) which opens its annual session on Saturday, will increase by an amount "smaller than last year, at around seven to eight percent", NPC spokesperson Fu Ying told reporters.

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China's budget last year was hiked by 10.1 per cent, to $145 billion.

A 7 to 8 per cent rise will take China's spending to around $156 billion. This will be more than four four times that of India's which was announced earlier in this week's budget at $38 billion, not including the outlay on the pensions bill. India's outlay, excluding pensions, rose by around 4 per cent.

In deciding the budget China considers "defence needs first, economic development second, and our fiscal position third", Fu, who also heads the NPC Foreign Affairs Committee, told reporters.

The budget will go towards taking forward the People's Liberation Army's ongoing sweeping military reform. Under President Xi Jinping, the PLA has been pushing a transformation into a more high-tech force.

In September, Xi announced a demobilization of 3 lakh soldiers of the 2.3 million army. This was followed by sweeping reforms in January that saw a centralisation of military commands into five theatres and the setting up of a PLA Rocket Force and a new Strategic Support Force, expected to include expanded cyberwarfare capabilities.

Fu justified the hike in spending amid rising tensions with the US over the South China Sea - she hit out at the US for accusing China of militarizing islands and reefs, saying that "my impression is that the US military by hyping the issue wants more [defence] appropriation [for its military]".

"Talking of militarisation, if you look at the most advanced aircraft and ships entering and exiting the South China Sea, the majority are from the US," Fu said.

ALSO READ

China accuses US of militarising South China Sea

US sale of F-16s to Pakistan: US defence secy Ashton Carter to visit New Delhi to address India's concerns



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JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar, who was released on bail yesterday, after being in jail for 22 days under sedition charges, addressed the media today.

JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested on February 11 for participating in an event in support of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

By India Today Web Desk: Kanhaiya Kumar, the JNU student leader who was released on bail yesterday after being in jail for 22 days under sedition charges, addressed the media today. Kanhaiya spoke to the media hours after he took on the Narendra Modi government during his blistering 50-minute speech on Thursday night.

"I want to thank all who supported me, and want to assure tax payers that a JNU student can never be anti-national," Kanhaiya said.

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Responding to a question, Kanhaiya, who was arrested on February 11 for participating in an event in support of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, the JNU student leader steered clear of the controversy. "For me, my icon is not Afzal Guru. My icon is Rohith Vemula," Kanhaiya said.

Here are the highlights of the press conference:

For me, my icon is Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula, not Afzal Guru. There is a consistent effort to malign JNU's image. I can assure you that a JNU student can never indulge in anti-national activities. Want to thank all who supported me, want to assure tax payers that a JNU student can never be anti-national. There are some dark clouds but that cannot hide the red sun and the blue skies. Dark clouds will be washed away by rainfall. Sedition is being used to target those who stand up for constitution. JNU students are fighting to turn Ambedkar's dream into reality. Court will decide who is anti-national. We have full faith in constitution. There is no personal animosity with anyone. There are ideological differences. We are not anti-nationals. We are not terrorists.

ALSO READ | Kanhaiya Kumar's azadi speech at JNU: 10 best quotes



Kanhaiya Kumar's speech at JNU: Brilliant, says Arvind Kejriwal



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Amid the row over Ishrat Jahan case,former Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde today said he had no knowledge of the issue as no file came to him.

By India Today Web Desk: Former Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde today denied the allegations of manipulating Ishrat Jahan case file.

"I have no idea about this. The Ishrat Jahan case file never came to me," Shinde told PTI here.

Responding to the allegations made by the ex-NIA official, Loknath Behera, Shinde said, " All claims, including those by the ex-NIA official are baseless."

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The previous Congress-led UPA government was alleged of manipulating David Headley's testimony on Ishrat Jehan's alleged terror links.

Behera, an IPS officer of Kerala cadre, was part of the NIA team that travelled to the US in 2010 to question Headley. He has said that he "did not remember exactly what Headley had spoken about Ishrat". But when he recently heard about his video deposition before the Mumbai court, he could recall "the same things," Headley had told to an NIA team in 2010.

Ishrat (19), Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an alleged fake encounter on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.

Gujarat police had then claimed that the four, with links to Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), had come to the city to kill the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

While testifying recently before a Mumbai court in connection with the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, Headley had said that Ishrat was an LeT operative.

ALSO READ:

How NIA hid Headley info on Ishrat from Gujarat SIT





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Defending Katheria, the home minister Rajnath Singh said Katheria did not say anything objectionable and media reports on the event appeared to be distorted and incorrect.

By Mail Today: Home Minister Rajnath Singh gave a clean chit to Union minister Ram Shankar Katheria as he rejected the Opposition's demand of sacking him and slapping sedition charges against him for an alleged hate speech in Agra. Defending Katheria, the home minister said Katheria did not say anything objectionable and media reports on the event appeared to be distorted and incorrect.

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He said it is expected that the Uttar Pradesh government will conduct the investigation of the case in a fair and impartial manner and take necessary action.

"The government is opposed to all statements/speeches which divide the country on the basis of religion, caste and creed. This government is fully committed to the Constitution and the law of the land," Singh said in the Rajya Sabha while replying on the issue.

He said the government had examined the video recording of the February 28 condolence meeting of slain VHP leader Arun Mathur, where Minister of State for Human Resource Development Ram Shankar Katheria had participated.

"We gave the CD to our officers. They informed that there were no objectionable utterances by the minister. He had not said anything against or used derogatory language against any community," Singh said.

No objectionable contents against any particular community have been noticed in the speech. Accordingly, the news reports appear to be distorted and incorrect, Singh said, adding that since Katheria had not made inflammatory statements, the police did not file an FIR against him.

Also Read:

Nothing inflammatory in Katheria's Agra speech: Rajnath Singh in Parliament

Katheria hate speech: Where was this anger when Hindu women were molested in Haryana, asks Owaisi



Agra hate speech: 3 booked, Katheria's name missing from police complaint Privilege Motion vs Privilege Motion: No business in Parliament as govt counters charge against Smriti Irani

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Amit Sengupta, a senior faculty member of Indian Institute of Mass Communication today resigned alleging that he was "targeted" by the I&B ministry for supporting the protests over Dalit student Rohith Vemula's suicide and JNU and FTII issues.

By India Today Web Desk: Amit Sengupta, a senior faculty member at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), today resigned after an order was issued transferring him to the premier media school's campus in Odisha's Dhenkanal district.

Sengupta, an Associate Professor in the department of English Journalism, termed the decision as 'political conspiracy' and said that he was being "targeted" by the I&B ministry for supporting the protests over Dalit student Rohith Vemula's suicide and JNU and FTII issues.

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The development comes after the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting ordered an investigation into complaints of casteism by students at the institute.

"I have been targeted because I supported the solidarity protest for Rohith Vemula in the campus, organised independently by students of IIMC in which other faculty members too participated...I have been targeted also because I supported the JNU and FTII students," Sengupta wrote in his resignation letter.

Refuting allegations of politically targeting the IIMC faculty, a senior Information and Broadcasting Ministry official claimed that certain acts of Sengupta suggesting "indiscipline" had come to the notice of the authorities including his attempts to "politicise" the campus through posts on social media. However, the official also added that Sengupta's services had only been "temporarily" placed in Dhenkanal in view of shortage of faculty on that campus.



Reacting to the charges, Sengupta said views expressed on social media fell on his personal domain and was his "constitutional right". "I am proud of standing up for Rohith Vemula and will continue to do so in the days to come. This is my constitutional right. I think grave injustice has been done to him and the students of Hyderabad Central University. I will always stand and fight for Dalit rights.

"I think both the struggles (JNU and FTII) are glorious and the country will enrich itself with the great leap of imagination and the brilliant content of the peaceful, democratic debate the students and faculty of these great institutions have generated," Sengupta, a former journalist said.

"In IIMC, I have perhaps taken the maximum number of lectures/workshops, like many of my learned faculty members. I have taught my students that they will never do journalism which professes xenophobia, casteism, sexism, racism and communalism.

"That they should be objective and impartial. Also, that they should have open-ended, non-dogmatic and independent minds and stand for truth and public interest, come what may. I presume I am paying a price for that," Sengupta, who was also a Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student leader like Kanhaiya Kumar wrote in his letter.

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ALSO READ | Twitter reacts to Kanhaiya Kumar's 'free speech' at JNU

Kanhaiya Kumar gets a hero's welcome on JNU campus







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In an exclusive interview to India Today's Consulting Editor Rajdeep Sardesai, JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar thanked everyone who supported him in his fight for azadi against social evils.

JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested on February 11 for participating in an event in support of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

By India Today Web Desk: Charged with sedition. Locked in jail for 22 days. Thrashed and heckled by suspected lawyers inside a court. Hounded by a section of media for organising and participating in an "anti-India" event. Kanhaiya Kumar has put all this behind to emerge what many are describing as the new political star.

Hours after walking out of New Delhi's Tihar Jail on bail in a sedition case, Kanhaiya addressed a massive gathering inside the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus. Most of the TV channels and news websites covered the student leader's speech LIVE, a testimony of his rising 'stardom'. He was fearless and direct in his attack on the Narendra Modi government during his 50-minute-long speech.

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Kanhaiya spoke exclusively to India Today's Consulting Editor Rajdeep Sardesai today. In his first interview after being released on bail, he was at his candid best. The student leader thanked everyone who supported him in his fight for 'azadi' against social evils.

Kanhaiya insisted that he is not trying to become a 'neta'. "Main neta nahi ban raha hoon, samaaj ke andar jo ghalat hai, main bas uske baare mein bol raha hoon (I am not trying to become a neta (leader), I am only speaking against the evils in our society. I am not an orator, I simply say the truth)," Kanhaiya said.

"I want to thank you and others who helped in a good cause. I am a student, when I speak, I am a speaker and those listening are listeners. We talk about freedom, while keeping the integrity of India intact," he said.

Talking about the blistering speech at the university campus on Thursday evening, the JNUSU president said he wasn't delivering any speech but sharing his experience with the students. "You say that my speech had a different kind of energy. The energy was acutally the strength against the fear that some people are trying to force upon our students," the 28-year-old said.

Some TV channels showed videos in which Kanhaiya was heard demanding azadi (freedom), but the PhD scholar made it clear that he was not talking about breaking the country. "People of the country are facing issues like casteism, starvation. Poor, downtrodden are being suppressed...we want freedom from these social evils. I had been saying this repeatedly that we want freedom in India, not freedom from India. We want to keep the integrity of the country intact," he said.





On Afzal Guru event

"The matter is subjudice but I want to clarify on the issue again. I never gave any seditious speech. There is a need to understand the conspiracy behind this. The case of sedition was misrepresented. I want everyone to realise that mere sloganeering cannot break India," Kanhaiya said.

On targeting Smriti Irani

"Smriti Irani is the HRD Minister. The UGC is under her. If the UGC continues to give out fellowship, why will we shout slogans like "Smriti Irani Murdabad"? Our fellowship was scrapped. This was the prime reason behind students protesting against Smriti Irani," Kanhaiya added.

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"There is an attempt to divide students on the basis of their ideological branding," he said.





On joining politics and fighting election

"Fighting election is not up to me. It is a part of political process. It is upto the people to decide whether I should contest an election or not. People will decide if I am a youth icon or not," he said.

"Jabardasti kuch nahi karna hai, jo swabhavik hai wo karna hai," the student leader who could be seen on the big stage soon said while concluding the interview.

ALSO READ | My icon is Rohith Vemula, not Afzal Guru, says Kanhaiya Kumar



To taunt Modi, Kejriwal piggybacks on Kanhaiya's famous azadi slogans



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JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar was granted an interim bail on Wednesday and returned to JNU campus yesterday evening, where he gave a fiery speech lashing out at the BJP, PM Modi and the Delhi Police. Latest reports say Kumar will attend an event in Kerala on March 12.

By Vivek Surendran: From February 12, 2016, the day he was arrested by the Delhi Police under sedition charges, Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar has become one of the most talked about personalities in the recent past. Kanhaiya was granted interim bail two days ago and returned to JNU campus yesterday evening. He gave an electrifying speech in which he lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Narendra Modi government and the Delhi Police.

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You can watch his speech here:







He was accused of raising anti-national slogans during an event conducted inside the JNU campus and was arrested based on videos submitted by Zee News and NewsX and taking those as evidence. Out of the 7 videos submitted, three have been proved to be doctored, and the Delhi Police don't seem to have any evidence to prove Kanhaiya raised the said anti-national slogans, other than statements given by some Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activists.

Also read: Kanhaiya Kumar's azadi speech at JNU: 10 best quotes

A report by SouthLive says Kanhaiya Kumar will be speaking at an event being organised in Kerala by CPI's student wing All India Students Federation (AISF) on March 12, alongside various other student leaders from across the nation. The event titled 'Students Assembly Against Fascism' will be conducted at Marine Drive in Ernakulam district of Kerala.



Also read:Twitter reacts to Kanhaiya Kumar's 'free speech' at JNU

AISF state secretary Subhesh Sudhakaran told SouthLive the event and the idea of bringing Kanhaiya as a speaker, have received a go ahead from the top level. CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran will inaugurate the event. Students from Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, Hyderabad Central University, and IIT Madras, who are protesting against the rise of a fascist culture in India, will also participate in the event.

Also read: Kanhaiya Kumar's speech at JNU: Brilliant, says Arvind Kejriwal

It is also rumoured CPI is planning to use Kanhaiya Kumar for promotion campaigns for upcoming elections, but final decision about this will be taken by the LDF.

Has Kanhaiya Kumar become a national hero already?



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A day after farmers protesting in Bengaluru were lathi-charged by the police, the agricultural community across Karnataka has erupted in anger staging demonstrations in all district headquarters against the Congress government.

By Aravind Gowda: A day after farmers protesting in Bengaluru were lathi-charged by the police, the agricultural community across Karnataka has erupted in anger staging demonstrations in all district headquarters against the Congress government.

Farmers' bodies slammed Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for directing the police to lathi-charge the agitating farmers instead of addressing their concerns. Thousands of farmers from all over the state had congregated in Bengaluru on Thursday to protest the government's inaction in handling drought and power crisis in Karnataka.

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The protests led to massive traffic snarls in Bengaluru prompting the police to lathi-charge the farmers. The south Karnataka districts in particular were critical today with farmers burning effigies of Siddaramaiah and raising slogans against the Congress government.

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If you are someone who loves to travel for adventure, consider going on these five thrilling trips around the world.

What's with these 'bucket lists anyway'? I mean, seriously. I find the whole concept vaguely macabre. Why would anyone create an I-want-to-go-here-before-I-die list of the most exotic, fantastic, adventurous, glamorous, romantic places?

You're thinking of death and your own mortality instead of looking forward to planning some amazing, life-changing experiences. You're looking to 'tick them off' your list, as if it were a list of groceries. Truly, there's nothing drearier than that when it comes to travel. So there's no bucket list for me. I call it my 'Just Do It List'. It's a list which says, I'm going. You coming? It's a list that says, "Take care of the baby for 10 days darling, while I take off on this amazing trip." So here's my Just Do It List; replicate, replenish or rewrite at will. Ready for some fine adventures.

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Climb Kilimanjaro

It's one of the 'Seven Summits', the highest peaks on the seven continents, and hence on every climber's checklist. Not for me though. I have no intention of climbing the other six summits, not in this lifetime for sure. 'Kili'(as many of us dreaming to summit it, lovingly call it) isn't really a mountain in the strictest sense; it's actually a dormant 'stratovolcano'. Composed of alternate layers of lava and ash, built when the eruptions began about a million years ago, one of its volcanic cones is still considered 'dormant'; it last erupted 360,000 years ago.

Climbing Mount Kilamanjaro in Africa. Picture courtesy: India Today Spice

Just imagine the history, the stories, the babble of voices this enigmatic mountain contains. That's why I want to go there. Besides, there's a fantastic prize waiting for me at the end of this amazing trip..Serengeti National Park. Two days of the most amazing wildlife watching ever. The nimble blue monkeys, the lazing baboon troops, the legendary tree climbing lions, the outsized ostriches, the spotted hyenas, the migrating wildebeests that I've only seen on National Geographic Channel thus far...a wildlife smorgasbord of everything I've ever dreamt of.

Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

Fluorescent green terraced mountain sides dotted with stone houses, a blanket of thick fog suspended in mid-air and the Huayna Picchu in the background; this image of Machu Picchu has haunted me ever since I was a teenager. The story goes that in 1911, Hiram Bingham, a historian from Yale University, was doing some research in Peru, when a local farmer told him about this mysterious ancient ruin high up in the Andes mountains. I can just imagine Bingham's face when he staggered upon Machu Picchu, a city that had remained lost to the word for almost 400 years. The marauding Spanish conquistadors had subdued the entire Inca empire but for some strange reason, they missed Machu Picchu completely. Thank God for that.

The mist shrouded lost city of the Incas Machu Picchu. Picture courtesy: India Today Spice The mist shrouded lost city of the Incas Machu Picchu. Picture courtesy: India Today Spice

There's several different routes that you can take to Machu Picchu but the classic Inca Trail is by far the most popular and that's the one I intend to take. This 4-day trek needs to be planned well in advance; there's a daily cap of 500 people who can walk this trail on any given day and that includes trekkers, guides and support staff. In essence, only 200 trekkers get to walk on this trail per day. So before I book my ticket to Peru (which is expensive), I need to book my place on this trek.

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Namibia self-drive safari

This is classic Africa straight out of the movies and this particular self-drive safari starts from Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. The self-drive SUVs are equipped with roof-top tents (RTTs) that allow you the freedom to park your cars at campsites on the route and just hit the sack whenever you're done for the day. The overnight stays are a unique combination of your own RTTs, homesteads and bush chalets.

Off roading in Namibia on a self drive safari. Picture courtesy: India Today Spice

The epic road trip will take me through (note the confidence; the power of positive thinking) the starkness of Skeleton Coast, so bleak and beautiful that African Bushmen call it "the land God made in Anger." I can't wait to see the petrified forests, wood that isn't really wood at all, but plants fossilised over centuries to reflect amazing hues of green, blue and pink, colours of the minerals that fills its pores.

On to Sossusvlei, home to some of the highest and oldest sand dunes; many of them are above 200 metres and the highest is nicknamed Big Daddy, about 380 metres high, that's 80 metres taller than the Eiffel Tower. Damaraland with its open plains and rock engravings and Sesfontein; home to the Himba tribe, an ancient indigenous group of tall, slender and statuesque herders. And then the clincher: Etosha National Park, a game reserve teeming with the abundance of animals as only Africa can boast.

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Zanskar rafting

I did this trip in 2014, and I'd go right back in a jiffy. This is the only trip in the world, I would not mind repeating more than once, and this time I want to do it with my dearest friends; the ones who will understand the tears that roll down my face when I see the waves of purple mountain again, and the green and gold rocks that pass by, the reflection of the stark mountains on the river when it remains still for an infinitesimal second, as you camp on the beach by the riverside.

Rafting down the wild Zanskar in Ladakh. Picture courtesy: India Today Spice

Zanskar is a fearsome river with roaring rapids. When I was packing for the expedition, Akshay, my husband, said: "be careful babes." I looked up from the dozen confusing dry bags lying on the bed, the tenor of his voice telling me more than his words were saying. He'd rafted this river more times than he could remember. "Is it dangerous?" I asked. For the first time I realised, I'd never thought of that part at all. "It's not an easy river" he said. "The rapids are bigger and far more technical. Be careful." But this river expedition isn't just about the river. It's about the little monasteries deep inside the mountain ravines that few people can reach; the giant gushing ice cold waterfall at Nyerak that you simply have to stand under; uphill hikes to little secluded hamlets where friendly Ladakhi homes offer you yak tea and momos and that amazingly stunning Zanskar gorge steep and deep, with towering mountain walls on either side. I'm hoping to go back this August for another fill of this amazing river.



Trekking in Bhutan

That's my present to myself on my 50th birthday this year; a trek to the Chomalhari Base Camp, Bhutan's most sacred mountain. Bhutan is a conundrum. A mystical kingdom that is moving from the medieval to the modern. Often compared to the mythical Shangri-La, its ancient Buddhist culture happily co-exists with brand new highways and fast developing internet service. Bhutan has always fascinated me and I hope, come October, I am trekking through its virgin forests, past the soaring peaks and ancient dzongs and on to the high pastures where yaks happily graze and the Lammergaiers soar through its valleys. The highest altitude you reach on this trek is 16,240 feet, not as high as the Everest Base Camp, but high enough to face serious consequences if you're foolish enough not to listen to your body when it's screaming altitude.

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(Dilshad Master is the head of marketing and business development, Mercury Himalaya Explorations Ltd.)



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The 14-year-old girl was raped by her father for 4 months resulting in the minor girl getting pregnant.

By India Today Web Desk: Maharashtra cops raided a village in Maharashtra's Satara district today after a panchayat passed a bizarre order of a minor girl be whipped in public for not resisting rape by her father.

The 14-year-old girl was raped by her father for 4 months resulting in the minor girl getting pregnant. The panchayat of Gopal village had ordered both the father and the girl to be whipped 10 times each.

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The panchayat, in its verdict, said that the girl was also guilty since she did not resisted the rape.

An RTI activist in the area approached the police with photos of the horrific incident. Sachin Bishe demanded adequate action not only against the father but also against the panchayat members who subjected the minor girl to such a brutal treatment.

"The man raped his daughter for nearly 4 months as a result the minor girl got pregnant. Instead of punishing the father, the village panchayat punished the girl. I reported the matter to the police," Bishe said.



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Shipra Malik, the Noida-based fashion designer who had gone missing under mysterious circumstances on Monday, has been found safe in Gurgaon. Police said Shipra had hatched her own kidnapping plan.

By India Today Web Desk: Shipra Malik, the Noida-based fashion designer who had gone missing under mysterious circumstances on Monday, had planned her own kidnapping. The Noida Police said that Shipra had hatched her own kidnapping plan as she was unhappy with loans and property disputes. She stayed at an ashram in Jaipur after disappearing from Noida.

Shipra Malik was traced in a house in a village on Jhajjar road, 30 kms from Gurgaon, late Thursday night.

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"We have formed teams to verify Shipra's statement. She claimed that she stayed in an ashram in Jaipur. She took a bus from Noida to Dhaula Kuan and from there she went to Jaipur in a state transport bus. No kidnapping angle has been found in the case so far," Lakshmi Singh, DIG Meerut zone, told reporters.

"She told us about her movements. She was in distress due to some big family dispute. She had called the police from Lajpat Nagar in Delhi to convey the message that she was going away by her own will and that her family should not be blamed for her disappearance," the DIG said.

During questioning, Shipra also told the police that she was inspired by a TV crime show. She said she had been thinking of leaving her family for some time.

Shipra Malik had left her home in Sector 37 Noida on Monday afternoon for Chandni Chowk in Delhi and had been missing since then.

Her Maruti Swift car was found abandoned 500 metres away from her Noida home, police said. Chetan Malik, her husband who is a local builder, had filed a missing persons complaint with the Noida Police.

Last month, a 25-year-old Snapdeal employee went missing after taking an autorickshaw from the metro station in Vaishali in Ghaziabad. Dipti Sarna returned home after 40 hours, saying her abductors had released her without harming her.



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By India Today Web Desk: Bollywood actress Sonakshi Sinha, a staunch supporter of gender equality and women's right, has lent her support to a Lucknow-based NGO Red Brigade through Colors show, Mission Sapne 2.

The Dabangg actress turned into a flower seller for a day to raise funds for Red Brigade run by activist Usha Vishwakarma. The NGO aims to empower survivors of sexual violence by teaching self-defense techniques.

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Sonakshi also learnt how to meticulously arrange the blooms in the vases, on the show. Also read: Sonu Nigam sells Puja Samagri for a day, raises awareness about HIV



Picture courtesy: Colors

Sonakshi, who will be seen fighting off goons in her upcoming movie Akira, learnt a few tips from the from an NGO activist when she recently recorded the episode for the second season of the show.

Picture courtesy: Colors

Dressed for the occasion in white shirt and tight black lowers, Sonakshi seemed quite fit as she picked up tips on the right way to kick and chop.

Also read: Want to know what Vidya Balan, Alia Bhatt, Arjun Kapoor will do on the show?



"Every girl in this country must learn some form of self-defence, especially when women's safety is an issue that needs to be dealt with immediate effect. Our safety is in our hands and we must become well equipped to fight against any kind out violence and defend our honour when the situation arises," Sonakshi said on the show.

Every week, Mission Sapne sees a top star raising money for a social cause by doing a daily-wage job. Catch the show on Colors every Sunday at 11:00 am.

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The Modi government has not issued visas to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in time for a long planned trip to India. The goal of the Commission's trip was to discuss and assess religious freedom conditions in India.

By Reuters: India has denied visas for a delegation from the US government agency charged with monitoring international religious freedom, the agency said on Thursday.

The delegation from the US Commission on International Religious Freedom had been scheduled to leave for India on Friday for a long-planned visit with the support of the US State Department and the US embassy in New Delhi, but India had failed to issue the necessary visas, the commission said.

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"We are deeply disappointed by the Indian government's denial, in effect, of these visas," USCIRF chairman Robert George said in a statement. "As a pluralistic, non-sectarian, and democratic state, and a close partner of the United States, India should have the confidence to allow our visit," he said.

George said USCIRF had been able to travel to many countries, including those among the worst offenders of religious freedom, including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, China, and Myanmar.

"One would expect that the Indian government would allow for more transparency than have these nations, and would welcome the opportunity to convey its views directly to USCIRF."

The Indian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Last year, despite a much-heralded fresh start in US-India ties under Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the United States ran into problems arranging visits by the head of its office to combat human trafficking and its special envoy for gay rights.

A US State Department official referred queries on the visa issue to the Indian government, but highlighted remarks by President Barack Obama on a visit to Delhi last year, in which he made a plea for freedom of religion in a country with a history of strife between Hindus and minorities.

In its 2015 report, the bipartisan USCIRF said incidents of religiously motivated and communal violence had reportedly increased for three consecutive years.

It said that despite its status as a pluralistic, secular democracy, India had long struggled to protect minority religious communities or provide justice when crimes occur, creating a climate of impunity.

Non-governmental organizations and religious leaders, including from the Muslim, Christian, and Sikh communities, attributed the initial increase in violence to religiously divisive campaigning in advance of the country's 2014 general election won by Modi.

The report said that since the election, religious minorities had been subject to derogatory comments by politicians linked to Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party and numerous violent attacks and forced conversions by Hindu nationalist groups.

US law allows for imposition of sanctions on countries the commission terms "of particular concern," but the USCIRF's recommendations are not binding and these are not automatically imposed.

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On the occasion of motion of thanks for the President's address, Modi In his 75-minute-long speech invoked excerpts from the speeches of former Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi to turn the tables on Rahul.

By Siddhartha Rai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday chose to tutor the present Gandhis on past Gandhis as he went on to launch a veiled, yet powerful, attack on the Congress and its vice-president Rahul Gandhi over the recent allegations on the government.

In his 75-minute-long speech, on the occasion of motion of thanks for the President's address, Modi invoked excerpts from the speeches of former Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi to turn the tables on Rahul.

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While the PM never took names, his innuendoes were clear enough as he took jibe after jibe at Rahul, flanked by mother and Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

Interrupted a few times by stray questions and remarks, Modi told the House he had learnt to live with allegations and accusations, in an obvious reference to the aftermath of 2002 Gujarat riots. "I have been getting certificates for the past 14 years, even accused. I have learnt to live with it," the PM said.

Admonishing the Congress for continued disruptions and the consequent washout of recent sessions, Modi also made Rajiv Gandhi a point of reference.

"There may be conflict of thoughts in Parliament, there may be angst, but it needs to be expressed. The House is a forum where logics are presented; where sharp answers are given; it is a forum where the government is questioned and where the government has to defend and explain itself. Nobody is spared in discussions and none should expect any. But, if the dignity of the House is maintained then we can present our arguments more forcefully. This message is not that of Narendra Modi, but of India's former PM Rajiv Gandhi," said Modi.

Modi also quoted Rajiv Gandhi on the significance of letting the Bills get passed. "The Bill is for the people. It is necessary to weed out middlemen from the system. It is for devolving responsibilities on the ground; so that the administration can be made accountable; so that participation of people can be increased in schemes as also in social justice and development. This is to strengthen the foundation of our democracy. This too was said by former PM Rajiv Gandhi and we should heed the advice of elders," Modi said.

The PM also called upon the words of Nehru to underline the importance of the need to transact business in Parliament. "We have come to this Parliament with the responsibility to administer the country. There can be no bigger responsibility and fortune than this as this House is responsible for the fate of the big population of the country. We all must have?felt this destiny for which we have been called upon. Whether we deserve it or not is another question. Therefore, in these five years we not only stood beside history, but also became a part of history-making at times. These lofty ideals were expressed by our first PM Jawaharlal Nehru in 1957. At that time none of us?our party was there," Modi said.

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Modi also suggested that the Congress had been disrupting Parliament only to ensure that no other young MP could shine over the Gandhi scion. "Why is this House not been let to function? Not because there is angst against the government, but because of an inferiority complex. There are talented and glorious MPs and I believe we should listen to them; their thoughts are an asset in themselves. If the House functions they will get chance to speak and if they speak, they will be praised, then what will happen to us (reference to Congress); this is the anxiety; this is the insecurity," Modi said.

Modi accused the Congress of scuttling the "capable" MPs of the Opposition so that "they are not able to speak and the nation remains oblivious to their talent". It was done, claimed Modi, so that "none in the Opposition should become strong; none should look promising".

The PM slammed the Congress for its criticism of the NDA government's flagship schemes 'Make in India'.

Also Read

Some people age but do not mature: Modi's dig at Rahul Gandhi



In Modi's appeal for Parliament to run, a reference to Rajiv Gandhi

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Rahul vs Modi: Who has won the battle of speeches?



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Four gunmen attacked an old people's home in the Yemeni port of Aden on Friday, killing at least 15 people, including four Christian nuns from India, local officials and medical sources said.

By Reuters: Four gunmen attacked an old people's home in the Yemeni port of Aden on Friday, killing at least 15 people, including four Christian nuns from India, local officials and medical sources said.

The gunmen, who first told the guard they were on a visit to their mother, stormed into the home with rifles and opened fire, one local official said. As well as the nuns, the dead included two Yemeni women working at the facility, eight elderly residents and a guard.

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The motive of the gunmen was not immediately known. They fled after the attack, the official said.

The bodies of those killed have been transferred to a clinic supported by medical group Medecins Sans Frontieres, medical sources said.

Yemen's embattled government is based in Aden but has struggled to impose its authority there since its forces, backed by Gulf Arab troops, expelled Iran-allied Houthi fighters who still control the country's capital, Sanaa.

Once a cosmopolitan city home to thriving Hindu and Christian communities, Aden has gone from one of the world's busiest ports as a key hub of the British empire to a largely lawless backwater.

ALSO READ:

Suicide bomber kills at least 13 recruits at Yemen army camp

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Oedipus, a one-eyed owl, has become a part of the animal ambassador team at Tennessee's Chattanooga Zoo and also the latest star on the internet.

By India Today Web Desk: The Chattanooga Zoo has introduced its animal ambassador to the world through a Facebook post. Say hello to Oedipus, a one-eyed owl that has become the ambassador.

The Chattanooga Zoo has introduced its animal ambassador, a one-eyed owl named Oedipus, to the world in a Facebook post.

The post says the Eastern Screech Owl reached the zoo through its Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre. Oedipus underwent a surgery due to an eye injury resulting in its removal, thus reducing his ability to survive in the wild on his own.

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Chattanooga Zoo will be Oedipus's home forever now, and they are more than happy to welcome him. The zoo has made him a part of their animal ambassador team which will help it spread awareness about the importance of conservation locally and globally.

Here's the Facebook post:





Meet Oedipus, the one-eyed owl! Oedipus, the Eastern Screech Owl, came to us through our Wildlife Rehabilitation center...Posted by Chattanooga Zoo on Wednesday, March 2, 2016

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Pervez Musharraf is expected to testify in two important cases - one relating to Benazir Bhutto's murder and the other concerning high treason charge - in the coming weeks.

By India Today Web Desk: Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf is expected to testify in two important cases, one relating to Benazir Bhutto's murder, and the other concerning high treason charge, in the coming weeks.

He was implicated in former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's murder case in 2010 and high treason case in 2013, Dawn online reported on Friday.

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) of Rawalpindi and the special court seized with the high treason case may summon Musharraf to defend himself and counter the evidence produced by prosecutors in the two cases.

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However, it is not clear whether the "ailing" former president will appear personally before the courts to get his statements recorded or testify through a video link.

Proceedings in the Benazir Bhutto murder case commenced in 2008 and the trial is in its final stages as the prosecution is summoning its last few witnesses.

Musharraf was nominated as the sole accused in the high treason case in December 2013. In March 2014, he was indicted in the case by the special court comprising judges of three different high courts.

The prosecution in the case has presented all the evidence and produced its witnesses before the court. The last prosecution witness testified on Sept 18, 2014.

Last year, the Islamabad High Court ordered the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to re-investigate the case to ascertain role of facilitators in the imposition of emergency in the country on November 3, 2007.

The court seized with the high treason case will resume proceedings on March 8.

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PM Modi said the Congress had tried to claim programmes and schemes of the State for itself in a game of one-upmanship. Modi said had there been no poverty, there would have been no need for MGNREGA.

By Mail Today: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday took on the Opposition not with aggression, but with facts, figures and humour. Faced with the criticism that BJP government had hijacked the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) that was a Congress flagship, the PM fought back in the Parliament, accusing the Congress instead of having perpetuated poverty in India.

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PM Modi said the Congress had tried to claim programmes and schemes of the State for itself in a game of one-upmanship. Modi said had there been no poverty, there would have been no need for MGNREGA. He said the Congress is jealous as it is concerned as to why the NDA government is doing well. He said the Congress is worried that 'What we could not do in 60 years, how could you do it?'

"Whenever anything comes up here (in the Paliament), it is said 'This belongs to our period; this is our legacy'. There are some things which are your legacy," said Modi before he went on to mention the absence of toilets in schools and the Centre's initiative for the same. He also counted the Bangladesh border issue as one of the legacies of the Congress which his government had solved. "You can say: 'See had we solved the problem in our time, then Modi it would not have been your achievement; We had left it for you'. This (problem) is your legacy," Modi said.

Also Read:

Government increases Budget allocation for rural development, MGNREGA

Some people age but do not mature: Modi's dig at Rahul Gandhi



In Modi's appeal for Parliament to run, a reference to Rajiv Gandhi Rahul vs Modi: Who has won the battle of speeches?

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It is for the first time that Sushant Singh Rajput will share screen space with Kriti Sanon in Dinesh Vijan's Raabta. The Shuddh Desi Romance actor, who has begun prepping up for the romantic film, can't wait to begin shooting for the film as he says that Raabta has an amazing story.

By India Today Web Desk: It is for the first time that Sushant Singh Rajput will share screen space with Kriti Sanon in Dinesh Vijan's Raabta. The Shuddh Desi Romance actor, who has begun prepping up for the romantic film, can't wait to begin shooting for the film as he says that Raabta has an amazing story.

ALSO READ: Sushant Singh Rajput to romance Kriti Sanon in Dinesh Vijan's directorial debut

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ALSO READ: Kriti Sanon on working with Sushant Singh Rajput, there is a spark in our chemistry



"I read the script of Raabta before MS Dhoni: The Untold Story. It's an amazing story. Right from that day, I have been passionately waiting for the film to go on floors. Some preparation is needed for the role like horse riding and all.



"By the end of this month, we will start shooting. It will be fun," Sushant told IANS at the screening of the film Zubaan in Mumbai.

To make their on-screen chemistry look real, Kriti and Sushant have been spending a lot of time together these days. From movie dates to dinner dates to horse riding lessons, the two have often been spotted together.



Even Kriti believes that her chemistry with Sushant is special. The Dilwale actor said after enacting a scene from the upcoming film with Sushant, she felt they had an instant spark.

In an interview to PTI, she had said, "Dinesh asked us to do a scene from the movie. We were sitting on the sofa and did it impromptu. There was something special, something you cant describe in words. There was a connect, a spark, some chemistry between me and Sushant even though that was the first time we met.

"So, that kind of thing coming out in the first meeting was very different and unique for all of us. The film has a beautiful script. It is something which we three are very passionate about and there is some great energy between three of us," the Dilwale actor added.

The music of the film will be composed by Pritam, while the costumes will be styled by Anaita Shroff Adjania. Dinesh Vijan, who has produced hits like Love Aaj Kal, Badlapur, Cocktail and Go Goa Gone, will now be helming the project with Homi Adajania stepping in as the producer.



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The Bharatiya Janata Party has approached the Lok Sabha Speaker with a complaint against Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi over his 'fair and lovely' remark in the House on Wednesday.

By India Today Web Desk: The Bharatiya Janata Party has approached the Lok Sabha Speaker with a complaint against Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi over his 'fair and lovely' remark in the House on Wednesday. The ruling party is expected to move a motion on 'racism' in the House when it convenes on Tuesday, March 8. Lok Sabha proceedings were suspended for the day after the death of former Lok Sabha Speaker PA Sangma. He was 68. Sangma served the sixteenth Lok Sabha as its Speaker from 1996 to 1998. He also remained the Chief Minister of Meghalaya from 1988 to 1990.

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Yesterday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi went on to launch a veiled, yet powerful, attack on the Congress and its vice-president Rahul Gandhi over the recent allegations on the government.

"I have been getting certificates for the past 14 years, even accused. I have learnt to live with it," the PM said in an apparent reference to the aftermath of 2002 Gujarat riots.

Admonishing the Congress for continued disruptions and the consequent washout of recent sessions, Modi also made Rajiv Gandhi a point of reference during his 75-minute-long speech on Thursday.

Latest updates:

The BJP has reacted strongly to Rahul Gandhi mentioning Savarkar in his speech in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. "I said Gandhi is ours, Veer Savarkar is yours, am I wrong? Have you discarded Savarkar?" Rahul Gandhi had asked BJP legislators.

BJP member Kirit Somaiya has sought an apology from Rahul Gandhi for his "derogatory" remarks against Savarkar and also lodged a complaint with Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.

Somaiya told the Speaker that the Congress vice-president must apologise in the Lok Sabha for "insulting" Savarkar while participating in the Motion of Thanks to the President's address to Parliament.

"Veer Savarkar is a national hero and a great freedom fighter. Parliament has already recognised his contribution by installing his portrait in the Central Hall," Somaiya, BJP MP from Northeast Mumbai, said in the letter.

"I don't know anything, I don't understand anything. I listen to the people, understand them and then speak on those issues in the House," Gandhi had said, adding "I am not from the RSS. I make mistakes."

The BJP will also be moving a notice against Rahul Gandhi for using 'racist' fair and lovely remark in his speech in the Lok Sabha. LJP chief Ramvilas Paswan, his son Chirag have also complained to the Lok Sabha Speaker in this regard.

"Rahul Gandhi mocked the disclosure scheme of the government of India by terming it as a 'fair and lovely scheme". The advertisement of Fair and Lovely has been banned by the Supreme Court because it is racist in nature," BJP MP Arjun Meghwal said.

"The Modi government launched a fair and lovely' yojana, to convert black money into white. Modi ji had promised that he will put people with black money behind bars, now they have come up with way to save those people," Rahul had said in Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

Former BJP leader and senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani has claimed that Rahul Gandhi's 'fair and lovely' jibe to explain the government's amnesty to black money holders was first used by him five years ago.

"I had used this term in an article written about the amnesty scheme in 2011. I am happy Rahul is using my phrase and reading what I had written," Jethmalani, who was removed from the BJP last year for anti-party activities, told reporters.

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By Priya Pathak: Jays has launched premium u-Jays headphones in India. The headphones, priced at Rs 15,999, will compete against the likes of Sennheiser and Beats. The headphones would be sold through the Headphonezone.in, a website dedicated to sell only the audio gear, with which Jays, a Swedish company, has a partnership.

Jays claims that the u-Jays headphones are ideal for the audiophiles who are looking for outstanding acoustics, comfort and quality. The headphone comes with an acoustic system designed to make the earcups and ear cushions work together as a whole. Japanese silk-coated diaphragm has been used in making of the headphones, with vent holes covered with acoustic tuning filters that are evenly distributed around the speaker.

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The company claims that the sealed ear cushions help optimise the air-flow through the acoustic system while preventing leakage, resulting in greatly improved details and a deeper bass response. The ear cushions are soft and can easily adapt to the shape of the ears. Both ear cushions and the cable are exchangeable for easy upgrading and replacement over time. The u-JAYS also come with a three-button remote cable made and individually optimised for either iOS, Windows or Android, depending on the choice of the user.

The headphones will be available in four variants -- black on black, black on gold, white on silver and white on gold.

Raghav Somani, ceo of Headphone Zone said, "Jays has created a versatile pair of on-ears and its three variants ensures a perfect match for all smartphone owners; be it iOS, Windows or Android." Jays, which is around a seven-year-old company, previously launched headphone and earphones models like q-JAYS, c-JAYS, j-JAYS and s-JAYS.

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The Galaxy A9 Pro will come with a 6-inch FullHD AMOLED display and an octa core Snapdragon 652 processor under the hood with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage (expandable).

By India Today Web Desk: South Korean tech major Samsung is looking to expand its Galaxy A (2016) line-up with a new 6-inch phone said to be called the Galaxy A9 Pro. The Galaxy A9 Pro was recently spotted on Chinese certification website TENAA confirming its existence.

The Galaxy A9 Pro - codenamed SM-A9100 - looks exactly like the other Galaxy A phones of this year, as per the TENAA listing . This means it looks much like the company's flagship Galaxy S6 in terms of design and make. It's a hefty combination of metal and glass along with Samsung's trademark home button on the front which should house a fingerprint scanner. The display boasts of curved 2.5D glass. The phone is said to be just 7.9 mm in thickness and will come in the colours black, white and gold.

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The Galaxy A9 Pro will come with a 6-inch FullHD AMOLED display and an octa core Snapdragon 652 processor under the hood with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage (expandable).

On the camera front, it is said to offer a 16-megapixel rear shooter along with an 8-megapixel front-facing camera. The dualSIM phone will be backed by a 4,000 mAh battery.

The Galaxy A9 Pro will join the Galaxy A3, A5, A7 and A9 . The company recently launched the Galaxy A5 and A7 (2016) phones in India at Rs 29,400 and Rs 33,400 respectively .

The Galaxy A5 is a 5.2-inch phone, while the A7 is a larger 5.5-inch phablet. Both the phones sport FullHD Super AMOLED displays. The Galaxy A5 and A7 are powered by the same processor, which is an octa-core Exynos 7580 CPU (albeit with slightly different clock speeds). While the A5 comes with 2GB RAM, the A7 has 3 gigs of it. Both the phones come with 16GB internal storage which is further expandable by up to 128GB via microSD card slot. The Galaxy A5 uses a 2,900mAh battery, while the A7 is backed by a 3,300 mAh battery.



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The phone is soon going to launch in India, which has resulted in the Chinese company asking its contractors Foxconn and Invetec to ramp up production of the phone rapidly.

By Sahil Mohan Gupta : Xiaomi's new flagship is in so much demand that it seems the Chinese upstart can't keep up with the supply of the phone. In light of a huge demand and the supply shortage the Chinese company has asked Foxconn; the Taiwanese contractor, to ramp up the supply of the phone. The Mi 5 smartphone, launched a couple of days ago in China, has received more than 16 million pre-registrations. The phone is also slated to launch in India next month.



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According to a Taiwanese economic, Xiaomi had asked Foxconn to prepare for an initial volley of 4 million units. But now it turns out that the demand is four times higher in China alone and the phone is soon going to launch in India, which has resulted in the Chinese company asking its contractors Foxconn and Invetec to ramp up production of the phone rapidly.

The Mi 5 was launched with great fanfare at MWC last month in Barcelona and also in Beijing. The device is an absolute beast in terms of specifications. It rocks the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, which is also in the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S7 and also the LG G5. It is coupled with 3GB RAM and also has 32GB of storage.

The Mi 5 is a sexy phone which is very slender at 7.3mm and just weighs 129 grams. It is made out of metal and glass. The phone has a 16-megapixel camera which has a f/2.0 aperture and deep trench isolation. It is also a 4-axis optical stabiliser. On the front it has a 4-megapixel UltraPixel camera.

It also has a 3,000mAh battery which is sealed in. It runs on Android Marshmallow which is customised on Mi UI 7. It has a 5.15-inch screen which has a fullHD screen which has a brightness levels of up to 600 nits.

There's also a Pro version of the phone which has a higher clock speed and 4GB RAM. It also packs 128GB of storage.

You may also like to read:

Xiaomi Mi 5: This could be the phone of the year

Xiaomi Mi 5: A bold new phone that took 2 years in the making



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A pilot from a well-known airline saw a strange "object" as he was about to land in Rio Grande, this object was in an area "forbidden" or restricted to air traffic at such a time, and the pilot asked the tower if they could pick up any "air traffic." The tower replied that no abnormalities were detected and then asked the pilot if the object in question was in the airliner's flight path. The pilot said no, that it was over to one side, and was then given permission to land by the tower, which requested a report, which was recorded.This event became known through the Facebook page of renowned tour operator Jose Heredia, who reported the occurrence, given that his position allows him to have access to communications betwen airline pilots and the control tower.The news was published by Infofuegina (web site) but lacking any certainty or particulars on the case, he decided to set the note aside until more information could be gleaned. But while the entry was still active, it caught the attention of the Reportes Ovni Argentina NGO, two of whose members contacted journalist Ramon Taborda Strusiat, who had only heard vague reports from listeners to a radio station that broadcasted the event. The source, however, was unknown until it was finally discovered, and it was the Facebook page itself.Jose Heredia wondered: A UFO in the skies of Rio Grande? He said that while working at home, "getting ready to go to the banking district" and "listening to the Control Tower frequency of the Rio Grande Airport as always, following the path of air operations in the city, he suddenly heard a private aircraft pilot's report to the air traffic controller on duty regarding alleged 'traffic' in his air corridor (the airplane's path) which had not been reported."Heredia added: "The reply was not long in coming. There should not be any traffic whatsoever in that corridor at the time. In other words: an unidentified flying object report in the vicinity of our city.""In fact, ANAC personnel asked the pilot to leave a written record at the Flight Plan Office upon his arrival. Verbatim, from half an hour ago...approximately," Heredia wrote at 11:48 hours on 17 February 2016, which suggests that the event occurred at 11:20 that morning.Meanwhile, according to the Jesus Leguizamo of the Reportes Ovni Argentina NGO, one of the groups members managed to contact the pilot in Buenos Aires, but he refused to go public with the story.
Investigative reporting from the inner city to Wall Street to the United Nations This is the blogspot version InnerCityPress.com
Time to reveal my first investment in a truly Japanese company (that is bought with Yen and only listed in Japan). What really triggered me to pull the gun...
* 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.
The article in The Commentator singled out Ayatollah Reyshahri, who has won a seat on the Assembly of Experts, having been a member of the List of Hope endorsed by President Hassan Rouhani, former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, and other individuals who have been grouped together as moderates and reformists in the current election cycle. The article described Reyshahris successful efforts to marry a nine year-old girl when he was in his twenties, and it quoted a reformist political analyst as acknowledging that Reyshahri had killed many people, but that this would have to be overlooked because the electorate had no other options.

This article follows upon documents released by the National Council of Resistance of Iran profiling some of the most prominent members of the moderate/reformist faction in last Fridays elections. Those documents said, for instance, that Rafsanjani himself had overseen the worst period of Iranian terrorist attacks in the history of the Islamic Republic and had been deemed the godfather of terror by reformists who were active at the time.

No doubt the NCRIs contributions would support Azarmehrs conclusion that individuals like Reyshahri underscore the intellectual poverty and ineptness of Irans so-called reformists. Azarmehr went on to say that the supposed disputes between this faction and Irans traditional hardliners is largely an exercise in political theater, semi-publicly encouraged by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and aimed at presenting an illusion of democracy.

Mirroring criticism of the mainstream coverage of the elections, Azarmehr indicated that many Western policymakers and commentators had fallen prey to this deception. And this sentiment was repeated in another editorial that appeared in Asharq al-Awsat, which said that, the current US administration trusts the Tehran regime more than the Iranians do.

The article went on to say that this situation has been harmful to the United States traditional Arab allies in the Middle East. It argued that the false narrative Iranian moderation had led to the lifting of international pressure and was continuing to contribute to Irans imperial reach into the broader Middle East, especially in conflict areas like Syria, Yemen, and Iraq. This is the very thing that has prompted nervous reactions and countermeasures from Saudi Arabia and its supporters.

In other words, Awsat and other critical news outlets see a positive view of the recent Iranian elections as contributing to escalating tensions between the main rivals for power in the Middle East, namely Iran and Saudi Arabia.

The Guardianpublished a general profile of this conflict on Wednesday, highlighting some of the advantages and disadvantages that exist on each side. The article suggested that current geopolitical factors, including the Wests detente with Iran, give the Saudis the impression that Iran is gaining ground in the broader Middle East while they themselves are losing. The Guardian also claims that compared to Irans direct interventions through the Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force and other military-political institutions, the Saudis have little more than cash to offer to their sides of the various regional proxy conflicts.

However, other articles on Wednesday gave the clear impression that Riyadh was committed to utilizing its superior economic position to the greatest possible advantage. The growing conflict with Iran helps to explain Saudi efforts to substantially increase their oil exports to China, which is Irans largest Asian oil buyer and a potential ally in a number of different areas.

CNN reports that Saudi Arabia had increased its oil shipments to China by 36 percent during the month of February, leading to a three-year high at a time when the Saudis had been engaged in talks with Russia aimed at freezing global oil output at Januarys levels. Irans participation in that freeze had been demanded by both sides of the talks, but Tehran balked at the prospect, being fixated on efforts to increase its own outputs to pre-sanctions levels and reclaim market share in the wake of the July 14 nuclear deal with six world powers.

CNN plainly states that the Saudi efforts in China are aimed at thwarting Irans resurgence, both in the political and the economic sphere. For their part, the Iranians have repeatedly claimed to be making swift gains in their oil output and financial returns, but the CNN report notes that there is currently no objective evidence that Iran has been successful in dramatically boosting its oil output. This leaves open the possibility that Saudi efforts to constrain Irans return are having some effect.

Furthermore, the Saudis are not only striving to exert pressure on Iran directly; they are also using their economic position in apparent attempts to discourage cooperation with Iran among other countries in the Middle East. For example, the Economist reported on Wednesday that Riyadh had cancelled four billion dollar aid payments to Lebanon, apparently over the increasing influence that the Lebanese paramilitary Hezbollah enjoys in Syria alongside its Iranian handlers.

While the Economist doubts the ability of this strategy to actually diminish Lebanese tolerance of Iran and Hezbollah, it also points out that Iran had responded to the situation by offering to replace the Saudi payments  a bit of propaganda the recently de-sanctioned nation can certainly not afford to follow through on.
What You Can't Discuss:

This is a partial list of taboo topics within progressive-left venues around the Arab-Israel conflict. You cannot discuss this material because it undermines the "Palestinian narrative" of perpetual victimhood. This narrative is a club used by the Arab and Muslim enemies of Israel, along with their western progressive allies, to delegitimize that country in preparation for its eventual dissolution.



1) The centuries of Jewish dhimmitude under the boot of Islamic imperialism.



2) The recent construction of Palestinian identity, its connection to Soviet Cold War politics, and how this is an Arab people with a Roman name that refers to Greeks.



3) Arab and Palestinian Koranically-based racism as the fundamental source of the conflict.



4) The ways in which contemporary progressive anti-Zionism serves as a cloak for gross anti-Semitism.



5) The Palestinian theft and appropriation of Jewish history.



6) "Pallywood."



7) The historical connections between the Nazis, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Palestinian national movement.



8) The perpetual refusal of the Palestinian-Arabs to accept a state for themselves in peace next to the Jewish one.



9) The progressive portrayal of terrorists as those fighting a righteous war of "resistance."



10) The Arab-Palestinian indoctrination of children with Jew hatred.



11) Human rights violations against women, children, and Gay people in the Muslim Middle East.



12) The fact that violent Jihadis call themselves "Jihadis" and claim to love death above life.



This is only a partial list, so please let us know the many more that we are missing.
[March 03, 2016] The Bat! Email Client Version Released as Company Resists Unlawful Moldovan Governmental Interference

CHISINAU, Moldova, March 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Amid unrest in Moldova, and victimization by a corrupt government, the country's only software company that develops its own products and sells them worldwide under its own trade mark, Ritlabs, SRL, forges ahead. Today, the company announces an updated version of their secure client email software, The Bat! Version 7.1.18. The Bat! is the only Moldovan IT brand that is well-known abroad. "Our customers have relied on us to provide the most secure email available worldwide for the past 18 years, and we continue to deliver on this promise by enhancing The Bat!'s features and functionality," said Maxim Masiutin, Director of Ritlabs, SRL. "Our customers remain our main focus as we continue to resist the Moldovan government's unlawful attempts to interfere with our business." The Bat! users requested the ability to manage email more effectively in corporate networks with their secure email programs. The new version offers contact management in Exchange accounts, allowing for thousands of corporate network contacts to be downloaded and imported into the Exchange Web Services (EWS) address book. In addition, changes made to personal address book Exchange contacts are synched with the server. Additional features offered with the new version inclde a more user-friendly interface, the ability to sort messages by display name in the message list, improved contact searches on LDAP servers, appropriate folder selection for MailTicker, proper change of parent folder of any subfolder in the account tree, and enhancements to Inbox Analyzer. Inbox Analyzer automatically analyzes emails stored in the Inbox folder, divides them into groups depending on their senders and dates, and suggests actions.



The necessity of a secure email client and the privacy it offers come to light as news of Google being sued over email scanning practices surfaces. The updates offered in The Bat! v7.1.18 make it an even more effective tool for email management while providing users with security that protects their email content from third-party access, not offered with web-based email. The Bat! protects information through multiple encryption streams with the option to encrypt emails on a disk and during communication through an SSL/TLS connection. Free from global email providers that keep your messages in the cloud, and free from Web clients, The Bat! ensures data stays private. The Bat! can process and store an unlimited number of messages and has no restriction on the number of email accounts per user.

About Ritlabs, SRL Ritlabs, SRL is a software company specializing in developing secure communication products for corporate and private clients. Founded in 1998, the company focuses on a product line for secure data transfer in public information networks. The company serves customers in small business, technology development, government, financial services, aerospace, and home computing consumers. Through multilingual support, Ritlabs, SRL serves users in 191 different countries, with over 20,000 customers in the U.S. Learn more about Ritlabs, SRL an award-winning company at https://www.ritlabs.com/. Contact:

Randy Boileau

616-786-4461

Email To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-bat-email-client-version-released-as-company-resists-unlawful-moldovan-governmental-interference-300230553.html SOURCE Ritlabs, SRL

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[March 03, 2016] Fitch Affirms Alvin Community College District, Texas' Ltd Tax Bonds at 'A+'; Outlook Stable

Fitch Ratings has affirmed the 'A+' underlying rating on Alvin Community College District, Texas' (the district) approximately $13.4 million in outstanding limited tax bonds. The Rating Outlook is Stable. SECURITY The bonds are secured by an annual property tax levy limited to $0.50 per $100 taxable assessed valuation (TAV) on all taxable property within the district. KEY RATING DRIVERS ADEQUATE FISCAL POSITION MAINTAINED: Recent fiscal performance reflects break-even-to-modestly positive operations, although the district's financial position remains fairly marginal with narrow liquidity and a modest reserve cushion. A balanced budget and the year's slightly improved enrollment supports management's projections of another modest surplus in fiscal 2016. STEADY TAX BASE EXPANSION: TAV continues to grow at a moderate annual pace. Various petrochemical, energy, and associated industries make up the top 10 taxpayers and provide moderately high tax base concentration. ENROLLMENT TRENDS MIXED: There has been some modest yet inconsistent enrollment growth. This is balanced against overall trends that generally reflect an eroding base, which Fitch views with some concern. Nonetheless, Fitch believes it is feasible that the district may realize some enrollment gains in the near term given the counter-cyclicality of matriculation trends to the recent economic softening in the Houston metropolitan statistical area (MSA). AVERAGE SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS: Population growth trends and local income/wealth levels are slightly below or at MSA, state, and national averages. MIXED DEBT PROFILE: High overall debt levels are balanced against the district's rapid principal amortization and low carrying costs. RATING SENSITIVITIES OPERATING PERFORMANCE AND FINANCIAL CUSHION: The rating is sensitive to material changes in the district's financial position. CREDIT PROFILE Located about 25 miles southeast of downtown Houston, this comprehensive, two-year institution serves a relatively small local enrollment base in and near the towns of Alvin, Manvel, and portions of the city of Pearland. Enrollment totaled 7,211 full-time student equivalents (FTSEs) in fiscal 2015. Population growth and income/wealth levels are generally comparable to the MSA, state and nation. SLIM OPERATIONS; MODEST RESERVE CUSHION MAINTAINED Operations benefit from a relatively diverse revenue stream of tuition, property taxes, and state aid available to all Texas community colleges. The district has regained its modestly positive to break-even operating performance in the last two fiscal years (fiscals 2014 and 2015) while preserving a modest reserve cushion despite recent enrollment fluctuations. Growth in the biennium state appropriation ($9.3 million or 22% of total revenue in fiscal 2015, up about $1 million from fiscal 2013), use of the district's revenue-raising options, and some expenditure savings (such as implementation of a one-time, exit incentive) underlie the improved performance. The district has periodically implemented some tuition/fee increases, but more notably, has more consistently generated additional property tax revenue for operations from a growing tax base coupled with modest increases to the operating tax rate. The increased property tax collections totaled $13 million in fiscal 2015 or 31.6% of total revenues, which was up from $11.6 million or 28.7% in fiscal 2014. A 1.9% operating margin was generated in fiscal 2014, bolstered by the year's 2% uptick in enrollment headcount, although operating performance quickly slimmed to break-even in fiscal 2015 given pressure from the subsequent enrollment decline. Available funds-to-expenditures remained persistently low at 19.3% at the close of fiscal 2015. This includes the district's internally designated reserves equal to $2.7 million or about 6% of spending at fiscal 2015 year-end. The district's fiscal 2015 financial statements also reflect the impact of GASB 68 on a historically slim financial profile, as the unrestricted net position declined to a negative $1.6 million from $3.8 million in fiscal 2014 (before restatement). For fiscal 2016, the balanced $28.2 million adopted maintenance and operations (M&O) budget grew by about 3%, supported by tuition increases and about $1 million in additional operating tax revenue. The district maintained a nominally flat total tax rate of slightly over $0.20 per $100 TAV for the second consecutive fiscal year. Management indicates year-to-date operating performance is generally in line with budgeted expectations. Enrollment above budget should boost the district's fiscal position minimally by $500,000. Conclusion of a pending, one-time sale of property by fiscal year-end could additionally improve results by approximately $1.3 million. CONTINUED TAV GAINS IN MODERATELY CONCENTRATED TAX BASE The district's tax base continues to grow at a steady, moderate pace with gains realized from some new home starts as well as expansion by local industry, the health care sector, and supporting businesses. About half of the district's tax base is residential. Totaling $8.5 billion in market value as of fiscal 2015, the tax base has moderately high concentration with the 10 largest taxpayers representing 16% and the largest taxpayer (INEOS USA) 6.6%. Top taxpayers include a number of large petrochemical plants and other associated industries. The Houston MSA economy made a robust post-recessionary recovery due in part to the strength of the energy sector. However, Fitch believes low oil price 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 partially offset 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 Brazoria 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%).

OVERALL DEBT LEVELS HIGH BUT CARRYING COSTS LOW The overall debt burden is high at approximately 10% of market value, but a more moderate $2,580 on a per capita basis. This contrasts with the college's relatively modest direct debt profile. The college has been an infrequent borrower and amortization of its debt is rapid, with 100% of principal retired in 10 years. Recent TAV gains have allowed the college to taper its already low debt service tax rate, which remains under $0.03 per $100 TAV and well within the $0.50 debt service levy limit. A GO bond election for $88.5 million was recently approved by the college's board of regents for the May 2016 ballot. Capital needs to be funded by the proposed authorization include a new educational facility on the west side of the college's taxing jurisdiction, with which management anticipates the college can generate additional student enrollment from the growing Alvin ISD school district as a result of reduced commuting time. A debt service tax rate increase of under $0.07 per $100 TAV is currently projected under what Fitch believes to be reasonable TAV growth assumptions of no more than 5% in the near term. The college participates in the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), a cost-sharing multiple-employer defined benefit plan. As the non-employer contributing entity, the state contributes an amount roughly equal to the current employer contribution rate. However, like all Texas community colleges and K-12 public schools, the college is vulnerable to future policy changes by the state. 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 $5.1 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). The NPL represents less than 1% of the district's fiscal 2016 market value. Other post-employment benefit (OPEB) contributions paid by the college are 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 5.5% of total operating/non-operating spending in fiscal 2015 and may rise to a more midrange level if the proposed GO bond authorization is approved, although Fitch recognizes this remains contingent on future issuance and debt structure plans. Additional information is available at www.fitchratings.com Fitch recently published exposure drafts of state and local government tax-supported criteria (Exposure Draft: U.S. Tax-Supported Rating Criteria, dated Sept. 10, 2015 and Exposure Draft: Incorporating Enhanced Recovery Prospects into U.S. Local Tax-Supported Ratings, dated Feb. 2, 2016). The drafts include 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 in 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. In addition to the sources of information identified in Fitch's Tax-Supported Rating Criteria, this action was additionally informed by information from Lumesis, CreditScope, the Texas Municipal Advisory Council, and IHS (News - Alert) Global Insight. Applicable Criteria Exposure Draft: Incorporating Enhanced Recovery Prospects into US Local Tax-Supported Ratings (pub. 02 Feb 2016)

https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=875108 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 Dodd-Frank Rating Information Disclosure Form

https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/press_releases/content/ridf_frame.cfm?pr_id=1000418 Solicitation Status

https://www.fitchratings.com/gws/en/disclosure/solicitation?pr_id=1000418 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/20160303006522/en/

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[March 03, 2016] Fitch Rates Jordan School District, UT's Refunding GOs 'AAA'; Outlook Stable

Fitch Ratings has affirmed the 'AAA' rating on the following Jordan School District, Utah (the district) bonds: --$126.1 million general obligation (GO) bonds, series 2006, 2007, and 2014 (refunding). This 'AAA' underlying rating reflects the district's credit quality without consideration of the 'AAA' rated guaranty on the GO bonds provided by the Utah School Bond Default Avoidance Program. The Rating Outlook is Stable. SECURITY The bonds are general obligations of the district payable from an unlimited ad valorem tax levied on all eligible taxable property within the former boundaries of the Jordan School District. The taxable area includes the Canyons School District (GO bonds rated 'AAA', Stable Outlook) which is responsible for repayment of 58% of the debt. KEY RATING DRIVERS FINANCIAL STRENGTH: Jordan School District (SD) continues to maintain strong credit characteristics, including high general fund balances, ample liquidity, prudent financial management, and tightly controlled personnel costs. FUNDAMENTALLY RESILIENT TAX BASE: Debt is repaid from levies on the original district's broad and somewhat diverse tax base. The entire tax base has rebounded well from recession-related taxable assessed valuation (TAV) declines due to ongoing residential and commercial development and existing properties' appraisal increases. SOUND SECURITY STRUCTURE: In addition to the unlimited ad valorem property tax pledge of the original district, the series 2014 refunding bonds are supported by an interlocal agreement between the Jordan and Canyons school districts to avoid any ambiguity as to the support of both districts for this refunding. MANAGEABLE DEBT BURDEN: Fitch anticipates that future increases to the district's currently very manageable, rapidly amortizing debt burden will remain consistent with the district's high rating level. However, based on a 2013 bond measure failure, voter authorization of additional bonded indebtedness cannot be taken for granted. The need for additional capacity could thus strain operating resources in the medium term. WELL LOCATED: The district benefits from its location within the Salt Lake County economic hub. RATING SENSITIVITIES STABLE CREDIT CHARACTERISTICS: The rating is sensitive to shifts in fundamental credit characteristics of both the Jordan and Canyons school districts, particularly related to solid general fund results and low debt burden. The Stable Outlook reflects Fitch's expectation that such shifts are unlikely. CREDIT PROFILE Jordan SD is the fourth largest in Utah, with almost 53,000 students spread across 55 schools. It is located approximately 12 miles south of Salt Lake City, encompassing an approximately 150 square mile mixture of urban, suburban, and rural areas within Salt Lake County. On Nov. 6, 2007, voters in the eastern portion of Jordan SD's previous footprint approved a ballot measure to secede and form a separate district. Consequently, a new Canyons SD (the eastern portion) and the remaining Jordan SD (the western portion) began operations on July 1, 2009 (fiscal year 2010) under separate school boards. Fitch also rates the Canyons SD's GO bonds at 'AAA', Outlook Stable. This rating recognizes Canyons School District's solid financial position, continued financial flexibility, good labor relations, and manageable liabilities and capital improvement needs. The value of the Canyons SD's tax base has more than fully recovered from recession-related losses and the district benefits from its proximity to the Salt Lake County economic hub. However, socioeconomic characteristics vary markedly between the district's component communities. SOUND SECURITY STRUCTURE Existing bondholders benefit from an unlimited property tax levy on the aggregate TAV of the previous Jordan SD footprint. Both the debt and the TAV were divided proportionately between the two districts based on fiscal 2009 TAV (42% for the remaining Jordan SD and 58% for the new Canyons SD). Each district is legally obliged to tax the residents within its boundaries for its share of the outstanding debt. Salt Lake County collects the property tax revenues from within each school district's boundaries and distributes them to the two school districts. Jordan School District then invoices Canyons School District for its share of the full debt service payment. This debt repayment process has been working smoothly for the last seven years. For the refunding series 2014 bonds, the two school districts entered into an interlocal agreement which creates a contractual obligation in addition to the existing statutory obligation. FUNDAMENTALLY STRONG ECONOMY AND RESILIENT TAX BASE Jordan SD is significantly residential, with moderately large retail/commercial centers, and continues to benefit from being an integral part of the Salt Lake County economic hub. The county's unemployment rate declined to 2.8% in December 2015, well below the national unemployment rate of 4.8%. The district's socio-economic characteristics are somewhat mixed, reflecting the range within its component communities, but above-average relative to the nation. The recent recession saw some downward TAV pressure on the entire tax base responsible for debt repayment. This was largely dueto state revaluation of centrally assessed properties (particularly Kennecott Utah Copper, by far Jordan SD's largest taxpayer) and Salt Lake County assessor revaluations of local properties. However, in fiscal 2015, Jordan SD TAV rebounded strongly by 12.6% with further strong TAV growth projected for fiscal 2016. At the same time, Canyons SD experienced a 5% increase, with further growth also projected. Both districts continue to experience ongoing residential and commercial development which, in Jordan SD's case, helps offset volatile centrally assessed property valuations.



STRONG FINANCIAL OPERATIONS The district ended fiscal 2015 with near-breakeven operations. This resulted in a very strong unrestricted general fund balance of $129.2 million or 44.1% of spending, comparable to fiscal 2014's $127.6 million or 45.1% of spending. General fund liquidity remains very strong.

The district is budgeting a large net operating deficit after transfers in fiscal 2016 ($18.3 million), followed by significant deficits in each of the following three years, in part because of the state requirement to budget use of the unassigned general fund balance ($22.5 million at fiscal 2015 year-end). Typically the district significantly outperforms its conservative budgets and its general fund balances are expected to remain very strong. Nevertheless, the district does expect to draw down its total general fund balance by $2.7 million in fiscal 2016 for retiree benefit payouts. The district's general fund balance will remain very strong. As part of its committed general fund balance, the district has $57.1 million reserved for its closed other post-employment benefit (OPEB) plan's liabilities. Following the expected $2.7 million drawdown in fiscal 2016, further drawdowns are likely as those OPEB liabilities are paid off and to the degree the district needs to use pay-as-you-go funding for capital. Any remuneration increases for fiscal 2017 will be determined after the state legislature makes its education appropriation decisions for that year. DEBT BURDEN EXPECTED TO REMAIN MANAGEABLE The district has a very low debt burden. In fiscal 2015, overall debt was $595 per capita and a low 0.6% of market value. Approximately 85% of the district's outstanding GO debt is amortized within 10 years. In November 2016, the district will likely seek voter authorization to issue new GO debt in the next few years to meet the capital needs arising from projected ongoing student enrollment growth. Fitch does not expect the progressive issuance of new debt from 2017 on to affect credit quality. However, based on voters' defeat in November 2013 of a $495 million GO bond authorization, the district was not able to rely solely on further bonded indebtedness to finance all of its future capital needs over the next five to seven years. Consequently, it has significantly drawn down its capital projects fund balance in order to construct two new elementary schools. Additionally, the district has continued to use operational solutions regarded as suboptimal by local communities (e.g. year-round schedules, boundary changes, and long-distance busing). The district is currently working with local communities and their elected officials on how best to meet the district's capital and operational needs going forward. The district meets fully its annual pension obligations to the Utah Retirement Systems and estimates that its $57.1 million OPEB reserve more than fully funds obligations under its closed OPEB plan. The district's total debt service, pension, and OPEB carrying costs were a manageable 16.1% of fiscal 2015 total governmental expenditures. Additional information is available at 'www.fitchratings.com'. Fitch recently published exposure drafts of state and local government tax-supported criteria (Exposure Draft: U.S. Tax-Supported Rating Criteria, dated Sept. 10, 2015 and Exposure Draft: Incorporating Enhanced Recovery Prospects into U.S. Local Tax-Supported Ratings, dated Feb. 2, 2016). The drafts include 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 in 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. In addition to the sources of information identified in the applicable criteria specified below, this action was informed by information from CreditScope and Lumesis. Applicable Criteria Exposure Draft: Incorporating Enhanced Recovery Prospects into US Local Tax-Supported Ratings (pub. 02 Feb 2016)

https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=875108 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 Dodd-Frank Rating Information Disclosure Form

https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/press_releases/content/ridf_frame.cfm?pr_id=1000419 Solicitation Status

https://www.fitchratings.com/gws/en/disclosure/solicitation?pr_id=1000419 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/20160303006578/en/

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[March 03, 2016] Fitch Affirms Silver Cross Health System (IL) at 'BBB+'; Outlook Stable

Fitch Ratings has affirmed the 'BBB+' rating on the following bonds issued by the Illinois Finance Authority on behalf of Silver Cross Health System (Silver Cross): --$283 million revenue refunding bonds, series 2015C; --$82 million revenue refunding bonds, series 2008A. The Rating Outlook is Stable. SECURITY The bonds are secured by a gross revenue pledge and a mortgage on certain property. KEY RATING DRIVERS STEADILY IMPROVING OPERATING PERFORMANCE: Silver Cross has improved profitability and operating cash flow over the past three years mostly as a result of volume growth, efficiencies gained from the replacement hospital, and strict attention to productivity measures. The operating margin and operating EBITDA margins improved in each of the past three fiscal years and amounted to 1.4% and 15.9%, respectively, in fiscal 2015 (Sept. 30 year-end). These levels are favorably above Fitch's 'BBB' category medians of 0.6% and 7.7%, respectively. FAVORABLE BUSINESS GROWTH: Driven by good service area demographics, medical staff additions and successful clinical partnerships, volume growth has been strong. Since moving into its replacement hospital during fiscal 2012, admissions and observation cases increased a very healthy 29% and 54%, respectively, from fiscal 2012-2015. HIGH DEBT POSITION: Silver Cross' debt burden is high with maximum annual debt service (MADS) at 7.7% of fiscal 2015 revenue compared to the 'BBB' category median of 3.6%. Additionally, debt to EBITDA (6.6x) and debt to capitalization (70.8%) remain elevated for the rating category. IMPROVED LIQUIDITY: Liquidity continued to grow during the past few years due to the better cash flows and modest capital spending. As of Dec. 31, 2015, unrestricted cash and investments of $155.4 million amount to 177 days operating expenses which compares well to Fitch's 'BBB' category median of 161.5 days. However, Silver Cross' elevated debt position produces a cushion ratio (5.8x) and cash to debt (36.6%) that are well below similarly rated credits. RATING SENSITIVITIES CONTINUED STRONG OPERATING PERFORMANCE: Fitch expects Silver Cross Health System to maintain its improved profitability and cash flow results and continue to moderate its high debt burden. Upward rating movement is limited until the debt position is reduced and capital-related metrics improve. CREDIT PROFILE Silver Cross operates an acute care facility with 295 staffed beds in New Lenox, IL, located about 35 miles southwest of downtown Chicago. Silver Cross had total operating revenues of $348.8 million in fiscal 2015. Silver Cross successfully transitioned into its replacement hospital in New Lenox, IL, which is located in Will County during February 2012. Fitch views the location and move to the new facility favorably, as it has allowed Silver Cross to capitalize on a growing market, improve efficiencies, and enhance service offerings through its various clinical partnerships. GOOD AND IMPROVING OPERATING PERFORMANCE Operating profitability and cash flow continue to improve as a result of strong volume growth, clinical efficiencies and positive shift in payor mix after the new hospital opening. In fiscal 2015, Silver Cross produced positive operating income for the first time since fiscal 2011, with an operating margin of 1.4%. The operating EBITDA margin remains robust at 15.9% in fiscal 2015 and 14.3% through the first quarter of fiscal 2016. The improved cash flow and lower debt service costs from last year's bond refinancing helped increase MADS coverage to 2.4x in fiscal 2015 and 2.8x for the three-month period ending Dec. 31, 2015. These MADS coverage levels are in-line with Fitch's 'BBB' category median of 2.7x. Volume growth continues to be very strong with inpatient admissions up 29% over the last three fiscal years. In addition, outpatient volume trends are also healthy with ambulatory surgeries increasing 22.2% and outpatient visits jumping 19.7% from fiscal 2012-2015. The payor mix has also improved since the opening of the new hospital with 45.4% of gross revenues from commercial health plans in fiscal 2015, compared to 393% in fiscal 2011. Governmental payors comprised 52.2% of gross revenue in fiscal 2015 (41.1% Medicare and 11.1% Medicaid) compared to 54.8% in fiscal 2011 (42.4% Medicare and 12.4% Medicaid). Medicaid expansion has helped reduce self-payors to 2.4% of gross revenue in fiscal 2015 from 5.1% three years earlier. Additionally, the Illinois provider assessment program and supplemental funding under the Affordable Care Act has boosted enhanced Medicaid funding to about $14 million per year. While not immaterial, these supplemental funding levels are not a concern at the current rating level.



MARKET POSITION The total service area is somewhat crowded and the primary service area (PSA) includes two hospitals. However, Silver Cross' market share continues to grow at the expense of its nearest competitor. Silver Cross had 36.4% inpatient market share in its PSA in 2015 (nine months January-September), up from 28.8% in 2011. Its main competitor, Presence Saint Joseph Medical Center (part of Presence Health; rated 'BBB+'/Stable Outlook), had 29.5% inpatient market share, down from 32.8% in 2011. Silver Cross has also been successful at taking inpatient market share from the PSA's next leading provider, Palos Community Hospital. Moreover, Silver Cross' inpatient market share in its secondary service area continues to grow and was 7.9% in 2015 (January-September period), up from 4.4% in 2011.

Market share growth has been driven by strategic affiliations and medical staff additions. Silver Cross has clinical partnerships with several Chicago-area health care systems, including Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (rated 'A-'/Stable Outlook), a top-ranking provider in the country; a joint venture with University of Chicago Medical Center (rated 'AA-'/Stable Outlook) for cancer services; a partnership with Northwestern Medicine for neurology, and a partnership with Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago (rated 'AA-'/Stable Outlook). All of these clinical partnerships have attracted physicians and patients to Silver Cross. On Jan. 1, 2015, Silver Cross commenced an affiliation with Advocate Health Care (Advocate) to partner with Advocate Physician Partners (APP), which has more than 4,400 physician members in their clinical integration program. As a result, about 400 practicing Silver Cross physicians joined APP and Silver Cross became a member of APP's governing body and Advocate's health outcomes council. Although Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, a significant health plan in the Chicago-area market, does not include this arrangement for joint managed care contracting with Advocate, Fitch still views this affiliation favorably as it assists Silver Cross in transitioning to value-based reimbursement programs and population health management. Physician recruitment continues to be strong with an increase in Silver Cross' total medical staff to 722 at the end of fiscal 2015, up from 602 in fiscal 2011. While most Will County physicians remain in private practice and small groups, Silver Cross started to employ physicians in 2012 when strategically necessary and had 10 employed primary care physicians at the end of fiscal 2015. DISCLOSURE Annual audited financial statements and utilization statistics within 120 days of each fiscal year end. Quarterly unaudited financial statements including a balance sheet, income and cash flow statements, and utilization statistics for the first three fiscal quarters within 60 days of each quarter end. 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. Nonprofit Hospitals and Health Systems Rating Criteria (pub. 09 Jun 2015)

https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=866807 Additional Disclosures Dodd-Frank Rating Information Disclosure Form

https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/press_releases/content/ridf_frame.cfm?pr_id=1000422 Solicitation Status

https://www.fitchratings.com/gws/en/disclosure/solicitation?pr_id=1000422 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/20160303006660/en/

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[March 03, 2016] Picmonic Launches Program to Boost NCLEX Pass Rates & Add 4,000 New Nurses to the Workforce in 2016

Picmonic, Inc., the world's leading visual learning community for nursing students, announced a bold initiative to reduce the shortage of entry-level nurses in the workforce with an NCLEX pass guarantee for subscribers. Demand for qualified nurses is rapidly outpacing supply, with the Bureau of Labor Statistic projecting the need for an additional 526,800 nurses before 2022, an increase of 19%. Most job growth can be attributed to increased patient demand and a need to replace workers who retire over the coming decade. Before practicing nursing, students must pass a rigorous National Council Licensing Examination (NCLEX) for Practical Nurses and Registered Nurses. The pass rate is generally a good indicator of the number of new nurses expected to enter the market. According the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN), the 2015 NCLEX-RN pass rate for U.S. educated candidates was 75% and 80% for the NCLEX-PN. "The nursing shortage is reaching crisis levels, and is having a detrimental impact on the quality of care for patients and the quality of life for nurses," said Ron Robertson, CEO and co-founder of Picmonic. "Last year, over 40,000 nursing students failed the NCLEX exam. If Picmonic can boost pass rates by a modest 10% with our pass guarantee, we can help get more than 4,000 qualified nurses into the workforce every year." Picmonic's innovative Visual Learning System uses picture mnemonics, or "Picmonics," to help students better understand and remember vast amounts of complex information by incorporating humor and irreverent graphics to make learning more memorable and fun. The nursing-specific solution includes thousands of essential facts organized by body system, course and textbook. When compared to traditional study methods, students who use Picmonic see a 331% improvement in long-term memory retention and a 50% increase in exam performance, according to an independent study by the Journal of Advances in Medical Education and Practice*. "Picmonic is a truly revolutionary approach to learning that helped me pass the NCLEX," said Steph, a student at the Universit of Detroit Mercy McAuley School of Nursing. "This program uses a multifaceted approach to learning, which enabled me to gain a thorough knowledge and understanding of all the subjects I studied."



Picmonic's NCLEX pass guarantee offers a full refund to any student who uses Picmonic and doesn't pass the test. More information about Picmonic's NCLEX Pass Guarantee can be found at http://www.picmonic.com/pages/pass-the-NCLEX-guarantee/. About Picmonic, Inc.

Picmonic is the world's leading visual learning community for medicine and nursing students, with over 125,000 users worldwide. By leveraging the power of visual learning, Picmonic helps students remember more, excel in school and pass their board exams. Picmonic's system is designed to improve memory retention and boost exam scores by turning boring facts into unforgettable stories and images. A controlled study published in 2014 in the Journal of Advances in Medical Education and Practice demonstrated that Picmonic users achieved over 330% improvement in long-term memory retention over the non-users. Established in 2011 by medicine students Ron Robertson and Adeel Yang, Picmonic Inc. is headquartered in Tempe, Ariz., and is funded by 2M Companies with participation by Tallwave Capital, Arizona Tech Investors Desert Angels and Blackboard (News - Alert) co-founder Matt Pittinsky. More information at www.picmonic.com. * Journal of Advances in Medical Education and Practice

https://www.ncsbn.org/Table_of_Pass_Rates_2015_%283%29.pdf

https://www.ncsbn.org/NCLEX_Stats_2015_Q1.pdf

http://www.aacn.nche.edu/media-relations/fact-sheets/nursing-shortage View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160303006709/en/

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Kaspersky Lab North America: Evolving Products and Solutions to Meet the Security Needs of Customers and Increase Opportunities for Resellers

At its annual Partner Conference, Kaspersky Lab North America today announced the next evolution of its enterprise cybersecurity solutions that will further empower customers to protect their businesses from cyberthreats, and offer yet another value-add for reseller partners. The company has expanded its industry-leading enterprise portfolio to include new solutions to prevent cyberthreats, detect sophisticated attacks, respond to security incidents and predict the evolution of the threat landscape. Those new solutions include:

"As the threat landscape continues to reach new levels of sophistication, customers now require an adaptive and innovative security approach to fully meet their IT needs," said Michael Canavan, Vice President, Engineering, Kaspersky Lab (News - Alert) North America. "We're answering the call by expanding our product line beyond next-en endpoint and providing a comprehensive suite of security solutions that are powered by our game-changing threat-intelligence. With Kaspersky Lab's robust cybersecurity solutions, customers are empowered to not only protect their sensitive data from today's threats, but also tomorrow's."







Kaspersky Lab's entire suite of security solutions is further bolstered by its industry leading threat intelligence, providing comprehensive protection from all types of cyberthreats around the world. With its expanded enterprise portfolio, Kaspersky Lab resellers have a broader range of security solutions to help their customers strengthen their IT infrastructure. Additionally, partners can wrap their own service capabilities into Kaspersky Lab's Security Intelligence Services, offering even more value and further positioning themselves as a true cybersecurity expert that today's threat landscape requires.

"As a 100 percent channel company, partners truly are the backbone of our business," said Jon Whitlock, SVP, Marketing, Kaspersky Lab North America. "Our Partner Program offers invaluable tools and support, enabling partners to attract more customers and do more business in a competitive market. With our expanded enterprise portfolio, Kaspersky Lab's Partner Program is now more powerful and profitable than ever for our partners. There's never been a better time to invest in a partnership with us."

"In order for a Technology Provider and Channel Partner (News - Alert) to continue to bring value to their combined customers, there has to be a constant evolution of both technology and comprehensive solutions that are market relevant and truly meet customer needs," said Michael Knight, President and CTO, Encore Technology Group. "Kaspersky has once again brought new and very relevant solutions to market that were strongly influenced by key security provider partners, thus these new solutions expand the partner's capability while integrating perfectly into the partner's services portfolio. This is one of the many reasons that Encore Technology Group partners exclusively with Kaspersky Lab."

For more information about Kaspersky Anti Targeted Attack Platform, Security Intelligence Services and Kaspersky Private Security Network, please visit http://www.kaspersky.com/enterprise-security.

Partners should contact their Kaspersky Lab channel account manager or visit the Partner Portal for more details.

Kaspersky Lab

Kaspersky Lab is a global cybersecurity company founded in 1997. Kaspersky Lab's deep threat intelligence and security expertise is constantly transforming into security solutions and services to protect businesses, critical infrastructure, governments and consumers around the globe. The company's comprehensive security portfolio includes leading endpoint protection and a number of specialized security solutions and services to fight sophisticated and evolving digital threats. Over 400 million users are protected by Kaspersky Lab technologies and we help 270,000 corporate clients protect what matters most to them. Learn more at www.kaspersky.com.

Securelist | Information about Viruses, Hackers and Spam

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* The company was rated fourth in the IDC (News - Alert) rating Worldwide Endpoint Security Revenue by Vendor, 2013. The rating was published in the IDC report "Worldwide Endpoint Security 2014-2018 Forecast and 2013 Vendor Shares (IDC #250210, August 2014). The report ranked software vendors according to earnings from sales of endpoint security solutions in 2013.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160304005441/en/
Itongadol.- At the age of 16, while Amir Goldenthals friends were busy with matriculation exams, he was at the end of the first year of undergraduate physics  and starting his doctorate.

The unprecedented decision by the heads of the Department of Physics and the Center for Neuroscience Studies at Bar-Ilan University  to allow the young teenager to begin his doctoral studies  proved very quickly to be successful, when Goldenthal completed his bachelor\s and master\s degrees with honors, published articles in international scientific journals, and was selected to attend a convention of Nobel Prize winners in Japan, which was set to bring together past and future world influencers.

Recently, the nearly-20-year-old Goldenthal has been coming to the university every day by taking two buses from Ashdod. His doctoral dissertation work involved breakthroughs in understanding neurological diseases such as epilepsy, Alzheimer\s and Parkinson\s. In the coming days Goldenthal will travel to a medical research center in Germany alongside his supervisor, Prof. Ido Kanter, Director of the Department of Physics and the Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center. They were invited by a senior researcher in neuroscience to apply their findings with patients who suffer from brain injuries.

"I was always interested in physics and biology, but I never imagined I could engage in research that may help in treating sick people," says Goldenthal. "We are beginning to understand things that happen in the brain, such as an epileptic seizure, but we have a long way to go."

Prof. Kanter, a world-renowned physicist who was awarded a professorship at the age of 33, takes care to drive Goldenthal to the bus station every evening after they finish another day of research. "Amir\s talent is extraordinary by any measure. He won a prize at the Nobel Laureates Conference in Japan for best research paper, he gives lectures to first-class scientists and has received high praise. I predict he will gain a high status in the community, in Israel and around the world."
proxima

Iton gadol y AJN: estas fueron las noticias del dia
anterior

Imputan a terrorista palestino de planificar atentados contra judios en Ucrania e Israel, espionaje y falsificacion




* Ask yourself what is it that you'd like to read in the journal, since that is handy rule of thumb which probably reflects the interests of your colleagues and your competitors;





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* Recycled Masters' dissertations and university essays make poor articles and are often difficult to convert from a piece that is designed to display erudition and research ability into an article that addresses lawyers, businesses and decision-makers. It's usually easier to start afresh by working out who your readers are and what you want to tell them.





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JIPLP is often approached by prospective authors who would like to write something, but who would appreciate guidance regarding subject-matter, style and so forth. Here are a few pointers:
Job Description

LonAdd HR Consultancy Plc (www.lonadd.com), Recruitment & Outsourcing Company will be working on behalf of a client in the recruitment process of suitable & knowledgeable candidate, as per our clients specific requirements stated below:

Position: Emergency Communication for Development (C4D) consultant  not specific to any outbreak.

Number required: 5 (Five)  3 in Amhara, 1 in Oromia and 1 Somali region

Location: Based in the regional HB office with a frequent travels to the actual outbreak sites and border entry points in Moyale Somali, Oromia and Amhara regions

Job Summary

The Emergency C4D consultant will work under the supervision of Chief of Field Office in the region with the technical support of their respective C4D/WASH, Nutrition and or Health specialists and technically to be guided by the C4D Specialist/ WASH/Health/Nutrition/PMU sections in the CO. he /she will work with all the C4D specialists and Emergency Focal points of Health, WASH, Nutrition, Education, and Child Protection sections to undertake the following tasks:

Specific Tasks

Planning and implementation

Undertake assessments in the affected community to identify undesired behaviors of concern requiring intervention

Undertake assessments in the affected community to identify undesired behaviors of concern requiring intervention

Explore the under-utilized indigenous platforms to use for message transmission



Technically lead the development of context specific C4D response plan and ensure the participation, contribution and endorsement of respective federal, regional and local partners under the lead umbrella of the RHB



Operationalize the comprehensive C4D strategy and develop an implementation work plan with defined budget in consultation with respective Regional/Zonal/Woreda teams



Initiate implementation partnership with community groups, leaders, schools, CBOs/CSOs and local media for the promotion of agreed behavioural priorities through the identified platforms.



Capacity building

Provide technical support to strengthen the communication response at the ground level



In collaboration with W/RHB and respective sectors, organize and support integrated training and sensitization, and community mobilization for various revenant groups including HEWs, youth groups, school communities, religious and traditional leaders.



Initiate and support the conception, technical review, harmonization, pre-testing, translation and repacking of existing as well as relevant new multimedia materials (messages) in consultation with the respective POs and C4D specialists WASH/Health/PMU in Addis and Field Offices.



Coordinate duplication, prepositioning and distribution of multimedia materials



Monitoring, coordination and reporting

Undertake regular monitoring and reporting based on agreed indicators



Prepare monitoring and reporting formats and revise as necessary



Ensure multi-media materials are distributed to the intended target group and regularly monitor the uptake and bottlenecks of the materials, message, channel and report gaps



Participate in coordination forums and following up on tasks related to C4D



Provide regular report including documentation of good practices and lessons in emergency C4D preparedness and response



Methodology:

The consultant will work under the joint supervision of respective Chief of Field Offices and Regional Health Bureaus.



The consultant will maintain a strong working relation with the regional, zonal and woreda government representatives/sector bureaus and other non-government partners.



The consultant will work in close consultation with potential partners at community level including; community leaders, religious leaders, schools, women group and associations/community representatives



Expected Deliverables:

Weekly updates



Monthly reports



C4D assessment report conducted periodically



Documentation of lessons learnt



Final report



Expected Background and Experience:

ACADEMIC:

University degree in Social Science, Health Promotion/Communication, Public Health, Social/Behavior Change Communication, with in-depth understanding of Health and WASH areas.



WORK EXPERIENCE:

Five years of progressive work experience in program communication/C4D, social mobilization and behavioral change communication



Experience of working in emergency situation.



COMPETENCY:

Commitment, Drive for Results, Communication, Working with People, Formulating Strategies and Concepts, Analyzing, Applying Technical Expertise, Learning and Researching, Planning and Organizing



OTHER SKILLS:

Analytical, interpersonal and advocacy skills, sensitive to and awareness of the local development, good knowledge of computer management and applications.



LANGUAGES:

Fluency in English (both written and oral), Knowledge of local languages is must (as communication interventions will mainly depend on understanding and guiding the local means of message exchange  language (Amharic, Afan Oromia, Somali)).



General Conditions:

The consultant will no t be provided with lodging and/or meals.

t be provided with lodging and/or meals.

The consultant will be required to work in remote location.



The consultant is entitled to DSA



The consultant should provide his/her own materials, i.e. computer,



The consultant will use rented car when travelling outside Addis Ababa



The consultant will be paid monthly upon completion of deliverables on monthly basis.



Fluency in Somali and Oromiffa Languages is a must for applicants in the specific regions.











Your rating: none



Rating: 0  0 votes



How to Apply

Recruitment & Payment  through HRM firm

Duration  6 months

Start date  ASAP



To apply send your CVs to: vacancy1@lonadd.com

Application deadline: 10th March 2016

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We knew something big had happened. She sat down during our student tea, looked at us to be sure she had our attention, and then said in a s...
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In 1985, Dr. Haing S. Ngor won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his debut performance, playing a photographers assistant during the Cambodian genocide of the late '70s in The Killing Fields.

In 1996, Ngor, who spoke out around the world about what had happened in Cambodia and invested time and money into helping the people of his native land, was gunned down in the street outside his Los Angeles apartment.

The official reason for Ngors murder -- he refused to give the three gang members the gold locket on a chain around his neck that contained a picture of his late wife, Huoy. But years later, a former official with the Khmer Rouge claimed that Ngor had been killed on orders from Cambodia to silence him.

That claim was never fully investigated. But the possibility is raised in The Killing Fields of Dr. Haing S. Ngor, Arthur Dongs gripping documentary that traces Ngors life from boyhood through medical school and his successful practice in Phnom Penh that had both Ngor and his girlfriend traveling in new Mercedes, with drivers.

In 1975, the Khmer Rouge took over the country, killing intellectuals and the educated and throwing the population into forced labor camps. Hiding the fact he was a doctor, Ngor survived the purge but spent four years being tortured and abused in the labor camps before escaping across the border to Thailand.

Dong tells Ngors story through readings of Survival in the Killing Fields, Ngors autobiography written in the 80s, brought to life by grainy black-and-white footage of Cambodia in the 50s and 60s and of the Khmer Rouge, augmented with animation to put Ngor in the scenes. Theres also some news footage of President Richard Nixon, who orders the invasion of Cambodia during the Vietnam War, and of Cambodian officials.

Ngor appears via old television interviews and film of his speeches, his words there amplified by the readings from the book.

The film has a pair of effective framing devices. It opens with Ngors niece, Sophia, who lived with him, and an old friend, Jack Ong, digging through boxes of Ngors possessions in a Long Island basement, years after the murder.

As various items, like his sewing kit or his wifes purse are revealed, Dong cuts to the appropriate parts of Ngors story. And The Killing Fields, the 1984 film that was most of the worlds introduction to the Cambodian horrors, frames much of the remainder of the movie --- as a technicolor, Hollywood reproduction of what happened and as part of Ngors amazing story.

Ngors story of survival, perseverance and love -- for his country, its people and his wife -- is touching, in a way uplifting, and, ultimately, sad.

It couldnt have been better told than it is in The Killing Fields of Dr. Haing S. Ngor, a film that needs to be seen as both a biography and the story of genocide and political upheaval in Cambodia decades ago that continues to impact the country today.
Senators are making another effort to help a mother who desperately needs health services for her son who has severe autism.

Omaha Sen. Bob Krist told the Health and Human Services Committee Thursday his bill (LB674) is almost exactly like one introduced in 2007, to help families take care of disabled family members in their homes for fair compensation.

Krist said he was aware his bill would not become law this year. But the discussion needed to start, and continue until something is done for the families.

"It's an important bill," he said.

Sen. Cap Dierks had a particular family in mind with his 2007 bill, but knew it could help other families, too.

That family was Dee Shaffer and her adult son Brian, who is severely autistic, allergic and disabled. After the bill was introduced, the Department of Health and Human Services told Dierks it would pay the mother, who is a licensed practical nurse, to care for her son at home, if the senator would withdraw his bill.

He withdrew it, and the department signed a contract to hire Shaffer to provide her son's nursing care. But as soon as Dierks was out of office, Krist said, the department looked for ways to stop the contract.

In 2011, Brian Shaffer was switched to managed care, even though there was no dispute that the mother fully performed the services expected of her. The managed care company, Coventry, refused to hire the mother and determined the nursing services were not medically necessary, Krist said.

The mother unsuccessfully filed claims, appeals and lawsuits to restore her private-duty nursing care for Brian.

The Lancaster County District Court did rule that Brian required 24/7 care and that his mother should be paid up to 18 hours a day as a provider. But the department appealed and because of a technicality, the Nebraska Supreme Court dismissed the ruling.

In November, the department did begin paying Shaffer to clean their house.

"Dee Shaffer has suffered greatly at the department's hands," Krist said. "She has spent all of her personal savings, all of her retirement, all of her cash back from life insurance policies, taking care of her son during the four years plus that she has not received a salary.

"This is unconscionable, to put it mildly."

Krist said HHS officials, under a new CEO, have told him there is nothing they can do right now. But wrap-around services would be considered to solve the Shaffers' problem and others like it.

If Brian were taken outside his home for care, Krist said, he would surely die.

"This is a situation that we need to solve," Krist told the committee. "I honestly believe that if we can incorporate all of the different silos of money that are out there we can find a way to keep the family whole, keep the person at home and make sure they have quality service, again, if they are professionally cared for in the home."

Tony Green, HHS deputy director of children and family services, opposed the bill, saying it would significantly change the Disabled Persons and Family Support program, and result either in a large increase in state spending or a reduction of the number of people served within the program.

Funding for the program is limited to $910,000 and has supported an average of 382 people each of the past three years.

Under the program, a person could receive up to $300 a month for supplemental services such as personal care, housekeeping, transportation, special equipment and respite care.

To cover family members for caregiving and health insurance, the cost would be substantial, Green said.

HHS will work with Krist, he said, to assemble a team in multiple divisions to explore alternatives to address his concerns. It will also look at how other states deal with the issue.
Will voters take the reins if state lawmakers don't act on property taxes this year?

Farm Bureau President Steve Nelson says the group has no immediate plans to organize a petition drive to place a property tax measure on the ballot  but he didn't rule out the possibility.

"We certainly would keep all of the options open," Nelson said Thursday. "That's not our first choice. We want to deal with this in the Legislature."

However, he said, "some things need to start getting done."

Members of the Legislature's Revenue and Education committees are considering components of a property tax plan pushed by Gov. Pete Ricketts and backed by the Farm Bureau this year. Farm Bureau leaders have since overhauled the group's lobbying team.

Revenue Committee members discussed the governor's proposal for several hours Wednesday and Thursday, finding more questions than answers.

Committee Chairman Mike Gloor of Grand Island said Thursday that he and fellow committee members have "misgivings" about portions of the Revenue bill (LB958) which are aimed at clamping down on tax increases and spending by cities, counties and villages.

"There's a lack of traction on those with a concern that it may be too broad, too generic," Gloor said.

While the goal is limiting abusive taxation and budgeting by local governments, committee members weren't convinced the bill would be effective and worried that it might actually harm cities and counties that budget responsibly.

Ricketts has said he is open to compromise on the proposal.

The Revenue Committee voted 6-1 to scrap part of the working copy of the bill and replace it with something different. But the replacement language could trigger a $47 million increase in state aid to schools in the first year, based on estimates from the state Department of Revenue.

The original bill would cap statewide aggregate growth in property valuations at 3 percent each year. Committee members worried the change was too confusing and might have unintended consequences.

The new language would widen the window of time used for calculating land valuations from three years to five years, with the goal of "smoothing" the rise and fall of property tax bills.

Committee members agreed to place a five-year "sunset" on the new language, meaning it would need to be reconsidered after five years in law.

Sen. Paul Schumacher of Columbus voted against the change. Sen. Jim Smith of Papillion was present but did not vote.

Members also considered whether other lawmakers would try to yank the bill out of committee through a vote of the full Legislature, forcing debate on the floor. It takes 25 votes for outsiders to pull a bill from committee.

"I don't want them to pull it," Smith said. "I think it's a bluff."

As for a ballot initiative, Gloor said no one has told him directly about plans to petition.

The Farm Bureau's Nelson said the governor's plan would make steps in the right direction, but more needs to be done at some point.

"I think we really need to wait and see what the Legislature does," Nelson said. "I can't predict what happens if we continue to move down the road and don't address the property tax issue."
Nebraska continues to have one of the highest black homicide rates in the U.S., a study released Thursday concluded.

The study by the Violence Policy Center analyzed FBI homicide data from 2013 and determined Nebraska had the fourth highest black homicide victimization rate that year.

Twenty-five blacks were killed in the state that year, equaling a rate of 27.65 per 100,000 people, according to the center's study, which used the most recent data available.

That rate was almost double the national homicide rate for blacks of 16.91 per 100,000 that year and well above America's overall homicide rate of 4.27 per 100,000, according to the report.

Nebraska's rate stood fourth highest after Indiana, Missouri and Michigan.

All three of those states had at least six times the black population of Nebraska, which was estimated at about 109,000 in 2013, according to the U.S. Census.

"In America, black men and women face a disproportionate risk of being murdered, a fact both alarming and unacceptable, the center's executive director Josh Sugarmann said in a news release.

Nebraska's black homicide rate has been among the highest in the nation the last three years that data has been accumulated, ranking the highest in 2011 and second-highest in 2012, according to the center.

By comparison, none of the states neighboring Nebraska made the ranking's top 10, according to the center's analysis.

The report didn't breakdown where in the state the homicides occurred.

But most of the killings likely took place in Omaha, where 42 of the 56 criminal homicides in the state occurred in 2013, according to the Nebraska Crime Commission.

None of the five people killed in Lincoln that year were black, according to Journal Star homicide records.

Twenty-one of the 25 black people killed in Nebraska in 2013 were male, and 88 percent were killed with guns.
Id be a dead man if there were no Affordable Care Act. Before ObamaCare I lacked both of the tickets that would get me entry to the health care system: gobs of money or decent insurance. I get pretty agitated at threats to destroy it. Bernie Sanders is proud that he helped write the act and has repeatedly talked about plans to build on it to reach a Medicare for all system. His opponent claims that he wants to dismantle the ACA, which is obviously untrue. I am proud to support Senator Sanders for the nomination for President of the USA.

Two tours of duty in the Iraq war convinced Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard that Senator Sanders has presidential-caliber judgement as shown by his vote against that war, which his opponent for the Democratic presidential nomination voted for.

Senator Sanders is the realist in the race. He says out loud that the economy is rigged, and it is not Sanders who takes hundreds of thousands of dollars from Wall Street banksters in speaking fees. He knows that the right wingers in Congress have no intention of compromising for the good of the country. He knew he could run a strong campaign on grassroots money. He acknowledges that climate change is the most important issue today and he challenges the oil industry which has been deceiving us about climate change for over thirty years.

Will our next President be a manager of business as usual, or a leader who will rely on the strength of the American citizenry to force through the changes that are so needed by ordinary people?

Part of the answer will be given at grassroots caucuses for each Lancaster County election precinct this Saturday at 6pm. You can find your caucus location at lancastercountydemocrats.org. See you there ("Democrats caucus Saturday: What you should know," March 3.

John Atkeison, Lincoln
RACINE  A judge ruled on Thursday that a Racine man is competent to stand trial for allegedly phoning in a bomb threat at the Racine County Courthouse last fall, which shut down the building for half a day.

Racine County Circuit Judge Eugene Gasiorkiewicz said a psychologist who evaluated Lee R. Lucas, 46, believes that he is mentally fit. After one of Lucas defense lawyers questioned his mental health, Gasiorkiewicz ordered a competency evaluation during a hearing in January. Defendants must be mentally competent before their criminal cases may proceed through the court system.

Neither of Lucass defense attorneys nor Assistant District Attorney Rebecca Sommers contested the findings before Gasiorkiewicz declared Lucas competent to proceed with the case, which has been on hold pending the outcome of his mental health evaluation.

Lucas has returned to the Racine County Jail from a state mental institution, where he was transferred for the evaluation. His return prompted concerns for him, defense attorney Michael Barth said.

He doesnt feel he is being provided adequate care, Barth told Gasiorkiewicz during Thursdays hearing. He wants to be taken to St. Lukes.

Gasiorkiewicz granted a request from the Racine County Sheriffs Office in January to feed and medicate Lucas, by force if necessary. Michael Lanzdorf, the Racine County assistant corporation counsel serving as the sheriffs attorney, said during the hearing that the transfer isnt necessary. Lucas is making progress, but sheriffs officials still want an order allowing them to make him eat and take his medication, Lanzdorf said.

He has been eating and drinking intermittently, Lanzdorf said of Lucas.

Force-feeding continues

Lucas is drinking Ensure and taking small handfuls of food on his own, Gasiorkiewicz said, not ruling on Lucas request to be housed at Wheaton Franciscans In-Patient (adult) Mental Health and Addiction Unit, at the former St. Lukes Hospital, at 1320 Wisconsin Ave.

But Lucas, who has diabetes, made a comment that you wish for your life to end or cease and youd like that to happen under the countys watchfulness so your survivors can sue, Gasiorkiewicz said during Thursdays hearing, continuing the order to force-feed and -medicate Lucas.

Lucas is charged as a repeat offender with causing a bomb scare, telephone harassment and disorderly conduct for allegedly calling in the hoax threat. He is due back in court on March 28.
RACINE  Racine Police are seeking a male who allegedly tried to lure a 13-year-old girl into his car near a north side-school Friday morning.

Racine Police Lt. Al Days said the suspect, driving in a red car, made comments to the 13-year old student near Turning Point Academy, 1101 Douglas Ave., at 9:18 a.m. Friday.

The suspect tried several times to encourage the girl to get into his car, the student told police.

The student ignored the advances, walked to school and reported the incident to the school police officer, Days said.

Officers responded to the area and searched for the vehicle with no success, Days said.

Turning Point Academy is a Racine Unified program designed for at-risk students. TPA offers classes, therapeutic intervention services and behavior intervention programs.

The program is located at St. Patricks Catholic Church, said Racine Unified spokeswoman Stacy Tapp. The number of students varies, but currently there are about 55 students there, she said.

The student reported this incident to school staff immediately upon arrival to school, Tapp said. She did the right thing and school staff was able to contact the police right away. We appreciate their quick response to investigate.

Police described the suspect as a male Hispanic with long black hair pulled into a pony tail and some black facial hair. The suspect was last seen driving a red vehicle with a Wisconsin plate.

Investigators are interested in any additional information that anyone may have about this incident, Days said. Any witnesses, or citizens with information, are encouraged to call the Racine Police Department Investigations Unit at (262) 635-7756.

Those who wish to remain anonymous can contact Crimestoppers at (262) 636-9330, or text 274637 (CRIMES). The text message should begin with RACS.
RACINE COUNTY  A deadly outbreak of bacterial bloodstream infections in Wisconsin  the first of its kind in the nation  has reached into Racine County, officials said.

The state Department of Health Services (DHS) Division of Public Health is investigating 44 cases of bloodstream infections caused by bacteria called Elizabethkingia that occurred between Nov. 1, 2015 and March 2 in southeastern and southern Wisconsin.

Of the 44 cases, 18 patients have died, although state health officials do not know if the bacterial infection played any role in the deaths.

At least one case has been reported in Racine County, officials confirmed. They would not reveal how many cases or if there have been any deaths here.

Cases were also reported in Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Fond du Lac, Jefferson, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Sauk, Washington and Waukesha counties, according to the DHS.

Officials at Wheaton Franciscan-All Saints Hospital and Aurora Health Care directed all questions about the outbreak to state officials.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services has reached out to let us know that they are looking into cases of Elizabethkingia infections, which typically impacts people with compromised immune systems, said Tami Kou, director of public affairs at Aurora Health Care in Milwaukee. We are working with the state on this matter to help provide our assistance.

The regional healthcare system operates Aurora Memorial Hospital of Burlington and several clinics in Racine County.

The majority of infected patients are 65 or older, and all have serious underlying health conditions like cancer or kidney failure, said State Health Officer Karen McKeown.

As soon as we were notified of the potential outbreak, Wisconsins disease detectives began working immediately to identify the source, McKeown said.

Those detectives are working with epidemiologists and laboratory partners from the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to find answers, McKeown said.

The experts so far have discovered that this is the first outbreak of this strain of bacteria in the nation, said Stephanie Smiley, director of the DHSs bureau of communicable diseases.

We dont know much right now, but we do know its unique and its rare, Smiley said. We also know that older individuals with serious conditions who have received treatment from a health care provider are suddenly becoming very ill.

Patients with the infection suffered from fever, shortness of breath, and chills. The infection is detected through a blood test. Patients identified with the infection are being treated with antibiotics, Smiley said.

There is no indication that the infection is contagious or has been spread from person to person, she said.
KENOSHA  Just 10 years after receiving an honorary doctorate degree from Carthage College, House Speaker Paul Ryan will return and deliver the 2016 commencement speech in May, according to a press release.

Ryan, R-Wis., whose 1st Congressional District includes Racine County, will deliver the commencement address on Sunday, May 22, at Carthage College in the N.E. Tarble Athletic and Recreation Center Field House, 2001 Alford Park Drive.

It is an honor for Carthage College to have Speaker Ryan deliver our Commencement address. In a heated election year, it is natural for people to view elected officials through partisan lenses. However, putting politics aside on this special day, we are eager for Paul Ryan to share with our graduating class the insights he gained while rising from a motivated young person in Wisconsin to congressional leader on the international stage, Carthage President Gregory S. Woodward said in a release.

Ryan spoke briefly during Carthages 2006 commencement, advising graduates to adapt by continually learning and urging them to prioritize both tolerance and truth.

Ryan is serving his ninth term in the House of Representatives. He was first elected to the House in 1998.

Guests unable to attend the ceremony in person are invited to watch a live streaming of the event, beginning at 10:30 a.m., at live.carthage.edu.
Attending many community gatherings east of the I, west of the I, north of KR and south of KR has provided me with an appreciation for our regions competitive spirit.

Last week, there were two events on the same day that spoke volumes about a trend of collaboration that is gathering momentum in southeastern Wisconsin.

RAMAC Legislative Breakfast

More than 150 people attended the Racine Area Manufacturers and Commerce legislative breakfast featuring Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, state Rep. Cory Mason, and state Sen. Bob Wirch. Due to illness, state Sen. Van Wanggaard and state Rep. Tom Weatherston were unable to attend.

I am not here to debate pros or cons of redistricting, however, Southeastern Wisconsin now has three highly influential elected officials in Madison no longer bound by county borders. Senators Wirch and Wanggaard, and Rep. Barca have constituents in both Kenosha and Racine counties.

Their position in serving citizens of both communities provides a unique opportunity to build understanding that can lead to greater regional success.

Combined Business Event

Later that day, RAMAC and the Kenosha Area Chamber of Commerce joined forces at a Business Blender/Business After 5. Close to 200 representatives of our vibrant business community were on hand. Economic development in Southeastern Wisconsin is not bound by county borders. Rather, expanding opportunities are available when we work and grow as a region.

A half century ago, the decision to build a four-year UW institution between the regions two largest cities may have been more compromise than strategic. Choosing one city over the other for the new UW campus would have been shortsighted to say the least. Early on, however, the decision to split the difference may have caused neither community to quickly embrace UW-Parkside as its own.

Fast-forward 50 years: We now see this compromise as a great benefit to the region. The vision of leaders like George Molinaro and Kenneth Greenquist proves more valuable each year. The regional impact of our university is clearly evident in the student body (70 percent from Kenosha or Racine county and the split is 50-50); in our alumni (60 percent live in Racine or Kenosha county and the split is 50-50); and in our community partnerships (the Small Business Development Center, the Ralph Jaeschke Solutions for Economic Growth Center, the App Factory, the Rita Talent Picken Regional Center for Arts and Humanities, Science Night, and the Institute of Professional Educator Development).

I take very seriously my responsibility as chancellor to make sure UW-Parkside remains dedicated to the region. Southeastern Wisconsin will experience far more sustainable growth through collaboration than by dwelling on perceived differences.

At the RAMAC legislative breakfast, Sen. Wirch said the wall between the two counties is beginning to crumble. I am proud that our institutions of higher education  Carthage College, Gateway Technical College and UW-Parkside  work together on many student-success pathways and community connections. Together, we remove barriers that stymie growth and success.

People and businesses in our area work together to leverage an enviable geographic location in the Milwaukee-Chicago corridor, on one of the largest bodies of fresh water in the world. Together, we share influential leaders of government  Speaker Vos, Minority Leader Barca, and House Speaker Paul Ryan  who are committed to the betterment of our citizens and the region.

Years from now, those charged with guiding the continued success of our area will look back at last weeks regional gatherings  along with others on the horizon  and see the beginning of a new and stronger Southeastern Wisconsin.

Debbie Ford is the chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside.
Sen. Leah Vukmir, R-Wauwatosa, is being credited with helping save the life of a woman who suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm during a committee hearing on Wednesday.

A female member of the faith-based group Wisdom fell ill during a Senate hearing on the appointment of new Department of Corrections secretary Jon Litscher.

The woman was scheduled to testify but became dizzy, suffered a painful headache and had trouble walking. After she was helped out of the hearing room, Vukmir -- a licensed nurse and member of the Senate committee holding the hearing -- left the hearing and assisted the woman.

"Sen Vukmir was very compassionate and attentive and was very, very helpful," said David Liners of Wisdom in an email to committee chairman Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine. "It turns out that (the woman) has a brain aneurysm that ruptured. (Thank) goodness, she was dealt with so well and promptly, and thank goodness she got to the University of Wisconsin hospital -- one of the best places in the world for such things. They operated last night successfully, and it seems she will be O.K. (after 10 days or so in the hospital)."

Liners said late Thursday that the woman remains in intensive care.

"I wouldn't say she's fine but she's recovering," he said.

Scott Kelly, a spokesman for Wanggaard, said in an email that "I think it's fair to say Senator Vukmir probably helped save a life."

Vukmir said in an interview on Thursday that the woman "very much downplayed her symptoms, but my sense was that something very serious was going on."

She said the woman wanted to drive back to Milwaukee, but Vukmir urged them not to wait to seek a doctor's attention.

"I was pretty insistent on that," she said. "Ultimately is is still their decision but I think she realized and her friends realized this was a serious situation and they were so close to a hospital. I'm happy I could help."
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Kazakhstan authorities are failing to properly investigate reports of torture, Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] reported [AI report] on Thursday. According to the group, there have been hundreds of reported instances of human rights violations in Kazakhstan with very few acted upon. John Dalhuisen, AIs Director for Europe and Central Asia, said, the failure to investigate torture and prosecute those responsible leaves victims hopeless and intimidated. When individuals seek justice, the claims can last for years in a very dismal system. AI suggested that authorities need to establish an advisory committee to oversee investigations and to include experts from civil society.

Kazakhstan has faced continued criticism for its human rights record. In October the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association cautioned Kazakhstan [JURIST report] that its new bill amending the law on non-profit organizations may be detrimental to the existence of such groups within the country. In April the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and hazardous substances and wastes called on Kazakhstan to increase protections [JURIST report] for individuals who live in toxic areas within the country. In 2012 Human Rights Watch claimed that oil workers in the country face mistreatment [JURIST report] and repression at the hands of the government and oil companies. However, Kazakhstan has made some improvements. In January of last year the Kazakhstan prosecutor general announced [JURIST report] the newly adopted criminal procedure code would require police to read suspects their rights when making arrests.
Russian and Syrian armed forces are deliberately attacking hospitals and other medical facilities as part of a military strategy to clear the way to northern Aleppo, Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] claimed in a report [text] Thursday. AI says the pattern of airstrikes on medical centers appears to be consistent with a violation of international law. Under international law, hospitals are afforded protection from attack as long as the facility is not engaged in hostile activity, and is acting in a humanitarian capacity. Testimony collected by AI from doctors in the region suggests that the hospitals are often the first vital civilian resource to be targeted by forces in order to clear out the towns. A report [text] by Physicians for Human Rights [advocacy website] says that 346 attacks have impacted medical facilities.

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. Earlier this week the US House Foreign Affairs Committee [official website] passed [press release] two resolutions calling for an international tribunal in the Middle East to address the alleged war crimes [JURIST report] committed by the government of Syria and its allies, specifically Russia and Iran. In February the UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights reported that the Syrian government is systematically exterminating detainees [JURIST report]. 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.
Brazils Supreme Court unanimously agreed on Thursday that corruption charges against a member of Congress can move forward, possibly impacting impeachment efforts toward President Dilma Rousseff [BBC profile]. Prosecutors believe [AP report] that the leader of the lower house of Congress, Eduardo Cunha, accepted USD $5 million dollars between 2006 and 2012 in connection to the Petrobras [corporate website] national scandal. The prosecutors in the Petrobras investigation allege that businesses paid a total of over USD $2 billion to obtain Petrobras contracts, which they then exploited by running up costs and delaying completion. Cunha was a key figure in beginning impeachment proceedings against Rousseff, claiming she was involved in the scandal. On a separate matter, a congressional Ethics Committee also decided to investigate [BBC report] whether Cunha lied about holding overseas back accounts. The court has not decided whether Cunha will be forced to step down from his position as the investigation continues.

More than 100 individuals and 50 politicians have been arrested in connection to the Petrobras scandal, including the chief of staff under Brazils former President Jose Dirceu and the former President Fernando Collor de Mellon [Britannica profile]. Another Former Brazilian president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva [BBC profile], was subpoenaed [JURIST report] by the prosecutors office in January as they investigated the possible money laundering scheme. Attempts to impeach [JURIST report] the current president, and former chairwoman of Petrobras, Dilma Rousseff were also made, but the parliamentary commission found no proof implicating her in the Petrobras scandal. In November Brazils highest court ordered [JURIST report] the arrest of Andre Esteves, the chief executive of the countrys largest investment bank, and that of Delcidio do Amaral, a powerful senator of the countrys ruling party, both accused of bribery and corruption affiliated with Petrobras.
[JURIST] Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] on Friday urged [press release] Thailand to stop harassing and charging human right lawyers for defending victims of the governments abuses. HRW Asia director Brad Adams accused the government of acting as a police state enforcing bogus prosecutions and cited recent cases in which human rights lawyers were charged with defamation, making false statements, using false evidence and refusing to withdraw complaints. According to Adams, the Thai government has repeatedly denied human rights accusations since its military coup in 2014, and the retaliation against human rights lawyers has been in violation of the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers [text] and the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders [official website]. HRW has called on Thailands allies, such as the US, to stop the government from further harassing lawyers and abide by human rights policies.

Human rights groups worldwide have expressed growing concern over Thailands governmental impunity since it became a military junta in May 2014. On Thursday the Pheu Thai Party filed a complaint [JURIST report] with the UN Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) over the detention of one of its key figures, Watana Muangsook, accusing the government of serious human rights violations. In January UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein called on the Thai government to fully investigate [JURIST report] the whereabouts of at least 82 people listed as disappeared and criminalize forced disappearance through legislation. That same month, Thailand unveiled a new draft constitution [JURIST report], which human rights groups stated was aimed at increasing the power of the military under the guise of clauses intended to promote national security permitting them to commit human rights abuses without fear of punishment in violation of international treaties.
[JURIST] A 53-page report [report] published Thursday by the UN states that even though civilian casualties in eastern Ukraine have decreased, despair among those in the conflict area has grown. Speaking about the report [press release], UN High Commissioner for Human RightsZeid Raad Al Hussein [official profile] said that the civilian casualty rate was among the lowest since the beginning of the conflict, but [t]here is a terrible sensation of physical, political, social and economic isolation and abandonment among the  people. Other issues are still significantly impacting those in affected areas, such as missing persons, power outages, illegal detentions and deprivation of access to justice. Zeid also expressed concern over the lack of investigations into claims of human rights abuses and urged the implementation of the Minsk Agreements as the only viable strategy for achieving a peaceful solution in certain areas of eastern Ukraine controlled by armed groups, which, in turn, is key for resolving the human rights crisis in Ukraine.

Russia and Ukraine have been in conflict since the annexation of Crimea [JURIST backgrounder] in March 2014. A Ukrainian official said in January that the nation plans to sue Russia [JURIST report] in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on claims of financing terrorism. In December the UN issued a report about serious human rights concerns [JURIST report] that persist in Ukraine. In August a Russian military court sentenced [JURIST report] two Ukrainian activists to substantial jail time for the charge of conspiring to commit terror attacks. Last March the EU committed to stand by [JURIST report] its policy of refusing to recognize Crimeas annexation, as they purport the illegality of Russias referendum. In February of last year Russian liberal political activist Boris Nemtsov was shot in the back four times [BBC report] in the middle of busy downtown Moscow. Nemtsov was openly politically opposed to Russias annexation of Crimea and its role in Ukraine, and many believe Vladimir Putin ordered the killing.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein warned [press release] US authorities on Friday of the potentially widespread ramifications of forcing Apple to unlock the San Bernardino gunmans iPhone. Zeid urged authorities to understand that a ruling against Apple in the US would set precedent worldwide and make it impossible for Apple or any other major IT company to safeguard their clients privacy anywhere in the world. He stressed that encryption and anonymity are tools that enable human rights defenders, civil society, journalists, political dissidents and whistle blowers to express their freedom of expression and opinion. Zeid said that security forces and criminals worldwide would seek to take advantage of the ability to access privately held information for the wrong reasons. He concluded his statement by noting that although the issue of security is focused on unlocking the phone in order to investigate terrorism, the larger danger is encryption protections that are weakened and threaten national and international security.

Earlier this month a judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York denied a Department of Justice (DOJ) request to order Apple to disable the security of an iPhone that was seized during a drug investigation. At the end of February Apple filed [JURIST report] a brief in the US District Court for the Central District of California in opposition of the US governments request for the company to unlock the iPhone of San Bernardino shooter, Syed Rizwan Farook. Counsel for Apple called the case unprecedented after the DOJ filed [JURIST report] a motion to compel Apple to unlock the encrypted iPhone. In response to the legal conflict, Apple Inc. asked [JURIST report] the US government to create a panel of experts to discuss issues of security versus privacy. These developments came after Apple refused the initial court order to assist the government in unlocking the iPhone from one of the San Bernardino shooters. The court order required [JURIST report] Apple to supply software to the FBI to disable a self-destruct feature that erases phone data after 10 failed attempts to enter the phones password.
CPI (M) leader hits out at India over blockade

A senior Indian leader on Thursday lashed out the Indian government for imposing blockade against Nepal.
District Court takes statements from 3

The Kathmandu District Court on Thursday recorded statements from three of the 12 doctors who are charged with producing false academic documents to obtain their medical degrees.
Government to acquire another 140 bighas

The government is moving to acquire another 140 bighas of land around the proposed site of Gautam Buddha Airport (GBA) in Bhairahawa to enhance its airside capacity.
Govt team in Beijing for fuel-import talks

The government has initiated fresh efforts to import cooking gas from China.
Morcha leaders talk Madhes issues with Bihar chief minister

Leaders of the Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha, a coalition of seven Tarai-based parties protesting against some provisions of the new constitution, met Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday.
NAC agrees to receive aircraft with conditions

Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) has finally agreed to take delivery of the four Chinese aircraft on order after putting it off due to issues with early models, but the carrier has placed five key conditions to do so.
Nepal and Bangladesh reach agreement to exchange news among both government media

Nepal and Bangladesh have struck an agreement for the exchange of news and information and mutual cooperation between government media of both countries.
Out of the shadows

Natural disasters, like the April earthquake, can result in mental health issues for five to ten percent of the affected individuals
PRAISES:





-Varied opportunities to share Christ in Philippines - via regular school librarian assignment, school chapel presentations; integration of scripture into neighborhood storytimes, + more





-Hospitality and assistance of various folks with U.S. re-entry needs





-Car purchase: 2012 Honda CRV;

re-acclimation to driving





-Secured a Lexington KY apartment - ground level / no stairs. Move in: October 22









Specific PRAYER CONCERNS




Trollfest '09

Trollfest '07 was such a success that Jackson Jambalaya will once again host Trollfest '09. Catch this great event which will leave NE Jackson & Fondren in flames. Othor Cain and his band, The Black Power Structure headline the night while Sonjay Poontang returns for an encore performance. Former Frank Melton bodyguard Marcus Wright makes his premier appearance at Trollfest singing "I'm a Sweet Transvestite" from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." Kamikaze will sing his new hit, How I sold out to da Man. Robbie Bell again performs: Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be Bells and Any friend of Ed Peters is a friend of mine. After the show, Ms. Bell will autograph copies of her mug shot photos. In a salute to Dancing with the Stars, Ms. Bell and Hinds County District Attorney Robert Smith will dance the Wango Tango.



Wrestling returns, except this time it will be a Battle Royal with Othor Cain, Ben Allen, Kim Wade, Haley Fisackerly, Alan Lange, and Big Cat Donna Ladd all in the ring at the same time. The Battle Royal will be in a steel cage, no time limit, no referee, and the losers must leave town. Marshand Crisler will be the honorary referee (as it gives him a title without actually having to do anything).



Meet KIM Waaaaaade at the Entergy Tent. For five pesos, Kim will sell you a chance to win a deed to a crack house on Ridgeway Street stuffed in the Howard Industries pinata. Don't worry if the pinata is beaten to shreds, as Mr. Wade has Jose, Emmanuel, and Carlos, all illegal immigrants, available as replacements for the it. Upon leaving the Entergy tent, fig leaves will be available in case Entergy literally takes everything you have as part of its Trollfest ticket price adjustment charge.



Donna Ladd of The Jackson Free Press will give several classes on learning how to write. Smearing, writing without factchecking, and reporting only one side of a story will be covered. A donation to pay their taxes will be accepted and she will be signing copies of their former federal tax liens. Ms. Ladd will give a dramatic reading of her two award-winning essays (They received The Jackson Free Press "Best Of" awards.) "Why everything is always about me" and "Why I cover murders better than anyone else in Jackson".



In the spirit of helping those who are less fortunate, Trollfest '09 adopts a cause for which a portion of the proceeds and donations will be donated: Keeping Frank Melton in his home. The Keep Frank Melton From Being Homeless booth will sell chances for five dollars to pin the tail on the jackass. John Reeves has graciously volunteered to be the jackass for this honorable excursion into saving Frank's ass. What's an ass between two friends after all? If Mr. Reeves is unable to um, perform, Speaker Billy McCoy has also volunteered as when the word jackass was mentioned he immediately ran as fast as he could to sign up.



In order to help clean up the legal profession, Adam Kilgore of the Mississippi Bar will be giving away free, round-trip plane tickets to the North Pole where they keep their bar complaint forms (which are NOT available online). If you don't want to go to the North Pole, you can enjoy Brant Brantley's (of the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance) free guided tours of the quicksand field over by High Street where all complaints against judges disappear. If for some reason you are unable to control yourself, never fear; Judge Houston Patton will operate his jail where no lawyers are needed or allowed as you just sit there for minutes... hours.... months...years until he decides he is tired of you sitting in his jail. Do not think Judge Patton is a bad judge however as he plans to serve free Mad Dog 20/20 to all inmates.



Trollfest '09 is a pet-friendly event as well. Feel free to bring your dog with you and do not worry if your pet gets hungry, as employees of the Jackson Zoo will be on hand to provide some of their animals as food when it gets to be feeding time for your little loved one.



Relax at the Fox News Tent. Since there are only three blonde reporters in Jackson (being blonde is a requirement for working at Fox News), Megan and Kathryn from WAPT and Wendy from WLBT will be on loan to Fox. To gain admittance to the VIP section, bring either your Republican Party ID card or a Rebel Flag. Bringing both and a torn-up Obama yard sign will entitle you to free drinks served by Megan, Wendy, and Kathryn. Get your tickets now. Since this is an event for trolls, no ID is required. Just bring the hate. Bring the family, Trollfest '09 is for EVERYONE!!!



This is definitely a Beaver production.



Note: Security provided by INS.


Mainly links to my writing on law, policy and governance
"My sister Emily loved the moors. Flowers brighter than the rose bloomed in the blackest of the heath for her; - out of a sullen hollow in a livid hill-side, her mind could make an Eden. She found in the bleak solitude many and dear delights; and not the least and best-loved was - liberty.

"My sister Emily loved the moors. Flowers brighter than the rose bloomed in the blackest of the heath for her; - out of a sullen hollow in a livid hill-side, her mind could make an Eden. She found in the bleak solitude many and dear delights; and not the least and best-loved was - liberty.
The best way to start your family history research is to join your local

Jewish Genealogical Society

. This link will take you to the current list of societies , and will help you find the one closest to you.
In this sharp, true-to-life new comedy, Mexican- American Lucia is hired to write for a Latina TV character in a cutthroat Hollywood TV studio. She soon discovers that the Latino studio custodian, Abel, has a windfall of plot ideas. As their friendship grows, his stories start to blur with hers with unexpected consequences. F ade is a standout new play from Tanya Saracho, whose writing lands in that sweet spot between comedy and drama ( Chicago Tribune ).

In this sharp, true-to-life new comedy, Mexican- American Lucia is hired to write for a Latina TV character in a cutthroat Hollywood TV studio. She soon discovers that the Latino studio custodian, Abel, has a windfall of plot ideas. As their friendship grows, his stories start to blur with hers with unexpected consequences. F ade is a standout new play from Tanya Saracho, whose writing lands in that sweet spot between comedy and drama ( Chicago Tribune ).

In this sharp, true-to-life new comedy, Mexican- American Lucia is hired to write for a Latina TV character in a cutthroat Hollywood TV studio. She soon discovers that the Latino studio custodian, Abel, has a windfall of plot ideas. As their friendship grows, his stories start to blur with hers with unexpected consequences. F ade is a standout new play from Tanya Saracho, whose writing lands in that sweet spot between comedy and drama ( Chicago Tribune ).

m the point of view of a woman on the outside breaking in

F ade is an excellent play - from the writing to the acting I thoroughly enjoyed this humorous and poignant look at Hollywood fro m the point of view of a woman on the outside breaking in -- a Latina script writer trying to make it in the land of dreams and fantasy. And then there's a Chicano janitor.

F ade is an excellent play - from the writing to the acting I thoroughly enjoyed this humorous and poignant look at Hollywood fro m the point of view of a woman on the outside breaking in -- a Latina script writer trying to make it in the land of dreams and fantasy. And then there's a Chicano janitor.

F ade is an excellent play - from the writing to the acting I thoroughly enjoyed this humorous and poignant look at Hollywood fro m the point of view of a woman on the outside breaking in -- a Latina script writer trying to make it in the land of dreams and fantasy. And then there's a Chicano janitor.

F ade is an excellent play - from the writing to the acting I thoroughly enjoyed this humorous and poignant look at Hollywood fro m the point of view of a woman on the outside breaking in -- a Latina script writer trying to make it in the land of dreams and fantasy. And then there's a Chicano janitor.

F ade is an excellent play - from the writing to the acting I thoroughly enjoyed this humorous and poignant look at Hollywood fro m the point of view of a woman on the outside breaking in -- a Latina script writer trying to make it in the land of dreams and fantasy. And then there's a Chicano janitor.

The play's the thing. Presenting three new dramas showing in Denver that should appeal to La Bloga's readers. Plus: a writing opportunity, community news, worthwhile notices, and a major lit festival.

The play's the thing. Presenting three new dramas showing in Denver that should appeal to La Bloga's readers. Plus: a writing opportunity, community news, worthwhile notices, and a major lit festival.

The play's the thing. Presenting three new dramas showing in Denver that should appeal to La Bloga's readers. Plus: a writing opportunity, community news, worthwhile notices, and a major lit festival.









Rudolfo Anaya's classic was made into a good movie. In my opinion, the play he wrote based on his book is better than the movie, and the Su Teatro production perfectly captures the magical and spiritual essence of Anaya's writing. I saw the first edition of this show. I understand it's been reworked a bit. Catch it soon.



[from Su Teatro publicity]

Adapted for the stage by Rudolfo Anaya

Directed by Anthony J Garcia

March 10th -26th

The first Chicano Novel comes to life on the stage!





When Ultima came, the beauty of the llano unfolded before my eyes and the gurgling waters of the river sang to the hum of the turning earth





The story of Antonio Marez y Luna coming-of-age with the guidance of his curandera, mentor, and protector, Ultima.

Tickets: $20/General, $17/Students & Seniors

$12/Comadre Docena (Groups of 12 or more!)

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

Sunday Matinee 3/20 at 2:00 p.m.

Su Teatro Cultural and Performing Arts Center

721 Santa Fe Drive Denver, CO 80204

(303)296-0219





___________________________________________________________________________________

A Soldier's Fugue








Bipartisan Push for Higher Taxes Spells Trouble For Wisconsin Companies and Our Economy

The 2016 presidential campaign has highlighted major policy differences between Republican and Democratic candidates. However, what seems to be bringing the two parties together lately is a misguided desire to raise taxes on capital gains, particularly capital gains earned by private equity fund managers, commonly referred to as carried interest.

Hillary, Bernie, Donald Trump, and, before he dropped out of the race, Jeb Bush have been out on the campaign trail railing against hedge fund guys and, as Bush described them while defending his proposal to hike taxes on carried interest during the last South Carolina debate, private equity people.

Wisconsins own Tammy Baldwin has been the U.S. Senates head cheerleader for hiking taxes on capital gains, introducing legislation with Sen. Sander Levin, D-Mich., last year that would raise rates on carried interest. While carried interest is an expedient tax hike target for Sen. Baldwin, raising rates on carried interest would negatively impact Wisconsins economy.

Private equity is a key industry in Wisconsin and important to our economic health. Wisconsin ranks 16th in the nation in private equity investment and private equity firms have invested approximately $68.2 billion in Wisconsin-based companies since 2003. The tax hike that Sen. Baldwin, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Jeb Bush are all calling for would be detrimental to the approximately 401 private equity-backed companies headquartered in Wisconsin. All told, these 401 Wisconsin companies employ more than 335,000. There are over twenty private equity firms that call Wisconsin home. These companies employ our friends, our neighbors and family members.

Why would one of our own elected officials want to harm so many hard-working Wisconsinites?

The tax hike Sen. Baldwin is championing would also harm Wisconsin retirees. Since both the State of Wisconsin Investment Board & the Milwaukee Employees Retirement System have significant investments in private equity, a tax hike on carried interest would ultimately take a bite out of the retirement plans of hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin pensioners.

The optimal rate for capital gains is zero. Capital gains taxes are a type of double taxation and investment income taxes are among the most economically damaging forms of taxation. Also, the attempt to raise taxes on carried interest is the first step toward the long-held progressive goal of taxing investment income at the higher rates at which wages are taxed. Proponents of raising taxes on carried interest often talk about tax parity and fairness, but note they never want to reduce wage income tax rates to the lower capital gains rate in order to achieve this. Thats because the goal for most of those targeting private equity is to raise taxes on net in order to grow the size of government.

Many proponents of a carried interest tax hike play loose with the facts when making their case. For example, Sen. Baldwin went on Morning Joe and claimed her bill would raise nearly $457 billion. Thats false. $457 billion is how much all of the tax hikes in President Obamas budget would generate for government coffers, not just his proposed rate hike on carried interest. In fact, President Obamas budget indicates that this damaging tax increase would raise just more than $2 billion per year in additional tax revenue, which is basically a rounding error in a more than $3 trillion federal budget.

The belief that keeping the tax burden as low as possible promotes economic growth is supported by a large body of research. John Hood, chairman of the John Locke Foundation, analyzed more than 680 peer-reviewed academic journal articles going back to 1990. Most of the studies Hood analyzed found that lower levels of taxes and spending correlate with stronger economic performance. When Tax Foundation economist William McBride reviewed academic literature going back three decades, he found all but three of those studies, and every study in the last 15 years, find a negative effect of taxes on growth. Over the last decade, the 10 states with the lowest tax burden saw average GDP growth that was 24 percent greater than the 10 states with the highest tax burden.

Wall Street is an easy pinata for politicians to beat mercilessly on the campaign trail. Yet the fact is that raising taxes on carried interest and any other form of capital gain would harm the Wisconsin economy and depress growth. After being hit with more than 20 federal tax increases during the last six years, the last thing Wisconsin taxpayers need is another president who thinks Americans arent taxed enough.
Debra Debbie L. Arentz, 56, of La Crosse passed away unexpectedly Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016, at her home.

She was born June 7, 1959, in Sparta and graduated from Sparta High School in 1977. She received her associate degree in nursing from Western Technical College in La Crosse, in 1979.

Debbie touched many lives with her excellent nursing care while serving as an intensive care nurse at Lutheran Hospital for over 20 years. After leaving the ICU, she spent six years in care coordination at Gundersen-Lutheran, caring for chronic fragile patients. She often said that, every day I was privileged to take care of patients. She developed long-lasting relationships with patients, often caring for them long after she left care coordination. Many families adopted Debbie and kept in close touch through the years.

Recently Debbie had started a new career at Logistics Health, again touching many lives and found LHI such a warm and happy environment. She remarked what fun it was when Don Weber would see employees in the coffee shop and treat them to a cup.

Debbie was loved by so many friends who were all touched by her quiet humor and gentle ways. Her best friend was Jake, her treasured dog. They loved long walks in Hixon Forest and trips to McDonalds for a treat. She loved times spent on her porch and patio, sharing gin and tonics with friends. On those summer evenings the neighbors heard happy voices and so much laughter. She treasured her time with friends and gave so much of her love to them. Debbie traveled, hiked, enjoyed her country music and always loved a good bargain.

Debbie is survived by a special aunt, Garnett Sams; four brothers; three sisters; several nieces and nephews; and countless friends.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 4 p.m. Monday, March 7, at Roncalli Newman Center, 1732 State St., La Crosse, with the Rev. Robert Cook officiating. Private burial will take place in Catholic Cemetery, La Crosse. Visitation will be from 3 p.m. until the time of services Monday at the church. In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to the Debra Arentz Scholarship fund for nursing. Schumacher-Kish Funeral and Cremation Services of La Crosse, is in charge of arrangements. Online condolences may be left at www.schumacher-kish.com.
Fayzes has put an old favorite back on the menu this week.

Patrons can sample the restaurants Brunch Burger through Monday as part of Eat Week, an event sponsored by Downtown Mainstreet Inc. Only on the menu for limited times, the burger partners a third-pound beef patty, Wisconsin cheddar cheese, applewood smoked bacon, a fried egg and a hash brown patty on a fresh-baked talame bun.

It has a little bit of a lot on it, co-owner Drew Williams said. We tried to put together a nice package (of Eat Week menus) and promote the things we are proud of.

About half of downtown La Crosses 50 restaurants are participating in Eat Week, which started Tuesday and ends Monday, DMI executive director Robin Moses said. Similar events are popular in bigger cities such as Madison and Milwaukee, she said, and are usually celebrated later in the winter for downtown tourists and residents yearning for spring.

It is a celebration of our local restaurants and a culinary tour of what we have downtown, she said.

Some restaurants are celebrating the week with a one-night special or event, such as the March Macness event Saturday at the Old Crow. Most restaurants have come up with two or three-course meals at special rates that highlight the cuisine or creativity of the chef. A full list of participating Eat Week locations is at www.lacrossedowntown.com/Eat-Week-ne154.html.

Along with the brunch burger, Fayzes is also highlighting its apple cinnamon French toast on its breakfast menu. Other participating restaurants have highlighted items such as the Big Boars pulled pork and brisket, Dublin Squares shepherds pie and Kates on States pasta dishes.

Both the breakfast and lunch menus at The Root Note feature the cafes crepes, co-owner Corrie Brekke said. Her other restaurant, The Mint, is also participating, highlighting the restaurants farm-to-table aspects and popular menu items.

Brekke said her restaurants menus, which offer breakfast for $10 and lunch for $15 at The Root Note and a $38 three-course dinner at The Mint, give patrons a nice discount and help entice people to step into a new place or try new foods. Seven couples came into The Mint on Tuesday interested in Eat Week, she said, and when the Root Note opened at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, customers came in inquiring about the breakfast special.

I feel like we are on an upward trajectory in people rediscovering our downtown, Brekke said. Eat Week lets people know there is good food and places to eat here. Food is something that always brings people together.
Paul Thomas Sr. was shot during a streak of violence last summer on the citys South Side that ended with the murder of a high school student.

Thomas, a felon, refused to tell police who was responsible, instead arming himself with an illegal gun he used to threaten another man.

You are going to prison today because you chose to have a firearm when you had no business having one, La Crosse County Circuit Judge Ramona Gonzalez said. You are a danger to yourself and you are a danger to the community.

The judge Thursday sentenced Thomas, 40, to 18 months in prison and one year on extended supervision for being a felon in possession of a firearm and carrying a concealed weapon.

Prison is the only place to keep him where were all going to be safe, La Crosse County District Attorney Tim Gruenke said.

A witness saw Thomas on the afternoon of Nov. 8 point a handgun at a mans chin while they were walking in the 1400 block of Charles Street. After ordered to the ground at gunpoint by police, he reached toward his waistband before officers found a loaded semi-automatic gun concealed under his pants, according to reports. Its serial number was scratched off.

Thomas claimed he found the weapon in a bush in an alley.

I dont believe that, Gruenke said. I dont believe guns are growing out of bushes. I believe it is more likely that he and his son have access to weapons.

Months earlier, Thomas was shot in the foot early Aug. 15 while standing outside 717 S. Fifth Ave. during the third of five shootings in the Washburn Neighborhood that weekend. He didnt want the shooter prosecuted if identified, Gruenke said.

Paul Thomas Sr. knows whats going on and who is doing the shootings, he said.

His son, 20-year-old Paul Thomas Jr., was shot in the arm the next day near 400 S. Ninth St. in the last of five shootings in Washburn, but he would not tell police who shot him or the motive for the shooting. Shavonte Thompson is a suspect in the shootings of both Thomases. The shootings are still under investigation.

On Aug. 21, Deshawn Randall fatally shot 17-year-old George Miller, a relative of the Thomases. Randall, awaiting sentencing, told police that Miller and Thomas Jr. shot at him at Fifth Avenue and Mississippi Street, and at Fifth Avenue and Jackson Street on Aug. 14, the first two shootings in Washburn, according to court records.

I asked an investigator who he believes will be the next shooter in La Crosse, and the investigator responded with Paul Thomas, either Sr. or Jr., La Crosse police Assistant Chief Rob Abraham said at Thursdays hearing.

Authorities arrested Thomas Jr. on Feb. 23 after they found him with a 9mm handgun loaded with 17 bullets in his waistband at All Star Lanes at 4735 Mormon Coulee Road, according to the complaint. Thomas, who was convicted of armed robbery as a juvenile in 2012, is charged with possession of a firearm by an adjudicated delinquent and carrying a concealed weapon and jailed on a $1,000 cash bond.

Thomas son is emulating his fathers behavior, Gonzalez told him.

I think thats very sad, Mr. Thomas, she said. That you had a lousy upbringing is a given  but you succeeded in making life more dangerous for yourself and others around you.

Thomas Sr., who spent years in and out of prison for robbery and drug offenses, is a product of Chicagos South Side housing projects, where cooperating with police can be a death sentence, said his attorney, Joe Geraldson. He argued for a probation sentence that would allow Thomas Sr. to get alcohol treatment while on community supervision.

The judge disagreed.

You endangered yourself and the community, and for that you must pay back, Gonzalez said. Thats what the sentence is. Its punishment.
MADISON  Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley left oral arguments early last week so she could give a speech to the state's largest business group that has spent heavily to support conservative judicial candidates, sparking strong criticism Friday from her opponent in next month's election.

Bradley, who was appointed to the state's highest court in October by Republican Gov. Scott Walker, is endorsed by many conservatives as she runs for a full 10-year term. She faces state Appeals Court Judge JoAnne Kloppenburg, who is backed by liberals, in the April 5 election. The contest is officially nonpartisan, but court races have largely broken down along ideological lines in recent years.

Bradley gave the speech on Feb. 24 at the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce's "business day" event in Madison. The event was held at a convention center about three blocks from the Capitol, where the high court was hearing arguments that afternoon. Her speech was scheduled to begin at roughly the same time as arguments were concluding in a case about a woman whose child-care certification had been revoked.

Bradley's campaign confirmed on Friday that left arguments early to attend the event.

"Supreme Court justices routinely excuse themselves from portions of oral arguments for personal or scheduling reasons," campaign spokeswoman Madison Wiberg said in a statement. "Justice Bradley had reviewed all briefs in detail before the oral arguments, while on the bench she had heard answers to the queries posed by her colleagues and had no further inquiries on the merits of the case when she excused herself to attend a previously scheduled speaking engagement."

Bradley's political opponents blasted the move, noting that she told business leaders at that event "I am your public servant."

Kloppenburg's spokeswoman, Melissa Mulliken, said the early departure was "appalling."

"There is nothing routine about a justice on the Supreme Court leaving oral arguments to curry favor with Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce," Mulliken said. "It is absolutely clear that Rebecca Bradley's allegiance is to the big money special interests and partisan politics that she has used to fuel her fast track rise. It is appalling she would so blatantly disregard her duty and the people of Wisconsin."

Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce has yet to spend money in this year's court race. But in four races between 2007 and 2013, it spent an estimated $5.6 million to help elect conservative justices, according to a tally by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a group that tracks campaign spending. All four of the justices that WMC backed won their races and now comprise the conservative majority of the court.

Bradley's opponents have tried to paint her as beholden to conservative interests, pointing to her being appointed three times by Walker, her appearances at WMC events and the fact that prominent Republicans are raising money to help her campaign.

"Instead of doing her job, Rebecca Bradley left a hearing to run off and pledge 'I am your public servant' to the state's big business lobby she hopes will spend big in her race like they did to elect four other conservative justices," said Scot Ross, leader of the liberal activist group One Wisconsin Now.
Free college is easily said by a certain white northeastern liberal. Inner-city Democrats dont complete free high school (60 percent inner-city graduation rates), but now they will attend free college. Hillary's daughter and son-in-law make hundreds of thousands per year. Hillary's rich grandchildren will be able to attend a free college. Will free college create an unethical wage disparity within the Democratic Party constituencies? What is the racial impact of free college on inner-city Democrats compared to whites in the suburbs, or Hollywood?

I doubt there will be a wage gap. The number of people actually participating in the workforce has decreased by roughly 5 million workers and the average family income has dropped more than 8 percent since Ron Kind's first election. Is it progress for suburban Democrats to be better educated, but no better off than the inner-city Democrats? The goals of racial and economic equality are being reached. As we progress, be mindful that Onalaska will have a new (free) public shower at the Rivers Landing trailhead near the 40-acre swamp, railroad tracks and the busiest road in the county. Perhaps, Ron Kind, our congressman for past two decades, will share a few words about how he led us to this point.
Gov. Scott Walker made a much more sedate appearance at this year's Conservative Political Action Conference than last year when he placed second in the presidential straw poll after comparing protesting teachers to ISIS terrorists.

After taking the stage to Metallica's "Enter Sandman," the former presidential candidate reassured the Thursday morning crowd that "the conservative movement is alive and well in states all across America."

"Some of you might be confused and dare I say even upset about whats happening in the presidential election," Walker said. "I just want to remind you that no matter what you think about whats happening in the presidential election, you cant give up. We need your help in the states. Were depending on you at the state and at the local level."

Walker, who exited the presidential election in September encouraging other candidates to coalesce against front-runner Donald Trump, didn't mention the billionaire real estate mogul and reality TV celebrity by name at CPAC. Instead he focused on how Republicans have stormed statehouses since President Barack Obama took office.

"About the only nice thing I can say about this president is hes been an incredible recruiter for conservative candidates," Walker said.

He also highlighted a long list of conservative accomplishments in Wisconsin, including a University of Wisconsin System tuition freeze, eliciting cheers from a contingent of UW-Madison College Republicans to whom Walker flashed the W hand symbol.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, also took the main CPAC stage for 15 minutes Thursday to discuss his work on poverty issues with conservative activist Carrie Sheffield.

Ryan entered to AC/DC's "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'N' Roll)" which Sheffield said she didn't recognize, prompting Ryan to "date himself" by calling it the music he grew up on. Sheffield then teased Ryan about his former beard.

"You may run the party of Lincoln or be pretty high up, but you cant do the beard of Lincoln," Sheffield said.

"Im a bow-hunter, its what we do in deer season," Ryan replied.
Jordan Holter transformed from a casual drug user into an addict and finally into a player in a massive trafficking ring.

Authorities arrested him Oct. 19, days before his scheduled graduation from La Crosse Countys drug treatment court, as part of a multi-jurisdictional investigation into the distribution of high-grade crystal methamphetamine.

But Holters conduct in the case predated his involvement in drug court. By the time prosecutors filed charges, Holter was sober, enrolled in college, caring for four children and had restored relationships with his family.

It was a surprise to all of us that you were charged with these offenses, La Crosse County Circuit Judge Scott Horne said Friday during a sentencing hearing.

Calling Holters an exceptional case, the judge adopted a joint recommendation from attorneys and placed him on 18 months of probation.

You are not the same person today that you were two years ago, Horne said. Rather, you are an example of what we accomplish with people in drug court.

Holter, 31, is the first of 17 people sentenced in connection with the case that moved hundreds of pounds of crystal meth throughout the region from the Twin Cities.

One defendant, 35-year-old Yia Vang, told investigators that he sold meth with his brothers for more than a decade, bringing two to three pounds from Mexican drug cartels into the area each week for others, including Holter, to distribute, according to court records.

Holter, of La Crosse, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit delivery of meth more than 50 grams.

Holter, set to graduate from drug court in the near future, cooperated with police after his arrest, Deputy District Attorney Brian Barton said.

Putting him in jail at this point would do more harm, he said. We need him to get through school, to get a job and to be a productive member of society.

Holter said he was an addict unable to afford drugs while participating in the conspiracy.

I found a way I could use and use for free  and it tore my life down, he said. Im grateful that Im here and in recovery. Im not tearing apart my community, as I once was.

Meth has devastated the community, destroying lives and throwing countless others off track, and Holter had a role in the problem, the judge said. Holter since has severed ties with users and become a model drug court participant.

You have proven through actions that youre committing to changing the course of your life, Horne said.

As part of the plea agreement, Holter must testify against his co-defendants and spend more than 100 hours sharing his story of addiction with high school and college students.
Just about every magazine around the world has used the Olympics as an excuse to show off athletic bodies and pass it off as journalism. B...
Friday, March 4, 2016

I am pleased to be able to post the following from guest blogger Creola Johnson of the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law:

His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University, said Mitt Romney during a speech denouncing Donald Trumps candidacy for the presidency. This statement has prompted additional inquiries into lawsuits filed against Trump University by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and others. (See Petition from New York v. The Trump Entrepreneur Initiative LLC.)

In a class-action lawsuit, many attendees of Trump University alleged that they paid as much as $35,000 to be personally mentored in learning how to earn millions investing in real estate. Despite numerous attempts by lawyers for the Trump defendants to get these lawsuits to dismiss, courts have given the green light for the lawsuits to continue against the Trump defendants. See, e.g., Makaeff v. Trump Univ., LLC, No. 10-CV-940-IEG (WVG), 2010 WL 3988684 (S.D. Cal. Oct. 12, 2010) (refusing to dismiss claims against the for-profit Trump program on educational malpractice grounds because the court was not convinced Trump University was an educational institution to which this doctrine applies.). For the most recent decision permitting Mr. Schneidermans case to proceed, go to: http://www.courts.state.ny.us/courts/AD1/calendar/appsmots/2016/March/2016_03_01_dec.pdf.

What can we say for sure at this juncture about the lawsuits? First, Trump University was not a university. There are numerous educational standards and laws that must be complied with for an institution to legitimately claim to be a university. The question then becomes: did the people running Trumps real estate program (the Trump Program) make promises that arose to level of being a contract. For example, the consumer-plaintiffs alleged that the Trump Program promised that the instructors and mentors running the program would be hand-picked by Donald Trump. However, this promise was allegedly breached because most of the instructors and mentors were unknown to Mr. Trump and that they didnt actually teach any real estate techniques.

Well have to wait for a court or jurys finding regarding what promises were actually made by Donald Trump and the people running the Trump Program. The good news for the plaintiffs and Mr. Schneidermann is that they do not have to prove the existence of a contract. New York, along with every state, has laws that prohibit businesses from engaging in deceptive and unfair business practices.

Consumers should be leery of any language that appears to promise an educational outcomee.g., you will earn a six-figure salary after graduation. While a states attorney general, such as Mr. Schneiderman, has the authority to make businesses stop deceptive practices, the attorney general may not be able to get back the money consumers have lost. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is! For an in-depth discussion of deceptive degrees, see my article, Degrees of Deception: Are Consumers and Employers Being Duped by Online Universities and Diploma Mills?

Creola Johnson,

Presidents Club Professor of Law,

The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law

Profile at http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/faculty/professor/creola-johnson/

(professor.cre.johnson@gmail.com)

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/contractsprof_blog/2016/03/-did-trump-university-peddle-degrees-of-deception.html
Thursday, March 3, 2016

I don't have much time now, but I wanted to do a quick post about the recent opinion of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland in Burgess v. Baltimore Police Department. We discussed Burgess's case on Undisclosed, and here is a good article about it. Basically, Sabein Burgess

was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison in 1995 in the shooting death of his girlfriend, Michelle Dyson, in her Harwood home the year before... In October 1998, a prisoner named Charles Dorsey wrote to Burgess' mother saying he was behind the killing.... Detectives interviewed Dorsey but discounted the confession because it lacked details.... In April 2010, the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project obtained previously undisclosed police notes in Burgess' case. They included statements that Dyson's then-6-year-old son, Brian Rainey, had made a statement that cast doubt on Burgess' involvement. In 2012, Rainey, who was incarcerated at the time, said he had witnessed the moments before his mother's killing and corroborated Dorsey's account. He and Dorsey both wrote affidavits with their accounts of the night Dyson was killed. The mounting evidence prompted a Baltimore judge to order a new trial in February 2014. The state's attorney's office dropped charges against Burgess.

Thereafter, Burgess filed a federal lawsuit against several defendants, including the Baltimore City Police Department, Detective William Ritz (who interviewed Dorsey but didn't disclose his confession to the defense), and Daniel Van Gelder, a crime laboratory analyst.*

The defendants then moved to dismiss Burgess's lawsuit. In its March 1st opinion, the court did dismiss some of the claims made by Burgess but also allowed several others to go forward. One of these was Burgess's claim that Detective Ritz and others violated his rights by failing to disclose Dorsey's confession. The defense construed this as a Brady claim and correctly argued that Brady applies only to evidence obtained before trial.

The problem for the defense was that Burgess made a Due Process claim, not a Brady claim. According to the court,

The post-conviction due process inquiry asks whether the claim "'offends some principle of justice so rooted in the traditions and conscience of our people as to be ranged as fundamental,' or transgresses any recognized principle of fundamental fairness in operation."... Burgess contends that the Officer Defendants actions with respect to the 1998 confession are further evidence of their continuing efforts to conceal any possibility of an alternative perpetrator. This alleged cover up violated Burgesss post-conviction due process rights, as articulated by the Osborne Court. At the motion to dismiss stage, these allegations are sufficient to plead a plausible due process violation.

It will be interesting to see what happens with this case as it proceeds.

___________________________

*According to the opinion, "the Officer Defendants allegedly conspired with Defendant Daniel Van Gelder, a crime laboratory analyst at BPD, to fabricate gunshot residue (GSR) evidence to ensure the Plaintiffs conviction."

-CM

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/evidenceprof/2016/03/i-dont-have-much-time-now-but-i-wanted-to-do-a-quick-post-about-the-recent-opinion-of-the-united-states-district-court-for-t.html
Thursday, March 3, 2016

As part of the Obama administrations recent opening up of diplomatic relations with Cuba the IRS has recently released a revenue ruling that lifts some of the restrictions on income earned in the communist country. The previously applicable restrictions denied a foreign tax credit for income taxes paid to Cuba and disallowed deferral on income earned in Cuba through a controlled foreign corporation. These restrictions will now be removed by Revenue Ruling 2016-08, which is a modification of an earlier ruling from 2005 that placed special rules on certain countries under sections 901(j) and 952(a)(5) of the Tax Code. These changes are part of an ongoing effort by the Obama administration to improve diplomatic relations with Cuba.

See Michael Cohn, IRS Removes Some Restrictions on Cuba Income, Accounting Today, March 1, 2016.

Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/trusts_estates_prof/2016/03/irs-lifts-some-restrictions-on-income-earned-in-cuba.html
Biddeford-Saco-OOB Courier

The board earmarked $1.54 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds for the dredge, designed to keep channels open and supply sand to nourish eroding beaches up and down the York County coast and beyond.


Ramon Castro, a Cuban rancher and the older brother of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro and President Raul Castro, died last week in Havana at age 91.

The New York Times said his death was announced in a brief report by the Communist Partys official newspaper, Granma.

Ramon Castro and his famous younger brothers, Fidel and Raul, grew up on a farm in the village of Biran in eastern Cuba. They attended Roman Catholic schools. Ramon was born on Oct. 14, 1924.

Once grown, Fidel and Raul headed off to Havana for studies, then the business of launching a revolution against dictator Fulgencio Batista, who seized power in a 1952 coup, reported The Washington Post.

Ramon studied agricultural engineering at the University of Havana. He and his brothers were jailed by the former government of dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1953.

After the 1959 triumph of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel rose to power. Granma said Ramon Castro aided his brothers efforts as their revolution progressed, according to The New York Times.

After his brother Fidel took power, Ramon often worked as a consultant for the government ministries of agriculture and sugar. In the early 1960s, he oversaw sugar production in eastern Cuba and helped increase output.

He preferred to stay on the family farm in Biran, a rural town in eastern Cuba. His parents, Angel Castro and Lina Ruiz, had large family land holdings there, reported Reuters.

Ramon Castro was two years older than his brother Fidel and looked a great deal like his famous brother. Ramon founded several state companies, including ones that transported sugar cane and produced oranges. He also was involved in agricultural research, according to the Washington Post.

Ramon was married to Aurora Castillo and had five children.

Raul Castro, 84, replaced Fidel, 89, as Cubas President in February 2008. Fidel resigned because of illness. Raul was his defense chief and chosen successor. He has led the Cuban government since then, and said he would step down in 2018.

Im Mary Gotschall.

Mary Gotschall wrote this story for Learning English. She used information from Reuters, The New York Times and The Washington Post. Kathleen Struck was the editor.

Do you have an opinion about this topic? Let us know what you think in the Comments section below, or on our Facebook page.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

revolution  n. the usually violent attempt by many people to end the rule of one government and start a new one

coup  n. from the French phrase coup detat, meaning a sudden attempt by a small group of people to take over the government usually through violence

sugar cane  noun a tall grass that is grown in warm places as a source of sugar

successor  n. a person who has a job, position, or title after someone else


This is Whats Trending Today

For the first time, a team of refugees will compete at the Olympic Games. The International Olympic Committee approved a plan this week for a team of up to 10 Refugee Olympic Athletes (ROA).

The news of the Refugee Olympic Athletes became a trending topic on social media Thursday. Facebook users called the plan a wonderful gesture and the greatest news Ive heard in awhile.

More than 40 high-performance athletes, who happen to be refugees, have been identified as possible Olympic athletes.

CNN reported Thursday that one of them is a 17-year-old swimmer named Yusra Mardini. She fled Syria on a boat headed for Greece from Turkey. The boat started filling with water. Mardini and her sister got in the water and helped pull the boat and its 20 people on board to safety.

Mardini now lives in Germany. She has received funding from the International Olympic Committee for her training.

The Refugee Olympic team will participate in the Olympic opening ceremony in Rio on August 5. The team will march out just before athletes from Brazil.

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said at an IOC meeting that, "By welcoming this team of refugee athletes to Rio, we want to send a message of hope for all refugees of the world.

The United Nations says that more than 60 million people around the world are refugees.

And thats Whats Trending Today.

Im Ashley Thompson.

______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

athlete - n. a person who is trained in or good at sports, games, or exercises that require physical skill and strength

wonderful - adj. extremely good

gesture - n. something said or done to show a particular feeling or attitude
Samsung launched a new line of thin and light notebooks in January, with the smallest models weighing as little as 1.9 pounds.

Now the Samsung Notebook 9 series laptops are available for purchase for $1000 and up from stores including Samsung, B&H, and Amazon.

The laptops are svelte, but powerful: every model has an Intel Core i5 or faster Skylake processor, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of solid state storage.

But what surprised me most is that its not just the 13.3 inch model thats super-light. Samsung also offers a 15.6 inch model that weighs just 2.9 pounds.

At launch, there are four different Notebook 9 configurations available:

Notebook 9 w/13.3 1080p display and Intel Core i5 for $1000

Notebook 9 spin w/13.3 QHD+ convertible display and Core i7 for $1200

Notebook 9 w/15.6 1080p display and Core i7 for $1200

Notebook 9 Pro w/15.6 UHD display and Core i7 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M graphics for $1400

Note that while the 13.3 inch model weighs 1.9 pounds and the 15.6 model weighs 2.9 pounds, the Notebook 9 Pro and Spin models are a bit thicker and heavier due to their special special features.

The Notebook 9 with a 13.3 inch display measures 0.5 inches thick and weighs 1.9 pounds. The Notebook 9 Spin is 0.6 inches thick and 3 pounds.

Samsungs Notebook 9 with a 15.6 inch display is 0.6 inches thick and 2.9 pounds. The Notebook 9 Pro is 0.7 inches thick and 4.5 pounds.

Theyre all still pretty compact for notebooks with reasonably large displays. But if you want to pay extra for a model with discrete graphics or a convertible tablet design, youll also get a slightly less portable laptop.



thanks Arslan!
In a significant first, the Government of Andhra Pradesh has made offers to 11 Indian School of Business (ISB) students who will become Chief Ministers Fellows. They will support the emerging state on strategic initiatives and implementation of policies that will contribute to its ambitious vision to emerge a front running state in the country and as a major investment destination.

The Fellows, who are expected to have an understanding of the increasing complexity of development processes and effective decision-making for positive transformation, are being recruited for the creative and innovative perspective that one can expect from youth, according to an ISB press release.

Some of the issues the CM Fellows will be required to address include raising the quality of education, improving child nutrition, reducing maternal mortality and strengthening progress in rural areas through mitigation of poverty and creating livelihood opportunities, explains the job description put out by the State governments recruiters.

There will be an induction to the Government of Andhra Pradesh's operations, ground-level study and the challenge to contribute to Andhra Pradesh's development transformation.

The ongoing placements process at the Indian School of Business (ISB), with campuses at Hyderabad and Mohali, has seen a significant increase in demand from recruiters for talent from its flagship Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP). Large corporates and startups alike competed to hire talent from the two campuses resulting in an all-time high number of offers at 1093.

Top consulting firms like McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, EY, Deloitte and KPMG continue to be big recruiters at the School accounting for 19 per cent of the total offers. Technology and technology services firms like Microsoft, Apple, Philips, HCL, Tech Mahindra and Directi made offers to 11 per cent of the class. E-commerce companies such as Amazon and Flipkart also consolidated their presence and have made a total of 109 offers so far while constituting 10 percent of the total offers to date.

A highlight of this years placements season at ISB is the success of the shift from a purely structured system of the previous years, to a flexible hybrid model that also included exclusive days for recruiters who had elaborate hiring processes.

This year the quality of hiring has also improved compared to previous years. A total of 92 offers for senior leadership roles and global leadership programmes were made. These include several CXO level positions. Several of these included offers made to women students as well. Axis Bank alone, which runs its Women Leadership Programme at ISB, has made 30 offers, up from the 18 last year. Around 20 international companies have made 73 offers so far.

Interestingly, startups competed hard with established recruiters picking up seven per cent of the class across sectors like technology, telecom, E-Commerce, transportation and education with senior management roles on offer. BFSI, Healthcare & Pharma sectors remained steady and made equal contributions of about eight per cent each of the total offers as on date.

With a class size of 812 students, the Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP) at ISB offers one of the largest pool of top-notch experienced talent in Asia. In line with the One School , two campus philosophy, ISB follows an integrated campus-neutral placements process allowing students and recruiters an equal opportunity to interact with each other irrespective of their location. The lateral hiring process is spread over several months, giving both recruiters and students time to find their best fit. During this period, the School also supports and encourages students in their independent search efforts to find their preferred careers.

The PGP is a full-time, one-year programme in Management designed for young working professionals to enable them transition into roles of greater responsibility, or pursue an entrepreneurial dream.
New Delhi - Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said India is set to take a quantum leap in infrastructure and the government is committed to strengthening it.

He was inaugurating an ambitious Rs 50,800-crore Setu Bharatam project, under which a total of 208 railway crossings will be replaced by rail over bridges (ROBs).

As part of the project, 1,500 bridges of the British era will be overhauled at an estimated expenditure of Rs. 30,000 crore.

"Altogether, these ROBs and bridges are planned to be completed by 2019 at an estimated cost of Rs. 50,800 crore," Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said on the occasion.

The ministry has already launched an Indian Bridge Management System to map 1,50,000 bridges across the country.

Till now, an inventory of 50,000 bridges has been prepared while the first cycle of condition survey will be completed by June this year.

Speaking on the occasion Road Transport & Highways and Shipping Minister Shri Nitin Gadkari informed that the Setu Bharatam programme aims to make all National Highways free of railway level crossings by 2019. This is being done to prevent the frequent accidents and loss of lives at level crossings. The Minister informed that 208 Railway Over Bridges (ROB)/Railway Under Bridges (RUB) will be built at the level crossings at a cost of Rs. 20,800 crore as part of the programme. The details of 208 ROBs are as follows:

Andhra Pradesh  33, Assam  12, Bihar  20, Chattisgarh  5, Gujarat  8, Haryana  10, Himachal Pradesh  5, Jharkhand  11, Karnataka  17, Kerala  4, Madhya Pradesh -6, Maharashtra  12, Odisha  4, Punjab  10, Rajasthan  9, Tamil Nadu  9, Utarakhand  2, Uttar Pradesh  9, West Bengal  22.

PTI
WASHINGTON India has denied visas for a delegation from the U.S. government agency charged with monitoring international religious freedom, the agency said on Thursday.

The delegation from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom had been scheduled to leave for India on Friday for a long-planned visit with the support of the U.S. State Department and the U.S. embassy in New Delhi, but India had failed to issue the necessary visas, the commission said.

"We are deeply disappointed by the Indian governments denial, in effect, of these visas," USCIRF chairman Robert George said in a statement.

"As a pluralistic, non-sectarian, and democratic state, and a close partner of the United States, India should have the confidence to allow our visit," he said.

George said USCIRF had been able to travel to many countries, including those among the worst offenders of religious freedom, including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, China, and Myanmar.

"One would expect that the Indian government would allow for more transparency than have these nations, and would welcome the opportunity to convey its views directly to USCIRF.

The Indian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last year, in spite of a much-heralded fresh start in U.S.-India ties under Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the United States ran into problems arranging visits by the head of its office to combat human trafficking and its special envoy for gay rights.

In its 2015 report, the bipartisan USCIRF said incidents of religiously motivated and communal violence had reportedly increased for three consecutive years.

It said that despite its status as a pluralistic, secular democracy, India had long struggled to protect minority religious communities or provide justice when crimes occur, creating a climate of impunity.

Non-governmental organisations and religious leaders, including from the Muslim, Christian, and Sikh communities, attributed the initial increase to religiously divisive campaigning in advance of the countrys 2014 general election won by Modi.

The report said that since the election, religious minorities had been subject to derogatory comments by politicians linked to Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and numerous violent attacks and forced conversions by Hindu nationalist groups.

U.S. law allows for the imposition of sanctions on countries the commission terms "of particular concern," but the USCIRF's recommendations are not binding and these are not automatically imposed.

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by David Gregorio)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Satara: A 13-year-old girl was caned 10 times by a Panchayat in Satara, Maharashtra, after she got pregnant as a result of a 4-month long non-consensual sexual relationship with her father in a video released on India Today.

The video of the alleged thrashing released on Friday on India Today, after which the local police authorities were asked to track down the girl, her father and the people of the panchayat who committed the assault.

The video also features the father, being caned for raping his daughter. The girl is accused of not disputing her fathers' sexual abuse, reports India Today.

As soon as the video broke out, India Today urged authorities to take action. Shaina NC, a BJP spokesperson said, "I can assure you we will bring the case to its logical conclusion  counselling, help will be provided to girl. It takes one shocking incident like this to shake up society at large. This has happened in a state which we believe progressive, we need to give a befitting reply. CM assured that the will panchayat will face punishment."

Local police have registered a case against the perpetrators. Times Now reported the local police saying, "We do not know where the child is. We are investigating authenticity of the video."
Vrindavan: BJP youth wing president Anurag Thakur on Friday said it would not be proper to question the entire JNU for the few 'bad fish' who have spoilt the atmosphere at the institution.

Addressing the media on the occasion of Bharatiya Jana Yuva Morchas National Executive meeting in Mathura on Friday, Thakur said, "It would not be right to question the entire JNU institution for the acts of some people. The need of the hour is to identify such people and address them."

Thakur was answering questions in the wake of JNU controversy and the bail of JNU Students Union President Kanhaiya Kumar, whom the Delhi police charged with sedition. Thakur, the Lok Sabha MP from Hamirpur, slammed the Congress for vitiating the atmosphere in the country to halt the BJP Governments march towards development.

"This national executive meeting is important because it is happening at a time when some political forces and people are vitiating the countrys atmosphere and dividing people. Some political leaders are fully backing these people and their agenda.

"Those who have lost their relevance and mandate among people of this country are now doing all they can to stop Prime Minister Narendra Modis development agenda. The youth of the country need to be apprised with all this," Thakur said adding that the executive will debate the current political environment in the context of the raging national versus anti national debate.

He also said that poll strategy in election bound states will also be discussed apart from the strategy in UP, which he said, "Helped make PM Modi the PM by giving a huge mandate in Lok Sabha elections to the BJP".

Thakur said the venue of the executive  Vrindavan in Mathura  held a special significance as it was the birthplace of Lord Krish and Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyay, the Sangh ideologue.

PTI
New Delhi: The government has "recalibrated" the management of an account, which was used to pay money to the US under Foreign Military Sales route, after a review showed that nearly $2.3 billion had piled up without earning any interest, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said on Friday.

The minister also said that the Defence Budget for the next fiscal, "nearly Rs 2.59 lakh crore" sans the pension allocation, was adequate and as per the ministry's requirement.

India and the US have now fine tuned the FMS procedure whereby rather than raising bills case-wise every quarter, all the funds against various cases have been pooled together in a corpus.

The corpus had been created in September last year, defence sources said.

A statement released by the ministry said that as and when funds are required to be paid per case, fullfilment of contractual liabilities, the said amount is being withdrawn from the corpus.

"Consequent to this creation of the corpus in consultation with the US government, no payments have been made in the last two quarters of the financial year 2015-16, against cases which necessitated payments, against the said contracts.

"Instead, payment is being effected from the corpus of $2.3 billion. It is hoped that no payments shall be required to be made till the amount of $2.3 billion is depleted and there is a necessity for us to replenish certain amount as required," the ministry said.

It said that this has happened through "scrupulous and holistic financial management".

Consequently, while the US government will continue to meet their contractual obligations, there will be no additional burden on the Indian government on this account.

It enables utilisation of scarce funds on other projects and hedges the country against adverse exchange rates, the ministry said.

Earlier in the day, Parrikar, who had put the corpus figure at about $3 billion, countered reports that the ministry has failed to utilise about Rs 11,000 crore from the capital budget of 2015-16. He said the country has actually saved money.

He said that even though the provision of capital acquisition in the budget was around Rs 77,000 crore, the actual anticipated spending will be around Rs 66,000 crore.

"We have taken measures by which Rs 11,000 crore saving appears there," Parrikar said, briefing reporters about the defence budget for the next fiscal.

PTI
By Janaki Murali

When about 10,000 farmers parked their tractors willy-nilly on the busy thoroughfares of Bengaluru on Thursday during peak school closing hours, it brought the city to a standstill. Several commuters and school children were stranded for hours on the main arterial roads and some Bengalureans missed their flights too.

The farmers came on their tractors to the city from the districts of Kolar and Chikkaballapur, leading a procession to the Chief Minister K Siddaramaiahs residence. Trouble began around mid-morning, when some 250 tractors driven by angry farmers tried to get into the city, but were stopped by police barricades at Devanahalli, a suburb, that also houses the international airport. It didn't take long for the protesters to break through the barricades, to continue their march to Vidhana Soudha, the seat of power. A lathi-charge followed and many farmers were injured.

The farmer leaders, Kodihalli Chandrashekhar and R Anjaneya, told the media that the government had promised water supply from the Yettinahole lift irrigation project, but that they had learnt from scientists that this would not be feasible and had come to the states capital looking for a permanent solution.

While the agitating farmers have called for a bandh in Kolar and Chikkaballapur on Friday to protest the lathi-charge, the opposition was quick to condemn the police action. As reported by the Indian Express, JDS Leader, HD Kumaraswamy said, The government should have allowed the farmers to protest and assured them on their demands.

According to the Bangalore Mirror, the issue was also raised on the floor of the House later in the evening, and BJP party leader Vishveshwara Hegde Kageri demanded an answer from the state government as to why the farmers were lathi-charged.

But lets take a step back.

The farmers protest in Bengaluru on Thursday, was just waiting to happen. The farmers plight has been ignored for too long.

Karnataka farmers launched their protest as early as September last year, demanding a solution to the severe water crisis they were facing. Their demands included irrigation projects, increasing ground level water and rejuvenation of tanks and lakes in their region. All tanks, wells and bore wells had gone dry in the region by then.

According to a Deccan Herald report, the irrigation minister, MB Patil had met protesters and promised to discuss with representatives in November last year. When nothing happened, farmers of Kolar and Chikkaballapur called for a bandh on 21 December, 2015. The Chief Minister then called for a meeting, but failed to find a solution.

What is appalling is that nearly 1000 farmers have been estimated to have committed suicide in Karnataka last year alone. Crop loss and severe drought conditions were said to have led to the deaths.

So now, many more lives do we need to see being snuffed out before our leaders take action.

In north Karnataka alone, several districts received less rainfall last monsoon. Many farmers had even suspended sowing operations for the Rabi season.

Karnataka was the first state to declare its 136 taluks across 27 of its 30 districts as drought-hit as early as August last year. Farmers of drought-hit areas are eligible for crop loss compensation and loan restructuring.

Yet sadly, the states farmers continue to wait for relief seven months later.

According to a report in Livemint, the Karnataka government had stated that it would allocate Rs 1 crore per taluk. The state government had in turn asked the Centre in August last year for Rs 3500 crore to compensate the farmers. An inter-ministerial team from the Centre had even visited Karnataka in September last year.

But sadly, nothing has moved on the ground.

The states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh have already declared drought in their districts. Other states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Telangana, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Haryana are expected to join the line of drought hit states too.

So isnt it time our politicians stopped playing the blame game  the Karnataka Opposition blames the state government and the Karnataka government blames the Centre - for a change, why dont our elected leaders sit together and find a solution?

Its not going to be easy, for drought and farmers suicides do not beg for an easy answer.

But, if we have to prevent the brewing farmers unrest from metamorphosing into water waters between the states next, our leaders have to act fast.
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"I trust the laws and courts of this country. Change is the truth and change will come. We have no hatred towards anybody, especially ABVP," Kanhaiya said.

"The way JNU stood up for the people of the nation is admirable," Kanhaiya said. "The entertaining aspect is that this reaction was spontaneous. They had planned everything and our every reaction was spontaneous," he added.

They had planned everything, our reaction was spontaneous: Kanhaiya

Kanhaiya also said that the protests the Modi government was facing was because of their own doing. "You are eating what you earned," he said.

"The way to make them forget is to stop the fellowship in the institutions," he said.

Kanhaiya then took a dig at the government, saying, "some people say they will bring back black money, 'sabka saath sabka vikaas'...Even though we Indians forget easily, everyone knows about the jumla now because of the uproar created."

"The PM has tweeted saying, 'Satyameva Jayate'. But since that saying belongs to the nation and not the PM, even I say, 'Satyameva Jayate'," said Kanhaiya. "I don't think a student has been used as a political tool," he said.

"We are not asking for freedom from India. We are asking for freedom in India," he said.

"Who is responsible for creating these fights? We want to ask those people who make prime time news," he said, criticising the media channels who had targetted him.

"The people who fight are not responsible. Those who create fights are responsible," Kanhaiya said.

We're not asking for freedom from India, we're asking for freedom in India: Kanhaiya

"We fight for equality. So that a peon's son and the President's son can study in an equal environment," said Kanhaiya. "We are asking for freedom from poverty social oppression. And we will get that freedom through this institution. This was also Rohith's dream."

"Whether it is the person working in the field, whether it is the person fighting for us in the army, or whether it is the person fighting for freedom in JNU, we will not stop fighting for them," he further said.

"That is why you (the government) want to crush the JNU so that the backward people cannot dream of getting a PhD," he said.

"I want to tell the media that there are those people, who - like me - come from a poor background, but did not get admission in JNU and are in the army," he further said.

"ABVP is after fake revolution. We're after the real revolution," he said.

'Govt wants to crush JNU so that people from poor backgrounds cannot get a PhD'

"Pradhan Mantri Mann Ki Baat karte hain...sunte nahi hain (The Prime Minister only does 'Mann Ki Baat'...but never listens)," he further said.

"We will help establish a government which truly works for 'sabka saath, sabka vikaas'," he said. "I wanted to tell Modiji, "Thodi Hitler ki baat kijiye. Leave Hitler, talk about Mussolini instead. Your guruji Golwalkar saahab had gone to meet Mussolini."

"I got two bowls in jail. One of them was red. I was looking at that bowl and I was thinking that something good was going to happen in this country," he further said, describing his experience in jail.

"You (the government) have killed one Rohith. Now see how big this revolution has become," Kanhaiya said.

He also told the media to "give time to JNU...tell the people that we want freedom not from India but from those who loot India."

"Inside the campus, the forces who try to divide the nation, whether this is the RSS or ABVP, JNU will stand up against those forces. We will win this fight," he said.

"In this country, trying to distract the actual questions of the people and trying to crush the voice of the JNU will not work. You will not be able to crush this revolution. The more you try to oppress us, the more we will fight," he added.

"You cannot turn lies into the truth," he said.

We want freedom not from India but from those who loot India: Kanhaiya

"There are no personal differences (between him and the government) There are only ideological differences," he said.

He also asked people to raise questions on the subsidies being given in other sectors like the avation sector.

"We condemn the 9 February incident. Whether that was anti-nationalism or not will be decided by the courts," Kanhaiya said. "The Constitution is not a video which can be doctored," he added.

He went on to say that Rohith Vemula was his icon. "But Afzal Guru is not my icon. Rohith Vemula is. If the government is responsible for Rohith Vemula's death, we will fight for him. Our fight is long. That is why we won't have a victory march. We will have a unity march," he said.

When asked about what Afzal Guru meant to him, Kanhaiya said, "Afzal Guru was a citizen of India. He was a resident of Jammu and Kashmir. The law punished him. Speaking about that punishment is allowed by the same law."

We don't look at ABVP as enemy. We look at them as opposition: #KanhaiyaKumar at JNU pic.twitter.com/U4sQwJuT3r

"What kind of a country will it be if it does not have any countrymen? We should salute all those who stood up for JNU," he said.

"What is happening in the country is very dangerous. I am not talking about one party or one media channel. I am not only taking about soldiers. I am talking about the entire country," he said.

"Kabhi mann ki baat karte hain...kabhi maa ki baat bhi kar lein (You always keep talking about Mann Ki Baat...talk about what the mother has to say for a change)," Kanhaiya further said.

"My mother told me that she was not making fun of Modi. She said that it was the government which was making fun of them," he said.

"I talked to my mother after 3 months. Whenever I stayed in JNU, I was not talking a lot to her. After going to jail, I realised the importance of talking to her," Kanhaiya said.

'You always talk about Mann Ki Baat. For a change, talk about Maa ki baat.'

"You tried winning over people by saying 'har har'. But now people are angry because of 'arhar'," he said, making a reference to the rising price of dal.

"Actually, they are not speaking for JNU. they are merely making the distinction between right and wrong," he said. Kanhaiya also reminded the government that 69 percent of the country had voted against them in the Lok Sabha polls of 2014.

"Sitharam Yechury and Rahul Gandhi are also being called anti-national," Kanhaiya said, adding that a lot was also being said against Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.

"I don't have any connection with any party. But the people who are standing up for me are also being called anti-nationals," he said.

People who are standing up for me are also being called anti-nationals: Kanhaiya

He also told the media to "give time to JNU...tell the people that we want freedom not from India but from those who loot India."

"Inside the campus, the forces who try to divide the nation, whether this is the RSS or ABVP, JNU will stand up against those forces. We will win this fight," he said.

"In this country, trying to distract the actual questions of the people and trying to crush the voice of the JNU will not work. You will not be able to crush this revolution. The more you try to oppress us, the more we will fight," he added.

"You cannot turn lies into the truth," he said.

We want freedom not from India but from those who loot India: Kanhaiya

#KanhaiyaKumar ends his speech at JNU urging his supporters to raise slogans of 'Azaadi' with context. pic.twitter.com/RGl2xdpM50

"JNU is a historic institution which stands up for democracy. Through this press conference, we want to tell the nation that the subsidies through which we study in JNU have not been wasted. The person studying in JNU can never be a deshdrohi," he said.

"I thank all the historians, teachers, musicians, journalists and filmmakers who supported us," Kanhaiya further said.

In a press conference, Kanhaiya Kumar again thanked the people who had supported JNU. "I thank those who stood up to save the autonomy of the educational institutions and secure their future," he said.

Let me make it clear that I'm not a politician. I am only a student: #KanhaiyaKumar pic.twitter.com/Y3B23SNAJV

"Your plans to divide the nation and the farmers and soldiers of this nation will fail because there is a difference between nationalism and anti-nationalism," he said, referring to the Modi government.

"We have to stop the people who talk of democracy but then destroy democracy," he further said.

"These dark clouds will go away. I want to tell the nation that after 22 days in jail, the most hopeful thing that I learnt was that these dark clouds won't be able to hide the red sun," he said.

"There are some dark clouds. But it is only after dark clouds that there are heavy rains," Kanhaiya said.

I want to assure the taxpayers of this country that a JNU student can never be anti-national: Kanhaiya Kumar pic.twitter.com/Y3yAn0Q8gr

"There are no personal differences (between him and the government) There are only ideological differences," he said.

He also asked people to raise questions on the subsidies being given in other sectors like the avation sector.

"We condemn the 9 February incident. Whether that was anti-nationalism or not will be decided by the courts," Kanhaiya said. "The Constitution is not a video which can be doctored," he added.

"Like other parents' children, we are also children. We are not terrorists," he said.

"A worry that I have about every student and professor of JNU is that when they go out in the society, they'll face threats. A few channels maligned JNU. They couldn't even make a difference between anti-national and national and started calling us terrorists," Kanhaiya said.

"We want to make the country a more united place. At a time when there is an attack of globalisation, it is very important to save our traditions and unity," he said.

"Someone appointed a person to count condoms in the university," Kanhaiya said. "Many students study here. They are trying to make the society a better place. There is a fight to make democracy stronger."

"Whether it is the farmer or the soldier, we fight for all," Kanhaiya Kumar said. "We want to tell the nation that we are being lynched by mobs in trains. Fabricated videos were used to spoil the image of JNU," he added.

He went on to say that Rohith Vemula was his icon. "But Afzal Guru is not my icon. Rohith Vemula is. If the government is responsible for Rohith Vemula's death, we will fight for him. Our fight is long. That is why we won't have a victory march. We will have a unity march," he said.

When asked about what Afzal Guru meant to him, Kanhaiya said, "Afzal Guru was a citizen of India. He was a resident of Jammu and Kashmir. The law punished him. Speaking about that punishment is allowed by the same law."

JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar reached the Jawaharlal Nehru University premises on Thursday hours after being released from Tihar jail where he was lodged on the charge of sedition, triggering celebrations on the campus that had lately become a venue for vociferous protests.

Students and teachers eagerly awaiting to catch a glimpse of Kanhaiya had gathered at the Ganga Dhaba from where they will take out a victory march to the Administration Block which has become a venue of protest since his arrest on 12 February.

People also queued up outside Kumar's hostel Brahmaputra with 'dhols' and 'daflis' to accompany him during the march.

Meanwhile, two separate meetings of the students union and JNU teachers association were underway to decide the future course of action. Kanhaiya is expected to address the gathering after the march.

However, the university administration maintained the report of the high-level committee has not been submitted to it yet.

"The five-member panel had a deadline till 12 am today. The varsity will take a call based on the recommendations of the panel," a senior JNU official said.

"Kanhaiya was released from the jail at around 6.30 pm after his bail bond and release orders were properly scrutinised," Additional IG (Prisons) and Tihar Spokesperson Mukesh Prasad said.

The student leader was greeted with loud cheers by his supporters when he came out of Tihar Jail. Celebrations also erupted on the JNU campus.

A court in New Delhi had ordered the release of JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar from the Tihar jail after he furnished bail bond in the sedition case, a day after he was granted six months' interim bail by the Delhi High Court.

Kanhaiya, who was in Tihar jail after being remanded to judicial custody in connection with the case, had furnished his bail bond before a magistrate at a makeshift court in a police station in New Delhi.

According to the sources, the magistrate had accepted his bail bond and ordered his release from jail.

Sources had told PTI that he had furnished a personal bond of Rs 10,000 and one surety of the like amount as directed by high court on Wednesday.

A faculty member of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), professor SN Malakar, had stood surety for him.

Kanhaiya was granted interim bail after the high court had observed that FIR lodged in connection with an on-campus event that led to his arrest on sedition charge suggested it "is a case of raising anti-national slogans which do have the effect of threatening national integrity".

He was arrested on 12 February in the case in which he and others, including two arrested JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, are accused of raising anti-India slogans during an event organised inside the JNU campus on 9 February.

The two other students who were arrested are presently in judicial custody.

(With inputs from PTI)
Bhopal: Expressing concern over spate of suicides by students due to mounting pressure of studies, Madhya Pradesh Assembly Speaker Sitasharan Sharma on Friday constituted a committee of ruling and opposition MLAs to look into the issue.

The matter was raised in the House by Congress members, Ramniwas Rawat and Arif Aqueel who moved a Calling Attention motion demanding the government to look into the issue of rise in the incidents of student suicides.

Both alleged that the government has failed to address the issue in an effective manner.

Intervening on the issue, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, "Tension free education is the need of the hour. For that change in education system and society's thinking is must. Children should get an opportunity to excel in their natural talent."

"For getting good marks, schools, teachers and parents are exerting pressure on students which is a social crime," he said.

Chouhan urged the Speaker that the House should guide the society by deliberating on the matter by forming a committee comprising members of both ruling and Opposition parties.

Agreeing with the Chief Minister's suggestion, the Speaker announced to form the committee of ruling and opposition parties MLAs on the issue and asked it to submit its report to the House after consulting experts.

Chouhan also highlighted various examples of noted scientists, artists, players, social workers and politicians among others to make a point that their talent cannot be gouged

the numbers they scored in academics.

Announcing few temporary measures, Chouhan said, "From ninth class onwards counseling of student, parents and teachers will be done; games period will be made compulsory and yoga and meditation education will be imparted to them."

He also said that vocational education will be given to students of standard 11th and 12th and also professional training will be imparted to enhance employment opportunities.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) has dismissed claims made by an 18-year-old Class XII student from a village near Kolkata that the US space agency has selected her for its prestigious Goddard Internship Programme under the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS). Nasa has stated that it has no record of anyone by the name Sataparna Mukherjee being granted a scholarship, reports The Huffington Post.

The Times of India had earlier reported that Sataparna Mukherjee was among the five scholars chosen from across the world for the GIP, a programme which selects five exceptional individuals from across the world every year and funds their entire education after school.

However, in a revelation made to The Huffington Post, Michael Cabbage, associate chief for communications, Nasa GISS, clarified that it does not have any record of anyone by that name being granted an internship or scholarship.

While Mukherjee claimed that she will pursue her graduation, post-graduation and PhD (as Nasa faculty) in aerospace engineering at its London Astrobiology Centre, Nasa clarified that it does not have any such facility in London and its internships are awarded to students who are US citizens.

Criticising media outlets for not verifying the basic facts of this story, The Wire said that Mukherjee's Black Hole Theory is misleading as well as misinformed.

When Nasa's clarification came to light, Mukherjee told DNA that the US space agency is denying the claim because of a confidentiality agreement and that Nasa has sent her flight tickets to London.

Mukherjee's father, Pradeep, who is still under the impression that Satparna will be flying to London told The Huffington Post, "We are just applying for the visa now."
New Delhi: Opposition parties led by Congress and SP on Friday created a storm in Rajya Sabha over alleged government interference in the autonomy of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), forcing adjournment of the House till noon.

Opposition members trooped into the Well, raising slogans against alleged threat to the minority status of the university and government interference.

Deputy Chairman P J Kurien asked members to return to their seats and give notice if they wanted a discussion on the issue but as none relented, he adjourned the House till noon.

Javed Ali Khan of SP, through a Zero Hour mention, raised the issue of Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani declaring offsite centres of the University illegal and threatening to stop financial aid.

The University's Executive Committee and Academic Council, drawing rights from Section 12 of AMU Act, in 2008 had decided to set up five off campus centres. Three of them were made operational, he said adding the BJP government has now questioned that decision, Khan said.

He said AMU Vice Chancellor has in a statement said that HRD Minister was declaring these centres illegal and threatening to stop assistance.

"They talk of 'sab ka saath, sab ka vikas' but want to deprive a large section of population of education," he said demanding a clarification from the government on the minority

status of AMU and other such insitutions.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the government is committed to protecting minority status of AMU and other minority institutions.

The AMU matter is in court and everyone should abide by whatever the judicial verdict, he said.

Not convinced with the answer, Sharad Yadav (JD-U) and Digvijayaa Singh (Cong) joined Khan saying the BJP government withdrew an affadivit given by the previous UPA government and submitted a new one in the Supreme Court, leading to the present situation.

Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M) wanted the government to explain the new affadivit, while Anand Sharma (Cong) wanted an explanation as to why it changed the affadavit. "Why are you targeting minority institutions," he asked.

Yechury said the issue was serious and had the potential of creating very big communal polarisation.

Some Opposition members also alleged that Naqvi was misleading the House.

Kurien said if the minister was misleading, there was provision in the rule book which can be invoked. "If you want discussion, give notice. What can I do?" Naqvi said the government was neither opposing, nor supporting AMU.

This led to slogan-shouting SP members trooping into the Well. Soon Congress and CPI(M) members also joined them in the Well.

"This is also vote bank politics," Kurien remarked asking members to go back and give notice if they wanted a discussion on the issue.

But the members continued to raise slogans alleging government interference.

"I would request the agitated members, if you want result give notice. Chairman will consider it," Kurien said.

But the members were unrelenting. Kurien tried to conduct the proceedings for some time but as the slogan shouting continued, he adjourned the House till 1200 hours.

PTI
Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar clarified his perspective on several matters during the powerful speech he gave at the JNU campus on Thursday night  his first since he was released from jail on interim bail. Since his words have been misinterpreted before, here's a handy guide to ways in which his speech should not be interpreted. But first, let's clarify what he actually said.

Addressing the students, 29-year-old Kumar, who was arrested for sedition for allegedly raising anti-national slogans, said that the freedom he wants is from disruptive forces within the country and not from India.

"We are not seeking 'azaadi'(freedom) from India. We want 'azaadi' within India," he said.

He also threw several barbs at Prime Minister Narendra Modi. At one point he said that despite his many differences with the PM, he agreed with his tweet "Satyameva Jayate". The PM had tweeted it in praise of HRD Minister Smriti Irani's fiery speech in Lok Sabha on the JNU row.

"I have many differences with the PM but I agree with his tweet Satyameva Jayate because these words are in our Constitution," he said, as his passionate speech was punctuated with applause and cheers.

As it is with all powerful speeches though, there is a lot of scope for misinterpretation, which has only increased now that Kumar has agreed to campaign for the Left in West Bengal and Kerala.

So here are a few ways in which you should definitely not interpret Kanhaiya Kumar's speech:
The fate of governments in four states and one union territory will be known on 19 May, when counting for assembly elections will be conducted. The Election Commission on Friday announced the dates for five assembly polls to be held in different parts of the country.

While elections for Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry will be held in a single phase on 16 May, elections for West Bengal and Assam will be held in six phases and two phases respectively, Chief Election Commissioner of India Nasim Zaidi announced in a media conference. The model code of conduct comes into existence with immediate effect for all five states. The election process will be completed by 21 May, the commission said.

West Bengal

The first phase, to be held on 4 and 11 April, in West Bengal will include areas which are affected by left-wing extremism. The remaining phases will be held on 17, 21, 25, 30 April, and on 5 May. The last phase will include the Cooch Behar district, which has several enclaves which have newly become a part of India after the border agreement with Bangladesh.

Assam

The Assam elections will be held in two phases. These will be on 4 and 11 April.

Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry

All these three elections will be held in one phase on 16 May.

LIVE: 5 central observers in each district to oversee election process#AssemblyElectionshttps://t.co/QhCZq4kAXK pic.twitter.com/bIm55pZEHI  PIB India (@PIB_India) March 4, 2016

LIVE: Here is the schedule of #AssemblyElections in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry pic.twitter.com/esaNR5XwS2  PIB India (@PIB_India) March 4, 2016

The Election Commission appears to be making a special effort to allow women voters to cast their ballot, and has announced that all women polling stations will be set at different places during all five assembly polls.

Among other measures to ensure smooth organisation of elections include displaying of candidates' photographs to prevent confusion over namesakes, a symbol for the NOTA (none of the above) option and deployment of central paramilitary forces.

The number of voters who will go to polls during this series of elections is 1.98 crores in Assam, 2.56 crores in Kerala, 5.8 crore in Tamil Nadu, 6.55 crore in West Bengal and 9.27 lakh in Puducherry.

PN16_04032016
The formidably intelligent P Chidambaram has always been one of the most enigmatic politicians in India. I have long felt that he is the one person nobody in India would dare to speak up against (well, there was also Sachin Tendulkar, but he is now a lion in winter). That is because he clearly exudes authority (and of course that fearsome intelligence).

Whether he is in power (Home Minister or Finance Minister till recently) or out (he was in the wilderness for years with the Tamil Maanila Congress), he has an aura about him. No, you dont cross him lightly. He has charisma, and he was by far the most powerful person in Sonias regime. Besides, as a Chettiar, he has inherited a millennium worth of astuteness.

Therefore, in the waning days of February, I was astonished at the accusations levelled against Chidambaram: the first that he had doctored the report about Ishrat Jahan to remove all references to the LeT; the second that his son Karti had amassed an empire, especially in real estate, all over the world apparently during the time PC held the Finance and Home portfolios.

The fact that theres this sudden double whammy on P Chidambaram surprises me. The Ishrat revelations were brought out by GK Pillai, the then-home secretary. And, incredibly, PC admitted he had done it, or at least that is what appeared to be the case in an interview. This is startling because it amounts to something rather like treason. Not the kind of thing a stalwart like PC should be admitting to, or getting involved in.

But theres an interesting twist. For, the allegations made about #IshratGate are not new. RVS Mani, another home ministry official, took early retirement a few years ago alleging harassment  including physical torture such as cigarette burns  by intelligence officials. He was in the centre of the controversy, having signed both the original affidavit fingering Ishrat and friends as LeT, and then the later affidavit disclaiming the LeT connection.

But why did both these allegations (about #IshratGate and Kartis immense, apparently ill-gotten fortune) come out at this time? Surely, those in media who had been the most willing to buy the UPAs line about Ishrat the Innocent (namely NDTV and friends) have not had a change of heart. And it was the Times Group that published the damaging material from Pillai and Mani.

Similarly, the information about Kartis fortunes was released by The Pioneer, specifically by J Gopikrishnan, who, through years of due diligence, broke open the 2G scam and has been investigating the Aircel-Maxis deal which also has links to Chidambaram.

So I repeat, why did these stories get traction now?

Heres my conjecture: fed up with the Congress and the Left, especially after their anti-national #BreakingIndia antics at JNU, Haryana and elsewhere, the NDA government is sending a warning shot across the bows of the Opposition (and its handlers in China, Pakistan and #DeepState). The government may feel vindicated by the massive outpouring of disgust at the anti-national utterances of the JNU students, their faculty and supporters. No country can survive if it remains weak-kneed in the face of this level of sedition, and Indians realize it too. The Lefties made a big boo-boo: they didnt realize what plays in Lutyens doesnt play in Jhumri Thalaiya.

And to rub that in, the government is taking on the strongest person in the Opposition, not a weak link and the assault is with, as it were, nuclear weapons. I was personally appalled by the allegation that a Home Minister would deliberately underplay the role of terrorism from Pakistan in laffaire Ishrat, with the sole purpose of damaging Narendra Modi. As much as I have a healthy respect for the Congress ethics, this was beyond belief. Corruption I understand, but outright treason?

Is the government, then, saying, Look, we have the dossiers. We know what youve done. And some of the things you have done are so shocking that we can do you some serious damage. So you better watch it?

This may well be a tactic to pre-empt trouble if Sonia Gandhi and son are found guilty in the National Herald case and the Congress decides to foment some riots. If they, and Manmohan Singh, and Chidambaram, are all implicated either by omission or commission in blatant anti-national activities, the sympathy factor will evaporate. Goodbye, 2019!

The government played its PR cards right in the case of the JNU lefties. Despite all their huffing and puffing, and their hope of creating some martyrs by provoking violence, the JNU lefties ended up tamely confessing and tearfully declaring allegiance to the Indian Constitution.

If that doesnt totally ruin their revolutionary krantikari cred, I dont know what will. Score: Government 1, Lefties 0.

If there is any truth in the allegations about Chidambaram, he may well be looking at the end of his political career, and his son may be looking at some serious jail time. By boldly going after the strongest person in the Congress, the government may be saying, Behave, or else!

It may signal no more accommodation on, for instance, the disruption in the Rajya Sabha.

There is a whole lot of signalling going on. @suvodipd suggested that Chidambaram may be reminding Sonia Gandhi and son that, after all, he has dossiers and unless they support his son Karti, skeletons may tumble out of cupboards. People are protective of their offspring, and PC may be no different: if Karti is going down, hes going to take down Sonia as well.

The Congress is scrambling for a response: the government is signalling this is the other shoe falling after Smriti Iranis withering assault on them in Parliament. No more Mr Nice Guy?

The government may be signalling to the media that they have reached the end of their tether; and reminding the Congress that it does hold power right now. Yes, power has its prerogatives. Thats of course why Nehruvian Stalinists are so loath to part with it. But they may have, may just have, overplayed their hand a teeny bit in their pursuit of Dynasty by All Means. This may well be the beginning of the end of the Congress, as Mahatma Gandhi wished for in 1947. Treason is a four-letter word.
The speed with which the Jat reservations issue exploded in Haryana seemed to take everyone by surprise. For it to acquire the proportions that it took, with several deaths, calling out of the army and several of the major cities being effectively closed seemed to have not been anticipated by anyone, least of all the government of the day. This raises several issues such as why it happened in the first place, was it the real issue or was there something else underlying it, could it have been avoided, and lastly what can be done now.

First, why did it happen? Several possibilities present themselves but first, here are some facts:

One, it is clear, to anyone who cares to think about it, that the incumbent Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar is not really one elected or even chosen by the MLAs belonging to the ruling party. He was not among those prominent in the political landscape of the state before, during, and even after the elections. The question why and how he was chosen or foisted on the legislature party can be answered only by whatever is the equivalent of the so-called High Command of the party or those who might be privy to the working and the minds of the real decision makers in the party.

Following from the above, it seems highly unlikely that he commands the respect, much less loyalty of a majority of the ruling party MLAs. It is no secret that there are quite a few who harboured, and still harbour, chief ministerial ambitions. Being ambitious is obviously not necessarily a undesirable trait but it can certainly be dysfunctional to a state government if its key functionaries and supposed supporters keep taking out their frustrations surreptitiously.

Next, given the undeniably important role that caste plays in politics in India as a whole, the fact that the Chief Minister is not a Jat may be of some relevance. Caste loyalties cut across all other social divides and political divides are no exception. Given that Haryana has at times been referred to as the Jatland, having to live with a non-Jat chief minister might even be construed as a slight, nay an insult, by the proud community. If this is acceptable, then the community avenging the insult in whatever way it can follows.

Now, is reservation for Jats at all possible? It is widely known that the Supreme Court has laid down clear limits that cannot be exceeded for reservations. Any attempts to exceed those limit by state governments have been struck down by the courts. This has also happened with reservations for Jats in Haryana in March 2015 when the Supreme Court set aside a government notification to include Jats in the OBC list. Without going into the details of the mechanics that are being thrown around for giving reservations to Jats in Haryana, the experience of Gujars in Rajasthan might be instructive. A similar agitation was launched by Gujars in Rajasthan in 2008. After a prolonged and sometimes violent struggle, the Rajasthan government promised to provide reservations to Gujars. As expected, those provisions were struck down by the courts and everything came to be square one.

Given that almost everyone knows reservations cannot be provided to the Jats, why did this agitation come about? In addition to what has been discussed above, the next set of issues go a little deeper. Was reservations for Jats the real issue? Two events in not-too-distant past need to be recounted to try and decipher this question. One is the Hardik Patel phenomenon in Gujarat where the demand was either give reservations to Patels/Patidars or abolish reservations altogether. The other is the statement by Mohan Bhagwat that reservations have outlived their utility. The statement came when it could have an impact on the Bihar elections and possibly therefore vociferous attempts were made to distance the Haryana ruling party from the statement. This raises the possibility that the demand of reservations for Jats in Haryana might well be part of a larger strategy to create conditions for abolition of reservations altogether.

Now, abolition of reservations altogether might not be a bad thing in and of itself. Almost all government-appointed committees and commissions over the years, starting with the first Backward Classes Commission in January 1953, under the chairmanship of Kaka Kalelkar, which submitted its report on 3 March, 1955, have opined against reservations. Kalelkar himself did not agree with caste being a basis for reservation, and said so in his letter while forwarding the report to the President. He went on to make the incisive remark: Once we eschew the principle of caste, it will be possible to help the extremely poor and deserving from all communities (para 23).

The concluding remarks of Kalelkar are very instructive: Two years of experience have convinced us of the dangers of the spread of casteism and have also led us to the conclusion that it would have been better if we could determine the criteria of backwardness on principles other than caste (page xiv, para 60).

The view of the Supreme Court has been similar. Starting with MR Balaji and others vs the State of Mysore (AIR 1963, SC 649), till Ashoka Kumar Thakur vs Union of India & Others, the judgment for which was announced on April 10, 2008, the Supreme Court has consistently held that categorisation of any class as backward solely on the basis of caste is not permitted by Article 15(4) of the Constitution although it is a relevant factor to be considered.

In Ashoka Kumar Thakur vs Union of India & Others, Justice Dalveer Bhandari observed as follows:

4. On careful analysis of the Constituent Assembly and the Parliamentary Debates, one thing is crystal clear: our leaders have always and unanimously proclaimed with one voice that our constitutional goal is to establish a casteless and classless society. Mahatma Gandhi said: The caste system as we know is an anachronism. It must go if both Hinduism and India are to live and grow from day to day. The first Prime Minister, Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru, said that no one should be left in any doubt that the future Indian society was to be casteless and classless. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar called caste anti-national.

If the cynical-sounding speculation that the Haryana explosion is part of a grand design to abolish reservations altogether has any veracity then it is a classic case of using wrong means to attain a right end. While abolishing reservations may well be a laudable end but doing what is happening in Haryana as a means to do that is just not acceptable.

The last question was: What could be done? It has been decided that A Bill for granting the OBC status to Jats will be introduced in the coming Budget session of the Haryana Assembly, and A committee headed by a senior Union minister will be set up to look into the demands of Jats. Khap leaders of the Jats are reported to have claimed that a law to bring the Jat community under the OBC category at the Centre will be enacted in the forthcoming Budget session of Parliament. In Haryana, reservation to Jats would be granted under the Special Other Backward Classes, (and that) the law in the state will be enacted in the upcoming session of the Assembly.

All it does is to buy time till the courts strike it down.

What could, should, and needs to be done is to face the issue of reservations squarely, in the public domain, in an open national debate. Let every political party say honestly what its stand on reservations is. Those who are not in favour of caste-based reservations need to have the courage to not choose candidates for elections on the basis of caste and to stop asking for votes on the same basis. And the voters need to stop voting on the basis of caste.

None of this will of course happen. Simple, naive folks, particularly young folks, will continue to be fed on the fiction of reservations by self-serving politicians and other opportunistic groups resulting in disruption and deaths. The charade of providing reservations based on political and electoral expediency will continue.

Jagdeep S Chhokar is a former professor, dean, and director in-charge of IIM, Ahmedabad.
SAO PAULO/BRASILIA Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was briefly detained for questioning on Friday in a federal investigation of a vast corruption scheme, fanning a political crisis that threatens to topple his successor, President Dilma Rousseff.

Lula's questioning in police custody was the highest profile development in a two-year-old graft probe centred on the state oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, which has rocked Brazil's political and business establishment and deepened the worst recession in decades in Latin America's biggest economy.

The investigation threatens to tarnish the legacy of Brazil's most powerful politician, whose humble roots and anti-poverty programs made him a folk hero, by putting a legal spotlight on how his left-leaning Workers' Party consolidated its position since rising to power 13 years ago.

Police picked up Lula at his home on the outskirts of Sao Paulo and released him after three hours of questioning. They said evidence suggested Lula had received illicit benefits from kickbacks at the oil company, Petrobras, in the form of payments and luxury real estate.

The evidence against the former president brought the graft investigation closer to his protege Rousseff, who is fighting off impeachment for allegedly breaking budget rules, weakening her efforts to pull the economy out of a deepening downturn.

Rousseff expressed her total disagreement with the police questioning of her mentor, saying in a statement it was "unnecessary" after his voluntary testimony. But she repeated her backing for institutions investigating corruption and said the probe must continue until those responsible were punished.

News of Lula's brief detention sparked a rally in Brazilian assets as traders bet that the political upheaval could empower a more market-friendly coalition. The real currency gained 2 percent against the U.S. dollar and the benchmark Bovespa index climbed nearly 4 percent. Shares of the state oil giant Petrobras surged 14 percent.

"Ex-president Lula, besides being party leader, was the one ultimately responsible for the decision on who would be the directors at Petrobras and was one of the main beneficiaries of these crimes," said a police statement on his detention. "There is evidence that the crimes enriched him and financed electoral campaigns and the treasury of his political group."

Lula responded with indignation at an afternoon news conference, slamming investigators for "disrespecting democracy" and running what he called a media circus instead of a serious investigation.

He told supporters at Workers' Party headquarters that he had already answered the questions that police asked him on Friday and reiterated his assertion that he was not the owner of luxury real estate that investigators have suggested he received as bribes.

Rousseff has also repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. Her labour minister, Miguel Rossetto, said in a public statement that the detention was "a clear attack on what Lula represents."

"This is not justice, this is violence," he said.

Underscoring the deep political passions surrounding the former president, TV images from the street outside Lula's home on Friday showed his supporters clad in red shirts exchanging chants, insults and even blows with opponents.

Dozens of police arrived to break up the altercations, clearing the street by force. Pro-Lula protesters also gathered in a noisy protest outside federal police offices at a Sao Paulo airport where he was taken for questioning.

"VIOLENCE IN THE STREETS"

As the founder and figurehead of his party, Lula's image has been central to huge street protests over the past year, both for and against Rousseff's impeachment, and powerful unions have marched repeatedly in his name.

A presidential aide who had not been authorized to speak with the press called the accusations against Lula a "turning point" in a long-simmering political crisis.

"This breaks with standard procedure. If they do not quickly present concrete proof against Lula, there is going to be violence in the streets. It could be a real war," said the aide.

Lula, 70, became a model for a wave of leftist presidents in Latin America, coupling healthy economic growth with popular social programs that lifted more than 30 million out of poverty during his presidency from 2003 to 2010.

Yet investigators say much of the corruption at Petrobras happened during that period. On Friday, they called him and Rousseff the chief political beneficiaries of a scheme to fund Worker's Party campaigns with bribe money.

Federal prosecutors who ordered Friday's raids said there was evidence that the former president personally received funds from the graft scheme at Petrobras through work on a luxury beachside penthouse and a country home.

Despite Lula's denials, prosecutors say doormen, OAS engineers and third-party contractors all said the condo in Guaruja, along with at least 1 million reais ($270,000) in improvements and furnishings, was intended for his family.

Investigators also say Lula acquired two country estates in Atibaia worth 1.5 million reais, between 2010 and 2014, from businessman Jose Carlos Bumlai and builders Odebrecht and OAS.

Odebrecht representatives said the company was collaborating with a search and seizure operation at its headquarters in Sao Paulo. OAS declined to comment.

"The suspicion is that the improvements and the properties are bribes derived from the illegal gains made by OAS in the Petrobras graft scheme," the prosecutors' statement said.

Prosecutors are also investigating payments to Lula by companies involved in the Petrobras scandal that were treated officially as donations and fees for speaking appearances.

Police said they carried out dozens of search and arrest warrants in the latest round of the investigation known as Operation Carwash, after the small-time money laundering investigation that spawned the probe. Some 200 police and 30 auditors from the federal tax office took part.

Brazilian media reported on Thursday that ruling party Senator Delcidio Amaral, a major legislative ally for Rousseff before he was arrested in November, allegedly tied the president and Lula to the scandal engulfing Petrobras in a 400-page plea bargain made with prosecutors.

Separately, opponents are seeking to impeach Rousseff on the grounds that she deliberately broke budgetary laws to boost government spending as she ran for re-election in 2014.

(Additional reporting by Daniel Flynn, Alonso Soto, Maria Pia Palermo and Caroline Stauffer; Editing by Frances Kerry)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Beijing: China will raise its defence spending by seven to eight per cent this year, a top official said on Friday. It is a smaller increase than the double-digit rises of the past as Beijing seeks a more efficient military.

At the same time the rising power is increasing its military heft and asserting its territorial claims in the South China Sea, raising tensions with its neighbours and with Washington.

"China's military budget will continue to grow this year but the margin will be lower than last year's and the previous years," said Fu Ying, spokeswoman for the National People's Congress (NPC), the Communist-controlled parliament.

"It will be between seven and eight percent."

The exact increase will be announced on Saturday at the opening of the NPC, Fu told reporters.

The reduced increase comes as China under President Xi Jinping seeks to craft a more efficient and effective Peoples Liberation Army (PLA), the worlds largest standing military.

It unveiled a revamped military structure at the start of the year, establishing a new army general command and a Rocket Force to oversee its strategic missiles.

At a giant military parade in Beijing last year to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Japans World War II defeat, Xi announced the PLA would be reduced by 300,000 personnel.

The parade also saw more than a dozen carrier-killer anti-ship ballistic missiles rolling through the streets of the capital, with state television calling them a "trump card" in potential conflicts and "one of China's key weapons in asymmetric warfare".

Analysts say that for a fraction of the cost of an aircraft carrier  for decades the mainstay of Washington's ability to project power around the world  the DF-21D missile threatens to alter the military balance in the Pacific.

At the parade, Xi said China's troops would "carry out the noble mission of upholding world peace", faithfully protect national security, and would never "seek hegemony".

Fu said on Friday that the country was "pushing forward military reform" to achieve those goals.

The military budget was determined by both China's defence needs and the national economic situation, she added  the country saw its weakest growth in a quarter of a century last year.

In 2015 the budget was increased by 10.1 per cent, bringing it to 886.9 billion yuan ($141.4 billion at the time).

"Xi Jinping will be determined to increase the military capabilities of the PLA in spite of the slowing growth of China's economy," said James Char, a researcher at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

"More money is required to facilitate the troop reduction in terms of the remuneration packages and compensation to those affected by the cuts."

Char and many other analysts believe China's actual military spending is significantly higher than officially publicised

AFP
Istanbul: Turkish police Thursday killed two female assailants who hurled grenades and opened fire at an Istanbul police station before taking cover inside a nearby building, Turkish media reports said.

The two women  whose identity and affiliation were not clear  had holed up in an apartment in the Bayrampasa neighbourhood of the megacity after their attack.

Police then launched an assault on the apartment, "neutralising" the two, the official Anatolia news agency said, quoting police sources. There were no reports of other casualties.

According to the Dogan news agency, the two women had thrown several grenades then opened fire at the riot police headquarters. Officers returned fire, injuring one of the attackers before they fled to the nearby building.

Turkey has been on a state of alert for months since a series of deadly attacks on its soil.

Last month, 29 people were killed in a car bombing that targeted a military convoy in Ankara, which was claimed by the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), who have been linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

In the last year, there were four deadly bomb attacks blamed on Islamic State (IS) jihadists, including the deadliest in Turkey's modern history that killed 103 people in Ankara in October.

There have also been sporadic attacks by radicals from the outlawed ultra-leftist Revolutionary People's Liberation PartyFront (DHKP-C).

AFP
Washington: Democratic presidential front runner Hillary Clinton has slammed her Republican rival Donald Trump for his hate-filled vision and has described the real-estate tycoon as "terrifying".

"I think Donald Trump is terrifying, and I absolutely hate what he stands for," Clinton said in an email to her supporters, hours after Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee blasted his party's own presidential front runner.

"I hate how he insults women, people of colour, and entire countries when it suits him. I hate his total lack of understanding of complex issues that impact Americans," Clinton, 68, said in her email on Thursday.

"I hate that he said he 'didn't know enough' about the KKK to disavow an endorsement from its former leader - what does he need to know? Its the KKK! But here's what I hate most: He could be our next president," Clinton said.

Earlier in the day, Trump, 69, claimed that he was the only one who can defeat Clinton in the November presidential elections.

Clinton and Trump fast tracked their race to the White House after posting big wins in the recent crucial multi-state 'Super Tuesday' primaries to stay on course for clinching their parties' presidential nominations.

Both won seven primaries of the Democratic and Republican parties as the possibility of a November presidential election showdown between the two seemed likely.

Clinton has attacked controversial Trump before also.

Attacking Trump's pledge to "make America great again", Clinton said "America never stopped being great!".

PTI
Chandrika Bandarnaike Kumaratunga, is much more than a former president and prime minister. She is the architect of the political arrangement which showed strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa the door. She may not be a minister or hold a party position, but remains the glue which holds together this government of national unity, headed by SLFP President Maithripala Sirisena and run by UNP Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe.

Kumaratunga was in Delhi for the Raisina Dialogue, and took a few minutes off her busy schedule to speak to Firstpost. Kumaratunga revealed for the first time that the slain LTTE leader Prabhakaran regretted not accepting the political package she had given to the Tamils while she was president. She was told about this by a expatriate Tamil professional who worked out of London and often traveled back home to Jaffna.

Prabhakaran is said to told this man, ``I regret I didnt take it. Kumaratungas offer was the most that any Sinhalese leader could have extended to the Tamils. She admits that today, the government is not in a position to offer what she had done at that time. Nor are the Tamils asking for it as they know that Sinahala chauvinism fanned during the Rajapaksa regime would never give as much.

Chandrika was the main mover in getting the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party, (a party founded by her father) to join hands with the United National Party and to throw out President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the January 2015 presidential polls. Without her backing, Sirisena, a low key minister in Rajapaksas cabinet would never have been accepted by the majority of the SLFP. Her voice, not just as a former president but the daughter of two former prime ministers lent weight to the argument and led to the eventual defeat of the Rajapaksa.

The former president hates her as ``I am not a robber and murderer like him,she said.

President Sirisena had offered to change the Constituion if she wished to take a constitutional position now, but she refused. She is happy doing work for her foundation and working as the Chairperson for National Unity and Reconstruction, a semi autonomous body working under the President.

There is talk about a new Constitution in Sri Lanka. What is your view on this? Does the country need a new Constitution or amend some of the clauses in the existing to give Tamils and Muslim minorities their rights A new Constitution will take years and years.Remember what happened in Nepal?

Chandrika Kumaratunga: We will have a new Constitution. But we dont have to start from scratch, as we will incorporate many of things which are already there. The process is on, it will have to be approved by Parliament and there have to be widespread consultations.

Are police and control of land by the provincial councils still the stumbling blocks? Earlier these two issues held up the passing of the 13th amendment. Has Sri Lanka moved beyond these two sticking points? Do you think that we in India give too much importance to the 13th amendment?

CK: It has nothing to do with India. We want to do it. Our people want it. The Tamils and Muslims want it. Of course, our friends in the international community like India and the west encourage us as they believe this is a major way of bringing about durable peace in the country. Many of the aspects of the 13th amendment are already there. But more is needed. Yes, control of land and police remain major issues.

How will Sri Lanka now finally get around the tricky business of land and police?

CK : I certainly cannot talk about that now. It is still a work in progress.

Will the new Constitution give as much as the political package you offered to the LTTE? You as President had given the Tamils the best deal. But Prabhakaran refused, instead there was an attack in Trincomalee harbor and after that it was all round war.

CK : Yes, the Trincomalee attack took place in 2006. As you were mentioning the political package we offered, I must tell you this. I was out of power and Mahinda Rajapaksa became the president had fooled Prabhakaran into supporting him for elections. Of course he went after the LTTE relentlessly and finished him after that. Some members of the diaspora, people, professionals who were in touch with the LTTE and also knew me told me once, that after a meeting with Prabhakaran, at the end of the chat they asked him about my political package. He is reported to have said he regretted not accepting it.

Are the ordinary Tamils in the northern province involved in the move for bringing those responsible for war crimes to justice? Is this being led mainly by expatriate Tamils? What is the mood of the ordinary folks in the province.

CK : For the average Tamils in the northern province, the focus is looking for their loved ones who are missing, getting repatriation, going back to the homes and getting land back which was grabbed by the forces. The army under Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was allowed to take over land and do business, surreptitiously. The military runs boutique hotels, has huge farms and runs thriving businesses. The government is helping the people to slowly get back their land. The poor people want to get on with issues of livelihood, they want development. This year, work on reconstruction is beginning in the right earnest in the north and east : irrigation, roads, hospitals, schools and monuments destroyed during the civil war. The educated Tamils want those responsible for war crimes to be brought to book. But the move is fueled by the Tamil diaspora organisations who want it for their existence. Earlier it was war and injustice, now it is this . They need funding.

What is the reaction in Sri Lanka about Rajapaksa being tried before the International Criminal Court at The Hague? Do people want it?

CK: The Sinhala people want Rajapkasa and his cohorts to be tried for corruption and killings in the South of the island. The regime was responsible for murdering of journalists and some politicians. I have already said that in the north it is the educated who want this.

Considering that governments across the world now commit all sorts of atrocities in the name of fighting terror, do you think perhaps the world has been somewhat more prescriptive when it comes to Sri Lanka?

CK : When we think of what the US did in Iraq and other places, Sri Lanka fades in comparison. But we are a small country. We are dependent on the rest of the world for our development. But at a personal level as someone who has been a human rights activist all my life, it does not mean that just because the Americans do it, or did it, we should also do the same. That cannot be an excuse and not acceptable to me. Those responsible should be brought to book. We are having a domestic investigation, not an international probe, but considering that many in the judiciary, not all, are corrupt, we have to choose the right people to oversee. All this is being set up and I support it.

Have you been to Jaffna? I remember your husband traveled to Jaffna when no Sinhalese politician would do so. The Tamil people have much regard for him. What was their response to you?

CK : On several occasions, I went to Jaffna during the Rajapaksa regime, after the war. I went secretly, if he knew he would have got me killed. Rajapaksa is vindictive, after all I am not a robber and a murderer like him..I went to give solar power units to the people who had returned to their homes. I went during the day and there were mostly the women, the men had left for the fields. The people were disappointed that I had not given them notice as they would have arranged a reception and given me a meal. They were very happy to see me. I went also during the election campaign for our candidate, and I got an overwhelming reception. They were huge crowds.

Are the people bitter ?

CK : Not bitter, but frightened. But not with me.

How do you see the future of the UNP and the SLFP? Two opposing parties came together to save the country from the Rajapaksas rule, but afterwards what happens?

CK : We will finish the full five year term. Next elections we shall see. Possibly contest as two parties and form the government again together

And your political future ?

CK : I am not greedy for power. I have done my bit for my country. I don't want to be pinned down. Me and my family have never been in politics for power. We have given and not taken. My foundations are my passion and I also involved with the Chair for National Unity and Reconciliation.
Ankara: A Turkish court on Friday sentenced two Syrian smugglers to four years and two months each in prison over the death of 3-year-old Syrian boy Aylan Kurdi and four other people, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

The court in the Aegean resort of Bodrum convicted the two of human trafficking but acquitted them of the charge of causing the deaths through deliberate negligence, the agency said.

The image of the boy's lifeless body lying face down on a Turkish beach galvanised world attention on the refugee crisis, graphically illustrating the magnitude of the migrants' suffering.

Aylan's brother, Galip, and mother, Rihan, were also among the five victims who drowned when their boat went down in the ill-fated journey from Bodrum to the Greek island of Kos last year. While Turkish authorities have given the boy's first name as Aylan, his aunt says the family prefers that it be transliterated as Alan.

Trials in Turkey usually take months  even years  to conclude, but the verdict, which came just a month after the trial opened, appeared to be an effort by the country to show that it is cracking down on human traffickers, just days before a 7 March summit between Turkey and the European Union to discuss the migrant crisis.

Turkey is under pressure to reduce the tide of migrants to Europe and to combat the smuggling rings since it reached a deal with the EU in November. Under the deal, Turkey is scheduled to receive a 3 billion euro ($3.26 billion) fund to help the country deal with Syrian refugees.

The defendants, Syrian nationals Muwafaka Alabash and Asem Alfrhad, had denied any responsibility in the migrants' deaths. Instead, they blamed Aylan's father, Abdullah Kurdi, for the deaths  accusing him of organising the trip. Prosecutors had sought maximum 35 years in prison for each.

Abdullah Kurdi has since returned to Syria.

Turkish officials say authorities in 2015 detained more than 4,400 smugglers who organise the often-dangerous crossings in frail boats.

AP
The Donald Trump show has been a lot of fun. En route to what now seems to be his certain nomination as US Republican presidential candidate, he has torn strips off his opponents, joked about his prowess as a builder and boasted of his billions. But even as his tactics prove stunningly effective, the conventional wisdom continues to be that his outbursts and schoolyard taunts  not to mention his politics  make him unelectable against Hillary Clinton come November.

Suggest a bar on Muslims entering the United States? Racist lunacy, say the establishment commentators. Talk of building a wall on the Mexican border? Self-destructive rabble-rousing, the grandees from Trump's own party complain. Trump, they say, makes Clinton a White House shoo-in.

But they should also stop to ask Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio how such conventional wisdom has worked out so far in the Republican race.
The use and abuse of economic modelling has become so bad in Australia that we need to adopt a code of conduct for economic consultants, similar to those followed by auditors and actuaries, the Australia Institute says.

The Australia Institute is calling for a code of conduct to be introduced in the wake of the saga surrounding modelling produced by BIS Shrapnel on Thursday, which purports to show the economic consequences of restricting negative gearing to new residential properties.

The modelling was being championed by Treasurer Scott Morrison, who said it showed Labor's proposal on negative gearing was ill-designed.

It predicted that abolishing negative gearing on established dwellings would wipe $19 billion from Australia's gross domestic product and push up rental prices by 10 per cent.
Pell said paedophilia was a broader societal issue, but admitted there had been a "disproportionate amount" within the Catholic church in the past. "We have to plead guilty to that," he said.

"I didn't want a punch-up that made things worse for the church and for them," he said.

He admitted to feeling scared before the meeting with victims that it would become an ugly confrontation.

He said failure to protect children from paedophiles within the church in both Melbourne and Ballarat was "colossal failure of leadership" by those above him but excused himself as having no "real power" or knowledge at the time to act.

Pell also addressed the most controversial moment of the four day hearing where he said the "sad story" of abuse by Ridsdale "wasn't of much interest" to him when he first heard it.

In a convoluted explanation of the "bad slip", Pell said that in the 1990s, after he had left Ballarat, he "never liked reading in detail about these matters".

"Things that were professionally necessary to know, I was completely ready to study them," he said. "To suggest from that bad slip that I was somehow uninterested in the issue is completely contradicted by the whole of my life."

Pell said he was viewed as an "evil, insensitive stereotype" and a "hate figure" but would not resign because it would be taken as an admission of guilt. Although, he said he would have to tender his resignation anyway when he turns 75 in June because of church protocol. His resignation may not be accepted.
Consumers allege intimidation and evasion Ms Alexander alleged that Thermomix spent eight months holding out on a refund that was eventually awarded, spending most of that time attempting to force her to sign a confidentiality agreement as a condition of that refund. She began having problems with her Thermomix's lid rotating towards unlocking during operation within weeks of her 2014 purchase, she said. Thermomix initially refused to refund her, but sent out a voluntary recall and safety bulletin and gave her a replacement seal.

She began a fight for a refund that took more than eight months and a hearing before the New South Wales Fair Trading Department. Thermomix first tried a phone call from a lawyer, then to force her to sign the gagging clause in return for a refund, then to sign a document she felt was untruthful in return for a refund. She held out and the tribunal found she was entitled to a refund. "I had already been warned of these tactics by a fellow customer so was luckily, prepared. Most customers give up and get scared and give in so aren't legally allowed to discuss their refunds," she said. She said she knew others whose problems persisted despite the new seal and she believed the problem was mechanical but Thermomix was avoiding a full product recall.

"I'm terrified that a young child will get burnt," Ms Alexander, a firefighter, said. "When I owned that machine, my eldest was three and I would sit her on the bench to use the Thermomix with me and teach her how to cook." Dianella mother Anita Carbone said she bought the old machine shortly before the safety bulletin in 2014. She had issues with the new seal and asked "many times in writing" what exactly the lid problem was, but said Thermomix would not specify other than saying the lid was not secure and had the potential to leak. It refused to refund her. She said "just shoving" a $2000 appliance in a cupboard was not an option for many consumers who had saved hard for one, and so she continued to use hers with extreme caution.

But she did not let her children "anywhere near it". . Credit:Getty "It is a huge expense for some, and to have a company not support your purchase makes you angry," she said. "Thermomix's poor conduct regarding these known to be faulty machines is a disgrace. They've been in court dealing with unhappy customers since last year and ramping up their PR here in Australia, using chefs to endorse them and media campaigns." Thermomix's response

Thermomix released a statement on its website saying that since being made aware of the burns incident in January, Thermomix had been cooperative. "We have made, and continue to make, every endeavour to work with Ms Jones to investigate," the company wrote. "Unfortunately, Ms Jones has declined our requests. "Without a thorough investigation of the appliance, the manufacturer is unable to determine the cause of this incident." Thermomix further told WAtoday that its 300,000 Australian customers were a "strong and engaged community".

"Through our consultants and our thriving online community, our relationship with our customers continues to grow through ongoing education, support and interaction," it stated. "Any incident relating to one of our products is something we take very seriously." A Slater and Gordon spokeswoman said the legal firm was representing Ms Jones. She said the firm would look carefully to see if Thermomix had any liability to people injured while using these machines because of product defects. An ex-consultant, who did not wish to be named, said she owned both models and thought safety features were adequate.
Washington: Amid calls for an unprecedented plot by the Republican leadership to block Donald Trump's bid for the White House, the man who was the party's presidential candidate in 2012, Mitt Romney, has branded Trump as unacceptable - a "phoney", a "fraud", a "conman".

And within minutes of Romney's extraordinary denunciation, Senator John McCain who was the party's nominee in 2008, piled on - bludgeoning Trump with an open letter in which dozens of conservative security experts and one-time advisers condemn Trump's national-security prowess.

As Trump continues to chalk up a succession of victories in state-by-state primary polls, what The New York Times describes as a "small but influential and growing" band of Republican figures is pressing for the GOP establishment to block Trump on two fronts - a third-party option by which Republican voters would be offered a choice beyond Trump and the Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton; and funding for a massive advertising campaign to destroy the Trump candidacy.
Trump also called Mr. Romney a "lightweight," a "choke artist" and "a failed candidate," referring to his 2012 loss to President Obama. Donald Trump's success in the primaries has the Republican establishment increasingly worried. "He failed horribly," Trump said. It was evident that Romney's pointed remarks describing Trump's business skill as overrated were particularly effective at getting under Trump's skin. The Manhattan real estate developer went on an extended rant about his wealth, listing his largest building projects and suggesting that Romney, a multimillionaire, was not that rich.

"I'm a much, much better businessman than him," Trump said. Earlier Romney, the former 2012 Republican candidate, stepped up the fight against the man who may carry the party's torch in 2016, Donald Trump, using words like "phoney" and "fraud" in a speech that asserted Trump's nomination would put Hillary Clinton in the White House. It was a standoff that seemed preordained as Trump's grip on the nomination has tightened and Republican leaders have begun to panic: Romney, perhaps the ultimate Republican establishment figure, lashing out against Trump, the party's ultimate antagonist. "Here's what I know: Donald Trump is a phoney, a fraud," Romney said at a speech at the University of Utah. "A person so untrustworthy and dishonest as Hillary Clinton must not become president. But a Trump nomination enables her victory," Romney said.

He attacked Trump's promises as "worthless as a degree from Trump University," while at the same time warning that carrying out those promises would doom the country. "His domestic policies would lead to recession," Romney said. "His foreign policies would make America and the world less safe. He has neither the temperament nor the judgment to be president. And his personal qualities would mean that America would cease to be a shining city on a hill." Romney also highlighted Mr Trump's remarks about women and his stumbling when asked to denounce his endorsement by white supremacists as further reasons he was unfit to be president. "This is an individual who mocked a disabled reporter, who attributed a reporter's questions to her menstrual cycle, who mocked a brilliant rival who happened to be a woman due to her appearance, who bragged about his marital affairs, and who laces his public speeches with vulgarity," Romney said. "Donald Trump says he admires Vladimir Putin, while has called George W. Bush a liar. That is a twisted example of evil trumping good."

The clash between the two very wealthy men, who were onetime allies (Trump publicly endorsed Romney in 2012), is emblematic of the Republican party's internal struggle. Romney, who contemplated running again this year, views Trump's ascendancy as an assault on the party's policies, and his divisive language as damaging to its political goals. Trump has consciously tried to dismantle everything Romney has stood for, casting him as a horrible candidate who got decimated in his own run for the White House. It is unknown what Romney's speech will accomplish in political terms, and also at whom it was directed - but clearly Trump was one audience member. Trump's core supporters have stuck with him, and often celebrated establishment attacks against their favoured candidate. But Romney may be trying to reach a group of Republicans not currently committed to Trump who increasingly say in polls that they might be satisfied with Trump as the nominee. He may also be taking a longer view articulated by South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham and others: that the party must distance itself from Trump, even if it costs them the general election.
China's National People's Congress (NPC) begins its annual meetings Saturday, and there are a number of key pieces of legislation the country's top legislative body may review that have already raised concerns both at home and abroad.

Some of the controversial measures include a Foreign Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Management Law, State Security Law, and the Counterterrorism Law, as well as proposals to protect lawyers.

On Friday, in a letter addressed to NPC chairman Zhang Dejiang, the international rights group Human Rights Watch urged the nearly 3,000 delegate body to reject or revise laws that threaten domestic and international human rights guarantees.

Chinas assaults on free speech, peaceful protests and human rights defenders by the Xi Jinping administration have been unrelenting, wrote Sophie Richardson, China director of the U.S.-based group.

Any efforts the NPC can make to reject rights-eroding legislation will be a glimmer of hope for people across China, she wrote.

The rights group urged the congress to bring controversial legislation, including a Charity Law, into conformity with similar international legislation and standards.

Sharing similar concerns last week, the ambassadors to Beijing of the United States, Canada, Germany, Japan and the European Union also voiced their concern about laws on counterterrorism, cyber security and the management of foreign NGOs, which they say will have the potential to impede commerce, stifle innovation, and infringe on Chinas obligation to protect human rights in accordance with international laws.

The foreign NGO management law, in particular, tops the worry list of the China Human Rights Lawyers Concerned Group. It is expected to give Chinas police extensive power to impose fines, disperse social gatherings or conduct raids without due judicial process or supervision, said Kit Chan, the groups Hong Kong-based spokesperson.

This kind of limitation is not clear. Its just like any other Chinese laws at the moment, namely, Criminal Law or the Criminal Procedure Law that we see, there are a lot of vague and imprecise terms being used. Then, eventually, it will go into the interpretation by the police, Chan said.



NGO regulation needed



But NPC spokeswoman Fu Ying rebutted such criticism, saying the law is well-intended to regulate the growing number of foreign NGOs in China, which is currently at 7,000.



[The law] aims to provide a more regulated legal environment. It isnt meant to prohibit or restrict foreign NGOs beneficial or legal activities in China, Fu told an international news conference, praising the good work of NGOs in fighting desertification in her hometown of Inner Mongolia.



Rights groups argue the controversial laws highlight Chinas efforts to use legislation to tighten controls on society in the name of national security.



Now its not just about the law, its anything that they [China] are going [use] to control the civil society is being put under the pretext of national security, Chan said. The thing is we dont really see any clear evidence of proof that they can present to justify.



Like other rights groups and diplomats, Chan expressed hope that NPC delegates can take the private sectors voices into consideration when amending the laws.



Party rubber-stamp

But Zhang Qianfan, a law professor from Peking University, advised activists not to get their hopes up.

The civil society hopes to have their voice heard during the [NPC] meetings or invite more attention. But the NPC isnt an important policy-making body at all. Although it is so stated in the Constitution, the NPC is seen by many only as a rubber-stamp [for party decisions], Zhang said.

In defense of the NPC, Fu said its upcoming sessions will be vital in facilitating a sound legal environment for China.

When asked to comment on the recent crackdown of rights lawyers, Fu gave a diplomatic response.

Were now actively promoting the rule of law. A healthy array of lawyers is important to properly implement the nations laws and regulations while maintaining social equality and justice Meanwhile, lawyers rights to practice law should be protected, Fu said.

Both Zhang and Chan called the response ironic lip service.

According to statistics of the China Human Rights Lawyers Concerned Group, 317 lawyers and their associates have been arrested, detained, under residential surveillance or missing, as of Friday. A majority of those who run into trouble with authorities for their work have also been denied of legal representation.
TWIN FALLS  Ordinary citizens can make a difference in government.

The Max Dalton Open Government Award honors those who are outspoken advocates of openness in either public records or public meetings.

Nominations for the 2016 award are due by March 11.

A lot of people think that government is closed to them, Tom Grote, executive director of the Idaho Newspaper Foundation, said Monday. But you dont have to be an attorney or a journalist (to see public records or attend public meetings).

The award honors those who wouldnt take no from city hall, Grote said.

Every year, a committee composed of open government advocates and past winners of the award selects a winner from nominees.

Last years winner was Heidi Knittel, who runs a case management program at STARR Family Behavioral Health in Boise. Knittel filed a public records request with the state to release data on the number and types of mental health cases since a contract was issued in 2013 to Optum Idaho, a private company. The public records request was denied, but the attention drawn to the matter by Knittel and news reports led to the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee voting to a review of Optums contract by Office of Performance Evaluation.

The ACLU of Idaho, which fought to extract government records regarding a private prison company, was selected in 2014.

The award, sponsored by the Idaho Newspaper Foundation, includes a custom-made art plate and $1,000.

Nominations should include specific examples where the nominee has used Idahos open meeting or public records laws.

Where possible, provide Web links to published new stories or broadcasts, or provide newspaper clippings, correspondence or other independent evidence of the nominees open-government activities.

The award is named for Max Dalton of Meridian, who filed a public records lawsuit that resulted in the 1984 landmark Idaho Supreme Court ruling Dalton v. Idaho Dairy Products Commission, and reinforced the right of every Idaho citizen to have swift, convenient access to state records. Dalton was killed, at age 78, in 1997 by squatters on his ranch in Costa Rica.
About Me Mohd. Kamal bin Abdullah I am Mohd. Kamal bin Abdullah, who resides in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. I hold a post-graduate law degree from the United Kingdom. I blog to tell MALAYSIANS THE TRUTH. View my complete profile

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Israels Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer stated that Tel Aviv supports the aspirations of the Kurds for independence, comparing their struggle to that of the Israelis.

This came in a statement relayed by Iraniennes.com.

The Kurds have been fighting for their independence under the banner of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in territories divided between Iraq, Turkey and Syria. Kurds have a semi-autonomous government in Iraqs Kurdistan region.

Dermer who compared the struggle of the Kurds to that of the Israelis said that Israel is backing the Kurds in their struggle for independence and praising their efforts in the war against ISIS. The Ambassador didnt dwell on the type of support the Kurds receive from Israel but further stated that we feel there are strong relations between Jews and Kurds and between Israel and Kurdistan.

His statement could irk authorities in Turkey as they are strongly against the creation of an independent Kurdish state and consider armed Kurdish groups as a threat to national security. Ankara has been shelling Kurdish groups along its border with Syria and also engaged in fighting the PKK along its Iraqi border since July after a fragile ceasefire failed. PKK is considered as a terrorist organization by Turkey.

On Thursday, Tukey decided to lift the 24 hour curfew that was imposed on the southeastern Turkish town of Cizre since mid-December as part of a crackdown on the PKK between 5am and 7:30pm every day.

Israel has rocky relations with Turkey but the waves have become calmer over the past few months.
A senior United Nations official on Wednesday said the death toll from South Sudans two-year civil war may have reached 50,000 or more.

According to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, fifty thousands have died in the two-year conflict and the countrys economy is in ruins, in addition to 2.2 million or more refugees and displaced.

Weeks ago local NGOs said the conflict has triggered a humanitarian crisis with 2.3 million people forced out of their homes and 4.6 million in need of emergency food.

UN-backed experts warned of a concrete risk of famine before the end of the year if fighting continues.

Civil war erupted in South Sudan in December 2013, setting off a cycle of retaliatory killings that split the poverty-stricken, landlocked country along ethnic lines.

The country is at a critical juncture. Decisions made in the coming weeks will determine whether the country will continue the process of pulling back from further war and economic ruin or falling back into conflict and economic crisis.

The country was admitted Wednesday into the regional East African Community (EAC,) a bloc which works to encourage trade and simplify customs duties between members.
Zambian officials welcomed a Turkish power ship which is expected to generate some 100 megawatts of electricity to meet the countrys energy needs.

The ship, which belongs to Turkish power company Karadeniz, will burn heavy fuel oil and has a nameplate capacity of 100 MW. It has been contracted by Mozambican utility EDM, which will sell the power on to neighboring Zambia.

Zambia had one of Africas fastest growing economies  expanding on average 7% annually over the past five years  driven by mining of its huge copper and cobalt reserves.

However, with increasingly erratic seasonal rainfall causing severe water shortages at the countrys hydropower plants, Zesco, the states sole power utility, says it has been forced to cut back on electricity supply to households and industries.

The power ship will join other independent power producers in augmenting state power companies in generating power to satisfy Zambias energy needs, local media said.

Its the second power ship Karadeniz has deployed to Africa after a 225 MW unit arrived in Ghana last year November.
President Barack Obama announced yesterday he was extending US sanctions on Robert Mugabes regime for another year, saying the current regime represents an unusual and extraordinary threat to the foreign policy of the United State.

I have sent to the Federal Register for publication the enclosed notice stating that the national emergency originally declared in Executive Order 13288 of March 6, 2003, and renewed every year since then, is to continue in effect beyond March 6, 2016, said the US president in a statement.

Washington imposed the sanctions in 2003, reacting to allegations of gross human rights abuses and electoral fraud levelled against President Robert Mugabes administration.

The threat constituted by the actions and policies of certain members of the Government of Zimbabwe and other persons to undermine Zimbabwes democratic processes or institutions, contributing to the deliberate breakdown in the rule of law, to politically motivated violence and intimidation, and to political and economic instability in the southern African region, has not been resolve, the statement affirmed.

Zimbabwes descent into political and economic crisis began 15 years ago, when Mugabe lost a referendum on a new constitution that would have expanded the powers of a man who has ruled the country since independence in 1980.
Nigers opposition coalition is calling for the release of Hama Amadou, former Prime Minister and presidential candidate jailed for alleged baby-trafficking charges.

The move comes ahead of the second round of presidential polls slated for March 20 in the west-African nation.

We demand Hamas release. If President Mahamadou Issoufou has any pride, all he has to do is free him and face him fair and square, opposition coalition spokesman Ousseini Salatou said.

Hama Amadous conditions were increasingly difficult, however he was very serene, Salatou said.

Known as the Zaki or lion in Hausa, the majority language in Niger, the incumbent president won less than 50 per cent of the vote in a tense poll held last month in the uranium producing nation, forcing a run-off with Hama Amadou.

A total of 14 parties had earlier vowed to come together behind whoever emerged as the presidents opponent in the case of a second round.

Amadou, known as the Phoenix for his ability to rise from the ashes, is in jail on baby trafficking-related charges which he denies.

Opposition members accused Issoufou of suppressing dissent and arresting several members of rival parties in the run-up to the polls.

The president dismissed criticism of the arrest as politically motivated, but the detention cast a shadow over the electoral process.

Issoufou staked his re-election campaign on his security achievements during his first term.

He also promised to take on poverty if re-elected, the same pledge he made when he took office in 2011. Heavy spending on security meant that citizens, the majority of whom live in rural areas, did not witness any change during his presidency.
Zambias former defense minister Geoffrey Mwamba arrested on Wednesday, has been released on bail, local media reported.

Mwamba, also popularly known as GBM, was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of conducting drills of party supporters to become an illegal militia, police said on Wednesday.

He has been charged with illegal drilling and will appear in court on March 10, police spokeswoman Charity Chanda had told reporters.

Police last Saturday rounded up 21 youths at a gym owned by Mwamba.

Home Affairs Minister Davis Mwila told parliament on Wednesday that police found a pistol, ammunition and machetes when they raided the gym.

If convicted, Mwamba, United Party for National Development vice-president in charge of administration could face at least seven years in jail.

The partys President Hakainde Hichilema, who lost narrowly to Lungu in the last election, denied that his party was setting up a militia force and vowed to oust Lungu in the election.

Zambia will hold presidential and parliamentary elections on Aug. 11 under a new constitution.

The elections are expected to be tight contest between President Edgar Lungus ruling Patriotic Front (PF) party and Hakainde Hichilemas opposition United Party for National Development (UPND).

Presidential elections were previously held in Zambia in January 2015 to elect a president to serve out the remainder of the term of President Michael Sata, following his death on October 28, 2014. Lungu narrowly won the election with 48.3 percent of the vote.
Thousands of pregnant girls, excluded from mainstream schools and barred from sitting for exams in Sierra Leone last year, have now been placed into both primary and secondary schools nationwide, a government official said on Thursday.

According to Brima Turay, Deputy Director of Communication from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, All the girls have been properly placed now.

The government is responsible for their fees for the next two years while the ministry is mapping out a project with donor agencies for more sustainable programs for the girls, he said.

The programs will include the expansion of some 377 schools that are currently congested so that by 2017, every classroom will accommodate not more than 45 students. A school feeding program will also be introduced.

Last year, the Minister of Education, Science and Technology issued a statement banning pregnant girls from school settings.

The practice of barring pregnant girls from attending school has been informally enforced for years.

However, Amnesty International published a report called Shamed and blamed: Pregnant girls rights at risk in Sierra Leone showing that the ban against the pregnant girls was enforced with humiliating physical checks that actually discouraged pregnant and non-pregnant girls from attending schools.

In 2004, after the end of the civil war, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommended that the government stop the practice of excluding pregnant girls from education. The Commission called this practice discriminatory and archaic.
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A new article "A Case Exemplar for National Policy Leadership: Expanding Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE)," in the March 2016 Journal of Gerontology, chronicles the beginnings of PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) and outlines its rise to nationwide acceptance. PACE is a viable and sustainable model of community-based long-term care that provides coordinated and comprehensive services with an interdisciplinary patient-centered team model that is paid for through Medicare, Medicaid, and other insurers.

Written by two nurse-leaders, Tara A. Cortes, PhD, RN, FAAN, and Eileen M. Sullivan-Marx, PhD, RN, FAAN, the article recognizes the advocates and leaders who have driven the model forward, describing the impact of nursing on the legislation and policy.

It also highlights the nurses, such as Drs. Cortes and Sullivan-Marx, who for decades worked in various key political, policy, and clinical leadership positions behind the scenes and out on the front lines with community advocates, policy makers, and legislative groups to advocate and demonstrate the viability of the program.

"PACE provides coordinated acute, chronic care, and long-term services in an integrated seamless approach to healthcare by an interdisciplinary team across the care continuum," said Drs. Cortes and Sullivan-Marx. "This integrated and holistic patient-centered approach, made possible using a capitated financing payment model, results in greater longevity, better health outcomes, and a better quality of life for patients and their caregivers enrolled in the program."

Most importantly, PACE has demonstrated that it can keep individuals in the community and delay admission to institutions for an average of two (2) years.

"The program offers fully integrated Medicare and Medicaid services for dually eligible adults 55 and older who meet the criteria for nursing home level of care but are able to live in the community at the time they are enrolled," said Drs. Cortes and Sullivan-Marx.

In November 2015, President Obama signed into law, an expansion of PACE. The PACE Innovation Act (PIA) allows the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to develop pilot projects based on the successful PACE Model of Care.

"The PIA allows CMS to bring the PACE model to more populationsincluding younger individuals, people with multiple chronic conditions and disabilities, seniors who do not yet meet the nursing home level of care standard, and others," said Drs. Cortes and Sullivan-Marx. "The goal being to improve the quality of health and life for adults 55 and younger and to reduce healthcare costs by maintaining individuals in, or returning them to, the community."

In the article, the authors take the reader through a brief historical overview of the PACE program, beginning with its genesis in the 1970s in San Francisco's Asian community, touching on legislative milestones along the way, which allowed the program to successfully expand nationally throughout the next four decades.

In its 2012 report to Congress, the Medicare payment Advisory Commission (MEDPAC), an independent Congressional agency established by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 to advise the U.S. Congress on issues affecting the Medicare program, included recommendations to expand the PACE Model of Care.

Support for the legislation was built over the next three years through discussions and "ownership" from groups that would be needed to promote this expansion program to Congress. Organizations such as the National PACE Association, Alzheimer's Association, March of Dimes, and some consumer advocacy groups became engaged as proponents of this expansion.

On November 5, 2015, with the stroke of the Presidential pen, PIA became law. Specifically, PIA amends title XI of the Social Security Act to authorize the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to waive applicable general and Medicaid requirements of PACE in section 11934 of the Social Security Act to conduct demonstration projects through the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovations (CMMI) that involve PACE.

"The PACE Innovation Act also encourages CMS to allow operational flexibilities that would not only support adaptation of the PACE model for new populations but also promote PACE growth, efficiency, and innovation," said Drs. Cortes and Sullivan-Marx. "CMS now needs to use this broad authority to create PACE demonstration programs to establish the ability of this program to improve outcomes, enhance patient experience, and be cost-effective. This program offers new opportunities to existing PACE providers and other for-profit as well as non-profit providers to explore new ways of providing services to high-need, high-cost populations."

The article concludes with some visions for the PACE expansion, grounded in the tenants of providing access to the full continuum of preventative, primary, acute and long-term services, as well as short personal biographical vignettes highlighting a selection of nurse-leaders who paved the way for PACE, and now PIA, to become reality.

"In 2006, the American Academy of Nursing (AAN) recognized the PACE Program, Living Independently For Elders (LIFE) at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing), as an Edge Runner program that meets its criteria for innovation of a nursing program that drives better care, better quality, and lower cost," said Antonia M. Villarruel, PhD, RN, FAAN, Penn Nursing Dean and Director, WHO Collaborating Center for Nursing and Midwifery Leadership. "A dedicated team of nurse leaders, including Dr. Sullivan-Marx, was integral to the success of LIFE UPENN. Through their trailblazing efforts the program expanded and thrived. In fact, the team's success was recognized as an exemplar for the Institute of Medicine (2010) Future of Nursing Report as a nurse-driven model."

Nursing has been central to the PACE care model since its inception, and nursing leaders have been crucial in its development in both policy and operational expansion. The leadership of both Drs. Sullivan-Marx and Cortes contributed to the Congressional action culminating in the signing of the PACE Innovation Act.

Explore further Nurse staffing levels key to keeping rehospitalizations down for hip/knee surgery patients

More information: Tara A. Cortes et al. A Case Exemplar for National Policy Leadership: Expanding Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), Journal of Gerontological Nursing (2016). Journal information: Journal of Gerontological Nursing Tara A. Cortes et al. A Case Exemplar for National Policy Leadership: Expanding Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE),(2016). DOI: 10.3928/00989134-20160212-04
If all patients scheduled for knee replacement were directed to high-volume hospitals for the surgery, it could save the U.S. healthcare system between $2.5 and $4 billion annually by the year 2030, according to a study at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York City.

"Numerous studies have shown lower complication rates and better outcomes in hospitals that do a high number of knee replacements compared to low-volume hospitals. Our study aimed to determine whether the lower rate of complications, hospital readmissions and revision surgeries translated into cost savings," said Jayme Burket, PhD, lead study author.

"We found that knee replacement surgery at higher-volume hospitals is less costly over a patient's lifetime and provides better outcomes, and if all knee replacements were performed at these hospitals, it could save between $15 and $23 million annually in New York State alone. With the number of procedures growing at a rapid rate nationwide, this could potentially translate into annual cost savings to society of up to $4 billion by 2030," according to Dr. Burket.

The study, "Cost-Effectiveness of Total Knee Arthroplasty at High Volume Hospitals," will be presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) on March 4, in Orlando, Florida.

"Regionalization of knee replacement surgery to high-volume hospitals has been proposed as a means for reducing escalating health care expenditures in the United States, especially given the large and growing demand for the procedure," said Stephen Lyman, PhD, study author and director of the Healthcare Research Institute at HSS.

"This is the first study to include a younger patient population in addition to Medicare patients in a cost-effectiveness analysis of total knee replacement. This is important because patients under 65 now account for about 50 percent of those having the procedure," said Douglas Padgett, MD, chief of the Adult Reconstruction and Joint Replacement Service at HSS. "The list of complications included in our study was also much more comprehensive than those in previous analyses."

Researchers compared the cost-effectiveness of elective knee replacement over a patient's lifetime in low-, medium-, high-, and very high-volume hospitals utilizing data from the New York Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System (SPARCS) from 1997-2014. The various volume categories were defined as follows:

Low volume: less than 90 total knee replacements per year.

Medium volume: 90-235 total knee replacements per year.

High volume: 236-644 total knee replacements per year.

Very high volume: 645 or more total knee replacements per year.

Complication, revision and mortality rates, as well as costs, were obtained from SPARCS for the younger (ages 55 - 65) and Medicare-age patients (65 - 75). All costs were converted into 2014 U.S. dollars.

Researchers identified, 89,796 patients in the younger group and 111,492 cases in the Medicare group. Among the young patients, 16% of surgeries were performed at low-volume hospitals; 31% at medium-volume; 32% at high-volume; and 20% at very high-volume centers.

Total knee replacement in the younger patients at very high-volume hospitals was associated with the lowest lifetime costs and the greatest benefits. Hospitals performing the most knee replacements showed significantly greater cost-effectiveness than all other hospital categories. In the Medicare group, results were similar; however, the cost savings of very high-volume centers relative to the other categories was more modest than in the younger patient group.

"Based on current trends, 2.8 million patients will be eligible to regionalize to very high-volume hospitals annually by the year 2030," Dr. Burket noted. "While regionalization may not be feasible for all patients, many low-volume hospitals are located in or near a metropolitan area with a high-volume hospital. Policy initiatives aiding to guide patients to higher-volume hospitals when available will not only reduce their risk for complications and improve outcomes, but will also considerably reduce the large financial burden knee replacement surgery places on our healthcare system. "

Explore further Joint replacement surgery riskier at hospitals with low surgical volume
30 small neurons in the hypothalamus have an analgesic effect: they trigger the release of ocytocin both in the deep bone marrow thanks to their long axons and in the bloodstream in order to inhibit the neurons that are sensitive to pain stimuli. These two mechanisms are represented, respectively, by the red dot in the bone marrow and by the drop of blood. Credit: Thomas Splettstoesser - http://www.scistyle.com/

Oxytocin plays a crucial role in modulating the response to pain, but until now the process leading to its release was unknown. An international team, coordinated by Alexandre Charlet, at the CNRS Institut des Neurosciences Cellulaires et Integratives in Strasbourg (France) and Valery Grinevich from the DKFZ in Germany, has just identified a new pain control center situated in the hypothalamus. It comprises some thirty neurons that are wholly responsible for coordinating the release of oxytocin into the blood and spinal cord, thus reducing painful sensations. These findings, which open new perspectives in the treatment of pathological pain, are detailed in an article published on 3 March 2016 in Neuron.

That hammer blow on the fingers of the weekend DIY enthusiast must have hurt. But it would have been worse if oxytocin, a peptide synthesized by a region in the brain called the hypothalamus, had not intervened very rapidly in the cerebral processes modulating the pain response. From contractions of the uterus during delivery to the release of breast milk after birth, and not forgetting its involvement in regulating social interactions, anxiety or pain, oxytocin is an essential, but currently somewhat mysterious, messenger. Indeed, the mechanisms which lead to its dissemination had never previously been deciphered.

An international team of scientists coordinated by Alexandre Charlet at the CNRS Institut des Neurosciences Cellulaires et Integratives (France) and Valery Grinevich at DKFZ (Germany) focused on the process underlying oxytocin release when pain is perceived. It discovered that the control center in the brain that coordinates the release of oxytocin only comprises some thirty neurons in the hypothalamus.

During acute pain or inflammatory sensitization (burns, pinching, cuts, etc.), information is transmitted via the peripheral nerves to neurons in the spinal cord. These interpret the intensity of the message and encode it accordingly. The information is then sent to other neurons, which include the small population of 30 small cells in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus that has been identified by Alexandre Charlet's team. These in return activate a family of large, magnocellular neurons in another region of the hypothalamus, which release oxytocin into the bloodstream. The target is the peripheral neurons that continue to send the message responsible for pain to the brain. Oxytocin has "anesthetized" them and thus reduced the pain.

However, the thirty controlling neurons do not stop there. In parallel, projections from these cells, or axons, which are up to a meter long in humans, reach the deepest of the ten layers of the spinal cord (where the intensity of the sensory message is encoded) and release oxytocin. Thus via two simultaneous pathways, they diminish retransmission of the pain signal to the brain.

Work by the team has thus explained how different populations of oxytocin neurons are coordinated in order to control interpretation of the "pain" message by the nervous system. Discovery of this analgesic control center is promising in the context of treating pathological pain. Targeting this handful of neurons could indeed diminish the adverse effects of potential therapies. At present, the team is continuing to study them, this time in order to discover their involvement in oxytocin release that enables lactation and certain sexual behaviors.

Explore further Spinal cord neurons that control pain and itch

More information: A new population of parvocellular oxytocin neurons controlling magnocellular neuron activity and inflammatory pain. Neuron, 3 March 2016. Journal information: Neuron A new population of parvocellular oxytocin neurons controlling magnocellular neuron activity and inflammatory pain., 3 March 2016. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2016.01.041
Eurycoma longifolia is recognized for its medicinal benefits. Credit: Mokkie via Wikimediacommons

A Malaysia-China joint research team explores on new medicinal uses of Malaysian traditional herbs Eurycoma longifolia, also known as Tongkat Ali.

Eurycoma longifolia, or popularly known as Tongkat Ali is recognized for its medicinal benefits and has a long history of traditional use. The root is used as a traditional remedy for various ailments such as high blood pressure, fatigue, fever, malaria and even loss of sexual desire. The plant is native to lower Burma, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia and is amongst the most sought after medicinal herb.

The medicinal value of the plant has brought Prof Sun Zai Ming, and Prof. Tian Jing Kui from China's Zhejiang University (ZU) to the University of Malaya to join forces with Prof. Rais Mustafa and his team to perform research on new medicinal uses of Malaysian traditional herbs and to develop products which can be marketed. For a start, the new medicinal uses of Tongkat Ali to combat obesity and diabetes will be explored in this collaboration.

In this tripartite collaboration anchored by the Pharmacology Department in the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Malaya, Malaysia's Hai-O Enterprise Berhad, and the Research Lab of Biomedical Informatics Engineering & Drug Discovery of Zhejiang University, the latter will isolate the active compounds in Tongkat Ali while bioassays will be carried out in the University of Malaya. Both universities will then develop medicinal products prototype based on the results. Hai-O, an established household name in healthcare products will then contribute in the development of medicinal products prototype together with both universities and play a leading role in product production as well as marketing.

Explore further Highlighting nearly 500 exotic plant species on a conservatory park in Malaysia
Tbilisi Says Imports Georgia imports Russian Electricity for Abkhazia at Preferential Price

Georgia is importing electricity from Russia to supply it to the breakaway territory of Abkhazia at a very preferential price, Georgias Deputy Energy Minister, Mariam Valishvili, said.She said it is a short-term solution, expected to run until April, which was required to prevent a massive power outage which the breakaway region was facing because of a drop in the Enguri dam's water level.Both the Georgian and Abkhaz sides first announced the import of electricity from Russia last week. The specifics of the arrangement were not made public at the time and details still remain sketchy.I cannot specify the exact amount, but I can say that we are receiving [electricity] at a very preferential price, the Georgian Deputy Energy Minister told journalists on February 25.We took this step and negotiated an agreement with Russia in order to supply additional amount of electricity to Abkhazia till April 1. The agreement has been made, and I think that everyone is satisfied with this result, she added.Abkhazia fully relies on electricity generated by the Enguri hydropower plant, whose 271.5-meter-tall concrete arch dam is located on the Georgian side of the administrative border, though its five generators are over the Abkhaz border in the Gali district.The drop in the Enguri dam's water level, caused by shortages of rain and frozen conditions that reduced flows from the Enguri River amid an increase in power consumption in the breakaway region, led to several hours of power cuts daily in Abkhazia from late January. Officials both in Tbilisi and Sokhumi were predicting a complete blackout in Abkhazia from late February in case of failure to secure additional supplies of electricity from sources other than Enguri HPP; restrictions on power supplies to households in the breakaway region were removed in mid-February after the import of electricity from Russia.
President says our fight for freedom continues as Georgia marks Soviet Occupation Day

By Messenger Staff

Georgias President, Giorgi Margvelashvili, said on February 25 - the day marking the Soviet Occupation of Georgia - that the battle for Georgias freedom is ongoing, and the country will definitely win the fight.Georgia marked the 95th anniversary of the war in which hundreds of Georgians sacrificed their lives against the Communist invaders.Ninety-five years ago, our ancestors fought for Georgias independence to prevent the country from falling under Soviet rule. After 70 years of hardship, our generation managed to win and create an independent state. Today our fight to achieve freedom from the independence is still in progress and together we will win this battle, the President said.The Day of Soviet Occupation was first officially marked in Georgia by the former government on February 25, 2010.Parliament unanimously passed a resolution instructing the government to organise various memorial events each year on February 25 to commemorate the thousands of victims of political repression of the Communist occupational regime.Georgia won its independence, but its Soviet past - especially prevalent in the national mentality - still prevents successive governments from forming an economically and politically powerful country.Twenty percent of Georgian territories are still occupied by Russia, and Moscow's creeping occupation continues.To fully achieve freedom, Georgia needs its territories back and every citizen needs to feel responsible to their country. Furthermore, Georgia needs international support to resist very obvious security threats.Russia, which is trying to expand its sphere of influence, is a chronic threat not only to Georgia, but for many other countries, as it believes that post-Soviet nations must be brought back under its control.
The News in Brief

Georgia still aspires to become a NATO  President



The National Security Council discussed the issues related to the new structure of the Armed Forces.



As InterpressNews was told by the presidential administration, reports were delivered at the session by Defence Minister Tina Khidasheli and Chief of the General Staff Vakhtang Kapanadze. `



We talked about the country's important issues, such as the structure of the military. We have established a new structure, according to which there will be two commands divided into East and West. We also talked about the very clear and firm position that we have with respect to NATO's upcoming summit and Georgias integration with NATO.



Our position and message are very clear. Georgia still aspires to become a NATO member and we are preparing for the forthcoming summit, the President said after the meeting.

(IPN)







Georgian Islamic State suspect prevented from recruitment activity



Aiup Borchashvili admits links to Umar ash-Shishani, but denies direct involvement in recruiting people to fight in Syria and Iraq.



Telavi District Court heard Aiup Borchashvili in the case of providing support to the Islamic State.



36-years-old Mr Borchashvili is a former imam of the mosque in the village of Joqolo in Pankisi Gorge. Over the course of the investigation he admitted that he gave money to three young men, so that they could go to Turkey in order to finance their religious education  not so that they could travel to Syria. The men were arrested in Tbilisi before they managed to leave the country.



The three mens names are Giorgi Khutunishvili, Davit Pirisebia, and Giorgi Kuprava. Like Mr Borchashvili, they are accused of breaching article 328 of the Criminal Code of Georgia: Association with or assisting the activities of a foreign terrorist organisation of a terrorist organisation subjected to control of a foreign country.



Mr Borchashvili again rejected claims that he had a connection with the departure of two young men to Syria. 16-years-old Muslim Kushtanashvili and 18-years-old Ramzan Baghakashvili have been reported to have joined the Islamic State in 2015. Mr Borchashvili explained that he refused to assist the mens departure, yet he agreed to accept baya (pledge of alliance) [to the Islamic State] from them.



Mr Borchashvili pointed out that at one point he visited Syria where he met his relative Tarkhan Batirashvili  a field commander at the Islamic State, widely known by his nom de guerre Abu Omar Shishani, or Abu Omar the Chechen.



Aiup said that he went to Syria in order to verify certain information about local groups that had been in circulation; who fought against whom, who had what kind of orientation. However, he doesnt take responsibility for sending people to Syria,' Gela Nikoleishvili, the defendants lawyer told ICK.



The court will continue Mr Borchashvilis hearing on 4 March.



Mr Borchashvili is accused of being a representative of the Islamic State in Georgia and assisting the departure of Georgian citizens to Syria and Iraq. He faces up to 17 years in prison.

(DF watch)







United National Movement party sends list of uninvestigated cases to PM



The United National Movement opposition party has sent a list of uninvestigated and high-profile cases to Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili.



As the partys political secretary Akaki Minashvili stated at today's briefing, there a total of 56 such cases, including 10 cases of murder or suspicious death, 5 cases of torture and inhuman treatment, 9 cases of beating, 5 cases of blackmail using personal information, 5 cases of illegal deprivation of liberty, 17 politically motivated crimes, 26 offenses committed by law enforcement officers.



"Yesterday, an armed attack was carried out in daylight against a political figure, and, unfortunately, after the 2012 elections, this is not the first time. Weve witnessed Erosi Kitsmarishvilis murder, attacks on Nugzar Tsiklauri, Chiora Taktakishvili and Giorgi Ghviniashvili.



It is regrettable that since 2012 Georgia has turned into a gangster state, where the safety of political figures is not protected and citizens are even in a worse situation. This is the result of the anti-state policy of the Georgian Dream, said Minashvili.



"When Giorgi Kvirikashvili was approved as PM, he said he would pay attention to the dozens of unsolved cases, but Kvirikashvili continues the practice of cheating the population. That is why we are sending a list of all the unsolved and uninvestigated cases to him,"- he noted.

(IPN)




WHAT HAPPENED TO THE DEMOCRAT PARTY? I can no longer remain in todays Demo Party that is now under the control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue and stoke anti-white racism, actively undermine our freedoms, are hostile to people of faith, demonize the police and protect criminals at the expense of law-abiding Americans, believe in open borders, weaponize the national security state to go after opponents.TULSI GABBARD
@PatriciaMazzei

Republicans desperately trying to stop Donald Trump from winning the presidential nomination plan a barrage of TV ads against the real-estate mogul in Florida. One of them includes a reference to the developer of Trump International Hotel & Tower Fort Lauderdale, a massive project that collapsed after Trump withdrew his name from the building.

"Donald Trump's business associates: a felon promoted to senior adviser after a stock fraud conviction," the ad by American Future Fund says about Felix Sater. Sater was part of Bayrock Group LLC, a developer of the Fort Lauderdale tower.

Here's what the Miami Herald's Michael Sallah wrote about the failed project in 2012:
A case challenging the eligibility of Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio to run for president will be heard in Broward County court at 11 a.m. Friday.

The crux of the case: the meaning of the phrase natural born citizen and how it applies to the two Republican senators. Rubio was born in Miami in 1971 to Cuban immigrants who became citizens a few years later. Cruz was born in Canada to a Cuban-born father and American mother, who moved to Texas when Cruz was four.

These two candidates are naturalized U.S. citizens, or at the very least, simply fail to comply with the common law Supreme Court established definition of natural born citizen, wrote Michael Voeltz in his court complaint.

Voeltz, a Broward Republican and inventory manager at a car dealership who is representing himself, wants the candidates names withdrawn from the Florida March 15 primary ballot.

The U.S. Constitution states that a presidential candidate must be a natural born citizen. Voeltz argues that the definition of natural born citizens refers to those born in the U.S. whose parents are U.S. citizens.

But most legal experts say that the phrase means someone who is a citizen at birth. Also, the Naturalization Act of 1790, passed by Congress three years after the Constitution was written, stated that children born abroad to U.S. citizens were natural born citizens.

It is undisputed that Senator Rubio was born to immigrant parents in the United States, states Rubios motion to dismiss the complaint, written by lawyer Gabriela Prado of Virginia. Under the United States Constitution, Senator Rubio is a natural born citizen who is eligible to serve as president of the United States.

Cruz is represented by David Di Pietro, a well-known Republican lawyer in Broward.

With respect to the phrase natural born citizen the first Congress and British law at the time of the founding are in agreement  a person who is a citizen at birth due to the citizenship of the parent is a natural born citizen, Di Pietro wrote in his motion to dismiss.

More here.
@ByKristenMClark

Sorry, recess moms.

For the third time this session, Florida senators have declined to consider a parent-driven proposal to require elementary school recess statewide.

Although the measure passed the House last month by a near-unanimous vote, the bill by Sen. Alan Hays never got a hearing in a Senate committee because education policy committee Chairman Sen. John Legg refused to take it up.

When Hays tried to amend his proposal on to a bill last week in committee, the Umatilla Republican was convinced by his party leaders to withdraw the proposal.

And then again today, his last-ditch attempt was thwarted by the full Senate.

Hays attempted again to amend his proposal on to a wide-ranging education bill (HB 7029) by Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville -- this time, using slightly different language. Hays' original bill called for 20 minutes of recess a day, but he tweaked it in the amendment to propose 15 minutes of recess in both the morning and the afternoon.

As Hays' amendment was called up on the floor, Legg immediately called a point of order. (The Trinity Republican has called the recess proposal "a local issue" that doesn't merit a statewide mandate.)

Senate rules prohibit members from considering amendments on the floor that are the substance of a bill stuck in committee, unless two-thirds of the chamber agrees for it to be heard.

When Legg said Hays' amendment was out of order, Hays responded: "Yes, sir. That's why I move we waive the rules!"

Rules Chairman David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, agreed with Legg, but because of Hays' request, the decision was left to the full Senate.

The procedural move forced a quorum call to get all available senators back in the chamber.

On a voice vote, Sen. Garrett Richter, R-Naples -- the president pro tempore, who was presiding at the time -- ruled the vote had failed, but some senators wanted a roll call so senators' individual votes could be recorded.

The final tally wasn't even close.

It failed 14-24.

See how each member voted here.
While the Senate signaled its gambling bills were all but dead this year, theyve stayed on life support in the House. But one lawmaker wanted his fellow representatives to remember gaming revenues come at a high price.

Rep. Charles Van Zant, R-Keystone Heights, said lawmakers should remember that all gaming revenue is money someone has lost.

"Every time you lose a dollar at gaming, there's six more dollars that are lost," Van Zant said during a Feb. 29, 2016, meeting of the House Finance and Tax Committee. "For every time the state gets paid a dollar in taxes, somebody loses $6, is another way of saying that."

Van Zant was speaking against HB 7109, a wide-ranging gaming bill that in part allowed for the ratification of the contentious gaming compact the Seminole Tribe of Florida negotiated with Gov. Rick Scott in 2015. The bill also included all sorts of provisions for pari-mutuels, licenses and permits, care of racing greyhounds, and more.

More here from Joshua Gillin of PolitiFact Florida.
After legislators offered numerous testimonials about terminally ill friends and family members, the Florida House voted 99-16 Thursday to approve a bill that will allow terminally ill patients to obtain full-strength medical marijuana, dramatically expanding the potential number of patients that can legally obtain cannabis in Florida

The bill, HB 307, also tightens the regulations for the manufacture of non-euphoric cannabis under the 2014 law. That law allows patients with seizure disorders, such as intractable epilepsy, and cancer to have access to low-THC cannabis. It authorizes one grower in each of five regions of the state to grow, manufacture and dispense the low-THC product.

The latest bill attempts to build on that law, which has been delayed in getting the product to patients because of regulatory delays and lawsuits. The 2014 law intended to have doctors subscribe low-THC products for patients more than a year ago.

Meanwhile, a Senate companion measure, SB 460, was on the Senate's calendar Thursday but with nearly 30 amendments could get bogged down. Senate President Andy Gardiner said he hopes to take it up for a debate on Friday.

Both the House and Senate bills offer the opportunity to allow more licenses for nurseries that would be able to grow and distribute the non-euphoric types of cannabis.

Rep. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart, said she was torn by the bill and disagreed with the premise that this was "medical marijuana" because it fails to meet the review standards needed to establish safe and effective medicine, but she still voted for the bill.

Rep. Hazelle Rogers, D-Lauderhill, also supported the bill but complained about the fact that the current law allows only five farmers to qualify to grow the marijuana while many others, including black farmers, did not qualify for the requirement they be in continuous operation for the past 40 years.

"When we are picking winners and losers in businesses, we are not being fair and this legislature needs to be fair,'' Rogers said.

Rep. Debbie Mayfield, R-Vero Beach, whose husband died of cancer, urged lawmakers not to vote against the bill because it is not perfect.

"We have people out there dying and we have people out there suffering,'' she said. She commended the families of patients suffering from epilepsy for their courage to tell their stories to lawmakers and noted that some lawmakers complained that it was too emotional for them.

"Sometimes it takes that emotion for us to get off our butts and do something," she said.

Rep. Katie Edwards, D-Plantation, got teary-eyed and said the value of the bill is to bring some relief the terminally ill. noted that she has "lost too many friends to cancer in this process who have said, why not me,'' she said.

She said that too much of the debate and the subsequent regulatory fight has focused on "who gets to grow, who gets to make money, who gets to invest,'' she said. "The hell with them. Who gets to benefit? That's where our efforts and focus need to be."
Huddled over a conference table with three top aides, Department of Corrections Secretary Julie Jones got crafty Wednesday morning, assembling buttons and stickers that read 734 to distribute to legislators.

It was her low-budget, self-funded campaign to push for the additional personnel the agency needs to allow corrections officers to go from 12- to 8-hour shifts and increase prison safety.

Three critical audits found that an inexperienced and overstretched staff was creating a potentially dangerous work environment. Years of budget cuts had left the agency starved for funding for basic core services and, auditors found, a 17 percent turnover rate has left the department with inexperienced staff handling critical jobs.

Based on the recommendations of all three independent reviews, Jones concluded the agency should end the practice of having corrections officers work 12-hour shifts and should return to the 8-hour shift practice that the department employed until 2011, when Gov. Rick Scott and the Legislature attempted to save millions by cutting staff and lengthening shift times.

But reversing course comes with a cost: 734 additional staff and $36 million.

Jones calls it an operational imperative, core critical need and has been meeting with key legislators to make her pitch. It is a decidedly different argument than she was making last year, when lawmakers were debating whether to impose an oversight commission over her agency amid allegations of inmate abuse, cover-ups and an agency culture that wasnt policing itself.

Rather than apologize for the agencys shortcomings as a result of the budget cuts, Jones is now underscoring the long-term impact of the cuts on the agency operations. In a candid fact sheet she and her staff are distributing to lawmakers, they point out that: While FDC has taken an aggressive approach to hiring additional staff, we are forced to hold positions vacant to pay for officer overtime costs.

Photo: Department of Corrections Secretary Julie Jones works with staff on creating homemade buttons and stickers to distribute to legislators to promote her efforts to get legislative approval for 734 new corrections officers in the budget. From left: Jones, McKinley Lewis, communications director, Kim Banks, FDC budget chief, Sharon Rudd, Jones' executive assistant. Photo courtesy of the Florida Department of Corrections
@PatriciaMazzei

The funniest exchange in Thursday's Republican presidential debate came, of all things, in a discussion about whether Ted Cruz supported then-President George W. Bush's nomination of John Roberts to the U.S. Supreme Court. The funny part, which came some time after Trump had described his flexible stances on issues, had nothing to do with the substance itself -- and all to do with chair pose, downward dog and om.

To the transcript!

CRUZ: I wrote one op-ed supporting President Bush's nomination after he made it. I would not have made that nomination. But let me point out...

TRUMP: Not what you say in the op-ed.

CRUZ: ... if Donald actually cared about...

TRUMP: That is not what you said in the op-ed.

CRUZ: But, Donald, please, I know it's hard not to interrupt. But try.

TRUMP: Yeah, I know it is. But it's not what you said in the op-ed.

CRUZ: Breathe, breathe, breathe.

TRUMP: Lyin' Ted.

CRUZ: You can do it. You can breathe. I know it's hard. I know it's hard. But just...

RUBIO: When they're done with the yoga, can I answer a question?

CRUZ: You cannot.

(LAUGHTER)

RUBIO: Unbelievable.

CRUZ: I really hope that we don't -- we don't see yoga on this stage.

RUBIO: Well, he's very flexible, so you never know.

(APPLAUSE)
@ByKristenMClark

Sen. Alan Hays said last week he wasn't giving up on his legislative plan to require Florida public elementary schools to provide 20 minutes of recess a day.

And he's not.

But before the passionate coalition of self-proclaimed "recess moms" across Florida get too excited: It's likely that the Umatilla Republican's latest efforts could be unsuccessful once again.

Hays filed amendments today to two education bills that the Senate could take up as early as Friday.

SB 1166 is one of two wide-ranging education measures sponsored by Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville. Hays last week tried to add his recess plan to it when Gaetz's bill was before the Senate Appropriations Committee; he ultimately withdrew that amendment after talking with Senate leaders that day.

He plans to make another go at it on Friday, though, -- using slightly different language -- when SB 1166 comes up on the Senate's "special order" calendar.

Seemingly as a safeguard, Hays also filed the amendment to HB 7029, a broad and somewhat related education bill that passed the House last month. It's in the Senate's hands now and shares many of the same policies as SB 1166.

(If a Senate bill is significantly similar to a bill the House already passed, the Senate can opt to substitute its pending bill for the House's. That could be what Hays is anticipating for these bills.)

But herein lie the hurdles for Hays:

Senate rules prohibit members from considering amendments on the floor that are the substance of standalone bills stuck in committee. For instance, that rule was invoked earlier today to thwart Gaetz's attempt to tack his controversial open-carry proposal on to a different bill.

It's likely other senators could call such a point of order on Hays' recess amendments on Friday.

Rules Chairman Sen. David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, said this evening that he hadn't seen Hays' amendments yet, but if there's a conflict, "we'll certainly address that."

If there's no problem there, the other obstacle Hays faces is that Gaetz filed "delete-all" amendments to both SB 1166 (to add some additional provisions) and HB 7029 (to make it identical to SB 1166).

Such strike-all amendments, if approved, negate other proposed amendments that lawmakers may have sought on the original bill. Hays would need to seek to amend Gaetz's amendment -- welcome to legislative procedure -- in order for it to be considered. (As of 7 p.m. today, he hadn't done that.)

The House resoundingly supports mandatory recess, but it's been an uphill battle in the Senate.

The House passed the measure last month, 112-2 -- with only Republican Reps. Richard Corcoran, of Land OLakes, and Michael Bileca, of Miami, opposed.

But Hays' bill stalled in the Senate because Sen. John Legg, R-Trinity, refused to take it up in the education policy committee.

Legg calls it "a local issue," but passionate "recess moms" are imploring lawmakers to take act. They want a uniform requirement statewide, rather than individual school districts or principals deciding their own policies.

Parents in Miami-Dade County recently launched an online petition urging the school district to "restore recess in our schools." As of this afternoon, it had more than 5,200 signatures.

Much like Gaetz's other big education bill (SB 524), SB 1166 had several amendments filed to it as of this evening besides Gaetz's and Hays' proposed changes.

SB 524 was supposed to be heard Wednesday but has been postponed for the past two days because there's been no time for senators to consider the more than 50 amendments that have been filed to it and its House companion.

Gaetz said this evening that he hopes the Senate will have time to consider at least one of those two large education bills on Friday.
@kmcgrory and @MichaelAuslen

Increasing price transparency and offering consumers more choices would do little to bring down health care costs.



Thats according to a study published Friday by the Health Care Cost Institute, which advocates free-market economics in health care.



The analysis found that so-called shoppable services  meaning costly procedures that can be scheduled in advance  accounted for only 7 percent of consumers out-of-pocket costs.



So even if consumers could generate savings by shopping around, it would only represent a small piece of the health-care-spending pie.



Overall, the potential gains from the consumer price shopping aspect of price transparency efforts are modest, the authors wrote in the report.



The study comes amid a heated debate in Tallahassee over how to stem exploding health care costs.



On Wednesday, the House approved a series of free-market policies intended to encourage competition, decrease costs and increase access to health care, including a proposal to create sweeping price transparency requirements (HB 1175).

The House also passed a bill creating recovery centers where patients can heal after surgery, and lengthened the amount of time patients can stay at ambulatory surgery centers (HB 85).

Whats more, Republican Gov. Rick Scott, a former hospital executive, has been leading the charge against price gouging, and asking Floridians who received wild bills to share their hospital horror stories.



It is unclear if the proposals will be heard on the Senate floor in the final week of the legislative session. Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, said he plans to bring some of the bills up for a vote. It appears a health care transparency bill could get a vote, although the recovery centers likely will not.

But the study from the Health Care Cost Institute adds to the growing number of voices questioning whether the efforts would have much impact at all.

Though the Washington-based Health Care Cost Institute has spoken up on the issue before, the group has been a favored speaker at both the governors and the Houses affordable health care panels.

But speaking up may actually work to the detriment of HCCI, which publishes a database called Guroo.



On Thursday, the representatives who drafted the House transparency bill said they had HCCI in mind as a vendor that could create a statewide healthcare database.



Rep. Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, said he first heard of the group at a meeting of Scotts Commission on Health Care and Hospital Funding. Its the only organization Sprowls knows of that could meet steep requirements in the bill, which does appear to be headed to the floor of the Senate.



The organization does not appear to have contributed to political campaigns in Florida.

The analysis was based on a large sample of insurance data from 2011.



It found that only about 43 percent of the overall health care spending that year ($524 billion) went toward shoppable services, such as hip and knee replacements. And only about 15 percent of that spending ($37.7 billion) came out of consumers pockets.



The authors also pointed out logistical and incentive roadblocks that would prevent the full realization of price transparency.



If an individual is very sick he or she might not be able or willing to shop for services, they wrote, adding that it might also be dangerous for consumers to shop around for prescription drugs without knowing how they interact.



Their conclusion: Consumers will have difficulty altering the lions share of their out-of-pocket spending.



Though one important feature of properly functioning markets is the availability of both price and quality information, consumer activity driven by this information should not be the focus, they wrote.



This isnt the first time the Health Care Cost Institute has raised doubts. Earlier this year, the groups executive director David Newman told the Times/Herald that increasing transparency could potentially cause prices to increase over time.



"What happens is the range of prices narrows and the average price goes up," Newman said.

The study also validates the opinions of Republican Senate leaders, who have for almost a year argued that free-market ideas wont make much impact in access to health care, although they might increase competition in some areas. They pushed for Medicaid expansion last year before it was shot down by the House in a June special session.

If you dont have insurance, it doesnt matter how many innovative programs you make, Gardiner said before the legislative session began. You still dont have access."
@PatriciaMazzei

The Florida duel between Donald Trump and Marco Rubio has a new player: Ted Cruz.

The Texas senator has opened 10 campaign offices in the Sunshine State ahead of the March 15 primary, volunteers told the Miami Herald. The campaign confirmed the new offices Friday, including one that opened a week ago on Miami's Sunset Road and 97th Avenue.

"Following a strong showing on Super Tuesday, the Cruz for President Campaign is communicating a serious commitment to competing hard in the winner-take-all Sunshine State primary on March 15th," the campaign said in a statement.

Lourdes Castillo de la Pena, a Cruz volunteer, said even if no Cruz campaign stops are announced before next Thursday's Miami GOP debate, his fervent supporters have been making voter calls and organizing teams to knock on doors. She hopes to host Cruz's wife, Heidi, in Miami in the coming week.

Manny Roman, the Miami-Dade GOP vice-chairman who was nearly kicked out of the party for publicly announcing his role in Cruz's campaign, made sure to stand just outside Rubio's Miami rally Tuesday night, to remind reporters that some Cuban-American Republicans in town were backing a different senator for president.

It's unclear if Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich will campaign in Florida. Kasich has to focus on his own home state, which votes the same day as Florida. And candidates who don't have a chance to win Florida outright sometimes skip the state altogether, because it's so expensive to campaign across Florida's 10 media markets. It costs a campaign about $2 million a week to advertise in all those places -- far more than a candidate is willing to spend for a no-delegates, second-place finish. No Cruz ads have hit airwaves here yet.

Cruz is third in Real Clear Politics' average of Florida polls. He could play spoiler to Rubio as the Florida senator tries to survive his must-win state.

Here are the Cruz office locations:
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Posts written prior to July 2014 are by Amanda A. Palmer. All others are by Ellen E. Adams unless otherwise noted.


A Bozeman real estate development company has unveiled plans to demolish the Missoula Mercantile building in downtown Missoula and replace it with a $30 million, five-story, custom Residence Inn by Marriott with a pool, fire pits and event space for weddings and private parties in a massive enclosed courtyard.

There also would be 24,000-square-feet of ground-floor retail and restaurant space and 3,000-square-feet of meeting space along with an outdoor terrace.

Andy Holloran of HomeBase Montana, the development group, presented the proposal to the Missoula Historic Preservation Committee on Thursday night, where he was met with a veritable hornet's nest of opposition. At multiple points during the meeting, the entire crowd jeered and clapped after speakers accused the developers of seeking profits or not doing their due diligence on the building.

Holloran said the hotel would have an economic benefit to Missoula, including the creation of more than 100 hotel jobs, 200 retail jobs and a total wage impact of $6 million per year. The project, he added, would generate more than $13 million in revenue for the community, as well as new taxes of $8 million during the first 10 years.

"It's an opportunity to create a visitor hub that is hard to really quantify," Holloran said. "When you have 300, 400 or 500 new visitors coming to downtown Missoula every night, that has a tremendous impact on businesses. We are thrilled to be here."

During his presentation, Holloran pointed out that while he respected the historic nature of the 80,000-square-foot building that was built in 1877, engineering consultants he has hired have determined it is not economically feasible to do anything with the building other than tear it down. He said they originally wanted to keep the building as part of the plans, but during the past year realized it wasn't possible.

"We don't take our conclusion lightly," Holloran said. "I respect your charge as a commission. I respect your opinion. But as (property broker Jed Dennison) has attested, it's not economically feasible for a redevelopment. I would encourage any of you to explore that. We have looked at saving the facade and looked at a partial demolition, but it's not economic."

***

The Merc has sat empty, languishing in disrepair, since Macy's moved out in 2010.

Dennison said more than 20 different potential buyers looked at it over the years, including a serious investigation by Whole Foods. Dennison said that potential clients have spent $1.2 million in due diligence before realizing that redeveloping the building and keeping it standing is not possible.

"The engineering conclusions from two separate engineering firms deemed the space not suitable for renovation," Dennison said. "Repurposing materials is the only logical course of action."

Dennison said it would take nearly $4 million to bring the building up to basic structural standards of occupancy, and that price doesn't include bringing it up to mechanical, electrical or fire suppression codes.

Nicole Nathan, a partner with Johnson Nathan Strohe, a Denver-based design, architecture and engineering firm, gave a detailed presentation on the developers' plans for a new building.

"Our vision is creating a balance between protecting the architecture, accepting economic realities, and our responsibility to history," she said. "And this is a historic opportunity."

Holloran said the building was considered antiquated and not worth investing in 57 years ago.

"Unfortunately it has passed its useful life," Holloran said. "But we recognize the passion, we recognize the history, but we hope you'll join us in supporting our new Mercantile carrying on the soul and commerce that this building has experienced."

Holloran reiterated that his team has not closed on the property yet.

"This is not a done deal yet," he said. "In our opinion, it is cost prohibitive (to redevelop the building). We're not here to maximize profits. If we were, we would maximize the height. It is zoned for 125 feet, but we are proposing a five-story building. We think this is in the context of that particular neighborhood. I can say with absolute sincerity we respect everybody's opinion. We hope to be a part of the fabric of the community you all have in this great city."

***

Holloran's proposal was not met with support from the Historic Preservation Commission or members of the public who spoke at the meeting.

Steve Adler, a member of the commission, said the fact that the Preservation Commission was being asked to consider a demolition was the "elephant in the room."

"You've brought a proposal for a demolition, and that's a hard pill for a preservation commission to swallow," he said. "We, as a preservation board, who are put here to advocate for preservation, should seriously advocate for demolition right off the bat? I know it's been sitting empty for a long time. But it would take a heck of a lot of convincing for me to believe that it's beyond its usable life, that it's beyond saving."

Solomon Martin, another member of the commission, said the hotel industry is vulnerable to market downturns and he was concerned about corporate profits leaving town.

"Sometimes you don't know what you're missing until it's gone," he said. "People love it here. The Merc is a touchstone. It tells us the story of how Missoula came to be. We know that there are plenty of hotels in Missoula, but there is only one Mercantile."

Other members of the public were opposed to any plan for demolition. Nobody spoke in support of the plan during public comment period.
MISSOULA  Billie Marie Cote (Maj. Ret. U.S. Army), 84, of Missoula, passed in her sleep surrounded by family during the early hours of Tuesday, March 1, 2016.

She was born in Basin, Wyoming, on June 17, 1931, to Neal Tuttle and Irene Faries.

She attended the Northwest Nazarene College in Napa, Idaho, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree. When she graduated, the college offered her the librarian job, but Billie had other plans. Taking a teaching position in Lyle, Washington, Billie taught for two years. She then enlisted in the United States Army and drove cross country to attend Basic Training in Alabama.

Billie spent the next 12 years serving her country. She completed the WAC officer basic course, became an intelligence officer, and she traveled to Okinawa, Japan. Her last duty station was Fort Lewis, Washington. She separated from the Army with the rank of Major. During her service, she met someone special. On June 12, 1970, she was married to George J. Cote, and settled in Fort Carson, Colorado.

Soon after, her sons Neal and Michael were born and the family moved to Missoula in 1974.

Billie became a high school substitute teacher, and in this she excelled and touched many students. She also was the librarian of the Nazarene Church, as well as graduating from the University of Montana with a masters degree in library sciences. She was an exceptional seamstress, making dresses for several weddings, proms and church programs. She was a mom to everyone, if you needed something, she would provide it.

She is survived by her husband George; sons, Neal and Michael and daughter Cami; her sisters, Galen Clearman and Luann Brewer, as well as multiple nieces, nephews and many adopted sons and daughters in their neighborhood, and all over Missoula.

Billie was preceded in death by her parents, Neal and Irene Tuttle; her brothers, Jimmy and Charles Tuttle and sisters, Linda Dursma and Elisie Killen.

A memorial service will be held at the First Church of the Nazarene on Saturday, March 5, at 2 p.m.
MISSOULA  Emily Bevington of Missoula died suddenly Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016. She was born Ablonczy Emoke Maria in Waldkirchen in the German state of Bavaria in June 1945 as the child of Endre and Maria Ablonczy, newly arrived refugees from Hungary. Her home language was Hungarian, but diglossic German (standard and Bavarian) was used in the wider community.

She came to the U.S. with her family in 1951 knowing no English, which she had to learn sitting in the back of a one-room schoolhouse in rural Pennsylvania. And her mastery of it was truly spectacular. We used to say that you knew it was not her native language exactly because she knew and spoke it too well. The three languages were acquired, that is learned through natural processes rather formal instruction. But she also was fluent in French and Spanish as learned languages.

When she studied in Switzerland in the mid-'60s, as a polyglot American she was the belle of the ball among the Europeans. Em and her husband Gary got together because of their common passion for languages and cultures, something they were able to pursue with abandon in the '80s and '90s although her facility with them was far greater than his. Along the way Em acquired an M.A. in linguistics (Northeastern Illinois University) and a Ph.D. in multi-lingual, multi-cultural education (University of Illinois) and achieved her dream of a position as a professor at the research university Northern Illinois University, a career cut short unfortunately by her becoming cognitively impaired in 1997.

Em and Gary were together from 1981 until her death, the first 17-plus years in an equal partnership followed by an equal amount of time coping with her disability. Gary retired early in 1999, in part so that he could more effectively be Em's caregiver. At the time they moved to a high-rise condominium near the Gold Coast area of Chicago across the street from the Newberry Library, where Gary planned to pursue academic research and teaching interests. The plan was unimpeachable but the reality of both the condo and the Newberry was unsatisfactory. In 2001 Gary's brother Kent found them a summer rental in the Upper Rattlesnake area of Missoula, and they were hooked. It took four years but finally in 2005 they were able to move to Missoula permanently. They had finally found "a place to call home" and Em in particular felt cozy and secure in their Brookside house. She made peace with her disability and was content with a very quiet life in their home.

Because she was disabled for so long, the memory of her as a brilliant hard-working teacher and scholar has faded even for those who knew her for longer, and many in her contemporary circle are only vaguely aware or even unaware of this other Em. She was also the devoted mother of Andria Marcussen of Potlatch, Idaho, stepmother of Douglas Bevington of Berkeley, California, and Jill Bevington of Beallsville, Ohio, as they were growing up, a long-term caregiver to her father, who lived with Parkinsonism for many years, and finally the "bff" of her sister, Gloria Kareken of Glenview, Illinois. She is also survived by three step-granddaughters.

Although she did not take the sacraments after she married her first husband, a divorced man, nearly 50 years ago, she always considered herself a daughter of the Catholic Church. She told Gary that she prayed daily. Interment in St. Mary's Cemetery was private.

Em was a warm and thoughtful person of the highest moral probity, much loved by everyone who knew her. May she rest in peace.
Huckleberries to all those who joined the frantic search for a missing 4-year-old girl who was found alive and well last weekend. An Amber Alert was issued on Saturday after Maci Maelyn Lilley was abducted from a park in Wolf Point, and many feared the worst after a suspect was brought in by law enforcement and Lilley remained missing. Montanans blew a collective sigh of relief when Lilley was found on Sunday  and many also pitched in to help her family with expenses during this incredibly traumatic time. A Gofundme fundraising page has been set up at gofundme.com/4jrqrnj8 to help the family cover their travel costs.

Chokecherries to the Montana Department of Health and Human Services, which confirmed the states first case of Zika virus but would not disclose much else. A Missoula County woman apparently contracted the virus while on a trip to another country. The Health Department would not only not say what country that was, it would not provide even basic information about the woman, such as her approximate age. Officials said that it was necessary to withhold this information in order to protect the womans privacy, despite the fact that this information is routinely shared by health departments in other states. Montana is now the 25th state in the nation with a confirmed case of travel-associated Zika.

Huckleberry dog biscuits to the Missoula County Sheriffs Office for adding a pair of K-9 units, the departments first in 15 years. The two dogs will arrive in Missoula this spring trained and certified to sniff out narcotics and assist with patrol duties. Their addition will doubtless help sheriffs officers be more effective  and safer as well.

Chokecherries to Daytons Michael Filipek, who recently pleaded guilty to the illegal killing of a bobcat and mountain lion, and also to the unlawful possession of bighorn sheep horns from Wild Horse Island in Flathead Lake. In Montana, it is illegal to take bighorn sheep horns. Consequently, Filipek has been banned from Wild Horse Island and has lost his hunting privileges for three years, which is fitting.

Huckleberries to the eight Sentinel, Hellgate and Big Sky high school students who did well in a district speech and debate tournament in Bozeman a few weeks ago and will join their peers from other Montana schools to attend a national tournament in Salt Lake City this June. Congratulations  and huckleberries  to Kennedy Bahm of Big Sky; Chris Malcomson, Myranda Schee and Taylor Gregory of Sentinel; and Llwyn Clark-Gaynor, Leia Behunin, Dillon Deschamps and Haley Wilson of Hellgate.
Mary Poole omits facts revealing refugee dangers in her rosy opinion supporting Soft Landings refugee resettlement (guest column, Feb. 25).

Poole states, America has resettled over 3 million refugees... not one has committed an act of terrorism on U.S. soil. First, she omits that refugees are arrested here planning U.S. acts of terror, thanks to the FBI, not United Nations vetting. Second, she omits that young adult children of refugees have committed U.S. terror acts.

First omission: The FBI has arrested vetted refugees, stopped in planning U.S. terror acts. Twelve refugee U.S. jihadis were terror charged in 2015, listed by Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Alabama (Neil Munro, Breitbart.com, Feb. 26), from Iraq, Somalia, Bosnia and other countries. In 2015 an Idaho Uzbekistan refugee was charged with planning a suicide bombing. Others were charged in previous years.

Also, two Iraqi, UN-vetted refugees were arrested in February 2016 in Texas and California. (Caroline May, ...Terrorists Can Infiltrate Obamas Resettlement Effort, Breitbart.com, Feb. 26). Charges, including planning attacks on two Houston malls, lying on the application to be naturalized U.S. citizen, providing assistance to a foreign terrorist organization and more, are filed. ISIS states it will use U.S. programs to bring jihadis here.

Second: Two major U.S. terror acts, by grown children of refugees and immigrants returning to anti-western roots, have occurred. The Boston bombers, U.S.-raised, young adult children of Chechen refugees, killed and maimed Americans. The San Bernardino terrorist, U.S.-raised, adult child of Pakistani immigrants, with visa-wife, slaughtered co-workers.

Children of refugees rooted in cultures where civilizational jihad is common are susceptible to radicalization and put Americans at long-term risk. The FBI told ABC the U.S. may already have admitted dozens of terrorists as refugees. (Kerry Pickett, Breitbart.com, Nov. 17, 2015). For safety, help refugees near their own countries.

L. Childress,

Missoula
HELENA  Dr. Kristi Costley is living proof that even veterinarians have trouble with their pets.

The Minnesota native, who practices at Helenas Valley Veterinary Hospital, said she once had to save her dog from a stroke-like event in his spine. Hes up and walking today, despite being paralyzed for roughly a day.

The Independent Record caught up with Costley to ask about the biggest, weirdest and grossest things shes encountered in her first year on the job.

***

IR: Where are you from?

Costley: I am from Duluth, Minnesota and went to vet school at Iowa State University.

IR: When did you start practicing as a veterinarian?

Costley: I started practicing as a veterinarian in May 2015.

IR: Hows business in Helena? What, if anything, makes it different from working elsewhere?

Costley: Business in Helena is good. This is my first job out of vet school, so I don't have much to compare it to. Private practice is clearly different than the university setting since we are dealing with general medicine and surgery rather than specializing.

IR: Whats the weirdest thing youve ever seen in your time as a vet?

Costley: One of the weirdest things I have seen since I began practicing actually happened to my own dog. We believe he had a fibrocartilaginous embolism (stroke-like event) in his spine which resulted in him being paralyzed in all 4 legs for about 24 hours. With rehabilitation, acupuncture, and therapeutic laser he is now walking almost completely normal again.

IR: Whats the grossest thing youve ever encountered in your practice?

Costley: One of the grossest things that I have encountered is when patients have maggots in their wounds or coming from their rectum.

IR: Whats the biggest animal youve come across?

Costley: The biggest animal I have come across, aside from livestock/horses, would be a jaguar I helped work on while studying abroad in Ecuador.

IR: The smallest?

Costley: The smallest animal I have come across would be rats.

IR: Whats the hardest part about your job?

Costley: One of the hardest parts about my job is not being able to give a patient the quality of care that it deserves/needs due to financial constraints.

IR: The most fulfilling part?

Costley: The most fulfilling part about the job is seeing a patient recover from a severe illness after being treated and go on to live a happy life.

IR: Whats the most common ailment youve come across?

Costley: The most common ailments we come across are probably vomiting, diarrhea, and ear infections.

IR: Whats the most common mistake you see among pet owners and animal lovers?

Costley: One of the more common mistakes I see among pet owners and animal lovers is the administration of Tylenol or ibuprofen to their pet when it is in pain. Those medications are actually toxic (to) their kidneys.

IR: Whats the best advice you can give them?

Costley: The best advice that I can give is that if you have a question or concern about a pet's health or well being contact your veterinarian. There is a lot of incorrect and potentially harmful information on the internet and social media, and if your veterinarian does not know the answer to the question they will have the resources and contacts to get an accurate answer.
BILLINGS  The federal government is proposing to lift threatened-species protections for hundreds of Yellowstone-area grizzlies, opening the door to future hunts for the fearsome bears across parts of three states for the first time since the 1970s.

The proposal caps a four-decade, government-sponsored effort to rebuild the grizzly population and follows the lifting of protections in recent years for more than a dozen other species, including the gray wolf, brown pelican and flying squirrel.

Hunting within Yellowstone National Park still would be prohibited. But the proposal could allow animals to be taken in surrounding parts of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.

"By the time the curtain closes on the Obama administration, we are on track to have delisted more species due to recovery than all previous administrations combined," U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe told the Associated Press. "We've done that because of several decades of hard work, like with the grizzly bear."

Grizzlies once roamed much of North America and came to symbolize the continent's untamed wilderness. Hunters and trappers had nearly wiped them out across most of the Lower 48 states by the late 1800s.

Thursday's announcement came as conflicts between humans and grizzly bears have been on the rise, including six people fatally mauled since 2010. A record 59 bears were killed by humans last year, often by wildlife managers following attacks on livestock.

That's resulted in pressure to turn over management of the animals to states, in part so hunting can be used to control the population. But wildlife advocates declared the government's announcement premature and warned that it could reverse the species' gains.

"There's still a lot of uncertainty facing this population," said Sylvia Fallon, senior scientist for the Natural Resources Defense Council.

A final decision on the proposal is due within a year. It could come sooner if state wildlife commissioners act quickly to adopt rules on how much hunting is allowed. Those rules are not mandatory under the federal proposal, federal officials said.

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock said the bear population would be responsibly managed by state wildlife officials. If a public hunt for the animals is pursued, the Democrat said, it could be done in a way that avoids killing bears that live on the periphery of Yellowstone.

"Yellowstone wildlife is treasured. We understand that. We'll manage them in a way that addresses that sensitivity," Bullock said.

Republican Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead said ending federal control over grizzlies would be "good for the species, for Wyoming and for the West." In Idaho, Republican U.S. Sen. James Risch said the state's track record on other predators, including gray wolves, shows it can manage bears at a sustainable level.

***

The federal government has spent roughly $20 million to $30 million to date on grizzly recovery efforts in the Yellowstone area, according to Fish and Wildlife Service spokeswoman Serena Baker.

Protections would remain in place for about 1,000 bears in and around Glacier National Park and smaller populations elsewhere in Montana, Idaho and Washington state. Grizzlies are not protected in Alaska, where hunting has long been allowed.

Grizzlies in the Lower 48 were added to the endangered and threatened species list in 1975. In the intervening years, the Yellowstone population has increased from 136 animals to an estimated 700 to 1,000 today, according to government researchers.

Yet after years of growth, the grizzly population plateaued in recent years, and some wildlife advocates say it's too soon to allow hunting. Also opposed are dozens of American Indian tribes that view the grizzly as sacred.

Formal consultations between the tribes and the Interior Department are ongoing, although Ashe said the issue is unlikely to be resolved.

Federal and state officials said limits on how many bears can be killed will safeguard against a collapse in the bear population.

If bear numbers drop below 600, intentional killings through hunting and the removal of bears that attack livestock would be prohibited. Exceptions would be made for bears that threaten public safety. More hunting would be allowed when bear numbers increase.

Grizzly numbers rebounded despite declines in some of their key food sources, including cutthroat trout and the nuts of whitebark pine, a high-elevation tree devastated by bark beetles and an invasive fungus.

Environmentalists argue that those declines are good reasons to keep protecting the region's grizzlies.

The last legal hunts for Yellowstone-area bears happened in the 1970s. The animals were taken off the threatened species list in 2007, but that move was struck down and protections were restored two years later after environmental groups challenged the government in court.

Subsequent government-sponsored studies have shown grizzlies are able to adapt easily to different types of food.

State officials and members of Congress have pointed to the case of the grizzly bear as an example of how the Endangered Species Act needs changes so animals do not linger under federal protections once they are recovered.

Ashe said reforms are not needed as much as money to help species recover.

***

Associated Press writer Mead Gruver in Cheyenne, Wyoming, contributed to this report.
LINCOLN  Wilderness base camps dont usually have a rack of electric guitars and a well-tuned espresso machine available.

Those are facts a group informally known as the Lincoln Base Camp hopes to capitalize on.

On Wednesday evening, a dozen Base Camp participants found their way to Lincolns Lost Woodsman studio to hear how the concept is coming together. While not replacing more formal organizations like the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce, the group does plan to leverage Lincolns livelihood to its fortunate location.

Its a town in transition, said University of Montana geography professor Rick Graetz, who helped start the meetings after seeing the Blackfoot Pathways: Sculpture in the Wild park in 2014. Logging is not what it used to be. Mining is not there any more. But its got all this history. Its the only place thats totally surrounded by the Crown of the Continent. You have all these trails and roads going in all directions like spokes from a wheel into this natural area, which is between the 12th and 24th biggest of all natural systems in the world, depending on how you rank them.

Lincoln sits on the southern edge of the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex  the 2 million-acre roadless country between Montana Highway 200 and Glacier National Park. Its also just below Rogers Pass, and where tourists can find art/music studios like the Lost Woodsman and restaurants like the Lincoln Pit Stop as well as gas and snack food.

Two graduate students from UMs Geography Department, Verena Henners and Katherine Shank, are researching ways to justify including another 50 miles of the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest south of Lincoln as part of the Crown. They want to show that both ecologically and historically, Lincoln sits in the middle of a culturally rich land worth an extended visit.

The group really formed around what Rick was talking about, said Jordan Reeves, a Wilderness Society staff member who helps organize the meetings. There were all these cool historical aspects that many community members werent aware of. There were official things like the Forest Service travel planning process and the forest plan revision that make you realize that conservation and recreation tie back to the community, which needs economic engines that drive it. Then theres the education part, about getting kids in the schools outdoors more. All that overlaps.

This time, the table included a U.S. Forest Service representative, school volunteers, the co-owner of an excavation business, the Blackfoot Valley Dispatch editor, a rancher and other local residents, along with the UM Geography Department scholars. Theres no formal membership, or meeting time. Reeves said he tries to pull together a new session every six weeks or so.

Opportunities abound. Wednesdays meeting included updates on a nine-acre private land purchase that will become a public park alongside the Blackfoot River just south of town, concepts for an extensive cross-country ski trail system, a potential snowmobile park, a new brochure touting the Alice Creek Historic District attractions and continuing additions to the sculpture park east of town.

One happy problem was finding ways to keep the opportunities from interfering with one another.

Local rancher Jerry Cain noted that a mistake in plowing parking access to cross-country ski trails at the Beaver Creek campground could cut the trail used by the Race to the Sky dogsled teams. And while it seems like a natural fit to use winter ski trails as summer biking routes, Lincoln Ranger District representative Josh Lattin pointed out the bike riders prefer a different design with more hills and banked corners.

Seeley Lake Elementary School Superintendent Chris Stout, who has spearheaded an effort to get all the districts children on cross-country skis, spoke at a previous meeting.

Seeley Lake is like our neighbor, said Karyn Good, who helped coordinate Wednesday's meeting and also brought in the new Alice Creek brochures. We may not be able to run a program here through the schools the same way they do, but we all want more outdoor recreation for our kids.
There are only six surviving sculptures by Jackson Pollock.

Now the Dallas Museum of Art owns one of them.

The museum has acquired one of two untitled works created by Pollock in the summer of 1956, while he was recovering from depression at the home of his friend Tony Smith.

Only one other museum in the world has a Pollock sculpture (the other is the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston), and the work joins the museums Pollock paintings: Cathedral (1947) and Portrait and a Dream (1953).

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, Gavin Delahunty, the museums senior curator of contemporary art, said he told the collectors Gayle and Paul Stoffel in seeking their help in the purchase of the sculpture from the Tony Smith estate. They immediately were on board.
Belfast pubs pop up from time to time in the work of Ciaran Carson, one of the citys greatest writers and chroniclers. In the taut, tense poem Last Orders, from his remarkable 1989 collection Belfast Confetti, Carson writes about a bar where you never know for sure whos who, or what/Youre walking into, and how simple it would be for someone/Like ourselves to walk in and blow the whole place, and ourselves, to Kingdom Come. Its a chilling expression of the uncertainty and fear endured by the people of Belfast during the worst of times.

That history still keeps many tourists away from Belfast. But over the last decade, Ive witnessed a changing, vibrant city. I visit as often as I can, and urge my friends not to skip the north when they plan trips to Ireland. In my Drink column this month  a celebration of Belfasts distinctive and varied bar culture  I mention a few of my favorite local haunts: the Crown Liquor Saloon, the John Hewitt, the cocktail bar at the Merchant Hotel and the Spaniard. Most but not all of these bars are in Belfasts Cathedral Quarter, but all are within easy walking distance of one another, and you could conceivably hit all of them in a single evening. Dont  you wont want to rush yourself. Youll want to drink, linger and talk at each for a few hours  at least.

These photographs by the Irish photographer Miriam OConnor show the particular ambience and virtues of each location.
The compromise bill would make it more difficult to hand down death sentences by requiring a jury vote of 10 to 2. Jurors currently can recommend a death sentence by a simple 7-to-5 majority vote. The change falls short of the unanimous verdict that death penalty critics in Florida sought for capital punishment cases. It continues to make Florida an outlier; only one other state, Alabama, allows a 10-to-2 death verdict as opposed to a unanimous decision in capital punishment cases.

Republican supporters of the bill said that if it became law, Floridas death penalty system would be stronger and satisfy the Supreme Court. Democrats did not entirely disagree, but they expressed disappointment over the Legislatures decision to dodge the chance to bring Florida in line with other states.

This is a step in the right direction, said Senator Arthenia L. Joyner, the Democratic leader. I would prefer a unanimous jury verdict, but you cant always get what you want when you want it.

The bill also addresses the Supreme Courts chief grievance in its January ruling: that Florida law gave too much power to judges in death penalty sentences and not enough to juries. Under the bill, juries would have to decide unanimously on the aggravating factors that warrant a death sentence. Aggravating factors include circumstances that are especially brutal, for example, or a murder committed with premeditation. Under current law, some jurors could decide on one aggravating factor, others could decide on another, and some could choose no factors. No unanimity was required.

The legislation would require a jury to turn over its findings on aggravating factors to the presiding judge. The judge would then issue a sentence based on only those aggravating factors, although the bill gives the judge the power to override the jury and sentence someone to life in prison. Florida judges do not currently know which aggravating circumstances juries have selected, making them free to choose their own, essentially overriding the jurys grounds for recommending death. The Supreme Court ruled this a violation of the Sixth Amendment, which guarantees the rights of people accused of crimes.
ATHENS  When Greeces debt crisis threatened to sink the European Unions single currency last summer, the rest of Europe, led by Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, ganged up to deliver the Greek government a stern message: Overcome your domestic political problems and do what is necessary to hold the Continent together.

Eight months after Greece agreed to do its part, it is the rest of Europe that is failing to muster the will to address a threat to the blocs unity, this time the continued influx of migrants from the Middle East and beyond. And Greece, the main entry route for asylum seekers, has been largely left to fend for itself.

We are now in the situation where Greece is essentially becoming a holding pen for refugees and is being asked to solve a problem created by other countries, said Jens Bastian, an economics consultant based in Athens and a former member of the European Commissions task force on Greece. You are basically putting the management of Europes migrant crisis at the doorstep of Greece.

The chaos has saddled Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras with the challenge of simultaneously handling growing numbers of migrants, while carrying out austerity measures and structural reforms required under the financial bailout Athens received last year to avoid exiting the euro  just as Greece has fallen into yet another recession.
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As his arraignment in Butte district court Thursday, a 38-year-old man accused of distributing methamphetamine pleaded not guilty.

Mose Moulton also denied charges of felony criminal possession of meth, two felony counts of use of property subject to criminal forfeiture, and misdemeanor criminal possession of drug paraphernalia.

A Butte-Silver Bow police detective conducting surveillance on a residence in Central Butte in connection with a wanted man observed Moulton and another male exit and get into a white Mercedes Nov. 6, 2015, court documents state.

Police determined the wanted man was not in the vehicle; however, the driver  Moulton  was wanted on a felony parole violation. Because the residence under surveillance was known for drug activity, a probation and parole officer responded to the scene, documents state.

Moulton insisted nothing was in the vehicle. A search by law enforcement and the probation and parole officer revealed clear plastic bags containing a crystalline substance in a black case under the dashboard, documents state. Five little bags of a crystalline substance and one small bag containing prescription pills were found in the middle console.

Police also discovered a syringe and a square bag of a crystal substance suspected to be meth inside the pockets of a backpack on the vehicles back seat. In a third pocket, a black electronic scale and a prescription bottle with white tablets was found.

Moulton is being held at the Butte-Silver Bow Detention Center on $100,000 bond. An omnibus hearing was slated for March 24.
A 23-year-old Butte man pleaded not guilty Thursday in Butte district court to felony robbery in connection with an armed heist at the Lucky Charm Casino in January.

Shane Casey Tenold appeared before Judge Kurt Krueger, denying allegations made by Butte-Silver Bow prosecutors that he brandished a loaded Smith & Wesson handgun and pointed it at the casino owner as the two entered the business Jan. 18.

Video surveillance obtained by investigators showed the suspect pointing the gun at the victim aggressively and pulling the slide to load a round, according to court documents. Dressed in black with a hoodie and mask, the suspect is seen aiming the gun at the victims head as she knelt after attempting to open the safe. The video shows him taking two bags and fleeing the casino.

An off-duty police officer witnessed the suspect on foot eastbound on Harrison Avenue, who was later identified as Tenhold. Police said he was seen throwing two money bags and a handgun as he fled to the yard of a residence on the 2100 block of Ottawa Street, where he was arrested.

The bags taken from the casino contained more than $900 in checks and cash, state court documents.

Tenhold is being held at the Butte-Silver Bow Detention Center on $40,000 bond. An omnibus hearing was set for March 24.

In other action in Butte district court before Judge Krueger on Thursday:

Robbie Ray Kennedy, 32, pleaded not guilty to felony criminal possession of methamphetamine and misdemeanor criminal possession of drug paraphernalia. Court documents state a Montana Highway Patrol trooper saw Kennedy hold a glass pipe to his lips and take a hit while he was a passenger in a silver SUV in December. He was found with two little bags of meth. Kennedy remains free on $6,000 bond.

Clayton Cleland, 34, of Butte denied charges of felony criminal possession of meth, misdemeanor possession of marijuana, misdemeanor criminal possession of drug paraphernalia, and misdemeanor theft. He was caught shoplifting a pair of gloves at Walmart in January and was found with drugs, needles and two glass pipes. He was released from the county jail on recognizance.
Nobody likes the idea of a government empowered to poke and pry into our personal space. But Americans cannot have it both ways. Theres no such thing as staying secure from terrorist attack without a reasonable level of sacrifice on other fronts, including certain levels of personal privacy.

The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks opened the door for government intrusion like never before. Before 9/11, who would have imagined the partial public disrobing that we all must now endure just to get on an airplane? We tolerate it, however, because Americans are keeping the bigger security picture in proper perspective.

The Islamic State-inspired attack in San Bernardino, Calif., on Dec. 2 underscored this nations ongoing vulnerability. One of the attackers might have left clues behind on an iPhone that could contain crucial information about Islamic State contacts or sleeper cells. Federal investigators need help from Apple to get around a security feature that could destroy all of the phones contents unless a backdoor program is devised to access it.

A federal judge agreed, but Apple CEO Tim Cook refuses, saying that the precedent would create a slippery slope for future government electronic snooping. Cook is not the final arbiter on matters of privacy and national security, but his companys refusal suggests that Apple sees itself as being above the law.

By protecting the contents of this phone, Cook extends safe haven to the nefarious individuals whose identities might otherwise be revealed by unlocking it. His overriding concern appears less motivated by American privacy concerns than a desire to protect iPhone sales in other big potential markets, such as China.

Cook is opposed by two significant individuals on this issue: CIA Director John Brennan and Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

What would people say if a bank had a safe-deposit box, or a storage company had a storage bin, that individuals could use and access and store things, but the government was not going to be able to have any access to those environments? And so criminals, terrorists, whatever, could use it, Brennan told National Public Radio on Wednesday.

Theres nothing unique about electronic communications that suggests they should be exempted from a legally authorized search when authorities are in hot pursuit of terrorists, Brennan suggested.

Gates, speaking to the Financial Times, echoed Brennans comments and dispelled the notion that Silicon Valley somehow speaks with a monolithic voice regarding electronic privacy issues.

This is a specific case where the government is asking for access to information. They are not asking for some general thing; they are asking for a particular case, Gates said.

Government privacy intrusions are a legitimate concern, but Americans must not lose perspective about whats at stake. The government isnt asking to unlock everyones phone. Just one that belonged to a dead terrorist.

-- St. Louis Post Dispatch
After nearly two years, it appears the empty gravel lot where the Brincks and Deluxe buildings stood at the corner of Utah and Front will become a green gateway to Uptown Butte.

The county is ready to spend about $142,000 in grant money in large part to beautify the lot with a with a large Welcome to Butte sign, trees, bushes and historic lamps that used to stand by a green space at Park and Main.

Its one of four alternative transportation projects slated for Butte this year using mostly federal grant money distributed through the state.

The others are an enhanced pedestrian crossing with flashing lights at Montana and Front; new sidewalks or sidewalk improvements in the Uptown business district and near Clark Park, Hillcrest Elementary School, and East Middle School on the Flat; and bike lanes on the Flat.

H&H Contracting in Butte was the lone bidder Wednesday night for the Montana Street project with a price of $97,393 and the separate sidewalk work with bids that totaled about $646,000.

The corner of Utah and Front has sat empty since the county tore down the Brincks and Deluxe buildings in March 2014 at a cost of about $58,000. There is a lone, bent sign in the middle of the gravel area that says "BSB Property  Not a Parking Lot." The area will now become a paved parking lot with the welcome sign, sidewalk improvements, and landscaping on the sides.

Commissioners voted to pursue two other options before settling on that plan, which Chief Executive Matt Vincents team had suggested from the get-go.

Commissioners first hoped to sell the lot so it would remain on the property tax rolls, but nobody bit at minimum bid of $50,000. The county then sought proposals for developing the site with a minimum payment or investment of $10,000. Again, there were no takers.

The corner is among the busiest in Butte, and Community Development Director Karen Byrnes has said a green gateway would be a pleasing image to both residents and tourists visiting Uptown. It could also set an example for others on improving their own properties, she said.

The welcome sign would be similar to those just off of Interstate 15-90 ramps into Butte at Harrison Avenue and Montana Streets. This one would sit on a stone base, say Welcome to Butte  National Historic Landmark, and include the Butte-Silver Bow seal.

The historic lamps used to sit at Heritage Park, a green space and parking lot near Park and Main in Uptown. That space was scrapped to make way for the new NorthWestern Energy building recently completed.

Grant money also would pay for trees and landscaping along the sidewalks on Front and Utah. That grant application was for $142,485, most of it going toward the gateway project. It also would pay for additional benches, trees and more clearly marked crosswalks in Uptown.

The initial idea for Montana and Front streets was to put a pedestrian bridge over the roadways to link trails on the north and south sides.

We didnt have the funding to pull that off, nor was there the support to spend that kind of money, said Assistant Planning Director Lori Casey.

The grants are from the former state-run but mostly federally funded Community Transportation Enhancement Program (CTEP) or its replacement, the Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP). CTEP grants were awarded based on population, but cities must compete for TAP funds.

Planning Director Jon Sesso said Casey did a great applying for and getting the TAP grants and staff did a great job of mixing and meshing money from both pots to fund the projects.

Bids for the green gateway project will be opened March 16. Those for the bike lanes on the Flat are pending.
For immediate release

MEDIA CONTACT: Andy Robbins at (319) 523-3102

Iowa DNR Plans Prescribed Burns in Muscatine County

The staff of the Iowa DNR's Odessa Wildlife Unit is planning to conduct prescribed burns at several sites in Muscatine County this spring. The areas planned for burning include Cedar Bottoms WMA, Red Cedar WMA, and Wiese Slough WMA.

Prescribed fire is a management tool that is used to control undesirable vegetation, stimulate the growth of native plants, reduce the amount of grass and leaf litter, restore nutrients to the soil, and improve wildlife habitat.

Weather conditions will be assessed before and during the burns to choose conditions for burning that have a minimal chance of fire escaping the burn unit, or smoke causing issues for nearby residences or roadways.

If residents located nearby any of the proposed sites have questions or concerns regarding the DNR's prescribed burn plans for this spring, please contact Andy Robbins at (319) 523-3102.
(Weapons and Warfare) The Iran-Iraq War was one of the longest and deadliest in recent histories. Iran full of zeal after its revolution...
Les emplois a Rennes sont abondants et varies. Il y a quelque chose pour tout le monde. Que vous soyez a la recherche dun emploi []
Les blattes ou cafards (Blatta orientalis) sont des insectes qui appartiennent a la famille des Blattoptera. Ils se caracterisent par leur forme allongee, leurs ailes []
Bitcoin cryptocurrency use in South Africa is set to increase as e-commerce takes off, says a local operator.

The cryptocurrency has faced controversy for its association with cyber criminals and fluctuating values. However, according to local Bitcoin wallet and exchange service BitX, the currency provides an ideal platform for e-commerce transactions.

As more people use and accept Bitcoin, it creates positive feedback loops for usage and trust, which helps grow the industry. At some point we believe it will hit a critical mass that will cause growth to become exponential, said Werner van Rooyen, head of business development and growth at BitX.

Globally, Bitcoin is experiencing growing adoption with 236 175 transactions per day said BitX, which is based in Singapore with offices in Cape Town.

Van Rooyen conceded that Bitcoin has higher adoption rates in developed economies where it was associated with luxury purchases.

Those markets already have excellent, established financial services  which Bitcoin certainly can complement  but we expect the biggest benefits will accrue to users in emerging markets, where Bitcoin can solve real pain points.

Barriers

Barriers to expansion of Bitcoin in SA include the difficulty in obtaining the currency  which is not supported by any government  and the lack of support from local merchants.

As with any new technology, but especially for matters related to finance, it takes time for people to develop trust. In this case, trust in the cryptocurrency, and in companies that provide Bitcoin services, said Charles Elliman, head of business development at PayU EMEA.

Bitcoin is a natural progression of payments, especially online payments, due to its digital nature. Payment processors like PayU can help provide more avenues for merchants to allow their customers to pay with Bitcoins, said Van Rooyen.

Bitcoins have traded from highs of $1 242 per coin to the currently quoted price of $420 and Elliman said that educating consumers was a key challenge.

For South Africa to become a catalyst for adoption in the region, South African e-ommerce adoption needs to start uptrending closer to that of Asia and for companies like BitX and PayU to help educate people and make the overall customer experience better, all within the right regulatory frameworks.

Fin24

More on bitcoin

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The Ministry of Arts and Culture has moved to settle concerns about the filming of two high-budget movies in South Africa over Kenya.

Cabinet Secretary Hassan Wario rubbished reports that two films- Africa, a movie based on the life of Richard Leakey, starring Brad Pitt and produced and directed by Angelina Jolie, and another one based on the terror attack on Westgate Mall, will be shot down South.

He said his ministry has been engaging with the producers of the two films in an effort to convince them that Kenya is the best place to do the shoots.

The talk about the two films being shot in South Africa remains just that, a talk. For Africa, Leakey gave out his stand that it will be filmed in Kenya.

On the Westgate film, the producers have not formally engaged us, but since the story came out, we started talking to them and they are very keen to film it here, says Wario.

He added that his ministry and the Kenya Film Commission  through Blue Sky Films Africa, has offered incentives that were not there before.

However unfortunate, its where the story happened and we want this story about Kenya shot here. We have gone out of the way and offered them incentives that we never had before.

Source: Word Is
Nairobi city motorists will be fined up to Ksh 100,000 fines if they breach the newly introduced yellow boxes.

City Hall will fine Ksh 100,000 for an offence on driving without due care and attention and Sh 50,000 for obstruction.

Section 49 of the traffic rules states that those driving without due care and attention be fined Sh 100,000 and section 53 obstruction be fined Sh 50,000 for first offenders, said City Halls director of public communications Beryl Okundi.

The yellow boxes were introduced earlier in the week in a bid to reduce traffic congestion. They have been placed at intersections that are notoriously congested.

They include intersections along Kenyatta Avenue, Mama Ngina Street, Wabera Street, City Hall Way and other areas with crossed junctions (X junctions).

Motorists are only allowed to enter a Yellow Box junction when the exit is clear and there is enough space on the other side of the junction for their vehicle to clear the box completely without stopping.



Here is a video demonstration that has been making the rounds on the interwebs.


Sometimes, happiness isnt found in the fancy trappings of an event, but the opportunity to just have the event itself  the kind of event many take for granted.

Like a school prom.

Although it was only February, last week a small group of teenagers went to a prom at Napa High School.

They did not, as is the custom these days, book a special venue in San Francisco and travel far out of town in tuxedos and gowns for an evening of dancing and memory making.

This prom was held in the more humble confines of a school cafeteria, for a group of only 15 students.

It was not lavish, though there were decorations. There were no rented limos ferrying the students to the prom. Moms and dads drove them there in the family car, and the parents stuck around to watch, which is also unusual for proms.

The dance started at 5 p.m. and ended at 7 p.m. Another prom anomaly.

But the students had a blast, and their folks were very happy to see their children having this experience. For some of the students, the dance was the first of their lives.

The teenagers who boogied and laughed and smiled ear-to-ear were from Napa Highs special needs classes.

Some couldnt speak, others were confined to wheelchairs. Many have some kind of learning disability.

None of them, however, needed to be taught how to have fun with music. Nor did they care that their prom was different from the more extravagant ones.

Look at her out there, said Wayne Gilbert, a Napa High English teacher whose daughter, Madison, was one of the special needs kids having the time of her life at the dance.

Shes been here for four years. Its been a great experience for her [at Napa High], he said. But she hasnt been able to go to a dance. This is her first.

Gilbert said Madison talked about this for months.

This from a girl born with Apraxia, a brain disorder that can rob a person of their ability to speak, who has undergone considerable speech therapy so she can now communicate.

Gilbert wasnt the only satisfied parent in the cafeteria that night.

Harvey Hecht brought his son, Nathaniel, who spent a good portion of the evening breakdancing on the floor.

I wasnt sure if Nathaniel wanted to come, said Harvey Hecht. But now hes having a wonderful time.

I think its great, he said about the prom. Part of what we need is the socialization for these kids.

Students like Madison and Nathaniel are allowed to attend Napa Highs regular prom. But they usually dont for a variety of reasons. The term special needs doesnt just apply to learning.

Some of the kids, according to their parents and one of their teachers, Beatriz Garza-Spillman, are more comfortable with intimate locales, as well as ones that arent too loud. Sensitivity to noise can be a problem for them.

I like what they did here, said Harvey Hecht, looking around at the cafeteria adorned with balloons and streamers. Its a smaller setting for the kids, its really good for them, very positive.

His son was pleased, too.

I got the chance to socialize today, said Nathaniel Hecht in between mouthfuls of pizza. I even got the chance to dance with a girl for five seconds!

Garza-Spillman said the dance represented something special for them; Something that would also contribute to their growth as young adults.

They feel self-worth and feel very confident from an experience that other teenagers, those in general education do all the time.

There was a time when Napa High and Vintage High School joined together to put on a special-needs prom for their students. But that tradition stopped for reasons unknown, and when it did, Napa High didnt hold one for a while.

It was brought back thanks to the efforts of Napa High senior Amanda Poppe.

She decided to make it her senior project, with encouragement from faculty and the administration.

It was a no-brainer to approve for us, said Principal Annie Petrie when she heard about Poppes idea.

The dance affords them the chance like other kids, to get ready, get their nails done, get their hair done. Its that whole, typical high school experience we want them to have, said Petrie, who was standing just outside the cafeteria.

Petrie promised to hold the dance again next year, and make it an annual event.

Poppe said she organized the dance because I wanted to do something to give back somehow.

Wayne Gilberts wife, Elizabeth, who was unable to attend the dance, said Poppe deserved kudos for bringing the dance back.

She said in an email that it touched her heart that one young lady can make something like this happen to make kiddos who have so many challenges in life to overcome so happy. I think this young lady really deserves a special pat on the back from the community.

While what Amanda did benefited only a handful of kiddos, she wrote, the happiness shes providing is pricelesswe need more young ladies like her in our world.

Poppe said she was motivated to spend three months planning the dance because kids like Madison and Nathaniel demonstrate how to appreciate what life has to offer, no matter your circumstances.

I always admired how happy they got over the littlest things, she said.

Wayne Gilbert couldnt have agreed more.

Our regular ed kids, they have to go to San Francisco and rent a venue [to have a prom], he said while watching his daughter and the other students dance. Look at how happy these kids are having a prom in the cafeteria with some decorations.

The simple things make them happy, he added. I learn that every day when I watch my daughter.
Getting their first close look at a $40 million housing complex planned for the Napa Valley Register site, city officials praised the effort to bring more homes closer to Napas core  but the design left local preservationists cold.

The development team seeking to redevelop the Registers earthquake-damaged home on Thursday brought its designs to the city Planning Commission, the first step toward creating 51 townhomes and 6,000 square feet of commercial space off Second and Third streets.

Our idea was to do a building with elements with existing textures of Napa and also introduces some new imagery, said Kirk McKinley, the architect working on the site with Vesta Pacific Development, which bought the Register property last year.

But where the complexs creator saw variety, others saw an ugly mishmash that would detract from the architecture of historic homes just south. Preservation advocates urged a redesign of the buildings, especially on the southern, Third Street side closer to the citys historic homes district around Fuller Park.

The propertys design does not represent an appropriate transition to the neighborhoods where we live, Ernie Schlobohm, president of Napa County Landmarks, told commissioners. The Register blocks placement between downtown and historic houses, he argued, makes the site especially visible  and raises the importance of creating buildings compatible with their neighbors.

A combination of townhouses, street-level retail space, a parking structure and two-car garages, Vesta Pacifics three-story development would present two distinct faces to passers-by.

Facing Second Street would be 32 residential units placed above the shop spaces and in front of the garage, with a facade partially of red brick in homage to the Register buildings mostly brick construction. We wanted to make it look like it could have been the previous Register building and we repurposed it, McKinley told commissioners.

On the south side of the block, a pair of five-unit residences will face Third Street, served by private two-car garages opening onto a new driveway. Three triplexes also would fill a smaller lot on Third, to the west on the opposite side of Seminary Street.

Drawings of the south-facing townhouses show an exterior of stacked boxes and flat or slightly sloped rooflines, along with numerous decks McKinley said will produce an indoor-outdoor feel inside the homes.

But while the size and scale of the buildings drew no complaints, two former members of the Landmarks group attacked their designs as unworthy of an area that serves as a gateway both to Napas business district and a major collection of Victorian-era houses.

This in no way honors the neighborhoods across the street, Elizabeth McKinne told commissioners. When I first saw the design, it looked like a cartoon building.

The projects rooflines, porch designs and other elements along Third Street dramatically fail to meet the guidelines of the Downtown Specific Plan that guides development around Napas core, added Linda Kerr. It is the most dramatically inappropriate design conceivable for this property, she said.

Developers will have more time to refine the projects exterior look before a final application and vote, which have not been scheduled. Planning Manager Ken MacNab suggested the final version may include more overtly historical links to residential areas nearby.

City staff originally received designs that probably more closely relate to architectural conditions in the historic neighborhoods (nearby), he told the audience. Theres some challenges of being overly repetitive in the gables and window elements, and we asked the applicant to mix it up.  It morphed into something more modern-looking, obviously, but Im sure the applicant is willing to incorporate some (historic) references  roof pitches, window styles.

Whatever shape the buildings take, however, the arrival of so much housing will fill a vital, but scarce, niche downtown, said Commissioner Paul Kelley.

Since the Downtown Specific Plan (in 2012) weve been waiting for that residential component to come to us, he said. Napas success downtown hinges on more people living and more eyes on the street, so that the sidewalks dont roll up at 9 oclock and everybody drives away.

Vesta Pacific filed its plans in mid-January to remake the block occupied by the Register office, which has stood for half a century but has been only lightly occupied since the Aug. 24, 2014 quake. The San Diego firm purchased the property in September from the newspapers parent, Lee Enterprises, which will use the estimated $5 million payment to reduce company debt.

The 21,000-square-foot building became expendable after earthquake damage led to the shutdown, and eventual scrapping, of its printing press. Since the quake, the Register has been printed at a Rohnert Park press owned by Sonoma Media Investments, which publishes the Press Democrat in Santa Rosa.
Check this out, Halak scores on himself, I am not sure I have ever seen this move. So far this season Halak has been tough to beat, Halak s...
With a series of portraits fleshed out in melodic lines The Lark unites personal experience and collective modern jazz exploration. The second release from pianist and composer, Sren Gemmer, presents an elaboration on the trademark melodicism displayed on the internationally acclaimed debut album.The album is the follow-up release to the highly successful At First that received widespread critical acclaim for its blend of modern jazz and a fascination of late-romantic classical piano music. The Lark features five distinct voices, empathetic interplay, inspired solo efforts, spacious as well as tightly woven structures. At the heart of it all are eight compositions; pieces that while being unmistakably Gemmer-esque, manifest an unwillingness to resort to established formulas. Gemmer explains:My previous excursion was predominantly chordal and high on vibe with a wealth of musical spaces for the players to inhabit. For this one, I had to produce melodies with enough integrity to stand by themselves. This change in emphasis came from my intention to portray a series of persons that have been part of my social reality in the last few years. Gemmer has committed to a linear approach throughout the majority of the compositions. Straight, angular, lyrical or crude lines abound within the songs, and they are all inspired by certain someones:Perhaps late to the party, I have come to realize that music really doesnt come from music. Also, I have in recent years experienced, for better or worse, the dependencies and relations that employ the young adult, and so decided to give a respectful nod, a show of gratitude and words of advise to a series of people dear to me, however far or near, by portraying them in melody.Gemmer chose to add another collaborator to his main group for The Lark Trumpet and flugelhorn player Mads La Cour is featured on four compositions and two duo improvisations and graces the album with his trademark blend of lyricism and erratic extroversion.Per Mllehj, Tapani Toivanen, and Andreas Fryland elevate the music on the album, just as they did on the debut release. Recording and mixing duties were handled by legendary Dutch sound engineer, Chris Weeda, providing sonic warmth and clarity.
Japan and U.S. will hold joint military exercises

France withdraws from Energy Charter Treaty

CNN: White House is in talks with Elon Musk to create satellite Internet service Starlink in Iran

Baku outraged by Iran's statements and frightened by IRGC military exercises

Who are main beneficiaries of 'Zangezur' corridor?: Another anonymous article by 'Haykakan Zhamanak' newspaper

Ankara decides to stand up for Riyadh amid deteriorating relations between Saudi Arabia and U.S.

French Foreign Minister considers it vital to keep lines of communication with Russia open

Pentagon refuses to give details of conversation between Austin and Shoigu

Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin: Head of Caucasus Muslims Department again made slanderous and false statements

Erdogan denies using chemical weapons against Kurds and threatens those who dare to talk about it

Saudi Arabia and China will strengthen their ties in energy sector

Governor of Gegharkunik province receives representatives of OSCE fact-finding mission

Penny Mordaunt runs for Prime Minister of Great Britain

Sweden expects ratification of NATO membership application by Hungary and Turkey to be completed soon

European Union will allocate 1.5 billion euros per month to Kiev in 2023

An Israeli-built flight school opened in Greece

Russian Railways is negotiating with Azerbaijan and Iran to launch the Rasht-Astara route

Overchuk: Construction of road through Meghri, whose sovereignty is not in question, depends on Armenia's position

Armenian Defense Minister's working visit to India is over

Hungary will not agree to limit prices for imported gas

Iranian Foreign Minister: Iran considers Armenia one of most important transit countries

Naribekyan participates in meeting of secretaries general of PACE parliaments

Delegation from United Arab Emirates visits Armenia at invitation of head of MONKS: Two agreements signed

Dollar, euro drop in Armenia

Iran consul general in Armenias Kapan: We do not accept any change of borders

Baza: Mobile military registration and enlistment offices will be removed on Russian-Georgian border

Iranian Consul: Countries of region do not need presence of foreign armed forces

Armenia FM: Iran consulate general in Kapan will be important for regional security

Iranian Consul General advises Kapan residents not to worry anymore: Iran is here for Armenian people

FM reaffirms Armenia plan to open consulate general in Irans Tabriz

Turkey to open consulate in occupied Armenian Shushi city of Artsakh

Turkish Ministry of Finance: Ankara can buy Russian oil without Western funding

Armenia Security Council chief briefs European Parliament rapporteur on recent Azerbaijan military aggression

British bookmakers name favorite for post of prime minister

Erdogan: Armenia-Azerbaijan relations progress will contribute to Armenia-Turkey relations normalization

Iranian Consulate General opens in Kapan

Erdogan: Turkey is looking for alternative to American F-16 fighters

Iran consul general: We are here for Armenian people

Turkey FM slams OSCE decision to send needs assessment mission to Armenia

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European Parliament rapporteur on Armenia visits Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan

European Parliament rapporteur on Armenia to legislature speaker: Attack was from Azerbaijan, naturally

Armenia President to EEU PMs: We will manage to take another confident step by respecting mutual interests

EUSR Toivo Klaars exclusive interview with NEWS.am on EU Monitoring mission,Nagorno Karabakh future and violence videos

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President meets with newly formed Artsakh Public Council members

Armenia PM: We need understanding in price horizon, at least in medium term

Lawyer: 20 of fallen solders parents detained from Yerevan military pantheon are recognized as injured party

PM: Armenia trade with other EEU countries increased by 74%

France region to provide 300,000 to Armenias Syunik Province affected by Azerbaijan military aggression

Eurasian Intergovernmental Council extended meeting underway in Yerevan

MOD: Armenia did not fire at Azerbaijan positions, vehicle

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World oil prices on the rise

Newspaper: Russia dismisses Armenia PM's news on Karabakh

Russia PM in Yerevan, to discuss with EEU colleagues single oil, natural gas markets formation

Newspaper: Why is Iran in hurry to open consulate in Armenias Syunik Province?

France, Spain, Portugal agree to build Barcelona-Marseille natural gas pipeline

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
16:43





Pakistan's Dawn newspaper quotes Aziz from the interaction on the subject: 'Before the 7th July (reconciliation) meeting (in Murree) last year, we had to use some of these levers and restricted their movements, restricted their access to hospital and other facilities, and threatened them that if you do not come forward and talk.'





'(We) then obviously (said) we will at least expel you, or give you the chance to go wherever you want to, because we have hosted you enough for 35 years. We can't do any more. Now the whole world is blaming us just for your presence here.'





'So that is the kind of leverage we have to bring them to the table. But to pressurise them, to negotiate, will depend on the parties, which are actually negotiating.'





However, he also clarified that Pakistan had a limited role.





'We can advise the Afghan government, if they want our advice, on what might be acceptable and so on and so forth, but in this task I think, and according to the roadmap, all three of us have to share that advice - US, Pakistan, and China -- so that we collectively decide what is best.'





'I don't think we are in the stage where actual negotiation strategy, etc. Right now the idea is to bring them to the table.'





'If you are not serious about reconciliation, then Taliban won't come.'





Also, even 'in the best of times,' they did not listen to Pakistan always, whether it was the Bamiyan statues or many other things, the Dawn quotes him as saying.





'They would listen to us when it suited them, otherwise they did not.'





You can read the full report here

Sartaj Aziz's CFR interaction, referred to earlier here, also had an interesting bit about the extent of influence Pakistan can exert on the Taliban.
Shantel Franklin named Alexander Lane intern

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Shantel Franklin of Chicago is the 2016 Alexander Lane Intern through the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Franklin will serve on the Illinois General Assemblys legislative staff with the Senate Democratic Caucus under Senate President John Cullerton.

We are pleased that, through the support of private donors, we are able make this opportunity available to SIU students to enhance their education with state government experience, David Yepsen, institute director, said. Shantel is an impressive young woman focused on a career in public service. She will be an asset to the office and will substantially enhance her skillsets and increase her understanding of how government works and policies are made.

Linda Baker, university professor at the institute and former secretary of the Department of Human Services and Director of the Department of Employment Security, as well as the first African-American legislative liaison for an Illinois governor, mentors students working through the Alexander Lane Internship during their stay in Springfield.

The Alexander Lane Internship Program gives promising students a valuable opportunity to work directly with the General Assembly, learning important professional skills as well as learning how state government functions firsthand. It is a pleasure to work with the students directly and observe their interest in our democracy, she said.

The institute established the Alexander Lane Internship program in 2011 to honor Lane, the first African-American male graduate at the institution that would become SIU Carbondale. The paid internship allows at least one student each spring to work with a minority member of the general assembly toward the goal of carrying on Lanes legacy of high achievement and public service. Lane rose from meager beginnings in pre-Civil War Mississippi to become a school principal, physician, and an Illinois state legislator, serving in the General Assembly in 1906 and 1908. He died in 1911 in Chicago, and is buried in Carbondale.

Franklin will graduate in May 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. She has been an active member of the University Honors Program at SIU Carbondale, and has served in leadership positions including chief of staff of the Undergraduate Student Government. Franklin has been honored for hard work and dedication to public service throughout her time at SIU. In 2015, she received the Saluki Stay Scholarship, John and Nancy Jackson Scholarship, the National Pan-Hellenic Council Woman of the Year Award, the Project 3.0 Award from the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, and the McNair Scholarship. Following graduation from SIU, she hopes to continue her education at the graduate level.

Private donations from individuals and corporations fund the Alexander Lane Internship program. Tax-deductible donations can be made online at www.paulsimoninstitute.org/donate or sent to the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Mail Code 4429, 1231 Lincoln Drive, Carbondale, Ill., 62901. For more information, contact Delio Calzolari, associate director, at 618/453-4001 or email delio@siu.edu.
Poll: Illinois voters split on Rauner

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Illinois voters have become more polarized about the performance of Gov. Bruce Rauner in the past year, according to the latest poll by Southern Illinois University Carbondales Paul Simon Public Policy Institute.

There are 50 percent who disapprove of the job the Republican chief executive is doing while 41 percent approve. The rest were undecided.

That is a marked change of opinion in a year. After only a few months in office in 2015, there were 37 percent who approved and 31 percent who disapproved while 32 percent still didnt know.

In other words, both his approval rating and his disapproval ratings have increased because fewer people have no opinion.

The latest poll of 1,000 registered voters was taken Feb. 15-20 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

Rauners worst ratings come from Chicago, where 34 percent approve and 58 percent disapprove. Opinion is more evenly divided in the suburbs, where 43 percent approve and 47 percent disapprove. Downstate, the numbers are similar: 43 percent approve and 49 percent disapprove.

Public opinion in Illinois is deeply divided over the governors job performance and deeply divided on a variety of issues that are challenging the state and state government to meet the needs and expectations of the public, John S. Jackson, a visiting professor at the institute and one of the designers of the poll, said.

The poll also found:

Illinois voters -- an overwhelming 84 percent - say the state is on the wrong track. Only nine percent say things are headed in the right direction.

Illinois voters felt only slightly better about the direction of the country: 63 percent said the nation was going in the wrong direction and 29 percent chose right direction.

Voters are much more positive about their city or local area. Half (50 percent) said things were moving in the right direction and only 42 percent chose wrong direction for their local city or area.

Asked about the overall quality of life in their local area, 51 percent rated their quality of life as excellent or good. Only 16 percent rated it as not so good or poor and 32 percent chose average.

Since last July, Illinois has been caught in a budget stalemate between the governor and the Democratic majority controlling the General Assembly. There are few signs of the impasse breaking soon.

The poll found that about one-third, 32 percent, said they or someone in (their) immediate family has been affected by the Illinois budget stalemate, while 62 percent of voters didnt feel they had been affected.

One reason this stalemate goes on is many simply dont feel it is affecting their lives, David Yepsen, institute director, said. Those people arent likely to be pressuring policy-makers to do something to break the logjam.

Many programs that are funded are being paid for with loans or one-time money and that cant go on forever, Yepsen said.

Those who said they or their families were directly affected were asked in what specific way they had been impacted:

Twenty-seven percent said they had lost a job or their job had been threatened by the budget impasse.

Twenty-seven percent said they had been impacted by cuts in social services.

Another 15 percent said they had been affected by cuts to higher education or cuts to the MAP grant program for low-income students.

Ten percent said they had been hit by childcare costs or loss of services and another 10 percent said the local economy had been negatively impacted by Illinois budget problems.

Poll results are available here.

For more information, contact Yepsen at 618/453-4009 or Jackson at 618/303-1240.

On Tuesday, March 8, the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute will present results and analysis, of these and other survey questions from the latest Simon Poll of Illinois voters. Topics will include the Illinois presidential primary; public opinion on the direction of the nation and state; the state budget and taxes; government reform; treatment of veterans; and other social issues. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the program will begin at 7 p.m. at the Varsity Center for the Arts, 418 S. Illinois Ave., Carbondale. The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required by noon on Friday, March 4, to Leslie Brock, at 618/536-7751.

The margin of error for the entire sample of 1,000 voters is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. This means that if we conducted the survey 100 times, in 95 of those instances, the result would be within plus or minus the reported margin for error for each subsample.

Live telephone interviews were conducted by Customer Research International of San Marcos, Texas, using the random digit dialing method. Potential interviewees were screened based on whether they were registered voters and quotas based on area code and sex (<60 percent female). Interviewers asked to speak to the youngest registered voter at home at the time of the call. Cell phone interviews accounted for 40 percent of the sample. A Spanish language version of the questionnaire and a Spanish-speaking interviewer were made available.

Fieldwork was conducted from Feb. 15 through Feb. 20. No auto-dial or robo polling is included. Customer Research International reports no Illinois political clients. The survey was paid for with non-tax dollars from the Institutes endowment fund. Crosstabs for the referenced questions will be on the Institutes polling website, http://paulsimoninstitute.siu.edu/opinion-polls/index.php.

Simon Institute polling data are also archived by three academic institutions for use by scholars and the public. The three open source data repositories are: the University of Michigans Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (OpenICPSR; http://openicpsr.org/repoEntity/list), the University of North Carolinas Odum Institute Dataverse Network (http://arc.irss.unc.edu/dvn/dv/PSPPI), and the Simon Institute Collection at OpenSIUC (http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/ppi/).

Note: The Paul Simon Public Policy Institute Poll, the Simon Poll and the Southern Illinois Poll are the copyrighted trademarks of the Board of Trustees of Southern Illinois University. Use and publication of these polls is encouraged -- but only with credit to the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at SIU Carbondale.
L.A. Cicero Janine Zacharia, left, moderated the OpenXChange discussion "When the World Is Aflame" with political scientists (left to right) Condoleezza Rice, Michael McFaul and Jeremy Weinstein. (Photo: L.A. Cicero)

Stanford political scientists discuss diplomacy and foreign policy amid global turmoil

Stanford foreign policy experts discussed flashpoints around the world at an OpenXChange event this week.

Three of Stanford's most seasoned international affairs experts discussed foreign policy and diplomacy  and practiced a bit of it on stage, too  as they tackled the topics of refugees, Russia and other politically thorny issues at a campus forum March 1.

The event, "When the World Is Aflame," featured Condoleezza Rice, a Stanford political science professor and former U.S. secretary of state; Michael McFaul, director of Stanford's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and former U.S. ambassador to Russia; and Jeremy Weinstein, a Stanford political science professor and former director for the National Security Council.

Janine Zacharia, a Stanford visiting lecturer in communication and former Jerusalem bureau chief and Middle East correspondent for the Washington Post, was the moderator.

The event was hosted by OpenXChange, a campus initiative to provide a forum for students and community members to focus on today's societal challenges.

L.A. Cicero Condoleezza Rice, former U.S. secretary of state, and Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia, offered their perspectives on diplomacy and foreign policy at the OpenXChange discussion.

"So you were resetting some of my policy?" Rice half-jokingly interjected, as McFaul discussed the objectives behind the U.S. trade talks with Russia a few years ago.

"It was not about making friends with the Russians  I want to make that clear," McFaul continued after the laughter in the audience died down. "And it wasn't that we needed to correct the wrongs from the previous period," he said, casting a quick glance over at Rice. "The Russians had an interest in giving the Iranians a nuclear weapon. Our answer was, no, and let's work with them to prevent that."

A series of trade sanctions with Russia were eventually accomplished, but as it turns out, McFaul noted, the political environment has since changed with Russia's aggression in Crimea, Ukraine and Syria.

Today's conflict in Syria was laid about four years ago, the panelists agreed, when the United States decided to aid the rebels and not overtly attack the current regime.

"There were reasons our president and others did not go down that path, but it was an invitation to others to play games in that environment," Weinstein said. "What their endgame is, we don't know."

Rice added that Russian President Vladimir Putin "does not mind countries that basically don't function." As such, "a stable, functioning Syria was never his definition of success."

Zacharia asked, "Are you saying we have yielded the endgame to the Russians in Syria? There is nothing we can do? And we're playing defense?"

"Yes," Rice answered.

"Wait, there is no endgame," McFaul said. "It's not that we yielded the endgame."

"Right," Rice replied.

Though the panelists' opinions differed at times, the trio of political science professors agreed on many points, including that international order is being tested, and that the refugee crisis is an overwhelming problem  one that the United States should help resolve.

"I'm a firm believer that America has a moral obligation to take [refugees]," Rice said. "But let's remember that we have to have a way to take them that is actually going to work within the system."

"We have a humanitarian architecture that simply isn't up to the task," Weinstein said. Securing congressional funding to reform the system will be a challenge.

What's more problematic, McFaul added, is that the current political rhetoric about how the United States should handle refugees is "based on fear."

"We're not having a rational debate about this in my opinion," McFaul said. "We have to fill the debate with empirical facts instead."

Public fears will continue as long as extreme Islamic State terrorist groups remain influential, "inspiring lone wolves like [those] in San Bernardino," Rice said, referring to the December 2015 terrorist attack there that killed 14 and injured 22 people.

"Somebody has got to defeat ISIS in its crib," Rice said. "They march in columns; they don't hide in caves like al-Qaeda. If CBS News can find them, then the American military can find them."

L.A. Cicero Political science Professor Jeremy Weinstein is a former director for democracy at the National Security Council.

The tougher challenge, however, will be the task of influencing sectarian politics and creating a more stable state in the long term, Weinstein said.

Stanford  with its cache of expertise  should strive to shape the national dialogue with concrete facts and analyses, McFaul said. Inspiring students and giving them the foundational tools to become the new generation of policy leaders is also part of that, he said. Adding a course on Russian politics would also be an improvement, he said.

Weinstein is a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute. Rice, a former Stanford provost, is the Denning Professor in Global Business and the Economy at Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution.

The panelists urged students to gain a deep knowledge of the areas and issues they care about.

"Know your facts," Rice emphasized.

"When you're making policy decisions at the table, the people who understand these places and understand the political dynamics  those are the people whose voices are second to none around the table," Weinstein said.

"And we need to get you prepared for that in a more robust way," McFaul said, inviting students to pass any ideas about this to him.

In terms of career choices, "there's nothing greater" than public service, he said. "Sometimes I would get goose pimples when I could stand in front of Russians with the American flag behind me, representing the United States of America."
Stanford to establish principles for renaming streets and buildings

After establishing principles for reconsidering and renaming streets and buildings on campus, a committee composed of faculty, students and staff will apply the principles first to places that honor Junipero Serra.

L.A. Cicero Provost John Etchemendy addressing the Faculty Senate on Thursday.

President John Hennessy and Provost John Etchemendy will form a committee to establish principles for reconsidering and renaming campus streets and buildings, and to apply those principles "first and foremost" to places that honor Junipero Serra, whose mixed legacy as the founder of the mission network in California has raised concerns among students.

Etchemendy made the announcement at yesterday's Faculty Senate meeting.

He said David Kennedy, professor emeritus of history, has agreed to chair the committee, as yet unnamed, which will be composed of faculty, students and staff.

Etchemendy said the university's founders, Jane and Leland Stanford, and its first president, David Starr Jordan, named many campus streets and buildings after historical California figures.

"Not all of those names are names of people that have unblemished histories," Etchemendy said. "So we want to be able to apply the principles, not just to the Serra name but to other names to determine whether or not they should be changed."

Last month, the Undergraduate Senate and the Graduate Student Council of the Associated Students of Stanford University (ASSU) passed resolutions requesting that the university rename streets and buildings currently bearing the name of Father Junipero Serra out of respect for the indigenous and Native American communities.

Following Etchemendy's announcement, the Faculty Senate unanimously approved a motion acknowledging the ASSU resolution; reaffirming the senate's support for Stanford's commitment to strengthening the life and identity of the Native American community on campus; and expressing its support for critically reflecting on Stanford's historical legacy, including the use of names of people who have been associated with it.

In addition to reviewing the names of campus buildings and sites, the senate motion suggested the committee could also review the names of "entities and activities" on campus.

In the motion, the senate pledged its support for the initiative, saying its Committee on Committees will identify faculty with relevant expertise and encourage them to take part.

The full minutes of the March 3 meeting, including the Q&A that followed the presentations, will be posted on the Faculty Senate website.
Fukushima five years later: Stanford nuclear expert offers three lessons from the disaster

On the fifth anniversary of the partial meltdown at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant, Stanford's Rodney Ewing says we should rethink our language, reassess natural disaster risks and appreciate the links between nuclear energy and renewables.

Greg Webb/IAEA Fact-finding team leader Mike Weightman of the International Atomic Energy Agency examines Reactor Unit 3 at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant on May 27, 2011, to assess tsunami damage and study nuclear safety lessons that could be learned from the tragedy.

It has been five years since the emergency sirens sounded at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi power plant following the massive 2011 earthquake and subsequent devastating tsunami. The partial meltdown of three reactors caused approximately 170,000 refugees to be displaced from their homes, and radiation releases and public outcry forced the Japanese government to temporarily shut down all of their nuclear power plants. The events at Fukushima Daiichi sent waves not only through Japan but also throughout the international nuclear industry. Rodney Ewing, an expert on nuclear materials, outlines three key lessons to be taken from the tragedy at Fukushima.

Lesson One: Avoid characterizing the Fukushima tragedy as an 'accident'

One of the biggest lessons to be learned from Fukushima Daiichi revolves around the language used to describe nuclear disasters. In the media and in scientific papers, the event was frequently described as an accident, but this does not properly capture the cause of the event, which was a failure of the safety analysis.

As an example, Ewing points specifically to the domino chain of events that led to the partial meltdown at reactors 1 and 3. Following the powerful magnitude 9.0 earthquake, the power plant automatically shut down its reactors, as designed. Emergency generators immediately started in order to maintain circulation of coolant over the nuclear fuel, a critical process to avoid heating and eventual meltdown. But the tsunami that followed flooded the diesel engines that were supplying power, and so cooling could no longer be maintained.

"The Japanese people and government were certainly well acquainted with the possibility of tsunamis," said Ewing, the Frank Stanton Professor in Nuclear Security and senior fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation in the Freeman Spogli Institute. "Communities had alert systems. But somehow, this risk didn't manifest itself in the preparation and protection of the backup power for the Fukushima reactors. The backup power systems, the diesel generators for reactors 1 through 5, were low along the coast where they were flooded and failed. They could have been located farther back and higher, like they were at reactor 6. These were clearly failures in design, not an accident.

"This is why when I refer to the tragedy at Fukushima, it was not an accident," said Ewing, who is also a professor of geological sciences in Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences. "When some speak of such an event as an 'act of God,' this has the effect of avoiding the responsibility for the failed safety analysis. We need to use language that doesn't seek to place blame, but does establish cause and responsibility."

Lesson Two: Rethink the meaning of 'risk'

Shortly following the disaster at Fukushima, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) received heavy criticism for its lack of planning and response. For Ewing, this criticism speaks to a larger issue: "We need to rethink what we mean by 'risk' when we perform risk assessments. Risk is more than the loss of life and property."

Reassessing risk also begins with changing our language, Ewing said. When we say a risk like an earthquake or tsunami is rare or unexpected, even when the geological record shows it has happened and will happen again, it greatly lessens the urgency with which we ought to act and prepare.

"It can be that the risk analysis works against safety, in the sense that if the risk analysis tells us that something's safe, then you don't take the necessary precautions," he said. "The Titanic had too few lifeboats because it was said to be 'unsinkable.' Fukushima is similar in that the assumption that the reactors were 'safe' during an earthquake led to the failure to consider the impact of a tsunami."

When evaluating risk, Ewing recommends that we carefully consider the way in which we frame the question of risk. For example, a typical risk assessment usually only considers the fate of a single reactor at a specific location. But perhaps that question should be asked in a different way. "You could ask, 'What if I have a string of reactors along the eastern coast of Japan? What is the risk of a tsunami hitting one of those reactors over their lifetime, say, 100 years?'" he said. "In this case, the probability of a reactor experiencing a tsunami is increased, particularly if one considers the geologic record for evidence of tsunamis."

Ewing acknowledges that incorporating geological hazards into a standard risk assessment has proved to be difficult because of the long recurrence intervals of damaging events. But ongoing research at Stanford Earth continues to analyze the seismic and tsunami risks around Japan and over the entire world. Professor Paul Segall and graduate student Andreas Mavrommatis analyze dense GPS networks and small repeating earthquakes to better understand unprecedented accelerating fault slip that took place in advance of the surprisingly large 2011 earthquake. Associate Professor Eric Dunham, graduate student Gabe Lotto and alum Jeremy Kozdon create mathematical models to better understand the relationships between fault motions, ocean floor properties and tsunami generation. And Assistant Professor Jenny Suckale is working to improve tsunami early warning messages that will allow populations in Indonesia to receive the specific information they need to prepare. This research, and more, helps quantify some of the geological risks that should have been considered.

Lesson Three: Nuclear energy is strongly linked to the future of renewables

In the five years since the tragedy at Fukushima, Ewing has seen a number of ripple effects throughout the nuclear industry that will have a great impact on the future of renewable energy resources.

In the United States, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has required that all reactor sites reassess risks from natural disasters. This includes not only earthquakes and tsunamis, but also flooding risks, particularly in the central United States. But this reaction wasn't shared globally.

"In countries like Germany and Switzerland, the Fukushima tragedy was the last straw," Ewing said. "This was particularly true in Germany, where there has always been a strong public position against nuclear power and against geologic waste disposal. Politically, Germany announced that it will shut down its nuclear power plants."

In a region like Germany, which is far more seismically stable than Japan, this move away from nuclear power marks an important  and expensive  transition for global energy systems. During the recent 21st Conference of the Parties meeting in Paris, Germany and a large number of other countries pledged to reduce carbon emissions.

"To me, Germany is a wonderful experiment," Ewing said. "Germany is a very technologically advanced country that is going to try to do without nuclear energy while simultaneously reducing its carbon emissions. This will require a significant investment in renewable energy sources, and that will be costly. But it's a cost that many Germans seem willing to pay."

As recently as 10 years ago, nuclear energy was quickly gaining support as a carbon-free power source. While the costs of renewables such as solar and wind remain more expensive than some fossil fuels, the steady decline in their costs and the boom of natural gas combined with the tragedy at Fukushima has once again muddied the waters of many countries' energy future.

"The biggest need for the U.S. right now is to have a well-defined energy policy," Ewing said. "With an energy policy, we would have a clear picture of how our country will address its energy needs."

Media Contact

Miles Traer, Stanford School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences: (650) 497-9541, mtraer@stanford.edu

Rodney Ewing, Geological Sciences: (650) 497-6203, rewing1@stanford.edu
He was implicated in former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's murder case in 2010 and high treason case in 2013, Dawn online reported on Friday.

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) of Rawalpindi and the special court seized with the high treason case may summon Musharraf to defend himself and counter the evidence produced by prosecutors in the two cases.

However, it is not clear whether the "ailing" former president will appear personally before the courts to get his statements recorded or testify through a video link.

Proceedings in the Benazir murder case commenced in 2008 and the trial is in its final stages as the prosecution is summoning its last few witnesses.

The former military ruler was nominated as the sole accused in the high treason case in December 2013. In March 2014, he was indicted in the case by the special court comprising judges of three different high courts.

The prosecution in the case has presented all the evidence and produced its witnesses before the court. The last prosecution witness testified on Sept 18, 2014.

Last year, the Islamabad High Court ordered the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to re-investigate the case to ascertain role of facilitators in the imposition of emergency in the country on November 3, 2007.

The court seized with the high treason case will resume proceedings on March 8.

--Indo-Asian News Service ksk

( 267 Words)

2016-03-04-08:41:34 (IANS)
Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria said the agreement reached at the last meeting of the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) countries for possibly opening direct peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban groups by the first week of March, Dawn online reported.

Zakaria said that efforts for holding the meeting were continuing, but noted that he did not have any confirmation of the dates of the talks.

The spokesman said that convening the meeting was a shared responsibility of the four countries participating in the quadrilateral process: Afghanistan, Pakistan, US and China.

The quadrilateral process is continuing satisfactorily and progressing well. All countries have expressed their satisfaction with the quadrilateral process, he said.

Zakaria added that QCG efforts for reconciliation in Afghanistan were aimed at ending violence in Afghanistan and establishing lasting peace there.

Last year, Afghanistan witnessed worst violence since 2009 and the trend has continued in 2016.

--Indo-Asian News Service ksk

( 191 Words)

2016-03-04-09:01:35 (IANS)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina are scheduled to open the transmission of power from Suryamaninagar grid of Agartala to south Comilla grid of Bangladesh on March 23. Official sources here confirmed that both the Prime Ministers will flag off the transmission switching the remote button from New Delhi and Dhaka. Tripura State Electricity Corporation Ltd (TSECL) and its Bangladesh counterpart have already made the necessary arrangement to ensure uninterrupted supply of 100 MW power. The exact schedule of inauguration of transmission has not yet been informed to us but we are told to prepare for the date to inaugurate the power supply, said Chairman cum Managing Director Shyamal Roy. He said the Indian government has ensured supply of 100 MW power from Palatana plant of Tripura to Bangladesh. However, Bangladesh is still in need of around 8000 MW power and wanted another 100 MW power to be generated from gas based Monarchak plant in West Tripura. India and Bangladesh have signed memorandum of understanding regarding price of Palatana power at 8 American cents per unit, which is Rs 5.50. It was scheduled to start the export from December 16, 2015 but got delayed due to dispute over fixation of prices. Power Grid Corporation of India has already completed Optical Fiber Cable (OFC) on the top of the 17.2 km transmission line. PGCIL has erected 20 km of transmission lines in Indian side from Suryamaninagar grid of Tripura while the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) has completed 27 km of transmission line across the border up to Comilla. At present India is selling 500 MW power to Bangladesh from Baharampur in West Bengal. Of this 250 MW is going from government owned projects for which Bangladesh is paying Rs 4.50 cent per unit and rest 250 MW has been sold by private companies which cost Rs 5.50 cent per unit. UNI BB PL SV CS1446 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0211-618669.Xml
Efforts are on to check out the complete layout and design of the tunnel.

BSF IG Rakesh Sharma said that they discovered the tunnel during a routine exercise, after which it was found that it had the passageway originated in Pakistan side of the border.

"When we looked at it carefully we found a tunnel. A detailed examination revealed that attempts were made to dig a tunnel from Pakistan side. The entry point of the tunnel is from Pakistan side and the opening in the India side was not yet ready, as we got to know about its existence," he said.

"So, a possible infiltration attempt by Pakistan was foiled. It is around 20-22meters long. We will probe the matter and take it to a logical conclusion," he added.

A BSF press release said that efforts to check out the complete layout and design of the tunnel are currently underway. (ANI)
The BJP and the other allies will contest the elections on the remaining seats.

"BJP-AGP has similarity on one issue in Assam - illegal infiltration from Bangladesh," said BJP leader and Union Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad while addressing a press conference here.

"Next we need to take down the corrupt Tarun Gogoi government in Assam," he added.

Yesterday, former Chief Minister and AGP leader Prafulla Kumar Mahanta had announced that the BJP and AGP would jointly fight the coming Assam Assembly elections.

The announcement had come after top AGP leadership had an hour-long discussion with BJP President Amit Shah.

The election to the 126-member Assam Assembly is expected to be held in April-May.

The BJP and AGP had an alliance in 2009 Lok Sabha polls in which the saffron party bagged four seats and AGP just one. (ANI)
"Five terrorists attacked Indian consulate yesterday in Jalalabad(Afghanistan). One terrorist blew himself up. No staffer was injured," MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup told the media here.

"It is noteworthy that attackers could not breach security," he added.

Earlier yesterday, at least six people were injured, after a suicide bomber detonated himself near the blast-hit area.

The blast was a suicide attack, which was followed by gun fires. (ANI)
Twenty three people from Bangladesh, including women and children, were arrested for entering Tripura illegally here on Wednesday. Police arrested them from the motor stand area in remote Gandachera town in Dhalai district. The infiltrators entered into the Indian territory through Gandachera, which is mostly hilly and unfenced. Gandachera is around 170 km from capital Agartala and located opposite to Chittagong Hills Track in Bangladesh. All of those arrested are tribals of the Tripuri and Chakma community and residents of Panchari area in the CHT. The arrested persons said that they had crossed the boder seeking a Hindu saint. One of the arrested Bangladeshi Monindra Tripura said, "All total we are 43 and had crossed the border through the portion where there was no fencing or border guards. We entered in the early morning through Boalkhali area and had come for treatment. Others had gone to their relatives houses. We do not possess any valid document." Meanwhile, another arrested Bangladeshi, Prajendra Tripura, said that they come seeking blessings of Goddess Kali. "We had come to the Maa Bari (Kali temple) for treatment and crossed the border hoping that our problems will be solved with the blessing of the goddess Kali but landed in problem as do not possess passport," he said. The detained individuals were later produced at a local court, which sentenced them to imprisonment till March 8. Gandachera Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Bhaskar Dasgupta, said that future course of action wpuld be decided after the hearing on March 8, when the police would produce the victims before the court along with chargesheet. "There have been some illegal entries of 23 numbers of Bangladeshi people. They were arrested by the Gandacherra police and produced before the sub-divisional judicial magistrate Gandacherra. They were sentenced to jail till the 8th of March and the juvenile cases were send to Agartala and after that on 8th there will be hearing and the police will be finalizing the charge sheet and will be producing it by today only," said Dasgupta. Police at present is in hunt of others who had crossed the border and took refuge in their relative's houses. Meanwhile, BSF officials would take-up the matter with their counterparts in Bangladesh, so that the procedure to sent back detained persons, after completion of their jail term and necessary proceedings, can be discussed. (ANI)
Speaking in the Rajya Sabha, the Home Minister said that there was nothing inflammatory in the speech made by Katheria at the VHP meeting, which was held to pay tribute to VHP worker Arun Mahaur, who was allegedly killed by Muslim youth.

"I heard Ram Shankar Katheria's speech, made others hear it. We all agreed there is nothing inflammatory in the speech," Singh said in Rajya Sabha.

He further said that subject like communal harmony should not be measured in terms of political gain or loss.

"It should only be measured in terms of justice and humanity," he added.

Katheria and BJP MP from Fatehpur Sikri, Babu Lal, had drawn major flak after a leading daily reported that they had witnessed a VHP event, in which Muslims were described as 'Rakshasas' and were warned of a 'final battle'. The article published in the daily yesterday, also accuses them of making hate speeches.

Meanwhile, Katheria, on his part, rubbished the reports published in a leading daily. He claimed that he had not targeted any community in his speech. (ANI)
Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Jitendra Singh has hailed the quantum jump in the Budget allocation for North East Region in Union Budget 2016-17. He said that in addition to all other allocations, the single most important announcement of exclusive and unique "Organic Value Chain Development" scheme for Rs. 115 crore will prove to be a game-changer for the entire region. "Not only will it help in boosting the enormous unexplored potentials of organic entrepreneurship in the region but would also comfort the entire region into a favourite destination for new start ups from across the country to come to north east," he added. He also said that the emphasis of the current government has been on the promotion of organic farming and North East has become an important destination for that with state of Sikkim being declared as the first Organic state of India by Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently. He was addressing a press conference here today. Jitendra Singh said that the Budget for Ministry of DoNER has been increased from Rs. 2334.50 crore to Rs. 2,400 crores this year as compared to previous year, the Minister said that the main emphasis of the Budget allocated for north east is on the overall development of the region. "The provisions have been made for connectivity in north east region, skill development and organic value chain development among others," he added. The Minister said, "A budget of Rs. 33097.02 crore has been allocated for the North Eastern region across 56 ministries. This is 14 percent higher than the BE of Rs. 29087.93 crore for previous year." "Under Non-Lapsable Central Pool Reserve (NLCPR), BE has been increased from Rs. 90 crores to Rs 200 crores in 2016-17. The budget allocation for North East Council schemes has been increased from Rs 700 crore to Rs 795 cores this year, he added. The Minister also informed that Rs. 150 crore have been provided for the newly launched NE Road Sector Development Scheme. He said that this scheme will be helpful in the development of the inter-state roads in the north east. In addition, he said Asian Development Bank (ADB) will spare funds from its own sources for construction and maintenance of roads in the north eastern region. Jitendra Singh also mentioned increase in the Budget allocation for North Eastern Development Finance Corporation (NEDFI) from Rs. 30 crore to Rs. 75 crore which will further boost the Prime Minister's Start-up India programme in the region. Similarly, skill development Budget enhancement from Rs. 16 crore to Rs. 56 crore will further supplement the Start-up Programme, he said. In addition to all the provisions like three years tax holiday and three months exit period announced by the Prime Minister, the DoNER Ministry will also offer "Venture Fund" for new entrepreneurs so as to ease their financial liability, he added. The Budget also has a provision of Rs. 150 crore for rural livelihood, he said. Besides the above provisions, emphasis has also been laid on the rural livelihood in the north east and BE for this purpose has been enhanced to Rs. 150 crore this year. Showcasing the north east to the rest of India is very important for the development of the region. The budget allocation for this purpose has been increased from Rs. 10.50 crore to Rs 17 crore this year, the Minister said. He said that this is almost 60 percent more than the last year allocation. In this regard, he mentioned that the Ministry of DoNER has recently organized 'Destination North East-2016' in New Delhi during 12th to 14 February, 2016. Now, the Ministry intends to organize similar events, especially, so as to showcase the strengths, the potentials of the North East, especially in the fields of Handicrafts/Handlooms and exhibition of/ sale of produce of North East. Such events have been planned to be organized in Mumbai, Bangalore in the first quarter of 2016-17 financial year. Laying emphasis on the government's efforts to improve the connectivity in North east, Dr Jitendra Singh said that the main initiative of the DoNER Ministry as a part of the 'Act East Policy' and is to provide funds to link Railways between India and Bangladesh. The budget cost for Indian side Rs 587 crore would be provided by the Ministry of DoNER, he added. There had been repeated attempts from our side, the Minister said that in spite of more than a dozen universities functioning in the State of Assam, the young students felt constrained to move out to other cities like Bengaluru and Pune for higher education and for the matter of gratification, a special amount of Rs. 10,000 crore for countrywide upliftment of higher education institutions will spare a special share for North Eastern Region and Rs 1623 crore has been allocated to north east for this purpose, he added. Jitendra Singh also informed that Rs. 300 crore will be spared for the Bodoland Tribal Council by the government and their demands would be considered in course of time subsequently. Overall, Jitendra Singh said, the budget allocations for Northeast this year are not only substantial but are also very imaginative and hoped that the State Governments will respond in similar vein by offering cooperation through timely submission of DPRs, utilisation certificates, State sharing of 10 per cent of funds etc. Naveen Verma, Secretary, Ministry of DoNER and other senior officers were also present on the occasion. (ANI)
He was arrested for organising an event at the Press Club of India to mark the anniversary of the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

The Delhi Police had earlier accused Geelani, of being involved in the 2001 Parliament attack.

A group, which was allegedly led by Geelani, had shouted slogans hailing Afzal Guru during a public meeting at the Press Club on February 10. (ANI)
They farmers blocked roads during their protest following which the police had to intervene to bring the situation under control. The police personnel later baton charged the protestors.

With an estimated crop loss in 70 percent of sown area, Karnataka has become the first in country to declare drought in the Rabi season. It has sought a Central aid of Rs. 1,400 crore.

Last year, the state witnessed more than 1,000 farmer suicides - the highest in a decade. (ANI)
All the students and teachers present inside the school were evacuated and a thorough search of the building was carried out. It was later declared to be hoax.

The Delhi Police confirmed the news about the same on its official twitter handle saying," Bomb call for Modern School Vasant Vihar. ALL CHILDREN and STAFF SAFE. School bldgs evacuated and BDS/anti-sabotage checks on."

The DCP of South Delhi said the ACP and the SHO were sent to the school for search operations along with the school staff.

Sniffer dogs and a bomb disposal squad were also sent to the spot. (ANI)
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday introduced the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill 2016 in the Lok Sabha as a money bill, with an aim to provide Aadhaar a statutory backing and make it the mainstay of the government's direct benefit transfer (DBT) programme for subsidies was tabled in the House. Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, objected to the bill being introduced as a money bill, saying the Congress is ready to cooperate on the bill, but it should not come as a money bill. In response, Jaitley said the bill is substantially different from what the opposition are talking about. He said the substance of the bill is that whoever gets subsidies, will have to produce Aadhaar. The bill seeks to provide for good governance, efficient, transparent, and targeted delivery of subsidies, benefits and services, the expenditure for which is incurred from the Consolidated Fund of India to individuals residing in India through assigning of unique identity numbers. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the continuous disruptions in Parliament are a result of the 'inferiority complex' of the Opposition. "Some people have aged physically, but not in maturity; some people don't understand, but just want to oppose for the sake of it. There are such bright MPs in the opposition, they were not to be seen in the previous two sessions," he said. "Nobody in the opposition must look stronger and this is the inferiority complex," he added. Quoting former prime minister Indira Gandhi's 1974 speech made at the Indraprastha College that one shouldn't portray the nation as 'weak', Prime Minister Modi appealed to the Opposition to help pass important bills in both Houses of Parliament. "GST Bill is your bill and you (Congress) are only opposing it, said Prime Minister Modi. He further said that poverty is so deep-rooted in the country that if he tries to tackle the problem, he himself will get uprooted. "The opposition is concerned about why we are doing better work than them. You (Congress have sown seeds of poverty. NREGA or MGNREGA has been put to use in less needy states," he said. "No one will deny that if Congress would've helped the poor in 60 years, the poor wouldn't still be facing trouble. We must admit that MGNREGA is not a symbol of our success," he added. Comparing the spending in sectors like Railways and MNREGA, Prime Minister Modi said that the Opposition is more concerned on how the government is doing better than it. "How a functioning government can serve the people and progress in every sector with good results - NDA government has shown the way. One MP said Fasal Bima Yojana is only for few districts. I want to say that this scheme will be applicable everywhere. We need fresh ideas for Parliament; we can't ignore 60 yrs of misgovernance; there should be a week when only 1st time MPs speak," he said. (ANI)
The Centre on Thursday said it was examining the Tamil Nadu Government's letter regarding the release of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassins. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said in the Lok Sabha that the Supreme Court had already given its decision on the matter, and now it is the constitutional and moral responsibility of the government to abide by the decision of the apex court. Raising the issue, Mallikarjun Kahrge of the Congress demanded that the letter should not be entertained at all. "The assassins must not be released to uphold integrity of the country," he said. The Tamil Nadu Government on Wednesday wrote to the Home Ministry seeking its opinion on releasing seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. The letter stated that while the state has already decided to release the seven convicts, it is necessary to seek the Centre's opinion under Section 435 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The letter said that the Tamil Nadu Government had received petitions from all seven convicts - Murugan, Santhan, Perarivalan, Jayakumar, Robert Payas and Nalini - requesting that they should be released since they had spent 24 years in prison. Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on May 21, 1991 by LTTE. The Supreme Court had said that Tamil Nadu cannot free the convicts without consulting the Centre. (ANI)
In a point by point rebuttal to the allegations levelled by Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi against the policies formulated by the BJP led NDA regime, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday criticised the former for mocking the Make in India initiative. "We are mocking things like Make in India? This is for the nation. If there are shortcomings it may be shared and discussed," he said while asserting that the former UPA regime failed to meet its set targets. The Congress vice president chose to exploit the issue of inadequate job creation and launched a strong attack on the Prime Minister. The Make in India logo - the Asiatic lion - created out of cogs and wheels also did not escape Gandhi's directed taunt. "I don't know anything, I don't understand anything. I listen to the people, understand them and then speak on those issues in the House," Gandhi said. "I am not from the RSS. I make mistakes," he said, consciously referring to PM Modi's RSS background. "Modi ji promised employment to the youth before the polls. Now the lion appears everywhere (Make in India logo). But tell us now how many jobs you have generated?" Gandhi asked the prime minister in Lok Sabha. "You created this Make In India babbar sher. Where ever you see, you see the lion. Even on TV we can see the lion," Gandhi said in the Lower House. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday quoted Rajiv Gandhi to hit out at the Opposition over repeated disruptions in Parliament, saying the House is a forum where the government is questioned and allowed to give its account. "Debate will be more fruitful if procedure is followed, these are not my words, this was said by former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi," he said. Expressing grave concern about the recent happenings in Parliament, Prime Minister Modi said everybody is at a loss when Parliament is not allowed to function. "When Parliament sessions are not functional, the nation suffers. Treasury benches don't suffer as much as the country. Lawmakers suffer the most as they are not able to raise voice of the people in the House," he said. "Hindering debate in the House is very counter-productive. Bills that are to be passed are for the people. They are for freeing the system from middlemen," he said. Prime Minister Modi said every party needs to cooperate to pass the important bills. He thanked President Pranab Mukherjee for highlighting India's growth in his speech. "We must always seek President's advice," he said while giving the vote of thanks to the President's speech on the opening day of the Budget Session. The Prime Minister also thanked Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, saying she has taken steps to ensure empowerment of women. (ANI)
The DDA told the NGT that there was no purpose of stopping the function now.

"Did not know about the size and scale of the event when permission was granted?" the DDA said.

The NGT on its part said, "Was it not incumbent on the DDA to see what was happening on the site and the magnitude of the program?"

The hearing in the matter is still on.

Further details are awaited. (ANI)
The Supreme Court today declined to grant an interim stay on a Delhi High Court order which had upheld the decision of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to make it compulsory for the telecom companies to compensate mobile subscribers for call drops.A division bench, comprising Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur and Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, asked the Centre and TRAI to respond to the telcos appeal and posted the matter for further hearing on March 10.The Apex Court yesterday had decided to hear the plea filed by two cellular operators challenging the High Court order which had upheld the TRAI decision to make it compulsory for the telecom companies to compensate mobile subscribers for call drops.Senior counsel, Kapil Sibal, appearing for the telecom associations, had moved the Apex Court seeking an urgent hearing on the matter. A division bench of the Delhi High Court, while refusing to agree with the telecom operators argument, upheld the TRAIs compensation policy. It had said that the regulation is in the interest of the consumer. The HC bench had said, ''We are of the view that regulation cannot be held to be beyond the scope of the regulating power of TRAI on any ground whatsoever. It said that under no circumstances the decision of the TRAI can be termed as penalty." The regulator had announced on October 16, 2015, that the telecom operators would pay for call drops under which a rupee will be credited to the mobile users account for every call drop (restricted to three per day) starting January 1, 2016.The TRAI had said the policy was made after consumers began getting regular call drops. In first quarter of 2015, about 25,787 crore outgoing call were made, out of which in 200 crore cases of call drops were encountered by consumers.The telecom operators had, in their defence, claimed that everyone was prejudiced against them. The HC, while brushing aside the telecom companies argument, concurred with the submissions made by Additional Solicitor General P S Narasimha that the regulation is in the interest of the consumer.UNI XC RP1430 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0364-620534.Xml
Purno Ajitok Sangma, 68, will be remembered as one of the tallest leaders from the North East, who with his wit and ever smiling demeanour made friends across the political spectrum, and imparted a new touch to the Speaker's role in the Lok Sabha.A nine-time Parliamentarian, Sangma's decision to oppose the Prime Ministership of Congress chairperson Sonia Gandhi was one such move which he took when he was at the pinnacle of his political career. It surprised many. Those who worked closely with him found him an extraordinary talent, open but unpredictable at times which dented his soaring political career at times.Though Sangma never admitted that he committed a political mistake by siding with Sharad Pawar to form Nationalist Congress Party, however, it brought about a decline of sorts in his career by pushing him again to state politics of Meghalaya.But all those hasty decisions also highlighted the simplicity of his character.From a humble beginning in a small tribal village in Meghalaya, Sangma rose to the office of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha by sheer dint of his hard workt, determination and industry Sangma was born on September 1, 1947, in village Chapahati in the picturesque West Garo Hills District of Meghalaya. He finished his graduation from St Anthony's College and went to Dibrugarh University in Assam for his Masters degree in International Relations. Subsequently, he also obtained a degree in Law. He was a man with many feathers in his cap-lecturer, lawyer and journalist-before joining politics.Sangma began his political life as a worker of the Congress party. His rise through the ranks was phenomenal. In 1974, he became the General Secretary of the Meghalaya Pradesh Youth Congress and remained its Vice-President for some time. He was appointed the General Secretary of the Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee in 1975 and held that post till 1980.At the age of 30, Sangma entered Parliament at a time when the nation was witnessing a major political change with the Congress party losing power at the Center for the first time since Independence in 1977. More UNI ABI RP1448 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0388-620563.Xml
The award is announced in memory of former SUK's Vice-Chancellor late R K Kanbarkar.

Dr Devanand Shinde, vice-chancellor, SUK said the award comprises Rs one lakh and fifty-one thousand in cash, a citation and Plaque.

Dr Rao has penned about 1500 research papers and over 50 books on chemistry. He was the third scientist, who had been selected for 'Bharatratna' award, after C V Raman and former president Dr A P J Abdul Kalam.

He will be given this award on April 12 at Lokkala Center in SUK's campus, an official release said. UNI SSS NV ADG AS1513

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Representatives of the Federation of All-India Farmers Associations (FAIFA), a body of farmers associations from South, West and North India, today staged a protest at Jantar Mantar to demand immediate government intervention against the Graphic Health Warning directive by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on tobacco packaging. It mandates a revision in the existing warning from 40 per cent of the pack front to 85 per cent of both sides of the pack from April 1, 2016.Demanding immediate roll-back of the public notice to implement the larger Pictorial Health Warning on tobacco products from April 1, 2016, a representative of FAIFA said, They are protesting against intense discrimination being meted out to FCV (Flue Cured Virginia) tobacco growers all over India and the looming threat to their livelihood and survival due to the onslaught on the cigarette industry through punitive taxation and stringent regulations.Illegal and contraband cigarettes do not carry any mandated health warnings thereby creating an impression that such products are safer over legal, regulation-abiding domestic products. This along with high taxes on legal cigarettes has led to quantum growth of illegal tobacco and cigarettes, said a representative of FAIFA. The farmers fear that the larger graphic health warnings, if implemented, will further lead to increased growth of illegal and smuggled cigarettes in India, thereby affecting their livelihoods, he added."Moreover, none of the other top 10 tobacco growing countries in the world has adopted such an extreme position on graphic health warnings. In fact, large tobacco growing countries like China, the United States, Indonesia and Zimbabwe have not adopted over-sized, large health warnings," a representative said.FAIFA also demanded a CBI inquiry against health activists and their money trail whose hidden agenda is to benefit foreign growers and business syndicates.The farmers demand action against lopsided tobacco control policies blinded by anti-farmer activists, and urged an immediate correction.UNI SM AE SB 1709 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0377-620977.Xml
Raising the issue during the Zero Hour, Mr Ramniwas Rawat (Congress) said that a minister of State had lodged a complaint with the Chief Minister by writing a note sheet.

Mr Rawat said considering the gravity of the case, he also submitted a calling attention notice and it should be discussed in the House.

Echoing Mr Rawats View, Mr Mukesh Nayak (Cong) alleged that illegal mining of diamond to the tune of Rs 1.5 crore took place recently and it could be seen in social media also.

Congress Member Govind Singh also raised the distribution of sub-standard salt through the public distribution system and said after consuming such salt the children, particularly tribals, are suffering from goitre disease. He urged the government to initiate an action against the guilty persons.

Mr Vijay Singh (ruling Bharatiya Janata Party) also drew the attention of damage of crops due to recent hail and rain in Hoshangabad district and demanded proper compensation to farmers.UNI BDG SHS AS1730

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They said burglars entered a shop where the ATM of SBI was kept by breaking its outer wall at Charar-e-Sharief during the night intervening March 3 and 4.

However, the burglars could not break open the ATM where the cash had been kept, they said, adding that the crime was noticed by some passerby who informed the police.

Police has registered a case and launched a massive hunt to nab the burglars.

It was not immediately clear if there was any CCTV camera in the ATM.UNI BAS AY AS1632

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Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, today announced to provide free foodgrains to the people of drought-hit Bundelkhand the region under Right to Food Security Act. " The government has decided to provide free foodgrains to the people of Bundelkhand region under the Act," he announced in the state Assembly while replying to the debate on general budget. " We will bear all the expense to provide free foodgrains to the poor people of the Bundelkhand region," he said while criticising the political parties of doing politics over the issue. He said the Samajwadi Party government was sensitive on the issue and doing whatever was required for the security of people."We have also decided to provide subsidised atta, oil, gree, potato, salts and several other things to the poor people of the state," he said. To counter the shortage of drinking water, the government would press into service 1,500 water tankers in Bundelkhand so that the villagers are provided with quality drinking water, Mr Yadav added. Replying to the charges the opposition that developmental works have been stalled and the schemes was only on papers, the CM said that the Agra- Lucknow expressway and the Lucknow Metro are real time examples of his government's achievement. " Besides we have targeted to provide pension to 55 lakh families under the Samajwadi Pension and work for Lohia Awas have been accelerated," he added. Announcing that the government would develop a Green filed city and eye-sparsh villages, Mr Yadav said that his government was committed to balance the development of rural and urban areas and hence the villages too would be developed as a smart villages to compete with the smart cities. The CM said that adequate power and good roads are the main priority of his government besides work for the proposal Poorvanchal Expressway connecting Lucknow and Ballia would start soon. " We are committed to provide 16 hrs power to rural areas and 22 to 24 hours power to the cities by October next. He also said that the government has also decided to go for underground cable for distribution network of power in the cities. " We forced the sugar mills to pay over Rs 77,000 crores to the cane farmers during the four year regime even after the prices of sugar was at the lowest," he added. Mr Yadav in his over 90 minutes speech hit out at the BJP for ditching the people of UP even after 73 MPs were elected from the state in 2014 Lok Sabha elections." You all have given nothing to this state and people will not forgive you," he alleged while adding that the new tax structure has decreased the state share by Rs 8000 crores . The CM questioned why the Centre has not given AIIMS to UP or the proposed Bullet train to UP but the state government has decided to add another 180 beds in the SGPGI hospital in Lucknow. He also asked why the BJP which organised a Kisan rally in Bareilly, did not announce anything for the area. " We have also asked for international airport at Jewar in Gautam Buddha Nagar or at Hirangaon in Ferozabad but the Centre was not at all interested in it," he stated. He even termed that the BSP was only know for constructing statues and memorials and now people have learnt a lesson and they would not support them at any cost. While commenting on the BP and BJP relations, the CM also alleged that they could again join hands for their vested interest. " I know what they can do like they did in the Kannauj Lok Sabha elections in 2014 and made an inholy pact to defeat the SP candidate," he disclosed. Promising the people of the state that the Samajwadi party government will continue to serve the state, also blamed the media for tarnishing the image of the government over the law and order issue. " The recent acts of missing women and other crimes, UP police had done an excellent job to arrest the culprits within a record time but still the media bashing against the government continues," he alleged. The CM said that during the BSP regime, farmers were forced to give their lands for the Yamuna Expressway and were even killed in firing but in the SP regime, they were given adequate money for their land for Agra- Lucknow expressway. Earlier leader of the opposition Swami Prasad Maurya had said that the situation in Bundelkhand was critical and the farmers and poor people were forced to commit suicide and dying due to starvation. The opposition leader said the Right to Food Security Act was implemented in the state from March 1 last but the ration cards are yet to be made. " It is unfortunate that the prices of liquor has been reduced but the budget for education needs to be more increased," said BJP legislature party leader Suresh Kumar Khanna.UNI MB RJ AS1728 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0196-620827.Xml
Opposition leader in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Radhakrishan Vikhe-Patil today expressed deep sorrow over the demise of former Lok Sabha speaker P A Sangma. In a condolence message, Mr Vikhe-Patil said, ''The nation has lost a great leader. During his tenure as the Chief Minister of Meghalaya his development work is monumental.'' Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) state unit president Sunil Tatkare said, "Sangma was a very calm and silent man. He was a visionary and his developmental work in north-east is memorable." UNI ST NV SB AN1702 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-620797.Xml
In a condolence message here, the Chief Minister described Sangma as seasoned statesman who worked relentlessly for amelioration of the marginalised sections of the society. Sangma had also served as the Meghalaya Chief Minister before being elected as the Speaker.

Mr Khattar expressed his heartfelt condolences to the members of the bereaved family and prayed that the departed soul rests in peace.UNI DB AY SB AN1749

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Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) Vice-Chancellor Baldev Singh Dhillon stressed upon the farmers to apply farm inputs judiciously to reduce cost of cultivation and save the environment.While inaugurating the Kisan Divas at Krishi Vigyan Kendra here today, Dr Dhillon suggested that farmers should use inputs in their fields based on expert advice and urged them to follow PAU recommendations which are made after testing for their being cost-effective and environment friendly. He also suggested farmers to save the environment and say no to wheat and paddy straw burning and crop refuge back to soil for the soil health. He stressed them to diversify from the wheat paddy cycle. He suggested that the farmers could enhance their profitability through starting auxiliary occupations such as bee-keeping, poultry, dairy, nursery production, mushroom growing, etc.Dr Dhillon said that the climate conditions are changing day by day and farmer need to be aware of it because it would affect the ecological balance. PAU is going to develop the new varieties which would sustain the climate changes. He asked the large land holding farmers to adopt Horticulture as a profession which is more profitable and sustainable as compare to traditional crops. He emphasised that the some blocks of Amritsar district are diversified in vegetable growing and they should follow the new technologies which are being developed by PAU.UNI DB SB BD1736 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-620968.Xml
The 'deputy c-in-c' of militant outfit Kamatapur Liberation Army (KLO) was killed by the Army, in a joint operation with Assam Police, at Shiljan in Kokrjahar District of Assam today. The militant was the 'Deputy Commander in Chief' and the 'Chief Recruiter' of the banned terrorist organisation Kamtapur Liberation Organisation and was trained in Myanmar. The terrorist has been identified as Dibakar Barman alias Anupal alias Jabarjung alias Raghav. He was trained in Myanmar and joined the terrorist outfit in Nov/Dec 2012. One 7.65mm Pistol (FM), three rounds and Rs 2127 were recovered from the terrorist. His elimination is being seen as a major success for the security forces as he was capable of fomenting a lot of trouble, especially in view of the forthcoming Legislative Assembly elections in the state. KLO is a key component of the United Liberation Front of Western South East Asia(UNLFW), formed under the leadership of Paresh Baruah and SS Khaplang by NSCN(K), ULFA(I),NDFB(S), PLA and other terror groups of Manipur in April 2015, with the aim of waging war against the Indian Union.UNI SG KK RJ SB RAI1830 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0129-621321.Xml
Charging Prime Minister Narendra Modi with indulging in petty politicking during his reply to the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the Presidents address in the Lok Sabha yesterday, the Congress today said both the Premier and the BJP suffer from 'Rahul phobia which had taken the form of an epidemic.Talking to reporters here, AICC spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi, referring to the jibes taken by the Prime Minister at the Congress vice-president during his reply to the Motion of Thanks, said,''this kind of petty jibes during a Motion of Thanks to the President's address is not the culture nor sanctified by the Indian Democracy. There have been many PMs, many parties in power, many acrimonious elections. But we have never seen such petty politicking. The Prime Minister as well as the BJP suffer from Rahul phobia which is now assuming the form of an epidemic.On Mr Modi's jibes at Mr Gandhi's criticism of the Make-in-India programme, Mr Singhvi said,''the questions raised by Mr Rahul Gandhi and the Congress Party are pointed questions of legitimate public concern. Rahul Gandhi mentioned the 'Fair and Lovely' amnesty scheme.You may agree or I may disagree with it, but did the PM deal with it? ''Rejecting the reply of the Government as misleading and with no real answers, Mr Singhvi said,''the PM has yet again lost the chance to give substantive answers and clear and assuage genuine concerns of the people. What pointed or factual answer did we get to the questions raised? None!.Did the Prime Minister in his political diatribe mention a word about Rohith Vemula, Kanhaiya Kumar, about the behaviour of Delhi Police, about the lumpen elements across the country, linked to the ABVP, atrocities on Dalits and students? The PM should explain why he didn't apologise for the false speech of his HRD Minister in Parliament.Mr Singhvi said in his speech Mr Modi did not explain the failure of the Government to fulfil the promises made during the Lok Sabha election not anything on the provocative statements by the BJP leaders and his Government ministers.We are in the worst position on job growth. What happened to the BJP promise in their manifesto for creating 2 cr jobs? Would the PM explain what were the reasons for visiting Pakistan?Mr Singhvi said.On the Prime Minister quoting statements by former Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi during his speech, Mr Singhvi charged him with selectively quoting these people and then undermining and sabotaging the very essence of what these people stood for?''The PM quoted selectively from Pt Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhis speeches. Does he forget the content and paradigm of all these speeches were, overriding everything an inclusive approach, a compassionate approach.How is the PM selectively quoting and then undermining and sabotaging the very essence of what these people stood for? Mr Singhvi asked.UNI AR AE SB 1937 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0377-621394.Xml
Thousands of activists of Bharatiya Shetkari Kamgar Paksh (BSMP), along with affected farmers, belonging to eight districts of Marathwada, today took out a morcha here, in support of their various demands, pertaining to the affected farmers of Mararthwada region. The morcha, led by party general secretary and MLA Bhai Jayant Patil, along with communist prominent leaders and farmer leaders from the citt, started from the ground of Zilla Parisahd and concluded at the Divisional Commmissoner office, where the delegation of the protestors submitted a memorandum, pertaining 18 demands, to the Commissioner. The main demands include compensate 100 per cent for Rabbi and Kharif crops, provide drinking water to the affected villages and hamlets, waiving the crop loans and electricity bills, provide two times free meals to the studnet of affected farmers, start works for affected under MNEREGA in region, supply grains and lifeneeds to affected peoples at subsidy rates, release fund to complet pending irrigation projects, start fodder camps for cattles and other demands. Later, addressing the gathering of farmers and peoples, Mr Patil alleged that the present BJP-led government is neglecting the problems of farmers in the region who were facing hardships due to continuously drought in the region and several farmers were already committed suicides. He further said that due to severe drought in the region, farmers found in panic stricken condition due to the mounting debt of banks and private money lenders , shortage of drinking water in the region, no water available for cattles at several places, several student of affected peoples who were stopped their education and distress condition was prevailed every where in drought hit areas. "However, the state government are not serious about helping such farmers in the region, except promising. Hence, we have decided to unite and fight with the government for their rights," Mr Patil added. BSMP has launched recently two times free meals to 600 students of affected farmers who were studying inAurangabad for period of one year.UNI VKB NP NP1819 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0171-621281.Xml
Chief Minister T R Zeliang today claimed that under the pre-poll alliance of the ruling Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN), BJP has offered support on principle to the Naga Peoples Front (NPF) selected candidate for the Rajya Sabha seat of Nagaland in the March 21 elections. Speaking at the ticket distribution ceremony to NPF selected candidate K G Kenye at NPF central headquarters here today, Mr Zeliang also informed that BJP National General Secretary in-charge of Nagaland Farooq Khan and party president approached him to select one BJP candidate for Rajya Sabha. When he said Nagaland has only one seat for Rajya Sabha, for which the ruling party must field its candidate, if it would have been two seats, it could have been shared. He claimed that BJP leaders have agreed, in principle, to support Mr Kenye. He said, for the first time in the history, NPF has selected a dedicated party worker has been given candidature to represent Nagaland to the Upper House of the country. He also said that the solution of Naga political problem was coming closer and at this crucial time, the state needs a strong representative and hoped the Secretary General of NPF K G Kenye will be able to tackle the tough task in the countrys highest forum. Speaking on the occasion, NPF president Dr Shurhozelie hoped that Mr Kenye will able to focus the problem of Nagaland in the highest forum of the country. He appreciated the efforts of all Rajya Sabha members of the state, including late Khekiho Zhimomi, who were able to focus on issues of Nagaland, but the need of the hour is to expose the peculiarity of the state to the people of the country and once Naga political problem is solved, the state will be able to march forward with other states. Dr Shurhozelie administered the oath of pledge and presented the NPF ticket to K G Kenye. In his speech, Mr Kenye thanked the NPF president, the Chief Minister and other senior leaders for choosing him for the candidate by avoiding norms of selecting elected leader of the Assembly. He said the NPF has able to reach to this stage only with the dedications and loyal service of the former leaders, out of whom some were well rewarded, but many devotional leaders remained unsung. He appealed to party workers to continue the cooperation and give valuable advises to perform his responsibility in Parliament.. UNI AS AKM RJ SB VN1950 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0213-621243.Xml
In his condolence message, Chief Minister Raghubar Das defined Sangma as a distinguished leader and said that the void created by his demise would be hard to fill.

Former chief minister Arjun Munda said Sangma had made himself as a popular Lok Sabha Speaker and he was also a strong leader of Meghalaya.

Other former chief ministers including JMM supremo Shibu Soren, Hemant Soren and Babaulal Marandi, along with State Cabinet Minister Chandraprakash Chowdhary, also expressed grief over the passing of Sangma.UNI AK RJ SB NS1955

-- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0213-621282.Xml
Ten School Children sustained injuries, when the School Bus of St Soldier Divine Public School, Phagwara turned turtle and fell down in the roadside fields near Village Bhanoki this afternoon. Satnampura Police has taken the Bus Driver Kulwinder Singh into police custody. The accident occurred, when the bus driver lost control over the vehicle on a turn.He was going to drop the students in nearby villages of Jagatpur Jattan,Saran and Bhanoki. The Injured students were given first aids in different hospitals. Some Eyewitness said the bus was being driven by the bus cleaner at the time of the accident. Police is investigating.UNI XC RJ SB VN1955 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-621248.Xml
The Ministry of Railways has announced additional stoppage for Train No 12842/12841 Chennai-Howrah-Chennai Coramandal Express at Eluru Railway Station for a period of six months starting from March 7 on experimental basis. Accordingly, Train No. 12842 Chennai-Howrah Coramandal Express will arrive/depart Eluru at 1612/1613 hrs from March 7. In the opposite direction, Train No.12841Howrah-Chennai Coramandal Express will arrive/depart Eluru at 0848/0849 hrs from March 7.UNI VV KVV ADB2002 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0414-621621.Xml
Security forces burst teargas shells to disperse pro freedom slogan shouting demonstrators in the downtown and Shehar-e-Khas (SeK) in the summer capital, this afternoon.The trouble started immediately after Friday prayers were over in the historic Jamia Masjid and other Mosques in the downtown and SeK.Hundreds of people, mostly youths, took to streets at Nowhatta and other areas, raising pro-freedom slogans. They were demanding release of youths arrested during the past one month in the downtown and SeK.However, security forces swung into action, when the demonstrators were moving towards the main chowk and police station. The demonstrators pelted stones on security forces, who resorted to lathicharge, which had no impact.Later, security forces burst teargas shells to disperse the agitators who were re-grouping again and pelting stones from narrow lanes and bylanes.Several persons, including some security personnel, were also injured. Reports of pro-freedom demonstration and clashes between demonstrators and security forces were also received from Tral and other areas in Pulwama district, where a general strike was today observed against the death of three local militants of Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) in an encounter yesterday.UNI BAS RJ SB BD2016 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-621377.Xml
A team of wildlife experts set off for Medziphema village under Dimapur district yesterday after unconfirmed reports of tiger sightings emerged following the February 29 killing of a tigress. According to official sources today, the reports further gained credibility after a tiger pugmark, reported to be fresh, was discovered yesterday at the village ground, which indicates presence of another tiger in the village area where a tigress was killed by the villagers on Monday, after the tigress attacked and injured a youth. The tiger pugmark was found imprinted on cow dung prompting the Department of Forests, Ecology, Environment and Wildlife to mobilise a team to make spot verification of the reports. According to the Wildlife Warden of Dimapur Wildlife Division, K Caroline, the team made up of wildlife experts from the Wildlife Trust of India, National Tiger Conservation Authority and State Forest personnel visited the village yesterday to verify the tiger pugmark finding. Suspecting it to be a fresh print, the team scoured certain locations in the forest adjacent to the village. Though the team did not find any credible evidence, the Wildlife Warden said that the team will return to the village and will be setting up camera traps in suspected locations. UNI AS KK RSA NS2046 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0212-621490.Xml
Governor of Nagaland & Assam P B Acharya condoled the demise of Purno Agitok Sangma in New Delhi today. In his condolence message, Mr Acharya said late Sangma was an astute politician, a social worker and a great leader from Garo community of Meghalaya. He was the chief minister of Meghalaya from 1988 to 1990 and the Speaker of the Lok Sabha from 1996 to 1998. Before becoming the Lok Sabha Speaker, Sangma had also served as a union minister. ''He was the representative of the Tura constituency in the West Garo Hills district in the eighth Meghalaya legislative Assembly. Sangma was a man of many roles. Before joining politics, he started his career as a lecturer and has also been a distinguished lawyer and journalist.'' Mr Acharya conveyed his condolences to the members of the bereaved family and has prayed for eternal peace of the departed soul. In a separate condolence message, Chief Minister T R Zeliang said he was deeply grieved to learn of the demise of P A Sangma this morning. Zeliang said What can I say about a person, who taught me in school when I was a student of Don Bosco high school, Dibrugarh in 1971 and who later became a mentor, a colleague in the Parliament? He was pleasantly surprised when I became a Member of Parliament in 2004 and said he was proud that one of his students had joined him in the Parliament. I fondly recall the days when I used to drop in to his residence at Aurangzeb road, New Delhi and share with him opinions about issues particularly those concerning the Northeast. A brilliant and sharp person, he was never at a loss for words or ideas and gave quick decisions and suggestions on various matters." Zeliang said After I became the Chief Minister, I had visited him at his residence several times and shared with him ideas on how to run the government and give better service to the people of Nagaland, to which he was most supportive and gave valuable suggestions which I always treasured. An affable and down-to-earth person, his simplicity endeared him to many. His accessibility to all and sundry made him a popular leader of the Northeast. His tenure as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha will be remembered fondly by the nation with memories of the smiling Speaker trying to control many a shouting match between the Opposition and the Treasury members. In his passing away, I have lost a truly respectable person from whom I used to get elderly advice. Moreover, the Northeast has lost one of its most towering leaders; and the nation has lost a popular political personality. In this hour of grief, I, on behalf of my family and the people of Nagaland pray to the Almighty to grant solace, comfort and strength to you and all the family members and wished that may his soul rest in eternal peace, the message said. UNI AS AKM SB RSA RAI2012 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0213-621312.Xml
Elections to assemblies will be held in Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in April-May, it was announced on Friday, in the biggest popularity test for political parties since the 2014 Lok Sabha battle. Nearly 170 million people will be eligible to vote in the staggered exercise that will see a two-phase polling in Assam, a six-phase balloting in West Bengal spread over seven days, and a day's battle each in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Assam (126 seats) will vote on April 4 and 11, and West Bengal (294 seats) on April 4-11, 17, 21, 25 and 30 and May 5, Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi told the media. Kerala (140 seats), Tamil Nadu (234 seats) and Puducherry (30 seats) will go to the polls on May 16. Counting of votes in all five states will take place on May 19. Within hours of the announcement, West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress announced its candidates for all the 294 assembly seats but it also expressed its displeasure over the decision of spreading the voting into six phases. The key players in the five-state electoral battle include the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Left, Trinamool, AIADMK, DMK, Asom Gana Parishad, the AIUDF as well as the NR Congress that rules Puducherry. Although the BJP is a contender for power only in Assam, the outcome in all five states is important to it because of the two major defeats it has suffered in Delhi in February 2015 and in Bihar later in November. However, before two consecutive defeats in Delhi and Bihar, the BJP formed governments of its own in Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand whereas it shared the taste of power in the country's only Muslim majority state Jammu and Kashmir for the first time. While the Congress is in power in Assam and Kerala, it faces a stiff challenge in both states. After Lok Sabha polls debacle, it lost badly in all the states including Maharastra, Haryana and Delhi but performed well in Bihar, where it formed the grand alliance with Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United and Lalu Prasad-led Rashtriya Janata Dal. A resurgent BJP has tied up with regional groups like AGP and Bodo People's Front to dislodge the Congress in Assam. The Left is confident of returning to power in Kerala, where the BJP is determined to open its account in the state assembly and has tied with SNDP's political outfit Bharath Dharma Jana Sena. The Trinamool stranglehold has forced the Congress and the Left in the state -- for decades bitter enemies -- to try to close ranks. Although, the BJP is a minor player in the state, but is leaving no stone unturned. Ranged against the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu is the Congress-DMK alliance. The BJP is also trying to team up with the DMDK while several other regional parties may float a Third Front in the state. The Congress is the main opposition in Puducherry. For the first time in elections in India, the NOTA (None Of The Above) category would be represented by a "symbol" - like party symbols - and photographs of all candidates would figure on the electronic voting machines (EVMs) with their symbols, Zaidi said. He said the Model Code of Conduct would come into effect immediately in all five states. The April-May polls will be the biggest electoral contest in the country since the Lok Sabha election brought the Narendra Modi-led BJP to power nationally. The number of voters will be 19.8 million in Assam, 25.6 million in Kerala, 57.9 million in Tamil Nadu, 65.5 million in West Bengal and 927,034 in Puducherry. Zaidi said elaborate security arrangements have been made for all the five states to ensure fair and free elections. Central armed police forces and state armed police drawn from other states would be deployed in the five states during the poll period. --Indo-Asian News Service bns/vd ( 663 Words) 2016-03-04-21:51:33 (IANS)
Coming down on Chhattisgarhs Raman Singh government and the administration for failure to check mass killing of tribal villagers in Bastar Division, principal opposition Congress members today created pandemonium in the House prior to staging a walkout expressing displeasure over Home Minister Ajay Chandrakars reply vis--vis Naxal violence. Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Congress members led by Leader of Opposition TS Singhdeo and the partys state President Bhupesh Baghel demanded immediate discussion on their adjournment notice. However, Speaker Gaurishankar Agrawal rejected their demand by saying that the members would get ample opportunity to raise the matter during the discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the Governor's Address, slated for the day. As the situation spiralled out of control due to continued sloganeering, the Speaker adjourned the House for 20 minutes. After the members reassembled, the Home Minister read out a statement on the issue and dismissed media reports of mass slaughter of villagers in Narayanpur District. Four villagers were allegedly murdered by Maoists in Narayanpurs Abujmarh area in the past ten days but police seized only one body. During the past half a year, 23 villagers were eliminated by rebels and 65 outlaws neutralised by security personnel, Mr Chandrakar averred. Alleging that the Minister was misleading the House with contradictory figures vis--vis fatalities, the Congress members walked out and staged a sit-in in front of Mahatma Gandhis statue within the premises.UNI SS AC RSA VN2148 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0044-621773.Xml
Punjab cabinet today decided to give approval for conversion of an ordinance into a bill to be presented in the forthcoming session of Punjab Assembly for the Health and Personal Accident Insurance Scheme for all those farmers, who bring their produce to the marketing yards/purchase centres established by the Punjab Mandi Board. The decision was taken by the cabinet during its meeting chaired by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal here. A spokesperson for the Chief Ministers Office said all such farmers would be provided a health insurance cover of Rs 50,000 and personal accident insurance of Rs five lakh under the Bhagat Puran Singh Health Insurance Scheme. As per the information available with State Agriculture department, almost 11 lakh farmers would get benefitted under this scheme. The expenditure so incurred to implement this scheme wouldbe entirely borne by the Punjab Mandi Board. The cabinet also approved the proposal of Punjab State Industries Export Corporation (PSIEC) to set up two new industrial focal points over an area of nearly 500 acres at Dhanansu village in Ludhiana district and Pabra and Takhtumajra near Rajpura in Patiala district. He said that the State Rural Development and Panchayats department has given its approval for transfer of around 300 acres of Panchayati land at Dhanansu and 200 acres at Pabra and Takhtumajra near Rajpura to PSIEC for setting up of two industrial focal points as per the price determined by the committee headed by the concerned Deputy Commissioner. Both the new focal points would be established in near future adequately equipped with modern basic amenities. PSIEC has been developing industrial focal points to facilitate industrial development in the state having a network of 42 focal points across Punjab. During the Progressive Punjab Investment Summit held in the year 2013 and 2015, the prospective entrepreneurs had strongly impressed upon the state government for providing additional availability of land to set up their ventures. Accordingly, the state government had directed PSIEC for the creation of land bank. Moreover, there was a strong demand from the industry for setting up of new industrial area around Ludhiana having state-of-the-art infrastructure facilities besides Rajpura has long term potential because of its close proximity to Chandigarh Rail Head and Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor. Both the proposed areas are envisaged to be part of Amritsar-Kolkata Corridor. Setting up these two industrial focal points would give impetus to industrialization in the state.MORE UNI DB RSA RAI2211 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-621597.Xml
CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Friday said that JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar will be campaigning for Left in the upcoming assembly polls in five states, "as he had already been doing". "He is a leftist and is already campaigning," Yechury told IANS. The states of West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry will have election in April and May this year. Left leaders said that students from the student wings of left parties had been campaigning in the elections, for a "United Left" in the past and Kanhaiya Kumar, who is from the Communist Party of India's student wing All India Students Federation was no exception to it. "He had been campaigning for CPI in his hometown Begusarai in Bihar. He already campaigned during 2014 Lok Sabha elections for the Left. He was not famous at that time though, but now he is. Its natural that he will be campaigning for the left in upcoming assembly elections," CPI-M leader All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) president Subhashini Ali told IANS. "The whole matter had bought Left at the centre stage of Indian politics though," she added. Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested on February 12 over allegations of raising anti-India slogans. He was released on bail on Thursday. He comes from Begusarai, a left stronghold in Bihar. --Indo-Asian News Service kd/vd ( 234 Words) 2016-03-04-23:21:32 (IANS)
The proposed bandh announced by the Shramik Sena and other all party unions has been called off unconditionally. Shramik Sena founder Sunil Bagul informed this today. The bandh called off in consideration of the ongoing Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examinations and to avoid any inconvenience for the students. The state transport department has increased charges for various permits. In protest of the hike and for the demand to roll-back these charges, hundreds of auto rickshaw, taxi drivers and owners had decided not to ply the taxi, auto-rickshaw services from March 5. The hike in fees for various permits, licenses is not feasible for auto-rickshaw and taxi drivers. Shramik sena and other unions had thus called for an indefinite band from tomorrow for the demand of roll-back in the hike.UNI RDS NP RSA VN2342 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0171-621603.Xml
Manipur Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh today assured the members that the government will seriously look into the complaints of the villagers that Myanmar was encroaching into land of Manipur. The members raised the issue of loss of land due to fencing of border by Assam Rifles on Indian side. The Assam Rifles was taking up fencing works which is done is straight line and during an investigation by Manipur based organisations it was found that about 1000 sq km of land will be lost due to the fencing work. Taking opportunity of the faulty works by Assam rifles, Myanmar citizens were encroaching on Manipurs land, the members pointed out. The chief minister after hearing the points raised said border fencing and erection of subsidiary pillars along Moreh Sector of Indo-Myanmar border will be considered only after settling the disputed areas. There will be no two opinions on boundary disputes he assured. He was replying to a Calling Attention Motion moved by Dr I Ibohalbi Singh and Kh Joykishan Singh . Mr Ibobi said the state government will seriously consider the grievances of the villagers living along border areas. Each and every people in the state are aware of the problems arising out of the construction of border fencing along Indo-Myanmar border, he said. There are altogether 99 border pillars in Manipur. Issue of nine pillars remain unsettled, he said. The disputed pillars are 32 to 48 in Churachandpur district, 49 to 89 in Chandel district and 90 to 130 in Ukhrul district. To resolve the problem he proposed a joint meeting involving all political parties, Central leaders and Surveyor General of India to bring an amicable solution to the existing border issues. With the coming up of Act East Policy India would like to establish good and cordial relations with Myanmar, he said. For this, ICP (Integrated Check Post) at Moreh needs to be completed at the earliest to accelerate our economy, the chief minister added.UNI NS BM CJ RSA VN2255 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0214-621733.Xml
A teenaged child was crushed to death this morning by a speedy bus of a private bus company Libra Bus Service near Lamma Pind Chowh here. The only son of his parents and brother of four sisters, 12-yr-Nishan, was passing through the Lamma Pind Chowk accompanied by his friend Mohit this noon on his bi-cycle when a speeding bus of the company hit his cycle. Nishan fell down from the cycle and came under the rear tyre of the bus resulting into his death on the spot. His friend Mohit sustained injuries and was admitted into a nearby hospital. People of Lamma Pind and surrounding areas accompanied by the wailing parents of the deceased Nishan rushed to the site of the incident and tried to set the bus afire but the police prevented them to do so. People damaged the bus and smashed the window panes of the bus. The driver of bus fled from the scene as soon he saw the people gathering at the site. Police Commssioner Yurinder Singh Hayer and Deputy Police Commissioner Sandip Sharma rushed to the site with heavy police force. The people in hundreds sat on dharna blocking the road traffic from all the sides around the chowk leading to Pathankot, Amritsar and Hoshiarpur following which thousands of vehicles had stranded on all the roads leading to other cities. Police Commissioner and Chief Parliamentary Secretary KD Bhandari who is also an BJP MLA from the Jalandhar North constituency failed to pursue the agitators to lift the dharna. The irate people had a demand to bring the culprit to the site and hand ond him over to them. They also said that the owner of the company be booked for murder of the child. The situation is still tense in the area as the people are allowing the police to extract the body of the child from beneath the tyre which still lying under the tyre. UNI XC JS RSA RAI2324 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-621699.Xml
Reportedly a high- ranking UN official who had toured IDPcamps in Rakhine, Kachin and Shan states spoke about his heartbreaking experiences.

Myanmar Times has reported that the Director of Operations for the Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), John Ging, stressed that the welfare of these groups cannot be forgotten when the country is transforming actively on the economic and political fronts.

Ging met with the Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State and around 5000 ethnic Rakhines who remain displaced after communal violence in 2012 in which more than 150 people were killed.

UNOCHA noted that camp inhibitors still faced extreme restriction on movements and were denied access to hospitals.

While hailing the government for making progress in improving the living conditions for some, Ging highlighted that temporary shelters were in state of collapse and terrible sanitation conditions.

Ging appealed Myanmar government to end discriminatory policies.

Over 100,000 people remain displaced by conflict in Kachin and Shan states despite ceasefire signed last year.

Many are living in temporary camps.

Ging pressed that the country and international community must work together to resettling the displaced.

The National League for Democracy (NDL) who will soon form the government in the country has remained largely silent on the issue of displaced Muslim Rohingya.(ANI)
Kyoto is famous for Shimeji mushroom, which is artificially cultivated in the factories here. The cultivation of Shimeji Mushroom seemed to be difficult, but biotechnology developed by Takara Bio enables the cultivation artificially. Takara Bio has a big share in Japanese Mushroom market. There is mass cultivation in this factory and then it is shipped to the market. "Kyoto Kyotanba town is covered with thick fog during autumn and winter. This thick fog brings up good mushroom. Tanba Matsutake mushroom is very famous. Utilizing this environment, Shimeji Mushroom is successfully cultivated," Takashi Egashira, Manager of Takara Bio Inc. said. Japan's All Nippon Airlines (ANA) has started 'Tastes of Japan' to introduce Japanese ingredient all over the world. In this project, various cuisine and tradition of each prefecture are introduced. Shimeji Mushroom is adopted to in-flight meal ingredient. "Only in Kyoto food is big subject for ANA. This Shimeji Mushroom, especially Honshimeji is the main stream of Shimeji Mushroom. ANA nominated it as a representative ingredient of Kyoto. It will satisfy all airline passengers," said Toshihiro Yamaguchi from All Nippon Airways Co. Ltd. Mainstream of Shimeji Mushroom - Honshimeji Mushroom is one of the special products of Kyoto. The success of artificial cultivation accelerated fame of it. 'This Shimeji Mushroom is registered to Kyoto brand product. Kyoto Prefecture promotes Shimeji Mushroom. I hope the opportunity to try Shimeji Mushroom is provided people all over the world under the cooperation of ANA," Egashira said. Water, wind and solar are the major sources of power. In Japan, emphasis is given on earth thermal energy. "This air condition is worked by earth thermal energy heat pump. It is most clean and sustainable energy resource," said Chieri Murakami from Sunpot Co. Ltd. Temperature of earth is kept 2 degrees higher than average temperature on the ground through the year. To extract earth thermal energy and utilize for energy resource enable to produce big energy by small electricity. Earth thermal energy heat pump system for air condition is worked by anti-freezing fluid. Digging 100 meters length tunnel to circulate anti-freezing fluid and extract earth thermal. "Bury pipe of polyethylene underground 100 meters and extract earth thermal energy," Murakami said. Exhaustion of CO2 is less and it is enclosed. It excludes environment pollution of earth. Murakami further stated that earth thermal energy helps modern life to save energy and clean environment life. It is regarded effective for Asian countries which have hot climate. "For cool air condition this earth thermal energy heat pump system does not exhaust heat to the air but to the earth. It is effective for prevention of heat island phenomenon. In Southeast Asia this system provides high speed running to keep environment," Murakami added. (ANI)
Malaysia's Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai has said the process of identifying whether the aircraft debris found in Mozambique belongs to its missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH370 will take some time because it involves a number of procedures. The Malaysian Times quoted him as saying that the investigation team from the Malaysian Civil Aviation Department and MAS as well as the special investigation team on MH370 would be sent to Australia for the identification process. Liow remained unsure as to how long it would take because the debris will have to go through similar process like the flaperon that was found on Reunion Island in July last year. He has also assured that a team of Malaysian investigators would help their Australian counterparts in bringing the debris from Mozambique to Australia. Liow said that it was too early to link the debris to MH370 and could be part of a Boeing 777. The debris found on a Mozambican beach is a piece of metal of about one metre in length. Liow also said the decision whether to expand the search for more debris will only be initiated after it was determined that the object was indeed of MH370. MH370 carrying 239 passengers, including crew members, went missing from radar screens while flying to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur on March 8, 2014. Multinational search operation began to find the ill fated plane, but alas nothing could be found. Last year, a flaperon found on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean was sent to France for analysis. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak on August 6 last year confirmed that the flaperon belonged to MH370. (ANI)
Pro- Qadri supporters were booked for for promoting enmity between different groups, rioting and misuse of the loudspeaker.

The Dawn reported that an FIR has been registered against the protesters which include leaders Mufti Ghulam Ghaus, Mufti Abid, Muzaffar Husain Shah, Bashir Qadri for blocking M.A. Jinnah Road and staging against the state.

The suspects have been booked under Sections 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups, etc), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object) and 341 (wrongful restraint) of the Pakistan Penal Code and Loudspeakers Act.

Elite Force commando Qadri was convicted of killing former Punjab governor Salman Taseer and executed at the Adiala Jail in Pakistan on Monday. (ANI)
While NLD wants the ceremony to take place in the parliament house the government stick o the Presidential Palace.

The Myanmar Times quoted a senior official, U Win Htein, as saying that the government proposed to hold the ceremony at the president's house but we want to hold it at parliament.

Htein had said that it was based on his party's reading of the 2008 constitution, in which it is parliament who appoints the president, and the president has to swear an oath at parliament before taking power.

Myanmar's constitution does not mention where the handover ceremony should take place.

President U Thein Sein's five- year term expires on March 30, after which the power will be handed to NLD-backed government.

The government has given draft proposal of the power transferring ceremony which is yet to be made public. However, the outgoing government proposes ceremony at the Presidential Palace on March 30 or 31 according to reports.

However, NLD's leader Aung San Suu Kyi's negotiation to become the president of Myanmar still remains deadlocked.(ANI)
Pakistan's Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz has admitted that Islamabad has considerable influence over the Taliban because its leaders live in the country. Pakistan for years had denied that it provides safe haven to the Afghan Taliban on its soil. Neither did Pakistan ever mention that it could do anything to end the violent campaign in Afghanistan that has since 2002 killed thousands of civilians and international troops. The Dawn quoted Aziz, as saying that , "We have some influence over them because their leadership is in Pakistan and they get some medical facilities. Their families are here. We can use those levers to pressurise them to say, 'Come to the table'. But we can't negotiate on behalf of the Afghan government because we cannot offer them what the Afghan government can offer them." Aziz unusual comment was made at Washington's Council on Foreign Relations think tank on March 1. Aziz added that Islamabad pressured Afghan Taliban leaders to participate in the first-ever direct talks with the Afghan government on July 7, 2015. Aziz asserted that Islamabad had told the Taliban leaders that they have hosted them for 35 years and can't continue the services as the world was blaming them. Last week, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the United States and China had agreed on a road map to end the Afghan war through negotiations between Kabul and the Taliban. According to reports, Taliban leaders are expected to hold talks with Afghan officials in Pakistan in coming weeks. Aziz has meanwhile pressed before United States in convincing that Pakistan has abandoned its support to the militant groups. (ANI)
A German government spokesperson on Wednesday said the country does not have quotas on daily refugee intake in place, which an Austrian interior ministry spokesperson on Thursday said was untrue, Xinhua news agency reported.

Germany has been limiting the intake at three selected border crossings to a maximum of 3,600 asylum seekers per day.

Those who claimed there was no upper limit "lacked either knowledge or the will for transparent communication," said the spokesperson.

The Austrian government once again called on its neighbouring country to issue visas to asylum seekers in Greece to allow their direct travel to Germany without creating a backlog in Austria.

--Indo-Asian News Service ksk

( 144 Words)

2016-03-04-09:01:33 (IANS)
Seven US women senators urged President Barack Obama to push for the election of the United Nations' first female secretary-general later this year.UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a former South Korean foreign minister, is due to step down at the end of 2016 after two five-year terms. A man has held the top job at the world organization since its inception 70 years ago.The 15-member Security Council, including veto powers China, Russia, the United States, Britain and France, will recommend a candidate for election by the 193-member General Assembly to succeed Ban."We ask that the United States play a leading role in pressing for the strong consideration of qualified women," the seven Democratic senators wrote to Obama.Led by Barbara Boxer, a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the letter was also signed by senators Patty Murray, Mazie Hirono, Tammy Baldwin, Kirsten Gillibrand, Jeanne Shaheen and Barbara Mikulski.In response to the senators' letter, a senior Obama administration official said: "While we would welcome the selection of a woman as the next Secretary-General, we will ultimately support the best candidate of either gender."Fifty-three 53 countries, led by Colombia, are pushing for a female secretary-general. Several civil society groups are also lobbying for a woman to lead the organization.Seven candidates have been put forward, including three women: UN cultural organization (UNESCO) Director-General Irina Bokova, former Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic and Moldova's former Foreign Minister Natalia Gherman.The other four candidates are former Macedonian Foreign Minister Srgjan Kerim, Montenegro Foreign Minister Igor Luksic, former Slovenian President Danilo Turk and former UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres."I would say Guterres has got the better chance of all of those who have entered the race, but I still don't think the winning candidate has entered yet," a senior Security Council diplomat said on condition of anonymity.Diplomats said other potential female candidates included Helen Clark, former New Zealand prime minister and head of the UN Development Programme; Argentine Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra; and European Union Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources Kristalina Georgieva.The UN top job traditionally rotates between regions, with Eastern Europe next on the list."While the UN has upheld the consideration of regional rotation, it has not given full consideration to gender equality," the US senators wrote.A US congressional aide said other female senators, including Republicans, were approached to back the letter to Obama, but none had yet signed on. Most Republicans see many of the UN's actions as attempts to improperly influence US policy. REUTERS PS GC0411 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0135-620186.Xml
A New York judge today withheld judgment until Monday morning on a challenge from two New York residents seeking to remove US Senator Ted Cruz from the state's primary ballot for the presidential primary because of his birth in Canada.The plaintiffs objected to Cruz's inclusion in the ballot for the state's April 19 primary election for the Republican party's presidential nomination, claiming the senator from Texas is constitutionally ineligible to assume the White House.New York Supreme Court Judge David Weinstein promised to decide if the case will proceed by Monday. He said the objectors, Barry Korman, 81, of Manhattan, and William Gallo, 85, of Manhasset, Long Island, could argue the merits later next week if he decides they have standing.Republican front-runner Donald Trump has repeatedly questioned Cruz's eligibility for the White House, and residents in Alabama, Pennsylvania and Texas have filed legal challenges to block him from appearing on the ballot.An Illinois judge dismissed a similar challenge there this week on a technicality. Some legal experts say it is unlikely any judge in the US will block Cruz's presidential run.In their February 19 petition, the two New York residents attached a birth certificate for Cruz, showing he was born in December 1970 in Calgary, Alberta, in Canada, and arguing he was not "naturally born" in the United States as the Constitution dictates for any US president.Cruz has said he is eligible to run because of his mother's US citizenship. His father is a Cuban immigrant.Lawyer Grant Lally, appearing for Cruz in Albany, said the judge should dismiss the case because the objectors missed a deadline to file their petition, and added the matter is a federal, not a state, issue.Roger J. Bernstein, a lawyer for the objectors, said the challenge needed a judge's attention. "The voters of the Republican Party need clarity," he said. REUTERS PS GC0415 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0135-620187.Xml
The United Nations Children's Fund said it is worried about the health and well-being of one of its former officials, an elderly man jailed in Iran for more than a week.Baquer Namazi, whose son Siamak has been jailed in Iran since October, was himself arrested on February 22 and taken to Tehran's Evin Prison, his wife said last week on social media. Both the elder Namazi and his son are dual US-Iranian citizens.Baquer Namazi, a former Iranian provincial governor, served as UNICEF representative in Somalia, Kenya, Egypt and elsewhere before retiring in 1996, UNICEF said in a statement."Current and former UNICEF colleagues are deeply concerned about the health and well-being of Baquer Namazi," the statement said. "We hope he will be reunited soon with his wife and loved ones."Baquer Namazi is 80 years old and has a serious heart and other conditions which require special medication, his wife Effie Namazi said last week.His son Siamak was most recently working for Crescent Petroleum in the United Arab Emirates, and previously headed a consulting business in Iran.Iranian officials have not issued formal charges against either man. Friends of Siamak Namazi have said that he may have become a pawn in factional struggles among hardliners, pragmatists and reformers, each with economic and political interests.Elections in Iran last week strengthened centrists and reformists allied with President Hassan Rouhani, but his scope to permit more social and political freedom is constrained by hardliners' control of the judiciary, security forces and state media. REUTERS PS GC0504 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0135-620193.Xml
Four gunmen attacked an old people's home in the Yemeni port of Aden today, killing at least 15 people, including four Christian nuns from India, local officials and medical sources said.The gunmen, who first told the guard they were on a visit to their mother, stormed into the home with rifles and opened fire, one local official said. As well as the nuns, the dead included two Yemeni women working at the facility, eight elderly residents and a guard.The motive of the gunmen was not immediately known. They fled after the attack, the official said.The bodies of those killed have been transferred to a clinic supported by medical group Medecins Sans Frontieres, medical sources said.Yemen's embattled government is based in Aden but has struggled to impose its authority there since its forces, backed by Gulf Arab troops, expelled Iran-allied Houthi fighters who still control the country's capital, Sanaa.Once a cosmopolitan city home to thriving Hindu and Christian communities, Aden has gone from one of the world's busiest ports as a key hub of the British empire to a largely lawless backwater.Aden's small Christian population left long ago. Unknown assailants have previously vandalised a Christian cemetery, torched a church and last year blew up an abandoned Catholic church. REUTERS SHS AS1735 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0329-621085.Xml
At least 16 people, including four Indian nurses, were killed when gunmen opened fire Friday at an elderly care home in Yemen's main southern city of Aden, security officials said.

Four gunmen stormed the facility housing dozens in Aden's Sheikh Othman district, killing a guard before tying up and shooting employees, the officials told AFP.

Screams of elderly residents echoed from the home during the shooting rampage, witnesses said.

They told AFP that they saw bodies of slain workers with their arms tied behind their backs scattered on the floor as the aged residents cried out in fear.

The dead nurses were Indian nuns, the officials said, adding that the rest of those killed were Yemenis working at the home.

No group claimed responsibility for Friday's attack, the first of its kind in Yemen, where the internationally-recognised government is grappling with an Iran-backed rebellion on one side and a growing jihadist presence on the other.

One official said the attackers were "extremists" and blamed the Islamic State group, which has been gaining ground in Aden in recent months.

The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council backing the Yemeni government "strongly" condemned the attack which it said "reveals the goals of forces which are against the return of security and stability to Yemen".

President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi has declared Aden Yemen's temporary capital as Sanaa remains in the hands of the Huthi rebels and their allies since they seized it in September 2014.

- 4 dead in drone strike -

Further east, a suspected drone strike hit a vehicle carrying Al-Qaeda militants in Shabwa province, killing four, local government and tribal sources said Friday.

Only the United States is known to operate armed drones over Yemen.

Al-Qaeda and IS have stepped up attacks in Aden despite the efforts of the government and its backers in a Saudi-led coalition battling the Huthis and their allies to secure it.

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However, most attacks have so far targeted coalition forces and pro-government Yemeni troops.

Late on Thursday, gunmen in Aden shot dead Hussein al-Wuhayshi, a leader of local pro-government militia formed in the south in 2011 to fight Al-Qaeda, along with his brother, a security official said.

On Monday, suicide car bombing in Sheikh Othman hit a gathering of loyalist forces killing four people and wounding five others, according to a security official.

The rebels controlled Yemen's main port city for months before government loyalists pushed them out in July.

Because of the unrest gripping Aden, Hadi himself and many senior officials in his government spend most of their time in Riyadh.

Al-Qaeda has been well-established for years in south Yemen, but now faces competition from IS, which has mounted a series of deadly attacks, particularly in Aden.

In December, suspected jihadists blew up a small deserted Catholic church in the city dating from the 1950s when Aden was a British protectorate.

More than 6,000 people have been killed in the Yemeni conflict with more than 80 percent of the population in dire need of food, medicine or other basic necessities, according to the United Nations.
Massive open online courses, or MOOCs, usually don't cost a dime, but there are benefits for those who pay to enroll, experts say.

Proponents of MOOCs have lauded this form of education for providing learning opportunities at no charge to anyone around the world with an Internet connection. Still, some have questioned MOOCs' true effectiveness, especially given their low student completion rates.

In the past few years, experts say, major MOOC providers Coursera and edX -- both of which partner with colleges and universities to develop online classes -- have turned to models in which students have the option to either audit a MOOC for free, or pay usually about $30 to $150 to earn a "verified certificate" indicating successful completion.

Unlike the free certificates that the companies offered in the past, verification ensures the authenticity and value of the credential, Coursera and edX officials say. Those pursuing the verified certificate option must prove their identity through photo and government-issued ID validation processes via webcam, and pass the class by meeting exam and assignment requirements.

Both Coursera and edX have verified certificate options in a vast majority of MOOCs.

[Understand whyexperts debate the impact of MOOCs on education.]

"We see a larger and larger number of our learners, especially in courses that confer direct benefits -- for instance, to one's career -- opting to pay for the certificate, posting it to their LinkedIn profile, using it in the job search and so on," says Daphne Koller, president and co-founder of Coursera.

Coursera and edX aren't the only companies to turn away from the concept of free certificates in online learning. Udacity, which provides affordable programming and technology online courses, now primarily offers project-based nanodegree programs costing about $200 a month, typically for six to 12 months to complete. However, the company does offer a limited number of verified certificates for single courses.

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Other companies, such as European-based online education provider iversity.org, also provide certificates to learners who pay and fulfill MOOC requirements.

The use of verified certificates, experts say, is just one example of the growth of microcredentials in online education. Another is digital badges, which highlight specific skills and competencies gained from online classes.

Prospective MOOC learners should consider these five reasons to pay for a verified certificate.

1. Show off skills on a resume or portfolio: Coursera and edX officials say verified certificates are ideal for posting online, and students can also mention the certificate on a job application or resume.

"A verified certificate is an important credential that students are proud to own and share on their LinkedIn profiles or on social media," says Anant Agarwal, CEO of edX.

2. Ensure authenticity and value: Employers who know that a student passed an online course and earned a certificate that's verified are more likely to view the credential as legitimate, experts say.

Certificates generally indicate both the institution and company from which they were earned, and employers can typically verify their authenticity online.

[Learnwhat employers think of badges and nanodegrees from online programs.]

"How is somebody going to take this credential seriously if it's just multiple choice and it's published somewhere and anyone can do it? It's not going to have any validity," says Chris Caplice, the executive director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Center for Transportation & Logistics, who develops and teaches MOOCs with the verified certificate option.

Both Coursera and edX confirm a learner's identity through photo and government-issued ID verification via webcam. Coursera also uses typing pattern recognition to confirm students' identities based on the time between their keystrokes and the duration they press down different keys.

3. Have greater incentive to learn and complete the MOOC: In edX MOOCs, the average completion rate among learners who sign up for a verified certificate is about 60 percent -- 10 times higher than students taking the class for free, says Agarwal.

Kelly Walsh, chief information officer at the College of Westchester, completed a Coursera MOOC last year on how to assess and teach 21st-century skills. He says earning the certificate was a key motivating factor.

"It did add a level of commitment, because otherwise you can kind of walk away at any point, and you might be disappointed in yourself, but other than that you're not really losing anything , per se," the 53-year-old says.

4. Get a shot at college credit, if possible: Though it's not yet common, there are some instances where verified certificates can translate to college credits, experts say.

[Discover howchances for credit give new life to MOOCs.]

For example, students who complete five supply chain management MIT MOOCs through edX and a final exam can receive what the school calls a "MicroMaster's" credential. If they then apply to MIT and are admitted, they are qualified to gain credits in MIT's blended graduate master's degree program.

5. Gain possible access to additional services by paying: Students who pay for the certificate might also get access to features that those taking it for free do not.

For instance, Koller says that in many career-related MOOCs, Coursera has started incorporating the ability for paying students to submit and receive feedback on graded work.

"That category of users has access to the entire experience, and the others are basically auditing the class, similar to how one audits at a university," she says.

Trying to fund your online education? Get tips and more in the U.S. News Paying for Online Education center.

Jordan Friedman is an online education editor at U.S. News. You can follow him on Twitter or email him at jfriedman@usnews.com.


As we predicted last week, movie studios unleashed a bunch of new trailers this week in the wake of Sundays Academy Awards ceremony. Below weve plucked nine of the most promising trailers released this week, headlined by the trailer for the new Ghostbusters movie.



DONT MISS: Netflixs House of Cards season 4 is here to ruin your weekend

Ghostbusters

30 years after the original Ghostbusters stole our hearts, an all-female crew is ready to take over the job. And what a cast we have for this one: Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones. Dan Aykroyd is credited with the script, and Chris Hemsworth, Bill Murray, and Sigourney Weaver are also part of this Ghostbusters revival that launches July 15th. Who you gonna call?

Finding Dory

The Finding Nemo sequel focuses on that forgetful blue tang fish that we loved in the first installment of this Pixar franchise. The movie hits cinemas on July 17th and stars Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Hayden Rolence, Ed ONeill, Ty Burrell, Diane Keaton, Idris Elba, and many others.

Ice Age: Collision Course

Finding Dory wont be the only animated movie your kids will want to see this year. Add the new Ice Age: Collision Course movie to that list, which is launching July 22nd. Weve got the same gang weve grown to love, including Manny, Diego, Sid, and Scrat. This time, theyre involved in a spacey adventure, with Scrat kicking things into high gear after he catapults himself outside of Earth. Heres the brand new trailer:

Maggies Plan

Maggies Plan is a hilarious comedy that tells the story of Maggie (Greta Gerwig) and her complicated love life. She falls in love with John (Ethan Hawke) whos married to Georgette (Julianne Moore). But then Maggie falls out of love and wants John to reconcile with Georgette. What could go wrong with Maggies Plan? The movie comes out May 20th.

Nina

Set to debut on April 22nd, Nina tells the hidden story of Nina Simone, whos played by none other than Zoe Saldana, her rise to fame and troubled life. The cast also includes David Oyelowo playing her manager Clifton Henderson.

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The Angry Birds Movie

After a rather strange first trailer, we get to see a new clip that explains the story of the official Angry Birds Movie. The movie comes out on May 20th and stars Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, Bill Hader, Maya Rudolph, Kate McKinnon, Danny McBride, and Peter Dinklage. See the new trailer below.

The Man Who Knew Infinity

The Man Who Knew Infinity is a movie about math geniuses that opens on April 8th. Starring Jeremy Irons and Dev Patel, the film tells the story of Srinivasa Ramanujan Iyengar, an Indian mathematician who took the world by surprise with his math theories at the beginning of the 20th century after being admitted to Cambridge University during the first World War.

The Meddler

This April, Susan Sarandon stars in a brand new comedy-drama. Sarandon plays a woman who follows her daughter to Los Angeles after her husband passes away. The Meddler opens on April 22nd.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

What do you get when you mix Tina Feys romantic comedies with a serious matter like the Afghanistan war? A movie thats called Whiskey Tango Foxtrot and it opens today in cinemas around the world. Is it a good idea to have Tina Fey in charge of such a film? Well have to wait and see the movie, but until then, here are a few TV ads that were released earlier this week for the film.

Related stories

First trailer released for the new 'Ghostbusters' movie

This week's 4 best new movie trailers

9 new movie trailers you need to see this week

More from BGR: Netflixs House of Cards season 4 is here to ruin your weekend

This article was originally published on BGR.com
By Terrence Edwards ULAANBAATAR (Reuters) - Global aid agencies are responding to a call for assistance by Mongolia as harsh winter weather raises fears for the safety and livelihoods of the country's traditional pastoralists, who have already been hit hard by a drought last year. Dry weather has scorched most of Mongolia's wheat crop and now mass animal deaths due to a freezing winter, locally known as "dzud", are threatening more pain for the country, where farming accounts for about 13 percent of the economy. The last dzud in 2009-2010 killed 9.7 million of the country's livestock, according to the National Emergency Agency of Mongolia. While the government has not yet declared the current winter a natural disaster, it has warned the situation could get worse. So far, a drop in temperatures to minus 55 Celsius (minus 67 Fahrenheit) has killed nearly 200,000 livestock. The weather and grazing conditions are already worse than they were in the previous dzud, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said in a statement, citing the Mongolian Ministry of Food and Agriculture. "Usually for the dzud, the most devastation is observed in March, April and May," Garid Enkhjin, national programme coordinator for the IFRC in Mongolia, told Reuters. The IFRC said it has launched an emergency appeal for 834,000 Swiss Francs ($835,000) to assist 25,500 Mongolian herders, who are at risk of losing their livestock and livelihoods due to the extreme winter. Currently, 80 percent of Mongolia is under snow, making it difficult for nomadic families to travel along centuries-old pasture routes to find food for their livestock. Aggravating the situation is the fact that herders can live up to 50 kms (31 miles) from urban settlements and many are without cars. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has said it plans to provide trucks to get aid to families' doorsteps at some of the most-difficult-to-reach areas. "We want to relieve the burden of that last mile of distance to the most affected," Ben Hemingway, USAID's regional adviser, said on phone from Bangkok. In the worst affected districts, sheep and other livestock have started dying. Many herders are trying to sell their animals while they are still alive, leading to an oversupply of livestock that has driven down market prices. Although the death toll for animals so far is far less than in 2009, "the impact on the people is more or less the same", said Enkhjin. "Livelihoods will be impacted immediately and have devastating effects." ($1 = 0.9987 Swiss francs) (Reporting by Terrence Edwards; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
By Rich McKay ATLANTA (Reuters) - The Alabama Supreme Court on Friday affirmed the right to same-sex marriage, dismissing a challenge by conservative religious groups that opposed such unions. In a one-sentence order, the high court turned aside a lawsuit by the Alabama Citizens Action Program and the Alabama Policy Institute questioning the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year that effectively allowed same-sex unions. "It is ordered that all pending motions and petitions are dismissed," the court said in ending the legal battle. The court fight started in January 2015 when a federal judge in Alabama overturned the state's ban on same-sex marriage. Some state courts went along, others balked. The Mobile County probate court said at the time that it would stop issuing marriage licenses to anyone, gay or straight, until further notice. Subsequent lawsuits ended up in the state Supreme Court, culminating in Friday's decision. Chief Justice Roy Moore, an outspoken opponent of same-sex unions, wrote a long opinion attacking the decision. Richard Cohen, president of the Alabama-based civil rights group, the Southern Law Poverty Center, applauded the ruling but said the court did not go far enough. "You can go to any courthouse in Alabama on Monday and get a marriage license, except for those few holdouts that aren't issuing licenses to anyone, gay or straight," Cohen said. He said he wished that the court's wording was stronger and criticized state high court justices who dissented against the ruling. Joe Godfrey, executive director of Alabama Citizens Action Program, said the group might turn to the state legislature for laws that would protect judges and clerks from having to perform same-sex unions against their religious convictions. (Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Sandra Maler)
It had, no doubt, been a rough 24 hours for Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus when he took the stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Friday.

The day before, the GOPs most recent presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, had delivered a speech excoriating Donald Trump and advocating a plan to thwart his campaign by having the other candidates tacitly agree to cede certain states to each other, denying the current frontrunner huge blocks of votes and forcing the GOP into a contested convention in July.

Related: For Trump, Last Nights Debate Was Another Episode of Survivor

Shortly thereafter, Trump delivered a campaign stump speech that earned him the better part of an hours worth of free coverage from multiple television networks. Trump used his time to rip Romney as a loser and a failure and to complain about his treatment at the hands of the party establishment.

The move angered many Republicans, like Roy Postel, a Trump supporter from the Chicago area who was attending the annual gathering of conservative activists outside Washington, DC.

I think the whole pushback from the Republican hierarchy is shameful, Postel said, adding that he believed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz would be facing similar attacks if he were the frontrunner. Its pointed at Trump now because he leads in the polls, but if Cruz was pulling 40 percent, all their animosity, all the rancor would be pointed towards him.

By suggesting a plan to disrupt Trumps advance to the nomination, Postel said: Theyre sticking their finger in the eye of all the voters. So whats the point of the process if leadership wont respond? Theyre asking us to get in line and just take whoever weve got. Well, whats that gotten us for the last 30 years? Its heartbreaking. The last presidential candidate they pushed this hard against was Ronald Reagan.

Related: Dump Trump and Lose Voters  Is That Really the GOPs Plan?

Opposition to the next Reagan is not a good look for the RNC  particularly at CPAC, where the 40th president is a treated as a figure of almost mystical power  and Priebus clearly knew he had some work to do on Friday morning.

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So, he launched right into it in his conversation with Sean Hannity of Fox News.

Let me just clear something up for everybody, he said. Whoever the nominee is of our party, they are going to get the full backing and the 100 percent support of the Republican Party.

He continued, We dont take sides, regardless of what you may think or read. There is no side that we take at the Republican Party.

Hannity, who has been very supportive of Trump, was not willing to let the issue go that easily.

There seems to be a strategy to target one candidate and force a brokered convention, he said.

The people are going to decide, Priebus said. Theres no way that the people are not going to decide. Theres no way that the delegates are not going to decide. If you were at the convention you would be bound on the first vote, and the majority of you would choose the nominee. And whoever the majority chooses is going to be the nominee of our party.

Related: Debating the Deficit  Mr. Trump, Your Numbers Dont Add Up

But a tautology is not an argument. The fact that the delegates at the convention will decide ignores the fact that there appears to be a movement by influential figures in the party to manipulate the selection of delegates in the first place.

Theyre going to do what theyre going to do, but eventually the people are going to decide, Priebus insisted again, while assuring Hannity that the odds of a contested convention are very small.

But theyre trying to influence the process in a way that would be disruptive, Hannity said.

Well its a strategy that people can use, but I would suggest its better to win, Priebus replied vaguely.

It has to be a tough position for Priebus. His partys leading candidate is campaigning on a promise to burn the establishment Priebus runs to the ground. Worse, not only would Trump completely upend the GOPs hierarchy, polls suggest he would also lose to Democrat Hillary Clinton in a general election. Yet in an attempt to prevent the party from splintering, Priebus publicly has to promise to assist in both efforts if the voters ask him to do so.

And its not as though Trump doesnt have vulnerabilities that a concerted establishment attack could exploit. The night before Priebuss appearance, Trump had appeared alongside his fellow candidates in the 11th GOP debate. The billionaire took the opportunity to assure the audience of millions that, despite suggestions to the contrary from his opponent, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, he does not, in fact, have a small penis.

Outside the convention hall, Susana Postel, who had traveled to CPAC with her husband, said that she had been a Trump supporter until that moment.

I was a big Trump supporter, you know, because of the wall, the Muslims, the things hes been saying, she said. But oh, my goodness, the part of the debate where he referred to his manhood really, really turned me off.

So, Im not sure. I think Im back to the drawing board, Postel said.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
Moscow (AFP) - President Vladimir Putin told the leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Italy during a conference call Friday that the Syrian regime's decision to hold legislative polls in April does not contradict the peace process.

By contrast, French President Francois Hollande criticised Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for scheduling the polls for next month, calling the move "provocative" and "unrealistic."

"The Russian side noted that a decision by the Syrian authorities to hold parliamentary elections in April, 2016 is being conducted in accordance with the existing Syrian constitution and does not interfere with steps to build the peace process," the Kremlin said following the conference call.

Moscow added: "It was noted with satisfaction that the ceasefire regime is being observed on the whole, is bringing the first positive results -- and most important -- is creating conditions for the launch of a political process in Syria through the inter-Syrian dialogue under the auspices of the United Nations."

The leaders also "expressed their readiness" to ramp up cooperation to solve the pressing humanitarian problems, said the statement from the Kremlin, which has been supporting the Assad regime with air strikes since late September.

The Kremlin added that the leaders had stressed the need to "meticulously" observe the conditions of the ceasefire by all parties to the Syrian conflict as well as the need to keep fighting jihadists.

An agreement was also reached to actively assist UN Syria envoy Staffan De Mistura in his efforts to mediate and put an end to the conflict, the statement said.

The Syrian ceasefire, brokered by Moscow and Washington, took effect at 2200 GMT last Friday.

The truce has been holding for the most part but France and Britain have called on Russia to halt attacks on moderate rebel groups in Syria.
By Steve Barnes

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Reuters) - An Arkansas woman has been sentenced to five years in prison for slicing open her ex-boyfriend's hand with a knife and biting off one of his eyebrows when he tried to break off the relationship, law enforcement authorities said on Friday.

Latosha Wilbourn, 34, admitted to slashing her 55-year-old former companion during an argument in January 2015 at the home the two shared at Hot Springs, a resort city about 50 miles southwest of Little Rock, police said.

The victim in the attack, Charles Willis Jr., received more than a dozen stitches to his hand and treatment for a bruise to his head after being struck with a stick, police said.

When Willis returned to the residence the following day to retrieve his belongings, the two argued again, police said.

"She pulled him out of his chair, threw him on the bed, got on top of him and bit off his right eyebrow, Corporal Kirk Zaner of the Hot Springs Police Department said on Friday.

"He had to fight her off with a hammer, Zaner added.

Wilbourn has not spoken to the news media about the charges and was not immediately available for comment.

(Reporting by Steve Barnes; Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Bill Rigby)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Aurora Flight Sciences has been awarded a contract for more than $89 million for the vertical take off and landing X-plane, the Pentagon said on Thursday. The contract is for the second and third phase of the X-plane research portfolio, the Department of Defense said in its daily digest of major contract awards. Aurora Flight beat out Sikorsky, now with Lockheed Martin Corp, Boeing Co and Karem Aircraft. The work is expected to be completed by September 2018. (Reporting by Idrees Ali; Editing by Sandra Maler)
By Philip Pullella ROME (Reuters) - Australian victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests said on Friday they were disappointed they could not talk to Pope Francis and contested the Vatican's assertion that they did not go through the proper channels for a meeting. The group of about 15 were in Rome for a week to watch Cardinal George Pell give evidence via video link to an Australian government commission about sexual abuse in Australia when he was a priest and bishop there in the 1970s and 1980s. He is now the Vatican's treasurer. "We would have wanted to talk to him (the pope) about our story," said David Ridsdale, who as a boy was abused by his uncle, a priest at the time. "We would have wanted to know how the pope could have assisted us by vocalizing his support and acknowledging the mistakes of the past." On Monday the victims announced they had sent a fax asking for a meeting to the pontifical household, the office that organizes the pope's schedule, to a number they said was provided by Pell's office. A Vatican spokesman said on Friday no request had been made though the proper channels. "We made every effort to go through every channel we possibly could, both public and through the normal channels," Ridsdale said. He and another victim showed reporters a copy of a fax they said was sent to the Vatican and an email exchange with Pell's office about the possibility of a meeting. "Considering what's been happening, I don't believe there was a lack of awareness of our efforts," Ridsdale told Reuters at a Rome hotel before the group left for the airport. Pell testified from Rome to the government commission sitting in Australia because he said he could not travel home for health reasons. A crowd funding campaign in Australia raised the money for the group to travel to Rome to be in the same room with him. Throughout the hearings, his failure to remember the details of many individual cases angered both the abuse victims who traveled to Rome and those who attended in Australia. Pell told the inquiry that the Church had made "enormous mistakes" and "catastrophic" choices by refusing to believe abused children, shuffling abusive priests from parish to parish and over-relying on counseling of priests to solve the problem. He said he was deceived and lied to by superiors as a young priest in the 1970s. Given Pell's high rank at the Vatican, the questioning over cases involving hundreds of children in Australia from the 1960s to the 1990s took on wider implications about the accountability of Church leaders. (Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Catherine Evans)
London (AFP) - British Airways has reached an undisclosed settlement with dozens of African children over alleged sexual abuse by one of its pilots, lawyers said on Friday.

First Officer Simon Wood, 54, threw himself under a train at a station north of London in 2013, days before he was due in court to face charges of molesting children in schools and orphanages.

Law firm Leigh Day, which was acting on behalf of the 38 children and young adults from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, claimed BA was liable as Wood was carrying out charity work on behalf of the airline when he is alleged to have carried out his crimes.

"We allege that British Airways had a duty of care toward these children in the schools and orphanages, that Wood was involved in through the airline's charitable work," said Nichola Marshall from Leigh Day's international claims team.

"We are looking into the allegations that BA were told on two occasions that one of their pilots could be a danger to children but continued to allow and even encourage him to volunteer in projects they supported."

BA issued a statement calling the allegations "shocking and horrifying".

"Though we do not bear any legal responsibility for Simon Wood's actions, we recognise the impact they had on his victims and the distress and suffering they caused," it said

"This recognition is reflected in the agreement we have made with the victims' representatives."

Police officers first approached Wood in a car park at Heathrow Airport on July 19, 2013.

He was charged with indecently assaulting a girl under 16, of taking indecent photographs of a child and of possessing indecent images of a child.

"As a result of things discussed in that conversation about activity in Kenya and potentially things seen on his computer, he was arrested," said Scotland Yard's Simon Giles.
A bevy of blind baby "dragons" may soon hatch in a Slovenian cave.

Biologists at Postojna Cave, a 15-mile-long (24 kilometers) cave system in southwestern Slovenia, are waiting with bated breath for the arrival of up to 55 baby olms (Proteus anguinus). These underground animals are also known as European cave salamanders, but locals call them "human fish," said Stanley Sessions, a biologist at Hartwick College in New York and a Fulbright scholar at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. That's because their cave-adapted skin lacks pigment and is a fleshy pinkish-white color.

Olms are the largest of all cave-adapted animals, but they have long been enigmatic, Sessions and his colleague, Lilijana Bizjak Mali, of the University of Slovenia, wrote in an email to Live Science. They can grow up to 16 inches (40 centimeters) long. In the 1600s, people saw the long, slim bodies of these salamanders washed out of their cave habitats by rain and mistook them for baby dragons  an understandable impression, given the olms' frilly gills, which look a bit like the neck frill of a fantastical dragon. The salamanders are blind, but very sensitive to smell, taste, sound and even electric fields, studies have found. [In Photos: Rare Birth of 'Baby Dragons' at Slovenia Cave]

Postojna Cave is a major tourist attraction, complete with an aquarium where visitors can see olms in captivity. On Jan. 30, a tour guide noticed a single olm egg attached to the glass. This marked the beginning of the 20-day period in which olms can lay up to 60 eggs. Since then, biologists have counted 55 eggs, mostly clinging to the bottom of a rock and guarded zealously by the olm mother.

Spring babies

The appearance of the eggs is occasion for excitement among biologists because rearing olms in captivity is difficult, Sessions and Mali wrote. What's more, olms live life in the slow lane: They don't reach sexual maturity until age 14, and they can live to be at least 70 years old. Their metabolisim is so slow that olms can go without food for up to 10 years. They also have an unusually large genome, Sessions and Mali said, with about 15 times as many base pairs of nucleotides as humans.

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Olm embryos usually take about 4 months to reach the hatching stage, the researchers said, so the aquarium can expect spring babies. An infrared camera allows tourists to see the eggs without approaching the olm tank. It's not clear how many of the 55 eggs will actually hatch, but the offspring will look and function like mini-adults, Sessions and Mali said.

"As far as we know, the newly hatched Proteus larvae simply disperse soon after hatching, which is a good thing since the mother or other Proteus could eat them," the researchers wrote.

Oddly, the embryonic olms will develop functional eyes, but their eyes degenerate after the early larval stage. By adulthood, the eyes are "nearly useless dots," Sessions and Mali said. [Creepy Crawlies & Flying Wonders: Incredible Cave Creatures]

Dragon habitat

Olms live solely in limestone caves of the Balkan region, and their range stretches from Italy through southern Slovenia into Herzegovina. Of the 250 locations where they are known to live, most are in Slovenia, Sessions and Mali said. They're protected in that country because of threats to their habitat. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists olms as a "vulnerable" species.

Postojna Cave is an enormous series of passages carved out by the Pivka River. Tourist rail lines, first set down in 1872, carry visitors through networks of stalagmite-bedecked caverns.

The aquariums at the cave opened in 2010, and the fact that the cave's captive olms are laying eggs is a good sign that the aquarium habitat is well-suited to this sensitive species, Sessions and Mali said. Olms are particularly sensitive to water quality, which makes them a bellwether for pollution in general, the researchers said.

"If [olms'] water becomes polluted, so does the drinking water for humans!" they wrote. "So this is considered one of the most important aspects about the olm: It is an environmental indicator species that we must monitor for our own well-being as well as that of Proteus."

Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.

Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
London (AFP) - British academics have used geographic profiling in a study which backs up a theory about the identity of mysterious street artist Banksy, they said Friday.

Scientists at Queen Mary University of London said the pattern of how Banksy's artworks were distributed suggested he was artist Robin Gunningham, in a study published in the Journal of Spatial Science.

Gunningham was first named as Banksy by the Daily Mail newspaper in 2008.

Banksy's often politically-themed street art has made him a celebrity in Britain, despite his true identity never having been confirmed.

His most high-profile recent project was Dismaland, which last year mocked the conventions of amusement parks and was located in southwest England.

Geographic profiling is a technique used in fields from criminology to studying patterns of infectious disease.

The study analysed a series of locations of Banksy's artworks in London and Bristol and mapped them against "anchor points" such as the homes of people suspected of being Banksy to draw conclusions about possible identity.

"Our analysis highlights areas associated with one prominent candidate (eg his home), supporting his identification as Banksy," the paper said.

"More broadly, these results support previous suggestions that analysis of minor terrorism-related acts (eg graffiti) could be used to help locate terrorist bases before more serious incidents occur, and provides a fascinating example of the application of the model to a complex, real-world problem."

One of the research team, Steve Le Comber, told the BBC: "I'd be surprised if it's not (Gunningham), even without our analysis, but it's interesting that the analysis offers additional support for it."

The BBC also reported that Banksy's legal team had contacted staff at the university with concerns about how the research was to be promoted.
For years, the true identity of Banksy the British artist, guerrilla graffitist, and/or provocateur-rapscallionhas more or less eluded an increasingly indifferent public.

In 2006, he was supposedly first unmasked as Robert Banks from the graffiti-rich town of Bristol. A few years later, the Scarlet Pimpernel of Modern Art was said to be Robin Gunningham, a former Catholic school studentthe most widely accepted theory yet.

Whomever (s)he may be, Banksy has left another kind of trail that no disguise can cover up: a geographic profile. Researchers at Queen Mary University of London have used a statistical mapping the artists works around Bristol and London, as well as other public data, to help narrow down possible candidates for who the artist really is, much in the way that technology is used in criminology or to pinpoint potential sites of disease outbreaks.

Heres a brief explanation from the studys authors:

The model takes as input the locations of these artworks, and calculates the probability of offender residence across the study area. Our analysis highlights areas associated with one prominent candidate (e.g., his home), supporting his identification as Banksy.

As it turns out, the technique may have actually worked too well. The release of the study was delayed by a week after its results seemed to buttress the Gunningham theory. Thats when Banksys lawyers got involved.

Recommended: Free Speech on Campus Is Under Attack

Banksy's legal team contacted QMUL staff with concerns about how the study was to be promoted, the BBC reported. Those concerns apparently centered on the wording of a press release, which has now been withdrawn.

Among the practical potential uses of this technology would be to curtail serious crime or even terrorism. But the methods behind the Banksy study did not come without its criticisms.

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The method itself is incredibly imprecise, and uses only suspected cases of Banksys artwork (Banksy performs his art anonymously, so its not obvious which pieces belong to him, or if the work is performed by multiple people), wrote George Dvorsky at Gizmodo. Whats more, outliers in the location data were not excluded, and the researchers did not use a timeline to consider when the art appeared.

Nevertheless, Banksys lawyers still cared enough to worry that their tagger had been tagged.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
In private conference today, an eight-Justice Supreme Court may decide the fate of a battle between three states over the legalized production and sale of marijuana in Colorado.

Marijuana1

The petition in Nebraska and Oklahoma v. Colorado is an original jurisdiction case, where the complaint between the states is sent directly to the Supreme Court, with no lower court involved. The Constitutions Article III allows the Supreme Court to consider and accept these unusual cases, which usually involve boundary disputes. It says that [i]n all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and those in which a state shall be party, the Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction.

The lawsuit in Nebraska and Oklahoma v. Colorado is about the commercial sales of marijuana for recreational use in Colorado. The lawsuit was brought by Nebraska and Oklahoma in December 2014. The two states contend the Supreme Court was the only venue where they could seek relief under the Constitutions Supremacy Clause, arguing that the federal government has preeminent authority to regulate interstate and foreign commerce, including commerce involving legal and illegal trafficking in drugs such as marijuana.

Nebraska and Oklahoma arent asking that Colorados now-legal personal marijuana use stop or to go back to its previous laws that prosecuted marijuana use as a crime in the state. Instead, the two states want part of Colorados plan disallowed that allows for commercial growing and distribution of marijuana with the state.

The case took a delayed path to the Court. Last December, Solicitor General Donald Verrilli filed the Justice Departments legal opinion, which the Court had asked for on May 4, 2015, just three days after the petition was first considered in private conference.

Verrilli claimed the lawsuit from the two states is problematic on several fronts. For example, Verrilli rejects the two states claims that the legalized sale of marijuana in Colorado increases the likelihood that third parties will commit criminal offenses in Nebraska and Oklahoma because of increased ability to bring the drug into the two states. He also believed allowing the lawsuit to proceed would allow states to force other states to conform to federal laws that they interpret them as not being enforced correctly. Such a broad invitation to invoke this Courts original jurisdiction to resolve myriad preemption questions would not comport with the Courts traditional insistence that original jurisdiction be exercised only sparingly, Verrilli said.

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In January 2016, Nebraska and Oklahoma responded to Verrillis comments. Sending this case down to district court will only perpetuate the legal uncertainties surrounding this pressing national issue and permit Colorado to benefit from any delay attendant to [those] proceedings even if the [legalization] is ultimately found unconstitutional, the states claimed. The states also said a lack of trial would nullify the Controlled Substances Act, the federal law that lists marijuana under the Schedule 1 list of drugs, along with heroin and LSD.

Since the states filed their response, the case of Nebraska and Oklahoma v. Colorado has been scheduled for private conference on three dates. There was no action on the case after January 22. The case was on the private conference list for February 19, but that conference was cancelled for memorial services for Justice Antonin Scalia.

The Supreme Court seldom hears original jurisdiction cases. It may accept one original jurisdiction case per term on average. In its last term, the Court ruled on 74 appeals cases and other disputes.

According to the official Federal Judicial Center website, the number of such cases in the original docket has always been a minute portion of its overall caseload and since 1960, nearly half have been denied by the Court.

The Court has generally accepted state party cases dealing with boundary and water disputes, but it has been much less likely to field original cases dealing with contract disputes and other subjects not deemed sufficiently substantial for the Courts resources, the Center says.

If the Court does take up the case, it usually appoints a Special Master to gather evidence before arguments are heard. That process could take an extended period of time. For now, the parties involved will be keeping a close eye on the list of official court orders on Monday, to see if any action was taken on granting or denying the case.

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Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders had a packed week, though it was somewhat darkened by the Democratic presidential candidate's Super Tuesday results. Yet despite losing ground to the party's frontrunner, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Sanders was emboldened, positive and long-sighted about his campaign. And recent polls suggest the candidate has reason to remain hopeful.

According the Huffington Post, Sanders had 37.9% of Democratic primary voters' support on Friday, compared to Hillary Clinton's 52.9%. Yet Sanders' standing in the polls has been on an upward trajectory for months, rising from 4.5% on Feb. 15, 2015, to 16.7% on July 6, 25.8% on Sept. 15 and 40.5% on Feb. 16, its highest peak yet, according to the Post. Rising from 4.5% to 40.5% during the course of the year shows the candidate has a track record of winning voters' support.

Yet according to Thursday primary results, Sanders still has work to do. RealClearPolitics reported Michigan's Democratic primary results were split 61 to 33 in Clinton's favor. And in Louisiana, the numbers were even grimmer for Sanders: the Vermont senator won 14% of Democratic primary voters' support in the Pelican State, compared to Clinton's 61%.

On Tuesday, one of the 2016 election's most important voting days, Sanders won in Minnesota, Colorado, Oklahoma and his home turf, Vermont. But Sanders' rival and Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton was the night's bigger victor, and the former Secretary of State won in Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Virginia and, by a hair, Massachusetts.

Sanders is soldiering on.

"The political revolution has begun," he said in a statement commenting on Super Tuesday's results. "Ten months ago, when our campaign started, not many people thought we would get this far or do this well. Not many people outside of Vermont even knew who I was. That was then."

"Voters in Colorado, Oklahoma and Minnesota have joined the people of Vermont in showing America that a political revolution is spreading across our country, that people want to take on the billionaire class and make our government work for all Americans and not just the top 1%," Sanders added.

Correction: March 4, 2016

A previous version of this story stated Bernie Sanders' poll numbers as compiled by the Huffington Post peaked to date with 40.3% support on Feb. 15. The candidate's peak support so far was on Feb. 16 with 40.5% support. Additionally, the Huffington Post chart lists Sanders' support on Feb. 15 as 40.4%, not 40.3%.
Bernie Sanders will participate in a one-hour town hall on Fox News on Monday, marking the first such Democratic event on the news network this cycle.

Hillary Clinton was invited to participate as well, but was unable to attend due to a scheduling conflict, the network said.

Bret Baier will host the event from the Gem Theater in Detroit before an audience of Michigan voters. It will be one day before the states primary.

Baier anchors the weeknight Special Report With Bret Baier on Fox News and is co-moderating the GOP debate Thursday night with Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace.

Fox News has not yet sponsored any Democratic presidential debates, even though Baier pressed Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz on the idea in a recent interview.

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Berta Caceres was murdered Thursday morning after unidentified gunmen entered her home in La Esperanza, Intibuca, Honduras, according to reports.

The renowned indigenous rights activist  who won the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2015, the largest award for grassroots environmental activists in the world  would have turned 46 today.

Caceres was a member of the Lenca people, the biggest indigenous group in the country, according to the Guardian. In the week leading up to her death, she had received multiple rape and death threats for opposing hydroelectric projects in the region.

It's unclear how many gunmen entered Caceres' home, or how many shots were fired  though a friend told reporters that at least four bullets were found in her body. Her brother was also injured in the attack, but he lived. According to NPR, Caceres is survived by her four children  ages 26, 24, 23 and 21  and her mother.

Friends and relatives carry the coffin containing the body of slain Honduran activist and leader Berta Caceres on March 3.

Authorities told reporters the killing took place during a robbery attempt, but Caceres' family insisted it was an assassination stemming from her environmental work. Caceres spent much of the past two decades standing up to wealthy landowners and foreign investors, whose dealings were often backed by the pro-business policies of the Honduran government.

Her best-known campaign was against the Agua Zarca project, a proposed series of four dams across the Gualcarque River basin  sacred land for the Lenca. According to the Guardian, it's one of the largest hydropower projects in Central America. The dam would also cut off hundreds of Lenca people from access to important water sources, food and medicine, the BBC reported.

Caceres' efforts against the dam's construction successfully prompted Sinohydro, the world's largest dam builder, and the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank's private sector wing, to withdraw from the project.

A mourner holds a sign with Berta Caceres' face printed on it.

Caceres has long demonstrated an understanding of how risky her work was, particularly in a country where violence against environmental advocates and voices critical of the government has risen of late. Until recently, Honduras had the highest murder rate in the world. The country's government was overthrown in a military coup in 2009, and the post-coup nationalist administration awarded 47 hydroelectric dam concessions with a single law the next year.

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In a 2013 conversation with Al Jazeera, Caceres claimed the army itself was after her:

"The army has an assassination list of 18 wanted human rights fighters with my name at the top. I want to live, there are many things I still want to do in this world but I have never once considered giving up fighting for our territory, for a life with dignity, because our fight is legitimate. I take lots of care but in the end, in this country where there is total impunity I am vulnerable ... when they want to kill me, they will do it."

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, the United Nations special rapporteur for indigenous rights, told the Guardian she was "saddened and horrified" by Caceres' death. "This shows the high level of impunity in Honduras. Beyond the high homicide levels in society, there is a clear tendency for indigenous campaigners and human rights activists to be killed," she said.
SAN ANTONIOWhen rumored vice-presidential contender Julian Castro was still mayor of San Antonio in 2011, he asked its 1.4 million residents to think about what they wanted to see in their city in 2020. The question was both imaginative and practical, but the effort to get it answered was monumental. In two rounds of city-wide open forumssome with attendance numbering in the hundredsresidents came together at community centers, schools, and other venues to discuss issues like education, parks and recreation, transportation, workforce development, and other matters inherent to the needs of a growing city.

Kathy Bruck, a former educator in a local district and the current CEO of Pre-K for San Antonio, recalls her own reticence at the idea of a mayor asking an entire city to tell him what it wanted to see almost a decade down the line. This is crazy, how are they going to get all these people to share ideas? I went to one of the forums and there were 500-600 people at itboy scouts, grandma that doesnt speak any English, military generals, CEOs, young families with kids, high school kids, college students, she said.

The result of the weeks of conversations with residents was a book of ideas called SA 2020. Castro then appointed an exploratory committee dubbed The Brainpower Task Force, composed of business leaders and educators from colleges and larger school districts, and co-chaired by Charles Butt from the board of supermarket chain HEB and General Joe Robles, a retired CEO of USAA. Castro charged the group with evaluating the ideas and concerns assembled in the book, looking around the country for what worked, and determining the best way for San Antonio to invest in itself to be a better city in 2020 and beyond. (Among its problem areas are its high school dropout rate and low college graduation rate.) A year later, the task force came back with a single recommendation: The city should invest in its youngest residents by creating a strong, full-day pre-kindergarten program. Bruck said that the group looked at college readiness, recovery and dropout prevention, and early childhood initiatives, and determined that getting all children in San Antonio ready for school would make the most impact. At the time, and still today, many independent school districts in the city and throughout the state could not afford to offer full-day pre-k because the state only funds half-day programs.

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The Brainpower Task Forces recommendation was based on its review of data, best practices, and studies that say a strong educational foundation based on academics and appropriate social markers in early childhood is the best predictor of future success. At that time, Census data showed that San Antonio had 20,000 four-year-olds, with about 16,500 eligible for state pre-k funding. Of those, 10,800 were enrolled full-time, with some 5,700 not participating at all.

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After zeroing in on pre-k education, the city devised a way to pay for it. It had a one-eighth-cent allotment left in its sales tax, which would need to be voted on by residents, not merely taken up in the city council. The fraction of a penny would add up to about $31 million a year.

A lot of communities have been asking me, How do we do this? How do we get this kind of funding and do a city-wide initiative? Unfortunately, a lot of cities just lack capacity in their tax code. And one reason for that is because the state legislature continually pushes state obligations onto cities and counties, so when the state isnt pulling their fair share of providing social services, cities have to do it, and they usually do it through their sales tax or property-tax rates, said Chandra Kring Villanueva, a policy analyst at the Texas-based Center for Public Policy Priorities. Many cities cannot max out what theyre able to do on the local level because the state has not been, in her words, pulling its weight or doing its fair share.

Its really coming down to kids getting educational opportunities based on the zip code that they live in.

Bruck, who has been at the helm of Pre-K 4 SA since its inception, said that one of the leading concerns for the mayor and business community was that San Antonio did not have a large-enough, educated workforce that could meet the specialized needs of businesses like Toyota and Rackspace, which have operations in town. She said these and other companies are drawn to the citys low cost of living, the nice climate, the quality of life, and its attractiveness. But there simply was not enough of a workforce for them, she said.

But not everyone in the city was easily convinced. One vocal opponent was Jill Thrift, who serves on the faculty of Chrysalis International, a Christian non-profit educational institute, and believes it isnt a citys role to expand pre-k. She wrote in opposition of the proposal as it was being promoted to the public, gave interviews to the press about her views, and kept a close eye on Pre-K 4 SAs implementation during its first year. She said that initially she had many questions about why the city was becoming involved in a program that already existed in the public school system. Today, her opposition remains the same. I know that a host of cities have jumped on the bandwagon, but I think its a duplication of the existing school system. she said. Thrift likens Pre-K 4 SA to HeadStart, a program she believes has been proven ineffective in substantially improving young childrens outcomes, educational and otherwise. Even with plans for the Pre-K 4 SA hubs to evolve as training centers for teacherswithin and outside the participating districts in San Antonioshe remains unconvinced. That kind of initiative is not part of the role for this city. From what I understand of what theyre doing, I honestly dont see that its different from what is happening in the school districts, she said.

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The difference is two-fold, according to most supporters. First, Pre-K 4 SA offers full-time instruction, which most districts working within the confines of state funds cannot afford. Second is the intentional location of the centers at the citys four quadrants to try to reach as many underserved communities as possible. Experts argue that geography has a lot more to do with education than people are willing to admit.

Its really coming down to kids getting educational opportunities based on the zip code that they live in. And we dont offer an equitable education system across the state. Its not just Baxer County that thats happening in; its reflected in the entire state, Kring Villanueva, who has offered testimony on the issue, said. She said districts only have to offer pre-k if they identify 15 kids who meet certain criteriabeing low income, English language learners, in foster care, and other at-risk factors. But because districts have recognized the value of early education, and especially the value of a full-day program, more of them are taking matters into their own hands.

For many districts, that comes at the expense of other things, like the curriculum theyd like to offer, because they want to invest in the early years. But other districts are just so tight and they have no additional money to increase their pre-k program, and so we see these ripple effects in the the duration of the day, but also classroom sizes, ratios. Theres not a lot of standards that the state has in place across the board for all districts, so we really see an uneven application of early education in Texas, Kring Villanueva said.

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Brucks boss, Sheryl Sculley, who has been city manager of San Antonio for 10 years, said that Pre-K 4 SA really has surpassed expectations. She should know; She was in charge of writing the business plan that made it happen. Shes also the first to admit, That doesnt mean weve arrived. It is an experiment, but one that is ever-changing. One that is under constant improvement. As city manager, Sculley is tasked with retaining, growing, and attracting businesses to San Antonio, and she says this investment in early childhood education made the most sense to her and will make the biggest difference in growing a workforce that is ready to meet the needs of this growing city.

In its 2014 annual The State of Preschool report, the National Institute for Early Education Research recommends that, When states do not adequately support high-quality pre-k, communities should act on their own as cities across the nation from New York to Seattle have already done. Kring Villanueva agrees: Local innovations like Pre-K 4 SA really help spur state action and show the state what can be accomplished in innovative ways. So Im really hoping that this experiment in San Antonio has positive gains for the state as a whole.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
(Reuters) - Six northern Virginia schools received bomb threats on Friday, prompting evacuations, authorities said.

After receiving an "automated threat" by phone at 11:39 a.m., George Mason High School in Falls Church, Virginia, evacuated its students to neighboring Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School, Falls Church spokeswoman Laura Binz said.

"We're just working to be sure everyone stays safe," said Binz, who said police were investigating.

George Mason was among six area schools that received threats, including Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn, which was also evacuated, said Kraig Troxell, spokesman for the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office.

"The kids were put on buses to keep them out of the elements. Police are still clearing the school ... but nothing suspicious has been found so far," Troxell said.

The other schools threatened on Friday include Falls Church High School in West Falls Church, Herndon High School in Herndon, McLean High in McLean and Potomac High in Dumfries.

(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and James Dalgleish)
BERLIN (Reuters) - Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has accused Austria and Balkan countries of "ruining Europe" by imposing border restrictions to slow the flow of migrants heading north from Greece. Austria angered Greece by not inviting it to a meeting of Balkan leaders in Vienna last week to coordinate a slew of border restrictions. Some 30,000 migrants are now stranded in Greece, waiting for Macedonia to reopen its border so they can continue their northward trek, mostly to Germany. "What those countries agreed on and decided goes against all of the rules and against the whole of Europe and we regard it as unfriendly," Tsipras told Germany's mass-selling Bild newspaper in an interview due to be published on Saturday. "These countries are ruining Europe!" Tsipras urged his European Union partners to reject unilateral measures at a summit in Brussels on Monday. The summit will discuss progress on protecting the EU's external borders and helping Greece to cope with the influx of migrants, who mostly arrive by sea from Turkey. "The situation is difficult but not out of control," Tsipras said. "We have fulfilled more than 100 percent of our commitments, whereas others have not even fulfilled 10 percent and prefer to criticize us." Germany, which has taken in more than a million migrants in the past year, strongly backs mandatory migrant quotas for all EU member states, but some countries, especially in former communist eastern Europe, are opposed to them. (Writing by Joseph Nasr; Editing by Gareth Jones)
Sao Paulo (AFP) - Brazil's ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva vowed to battle his opponents in the streets in a defiant speech, hours after being briefly detained as part of a probe into a massive corruption scheme.

Wearing a red shirt with his leftist Worker's Party yellow star on his chest, Lula gave an emotional speech to supporters where the charisma and feistiness that characterized his 2003-2010 presidency were on full display.

"If they want to defeat me, they will have to face me in the streets of this country!" he told hundreds of supporters at a Sao Paulo rally.

Lula, 70, even shed tears when he talked about how he lifted millions of Brazilians out of poverty during his two terms in office.

Earlier in the day agents took Lula to a police station for questioning, raided his Sao Paulo home, the offices of the Lula Institute, and homes of family members and associates.

Prosecutors said Lula was targeted as part of the Operation Car Wash investigation into a sprawling embezzlement and bribery conspiracy centered on the state oil giant Petrobras.

The corruption scandal, which has already seen a Who's Who of Brazilian politicians and businessmen face charges, is believed to be the biggest ever in Brazil.

Lula was not arrested, but held for questioning over alleged "favors" received from corrupt construction companies implicated in a kickback scheme, prosecutors said.

In a press conference shortly after being released, Lula said the decision to take him forcibly into custody for questioning amounted to "judicial authoritarianism."

"If they wanted to hear from me, they only had to call and I would have gone, because I owe nothing to anyone and fear nothing," he said. "They preferred to show power, arrogance, to make a show."

He was supported by President Dilma Rousseff, a close ally in the ruling Workers' Party, who said she was "in complete disagreement" with the decision to detain Lula.

Story continues

- Shockwaves -

The drama sent shockwaves through Brazil's already turbulent political landscape.

As officials, backed by camouflaged officers with automatic weapons, went through Lula's house, supporters and opponents demonstrated in the street, shouting and scuffling. Later, as Lula gave his press conference, supporters gathered outside with placards including one that read: "No to the coup."

Lula remains one of Brazil's most influential and powerful figures, and his fate is closely linked to that of his successor Rousseff, and the future of the Workers' Party.

Rousseff, deeply unpopular over her handling of a brutal recession, is already fighting for her political life against the threat of impeachment and a court case that could potentially see her 2014 reelection declared illegitimate.

The risk consultancy Eurasia Group said that "today's detention of ex-President Lula suggests that Rousseff is now unlikely to finish her term in office."

- 'Favors' -

The allegations against Lula focus on a luxury seaside apartment and country house that authorities say appear to have been given to the ex-president as bribes.

"There is evidence that former President Lula received assets arising from the Petrobras scheme through the allocation and renovation of a triplex apartment and a site in Atibaia," prosecutors said in a statement.

Lula denies ownership of the apartment and any involvement in the scheme.

Lula was also accused of receiving about 30 million reais (approximately $8 million) in donations and speaking fees from Petrobras-tainted companies.

"The favors to Lula from big construction companies involved in the fraud at Petrobras were many and hard to quantify," prosecutor Carlos Fernando dos Santos Lima told reporters.

Prosecutors say they are also examining Lula's allegedly wider role in a Petrobras-related web of corruption that enveloped the Workers' Party, the Lula Institute and election campaign finances.

Acknowledging the extraordinary nature of a once hugely popular president being detained, prosecutors said in their statement: "It is not a value judgment about who he is... but an investigative judgment based on facts and certain acts which are under suspicion."

"In a republic, even famous and powerful people must come under judicial scrutiny when there is a well-founded suspicion of criminal activity."

- Political intrigue -

Lula's detention came a day after a bombshell claim by a Brazilian magazine that a former close ally of Lula and Rousseff -- a senior Workers' Party senator who has already been charged with Petrobras corruption crimes -- was preparing to testify against them.

Senator Delcidio do Amaral, who was arrested last November, was reportedly negotiating a plea bargain deal with prosecutors in which he would testify that Rousseff obstructed the probe and that Lula had also been involved in the scheme.

The report, although unconfirmed, sparked a furious reaction from Rousseff's government.

No allegations have been made officially against Rousseff in the Petrobras scandal.
One of the most beloved interpreters of the American musical theater canon will return to the New York stage this spring, when Barbara Cook: Then and Now plays a 10-week engagement.

Conceived by James Lapine and directed by Tommy Tune  who between them have 13 Tony Awards  the musical memoir will provide a showcase for Cook to reflect back on a legendary career spanning more than half a century, from her days as an ingenue in Broadway's Golden Age to the present.

The show will coincide with the June publication from HarperCollins of Cook's autobiography, which bears the same title.

"As I began to write my upcoming memoir, I was surprised by how moved I was in revisiting my early years and later my alcoholic years," said Cook in a statement. "I've always felt that the narrative of my life came through many of the songs I sing, both tunes I've introduced and favorites that have spoken to me through different chapters of my life. I'm hoping this evening will be a live companion piece to the book that taught me more about my own life than I ever would have expected."

Cook made her Broadway debut in 1951 in Flahooley, and went on to star in the original productions of Plain and Fancy, Candide, The Music Man (for which she won a Tony in 1958) and She Loves Me, among others, as well as revivals of Oklahoma!, Carousel, The King and I and Show Boat. Her most recent Broadway appearance was in Sondheim on Sondheim in 2010.

As a cabaret and concert performer, she has played major venues around the world, including seven returns to Carnegie Hall, most recently for her 85th birthday celebration concert. She was an honoree at the 2011 Kennedy Center Honors.

The new show will give audiences an opportunity to hear Cook's warm soprano in a more intimate setting, at off-Broadway's New World Stages, where the limited engagement begins performances April 13 for an official May 4 opening, running through June 26. Roy Furman is producing, in association with Sandy Robertson and Luigi Caiola.
EDINBURGH (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron urged Scots on Friday to vote to stay in the European Union, as they did to keep Scotland part of the United Kingdom in 2014. Cameron wants a high turnout in a referendum on June 23 to help his campaign for a vote to stay in the 28-member bloc, and Scotland is largely pro-EU. The Conservative leader may have to rely on the influence of the rival Scottish National Party, which rules Scotland and has hinted that he should steer clear of campaigning in the country in case he puts voters off. "When the world wants to drink our whisky and eat our salmon ... Scotland relies on the door to the single market being wide open," Cameron said, to a warm reception at the annual Scottish Conservative Conference. He said being in the UK and the EU gave Scotland clout. "What matters is turning patriotism into action, being able to get things done for the country you love, which is what I believe we can do in a reformed European Union," he said. A month before the EU referendum, Scotland will hold a Scottish parliamentary election, in which the Conservatives are likely to come third, according to opinion polls. The Conservatives had their worst election result in decades in Scotland in a 2015 UK national election, but won the election across Britain overall. The SNP has scolded Cameron for calling the EU vote so shortly after the election for Scotland's Holyrood parliament, saying it showed disrespect for the issues facing Scottish people and gave voters too little time for debate. (Reporting by Elisabeth O'Leary; editing by Andrew Roche)
Ottawa (AFP) - Canada started 2016 with a slight uptick in exports that was outpaced by rising imports, resulting in a widening trade deficit of Can$655 million (US$488 million), the government said Friday.

The deficit widened from a revised Can$631 million shortfall in December.

Statistics Canada said exports rose one percent in January to Can$46 billion while imports increased 1.1 percent to Can$46.7 billion.

Gains in imports of motor vehicle engines and parts, as well as consumer goods, were partially offset by declines in aircraft, the agency said.

Widespread increases in imported consumer goods were led by pharmaceutical and medicinal products, meat products, as well as clothing, footwear and accessories.

Imports of ships, locomotives, railway rolling stock, and rapid transit equipment also increased in the month.

Meanwhile, exports of consumer goods were up, notably "articles of precious metals" and pharmaceuticals, as were exports of motor vehicles and parts. But exports of aircraft and crude oil fell.

Bilateral trade with the United States -- Canada's largest trading partner -- advanced in January.
By Fergal Smith TORONTO (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar strengthened slightly against its U.S. counterpart on Friday after solid trade data made a Bank of Canada rate cut less likely, even as a surge in U.S. jobs boosted Federal Reserve rate hike prospects. Canadian exports rose for a third month, including increased trade with the U.S. that supports hoped for reorientation of Canada's economy toward the non-resource sector. "This is the sort of data they (the Bank of Canada) want to see," said Andrew Kelvin, senior rates strategist at TD Securities. "This would make all else equal a rate cut less likely." The implied probability of a rate cut this year was little changed since before the data, but has fallen to 42 percent from 80 percent last week when Finance Minister Bill Morneau said the government would stick to plans to stimulate the economy in a March 22 federal budget. The currency gyrated as the market also digested U.S. data. U.S. payrolls surged in February, the clearest sign yet of labor market strength that could ease fears the economy may be heading into recession. U.S. crude prices were down 0.14 percent to $34.52 a barrel as gains this week were slightly pared. [O/R] At 9:40 a.m. EST (1440 GMT), the Canadian dollar was trading at C$1.3390 to the greenback, or 74.68 U.S. cents, stronger than Thursday's close of C$1.3396, or 74.65 U.S. cents. The currency's strongest level of the session was C$1.3390, while its weakest was C$1.3472. On Thursday, it touched its strongest since Dec. 7 at C$1.3372. Canada posted a smaller-than-expected trade deficit of C$655 million ($489 million) in January from a revised C$631 million shortfall in December. Exports rose 1 percent, reaching a record C$46.0 billion, while export volumes surged 3.6 percent. Canadian government bond prices were lower across the maturity curve, with the two-year price down 2 Canadian cents to yield 0.522 percent and the benchmark 10-year falling 17 Canadian cents to yield 1.24 percent. The Canada-U.S. two-year bond spread was 1.2 basis points lower at -34.4 basis points, while the 10-year spread was 1.6 basis points lower at -62.4 basis points, as U.S. Treasuries underperformed. (Editing by Bernadette Baum)
By Seyhmus Cakan DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - A car bomb and rocket attack by Kurdish militants in Turkey killed two police officers and wounded 35 people in the southeastern province of Mardin on Friday, security sources said. The bomb blast, blamed on Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants, caused significant damage to a traffic police station and neighboring housing in the town of Nusaybin, near the Syrian border, the sources told Reuters. A clash broke out between police and militants after the explosion, which occurred around 6 a.m. (0400 GMT). Security force reinforcements, along with ambulances and fire engines, were sent to the area, the sources said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. A ceasefire between the PKK and the state collapsed last July and attacks on Turkey's security forces have since increased amid a surge in violence in the predominantly Kurdish southeast. Hundreds of people have been killed. Two soldiers were killed in a clash in the Idil district of the neighboring province of Sirnak, which borders both Syria and Iraq and has seen some of the heaviest violence, the Dogan news agency said. It also said Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had arrived in the province for a brief visit. Violence has also increased elsewhere in Turkey. A suicide car bombing targeting military buses in Ankara killed 29 people last month. The government said that attack was carried out by a member of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia with help from the PKK. Turkey has also become a target for Islamic State militants, who are blamed for three suicide bombings - one last year in the town of Suruc near the Syrian border and another in the capital, Ankara, and one in Istanbul in January. Those attacks killed more than 140 people. The PKK, considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, launched a separatist armed rebellion against Turkey in 1984. More than 40,000 people, mostly Kurds, have since been killed. (Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Nick Tattersall)
A man in Qatar who had blood in his urine and pain for more than a month when he peed found out that his symptoms were caused by his body's attempt to fight off a parasitic worm infection, a new case report reveals.

Blood in the urine can be a telltale sign that a person is infected with the Schistosoma parasite, which is common in many parts of the world, such as Africa and Asia. But images taken of the 43-year-old man's abdomen and pelvis gave doctors another important clue: He had a condition called a calcified bladder, according to the case report, published online Wednesday (Feb. 24) in The New England Journal of Medicine.

In this man's case, the Schistosoma parasites were living near the man's bladder and ureters, the tubes that connect the kidneys to the bladder, said Dr. Ronald Blanton, a professor of international health at the Center for Global Health and Diseases at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland. Blanton studies schistosomiasis (also known as snail fever or bilharzia) but was not involved in the man's case.

The eggs of the parasite can enter the bladder and become deposited on its walls. But then, the body's immune response causes that part of the bladder wall to become calcified, Blanton explained.

Indeed, pelvic scans taken at the hospital showed the man had a thin rim of calcification resembling an eggshell forming a border around his bladder  a pattern known as "eggshell calcification," he said. [16 Oddest Medical Cases]

A common infection

Schistosomiasis is a parasitic worm disease that is transmitted by snails living in freshwater. The worms that cause the infection are not found in the United States, but more than 200 million people carry Schistosoma infections worldwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

People become infected when larvae from the parasitic worms are released by freshwater snails, and penetrate the skin when a person comes in contact with contaminated water, Blanton said. Children may become infected by swimming in infested water, while men who are farmers, fishermen or irrigation workers and women who are washing clothes and fetching water can also contract the disease, he explained.

Story continues

Once the parasite enters the skin, it matures into adult worms that live within veins, and the females can produce eggs, Blanton said. Some eggs get eliminated from the body in urine or feces, while others become trapped in body tissues, provoking a strong immune response, he said.

Schistosoma haematobium was thespecies of parasite responsible for the infection in the man's bladder, Blanton told Live Science. This species tends to be found in Africa, parts of the Middle East, and Corsica, France, according to the World Health Organization.

Blanton said he doesn't know of many cases of schistosomiasis being reported in Qatar. However, because many details of the man's medical history were not included in the case report, it's unclear where he originally acquired the infection.

Eggshell calcification

The images also revealed that the man had calcification of the seminal vesicles  the male reproductive gland that helps produce semen  and in part of his bowel.

Schistosomiasis of the bladder, as well as schistosomiasis of other portions of the urinary or reproductive tracts in men and women, may produce this characteristic calcification, which is used to help doctors diagnose the infection. A positive antibody test also confirmed the presence of the parasite.

Calcification is not unusual in people with schistosomiasis, but in the man's case, the scans showed that his whole bladder is encased in a wall of calcium, Blanton said. Such extensive calcification is indicative of a long-standing inflammatory response in the bladder, meaning that the infection has been going on for a long time, he said.

"Calcification takes about five years to develop," Blanton said, adding that he suspects the man likely had become infected by the Schistosoma parasite when he was a kid.

The peak age range for Schistosoma infection is between 8 and 20, so if this man's case was typical, he may have been infected with it for at least 30 years, Blanton said.

In some places in Africa where schistosomiasis is so common that about 90 percent of its residents become infected with it, seeing blood in the urine as a child may not be considered unusual, Blanton said. In fact, it's so common in some cultures that teenage boys who may see blood in their urine view it almost as a symbol of male menarche, or the start of menstruation, he said.

Schistosomiasis is treated with the drug praziquantel, which helps to eliminate the parasite and prevent further calcification, Blanton said. But it may take a long time for the existing calcification to go away, he said.

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.
By James Pomfret BEIJING (Reuters) - China needs more time to revise a draft law governing foreign non-government organizations, the parliamentary spokeswoman said on Friday, defending the need for such legislation despite widespread international criticism. The law comes amid a crackdown on dissent by President Xi Jinping's administration which has detained and jailed activists and blamed "foreign forces", including foreign NGOs, for the pro-democracy protests that rocked Hong Kong in late 2014. Speaking ahead of the opening of the annual session of parliament, spokeswoman Fu Ying defended China's justification for the law. "We still have to deal with various recommendations and opinions in order to revise this law well," said Fu, adding that there were now around 7,000 foreign NGOs working in China. The draft law, which has triggered a storm of criticism from countries including the United States, Canada and the European Union, requires foreign non-profit organizations to find official sponsors, typically a government-backed agency, and gives broad latitude to the police to regulate activities and funding. "We need specialized laws to govern this area of activity," Fu told reporters in the Great Hall of the People. "We need to clearly specify which activities are illegal or prohibited. Mostly we are trying to provide a more standardized legal environment, not trying to restrict foreign NGOs from conducting beneficial activities in China." On China's crackdown on human rights lawyers, Fu said that while China considered lawyers an "important force", they needed to respect the constitution. China has arrested scores of human rights lawyers across the country and tightened control over almost every aspect of civil society since 2012, citing the need to buttress national security and stability. China consistently rejects any criticism of its human rights record, saying it adheres to the rule of law. (Reporting by James Pomfret; Editing by Nick Macfie)
By Ruby Lian and Megha Rajagopalan SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese maritime authorities must "blacklist" 31 boats operated by a North Korean firm that came under U.N. Security Council sanctions this week, according to a Ministry of Transport document reviewed by Reuters - a signal that China is enforcing tough new curbs aimed at Pyongyang's banned nuclear program. The notice, dated March 3, says maritime safety agencies must "urgently" determine whether 31 vessels belonging to Ocean Maritime Management Co (OMM) are in Chinese harbors or waters, and notify the ministry. The latest U.N. sanctions, drafted by the United States and China, blacklist the vessels. The ministry's notice says authorities must not allow the vessels to enter Chinese harbors, adding the measures were part of the "exceedingly sensitive" work of enforcing the U.N. sanctions. The ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside normal business hours. OMM could not be reached for comment. The U.N. sanctions, passed unanimously on Wednesday, punish North Korea following its fourth nuclear test, in January, as well as last month's satellite launch, which the United States and others say was really a test of ballistic missile technology. Independent experts have frequently questioned China's resolve to enforce sanctions against North Korea, whose economy is heavily dependent on China. China has said it will enforce the measures "conscientiously". The Philippines Coast Guard has banned one of the 31 OMM vessels, the 6,830 deadweight tonne (dwt) Jin Teng general cargo ship, from leaving port until safety deficiencies are put right, officials said on Friday. Authorities this week also restricted how many vehicles could cross into North Korea each day via a bridge to the coastal Chinese city of Dandong, from 300-400 earlier to about 100, shopkeepers there said - a sign that sanctions are having some early impact. The U.N. latest sanctions also ban North Korean exports of coal and iron ore other than for "livelihood purposes" and if proceeds do not go to fund the North's weapons programs - wording that leaves room for interpretation and continued trade. North Korea was one of China's top sources for imported coal last year. (Reporting by Ruby Lian and Megha Rajagopalan; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)
After backing up Apples stance on the need for strong iPhone encryption with statements in previous days, the most important tech companies in the world including Apple rivals and partners have filed an amicus brief with the court, further supporting the iPhone maker. Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and a slew of other companies have expressed their support for strong encryption and the need to protect the customers privacy.

MUST READ: 7 features I desperately want (but wont get) in the iPhone 7

Privately, tech execs do worry about what backing Apple means in this high-profile case with a link to terrorism. But in official documentation, tech companies are ready to express their full support for Apple, as well as the worry that such requests from government agencies could be detrimental to the security of their products.

The government is not just asking companies to do what they do in the normal course of business; the government is asking companies to change how they do business, Amazon, Box, Cisco, Dropbox, Evernote, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Mozilla, Nest, Pinterest, Slack, Snapchat, WhatsApp, and Yahoo wrote in their joint filing.

The companies said they do not condone terrorism, but argued that mobile devices are almost an extension of our minds. [Cell] phones are the way we organize and remember the things that are important to us; they are, in a very real way, an extension of our memories. And as a result, to access someones cell phone is to access their innermost thoughts and their most private affairs.

These were not the only technology companies that filed documents with the court that will hear the FBI vs. Apple case. AT&T filed an amicus brief of its own, and so did Intel.

Other Internet companies have also released a joint amicus brief detailing their support for Apple on the matter. Airbnb, Atlassian, Automattic, CloudFlare, eBay, GitHub, Kickstarter, LinkedIn, Mapbox, Medium, Meetup, Reddit, Square, Squarespace, Twilio, Twitter and Wickr joined forces in this amicus brief.

Story continues

One of the points these companies made concerns the precedent, suggesting the government could easily target any other company with similar requests in the future.

It would set a dangerous precedent, creating a world in which the government could simply force companies to create, design, and redesign their systems to allow law enforcement access to data, instead of requiring the government to use the measures, and meet the requirements, of legislatively enacted statutory schemes, they said.

Notably absent is Samsung. Bloomberg said the South Korean giant supports encryption and user privacy, but will not commit to an amicus brief.

Protecting our customers privacy is extremely important, but we have not decided whether to file an amicus brief in the current case, the company told Bloomberg in a statement. Ensuring trust in our products and services is our top priority. Our phones are embedded with encryption that protects privacy and content, and they do not have backdoors. When required to do so, and within the law, we work with law enforcement agencies. However, any requirement to create a backdoor could undermine consumers trust.

Apple listed all the amicus briefs it received in the case so far on its website (see this link), with the list also including several security researchers and privacy advocates.

A court hearing that will determine whether Apple has to comply with the FBIs request is set for March 22nd.

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The cops are always there to help, even when the emergency is fashion related.

When 2-year-old Aaliyah Garrett from South Carolina needed help putting on her pants, she declared it an emergency and decided to call 911.

Read: 7-Year-Old Left Speechless When Marine Brother Surprises Him With Early Homecoming

Her grandfather, not knowing she had made the call, answered the door to Deputy Martha Lohnes.

As he explained that there was no emergency, a half-dressed Aaliyah hopped up behind her grandfather and waved vigorously to the deputy, all the while trying to put on her pants.

Noticing the problem, Deputy Lohnes sat Aaliyah down and helped her out, one leg at a time. Next, Aaliyah asked for help with her shoes, but she still wasn't ready to say goodbye to Deputy Lohnes.

"She jumped in my arms and wouldn't let me go," Deputy Lohnes told InsideEdition.com.

Deputy Lohnes said it isn't uncommon for children to play with the phone, and accidently dial 911.

"We normally sit them down and say, 'Hey, this is for emergencies only,' but she was only 2," she said. "I was impressed that she could dial at all."

Aaliyah's mom Pebbles Ryan said that while they had taught Aaliyah how to dial 911, she's not sure that her toddler really understood the concept.

"I always told her to call when she needed help, but I didn't know she'd take it to that extent!" told InsideEdition.com.

Read: 'Bernie Baby' Dies From SIDS at 4 Months Old

"I came home to find out that the police had put her pants on for her and now she has a new friend for life." Ryan said. She also added that Aaliyah is normally able to dress herself.

"My heart went out to Aaliyah, because not too long ago, I was the little girl dialing 911 just so I could see police officers show up at my house," Lohnes said. "I was so enamored by police officers as a kid."

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Back at the Greenville County Sheriffs Office, Deputy Lohnes was praised by the way she handled the situation.

"You can't train the heart, charisma, or angle she took on this," Deputy Michael Douglas told InsideEdition.com. "We try to recruit those natural attributes."

Deputy Douglas added that more than 250,000 accidental 911 calls were made in 2015 in Greenville County, South Carolina alone.

Watch: Good-Looking Cop Accidentally Becomes Internet Sensation After Visiting 3-Year-Old Who Loves Police

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The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story has drawn the U.S. television audience back into the one of the most infamous criminal trials of our time, but that interest could pale in comparison to speculation sparked by a former LAPD officer who turned in a knife that he claims was found on Simpson's former property and could be the missing weapon in the 1994 murders of Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman.

If this knife is indeed that missing knife, what does it mean for the murder investigation?

The Hollywood Reporter asked USC law professor and criminal defense attorney Michael Brennan to explain.

Read More: O.J. Simpson: Three Craziest Elements of the Knife Discovery

When is a criminal case officially closed?

It closes when somebody is arrested and convicted of the crime thats been committed. In this case, that hasnt happened. [Simpson] was charged and acquitted, so the case is still open. They just havent prosecuted and convicted anyone for those two homicides. Im not sure the LAPD has spent a tremendous amount of time trying to find another suspect.

What could happen next if no DNA evidence is found on the knife?

Then its just another knife. If there is some forensic evidence that ties the knife to the victims, either victim, then the knife has some historical consequence but it wouldnt have a legal consequence.

What could happen next if O.J. Simpsons DNA is found on the knife?

He cant be tried for the same crime twice [because of the double jeopardy clause]. Federal authorities in federal court could pursue charges of violation of the victims federal civil rights. I dont know off the top of my head if thats a possibility in the O.J. case because of the statute of limitations. Having said that, that piece of evidence alone might not be enough to cause federal prosecutors to file such charges even if they could.

What is double jeopardy and why is it necessary?

Weve always had the concept of double jeopardy in our legal system. The prosecution has one chance to charge and prosecute someone for a crime. If you are found not guilty, then the state or the federal government cannot charge you again. It prevents people from being harassed with criminal charges that theyve been acquitted of in the past. If you fail to convict them, you cant try it again.

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Read More: LAPD Investigating After Knife Found Buried on Former O.J. Simpson Property

Is that absolute, or are there any loopholes?

Its absolute in terms of the state. The state cannot charge you with that same crime again. There are no loopholes. The only exception is the one I mentioned earlier, which would be if you are acquitted in state court of a crime, there is the possibility of federal prosecutors prosecuting you in federal court for violation of a victims civil rights. That seldom happens, but it is a possibility.

What could happen next if someone other than O.J. Simpsons DNA is found on the knife?

The LAPD and the county DAs office is going to have to determine whether they have enough evidence to prosecute someone else. DNA of the victims and DNA of a third person probably wouldnt be sufficient for them to charge a person with the homicide because you need more than that type of evidence. I would think it would be unlikely.

What could happen next if this is discovered to be a prank of some sort?

I think its pretty clear that the LAPD officer who turned the knife over has had it in his possession for more than 10 years, so I dont think its a prank. It was probably a mistake on his part not to turn it over when he received it. I dont think hes committed any kind of a crime, but I know LAPD is probably not happy with him for not turning it over earlier.

If the knife had been turned in earlier, Brennan says any forensic evidence found on it would have been stronger. But more than 20 years after the crime, this knife is likely not a smoking gun.

Says Brennan, "People would like to have some evidence that supports their conclusions about O.J. and his guilt or innocence, and that would satisfy some of those matters, but legally the knife doesnt have much significance."

Read More: 'The People v. O.J. Simpson': Lead Reporter "Impressed" By First Episode's Accuracy
Washington (AFP) - US Republican presidential candidates have found a rare moment of levity in yoga, but don't expect to see them practising their stretches together anytime soon.

Voters can, however, buy a yoga mat from Ted Cruz.

Cruz tweeted Friday that his campaign website was selling the mats, following a Thursday debate between the four remaining Republican candidates, in which yoga took center stage.

During the forum, Cruz tore into rival Donald Trump admonishing him to calm down and "breathe, breathe, breathe."

"I am Ted," Trump shot back, as Cruz taunted him again: "You can do it. You can breathe. I know it's hard."

The opportunity was apparently too much to resist for Florida Senator Marco Rubio.

"When they're done with the yoga, can I answer a question?" he interjected.

Rubio then said of Trump: "He's very flexible, so you never know."

Trump, who a few minutes prior was chastised for changing position on major policy issues, had said: "You have to be flexible because you learn you have to show a degree of flexibility."

The "Cruz 2016 'Breathe' yoga mat," as the item is called online, is available for $35 alongside caps, coffee mugs and baby clothes for sale on the Texas senator's campaign website.

It is emblazoned with the words "Cruz" and "2016."

Rubio as well solicited $10 donations, pretending on his campaign website to hawk fictitious yoga pants that read "Dump Trump."
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Denmark's government will present proposals soon to expand its mission against Islamic State into Syria, including air strikes, Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen's office said on Friday. If approved by parliament, F-16 fighters, C130J transport aircraft and 400 military personal, including special operations forces and support staff, would take part in the Syria campaign by the middle of the year. Danish forces have already seen action against Islamic State in Iraq. Parliament is expected to vote on the proposals in separate readings on April 1 and April 19. The main political parties have already said they backed the proposal, at a cross-party committee meeting that included the defense and foreign ministers. Denmark's expanded mission into Syria comes after direct requests from France and the United States, Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen told reporters after the committee meeting. The defense ministry said the larger mission would make Denmark one of the highest contributors per capita in the fight against the militant group. "The fight against ISIL will be long and the terrorist organization's horrible ideology cannot be defeated with military means alone," its statement said, using a different acronym used for Islamic State. "Therefore the government will also increase efforts along the civilian track - stabilization of liberated areas, stopping ISIL's finiancial sources, stopping foreign fighters and counteracting ISIL's propaganda," it said. Denmark contributed seven F-16 in 2014 to the U.S.-led coalition's air strikes against Islamic State in Iraq but pulled them back for maintenance last year. The jets are expected to return to service in the coming months. Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen called for Danish air strikes in Syria following the multiple attacks in Paris on Nov. 13 that killed 130 people. Denmark, whose former prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, served as the head of NATO until 2014, has a history of military contributions in Afghanistan and the Middle East. (Reporting by Teis Jensen; Annabella Nielsen and Nikolaj Skydsgaard, writing by Sabina Zawadzki,; editing by Larry King)
The effects of popping Molly may last longer than Tomorrowland.

Science has bad news for people who use MDMA, the synthetic drug known as Ecstasy or Molly. New research published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology found poorer cognitive functioning in the brains of people who'd used MDMA compared to those who'd never tried the drug before.

MDMA causes the brain to release various neurotransmitters  among them, serotonin, which can elevate a user's mood. Effects of taking MDMA include "mental stimulation, emotional warmth, empathy toward others, a general sense of well-being and decreased anxiety," according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

It turns out, our serotonin receptors are especially dense in our brain's prefrontal cortex, where cognitive processing takes place. In animals, MDMA has been shown to affect regions of the brain related to serotonin production, according to PsyPost, so there was reason to believe the drug might do damage to users' prefrontal cortexes  and, in turn, their cognitive functioning.

Researchers split their trial participants into two groups: 20 people who'd used MDMA, and 20 "drug-naive" people who hadn't. The MDMA users had each tried the drug at least 11 times, according to PsyPost.

The participants completed intelligence tests while the researchers monitored their brain activity using functional MRI technology.

The results: The brains of the MDMA users showed "increased neuronal activation in the prefrontal cortex compared to non-users"  a sign that their brains had to work harder than non-MDMA users' to complete tests of the same difficultly level.

Compared to other drugs, MDMA is fairly popular among young people. In 2014, 12% of people ages 18 to 25 had tried it in their lifetimes, according to the National Survey of Drug Use and Health. That's more than the percentage of 18- to 25-year-olds who'd ever tried cocaine (11.1%), LSD (7%), heroin (2%), inhalants (7%) and methamphetamine (3%).

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The effects appeared to worsen the more a person used MDMA, according to PsyPost. But there's still hope: The researchers also noticed the cognitive struggles were worse among people who'd most recently used MDMA  an indication that the drug's effects "may be reversible with prolonged abstinence."

MDMA is often mistakenly perceived as being "safer" than other drugs  but it's not true. Among the drug's negative health effects is its impact on the body's ability to regulate temperature. Users can experience sudden spikes in body temperature, which can lead to organ failure or death, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. It can also lead to depression, sleep problems and anxiety.

Another problem? The Molly you just bought might not even be MDMA, but rather, an even more dangerous substance in disguise. Over a recent four-year period, the Drug Enforcement Administration found that only 13% of the so-called "Molly" seized in New York State was, in fact, pure MDMA, according to CNN. People who buy Molly could actually be getting bath salts or rat poison instead.

In other words, poor cognitive processing could end up being the least of your worries.
By Madeline Kennedy (Reuters Health) - Patients give the same doctors different ratings depending on where their visit took place, according to a small U.S. study. Although doctors might act differently in an emergency room compared to a calmer office setting, researchers say the results also suggest that ratings are not a completely reliable measure of the quality of care physicians give. As healthcare payers put more focus on improving patient experiences, said senior author Dr. Christopher Jones, of Cooper Medical School at Rowan University in Camden, New Jersey, these scores are being used more and more to reward physicians and hospitals which do well, and to punish those who dont perform so well. For the study in Annals of Emergency Medicine, the researchers compared patient satisfaction surveys collected from three different locations staffed by the same set of doctors. One setting was the emergency department at Cooper University Hospital - a more culturally diverse and urban environment, the researchers say. The other two settings were urgent care sites in more suburban areas nearby. The study team used quality ratings of 17 doctors from both emergency room and urgent care patients. Surveys were collected between June 2013 and August 2014 by Press Ganey, an independent quality assessment company. The surveys asked patients to rate on a scale of 1 (very poor) to 5 (very good) how courteous the doctors were, how much doctors took time to listen, whether they kept patients informed about their treatment and their concern for patients comfort. The study team hoped that looking just at the doctors ratings on courtesy would rule out the influence of outside factors, such as interactions with other healthcare staff, on patient perceptions of the doctor. Nevertheless, patients who saw doctors in the hospital emergency room gave them consistently lower scores on all of the survey questions compared to patients who saw the same doctors in urgent care settings. Based on 17 emergency department surveys and 79 from the urgent care settings, all of the doctors' average scores for each courtesy question were between one third and one half point lower in the emergency department setting. As physicians it is also important to us that we are creating strong patient-physician relationships, that our patients feel respected, and that they are happy with the service they receive, Jones said by email. However, it is hard to measure this relationship without the influence of factors like wait times, other staff members and even how the treatment center looks, he added. Doctors may also be influenced by the conditions of treatment centers, said Gayle Prybutok, a nurse and professor who studies emergency department conditions, who was not involved in the study. Working conditions in hospital emergency rooms can be harsh, she said by email. Physicians who are exhausted from working 24 hour shifts with frequent sleep interruptions often have difficulty being cordial during patient interactions. Urgent care centers tend to have more limited hours and may have shorter wait times, she said. Interactions with all providers are likely to be more cordial because stress in the environment is limited. Prybutok suggested it might be better to use these scores to compare quality ratings between similar types of settings and try to improve the way services are delivered to patients. Comparing apples to apples is more useful than comparing apples to oranges and trying to draw conclusions that lead to the design and implementation of process improvements, Prybutok said. Interactions between patients and doctors should not feel rushed, patients should be encouraged to ask questions and doctors should make sure they understand and give written instructions in the patients language, she said. Our study shows that satisfaction scores patients give their physicians are influenced by factors other than just the patient-physician relationship. Until we determine how to control for these other factors, we should be very cautious about using satisfaction scores to make comparisons between different physicians, Jones said. SOURCE: bit.ly/21I79Ut Annals of Emergency Medicine, online February 11, 2016.
Little Marco, Donald Trump said, addressing the senator from Florida. It was a seminal moment except for the one before when Trump bragged about the size of his hands, an allusion to Marco Rubios joke about themand thus his, um, manhoodbeing small as well.

This was supposed to be the day the establishment began to rein in Trump. The debate was down to only four candidates. And Mitt Romney entered stage right, delivering a speech in Utah denouncing Trump as a phony, a lousy businessman, a danger to America and a bigot to boot. His promises, Romney said, are as worthless as a degree from Trump University.

All of that may be true, but Romney was about the worst person to make the argument. It was like sending a crew-cut gym teacher to the microphone at Woodstock and asking the hippies to settle down. Too little. Too late.

Romney chided Trump for not being a self-made man. This coming from the son of an auto company CEO, Michigan governor and cabinet secretary. A phony? Anyone who thinks Romneys endless reversals on abortion, gun control and other issues were heartfelt needs to say so with a straight face. Romney is precisely the kind of governing conservative who has inspired the Tea Party's revolt since 2010. Just ask John Boehner or Eric Cantor, the erstwhile leaders of the House of Representatives.

Theres a case against Trump, but Romneys the wrong messenger, especially since he clearly wants an open GOP convention, where the party can anoint him as its savior. Theyre more likely to turn to Jeb! Bush.

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REUTERS/Jim Young

At the debate, Rubio and Kasich, the last bastions of the establishment, tried to attack Trump, and again they were unsuccessful. It wasn't Trump's best night. The 69-year-old flies in the day of debates and can look a little more fatigued than his younger competitors who spend the day at debate sites and rest up. Still, it was Trump's night. Kasichs genial style and moderate demeanor plays well with the press and the few centrist Republicans who still roam the Earth. But it didnt damage Trump, although his "I won't bite" retort to Chris Wallace's effort to get him to declare Trump soft on Vladimir Putin was pretty great. Rubio didnt fare much better. The mogul basically ignored his call to start making Trump ties in America. Rubio represents Palm Beach, but Trump silenced him on whether you need foreign labor to staff the short season at the posh resort. Cruz has his moments with his admonitions for Trump to "breathe" and "count to 10," but they seemed more unctuous than cutting.

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Megyn Kelly didnt land a blow against Trump either. Her questions were smart: Shouldnt he release his off-the-record discussion with The New York Times about immigration? No, Trump said, playing First Amendment lawyer. I think being off the record is a very important thing, he added. I think its a very, very powerful thing. Rubio rightly noted the decision to release is Trumps and theres no great principle at stake. But his pleading sounded like the off-camera voices of parents on the Peanuts. No one really listened.

This is not how you tame an insurgent. This is not how you quiet a revolution. Theres only one path: Convince Trumps working class supporters that he doesnt care about them. Thats why the Trump University complaint is so powerful. It symbolizes the idea that Trump is bilking the working class, not lifting them up. As long as hes seen as outrageous in the service of America, egotistical on behalf of you, no ones going to care where his ties are made or whether he releases some tape.

Forty years ago, Democrats tried to stop George McGoverns anti-Vietnam War campaign. Anybody but McGovern, they declared. They tried to manipulate convention rules and rally around opposition candidates. But the establishment, which included thenGeorgia Governor Jimmy Carter, saw their efforts backfire. McGovern sprinted to the convention and won the nomination. A similar thing happened in 1964 when the Republicans tried to stop the nomination of Barry Goldwater. It didnt work. And its not working today. Romney, Rubio and the rest of them should take note.

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As D Trump becomes more and more likely to become the Republican nominee for president, the GOP establishment's efforts to derail his path are growing bolder.

A group of nearly 100 Republican foreign policy veterans and thinkers have signed an open letter excoriating Trump for his stances on America's role in international affairs and expressing deep concern that his temperament is ill-suited for the title of commander-in-chief.

"His vision of American influence and power in the world is wildly inconsistent and unmoored in principle. He swings from isolationism to military adventurism within the space of one sentence," read the letter.

The note was organized by Eliot Cohen, who worked in the State Department under George W. Bush, and Bryan McGrath, a managing director of a defense consultancy.

The letter claims that while the signatories hail from a variety of ideological backgrounds on the right, they're united in their opposition to Trump's vision for American statesmanship.

"Mr. Trump's own statements lead us to conclude that as president, he would use the authority of his office to act in ways that make America less safe, and which would diminish our standing in the world," the letter stated.

A number of the most prominent signatories are foreign policy hands and public intellectuals who have at certain points been associated with or identified as members of the interventionist neoconservative movement, including Max Boot, Robert Kagan and Daniel Pipes. Other influential signatories include former World Bank President and former Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick and former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

The authors criticized Trump for his inflammatory rhetoric against Muslims and his insistence that Mexico fund a wall that he aspires to build along the U.S.-Mexican border.

Trump has broken with GOP orthodoxy on foreign policy matters in a number of ways during his campaign. Sometimes he sounds like more of a dove than his rivals: He's expressed harsh criticism of the decision to occupy Iraq, a tone of neutrality on the Israel-Palestinian conflict and an interest in warming relations with Russian president Vladimir Putin. Other times, he sounds more bloodthirsty or willing to declare a clash of civilizations, promising that he would kill the families of terrorists in order to ensure victory over the Islamic State group, or ISIS, and ban the travel of Muslims into the United States.

Just like in many other policy domains, Trump's stances on foreign policy seem to be all over the map ideologically. It's unclear whether that's because he actually holds a particularly idiosyncratic view of the world or because he's arbitrary and thoughtless in the way he picks his stances.

Whatever the reason, it has the Republican party's very worried. Boot told Reuters that he "would sooner work for (North Korean dictator) Kim Jong Un than for Donald Trump. I think Donald Trump is objectively more dangerous than Kim Jong Un and not as stable."
ADEN (Reuters) - A drone strike killed four suspected al Qaeda militants in a car in the southern Yemeni province of Shabwa on Friday, local officials and residents said. The car burst into flames and plumes of black smoke were billowing above the main road where the drone struck, they said. Al Qaeda propaganda brochures were scattered over the ground by the road, local officials said. During nine months of civil war and military intervention by a Saudi-led Gulf Arab coalition last March, the United States has kept up drone strikes against jihadist groups in Yemen. With near-daily air strikes, Gulf Arabs and the U.S. are trying to rout the Iran-backed Houthis and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who now control areas close to the presidential palace, and restore the internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Hadi fled south to Aden, a strategic port and shipping hub, early last year after the Houthis, a clan from northern Yemen, seized the capital Sanaa and forced him out. In the chaos around the Houthis push south, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), an affiliate of the global Sunni Muslim militant organization, has expanded its foothold in a country which has a long and porous border with Saudi Arabia. The Sunni-ruled kingdom sees the Shi'ite Houthis as a proxy for Iran, its main regional adversary. Viewed by Western analysts as the most dangerous arm of al Qaeda, AQAP claimed responsibility for the Jan. 25 attack in Paris on the satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo. AQAP has suffered setbacks in recent months, losing its leader and several senior leaders in U.S. drone strikes, and is facing competition from the new Yemen branch of Islamic State. (Reporting by Mohammed Mukhashaf; Writing by Maha El Dahan; Editing by Louise Ireland)
London (AFP) - Militants are planning to mark the 100th anniversary of Ireland's Easter Rising against British rule with attacks on police and army targets in Northern Ireland, the province's police force warned on Friday.

The warning came just hours after a 52-year-old prison officer was injured when an explosive device detonated under the van he was driving shortly after leaving his home in the city of Belfast.

Stephen Martin, a senior officer in Northern Ireland's police force, said he was "very worried" about the threat ahead of the commemoration on March 27 of the revolt that paved the way for Ireland's independence.

The anniversary is being marked with a series of high-profile events both in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

"There are people within dissident republican groupings who want to mark the Easter 2016 100th anniversary in an entirely more sinister way, who want to kill police officers, prison officers or soldiers," Martin said in a video on Facebook.

A 52-year-old prison officer was injured on Friday shortly after leaving home on his way to work when an explosive device detonated under the van he was driving in Northern Ireland's main city Belfast.

Martin said his injuries were "not life-threatening" but added: "This could have been a fatal attack."

Police are treating the bombing as attempted murder.

Northern Ireland's First Minister Arlene Foster and her deputy Martin McGuinness, a former leader of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), condemned the incident as "despicable and shocking" in a joint statement.

"The perpetrators offer nothing but hatred and fear," they said.

Some 3,500 people were killed during a mostly sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted more than three decades.

Much of the violence was brought to an end by the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement that created a power-sharing coalition in the province.
Los Angeles (AFP) - An Egyptian student attending flight school in California is facing deportation after posting a message on Facebook saying he was ready to kill Donald Trump.

Emadeldin Elsayed, 23, was arrested by federal agents on February 12 at the Los Angeles-area flight school he was attending after posting what authorities said was a death threat against the leading Republican presidential candidate.

"I am willing to kill Donald Trump and serve a life sentence. The whole world would thank me for doing that," Elsayed wrote on his Facebook page, according to his attorney Hani Bushra.

Although authorities did not file any criminal charges against Elsayed, an immigration judge earlier this week ordered he be deported on grounds the flight school had terminated his enrolment and as such his student visa was no longer valid.

The judge also refused to release Elsayed on bail after prosecutors argued he posed a flight risk.

Bushra told AFP Thursday that although his client had shown poor judgment in his Facebook posting, he by no means meant to harm Trump and regretted his actions.

"He is just a kid who did something stupid," he said. "This was more angry rhetoric similar to rhetoric that perhaps is even used by Mr Donald Trump himself when he says things like we are going to kill the family members of terrorists and their children and their wives.

"I don't think he really means that and I don't think my client meant what he said."

Bushra said Elsayed's Facebook message was in response to Trump's anti-Muslim rhetoric and was accompanied by an article on the issue.

"It was a foolish thing to do given the (atmosphere) in the country right now," Bushra said. "It was just an angry response."

He said a hearing on the deportation proceedings is scheduled on Friday and that at this point, all his client wants is time to get his affairs in order before leaving the country.

"He has paid $41,000 in tuition and all he wants is some kind of reprieve to get his belongings, sell his car and talk to the school owner about getting reimbursed," he said.

"And then he just wants to leave the country."
By Maha El Dahan and Eric Knecht ABU DHABI/CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt has more rice than it needs but little available for those who need it most. The price the government pays for rice has surged by about 50 percent in the past two months because traders are holding back supplies and expect prices to rise further following the government's failure to replenish its stockpiles. Imported commodities such as cooking oil have been in short supply for weeks at outlets that offer subsidized goods to poor Egyptians as a dollar shortage makes it harder for state importers to secure regular supplies. But rice is widely grown in Egypt and farmers are actually producing a surplus. Mostafa al-Naggari, head of the rice committee of Egypt's agricultural export council, estimates the country produced 3.75 million tonnes of rice in the 2015 season and carried over 700,000 tonnes from 2014. With consumption at 3.3 million tonnes, that leaves a surplus of more than 1 million tonnes. But the government's failure to stockpile rice has left it at the mercy of traders, who are unwilling to sell when prices are rising daily, Naggari said. With an eye to the overall rice surplus, the government has allowed exports to resume, but its failure to accumulate its own stocks has encouraged traders to hold back supplies in the expectation of rising prices while discouraging exports. At the same time, the government has imposed a tariff of 2,000 Egyptian pounds ($255) per tonne tariff, which has kept exports low. "One of our vital recommendations to the government before opening the door for rice exports in October was for it to stock up on around half a million tonnes," Naggari said. "But that didn't happen and hence we find ourselves in the situation we are in today." STOCKPILE Previous governments have stockpiled between 200,000 to 500,000 tonnes of rice, but Naggari said supplies minister Khaled Hanafi had refused to buy any reserves. Critics say Hanafi ignored advice to stockpile rice, saying it was plentiful and he could buy it when he needed it. Hanafi and the Supplies Ministry did not respond to calls for comment. Growing shortages and rising prices carry immense political risk for President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, as tens of millions of the country's poorest rely on state subsidies for their basic food. Economic discontent helped stoke public unrest instrumental in unseating two presidents in the last five years. "This month I couldn't get any subsidized rice at all," Cairo resident Sabrine said after returning from a government food outlet empty-handed. "They said we can take juice instead of rice -- what are we going to do with juice?" The more desperate the government gets in its attempts to buy rice, the more traders are likely to hold back. "The rice is there but it's being stockpiled, traders are storing it as they can see the prices go upwards and they are waiting to sell at the highest price," said one trader, who declined to be identified. The government has this week tried to strike back, imposing penalties on suppliers it finds are hoarding, said Adham El Welely, managing director of Unicom for Investment and Development, a rice supplier that has been visited by government officials. "We've had several visits in the past two days," he said. "They are just trying now to push you to sell or make some movement." (Additional reporting by Ola Noureldin; Editing by Lin Noueihed, Veronica Brown and Giles Elgood)
Mexico City (AFP) - Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman snuck into the United States twice to visit relatives while he was a fugitive, one of his daughters told The Guardian newspaper.

Rosa Isela Guzman Ortiz, who lives in California, said her 58-year-old father entered the US state last year shortly after his now-notorious October meeting with US actor Sean Penn, evading a manhunt with the complicity of corrupt Mexican officials.

She did not disclose the exact dates of his visits but told the British daily that Guzman crossed the border to visit relatives and see her five-bedroom house, which he bought for her and her four children.

"My dad deposited the money in a bank account with a lawyer and a while after he came to see the house, his house. He came twice," the 39-year-old woman, who has US citizenship and runs small businesses in California, told The Guardian.

She declined to say how the world's most wanted drug lord managed to enter the United States.

"I asked him the same, believe me," she said.

Guzman's Sinaloa drug cartel has used sophisticated tunnels to ship massive amounts of narcotics to the United States, so such secret passages would have been available to him.

Jackie Wasiluk, a spokeswoman for US Customs and Border Protection, told AFP that the agency "has no information that substantiates the claims in news reports."

Guzman Ortiz said her father bought protection at the highest official level in Mexico, sending representatives to meet with senior politicians.

"All I know is that my dad told his lawyer to deliver some checks to (a politician's) campaign, and asked that he respect him," she said, adding that the family was considering releasing copies of the checks, as well as names of officials and politicians who accepted his support.

Guzman escaped twice from maximum-security prisons.

The first time was in 2001 and he was captured in February 2014. His second escape took place in July last year, using a 1.5-kilometer (one-mile) tunnel in a brazen prison break that left President Enrique Pena Nieto's administration red-faced.

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His daughter claims that Guzman's second escape had the blessing of senior officials, whom she did not name.

"My dad's escape was an agreement," she said.

The warden of the Altiplano prison near Mexico City and the head of Mexico's penitentiary system are among the more than 30 people detained over the escape.

Guzman was sent back to Altiplano following his January 8 recapture.

His lawyer, Jose Refugio Rodriguez, said this week that his client, who claims to be sleep-deprived in the prison, has decided to drop his opposition to extradition to the United States in the hope of negotiating a "relatively reasonable" sentence in a medium-security prison.

Meanwhile, his wife, Emma Coronel, will go to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Washington to lodge a complaint about the "torture" he allegedly endures in prison, Rodriguez told Radio Imagen on Friday.

He did not say when she would go to the commission.

Coronel, 26, has dual Mexican-US citizenship and she gave birth to their twin daughters in California in 2011.

Two other Guzman lawyers, Jose Luis Gonzalez Meza and Juan Pablo Badillo, launched a hunger strike outside his prison on Friday to demand better conditions for the drug lord, saying they feared for his life.
ROME (Reuters) - Elton John will perform in an ancient Roman theater in Pompeii in July as part of a world tour to showcase his new album "Wonderful Crazy Night", his Italian promoter said on Friday. The concert has not yet been listed on the 68-year-old entertainer's official website but is advertised online by D'Alessandro e Galli. "Elton John in the most evocative setting, July 12, Pompeii," the promoter's website says. Pompeii was covered in hot ash after the Vesuvius volcano erupted in 79 AD. The ancient city is one of Italy's most popular tourist destinations, visited by millions every year. It is still not clear whether Elton John will perform in what is called the Large Theatre, which holds about 1,400, or in the amphitheatre made famous by Pink Floyd in their 1972 film "Live at Pompeii", spokeswomen for the archaeological site and the promoter both said. The Large Theatre, where Pompeii's citizens once watched comedies and tragedies, has held ballet and classical music performances for the past two years. The Amphitheatre, where gladiators once fought, pre-dates the larger and better-known Colosseum in Rome by more than a century. The stone stadium can probably hold no more 2,000, one Pompeii spokeswoman said. Pink Floyd's performed without an audience in the amphitheatre over four days in 1971. (Reporting by Steve Scherer; Editing by Louise Ireland)
Miami (AFP) - A study that questioned the reliability of scientific research made huge waves last year, but its key finding was likely overblown because of numerous mistakes in methodology, scientists reported Thursday.

The initial study, published in August in the peer-reviewed journal Science, attempted to replicate 100 previously published studies, and found success just 39 percent of the time.

The results -- named as the third biggest story of the year by Science magazine in its "Breakthroughs of the Year" edition -- "led to changes in policy at many scientific journals, changes in priorities at funding agencies, and it seriously undermined public perceptions of psychology," said researcher Daniel Gilbert, a professor of psychology at Harvard University.

But a new look at the methods of that study suggests it was riddled with errors and may have overestimated the failure-to-replicate rate.

"Readers surely assumed that if a group of scientists did a hundred replications, then they must have used the same methods to study the same populations," said Gilbert.

"In this case, that assumption would be quite wrong."

In some cases, the consortium of 270 scientists known as the Open Science Collaboration (OSC), tried to replicate a study in a different geographic location.

In some cases, this set up the repeat experiment for failure.

- A 5,000-mile testing gap -

One such study attempted to redo an experiment involving racial attitudes at a prominent California University, but using Dutch students who did not have the same cultural attitudes or experiences with the US policy at the center of the experiment, known as affirmative action, aimed at boosting the access of minority groups to higher education.

"They had Dutch students watch a video of Stanford students, speaking in English, about affirmative action policies at a university more than 5,000 miles away," said Gilbert.

It didn't work. But even more troubling, said Gilbert, the research team anticipated that their replication would not work, so they tried it at a US university too. That one did work, but they only included the negative finding in their final analysis, thereby distorting their takeaway message.

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"The failure of the replication studies to match the original studies was a failure of the replications, not of the originals," said Gilbert.

Other problems included allowing scientists to choose which experiments they would attempt to repeat, possibly introducing bias to the results.

"All the rules about sampling and calculating error and keeping experimenters blind to the hypothesis -- all of those rules must apply whether you are studying people or studying the replicability of a science," said co-author Gary King, professor at Harvard University.

The Harvard team stopped short of suggesting any intentional wrongdoing by the initial team.

"No one involved in this study was trying to deceive anyone," said Gilbert. "They just made mistakes, as scientists sometimes do."

Indeed, the original team, led by Brian Nosek of the University of Virginia, cooperated with the Harvard team's investigation, Gilbert said.

Nosek wrote an accompanying article in the current issue of Science, in which he agreed with some parts of the critique -- including that "differences between laboratories and sample populations reduce reproducibility."

But he did not entirely back away from his team's findings.

The 2015 study "provides initial, not definitive, evidence - just like the original studies it replicated," Nosek wrote.
By Gabriela Baczynska and Paul Taylor BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union officials voiced guarded optimism on Friday that Turkey was starting to cooperate to stem the flow of migrants to Europe, as Brussels outlined a timetable for restoring open borders across the continent by the end of the year. European Council President Donald Tusk, who will chair an emergency EU summit with Turkey on Monday, said after talks in Ankara he saw first signs that EU states were overcoming their differences to tackle the year-old crisis. He also said Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had told him Turkey was ready to take back all migrants apprehended in Turkish waters. The EU is demanding that Ankara crack down on people-smuggling and take back all illegal migrants from its shores who do not qualify for asylum in the 28-nation EU. Even Syrians "apprehended" in Turkish waters, including by NATO patrols, would be put back ashore in Turkey. "For the first time since the beginning of the migration crisis, I can see a European consensus emerging," Tusk said in a summit invitation letter to leaders. "It is a consensus around a comprehensive strategy that, if loyally implemented, can help stem the flows and tackle the crisis." The EU is trying to close its porous external borders and change the calculus of people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and beyond, offering them help if they stay put. While Tusk was holding talks with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, the European Commission announced the first payouts from a 3 billion-euro ($3.3 billion) fund to help Ankara keep some 2.5 million Syrian refugees on Turkish soil. It also said Turkey was making progress toward achieving eagerly sought visa liberalization for its citizens in the EU. EU envoy to Turkey Hansjorg Haber told reporters in Istanbul that 400 million euros had been disbursed on humanitarian aid and schooling for migrants. After three months of mounting frustration in Europe since leaders signed a migration accord with Turkey, it was unclear what had moved Ankara to the point that an immediate reduction in flows seemed on the cards. One EU official said Turkish leaders, busy with other priorities affecting their own national security, appeared to finally understand that Europeans might withdraw their various offers if numbers did not fall quickly. Meeting in Paris, the leaders of Germany and France agreed that refugees fleeing war in Syria should stay in the region and said their common objective was to put Europe's frayed Schengen passport-free travel agreement back into operation. "Our efforts are not done yet," Chancellor Angela Merkel told a joint news conference with President Francois Hollande. "I understand that Turkey also expects Europe to deliver." Merkel pressed for Monday's summit with Davutoglu in an effort to demonstrate results before three regional elections in Germany on March 13 in which her conservatives face losses to the anti-migration Alternative for Germany party. STAMPEDE Tusk said Monday's summit would confirm the EU had closed the so-called Western Balkans route from Greece to northern Europe, which has been the main entry point for migrants. "The number of illegal entries from Turkey to Greece remains far too high," he said after his talks with Davutoglu. Some 30,000 migrants are bottled up in Greece and more are arriving at a rate of 2,000 to 3,000 a day despite still wintry seas. "We both believe that we can reduce the flow through the large-scale and rapid return from Greece of all migrants not in need of international protection," Tusk said. On a visit to Athens, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Ankara was seeing a significant decrease in the number of refugees arriving at its borders, due to its changing visa regime. In Brussels, the Commission presented a step-by-step plan to implement agreed or already-proposed measures - including a new EU border and coastguard - to curb the influx after more than a million people arrived in an uncontrolled stampede in 2015. "We cannot have free movement internally if we cannot manage our external borders effectively," Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos told a news conference. Eight countries in the 26-nation Schengen zone have put temporary, emergency border controls in place to control the flow of migrants, putting in jeopardy one of Europe's most prized achievements. In a pre-summit report to EU leaders, the Commission estimated that a complete collapse of passport-free travel in the Schengen zone could cost the European economy up to 18 billion euros ($19.8 billion) a year. Much of the cost would fall on cross-border commuters, transport and tourism. But investment bank JPMorgan Chase said the short-term impact of more probable selective border controls was likely to be "small in business cycle terms". More than 1.2 million people submitted asylum requests in the EU last year, including 363,000 Syrians and 178,000 Afghans, the EU statistics agency Eurostat said. Some 442,000 applications were submitted in Germany, the top destination for refugees and migrants, followed by 174,000 in Hungary, which has erected barbed-wire fences and used security forces to keep people out, and 156,000 in Sweden. Sweden, long regarded as the most generous EU state toward refugees, said it would scrap payments of daily allowances to migrants whose asylum applications had been rejected, in its latest attempt to curtail the influx. Fewer than one fifth of Germans believe the EU will agree on a common approach to the refugee crisis, according to a poll published by the daily Die Welt, and some 48 percent want Berlin to improve protection of Germany's national borders. A clear majority  56 percent  said Germany should cut its EU contributions if Monday's refugee summit fails. While Brussels and Berlin are pushing for a European response to the crisis, more and more EU states are skeptical it could work and are resorting to unilateral steps. "The Commission would never announce that Schengen is over," said one Brussels-based diplomat from an EU country. "That would be a major political blow to them, the first real setback in the whole process of European integration. It would be like the pope announcing there is no God." (Additional reporting by Alastair Macdonald and Jan Strupczewski in Brussels, Paul Carrel in Berlin, Andrew Callus in Paris and Nick Tattersall and Humeyra Pamuk in Istanbul; Editing by Andrew Roche)
LONDON (Reuters) - European leaders told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday that a fragile truce in Syria must be used to try to secure a lasting peace without President Bashar al-Assad, the spokeswoman for British Prime Minister David Cameron said. Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi told Putin in a phone call that the cessation of hostilities must hold to try to settle a conflict that has killed more than 250,000 people and created a refugee crisis. "The main point that the European leaders made on the call to Putin was that we welcome the fact that this fragile truce appears to be holding," the spokeswoman told reporters. "(And) we have got to use this as a positive dynamic now to create some momentum behind the talks ... so we can move from a truce into a more lasting, durable peace with a political transition away from Assad." Asked how Putin had responded, the spokeswoman said there was no detailed discussion on the Syrian president. "We all know this is one of the trickiest points," she said, adding that Cameron "underlined the importance of a transition away from Assad to a government that ... can be fully representative of communities across Syria." "I think where we are at, for the purpose of today's call, was to make sure that this truce can hold so that these talks can get under way in Geneva next week." U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura plans to resume talks with the Syrian government and opposition parties on March 9. But the format for the indirect talks is flexible and some parties could turn up days later, he has said. European leaders have been calling on Moscow to stop supporting advances by the Syrian government on Western-backed rebels that they say will be key players in any peace deal. "There was a very clear message from the European leaders of the need to make sure that civilians are not being targeted or bombed and that we need the truce to hold," the spokeswoman said. She said that Putin had agreed the truce must last. "He made clear that they want to ensure compliance with the cessation of hostilities and make sure it lasts." (Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; editing by Kate Holton and Estelle Shirbon)
Istanbul (AFP) - The EU's Donald Tusk was due to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for key talks on the migrant crisis Friday, after saying the number of people trying to enter the bloc via Turkey remained "far too high".

The Istanbul meeting is the last stage in a regional tour for the EU President, also taking in Greece and Slovenia, ahead of a Turkey-EU summit in Brussels next week where immigration will top the agenda.

Tusk has pulled no punches on the tour, earlier issuing a blunt warning to economic migrants not to come to Europe, and chastising European countries which have taken unilateral action to tackle the crisis.

After talks in Athens with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Thursday, Tusk told economic migrants it was pointless to try to reach the European Union, which is struggling because of the migrant crisis to maintain its prized Schengen passport-free travel area.

On a busy day of diplomacy, Tusk then traveled to Ankara, where he said he wanted to reduce the number of people coming into the EU from Turkey.

"I want to appeal to all potential illegal economic migrants wherever you are from: Do not come to Europe," Tusk said.

"Do not believe the smugglers. Do not risk your lives and your money. It is all for nothing."

He sought to encourage Turkey to take further action to sharply cut the numbers of people taking to unseaworthy boats to reach Greece. The two countries on the frontline of Europe's worst migration crisis since World War II.

"It is for Turkey to decide how best to achieve such a reduction," Tusk said after meeting Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, floating the idea of a "fast and large scale mechanism" to ship back irregular migrants from Greece.

"It would effectively break the business model of smugglers."

- 'Detrimental to European spirit' -

On Friday the EU also plans to unveil a "roadmap" to restore the Schengen zone -- a keystone to the spirit of European unity.

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The crisis has raised fears for the zone as more states bring back border controls, with both Sweden and Denmark announcing another temporary extension of border identification checks on Thursday.

But sources in Brussels said the EU's "roadmap" on Friday would outline a plan to restore the Schengen zone to full force by November.

The plan, a draft of which has been seen by AFP, includes quickly creating an EU coastguard system and strengthening Greece's external borders.

At the Greek-Macedonian border, migrants from countries like Egypt and Pakistan -- and therefore not classed as refugees -- remained undeterred, despite the many hurdles.

"I know the border is closed but I want to go to Germany, I will try, try, try," said Mohamed, an Egyptian who plans to pay smugglers to sneak into Macedonia through the hills.

-"Egypt is bad, there is no work."-

According to the International Organization for Migration, 120,369 migrants arrived in Greece from Turkey so far this year. At least 321 died en route.

With thousands stuck on the Greek-Macedonian border after Austria and Balkan states began tightly restricting migrant entries, Tusk lashed out in Athens at "unilateral" actions by EU members as "detrimental to the European spirit of solidarity".

Tsipras said he would like to see sanctions imposed on EU states that undermine joint decisions by the 28-member bloc.

His Deputy Defence Minister Dimitres Vitsas said there were now nearly 32,000 migrants on the Greek islands and the mainland, and a senior UN migration official said the number could surge to 70,000 in the coming weeks.

On Wednesday, the EU unveiled a 700-million-euro ($760-million) emergency aid plan to help Greece and other member countries, the first time humanitarian aid has been used within Europe.

Some 1.13 million migrants have arrived in the EU over the past 14 months.
By Michelle Conlin NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Koch brothers, the most powerful conservative mega donors in the United States, will not use their $400 million political arsenal to try to block Republican front-runner Donald Trump's path to the presidential nomination, a spokesman told Reuters on Wednesday. The decision by the billionaire industrialists is another setback to Republican establishment efforts to derail the New York real estate mogul's bid for the White House, and follows speculation the Kochs would soon launch a "Trump Intervention." "We have no plans to get involved in the primary," said James Davis, spokesman for Freedom Partners, the Koch brothers political umbrella group. He would not elaborate on what the brothers' strategy would be for the Nov. 8 election to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama. Three sources close to the Kochs said the brothers made the decision because they were concerned that spending millions of dollars attacking Trump would be money wasted, since they had not yet seen any attack on Trump stick. The Koch brothers are also smarting from the millions of dollars they pumped into the failed 2012 Republican presidential bids of Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney, the sources said. Donors and media reports have speculated since January, when the Kochs gathered 500 of Americas wealthiest political donors at a California resort, that they would deploy their vast political network to target Trump. The Kochs oppose his protectionist trade rhetoric and hardline views on immigration - which include building a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico and deporting millions of illegal immigrants. Many Republican figures and business backers are eager to see Trump, a political outsider who has tapped into rising anti-establishment sentiment, fail in his bid for the nomination. They prefer instead a more traditional candidate like U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. But with Trump racking up a series of wins in the early nominating contests against opponents including Rubio and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, there is a growing sense of inevitability that he will win the party's mantle. (Editing by Richard Valdmanis, Chris Reese and Peter Cooney)
Paris (AFP) - Scientists said they had found the first evidence of a biological link between the Zika virus sweeping Latin America and microcephaly, a severe deformation of the brain among newborns.

Laboratory tests found that the virus targeted key cells involved in brain development and then destroyed or disabled them, they said.

The findings are the first concrete evidence of a link between the mosquito-borne virus and microcephaly, which until now had been circumstantial, said Guo-li Ming, a professor of neurology at The Johns Hopkins Institute for Cell Engineering, and a co-leader of the research.

"Studies of foetuses and babies with the telltale small brains and heads of microcephaly in Zika-affected areas have found abnormalities in the cortex, and Zika virus has been found in the foetal tissue," he said in a statement.

Scientist exposed three types of human cells in a lab dish to the Zika virus, a method called in-vitro experiment.

The first -- known as human neural progenitor cells (hNPCs) -- is crucial for the development of the cortex, or outer layer, of foetal brains.

Damage to these cells, which eventually differentiate into mature neurons, would be consistent with the brain defects caused by microcephaly.

The other two types of cells were stem cells and neurons.

As predicted, Zika virus attacked the human neural progenitor cells. Within three days of exposure, 90 percent were infected, and nearly a third had died.

Infected cells, meanwhile, had been hijacked to turn out new copies of the virus.

- 'High efficiency virus' -

Furthermore, the genes needed to fight viruses failed to activate, which was a highly unusual outcome.

By comparison, the other two types of human cells were relatively unharmed.

"Our results clearly demonstrate that Zika can directly infect hNPCs in vitro with high efficiency," the study concluded.

"It is very telling that the cells that form the cortex are potentially susceptible to the virus," Ming added.

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The findings, published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, may help to identify drugs that protect these vulnerable cells or reduce infections after they occur.

"Now that we know cortical neural progenitor cells are the vulnerable cells, they can likely also be used to quickly screen potential new therapies," said co-author Hongjun Song, also from the Institute for Cell Engineering, based in Baltimore, Maryland.

By itself, Zika is typically no more threatening than a bad cold or a mild case of the flu. Sometimes there are no symptoms at all.

But the rapidly expanding virus -- present in nearly four dozen countries, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) -- was suspected of causing microcephaly and other severe conditions.

Last month, Brazil -- the country hardest hit by the Zika epidemic -- reported 583 confirmed cases of babies with the irreversible birth defect since October 2015, four times the previous annual average.

The spike in cases has led to worries over the Olympic Games to be held in Rio de Janeiro this summer, and the American Olympic Committee on Friday announced the creation of an advisory group on infectious diseases for the national team.

Also on Friday, researchers in Colombia reported the country's first cases of Zika-linked birth defects, according to the Nature science group's news service.

Scientists not involved in the research welcomed the findings.

"This is exactly the kind of research that we need to demonstrate a causative link and mechanism between the Zika virus and microcephaly," said Alyssa Stephenson-Famy, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Mark Schleiss, director of the division of infectious disease and immunology at the University of Minnesota, described the research as a "big step in the right direction."

"Most scientists have not had any doubt that the Zika virus is responsible for the brain injury," he noted.

- Need to explore link -

But he and other experts said many questions remain.

Results from cells in a lab dish may not applicable to patients, "in vivo" in scientific terms.

"This study is just the beginning, and many more studies are needed to understand the relationship between Zika and microcephaly," commented Amelia Pinto, a professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at Saint Louis University.

A study published earlier this week provided similarly solid evidence that Zika can also cause a rare syndrome, called Guillain-Barre, which attacks the nervous system.

Zika is spread among humans by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is found in 130 countries. But recent evidence suggests that it can also be sexually transmitted by men carrying the virus.
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - The families of 12 passengers aboard missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 filed suits against the airline on Friday before a two-year deadline for legal action expires. MH370 disappeared en route to Beijing on March 8, 2014, with 239 passengers and crew on board. Multiple suits have been filed in the United States, Australian, Chinese and Malaysian courts in the past few weeks and more are expected as the deadline approaches on Tuesday. Family members of two Ukrainian passengers filed suits in the Malaysian High Court against Malaysia Airlines (MAS). The families of a Russian, a Chinese and eight Malaysian passengers are suing the Malaysian government, the airline, the Civil Aviation Department director-general and the Malaysian air force. Sangeet Kaur Deo, a lawyer for the Russian, Chinese and Malaysian families, said they were seeking unspecified damages for negligence, breach of contract and breach of statutory duty. He said even though the plane had not been found, the passengers and crew were presumed to be dead. "I think a lot of families were trying to negotiate settlements but nothing reasonable has been forthcoming from MAS. And for that reason, to secure their legal rights, they've all decided to file before Tuesday," Sangeet Kaur told reporters after the hearing. A wing part recovered from Reunion island off Madagascar last year is the only debris from MH370 that has been found, but it offers little clues over what actually happened to the plane. This week, a piece of debris found off the southeast African coast was sent to Australia for testing. The High Court on Friday also heard a bid by the Malaysian government and Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB) to strike out a suit filed by two teenage children of two passengers. In their application, the government and MAB argued that it has no liability in relation to MH370 as it was set up eight months after the plane disappeared. MAS transferred all its assets and operations to MAB last year as part of a restructuring exercise. Families now fear that they will not be able to receive any damages or compensation from MAS. Apart from Malaysian government bodies, MAS and MAB, the family suits have also named Malaysia Airlines insurance provider, Allianz, and Boeing, the aircraft's manufacturer, as potential defendants. (Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Nick Macfie)
By Alexandra Ulmer and Corina Pons CARACAS (Reuters) - A fetus whose mother likely had the Zika virus suffered the rare congenital defect known as microcephaly and ultimately died, doctors said on Friday, in the first Venezuelan case linking the infection to damage in babies. The mosquito-borne virus has been linked to thousands of suspected cases of microcephaly in Brazil, and a recent study has suggested the virus may be associated with stillbirths. The World Health Organization declared Zika an international health emergency on Feb. 1, citing a "strongly suspected" relationship between Zika infection in pregnancy and microcephaly, a condition in which an infant's head is markedly smaller than those of other babies of similar age and gender. Public health officials say that link is growing stronger with new evidence, but expect it could take years to prove a connection. In the Venezuelan case, the unidentified 24 year-old woman from the hot, oil-rich state of Monagas suffered a skin rash and general malaise during the thirteenth week of her gestation in January, according to a report by doctors from the Central University of Venezuela (UCV). Some symptoms of Zika include a mild fever, skin rash, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain and fatigue, though as many as 80 percent of those infected never develop symptoms. Nearly four months into the woman's pregnancy, a scan revealed that the fetus' heart had stopped beating. The dead fetus was diagnosed with microcephaly and there was a deficiency in the amount of amniotic fluid. "Initial results... undertaken in the blood and the umbilical cord, as well as the amniotic fluid, reveal the presence of Zika's genetic material in these tissues," the report says. The woman tested negative to cytomegalovirus, rubella, dengue and chikungunya, the doctors added. Further information was not immediately available. The Health Ministry did not respond to requests for comments. Venezuela last month said that suspected cases of Zika had risen to 5,221, one of only two official estimates on the virus that is rapidly spreading through the Americas. Doctors say Venezuela actually has a far greater incidence of Zika and accuses the government of not doing enough to combat the outbreak. An economic crisis in the OPEC country has meant that insect repellent, reagents to detect the virus, and fever relievers are running short. A scarcity of birth control pills has also led to unwanted pregnancies in Venezuela, where abortion is banned unless a woman's health is at risk. President Nicolas Maduro's administration has not reported any cases of pregnant Venezuelans with the virus. Infectious disease specialist Julio Castro, who is closely tracking Zika, says he knows of no other cases of potential Zika-linked microcephaly in Venezuela. (Writing by Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
The Philadelphia Orchestra announced it will travel to Mongolia for concerts and cultural exchanges in a first for a Western classical ensemble.

The two sides signed an agreement at a ceremony in the US Capitol in Washington that included the first ever musical performances played in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee room, the orchestra said.

The orchestra will put on two full concerts in mid-2017 in the capital Ulan Bator and design a series of community activities.

Allison Vulgamore, the orchestra's president and CEO, said in a statement that its musicians were looking forward to "sharing person-to-person the common language of music in schools, hospitals and with our fellow Mongolian musicians."

Mongolia's ambassador, Bulgaa Altangerel, said his country hoped to pursue its own cultural exchanges in the United States.

Sandwiched between Russia and China, the land of Genghis Khan has actively built relations with the United States and other major countries in recent years as the young democracy seeks to guarantee its long-term sovereignty.

The Philadelphia Orchestra, considered one of the "big five" US orchestras, has long been active on the international stage.

In 1973, it became the first US orchestra to play China on the heels of Richard Nixon's historic visit and later was the first US orchestra in Vietnam.

Led by star Canadian conductor Yannick Nezet-Seguin, the Philadelphia Orchestra also plans other stops in Asia next year but has not announced the locations.
By Kiyoshi Takenaka OKUMA, Japan (Reuters) - Takayuki Ueno did not hesitate one moment to expose himself to high radiation five years ago while searching for family members swept away by the tsunami that triggered meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear plant. The bodies of his mother and daughter Erika were found. But Ueno braves radiation and bitter cold on beaches near the crippled plant to look for the remains of his father and son Kotaro, then three years old, to bring closure to his loss. "My highest duty as a parent was to protect my children, which I failed to fulfill. That makes me the worst parent, and I have to apologize to them," Ueno, 43, told Reuters. "I was able to hold Erika in my arms and say 'I am sorry'. I have yet to be able to do the same to Kotaro," said Ueno, who lives 22 km (14 miles) north of the Fukushima nuclear plant. A magnitude 9 earthquake and towering tsunami on March 11, 2011 killed nearly 16,000 people along Japan's northeastern coast and left more than 2,500 missing. (For a graphic on Fukushima's 'hot zone' returnees, click http://tmsnrt.rs/1Rrp0Ku ) The nuclear disaster at Tokyo Electric Power Co's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has made the experience of those who lived nearby particularly traumatic. Norio Kimura, who lived 3 km south of the plant, had to choose between staying behind to search for his father, wife and younger daughter Yuna, or taking his mother and elder daughter away from spreading radiation. "I was torn by having to abandon my search and leave them behind... By the time I came back, the situation had become quite grim when it comes to finding them alive," Kimura, 50, said. HIGH RADIATION The accident still hampers Kimura's effort to find Yuna, the last family member missing, as entry into half of his hometown, Okuma, is restricted due to high radiation levels. On a recent weekend, Kimura and a dozen volunteers led by Ueno, combed through piles of debris on a windswept Okuma beach for any signs of Yuna. They are allowed to enter the area up to 30 times a year and stay for up to five hours per visit. As they dug through heaps of dirt mixed with driftwood, blocks of concrete, utility poles, crooked iron pipes and clothes of all sizes and colors, a dosimeter emitted high-pitched beeps. At one point, it showed six microsieverts per hour, 100 times as high as radiation levels in downtown Tokyo. That does not shake Kimura's resolve. "I'll keep on searching until I find her," Kimura said, adding that even then he might keep looking for other missing victims. Such tenacity can be partly explained by views of life and death widely held in Asia, experts say. "Once dead, a body itself is often seen and treated as an object in the West," said Shinichi Niwa, adjunct professor of psychiatry at Fukushima Medical University's Aizu Medical Center. "In Asia, there is a strong belief that one's spirit stays with the body and they are not separated," he said. (Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka. Editing by Linda Sieg and Bill Tarrant)
Flint (United States) (AFP) - Tiana Lankford's two-year-old daughter was poisoned by the lead-tainted water that flowed from the taps in their home, causing the toddler to develop appetite and behavioral problems.

The contamination, ignored and then hushed up by government officials, will be in the national spotlight on Sunday as Democratic White House hopefuls come to this poor, predominantly black Rust Belt city for their next debate.

"I'm furious, of course," said Lankford, 33, who has two other daughters. "No one in the world should have to deal with that."

It's not just little Carlina and her sisters who are affected by lead poisoning, which can have devastating impacts on young children by irreversibly harming brain development.

More than 8,000 children in the Michigan city of Flint, economically devastated by the closure of General Motors factories, were exposed to lead for more than a year before the tap water contamination was uncovered by citizen activists.

"It affects your behavior, it affects them eating. I can't tell you how many meals I put over there for them to eat and they don't touch it," Lankford said in an interview with AFP in their sparsely furnished home.

The mother said she boiled water for Carlina's bottles without knowing it was toxic -- and tests now show the girl's blood contains seven micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood, when health experts say anything higher than five micrograms indicates an unsafe level.

"We almost feel like people almost trample on this city on purpose. We can't understand why," Lankford said.

- Clinton and Sanders -

The tainted water, which Lankford said had a rotten egg smell and sometimes ran brown from the taps, is sure to be a major topic of discussion when Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders meet for their debate. Lankford is planning to attend.

Republican Governor Rick Snyder has apologized for the state's series of failures but a top Michigan Democrat has called for his resignation, saying emails released by the governor's office in recent weeks showed "negligence and indifference" in his handling of the crisis.

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Filmmaker Michael Moore, who is from Flint, has called for Snyder's arrest, while the US Justice Department is investigating why it took until October 2015 for officials to tell residents to stop drinking the water despite months of tests showing dangerous levels of lead.

Flint's drinking water came from Lake Huron, through Detroit, until April 2014 when it was switched to the polluted Flint River.

It is estimated that $100 a day in corrosion controls would have made the water safe.

Instead, they weren't put into place to save money. The polluted water corroded pipes, which then began leaching lead.

It is estimated that the cost of replacing all the pipes will be more than a billion dollars, an amount that only the federal government could afford.

On Friday Flint began its first official replacement of pipes, which service a house belonging to a husband and wife who is pregnant.

One-third of Flint's 100,000 residents are impoverished. The closure of the General Motors plants caused an exodus from the city, and entire streets are abandoned, with houses boarded up.

"It's really hard for a lot of us to make a living. And it's really hard to move out," said Kevin Larsen, a 26-year-old unemployed landscaper. "Right now Flint is really the cheapest place you can live. Houses have gone downhill drastically, to $10,000 or $12,000."

Speaking to AFP on the porch of his tumbledown home, wearing a gun in his belt as permitted by local law, the father of three said the water is a constant worry because of its longterm health impacts.

- Confidence broken -

Lankford had trusted the announcements from various government departments that the water in Flint was safe.

But evidence shows authorities put off issuing warnings about the risks until a persistent mother, a local doctor and researchers from Virginia Tech University broke the news of the contamination in 2014.

In October, Flint reverted to the Detroit water supply, but it's not known how long it will take for tap water to be safe again.

Some ask whether dirty water is to blame for pregnancy miscarriages and a spike in cases of Legionnaires' disease.

Snyder declared a state of emergency in January, which allowed for the release of aid for Flint residents.

More than 2,200 volunteers as well as soldiers from the National Guard have been handing out free bottled water and distributing thousands of water testing kits, often door-to-door.

"When we find out that there are folks with young children or the elderly or the handicapped, they get a priority definitely because they have less of an ability to get the supplies that they need," said American Red Cross volunteer Franklin Dickerson, walking in the snow with an armful of bottled water.
New Delhi (AFP) - When doctors told Australian Greg Jefferys he had Hepatitis C and the disease was destroying his liver, the devastating diagnosis was compounded by the cost of a cure.

Unable to afford Sovaldi, hailed as a miracle drug, the 61-year-old flew to India, one of a growing army of patients seeking out low-cost, life-saving medicines on the subcontinent.

Their illnesses vary -- Hepatitis C, cancer and HIV are among the most common -- but they are almost always desperate, seeing in India their only hope to save their life or that of a loved one.

They contact underground "buyers clubs", make the trip to India to buy from a legitimate distributor or seek out shady online pharmacies promising mail-order cures.

"The doctors told me 'you've got Hepatitis C, you've probably got liver cancer'," recalled Jefferys, a PhD student.

"The chatter was around the new generic versions of Sovaldi being released in India. I hopped on a plane to Chennai and in about two days I had an appointment with a specialist," he said.

India earned a nickname as "the pharmacy to the developing world" for its tough stance on patents.

Successive governments have taken a view that patents should be granted only for major innovations, not updates to existing compounds -- allowing domestic manufacturers to make generic versions of drugs at vastly lower cost.

Sovaldi, chemically known as sofosbuvir, is made by US pharmaceutical giant Gilead and costs $84,000 for a 12-week cycle of treatment in the United States.

Rejected for a patent in India, generic drug makers, some licensed by Gilead, produce versions such as Mylan's MyHep, that cost less than $900 a cycle.

"This is something I observe more and more," said Leena Menghaney, who runs Medecins Sans Frontieres' Access Campaign in India, which works to broaden access to drugs.

"All kinds of people and patients across the world are starting to access medicines from India. They travel themselves, or they contact a friend," she said.

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More than 130 million people live with chronic Hepatitis C worldwide, according to the World Health Organization, and 500,000 die each year from related liver diseases.

Since writing a blog, Jefferys receives 150 emails a day from people in the US, Britain and elsewhere asking for help.

"India's production of these generic Hep. C drugs is saving thousands of lives a week."

- 'Delhi buyers club' -

When Loon Gangte, a Delhi-based HIV activist was diagnosed with the virus in 1997, the price of treatment was far beyond his reach.

But the advent of generic Indian anti-retrovirals saved his life -- and made the country a global centre for cheap, lifesaving HIV drugs.

Gangte is open about carrying medicines overseas for others and says in a decade he has been stopped just once, at Thai customs, and fined. Most countries allow patients to import small amounts of medicines only for personal use.

Campaigning by activists like Gangte for better access to HIV treatments helped give rise to so-called buyers clubs, made famous by the 2013 Hollywood film.

"When I saw Dallas Buyers Club, I laughed," said Meera (not her real name) who helps one Delhi club by ferrying drugs illegally in her suitcase whenever she travels.

"I hate the term 'drug tourism'. This is about saving lives."

Dinesh (not his real name), a long-time HIV campaigner, began working full-time for the same buyers club in August, helping people obtain medicines for a nominal fee.

He is not sure how people find him -- he has no online presence -- but gets requests from as far afield as Austria and Indonesia.

"My family were a bit reluctant, there is always a grey area in this, but I fear only the one above. I feel completely that this is right."

- Pharma battle -

Pharmaceutical firms say India's disregard for patents will stifle innovation or make drugs commercially unfeasible -- Gilead paid $11 billion to buy the developer of Sovaldi in 2012.

But after losing several high-profile patent battles, it appears drugmakers can do little to combat the Indian government's will or that of overseas patients determined to import drugs.

Gilead spokesman Nick Francis told AFP the company was "aware such activity may occur".

Perhaps the riskiest route is online pharmacies -- a search on e-marketplace IndiaMart turns up dozens claiming to sell generics -- with no guarantee against counterfeits.

But legal channels are springing up, including Delhi-based Ikris Pharma Network, set up in August 2014, which does not sell drugs but connects patients to genuine distributors.

Founder Praveen Sikri receives 70 calls a day from people struggling to access drugs, including generic Veenat, for cancer.

"Either the drug is not available or it is very expensive," Sikri said.

"We help the patient to get the product in a legalised manner."

One recent email is from a young man in San Francisco whose grandad desperately needs medicine for a stomach tumour.

In India, one way or another, he will probably be able to find it.

"There are many, many people doing this," Sikri said.
By Warren Strobel, Jonathan Landay and Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - If Americans were looking for clarity on leading Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's world views, they might have come away disappointed from Thursday night's debate. Asked who he trusts on national security, Trump had warm words for three men with world views that differ from one another, and who diverge sharply on some key issues from Trump himself. They are former diplomat Richard Haass and retired U.S. Army officers Gen. Jack Keane and Col. Jack Jacobs. His mention of the eclectic trio did little to satisfy mounting calls for him to announce a list of his campaign foreign policy advisors, who traditionally take top posts should he be elected. His debate comments appeared to be more words of admiration for the three men than a signal he was forming the nucleus of a national security team. Trump has been rejected by a significant swath of his party's foreign policy establishment. Almost 110 Republican foreign policy veterans have signed a letter pledging to oppose Trump, saying his proposals would undermine U.S. security. The three men Trump mentioned have different views of the 2003 Iraq invasion, arguably the most controversial foreign policy decision in a generation. Trump says he opposed the war, calling it a disastrous intervention and accusing the administration of then President George W. Bush of misleading Americans. Keane is a defence hawk who helped devise the 2007 Iraq "surge" -- a move to send tens of thousands more U.S. troops to Iraq to quell sectarian strife -- and served as an informal consultant to Bush. Keane told Reuters on Friday he has never spoken to Trump. Keane, now chairman of the board of the Institute for the Study of War think tank, said he has briefed seven presidential candidates from both parties, whom he declined to identify. "I dont comment publicly on any candidate, their proposals, their policies. I have never done. I wont do it," he said. "REALLY EXCELLENT" Haass is a centrist foreign policy thinker and president of the Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank seen as a fixture of the U.S. foreign policy establishment. The State Department's policy planning director at the time of the Iraq invasion, he wrote later that he was largely against the war. "I did not believe in the Iraq war, Haass said in a 2009 interview with National Public Radio. Trump has proposed barring Muslims from entering the United States, demanded that Mexico fund a wall to control illegal immigration across the U.S. border, and praised Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has called for building up the U.S. military while also saying he wants allies to pick up more of the burden in conflicts such as Syria and Iraq. He has vowed to destroy Islamic State. A spokeswoman for Haass, Iva Zoric, said that he briefed Trump on foreign policy in August 2015. In a tweet late on Thursday, Haass wrote: "I do not endorse candidates. What I have done is offered to brief all candidates, & have briefed several, D(emocrat) & R(epublican) alike." Jacobs, now a frequent television commentator, won the Medal of Honor, the highest U.S. military decoration, in the Vietnam War. He has expressed scepticism regarding large scale American military interventions in the Middle East and has suggested that waterboarding, an interrogation technique that many call torture and that Trump has endorsed, is ineffective. Trump softened his stance on torture on Friday, saying he would not order the U.S. military to break international laws on how to treat terrorism suspects. Jacobs has been critical of political leaders who send American troops on missions without what he considers a well-defined strategy. Jacobs, writing in 2007, criticized the post-invasion plan for Iraq, including the "foolish decision" to disband the Iraqi army. Pressed on Thursday night to identify his foreign policy advisers, Trump said that Haas and Keane were "excellent" and that he liked Jacobs "very much." Jacobs declined to comment on whether he was helping Trump. "I have many people that I think are really excellent but in the end it's going to be my decision" on national security matters," Trump said. Keane, who appears frequently before congressional committees and on television, has accused U.S. President Barack Obama of not acting forcefully to help moderates in Libya and Syria. He called Obama's 2011 withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from Iraq an "absolute strategic failure," and charged that he lacks a strategy to contain the spread of Islamic State and help moderates in the region. Keane told Reuters that as a strict rule, he will not join campaigns as an advisor, nor endorse political candidates. (Editing by Stuart Grudgings)
- The introduction of a new cockpit safety device intended to prevent more driver fatalities was met with a mixed reception after the "Halo" concept was tried on track by Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen on Thursday. Demands to increase driver safety have intensified following the deaths of Jules Bianchi and IndyCar driver Justin Wilson last year. Mercedes' Nico Rosberg hailed the device as a "massive safety improvement". However, the father of former F1 driver Bianchi, who died after colliding with a recovery vehicle at the Japanese Grand Prix in 2014, claimed the new measures don't go far enough. "This is a step forward, but it does not solve everything," Philippe Bianchi told Canal Plus. "In the case of Jules it would not have changed since it was the extremely violent deceleration that we know caused the damage to his brain."

AFP
PARIS (Reuters) - The foreign ministers of France, Britain and Germany called on the main Syrian opposition to attend inter Syrian peace talks due to begin next week, but warned that the negotiations would only succeed if humanitarian access was granted and a ceasefire respected. "If these two conditions are not met, then the negotiation process is bound to fail, which we do not want," French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told journalists after the talks in Paris. The ministers were meeting as their leaders held a conference call on Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin aimed at putting pressure on Moscow to use its influence on Syrian president Bashar al Assad ahead of the resumption of talks on March 9 in Geneva. The western-backed Syrian opposition High Negotiations Committee, which represents a spectrum of military and political groups, has said it will decide close to the date on participation. It has said that depends on how a Russian-U.S. brokered truce holds in the coming days. Its chief coordinator, Riad Hijab, was holding talks with French officials on Friday. Paris has been one of the key backers of the group, and advised it during negotiations in January which were paused by UN special Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura. "We have encouraged this morning Dr. Hijab, whatever his reservations, to be prepared to return to the discussions in Geneva, to engage in good faith in the discussions," British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said. "On our part, we've taken the engagement to press those on the other side - the regime, the Russians - to increase their compliance to live up to their obligations under this agreement," he added. (Reporting by Leigh Thomas; Additional reporting by John Irish)
Berlin (AFP) - Germany demanded Friday that France close down its oldest nuclear plant, Fessenheim, near the German and Swiss borders -- just one of several ageing atomic plants that are unsettling France's neighbours.

German media charged that a 2014 incident at the 1970s-era plant was more grave than earlier reported, with water disabling an electrical control system and forcing operators to launch an emergency reactor shut-down.

"The incident shows once more that there are good reasons for our demand that the French government take Fessenheim off the grid," said German Environment and Nuclear Safety Minister Barbara Hendricks.

"I have repeatedly called for this, with reference to the legitimate concerns of the population in the French-German border region, and I will continue to do so."

Her spokesman earlier said that "this power plant is very old, too old to still be in operation... We consider such old reactors a safety risk."

France's Nuclear Safety Agency replied that "from the point of view of nuclear safety, there is no reason to close the Fessenheim power station".

"Beyond that, there are energy policy decisions for the government that could lead to different choices," but safety at the plant was "overall satisfactory," said Sophie Letournel, head of the agency's Strasbourg division.

France and Germany are close political partners at the core of the EU but have taken vastly different energy paths.

France, which gets more than 75 percent of electricity from nuclear plants, has been a leading international proponent of atomic energy.

Germany -- where the public mood swung against nuclear power following the 1986 Chernobyl disaster -- decided after Japan's Fukushima meltdown five years ago to phase out nuclear power.

- 'Emergency brake' -

The German media reports said that French operators temporarily lost full control over the plant's reactor 1 in the April 9, 2014 incident after water had incapacitated one of two parallel reactor security systems.

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They then decided to insert boron into the reactor cooling system, a procedure the report likened to "pulling the emergency brake".

The official reports by the French nuclear safety agency had not mentioned the use of boron, the media report said.

"I am not aware of any other case where a power reactor here in Western Europe suffered an incident in which it had to be shut down with the use of boron," nuclear safety expert Manfred Mertins was quoted saying.

The German environment ministry spokesman, however, suggested the reports were exaggerated, stressing that Germany believed the French operators had at no stage lost the ability to shut down the reactor in a controlled way.

Fessenheim houses two 900-megawatt reactors and has been running since 1977, making it France's oldest operating plant. Due to its age activists have long called for it to be permanently closed.

- 'Security problems' -

Fessenheim is not the only French plant that has unsettled its European neighbours.

Luxembourg and Germany have also raised concerns over another power plant, at Cattenom, and the duchy has forwarded to the European Commission a study commissioned by Germany's Greens party, which according to Luxembourg "listed the plant's security problems".

Meanwhile, the Swiss canton of Geneva on Wednesday filed a complaint against French nuclear plant Bugey located in the neighbouring French region of Ain, claiming that it "deliberately puts in danger the life of others and pollutes the waters".

The legal action came after repeated demands by the Swiss for France to close the nuclear plant down.

Bugey, which has been running since the 1970s, has been a thorn in the side of Geneva, which also disputes French power giant EDF's plans to build a nuclear waste storage facility on the site located just 70 kilometres (45 miles) from the Swiss canton.

France has promised to cut reliance on nuclear energy from more than 75 percent to 50 percent by shutting 24 reactors by 2025, while stepping up reliance on renewable energy.

President Francois Hollande has pledged to close the Fessenheim plant by the end of his five-year term in 2017.
Paris (AFP) - France's interior minister on Friday sought to defuse a row over the fate of migrants in Calais should Britain leave the EU, saying there was "no question" of letting them freely cross the Channel.

"If we open the border tomorrow, what will happen? The British, who run their own border, will block them and send them back," Bernard Cazeneuve said on BFMTV.

He said this would only increase the flow of people and "aggravate a humanitarian problem".

"We don't need statements that create buzz on this topic, we need long-term action."

The row broke out Thursday when France's outspoken Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron raised the possibility of camps similar to the so-called "Jungle" shantytown at Calais springing up on Britains southern coastline.

He told the Financial Times that a so-called Brexit would scupper a bilateral agreement that allows Britain to conduct border controls on the French side of the border.

"The day this relationship unravels, migrants will no longer be in Calais," Macron told the newspaper.

Asked about his comments during a summit meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron, President Francois Hollande merely warned that "there will be consequences (to) the way in which we manage migration issues" if Britain voted in a referendum to leave the EU.

Cameron warned last month that a Brexit could mean British border checks being removed from Calais and that "there would be nothing to stop thousands of people crossing the Channel overnight."

But campaigners in favour of Britain leaving the 28-member bloc accused Cameron of scaremongering.

Observers are sceptical that France would make a move that would only draw thousands more migrants to its northern coast.

Thousands of migrants fleeing poverty and war in the Middle East and North Africa have gathered in the "Jungle", from where they make desperate bids to reach Britain.

The French government this week began dismantling the southern half of the camp, facing protests from residents who do not want to leave.

Firmly set on crossing the Channel, the migrants fear that if they move to better accommodation provided for them, they will be forced to apply for asylum in France.
PARIS (Reuters) - French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve on Friday sought to smooth over controversial comments made by a fellow cabinet member over how thousands of migrants waiting in France could flood into Britain if it left the European Union. Emmanuel Macron, an outspoken economy minister who sometimes irritates cabinet colleagues by speaking on matters outside his brief, told the Financial Times on Thursday that "the day this relationship unravels, migrants will no longer be in Calais". The comments were not contradicted by President Francois Hollande when he was asked about them during an Anglo-French security summit the same day. They were also seized upon by UK eurosceptics as being a coordinated scare tactic on behalf of the "In" camp's campaign for Britain's upcoming EU membership referendum. "On this subject, we don't need declarations that create a buzz," Cazeneuve said on French radio on Friday. "Because if we open the border tomorrow, what will happen? The British control their own borders and can block the arrival of migrants into Britain. They would then be sent back to France ... which would worsen the humanitarian crisis," he said. British Prime Minister David Cameron has made protecting security a key argument in his campaign to keep Britain in the EU in a referendum on June 23, and has suggested that refugees living in a camp in the French town of Calais could flock to England if British voters decided to leave. (Reporting by Michel Rose and Simon Carraud; Editing by Andrew Callus)
By Ronnie Cohen (Reuters Health) - The risk of ovarian cancer was one-third higher among women who regularly powdered their genitals with talc, a recent study found. Researchers asked 2,041 women with ovarian cancer and 2,100 similar women without ovarian cancer about their talcum powder use. Those who said they routinely applied talc to their crotches, sanitary napkins, tampons and underwear had a 33 percent higher risk of ovarian cancer, according to a report in Epidemiology. Lead author Dr. Daniel W. Cramer, who heads the Obstetrics and Gynecology Epidemiology Center at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston, has unsuccessfully called for warning labels on talcum powder. This is an easily modified risk factor, he told Reuters Health by phone. Talc is a good drying agent, but women should know that if its used repeatedly, it can get into the vagina and into their upper genital tract. And I think if they knew that, they wouldnt use it. Cramer first reported a link between genital talc and ovarian cancer in 1982. But the current study is the first to confine the association to premenopausal women and to postmenopausal women who used hormone therapy  which might help explain earlier contradictory results on the link between talc and ovarian cancer, Cramer and his team write. Cramer has testified as a paid expert in lawsuits against talcum powder makers. A St. Louis jury last week ordered Johnson and Johnson to pay $72 million in damages to the family of Jacqueline Fox. After using the companys Baby Powder and Shower to Shower for more than 35 years, Fox died from ovarian cancer last year at age 62. Johnson and Johnson maintains that scientific evidence shows that talc  long marketed for babies bottoms  is safe. With over 100 years of use, few ingredients have the same demonstrated performance, mildness and safety profile as cosmetic talc, a company statement says. Talc is a moisture-absorbing mineral made of magnesium, silicon and oxygen. In its natural form, it may contain asbestos, a known carcinogen. But all commercial products sold in the U.S. have been asbestos-free since the 1970s. About 20,000 American women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer and about 14,500 die from it annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2006, the World Health Organizations International Agency for Research on Cancer classified genital talc as possibly carcinogenic. Nonetheless, the CDC does not list talc as a risk factor for ovarian cancer. Dr. Nicolas Wentzensen, head of the clinical epidemiology unit for the National Cancer Institute, told Reuters Health by email that the new study strengthens the evidence linking genital talc to the deadly reproductive cancer. He was not involved with the current study. The recent paper in Epidemiology has provided additional support for an association between talc use and ovarian cancer from a case-control study, he wrote. Still, Wentzensen isnt fully convinced of the link because even this new study was not of the most rigorous possible design. So-called prospective cohort studies would be particularly strong, he noted, because they would assess exposure at the start of an investigation and follow participants over time to see if they develop the disease. Scientific consensus emerges over time, especially in cases like this, where the results have been somewhat inconsistent, he said. While this recent analysis provides additional evidence supporting an association of talc and ovarian cancer, it will be important to test the methods used in this analysis in other data to see if the findings are confirmed. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1p2yQK2 Epidemiology, online December 17, 2015.
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Germany, France and Britain pressed the European Union for more ambitious greenhouse gas targets at a meeting of environment ministers on Friday, clashing with the EU executive and several eastern and central European states. The big states led criticism of a draft text that said the bloc does not need to revise up its targets until the next decade as it tries to decide how to share out the burden of meeting those among its 28 member countries. So far, the EU has agreed to cut emissions by at least 40 percent by 2030 from 1990 levels and to a first global stock-take in 2023. Germany's Jochen Flasbarth called the European Commission text "weak on the 2030 objectives". In a split council, he was joined by ministers from France, Britain, Austria, Belgium, Portugal and Sweden in calling for the EU to set an example with stronger targets. Several ministers urged an earlier stock-take to ready for a special U.N. report in 2018 to get on track for net zero emissions in the second half of the century. However, Poland, whose economy relies on coal, and other former Soviet states said the EU should not ramp up its climate goals too soon or ahead of other nations. Although EU policy has been set on the basis of a 2 degree limit on global warming, a U.N. climate agreement reached in Paris late last year said planet-warming needed to be capped well below that to prevent the worst effects and set an aspirational goal of 1.5 degrees. French environment minister Segolene Royal renewed a call for Europe to lead on emissions reductions: "We went from 2 degrees to 1.5 degrees, so Europe must maintain the initiative." Friday's debate was welcomed by environmental campaigners, who have hailed the wording of the EU targets as "at least" a promise for Europe to do more after other countries signed up to the U.N. accord. "There is a wide gap between our current climate action plans and what needs to be done to avoid a climate disaster," Wendel Trio, head of Climate Action Network Europe, said. EU Climate and Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Canete on Friday told the dissenting ministers they were "welcome to be more ambitious" but warned that not all member states were on board for new European targets. (Reporting by Alissa de Carbonnel and Barbara Lewis; Editing by Dale Hudson)
When Jenny Bradford goes shopping, she does what she can to not buy foods made with genetically modified ingredients. The stay-at-home mom, yoga instructor, and Instagram yogi, as she jokingly refers to herself, said she has roughly an 8020 rule: 80 percent of what she buys is free of genetically engineered ingredients.

Although she tries to avoid GMOs, Im aware when I do purchase things with canola oil in them, and I say, well, were eating these GMOs, she said in a recent phone interview from her home in suburban Dallas, the sounds of her two young kids playing in the backyard fading in and out of range. I am aware when I am not doing itbut sometimes I just dont have the option.

Bradford, who used to run a popular blog about parenting called Living Consciously, clearly knows what to look for to avoid GMOs, but she still supports mandatory labeling laws, even if they wouldnt much change the way she shops.

Bradford is more concerned with residue from glyphosate, a pesticide many GMO crops are engineered to withstand, than any fear over GMOs being unsafe. And while she wouldnt mind seeing a GMO label take the form of a strongly worded warning, akin to whats slapped on the side of a pack of cigarettes, Bradford realizes that isn't likely to happen. I dont think thats a reasonable request for companies, she said of such aggressive labeling language.

Rather, shed like to see something similar to whats done in Europe, where GMO ingredients are marked as such on the ingredient list. I would love to see that as a minimum, she said.

RELATED: One of the Most Iconic American Food Companies Now Supports GMO Labeling

Shes not alonenumerous polls have found that a vast majority of Americans, sometimes upwards of 90 percent, support mandatory labeling of GMOs. One of two labeling bills currently being considered in the U.S. Senate would set the minimum standards that Bradford is hoping for. On Wednesday, Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., introduced legislation that would set a mandatory federal labeling standard. The lawmakers are under pressure to set some sort of federal standard before Vermonts own mandatory labeling law goes into effect on July 1.

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Outlined in the Merkley bill are four ways that companies could label products that contain GMOs: including the words genetically modified in parentheses after the G.E, item is listed in the ingredients, marking genetically engineered with an asterisk and subsequent explanation, a declarationon the back label that the item was produced with genetic engineering, or a symbol developed by the FDA with industry input.

The other bill, a version of what has been called the DARK Act (for Denying Americans the Right to Know), would supersede state-level laws like Vermonts (something Merkleys bill would do as well) and set a voluntary federal labeling standard for GMO labeling. Earlier this week, the bill, from Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Mo., passed the Agriculture Committee with bipartisan support.

Pro-labeling groups are lining up in support the Merkley bill. Its a hell of a lot better approach than what the Ag Committee did yesterday, Patty Lovera, assistant director for Food & Water Watch, said in an interview about the dueling bills on Wednesday. If youre going to have a federal standard, the federal standard should be to label.

With the food industry pushing for so-called smart labels and other transparency measures that dont put info about genetically engineered ingredients on the product itself, having on-package labeling be in the conversation at all feels like a small victory to folks like Lovera.

Were happy to see a bill that says it has to be on the packagebecause that has been a battle to get to that point, she said.

Would a parenthetical disclosure of GMO ingredients really represent a significant victory? Not by my standards, Marion Nestle, professor of food studies and nutrition at New York University and a leading critic of the food indsturys influence in the politics, wrote in an email. But the pro-labeling crowd is dealing with an industry, as Nestle said, that sees any form of label as a nonstarter. From the food industrys standpoint, anything noticeable is equivalent to a skull-and-crossbones, she said.

To wit, the Coalition for Safe Affordable Food, a industry backed group that has lobbied against state labeling laws, dismissed Merkleys proposal outright, saying, It cant pass, period, in an interview with Food Navigator.

In 2014, the major pro-labeling groups, including Just Label It and U.S. Right to Know, spent just over $1 million on their efforts, and were crossing the $1.5 million threshold in August 2015, according to Civil Eats. Thats by no means small changebut it is still far less than the $51 million the Grocery Manufacturers Association, an industry trade group, spent lobbying against labeling laws in 2015.

The reasons for both sides spending and entrenched positions are less clear when you look beyond the simple question of to label or not to label. Bradford may be hoping to avoid exposure to glyphosate, which is used heavily on GMO crops like corn and soy and was recently declared a probable carcinogen by the World Health Organizations cancer research arm. But not all consumers are as savvy. According to a 2015 Pew Research survey, 57 percent of adults believe that eating GMO foods is unsafea conviction that the scientific research on GMOs roundly refutes. Institutions such as the National Institutes of Health and the U.K.s Royal Academy of Medicine say that to date, there is no sound science linking human consumption of GMOs with health risks.

The rise in GMO crops in the United States since their commercial debut in the early 1990s has, however, caused a massive spike in the use of glyphosate. A recent study published in the journal Environmental Science Europe found that 75 percent of all glyphosate use has occurred in the past decade, which has seen an increase in herbicide-resistant weeds plaguing farmers. The chemical was long considered a safer alternative to other weed killers, but the WHO announcement has changed the conversationand revealed a seemingly significant failure in oversight. The FDA, for example, will only begin to test for glyphosate residues on crops this yearyet no one is suggesting a label declaring identifying foods made with ingredients treated with glyphosate.

Nestle believes the whole battle over labelingand perhaps many of the fears and misunderstandings about genetically engineered ingredientscould have been resolved more than 20 years ago.

I believe that the GMO industry made a huge mistake in 1994 when it lobbied successfully against having to be labeled, she wrote. I thought this was unfair to consumers, would destroy trust in GMOs (and in the FDA), and would end up hurting the industry and generating opposition. In other words, the GMO industry brought the current state of affairs on itself. Taking away consumer choice is never a good idea.

At this point, Nestle added, the more prominent and more required the label, the better.

Sign the Petition: Fight for GMO Labeling by Opposing the DARK Act

Related stories on TakePart:





 Bernie and Hillary Support GMOsbut They Dont Want Labeling Laws to Go DARK

 GMO Labeling Law Dubbed DARK Act Is Being Considered by the Senate

 One of the Biggest Food Industry Opponents to Labeling Laws Prepares Non-GMO Label

Original article from TakePart
ADEN (Reuters) - Gunmen attacked an old people's home in the Yemeni port of Aden on Friday, killing at least 15 people, including four Christian nuns from India, local officials and medical sources said. The four attackers told a guard they were on a visit to their mother, then stormed into the home and opened fire with rifles, an official said. As well as the nuns, the dead included two Yemeni women staff, eight elderly residents and a guard. The motive of the gunmen was not immediately known. They fled after the attack, the official said. "These terrorist acts have continued and have touched the innocent, the peaceful, the unarmed and religious figures," the state news agency Saba said, quoting a source in the Aden office of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Their aim was to "create chaos", it added. The bodies of the dead were taken to a clinic supported by Medecins Sans Frontieres, medical sources said. Yemen's embattled government has been forced out of the capital Sanaa by Iran-allied Houthi rebels and is now based in Aden but struggles to impose its authority even there. Once a cosmopolitan city home to thriving Hindu and Christian communities, Aden has gone from being one of the world's busiest ports as a hub of the British empire to a backwater and then in recent months to a conflict zone. Aden's small Christian population left long ago. Unknown assailants have in the past vandalized a Christian cemetery and last year blew up an abandoned Catholic church. A Saudi-led coalition of Arab states began a military campaign a year ago to prevent the Houthis from taking complete control of Yemen. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights says at least 3,081 civilians have been killed in the conflict and 5,733 injured since then. It said on Friday 168 civilians had been killed during February alone and 193 injured, around two-thirds of them by Saudi coalition air strikes. (Reporting by Mohammed Mukhashaf; additional reporting by Mohammed Ghobari in Cairo; writing by Maha El Dahan; editing by Andrew Roche)
By David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan vowed on Thursday to speak out against Republican presidential campaign rhetoric that could mislead voters about the party and its conservative principles, but stopped short of criticizing front-runner Donald Trump directly.

On a day when his former presidential running mate Mitt Romney denounced Trump, Ryan said he "laughed out loud" this week when Trump warned that the speaker could pay a big price for not getting along with him if he becomes the party nominee.

"Here's what I can control. If I see episodes where conservatism is being disfigured, if I see comments that mislead the people as to who we are as Republicans, Im going to speak out on those," said Ryan.

The speaker has already admonished Trump for failing to disavow support from Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.

"Im going to speak out for who I am and what I believe and what we as House Republicans believe, and what conservatism is as we understand it," he told reporters.

Romney, the Republican presidential nominee in 2012, delivered a blistering rebuke of Trump on Thursday, saying the real estate developer and former reality television star was "a phony, a fraud."Ryan, who was Romney's vice presidential running mate in their failed attempt to unseat President Barack Obama, said he did not know the content of the speech in advance.

"Mitt Romney is one of our party leaders. He cares deeply about the future of the Republican Party and the country," he said. "These are the kinds of things that happen in a competitive Republican primary."

Ryan said his role as House speaker and chairman of the Republican presidential nominating committee would be to provide a bold Republican policy platform capable of offering voters substance on important issues including jobs and the economy.

He said he would reach out to each Republican presidential candidate to talk about the agenda.

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But Ryan said he does not know Trump.

"We're going to obviously get to know each other if he gets the nomination. And we'll cross those bridges when we get to it," the speaker said.

"I'm a good-natured guy, so I get along with everybody."

(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Eric Beech and David Gregorio)
Last summer, Facebook (FB) CEO Mark Zuckerberg took Samsung (005930.KS) vice chairman Jay Lee on one of his famous walk and talks. The subject for Zuckerberg and Samsung's heir-apparent was the two companies' partnership in virtual reality.



Samsung was contributing its hardware expertise, specifically with high-resolution screens, while Facebook supplied software and applications from Oculus VR, the pioneering virtual reality upstart that Zuckerberg bought for $2 billion in 2014. As the two talked, Oculus had already introduced its own VR headsets, which would later go on sale for $600, and an earlier offering from Samsung that used a smartphone as a screen was being sold for $200.



But Zuckerberg wanted to drop the price even more to attract the tens of millions of customers he needed to reach a mass market audience and eventually get to the scale of Facebook's 1.6 billion users.



"We talked about how we could bring this experience to the most people possible," Zuckerberg recalled last month during his surprise appearance at a Samsung event in Barcelona. "And after that we decided to target a $99 price."



Now Samsung is about to deliver millions of its updated Gear VR headsets for even less than that. Lee and his team decided to give away a free headset to everyone who pre-orders the new Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge smartphones, arriving in stores next week (otherwise people will pay $99 for the headset). That will immediately create a huge audience for Facebook's Oculus platform, with its hundreds of games, interactive videos and other apps. And even higher on Zuckerberg's priority list, it will also massively expand the potential viewership for thousands of virtual-reality-like videos already uploaded to Facebook's social network.



Although there are only some 20,000 such videos posted on the giant social network among the many millions of ordinary videos, the number should grow quickly, again thanks to Samsung. After showing off new phones and its updated VR headset in Barcelona, Samsung also introduced the Gear 360 camera, a tiny, spherical device that anyone can use to shoot VR-like footage. It's slated to go on sale for $400 in the second quarter. Reporters and other attendees at the event were blind to Zuckerberg's surprise entrance because they were watching a demonstration of footage shot on the 360 camera, leading to one of the most iconic photos ever taken emphasizing how quickly technology is changing in an increasingly digital world.

is this picture an allegory of our future ? the people in a virtual reality with our leaders walking by us. pic.twitter.com/ntTaTN3SdR  Nicolas Debock (@ndebock) February 21, 2016

Oculus's own VR rig has built in high-resolution screens and doesn't need to be connected to a smartphone. But it does need to be connected to a relatively powerful PC costing $1,000 or more to do image processing. Oculus started taking pre-orders in January with a March 28 delivery date.



Scaling the VR market



So what does Facebook gain by partnering with Samsung if its Oculus unit is already producing competing, if much more expensive, VR hardware? Facebook needs Samsung "to help it build scale around its VR efforts, which will be critical to attracting content and helping people become familiar with the concept," says Jan Dawson, chief analyst at Jackdaw Research. "The hardcore gaming rigs Oculus makes will only ever be a subset of that overall VR market, but Samsung is a key partner in helping Facebook to tap into the larger opportunity."



Facebook and Samsung are just a few of the players aiming to tap that opportunity, of course. Sony (SNE) and HTC have introduced similar gear and Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google is working on software for its Android ecosystem. Apple (AAPL) hasn't said much but has made several acquisitions in the field and is widely rumored to be prepping its own VR offering.



The entire market for virtual reality hardware and software is expected to grow exponentially over the next few years. Almost all of a projected $6.7 billion this year will be spent on hardware, according to a report by market research firm TrendForce. But as the market grows tenfold to $70 billion in 2020, a majority of revenue will come from software.



And that's where Zuckerberg has a big advantage. Mass-market VR content, whether from Hollywood studios or top videogame producers, will be available for all platforms and won't provide much differentiation. But the social side of VR, the home-made VR videos and viral, wacky content and eventually shared VR social experiences, could be far more significant. Apple has repeatedly struck out trying to create social networks and while Google has YouTube as a strong platform to build from, its more social efforts such as Google+ have also foundered.



Zuckerberg is counting on VR ultimately becoming a social experience, the realm where Facebook dominates. In recent talks, he has sketched out a future five or 10 years down the line when VR gear will be so sophisticated and realistic that people will be able to "gather" with their friends around a virtual camp fire or movie theater to hang out with each other despite not being in the same physical location. It's a vision right out of the science fiction writings of authors like William Gibson or Neal Stephenson.



"People will always want more immersive ways to express themselves," the Facebook founder said in a recent interview with German newspaper Die Welt laying out his vision. "If you go back 10 years ago on the Internet, most of what people shared and consumed was text. Now a lot of it is photos. I think, going forward, a lot of it is going to be videos, getting richer and richer. But that is not the end. In the future, I think you are going to want to capture a whole scene, a room, to be able to transport to that. To be able to stream what you are doing live and have people be able to interact in that space."



Echoes of the PC boom



In some ways, Facebook's partnership strategy echoes the moves Microsoft (MSFT) made in the first few decades of the PC revolution. First, Bill Gates partnered with IBM (IBM) to help make the DOS command line-based operating system dominant. As PCs got more capable, DOS evolved into Windows and then Windows became a platform for the Office productivity software. And as most companies started using Windows and Office, Microsoft moved into software for servers and networking.



It wasn't until Gates had retired and smartphones had overtaken PCs that Microsoft's hold slipped. In each prior transition, Microsoft kept tight control of the software, which could not be easily copied, while hardware became increasingly commoditized. And Gates managed to leverage the big audience he built at each stage into a dominant position for the next stage.



So now, in the earliest days of virtual reality, Zuckerberg is partnering with one of the two leading high-end smartphone makers, Samsung, to build the largest possible audience for launching his VR software platform.



And Zuckerberg's bet is that software will win out again. "There is a time early on in the development of any new platform where you really need to do the hardware and the software at the same time -- only later does specialization become valuable," he said in the Die Welt interview. "Our long-term role will be in the field of software."



It will take a long time to see if the Facebook founder's VR bet carries the day, but it looks like he's jumped out to the early lead.




BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary's planned referendum on European Union quotas for resettling migrants will cover a future EU proposal to establish a permanent mechanism, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday. Orban told state radio that an EU summit in the middle of March could decide on a permanent migrant resettlement mechanism, to potentially redistribute "millions of people" among EU members, which his government rejects. Hungary has been at odds with the European Commission and some fellow EU countries over how to handle a large migrant influx into the bloc, and last week Orban proposed a referendum to see whether Hungarians accepted the quotas. He also said on Friday that if needed, Hungary could close its border with Romania with a fence to keep out migrants within two to three weeks. Hungary already built fences on its Serbian and Croatian borders. (Reporting by Krisztina Than, editing by Larry King)
By David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - India on Friday explained its denial of visas for a U.S. government body monitoring international religious freedom by saying the group had no business judging the situation in the country. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said earlier that it had intended to send a delegation to India on Friday for a long-planned visit, but the nation had failed to issue the necessary visas. A statement on the website of the Indian Embassy in Washington said the Indian constitution "guarantees fundamental rights to all its citizens including the right to freedom of religion." It said there had been no change in policy with respect to visits from agencies like the USCIRF and added: "We do not see the locus standi of a foreign entity like USCIRF to pass its judgment and comment on the state of Indian citizens' constitutionally protected rights." On Thursday, USCIRF Chairman Robert George said the agency was deeply disappointed by the effective denial of visas for the delegation. George said the USCIRF had been able to travel to many countries, including some such as Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, China, and Myanmar that were among the worst offenders of religious freedom. Last year the United States ran into problems arranging visits to India by the head of its office to combat human trafficking and its special envoy for gay rights, despite a much-heralded fresh start in ties between the two countries under Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Visiting India in January 2015, U.S. President Barack Obama made a plea for freedom of religion in a country with a history of strife between Hindus and minorities. In its 2015 report, the bipartisan USCIRF said incidents of religiously motivated and communal violence in India had reportedly increased for three consecutive years. The report said that since Modi's 2014 election win, religious minorities had been subject to derogatory comments by politicians linked to his Bharatiya Janata Party as well as numerous violent attacks and forced conversions by Hindu nationalist groups. (Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
Calais (France) (AFP) - A dozen Iranians with their mouths sewn shut in protest at their eviction from France's "Jungle" migrant camp demonstrate for a third straight day as demolition workers were wrapping up their first week on the job.

The Iranians positioned themselves in front of a line of riot police protecting the workers as they dismantled makeshift shelters in the southern half of the camp.

It was the third day in a row that Iranians have staged the disturbing protest in the camp, where thousands of migrants have been living in the hope of the sneaking across the Channel.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told France's BFM TV that he felt "immense compassion and sadness" over the protests, but said the Calais town hall was merely trying to "ensure that each person in a vulnerable position finds a place to stay."

By early Friday, Calais authorities said they had cleared around a quarter of the southern half of the camp that has been marked for destruction -- around two hectares (five acres).

Calais officials said clearing the southern half of the camp would last at least a month. Work was to halt for the weekend and resume on Monday.

There has been no announcement on the fate of the rest of the camp.

"The idea is not to rush things. There are some zones that are easier than others. We must act very pragmatically, very humanely," said local official Vincent Berton.

Council workers have been trying to convince migrants in the destruction zone to move to official centres around France, or heated shipping containers alongside the Jungle.

But many are reluctant to give up their dream of sneaking aboard lorries to Britain, and have simply shifted to even grimmer camps further along the northern French coast.
DUBLIN (Reuters) - Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny's Fine Gael party will only seek to form a minority government if it can strike a deal that ensures smaller parties or its arch rival will not bring it down within months, a senior minister said on Friday. Last week Ireland became the latest euro zone state to face a prolonged political stalemate after an election ousted the ruling coalition without producing a clear alternative, echoing recent inconclusive polls in Spain and Portugal. Kenny's center-right party fell 30 seats short of the 80 needed to form a majority in parliament, just six seats more than resurgent, historic rival Fianna Fail. Both Kenny and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin will seek to become the country's next prime minister when parliament returns on March 10 by garnering enough support among smaller parties and independent lawmakers to win a parliamentary vote. But on Friday Health Minister Leo Varadkar, speaking about the conclusions reached at a five-hour party meeting held on Thursday, said his party would not form a minority government if it could cause short-term political instability. "It would have to be based on some sort of agreement that would hold," Varadkar told national broadcaster RTE. "We can't have a government that might collapse in three months or six months - you can get nothing done that way." Fine Gael argues that Ireland needs political stability to preserve and extend its economic recovery. Ireland's economy has been the fastest growing in Europe over the last two years after a deep financial crisis but many have yet to feel the upturn. Any unlikely informal alliance that does not include Fianna Fail would have a razor-thin parliamentary majority and encompass parties across a broad political spectrum. Fine Gael and Fianna Fail are both center-right parties, but they are divided by a rivalry that stretches back almost a century to the country's civil war. Asked about the prospect of forming a minority government supported by Fianna Fail, Varadkar said: "It would be extremely difficult, we don't trust each other as parties. "While the policy gaps might not be as big as they are with other parties, there are some very significant ones there." He said any such agreement would likely need the backing of the party's membership. Varadkar also said working with Fianna Fail in a formal coalition was unlikely and that there was no willingness to do so on either side. Varadkar, widely seen as the strongest contender to eventually succeed Kenny, said the party was fully united behind its leader. (Reporting by William James and Padraic Halpin; Editing by Gareth Jones)
Istanbul (AFP) - An Istanbul court on Friday ordered into administration a Turkish daily newspaper that is sharply critical of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, adding to growing alarm over freedom of expression in the country.

The Zaman newspaper, closely linked to Erdogan's arch-foe the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, was ordered into administration by the court on the request of Istanbul prosecutors, the state-run Anatolia news agency said.

There was no immediate official explanation for the court's decision.

The move means the court will appoint new managers to run the newspaper, who will be expected to transform its editorial line.

Hundreds of supporters were gathered outside the paper's headquarters in Istanbul awaiting the arrival of bailiffs and security forces after the court order.

"We will fight for a free press," and "We will not remain silent" said placards held by protestors, according to live images broadcast on the pro-Gulen Samanyolu TV.

"Democracy will continue and free media will not be silent," Zaman's editor-in-chief Abdulhamit Bilici was quoted as saying by the Cihan news agency outside its headquarters.

"I believe that free media will continue even if we have to write on the walls. I don't think it is possible to silence media in the digital age," he told Cihan, part of the Zaman media group.

- 'Last free edition' -

It was not yet clear when the bailiffs would arrive. Sevgi Akarcesme, the editor-in-chief of the paper's English language edition Today's Zaman, said on Twitter that staff were working on the "last free edition" of their newspaper.

Gulen has been based in the United States since 1999 when he fled charges against him laid by the former secular authorities.

Turkey has asked the United States to extradite him but Washington has shown little appetite for doing so.

Despite living outside of Turkey, Gulen built up huge influence in the country through allies in the police and judiciary, media and financial interests and a vast network of cramming school.

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Ankara now accuses Gulen of running what it calls the Fethullahaci Terror Organisation/Parallel State Structure (FeTO/PDY) and seeking to overthrow the legitimate Turkish authorities.

There have been numerous legal crackdowns on structures linked to the group and on Friday Turkish police arrested four executives of one of the country's largest conglomerates, accusing them of financing Gulen.

Boydak Holding group president Haci Boydak, director general Memduh Boydak and two board members were questioned at their homes in the central city of Kayseri.

Gulen supporters decry the accusations as ridiculous, saying all he leads is a more informal group known as Hizmet (Service).

- 'Just before EU summit' -

The effective seizure of the newspaper by the state comes amid growing concerns over freedom of expression in Turkey under Erdogan's rule.

The Cumhuriyet newspaper's editor-in-chief Can Dundar and Ankara bureau chief Erdem Gul were released on an order from Turkey's top court last week after three months in jail on charges of publishing state secrets.

But they still face trial on March 25.

Meanwhile almost 2,000 journalists, bloggers and ordinary citizens, including high school students, have found themselves prosecuted on accusations of insulting Erdogan.

"By lashing out and seeking to rein in critical voices, President Erdogan's government is steamrolling over human rights," said Andrew Gardner, Amnesty International's Turkey expert in a statement.

Independent pro-Kurdish television channel IMV TV was taken off air in Turkey last weekend following accusations that it broadcast "terrorist propaganda" for militants.

The decision on Zaman comes as Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu heads to Brussels Monday for a crucial summit meeting with EU leaders. The news broke as Erdogan was holding talks in Istanbul with EU President Donald Tusk.

Critics have accused the EU of turning a blind eye to the situation with media freedom in Turkey in exchange for Ankara's cooperation in the refugee crisis.

Opponents say Erdogan, who served as premier from 2003-2014, has become an increasingly polarising figure unable to tolerate any criticism.

However the government angrily dismisses allegations it is cracking down on the press, saying the cases against Cumhuriyet and pro-Gulen media have nothing to do with freedom of expression.
By Joseph Sipalan KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Former Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad on Friday joined hands with long-standing foes, including the party of the jailed Anwar Ibrahim, to crank up pressure on scandal-plagued Prime Minister Najib Razak to quit, marking a seismic political shift. In a dramatic flourish, Mahathir read a statement signed by 58 politicians and anti-corruption activists at a news conference where he was flanked by opposition leaders and some members of the ruling party he has now quit. "We call upon all Malaysians, irrespective of race, political affiliation, creed or parties, young and old, to join us in saving Malaysia from the government headed by Najib Razak," the statement said. One of those beside Mahathir was a close aide of his former protege, opposition leader Anwar, with whom he fell out when he was prime minister in the late 1990s. Anwar issued a statement from prison a day earlier, saying he would "support the position" of those in civil society, political parties and individuals, including Mahathir, in the push to remove Najib. Besides demanding the resignation of the prime minister, the so-called "core" group demanded the removal of those who had covered up misdeeds, the repeal of laws that violate fundamental rights and the restoration of institutions it said had been undermined, including the police and anti-graft agency. The rainbow alliance had come together under Mahathir because its members were not powerful individually to loosen Najib's grip on power, said Oh Ei Sun, a senior fellow of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. "Dr Mahathir is pulling together everybody with the lowest common denominator - dislike of Najib, as he did not succeed in earlier attempts to topple Najib," he said. "OPPORTUNISM AND DESPERATION" A government spokesman criticized the move by Mahathir and his former enemies, saying it "demonstrated the depth of their political opportunism and desperation". "There is an existing mechanism to change the government and prime minister. It's called a general election," the spokesman said. "And it is the only mechanism that is lawful, democratic and fulfils the people's will." Najib has faced sustained pressure to resign since the middle of last year over allegations of corruption linked to the debt-laden state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), and deposits into his private accounts worth around $680 million. He has denied any wrongdoing, maintains that he did not use the funds for personal gain, and this year he was cleared of any criminal offense or corruption. The 1MDB scandal has fueled a sense of crisis in a country under economic strain from slumping oil prices and a prolonged slide in its currency last year. Mahathir, Malaysia's longest-serving leader, was once Najib's patron but has become his fiercest critic and, because of his enduring popularity, a thorn in the side of the prime minister. Last week, he quit the United Malays National Organisation, which has led every ruling coalition since Malaysia's independence in 1957, saying it had become Najib's party and he did not want to be associated with corruption. Also at Friday's news conference was Muhyiddin Yassin, who was sacked as deputy prime minister last year after he openly questioned Najib on the 1MDB scandal. Another was Lim Kit Siang, an opposition leader and longtime nemesis of Mahathir. Most striking was the attendance of Mohamed Azmin Ali, a right-hand man of Anwar, whom Mahathir sacked as deputy prime minister in 1998 and had jailed on sodomy charges that many observers said were politically motivated. A year ago, Anwar was jailed again on sodomy charges he said were concocted by Najib's government to eliminate the threat he posed to its hold on power. (Writing by John Chalmers; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
By Takaya Yamaguchi TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan Post Holdings Co <6178.T> CEO Taizo Nishimuro is set to resign in coming weeks, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said on Friday, amid speculation over his health following his hospitalization nearly a month ago. The company has started a search for his successor, with potential candidates including top managers from other companies, said the sources, who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. Japan Post representatives could not immediately be reached for comment. If the search for a successor is prolonged, the resignation could be delayed the sources said. Nishimuro's renewable term expires in June, but he has previously expressed a desire to remain until well into next year. The 80-year-old former president of Toshiba Corp <6502.T> and the Tokyo Stock Exchange has been hospitalized since Feb. 8 for what Japan Post has said were unspecified tests. Nishimuro took the helm at Japan Post in 2013, orchestrating the world's biggest public offering last year - the $12 billion sale in November of shares in the parent company, which controls the nation's mail-delivery service, and its two financial units, Japan Post Bank Co <7182.T> and Japan Post Insurance Co <7181.T>. He told reporters in November there were no clear plans for a successor. "As for myself, I would like from the bottom of my heart to do two annual shareholders meetings and around then decide on my successor" around June or July 2017, Nishimuro said. ($1 = 113.7100 yen) (Reporting by Takaya Yamaguchi; Writing by Taiga Uranaka; Editing by William Mallard and David Evans)
If you've heard representatives of the GOP persistently rail against LGBTQ rights, you would hardly think that public opinion in the United States bolsters marriage equality. Yet same-sex marriage is not only supported by the majority of Americans, but it's a legal right. Kentucky state Rep. Joseph Fischer, however, appears hell-bent on changing that by introducing a new form of marital bliss into which only heterosexual couples may enter and benefit: "matrimony."

The bill maintains that the Supreme Court's decision to legalize same-sex marriage introduced "absolute tyranny" in the United States. Fischer calls for a "new institution of matrimony" built on a "firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence," ThinkProgress reported Wednesday.

HB 572, or the Matrimonial Freedom Act, essentially seeks to reserve "matrimony" for heterosexual couples, and to further replace "marriage" with "matrimony" as the status to which legal privileges and benefits are currently afforded, according to the report. Not only would this bill create a separate, exclusive status for heterosexual couples, but it would also deny homosexual couples various rights.

The bill, which replaces every legal reference to "marriage" with "matrimony," is 454 pages long. But Fischer helpfully created a shorter version, HB 571, which cuts to the heart of his goal, stating, "Only a matrimony between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a matrimony in Kentucky," according to LGBTQ Nation.

Fischer's bill joins a storied legacy of attempting to deny his constituents their legal . In 2014, for example, Fischer amended a bill that expanded protections for survivors of dating violence to include anti-choice language. Fischer argued that abortion is a form of domestic violence, and should be banned after 20 weeks, WFPL reported.

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While HB 572 likely doesn't stand a chance considering the Supreme Court ruled that the language of "marriage" was irrelevant to its decision, according to ThinkProgress, it's a pertinent reminder that many politicians are still attempting to curb hard-won LGBTQ victories. GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, for instance, recently said he would "strongly consider" appointing Supreme Court justices who would overrule the court's June decision on same-sex marriage.

Rather than attempt to counter the Supreme Court's ruling, Fischer would do well to remember how Justice Anthony Kennedy interpreted and defended same-sex marriage.

"The nature of marriage is that, through its enduring bond, two persons together can find other freedoms, such as expression, intimacy and spirituality," Kennedy wrote. "This is true for all persons, whatever their sexual orientation."

h/t ThinkProgress
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met on Thursday with Martin Kobler, the U.N. secretary-general's special representative for Libya, to discuss efforts to support a unified Libyan government, the State Department said. Kerry said Washington would continue to support Prime Minister Fayez Seraj and the Government of National Accord ahead of a meeting in Tunis next week to discuss its establishment in the capital, Tripoli, the State Department said in a statement. "He expressed his concern that, despite the efforts of a majority of Libyan leaders to seat this government, a small group of spoilers prevented a formal vote that would have endorsed the Cabinet," the statement said. Western diplomats have insisted the only option for uniting Libya and defeating militancy is a plan for a political transition negotiated by the United Nations and signed in December with limited Libyan support. But they have looked on with growing exasperation as Libya's eastern House of Representatives rejected one proposed unity government and repeatedly failed to vote on a revised lineup. "The country needs to move ahead now, or risk division and collapse," Kobler told the U.N. Security Council this week. (Reporting by Eric Walsh; Additional reporting by Aidan Lewis in Tunis; Editing by Peter Cooney)
By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Tentative plans for U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to visit Cuba before mid-March for a human rights dialogue have been canceled, two U.S. officials said on Thursday, amid concerns over the Cuban government's human rights record. Kerry told a congressional hearing on Feb. 23 that he might be in Cuba "in the next week or two" to hold a dialogue on human rights, ahead of President Barack Obama's scheduled trip to the island on March 21-22. The sources said the trip had been canceled because U.S. and Cuban officials were deep in negotiations on issues including which dissidents Obama might see in Havana and that a trip in the timeframe Kerry had mentioned was not seen as constructive. State Department spokesman John Kirby said he had no updates regarding Kerry's potential travel to Cuba. "The Secretary is still interested in visiting in the near future, and we are working with our Cuban counterparts and our embassy to determine the best timeframe," Kirby said in an emailed statement. U.S. critics of Obama's opening to Cuba have complained that the president has received little in return for restoring diplomatic relations with the former Cold War foe. On Feb. 24, the Cuban government granted seven dissidents who were out of prison on parole a one-time permission to travel outside the country in an apparent gesture to the United States ahead of Obama's historic visit. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Mohammad Zargham and Sandra Maler)
By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Tentative plans for U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to visit Cuba before mid-March for a human rights dialogue have been cancelled, two U.S. officials said on Thursday, amid concerns over the Cuban government's human rights record. Kerry told a congressional hearing on Feb. 23 that he might be in Cuba "in the next week or two" to hold a dialogue on human rights, ahead of President Barack Obama's scheduled trip to the island on March 21-22. The sources said the trip had been cancelled because U.S. and Cuban officials were deep in negotiations on issues including which dissidents Obama might see in Havana and that a trip in the timeframe Kerry had mentioned was not seen as constructive. State Department spokesman John Kirby said he had no updates regarding Kerry's potential travel to Cuba. "The Secretary is still interested in visiting in the near future, and we are working with our Cuban counterparts and our embassy to determine the best timeframe," Kirby said in an emailed statement. U.S. critics of Obama's opening to Cuba have complained that the president has received little in return for restoring diplomatic relations with the former Cold War foe. On Feb. 24, the Cuban government granted seven dissidents who were out of prison on parole a one-time permission to travel outside the country in an apparent gesture to the United States ahead of Obama's historic visit. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Mohammad Zargham and Sandra Maler)
While many are labeling this year's presidential race as the wildest one in recent memory, Kevin Spacey is not one of them.

On Thursday, hours ahead of the much-hyped Fox News GOP debate that will reunite Donald Trump with anchor Megyn Kelly, Trump continued to make headlines when he told a rally of supporters that he could have made Mitt Romney "drop to his knees" when the then-candidate asked for his endorsement in 2012.

Still, when Spacey was asked if he would characterize this election season as "astonishing," the actor who plays President Frank Underwood on Netflix's House of Cards said no, telling CNNs Alisyn Camerota that our country has seen the likes of Donald Trump's antics in the past.

"There are many parallels that we could make to the 1968 race  George Wallace ran a very similar kind of campaign," Spacey said about the former Alabama governor's controversial bid for the White House. "He did exactly the same sorts of things: attacked journalists, attacked integrity of other candidates, used racism, insulted people, there were fights at his rallies."

Letting out a laugh, Spacey says, "You sort of go, 'Oh yeah, we've seen this before.'"

Read More: Donald Trump Blasts Mitt Romney; Chris Christie Says He's Not a "Hostage"

When Netflix releases Season 4 of House of Cards on Friday, Spacey returns to the Oval Office as a fictional presidential villain on the political drama. Then on Sunday, the actor narrates Race for the White House, a six-part CNN series analyzing the dramatic moments of campaigns' past.

And it appears that looking back has helped him to see things clearly up ahead.

"The good news about our country," says Spacey, "is no matter how crazy it gets and no matter how much fun we have and how insane it looks, we generally get it right in the end. We generally figure it out."

He added, "I'm very hopeful."

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Kevin Spacey, EP of @CNN's "Race for the White House," explains to @AlisynCamerota why he got involved. https://t.co/YYfk4WGFKQ

New Day (@NewDay) March 3, 2016
(Reuters) - Manchester City cannot afford to make any more mistakes if they hope to launch a serious bid for the Premier League title this campaign, captain Vincent Kompany has said. Wednesday's 3-0 loss to Liverpool condemned City to their third successive league defeat for the first time since 2008 and left them fourth in the table, 10 points behind leaders Leicester City with a game in hand. "We can't make any more mistakes but I didn't expect all the other teams to lose," central defender Kompany told British media, referring to midweek losses for title-chasing rivals Tottenham and Arsenal. "It is an awkward season... good for the fans but you can't predict anything, can you? If there is one guarantee for this season, it is nothing is sure." City, who have failed to win back-to-back league games since October, slumped to their eighth league loss of their campaign on Wednesday and Manuel Pellegrini's side will be looking to get back on track at home to bottom side Aston Villa on Saturday. (Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by John O'Brien)
The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating after a knife was found buried on O.J. Simpson's former estate in Brentwood, police told The Hollywood Reporter.

Detectives are now on the case, police said.

The alleged folding knife was found years ago by a construction worker, according to TMZ. The worker gave the knife to an off-duty police officer nearby, who kept it for himself. The department got wind that the officer kept the knife and demanded it be turned over for testing, according to TMZ.

Simpson was acquitted of the 1994 murders of Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman, who were both stabbed to death.

Interest in the case has recently been re-ignited due to the FX series The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.

More to come...

Read More: 'The People v. O.J. Simpson': How Accurate Was the Fifth Episode?
The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating after a knife was found buried on O.J. Simpson's former estate in Brentwood, police tell The Hollywood Reporter.

Detectives are now on the case, say police.

The knife, allegedly folding in style, was in the possession of a now-retired LAPD officer who "believed the case was closed," says an LAPD spokesman. There will be plenty of additional investigation.

The unidentified officer was given the knife while working as security for a movie being shot near Simpson's Brentwood home, which was being torn down, say police, adding that charges against the officer will be looked into.

The knife currently is undergoing forensics testing, say police.

Simpson was acquitted of the 1994 murders of Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman, both of whom were stabbed to death.

However, no matter the possible new evidence, Simpson cannot be tried for the case again, since he was acquitted originally; that legal provision is known as "double jeopardy."

Interest in the case recently has been reignited, due to the FX series The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.

Read More: 'The People v. O.J. Simpson': How Accurate Was the Fifth Episode?
POTOMAC, Md. (Reuters) - As Hillary Clinton sets her sights on becoming the first female president of the United States, the Democratic front-runner has found herself in another role - the subject of children's books. In "Hillary Rodham Clinton: Do All the Good You Can," author Cynthia Levinson charts her rise from her youth in Park Ridge, Illinois, to her work as a U.S. senator and secretary of state. Levinson brought Clinton's story this week to fourth graders at Cold Spring Elementary School in suburban Washington, whom she found were paying close attention to the presidential race. "I hope kids enjoy the book, and I hope that it's thought-provoking for them," said Levinson, who went to Wellesley College with Clinton and interviewed mutual acquaintances and the former first lady for the book. The book is among several recent children's biographies on Clinton. They include "Hillary Rodham Clinton: Some Girls are Born to Lead" by Michelle Markel and Jonah Winter's picture book "Hillary." While the books all include the theme of female strength, Levinson said she was keen to highlight both Clinton's successes and failures, such as her vote for the U.S. war in Iraq and bungled healthcare initiative while first lady. The grade-schoolers were divided over whether Clinton, 68, was the woman for the job. "I'm more on Bernie Sanders' side. Hillary Clinton is less direct than Bernie Sanders," said Sudhish Swain, 10, referring to Clinton's rival for the Democratic nomination. Many students said they got their news about the election, which will be held in November, from the radio or school bus debates. "We mostly agree that Donald Trump would not be a good president," said Tianlai Yang. Katherine Pease, 9, added: "He lies, he's a hypocrite, he's a megalomaniac, and he's delusional, which, really, those four qualities aren't good for a president." She showed off an op-ed piece she had submitted to the Washington Post urging Republicans to rally around one candidate to counter Trump. She said she hoped that candidate would be Ohio Governor John Kasich. Kyle Baer said he liked Clinton but still would not vote for her if he were old enough. "The only thing I have against her is that she's already been a resident of the White House before, and I don't think she should be a resident again," he said. (Reporting by Vanessa Johnston, writing by Ian Simpson; Editing by Richard Chang)
Tunis (AFP) - The health minister in Libya's internationally recognised government on Friday demanded the release of Libyan funds frozen abroad, saying the situation in his violence-ridden country was "dramatic".

"The health situation in Libya is dramatic. We are currently unable to buy what is needed to treat the sick and wounded," health minister Reida el-Oakley said at a press conference at the UN mission's headquarters in Tunis.

"It's ridiculous that Libya has to endure financial difficulties in order to ensure supplies of medicines for its people when billions of dollars are blocked" abroad, he said.

Oakley said even just "one percent" of such blocked funds would be enough to buy "medicines for Libyans for a year".

In Tunisia, for example, he said there were some $295 million in frozen funds, and deplored the fact that approaches to the Tunisian central bank for more than a year had yielded nothing.

"Waiting for the establishment of a consensus government is a false pretext used by countries holding Libyan money," he said.

Oakley urged "the international community to intervene" to help unblock these funds. "This is a humanitarian responsibility," he said.

Chaos has engulfed Libya since the 2011 NATO-backed ouster of dictator Moamer Kadhafi, and rival administrations are being urged to sign up to a UN-brokered national unity government to help restore stability.

The internationally recognised government in which Oakley is a minister is based in the far east of the country, while an Islamist militia-backed administration operates in the capital Tripoli.

The representative of the World Health Organization in Libya, Sayed Jaffar Hussain, was also at the press conference and said $50 million in immediate funding was needed.

"The world is interested in conflict zones in Iraq and Syria but forgets about Libya. It is a crisis that must be addressed. Children are not vaccinated and women give birth in their homes," he said.

In January, Oakley said that persistent fighting in Libya had forced the closure or partial breakdown of 60 to 70 percent of its hospitals and that the country needed $3 million (2.7 million euros) per day to buy medicine.

Last October, the United Nations said that in a country of 6.3 million, "2.44 million people are in need of protection and some form of humanitarian assistance".
Rome (AFP) - Planning is at an advanced stage, special forces are already on the ground and air power assets are being moved within range: a new Western military intervention in Libya is edging ever closer.

But a long-anticipated move against offshoots of the Islamic State group remains on hold as long as Libya has not formed a unified government with the authority to ask for help to stem the extremist group's growth.

The legitimacy of any intervention is a delicate issue and key for Italy, which has agreed to lead a UN-mandated international stabilisation force into its troubled former colony provided it also has credible cover from a national authority.

Hence the hasty reaction from Italian officials when Brigadier General Donald Bolduc, the commander of US special-operations forces in Africa, let slip this week that a "coalition coordination centre" was already up and running in Rome with a view to eliminating the IS threat in Libya.

Domenico Rossi, number two in the Italian defence ministry, was quick to fire off a terse rebuttal. "We are awaiting the formation of a Libyan government, there is no 'war room'" Rossi tweeted.

Handfuls of US, British and French special forces have already been spotted in Libya.

And a contingent of around 50 Italians is about to join them, Il Corriere della Sera reported Thursday, citing a classified order signed by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi last month.

The secret services have been tasked with evaluating the balance of forces on the ground, providing intelligence and perhaps weapons and communications tools to potential allies against IS.

- Action needed urgently -

The group controls significant territory around the central city of Sirte and also has forces in the eastern city of Benghazi and, to the west of Tripoli, around Sabratha, where a US air strike aimed at an alleged IS training camp left some 50 people dead on February 19.

That attack was carried out with the use of British airbases. The US has since secured agreement from Italy that a base in Sicily can be used for drone strikes against IS in Libya and French aircraft carrier the Charles de Gaulle has been redeployed from the Gulf to the Mediterranean, officially for training exercises with Egypt.

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In Sabratha, the commander of a group loyal to the Fajr Libya (Libyan Dawn) coalition, told AFP that British forces had been been in touch with local militias and that he anticipated a campaign against IS starting soon.

IS's presence in Libya has become an increasing source of concern to Western governments wary of a repeat of Paris-style attacks on their soil.

The group is estimated to have between 3,000 and 5,000 fighters in the Sirte region, including Tunisian, Sudanese, Yemeni and Nigerian nationals.

"It is urgent to act," said Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni, a prominent critic of the 2011 NATO-led intervention in Libya which led to the current chaos in the country.

"We have already seen how illusory can be the benefits of intervention without a medium to long-term perspective. We have to avoid repeating the errors of the past by acting precipitately."

-- 'A viable partner on the ground' --

US officials said the currently-stalled attempts to establish a sole Libyan authority would have to be completed before any action could be contemplated.

"There has to be a viable partner on the ground to work with," a US defence source said.

"I don't think there is an interest in attacking blindly without a viable partner."

As things stand, the internationally recognised government based at Tobruk in eastern Libya has said it must have a veto on any intervention while its Islamist-influenced rival in Tripoli says it would regard military action as tantamount to an invasion.

With the stabilisation force envisaged at around 6,000 troops maximum, it seems likely any anti-IS campaign would be largely conducted from the air and designed to back up local groups seeking to oust the Islamist group from Libya.

"A military occupation would be absurd, has never been considered and certainly remains ruled out," insisted Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti.

But there was also a word of warning from a close Libya watcher. "Experience elsewhere has clearly shown air strikes are not enough. Without ground forces, national or international, they will not work," warned Alshiabani Abuhamoud.
Beirut (AFP) - A string of major drug busts in Syria and Lebanon has drawn new attention to the trade in captagon, an illegal substance that has flourished in the chaos of Syria's war.

Security forces in both countries have clamped down in recent months on exports of the psychostimulant, produced in swathes of Syrian and Lebanese territory where government oversight is lax or non-existent.

"When the Syrian crisis started, Lebanon and Syria were transformed into a gateway to smuggle captagon," a Lebanese security source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"The substance wasn't invented in the past five years -- but that's when smuggling operations flourished, so Lebanon became an exporting country," he said.

Captagon is classified by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime as an "amphetamine-type stimulant" and usually blends amphetamines, caffeine and other substances.

On December 30, Lebanese authorities said they, in coordination with Saudi Arabia, had seized 12 million captagon capsules and arrested the "mastermind" of a cell exporting them to the Gulf.

And in October, Lebanon arrested a Saudi prince and four other Saudi nationals for attempting to smuggle out nearly two tonnes of captagon via Beirut airport, in one of the country's largest busts.

- 'Extraordinary energy' -

General Maamun Ammuri, head of Syria's Drug Enforcement Agency, said authorities had seized shipments amounting to 24 million captagon capsules in 2015 alone.

Some five million capsules were discovered en route from Syria's Mediterranean port of Tartus to Kuwait, and other "large amounts" were confiscated along the Lebanese and Turkish borders, Ammuri said.

In war-torn Syria, authorities say captagon production occurs largely in areas outside government control, including northern Aleppo and on the outskirts of the capital.

"Our documents indicate that drug traffickers are terrorist groups with two goals: first, to spread this poison in areas under the control of the Islamic State group to fund themselves and buy weapons," said Ammuri.

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"And second, for its fighters to use so that they become numb to their own criminal activities, like beheadings and executions," he added.

A former opposition fighter who is now in Lebanon as a refugee said he used to take captagon with his fellow fighters "to eliminate fatigue and fear so we could stay up longer."

"It made us brave and gave us extraordinary energy," he told AFP.

Another Syrian rebel said that "IS and (Al-Qaeda affiliate) Al-Nusra Front, as well as Islamist groups, forbid the use of these drugs because they're against Islamic law."

A third admitted that opposition factions produce captagon, but said it was strictly to generate funds for rebel groups and members were banned from partaking.

- $5-10 a pop -

In Lebanon, factories churning out captagon are largely based along the restive border with Syria, including the towns of Arsal, Flita, and Brital in the east and Wadi Khaled in the north, the security source said.

"Captagon factories don't need a lot of space. You could produce millions of capsules in a minivan without making any noise," a second security source in Lebanon said.

A captagon producer in Lebanon's vast east Bekaa Valley, on condition of anonymity, said dealers typically buy captagon from him in packages of 200 capsules.

"Producing captagon requires amphetamine, which you can get from ketone, in addition to rubbing alcohol and citric acid," he said.

He dries the ingredients and transfers them to a pressing machine typically used to make hard candy.

From there, the drugs are transported to Lebanon's seaside airport to be smuggled to eager consumers, mostly in the Gulf.

"Captagon isn't popular in Lebanon, and the level of demand does not compare to the other kinds of drugs because of its price -- between $5 and $10 per pill," the Lebanese security source said.

"Gulf countries are the number one captagon consumers, especially Saudi Arabia. Most of the smuggling operations that are busted are heading to Saudi.

"The reason they consume this drug in particular is their belief that it is a sexual stimulant," he added.

The Saudi interior ministry announced in November that it had seized more than 22.4 million capsules of amphetamines.

Convicted drug traffickers in Saudi Arabia are sentenced to death.
By John Clarke

BELTSVILLE, Md. (Reuters) - A Maryland teaching assistant accused of filming sex videos of children at an elementary school pleaded not guilty on Friday to 13 federal child pornography charges.

The suspect, Deonte Carraway, 22, of Glenarden, Maryland, was indicted this week for allegedly directing videos involving children at a school in Glenarden, a Washington suburb. Authorities have confirmed a total of 17 victims.

"Yes, sir," was Carraway's only comment when asked by Magistrate Judge William Connelly if he understood the charges and his rights. He wore an orange prison uniform, the top of his hair dyed blond.

Carraway faces 13 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor that occurred between Oct. 11 and Feb. 1. Prosecutors have said the charges involve 11 victims aged nine to 12.

If convicted, Carraway faces 15 to 30 years in prison for each count. His attorney had no comment, and no trial date has been set.

Carraway, who also was a church choir director, worked as an aide and then a volunteer at Judge Sylvania Woods Elementary School until his arrest in February.

Carraway is accused of filming more than 60 sexually explicit videos of minors. Police say many of the videos were taken during the school day on school grounds.

Police were notified after a father discovered pornographic images on his son's phone.

State prosecutors also have charged Carraway with sexual abuse, child pornography and assault. The Prince George's County school board is facing a class-action lawsuit over the allegations involving Carraway.

(Editing by Ian Simpson and Andrew Hay)
Nouakchott (AFP) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called Friday for Mauritania's help in a territorial dispute between Morocco and a Western Sahara separatist group that has displaced tens of thousands in decades of fighting.

"Making progress on the situation in Western Sahara is also of importance here too," he said, referring to Mauritania. "Numerous refugees share the same culture and family ties with Mauritanians."

The United Nations has been trying to oversee an independence referendum for Western Sahara since 1992 after a ceasefire was reached to end a war that broke out when Morocco sent its forces to the former Spanish territory in 1975.

Morocco claimed the entirety of Western Sahara in 1979 when Mauritania withdrew from the territory, which sits on the west African country's northeastern border and is home to around half a million people.

"I intend to make my contribution to the negotiations that are under way to settle this long-standing disagreement and lend my support to the talks so that the Sahrawi refugees can return to Western Sahara with dignity," Ban said.

The UN chief met President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz on Friday in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott as part of a tour of West and North African countries.

Tens of thousands of refugees from Western Sahara live in refugee camps in Algeria, which were built when the fighting began.

Ban was due visit the Tindouf camp in western Algeria on Saturday and hold talks with leaders of the Polisario Front, who are fighting for an independent homeland.

Local Sahrawi people are campaigning for the right to self-determination, but Morocco considers the territory as a part of the kingdom and insists that its sovereignty cannot be challenged.

A UN mission, MINURSO, is based in the Western Sahara city of Laayoune, where previous UN chiefs Kofi Annan and Boutros Boutros-Ghali have visited during their mandates.
As the number one cause of death in the United States, the statistics regarding heart disease are staggering. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 610,000 individuals die of heart disease each and every year. Put differently, one out of every 4 deaths in America can be traced back to heart disease.

Though heart disease encompasses a wide range of heart-related ailments and conditions, it generally refers to a condition where plaque builds up inside the walls of the arteries, thereby decreasing and, at times, blocking the flow of blood, a scenario which can result in a heart attack or even a stroke.

That heart disease is so prevalent in the United States shouldnt come as much of a surprise, especially given our nations affinity for soda, ginormous portion sizes, and almost anything deep fried. We are, after all, the land of the chicken biscuit taco, a hot dog wrapped in fried chicken, and the bizarre hot dog/hamburger hybrid sandwich.

DONT MISS: A secret Google search feature every Android user should know about

As part of a larger effort to lower the problems associated with plaque build-up, the FDA recently approved a new device that enables surgeons to not only see inside of blood vessels, but to actually remove dangerous plaque without doing any damage to the blood vessels themselves.

Developed by a California company called Avinger, the new tool, called Pantheris, is designed to treat patients suffering from peripheral artery disease (PAD). As Engadget notes, the device has a built-in camera that lets doctors image arteries in real-time which then allows them to shave away plaque with more precision than ever before.

Avingers press release reads in part:

Peripheral artery disease affects nearly 20 million adults in the U.S.1 and over 200 million people globally.2 PAD is caused by a build-up of plaque in the arteries that blocks blood flow to the legs and feet. Often dismissed as normal signs of aging, symptoms of PAD include painful cramping, numbness, or discoloration in the legs or feet. PAD can become so severe and difficult to address with traditional treatments that patients and physicians often resort to invasive bypass surgeries, which can result in even greater health risks and lengthy, painful recoveries. In severe cases, patients often face amputation, the worst-case scenario associated with PAD.  Atherectomy is a proven treatment that relieves pain and restores blood flow, and Pantheris has been eagerly anticipated in the clinical community because it is a leap forward in atherectomy technology compared to what we have had in the past, said Thomas Davis, M.D., of St. John Hospital and Medical Center in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. Now, for the first time, we are able to see exactly where we are removing the plaque, and are better able to leave the healthy artery alone

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The photo below, courtesy of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute illustrates the degree to which bloodfloow can be restricted by plaque, a material comprised of fat, cholesterol, calcium, fibrous tissue, and other substances.

peripheral artery disease

The video animation below showcases the Pantheris in action.

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More from BGR: How to watch the Fox News GOP debate online tonight at 9PM EST

This article was originally published on BGR.com
Donald Trump Megyn Kelly

At the Fox News Republican presidential debate Thursday night, moderator Megyn Kelly played a brutal highlight reel of Donald Trump's contradictory statements on foreign policy.

"Mr. Trump, one of the things people love about you is they believe you tell it like it is," Kelly told Trump, the GOP frontrunner. "But time and time again in this campaign, you have actually told the voters one thing, only to reverse yourself in weeks or sometimes days."

Fox then showed clips in which Trump talked about the war in Afghanistan, the refugee crisis, and former President George W. Bush's decision to go to war in Iraq.

In the first clip, Trump was asked about whether American troops should stay on the ground in Afghanistan.

"We made a terrible mistake getting involved there in the first place," Trump said in the clip. "That thing will collapse in about two seconds after they leave, just as I said that Iraq was going to collapse after we leave."

The clip went on to play a subsequent interview in which Trump was confronted with his Afghanistan comments. Trump claimed that he "never said that."

In the next part of the video reel, Trump took seemingly opposing positions on accepting refugees fleeing the civil war in Syria. And in the third example of Trump flip-flops, Kelly showed Trump declaring that Bush "lied" to get the US into the Iraq War, only to later equivocate on the subject.

"And there are many other examples," Kelly said after the clips finished airing. "So how is any of this 'telling it like it is'?"

Screen Shot 2016 03 03 at 9.53.46 PM

Trump first addressed the Afghanistan question, saying he misspoke.

"I did mean Iraq," he told Kelly, going on to explain at length his opposition to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003  opposition that has been questioned by recent news reports.

Trump then addressed the question of accepting Syrian refugees in the US. In the clips, Trump had seemingly evolved to a firmer stance against refugee placement in the US over the course of a day.

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"First time the question had been put to me, it was very early on, the migration had just started, and I had heard that the number was a very, very small number," Trump said. "By the second day, two or three days later, I heard the number was going to be thousands and thousands of people."

Trump then talked about the need to build a safe zone so refugees could stay in their own country.

"When I first heard the question" about whether the US should accept Syrian refugees, "the migration had just started," Trump said. "I was very much like, OK, by the time I went back and studied it ... I changed my tune, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that."

Kelly didn't let up, noting that some might question whether Trump had a "strong core" if he reversed his positions so often and so quickly.

"Megyn, I have a very strong core," Trump said. "But I've never seen a successful person who wasn't flexible, who didn't have a certain degree of flexibility."

Gov. John Kasich of Ohio joined in the debate, saying, "The reason why people are so upset in this country is because politicians all the time tell them what they want to hear ... and they don't deliver on those promises."

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who sparred with Trump all night, piled on.

"There is a difference between flexibility and telling people whatever you think you need to say to get them to do what they want you to do," he said.

Here's video of the highlight reel and Kelly questioning Trump:

NOW WATCH: 'Don't worry about it little Marco: Trump and Rubio had some heated exchanges at the GOP debate





More From Business Insider


DETROIT (Reuters) - Michigan's Department of Environmental Quality failed to adequately monitor the city of Flint's switch of the source of its drinking water, which later became contaminated with dangerously high levels of lead, the state's auditor general said on Friday.

Flint, a predominantly black city of 100,000 about 60 miles (100 km) northwest of Detroit, was under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager when it switched the source of its tap water from Detroit's system to the Flint River in April 2014 to save money. It switched back last October after tests found high levels of lead in blood samples taken from children.

Water from the Flint River, which was more corrosive than Detroit's, leached lead from the city's pipes, posing widespread health risks.

The scandal has sparked national outrage and led to calls for the resignation of Governor Rick Snyder.

The Michigan DEQ initially failed to require Flint to use anti-corrosion chemicals in its water, according to the auditor's report.

"DEQ needs to improve its oversight and monitoring of community water supplies that implement a new water source or treatment process to ensure that DEQ meets its mission of promoting wise management of water resources to support healthy communities," the audit said, adding that failure to do so in Flint "may have contributed to elevated lead levels in the drinking water system."

In December, Snyder, who has repeatedly apologized for the state's poor handling of the crisis, accepted the resignation of DEQ chief Dan Wynant. Last month, Liane Shekter Smith, head of DEQ's drinking water and municipal assistance unit, was fired.

Snyder will testify before Congress on the issue on March 17.

Keith Creagh, who took over the DEQ, said on Friday the agency appreciated the state auditor's "thorough review."

"The department is committed to developing and implementing process and program improvements to address the findings in the report, Creagh said.

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However, the DEQ, in a response in the report, also called the federal lead and copper rule "ambiguous." The state agency said from now on it would require anyone changing their water source to have corrosion control treatments in place at that time.

The audit criticized the DEQ and the office of drinking water for relying too heavily on federal rules. "Throughout this audit, we became aware of many instances in which sole reliance on the (federal lead and copper rules) may not serve the best interest of Michigan citizens," according to the report.

(Reporting by Ben Klayman; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
BHP Billiton's credit rating has been cut by Moody's as the industry battles weak commodity prices and softer demand, just a month after Standard & Poor's also downgraded the global mining giant.

The Anglo-Australian firm last month reported a first-half net loss of US$5.67 billion and slashed dividends amid the income slump hitting miners on the back of a global economic slowdown, led by China.

"Moody's views current weak commodity prices and softer demand as representing a fundamental shift in the operating environment beyond a normal cyclical downturn," the ratings agency said in a statement late Thursday.

BHP's rating was downgraded to A3 from A1 and placed on a negative outlook.

"As a result... Moody's expects BHP Billiton's credit metrics to remain substantially weaker, over the next 12-24 months, than historical levels and to be more appropriately aligned with a rating of A3."

BHP said in a statement that the company "remains committed to maintaining its strong balance sheet through the cycle".

The ratings cut followed S&P's decision in February to cut BHP's rating to A from A+, also citing a downturn in the commodities sector, with the cost of key materials such as oil, iron ore, copper and aluminium at multi-year lows.

"When you lose nearly Aus$8 billion in profits from price movements that are beyond your control and the industry is still somewhat unstable, then you would expect that the rating houses would have moved to downgrade BHP's credit rating," Fat Prophets resources analyst David Lennox told AFP.

"They've still kept it within investment grade, however."

Moody's investment-grade rating is usually seen to be at least Baa3, with lower credit ratings raising the cost of borrowing. A "junk" rating is Ba1 or lower.

Major miners such as BHP and Rio Tinto have ramped up output, cut costs and dumped their progressive dividend policy, in which shareholders are given gradually higher payouts, to combat the headwinds in the industry.

Meanwhile, Moody's said the US$6.2 billion settlement by Samarco, co-owned by BHP and Brazil's Vale, announced Thursday over a fatal mine disaster in Brazil "lessens the uncertainty around potential liabilities for BHP Billiton".

Moody's said it expected BHP to be able to fund its share of the settlement's payments "within the rating parameters" should Samarco not be able to meet the obligations.
Conservation group Greenpeace warned on Friday that the environmental impact of the Fukushima nuclear crisis five years ago on nearby forests is just beginning to be seen and will remain a source of contamination for years to come.

The March 11, 2011 magnitude 9.0 undersea earthquake off Japan's northeastern coast sparked a massive tsunami that swamped cooling systems and triggered reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Radiation spread over a wide area and forced tens of thousands of people from their homes -- many of whom will likely never return -- in the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986.

As the fifth anniversary of the disaster approaches, Greenpeace said signs of mutations in trees and DNA-damaged worms were beginning to appear, while "vast stocks of radiation" mean that forests cannot be decontaminated.

In a report, Greenpeace cited "apparent increases in growth mutations of fir trees... heritable mutations in pale blue grass butterfly populations" as well as "DNA-damaged worms in highly contaminated areas", it said.

The report came as the government intends to lift many evacuation orders in villages around the Fukushima plant by March 2017, if its massive decontamination effort progresses as it hopes.

For now, only residential areas are being cleaned in the short-term, and the worst-hit parts of the countryside are being omitted, a recommendation made by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

But such selective efforts will confine returnees to a relatively small area of their old hometowns, while the strategy could lead to re-contamination as woodlands will act as a radiation reservoir, with pollutants washed out by rains, Greenpeace warned.

The conservation group said its report relies largely on research published in peer-reviewed international journals.

But "most of the findings in it have never been covered outside of the close circles of academia", report author Kendra Ulrich told AFP.

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The Japanese government's push to resettle contaminated areas and also restart nuclear reactors in Japan that had been shut down in the aftermath of the crisis are a cause for concern, Ulrich said, stressing it and the IAEA are using the opportunity of the anniversary to play down radiation impacts.

"In the interest of human rights -- especially for victims of the disaster -- it is ever more urgent to ensure accurate and complete information is publicly available and the misleading rhetoric of these entities challenged," she said.

Scientists, including a researcher who found mutations of Fukushima butterflies, have warned, however, that more data are needed to determine the ultimate impact of the Fukushima accident on animals in general.

Researchers and medical doctors have so far denied that the accident at Fukushima would cause an elevated incidence of cancer or leukaemia, diseases that are often associated with radiation exposure.

But they also noted that long-term medical examination is needed especially due to concerns over thyroid cancer among young people -- a particular problem for people following the Chernobyl catastrophe.
NASAs Scott Kelly has returned to Earth after a record-breaking stint on the International Space Station - and theres one very obvious difference.

He is two inches taller.

Its far from the only effect on Kellys body after 340 days in space - but it is, thankfully, temporary.

The lack of gravity on the Space Station causes spinal discs to expand - making astronauts temporarily taller.

Astronauts have to readjust to gravity - and Kelly said he was going through a reconditioning programme to help him move around on Earth.

In the past, astronauts often left the Space Station with weakened bones and muscles due to a lack of use in space.



Now, Kelly said, astronauts have to work out on exercise machines such as exercise bikes for two hours per day.

Kelly said The workouts have positively impacted the astronauts bones and muscles, and they are coming back in really good shape. But some are losing bone and muscle but not as much as we saw in the early days.

Kellys return to Earth marks the start of intensive study for NASA. Scott Kelly has a twin, Mark, who remained earthbound during Scotts record-breaking stint on the Space Station.

NASA hopes to learn more about the effects of long-term space travel by comparing the two twins - gathering data which will be crucial for any mission to Mars.
Lagos (AFP) - Nigeria's military said on Thursday it had rescued 63 people after dislodging Boko Haram Islamists from villages in the country's restive northeast.

Five Boko Haram fighters were also killed at their hideouts in Lawin Meleri, Matiri Bulaka and Aljeri villages during the clampdown, army spokesman Sani Usman said in a statement.

"During the operation, they (troops) killed five Boko Haram terrorists and also rescued 63 persons held captive by the terrorists," he said, adding that arms and ammunitions were recovered.

The military said government troops also destroyed a Boko Haram "spiritual power base" at the Alagarno forest in Borno state, the heartland of the insurgency.

"The troops, based on tip-off, conducted a clearance operation around Alagarno forest general area, destroying terrorists camps at Mosa, Ariwuzumari and Kagalmari as well as Missene, Joba, Yajiwa and Sansan," the military said.

"During the operations, the troops were able to clear all the camps, killing quite a number of terrorists and recovered Boko Haram terrorists' flags hoisted on some premises, destroyed their logistics base and recovered 31 motorcycles, assorted foodstuffs, a donkey and a pick up van," the statement said.

A cache of arms and ammunitions were also recovered during the operation, it said.

Since 2009, the Boko Haram insurgency to carve out an Islamic state in northeast Nigeria has left at least 17,000 dead and left some 2.6 million others homeless.

A regional force involving troops from Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin is to deploy to fight the extremists.
Abuja (AFP) - Nigeria is to break up its state-run oil and gas firm into 30 separate companies, the country's junior oil minister announced, as part of wider plans to overhaul the corruption-ridden operation.

Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu told an energy conference in Abuja on Thursday the move was designed to make the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) more efficient.

"For the first time we are unbundling the subset of the NNPC to 30 independent companies with their own managing directors," said Kachikwu, who is also group managing director of the NNPC.

"Titles like 'group executive directors' are going to disappear and in their place you are going to have chief executive officers and they are going to take responsibilities for their titles."

Reform of the NNPC began last year when President Muhammadu Buhari sacked the entire board and appointed Kachikwu, an experienced oil executive formerly with ExxonMobil.

He has promised to uproot the firm's "anything goes" culture, overhaul opaque practices and warned of sackings for under-performance.

Losses at the NNPC have been reduced from 160 billion naira ($797 million, 723 million euros) to 3.0 billion naira by January this year, Kachikwu told delegates, promising a profit by the end of the year.

Buhari, who was elected last year on an anti-corruption ticket, has vowed to recover what he said were "mind-boggling" sums of money looted from government coffers in previous administrations.

Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil producer and relies on the sector for the majority of its revenue but the country has been hit hard by the fall in global crude prices since mid-2014.

Kachikwu said some oil-producing countries would meet in Moscow on March 20 to discuss a way out of the slump.
BELFAST (Reuters) - Northern Ireland is likely to suffer more attacks by dissident groups ahead of the anniversary of the anti-British 1916 Easter Rising, the most dramatic chapter of Ireland's independence struggle, police said on Friday following a car bomb in Belfast. "I believe another attack is highly likely," Assistant Chief Constable Stephen Martin told a news conference. "There are people within dissident republican groupings who want to mark this centenary by killing prison officers, police officers or soldiers... We believe the threat is extremely high, at the upper end of severe." He was speaking after one prison officer was injured early on Friday morning when a device exploded beneath his van. (Reporting by William James; editing by Padraic Halpin)
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Cuba later this month will not be affected by the cancellation of tentative plans for Secretary of State John Kerry to visit the island nation for human rights talks beforehand, the White House said on Friday. The top U.S. diplomat told a congressional hearing on Feb. 23 that he might be in Cuba for a dialogue on human rights before the president's scheduled trip March 21-22. But officials said on Thursday that Kerry's visit had been cancelled amid concerns over Cuba's human rights record. The White House said on Friday that Kerry's decision would not affect Obama's visit, and that Kerry would travel to Cuba with the president. (Reporting by David Alexander; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
Georgetown (Guyana) (AFP) - A prison riot in Guyana that killed 17 inmates has ended in a tentative truce hours after violence flared anew, officials said.

The riot first began Wednesday when inmates angered by a search and confiscation of cellphones set fires in one part of the prison, located in the capital of Georgetown.

On Thursday, police and prison guards moved in, setting off battles with inmates armed with pieces of wooden bed frames, officials said.

Prisoners began the violence anew Friday morning, setting another fire, breaking out of cells and lobbing teargas canisters back at police and prison officers.

Soon thereafter a delegation of more than 12 shackled and handcuffed inmates were escorted from the jail to participate in closed-door talks with the South American country's minister of state and public security minister.

Following the hour-long discussions, Minister of State Joseph Harmon said that "a gentleman's agreement on both sides" had resulted.

"They have given us a commitment that when they get back into the prison that they will speak with the other prisoners to ensure that there is no further escalation in what is taking place this morning," Harmon said.

"We are going to try to keep our end of the bargain and they are going to keep theirs," he added.

Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan said the prisoners appeared to have "very credible" concerns about the conditions at the overcrowded facility.

Increasing the number of telephone calls they can receive, improving food and ending inhumane treatment are issues that will be addressed, he said.

Ramjattan added that prisoners would be asked to testify before a board about the conditions.

No one was killed when violence erupted again on Friday, but at least four inmates were injured and taken to the hospital.

On Thursday a divisional police commander said 16 people were killed and that bodies were being transferred to a mortuary. That number has since increased to 17.

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Several died of smoke inhalation and hospital officials said at least one person died of burns, according to the commander.

The government ordered nearby schools closed during the riot and asked parents to pick up their children.

Armed police and soldiers stood guard Friday around the prison and nearby streets to prevent onlookers and inmates' family members from approaching.

Georgetown Prison has a 700-person capacity but holds just over 1,200 prisoners.
By Mehreen Zahra-Malik ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's upper house of parliament on Friday rejected a bill to privatise the cash-strapped national airline, another delay for the country's stalled privatisation agenda under the terms of an IMF bailout. Loss-making state enterprises drain about $5 billion from state coffers every year, around an eighth of the government's fiscal revenues of about four trillion rupees ($38.2 billion) last year. The bill now goes to a joint session of parliament next week, where it is expected to pass, because Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs ruling party holds a majority in the combined assembly. "Government advisers have failed to present a revival plan for Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), instead their complete focus is on privatisation," opposition Senator Saleem Mandviwalla said in a statement. The privatisation of 68 state-owned companies, among them loss-making enterprises such as PIA, is a crucial part of the 2013 IMF bailout and was meant to put the country's finances back on track. The government has made some progress, for instance by raising more than $1 billion from the stake of its entire stake in Habib Bank Ltd, but has struggled to find buyers for most of the companies in the face of opposition from labour unions and other political parties. The PIA sell-off required amending a 1956 law that barred private ownership of the national airline. Instead of an amendment, the government on Dec. 5 issued a presidential decree to turn the national flag carrier into a limited company. The move prompted bitter criticism from political opponents who accused the government of bypassing parliament by opting for a decree over an amendment that would require lawmakers to vote. The ruling party then moved the PIA Corporation Conversion Bill 2015 in the lower house of parliament in January, where it passed. On Friday, however, the Senate rejected the bill, with votes from the opposition Pakistan People's Party, which has a majority in the upper house. The PPP opposes the privatisation of PIA and Pakistan Steel Mills, saying they can be restructured and revived, rather than sold off. (Writing by Mehreen Zahra-Malik.)
(Reuters) - Pepco Holdings Inc, which is awaiting regulatory approval from Washington DC for its acquisition by Exelon Corp, said the two utilities have not extended the deadline to close the deal, but were in talks with state authorities. Pepco's statement on Friday comes a week before a deadline set by Washington's Public Service Commission for the companies to accept the revisions it has proposed as conditions for approving the deal. The commission on Feb. 26 gave the two companies until March 11 to accept its proposed conditions. But, Washington's mayor and the city's Office of the People's Counsel on Tuesday rejected the proposed changes. Exelon and Pepco have already won approval from Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia and the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Both companies, which reached a $6.83 billion merger agreement in April 2014, are continuing talks with the DC government and other parties about the commission's order, Pepco said in a regulatory filing. (http://1.usa.gov/1TYruSV) (Reporting by Amrutha Gayathri in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)
LIMA (Reuters) - Peru barred a presidential hopeful from next month's elections because of vote-buying allegations and also moved toward disqualifying likely runoff contender Julio Guzman in a surprise decision that could turn the race on its head. Cesar Acuna, a wealthy former governor, and Guzman, a centrist economist, both said they would file appeals by Monday. The National Jury of Elections can overrule the decisions made Friday by a lower electoral panel. Guzman, seen by polls as tying front-runner Keiko Fujimori in a likely June runoff, was allowed to stay in the race Feb. 24 after he fulfilled a series of technical requirements related to his party's registration. But those same technicalities were cited by the Special Jury of Elections, which approves presidential tickets, in accepting a citizen's petition to declare Guzman's candidacy "inadmissible" on Friday, a widely unexpected move that again threatens to upend his bid. The possibility of throwing out two candidates weeks ahead of April 10 elections has raised questions about how free and fair the vote will be. Guzman summoned his supporters to a rally in downtown Lima and said he would ask the courts to step in. "This is a strike against democracy and anticipated fraud," he said on Facebook. Acuna said he would continue campaigning until his appeal was heard. A local TV channel had broadcast footage of him promising cash to a handicapped man for medical care and to a crowd in a shantytown so they could build a levee. He repeated that it was merely humanitarian aid. His lawyers have argued that a prohibition on donations by candidates was not in force at the time. Guzman and Acuna had climbed in polls on the back of voter frustration with the other leading candidates, all well-known politicians who have sought the presidency at least once before, including two ex-presidents and Fujimori, the daughter of jailed ex-president Alberto Fujimori. Definitively barring either could boost lesser-known candidates who have edged up in recent polls, including leftist lawmaker Veronika Mendoza and left-leaning former Lima mayoral candidate Alfredo Barnechea. Fujimori could potentially pick up poor and rural votes from Acuna supporters, although probably not enough to give her the 50 percent needed to win outright. Acuna had 6 percent of voter intent in an Ipsos poll last month, down to fourth place from double-digit figures that had ranked him second before a plagiarism scandal derailed his rise. Fujimori had 30 percent and Guzman 18 percent, and the two were virtually tied in a run-off scenario. (Reporting By Mitra Taj; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Bill Trott)
By Keith Wallis and Manuel Mogato SINGAPORE/MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines Coast Guard has banned a North Korean freighter from leaving port until safety deficiencies, found during a security and safety inspection of the vessel, are rectified, officials said on Friday. The inspection was ordered by the Coast Guard headquarters in Manila after the vessel was included on a list of 31 ships covered by harsher sanctions on North Korea that were approved by the United Nations over Pyongyang's nuclear program. The 6,830 deadweight tonne (dwt) general cargo ship Jin Teng was one of the first sanctioned North Korean ships to enter a foreign port since the tightened sanctions were passed unanimously by the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday. Three Coast Guard officials, accompanied by a dogs trained to detect explosives, searched the ship and checked crew documents on Thursday after the ship docked at Subic Bay, a former U.S. naval base and now commercial port, a coast guard commander told Reuters. Nothing suspicious was found on the ship or its 21 North Korean crew, although several minor safety problems including issues with firefighting and electrical equipment meant the ship could not leave port until they were fixed, the commander said. "Our headquarters directed that as this vessel was on the (U.N.) list then it should be inspected thoroughly," said the commander, who declined to give his name because he was not authorized to the media. The ship, which is registered in Sierra Leone, was continuing to unload its cargo of palm kernel, he added. ASSET FREEZE If a ship is designated by the U.N., its owners would find it difficult to get the vessel insured, refueled or even call at foreign ports, industry experts said. "I doubt that anyone will touch the ships as far as international insurers go and they may be prevented from trading to most places as a result," said one shipping lawyer. But a second lawyer said ships such as the Jin Teng might be able to continue some trade because, although the U.N. Security Council voted to impose tougher sanctions, it would be up to individual member countries to pass legislation to enforce them. "U.N. security council resolutions aren't always directly applicable in member states: it's up to member states to implement them into domestic law," said the lawyer, specializing in international sanctions, who declined to be named citing client confidentiality. The Jin Teng has called at Palembang, in Indonesia, and Kaohsiung, in Taiwan, since the beginning of this year, ship tracking data available on the Reuters Eikon Terminal showed. The registered owner is Golden Soar Development, which has an address in Hong Kong's Tsim Sha Tsui tourist district, according to the Equasis shipping database hosted by the French transport ministry, although there was no telephone listing for the company. The Jin Teng is among seven of the targeted ships that are owned by companies in Hong Kong and China, according to shipping databases. The U.N. resolution said the 31 ships were "economic resources controlled or operated by Ocean Maritime Management and therefore subject to the asset freeze". Ocean Maritime Management was blacklisted by the U.N. in July 2014 after the North Korean freighter Chong Chon Gang was detained in Panama in 2013 for carrying arms, including two MiG-21 jet fighters, hidden under thousands of tonnes of sugar. While most of the ships have operated between ports in China and North Korea, ship tracking data showed several have called at ports around Asia during the last six months. (Reporting by Keith Wallis; Editing by Alex Richardson)
WARSAW (Reuters) - The leader of Poland's ruling conservatives said an opinion from a panel of the Council of Europe was "legally absurd" and called the panel "discredited", after it said changes to the country's top court had undermined the rule of law. Though not a member of government, Jaroslaw Kaczynski is widely seen as Poland's main decision-maker, and his comments signal that his party is unlikely to back down on the court reforms. Poland's ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party has passed a bill that increases the number of judges needed to make rulings and changes the order in which cases are heard. It has also overruled court appointments made by the previous government. Those changes have put Warsaw on a collision course with the European Union. If the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, decides Poland's new rules breach EU standards, Poland could lose its EU voting rights. The commission is expected to make its decision based largely the recommendations by the Venice Commission, the Council of Europe human rights panel. The recommendations are due on March 11-12. Critics say the changes, which prompted Brussels to launch the rule of law procedure for the first time in its history, have paralyzed the court's work, making it difficult for judges to review, let alone challenge the government's legislation. Poland asked the Venice Commission to comment on the changes. A draft opinion, which was leaked to the media last week, said that the changes posed a threat to the rule of law in Poland. Commenting on the draft opinion for Polskie Radio Bialystok late on Thursday, Kaczynski appeared defiant, saying that Venice Commission "discredited itself" through the leak, and that its opinion would not be binding in any case. "Remember, these are opinions that are advisory in nature, or even less than advisory, and they don't bind us at all," Kaczynski said. "The content of this draft, because so far it's only a draft, but if taken seriously, it is simply legally absurd." (Reporting by Wiktor Szary, editing by Larry King)
Warsaw (AFP) - The surprise resignations of several key Polish generals have rocked the new conservative government, which is facing a barrage of criticism at home and abroad over a host of controversial reforms.

"Five generals have submitted their resignations over the last few days," Szczepan Gluszczak, spokesman for the general command of the Polish armed forces, told commercial television channel Polsat on Friday.

The generals quit just as tensions run high with Poland's Soviet-era master Russia.

The resignations came months ahead of a large NATO exercise in Poland, as well as the western defence alliance's next summit, set for July in Warsaw.

It is the latest hurdle to trip up the governing Law and Justice (PiS) party that came to power in October after eight years in opposition.

The PiS has introduced controversial reforms giving the government more control over the constitutional court, state media and other institutions in a move that has alarmed the European Union and inspired street demonstrations.

Critics also say the new government has weakened the economy and two global ratings agencies have responded with warnings.

Gluszczak did not specify who had resigned, but local media reported that the generals in question included joint staff chief Ireneusz Bartniak and the commanders of land forces, the navy and the armoured and airborne forces.

"We have (the) Anaconda (exercise) coming up and the NATO summit in Warsaw, and here we have commanders, the captains of the ships, fleeing," deputy defence minister Bartosz Kownacki said Friday, according to Polish news agency PAP.

He did not say why the generals had quit, but former defence minister Tomasz Siemoniak said "it's just the beginning of the end. The atmosphere is very bad" in the army.

Local media are speculating that the resignations could be in response to recent announcements by new Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz, who is on a crusade to stamp out all traces of the communist era.

Macierewicz wants to block promotions of servicemen who joined the army before the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, especially those who attended military schools in the Soviet Union.
Iraqi Christians, who fled the violence in Mosul after Islamic State militants took control of the area, carry a wooden cross on Friday in Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq. (Photo: Safin Hamed/AFP/Getty Images)

Pressure mounted Friday for President Obamas administration to formally accuse the so-called Islamic State of genocide, as an influential Catholic service organization said it will release a report next week detailing the extremist groups systematic atrocities against Christians.



The Knights of Columbus will make public a comprehensive and encyclopedic accounting of the genocidal atrocities committed against Christians in Iraq, Syria and the surrounding area by ISIS and its affiliates, the organizations vice president for communications, Andrew Walther, told Yahoo News by telephone. The Islamic State is also known as ISIS or ISIL.

The report will compile witness interviews, data collected on the ground in Iraq and Syria, information from church officials in Syria, public sources and documentation provided to the European Parliament for its genocide determination to lay out a very strong legal case or why the genocide label is appropriate and necessary, Walther said.

The Knights of Columbus will release the study on March 10 at a press conference in Washington, D.C.

Yahoo News was first to report last November that the administration was looking to invoke the genocide label, a dramatic step with uncertain political, legal and even military consequences. The plan drew controversy from the outset. The State Department looked at the time to limit the designation to the Islamic States openly declared plans to exterminate the Yazidi, a northern Iraq religious minority of about 500,000.

Christian groups and members of Congress quickly insisted that the Islamic States atrocities against Christians in Iraq and Syria amounted to genocide as well.

In December, the Knights of Columbus wrote a letter requesting a meeting with Secretary of State John Kerry to make their case for why the atrocities against Christians amounted to genocide. The meeting never happened, but State Department officials asked the organization to put together a dossier of evidence they could review. That led to the creation of the report to be released next week.

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Kerry said in late February that he would decide soon whether to declare that ISIS is guilty of genocide. Congress approved a measure late last year requiring him to make that determination by March 17. In August 2014, the senator turned top diplomat had said the Islamic States actions against Yazidi and Christians bear all the warning sings and hallmarks of genocide.

Displaced people from the minority Yazidi sect, fleeing violence from forces loyal to the Islamic State. (Photo: Rodi Said/Reuters)

Earlier this week, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs unanimously approved a resolution declaring that the Islamic State is guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide against the Yazidi, Christians and other ethnic and religious minorities. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, has declared that there is enough evidence to make the declaration. The Knights of Columbus have also secured some 45,000 signatures on an online petition pressing Kerry not to exclude Christians from the designation. Signatories include Republican presidential candidate Gov. John Kasich.

Yahoo News recently reported that the issue had become the subject of an intense debate inside the Obama administration.

Sources told Yahoo News that questions remain about whether the Islamic States actions fall short of genocide. Officials argue that, while the group has openly declared it aims to wipe out the Yazidi, its leaders have not said the same about Christians, even though it has targeted them with killings, kidnappings, the destruction of churches and other acts of violence.

Slideshow: IS likely committing genocide against Yazidi minority in Iraq

The practical impact of the genocide designation is unclear. Sources recently told Yahoo News that Pentagon officials worry that it would impose a moral obligation on the United States to take military steps to protect the afflicted populations, potentially taking resources away from the efforts to degrade and destroy ISIS.

The 1948 treaty that addresses the issue requires signatories like the United States to take steps to prevent and to punish genocide. It defines genocide as acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical (sic), racial or religious group. The question of intent is what has led U.S. officials to look at the contrast between ISIS leaders public statements about the Yazidi and those about Christians.

Either way, top Obama aides underline that the United States has hardly been idle when it comes to protecting those targeted by ISIS, with or without the genocide label.

It has significant consequences, and it matters for a whole variety of reasons, both legal and moral, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said early last month. But it doesnt change our response. And the fact is that this administration has been aggressive, even though that term has not been applied, in trying to protect religious minorities who are victims or potential victims of violence.
By Ludwig Burger FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German prosecutors said on Friday they were pressing charges against the chief executive, chairman and 12 other employees of potash and salt miner K+S over suspected illegal waste water disposal. The group has for years fought complaints by environmental groups and some local municipalities about the discharge of salty waste water from processing potash ore into fertilizer products. A judge told Reuters last month that prosecutors in the town of Meiningen, southeast of K+S's headquarters in the city of Kassel, had filed charges over suspected illegal waste disposal. K+S has previously said it had obtained approval from state mining authorities for waste water disposal and it was fully cooperating with the investigators. But in Friday's statement, prosecutors argued that those involved in the approval process, including three current and former mining authority employees, must have known that the expert opinion the clearance rested on was wrong about pollution levels. There must have been "at least a tacit understanding that the approval was legally not justifiable", the statement said, adding: "Approval by way of collusion" was as serious as not having approval in the first place. Prosecutors also said they would seek to claw back any profits obtained from the alleged misconduct. A K+S spokesman referred to a statement issued by the company on Thursday, which said a legal audit it had commissioned from an external law firm had produced no evidence of criminal conduct. The charges are directed at 14 employees of K+S, including the former and current chief executive, as well as further executive board members, a number of K+S staff, and also two employees and one former employee of the state of Thuringia mining authority, the prosecutors' office said. K+S's current CEO is Norbert Steiner, who succeeded current chairman Ralf Bethke in 2007. Neither Steiner or Bethke could be reached for comment. The regional court in Meiningen said on Friday that those charged would be heard before deciding whether the prosecutors' case will be accepted for trial. Weekly magazine WirtschaftsWoche said on Wednesday prosecutors would seek 325 million euros ($353 million) in damages from K+S. The company warned in December that limits imposed on its activities by regulators in a separate approval process could crimp output over the next few months. (Additional reporting by Patricia Weiss; Editing by Christoph Steitz and David Holmes)
Last August, I wrote about a large initiative called the Reproducibility Project, led by Brian Nosek from the University of Virginia. The project members collectively repeated 100 published psychological experiments and replicated the results of just a third of them. It was an alarming figure, which fed into what has become something of a civil war among psychologists. On one side are those who say that the field is experiencing a replicability crisis, where many of the most cherished results may not actually be true. On the other are those who argue that no such crisis exists, and that psychology is in rude health. (If you want to catch up, this paper by Bobbie Spellman is the single best summary of everything thus far.)

Four members of that second camp, including Harvard Universitys Daniel Gilbert, hit back yesterday with a comment that challenged the methods and statistical analyses of the Reproducibility Project, and put forward a much more optimistic take on the state of psychology. Katie Palmer at Wired had the best take on the debate, capturing its technical details as well as its spirit. This has, after all, always been as much about personalities as it has been about statistics. Consider, for example:

Emotions are running high. Two groups of very smart people are looking at the exact same data and coming to wildly different conclusions. Science hates that. This is how beleaguered Gilbert feels: When I asked if he thought his defensiveness might have colored his interpretation of this data, he hung up on me.

Technical discussion aside, I want to make two points here. First, the Reproducibility Project is far from the only line of evidence for psychologys problems. Theres the growing list of failures to replicate textbook phenomena. Theres publication biasthe tendency to only publish studies with positive results, while dismissing those with negative ones. Theres evidence of questionable research practices that are widespread and condoned.

What is not helping is a reluctance to dig into our past and ask what needs revisiting. Time is nigh to reckon with our past.

Second, it can be very easy to see this as an academic spat about turgid statistical matters like p-values, and degrees of freedom, and publication bias. Its not. Its about peoples lives. Their careers. Their passions. Their futures. Of all the things Ive read (or written) about the (alleged) replicability crisis, few have driven this point home better than a post from the Michael Inzlicht at the University of Toronto, published Monday. It is unguarded, humane, and heartbreaking.

To be clear: I am in love with social psychology. I am writing here because I am still in love with social psychology. Yet, I am dismayed that so many of us are dismissing or justifying all those small (and not so small) signs that things are just not right, that things are not what they seem. Carry-on, folks, nothing to see here, is what some of us seem to be saying. Our problems are not small and they will not be remedied by small fixes. Our problems are systemic and they are at the core of how we conduct our science.

He continues, with an astonishing level of frankness from someone who has everything to lose from acknowledging the existence of replicability problems and is doing so anyway:

As someone who has been doing research for nearly twenty years, I now cant help but wonder if the topics I chose to study are in fact real and robust. Have I been chasing puffs of smoke for all these years? I have spent nearly a decade working on the concept of ego depletion, including work that is critical of the model used to explain the phenomenon. I have been rewarded for this work, and I am convinced that the main reason I get any invitations to speak at colloquia and brown-bags these days is because of this work. The problem is that ego depletion might not even be a thing.

In years of reporting on this unfolding story, I have spoken to many psychologists who feel the same: lecturers who dont know what to tell their students, students who are unsure what research to build upon, and professors who are watching the academic ground give up beneath their feet. But I also see many psychologists who are trying to make things better. As Inzlicht says:

What is not helping is a reluctance to dig into our past and ask what needs revisiting. Time is nigh to reckon with our past. Our future just might depend on it.

Crisis or not, if we end up with a more rigorous approach to science, and more confidence in what it tells us, surely that is a good thing?

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
Valletta (AFP) - Professor Tony Dyson, the British creator of the "Star Wars" droid R2-D2, has been found dead at his home on the Maltese island of Gozo, police said on Friday.

Neighbours raised the alert on Thursday after noticing that the front door of the 68-year-old's apartment in Triq Zirzieb had been left open.

Police said they had opened an inquiry into the cause of death but that foul play had been ruled out.

Dyson, who had lived in Malta since the early 1990s, also worked on a number of other Hollywood films including "Superman 2" and "Moonraker".

He was nominated for an Emmy for his film special effects supervision.

Built by Dyson based on artwork by Ralph McQuarrie of "Cocoon" and "E.T., the Extra-terrestrial" fame, the R2-DT character appeared in all the "Star Wars" films.
Who, or what, actually won the Iranian elections held last week? To hear some tell it, the votefor parliament and the Assembly of Experts, a clerical bodywas a victory for the forces of moderation, a repudiation of the hardline anti-Western policies associated with the allies of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, maybe even a signal that real democracy could finally take root in the country. On the other hand, the fact that Khameneis allies get a veto on who can run for office in the first place invites the counter-narrative that Irans political moderates are actually hardliners; less hardline than the hardest hardliners, perhaps, but only at the moderate end of a very narrow, very conservative spectrum.

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A Good Sign for Iran's Moderates

So which is it? The vote count is all but final, but the true results are still murky. Candidates on a list allied with President Hassan Rouhaniwho secured a nuclear deal with Western powers, and who has pushed an opening, at least economically, to the rest of the worldswept all 30 parliamentary seats in the capital Tehran, and appear to have done well elsewhere in the country. In the 88-member Assembly of Experts, which is constitutionally charged with picking Irans next supreme leader once the 76-year-old Khamenei dies, two prominent hardliners lost their seats, leaving a more moderate majority. If the moderates [in the Assembly of Experts] have their way, explained Ali Akbar Dareini of the Associated Press, the next supreme leader will favor the expansion of democratic freedoms and greater openness toward the West.

But ahead of the vote, the Guardian Council, which vets candidates for electoral offices, disqualified thousands of them, including many prominent figures who advocate political reform. At the same time, institutions whose members arent popularly elected, including the office of the supreme leader, the Guardian Council, the judiciary, and the security services, are the most powerful in Irans government. And they remain in the hands of hardliners.

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Another reason its difficult to know the significance of these electionsaside from the dueling claims of victory from each camp, and the fact that, as Thomas Erdbink of The New York Times reported Wednesday, there has been no official comment on the affiliation of the winning candidatesis that Iran does not have strong political parties. Knowing that Republicans have a majority in the U.S. Congress, for example, gives you a rough sense of that bodys legislative priorities and how they would differ from those of a Democratic Congress. As Majlis Monitor, a website devoted to Iranian politics, notes, While political parties help us see a countrys political fault-lines, their absence in Iran makes it difficult to understand how politics are actually [organized] and work there.

There are instead what Majlis Monitor calls political currents: shifting alliances between political groups and prominent individuals, key socio-economic constituencies, and centers of power. These all add up to the two broad camps youre likely to see described in English-language media: [T]he reformist and centrist currents ... together form the moderate camp; and the traditional and hard-line conservative currents ... constitute the conservative (or [principlist]) camp. Hence confusing descriptions of Rouhanis moderate-reformist coalition, which includes some moderate conservatives as well as pragmatic and pro-government forces, some of whom may even be centrist. (In contrast to the hardliners, who may even be extremists but are at the very least conservative.)

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As Karim Sadjadpour of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace told me, The nomenclature we use to describe Iranian politicians  is sometimes misleading and must be understood in the context of Iranian politics.

I asked Sadjadpour to explain what the election results meanfor Irans voters as well as for the countrys place in the world. A condensed and edited transcript of our conversation, conducted by phone and email, follows.

Kathy Gilsinan: Who or what are moderates in Iran? How much do we know about them?

Karim Sadjadpour: The nomenclature we use to describe Iranian politicianssuch as reformists, moderates, and hardlinersis sometimes misleading and must be understood in the context of Iranian politics. While the overall results are inconclusive, the reformist list [of candidates allied to President Rouhani]called the List of Hopewon all 30 of Tehrans parliamentary seats, but given the mass disqualifications that took place before the election, the majority of these folks are unknown quantities, and a few of them actually self-identify as conservatives.

I remember in the early 2000s meeting a female Scandinavian journalist who visited Tehran and interviewed a prominent reformist politician about his views. In Iran he was considered a moderate, so she was surprised when he defended the Islamic Republics persecution of Bahais and argued that women should remain veiled, homosexuality is a criminal disease, alcohol should be illegal, and Israel is a cancerous tumor. Yet it was also true that he was much more liberal than his hardline counterparts.

They want to create Silicon Valley without the cultural values that made Silicon Valley possible.

I suspect many of the incoming reformist members of parliament may hold more progressive views in their heart, but given their lack of experience I also expect them to be timid and easily intimidated. For example, hours after the results were announced, a newly victorious female MP called Parvaneh Salahshori said in an English-language interview with an Italian reporter that women should not be forced to veil. A day later, I presume under pressure, she disavowed the interview.

The prevailing wisdom is that this new parliament will support President Rouhani in promoting Irans economic reform and development and will focus less on divisive issues such as political and social changethe so-called China model. But I think it will be very difficult to achieve the former without the latter. Irans economy will continue to underperform as long as the country remains politically and socially authoritarian. They want to create a Silicon Valley without the cultural values and tolerance that made Silicon Valley possible.

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Gilsinan: Is there any chance that the new Assembly of Experts would have a moderating influence, either on the current supreme leader or the next one? Am I right in thinking that they have a technical constitutional ability to act as a check on the supreme leader?

Sadjadpour: The Assembly of Experts could potentially play an important role in the succession process when Khamenei leaves the scene. For much of the last three decades theyve been a rubber-stamp institution of geriatric clerics. On paper they have supervisory status over the supreme leader and the authority to choose his (always male) successor, but theyve really only acted once, after Ayatollah Khomeini died in 1989. Theres a remarkable video of how then-Speaker of Parliament Hashemi Rafsanjani claimed that when Khomeini was on his deathbed he told him on several occasions that Khamenei (who was then president) would be a worthy supreme leader. That was it.

Irans political dynamics are much different now. The political and economic power of the Revolutionary Guards has arguably eclipsed that of the clergy, and I suspect theyll want to have a say over who is Khameneis replacement. Khamenei is 76 years old, and there is lots of speculation about his health condition, although he shows so signs that hes ailing.

Since [1989] Rafsanjani and Khamenei have become fierce rivals, and Rafsanjani was actually the top vote-getter in the Assembly of Experts election. People are hoping that he may be able to steer the country in a more moderate direction after Khamenei dies, although at age 81 he is five years older than Khamenei.

Gilsinan: You at one point told me that in Iran now, yesterdays conservatives are todays moderates, and yesterdays hardliners are todays pragmatists.

Sadjadpour: There are many examples of this. In Irans 2000 parliamentary elections, Rafsanjani failed to win a seat because voters considered him too conservative and corrupt; now people are counting on him to curb the power of Irans hardliners. Fifteen years ago Rouhani was a security apparatchik who was considered hostile to civil society and the Iranian student movement. Today hes considered a reformist president. Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani was once thought of as an arch hardliner, todays hes considered a pragmatist.

We shouldnt underestimate the Iranian peoples will for change, nor the Iranian regimes will, and means, to crush those who seek change.

I think there are a few reasons for this. First, the Islamic Republic has purged, imprisoned, and exiled many reformist politicians over the years (such as former President Khatami), so the countrys political spectrum has shifted rightward. Second, some of these politicians have actually mellowed with age and experience. Lastly, given the rise of more radical groups elsewhere in the Middle East, Iranian politicians increasingly look moderate in comparison. Compared to ISIS, Irans leaders resemble Danish politicians.

Gilsinan: So its all relative. Would you say that this incoming parliament, or this Assembly of Experts, is more moderate than the one immediately preceding it, but less moderate than parliament was several years ago?

Sadjadpour: There was a period of four years, from 2000-2004, in which Iran had both a very reform-minded president (Khatami) as well as a very reform-minded parliament. They were boldly challenging some of the fundamental tenets of the Islamic Republic, such as the authority of the supreme leader and other unelected bodies. There was also a vibrant media environment. Ayatollah Khameneis political future appeared bleak, and many believed change was inevitable.

But the conservatives used all the coercive means at their disposal to fight back and eventually reclaim both the parliament and the presidency, with the 2005 election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. For the next decade much of the forward progress made during Khatamis tenure was reversed.

Given this history we shouldnt assume that Irans current trend lines of moderation and reform are irreversible. The countrys security and intelligence apparatus hasnt gone anywhere. We should never underestimate the Iranian peoples will for change, but nor should we underestimate the Iranian regimes will, and means, to crush those who seek change.

Gilsinan: Rouhani and his allies are considered moderate in the United States because of their stance toward the United States, right?

Sadjadpour: Theres often but not always a correlation between moderate foreign-policy views and moderate domestic-policy views. One way to think about the distinction between principlists and pragmatists in Iran is the philosophical debate among U.S. Supreme Court justices. Late Justice [Antonin] Scalia believed in an originalist or textualist interpretation of the Constitution, while liberal justices like [Stephen] Breyer see the constitution as more of a living document that must evolve with the times.

Khamenei and Rouhani have philosophical differences about how to best sustain the Islamic Republic of Iran. Khamenei and the hardliners want to maintain the original principles of the Islamic Republic, whether that means Islamic mores [at] home or a resistance foreign policy abroad. Rouhani and the moderates believe that policies Iran adopted in 1979such as Death to Americadont necessarily serve the countrys interests in 2016.

The battle between these two camps is just getting started and could take years if not decades to resolve.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is a limited democracy, wrapped in a military autocracy, inside a theocracy.

Gilsinan: I want to stick with the American analogy. If you disqualified all the Democrats, and then voters, however far left or right they were, were left choosing between Cruz and Trump, it would change what a moderate looked like in that context. Is the range really that narrow in Iran?

Sadjadpour: Trying to analogize Iranian politics to American politics is always thorny. Winston Churchill said about Russia that it is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. The Islamic Republic of Iran is a limited democracy, wrapped in a military autocracy, inside a theocracy. The supreme leader and Revolutionary Guards have consistently outmuscled the countrys semi-elected institutions, partly by strictly controlling who can get elected to these institutions.

Imagine if America was ruled for life by a Supreme Christian leader, always male, who was firmly backed by the U.S. military, Supreme Court, and American media, and presidential and congressional elections were only open to carefully vetted candidates who vowed not to challenge this framework.

There is no doubt that there are fierce factional battles in Iran, and real differences of opinion among Iranian politicians. These distinctions can make a limited difference in peoples everyday lives, and may prove important in choosing the next supreme leader.

But from a macro perspective the same man has been supreme leader for the last 27 years, and Irans longtime revolutionary principlessuch as opposition to the U.S., the rejection of Israels existence, and the mandatory veiling of womenhavent changed for 37 years.

Noam Chomsky once wrote that the smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum. He was ostensibly describing the U.S., but it aptly captures the domestic politics of the Islamic Republic of Iran. I know many observers of Iran would argue that Iran is actually much more tolerant and democratic than Im describing. Yet many of these folks have not set foot in Iran in years for fear of being imprisoned.

Gilsinan: What do Iranian voters want? I heard the Reuters reporter Yeganeh June Torbati on the radio describing the actor and director Hamid Farokh-Nejadhis philosophy of the vote was basically that, in Torbatis words, rather than trying to elect certain candidates, they were trying to stop other candidates, namely the hardliners, from getting elected or from retaining power. Is that a reflection of the electorate more broadly, or is that sort of sentiment most prominent in Tehran and major urban areas? What kind of support does the Islamic Republic itself have?

Whats most important is not the breadth of the regimes support, but the depth of their support.

Sadjadpour: Gauging popular opinion inside authoritarian regimes is always challenging. Iranian elections consistently show that hardline candidates who reflect the supreme leaders worldview are routinely trounced by candidates who stand for change. Yet the Islamic Republic could not have survived for 37 years without a strong base of support.

The son of a senior Iranian cleric once told me whats most important is not the breadth of the regimes support but the depth of their support. Meaning 200,000 Revolutionary Guards and basij [militia] members who are willing to go to the streets to kill and die for the regime can stifle many millions of Iranians who are only willing to express their opposition to the regime on social media.

Given the chaos and carnage happening elsewhere in the Middle East, I think many Iranians have resigned themselves to the fact that there are no quick fixes, and the pace of change is going to be slow and incremental. In this context voting can make a differenceyou may not be able to move the dial from one to 10, but maybe you can move it from one to two or three.

Gilsinan: So where do you think the dial is now?

Sadjadpour: Theres a possibility that you see contradictory trends in Iran, which is a parliament that is more progressive and at the same time a security and intelligence apparatus that feels threatened and grows even more repressive.

My close friend Siamak Namazi and his 80-year-old father Bagherboth U.S. citizensare in Evin prison. I think the Revolutionary Guards will continue to target others whom they perceive as a threat to their interests, and it remains to be seen whether a more liberal parliament will be able to curb their powers.

I think one thing analysts working on the Middle East must be mindful about is not to conflate our hopes and our analysis. We would like to see moderates prevail and therefore our analysis reflects that fact. The Iranian Revolution, the Lebanese Cedar Revolution, and the Arab Spring are all examples of why its never wise to declare victory in the first quarter. We have continually underestimated the resilience and persistence of the forces of authoritarianism in the Middle East.

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By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - Astronaut Scott Kelly said on Friday he returned from a record-long U.S. spaceflight with sore muscles, joint pain, over-sensitive skin and a sense he had been away for more than a year. It seemed like I lived there forever, Kelly told reporters at the Johnson Space Center in Houston and on a conference call during his first news conference since returning from a 340-day mission aboard the International Space Station. Kellys mission, which was about twice as long as astronauts typically serve aboard the station, was part of a pathfinder programme to prepare for missions to Mars that will last more than two years. Kelly, a veteran of three previous spaceflights, said he initially felt well after landing in Kazakhstan on Tuesday, but then fatigue and muscle soreness quickly set in. Im kind of surprised how I do feel different physically than the last time, with regards to muscle soreness and joint pain. That was something that was kind of unexpected, Kelly said. The 52-year-old astronaut added that he is wrestling with over-sensitive skin, which leaves him with a slight burning sensation. Kelly and his crewmates tackled more than 450 experiments during the flight, which eclipsed the previous longest U.S. spaceflight of 215 days. Four Soviet-era cosmonauts lived in orbit even longer aboard the now-defunct Mir space station, including a mission lasting nearly 438 days that ended in March 1995. Kelly said it was hard being away from family and friends, but that he could have stayed longer. Whether its science or going to a certain destination, I think people rise to the occasion if youre doing something important, Kelly said. If going to Mars takes two years or two-and-a-half years, thats doable. Like many space travellers, Kelly returned to Earth with an increased appreciation of the planet and sense of its fragility. You can see a lot of pollution over parts of Asia that is almost continuous. You cant really see the ground very well. And those fires in California over the summer, that smoke was pretty extensive. But the predominant thing is you just notice how thin the atmosphere is, how fragile it looks. That combined with these large swabs of pollution is somewhat alarming, Kelly said. Kelly will continue to undergo a battery of medical, psychological and other tests for about a year so scientists can learn more about how spaceflight impacts the human body and mind. His identical twin brother, former astronaut Mark Kelly, also is participating in studies looking at possible genetic changes from spaceflight, which may impact cancer research, said John Charles, who oversees NASAs human research programme. I am confident in saying that it will influence how we understand cancer, Charles he said. Kelly and his twin were reunited on Wednesday. By then, the 1.5 inch (3.8 cm) increase in height he experienced as a result of his spine expanding in microgravity had reversed. Hes squished back to normal height, Mark Kelly told reporters. (Reporting by Irene Klotz; Editing by Tom Brown)
By Steve Holland DETROIT (Reuters) - Former U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney attacked 2016 Republican front-runner Donald Trump as a fraud on Thursday and urged primary voters to keep the outspoken New York billionaire from getting the nomination, paving the way for possible horse trading at a party convention in July. In an unusually harsh speech, party elder Romney warned that former reality TV star Trump would likely lose to possible Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the Nov. 8 election if he becomes the Republican nominee. Trump's rise has split the Republican Party between mainstream figures like Romney, and Trump supporters who complain the party does not reflect their concerns about illegal immigration, the slow economic recovery and what they see as America's diminishing role in the world. That split widened when Romney, the party nominee in 2012, urged Republican primary voters to vote tactically in different states to back Trump's opponents and block his path to the nomination. "Here's what I know. Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud," said Romney, 68, who did not endorse any candidate. "I would vote for Marco Rubio in Florida, for John Kasich in Ohio, and for Ted Cruz or whichever one of the other two contenders has the best chance of beating Mr. Trump in a given state," he said. Rubio is a U.S. senator from Florida and Kasich is the Ohio governor. By calling for targeted voting, Romney was setting up the possibility of a contested convention when Republicans gather in Cleveland in mid-July to select their nominee for the November election to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama. That could create a pathway to deny Trump the 1,237 delegates needed for nomination. The last Republican convention to go beyond one ballot was in 1948 when Thomas Dewey was nominated. "I think the governor is just being realistic about where things stand and advocating a potential strategy that could stop the Trump nomination, said former Romney spokesman Ryan Williams. ESTABLISHMENT UNEASE Republican strategist Scott Reed said he doubted the last-ditch tactical voting suggestion would work. "No one will be playing the targeted voting game. Theres too much anger and distrust," Reed said. Trump, 69, has made his party's establishment uneasy with his abrasive tone and policy positions, including plans to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border, deport 11 million illegal immigrants and temporarily bar Muslims from entering the country. More than 90 Republican national security leaders have signed a scathing open letter opposing Trump and his stance on many foreign policy issues. Romney's speech in Utah was the spearhead of a mainstream Republican attempt to rein in Trump after he won most states in this week's Republican Super Tuesday nominating contests and took a step toward earning the nomination. The address came hours before Trump and his rivals shared a stage in Detroit at 9 p.m. EST for a debate hosted by Fox News. Trump leads many polls for primaries in the remaining states, including in major ones like Florida on March 15, dampening prospects of derailing him. The party establishment's strategy risks backfiring by further energizing Trump's supporters, many of them white, blue-collar voters. "If only Romney talked like this four years ago about Obama ... or Trump," conservative political commentator Michelle Malkin said on Twitter. "Too freaking late and too freaking lame." 'FAILED CANDIDATE' Trump dismissed the former Massachusetts governor who lost to Obama four years ago. "Mitt is a failed candidate. He failed. He failed horribly. He failed badly," Trump told a rally in Maine. Romney decided on his own to give the speech, which he wrote himself. Romney said Trump's economic policy would sink America "into prolonged recession," mocked Trump's ego, and called him a "con man." "A business genius he is not," Romney said. David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to Obama, called the Romney speech a "break glass" moment he had not seen since 1964, when Republicans abandoned their candidate Barry Goldwater. Axelrod noted thousands of Republicans had already voted for Trump in primary elections. "I wonder about tactic of calling them fools," Axelrod wrote on Twitter. (Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu, Eric Beech, Warren Strobel, Jonathan Landay and Matt Spetalnick in Washington; Writing by Steve Holland, Roberta Rampton; Editing by Alistair Bell and Peter Cooney)
By Emily Flitter NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. (Reuters) - A plan to block Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump struggled to gain traction on Friday as rival candidates rejected it, while Democrats revelled in the chaos they hoped would boost their chances of keeping the White House. The country's top elected Republican, House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, said he was not interested in an effort to draft him into the White House race. And U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, a conservative presidential hopeful, ruled out a deal to pick a compromise Republican candidate at the party's July convention, which senior party figures see as their best chance to stop the unpredictable billionaire. "The D.C. power brokers will drop someone in who is exactly to the liking of the establishment. If that will happen we will have a manifold revolt in this country," Cruz said at the Conservative Political Action Conference outside Washington. "You want to beat Donald Trump, you beat Donald Trump with the voters," he said. Party leaders worry Trump would not be able to beat Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in the election, but time is running out after he won most of the states that voted in this week's Super Tuesday. Senior Republicans also fear Trump's plans to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border and ban Muslims from entering the United States will turn off voters in November and upset U.S. allies. Others note his past support for liberal policies and question whether he has any agenda other than advancing himself. "I dont think he actually carries the conservative mantle. He's a little too crass for me," said Michele Minter, a San Diego executive assistant who was attending CPAC. Trump, a former reality TV star, often plays by his own set of rules. He cancelled plans to speak at CPAC, normally an essential stop for ambitious Republicans, and will instead attend a rally in Kansas. The real estate magnate, who is drawing support from many blue-collar Republicans concerned about illegal immigration and stagnant wages, has won most Republican nominating contests and leads in many polls for the primary contests still to come. "Im not a normal Republican," he said to huge cheers at a rally in Warren, Michigan. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, the only candidate to ever challenge Trump's months-long lead in opinion polls, officially ended his White House bid. "There are a lot of people who love me, they just won't vote for me," Carson said in a speech at CPAC, held in National Harbor, Maryland. RYAN 'NOT INTERESTED' A new group called the Committee to Draft Speaker Ryan filed papers with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday, seeking to raise money to push Ryan as a Republican alternative. Ryan, a budget wonk who was the Republican vice presidential candidate in 2012, is seen by many in the party as a unifier after he took the speaker's job last year to unite establishment Republican lawmakers and conservative upstarts in the House. "He is flattered, but not interested," Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong said in an email on Friday. As Trump cements his front-runner status, senior party figures hope to deny him enough delegates to clinch the nomination, which would give them the chance to choose a compromise candidate at their convention in Cleveland. The last time that happened at a Republican convention was in 1948 when Thomas Dewey was nominated. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said there was an 85 to 90 percent chance that the party will not face that scenario this year. Mitt Romney and John McCain, the party's last two presidential nominees, called on Republicans to halt Trump's rise by backing whichever candidate was strongest in their state, a form of tactical voting. Few elected officials are rallying behind the "Dump Trump" banner. The party's 31 state governors, for example, are not lining up behind an alternative. Only five have endorsed Florida Senator Marco Rubio and one has backed Cruz, in a sharp contrast to previous years when governors overwhelmingly endorsed the party's eventual nominee. Rubio has only one state so far and is gearing up for what could be a make-or-break contest in his home state on March 15. Cruz said Saturday he planned to open 10 campaign offices there, in what could be an effort to force the rival senator out of the race. Trump is expected to extend his lead on Saturday, when a total of 155 delegates are at stake in Kansas, Louisiana, Maine and Kentucky. Democrats were happy to let Republicans fight amongst themselves. "We can sit back and let them light their own dumpster fire and wait until they're finished," said Eddie Vale, spokesman for American Bridge, a Clinton-allied group which collects negative research on Republican candidates. "Theyre giving us so much great video footage that we could run ads between now and November of nothing but Republicans attacking Trump," Vale told Reuters. Nationally, Trump has the support of 41 percent of Republican voters, compared to 19 percent who back Cruz and 16 percent who back Rubio, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling data. (Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu, Emily Stephenson, Eric Beech, and Ginger Gibson; Writing by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Bill Trott and Alistair Bell)
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Turkey is shelling Kurdish units fighting against the Nusra Front in Syria, while columns of trucks with various cargo and weapons for rebels cross into Syria from Turkey daily, Russian news agencies quoted Russia's Defence Ministry as saying on Friday. A total of 41 ceasefire violations have been registered in Syria over the past two days, the ministry said. It said that a ceasefire agreement had been signed with a local warlord of the rebel Jaish al-Islam group. (Reporting by Katya Golubkova; Writing by Dmitry Solovyov)
By Zohra Bensemra TINDOUF, Algeria (Reuters) - In refugee camps near the town of Tindouf in the arid south-west Algeria conditions are hard for indigenous Sahrawi residents. The five camps there are home to an estimated 165,000 Sahrawi refugees, according to the United Nations refugee agency, citing government figures. "Income-generating activities are scarce" for the refugees, the UNHCR says. The camps' residents are "mainly dependent on humanitarian assistance with little prospect for self-reliance." The UNCHR classifies 90,000 of these refugees as vulnerable. NGOs, including Oxfam, run language and computer courses for women. The flag of Western Sahara flutters in the school playground. A mural painted on a wall of the National Union of Sahrawi Women headquarters in Boudjdour camp reads in Spanish, "If the present is a struggle, the future is ours." Over and over the refugees are heard saying they want to go back home to Western Sahara, a region mired in a four-decade deadlock. In two of the camps, Boudjdour and Al Smara, there are no streetlights. The refugees cannot afford to buy fuel for generators so they depend on car batteries to power lights when night falls. Tankers deliver water once a month. (Images of the camps can be seen in http://reut.rs/1Rt92Nx) Many residents are using mud to make bricks and rebuild their homes after floods damaged the area last year. Children make the best of things, playing with a ball outside the tents they call home, or using a makeshift seesaw made from a wooden plank and an oil barrel. At the local school and nursery, where teachers are indigenous Sahrawi, refugees try to get ahead through education. Older students set their sights on university in Algeria or Spain. Morocco has controlled most of Western Sahara since 1975 and claims sovereignty over the sparsely populated stretch of desert to its south, which has offshore fishing, phosphate reserves and oilfield potential. Morocco's annexation of Western Sahara prompted a rebellion by the Polisario Front backed by Morocco's neighbor Algeria. The United Nations brokered a ceasefire in 1991, but talks have since failed to find a lasting settlement in Africa's longest-running territorial dispute. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon plans to visit the camps on March 5. (Reporting by Zohra Bensemra, writing by Brian McGee; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - Saudi Arabia's UN ambassador said Friday there was no need for a UN Security Council resolution to address the dire humanitarian crisis in Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition is waging a military campaign.

"We don't think that a resolution is needed at this time," Ambassador Abdallah al-Mouallimi told a news conference.

His remarks came after the 15-member council expressed grave concern for the worsening situation in Yemen, where the coalition launched air strikes nearly a year ago to back Yemeni forces fighting Shiite Hutu rebels.

The council is considering a new resolution to press for more humanitarian aid deliveries and to stress the importance of protecting hospitals from attacks.

The United Nations says more than 80 percent of the population is in dire need of food, medicine and other basic necessities and the crisis ranks as a "Level 3 emergency", the most serious in the UN system.

Mouallimi said that UN aid officials and the UN envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, agreed with him that there is no need for new action by the Security Council.

Asked about the ambassador's comments, the UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said: "OCHA cannot comment on what a diplomat may say he has heard. The Security Council takes such decisions and makes such recommendations as it sees fit."

The ambassador cautioned that any new resolution could prolong the war "because the Huthis would now feel that they have a new lease on life with something other than 2216."

Adopted last year, Resolution 2216, which was drafted by Saudi Arabia and its Gulf partners, demands that the Huthis withdraw from all territory seized in their offensive.

More than 6,000 people have been killed in Yemen since the coalition began its air strikes campaign in late March last year.

The United Nations is pushing for peace talks between the Saudi-backed Yemeni government, the Huthi rebels and their allies, but those efforts have been deadlocked over disagreements on a ceasefire.

Mouallimi said he hoped that talks could resume by March 15.
(Reuters) - A woman barred from airports around the United States for trying to evade security and board flights without a ticket was sentenced on Thursday to six months in a mental health center, after she pleaded guilty to trespassing at a Chicago airport.

A Cook County Circuit judge ordered Marilyn Hartman, 64, to spend six months in treatment at a mental health facility and two years of probation, court records show, after she tried to board an airport bus at O'Hare International Airport last month.

Hartman, described by police as a habitual trespasser and stowaway, was arrested in February at the bus shuttle center outside a flight terminal, an airport spokesman said.

The retired legal secretary was arrested at least four times last year at two different Chicago airports for loitering near security checkpoints, trespassing and in one case causing a disturbance on an airplane after boarding with a valid ticket.

Hartman has been arrested on charges of trespassing or loitering at airports in San Jose, California, and San Francisco and at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix.

She has been sentenced to probation or jail terms on several such misdemeanor charges.

(Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
By Aidan Lewis TUNIS (Reuters) - Acute shortages of medicines, equipment and staff are putting patients at risk in Libya's battle-scarred eastern city of Benghazi, the health minister said on Friday. Reida El Oakley said there was no money in Libya's health budget for 2016 and urged world powers to release funds frozen abroad, saying a fraction of that money could finance medical care "for years to come". Five years after the uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi Libya is struggling with political chaos and conflict, as an internationally recognized government based in the east vies for power with a rival administration in Tripoli. Benghazi, Libya's second city, has seen frequent street battles since military forces began a campaign against Islamist militants and other armed groups in 2014. Oakley said there was an urgent need for mobile clinics and trauma kits, as well as basic equipment such as gloves and gauze. A shortage of blood bags meant people trying to give blood had not been able to, he told journalists in Tunis. "This is how bad the situation is." Many foreign medical staff left more than a year ago, and there was a "desperate need for doctors and nurses," he said. The city has fewer than 700 hospital beds, compared with 3,000 at the start of 2014. Libya's health budget would normally be about $1 billion, but less than $500 million could cover essential medical needs this year if used prudently, Oakley said. He said the international community had been waiting for the long-delayed approval of a U.N.-backed unity government to release frozen funds, but that this was the wrong approach and the money could be disbursed transparently through the U.N. World Health Organization (WHO). "The patients are the ones who are paying the price," he said. WHO representative Syed Jaffer Hussain said a U.N. appeal for $50 million for basic and emergency healthcare this year had generated pledges of just $2 million. (Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
Investigators have arrested a sixth person on charges related to the murder last month of an Alabama teen found dead three days after he called his mother and said, "Someone is trying to kill me."



Lawanda Marie Reese, 39, has also been charged for allegedly hindering prosecution. Police claim that she lied to detectives about there whereabouts or her son, Joshua Adam Reese, 21, who was recently charged with murder, law enforcement officials tell PEOPLE.



Investigators say Reese fired the shots that killed Hawkins, who went missing Feb. 13 after a call with his mother was abruptly disconnected.



Police claim the call cut out mere moments after Hawkins proclaimed, "Someone is trying to kill me." He was reported missing the next day.



Hawkins' remains were found on Feb. 16, wrapped in a blanket and dumped in a wooded area in Quinton, Alabama.



 Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.



In addition to Lawanda Reese, Colton Stephen Echols, 20, and Tessa Wise, 23, have also been charged with hindering prosecution of the Hawkins case, according to police, who allege they lied to investigators about the teen's slaying.



Jonathan Reese is being held on $250,000 bail while Lawanda's bond has been set at $100,000. Both Echols and Wise remain in police custody, also on $100,000 bail, according to court records.



Two other men have also been charged with Hawkins' murder: Corey Daniel Conner, 28, and Danny Lee Jarvis, 22, are being held on $250,000 bail each.



Information on the defendants' pleas and attorneys was unavailable Thursday.



Police claim they've identified a motive for the Hawkins murder but have not disclosed it.
By Tatiana Jancarikova BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - Slovaks voting on Saturday are likely to hand a third term to Prime Minister Robert Fico, a left-wing nationalist whose vocal anti-immigration stance chimes with those of Hungary's Viktor Orban and Poland's Jaroslaw Kaczynski. Opinion polls show Fico's Smer party is set to lose its parliamentary majority after graft scandals and protests by teachers and nurses about low pay cost it support. But a combination of popular welfare measures such as free train rides for students and pensioners and his opposition to immigration even by refugees should secure him well over 30 percent of the vote, pollsters say, enough to form a government with a coalition partner. "The anti-immigration rhetoric combined with a few handouts is enough for Fico to win the election," said Samuel Abraham from the Bratislava International School of Liberal Arts. With Slovakia due to take over the European Union's rotating presidency for six months from July, giving it a bigger role in EU policy discussions, the election will also be watched closely in Brussels. Fico, who dismisses multi-culturalism as "a fiction", has pledged never to accept EU quotas on relocating refugees who have flooded into Greece and Italy from war-torn Syria and beyond, and has launched a legal challenge to the plan. Polls open at 7 a.m. local time (0600 GMT), and close at 10 p.m.. Exit polls are expected to be published immediately after voting ends but counting will run into the night. Like Hungary's prime minister Orban and Poland's ruling party chief Kaczynski, Fico is a social conservative, drawing support mainly from poorer Slovaks outside the liberal capital, Bratislava. He has had poor relations with an often-critical Slovak press and opposes EU sanctions on Russia, but has not sought constitutional changes that have been called undemocratic by government critics in Poland and Hungary. Fico can take credit for solid economic management -- Slovakia is one of the euro zone's most financially sound countries and remains popular with foreign investors, particularly car makers. But unemployment of more than 10 percent and vast regional differences in wealth, as well as low healthcare and education standards, have disappointed many voters. Most opposition parties agree with Fico's views that Muslims cannot integrate into predominantly Catholic Slovakia and pose a security threat, although they use less aggressive language. On Friday, the Greek foreign ministry described as "vitriol" his comments on Greece's inability to control the flow of migrants. Opponents instead portray Fico as a populist who ignores the need to reform schooling and healthcare, seen by critics as inefficient and corrupt. A surprisingly strong showing by centre-right parties such as Yale-educated lawyer Radoslav Prochazkaled's Siet (Net) could still give them a chance to form an anti-Fico coalition that might tone down the anti-immigration rhetoric. But any deal may include the libertarian SaS party whose refusal to provide guarantees for a bailout of Greece brought down the previous centre-right government in 2012. (Editing by Justyna Pawlak and Catherine Evans)
By Heather Somerville (Reuters) - Snapchat has raised $175 million in fresh funding from Fidelity Investments and other investors, according to a source familiar with the matter. The investment is an extension of Snapchat's Series F financing round, which the company began raising last year, the person told Reuters. Snapchat, which makes a free app for sending messages and videos that disappear in seconds, raised the financing at the same $16 billion valuation it had a year ago, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Fidelity bought shares of the company at $30.72 per share in February, the same price at which it bought Snapchat shares in March 2015, the newspaper reported. The "flat round," in which a company's valuation does not grow despite an influx of new money, suggests Snapchat's valuation may have grown too quickly and investors are now readjusting their expectations. Still, at $16 billion, Snapchat is the sixth mostly highly valued venture-backed company in the world, tied with Chinese ride-hailing company Didi Kuaidi. Fidelity's investment comes despite the mutual fund's own wavering about Snapchat's valuation. Fidelity slashed its stake in the company by 25 percent during the third quarter last year. But last fall Fidelity marked its stake back up by about 15 percent. The app provider has worked to expand its fledgling advertising business - its only real form of revenue - and last month formed a partnership with Viacom, which gave Viacom exclusive rights to sell advertising around Snapchat's content. (Additional reporting by Parikshit Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrew Hay and Leslie Adler)
Bissau (AFP) - The army chief of coup-plagued Guinea-Bissau warned Thursday that any soldier involved in a plot to destabilise the west Africa nation would be put to death.

General Biague Na Ntam said during a public address that there would be "zero tolerance in the barracks", while soldiers found "taking money to attempt a subversive act will pay with their life".

Guinea-Bissau has been hit by a series of coups since independence from Portugal in 1974, but the rule of law has been largely reintroduced since the election of President Jose Mario Vaz last year.

"Any soldier who fires so much as a shot (against Guinea-Bissau) will be killed. There will be no prison for him. I ask the heads of various units to kill anyone who fires a single shot," the general said during a ceremony to mark his involvement in peace efforts.

"Peace must reign in this country, and it is the army's job to ensure this happens."

Military officials contacted by AFP declined to comment on General Na Ntam's statement.

But a serving member of the air force told AFP that around 10 people had been arrested on suspicion of "preparing an act that would destabilise the country".

The claim could not be confirmed by the army or any other sources.

During the address, General Na Ntam also said soldiers should expect a delay in receiving their salaries for January and February, citing the state's "financial difficulties".
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's No.3 insurer MMI Holdings could exit some markets elsewhere in Africa, its spokeswoman said on Friday, the latest company to scale back on the continent once at the heart of executives' expansion plans. "Given the current economic environment, we are reviewing our presence in certain smaller African markets and depending on the outcome of the review we might exit them," said MMI Holdings' spokesman Lerato Mametse. Mametse declined to name the countries in which MMI has launched a review. MMI, which sells funeral, health and retirement insurance in several African countries that include Namibia, Botswana and Swaziland, reported a 9 percent drop in half-year earnings on Thursday claims jumped. Africa's growth prospects were dealt a blow in mid 2014 when its export mainstays oil and other commodities fell, partly due to a slowdown in leading consumer China. Earlier this week, Barclays Plc announced plans to partially sell down its 62.3 percent stake in its Johannesburg-based subsidiary, which has operations in 13 other countries on the continent. (Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; Editing by James Macharia)
By Harriet McLeod

CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) - A 16-year-old South Carolina high school student was arrested on Friday on charges that he had distributed nude photos of a teacher that he copied surreptitiously from her cellphone, authorities said.

Police in Union, South Carolina, announced the arrest as the school district that employed the teacher suggested she had been partially responsible for the breach, accusing her of improperly supervising her students.

The teacher, Leigh Anne Arthur, resigned on Tuesday from the Career and Technology Center at Union County High School, a day after the teenager took the phone, which she had left on a desk while she went into the school hallway.

The student, who police would not identify because of his age, is being held on cyber crime and aggravated voyeurism charges at a state juvenile detention facility, said Sam White, police chief in Union, about 45 miles from Greenville.

Arthur, who police say is 33, told reporters that the student found nude photos that she had taken to give her husband, copied the screen shots with his own camera phone and distributed the images on social media.

"He knows right and wrong," she told a local television station. "We all make stupid decisions when we're 16."

The teacher said that the student opened up her photo library, took pictures of images using his own phone's camera phone and then sent the pictures.

On Wednesday, Arthur found hard copies of the photos in her mailbox with a harassing note, Union County Sheriff David Taylor said by phone. The sheriff's office has turned the photos over to the state police for fingerprinting, Taylor said by phone.

A forensic investigation of the teenager's phone by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division found that the photographs taken from Arthur's phone "were stored in a separate passcode-protected file that contained other photos of a sexual nature," Union police said in a statement.

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The school district found fault with Arthur for allowing the student to gain access to the phone.

"Her failure to supervise her students along with allowing students routine access to her personal cellphone constitute an evident unfitness for Ms. Arthur to continue as a classroom teacher," District Superintendent David Eubanks said Friday in a statement.

Students this week started an online petition to support the teacher, who taught in the district for 13 years.

"Leigh Anne Arthur is the victim of a blatant attack of her privacy," the petition read. "We the students are left to believe that she has been forced to, or given little choice but to resign," the petition read.

As of Friday, the petition had more than 11,000 signatures.

(Editing by Frank McGurty and David Gregorio)
Seoul (AFP) - South Korea and the United States were set to open talks Friday on the possible deployment -- vehemently opposed by China -- of an advanced US missile defence system to counter the growing threat from North Korea.

South Korea's defence ministry said initial discussions would focus on potential locations, as well as cost-sharing and a timeline for installation of the THAAD system.

The system fires anti-ballistic missiles into the sky to smash into enemy missiles either inside or outside the Earth's atmosphere during their final flight phase.

The interceptor missiles carry no warheads, instead relying on kinetic energy to destroy their targets.

Seoul and Washington announced their intention to begin formal talks on its deployment following Pyongyang's long-range rocket launch on February 7, which was widely regarded as a covert ballistic missile test.

The first official meeting has been on hold amid fierce opposition from China and Russia, with Beijing warning the deployment had the potential to "destroy" relations with Seoul.

China sees THAAD as a threat to the effectiveness of its own nuclear deterrent, arguing that it could be used to monitor Chinese missile launches as far inland as Xian in the northwest.

The defence ministry in Seoul stressed Friday that any deployment would be solely aimed at countering North Korea's "increasing nuclear and missile threats".

"North Korea has continued its nuclear tests and long-range missile provocations and defied South Korea and the international community's deterrence efforts," the ministry said.

China is South Korea's most important trade partner and -- in deference to Beijing's sensitivities on the issue -- South Korea had previously declined to formally discuss bringing in THAAD.

But North Korea's continued testing -- and Beijing's previous resistance to imposing harsh sanctions on Pyongyang -- triggered a change in Seoul's stance.

There is already a THAAD battery stationed in Guam, and Japan, the US's other key ally in the region, is also considering taking on the system.
Madrid (AFP) - Spanish lawmakers on Friday voted down a bid by Socialist chief Pedro Sanchez to form a coalition government with centre-right Ciudadanos, leaving the country's parties with just two months to find an alternative to avoid fresh elections.

Sanchez's proposal was defeated with 219 votes against and 131 in favour, with only his own party, Ciudadanos and a tiny party from the Canary Islands voting in favour.

His first attempt to win approval on Wednesday also fell well short of the mark after an acrimonious debate in parliament that highlighted the country's political divisions.

It is the first time that a candidate for prime minister has lost both confidence votes since Spain returned to democracy following the death of dictator General Francisco Franco in 1975.

Spain has been governed by a caretaker government since a December 20 election which resulted in a hung parliament divided among four main parties -- none of which won enough seats to govern alone.

Parties now have until May 2 to negotiate an alternative power-sharing agreement. If they fail, new elections will be called, most likely on June 26.

Acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's conservative Popular Party (PP) came first in the polls -- which put an end to Spain's long-running two party system -- but lost its absolute majority, taking just 123 seats.

Rajoy gave up trying to form a government after he failed to win support from other parties fed up with years of crisis and corruption scandals.

So King Felipe VI asked runner-up Sanchez, whose Socialists scored their worst result in history, to form a government.

After weeks of negotiations, he sealed a deal last week with upstart centre-right party Ciudadanos.

But both the PP and new far-left party Podemos, led by pony-tailed university professor Pablo Iglesias, which has 65 seats, voted against Sanchez.

"I am going to keep working until I achieve this majority which our country needs," Sanchez told reporters after the vote.

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- 'Theatre' -

"Today Mr Iglesias has betrayed the millions of voters who voted for change and he is the only one who ultimately is responsible for Rajoy continuing to be head of the government," Sanchez added.

Rajoy bitterly dismissed the Socialist pact with Ciudadanos as "theatre" since he had not shored up the support he needed to rule anyway.

Spain has struggled to form a government because it "lacks a tradition" of coalition building, said political scientist Anton Losada of the University of Santiago de Compostela.

"Either there is a transversal government or we are heading towards elections," he told AFP.

For the past three decades, Spain has been ruled by either the PP or the Socialists.

Fresh elections would leave Spain with an acting government with limited powers for several more months just as the country emerges from a severe economic crisis.

Spain also faces an independence threat in the wealthy northeastern region of Catalonia which is governed by a coalition of separatist parties.

Rajoy, who wants to remain in power at the head of a "grand coalition" made up of his PP, the Socialists and Ciudadanos that will defend national unity and budget stability, has made it known that he plans to call Sanchez on Monday to try to reach a deal.

Anti-austerity Podemos has said it is ready for talks with the Socialists if they drop their agreement with Ciudadanos, which it sees as too economically liberal.

Podemos' number two, Inigo Errejon, said before the vote that it was still possible to form a coalition government of the left, with the support or abstention of small regional Basque and Catalan separatist parties.

"We have to reset the counters and start over with a clean slate, " he said.
By Angus Berwick and Blanca Rodriguez MADRID (Reuters) - The leader of Spain's Socialists failed on Friday to win the confidence of parliament to become prime minister, opening a new round of talks between parties who now have just two months to break a 10-week deadlock and avoid a fresh election. In a first for Spain, Pedro Sanchez lost his second investiture vote, securing the support of only 131 members of the 350-strong assembly for his proposed coalition which sets the country on course for its second election in six months. Spain's parties have been in fruitless negotiations to form a government since a December vote when Spaniards weary of austerity and corruption deserted the two traditional parties to vote for newcomers. But the talks, which have often boiled over into vitriolic attacks that have highlighted tensions between Spain's political left and right, are now set to continue at a time when the Spanish economy is staging an uneven recovery. As on Wednesday when Sanchez lost a first vote, acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's conservative People's Party (PP), anti-austerity upstart Podemos and five smaller parties voted against Sanchez, scuppering his pact with business-friendly Ciudadanos. A small party from the Canary Islands also voted for Sanchez. Until the last minute the Socialist leader tried to woo Podemos into joining his "government of change" but the party's leader Pablo Iglesias, a pony-tailed former university lecturer, held out for an alliance solely between leftist parties. "I will continue working to achieve the majority this country needs," Sanchez told reporters after the vote. "Pablo Iglesias has betrayed his party's voters and he is responsible for Rajoy remaining as prime minister." Iglesias before the vote compared his dispute with the Socialists to a quarrel between lovers and said Sanchez should embrace the other "monstrous" leftist parties which would be needed to reach the parliamentary majority of 176 seats. A coalition between the Socialists and Podemos would have to depend on former communists Izquierda Unida and four regional parties from the Basque Country and Catalonia, all of which voted against Sanchez on Friday. "I again offer you my hand Mr. Sanchez, and after tonight we will be able to get to work," Iglesias, who came third in the December general election, told a restless parliament where speakers were repeatedly interrupted by jeers and whistles. CLOSER TO NEW ELECTIONS Sanchez's failure, the first time a candidate had lost both confidence votes since Spain returned to democracy in the mid-1970s, sets the clock ticking on a two-month window for parties to form an alternative majority before May 2. On that date parliament would be dissolved and Spaniards would have to return to the ballot box, most likely on June 26. Analysts say such an outcome is looking increasingly certain. Although businesses and investors have so far remained calm about the deadlock, new elections would raise the risk that Spain's economic growth, one of the highest rates in the EU, might be impaired by lost months of political leadership. Rajoy had branded the Socialist-Ciudadanos coalition a "farce" and a threat to the national interest which sought to undo reforms his government brought in over the past four years. "He has wasted all our time, he generated false expectations and he has defrauded us," he told parliament before the vote. Rajoy had moved aside last month to allow Sanchez's bid after he also failed to win support. But he said he would now make renewed efforts to form a grand coalition of center-left and center-right parties under him as prime minister. Lluis Orriols, a political science lecturer at the University Carlos III of Madrid, says it is unlikely Rajoy would be able to win over other parties since both the PP and the Socialists would not budge their red lines. "We are closer to new elections than to an agreement." (Additional reporting by the Madrid newsroom; Editing by Julien Toyer and Dominic Evans)
New York (AFP) - Fresh from his triumph at the Grammys, Kendrick Lamar has returned with a surprise new album that shows a more spontaneous side to a rapper still thinking big about the world's ills.

The album released on Friday -- tellingly entitled "untitled unmastered." -- brings together songs that Lamar has performed in recent months along with studio outtakes in which the rising star both reflects on the discomforts of fame and warns of a society in spiritual crisis.

"untitled unmastered." starts where Lamar left off musically with a jazzy pizzicato on a string bass but quickly goes into heavy lyrical territory.

Lamar conjures up imagery from the September 11 terrorist attacks and the Book of Revelation as he cautions against hypocrisy among the religious as well as atheism.

"Another trumpet has sounded off and everyone heard it / It's happening -- no more running from world wars / It's happening -- no more discriminating the poor," he raps.

The 28-year-old artist hails from the gangsta rap capital of Compton in Los Angeles County but, while maintaining street cred, considers himself a Christian.

He brings the themes together later in the album as he tries to get inside the mind of a murderer, speaking of how the American business of mass incarceration can crush faith.

"Genocism and capitalism just made me hate," he raps, in a neologism that turns genocide into an ideology.

- A rougher feel -

The rollout of "untitled unmastered." could scarcely be more different than that for his last album, "To Pimp a Butterfly," which came out almost exactly a year ago after a lengthy buildup and immediately achieved iconic status in the hip-hop world.

"To Pimp a Butterfly" experimented widely with conventional form, bringing in spoken word interludes and jazz segues, to create an intricate portrait of the state of black America, with the song "Alright" emerging as an unofficial anthem of the protest movement against police brutality.

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Lamar led the Grammys by winning five awards at the music industry's big night on February 15. He received a near-record 11 nominations and won praise for his spirited, politically tinged performance that teased on the unreleased material.

"untitled unmastered." features a series of cameo appearances, most notably by CeeLo Green who adds his mellifluous yet soulful tenor voice.

The latest album digresses toward the end with a more than eight-minute track -- which hip-hop artist Swizz Beatz revealed to have been produced by his five-year-old son -- that culminates in a lackadaisical sing-along to acoustic guitar.

Yet the eight-track album -- which, true to the title, assigns numbers and dates rather than names to each song -- ends with a polished dose of funk.

- Still a 'crash dummy' -

On that final single Lamar, as was his wont on "To Pimp a Butterfly," turns his self-questioning about his role into a larger examination of social forces.

"Why so sad? Walking around with them blue faces," he sings to the beat, a play on words as he conflates an expression for sadness with the color of the stripes that appear next to Benjamin Franklin's portrait on new $100 bills.

Lamar reflects on a young woman conned into credit card debt and brings back an enduring image from "To Pimp a Butterfly," that of a South African beggar who makes the rapper wonder about his fortunes.

"Ain't no money like fast money / Even today I'm considered a crash dummy / A rapper chasing stardom / How can I fast forward?" he sings.

Lamar delves into the racial dynamics behind the music business on the album's third track, a parable in which the rapper seeks advice from people of four races about his success.

The Asian, according to Lamar, urges him to meditate and the Native American tells him to hold onto land. The black man encourages him to seek sexual satisfaction.

And the white man? He told Lamar "that he selling me for just $10.99."
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - The Swedish center-left government said on Friday it would scrap payments of daily allowances to refugees who have had their asylum applications rejected in what was its latest attempt to curtail a record influx of immigrants. Sweden took in 163,000 asylum seekers last year and the minority government has taken a number of steps to bring down the number of refugees to the Nordic country, such as border controls and abolishing permanent residencies as a norm. To free up resources for new refugees, asylum seekers will now lose their rights to housing and allowances if their application is denied and the decision has come into force, the government said in a statement. "We need these places for others who are seeking asylum, and then we have to ensure that those who are denied move and go home again," Morgan Johansson, minister for justice and migration, told daily Dagens Nyheter. Sweden pays a daily allowance of 71 crowns ($8.32) for adults and up to 50 crowns for children. That should cover all expenses except housing. (Reporting by Johan Ahlander; editing by Niklas Pollard)
By Orhan Coskun and Tulay Karadeniz ANKARA (Reuters) - The first visit by a Turkish prime minister to Iran in two years is unlikely to narrow deep divisions over Syria's war, but it could boost trade ties as the lifting of sanctions on Tehran and political gains by reformists clear the way for a business boom. Turkey, the region's economic powerhouse, could be one of the major beneficiaries as President Hassan Rouhani, bolstered by reformist gains in elections last month, pursues plans to strengthen the private sector and welcome foreign investors. Trade and energy ties will be high on the agenda during Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's visit on Friday and Saturday, accompanied by his energy and development ministers, other members of the cabinet and business leaders. But differences on Syria, where Shi'ite Iran backs President Bashar al-Assad and Turkey backs the mainly Sunni Muslim opposition, will also be on the table, officials on both sides said. Iran is also concerned by Turkey's deepening ties with Saudi Arabia, with which Tehran has cut diplomatic relations. "We are in an environment of very big and deep problems with developments in the Middle East ... It wouldn't be right to expect the two countries to agree on every subject," said a senior Turkish government official, one of several to speak about the visit in advance on condition of anonymity. "We don't expect to solve everything in one meeting but it's now necessary to move our relationship forward ... Regional issues, notably Syria, increasing trade and cooperation will form the basis of the discussions." Turkish trade with Iran reached around $22 billion in 2012 before dropping off sharply to less than half that by last year as international sanctions on Tehran were tightened. Turkish Economy Minister Mustafa Elitas told Reuters last month that Ankara aims to reach $30 billion in bilateral trade by 2023. "Iran presents serious opportunities, they're extremely open to future cooperation," said a source in the Turkish automotive industry who has made several recent visits to Iran. "There's huge appetite for Turkish business. It's a neighboring country where Turkish is widely spoken, with a similar culture. It's very easy to engage with Iranian business," he said, adding there were already signs of movement on industry reforms since the Feb. 26 election. The vote ended more than a decade of conservative domination of the legislature and the Assembly of Experts, a body that oversees the Islamic republic's supreme leader. The outgoing parliament, filled with hardliners suspicious of detente with the West, had acted as a brake on Rouhani's plans to boost foreign investment and trade. "Iran is a very attractive market for Turkish businessmen and ways of developing trade will definitely be taken up during the visit," a senior Iranian official said. MUTUAL STABILITY The lifting of sanctions against Iran in January could prove a mixed blessing for Turkey, opening up access to a fast-growing, lucrative market, but one that could someday rival Ankara as an investment destination and exporter. Turkey's output of nearly $800 billion in 2014 was almost double that of Iran, which has a similar-sized population. But government incentives, a well educated workforce, and vast oil reserves that obviate the need for energy imports could help Tehran close the gap in the coming years. A second senior Turkish official said that Davutoglu's visit, during which he will meet Rouhani, comes at a critical time and that both sides understood their economic futures were dependent on containing instability in the wider region. "Turkey and Iran need to adopt a common stance on protecting their two countries, acting together and fighting Islamic State," the official said. "Syria is the most serious problem but differences of opinion must be put aside faced with a common enemy. In this sense, this meeting may be the first kernel," he said. Sinan Ulgen, head of the EDAM think-tank in Istanbul, said Turkey and Iran needed to find at least a few common denominators for a fragile cessation of hostilities in Syria to become more lasting and facilitate a political solution. "If Turkey and Iran cannot agree on these subjects, there is a pretty low prospect of the conflict in Syria being brought to an end," he said, adding that the talks in Tehran would likely touch on Assad's future and political transition in Syria. Turkey, along with Western and Arab countries, say Assad must leave power. Iran and Russia have stood by him. Turkish officials will also push for the implementation of an International Chamber of Commerce arbitration court ruling last month that Iran should discount the price of natural gas it exports to Turkey by 10-15 percent, backdated to 2011. Turkey imports 10 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas from Iran annually, or about a fifth of its annual needs. Tehran would like to sell it double that amount, but Turkish officials say price problems remain a sticking point. "Turkey's purchase of more gas from Iran would be a positive development but it is not realistic in the current climate," a third Turkish official said. (Additional reporting by Parisa Hafezi and Can Sezer; writing by Daren Butler and Nick Tattersall; editing by Peter Graff)
BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Syrian Kurdish YPG group said armed opposition groups in the Aleppo area had not respected a cessation of hostilities agreement, accusing them of attacking the mainly Kurdish Sheikh Maksoud district of Aleppo and other areas near the city. A YPG report said the factions had "not abided by the ceasefire and halt to hostile operations". "On the contrary they resumed fierce attacks and random bombardment, specifically of Sheikh Maksoud," it said. Opposition groups have meanwhile accused the YPG of breaking the ceasefire and launching attacks since it came into effect on Saturday. The opposition accuses the YPG of coordinating with Damascus, a charge the YPG denies. The YPG also accused opposition groups of breaching the agreement in areas north of Aleppo city. "They did not abide by the announced truce and continued their attacks on the city of Afrin and nearby villages and all positions that are under the control of the People's Protection Units (YPG)," it said. (Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian rebel fighters seized a border crossing with Iraq from Islamic State on Friday, Britain-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Islamic State had controlled the al-Tanf border crossing, which is also near the Syrian-Jordanian border, since May last year after seizing it from Syrian government forces. It had been the last border crossing with Iraq that was under the control of the Syrian government. IS, which controls a swathe of territory spreading from Iraq into central Syria, still controls the Bukamal Syria-Iraq border crossing near Deir al Zour. The Observatory said the rebel fighters who took the crossing crossed into Syria from Jordan. The crossing is a 240 km (150 miles) drive from Palmyra, also known as Tadmur, which has been under IS control since the middle of last year. (Reporting by Lisa Barrington)
Aleppo (Syria) (AFP) - For the first time in years, hundreds of Syrians nationwide took advantage of a nearly week-long ceasefire on Friday to resume anti-government protests under the slogan "The Revolution Continues!"

Waving the three-starred tricolour flag that has become the uprising's emblem, demonstrators in opposition-held areas of Aleppo, Damascus, Daraa and Homs called for the downfall of President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

"You could say we've gone back to the beginning," said Hasaan Abu Nuh, an activist from the flashpoint rebel town of Talbisseh in central Homs province.

Syria's conflict first began in March 2011 with widespread protests against the regime.

Demonstrations were at their largest on Fridays, and activists early on began assigning themes to the weekly marches.

But by 2013, a fierce government crackdown and heavy shelling had stamped out most attempts to stage protests.

Abu Nuh said the last demonstration in Talbisseh was in June 2012. Since then, rocket attacks and air strikes made residents too afraid to gather in large numbers.

However, a landmark ceasefire that came into effect early last Saturday has brought relative calm to opposition areas.

On the first Friday since the truce began, crowds across the country returned to the streets, waving banners reading "The Revolution Continues!"

"People are so, so happy. There was crying, there was joy, but there was also a lump in people's throats," Abu Nuh said.

"There were a lot of young guys that used to protest with us who weren't there today because they've been killed," he told AFP by phone.

In Syria's second city, Aleppo, hundreds of people took to the streets in the opposition-held eastern neighbourhoods.

"With this truce, we have the opportunity to express why we came out to the streets in the first place, which is the downfall of the regime," said Abu Nadim, an activist in the city.

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He said he also wanted to show the world that demonstrators in Aleppo and elsewhere are not "armed gangs, but a people demanding freedom and the downfall of the regime".

Abu Nadim is responsible for coming up with slogans and painting them on large, white banners.

AFP spoke to him while he painted "Long live Syria, may Assad fall!" ahead of a protest where nearly 100 people marched carrying similar signs.

Aleppo has been divided since 2012 between government forces in the western districts and rebels in the east.

When Friday's crowd passed through a neighbourhood near the front line, they could hear the sound of sniper fire coming from a government-held district.

But no one budged, an AFP correspondent there said.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, protests also took place in the towns of Atareb and Azaz in Aleppo province, parts of Idlib province in the northwest, and Daraa in the south.

More than 270,000 people have been killed since Syria's conflict began, and millions have been displaced.
(Reuters) - The following is the full text of the speech delivered on Thursday by former Massachusetts Governor and 2012 Republican nominee for U.S. president Mitt Romney to the Institute of Politics at the University of Utah. I am not here to announce my candidacy for office. I am not going to endorse a candidate today. Instead, I would like to offer my perspective on the nominating process of my party. In 1964, days before the presidential election which, incidentally, we lost, Ronald Reagan went on national television and challenged America saying that it was a "Time for Choosing." He saw two paths for America, one that embraced conservative principles dedicated to lifting people out of poverty and helping create opportunity for all, and the other, an oppressive government that would lead America down a darker, less free path. I'm no Ronald Reagan and this is a different moment but I believe with all my heart and soul that we face another time for choosing, one that will have profound consequences for the Republican Party and more importantly, for the country. I say this in part because of my conviction that America is poised to lead the world for another century. Our technology engines, our innovation dynamic, and the ambition and skill of our people will propel our economy and raise our standard of living. America will remain as it is today, the envy of the world. Warren Buffett was 100% right when he said last week that "the babies being born in America today are the luckiest crop in history." That doesn't mean we don't have real problems and serious challenges. At home, poverty persists and wages are stagnant. The horrific massacres of Paris and San Bernardino, the nuclear ambitions of the Iranian mullahs, the aggressions of Putin, the growing assertiveness of China and the nuclear tests of North Korea confirm that we live in troubled and dangerous times. But if we make the right choices, America's future will be even better than our past and better than our present. On the other hand, if we make improvident choices, the bright horizon I foresee will never materialize. Let me put it plainly, if we Republicans choose Donald Trump as our nominee, the prospects for a safe and prosperous future are greatly diminished. Let me explain why. First, the economy: If Donald Trump's plans were ever implemented, the country would sink into a prolonged recession. A few examples: His proposed 35% tariff-like penalties would instigate a trade war that would raise prices for consumers, kill export jobs, and lead entrepreneurs and businesses to flee America. His tax plan, in combination with his refusal to reform entitlements and to honestly address spending would balloon the deficit and the national debt. So even as Donald Trump has offered very few specific economic plans, what little he has said is enough to know that he would be very bad for American workers and for American families. But wait, you say, isn't he a huge business success that knows what he's talking about? No he isn't. His bankruptcies have crushed small businesses and the men and women who worked for them. He inherited his business, he didn't create it. And what ever happened to Trump Airlines? How about Trump University? And then there's Trump Magazine and Trump Vodka and Trump Steaks, and Trump Mortgage? A business genius he is not. Now not every policy Donald Trump has floated is bad. He wants to repeal and replace Obamacare. He wants to bring jobs home from China and Japan. But his prescriptions to do these things are flimsy at best. At the last debate, all he could remember about his healthcare plan was to remove insurance boundaries between states. Successfully bringing jobs home requires serious policy and reforms that make America the place businesses want to plant and grow. You can't punish business into doing the things you want. Frankly, the only serious policy proposals that deal with the broad range of national challenges we confront, come today from Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and John Kasich. One of these men should be our nominee. I know that some people want the race to be over. They look at history and say a trend like Mr. Trump's isn't going to be stopped. Perhaps. But the rules of political history have pretty much all been shredded during this campaign. If the other candidates can find common ground, I believe we can nominate a person who can win the general election and who will represent the values and policies of conservatism. Given the current delegate selection process, this means that I would vote for Marco Rubio in Florida, for John Kasich in Ohio, and for Ted Cruz or whichever one of the other two contenders has the best chance of beating Mr. Trump in a given state. Let me turn to national security and the safety of our homes and loved ones. Trump's bombast is already alarming our allies and fueling the enmity of our enemies. Insulting all Muslims will keep many of them from fully engaging with us in the urgent fight against ISIS. And for what purpose? Muslim terrorists would only have to lie about their religion to enter the country. What he said on 60 Minutes about Syria and ISIS has to go down as the most ridiculous and dangerous idea of the campaign season: Let ISIS take out Assad, he said, and then we can pick up the remnants. Think about that: Let the most dangerous terror organization the world has ever known take over a country? This is recklessness in the extreme. Donald Trump tells us that he is very, very smart. I'm afraid that when it comes to foreign policy he is very, very not smart. I am far from the first to conclude that Donald Trump lacks the temperament of be president. After all, this is an individual who mocked a disabled reporter, who attributed a reporter's questions to her menstrual cycle, who mocked a brilliant rival who happened to be a woman due to her appearance, who bragged about his marital affairs, and who laces his public speeches with vulgarity. Donald Trump says he admires Vladimir Putin, while has called George W. Bush a liar. That is a twisted example of evil trumping good. There is dark irony in his boasts of his sexual exploits during the Vietnam War while John McCain, whom he has mocked, was imprisoned and tortured. Dishonesty is Trump's hallmark: He claimed that he had spoken clearly and boldly against going into Iraq. Wrong, he spoke in favor of invading Iraq. He said he saw thousands of Muslims in New Jersey celebrating 9/11. Wrong, he saw no such thing. He imagined it. His is not the temperament of a stable, thoughtful leader. His imagination must not be married to real power. The President of the United States has long been the leader of the free world. The president and yes the nominees of the country's great parties help define America to billions of people. All of them bear the responsibility of being an example for our children and grandchildren. Think of Donald Trump's personal qualities, the bullying, the greed, the showing off, the misogyny, the absurd third grade theatrics. We have long referred to him as "The Donald." He is the only person in America to whom we have added an article before his name. It wasn't because he had attributes we admired. Now imagine your children and your grandchildren acting the way he does. Will you welcome that? Haven't we seen before what happens when people in prominent positions fail the basic responsibility of honorable conduct? We have, and it always injures our families and our country. Watch how he responds to my speech today. Will he talk about our policy differences or will he attack me with every imaginable low road insult? This may tell you what you need to know about his temperament, his stability, and his suitability to be president. Trump relishes any poll that reflects what he thinks of himself. But polls are also saying that he will lose to Hillary Clinton. On Hillary Clinton's watch at the State Department, America's interests were diminished in every corner of the world. She compromised our national secrets, dissembled to the families of the slain, and jettisoned her most profound beliefs to gain presidential power. For the last three decades, the Clintons have lived at the intersection of money and politics, trading their political influence to enrich their personal finances. They embody the term crony capitalism. It disgusts the American people and causes them to lose faith in our political process. A person so untrustworthy and dishonest as Hillary Clinton must not become president. But a Trump nomination enables her victory. The audio and video of the infamous Tapper-Trump exchange on the Ku Klux Klan will play a hundred thousand times on cable and who knows how many million times on social media. There are a number of people who claim that Mr. Trump is a con man, a fake. There is indeed evidence of that. Mr. Trump has changed his positions not just over the years, but over the course of the campaign, and on the Ku Klux Klan, daily for three days in a row. We will only really know if he is the real deal or a phony if he releases his tax returns and the tape of his interview with the New York Times. I predict that there are more bombshells in his tax returns. I predict that he doesn't give much if anything to the disabled and to our veterans. I predict that he told the New York Times that his immigration talk is just that: talk. And I predict that despite his promise to do so, first made over a year ago, he will never ever release his tax returns. Never. Not the returns under audit, not even the returns that are no longer being audited. He has too much to hide. Nor will he authorize the Times to release the tapes. If I'm right, you will have all the proof you need to know that Donald Trump is a phony. Attacking me as he surely will won't prove him any less of a phony. It's entirely in his hands to prove me wrong. All he has to do is to release his back taxes like he promised he would, and let us hear what he said behind closed doors to the New York Times. Ronald Reagan used to quote a Scottish philosopher who predicted that democracies and civilizations couldn't last more than about 200 years. John Adams wrote this: "Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide." I believe that America has proven these dire predictions wrong for two reasons. First, we have been blessed with great presidents, with giants among us. Men of character, integrity and selflessness have led our nation from its very beginning. None were perfect: each surely made mistakes. But in every case, they acted out of the desire to do what was right for America and for freedom. The second reason is because we are blessed with a great people, people who at every critical moment of choosing have put the interests of the country above their own. These two things are related: our presidents time and again have called on us to rise to the occasion. John F. Kennedy asked us to consider what we could do for our country. Lincoln drew upon the better angels of our nature to save the union. I understand the anger Americans feel today. In the past, our presidents have channeled that anger, and forged it into resolve, into endurance and high purpose, and into the will to defeat the enemies of freedom. Our anger was transformed into energy directed for good. Mr. Trump is directing our anger for less than noble purposes. He creates scapegoats of Muslims and Mexican immigrants, he calls for the use of torture and for killing the innocent children and family members of terrorists. He cheers assaults on protesters. He applauds the prospect of twisting the Constitution to limit first amendment freedom of the press. This is the very brand of anger that has led other nations into the abyss. Here's what I know. Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud. His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University. He's playing the American public for suckers: He gets a free ride to the White House and all we get is a lousy hat. His domestic policies would lead to recession. His foreign policies would make America and the world less safe. He has neither the temperament nor the judgment to be president. And his personal qualities would mean that America would cease to be a shining city on a hill. America has greatness ahead. This is a time for choosing. God bless us to choose a nominee who will make that vision a reality. (Reporting by Timothy Ahmann)
The days of being embarrassed  or put to sleep  by the family hauler are over. There's a battle under way to load the three-row crossover with the best tech, style, and performance, and for once the family man is coming out a winner.

Audi has taken a cautious route: The original Q7 came out in 2007, when nearly every luxury maker already had a crossover. It was an instant hit, and the Q7 and its spin-offs, the Q3 and Q5, now make up 40 percent of Audi sales. The next-generation Q7 took a decade to gestate, but it was worth the wait.

We drove the Q7 in high-dollar Dallas, where the aroma wafting from the nougat-brown leather seemed right at home in tony Highland Park. The Q7's front is suitably rich, with a bigger, blingier grille. Its profile, however, reveals a sloped-back roofline that echoes a more pedestrian crossover, and oversize, creased fender flares that wouldn't look out of place on a Subaru. All in all, it's a bit dowdy for an Audi.

RELATED: The Best Cars to Buy Now

But get it on the open road, and the Q7 performs a bit of magic. It drives smaller than the behemoth it is. While careering through Dallas, it was remarkably predictable, due in part to an adaptive air suspension that instantaneously reacts to loads on each corner. And all-wheel steering  a first for SUVs and crossovers  made for tighter turning radiuses. The two technologies are part of a $4,000 adaptive-chassis package that performs like an automotive version of Spanx: You don't feel fat at all.

Inside, a digital instrument panel displays maps on a 12.3-inch screen that's combined with a heads-up display so big you'll almost never need to turn your head. But the gadgetry isn't perfect. The gesture control pad (you wave your hand for certain functions) is useless for entering addresses for navigation. And camera-powered lane-keeping assistance  which turns the wheel for you  doesn't reduce your workload: The mental effort of steering is replaced by the mental effort of monitoring the self-steering system.

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RELATED: The 11 Cars That Rocked the Geneva Motor Show

Volvo's 2016 XC90 is also a stellar refresh of a beloved SUV  and a reboot of the brand. It's the first car built purely from Volvo parts since 2000, with no assistance from Ford. (Volvo was sold to China's Geely in 2010.) Ironically, the XC90 could only get more Swedish if Peter, Bjorn, and John were driving.

Visually, its clean Nordic lines are apparent: A nearly vertical rear pillar and a flatter roof own the Volvo's 70-inch height. What's refreshing is that, unlike the Q7, the XC90 isn't trying to look like a car. Inside, the hushed interior reveals an equally straightforward aesthetic, where minimal controls are centered around a lag-free touchscreen. Our test model, the R-Design, has macho carbon fiber trim, but the Inscription edition comes with open-pore wood paneling worthy of a Scandinavian-modern ski lodge.

RELATED: First Drive in the Tesla Model X

Apart from displaying a level of tastefulness, we've yet to see in interiors at any price, Volvo's plan for world domination includes smaller, smarter engines. The XC90 is powered by a super- and turbocharged four-cylinder. It doesn't save much in fuel economy (22 miles per gallon versus the more powerful Q7's 21) but cuts weight. If you have doubts about a four-cylinder engine in a loaded seven-seater, don't. Though slower than the Q7 on paper, we spent days effortlessly pulling into some of the hairiest merges in New York City  with plenty of power.

The bottom line: The Audi Q7 delivers impressively Teutonic driving befitting a smaller machine, but the XC90 is a stylish people-hauler that's the total package  and is nearly $5,000 cheaper, comparably equipped. It might be time to go Swedish.

The Stats

Volvo XC90

316-hp 2-liter

060 in 6.1seconds

4,394 pounds

Starts at $49,895

Audi Q7

333-hp 3-liter

060 in 5.7 seconds

4,938 pounds

Starts at $54,800

Related
A Tibetan schoolboy living in India has died four days after setting himself on fire to protest Chinese rule, the hospital treating him said Friday.

Dorje Tsering died from a cardiac arrest late on Thursday at the hospital where he was taken after setting himself ablaze at a housing settlement for Tibetan refugees in the northern city of Dehradun on Monday.

"He died last night around nine," hospital spokeswoman Poonam Dhanda told AFP, refusing to comment further.

The 16-year-old said from his hospital bed he had a "strong determination to do something for Tibet since my childhood", according to a translation from Free Tibet.

The London-based advocacy group said the teenager was the eighth Tibetan to mount such a protest outside China.

His death came after an 18-year-old Tibetan monk in China self-immolated on Monday to protest Beijing's ironclad control of the Himalayan region.

Radio Free Asia (RFA), which is funded by the US government, said the monk's action was the first such protest in China this year, and brought the total number in the country to 144.

Tens of thousands of Tibetans refugees live in Indian settlements, the biggest of which is in southern Karnataka state.

Their presence and that of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama are an irritant in relations between India and China.
The speed of the Trump juggernaut redefining U.S politics is making it hard for any news organization, perhaps especially an investigative one, to keep track of the landscape and the people on it.

Show me the data

Public Integrity has a traditional core expertise in campaign finance and turned that to good effect this week in my view to put facts around the anecdotal belief that GOP stalwarts and Donald Trumps rivals were belatedly turning on him. The weekly data the political team analyzes on political TV ad spending showed big sums spent in the days before Super Tuesday and the tone shifting dramatically to a Stop Trump message.

"Republican super PACs pile on Trump with ad barrage was the latest piece by Cady Zuvich with data showing Republican Super-PACs backed 8,500 advertisements blasting Donald Trump. Its a great case for our focus on money and high quality data giving us a way of dealing accurately with assumptions and anecdotes.

The Chris Zubak-Skees ad tracker shows how the advertising spending is being deployed by all sides now and is a really good visible way of seeing why CBS, CNN and other broadcasters are in a bonanza.

We expose, they act

Its also not just about Donald Trump. Our political data analyst Michael Beckel called out some questionable use of limited liability companies to support the now-defunct bit of New Jersey governor Chris Christie. Now two government reform groups are calling for an inquiry.

Also on defunct bids, Carrie Levine looked at how Ben Carson is likely to use  some would argue abuse  the lists of thousands of ordinary people who have backed his now suspended big for the GOP nomination. "This database is a potential post-campaign money machine, Carrie writes.

Jared Bennett, our indefatigable web editor, had a strong follow up to a controversial report he did leading on homeowners whose properties were effectively sold out from under them in big HUD mortgage deals with Wall Street. Forty-five members of Congress have now signed a letter urging HUD to reconsider the program.

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Spotlight on investigative journalism

We were all thrilled at Public Integrity to see Spotlight win Best Picture in the Oscars on Sunday night. It has shone a light on the work of all investigative journalism operations and the struggle to keep them financed with its superb portrayal of the Boston Globe Spotlight teams expose of the Boston Catholic priest pedophile scandal. The New York Times did a piece on what the success of the film means for us all in the business, including Public Integrity.

This story is part of Inside Publici. Stories were working on, the impact of our investigations, news about our fundraising efforts, and other issues that shape our work. Click here to read more stories in this topic.

Don't miss another Inside Publici investigation: Sign up for the Center for Public Integrity's Watchdog email.

What were reading and thinking about

Our Chief Development (fundraising) Officer Deb Dubois says shes reading predictions for charitable giving in 2016, specifically The Philanthropy Outlook 2016 & 2017, a report done by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, which predicts a 4.1% increase in giving in 2016 and an additional 4.3% increase in 2017. Despite the competition for funds and the distraction this years election poses, the outlook is encouraging, especially because the most significant rise will be in our bread and butter area  foundations.

Our Executive Editor Gordon Witkin sent me a remarkable and very long investigation into the Gates Foundations influence over journalistic non-profits, particularly NPR. It comes across as a tad shrill to me but asks some strong questions about where that influence is declared and how. A good reminder you can never be too transparent. I encourage anyone raising money for non-profit journalism to read it and consider. [To be clear, we dont currently receive support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, but we would expect to work with them like any other philanthropic supporter.]

I welcome feedback on this note.

This story is part of Inside Publici. Stories were working on, the impact of our investigations, news about our fundraising efforts, and other issues that shape our work. Click here to read more stories in this topic.

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 Emily Flitter NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. (Reuters) - A plan to block Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump struggled to gain traction on Friday as rival candidates rejected it, while Democrats reveled in the chaos they hoped would boost their chances of keeping the White House. The country's top elected Republican, House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, said he was not interested in an effort to draft him into the White House race. And U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, a conservative presidential hopeful, ruled out a deal to pick a compromise Republican candidate at the party's July convention, which senior party figures see as their best chance to stop the unpredictable billionaire. "The D.C. power brokers will drop someone in who is exactly to the liking of the establishment. If that will happen we will have a manifold revolt in this country," Cruz said at the Conservative Political Action Conference outside Washington. "You want to beat Donald Trump, you beat Donald Trump with the voters," he said. Party leaders worry Trump would not be able to beat Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in the election, but time is running out after he won most of the states that voted in this week's Super Tuesday. Senior Republicans also fear Trump's plans to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border and ban Muslims from entering the United States will turn off voters in November and upset U.S. allies. Others note his past support for liberal policies and question whether he has any agenda other than advancing himself. "I dont think he actually carries the conservative mantle. He's a little too crass for me," said Michele Minter, a San Diego executive assistant who was attending CPAC. Trump, a former reality TV star, often plays by his own set of rules. He canceled plans to speak at CPAC, normally an essential stop for ambitious Republicans, and will instead attend a rally in Kansas. The real estate magnate, who is drawing support from many blue-collar Republicans concerned about illegal immigration and stagnant wages, has won most Republican nominating contests and leads in many polls for the primary contests still to come. "Im not a normal Republican," he said to huge cheers at a rally in Warren, Michigan. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, the only candidate to ever challenge Trump's months-long lead in opinion polls, officially ended his White House bid. "There are a lot of people who love me, they just won't vote for me," Carson said in a speech at CPAC, held in National Harbor, Maryland. RYAN 'NOT INTERESTED' A new group called the Committee to Draft Speaker Ryan filed papers with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday, seeking to raise money to push Ryan as a Republican alternative. Ryan, a budget wonk who was the Republican vice presidential candidate in 2012, is seen by many in the party as a unifier after he took the speaker's job last year to unite establishment Republican lawmakers and conservative upstarts in the House. "He is flattered, but not interested," Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong said in an email on Friday. As Trump cements his front-runner status, senior party figures hope to deny him enough delegates to clinch the nomination, which would give them the chance to choose a compromise candidate at their convention in Cleveland. The last time that happened at a Republican convention was in 1948 when Thomas Dewey was nominated. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said there was an 85 to 90 percent chance that the party will not face that scenario this year. Mitt Romney and John McCain, the party's last two presidential nominees, called on Republicans to halt Trump's rise by backing whichever candidate was strongest in their state, a form of tactical voting. Few elected officials are rallying behind the "Dump Trump" banner. The party's 31 state governors, for example, are not lining up behind an alternative. Only five have endorsed Florida Senator Marco Rubio and one has backed Cruz, in a sharp contrast to previous years when governors overwhelmingly endorsed the party's eventual nominee. Rubio has only one state so far and is gearing up for what could be a make-or-break contest in his home state on March 15. Cruz said Saturday he planned to open 10 campaign offices there, in what could be an effort to force the rival senator out of the race. Trump is expected to extend his lead on Saturday, when a total of 155 delegates are at stake in Kansas, Louisiana, Maine and Kentucky. Democrats were happy to let Republicans fight amongst themselves. "We can sit back and let them light their own dumpster fire and wait until they're finished," said Eddie Vale, spokesman for American Bridge, a Clinton-allied group which collects negative research on Republican candidates. "Theyre giving us so much great video footage that we could run ads between now and November of nothing but Republicans attacking Trump," Vale told Reuters. Nationally, Trump has the support of 41 percent of Republican voters, compared to 19 percent who back Cruz and 16 percent who back Rubio, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling data. (Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu, Emily Stephenson, Eric Beech, and Ginger Gibson; Writing by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Bill Trott and Alistair Bell)
Ankara (AFP) - Turkish armed forces launched new artillery strikes on positions of the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria, local media reported on Friday.

Turkish artillery fired shells from howitzers positioned in its border region against IS targets in the north of Syria's Aleppo province, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported reported.

A fragile ceasefire backed by Turkey has taken effect in Syria, but the deal does not apply to territory held by the IS group and Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front.

This was the second time within a week that Turkey had shelled IS targets in Syria, after a period of over a month when there had been no reports of Turkish strikes against the extremist group.

Turkey had on February 28 shelled six IS targets in Syria a total of 41 times, a senior government official said this week.

From mid-February, Turkish artillery had also on successive days shelled targets of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) inside Syria, with the military saying it was responding to incoming fire.

But Turkey has not shelled any positions held by Syrian Kurdish fighters inside Syria since the ceasefire was implemented from at midnight last Friday, the official said.

Washington had urged Ankara to halt its fire on the PYD and its People's Protection Units (YPG) militia.

The issue of the Syrian Kurds had caused a rare rift between Ankara and Washington, which regards the YPG as the most effective fighting force on the ground against IS and wants Turkey to focus on the fight against jihadists.
By Ercan Gurses and Orhan Coskun ANKARA (Reuters) - Changes to Turkey's constitution envisaged by the ruling AK Party could hand President Tayyip Erdogan new powers to draft legislation directly and pick ministers, senior officials said, moves opponents fear could entrench authoritarian rule. A cross-party commission charged with drafting a new constitution collapsed last month after the main opposition pulled out over attempts by the AKP, founded by Erdogan more than a decade ago, to change Turkey from a parliamentary to a presidential system. Erdogan won Turkey's first popular presidential election in August 2014 and has made no secret of his ambition to imbue the largely ceremonial post with more powers. Previous heads of state had been elected by parliament. The debate over the constitution has profound implications for Turkey, a NATO member state of 79 million people with aspirations to join the European Union. The outcome could change the way Turkey is ruled and redefine issues ranging from Turkish citizenship to the protection of religious freedoms. Erdogan's supporters say an executive presidency is vital if Turkey is to have the powerful leadership it needs to take a bigger role on the world stage. They reject suggestions it is about the personal ambition of one man. His opponents say it will consolidate too much power in the hands of a leader, whose grip over the media, the judiciary and police has tightened in recent years. They fear Erdogan's roots in conservative Islamist politics will take Turkey ever further from Western standards on free speech. Erdogan has urged parliament to take the issue to a referendum, saying he believes Turks will accept a new charter and stronger powers for the head of state. Amid opposition dissent, the AKP is readying its own draft proposals. "If it emerges that the constitutional commission cannot work, the AKP will begin work on a constitution including the presidential system and will rapidly complete it," said Mustafa Sen, a chief adviser to Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. "A decision (on the AKP draft) could be reached before the summer ... We are not writing a 10-volume novel. It must not be a text of more than 60-70 articles," he told Reuters. Several other senior AKP officials said the party's proposals, which would need the support of 14 opposition members of parliament to be put to a national vote, were already under discussion. The plans would allow the president to dissolve parliament, officials familiar with the discussions said. Such a move would also end the president's term and trigger parliamentary and presidential elections to ensure checks and balances, they added. Two senior AKP officials involved in the deliberations said the president would be able to issue decrees to enact legislation without consulting parliament. "The president in our proposal would be more powerful than under the U.S. system," one of the officials said, declining to be identified because the plans have not yet been finalised. The head of state would also appoint the cabinet as well as senior figures including ambassadors and some members of the judiciary. "SECRETARIES, NOT MINISTERS" The AKP has broad cross-party support for overhauling the constitution, which dates back to an era of military coups and has been repeatedly revised. But there are wide divergences over what a new charter should look like. Opposition parties want it to focus primarily on protecting minority rights and democratic freedoms. "The current system is already pretty much like a semi-presidential system ... Even if there are shortcomings, a 200-year-old parliamentary system must not be sacrificed to the ambitions of one person," said Omer Suha Aldan, a deputy from the main opposition CHP. "The president would designate and unseat (cabinet members). They wouldn't be ministers, they'd be secretaries," he said. Erdogan, who was prime minister for more than a decade, hoped after his election as head of state for swift constitutional reform to bolster his powers. But those plans have been impeded in part because of opposition fears of creeping authoritarianism. More than 1,800 court cases have been filed against people accused of insulting Erdogan since he became president, from students and a former Miss Turkey to journalists and academics, fuelling those fears. The looming trial of two prominent editors on terrorism charges, after their opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet published video of what it said were intelligence officials trucking arms to Syria, has also raised international concern. ANOTHER ELECTION? Erdogan himself has insisted the plans are not about personal ambition but about replacing a system he says is out of date and unsustainable, with both the prime minister and president popularly elected. "A powerful prime minister and a president elected directly by the people could pave the way for a crisis. The presidential system aims to fix that anomaly," the presidency source said. There was no crisis already only because Erdogan and Davutoglu share the same political vision, which may not be the case for future presidents and prime ministers, he said. Several AKP officials said they believed the party could quickly agree a draft proposal to put to parliament and they were confident of winning enough support for a referendum in the autumn, or early next year. Some Turkish newspapers have speculated that a fresh parliamentary election could be called to allow the AKP to try to boost its parliamentary majority in order to ease the proposal's passage. Another election could be destabilizing for Turkey after four votes in the past two years, a cycle which polarized the electorate and slowed progress on reforms. (Additional reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Daren Butler in Istanbul and Nick Tattersall in Ankara; Writing by Nick Tattersall; editing by Janet McBride)
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A Turkish court on Friday sentenced two Syrians to four years in jail over the drowning of five people including toddler Aylan Kurdi, the image of whose dead body sparked global sympathy last September over the fate of migrants, Dogan news agency said. Three-year-old Aylan, whose body washed up on a beach in southwest Turkey, drowned along with his mother and brother among a group of migrants trying to reach Greece by boat. The two Syrians were each sentenced to four years and two months in jail for smuggling, Dogan reported. They were acquitted of a charge of causing death through conscious neglect. Since Aylan's death, the European Union has faced a growing crisis over how to deal with hundreds of thousands of migrants from Syria and elsewhere, a crisis that threatens to tear the 28-nation bloc apart. EU Council President Donald Tusk was visiting Turkey on Friday to press for closer cooperation in dealing with the migrants ahead of an EU summit on Monday. Praised for taking in some 2.5 million refugees from Syria's five-year civil war, Turkey - a candidate for EU membership - is under pressure to stop migrants making perilous onward journeys to Europe. (Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Nick Tattersall and Gareth Jones)
By Ayla Jean Yackley and Daren Butler ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish authorities seized control of the country's largest newspaper on Friday in a widening crackdown against supporters of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, an influential foe of President Tayyip Erdogan. Rights groups and European officials criticized the confiscation of Zaman newspaper and its sister publication, the English-language Today's Zaman, which occurred on the eve of a summit between Turkey and the European Union and as concerns mount that the Turkish government is stifling critical media. Administrators were appointed to run Zaman at the request of an Istanbul prosecutor, state-run Anadolu Agency reported. Officials were not immediately available to confirm the reports. Erdogan accuses Gulen of conspiring to overthrow the government by building a network of supporters in the judiciary, police and media. Gulen denies the charges. The two men were allies until police and prosecutors seen as sympathetic to Gulen opened a corruption probe into Erdogan's inner circle in 2013. "It has been a habit for the last three, four years, that anyone who is speaking against government policies is facing either court cases or prison, or such control by the government," said Abdulhamit Bilici, editor-in-chief of Zaman. "This is a dark period for our country, our democracy." Zaman is Turkey's biggest selling newspaper, with a circulation of 650,000 as of the end of February, according to media-sector monitor MedyaTava website. Thousands of supporters gathered in the rain outside of Zaman's Istanbul office where they waved Turkish flags and carried placards reading "Hands off my newspaper" live footage from Cihan, a broadcaster owned by Zaman's parent, showed. EU STANCE "Zaman Media Group being silenced in Turkey. Crackdown on press freedom continues sadly," Kati Piri, the European Parliament's rapporteur on Turkey, said in a tweet. The EU is accused of turning a blind eye to Turkey's human rights breaches, including the deaths of hundreds of civilians during security operations against Kurdish militants, because it needs Turkey's help curbing the flow of migrants. [L8N16C1ZK] The crackdown on Zaman comes at an already worrying time for press freedom in Turkey. Two prominent journalists from the pro-opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper are facing potential life sentences on charges of endangering state security for publishing material that purports to show intelligence officials trucking arms to Syria. Authorities have seized and shut down opposition media outlets associated with the Gulen movement before. The state deposit insurance fund said this week an Islamic bank founded by Gulen followers might be liquidated within months. The Zaman takeover came hours after police detained businessmen over allegations of financing what prosecutors described as a "Gulenist terror group", Anadolu said. Memduh Boydak, chief executive of furniture-to-cables conglomerate Boydak Holding, as well as the group's chairman Haci Boydak and two board members, were taken into custody. Nobody from the company, based in the central Turkish city of Kayseri, was available to comment. The Committee to Protect Journalists, the New York-based advocacy group, expressed "alarm" over the court ruling against Zaman, and executive director Joel Simon said in a statement it "paves the way to effectively strangle the remnants of critical journalism in Turkey." (Additional reporting by Melih Aslan; Writing by David Dolan and Daren Butler; Editing by Gareth Jones)
Tripoli (AFP) - Two Italians kidnapped last July in Libya were freed Friday in a raid on Islamic State group hideouts in a city near the capital, officials in Libya and Rome said.

The announcement came a day after Italy said that two other nationals abducted at the same time had probably been killed in clashes between jihadists and local militiamen.

"Two Italian hostages were released... in Sabratha after an operation targeting several houses after information reached security forces that Daesh elements were there," the city's mayor Hussein al-Dawadi said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

"They are now at a police station in Sabratha," 70 kilometres (40 miles) east of Tripoli, he added.

Gino Pollicardo, 55, and Filippo Calcagno, 65, said in a statement released by the Sabratha municipality: "We are free and are relatively well physically but are psychologically exhausted. We urgently need to return to Italy."

- 'Convoy attacked' -

In a video posted on the municipality's Facebook page, the pair were seen wearing tracksuits, with long beards and dishevelled hair.

Pollicardo's tearful wife told Italian media: "It's over. I spoke to him on the phone."

The foreign ministry in Rome confirmed the releases, saying that the two "are no longer in the hands of their captors".

"They are now under the protection of the Sabratha military council and are in good health," a statement added.

The men were among four employees of Italian construction company Bonatti who were kidnapped in July 2015 in the Mellitah region west of Tripoli.

Rome's prosecution office, which is investigating the kidnappings, said the two others, Fausto Piano and Salvatore Failla, had been separated from Pollicardo and Calcagno.

Italian media reports said Piano and Failla had been in an IS convoy that was attacked by militiamen from Fajr Libya (Libya Dawn), the armed wing of the non-recognised government based in Tripoli.

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The Italian foreign ministry said Thursday that photographs of the aftermath of the clashes included images of bodies that could be theirs.

A statement from the Sabratha military council said that more than 20 IS members -- "mainly Tunisians" -- had been killed over the past two days.

It said its forces were working with the Sabratha municipal council to identify those who had helped and sheltered IS fighters in the city.

Chaos has engulfed Libya since the 2011 NATO-backed ouster of dictator Moamer Kadhafi and rival administrations are being urged to sign up to a UN-brokered national unity government to help restore stability.

The internationally recognised government is based in the far east of the North African country.

IS and other extremist organisations have exploited the power vacuum, making gains along the oil-rich coastal regions and triggering concern among Western nations over jihadists controlling territory just 300 kilometres (185 miles) from Europe.

Sabratha in the west has been the scene of intense fighting between local militias and IS since a US attack last month on an IS training camp on the outskirts of the city killed 50 people.

IS subsequently seized the centre of the city, only to be pushed back to its outskirts last week.

On Wednesday, the United Nations said at least 28 civilians including five children have been killed in fighting across Libya so far this year.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department on Friday called the decision by Turkish authorities to seize control of the country's largest newspaper "troubling." "We see this as the latest in a series of troubling judicial and law enforcement actions taken by the Turkish government targeting media outlets and others critical of it," State Department spokesman John Kirby told a news briefing. Turkish authorities seized control of the Zaman newspaper on Friday at the request of an Istanbul prosecutor, state-run Anadolu Agency reported, in a widening crackdown against supporters of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, an influential foe of President Tayyip Erdogan. (Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
By Heather Somerville and Dan Levine SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The U.S. Chamber of Commerce sued the city of Seattle on Thursday over an ordinance that allows drivers of ride-hailing apps Uber [UBER.UL] and Lyft to unionize, saying it violates federal antitrust laws. Seattle last year became the first U.S. city to pass a law giving drivers for companies such as Uber and Lyft, as well as taxi and for-hire drivers, the right to collectively negotiate on pay and working conditions. City officials took action amid growing concerns about how drivers are compensated. Both Uber and Lyft vigorously opposed the measure, arguing that existing federal labor law trumps local legislation. The chamber, a federation of more than 3 million businesses, is the newest entry into the growing legal battle being waged by numerous factions in courts across the United States over whether the drivers are independent contractors or employees, and what sort of benefits and rights they should have. "Seattle and thousands of other municipalities would be free to adopt their own disparate regulatory regimes, which would ... inhibit the free flow of commerce among private service providers around the Nation," according to the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle. The chamber is seeking to have the law suspended. Uber said in a statement that the lawsuit "raises serious questions not only about whether the city has run afoul of federal laws, but also about the impact on drivers who rely on ride-sharing to earn flexible income. Lyft, in a separate statement, said the ordinance "may undermine the flexibility that makes Lyft so attractive both to drivers and passengers." The ordinance was approved unanimously by the city council but opposed by Seattle Mayor Ed Murray. Representatives for Seattle's city council could not immediately be reached for comment on Thursday; officials said in December they were prepared for a lawsuit. "We have millions of dollars set aside," Councilman Mike O'Brien, who proposed the measure, told Reuters. Richard Reibstein, a labor lawyer who runs the independent contractor practice at Pepper Hamilton, said the law is a threat to all the businesses the chamber represents. "If a municipality could pass an ordinance of this nature addressed to the ride-sharing industry, it could pass an ordinance of this nature against any industry and all industries," he said. The chamber also argues that Seattle cannot make a determination about the employment status of drivers before the National Labor Relations Board makes a decision on the issue. The NLRB is reviewing at least four cases and is expected to make a blanket decision concerning their status. (Reporting by Heather Somerville and Dan Levine in San Francisco; editing by Grant McCool)
BEIRUT (Reuters) - U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said on Friday the future of President Bashar al-Assad should be decided by Syrians themselves and should not be decided in advance. "We have said that it is to be a Syrian-led solution, a Syrian owned (solution)," said de Mistura in an interview with France 24 television. "Can't we leave the Syrians to actually decide on that? Why should we be saying in advance what should the Syrians say, as long as they have the freedom and the opportunity of saying so?" A fragile cessation of hostilities in the five-year conflict is in its seventh day -- despite accusations of breaches from all sides -- and the United Nations has said it wants to resume peace talks on March 9. (Reporting by Lisa Barrington and John Irish; Editing by Alison Williams)
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Destruction in Ramadi is "staggering" and worse than anywhere else in Iraq, a U.N. team concluded this week after making the first assessment visit to the city since its recapture from Islamic State. It said the main hospital and train station had both been destroyed, along with thousands of other buildings. Local officials told the UN team 64 bridges and much of the electricity grid had been ruined. Iraqi forces declared victory over the jihadist group in Ramadi in December and has since cleared most of the western Iraqi city. Islamic State fighters still hold pockets in the northern and eastern outskirts. Its recovery boosted Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in his campaign to oust the militants from their northern stronghold of Mosul later this year. But more than six months of fighting shattered most infrastructure and leveled many homes in Ramadi, the Anbar provincial capital where around half a million people once lived. The fighting saw Islamic State bomb attacks and devastating U.S.-led coalition air strikes. "The destruction the team has found in Ramadi is worse than any other part of Iraq. It is staggering," said Lise Grande, the United Nations' humanitarian coordinator in Iraq. The two-day assessment found that nearly every building had been damaged or destroyed in frontline areas. In other districts, one in three or four buildings were damaged, it said. U.N. analysis of satellite imagery last month showed nearly 5,700 buildings in Ramadi and its outskirts had been damaged since mid-2014, with almost 2,000 completely destroyed. Grande said it was too early to say how much time and money it would take to rebuild. The cash-strapped government in Baghdad is appealing to international donors to help the city, the largest retaken from Islamic State. It must first clear bombs planted by the militants in streets and buildings - an effort which also requires funding it lacks. The assessment team said the greatest concentration of such explosives was reported in south-central Ramadi. The United Nations is working with local authorities on plans to rebuild health, water and energy infrastructure. The U.N. team said a water plant in central Ramadi could probably be repaired quickly. It said it had identified four potential relocation sites for returning civilians. Iraq's central government has yet to give the all-clear for the return of residents. (Reporting by Stephen Kalin; editing by Andrew Roche)
By Evelyn Lirri KAMPALA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Child rights campaigners in Uganda have welcomed a new law that restricts fast-track foreign adoptions in which children - often with living parents - can be whisked overseas in a matter of days. Lawmakers passed a bill this week that requires foreigners seeking to adopt children to live in the east African country continuously for at least one year before applying and bars them from the quicker route of claiming legal guardianship. "This ends the long wait for a proper legal regime that addresses the welfare and rights of our children," said member of parliament Bernard Atiku, who initiated the bill. Hundreds of Ugandan children have been adopted in recent years by foreigners, mainly Americans, some of whom have sidestepped restrictions by winning guardianship within days and then completing the adoption process back home. Atiku said several children had been trafficked out of the country with no mechanism in place to trace where they end up or who they end up with. "Foreigners have been manipulating the guardianship provision to take children out of the country," he said. A Thomson Reuters Foundation investigation in May 2015 revealed widespread corruption in Uganda's intercountry adoption process with Ugandan parents bribed, tricked or coerced into giving up their children to U.S. citizens and other foreigners. Demand for children had fueled trafficking rackets and a mushrooming network of unregistered childcare institutions through which children were primed for adoption. Officially, Uganda's 1997 adoption law requires prospective adoptive parents to spend three years in Uganda fostering a child before filing a case, but it has not been enforced. Wednesday's bill states that inter-country adoption will only be permitted in cases where the child has no known relatives, legal guardians or foster parents, Atiku said. Data from the U.S. State Department shows that the number of Ugandan children adopted by Americans more than tripled between 2010 and 2013, with 201 adopted in 2014. According to a report by the Ugandan government and the United Nations, four out of five children had at least one living biological parent. CHILDREN'S RIGHTS Two-thirds of 100 applicants, most of them foreign, seeking to win parental rights over a child between 2006 and 2013 sought legal guardianship rather than adoption, the report shows, because of its relative ease and speed. In most cases, there was no pre-adoption fostering, and poor parents were sometimes offered financial inducements to give up their children. "The financial incentives underlying the 'facilitation' of legal guardianship and adoption processes coupled with the demand for children from the developing countries has fueled child trafficking," the report said. The new legislation demands that applicants must not have a criminal record, must be recommended as a guardian by a welfare officer in their home country and must not have promised money or any other reward to facilitate their case. The faster route of claiming legal guardianship will only be available to Ugandan citizens, according to the parliament website. "This is the best gift parliament can give the children of Uganda," said child rights campaigner, Stella Ayo-Odongo, who heads the Uganda Child Rights NGO Network. "Those intending to adopt children from Uganda must now follow the proper adoption process and not use shortcuts." But opponents said that the legislation risked limiting prospects for Ugandan children. "There are so many situations where many of these children are totally abandoned," said independent member of parliament Fox Odoi. "And their only ray of hope is a foreigner who is willing to take them on," he was quoted as saying on the parliament website. The bill is expected to be signed into law by Uganda's president, Yoweri Museveni, within weeks, Atiku said. (Reporting by Evelyn Lirri. Writing by Katy Migiro. Editing by Tom Esslemont and Ros Russell)
Damascus (AFP) - The United Nations began delivering aid to three rebel towns east of Damascus on Friday, in the second distribution of assistance since a shaky truce began in Syria.

Speaking to reporters before entering the Eastern Ghouta opposition bastion, UN chief aid coordinator Yacoub El Hillo said the convoy included food, medical supplies and nutrition products for children.

The 23 trucks were to deliver the aid to 20,000 people living in the towns of Saqba, Ain Terma, and Hazzeh, he said.

"This delivery process will continue in the coming period, and we are completely ready, along with our partners... to take advantage of the favourable conditions these days since the fighting has noticeably decreased," Hillo told reporters.

Eastern Ghouta, besieged by pro-government forces since 2013, was regularly and heavily bombarded by the regime, but had been relatively calm since a truce began Saturday.

It was hit by air strikes on Friday for the first time since the ceasefire started.

The first delivery of humanitarian assistance under the truce took place on Monday in Moadamiyet al-Sham, an encircled opposition town southwest of the capital.

Hillo said on Sunday he hoped the truce would allow aid to be delivered to 154,000 people over the following five days.

Syria's main opposition body, the High Negotiations Committee, has criticised both the regime and the United Nations for what it says are delayed and insufficient deliveries.

HNC head Riad Hijab said on Thursday that aid was "only entering very limited areas".

On Friday, Hillo admitted that aid deliveries were "just a drop in a huge ocean of needs", but said the UN was expecting further deliveries in the coming days to other towns in Eastern Ghouta.

On Thursday, Jan Egeland, special adviser for aid to the UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura, voiced hope that the ceasefire would "lead to a big leap forward... in reaching many hundreds of thousands more people".

"Considering how it has been, we are obviously making great progress, but there is a lot left to be done," he told AFP.
GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations refugee agency proposed a six-point plan to European Union heads of state on Friday to resolve the migrant crisis, warning that the situation was quickly deteriorating in Greece where some 30,000 refugees are stuck. The proposal includes setting up EU centers in each state to "take responsibility for all of Europe for registering people and distributing them under an agreed system," UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told a briefing in Geneva. U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi is calling for 10 percent of the Syrian refugees in neighboring countries to be resettled around the world over the next three years and expects pledges to be made at a March 30 conference. (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
By Yeganeh Torbati WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United Nations Children's Fund said on Thursday it is worried about the health and well-being of one of its former officials, an elderly man jailed in Iran for more than a week. Baquer Namazi, whose son Siamak has been jailed in Iran since October, was himself arrested on Feb. 22 and taken to Tehran's Evin Prison, his wife said last week on social media. Both the elder Namazi and his son are dual U.S.-Iranian citizens. Baquer Namazi, a former Iranian provincial governor, served as UNICEF representative in Somalia, Kenya, Egypt and elsewhere before retiring in 1996, UNICEF said in a statement. "Current and former UNICEF colleagues are deeply concerned about the health and well-being of Baquer Namazi," the statement said. "We hope he will be reunited soon with his wife and loved ones." Baquer Namazi is 80 years old and has a serious heart and other conditions which require special medication, his wife Effie Namazi said last week. His son Siamak was most recently working for Crescent Petroleum in the United Arab Emirates, and previously headed a consulting business in Iran. Iranian officials have not issued formal charges against either man. Friends of Siamak Namazi have said that he may have become a pawn in factional struggles among hardliners, pragmatists and reformers, each with economic and political interests. Elections in Iran last week strengthened centrists and reformists allied with President Hassan Rouhani, but his scope to permit more social and political freedom is constrained by hardliners' control of the judiciary, security forces and state media. (Reporting by Yeganeh Torbati; Editing by Tom Brown)
Nouakchott (AFP) - UN chief Ban Ki-moon began an official visit to the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott late Thursday, as part of a tour of West and North African countries, Mauritania's official AMI news agency said.

He plans to hold talks Friday with President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz and Prime Minister Yahya Ould Hademine, his programme showed.

Before flying to Mauritania from Burkina Faso, the first stop in his tour, Ban had expressed "concern" over a string of jihadist attacks in Africa's Sahel region.

"I am deeply concerned by the terrorist attacks in the (Sahel) region," he said in Ouagadougou.

"The response to terrorism must be global," he said, urging "a strict adherence to human rights and international humanitarian law."

Burkina Faso was struck on January 15 by a string of coordinated attacks that left 31 dead, including 28 in Ouagadougou, where jihadists attacked a hotel and a nearby cafe popular with foreigners.

"I returned to the region to ensure the international community continues to support the Sahel region. This evening I will go to Mauritania to continue my work of awareness-raising," Ban said.

In Mauritania, Ban is due to hold talks "about the relationship of cooperation between Mauritania and the United Nations", chiefly "the growing role and the support given" by the country to the UN's peacekeeping missions, particularly in Africa.

Some 1,000 Mauritanian nationals are deployed as UN peacekeepers in missions across the world, including Ivory Coast, the Central African Republic and Darfur in Sudan.

After Burkina, Ban is due to visit Algeria.
The Pentagon is about to pay hackers to break into government security systems.

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) announced yesterday (March 2) that it plans to launch the first "cyber bug bounty program" in the history of the federal government.

The so-called Hack the Pentagon program, which is slated to begin in April, will allow vetted hackers to find weaknesses in the department's public websites, applications and security systems, according to defense officials. Participants could win money and recognition for their work, they added. [The 8 Craziest Intelligence Leaks in US History]

Bug bounty programs and hackathons are common in private industry. Google, Facebook and Microsoft already use them to expose gaps in their own software. Additionally, these programs can help prevent disruptions in service and reduce the impact of cyberattacks on companies and government agencies, according to cybersecurity experts.

"Bringing in the best talent, technology and processes from the private sector not only helps us deliver comprehensive, more secure solutions to the DoD, but it also helps us better protect our country," Chris Lynch, director of the DoD's Defense Digital Service, said in a statement.

Participants in the government's Hack the Pentagon program will be required to register and submit to a background check.Once vetted, these hackers will participate in a controlled, limited-duration program that will allow them to identify holes in a predetermined network system, according to the Department of Defense. Other networks, including the departments critical, mission-facing systems, will not be part of the bug bounty pilot program, defense officials said.

The new initiative follows the administrations Cybersecurity National Action Plan, announced on Feb. 9, which prioritizes near-term actions to improve cyberdefenses and lists a long-term strategy to enhance cybersecurity across all branches of the U.S. government.

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"I am confident this innovative initiative will strengthen our digital defenses and ultimately enhance our national security," Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said in a statement.

More information about the Hack the Pentagon program can be found on the Department of Defense's website. Details on the requirements for participation and other ground rules will be available in the coming weeks.

Follow Knvul Sheikh on Twitter @KnvulS. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.

Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Washington (AFP) - The White House on Friday said Cuba's communist government will have no say in which dissidents President Barack Obama meets during his visit to the island later this month.

"The president does intend to meet with some political dissidents inside of Cuba," said spokesman Josh Earnest, "the guest list for that meeting will be determined solely by the White House."

"The president will meet with whomever he chooses to meet with."

The meeting is a difficult subject for Obama. Republicans accuse him of betraying human rights in Cuba by engaging the regime.

"Despite concession upon concession by the United States, detentions of activists have increased," said Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio.

The White House argues that a half century of isolation has failed to make Cuba democratic, and that improving economic ties will force the regime into political reforms.

On March 21, Obama will become the first US president to visit Cuba in almost a century.

The White House hopes the trip will be a "Berlin Wall" moment, crowning a policy they see as being among Obama's greatest foreign policy achievements.

Last April, on the eve of a historic first meeting with Raul Castro, Obama held a closed-door discussion with dissident Cuban lawyer Laritza Diversent and political activist Manuel Cuesta Moura, along with a dozen other activists from the Americas.

Castro's government has shown a willingness to slowly open the economy, but Cuba's political system is still utterly dominated by the regime.

Human rights groups say that detentions have actually increased of late, reaching around 8,000 last year, even as longer-term prisoners have been released.

"What worries us is that Obama had said in December that he would only come to Cuba if there was progress on human rights," Berta Soler of the Damas de Blanco told AFP.

"The repression continues," she added.
Washington (AFP) - The White House on Friday played down suggestions that Vice President Joe Biden would launch a new peace initiative during a visit to Israel and the West Bank next week.

"The vice president will not be carrying any major new initiatives," a senior administration official told reporters. "It's an uncertain context in the Israeli-Palestinian issue."

A five-month wave of violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories has killed more than 200 people, according to a AFP toll count.

"Obviously we are all watching with great concern the kind of defuse but persistent violence between Palestinians and Israelis in recent months," the official said.

Biden is set to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin in Jerusalem, and Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas in Ramallah.

He will also meet former Israeli president Shimon Peres. "Peres has had some health issues as of late, and this is basically a friend meeting with another long-standing friend," the official said.

Biden and Netanyahu are expected to discuss the fight against the Islamic State group.

The Israeli prime minister has angered the White House by publicly opposing a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict, an idea that had been the bedrock for decades of peace talks.

Biden's visit to Israel will be his second since a trip in 2010 was marred by the announcement of a major Israeli settlement project in annexed east Jerusalem.

Six years on, after some fits and starts, the peace process remains moribund.

"It's not clear to us that the two sides at the moment have the political will to (hold) genuine negotiations," the White House official said.

"So while we will continue to urge both sides to find steps to de-escalate the tensions and leave the door open for a two-state outcome, the vice president is not going to be bringing any major initiatives."

President Barack Obama has stated that the two-state solution remains the only viable outcome. Israel's changing demographics would fundamentally alter the country's character if it does not embrace a two-state solution, the official indicated.

"It's hard to see how in the coming decade Israel remains both secure and democratic and a Jewish state in the absence of a two-state outcome," he said.

Biden departs Washington on Tuesday and will travel to the United Arab Emirates and Jordan in addition to Israel and the West Bank.
There is good reason former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is embracing Obamacare while others in both parties are running away from it.

Her success so far  including presidential primary victories in South Carolina and a half dozen other southern states  have hinged on strong support from African American and Hispanic voters. Clinton on Super Tuesday picked up two-thirds or more of the black vote in states including Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia, while Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont was winning the white vote and younger Americans.

Related: Its Clinton vs. Trump Unless More GOP Drop-Outs Change the Balance

Even though critics of the Affordable Care Act claim it is killing jobs and driving up insurance premiums and co-payments, blacks and Hispanics have emerged as the biggest winners under President Obamas signature program.

The administration announced on Thursday that about 20 million Americans have signed up for health insurance through Obamacare since 2010. Most of them have purchased government subsidized insurance on state or federal exchanges or through expanded Medicaid coverage.

During that period, the uninsured rate has dropped by more than 50 percent among African Americans and by more than 25 percent among Hispanics, according to the governments figures.

That means that about three million African-Americans and four million Hispanic adults have gained health care coverage for the first time in recent years.

Related: The Minority Divide Could Settle the Battle Between Clinton and Sanders

We have seen progress in the last six years that the country has sought for generations, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell said in a statement. Americans with insurance through the Health Insurance Marketplace or through their employers have benefited from better coverage and a reduction in the growth in health care costs.

The new report also showed that 6.1 million uninsured young adults ages 19 to 25 obtained health insurance coverage because of the ACA. This was an especially important development, according to officials, because the programs long-term success depends in part upon attracting younger, healthier people to leaven the overall cost of coverage. These coverage gains for young people began in 2010 because of a provision of the new law that allows children to remain on their parents health insurance plans until they turn 26.

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Joseph Antos, a health care expert with the American Enterprise Institute, described the sharp decline in the uninsured rate among minorities and young people as startling and good news.

But he cautioned in an interview Friday that we cant be 100 percent certain of the administrations new figures because people have a tendency on the exchanges to stop paying their premiums or never start paying, and that there is also turnover within the Medicaid program for low-income people.

Related: Can the Democrats Reunite in Time to Stop Trump?

I would wait until the Census Bureau puts out its numbers in August or September to see what actually happened, he added. One of the problems with these statistics from the exchanges is that they are frankly guesswork when it comes to Medicaid. Its really very difficult to come up with a number that you can take to the bank.

Obama announced the new figures yesterday during an appearance in Milwaukee to promote the Affordable Care Act. During a speech, Obama called out Republican lawmakers and presidential candidates for seeking the repeal of the 2010 law without advancing a serious replacement plan.

Congressional Republicans have tried and failed to repeal or undermine it about 60 times, he said. Theyve told you what theyd replace it with about zero times. They sure wont tell you what would happen if they actually did repeal it. If they got their way, 20 million people would have their insurance taken away from them.

Clinton has echoed this theme in defending Obamacare on the Democratic presidential campaign trail. Besides her broadsides against Donald Trump and other GOP candidates, she has repeatedly attacked Sanders for his single-payer Medicare for all proposal that she says would undercut Obamacare and badly set back progress in health care.

Related: Clinton and Obama Launch Their Mutual Support Group

Clinton is promising to build on Obamacare by using tax credits and other measures to lower costs that still prevent many Americans from obtaining health care coverage. The former New York senator and first lady also favors imposing a cap on out-of-pocket drug costs and seek faster Food and Drug Administration approval of generic drugs.

I don't want us to start over again, Clinton said recently in opposing Sanders single-payer proposal. I think that would be a great mistake, to once again plunge our country into a contentious debate about whether we should have and what kind of system we should have for health care.

Sanders, the self-described democratic socialist, denies that he is trying to undermine the Affordable Care Act, which he helped enact. He says that even with Obamacare, there are still tens of millions of Americans who remain uninsured and who deserve coverage under a national health care plan similar to those in Canada and Europe.

Every major country on earth, whether it's the U.K., whether it's France, whether it's Canada, has managed to provide health care to all people as a right, and they are spending significantly less per capita on health care than we are, Sanders said. So I do not accept the belief that the United States of America can't do that.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
Mitt Romneys condemnation of Donald Trump gives renewed urgency to the Never Trump movement of GOP officials and elders working against their own frontrunner while at the same time presenting new risks to Republican chances in November.

Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud. His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University. Hes playing the American public for suckers: He gets a free ride to the White House and all we get is a lousy hat, Romney, the 2012 GOP presidential nominee, said Thursday during a speech in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Related: Get Ready for a Two-Hour Food Fight at Tonights GOP Debate

The billionaires domestic policies would lead to recession. His foreign policies would make America and the world less safe, according to Romney. He has neither the temperament nor the judgment to be president. And his personal qualities would mean that America would cease to be a shining city on a hill.

The roughly 20-minute address was a full-throttle attempt to paint Trump as a charlatan. Romney ticked off a laundry list of areas where the GOP frontrunner isnt all hes cracked up to be, from his various business ventures  a business genius he is not  to foreign policy where Trump has proposed the most ridiculous and dangerous idea of the 2016 cycle by suggesting ISIS take out the regime in Syria.

Trump brings the very brand of anger that has led other nations into the abyss, Romney said.

The strong words are part of a coordinated effort to tear down the former reality TV star, who has already won 10 nominating contests and could rack up several more this weekend when voters turn out in five more states.

Related: Could a Conservative Backlash Wipe Out Leading Republicans?

Earlier this week, an anti-Trump super PAC headed by a former Romney aide, announced it would spend at least $1 million on new ads arguing the real estate mogul is a con artist.

The truth about Trump University? Donald Trump made millions, while hard-working Americans got scammed, the narrator says in a minute-long spot by Our Principles PAC. Donald Trump belongs in a 3 a.m. infomercial, not here, the narrator adds, before an image of the White House flashes on the screen.

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On Wednesday, 60 Republican national security wonks posted a letter on War on the Rocks declaring their opposition to Trump  the self-proclaimed most militaristic person in the GOP primary. The defense hawks rattle off a series of Trump foreign policy positions, including his embrace of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as reason they are unable to support a party ticket with Mr. Trump at its head.

But given the Teflon nature of Trumps candidacy where hes shrugged off innumerable charges and attacks that ordinarily would sink a White House hopeful, its hard to image the latest assault, launched from the quintessential Republican establishment, will have any effect.

In fact, one possible negative consequence of the collective anti-Trump movement is that the billionaire decides to split off from the GOP, taking with him the millions of new voters who have turned out to support him.

Related: Many Senate Republicans Are Ready to Drop Trump Like a Hot Rock

Trump hinted at that very idea Thursday morning on MSNBCs Morning Joe.

The establishment  they want to throw that right out the window. Because if I get out, all those people are going, theyre all going with me, he said. I signed a letter with the [Republican National Committee] and I said I want to do this as a Republican, Trump said, flirting once again with the idea of launching a third-party bid. But Im not being treated the right way. Im not being treated properly.

Whether I ran as an independent or not, those people will never go out and vote  they didnt vote for Romney last time, Trump said. If the time comes and when who knows whats going to happen, but I will be able to get along. And we will have a much bigger party, we will have a much more inclusive party.

The feud between the pair, which began on Twitter a few weeks ago when Romney skewered Trump over not releasing his tax returns, is likely to continue, given Trumps thin skin. The former Massachusetts governor predicted Trump would use every low road against him in the days ahead, including possibly at Thursday nights GOP debate.

Indeed, during an interview with NBCs Today Show, the billionaire called Romney a stiff.

Yet Romneys words could resonate, as evidenced by a statement released by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), the GOPs 2008 nominee, moments after the address concluded.

I want Republican voters to pay close attention to what our partys most respected and knowledgeable leaders and national security experts are saying about Mr. Trump, and to think long and hard about who they want to be our next Commander-in-Chief and leader of the free world, said McCain, the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
Insurance giant Humana Inc., which operates some of the nations largest private Medicare health plans, knew for years of billing fraud at some South Florida clinics, but did little to curb the practice even though it could harm patients, a doctor alleges in a newly unsealed whistleblower lawsuit.

The suit was filed by South Florida physician Mario M. Baez. It accuses Humana, and his former business partner, Dr. Isaac K. Thompson, of engaging in a lucrative billing fraud scheme that lasted years. The suit also names three other Palm Beach County doctors, two medical clinics and a doctors practice group as defendants. The suit was filed in October 2012, but remained under a federal court seal until Feb. 26.

Humana had no comment. As a matter of long-standing company policy, Humana does not comment on pending litigation, said company spokesman Tom Noland.

Thompson, a Delray Beach doctor, was indicted early last year on health care fraud charges stemming from similar allegations. He had pleaded not guilty, but last week indicated he would change his plea, and was to appear in federal court in Fort Lauderdale today, according to court records.

The Baez case is likely to bring fresh scrutiny to the giant Louisville, Kentucky-based insurer, which treats more than 3 million elderly patients in its Medicare Advantage plans nationwide. The case could also spotlight costly flaws in the governments complex and controversial method for paying private Medicare health plans.

The Baez suit targets a billing formula called a risk score, which is designed to pay Medicare health plans higher rates for sicker patients and less for people in good health. But overspending tied to inflated risk scores has cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars in recent years, as the Center for Public Integrity reported in a series of articles published in 2014.

Federal officials have struggled for years to stamp out these overcharges, known in health care circles as upcoding, while at least a half-dozen whistleblowers have filed lawsuits accusing Medicare Advantage plans of ripping off the government.

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Baezs case adds a new wrinkle because it alleges that inflating risks scores not only wastes taxpayer dollars, but can also cause a patient to be harmed by improper medical treatment.

Baez said in a letter to the presiding judge in the case, U.S. District Judge Kenneth A. Marra, that treating elderly patients with multiple ailments is difficult when you have accurate data, but when medical records are poisoned with misleading data [from inflated risk scores] it becomes Russian roulette. Patients arent told their risk score and arent likely to know if a doctor has exaggerated how sick they are or added bogus medical conditions to their medical records to boost profits, Baez said.

Baez and Thompson were partners in two Humana-affiliated clinics, Lake Worth Medical, P.A. and IM Medical P.A., in Delray Beach, from 2003 to 2012. Baez alleges in his suit that in February 2009 he became suspicious of billing practices at the two clinics and confronted doctors who worked there about it. The doctors said they had been told by Thompson to upcode diagnoses, according to the suit. Baez said he reported the abuses to Humana in May 2009, but the company failed to return the alleged overpayments. In 2012, Baez contacted the FBI, which eventually sparked the Department of Justice criminal investigation that ensnared Thompson.

Doctors use a series of billing codes to document patients health, including any diseases they have and how severe they are. The Medicare Advantage plans report these codes to the government, which calculates a patient risk score and sends off a payment to the health plan.

In Thompsons case, Humana paid 80 percent of the money it received to the doctor and retained the rest. Prosecutors charged that fraudulent diagnoses submitted by Thompson between January 2006 and June 2013 generated overpayments of $4.8 million.

Baez alleges that Humana encouraged overbilling by providing affiliated doctors with forms that highlighted more profitable diagnosis codes they could use for patients. Many were statistically impossible to support, according to the suit, which cited allegedly inflated risk scores in more than three dozen patients.

For instance, scores of patients at IM Medical and Lake Worth Medical were diagnosed with a serious but rare spinal disorder called ankylosing spondylitis, when only one in 1,000 people truly had this disorder, according to Baez.

Similarly, aging patients with ordinary joint aches were diagnosed with unspecified inflammatory polyarthropathy, a chronic disease that requires the care of a specialist, according to the complaint.

Others with minor depression were said to have bipolar disorder, which paid the health plan a higher rate. According to the complaint, Humana officials agreed to fully correct the overages, but later reneged on the promise to do so and failed to correct the record with Medicare, according to Baez. The health plans are required to attest to the accuracy of any diagnoses submitted to the government.

The other doctors named as defendants in the Baez suit are Dennis Salazar, Arnaldo Mora and Daniela Mayer. All formerly worked for Thompson. The suit also named MCCI Group Holdings, a medical practice group. None of the doctors could be reached for comment. MCCI Group had no comment.

Humana has previously acknowledged it has been the target of investigations into its billing practices, including some involving whistleblowers. So has another large Medicare Advantage plan operated by UnitedHealth Group. Last month, UnitedHealth said it was cooperating with a Department of Justice review of its billing practices, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Court filings unsealed in the Baez case confirm that the company faces several similar whistleblower suits, including at least one that remains under court seal. The court records also suggest that the criminal fraud investigation that snared Thompson is not over.

There are some components of the criminal investigation which remain active, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark A. Lavine wrote in a December 2015 court filing. Lavine added that the investigation continues to move forward aggressively.

Lavine also indicated that two other whistleblower cases have been filed against Humana in connection with similar allegations at other clinics.

Baez told the Center he has been frustrated with the plodding pace of the government investigations into Medicare Advantage. Keeping the matter under seal for so long protects those who have perpetrated the fraud, but keeps patients and the public in the dark.

In November 2015, Baez wrote to Marra asking that the seal be lifted.

Seven years ago I presented to Humana the problem with upcoding and entering false information in patients medical records in order to justify the upcoding Nothing has changed. Nothing has been done to protect the hundreds of patients with misleading medical information in their medical records, Baez wrote.

This story was co-published with NPR.

This story is part of Medicare Advantage Money Grab. Billing errors cost taxpayers billions. 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.
LUSAKA (Reuters) - A leader of the main opposition party in Zambia was arrested on Friday on suspicion of proposing violence against President Edgar Lungu, police said, the latest sign of tension ahead of August elections. Geoffrey Mwamba, vice-president of the United Party for National Development, was arrested for a verbal attack on Lungu this week in which he said he would "go for his throat", police spokeswoman Charity Chanda said. Police on Wednesday arrested and released Mwamba in another case in which he was accused of training party supporters to become an illegal militia. "We have arrested Mr Mwamba for proposing violence. This is in connection with a statement he made proposing to cause death to the Republican President," Chanda said. The offense carries a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison, a lawyer said. Last week, Lungu accused political opponents of training a militia to carry out violence during the elections. They denied the accusation. Police last week said they had arrested 21 United Party for National Development supporters found training in a gym on Mwamba's business premises, some with weapons such as machetes and with live ammunition. Zambia is due to hold presidential, parliamentary and local government elections on Aug. 11. Lungu and United Party for National Development leader Hakainde Hichilema are seen as front runners in the presidential race. (Reporting by Chris Mfula; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
LUSAKA (Reuters) - Zambia's Chibuluma Mines Plc has reduced the number of employees it will lay off as it grapples with lower copper prices, opting to reduce output instead of outsourcing, it said on Friday. The mining firm, majority-owned by South Africa's Metorex, a unit of China's Jinchuan, said in December it planned to lay off 263 of its 514 employees in the first quarter of 2016. Chibuluma said in a statement that after consultations with labour unions and the government, the final number of employees to be declared redundant had now been reduced to 167. "The company established that it would be more cost effective to reduce production levels, streamline operations and continue to run its operations without outsourcing," it said. "Additional cost-cutting measures will continue to be executed to ensure that the business remains viable." Chibuluma said in December that it had arranged for a significant proportion of the employees it would lay off to be taken on by the contractors who would carry out the outsourced services. An electricity shortage and weaker copper prices due to slower growth in China have put pressure on Zambia's mining industry, economy and currency. (Reporting by Chris Mfula; Editing by Dale Hudson)
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's High Court told the government on Friday to let the largest diamond-mining firm in its Marange fields return to its mines and take control of its assets there, defying President Robert Mugabe who said all operations had been nationalized. Mugabe on Thursday said his government would take possession of all diamond operations because existing miners had robbed the country of its wealth. It is the second time this week that High Court Judge Joseph Mafusire has ordered the government to let security personnel from Mbada Diamonds to have access to all the company's assets in Marange. Mafusire made the same ruling on Monday after Mbada challenged the decision by the mines minister to order companies in the diamond fields in the east to stop mining and leave because their licenses had expired. The court is to decide on whether companies can resume mining operations at a hearing set for March 8. The judge said the government's failure to comply with his first ruling was "wilful and deliberate" and he warned that he would rule in Mbada's favor on March. 8 if the government did not comply with his latest order. Mines Minister Walter Chidhakwa, who is opposing Mbada's application to resume mining operations, was not immediately available for comment. Mbada and Chinese-run Anjin Investments have challenged the government's diamond mining ban and have asked the court to declare the decision unlawful. The government's ban has sought to highlight how unpredictable Zimbabwe is to potential investors as it struggles to emerge from a catastrophic recession that cut economic output by nearly half during the decade to 2008. "The biggest problem with Zimbabwe is its policy uncertainty. ZANU-PF often gets desperate for cash and grabs any resource they can," said Gary van Staden, Johannesburg-based political analyst for NKC African Economics. The feud with diamond mines come at a time an International Monetary Fund team is in Zimbabwe for talks aimed at reviewing Harare's economic performance, which could lead to a financial aid package after years of isolation. (Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe said on Thursday that his government would take possession of all diamond operations because existing miners had robbed the country of its wealth. Mugabe's comments came a week after the ministry of mines ordered all mining companies to halt work and leave the Marange fields, saying they had not renewed their licenses. At the time it denied it was seizing the mines. "The state will now own all the diamonds in the country," Mugabe said during a two-hour interview with state broadcaster ZBC TV. "Companies that have been mining diamonds have robbed us of our wealth. That is why we have now said the state must have a monopoly," Mugabe said. The largest diamond mine in Marange, Mbada Diamonds, on Monday sued the government at the High Court and was allowed to take control of its mining assets. Chinese-run Anjin Investments also challenged the government ban at the same court on Wednesday, according to a court application seen by Reuters on Thursday. Mugabe said he had told Chinese President Xi Xinping during his visit to Zimbabwe last December that his government was not getting much from Chinese-owned mining companies. "I suspect this won't really have broad implications across the industry because Zimbabwe is a known, risky jurisdiction to operate in," said John Turner, head of the mining group at law firm Fasken Martineau, which does a considerable amount of work with miners in Africa. "In the last several years, though, a number of people have been saying it is time to get back into Zimbabwe because things will change and get better, so to the extent that private firms were looking at Zimbabwe thinking they were ahead of the curve, this may give them pause for thought," said Turner, who has worked on some major asset expropriation cases in Africa. Zimbabwe was the eighth largest diamond producer in the world with 4.7 million carats in 2014, according to industry group Kimberly Process. However, independent diamond analyst Paul Zimnisky said Zimbabwe's significance in the global diamond industry has been waning. In 2013, Marange production accounted for over 10 percent of global supply, but with easily reachable material having already been tapped and firms there unwilling to commit funds for further exploration, Zimbabwe is expected to account for less than 3 percent of global supply this year, said Zimnisky. (Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe, Rod Nickel and Euan Rocha; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Toni Reinhold)
Consumer Affairs monitoring prices

This programme, which involves visits to forty-two supermarkets throughout the country, will continue through to March 6.

Four supermarkets were monitored in the Point Fortin district yesterday, along with supermarkets in the areas of Tunapuna, Siparia/ Fyzabad, Arima, Mayaro, Diego Martin and Barataria.

The areas still to be visited over the period include San Fernando, Curepe, Princes Town, Sangre Grande, Cunupia, St James, Rio Claro, San Juan, Debe, Chaguanas, Port of Spain, Couva and Toco.

Among the supermarkets included on the list to be visited are Costcutters; Diskomart; Stop & Shop; Anand Low Price; Maharaj WestSide; Massy Stores; S&S Persad; Persad D Food King; Winston; Peiping; Tru-Valu; Food Giant; Jumbo Foods; Len Hap; Food Basket; Maharaj Bros; SNSR; Low Cost; Woolings; Johns; MS Foodcity ; G&N; Price Club; Xtra Foods; Back to Basics; Payless; Cash & Carry; Toolsies; Cumana Co-op and Ramish & Leela.

The results of this survey will be published in the coming weeks. A press release from the Consumer Affairs Division stated that this exercise is critical towards providing consumers, with modal prices to allow for informed purchases.

Since the change in the Value Added-Tax (VAT) regime from 15 percent to 12.5 percent, consumers have complained that certain unscrupulous businesses have still charged VAT at the old rate.
NO MIRACLE

After a six-week battle for life, baby Miracle Cross breathed her last and gave up the fight lying on a cot during the early morning hours yesterday at the San Fernando General Hospital. For her, it was simply a waiting game, as feverish attempts were made both at home and abroad, to raise roughly US$200,000 to fund an overseas trip for surgery to repair congenital defects to her tiny heart.

The miracle that we prayed for...

the miracle we needed for our Miracle was not to be, cried Chrystal Cross in a brief interview yesterday.

Chrystal said she and her husband Kerwin were at their daughters side when she closed her eyes for the last time, at 3.13 in the morning.

Nurses at the hospital wept as news spread that baby Miracle was gone. Hours later, as the family consoled each other at their Duncan Village home, the phone rang.

The caller was from the Childrens Life Fund Authority, who brought news that the Cross application for funds for their babys trip to the Boston Childrens Hospital in the United States, had been approved.

She was to have been flown to Boston next week for surgery.

On the morning of February 4, Trinidad and Tobago awoke to a photo of baby Miracle across the front page of Newsdays edition, above the headline: HELP ME.

What followed was an outpouring of love, prayers and promises of help from readers. The reaction was similar with our online readers with persons from Canada and the United States calling Newsdays offices seeking more information and contact numbers for baby Miracles parents.

Ever since she was born on January 18, baby Miracles home was the San Fernando General Hospital.

Her mother tearfully recalled the familys twice-daily trip to the hospital.

She spoke of telephone calls from well-wishers, of liaising with the DeHix Foundation in Chicago and the Caribbean Childrens Foundation in Canada. We thought we were going to make it and our baby Miracle fought hard, dad Kerwin said. He revealed that as baby Miracle began to take her final breaths, both Chrystal and Kerwin kissed the cheeks of their daughter as they bade her a final, tearful goodbye.

As they called us to say the funding was approved, it was good news from the Life Fund, but good news which came too late, Kerwin said.

Miracle was born with Cyanotic Congenital Heart Disease (CCHD), a medical condition which causes low levels of oxygen in the blood. Heart surgery was the only option to save Miracles life. But such surgery is not done in this country. Dennis Hicks of the DeHix Foundation in the US, read the story online and contacted the Cross family. Editor-in-Chief of the Independent Newspaper in Toronto, Canada and founder of Caribbean Childrens Foundation Raynier Maharaj, also contacted the family. The necessary documents were sent to the Cross family from the Boston Childrens Hospital.

Doctors who cared for Miracle at SFGH had already written up the required medical notes and provided same to the parents for submission to the Boston hospital.

Only last week, Kerwin said, he had been liaising with Raynier Maharaj as a back-up plan, for Miracle to be flown to Canada if the trip to Boston fell through. Struggling to hold back his tears, Kerwin thanked Newsday for highlighting his daughters plight, he thanked well-wishers, he thanked the doctors who kept their hopes high and he thanked God, for the six weeks he had with baby Miracle.

About two weeks ago, doctors summoned the parents to the hospital and advised that Miracle s blood count was dangerously low.

A blood transfusion was done and the babys health condition improved. Both parents kept in regular contact with officials of the Childrens Life Fund at the Mt Hope Medical Sciences Complex.

Kerwin related to Newsday, his last moments with Miracle. We received a call at about midnight on Wednesday, from the hospital.

They asked us to come because Miracle was hooked up to a ventilator.

When we reached, we stayed with her and then at three oclock, doctors told us she was not responding positively to the ventilator.

At 3.13 am, she breathed her last breath. She fought for a long time but Miracle could not wait any longer, Kerwin said.

Contacted for comment, DeHix founder Dennis Hicks said Miracle had touched the hearts of many in unexplainable ways. For him, the only consolation was that she was no longer in any pain. We know our desires were not met, but we tried, Hicks said. Funeral arrangements are continuing.
Girl, 6, talks of sex assault by step-brother

According to reports, the girl first told the Principal about the abuse and her mother was later contacted.

Officers of the Rio Claro police station were called in, and the child related that her 16-year-old step-brother was in the habit of asking her to undress. She said he would then ask her to touch up her private parts. He would then fondle her and play with himself (masturbate).

Officers contacted the Child Protection Unit and officers led by WPC Rampersad went to the school and took the child to be medically examined. A medical examination revealed there was no sexual penetration. Officers of the Victim and Witness support Unit of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service were also contacted to provide counselling for the girl and her mother. The step-brother was expected to be detained yesterday in connection with the incident.

Newsday understands that the girl has not attended school since she revealed information on the sex assault and all efforts are being made to have her properly counselled, and efforts are being made to ensure her safety. In an unrelated incident, officers of the Pinto Police Post were asked to assist in the rescue of four children aged nine, seven, six and five.

According to reports, agents from the Child Protection Unit Nsana Villaroel and Ricky Seepersad first went to a school in Santa Rosa and rescued two children aged nine and six, a boy and girl respectively. They then went to the Pinto Police Station and requested the assistance from officers to remove two other children aged seven and five (a boy and girl respectively) from an Arima house.

The four children were taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex where they were medically examined and placed in the custody of the Childrens authority. It is alleged the children were being abused by persons into whose care they were entrusted.

Investigations are continuing
Bandit pastor surrenders

According to reports, Sheldon Beeka of Cedar Hill Village, Princes Town, went to a commercial bank on Wednesday and withdrew $50,000. At about 5 pm as he was making his way into his driveway, Beeka was accosted by a man who held him up and robbed him of the money. A report was made to the Princes Town police and Sgt Ramlogan and PC Mathura carried out enquiries.

The pastor was identified as the suspect and a warrant was issued for his arrest. The pastors picture was aired on TV6s Beyond the Tape crime show hosted by Inspector Roger Alexander on Wednesday afternoon, and shortly after the programme was aired, the pastor surrendered to the Morvant police. Yesterday, he was handed over to ASP Rawle Ramdeo and Inspector Don Gajadhar of the San Fernando CID, and was expected to be placed on an identification parade at the Princes Town Police Station.

The victim was contacted and asked to attend the ID parade, and according to reports, the pastor who lives in San Fernando was pointed out by his victim in the ID parade.

Charges were expected to be laid against the pastor yesterday and he may appear in court today.

Police sources said the pastor has previous convictions for robberies.
Prison officers funeral today

Yesterday, family, friends and co-workers gathered at the funeral home for a private viewing of the body.

Victor Jrs body was placed in a small chapel of the Funeral Home and was surrounded by friends and loved ones during the viewing.

A prison officer who spoke to Newsday said, he was like a little brother to me.

We worked together for years, we even went on conferences together, the prison officer said.

Every day since he was killed, I would see his face when I close my eyes.

I just cannot believe he is gone. The victims father Fitzalbert Victor Sr arrived later and gathered around the casket.

Compounding the familys grief was news that the Trinidad and Tobago Prison Service will not assist with the funeral arrangements.

The Prison Service concluded that since Victor Jr, was not on duty when he was killed, they would not be able to assist.

Victor Jr was shot outside at his home in Prizgar Lands, Laventille at about 6.20 am on Monday while washing his car.

His killer remains at large.

His funeral will be held at Belgroves Funeral Home in Tacarigua at 2 pm today.
Emailgate probe ends

Sources revealed that officers received the final two discs containing information from hotmail accounts of former Minister of Works Suruj Rambachan and former Minister of National Security Gary Griffith, late last year.

Officers sifted through information on the discs, but found nothing to suggest criminal misconduct on the part of the former ministers. In fact, the entire emailgate investigation by officers assigned to the probe, resulted in nothing being found to implicate former Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, former Attorney General Anand Ramlogan and former Housing Minister, Roodal Moonilal.

The final report is now on the desk of Deputy Police Commissioner Glen Hackett, who has sent the report to Deputy Director of Prosecutions (South) Joan Honore- Paul, who will review the findings and give a final direction in the matter.

Newsday understands Hackett is awaiting those instructions before informing the public about the conclusion of the probe.

Contacted yesterday on whether he is in receipt of the final findings into the emailgate investigation, Hackett said, I have no comment to make. Asked if the police will be making a statement on the final outcome of the probe, Hackett replied in the affirmative. A source at the Central Authority also confirmed yesterday that all documents and discs needed to bring closure to the probe were handed over to police.

The Central Authority has completed its work with respect to that investigation.

In May 2013, then Opposition Leader (now Prime Minister) Dr Keith Rowley alleged a conspiracy to murder a journalist among other things, during a motion of no-confidence against the Government.

He produced what were purported to be email exchanges between a range of Government officials, including then Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and then Attorney General Anand Ramlogan, in relation to the circumstances surrounding the early proclamation of a law that barred prosecution to persons on charges more than ten years old  a move which potentially could have freed two reported UNC financiers of white-collar crime charges.

The matter was subsequently dubbed Emailgate. Sources revealed yesterday that the police have recommended that no further police action should be carried out in this matter. However, they still have to await final guidance from Deputy DPP Honore-Paul.
ECCE owners worry

When the MoU was entered into, it was understood that the ministry would absorb all fees pertaining to the schools. These included teachers salaries, utility bills and rent. One teacher, who requested anonymity, said he was one of many who have received no money from the ministry for the year, and was unable to pay his staff. He also said that his electricity has been cut because of no payment. He said there were close to about 40 schools in the Victoria County area going through this hardship.

As part of that MoU, the fees that we would have been charging parents to send their children was now absorbed by the ministry.

In essence they were paying the school fees for the children. From day one we have had problems with the ministry with late payment of these fees, it has always been so. Every term they have been late in their payment, the teacher said.

The teacher said for the September to December term (2015), all documents were sent out by December 10, last year, for payment. To date no money has been disbursed. We called the ECCE Division in Aranjuez.

We keep hearing the same thing that everything has been sent to the ministry as far as they know.

They are not even making an attempt to find out what could be the keep back, why it is taking so long. Then we are hearing everything is with the accounts department.

That has been so for the past two weeks, he said.

The teacher said during this period of non payment, his electricity supply has been cut, so he had no lights, or air condition for his students, who had to be relocated to a nearby church to continue the teaching process. Teachers have not been paid any salaries for the year, rent is due for the premises, and we keep getting this stone-wall approach from the ministry. It appears there is no one who can tell us what is the keep back, and when the money would be paid.

I have teachers working from their good graces and out of my good name that I will pay them, but there comes a time when favour and goodwill would run out. Besides, we have a lot of bills to pay, and no one seems to be able to have an answer for us. It has reached a critical point now because all the ECCE schools are now networking to see if we could help each other, he said.

The teacher noted that on entering into the MoU, they were informed that they would not have to raise funds as the ministry was responsible for all payments.

The teacher said he needed about $20,000 per month to pay all his bills, inclusive of teachers salaries. Attempts to contact Education Minister Anthony Garcia were unanswered. He is in Tobago on a retreat with Cabinet colleagues.
Fired workers protest

However, corporation chairman Premchand Sookoo, in addressing the workers concerns, pointed out that the corporation requested additional funding from Central Government to carry on projects, saying the present allocation would end in March and July, respectively.

I am in sympathy with the workers who are here this morning, fighting for their bread and butter and I am in full agreement with you, Sookoo said, and noted that a letter had been sent to Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Franklin Khan for, supplementary funding in the sum of $13.6 million. The present allocation would be sufficient to carry 246 short term workers up to March, 2016 and other daily- rated paid workers up to July, 2016. Hereafter funds allocated would be exhausted, he stated.

Sookoo noted that Khan had responded to the Corporations concerns, and had forwarded the letter to the Ministrys permanent secretary.

However ladies and gentlemen, I am still pursuing with members of my council to ensure that we get this $13.6 million, in order to continue the employment of the short- term employment up to the end of the fiscal year, Sookoo said. I thought it was wise and important that we carry this fight, not here, but at least to the Ministry, he said, adding, It is difficult, it is hard, none of us, at the Penal Debe Regional Corporation want to send home 246 contract employment workers, in fact we dont want to send home one worker. His explanation failed to appease the protesting workers who also noted that persons from outside of the Corporations boundaries seemed to be getting work on the various projects. One man, Kelvin Caton, said he worked as a labourer for past 6 years, and was now being told that he would only be employed for five days in a month.

They decide to give us a five days in one month, that cant do anything, Caton said, I living above my means right now because the cost of living is much too high, so when they do me that, five days work, what Im to do, I have bills to pay, Caton said.
Rowley uncomfortable with FCB

Im sure the bank is not happy, because the story is out there. In this case its a Minister of Government, but it could easily be somebody else. Speaking yesterday at the weekly post Cabinet press conference held at the Magdalena Grand Hotel in Tobago, Rowley added, You ask if Im comfortable and the answer is no. I have a credit card at FCB and suppose I go and buy some underwear for my wife and I didnt deliver it in time to her, and somebody tells the press, then you have another story. As to his FCB credit card, he said, Your question is, what do I do? Im thinking about it. After the story broke on details of her finances, Robinson-Regis closed her FCB bank account. Dr Rowley said he once felt compelled to close his account at FCB - successor to the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) - when a false news story that he had given an ADB loan to former minister, Wendell Mottley, had led a past minister of finance to reason that the government of the day had the right to private client details at a State-owned institute.

The PM said he reopened his FCB account under the good governance of a new regime.

In another matter, the Prime Minister said a drop in US dollars earned by energy exports means individuals and the Government must now prioritise how foreign- exchange is spent. In his earlier address, he alluded to declining taxes paid by an energy company to Government as he said that a firm, which in one year once paid $9 billion to Government, this year might pay zero.

Dr Rowley admitted that this country does have a financial crisis, citing the drop in the price of crude-oil exports from US$120 per barrel previously to just US$30 now. We are down on volume and on price, he said. And in parallel we have explosive criminal conduct. He alluded to, a major deterioration in the quality of life in TT. Dr Rowley said Government must prioritise the use of limited foreign exchange, so as not to run out. Do we need foreign exchange spent on medicine, or do we spend on something else less important? We have to prioritise, and Id like the Nation to
Desalination Plant for sister isle

And restructuring the Tourism Development Company (TDC) is on the cards to arrive at a model to better market and promote Tobago, and Trinidad, as a tourist destination.

So revealed Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley at the post Cabinet news briefing at the Magdalena Grand Hotel and Gold Resort in Lowlands, Tobago which is where the Cabinet met yesterday. Using the Magdalena as his point of reference which he noted has an occupancy level of around 50 percent for last year, Rowley said Cabinet and Tobago House of Assembly members discussed how CAL could be used to provide international airlift to the island.

Observing that Tobago was without a direct flight from a major tourism destination, he said: Cabinet took a decision that the Ministry of Finance and the THA and the Ministry of Tourism will meet as a matter of urgency and with proper technical and financial advice would determine what role CAL can and must play in satisfying the needs for an improved air access. In terms of the water shortage now being experienced on the island, Rowley said discussions looked at the possibility of a desalination plant for Tobago.

It is not a major undertaking and one of the things we would consider is the engineering possibilities, if it exist in the ergonomics of combining the power plant output and as a result, we should be able to solve that problem once and for all, he said.

The Prime Minister also said Government was looking to restructure the Tourism Development Company (TDC). The TDC, in its expenditure and behaviour is contributing very little to the marketing of Tobago as a destination.

In the months that we have been in government, we have been looking at this and we are not satisfied with the current arrangements as we are sure that better arrangements can be made and what we have decided to do is to get the relevant technical support together, which we can use to remodel Tobagos model, he said.
Govt releases legal opinion on Jones case

The release of these documents come one day after Attorney General (AG) Faris Al-Rawi declared there was no impropriety in the discontinuance of legal action by Petrotrin against Jones. In supporting Al-Rawis position, the Ministry said his predecessors Anand Ramlogan and Garvin Nicholas had a serious and direct obligation to appraise the legal team led by Nelson of all matters directly affecting the case.

The Ministry said both men, would have known of the material relevance and importance of the statements and evidence on the arbitration proceedings to counsel in the Petrotrin v Jones matter. Indicating that statements made by Nicholas and Opposition Senator Wayne Sturge about the discontinuance of this matter are entirely unsustainable, the Ministry maintained, The issue at hand is why was the relevant and material evidence in the arbitration proceedings that directly impacted the Petrotrin v Jones litigation suppressed. According to the statement which drew extensive references from the legal opinion, Petrotrins claim against Jones was initiated on May 3, 2013 on the basis of written advice by Nelson and Russell Martineau SC, who both opined that there was a prima facie civil case under the Companies Act to be answered by Mr Jones for an alleged breach of care and diligence as a director and executive chairman of Petrotrin in relation to the Gas to Liquids Project. At that time, Petrotrin gave direct authority to then AG Ramlogan, for his care and conduct and close supervision in this matter.  The Ministry said, The last government undertook to be fully liable for all costs pertaining to the claim. The Ministry reiterated Al-Rawis position on Wednesday that the High Court proceedings against Jones is and was directly and intimately related, to the WGTL arbitration proceedings which were held in Canada and the United Kingdom (UK).

RAMLOGANS BOASTS The Ministry said Ramlogan made boastful public statements in December 2012 and April 2014, about victories in the Canada and UK arbitrations, respectively.

Jones defence to the claim against him, relied upon the evidence in the arbitration proceedings.

The Ministry said none of the material in these proceedings was disclosed by Petrotrin in the High Court proceedings against Jones. As such they, did not form part of the case record at the High Court. On March 5, 2015, Mr Justice Rahim fixed the trial of the matter between Petrotrin and Jones to be heard before him in Court Room POS 07 at the Hall of Justice in Port-of-Spain in the period February 22 to February 26, 2016. On April 17, 2015, Jones made an application to the court for specific disclosure of witness statements of former directors and senior management adduced by Petrotrin in the arbitration proceedings.

The names of four such persons are identified in Nelsons legal opinion, in which the QC states, I was not involved in the relevant arbitrations between Petrotrin and WGTL Inc nor was I consulted regarding the drafting of the witness statements. Nelson said he considered the witness statements of two of these persons whose statements were not available in 2011 when he originally advised that there was a prima facie case against Jones.

After carefully considering these statements, the QC said there is a basis for concluding that Petrotrins board found itself committed to the WGTL project, through bad business decisions. Nelson said it appeared from these two witness statements, Petrotrin did what it could to protect its assets and Jones would testify to the same effect.

Following the Peoples National Movements (PNM) victory in last Septembers general elections, the Ministry said AG Al-Rawi specifically requested updates on all litigation under his purview.

Al-Rawi specifically took the decision, to keep the legal team (Nelson, Gerald Ramdeen, Israel Khan SC and Varun Debideen) inherited in the Petrotrin matter against Jones. The Ministry said, This decision was taken not only because this team of attorneys were retained and paid significant fees in the matter but because the team had been in conduct of the matter since inception and the trial of the matter was fixed to be heard in February 2016.
Rowley: No case against Jones

The State on Wednesday withdrew its US$109 million lawsuit against Jones, for which about $45 million has already been spent prosecuting. He said Jones in is defence had asked the court to hear the evidence heard in the previous arbitration of World GTL, that had been suppressed in court by someone then in the Office of the Attorney- General.  Petrotrins lawyers themselves had not known the details of this evidence and had so advised the firm to sue Jones, with lawyering then proceeding to the tune of about $41 million.

Dr Rowley said that when the arbitration evidence was then seen by Petrotrins attorneys they themselves told Petrotrin that there was no case to be made against Jones.

When that evidence came forward the Petrotrin lawyers told Petrotrin you no longer have a case that has a good chance in the court, he said. Dr Rowley asked aloud that if citizens were in Petrotrins shoes would they heed their lawyers, or continue the case to perhaps lose another $40 million? Or would you take the advice of the same lawyers who advised you in the beginning, saying to you know that in the face of new evidence that you no longer have the case that we thought you had?.

He said the new board of Petrotrin had rightly heeded the lawyers advice to drop the case. He said it made no sense to spend another $41 million, even as he noted that Petrotrin could not find its witness statement against Jones.

So you go to court and say I want to prosecute Malcolm Jones but I dont have any evidence, lets proceed? he said sarcastically.

The PM said a former attorney general must be asked why was the arbitration evidence suppressed from the court?
PM hits contracts without funds

The PM related, A lot of persons were let loose on the Treasury to spend money that they did not have in their portfolio or department. They went out and ran up debts all over the place. He gave examples. In one small State company without having money within the company to fund it, the chairman, not the board but the chairman without the tenders committee, awarded $400 million in contracts in the election season last year. Saying the contracts were the rehabilitation of 37 kilometres of rural roads, he said, Try and figure that out.

He said someone sought to remove money from the Treasury by paying $18 million to a contractor to build a $180 million head office for which no funding existed. So the contractor has the $18 million - 10 percent of the contract - but is now expecting money to advance the contract, but the State company has no money except that they found the $18 million to give the contractor which was the original objective. He said since a lack of funds has stymied the project, the contractor is now trying to walk away under the guise of delay.

We found out that the bond that covered the $18 million expired two days after they got the money. He said those are some cases of State debt to contractors who cant now be paid willy-nilly.

Theres one other contractor saying the Government owes him $1 billion. That may be so but a question you have to ask yourself.

This contractor must really be a benefactor to the national community, because to run up $1 billion in work with no money coming to you, we must say to you thank you for being so kind to us. You must have been a really generous contractor to put out $1 billion of your own money, not being paid for the work that you were doing. I tell you this so you could understand the scenario against which claims are being made against the State. He said he could talk until midnight to list more dubious deals.
Opposition forces House sitting on VAT

On the last occasion, the House adjourned to next week Friday.

However, because the deadline for the annulment of the legal instrument which effected the VAT regime change is next Wednesday, an Opposition motion calling for the annulment of the instrument, has to be debated prior to that deadline. The motion, filed by Tabaquite MP Dr Suruj Rambachan, calls for the annulment of, the Value Added Tax (Amendment to Schedule 2) Order 2016.

According to Rambachans motion, the imposition of a new 12.5 per cent tax, on such a wide range of goods and services will create severe economic and financial challenges for many citizens of Trinidad and Tobago, among other things. Minister of Finance Colm Imbert yesterday described the motion as, an exercise in futility.
UNC laments no diversification

Expressing that disappointment on behalf of the UNC was its chairman, Pointea- Pierre MP, David Lee.

In a statement, Lee remarked, It is quite disappointing as well as disheartening given the grim economic situation facing our nation that a diversification strategy has not yet been presented, or created neither by the TT Government, nor the Economic Advisory Board. He added the silence of the board, which is chaired by Dr Terrence Farrell on these issues, is quite perturbing, and cause for great concern as a nation. Stating this board was mandated to advise Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley on matters of economic policy, Lee claimed, The inadequacy and inefficiency of the Economic Advisory Board represents the lack of political will and vision of the current administration to sustainably develop our nations economy for the equitable benefit of each citizen in an effort to better the national standard of living. Lee said this view of the absence of a diversification strategy is shared by former Central Bank Governor Ewart Williams at the launch of the book, The Fires of Hope-TT at 50 at UWIs St Augustine Campus on Wednesday.

In reviewing the book at the launch, Williams cited his concern for the absence of a bankable diversification strategy over the 50 years of this countrys independence.

The former governor did not identify any particular administration during that 50 year period as being responsible for the absence of such a strategy.
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mikenova shared this story from SvobodaRadio's YouTube Videos. From: SvobodaRadio Duration: 05:48     ,  ,      "" 25  28 ,     ...

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mikenova shared this story from RSS.       8 .  ,            .

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mikenova shared this story from international drug trafficking organizations - Google Blog Search. WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  The United States and the Afghan government are losing the war on drugs in Afghanistan, the 2016 International Narc...

 Apple Lawyer Pushes Back Against FBI Testimony to Judiciary Committee - E-Commerce Times



mikenova shared this story from house judiciary committee - Google News. E-Commerce Times Apple Lawyer Pushes Back Against FBI Testimony to Judiciary Committee E-Commerce Times Apple General Counsel Bruce Sewell on Tuesday testified befo...

 Attorney general wades into Apple vs FBI, raising fundamental questions - Christian Science Monitor



mikenova shared this story from fbi - Google News. Christian Science Monitor Attorney general wades into Apple vs FBI , raising fundamental questions Christian Science Monitor As the US attorney general Loretta Lynch shared her thoughts ...

 FBI vs Apple: FBI director admits major mistake - TechnoBuffalo



mikenova shared this story from fbi - Google News. TechnoBuffalo FBI vs Apple: FBI director admits major mistake TechnoBuffalo Apple's public battle with the FBI came to a head on Tuesday with a congressional hearing. A lot of ground was...

 Read a CIA manual on assassination - Boing Boing



mikenova shared this story from cia - Google News. Boing Boing Read a CIA manual on assassination Boing Boing If you're searching for some uplifting bedtime reading, you might enjoy this e-book of a 1953 CIA report titled "A Study of Ass...

 Assassination: A CIA How To Guide, Pt. 1 | Mysterious Universe



mikenova shared this story from cia - Google Blog Search. But, there's no denying that one of the most eye-opening of all is a 1953 document found in the archives of the CIA . Its title A Study of Assassination. As you might have quick...

 Google Executive Schmidt To Head New DoD Advisory Board



mikenova shared this story from Defense News - Home. Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google parent company Alphabet, will head up a new Pentagon advisory board.

 Pentagon Official Decries Russian Flights Over US



mikenova shared this story from Defense News - Home. WASHINGTON  The US defense intelligence chief warned Wednesday that he has great concern about Russias intentions to fly sophisticated surveillance planes over the United States, s...

 Top US military officer Dunford, in Israel, meets counterpart Eisenkot



mikenova shared this story from DEBKAFile. March 3, 2016, 1:14 PM (IDT) Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrived in Israel on Tuesday for a visit at the invitation of the Israeli chief of staff, Lieut. Gen. ...

 Russia Pushing Continuation of Truce in Syria with Local Deals - Foreign Policy (blog)



mikenova shared this story from Russia - Google News. Foreign Policy (blog) Russia Pushing Continuation of Truce in Syria with Local Deals Foreign Policy (blog) The Syrian opposition has accused Russia and the regime of not abiding by th...

 Spain: Princess husband quizzed for 3rd day in fraud case



mikenova shared this story from World. The husband of Spains Princess Cristina is testifying for a third day in the tax-and-embezzlement trial in which he, the princess and 15 others are accused.

 The Latest: Syria TV: Nationwide power blackout - Washington Post



mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. euronews The Latest: Syria TV: Nationwide power blackout Washington Post BEIRUT  The Latest on Syria's conflict as a partial cease-fire enters its sixth day (all times local): 2...

 Online video suggests Syria motive in Moscow child murder - Fox News



mikenova shared this story from World - Google News. Online video suggests Syria motive in Moscow child murder Fox News MOSCOW  A nanny accused of decapitating a 4-year old girl and brandishing her head outside a Moscow subway station s...

 Russia's Putin plans to hold international phone talks on Syria: Interfax



mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold phone talks with European leaders on Syria on Friday, Interfax quoted the Kremlin as saying on Thursday.

 New Migrant Crisis Flares in Greece



mikenova shared this story from WSJ.com: World News. Thirty thousand refugees and migrants are stranded in Greece, as the EU tries a last-ditch gambit to halt the relentless inflow of people from the Middle East, South Asia and Africa.

 Mexico seals records in lop-sided shootout that killed 42



mikenova shared this story from World. Mexicos transparency watchdog agency has taken the governments side in denying an appeal to release autopsy reports on 42 suspects killed by federal police in 2015.

 Canadians who visit Zika spots told to hold off pregnancy



mikenova shared this story from World. Canada is advising women who want to get pregnant to wait at least two months after visiting countries where the Zika virus is circulating  or could be circulating  before trying to conceive.

 Nanny accused of beheading Moscow child cites revenge for Syria airstrikes



mikenova shared this story from World. In a video from an unidentified source, she said "Putin spilled blood."

 David Sling Rocket Defense System Arrives in Israel  The Yeshiva ...



mikenova shared this story from world news - Google Blog Search. David's Sling is considered an advanced system, among the most advanced in the world , developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and US-based Raytheon Co. The radar was ...

 Syria Hit By Nationwide Blackout: Reports



mikenova shared this story from World News - Breaking international news and headlines | Sky News. A man walks on the rubble of damaged buildings in the rebel-controlled area of Jobar, a suburb of Damascus

 VOA Interview With Deputy Secretary of Defense Michael Carpenter



mikenova shared this story from VOAvideo's YouTube Videos. From: VOAvideo Duration: 18:55 More than 400 Ukrainian troops have died in fighting since the Minsk II cease-fire agreement was adopted a year ago, with Russia playing a majo...

 Mitt Romney: Donald Trump "a phony, a fraud" - CBS News



mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. CBS News Mitt Romney: Donald Trump "a phony, a fraud" CBS News WASHINGTON -- Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is charging into the increasingly divisi...

 Russian man on trial in 'no God' row



mikenova shared this story from BBC News - World. A man on trial in southern Russia faces a possible one-year prison sentence for having written "there is no God" on the internet.

 Bear, lion and tiger are best of friends after sharing traumatic past  video



mikenova shared this story from World news + Video | The Guardian. Baloo the American black bear, Leo the African lion, and Shere Khan the Bengal tiger eat, sleep and play together at Noahs Ark animal sanctuary in Georgia, USA. The trio...

 Donald Trump's foreign policy is savaged by conservative experts



mikenova shared this story from World news. Open letter - signed by former World Bank president and ex-head of USAID - says Republican frontrunner would make America less safe in the world

 Man shoots himself dead while posing for a selfie



mikenova shared this story from World news. The victim died after shooting himself in the head while taking a selfie with a loaded gun

 Nanny beheaded four-year-old 'in revenge for Russian bombing of Syria'



mikenova shared this story from World news. Video confession posted online as father of suspect says she was never interested in religion and has a history of mental illness

 In Scandal at Puerto Rico Utility, Ex-Fuel Buyer Insists He Took No Bribes



mikenova shared this story from NYT > World. William R. Clark during his testimony at the Puerto Rico Senates special commission investigating procedures related to oil purchases at the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority.

 Nanny who beheaded Russian child says it was revenge for Putin's Syria strikes



mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. MOSCOW (Reuters) - A woman suspected of beheading a child in her care before brandishing the severed head outside a Moscow metro station has said she acted to avenge Muslims killed in ...

 Gun and grenade attack on police station in Istanbul suburb: CNN Turk



mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Militants staged a gun and grenade attack on a police station in an Istanbul suburb on Thursday, but there were no casualties, CNN Turk reported.

 Kremlin regrets U.S. decision to extend sanctions on Russia



mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia regrets that the United States decided to extend sanctions on Russia over its role in the Ukraine crisis, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Th...

 Thirteen killed as Turkish forces clash with Kurdish militants



mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - Three Turkish soldiers and 10 Kurdish militants have been killed in two clashes in southeast Turkey, the army said on Thursday, the latest casualties in ...

 Whole of Syria without electricity: state news agency



mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's electricity network across the whole of the country was down for unknown reasons, Syrian state media said on Thursday.

 Clinton now faces struggle to win back younger voters



mikenova shared this story from AP Top News at 7:01 a.m. EST. FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) -- Standing in a line of thousands outside an arena at Colorado State University, Aleksandr Cronk contemplated the grim possibility that the man he wa...

 Police chief: Texas officer killed in park was ambushed



mikenova shared this story from AP Top News at 7:01 a.m. EST. EULESS, Texas (AP) -- A man who had just been released from jail burglarized a North Texas house, stole a cache of guns and fired into the air before hiding in a drainage ditc...

 How Putin's Bank Became Russia's $20 Billion Problem



mikenova shared this story from The Moscow Times Top Stories. With President Vladimir Putin driving its strategy, Vneshekonombank financed the Sochi Olympics and extended Russian financial influence in Ukraine. Now, it needs a bailout th...

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mikenova shared this story from Russia - Google News. Wall Street Journal Syrian Forces With Russian Backing Strike at Rebels, Despite Truce Wall Street Journal BEIRUTSyrian government forces backed by Russian airstrikes pushed to make ...

 NATO Command Changes in Afghanistan



mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. U.S. Army General John "Mick" Nicholson has taken charge of American and NATO troops in Afghanistan as security conditions deteriorate across the war-ravaged nation in the wake of a vicio...

 US Sees Positive Movement Toward Resumption of Syrian Peace Talks



mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. A senior U.S. official said the agreements on the cessation of hostilities in Syria and the delivery of humanitarian aid are broadly holding, making him optimistic that the planned resump...

 Biden to Meet Next Week With Middle East Leaders



mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. Vice President Joe Biden plans meetings with key leaders in the Middle East when he visits the region next week. The White House says Biden and his wife, Jill, will depart Washington on S...

 Next Two Weeks Pivotal in US Presidential Nominating Contest



mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. The U.S. presidential candidates on Wednesday moved past the excitement of Super Tuesday voting and focused on the next two weeks, when more than a dozen states and several territories ho...

 Director's Forum: A Conversation with H.E. Moshe Yaalon, Minister of Defense of the State of Israel



mikenova shared this story from Latest From the Wilson Center. Israel sits in a turbulent and chaotic region. Never has the Middle East been as unstable and challenging: a rising Iran; meltdown in Syria; an impasse in the Palestinian iss...

 Iran To Get First Foreign-Branded Luxury Hotel On Caspian Sea



mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. A Spanish hotel operator says it plans to open what is described as Iran's first foreign-branded seaside hotel as early as next year.

 Pentagon Official Decries Russian Flights Over US - DefenseNews.com



mikenova shared this story from Russia - Google News. DefenseNews.com Pentagon Official Decries Russian Flights Over US DefenseNews.com WASHINGTON  A senior US intelligence official warned Wednesday that he has great concern about Rus...

 Novaya Gazetas Investigation: How Boris Nemtsov Was Murdered



mikenova shared this story from Institute of Modern Russia. Novaya Gazetas Investigation: How Boris Nemtsov Was Murdered 02 March 2016 At the end of February, Novaya Gazeta published its investigation of the murder of Boris Nemtsov, one...

 Ex-U.S. Congressman Quits Azerbaijani Lobby Group, Citing Nonpayment



mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. A former U.S. congressman has resigned as chairman of a central player in the multimillion-dollar Azerbaijani lobbying effort to court American support for the ex-Soviet ...

 A Crackdown on Dissent in Turkey, Where Insulting the President Is a Crime



mikenova shared this story from NYT > Europe. The justice minister revealed that 1,845 cases of insult crimes had been opened since August 2014, a reflection of Recep Tayyip Erdogans authoritarian leadership style.

 Minsk Deal Legitimizes Ugly Facts on the Ground, Critics Say



mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. Western and Russian diplomats are meeting this week to discuss ways to defuse the conflicts in eastern Ukraine, where fighting continues between Russia-backed separatists and government f...

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 Russia Thinks It Has Solved the Oil-Price Crisis - Fortune



mikenova shared this story from Russia - Google News. Fortune Russia Thinks It Has Solved the Oil-Price Crisis Fortune The world's major oil exporting economies have been putting together an agreement to freeze oil production levels, and...

 Why The World Should Care About The Assassination Of Boris Nemtsov



mikenova shared this story from The Interpreter. Why The World Should Care About The Assassination Of Boris Nemtsov When opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, the charismatic former deputy prime... This post has been generated by Page2RSS

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mikenova shared this story from     Google.          2,7   , 3 . /.   /.  ,       ,  2,7 ...

 Pentagon: Despite Minsk II, More Than 400 Ukraine Troops Killed



mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. More than 400 Ukrainian troops have died in fighting since the Minsk II cease-fire agreement was adopted one year ago, with Russia playing a major role in the violence. In an interview wi...

 When the Russians killed Mother Russia - Spectator.co.uk



mikenova shared this story from Russia - Google News. Spectator.co.uk When the Russians killed Mother Russia Spectator.co.uk But there's much more to Russian history than one evening of sabre-waggling pomp and rambunctious gaiety at the ...

 Russia Carved Out Exceptions To North Korean Sanctions - RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty



mikenova shared this story from Russia - Google News. RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty Russia Carved Out Exceptions To North Korean Sanctions RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty In remarks to reporters after the UN Security Council unanimously appr...

 Nanny who beheaded Russian child says it was revenge for Putin's Syria strikes - Reuters



mikenova shared this story from Russia - Google News. Reuters Nanny who beheaded Russian child says it was revenge for Putin's Syria strikes Reuters MOSCOW A woman suspected of beheading a child in her care before brandishing the severed...

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 Wives of Russian Governors, Lawmakers Top Forbes Rich List



mikenova shared this story from The Moscow Times Top Stories. The wives of two Russian regional governors and a State Duma lawmaker have topped the list of the richest spouses of the country's state officials, the Forbes Russia magazine ...

 U.S. Extends Sanctions on Russia to 2017



mikenova shared this story from The Moscow Times Top Stories. U.S. President Barack Obama has extended sanctions on Russia for another year, according to a decree published on the White House's official website.

 Putin Drops Election Chief in Surprise Nomination List



mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. Six months before the parliamentary election Russian President Vladimir Putin has dropped the key official responsible for holding elections from the list of nominees for the job. The Kre...

 House panel: Russia, Syria guilty of war crimes - Politico



mikenova shared this story from Russia - Google News. Politico House panel: Russia , Syria guilty of war crimes Politico The House Foreign Affairs Committee passed a resolution Wednesday that accuses Syrian President Bashar Assad and his...

 White House says Biden to visit Middle East March 5-10



mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will travel to the Middle East on Saturday for a five-day trip that will include visits to the United Arab Emirates, Israel, West B...

 Russia says 40 agreements signed on ceasefire in Syria: agencies



mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's defense ministry said on Wednesday a total of 40 agreements had been signed on a tentative ceasefire in Syria and talks with other groups were ongoing, Russ...

 U.S. says working with Russia on aid flow, truce in Syria



mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States is working with Russia to improve access to besieged areas in Syria and to stop the Syrian government from removing medical supplies from aid convo...

 Biden, Iraq's Abadi discuss military, financial support in call: White House



mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden spoke with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Wednesday to discuss military assistance requested by Iraq to fight Islamic Stat...

 U.S. General Nicholson Takes Command Of Forces In Afghanistan



mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. U.S. Army General John W. "Mick" Nicholson took over command of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. Nicholson succeeds General John F. Campbell, who oversaw the end of t...

 Man admits Virginia student murders



mikenova shared this story from BBC News - World. A US man is given four consecutive life sentences after admitting the murder and abduction of two students, including Briton Hannah Graham.

 Capital murder suspect escapes Mississippi jail



mikenova shared this story from AP Top News at 4:07 p.m. EST. VICKSBURG, Miss. (AP) -- Authorities in western Mississippi launched a massive search Wednesday for a capital murder suspect who escaped from a county jail....

 As Jungle camp taken down, French police clash with desperate migrants



mikenova shared this story . The inside track on Washington politics. Be the first to know about new stories from PowerPost. Sign up to follow, and well e-mail you free updates as theyre published. Youll receive free...

 How a Debt Bailout for Puerto Rico Short-Circuits Options for Reform - Washington Wire



mikenova shared this story . ENLARGE The Puerto Rican flag flies at the capitol building in San Juan. Photo: Getty Images Salim Furth is a research fellow in macroeconomics at the Heritage Foundation s Center for Data Analys...

 1 in 5 Puerto Ricans will be infected with Zika Virus, warns expert



mikenova shared this story from Health | Mail Online. More than one in five people living in Puerto Rico will become infected with Zika virus , experts today warned. As the virus sweeps through the Americas, Puerto Rico has become Americ...

 FBI director: I am closely involved with Clinton email investigation



mikenova shared this story from The Hill: Blog Briefing Room. FBI Director James Comey told Congress on Tuesday that he is closely involved in the agency's investigation into Hillary Clinton Hillary Rodham Clinton Curt Schilling: Clinton...

 NATO Commander: Russia uses Syrian refugees as weapon against West | News | DW.COM



mikenova shared this story . NATO's top general accused Russia and Syria of fomenting a mass exodus of refugees as a "weapon" against the West. Philip Breedlove, the supreme allied commander in Europe for the 28-member military alliance,...

 European Security Situation 'Serious,' 'Complicated'



mikenova shared this story . By Lisa Ferdinando DoD News, Defense Media Activity WASHINGTON, March 1, 2016  As the United States and its European partners work together to deter Russia, the commander of U.S. forces in Europe told ...

 U.S. Transfers Missile Defense System to Israel's Air Force



mikenova shared this story from Breitbart News. Following a series of successful trials completed in December, the IAFs Air Defense Branch has now begun receiving the main components of the system, which is designed to intercept s...

 Debate Over Privacy Finds Little Agreement - New York Times



mikenova shared this story from james b. comey - Google News. Debate Over Privacy Finds Little Agreement New York Times Lawmakers at the hearing lobbed questions at two of the main figures in the debate: James B . Comey Jr., the director...

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mikenova shared this story from DEBKAFile. March 2, 2016, 5:31 PM (IDT) Syrian army troops, backed by Russian airstrikes and artillery attacks, launched a ground assault against rebel positions in the Latakia area on Wednesday morning. T...

 BOOK REVIEW: The Roman Navy: Ships, Men & Warfare 350 BC - AD 475



mikenova shared this story from StrategyPage.com. None

 Security experts: FBI asking Apple to weaken encryption is 'path to hell' - The Guardian



mikenova shared this story from fbi - Google News. The Guardian Security experts: FBI asking Apple to weaken encryption is 'path to hell' The Guardian The consensus at the RSA conference, where luminaries from the security community are ...

 The iPhone Stays Locked, for Now



mikenova shared this story from NYT > Federal Bureau of Investigation. A federal judge argues, persuasively, that Apple is not obligated to help the government unlock its phones.

 Nicholson replaces Campbell as US, allied commander in Afghanistan



mikenova shared this story from Stars and Stripes News. Army Gen. John W. Mick Nicholson, incoming commander of American and NATO troops in Afghanistan, pledged an enduring relationship with the country during a change-of-command cer...

 Argentine ex-spy says government killed prosecutor Alberto Nisman



mikenova shared this story from intelNews.org. An Argentine former senior intelligence official has claimed in court testimony that the administration of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner murdered a state prosecutor who had accuse...

 FBI isn't the only agency that failed to unlock the San Bernardino killer's iPhone - Los Angeles Times



mikenova shared this story from james b. comey - Google News. Los Angeles Times FBI isn't the only agency that failed to unlock the San Bernardino killer's iPhone Los Angeles Times FBI Director James B . Comey told lawmakers Tuesday that...

 Less money but more action for Socom's drones



mikenova shared this story from Stars and Stripes. Drones help special operations forces see and target the enemy, a capability that grows more important as the military relies more on special forces in its battle against jihadis in Iraq...

 Trump's winning streak has GOP rethinking strategy



mikenova shared this story from Stars and Stripes. As Donald Trump rampaged through the Super Tuesday states, adding Massachusetts and Georgia and Virginia to his map, the Republican Party's mainstream decided to trade panic for hope.

 Fired FBI agent who blew whistle over sex trips wins his appeal



mikenova shared this story from Stars and Stripes. The FBI wrongly fired a former special agent based in Sacramento, Calif., who blew the whistle on his colleagues' alleged sexual misconduct, a federal appeals court has ruled.

 FBI Admits it Mistakenly Locked Itself out of San Bernardino Killer's iPhone - AllGov



mikenova shared this story from james b. comey - Google News. FBI Admits it Mistakenly Locked Itself out of San Bernardino Killer's iPhone AllGov There was a mistake made in that 24 hours after the attack, James B . Comey Jr., the dire...

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mikenova shared this story from www.washingtontimes.com stories: Security. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - The U.S. Navy says results of an internal investigation into how 10 American sailors entered Iranian territorial waters have be...

 Kurdish-led fighters close in on Syrian city of Aleppo



mikenova shared this story from Stars and Stripes. Syrian opposition activists and state media say a Kurdish-led fighting alliance has captured a hill overlooking a main road in Aleppo from the militant Nusra Front group and its allies, ...

 Hacker Says He Can Hijack a $35K Police Drone a Mile Away - WIRED



mikenova shared this story from Cyber Warfare - Google News. WIRED Hacker Says He Can Hijack a $35K Police Drone a Mile Away WIRED As the rise of hobbyists' cheap quadcopter drones freaks out the FAA and the Secret Service, it's easy to ...

 General says terrorists in daily refugee flow to Europe



mikenova shared this story from In Homeland Security. Violent extremists, criminals and foreign fighters are part of the daily flow of refugees into Europe, the top NATO commander in Europe told lawmakers.

 Pentagon Cyber Campaign Against ISIS Signals A New Era In Warfare



mikenova shared this story from In Homeland Security. The military has launched a cyber campaign against the ISIS terrorist group aimed at disrupting its communications and impeding the extremist organizations ability to coordinate oper...

 CIA Releases New Documents Seized In 2011 Bin Laden Raid - NPR



mikenova shared this story from cia - Google News. CIA Releases New Documents Seized In 2011 Bin Laden Raid NPR The CIA declassified a new tranche of documents seized during the 2011 raid on Osama bin Laden's compound. At a Tuesday brief...

 Is Brennan Joking When He Says CIA Spies Doesn't Steal Secrets? - NBCNews.com



mikenova shared this story from cia - Google News. NBCNews.com Is Brennan Joking When He Says CIA Spies Doesn't Steal Secrets? NBCNews.com Former CIA officers are expressing exasperation over CIA director John Brennan's recent remark tha...

 Rampaging Elephant Destroys Buildings in Indian Village



mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. A wild elephant went on a rampage in a southern Indian village Wednesday, damaging several structures and creating panic among villagers

 GCC Declares Lebanon's Hizballah A 'Terrorist' Organization



mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. A Saudi-led bloc of six Gulf Arab nations has formally declared the Lebanese militant group Hizballah as a terrorist organization.

 Bin Laden files: Seven things we learned - BBC News



mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. BBC News Bin Laden files: Seven things we learned BBC News The US has released a second tranche of documents found during the 2011 raid on a house in Pakistan that killed Osama B...

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mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. What does it say about a regime when it is prepared to turn helpless civilians into weapons in its war for geopolitical influence? Because that is exactly what NATO's top...

 Bin Laden Felt Influence Wane in His Last Years



mikenova shared this story from WSJ.com: World News. Newly released documents show Osama bin Laden struggling for relevance and fearful of being tracked.

 Israel Tackles Hamas Tunnel Threat



mikenova shared this story from WSJ.com: World News. Security officials race to develop an underground defense system, fearing Hamas may be rebuilding its subterranean network.

 Gulf Cooperation Council Labels Hezbollah a Terrorist Group



mikenova shared this story from WSJ.com: World News. Gulf Cooperation Council countries on Wednesday designated Lebanons Shiite Hezbollah militia as a terrorist group, a move that could add fuel to a growing confrontation with Hezbollah...

 Shelling in Northern Syria Shows Limits of Truce



mikenova shared this story from World  TIME. (KINSIBBA, Syria)  Artillery shells struck near the main street of a Syrian village controlled by the government on Tuesday, sending international reporters diving for cover and highli...

 Europe Faces Humanitarian Crisis as Migrant Boat Arrivals Soar



mikenova shared this story from World  TIME. Almost 2,000 refugees and migrants arrived in Europe by sea every day in the first two months of 2016, according to new statistics from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) that...

 The Communist Partys Strangulation of Chinese Expression Is Now Almost Total



mikenova shared this story from World  TIME. The headlines on the Southern Metropolis Daily s Feb. 20 front page seemed innocuous enough. One paid obeisance to the Chinese Communist Party in language redolent of the Cultural Revolution...

 Jordanian Forces Battle Extremists Leaving 8 Dead



mikenova shared this story from World  TIME. AMMAN, Jordan  A government spokesman confirmed Wednesday that an arrest raid and shootout in Jordans third largest city targeted a militant group. Mohammed Momani told state me...

 Gulf Nations Declare Lebanons Hizballah a Terrorist Group



mikenova shared this story from World  TIME. RIYADH, Saudi Arabia  A bloc of six Gulf nations led by Saudi Arabia says it has formally declared Lebanons Hizballah a terrorist organization. A statement from the Gulf Coopera...

 Israeli Forces Shoot 2 Palestinian Attackers



mikenova shared this story from World  TIME. JERUSALEM  Israeli forces shot and killed two Palestinian assailants who infiltrated into a West Bank settlement and attacked an Israeli, the military said Wednesday. Witnesses told Is...

 The Latest: Turkey says it hasnt breached Syria cease-fire



mikenova shared this story from World. The Latest on the Syrian conflict as a cease-fire enters its fifth day (all times local):

 Concerns expressed over safety of Iraq's Mosul dam  video



mikenova shared this story from World news + Video | The Guardian. Baghdad resident Raad al-Quraishi talks on Monday about citizens increased fears overrising water levels and flooding. Iraqi authorities instructed people to stay at lea...

 One-in-three people shot by LA police mentally ill



mikenova shared this story from World news. LAPD study reveals a three-fold increase in shootings involving those with mental health issues

 Super Tuesday: Donald Trump has all but won the Republican nomination



mikenova shared this story from World news. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio had one last chance to stop the billionaire businessman and they may have just blown it, says Rob Crilly

 Super Tuesday: Seven things we learned about the race for the White House



mikenova shared this story from World news. Donald Trump has shown he can win anywhere while Hillary Clinton must now know she faces a battle in a general election

 'Presidential' Donald Trump says he is a unifier after Super Tuesday victories



mikenova shared this story from World news. The rabble-rouser makes a concerted effort to appear presidential while his sidekick Chris Christie just looks lost

 Hillary Clinton's Super Tuesday success fails to knock out Bernie Sanders



mikenova shared this story from World news. Former first lady's inability to deal decisive blow to Left-wing Vermont senator risks distracting her from expecting bruising battle with Donald Trump in November presidential election

 Nanny 'encouraged to behead four-year-old' in Moscow



mikenova shared this story from World news. Accomplices who put nanny up to horrific murder are still at large, say Russian investigators

 New coalition commander inherits raging war in Afghanistan - Reuters



mikenova shared this story from World - Google News. Reuters New coalition commander inherits raging war in Afghanistan Reuters KABUL U.S. Army General John Campbell stepped down as commander of the NATO-led coalition in Afghanistan on W...

 Gulf Nations Declare Lebanon's Hezbollah a Terrorist Group - New York Times



mikenova shared this story from World - Google News. The Indian Express Gulf Nations Declare Lebanon's Hezbollah a Terrorist Group New York Times DUBAI, United Arab Emirates  A Saudi-led bloc of six Gulf Arab nations formally branded He...

 Osama bin Laden wanted to mark 9/11 with more attacks on the US, documents reveal - Daily Mail



mikenova shared this story from World - Google News. Daily Mail Osama bin Laden wanted to mark 9/11 with more attacks on the US, documents reveal Daily Mail Osama bin Laden was planning more attacks on the U.S. just days before his death...

 Turkey: 1845 cases opened for insulting Erdogan - The San Diego Union-Tribune



mikenova shared this story from World - Google News. www.worldbulletin.net Turkey: 1845 cases opened for insulting Erdogan The San Diego Union-Tribune ANKARA, Turkey (AP)  Turkey's justice minister says as many as 1,845 cases have been ...

 Many Mexican Schools Have No Bathrooms, Failing Teachers



mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. Mexicans are getting shocking news about their public schools, 11 percent of which don't even have bathrooms. That figure rises to almost one-third in poor states like Oaxaca, Guerrero an...

 Brazil Running Out of Time to Change Doping Law



mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. Brazil, which has built a $25 million laboratory just to test drug cheats at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, risks being unable to do so, as it has less than three weeks to change its dop...

 Clock Ticks as Argentina's Macri Asks Congress to OK Creditors Deal



mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. Argentine President Mauricio Macri on Tuesday urged Congress to approve a landmark deal reached with creditors over defaulted debt, in order to comply with a U.S. court deadline and perm...

 European Rights Body Says Worried by Hate Speech in Georgia



mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. The Council of Europe told Georgia on Tuesday to improve its anti-discrimination policies and legislation, saying it was worried by an increase in cases of hate speech and violence agains...

 Apple, FBI Face Off in Congressional Hearing



mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. Tech company Apple and the FBI faced off at a congressional hearing Tuesday, over the government's demand for help unlocking an iPhone used by a terrorist who killed 14 people in a Decemb...

 Residents Return to Mainly Kurdish Turkish Town



mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. Residents returned to Turkey's mainly Kurdish town of Cizre on Wednesday to find many of their homes damaged or destroyed after the government lifted a months-long 24-hour curfew. Turkey ...

 Gulf Nations Label Hezbollah a Terrorist Group



mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. The six-member Gulf Cooperation Council announced Wednesday it has labeled the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah a terrorist organization. GCC Secretary-General Abdullatif al-Zayani said ...

 Former NYPD officer working as Texas cop killed in shootout at Dallas-area park; suspect also dead - New York Daily News



mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. New York Daily News Former NYPD officer working as Texas cop killed in shootout at Dallas-area park; suspect also dead New York Daily News A former NYPD officer working as a cop ...

 NATO general: Europe migration causing ISIS to spread 'like a cancer' - CNN



mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. CNN NATO general: Europe migration causing ISIS to spread 'like a cancer' CNN (CNN) NATO's top general said that the current exodus of migrants to Europe is providing cover for t...

 Norfolk Southern Train Derails Near Ripley, New York; Cars Leak Ethanol - NBCNews.com



mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. NBCNews.com Norfolk Southern Train Derails Near Ripley, New York; Cars Leak Ethanol NBCNews.com Local residents were evacuated from their homes after a train carrying hazardous m...

 US Special Operations troops capture ISIS operative in Iraq - Fox News



mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. Fox News US Special Operations special operations troops capture ISIS operative in Iraq Fox News A U.S. Special Operations special operations assault force captured an ISIS opera...

 U.S. Spy Chief Expects More Power Grid Attacks Like One In Ukraine



mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. The head of the U.S. National Security Agency warned that hackers will inevitably attack U.S. infrastructure in an attempt to cause a power failure like the one in Ukrain...

 Russia, Syria Said Using Migrant Crisis As 'Weapon' Against West



mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. NATO's top commander warned that Russia and Syria have turned the refugee crisis into a "weapon" against the West at a time when it lacks resources to counter a "resurgen...

 The Daily Vertical: A Special Class Of International Rogue (Transcript)



mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. What does it say about a regime when it is prepared to turn helpless civilians into weapons in its war for geopolitical influence?

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mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry says nine people were killed on March 2 in a collision between a truck and a minibus on the Ural Highway in Russia's Penza region.

 Puerto Rico braced for more Zika cases



mikenova shared this story from BBC News - World. Puerto Rico braced for massive rise in cases

 Russia 'weaponising Europe migration'



mikenova shared this story from BBC News - World. Nato's top commander in Europe accuses Russia and Syria of deliberately using migration to destabilise Europe.

 Jordan Troops Hunt Militants at Syria Border



mikenova shared this story from NYT > World. Security officials said several Islamist extremists were killed along with a police officer near the northern city of Irbid.
What you need to know about the Octagon Art Festival on Sunday in Ames

news
Sonali Bendre celebrates success of her book The Modern Gurukul

Bollywood, Fri, 04 Mar 2016 NI Wire

Mumbai, March 4th, 2016: The gorgeous Sonali Bendre Behl recently celebrated the success and reprint of her book - The Modern Gurukul . The guest of honor was none other than the honorable Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis and his wife Amruta. The event was anchored by Sonalis nephew and popular comedian Amogh Ranadive.

Several celebrities like Manish Malhotra, Twinkle Khanna, Shaina NC, Gayatri Oberoi ,Madhu ,Neelam to name a few were also spotted on Thursday evening amongst close family members and friends extending their love & support to the actress, writer & Supermom!

The actress took to writing last year with her book on parenting. The book has turned out to be a huge success, inspiring and helping young parents through their journey of parenthood.

With the successful reprint launch of her first book we cant wait to see what the actress comes up with next.
NASA announced that theyd awarded defense giant Lockheed Martin a $20 million contract for 17 months of preliminary development on a quiet supersonic plane.

The return of supersonic passenger air travel is one step closer to reality with NASAs award of a contract for the preliminary design of a low boom flight demonstration aircraft. This is the first in a series of X-planes in NASAs New Aviation Horizons initiative, introduced in the agencys Fiscal Year 2017 budget.

NASA is working hard to make flight greener, safer and quieter  all while developing aircraft that travel faster, and building an aviation system that operates more efficiently, said Bolden. To that end, its worth noting that its been almost 70 years since Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1 as part of our predecessor agencys high speed research. Now were continuing that supersonic X-plane legacy with this preliminary design award for a quieter supersonic jet with an aim toward passenger flight.

NASA selected a team led by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company of Palmdale, California, to complete a preliminary design for Quiet Supersonic Technology (QueSST). The work will be conducted under a task order against the Basic and Applied Aerospace Research and Technology (BAART) contract at NASAs Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.

After conducting feasibility studies and working to better understand acceptable sound levels across the country, NASAs Commercial Supersonic Technology Project asked industry teams to submit design concepts for a piloted test aircraft that can fly at supersonic speeds, creating a supersonic heartbeat  a soft thump rather than the disruptive boom currently associated with supersonic flight.

Developing, building and flight testing a quiet supersonic X-plane is the next logical step in our path to enabling the industrys decision to open supersonic travel for the flying public, said Jaiwon Shin, associate administrator for NASAs Aeronautics Research Mission.

Lockheed Martin will receive about $20 million over 17 months for QueSST preliminary design work. The Lockheed Martin team includes subcontractors GE Aviation of Cincinnati and Tri Models Inc. of Huntington Beach, California.

This is an artists concept of a possible Low Boom Flight Demonstration Quiet Supersonic Transport (QueSST) X-plane design. The award of a preliminary design contract is the first step towards the possible return of supersonic passenger travel  but this time quieter and more affordable.

Credits: Lockheed Martin



The company will develop baseline aircraft requirements and a preliminary aircraft design, with specifications, and provide supporting documentation for concept formulation and planning. This documentation would be used to prepare for the detailed design, building and testing of the QueSST jet. Performance of this preliminary design also must undergo analytical and wind tunnel validation.

In addition to design and building, this Low Boom Flight Demonstration (LBFD) phase of the project also will include validation of community response to the new, quieter supersonic design. The detailed design and building of the QueSST aircraft, conducted under the NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorates Integrated Aviation Systems Program, will fall under a future contract competition.

NASAs 10-year New Aviation Horizons initiative has the ambitious goals of reducing fuel use, emissions and noise through innovations in aircraft design that departs from the conventional tube-and-wing aircraft shape.

The New Aviation Horizons X-planes will typically be about half-scale of a production aircraft and likely are to be piloted. Design-and-build will take several years with aircraft starting their flight campaign around 2020, depending on funding.

SOURCE  NASA
- Turkey's state-run news agency says a vehicle bomb attack in southeastern Turkey has killed two police officers and wounded at least four other people.

It added that PKK terrorists attacked the Nusaybin Regional Traffic Station at around 05:45 a.m. (0345GMT) local time. Greater than 40,000 folks, mainly Kurds, have because been killed.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

MI restricted Flint from switching water in loan deal

In a statement, Snyder notes water quality is improving but that there's "a long road ahead for Flint's recovery". One of them, reports Paul Egan, is a criminal defense attorney who will serve as "investigative counsel".

Turkey's security forces are battling Kurdish militants linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, in the town. A suicide vehicle bombing targeting military buses in Ankara killed 29 people last month.

2 police in the branch were killed, while 14 people including police and residents in the building were injured.

The PKK, considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, has been fighting against Turkey in 1984.

Oscars: How Did Chris Rock Do As Host?

The low overnight ratings are surprising seeing that this year's Oscars were one of the most talked about awards in recent years. I'm sure there were no black nominees some of those years - say, '62 or '63 - and black people did not protest.

The Turkish state began a crackdown on Kurdish groups in the southeast of the country last August, ending a two-year truce and violating the lives of close to 1.5 million people, according to the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (HRFT).

In a related development Friday, Turkey's Justice Ministry submitted a formal request for parliament to lift the legal immunity of the two co-chairmen of the country's pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party, or HDP, and three other legislators, so that they could be prosecuted for alleged links to the rebels, Anadolu reported. The government said that attack was carried out by a member of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia with help from the PKK.
Bundy's ranch in Bunkerville, Nevada, was the scene of a widely-publicized, armed showdown in 2014, when federal authorities tried to arrest Bundy and remove hundreds of cattle grazing on public land next to his ranch.

One of the newly-charged defendants, New Hampshire resident and former U.S. Marine Jerry DeLemus, has headed a veterans' group formed by the presidential campaign of Republican Donald Trump.

Federal authorities in Utah have arrested David Bundy, a son of rancher Cliven Bundy, as well as 13 others in connection with a 2014 armed standoff outside Bunkerville, Nevada.

According to the progressive-leaning New Hampshire political blog Miscellany Blue, the Federal Bureau of Investigation had reportedly previously arranged a February meeting to talk with Jerry DeLemus at a restaurant in public, but pulled out citing fears for agents' safety.

The defendants were each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States and conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer, in addition to at least one count of using and carrying a firearm in relation to a crime of violence, assault on a federal officer, threatening a federal law enforcement officer, obstruction of the due administration of justice, interference with interstate commerce by extortion and interstate travel in aid of extortion.

Detained American student confesses to crime on North Korean television

He said he was also encouraged by the "Z Society" at the University of Virginia, which he said he was trying to join. He was arrested on 2 January as he was about to leave. "We will have no further comment at this time".

At least eight people have now been indicted in the case, including Bundy and two of his sons, according to court records. They included Melvin D. Bundy, 41, of Round Mountain, Nevada, who joined brothers Ammon, 40, of Emmett, Idaho, and Ryan, 43, of Mesquite, Nevada, in the early days of the refuge occupation.

Cliven Bundy was taken into custody last month in OR, where his sons Ammon and Ryan Bundy were occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

The indictment alleges the 19 individuals conspired to create a massive, armed assault against federal law enforcement officers on April 12, 2014 in order to extort those officers into abandoning about 400 head of cattle that, "were in their lawful care and custody".

While milling outside the locked courtroom before the hearing began, DeLemus' wife  Susan DeLemus, a state representative  prompted supporters to link arms in a circle and pray.

Bundy did get emotional as we discussed the death of his friend - and fellow protester LaVoy Finicum - who was shot and killed by police.

The First Full GhostbustersTrailer Is Here!

We did, however, catch a quick glimpse of Chris Hemsworth, who plays a nerdy-but-under-my-glasses-I'm-really-hot secretary. The Thor actor fills in the shoes for the film's original receptionist Janine Melnitz, played by Annie Potts .

DeLemus' arrest comes amid rumors that arrest warrants have been drawn up for a number of participants in the two Bundy-associated armed protests.

Militia men surrounding the ranch of Cliven Bundy gather at the back of a parked pickup truck in Bunkerville, Nevada May 3, 2014.

Four other leaders of the OR occupation already face charges in both OR and Nevada: Ryan and Ammon Bundy, Ryan W. Payne, 32, of Anaconda, Montana, and Peter T. Santilli Jr., 50, of Cincinnatti. Federal prosecutors said that more charges and defendants could soon be added to a superseding indictment there, and with several people facing charges in both cases, it highlighted how the Bundy family found itself at the center of two sprawling court cases hundreds of miles apart.

Another member of the Bundy ranching family has been arrested for participating in a 2014 armed standoff in Nevada over grazing fees.

They are jailed in OR after leading a weeks-long armed occupation of a federal wildlife refuge in that state, in protest of what they called federal overreach and federal control of public land.
Dasuki loses bid to stop trial, case starts April 20

Daudu added that section 36 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, ACJA, presumes his client innocent until proven guilty by a court of law.

N. Korea, on defensive after sanctions, makes nuclear threat

North Korea has threatened nuclear war in the past, but it is unclear just how advanced the country's nuclear program really is. The new United Nations sanctions on North Korea are out and they are going to pinch Pyongyang hard.

Uncharted 4: More Delays Up Ahead

Uncharted 4: A Thief's Way is now set to be released on May 10th, but it's not set in stone that there won't be further delays. Meanwhile, Naughty Dog will host another stress test for " Uncharted 4: A Thief's End " multiplayer mode starting Friday.

Snyder Signs Flint Water Bills

Snyder said he is working to change the culture in state government to ensure urgency, common sense and problem solving. Also Friday, the governor authorized spending $30 million in aid to help Flint residents pay their water bills.

Astronaut Scott Kelly lands in Houston after year in space

The ISS trio leave behind Kopra, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and the European Space Agency's British astronaut Tim Peake. Their mission has been part of an effort to study the physiological effects of long-term space travel on the human body.

Mashrafe confident Bangladesh can reach Asia Cup final

Mohammad Mithun, who scored a good 47 in Bangladesh's last match against UAE , was trapped LBW for a two-ball duck. For Bangladesh , Mustafizur Rahman, Mashrafe Mortaza, Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah picked up two wickets each.

Syria peace talks postponed to March 9

He also claimed that if armed groups opposed to him dropped their weapons his regime would "give them fully amnesty". It's not just because there continues to be violence and bloodshed in Syria, although that is troubling enough.

Economy Gained 242000 Jobs In February; Unemployment Rate Holds Steady

It was an encouraging rebound from January, when the original job creation estimate of 151,000 sparked concerns over growth. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.9 percent, the lowest level in eight years, the Labor Department reported on Friday.

Brazilian Police Question Ex-President in Corruption Probe

Federal authorities representatives raided the prior president's house and he was brought in for questioning. Some 200 police and 30 auditors from federal tax office took part in the operation on Friday.

Imran Khan speaks up on Pakistan's defeat in Asia Cup

The federal government revealed this before the upper house of parliament on Tuesday in reply to senators' questions. So far in the tournament, Pakistan has only managed to beat the United Arab Emirates on Feb 29.

Syrians receive 4 years prison over Aylan Kurdi's death

Alabash's lawyer, Kemal Ertugrul, criticized the verdict saying Abdullah Kurdi and others had not been punished. A court in Turkey has jailed two Syrians over the drowning of toddler Aylan Kurdi in September previous year .

Jeep Teases Two Concept Models For Moab Eeaster Jeep Event

Jeep buyers are the sort of people who love to customize and tweak their vehicles, whether it be for mall-crawling or bounding through Moab.

Pakistan should not worry about security: Rajiv Shukla

Bali had also issued an ultimatum to the BCCI, asserting that if the match is not cancelled, it will lead to a massive agitation. Wounds of Pathankot and the blood of our soldiers is still fresh.

Christie says he won't resign, will keep supporting Trump

While some Trump supporters may have been celebrating his win, Twitter was blowing up about New Jersey Gov. "I think Christie sincerely believes that Donald Trump is going to win", he said. "I wasn't despondent.

Kanhaiya gets 6 months interim bail

The court made it clear that a JNU faculty member has to stand as surety for Kanhaiya, as reported by Times of India . The high court had on Monday said that it would pass the order on Kanhaiya Kumar's bail plea on Wednesday.
Phillips reminded the public about places which may be at risk of the disease.

The UDOH and CDC said they are closely monitoring the situation. The experts say screening women who visited or lived in affected countries during the outbreak period could "flood the CDC", and it was not feasible. The Red Cross has recommended that blood donors who have traveled to Mexico, the Caribbean, or Central or South America postpone donations until 28 days after returning to the U.S.

A pregnant Spokane woman in her 20s contracted Zika virus during travel, but she has since delivered an apparently health baby, state and county health officials reported Monday.

At this point, hers is the only positive finding, with four negative findings.

Hezbollah designated a 'terrorist' organization by GCC amid Saudi-Lebanon rift

Ynetnews reports: The six-member Gulf Cooperation Council decided Wednesday to formally define Hezbollah a terrorist organization. Saudi Arabia and other GCC member states have advised their citizens to leave Lebanon.

The virus is primarily transmitted through mosquito bites from the infected Aedes mosquito.

Within the United States, there have been no locally acquired illnesses reported to date.

"The standard symptoms of Zika virus are headache, fever, muscle aches and pains, joint pains, rash, conjunctivitis". Streed said in those cases there would be counseling between the woman and her provider.

Bobinsky added the mosquitoes that transmit Zika are not found in New Hampshire. Doctors are unsure whether the virus has mutated to become more risky, or if there is some other reason for the birth defects. While the virus doesn't often require an infected person be hospitalized, it can be unsafe during pregnancy.

GOP sees options for stopping Trump but not good ones

If it went beyond that, and no one had enough delegates after the first round of voting, it would turn into a brokered convention. Although numbers are still being crunched, it appears Trump will finish with about 25 more Super Tuesday delegates than Cruz.

Chief medical officer Paddy Phillips said the man had now recovered after seeking medical help for symptoms of the disease. The best way to avoid Zika virus is to avoid mosquito bites and sexual contact with a person who has Zika virus.

Health Minister Jack Snelling said the man was "fine" but reminded those travelling to countries known to have the Zika virus to take precautions.

As the epidemic sweeps through Colombia, the country has registered 7,653 cases of Zika amongst pregnant women causing widespread fear that the congenital anomaly may follow.

SA Health did not disclose which affected area the 25-year-old returned from.
In light of these stakes, it behooves all Democrats to recognize that the outcome of the Clinton-Sanders primary matters far less than the need for the eventual Democratic nominee to best Donald Trump in the subsequent general election.

There's just one problem.

But Sanders has another reason to keep going - money. Similarly, when Trump gained political mileage by calling for bans on Muslim immigration and abridging the civil liberties of Muslim citizens, Clinton and Sanders were united in denouncing his positions as the basest kind of fearmongering.

"We know this person, and we have that much faith in him", Simone said.

But dropping her criticism of Sanders could amount to unilaterally disarming.

"At the end of tonight, 15 states will have voted".

Public catches 1st look of World Trade Center's transit hub

The Port Authority says it will hold a ceremony this spring when all the entrances to the hub are open. It will connect all the subway lines in lower Manhattan, the Port Authority and Ferry Systems.

When it comes to health care reform, Clinton and Sanders likewise agree that the government has a responsibility to protect the economic well-being of its citizens, even if they disagree as to the scope of that obligation.

However, if Sanders survives and wakes up March 16 still within striking distance, he'll have no reason to bow out anytime soon.

Super Tuesday is in the books and how Bernie Sanders did depends on who you're talking to.

According to aggregations of recent polls by RealClear Politics, Clinton leads Sanders in Michigan, Florida, Illinois, North Carolina and Ohio.

Sanders insists he's sticking it out through the convention.

In each case, those targets are estimates of how the candidates would do in each state if the overall national contest was tied.

China aims to boost renewable energy with 'green certificates'

Operations and maintenance (O&M) will be undertaken by Jordan's CEGCO in cooperation with ACWA Power subsidiary, NOMAC. Minnesota has one of the most aggressive renewable energy standards in the country, calling for 25 percent by 2025.

Sanders campaign spent heavily in January. Weaver expects Maine's caucus to go favorably for them.

"We are also competing to win in MI and feel good about where that race stands, but even if Sen".

On Tuesday night, Clinton took aim at Trump's reputation for spewing insults at his opponents, and repeated an attack on the real estate mogul's proposal to build a 1,000-mile wall along the border with Mexico. "I think there's a lot to be answered for". Two-thirds of her voters want to continue President Barack Obama's policies, rather than shift in a more liberal direction.

Clinton a former Secretary of State, leaned on her decades' long relationship with the state, dating back to her work in 1972 registering South Texas Hispanics to vote.

"Washington's professional pundits were wrong when they claimed the fight for the Democratic nomination was over before Bernie Sanders got into the race, they're wrong if they claim this fight is over now", Charles Chamberlain, Democracy for America's executive director, said in a statement. Their plan was to use a big win on SC as a springboard into the Super Tuesday contest, where they'd establish a sizeable enough advantage to push Sanders out of the race.

"The disparity in strategies is reflected in the amount both campaigns spent on TV and radio in Super Tuesday states as compared to the number of pledged delegates won", Mook wrote.

Daryl Smith Released by Ravens: Latest Comments and Reaction

Smith was the Ravens' leading tackler in 2015 and has been an invaluable asset while this team was moving on from Ray Lewis. Unlike Smith, Canty has not expressed a desire to retire so we could see him in another uniform next season.

But don't expect Clinton to step up her rhetoric against Sanders. "In other words, over the upcoming weeks, we intend to steadily add to Hillary Clinton's already sizable lead in delegates, and as we do, it will become harder and harder mathematically for Sen. There will be a couple debates in the next 10 days and I am sure some of those differences they have will manifest themselves and surface again", Fallon said.
A judge convicted Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane's driver and bodyguard, Patrick Reese, for criminal contempt after prosecutors say he went through computer files to keep tabs on the criminal investigation of his boss.

The dispute arose over a protection order issued by Common Pleas Judge William R. Carpenter, who banned Kane's aides from accessing an office email server to guard the secrecy of the grand jury proceedings.

Prosecutors said Reese illegally sorted through emails sent to and from employees of the attorney general's office to find out which workers in the office were cooperating with a special prosecutor.

What We Know: Obama administration unveils Guantanamo plan

Human-rights groups and lawyers for detainees are divided about Obama's plan. "Guantanamo is very minimal in terms of propaganda". Last month, 10 Yemenis held at Guantanamo were released and sent to Oman. "Moving them to the US could make them invisible".

Reese's searches through grand jury emails occurred as Kane was being investigated for allegedly leaking evidence from a 2009 investigation to a newspaper reporter. He says Reese never knew of the order.

"It is unlikely that Mr. Reese's status with the office will change before the legal process has concluded, including his right to appeal", said Kane's spokesman Chuck Ardo.

"Senior Supervisory Special Agent Reese was doing the job he was sworn to uphold". The grand jury later charged her with perjury, obstruction and other crimes. She has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled for an August trial. He left an electronic footprint of searches for grand jury subpoenas and schedules, names of people involved in the investigation of Kane, and even the identity of a grand juror. Last month, she announced that she would not seek reelection. But prosecutors said the order was widely discussed in Kane's office. "He didn't care", Carpenter said.

Fiji cyclone death toll climbs to 18 as aid sent to islands

More than 8,000 people sought refuge in 50-plus evacuation centers around the Pacific island nation, The Fiji Times reported. A nationwide curfew was imposed at 6pm amid safety concerns and flights to and from Fiji were also cancelled.

"It was intentional. He knew that it was wrong".

Reese, 48, a former Lackawanna County police chief hired by Kane in 2013 to lead her security detail.
But Texas Solicitor General Scott Keller law" target="_blank">asserted that the regulations would not do so, as Texas is not banning abortion. In Missouri, 97 percent of counties had no abortion clinic in 2011, and 74 percent of the state's women lived in those counties.

Phoenix native Risa Isard confessed that she was not all that familiar with the case, but she believes strongly in abortion rights.

Justice Sotomayor objected to the idea that abortion would be singled out for additional restrictions, when other outpatient procedures like colonoscopies and liposuction have a much higher complication rate. "It's like you put the law into effect, twelve clinics closed".

The case challenges a Texas law that imposes tough standards on abortion clinics.

Essentially, the law mandates that any doctor performing abortions also have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the clinic they work in, so that they could deliver patients there in the event of an emergency.

Verrilli said that considering the state's interest was the best way for the court to proceed.

Dems: State 'locked' Flint into contaminated water

Brandon Dillon, chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party, said the contract locked the city into a bad water supply. The city returned to Detroit water in October, with financial assistance from the administration of Republican Gov.

On Wednesday, it was the court's four liberals who dominated the questioning. "These laws are simply about stopping women from accessing their Constitutionally-protected right to abortion".

Kennedy, however, said the two questions were related. If he sides with the conservatives, that becomes a 4-4 split and the law would automatically be upheld and take full effect. That result would leave the regulations in place, but not resolve the issue nationally. Should Hillary Clinton win the presidential election in November, Kennedy's vote won't matter, since whoever she picks to replace Scalia will side with the Court's liberal wing to overturn H.B. 2.

Wednesday was a busy day at the Supreme Court.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan made an unexpected stop at the rally and spoke to the pro-life advocates, even though abortion activists tried to disrupt the rally.

"We are here to stand up for women and children and for the rule of law", Ryan said. Sotomayor asked. Then, ignoring Roberts' signals for the lawyer to wrap up, Sotomayor said it plainly: "This law was targeted at abortion only".

A decision in Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt, 15-274, is expected by late June. Now that the Supreme Court is down to eight members, Kennedy is still the swing vote, although not in quite the same way.

Mark Zuckerberg Voices His Support for Apple in Battle With FBI

Recently, Facebook-backed Free Basics (formerly Internet.org) was banned in India following the service launch in February 2015. This also meant that programmes such as Free Basics, a zero-rated service, would not be allowed in India.

As previously reported, in 2013, following the passage of several safety regulations for abortion facilities, Planned Parenthood and other abortion advocacy groups filed a lawsuit against Texas officials, asserting that the new requirements would have an adverse affect on most facilities.

Justice Antonin Scalia's death is being noticed as the U.S. Supreme Court enters into the current debate over abortion.

"Whole Woman's facilities have been cited for really appalling violations when they were inspected: holes in the floor where rats could come in, the lack of any equipment to adequately sterilize instruments", he said.

The court put the surgery center requirement on hold while it considers the case. If the law does in fact go into effect, it could close the doors on all but about 10 clinics in Texas. She said abortion is safer than many other medical procedures that are not as strictly regulated. But in many areas doctors who provide abortions are routinely denied admission rights by hospital managements. He was a dominating questioner, and when he and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., fellow conservatives, worked in concert, they formed an intimidating bloc.

If Kennedy joins the four liberals in opposition to the restrictions, the court could strike down the Texas law.
Virat Kohli who is rightly the most successful batsman from last few matches will once again look to create problems for the Lankan's bowler after his quickfire unbeaten 49 in the last match against Pakistan which helped India in winning the match.

Injuries have been a worrying factor for both India as well as Srilanka as their key players are suffering from injuries and might not be fit enough to play in the remaining matches of the tournament.

With their first win over Sri Lanka in T20s, Bangladesh moved to the second place behind leaders India.

11 incredible reactions to Leo DiCaprio winning his first Oscar

Best supporting actress went to Alicia Vikander for The Danish Girl , and best supporting actor went home with Mark Rylance for Bridge of Spies.

Dasun Shanaka and Kulasekara were dsmissed in the last over of the match.

The head to head record between Sri Lanka and India in T20s stands 5-4 in to former after nine games.

Sabbir Rahman was the architect of Bangladesh's superb win over the Sri Lankans the other day with a well-scripted 80 runs off 54 deliveries.

Korea, on defensive after sanctions, makes nuclear threat

The U.S. has almost 30,000 military personnel stationed on the peninsula - a legacy of the unresolved 1950-53 Korean War. North Korea will not remain an onlooker to infringement on its sovereignty and right to existence, it warned.

The all-rounder said: "Lasith will always be a crucial bowler for us. Hopefully we can do something good if we can maintain the way we are playing", said the skipper. Instead the ball went for a six to give Rahman his third T20 half-century. Shakib played a handy knock of 32 off 34 balls and ably supported his attacking partner well.

Shakib and Sabbir stitched together a partnership of 82 runs for the fourth wicket to take their team's score past the 100-run mark. Pakistan will face the UAE in the next match of the tournament on Monday.

Medium pacer Dushmantha Chameera ended his onslaught when he deceived the right-hander with a slower delivery to force a catch at midwicket to Jayasuriya. Shikhar Dhawan missed the match against Pakistan as he was unfit with a niggle in his left ankle. They moved beyond the group phase in the inaugural edition of the World T20 in 2007. "We could have taken better options, but we kept losing wickets through the middle section", he added.

Super PAC pitches GOP donors on plan to stop Trump

Some civil rights groups also expressed concern about a mainstream politician failing to denounce white supremacist ideology. I'm going to get along very well with the world, and you're going to be very proud of me as president.

"We made some mistakes, we didn't know what the conditions here would be. It will be great if we can play the early overs without giving him a wicket".
Luggage giant Samsonite said Friday it would buy United States luxury bag maker Tumi in a deal worth $1.8 billion.

Samsonite, which saw its shares bounce almost 5 percent to HK$24.85 ($3.20) in morning trade following the announcement, said Tumi was a "perfect strategic fit" for its business.

Tumi shares had soared 30% to $26.20 in NY on Thursday amid reports of the deal.

Oscars 2016: Spotlight wins the best original screenplay

Instead, the British actor Mark Rylance , who played the softspoken Soviet sleeper agent in Bridge of Spies , nabbed the award. Best Adapted Screenplay went to Charles Randolph and Adam McKay for 'The Big Short , ' marking their first Oscar .

Exact terms of a deal couldn't be learned, but New South Plainfield, Jersey-based Tumi could be valued at close to $2 billion, based on a "typical premium", and the company's $1.4 billion market value, according to the Journal.

"The team at Samsonite has a long and successful track record when it comes to acquisitions and we know they will be excellent stewards of the Tumi brand", Tumi CEO Jerome Griffith said in a press release.

Samsonite went public in Hong Kong in 2011 after being taken private in 2007 by a private equity firm.

Kasich says "name calling" won't beat Trump

But Super Tuesday marked the start of a more frenetic primary period where more states vote and more delegates are rewarded. And as long as Trump continues to loom large, it's not out of the question for more of those donors to join Cruz's camp.

Samsonite's global net sales for the first six months of 2015 were $1,2bn.

Mansfield, Massachusetts-based Samsonite bought electronic- device protective case maker Speck Products for US$85 million in 2014 and assets of High Sierra Sport for US$110 million in 2012.

Pending regulatory and shareholder approvals, the deal is expected to be closed in the second half of 2016.
The current initiative by Samsung is similar to Apple's leasing program for the iPhone which the company launched in September of previous year, as reported by Fortune.

Here's Just How Massive Republicans' Super Tuesday Turnout Was

The "Trump Phenomenon" is contagious as thousands of voters in MA have made the switch from Democrat to Republican or Independent. But Democratic voter turnout is down by 29 percent across all the primary and caucus states that have voted so far.

Tarek Sabbagh, Head of IT and Mobile Division at Samsung Gulf Electronics, said: "We have introduced the first Dual Pixel camera on a smartphone, which has a brighter lens with wider aperture... thereby providing a more accurate autofocus, even in low-light conditions". While there is no official date mentioned for the launch of these devices, we can expect that to happen soon as they already got certified by TENAA. Samsung India has issued an advisory linking payments to dealers to the visibility of its branding on store fronts and inside. The roadmap leak revealed that Samsung will roll out the update for the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+ first and will continue the release on the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge until March.

'Spotlight' bags Oscar for Best Picture

Rock also had some more lighthearted material, including a bit in which he brought out his daughter to sell Girl Scout cookies. Mexican cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (" The Revenant ") also became the first cinematographer to win three times in a row.

Samsung has advised the dealers that any discounting will entail strict disciplinary actions, including blacklisting, since it does not want a price war on the new models. Not only this, the mounting popularity of Samsung Galaxy A5 and A7 has also put Apple in an introspective mood, leading to its need to think of a way to handle the competition from Samsung. Both companies are fighting to dominate the premium smartphone segment in India, where handsets are priced over Rs 30,000.

Debate night: Insults flying once more despite pledges

She'll be moderating tonight's event, and Trump can expect a tough line of questioning echoing the campaign's first debate . Trump responded by calling Romney "a failed candidate." "Are they small hands?" he asked, holding up his hands.

The Galaxy A9 Pro that stopped by at the AnTutu center looks more like an upgraded version of its predecessor, the A9. However, potential Galaxy S7 buyers with large music and video collections will rejoice at the return of an expandable SD card slot, a feature sorely missed from the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge.
Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat first in their Asia Cup match against Sri Lanka at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.

India's net run-rate (NRR) of +1.970 is easily the best of the five competing teams, so should they lose to a smarting Sri Lanka, a win over UAE in their last match on Thursday will likely be enough to keep them afloat.

Bangladesh will face Pakistan in their last league match of the tournament on Wednesday. But Shakib and Mustafizur Rahman bowled eight overs between them for just 40 runs, taking three wickets.

Sri Lanka opener Dinesh Chandimal, reprieved before scoring, went on to score 37 and Shehan Jayasuriya added 26, but it wasn't enough for the Lankans, who take on India in Mirpur tomorrow (Tuesday).

The all-rounder believes the wicket was pretty good for batting, but things became tougher for Sri Lanka as they didn't go for the right options. With 147 runs on board, we knew we could fight it out.

Adam Johnson guilty of final count of sexual activity with a child

Johnson claimed he signed two shirts for her during a first meeting and kissed her during a second, on January 30, 2015. But when he was at Sunderland he used his position in society to engage in sexual activity with a 15-year-old girl.

The quick is reportedly carrying a niggle and stand-in skipper Mathews was unable to shed any light on how long he will be sidelined for with just over two weeks remaining before Sri Lanka start the defence of their World Twenty20 title.

Angelo Mathews, leading the side in the absence of Lasith Malinga (knee injury), struck with the second ball of the match by trapping Mohammad Mithun lbw for a duck. However, Umar Akmal and Shoaib Malik took the team home, sharing an unbeaten partnership of 114-runs for the fourth wicket.

"Shakib played an important role and so did Mahmudullah".

"It was a good opportunity to come in early".

Sabbir was duly adjudged the man-of-the-match for his heroics.

'Hack The Pentagon' Program! US Invited Outside Pre-Approved Expert Hacker

Additional details of the " Hack the Pentagon " program will be released by the DOD soon along with the application process. Participants could be eligible for monetary awards and other recognition, said the announcement.

That pair put on 82 for the fourth wicket, with Sabbir's superb innings ended by Dushmantha Chameera (3-30). Pakistan will face the UAE in the next match of the tournament on Monday.

Shakib chipped in with two, while Mustafizur, Mashrafe Mortaza and Mahmudullah accounted for a piece each.

India looked to be in trouble early on as they were reduced to just 8-3 after three overs and this gave Pakistan a real chance of victory.

After smashing a match-winning knock in Bangladesh's resounding Asia Cup win against Sri Lanka, all-rounder Sabbir Rahman said that he never cares about personal achievements.
1 John 5:11-12 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

John 16:24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.

1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Hebrews 9:27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.

John 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.

Romans 10:9 Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Psalm 119:9,11 How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

Jeremiah 33:3 Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.

John 13:34-35 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

John 14:21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.

1 John 5:13 I write these things to you who believes in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.

Proverbs 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.

Proverbs 27:1 Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.

John 1:1,14 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

John 6:37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

John 8:36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

John 10:27-28 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

John 15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

John 20:30-31 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Acts 4:12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

Romans 3:20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 5:8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

1 Corinthians 1:18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Hebrews 7:25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

James 1:22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

James 4:14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

1 Peter 2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus

2 Chronicles 16:9a For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.

Psalm 37:3-7a Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him.

Psalm 46:1-3 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.

Psalm 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!

Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned- every one- to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Matthew 5:48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Matthew 7:13-14 Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Matthew 11:28-29 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Mark 8:36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?

Luke 5:32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.

Luke 12:15 And he said to them, Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for ones life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.

John 10:9-10 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

1 Corinthians 15:3-6 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.

2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Galatians 2:21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
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Being able to state your religious beliefs and pointlessly argue about them with other people is something we take for granted in New Zealand. But apparently, you can't do that in Russia:



A man in southern Russia faces a potential jail sentence after he was charged with insulting the feelings of religious believers over an internet exchange in which he wrote that there is no God.



Viktor Krasnov, 38, who appeared in court Wednesday, is being prosecuted under a controversial 2013 law that was introduced after punk art group Pussy Riots was jailed for a performance in Moscows main cathedral, his lawyer Andrei Sabinin told AFP.



The charges  which carry a maximum one-year jail sentence  centre on an internet exchange that Krasnov was involved in in 2014 on a humorous local website in his hometown of Stavropol.



If I say that the collection of Jewish fairytales entitled the Bible is complete bullshit, that is that. At least for me, Krasnov wrote, adding later there is no God!



One of the young people involved in the dispute with Krasnov then lodged a complaint against him accusing him of offending the sentiments of Orthodox believers.



As if prosecution wasn't enough, they tried to claim he was insane first (Russia having inherited the Soviet approach of politically abusing psychiatry ). Because obviously, anyone who doesn't subscribe to legally enforced religious views must be mad. But if members of the dominant religion find the expression of dissent "offensive", it says more about their intolerance than anything else.But before we feel too superior, remember: New Zealand still has a law against "blasphemous libel", which specifically protects the Anglican (and only the Anglican) religion, on the books . And our politicians have been too chickenshit to remove it, despite its obvious inconsistency with the right to freedom of religion affirmed by the BORA.
UNSMIL Chief Martin Kobler Tuesday urged the UN Security Council to get rid of the spoilers of the peace and unity process if the UN wants Libya to move on and give hope to 2.4 million people tangled in humanitarian crisis.

Both in eastern and western Libya, there are those who are committed to do everything in their power to undermine the political process, as well as the formation of a Government of National Accord and its instalment in the capital.

These actors must be told in no uncertain terms that enough is enough: it is high time that they stand by the interests of the Libyan people and not against them, Kobler said.

He also reminded members during the report that had it not been those spoilers, Libya should have had a unity government supported by majority of Libyans and lawmakers in the House of Representatives (HoR) as he referred to the second failure by the HoR on February 22 to conduct a vote of confidence after a group of HoR minority members prevented the vote to take place.

I am convinced that a positive vote could have taken place on 22 February, had the leadership of the House of Representatives shown the resolve and determination to put the Government of National Accord to a vote, Kobler said.

Kobler explained that the minority resorted to threats and intimidations to prevent other members from endorsing the cabinet presented by Prime Minister-designate Serraj.

He pointed out that despites manoeuvers by spoilers to handicap the process, Libya must head on, UN efforts must continue with the establishment of the unity government in Tripoli as soon as possible, and those standing in the way should be dealt with.

Those who are threatening the Presidency Council and actively preventing it from assuming power in Tripoli should be held accountable on the basis of Security Council resolutions, Kobler stated.

Kobler furthermore underlined that the Libya Political Agreement (LPA) remains the only framework to find solutions to the crisis in Libya. On that he indicated that he would continue mobilizing the Libyans and the international community for its enforcement.

As part of steps to keep the process rolling, Kobler also intends to broaden the LPA, and include civil society, youth and women organizations. He also believes that dignitaries and municipalities have a crucial role to play.

On the security front, Kobler said that power vacuum is benefiting the Islamic State which is expanding its influence to the West, East and to the South of the country.

While Libyas financial resources are dwindling, the criminal networks, including human smuggling, are booming, he warned.

Stressing the urgent need to unify and reform the Libyan army he urged the unity government and the Presidency Council to work toward achieving that goal.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has included the Moroccan Royal Armed Forces into its Interoperability Platform and enhanced military cooperation and special forces training with Egypt, Tunisia and Mauritania.

Addressing the just-concluded NATO-Morocco Public Diplomacy Seminar held in Rabat, NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow said the new program aims at strengthening the defense and security of partners in the Middle East and North Africa.

Moroccos membership of the NATO Interoperability Platform will enable military forces of this North African country to be better trained so that they will be able to operate side by side with NATO forces in continuing and upcoming joint regional security initiatives against terrorism and religious extremism, said the NATO official.

He also pointed that Moroccos joining of the NATO Interoperability Platform is the result of a long history of bilateral diplomatic and defense cooperation, which dates back from the Kosovo war to cooperation in the NATO aerial campaign in support of militias who fought the Libyan war in 2011 and the recent airstrikes launched against the Islamic State group.

The NATO official hailed Moroccos support to ongoing diplomatic efforts to resolve the chaotic Libyan civil war, which has since evolved into the new regional training center, safe haven and weapons source for Islamic extremist groups.

The proliferation of these armed groups, weapons and the threats posed by returning militants who fought for ISIS in Syria, Iraq and Libya has prompted NATO to confront militancy in the Middle East and North African regions, underlined Mr. Vershbow.

Across the Middle East and North Africa, NATO is working to develop and strengthen the defense and security sectors of our partners. We have worked with Egypts military to introduce new mine detection and clearing technology, he added, noting that NATO is working on a program with Tunisia to train their special forces.

In Mauritania, NATO is supporting the construction of safe munitions depots and training military personnel as they return to civilian life, he stressed.

He also renewed NATOs willingness to continue working with regional partner armies to support the fight against ISIS and other militant groups in the Middle East and North Africa.
EU Foreign Policy Chief, Federica Mogherini, is expected Friday in the Moroccan capital city Rabat, in a move to re-warm ties with the North African country just a week after Rabat froze ties with the EU bloc.

This visit offers a chance to discuss bilateral relations between Morocco and the European Union and the state of our partnership, and to discuss our shared interests, including after the Courts decision on the farm trade deal between the EU and Morocco, which the EU has appealed, Mogherinis office said in a statement.

Morocco announced on February 26 its decision to suspend all contacts with the European Union institutions to protest a ruling of the European Court of Justice nullifying the agriculture agreement binding the EU and Morocco.

The Eighth Chamber of the European Court of Justice issued the ruling last December, saying the Morocco-EU agriculture agreement should exclude the disputed Sahara territory.

Rabat denounced the ruling and demanded that the EU provides more assurances and clarifications on the courts ruling.

The EU reacted promptly saying it lodged an appeal against the ruling and Mogherini indicated that the EU was ready to address Moroccos concerns so that both partners enjoy good relations.

In a statement she released on the morrow of Moroccos decision, Mogherini also pointed out that Brussels was willing to provide more clarifications and assurance as demanded by Rabat.

Our belief is that a genuine partnership involves listening, sharing, solidarity and mutual respect between partners, the statement said.

While in Rabat, Mogherini will hold talks with Foreign Minister Salaheddine Mezouar.

According to analysts, these moves translate the EUs determination not to embarrass its North African key ally, which plays a strategic role in the fight against terrorism and illegal migration.
News, notes, and observations from the James River Valley in northern South Dakota with special attention to reviewing the performance of the media--old and new. E-Mail to MinneKota@gmail.com
The Secret to Happiness is the Joy of the Lord;

and the joy of the Lord is His manifest presence in your life.





It is our Privilege and Responsibility to Glorify God;

and we glorify God by manifesting His character every moment and in every situation.





Humility and Pride

You can tell a humble man that he has a problem with pride and he will agree with you;

but if you tell a proud man that he has a problem with pride, he becomes your enemy.





This one thing I know for sure, that whenever there is a problem with my relationship with the Lord, it is not His fault.





Some people are just plain lazy;

some people are just overly sensitive to gravity;

others are simply economical with their energy.





It's not enough to preach the Gospel; you must be the Gospel.





If you can describe your life in a nutshell, there's a good probability that you're a nut.





As a good Canadian, I'd like to apologize in advance for anything I might say that offends you; sometimes my mouth hits high gear while my brain is still in low.





Never allow the thought, "I am of no use where I am"; because you certainly can be of no use where you are not. Oswald Chambers





We cannot even begin to approach the Truth until we are willing to go wherever the Truth leads us.





The newest object of idol worship is 'my opinion'!





Suffering is the only experience we have in common with every other human who ever lived.




 Joel Page / Reuters

By Lisa Richwine and Jessica Toonkel

(Reuters) - Donald Trump's presidential campaign is buying commercial time on a TV station in West Palm Beach, Florida, taking on opponents in a paid media battle that the Republican front-runner has largely avoided so far.

The March 15 nominating contest in Florida, a winner-take-all vote, is seen as one of the last chances to slow Trump's momentum after a string of victories on Super Tuesday. One SuperPAC allied with rival presidential candidate Marco Rubio has already shelled out millions in the state.

The race has become a fight between Trump and anti-Trump interests, which should drive new demand for ads, said Mark Egan, chief client officer of Maxus Americas, a media agency owned by GroupM.

"The big war really starts now," he said.The billionaire candidate to date has relied heavily on free air time and Twitter, largely ignoring television.

On Thursday he began purchasing commercial slots for the first time on West Palm Beach station WPTV, said Lloyd Bucher, vice president and general manager of the station, an NBC affiliate. He declined to discuss the amount.

SuperPACs that oppose Trump are gearing up in the state.

Conservative Solutions, a SuperPAC allied with Rubio, has aired or distributed $4.8 million worth of ads and direct mail in Florida that explicitly opposes Trump, according to Federal Election Commission data from Friday through Tuesday. That is the most spent by a candidate-allied SuperPAC against Trump in a single state so far.

TV stations in states with upcoming primaries are fielding more inquiries from outside groups opposing Trump, said Steve Lanzano, president and CEO of TVB, a trade body for television broadcasters.

"You are seeing a lot more SuperPACs coming out of the woodwork," he said.

Election years typically provide windfalls for local TV stations as candidates blanket airwaves. Ad spending in the weeks leading up to the South Carolina primary was four times the level of 2012, Lanzano said.

Some media investors and analysts are concerned Trump may continue to rely mostly on free media exposure, which would hurt the revenues expected for local stations.

Lanzano believes the Trump campaign will start buying more time to fight back against the attacks coming his way.

"I think he is going to spend a lot of money on advertising ultimately," Lanzano said. "He is going to get bombarded."

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles, Jessica Toonkel in Hollywood, Florida, and Grant Smith in Washington; Editing by G Crosse, Peter Henderson and Andrew Hay)

This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.
By Emily Flitter

By Emily Flitter

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. (Reuters) - A plan to block Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump struggled to gain traction on Friday as rival candidates rejected it, while Democrats reveled in the chaos they hoped would boost their chances of keeping the White House.

The country's top elected Republican, House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, said he was not interested in an effort to draft him into the White House race.

And U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, a conservative presidential hopeful, ruled out a deal to pick a compromise Republican candidate at the party's July convention, which senior party figures see as their best chance to stop the unpredictable billionaire.

"The D.C. power brokers will drop someone in who is exactly to the liking of the establishment. If that will happen we will have a manifold revolt in this country," Cruz said at the Conservative Political Action Conference outside Washington.

"You want to beat Donald Trump, you beat Donald Trump with the voters," he said.

Party leaders worry Trump would not be able to beat Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in the election, but time is running out after he won most of the states that voted in this week's Super Tuesday.

Senior Republicans also fear Trump's plans to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border and ban Muslims from entering the United States will turn off voters in November and upset U.S. allies.

Others note his past support for liberal policies and question whether he has any agenda other than advancing himself.

"I dont think he actually carries the conservative mantle. He's a little too crass for me," said Michele Minter, a San Diego executive assistant who was attending CPAC.

Trump, a former reality TV star, often plays by his own set of rules. He canceled plans to speak at CPAC, normally an essential stop for ambitious Republicans, and will instead attend a rally in Kansas.

The real estate magnate, who is drawing support from many blue-collar Republicans concerned about illegal immigration and stagnant wages, has won most Republican nominating contests and leads in many polls for the primary contests still to come.

"Im not a normal Republican," he said to huge cheers at a rally in Warren, Michigan.

Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, the only candidate to ever challenge Trump's months-long lead in opinion polls, officially ended his White House bid.

"There are a lot of people who love me, they just won't vote for me," Carson said in a speech at CPAC, held in National Harbor, Maryland.

RYAN 'NOT INTERESTED'

A new group called the Committee to Draft Speaker Ryan filed papers with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday, seeking to raise money to push Ryan as a Republican alternative.

Ryan, a budget wonk who was the Republican vice presidential candidate in 2012, is seen by many in the party as a unifier after he took the speaker's job last year to unite establishment Republican lawmakers and conservative upstarts in the House.

"He is flattered, but not interested," Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong said in an email on Friday.

As Trump cements his front-runner status, senior party figures hope to deny him enough delegates to clinch the nomination, which would give them the chance to choose a compromise candidate at their convention in Cleveland.

The last time that happened at a Republican convention was in 1948 when Thomas Dewey was nominated.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said there was an 85 to 90 percent chance that the party will not face that scenario this year.

Mitt Romney and John McCain, the party's last two presidential nominees, called on Republicans to halt Trump's rise by backing whichever candidate was strongest in their state, a form of tactical voting.

Few elected officials are rallying behind the "Dump Trump" banner. The party's 31 state governors, for example, are not lining up behind an alternative. Only five have endorsed Florida Senator Marco Rubio and one has backed Cruz, in a sharp contrast to previous years when governors overwhelmingly endorsed the party's eventual nominee.

Rubio has only one state so far and is gearing up for what could be a make-or-break contest in his home state on March 15. Cruz said Saturday he planned to open 10 campaign offices there, in what could be an effort to force the rival senator out of the race.

Trump is expected to extend his lead on Saturday, when a total of 155 delegates are at stake in Kansas, Louisiana, Maine and Kentucky.

Democrats were happy to let Republicans fight amongst themselves. "We can sit back and let them light their own dumpster fire and wait until they're finished," said Eddie Vale, spokesman for American Bridge, a Clinton-allied group which collects negative research on Republican candidates.

"Theyre giving us so much great video footage that we could run ads between now and November of nothing but Republicans attacking Trump," Vale told Reuters.

Nationally, Trump has the support of 41 percent of Republican voters, compared to 19 percent who back Cruz and 16 percent who back Rubio, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling data.

(Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu, Emily Stephenson, Eric Beech, and Ginger Gibson; Writing by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Bill Trott and Alistair Bell)

This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.
 Lucas Jackson / Reuters

(Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will propose a "clawback" tax on Friday for companies that outsource jobs or facilities abroad, a campaign aide said.

The proposal would rescind tax relief for companies after they move those positions out of the country. Several previous years of tax relief would be clawed back, according to the campaign aide, with revenue then going to encourage investment in the United States.

Clinton will make the proposal on Friday in Detroit, Michigan, during a speech on jobs and the economy. She is the front runner for the Democratic nomination to the November presidential election.

(This version of the story corrects the day in first paragraph to Friday.)

(Reporting by Luciana Lopez and Amanda Becker; Editing by David Alexander)

This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.
 Jim Young / Reuters

By Valerie Volcovici

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mayors of 21 cities in Florida on Friday called on the moderators of next week's presidential debates in Miami to ask candidates how they would deal with rising sea levels caused by climate change, a concern of the state's coastal communities.

"It would be unconscionable for these issues of grave concern for the people of Florida to not be addressed in the upcoming debate you will be hosting in the state," the mayors wrote in an letter to CNN, The Washington Post, Univision and the other media outlets hosting the Democratic and Republican debates on March 9 and March 10 in Miami.

The bipartisan group of mayors, who represent coastal cities and towns from Miami to Tampa, have complained that the issue of climate change has not been raised in the dozens of televised debates held to date.

Of the four remaining Republican candidates, none say they believe that anything should be done to address climate change and all have called for federal environmental rules to be scaled back.

One of the letter's signatories, Pinecrest Mayor Cindy Lerner, traveled to New Hampshire in February to press Florida Republican candidate Senator Marco Rubio to discuss the issue.

Rubio has said that the climate has always been changing and that he will not support policies to combat climate change that will "destroy our economy."

Billionaire businessman Donald Trump has called climate change a conspiracy invented by China, while Texas Senator Ted Cruz called climate science "pseudoscientific theory." Ohio Governor John Kasich has said climate change is a problem but has not proposed a plan to address it.

Democratic hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders have made climate change a top-tier issue that needs to be addressed.

Southeast Florida is especially vulnerable to rising sea levels. Four counties in the region formed the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact six years ago to coordinate their response and pool funding to deal with its impact.

The issue has gotten little attention in the national presidential debates.

The mayors provided debate moderators three questions on climate change, all of which were directed to Rubio.

They warned that higher sea levels will pose a costly threat to Florida's economy. Florida coastal communities could experience about a 2-foot (60-cm) rise in sea level by 2060, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

(Reporting By Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.
CARLOS BARRIA

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican candidate John Kasich said on Friday he does not think any Republican presidential contender will win enough state delegates to secure the nomination before the party's convention in July.

"As crazy as this year is, can you think of anything cooler than a convention where we're going to learn about how America works?" Kasich said, referring to the complex rules that would come into play in a brokered convention.

The decision about which candidate to nominate has to be made out in the open, Kasich said.

(Reporting by Emily Flitter and Megan Cassella; Editing by Doina Chiacu)

This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.
 Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

By Doina Chiacu and Megan Cassella

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With U.S. Republicans sharply split over a front-runner they cannot unite behind, a new group is trying to push the country's top elected Republican, Paul Ryan, into the White House race.

The Committee to Draft Speaker Ryan filed papers as a Super PAC with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday, adding to the groups of mainstream Republican leaders and donors with a shared goal: stopping Trump.

Ryan, the House of Representatives speaker who spoke out against Trump for not quickly rejecting white supremacist support, did not appear ready to take on the role.

"He is flattered, but not interested," Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong said in an email on Friday.

Politico first reported the formation of the draft-Ryan PAC.

Mitt Romney, the Republicans' losing presidential candidate in 2012, also said he was not interested.

"There are no circumstances I can foresee where that would possibly happen," Romney said on NBC's "Today" show on Friday, a day after he excoriated Trump as a fraud ill-equipped for the White House.

The Republican Party may need more than a hero as it grapples with its deepest divisions in decades.

Those splits were on display again on Thursday night as Trump took on his two closest challengers, U.S. Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz of Texas, in a debate marked by the yelling, name-calling and vulgarity that has tainted the 2016 Republican race.

Trump's rivals said they would support the ultimate nominee but it was clear on Friday that would be easier said than done.

"That is the quandary I'm trying to avoid the Republican Party having to face," Rubio said on CNN on Friday.

While the anti-Trump movements proliferated, some Republicans have urged party leaders to respect the will of the voters.

Trump spokesman Sam Clovis seized on that message on Friday, warning on CNN that it was dangerous for Republican leaders to "call American voters stupid" because they support Trump.

"You have record turnout in every state so far. Record turnout. That doesn't happen by accident, said Clovis, national campaign co-chairman.

Trump is "tapping into what is going on in this country like no one else has in a long, long time. I haven't seen anything like this since Ronald Reagan."

Columnist Peggy Noonan, a former Reagan speechwriter, had a different lament in the Wall Street Journal on Friday. "I think we are seeing a great political party shatter before our eyes," she said.

"But we are witnessing history. Something important is ending. It is hard to believe what replaces it will be better. No one knows where this goes. The top of the party and the bottom have split."

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Megan Cassella; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Bill Trott)

This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.
For the second-place candidate, his very narrow path to the nomination involves helping the third- and fourth-place candidates. Photo: Jim Lo Scalzo/epa/Corbis

For Marco Rubio and John Kasich, the current anti-Trump cabal whereby every surviving candidate takes on the Donald in different states via a division of labor that involves tactical cooperation is a no-brainer. Both of these dudes face possible extinction in winner-take-all home-state primaries on March 15 in which theyll need every anti-Trump vote. More fundamentally, they are in third and fourth place in total delegates. Rubio, in particular, is no longer in a position to insist on consolidation of non-Trump voters under his banner. But for Ted Cruz, the cabal forces a tough decision. Hes not in a position to stop Trump on his own. But if he cooperates with Rubio and Kasich and a Republican Establishment that despises him nearly as much as it does Trump, he could be enabling his own demise down the road and thwarting his own efforts to seize the party for the more militant elements of the conservative movement.

At the moment, Team Cruz is focused on the short-term challenge of winning in three states that vote tomorrow: Kansas, Kentucky, and Louisiana. The first two are closed caucuses with long-passed cutoffs for reregistration to change party affiliation  probably the least hospitable environment for Donald Trumps campaign. And Louisiana is a closed primary in a state where Cruz has been running a relatively strong second to Trump in the polls. If the mauling of Trump in the Fox News debate in Detroit Thursday night produced lasting damage to his candidacy, it should begin to show up in these states.

But assuming March 6 goes well for Cruz, the strategic dilemmas begin. Sure, hell go for the gold in Mississippi and Idaho on March 8. But does he take a dive the same day in Michigan, where hes been running even with Rubio and well ahead of Kasich? And does he entirely pull his campaign out of Florida and Ohio on March 15 to maximize the home-state cabal boys odds of beating Trump? Presumably he will, but he could wake up on March 16 to find his delegate advantage greatly reduced, and with the remaining list of Cruz Country states on the calendar looking mighty slim.

Looking ahead to the potential contested convention that is the anti-Trump cabals strategic linchpin, Cruzs main leverage is the possibility that he could put Trump over the top on a second ballot if he is prematurely cast aside by the Establishment folk. He could even position himself as a unity candidate whose views on immigration and national security are closer to Trumps than any other available candidates. More likely hell be the odd man out in whatever decisions the Establishment makes, having already burned his bridges to Trumps insurgency to a smoking cinder. Right now the candidate running second to Trump seems doomed to failure whichever way he  or the worm  turns. His consolation will be that, like Rubio, hes still very young, and, unlike Rubio, he hasnt given up his Senate seat to participate in this wild presidential nominating contest.
Photo: Andrew Burton/Getty Images

Have you heard the old fable about the pundits who cried peak Trump? If you havent, heres the Cliff Notes: Once upon the 2016 campaign cycle, political commentators would cry out after nearly every GOP debate that Donald Trump had finally done himself in. And so, when the Republican front-runner finally had a truly damaging debate performance in Detroit on March 3, no one believed the columns that said so.

Okay. Thats not a fable, just one scenario for how the aftermath of Thursday nights debate might play out. Donald Trump has had some rough moments on these stages, but never before has the mogul taken so much fire from so many directions. Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and Fox News moderators all raided the Donalds closet and came out bearing skeletons. Trump was presented with video documentation of his copious flip-flops, with detailed accounts of hardworking people who say they were cheated by his enterprises, and irrefutable data about his companys affinity for hiring guest workers over Americans.

The billionaire appeared most rattled during an extended exchange on the lawsuit against Trump University. Rubio said that he had spoken earlier in the day with one of the cases plaintiffs.

You know what they got in these courses? Stuff you can pull off of Zillow, the Florida senator said. When they finally realized what a scam it was, they asked for their money back and you wouldnt give it to them.

We will see who is right at the end of a few years, Trump replied, apparently suggesting that voters should just elect him now and wait until his second-term to find out if he is, in fact, a con artist. But almost all of the people  many, many people signed a report card at the end and almost all of them said it was terrific.

In previous debates, this was always the moment when the moderators would move on. But Megyn Kelly dug in, noting that one-third of the plaintiffs had demanded a refund. Kelly also pointed out that the schools last public rating from the Better Business Bureau was a D-minus, not an A, as Trump had previously claimed.

Hes trying to do to the American voter what he did to the people who signed up for this course, Rubio interjected. Hes making promises that he has no intention of keeping. And it wont just be $36,000 that theyll lose, its the future of our country.

Then, Cruz decided now would be a good time to make his pitch to Rubios minions.

Let me just ask the voters at home: Is this the debate you want playing out in the general election? If we nominate Donald were going to spend the spring, the fall, and the summer with the Republican facing a fraud trial, the Texas senator said.

Oh stop it. Its a minor civil case, Trump interrupted. He proceeded to repeat the phrase, its a minor civil case at least three more times.

Donald learn not to interrupt. Its not complicated. Count to ten, Donald. Count to ten, Cruz counseled, before turning to the camera. If you are one of the 65 to 70 percent of Republicans who recognize nominating Donald would be a disaster  then I ask you to stand with us, as a broad coalition of people who believe in the Constitution and who believe in freedom.

There is no basis for the claim that 65 percent of Republicans believe that nominating Trump would be a disaster. The Donald has polled as high as 49 percent in national polls, and he is the second choice of many Republicans who do not support him. Here was an instance in which Trump had actually been attacked unfairly. And, for what might be the first time this cycle, Trumps rebuttal was a winner on the merits but a loser on style.

CNN says he gets 15 [percent], that means 85 percent of the people, based on what youre saying, dont dig you! CNN  the poll just came out. Im at 49, hes at 15. He tells me about 65 percent of the people. If you go by that  85 percent of the people! Trump stammered, nonsensically. And then he goes, well we got five. I won ten states  So how does he take five and say its better than ten?

The strongman, for a moment, seemed nervous. Weak. And then, Cruz beat him at his own game  the recitation of flattering poll numbers.

That CNN poll showed that, head-to-head, Donald Trump loses to Hillary Clinton by eight points, Cruz said. That same poll shows me beating Hillary Clinton.
Not the GOPs favorite candidate. Photo: Spencer Platt/2016 Getty Images

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders will appear at an hour-long televised town hall event in Detroit on Monday, the eve of the Michigan primary  on Fox News. According to the New York Times, the network had invited both Democratic presidential candidates to participate in the event, which Bret Baier will host, but only Sanders accepted. Hillary Clintons campaign said she could not attend due to a scheduling conflict.

Fox News hasnt hosted a Democratic debate since 2004. The Times reports that last month, when Baier approached Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz about letting the network put on another one this year, she laughed at the suggestion.

This would not be Sanders first appearance on Fox this year; Chris Wallace interviewed him on Fox News Sunday in February, presumably after checking WebMD to make sure socialism isnt contagious.

In fact, Sanders has made a point of appearing before audiences Democrats usually shun, which fits with his stated goal of expanding the partys base, particularly to recapture the white working class. Most notably, he spoke in September at Liberty University, the evangelical Christian college founded by the late Jerry Falwell, to make his case against inequality in religious terms.

Sanders message of economic justice, his skepticism toward free trade, and his hostility toward Wall Street resonate with a certain segment of the electorate that doesnt necessarily identify as liberal. He won over 2,000 votes in the New Hampshire Republican primary, and though his fans on the left may hate to admit it, many independent voters are choosing this year between the Vermont Senator and the GOPs own anti-establishment candidate, Donald Trump.

Nevertheless, his base-broadening strategy is one reason why Sanders supporters argue that he is actually more electable than Clinton, despite not representing the Democratic mainstream.
Joe Scarborough on Morning Joe today.

In the wake of Gabriel Shermans report that Marco Rubio has lost the support of Fox News in the GOP race, Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough mocked his own network Friday for playing favorites in the Democratic primaries eight years ago. Said Scarborough: Youre seeing also New York Magazine writing stories about how Fox News has abandoned Marco Rubio, which is shocking because, my God, Ive never seen a candidate treated better by any network  well, other than MSNBC bowing and scraping to Barack Obama in 2008.

To drive home his point, Scarborough broke out an impersonation of Keith Olbermann, the networks star at the time. Said Scarborough, channeling his former MSNBC colleague: Every night, like, Hillary Clinton would win Kentucky, and itd be like, Tonight, racism rises over Lexington. I mean, every time Hillary won, it was like, The ghost of Jefferson Davis rises somewhere over a Confederate cemetery in Richmond, Virginia, where Barack Obama was beaten.

Not bad, Joe, but Ben Affleck did it better.
We can only assume Podesta is an X-Files fan. Photo: David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images

Among the issues at the forefront of Hillary Clintons campaign are things like health care, those damn emails, and, evidently, extraterrestrials. According to John Podesta, Clintons campaign chairman, if Clinton takes office shell make it a priority to declassify government files on UFOs. Speaking to KLAS-TV in Las Vegas, Podesta  whos long advocated for releasing government files to the public  said hes talked to Hillary about that, and he thinks shell see the expedience in telling the American public what the government knows. I think Ive convinced her that we need an effort to declassify as much as we can so people have their legitimate questions answered, he said. More attention and more discussion about unexplained aerial phenomena can happen without people who are serious about this being ridiculed.

This isnt the first time the UFO question has come up in Clintons campaign. At a campaign stop in New Hampshire, Clinton said she would get to the bottom of the UFO mystery, and back in 2007 she said that of all the Freedom of Information Act requests her husband received during his presidency, the vast majority had to do with UFOs. She also said she thinks we may have been visited already, but neither she nor the shadowy government officials with whom she works is quite sure about that. And Bill Clinton, during his presidency, asked aides to find out whether there had ever been a government cover-up of alien contact.

But for Podesta, the issue is less about alien discovery and more about principle. We ought to do it because its right, he said. We ought to do it because the American people, quite frankly, can handle the truth. And we ought to do it because its the law. He went on, I come in for my fair share of people raising questions about whether Im off my rocker, but Ive been a longtime advocate of declassification of records. People really want to know what the government knows.

When Podesta stepped down as an Obama adviser this time last year, he said his biggest regret was keeping the American people in the dark about UFOs. It seems hes determined not to make the same mistake under a hypothetical President Hillary Clinton.

This post has been updated to reflect that John Podesta is Hillary Clintons campaign chairman.
He wasnt rattled by the sanctions, or wants everyone to think he wasnt. Photo: Maye-E Wong/ Corbis. All Rights Reserved.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has instructed his military to ensure that the countrys nuclear weapons are ready for use at any time, CNN reports. The move comes one day after the United Nations Security Council imposed new sanctions on the isolated country to penalize it for continuing to test nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. The resolution passed on Wednesday requires all cargo entering and leaving the country to be inspected, bans all trade in weapons, and adds to the list of North Korean officials under individual sanction.

According to CNN, in a statement carried by the state news agency KCNA on Friday, Kim told the North Korean public that under the extreme situation  the only way for our people to protect sovereignty and rights to live is to strengthen the quality and quantity of nuclear power.

The agency also confirmed that the military had tested a new multiple-launch rocket system, which may have been the short-range projectiles South Korea said it had observed on Thursday.

The Pentagon said it was closely monitoring the situation and urged the North Koreans to refrain from provocative actions that aggravate tensions.

Pyongyang claims to have miniaturized nuclear weapons so as to mount them on missiles, but has yet to demonstrate that capacity in a test. The U.S. does not believe Kims regime actually has the capacity to deliver on its nuclear threats, but still takes them seriously.

In January, North Korea tested what it claimed was a hydrogen bomb. Last month, it launched a satellite into space with a long-range rocket, in what other countries considered a thinly disguised ballistic-missile test.

The New York Times, meanwhile, reports that American and South Korean military officials met on Friday to discuss the proposed deployment of a new, sophisticated missile-defense system in response to the Norths saber-rattling. The Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, system would protect against a possible North Korean missile attack, but China opposes the system, which it fears would weaken its own nuclear deterrent.
Turkish gendarmeries escort two Syrians, arrested on suspicion of causing deaths of five refugees, including Aylan Kurdi. Photo: Ali Balli/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

A tiny child, facedown on the sand, waves slipping over his body. That image of Alan Kurdi, a 3-year-old whose body washed up on a beach in Turkey after his boat filled with refugees capsized in the Aegean Sea, captured the worlds failure to respond to the spiraling migrant crisis. Now two men who tried to help smuggle Kurdi and other refugees in a boat from Turkey to Greece face more than four years in prison for the dangerous crossing that led to the toddlers death.

Two Syrians, Muwafaka Alabash and Asem Alfrhad, were found guilty in Turkey of human trafficking, in a trial that lasted a little less than a month. Prosecutors had sought to convict the men both for smuggling and for deliberate negligence in the death of the Kurdi, his 5-year-old brother, his mother, and two other refugees. The court acquitted them of the more serious charge of deliberate negligence, saying there wasnt enough evidence. Alabash and Alfrhad originally faced a sentence of up to 35 years in prison. Each received five years in prison, though the court has now reduced that punishment for a few months good behavior, reports the Times.

The accused smugglers have a right to appeal, and they seem likely to do so. Alabash and Alfrhad claim they were only middlemen and didnt run the trafficking ring. Instead, the men have lobbed accusations at the dead toddlers father, Abdullah Kurdi, claiming he was responsible for organizing the trip. Kurdi has denied those charges.

The conviction came down just as European and Turkish leaders plan to meet for a summit Monday to try to, once again, figure out some way to stem the exodus of refugees to Europe. European leaders have already pledged $3 billion to Turkey to help the country accommodate refugees and crack down on smuggling operations like the one that killed Kurdi and more than 3,700 last year. But, with more than 134,000 migrant arrivals so far in 2016 (and a little more than 400 deaths), the count could match  or outpace  the 1 million people who reached Europe in 2015.
Donald Trump. Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Following an especially blustering debate performance, Republican front-runner Donald Trump backed out of two commitments on Friday afternoon.

The first (and, to the majority of the world, less important) one was his speech at this weekends Conservative Political Action Conference. As a statement released by the campaign explained, The Donald J. Trump for President Campaign has just announced it will be in Witchita, Kanasas [sic] for a major rally on Saturday prior to Caucus. He will also be speaking at the Kansas Caucus and then departing for Orlando, Florida and a crowd of approximately 20,000 people or more. Because of this, he will not be able to speak at CPAC as he has done for many consecutive years. And yes, they misspelled both Wichita and Kansas.

Very disappointed @realDonaldTrump has decided at the last minute to drop out of #CPAC -- his choice sends a clear message to conservatives.  CPAC (@CPAC) March 4, 2016

Also left disappointed today were Trumps most bloodthirsty supporters. In a statement to The Wall Street Journal, Trump reneged on his repeated promise commit war crimes such as torturing suspected terrorists and murdering their families. (For what its worth, former CIA director Michael Hayden has said that the American military wouldnt necessarily carry out Trumps orders, as they would be illegal.) From the Journal:

Mr. Trump  said he would use every legal power that I have to stop these terrorist enemies. I do, however, understand that the United States is bound by laws and treaties and I will not order our military or other officials to violate those laws and will seek their advice on such matters. I will not order a military officer to disobey the law. It is clear that as president I will be bound by laws just like all Americans and I will meet those responsibilities.

Very presidential!
Jeff Sessions. Photo: Win McNamee/2009 Getty Images

Republican front-runner Donald Trump has announced that Alabama senator Jeff Sessions will chair his national security advisory committee, Politico reports. Sessions, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, became the first senator to endorse Trump this week, as part of the inexorable coming-around of the Republican Establishment to the fact that they will likely be fielding the unfiltered billionaire as their candidate in November. He will now advise the candidate on national-security and foreign-policy issues.

We need to understand the limits of our ability to intervene successfully in other nations, Sessions said in a statement. It is time for a healthy dose of foreign policy realism. In the Middle East, this means forming partnerships based on shared interests, not merely overthrowing regimes in the dangerous attempt to plant democracies.

(You know, like the one Jeff Sessions voted for in 2003.)

Sessions reiterated his backing for Trumps proposal to set up a big beautiful safe zone for refugees in Syria, rather than granting them refuge in the U.S. and other Western countries. In Trumps view, this will save the refugees from having to live in weather that they find disagreeable, with the added bonus of us not having to deal with them.

In November, the senator tried to persuade his Republican colleagues to shut down the government rather than letting President Obama admit 10,000 Syrian refugees into the U.S., as opposed to their usual thing of shutting down the government rather than funding Planned Parenthood.

Like Trump, he fears that radical Islamist terrorists will sneak into the country as refugees, somehow making it through the entire two-year vetting process without anyone in the Department of Homeland Security getting wise to their plot.

Its not just refugees, though; Sessions is not a huge fan of immigration in general.
Bjarke Ingels is reshaping the city. Photo: Christopher Griffith

New York is a city where good architects come to gnash their teeth. Global monument-builders find their designs eaten away by termitelike regulations, community objections, and budget-shaving specialists. Instead of signing the skyline with a grand gesture, they accept their slot along the street, confining their individuality to a facade flourish or two. Thats not only because New York is inhospitable to architecture, but also because architectures new capabilities have deviated from traditional urbanism. Designers can conceive, and builders can execute, supple organic forms that defy the matrix of streets and boxes. What the computer allows, zoning forbids.

All this makes Bjarke Ingels a bracing presence. Rather than beat against the citys dense mesh of constraints, he treats it like a trampoline, letting it vault him in unexpected directions. In the five years since the 41-year-old Danish architect set up a New York outpost of Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), he has become one of the citys principal shapers. The firms plan to buffer six miles of the East Side against storm surges with landscaped berms and barriers will soon go into construction. BIG has designed future skyscrapers at the World Trade Center, Hudson Yards, and the High Line. Cops in the 40th Precinct will eventually report for duty at a BIG station house composed of blocks stacked off-kilter like a hastily assembled cairn. And all that even before his first American building is quite complete: VIA 57 West, the apartment tower with a triangular profile, is getting its final tweaks.

From certain perspectives  driving up the West Side Highway, say  the asymmetric structure looks vaguely pyramidal, an emblem of pharaonic self-aggrandizement. Actually, its a joyous rewrite of the partly affordable rental building, a type that for years has choked the skyline with invasive species of featureless glass. The facade does double duty as the roof, swooping up from the shoreline to the mountainous ridge of midtown. It follows a hyperbolic paraboloid, the curving, mathematically precise surface that gives us the Pringle and the swooping 1960s saddle roof. Albert Frey used the same type of bending plane in the 1965 Tramway Gas Station (now a visitor center) in Palm Springs. Le Corbusier bundled nine such shapes to sculpt the tentlike Philips Pavilion at the 1958 Brussels Worlds Fair. Ingels taps into this atomic-era futuristic optimism not for its nostalgia value but to recover the geometrys forgotten potential. The difference lies partly in its scale. Instead of building a small concrete folly, he has produced a populous tower, with 709 apartments. The crosshatched lines on its skin formed by thousands of steel sheets make visible the curving grid of a mathematical diagram. Each panel is unique, cut and bent by an infinitely patient computer and assembled by workers who had to figure out what they were doing along the way.

Thats one reason such buildings are so rare: Any new process trips up the rigid drumbeat of construction rhythms, and someone has to pay for delays. At one point, the developer Douglas Durst tried to persuade Ingels to lop off the tip of his triangle, which was too narrow and atticlike for a penthouse. To bolster his case, Durst sent him a picture of a dollar bill, with its decapitated pyramid. Money talks, Ingels laughed. The architect won the debate by packing the mechanical systems into the uninhabitable top.

Photo: Christopher Griffith

Because the curvature and slope changes from a shallow incline near the bottom to a steep wall at the top, the experience of the building changes, too. It resembles an aircraft wing, a ski slope, or a wave. Its tempting to see this as celebritys flourish, but consider all that the shape achieves: It maximizes river views and covered balconies, obstructs its neighbors as little as possible, fills a deep narrow block without resorting to an ungainly slab, protects even low apartments from the noise of the West Side Highway, pierces the skyline with a jaunty top, and leaves room for a courtyard that even in winter basks in sunlight most of the day.

The form creates an immense flat triangle stretching along the north side on 58th Street and a narrower one to the east. These might have been oppressive walls that undid the buildings lightness, great unarticulated expanses curtained in glass. Instead, Ingels has lined the street with angled bays, striking an insistent, almost percussive sequence of angles and voids. Its a motif with a pedigree and implications. Along 58th Street it gives every apartment a glassed-in nook and enlivens an otherwise unbroken block, flanked on the other side by the brick wall of the IRT Powerhouse.

Photo: Christopher Griffith

The same serrated motif recurs in a wall behind the concierge desk in the lobby, where off-white bricks are stacked and angled to produce a rhythmic texture, like a microscopes enlargement of some beautifully ruthless virus. The brickwork pays homage to a similar wall at the Louisiana Museum in Denmark, but also to the interplay of bays and patios in the mound of stacked and staggered townhouses that Ingels designed for a complex called Mountain Dwellings in Copenhagen. He loves modules that accumulate into textured patterns.

Ingelss designs do not resemble each other, except in the way they incorporate natures unexpected regularities in simple but counterintuitive ways. When the Swiss watchmaker Audemars Piguet asked him for a museum where visitors could watch craftsmen work in natural light and still stay out of their way, he gave them a pair of nested spiral ramps embedded in an Alpine hillside. With Copenhagen running short of student housing in its dense downtown, hes proposing the Urban Rigger, a floating pod of shipping containers stacked in a ring around an open court. His design for the Serpentine Pavilion in London is a wavy, translucent honeycomb of fiberglass boxes. These solutions have a rational elegance, a satisfying of course!-ness, that seems utopian on paper but that somehow keeps yielding actual buildings.

Photo: Christopher Griffith

At VIA 57, the asymmetric structure wraps a block-long courtyard designed by the firm Starr Whitehouse, and when I first saw the plans I wondered whether it would result in a crimped strip of lawn between high walls, rather than the scale-model Central Park that Ingels was wishfully describing. He was right. Its not fully landscaped yet, but already you can feel its generous and varied topography. Rough stone stairs climb toward a large fountain, crossing and recrossing a ramp that snakes through the miniature wilderness. The highway just below the terrace sounds like a distant hiss.

Even so, the finished product bristles with compromises. The shape yields a block-long double-loaded corridor reminiscent of some suburban Marriott. The finishes are generic, the living spaces less than palatial. Some low-floor apartments look onto the highway; others give directly onto the courtyard but will be curtained off by a wall of shrubbery, giving them neither a view nor genuine privacy. Still, theres something to be said for a building that imposes these choices, that turns its best face outward to the world, instead of enfolding residents in a luxuriant nest of plush carpet, opulent hardware, and cheap glass. Ingels has designed a community, not a cocoon.



Via 57 West will open to residents this month.

*A version of this article appears in the March 7, 2016 issue of New York Magazine.
Two adults who want to lead the most powerful nation on Earth. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

With Donald Trump poised to become the Republican presidential nominee, Fox News and the remaining GOP candidates finally worked up the nerve to launch an all-out attack on his incoherent policies. Trumps performance in Thursdays debate wasnt good, but at this point it probably doesnt matter. We now live in a world where presidential candidates shrug off the formerly fatal sin of flip-flopping, repeatedly hurl childish insults at their rivals, and joke about the size of their penis. Check out the best and worst moments below (but lets be honest: if you dont want to see the American political process turned into a reality show, theyre all the worst).

Biggest Sign Its Time to Send the Kids to Bed

Letting the children stay up to learn about how our democracy functions sounded like such a good idea. Then Donald Trump, a person who is likely to be the GOP presidential nominee, kicked things off by defending the size of his penis.

Best International Blame Shifting

Would Trump like to manufacture his clothing collection in America? Sure.



But countries like China and Mexico make it so cheap to move business abroad! In other words:

Biggest Moderator Lie

As Little Marco and Big Donald engaged in taunts middle schoolers would find childish, Chris Wallace admonished them, saying Gentlemen, gentlemen. Youve got to do better than this.

Best Pointless Appeal to Trump Supporters

Ted Cruz said he knows theyre angry at Washington and Trump uses angry rhetoric, but for 40 years, Donald has been part of the corruption in Washington that youre angry about. He continued, youre not going to stop the corruption in Washington by supporting someone who has supported liberal Democrats for four decades, from Jimmy Carter to John Kerry to Hillary Clinton. Youre not going to stop the corruption and the cronyism by supporting someone who has used government power for private gain.

That makes sense, but hasnt Cruz read Trumps hat? Hes totally going to make America great again!

Most Anticlimactic Donald Trump/Megyn Kelly Moment

No one tuned in to see Trump act like a mature adult.

Least Effective Trump Attack

In what some believe was an ambush, Kelly made the front-runner watch three video clips highlighting his egregious flip-flops. The question was engineered to send Trump over the edge, but he managed to survive by adopting a bizarrely calm demeanor, and offering a reasonable defense of flip-flopping. You have to show a degree of flexibility, he said. If youre going to be one way and you think its wrong, does that mean the rest of your life you have to go in the wrong direction because you dont want to change?

Greatest Achievement in Debate Moderating

It took a few tries, but eventually Kellys command of the facts about Trump University and her willingness to do her job (unlike some other networks moderators) produced the Trump freak out everyone was waiting for.

Biggest Admitted Flip-Flop

When Kelly noted that Trump called for more visas for highly skilled workers in the CNBC debate, while his website complains that would decimate American workers, he readily admitted that hes changed his stance. Im changing it, and Im softening the position because we have to have talented people in this country, he said. When asked if hes just playing to peoples fantasies on the issue, a tactic described in The Art of the Deal, he denied it.

Biggest Unacknowledged Flip-Flip

Trump said he would not allow the New York Times to release the audio recording of an off-the-record conversation in which he may have said he doesnt really stand by his extreme immigration positions. Why? I dont think  I have too much respect  if I deal with you off the record, if I deal with Bret or Chris off the record, I have too much respect for that process to say, just release everything. I would not do that.

As Rubio noted, Times editors would probably release the transcript if Trump asked them to. And its hard to believe that Trump has too much respect for the journalistic process when just a few days ago, he was talking about making it easier to sue media companies that write negative things about him.

Most Surprising Trump Response

When asked to name a few of the unspecified best people he says hell consult on national security matters, Trump actually came up with some names. I think Richard Haass is excellent. I have a lot of respect for him, he said. I think General Keane is excellent. I think that there are  I like Colonel Jacobs very much. I see him. I know him. I have many people that I think are really excellent but in the end its going to be my decision.

Most Misguided Threat

When asked about claims that the military would refuse to carry out illegal orders issued by President Trump, such as killing terrorists family members, Trump said, They wont refuse. Theyre not going to refuse me. Believe me. Its unclear exactly what he meant by that (later he suggested he could convince officers to commit war crimes thanks to his superior leadership skills), but perhaps attempting to bully members of the military is a bad idea.

Most Confusing Moment for Millenials

John Kasich, who loves referencing all the conservative icons hes encountered in his career, said: I was there when Ronald Reagan rebuilt the military. I worked with him. I was there when Ronald Reagan rebuilt the economy. I was there, and I worked with him. I knew Ronald Reagan. And Ill leave it right there with what comes after that. You can figure that one out. Really? Kasich might be overestimating younger voters familiarity with the 1988 vice presidential debate.

Most Novel Way to End LGBT Discrimination

Kasich argued that on LGBT rights, we need to learn to respect each other and be a little bit more tolerant for one another. For instance, gay people keep suing business owners who deny them service, but they should try to be more understanding of others homophobic views.

Best Hippie-Bashing

When Cruz (aka Lyin Ted) condescendingly tried to get Trump to calm down by saying, breathe, breathe, breathe, Rubio asked, When theyre done with the yoga, can I answer a question? Cruz said he sincerely hoped they wouldnt, and Rubio responded with another Trump jab: Well, hes very flexible, so you never know.

Outstanding Mistake by an Ensemble

Expect to see this footage of everyone promising to uphold the GOP pledge to support the Republican nominee when Rubio, Cruz, and Kasich refuse to endorse Trump, or when the Establishment blocks Trumps nomination and he launches a third party bid.

BONUS: Most Awkward Intervention

During his post-debate interview, a visibly annoyed Trump informed Bill OReilly that he thinks hes become very negative. Why? I dont know, youll have to ask your psychiatrist  I think you get a little carried away with yourself.
Photo: Laura Ciapponi/Getty Images

Dogs are mans best friend. Cats are the internets best friend. But rats? Snakes? Ants? True, some people keep these as pets, but just as many others would be more likely to call those animals pests. In a recent interview with the Washington Post, an animal behaviorist argues that our love for certain animals and distaste for others is a bit more nuanced than we might think.

Hal Herzog  who writes the Animals and Us blog for Psychology Today and who wrote the book Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why Its So Hard to Think Straight About Animals  is an anthrozoologist by day, studying why humans and animals bond (or dont). What hes found out over the years is that much of what we see as lovable and adorable in certain animals and irksome and gross in others is dictated by a complex algorithm of emotion and culture.

I used to think pet-keeping was a fundamental attribute of human nature  it evoked our parental instincts, he told the Washington Post this week. The thing is I no longer believe that. I think that culture trumps biology, because there are cultures that dont even have a word for pet.

Indeed, the line between pet and pest can be a surprisingly blurry one, particularly as you travel around the globe. Consider dogs. Americans might stop and pet a fluffy pup on a corner, but in many Asian and Middle Eastern countries, dogs are perceived much as we see rats here; in other cultures, dog meat is prized as a delicacy. Cats, too, elicit mixed perceptions around the world: good-luck charms in some cultures, pests in others, positively demonic in still others. But Americans probably will never view either cats or dogs as pests or dinner; its too ingrained in our culture to see them otherwise.

You could almost say that people imprint on the animals they grew up with, James Serpell, director of the Center for the Interaction of Animals and Society at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, told the Post. If you grew up with dogs, you tend to be a lifelong dog person. You may even have a preference for particular breeds of dogs.

In other words, cats and dogs might conjure the divisive feelings they do simply because of our childhood experiences with them. And pop culture has a huge role to play in developing our notion of how we view our animals. When it comes to dogs, Lassie is the loyal friend, Lady and the Tramp are romantic and lovable, the 101 dalmatians are, well, a lot. But think of how snakes have been portrayed: the slimy Kaa in The Jungle Book, Jafars alter ego as a snake in Aladdin. Dogs are good, snakes are bad  at least thats what weve been told by our childhood cartoons.

Put another way, theres reason to believe we have the capability to love any animal, given the right nurturing environment. Whether or not they love us back is another matter.
Photo: Courtesy Crown Publishers

Behind every human making bad choices, there is a bad mother. This is a common narrative in modern American culture. For as often as we put mothers on a pedestal  those nurturing, self-sacrificing Madonnas  the slightest deviation from this Platonic ideal means you failed completely. Which is no small thing, since bad mother is considered a close cousin to arsonist, pedophile, terrorist. She is a destroyer of lives, of sanity, of well-being. According to common wisdom, everything evil and wrong and misguided in this world is all her fault.

On the morning of April 20, 1999, Sue Klebold unknowingly entered the Bad Mother Hall of Fame as she prepared for a meeting at her office. The heavy black duffel bag her son Dylan had dragged up the stairs when his friend Eric Harris spent the night four days earlier was not filled with computer parts, as Klebold and her husband had assumed. It was filled with automatic weapons and propane bombs. But as she waved good-bye to her son earlier that morning (Dyl? she called out; Bye! he replied, with a sneer in his voice that haunted her), she never imagined hed soon be responsible for what was then the worst high-school shooting in American history. Eric and Dylan, both seniors at Columbine High, enacted a carefully planned attack that included diversionary tactics, car bombs, pipe bombs  99 explosive devices  and a cache of guns. Twelve students and one teacher were killed, and 24 people were injured before the perpetrators committed suicide. The event left the country in shock and inspired several copycat shooters in the years to come.

Thanks to both the lasting impact of Columbine and the pervasive notion of bad mother as accomplice to every criminal act, picking up a book like Sue Klebolds A Mothers Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy is fraught from the start. In spite of my better, more progressive judgment, I found myself scouring for some clue of where Klebold went astray as a mother before I was even past the first chapter. As a parent, I couldnt stop looking for proof that I wouldnt make the same choices that she made. But we all want to be sure that she made huge mistakes. Because if her failures are regular human failures, that means that this could happen to anyone. For the rest of us to be good parents, Sue Klebold must be an aberration.

Klebold recognizes this more clearly than anyone. She admits that mistakes were made, but she argues that most of those mistakes stem from the fact that Dylan was depressed and suicidal. Her central stated motivation for writing the book, in fact, is to raise awareness of just how invisible a childs suicidal depression can be to parents. Her son Dylan clearly took pains to hide his loneliness and desperation and suicidal thoughts and burgeoning feelings of grandiosity (and possible schizotypal personality disorder, according to one psychologist she contacted). If we want to prevent mass school shootings, Klebold asserts, we might need tighter gun-control laws and better anti-bullying policies, but most of all, we need to understand how subtle the signs of severe depression can be in adolescents. Many researchers would back her up on this, viewing most mass shootings as spectacular suicides that we wont prevent until we address suicide as their root cause.

Klebolds arguments are convincing. Whats more mysterious (and thus more engrossing) is how a smart, loving parent like Sue Klebold wound up with a son who resolved to commit suicide and mass murder. Sidestepping these mysteries doesnt serve anyone. We can admit that Klebolds mundane parenting choices are being examined here, and that we could just as easily be in her place, and still thoughtfully evaluate those choices. Given the prevalence of mass shootings in America, in fact, it behooves us to do so.

And as difficult as it is to acknowledge, there are hauntingly familiar cultural poisons on display in Klebolds account. Theyre less a reflection of Klebolds unique personal failings than a reflection of a larger shift in how we understand parenting, a shift that seems to leave kids feeling at once entitled and distrustful, open and secretive, wildly insecure and grandiose. In Klebolds own telling, whenever Dylan got in trouble, she and her husband were often preoccupied with unjust punishments by his school and unjust behaviors exhibited by other students. Like so many parents, they walked an uncomfortable line between complaining vociferously about injustice and refusing to either take productive action or encourage their son to address these injustices proactively.

As a junior, Dylan got in trouble for the first time at school at his computer job, where he helped maintain the schools servers. He accessed a list of locker combinations, opened a few kids lockers to test them out, and then passed the list along to Eric Harris. When Sue and her husband, Tom, were called to the school and informed that Dylan would be suspended for five days, they were angry with the school. Tom and I thought the punishment was unnecessarily harsh, she writes. They asked the dean to reconsider, but the dean told them that the district superintendent wanted to handle the incident with a high level of severity. Klebold implies that the dean was just being lazy: An administrator myself, I recognized the deans need to get the papers signed so she could move on to the next problem. Klebold warned Dylan of the consequences of his actions, but as they drove home from the meeting, I asked him if he thought hed be okay. Dylan asked his mother what she thought, and she remembered saying, I dont understand the decision and I dont agree with it, but Im going to support it. This will be resolved quickly if we comply with the ruling, and I dont want to make a bad situation worse by alienating you from the people running the school. As reasonable as this sounds, her emphasis is clear: Dylans very serious offense is upstaged by his victimization by unjust forces.

When Dylan was at home that week after being suspended, he complained that the schools administration favored athletes, making excuses for them while coming down hard on others for lesser offenses. In Dylans mind, school was a place where things were not fair. This information is offered without irony; Klebold herself just told her son that school was a place where things were not fair, and then she told him the only option was to fake it and pretend to agree with unfair decisions. Taking personal responsibility for stealing was less important than recognizing the impossibility of true justice and playing along with a corrupt system.

Later, Dylan defaces a locker at school, and, Klebold writes, Tom was irritated with him for destroying property and irritated with the school for charging so much money to repaint a locker door. Here, Dylans destructive act is merely irritating, and the school is just as culpable for charging too much to fix the damage Dylan has done. Dylan pledges to pay his dad back for the cost. Then Klebold writes, I told Dylan he couldnt allow the obnoxious behavior of others to upset him. Again, most of the blame falls squarely on the obnoxious behavior of others. Even if this behavior is messed up  and many accounts from Columbine indicate that bullying played a part  Dylan is told not that he should watch how he expresses his anger, but that he should try not to feel anger at all.

Even when Klebold acknowledges that Dylan wrote a hateful slur on the locker (which was in line with his racist sentiments, revealed later but never directly addressed in Klebolds book), she doubles back to defend herself. I have read in the years since that the scratch read Fags  a slur I have also read was frequently leveled against Dylan and Eric in the hallways at Columbine  but we did not hear that from the school. Klebold has a habit of introducing unnerving information and then diverting blame elsewhere within the same sentence. This happens so many times per page that the cumulative effect creates a sense of vertigo.

Raising any teenager, let alone a kid whos as depressed and withdrawn as Dylan clearly was, is complicated and confusing. On top of that, its easy to assume that anyone can make their true feelings clear on the page, but non-writers like Klebold often sound dogmatic, defensive, and not all that self-aware in print. Tellingly, Sue Klebold (and her son) come across as much more thoughtful and flexible in Andrew Solomons Far From the Tree, a book about exceptional children with a chapter about crime that focuses on the Klebolds. In that book, Sue Klebold tells the author that if she could see her son again, she would ask him to forgive her for being his mother and never knowing what was going on inside his head, for not being able to help him, for not being the person that he could confide in.

In A Mothers Reckoning, though, Klebolds humility is repeatedly obscured by contradictions that Klebold herself doesnt seem to recognize. Klebold tells us over and over that she raised Dylan to be polite, but she never seems to push Dylan to understand other peoples feelings, their challenges, and the pressures on them that might not be apparent on the surface. Her idea of good parenting, even in retrospect, seems to focus on controlling and preventing negative outcomes rather than staying engaged and helping to reframe the confused, black-and-white thinking of a teenager into a more accepting space of forgiving yourself and others for being less than perfect. After all, its not just school thats sometimes not fair. The world is often a not fair place, and it takes a lot of patience with ourselves and others  and an ability to gently stand up for ourselves rather than either rolling over or going ballistic  to push for change.

The Klebolds both openly question the schools authority, and, at the same time, seem to expect that the school should be monitoring their kids more closely (in ways that the parents themselves are not). When Dylans English teacher told Sue and Tom that Dylan had turned in a disturbing paper with dark themes and bad language, and said that she planned to show the original to Dylans guidance counselor, somehow the teacher didnt show Klebold the paper and the Klebolds didnt press the issue. Klebold didnt see it until a year later. In the paper, a man dressed in black kills a bunch of popular kids at school. She writes, This lack of follow-through on my part was uncharacteristic, but indicative: I believed Dylan was a psychologically healthy human being. I never considered that the paper could be a reflection of deep-seated problems. I knew it contained some rough language and a dark theme, but had confidence that his teacher and the school counselor would handle the situation appropriately. Two professionals at your kids school are discussing shocking (their word) material written by your son, and you never get even a glimpse of it? This doesnt sound like a casual oversight so much as serious denial. But even if she did see the paper, Klebold says, it might not have changed anything: I cannot help but wonder if, as an artist myself, I would have seen it as a danger sign if I had read it before his death. Artistic expression, even when its unpleasant, can be a healthy way of coping with feelings. She also writes that the school counselor merely chided Dylan about his foul language and, later, he was understandably stricken by his failure to recognize an incipient threat.

A Mothers Reckoning is filled with this kind of frustrating mix of taking responsibility and pointing blame, with each moment of intelligent analysis and sensitivity ending in a mire of passivity, wishful thinking, and illogical conclusions. The schools punishment is too harsh, but the school isnt doing enough to identify Dylan as a threat. Expressing unpleasant feelings through art is good for you, but the few times Dylan expresses his feelings, hes urged to be respectful and polite above all else, and hes never pressed for details about what hes going through. As a junior, Dylan tells his mother that Eric is crazy. I responded, Youre going to meet people all your life who are difficult, and Im glad you have enough common sense to recognize it when you see it. Dylan is trying to open a door, which his mother quickly shuts with a pat on the head. Her response amounts to Youre fine. Dont worry about it, and that way I dont have to worry about it either.

To be clear, though, this is not a study in pathological behavior. Its a snapshot of modern parenting. Most of us are confronted with a steady flow of information about our kids, a lot of which would look disturbing and unsettling to someone who doesnt know them (or maybe just to someone who doesnt love them unconditionally, like we do). Kids say unsettling things from the time theyre very small. Kids clash with each other constantly. Theyre naturally drawn to stories about how unfair the world is, and theyre naturally impervious to empathy. Kids are often attracted to extreme views in which everything is black or white, with no shades in between.

Making matters worse, American culture is childlike in these same ways. We view everything through a lens of good and evil, from our pop idols to our criminals to our politicians. Klebold is repeatedly reassured that Dylan is a good kid  and she reassures herself of this as well. Our anxiety forces us to choose: Good kid or bad kid? Good mother or bad mother? Whats never allowed to exist, whats never acknowledged, is the very simple, inescapable, pervasive ambivalence of being alive.

I emphasize the gaps in Klebolds story not to drag one specific parent over the coals  Klebold has suffered mightily and will continue to suffer, for mundane mistakes and missteps that any parent alive could make  but in order to underscore just how exhausting and patience-trying and difficult it is to be a good, thorough, involved parent of a preteen or teenager. It means making space for kids natural rage and sadness and extreme polarity of thought, and then slowly helping them move forward. It also means taking tough stances at times when its inconvenient to do so.

Most parents sometimes find themselves choosing the easiest solution to complex challenges. Only an unlucky few among us will discover that our choices were catastrophic. The high stakes here make a close examination of Klebolds story uncomfortable but necessary. Because this is not just a story about how pernicious and unseen suicidal depression can be in teens. This is a story about how easy it can be to disengage from your children without even knowing it. Spending time with your kids and choosing to assume that theyre fine, and trusting that theyre good, is not enough. Doing whats easy  having fun together, trying to be cheerful, never pushing any subject that feels uncomfortable, legitimizing your kids anger at authority but insisting that they play along  falls horribly short of the mark with a teenager, particularly a troubled teenager. Kids need a way of understanding their own complicated emotions and accepting that other people have complicated emotions, too. They need to learn ways to tolerate the imperfect give-and-take of living within a community with other complex, emotional human beings.

A Mothers Reckoning is a very detailed book, but its stories feel dizzying because they constantly circle back on themselves, rationalizing and blaming and lashing out defensively, without adequately examining the deeply humbling facts on the ground. Thats largely the fault of Klebolds collaborators and editors. Yet, when we unravel this anxious tangle of words, what we discover is a woman who wants, more than anything else, to be told that she did everything any normal, regular parent from a so-called good home would do.

Sue Klebold is a normal, regular parent. But what we consider normal parenting these days is a strange mix of coddling and struggling to keep our anxious minds from acknowledging darkness or taking on complex puzzles that arent easily solved. Children call their parents their best friends, but emerge from their cocoons feeling lonely, powerless, insecure, narcissistic, and angry that the world is so impossibly unfair and hostile and hard. Normal parents hover, but they dont model how to move through an unjust world with patience and grace. They encourage their children to stand up for themselves, but theyre afraid to stand up to their own children. They tell their children to express their emotions, then stigmatize and chide their kids when they actually do so. Normal parents, in other words, share the anxious, clinging, insecure, angry, avoidant, black-and-white thinking of depressed adolescents. No wonder so many kids fall through the cracks. We unknowingly reinforce their worst impulses. We are not expansive enough or patient enough or mature enough to be worthy of their confidences.

So this is the worrisome unintended moral of Sue Klebolds story: We normal parents love our children like crazy, and we are trying our best. It is not enough. Forgive us. We need to grow up. We need to try a hell of a lot harder.
Bored of Education?...

Skateboard of Education!!!

As of September 2009, Room 3 in the Scadding Court Community Centre will house the Oasis Skateboard Factory reengagement program.

As the first school site in the TDSB and the world fully dedicated to offering all subjects with a skateboard design and street art focus, the Oasis Skateboard Factory helps students earn Gr. 9-12 compulsory & elective high-school credits by running an entrepreneurial business where they learn hands-on to build skateboards, design original custom graphics, work with local artists and community collaborators, market and display their work and have the opportunity to receive an honorarium.

For more info or to apply, contact OSF Teacher Lauren Hortie.

lauren.hortie@tdsb.on.ca




Kurdistan offers some of the cheapest oil in the entire world, with production costs as low as $1 per barrel. Extracting oil is almost like sticking a straw in the ground and sucking it out.

That was the promise for Genel Energy, a small oil producer that focused on drilling for oil in the semiautonomous region of northern Iraq. The company is headed up by the former BP chief Tony Hayward, who came to fame during the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe when after the well blowout, rig explosion that killed 11 workers, and oil spill into the Gulf of Mexico, he said during the frenzy: I would like my life back.

Hayward moved on and became the chairman of Genel Energy, which made what seemed like a risky but potentially hugely profitable bet on oil in northern Iraq. For years Kurdistan has been locked in a standoff with the Iraqi government in Baghdad over sovereignty, national revenue sharing, and control over oil production. That deterred some larger companies who risked losing access to Iraqs massive oil fields in the south if they worked in Kurdistan. Genel Energy went where other companies wouldnt go. Related: Anadarko Slashes 80% Of Onshore Rigs, To Lay Off 95% Of Contractors

But things have not turned out well for Genel as of late. On February 29, Genel Energy released a damming revision to its oil reserves in Kurdistan. One of its most prized oil assets in Kurdistan was the Taq Taq field, a field thought to hold 683 million barrels of proven and probable reserves. But Genel Energy now says that it got the assessment wrong  Taq Taq may only hold half as much oil as it originally thought. This is a very disappointing day for myself and the team, Tony Hayward told investors on a conference call.

After the company oversaw production declines during 2015 at the Taq Taq field, it changed its reservoir model and conducted an internal review. The results of the assessment show that Taq Taq actually only holds around 356 million barrels of proven and probable reserves. Worse, the company has already produced about 184 million barrels, meaning the field only has about 172 million barrels left. The revision will also result in an impairment charge of $1 billion. The companys market cap is down under $300 million, a fraction of what it was a few years ago. Related: In Risky Move Wall St. Backs Shale With Nearly $10 Billion In Equity

Genel expects Taq Taqs gross production to be 80,000 barrels per day in 2016, but the field is starting to decline. Next year it will produce 65,000-75,000 barrels per day, a level that will dip again in 2018 to 50,000-70,000 barrels per day.

Needless to say, investors did not receive the news well. Genels stock plunged by 40 percent on February 29 after the announcement, the worst loss in the history of the company. On March 3, Genel reported full-year earnings for 2015, posting a $1.16 billion net loss, compared to a loss of $312 million in 2014. Most of the huge loss was due to the impairment charge. By Thursday, Genels share price regained some ground, jumping about 12 percent. Related: This Might Be A Multi-Billion Opportunity For Oilfield Services

In addition to the technical challenges, Genel has to deal with an array of above the ground problems. Not only do oil companies in Kurdistan have to worry about instability from ISIS fighters to the south, a more important problem is the conflict between the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) and the Iraqi central government. Baghdad has not transferred the agreed upon funds to the KRG as part of a national revenue sharing agreement. The deal called for Kurdistan to export oil under the umbrella of Iraqi control, and in exchange the KRG would receive funds, but the deal fell apart for most of 2015. Both sides blame the other, but the bottom line is that the KRG has run short on funds. That is not only a problem for public employees in Kurdistan, whom have gone unpaid at times, but also means that oil companies in Kurdistan have not been compensated consistently. The KRG committed to regular payments to oil companies in order to create confidence and a climate of stability, but the KRG still owes Genel about $400 million.

Hayward put on a brave face for investors after informing them of the revision to the Taq Taq reserves. Even based on this reserve assessment we continue to enjoy some of the lowest cost producing assets in the world with many years production ahead of them. Genel can drill and produce oil for $2 per barrel, so still expects to profitably produce even at todays low prices.

By Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
The numbers are sobering. Make that alarming. According to the folks at ARC Financial Corp. in their March 1 weekly macro-economic overview of Canadas upstream oil and gas industry, revenue from the sale of produced oil and gas this year will be only $78.2 billion, the lowest since 2003. This is despite production hitting a record 6.97 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day, the highest in Canadian history. Noteworthy is this figure is $10 billion lower than the previous report issued February 23 as ARC redid the math based on lower average commodity prices for the year.

After-tax cash flow  the free cash exploration and production (E&P) companies have for reinvestment after paying all their bills  is estimated to be only $17.0 billion  the lowest number in the 15 years ARC covers, back to 2002. This is $12 billion lower than $29.4 billion in 2002. The figures for the past five years are summarized below.

(Click to enlarge)

Source: ARC Financial Corp. ARC Energy Charts March 1, 2016

*Estimate

1) 2016 based on an average price of C$30.73 per boe on average production of 6.968 million boe/day

2) After-tax cash flow from production

It is early in the year and much could change. But in the simplest terms, total revenue from production this year is currently estimated to be $71 billion lower than in 2014, the all-time high water mark for the value of Canadian hydrocarbon production. Cashflow will be down nearly 76 percent, or $55 billion, from 2014, over three-quarters of the revenue reduction. That is because, despite valiant efforts to cut costs, there is a point at which operating costs can no longer be reduced. Shut in production and close the doors or produce oil and gas for practice, not profits. The missing cash flow is what is used to service capital and replace and / or grow reserves. Replacing reserves is the lifeblood of oilfield service (OFS) companies.

Most OFS managers now understand their clients are being mercenary with costs because they must. Thats why there are the fewest number of rigs drilling this winter anyone can remember. Oil sands projects are being cancelled or postponed. More production is being shut-in. Capital budgets are slashed. Compared to historical levels of activity, there is nothing going on because there is no money to pay for it. Related: In Risky Move Wall St. Backs Shale With Nearly $10 Billion In Equity

The $70 billion puts a lot of other numbers into perspective. It was recently announced that the federal government had found $251 million in emergency financial aid for Alberta. While every bit helps, this is under 4/10 of one percent of the missing $70 billion (assuming most of the pain is in Alberta, which it is). Apparently there are two other federal aid programs for Alberta totaling $950 million. Add them and federal assistance rises to only 1.7 percent of the absent revenue. Saskatchewans ask for $156 million to abandon wells works out to 2/10 of one percent of the reduced upstream cash flow. Again, great work for a few but the amount of money governments can and will inject to make the pain hurt less are not meaningful in big picture.

The devastation of the combined collapse of crude oil and natural gas prices has negative impacts beyond day-to-day operations. Below is a summary of the stock market values of 10 of the larger publicly-traded Canadian E&P and OFS companies. This, too, is extremely ugly.

(Click to enlarge)

Source: Toronto Stock Exchange

1) Closing data (price and shares) February 26, 2016

2) Closing price February 28, 2014

3) Two-year change in share price

4) Shares outstanding (millions) TSX Feb 26, 2016

5) Change in market capitalization (billions) assuming same numbers of shares outstanding at February 28, 2014 except as noted below

6) Calfrac 2014 share price corrected for 2:1 stock split in 2014

7) Canadian Energy Services 2014 share price corrected for 3:1 stock split in 2014

Using this methodology, 10 of the top Canadian-headquartered E&P companies lost a combined $96.5 billion in market value in the two years, from the end of February 2014 to the end of February 2016. Ten of the largest Canadian-headquartered OFS companies dropped $12.6 billion in market value, bringing the total to $109.1 billion, about double the revenue drop for the producers.

Since companies trade on a multiple of cash flow, these numbers are not out of line. At a valuation of five times after-tax cash flow, the companies producing all of Canadas oil and gas had a theoretical market value of $350 billion in 2014 and only $85 billion today. That is $265 billion in disappeared wealth.

This is also somebodys money. It is remarkable investors in these 20 companies could lose $109.1 billion in two years and many people figure the downturn in oil and gas is a regional problem. Some even believe former high flyers like Alberta and Saskatchewan deserve such punishment for being excessively successful in recent years. Others block pipelines which would provide tidewater access to western crude because they see their region taking all the risk and receiving none of the benefits. Related: Canadian Oil Slammed By Low Prices, Pipeline Woes

Today most mutual funds and pension plans hold Canadian E&P and OFS equities as core holdings. Because overall stock markets arent doing well, perhaps the damage the oilpatch is causing is disguised. But a look at the Canadian equity holdings of the Canada Pension Plan at March 31, 2015 (last date available) indicates the federal government owned on behalf of all Canadians shares of 16 of the above 20 companies. The governments of Quebec, Ontario and B.C. do not disclose the equity investments of their various public sector pension plans with similar granularity.

So its awful. Everybody knows that. Now what?

The number one thing everyone in upstream oil and gas must get their head around is the severity of the revenue collapse and its implications. By now people realize it is extremely serious. The purpose of these figures is to demonstrate just how serious. How many managers and owners have truly streamlined their operations to market realities is unknown because the thousands of smaller and private businesses across the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) must make thousands of independent decisions, based on their unique circumstances.

But media reports of continued layoffs by the larger publicly-traded operators indicate many managers have delayed this element of fixed cost reduction as long as possible. In an industry so dependent on human capital for success, this is not delinquent but strategic.

One could consider the glass is half full approach. Even with revenues of only $78 billion this year, Canada remains the fifth largest hydrocarbon producing jurisdiction in the world, so oil and gas is hardly a sunset industry. At this reduced level, the oilpatch is still equivalent to the Canadian vehicle manufacturing industry was in 2013 when the government of Canada reported total revenues of $84.7 billion. There is work to be done, albeit at a lower level, with squeezed margins and fewer jobs. Keeping almost 7 million boe/day on stream will remain good business for many, even if production growth is not in the cards at current prices. And production will grow by another several hundred thousand barrels per day in the next few years unless the current oilsands and offshore expansion projects are cancelled because of continued low prices.

Waiting for an upturn as a strategy only works if your company has the financial resources to do so. Many dont. But as Ive written many times, the current low price of oil is unsustainable. Even the futures markets agree. On futures markets, the price of WTI crude is about US$8 a barrel higher for April 2017 delivery than todays price. Based on 4.5 million b/d of crude and liquids production this alone would add $18 billion a year to production revenue, a meaningful and measurable improvement.

But the reality is, for this industry to survive in any meaningful form it is time to regroup, retool, rethink, restructure and rebound. The industry is rife with stories about excessive compensation, egregious waste, poor procurement policies, engineering and design blunders and operational incompetence, all symptoms of an industry that has had it too easy for too long. Combined with seemingly unlimited supplies of cheap capital, too many E&P companies decided they had to spend the money now, regardless of labor and equipment availability, efficiency and productivity. In doing so, they ignored what the macro-economic impact of everyone trying to do too much with too few resources would have on costs. While the adjustment from 2014 is extraordinarily painful, the case can be made the industry was overheated two years ago and that business conditions were not normal nor sustainable. Perhaps 2013 was in the same category.

At the IHS CERA investment conference in Houston on February 23, Saudi Arabias oil minister Ali Al-Naimi told attendees the future of competing in the global market was to, Let everybody compete. Follow the marginal cost curve. He said it was not for the Saudis to make high-cost operators competitive by shutting in oil. In brutal words that received global attention, Al-Naimi said higher cost producers must, lower costs, borrow cash or liquidate. Simply put, Canada needs a better plan than OPEC saving our bacon by restricting supply. Ouch. Related: The U.S. Still Dominates World Oil Prices

That said, the price of oil is gradually strengthening. At the Mar 1, 2016 close of US$34.40 WTI is 31 percent higher than the recent record low price of US$26.68 on January 20. This is caused by declining U.S. oil output and media reports of continued discussions among producing giants Saudi Arabia and Russia about capping output. As importantly, more people are realizing that having the worlds most important energy source trading at half of replacement cost is unsustainable in the long term. The ARC numbers for Canada in 2016 are likely to end up higher than the most recent report meaning at least part of the $70 billion hole will fill itself.

Nevertheless, reality has hit home with numbers no one could even imagine two years ago. No entrepreneur would ever start an E&P or OFS company and sell shares to investors while anticipating they could or would one day lose more than 90 percent of their value due to commodity price fluctuations. No entrepreneur starts an oil or service company and stress tests their income statement and balance sheet to survive a 50 percent to 70 percent reduction in revenue. If anybody thought business was going to get that bad, they wouldnt bother. In some cases, current markets look more like a force majeure (French term for an unpredictable or unforeseen event often used in insurance contracts, sometimes compared to an act of God) than a vicious commodity price cycle.

But the $70 billion hole is real and will be the challenge of a generation. Filling in this massive hole with something is not a matter of if but how. This industry has reinvented itself before and in 2016 it is time to start doing it again.

By David Yager for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
This weeks key figures for the oil and gas industry show that oil has rallied while U.S. production has experienced a slight decline.

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(Click to enlarge) Related: Oil Prices Seesaw On Declining U.S. Production, Increasing Stockpiles

Friday, March 4, 2015

Oil prices have had a relatively quiet week, posting a handful of less volatile trading sessions compared to what we have become used to. WTI moved up to about $35 per barrel this week and Brent rose to nearly $38. Oil prices have gained more than 30 percent since early February.

Storage. Oil storage levels in the U.S. continue to break records. For the most recent data available, the EIA says that crude inventories surged by 10.4 million barrels to a record high of 518 million barrels. The ongoing gains in storage levels will continue to act as a drag on oil prices, a sign that the glut still is not over. On the bullish side of things, more and more companies are reporting expected declines in production, signaling that the supply overhang will ease with time. These two forces seemed to have cancelled each other out this week as oil prices rallied and then flattened out.

Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court denied a request to issue a stay on the EPAs mercury emissions rule. The request was brought by a coalition of 20 states, who were no doubt encouraged by the Courts decision to put a hold on the EPAs greenhouse gas rule just before the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. However, the Supreme Court rejected the mercury rule request and did not issue a comment, suggesting it did not think there was a serious case for it. The mercury rule limits mercury emissions from power plants, and it went into effect in 2015. Related: Does This "Panic Index" Show A Major Crisis Coming In Oil And Gas?

Petrobras corruption case ensnares former president. The wide-ranging corruption case at the state-owned oil company Petrobras has now stretched to former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who was questioned on Friday by police. The corruption scandal involved Petrobras overpaying contractors who then kicked back some of the earnings to top ruling party officials and Petrobras executives. Lula, a revered figure in Brazil because he presided over a huge economic boom between 2003 and 2010, denies any wrongdoing. So does his hand pick successor, current President Dilma Rousseff.

Meanwhile, Brazils economy contracted by 3.8 percent last year, the worst performance in over 25 years. GDP could shrink by another 3.45 percent in 2016 and an outright depression is not off the cards. There is little sign that the government of President Rousseff, fending off a campaign to impeach her, has the political capital to push through needed reforms to kick start the economy. Brazils economy is heavily dependent on commodity exports, and with commodity prices at cyclical low points, Brazil is feeling the pain.

Iraq to pay oil companies $2 billion. The Iraqi government said that it would pay the outstanding $2 billion that it owes international oil companies operating in the country by April. The collapse in oil prices and Iraqs heavy security costs have left the government short on funds, and it racked up $2 billion in arrears to companies like BP (NYSE: BP), Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A), ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), Eni (NYSE: ENI), and Lukoil, all of which collectively produce the bulk of the Iraqs oil near the southern city of Basra. The contracts in Iraq consist of fixed payments to companies for barrels produced, a scheme that has become burdensome with oil prices collapsing.

The Iraqi government is trying to negotiate an overhaul to the contract terms by linking the payments to crude prices. Insufficient finances have also forced the Iraqi government to send requests to the oil companies, asking them to trim their drilling plans for this year. As a result, any production gains from Iraq will be very modest in 2016, as the head of Iraqs upstream operations put it to Reuters in an interview. Still, paying off the money owed to the companies and reaching an agreement with them to change the payment arrangement could help Iraq move forward. Related: Irans Election Results Could Be Good News For Oil Majors

Gazprom secures 2 billion loan from China. Russian state-owned gas giant Gazprom took out a 2 billion loan from the Bank of China, the largest bilateral loan in the gas companys history and also one of the largest loans ever from a Chinese bank to a Russian company. Gazprom is hurting from tumbling natural gas prices in Europe, a phenomenon that has occurred due to the rising levels of global LNG capacity and also the collapse of oil prices, which heavily influence the price of natural gas in some parts of the world. Gazprom says that it will cut annual capital expenditures to $17 billion for the rest of the decade, down from the $47 billion it spent in 2011. The Russian gas giant and the Russian state have hyped up several large deals with China in the last few years, including the Power of Siberia pipeline, a large conduit that would send Russian gas to China. However, the market has turned sour since then and the high cost of construction and the onerous terms demanded by China have damaged the projects prospects.

Former Chesapeake CEO died after indictment. The energetic and colorful former CEO of Chesapeake Energy received an indictment earlier this week for an alleged oil and gas lease-rigging scam in Oklahoma. A day after his indictment, Aubrey McClendon died in a car crash. He was known for building Chesapeake Energy into an enormous producer of shale gas, a pioneer for the industry during the so-called shale gas revolution. More recently, he had setup another shale drilling company, American Energy Partners, and had hoped to drill for shale oil and gas in Argentina. American Energy Partners said that it would continue to operate, but the loss of McClendon will damage the companys ability to raise money and attract talent, Bloomberg reports.

Massive coal bankruptcy possible. SNL reports that there is a growing possibility that Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU), the largest private-sector coal company in the world, could be forced into bankruptcy. If that were to occur, it would mean that more than 44 percent of the coal mined in the United States would come from mines controlled by companies in bankruptcy. SNL reports that BB&T puts a greater than 50/50 chance on Peabody falling into bankruptcy. Moreover, if the worlds largest private coal miner declared bankruptcy, it would be hugely symbolic of the trajectory for the industry as a whole. In other words, even if it takes time, the world is clearly shifting away from coal as a source of energy.

By Evan Kelly Of Oilprice.com:

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
One hundred and thirty-nine years after Emile Berliner invented the microphone, and a strong nonfarm payrolls report has amplified the weekly gain for crude into the weekend, at least for now.

Lets get the unemployment report out of the way. We saw better job creation than expected, with 242,000 jobs created (versus 190,000 consensus), while the unemployment rate remained at a near-8 year low of 4.9 percent. The chink in the armor of the strong report, however, came in the form of weekly hours worked and average hourly earnings, both which declined.

Aside from the (much too) avidly-watched U.S. unemployment data, things have been fairly quiet overnight in terms of economic data releases. News from Brazil was been perhaps the most interesting  and encouraging  as January industrial production increased on a month-over-month basis for the first time since last May. Related: Saudis Turn To Capital Markets For $10 Billion Loan

As we have spoken about recently, Brazils weakening economy is plain to see; it has manifested itself in our ClipperData via lower domestic waterborne flows, while just yesterday GDP data showed the Brazilian economy shrank last year by the most since 1990. In an odd twist of fate, the Ibovespa, the Brazilian equity index, has just entered a bull market  although driven mostly by the increasing prospect of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseffs impeachment than anything else.

We know from Newtons third law of motion, that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Hence, as Brazils economy gets walloped due to its reliance on the health of the commodity complex, other economies in the region are doing rather splendidly.

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Countries such as Chile, Peru and Colombia are resource-rich, and are in a similar situation to Brazil. Their economic health is linked to those countries which buy its commodities, hence the slowdown in China is crippling them financially. Meanwhile, Central American nations are not only less resource-rich, but they also have the U.S. as their largest trading partner  whose economic health is in fairly fine fettle. Related: Oil Prices Seesaw On Declining U.S. Production, Increasing Stockpiles

Accordingly, their economies are faring much better. Closer ties to the U.S., in combination with lower fuel costs  and commodity costs generally  mean that the region is expected to grow by 4.3 percent this year, led by strong growth from the likes of Panama and Nicaragua.

Switching gears, U.S. natural gas continues to move lower and lower. (And lower). With a mild winter and ongoing record production levels, storage levels for natural gas continue to race away from historical benchmarks.

After starting winter at record storage level of just over 4 Tcf, a mild winter has meant withdrawals have been persistently lagging. Hence, we find ourselves currently sitting at 2,536 Bcf, a whopping 46 percent above last years level, and 36 percent above the 5-year average:

Finally, while much is being made about investment opportunities in Irans oil and gas sector after the recent lifting of sanctions, Germany is instead eyeing an opportunity on the renewables front. Related: Irans Election Results Could Be Good News For Oil Majors

The prospect seems mutually beneficial: the Iranian government is targeting renewable energy capacity of 5 percent by 2020, while Germany is salivating at a huge sales opportunity. After all, Iran experiences 300 days of sun per year on average. Germany is already Irans largest European trading partner (hark, 2.4 billion euros in 2014), and these ties could improve further as an economic delegation from Germany prepares to head to Iran in May.

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By Matt Smith

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
Dear Milwaukee County Community Residents,

The staff of the Milwaukee County Department of Parks, Recreation, & Culture (Parks Department) wanted to update you on an important Parks asset recently in the news: The Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory, also known as The Domes.

As you likely know, the three domes are temporarily closed due to a public safety issue. Parks staff recently discovered pieces of concrete on the floor of the Arid Dome that appear to have fallen from the facilitys frame. While the structure itself remains safe, even small pieces of concrete can create a safety hazard when falling from a great height.

Our Short-term Objective: Open the Show Dome by May 1st; the Remaining Domes, by No Later Than Years End.

In February, Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele announced a $1 million short-term plan that will allow the County to safely reopen the Show Dome by May 1st. The work on the Show Dome would be a temporary fix that is anticipated to be sustainable over the next five years.

After reopening the Show Dome, work is then expected to begin on the Arid and Tropical domes so that they may be reopened later this year. Of course, this plan is contingent on approval for additional funding from the Milwaukee County Board. We are hopeful that County Board Supervisors will approve the additional funding so that the work can quickly get underway.

Our Long-term Goal: Seek Broad Community Engagement to Shape the Long-term Vision of the Mitchell Park Conservatory.

The Parks Department short-term objective is to do what it takes to reopen all three domes while we focus on the communitys vision for the Mitchell Park Conservatorys next 50 years. We in the Parks Department believe it is critical that our community engages in a discussion to consider a long-term plan not only for The Domes, but also for the many Milwaukee County parks and cultural assets.

The Milwaukee County Board held a public hearing at the Mitchell Park Conservatory on February 24th. This public hearing gave the Parks Department and the Facilities Division the opportunity to present an overview of the condition of The Domes and the potential investment that may be needed for the long run.

Additionally, the Parks Department is in the process on contracting with an organization which will help facilitate a series of community discussions through events at various venues across Milwaukee County. Recognizing the significance of this important, thoughtful, collaborative, and robust discussion, we ask for both your commitment and patience as this process gets underway. Investing a little more time up front to get this once-in-a-lifetime decision right will pay dividends for the community for years to come.

For Now, Get Connected and Prepare for Community Engagement.

Our initial effort is simply to try to keep you informed. The Milwaukee County website now contains a page that not only provides you with updates on The Domes, but also provides historical information and links to the February Public Hearing, comprehensive inspections, repairs, and engineering reports. Visit http://county.milwaukee.gov/Domes.

The Domes are actually the second conservatory to be located in Mitchell Park. Before The Domes, there was a Victorian-style conservatory that, after about 50 years, wasnt safe anymore. Now, about 50 years into the life of The Domes, were facing a similar challenge.

Whatever happens next at The Domes is going to cost a lot of money  the high estimate for refurbishing The Domes is $65-75 million. Therefore, it is important that we take our time to ensure that we spend taxpayer dollars on a plan that best represents the community's wishes.

Seeing an institution that we all love in this situation is challenging, but it also offers an exciting opportunity to come together as a community and plan for the future. The Parks Department is committed to engaging the community and we look forward to your participation.

Please feel free to contact the Parks Departments office at (414) 257-PARK (7275) or to email us at ParksDirector@milwaukeecountywi.gov regarding this issueor any other issueyou feel needs my attention.

Best Regards,

John Dargle

Director

Milwaukee County Parks, Recreation & Culture
Thursday night, Bruce Springsteen returned to Milwaukee to reprise "The River," his acclaimed 1980 double album that was recently revisited in an expansive box set called, "The Ties That Bind."

Before diving into the original record, however, Springsteen  knowing his fan base as well as he does  made the unusual move of opening with an outtake.

Kicking off a long set with "Meet Me in the City," a track recorded for "The River," but which didn't make the final album, the Boss was sending a message: this night was for trainspotters and dedicated fans. But you didn't have to know all the words to feel the power and energy emanating from The E Street Band on this night.

Springsteen and the E Street Band -- with the late Clarence Clemons replaced by his nephew Jake Clemons, and Charles Giordano subbing for late keyboardist Danny Federici  tore through all 20 songs from "The River," which was Springsteen's breakout record, sometimes barely taking a breath, often taking the songs two or three in a row without stopping.

"The River" was Springsteen's first album to top the Billboard chart and it spawned "Hungry Heart," his first big chart single. Bruce also toured extensively behind the album, performing at the Arena here on Oct. 14, 1980.

Die-hard fans were surely pleased to hear deep cuts from "The River"  a complex record that found Springsteen growing up and thinking about life and maturity and work and mortality  that haven't regularly appeared on Springsteen set lists after the 1980 tour.

For me, that was "Jackson Cage," a searing but jangly 12-string power pop-tinged rocker that all these years later reminds us that the Boss had his ear to the street at the time, sucking up sounds from British and American punk and new wave bands.

Leading into the set, Springsteen noted that with "The River," his goal was to make, "a record that felt big, like life ... like an E Street Band show."

This E Street Band show was big. Playing on three days' rest  the band's previous gig was Feb. 29 in the Twin Cities  The E Street Band (the booty shaking, Earthquaking, Viagra-taking, as Springsteen described his eight-piece support squad) sizzled for three and a half hours, playing nearly three dozen songs.

The gig marked Springsteen's eighth performance at the Bradley Center  more than any other artist  and perhaps his last in the arena that's due to be replaced soon. The Boss acknowledged that fact, saying (and I paraphrase), "I hear they're going to tear this place down. We're gonna help them get started tonight."

And that he did. While it was a unique and interesting experience to hear the entire two-LP "The River"  with its ups and downs, celebrations and laments  played in order all these years later, Springsteen and company really found their sweet spot afterward, playing another dozen tunes from across his career.

"Badlands" was searing, "Because the Night" and "No Surrender" triumphant. "Dancing in the Dark" and "Rosalita" were celebratory, "Jungleland" sublime, and "Born to Run" and "Thunder Road" as passionate and as affecting as they were 40 years ago.

Memories of Springsteen's legendary 1975 "bomb scare show" at The Uptown in Milwaukee may be fading for The Boss. For the first time ever at a Milwaukee concert since, he appeared to forget to ask the crowd "are you loose," echoing a phrase he made famous at the Uptown gig ... until guitarist Steve Van Zandt reminded him during "Rosalita."

A montage of photos commemorating the late Clemons and Federici appeared on the big screens during "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out," and the night ended with a rousing cover of The Isley's "Shout!"

The gig was Springsteen's first in Milwaukee since his November 2009 show at the BC as part of his "Working On A Dream" tour, and his first in Wisconsin since he performed a four-song set at a Barack Obama rally in Madison in November 2012.

Viagra or not, Springsteen and The E Street Band proved to be as full of fire and skill as at any point in their long career.

SET LIST:

Meet Me in the City

The River LP:

The Ties That Bind

Sherry Darling

Jackson Cage

Two Hearts

Independence Day

Hungry Heart

Out in the Street

Crush On You

You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)

I Wanna Marry You

The River

Point Blank

Cadillac Ranch

I'm A Rocker

Fade Away

Stolen Car

Ramrod

The Price You Pay

Drive All Night

Wreck on the Highway

Badlands

No Surrender

Lonesome Day

Because the Night

Jungleland

The Rising

Thunder Road

Born to Run

Dancing in the Dark

Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)

Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out

Shout!

Check out a full gallery of great David Bernacchi photos from the concert in this gallery.
This piece was reprinted by OpEd News with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.

On March 3 2016, Honduran human rights and indigenous leader Berta Caceres was assassinated.

Berta's martyrdom now serves as a global symbol of the struggle for freedom and democracy as colonized peoples world-wide languish beneath the yoke of imperialism.

Berta's death is also a symbol of Canada's criminality.

In 2009, a western-orchestrated coup deposed the democratically elected government of Manuel Zelaya. Not long after the illegal coup, Canada ratified the Canada-Honduras Free Trade Agreement with the criminal progeny of the coup. Zelaya's promise of a moratorium on extractivist mining activity was quickly denied, and Honduran aspirations for freedom, human rights and democracy were smothered.

To this day, transnational and domestic oligarchs are crippling Honduras, scuttling in the dark like rats, gnashing their teeth, always wanting more, but beacons of light still pierce the Honduran darkness, bravely proclaiming Life and Justice, and Berta's brave soul is surely amongst them.

Berta Caceres' light is shining in Syria (and globally) as well. In Syria, indigenous (Syrian) peoples are taking a stand for life and liberty, and against the West's mercenary proxies who are destroying the country.

As with Honduras, the West vocalizes its support for international law, the sovereignty of nations, and democracy, but it is practicing the opposite by seeking to illegally oust the democratically-elected, and hugely popular, President Bashar al Assad -- Zelaya's counterpart.

We are the Axis of Evil in these desperate times of life and death, dignity and despair. But Berta's light will not be extinguished. It is with the peoples of Iraq, Libya, the Ukraine, and Syria. It will remain there, a companion of freedom and justice everywhere.
PETER'S NEW YORK, Friday, March 4, 2016--A U.S. congressman has charged National Public Radio with being a shill for the U.S. government, in spite of the insistence by one of NPR's star moderators that the radio network is a news organization that upholds the standards of objective journalism.

On NPR's "Morning Edition" syndicated news program yesterday, the program's moderator, David Greene, asserted that NPR maintained journalistic objectivity. "I do want to assure you, I mean, we're not promoting any cause here," said Greene. "I mean, it's our role to be journalists."

California Congressman Darrell Issa, who was being interviewed by Greene, immediately challenged Greene's assertion.

"David, you are being an advocate," said Issa. "So let's understand this - you keep returning to things that are said by the FBI that have already been shown to be not true. What the director is saying that you're paraphrasing simply isn't true."

The spat was over the recent insistence by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation that Apple Inc., the high-tech manufacturer, write computer code that would enable the FBI to access the cell phone of one of the alleged perpetrators of the December 2 massacre in San Bernardino, California.

A husband and wife, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, are accused by law enforcement with perpetrating the shootings that left 14 dead. The couple were mowed down by law enforcement in their van after the massacre, according to news reports. It appears they were not given the opportunity to surrender, and other circumstances surrounding the incident remain murky, such as whether the couple were armed or not.

Issa was insistent that NPR was deliberately taking on the government's viewpoint in the Apple case, rather than acting as an independent-journalistic arbiter. "Look, the government lies. Understand - this may be NPR - but the government lies to you," said Issa, according to an NPR transcript available on the network's website. "I have spent 10 years representing the people of California," he continued. "And I have seen governments, both Republican and Democratic, lie. If you want to promote the fact that your listeners can have all of their data remotely taken by their government at any time if they happen to get a FISA judge in secrecy to give them an authorization to do it, go ahead."

NPR has a disclaimer on its website saying that transcripts may contain errors, and that it stands only by the absolute accuracy of the audio of any broadcast over what could be a hastily compiled transcript. But PETER'S NEW YORK has found that the transcript appears to be an accurate representation of audio.

The interview stemmed from Issa's questioning of witnesses Wednesday at a congressional hearing on the FBI's insistence that Apple engineer a means of obtaining access to data on the one cell phone in question, apparently manufactured by Apple. But Issa asserts that the FBI's intention is to obtain much broader access.

"He doesn't want this one," Issa told Greene in the interview. "They have 12 more that they have. They have asked for unlock in other jurisdictions, other cases. And one of our witnesses, of course, has 175 that they want to unlock.

"It's not about terrorism at all," said Issa. "The issue is that the FBI asked for more than they needed. And if they were given it, it would set a bad precedent for all of America's liberties."

NPR and much of its distribution network receive federal funding, but also are kept afloat by corporate sponsors and contributions from their listening audiences. Critics contend the network is not much more than a "Radio Free Europe" directed at domestic American audiences.

###


Congress Switchboard: 202-224-3121

"Fascinating, eye-opening, and extraordinary, Rob Kall's Bottom Up: Tapping the Power of the Connection Revolution explores the emerging paradigm of our age -- bottom-up thinking -- connecting an enormous range of disciplines and topics from systems, chaos, and complexity theories to the evolving role of technology in our lives. Not merely a cogent exposition of contemporary thinking, however, Bottom Up extrapolates from abstract ideas to derive practical, everyday steps we can take to improve our chances of global survival, peace, and prosperity. Following Rob's lead, we can change habits as individuals to deepen our connection with others across the planet."



Wendell Potter, former health insurance executive, co-author of Nation on the Take: How Big Money Corrupts Our Democracy and What We Can Do About It, and Founder of Tarbell.org
Reprinted from Truthdig

College-educated elites, on behalf of corporations, carried out the savage neoliberal assault on the working poor. Now they are being made to pay. Their duplicity -- embodied in politicians such as Bill and Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama -- succeeded for decades. These elites, many from East Coast Ivy League schools, spoke the language of values -- civility, inclusivity, a condemnation of overt racism and bigotry, a concern for the middle class -- while thrusting a knife into the back of the underclass for their corporate masters. This game has ended.

There are tens of millions of Americans, especially lower-class whites, rightfully enraged at what has been done to them, their families and their communities. They have risen up to reject the neoliberal policies and political correctness imposed on them by college-educated elites from both political parties: Lower-class whites are embracing an American fascism.

These Americans want a kind of freedom -- a freedom to hate. They want the freedom to use words like "n-word," "kike," "spic," "chink," "raghead" and "f*g." They want the freedom to idealize violence and the gun culture. They want the freedom to have enemies, to physically assault Muslims, undocumented workers, African-Americans, homosexuals and anyone who dares criticize their crypto fascism. They want the freedom to celebrate historical movements and figures that the college-educated elites condemn, including the Ku Klux Klan and the Confederacy. They want the freedom to ridicule and dismiss intellectuals, ideas, science and culture. They want the freedom to silence those who have been telling them how to behave. And they want the freedom to revel in hypermasculinity, racism, sexism and white patriarchy. These are the core sentiments of fascism. These sentiments are engendered by the collapse of the liberal state.

The Democrats are playing a very dangerous game by anointing Hillary Clinton as their presidential candidate. She epitomizes the double-dealing of the college-educated elites, those who speak the feel-your-pain language of ordinary men and women, who hold up the bible of political correctness, while selling out the poor and the working class to corporate power.

The Republicans, energized by America's reality-star version of Il Duce, Donald Trump, have been pulling in voters, especially new voters, while the Democrats are well below the voter turnouts for 2008. In the voting Tuesday, 5.6 million votes were cast for the Democrats while 8.3 million went to the Republicans. Those numbers were virtually reversed in 2008 -- 8.2 million for the Democrats and about 5 million for the Republicans.

Richard Rorty in his last book, "Achieving Our Country," written in 1998, presciently saw where our post-industrial nation was headed.

"Many writers on socio economic policy have warned that the old industrialized democracies are heading into a Weimar-like period, one in which populist movements are likely to overturn constitutional governments. Edward Luttwak, for example, has suggested that fascism may be the American future. The point of his book The Endangered American Dream is that members of labor unions, and unorganized unskilled workers, will sooner or later realize that their government is not even trying to prevent wages from sinking or to prevent jobs from being exported. Around the same time, they will realize that suburban white-collar workers -- themselves desperately afraid of being downsized -- are not going to let themselves be taxed to provide social benefits for anyone else. "At that point, something will crack. The non-suburban electorate will decide that the system has failed and start looking around for a strongman to vote for -- someone willing to assure them that, once he is elected, the smug bureaucrats, tricky lawyers, overpaid bond salesmen, and postmodernist professors will no longer be calling the shots. A scenario like that of Sinclair Lewis' novel It Can't Happen Here may then be played out. For once a strongman takes office, nobody can predict what will happen. In 1932, most of the predictions made about what would happen if Hindenburg named Hitler chancellor were wildly over optimistic. "One thing that is very likely to happen is that the gains made in the past forty years by black and brown Americans, and by homosexuals, will be wiped out. Jocular contempt for women will come back into fashion. The words "n-word" and "kike" will once again be heard in the workplace. All the sadism which the academic Left has tried to make unacceptable to its students will come flooding back. All the resentment which badly educated Americans feel about having their manners dictated to them by college graduates will find an outlet."

Fascist movements build their base not from the politically active but the politically inactive, the "losers" who feel, often correctly, they have no voice or role to play in the political establishment. The sociologist Emile Durkheim warned that the disenfranchisement of a class of people from the structures of society produced a state of "anomie" -- a "condition in which society provides little moral guidance to individuals." Those trapped in this "anomie," he wrote, are easy prey to propaganda and emotionally driven mass movements. Hannah Arendt, echoing Durkheim, noted that "the chief characteristic of the mass man is not brutality and backwardness, but his isolation and lack of normal social relationships."

In fascism the politically disempowered and disengaged, ignored and reviled by the establishment, discover a voice and a sense of empowerment.



As Arendt noted, the fascist and communist movements in Europe in the 1930s

"... recruited their members from this mass of apparently indifferent people whom all other parties had given up as too apathetic or too stupid for their attention. The result was that the majority of their membership consisted of people who had never before appeared on the political scene. This permitted the introduction of entirely new methods into political propaganda, and indifference to the arguments of political opponents; these movements not only placed themselves outside and against the party system as a whole, they found a membership that had never been reached, never been 'spoiled' by the party system. Therefore they did not need to refute opposing arguments and consistently preferred methods which ended in death rather than persuasion, which spelled terror rather than conviction. They presented disagreements as invariably originating in deep natural, social, or psychological sources beyond the control of the individual and therefore beyond the control of reason. This would have been a shortcoming only if they had sincerely entered into competition with either parties; it was not if they were sure of dealing with people who had reason to be equally hostile to all parties."

Fascism is aided and advanced by the apathy of those who are tired of being conned and lied to by a bankrupt liberal establishment, whose only reason to vote for a politician or support a political party is to elect the least worst. This, for many voters, is the best Clinton can offer.

Fascism expresses itself in familiar and comforting national and religious symbols, which is why it comes in various varieties and forms. Italian fascism, which looked back to the glory of the Roman Empire, for example, never shared the Nazis' love of Teutonic and Nordic myths. American fascism too will reach back to traditional patriotic symbols, narratives and beliefs.

Robert Paxton wrote in "The Anatomy of Fascism":
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Oregon House Republicans

Democrats Rush Through Costly Mandates, Betray Voter Intent on Annual Sessions

Salem, OR  Marking the end of a historically partisan session characterized by backroom deals, costly mandates, and a blatant lack of transparency, House Republicans yesterday voted to adjourn the 2016 February session. The session, which saw complex policy bills advance with unprecedented speed, stood in stark contrast to the original, voter-approved intent of annual legislative meetings.

Short sessions were sold to Oregonians as a way for the Legislature to make budget adjustments and policy fixes to laws passed in previous years, said House Republican Leader Mike McLane (R-Powell Butte). But instead of honoring the will of the people, Democrats used the 2016 session to ram through controversial and costly policy proposals that will increase the cost of living in Oregon, hurt our small businesses, and make it more difficult for working families in Oregon to succeed. Im disappointed with what the short session has become, and how we got here.

In less than 30 days, House Democrats rushed through a massive new wage mandate, voted to triple the amount of money trial lawyers can make on civil liability lawsuits, passed a bill placing new restrictions on gun rights, and threatened to adopt a cap-and-tax environmental program that would have crippled Oregons economy. With nearly every controversial bill, Democrats refused to consider commonsense, Republican-sponsored amendments and rejected multiple minority reports, choosing instead to double down on partisan politics and flawed legislation. Much like the 2015 session, House Democrats also refused to consider several government transparency and accountability proposals introduced by Republicans, voting against efforts to allow consideration of the bills.

We had a number of opportunities this session to find common ground and move forward on bipartisan policy solutions, said Deputy House Republican Leader Carl Wilson (R-Grants Pass). Im very disappointed in the partisan nature of this session and the fact that so many amendments, minority reports, and Republican-sponsored bills were simply ignored by the majority party. Oregonians expect us to work together across the aisle, not simply dig partisan lines in the sand and disenfranchise minority voices.

Even as Democrats took up dozens of complicated policy bills, some of Oregons most pressing issues went completely unaddressed. The majority party refused to hold serious conversations regarding massive budget shortfalls related to the Public Employees Retirement System, ignored efforts develop a plan to provide much-needed transportation and infrastructure upgrades, and failed to make game changing reforms in Oregons public education system.

With the adjournment of the 2016 session, the Legislature is not scheduled to convene for a full legislative session again until 2017. Lawmakers will continue to hold quarterly committee meetings throughout the interim to receive updates from state agencies and task forces.
Pakistan regrets Indian blame game on Pathankot attack

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria on Thursday regretted Indian blame game on the Pathankot terror attack.



At a weekly news briefing, he said cooperation and understanding are need of the hour to take the investigation into Pathankot incident forward. Commenting on Indian defence ministers statement in which he accused Pakistan of being behind the attack, Zakaria said blame game on India part was unfortunate and unhelpful. He said a joint investigation team has been formed and modalities are being worked out for its visit to India. Pakistan has denounced terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and believes all nations need to collaborate with each other to defeat this menace, the FO spokesperson said.



Zakaria said Pakistan believes that all the nations need to cooperate with each other to defeat the menace of terrorism. Pakistan condemned the incident and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif called to assure cooperation. Pakistan took all necessary measures on the basis of preliminary information provided by India regarding Pathankot terrorist attack. To a question, the spokesperson said Pakistan and India were working on the dates for foreign secretary-level talks.



Responding to a question, the spokesperson said Pakistans nuclear arsenal was only meant to deter any aggression against its territorial integrity. As a responsible nuclear state, Pakistan has invested in ensuring nuclear safety, nuclear security and robust command and control system, he said, adding that Pakistan was desirous to become a member of Nuclear Supplier Group and has taken up this matter with the relevant countries. He said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will also attend the nuclear security summit in Washington later this month.



About the Pakistan-US strategic dialogue, the spokesperson said there were six areas in which Pakistan cooperated with the US. The comprehensive dialogue was aimed at enhancing relations in the fields of science and technology, education, trade and economy, in particular. Regarding NSG, he said Pakistan was against any discriminatory treatment to any country. Pakistan qualifies to be invited to join NSG, he said, adding that it was an energy-deficient country and needed assistance in this regard.



Adviser to the Prime Minister, Sartaj Aziz and Secretary of State Senator John Kerry, led their respective sides during strategic dialogue. The prime ministers visit to the US in October last gave fresh impetus and direction to the multi-dimensional relationship between Pakistan and the US. The 5th and 6th rounds of Strategic Dialogue mechanism would be effectively used in taking the relationship to the next level in diverse fields, he maintained. The spirit behind the dialogue, particularly of the sixth round was encapsulated in the sentiments expressed by Senator John Kerry.



Expanding and deepening our relationship has long been a personal commitment of mine. Kerry-Lugar-Berman Act was aimed at lasting cooperation between the US and Pakistan, between businesses and universities and citizens. The strategic dialogue is totally in keeping with this kind of broad-based partnership and designed to advance it.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world. E-mail: paleojudaica-at-talktalk-dot-net ("-at-" = "@", "-dot-" = ".")
I'm not giving examples of fake news items, because research has shown that when this is done, many people will remember the debunked &q...
Spreading the saving knowledge of our lord Jesus Christ, through missions outreach to the villages of Northern Peru. Our ministry is to the indigenous Peruvian people where the need is real, with both physical challenges and spiritual struggles from false beliefs. -Together for the Kingdom
A chained-brand of company group operates hotels business and apartment. With the dream and vision of father and mother, Khun Patrasin and Khun Supaporn Phatharaworanee foresee the growth of the tourism businesses in Phuket since 25 years ago. From the apartment business (Patra Mansion), which is regarded of the first service apartment in Phuket. Their business began to expand into the hotel starting from a 3-star hotel Kata Sea Breeze Resort on Kata Beach with 60 rooms since year 2001. And has expanded steadily until now has a total of guest rooms up to 330 rooms to accommodate continued growth, operated by three daughters were;

1. Khun Kanokkorn Phatharaworanee

2. Khun Anchisa Phatharaworanee

3. Khun Phanwara Phatharaworanee

Who start to operate in hotel and apartment management, after completing graduated on their own specialist.

Until this year (2016) they have set up the business and group of management team to raise up the standard of services of hotels and apartment to be equivalent with international hotel. And to define policy / strategy supporting for higher competition in the hotel business in Phuket by under the name of AKSARA COLLECTION, which is the character of the English name of three daughters together.

And in the year of 2017, AKSARA COLLECTION is ready to launching a new project, 4-star hotel on a hill overlooking the sea view on 5 rai 2 ngan invested more than 500 million baht, named The SIS Kata Resort. The SIS refers to the cooperation of three siblings who would dream and top up continue of their hotel business together further.
The Cantabrian orocline is a large structure that bends the Variscan orogen of Western Europe in NW Iberia. / J. Fernandez Lozano et al.

The volcanic rock found in the south of Leon experienced a rotation of almost 60 300 million years ago, an example of what could have occurred across the entire Iberian Peninsula when, in that moment, it was still being formed. This is demonstrated by the magnetic signals of its minerals, currently being analysed by researchers from the universities of Salamanca and Utrecht (The Netherlands). This discovery improves our understanding of a now-disappeared mountain range that stood over what is now northwestern Spain, France, and the southern United Kingdom.

The bathers that gather every summer on the banks of the rivers of the mountain ranges of La Cabrera and El Teleno in Leon have little reason to suspect that the rocks that they can see near the water are of volcanic origin, dating back 460 million years, when an emerging Iberian Peninsula was still on the coast of the continent of Gondwana, on the shore of the Rheic ocean.

Around 350 million years ago, that ancient ocean closed during the formation of the Pangea supercontinent, and the sediments deposited in it became a large mountain range that later acquired a curved shape, becoming part of what is now the Iberian Peninsula around 300 million years ago.

Now, scientists from the University of Salamanca, working in the Leonese towns located between Truchas and Ponferrada, have collected 320 samples of volcanic rock and limestone, a record of that turbulent, volcanic period of our planet's history.

After analyzing the samples in a palaeomagnetism lab at Utrecht University (The Netherlands), they have reconstructed the history of these ancient rocks based on the magnetic signal of their mineral content. The results have been published in the journal Tectonophysics.

The Cantabrian orocline is a large structure that bends the Variscan orogen of Western Europe in NW Iberia. / J. Fernandez Lozano et al.

"These rocks were deposited on the ocean floor 440 million years ago near the South Pole, and its components were oriented in the direction of the Earth's magnetic field at the time (N-S)," says Javier Fernandez Lozano, a geologist at the University of Salamanca and co-author of the research.

About 120 million years later, the collision of two continents occurred, between what is now the north and south of Europe. The result of this collision was what is known as the Variscan orogeny, the raising of a mountain range along the north-south axis, which left the rocks with a secondary magnetic signal, adapted to the new magnetic field of the Earth.

The changes in the direction of that magnetic field were preserved in their minerals, and indicate that shortly after that process, the rocks of these mountains experienced a rotation of almost 60, until they ended up in with their current orientation," notes Fernandez Lozano.

He points out that this magnetic signal can be associated with large-scale processes of mountain formation, and how these ranges can be curved until they create structures known as oroclines: "With a rock sample, we can analyse a process that has occurred on the tectonic plate level; and, specifically, offers new data that allows us to discover how this orogeny or large Variscan range and its curvature occurred. This information was preserved in the rocks of the British Isles, France, and North-West Spain, along more than 3,000 kilometres.

This study forms part of a long-debated geological problem: the Cantabrian orocline, an issue that a few years ago brought together specialists at an international congress held in Salamanca. An orocline is the curvature of a range or chain of mountains that was originally linear, and the Cantabrian orocline is recognizable 300 million years later in the geography of the Iberian Peninsula and surrounding areas.

The arc formed by the Cantabrian range disappears into the continental shelf, and the curvature that continues onward towards the Iberian Range. Fernandez Lozano notes that the new research "goes beyond previous efforts, primarily focused on Asturias, in order to understand this orocline, and now we can find its traces further to the south, on the border between Leon and Zamora."

"Thanks to studies like this one, we can continue to provide information on the causes and processes that gave birth to curved mountain ranges after the collision between two continents," concludes the geologist.

Explore further Curvy mountain belts

More information: Javier Fernandez-Lozano et al. New kinematic constraints on the Cantabrian orocline: A paleomagnetic study from the Penalba and Truchas synclines, NW Spain, Tectonophysics (2016). Javier Fernandez-Lozano et al. New kinematic constraints on the Cantabrian orocline: A paleomagnetic study from the Penalba and Truchas synclines, NW Spain,(2016). DOI: 10.1016/j.tecto.2016.02.019
Ray Grizzle pulls a cage holding first and third-year oysters out of Great Bay. Credit: Krystin Ward/UNH

University of New Hampshire scientists have conducted the first study of oyster farming-nitrogen dynamics in New Hampshire, providing the first solid research on the state's oyster farming industry and the role oyster farms play with nitrogen removal. The research, which was funded in part by the NH Agricultural Experiment Station, contributes to a growing body of research on how oysters affect the nitrogen content of estuaries such as Great Bay.

The research was conducted by Ray Grizzle, research professor of zoology at the UNH School of Marine Science and Ocean Engineering; Krystin Ward, research assistant at the UNH Jackson Estuarine Laboratory; Chris Peter, research associate at the UNH Jackson Estuarine Laboratory; and Mark Cantwell, David Katz, and Julia Sullivan with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development.

"Every oyster that is harvested represents some amount of nitrogen leaving the system. We're beginning to quantify nitrogen dynamics and how the oyster farms on Great Bay affect it. Secondly, we're putting some numbers on the oyster farming industry itself," Grizzle.

Stretching 15 miles inland, Great Bay is a drowned river estuary with 144 miles of shore. According to the NH Water Resources Research Center at UNH, Great Bay has experienced a deterioration of water quality and aquatic life as a result of high nitrogen levels. A 2009 study indicated that nitrogen had increased 42 percent over the previous five years. Researchers also report that eelgrass declined by 64 percent between 1990 and 2008, and adult oyster populations have decreased from 125,000 in 1997 to 10,000 in 2009.

These are oysters harvested from a Little Bay Oyster Co. site. Credit: Krystin Ward/UNH

In this study, UNH researchers studied oysters at six sites in Great Bay over a three-year period beginning in 2010. The scientists measured the amount of nitrogen in different components of the oyster body, in different sizes of oysters, and at different farm sites.

"Oysters feed on organisms that contain nitrogen, mostly phytoplankton, single-cell plants. When they feed upon these plants, they digest some of them and some go out as waste. But a significant percentage of them are incorporated into the oyster's bodythe shell and soft tissue," Grizzle said. "We wanted to see how much nitrogen is in farm-raised oysters, what factors cause nitrogen content to vary, and how oyster farming compares with other ways to remove nitrogen from the estuarine system."

Researchers found that the nitrogen in farmed oysters varied depending on size of oyster, farm site, age of oyster, seasonal variability, water quality, and time of harvest. They also found that the farmed oysters with the most nitrogen were those at sites that had the most nitrogen in the water. Overall, the average nitrogen content in the shells and soft tissue was comparable to that found in previous studies ranging from Cape Cod to the Gulf of Mexico.

Those who manage the Great Bay Estuary now are using this research to determine the amount of nitrogen that could be removed by oyster farming. "We have about 50 acres of oyster farms now. We are now modeling different levels of oyster industry size and how it would affect nitrogen removal in Great Bay," Grizzle said.

"It's never going to be a huge amount of nitrogen. I suspect it will be below 5 percent of the nitrogen that goes into the estuary, but 5 percent is 5 percent," he said.

Oysters were deployed at six sites from 2010 to 2012 for this study. Credit: UNH

According to Grizzle, the destruction of the natural oyster reefs in Great Bay likely has contributed substantially to the increase in nitrogen. Great Bay used to have many more natural oyster reefs, but in the 1990s, two oyster diseases hit the estuary. As a result, Great Bay has about 10 percent of the natural oyster reefs it had 30 years ago, and they are not in good shape.

"If we were at ten times the amount of natural reefs, the oysters would be filtering a substantial amount of water through their bodies. Some of the estimates have been upwards of 90 percent. That's the far end, but probably half would not be an exaggeration. So when they are filtering that much water, they are removing all of the particles and would have affected water quality," Grizzle said.

"However, we're getting to the point now that there may be as many oysters on farms as there are on natural reefs. We need to begin to look more carefully at how farms compare to the reefs in terms of the habitat they provide, the amount of water they filter, and the spawn they put out. We need to look at the farms in a more ecological manner," said Grizzle, who estimates Great Bay could sustain 100 acres of oyster farms.

Although Grizzle doesn't see oyster farms as being a substantial solution to reducing nitrogen in the entire Great Bay, he believes it could have a measurable impact on Little Bay. Using floating rafts may be a viable option for future oyster farming on Great Bay.

But even if oyster farming does not become a major solution to reducing nitrogen in Great Bay, Grizzle emphasizes that oyster farming still provides valuable ecosystem services. "When the discussion focuses on one factor like nitrogen removal, people think that if it doesn't work, we shouldn't do it. Oysters provide habitat. They filter the water. They clear the water. Eel grass could expand. All of these ecosystem services come along with the farms," he said.

Going forward, Grizzle plans to research ways to increase production on oyster farms such as how to grow oysters more quickly.

Jay Baker, owner of Fat Dog Shellfish Co., said Grizzle's latest research adds to a growing body of work that demonstrates the value of farmed oysters in improving coastal water quality and mitigating human impacts to sensitive estuarine waters.

"While much of this work has focused on nutrient removal efficiencies of existing oyster populations and the results of enhancing wild stocks, Dr. Grizzle's work highlights the important role our industry can and does play in making coastal waters cleaner, and creating habitat for other valuable species," Baker said.

"Oyster aquaculture is one of few truly sustainable industries, and Ray Grizzle's great work continues to move this from abstract concept to a quantified and well documented fact. Both Dr. Grizzle and UNH have played a key role in not only improving our understanding of the value of restored and farmed oyster populations in Great Bay and the Northeast, but also in promoting shellfish aquaculture and sharing valuable knowledge and experience with new growers. The result is what has been called the 'New Hampshire Oyster Renaissance,' and we thank Dr. Grizzle and UNH for their great work," he said.

Explore further New Hampshire oyster project: Cooperation on the half shell

More information: Raymond E Grizzle et al. Growth, morphometrics and nutrient content of farmed eastern oysters, (Gmelin), in New Hampshire, USA , Aquaculture Research (2016). Raymond E Grizzle et al. Growth, morphometrics and nutrient content of farmed eastern oysters, (Gmelin), in New Hampshire, USA ,(2016). DOI: 10.1111/are.12988
Future radar imaging systems and 5G communication systems will generate improved resolution and provide higher data-transmission rates when operated at higher frequencies, but at the cost of increased power consumption. To reduce power consumption, increase performance, and lower costs, the European project INSIGHT (Integration of III-V Nanowire Semiconductors for Next Generation High Performance CMOS SOC Technologies) is aiming at developing III-V CMOS (complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) technology. The six partners, including universities, research institutes and one company, are committed to establishing a manufacturable III-V CMOS technology on Si substrates, to reduce costs and to save scarce materials.

The INSIGHT mission is to develop complementary functionality in compound semiconductor material (III-V CMOS), supporting both analogue and digital functionality in the millimetre-wave frequency domain. III-V nanowires will be used to maintain electrostatic control, as the gate length is scaled for future technology nodes. The small nanowire cross-section further facilitates the integration onto Si substrates using nanotechnology. "The fabrication of high-performance III-V components on large Si substrates using CMOS compatible technologies opens a path for cost reduction of millimetre-wave key components with minimized usage of critical materials" says Lars-Erik Wernersson, Professor at Lund University and coordinator for INSIGHT. Lund University is coordinating this new European Horizon 2020 research project that has been funded with 4.3 million Euros over 36 months.

IBM foresees a growing need to push the limits of chip technology to meet the emerging demands of cognitive computers, Internet of Things and Cloud platforms, due to the enormous amount of data they are handling  90% of which is unstructured. The new technology developed in INSIGHT offers a potential solution to scale chip technology beyond the 10 nm node as well as opening up a range of new application areas. Integrating III-V materials into Si CMOS can enable better logic circuits with a lower power consumption, and in addition can enable the realization of System-on-Chip (SoC) products taking full advantage of III-V's state-of-the-art RF/Analog metrics.

There is a growing need for performance enhancements of key components in the millimetre-wave frequency range and new consumer applications are demanding low costs. The new technology offers a potential solution, as it may provide both high-performance analogue and digital functionality on the same platform where the improved manufacturability allows production on larger wafers. The INSIGHT consortium addresses the technology need with the ambition to demonstrate circuits and systems by optimizing both material and device properties.

The introduction of III-V materials on silicon substrates by using nanowires is one of the most innovative heterogeneous integration approaches today. Fraunhofer IAF will bring in their III-V process and circuit design experience, and is interested in transferring the results and findings to next generation III-V device technologies.

The LETI participation in the INSIGHT project involves both the Silicon Component division and the Integrated Circuit & Embedded System division, ranging from materials to the circuit demonstration. The technology expands the LETI platform for smart devices and Internet of Things with the potential to squeeze multiple functions into a single die.

III-V CMOS technology may be particularly suited for millimetre-wave front-ends where it will be used to detect and generate signals for communication, radar and imaging. It is the goal of the INSIGHT consortium to develop key technologies for both the receivers and transmitters, while exploring the limits of the transistor geometry and layout.

Explore further Imec boosts performance of beyond-silicon devices
Reported dog attacks on guide dogs have risen significantly over a five year period, finds a study published online in the journal Veterinary Record.

A total of 629 attacks were reported between 2010 and 2015, with an increase from an average of three per month in 2010 to eleven attacks per month in 2015. The authors say it is not clear whether this reflects higher levels of reporting or a real trend.

There are around 4,900 working guide dogs in the UK. They provide mobility and support for blind and partially sighted people. Each dog is supported by the charity 'Guide Dogs'.

Dog attacks on guide dogs are common, and these can have a significant impact on the dog, and the owner's mobility, independence and social and emotional well-being.

Attacks are treated as an aggravated offence with sentences of up to three years imprisonment for the attacking dog's owner, under the 2014 Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act.

In this study, a team of researchers from Guide Dogs and the University of Nottingham examined data on all dog attacks on Guide Dogs' stock between June 2010 and February 2015. They examined the characteristics of the attacks, impact on the dog and owner, as well as the financial implications for the charity.

A dog attack was defined as "when a dog sets upon another dog in a forceful, violent, hostile or aggressive way, involving physical contact."

They found that a total of 629 attacks were reported during the 56 month period. A total of 97% of attacks occurred in public areas and 55% of victim dogs were working in harness when they were attacked. Owners of the aggressor dogs were present in 77% of attacks.

Attacks were described as being unprovoked in 19% of cases, caused by the aggressor dog in 22% of cases, and caused by a lack of control in 29% of cases.

"The guide dog harness is designed to be visible and should have been apparent to the owners of aggressors who were present," explain the authors. "It is feasible that a proportion of these attacks could have been avoided if the aggressor was put on a lead when the owner saw the guide dog in harness."

Guide Dogs' stock were injured in 43% of attacks and related veterinary costs were estimated to be 34,514.30. Injuries received were most commonly puncture wounds, and veterinary attention was required for 76% of dogs with injuries and a further 5% needed a check up.

Over 40% of qualified guide dogs' experienced a negative impact on working ability, and less than 20% of qualified guide dogs were unable to work for a period of time.

Twenty dogs were permanently withdrawn from the Guide Dogs' programme as a result of the attacks. Thirteen were fully qualified and working with guide dog owners, and this resulted in a financial cost of more than 600,000 to the charity.

Dog attacks resulted in physical injuries to 13.8% people, of which 68% were guide dog owners, and 47% required medical attention. The victim dog handlers also reported that their emotional well-being had been affected in 70% of attacks, including 39% feeling anxious, 35% feeling shaken and 30% feeling upset.

The authors say that the overall costs of veterinary treatment and replacement dogs are "estimated to be more than 650,000, but the impacts of the attacks on the guide dog owner are more important."

They conclude the impact "for the guide dog owners of these dogs are likely to be long-term and complex affecting not only their mobility and physical health, but also their social and emotional well-being."

Explore further Two thirds of cattle attacks on people involve dogs, new study finds

More information: "The incidence and impact of dog attacks on guide dogs in the UK: An update," Veterinary Record veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/conte  016/03/03/vr.1034333 Journal information: Veterinary Record "The incidence and impact of dog attacks on guide dogs in the UK: An update,"
This image shows spores on the surface of a fruiting structure from the fungus Cryptococcus deuterogattii, a deadly strain that emerged in the Pacific Northwest. Credit: Edmond Byrnes III, Joseph Heitman -- Duke Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology; Valerie Knowlton -- North Carolina State University, Center for Electron Microscopy

For more than a decade, a rare but potentially deadly fungus called Cryptococcus deuterogatti has taken up residence in the Pacific Northwest and Vancouver Island. Unlike its cousin Cryptococcus neoformans, which mostly infects patients with compromised immune systems, this fungus has sickened hundreds of otherwise healthy people.

Now, researchers have found that the pathogen tossed aside over a dozen different genes on its way to becoming a new, more virulent species. Surprisingly, most of these discarded genes play a part in RNA interference or RNAi, a defense mechanism employed by fungi and other organisms to protect the integrity of their genomes. The study was published March 4 in PLOS Genetics.

"Genome instability is a bad thing in terms of human health, because it is linked to cancer and other diseases," said Blake Billmyre, lead study author and a graduate student in Joseph Heitman's lab at Duke University School of Medicine. "But it could be good thing for single-celled organisms like Cryptococcus, because it enables them to mutate, evolve and adapt to survive under different conditions."

Cryptococcus deuterogatti was largely confined to tropical climates until 1999, when it showed up on Vancouver Island and began spreading throughout southwest Canada and into Washington and Oregon. The emerging fungal pathogen causes severe pulmonary and central nervous system infections, and is fatal if left untreated.

Five years ago, researchers in the Heitman lab participated in an international collaborative consortium to sequence the genome of this outbreak species and discovered that it had lost two genes involved in RNAi, a process previously thought to be key to its survival.

The RNAi gene-silencing machinery normally shreds the genetic instructions for harmful viruses or silences rogue genes that might contaminate the fungus' genome. But Cryptococcus deuterogatti had holes in its genome where the two RNAi genes should have been.

Armed with this information, Billmyre hypothesized that other genes in this missing set of genes might also function in RNAi. He and his colleagues compared the genomes of Cryptococcus deuterogatti with less potent cousins like Cryptococcus neoformans, which predominantly infects immunocompromised individuals. They found that C. deuterogatti has lost 14 genes compared to the other, less pathogenic, species.

The researchers then conducted a number of genetic and molecular analyses to determine if any of these lost genes played a role in RNAi. They mutated each of the genes in Cryptococcus neoformans, which has fully functioning RNAi machinery, to see if these genes were needed for the fungi to silence extra genetic material.

Joseph Heitman, the James B. Duke professor and chair of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, said he expected to find maybe one or two other genes involved in RNAi. To his surprise, they found that 11 of the 14 missing genes they surveyed were involved in gene silencing.

"We could have imagined that the species lost a couple of RNAi genes, and then a smattering of genes involved in all other kinds of processes," said Heitman. "Instead, the one glaring difference between these more and less virulent species seems to be the loss of the RNAi pathway."

Though the researchers don't know why shedding the RNAi machinery could help Cryptococcus assume a deadlier form, they do have some ideas. It could enable the fungi to cohabitate with killer viruses that pump out powerful toxins to poison competing organisms. Or it could allow them to accumulate mutations or even extra chromosomes to gain resistance against antifungal medications.

Whatever the reason, the discovery could pave the way for future studies using comparative genomics to identify other sets of related genes. Once one gene in a pathway is lost, the researchers hypothesize that an organism can find itself on a slippery evolutionary slope as other genes that are no longer of benefit are lost in quick succession. Only a few other examples of this system-wide pattern of gene loss, called systems polymorphisms, have been described so far.

"There is so much you can learn from looking for things that are missing," said Billmyre. "It's true what they say, you don't know what you've got 'till it's gone."

Explore further Tiny molecules protect from the dangers of sex

More information: Marianna Feretzaki et al. Gene Network Polymorphism Illuminates Loss and Retention of Novel RNAi Silencing Components in the Cryptococcus Pathogenic Species Complex, PLOS Genetics (2016). Journal information: PLoS Genetics Marianna Feretzaki et al. Gene Network Polymorphism Illuminates Loss and Retention of Novel RNAi Silencing Components in the Cryptococcus Pathogenic Species Complex,(2016). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1005868
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported that it underestimated the potential health risk from formaldehyde found in Chinese-made laminate flooring. It is yet another product safety issue that will shape consumer attitudes about goods from China, said Gang (Kevin) Han, an associate professor in Iowa State University's Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication.

For many Americans, the "Made in China" label has become synonymous with low-cost and low-quality. But the stereotypes often associated with those three simple words didn't always exist, Han said.

"People really enjoyed products from China. They viewed products, such as tea, furniture or dishware, as unique. It was a quality product and there was a cultural value," Han said. "But when China became a world factory and produced so many items for so many brands, people changed their views."

This shift reflects a combination of consumer experience and influence of media coverage related to Chinese-made products. In a series of studies on framing effects, published in Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly (2012), Newspaper Research Journal (2014) and International Journal of Strategic Communication (2015), Han and co-author Xiuli Wang, Peking University, examined how news stories about Chinese goods directly affect public opinion of a product, but also indirectly shape perceptions of the country where it's made.

Han says how the story is framed dictates whether consumers have a positive or negative impression of the "Made in China" label, and more often than not it's negative. Han can point to several examples on product safety  toxic pill capsules, food contamination and toys containing lead paint  as well as concerns about human rights in China and U.S.-China trade disputes. Over time these stories impact how we look at an issue or topic.

"If you read a lot of negative articles that leads to negative concerns and perceptions," Han said. "Media may provide a certain type of experience for people who don't have personal or direct experience with a country, so they get the message mainly from the media. They then accumulate this message with their experience of products and the two together form the image of the country."

More than just products

To test the relationship between news coverage and public opinion, researchers asked 120 college students to read a story about products made in China. The story, originally published in the New York Times, was rewritten in two versions  one focused on the risks, the other on the benefits. After reading the story, students were asked what they thought about buying and using products made in China and their thoughts on the country, as a whole.

Han says they saw a significant influence on opinions related to how the story was framed. As expected, those reading the story focused on risks formed more negative views and those reading about the benefits had more positive views. The same could be said for any number of issues, Han said.

"This is true if you look at how the media writes about the elections, social movements or international conflicts," Han said. "We see a lot of framed messages in these stories and receive the message subconsciously."

Han says it's important for governments or corporations to understand how consumers get impressions of their country or products through news media, if they want to change those opinions. He and Wang suggest a strategic advertising or public relations campaign, but add that the solution may be much more complex. The Chinese government has tried different tactics, including advertising in Times Square, to change public opinion in the U.S., but such efforts may not be as effective as expected, Han said.

"The reason could be that we get the message from China through our daily experience  product use or media coverage," Han said. "National image is not just a perception out of nowhere. It's cultivated by media, depending on how media cover the story related to the country."
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A column by Catherine Rampell, an outstanding columnist for The Washington Post, confirms that political correctness has crossed the line on at least some college campuses from a laudatory impulse to an insane assertion of authoritarian thought control. People on these campuses -- students and faculty -- are so afraid of being labeled insensitive to race and cultural issues that they dare not say a word about them. In this atmosphere of fearfulness and cowed silence, the authoritarians -- and young people often have a lot of that in them -- are allowed to browbeat their victims, who have sometimes done nothing more than tried to have a very modest amount of fun.

At Bowdoin College, in the example Rampell writes about, students held a fiesta. Tequila was served and some people wore mini sombreros.

That's it. Some people drank tequila and some people wore mini sombreros.

But the party got blown up by the campus community into an orgy of fake hurt feelings and affected concern after someone made the accusation that it was culturally insensitive to Latinos, especially those from Mexico.

Really? Well, certainly drinking tequila doesn't offend Mexicans. Does wearing mini-sombreros?

The argument by the Bowdoin brow-beaters was that this was an act of "cultural appropriation."

Does that mean if you're not Latino you cannot enjoy Latino culture? Is speaking Spanish an act of cultural appropriation? Is eating a taco? Is dancing to Shakira?

Since Bowdoin is in Maine, up toward Canada, it might have been suitable to hold a Canadian party, with people dressing in toques and flannel shirts, eating poutine and talking about hockey. Maybe they could even have dared to say, "eh?"

Would that have been an awful act of cultural appropriation, deeply offensive to our neighbors to the north?

Or would it have been a bit of fun that recognized some of Canada's cultural highlights and most easily identified characteristics?

Is imitation the sincerest form of flattery, or is it some sort of insult in disguise?

As Rampell says, the effort to create "safe spaces" is making our colleges unsafe for reasonable people.
HADLEY | Joseph Charles Parker, an American artist and founder of the Saratoga restaurant Chez Sophie, died at his home in Hadley, Sunday afternoon, Feb. 28, 2016. He was 92.

Joseph is survived by his wife of 13 years, Nancy Griffis; two children, Ellen Parker of New York City and Paul Kurtis Parker of Glens Falls; three stepdaughters, Shari Homeyer DiMeo of Baltimore, Maryland; and Tara Homeyer Sherman and Kimberley Homeyer of Plattsburgh; and seven grandchildren, Annarose Parker Lipkin of New York City; Rachael DelSignore of Glens Falls; James DiMeo of Baltimore, Maryland; Nicholas and Leocadie Parker of Glens Falls; and Sophie and Benjamin Sherman of Plattsburgh.

He was predeceased by his first wife, Sophie Leocadie Wilzcek Parker, in 2001.

Parker was born in 1923 in Long Island City. He graduated from the Manhattan School of Aviation Trades before entering the Navy and serving on an aircraft carrier during World War II. After his discharge from the military, he worked on a cattle ranch in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and designed window displays in the late 1940s for Franklin Simon on New York Citys 5th Avenue.

Under the auspices of the G.I. Bill, Joseph traveled to Paris, where he studied graphic design with Fernand Leger (1881 to 1955) and Paul Colin (1892 to 1985). When Parker returned to the United States with his French-born wife, Sophie, and baby daughter, Ellen, in 1951, he opened a commercial art firm called Glanzman-Parker Studio in New York.

In 1969, he left the city with Sophie, Ellen (then studying theater at Bard College), and six-year-old son, Paul, relocating to the Adirondack Mountain town of Hadley. In a building adjacent to their home, Joseph and Sophie opened a restaurant called Chez Sophie.

For much of the restaurants history, it served fine French food during the Saratoga Springs summers so Joseph could concentrate on art the rest of the year. The restaurant relocated several times over its 40-year history, including to the building that now houses the Childrens Museum at Saratoga and a 1950s stainless steel diner in Malta. The restaurant developed an international following. When Sophie died in 2001, Josephs son Paul took over as executive chef. The restaurant moved once more, into the Saratoga Springs City Center, before closing in 2009. The original restaurant location in Hadley now serves as an art gallery featuring Josephs body of work and a stress management consulting and massage studio for Nancy.

Joseph is perhaps best known for his kinetic sculptures, which are sometimes compared to the work of the great 20th-century American sculptor Alexander Calder (1898 to 1976). Josephs first forays into metal work were created by melting steel (initially wire hangers) and building figures drop by drop, a technique he used throughout his career. Over his extensive career, he transformed metal in every conceivable shape, texture, thickness and scale with welding tools, a plasma cutter and brute strength.

When Chez Sophie began to operate year-round in the 1990s, Joseph began to explore cartooning - sketching the customers and situations he found in the restaurant. Many of those sketches have been gathered in a series of graphic memoirs he published in the last years of his life.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial donations be directed to Mountain Valley Hospice in Gloversville.

As in the familys tradition, a celebration of Josephs life will be held for family and friends when the foliage begins to turn in the fall.

To express online condolences, please visit the following website: www.brewermillerfuneralhomes.com.
Inventory needs to be managed and managed well, or you are going to get in recurring trouble, and lose your credibility and hard-earned conversions, whether 

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His audacious move comes after Barclays announced plans this week to sell its African operations, which date back almost a century. The retreat has raised concerns among customers and regulators about the future of one of the continents biggest lenders.

The deal would be a remarkable comeback for Mr Diamond, who created Atlas Mara as a London-listed vehicle to invest in African banks after being ousted from Barclays in 2012 over the Libor rate-rigging scandal.

Mr Diamond is betting that Barclays will decide to undo the merger he oversaw five years ago of its operations in 11 countries across eastern and southern Africa with Absa, one of South Africas biggest banks.

This could pit the former Barclays chief against Jes Staley, the lenders new boss, who has been unpicking its global ambitions since taking over last year to focus on its core markets of the UK and US.

People who know the former Barclays boss said he had discussed his move with potential investors, adding that sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East and Asia are seen as the most likely sources of funding.

However, they said it could be challenging for Atlas Mara to raise enough money as its 230m market capitalisation is swamped by the 1.5bn that Barclays operations outside of South Africa are expected to be worth.

This is the opportunity of a lifetime for him, said a person who knows the Atlas Mara founder. It is a very difficult transaction in my view, but if anyone can pull it off it is definitely Bob.

He could face competition for the non-South African assets of Barclays in the continent, such as from Chinas ICBC, which owns a large stake in South Africas Standard Bank. Another potential bidder is Frances Societe Generale, which has operations in 18 African countries.

Rivals say there are few strategic buyers for all of the UK banks 62.3 per cent stake in Barclays Africa Group, its Johannesburg-listed subsidiary. Regulators are expected to block any attempt to merge with a local rival, such as FirstRand or Nedbank.

This could mean Barclays has to sell down its African stake into the market by offloading it in chunks to institutional investors. The UK bank has given itself two to three years to sell the stake below a level to deconsolidate it from its accounts.

An alternative would be to sell its banking interests in 11 countries outside South Africa before selling down its stake. But there is no guarantee that the independent board of Barclays Africa Group will approve such a move.

I would have thought a split may be a solution here, said one banker. But the optics are horrible for Barclays to sell to Bob Diamond. They will not want to do this.

Barclays Africa generates only about 20 per cent of its profits from its operations outside of South Africa, which include Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Botswana, Ghana, Mauritius and Zambia.

Atlas Mara and Barclays declined to comment.
The president made this known during a sot cutting ceremony for the construction of a new terminal 3 at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) with Turkish president president Recep Erdogan.

"Government's plan to set up a new national airline under a PPP arrangement to support the policy objective of creating Kotoka International Airport (KIA) as an aviation hub is also on-going. It is my expectation, therefore, that Terminal 3 will play a pivotal role to support the operations of this new airline."

The new terminal will accommodate 5million travellers a year, 1250 passengers an hour, six boarding air bridges, according to the president.

He added, Already, KIA is the preferred choice of many airlines and with the completion of the project, KIA will be the most preferred aviation destination in West Africa.

The project is financed from credit raised by the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority on its own balance sheet with no sovereign guarantee or public charge to its debt stock, the president said

A Turkish company, MAPA Construction and Trade Company, is the main contractor.

On his part, Erdogan said his country was happy to be associated with the project.

I believe that with the Terminal 3, Accra will be able to connect to the world in future, he stated

After evaluating bids for the airline carrier, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) settled on Qatar Airways as the best option for Ghana in its quest to find a partner for the new national carrier. PWC also included Delta and South African airlines as alternative options for Ghana.

However, the World Bank raised issues with the whole idea of having a national airline after studying the feasibility report present to it by the PWC.
Speaking to Pulse Business, Executive Director of the Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana, Samson Asaki Awingobite said the implementation of the tax stamp system will complicate the already cumbersome process of clearing goods at the ports as well as increase the cost of clearing.

" Certainly, I can say that we will have to increase the cost of our goods if the tax stamp policy is implemented. This is because, we will have to further transport our goods from the port to a different location for the tax stamps to be put on them. You can imagine if we have to leave the goods there for some time for the stamps to be placed, we will have to pay for them to be packed and further transported to their destination. This comes at an extra cost and extra inconvinience to the importers."

The Executive Director then mentioned an alternative to the process government intends to adopt in rolling out the policy.

" We have asked government to give the stamps to the importers after they have paid all the necessary taxes at the port. The importers will then do the stamping at their own convinience." he said.

He was particulary displeased that government had already contracted a company to do the stamping without consulting the key stakeholders.
Reasons behind the conflict are not yet known, but residents believe a long-standing chieftaincy dispute between two chiefs could be behind the latest clashes.

Some residents told Accra-based Joy FM that one of the chiefs subsequently left town following the clashes. But upon his return, residents from one of the factions in the conflict are demanding he leaves the town.

The angry residents started firing shots on Friday morning around 8 in protest over the chief's arrival.
Narrating the incident, Chief Superintendent Donkor said the suspect was then living at Avenor where the baby's mother, Aminatu Alhassan lived. The mother of the baby was unable to do household chores because she had a caesarian operation during labour.

Chief Superintendent Donkor said the suspect started coming over to Aminatu's house with the pretence to help her do the chores.

The police commander added that on February 26, at about 10 am, Aminatu fed her baby and both of them went to sleep, leaving behind the suspect and one other person.

According to the Police Commander, "the suspect on seeing that Aminatu was asleep, took the baby and told a witness in the case that she was going to the market."

The mother, Aminatu later woke up and realised that her child was missing. She then lodged a complaint at the police, where investigations revealed that the suspect had taken the baby to Achiansa Nubesu, near Suhum in the Eastern region.

Chief Superintendent Donkor said with the help of the chief of the village, Nana Oklu, the suspect was arrested and the baby was rescued, sent to the hospital and re-united with her parents.
According to him, some Ghanaians have been sending him text messages about the 'unparliamentary' behaviour of MPs, which he describes as embarassing.

Assin North MP, Kennedy Agyepong's on Thursday said he has received a letter from a school asking him to help pay school fees for some students of the school.

But another MP, in a response said Mr. Agyeong is a 'liar'.

This did not go down well with the Speaker who said It is unparliamentary to refer to a member on the floor that he is lying.

He has therefore urged MPs to be decent and raise the point of order to draw his attention to what they feel strong about.

This is the second time over the past week he is throwing out such stern warning.

The Speaker of parliament, Edward Doe-Adjaho expressed anger at the behaviour of Members of parliament during the 2016 State of the Nation Address.

President Mahama on Thursday told parliament about the successes his administration have chalked during his tenure.

He was intermittently heckled by members at both sides of the law making house during his address.

The minority went to the extent of waving red cards to show disapproval of his speech, whiles the Majority also waved white handkerchiefs to indicate otherwise.

The Speaker of Parliament was compelled to even rise during the address to call for order.

He has therefore warned parliamentarians to exercise decorum during ceremonial events.
What many Christians risk is becoming idolators, all because the man whose photograph has widely been circulated as a picture of Jesus is only an actor who played the role of Jesus in a movie.

COCOBOD WORKERS DEBUNK REVOLT CLAIMS

Workers of Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) have debunked claims by the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) and the General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU) that Dr Stephen Opuni is creating tension among employees, unions, as well as management staff, which could soon trigger unrest.

NEW NATIONAL AIRLINE IMMINENT  PREZ MAHAMA

President John Dramani Mahama says government is working assiduously to get a new national airline established on a Public-Private Partnership basis in the skies soon, after, a successful prefeasibility study.

EDAIF, EFC TO MERGE INTO NEW EXIM BANK

Government is set to appoint a transaction advisor to guide the integration of EDAIF, Eximguarnty and Export Finance Company into the new Ghana EXIM, report b the Finance Committee of Parliament has revealed.

ENOUGH OF PRODUCING JOB-SEEKERS

Universities must go beyond producing job-seekers and aggressively embrace the mandate of producing job-creators for the future job market, Prof Clement Dzidonu, President of Accra Institute of Technology has said.

MINISTER MISLEADS MAHAMA  ANGRY HOHOE RESIDENTS

Some residents of Hohoe municipality in the Volta Region on Wednesday vented their spleen on Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, Minister of Roads and Highways, for allegedly misleading President John Mahma over the Hohoe township roads in his (Mahamas) recent State of the Nation Address.

LAWYERS LIFE IN DANGER OVER ZENATORS CASE

Gary Nimako Marfo, lawyer Nii Armah Ashitey, the NDC MP for Klottey Korle constituency in Accra, has alleged that he is being trailed by some unknown persons.

GHANA NEEDS CREDIBLE REGISTER  SAYS SUPREME COURT

A judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Victor Jones Dotse, has cautioned the EC to conduct the November 7 polls with credible voter register.

Trainee nurses pay bribe.. To get feeding allowance arrears
The owner, who only gave the name Nicholas, and grew up on the Ivory Coast, told Pulse.com.gh the main reason behind the company's planned closure is its high electricity bills.

Last week the Italian restaurant posted on Facebook that it was being forced to close due to high electricity bills.

In an interview at the company's Osu premise on Wednesday, Nicholas said "the only reason this company said it is going to close is because at the end of the day no restaurant can work with GHC33,000 as electricity bill."

"How much do I make to pay GHC33,000 bill of electricity, to pay water, and pay your employees", he said.

"If tomorrow they come and tell me my bill has reduced by 50 percent because it was a mistake, I stay open. If not, I pack and leave, he added.

He said he had invested $1.8 million USD.

Would I throw 1.8 million just because?

Allegations

A former employee of the company blamed the planned closure of the restaurant on "bad financial planning."

In an interview with Pulse.com.gh, the former employee, who did not want to be identified, said the state of business affairs at the company was very appalling" and that the claims of high electricity bills were only being used as an excuse by a completely "bogus business."

According to the former employee, workers of the company would be paid late while some got paid half wages for the entire month.

He said the "irony lies in the fact that the food being sold at Bread and Wine was so expensive that people could buy and drink to the tune of possibly wages of 7 to 10 people in one night.

I have seen people spend 7, 000 (cedi) at a siting and that was even more than the seven peoples wages for the whole month. And that wage was coming in late for about three weeks."

"ECG has not kicked him out of the country, he has kick himself," he stressed.

However, the company refuted the allegations.

If the company were in danger as the former employee was saying, I will owe money to my suppliers , which is not the case. I will not be able to pay my employees which is not the case, Nicholas said.

He believed the former employee spoke out of bitterness.

Government assurance

The deputy power minister John Jinapor directed Electricity Company of Ghana to audit the electricity bills of the restaurant after visiting the company to address their concerns.

Asked what the status of that audit was, Nicholas said: "We just raised the point of [the] electricity bill. I told him we cannot work with a bill at GHC33,000. Business wise, it doesn't make sense. We cannot afford it. And he told me he is going to look into it.

The audit began this week, it is expected to last a month.

If the audit proves his bill is correct, he said he will close his company and leave Ghana.

"Then it means my business model is not working for Ghana. Then I will go."

Background

Bread and Wine restaurant announced plans to close the company by March ending, citing exorbitant electricity bill.

In a Facebookpost on Wednesday, the company said: "Dear friends and clients, after receiving couple of electricity ECG bills, 30,000 Ghc/month (7,000 Euros/month), we are sorry to announce that Bread&Wine will close its doors at the end of March 2016.

"We tried to explain to ECG that we are only using our ACs during lunch and diner time, therefore that consumption of electricity is impossible. Their answer was "if you are not happy, go back to your country".

"So it is with a great sadness but a lot of fantastic memories that we took the decision to close down our venue.
We have started work on the Shagamu Road and some of the Federal Government roads as well. Most of the roads we are doing in Ogun State are Federal Government roads but there are no Federal Government people.

Our government is committed to creating the enabling environment through good road network because if they are producing all these goods and we dont have good road network, the goods are dead on arrival. We are also building bridges in order to reduce the traffic.

I am impressed that Nigerians are able to think inwards and produce locally. The owners of Sonia have been able to demonstrate best practices in their production and are creating over 4000 direct and indirect jobs, he said.
The 22-year-old died at a hospice on 26 July, six months after she was found unresponsive in a bath.

The Fulton County Medical Examiner's office in Atlanta released an initial statement ahead of the full post-mortem report - eight months after her death. But a judge in Atlanta issued an order on Thursday, March 3 to unseal the report, following requests from the media.

The medical examiner's office states that it reviewed medical records, investigative files and other documents to determine how Brown died.

READ MORE: US witch doctor claims he could have save Bobbi Kristina Brown from death

The exam concluded cannabis and alcohol were involved in her death, along with medication used for sedation or to treat anxiety, citing the "underlying cause" of death as "immersion associated with drug intoxication".

The statement read: "Death was clearly not due to natural causes, but the medical examiner has not been able to determine whether death was due to intentional or accidental causes, and has therefore classified the manner of death as undetermined.''

Brown was the only child of late singer Whitney Houston and her father was veteran R&B singer Bobby Brown.
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 award winning actress who came into prominence in 2008 for her role in 'Reloaded' and has featured in numerous films across her career spanning almost 20 years screened her recent movie Stalker where she was Kaylah Lawal, a highly successful fashion stylist, to be captured by head hunters on a cold, dark night, but Michael, an executive cab driver shows up in the nick of time and saves her life. As an expression of gratitude she invites him over to her house for a good breakfast. He eats, he leaves but in the days to come, he seems to be showing up everywhere she goes.
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!
During a Federal indictment, Sunmola pleaded guilty to, and admitted that he was the ringleader of a group that successfully wooed hundreds of women online, then convinced them to send cash to bail him out of phony emergencies.

Prosecutors said Sunmola seduced women online by creating fake online profiles using photos and names of real American men, including claiming to be a former U.S. soldier.

When he had gotten the attention of the women, Sunmola would send them flowers, candies, stuffed animals, conning them into believing that each was his true love. Once the women were convinced of his love for them, he would request money from them, claiming phony emergencies. Some of the women sent thousands of dollars.

The victims who were not named, lived around the country, including in Mascoutah and Bond County in Illinois and St. Charles and St. Louis counties in Missouri.

In one case, Sunmola tricked one woman into cashing counterfeit or stolen travelers checks. She contemplated suicide when arrested. He lured another into performing sexual acts, which he recorded via webcam. He then threatened to ruin her life by publishing the recordings online if she didn't send him cash, warning that by the time he was done with her, she would want to kill herself.

A Bond County woman bought electronics and shipped them to Sunmola, reshipped items hed bought using stolen credit card information and took out cash advances on a credit card, forcing herself into bankruptcy with debts of at least $98,000, the indictment claims.

The investigation included the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Federal Trade Commission, Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Secret Service and the Illinois Attorney Generals Office, as well as South African officials, who investigated Sunmola's activities there and started forfeiture proceedings for his assets there.

Sunmola was indicted in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis in 2013 on mail fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy, and interstate extortion charges. He was arrested in August 2014 by Scotland Yard, as he was about to board a flight from London to South Africa, then extradited here to face the charges.

"Basically, the evidence established that Sunmola, a citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, was a ringleader of a criminal organization operating withing South Africa, that targeted and stole from hundreds of women across the United States.

Our office will continue to pursue justice for these victims in Sunmola's prison sentence and in our never-ending efforts to get restitution," Acting United States Attorney James Porter stated.
The defendant identified as Ifeoma Okoroafor, had made this revelation on Friday at a Gudu Upper Area Court in the Federal Capital Territory, stating that she inflicted injuries on a man because he touched her breast.

During her statement, Okoroafor revealed, saying:

My Lord, the nominal complainant, , touched me inappropriately and without my consent, while I was waiting for a commercial vehicle to take me home after work at night.

The complainant beat me up and tore my clothes when I queried him for his action.

The news reports reveal that the timely intervention of three other women had saved her from being killed by the complainant.

Okoroafor further revealed to the court that the cloth she has worn to the court had been given to her by a police officer at the station, allowing her to appear decently at the court.

The prosecutor, Urom Inah, said that Goddy of Police Barracks, Garki, had reported the matter at the Garki Police Station on February 28, adding that the defendant had attacked Goddy, inflicting injuries on him with a bottle for no apparent reason.

Okoroafor had reportedly been unable to give any satisfactory account of her actions during follow up police investigation.

The judge, Umar Kagarko, reportedly granted bail to the defendant in the sum of N20, 000 with one reliable surety in like sum.
The case which came to light on the heels of the celebration abduction and eventual release of 14-year-old Ese Oruru, has reportedly caused Gov. Tambuwal serious embarrassment and he has ordered immediate investigation into the alleged abduction and forced marriage of the girl.

In a statement signed by Tambuwals spokesman, Imam Imam, the governor ordered the state human rights commission and other agencies to investigate the matter immediately and report to him.

Gov. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal directed the state Human Rights Commission to undertake a thorough investigation into the allegations and report same to the government.

In the interim, the Human Rights Commission was asked to present an interim report and update the public with all information as it becomes available.

In the first 24 hours, the state Human Rights Commission has contacted the Sultanate Council and the State Police Command for a briefing.

The state Human Rights Commission has also spoken to the State Hisbah Commission, as well as the person whose phone number was given in the initial allegation made online.
Ambode, who was represented by the Deputy Governor, Dr Idiat Adebule, said this at the opening of the 8th Annual Accountants Retreat, organised by the state Ministry of Finance.

The theme of the three-day retreat is: 'Public Sector Accountants as Agents of Change'.

The governor charged the accountants to promote accountability and support the state governments efforts to reduce cost of governance.

He urged them to be agents of positive change and employ universally accepted principles of accounting to provide solutions to financial challenges that government faced.

"This three-day retreat is a veritable platform for policy review, evaluation and formulation by the state's public servants.

"It also serves as a clarion call for the application of our competencies in addressing the myriad of challenges facing our economy presently.

"We must transcend from being mere accountants and become public finance managers who will use innovation and creativity to ensure efficient management of resources as well as expand our resource base.

"There is a need for us as accountants to be agents of change by keying into the anti-corruption war of President Muhammadu Buhari and the Treasury Single Account policy," he said.

Ambode urged the accountants to ensure strict adherence to the rules and ethics of the profession and pledged government's commitment to the enhancement of skills and capacity building.

Umar said there would be no improvement without change and emphasised the need to meet up with the dynamics of global public finance management.

In her remarks, Mrs Olabowale Ademola, the Head of Service in the state, commended Gov. Ambode for initiating and approving the retreat.

Ademola urged participants to discuss deeply and apply the lessons from the retreat to improve their competence in the management of the state's finances.
Mr Femi Odusanya, spokesman for the association, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that reopening of the market would guarantee continuous food supply to the state.

NAN recalls that Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State on March 3 ordered a temporary closure of the market following violence within the communities in the area.

The governor said the decision to shut the market and restrict movement on the streets were to aid security agencies to restore the peace in the area.

Odusanya said: "We plead with the government to review its order on the closure of the market to reduce the quantum of produce to be wasted".

"We have over 20 trucks each filled with sixty baskets of tomatoes worth N5,000 per basket rotting in the trucks in the market because of the delay in offloading them.

"This is aside the over eighty trucks of tomatoes and pepper meant for the market parked at Ibafo, Ogun State.

"To waste these produce would amounts to huge financial losses for traders who are struggling to survive under the harsh economic climate of the country."

Odusanya said that prolonged closure of the market would have negative multiplier effects on the prices and availability of foods in the state.

"Mile 12 Market plays a vital role in providing food to various markets and households in the state.

Odusanya said that the traders were victims of the fracas that ensued between commercial motorcyclists and the residents of Mile 12 community.
The sects attacks in North-Eastern Nigeria led many residents, including food vendors, farmers and herdsmen, to flee the area leaving the terrorists with no option butto go hungry.

The situation has shaped the pattern of Boko Harams recent invasions which see the terrorists attacking towns only for the purpose of stealing foodstuff and livestock instead of the usual trend of killings and abductions.

According to the Times, the hunt for food seems to be the reason why the terrorists are moving deeper into Cameroon.

Matte Bama, a resident of Amchide, a town on Cameroons border with Nigeria, told the Times how the terrorists stole livestock during a night attack.

They started shooting, shooting, shooting. They took our livestock. They took everything and they left, she said.

The hunger crisis plaguing the sect was confirmed by the spokesman for Nigerias Defence Headquarters, Brig. Gen. Rabe Abubakar.

Their supply routes are blocked. Theyre hungry. They have nowhere to go, General Abubakar said.

Despite the raids however, the sect still cant seem to find enough food to feed its population, which includes women and children.

This is perhaps the reason why 76 hungry members of the sect recently surrendered to the Nigerian military in Gwoza, Borno State. They are also said to have told troops that more members of the sect are ready to surrender.

The disclosure was made to The Associated Press by a military source and a member of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) on Wednesday, March 2, 2016.

The development confirms claims by Information Minister, Lai Mohammed that the terrorists are hungry and confused.

In essence, the insurgents have been effectively denied territory or sanctuary and are now in disarray, Mohammed had said on Tuesday, February 16, 2016, during a press conference in Abuja.

Scattered, demoralized and hungry, they have resorted to terror tactics available to a degraded and defeated insurgent group. The fact that they operate in a few local governments does not equate to holding and controlling territories. We must make that distinction, he added.
Dasukis lawyer, Mr. Joseph Daudu (SAN) said the re-arrest of his client by the Department of State Services (DSS) after he met the requirements of his bail, is sending the wrong signal to the world.

Punch reports that Daudu also said Dasukis continued detention, despite several orders granting him bail, is giving foreign investors the notion that court orders are not obeyed in the country.

He also said The most obvious evidence of the breach of the orders of the court is that the defendant is still in the custody and brought to this court by the Department of State Service.

Dasuki has accused Buhari of instigating his continued detention, stressing that Mr. President betrayed his emotions during the media chat when he openly told Nigerians that the former NSA and Nnamdi Kanu, the pro-Biafra leader, could not be released on bail because they would jump bail.
He said the Commission found it necessary to seek for the support and cooperation of journalists in order to ensure the success of the crusade.

He added that "what we are doing is for Nigeria and not for our personal interest, hence our decision as stakeholders to seek for your support.

"We appreciate your support but we want you to give us more support by educating people, especially at the grassroots on the ills of corruption.''

According to him, the present administration under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari is committed to the fight against corruption in the country.

"We now have the appropriate political will to fight corruption. We can only blame ourselves if we fail to perform,'' Magu said.

He, however, urged journalists to monitor the activities of the EFCC with a view to providing useful suggestions on how to correct its mistakes and shortcomings.

He said "I always welcome useful criticisms, so I want you to monitor us and to constructively criticise and analyse how we operate.''
Attacks on oil facilities have been on the rise in the swamps since President Muhammadu Buhari vowed to shake up a fraud-ridden amnesty program for rebels who stopped blowing up pipelines in 2009 in exchange for cash and generous contracts.

Adding a new dimension, unknown militants  probably using divers  hit a Shell underwater pipeline last month, interrupting oil flows and forcing the company to shut down its 250,000 barrel-a-day Forcados export terminal for weeks.

Nigeria-based diplomats and security experts say the attack showed a level of skill and inside intelligence rarely seen since the 2004-2009 insurgency, which at its height halved Nigerias oil output of around 2 millions barrels a day.

This was an attack that required knowledge of the area and sophisticated equipment, said a Western security source, asking not to be named. There were underwater attacks before but none recently. The oil firms are really worried there will be more.

Militants tend to attack small overland pipelines or flow stations sitting in hard-to-access mosquito-infested creeks.

The underwater attack has cut 15 percent of Nigerian crude output, dealing another blow to Buhari, who is already having to cope with a collapse of oil revenues due to falling prices, a Boko Haram jihadist insurgency in the north and secessionist calls in the southeast.

The strike came a month after authorities issued an arrest warrant for former militant leader Government Ekpemupolo, better known as Tompolo.

Like other ex-rebel leaders Tompolo became a millionaire through the amnesty by winning contracts to protect pipelines he used to blow up in his fight for a greater share of Nigerias oil wealth. Others made a fortune with massive oil theft.

Buhari has vowed to end over-priced state contracts and crude theft. But in the Delta many ex-fighters see the hunt for Tompolo as part of a campaign by mainly Muslim northerners, like the president, against the Christian south. The government denies any such motive.

The swamplands oil provides 70 percent of state income but, like much of the rest of Nigeria, the region has never seen much development. Its roads are pot-holed and villages polluted from oil spills.

Many angry young men still support the militants because the government is not addressing their grievances, said Alagoa Morris, an environmental activist in the Delta. They work for anyone who supports them.

Authorities have responded by sending troops to protect oil facilities, a move residents say might fuel tensions as villagers will likely see them as invaders sent by Buhari.

The militarization of the Delta makes it worse, said Morris. People see that the government is only interested in the oil production, not their grievances.

A security official said Tompolos men were probably behind the sub-sea attack. Activists say it could have been the work of other ex-rebels frustrated about the regions poverty.

Tompolo has disappeared from public view since the arrest warrant was issued, and his spokesman, Paul Bebenimibo, could not be reached for comment.

He had links to the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), one of the most powerful militant groups, which attacked oil facilities and kidnapped expatriate workers.

A previously unknown group called the Niger Delta Avengers has claimed responsibility, warning Buhari of more trouble unless he fulfils a long list of demands such as starting development and cleaning up polluted villages.

Reuters was unable to contact the group or verify its statement. In total, ten oil and gas pipelines or other facilities have been attacked in the Delta since the start of the year, security experts say.

Tension has been building in the Delta since Buhari defeated president Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian southerner from the region, in presidential polls a year ago.

The government has extended the amnesty but vowed to shift the focus to job training and away from cash payments, which in the past were collected by generals for their boys.

So far, the attacks have not been as severe as the previous insurgency. But diplomats worry that Delta activists are teaming up with secessionists in the southeast, where Ibgo people who proclaimed an independent state called Biafra sparked a 1967-70 civil war in which more than a million people died.

In the Avengers statement, the group demanded the release of a pro-Biafra leader jailed since October.

On Thursday, groups of former militant leaders denounced the pipeline attacks but also urged Buhari to expand the amnesty to some of our brothers who are still in the creeks  still a hideout for militants, pirates and kidnappers.

They also told Buhari the amnesty should be extended to 2019 to give young men time to receive job training.
He said But what is more important is that at the same time, we are also unbundling the subsets of these companies to close to about 30 independent companies with their own managing directors; and so, titles like the group executive directors, which you have been used to in the last 30 years, will disappear; and in place of those, you are going to have chief executive officers.

Adding that So, at the end of the day, a CEO of an upstream company must deliver upstream results, and we are very focused on that and along those chains. We are doing very dramatic things within the sector to bring the change and I am happy that we are gaining the cooperation of people within the industry; that is the only way we can guarantee sustainable career path for those in the industry.

We are potentially moving in a direction where quite frankly for the first time in about 15 years, this company will be profitable; but that is a tip of the iceberg, because by the time these 30 companies are unbundled with their managing directors setting programmes, you are going to meet us in the active work space, we are going to be competing and we are going to make these things work, Kachikwu said.
Nigeria has been pushing for action by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries because the slump in oil revenue has undercut its public finances and currency, leaving the government struggling to pay civil servants.

"We're beginning to see the price of crude inch up very slowly," minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu told a conference in Abuja. "But if the meeting that we're scheduling, it should happen in Russia, between the OPEC and non-OPEC producers, happens about March 20, we should see some dramatic price movement."

The Russian Energy Ministry said it was ready for talks but the date and venue had yet to be agreed. "Currently, various options about the venue and date for the meeting, where measures on oil market stabilisation due to be discussed, are being worked out," it said in a statement.

Benchmark Brent futures were around $37 per barrel by 1554 GMT on Thursday.

OPEC leader Saudi Arabia and non-OPEC Russia, the world's two largest oil exporters, agreed last month to freeze output at January levels to prop up prices if other nations agreed to join the first global oil pact in 15 years.

Yet the accord has so far failed to have a dramatic impact on crude prices, partly because OPEC's third-largest producer Iran plans to steeply raise production after the lifting of international sanctions on the Islamic Republic in January.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday stepped up rhetoric on the issue, telling Qatar's ruler crude prices had fallen to "totally unacceptable" levels.

Kachikwu also said Nigeria was pumping 2.2 million barrels per day, in line with previous comments, of which 46 percent was coming from onshore fields.

He also said Nigeria's average oil production cost from state firm NNPC and international companies was between $13 and $15 a barrel for onshore fields and $30 a barrel for deep offshore operations.
Find out what is making headlines all over the country from the covers of The Punch, Vanguard, The Guardian and more.

For today, March 4 2016:

VANGUARD NEWSPAPER

Ese: Guilty officersll be flushed outKANO  Following the directive by the Inspector General of Police that the roles of police detectives and other senior officers involved in the abduction drama of Ese be investigated, the Police Service Commission, PSC, the body tasked with responsibility of punishing officers for offences, has said it will sanction those found wanting in the matter. READ MORE

Lagos schoolgirls abduction: Negotiation over ransom ongoingLAGOSTension is still mounting at Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary, Ikorodu, Lagos, following the delay in the release of the three Senior Secondary School girls abducted by gunmen Tuesday night. READ MORE

MAYHEM IN KETU: Gov slams curfew, shuts marketLagosFive persons were yesterday reportedly killed and several others injured during an ethnic crisis which broke at Mile 12 market, along Ikorodu expressway , Lagos, between Hausa and Yoruba traders. READ MORE______________________________________________

THE NATION NEWSPAPER

10 die in Lagos clashLagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode yesterday shut the popular Mile 12 market where a clash left no fewer than 10 people dead. READ MORE

National Assembly to Buhari: drop N500b intervention fund from Budget 2016The National Assembly yesterday raised concern about the implementation of the N500 billion special intervention fund, a cardinal programme of the Buhari administration. READ MORE

Kidnappers of Lagos schoolgirls reduce ransomIndications emerged yesterday that the kidnappers of three schoolgirls of Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary (BMJS), Ikorodu, Lagos might have reduced the ransom amount. Timilehin Olusa, Tofunmi Popoolaniyan and Deborah Akinayo were kidnapped from the classrooms on Monday night. READ MORE______________________________________________

BUSINESS DAY NEWSPAPER

MTN plans listing on NSE, sets aside $600m for Nigeria fineSouth Africas MTN Group may list its Nigerian unit on the stock exchange in Lagos once it has resolved a disputed $3.9 billion fine with authorities, its executive chairman said on Thursday. MTN also reported Full Year 2015 results that showed revenues were up a mere 0.1 percent to R146.3 billion ($9.3 billion) and said READ MORE

WAPIC Board names Adekoya, Ogunleye CEOs of insurance businessesThe Board of Directors of Wapic Insurance Plc WAPIC said Thursday that the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has approved the appointment of Adeyinka Adekoya as the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Wapic Insurance Plc and Rantimi Ogunleye as the managing director of Wapic Life Assurance Limited . Commenting on the appointments, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, chairman, Board READ MORE
A visiting IMF delegation said at the end of its mission that it would now focus on fine-tuning reform priorities and financing needs for this year. International lenders have been demanding Tunisia cut public spending, reduce deficits and introduce reforms that help create sustainable jobs and growth.

"Moving ahead with economic reform is crucial as the Tunisian economy confronts several significant challenges. Economic growth is held back by investors' wait-and-see attitude and regional uncertainties," the IMF said in a statement.

Five years after overthrowing autocrat Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and sweeping in democratic change, Tunisians are still struggling with an economy unable to deliver the jobs and reforms their revolution promised.
Dr. Joseph Nnana, deputy governor, Financial System Surveillance at the CBN, stated this at a meeting of the Joint Appropriation Committees of the National Assembly with government officials on the 2016 budget saying, Distinguished chairman sir, we have $20 billion lying idle in various domiciliary accounts of many customers at the various banks across the country. This is part of the reasons why the naira has continued to slide against the US dollar.

Nnana, however, expressed hope that the passage of the 2016 budget would put a stop to the unrestrained drop in the value of the naira.
Set to hold on Saturday, March 4, 2016, the awards ceremony is considered as Africa's biggest Movie awards.

ALSO READ: undefined

We here at Pulse have put together five things we would love to see tomorrow. Here we go;

1. Daring Fashion

We don't want normal and casual. We look forward to seeing classy and risky. That sort of fashion that would leave people talking for months.

We need the terribly risky ones to entertain us, and the classy ones to leave us swooning.

ALSO READ: undefined

2. New Acts celebrated

How we would love to hear new names announced as winners in the majorcategories. But then, we can only wish. At the end of the day, the best man who could gather enough votes, takes the prize.

ALSO READ: undefined

3. Better stage performances

Throwback to 2015 when the Mavins delivered one of the most disturbing and unorganised performances ever. It's 2016 and we would love to see a better, well rehearsed performance.

4. "Dry" emerging the biggest winner

Just because we totally loved everything about "Dry," and considering that it has the most nominations for the year, we would love to see it win the Best Overall Movie, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress and Best Movie  West Africa.

ALSO READ: undefined

5. A rendition of a Nigerian song

Just because we are not over the Shoki rendition by OC Ukeje, Blossom Chukwujekwu, Gideon Okeke and Femi Jacobs at the 2015 AMVCAs, we won't mind another one to keep us till 2017.
It's been 21 years since his death, but she talks about him so passionately and adoringly, it's almost feels like he just passed away, and the loss is fresh.

ALSO READ: undefined"In this fast paced world heavily influenced by social media, many young girls/ladies grow up without strong female influences to look up to: Mentors who nurture them not just mentally and emotionally, but ethically as well. Mentors who show them more than just how to be a woman "at home, but how to succeed in a highly competitive world. More importantly, young people need to know that every successful person has a personal existence, which may in fact be dogged by distracting vagaries of life that need to also be successfully managed," Adetiba wrote on her Youtube channel while describing the series. Watch teaser below.
The Majority Leader of the House, Mr Matthew Kolawole, said this during interview with newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday.

Kolawole said the concern of the members is to resolve the leadership crisis rocking the state assembly.

"The state governor is just like new born baby without sin. For what reason will anybody want to kill the baby.

"To me, the governor has not done anything wrong to us and none of us here is talking about impeachment of the governor at all", he said.

Kolawole said it was baseless to say Mr James Faleke, the running mate to the late Prince Abubakar Audu in the Nov. 21 was sponsoring the crisis rocking the House.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), recalls that Audu, who contested the election on the platform of APC, died on Nov.22 before the result of the election was announced.

"If anybody is saying that Faleke is sponsoring us, he is misleading the public. Faleke is not part of this struggle.

"The struggle we have today is that we want to stabilise Kogi State House of Assembly as an independent arm of government", he said.

On outcome of members' meeting with the National Chairman of PDP, Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff, he said they agreed with the party's directive that the status quo should remain.

"We have passed another vote of confidence on the leadership of the House under Speaker Momoh Jimoh-Lawal and all of us have signed."

He added that Mr John Aba, one of the five members who had the intention to impeach Jimoh-Lawal was also present at the meeting.

He, however, said that Aba was yet to sign the resolution of the meeting adding that he stepped out after the meeting.

"So far so good, eleven of us here have signed. We are waiting for him to come back because the party has directed that we sign and he agreed."

The majority leader said that maintaining status quo under the leadership of Jimoh-Lawal was temporary in order to resolve the crisis on ground.

He was optimistic that the House could not be rubber-stamped for allowing the Speaker and governor to come from the same zone of the state pending the time a new speaker would be elected.
The comment was made by Lagos APC spokesman, Joe Igbokwe, according to Daily Trust.

The non-existing Lagos PDP says Governor Ambode has performed below expectation. Now, are they in Lagos? What does the PDP know about leadership and service delivery? Igbokwe said.

Can they see the indelible marks the man has left in Lagos in less than one year? Can they see the monumental lighting of Lagos Metropolis? Can they see the security situation and the Security architecture in Lagos?

Can they see the Massive Road construction projects going on in Lagos? Can they see the ongoing engagement of job seekers in Lagos? Can they see the one day, one project going on in Lagos?

PDP is dead as dodo in Lagos and Nigeria, Igbokwe added.

The Lagos APC spokesperson made the comment after Lagos PDP Chairman, Tunji Shelle criticized Governor Akinwunmi Ambode for performing below expectation.

Meanwhile, the Lagos Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Steve Ayorinde has dismissed claims that Ambode is being controlled by APC leader, Bola Tinubu.
Since then, negotiations with the kidnappers has been ongoing with the aim of getting the girls back safely.

According to Vanguard, the ransom demanded by the abductors was reduced to N10 million by the kidnappers, while the school was pleading with N2 million.

An accord on their release was reportedly reached between the negotiating parties at the early hours of yesterday. But at 5p.m., there was reportedly no news from the kidnappers on where the students would be picked, owing to disagreement over ransom.

Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, has reacted to this ordeal, saying there was need for the creation of state police. Other members also took turns to condemn the incident, saying if Federal Government allows creation of state police, crimes will be minimised.

The Lagos State chapter of All Progressives Congress, APC, yesterday also called for the immediate release of the three kidnapped students.

The party, through the Publicity Secretary, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, condemned the kidnap, describing it as callous and inhuman, carried out by criminals who wanted to test the resolve of the present state government to drastically reduce criminality in the state.

The traditional head of the area where the school is located, Baale of Lugbusi, Chief Michael Omoloju has also said the school needs a better and effective security.
According to Punch reports, Kyari was part of the dignitaries in the entourage that accompanied the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar El-Kanemi, to Lagos for his investiture as the UNILAG Chancellor.

It was learnt that another man, whose identity had yet to be ascertained, was allegedly shot by security operatives at the universitys gate.

Kyari reportedly died in a fire incident that occurred on Thursday at about 2am at the universitys guesthouse.

Though the fire affected five rooms in the building, the cause of the inferno has not been ascertained.

A source told Punch that "the incident happened on Thursday morning, but the activities accompanying the three-day convocation did not allow people to know of the incident. I also gathered that the remains of the deceased have been conveyed to Borno State for burial.

In a statement Deputy Registrar/Head of Information Unit of the university, Mr. Toyin Adebule, Kyari's death was confirmed;

The Management of the University of Lagos regrets to inform the general public that there was a fire incident at the university guesthouse at about 2am on Tuesday, March 1, 2016.

The fire occurred in the A Wing and affected rooms A12, A13 and A14. The university fire service was able to curtail the fire from spreading. The cause of the fire is being investigated.

Sadly, the incident claimed the life of one of our guests, Alhaji Kaka Kyari, a former Auditor General, Borno State, who was on the entourage of the chancellor and was laid to rest according to Islamic injunctions today, March 3, 2016 in Borno State.
Nadezhda Savchenko, 34, was captured by pro-Moscow rebels in eastern Ukraine in June 2014 and denies any wrongdoing.

The helicopter pilot, who faces up to 25 years in jail if found guilty, has become a national hero for many in Ukraine who see her as a symbol of anti-Kremlin defiance.

Savchenko said on Thursday she was going on hunger strike to protest the length of what she said was an unjust legal process after the judge in her trial adjourned proceedings just as she was about to deliver a final speech.

On Friday her sister published on social media the text of what she had planned to say in court.

Peppered with excoriating criticism of modern Russia and President Vladimir Putin, it makes clear Savchenko plans to try to use her hunger strike to force Moscow to do a deal with Ukraine to release her.

Once the verdict is pronounced the text of her speech shows she plans to deliver the court an ultimatum.

"Russia will have no more than 10 days to return me to Ukraine from where they snatched me," she wrote.

"TOTALITARIAN REGIME"

Referring to a possible deal for her release that might involve Russia, Ukraine and the West, she wrote: "While this trading over me continues, life will be leaving me, and Russia all the same will return me to Ukraine dead or alive."

It is unclear whether the court will allow her to read out the speech. Her defence lawyers have accused Moscow of conducting a "show trial" and Western politicians and rights groups have called for her release.

"I want the entire civilised and democratic world to understand that Russia is a third-world country with a totalitarian regime and a despotic dictator, in which they spit on human rights and international law," Savchenko wrote in the text released by her sister.

Putin, she wrote, was a "tyrant with imperial ambitions suffering from a Hitler/Napoleon complex."

Ukranian President Petro Poroshenko said on Friday Kiev would redouble its efforts to bring Savchenko home.

"This farce absolutely cannot continue," his press service quoted him as saying.

Prosecutors say that in June 2014 Savchenko had helped to direct artillery fire in the Luhansk region where a shell killed two Russian television reporters.

Her lawyers say the time and location of calls made from her mobile phone disproves the allegations.
Footloose southern Nevadans travel in all directions of the compass, but tend to reserve southerly excursions for colder months.

You still have time for at least one more trip southward before the weather warms too much.

One of the best for this time of year is to the region around Parker, Arizona, on the lower Colorado River. Only 400 to 450 feet above sea level, it has mild weather most of the winter and plenty of outdoor activities to take advantage of the balmy days.

Of course the area is famous as the location of Parker Dam, one of the engineering marvels of the 1930s. Even from waters edge below the dam, it does not tower so far overhead as its sister dams farther up the Colorado at Boulder City or Glen Canyon. However, thats because you are seeing only a quarter of its 320-foot height. It is said to be the deepest dam in the world.

The water pooled behind the dam constitutes Lake Havasu, about 45 miles long, and able to store enough water to supply the principal cities of Southern California as well as Phoenix and Tucson. It was a controversial project in its day, and Arizona actually sent National Guard troops to block construction until it was assured a fair deal for allowing its construction partly on Arizona soil.

Driving south from the dam, along the 18-mile Parker Strip, you will find many opportunities to access the Colorado River itself. Some of the best are in the Buckskin Mountain State Park, which offers a beach, as well as areas for camping, picnicking and launching boats.

Parker itself is a small town located within the Colorado River Indian Tribes Reservation, a territory designated in 1865, originally for the Mohave and Chemehuevi people who had lived in the area for many years. Later, Hopi and Navajo people were moved to this reservation, and today all four ethnic groups there maintain separate identities but are recognized as a single tribal unit.

Besides these native peoples, many people of Caucasian and other ethnic groups also reside in and around Parker and the other principal community on the reservation, Poston. The tribal headquarters is located in Parker, and a museum and gift shop are there at 1007 Arizona Ave.

About two miles north of the town, the tribe operates BlueWater Resort and Casino. Besides the standard hotel and casino, the resort features a movie theater, an indoor water park and a marina. It is accessible to passing river traffic as well as motorists.

On March 18-19 the Colorado River Indian Tribes (CRIT) presents Mega Throw XII, a traditional bird singing and social event. Bird singing is a form of music traditionally sung by the native Americans of the Southwest. Accompanied by gourd rattles, some of the songs are believed to be thousands of years old. Besides singing, the event will feature traditional dancing, Native American arts and crafts, food vendors and a meal with each visitor contributing a covered dish.

For further information visit the CRIT page on Facebook or call (928) 669-1220.

One offbeat attraction of the area is the Nellie E. Saloon and Desert Bar. Spurning conventional wisdom that a convenient location is important to a successful restaurant, the Nellie E. can be reached only by driving five miles into the Buckskin Mountains on a road that is well-maintained. Here a visitor will find a sort of cantina operated on the site of a former mining camp, with antique vehicles still standing about, an outdoor bar, a horseshoe pit, a strange church that is more facade and photo-prop than sanctuary, and plenty of the funkiness and eccentricity endemic to the desert Southwest. A simple menu of burgers, hot dogs and other basic fare is all you will find in the restaurant, but the prices are modest. Bring cash, though, for they take no credit cards. Despite the presence of alcohol, I consider this a destination suitable for children. Unfortunately, it is open only Saturdays and Sundays, October through April, from noon until 6 p.m. Arizona time. Speaking of which, Arizona time is one hour earlier than Nevada during the standard-time season, but agrees with Nevada clocks after March 13, once Daylight Saving Time goes into effect almost everywhere but Arizona. It is best to show up early, for the place fills up quickly most days.

On your trip home, traveling north on AZ 95, consider stopping at the Bill Williams River National Wildlife Refuge. Established in 1941, the refuge was named after a mountain man, trapper and guide active during the 1830s and 1840s.

To reach the choicest part of the refuge, take a right turn onto a gravel road just after you pass the park headquarters on your left. This gravel road passes through a pretty riparian area of cottonwoods and willow, surrounded by cliffs and hills dotted with saguaro and other Sonoran vegetation. Javelinas, gray foxes, desert bighorns, and plenty of other wild animals make homes in the 6,105-acre refuge.

More than 300 bird species have been seen here including the brightly colored Lazuli bunting, yellow-billed cuckoo, vermillion flycatchers and the endangered Southwestern willow flycatcher. Another endangered bird, the Yuma clapper rail, frequents the marshes here, and sometimes even stays the winter.

Established in 1941, the refuge, like the river, was named after a mountain man, trapper and guide active during the 1830s and 1840s. Williams was noted for traveling more widely and seeing more of the West than any other of the famously far-ranging mountain men. An afternoon in this refuge will persuade you, he found the best places.

Directions to Parker

From Pahrump take NV-160 south about 52 miles to Las Vegas. Merge onto I-215 east and drive about 12 miles. Merge onto US-95 south and drive south through Searchlight to California, about 110 miles, exit onto I-40 going east, crossing the Colorado River into Arizona. Drive about 32 miles. Take AZ 95 south for about 45 miles to the Parker area.

Directions to Nellie E. Saloon (Desert Bar)

From Parker take AZ 95 north about five miles and then go right onto Cienega Springs Road. Follow the gravel road for five miles to the parking area and saloon. Suitable for most vehicles except during or after rain. www.thedesertbar.com.

Deborah Wall is the author of Base Camp Las Vegas, Hiking the Southwestern States, Great Hikes, A Cerca Country Guide, and co-author of Access For All, Touring the Southwest with Limited Mobility. Wall can be reached at Deborabus@aol.com.
NORTH LAS VEGAS  Nye County veterans and former residents who are on active duty, and who are ill, injured or wounded and recovering in Nevadas Mike OCallaghan Federal Hospital or the Department of Veterans Affairs medical facility, can claim a new benefit, should it be needed.

NORTH LAS VEGAS  Nye County veterans and former residents who are on active duty, and who are ill, injured or wounded and recovering in Nevadas Mike OCallaghan Federal Hospital or the Department of Veterans Affairs medical facility, can claim a new benefit, should it be needed.

A Fisher House facility was dedicated last month on VA grounds in North Las Vegas. The house exists to provide free lodging for families of those described above who live miles away, in other states and are unable to afford hotel lodging while visiting with their hospitalized loved ones during medical treatment in Southern Nevada.

The 13,500-square-foot, two-story property contains 16 suites. Each one is equipped with a private, handicapped-accessible bathroom. The common areas include a kitchen, dining and family rooms, a laundry and patio.

The Nevada communitys decision to support this project was instantaneous and inspiring, said Kenneth Fisher, chairman and CEO of the Fisher House Foundation. He continued by musing about Nevada, I love coming here. I do stimulate your economy. I do my part.

On a more serious note, he and his family work to help veterans and their families not because its charity, but because its our duty. Its not just about doing good. Its about making a difference. He added that working to help veterans will never be completed, but it will always be appreciated.

Scott Bensing, president of the Nevada Military Support Alliance, told the audience of veterans, active-duty personnel and elected officials that, Over its lifetime, this house will serve thousands of veterans families.

Gov. Brian Sandoval spoke about the thousands of military people who serve the state, noting that as governor, he is also proud to be the commander in chief of Nevadas National Guard. He said that the Fisher House will help achieve his goal of Nevada being the most friendly veteran and military state in the United States.

At the end of the program, the home was officially turned over to the VA, which will administer and staff the property.

Chuck N. Baker is an Army veteran of the Vietnam War and a Purple Heart recipient. Every other Sunday he discusses veterans issues over several Lotus Broadcasting AM radio stations in Southern Nevada.
A lawsuit filed against the Nye County Sheriffs Office on Monday alleges a police sergeant led pornographic matinees at the station using sex tapes held in evidence.

A lawsuit filed against the Nye County Sheriffs Office on Monday alleges a police sergeant led pornographic matinees at the station using sex tapes held in evidence.

Jaysan Gal, represented by Pahrump attorney Thomas Gibson, filed the lawsuit against the county, the sheriffs office, former Sheriff Tony DeMeo, former Capt. William Becht, Sgt. David Boruchowitz and 10 unnamed police officers.

The filing says that Boruchowitz, who acts as the departments public information officer, seized Gals laptop from his then-girlfriend as part of a criminal investigation.

Boruchowitz found a number of pornographic videos on the laptop, including a sex tape of Gal, 37, and his girlfriend, who is unnamed.

In March 2013, Boruchowitz (then a detective) called Gals girlfriend into the station to have her help identify people featured in videos on the laptop for the criminal investigation, but Boruchowitz showed her the video with her in it. He also showed other deputies, passing the video around for comic relief, and held pornography matinees at the station, the court document states.

There were group (viewing) sessions, as far as I understand, Gibson said. Its a disgusting thing.

The lawsuit also alleges that Boruchowitz called Gals girlfriend to tell her that he enjoyed the videos, downloaded them to his cellphone and masturbated to them.

Just a few months later, Gal was formally charged with multiple felonies, along with Barbara Bell-Cates, 58.

In a criminal complaint dated May 22, 2013, the Nye County District Attorneys Office charged the two with five felony counts, including statutory sexual seduction, pandering a child, perjury and child abuse in connection with a teenage girl. The complaint alleges that the two coerced the girl into prostitution in exchange for drugs.

The Gal case is still pending in Pahrump Justice Court with a status check set for June 15. A preliminary hearing date has yet to be set pending a decision on a discovery motion filed by the defense.

Gibson said he is not representing Gal in that criminal case and did not have much information about it. He said he advised Gal not to do any interviews, because that criminal case has not been settled.

Gibson said the department had a duty to uphold the integrity of all evidence and that the videos should have been secured and not shown to personnel who werent involved in the criminal investigation. The lawsuit alleges that DeMeo knew about the viewings and that Brecht, Boruchowitzs supervisor, encouraged the behavior by participating.

The sex tapes were Gals intellectual property and the department did not have the authority to show them publicly for nonofficial police business, according to the court document.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal contacted Nye County Sheriff Sharon Wehrly and Boruchowitz for comment on the lawsuit Tuesday. Wehrly did not respond and Boruchowitz said only that he had not seen the court documents. Wehrly did not respond to an email request for comment made Thursday by the Pahrump Valley Times.

Boruchowitz has made headlines in the past for his involvement in numerous Pahrump-area scandals, including allegations that he used his position to influence a county sheriff election and coerced a woman to file a false report.

Contact Wesley Juhl at wjuhl@reviewjournal.com. Find him on Twitter: @WesJuhl. The Pahrump Valley Times contributed to this report.
BEATTY  The town was the scene Tuesday of what Gov. Brian Sandoval called a historical day.

BEATTY  The town was the scene Tuesday of what Gov. Brian Sandoval called a historical day.

The event was a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the first electric vehicle charging station for the governors proposed electric highway.

This is the first intra-state electric highway in the United States of America, said Sandoval. Think about that.

He said it was part of what he calls the new Nevada, and that this was a foundational moment for this electric highway in the state of Nevada.

I dont know if you know this, but Im really competitive, added the governor. I like being first, especially for something innovative like this.

Sandoval spoke of what electric car owners know as range anxiety.

If you own an electric vehicle, you want to have the confidence that you can make it from community to community, and this is the first step.

The first electric highway will cover 448 miles of U.S. Highway 95 between Las Vegas and Reno, including a charging station in Tonopah later this year.

The governor wants to see it expand to other highways in the state, specifically mentioning the U.S. 50, the Interstate 80, and the I-15.

He said that the project would boost tourism, enabling people who drive electric vehicles to visit remote parts of the state, including state parks and places like Rhyolite.

Valley Electric Association Inc. installed the charging stations, which are located behind Eddie World and Death Valley Nut and Candy.

Eddie World is an absolutely fantastic location for this charging station, as it is at the entrance to Death Valley and on a well-traveled highway, Valley Electric CEO Tom Husted said.

Eddie World owner, Ed Ringle, said, Ive been in Beatty 34 years, and I never thought wed be first in anything. He said it was an honor to take part in the project.

Two of the charging ports at the station will fully charge an electric vehicle in about four hours. A third port will charge a vehicle to 80 percent in thirty minutes. This charge time can also be a boost to local businesses, as owners will have time to explore town while waiting.

These charging stations sit next to eight Tesla charging stations that were installed previously.

While the event was to highlight the electric highway, one resident approached the governor with a recent ruling impacting residential solar users.

Beatty resident Laura Cunningham attended the ribbon cutting and stood holding a small, hand-lettered sign that said, Why not net-metering rooftop solar?

My issue was that some of my friends who live in Las Vegas are saying the recent PUC decision on rooftop solar net-metering has been unfairly harsh on existing owners of rooftop arrays, and new prospective rooftop solar customers are getting scared away, Cunningham said.

She says that Sandoval seemed very sincere, and told her that it was originally his idea to introduce net-metering to Nevada.

He told me he had no influence over the PUC and its recent punitive decision. I told him that I was happy he formed a Clean Energy Task Force to try to address this controversy, and he said, Yes! I think he was glad someone recognized his efforts.

He shook my hand a second time and was quite polite about my little protest, she added.

Asked about his turning down a possible appointment to the Supreme Court, Sandoval said, I didnt have direct communication with the White House, but, for me, it was an honor to be mentioned. But given the current situation in Washington, I didnt think it was a good time.

While in Beatty, the governor visited with kindergartners and first graders at Beatty Elementary School and read to them to highlight Nevada Reading Week.

After the event, the governor drove away in an electric car owned by the state.
Pahrumps medical marijuana industry came through for a longtime Beatty High School program.

Close Up Washington D.C. is a high school program where selected students travel to the nations capital to witness firsthand, how government works.

Beatty counselor Teresa Sullivan said the program was initially funded by the Nye County Board of Commissioners, but those funds were allocated elsewhere due to the countys financial straits.

Most of these years the Nye County Board of Commissioners had given money to help the students cover the tuition costs, she said. However this year, since the Educational Endowment Fund had been abolished, it left a big hole for high school students because its cost is considerable. In this very small town, it is difficult to raise the amount of money that we are talking about.

As a result, Pahrumps M&M Development donated $3,000, while Nye County Consultants Association (NCCA), donated $5,000 in the joint effort.

Sullivan noted Nye County District 5 Commissioner Dan Schinhofen was able to hash out the agreement.

It was a very generous contribution from those two organizations and I would like to thank commissioner Schinhofen, who put forth the initiative to make this possible for close-up students.

Schinhofen noted he was not surprised by the contribution.

I know these guys want to be part of the community, he said. I think they will create a lot of jobs and a lot of revenue and a much-needed product for some people. So they didnt surprise me at all. I just think theyre going to really be a big benefit to the community.

During the trip, scheduled for later this month, students will visit monuments, memorials and various other institutions.

They will also have the opportunity to meet with the congressional delegation on Capitol Hill.

The school has participated in the program for the past 30 years.

We take students every two years, Sullivan said. The program is designed for grades 11 and 12. Its the students that sign up and do the work to earn the spot. That means putting in a deposit, doing fundraising and other community service endeavors. This year we are taking a fairly small group of 12 students. We are leaving on March 25th, so it will be over spring break.

Schinhofen, meanwhile, applauded the efforts of both companies.

He also said hes picked a brand new moniker.

Im just really, really happy that these guys stepped forward and I did not have to ask twice, he said. Im hearing through the grapevine that I am the unofficial pot commissioner. No one has really said it to my face yet. Over the years, I have championed many projects, including the fireworks issue, the raceway and roads. People like to put a tag on you and thats okay, it doesnt matter to me.

The commissioner also commented on this years ballot question pertaining to the legalization of recreational marijuana in Nevada.

If it does pass, I think the revenue is going to be absolutely outstanding, he said. All we have to do is look at Colorado and Washington state to see how well they are doing. We have 40 million-plus visitors in Las Vegas, so I dont see it being any more dangerous than alcohol. We just have to regulate it and anyone who is driving while they are high or drunk should be slammed. I think that it could be a good thing to have the recreational use of marijuana in the state of Nevada, but we have to put local regulations on it to make sure that our community is safe.

Contact reporter Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @pvtimes.com
WASHINGTON  The Justice Department will have to decide whether Hillary Clinton or any of her subordinates could face legal consequences for her use of a private email server, a decision whose timing is fraught with serious political repercussions.

Even though Attorney General Loretta Lynch has said there is no "artificial deadline" for concluding the investigation, the Obama administration is in the unenviable position of conducting an election-year probe that, no matter the outcome or reassurances to the contrary, will result in grievances about its impact on the presidential election.

One year ago, The Associated Press reported its discovery of Clinton's private email server, which she ran in the basement of her home in Chappaqua, New York, to use exclusively for her work-related emails while she was secretary of state. Clinton has emerged from the Super Tuesday primaries earlier this week as the presumptive Democratic nominee for the presidency.

Republican candidate Donald Trump has indicated he plans to target Clinton over the email investigations. Trump said Thursday he looked forward to running against Clinton, "assuming she's allowed to run, assuming she's not arrested for the email situation." He added, "Let's assume the Democrats will protect her."

The FBI for months has investigated whether sensitive information that flowed through Clinton's email server was mishandled. The State Department has acknowledged that some emails included classified information, including at the top-secret level, though Clinton has said she never sent or received anything that was marked classified at the time. The inspectors general at the State Department and the U.S. intelligence community are separately investigating whether rules or laws were broken.

"It will always be either too soon or too late," said Stephen Vladeck, an American University law professor and national security expert who has followed the case. "The best the Justice Department can do is try to accept that there will be political noise no matter what, and try to figure out what makes the most sense from their institutional perspective."

"Any political appointee is going to be sensitive to the electoral calendar," he added. "The fine line is between being sensitive and being beholden to it."

Lynch told the AP last month that the investigation involves career lawyers from the Justice Department and is being done independently and without regard for politics. She told Fox News this week that there was no "artificial deadline" for completing the investigation.

FBI Director James Comey declined to discuss the case with Congress during an appearance on Capitol Hill this week, saying only that he was very close personally to the matter "to ensure that we have the resources we need, including people and technology, and that it's done the way the FBI tries to do it all of its work: independently, competently and promptly."

The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the Justice Department has granted immunity to the staffer who set up the server, Bryan Pagliano, so that he would be willing to speak with investigators. A person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss an ongoing investigation, confirmed to the AP that Pagliano had been offered immunity "some time ago." Pagliano had previously asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination to refuse to answer questions from lawmakers investigating the server setup.

A spokesman for the Clinton campaign, Brian Fallon, said the campaign is pleased Pagliano is cooperating. Fallon said Clinton herself has offered to meet with investigators.

On Thursday, Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson, chairmen of the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committees, respectively, asked the Justice Department for a copy of the immunity agreement.

Also complicating the timing of any decision or public announcement is the chance that Clinton or her former top aides could be deposed by private lawyers in coming weeks. A federal judge last week opened the door to such depositions as part of a lawsuit by Judicial Watch, a conservative legal group. It's not clear what impact, if any, those interviews might have on the Justice Department investigation, but presumably federal agents would be interested in whatever Clinton or others say under oath.

There's no question there are obvious political sensitivities. Though it's extraordinary for a presidential candidate to be implicated in a federal investigation, there are instances of it happening to elected officials during campaigns.

The late Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska., was indicted on ethics violations months before the 2008 election and found guilty just days before Election Day. He lost the race, and the Justice Department ultimately moved to reverse the conviction amid revelations of withheld evidence.

Former District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray was identified in court as having knowledge of an "off-the-books" shadow campaign during a campaign finance plea hearing for a local businessman weeks before the 2014 mayoral primary. Gray lost the election, but prosecutors never charged him.

Then-Attorney General Eric Holder directed in 2012 that "politics must play no role" in investigations or criminal charges, and said prosecutors should not choreograph criminal charges or investigations for the purpose of affecting an election. There is no bright line, but investigators ideally will look to conclude an investigation well before Election Day over concerns that a signification action could sway the outcome or at least have that appearance, said Justin Shur, a former Justice Department public corruption prosecutor.

"There's a concern where you're going to take some investigative step and it's going to be reported on and it's going to get out in the public domain and it's going to have some impact on the election," Shur said.

While Lynch is technically correct there is no artificial deadline for resolving the Clinton investigation, Vladeck said the reality is more nuanced.

"That's not the same thing as saying that external factors aren't weighing in some of the calculus," he said.

___

Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP
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On Friday, Feb. 19, we learned Moodys has upgraded South Dakotas lease-revenue bond rating to Aa1. This is great news for South Dakota. Aa1 is the highest rating South Dakota can receive from Moodys. It is equivalent to the AAA rating we received from Standard & Poors last spring.

It took persistent effort for our state to earn this upgrade. Lt. Gov. Matt Michels and Jason Dilges, our states Chief Financial Officer, met four times with Moodys officials, in Pierre and in New York, to discuss South Dakotas rating. Following their first meeting in 2014, we adopted a number of new financial practices. These included annually issuing a debt affordability report, a long-term financial plan and a capital expenditure plan, to accompany the voters approval of a balanced budget amendment to our state constitution.

In large part, the upgrade is a result of our budgetary practices. In 2011 we dealt with a structural deficit without raising taxes or spending reserve funds. Each year thereafter, we have continued that stewardship by projecting our revenues and expenses with caution, so if we err, we err on the side of a surplus not a deficit. In 2014, after receiving an unexpected windfall, we used the money to retire bonds early and to pay cash for our new veterans home rather than borrowing.

These practices combined with high reserve levels, low debt and zero unfunded pension liability led Moodys to award South Dakota the highest credit rating.

This upgrade is not just a symbolic victory for South Dakota. There are tangible benefits flowing from an upgrade. Although our constitution prohibits debt, the South Dakota Building Authority and the vocational education program within the South Dakota Health Education Facilities Authority borrow to finance public construction projects like state park improvements and public university dormitories. The upgrades we have received from S&P and Moodys not only give the financial markets affirmation of our states exceptional credit worthiness, but also save substantial amounts in future interest payments. That means our AAA and Aa1 ratings will bring savings for universities, state parks and, ultimately, taxpayers.

As the nation and some states have experienced downgrades, South Dakotas rating increases are indications that were on the right track. We don't spend money we don't have. We keep our budget in structural balance. We are frugal and seize opportunities to spend in the short term where it can lead to savings, efficiencies or better government in the long term.

We work hard to keep our state on a firm financial footing, and this is just the latest example of how that stewardship is paying dividends.
Victims of Raspadskaya coal mine explosion demand millions of rubles in compensation

MOSCOW, March 4 (RAPSI, Diana Gutsul)  Victims in the criminal case, launched after explosion at the Raspadskaya coal mine in 2010, filed over hundred lawsuits each demanding more than one million rubles ($13,600), RAPSI learned in the Mezhdurechensky City Court of the Kemerovo Region on Friday.

On Thursday, the court ended preliminary hearings in the case against eight people who are allegedly responsible for the tragedy at the coal mine. Seven people, mostly former Raspadskaya company employees are accused of breaching mining safety protocols while former government technology and ecology inspector is accused of criminal negligence.

Explosion at the Raspadaskya coal mine happened on May 8, 2010 with subsequent explosions occurring next day. Tragedy left 91 miners dead and 133 wounded. Investigators found out that safety protocols on the mine have been systematically breached since 2007 and have been the prime reason behind the tragedy. Damage from the actions of the accused to the Raspadskaya company is estimated as two trillions of rubles ($27 billion). However, the company did not launch a lawsuit against the accused.
Cypriot company ordered to pay $ 27 million to Trust Bank

MOSCOW, March 4 (RAPSI)  The Moscow Commercial Court has granted a lawsuit filed by Trust Bank seeking to collect 1.996 billion rubles ($27 million) from Cyprus-based TIB Investments Limited, RAPSI reported from the courtroom on Friday.

However, a counterclaim by the Cyprus-based company demanding that the court declare the contracts void due to the allegedly deceptive nature of the transaction has been dismissed.

Trust Bank filed a lawsuit to recover debts under four deliverable forward contracts signed on September 23, 2009 as part of a general agreement on lending and foreign exchange contracts dated January 12, 2006. Initially, the bank demanded $71.5 million but later decreased the claim.

In 2015, Trust Bank filed over 20 claims against various offshore companies to collect more than 32 billion rubles ($433.5 million) and $94 million.

In October, the Moscow Commercial Court ordered another Cyprus-based firm Erinskay Investment Limited to pay Trust Bank $113.5 million.

Midsized lender Trust Bank reported losses of 18.8 billion rubles (about $255 million) in 2014 amid the financial crisis. As of December 1, 2014, its assets were estimated at over 290 billion rubles ($3.9 billion).

The Central Bank estimated that the banks debts exceeded the value of its assets by 67.8 billion rubles ($918 million).
Russian nationalist Potkin pleads not guilty to organizing extremist group

MOSCOW, March 4 (RAPSI)  Russian nationalist Alexander Potkin, also known as Alexander Belov, who stands accused of organizing an extremist movement using money embezzled from Kazakh BTA Bank, denied his guilt in court on Friday, RAPSI reports from the Meshchansky District Court of Moscow.

On Friday, the court opened hearings in the criminal case against Potkin over alleged embezzlement in the BTA Bank and organization of an extremist movement.

According to investigators, Mukhtar Ablyazov, former chairman of the bank, who wanted to destabilize the constitutional order in Kazakhstan, asked Potkin to help him with organizing an extremist group. Potkin allegedly agreed and used funds embezzled from BTA Bank to spread the nationalist ideology in Kazakhstan.

Belov was arrested on October 15, 2014 at the Hotel Intourist Kolomenskoe in Moscow on charges related to the embezzlement of $5 billion from BTA Bank. At the time of the arrest, Belov allegedly had documents on him that effectively tied him to the embezzlement.

Investigators believe that Belov (Potkin) was a mastermind in a money laundering operation in 2012-2014. He was also suspected of involvement in laundering money that was embezzled from BTA Bank by its former chairman Mukhtar Ablyazov.

Ablyazov, who allegedly defrauded BTA Bank of more than $6 billion, left Kazakhstan for the UK, where he was granted political asylum in 2011. However, he remained a fugitive from justice since February 2012.

Ablyazovs whereabouts remained unknown until he was detained on July 31, 2015 near Cannes, France. Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine are all seeking his extradition.

In October 2015, French authorities approved Ablyazovs extradition to Russia.
Big-game rifle season for deer and elk is heading into its fourth weekend in Montana.

I think for the most part the hunter success has been good. It seems that I have been receiving quite a few pictures of Montana youth, showing them bagging their first deer and elk.

Last week, Maddie Spear from Missoula got her first buck  she opted for the first one that she saw while hunting with her dad Marc. She is still looking for her bull elk.

A hunting buddy of mine, Scott Cole, and his daughter Natalia, who is 19, shot a couple of nice bucks in eastern Montana. They shot them 15 minutes apart from the same spot.

It is her best buck to date. She was on cloud nine I couldnt be more proud. It was a perfect day, said Scott, who calls Colstrip home.

First-time elk hunter Jordan Hershberger and experienced hunter Collin Griffiths from Missoula both shot their bull elk a couple of days apart in the same hunting area.

Griffiths, who shot his bull on Halloween, took Hershberger on his first elk hunt on Monday, Nov. 2. They walked a few miles during the morning and only spotted a cow elk or two. In the afternoon, they saw a nice 6x7 bull and, you guessed it, by 4 p.m. it was elk bull down!

There were a couple of hunters who bagged a couple of real nice mule deer, one in the Bitterroot and one up in the Hi-Line. Mark Meyers drew the coveted 261 mule deer tag and ended up sticking a mule deer that scored 190 with his bow. Kevin Hellegaard from Havre, hunting in Sheridan County up in the Hi-Line, shot a nice 6x6 muley buck.

***

The snow we received in western Montana last week made for perfect hunting conditions. Matt Ryan from Missoula took advantage of the snowy weather and bagged his first bull elk, a nice-looking 5 point.

Rebecca Doyle of Sula had this to say about her nephews, Louis and Douglas Beaver, and their hunting experience last week: My nephews were lucky enough to be asked to help the CB Ranch harvest some whitetail does. It was the youngest Beaver's first deer."

So as you might have guessed, hunting activity for young and old has been good. It should only get better, since the deer rut has just begun. You may view photos of all these successful hunters on montanaoutdoor.com.

Elk and white-tailed deer harvest is up and mule deer harvest is lower than last year after the first two weeks of the general big-game hunting season in west-central Montana.

The harvest of 218 elk through the Anaconda, Bonner and Darby check stations compares to 155 at this point last year. The harvest of 211 white-tailed deer is the highest week two tally since 2008, while the mule deer harvest is lower than in any season since before 1997.

Southwest Montana received up to 24 inches of snow late last week, according to Bob Culp from Frenchtown, who hunts out of Lima every year.

Because of recent heavy snows, state wildlife officials closed Deckard Flats near Gardiner to elk hunting at one-half hour after sunset, effective Friday, Nov. 6. The closure is aimed at protecting elk migrating from Yellowstone National Park to winter range in Montana.

Deckard Flats is part of an important migratory corridor for this elk population. When elk move en masse through this area, they are more vulnerable to harvest due to open terrain and easy access.

The objective of this closure is to moderate the elk harvest by providing additional security to elk during their migration, said Howard Burt, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks wildlife manager in Bozeman.

***

Mark Wards statewide Montana Outdoor Radio Show airs Saturdays from 6 to 8 a.m. in Missoula on KGVO 1290 AM and 101.5 FM. Email Ward at captain@montanaoutdoor.com.
For the second time a little more than a week, a public body in Darby will host a special meeting to discuss a planned presentation on Islam by a longtime University of Montana professor.

The Darby School Board will hold a special board meeting Monday, March 7 at 6 p.m. in the high school library to talk about a plan to host UM Professor Samir Bitar on March 9.

Bitar is the featured Humanities Montana speaker at the Darby Community Librarys Life-Long Learning Series on the same night.

The school district plans to have Bitar speak to high school social studies classes earlier in the day.

Last week, the library board held a special meeting about Bitars presentation after receiving about seven written complaints and some calls of opposition. After taking public comment, the library board voted to move forward with the presentation.

Darby School Superintendent Loyd Rennaker said some school board members have heard the same type of complaints and decided to allow the community a chance to voice its concerns or support.

Students are already required to have a permission slip signed by their parents or guardians to attend the class.

We saw the potential for controversy so we gave parents the opportunity to make the decision for their children, Rennaker said.

Bitar is a professor of Arabic languages and cultures at the University of Montana. A native Palestinian, Bitar moved to Montana when he was 16. He has been teaching at UM since 1999. He has a masters degree in linguistics, teaching methods and cultural geography. Bitar has trained members of the Montana National Guard in essential Arabic language and culture.

His talk at the library is titled Perspectives on Islam.

An informational blurb about the talk says: Life in Muslim societies is an intersection of religious, social, cultural, and political realities. Thus, for one to develop a well-rounded understanding of Muslims, their perspectives and aspirations, one must look at all the dimensions of Muslim life.

Bitar uses literature, film and other resources to familiarize audiences with the heritage of Islamic civilizations and the religion of Islam.

As the founder of UMs Arabic Program, Bitar said hes dedicated his life to being a lifelong learner and, more importantly, to passing on knowledge to others.

Bitar said people should come hear his presentation for information.

First of all, our current environment in the United States at large is, in an indirect way, asking us Americans to look at this issue to become informed, Bitar said. We live in a democratic pluralistic system and we all have to be active in order for it to work. In order for us to be active and participate, because democracy is a process, we have to participate to preserve our way of life. In order for us to be able to do that and contribute, we have to be informed.

Bitar said when people formulate opinions, those should be based on real, factual data.

No one can simply look the other way, it affects our daily life as Americans, and I believe education is important for every society, Bitar said. I wish to give back to Montana, my home. We have to overcome fear with love and we do that with knowledge because knowledge is light. Only light can overcome darkness. With love, we can obtain the highest in human existence.

I love teaching, he said. I love what I do.

Darby Community Public Library Director Wendy Campbell said Bitar will provide a unique educational opportunity.

The community program at the library begins at 6 p.m. It is free and open to the public. Partial funding for the program comes from a legislative grant from the Montana Cultural Trust and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Michelle McConnaha contributed to this report.
Here is my lesson plan for my first lesson in Math 30-1 on Permutations and Combinations. Which covers the outcome: Apply the fundamental co...
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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.
A personal blog by a graying (mostly Anglo with light African-American roots) gay leftist leaning liberal progressive married college-educated Buddhist Baha'i BBC/NPR-listening Professor Emeritus now following the Dharma from California to Minas Gerais, Brasil.
Experience suggests that Washington often says one thing and does another, using beautiful concepts as their brand of bullying and forcefully reshaping the meaning of those concepts. For example, Washington often talks about "rules," but the world has seen the US consistently commit the most brutal violations of the rules on which the United Nations system is based. The rules they talk about are actually a framework for protecting the interests of the US and its major allies. They are also a behavioral norm to force other countries to maximize those interests.
In depth and mini reviews of movies with a sprinkling of nostalgia and film music musings.
An Appeal to Democratic Citizens and Organisations of India [PADS - 4 March 2016, pdf version] by Peoples Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (4 March 2016)

FULL TEXT:

Peoples Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS)

An Appeal to Democratic Citizens and Organisations of India

Democracy in India is facing a grave threat. The BJP government and organisations allied with it are violating every principle of constitutional democracy. Their strategy is to keep society on a boil through a continuous barrage of fake allegations and vilification campaigns against selected targets, and create an atmosphere of suspicion, hatred, fear and widespread violence.

Their assault on the Indian constitution is at three levels:

Public discourse is constantly poisoned with communal propaganda. Ministers, MPs and MLAs of the BJP make open threats against Indian Muslims. The latest piece of poison is jingoistic nationalism and the branding of all opponents of the RSS as traitors to the nation.

The BJP/RSS is willfully degrading constitutional institutions and democratic norms. After the tragic suicide of Rohith Vemula, a scholar of Hyderabad Central University, due to institutionalised victimization, state intelligence agencies have been asked to prove that Rohit was not a dalit. The Delhi police have foisted cases of sedition on elected student representatives of JNU on what appear to be trumped up charges. Muscle-men in lawyeras robes have brazenly attacked journalists and other citizens in full public view, and assaulted the JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar inside court premises whilst policemen watched. Some of the attackers are known for their proximity to the Union Home Minister, who has been exposed using fake tweets to associate student activists with terrorists.

The family of Hindutva organizations is assaulting democracy via the open use of violence against convenient targets. It is doing so under state protection, which is now being extended to controlled mobs organised by the ruling dispensation. Students and teachers of one of an internationally respected central university have been physically assaulted by a mob of lawyers. Similar assaults have taken place in other cities. In Chhatisgarh, activists such as Soni Sori have been physically attacked. Members of the Jagdalpur Legal Aid team, who work on protecting Adivasis from illegal detention, have been forced to wind up.

The BJP government and media houses pliant with the RSS have declared an open war on all democratic voices in the country. Besides religious minorities, new social groups have been added to their list of targets. Students and universities are under attack; their right to mobilise against state policies, and debate issues of mass concern are under threat. Radical Dalit groups who refuse to conform to aggressive Hindutva ideology are under vicious assault. Democratic-minded intelligentsia are under threat to prove their patriotism.

All people and organisations who support democracy need to co-operate in the struggle against the diabolical plans and practices of the RSS-led Modi government. We must understand what we are faced with. Fascism has always been based upon a degree of mass support. In the 2014 elections Mr Modi managed to convince a significant number of youth and disaffected sections with his promise of prosperity. Now that the economy is faltering, the countryside ravaged with years of neglect and drought, and there are no signs of the millions of promised jobs, the RSS aparivara is resorting to its familiar dirty tricks, and doing so with full state support. Their plan is to isolate religious minorities, radicalised Dalits, and liberal and progressive elements of workers, youth and the middle classes.

The mobilisations against Hindutva have to be broad based. Democratic principles that emphasise citizenship rights of all Indians have to be publicised far and wide. Apart from those directly affected by the RSS campaigns of vilification and violence, it should also include broader masses who suffer from economic deprivation and social oppression.

Democratic forces need to ensure that the agenda of public discourse and action is not set by the RSS. Their authoritarian agenda for the Indian people must be exposed politically. Hindutva is driven by prejudice against Dalits and affirmative action. Its aggressive and homogenized Hindu identity is also directed against Adivasis, whom it insists on naming vanvasis (forest dwellers). It is also directed against those Dalits who want to establish a cultural identity outside the caste system.

Neo-liberal economics and politics have benefitted small section of Indians, while disempowering and pauperising masses of ordinary citizens. Indiaas economic agenda should be determined by the problems faced by Indian masses, not by the hate-filled and divisive politics of the RSS.

Democratic forces should try to transform the current crisis in Indian democracy into an opportunity. Popular democratic consciousness is the only permanent antidote to fascist politics. This consciousness should include an appreciation of the fundamental rights of every citizen, recognition of the oppressive practices of the Indian state in J&K and the North-East, and an awareness of the injustice and oppression prevalent in our society. No citizen or community can claim rights only for themselves, and remain indifferent to, or violate the rights of others.

PADS appeals to all democratic citizens, student bodies, womenas rights groups and organisations of laboring people in India to come together for a principled fight against the RSS/BJP government. Above all they must be alert to the constant threat of communal violence and do their best to counter communal propaganda, be it in the name of any religion or community whatsoever. [Released on 4 March 2016]

Email: info-pads@lycos.com

Telephone contact: Srinivas Rao 09393875195
The festivities organized on Sunday by the Polisario in the Tindouf camps on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the establishment by the Algerian and Libyan regimes of the ghostly Sahrawi republic SADR were suddenly disrupted by a violent sand storm that swept away tents and galleries erected to host the separatists guests.

The fronts leaders, supporters and guests have had no choice but to pack and seek refuge elsewhere.

After the floods that devastated the Tindouf camps in October 2015, natures elements are raging again against the Polisario leaders, who seek, with the support of their Algerian mentors, to balkanize Morocco at all costs.

In another development, a distant appeal coming from Latin America, and more precisely from Argentina, called on the international community to dismantle illico-presto the Polisarios chimeric institutions and camps.

The call relayed by the news agency Total News pointed out that the camps host a group of terrorists and drug traffickers who operate in the Sahel-Sahara region, threatening the stability of the entire region.

In a long article entitled a lawless area, the Argentine news agency gives evidence of the collusion between the Polisario mercenaries and Latin American drug traffickers, their connections with jihadists and their documented involvement in cases of extortion and kidnapping of humanitarian workers and Western countries nationals.

This is the case, among others, of three aid workers, two Spanish and an Italian who were kidnapped in the Rabouni camp in southwestern Algeria on October 23, 2011 and handed over to AQIM in northern Mali, with the complicity of militias of the Polisario and the Algerian army that controls the Algerian Sahara.

For Total News, its time to dismantle the Polisario and the Tindouf camps which are a breeding ground for organized crime and jihadist terrorism and a real matrix of all kinds of crimes, a move that will free the thousands of Sahrawi civilians held as hostage for over forty years.
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Mar-04-2016 08:39 TweetFollow @OregonNews High-Ranking Israeli Delegation Reported to be in Riyadh Americans have abandoned the [Middle-East] region, thus the Saudis seek Israeli help and cooperation... - Tzvi Yechezkeli, Israeli expert on Arab and Middle-East affairs

Photo of Tzvi Yechezkeli courtesy: voiceofisrael.com

(SALEM, Ore.) - According to the Israel-based Rotter website, a senior Israeli delegation visited the Saudi capital of Riyadh in recent weeks to confer with Saudi leadership over regional developments. Yesterday, In spite of Israeli Military Censor's explicit proscription, Israeli Channel 10 reported the details of a clandestine visit made by a leading Israeli delegation to KSA, discussing the close relationship between Tel Aviv and Riyadh. Tzvi Yechezkeli, an Israeli expert on Arab and Middle-East affairs, offered no details on the alleged visit, saying: due to the strict measures instructed by Israeli Military Censor, further details shall remain shrouded in secrecy. "For decades, oil-rich Saudi Arabia sought to conceal its surreptitious links with Israel, though this age-old approach changed with King Salman's ascension to the throne along with ambitious princes who don't regard overt ties with Israel as a source of embarrassment". Yechezkeli added that the Palestinian issue has been pushed to the sidelines and Saudis are eager to boost mutual ties with Israel, Americans have abandoned the [Middle-East] region, thus the Saudis seek Israeli help and cooperation on issues related to Iran and this evidently bolstered their relationship. The political landscape of the Middle-East is rapidly re-shaping as hundreds of Saudi-backed rebels flee to Turkish, Jordanian and Lebanese borders as the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) continues making fresh gains in strategic areas, along with a new powerful pro-Hezbollah alliance developed recently in neighbouring Lebanon. Syrian peace talks and a spectrum of stability in the region faced Israel with the nightmare of a strong Syria and recurring axis of resistance in the international arena. Political spectators believe the increasing international isolation is the common factor, drawing Riyadh to Tel Aviv and vice versa, hence the timing of recent Israeli visit was primarily used by Saudis to cancel their military aid to Lebanon, inflaming the southern front in Syria and a new media campaign against Hezbollah. _________________________________________

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Articles for March 4, 2016 |
Jordanian Regime Gives Heavy Jail Sentences to Dissidents

Jordan insists that it punished those responsible for mistreating and murdering detainees while in custody, but Amnesty International says otherwise.



Courtesy: mideast.liveuamap.com



(SALEM, Ore.) - Amnesty International's annual report strongly criticizes the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan for cracking down on freedom of speech, restricting political parties and opposition activists, and a continued pattern of violating basic human rights.

According to Administrative Detention Law, the regime in Amman has arbitrary arrested and tortured hundreds of its citizens.

The UN Committee against Torture recently expressed in a report its grave concern over the practice of torture in Jordan against the defendants, committed by the General Intelligence Department (GID) or the regime's notorious security apparatus, knows as Darak.

The Jordanian regime insists that it has punished those security forces responsible for myriad cases of mistreating and murdering detainees while in custody, though Amnesty International reiterates that the Jordanian courts lack the legal legitimacy to function.

Meanwhile, discriminatory laws restricting women's social and legal rights, prevalent sexual abuse and other sorts of social inequality and bias have now become the focal center for international campaigns against the ruling regime in Jordan.

Deporting vulnerable Syrian refugees to their war-ravaged countrywhich is considered an evident violation of international laws has jeopardized the lives of tens of thousands of destitute refugees fleeing the war in Syria.

Jordan's legislature body also ratified controversial bills that can legalize the systematic persecution of political opponents. Jordan's "Anti-Terrorism Law of Year 2006 has criminalized any criticism of a foreign country which might damage Amman's relations with that specific country. The regime also prevents the people from organizing peaceful demonstrations and deals with draconian measures those who dare to undermine the monarch, Abdullah II.

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Mar-04-2016 15:05 TweetFollow @OregonNews HB 4040 Delists Wolves as Positive Action for Ranchers, Wolves and Oregon The outcome of this bill gives additional support for the Oregon Wolf Plan that was previously agreed on by multiple stakeholders.

Sen. Hansell, Jerome Rosa, Rep. Barreto

(SALEM, Ore.) - After months of hard work, long conversations and countless meetings, HB 4040 passed the senate on a 17-11 vote Wednesday evening. This bill, sponsored by Representative Barreto, gives support to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and their decision to delist the wolf. All that remains is for Governor Kate Brown to give final approval. The Oregon Cattlemen's Association have been huge supporters of the bill and are satisfied with its outcome. Rocky Dallum, political advocate for the association, said, "Legislators on both sides of the aisle put significant effort into ensuring that the Legislature weighed in on an issue that may not affect a wide majority of Oregonians." He commended Oregon ranchers for their input on the bill saying, "OCA members drove thousands of miles this month to speak with legislators about this bill and put in countless calls and emails." Todd Nash, a rancher from Wallowa County and Wolf Committee Chair for the OCA, is one of many ranchers who has dedicated significant time and resources to telling the story of wolves' effect on the Oregon rancher. "This is a win for all of Oregon that believe in the public process," he said. "I'm proud of everyone involved, moving away from court decisions and into public forum is a positive step forward." "The Legislature's support for ODFW's delisting decision reduces the risk that special interest groups can use the threat of expensive court cases to force ODFW into changing the wolf plan without involving all stakeholders," Dallum said. Jerome Rosa, executive director for the Oregon Cattlemen's Association, feels the passing of the bill was made possible by multiple parties. "We would like to thank Rocky Dallum for his outstanding endeavors regarding HB 4040. We would also like to thank Rep. Barreto, Sen. Hansell and Sen. Ferrioli for their dedication to this bill and also thank our OCA members for their contributions that helped this bill pass," he said. HB 4040 does not change the Oregon Wolf Plan, but it does help clear the path for it to play out as it was intended. Evidence of the plan working can be seen in the recent ODFW report that states Oregon's wolf population increased 36 percent in 2015. Nash sees the passing of HB 4040 as positive progress. "This was a small step forward toward getting us to a place where all of Oregon can live with wolves." The Oregon Cattlemen's Association was founded in 1913 and works to promote environmentally and socially sound industry practices, improve and strengthen the economics of the industry, and protect its industry communities and private property rights. _________________________________________

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Articles for March 4, 2016 |
We hope you are having a great holiday season. As the year winds down, take a few minutes to go through this gallery of the top 2016 stories f
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Bon Bon Bon turns 2 years old this summer, and the maker of delicious chocolate snacks has become so successful in such a short time that it has to limit the ways people can give it money."We can't meet demand for our products," says Alexandra Clark, founding chocolateer of Bon Bon Bon . "We limited the ways people could get our product. We only sell them through retail."Thats about to change now that the Hamtramck-based company is moving into a newer, bigger home on Jos. Campau, the citys main drag. The new location will provide Bon Bon Bon with a retail space and a large production area with enough space for future growth."We definitely needed more space and we definitely weren't leaving Hamtramck," Clark says.Bon Bon Bon purchased the building at 11360 Jos Campau earlier this year. It came with 3,000 square feet of commercial space -- six times bigger than its old home -- on the first floor. There is also residential space on the second floor and more space further into the bowels of the building."Downstairs will be our full production space," Clark says. "There is also a basement we can expand into."Bon Bon Bon has grown into a staff of 10 people in the nearly two years since its founding. About half of that staff works on a full-time basis, while the rest is part-time. That workforce has allowed Bon Bon Bon to double is sales over the last year. Clark expects production to pick up now what she has the room to grow."Hopefully this is something that can house us for a very long time," Clark says.Source: Alexandra Clark, founding chocolateer of Bon Bon BonWriter Jon Zemke
Detroit entrepreneurs and commercial property owners are once again being encouraged to apply for the city's Motor City Match program. Applications are open for submission March 1-April 1. It's the third round of the program intended to stimulate Detroit's commercial corridors.There are four major award categories for which business and property owners can apply for a share of $500,000 in grant funding. Each category is designed for business and property owners at different levels of building a business.The first category is for business plans, which Motor City Match will help entrepreneurs develop.The second category seeks to match commercial property owners with business tenants. Buildings must be in good shape and entrepreneurs must have quality business plans or successful track records.The third category will award architectural design assistance, construction documents, and priority permitting to business and building owners with recently signed leases.The fourth and final category is for those with signed leases, quality business plans, and bids for building out the space, but who still have to bridge a financial gap. This category awards cash to such applicants.Motor City Match was launched by Mayor Mike Duggan and the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation in 2015. Roderick Miller, CEO of the DEGC, says in a statement, "After two rounds of Motor City Match awardees, it's clear this program is making an impact in Detroit. From restaurants and retail establishments to service companies and even manufacturing, Motor City Match is growing neighborhood small businesses across the city."According to officials, the Motor City Mach program has invested $1 million in 20 businesses to date, leveraging an additional $6 million in public and private investment. Motor City Match also points out that 70 percent of the 196 businesses and property owners that have received support are minority owned. Furthermore, two-thirds are from Detroit and half are minority woman-owned businesses.Visit motorcitymatch.com for details on how to apply.Disclosure: Model D receives support from Motor City Match to tell stories of small business development in the city's neighborhoods.
 Why I am tempted now to call two federal judges who were formerly federal public defenders "front-runners" for a SCOTUS nomination | Main | "The Absence of Equality and Human Dignity Values Makes American Sentencing Systems Fundamentally Different from Those in Other Western Countries" 

March 3, 2016

Florida legislature completes Hurst "fix" for its capital punishment procedures

As reported in this AP piece, the "Florida Legislature on Thursday sent to Gov. Rick Scott a bill that would require that at least 10 out of 12 jurors recommend execution in order for it be carried out." Here is more:

Florida previously only required that a majority of jurors recommend a death sentence. Scott has not said if he will sign the measure but he has supported Florida's use of the death penalty since he became governor. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in January that the current law is unconstitutional because it allows judges to reach a different decision than juries, which have only an advisory role in recommending death. The state Supreme Court halted two pending executions following the ruling, and court cases across the state had been put on hold. Legislators were initially divided over whether they should require a unanimous jury recommendation in death penalty cases. Florida is one of only a handful of states that does not require a unanimous decision by the jury . State senators agreed to switch to 10 jurors as part of a compromise with the House, but some legislators have warned that the decision could result in the law being challenged once again. The bill sent to Scott does not apply to the 389 inmates now sitting on Florida's death row. The state Supreme Court has been asked to decide whether the U.S. Supreme Court ruling should apply to those already sentenced to death.

It is an absolute certainty, not just a possibility, that Florida's new capital sentencing procedure will be "challenged once again," which is why I put the term "fix" in quotes in the title of this post. Indeed, given the need now to sort through the impact of Hurst (1) on the "389 inmates now sitting on Florida's death row" and (2) on Florida's (many) pending capital cases based on crimes committed before this new law was passed, and (3) on any future capital cases that apply this new law, I kind of feel bad for all the Floridian capital case prosecutors and defense attorneys who will likely not have much of an opportunity to work on their Florida tans for quite some time.

March 3, 2016 at 05:43 PM | Permalink

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 "The Absence of Equality and Human Dignity Values Makes American Sentencing Systems Fundamentally Different from Those in Other Western Countries" | Main | "From Mass Incarceration to Mass Control, and Back Again: How Bipartisan Criminal Justice Reform May Lead to a For-Profit Nightmare" 

March 4, 2016

Post-Hurst hydra takes big bite into some capital cases in Alabama

Regularly readers are perhaps now tired of hearing me use the term "post-Hurst hydra" (and what I still think is a cool image) to describe the litigation in various courts in various states as judges sort ought what Supreme Court ruling in Hurst v. Florida must mean for past, present and future capital cases. But that hydra keep rearing its head, and yesterday it took a big bite in Alabama as reported in this local article:

A Jefferson County judge Thursday morning ruled that Alabama's capital murder sentencing scheme, which allows judges to override jury recommendations of life without parole and instead impose the death penalty, is unconstitutional. In making her ruling after a hearing, Jefferson County Circuit Judge Tracie Todd barred the death penalty in the cases of four men charged in three murders. "The Alabama capital sentencing scheme fails to provide special procedural safeguards to minimize the obvious influence of partisan politics or the potential for unlawful bias in the judiciary," Todd said in reading her written ruling from the bench. "As a result, the death penalty in Alabama is being imposed in a "wholly arbitrary and capricious" manner." The result of Todd's order is that the judge won't allow the death penalty to be imposed in the cases before her. But attorneys present at the hearing said it would be up to other judges whether to follow her example. But Todd said her ruling likely will be appealed by prosecutors. If an appellate court were to uphold her ruling, then it would become a precedent and apply to cases around the state, attorneys said. "Judge Todd's ruling today is not a general pronouncement for the State of Alabama, but is strictly limited to the four cases upon which she ruled in the Jefferson County Circuit Court," Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange said Thursday afternoon. "Alabama's capital sentencing statutes are constitutional. Just yesterday the Alabama Supreme Court denied the appeal of a capital murder defendant who had filed a similar pre-trial motion, and the Court refused to declare Alabama's capital statute's unconstitutional. We are currently reviewing the Judge's written order, and expect to file an appeal. We fully expect today's ruling by Judge Todd to be reversed."

As this press account of the trial court ruling highlights, the decision by Judge Todd covers a lot more ground than just the application of the SCOTUS Hurst opinion in Alabama. The opinion is available at this link, and all persons concerned about the death penalty ought to read it in full. Toward the end of the extended opinion, the judge discusses Hurst and seems to rest her decision in large part on its Sixth Amendment holding. But she also discusses a number of other issues surrounding Alabama's capital sentencing scheme, and it is actually hard for me to assess whether the interplay of concerns discussed in this opinion may make it more or less likely to be reversed on appeal.

March 4, 2016 at 08:33 AM | Permalink

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Thanks for the update. I think your metaphor of the mult-head hydra is an understatement when it comes to describing the fallout from Hurst. I think a better analogy is pulling back the curtain on the Wizard of Oz and exposing the mere humanity of the all powerful wizard, with his human warts and flaws exposed.

bruce

Posted by: bruce cunningham | Mar 6, 2016 10:52:57 AM

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 Indiana county prosecutor seeks re-election by bragging about "proudly over-crowding our prisons" | Main | Florida legislature completes Hurst "fix" for its capital punishment procedures 

March 3, 2016

Why I am tempted now to call two federal judges who were formerly federal public defenders "front-runners" for a SCOTUS nomination

In this post two weeks ago, I sort-of started complaining about Prez Obama taking "so long" to name a SCOTUS replacement for the late Justice Antonin Scalia, but then I speculated that the Prez was waiting for some political developments and just the right political moment to name just the right nominee. In the wake of this week's political events (aka Super Tuesday and its aftermath), and also the big Supreme Court argument about abortion rights (How Appealing coverage here), I think the time is now becoming right for Prez Obama to name one of the two former federal public defenders who are now federal judges that I have previously discussed in this space: Eighth Circuit Judge Jane Kelly or DC District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Notably, this new New York Times piece reports that Judge Kelly is being vetted by the White House, and this National Law Journal story from last week reported that Judge Brown Jackson was also being vetted. Of course, last week around this time we heard from the White House that Nevada Gov Brian Sandoval was being vetted, and that ultimately proved to be something of non-starter (or perhaps even a head-fake). But this time around, I believe talk of vetting these judges is serious, and I especially think Prez Obama may be strongly drawn to both of these potential nominees because (1) they both served as federal public defenders, and Prez Obama has said he wants criminal justice reform as part of his legacy, and (2) they have both recently received unanimous support during prior confirmation hearings and had a notable GOP leader expressing strong support for them.

Though I know I am biased here because of my interest in criminal justice reform and lots of time spent with public defenders, I read Prez Obama's recent SCOTUSblog posting as something of a signal that he may be interested in appointing someone who had represented the poor or otherwise disadvantaged. Specifically, Prez Obama said that, in addition to seeking to appoint someone "eminently qualified," he wanted (with my emphasis added):

[S]omeone who recognizes the limits of the judiciarys role; who understands that a judges job is to interpret the law, not make the law. I seek judges who approach decisions without any particular ideology or agenda, but rather a commitment to impartial justice, a respect for precedent, and a determination to faithfully apply the law to the facts at hand.... [And] the third quality I seek in a judge is a keen understanding that justice is not about abstract legal theory, nor some footnote in a dusty casebook. Its the kind of life experience earned outside the classroom and the courtroom; experience that suggests he or she views the law not only as an intellectual exercise, but also grasps the way it affects the daily reality of peoples lives in a big, complicated democracy, and in rapidly changing times. That, I believe, is an essential element for arriving at just decisions and fair outcomes.

Of course, one can readily say that a person with impressive credentials who had once served as a state or federal prosecutor or Justice Department official would have a commitment to impartial justice and a keen understanding that justice is not about abstract legal theory. But, critically for purposes of my theory that Prez Obama will be drawn to appoint a former federal public defender like Eighth Circuit Judge Jane Kelly or DC District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the last four SCOTUS appointments were all impressively credentialed individuals who had served as a state or federal prosecutor or Justice Department official. Specifically, Chief Justice Roberts had worked for DOJ, Justice Alito had been US Attorney for New Jersey, Justice Sotomayor was a New York state prosecutor, and Justice Kagan was Solicitor General. Prez Obama may think, and he certainly could make the case, that SCOTUS now has plenty of Justices who know what it is like to be a "real world" lawyer making arguments on behalf of the government, but it would benefit now from having a "real world" lawyer who worked on behalf of the poorest individuals making arguments against the federal government.

I could go on and on about why I think a (post-Baby Boomer) female nominee would be an especially shrewd choice right now when the Democrats appear poised to nominate the first female candidate for Prez (who is a Baby-Boomer) and the GOP has a whole lot of males of all ages yelling at each other about who is best to "beat" that female candidate. But what I think make these two Judges especially appealing is the unanimous support they received from the Senate when their prior nominations were considered. That unanimous support would enable Prez Obama to say forcefully that GOP leaders in the Senate ought to at least have the courtesy to meet with the nominee and hold a hearing as part of their "advise and consent" responsibilities. I am not confident that GOP leaders will extend that courtesy in this political environment, but the unfairness of being unwilling to do so will be extra stark when they are shutting out someone unanimously approved in the past.

One last self-serving nugget of sentencing fun here: I suspect recent federal public defenders, and perhaps only federal public defenders, could honestly say that a few legendary criminal justice opinions authored by Justice Scalia, opinions like Kyllo v. United States, Crawford v. Washington, Blakely v. Washington, and Johnson v. United States, are among their all-time favorite.

Thought, dear readers, on my latest SCOTUS musings?

Prior related posts on new SCOTUS nominee possibilities:

March 3, 2016 at 03:36 PM | Permalink

Comments

Spring Training began. Time for Obama to nominate someone.

Judge Jane Kelly would be my choice.

Posted by: Joe | Mar 3, 2016 4:20:05 PM

Three cheers for Federal Public Defenders! The lawyer in Kyllo was Ken Lerner, a former federal public defender. The lawyers in Johnson were federal public defenders. Your truly was a federal public defender in three different jurisdictions! Doug, either of the two former defenders being vetted would make a superb justice. Go Obama!!

Posted by: Michael R. Levine | Mar 3, 2016 4:47:45 PM

Federal public defenders rock!

Posted by: observer | Mar 3, 2016 4:50:54 PM

I'm never a fan of nominating District Court Judges directly, so Judge Kelly would be my preference (although it would be a stronger argument if Judge Kelly had gone to District Court first). I think the President could get some public support through her story. I don't know her voting record, but her Circuit isn't overly liberal and isn't noteworthy for being reversed often. She graduated Harvard (her classmate might cause some controversy, though).

Posted by: Erik M | Mar 3, 2016 5:38:37 PM

"her classmate might cause some controversy, though"

that guy is always getting in trouble

Posted by: Joe | Mar 3, 2016 7:37:25 PM

If not a former federal public defender then at least a jury trial lawyer. Of the 8 now, all are Harvard and Yale and none have ever visited a jail.

Posted by: Liberty1st | Mar 4, 2016 5:30:10 PM

The 8th Circuit judge would be very good. I hope she did not go to Harvard or Yale though.

Posted by: BarkinDog | Mar 7, 2016 9:33:17 AM

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This well-established Blog is worth visiting on a regular basis for a wealth of information of interest to Armenian nationals and to the Armenian Diaspora world-wide. Although it has a particular role in promoting international recognition of the Genocide, the Blog encompasses much more and includes many articles of general appeal to all those concerned with Armenian affairs. Much of the content is difficult or impossible to find elsewhere and the long list of links provided gives easy access to a plethora of material on social, political, religious, educational and cultural matters, and many news items from around the world.




Here we discuss sex and politics, loudly, no apologies hence "screeds" and "attitude."


I'm never fully on board with productions of Shakespeare that offer little in the way of visual or conceptual updates to The Bard's 400-year-old dialogue and poetry  much like I have no patience with the strict constructionist argument regarding the U.S. Constitution, I feel like the texts deserve, and at this point demand, some liberal interpretation. Certainly, directors can get too creative with their staging, casting, and costuming whims  an all-female production of Twelfth Night at CalShakes last year which, bizarrely, kept a coffin on stage through the entire comedy, was a prime example of such forced, poor choices. That caveat aside, director Daniel Sullivan's latest take on Macbeth, one of the most sinister and bloody of Shakespeare's tragedies, does well to remind us of the pre-Christian, pagan traditions that color the legend of the mostly fictional Scottish king, and does so with some cool modern projection techniques. But by far the reason to see this production at Berkeley Rep is star Frances McDormand as Lady Macbeth, in her first major role on a prominent Bay Area stage in recent memory.

McDormand's Lady Macbeth is as ruthless, driven, and cruelly complicit in her husband's murders as other Lady Macbeths I've seen, but also a far more nervous, regretful, and human one too. And while Game of Thrones cast member Conleth Hill gives an admirably bold and convincing performance in the title role, he seems at times to be acting in a different play altogether  taking seriously his role as Shakespearean Actor Playing Macbeth while McDormand comes at her character with fresh eyes, and all of the subtlety and empathy we've come to know from her film work.

Other performances too, including a fine one by Korey Jackson as Macduff, and local actor James Carpenter doing his typically kingly best as Duncan (as well as two other roles) are praiseworthy but still can not match the artistry that McDormand brings to the stage, leaving me to feel, at times, like I was watching her in one play, and everyone else in another, fairly traditional version of Macbeth.

Elements like some inelegant sword fighting, and all-too-expected period costumes add to the sense that Sullivan was aiming too squarely at historic authenticity, while the aforementioned projections by lighting designer Pat Collins with video by Alexander V. Nichols, and the set by Douglas W. Schmidt, brought the piece to life in many moments that felt more modern, and inspired. The costume choices for the three witches (one of whom is played by McDormand) by designer Meg Neville were also original and leant a Sendak-ian whimsy to these dark female presences.

Sullivan's direction of the witches, too, feels like the most original element of the piece  hint, there is no cauldron, and there are no brooms. As McDormand and the other two actors playing witches, Mia Tagano and Rami Margron, discuss in the video below, they approached the characters as pagan women who were, in their own way, rebelling against the patriarchal forces around them.

Traditionalists will likely find nothing wrong with any of it, I'd guess, and the thrill and pleasure of seeing McDormand live on stage in such a canonical role is enough of a reason to buy a ticket for sure. It's just one of those times when you wish that you could see an actor of her talent deliver a great performance within a production commensurate with that greatness, which this isn't quite. But it is damn good.

Macbeth plays through April 10 at Berkeley Rep. Find some limited remaining tickets here, and if you are under the age of 30, be sure to get their half-price discount.
California's favorite fast food joint just got a little more Californian. In-N-Out Burger announced that the company will be moving away from serving meat raised on antibiotics at its more than 300 locations. While In-N-Out has yet to confirm the date by which it intends to have completely phased out antibiotic-laden beef, consumer safety groups are excited nonetheless.

For years antibiotics have been used in the raising of livestock as a means to speed up weight gain and in a preventative attempt to fend off bacterial infections. One of the major problems being, of course, that many of the same antibiotics are depended upon by humans to fend off disease. The heavy use in livestock leads to the development of antibiotic-resistant strands of bacteria.

In a statement reported by Reuters, Vice President of Quality Keith Brazeau spoke to the company's intentions.

"Our company is committed to beef that is not raised with antibiotics important to human medicine," noted Brazeau, "and we've asked our suppliers to accelerate their progress towards establishing antibiotic alternatives."

Reuters further notes that in ditching meat raised with antibiotics, In-N-Out would be catching up to other chains such as Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc, Panera Bread Co and Shake Shack Inc. For public health advocate Jason Pfeifle of consumer advocate group CALPIRG, the announcement couldn't come soon enough.

"It's time for the company to set a strong antibiotics policy that will help push the meat industry to do the right thing for public health," Pfeifle told Reuters.

The burger joint opened its first location in Southern California in 1948, and that Baldwin Park spot was (legend has it) California's first drive-through burger stand.

Related: We'll Probably Never Get Another In-N-Out In San Francisco


Yes, there were once cows in Cow Hollow, and back in 1880 the name for the area between Pacific Heights, the Marina, the Presidio, and Russian Hill would have made a lot more sense. As SFGate relays in a new slideshow for the benefit of newcomers to SF and those who never bothered looking it up on Wikipedia, the vicinity of Union Street west of Van Ness was once home to San Francisco's dairy industry, with as many as 38 farms operating there at its peak in the late 19th Century, and plenty of grazing cattle roaming around.

Now, of course, it's a retail and residential district lined with frat-bro-friendly bars and such that is mostly just an extension of the Marina.





Another fun fact: Dogpatch didn't get that name until the 1960's, when it was known for having packs of stray dogs who roamed around seeking scraps from all the slaughterhouses in the area. The slaughterhouses, meanwhile, were responsible for the area's original name, which was Butchertown. As FoundSF explains in this history, much of the area was brackish marshland before getting filled in and developed post-World War II.



The Richmond District. Photo: Matteo Bittanti

The Richmond District was so nicknamed by one of its early residents, an Australian art dealer named George Turner Marsh. He thought the area looked like a suburb of Melbourne called Richmond, and named the home he built there Richmond House, which ended up getting adopted by others in the 'hood. The city then pushed to rename the area Park-Presidio circa 1917, to avoid confusion with the East Bay city of Richmond, but residents weren't having it.





Photo: Arnaudh/Wikimedia

Telegraph Hill took its name from a pole-and-arm semaphore, called the New Marine Telegraph, that was installed atop the hill in the Gold Rush year of 1849 and signaled to everyone in town the nature of every marine vessel coming in to the Golden Gate. As Wikipedia tells us, the information was often helpful to merchants in knowing how much to pay for a particular commodity in the port, since the price would immediately come down if more supplies were just about to arrive. As legend has it, the meaning of the signals from the two arms of the device were so familiar to San Franciscans that an audience at a local theater presentation of a play called "The Hunchback," reacting to an actor who held his arms outspread asking "What does this mean my Lord?" on stage, all shouted in unison, "Side Wheel Steamer!" The "telegraph" and observation tower were knocked down by wind in 1870, and was eventually replaced by Coit Tower in 1933.





Photo: Isabell Schulz

Ever wonder where the names Haight and Ashbury came from? As Wikipedia tells us, "The street names commemorate two early San Francisco leaders: Pioneer and exchange banker Henry Haight and Munroe Ashbury, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors from 1864 to 1870." Both men played big roles in both the planning of the Haight neighborhood, and in the creation of Golden Gate Park, which was built between 1871 and 1879.





Moon over Potrero Hill. Photo: Bhautik Joshi

Potrero Hill was called Potrero Nuevo by Spanish missionaries back in the late 1700s, meaning "new pasture." Workers began settling and building homes on the former cow grazing land in the 1850s, and SF's second mayor, Dr. John Townsend, was responsible for planning the street grid and naming the north-south streets after American states  rumored to be only the names of states he had been to.



Photo: m./Flickr

The naming of the Tenderloin is up for some debate  and it's possible that it was, very simply, named after a former New York City designation for their downtown red-light district of the late 19th and early 20th Century, and some other cities ended up with Tenderloins of their own, as SF did. But as the legend goes, it either refers to the city's "soft underbelly," or it was a nickname given by cops who earned lots of bribes working the beat and could therefore afford to buy finer cuts of meat at the end of the workweek. San Francisco is the only major city to still have a neighborhood with this nickname now made official.
While it's no $1.2 million shack, the above pictured 363-square-foot house is currently the smallest home on the market in San Francisco. Expected to go for over its $495,000 listing price, we can't help but wonder what the sweet, sweet world of almost $1,400 a square foot looks like. Lucky for us, there are photos of the Mission District spot.

But before we dive into the pics, let's learn a bit more about the space just off 14th Street while we bask in some luxurious copy.

"'MINI' is all the rage," the real estate listing company informs us. "First the Mini Cooper, and then Mini Bar on Divisadero, and now the opportunity to decrease your footprint by owning a Mini Mansion in the heart of the Mission."

The home's former owner, Curbed reports, was a poet and a teacher  a fact which in this market perhaps adds some much valued "authenticity" to the listing.

"When people get a look at this property, they start dreaming about getting rid of all of their trappings and living the simple life," Laura Taylor of Paragon Real Estate told Curbed. "It's a really stunning spot."

And to be fair, it is quite charming. But $1,400 a square foot charming? We'll let you be the judge of that. (And it should be noted, this is an improvement on the 265-square-foot shoebox for sale about a year ago, near the Presidio, for $1,600 per square foot.)







Photo via Paragon.



Photo via Paragon.



Photo via Paragon.



Photo via Paragon.

Related: House Sadness: 265 Square Feet And No Living Room
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot - Everywhere

Tina Fey's second movie in three months is more serious than Sisters was, but I found myself liking it more. One of the issues I had with Sisters was Fey playing against type, taking on the role of the slightly dumber and carefree of the two siblings. In Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, she's back to playing it smart, but with that combination of partial naivete that was key to Liz Lemon's appeal.

Loosely based on the book The Taliban Shuffle, written by real-life print journalist Kim Barker, Fey plays Kim Baker, a copywriter for a TV news organization who's in a personal and professional rut. When the brass decides to send more reporters to Afghanistan, they offer the position to all of the "unmarried and childless" employees. Baker decides to forgo crying about her status, and embrace the opportunity as a welcome challenge.

The first half of the movie is a bit typical, with fish-out-of-water comedy showing Baker getting used to life in a war-torn and chauvinistic country. She befriends a fellow female reporter, played by Margot Robbie, and learns that in the "Kabulbubble" she rates a lot higher on the "attractiveness" scale, due to the lack of visible females around them. She also learns it's a bad idea to carry around a bright orange backpack when embedded with a troop of Marines, (headed by a perfectly cast Billy Bob Thornton).

Eventually Baker acclimates, and begins to crave the adrenaline of reporting and finding that next story. This often means she does stupid things, but some of those stupid things allow her to uncover stories male reporters wouldn't be able to. And it's that feminist thread that ultimately saved the movie for me. Yes, she ends up falling into bed with a Scottish photographer (Martin Freeman), but that story ends up going in a direction completely opposite from the way a traditional romance would.

The movie is not without its problems. The fact that the English-speaking Afghan characters are in fact played by white actors is quite troubling, (even if they're all pretty good, especially Chris Abbott, who is unrecognizable as Barker's local fixer, Fahim). The politics of the early 2000's war aren't delved into much, and the movie has less to say about it than it does the politics of reporting, so it won't rank up there with the best war comedies. But I think it will rank up there with Tina Fey's better movies, and as proof that comedy isn't the only thing she can do well.

London Has Fallen - Everywhere

Sequel to Olympus Has Fallen, which was the takeover-of-the-White-House movie that didn't star Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx. This time around, the POTUS is in London for the funeral of the prime minister, and becomes the potential victim in a plot to kill all of the world's leaders. Only Gerard Butler can save him  AND THE WORLD!

The Other Side of the Door - Everywhere

Xenophobic horror disguised as possession horror. A grieving mother travels to India to partake in a ritual to help put an end to her grief, only to have it totally backfire and unleash a demon from hell on her  AND THE WORLD!

Zootopia - Everywhere

This non-Pixar animated movie from Disney is getting Pixar-level praise, and I can safely give it a thumbs up because it's like they tapped into my brain and brought to life everything I find squeal-level cute. I mean just LOOK AT THAT BUNNY! The story, seemingly tailor-made for furries (something Disney isn't shying away from), centers on a world much like our own, but inhabited by walking, talking, and working animals. Ginnifer Goodwin voices that (adorable) bunny, Judy Hopps, a rookie police officer trying to solve the mystery of some missing mammals and Jason Bateman is the streetwise fox she befriends.

The Boy and the Beast - Everywhere

If you prefer your animation a little less cute, and a little more foreign, here's the first of two Japanese anime offerings hitting the theaters this week. It centers on an orphaned boy who enters a world of magical beasts, and meets a a warrior who takes him on as an apprentice.

Only Yesterday - Embarcadero

This Studio Ghibli classic is getting its first official American release, 25 years after it originally came out. Back in 1991, it became Japan's highest grossing movie, which was unusual since it was one of the first anime features to center on real life drama, with women at the center. It is being released in both English and subtitled versions.

The Wave - Embarcadero

Proof that America isn't the only country that can make disaster movies? Or proof that when it comes to disaster movies, only America makes them into cinematic disasters? This Norwegian spectacle seems to hit all the disastrous notes, but maybe the subtitles make it all feel much more legitimate.
JERUSALEM | A recent gathering of American Reform rabbis in Jerusalem was meant to celebrate the small gains the liberal Jewish movement has made in Israel in recent years.

But a series of comments by Israeli officials denigrating the group marred the event, reflecting an awkward relationship that many fear is alienating the world's second-largest Jewish community from Israel.

The Reform Movement is the largest stream of Judaism in the United States, claiming to represent 1.5 million people, and its members provide a key source of financial support and political advocacy for Israel.

But the movement is marginal in Israel, where religious affairs are dominated by the Orthodox rabbinical establishment. Israeli lawmakers, both secular and ultra-Orthodox, have repeatedly disparaged the group, questioning their Judaism and accusing them of promoting Jewish assimilation.

"How do you ask Jews around the world to support Israel politically, economically, socially ... and at the same time you have these ministers who say to our people 'you're not really Jewish' or 'you don't have a place here in Israel?' That incongruity is a real problem for us," said Rabbi Steven Fox, the chief executive of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, which recently held its septennial convention in Israel. The group represents 2,000 rabbis.

In the U.S., Reform synagogues are commonplace, characterized by practices such as mixed-gender prayers, services led by female rabbis and members who drive to synagogue on the Sabbath  customs that violate Orthodox norms.

In Israel, Reform Judaism is at best seen as a curiosity and at worst, a threat. This in turn has placed obstacles in the way of the movement's effort to make inroads in Israel, beaten back by an Orthodox monopoly over Jewish rituals such as marriage, burials and conversions.

Reform rabbis have made small gains in Israel, and in January, the movement was jubilant over perhaps its greatest victory  Israel's announcement that it would create a special mixed-gender prayer area at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

The wall, managed by an ultra-Orthodox rabbi who opposes having Reform customs at the site, is the holiest place where Jews can pray. The new area will also permit women to wear prayer shawls and skullcaps, a rite reserved for men under Orthodox custom.

The announcement came after three years of painstaking negotiations between Israeli officials and the liberal streams of Judaism and appeared to mark a historic turning point in relations between Israel and diaspora Jews.

But right after the plan was approved, Israel's secular Tourism Minister Yariv Levin said the Reform movement was a "waning world." He accused it of tolerating intermarriage, encouraging assimilation and predicted the mixed-prayer area would become unnecessary within two or three generations. Under religious law, Jews cannot marry non-Jews.

Even after Reform rabbis criticized him, Levin expressed no remorse. "It's very important that we'll be aware of the problem of assimilation and do our best efforts in order to solve it," he told The Associated Press.

A chorus of other lawmakers, most of them Orthodox, have publicly lashed out at the Reform movement. As the rabbis' convention was kicking off, a legislator from an ultra-Orthodox party compared the movement to the "mentally ill."

The rhetoric has put Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a tough spot. He met the visiting rabbis but, wary of antagonizing religious factions in his coalition, his office made no announcement of the meeting, as it typically does with nearly all visitors.

Fox, the rabbi group's chief executive, said the encounter was "more positive" than past meetings with Netanyahu, though they were surprised by the absence of the public announcement.

When asked by the AP, Netanyahu's office declined to comment on the meeting.
SCREENINGS

Free blood pressure screenings, 9:30 to 11 a.m. Wednesdays at Countryside Senior Living, front lobby. No appointment necessary.

PROGRAMS/SELF-HELP GROUPS

Al-Anon Information Center, call 255-6724.

Al-Anon and Alateen, meetings locally. For times, dates and locations of area meetings, call 255-6724.

Alcoholics Anonymous, beginners information, call 252-1333.

Arc of Woodbury County, serving the mentally challenged, 5:15 p.m. meeting, second Monday of the month at Mid-Step Services, 4303 Stone Ave. For families and interested persons.

Child Care Resource and Referral, provides resources, education and advocacy for children, parents, and child care providers. Assists in child care needs. For more information, call 712-277-1180.

Co-dependence Anonymous, 7 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays at First Lutheran Church, Fireside Room.

Co-Dependents Anonymous (CODA), 10 a.m. Saturdays at Hawkeye Club, 420 Jones St.

Compassionate Friends, 7 p.m. fourth Wednesday of each month (third Thursday in November and second Sunday December) in Mercy Medical Center's Leiter Room. For families who have lost children. Contact Nancy Webb 712-212-4032 or Don Mulder 712-541-5512.

Children of Divorce, to help children cope with the challenges of parental separation or divorce. Call 712-279-2373 for more information.

CLINICS

Siouxland District Health immunization clinics, call for appointment, 712-279-6119 or 1-800-587-3005.

INFORMATION

Dual Recovery Anonymous, 12-step peer support meeting, 4 to 5 p.m. Wednesdays at 625 Court St. Framework of recovery for those with addiction and emotional or psychiatric illness. For more information, call Mike at 255-1691.

Family and Addictive Illness series, for more information, call 234-2300.

Iowa Fathers, 6 to 8 p.m. fourth Tuesday of each month at Hope Lutheran Church, Education Building, 218 W. 18th St., South Sioux City, Neb. Support group to help single, divorcing and divorced parents residing in the state of Iowa.

Mercy Pathways Outpatient Program, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, on the third floor, Mercy's Central Medical Building, 801 Fifth St., Suite 360. Provides hope, help, opportunity to connect through group therapy for individuals experiencing personal, relationship, psychiatric issues. For more information, call 712-279-5991.

Narcotics Anonymous, meetings daily, various times, dates and locations. For more information, call 712-279-0733.

Overeaters Anonymous, 7 p.m. Mondays at Floyd Valley Hospital, Lower Level, 714 Lincoln St. NE, Le Mars, Iowa; 1 p.m. Tuesdays at Wesley United Methodist Church, 3700 Indian Hills Drive; 6 p.m. Tuesdays at St. John's Lutheran Church, 402 Lane Ave., Storm Lake; 7 p.m. Tuesdays at Church of the Nazarene, 226 N. Main St., Viborg, S.D.; 5:30 p.m. Thursdays and 9 a.m. Saturdays at Newman Center, 320 E. Cherry St., Vermillion, S.D.; 10:30 a.m. Saturdays at Hawkeye Club, 420 Jones St. A 12-step recovery program for people who have problems with food and weight. No fees.

St. Lukes Outpatient Behavioral Health Program, 9 a.m. to noon Monday, Tuesday and Thursday on fifth floor of St. Luke's, located at 2720 Stone Park Blvd. Offers several levels of outpatient care including partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient, and group therapy. This program provides support and integrated treatment to individuals experiencing personal or relationship issues as a result of their mental illness. For more information and admission criteria, call 712-279-3906.

Sobriety By Faith, 8:30 a.m. Saturdays at Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church, 1421 Geneva St. For more information, call James Mothershead at 712-577-9715.

The Link-Recovery and Freedom, at PMA Building, 6000 Gordon Drive; 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Saturday workshop, and Christian 12-step meeting 7 to 8 p.m. Tuesday. For all ages. Call Dee at 389-7432.

Women in Recovery, meets monthly at Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church, 1421 Geneva St. For details, call 712-255-4623.

Tarahouse Meditation Center, 8 a.m. Mondays through Thursdays; 6:30 p.m. Fridays; 10 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays, all at 3112 Rebecca St. Three easy 10 minute sessions in small group; beginners welcome. For more information, call 490-6410.

Blood pressure and blood sugar screening, 9 to 11 a.m. Wednesdays in the lobby at Westwood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. Free to public.

SUPPORT GROUPS

NAMI Siouxland (National Alliance on Mental Illness), 6:30 p.m., second Tuesday of the month, Friendship House, 1101 Court St. For individuals and family members dealing with mental illness. 712-255-4209.

Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous, 7-8:30 p.m. Wednesdays at Hawkeye Club basement, 420 Jones St. For more information, call 277-5935.

Celebrate Recovery, Bible-based 12-step recovery group. Thursdays at 6:30 at Sunnybrook Community Church, 5601 Sunnybrook Drive. Daycare provided. 712-490-3343.

PFLAG of Siouxland, (Parents & Friends of Lesbians and Gays), 7 p.m., fourth Monday of January, March, May, July, September and November. St. Mark ELCA Church, 5200 Glenn Ave., in the upstairs meeting area. 712-258-3116.

Singles widowed and divorced, all ages, 4 p.m., Sundays. McDonald's at Sixth Street and Lewis Boulevard. 712-252-2675.

HIV/AIDS Support Group, meets weekly. For more information, call Darla or Teri at Siouxland Community Health Center, 712-252-2477 or 888-371-1965.

La Leche League of Siouxland, breastfeeding support group meets every third Thursday at 11 a.m. at Morningside Lutheran Church. Children are welcome. For more information, call Mary at 712-546-7280 or Jacquie at 712-255-2998.

Living Each Day Cancer Support Group, 7-8 p.m. second Thursday of the month, Floyd Valley Hospital, Conference Center Room 2, Le Mars, Iowa. Open to all cancer patients, cancer survivors and family members. No charge. Pre-register by calling 712-546-3441 or 800-642-6074, ext. 441.

Mom and Baby Support Group, 10-11 a.m. last Monday of the month at the Orange City (Iowa) Hospital, lower level. For new moms and babies. 712-737-5260.

Tri-State Sober Project 12-step meeting, 7:30-8:30 p.m., Tuesdays, Friendship Community Church, 305 Sergeant Square Drive, Sergeant Bluff. 6-7 p.m., Thursdays, Transitional Services of Iowa, 1221 Pierce St., Sioux City.

Doug's Donors Support Group, information for organ donors and recipients, 12:30-1:30 p.m. Wednesdays, 5:15-6:30 p.m. second and fourth Thursdays of the month at Mercy Cafeteria Woodbury Room. 712-277-1050.

Divorce Care, noon Sundays starting Jan. 10; GriefShare, 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays starting Jan. 12; Single & Parenting, 6:30 p.m. Thursdays starting Jan. 14; all at Sunnybrook Community Church, 5601 Sunnybrook Drive, Sioux City. 712-276-5814.

Multiple Sclerosis Support Group, 1:30-3:30 p.m. first Saturday of the month at the CNOS, Dakota Dunes. For anyone with MS and/or their families. Call Janet Limoges at 605-217-2726 prior to attending.

New Life Life Support Group, 3:30 p.m. every Saturday at 2929 W. Fourth St. Spiritual 12-step program. For more information, call Donald at 712-574-1744 or James at 712-255-7624.

Post Polio Support Group, 11 a.m. first Thursday of the month at Perkins Restaurant by Menards. 712-490-8213.

Relationship Support Group, 7 p.m. Fridays at Marketplace Mall. For more information, call 239-3129.

Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence, Individual and Support Groups. For more information, call CSADV in Sioux City at 712-258-7233; Plymouth County at 712-546-6764; Monona County at 712-423-3443. Advocacy and support available 24 hours a day at 1-800-982-7233. All services free of charge and confidential.

Sickle Cell Disease Support Group, 11 a.m. third Saturday of each month at St. Luke's Hospital, meeting room 1. For patients, their family and any concerned member. Call La'Keshia Rainey at 712-203-2019 for more information.

Sioux City Association of the Deaf, 7 p.m. third Saturday of the month at Morningside Church of Christ, 5015 Garretson Ave. Regular meeting, September-May; no meeting, June, July, August and December.

Siouxland Autism Support Group, second Thursday of the month at Northwest Area Education Agency, 1520 Morningside Ave. For more information, call Julie Case at 712-490-8939.

Siouxland Epilepsy Support Group, 5 p.m. third Tuesday of the month at Prestwick Apartment Clubhouse, 4230 Hickory Lane. For anyone diagnosed with seizures or epilepsy and family or friends. For more information, call Steve at 274-6927.

Siouxland IC support group, meets quarterly in Sioux City. For patients struggling with interstital cystitis. For more information, call Jacque Dundas 316-641-9766.

Siouxland Informational Group for the Blind, 2-5 p.m. second Tuesday of the month at Northern Hills Retirement Community, 4002 Teton Trace. For more information, call 712-266-8926 or 258-8151.

Grief support group, 5:30-7:30 p.m., beginning Oct. 5 for 13 weeks (may join at any time), Crescent Park United Methodist Church, 2826 Myrtle St., Sioux City. Scott, 712-899-6315.

Siouxland Ostomy Association, 2 p.m. first Sunday of each month (except September, which will be second Sunday; and no meetings June, July, August), in Room 300 at Mercy Medical Center, 801 Fifth St. For more information, call Dick Lindblom at 251-2453.

Siouxland Parkinson Disease Support Group, 1 p.m. fourth Monday of the month at Siouxland Center for Active Generations, 313 Cook St. For more information, call at Jack Scherrman at 712-277-9337.

Sojourners, support group for families of persons with life-threatening illness, 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays at St. Luke's Regional Medical Center, Room 416. For more information, call Marjorie Jarvill at 402-241-8637.

South Sioux City Weight Support Group, 8:30 a.m. Wednesdays at St. Paul United Methodist Church, South Sioux City. For more information, call 494-1401 or 494-2133.

Support groups at Disabilities Resource Center of Siouxland, 520 Nebraska St., Suite 101: Women's Support Group, 1:30 p.m. first Wednesday of the month; LGBT Support Group, 1:30 p.m. first Friday of the month; Adult ADHD, 6 p.m. second Tuesday of the month; Advocacy Group, 1:30 p.m. third Tuesday of the month. For more information, call (712) 255-1065.

Take Off Pounds Sensibly, group meetings various times, days and locations in Siouxland. For information on the chapter in your area, call 1-800-932-TOPS.

Voice Disorder Support Group, meets as needed at Mercy Medical Center, Buena Vista Room. 712-279-2686.

Women's Peer Support Group, in Wayne and South Sioux City, Neb., for those who have experienced domestic abuse. For more information, call the Wayne office at 402-375-4633 or 1-800-440-4633; in South Sioux City, call 402-494-7592. Help and support available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Services free and confidential.

Woodbury County D.M.D.A., noon-2 p.m. first Saturday of the month at Country Friendship Acres, 4501 West St.; 7-8 p.m. first Tuesday of the month at 515 Court St. in the Community Room; 7-8 p.m. second Tuesday of the month at 441 W. Third St. in the Community Room; 7-8 p.m. third Tuesday of the month at 409 W. Third St. in the Community Room. Support group for people with disabilities and mental disorders.

Natural Mamas in Siouxland, 1 p.m., third Tuesday of each month in the Garretson room of the Morningside Public Library. All ages of children are welcome to come with moms. For sharing natural living tips, recipes, natural remedies and health, homemaking, mothering, etc. For more information, call 402-913-0038 or visit their Facebook page.

A Step Beyond support group, 3:30 p.m. second Tuesday of the month, except for August, November and December when it meets at 5:30 p.m. (no meeting in January) at the Christy-Smith Resource Center, 1819 Morningside Ave. For more information, call 712-276-7319.

Divorce care, 5 p.m., Sundays. Fireside room, Morningside Lutheran Church, 700 South Martha St.

Gamblers Anonymous meetings, 4 p.m. Thursday at Immanuel Lutheran Church, 315 Hamilton Blvd.; 7 p.m. Wednesday, Morningside Presbyterian Church, 4327 Morningside Ave.; 7 p.m. Tuesdays, St. John Lutheran Church. 712-277-2901.

Art therapy support group, 5:30 p.m. second Thursday of the month at the June E. Nylen Cancer Center. Registration required, call 252-9387.

After Breast Cancer Support Group, 5:30 p.m. third Tuesday of the month at the June E. Nylen Cancer Center. For more information, call Brenda, 252-9370.

After Prostate Cancer Support Group, 5:15 p.m. first Tuesday of the month at the June E. Nylen Cancer Center. For more information, call 252-9426.

Alzheimer's Association Big Sioux Chapter Support Group, 2 p.m. second Tuesday of the month; 4 p.m. third Tuesday of the month (under age 65) at 201 Pierce St., Suite 110 (Famous Dave's building); and 6 p.m. first Tuesday of the month at the Barnes and Noble Cafe. For more information, call Emily Lord at 712-279-5802.

Christy-Smith Funeral Homes of Sioux City, extensive grief library at the Morningside location. Open to the public during weekday hours. For more information, call 276-7319.

Chronic Pain/Chronic Illness Support Group, 7:30 p.m. fourth Wednesday of the month in the lower level of the Orange City Hospital. For more information, call 712-737-5260.

Connections Area Agency on Aging and Mercy Medical Centers Older Adult Services Welcome to Medicare, 1:30-4 p.m., the first Friday of every month at Connections Area Agency on Aging, 2301 Pierce Street. To pre-register, or for more information, contact Connections Area Agency on Aging at 712-279-6900.
SIOUX CITY | Workers at a Sioux City specialty meat plant have sued their employer, making claims similar to those that were the basis of a case argued before the U.S. Supreme Court last fall.

Five women claim that Curly's Foods violated the federal Fair Labor Standards Act by not paying plant workers for time spent putting on and taking off required protective gear before and after their eight-hour shifts and during their unpaid 30-minute meal breaks.

Lawyers are seeking class-action status for the suit, filed last month in U.S. District Court in Sioux City. The suit said there are about 700 workers at the plant who would be party to the suit.

Named in the suit are Smithfield Foods and John Morrell & Co., which are doing business as Curly's. Both are divisions of Smithfield Foods, the world's largest pork producer and processor and American subsidiary of the Chinese company Shuanghui Group.

L. Dale Owens, an Atlanta attorney representing Smithfield, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

The women, Maria Limon, Ida Moreno, Claudia Sanchez, Yolanda Joaquin and Loyda Aguilar, are seeking unpaid wages and overtime pay. They say in the lawsuit that they must put on their smock, boots, gloves, helmet, ear plugs and work glasses before clocking in to begin their work shift and take them off after clocking out at the end of their shift. Donning and doffing the gear is also done during their unpaid meal break. They are also not paid for time spent standing in line waiting to clock in, they said in the lawsuit.

The case is similar to others that have wound through the federal court system the past decade.

In November, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a case involving 3,000 workers at a Tyson Foods plant in Storm Lake, Iowa, who also said they were not paid for time donning and doffing protective gear.

A federal jury awarded the workers $5.8 million, a decision upheld by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. Tyson appealed to the Supreme Court, challenging the means by which the class action status was granted. The court has yet to issue its decision, a ruling being closely watched by business and labor interests because it could affect workers' abilities to band together to dispute pay and workplace issues.

In August, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned judgments awarding more than $20 million to workers in Tyson's Dakota City and Madison, Nebraska, plants for the time spent putting on and taking off protective clothing. The court said workers failed to show that Tyson had agreed to pay them for that time.

The Curly's suit is filed at a time when the company is expanding its plant in the Yards I-29 Business Park. In January, the Sioux City Council approved a contract that will deliver $360,000 in state tax incentives for a $9 million expansion of the plant, which processes ribs and other pre-cooked meats. The tax credits would come from the state's High Quality Jobs program.

The expansion includes $6 million to add 13,000 square feet and make other improvements to the facility and $3 million for new machinery and equipment. The company has pledged to create 30 new jobs and retain 627 positions.
Infusionsoft has grown a lot over the last few years  both in its offerings and in its dedication to the small business community.

The ICON Conference March 2-4, 2016 is under way and even the companys own tweets from the event show its focus on the ecosystem it serves.

Entrepreneur Qualities

 Driven

 Risk-Taker

 Fearless

 Out-of-the-box

 Maverick

 Creative

 Decisive

 Competitive@DaveRamsey #ICON16  Infusionsoft (@Infusionsoft) March 2, 2016

Over time the company has certainly seen ongoing growth.

Founded in 2001, Infusionsoft now has 650 employees, $100 million in revenue as of 2015, 120,000 users and 35,000 customers.

Those customers (apparently) know what to expect from a conference like this one  and from a product like Infusionsoft. Steve King of Small Biz Labs tweeted:

Infusionsoft chief product officer talking about product improvements that make things simpler & save time #ICON16  Steve King (@Smallbizlabs) March 3, 2016

Among other things, Wednesday featured a media and analyst Q&A session following Infusionsoft CEO Clate Masks Keynote. Another was scheduled following Chief Product Officer Terry Hicks keynote today.

Infusionsofts growth has not only been financial or by the numbers, however. Previewing the event in February, company leaders said they expected greater focus on analytics, a major new trend for the company and its small business customers.

Small business owners often make gut instinct decisions. While that gut instinct may work in the beginning, it can sometimes lead them down the wrong path as their business grows. Thats why having a solid plan for collecting and analyzing data is vital to the long term success for a business, senior product manager Jordan Hatch told Small Business Trends at the time.

Creating a culture of making data driven decisions in business not only reduces the margin of error, but enables the scalability of the business. As employees start to take over the business owners responsibilities, teaching them to make data driven decisions creates consistency in the business and can make up for a lack of intuition, Hatch added.

Those in attendance at the event insisted there was plenty to learn. As Brent Leary, co-founder and partner at CRM Essentials tweeted:

I see more note taking  actual pen to paper note taking  going on at #ICON16 than at any other conference Ive been to.  Brent Leary (@BrentLeary) March 3, 2016

Infusionsoft promised mobile would be another focus.

See Also: Infusionsoft Rebrands as Keap With Software to Streamline Client Tasks for Small Businesses

eMarketer is predicting an incredible 210 percent growth in total value of mobile payment transactions in 2016 alone  thats up to $27.05 billion from $8.71 billion, business development and payments manager Zach Vance told Small Business Trends in February.  Predictions like this and the countless others point toward continued strong growth in the mobile payments space, so its essential for small businesses to start implementing this technology.

Editors Note: article updated to correct user number
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.
Anna Fagan named Senior Vice President of Community Wealth Advisors, Investment Consultant, Infinex Investments, Inc.

WALDORF, Md.

Kathleen Webster named Manager of Community Wealth Advisors, Investment Associate, Infinex Investments, Inc.

(March 3, 2016)Community Bank of the Chesapeake today announced that Anna Fagan, Investment Consultant, Infinex Investments, Inc., has been promoted to Senior Vice President, Director of Community Wealth Advisors (CWA). In this position she continues to develop and lead the wealth management division.Anna Fagan named Senior Vice President of Community Wealth Advisors, Investment Consultant, Infinex Investments, Inc."Anna has made a significant impact with Community Wealth Advisors," said Becky Henderson, Executive Vice President, Director of Sales with Community Bank of the Chesapeake. "With her extensive background in leadership, wealth management and client relationships, Anna enriches the Bank's Wealth Management Services."Ms. Fagan joined Community Bank of the Chesapeake in 2009. Since then, Ms. Fagan, along with her team, has grown assets under management by $135 million to $147 million today. Through her role as an Accredited Wealth Management Advisor, Anna focuses on building lasting client-advisor relationships to serve the wealth planning needs of business owners, families and non-profits in the community. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Leadership Southern Maryland Board as the Program Committee Chair.Also promoted was Kathleen Webster, Manager of Community Wealth Advisors and Investment Associate, Infinex Investments, Inc. As Manager of Community Wealth Advisors, Kathleen is responsible for the daily operations of the department, including interfacing with the advisors, broker/dealers and other departments within the bank."It is a pleasure working with Kathy at Community Wealth Advisors," said Anna Fagan. "Her commitment and dedication enhance our team. This is a well-deserved step in Kathy's career."Ms. Webster has more than 24 years of experience in the financial services industry. She is a Chartered Financial Consultant, through The American College. Ms. Webster improves the client experience by overseeing the client's needs and providing operational support to the Financial Advisors. As Manager of Community Wealth Advisors she will develop marketing and sales initiatives and support Investment Consultants' business development activities.Community Bank of the Chesapeake is headquartered in Waldorf, Maryland.
An analysis of state marriage data found that the legislation would apply to very few people. In 2012, there were only 105 marriages where at least one person was under 18. In the vast majority of those marriages -- 101 -- the bride was under 18. (Though data is available for 2013 and 2014, we chose to analyze 2012 data because it was the last year in which the state broke down the age of marriage of men and women separately. That state stopped breaking out marriage data by gender and age after the legalization of same-sex marriage). (Source: Maryland Vital Statistics Report)

ANNAPOLIS

(March 4, 2016)A bill that would prohibit individuals younger than 18 from marrying in Maryland, sponsored by state Delegate Vanessa Atterbeary, D-Howard, was heard on Thursday in front of the House Judiciary Committee."This topic struck a chord in me as a mom. I thought of my kids," Atterbeary said Wednesday in an interview with CNS.The current child marriage law in Maryland prohibits a 16- or 17-year-old individual from marrying unless they have parental consent or a doctor's notice of pregnancy.A 15-year-old individual could be legally married in the state if they fulfill both of the requirements that are set for 16- and 17-year-olds.During the hearing, Atterbeary told the committee that in 1999, former Delegate David Boschert, R-Anne Arundel, sponsored a bill to prohibit an individual younger than 15 from marrying after constituents brought to his attention the news of a marriage case in Annapolis that involved a 13-year-old girl and a 29-year-old man."But now we're at the point where we can (again) raise the age limit," Atterbeary said.Atterbeary and her staff worked with Fraidy Reiss, founder of the nonprofit organization Unchained At Last, which helps women and girls leave or avoid an arranged or forced marriage, and Jeanne Smoot, senior counsel for policy and strategy for the Tahirih Justice Center, a national non-profit organization that helps people flee domestic violence, to find statistics on child marriages in Maryland."The statistics were alarming," Atterbeary said.According to the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, over 3,000 children were married in Maryland from 2000 to 2014. In that same time span, nearly 150 children ages 15 or younger were married in the state and about 85 percent of the underage spouses were girls.And a Maryland Vital Statistics Annual Report showed that there were 38 marriages between girls who were 17 and younger and men who were 21 or older in 2012. There were zero marriages between boys who were 17 and younger and women who were 21 or older in 2012, according to the same report."There were 237 cases of minors marrying someone at least 10 years older than the child during the time span of 2000 to 2014a lot of cases with an adult spouse who was significantly older," Smoot said of the statistics from the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.Reiss said the two exceptions that can allow a child marriage to take place in Maryland ultimately hurt all children involved."Parental consent is problematic because there is no clue if it's actually parental coercion," Reiss said in an interview on Feb. 24. "Even in situations where a girl is crying at a clerk's office, the clerk can't do anything because it's part of the law."Reiss also said that the second exception doesn't make much sense because even if a girl is pregnant, it might not necessarily mean that they want to marry."Girls are in tremendous danger. Putting them in a legal contract is more likely to lead them to be physically or emotionally abused," Reiss said.Atterbeary began her testimony by telling members of the committee to picture their children or grandchildren being in a similar child marriage situation. Several of the pages had looks of shock on their faces as Atterbeary listed out statistics of child marriages in the state and she was quick to note their concern."It means you don't accept this," Atterbeary told the pages, "And that's a good thing."Smoot said, in an interview on Tuesday, that she recognized there could be children younger than 18 who would want to marry, but she also wanted them to understand the harms and risks that could occur, even in a voluntary marriage."Children under 18 who marry are more likely to have mental health problems, to miss out on educational opportunities and are more likely to live in poverty," Smoot said.Atterbeary also said they didn't have any clients from the Tahirih Justice Center or Unchained At Last testify because those individuals aren't willing at the moment to speak to the public."They are still emotionally scarred from it," Atterbeary said, "We tried to get some written testimony, but it didn't work out."They did, however, receive letters of support from the nonprofit organization Asha For Women, based out of Rockville, and from Reservoir High School's Global Equality Now Club, a chapter of the nonprofit organization School Girls Unite.There was no opposition to the bill during Thursday's hearing.Atterbeary said that she wanted to have a companion bill in the state Senate, but that they were too late to file it.Atterbeary said she wants to make sure that no matter whether the child marriages taking place are forced, arranged or voluntarily, children shouldn't be put in that kind of situation."It's important that we let kids be kids," Atterbeary said.
LA PLATA, Md.

Disclaimer: In the U.S.A., all persons accused of a crime by the State are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. See: http://so.md/presumed-innocence. Additionally, all of the information provided above is solely from the perspective of the respective law enforcement agency and does not provide any direct input from the accused or persons otherwise mentioned. You can find additional information about the case by searching the Maryland Judiciary Case Search Database using the accused's name and date of birth. The database is online at http://so.md/mdcasesearch . Persons named who have been found innocent or not guilty of all charges in the respective case, and/or have had the case ordered expunged by the court can have their name, age, and city redacted by following the process defined at http://so.md/expungeme.

(March 4, 2016)The Charles County Sheriff's Office today released the following incident and arrest reports.CCSO DETECTIVES IDENTIFY AND ARREST SUSPECT IN SEXUAL ASSAULT CASE: Charles County Sheriff's detectives assigned to the Criminal Investigations Division arrested Terrell Carroll, 16, of Nanjemoy, in connection with a home invasion and sexual assault that occurred on December 29. In the case, Carroll broke into a house on Port Tobacco Road in Nanjemoy at about 8 p.m. He confronted the homeowner, who was alone at the time, and demanded money. The victim complied, and then Carroll threatened he had a gun and sexually assaulted her. Carroll fled after the assault and the victim called police. Forensic investigators obtained DNA evidence from the scene and submitted it for analysis. On March 3, investigators learned of a positive DNA hit linking Carroll to the assault. Detectives located Carroll at his house and arrested him without incident. He was charged as an adult with attempt rape, first-degree sexual offense, second-degree sexual offense, home invasion and burglary. Det. G. Higgs investigated.CCSO DETECTIVES IDENTIFY AND ARREST TWO SUSPECTS IN CARJACKING: Charles County Sheriff's detectives assigned to the Criminal Investigations Division arrested Tony Raheem Caesar, 18, and Marcell Corday Ennis, 17, both of Waldorf, in connection with a carjacking that occurred on February 25. In the case, four suspects were trying to steal a car in the 2200 block of Sandalwood Drive when the car owner approached. The owner was assaulted and the suspects fled in the victim's car. The victim notified police who canvassed the area and found the car nearby. Forensic investigators recovered evidence inside the vehicle which led to the identity of two suspects. On March 3, detectives served a search warrant at an address in Waldorf where they located the suspects. Caesar and Ennis (charged as an adult) were arrested and charged with carjacking and assault. Detectives are working to establish the identities of the other suspects. Anyone with information is asked to call Det. J. Feldman at (301) 609-6474. Tipsters wishing to remain anonymous may contact Charles County Crime Solvers by calling 1-866-411-TIPS, texting CHARLES + the tip to CRIMES (274637) or submitting tips online at tipsubmit.com.
Douglas Charles Hughes, age 35, of Hollywood, Maryland.

LEONARDTOWN, Md.

(March 4, 2016)Douglas Charles Hughes, age 35, of Hollywood, Maryland, was arrested and charged today with several sexual offenses against minor children. Police say that at the time of the incidents, both minor children were in the care and custody of Hughes.On March 3, Child Protective Services (CPS) received a referral regarding the possible sexual abuse of a minor child. Detectives from the sheriff's office Criminal Investigation Division (CID) assumed the investigation.The investigation revealed that over a period of time, Hughes performed various sexual acts on two minor children.After conferring with the St. Mary's County State's Attorney's Office, Hughes was charged with the following criminal violations: Sexual Abuse of a Minor Sex Offense Second Degree Sex Offense Third Degree Sex Offense Fourth Degree Assault Second DegreeHughes was transferred to the St. Mary's County Detention Center to await a bond review.
BALTIMORE

(March 4, 2016)The nation's largest maker of contact lenses is being accused of violating Maryland's antitrust law by conspiring with retailers to set a higher minimum price for their products, Attorney General Brian E. Frosh announced today.Attorney General Frosh said that the Office of the Attorney General Antitrust Division has filed a civil complaint charging Florida-based Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Inc., the makers of Acuvue lenses, with violations of the Maryland Antitrust Act. The complaint seeks civil penalties and an end to the anti-competitive pricing policy.According to documents obtained during an investigation, customers are paying 35 percent more for a monthly supply of Acuvue lenses based on a pricing strategy imposed on club membership discount stores."We live in a world where we expect competition to flourish," Attorney General Frosh said. "It is deeply disturbing that so many Marylanders are paying artificially high prices for a product they need for their daily lives."The complaint brings into focus the hazy and unique world of contact lens pricing.As lens wearers know, there is no such thing as a generic or substitute product. Optometrists perform eye examinations and fittings for lenses, then write a prescription for a specific brand. The optometrists also sell the product, a source of revenue for them. However, patients are allowed under federal law to use the prescription wherever they desire.According to the Attorney General complain, optometrists complained to Johnson & Johnson that discount stores such as Costco were undercutting their prices. The company responded in 2014 by establishing a Resale Price Maintenance Policy, which set minimum prices for all sellers, including discounters.Costco objected, and said they would stop selling Acuvue lenses. Johnson & Johnson tried to keep Costco as a seller, but also threatened to pull Acuvue products from the stores and not allow them to be sold unless Costco agreed to the minimum price.According to documents obtained by the Office of the Attorney General during an investigation, Johnson & Johnson struck a deal with Costco: The club store agreed to abide by the minimum price, but the manufacturer agreed that Costco could provide a $50 in-store cash cardto be used only on other products but not contact lensesto customers who purchased a monthly supply.That type of agreement, where both provider and seller agree on price, is a violation of the Maryland Antitrust Act, the Attorney General complaint alleges.After reaching the agreement, the price of a 30-day supply of Acuvue Moist lenses rose from $21.99 to $33.00 on August 1, 2014, an increase of 35 percent. A document from Costco referred to the pricing as "mandated price increases."The Attorney General's complaint is seeking a halt to implementing or enforcing a resale price agreement, the maximum civil penalty of $100,000 and other relief as awarded by a judge.The Attorney General's complaint, with exhibit documents, can be found at https://www.oag.state.md.us/Press/jjvc_complaint.pdf
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly speaks to friends, family and NASA officials shortly after arriving in Houston early Thursday morning. Behind Scott from left are, Dr. Jill Biden, Second Lady of the United States; Mark Kelly, former astronaut and Scotts twin brother; Dr. John Holdren, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy; and Charlie Bolden, NASA Administrator. Credit: NASA. NASA

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly has returned to Houston and his Expedition 46 crewmates Mikhail Kornienko and Sergey Volkov have returned to Russia. Their historic mission is over but there are three crew members who are still orbiting Earth on the International Space Station.

The new station commander of Expedition 47, NASA astronaut Tim Kopra, worked on the Water Recovery System that converts urine into pure drinking water. After that, he took a look at the humanoid robot, also known as Robonaut2, for some troubleshooting activities.

British astronaut Tim Peake was inside the Columbus lab module today checking out science hardware for a magnetic field experiment and a payload transfer rack. Cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, who has visited the orbital lab five times, worked on Russian life support gear.

A new set of space station crew members is getting ready to join Expedition 47 when they launch March 18 U.S. time. NASA astronaut Jeff Williams and cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka and Alexey Ovchinin will ride the Soyuz TMA-20M spacecraft for a six-hour trip to their new home in space.

On-Orbit Status Report

MAGVECTOR: Peake configured switches on portable power supply 1 and inserted the Universal Serial Bus (USB) in preparation for the European Space Agencys (ESAs) MAGVECTOR experiment run. MAGVECTOR qualitatively investigates the interaction between a moving magnetic field and an electrical conductor. The expected changes in the magnetic field structure on the ram and wake side of the electrical conductor are of interest for technical applications as well as for astrophysical research.

Education Payloads Operations (EPO)  AstroPi: Peake played Reaction Games on the ESA AstroPi which is a complete suite of games that provide reaction times of the user. AstroPi is composed of RaspberryPi B+, Sense HAT (Hardware Attached on Top) and a camera module contained within a protective aluminum case. Raspberry Pi is a credit-card sized computer that enables students to explore computing and learn how to program. Two AstroPi are on board: AstroPi Vis, with visible light camera, and AstroPi IR, with an infrared camera. Both AstroPi will run programs written by the winners of a student competition and collect data from sensors (i.e., inertial movement, barometric pressure, relative humidity and temperature). The data will be shared with various schools.

Robonaut: Kopra setup the XF305 camcorders, which will be used capture video downlinks of the Robonaut investigation in the Lab and Node 2 modules. Kopra configured the Oscilloscopes to Robonaut which will monitor voltage signatures during debugging activities. Robonaut is a humanoid robot designed with the versatility and dexterity to manipulate hardware, work in high risk environments, and respond safely to unexpected obstacles. It is comprised of a torso with two arms and a head, and two legs with end effectors that enable the robot to translate inside the ISS by interfacing with handrails and seat track. Robonaut is currently operated inside the ISS, however, in the future, it will perform tasks both inside and outside the ISS. The Robonaut Teleoperations System enables Robonaut to mimic the motions of a crewmember wearing specialized gloves, a vest and a visor providing a three-dimensional view through Robonauts eyes.

Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) Separator Plumbing Assembly (SPA) Remove & Replace (R&R): On February 21st, the UPA failed due to the Distillation Assembly (DA) centrifuge speed exceeding its low limit. Three attempts to restart the UPA were not successful and review of the data indicated that the SPA was not functioning properly. Today Peake purged the DA-PCPA purge hose of moisture and R&Rd the malfunctioning SPA. Shortly after transitioning the UPA to standby, the PCPA turned on and the UPA immediately faulted due to a high pressure alert, indicating a lack of flow through the SPA. The crew subsequently cycled the Quick Disconnects (QDs) connected to the newly installed SPA in an attempt to recover flow through the SPA which was unsuccessful. The crew was advised to perform another SPA R&R which was completed but did not recover the UPA. Teams are meeting to discuss the forward plan.

Todays Planned Activities

All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.

 ISS HAM RADIO Power Down

 Charger Unstow and Setup

 VCA1 Camera Adjustment

 MAGVEC  Gather and setup hardware

 MAGVEC  Data Export from USB Drive

 SPHERES  Battery Charging

 Consolidation of US Food Rations

 HAM Radio Power Up

 VIZIR. Start charging ???? Infrared Receiver (???) battery / r/g 1593

 IDENTIFICATION. Copy ???-? micro-accelerometer data to laptop / r/g 1589

 ARED exercise video setup

 Urine Processor Assembly (UPA) Hose Purge

 Flushing Elektron-VM Gas-Liquid Separator (???) SKO / r/g 1590

 Filling (separation) of EDV (KOV) for Elektron or EDV-SV r/g 1590

 ??? Maintenance

 SSC  Crew Log Out

 UPA SPA R&R

 Date and Time Synch on 6 RS photo cameras to the station time / r/g 1594

 Preventive Maintenance of FS1 Laptop / r/g 1023

 Semi-annual BRI Cleaning. Express-check of nominal network configuration r/g 1596

 Urine Processor Assembly (UPA) Purge Hose Part 2

 ROBONAUT  Installation of camcorder for EPO video

 SPHERES  Battery Replacement

 VIZIR. Battery Charge / r/g 1593

 R2  Equipment Setup

 EPO  Reaction Game (Crews choice)

 SPHERES OBT

 Testing Inter-modular connectivity r/g 1597

 Test procedure and plan

 SPHERES  Battery Replacement

 BRI log download from RSS1 / Auxiliary Computer System

 OTKLIK. Hardware Monitoring / r/g 1588

 Checkout of video equipment to capture ARED exercise

 ROBONAUT 2 (R2)  Hardware Deactivation and Stowage

 ARED Exercise Video Equipment Stowage

 SPHERES  Battery Replacement

 Crew handover conference

 PAO Hardware Setup

 VIZIR. Battery Charge / r/g 1593

 IMS Delta File Prep

 Crew Prep for PAO

 PAO Event

 Station Support Computer (SSC) System Log-in

 Flight Director / ISS Crew Tagup

 SPHERES  Battery Replacement

Completed Task List Items

 None

Ground Activities

All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.

 UPA recovery support

Three-Day Look Ahead:

Friday, 03/04: BASS H/W Stow, SPHERES, Food Consolidation

Saturday, 03/05: Crew Off Duty, Weekly Cleaning

Sunday, 03/06: Crew Off Duty

QUICK ISS Status  Environmental Control Group:

Component Status

Elektron  On

Vozdukh  Manual

[???] 1  SM Air Conditioner System (SKV1)  Off

[???] 2  SM Air Conditioner System (SKV2)  On

Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab  Override

Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3  Operate

Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab  Idle

Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3  Operate

Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA)  Process

Urine Processing Assembly (UPA)  Init

Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab  Off

Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3  Full Up
But companies still need to promote it at schools

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Matus Lintner from a secondary vocational school in Zlate Moravce (Nitra Region) started working for local company Miba Steeltec last school year. First he learned how to work with and handle materials, and this year he began working on machines.

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I like that everybody works on a different machine now and then we will switch them, so we will gradually train on all machines in the company, Lintner told The Slovak Spectator.

He likes the course of education within which he spends one week at school and one week at the company. Moreover, thanks to this opportunity he has a chance to get a job at the firm also after graduating.

Lintner was among the first pupils who started studying under the new dual education rules within a pilot project Young Stars. The dual education scheme fully kicked off at Slovak schools in September 2015, with 422 students studying at posts provided by a total of 89 companies. This number is expected to increase next year as altogether 298 employers passed the registration process and offer a total of 2,763 places for practical training in 84 study programmes in 494 facilities.

Despite the expected growth in interest, employers still stress the dual education needs to be promoted among pupils and their parents, who need to see its benefits.

Registration process complicated

Every employer who wants to join the dual education needs to pass the registration process and receive the certificate confirming he is able to provide the education at his premises. The employers first have to submit an application to the professional organisations which oversee the process in individual sectors.

Information required for the application includes the name of the specialisation, the number of pupils companies want to take, the expected number of experts or instructors who will supervise the training, and the school year during which they want to carry out the training.

The application and the ability of employers to train pupils in their facilities are then checked by the committees established by professional organisations. After passing the process, the employer signs an agreement with the school.

The German-Slovak Chamber of Commerce (DSIHK) considers the registration process rather bureaucratic. Companies have to attach to their application several certificates from health insurance, social insurance, commercial register, tax office and criminal records.

In order to get those, of course, a separate application from each institution is necessary and to wait for the responsive turnaround, DSIHK spokesperson Markus Halt told The Slovak Spectator.

Also Martina Kriskova, project manager of the commerce department at the Austrian Embassy to Slovakia, considers the process difficult. To help Austrian firms, the embassy tries to act as a coordinator and help them solve the problems.

Among the frequent questions companies ask is how many specialisations or students they should fill in the application. This is problematic for them as the applications have to be submitted one year before they actually launch the education, Kriskova explained. Sometimes they do not know how many students they actually need and whether the number they ask for is appropriate.

Another problem is that the application can be submitted only once a year  by September 30.

But if a company decides during the year it wants to join the programme or add another specialisation to its existing application during the year, it is not possible, Kriskova told The Slovak Spectator. So the process is lengthy and inflexible.

In Austria, the start of dual education is not strictly connected with the beginning of the school year as in Slovakia. If a company decides to open a place for a pupil as of January 1, the pupil starts dual education on this date, she explained.

Promotion lies on companies

Companies and associations active in dual education admit they still have to promote the dual education mostly on their own.

Nobody will help us with it, said Jaroslav Holecek, vice-president of the Slovak Automotive Industry Association (ZAP) and chair of the council of employers overseeing dual education.

Kriskova recalls the recruitment of pupils for their pilot project Young Stars, which started in September 2014. They were promoting it together with companies at primary schools, meeting headmasters, pupils and their parents. They took 33 pupils and opened two pilot classrooms. Though it was hard, the following year more people showed interest in participating in the project.

Also DSIHK joins the promotion process and informs pupils and their parents about the dual education benefits. They participate in educational fairs and parent-teacher conferences and organise open days for pupils in plants or employers show at public places, and promote the programme in social media and on websites.

Work with the media is another important tool to promote dual vocational training, Halt said.

Kriskova, however, thinks that there is also space on the national level for some institutions and also the Education Ministry to promote dual education and help companies in regions.
FOLLOWING a draft proposal from the Judicial Council, President Andrej Kiska has removed 45 judges who have reached the age of 65 from office.

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The President is acting in accordance with his declaration of 29 April 2015, when he described how he would proceed with the dismissal of judges who are more than 65-years-old, Martin Liptak from the press department of the Presidential Office told the SITA newswire.

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Kiska will continue to act in this way whenever the Judicial Council provides him with lists of judges aged over 65 years in line with the Constitution, according to Liptak.

Currently, the president can, but does not have to, dismiss judges who reach the age of 65. Further, the Judicial Council has to propose that the individual judge be retired, and there are no deadlines either for the Council to send their proposal or for the President to dismiss the judge.

Kiska has requested that MPs draft a constitutional change to the retirement rules for judges, setting the age when a judge has to retire from office, but Parliament has not found enough votes to pass the draft.

Speaker of Parliament Peter Pellegrini of Smer disregarded the request, with the argument that the Constitution is the fundamental document of the state and therefore every amendment must be premeditated and discussed, according to his spokeswoman Monika Hucakova in early November.
Meanwhile, the head of the Sabratha council, Hussein al-Zawadi, said on Friday that the other two Italian hostages had been freed earlier in the day.

Gino Pollicardo and Filippo Calcagno were freed from a house in a northwestern district of Sabratha, which was the scene of fierce fighting between

Daesh terrorists and a local coalition of militia and forces loyal to the government in Tripoli.

According to official reports, Pollicardo and Calcagno had managed to break down the front door and were rescued by local fighters who arrived at the scene after being alerted by neighbors, al-Zawadi said.

Earlier this month the body of an Italian student who went missing in Cairo was found by the roadside with cigarette burns and other signs of torture.

Giulio Regeni disappeared on January 25, the fifth anniversary of the 2011 uprising that toppled the countrys veteran president Hosni Mubarak.

In Rome, the leader of the Lega Nord Party, Matteo Salvini accused President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Matteo Renzi of imitating a real fight against Daesh.

He demanded a parliamentary probe into the situation in Libya insisted on Italy playing a bigger role in ending the long-running conflict there.

Late last month two Serbian diplomats, abducted by Islamist militants in Libya, died in a US airstrike that targeted a terrorist training camp in Sabratha.
The effectiveness of sanctions depends partially on whether China, North Koreas main ally and Pyongyangs biggest economic partner, will execute the sanctions. I have a suspicion it won't, Breuker warned.

In the past, Beijing was reluctant to impose stricter sanctions on its neighbor. This time around, China and Russia requested that the UN resolution be slightly softened out of fear that overly stringent measures would threaten the stability of the Korean Peninsula.

On the other hand, China is thought to be becoming more and more irritated with its neighbor's behavior. As senior defense analyst at the RAND Corporation Bennett Bruce noted, in the last three years, China has held six summit meetings with South Korea while no such meeting has been held with North Korea, despite Kim Jong Uns apparent attempt last fall to organize a summit meeting with China. This, the expert noted, suggests that in China's view, North Korea is an insignificant state and that Kim Jong Un is a weak leader.

According to experts, all nuclear tests, missile launches and other provocative acts are primarily carried out for the domestic public, to prove that Kim Jong Un is still a powerful leader.

It [North Korea] needs a situation that is always filled with tension: not so much it will bring war, but also not so little change and reform can actually occur. So, provocations are in fact, nothing else but instruments to calibrate the level of tension and maintain it at the desired level, Breuker said.

Just hours after the announcement of new UN sanctions on Thursday, Pyongyang fired several projectiles into the sea up to 150 kilometers off its coast. On Friday, North's official KCNA news agency circulated Kims order to the military to be ready to use its nuclear weapons at any time in the face of growing threats from its enemies.

After the United Nations passed the most recent UN Security Council Resolution, Kim acted like a petulant child that has just been disciplined by his parents for his wrong-doings, Bruce commented on Kim's reaction.

Both experts believe that in the short-term, nothing would deter North Koreans from further nuclear development. Moreover, new provocations may be expected prior to the convention of the Workers Party, the first convention in 36 years, scheduled for early May.

In particular, since the fourth nuclear test in January was unsuccessful, he [Kim Jong Un] may attempt another nuclear test if he really does have [an] available nuclear weapon which has a chance of functioning properly (producing a much larger explosion)," Bennett suggested.

North Korea has previously warned that the imposition of sanctions would not result in the country's collapse or prevent it from launching more rockets.
MEXICO CITY (Sputnik)  In mid-February, energy ministers of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Venezuela, and Russia held talks on the current oil market situation in the Qatari capital of Doha and agreed to freeze oil production at January levels throughout 2016 if other countries followed suit. A number of other states, including Venezuela and non-OPEC member Oman, have expressed interest in the deal.

The Russian Energy Ministry said on Thursday that the exact date and place of an upcoming meeting of oil producers dedicated to the stabilization of the oil market is still under discussion.

"The fall has stopped and [the price of oil] slowly begins to grow," Maduro said in Caracas on Thursday, as quoted by AVN news, announcing that in the coming days a meeting between OPEC and non-OPEC countries will be held where participants are "going to ratify the commitment to freeze production at least until June of this year and continue studying variables and proposals that Venezuela has on the table to retrieve the oil market."
According to the article, economic cooperation between Moscow and Bavaria actively developed for a decade, between 2003 and 2013. However, the sanctions regime has reversed the trend.

Sanctions have failed to change the situation in Ukraine but they have created numerous obstacles for both the EU and Russia.

"Damaged trade relations are very difficult to restore. This is why Bavaria is trying to maintain continuous dialogue with Russia. Moreover, if economic cooperation resumes this may contribute to easing geopolitical tensions," Alfred Gaffal, head of the Bavarian Economic Association, said.

The news comes after Bavarian Prime Minister Horst Seehofer visited Russia to meet with President Vladimir Putin to discuss the impact of the anti-Russian sanctions on the Bavarian economy. He repeatedly has called for the withdrawal of the sanctions and advocated for closer cooperation with Moscow.
MOSCOW (Sputnik), Alexander Mosesov  On Thursday, Nigerian Petroleum Minister Emmanuel Kachikwu stated that the meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) member states and other oil producing countries on finalizing the Doha output freeze deal is to take place on March 20. Kachikwu added that the oil producers would aim to boost prices to $50 per barrel.

"The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy (MPE) has regular contact with other countries and participants in the oil and gas marked The MPE believes that a stable oil market, with prices on a reasonable high level, is important for both oil producing and oil consuming countries," the adviser said.

In mid-February, the energy ministers of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Venezuela, and Russia held talks on the current oil market situation in the Qatari capital of Doha and agreed to freeze oil production at January levels throughout 2016 if other countries followed suit. A number of other states, including Venezuela and non-OPEC member Oman, have expressed interest in the deal.
"The leaders of the left-wing groups in the European Parliament have played games with this proposal from day one. They are playing games with it again. Most frustrating to me is the leaders of the Liberal and Socialist groups who claim to be pro-PNR in public but do whatever they can to scupper it in private.

"We're talking about a critical counterterrorism tool that our governments say they desperately need to ensure people's safety. It should not be toyed around with like this for party political purposes. I intend to keep asking for this proposal to be taken to a vote. There is absolutely no reason to delay it, and lives are at risk the longer we stall."

Mass Data Collection Fears

The controversial mass data collection has brought criticism from civil rights groups who say the mass collection of data is a breach of the right to privacy and will not, in any case stop terrorism. The PNR data handed over by the airlines will be retained for five years. For the first six months, the data will be "unmasked" to include personal identifying information, after which the data will then have to be "masked out" for the remaining four and a half years.

The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) Giovanni Bertarelli warned:

"An EU PNR scheme would be the first large-scale and indiscriminate collection of personal data in the history of the Union. Since it is likely to cover at least all flights to and from the EU and may also involve intra EU and/or domestic flights, millions of non-suspect passengers would potentially be affected by the EU PNR proposal.

"The EDPS urges caution before such a scheme is agreed and recalls that the Court of Justice of the European Union defined a high threshold for the untargeted and indiscriminate collection of data in its decision on the Digital Rights Ireland case, which invalidated the data retention Directive."

He was referring to Max Schrems, the Austrian anti-Facebook campaigner who won a landmark decision before the court, which struck down the Safe Harbor data transfer arrangement that allowed the personal information of Europeans to go to the United States without adequate legal protections.
Earlier, NATO's General Philip Breedlove accused Russia and the Syrian government of deliberately weaponizing migration in an attempt to overwhelm European structures and break European resolve". However, Bennett denounced Breedlove's statement, calling it propaganda aimed at "extending US power".

"The US has destroyed Libya, destroyed Syria, destroyed Iraq, tried to destroy Egypt," the expert said, adding that Russia is, on the contrary, "the one fighting for the freedom, and the liberty, and the traditional European heritage and culture."

In his opinion, Russia has to "counteract the US message" and convince EU countries that the US is using the refugee issue for manipulation purposes, because if Americans are successful with this narrative, they will "have a strategic advantage" and do even more things in this direction, Bennet argued.

If the US is able to turn Europe against Russia this could lead to further unwelcome and dangerous scenarios like the partition of Syria or the overthrow of the Assad government.

"They really have to win the hearts and mind of Europeans," the expert said. "I think Europeans will slowly look for reasons to befriend Russia. And that's a wonderful opportunity. Russia should really cultivate that."
"In effect, when he says that Europe should stop welcoming economic migrants he is actually changing the whole subject and making the issue about economy and migration when simply it is about refugees," she noted, adding that, "if you insist that these people are refugees then you have a duty to welcome them under all EU constitutions."

By contrast, "if you refer to them as migrants then you have no duty towards them because these people are just coming for financial gain and nobody owes them anything," observed Kara-Mustapha. In reality, however, "these people are coming to Europe for safety and to avoid the horrors of war."

She also noted that the current aim of European leadership appears to be to fundamentally change public opinion toward refugees by referring to them as migrants. The wording, she said, makes the topic less acceptable to ensure people turn against these refugees the underlying meaning is that they are coming here for the benefits, to raid the welfare system, and to make money.

The burden placed on cash-strapped Greece is worse than others  why is that?

"Greece is geographically very close to the warzone, it is close to Syria, and close to Turkey, where most of the refugees are coming from, so it is geographically bearing the brunt as the natural gateway to Europe," explained Kara-Mustapha. "The moment they set foot in Greece they can actually claim asylum legally, but Greece is also geographically close so it is the first port of call for most refugees."
"The Saudi regime was established under the auspices of the British Empire. Since then, its ideology has been based on propagating the principles of Wahhabism. Riyadh is also a reliable Western ally. It is no secret that Saudi Arabia promotes Western interests in the region. Today, it is trying to reinforce its positions in the Middle East, including via proxy wars or open conflicts," he explained.

According to the analyst, Saudi Arabia is sponsoring numerous terrorist groups in the Middle East, including those fighting in Syria. Hezbollahs involvement in Syria is aimed at fighting terrorism, as part of a coalition with the Syrian government and Iran.

At the same time, he added, Saudi Arabia is trying to spark a conflict in Lebanon so that Hezbollah has to withdraw its forces from Syria.

"This move is absolutely absurd. Perhaps, Riyadh is trying to regain its positions and compensate political and military losses in the Middle East," Afghahi said.

He added that another possible goal is to damage Irans reputation in the region.

"Teheran openly supports Hezbollah and its fight against terrorism. It is also part of an anti-terrorist coordination center including Russia, Syria and Iraq. Irans actions are in full compliance with the UN Security Council. Tehran is committed to fighting terrorism," the analyst concluded.
The opposition daily published transcripts of several phone conversations between unnamed Turkish officers and a key Daesh operative in the region bordering Syria. The documents appear to show that Turkish officers not only frequently communicated, but worked with the militants.

It follows then that "at the moment Daesh receives support and recruits with the tacit approval of the Turkish government, as well as the country's president and prime minister," Kurkcu concluded.

Meanwhile, RT has published footage shot on the outskirts of the Syrian town of Azaz, which is controlled by al-Nusra Front militants. The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) have been unable to liberate Azaz because Turkish forces shelled the area.

The YPG told RT's Lizzie Phelan that al-Nusra Front fighters receive regular supplies of weapons from Turkey.

"We can actually see here the important border town of Azaz, that Turkey is determined to prevent YPG from taking. Just a little beyond that you can see the Bab al-Salam border crossing and a heavy flow of vehicles coming from Turkey into Azaz," the RT correspondent narrated.
This was done "in order to cut the connection between Kobani and Jazire," Khalil asserted. Turkey has been doing "the impossible" to prevent the three Kurdish regions from connecting, he said.

Turkey has been shelling YPG positions in northern Syria since February to stop Kurds from seizing ground in the area, also claimed by Daesh, the Nusra Front and their allies. Khalil told RT that the Turkish bombardments had not stopped militias from reconnecting Jazire and Kobani.

"The road between Kobani and Jazire is open, between those two districts there is commerce flowing," he said, adding the regions had everything they needed for self-governance.

The militia leader lashed out at Turkey for its attempts to disconnect the bases of Kurdish self-defense forces in Syria, saying the YPG would come out in full force to stop Turkey if it tried to invade Syria.

"We will be against the Turkish troops on the ground whether theyre [with] Saudi[s] or whoever is with them. Once they are inside Syrian land trying to prevent our districts from connecting we will be against them with everything we have," he said.

Khalil claimed that some Turkish nationals had already crossed the border to fight Kurds alongside the UN-banned Nusra Front.

"Some of the corpses we found on the battlefield that belong to al-Nusra were of Turkish origin and even we found IDs and passports and the [boxes of] ammo we found in their warehouses they were closed and stamped by the Turkish government," he said, adding that the boxes contained clearance documents issued by Turkish border control.

Ankara considers the YPG to be an ally of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a separatist movement fighting for Kurdish self-determination in southeastern Turkey.
In a brief video on the ARD website, Aders shared his thoughts about the Syrian president. He described Assad as a "shy" and "discreet" person. Then, an article on the website read: "For Assad, it is crucial to keep its system working. And he will do everything for this. He will fight each terrorist, as he made it clear."

Aders continued: "At the same time Assad admitted  I see it interesting  that now the sovereignty of Syria is not full due to Russias military assistance, Irans engagement, and Hezbollah."

However, in the interview Assad did not say he only wanted to save his rule, according to Deutsch Turkische Nachrichten.

"If the Syrian people want me to leave I will resign immediately," Assad said.

Furthermore, ADR also distorted Assads words on Syrias sovereignty. He never said that the sovereignty was not full due to military assistance from Russia, Iran and Hezbollah.

What Assad said was that "American and allies aircraft are violating Syrias airspace" and terrorists are crossing the Syrian border, and this is why the "sovereignty is not full."

According to the article, ARD struggled for this interview for four years, but unfortunately the questions and answers were all messed up. This is an example of how journalists work gets compromised, Deutsch Turkische Nachrichten concluded.
But we haven't been responsive to the refugee crisis. And today we are doing the same thing. And the problem is that we really have been creating this refugee crisis. We are the ones that destroyed the government of Libya.

We are the ones that in this pipeline dispute helped destroy the government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. We are the ones who invaded Iraq, when there were no weapons of mass destruction, when Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11. And Saddam Hussein was very hostile to al-Qaeda, as was Muammar Gadaffi. Gaddafi was helping us fight Al-Qaeda, Kennedy said.

Bashar Assad after 9/11 gave us the dossiers on terrorists from the Islamic jihadist groups because he saw them as mutual enemies.

Kennedy said, I am not saying that we should ally ourselves with the dictators. But we ally ourselves with the Saudis. And the Saudis don't let women drive a car. You go to jail if you drive a car. They behead people every Wednesday in Mecca. They torture people and they suppress free speech and they do a lot that is probably worse.

He went on to say that, When we decide to overthrow those people, if you examine the real motives, almost always they serve the interests of large United States corporations who have an economic interest in the region. And in this case that was true. If you look at the roots of this war it is a pipeline war.

It was a Sunni revolution that was funded by our allies, by Qatar and Saudi Arabia. And in many cases the soldiers of this revolution were trained and armed by the United States.

The first part of the interview you can find here.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Russia is not going to curtail its plans to open a consulate-general in the western Egyptian city of Hurghada, despite the suspension of Russian tourist traffic to Egypt, the head of the consular department of the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

"In November 2015, the Russian government adopted a decree on the opening of a Russian Consulate-General in Hurghada. There is no intention to curtail these plans, Yevgeny Ivanov said in an interview with RIA Novosti.

According to Ivanov, Russia is currently finalizing consultations on all related technical issues, such as the location of the new diplomatic mission, with the Egyptian side.
Mihemma Halil, the mayor of the Iraqi town of Sinjar, said, citing freed Yazidi women, that the terrorists were selling their female prisoners to buyers in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Libya, adding that some of the buyers were Chechens.

So far we have not been able to find out exactly how these women are taken out of Iraq and Syria, but we believe they are smuggled across the border, he said.

Mihemma Halil also said that many Kurdish women had been set free for ransom.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  The US-led coalition launched 14 airstrikes against Daesh terrorists in Syria and Iraq targeting the groups tactical units, vehicles and petroleum pipelines, the US Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) said in a press release on Friday.

"In Syria, coalition military forces conducted six strikes using attack and fighter aircraft against ISIL targets," the release said. "Additionally in Iraq, coalition military forces conducted eight strikes coordinated with and in support of the Government of Iraq using fighter and remotely piloted aircraft against ISIL targets."

Coalition forces conducted the airstrikes on Thursday in two Syrian cities, including Dayr Az Zaw, where they struck two Daesh petroleum pipelines, and near al-Hasakah, where the coalition hit three Daesh tactical units, heavy machine guns, a vehicle and damaged a tunnel system used by the group.
The attack on the Zaman newspaper protesters comes as the Turkish government falls under increased international criticism for its attempts to crack down on journalistic dissent.

The protesters denounced the state takeover of Zaman press. One protester carried a placard stating, We will fight for a free press. The peaceful protesters were quickly shot with a water cannon and tear gas by Turkish police in an attempt to force them to disperse.

In response to the countrys planned seizure of the media outlet, a spokesperson for Zaman commented earlier Friday that Turkey is going through its darkest and gloomiest days in terms of freedom of press. The editor-in-chief declared that the move by the Turkish government represented nothing short of the practical end of media freedom in Turkey.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Earlier in the day, US Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump said Russia should send Snowden back to the United States. Another Republican candidate, Ted Cruz, said that there was new "convincing" evidence that Snowden had committed treason.

"It is clear that today they are trying to make Snowden a bargaining chip, particularly in the pre-election campaign, and we now and then hear certain statements. But still, the presidential candidates should understand that if they come up with populist statements against Edward Snowden, then, of course, becoming the US president will be very difficult," Anatoly Kucherena told RIA Novosti.

One-sided statements about Snowden are very likely aimed at misleading regular US citizens about Snowden's story, his actual contribution and his rights, the lawyers said.
While the Western political establishment has lulled itself into a false belief that the US-championed sanctions policy has left the Russian economy in tatters, a window of opportunity has opened for the country.

Believe it or not, Russia has a unique opportunity to beat the West at its own game. And it's not about gas supplies or oil extraction  it's about food production.

The country's arable land amounts to 2,168,400 square kilometers; however, the crux of the matter is that Russia's agricultural workers largely avoided sowing genetically modified crops or exhausting the soil by using herbicides. That means Russia's arable lands are perfectly suited for natural food production.
Almost immediately after Turkey expressed its determination to fight Daesh, there were attacks in Diyarbakir, Ankara and Istanbul, the report noted.

The AKP leadership for the past 14 years in power has been supporting organizations, which most of the world has recognized as terrorists.

The report stated that, In 14 years of its rule, the AKP maintained close relations and assisted Muslim Brotherhood, which is recognized as a terrorist organization by Egypt.

Furthermore, the AKP established close cooperation and friendly relations with Hamas, a recognized terrorist group in Israel.

It also acted as a host country by providing housing, protection, a company car and an office to Tariq al-Hashimi, who was accused by the Iraqi authorities of involvement in terrorist activities.

The report further talks about the support that AKP provides in terms of arms, money, ammunition, construction of camps for training of Daesh, al-Nusra, Ahrar al-Sham and the Free Syrian Army, which official Damascus considers as terrorist groups.

The AKP also provided support for radical Islamists in Libya, helping them with weapons, money and also an opportunity to stay in Turkey.

"Considering all of the above, how should one respond to the statements by the Turkish President, Prime Minister and the AKP government, which accuses the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party of terrorism?" Toprak said.
In the coming months, the Supreme Court will determine whether the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals erred in refusing to consider the extent to which laws that restrict abortion by claiming to protect public health do, in fact, protect public health.

The Court will also decide whether the Fifth Circuit erred in its interpretation of a Supreme Court precedent in holding that Texas could enforce laws that significantly reduce abortion clinic availability.

The ghost of Antonin Scalia, the late-Justice and ardent anti-abortionist, hovers above this important case that could be decided by the eight remaining Justices. Court watchers believe a decision will come down to Justice Anthony Kennedy, with the Court either overturning the Fifth Circuits decision by striking the Texas law down as unconstitutional, or a 4-4 split wherein the Texas law would be upheld by the lower courts decision.

On the basis of Wednesdays oral arguments, a vast majority of the legal punditry expects that the Court will not make a decision, instead sending the case back down to the lower courts. The Justices on Wednesday, debated whether the case record properly establishes whether the recent flurry of abortion clinic closures was caused by the new law.
According to the survey, respondents believe that Washington and Moscow play the most important role in tackling terrorism in the Middle East. Such perceptions could be related to Washington's specific conception of security and the success of the Russian military operation in Syria, security expert Merve Onenli Guven said in an exclusive interview with Sputnik.

Guven pointed out that in the period of the Cold War Europe had the idea of security policies "under the aegis of America." Such threats of modern time, like the military conflict in Syria and the refugee crises only strengthened such perceptions among Europeans.

Moreover, "the analysis of the statements made by US leadership shows that in the context of strengthening Russia's positions in the Middle East, the United States prefers a balanced compromise policy to confrontation in its relations with Russia. This could be another reason why Europeans perceive America as a leading player in the negotiation process on the Syrian crisis," Guven said.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  Bidens visit will begin on Saturday in the UAE, after which the vice president will visit Israel and the West Bank on Monday, later continuing on to Jordan.

While in the UAE, Biden is expected to meet with Crown Prince Mohamed to discuss the civil war in Syria and the fight against the Islamic State jihadist group in the region.

During his visit to Israel, Biden is due to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin in Jerusalem. The vice president will then visit the West Bank city of Ramallah in the lands occupied by Israel, where he will meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to discuss shared regional interests," according to Bidens office.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik), Michael Hughes  On Thursday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un put his country on nuclear high alert less than 24 hours after the UNSC unanimously agreed to expand the sanctions regime against Pyongyang for recently conducting a nuclear bomb test and long-range rocket launches.

"The North Korea situation is a product of decades of failure by the nuclear weapons states  the permanent members of the UNSC  to fulfill their Article 6 obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to negotiate the elimination of nuclear weapons," Christ said on Friday.

The NPT is an international agreement signed by 190 nations to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons that also calls on nuclear states to pursue complete disarmament.
Longtime horseman Murray Ferriss of Cottam, Ont. passed away peacefully at his home, at the age of 80 on Thursday, March 3.

After graduating Ridgetown Agricultural College, Murray continued on with a career in agriculture. He became involved in harness racing in the early 1960s and continued to be involved in the industry up until his passing.

Ferriss had a passion for the sport and acquired countless friendships and wonderful memories over his many years in the business.

Ferriss is survived by his wife of 55 years, Donna, and his two children: Mark Ferriss (wife Allyson) and Kelly Ferriss (Ernie Hendry).

As per Ferriss wishes, cremation has taken place and there will be no service.

Memorial contributions may be made in Murray's honour to the charity of your choice.

Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the family and friends of Murray Ferriss.
Poll: 64% Supreme Court Vacancy Important Factor in Voting

71% of Frequent Churchgoers, Republican Voters Rank Supreme Court as Important Factor



Contact: J.P. Duffy or Alice Chao, 866-FRC-NEWS, 866-372-6397



WASHINGTON, March 3, 2016 /Standard Newswire/ -- Today, Family Research Council (FRC) released the results of a commissioned national survey conducted by WPA Opinion Research showing that 64 percent of likely voters agree the Supreme Court will be "an important factor in determining who you vote for in November's elections." 71% of Republican voters and 63% of Democratic voters rank the Supreme Court as an important factor.

The survey also found that 71 percent of those who frequently attend worship services (once a week or more) say the Supreme Court is an important factor in determining their vote. Even 59 percent of those who never attend worship services consider the Supreme Court important to their vote.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins made the following comments in response:

"This survey tells us that the American people have a sobering perspective following the passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Reality is sinking in for voters in both parties that the next president will likely appoint two or three justices to the U.S. Supreme Court, which will impact our nation for decades to come.

"By an 8 point margin, Republican voters are more concerned than Democrats about the future of the Supreme Court. I believe this is in part due to previous Republican presidents who have either been unable to identify liberal jurists in conservative clothing or have been unwilling to fight for nominees who were true constitutionalists.

"The survey also shows that frequent churchgoers are even more concerned than non-churchgoers about the direction of the Court. This higher level of concern is no doubt due to the Supreme Court preempting social consensus by imposing its abortion and marriage views on all 50 states.

"While the country is divided over whether the Supreme Court vacancy should be filled now or after the November elections, it's clear that the Court is a greater motivating factor for Republican voters and frequent churchgoers than it is for Democrats and those who attend worship services less frequently.

"Justice Scalia's replacement may very well be the deciding vote on major cases involving religious liberty, state abortion laws, gun control, and immigration. With so much at stake, the American people should be allowed to decide in November who picks the next Supreme Court justice," concluded Perkins.

Click here to download the full survey results: http://downloads.frc.org/EF/EF16C04.pdf
Syrian War Crimes Tribunal Bill Taken Up by Key Committee

Contact: Jeff Sagnip, 202-225-3765; chrissmith.house.gov



WASHINGTON, March 3, 2016 /Standard Newswire/ -- Legislation designed to establish a Syrian War Crimes Tribunal and hold accountable anyone involved in genocide and crimes against humanity in Syria was adopted yesterday by the House Foreign Affairs Committee.



"The world has been shocked by gross human rights violations, including summary executions, torture, and rape reported in the news," said Rep. Chris Smith, author of the legislation, H. Con. Res 121. He cited estimates that that put the death toll as high as 470,000 people.



A senior member of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the House and the chairman of the subcommittee that oversees global human rights, Smith also serves as Congressional Representative to the U.N.



"The U.N. Security Council should move immediately to establish a Syrian war crimes tribunal and my resolution calls upon the Administration to pursue this policy goal including using our voice and vote at the U.N.," he said. Click here to read Rep. Smith's opening statement.



Smith's resolution envisions a court based on previous effective tribunals held after atrocities in Rwanda, Sierra Leone and the former Yugoslavia. Those courts prosecuted parties from all sides of the warleaders as well as combatants and soldiers. Smith noted that the Yugoslavian court made Slobodan Milosevic the first sitting head of state to be indicted for war crimes. The Sierra Leone court prosecuted former Liberian President Charles Taylor, who eventually was convicted and received a sentence of 50 years in prison. and a senior member of the Foreign Affairs committee and chairman of the subcommittee that oversees global human rights.



"Past ad hoc/regional war crimes tribunalsincluding courts for Sierra Leone, Rwanda and the former Yugoslaviahave made a significant difference, holding some of the worst mass murders to account with successful prosecutions followed by long jail sentences," Smith said.



"Can a U.N. Security Council resolution establishing a Syrian tribunal prevail?" Smith asked, preempting those who might doubt the success of ad hoc/regional courts. "Yes. With a herculean diplomatic push by the United States and other interested nations, past success in creating war crimes tribunals can indeed be prologue. Notwithstanding Russia's solidarity with Serbia during the Balkan war, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was unanimously approved. Ditto for the special court in Sierra Leone in 2002. The Rwanda tribunal was created in 1994, with China choosing to abstain rather than veto."



Smith also highlighted advantages a special ad hoc/regional court would have over the International Criminal Court (ICC).



"An ad hoc or regional court has significant advantages over the International Criminal Court (ICC) as a venue for justice," Smith said. "For starters, neither Syria nor the United States is a member of the ICC, although mechanisms exist to push prosecutions there. The ICC has operated since 2002 but boasts only two convictions. By way of contrast, the Yugoslavia court convicted 80 people; Rwanda, 61; and Sierra Leone, 9. Moreover, a singularly focused Syrian tribunal that provides Syrians with a degree of ownership could enhance its effectiveness.



"At the Syrian court, no one on either side who commits war crimes, genocide or crimes against humanity would be precluded from prosecution. Justice would be served," Smith said.



The Syria resolution has broad bi-partisan support, and received input from the State Department as well as a panel of experts at a 2013 hearing convened by Chairman Smith and entitled "Establishing a Syrian War Crimes Tribunal." Click here to view a transcript of the hearing, or click here



For complete release click on:

chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398749
Er is iets heel griezeligs aan de gang in Nederland. Dat wij geleidelijk aan in een totalitaire 'democratie' wegzinken wordt steeds ...
My unexpected romantic relationship with Taiwan originates more from the people than the food or place itself. Every new visit brings me clo...
American intelligence analysts are not as confidant as Iraqi and American politicians that ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) will be driven out of Mosul by late 2016. This pessimism comes from an analysis of how the smaller city of Ramadi was cleared of ISIL in December 2015 and how much more complicated the situation in Mosul is.

ISIL has controlled Mosul since June 2014 and most (all but about 700,000) of the original three million inhabitants have fled. Not only is that more than ten times what was in Ramadi before the final assault but the Ramadai population was almost all Sunni Arab. Mosul is a much more complex place with Sunni, Shia, Kurds, Turks and so on. Moreover Ramadi was on the Euphrates river in the relatively barren western Iraq while Mosul is on three times larger Euphrates (by water volume) river in an area with more vegetation and hills. This benefits the defenders. Finally Mosul is a much wealthier place than Ramadi, largely because of the local oil fields. This makes Mosul a much more valuable asset for whoever holds it.

Politics is more of an issue in Mosul than Ramadi. Mosul involves Sunni, Shia, Arab, Kurd and Turkish militias and each of these groups have still more factions. In Ramadi it was mainly Sunni ISIL versus Shia Iraqis aided by some pro-government Sunni. Finally ISIL had less than a thousand men in Ramadi for the final battle. Most of these defenders fought to the death. ISIL is apparently planning to have five to ten times as many fighters in Mosul for the final battle.

Nearly all civilians still in Mosul are openly hostile to ISIL, which is suffering from increasingly frequent and accurate air attacks. This is apparently the result of a more effective informant network in the city. Government forces south of the city and Kurdish troops (and non-Moslem militias) north of the city are preparing for the final attack, which the Iraqi government is saying will take place in mid-2016. This time a year ago Iraq was saying the attack would take place in mid-2015.

ISIL, and the Iraqi government, is most concerned with the Kurdish advance from the north because the Kurds have long had American air support. As more U.S. aircraft have arrived in the region, along with more American Special Forces to work with the Kurds, the Kurdish forces have become ever more deadly. Since early 2015 ISIL has been trying to stop the Kurdish advance and failed, suffering thousands of casualties (most of them dead) in the process. The Kurds are more vulnerable when they advance but because so many of the Kurds have years of combat experience and lots of U.S. training it is difficult to kill or wound enough Kurds to stop these movements. The Kurds are concerned about keeping their casualties low. This is good for morale, preserves the experienced fighters and recognizes the fact the Kurds have limited (compared to the Iraqi Army and Shia militias) manpower and want to conserve it.

All this also scares the Iraqi government because so many powerful players have a claim on Mosul. The Arab Shias are the majority in Iraq and control the government. Some of these Shia politicians are openly accusing Turkey of backing Sunni terrorists as part of a conspiracy to regain their lost (because of the British after World War I) Mosul province (the northern third of Iraq). The Turks deny this and theres no regain Mosul movement in Turkey. What the Turks have done is negotiate a peace deal involving the Kurdish government of northern Iraq and Kurdish separatists in Turkey (the PKK). This was all done with little consultation from the Iraqi government. This annoys the Iraqis a great deal because the arrangement allowed the PKK gunmen to leave Turkey unmolested and move to Kurdish Iraq. One of the few things Iraqi Arabs agree on is the need to keep the Kurds weak and obedient. Since 1991 Iraqi Kurds have become autonomous and militarily powerful. The movement of thousands of armed PKK men from Turkey to northern Iraq makes it even more impossible to get the Iraqi Kurds back into line. Since 2015 that PKK deal has come apart and the Turks are once more at war with the PKK while remaining on good terms with the Iraqi Kurds.

The 2014 government defeat in Mosul was caused by a combination of corruption (leading to poor leadership and morale in the army and police) and years of Islamic terrorism in Mosul directed at the security forces. Without the crippling effects of corruption the army and police would still be in control. ISIL did not take the entire city right away. The Kurdish neighborhoods received reinforcements and support from the Kurdish controlled provinces to the north, although many Kurdish civilians fled north to avoid living in a combat zone. Over half a million civilians fled Mosul and many tried to get into the Kurdish provinces. That was a time-consuming process because the Kurds have kept Islamic terrorists out by imposing effective security measures and not falling victim to the lure of Islamic terrorism. The Kurds are not Arabs (they are related to the Iranians and other Central Asian Indo-European groups) and dont care much for the Arabs (and vice versa). But business is business and Arabs who will behave are welcome to come visit, which a growing number of Arabs do if only to get away from the threat of Islamic terrorism for a while.

All these differences up north make the liberation of Mosul from ISIL rule much more complicated. Many Shia politicians play down these complications hoping that many of these problems will not be major obstacles to defeating ISIL. That may be so but long term the Iraqi government not only has to liberate Mosul but it also has to find a way to keep the peace once all the inhabitants have returned. That will prove more difficult that defeating ISIL.
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With the first hints of warm weather my mind has turned to summer camping adventures. If, like me, youre dreaming of spending the night in a tent or hanging out around a campfire, you should think ahead.

Many popular campgrounds fill up months in advance, especially for weekends. If you want to guarantee a spot, make reservations. Here is a roundup to help you plan your summer fun.

Car camping

State parks: Reservations are available at more than 60 state parks for campsites, yurts and cabins. To make reservations for most Washington state parks, go to https://washington.goingtocamp.com or call 888-226-7688. Cama Beach and Camano Island state park cabin reservations must be made by calling 360-387-1550.

Mount Rainier National Park: Mount Rainier has three car-camping campgrounds, Cougar Rock, Ohanapechosh and White River. Cougar Rock and Ohanapechosh allow reservations and usually open in late May. Get details on the campgrounds and make reservations at http://www.nps.gov/mora/planyourvisit/campgrounds.htm. A fourth campground, Mowich Lake on the northwest side of the mountain, allows walk-in, tent camping, but you can drive right to the edge of the campground. Its usually open in early July. It also allows reservations, which are filled using the wilderness permit system. (See below for details.)

Olympic National Park: Kalaloch Campground allows reservations. The other front-country campgrounds are all first-come, first-serve. To make reservations, go to http://1.usa.gov/1KDK0ef. Reservations are accepted from June 8 to Sept. 18 and can be made three days to six months in advance.

North Cascades National Park: Campgrounds are first-come, first-serve. Get details at http://www.nps.gov/noca/planyourvisit/camping.htm. Forest Service: Many Forest Service campgrounds accept reservations, and you can find them all over the state. For a list of campgrounds in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, go to http://1.usa.gov/1xiFasr. Click on each campground for information on when its open and how to make reservations. To look for and reserve Forest Service campgrounds around the state and country, go to www.recreation.gov.

Backpacking permits

Enchantments: This year, the period that permits are required for The Enchantments, outside of Leavenworth, has been extended. Permits to backpack are now required from May 15 to Oct. 31. Permits are hard to get.

The application period for Enchantment permits has now closed. If you applied for a permit, return to the website to see whether you received one. Permits not issued during the initial period are available first-come, first-serve through the website. A limited number of permits are also available first-come, first-serve on a daily walk-in basis.

There is a $6, non-refundable application fee. If you do get a permit, the fee is $5 per person, per day. Apply for a permit and get details at http://1.usa.gov/1n3xTst.

Mount Rainier National Park: A permit is required for all overnight camping in the wilderness areas of the park. Permits for the Wonderland Trail fill up quickly. You also need a permit for climbing above 10,000 feet or on any glaciers.

Wilderness permit reservations are accepted beginning March 15. Requests received between March 15 and March 31 are processed in random order starting April 1. After that, requests are processed in the order they are received. Requests can be made by fax or letter.

After late May, they can also be made in person. Reservations are $20. If you dont get a reservation, you will not be charged. For information and a reservation form, go to www.nps.gov/mora/planyourvisit/wilderness-permit.htm.

Olympic National Park: A permit is required for backcountry camping in the park. Some areas have quotas and reservations are available from May 1 to Sept. 30. Reservations are accepted beginning March 15 and must be made at least three days in advance. Some walk-in permits are also available. Reservations can be mailed or faxed. They cost $5 per person, per night. Kids under 16 are free.

For more information and reservation forms, go to www.nps.gov/olym/planyourvisit/wilderness-reservations.htm.

North Cascades National Park: Backcountry camping and boating requires permits, which are all first-come, first serve. Get more info at www.nps.gov/noca/planyourvisit/permits.htm.
When R.A. Long established Longview Community Church in the 1920s, he wanted it to be a truly community church, welcoming people from all Christian traditions.

When visitors step in, though, they encounter a symbol that people now associate with terror, though it once was a revered sign for several faiths. About 60 floor tiles emblazoned with swastika-style crosses are interspersed with the red tiles in the churchs narthex, or entrance.

Some folks wander in and ask, Is this the swastika church?  Pastor John Williams said Thursday. About once a year someone paints swastika graffitti on the churchs exterior.

The tiles have been part of the Gothic-style church for nearly 90 years, but a recent remodeling project put the congregation at odds about keeping the tiles.

Some members want to remove the swastika tiles, which they say is a reminder of the horrors of Nazi Germany (although the Nazi swastika is oriented differently). On the other side, members do not want to strip the building of its history. The swastika tiles are original to the church, which was built in 1925, eight years before Hitler and the Nazis came to power in 1933.

The debate is similar to many raging around the world in cases where modern sentiments of political correctness clash with monuments to discredited or now-reviled people or causes. In southern states, for example, people are demanding removal of statues of Confederate heroes. At their core, these debates frame a central question: Should parts of history be expunged because theyre distasteful, even horrifying?

At Longview Community Church, the conflict also mirrors the churchs ongoing effort to balance tradition with modernity.

Nowadays, contemporary service includes music with drums and keyboards, but the instruments are stored under blankets to remain inconspicuous. When the narthex was expanded last year to accommodate a new elevator, the church commissioned an artist to replicate the original light fixtures.

The addition of the elevator sparked the swastika debate. Engineers discovered cracks in a 14-square-foot section of tiling in the doorway between the entrance and the narthex. Some church members thought that if the church must replace the tiles, why not remove the swastikas?

Last year the churchs 25-member board voted to remove them, Williams said. But a wave of opposition made it delay the decision to get more opinions from the congregation, he added.

Known as fylfot cross, the swastikas are one of four variations of the Christian cross found in the churchs entryway. The ancient symbol was seen as a sign of good fortunate in Buddhism and Hinduism. Single swastikas began to appear in southeastern Europe about 7,000 years ago, according to the BBC.

Hitler appropriated the symbol and inverted it so that the bent s structures face a reverse direction from the Christian fylfot cross. However, most casual observers dont notice the difference.

At a certain point perception becomes reality, even if it is incorrect, Williams said.

Williams and others fear the church could be sending the wrong message, especially to visitors. If you have 600 people in here for a concert, I dont know how many will see that and never want to come back, he said.

In recent weeks, the church has held two town-hall meetings. Only about 50 people attended out of the 700-member plus congregation, and most spoke against the change.

Beyond preserving the churchs history, some opponents questioned the cost of replacing the tiles and wondered if the church would have to change every time someone is offended, he said.

The negative pushback likely means the church probably will forgo removing the tiles. Williams expects the board to reverse its earlier decision within the next couple of months.

Williams himself supports removing the tiles, but he says its not worth dividing the congregation.

That would break my pastors heart, he said.

Its possible the issue could resurface under a different pastor and a different board, he said. And at least one question lingers, he said: How do we protect history but make sure we are lasting into history?
Two of the three Oregon murder suspects arrested following a Feb. 5 high-speed chase on Interstate 5 waived extradition this week in Cowlitz County Superior Court.

On the afternoon of Feb. 5, 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.

According to an affidavit prepared by the Multnomah County Deputy District Attorneys office, Charles Benjamin Moi Moi, 20, of SeaTac, Wash., intended to rob Sterling but the crime didnt go as planned. Sterlings family told KOIN-TV that he didnt know any of the suspects.

The suspects fled the scene. A short time later, Portland police found a Cadillac matching the suspect vehicle description traveling northbound on Interstate 205. A pursuit reaching speeds of 100 mph and involving several police agencies ensued into Washington. The car finally was stopped in the middle of I-5 near the Kalama River Road exit.

Along with Moi Moi, police arrested Rony Alexander Celis, 23, of Renton; and Clayton Eldridge Harrell III, 18, of Des Moines, Wash.

The Multnomah County District Attorneys office charged all three men with murder. Moi Moi, described in a court document as the actual shooter, also is charged with aggravated murder.

On Wednesday, Celis waived extradition, and the fugitive charge was dropped. Celis, identified as the driver of the getaway car, pleaded guilty to the attempting to elude charge, with sentencing scheduled for March 15.

On Thursday, Moi Moi pleaded guilty to second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, with sentencing set for March 15. He also waived extradition, so his fugitive charge was dropped. Both will be returned to Oregon to face the murder charges there.

Harrell is charged in Cowlitz County with unlawful possession of a firearm and being a fugitive from justice. A review of his case is scheduled for March 15.
Letters to the Editor





Double trouble

Today I opened the paper and there were the two faces that TDN has declared will be our choices for president. A crude bombastic egotist and a shrill wanna be political retread who has trouble telling the truth. Both have serious character flaws. They do have one thing in common; both are multimillionaires who are trying to buy the chair in the oval office. There are 330 million people in America, and these two are the choices we have for leader of the greatest country ever conceived in the minds of man? And we wonder why people dont go to the polls. America deserves better.

Daniel Stanley

Longview

Enough excuses

If you are looking for an excuse, you will find one. The Longview City Council, PUD and Port commissioners seem to have a lot of them. There is an excuse every time a new business tries to approach the Port of Longview. The PUD is saying the reason your power bill has doubled is this winters cold temperatures ... ha ha. The city has buried its problems hoping they would be forgotten. Maybe we should get advice and honest answers from the City of Woodland as they seem to be doing a great job in comparison.

Mark Lengyel

Longview

Lesson learned

A writer recently wrote about being scammed by a local car dealer, not once but three times. We had a very similar experience last fall but lucky for us it only happened once. After signing the contract and driving away in our new (to us) car, we realized that we had been charged nearly $2,000 over what we had agreed to. It was partly our fault for not reading all the papers they gave us to sign, but we trusted them. Big mistake. We returned the following day and pointed out the discrepancies between what they told us and what was in the contract. Fortunately for us they made changes that reduced our loan to what we expected. They didnt actually remove all the fraudulent charges, just removed some others to make the amount correct. This dealer was so bad they even tried to charge us double the actual membership fee to join a local credit union. A few weeks later when I learned about the fee, I called and asked them to refund the difference. They argued with me but when I threatened to come to the sales floor and make a scene, they relented and mailed us the over charge. It was a real learning experience. Know what you are signing. I also want to say the two other dealers in Longview that we have worked with were great.

Linda Standal

Longview

Unintended consequences

This is in response to a recent letter criticizing the PUD commissioners for building a wind farm against the will of the people. Oops  the people mandated this by voting for an initiative a few years back requiring renewable sources. There will be more consequences to this initiative in years to come.

This points out how legislation by initiative is a poor way to do things. Unintended consequences arise. We hire senators and representatives to delve more deeply into subjects and pay them the big bucks to do so. There is at least one initiative probably before us this fall that again sounds good but will have unintended consequences. Might I suggest we try to limit the initiatives and instead let the elected legislators do what we hired them to do.

Dorothy Bain Hanson

Longview
WASHINGTON  I write today to confess error.

A few months back, pondering the ghastly parlor game of choosing between President Donald Trump and President Ted Cruz, I opted  reluctantly, disbelievingly  for Trump, as the lesser of two dangers.

Yes, the real estate tycoon is a know-nothing, uninterested-in-learning-anything buffoon. Also: a demagogue and a bully whose emotional instability would pose a threat to national security.

But the Cruz alternative, it seemed to me then, was even worse. Cruz is smarter than Trump, more calculating than Trump (which is saying something) and way, way more conservative than Trump.

A Trump presidency, or so I reassured myself, at least offered the prospect of unprincipled deal-making in the service of what is Trumps only guidepost  promoting the greater glory of Trump. President Cruz would be as absolutist as Sen. Cruz, and therefore, from my point of view, the worse president.

I was wrong.

Since that column in mid-December, Trump has proved himself to be even less knowledgeable and even more unhinged. His election would constitute a grave threat to American values and, potentially, American democracy.

In January, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham likened picking between Trump and Cruz to like being shot or poisoned. What does it really matter?

Except Graham, like me, has come to the unexpected conclusion that it does. We may be in a position where we have to rally around Ted Cruz as the only way to stop Donald Trump, Graham told CBS News Charlie Rose as the Super Tuesday returns rolled in.

Was that what Graham was really suggesting, Rose asked the man who had joked, just a few days earlier, about how the safest place to murder Cruz would be on the Senate floor?

Graham: I cant believe I would say yes, but yes.

Senator, I feel your astonishment, and raise it. To take one pending example, you probably wouldnt have difficulty voting to confirm President Cruzs Supreme Court nominee. I would.

But my fundamental fear is that giving the reins of government to Trump would be even riskier, exposing the country to more long-lasting danger than a court with multiple Cruz nominees.

Trump on the trail demonstrates scant respect for, and even less knowledge of, constitutional and legal limitations. He wants to open up the libel laws  actually, to undo limits imposed by the First Amendment  to make it easier to sue media outlets that dare to criticize him. He threatens those who contribute to his political opponents. They better be careful, they have a lot to hide, he warned Chicagos Ricketts family, which has donated to an anti-Trump super-PAC.

He cannot tolerate protesters, ordering his goons to throw them out into the cold and expressing his own yearning for even more violent measures: Id like to punch him in the face. He would torture alleged terrorists (Dont tell me it doesnt work  torture works, he said) and kill their families, notwithstanding that these constitute war crimes under U.S. and international law.

You could dismiss this as over-the-top campaign trail rhetoric  or you could worry, as I do, about what a man like this would do once in office, with the power of government at his disposal. A former White House chief of staff once told me that the most astonishing aspect of the presidency isnt how constrained the chief executive is by having to deal with a recalcitrant Congress  its how much latitude the president has when it comes to conducting military operations.

Perhaps the military would refuse to follow President Trumps unlawful orders, as former CIA Director Michael Hayden suggested. What about the order  issued in a fit of pique against a foreign critic  that is lawful but crazy?

Trump is Nixon with all of the megalomaniacal willingness to abuse power and none of the crafty realpolitik. He is attracted to strongmen, past and present  unapologetically retweeting a quote from Mussolini (What difference does it make whether its Mussolini or somebody else?) and basking in praise from Vladimir Putin.

Of the Republican speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, Trump said menacingly, on the night of his Super Tuesday victories, Im sure Im going to get along with him, and if I dont, hes going to pay a big price.

Space precludes going through all the outrageous things Trump has said or proposed, or his predilection for flat-out lying when called on these offenses. Suffice it to say that, if Trump is elected, Ryan isnt the only American who might have to pay a price.
Inside a cramped room at the state Capitol Building on Thursday, five people sat together in a row of chairs.

They were united by life and death.

As they listened to a list of the names of Washingtons 2015 organ donors during the annual Gift of Life ceremony, they quietly wiped away tears.

The first two people in the row were Patty and Steve Craig. Theyre the parents of 20-year-old Raymond Craig, who died after an October car accident in Pierce County. They cried together as they celebrated Raymonds life, a piece of which was given to the woman sitting at Steves right.

Keilah Hansford received Raymonds heart three days after he died. At 28 years old, the Longview mother of three had been dying from heart failure.

The Craigs daughter Karen Garcia, 34, sat next to Hansford with her infant son, Matteus. She was celebrating her brothers life and her own childhood liver transplant 24 years ago.

Like the Craigs, who are from Randle, many of the people in the room still mourned the death of loved ones but came to give them a standing ovation for donating life through their organs. Gov. Jay Inslee, whose son received a cornea transplant years ago, joined the celebration.

Hes a hero, Patty Craig said of her son. Were proud of him.

She said she came to Thursdays ceremony to advocate for more organ donations. Since a story about the Craigs and Hansford appeared in the Feb. 15 Daily News, the Craigs say several people have told them theyve become organ donors.

Hansford said telling her story to others also has helped others accept organ donation, and she said shell continue to advocate.

Its inspiring to see so many people who made the choice to donate, she said of Thursdays ceremony. There are others out there. ... We just want to educate people.

Garcia, the Craigs adopted daughter, remains active in advocating for more organ donors. Shes an active part of the pediatric transplant program at the University of California, San Francisco, where she received her liver transplant at 10 years old.

With her curly-haired son asleep on her shoulder, Garcia spoke about what her new liver enabled her to do with her life.

I went to college. I had a career. I am a union organizer. I have a husband. I have a full and active life, said Garcia, who lives in Salem with her husband and three children.

Garcia was with her parents for the three days they waited at Tacoma General Hospital while Raymond was artificially kept alive to heal a bruise on his heart and prepare it for donation. Garcia called those three days the hardest of her life, but she said she is thankful Raymond could join the 146 organ donors who received the Gift of Life award Thursday.

Those three days were worth it ... because we now have a mother who can care for her three children, she said, speaking of Hansford, who the Craig families now considers family.

You look at the person who (Raymonds heart) went to, and youre like, dude, you could have been a part of our family the whole time, Garcia said.
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By Shreerupa Mitra-Jha

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights urged US authorities to proceed with great caution in the ongoing legal dispute between Apple and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and warned that the outcome of the case may have extremely damaging implications for the human rights of millions of people.

In order to address a security-related issue related to encryption in one case, the authorities risk unlocking a Pandoras Box that could have extremely damaging implications for the human rights of many millions of people, including their physical and financial security, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein said on Friday.

Describing the San Bernardino killings as an abominable crime for which the FBI deserves the support of all in its investigation but this case is not about a company  and its supporters  seeking to protect criminals and terrorists, it is about where a key red line necessary to safeguard all of us from criminals and repression should be set, he said.

This is not just about one case and one IT company in one country. It will have tremendous ramifications for the future of individuals security in a digital world which is increasingly inextricably meshed with the actual world we live in, the UN human rights chief said, and stated that there are many ways to investigate the crime besides forcing Apple to create a software to undermine the security features of their own phones.

If the case outcome goes against Apple then this may set a precedent for other IT companies to do the samelike in the case of BlackBerry and Google who have been forced to expose their clients for mass surveillanceand may potentially be a gift to authoritarian regimes and other criminal hackers.

In 2012, Google handed over all private emails and other digital data to the US government of three Wikileaks journalists after a secret warrant issued by a federal judge, to build up a case against Julian Assange.

Encryption tools are widely used around the world, including by human rights defenders, civil society, journalists, whistle-blowers and political dissidents facing persecution and harassment, Zeid said. Encryption and anonymity are needed as enablers of both freedom of expression and opinion, and the right to privacy. It is neither fanciful nor an exaggeration to say that, without encryption tools, lives may be endangered. In the worst cases, a Governments ability to break into its citizens phones may lead to the persecution of individuals who are simply exercising their fundamental human rights.

The ongoing legal battle between the FBI and Apple over the unlocking of a terrorists iPhone has spurred major debates in the US around right to privacy, mass surveillance and national security.

On 2 December, Syed Farook, with his wife Tashfeen Malik, killed 14 people and wounded 22 in a shooting spree. The investigators retrieved two destroyed cell phones, a laptop and Farooks locked iPhone.

Apple has refused to write a code to unlock Farooks iPhone saying that the same code could be used to unlock other iPhones and not just the one mentioned in the court order.

In a separate case earlier this week, a US federal magistrate judge, rejected a Government request to compel Apple to extract information from an iPhone belonging to a suspect in drugs-related case.

The UK is also considering a revised Investigatory Powers Bill a sprawling surveillance system that summons up data from computers and smartphonesciting security concerns.

So, in essence, what we have here is an issue of proportionality: in order to possibly  but by no means certainly  gain extra information about the dreadful crime committed by Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife in San Bernardino, we may end up enabling a multitude of other crimes all across the world, including in the United States. The debate around encryption is too focused on one side of the security coin, in particular its potential use for criminal purposes in times of terrorism. The other side of the security coin, is that weakening encryption protections may bring even bigger dangers to national and international security, Zeid said.

He urged the 47-member Human Rights Council, of which India is a member, to continue to examine the dramatic impact digital and other new technologies are having, and will continue to have, on human rights across the globe.

The author is Journalist, United Nations Office at Geneva and World Trade Organization
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Smoothtalker, a device that helps those with speech defects communicate better and an eye tracking device that empowers those with disabilities to communicate and interact with the world are among a host of assistive technologies on offer for the differently-abled.

Prominent companies such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Accenture etc. are showcasing various innovations developed to assist differently-abled people to overcome their day-to-day difficulties at the 5th edition of Techshare 2016, that began in New Delhi on Thursday.

The two-day event inaugurated by Vinod Aggarwal, Secretary, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Ministry for Social Justice, is being organised by Barrierbreak, a company that works in the area of accessibility and assistive technology.

"The disability conversation almost always revolves around the charitable part. Everyone should understand that the needs of those with disabilities will have to be catered to. They do not have the technology access," Shilpi Kapoor, MD, Barrierbreak said.

According to conservative estimates, Kapoor said, there are around 70 million differently-abled people in India and the market for assistive technology is Rs. 4,500 crores.

"There are so many initiatives such as Make in India, Digital India etc. but what are we thinking for those who are differently abled?" Kapoor said.

Organisers said beginning from the first edition of Techshare held in 2008, things have started looking up.

On the inaugural day, a specially designed news app for the differently-abled people, called Newz Hook, was launched.

The app has a screen reader as well as a sign language facility. It seemed to be an instant hit with the participants at the event who queued up for a free demonstration.

Similarly, Optelec,a Dutch company came to the event with its Clear View Speech, a device that would help a person with low vision read or hear news. Tobii technology, a Swedish company displayed Eyetracker, a device that reads eye movement. There is the Smoothtalker that helps those who suffer from any form of speech defect.

All these products are marketed by Barrierbreak in India.

Roli from Facebook explained why the social networking website has come forward to join the initiative.

"Around 50,000 Facebook users listen to the site instead of reading it," she said.

"Facebook has a number of alternative commands for the differently-abled such as Ctrl+L for 'like'. The full list can be obtained by pressing Ctrl+?," she added.

"The government launching the Accessible India (Sugamya Bharat) campaign is a positive sign. It acknowledges that what we have been saying all this while is true and somebody has to address the problem. Companies such as Microsoft, Google, Accenture-- they are all out to cater to the needs of the differently-abled people today. This itself is a success," Kapoor said.

Similar sentiments were echoed by Rajender Singh Negi who has attended all the editions of Techshare so far.

An employee at the National Institute for the Visually Handicapped (NIVH), Negi said, "Nothing changes ovenight. The good thing is, the mindset is changing. The awareness level is on the rise. That itself is a giant leap."

PTI
tech2 News Staff

The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) in India has now barred filmmakers to publish any excised portions of movies to anybody, including on the web. The decision came up during resumed hearing of a public interest litigation filed in January against the release of adult rom-com movies such as Mastizaade and Kya Kool Hain Hum 3.

According to a report by The Economic Times, film-makers will now be required to furnish an undertaking to this effect, Assistant Solicitor General Chetan Mittal told the Punjab & Haryana High Court on behalf of the information & broadcasting ministry and the censor board.

Early January, censored movie clips from movies such as Mastizaade and Kya Kool Hain Hum 3 were found online and, a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) was filed in the Punjab and Haryana high court allegating that these scenes were vulgar and objectionable. This subject comes to light as most film makers silently release censored content online such as on YouTube and Netflix and there is currently no act governing how content should be certified (or censored) for the Internet.

The report adds that the petitioner had annexed a compact disc of scenes from the two films which were downloaded from YouTube and contended that the scenes were highly objectionable and vulgar. The court had then sought responses from the ministry and the censor board.

Instead of taking a longer route, the court along with the censor board arrived at a decision over night to take an undertaking from film-makers. An affidavit filed in the court stated, "It is submitted that the deponent would ensure that through the undertaking to be submitted by the producers/directors that they would not release the excised portion of the feature/film to anybody." The court accepted the affidavit.

Now as per affidavit, the board certifies films only for public exhibition in theatre or satellite/television channels, promos, trailers, etc, after examining the overall content as per the Cinematograph Act, 1952, Cinematograph (Certification) Rules, 1983, and guidelines, 1991, added the report.
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Hackers affiliated to the Islamic State terror group who promised to take down international search engine giant Google instead targeted a small Indian tech firm, according to a media report.

Cyber Caliphate Army (CCA), a hacking group affiliated to the IS, hit www.addgoogleonline.com registered by Gandani K for Indian tech firm Always Say, which offers search engine optimisation (SEO) services to local clients.

According to vocative.com website, CCA had vowed on messaging app Telegram that they would attack Google on Monday.

We promised to hack Google. Keep the promise inshallah (God willing), expect us today, the group declared.

However, the website claims that a few hours later, they had instead defaced the website www.addgoogleonline.com, which is completely unrelated to the Silicon Valley-based Google.

After it was hacked, the website played an Islamic State (IS) song in French and displaced the official logo along with a sign saying Hacked By: CCA.

The CCAs defacement of the website was short-lived as yet another hacker group called n3far1ous wiped out the IS message and replaced it with an Eat this, ISIS message and a rock tune playing in the background.

The n3far1ous message was still on display on Thursday.

The CCA allegedly hacked into 35 British websites, which appear to be a random mix of relatively small British businesses, media reports said.

The websites hacked into include a Japanese dance instructors website, a company selling furniture and laminate flooring and a salon.

IS hackers allegedly said that the attacks were A message to David Cameron as revenge for the killing of British Muslim terrorist Junaid Hussain, who was killed in a US-led air strike last year.

The attacks follow pro-IS hackers threats that they would target the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, and Twitters Jack Dorsey for shutting down their social media accounts.

PTI
tech2 News Staff

The ongoing battle between the FBI and Apple over unlocking an iPhone belonging to a terrorist has been hitting headlines for some time now. Apart from several major tech companies including Google, Facebook and Microsoft who are siding with Apple, a new report highlights how several former high-level government officials describe the FBIs effort to compel Apple as "misguided".

According to a report by Fortune, Former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said at the RSA cybersecurity conference in San Francisco that requiring Apple to create software to weaken the iPhones security would be akin to "creating a bacterial biological weapon." If Apple goes ahead with providing the information required by the FBI, it also increases the risk of the company's software eventually leaking into the hands of criminals.

(Also read: Apple vs FBI: Heres why Google, Microsoft, Facebook and others side with Tim Cook)

Apple does want to help the FBI but opening one unit means creating a backdoor for future requests that may follow and eventually compromising on user privacy, believes CEO Tim Cook.

Mike McConnell, a former Director of National Intelligence and Navy Vice Admiral who also appeared at the conference, said, "ubiquitous encryption is something the nation needs to have," the report added.

Apple has also filed a motion where the government requested, Just this once and Just this phone. But the government knows those statements are not true; indeed the government has filed multiple other applications for similar orders, some of which are pending in other courts.

(Also read: Apple vs FBI: The encryption battle heats up)

This case has drawn worldwide attention and the result might decide as to how the government could peep into our private data, forever.
tech2 News Staff

The recently unveiled Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge at the Unpacked event will arrive in India on March 8, according to a report by The Times of India. The report also adds that Samsung plans to invest about Rs 100 crore on marketing the new flagship devices in the bid to outdo arch rival Apple. The Galaxy S7 and S7 edge are expected to go on sale from the third week of March. There is no word on the India pricing, but it is likely to match iPhone 6s models.

The pricing of Samsung models is speculated to start around Rs 45,000. The Times of India pegs prices between Rs 50,000 and Rs 60,000. (Also read: Samsung Galaxy S7 vs LG G5 and others) Citing people related to the matter, an earlier report added that Samsung has planned additional consumer promotion as well.

It is also planning to cut down prices of some of its older models. On the other hand, the report adds that Apple has also planned something 'big'. It was just recently that Samsung announced Galaxy A5 and A7 2016 editions for the Indian market. On the other hand, Apple has planned a 4-inch iPhone model to be launched on March 21, and likely to hit emerging markets like China and India.

Unveiled recently at a pre-MWC2016 event, the S7 comes with a 5.1-inch super AMOLED dispay with 2550 x 1440 pixels. Although the US market would get the Snapdragon 820 variant, global markets would find their Galaxy S7 powered by a Samsung Exynos chipset instead. In this years version of its flagship, Samsung has bumped up the RAM to 4GB.

Similar to the Galaxy S7, its curved sibling also boasts of 4GB RAM. However, it comes with a 5.5-inch display with 2550 x 1440 pixels as compared to the 5.1-inch in the Samsung Galaxy S7. The devices in most others areas are identical spec-to-spec. The other difference being the 3600mAh battery in the S7 Edge compared to the 3000mAh battery in the S7.
hidden

Tech industry leaders including Alphabet's Google, Facebook Inc, Microsoft Corp, AT&T and more than two dozen other Internet and technology companies were filing legal briefs on asking a judge to support Apple in its encryption battle with the US government, court documents and sources familiar with the companies' plans said.

The rare display of unity and support from Apple's sometime-rivals showed the breadth of Silicon Valley's opposition to the government's anti-encryption effort.

Apple's battle became public last month when the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation obtained a court order requiring the company to write new software and take other measures to disable passcode protection and allow access to an iPhone used by one of the shooters in the December killings in San Bernardino.

Apple pushed back, arguing that such a move would set a dangerous precedent and threaten customer security. The clash has intensified a long-running debate over how much law enforcement and intelligence officials should be able to monitor digital communications.

Apple's industry allies, along with several privacy advocates, were filing amicus briefs - a form of comment from outside groups common in complex cases - to Riverside, California federal Judge Sheri Pym who had set a Thursday deadline.

Six relatives of San Bernardino attack victims on Thursday weighed in with their own Amicus brief opposing Apple.

The companies backing Apple largely echo the iPhone maker's main argument, that the 1789 All Writs Act at the heart of the government's case cannot be used to force companies to create new technology.

One amicus filing, from a group of 17 Internet companies including Twitter and LinkedIn, asserted that Congress had already passed laws that establish what companies could be obliged to do for the government, and that the court case amounted to an "end run" around those laws.

Apple, and some of the other briefs, did not go quite that far, but also asserted that Congress, not the courts, needed to address the issue. Congress has struggled without success for years to address law-enforcement concerns about encryption.

The victims' families argued that Apple's arguments were misplaced because the government had a valid warrant, and "one does not enjoy the privacy to commit a crime." The families also asserted that Apple "routinely modifies its systems" to comply with Chinese government directives.

Apple has also advanced a free speech argument, on the grounds that computer code is a form of expression and cannot be coerced. The families pushed back against that defence: "This is the electronic equivalent of unlocking a door - no expression is involved at all," they said.

TWO BIG COALITIONS

The tech and Internet industries largely coalesced around two filings. One includes market leaders such as Google, Microsoft and Facebook, and smaller, younger companies such as Mozilla, Snapchat and Dropbox.

That group noted that Congress passed the All Writs Act before the invention of the light bulb, and that it goes too far to contend that the law can be used to force engineers to disable security protections.

The brief also highlighted a unanimous 2014 U.S. Supreme Court case which said law enforcement needed warrants to access smartphones snared in an arrest, said a source familiar with the brief who declined to be named because it had yet to be filed.

That opinion, penned by Chief Justice John Roberts, united the Supreme Court's liberal and conservative factions.

The second industry coalition, which includes Twitter Inc, eBay Inc and LinkedIn Corp, contended in its filing that the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) of 1994, along with other statutes, had already made it clear what the companies could or could not be forced to do.

CALEA requires telephone companies to allow interception of communications, but notably excludes "information service" companies from such mandates. Apple said it was rightly considered an information company in this context.

AT&T's filing, by contrast, called for a "new legislation solution" that "applies equally to all holders of personal information," an apparent reference to the exemption for information providers in CALEA.

Semiconductor maker Intel Corp also filed a brief of its own in support of Apple.

"We believe that tech companies need to have the ability to build and design their products as needed, and that means that we can't have the government mandating how we build and design our products," said Chris Young, senior vice president and general manager for Intel Security Group, in an interview.

The Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society filed a separate brief on Thursday on behalf of a group of well-known experts on iPhone security and encryption, including Charlie Miller, Dino Dai Zovi, Bruce Schneier and Jonathan Zdziarski.

Privacy advocacy groups the American Civil Liberties Union, Access Now and the Wickr Foundation filed briefs on Wednesday in support of Apple before Thursday's deadline set by Pym.

Salihin Kondoker, whose wife Anies Kondoker was injured in the San Bernardino attack, also wrote on Apple's behalf, saying he shared the company's fear that the software the government wants Apple to create to unlock the phone could be used to break into millions of other phones.

Law enforcement officials have said that Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, were inspired by Islamist militants when they shot and killed 14 people and wounded 22 others last Dec. 2 at a holiday party. Farook and Malik were later killed in a shootout with police and the FBI said it wants to read the data on Farook's work phone to investigate any links with militant groups.

Earlier this week, a Brooklyn judge ruled that the government had overstepped its authority by seeking similar assistance from Apple in a drug case.

Reuters
tech2 News Staff

Yahoo Inc is exploring the sale of $1 billion to $3 billion of patents, property and other "non-core assets," its chief financial officer said on Thursday.

Yahoo CFO Ken Goldman told the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference that a committee created to explore alternatives to the company's plan to spin off its core business is looking at quick sales of assets.

Goldman said patents, land, property and "non-core units or businesses" are all on the table for potential sale, and the company has sold or licensed more than $600 million in patents over the last three years.

Yahoo faces increasing pressure from shareholders and investors to sell its core business instead of going through a spinoff that would separate the company from its multi billion-dollar stakes in Yahoo Japan and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd .

In recent weeks, media reports have surfaced that Time Inc , Verizon Communications Inc and several other suitors have emerged as potential buyers.

Goldman did not confirm the reports but said the committee is "aligned to see what best creates shareholder value."

Yahoo Inc is already working on a plan to cut its workforce by at least 10 percent. Business Insider reported, citing sources. We are not confirming this rumor or commenting further, Sarah Meron, a spokeswoman for Yahoo told Reuters on Thursday in an e-mail. The layoffs, which would result in more than 1,000 (or more as many speculate) employees leaving the tech giant, is set to affect Yahoos media business, European operations, and platforms-technology group, Business Insider said on Wednesday.

With inputs from Reuters
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3 found dead in 3 dists

UNB, Dhaka: The bodies of two youths and a woman were recovered in Sherpur, Jhenidah and Faridpur districts on Friday morning. In Sherpur, Police recovered the slaughtered body of a young man from an irrigation pump house at Heruya Balurghat village in sadar upazila in the morning. The deceased was identified as Osman Ali, 23, son of Abdur Jabbar, a resident of the village. Sajib Miah, sub-inspector of Sadar Police Station, said local farmers heard sound of groaning in the pump house around 2am. Later, they found the youths body lying in a pool of blood in the room and informed police. On information, police recovered the body around 8am. In Jhenidah, police recovered the bullet-hit body of an unidentified young man from a field at Rishkhali village of Harinakundo upazila in the morning. Police said local farmers spotted the body when they went to the field early in the morning and informed police. Later, police recovered the body. In Faridpur, a female jute mill worker was found dead at Dobra village in Boalmari upazila in the morning. The deceased was identified as Chaina Begum, 23, wife of Sumon Sheikh, hailing from Kashiani upazila in Gopalganj district. Chaina and her husband worked in a jute mill of Partex group in the village. Sukumar Roy, sub-inspector of Boalmari Police Station, said local spotted her body near the mill in the morning. On information, police recovered the body around 10.30 am and sent it to Faridpur Medical College Hospital. Police said Chaina might have committed suicide. Her husband Sumon went into hiding after the incident.
12 foreigners among 14 cheating gang members held in city

Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) members have arrested 14 members of an international cheating gang, including 12 foreigners, from different areas of the city. Lt Commander Shoib, second-in-command of Rab-1, said a team of the battalion arrested two Bangladeshi nationals -- Mamun Mukarram, 38, from Mascot Plaza area of Uttara and Sultan Mahmud, 26, from Nikanja-2 on Thursday evening. Based on information gleaned from them, the elite force conducted drives in Bashundhara and Uttara areas and arrested the 12 foreign nationals, he said. Of the foreign nationals, eight are Nigerians, three Cameroonians and one is a Congo citizen. The international syndicate misappropriated around Tk 11.96 lakh from a female doctor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University. The arrested foreign nationals along with their two Bangladeshi associates had been running their cheating activities from an Uttara flat. The arrestees used to become friends with Bangladeshi nationals through Facebook and other social media platforms. Later, they offered them expensive gifts saying a certain courier company will reach the gifts to them. In the meantime, they used to phone the victims in the name of courier company and tell them that they got a expensive gift for which they have to pay a certain amount of money. -- Dhaka, Mar 4 (UNB)
Europe`s harsh new message to migrants: `Do not come`

AFP, Athens, Greece :European Union President Donald Tusk on Thursday warned economic migrants not to come to Europe, after holding talks on the refugee crisis with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras."I want to appeal to all potential illegal economic migrants wherever you are from: Do not come to Europe. Do not believe the smugglers. Do not risk your lives and your money. It is all for nothing," Tusk told a press conference in Athens. "Greece or any other European country will no longer be a transit country. The Schengen rules will enter into force again," he added."Excluding Greece from Schengen is neither an end nor a means in this crisis. Greece is part of Schengen, of the euro area and of the European Union and will remain so." Tusk is in Athens as part of a regional tour on the migration crisis that has also seen him travel to Slovenia.He will meet Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu later Thursday in Ankara, where he will urge Turkey to offer more "intensive" help in reducing the flow of migrants to Europe via Greece.Tusk will then travel on to Istanbul for talks on Friday with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ahead of next week's EU summit with Turkey in Brussels, where the migrant crisis will top the agenda.PARIS: A senior European Union official carried a stark warning Thursday to the front lines of the migrant crisis, telling those seeking to flee poverty and unrest that Europe is no longer the answer, even as nearly 1 million migrants have now poured into Europe in the past year."Do not come to Europe," said Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, after meeting with the Greek prime minister in Athens. "Do not believe the smugglers. Do not risk your lives and your money. It is all for nothing."Tusk's comments came as a top U.N. official also warned Thursday that as many as 70,000 people could be "trapped" in Greece in the coming weeks because Macedonia and other European countries are shutting their borders, transforming Greece into a holding pen for migrants desperate to leave.Tusk also said it was up to Turkey, not its European neighbors, to decide how to manage a reduction in refugee numbers - a stance that Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu quickly rebuffed. Turkey is under pressure to reduce the numbers of migrants crossing into Greece as a March 7 summit meeting between Turkey and the European Union approaches to discuss the issue.In the past week, unrest has broken out among the more than 30,0000 refugees and migrants that Greek officials say are stranded at Greece's blocked Macedonian border.There was also violence at a makeshift camp being dismantled in northern France. And on Thursday, British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande held talks in Amiens seeking to contain the migrant crisis in northern France, where thousands of refugees are camped in squalid conditions just over two hours from London and Paris.
Ishana`s three new serials

Sheikh Arif Bulbon :Due to personal reason, popular TV actress and model Mounita Khan Ishana quitted acting from serial Sohojatri. Ishanas acted another serial Yes Madam No Sir, directing by Kaisar Ahmed, is going to finish on Banglavision soon. In the meantime, Ishana has started to work in three new serials. Of those serials, she has already taken part in several episodes of Sumon Rezas serial TV Poribar. She will be appeared on the screen in this serial which story was written by Azam Khan with an exceptional gate-up. Therefore, Ishana has been also acting in Habib Masuds serial Khelaghor and Mainul Hasan Khokons High Society. She will be also seen in different looks in these serials. While sharing her feelings to work in these new serials Ishana told this correspondent, Story of TV Poribar is really interesting. To watch television and its impact among the viewers are the main concept of the story of this serial. On the other hand, Khelaghor and High Society are totally serious story typed serials. Viewers will watch me in these serials differently. I have been working in these serials cordially and sincerely. I believe after airing viewers will enjoy these serials.Therefore, Ishana recently finished shooting of a play titled Pushpo under Jewels direction in Manikganj. She worked with Shampa Reza in this play. It will be aired on Bangladesh Television soon. Meanwhile, under Sohel and Zias direction Ishana has finished shooting of another play titled Biye recently. Last few days she finished shooting of several single episode plays like prachchyo Polashs Bhromon, Masud Mohiuddins Shodh, Tariq Swapans Midnight Guest and Delwar Hossains Shesh Prapti. These plays will go on air soon in different satellite channels, Ishana said. Ishanas several serials - Daag, Syed Shakils Samrat, Irani Biswas Moner Janala and Ashim Gomezs Ferari - are being aired regularly in different channels now.
Mothers' lap 'unsafe for kids'

Joynal Abedin Khan :

Now-a-days mothers are killing their beloved children, which exposes total loss of social values and blood ties.

Mental anxiety, psychological illness, quarreling, extra marital affairs and family disorder are contributing to the decaying of ethics and morality, say the Sociologists. They add that mothers' laps at length have become unsafe for children.

They have urged the Ministry of Social Welfare and Religious Affairs to take steps against such killings by increasing the social awareness, norms and values across the society and at

the same time the law-enforcers should be strict to bring the killers to justice. At least 17 children were killed by their mothers in the capital's Banasree and some other districts in recent months, cops and local sources said.

Nusrat Jahan Urmi, 14, a Class-VII student of Viqarunnisa Noon School, and her younger brother Alvi Aman, 6, a nursery student of Holy Crescent School, were strangled by their mother at Banashree in the capital on Monday afternoon, said Mufti Mahmud Khan, Director of RAB's Legal and Media Wing.

Mother Mahfuza Maleq alias Jesmin confessed it to the RAB on Thursday. She tried to divert the event saying that her children died after taking leftover food of a Chinese restaurant near their Banasree home on Saturday night.

Meanwhile, a newborn boy, who was thrown by his mother from a multi-storey building on the city's Bailey Road on February 1 out of fear of social stigma, died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) on February 25.

The baby was undergoing treatment at the Neonatal Ward. He died around 1:30pm, said in-charge of DMCH police camp Mozammel Hossain.

Beauty, 17, who had long been working as a housemaid at a flat of 'Property Mansion' on its fifth floor at 26 Bailey Road, gave birth to the baby out of wedlock on the morning of February 1.

A woman made an abortive attempt to commit suicide after reportedly killing her minor daughter over a family feud in Taraganj village of Lalmohan upazila in Bhola on February 2, said Aktaruzzaman,

Officer-in-charge of Lalmohan Police Station.

In Gopalganj, fed up with constant crying, a woman allegedly killed her five-month old boy slitting his throat at Patgati Dakkhinpara village of Tungipara upazila in Gopalganj district on February 2. Police arrested Lipi Begum, wife of Bulu Sheikh of the village, in this connection, said Tungipara Police Station OC Mahmudul Haque.

In Mymensingh, a mentally challenged woman allegedly chopped her five-month old girl to death at Poyarkandi in Muktagachha upazila of the district on December31. Police said that the mentally challenged woman, was identified as Moyna Begum, 23. In Nilphamari, a woman allegedly committed suicide after strangling her two minor daughters at Dakkhin Deshibari Asrayan Prakalpa in Jaldhaka upazila in the district on December 7. The deceased were identified as Fency Begum, 32, and her two daughters namely Aklima, 7, and Taslima, 9, said Jaldhaka Police Station OC.

In Khulna, a woman allegedly strangled her 11-month old baby girl to death and hanged her body from a ceiling fan over a family feud at her house in Khalishpur area of the city on August 26. Sharmin, 21. In Natore, a woman killed her three-year old daughter and later committed suicide following a row with her husband in Gurudashpur upazila, Natore on April 20. The deceased has been identified as Piara Begum, 40. In Chittagong, a woman allegedly tried to commit suicide after killing her two children at village Amtali of Lohagara upazila in Chittagong on March 26. The deceased were identified as Mariam Sultana, 7, and Yeasin, 2.

In Mymensingh, a mentally-challenged mother allegedly chopped her five-month old daughter to death at Poyarkandi under Muktagachha Municipality here on December 31. Moyna chopped the five-month old Riya with a cutter in her house, killing her on the spot.

In Gaibanha, a mother was arrested for allegedly killing her 14-day old child in Sundarganj upazila of Gaibandha in February in the last February. The killer is Sumi Akter, 20.

In Moulvibazar, a mother and her minor daughter were killed as the mother allegedly jumped under a running train along with her daughter at Monu Railway Station in Kulaura upazila on December 15. The deceased were identified as Jahanara Begum (30), wife of Masandar Ali from Kotarkona village in the upazila and their daughter Ima (3).

In Narsingdi, a woman, along with her infant son, allegedly committed suicide by jumping in front of an express train in Raipura upazila on December 7. The deceased are Murshida Begum, 23, and her son, Arifin, 2.

In Munshiganj, a woman allegedly slaughtered her 6-month-old son at Purba Kaitekhali village in Srinagar upazila on February 2. The victim is Samir Mia, son of Shah Alam and Runa Begum of the village.

In Bandarban, a mother named Zamila Begum,30, allegedly suffocated her 11 day old infant Fatema to death in September. Women and Children Affairs State Minister Meher Afroj Chumki told The New Nation on Thursday, "We are promised to ensure the legal action against the child torturer. The government also has taken zero tolerance policy against the child killers.

Nur Khan, director of Ain o Salish Kendra, said, Police should make fair investigation into the incidents.

Ehsan Habib, Professor of Sociology Department of Dhaka University, said "Lack of social awareness and moral education is the main cause of child killing by their mothers."

The poverty and family feud and other stigmas of the society also may have contribution to such killings.

Nazrul Islam, Deputy Inspector General (Media) of Police Headquarters, said that law enforcers always remain alert to check all types of murder incidents and other crimes across the country.
12 foreigners among 14 held in city

SM Mizanur Rahman :

A special squad of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) on Thursday night detained 14 members of an international cyber crime gang from different parts of the city on charge of fraudulence using social media platforms.

Of the arrested gang members, 12 are foreign nationals and two locals. Among the foreigners, eight are Nigerian, three Cameroon and one Congo.

The elite force members also seized a good number of mobile handsets, laptops and foreign currencies from their possession.

"The 12 foreign nationals and two local people are the active members of an international cyber crime gang. Using social media like Facebook and cell phone they have been cheating people since long," Major Maksudul Alam, Assistant Director of Legal and Media Wing of RAB, told journalists on Friday.

A good number of foreign nationals staying in Bangladesh illegally are involved in serious crimes like fraud and drug, human and arms trafficking, according to sources.

These foreign nationals in association with the locals continued to plot crimes in the country. If they are arrested, after getting bail they again continue to commit crime. The number could be as high as 20,000, says another source.

According to a recent survey conducted by the Home Ministry, over 2.6 lakh legal foreigners are working in Bangladesh in various sectors, such as RMG, NGOs and other consultancy

services, both in and out of capital Dhaka.

Many foreigners, who come to Bangladesh legally with employment and business documents, have the target of looting money from the country's people as well as banks and financial institutions.

An intelligence agency has already informed the Home Ministry that the illegal foreigners are involved in different horrific crimes, including murder, robbery, cheating as well as arms and drug trades. Even there is also report about their connection with the militants.

Earlier a German national Piotr Szczepan Mazurek and three officials of City Bank Maksed Al alias Maksud, Rezaul Karim alias Shaheen, and Refaz Ahmed alias Roni were arrested in connection with the ATM card fraud.

The police could arrest a few of them and put them behind bars. Many of them are also involved in cross-border crimes.

Some 500 to 1000 foreigners are now in jails in Bangladesh. Many of them have completed their jail term, but nobody is coming to take them back to their homes.

The embassies of their countries do not respond to Bangladesh's request to take them back. Most of the convicted foreigners are from African countries.

However the home and foreign ministries do not have record about how many illegal foreigners are staying in the country.

In the wake recent crimes by the foreign nationals, the Home Ministry asked all the 64 districts' superintendents of police and all metropolitan commissioners to prepare a list of the illegal foreigners.

Meanwhile, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said foreigners dwelling in Bangladesh are now under the scanner in light of the exposure of a German citizen being involved in the recent ATM scam.

He said there are many foreign citizens involved in activities such as non-government organisations, garments, businesses and others.

Efforts are underway to make sure that strict cross-checking is done at all immigration counters to prevent the entry of foreigners with any forged passport or false visa.
No new UAE visas for Bangladeshis

Gulf News, Dubai :

Authorities in the UAE have stopped issuing all kinds of entry permits for Bangladeshi passport holders because of security concerns over identification and fake documents.

Major General Nasser Al Awadi Al Menhali, Assistant Undersecretary for Naturalisation and Residency and Ports Affairs at the Ministry of Interior, told Gulf News the suspension of issuing visas is not permanent and is not a ban. He said the situation will return to normal once a number of issues are

resolved by the government of Bangladesh.

For the time being, Major General Al Menhali confirmed there will be no new visit visas, resident visas, tourist visas or any other kind of visa for Bangladeshi nationals. Current Bangladeshi visa holders in the UAE will not face any difficulties in extending their visa or renewing residency permits.

"We are not issuing any new visas to Bangladeshis but we are renewing for those who already have residence visas. "Other than that, no one will be issued any new visa of any kind," said Maj Gen Al Menhali.

He said the step was taken recently but did not specify when the restrictions would be lifted.

He also explained the UAE is concerned over the validity of the passports.

Gulf News learnt that there are thousands of cases of Bangladeshi people caught trying to enter the country with forged passports.

Weeks before the visa suspension, hundreds of Bangladeshis were arrested for entering the country with illegal documents. Many were found carrying forged passsports and forged visas.

Meanwhile, a Bangladeshi father told Gulf News his 14-year-old son has been denied entrance to a Dubai school because of visa issues. Mahfuz Ali Qaderi, who works as an investor in Dubai said: "When I decided to start a business here, at the same time I wanted to admit my 14-year-old son in Dubai."

He said in July this year the school authority confirmed his son's admission after interviewing the student who was here on a visit visa. The father said that the school confirmed the admission of his son.

"As per the confirmation letter of the school, I took all necessary steps and paid accordingly.

"Based on that my son got the transfer certificate and I collected a visit visa for him to attend the school," Qaderi said. Qaderi said his son had been attending the school in Dubai since September this year.

"My son is still on a visit visa and the school authority preceded his visa as a student of the school.

"But on the 25th they were informed by the Tecom authority that all Bangladeshi visas are stopped and that they cannot proceed with it," he said. The confused father tried to contact the authorities to clarify the issue and understand the rules of UAE. But he has as yet been unable to get an answer.
by The Associated Press

The former president appeared at a rally Thursday in Baton Rouge before heading to New Orleans. Twitter

NEW ORLEANS (AP)  Former President Bill Clinton is calling on voters in New Orleans to support his wife in the state's upcoming presidential primary.

Clinton spoke Friday to prospective voters in the Crescent City, touting his wife's credentials to a packed house at the Ashe Power House Theater.

Voters go to the polls Saturday in Louisiana to vote for nominees in the Republican and Democratic presidential races.

The former president called his wife the most experienced candidate and said she was the only one that could make changes in Washington.

He promoted her plans to cut debt for college students, modernize the country's ailing infrastructure, tackle the country's heroin epidemic and push for equal pay and paid leave for working women.

Louisiana is preparing to take part in the country's heated presidential primary vote.

Voters go to the polls Saturday to vote for their preferred candidates in the Republican and Democratic primary races.

Candidates were in the state for last-minute campaigning. Donald Trump, riding high off his Super Tuesday success, was planning a rally Friday night in New Orleans. Ted Cruz was also rallying supporters in Mandeville.

The polls open Saturday at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. Only people who are registered Republican or Democrat can vote in their respective primary.

Louisiana is one of five states where primary votes or caucuses are happening Saturday.
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.
I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. -Jesus



-John 14:6
Synopsis: Jack Horwood hates owing favors. But when a simple day out to treat Gareth to the best oysters in England leads to a discovery of drugs and counterfeit moneythings that neither Jack nor Gareth have the jurisdiction to handlehe has to call in help. Help that doesnt come cheap, and that forces him to do something he promised himself hed never do againwalk away from Gareth and the family hes starting to make for himself.

Three months undercover is a long time. After missing Gareths birthday, Jack is determined not to miss their first anniversary. But coming home and being home are two very different things. So when he is asked to assist with a corporate espionage investigation, Jack cant say no, despite knowing it will impact his already straining relationship. Except, of course, hes walking into a trap.

EXCERPT

That was one spectacular brunch, Gareth sighed, mellow and content, as they wandered slowly along the beach. He hadnt just eaten oysters until he was ready to pop and washed them down with a bottle of creamy, lemon-scented fizz. Theyd also been ordered to stop by the shack on their way home to collect a cooler full of freshly caught, baked, and smoked goodies to take with them. And Jack, who took orders as well as a mule, hadnt said a word against the edict. Now the surf was a soft rattle of pebbles and hiss of foam sinking through sand, the sun caressed his skin, and the salty breeze was surprisingly pleasant. It wasnt summer warm, but nowhere near chilly either. And this this is perfect. The day got better than perfect when Jack shed his green fleece, showing off the steel-gray sleeveless top he wore underneath. Gareth feasted his eyes on the long, elegant line of Jacks back and slid his gaze across wide shoulders down to strong, muscled arms and capable, long-fingered hands. For someone who always complained about Gareths teasing, Jack wasnt doing a half-bad job of it himself. He looked edible standing on the pebble beach, framed by the endlessly shifting gray-green wash of the sea and with the soft blue and white of an April sky above. Gareth could have sworn that the air around him grew just a tad warmer as Jack stretched his arms up over his head and arched his back, seemingly to work out the kinks, but drawing Gareths gaze inevitably to his pert ass and long legs, encased in snug black denim. After over two weeks of drought, Gareths body took immediate notice of the display, especially when Jack pushed his aviators up to rest amid his dark choppy hair, tipped his head back, and basked in the sunshine. Having seen in the past how quickly Jacks skin caught the sunhe had looked like a local after a mere week in the desertGareth knew that he would be asked the following morning if hed had a good holiday. But that wasnt what made Gareths jeans grow uncomfortably tight. No, that reaction was due to him imagining Jack spread out on their bed, his skin gleaming golden in soft lamplight, and with the same blissful look on his face that he wore right then. Damn the brat for playing his little games in public! Gareth drew a deep breath and then another, trying to calm his heart and mind. Of course it didnt work. Wishing the beach and everyone on it into the second circle of hell had no effect either. Perfect. Just perfect, he grumbled, catching up with Jack. Told you. Best oysters in England.

---

OTHER BOOKS IN THE POWER OF ZERO SERIES...

JOB HUNT by Jackie Keswick The Power of Zero #1 Publication Date: May 13, 2015 Genres: Adult, Contemporary, LGBT, M/M, Romance, Suspense

Synopsis: You dont greet your new boss dressed like an underage rent boy. But when Jack Horwoodace hacker and ex-MI6 operativeopens the door to Gareth Flynn, he's too busy to worry over details like that. And anyway, his potential new boss is his former Commanding Officer  the same guy Jack has had a crush on since he was seventeen. So he should understand, right?

When he applied for the job in Nancarrow Mining's corporate security division, Jack had hoped for peaceful days repelling cyber attacks. Maybe a bit of corporate espionage on the side. His plans didn't include rescuing abused children, hunting pimps, or dealing with his overly protective and hot-as-hell boss, Gareth Flynn. Walking away is not an option. Jack never takes the easy way out. More than that, meeting Gareth raises old ghosts that Jack needs to put to rest. Rescuing kids. Taking risks. Saving the day. Jack can do all that  but deciding what to do about his attraction to Gareth isnt the sort of cloak-and-dagger game Jack plays well. Yet Gareth, strong and smart and always on hand when needed, might be Jacks salvation.







Synopsis:

Jack Horwood doesnt do families. Or Christmas. From the time his mother sold him to her pimp to the moment he walked out on the man he loved, Christmas has always been about change and painful choices. This year seems no different. Helping Daniel and Nico recover from their imprisonment and hunting down those responsible puts Jack in a frame of mind he doesnt want to inflict on anyone. Least of all Gareth and the tentative relationship theyve started to rebuild.

But Gareth, for whom Christmas is all about new beginnings, wont let Jack take the easy way out. He makes him face his ghosts instead. Even when said ghosts invade their bedroom. When Daniels parents are found, Jack is determined to settle the matter without involving Daniel at all. But fate decrees otherwise, and its Gareth who helps him finally understand that the strongest bonds are those forged together. Once he gets that, Jack can step up and make a decision designed to lay his ghosts to restfor good.



ABOUT JACKIE KESWICK
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.

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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.
CARTERVILLE -- One day after John A. Logan College board members voted to lay off 55 staffers, some union leaders are questioning the way administrators involved -- or didnt involve -- constituent groups in the process.

Rather than asking for the input of unions or student/staff governance groups, they said, administrators largely came up with the plan on their own.

There was never a time where they sat down  and said, Lets look at solutions, said Bret Seferian, an Illinois Education Association director who oversees JALCs unions. It was never like that.

Seferian said administrators met with a few union reps but primarily to relay information instead of to receive input.

The Illinois Community College Board does not require the involvement of constituent groups in decision-making, but it is common practice for those groups voices to be heard in the process.

And the Higher Learning Commission, an accreditation organization that oversees higher-education institutions in 19 states, including Illinois, requires of accredited institutions that, The planning process encompasses the institution as a whole and considers the perspectives of internal and external constituent groups.

Failure to meet the commission's criteria can impact accreditation.

Interim President Ron House said that although they did not specifically involve constituent groups as a whole, they reached out to a lot of people and spent hundreds and hundreds if not a few thousands of man hours over a period of at least three months investigating solutions.

Its not just as simple as, Did you involve constituency groups? he said. There are many, many things. Every aspect of this institution was considered in one way or another and at one time or another (in making these cuts).

After press time Wednesday night, members of the Carterville-based colleges board of trustees voted in a 7-1 decision to lay off the staffers, most of whom are full-time faculty members. The layoffs will take effect at the end of spring semester.

If funding is forthcoming from the state, some or all of those employees could be reinstated. If layoffs remain in force, the college will lose 38 percent of its full-time faculty next year.

Administrators and board members said the budget stalemate in Springfield made the cuts unavoidable. Illinois owes the cash-strapped college about $10 million -- one-third of their annual operating budget.

At Wednesday nights board meeting, during which more than three dozen concerned students, staffers and community members passionately denounced the cuts, many speakers questioned not only whether the state is entirely to blame, but also challenged the wisdom of cutting so many faculty members.

House said administrators and board members agreed its important to maintain a comprehensive community college, one that offers a bevy of sports, student activities, scholarships, work-study opportunities and adult-education classes. And, he said, cutting programs alone would do little to eat into the $7 million deficit facing the college.

We took a look at every aspect of this institution that makes us any money or costs us any money, he said.

House initially said the layoffs would result in $6 million in savings, but at the meeting Wednesday night, Vice President Brad McCormick said that number was actually $4 million. Asked to clarify, he said the layoffs alone comprise a $4 million savings. Another $1 million will be saved from natural attrition of retiring employees next year. Further cuts under consideration likely will save the college an additional $1 million.

Seferian said in his years in higher education, hes never seen an education institutions first move be to decimate the faculty.
The presidents failed legacy of worldwide instability has led to a dangerous world for American families. We need a strategy of peace through strength  not one of absentee leadership, broken promises and abandonment of allies.

Our enemies are growing increasingly bold. Just weeks ago, the dangerous dictatorship in North Korea successfully tested a missile that could reach the West Coast of the United States, after years of testing nuclear weapons. The majority of these nuclear tests have been under President Barack Obamas administration. Each time, the tyrannical regime in North Korea has gone unimpeded, leading to greater aggression towards our allies.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is growing more dangerous. In recent months, they have attacked our allies in Turkey and France and have threatened American families here at home. Last week James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, revealed that ISIL has used chemical and biological weapons in Iraq and Syria against the Kurds, a strong ally of the United States. I have no doubt that the Islamic State would use these weapons to kill American families.

I believe we need a genuine plan to defeat ISIL. According to the FY 2016 National Defense Authorization Act (passed by Congress, signed into law by the president), Obama was required to submit a strategy for the Middle East and countering violent extremism by Feb 15. The deadline has come and gone and the president has not submitted a plan to Congress or to the American people. Our troops deserve a clear mission to defeat the enemy  not empty rhetoric.

I am grateful that House Republicans are taking meaningful action to protect our troops and American families. The House has passed the North Korea Sanctions Enforcement Act, bi-partisan legislation supported by Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., and ranking member Eliot Engle, D-N.Y., that imposes sanctions against North Korean officials who engage in the trade of nuclear materials or conventional weapons. While we still must do more, this bill is an important first step to show the regime in North Korea that their aggression will not go unchecked.

As chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities, I have worked to enact positive change in our national defense and have led recent hearings on our nations strategy against chemical and biological threats. I also participated in the House Armed Services Committee hearing on U.S. strategies on understanding and deterring Russia.

This critical hearing gave me the opportunity to question administration officials and leaders in the field about Russias growing involvement in the Middle East  specifically Syria  and the new challenges where the presidents failed policies, ignoring a red line led to ISIL and refugees fleeing resulting in children drowning at sea.

We have to be clear in Congress and across the United States about what is needed to protect our military and American families from another terrorist attack, whether from a rogue regime or terrorists. We will continue to work for a positive strategy of peace through strength, eliminating terrorist safe havens abroad  the best way to protect American families at home.
SALT LAKE CITY  In an extraordinary display of Republican chaos, the partys most recent presidential nominees, Mitt Romney and John McCain, lambasted current front-runner Donald Trump on Thursday, calling him unfit for office and a danger for the nation and the GOP.

His is not the temperament of a stable, thoughtful leader, Romney declared. He called Trump a phony who is playing the American public for suckers, a man whose imagination must not be married to real power.

Hours later, Trump lashed back, calling Romney a choke artist who lost to Barack Obama four years ago only because he was such a poor candidate.

The vicious feud marked a near-unprecedented scenario pitting the Republican Partys most prominent leaders, past and present, against each other as Democrats begin to unite around Hillary Clinton.

Underlying the clash is a bleak reality for panicking Republican officials: Beyond harsh words, there is little they see to stop Trumps march toward the presidential nomination. Party leaders are poring over complicated delegate math, outlining hazy scenarios for a contested national convention and even flirting with the idea of a third-party effort.

Romney confidant Ron Kaufman, a senior member of the Republican National Committee, openly embraced the possibility of a contested convention: If thats the only way to stop Trump, it makes sense, he told The Associated Press.

In the most notable verbal attacks against Trump to date, Romney and his 2012 running mate, House Speaker Paul Ryan, urged voters in the strongest terms to shun the former reality television star for the good of country and party.

The GOPs 2008 nominee, Arizona Sen. McCain, joined in, raising many concerns about Mr. Trumps uninformed and indeed dangerous statements on national security issues.




The first Reason Rally was held on the National Mall in Washington, DC on 24 March, 2012. I just learned that the 2nd one will be held in the same place this coming 4th of July.No, I don't plan to be there. If I am there, I won't be the event's most enthusiastic onlooker. I don't expect to be asked to speak to the assembled allegedly reasonable crowd.These are New Atheists. And as regular readers of this blog know, I don't consider New Atheists to be the most reasonable people in the world. Yes, I agree with them that God doesn't exist, and I agree with most of them about the non-existence of other things -- although that simp Sam Harris believes in spirituality, so he and I disagree about that.The thing is that there's a whole world aside from religion, and the more I learn about New Atheists, the less important religion looms in the grand scheme of things, and the more disagreements I have with them about other things.Many of these disagreements can be summed up in the fact that New Atheists spend their entire careers attacking theism. I, on the other hand, feel that theism is worth a minute or two of debate at the most, usually not that much, and if I disagree with someone on that issue, I move on. Since first coming across New Atheists a few years ago, I've seen a Hell of a lot of debate between them and various theists over that one question: Does God exist? , and a more colossal waste of time and energy I can scarcely imagine.New Atheists divide the world up into Us and Them, and Us is atheists and Them is theists -- with the exception of a few of them who've heard about atheists like me who have a lot of problems with New Atheism. But then, very often, when they've heard about me they've assumed I'm a theist, because an atheist who doesn't think that they're perfectly reasonable and extremely bright and profoundly good -- that shit just doesn't compute.For me, Us is progressive and Them is reactionaries, and unfortunately, boys and girls, Dawkins, Harris, Hitch, Coyne, Myers and Dennett are all reactionaries. Because American atheists were in hiding to such a great extent before New Atheism, the combination of atheist and reactionary does not compute for a lot of Americans. They're much more used to it in Europe.For me, Us is people who are against economic exploitation, racism, sexism and Islamophobia. And most of the people who oppose those things happen to disagree with me about God or gods. Opposition to economic exploitation, racism or sexism is absolutely not required to be in good with New Atheists, and opposing Islamophobia is pretty much enough to get you thrown out.According to the official statement of purpose of the 2012 Reason Rally, it aimed to "unify, energize, and embolden secular people nationwide, while dispelling the negative opinions held by so much of American society."You notice the lack of any internationalism there? I sure did. A recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag by the assembled masses, omission of the two words "under God," has been described as one of the highlights of the Rally.Whoop-dee-freakin-doo! At a rally ostensibly devoted to reason, I would've liked to have seen some discussion of why people do something as silly as pledging allegiance to a Flag in the first place. But then, I've had advantages of upbringing and education: the Church of the Brethren, to which my family belonged when I was a child, discussed things like that.The things supported at the 2012 rally included science education and marriage equality for GLBT's, and hey, I actually agree with the Reason Rally about something! Two things, actually! But what about education in general? What about feeding the hungry and housing the homeless? Unfortunately, Americans don't need to widen their horizons to the international in order to confront large numbers of hungry and homeless people. What about combating sexism and racism? How about addressing the mania, in Western civilization, of Islamophopbia?If you go to the upcoming rally and you raise that last point, I admire you, and I hope you have great big balls, because it might just get really scary really fast."Unify, energize, and embolden secular people nationwide, while dispelling the negative opinions held by so much of American society." I feel much more unity with progressive believers than with reactionary atheists. People who sue governmental institutions over things like the 10 Commandments on the walls of public buildings and do nothing about poverty, who champion science education but despise historians and archaeologists, are getting it less than half-right.Among the live and remote speakers to the rally, Bill Maher said: "When it comes to religion, we're not two sides of the same coin, and you don't get to put your unreason upon the same shelf with my reason. Your stuff has to go over there, on the shelf with Zeus, and Thor, and the Kraken. With the stuff that is not evidence based, stuff that religious people never change their mind about, no matter what happens." Maher's stances on vaccines and Middle East politics are two famous examples of how atheism does not guarantee evidence-based thinking on all issues.Penn Jillette said, "I can make the argument that the only ones with true morality are us, the atheists. We are doing good because it's good and are doing right because it's right, and not for reward or punishment. We have love for each other, we have community, we have charity," and that just makes me want to throw up. The amount of love, charity, community, kindness and other really nice things displayed by billions of religious believers daily that you have to ignore in order to make a statement as arrogant as Jillette's is staggering.Jillette's statement is not. It's downright blind, is what it is. "The only ones with true morality are us" is the kind of thing that bigoted fanatics say. Surprise surprise, you don't have to believe that God exists in order to be a bigoted fanatic.Richard Dawkins said of people who talk nonsense: "Mock them, ridicule them in public." Will, do, Dick!
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If the shoe fits, wear it: "... in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt." -- Bertrand Russell



"There's no firewall for stupidity." -- Mike Hamilton



"I won't insult your intelligence by suggesting that you really believe what you just said." -- William F. Buckley, Jr.



"There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true." -- Sren Kierkegaard
/By Azernews/

By Aynur Karimova

Tbilisi has reached an agreement with Baku on supply of additional blue fuel from Azerbaijan, which is Georgia's main gas supplier with a specific weight of 74.9 percent of total gas imports.

The relevant agreement on supply of additional blue fuel in the amount of 463 million cubic meters was signed on March 4 between Azerbaijan's state energy giant SOCAR and the Georgia government, Mahir Mammadov, the Director General of SOCAR Energy Georgia, told Trend.

Previously, we supplied 800 million cubic meters of gas a year to Georgia from the Shah Deniz, he said. We have managed to increase the supply through that route to 1.5 billion cubic meters, as well as to 1.5 billion cubic meters via a pipeline connecting the two countries in Azerbaijans Gazakh region.

Earlier, SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev said that Azerbaijan will additionally supply 500 million cubic meters of gas a year to Georgia.

In accordance with the agreement, Georgia will receive additional gas volumes from Azerbaijan.

SOCAR expressed readiness to reduce the price of commercial gas for the Georgian gas filling stations by $35-$40 per 1,000 cubic meters. Compared with 2012, gas consumption in Georgia increased by 40 percent, which made it necessary to purchase additional volumes, Georgia Online reported quoting the countrys Energy Ministry.

Azerbaijan supplies gas to Georgia via the Hajigabul-Gardabani pipeline with a gas pumping capacity of 6.5 million cubic meters per day.

The second way carrying gas to Georgian consumers is the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum (South Caucasus) Pipeline, through which the gas from the first stage of the Shah Deniz field is supplied to Georgia and a large proportion goes through its territory to Turkey.

Russia also supplies gas to Georgia. Russian gas deliveries to Georgia are carried out only in the form of payment for its transit to Armenia, for which the country receives 10 percent of total shipments. Gazprom supplied 300 million cubic meters of gas to Georgia in 2014.

Daily gas consumption in Georgia exceeds 11 million cubic meters per day and about 2.5 billion cubic meters per year. Last year, the country imported 1.51 million tons of oil equivalent of natural gas in the amount of $314.3 million from Azerbaijan.

On an annualized basis, the volumes of Georgian natural gas imports from Azerbaijan in terms of value increased by 9.4 percent, in quantitative terms by 127,170 tons of oil equivalent, or by 9.2 percent.

No need for Iranian gas

Georgia, with its huge transit potential for delivering hydrocarbon resources of the Caspian basin, has recently expressed intention to transit Iranian blue fuel to Europe.

However, as Georgian Energy Minister Kakha Kaladze said at a press conference with Abdullayev in Tbilisi on March 4, after reaching an agreement with SOCAR, the need to obtain natural gas from Iran no longer exists.

He said that Georgia has launched parallel negotiations with Iran on gas purchase due to the technical problems of natural gas supply from Azerbaijan.

"We had a meeting and talked about the possibility to receive Iranian gas. In theory, there is an opportunity for this, but today such a need does not exist. We have formalized an agreement with the country," he added.

Earlier, Kaladze said that the Iranian gas prices are not competitive, so the issue on the purchase of Iranian gas can only be discussed in the future.

In mid-February, Alireza Kameli, the Head of the National Iranian Gas Export Company, said the Islamic Republic is considering a plan to export 200 million cubic meters of gas to Georgia in a course of seven months.



He further said that Tehran and Tbilisi would consider signing a long-term deal, if they find a short-term gas deal economically justified.






/By Azernews/

By Aynur Karimova

Baku and Tehran are planning to launch a passenger train between Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan city and Iranian city of Mashhad.

This intention was sounded at a meeting between Javid Gurbanov, the Head of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC and Abbas Hajfathaliha, a member of the Board of the Iran Railways in Nakhchivan on March 3.

During the meeting, the sides discussed launching a passenger train on the Nakhchivan-Julfa-Tabriz-Tehran-Mashhad route, and finding sources for funding the construction of the Rasht-Astara railway, Azerbaijan Railways reported.

The Azerbaijani and Iranian railways agreed to conduct inspection on the Julfa station in March, where a point for replacement of wheelpairs is located, consider and discuss the possibility of aligning the system of sale of railway tickets of the two countries.

The railway companies' next meeting will be held in April.

Commenting on details of launching the passenger train between Nakhchivan and Mashhad, Mansour Airom, Irans Consul General in Nakhchivan, told Trend that this train will run twice a week.

He believes that the railway companies' meeting on March 3 was aimed at laying a ground for inaugurating the plan of Azerbaijan and Iran to deepen cooperation in the railway transport section.

This cooperation was envisaged in a Framework Agreement between the Azerbaijani and Iranian governments on the coordination of railways of the two countries, which was signed by Iranian Minister of Transportation Abbas Akhoundi and Azerbaijan's Economy and Industry Minister Shahin Mustafayev during President Ilham Aliyev's Tehran visit on February 23.

Currently, Azerbaijan and Iran are focused on expanding economic ties in various fields, including industry, agriculture, energy, alternative energy, and transportation.

Iran's export to Azerbaijan during the first half of 2015 decreased 55.36 percent to $42.52 million year-on-year. Azerbaijan's export to Iran also decreased 67.11 percent to $11.16 million during that period.
/By Azernews/

By Amina Nazarli

Jazz has become an international language, influencing many cultures. Despite Azerbaijan is an Eastern country, jazz has entered the life of Azerbaijani people since the 1930s.



Azerbaijani jazz is a unique music, combining classical and Azerbaijani folklore genre and hardly any other national jazz scene has such a range of styles, traditions and techniques.

The oil boom, starting in the 19th century in Baku, turned the City of Winds into the economic and cultural center, making significant influence to the development of the impressive music, originated from African American communities, in the country.

Jazz has for long been a significant factor in the lives and feelings of the educated generations in the capital of the country.

Baku became the home for the first jazz Orchestra, established in 1938 by two legendary Azerbaijani composers Niyazi and Tofig Guliyev.

Despite jazz was prohibited by the Soviet government to avoid the anti-Western propaganda, true lovers of jazz were continuing to listen to Western radio and energize music-lovers with favorite melodies at private concerts.

The revival of jazz in the Land of Fire started in 1960s, thanks to the active efforts of great national composers such as Gara Garayev, Tofig Guliyev, Rauf Hajiyev and Niyazi.



The love for vocal singing and jazz brought together four young talents including Teymur Mirzoyev, Arif Hajiyev, Rauf Babayev and Lev Elisvetskiy in 1961 to create famous national quartet Gaya, whose records were popular in more than 40 countries around the world including Soviet Union, Europe, America and Africa.

The flowering of Azerbaijani jazz is associated with the names of giants such as Rafig Babayev and Vagif Mustafazade, who experimented creating unrepeatable compositions, becoming the founders of a new jazz trend jazz-mugham. This unique genre assembles both a traditional Azerbaijan music and a classic American jazz.

The two talented musicians stole the publics heart, performing at the same stage with legends such as Charles Lloyd, Jack DeJohnette at the Jazz Festival in Tallinn, Estonia. There American jazz trumpeter called Mustafazade creator of the music of future.

The outstanding pianist Mustafazade, who composed fugues, preludes, ballads and scherzos became the world's best of the best musicians in 1979.

The geniuss Waiting for Aziza composition sent to the World Contest of Jazz Music in Monaco won "White piano" prize, considering a symbol of pure music, bearing peace and love for life well-suited to the music of Mustafazadeh.

The daughter of the eminent musician, world jazz icon and charming Aziza Mustafazadeh inherited her talent from musical parents.

While still a girl of seventeen, Aziza took the first place in the pianists competition of the Thelonious Monk in Washington in 1986, impressing the jury by mixing music of prominent jazz pianist Monk with elements of mugham.

Since 1990 she has been living in Mainz, Germany where everyone knows her as Eastern Diva, Scheherazade at the piano and Jazz princess.

History of Azerbaijani jazz is very rich and illustrious and it continues to grow until now, thanks to talented musicians and composers such as Rain Sultanov, Jamil Amirov, Salman Gambarov, as well as young genius conquering worldwide fame Isfar Sarabski, Nurlan Novrasli, Emil Afrasiab, Elchin Shirinov and more.

Since 2002 the Caspian Jazz international festival has held in Baku every year, attracting many famous foreign musicians to the City of Winds.

Baku Jazz Festival becoming a tradition since 2005, promoting jazz in Baku and discovering new names.
Regional Development Public Union has been established at the initiative of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation.





According to the Foundation, the organization has held its first meeting in Ismayilli region.





The aim of the organization is to encourage the realization of projects covering social, political and cultural spheres of the country`s life, support civil society building and reforms towards regional development, build a mechanism of mutual dialogue between citizens and the state and municipal authorities, and strengthen public control mechanism.





Addressing the first meeting, executive director of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Anar Alakbarov highlighted the Foundation`s activities last year, including construction and repair of schools in the capital and in the regions of the country. He also provided an insight into the Foundation`s work to promote Azerbaijan abroad.





Chairman of Regional Development Public Union Mahammad Abdullayev drew the audience`s attention to main objectives of the organization.





/By Azertac/




The United States does not recognize the so-called Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, the US embassy in Baku told Trend.

The embassy was commenting on the information about the recognition of the independence of Azerbaijans Nagorno-Karabakh region by the US State of Georgia.

US Foreign Policy is determined by the federal government. The resolution passed by the Georgia State House regarding Nagorno-Karabakh is an expression of opinion by a state legislative body and does not change US foreign policy on the matter, said the embassy.

The House of Representatives of the State of Georgia has adopted some sort of a resolution on alleged recognition of the regime created on the territory of Azerbaijans Nagorno-Karabakh region occupied by Armenia.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council's four resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
The Azerbaijani parliament passed the law "On approval of the articles of Agreement of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank" (ABII) at the plenary session March 4.

"ABII member-states consider the contribution in strengthening of the sustainable development, social and economic progress of Asian countries, strengthening of their economy, as well as strengthening of regional resistance to potential financial crises and other external factors as an important condition for cooperation," the agreement said.

ABIIs authorized capital is $100 billion, divided into one million shares worth $100,000 each.

Azerbaijans membership capital hits $254.1 million. The number of shares hits 2,541.

According to the agreement, the bank's resources consist of ordinary resources for ordinary transactions and resources of special funds (for special operations). According to the agreement, both types of these resources were stored and invested separately. However, they may be used to finance the different elements of the same project or program.

For example, the ordinary resources of the bank are its share capital, funds, drawn from other countries, etc. The funds for special operations are any funds deposited in special funds, investment income received through the special fund, the funds received from the issuance of loans or guarantees.
Russia has blasted the US for extending sanctions against Moscow over its alleged role in the Ukraine crisis, saying the Kremlin is entitled to respond, Press TV reported.

In a statement released on Thursday, the Russian Foreign Ministry described the US bans as futile, noting that prolonging the embargoes undermines the possibility of Moscow-Washington cooperation on key international issues.

Its time for Washington to realize that its sanctions policies have no prospects and that the entire course of confrontation with Russia is dangerous. We, for our part, reserve the right to take measures that we believe are in line with Russian interests in response, the statement read.

It is disappointing that the US continues to enthusiastically play sanctions against Russia while the policy is not helping settle the conflict in eastern Ukraine and has a destructive effect on Moscow-Washington ties, it added.

A lot of things in global affairs depend on the atmosphere of dialogue between our countries.  the US should take into account the fact that by doing so (extending sanctions) they sabotage the possibilities of interaction on key international issues, which they regularly ask us to help resolve, according to the statement.

On Wednesday, the White House announced that anti-Russia measures, which were imposed in 2014, would be extended. The bans target senior Russian officials, pro-Russian figures in Ukraine and some Russian companies and banks.
La Spezia Container Terminal (LSCT) in Italy has welcomed the arrival of the new A-15 class 15,000 TEU ship, Al Dhail, the largest ship ever deployed by United Arab Shipping Company in its Asia to the Mediterranean trade network.



Contship Italia Group, a global leader in container terminal logistics and intermodal solutions, directly operates in the ports of La Spezia, Gioia Tauro, Cagliari, Ravenna, Salerno, Tangier, and in the multimodal inland port of Milan, Melzo.



Al Dhail berthed at Fornelli East for the first time as part of its maiden voyage calling at Mediterranean ports, said a statement from the company.



The ship is one of many ultra-large crude carriers (ULCCs) deployed in four weekly Asia-Med strings calling at La Spezia, with the port accustomed to handling a growing number of calls by increasingly large ships. Forecasts suggest that 200 calls will be performed by ships of over 10,000 TEU in 2016, it added.



The Al Dhail, in arriving fully laden in La Spezia and requiring some 3,000 contractual moves, successfully tested LSCTs infrastructure in terms of water depth and ULCC handling and the totality of the La Spezia System itself, it added.



The record volume to be discharged in a single bottom emphasised the capability of La Spezia System to reach end users in locations generating more than 40 per cent of Italian gross domestic product (GDP).



Michele Giromini, managing director of LSCT, said: As a system, La Spezia has invested hundreds of millions of euros to improve infrastructure capable of serving increasingly larger ship sizes.



The import cargo on the Al Dhail, with thousands of indivdual containers, is one of the highest ever discharged at our terminal, confirming that La Spezia is ideally located to efficiently serve multiple markets here in Italy and into Southern Europe, he said.



Supply chains using La Spezia take advantage of unrivaled rail connectivity with 14 trains alone departing from LSCT between Saturday and Sunday to major destinations in Northern and Central Italy, enabling Monday morning final truck-mile delivery to the end user, he added.



It is the combination of service provided and the advantageous geographical position of La Spezia which global supply chains acknowledge, with 42 weekly port call combinations from Asia, Giromini concluded.  TradeArabia News Service


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Family Stuff

Fun stuff for the family to do.

Unitarian Universalist events

The public is invited to attend the Unitarian Universalist Community of Casper services and other events at our new location, 1040 West 15th Street. Services are held Sundays at 10 a.m. On March 6, Rev. Leslie Kee will present The Power of Paternalism. Drawing on the ideas of James Newton Poling and his book, "Deliver Us from Evil," Rev. Kee will explore the nature of power and communities of resistance. A potluck celebration of the one year anniversary of our new home will follow the March 6th service.

On March 13, guest speaker R.C. Johnson will present One Womans Use of Power to Build a Community, telling the story of R.C.s great-grandmother, Nellie Lockhart, one of Caspers early entrepreneurs. On March 20, guest speaker Dr. Tanis Lovercheck-Saunders will present Religious Justifications of Far Right Extremism. The annual Flower Communion will be held on March 27, and on April 3, Rev. Leslie Kee will speak about The Web of Creation.

The UU Casper meditation group meets Thursdays at 6:30 p.m., and the weekly coffee talk is held Tuesdays at 10 a.m. The next Care N Share potluck will be held on March 16, from 6 to 8 p.m. Participants are asked to bring donations for the Wyoming Food for Thought Project.

For more information about these events or Unitarian Universalism, visit uucasper.org, email info@uucasper.org, visit us on Facebook, or call Laura Gossman at 259-4469.

Chamber society presents trio

A trio of musicians, Veronica Turner, soprano; Joshua Mietz, clarinet; and Diego Caetano, piano, will perform at the Casper Chamber Music Society concert at 4 p.m. Sunday at Shepherd of the Hills Presbyterian Chruch, 4600 S. Poplar. Adults $8, seniors $6, students $2, 12 and under free. Tickets available at the door. The program will feature a great variety of works, from Mozart to "Animal Antics," by contemporary composer Lori Andovina, including "How to Make a Hippo Sandwich."

Tween Monday on March 7

Students in grades four through six are invited to the weekly Tween Monday program at 4 p.m. March 7 at the Natrona County Library. This week, we'll build movable robots with wind-up feet and playdough. All supplies provided. Call 577-READ ext. 122 or email reference@natronacountylibrary.org for more information.

Author C.J. Box at library

C.J. Box will discuss his latest Joe Pickett novel, "Off the Grid," at 6 p.m. March 7 at the Natrona County Library. The talk is free and open to the public. Seating is limited and available on a first come, first served basis. Wind City Books will have copies of Box's newest release for purchase, which he will sign after his talk. Wind City Books will also raffle off an "Off the Grid" hat and book. Call 577-READ, ext. 2, or email reference@natronacountylibrary.org for more information.

Never Too Old Book Club

A book discussion of young adult novel "Dodger" by Terry Pratchett will be held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 8, at Metro Coffee Co. The Never Too Old Book Club, sponsored by the Natrona County Library, discusses young adult literature with adult appeal. The group is open to both teens and adults, with parent-teen pairs especially encouraged. Pick up your free copy of "Dodger" at the Library's second floor reference desk. Please call 577-READ ext. 101 or email reference@natronacountylibrary.org for more information.

Choral concert at CC

The Casper College choirs, under the direction of Dr. Zachary Vreeman, will present A Choral Feast: Songs About Food on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Wheeler Concert Hall.

The concert will feature Casper Colleges three choral groups: Collegiate Chorale, Womens Choir and Mens Choir. Special guest artists will include Casper College faculty: vocalists Kristen Lenth and Veronica Turner, clarinetist Dr. Joshua Mietz and percussionist Ron Coulter.

The evenings program will include pieces by Ralph Vaughn Williams, Carl Orff, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Dmitri Bortniansky, songs from Eat Your Vegetables! by John Muehleisen, and others including several pieces by Kevin Memley and Kurt Knecht, two composers who will be visiting campus this semester, said Vreeman. Of the concert selections, Vreeman said, Some of the music is fun, some serious, but all quite enjoyable.

The concert, which is free and open to the public, will also feature collaborative pianists Paula Flynn and Lynn Kahler. The Wheeler Concert Hall is located in the Music Building on the Casper College campus.

After School at the Library

Elementary-age students are invited to attend our weekly 'After School at the Library' program at 4 p.m. Wednesday, at the Natrona County Library. This week, we'll learn watercolor techniques while creating personalized bookmarks to take home. All supplies provided. Call 577-READ ext. 122 or email reference@natronacountylibrary.org for more information.

Easter goods at Methodist thrift

Easter goods and decor are on display at the First United Methodist thrift shop located at 611 W. Collins, one block west of the Natrona County high school football stadium.

All other merchandise, clothing, kitchen items, books, decorative knick knacks is drastically reduced in price for winter clearance.

Clearance prices will continue to drop gradually till all winter merchandise is gone. But don't wait, shop now because it's going out the door fast.

We will close the week of April 4-9 to clean and re-stock with an all-new spring and summer inventory. Re-opening day is Monday, April 11.

Store hours are Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Donations of clean usable merchandise are accepted during those hours.

The shop is staffed with friendly helpful volunteers. All proceeds from sales help support Interfaith and Holy Cross Brothers with their work in helping those in the community who need their services.

Take advantage of crazy prices for quality goods while contributing to the community.

For more information call 234-6611.

Road to Resurrection

"Road to Resurrection," an Easter family event, is set for 3:30 p.m. Saturday, March 19, First Baptist Church, 514 S. Beech St.

Step back in time and follow Jesus footsteps through the week leading up to his death and resurrection.

RSVP preferred but not required: 234-6946.

Italian violinist at symphony

Join the Wyoming Symphony orchestra for an epic celebration, with Epic 3rds!, Saturday, March 19 or Sunday, March 20, at Wheeler Concert Hall at Casper College. This concert features two of symphonic musics most famous masterpieces in what promises to be the most stirring performance of our season. Headlining this event is award-winning Deutsche Grammophon recording artist Francesca Dego, performing the virtuosic 3rd Concerto of Camille Saint-Saens, followed by the captivating drama of Johannes Brahms' epic 3rd Symphony.

Reserve preferred seats by calling 266-1478 or in person at the office, 225 S. David St. Tickets are also available at Wind City Books, Hill Music Company and Wyoming Music. Discounts are available for students and seniors (65+). Visit www.wyomingsymphony.org for more information.

Lenten lecture series at FUMC

First United Methodist Church, Casper will host a Lenten lecture series, Turning Points in Jesus Life, featuring Dr. James Fleming. It will be held from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, March 12, and 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and Sunday, March 13. Lunch included both days. Registration is $10. Fleming serves as director of Biblical Resource Study Center, an ecumenical organization serving Christians around the world. Fleming lived and worked in Israel from 1974 to 2006, where he founded and directed the World of the Bible Archeological Museum and Pilgrim Center in Jerusalem. He also taught at Hebrew University in Israel. Casper First United Methodist Church is located at 332 E. Second St., Casper. You can pre-register by calling 234-9385 or email the office at office@fumccasper.com.

Trinity Lutheran hosts midweek services

Trinity Lutheran Church, 1240 Missouri St., will have Midweek Lenten Services at 7 p.m. every Wednesday through March 16. Please call 234-0568 for more information.

Local artists at fort

Fort Caspar Museum has mounted a new exhibit of artwork depicting local settings as seen through the eyes Liz Rea and 11 other Casper artists. Titled Local Artists, Local History, it will be on view through April 16.

The exhibit was inspired by longtime Casper resident Rea, who combined her interests in architecture and painting to capture many of the citys older buildings -- several just before they were demolished. In the case of the Henning Hotel, her 1973 sketch catches bricks tumbling from the roof as workers dismantle the once-grand establishment.

Also on view are works depicting Casper-area scenes from the museums own collection by Casper artists such as Bob Evans, Ruth Lin Hopkins, Tom Carrigen and Richard Eckhardt-Jacobi. Several depict Fort Caspar, including a detailed rendering of the fort buildings on an old glass jar by Russian-born Boris Bojarnow.

Fort Caspar Museums winter hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. Admission is $1.50 for adults; $1 for youth (ages 13-18 years); and free for children (12 years and younger). For more information, call the museum at 235-8462, or visit our website at www.fortcasparwyoming.com. Fort Caspar Museum is located at 4001 Fort Caspar Road.

Lent at St. Mark's

The service schedule for St. Mark's Episcopal Church during Lent on Wednesday includes 5:30 p.m. soup supper and fellowship followed by Lenten study for children, youth and adults at 6:15 p.m., and concluding with compline at 7:15 p.m.

On Fridays during Lent, Holy Eucharist will be celebrated at 7 a.m. at St. Mark's.

For further information, call St. Mark's at 234-0831.

Father-Son Duct Tape Duel

The 10th annual Father-Son Duct Tape Duel will be hosted from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Saturday, March 19, at Crest Hill Elementary School. Fathers, sons, grandfathers, grandsons, uncles and nephews of school-age boys from 4 years to 13 years are invited to participate.

Usable building materials will be donated by sponsors of the event: Pedens Inc., Whats In Store, S.A.M.E. Sportswear, Bush Wells Sporting Goods, Aaker Signs, Kistler Tent & Awning, Sutherlands, Prairie Pella of Wyoming, PPS Janitorial Services, Unique Reflections and Carpet One Commercial Flooring, Inc.

Tickets are $20 per two-person team. A meal will be served. Seating is limited, and there will be no tickets available at the door. Tickets must be purchased by March 16 and are available at Express Printing or at the office of Wyoming CARES.

The Father-Son Duct Tape Duel is a program of Wyoming CARES. Wyoming CARES is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit agency with a mission: to provide assistance to Wyoming residents in need.

For more information, contact the office of Wyoming CARES at 237-7035.

HPCC Annual Easter Egg Hunt

Highland Park Community Church would like to invite you to our annual community easter egg hunt at 11 a.m. Saturday, March 26. Please invite your friends and family and join us at either Fun Valley, Nancy English or Washington Park. Questions, call 265-4073.
OKLAHOMA CITY  Federal authorities sought Thursday to drop a criminal indictment of bid rigging against Oklahoma energy tycoon Aubrey McClendon, who died in a fiery single-car crash just hours after the indictment was announced.

Meanwhile, attorneys for a northwest Oklahoma landowner filed a class-action lawsuit Thursday against McClendons former company, Chesapeake Energy, alleging a conspiracy that involved another energy executive, ex-Sandridge Energy CEO Tom Ward.

The U.S. Department of Justices Chicago-based antitrust division alleged in the indictment against McClendon that he and unnamed co-conspirators orchestrated the conspiracy to rig bids for landowner leases in northwest Oklahoma. Ward, a longtime friend of McClendons who co-founded Chesapeake in the 1980s, was the CEO of Sandridge at the time the conspiracy was alleged to have occurred.

Justice Department spokesman Mark Abueg declined Thursday to confirm that Ward and Sandridge are the unindicted co-conspirators or that its investigation into the conspiracy is ongoing. Messages seeking comment Thursday from Ward and Sandridge were not immediately returned.

But Warren Burns, one of the attorneys who filed the class-action lawsuit, said it appears Ward and Sandridge Energy are the unindicted co-conspirators listed in the indictment against McClendon.

Based on a number things, we think they are likely the unindicted co-conspirators, Burns said.

Sandridge previously disclosed in filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it was the subject of a grand jury investigation into violations of federal antitrust law and that it is cooperating with federal investigators.

Chesapeake also has said it is cooperating with investigators.

Ward was ousted from Oklahoma City-based Sandridge in 2013 after a monthslong proxy fight and later formed his own company, Tapstone Energy LLC.

Ward and McClendon co-founded the natural gas giant Chesapeake Energy in 1989 with a handshake deal and an initial $50,000 investment and helped grow the company into one of the nations largest independent producers of natural gas in the United States.

The company was one of the most active drillers in the Powder River Basin in recent years. Chesapeake operated 11 rigs in the region as recently as 2013.

The companys drilling presence in Wyoming dwindled in the following years, first as McClendons successors sought to impose more financial discipline at Chesapeake and later because of a drop in the price of oil.

McClendon also was a part-owner of the NBAs Oklahoma City Thunder.

State officials say investigations into McClendons death could take months to complete. Oklahoma City police Sgt. Ashley Peters said a probe of Wednesdays crash likely will take up to two weeks, while the state medical examiners office says an autopsy investigation could take as long as three months.
HOLLAND, Mich. (AP)  A Michigan city that's known for its Dutch heritage is removing signs that greeted visitors with a "welkom."

The Holland Sentinel reports (http://bit.ly/1QVeHl6 ) four new, more modern gateway signs are part of a rebranding campaign for the city of Holland. The Holland Parks and Recreation Department is in the process of removing gateway signs that used the Dutch spelling of "welcome."

The new gateway signs will stand nearly 13-feet tall, featuring crisscrossed lines that symbolize lines of tulip fields and windmill blades.

Holland Community and Neighborhood Services Director Joel Dye says: "The goal was to still celebrate our heritage, but not be 1860."

The newspaper says some of the old gateway signs are 30 years old. Over the next several years, about 125 new signs will be installed in Holland.

___

Information from: The Holland Sentinel, http://www.thehollandsentinel.com
SALT LAKE CITY  Utah Gov. Gary Herbert says he hasn't decided yet if he'll veto a measure abolishing the death penalty that the conservative state Legislature could send to his desk.

Herbert told reporters Thursday that he's in favor of capital punishment for extreme cases but he'll study the arguments for and against abolishing the practice.

The Republican governor says there are good arguments to be made that years of appeals by death row inmates gives little closure to families of victims and that life in prison without parole is less expensive.

Utah's GOP-controlled Senate on Wednesday voted to repeal the practice. The Republican lawmaker pushing to abolish capital punishment thinks the House of Representatives will approve it too.

The House must approve it sometime before lawmakers adjourn at midnight on March 10.
The success of the booming craft beer industry in the United States has inspired a pair of Mexican entrepreneurs to join the movement, starting the first microbrewery in Nogales, Sonora.

Andres Vega and Rene Garayzar launched Nogales Brewing Co. in July of last year and have slowly grown their business, in effect creating their market as they go.

While modern craft brewing in Mexico is several decades old, the country is dominated by the large brewers  Cuauhtemoc-Moctezuma, a subsidiary of Heineken, and Grupo Modelo, owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev.

Craft beer makes up less than 2 percent of the more than $20 billion beer market in Mexico, with even the larger craft brewers having little to no presence in many areas.

Considering that the most popular brands of Mexican beer, such as Tecate and Corona, are less than a challenging taste experience, Vega and Garayzar said theyve had to become beer evangelists.

When people tell us, Oh, I dont like beer. Well, how do you know? Have you ever tried this style or that one? Try them all, and not just the ones we make, Vega said. From a Tecate to something that tastes like guava or orange. Maybe a porter or a stout that can taste like coffee or chocolate.

Although people may not be used to the different tastes, they are fast learners, Garayzar said. When Nogales Brewing Co. debuted its beer at last years Nogales Tequila Festival, it sold out the first day.

challenging business

The two men, friends since kindergarten, decided to go into business together shortly after leaving college. Both studied engineering: Vega, 24, at the Autonomous University of Baja California; and Garayzar, 25, at Arizona State University. They always planned to come back to Nogales.

Through the support of their parents and about $13,000 in economic development loans, they have managed to position their beer in five restaurants and are a few months away from opening a storefront.

Still, they said, capital is tight and starting the business has proven to be much more difficult than they expected. All of their beer sales are going back into the company. We thought we were going to invest that (loan) money and launch the brewery, but its taken double that, Vega said.

Craft brewing is particularly difficult in Mexico. The big brewers malt their own barley but the microbreweries have to import most of their ingredients, which makes their product more expensive.

That higher sale price is made even more so by the 26.5 percent excise tax on beer along with the 16 percent value added tax, Garayzar said. When a large brewer can sell a six-pack for say 60 pesos, those added taxes dont mean as much as for one of ours that sells for 150, he said.

Theres also the challenge of selling their beer through retailers. Although in 2013 the Mexican Federal Competition Commission forced large brewers to limit their exclusivity contracts to 20 percent of their clients, that still means there are places in Nogales that do not sell any other kind of beer.

Even in places where they can sell, beer on tap is really not standard in Mexico, so they either have to set up a tap system for them or bottle, an added expense.

On the plus side, they said, the beer labels serve as their calling card, helping to get their brand out there.

The names of their beers are all Nogales-related. Venado, Mono Bichi, Bellota and Maquina 501 are meant to strike a chord with locals.

The next step

Having a good, quality beer isnt the problem, they said. Although they started out as hobbyists, making beer for their friends and family, Garayzar spent almost a year at Central Washington University learning about the science of beer. And the restaurants keep ordering, they joked, so they must be doing something right.

But they are still struggling to keep up with orders with their current setup. It takes them close to five hours to produce 10 gallons.

Next week they are stepping up production, not only to meet their current commitments but also to build up inventory for the opening of their storefront. Their new system will produce 65 to 70 gallons every six hours.
Dr. Hubert Estes passed away in Tucson on January 29, 2016. He was born in Chicago to Hubert Estes, Jr. and Queen Eleanor (Thomas) Estes on February 21, 1925. As a boy he loved nature, the Indiana Dunes and his microscope. At 17 he entered the Navy's accelerated education program, attending the University of Chicago, Dartmouth and Northwestern Medical School. In 1948 he married his high school sweetheart, Shirley "Mickie" McFadden. An internal medicine residency at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, was interrupted by the Korean Conflict, and he served two years at Lowry AFB in Denver. His experiences there led him to change his specialty to psychiatry when he returned to Mayo Clinic. In 1957 Hugh and Mickie moved to Tucson with their five young children and he opened his psychiatry practice. Being one of the area's first psychiatrists, Hugh traveled regularly throughout southern Arizona to consult with rural mental health clinics. In the 1960s to 1980s, he instructed at the U of A Medical School, Law School, and Dept. of Psychology. As a founder of Palo Verde Hospital, his love of the desert lives on in his suggestion to name the new facility "Palo Verde." Hugh loved to camp and took his family to Mexican beaches and Arizona forests many times every year. He also enjoyed photographing nature throughout Arizona, Oregon and Ireland. Hugh closed most of his private practice in the mid1990's and worked with DES Disability Determination Services until he retired at 89. He held many positions of leadership in local, state, national and international organizations. He was awarded the Arizona Psychiatric Society Humanitarian Award in 1994 and was a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. He was a devoted husband and father, a generous and loyal friend and a caring doctor to hundreds of people during his 90 years of life. Predeceased by his parents, his wife, Mickie (2008) and his son, Ken (2009), Hugh is survived by his sons, Dave (Barbara), Bob (Sandy) and John (Dee Dee) Estes; daughter, Holly (Dick) Coast; daughter-in-law, Laura Bennett; grandchildren, Dan (Bridget), Katie (Cassie), Brian, Matthew, Caitlin, Jenny and Emily Estes and five great-grandchildren. A Memorial Service will be held at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 12, 2016 at BRING'S BROADWAY CHAPEL, 6910 E Broadway, Tucson. In lieu of flowers, Hugh requested that donations be made to the Alzheimer's Association or a similar organization. For remembrances please visit BringFuneralHome.com/obituaries.
81, of Tucson, AZ, passed away peacefully on the morning of February 29, 2016. He is preceded in death by his father, Leong Key and mother, Yee Shi. He is survived by his wife, Susan; his three sons, Hal, Darryl and Bobby; his brother, Billy and sisters, Cora and Ruth and many nieces and nephews. Robert was born on May 8, 1934 in Manila and attended college at Mapua Institute of Technology and the University of Delaware. He started his engineering career at GE in Philadelphia and retired from IBM in Tucson after more than 20 years. He had a passion for science, engineering, technology and inventing. He loved the outdoors and camping and took his family on long cross country treks which are fondly remembered. His smile, laugh and good heart will be missed. Viewing will be at DESERT SUNSET FUNERAL HOME, 3081 W. Orange Grove Rd., Tucson, Monday, March 7, 2016 from 5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m., with Rosary recited at 7:00 p.m. Funeral Mass will be at Saint Odilia Catholic Church, 7570 North Paseo Del Norte, Tuesday, March 8, 2016 at 11:00 a.m. Reception to follow Mass.
This week, were converting my Friday column to an all-politics format.

Ill be writing this Political Notebook weekly at least through the general election. Some of my colleagues will be contributing tidbits to the notebook as we wend our way through this so-far bizarre election season.

Early voting has begun in Arizonas presidential preference election, and Republicans have 14 names to consider as they fill out their ballot in advance of the March 22 deadline.

Rick Santorum tops a list that also includes Jeb Bush, Rand Paul, Mike Huckabee, Chris Christie and Lindsey Graham and ends with Ben Carson. Theyve all dropped out or are poised to, in Carsons case.

Its a lot of wasted ballot space when everyone knows only one name really matters: Trump.

Will Republicans vote for Donald Trump or against him?

This year, at least, it appears Arizona voters opinions will matter. In the past, the contest was often over by the time the campaign came here.

And here as around the country, Trumps early wins are sending out seismic shock waves that could affect everything from down-ticket races to personal relationships.

After Mitt Romney lashed out against Trump Thursday morning, Sen. John McCain also saw fit to distance himself. Its probably not a coincidence that McCains likely general-election opponent, Rep. Ann Kirpatrick, put out an ad Monday tying McCain to Trump. In a statement, McCain said he shared Romneys concerns and added:

I want Republican voters to pay close attention to what our partys most respected and knowledgeable leaders and national security experts are saying about Mr. Trump, and to think long and hard about who they want to be our next commander-in-chief and leader of the free world.

A similar statement was not exactly welcome at the Pima County Republican meeting this week. Carolyn Cox, the former party chair, asked people to investigate Trumps record before voting for him.

My colleague Joe Ferguson, who attended the meeting, said it turned into a bit of an argument as at least one Trump supporter shouted her down.

Im just telling people to listen to the debates, look at the websites, Cox told me Thursday afternoon, adding that she still doesnt know who shell vote for.

Trumps emergence may yet alter the race in Southeastern Arizonas second congressional district as well. State Rep. Bruce Wheeler told me earlier this month that hed decide whether to jump into the Democratic nomination race after Super Tuesday, and that hed probably get in if Trump or Sen. Ted Cruz were winning.

Now hes decided to wait till after the March 15 primaries in Ohio and Florida.

Even at this point, with all this stop-Trump momentum, theres still the possibility they may stop him, Wheeler said.

That, he figures, would hurt Democrats chances.

The other Democrats in the race, Victoria Steele and Matt Heinz, have called on Republican Rep. Martha McSally to state her position on Trump. When I tried to reach her Thursday, McSally was on a flight back to Tucson.

Opposition to Miller?

Talk around Tucson spiked this week suggesting that someone will run in the Republican primary against incumbent Pima County Supervisor Ally Miller.

Miller, as you probably know, has been a controversial figure in her first term on the board. Some Republicans love her for taking on the countys power structure, specifically administrator Chuck Huckelberry.

But others are uncomfortable with an approach they consider unproductively confrontational. One of the potential candidates, attorney Amy Hernandez, confirmed to me Thursday that she may run.

Ive been asked to consider that, she said. No decisions have been made, of course.

First, she said, shell be talking with other potential candidates, and she wont run if theres another candidate moving forward. One or two other Republicans appear to be considering it, she said.

On the Democratic side, Brian Bickel is planning to run for the seat in the general election.

LD2 race heats up

One of the more interesting local races will be for the state House seats in Legislative District 2. That district runs from Tucsons south side down to the border at Nogales.

Republican Chris Ackerley and Democrat Rosanna Gabaldon hold the two seats. Each party can have two candidates in the general election, since there are two House seats per district. But there will be at least three Democrats in the primary, including Gabaldon.

Well-known Sunnyside School Board president Daniel Hernandez has announced hes running, and so has an unknown UA law school student named Aaron Baumann.

Baumann, 25, grew up in Phoenix, he told me Thursday, but is a descendant of the Capin family, which has been important in Nogales-area commerce for generations. On Jan. 31, he reported $19,285 in contributions, far more than any other contender.

Hes hoping for support from U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, whose endorsement could make a big difference for any of the candidates.

Prayer wars go on

On Thursday, Rep. Juan Mendez once again gave an invocation at the state House, speaking from his secular humanist perspective. It appears to have been a setup.

Mendez, a Democrat, was scheduled in advance to give the invocation, but when he was done Rep. Steve Montenegro, the House majority leader, stood and objected that the invocation did not include reference to the word God, as new House rules require.

Montenegro just happened to have an evangelical Christian preacher on the floor, Wheeler told me Thursday, and called on him to give a new invocation that, yes, included the word God.

These embarrassing prayer wars have been going on for years now. Mendez gives good-faith, inclusive invocations that are not religious, and some conservative Christian members object. I wrote about a similar outbreak in 2013.

Rep. David Gowan, a Southern Arizonan and speaker of the House, has been known as open and respectful to political minorities such as Democrats in the House. It would be good if he extended the same spirit to religious minorities and nonbelievers, too.
Tucson police have released a sketch of a man suspected of sexually assaulting a woman while she was pushing an infant in a stroller Wednesday.

The woman was walking home about noon after shopping at a nearby grocery store when a gunman confronted her near East Calle Arroyo Lindo and South Tucson Boulevard, south of East Drexel Road, police said.

The gunman forced her into a nearby walking path where she was sexually assaulted, police said. He ran away after the assault.

The infant was not injured. The woman was taken to a hospital.

Officers searched drainage ditches and desert walking paths for hours after the assault.

The attacker is described as having a dark complexion and a slim build.

He is in his late teens or early 20s, about 5 feet, 10 inches tall, with a thin mustache.

Anyone with information is asked to call 911 or 88-CRIME.
A bill that would force Pima Community College to stop using inflated enrollment figures to calculate its constitutional spending limit has cleared another hurdle in the Arizona Legislature.

The House Government and Higher Education Committee voted 5-2 Thursday to support Senate Bill 1322, which requires all community colleges to use an average of actual enrollment instead of estimates when establishing their annual spending ceilings.

The bill includes a change sought by PCC that would allow schools to use a 10-year average of actual enrollment for up to three years before reverting to a five-year average.

The bill also contains a new enrollment calculation formula that puts a 30 percent higher value on career and technical education students than on other students when determining a schools spending limit. And it allows colleges to exempt certain types of revenue  such as funding from community business partners  from the spending limit calculations.

A colleges spending limit, which is separate from its budget, caps the amount of local revenue such as taxes that can legally be spent through a formula based until now on enrollment estimates. It does not limit how other revenue, such as tuition dollars, can be spent.

PCCs longtime practice of inflating its enrollment estimates  by 30 to 40 percent a year in recent years  is part of what prompted scrutiny from state legislators.

Had the bill been in effect this school year, PCCs spending limit would have fallen by about $4 million.

The committee heard nearly two hours of arguments for and against the bill Thursday before giving it a thumbs-up.

Critics said the bill alters existing rules so much that the changes should be presented to taxpayers for voter approval, since the original rules for community college spending limits were established by voters in 1980.

What youre providing is an override for the entire (community college) system, said Michael Hunter of the Phoenix-based Goldwater Institute, a conservative policy organization.

Supporters said the bill will bring transparency to spending limit rules by banning the use of enrollment estimates, and will make it easier for community colleges to offer more-costly career and technical training programs that lead to better-paying jobs.

Were making it a little easier for our community colleges to provide educational opportunities, said the committee chair, Rep. Bob Thorpe of Flagstaff.

The bill, which already has passed the Senate, now must win approval from the House Appropriations Committee and get the go-ahead from the full House before it can proceed.
The Amphitheater School District will open a new elementary school focused on science, technology, engineering and math for the 2017-18 school year.

The school will be located in Oro Valley in the Rancho Vistoso community. It will serve Kindergarten through fifth grade.

Its a very exciting opportunity, said Monica Nelson, the districts associate superintendent for school operations.

The new school, which would serve about 500 students, would be built using bond funds approved by district voters in 2007, she said. The town of Oro Valley is reviewing the schools plans, and the district hopes to begin construction around May.

The yet-unnamed school would infuse critical thinking skills and higher-order skills into the curriculum, Nelson said. But that does not mean the school would lack arts programming.

The discussion has focused so much on providing additional opportunities for our children to better prepare them for opportunities later on in their lives as they grow up, she said. This kind of foundational support is critical to their next step.

Much of what makes this school a STEM school involves the campus itself and how space is utilized, said James Burns, executive manager of operational support for Amphitheater.

A lot of it is built right into the construction, he said.

Each of the buildings has space that allows for hands-on learning, such as a learning lab, he said. The learning labs have sinks and faucets, large table spaces and storage areas where students can put away their projects.

The campus would also contain devices, including a water-harvesting system with a volume display, that would allow students to think critically about math and science concepts.

Another key feature of the schools design is that some of the learning areas are built into the Sonoran Desert, where students can actually walk in and study Arizonas natural habitat, he said.

The ultimate goal is to make the actual functions of the building part of the learning that the students get to partake in, Burns said.

Amphitheater is in the process of searching for the new schools president, according to Nelson. The job is being advertised nationally.

This is not the place for someone to come in and learn to be a principal, she said. The district wants someone who already has a successful career in administration and is well-prepared for the future.

The new principal, when one is selected, would oversee the construction and development of the new school, she said.
The deadline to apply for Pima Countys Summer Youth Employment Programs is Friday, March 11.

The program provides services for out-of-school youths and adults ages 16 to 24, as well as in-school youths and adults ages 14 to 21.

The county has partnerships with numerous local agencies that offer placement to young people seeking additional school credit or job training.

The two sessions this summer are from May 31 to June 30 and July 1 to 29.

The programs also incorporate basic education for young people to earn elective high school credits.

Participants will earn the Arizona minimum wage of $8.05 per hour and work from 20 to 40 hours per week.

The jobs vary from outdoor labor to clerical to retail.

The deadline to apply and set up an assessment test is March 11. Applications are available online at summeryouth.pima.gov or can be picked up at area high schools, community centers or any Pima County Public Library branch.

Applicants can also call 724-9639 for more information.
A Tucson physician cannot prescribe certain drugs for two years because of concerns over the amount of pain medication he was giving to patients, the states medical board has ruled.

Dr. David A. Ruben of Healthcare Southwest, 2016 S. Fourth Ave., must stop prescribing Schedule II controlled substances including Percocet, oxycodone, and fentanyl for a two-year period that began Feb. 14, according to the Arizona Medical Board ruling.

Ruben has been previously disciplined by the board and the Drug Enforcement Administration because of his prescribing practices. He must file a written request to the medical board after the two-year period if he wishes to have the prescribing censure lifted, according to the boards order.

But the order is not relevant, Ruben said, because he has not prescribed any Schedule II drugs to patients at his Tucson practice in nearly two years and has no plans to do so.

He nonetheless plans on appealing the boards order in Maricopa County Superior Court on principle, he said.

Everybody is exhausted with this whole rigamarole, Ruben said. Overall the regulatory system is very dysfunctional and corrupt. ... I dont want them in my hair at all.

Complaints from pharmacies

The boards order came after a yearlong process that began with accusations that Ruben had inappropriately prescribed painkillers to patients. Among other things, multiple pharmacies had complained about prescriptions for controlled substances Ruben wrote for seven patients, board documents show.

The board found that Ruben had violated the standards of professional conduct for doctors, citing several examples, among them:

A male in his 30s, referred to as GM, had gout, osteoarthritis and chronic pain and saw Ruben between 2009 and 2013. The report cited one instance in 2012 when the man attempted suicide.

The medical board report says the last time Ruben saw the man in his office was Feb. 21, 2013. At that time, the report says Ruben prescribed 30 milligrams of oxycodone seven times per day and 50 millgrams of tramadol two to three times per day.

GM had suffered fractures from falls on two occasions, as the risk for falls is increased with the medications that were prescribed, the boards report says.

The board ruled that Ruben deviated from the standard of care by failing to attempt treatment of GMs gout with safer modalities instead of immediately instituting opiate therapy.

A male in his 30s, referred to as MB in reports, established care with Ruben in July 2012 for complaints of lower back, bilateral elbow, wrist, knee, ankle and jaw pain.

A medication log shows Ruben prescribed the man 15 milligrams of oxycodone three to four times per day. A previous clinic had severed its relationship with MB, the report says.

Four months later, a medication log shows Ruben gave MB an early refill and increased his oxycodone dose to 15 milligrams five times per day. On Jan. 18, 2013, he again raised MBs dosage.

The medical board said Ruben deviated from the standard of care by failing to review the treatment plan when MB had early refills and ran out of his medications and by doubling the oxycodone dose, with little change in MBs pain level.

A female in her 20s known as PG complained of back, neck and shoulder pain resulting from a motor vehicle accident. She reported also having carpal tunnel syndrome and migraines and getting about six hours of disrupted sleep per night.

In April, 2012, Ruben prescribed her 30 milligrams of oxycodone 10 times per day, the medical boards review says. In October of that year, PG reported her boyfriends brother had stolen her medications, according to the report. A police report from the incident did not back up her claim that medications had been stolen, the medical board said.

Rubens office later had a report that PGs husband was in jail and charged with murder and four of her five children were hyperactive. He prescribed 30 milligrams of oxycodone eight times per day and gave her an early refill. He also prescribed the muscle relaxant Soma. A medical board expert testified that Soma has a high street value because it increases the high or euphoria of oxycodone.

The medical board found that Ruben had prescribed pain medication to PG, in the face of multiple aberrant behaviors without changing the treatment plan or increasing monitoring for abuse.

The board also said the public was placed at risk due to an allegation that she was selling her medications.

Risk versus benefit

Ruben argued that his patients are low-income minorities and that the board is misunderstanding them.

The problems associated with chronic pain and its treatment will not go away, but are representatives of the many issues to be faced in the promotion of safe and effective medical care, he told the board. They are the tip of an iceberg that has to do with risk versus benefit, the doctor-patient relationship versus obscure regulation.

In 2010, Ruben was barred from prescribing certain medications after the state medical board found that he failed to show why several of his patients needed prescriptions.

Ruben, a 1974 graduate of the University of Arizona College of Medicine, says he agreed to the conditions only to end the matter, not because he did anything wrong.

Ruben said when the DEA raided his practice in 2014, it was scary enough to make him stop prescribing Schedule II drugs, though hes still practicing as a psychiatrist.

He specializes in psychiatry for adults and adolescents, and in addiction and pain medicine, he said. He can still prescribe drugs classified as schedule III controlled substances, such as Tylenol with codeine and Suboxone.

But hes not prescribing any opiates.

I am going to do what all the other doctors have done and not prescribe. Doctors just want to keep their heads low and not confront this, Ruben said. It is a terrible situation for patients.
Two bicyclists riding in a large group were killed and two others injured  one critically  in a crash Thursday when they were struck by a work truck on the northwest side, sheriff's authorities said.

The bicyclists were members of Santa Fe Seniors on Bikes from New Mexico, said David Gunter, a Santa Fe cyclist, in an interview Thursday night.

The 10 bicyclists were southbound on North La Canada Drive and had stopped for a red light at West Hardy/Overton Road, said Deputy Ryan Inglett, a sheriff's spokesman.

A pickup truck that was also southbound struck at least four of the cyclists at about 12:30 p.m., Inglett said.

One rider died at the scene, a second was taken to Banner-University Medical Center and died there. A third bicyclist suffered critical injuries and the fourth had non-life-threatening injuries, he said.

The names of the riders were not released pending family notification.

All the bicyclists were in the bike lane when they were struck, he said.

The driver of the truck, who worked for a roofing company, was arrested on suspicion of impaired driving. He is in custody and was being questioned Thursday afternoon. His name was not immediately released.

David Gunter, a bicyclist with Santa Fe Road Riders, said the bicyclists struck by the pickup were members of Santa Fe Seniors on Bikes. Gunter said some of the bicyclists also travel with Santa Fe Road Riders.

Members of Santa Fe Seniors on Bikes "planned to visit Tucson. Most of the riders are retired and travel to warmer places to ride in the winter months," said Gunter.

The news of the crash and deaths is spreading among members and it is "hitting people pretty hard," said Gunter of the bicycle club for riders age 50 and older.
PHOENIX  Concluding existing laws are outdated, a Senate panel voted Thursday to include many more activities in the definition of "stalking''  things that can land people in prison.

Deputy Maricopa County Attorney Will Munsil said there has been an increase in stalking. What makes that a concern, he told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is these can be precursors to violence, particularly domestic violence.

The problem, Munsil said, is that existing laws do not cover a lot of what is occurring now.

Part of the change in HB 2419 expands who is covered.

Existing law defines stalking as doing things that would cause a reasonable person to fear for his or her own safety or that of an immediate family member. Munsil said the new law extends that out as far as grandparents, nieces and nephews.

But it also covers threats to a family pet and livestock. And it also covers "significant others,'' whether the person being stalked is living with that person currently or not.

Potentially the biggest change is extending the law to threats made by electronic communication, whether words or images.

"More and more of these threats are being made over the Internet, as you know,'' Munsil testified.

This would be on top of existing provisions in the law that already make it a crime to use any sort of tracking device or GPS system to track anyone else for 12 or more hours, or on two or more occasions, no matter for how long.

Munsil assured lawmakers that the changes will not result in indiscriminate arrests.

"The statute still requires these acts take place on more than one occasion and that they create reasonable fear of injury to the victim or any family member, pets, property, to be punishable as stalking,'' he said.

But the legislation does, in fact, ease the legal burden on prosecutors: Aside from showing "reasonable fear'' on the part of the victim, they also could bring charges based on "emotional distress.''

The measure defines that as "significant metal suffering or distress'' that may  but does not require  medical or professional treatment or counseling.
Why so many Muslims deeply resent the West, and why their bitterness will not easily be mollified By Bernard Lewis In one of his let...
Help India!

By Zaidul Haque, TwoCircles.net,

Kolkata: The controversy over the change of name of the Aliah University continues to disturb the academic environment at the university. Recently the new Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee announced to change the name of the university from Aliah University to Aliah Madrasah University. It was her promise to the students of theology courses after their demand to do so during the Left regime.

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This has angered the students of stream like M.A, M Sc. BE, B Tech, MCA, MBA, who are against the adding of term Madarsah in the present name of university. They think that adding Madarsah will completely change the way the outside world perceives and treats the university which will finally hamper their placement prospects. They are afraid of marginalization and what they term as educational ghettoization. But students of theological subjects of Aliah Madrasa College are happy with the proposed change.



Students protesting in front of the University Campus

In order to express their anger the students of technical courses have started an agitation against the university as well as the officials. On 27th May they called road block in front of the state secretariat, Writers Building. They wanted to meet the CM who also holds Minority Affairs Departments. Students met Gopalika, secretary, department of Minority Affairs but she didnt agree to arrange a meeting of the students with the CM.
Help India!

By TCN News

Aligarh: The Aligarh Muslim University, in a press release, said that the recent reports in the media regarding the meeting between the Universitys Vice Chancellor Lt General (Retired) Zameeruddin Shah and Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani were meant to create controversy and tarnish AMUs image, when the university is engaged in efforts to maintain its Minority Character and status as the second-best university of the country.

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The press release said that Vice Chancellor was invited by the Kerala Chief Minister to meet the HRD Minister at her office at 10:30 am on January 8 2016.

I reached the appointment place at 10:20 am and was told by her secretary that HRD Minister was indisposed and the meeting was rescheduled at her residence, the release quoted the AMU Vice Chancellor.

Adding that he did not attend the meeting, the VC was quoted as saying I will reserve further comments on this.

At the meeting, the Chief Minster informed me that HRD Minister was adamant that the AMU Centres were illegally established and would not be funded by Ministry of Human Resource Development despite being told that the AMU centres had been approved by the highest policy making-bodies, the AMU Executive Council and Court, Government of India and the President of India, said the AMU Vice Chancellor in the release, adding that he would meet the Prime Minister over this issue.

He has clarified that the AMU Act 1920 permits the university to have these centres including the one in Malappuram, Kerala, the release added.

Referring to the media reports that he was humiliated at the meeting, the Vice Chancellor was quoted in the press release as saying that it would take a lot to humiliate a veteran of the Longewala Battle of 1971, who spent the better part of his 40 years in the Army fighting insurgencies in Punjab and North-East India and dousing communal passions in various riots.

Related


Help India!

By Chaitanya Mallapur

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)  a national programme for universal elementary education  has seen Rs.1,15,625 crore ($17.7 billion) spent on it over the last five years  but the quality of learning has declined.

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For instance, only a fourth of all children in standard III could read a standard II text fluently  a drop of more than 5 percent over five years, according to the 2014 Annual Status Report on Education (ASER).

The SSA received more than half the money (52 percent) in Finance Minister Arun Jaitleys school-education allocation in the latest budget, but over the last five years, the SSA budget declined 6 percent  from Rs.23,873 crore ($4.4 billion) in 2012-13 to Rs.22,500 crore ($3.3 billion) for 2016-17.

Education is primarily the responsibility of states, but the central government directly finances 60 percent of education, through programmes such as the SSA. As many as 66 percent of Indias primary school students attend government schools or government-aided schools  the rest going to costlier private schools.

Of the money set aside for the SSA during 2015-16, only 57 percent was released till September 2015, according to an Accountability Initiative report.

While presenting his third budget earlier this week, Jaitley said nothing about the quality of education. The quality declines may be correlated with reduced funding, but they may not be caused only by a lack of money.

Less than one in five primary school teachers is adequately trained, IndiaSpend reported last year. The consequence is a marked decline in learning ability, in government and private schools.

The learning levels in government schools plummeted to a low of 41.1% in 2013 but recovered slightly to 42.2 percent in 2014, as IndiaSpend reported.

Similarly, with math, a quarter of children in standard III could not recognise numbers between 10 and 99, a drop of 13 percent over five years.

As much as 99 percent new elementary schools have been constructed of the 400,000 sanctioned since the launch of the programme in 2000-01 till September 30, 2015, according to this reply in the Lok Sabha (the lower house of Parliament) on December 7, 2015.

About 23 percent of schools surveyed by Accountability Initiative in 2015-16 needed to build at least one classroom in order to meet Right-to-Education norms. However, only 1 percent of schools received money from SSA during the financial year to construct new classrooms.

There are other gaps in the programme. The enrolment of girls has gone up from 48.12 percent in 2009-10 to 48.19 percent in 2014-15 at the elementary level. Many more girls clearly need to be enrolled. As many as 52 percent of boys are enrolled in primary schools.

The good news: Dropouts are down, highest in six to 14 age group

A 55 percent decline in dropouts was reported in the age group 6-14 years, from 13.46 million in 2005 to 6.1 million in 2013. The annual average primary school dropout rate declined from 6.8 percent in 2009-10 to 4.3 percent in 2013-14.

Mid-day meals in schools received Rs 9,700 crore ($1.4 billion), next only to SSA. About 102 million children across India in 2014-15 used the mid-day meal programme, the worlds largest school-feeding scheme.

As part of its rural initiatives, over the next two years, the government is also planning to open 62 new Navodaya Vidyalayas (New-age schools) in the districts without them.

The Navodaya Vidayalaya scheme was launched under the National Policy on Education 1986 to educate the best rural talent. There are 591 Navodaya Vidyalayas across India, according to data tabled in the Lok Sabha on December 7, 2015.

Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti, which runs these schools, was allocated Rs.2,471 crore ($400 million)  an increase of 8 percent over last year.

Focus on higher education to strengthen infrastructure, but enrolments are low. The finance minister proposed setting up a Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) with an initial capital of Rs.1,000 crore ($146 million) to strengthen infrastructure in higher education.

The HEFA will be a not-for-profit organisation, which will use funds from the market and supplement them with donations and corporate social responsibility funds.

Higher education-including central and deemed universities-received the most money, Rs.7,997 crore ($1.2 billion), followed by the Indian Institutes of Technology (Rs.4,984 crore) and University Grants Commission (Rs.4,492 crore).

About 80 percent students were enrolled in undergraduate programmes, but only 0.3 percent (84,058 students) were enrolled for PhDs in 2012-13, a sign that research is weak and faltering, as IndiaSpend has reported.

Only 21 percent of young men and women aged 18 to 23 are enrolled for higher education. Indias enrolment rate in higher education is 18 percent below the global average of 27 percent and low compared to 26 percent in China and 36 percent in Brazil, a 2014 British Council report pointed out.
The society we live in tends to adhere and even accentuate the negative side of certain words and, to top it off, often ignoring the good in them. The result is that we suffer unnecessarily and often deprive us from living happy moments.

See, for example, the alarm word. If we search the dictionary find something like, "derived from all'arme Italian, means the cry to arms or rebate. Signal to give warning of any danger, confusion, commotion or riot. Term to indicate fright, shock, restlessness ... "Now, if you are on the twentieth floor of the building and the fire alarm rings what happens?

Chances are you will be very scared and seek the nearest exit.

If you are on a cruise in the Atlantic and during dinner the alarm sounds until you become aware of the real situation probably will be very upset and will not want to enjoy the menu. Imagine walking down the sidewalk and hear the alarm from the bank across the street. What would you do? Most likely seek a safe place to better assess the situation. The last thing would want is to become a victim, not fact?

Hence, what is recorded in your mind is that the alarm sound means danger. So let's imagine that you have to wake up early every day and is the type who has difficulty getting out of bed. What will you do to avoid the risk of sleep over the limit?

Probably place the alarm clock to wake you up. Hence, when the scheduled time what will happen? The alarm will sound and without you being aware, awake agitated, tense, worried, as if something bad were to happen, after all, his mind registered fear, anxiety or apprehension at the sound of the alarm.

However, the alarm clock is a good sign for you because it means you have something important to realize, for example, go to Work, school, exercise or a lot of cool stuff.

In fact, the day dawns gives you the chance to ask him what he wants. But it is in this spirit of optimism that you feel when you hear the alarm clock in the morning? Bet, in most instances, no.

What then do to reverse the situation and see in the example, opportunity, success and happiness instead of fear, despair and disorder?

A good tip is to change the alarm sound for a pleasant music to forward to peace and enthusiasm. Hence, you agree with the mind directed towards peace, well-being, achievement ...

The same occurs with other words, colors, symbols, smells, sounds, taste etc. Then I suggest you assimilate the good in situations and help the mind to build your success, as it was for John Kennedy: ". We must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them"

Think about it and great week.
2016 Unibet Open London Main Event Day 1a: Jan Riha Leads the Pack

March 04 2016 Jason Glatzer

A total of 186 players ponied up the 875 buy-in to enter the first of the two starting flights in the Unibet Open London Main Event. Just 51 players, or less than one-third of the starting field, advanced to Day 2 and they will join the other survivors from Day 1b's play on March 5 for when the combined field plays forward to the final table.

Currently, the Czech Republic's Jan Riha has a commanding lead with 298,800. Riha had the lead since the dinner break and never let up with his stack bouncing between 250,000 and 300,000 chips most of the time.

Also ending the day on a good note was Norway's Geir Reka Tollerud with an impressive 263,500 in chips, followed by France's Erik Le Goff in third place with 242,500 in chips.

The Koops family has a reason to celebrate after Day 1a as well, as identical Dutch twins Erik Koops and Alexander Koops finished with 192,600 and 128,000, respectively.

Also still in contention is Frenchman Antoine Saout who is one of the most successful players to enter the field. Saout has approximately $4.4 million in career live tournament cashes with his claim to fame being a third-place finish in the World Series of Poker Main Event for about $3.5 million.

Unibet Poker also sponsored three eSports players today in Craig Shannon, Byron Bernstein, and JJ Janssen, plus Belgium's Charlotte Van Brabander.

The three eSports stars of Shannon, Bernstein, and Janssen all exited the tournament early, then Van Brabander exited a bit later. All four fell before the dinner break. Remko Rinkema interviewed the trio of eSports stars about not their experiences in the Main Event and also the previous day in the single-table sit-and-go Unibet Open London eSports Battle, which Van Brabander won.

Play will resume Friday at 12:00 GMT. One player expected to be in attendance is Unibet Poker Pro Quentin Lecomte. Stay tuned to PokerNews for continued live coverage.

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Sharelines Jan Riha leads after Day 1a of the 2016 Unibet Open London Main Event.
The Perfect Poker Bot Is Almost Here

March 04 2016 Matthew Pitt Editor

The Baby Tartanian 8 could be to closest developers have come to creating the perfect no-limit hold'em heads-up poker bot after it won the latest edition of the Annual Computer Poker Competition in the Total Bankroll category and placed third in the Bankroll Instant Run-Off category.

Eleven teams competed for the title of best poker bot with the Carnegie Mellon University's Baby Tartanian 8 being awarded that honour by the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence.

Noam Brown, a Ph.D. student at the School of Computer Science, designed Tartanian 8 alongside his adviser, Tuomas Sandholm, a professor in the Computer Science Department, specifically for the challenge of being able to play a strategy with the best results while using limited information.

Tartanian 8 was developed as a successor to Tartanian 7 using the Comet supercomputer at the San Diego Supercomputer Center, and was built from scratch to help increase the speed that it processed algorithms, but had to be scaled down due to restrictions on the participants. Thus, Baby Tartanian 8 was born.

"The algorithm is not specific to poker," explained Brown. "It should be generally applicable to any strategic interaction where you have multiple agents and asymmetric information."

Asymmetric information is where one person has information that the other person does not, such as your own hole cards in poker, or, to use a non-poker example, negotiation situations.

One major change to this latest poker bot was what Brown described as "pruning," which minimized the number of options that would be investigated while at the same time ensuring that the algorithm arrived at the optimal strategy.

"In a game like poker, where you have a lot of actions available to you, pruning helps cut down to actions that are worth investigating according to a given situation, instead of considering all the actions available to you," said Brown.

The Baby Tartanian poker bot was developed after the competition of the Brains vs Artificial Intelligence exhibition that ran from April 24 through to May 8, 2015. During this time, the Claudico bot took on poker pros Bjorn Li, Doug Polk, Dong Kim, and Jason Les over 80,000 hands. The humans finished the challenge $732,713 ahead (Li won $529,033, Polk $213,671, Kim $70,491, and Les lost $80,842), which seems like a wide margin, but more than $170 million was wagered during the challenge, meaning the humans' profit represented less than 0.5 percent of the total money wagered, which statistically made the challenge a tie.

Feedback from the four pros enabled Brown to make alterations to his new bot, changes he's continuing to make with the hope of one day being able to see his machine come out on top against the best poker players in the world.

"The ultimate goal in this line of research is to eventually beat the top humans," he said. "Hopefully, in the next 2-3 years, we will be able to accomplish that."

2016 10th Annual Computer Poker Competition Results

Duplicate Poker was used to determine the winner of this year's Annual Computer Poker Competition, around 15 million hands of it, in an attempt to remove much of the luck element. Duplicate Poker is a variant of poker based on the principles of duplicate bridge where players play poker with a pre-set deck.

In a heads-up scenario, Bot A and Bot B would play their match and then replay each other with Bot B receiving the cards that Bot A was dealt in round one and vice versa.

Baby Tartanian 8 lost by a narrow yet statistically significant margin (95 percent) to "Slumbot," narrowly overcoming "Act 1" by a non-statistically significant margin and completed annihilated the other nine AIs.

Across all the categories, the crosstable results were as follows:

Poker Bot Average Baby Tartanian 8 394.44  9.35 Slumbot 341.04  10.68 Act1 314.29  12.14 Nyx TBR 312.61  13.38 Nyx IRO 308.68  10.81 Hugh 90.51  14.35 Rembrant5 18.09  12.88 Poker-CNN 5.24  18.03 HITCZ -355.23  11.08 Proteus -572.54  8.43 KEmpfer -750.00  0.00

PokerNews has reached out to the developer of Baby Tartanian 8 and hopes to have an interview with him about his incredible AI, bots in the online poker world and more.

Image courtesy of captainmack.deviantart.com

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A handful of historical authors brave the wilds of unusual settings, times, and characters to create distinctive, exciting novels just outside of the mainstream. Join us as we chronicle the trials and rewards of our quest - from research and writing to publication and establishing lasting careers.
Let's get it started Updated: 2016-02-27 02:46 By Zhou Mo(China Daily USA)

A firm focus on their USP and keen insight into the diverse genes of mainland cities is taking young entrepreneurs up the industrial ladder. Zhou Mo reports in Shenzhen.

As entrepreneurial enthusiasm rises across the mainland, ambitious innovators seek to combine their expertise with the characteristics and demand of their home cities in order to stand out in the crowd.

Shenzhen, cited as one of the most open and innovative cities on the mainland, is fertile ground for such tailor-made entrepreneurship, going by the number of startups founded on technological innovations that have taken root.

Among these trailblazers is Shenzhen Orbbec Co Ltd. Founded two years ago by Huang Yuanhao, the company specializes in 3-D sensing and artificial intelligence  technologies that enable machines to look at and perceive the world like humans.

With a 3-D sensor, robots, for example, would be able to identify obstacles lying a few meters away and avoid them. Online fitting will become viable, as a 3-D sensor-installed device will be able to obtain specific data on a shopper's measurements and match suitable clothes for them.

"With a sound industry chain, I can get all I need quickly and easily in Shenzhen," said Huang, explaining why the 36-year-old chose Shenzhen as the base for his business. "Government support is also comprehensive and considerate (in this city)."

Since launching mass production of its 3-D sensor three months ago, Orbbec has already received orders worth of more than 100 million yuan ($15.3 million), Huang said.

Abuzz with ideas

But 3-D sensing is only one of the high-tech fields Shenzhen entrepreneurs are exploring. Many other advanced technologies and products are also emerging in the city, like DJI Technology Co's drones, Royole Corp's full-color flexible display of 0.01 millimeter with which mobile phones can be made extremely thin and rolled into a pen shape, and Kuang-Chi Science Ltd's Martin Jetpack, which is able to fly with a passenger.

According to official statistics, the city had 6,753 high-tech firms as of July 2015, making up more than half of those in all of Guangdong. Among them, 4,742 are of national level.

Investment in research and development accounted for 4.02 percent of Shenzhen's total GDP (gross domestic product) in 2014, a higher ratio than even most countries worldwide, and the city aims to further raise its share to 4.25 percent by 2020.

Following Premier Li Keqiang's 2014 call to the people to create new things and start self-owned businesses, innovation and entrepreneurship have become the leading buzzwords on the mainland.

The environment for entrepreneurship is especially vibrant in Shenzhen, where most residents are from elsewhere across the country who settled in the economic hub to realize their dreams.

"I see many lights still on in my office building even late at night," said Huang. "This has greatly encouraged me, as I feel I am not fighting alone."

The entrepreneurial ecosystem is somewhat different by comparison in Guangzhou, which has a big proportion of student entrepreneurs, thanks to its large number of universities, colleges and other educational institutions.

The Guangzhou government said around 24,000 individuals set up their own companies in the provincial capital from January to November last year, and roughly 3,000 of them were university students.

And that league of young adventurers includes Liu Zhenyu. The 22-year-old suspended university schooling to set up BEPOTATO with his partner in 2014, hoping to build a platform for their peers to realize their entrepreneurial dreams.

Liu has since opened five cafes in Guangzhou and one in Shanghai through crowdfunding, mostly from university students. The number of BEPOTATO shareholders has surpassed 1,000.

"Most of our investors are outstanding leaders and entrepreneurial pioneers at universities. They can get to know each other, exchange ideas and brainstorm in the cafe and become big potatoes in future," Liu said, explaining the origin of the name of his chain.

The large student base in the city has laid solid ground for the success of his business, Liu said. Last year, about 700,000 took part in Guangzhou's annual entrepreneurship contest for university students. Of the 376 winning projects since the launch of the contest, 235 are now registered companies, with the biggest of them generating annual revenue of 500 million yuan.

Wang Ruixu, one of the contest winners and also founder of Jianzhimao, an online platform for university students to find part-time jobs, was even invited to hold meetings with Premier Li in Beijing last year.

Genetics at play

Executives and scholars say different cities have their distinctive genes, thus offering diverse opportunities for startups. It is important for entrepreneurs to find out the right direction and focus on their own unique selling proposition (USP), they point out.

"Entrepreneurship is always about solving problems," said Elaine Ann, honorary project director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and founder and chief executive officer of Kaizor Innovation. "It's wise for entrepreneurs to leverage the natural competitive advantages and ecosystems of their home cities."

Ann cited as examples Uber and Airbnb, two popular online platforms for car-hailing and hotel-booking services.

"The reason why Uber and Airbnb came out is that they were solving problems unique to San Francisco. Hailing a cab is not that easy in the Bay Area and also hotel fees are much higher in the U.S. compared to China. Their model might or might not work for other countries like China."

Cai Wensheng, president of Meitu, a popular photo-enhancing tool on the mainland, shares the same view.

"Entrepreneurs need have a clear idea of their capability, the resources and capital they own, what fields they could explore, and which cities their adventures are suitable for. Understanding those things can make their entrepreneurship bid more effective," Cai said in a speech about his entrepreneurial experience in Xiamen in September 2015.

On this aspect, Chen Hui clearly has strong feelings. The former Sinopec Corp employee chose Maoming as the base to realize his entrepreneurial dreams after returning to the country with a PhD in Canada.

The city in southwestern Guangdong boasts a particular edge in the petrochemicals industry. Currently working as a distinguished professor at the Guangdong University of Petrochemical Technology, Chen takes advantage of the university's scientific research resources to develop technologies that can turn solid waste into clean energy and puts them into use at a local power company.

"At Sinopec, of course, I can have a big platform. But it was hard for me to put my thoughts and ideas into practice there, because I was only a drop in the ocean," Chen said.

"In Maoming, however, I am able to let my entrepreneurial dream come true and contribute to the environmental protection cause."

While it is important for entrepreneurs to learn about the characteristics and resources of a city before striking out on their own, Ann emphasizes that they also need to be forward-looking.

"Entrepreneurs should start (their business) with the end in mind," she advises. "For entrepreneurs across the border, the mainland market is their home turf and is big enough to scale up. They should first start out where they have best competitive advantages."

Contact the writer at sally@chinadailyhk.com
Panda fertility experts sent to Taiwan Updated: 2016-03-01 19:30 (Xinhua)

CHENGDU - Mainland panda experts have been invited to Taiwan to help a mating pair of giant pandas conceive their second cub.

Taipei Zoo residents Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, which were given as a goodwill gift to Taiwan by the Chinese mainland in 2008, are around 11 years old. They had their first cub, Yuan Zai, on July 6, 2013.

The zoo has been attempting to assist the pair to conceive again since 2015, according to the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda (CCRCGP).

Huang Yan, deputy chief engineer with the CCRCGP, one of the three experts sent to Taiwan, said that despite Yuan Yuan entering her fertile period the pair have failed to mate successfully.

"In addition, artificial insemination has been attempted twice," Huang said.

The experts have pinned their hopes on the artificial insemination being successful as Tuan Tuan has high quality sperm and Yuan Yuan is in a good condition, Huang added.

"After measuring Yuan Yuan's hormone levels, we know that she ovulated yesterday, as a result she is very likely to get pregnant," Huang said.

The team will know if she is pregnant by June, according to Huang.

Giant pandas have a low fertility rate because they are sexually inactive. Female pandas can only fall pregnant once a year and their litters are two cubs at most. The gestation period can last from 60 to 120 days.
Capital reaps rich harvest with tech startups Updated: 2016-03-02 03:15 By FAN FEIFEI(China Daily)

Beijing boasts the world's second-largest number of most valuable tech startups, showcasing its advance in the sector.

The number of so-called unicorn companies  tech startups valued at more than $1 billion each  has reached 40, second to Silicon Valley in the United States.

This is according to the Zhongguancun Unicorn List released on Monday by the Great Wall Enterprise Institute, a research house in the capital.

They account for half such companies in China, with an aggregate valuation of $146.2 billion, including three worth more than $10 billion each.

Smartphone maker Xiaomi, valued at $46 billion, ranks first, followed by group-buying player Meituan-Dianping, valued at $18 billion.

Didi Kuaidi, China's largest ride-hailing app, valued at $16.5 billion, came in third, the report said.

Lin Renxiang, an analyst at iResearch Consulting Group, said, "Beijing is China's Internet center and many Internet companies are based in the city.

"Moreover, Beijing is home to China's top universities and research institutes, which cultivate technical talent for these unicorn companies."

Lin estimates that more unicorn firms are likely to appear in service fields including big data, cloud computing and mobile health.

According to the list, most unicorn companies operate in e-commerce, Internet finance, consumer electronics, transportation and big data.

These companies have seen dramatic growth, with more than 30 unicorns formed after 2010 undergoing vigorous initial development.

Liu Hang, spokesman for the management committee at the Zhongguancun Science Park, estimates that with technical breakthroughs in big data application, intelligent hardware, artificial intelligence and virtual reality, a series of new unicorn companies will emerge in these fields.

By December, there were 70 unicorn firms nationwide. Beijing ranked first with 40, followed by Shanghai (15), Hangzhou (4) and Shenzhen (3), the report said.

Last month, a list issued by Fortune magazine showed the number of unicorn companies globally had increased to 173, with 35 in China.
Tech drive sparks European union Updated: 2016-03-04 14:28 By Oswald Chan(HK Edition)

Hong Kong's traditional business links with the West and geographical proximity to the Chinese mainland make it a top draw for European countries seeking a FinTech foothold in the region. Oswald Chan reports.

European countries such as Ireland, Sweden and the UK all sent high-level ministerial delegations to Hong Kong in mid-January this year to promote their financial technology (FinTech) services industries and explore possible collaboration with the SAR in this fast-evolving field.

Irish Assistant Secretary Neil Ryan (department of finance), the country's ambassador to Beijing - Paul Kavanagh, as well as representatives from promotion agency Enterprise Ireland and Irish fund industry organizations were among distinguished guests from Ireland who attended the Asian Financial Forum (AFF) held on Jan 18 and 19 in Hong Kong, in an effort to promote the country's FinTech industry.

This was the first time the Irish government had set up a national stand at the AFF, with the Irish business representatives meeting delegates from other countries.

The FinTech industry is one of the key spotlights in the international financial industry. After the rocky years following the global financial crisis of 2008, the Irish government identified the international financial services industry as one of the priority sectors for future growth.

Similarities between Hong Kong and the three European nations which came calling are propelling either side to recognize mutual niches in the FinTech industry.

"An ever-deepening relationship between Ireland and the Chinese mainland is the backdrop to the growing links between Ireland and Hong Kong. We want to see Hong Kong's financial industry embrace its Irish partners and build the future together from two wonderful financial centers, one in Asia (Hong Kong) and one in Europe (Irish capital Dublin)," Irish envoy Kavanagh told China Daily.

"Ireland is the perfect platform for mainland companies to go to Europe, as Ireland is the only-English speaking nation in the eurozone, connected to the 500 million people of the European Union market, and committed to a single (European) currency (the euro)," Kavanagh said.

"In a mirror image, so to speak, Hong Kong continues to be, in many ways, the gateway to the Chinese mainland. About 60 percent of mainland overseas investment going to the world comes through Hong Kong," he noted.

Per Bolund, the Swedish deputy finance minister and minister for financial markets and consumer affairs, also visited Hong Kong to speak at the AFF in Janaury.

It was the first time that a Swedish minister led a FinTech business delegation consisting of the country's FinTech startups to gain exposure in Hong Kong.

"Both Sweden and Hong Kong are highly developed regions on the global forefront of innovation and technological change. One sector where this innovative ambition is well manifested is the FinTech sector," Bolund said at the AFF.

"Since both Hong Kong and Sweden have no major resources, these two economies have to utilize innovation to live on. Both places venture into the FinTech sector and the sharing economy by leveraging their good pool of talent," said Toa Charm Ka-yeung, co-chairperson of the SAR's FinTech Special Interest Group, at the Swedish-Hong Kong FinTech Seminar held on Jan 20 in Cyberport and organized by the Swedish investment promotion agency, Business Sweden.

London & Partners, the official promotional agency for London funded by the city mayor and commercial partners, also organized a Hong Kong-London Tech Forum on Jan 21 to promote the British capital as a FinTech hub - with the assistance of the Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company, the SAR government's wholly-owned subsidiary to promote technological innovation.

"Hong Kong and London are natural partners as both cities share historical ties and they are also the local business hub in their respective regions. Just as London is the gateway to Europe, Middle East and Africa, and has access to a single European market, Hong Kong is the gateway to the Chinese mainland and Asian market," Gordon Innes, chief executive officer of London & Partners, said in inaugurating the Hong Kong-London Tech Forum.

Besides Hong Kong's shared heritage of links with these Western countries, the city's proximity to the Chinese mainland market is also what the Europeans want to capitalize on.

"Hong Kong has the Chinese mainland at its back so it attracts startups that want to expand their business on the mainland, while at the same time, the history of close ties between Hong Kong and London means startup businesses in Hong Kong can also reach the Western market," said Herman Lam Heung-yeung, chief executive officer at Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company.

Looking ahead, Hong Kong should leverage its "East meets West" status and learn from the European experience to sharpen its appeal for FinTech startups.

Simon Squibb, founder and CEO at Nest, an incubator firm with offices in Hong Kong and London specializing in FinTech and IOT (Internet of Things), says Hong Kong's globalized business environment should help. "In today's market you cannot just be local, you have to be global. Both Hong Kong and London are financial hubs where many investment opportunities lie," Squibb pointed out.

"In an increasingly globalized world, sharing innovation and collaborating across continents is vital to maximizing the economic and creative output of startup communities worldwide," recommended Gavin Poole, chief executive officer at Here East, billed as the largest technology center in the UK.

The Hong Kong government must engage all stakeholders of the FinTech industry to foster its development, and Hong Kong can learn from a few things Ireland has done to foster FinTech industry development," Irish Assistant Secretary General Neil Ryan (Department of Finance) told China Daily.

"The Irish government encourages FinTech players and e-payment service providers to come together to present their views to the government and also allow dialogue between the government and the industry side," Ryan said.

Contact the writer at oswald@chinadailyhk.com

(China Daily USA 03/04/2016 page6)




China's Global Newspaper





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Huawei expands near Seattle Updated: 2016-03-04 12:00 By Linda Deng in Seattle(China Daily USA)

Huawei Technologies will open a new office in Bellevue, Washington, this month in this building. Provided to China Daily

Huawei Technologies will open a new office in Bellevue, Washington, this month and hire as many as 100 workers at the location.

Huawei Technologies North America's research and development office will be staffed by up to 100 workers by 2017, according to William Plummer, vice-president of external affairs.

The North American unit of the Chinese telecommunications giant currently has a small office in Kirkland, Washington. Its North American website and LinkedIn page both had open positions for the Bellevue location. Bellevue is about 12 miles east of Seattle.

The office building, the Plaza Center Bellevue, is located in the heart of Bellevue's business district. Huawei's lease is for 11,000 square feet on the fifth floor.

Grant Yerke, a senior vice-president at Broderick Group, a Bellevue real estate company, said it is not enough space for 100 employees, but the company may have an option to expand.

The Greater Seattle area is a hot spot for tech companies, not only because it is the home to Microsoft, T-Mobile and Expedia, but also for its healthy ecosystem, the talent pool for tech company development, and its lower costs compared with Silicon Valley in Northern California.

In 2010, Facebook opened its first engineering office outside of Silicon Valley in Seattle. Google is expanding its existing Kirkland campus, significantly boosting its presence in the Seattle region.

"I believe Huawei chose the area because it is the center of the development of cloud computing technology," said Zhaohui Tang, CEO of adSage, a Chinese digital advertising technology company that also has an office in Bellevue.

"A big benefit is that the city is filled with skilled programmers and developers who have expertise in the cloud and all its capabilities," said Bill Liu. He is president of the Association of Technology and Innovation, an organization that promotes entrepreneurship, technical leadership and technical exchange between China and the US.

"The city is excited Huawei has chosen Bellevue as the site for their new R&D center," said James Henderson, economic development director for Bellevue, in an article on Geekwire.com.

Huawei grew its shipments by nearly 45 percent in 2015 and is one of the world's top smartphone makers. The company is engaged in some 100 research projects with more than 50 universities in the United States.

More than 70,000 of Huawei's 150,000 global employees work in R&D. At CES 2016, Huawei said it expects to surpass Apple in the next two to three years, and then pass Samsung by 2021, ultimately becoming the world's largest smartphone manufacturer.

Huawei Technologies Co Ltd is based in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. Founded in 1988 by Ren Zhengfei, it is the largest telecommunications-equipment maker in the world.

lindadeng@chinadailyusa.com
China has the jobs, now it must promote them Updated: 2016-03-04 12:00 By Hezi Jiang in New York(China Daily USA)

Mary Wadsworth Darby believes China is already equipped with everything foreign workers would want, and now it is up to employers to educate their potential employees on what they can offer.

"They need to know about the opportunities," said Darby, emphasizing the word "know". "China is now an active place," she said. "A place where things are happening."

Darby is the senior director of the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB) Americas. Since 2005, she has also been a senior research scholar with the Chazen Institute at Columbia Business School, specializing in China's economy and financial system.

Darby suggests Chinese companies go directly to foreign universities to recruit, or hold job fairs in the major cities.

"They can have a nice event at the Mandarin Oriental," she said, referring to the five-star luxury hotel in New York, with headquarters in Hong Kong.

A few Chinese companies already have implemented the strategy. In the past year, the CEO of Anbang Insurance, the Chinese insurer that bought the Waldorf Astoria New York hotel in October 2014, held a recruitment event at Harvard University.

The chairman of Hainan Airlines taught classes on the Harvard campus. The leading Chinese phone maker ZTE toured a handful of top American universities.

"Tell them what job is available," Darby said. "They are always attracted to the job."

Based on her observations, Darby said there is a need for foreign talent in many professions in China.

"Researchers, engineers, Internet people, journalists, lawyers," she said. "It's important to be very clear with the qualifications. Be specific about what language skill is needed."

It's one thing to attract talented workers, but another to make them stay.

Sun Baohong, the dean's Distinguished Chair Professor of Marketing and associate dean of global programs at CKGSB, pointed out some practical issues for China and the companies to address, including working hours and residential status.

Sun said she was glad that China will ease the permanent-resident application process for foreigners and provide them with better services. It means more foreigners will be able to stay, and overseas Chinese have the option to go back.

Sun suggested that China's government be more transparent with its plans and educate the foreign talent on specific policies that may benefit the group.

She said her years living in the US taught her the importance of family time to Americans.

"Here most people get off at 6 pm, and they want to spend time with their family," she said. "Chinese business owners should keep that in mind.

"By learning about how China works, they will have more innovative ideas and will better adapt to the working environment," Sun said.

hezijiang@chinadailyusa.com
Florida enticing Chinese tourists Updated: 2016-03-04 12:00 By Amy He in New York(China Daily USA)

The official tourism office of St. Petersburg and Clearwater will put out their first ad in China this spring. The coastal cities in Florida are trying to entice Chinese tourists to visit the beach destinations as they explore more cities away from the likes of New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Provided to China Daily

Pinellas County in Florida is launching its first Chinese marketing campaign with ads playing up sun, sand and theme parks to entice Chinese travelers from typical US tourist destinations like New York City, Los Angeles, Washington and Hawaii.

Tourism officials of the coastal cities of St. Petersburg and Clearwater, which are promoted by the Visit St. Pete/Clearwater office, are hoping that the new ad campaign will lure visitors.

The cities established representation in China three years ago and have not yet seen an increase in Chinese tourists, but the tourism office is ramping up efforts.

"This is developmental - this is a long term process. We have no delusions that we will have a significant number of Chinese travelers visiting the area next year. We understand it's a process," said David Downing, executive director of Visit St. Pete/Clearwater.

"We did the same thing with the German market 30 years ago. When we started our office in Germany, people would look at us a little strangely and say, 'There are no German tourists here'. There weren't any yet. So this is the same thing. [The Chinese] aren't here yet, but they will be," he said.

The Chinese market is the 11th biggest international market for Florida, with more than 270,000 visiting in 2014. Because the market is an emerging one for St. Petersburg and Clearwater, the office does not yet have figures on the number of Chinese tourists visiting.

Downing will join other Florida tourism representatives, including those from Orlando, Miami, and Fort Lauderdale, for a trade mission to China in May. They will meet with Chinese travel agencies, tour operators and travel officials, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

"There's a 'second wave' that the state keeps talking about - Chinese visitation to places farther afield as they become more comfortable traveling to cities they have no heard of," Downing said. "Sure, New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles - those are world capitals, but as the exploration of the United States as a tourism destination continues, places like ours will see tourism."

St. Petersburg and Clearwater are 90 minutes from Orlando, home of Disneyworld and Universal theme parks, and they also offer beaches, Downing said.

One of the difficulties with getting Chinese tourists to Florida is the lack of direct flights between the two destinations. Visitors going to Orlando or Miami need to make connecting stops at cities like Houston, Washington or New York.

"Part of what we do is air-service development. So, for example, we just worked collectively with Tampa and Tampa Airport and we landed a five-times-a-week Lufthansa direct from Frankfurt," Downing said. "Air service development is part and parcel, it's exactly what we need to do, the steps we need to take to develop this into a sustainable market for us."

amyhe@chinadailyusa.com
Jailed drug kingpin 'El Chapo' desperate to be extradited Updated: 2016-03-04 09:17 (Xinhua)

Recaptured drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is escorted by soldiers at the hangar belonging to the office of the Attorney General in Mexico City, Mexico in this January 8, 2016, file photo. [Photo/Agencies]

MEXICO CITY - Jailed drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is no longer fighting extradition to the United States -- he's asking to be sent sooner, his lawyer said Wednesday.

In an interview with local Radio Formula, the lawyer, Jose Refugio Nunez, said the head of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel asked him Tuesday to speed up extradition proceedings.

"Try to obtain my extradition as quickly as you can," Guzman said, according to Nunez.

"He told me that in an act of desperation," said Nunez, adding his client's about-face on extradition was due to his poor treatment in prison.

Guzman has complained that guards take roll call every couple of hours during the day and every four hours at night, depriving him of sleep.

Both Guzman and his wife claim he is being mistreated as payback for his having embarrassed officials at the maximum-security Altiplano prison in central Mexico with brazen jailbreaks.

Guzman's legal team initially worked to fight extradition, after their client was recaptured in January following his escape several months earlier through a 1.5-km tunnel. It was the second time he succeeded in breaking out of a high-security facility.

His lawyer said extradition would take at least another two months.
Trump leads Republican race, but rival candidates continue to hang on Updated: 2016-03-04 09:44 (Xinhua)

Republican US presidential candidates (L-R) Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and John Kasich pose together at the start of the US Republican presidential candidates debate in Detroit, Michigan, March 3, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

WASHINGTON - Donald Trump is leading the race to the Republican nomination for the US presidential election, but several other candidates continue to hold on in a show of grit and determination, in a last-ditch effort to try to derail the bombastic billionaire.

Trump won big on Super Tuesday earlier this week, a key contest involving votes in a dozen states. While the nomination is within his grasp, rivals led by Senator Ted Cruz, Senator Marco Rubio and others continue to fight to the end.

"The other candidates are likely to stay in the race for the next few weeks. If they haven't made headway by the end of March, several of them will end their campaigns," Brookings Institution's senior fellow Darrell West told Xinhua.

Despite losing most states to Trump in Tuesday's contest, Rubio continues to attack Trump, saying on Tuesday night that Trump is a "con artist" and vowing to fight on.

"This man is a world-class con artist, and he is conning people into thinking he fights for the little guy," Rubio said in an interview with US media just after Super Tuesday.

Indeed, Rubio has in recent days adopted a more aggressive stance toward Trump, billing him as a "con artist" in several interviews and speeches, although many analysts say the tactic is too little and too late.

"Rubio will stay in the race, at least through Florida, hoping that anti-Trump voters coalesce behind him," Dan Mahaffee, an analyst with the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, told Xinhua, referring to the Florida senator who hopes to win his home state on the Mar. 15 primaries.

"(Rubio) may be heartened by results in Minnesota, where he won, and in Virginia, where he closed the polling gap to come in a close second place," Mahaffee added, referring to Super Tuesday.

Trump's other main rival, Ted Cruz, is also holding on.
Rep. Mike Honda: serving public from the heart Updated: 2016-03-04 12:08 By Chang Jun in San Francisco(China Daily USA)

US Rep. Mike Honda of California speaks on behalf of the Equity and Excellence Commission, which he created more than 10 years ago. The commission aims to solve disparities in the quality of educational opportunities in public schools. Honda represents California's 17th District, which includes the Silicon Valley region. Photos provided to China Daily

US Congressman Mike Honda has many political goals, including fighting for a stronger and more just America, serving the most underprivileged, advancing a mutually beneficial relationship between the world's two largest economies, and fostering more exchanges between California and China.

Honda, 74, is a third-generation Japanese American who is a Democratic representative for California's 17th District, which covers Silicon Valley.

The only district in the continental United States with an Asian-American plurality (nearly 50 percent based on the 2010 Census), the 17th comprises the cities of Cupertino, Fremont, Milpitas, Newark, Santa Clara, San Jose and Sunnyvale.

High-tech giants such as Apple, Intel, Yahoo!, LinkedIn, Marvel and AMD call the area home.

Honda was born about five months before the Japanese attack on the US naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec 7, 1941. He was interned as a toddler with his family during World War II, in one of the US Japanese internment camps.

Honda realized at a young age that "this travesty of justice happened because no one in Washington said 'no'. With that experience, I wanted to dedicate myself to public service," Honda said in an exclusive interview with China Daily.

In early 1942, then-President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 forcing all Japanese Americans to evacuate the West Coast. Approximately 120,000 people, many of whom were naturalized American citizens, were relocated to one of 10 internment camps across the country.

Honda's family was sent from California to Camp Amache in southeast Colorado and only allowed to return to Blossom Valley in San Jose in 1953, where his parents became strawberry sharecroppers.

Attending local schools and later San Jose State University, Honda interrupted his study there and volunteered for the US Peace Corps in El Salvador from 1965 to 1967, "which taught me about serving the most vulnerable populations," he said, adding that elective office is a way to continue serving the public.

Honda started his career as a science teacher at two public schools after completing his bachelor's in biological sciences and Spanish in 1968 and a master's degree in education in 1974.

He later was elected to the San Jose Unified School Board in 1981, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors in 1990, and the California state Assembly in 1996, where he served until 2001.

Honda won the Democratic nomination for the 15th Congressional District (it was changed to the 17th in 2013, based on Census data) by a 12-point margin in 2000. He shifted his political focus to Washington, where he is vocal on maintaining a strong China-US relationship and closer California-China exchanges.

Since the US and China established diplomatic relations in 1979, "our nations and relationship have progressed immensely", Honda said.

As a member of the bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), Honda said he knows that "the relationship between the world's two largest economies is crucial. Our two nations' relationship impacts trade, security, energy, and most importantly, the people-to-people ties.

"The peace and security of the Asia-Pacific region and our global community depend on China being a good leader and great partner," he said, adding that "our two nations must simply find a way to work together to strengthen our economic, strategic, and cross-cultural dialogue."

He said he is "proud of the historic US-China agreement on climate change. As a member of the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition and the Safe Climate Caucus, I applaud our nations collaborating to battle against man-made climate change."

Honda also is the first honorary chairman of the US-China Green Energy Council, a non-profit organization based in Silicon Valley that aims to promote and strengthen collaboration in Green Energy between the two countries. Objectives are to facilitate clean-tech collaborative initiatives and projects and serve as a platform for the integration of policy, business, investment and R&D projects.

As the two nations keep expanding exchanges and cooperation in a wide area - including science, innovation and technology - the number of Asian Americans or Chinese nationals suspected or being accused of economic espionage is also on the rise. The terms "economic espionage" and "trade secrets" have become disquieting and even worrisome among Asian Americans.

In two recent cases, scientists Xi Xiaoxing and Sherry Chen, both of Chinese origin and naturalized US citizens, faced US economic espionage charges. Honda joined his colleagues in the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, writing two letters calling for an independent investigation into the arrests.

"We also held a press conference, where I was honored to meet Dr Xi and Ms Chen, and they shared their stories with me," said Honda. As the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations Committee, the lead Democrat, "I questioned FBI Director James Comey. I asked him about the shameful treatment of Sherry Chen and Dr. Xiaoxing Xi. I called on the director to apologize for the treatment of Xi and Chen.

"There has to be some sort of apology for these folks who have been put through this, losing their jobs," Honda said. "We're trying to seek some sort of justice for the folks who have been unfairly targeted."

Honda said he hopes that Comey "will finally apologize to these honorable people. Theirs are just two of many cases where racial profiling has hurt our nation, and its people, through injustice".

On bringing awareness, closure and fighting for the World War II-era victims of the Japanese Imperial Army, Honda's stance is firm and unwavering.

"It is simply the right thing to do," he said.
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I wish to carry on blogging, my iPad and Blogger do not seem so keen on contributing to that, I was unable to upload my photos, you did want to see the ...

2 years ago
The Karnataka High Court on Friday took up a petition by State Bank of India to arrest UB Group chairman Vijay Mallya, impound his passport and also direct him to disclose his personal and familys assets, in India and globally. At the same time, it said, there is no impediment for the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) to hear a similar plea by the public sector bank, which is seeking legal remedy over unpaid loans by Mallya taken to run the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines.The DRT reserved orders for March 7, its judgment on the first petition by SBI, which leads a consortium of banks, to direct Mallya and Diageo Plc to deposit the $ 75 mn (around Rs 500 crore) committed by the British liquor firm for a non-compete deal signed with Mallya. It would take up the other pleas for arrest and impounding of Mallyas passport on a later date.

SBI counsel said the bank had petitioned the Karnataka High Court seeking to impound Mallyas passport and arrest him besides seeking disclosure of all his personal and familys properties  tangible and intangible. This includes the properties held by his son. The High Court has issued notice to Mallya, United Spirits Ltd, Diageo Plc and UB Holdings Ltd.

The plea in the DRT, which maintains that SBI should have the first right to the funds from United Spirits as Mallya had stepped down from the companys board, seeks Diageo to deposit the funds in the tribunal.

In his arguments at the DRT, the SBI counsel George Joseph said Mallyas position had turned from bad to worse after he exited the liquor business and had to sign the non-compete agreement with Diageo. He is selling his goodwill and he is going to retire in the United Kingdom, he said, arguing with the DRT to attach the money from Diageo. Otherwise, we will be much poorer.



Mallya has objected to the SBIs plea stating that the DRT was not the forum to seek a defaulters arrest.

SBI, which leads a consortium of banks that lent Mallya, declared him as a willful defaulter in october 2015. Besides SBI, United Bank of India, which he has got a stay from the Calcutta High Court, and Punjab National Bank has also declared him willful defaulter.

Mallya and Kingfisher, now defunct since it suspended operations in October 2012, owes SBI and the consortium of 17 banks over Rs 7,800 crores of loans raised to run the airline. Kingfisher Airlines was started as a trophy airline by Mallya for his son's 18th birthday. The airline redefined luxury air travel in India but soon crash landed due to high cost structures, increased competition and mismanagement.

Mallya, a Rajya Sabha MP, on Thursday also faced a setback from the Delhi High Court, when it refused to accept his plea against SBI's decision to declare him defaulter.The court asked Mallya and United Breweries (Holdings) Ltd, the company he owns majority stake to approach an appropriate forum.

Mallya arrived at a deal with Diageo and USL, nearly 18 months after USL has reported that financial irregularities and fund diversion when Mallya ran the company has cost USL over Rs 7,200 crores. The USL board has recommended to Diageo to evict Mallya from the company, after it lost confidence in him due to the fraud.
Federal government increases fines to protect data The Federal Government will seek to fast-track amendments to the Privacy Act in parliament next week which will see penalties for privacy breaches increase from the current $2.2 million to at least $50 million.

How a volcanic eruption almost guarantees a flooded summer for Australias east coast This La Nina event is forecast to end early next year, but dont be fooled into thinking drier weather is coming anytime soon.

FIFA Womens World Cup organisers hope to inspire young female football fans across the Tasman 03:30 FIFA Women's World Cup organisers are hoping next year's sporting event will inspire young female football fans across the Tasman.

Federal govt to increase fines for serious data breaches to a minimum of $50m 00:43 The Federal government will increase the financial penalty for companies suffering serious data breaches at a minimum of $50 million - following...
WATERLOO  Veridian Credit Union is partnering with four Waterloo high schools to host a public display of student art.

The partnership is made possible through the credit unions ArtShare program, created to celebrate and give a public forum to local artistic talent. Partnering high schools include Columbus Catholic, Expo Alternative, East and West.

The 2016 display features 34 pieces in mediums ranging from paintings and digital photography to jewelry and pottery.

Each piece is selected by the schools art department leaders and professionally framed for public display in Veridians branch at 1827 Ansborough Ave. An ArtShare Premiere is scheduled for 6 to 7 p.m. Monday. Its free and open to the public, and refreshments will be served. The collection will remain on display for one year.

Students with pieces featured in the 2016 Waterloo ArtShare Premiere are:

Columbus Catholic High School  Katelynn Albus, Krista Blair, Marifer Gutierrez, Emma Haw, Samantha Heuthorst, Agnes Lazum, Addisen Lytle, Grace Surma and Jennifer Weber.

Expo Alternative High School  Taviana Dunn and Kane Smith.

East High School  Nathan Card, Crystalynn Hernandez and Ema Smlatic.

West High School  Ty Bellfy, Brynn Bengston, Tymaine Beaman, Vanessa Betancourt, Natalie Bentacourt, Tymaine Beaman, Nicholas Coenen, Tori Hubrig, Aviance Jones, Katherine Kaliban, Sydney Lederman, Zoe Lee, Madison Mathews, Brady Miller, Serenity Newell, Alissa Quail, Dinh Truong, Kailyn Tyler, Hanna Zikuda and Rebeca Zing.
I consider myself a strong conservative. I have many friends who are not, and yet we still remain good friends. They know I cannot vote for either of the candidates they favor as there is just too much in their candidates platforms with which I disagree.

This being said, I am really struggling with the sideshow that is happening in the debates and on the campaign trail for the candidates, both on the liberal and conservative sides. Since my leanings are to the right, I am especially struggling for those candidates who are supposed to be my conservative options.

Much of what happens in these debates is being fueled by the television media in the format they have set in place and in how their questions are being asked. These questions are purposed to basically pit one candidates past comments against past quotes/comments of another candidate. Since the media wont change this debate format, in some way these candidates for president must agree to begin acting like adults, working on not allowing the media to control what the public is seeing.

This is beginning to feel more like reality television or an MMA event instead of one purposed for giving information to assist us in deciding who the leader of the United States should be. Wouldnt it serve us better to simply allow each candidate to express his/her view on each individual issue, and then let us decide how that resonates for us? Wouldnt it serve us better from a world view to have our political candidates viewed as people who at least have respect for others?

As a consequence of this, the debates have gotten completely out of hand, becoming the sideshow. They are not debates, but debacles. These debates are an embarrassment for both parties. The world must be watching and just shaking its head. Much of what the media is doing in the conservative debates, for the purpose of ratings, is to pit candidates against Donald Trump, since his outrageous comments give them the best sound bites. As long as Trump is still involved, and the media hangs the carrot out in front of him, his outrageous comments will continue to make for ratings from a reality TV-loving public. Then, the embarrassment will continue, unless the candidates refuse to go that direction.

Regarding Donald Trump, I think all would be well served to view the following link from Christianity Today (http://bit.ly/1T7IGXk).

San Antonio Pastor Max Lucado, who almost never gives endorsements or discusses politics, has come out with his thoughts on Donald Trump. In an excerpt from the article Max Lucado Broke His Political Silence for Trump, he states, In this case, its not so much a question about particular policies or strategies about government or even particular opinions. Its a case of (his) public derision of people. Its belittling people publicly. It would be none of my business, (and) I would have absolutely no right to speak up except that he repeatedly brandishes the Bible and calls himself a Christian. There was a time in Iowa when he said Im a Christian, and somebody asked about forgiveness, and he said Ive never asked God for forgiveness. I cant imagine that. Im just shaking my head going How does that work? Does a swimmer say Ive never gotten wet? Does a musician say Ive never sung a song? How does a person claim to be a Christian and never need to ask for forgiveness?

We must hope, and pray, for a return to verbal decency in this presidential race and the debates. And the media needs to do better. We deserve better. We should want our president to be someone in whom we and the world can truly trust. Will we want the face of America to be who we are seeing in these TV events  or a man/woman humble enough to understand God Himself has put him/her in this position of potential leadership? I know my answer. Do you?
Brooklynsis back in Minneapolis next Tuesday. We previously caught the band as the opener toin March 2015 , and noted that the audience was absolutely blown away by the band, demanding One more song! despite the fact that they were just the opener.to open the show.Suspiciously dates around SXSW are left blank at the moment... but we suspect theyll be down in Austin after March 12th.Tour dates:

We randomly caughtat a Communion showcase last April 2015 Like many artists, Garrett is touring towards SXSW, following a string of sold-out dates with, and has decided to add Minneapolis/St Paul on his roadmap to Austin., who we previously saw with Joy Formidable in October 2015 , to open the Kevin Garrett show.Kevin Garrett National Tour

Basia Bulat was overwhelmed at the turnout to her show, "It's so awesome that you guys made it out here tonight. You were supposed to be at Kanye West's show next door!" 

03/03/16 Phoenix, AZ The Rebel Lounge

03/05/16 Denver, CO Larimer Lounge

03/07/16 Omaha, NE Waiting Room

03/08/16 Minneapolis, MN Cedar Cultural Center

03/09/16 Madison, WI High Noon Saloon

03/10/16 Milwaukee, WI Colectivo Coffee

03/11/16 Chicago, IL Lincoln Hall

03/12/16 St. Louis, MO Off Broadway Nightclub

03/13/16 Kansas City, MO The Riot Room

03/14/16 Norman, OK Opolis

03/16/16 Austin, TX The Parish

03/21/16 Dallas, TX Three Links

03/22/16 Birmingham, AL Saturn

03/23/16 Decatur, GA Eddie's Attic

03/24/16 Nashville, TN High Watt

03/25/16 Louisville, KY Zanzabar

03/26/16 Asheville, NC The Grey Eagle

03/28/16 Raleigh, NC King's Barcade

03/29/16 Washington, DC Rock And Roll Hotel

03/30/16 Philadelphia, PA Boot & Saddle

04/01/16 New York, NY The Bowery Ballroom

04/02/16 Cambridge, MA The Sinclair

04/03/16 Portland, ME One Longfellow Square

04/04/16 South Burlington, VT Higher Ground

06/05/16 Field Trip Music & Arts Festival





Torontoswill be stopping by the Cedar Cultural Center next Tuesday in support of her third album... but like many bands touring at this time - shes really touring towards SXSW in Austin, Texas. Anyway, the new album has already been streamed over 800k times and its lead single Infamous is high on the charts (#7 on CMJ AAA chart, #9 in the Canadian album charts, etc.)Check out her show on March 8th and find out why the New Yorker called Bulat a singular voice, with a confident yet vulnerable tone, and she sings with an impassioned yearning that suggests the vast wilderness of her homeland.You may recall that we previously saw Bulat in 2013 , and wrote,  It's been a long time since she was last in the Twin Cities, but you can tell her fans missed her by making their way to the show, despite the pending snowstorm outside.Also fellow Toronto-based band(musical project of Tamara Lindeman) will open the show. Weather Station was previously in Minneapolis in 2014 with Bahamas (aka Afie Jurvanen). The Weather Stations latest albumis out now on Paradise of Bachelors.Tour dates:
By West Kentucky Star Staff Mar. 03, 2016 | 02:53 PM | HICKORY, KY

To support its Trooper Island Camp for underprivileged children, the Kentucky State Police is selling raffle tickets for a chance to win a new truck.

Tickets are $10 each. Only 20,000 tickets will be sold statewide. To purchase a ticket you may stop by the Kentucky State Police Post 1 in Hickory, or by contacting any Kentucky State Police trooper or Commercial Vehicle Enforcement officer.

The winning ticket will be drawn on August 28 at the Kentucky State Fair.

All proceeds go to Trooper Island summer camp for children, which is located on Dale Hollow Lake in Clinton County. Trooper Island is a free summer camp for underprivileged boys and girls age 10-12. It is financed entirely by donations.

There is no cost to the campers who attend Trooper Island and there are no restrictions based on race, creed or color. The camp gets some of its funding through activities the 16 Kentucky State Police posts put on during the year.

Visit http://www.kentuckystatepolice.org/island.html for more information.

The 2016 Dodge RAM 1500 Big Horn Crew Cab 4x4 pickup truck features include: a Brilliant Black Pearl-Coat exterior and Black-Diesel Gray interior; a four-door, air-conditioned crew cab with heated, leather front seats embroidered with the KSP seal on the headrest; a 5.7 liter V8 HEMI MDS VVT engine with 395 horsepower; an eight-speed automatic transmission and a five-year/60,000 mile powertrain limited warranty. (Visit http://www.kentuckystatepolice.org/2016/tr_isl_truck_raffle.html for a full list of features and equipment).
By The Associated Press Mar. 02, 2016 | 09:22 AM | SHEPHERDSVILLE, KY

Shepherdsville police have arrested a man they say opened fire on another car as he drove, all while his 18-month-old child sat in his vehicle.

Multiple media outlets report that 22-year-old Curtis Wyatt is accused of firing a shot from his car into another man's car Monday evening as the two traveled south on I-65 in Bullitt County.

An arrest warrant says the victim told police Wyatt followed him closely before he passed him on the right, pulled in front of him and then slammed on the brakes. Soon after, the shot was fired, which police say passed through the front passenger door and passenger seat.

Wyatt was arrested and charged with attempted murder and first-degree wanton endangerment.
Marvel Comics

The Avengers have one of the most intense rogues galleries to exist in comic books; after all, as the legend goes the team were brought together to defeat the foe no single superhero can withstand.

When the team first got together, that was the Hulk, brainwashed by Loki. Since then, the threats have gotten bigger and badder - even Loki's powers and personality grew to make him more formidable - and there are times at which not even the combined might of the Avengers is enough to win the day.

Of course, this being comics, they have to, so no matter how powerful these villains might be, they'll always be trumped in the end. That doesn't mean that our favourite heroes don't have a tremendously difficult time fighting them - often dying in the process.

Honourable Mention: Baron Zemo & The Masters Of Evil

These guys don't quite make the list because after all, there are several of them. That's cheating, guys.

Zemo, a fairly prolific Captain America villain, is pretty much just a really intelligent bad guy with a sword. That said, his charisma as a leader drew a number of like-minded self-proclaimed evil types to his side. Originally the line-up consisted of the not-inconsiderable foes (new name for a supervillain team - The Not-Inconsiderable Foes) Radioactive Man, the Melter and the Black Knight.

Quite the prickly thorn in the side of the Avengers, Zemo eventually returned with Asgardians Enchantress and the Executioner at his side, but his own crazed desire to kill Captain America resulted in some poor strategic choices - landing him buried under a rockslide. Ray guns don't melt Vibranium shields.

His son would later return with an army big enough to invade Liechtenstein, including such notable members as Absorbing Man, Moonstone, Mister Hyde and the Wrecking Crew. They even managed to invade Avengers Mansion, taking it over and severely endangering the line of longtime Avengers butler Jarvis. It's known as one of the fiercest battles the Avengers ever fought, and that's due to the assembled power levels they were confronted with. Still doesn't count.
Updated with subsequent response from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.)



Two days after a haunting Two days after a haunting state grand jury report leveled his south-central Pennsylvania diocese with allegations of abuse and coverup over five decades, Bishop Mark Bartchak of Altoona-Johnstown faced the local press this afternoon at his Chancery to make the following statement:

As Bishop of the diocese, I extend my most heartfelt and sincere apology. I apologize to the victims, to their families, to the faithful people of our diocese, to the good priests of our Diocese, and to the public.



I acknowledge there are a number of recommendations made in this report involving how we respond to allegations of abuse. I take them seriously.



I appreciate the grand jurys recognition of the progress we have made. I have been bishop for five years. During this time, we have re-examined allegations, removed clergy from ministry, reported allegations to civil authorities, and strengthened our training program. I am committed to doing even more to protect children.



In addition to reporting allegations, I have met with victim-survivors. Their words and their pain have deeply affected me. I pledge to them and to all families to do all that I can to ensure children are safe.



Someone recently shared the expression, when you know more, you can do more. With the grand jury report, we know more, and we will do more. Let me start with a significant commitment to transparency, past and future.



I will publish a list of all priests who have been the subject of credible allegations, along with each priests current status. The list will be posted on our website.



This Diocese will continue to report to law enforcement, in writing, all allegations it receives of any type of sexual misconduct involving a minor by any clergy or religious (living or deceased), regardless of when the conduct occurred, whether or not the victim is now a minor and whether or not the victim or another person already has made the report.



In addition, I will undertake a full review of our diocesan policies and procedures regarding child protection and will make all changes that should be made. This review will be comprehensive and will include our training and background check programs, the diocesan review board, and communication on reporting requirements.



I urge anyone who has information about suspected abuse to call the Attorney Generals hotline, 888-538-8541. In addition, the diocesan victim assistance coordinator, Jean Johnstone, may be contacted at 814-944-9388, for additional support.



We are people of faith. I will share a message with the people of our Diocese this weekend through their pastors, and plans are being made for special Prayer Services for Mercy in the coming weeks.



Finally, I ask that we turn to our Lord for comfort and healing from these wounds as we pray for those who have been harmed, for all who have been affected, and for the many priests in our Diocese who have been faithful to their vocation and to the people they serve.

In a reflection of the pained significance with which the Altoona report is being viewed in the wider church, shortly after Bartchak's appearance the US bishops' chair

, Bishop

of Juneau, released a statement terming the emergence of the grand jury's findings "heart wrenching and shocking."



In a pointed swipe given the panel's implication of lapses on the part of Altoona-Johnstown officials as recently as last year, Burns said the two-year state probe presents "a reminder why" the zero-tolerance protocol of the



Initially passed by the bishops and confirmed by the Vatican amid the abuse crisis' national outbreak in 2002 and last revised in 2011, the Dallas Norms are particular (national) law in the US church for the handling of allegations of sexual misconduct by clergy. Global norms echoing the American rules and expanding the responsibility of bishops to report all allegations relating to minors or other vulnerable people to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for definitive judgment were



Himself a Pennsylvania native, following is Burns' complete text, published by the conference as "A Statement on the Protection of Children": In a pointed swipe given the panel's implication of lapses on the part of Altoona-Johnstown officials as recently as last year, Burns said the two-year state probe presents "a reminder why" the zero-tolerance protocol of the Dallas Charter and its Essential Norms "exists and must be followed."Initially passed by the bishops and confirmed by the Vatican amid the abuse crisis' national outbreak in 2002 and last revised in 2011, the Dallas Norms are particular (national) law in the US church for the handling of allegations of sexual misconduct by clergy. Global norms echoing the American rules and expanding the responsibility of bishops to report all allegations relating to minors or other vulnerable people to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for definitive judgment were last strengthened by then-Pope Benedict XVI in 2010, nine years after now-St John Paul II removed the final determination on cases from the hands of diocesan bishops.Himself a Pennsylvania native, following is Burns' complete text, published by the conference as

This week brought painful, but important, reminders that we must remain vigilant in our efforts to protect children from the scourge of abuse. The movie "Spotlight" won the Academy Award for Best Picture. It chronicles the courage of the victims and the journalists who told their story. In statements from Cardinal O'Malley in Boston and the Vatican newspaper in Rome, the Catholic Church renewed our determined and firm resolve to protect children and felt deep sorrow for the tremendous pain.



On Tuesday, we received news of a grand jury report out of Altoona, Pennsylvania. Although I can't speak to the specifics in Altoona and would defer to the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference as to any statewide impact, like everyone, I read the news with great pain.



It is heart wrenching and shocking to hear of this grand jury report or of any incidents of abuse, and it is even more disturbing when we learn that innocent children were abused by priests within the Church. Once again, the wounds inflicted through these heinous crimes have caused great pain and further mistrust in the Church. We must never lose sight of the fact that every victim/survivor has personally experienced profound injury, suffering, and betrayal.



These moments are a reminder why the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, adopted by the U.S. bishops in 2002, exists and must be followed. This highlights all the more the importance that we never grow complacent. As stated in the Charter, we are to cooperate with law-enforcement agencies, permanently remove those who have offended, and effectively create a safe environment for our children. Only with vigilance can we ensure that children are kept safe and so allow the Church to help our people in a process of healing and address the mistrust that rises from these cases.

* * *
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Which comes first?

I am heating the water to make a cup of coffee. Boza and I got up early and walked around to see what is up and going on. Not much really, when there is only 3 people living in the village, not a whole bunch happens exciting at any moment. So while the water is heating, I started to write, but now I hear the tell tell bubbling, hissing and gurgling noise that the kettle makes and I need to get my second cup of coffee

* * * * * * * * * *

There that is better! I noticed that the winter has been long and I am able to tell by the amount of coffee I have left in the cabinet. I still have a lot, but I have used a lot. If you remember, I stocked up before prices got out of hand and most of the coffee I am using now is from about one to two years ago

* * * * * * * * * *

Speaking of prices and stocking items; The good little puppet Obama has just extended the sanctions against Russia for another year. As an American, I say that sucks and we are stupid and self-destructive. I also say that Obama (and or anyone who is or who was in past the president in the US) can not be classified as anyone who controls his own policies and the fact that he is president of the USA makes me realize how screwed up and corrupt the complete political system is in the US. Dammit people, we need to get our government under control. We are in deep recession (never left recession and or actually depression) and do you think sanctioning other countries that potentially could buy things is a good idea? Stupid is the word that comes to mind

* * * * * * * * * *

I had to laugh at the media in America. The news is running story after story about people are going to leave the US and go to Canada! They make it sound like a terrible thing to want to leave the USA. LOL  I like it

Poor Canada is all I can say

* * * * * * * * * *

I discovered recently that people in the USA are crybabies and they all want their way. Simply look at what is said and being done about Trump for president and you can see the whole range of antipathetic individuals express themselves and they are all crying and whining. I have been most amazed at the neocons and the tears just run from their eyes, as they try to understand how their world is collapsing and why we must have war, war and more WAR!

There would not be a whimper if Cruz, Rubio or Bush was able to make a stand. But Bush faded and Rubio and Cruz are fighting for second place. Now Hillary! She is a neocon dream and what ever! Hey vote democrat, that will show Trump and the democrats love war as much as republicans

I rest my point about if there is any difference between political parties? NOPE!

Our warmonger is as good as your warmonger in a pinch

* * * * * * * * * *

It is sad, but the western media is attacking Brazil just like they did Russia over the Olympics. The pathetic attacks have started and the making mountains of molehills is in full swing. This my friend is the epitome of the western world and the world would be a better place if someone would simply turn off the volume switch to the Fat Lady Singing In the USA

Western Media attitude summed up: Brazil sucks and the Olympics will suck there to

* * * * * * * * * *

Have a nice day and I feel great after getting all that off my mind 

Oh and the question I asked at the beginning!

Coffee has to come first, for without coffee there is no thinking to begin with

WtR
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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

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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.

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Betway:

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Coral Casino:

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Ladbrokes Casino:

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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. New players can receive a massive 100% match bonus up to 200, while existing customers can claim 35% cashback on their first three deposits.

William Hill Casino:

William Hill Casino is one of the biggest names in the industry, operating in Europe, Asia and North America. Founded in 1984, this online casino has more than 400 games to choose from, including slots and table games, with a wide array of software providers like WagerLogic, Big Time Gaming and Rival.

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Canl Bahis siteleri sektoru son derece onu ack ve farkl ozelliklere sahip bir sektordur. Elbette bahis secenekleri arasnda yuksek kazanc getiren alan kuskusuz canl bahistir. Peki, canl bahis nedir?

Canl Bahis Nedir?

Canl bahis adndan da anlaslacag gibi devam eden musabakaya bahis yapmaktr. Bu bahis musabaka devam ederken de yaplabilir olmasdr. Basta futbol olmak uzere voleybol, tenis, hentbol, basketbol, buz hokeyi ve masa tenisi gibi spor organizasyonlarna canl bahisler yaplabilmektedir. Canl bahis siteleri bu oyunlarn hepsine yuksek oranlara bahis yapmanza imkan tanr. En fazla tercih edilen futbol canl bahisleri diger alanlara gore daha fazla on plandadr. Siteden siteye degisen sartlar ve uygulama esaslar soz konusu olsa da kurallar sabittir.

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?

Bahislerinizi guvenilir sitelerden gerceklestirdiginiz zaman herhangi bir sekilde para cekme de sorun yasamazsnz. Guvenilir bahis siteleri tespit edip sonrasnda da uyelik islemlerini tamamlamanz gerekmektedir. Belirlenen uyelik sartlarn yerine getirip hesabnza da paray aktardktan sonra bahis islemlerini sorunsuz yapabilirsiniz. Peki, canl bahis nasl oynanr?

Oncelikle bahis konusunda mutlaka dogru site arastrmas yapmalsnz. Yapacagnz arastrma neticesinde buldugunuz site uzerinden canl bahisislemlerini gerceklestirebilirsiniz. Bunun icin uye olup, hesaba para atp, canl bahis bolumune girmelisiniz. Sonrasnda dahil olmak istediginiz musabakann saatini ogrenip, gerekli analizleri yapmalsnz. Tahminlerinizi belirledikten sonra karsnza ckacak olan bahis sayfasndan istediginiz hamleyi yapmalsnz. Bahis tutarn belirledikten sonra musabaka baslayacaktr.

Canl bahis diger normal bahis esaslarna gore farkllklar icermektedir. Bunlardan en onemlisi musabakann gidisatna gore islem yapabilir olmaktr.Ayrca musabakann 2. Yarsna gore hamle yapp ayr bir bahisin soz konusu olmas da ciddi avantajdr. Dogru hamle ile sizde istediginiz bahisi yapp kazanc elde edebilirsiniz. Nitekim canl olarak yapacagnz bahis icin mac oncesi raporlara gore hareket etmek onemlidir. Cunku takmlarn durumlarn analiz etmek tahmin gucunu arttracaktr. Misal tamnn en iyi oyuncusu sakat ya da kart cezals ise takmn performansnda dusus yasanacaktr. Buna ek olarak takmn deplasman performans ile evinde ki performans ayr olacaktr. Burada da takmn musabakay nerede yaptgna bakmak gerekir. Bu ayrntlar da iyice analiz ettikten sonra bahsinizi yapp kazanmann keyfini yasayabilirsiniz.

Canl Bahis Siteleri

Son derece yuksek getiriye sahip bahis sektoru uzun zamandr faaliyet gostermektedir. Cok ciddi rakamlarn soz konusu oldugu bu sektor zamanla sanal ortamlara donusmustur. Elbette guvenli ve bir o kadar da avantajl olan bu siteler cok yonlu frsatlar sunmaktadrlar. Canl iddaa siteleri gerek yeni uyelere gerekse de hali hazrdaki uyelerine bolca bonus frsatlar vermektedir. Yatracagnz tutara gore belirlenen bonuslar site icerisinde rahat hareket etmenizi de saglayacaktr.

Canl bahis sitelerini kullanmadan once mutlaka guvenli olup olmadgna goz atmalsnz. Zira baz kullanclar guvenli olmayan sitelerden yaptklar islemlerden dolay magdur olmaktadrlar. Nitekim guvenli ve sorunsuz hizmet sunan yurt ds site tercih etmek en dogru secenektir. Sektorde uzun yllar faaliyet gosteren siteleri tercih edebilirsiniz. Bu alanda yer alan yabanc siteler musteri memnuniyetine onem vermektedir. Oncelik site kullanclarn sorunsuz sekilde bahislerini yapabilir olmasn saglamaktr. Bahis sitelerinde amac hem daha fazla kullancya hizmet vermek hem de sektorde emin admlarla ilerlemek onceliklidir. Dogru site tercihi ile sizde canl bahislerinizi sorun yasamadan gerceklestirebilirsiniz. Sizler icin hazrlams oldugumuz canl bahis siteleri listesi su sekildedir;

Mobilbahis Tempobet Bets10 Bahigo 1xbahis Betboo Youwin Superbahis

Sralams oldugumuz bu siteler sektorde basarl islere imza atms sitelerdedir. Canl bahis konusunda beklentileri karslayacak olan bu siteler sizlere kolaylk sunmaktadrlar. Bol bonuslu secenekle de sizlere farkl bahis yonlerini sunacaklardr. Sistemsel etki icerisinde her zaman etkin sonuc alabilmek icin surekli olarak faaliyet icerisindedirler.

Canl Bahis Taktikleri

Bahis sektorunun en fazla dikkat edilmesi gereken hususu dogru taktik ve dogru tahmindir. Elbette dogru tahmini yapabilmek icin analizi cok iyi yapmak gerekir. Canl bahis taktikleri arasnda ilk sra analiz gelmektedir. Analiz yapamadgnz zaman basarl tahminlerde bulunmanz pek de mumkun degildir. Cunku bahiste onemli olan konu musabakann analizini cok iyi yaplmas gerektigidir. Canl bahisin ozelliklerini iyi bilmek ve nasl bir hamle yapacagnz bilmek gerekir. Ozellikle riskli maclarda yaplacak degerlendirmeler cok daha onemlidir.

Canl bahis yapacaklarn takip edecegi degerler takmlarn durumlar ile alakal olmaldr. Performans uzerine kurulu bahis sisteminde takm degerlendirmesine iyi bakmak gerekir. Iki takmn son 5 macta nasl bir sonuc ortaya koyduguna bakarak hareket etmek onemlidir. Ayrca hangi takm evinde daha iyi performans sergiliyor diye de ayrca bakmak gerekir.

Analizlerle alakal puan durumlarna da goz atmak cok onemlidir. Puan degerlendirmesinde oncelikle takmlarn ihtiyaclar ile dogru orantl hareket etmek gerekir. Cunku olusturulan performans takmn da durumunu ortaya koymaktadr. Nitekim istenilen sonucu elde edebilmek icin tum ayrntlar bilmek gerekir. Takm ici duzenden tutunda da takmn son durumuna kadar her ayrnt onemlidir. Iki takmn birbirleri arasnda ki sonuclar da incelemek gerekir. Burada dikkat edilecek detaylarn basnda maclarda kac gol oldugu ve gollerin hangi dakikalarda atldgdr. Cekismeli gecen musabakalarda bazen goller ilk yarda daha fazla olurken baz maclarda da ikinci yarda daha cok gol olmustur. Iki takm arasnda ki maclarda gollerin cogunlugu ilk yarda geliyorsa buna gore bahis yapabilirsiniz.

Canl Bahis Siteleri Bonuslar ve Kampanyalar

Bahis yapanlar veya yapmay dusununler sitelerin sunmus olduklar frsatlar merak etmektedirler. Cunku siteler daha fazla kullancya erismek icin her donem kampanyalar duzenleyerek kullanc odakl hamleler yapmaktadrlar. Canl bahis bonuslar ve kampanyalar oldukca populer olup, siteler bu konuda adeta birbirleri ile yarsmaktadrlar. Birbirinden farkl ozelliklere sahip olan kampanyalar size frsatlar sunmaktadr. Daha cok kazanma ihtimalinizi arttran bu bonuslar daha cesur olmanza da dogrudan etki edecektir. Nitekim bonuslar sitelerin cekiciligini ve avantajlarn arttrmaktadr. En cok kazandran canl bahis siteleri bedava bonuslar ve kampanyalar icin http://www.milano2018.com/canli-bahis-siteleri-2022/ linkinden yardm alabilirsiniz.

Hos geldin bonusu ile baslayan ve sonrasnda para yatrdkca bonus veren cok sayda site bulunmaktadr. Canl bahis bonusu veren siteler yeni uyelere sunduklar frsatlar farkl kampanyalarla mevcut uyelerine de sunmaktadrlar. Hali hazrda siteyi kullananlarn da bonus frsatlarndan yararlanmalar icin donemsel kampanyalar olusturmaktadrlar. Boylece baska sitelere gidisler olmayacag gibi site de daha keyifli zaman gecirmek mumkun klnmaktadr. Bu tur eklentiler yapan sitelerde musteri memnuniyeti daha fazladr.

Bahis siteleri ozellik ve uygulama bakmndan farkllklar bunyelerinde bulundurmaktadrlar. Verilen bonuslarn olusturulmas ve kullanclar aktarlmasnda yatrlan para miktarlar belirleyici olmaktadr. 1.000 TL yatran bir kullanc yuzde 20 bonus frsat olan bir kampanyadan 200 TL bonus kazanabilmektedir. Yatracag tutar 10.000 TL oldugunda bu bonustutar 2.000 TL olabilmektedir. Gerceklesen ve uygulanan esaslar tamamen donemsel olarak yaplan kampanyalarla alakaldr. 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.
Mar 4, 2016

Entrepreneurs take note: as 3D printing goes mainstream and 3D printer price tags continue to drop, there are more 3D printing business opportunities than ever before. If youve ever wanted to make money off your 3D printer, here are a 15 consumer-oriented 3D printing business models to consider.

From a consumer perspective, the beauty of 3D printing is that it completely blurs the lines between the traditional notions of producers and consumers, leading to an entirely new category: the prosumer. Even todays entry-level 3D printers, for example, empower makers to produce novel, commercial-grade products easily and affordably in their very own homes. Alongside the growing prosumer movement are several distinct trends in consumer goods manufacturing. Todays buyers demand mass customization, local production, and sustainable materialsall of which 3D printing can provide.

Even if 3D printing itself isnt your forte, you could try your hand at creating a 3D modelling service or app. And if youre short on resources, crowdfunding campaigns were practically designed to help get you on your feet. In short, there are plenty of ways to profit from the boom in 3D printing technology. Here are 15 creative 3D printing business ideas to get you started on a successful new venture:

3D Printing Business Idea #1: Create and sell 3D printed jewelry, home furnishings or decorations

This first idea for a 3D printing business might be the most straightforward and potentially even easiest on the list, though it does require a keen sense of style and a certain finesse. The idea is simple: create a 3D design, and sell it. With 3D printing, designers can create custom, unique jewelry, accessories or decorates that are beautiful, cost-effective, and highly marketable 3D printed goods. For example, self-trained artist Melissa Ng turned her passion for creative wearables into a successful 3D printing business via her shop, Lumecluster. Or, take a look at Nonmanifolds 3D printed jewelry, LeFabShops 3D printable home decorations, or fashion designer Kasia Wisniewski's 3D printed bridal accessory collection. The options are endless. Once youve got a vision for your 3D printing business, commercializing is as easy as setting up a shop on online platforms like Etsy, or 3D printing-specific markets like i.Materialise.

3D printed jewelry from Melissa Ng

3D Printing Business Idea #2: 3D print customized video game characters

If you have a knack for not only playing video games but also creating your own video game characters, 3D designing and/or 3D printing customized gaming characters might just be right up your alley. Gamers invest a lot of time into creating their characters, and are often willing to pay for high-quality figures, meaning this could therefore be a very profitable 3D printing business. Case in point? Whispering Gibbon recently received six-figure funding for their RenderFab 3D software that turns video game content into 3D printable characters.

3D Printing Business Idea #3: Become a 3D printed fashion designer

From 3D printed shoes, to 3D printed glasses, to 3D printed garments, starting your own 3D printed fashion brand could be a great way to put your maker and design skills to work and earn some money while you do so. Just look at fashion student Danit Pelegs entire 3D printed ready-to-wear collection made on a desktop 3D printer, or mechatronics engineer Markus stunning 3D printed high heeled shoe for proof that it doesnt take a whole fashion brand to bring 3D printed wearables to life.

3D Printing Business Idea #4: Open a 3D printed Selfie Studio

If youre looking to get in on one of the hottest 3D printing consumer trends, you might consider starting a 3D printed Selfie Service. Customers are 3D scanned to capture their individual and one-of-a-kind look, and then 3D printed into fun figurines. There is a lot of room for creativity, too: just look to these 3D printed selfie faces that can be fastened onto lego bodies for motivation.

3D Printing Business Idea #5: 3D print custom prosthetics or assistive devices

While 3D printed selfies are fun, the best business ideas are the ones that solve real world problems. There is a huge need across the world for lightweight and cost-effective prosthetics or assistive devices, and 3D printing technology has already proven to be the answer. The possibilities within the field are numerous, as weve seen within the realm of 3D printed prosthetic hands, whether they be myoelectric, Lego-compatible, or super-hero inspired. There are also the areas of 3D printed foot prosthetics, 3D printed wheelchairs, and custom 3D printed prosthetic covers that could be explored.

3D Printing Business Idea #6: Whip up some 3D printed food

Earlier this week we covered a story on how the ability to 3D print food is beginning to change the face of fine dining, so why not get aboard the train for what is sure to be a delicious, and lucrative, ride. Some of the most marketable 3D printed food products to date have been in the realm of 3D printed chocolate and candy, so that might be a good place to begin, though being a bit creative couldnt hurt either. You could always open a 3D printed pancake bakery for instance! If you love cooking but dont have the knack for it, consider basing your business on 3D printed cooking accessories, like this Kriszti Bozzai did with her custom 3D printed cookie cutters.

3D Printing Business Idea #7: Become a 3D architect

For a larger scale business project, why not consider pursuing something in the field of architecture? To date, weve heard of 3D printing being used within the field in a variety of ways, from 3D printing building models to show clients, to 3D printing architectural elements to preserve them, to 3D printing building blocks to make creative structures. For a particularly inspiring story check out how one creative maker 3D printed his way into becoming an architect. If youre starting off in the field of 3D printed architecture, we suggest starting small by making scale models, and working your way up, perhaps one day even helping to 3D print an entire home!

3D Printing Business Idea #8: 3D printed maps

3D printed maps can be used to more fully depict the topographical features of a landscape (even that of The Moon!), thanks to their nifty use of the Z axis. Thanks to this added functionality, the commercial demand for 3D printed cartography is growing, so master the art of the additive atlas and get printing. Last year, Finnish firm Versoteq created these cool 3D printed tactile maps for Slush, a tech startup event. Follow Versoteqs lead and propose a 3D printed map project to a large organization, business, or city, and you could soon have a powerful 3D printing venture on your hands. 3D printed tactile maps can also serve a more noble purpose: A number of 3D printing companies have started 3D printing maps for the blind and visually impaired, using free, open source map data and 3D printing them with embossed streets and landmarks.

3D Printing Business Idea #9: Create 100% personalized 3D printed gifts

Before 3D printing, customized gifts and trinkets were limited in scope, availability, and above-all, affordability. Now, mold-free 3D printing enables businesses to produce 1,000 completely unique products for nearly the same material cost as 1,000 identical products. From personalized 3D printed phone cases, to custom-fit 3D printed earbuds, to the whacky trend of 3D printed fetuses, 3D printing brings standard commercial products to a whole new level, and will entice consumers far more than boring, store bought offerings. Just remember the motto, if it can be 3D printed, it can be personalized.

3D Printing Business Idea #10: 3D modeling and design service

Before you can start 3D printing, you need a 3D model, yet many at-home makers still dont have adequate 3D modeling skills, creating the perfect market opportunity for a 3D modeling and design service. A 3D modeling service simply provides custom 3D printable files to would-be-makers for a fee. In terms of starting your own 3D modeling business, you could either create a 3D modeling app, open a 3D model repository, or if you are a 3D designer yourself, create a portfolio of designs and show them to the world.

3D Printing Business Idea #11: Offer a 3D printing service

Another straightforward 3D printing business idea is to buy a 3D printer (or two, or ten) and offer a 3D printing service. Depending on how big you want to take this 3D printing business, you could either offer this service from home, doing small 3D print jobs on the side, or set up an entire, dedicated 3D printing service bureau for local and international customers. There are a lot of variables to take into consideration, such as what level of 3D printing you are capable of, what kinds of 3D printers and materials you will offer, etc. But, there is a huge demand for 3D printed goods right now, meaning whichever approach you take, this could be a very profitable business opportunity.

3D Printing Business Idea #12: Push 3D printing education with a 3D printing course or tutoring service

3D printing is still a very niche area of knowledge, but more and more people want to learn the skills required so that rather than outsourcing 3D printing projects, they can do them themselves. If you have this knowledge, its the perfect time to share it via a 3D printing class. 3D printing education can be offered either online, via 3D printing video tutorials, or you can offer hands-on in-person 3D printing courses. Teaching is rewarding in every sense, and by becoming a 3D printing educator, either for individuals, children and students, or even small businesses, youll be helping people gain an extremely useful skill while utilizing your own.

3D Printing Business Idea #13: 3D print promotional goods for creative advertising campaigns

Advertisers are constantly looking for the most creative, unique, and interactive ways to reach their target audiences, and 3D printing can provide the perfect cross-over between brands and consumers. A clever 3D printing business could partner with advertisers or directly with brands to 3D print promotional goods, either to get massive media attention, such as this life-size 3D printed shark, or to engage with audiences in completely unexpected ways, like the History Channels Vikings 3D printed sweepstakes.

3D Printing Business Idea #14: Sell 3D printers, accessories or supplies

Even if you do not have experience in 3D modeling or 3D printing, you can still make money with a successful 3D printing business. Brush up your sales skills, and offer 3D printers, 3D printer accessories, and 3D printer materials for sale. Most 3D printer purchases happen online, since there are very few brick-and-mortar retailers offering 3D printers today, however if you live in an area where 3D printing is coming popular, it could be worthwhile to set up a shop to offer personalized, face-to-face service. Rather than selling 3D printers themselves, you could also open an online or retail shop for 3D printing filaments and accessories, since these are less expensive, yet always in demand.

3D Printing Business Idea #15: 3D printing repair, maintenance, troubleshooting or assembly

Wherever there are 3D printers, there will be parts in need of assembly, repair, troubleshooting and maintenance. If youre the type of person who enjoys taking tiny things apart and putting them back together, there is huge business opportunity this area, since the majority of 3D printer consumers either dont have the time, patience, or tools required. While this 3D printing business idea may not entail as much creativity as designing 3D printed jewelry, and it may not be as fun as 3D scanning goofy 3D selfies, it is nevertheless a business that responds to a very real need within the 3D printing industry, almost guaranteeing a steady stream of work.

Have you considered or launched your own 3D printing business? Let us know in the comments, on Facebook or on Twitter.

You can also check out some of our other top 3D printing roundups below:

Posted in 3D Printing Technology

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robindro ng wrote at 9/19/2018 1:29:09 PM:advise me 2 start 3d print engineering models and jewlleryprem prakash wrote at 4/21/2017 3:52:09 AM:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE5rchHgcZEJohnpatnaik wrote at 10/2/2016 5:15:41 AM:Wonderful applicationsAhlam wrote at 8/26/2016 7:20:13 AM:I want some help i am i woman whoes try to do any small business at home and i want to know the best and trusted resources geitting this 3d printers with low costsannalavani wrote at 8/22/2016 8:46:30 AM:The article you posted in this blog is really too good.Thank you for sharing your views with us.Ramesh wrote at 6/10/2016 8:05:46 PM:Dear Team Really a usefull content. Sir, please let me know that if i print from any sites directly like thingiverse for paid(i seen that its for comercial use) after payment shall i sell goods in open market? Is there any legal issues that i may face in future? I am waiting for your revertWill wrote at 6/1/2016 1:22:46 AM:Here are a few tips for running a 3D figurine business: http://blog.twindom.com/blog/tips-for-running-a-successful-3d-figurine-businessAndy wrote at 5/17/2016 4:39:59 PM:Making food with 3D printers would definitely be fun. I believe there are a lot more ways to start a business with a 3D printer though. In my case for example, I've made a good amount of profit by selling prototypes to companies who don't have the equipment to make them themselves. Here are some other cool ways to start a business through 3D printing that i'm thinking about: https://rigid.ink/blogs/news/168350919-how-to-start-a-3d-printing-business-23-ideas-you-can-use-todayAndy wrote at 5/17/2016 4:38:34 PM:Making food with 3D printers would definitely be fun. I believe there are a lot more ways to start a business with a 3D printer though. In my case for example, I've made a good amount of profit by selling prototypes to companies who don't have the equipment to make them themselves. Here are some other cool ways to start a business through 3D printing that i'm thinking about: https://rigid.ink/blogs/news/168350919-how-to-start-a-3d-printing-business-23-ideas-you-can-use-today




Mar 4, 2016 | By Alec

[Long Wei/Beijing Review]

Though the Kickstarter age might hide the financial reality of the 3D printing community somewhat, few startup success stories are complete without significant investment from other parties. Most of the products we use, from the 3D printing filament to our software and 3D printers, are the result of a sound financial structure. Good news has therefore come out of China, were major 3D printer filament manufacturer eSUN has just been added to the New OTC Market list of the NEEQ stock exchange  making investment a whole lot easier, more flexible, and giving the company a lot more growth opportunities.

Hopefully, this will enable eSUN to better cater to the growing East Asian 3D printing market, and boost the development of new materials. eSUN, of course, is a significant Chinese filament manufacturer. Founded in 2002, Shenzhen eSUN Industrial Co., Ltd. is especially focused on the development of green products and industries. Back in 2007, they entered the field of 3D printer filament manufacturing, and are one of Chinas leading PLA producers. They are also one of the drivers behind the national standards for FDM 3D printing materials. From an industrial park in Xiaogan City, the Hubei province, they are working on developing new biodegradable plastics, lactates, polyols, polymers and 3D printing filaments. Last summer, this resulted in ePC, a transparent, fire-resistant and environmentally-friendly 3D printing filament.

Its also a company with ambition that is looking beyond Chinese borders. As they explain to 3ders.org, they have set up good manufacturing relations with several significant European and American companies in the 3D printing industries. Right now, more than forty different resellers and companies over eighty countries are selling eSUN filaments, so you might be using their products without knowing it.

These ambitions will likely be boosted by this admittance to the New OTC Market of the NEEQ, the National Equities Exchange and Quotations, in late February. This is a relatively new stock exchange, opened in 2013 after years of trials. It is known as the Third Board, after the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges. The New Third Board allows for trading of stock of growth-stage companies that do not otherwise satisfy the requirements for listing on the main Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, allowing small- to medium-sized enterprises in China access to the capital markets and greater exposure to the investment community.

So why is this such a good thing? Well this opens eSUN up to over-the-counter investments, which offer a lot of freedom to business partners. A very flexible and independent type of stock exchange, it has mostly been developed through digital innovation over the last two decades. It has been specifically set up to give partners the freedom they need to get the best possible benefits. And because companies dont need to meet a lot of requirements, its a perfect option for smaller companies and startups.

So what will this do for eSUN? Well, they have simply argued that this will give a boost to their original goals of making a sustainable contribution to human and technological development. We believe that 21st century is the era of biological economy, which can solve the oil crisis and environment pollution so that a genuine sustainable state could be reached. Its a new industry revolution and has a broad and profound influence, they say.

Posted in 3D Printer Company

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Mar 4, 2016 | By Benedict

The National Trust for Scotland (NTS) and The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh have 3D scanned a section of skull discovered centuries ago in Culloden, near Inverness, Scotland. Experts believe the skull to be that of a slain fighter participating in the 1746 Battle of Culloden.

The year is 1746: Jacobite forces are seeking to defeat loyalist troops and restore the House of Stuart to the British throne. In a final throw of the dice, the largely Catholic Jacobite forces stage a pitched battle at Culloden against the loyalists. The Jacobites, led by Charles Edward Stewart, are resoundingly defeated by the loyalists, themselves commanded by William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, leaving a battlefield strewn with around 2,000 casualties.

In later years, the battlefield was scoured for remains, and a damaged skull fragment found its way into the hands of Scottish surgeon Sir Charles Bell. In 1825, Bell sold the skull fragment and over 3,000 other items to the The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. Although Jacobite casualties heavily outweighed loyalist losses, it is not known which side this particular combatant was fighting for.

"We cannot say whether the skull fragment belongs to a Jacobite or one of the government troops, but the injury to the top of the head could be interpreted in a number of different ways, said Derek Alexander, head of archaeological services at NTS. It could be from someone, head down, looking at the ground as they charge forward, or an individual who has already been wounded and is on their hands and knees or indeed it could be someone hit while focusing on reloading their musket."

The skull section, which archaeologists believe shows signs of a fatal injury caused by a musket ball, has now been 3D scanned and digitally recreated as a 3D model. The digital replica of the fragment can therefore now be examined by archaeologists and scientists, without them having to move the physical skull from the premises of The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburghs Hall Museums.

To 3D scan and digitally model the skull fragment, the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and NTS used photogrammetry, taking a series of overlapping photographs of the remains before splicing them together into a complete 3D model. "Photogrammetry is a great tool for us, especially because it is low cost and doesn't require any fancy equipment aside from a decent camera and the processing software, said Stefan Sagrott, archaeology data officer for NTS.

"We are using it to record a whole range of cultural heritage sites, monuments and artifacts, and we are getting some really outstanding results, Sagrott continued. By using it to record cultural heritage, it allows us to open up the past to even more people than ever before. We can take an object which would be too fragile for anyone to handle, photograph it, 3D model it and then make it available online for anyone to see, wherever they are.

"Another brilliant result of this is that we can also 3D print the models, creating accurate replicas of objects such as the Culloden skull, and they can then be displayed at a property and handled without any worry of damaging the original object.

Rohan Almond, assistant curator at Surgeons' Hall Museums, praised the exciting project, and expressed hope that the 3D model will ignite further interest in The Battle of Culloden: "By working together and using such technology, we are going to be able to engage even more people in the story of one of Scotland's pivotal battles, he said.

April 16, 2016 will mark the 270th anniversary of the Battle of Culloden.

Posted in 3D Scanning

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Randy Rieland in Smithsonian:

The human brain is a remarkable, stunningly complex organ. And yet, scientists are discovering something about it that the likes of Harry Houdini and other great magicians have known for a long timethe brain can be surprisingly easy to trick. Thats because in order to be so efficient, it has evolved to create shortcuts in response to outside stimuli, such as light or sound. But those shortcuts and the consistency with which the brain follows them can also make it vulnerable to deception. Take, for example, recent research by Stanford scientists exploring a new way to fight jet lag. For a while, researchers have known that exposure to light before taking a trip can help your body adjust to the changes in your sleep cycles that come with traveling across time zones. The most common preventive treatment involves sitting in front of bright lights for hours at a time during the day.

Here are three other recent studies in which researchers have found how the brain can be deceived.

Dont watch what you eat: If you cant see what youre eating, youre less likely to eat as much. Thats the conclusion of scientists at the University of Konstanz in Germany after asking 90 students to eat three different flavors of ice cream.

 Beware of overthinking: A study at the University of Southern California found that if you want to develop a new habit, you should avoid thinking too much about it. The researchers asked a group of people to watch a video that shows how to make sushi. And they determined that when people were able to watch the video over and over without any other specific instructions, they learned the sushi-making process better than those who were told to try to remember what came next.

 Is someone there?: Do you ever have that feeling where you can sense the presence of another person in the room with you when no one else is around? Well, scientists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology say its likely a case of your brain perceiving something thats not there. Thats based, in part, on research done with a group of people who were blindfolded, given ear plugs and had their fingers connected to a device. The subjects were told to move the device, and when they did, a robotic arm poked them in the back. Because the poke was synchronized with their movements, the subjects brains recognized it as something they had done to themselves. But when the researchers caused a slight delay between when the people moved the device and when they were poked, the study participants had a different reaction.

More here.
Amanda Taub in Vox:

The American media, over the past year, has been trying to work out something of a mystery: Why is the Republican electorate supporting a far-right, orange-toned populist with no real political experience, who espouses extreme and often bizarre views? How has Donald Trump, seemingly out of nowhere, suddenly become so popular?

What's made Trump's rise even more puzzling is that his support seems to cross demographic lines  education, income, age, even religiosity  that usually demarcate candidates. And whereas most Republican candidates might draw strong support from just one segment of the party base, such as Southern evangelicals or coastal moderates, Trump currently does surprisingly well from the Gulf Coast of Florida to the towns of upstate New York, and he won a resounding victory in the Nevada caucuses.

Perhaps strangest of all, it wasn't just Trump but his supporters who seemed to have come out of nowhere, suddenly expressing, in large numbers, ideas far more extreme than anything that has risen to such popularity in recent memory. In South Carolina, a CBS News exit poll found that 75 percent of Republican voters supported banning Muslims from the United States. A PPP poll found that a third of Trump voters support banning gays and lesbians from the country. Twenty percent said Lincoln shouldn't have freed the slaves.

Last September, a PhD student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst named Matthew MacWilliams realized that his dissertation research might hold the answer to not just one but all three of these mysteries.

More here.
Distribution of company announcements to the professional platforms, finance portals and syndication of important corporate news to a wide variety of news aggregators and financial news systems.


ASX Investor Spotlight Presentation - New York

Sydney, Mar 4, 2016 AEST (ABN Newswire) - National Storage REIT ( ASX:NSR ) is Australia's first and only listed, fully integrated and internally managed self-storage REIT (S&P/ASX 200) that conducted it's IPO December in 2013.



NSR's assets under management have grown from A$480m to A$886m with 94 centres under ownership, operation or management across Australia and New Zealand, in a highly fragmented industry.



There are approximately 1,800 centre across Australia and New Zealand having a diverse tenant base with over 35,000 customers.



The National Storage Management Platform includes a dynamic pricing model, experienced operations team that drives balance between occupancy and rate per square metre and with a strong focus on overall growth in revenue.



The operations team is also functions in marketing, management of a contact centre as well as property maintenance and developing multiple revenue streams to maximise returns for the company.



To view the presentation, please visit:

http://media.abnnewswire.net/media/en/docs/ASX-NSR-910745.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).


Olaroz February Production Above Target

Brisbane, Mar 4, 2016 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Orocobre Limited ( ASX:ORE ) ( TSE:ORL ) ( OROCF:OTCMKTS ) (Orocobre or the Company) wishes to advise on production for February at the Olaroz Lithium Facility.



Production continued to rise in February with 761 tonnes of lithium carbonate produced, in excess of the internal target of 725 tonnes for the month. This is an improvement on the 699 tonnes produced in January and the 427 tonnes produced in December.



Production guidance for the quarter of approximately 2,400 tonnes remains unchanged.



Managing Director, Richard Seville commented; "We are pleased with the continued improvement and above target performance for February and we look forward to achieving our quarterly production target."



To view figures, please visit:

http://media.abnnewswire.net/media/en/docs/ASX-ORE-910776.pdf





About Orocobre Limited





Orocobre Limited is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange ( ASX:ORE) ( TSE:ORL) (OTCMKTS:OROCF), and is building a substantial Argentine based industrial chemicals company through its portfolio of lithium, potash and boron assets. In partnership with Toyota Tsusho Corporation (TTC) and JEMSE, Orocobre has built and is now operating the world's first commercial, brine-based lithium operation constructed in approximately 20 years.

In 2018 Orocobre announced the Stage 2 Expansion of its flagship Olaroz Lithium Facility in Argentina. The Stage 2 Expansion will add 25,000 tpa of lithium carbonate production capacity, taking full production and capacity to 42,500 tpa of lithium carbonate for sale to industrial, technical and battery markets, positioning Orocobre as one of the world's largest and lowest cost lithium chemicals producers.

Additionally, Orocobre and Toyota Tsusho Corporation have commenced construction of the 10,000 tpa lithium hydroxide plant in Naraha, Japan. The construction of the Naraha Lithium Hydroxide Plant will further cement Orocobre's position as a global lithium chemicals producer operating at the bottom quartile of the lithium cost curve. This new hydroxide plant will be the first of its kind in Japan and will provide Orocobre product diversification suitable for different battery technologies and the potential for significant margin growth on our primary lithium carbonate being converted to battery grade lithium hydroxide.
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.
The Illinois CPA Society announced on Thursday that they are now accepting scholarship applications for the 2016-17 academic year. Approximately 30 individual tuition and textbook scholarships will be available to college students who have demonstrated "hard work, academic success, and financial need," per the Society's announcement.

The Society encourages students who are currently enrolled in an Illinois college and have plans to pursue the CPA title to apply.

In its previous four years, the Accounting Scholarship Program has awarded over $215,000 to 110 students. The scholarships have gone on to benefit a diverse selection of students who represent colleges and universities of various sizes across the state.

Available scholarships include:

Accounting Tuition Scholarship: Multiple scholarships of up to $4,000 each are available to students enrolled as a senior or graduate student.

Accounting Textbook Scholarship: Multiple scholarships of up to $500 each are available to students enrolled as a junior, senior, or graduate student.

Herman J. Neal Accounting Scholarship: Multiple scholarships of up to $4,000 each are available to African-American students enrolled as a junior, senior, or graduate student.

Womens Executive Committee Advancing Women in Accounting Scholarship: Multiple scholarships of up to $4,000 each are available to high-achieving female students enrolled as a senior or graduate student.

This scholarship eased my worries about how I was going to pay for all of my debt that built up during graduate school. Also, it allowed me to save money for my CPA exam study materials and application fees, said Elizabeth Schwindenhammer, a 2015 Scholarship Recipient, per a statement.

The Illinois CPA Society Accounting Scholarship Program is funded by donations to the CPA Endowment Fund of Illinois.

The deadline for applications is April 1, 2016. For more information or to apply, visit the Illinois CPA Societys site here.
Helen Brand, chief executive of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, is on a mission to expand accounting education across the world.

The London-based organization, which dates back to 1904, is better known overseas, but it now has 11 chapters and 4,000 members in the U.S. The rate of growth has been highest in recent years in emerging economies, such as India, China and Vietnam. The ACCA also continues to have large numbers and steady growth in Europe, Africa and other parts of the world.

This week, Brand visited a networking event of the ACCAs New York chapter. Before flying back to London the next day, she sat down with Accounting Today to talk about some of the groups latest initiatives.

We drive a lot of support for our members through digital channels now because thats increasingly important for reaching a global population of members, she said. But it doesnt take away the need for face-to-face interaction. I think organizations that cut off face-to-face entirely are heading in the wrong direction if they want to engage with their members. You have to give people options.

The ACCA has been expanding its educational offerings, partnering with EdX, a provider of Massive Open Online Courses, or MOOCs, on an initiative known as ACCA-X. EdX has mostly been working with universities such as Harvard and MIT, but it is now partnering with the ACCA as well.

I think the most exciting thing we did in the past few months was introduce ACCA-X, said Brand. ACCA is the only professional body on the X platform, and weve developed free learning opportunities for people to do our very fundamental papers, and then progress to a full ACCA qualification if they want to. Weve had hundreds of thousands of people now taking those courses. I think its about 90 countries around the world, including the USA, who have gone onto the ACCA learning platform. We see this as a way of giving people access to learning related to the profession who might not otherwise be engaged with us. If they want to, they can then follow the ACCA program in a more formal sense. We have some paid-for courses that follow the free courses afterwards. Thats proving to be very popular.

Not only accounting students are signing up for the courses. Government employees and regulators in different parts of the world are also taking the courses to learn more about financial literacy. Earlier this year, the International Federation of Accountants selected the ACCA to support the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Rwanda to support its development and growth, as part of a joint award from the U.K.s Department for International Development.

That was a joint award from DFID, which is the British governments development organization, and IFAC, said Brand. Were going to be working with the Rwandan Institute to help build their capability. ACCA itself is also signing a long-term agreement with the Rwandan Institute to support them as a strategic partner because we think the problem with many aid projects is they begin and end. Theyre supposed to have sustainability built into them, but quite often it fades and the partner goes away. So were trying to demonstrate that long-term commitment to helping the profession.

Brand pointed out that there is a shortage of professional accountants in many parts of the world, and the ACCA has set a vision for 2020 to be the number one professional body in developing the accountants that the world needs. There is a great need for that capability, particularly in the emerging economies, she said. Thats driven by the need for sustainability. Certainly the governments of these countries are encouraging development of talent both within the state-owned enterprises and the private sector. We see huge opportunity for the profession as well as ACCA. Weve been working on it for many decades, but it feels like the next spurt of growth is happening because the educational establishments are aligning with that need for professional accountant career development, and theyre very much focused on employability.

Universities around the world are focusing more on employability, she noted.

They need to attract people into their programs, and the way you do that is by showing return on investment in very broad terms in a way that probably wasnt the case before, said Brand. Employers are looking for very specific skills. We know this because we do lots of surveying of employers. Weve always been a market-driven qualification in terms of asking employers what they need rather than it being an academic construct of accounting theory.

Throughout the world, including in the U.S., the ACCA is working closely with university faculties to align academic progress with professional qualifications.

With the global reach and brand recognition of ACCA, many universities are keen to work with us to access our brand volume and the existing global network that we have, said Brand. We work with about 600 educational institutions globally at the moment, and it increases every day.

Last year, the ACCA and the University of London launched a masters program in tandem with the ACCAs professional qualification. Somebody pursuing our professional level can simultaneously obtain a masters degree from the University of London now anywhere in the world, said Brand.

The ACCA has also been continuing its work on developing sustainability reporting and integrated reporting.

Its a big issue, both from the investor side and the professions, said Brand. The kinds of things that investors are asking for will be answered if sustainability reporting, and more importantly integrated reporting, actually becomes adopted more widely. I think there is a match there.

Brand is now a member of the board of the International Integrated Reporting Council, and the ACCA was the first professional accountancy body to issue its own integrated report back in 2011.

Weve been evolving with integrated reporting as the discipline has been evolving, said Brand. We now have it embedded in our syllabus as well. We see integrated reporting as the logical evolution of corporate reporting and meeting those market needs that have been identified around good governance, sustainability of the business and finance.

She sees the promotion of integrated thinking within an organization as Good Business Practice 101.

The businesses that have gone with integrated reporting appear to be performing better financially, so the business case around that is quite strong, and more and more examples of good practice are beginning to emerge, said Brand. The IIRC website now has some really solid examples of effective integrated reporting.

So far, integrated reporting has made more inroads in Europe than in the U.S., but Brand is hoping to change that.

I think its still a challenge in the U.S. where the take-up hasnt been as profound, but we hope that working with IFAC and IMA [Institute of Management Accountants] and others that there will be that increased interest from U.S. businesses, she said. My take on it is that a lot of U.S. businesses are doing the integrated thinking, the internal things, but are reticent about the report due to the regulatory environment and the legal environment.

While financial scandals can damage the brand of global organizations such as FIFA, accountants can play a role in restoring trust.

I think one of the great benefits of professional accountancy is professionalism and ethics and lifelong commitment to it, said Brand. The more you explain that to government regulators and the public, it makes sense to them. I think the profession has a great contribution to make to build trust in business, but it does mean that businesses have to value professionals and put them into positions of authority where they can have influence.
Ernst & Young LLP has introduced eFinancial Wellness, a financial planning and financial education service for small to midsize businesses.

The service includes a Financial Wellness Assessment through the EY Financial Planning Center to provide employee financial assessments. The assessments yield a baseline score for each employees personal financial wellness and prescriptive action items to address individual areas of focus. The system then provides financial education and learning on topics tailored to individual needs.

Personal financial education and wellness programs can be the most life-changing benefits a company can offer its employees because of the tangible difference it can make to their financial well-being, said Lynn Pettus, national director of the Employee Financial Services group of Ernst & Young LLP, in a statement. By better managing their financial lives, employees can lower money-related stress. Reduced stress leads to increased confidence on the job, improved productivity and a more engaged workforce.

The EY eFinancial Wellness service includes project manager support, quarterly reports, and communications packages.
The American Institute of CPAs is asking the Treasury Department to provide tax relief to the cross-border savings accounts of U.S. and Canadian citizens.

In a letter that the AICPA sent Friday to the U.S. Treasury Department, the Institute asked the Treasury to adopt three specific recommendations that would provide tax relief to citizens of the United States and Canada who have various cross-border deferred and tax-exempt savings accounts which are often subjected to double taxation and unexpected current inclusion in income.

In addition, the AICPA urged the Treasury Department to work with the Canadian Department of Finance to provide similar relief as appropriate. Requests comparable to the AICPAs are being submitted by the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada) to the Canadian Department of Finance and by The American Chamber of Commerce in Canada (AmCham Canada) to both the U.S. Treasury and Canadian Department of Finance.

In the March 4, letter, AICPA Tax Executive Committee chair Troy K. Lewis explained that both the U.S. and Canada have tax provisions that allow individuals to establish tax-deferred and/or tax-exempt savings accounts. Article XVIII of the United States-Canada Income Tax Convention and associated protocols provides bilateral deferral of tax or inclusion in income for various qualified or registered pension or retirement plans, he wrote, but does not provide any relief from double taxation or current inclusion in income for other plans and accounts such as education plans, disability savings plans and, under certain circumstances, Roth IRAs.

Lewis identified individuals who are impacted as Americans living in Canada, Canadians living in the U.S., Americans living in the U.S. who contributed to Canadian plans while living in Canada and Canadians living in Canada who contributed to a U.S. plan while living in the U.S.

Frequently, a cross-border move will result in adverse tax consequences such as unanticipated inclusion in income of amounts saved in a tax-deferred or tax-exempt account which may require the cross border individual to liquidate the accounts to avoid the adverse tax consequences, said Lewis. Often, the forced liquidation itself can result in unanticipated taxable income. Furthermore, the U.S. imposes complex reporting requirements, such as those regarding foreign trusts and Passive Foreign Investment Companies (PFIC), for individuals participating in Canadian plans. These tax implications can adversely impact the individuals and their families, the social objectives of the countries and cross-border mobility.

In the letter, Lewis wrote that the AICPA recommends that Treasury implement the following measures in order to reduce the tax and reporting burdens associated with various cross-border deferred and tax-exempt savings accounts:

1. Provide U.S. citizens and residents tax-deferred or tax-exempt treatment, comparable to that offered by Canada to its citizens and residents, for their contributions, income and withdrawals from properly established Canadian Registered Education Savings Plans (RESP), Canadian Registered Disability Savings Plans (RDSP) and Canadian Tax Free Savings Accounts (TFSA).

2. Exempt properly established Canadian RESP, RDSP and TFSA from classification as grantor trusts. Additionally, exempt U.S. citizens and residents from various onerous statutory filing requirements for foreign trusts and PFICs which can currently exist for these plans.

3. Work with their Canadian counterparts at Finance Canada to provide similar relief from taxation and burdensome reporting requirements for Canadian citizens and residents who hold and contribute to properly established 529 Plans, qualified ABLE (Achieving a Better Life Experience) accounts and Roth IRAs in the United States.

The letter also includes a detailed description of how each recommendation relates to each type of U.S. or Canadian plan or account.
Corporate inversions, the recently controversial corporate tax maneuver in which a U.S.-based multinational group restructures itself so that the U.S. parent of the group is replaced by a foreign corporation  typically in a low-tax jurisdiction  allow companies to reduce their overall level of worldwide taxation.

A company that inverts continues to pay the U.S. corporate rate on profits earned through U.S. operations, and foreign profits brought back to the U.S. will get taxed by the U.S. However, the profits earned abroad escape being taxed by the U.S.

Most of the major developed economies use a territorial system, which means that earnings are only taxed in the country in which they are earned, said Dave Kautter, partner-in-charge of Washington National Tax Office at Top 5 Firm RSM US. The U.S. is virtually the only major developed economy that uses the worldwide system. Since the competition for U.S. companies are headquartered in the major developed economies, U.S. companies find themselves at a competitive disadvantage to their foreign-headquartered competitors. Thats the primary reason for corporate inversions.

About 51 U.S. companies have reincorporated in low-tax countries since 1982, despite a code section [Sec. 7874] and regulations designed to limit it, observed Selva Ozelli, an international tax attorney and CPA.

STILL ATTRACTIVE

Although the Treasury Department has issued guidance intended to make these inversion deals more difficult, transactions are continuing to be structured in ways that do not trigger those rules.

The Treasury guidance consisted of two notices issued in September 2014 and November 2015, according to Andrew Velarde, senior legal reporter at Tax Analysts. The notices seek to limit inversions both by making them harder to successfully pull off, as well as by limiting the benefits available to companies that invert, he said. The rules are applied to inversions that fall between the 60 percent and 80 percent ownership threshold.

If the ownership interest in the foreign corporation is over 80 percent, its the kiss of death, Velarde said. The foreign company will still be treated as a U.S. company. Most of the rules have to do with inversions where the ownership interest falls between 60 percent and 80 percent, by limiting their ability to access offshore cash.

There are trillions of dollars in offshore cash that would be taxed at U.S. rates if it was brought back, he explained. If a company successfully inverts, it will have access to it. The rules attempt to limit the availability of tax-free access to offshore cash. Companies may now be trying to get below the 60 percent threshold, because the new rules dont apply in that case, he said.

Another advantage to inversions is earnings stripping, in which a company makes an inter-company loan from the foreign company to the U.S. entity and the U.S. entity has debt payments that are deductible and that reduce U.S. taxable income. That has yet to be addressed, Velarde noted. In both notices, Treasury said they are considering earnings-stripping guidance. Some think that was put in as a scare tactic, while others think it might still be actually coming.

INVERSION ATTRACTION

Despite the new rules, the benefits are real and theyre still available, Velarde observed. Proponents of corporate tax reform worry that targeting inversions without comprehensive tax reform is making it more likely for actual foreign company takeovers of U.S. companies.

The rules have placed all kinds of hurdles in the way of accomplishing an inversion, but we all know where theres a will theres a way, said Alan Lips, a director at Miami-based international tax and accounting firm Gerson Preston. Because of the high corporate tax rate in the U.S., so many companies are looking for ways to lower their tax rate. Its not the sole reason, but it is part of the reason for inversions. When they can move jobs offshore they save money at the same time, so theres a double negative impact for the U.S. economy  losing jobs and losing tax dollars. For big public companies, if they can save significant dollars on both the payroll and the tax side, ultimately the profits will be higher and it will drive the stock price up. Thats a clear motivation for them to consider an inversion.

If theres the opportunity to do an inversion, and enough dollars involved on the savings side, then these multinational companies will explore every possibility to get it done and fall within the new requirements, he said. Part of the issue is that the rules have not yet been converted into regulations, according to Lips. Theyre not following up on the ultimate side. There needs to be clear rules as to what you can and cannot do. The regulations, when they come out, might take a harsher tone than the notices themselves.

But theres more to it than just tax advantages, he said. From a business-decision perspective, it has to make sense. If it helps make the business more efficient and more profitable, then the possibility of an inversion will be a consideration.

The acquiring foreign corporation must have substantial business activities in its claimed home country for the inversion to be successful, noted Jeff Rubinger, a partner at Bilzin Sumberg. The Treasury has made it more difficult to satisfy the substantial business activities test, he said. Now, the parent foreign company has to have at least 25 percent of its employees in the country of incorporation ... . If its a true multinational with subsidiaries around the world, its very difficult to meet the substantial business activity test because its unlikely that theyll have 25 percent of their worldwide employees in one country. Thats one of the ways theyve made it more difficult.

The biggest benefit [to a successful inversion] is that after the transaction you have a foreign parent, he said. Before, when you repatriated cash you had to bring the money back to a U.S. parent and be taxed at 35 percent as a dividend. Now you can bring it back to the foreign parent without triggering tax, so the money is not trapped offshore.

A CLOSING DOOR

The tightening of the rules on inversions may be part of the impetus for companies now considering the strategy, Rubinger said: They may be concerned that the rules will be made even more difficult so this might be their last chance to do something. Its possible that the 80 percent test could be made a 50 percent test, which would obviously be more stringent. No one knows what will happen, but people are concerned that the rules will be changed to make it more difficult.
Facebook has announced that there are now over three million businesses  the vast majority of which are SMBs  actively advertising on Facebook, up 50 per cent in just one year. Seventy per cent of these three million companies are from outside the US. Currently more than 50 million small businesses use Facebooks free Pages product to grow.

Facebook is now considered a bridge to the new mobile economy for small business, helping them communicate with customers anytime, anywhere. More than one billion people on Facebook are connected to at least one business. And, in India, over 57 per cent of people of Facebook are connected to a small business.



To celebrate these businesses, Facebook has also announcing the development of Your Business Story, a new movie tool that makes it easy for business owners to showcase what their company brings to the world. As part of the tool, businesses are able to upload their photos from their Page, overlay with music and share what they are in the business of doing.

Key stats

3 million businesses globally are active advertisers (up 50 per cent in one year) (vast majority are small businesses.)

In India, there are 142 million MAU, 69 million DAU, 133 million Mobile MAU and 64 million Mobile DAU

More than 1 billion people on Facebook are connected to at least one business.

The top three verticals building pages: Services, Local Commerce, and eCommerce

Small Business are Mobile:

More than 1 million advertisers create an ad directly from a mobile device.

20+ million active Pages use Pages Manager App

Small Businesses are International

More than 70 per cent of these 3 million active advertisers are outside of the US

The fastest growing region is South East Asia

The fastest growing countries are Vietnam, Egypt, Indonesia, Peru, and Turkey

Top five countries based on Y/Y growth: US, Brazil, UK, Italy, and Australia

Powerful engagement between people and businesses on Facebook

More than 50 million small businesses now use Pages on Facebook and people post more than 2.5 billion comments on these pages each month.

More than 43 billion connections between people and businesses on Facebook.



Additional India specific Information

The SME India Council is the first council in Asia Pacific.

12 small business owners from different geographies and with varied business objectives and goals. An India Client Council with global advertisers was established in 2014.

The SME India Council will meet few times over the coming months to discuss progress on solutions, business ideas, discuss new successes and challenges and meet the Facebook teams.



SME Pages In India

As of October 2015, 2 million small businesses in India actively use Facebook Pages because they are free, easy to use, and they immediately give businesses a digital (and mobile) strategy.



New India SME Interaction Stats

57 per cent of people on Facebook in India are connected to at least one small business.

Over 1.99 billion interactions generated between businesses and people in India.

Facebook - Your Business Story

Your Business Story is a free tool from Facebook that allows businesses to create a short video celebrating what their business brings to the world. Only the company can see the Your Business Story video, unless they choose to share it.

Any authorised admin of an active Page can build a video with Your Business Story. If the Page has more than one admin, Facebook recommends talking with the team about who will make a Your Business Story video.
If it doesnt get shares, nobody cares, could have also been the headline to this piece.

Im troubled because I have to resort to this kind of a headline, to hopefully get readers to click on the link to this story, because thats what is shaping our actions in the communications space today.

PR is going to be driven by PS or the Potential to Share. It is what media houses, brands, online influencers and bloggers are all being driven by. Getting people to click on their link, and share their content is what makes commercial sense in this business.

The happy glow when your post gets over a hundred likes and lots of nice comments. The nagging worry when your post seems to evoke no reaction and you wonder - Does no one care? This basic human trait, to want to be recognized, heard and valued coupled with the way the economics of the online platforms work make for the imperfect combination where anything that gets the click rules supreme.

The truth is often the victim in this game because speed to publish becomes so critical to get the eyeballs. Publish first and ask questions later, is the new normal. Correcting a wrong story is a thing of the past, updating it as new facts and points of view emerge is the future (unfortunately in this new world, the original wrong version will still live on). In-fact the update, which is usually added at the end of the story, only serves to draw more attention to the original (often wrong) version.

What does this means for the Public Relations profession?

1. Self-Publishing will grow in importance

2. Online Influencer Engagement will see an upswing

3. Issue and Crisis communication will be a regular affair

Self-Publishing: In an attempt to frame the narrative and get the right version of the story out brands and corporates will discover that self-publishing has many merits. This means that new skill sets and team structures will emerge. Corporate Communication teams will set up in-house editorial teams and Public Relations Agencies will create new centers of expertise that can help clients tell their stories not just through the written word but also through video and other visual mediums like info-graphics, which are growing in popularity.

A few examples that I have recently been exposed to from our client base are Flipkart, GE and Royal Enfield, where each have found different ways to build their self publishing capabilities. Flipkart stories, which is their own story telling platform https://stories.flipkart.com, is one route to follow. GE in partnership with Quartz https://qz.com/234178/how-ge-is-generating-energy-for-india-through-innovation/and Moneycontrol https://www.moneycontrol.com/gestepahead/

has co-created platforms for sponsored content. While Royal Enfield has done both, but most recently unveiled their new offering the Himalayan through a blog on TOI.com and then a tweet by Siddhartha Lal on https://twitter.com/sidlal/status/690138679399047168

Online Influencer Engagement: Getting a third party to weigh in to advocate a point of view is not new, but what has changed is who these thought leaders are. In addition to having an informed and relevant opinion, it is now also about their online reach and influence. To cite a recent example from the technology space, the entire debate around net neutrality in India had many voices, but without doubt one of the online influencers who was at the center of this conversation was Nikhil Pahwa @Nixxin, the founder of @medianama. Similarly in the fashion and lifestyle space there are a set of online personalities like @MissMalini, whose voice matters and the PR professional of tomorrow needs to find ways to be able to engage with these online influencers as adroitly as they do with editors of newspapers because todays tweet influences tomorrows headline.

Issue and Crisis communication: is now an every day affair. The size and scale may vary, but an enhanced level of preparedness and an always-on PR team that is equipped to quickly swing into action is a must. A clear trend is emerging where companies are creating mechanisms to listen to whats being said about them and their industry on a 24x7 basis and investing time in training their teams on how to respond. The need for speed in publishing has also necessitated the need for speed in responding.

One of the reasons we set up the GBM Live! Newsroom was to be better prepared to help our clients navigate this new environment. Listening and responding real time, generating creative content and finding innovative ways to distribute the same has to become second nature for every PR professional. To do all of this requires new skill sets, new technologies and new mind-sets.

If youre asking, Are these good things or bad for the industry? I think that question misses the point. Like them or not they are here to stay. Our aim is to find ways to navigate through the cloud of too much content and the haze of misinformation, telling true stories that people genuinely care about.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not reflect in any way of Adgully




Ola, Indias most popular mobile app for transportation, today announced the launch of its pilot initiative of Bike Taxis in Bangalore. Bike Taxis on the Ola app will help customers zip through traffic with ease, at lowest fares. At an introductory fare of Rs 2 per km and Re. 1 per minute of trip time, Bike Taxis will be available to book through Olas app in the city of Bangalore to begin with. The minimum fare will be Rs. 30. This first of its kind two-wheeler transportation option in India comes with the same experience as booking a cab on the Ola app, that includes driver details displayed upfront, SOS, live tracking and seamless payment using Ola Money. Additionally, all pillion riders will be provided with helmets as mandated for their safety.

Pranay Jivrajka, Chief Operating Officer at Ola said, We are excited to launch the pilot of Bike Taxis in Bangalore today. This will help users get to where they want to be within minutes, especially in traffic prone cities like ours. With Bike Taxis, we are enabling safe pillion rides for our users with trained two wheeler drivers at competitive fares. We expect significant demand in the pilot phase and we will continue to scale this service up in the coming weeks to cover more areas in the city and serve more users. We believe this will be a major step towards enabling mobility for a billion Indians in the time to come.


The Star Network, which constantly strives to be where the consumers are, has further expanded the global reach of its content by showcasing its engrossing and immensely popular romance drama, Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon, to television audiences in Turkey. Since November 2015, the show, dubbed in Turkish and entitled Bir Garip Ask, has been delighting viewers of local Turkish channel Kanal 7 to such an extent that it has quadrupled its ratings, increasing the channels ranking significantly across different target groups in the slot in which it is airing. In the process, Star India has also made history by taking the first ever Indian TV Drama Series to Turkey which is one of the biggest Producers and exporters of drama series in the world.



Zahid Akman, General Manager - Kanal 7 Turkey, says, We are very happy with the choice we have made to air a Star India drama. For us, Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon (Bir Garip Ask In Turkish) is a magical love story told like a fairy tale.



Christina Vlahova, CEO of Intellecta Srl, a long-time partner of Star India in the territories of Europe, Russia and Turkey, says, Kanal 7 had the pioneering spirit to dare and give its viewers the chance to be the first to watch an Indian TV drama in Turkey. We have always known deep inside that the Star India dramas will work in Turkey since they present the same social and moral values which are treasured by the Turkish society. There is a strong focus on family values, which is important both in Turkey and India. We just add more color to it.



Among such globally successful shows from Star Indias Drama Series are Yeh Hai Mohabbatein and the epic mythological Mahabharat, which are huge global hits; Sapna Babul KaBidaai, is among the most successful drama series in Europe; Saraswatichandra and Ek Hasina Thi, which have aired in more than 30 countries; Diya Aur Baati Hum, which has aired successfully in more than 15 countries, and Sadda Haq, a show that is very popular with young audiences in South Africa. All these shows are aired after dubbing or subtitling the content in the international markets.



The lead actor of Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon, Barun Sobti, was in Istanbul to celebrate the shows success. The actor received a tremendous welcome from the shows fans, who were delighted to meet him. Baruns visit is also one of the most talked about and searched events on social media and Google (in Turkey), and had been trending for more than a week since 25th Feb. It was the most talked about event on Twitter on 29th, when it trended throughout the day.



Says Barun, I am delighted that the series is being aired in Turkey. I have been hearing that the show is being loved as much as the local Turkish dramas, which is proof that Star Indias great storytelling will always succeed. Its quite amazing that the show has aired in more than 40 countries and has done extremely well everywhere. I really enjoyed my time in Turkey - it is a beautiful country and the response from the fans has been fabulous.
The Dutch industrial company Aalberts Industries has operated a plant for surface treatment of components near Shanghai, China, for about two years, under the name of Hangzhou AHC Surface Treatment Technology Co., Ltd. Since 1 January 2016 this plant has been officially integrated into the AHC Group, which in turn is itself a part of Aalberts Industries NV.

The AHC Group, with its headquarters in Germany, focusses on providing technically functional coatings of surfaces as a service. AHC Hangzhou can draw on over 50 years of coating experience within the AHC Group. The globally active AHC group with more than 900 employees finishes around one billion components annually for many thousands of customers in all key industries. Overall, more than 40 processes and more than 100 process variations are used, and in more than 20 plants for close proximity to customers.

The plant in Hangzhou is very persuasive with its coating quality and its concept of sustainable environmental protection and energy efficiency, which meets the stringent Chinese requirements. Reproducible and robust processes are necessary in order to be able to control the high differentiation of finishing of customer components. For this reason, AHCs many years of process experience was used in the design of the coating systems and the wastewater technology at AHC Hangzhou. The plant is therefore equipped with the latest technology.

AHC supplies surface coatings for mechanical engineering and for the large system suppliers to the automotive industry, such as Bosch, Schaeffler and TRW Automotive. Fuel pump casings, impellers for turbochargers and control pistons for automatic transmissions, all of them made from aluminium alloys, are protected against wear and corrosion. The large corporations and their system suppliers now have branches in China. For them, AHC in Hangzhou, near Shanghai, is now their local coater.

The 50-member team of AHC Hangzhou provides different processes of anodisation and hard anodisation as well as electroless nickel plating of aluminium components. In addition, non-ferrous metals and ferrous materials, including stainless steels, are also treated with diverse electroless nickel processes. Whereas the first process mentioned produces layers of aluminium oxide, with the second method, the surface is coated with a specific composition of nickel-phosphorus alloy. Hard anodic oxidation of aluminium materials (HART COAT) and electroless nickel plating of ferrous and non-ferrous materials (DURNI COAT) are proven surface finishing processes which AHC in Europe has already operated and developed for over 50 years.

In Hangzhou, components up to 1,000kg and dimensions up to 3,000mm (length) x 600mm (width) x 1,200mm (height) are treated in the anodising line. Processes are hard anodising HART-COAT, HART COAT GLATT (HC-GL) as well as technical anodising, in each case with the possibility of black colouring and sealing. Components suitable for the electroless nickel plant have a maximum weight of 1,500kg and maximum dimensions of 1,100mm (length) x 600mm (width) x 1,500mm (height). In addition to the DURNI-COAT process, a variant with incorporated PTFE, the so-called PTFE DURNI-DISP, is also offered. This is a dry lubricant layer having good adhesive wear properties.

The integration of the works in China into the AHC Group is part of the global players strategy which AHC is strongly committed to. The implementation of this strategy has been made possible by the strong parent company Aalberts Industries NV, the Netherlands, with 14,500 employees in 200 plants in 30 countries. AHC sees itself on the right path in China and has opened the gateway to the whole of Southeast Asia.
WASPs were pioneers for female pilots of today, tomorrow

Before there could be a first female Thunderbird pilot or women flying combat missions into Iraq and Afghanistan, there were the pioneers: the Womens Airforce Service Pilots of World War II.



In September 1942, nine months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Army Air Forces commander Gen. Henry H. Hap Arnold stood up the Womens Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron, or WAFS, and the Womens Flying Training Detachment, or WFTD.



According to the Air Force Historical Support Division, both units merged July 5, 1943, into a single unit for all women pilots who were rapidly extending their qualifications to every type of aircraft in service. The new unified group called itself the Womens Airforce Service Pilots, or WASP, with its pilots known as WASPs.



Training



The women paid their own way to travel to basic training at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas. More than 25,000 women applied, even some from Canada, England and Brazil, said Bernice Bee Falk Haydu, a WASP pilot from Montclair, New Jersey. But only 1,830 U.S. women were accepted into the program. Of those, 1,074 earned their wings.



To qualify, applicants had to be at least 5 feet, 4 inches tall, pass Army physicals and have a pilots license, Haydu said. Women also had to have at least a high school diploma and be age 18 to 35.



Most of the women were college graduates, but the toughest part of the training was you started out in a basic aircraft and then youd go to a medium and then an advanced, Haydu said.



When she joined the WASP program in 1944, she said training was being accelerated.



They wanted to experiment with the women to see if they could eliminate one of the phases of training, so we went from the Stearman, which is an open cockpit biplane, in primary (training), and after about 60 to 70 hours of that, we went directly into the advanced, which was the AT-6 (Texan) -- thats 650 horsepower comparted to 220 horsepower, she said. It was successful. Most of the washouts were in primary training. The men adopted the same training.



During training, women had to pay for their dress uniforms and their room and board but were issued mens coveralls that they nicknamed zoot suits, Haydu said. There were six women per bay in the barracks, with one latrine, one sink, one shower, and one toilet. If the winds kicked up, the women would lie on the bottom wings of the airplanes to help keep them down, she said, because they needed more weight to keep the airplanes on the ground.



Missions



After graduating, the women would go to either Ferrying Command or Training Command. Lucile Doll Wise was a pilot at Ferrying Command, and she said she ferried aircraft from factories to air bases and points of embarkation.



There was an alarming shortage of pilots at the beginning of the war, Wise said, and we delivered more than 12,000 aircraft in the two years we operated. We also performed many other domestic flying duties.



I loved every minute of it, she added, but it was not easy. It was hard work, and I came back from trips pretty tired.



Haydu served as an engineering test pilot and a utility pilot in the Training Command, where the womens missions ranged from towing aerial targets for the infantry, flying tracking missions, smoke-laying, searchlight strafing and simulated bombing, and testing radio-controlled aircraft. The women were also flight instructors, engineering test pilots and utility pilots and performed all stateside flying duties.



If an engine needed to be flown a certain manner for a certain number hours before it went into regular service, I would do that, she said. I also would fly personnel to wherever they had to go.



Haydu said she was disappointed when the WASPs were disbanded on Dec. 20, 1944, just 11 days before she was to begin training to fly the B-25 Mitchell bomber. The last class graduated Dec. 7, 1944.



Arnold told the last crop of pilots, We of the (Army Air Forces) are proud of you; we will never forget our debt to you.



According to the Air Force Historical Support Division, the WASPs ferried more than 50 percent of the combat aircraft within the United States during the war years and flew at 126 bases across the country. Thirty-eight of these women died in their service: 11 in training and 27 during missions.



Doing everything the men did



We flew every aircraft manufactured for World War II, and one of the WASPs was sent to Dayton, Ohio, where they did testing and actually flew a prototype jet, so we just did everything the men did, Haydu said.



For example, Betty Tackaberry Blake, who flew tourists in Hawaii in an open cockpit biplane before World War II, was in the first class of the WFTD. Later, while in the service of the WASPs, she flew all of the fighter aircraft in the U.S. inventory and also the B-25 Mitchell, B-26 Marauder and B-17 Flying Fortress bombers and C-47 Skytrain cargo aircraft, as well as all of the trainers. She also flew four-engine aircraft. After the WASPs were disbanded, she became a Link Trainer instructor, where she taught instrument flying on the ground.



The first WASP to be killed in action was Cornelia Fort, 24, of Nashville, Tennessee, who died in a mid-air collision in Texas. In an interview before her death, she said she became a WASP because of her commitment to serving her country and because she was in the attack on Pearl Harbor as a civilian pilot. Her Interstate Cadet was riddled with bullets, though the Japanese invaders missed the gas tank. She said she lost friends that day.



Delivering a trainer to Texas may be as important as delivering a bomber to Africa if you take the long view, Fort said. We are beginning to prove that women can be trusted to deliver airplanes safely and in the doing, serve our country, which is our country too.



She said she realized the importance of their mission because of an event at her graduation.



While we were standing at attention, a bomber took off, followed by four fighters. We knew that bomber was headed across the ocean and that the fighters were going to escort it part way. As they circled over us, I could hardly see them for the tears in my eyes, Fort said.



It was striking symbolism, and I think all of us felt it. As long as our planes fly overhead, the skies of America are free and thats what all of us everywhere are fighting for, she continued. And that we, in a very small way, are being allowed to help keep that sky free is the most beautiful thing I have ever known. Im profoundly grateful that my one talent, flying, happens to be of use to my country.



The fight for recognition



The women were initially paid as civil service employees, with the promise that they may be able to join the Army Air Forces afterward.



Arnold told the WASPs, We have not been able to build an airplane that you cant handle. It is on the record that women can fly as well as men.



He planned to commission the women pilots as second lieutenants within the Army Air Forces, but political opposition meant the plan never came to fruition. As a result, the WASPs were left without the benefits to which veterans status would have entitled them, and the families of the girls who had been killed in the performance of their duties were denied the gratuities which they would have received as beneficiaries of military personnel.



For 35 years, the women werent allowed to call themselves veterans and their records were classified and sealed from the public. They fought Congress and pushed for publicity. Haydu said they didnt care as much about the benefits as much as for the chance to serve and to be recognized as veterans.



When the first women began to enter the service academies in 1976 and to fly military aircraft, contemporary media reports indicated that it was the first time women could fly for the U.S. military.



Haydu was president of the WASP veterans organization at the time, and members lobbied and spoke to the media until their service was finally recognized by Congress.



The legislation became the only piece of legislation in history to be co-sponsored by every woman member in Congress, she said. One of the long overdue items included in the WASP bill was for the women telephone operators of World War I to be recognized as war veterans. They had never been given this status, in spite of the fact they were stationed in the front line trenches side-by-side with the fighting soldiers.



Victory at last



What sealed the deal, Haydu said, was the WASPs in their Santiago blue uniforms descending on Washington after sending letters and telegrams, making telephone calls and pushing publicity in their home towns.



President Jimmy Carter signed Public Law 95-202, Title IV, on Nov. 23, 1977, which granted former WASPs veteran status with limited benefits. The Air Force graduated its first female pilots that same year. In 1984, the WASPs received World War II Victory Medals and, for those who had served more than one year, American Theater Ribbon/ American Campaign Medals.



On March 10, 2010, the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award bestowed by Congress, was presented to the WASPs. Haydu said she was tremendously proud and happy the WASPs finally received their recognition.



Female pilots of the future



Haydu said she enjoys sharing her stories with Air Force service members and at Boys and Girls Clubs, and said that during her speeches, her goal is to stress equality.



Its not what sex you are, she said. Its what you can do, and if you can be successful at something that should be all that should matter. You should pursue whatever it is you want, and you should not allow people to say, Oh, you cant do that. Just do the best you can and I hope you can make it.



Both Wise and Haydu said they are impressed by the female airmen of today.



Im so impressed by what women pilots are doing today, flying combat missions, Wise said. The military is not for everyone but it offers a great opportunity to young women.



I admire the women who fly today, Haydu said. The navigation has changed so much. There have been huge improvements. All-women crews are just fantastic. They do every job, from the loadmaster to the navigator to the pilot, to every job that there is to be done in the aircraft. It just proves that an airplane knows no sex. It doesnt know whether a man or a woman is flying it.
Women's History Month spotlight: Maj. Christina Hopper

March is National Womens History Month and this years theme is Working to Form a More Perfect Union: Honoring Women in Public Service and Government.



Womens History Month started as a national celebration in 1981, when Congress authorized the president to proclaim the week beginning March 7, 1982, as Womens History Week.



In 1987, Congress designated the month of March 1987 as Womens History Month. Since 1995, Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama have issued a series of annual proclamations designating the month of March as Womens History



Throughout the month, Air Force Reserve Command will feature Air Force Reserve women whose contributions to the military and community pay homage to this years theme.



Todays Air Force Reserve honoree is Maj. Christina Thumper Hopper, a T-38 instructor pilot with the 5th Flying Training Squadron in Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma.



Career highlights: Hopper graduated with honors and received her commission as the distinguished graduate of the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps Program at the University of Texas, Austin in May 1998.



In 1999, Hopper entered active duty and was selected to design and implement a new pilot screening program, ensuring the Air Force a qualified pool of candidates ready for flight training. She graduated Undergraduate Pilot Training in April 2000 and was selected to fly the F-16, becoming one of only two African-American females and 50 total female fighter pilots in the Air Force at that time.



Upon completion of F-16 training, Hopper was assigned to the 524th Fighter Squadron, Cannon AFB, New Mexico. Following the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, Hopper flew numerous combat air patrol missions in support of Operation Noble Eagle protecting the U.S. president and critical infrastructure. In 2002-2003, she deployed to Kuwait supporting Operations Southern Watch and Iraqi Freedom.



During those operations, Hopper flew more than 50 combat missions and became the first African-American female fighter pilot to fight in a major war.



While on a combat mission during one of the worst sandstorms in recorded Iraqi history, Hoppers aircraft was struck by lightning, disabling her hostile threat warning system. Despite possible danger, her formation continued to the target and completed the mission successfully. The bombs she dropped that night impacted a road intersection where U.S. Army forces were engaged in battle with an Iraqi Republican Guard unit.



U.S. ground forces later told Hopper that when her bombs accurately hit their mark, the Iraqi army retreated from the fight. For her service in Operation Iraqi Freedom, she was awarded the Air Medal (third oak leaf cluster), the Aerial Achievement Medal, and the Combat Action Medal.



For her historic contributions to the military and women in aviation, Good Housekeeping magazine named Hopper as one of the 2004 Outstanding Woman in Government. She was additionally recognized by Glamour magazine, Ebony magazine, and the 700 Club.



After her first assignment, Hopper served four years at Luke AFB, Arizona, as an F-16 instructor pilot and separated from the active-duty Air Force in 2008 with almost 1,000 hours in the F-16.



Today, Hopper balances a busy schedule as a full-time mother of three, military spouse, and Air Force Reserve T-38 instructor pilot, where she trains, instructs and mentors the next generation of fighter and bomber pilots. In 2015, she launched Vance Supergirls, a mentorship group for female aviators. Through this group, Hopper forged lines of communication between female instructors and students to encourage the success of future female pilots.
Standing at the end of the short runway, only chickens can be heard clucking from a family farm just a stone's throw away.The morning air is dull and misty, but not as foggy as yesterday, so if you squint your eyes just right you can see clear across the small military base. Today's mission has been canceled and there's a charming calm to the base, like an old man who's lived through so much, there's just no need for the rush anymore.Chievres Air Base is home to the 424th Air Base Squadron, a group of Airmen nestled in the heart of the Belgian countryside to provide airfield operations support for the Supreme Allied Commander Europe and Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), NATO transient aircraft and distinguished visitors.The squadron is made up of approximately 70 Airmen, and about 18 career fields, with DV aircraft transiting through up to three times a week.The 424th ABS, like the 65th Air Base Group in Lajes Field, Azores, and the 496th ABS in Moron, Spain, is a geographically separated tenant unit that falls under the 86th Airlift Wing at Ramstein AB, Germany.The base is located about 20 minutes from SHAPE and almost four hours from Ramstein AB. The area, along with much of Belgium and Europe is rich in history and certainly has a story to tell.The first airfield at Chievres was established during World War I and was rebuilt by Germans in 1940. It was bombed more than 30 times during the World War II before Allied forces occupied the base in October 1944. In 1967, Belgian authorities turned the base over to SHAPE and it has been known as Chievres AB since.Occupations within the squadron range from security forces and firefighters to air traffic controllers, fuels management and vehicle mechanics. Although each Airmen at the base has a specific job, being geographically separated with a limited amount of personnel, Airmen end up getting the opportunity to fulfill multiple roles within the squadron."There are a lot of things Airmen do here that are unique to this location, that they wouldn't normally do at a bigger base," said Senior Master Sgt. Christopher Wagoner, the 424th ABS superintendent. "A lot of positions here are only one-deep slots, so our Airmen end up getting the chance to run programs that are normally ran by someone of a higher rank. It's actually a great opportunity for our Airmen to get experience and grow."The 424th ABS is a self-sustaining unit; they function somewhat like a wing, just on a smaller scale. They conduct their own official physical fitness testing and even urinalysis testing. When Airmen in the squadron have questions that can't be answered or a service that the base just isn't equipped for, that's when they reach back to Ramstein AB for support."We do a lot on our own here but we know we can always reach back to our counterparts back at Ramstein for assistance," Wagoner said, who also doubles as the squadron's airfield manager. "We have to figure things out sometimes without the immediate mentorship we might be used to, so although it might have its challenges, it pushes us to learn things that we might have never had to."When Wagoner isn't busy revising enlisted performance reports or managing the airfield he has the opportunity to meet every single Airman he works with and really get to know them. He knows when they put their last stripe on, their kids' names and where they just came back from leave."It feel likes our own little Air Force family sometimes," said Senior Airman Derrick Kemp, a member of the 424th ABS. "We're a tight-knit unit. We hang out together, workout together and help each other out with whatever we might need."Along with the great relationships he's been able to build in his short time, Kemp said one of his favorite things about being stationed at Chievres AB is the location in Europe and the amount of time he has to really focus on his upgrade training and growing his career.Being stationed at a geographically separated unit has its challenges, but being at a place like Chievres AB will continue to give Airmen there a unique outlook on the Air Force mission as they provide world-class airfield support to their SHAPE and NATO customers.
The migrant crisis poses possibly the most serious threat to the European Union`s existence since the bloc`s foundation as the ghosts of nationalism increasingly haunt the post-war dream of unity, political veterans warn.

While the EU has previously weathered storms ranging from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the eurozone debt crisis, they believe the huge influx of refugees and migrants taps into more dangerous currents that could yet sink the bloc.

Their best hope for the EU is that this threat to a European ideal of solidarity, a dream born from the ashes of World War II, shows that, then as now, an everyone-for-himself approach does not work.

I really believe it`s the most serious crisis in many years the European Union is facing, probably even the most serious since the beginning of the process of European integration, Jose Manuel Barroso, who headed the European Commission from 2004 to 2014, told AFP.

Barroso warned of old demons of xenophobia and intolerance in Europe, saying the migration crisis goes beyond economic issues and is causing splits over whether to admit foreigners of a different religion or race.

It has an existential nature because it is polarising, the Portuguese statesman said by phone from Princeton University in the United States where he now teaches. More than 1.25 million asylum seekers have poured into Europe since the start of 2015, fleeing war and poverty in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa.

In terms of sheer numbers it is the biggest migration crisis to face the continent since 1945, but political veterans warn that the real danger is the rifts it is causing between the 28 EU member states.

Daniel Cohn-Bendit, a Franco-German former member of the European Parliament, is concerned Europe might not be able to forge the kind of joint solution it crafted recently for the divisive eurozone debt crisis.

Today, we have the impression there is an unbelievable insensitivity and that it is everyone for himself. That`s very dangerous for the European idea, Cohn-Bendit said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who opened up Germany`s borders to more than a million migrants last year, won praise from Barroso, Cohn-Bendit and others for setting an example for other Europeans.

Only Merkel has a European stature. The rest are political dwarves, said Cohn-Bendit.

The refusal of several national leaders, for example the hardline Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, to stick to EU law in handling the flow of migrants is of particular concern to many observers.
Swabhimani Shetkari Paksha activists throw milk packet and eggs on Vinod Tawdes vehicle at Osmanabad.

Education Minister Vinod Tawde who had visited Osmanabad district for taking stock of the drought situation had to face the wrath of Swabhimani Shetkari Paksha activists as they threw milk packet and eggs at his vehicle. As a result of this, situation became tense in the area. The cabinet ministers from BJP and Sena are on three day tour of 29 talukas of drought affected Beed, Latur and Osmanabad districts. They will submit a report to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and suggest remedial measures to resolve water scarcity in the state. Later, the cabinet will also have a meeting with the CM for discussing about the drought situation in the state. The state government had taken this step to send a message to opposition that it is serious about addressing the problems faced by farmers in the state. Several regions of Maharashtra has been witnessing drought as many farmers have committed suicide due to crop failure.

Congress party workers had shown black flags to Tawde as a mark of protest to highlight the governments failure to tackle farmers suicide issue. They shouted slogans against the government and said, Stop drought tours offer water to affected regions. They had stopped Tawdes vehicle for 15 minutes. Later, police intervened and cleared the area allowing Tawde to proceed ahead. Even BJP supporters present at the location started chanting anti-Congress slogans. When Tawde was inspecting an school at Yedshi Swabhimani Shetkari Paksha activist Ravindra Ingle threw milk packets at his vehicle. Later, Tawde supporters became angry and assaulted Ingle. Three persons have been taken into custody by the police.

Vinod Tawde said why activists didnt protest at Tuljapur and chose Osmanabad as a venue to target me. He said, We had gone to a school to interact with children. Once we came out, one of the protesters threw a glass bottle on me which eventually hit the school wall.

Swabhimani Shetkari Paksha activists had thrown milk packets at me. I had gone to visit schools. Why didnt they protest at Tuljapur? We have filed a complaint in this regard and police will probe this matter, he added.

On the other hand, Swabhimani Shetkari Paksha Chief Sadabhau Khot said, I have seen the whole episode. Farmers are not getting the right price for their milk and there is acute water shortage that has led to discomfort among farmers.

These farmers had only gone to express their dissatisfaction to Tawde carrying milk packets. One of the milk packets got torn and a bit of it spilled onto the ministers entourage, he added.

Meanwhile, sources in the state BJP unit said that following the ministers tour, the party will depute its elected representatives and party office bearers across the drought affected talukas to monitor relief works and help the people till the next monsoon arrives.
To express solidarity with Kanhaiya Kumar and celebrate his return from jail, JNU students took out a victory march at the university campus. Kanhaiya delivered an impassioned speech in front of JNU students at the university, shortly after being released on bail from Tihar jail.

Carrying posters of B R Ambedkar and shouting slogans like Jail ka Tala Toota hai, comrade Kanhaiya chhoota hai, the students first gathered at Ganga Dhaba and then moved towards the admin block where Kumar was to address them.

Despite his return coming with riders and the bail being interim, supporters described it as a triumph for truth and the cause for saving democracy and the university, a message their posters conveyed as well.

Recalling a conversation with a police official, he said that he was asked about the meaning of laal salaam. He explained to the constable that laal represents kranti and that the slogan meant, Were saluting kranti.

One of the interesting messages carried on a poster read, If you have been to jail for justice, then you are my friend.

Some excerpts of Kanhaiyas speech in JNU campus:

On Prime Minister Narendra Modi

I have many differences with the PM, but I agree with his tweet Satyameva Jayate because these are words in our Constitution. Today the honourable PM was talking about Stalin and Khrushchev, I say Modi ji speak about Hitler too sometimes. Or maybe Mussolini?

They say black money will come back, sabka saath sabka vikas, equality and all that. Yes we Indians forget things too soon, but this time the tamasha is too big. These jumlas wont be forgotten. I want to remind our government that 69% voted against you. Just 31% voted for you and some of them were caught up in your jumlas.

On Azaadi

We are not seeking azaadi (independence) from India but azaadi within India Is it wrong to ask for azaadi from the problems India faces?

What will happen if you speak up? Their cyber-cell will release doctored videos and count condoms in your dustbins.

On Rohith Vemula issue

This attack is to delegitimize the UGC protests, to prevent justice to Rohith Vemula. You want to silence one Rohith, today look how big that revolution has become. Let me just say it is not easy to get admission in JNU neither it is easy to silence those in JNU.

On ABVP

No ill-feeling towards ABVP; no animosity, because we are democratic. I respect dissent and the Constitution. We dont look at the ABVP as an enemy, we look at them like the Opposition. The ABVP in our campus is more rational as compared to the ABVP outside our campus.

On RSS and dissent

RSS wants to suppress the voice of dissent. The more you suppress us we will stand up more. It is a long fight. We will continue fight without bowing down. We have created history we will create history. We will fight. We will win.

The crowd was almost unequivocal in its criticism of the sedition case but general secretary Rama Naga cautioned against saying anything which could be misinterpreted later.

The fiery speech, of course, raised the question of whether he was violating his bail conditions, including to not actively or passively participate in any activity which may be termed as anti-national and to try to control anti-national activities in the campus. Also, the professor standing guarantee for Kanhaiya should ensure that his thoughts and energy are channelised in a constructive manner.

According to the sources, the magistrate had accepted his bail bond and ordered his release from jail.

Sources said that he had furnished a personal bond of Rs 10,000 and one surety of the like amount as directed by high court on Wednesday.

Kanhaiya was granted interim bail after the high court had observed that FIR lodged in connection with an on-campus event that led to his arrest on sedition charge suggested it is a case of raising anti-national slogans which do have the effect of threatening national integrity.

He was arrested on 12 February in the case in which he and others, including two arrested JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, are accused of raising anti-India slogans during an event organised inside the JNU campus on 9 February.

The two other students who were arrested are presently in judicial custody.

(With Agency Inputs)
A day after making a fiery speech at Jawahar Lal Nehru University, JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar on Friday thanked everyone who supported the movement initiated by him.

Kumar said, People from all walks of life supported us.

Kanhaiya made it clear that he was not an anti-national as was being projected by a section of the media but a true son of the soil who believed in fighting for the jawans guarding Indias borders as well as the poor farmers who toiled hard in their field to ensure food for all.

Sacrifice of farmers, jawans and Rohith Vemula will not go wasted. Whenever a revolution started, government tried to suppress it. The sedition law was made by British to suppress us, he added.

I want to tell everyone and those who are taxpayers of this country that JNU students are patriotic and not anti-nationals. It is an attempt to defame our university. JNU has never and will never support anything unconstitutional. Video can be doctored, but not Constitution, he said.

Referring Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kumar said, We dont have any personal grudges against you. We have ideological differences.

On the Afzal Guru issue, he said, As a JNUSU president, I call him a citizen of India who was prosecuted by the Indian law. For me Rohith Vemula is icon, not Afzal Guru.

Under pressure from almost the entire state and large powerful sections of the media, many others would have laid low and let this storm blow over. Kumar, a veteran of students politics, used this opportunity to deliver a scintillating speech on the steps of JNUs administrative block. Much has been made of Kumars now famous azadi slogan  that was the one doctored to paint him as a separatist. Kumar used this very controversy to hit back: We dont freedom from India, my brothers, we want freedom in India.

He elaborated: Freedom from hunger, freedom from corruption, freedom from the RSS, freedom from Manu-ism, freedom from caste  we will take our freedoms.

Kanhaiya who was booked over sedition charges was released on Thursday.

The JNUSU president announced that he will campaign for upcoming Kerala and West Bengal Assembly polls for the Left Front.

However, denying that he is a politician, he said, Im a student, not politician. Glad that JNU chose me.

The Janata Dal-United stalwart said the student leader, who is from Begusarai in Bihar, had been framed. Nitish Kumar praised Kanhaiyas long speech at the JNU campus on Thursday night in which he attacked the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and raised issues of intolerance, hunger and poverty.

Nitish Kumar said the Modi government did not like the outspoken students of JNU who questioned the governments policies and raised issues that embarrassed it.
By F. Edward Yazbak MD

Amid all the furor surrounding Thompson no one noticed the publication by the CDC last year of a study showing the steady rise of autism spectrum disorders in Atlanta which once again places beyond reasonable doubt that the rise in autism is real and not an artifact. On the CDCs own analysis autism had risen on its own door step by nearly four times among eight year olds between 1996 and 2010 to a rate of 1 in 65. Ed Yazbak reviews the paper.



By now everyone who cared to know has been or should have become well informed about a controversial 2004 CDC publication by DeStefano, Bhasin, Thompson, Yeargin-Allsopp and Boyle titled "Age at first measles-mumps-rubella vaccination in children with autism and school-matched control subjects: a population-based study in metropolitan Atlanta." [i]



Facts and allegations related to that study are not the subject of this report. Only deserving a mention is the fact that one of the authors of the 2004 study is still the Director of the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD) [ii] and another is the Branch Chief, Developmental Disabilities Branch, NCBDDD[iii]. Neither has yet proposed a science-supported cause or causes of autism and both seem only certain that pediatric vaccines and their components are in no way responsible for autistic regression.

On April 29, 2015, another Atlanta Autism-related study titled Trends in the Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder, Cerebral Palsy, Hearing Loss, Intellectual Disability, and Vision Impairment, Metropolitan Atlanta, 19912010 was published on PLOS One, an Open Access Journal.[iv] For reasons unknown, it was not extensively publicized and did not receive much attention.

The authors, Braun KVN, Christensen D, Doernberg N, Schieve L, Rice C, Wiggins L, Schendel D, and Yeargin-Allsopp M reported that they were all from of the Developmental Disabilities Branch, National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America. Of the group, only Dr. Yeargin-Allsopp had participated in the 2004 investigational study and co-authored its published report.

The authors participation in the latest study and publication was as follows: KVB, DC, ND and MYA conceived and designed the experiments, KVB and DC analyzed the data and KVB, DC, ND, LS, CR, LW, DS and MYA wrote the paper.

It is not clear why it was decided to claim that Dianna Schendel PhD was still at the CDC in April 2015 when the PLOS study was published, when Arrhus University in Denmark had announced that she had been a University employee since 2013 and had been appointed Professor with special responsibilities at the Department of Public Health and the National Centre for Register-based Research at Aarhus University on 6/26/2014. [v]

In her recent Arrhus University CV, Dr. Schendel herself clearly stated that she had been employed at the Developmental Disabilities Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 1993 to 2013.[vi]

The exchange of talent between the CDC and Arrhus University is well known and long standing. It was highlighted of course by the Affaire Thorsen that the CDC hierarchy has preferred to forget. Less inhibited and clearly more disturbed, Arrhus University issued a detailed recitation of what exactly happened in its very frank Statement regarding Dr. Poul Thorsens involvement in Aarhus University projects. [vii]

According to the Office of Inspector General, HHS, Dr. Thorsen remains a wanted fugitive who allegedly diverted over $1 million of CDC grant money to his own personal bank account, who was indicted in April 2011 on 22 counts of Wire Fraud and Money Laundering, and who is presently in Denmark supposedly awaiting extradition to the United States.[viii]

Meanwhile Dr. Thorsen seems happily employed in addition to writing and publishing scientific papers, the latest in September 2015. [ix]

*****

The most recent Atlanta Study by Braun et al, the subject of this report, examined the prevalence and characteristics of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), cerebral palsy (CP), hearing loss (HL), intellectual disability (ID), and vision impairment (VI) over a 1520 year time period, with specific focus on concurrent changes in ASD and ID prevalence.
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NEW ORLEANS, March 3, 2016  Farmers and crop consultants have gained a new independent tool to help them better assess how software and fertilizer management products actually work in different regions and various soil types. Eventually, the data could also be used by agribusinesses and food companies that are interested in benchmarking sustainability.

Unveiled today at the Commodity Classic in New Orleans, the tool, NutrientStar, is funded and operated by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), one of the nations largest environmental groups with more than 1 million members. However, it was developed over several years of discussions with farm leaders and researchers.

There is such a need for a system like this because there are so many things hitting the market, like applications about nutrient management and also products like foliar feeding and biologicals, said Ohio farmer Fred Yoder who served as an adviser to help develop NutrientStar.

Theres a lot of products out there, and I think its going to help us separate the riffraff from the real deal, he added. Yoder described EDF as probably the most farmer-friendly green group there is to work with because they are market-oriented.

Another farmer-adviser, Iowan Bill Horan, said the basic idea is that there needs to be some type of an Underwriters Laboratory sort of seal on all of these types of programs, products and systems that we producers hear about every year.

What EDF is trying to do is put legitimate data behind all of these programs that different companies have so producers have a confidence level that this is actually worth what they are going to pay for it, Horan noted.

Karen Chapman, EDFs agricultural sustainability project manager and administrator of the NutrientStar program, emphasized that NutrientStar will showcase how well products work in real-world farming scenarios. An independent science review panel will conduct assessments of all the tools on the market, particularly looking at on-farm field trials, to determine how a tool works in croplands, in different regions, and on different soil types.

Fertilizer management tools reviewed through NutrientStar include enhanced efficiency fertilizer compounds, such as nitrogen stabilizers, and decision support tools, such as optical sensor technologies or models used to aid nutrient applications in the field. Tools and products already assessed or soon to be assessed include:

Adapt-N (made by Agronomic Technology Corp.), an online software program that uses a linked crop model and soil model to estimate nitrogen rates for individual fields or areas within fields.

Fertilizer management products including N-Serve (made by Dow AgroSciences); AGROTAIN, AGROTAIN PLUS, and SUPER U (made by Koch Agronomic Services).

Reviews being made public this spring include: Nutrisphere N (made by Verdesian); Instinct II, ESN (made by Agrium); DCD; Thiosulfate; and, Slow Release Foliar N products made from methylene urea.

Assessments later in 2016 will focus on Fieldview Pro Nitrogen Advisor (made by Climate Corporation) and Encirca (made by DuPont Pioneer).

As food companies demand for sustainably produced ingredients continues to skyrocket, theyll need to support farmers and the entire supply chain in implementing on-farm conservation practices, added Chapman. NutrientStar will help food companies navigate the fertilizer management world, and will spark further innovation, research and development for better nutrient management tools.

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NutrientStar also enables farmers to more easily execute the 4Rs of nutrient stewardship, which include applying fertilizer at the right source, the right rate, the right time, and the right place, said McGuire. NutrientStar complements the 4Rs by informing farmers on tools that will most effectively help implement these important practices.

For more information on NutrientStar, including scientific assessment criteria, visit www.nutrientstar.org.

#30

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WASHINGTON, March 4, 2016  Experts from the 28 member states of the EU are holding a closed-door meeting in Brussels next week to consider a European Commission proposal to extend authorization of the use of glyphosate for the next 15 years and there are indications it will be approved.

During a press briefing in the Belgian capital, Enrico Brivio, an EC spokesperson for health and food safety issues, reminded reporters that experts from 27 of the 28 European Union nations had accepted the opinion of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), released ahead of the upcoming meeting, that glyphosate was unlikely to cause cancer. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), an arm of the World Health Organization, in March found otherwise, classifying the herbicide as probably carcinogenic to humans, touching off a fierce debate on both sides of the Atlantic.

A spokesman for Monsanto, which markets glyphosate under the trade name Roundup, said the company would not have any comment on the matter in advance of the Brussels meeting. But Robb Fraley, the companys chief technology officer, retweeted a Reuters story quoting EU sources who said approval was expected, adding this comment: Nice to see science-based regulatory decision. The EUs existing authorization for glyphosate expires at the end of June.

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The EFSA study focused on glyphosate as a single active substance. Should the product be reauthorized at the EU level, each member country will be able to grant or refuse authorization of products that contain it at the national level.

Monsanto has released a preliminary scientific review disputing the IARC finding. It is also suing the state of California over its proposal to add glyphosate to a list of chemicals known to cause cancer.

(This story was updated at 5:45 to include Monsanto spokemsan saying the company would have no comment.)

#30
Give and take is OK, Trump said of Rubios Gang of Eight talks. Trump refused during the Detroit debate to agree to ask The New York Times to release his off-the-record interview about immigration, and he also doubled down on his promise to force Mexico to build a border wall. But the real estate developer said that on immigration and other matters there always has to be some  tug and pull. He contrasted that with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz refusal to compromise on issues like the government shutdown. Cruz "stood there for a day-and-a-half or something. In the meantime, what came of it? Nothing. You have to be able to have some flexibility, some negotiation," Trump said. Perhaps the most important development of the debate came at the end when Trumps opponents pledged to support him if hes the nominee, this after an historic day in which the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, denounced Trump as unfit for office. Trump, in turn, promised not to run as an independent. Yes, I will, he responded, when asked whether he would support the Republican nominee if its not him. Cruz and Rubio constantly teamed up to attack Trump's record and truthfulness, forcing him at one point to defend his hiring of foreign workers at his Florida resort property. When you bring them in this way, when you bring someone in on one of these visas they can't go work for anybody else, Rubio said. They either work for you or they have to go back home. You basically have them captive, so you don't have to worry about competing for higher wages with another hotel down the street. And, that's why you bring workers from abroad. Cruz challenged Trump's assertion that he couldn't find Americans to do the jobs and asked the audience members to raise their hands if they had every worked as a waiter or waitress. Trump strenuously defended his practices. We want to hire as many Americans as we can, but they don't want part-time, very short part-time jobs, he said. Trump also came under fire from Rubio for offshoring production of his Trump-branded clothing. Trump said he had no choice because of Chinas currency manipulation, and he doubled down on criticism of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Trump called for gutting what he called the "Department of Environmental Protection" as a way to pay for the tax cuts he has proposed. "We are going to get rid are of it in almost every form. We're going to have little tidbits left but we're going to take a tremendous amount out," he said. #30
NEW ORLEANS, March 4, 2016  The Trans-Pacific Partnership will provide substantial benefits to agriculture and needs to be approved by Congress, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told an attentive crowd at the Commodity Classic in New Orleans today.

Vilsack stumped for the agreement in his speech and in remarks to reporters afterwards. Asked about the prospects for passage, given the opposition both of Republican presidential candidates and Hillary Clinton, the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, Vilsack said TPP supporters simply have to keep plugging away.

We have to make the case, he said, repeating some of the numbers hes used in previous appearances, such as the $94 billion in lost income that even a one-year delay in approval would cost, according to a study by The Peterson Institute for International Economics.

There are some who are suggesting we should wait, he said. However, he said, Theres no time to waste here because China is trying to negotiate an agreement with its Asian friends.

On the hottest issue of the day, GMO labeling, the secretary said the Senate needs to move fast to forestall Vermonts first-in-the-nation labeling law, due to take effect in July. He again expressed his preference for the Grocery Manufacturers Associations SmartLabel proposal, which would allow consumers to scan a QR code with their smartphones to get information on packaged food ingredients.

It gives you the ability to adjust as circumstances change, Vilsack said. It needs to be flexible, it needs to be mandatory, but the food industry and farmers need to educate consumers about the safety of genetically modified organisms.

I am here to say unequivocally they are safe to consumers, he told the crowd, eliciting more applause.

To the media, he said, Heres the situation  youve got to get to 60 votes in the Senate and at the end of the day, I think the way to get 60 votes is to have a label that is required, ... because if you dont, ... every company could decide for itself, with confusion being the result.

But Vilsack's remarks also appeared to create confusion, leading many to conclude he was in favor of requiring industry to disclose the presence of GMOs in products on the food packaging itself. Here's what he told the media:



I think you give industry some time to create the label. You give industry some time to figure out how flexible it needs to be, whether its a 1-800 number, whether its a website, whether its a SmartLabel, or something else. And you use that time to educate people that this is going to be available. This is going to be an opportunity if theyre interested in knowing about the food they are buying, this is the way to do it. I think if you have that kind of system, thats mandatory, thats flexible, with time, I think you can get 60 votes to get something through the Senate.





On another big issue, the proposed purchase of Syngenta by ChemChina, Vilsack said the deal raises concerns about whether we will see a synchronized Chinese regulatory system. Will our seed companies be put at a disadvantage?

Vilsack said he did not want the ChemChina deal to translate into a home field advantage for China, and expressed concerns about the Chinese way of making decisions. Right now . . . theres no predictability to what they do.

Asked about problems in cotton country, Vilsack reiterated his belief that he does not have the authority to designate cottonseed as an oilseed in order to be considered for farm payments. But he did say he had spoken recently with cotton industry officials and said USDA would be meeting with them to work on a cost-share program for ginning.

In general, when reporters asked about low commodity prices and farmers resulting struggles,Vilsack accentuated the positive. Debt-to-asset ratios are hovering around 13 percent, he said, far below the level of 22-23 percent during the farm crisis of the 1980s.

Im not going to suggest that the skys falling because I dont think it is, he said.

I think theres an issue with cash rents, he said, offering a personal take on the subject. He noted that he spoke with his own farm manager recently and said rents needed to be adjusted down. Thats okay because its a partnership, and thats the way it ought to be, he said.

Vilsack also shared personal memories with the audience.

Some of those had his farm audience laughing, as when he recounted his experience as a young lawyer in Iowa, and farmers would come into his office with a grocery sack full of records, a calendar or two with numbers written on it, and theyd dump the papers on my desk, tell me to calculate their taxes, make sure they didnt have to pay more than they absolutely owed, and dont charge me more than 25 bucks.

He shared personal history. I started out life in an orphanage in Pittsburgh, he said. My life couldve gone a lot of different ways. He was adopted by a family, but his mother struggled with addiction to alcohol and prescription drugs.

But through her faith and her community of support and recovery, she turned her life around, he said. She taught me a very, very valuable lesson: never to give up on anything that matters or anyone that matters.

From there he segued into a discussion about one of the most underappreciated aspects of the strength and security of this country  the job that farmers have done throughout the history of this country, leading the revolution against the British, feeding the workers who built the manufacturing base, creating opportunities so people could dream of being whatever they wanted to be.

Farmers are the linchpin, the heart and soul of this great country, he said.

Needless to say, he got a standing ovation.





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Asked about his plans for the future  might he follow the path of former Ag Secretary Dan Glickman and go on to run the Motion Picture Association of America for several years?  Vilsack said he had been invited to a screening of Tina Feys new movie, but declined. I went to the gym and worked out. So Im probably not going to be the motion picture guy.

Then he got personal again, eliciting awws from some in the media as he talked about getting a visit at his Iowa home from his six-year-old grandson, who knocked on the door and asked him whether he could come out and play. He said he couldnt because he had to work, but walked the boy back home.

During the walk, his grandson told him, Grand-dad, youre really old, but you know everything.

So, the honest answer to the question of what he wants to do when hes done at USDA?

I dont know, he said.

#30
February 29, 2016

BEIRUT  There seems to be more to Saudi Arabia's political assault on Lebanon than first meets the eye.

As previously reported, the kingdom recently canceled its long-awaited, $4 billion arms deal to support the Lebanese army and security forces and is making a comprehensive review of its relationship with Lebanon. Also, numerous Gulf states have joined Saudi Arabia in warning their citizens not to travel to Lebanon and to leave Lebanese soil.

Riyadh cited the actions of Lebanese Foreign Affairs Minister Gibran Bassil  head of the Christian Free Patriotic Movement, an ally of Hezbollah  during a Jan. 10 ministerial meeting of the Arab League in Cairo. Bassil declined to condemn the early January attack on the Saudi Arabian Embassy and consulate in Iran.

However, Lebanese security sources told Al-Monitor that several reasons underlie the Saudi escalation. The sources described the Saudi campaign against Lebanon as fierce.

The first objective of this campaign, they said, is to deliver Hezbollah a heavy blow in its own stronghold. Saudi Arabia is responding to Hezbollah's support for the Houthis in the ongoing war in Yemen, which the kingdom blames, in part, for its failure to reach its military goals there.

The Saudis aim to push Lebanon's March 14 Coalition to apply pressure and turn public opinion against Hezbollah and its allies, most notably Bassil's Free Patriotic Movement  especially regarding Hezbollahs interventions in Yemen and Syria and its influence in Lebanon's government, the sources said.

The same sources explained that 11 months after Riyadh launched Operation Decisive Storm against the Houthis in Yemen, the battle doesn't seem to be headed in Saudi Arabia's favor. In addition, the European Parliament accused Riyadh of targeting Yemeni civilians with airstrikes and called for a ban on the export of arms to Saudi Arabia.

Many people believe Saudi Arabia hopes to recoup some of its losses in Yemen by ditching the $4 billion weapons deal with Lebanon. Lebanon's political and security instability is a pressure point on Hezbollah, which is preoccupied with the war in Syria and the permanent Israeli threat. According to the sources, any sectarian strife in Lebanon will not be in Hezbollahs best interest, especially as it has been classified as a terrorist group by part of the international community.

A Lebanese diplomatic source told Al-Monitor that last month, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia canceled the residency permits of more than 1,000 Lebanese nationals, mostly Shiites and Christians. This news also spread on several Lebanese media outlets. The Saudi decision will also affect more than 250 Lebanese companies operating in Saudi Arabia, which will be given three months to liquidate their business activities. This is while Saudi Arabia has already notified 90 families that it will deport them, and classified four companies on the terrorist list because of their relations with Hezbollah.

In this context, Lebanese daily As-Safir quoted Feb. 24 the Saudi ambassador to Lebanon, Ali Awad Asiri, as saying to France Presse that the Lebanese will not be deported if the Lebanese government takes certain measures. He called the government to wisely and bravely fix the mistake a particular government party  without naming it  had made against the kingdom.

Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait applied similar procedures against Lebanese residents, according to the same source, confirming that these countries decided to halt their banking activities with Lebanon and suspend their partnerships in the Lebanese banks or in their national banks with branches in Lebanon. The source also indicated these countries froze the assets and bank accounts of Lebanese Christian and Shiite businessmen.

Other Lebanese press reports talked about 10 measures Saudi Arabia and Gulf countries intend to implement: withdraw the deposits from the Lebanese Central Bank; call on Saudis to withdraw their deposits from Lebanese banks; ask Saudis to stop investments in Lebanon and stop any ongoing investment projects; stop issuing new Saudi entry visas to Lebanese; suspend banking transactions and transfers between Saudi Arabia and Lebanon; suspend flights between both countries; revoke the residence permits of the Lebanese residing in Saudi Arabia and expel them collectively; close the Saudi market in the face of Lebanese exports and stop imports to the Lebanese market; cut the diplomatic ties between both countries, close the Saudi embassy in Beirut, expel the Lebanese ambassador to Saudi Arabia and close the Lebanese embassy in Saudi Arabia; and finally, spread these measures in all GCC countries, as it turned out these countries support Saudi Arabia and are ready to follow suit regarding Lebanon.

The source explained that another undeclared trigger of Saudi Arabias campaign against Lebanon includes the situation in Syria, in light of a fragile cease-fire that supposedly started Feb. 27 under US-Russian auspices. Saudis are trying to achieve field gains before the March 7 start of talks between the Syrian regime and the Syrian opposition, which would allow the Saudi-backed opposition to achieve gains tipping the negotiation terms in its favor.

Therefore, Saudi Arabia is seeking to form Arab-Turkish alliance forces to participate in the ground operations that the kingdom intends to launch in Syria, specifically in the north. Preparations have begun for these operations, and Turkey put its Incirlik Air Base at the forces' disposal.

The source added that a potential Saudi ground invasion of Syria requires a reconsideration of the Lebanese military border procedures, given that the evolution of the battles in northern Syria will put pressure on Lebanon as a result of the displacement of refugees and the movement of insurgents.

The source said Saudi Arabia thinks that by invoking the Arab consensus, it can pressure the Lebanese army and government to coordinate with the Arab-Turkish alliance forces, in which case Lebanon would find itself in an embarrassing situation, since Hezbollah is deployed on its borders with Syria  at least the eastern borders.

On a related note, the same source revealed that Saudi ambassador Asiri called on Sunni cells to organize meetings in the Palestinian camps. This is especially true in Ain al-Hilweh, where Palestinian factions announced a state of alert in southern Lebanon, Beirut and the north, to prepare for any action that may be required of them against the Lebanese government's policy and any potential armed deployment of Hezbollah.

The source said only one of two scenarios might put an end to the Saudi madness. The first would be to give Lebanon a time limit to elect a president while giving the kingdom final say on the choice and of the new Sunni prime minister, in such a way that both premierships would be deemed affiliated with Saudi Arabia. This solution might further add to Saudi Arabias influence over Lebanon on one hand and undercut Hezbollahs internal influence on the other.

In the second scenario, the United States and the international community would have to exert sufficient pressure to halt the kingdom's campaign, which has raised international concerns about maintaining Lebanons stability. An international consensus was reached to ensure that stability based on several considerations, most notably keeping Lebanon a safe environment for the 1.5 million Syrian refugees in its territories so they dont head for Europe and then the United States.
March 3, 2016

CAIRO  Egyptians are worried about uncertainties surrounding Ethiopia's schedule for storing Nile water behind the walls of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

The latest satellite photos show Ethiopia is preparing for storage, especially since the country pumped water into two turbines to generate electricity, according to Alaa el-Nahry, vice president of the UN-affiliated Regional Center for Space Studies and Egypts representative to the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.

In December, Nahry said he expects Addis Ababa to actually start storing water in the reservoir in June.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation disputed Nahrys statements. Minister Hossam Moghazy said Jan. 31 that no water is being stored behind the dam, and won't be until the current technical studies between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan are completed.

Moghazys statements spread doubt among water experts and former officials at the Egyptian government, according to Nader Noureddine, a water and irrigation expert in the faculty of agriculture at Cairo University. He told Al-Monitor that Addis Ababa will start generating electricity in October, which contradicts the ministers statements that water storage is suspended until the studies are completed.

The National Tripartite Committee, which was formed in August 2014 and includes Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, has yet to sign contracts with the consulting firms in charge of conducting two studies on the hydraulic, social, environmental and economic impacts of the dam on Egypt and Sudan. Officials expect the studies to be conducted within eight to 15 months.

Haitham Awad, head of the Hydraulic and Irrigation Department at Alexandria University, told Al-Monitor that as of Jan. 29, Ethiopia had not started storing water yet. He based his statements on satellite photos. However, he said Ethiopia is getting ready to start trial operations of the dam, and he expects water storage to begin soon.

So far, Nahry told Al-Monitor, the storage being undertaken by the Ethiopians is not in the main reservoir lake behind the dam; rather, its in on the sides of the Blue Nile to ensure that water flows atop the turbines that recently began operation.

This step led to the increase in the breadth of the Nile behind the dam, he said, noting that the current storage capacity volume is not major as it does not exceed half a million cubic meters, since Blue Nile water is currently depleted.

In light of the conflicting data, Al-Monitor spoke with Alaa Yass, adviser to the Egyptian irrigation minister on dams and Nile Basin affairs and a member of the technical committee on the dam. He said, Believe us, there is no water storage behind the dam for now.

Yass further talked about the Declaration of Principles signed by Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia in March 2015. The declaration included agreements on annual operation of the dam and the mechanisms for the first filling. According to Yass, the declaration calls for Ethiopia to refrain from storing water behind the dam before the studies are completed.

He added, The three countries are keen on nonviolation of the Declaration of Principles recommendations.

However, former Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohamed Nasr Allam commented on the ministry officials assertions that no water will be stored before the studies are completed. "This is not logical," he told Al-Monitor.

It will be difficult to finalize the studies when disputes emerge about each step the Tripartite Committee tries to take, all while work is ongoing to get the dam ready to operate, he said.

Even if the studies on the effects of the Renaissance Dam on Egypt are completed, it will be difficult to agree on the results," he noted. According to the Declaration of Principles, the dam does not affect the fair and appropriate use of water by the three countries. The declaration, however, did not determine what quantity is considered fair and appropriate.

The declaration does say that water from the Blue Nile, where the dam is located, will not be used. So, once the studies are completed, negotiations will need to begin on fair and appropriate use of water from the main Nile River  which is shared by all the countries of the rivers basin in the equatorial and Ethiopian plateau, as well as the downstream countries, Egypt and Sudan. With all of the Nile Basin countries participating in the negotiations, the issue will be further complicated.

Allam said the only framework to discuss the distribution of the shares in the Nile Basin is the Entebbe Agreement ratified in May 2010, which both Egypt and Sudan rejected. This means the crisis is more serious than it looks.

At first glance, the disputes about the dam seem to be mere technical disagreements among experts of the three concerned countries about the amount of damage the dam might have on Egypt and Sudan. But in reality, the inherent political conflicts among the three countries keep rearing their heads during negotiations.

Disputes about the water shares emerged during the meeting of the Tripartite Committee held in Khartoum in early February. During the meeting, Egypt refused to give border maps to the French companies working on the studies. The maps show the borders between Egypt and Sudan that indicate the location of the disputed Halayeb-Shalateen Triangle inside the Sudanese borders. The meeting ended with Egypt demanding that the studies refer only to topographic maps, not on the maps showing the demarcation lines.
March 3, 2016

The ambitious French idea first suggested by Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius at the end of January of holding an international conference to kick-start the two-state solution process in Paris in July is alive and kicking. A senior Western diplomat in Jerusalem told Al-Monitor that the initiative to restart Israeli-Palestinian talks has been adopted by the new French Foreign Minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault.

The diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that efforts in Paris, Tel Aviv and Ramallah as well as in other Arab capitals are in high gear to make the conference successful. Ayrault, who was chosen by President Francois Hollande on Feb. 11 to replace Fabius, moved quickly to assure all parties involved of the seriousness of the French effort.

The three-step approach  which France proposed at the end of January 2016 and includes consultations with Palestinians and Israelis, a spring preparatory meeting of the international working groups and a July conference in Paris  is definitely on track, the diplomat said.

Four days after his appointment on Feb. 15, the French ambassador to Israel, Patrick Maisonnave, met with Israeli Foreign Ministry Political Director Alon Ushpiz, visited the Israeli Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem and officially presented the plan. In a statement following the meeting, Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said, Israel supports direct negotiations with the Palestinians but opposes any attempt to predetermine the outcome of negotiations.

A major stumbling block to the conference has been the possibility of Israel refusing to attend over the French desire to recognize a Palestinian state if the talks fail, according to the former minister. Speaking to an annual gathering of French diplomats Jan. 29 about what France would do if it faced a wall of Israeli rejection, Fabius said, Well,  in this case, we need to face our responsibilities by recognizing the Palestinian state."

Israel has rejected Fabius' position. Israel will not negotiate under threat, Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said Jan. 30 in response to Fabius statement.

The senior Western diplomat noted that there is nothing to suggest that France's new foreign minister has backed away from that stance. Frances goal right now seems to be bringing all parties to Paris and to reach that goal. The French want to be sure not to antagonize any party, he said.

Given the ongoing efforts and demarches, however, the diplomat does not believe that the idea of the conference was to give a fig leaf to a predetermined French plan to recognize Palestine.

It is unclear how strongly the international community will support the French initiative. Washington appears to have washed its hands of the Palestinian conflict, although US Secretary of State John Kerry made a special effort to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Feb. 21 during Kerrys most recent visit to Amman. No details of that meeting have been made public and it is not clear whether the French conference idea was discussed.

On Jan. 31, Abbas expressed his support for the French initiative, while Hamas has rejected it Jan. 31, calling it a waste of time.

Camille Mansour, a board member of the Institute for Palestine Studies and former professor of international relations at the University of Paris, is skeptical. I am not convinced that an international conference attempting to solve the Palestinian conflict can succeed while the US is busy in a presidential election campaign, he told Al-Monitor by phone from Paris.

Mansour, a former adviser to the Palestinian negotiating team and a close observer of French politics, said that he did not notice much interest in France about the conference. There are very few write-ups in the serious French newspapers, and this usually means that the initiative is not a serious one.

While still skeptical, Mansour was intrigued by some discussions in Palestinian circles that France is doing the bidding of Washington and that the US administration is quietly supporting the French initiative, while both Paris and Washington might, in fact, recognize Palestine consecutively.

There is an intriguing argument that talks about a last-minute recognition of Palestine by President [Barack] Obama in the period after a possible November victory of the Democrats and before stepping down in January, but I am not totally convinced that a [new] US president will have the courage to make that move and possibly hurt his own party, Mansour said.

Regardless of the behind-the-scenes discussions, the United States and its European allies are celebrating the major success of the international effort that brought about the nuclear agreement with Iran and that appears to have moderated Iranian foreign policy, as reflected in the most recent Iranian elections on Feb. 26, when allies of Reformist President Hassan Rouhani were swept to victory.

Despite the obvious skepticism due to past failures, an international effort to replicate the Iranian agreement process and solve the intractable Israeli-Palestinian conflict might work if there is seriousness behind the French effort and if Washington is willing to spend political capital to make it work.
March 3, 2016

Iranian officials and media have condemned the recent decision by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to designate the Lebanese group Hezbollah a terrorist organization.

GCC Secretary-General Abdul Latif bin Rashid Al Zayani said March 2 that the designation was the result of Hezbollahs hostile acts in Syria, Yemen and Iraq. He also accused Hezbollah of trying to recruit youths in the GCC countries.

The spokesman for Irans Foreign Ministry, Hossein Jaber Ansari, condemned the GCC statement. Ansari said Hezbollah gave Arabs and Muslims the first victory in the history of anti-Zionist conflict and became the leading symbol of resistance against Zionist occupation. Deputy Foreign Ministry for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that people who designate Hezbollah a terrorist organization intentionally or unintentionally are targeting Lebanons security. He called Hezbollah the most effective resistance movement and said that ignoring Israeli crimes is the latest mistake that is not in the benefit of stability and security in the region.

The GCC decision is just the latest move led by Saudi Arabia to distance itself from Lebanon and Hezbollah, which is the most influential force in the fractured country. After withdrawing a $3 billion aid offer to the Lebanese army, Saudi Arabia and a number of other GCC countries banned their citizens from traveling to Lebanon. Much of the recent Hezbollah-Saudi animosity is rooted in the Syrian civil war, where Hezbollah forces  in addition to the Iranian and Syrian armies  are fighting against Syrian groups backed by Saudi Arabia and other GCC states.

Iranian Students News Agency wrote, Saudis propaganda, political and economic war against Lebanon will not end here. The article said that the GCC decision more than anything else has made Israel happy, and that it is possible that it is a precursor to a new military attack by Israel against Hezbollah.

An article in Raja News quoting Arab media wrote that the decision by the GCC was in actuality a Saudi decision that was made without holding a meeting by the GCC member states. The article believes that the GCCs next action will be to expel Lebanese Shiites from GCC countries, which  according to the article  would involve hundreds of thousands of people.

Tasnim News Agency spoke with Lebanese analyst Nasser Ghandeel, who said the recent decisions by the GCC are meant to provoke Hezbollah into a direct conflict. He said that Hezbollah would not be dragged into a conflict with the GCC, and its main focus would remain Israel and fighting terrorism (Iranian media refers to armed groups fighting against the government in Syria as terrorists).

Javan newspaper, which is linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, wrote that after the nuclear deal between Iran and the six world powers, it was clear that the next target would be Hezbollah. Its not been two months since the implementation of the nuclear deal, and already the attacks by Saudi Arabia and its Arab and Western allies against Lebanese Hezbollah have increased in an unprecedented way, the article stated.

Iranian media has given extensive coverage to regional officials and media who have condemned the GCC decision to call Hezbollah a terrorist organization. The Ansar Allah movement in Yemen, which is often referred to as the Houthis, called the GCC decision free service to the tyrant Zionist regime. Mehr News published the Palestinian group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine's condemnation of the GCC decision. Its statement read, How could a party that defends Palestinian ideals and the interests of the Arab world be a terrorist group? Lebanese politician Suleiman Franjieh called the decision by the GCC unfortunate and said that Hezbollah is a resistance force and has resulted in the pride of Arabs and Lebanese.
March 4, 2016

BAGHDAD  Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units grouping is taking much of the heat for the seizure of Christians properties in Baghdad and other provinces. But the organization is trying to counter the claims by tackling the problem itself.

The Popular Mobilization Units grouping consists of Shiite armed factions formed after the Islamic State (IS) took control of the Iraqi city of Mosul in June 2014. Among groups fighting with the Popular Mobilization Units are Sunni tribes operating as Tribal Mobilization as well as Christian organizations such as the Babylon Brigade.

Hakem al-Zameli, head of the Iraqi parliaments Security and Defense Committee, has accused Christian members of the Popular Mobilization Units of appropriating the property.

A Christian individual claiming to be affiliated with the Popular Mobilization Units is seizing homes and blackmailing the owners," Zameli said in a Feb. 18 press conference. The chief investigator was asked to follow up on this person to limit the seizure of the property of Christians or other minorities."

Popular Mobilization Units spokesman Karim al-Nuri denied the charges.

These accusations are not true. We wish Zameli had accurate information before making [such] accusations, Nuri told Al-Monitor. Weak souls have seized the homes and properties of Christians in Baghdad, and some of them have forged ownership documents with the help of some officials in state institutions.

In response to the allegations, the Popular Mobilization Units helped launch a campaign in February to take back the property.

The Popular Mobilization Units, in collaboration with the Baghdad Operations Command, are participating in a campaign to recover all the Christians usurped properties, in order to restore the states authority, enforce the law and encourage Christians who have fled or emigrated to return to their homes," Nuri said.

After we complete the recovery of the seized Christian homes in Baghdad, we will launch a similar campaign in Basra, in a bid to end to the accusations."

The problem reflects the security chaos prevailing in Iraq since 2003. This situation has pushed large numbers of Christians and other minorities, such as Sabians and Yazidis, who were threatened by extremist armed groups, to migrate.

Nuri said he does not have statistics on the number of properties involved, but noted, There are dozens of seized homes and the Popular Mobilization Units leadership keeps receiving complaints from Christians ... for us to take the legal measures and recover their homes.

Last year, the Iraqi Ministry of Justice sought to protect Christians rights and property by restricting disposition procedures of buying and selling real estate.

Large numbers of Iraqi Christians are migrating as a result of the security situation in the country. In order to protect their property and titles from being manipulated or forged, Minister of Justice Haider al-Zameli instructed all real estate registration departments to take strict measures when it comes to real estate procedures for Christians," the ministry said in an Oct. 5 statement.

In case a document to sell a Christian property is presented, the seller himself should be present, or an immediate relative (husband, wife, children) or a secondary relative (brother, sister). In addition, an on-site inspection of the property is required to double-check the ownership."

Applications to sell or acquire property by mail must include documents proving ownership.

But the paper trail has failed, according to parliament member Yonadam Kanna, secretary-general of the Assyrian Democratic Movement. Kanna told London-based al-Hayat paper Feb. 6 that mafias and militias claiming to be affiliated with the Popular Mobilization Units and religious parties continue to forcibly seize Christian properties.

Rayan al-Kaldani, a member of the Christian adjudicating committee in the Popular Mobilization Units, told Al-Monitor that the Christian Movement in Iraq  the political party that formed the armed Babylon Brigade  has created a special office to receive complaints about seized property.

So far, the campaign to recover the Christians property has been taking legal and peaceful steps," he said. "I can assure you that those who seized Christian homes and claimed to be members of the Popular Mobilization Units are liars and have nothing to do with us. There are people trying to distort the Popular Mobilization Units image and accuse its members of seizing the property of citizens.

Kaldani, who leads the Babylon Brigade, pointed out, The campaign to recover the properties will not be limited to evacuating the violators from the homes they have seized. We will arrest and prosecute them, regardless of their positions and their alleged affiliations with political parties.

Seizing the property of minorities in Iraq, or even public property, is not unusual. Ordinary citizens seize state property and build shops or houses, while senior government officials confiscate mansions and real estate.

Although there are no official statistics on the number of Christian properties that have been seized in Iraq, the Chaldean Patriarchate on Aug. 30 handed over to the Baghdad Operations Command 14 titles of Chaldean Christians whose homes had been seized within a few months.

It is worth noting that the number of Christians who have migrated from Iraq since 2003 is estimated at more than 900,000.
March 3, 2016

BEIRUT  A Lebanese parliamentary delegation met in Washington on Feb. 23-27 with numerous members of Congress, administration officials and various lobbies to discuss the potential consequences for Lebanon of the Hizballah International Financing Prevention Act of 2015.

The act, which US President Barack Obama signed into law Dec. 18, authorizes the president to apply sanctions against foreign financial institutions handling transactions with Hezbollah or the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar TV channel.

It was a very useful and very positive visit," member of parliament Alain Aoun, a delegation member, told Al-Monitor. "The people we met with in Washington reassured the Lebanese members of parliament that there is no need for any Lebanese tense reactions or concerns.

Lebanese parliament Speaker Nabih Berri championed the idea to send a delegation to Washington. On Jan. 16, he called on a number of parliamentarians representing major parliamentary blocs, and discussed the need to spare Lebanon any negative effects from the mentioned act and learn from US officials about Washingtons orientation regarding Lebanon and Hezbollah in the future.

The delegation met with, among many others, US Assistant Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon; Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration Anne Richard; Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing Daniel Glaser; Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Near East Affairs Gerald Feierstein; and the State Department's Lebanon desk officer, Roland McKay.

Aoun said that the delegation explained "the concerns of the Lebanese government, parliament, economic figures and citizens regarding the mentioned US act, particularly the potential negative repercussions on two key and vital sectors, namely banking and remittances transferred by Lebanese citizens living abroad to their families in Lebanon."

He added, "We told those that we met with that any potential damage to our banking sector, or any restrictions on those remittances  which amount to about $7.5 billion per year  would lead to a financial and economic disaster in Lebanon that would turn into a security catastrophe and a total collapse of the Lebanese state.

Aoun said US officials seemed to clearly understand the concerns. They assured delegation members that there is latitude in how the act will be implemented, and the United States will take the Lebanese delegations remarks into account during that process and respond to its concerns.

Delegation members, Aoun said, felt a definite intent in Washington "to increase pressure on Hezbollah and escalate confrontation between the United States and Hezbollah.

The members considered several possible reasons behind the US position. They include Washington's commitment to its alliance with Israel, its desire to reduce the Iranian influence, even after the US-Iranian [nuclear] agreement, or to take into consideration [US ties with] Saudi Arabia, especially following the deal between Iran and the West," Aoun said.

Speaking about Saudi Arabia, Aoun revealed that the US officials seemed very annoyed by Riyadhs decision to halt the financial donation to the Lebanese army on Feb. 19.

According to Aoun, the delegation recognized several possible reasons the United States would resent the Saudi decision.

First is that Washington is keen to support the Lebanese army, especially at the current stage, in the face of any terrorist threats to Lebanon," Aoun said. "Second is that the United States was concerned with part of the commercial contracts emanating from the Saudi donation, as to the purchase of US weapons for the Lebanese army. The contracts that Washington lost amounted to $1 billion out of the $4 billion Saudi donation.

"Third is that the lack of armament will force Washington to raise its aid to the Lebanese army to compensate part of what the army has lost due to the Saudi decision and because it is keen to maintain the armys readiness in the face of terrorism.

Nevertheless, the United States doesn't seem to consider the general political situation in Lebanon a US priority, even though there has been a presidential vacancy in Lebanon since May 25, 2014, Aoun said.

"The US officials were keen not to dwell on the details of the Lebanese political crisis. They stressed that Lebanons security and stability is their greatest concern, but that the rest of the issues  whether the presidency, government and parliamentary elections, which were obstructed even prior to the presidential vacuum  are the responsibility of the Lebanese people.

It seems the Lebanese members of parliament themselves were aware of this reality. They mainly limited their discussions in Washington to sparing Lebanon any collateral damages from the US war on Hezbollah. However, they are aware that the other Lebanese issues are linked to other conflicts that are no less virulent, including the fierce conflict between Riyadh and Tehran and the many struggles among the Lebanese themselves.

In addition to Aoun, who represented the Change and Reform Bloc led by Christian majority leader Gen. Michel Aoun, the Lebanese delegation consisted of parliamentarian Yassine Jaber representing the Shiite Amal Movement that is led by Berri, and members of parliament Mohammad Kabbani, Robert Fadel and Bassem el-Chab, who all represent the Future Movement led by Sunni majority leader Saad Hariri.

The delegation's busy agenda during the visit also included meetings with officials in charge of the Lebanese dossier at the Pentagon and National Security Council (NSC). Moreover, a meeting was held at the White House with the NSC's directors for Middle East affairs, counterterrorism and international economic affairs.

In addition, the delegates met with members of relevant congressional committees, such as Daniel Donovan, Ted Yoho, Mark Meadows, Richard L. Hanna, Darrell Issa, Matt Salmon, Betty McCollum and David Cicilline, and with senior officials of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the American Task Force for Lebanon and many others.
March 3, 2016

The news of Moroccan King Mohammed VIs decision not to host the 2016 Arab League summit passed under the radar of Israeli politicians and media. Seemingly, it is an internal Arab issue. Why would Israel care that the Moroccan Foreign Ministry thinks theres no point in another banal event to analyze the bitter situation of divergences and divisions among members of the Arab League? So what if Morocco thinks it would be a waste of time to hear speeches that give a false impression of unity and make meaningless reaffirmations of prior decisions? What does it have to do with us Israelis? Well, it does have something to do with us. More to the point, it should have had to do with us.

One of those prior decisions brought forward for reaffirmation at such Arab League summits is the one approved at the 2002 meeting in Beirut accepting the Saudi-brokered Arab Peace Initiative. The resolution on the initiative has been reaffirmed at every summit since, calling for peace and normalization with Israel in exchange for withdrawal from territory occupied in 1967, the creation of a sustainable Palestinian state and a just and agreed-upon resolution of the refugee problem on the basis of UN Resolution 194. Although no Israeli government over the past 14 years has even bothered to hold a debate on the initiative, the summit has nonetheless reconfirmed it year after year. Also of note, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation has never retracted its decision to adopt the initiative.

The loss of faith in an opportunity to revive bilateral negotiations with the Palestinians under the leadership of President Mahmoud Abbas has once again made a regional approach fashionable, after it first emerged at the Madrid summit 25 years ago. Usually, suggestions to invite the leaders of moderate Arab nations to join Palestinian leaders around the negotiation table are accompanied by plans to duplicate the 2005 unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip.

At the diplomatic conference of the Labor Party last month, Chairman Isaac Herzog presented the idea of convening a regional security summit. According to him, such a gathering could bring about regional cooperation, isolate Hamas and the Islamic State (IS) and address the problem of Gaza. Herzog said, Only separation between us and them [the Palestinians] would encourage moderate Arab nations to come talk with us about regional cooperation.

In June 2015, Yair Lapid, chairman of Yesh Atid, had suggested a regional conference as an alternative to bilateral talks with the Palestinians. The only way to achieve the two-state-solution is to give up on direct talks and manage the negotiations through a regional conference supported by the United States, claimed Lapid. If today theres no proposal on the table that the two sides could accept, we should turn to the Arab League  to create a regional summit.  There is no Palestinian leader  and there wont be one in the foreseeable future  who could delve into the necessary compromises. On the Israeli side, too, a commitment to the principle of two states is currently declared only with weak language. Like Herzog, the former minister of finance suggested that in tandem with the regional process, Israel should begin a process of unilateral separation from the Palestinians.

A year before that, in June 2014 at a conference in Herzliya, Avigdor Liberman, leader of Yisrael Beitenu, had said, Whats most important to Israel is not to be an isolated island of growth, but to create alliances and dialogues. But here in this region we are an isolated island, and today theres a big opportunity to establish a regional agreement.

In his scenario, Liberman, then the foreign minister, went so far as to envision including Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia in a regional arrangement. The fact that we could get on a plane and fly to Riyadh or Doha, it would be a totally different reality, he said. Its much more important to achieve agreement with those nations, and the agreement with the Palestinians must be only part of it.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu isnt missing from the list of regional peace advocates. In May 2015, he said that Israels common interests with Arab nations against Iran create opportunities to advance alliances and perhaps even advance peace. Even earlier, in July 2009, Netanyahu had called on Arab nations to advance the Arab Peace Initiative to achieve a comprehensive, regional peace. On that occasion, an event commemorating Egypt's National Day at the Egyptian ambassadors residence in Herzliya, Netanyahu also said that he was pleased with relations between Israel and Egypt, but I think we could take them even further. Well work to reach regional peace soon. In the meantime, Netanyahu worked to advance the construction of thousands of housing units in the West Bank, thus sabotaging the chances of creating a sustainable Palestinian state and realizing the Arab Peace Initiative.

The cancellation of the Marrakesh summit is sad news for those Israelis who recognize the unique opportunity in the Arab Leagues peace initiative. The king of Moroccos unusual decision symbolizes the erosion of the Arab League's status since the Arab Spring. The internal conflicts within the Arab and Muslim worlds around the war in Syria, the strengthening of IS and the instability in Iraq, Libya and Yemen have pushed the Palestinian problem to the margins of the Arab and Muslim agenda. In contrast, the there is no partner for negotiations camp, for whom the Arab Peace Initiative represents a threat to the Israeli-Palestinian status quo, can breathe a slight sigh of relief.

The downfall of the Arab Peace Initiative has many authors: Israeli leaders, who clung to the paradigm of bilateral feet-dragging (stalling any advancement toward a renewal of talks); Palestinian leaders, who sacrifice the public interest to sustain the Palestinian Authority; the international community, which doesnt dare to think outside the old diplomatic box; and Arab countries, which have failed at marketing their initiative to the Israeli public.

Seven years ago, in July 2009, Bahraini Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa published an op-ed in the Washington Post titled The Arabs Should Talk with the Israelis. He argued, In order to achieve peace, we should do more. There is nothing left but to hope that the road there remains open.
March 3, 2016

Writing an article about a Palestinian prisoner held in Israeli administrative detention means walking a thin line. Such prisoners are detained by the Israeli security establishment without an indictment or a trial date. In some ways, this author is quite like the prisoner, his lawyers, his family and his friends. Neither he nor they know the reason for the arrest, or what intelligence was gathered against the suspect to lead the Shin Bet to conclude that he was involved in planning a terrorist attack. And there is an even more daunting question: Why did the authorities decide to use administrative detention, a controversial tool by any standard, rather than a more transparent criminal procedure, which would allow the courts to rule on it?

Over the past few years, I was asked on more than one occasion by my editors to interview and write about several notable administrative detainees, some of whom attained fame (or at least notoriety) because of their long hunger strikes. At the time, I had no real way of knowing if they were "ticking time bombs" with knowledge of an imminent terror attack, as the security forces claimed (and whose arrests could then be justified under international law as a last resort necessary to prevent an attack). The other option would be that Israel chose this tool because it lacked solid evidence, which would lead to an indictment and conviction in court.

The fact is that all of the administrative detainees who made hunger strikes over the past few years, including Khader Adnan in 2015, Samer Issawi in 2013 and Muhammad al-Kik in 2016, became heroes of the Palestinian struggle by forcing the Israeli authorities to reach an arrangement with them. And what a surprise! As soon as that happened, they were no longer considered security risks, and certainly not ticking time bombs. So were they really such a threat before their arrests?

Today, the administrative detainee in the international spotlight is Mohammed Abu Sakha.

Abu Sakha, 24, is unlike any of the other administrative detainees, who are now household names in Palestinian communities. He is not a political figure, not a cleric (like Adnan) and not even a journalist who is allegedly connected in some way or another to incitement leading to terrorist attacks (like al-Kik). Abu Sakha is a Palestinian circus performer, but the Shin Bet claims that he is also a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). His friends think the idea is ludicrous, saying that the only group that Abu Sakha might belong to is the PFLC (Popular Front for the Liberation of the Circus). His friends and lawyers also point out that the security forces didnt even have to search for him so that they could arrest him on the basis of accumulated intelligence. He was detained at a checkpoint in December, during a random spot check of the taxi he was in. Abu Sakha was removed from the cab and taken straight to administrative detention. He is still in detention now.

Abu Sakha is a bachelor who attended the Palestinian Circus School in Bir Zeit. He graduated and became a circus performer five years ago and took a position teaching at the school. He has since performed throughout the West Bank and overseas, and even worked with teens and adults with special needs. He was driving back to the school from his parents house in Jenin when he was arrested.

A representative of the Israeli security forces was reported to have responded, Abu Sakha was arrested because of intelligence about his recent activities on behalf of the Popular Front. Given the risk that Abu Sakha poses to security in the region and the lack of any alternative, the Shin Bets recommendation to place him under administrative detention was relayed to the military commander of the region.

His friends and colleagues at the Palestine Circus School told Al-Monitor that only after they learned that he would not be released any time soon did they decide to initiate an international protest. They are condemning what they call the arbitrary arrest of a circus artist who spends all his time learning, teaching, practicing and volunteering on behalf of the community. The last thing anyone could attribute to him is a terrorist attack, said one of his friends on condition of anonymity. When would he even have time for that?

Public protests against Abu Sakhas detention have been gathering momentum every day. Its snowballing, said another of his friends who did not want his name divulged, adding that dozens of circus performers around the world have been joining them every day to protest the arrest. We approached circuses with whom we performed in the past, he tells Al-Monitor. Abu Sakha studied for a while with the Lido Center of Circus Arts in Toulouse. It immediately joined the cause.

One thing that Abu Sakhas friends have done is create a Facebook page where circus artists from around the world can post their creative protests. During street performances of pogo stick jumping or other acrobatic routines, they have all been raising signs that say, Free Abu Sakha! Some of them have also posted video clips from their own circuses. American recording artist David Rovics wrote a song about him, too: He could have been a fighter, as so many others did.  Instead he joined a circus troupe to warm the aching hearts. Sometimes the hula hoop is the best way to play your part. And his only crime was making children happy. Amnesty International has issued an urgent call for his release.

Israeli human rights activist Hanita-Caroline Handelman is one of the people leading the fight for Abu Sakhas freedom. This week, she organized a demonstration by Israeli circus performers outside Megiddo Prison, where he is being held. We put on a spontaneous show in the prison parking lot, she told Al-Monitor. It was funny to see the circus performers who came to demonstrate sending [juggling sticks] flying over the heads of the guards.

During the demonstration, Handelman used a megaphone to apologize to Abu Sakha about the arrest. She told him that she wanted to visit him in prison, but that the Prison Service prevented her from doing so. I want you to know that I didnt come because they wouldnt let me, she said.

The organizers of the protest are now planning a huge demonstration by circus performers in London later this month. If Abu Sakha is not released after that, the protests are to spread to other capitals across Europe.

Given the nature of administrative detention, there is no way of knowing how serious the charges against Abu Sakha really are. Nevertheless, one thing is absolutely certain: If he does meet the definition of a ticking time bomb, if there is real evidence that he was involved in terrorism on behalf of the Popular Front, it would be best to charge him in a court of law, if only to avoid international protests. After all, these only damage Israels international reputation.
March 2, 2016

DAMASCUS, Syria  A precarious calm descended on the Syrian capital for the first time in five years after a cease-fire agreement went into effect Feb. 27 at midnight. The cease-fire crowned a deal brokered by the United States and Russia, opening the way for political negotiations. The calm stood in stark contrast to political tensions between Syria and Russia and the opposition's anger following President Bashar al-Assad's announcement Feb. 22 for parliamentary elections to be held April 13.

Assad's call for elections, coming hours after announcement of the cease-fire agreement, contradicted the agreement's planned phases for a political settlement of the Syrian crisis. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Feb. 24 that Russia will vigorously insist that elections take place with the consent of both the opposition and the government after the adoption of a new constitution. I would like to emphasize that Russia is fully committed to the agreements on the content and stages of the political process of resolving the Syrian crisis in accordance with the decisions of the International Syrian Support Group (ISSG) and Resolution 2254 of the UN Security Council, the TASS news agency quoted Zakharova as saying.

Zakharova's statement prompted the Syrian governments media adviser, Bouthaina Shaaban, to address the issue with the Russian media Feb. 24 during a Valdai Discussion Club meeting in Moscow. The parliamentary elections in Syria are being held in compliance with the constitution. They are a constitutional procedure with which the government must proceed, Shaaban said according to SANA, the official Syrian news agency. The constitution requires that elections be held every four years, the previous balloting taking place in 2012.

Among the Syrian opposition, some groups support holding elections, while many oppose it. The National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces has not issued an official statement on the matter. Hassan Abdel Azim, general coordinator of the opposition National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change (NCC), told Al-Watan on Feb. 24, The election decree is a wrong step taken at the wrong time and is not in line with the US-Russian agreement and the international communitys efforts to resolve the Syrian crisis politically. The coordinating committee will not participate in these elections.

NCC spokesman Munther Khaddam told Al-Monitor, The parliamentary elections are nothing but a farce of no value through which the regime is trying to say that it runs a state governed by a constitution and laws, while the majority of the Syrian people know that [the regime] is primarily responsible for the destruction of this country. Khaddam further said, As a coordinating committee, we will not accept any election that is not in the context of the political solution as stated in UN Resolution 2254 and in other international understandings on Syria. The coordinating committee will boycott the elections and will call on all of its supporters and all Syrians to boycott them as well.

Rima Flihan, a writer and human rights activist, said, The announcement of the elections at this particular time  during which major efforts are being deployed to reach a political solution  represents a defiance of international resolutions. It expresses the regimes intention of noncompliance with the political transition that aims to save the rest of the country and paves the way for all Syrians to build a home again.

Flihan considers the call for elections an arrogant step designed to raise the morale of the regime's loyalists. She told Al-Monitor, When the international will is ready to impose serious negotiations leading to a full cease-fire  giving way to a transitional phase and providing a real breakthrough on the humanitarian issue  there is no meaning or value for such steps [i.e., the parliamentary elections].

Among other opposition members, Anas Joudeh, head of the National Building Movement, told Al-Monitor, The importance of the elections lies in the fact that they give the impression that the Syrian state is still operating, and this is particularly important and necessary today. However, this does not mean the electoral process is perfect, nor are its circumstances good. The electoral law was supposed to be amended to hold elections based on proportional representation in the open electoral lists [system] and provide more time to prepare for the elections.

Joudeh stressed that the call for elections is intended to send a political message to foreign actors rather than to domestic players. Thus, no one in the government took into consideration the pent-up frustrations waiting to explode.

Rima Sawah, a central committee member of the opposition Syria Homeland Party, told Al-Monitor, We hope the elections are postponed until the situation in Syria improves to give all citizens the chance to participate ... especially since numerous areas remain outside state control and many citizens have left Syria. Elections are a right and a duty for everyone, and we believe in the necessity of effective participation. We hope to take advantage of the truce to give citizens in all areas the chance to participate in the elections.

Sawah further said, Holding the elections in this way is contrary to UN Security Council Resolution 2254, but [regardless] the party believes that [the decision belongs] to the Syrian people alone, not any foreign countries or UN resolutions, to determine the country's future.

Sawah said that despite having concerns, the Syria Homeland Party has faith in the elections. In politics, it is stupid to blindly trust others. Certainly some parties will try to manipulate the elections, but we will deploy all endeavors to expose them, she said.

Parliamentary elections in Syria are held every four years. The 2012 elections were the first held after the Council of Ministers promulgated a law in August 2011 allowing the formation of political parties and the establishment of a proportional representation system for the legislature. Before that, all parliamentarians were affiliated with the ruling Baath Party.

As the cease-fire tenuously continues, the Syrian government is hurriedly preparing for elections. Government committees in the various provinces where the regime remains in control received candidates' registrations until the door to apply closed March 1.
March 3, 2016

The United States must ramp up its support for Tunisia and press for a political settlement in neighboring Libya if the fledgling democracy is to succeed, employers federation president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Ouided Bouchamaoui told Al-Monitor.

Bouchamaoui has been sharing that message with US and international officials this week during a whirlwind visit to Washington at the invitation of the World Bank and the International Republican Institute. She said solving the crisis in Libya would solve 80% of Tunisia's problems by improving security and allowing its economy to take off.

"It's chaos in Libya. People are crossing borders without any control," she said. "And Tunisia is suffering because of this."

The recent terrorist attacks that have decimated the Tunisian tourism sector, she pointed out, have forced the country to further ramp up a defense and security budget that has been growing by leaps and bounds since the start of the Arab Spring. Those investments are crucial, she said, but come at the detriment of domestic social spending at a time when young Tunisians enthralled by the promise of democracy are clamoring for jobs and a shot at a better life.

"One of the main drivers of the [Jasmin] revolution was the imbalance in regional prosperity," she said, in French. "So people are expecting more investment in the regions. That's happening, of course, but a big chunk of it is being diverted to the protection of our borders  to deal with a situation we aren't even responsible for."

Bouchamaoui, the scion of a powerful family and a successful businesswoman in her own right, took over Tunisia's Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts in 2011. Two years later the organization joined with labor unionists, human rights defenders and the lawyers guild to create the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet, which won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for its efforts to pave the way for a democratic transition while the rest of the Arab Spring countries erupted in flames or reverted back to authoritarianism.

"Recognition is nice," she said. "But we need concrete support to make this transition a success."

Bouchamaoui met with Al-Monitor over lunch at a Capitol Hill cafeteria after meeting with Rep. Erik Paulsen, R-Minn., who has introduced a resolution urging the Obama administration to start negotiations over a free trade agreement with Tunisia. Bouchamaoui said such an agreement would boost Tunisian exports and improve its global standing, without causing the kinds of impacts to the US economy that are complicating passage of far more ambitious trade deals with the European Union and Pacific nations.

"We want to be a true partner of the United States," she said, "not a subcontractor."

She was also scheduled to meet with World Bank and State Department officials, as well as the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the US governments development finance institution, and the US Institute of Peace.

The plain-spoken businesswoman likewise urged the United States to offer more, longer-term higher education scholarships for young Tunisians. She pressed for more US investment in her country. And she added her voice to those asking for President Barack Obama  a fellow Nobel Prize winner, she pointed out  to make history by becoming the first sitting US president to visit Tunisia since Dwight Eisenhower during his final year in office.

"We deserve a presidential visit, frankly," she said. "We've gotten visits from heads of state from the world over since the revolution."
Alabama attorney Alexander Shunnarah has been billed as 'The Master of Marketing' among trial attorneys.

(Levin Papantonio Thomas Mitchell Rafferty & Proctor, P.A.)

You see attorney Alexander Shunnarah's image seemingly everywhere when driving throughout Alabama and neighboring states these days.

Shunnarah, who leads one of the region's top personal injury law firms with the catchphrase "Let me be your attorney," is on more than 2,000 billboards and thousands of TV commercials and other ads that run in the region, in fact.

But you haven't seen Alexander Shunnarah like this: a cartoon drawing of the Birmingham-based attorney that accompanies a national trade magazine profile on his marketing expertise. The article in The Trial Lawyer Magazine, is titled, "The Master of Marketing." The profile notes how since opening his law firm in 2001 Shunnarah has grown it to include 17 offices in four states with 24 areas of practice and 60 attorneys.

"Building a brand...a real brand...takes a minimum of 10 years of constant daily marketing," Shunnarah said in the magazine. "To build your law firm and your brand, you must completely devote yourself - it must be your work and your hobby."

A Birmingham native and UAB graduate who received his J.D. degree from the Birmingham School of Law, Shunnarah started out, according to a report from AL.com's Kent Faulk, with just one legal assistant and no advertising besides handing out business cards to family and friends and fellow church members.

"As the firm grew, we got into television, social media, search engine optimization," Shunnarah told AL.com. "I go with my gut and my instincts and it's been very successful for us."

His practice involves two different firms, all bearing his name. Shunnarah owns the original firm based in Birmingham, covering North Alabama, and is majority owner of Alexander Shunnarah & Associates which began in January 2014 to cover the coastal regions of Alabama, Florida and Mississippi.

Shunnarah, according to Faulk, learned sales and marketing from his now-retired father, Fred Shunnarah.

"My dad is just a self-entrepreneur," Shunnarah said. "He started as a dry goods salesman. That was before there were the Wal-Marts of the world."

Shunnarah says his father saved money and wound up owning grocery stores, convenience stories, restaurants, car stereo shops and a news stand.

"There was a time when he had 13 or 14 businesses at one time," Shunnarah said. "When I was 10 years old dad started taking me to the flea market with him every weekend," Shunnarah said.

At times, reported Faulk, Shunnarah's father would leave him at the flea market table by himself.

"He would say ' I want you to sell me $50 before I come back ... It quickly made me a people person in terms of just talking to people and learning to negotiate and bargain."

Shunnarah will also be a keynote speaker this spring's The Mass Torts Made Perfect Conference in Las Vegas, sharing some of his secrets to building and marketing a law firm.
Dynetics Technical Services (DTS) in Huntsville is competing as a potential subcontractor for a contract at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.

Dynetics Technical Services. (dts-dynetics.com)

The wholly-owned subsidiary of Dynetics formed in 2010 after winning the Marshall Information Technology Services (MITS) contract. Dynetics spokeswoman Janet Pickens said the contract has reached the end of its performance and a competition is underway to select a prime contractor for the new contract.

"Dynetics is part of this competition as a potential subcontractor and is waiting to hear the government's decision with regards to the award of this contract," Pickens said.

The company, which won the 2015 Small Business Prime Contractor of the Year Award from NASA, recently appeared on the state of Alabama's Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) list, which is updated regularly with closures and layoffs. The WARN notice said 339 DTS employees would be affected.

Pickens said issuing a WARN notice is required by law and a normal part of the contract renewal process.

"Everyone is still working at MSFC on the current contract and will continue to do so until the new contract is awarded," she said. "We expect the award will be in the next few months, based on what the government says. Then these employees will transition to the new contract. We certainly expect to continue to work with NASA in this area."

Most DTS positions are full-time, ranging from IT and telecommunications to applications, computing and audio information services.

In March 2015, DTS announced it was awarded a sole source extension modification to the MITS contract, valued at $59.3 million. The extension through Jan. 31 included management, IT security, policy, planning, architecture, innovation, help desk, integration, telecommunications, data center, computing and audiovisual information services.

The MITS modification brought the total contract value to $393.5 million.
A fast-growing hotel brand with Spanish roots will be the first tenant to break ground this year at CityCentre at Big Spring in downtown Huntsville.

A guest room at AC Hotels by Marriott in Miami Beach. (achotels.marriott.com)

AC Hotels by Marriott will anchor the $100 million mixed-use project across from Big Spring International Park and the Von Braun Center. The 150-room facility will begin taking shape in May/June and be run by Yedla Management Company, which owns and operates Starwood, Marriott and Hilton franchises.

Huntsville-based RCP Companies is the master developer of the former Holiday Inn property razed in early 2015 to make way for the multi-phase complex. Odie Fakhouri, RCP's new director of acquisitions and asset management, said CityCentre will showcase "cutting edge, high-tech living" in a comfortable, low-tech atmosphere with retail, food and outdoor amenities.

"It's utilitarian and beautiful, and it coincides with our commitment to create new experiences in Huntsville," he said. "Our partnership with Yedla and AC Hotels Marriott reinforces this commitment."

The name of the hotel was revealed Thursday during a Huntsville City Council work session. Leaders say it will be the 10th U.S. location for AC Hotels, a global joint venture with Spanish hotelier Antonio Catalan.

RCP spokeswoman Lindsay Harper said AC Hotels develops custom facilities that are European-inspired and modern at a smart value, meaning guests won't pay for things they don't need. The design-led hotel offers "Select Service," which includes a staffed lounge with waiters but no room service.

The AC Hotels website said guests can also look forward to modern rooms, an AC Lounge area, kitchen with self-serve European fare, Wi-Fi everywhere, mobile check-in and check-out, and a 24-hour fitness center. Floor plans and square footage for the Huntsville location are still subject to final design, Fakhouri said.

Judy Ryals, president and CEO of the Huntsville/Madison County Convention & Visitors Bureau, said AC Hotels by Marriott will add to the momentum CityCentre has created since first announcing its plan for downtown Huntsville in 2014.

"AC Hotels by Marriott will be a part of the innovative and much anticipated CityCentre development project and will be very attractive to all travelers and convention attendees," she said. "These additional rooms in close proximity to the Von Braun Center will help Huntsville attract larger conventions for an even broader economic impact."

CityCentre as a whole will feature approximately 50,000 square feet of retail, upscale homes, structured/street-level parking, and regional and local cuisine. It will also have pedestrian crossings, bike pathways, walkways and a linear park that connects visitors to Big Spring Park, the VBC, Twickenham Square, medical district and other nearby properties.

A Central Food Hall + Market will operate in the heart of CityCentre with a collection of concepts, including:

Best of local and regional chefs and artisans

Communal tables and counters

Specialty cuisines with homegrown appeal

Local art and music

Stalls to sell goods

Outdoor component

Pennsylvania-based planning firm Urban Design Associates is partnering with RCP on CityCentre. RCP, which is also working on a plan to revitalize Madison Square Mall, currently has more than $500 million in projects under construction or in pre-development in Alabama and Georgia.

Fakhouri said the city is not providing any incentives toward construction of the hotel but is supporting the project. He said the Central Food Hall + Market will be the main avenue of activity at the site, which will feature a second hotel to be named at a later time.

Srinath Yedla, CEO of Yedla Management Company, said the custom-designed AC Hotels by Marriott in Huntsville "will embody the unique look and vibe of the city."
Shape Corp. will break ground this morning on a new injection molding and roll forming operation in Athens.

The company will join local leaders at 11 a.m. at the 34-acre site at Breeding Industrial Park on 120 Roy Long Road West. The $24 million facility will employ 170 workers over two phases of the project.

Shape Corp. Chairman and CEO Gary Verplank will attend the ceremony with company President Bob Currier and marketing communications specialist John Keen. Representatives with the City of Athens, Tennessee Valley Authority, Limestone County Commission, Alabama Department of Commerce, Limestone County Economic Development Association and JESCO Construction will participate.

Michigan-based Shape Corp. serves the automotive, office furniture, medical, agriculture and other industries in North America, Europe and Asia. The company looked at sites west of Athens and in Tennessee before landing on Breeding Industrial Park.
Building 09/29/10

Taps and a glass representing the four working breweries in Alabama are shown at The J. Clyde in Birmingham, Ala., on Sept. 29, 2010. ( Beverly Taylor/The Birmingham News )

(Beverly Taylor)

The J. Clyde is the best beer bar in Alabama, according to CraftBeer.com.

The Birmingham bar's 60 taps and two casks earned the state's top honor on the site, which is a publication of the Brewer's Association. It also boasts more than 200 beers in bottles and cans.

CraftBeer.com asked its readers to nominate their favorite craft beer bar and fill out a survey about it, evaluating atmosphere, staff, beer selection and special events. More than 9,000 votes were cast from August to December 2015.

Jerry Hartley opened the J. Clyde in 2007 when Alabama still had a 6 percent legal limit. It has been central to Birmingham's beer scene so far, and now Hartley is planning to open a brewpub of his own in Five Points South - an ambition he's had since opening the J. Clyde.

"The most unique aspect of our restaurant is that the passion of the Brewer is served in every glass," A J. Clyde representative said in the article. "We can't assume to be in the head of every brewer out there, but if we stick to proper glassware, attention to detail, quality product, clean draught lines with a good atmosphere and servers who care about what is in your glass, that's important."
A new, local doughnut shop should be opening soon in Birmingham.

Hero Doughnuts, from Birmingham chef Wil Drake, will introduce its French brioche pastry-style doughnuts at a pop-up event on Saturday, March 12, at 10 a.m. at Seasick Records, 5508 Crestwood Blvd.

In the meantime, Drake and his partner, local photographer Jason Wallis, are looking for a permanent location for a doughnut shop in or near Birmingham's central business district.

Hero Doughnuts are made with organic, seasonal and locally sourced ingredients whenever possible, Drake said in a media release.

"We want to use the highest-quality, most locally sourced ingredients we can, but that's not what we want the customer to be focused on," Drake said. "At the end of the day, it's a doughnut, and we want to give people the best tasting one out there."

Along with chef Roscoe Hall, Drake created Knife Party, an exclusive supper club that hosts invitation-only pop-up dinners throughout Birmingham.

For the past several months, Drake said he has also been exploring new techniques for making doughnuts.

Wallis, a photographer and commercial director for Wallis Visuals, said he has been waiting for the right opportunity to support Drake's culinary career.

"I have watched Wil's career for several years and have always been impressed with the boldness of his flavor pairings and his interest in a food genre's history," Wallis said. "So when Wil told me he wanted to make doughnuts, I knew they would be doughnuts people would drive miles to eat. I said, 'Let's make it happen.'"

The name "Hero Doughnuts" is a salute to those who share the doughnut love, Wallis said.

"The heroes are the employees that bring a box in to work to brighten up a Thursday morning, or the dad who takes his kids by the store so Mom can have a few minutes of quiet, or the friend who gathers a group for a spontaneous afternoon treat," he said.

Birmingham's Lewis Communications created the branding and package design for Hero Doughnuts.
I didn't see too many stars growing up on the dirty south coast. (Unless you count the time I told a stranger that beards went out with ethics and steam engines. I fully deserved that punch to the face. Wherever you are friend, I'm sorry.) Coming to New Mexico was like moving to the top of the worldyou could reach right up and get a first-degree burn from one of those pretty little balls of fire and gas. The Albuquerque Astronomical Society is celebrating our starscape with a public star party the day before Daylight Savings Time . Featuring a star wheel activity in the lobby, a screening of Neil deGrasse Tyson's Cosmos in the media room and TAAS telescopes of all sizes and types on the east back patio. Featured speaker, Barry Spletzer, will give a talk on "The Science of Astrology" in the Kiva conference room at 7pm . The event is free and open to any star-crazy astro-freaks out there looking for a good time. (Joshua Lee)

Activities relating to stars and a viewing of the stars with telescopes provided by TAAS.

Albuquerque will co-host a public star party! As this event occurs the day before Daylight Saving Time begins, observation opportunities benefit from an earlier dark sky. Shop in the Open Space Gift Shop  special hours for the event. Ongoing In the media room, the outstanding series "Cosmos" with Neil deGrasse Tyson will be running all evening. A star wheel activity for young and old alike in the lobby--a take-away that can be used in the actual night skies outside to locate constellations. 6:00 pm Sunset. TAAS telescopes of all sizes on the back patio to give visitors views of the stars of the spring skies 7:00 pm Barry Spletzer on The Science of Astrology conference room. Guaranteed to entertain and educate. On the back patio, TAAS telescopes of all sizes and types will be gathered to give visitors outstanding views of the stars of the early spring skies. Observations on the menu: the Moon as a waxing crescent, Jupiter and its moons, a touch of Uranus and many galaxies, nebulae and other deep sky objects. Please dress in layers for the chilly evening weather, red light headlamps or flashlights to find your way while preserving night vision, and a sense of curiosity and wonder!
Chinese president grows in stature as a number of online videos, all promoting his character, go viral.

President Xi Jinping likes campaigns.

The one he launched against corruption more than three years ago went down well with the public who have enjoyed the daily spectacle of disgraced cadres and business executives being dragged before the courts like common criminals. Many of them pictures of contrived contrition.

Now the president appears to have a new campaign in mind which he hopes will be just as popular: party loyalty. It could well be put to the test at the National Peoples Congress, the annual gathering of Chinas rubber-stamp parliament now conveying in Beijing.

On one day last month Xi made the rounds of state media, popping into the headquarters of the China Daily, Chinese Central Television and the Xinhua news agency.

The journalists could barely contain their glee as they queued up to have their photographs taken with him. Amid the adulation, the Supreme Editor in Chief delivered some breaking news of his own.

He reminded them that their loyalty first and foremost was to the party. He didnt mention the millions of readers and viewers these news outlets are supposed to serve.

WATCH: Hunting tigers and flies: Chinas media crackdown

Professor Andrew Nathan, a political scientist at Columbia University, who follows China closely, says Xis strategy left no ambiguity

His purpose there was to say the media have to fall in line with the central party, which means him, Nathan said.





That no dissent is allowed in the media. That people who think there should be some professional journalistic ethic about independence and telling the truth do not understand the function of media which is to promulgate the party line to the people.

Online the sycophancy has gone into overdrive.

If you want to marry, marry someone like Xi Dada [uncle]

This is a lyric to a song which has gone viral on the internet. The libretto doesnt exactly roll off the tongue and one senses the heavy hand of the propaganda department.

If you want to marry, marry someone like Xi Dada who is decisive in acts and is serious in [all his] work; no matter [whether] its flies or tigers, monsters or freaks he will get them down and never let it go.

This passage alludes to Xis anti-corruption campaign, and the 750,000 officials  of all ranks  who have so far been punished.

Not to be left out, the state news agency, Xinhua, has turned to hip-hop. It recently released a cartoon video extolling party slogans.

Again they need to work on the lyrics. Its everyones dream to build a moderately prosperous society comprehensively 

OPINION: Curbing Chinese corruption

Professor Nathan says the videos are aimed at enhancing Xis image as a calm and confident leader.

He is creating a cult of personality around himself. He is dominating the media. He is putting out a sort of Maoist line of leadership where everyone has to line up with him.

Nathan believes Xi is now arguably the strongest leader the country has had since Chairman Mao. Quite an achievement for a president regarded as a reformer when he took power more than three years ago.

Last week Xi ordered the Communist partys eight million members to study Maos 1949 guidelines on party discipline. In January Chinas top presidential aide Li Zhanshu proclaimed that all Communist party agencies of ministerial level and above must have absolute loyalty to the party.

The president has also been zeroing in on the military after announcing sweeping reforms last year that amount to the biggest overhaul of the Peoples Liberation Army. More than once since coming to office he has felt compelled to remind his top generals that allegiance to the party transcends all else.
Released from jail on bail, student leader Kanhaiya Kumar delivers impassioned speech about what freedom means in India.

New Delhi, India  Freedom cries are back in the embattled campus of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), which has been at the centre of a nationalism debate after a few of its students were slapped with sedition charges.

Kanhaiya Kumar, head of JNUs student union, was arrested last month for alleged sedition in a case that led to mass protests and accusations the government was trying to stifle free speech.

On Thursday, after being released from prison on a six-month bail, he delivered an hour-long impassioned speech at the JNU campus laced with powerful sloganeering.

READ MORE: India student leader calls for freedom in moving speech

Kumar, who received a heros welcome by students and faculty members, seemed to have lost none of his lung power during his 20-day prison stay and a trial that also involved him being beaten up within the courts premises.

In front of more than 4,000 people, he spoke at length about freedom, caste and class divide with an idealism that seemed to disarm his audience.

It was as if the students of JNU, supported by the teaching staff, had decided to teach their countrymen a few lessons:

1. Freedom in and not from India

While explaining the slogans shouted at the controversial event of February 9  when students held a rally to mark the anniversary of the execution of a Kashmiri separatist  Kumar scoffed at those who argued for sedition charges to be brought against them.

He also took a dig at how the narrative of that fateful evening was misrepresented by sections of the media who devoted hours of prime time on telecasting videos, whose authenticity is now being questioned.

New Delhi protest: Thousands call for students freedom

Some news networks had even branded those arrested as anti-nationals and terrorists even before any official probe had begun.

Most Indian news channels, barring a few notable exceptions, carried Kumars speech live on Thursday night.

2. The difference between political and social democracy

During his speech, Kumar mounted a severe critique of the national government and its heavy-handed clampdown against students.

He said students in the campus have been fighting against the cuts in research fellowships by the Ministry of Human Resource and Development, arguing that they have now reaped what they sowed: by criticising Minister Smriti Irani.





Kumar, who hails from a lower middle class family with a monthly income of under $50, said this was part of a larger struggle for students across India to get access to quality education.

He repeatedly invoked the name of Rohith Vemula, a Dalit (lowest in the Indian caste strata) student, who killed himself in January this year, after he was suspended from the Hyderabad university, in a case some have blamed on caste-related discrimination.

Kumar said that, in contrast to those who pay mere lip-service to the ideals of the Indian constitution, he and other JNU students had complete faith in the tenets of samaanta (equality), samaajwaad (socialism) and dharm nirpekshta (secularism) enshrined therein.

This, he said, was true social democracy.

3. Nationalism

A doctoral student at JNU, Kumar also tried to explain the difference between rallying against the state and rallying against the country.

He said when students in the campus shout slogans for Azaadi (freedom), they are urging for freedom against bhookhmari (hunger), manuvaad (the laws of Manu which laid down the strictures of caste system) and jaativaad (caste discrimination).

Indias caste system is perhaps the worlds longest surviving social hierarchy and any discussion around it evokes polarised responses.

On Thursday, Kumar also charged that the student group is being targeted over its ideological differences with the Hindu-nationalist umbrella group, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), to which the ruling party owes its allegiance.

The sons of farmers are dying in the fields as well as on the borders while some people are trying to create a false divide between the two, he said.

The supporters of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party have said the alleged anti-national slogans raised by students in the university in Delhi were an insult to Indian soldiers and martyrs.

4. Communication divide

In a candid admission of the failures of JNU and the larger community of the Indian intelligentsia, Kumar told the crowds that the discourse around most subjects of national concern was in a language that excluded the common citizen.

This, he stressed, was unfair and needed to change.

He emphasised how publicity messaging travels much faster with the aid of new technology ,while serious discussions remain within the fortresses of university walls.

Loud message

Through Kumar, JNU has delivered its message loud and clear.

The messengers have streamed it into every connected home  how it is going to be interpreted , however, remains to be seen.

But one thing is certainly clear.

Tthis is not the last chapter or the last lecture on the subject.
Lebanon, with a population of 4.4 million, is currently acting as host to more than one million Syrian refugees  three-quarters of whom are women and children. As a consequence, many women are now supporting their families alone for the first time in their lives.

The mass influx of Syrian refugees into Lebanon has put a severe strain on schools, hospitals and water supplies. Many refugees have exhausted their limited savings, and some have taken under-the-table jobs with low wages and poor working conditions to feed their families. The refugees also live with the constant threat of being deported back to Syria.

In the run-up to International Womens Day next week, Al Jazeera met five Syrian women who have been struggling to survive in Lebanon.
All Bangladeshis must unite to put an end to the culture of senseless deaths and disappearances.

Abdur Razzaq is a member of the English Bar and was the chief defense counsel at the War Crimes Tribunal in Bangladesh.

US President Barack Obama recently wrote an article in The New York Times on the issue of gun control in the United States. Its a passionate article, but it also shows the helplessness of the most powerful man on earth.

Obama does not expect things to change during his presidency or during this Congress, but he seeks to send this message to the American people: I will not campaign for, vote for, or support any candidate, even in my own party, who does not support common-sense gun reform. And if the 90 percent of Americans who do support common-sense gun reform joins me, we will elect the leadership we deserve.

Finally, he reminds the American people that we all have a responsibility.

Bangladesh is very different from the US, but it faces similar challenges. Each year, thousands of Americans lose their lives because of gun violence.





In the past year in Bangladesh, according to Odhikar, a Bangladeshi human rights organisation, 64 people disappeared, 185 died in extrajudicial killings, and a further 197 died in political violence.

Trivial deaths

Most of the deaths and disappearances are politically motivated. However, deaths are also occurring for non-political and trivial reasons. The perpetrators are mostly unaccountable, and the bodies are often untraceable. This ought to shame us as a nation.

The degeneration of our society is a root cause. Ours was a healthy society; ours was a caring society. In the not-too-distant past, our people used to follow certain norms in all matters  be they social or political.

There used to be checks and balances in our society, and although change has taken place in all countries, and in all societies, in Bangladesh they are distinct and startling.

READ MORE: The obligations of responsibility

The tendency is to blame the government and this is not wholly correct. While the government bears the greater part of responsibility, citizens must accept their share.

On October 31, the publisher Faisal Arefin Dipan was killed, like others in the past, in broad daylight in Aziz Supermarket. It was a shocking incident, but more shocking was Dipans fathers reaction: I dont want the trial of my sons killers as I know I wont get justice.

Such a reaction from a bereaved father was the first of its kind in Bangladesh, and it is a sad indictment on society and our governmental institutions. In the face of such dreadful violence and perceived and actual impunity, many in our society see themselves as helpless. We are not helpless, we can and must act.

Every problem has its solution; every crisis has an appropriate response. We  all Bangladeshis  should be courageous enough to find a solution. Ours was, and still is, a resilient nation. We fought against colonial powers, and we fought for democracy. The vast majority of Bangladeshis are still fighting against poverty and fighting for survival. It is this attitude that must be nurtured.

Culture of disappearances

The power of citizens is formidable; if used appropriately, this power becomes invincible. What can be nobler than trying to save the lives of innocent people, to put an end to the culture of disappearances and deaths?

There needs to be a social movement supporting the families of victims, a movement devoid of political agendas, and all Bangladeshis should pledge their support. by

We have all seen the children of victims weeping in the press. On December 5, Ridi Hossain, daughter of victim Parvez Hossain, wept in a press conference, saying: I want to go to school with Dad. Mum has no money, she cant buy me chocolate.

Ridi was too young to realise that her father would never return. It is heartbreaking to hear the family members of those disappeared pleading to those responsible to at least return the bodies. It is only the lucky ones who are afforded this courtesy.

There needs to be a social movement supporting the families of victims, a movement devoid of political agendas, and all Bangladeshis should pledge their support.

Duty to act

At the outset, we may not be successful, but even if one life is saved, or the members of one family are spared the agony of a lost father, a brother, a sister, or a close relation, our efforts would be justified.

As a nation we all share responsibility in our failure. As a nation  whether one is in the government, the opposition, or a private citizen  whatever ones station in life, we have a duty to act. We must find the courage to stand up and address the crisis that faces us all.

Let us make an appeal to the heads of all political parties not to give shelter to criminals. Let us appeal to all members of parliament, to all government functionaries, and holders of all public office, and to all those who have some influence in society. This is a national crisis, and as such it requires a national response that runs across party lines and unites our society.

Let us resolve to fight and make our country a safer and more dignified place to live for our present and future generations.

Abdur Razzaq is currently a practising barrister in the English Bar.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
It is quite rare for a day to pass without one inciting remark or another by politicians against Israels minority.

A spate of draconic new laws, policies and regulations reinforced by incitement campaigns against the Palestinian citizens of Israel and, increasingly, Jewish liberals is leading very quickly to an inversion of Israels colonial project.

If, in the past, one could say that Israel was colonising the West Bank, Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, today the governing strategies developed and deployed by Israel in these occupied areas have infiltrated and colonised the pre-1967 Jewish State as well. Indeed, the colonial leviathan is recoiling inward.

The initial assault against the veneer of liberal democracy included the current governments proposal of a new bill obligating human rights practitioners whose organisations receive foreign funding to wear tags when they participate in meetings at the Knesset or in other public venues.

Then came the incitement campaign against the combat soldier group Breaking the Silence and other human rights organisations, which have since become routine in the political landscape.

This was followed by the barring of a novel about a love affair between a Jewish woman and a Palestinian man from Israels highschool curriculum, reportedly over concerns that it could encourage intermarriage between Jews and non-Jews.

Finally, the civics curriculum in highschools is currently being revamped, and some of the basic concepts dealing with democracy are being removed only to be replaced with material that highlights Jewish identity and history.

Just the beginning

As it turns out, however, this was only the siftah. The proposed Loyalty in Culture bill, which declares that the state will only fund art that is uncritical of the Zionist project, could have been lifted directly from Stalins Soviet Union.

Drafted by Miri Regev, the minister of culture, the bill defines disloyal art as: Denying the existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state  support for an armed struggle or terror act by a hostile country or terror organisation against the State of Israel; marking Independence Day as a day of mourning; an act of vandalism or physical degradation that dishonours the countrys flag or state emblem.

Expressing any kind of support for Palestinian resistance in the West Bank and Gaza will serve as sufficient grounds for expulsion from the Knesset. by

According to film director Uri Rosenwaks, who until recently served as the chairman of the Israeli Documentary Filmmakers Forum, The lawmakers have managed to portray authors and artists who deal with issues such as human rights, occupation, and democracy as traitors.

The twisted irony is that Regev and other ministers are hoping that these very artists will criticise the new laws and regulations, because clamping down on anyone who is critical of Israeli policies gives these ministers credit among their constituency. The most dangerous thing that is currently happening is that criticism itself is increasingly being perceived as illegitimate.

This move against artists is, however, parveh  or almost benign  when compared with the hatred being directed towards Palestinian citizens of Israel, and particularly their representatives.

It is quite rare for a day to pass without one inciting remark or another by politicians and political commentators against Israels minority, which constitutes 20 percent of the population.

OPINION: In Israel, racism is the law

Hanin Zoabi, a member of Knesset, is presented in Israeli media outlets as nothing less than Satan, while her colleagues in the Joint List are routinely characterised as terrorists, a fifth column, or traitors.

Racism is so overt, frightening, and without shame that my Palestinian friends in Beersheba have stopped turning on the television.

Destined to be destroyed

Indeed, on February 29, the Knesset Constitution Committee gave preliminary approval for the Suspension Law, which bestows upon (Jewish) Knesset Members the authority to judge whether the ideology of their (Palestinian) colleagues is kosher.

And while the bills title uses the word suspension, it actually authorises the Knesset to oust representatives whose behaviour is inappropriate; namely, negating the existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state; inciting to racism; and supporting armed struggle by a hostile state or a terrorist organisation against the State of Israel.

OPINION: Israeli Labor Party adopts the apartheid mantra

Expressing any kind of support for Palestinian resistance in the West Bank and Gaza will serve as sufficient grounds for expulsion from the Knesset. The message is clear: if once formal (as opposed to real) equality was sanctioned and presented as desirable within pre-1967 Israel, today even formal equality is passe. The goal, as Israeli newspaper Haaretzs editorial claims, is a Knesset without Arabs.

And what about the Palestinian citizens inside Israel?

I recently drove to the Bedouin village Umm al-Hiran, which is destined to be destroyed and replaced by a Jewish settlement called Hiran. Residents of Umm al-Hiran are, of course citizens of Israel. A few kilometres from Umm al-Hiran, in the middle of a Jewish National Fund forest, about 30 religious families have been living in a makeshift gated community waiting patiently for the government to expel the Bedouin families from their homes.

During a recent visit to this makeshift Jewish community, I saw houses scattered around a playground and a nice kindergarten with joyful paintings on the exterior wall. Needless to say, this bucolic setting was both unnerving and surrealistic.

On the internet I found this picture of the people who are destined to dispossess the residents of Umm Al-Hiran. They are all smiling, happy; they are West Bank settlers who have returned to Israel to colonise Bedouin land. The rooster has come back home to roost.

Neve Gordon is the author of Israels Occupation, as well as The Human Right to Dominate (co-authored with Nicola Perugini).

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
A planned Israeli national park will cut deep into the agricultural land of the Palestinian village of Wallajeh.

Occupied East Jerusalem  Imad leaned over the Ein Haniya spring and dipped his face into the gushing water.

Very good! called out Imad, who did not provide a last name. Better than bottled water!

Nearby, sheep and goats grazed on green terraces as Bedouin shepherds chatted in the shade, puffing on cheap cigarettes.

Imad, himself a shepherd, makes the short trip from Wallajeh village to the spring four times a week with his sheep, as he has done for decades. The ample vegetation and availability of fresh, natural water have made it a popular spot for local Palestinian farmers.

READ MORE: Palestinian farmers endure constant war in Gaza

But this way of life is coming under threat. The area around the spring, which is on the Israeli side of the Green Line, is set to be transformed into a visitors centre for a planned Israeli national park.

The Emek Refaim park, which will cross the Refaim Valley and the Green Line and cut deep into the agricultural land of the Palestinian village of Wallajeh, will consist of hiking trails, bike routes, green space and barbecue pits.

After they finish the wall, Wallajeh will be like a prison. The wall will go all the way around, just like a prison. by Omar Hajajla, Palestinian villager from Wallajeh

Uri Rehav, district manager at the Israeli Nature and Parks Authority, said shepherds would continue to be allowed to the Ein Haniya spring in the near-term. As to the future, Rehav was uncertain, noting it would depend on whether the route of Israelis separation wall would divide Wallajeh from the spring.

In late January, Israel announced its intention to seize five dunams (5,000 square metres) of land in northern Wallajeh to build the separation wall. This will cut the village off from an additional 1,000 dunams of agricultural land, most of which would be absorbed into the Emek Refaim park.

The nearby villages of Battir and Beit Jala would lose an additional 200 dunams of their land to the Israeli park, while the Ein Haniya spring would be developed into part of a visitors centre for the park and potentially rendered inaccessible to Palestinians from Wallajeh.

After they finish the wall, Wallajeh will be like a prison. The wall will go all the way around, just like a prison, said Omar Hajajla, a resident of Wallajeh. Small or big, it will be like a prison.

READ MORE: Olive harvest in Palestine was very happy time

Already walled in to the east and southeast since 2012 to accommodate the Israeli settlement of Har Gilo, Wallajeh has been cut off from Jerusalem and surrounding Palestinian villages. Its residents now have just a single entry and exit point, although there are gaps in the existing razor-wire fence that some have been using to come and go. Upon completion under its planned route, the separation wall would completely encircle the village.





I used to take my kids to school in the Cremisan Valley, and it took three minutes only, said Hajajla, pointing eastward towards the school from his home on the eastern edge of Wallajeh. After they closed [a road leading to the school] and they built the wall, I have to drive through Wallajeh, to Beit Jala, and then back to the Cremisan school. It now takes 40 minutes.

The predicament of Wallajeh should be viewed within the broader context of development in southern Jerusalem since the separation wall started being built more than a decade ago, according to Israeli human rights NGO Ir Amim.

When it comes to national parks in East Jerusalem, theres nothing apolitical about them. This isnt about greening the city, said Betty Herschman, the groups director of international relations and advocacy.

This is about using the declaration of a space as a national park for strategic purposes. And in this case, what the park will do is further isolate Wallajeh. And if you isolate Wallajeh, it creates easier contiguity to Jerusalem for the Gush Etzion settlement bloc.

Southern Jerusalem, on the Palestinian side of the Green Line, has been the subject of intense development in recent years. The Israeli settlement of Har Homa is in the midst of a vast expansion, while the new settlement of Givat Hamatos has also been approved.

Another settlement, Gilo, is expanding to the south, while a new six-lane highway will soon be built through the middle of the Palestinian neighbourhood of Beit Safafa, creating a continuous stretch of highway from the Gush Etzion bloc to the centre of Jerusalem.

Connect all of those dots and we have the full consolidation of the southern perimeter of East Jerusalem, completely undermining the contiguity of land between East Jerusalem and West Bank required for a future Palestinian state, said Herschman. It is part of a series of developments that, when cumulatively looked at, show a very dangerous political outcome.
Lula says he has nothing to fear and condemns police investigation into his alleged links to corruption at oil firm.

Brazils ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says he has nothing to fear after being briefly detained by police for questioning over corruption claims.

Police on Friday raided Lulas home in Sao Paulo and spoke to him for three hours about a multi-billion dollar scandal involving the national oil giant Petrobras.

If they wanted to hear from me, they only had to call and I would have gone, because I owe nothing to anyone and fear nothing, Lula said at a news conference in his first remarks since being released from police custody.

Lula, 70, said the decision to detain him at his house and take him to a police station for questioning showed lack of democratic respect and judicial authoritarianism.

It would have been so simple to invite me to testify. (The judge) did not need to send police to my house and the house of my sons, he said.

They preferred to show power, arrogance, to make a show.

Earlier on Friday, Federal police officer Jose Cyrispiniano said police also searched offices linked to Lula, including the Instituto Lula, his non-profit organisation, as well as houses of his family members.

Cyrispiniano said that police were acting on a warrant that requires Lula to answer their inquiries as part of an investigation dubbed Operation Car Wash.

Prosecutors clarified that Lula was not arrested, but was held for questioning.

Officials said that a major sweep, including detentions and searches of properties, had taken place in three states as police deepened their investigation into a vast embezzlement and bribery conspiracy centred on Petrobras.

About 200 federal police and 30 auditors served 44 warrants, including 33 warrants for search and seizure and 11 for detention for questioning, the federal police said.

Al Jazeeras Marga Ortigas, reporting from Rio de Janeiro, said clashes erupted between groups of rival protesters outside Lulas home in Sao Paulo, following his detention.

Our correspondent said police operation were carried out in three states, in what she described as the most politically explosive development in the corruption investigation.

Jose Chrispiniano, a spokesman for Lula and his institute, said on Friday that the ex-presidents detention for questioning and the search of his home amounted to an attack on the rule of law.

The violence carried out today against the ex-President Lula and his family  is an assault against the rule of law that impacts all of Brazilian society, he said.

In particular focus of the investigation is a luxury seaside apartment and a country house that prosecutors said they believe were given to him as bribes. Lula said the properties did not belong to him.

In July last year, police launched a major investigation into allegations that the former president had used his connections overseas to benefit Latin Americas largest engineering firm Odebrecht.

Lula served as Brazils president from 2003 to 2011. He remains one of Brazils most influential figures and his fate is closely linked to that of his successor, President Dilma Rousseff, and the future of the ruling Workers Party. Rousseff is also facing threats of an impeachment by the opposition-controlled Congress.
Clashes erupt as police question da Silva in connection with a corruption probe on the state-owned oil giant Petrobras.

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazils former president, has been detained in the city of Sao Paulo for questioning amid a sprawling corruption probe centred on the state-owned oil giant Petrobras, local media reported.

Federal police officer Jose Cyrispiniano said on Friday that police searched Lulas home and offices linked to him, including the Instituto Lula, his non-profit organisation, as well as houses of his family members.

Cyrispiniano said that police were acting on a warrant that requires Lula to answer their inquiries as part of an investigation dubbed Operation Car Wash.

Officials said that a major sweep, including detentions and searches of properties, had taken place in three states as police deepened their investigation into a vast embezzlement and bribery conspiracy centred on Petrobras.

About 200 federal police and 30 auditors served 44 warrants, including 33 warrants for search and seizure and 11 for detention for questioning, the federal police said.

Al Jazeeras Marga Ortigas, reporting from Rio de Janeiro, said that there have been reports of clashes between groups of rival protesters outside Lulas home in Sao Paulo, following his detention.

She said that Lulas supporters have also rushed to the Sao Paulo airport, where police are currently investigating the former president.

Our correspondent also said police operation across three states were still ongoing, in what she described as the most politically explosive development in the corruption investigation.

Lula has denied the allegations.

Jose Chrispiniano, a spokesman for Lula and his institute, said on Friday that the ex-presidents detention for questioning and the search of his home amounted to an attack on the rule of law.

The violence carried out today against the ex-President Lula and his family  is an assault against the rule of law that impacts all of Brazilian society, he said.

The operations in the states of Rio de Janeiro, Bahia and Sao Paulo involved investigations into corruption and money laundering, among other crimes practised by various people in the context of the Petrobras criminal scheme.

In July last year, police launched a major investigation into allegations that da Silva had used his connections overseas to benefit Latin Americas largest engineering firm Odebrecht.

Lula served as Brazils president from 2003 to 2011.
UN assessment shows almost 2,000 buildings as well as main hospital and train station completely destroyed by fighting.

Destruction in Ramadi is staggering and worse than anywhere else in Iraq, according to a UN team that concluded the first assessment visit to the city since Iraqi forces recaptured large parts of it from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

The UN team said on Friday the citys main hospital and train station had been destroyed along with thousands of other buildings.

UN analysis of satellite imagery last month showed nearly 5,700 buildings in Ramadi and its outskirts had been damaged since mid-2014. Almost 2,000 had been completely destroyed.

Local officials said 64 bridges and much of the electricity grid had been ruined.

Ramadi, the Anbar provincial capital where around half a million people once lived, was lost to ISIL in May 2015. The US-led coalition carried out more than 600 air strikes in the area from July to December last year.

Iraqi forces declared victory over ISIL in Ramadi in late December and has since cleared most of the western city.

Since being pushed from the centre of Ramadi, ISIL has launched near-daily attacks on Iraqi forces, especially on the outskirts of the city.

More than six months of fighting, including ISIL bomb attacks and devastating US-led coalition air strikes, shattered most infrastructure and levelled many homes in Ramadi.

The destruction the team has found in Ramadi is worse than any other part of Iraq. It is staggering, said Lise Grande, the UNs humanitarian coordinator in Iraq.

The two-day assessment found that nearly every building had been damaged or destroyed in frontline areas.

In other districts, one in three or four buildings were damaged, it said.

READ MORE: 80 percent of Ramadi in ruins after fighting

In December, Ibrahim al-Osej, a member of the Ramadi district council, said there was extensive destruction in the city as a result of terrorist activity and military operations.

Preliminary estimates show more than 3,000 homes have been completely destroyed, Osej told the AFP news agency.

All water, electricity, sewage and other infrastructure  such as bridges, government facilities, hospitals and schools  have suffered some degree of damage.

Grande said it was too early to say how much time and money it would take to rebuild the city.

The cash-strapped government in Baghdad is appealing to international donors to help the city, the largest retaken from ISIL.

It must first clear bombs planted by ISIL fighters in streets and buildings  the greatest concentration of which was reported in south-central Ramadi, according to the assessment.

The UN is working with local authorities on plans to rebuild health, water and energy infrastructure.

It said it had identified four potential relocation sites for returning civilians but Iraqs central government has yet to give the all-clear for the return of residents.
Wildlife monitor says online sites help illegal traders of animals, including rhinos and orangutans, evade authorities.

Social media outlets including Facebook and Instagram are increasingly being used in Asia as platforms for the illegal trade in a range of threatened species such as orangutan and sun bears, a wildlife monitor has said.

UK-based wildlife monitor Traffic said in a report, released to coincide with World Wildlife Day on Thursday, that the trend poses a new major threat to wildlife in a region where products derived from exotic or endangered animals are widely sought for traditional medicines or prized as pets.

Traders are clearly moving to non-conventional methods of sale such as utilising online portals and social media in order to evade detection, reach a broader audience, and increase transaction efficiency and convenience, Traffics report said.





Growing numbers of traders are using closed groups on Facebook and password-protected online forums to reach Asian customers, it said.

The wildlife monitor said that in one month in China last year, thousands of ivory products, 77 whole rhino horns, and large numbers of endangered birds were found advertised for sale on sites such as QQ and WeChat, which are popular in China.

Traffics report focused heavily on Malaysia. Over a period of five months last year, on a daily basis it monitored 14 Facebook wildlife-trading groups catering to customers in Malaysia, counting tens of thousands of active members.

During the observation period, scores of traders put up more than 200 individual posts offering to sell live wild animals, ranging from rare birds to orangutans and sun bears, it said.

Kanitha Krishnasamy, a senior programme manager for Traffic in Southeast Asia who co-authored the report, told Al Jazeera that since the assessment period ended in April, many more Facebook groups have been created.

Often, ads with photos were uploaded to sites such as Facebook or Instagram, while bargaining for the animals took place over other platforms like WhatsApp in Malaysia and Blackberry Messenger in Indonesia.

READ MORE: Myanmars wildlife trafficking hotspot

Trading appears to be very relaxed and traders will happily provide their contact details and will sometimes offer to deliver the animal to the buyers home address, said the report.

Facebook groups can quickly change their names or shut down and pop up in another guise, highlighting the challenges facing law enforcement.

Traffic said it was working with enforcement agencies in many countries on the issue and also was in contact with Facebook.

It called for closer collaboration between law enforcement agencies and Facebook.

But Traffics report quoted a Facebook spokesperson saying the social media giant does not allow trade in endangered animals through its platforms and was committed to working with Traffic to help tackle the problem.

A spokesman for Malaysias Department of Wildlife and National Parks said it was aware of the issue and had taken measures that had resulted in arrests.

READ MORE: 101 East tracks down wildlife smuggler

Krishnasamy said that since 2013, Malaysian authorities have arrested at least 54 wildlife traders, made more than 43 seizures, and rescued more than 60 different species.

She also said that the global scale of the illegal trade has made it much more difficult for law enforcement agencies to crack down.

With additional reporting by Ryan Rifai
European leaders ask president Vladimir Putin to use Russias influence over Syrian government to abide by the truce.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has told European leaders that Moscow is committed to a upholding a ceasefire that took hold in Syria last weekend, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.

The leaders of France, Britain, Germany and Italy had a teleconference conversation with Putin on Friday, during which they asked him to use Russias influence over the Syrian government to abide by the truce.





I would like to stress one more time that the commitment to hold the ceasefire was confirmed as a key message by the Russian president: only attacks on Daesh [ISIL] and al-Nusra Front, Merkel said during a news conference with French President Francois Hollande.

Merkel was referring to US-Russia-backed plans for a cessation of hostilities in Syria that excludes groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant [ISIL] and al-Nusra Front.

The UN Security Council unanimously passed a vote on February 26 to support a pause in fighting in Syria, demanding that all parties to the agreement fulfill their commitments to end hostilities.

Syrian opposition coordinator Riad Hijab, however, said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Russia and their allies had carried out 90 air strikes in the country since the ceasefire was declared.

Speaking at a news conference in Paris, the former Syrian prime minister said that the conditions of the truce had not been met and that medical and food supplies were being blocked and failing to get to those who need them.

We believe that the current conditions are not favourable for these negotiations, no aid has entered the besieged areas and detainees have not been released, he said.

RELATED: Syria War  What you need to know about the ceasefire

French President Francois Hollande, while echoing Merkels comments, added that the Syrian ceasefire must be respected everywhere and that the only actions which should be tolerated are those directed against ISIL and al Nusra.

Any other initiative would violate the cessation of hostilities and be a pretext to not fully implement it, he said.

Hollande added that there was agreement to take advantage of the truce to coordinate humanitarian aid and open a process of political transition in Syria.

Following a Franco-British summit on Thursday, Hollande and UK Prime Minister David Cameron had expressed concerns that rebel forces continued to be targeted in Syria.

We ask all sides that are committing human rights violations, including Russia and the Syrian regime, to put an immediate end to the attacks against moderate opposition groups, they said in a joint statement ahead of Fridays teleconference.

READ MORE: Syrias fragile truce holding despite some fighting

Also on Thursday, Russias defence ministry said in a statement it had registered 14 ceasefire violations in Syria over the past 24 hours.

The violations concerned the shelling of residential areas and Syrian government forces in the provinces of Damascus, Latakia, Hama and Deraa, it said.

Despite the sporadic attacks, the UN confirmed on Thursday that the conditional truce had made visible progress, despite clashes in some cities and areas.

Staffan de Mistura, the UN envoy to Syria, said the level of violence in the county had been greatly reduced.

In general, the cessation has been holding, he added.
Accused of sedition, Kanhaiya Kumar receives rousing reception at Delhis JNU campus after being freed on bail.

An Indian student leader facing sedition charges has called for freedom in India in a rousing speech to students at Jawaharlal Nehru University, after being released on bail.

Kanhaiya Kumar received a heros welcome at the JNU campus in New Delhi on Thursday night and addressed a large gathering of students and faculty members, cautioning authorities from suppressing freedom of speech and the right to dissent.

The struggle is long. The more you try to suppress us, the higher we will rise  we are not asking for freedom from India, but asking for freedom in India.

READ MORE: Loud and clear, Indian students send message of freedom

Al Jazeeras Divya Gopalan, reporting from New Delhi, said that the impact of Kumars address had been felt across the country.

It opened [up] a debate on tolerance and freedom of speech. Many say, the final outcome of Kanhaiyas case will define the line between expressing your opinion and committing a crime, she said.

On Wednesday, the Delhi High Court granted Kumar six months interim bail while the police investigate his case. His bail conditions include one stating that he will neither actively nor passively participate in any activity that may be seen as anti-national.

New Delhi protest: Thousands call for students freedom

He had spent nearly three weeks in jail after he was arrested on a controversial sedition charge that sparked major protests and a nationwide debate over free speech.

The Delhi High Courts order listed some of the slogans shouted at the February 9 event, including Our war will continue until India is destroyed and Death to the Indian army.

The student union leader denies he was among those chanting the slogans at the rally, held to mark the 2013 hanging of Kashmiri Mohammad Afzal Guru over a deadly attack on the Indian parliament.

Two other students, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, are accused of being among the organisers of the JNU event and have been arrested on the same sedition charge as Kumar.

Sanjay Hegde, a senior lawyer, told Al Jazeera that the judges decision to grant Kumar bail leaves adequate scope for investigators and prosecutors to attempt to curtail his [Kumars] liberty one more time.

If there is any incident. It is almost as if the university as a whole was being collectively punished or collectively put on good behaviour, Hegde said.

A Delhi government report published on Thursday said that while no witness or video evidence could be found implicating Kumar, the role of other students at the rally must be investigated further.

Sedition carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, although convictions are rare.
UN report says a total of 41 structures including a school were destroyed south of Nablus displacing 36 Palestinians.

Israeli forces have demolished dozens of structures, including a school, in the northern West Bank this week, leaving 10 families homeless, according to a new United Nations report.

In as statement issued on Friday, the UN Coordinator for Humanitarian Assistance and Development Aid said the demolitions took place on Wednesday in the village of Khirbet Tana, south of Nablus in the northern West Bank.

In total, 41 buildings were destroyed, displacing 36 Palestinians, including 11 children, the UN said.

These are some of the highest levels of demolition and displacement recorded in a similar timeframe since 2009, the statement said.

READ MORE: House demolitions and Israels court sanctioned revenge

Khirbet Tana is home to approximately 250 people who rely on herding and agriculture for their livelihood, according to the report.

Because the residents need grazing land for their livestock, most have little choice but to stay in the area.

Due to the communitys location within an area declared as a firing zone for training purposes, residents are denied building permits and have experienced repeated waves of demolitions, the last one taking place on February 9, the report said.

Nickolay Mladenov, UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said that last month the number of such demolitions had tripled on average since the start of the year.

Since the beginning of 2016, Israel has demolished, on average, 29 Palestinian-owned structures per week, three times the weekly average for 2015, he said.

Firing zones

Last week, the European Union hit out at Israeli authorities after they demolished a school funded by the French government.

COGAT, the defence ministry body responsible for coordinating Israeli government activity in the Palestinian territories, put the number of buildings at 20.

In the West Bank, an estimated 18 percent of the area has been declared by the Israeli authorities as firing zones, and 38 Palestinian communities are located within these areas.





Because the Israeli Civil Administration prohibits building in these areas, wide-scale demolitions frequently take place.

The Israeli military is also frequently accused of carrying out punitive demolitions against the family homes of individuals suspected of attacks against Israelis.

While the Israeli military stopped punitive demolition orders in 2005, following reports by an Israeli military committee that the practice did not deter attacks, the practice was resumed in July 2014.

Throughout occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, some 90,000 Palestinians are facing potential displacement, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Border restrictions leave more than 11,000 stranded at camp in Greece, with many confused about their next steps.

A tiny trickle of Syrian and Iraqi refugees is being admitted into Macedonia at the Idomeni crossing on the border with Greece, as more than 11,000 remain camped out waiting for their turn.

Greek police said Macedonian authorities let in 320 people between Thursday and Friday morning. A few dozen were being admitted later in the day.

The small number was a result of new restrictions imposed on borders last week.

Al Jazeeras Hoda Abdel-Hamid, reporting from Idomeni, said that weather and living conditions at the Idomeni camp had deteriorated  with more refugees arriving each day.

READ MORE: Crisis looms as a new wave of refugees reaches Europe

She added that the stranded refugees in Greece complained that they were not being provided with enough information on how to continue their journey.

Most refugees in Greece want to seek asylum in other European nations, such as Germany or Sweden, and need to cross through Macedonia to do so.

There is an overwhelming state of confusion, our correspondent said. No clear guidelines have been given as to what the stranded here need to do. Information spreads by word of mouth and often, its wrong.

Syrian Saswat Estif, 26, has been at Idomeni for 15 days, waiting patiently to enter Macedonia.

He said last night was cold and it rained a lot, adding that theres not enough food.

Crackdown on borders

The small number of refugee admissions follows a bid raised by Austria and nine Balkan states last Wednesday to stem the flow.

The group agreed to grant entry only to those in proved need of protection  a move which sharply reduced the intake and effectively excluded refugees from Afghanistan, a country where civilian casualties reached a record 11,000 in 2015.

That decision triggered desperate scenes over the past few days in Greece as refugees are faced with tighter controls. Tensions flared on Monday, when Macedonian police fired tear gas and stun grenades at refugees who tried to break through the razor-wire fence between Greece and the Balkan nation. Unless you declare you are fleeing war, you will not be allowed through, our correspondent said, commenting on the new restrictions. Lack of information Despite contributing to the build-up of refugees on the Greek side of the border, Macedonia has complained about the overflow. READ MORE: Why is Europe closing its borders to Afghans? On Thursday, Macedonias Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki called on Greece to move the thousands of refugees stuck on its side of the border away to more suitable reception centres.

Poposki told The Associated Press that this would offer stranded refugees humane and safe treatment, instead of having them in tents a few hundred meters from the border.

This is really not a solution, Poposki said of the tent city. If you really care about these people they should be hosted in reception centres that can host such a large number of people.

Humanitarian crisis




Leaders from across political spectrum, including ex-PM Mahatir, call for a national movement after corruption crisis.

Leaders from across Malaysias political spectrum have joined together to call for a national movement to remove Prime Minister Najib Razak, in a dramatic escalation of a festering corruption crisis.

The historic alliance on Friday brought together previously bitter political foes and was led by 90-year-old former premier Mahathir Mohamad, who has spearheaded calls to remove Najib over allegations of corruption and misrule.

We call upon all Malaysians, irrespective of race, religion, political situation, creed or parties, young and old, to join us in saving Malaysia from the government headed by Najib Razak, read a joint statement endorsed by heavyweights from the ruling party, opposition, and top civil society groups.

READ MORE: Support for Malaysias PM Najib dwindles after scandal

Mahathir said that the assembled leaders, despite their differences, shared one goal. We must rid ourselves of Najib as prime minister, he said.

The move marks the most direct political challenge yet to Najib, and lends a potent voice to a growing sense of public disgust with his tenure.

Najib, 62, has been under fire for a year over allegations that billions of dollars were stolen from a state firm he founded, and his own admitted acceptance of a murky $681m overseas donation.

In January, Malaysias attorney general stated that the $681m transferred into Najibs personal bank account was a gift from the royal family in Saudi Arabia and there were no criminal offences or corruption involved. The president says $620m was returned, as the money was not utilised.

Saudi officials have not confirmed the claims.

READ MORE: Malaysian PM cleared of wrongdoing over $681m donation

Ong Kian Ming, a member of parliament from the opposition Democratic Action Party, told Al Jazeera that he did not think Fridays joint statement will change anything significant in the short term.

The ruling United Malays National Organisation leaders will now rally behind their president, Najib, and use the collaboration between Mahathir Mohamad and the opposition leaders as evidence that Mahathir Mohamad has betrayed the UMNO, he said.

He added that Najibs fate will be largely determined by his support within the UMNO.

As long as he controls the reins of power within UMNO through the appointment of key allies in the party and in the civil service, and also via the dispensation of patronage, he will remain prime minister of Malaysia, he said.

However, Wan Saiful Wan Jan, the chief executive of Malaysian Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs, a libertarian think-thank, said the joint statement signifies a major shift in Malaysian politics.

Those in power should seriously consider the demands, and [the prime minister] in particular must not ignore the declaration, he said in a statement.

With additional reporting by Fleur Launspach
President says move needed to prevent swindling and smuggling by private companies that rob country of wealth.

Zimbabwes President Robert Mugabe has announced plans for his government to take control of all diamond mining operations in a bid to put an end to alleged rampant swindling linked to the multibillion dollar gem industry in the poverty-stricken country.

Mugabes statement came a week after authorities ordered all private mining companies to stop work and leave the countrys Marange fields, which in 2013 reportedly produced about 13 percent of the worlds diamond supply, saying that their working licences were not renewed.

The state will now own all the diamonds in the country, Mugabe said on Thursday in an interview with state broadcaster ZBC TV.

WATCH: The dark side of diamonds

Companies that have been mining diamonds have robbed us of our wealth. That is why we have now said the state must have a monopoly, Mugabe said.

Zimbabwe was the eighth largest diamond producer in the world with 4.7 million carats in 2014, according to industry group Kimberly Process.

The Zimbabwe Herald newspaper cited Mugabe as saying that he suspects at least $13bn in revenue from the countrys diamond industry remains unaccounted for.

READ MORE: Botswanas diamond industry losing its sparkle

We have not received much from the diamond industry at all, he said. Not by way of earnings. I dont think we have exceeded $2bn or so and yet we think that well over $15bn  have been earned in that area.

Mugabe said the nationalisation of the industry was necessary to prevent widespread swindling and smuggling by mining companies.

You cannot trust a private company in that area. None at all. We should have learned from the experiences of Botswana, Angola, Namibia, he added.

During the interview, Mugabe said his successor must be chosen democratically and that he plans on living to 100.

Why successor? I am still there. Why do you want a successor? I did not say I was a candidate to retire, he said

In a democratic party, you dont want leaders appointed that way to lead the party. They have to be appointed properly by the people, at a gathering of the people, at a congress.

Mugabe said that he was not behind his wife Graces quick rise within ZANU-PF, which has led to reports that she has plans to succeed her husband.

Others say the president wants to leave the throne for his wife. Where have you ever seen that, even in our own culture, where a wife inherits from her husband? Mugabe said.
Following new UN sanctions, Norths leader escalates tensions with call for military to be in pre-emptive attack mode.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered his country to be ready to use its nuclear weapons at any time and the military to be in pre-emptive attack mode, state media said.

The comments, carried by the Norths official KCNA news agency on Friday, marked a further escalation of tension on the Korean peninsula after the UN Security Council imposed harsh new sanctions against the isolated state on Wednesday for its nuclear programme.

North Korea, known for belligerent rhetoric, has previously threatened pre-emptive attacks on its enemies, including South Korea and the United States.

OPINION: Kim Jong-un  What we know about the North Korean leader

Kim said North Korea should bolster up [its] nuclear force both in quality and quantity and stressed the need to get the nuclear warheads deployed for national defence always on standby so as to be fired any moment, KCNA quoted him as saying.

Now is the time for us to convert our mode of military counteraction towards the enemies into a pre-emptive attack one in every aspect.

Kim criticised South Korean President Park Geun-hye in his first direct published mention of her by name for acting in league with the US scoundrels, adding, her hysteria will precipitate only her ruin in the long run, KCNA said.

Kim made the comments as he supervised military exercises involving newly developed rocket launchers, KCNA reported. It did not mention the date of the drills but said the new weapons had South Korea within range.





Military experts, however, doubt North Korea has developed the capability to fire a long-range missile with a miniaturised nuclear warhead.

Theres a difference between having a nuclear test and having a functioning, reliable nuclear weapon you would actually use in conflict that you have 100 percent confidence in, Jim Walsh, a research associate at MITs Security Studies Programme, told Al Jazeera.

In the wake of sanctions, it is not surprising that we have harsh language. They [North Korea] are saying they are ready for nuclear action. I dont think it adds up to much  this reaction is sort of par for the course.

South Koreas defence ministry said on Thursday that North Korea launched several projectiles off its coast into the sea up to 150km away, an apparent response to the UN sanctions.

A spokesman for South Koreas Unification Ministry, which handles relations with the North, said Kims comments were not helpful and may have been intended for the domestic audience to boost morale in the face of the new UN sanctions.

A US Defense Department spokesman, Commander Bill Urban, said, responding to the report: We urge North Korea to refrain from provocative actions that aggravate tensions and instead focus on fulfilling its international obligations and commitments.

The latest UN sanctions, drafted by the US and China, the Norths main ally, punish the isolated country following its fourth nuclear test, in January, as well as last months satellite launch, which the US and others say was really a test of ballistic missile technology.
Attackers enter Catholic retirement home in the port city of Aden before opening fire and killing at least 16 people.

Gunmen killed at least 16 people in an attack on a Catholic retirement home in Yemens port city of Aden that was established by Mother Teresa.

According to one official, the assailants entered the premises in Adens Sheikh Othman district after telling the guard they were visiting their mother, before storming the building and opening fire.

Fridays casualty figures include four Catholic nuns from India, four local nurses, four security guards, and three cleaning staff, medical sources told Al Jazeera.

They forced the men and women outside with their hands tied. We heard the sound of gunfire, and when we came out we saw them all dead in the garden, resident Um Mohammed said.





Screams of elderly residents echoed from the home during the shooting rampage, witnesses told they AFP news agency, adding they saw bodies of dead workers with their arms tied behind their backs scattered on the floor.

The motive of the gunmen, who fled after the attack, was not immediately known. No group has yet claimed responsibility.

Pope Francis on Saturday described the killlings as diabolical.

His Holiness Pope Francis was shocked and profoundly saddened to learn of the killing of four Missionaries of Charity and 12 others at a home for the elderly in Aden, the Vaticans Secretary of State Pietro Parolin said.

The Argentine pontiff prays that this pointless slaughter will awaken consciences, lead to a change of heart, and inspire all parties to lay down their arms and take up the path of dialogue, Parolin said.

Aden was once a cosmopolitan city home to thriving Hindu and Christian communities but its small Christian population left long ago.

Unknown assailants have previously vandalised a Christian cemetery, torched a church and last year blew up an abandoned Catholic church.

READ MORE: Humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Yemen, says UN

Yemen descended into a civil war in March when the Houthi fighters forced President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to flee to Saudi Arabia after they closed in on Aden, drawing in an Arab coalition assembled by the Saudis into the conflict.

The United Nations says nearly 6,000 people have been killed in the fighting, while hundreds of thousands have been displaced from their homes.
UN report says a majority of the cases involved personnel in 10 peacekeeping missions, including in CAR.

There have been 99 new allegations of sexual exploitation or sexual abuse against United Nations staff members across the UN system last year, a new report has said.

The UN report from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, released to Reuters on Thursday, came in response to a new name and shame policy for UN peacekeepers implemented after a series of allegations of rape and sexual abuse by international troops in Central African Republic.

In 2014, there were 80 allegations.

The majority of the allegations in 2015 involved personnel in 10 peacekeeping missions, the report said, listing 69 such cases.

The military and police personnel accused of sexual crimes while serving for the UN involved 21 countries.

UN: Lack of accountability drives sex abuse in CAR

Most of the allegations involved peacekeepers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, seven in all, serving in Central African Republic or CAR. There were also allegations against several European countries and Canada.

There were allegations against troops and police from Burundi, Germany, Ghana, Senegal, Madagascar, Rwanda, Congo Republic, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Tanzania, Slovakia, Niger, Moldova, Togo, South Africa, Morocco, Benin, Nigeria and Gabon.





In addition to CAR, the allegations involved peacekeeping missions in places such as Haiti, Mali, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ivory Coast.

The report includes recommendations for member states to make it easier to identify suspected perpetrators and prosecute them.

It calls for the UN General Assembly and troop-contributing countries to allow prosecutions inside the countries where the alleged crimes took place and creation of a DNA registry of all peacekeepers.

One of the problems, human rights groups say, is that it is currently up to UN troop-contributing countries to prosecute their soldiers accused of abuse. When such prosecutions happen, the groups say, they often take place quietly and it is difficult to follow up on the results and punishments, if any.

In December an independent review panel accused the United Nations and its agencies of grossly mishandling numerous allegations of child sexual abuse by foreign troops in CAR in 2013 and 2014.
Turkish court convicts two Syrian men of human trafficking group of refugees including the Kurdi family.

A Turkish court sentenced two Syrians to four years in jail over the drowning of five people including Alan Kurdi, the three-year-old boy whose image triggered an outpouring of global sympathy last September, state news reported.

The sentencing on Friday convicted the two of human trafficking but acquitted them of the charge of causing the deaths through deliberate negligence.

Three-year-old Alan Kurdi, whose body washed up on a beach in southwest Turkey, drowned along with his mother Rihan and brother Galip among a group of refugees trying to reach Greece by boat.

The familys only survivor, Abdullah Kurdi, has since returned to Syria.

The image of the childs lifeless body led to a wave of sympathy for the plight of refugees fleeing Syrias war, which began in March 2011.

READ MORE: Abdullah Kurdis Christmas message  Open your door to Syrians

Despite the risks, refugees continue to take the treacherous journey across the Aegean.

With 3,771 deaths, 2015 was the deadliest year on record for migrants and refugees crossing the Mediterranean trying to reach Europe, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). By comparison 3,279 deaths were recorded in the Mediterranean in 2014.

In the first two months of 2016, at least 418 refugees have died on their way to Europe in the first two months of the year, says the IOM.

The organisation estimates that of the 321 who died on the Eastern Mediterranean route, which ends in Greece, 77 were children  an average exceeding one child death per day.
After protesting at Chinese rule, young Tibetan in New Delhi succumbs to burn injuries in second such death this year.

A 16-year-old Tibetan living in India has died in a New Delhi hospital three days after he set himself on fire in a protest against Chinese rule, a hospital official said.

The Tibetan suffered 98 percent burns and died late on Thursday, said Pankaj, an official at New Delhis government-run Safdarjung hospital. Pankaj uses one name.

The Tibetan set himself on fire on Monday in the northern Indian city of Dehradun and was brought to New Delhi for treatment.

The Indian Express newspaper named the teenager as Dorjee Tsering, and quoted his mother as saying her son had often talked about doing something for their homeland.

The death marked the second such protest this year, seen as an extreme expression of the anger and frustration felt by many Tibetans living under heavy-handed Chinese rule.

READ MORE: Dalai Lama warns China on interfering in succession

A Tibetan Buddhist monk self-immolated and died on Monday near the Retsokha monastery in western Sichuan provinces traditional Tibetan autonomous prefecture of Kardze, Radio Free Asia reported.

It said the monk called out for Tibetan independence while he burned, then died on the way to a hospital in the provincial capital of Chengdu.

Tibetan exile sources say at least 114 monks and laypeople have self-immolated over the past five years, with most of them dying.

Radio Free Asia puts the number of self-immolations at 144 since 2009.

READ MORE: China marks Tibet anniversary and condemns Dalai Lama

Tibetan monks and nuns are among the most active opponents of Chinese rule in the region and the strongest proponents of Tibets independent identity, prompting the authorities to subject them to harsh and intrusive restrictions.

Beijing blames the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama and others for inciting the immolations and says it has made vast investments to develop the regions economy and improve quality of life.

The Dalai Lama says he is against all violence. He fled Tibet to India in 1959 amid an abortive uprising against Chinese forces who had occupied the Himalayan region a decade earlier.

He has been living in the northern Indian town of Dharamsala since then.
Riot police fire tear gas and water cannon at hundreds of protesters after seizure of Zamans headquarters in Istanbul.

Police using tear gas and water cannon raided the headquarters of Turkeys largest-circulation newspaper, hours after a court placed it under the management of trustees.

Police set up barricades on Saturday to keep out Zaman readers arriving at the building in a show of support.

The English-language Todays Zaman Saturday edition, published before the forced take-over, printed its entire front page in black with the headline: Shameful day for free press in Turkey.

Prosecutors accused Zaman and its affiliates of praising and helping what they called a terrorist organisation.

It has been a habit for the last three, four years, that anyone who is speaking against government policies is facing either court cases or prison, or such control by the government, said Abdulhamit Bilici, editor-in-chief of Zaman.

This is a dark period for our country, our democracy.

WATCH: Erdogan, elections and the future of Turkish journalism

The daily is associated with a movement led by US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, an influential political opponent of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

State-run Anadolu Agency reported on Friday that administrators had been appointed by a court to run Zaman at the request of an Istanbul prosecutor. Officials were not immediately available to confirm the reports.

Erdogan accuses Gulen of conspiring to overthrow the government by building a network of supporters in the judiciary, police and media. Gulen has denied the allegations.

Erdogan and Gulen were allies until police and prosecutors seen as sympathetic to Gulen opened a corruption probe into Erdogans inner circle in 2013.

READ MORE: Turkey conglomerate raided for funding Gulen movement

Robert Pearson, a former US ambassador to Turkey, told Al Jazeera the move to take over the newspaper was not unexpected.

Mr Erdogan refers to almost anyone who opposes his rule as a terrorist  college professors, journalists  anyone who basically disagrees with him, Pearson said.

John Kirby, a US State Department spokesman, called the Turkish governments action troubling.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) also said it was alarmed by the governments decision.





Todays move by the court paves the way to effectively strangle the remnants of critical journalism in Turkey, CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said in a statement.

Erdogan has repeatedly insisted Turkey has the most free media in the world, but the country consistently ranks poorly on press freedom indices.

Zaman is Turkeys biggest selling newspaper, with a circulation of 650,000 as of the end of February, according to media-sector monitor MedyaTava website.

Hundreds of supporters gathered in the rain outside Zamans Istanbul office on Friday night to condemn the move and were dispersed by riot police who fired tear gas and water cannon.

READ MORE: Journalists accused of terrorism released in Turkey

The crackdown on Zaman comes at an already worrying time for press freedom in Turkey.

Two prominent journalists from the pro-opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper are facing potential life sentences on charges of endangering state security for publishing material that purports to show intelligence officials trucking arms to Syria.




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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]
Despite the fact that brokered deposits have developed into an abundant, reliable and cost-effective source of stable funding, efforts to inhibit their use continue. It is as if nothing has changed since the days when brokered deposits first appeared and had the reputation for being hot money and volatile.

These efforts can be seen in the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s new proposed deposit insurance premium formula. The plan will increase premiums when a bank holds ample brokered deposits even if the bank is otherwise safe and sound. Opposition to brokered deposits is also seen in regulators' emphasis on the "stickiness" of deposits  that is how reliably the funds will stay in an institution  in a bank's funding strategy.

A bias in support of "core" deposits has morphed into a misguided belief that brokered deposits are often used recklessly. Core deposits are preferred because they involve a direct relationship between the bank and depositor, which brings loyalty and makes those deposits sticky. This is true and is obviously an important consideration when a bank relies on its relationship with depositors to originate loans.

But the conventional wisdom is wrong when it assumes, as many regulators do, that only sticky deposits are stable. This myth of stickiness sees deposits on a continuum with core deposits on the stable end of the scale and brokered deposits on the volatile end. Brokered deposits are assumed to be more volatile because depositors holding them give no consideration to where their funds are deposited as long as the funds are federally insured. They are perceived ready to move their funds whenever another bank offers better terms.

The reality is quite different. Brokered deposits, especially certificates of deposit, have become some of the most stable and cost-effective deposits currently available. Customers who place their funds through a broker may lack loyalty, but how relevant is that when brokered deposits have proven to be a reliable source of funding in all economic conditions and highly stable even during runs?

Over the past few decades, the supply of brokered deposits has consistently been abundant. Once deposited, brokered CDs tend to stay put in an institution until they mature. The depositors usually don't know which bank holds their money so there is no "headline risk" to start a run. The brokers know where the funds are deposited but they also know the FDIC is diligent about paying depositors after a bank fails. And all brokered deposits typically fall under the federal insurance limit.

Additionally, CD contracts prohibit withdrawal before maturity unless the depositor dies. In the now-well-established market for brokered CDs, no evidence has emerged showing any correlation between brokered deposit withdrawals and developing problems at a bank. Indeed, about the only time a brokered CD is paid before maturity is if the bank fails and is liquidated. Prior to failure, brokered CDs have proven to be virtually run-proof.

A good example is Barnes Bank, which failed in Utah in 2010 due to a run that began when rumors about its failing condition were reported in local newspapers. The bank had served a suburban area for nearly 120 years and had a strong loyal customer base. When the run began, about 30% of the bank's deposits were brokered. During the run, the bank lost about 15% of its total deposits over 10 days and eventually exhausted its liquidity. All of the deposits withdrawn were core deposits. Not a penny of brokered deposits left the bank.

The stability and cost effectiveness of brokered CDs have improved over time mostly because the typical depositor has changed. Depositors tended to chase yield when brokered CDs first entered the markets. They were a new product and banks needed to offer high rates to entice people to try them out. Now brokered deposits are well-established as an alternative option to government securities. Depositors tend to be investors seeking safety, not yield.

Transactional brokered deposit programs have also begun to emerge, often involving health savings accounts and other kinds of NOW accounts placed by a program sponsor or plan administrator. These accounts are also stable in the same way a core deposit is. The program administrators work closely with the bank holding their deposits and that typically helps form strong relationships. A plan sponsor will rarely move money to a new bank on a whim or to gain a small increase in yield. Only major problems in the program or big advantages offered by another bank warrant the effort and inconvenience to move large amounts of money while hoping the program will work as well or better than it did before.

Brokered deposits have also proven to be very stable in bad economic times. The supply of brokered deposits actually increased during the Great Recession as people fled to safety. In the history of brokered deposits, there has never been a time when a bank could not obtain all of the brokered deposits it wanted.

Brokered deposits were considered "hot" when they were first offered in the 1970s and 1980s, but that has changed almost completely as the market matured. Today, brokered deposits typically offer a small increase in yield over similar core deposits. But they also offer savings in not needing branches or other infrastructure to support the deposits. CDs also provide institutions with "match funding" options enabling the bank to correlate deposit flows with loan demand. In comparison, core transactional and savings deposits do not correlate to loan activity and require a bank to hold more cash and lower yielding liquid assets.

The FDIC raises a fair point about brokered deposits' low "franchise value." In a failure, an acquiring bank frequently takes just the failed institution's retail deposits to get the customer relationship, leaving the FDIC to make brokered depositors, who are fully insured, whole again. Yet another FDIC criticism of brokered deposits  that they fund rapid, and sometimes overheated, growth in the loan portfolio  does not tell the full story. The agency cites studies showing how some community banks that failed in the Great Recession grew fast lending in the housing bubble using brokered deposits.

Yet all of those banks failed because they made bad real estate loans, not because they held brokered deposits. The loans would have been just as bad if they had been funded with core deposits. The FDIC fails to acknowledge that in the same period some of the safest banks held even higher percentages of brokered deposits than banks that failed. Some of the safest banks held only brokered deposits. Many of these banks also grew quickly but they were well-capitalized and profitable and could take new business when other banks stopped lending.

Another point the FDIC does not acknowledge is that the growth of brokered deposits has happened in tandem with the development of branchless banks. The healthy banks that relied heavily on brokered deposits during the recession were mostly branchless. Those banks don't pursue core deposits because they do not rely on depositors for loans and other business. As a group those banks have tended to be better capitalized and more profitable than banks with branch networks that mostly hold core deposits. The difference is apparent when comparing efficiency ratios. In general, branchless banks are more than twice as efficient as banks with branches. Nevertheless, the FDIC's proposed new premium formula would increase the deposit insurance premium for some branchless banks by as much as 172%. Most of these branchless banks are well above regulatory minimums and industry medians for every measure of financial strength.

In general, the concept of "core" versus "noncore" deposits is seriously outdated in today's markets. It used to be that core deposits consisted of classic savings and checking accounts opened at a branch. But the term now includes deposits raised directly from depositors over the Internet. Internet deposits qualify as core because there is no intermediary between the bank and the customer. But such deposits are also similar to brokered deposits in that the customer has no real physical connection to the bank. Classifications such as "core" and "brokered" will become even more outdated as the financial markets continue to evolve. The future of banking will include an explosion of new products through different delivery channels to attract younger tech-savvy customers. Brokered deposits, perhaps in a form unlike they are today, will be a major part of that future.

Suppressing the development of new products and services and delivery channels to slow or stop growth would be a serious mistake. If regulators freeze the industry into a model that funds only with core deposits, banking may have no long-term future or will become insignificant.

George Sutton is an attorney at Jones Waldo Holbrook & McDonough. From 1987 to 1993, he was the Utah commissioner of financial institutions.
Banner Corp. in Walla Walla, Wash., has named a trio of banking industry executives to its board, including the former chief financial officer at Zions Bancorp.

The $9.8 billion-asset Banner appointed David Matson, Roberto Herencia and Doyle Arnold to its board this week, according to a news release.

Banner appointed Arnold to the board as part of a November 2014 agreement with Oaktree Capital Group Holdings in Los Angeles, according to a regulatory filing. Arnold retired last year as CFO of the Salt Lake City-based Zions. Arnold is also a director of Group 1 Automotive in Houston and a trustee of Rice University in Houston.

As part of its agreement, Oaktree was granted the right to name a director to Banner's board, as long as the group owns at least 5% of the company. Oaktree owned about 7.6% of Banner as of Feb. 25.

Banner named Matson and Herencia to its board as a condition of its October acquisition of Starbuck Bancshares and its subsidiary, AmericanWest Bank in Spokane, Wash.

Matson is a director of the $13 billion-asset First BanCorp PR in Puerto Rico and is chairman of its risk and audit committees. Previously he was a director of Starbuck Bancshares.

Herencia is chief executive of BXM Holdings, a Chicago investment fund that specializes in community banks. He was also an AmericanWest director. Herencia is also chairman of both First BanCorp in Puerto Rico and the $2.5 billion-asset Byline Bancorp in Chicago.


The Super Tuesday results confirm it. A revolution is underway in the Republican Party. It promises to shakeup politics in the nation come November. It may realign the parties longer term and chart a new course for the nation for a generation.

The overthrow of the GOP establishment is in full swing. Its an insurgency, with GOP primaries and caucuses setting records for turnout. Part of that turnout is new voters. Democrats, for example, are switching to the GOP in Massachusetts; thats Trump-driven, and a bad omen for Democrats in November. Democrats turnout is depressed.

The Republican Partys trials are, in no small measure, thanks to energized conservatives. Its about two candidates, Trump and Cruz, who though battling each other for the nomination, have galvanized conservative voters, thereby isolating the establishment, something outsider candidates failed to accomplish in 2012.

Consider these Super Tuesday numbers. In 11 states, Trump, Cruz, and Carson  the outsiders  combined for 67% of the vote. Rubio and Kasich took only 32%. But theres a big caveat.

Though Trump and Cruz garnered two-thirds the votes in Super Tuesday contests, they split roughly 28% of the bound delegates needed to win the nomination (thats 1,237 for a majority). In all races, Trump has collected 26% of the delegates toward being nominated. Cruz has totaled 18%. (Rubio is limping along with a meager 9% of the delegates needed.)

Theres a way to go before either Trump or Cruz can sew up the nomination. The March 15th contests, with winner-take-all trials in Florida and Ohio, could decide things. Florida currently favors Trump, so the 15th could be the day Trump triumphs. But

The possibility remains that neither Trump nor Cruz hits the magic number. Rubio could comeback in Florida and Kasich could grab his home state of Ohio. That means a deadlocked convention is in play.

Of course, much can happen in subsequent days to shift the dynamic of the race, tipping the scales for Trump or Cruz. Scale-tipping favors Trump, however, because hes demonstrating appeal not only in states Cruz should be winning (the Deep South) but in blue states like Massachusetts, where Cruz mustered only 10% of the vote.

Marco Rubio has no clear route to the nomination short of a deadlocked convention. A deadlocked or contested convention is the establishments last, best hope. Its more like a Hail Mary pass. National Review, among other establishment outlets, is frank about the alternatives.

Writes Tim Alberta for NRO:

Its either Donald Trump or a contested convention. Such is the reality facing the Republican party today. Its leaders are now staring down two scenarios they long dismissed as fantasy, after a slew of Super Tuesday contests demonstrated once again both the breadth of Trumps support and the difficulty in unifying his opposition.

Though history instructs that deadlocked conventions nominate centrists  and typically dark horses  the gathering of Republicans at Cleveland isnt likely to yield that result.

If Trump and Cruz go to Cleveland with the bulk of the delegates, they probably cut a deal. Despite the current strife and rancor, theres significant overlap among their voters. Moreover, Trumps now demonstrated ability to attract working class voters and some disaffected Democrats promises an electoral map breakout. Such a prospect has to be alluring to Cruz and his backers.

Trump and Cruz are smart, calculating men. Both are very self-interested and ambitious. If either thought that the path to the nomination meant hammering out a deal with Rubio, theyd do so. In politics, like life, the perfect is the enemy of the good, and accommodating Rubio and the establishment to win the nomination might be a price either man is willing to pay. But the natural convergence is between Trump and Cruz. It coalesces two-thirds of the GOP base in a way more sensible to both mens supporters. Consolation prizes can be given to Rubio and the establishment.

If the establishment used a contested convention to somehow slip Rubio into the nomination  or Jeb or Mitt, as incredible as that seems  then the GOP would fracture. Trumps and Cruzs voters are in no mood to hand the nomination over to the establishment again. A GOP rupture could take years to mend. The very flawed and corrupt Hillary Clinton would win a victory she doesnt merit.

The bigger story is that the roiling of the Republican Party, far from being a harbinger of catastrophe, is actually a sign of vitality. Or, as Trump might say, Yuuuge vitality. The clashes and debates, full of vituperative exchanges and body blows, are indicators of something dying and something being born. The GOP has more than a pulse; its got a big, powerful, life-pumping heart.

Conservatism is resurgent, and combined with a new nationalism and a feel for popular sentiment, has the chance to emerge as the nations governing worldview for a generation. Thats reformist conservatism, which is critical to an overhaul of failing government, in Washington and the states. Forging a new combined worldview is whats happening now. Its been, and will continue to be, a bruising affair. But thats the way of politics.

Its worth adding that Democrats are undergoing a rebirth, too, though on a diminished scale. The Democratic establishment (the senior partner in the Washington Cartel) is getting a last hurrah with Hillary Clinton. After all, there are careers, status, and paychecks at stake. But the partys future is socialism (or a corporatist facsimile).

A greater commitment to statism and some greater degree of collectivism is being embraced by younger Democrats. Destiny is demographics for the party that once proudly proclaimed its loyalty to Jefferson and Jackson. Shortly, Eugene Debs and Norman Thomas Days will replace Jefferson-Jackson celebrations. A new GOP should welcome Jefferson and Jackson with open arms.

The Democrats journey to socialism is a logical progression. Its a journey begun with Woodrow Wilson and the progressives a century or more ago. But after eight years of Barack Obamas presidency and a preview of what a redder America is like, voters are saying, No way!

Nothing is carved in stone. There are perils and pitfalls aplenty. Much is to be hammered out, not only at Cleveland and in November, but in subsequent years. Yet Republican prospects havent looked this bright in a long time.
A hundred and fifty years ago, British Prime Minister Lord Derby praised Benjamin Disraeli, Leader of the House of Commons, for taking a leap in the dark in 1867 by introducing the Second Reform Act, a positive measure that extended the parliamentary vote to the urban electorate. Today, a different kind of leap in the dark, negative in effect, has been proposed by British politicians who want British exit (Brexit) from membership of the European Union.

The decision of the British people on this issue, Brexit or Remain, will be made in a referendum on June 23, 2016 on the simple, but highly controversial question, Should the UK remain a member of the EU or leave the EU? There are a host of technical problems, legal complications, and both major and minor issues for voters to consider, but the central one is also simple: will Britain benefit or lose by exiting from the EU?

No one can answer this question, with its economic, legal, and political implications, with complete assurance. It is unclear in the event of Brexit what relationship the UK would have with the EU, especially since Britain cannot unilaterally prescribe the terms of a separation, and it is unpredictable what changes would occur in the EU itself. To take just one issue: what would be the impact of separation on free movement of people involving the 3 million EU-born residents working in Britain, and the 1.8 million with UK passports who work within the EU countries?

A number of factors are relevant for a rational unemotional decision on Brexit: the impact on the British economy, the issue of protection of British security in a world threatened by Islamist terrorism, possible disunion and fear of disintegration within the UK, partly as Scotland may vote again and declare its independence and partly if Northern Ireland becomes politically unstable, and the degree to which British sovereignty may be changed.

The economic impact of Brexit on jobs and growth is uncertain. Undoubtedly, some Britons have lost jobs and industries have been hurt by globalization, freedom of movement of workers, and offshore activities.

In the ongoing political debate on Brexit, there is a significant resemblance between British political opinions and those of current United States presidential candidates. The UK Independence Party (UKIP), founded in 1991, a right wing populist party, has a simple, uncomplicated, single-issue program: exit from the EU. In the 2015 election it gained the third largest share of the vote, though because of the working of the electoral system it won only 1 seat in the House of Commons.

UKIP has been gaining strength because of increasing disenchantment with mainstream politics, comparable to populist expressions in both the Republican and Democratic parties, or Podemos in Spain. There are similar expressions of hostility to the Establishment by those who are, or feel they are, disenfranchised, politically disregarded, or excluded from the spoils of economic growth. For UKIP a vote in favor of Brexit would be Independence Day.

However, would UK be independent economically? Brexit is likely to mean less investment, especially foreign direct investment, troubling for Britain since its economy depends on capital inflows. Experts at Goldman Sachs warn that economic growth and the value of sterling currency would decline, by up to 20 per cent, with Brexit. Other experts, Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, Christine Lagarde, director of the IMF, and world leaders at the G20 meeting in Shanghai on February 26, 2016, all make the same point. Brexit would alarm foreign investors. It would increase uncertainty at this moment of storm clouds in the world economy. The UK would be dependent on the kindness of strangers for the influx of foreign capital.

By exiting, Britain would not have the same access to Europes single market and would have to renegotiate a large number of trade deals. At the moment the EU imports 45 per cent of Britains exports, while Britain takes less than 10 per cent of EU exports. It is difficult to measure the effect of EU membership on trade patterns. In making trade deals, Britain benefits from the size of the EU market. It is unlikely that Britain could make satisfactory trade deals across the world quickly.

Understandably, many Britons are concerned about the regulation, political, and judicial decisions, especially those of the European Court of Justice in Brussels. Britain has made clear that it will not accept the EU objective of an ever closer union proclaimed in 1957 before the UK was a member of the European Economic Community that was transformed into the EU. Though UK has accepted the 1992 Maastricht Treaty with its provisions for economic and monetary union, and aspirations for a common foreign and defense policy, few in UK ever approved of the idea of a supranational European state.

The issue of sovereignty is perplexing. Many in Britain are concerned that European courts may have higher priority over British courts and may have final determination of some issues. Parliamentarians are unhappy that EU regulations, now over 12,000, have direct impact on British affairs and behavior. Yet, independence in Britain, as in all other countries, is inevitably limited by rules made by organizations, such as NATO and the IMF, and trade arrangements that bind members. Desire for complete sovereignty an illusion. Moreover, with Brexit, the UK, though nominally more independent, would play a lesser, not a larger role in many domestic and foreign issues, except perhaps on immigration, a special problem for Britain.

Indeed, Brexit would also have two results. It would lead to a weaker Europe that would be bad for the foreign and security policy of the West, particularly in relation to the struggle against Islamist terrorism. In addition, the UK would no longer be a counter power to Germany that would then be the largest military power in the EU.

The EU is a very imperfect body, heavily bureaucratic in its effort to formulate acceptable common rules and unable to agree on a common foreign and defense policy, or to resolve pressing problems of migration, the Eurozone, and economic inequities among the countries. Yet, in this world of Islamist terrorist activities occurring or threatened in European countries, as well as in the United States, a leap in the dark, Brexit, by Britain is not advisable. It would be harmful to both sides and risk the security of both.
Last week I asked about Hillary Clintons email practices, Is it Espionage? Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton insisted that she had broken no rules to conduct government business through the use of a private email service in lieu of the U.S. governments unclassified system, the Non-classified Internet Protocol (IP) Router Network (abbreviated as NIPRNet) and the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet). These are a system of interconnected computer networks used by the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of State to transmit classified information.

The U.S. government has spent billions of dollars developing, deploying and protecting its Internet protocol router networks to enable authorized government officials to conduct the business of government, properly exchange information and intelligence, up to and including information classified SECRET, with others in the government (and their contractors) that are authorized and entitled to have it.

The Democratic Presidential candidate under investigation by the FBI has disclosed that her aides had deleted more than 30,000 emails that she deemed personal. 30,000 emails printed out represents a stack of 60 reams of paper, a stack 10 feet tall. When the FBI retrieved the spools of microfilm, the Alger Hiss Pumpkin Papers printed out to a stack 4  feet tall.

Attorneys fresh out of law school are familiar with the legal issue known as spoliation of evidence. When parties fail to produce relevant evidence within their span of control, evidence which they are otherwise naturally expected to possess, the U.S. legal system allows and even mandates that unfavorable presumptions be drawn against them. So when some item of relevant evidence -- whether documents, physical objects or data relevant to an ongoing legal matter -- is destroyed, discarded or modified in some way, the U.S. legal system allows us to presume that the missing evidence was unfavorable to that party and allows us to draw conclusions accordingly. The classic junior high school excuse, the dog ate my homework, isnt valid under the law when the disappearance is suspicious.

Spoliation of evidence is prohibited by an array of laws and regulations. Also, anyone who destroys relevant evidence or assists in such destruction is subject to criminal prosecution, civil fines, tort liability, exclusion of testimony and dismissal of claims, as well as adverse evidentiary inferences. Intentional destruction or negligent loss of evidence suggests that the party in possession believed that it was harmful to them, and that consciousness of guilt led them to destroy, hide or lose it.

Hillary Clinton said the deleted messages included private emails with her husband, or involved personal matters like her yoga classes or planning for the wedding of their daughter, or the funeral of her mother. These private emails that involved personal matters could possibly account for a ream of paper. That leaves 59 reams of paper that the dog ate. This is the very definition of spoliation of evidence.

Secretary Clinton said she regretted relying on a private email account while in office, rather than a government account. She blamed the Obama administration for a lack of policy guidance. She also said she used the private account as a convenience so that she didnt need to carry separate phones for personal and official communications. Photographs show Mrs. Clinton with multiple personal electronic devices.

She said she had never sent any classified material on the private account, using other staffers government accounts for that. Emails now released reveal that her State Department minions were directed to strip off the classification headers and footers off classified documents and input those documents, or even essential information that would make the information classified. Whether she directed others to do it or she performed the action herself, the FBI has reported thousands of cases exist where classified information was moved to an unsecured email server.

Seventy years ago, senior State Department official Alger Hiss found a way to remove classified information from State Department offices. Hillary Clinton found a way to remove classified information from State Department offices. The essence of espionage is to get classified documents out of a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, a SCIF, and into the hands of someone not authorized to receive them.

Among those charged under the Espionage Act of 1917 were Socialist Party of America candidate, Eugene V. Debs, the communists Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, and most recently, whistleblowers Daniel Ellsberg, Bradley Manning, and Edward Snowden.

Being charged under the Espionage Act was appropriate for those who obtained any information relating to the national defense and delivered that information to someone who was not authorized to have it. The former State Department official, Alger Hiss, typed classified information on his office typewriter, slipped the copies into a briefcase, removed classified information from the State Department, and provided them to his Soviet handler who photographed and microfilmed them. The FBI wished to prosecute Alger Hiss for espionage, but the Justice Department indicated the statute of limitations had run out and Hiss was convicted of the lesser crime; perjury, for lying to the FBI.

The development of the Espionage Act was based on the Defense Secrets Act of 1911 along with the Trading with the Enemy Act. These were enacted shortly after the United States entered World War I. The purpose of the laws was in response to a growing number of spies who acquired and conveyed highly sensitive information which could interfere with the operation or success of the armed forces of the United States or to promote the success of its enemies.

In his December 7, 1915 State of the Union address, President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress for legislation to create the Espionage Act. He said, in part, I urge you to enact such laws at the earliest possible moment and feel that in doing so I am urging you to do nothing less than save the honor and self-respect of the nation. Such creatures of passion, disloyalty, and anarchy must be crushed out. They are not many, but they are infinitely malignant, and the hand of our power should close over them at once. They have formed plots to destroy property, they have entered into conspiracies against the neutrality of the Government, they have sought to pry into every confidential transaction of the Government in order to serve interests alien to our own.

A commenter of the article last week got it right. He observed,

While the spies of yesteryear were motivated by ideology, the thoroughly modern Clintons are totally commercial. How quickly we forget the trading of US weapons designs to ChiCom bundlers of campaign cash, and the DOJ investigations terminated before further treason was exposed. Do not imagine for a second that the home brew server was merely a FOIA foil and not a blame free method of transferring state secrets to our nations enemies for cash paid into the Clinton Global Initiative.

Mark A. Hewitt is the author of espionage thrillers. www.markhewitt.com
With Super Tuesday receding in the rearview mirror, it is prudent to turn our attention to the road ahead. This isn't an ordinary election year  at least not in the fashion we have come to know in the post-WWII era  where primaries and caucuses easily winnow the field of candidates without upending the process itself.

This view, however, is a relatively recent phenomenon. For a far longer period, the nominating convention was much more consequential than the state events that preceded it. Yes, primaries and caucuses were held, but the real decisions were made behind the scenes, at the convention, where alliances were struck and deals were made to coalesce support behind the strongest (or best connected) candidate. Ever heard the phrase "smoky backroom deals"?

The states choose the candidate to whom their delegates (delegates to the nominating convention) will be pledged for the first floor vote. Typically, by the time of the convention, a candidate has amassed enough delegates to win the nomination on the first vote. However, if no single candidate has enough pledged delegates to claim the nomination on the first vote, all delegates are released from their obligations and can vote however they choose in each subsequent vote.

Here's where the deals are made. Here's where second- and third-place candidates jockey for position (cabinet posts, ambassadorships, etc.) in return for urging their pledged delegates to support someone else.

It is this moment where the frontrunner is naked and exposed, vulnerable in the extreme, and it is this moment where a popular but politically naive or poorly organized candidate can see his presumed nomination dissipate like so much smoke.

It is this moment where the "anyone but Trump" coalition intends to take him down.

The casual observers (otherwise known as the mainstream media) will tell you the race is over and Trump has won it. Indeed, the papers and news sites are full of just such pronouncements. They are wrong.

There is a threshold of 1,237 delegates needed to secure the nomination vote at the convention. As of Super Tuesday, Trump has 316, Cruz has 226, and Rubio has 106. The remaining candidates (including those who have dropped out) have a combined 40. Even Common Core math will show that Trump hasn't reached the 50% threshold yet.

If that can be maintained, Trump cannot enter the convention with enough delegates to secure the nomination on the first vote, meaning all bets are off, and the convention will choose the nominee, just as they have for the majority of our nation's political history. The uninformed (also known as the mainstream media) will tell you this is unprecedented. Again, they are wrong.

Our junior senator, Ben Sasse, a man whom I did not support in the primary but who has earned my unqualified respect ever since, recently said he could not cast a vote for Trump in good conscience. His statement set off an argument that is long overdue: just how much loyalty is owed a party when that party has failed to reciprocate?

It is this disconnect between Republicans as campaigners and Republicans in office that has spawned the rise of a man like Trump. Virtually all Republicans since Reagan have run as conservatives, often citing their devotion to constitutional principles as their guiding light.

We know all too well, however, that once in office, these paragons of constitutional republicanism have proven to be less disappointment than turncoat.

The most egregious overreaches of the left in general and the Obama administration in particular were all within the power of the Republican-held Congress to stop. They chose not to, and consequently, our debt has ballooned as never before while our liberties (which are the true basis of our economy and way of life) have eroded to levels that would make Eugene Debs* blush.

Senator Sasse isn't trying to divide the Republican Party; he is trying to set the stage for the convention  to prepare the ground for the battle to come. Think of it as dropping leaflets from a plane warning civilians to leave the area before the fighting begins.

Let's assume for the sake of argument that the dull-witted automatons (again known as the mainstream media!) are correct, and Trump manages to seal the deal before the convention and becomes the Republican nominee. Are we destined to endure another term under a braggodocious usurper of power attempting to bypass checks and balances with a pen and a phone?

No, we are not. Whether the next president is Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, or some other anti-constitutional candidate yet to emerge, our nation is in real danger only if the Republican-led Congress continues its supine ways in the face of executive abuses of power.

The Congress is extremely powerful. Its members can defend the people from a would-be dictator in the Oval Office in myriad ways. They merely need to exercise their constitutional power  something the gelatinously spined Republican leadership has been thus far loath to do.

It isn't a foregone conclusion that the Republic is lost if a Hillary or a Donald gets to add "president" to his or her name. It is, however, a certainty that our Republic will collapse if the Congress refuses to stand between an activist judiciary, a chief executive given to unconstitutional overreach and the people of the United States.

Don't forget: the states themselves are not without power as well.

Our system isn't impotent in the face of the left's ghoulish cult of death and oppression of individual liberty. The Framers bequeathed us a multitude of weapons to fight precisely this battle. These weapons are simply lying on a shelf, unused and gathering dust, awaiting a committed group of patriots to wield them as intended.

The race for the Republican nomination is far from over and the fate of the nation far from sealed. Stay tuned and remain engaged. That's the handle by which we patriots might grasp the Founders' weapons to defend liberty from yet another assault.

*Eugene Debs was the last major candidate to run for office openly as a Socialist.

The author writes from Omaha, Neb. and is the communications director for the Global Faith Institute www.globalfaith.org.
Since 2006, when Bruce Bawer wrote his illuminating book entitled While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within, the situation has worsened tenfold. Not surprisingly, when his book was first published, Bawer was accused of Islamophobia. Yet as early as 1998, Bawer noted the widening divisions between the liberal and democratic policies of the Netherlands and the fact that "Dutch Muslims kept that society at arm's length, despising its freedoms[.]"

In the late 1990s, Bawer and his male partner decided to live in Amsterdam because it seemed to him to be "the one place [he'd] ever been where homophobia really seemed to have disappeared." He felt that the Netherlands had moved from the "foolishness of [American] fundamentalism," and although he loved America "not because of its wealth or power, but because of its culture and values," he wanted to really know what it meant to be an American by living elsewhere as a means of contrast.

Once in the Netherlands, Bawer began to appreciate "American virtues" that he'd always taken for granted  most importantly a "belief in the future." He found that while he enjoyed the culture of Europe, he also saw that much of Western Europe was "bound up with a stifling conformity, a discomfort with excellence and an overt disapproval of those who strove too visibly to better their lot"  in short, "mediocrity." He saw that France and Germany were "plagued by low growth and rising unemployment, a direct consequence of welfare state policies." He also realized that Europeans "had been fed a zero-sum understanding of economics."

In addition, he perceived that "fundamentalist Muslims were on the march and their numbers and power were large and growing rapidly  and the ultimate objective was far more than a ban on abortion or gay marriage." A sea change was overtaking Europe that involved female genital mutilation, viewing women as property, and subsidies from the Dutch state as well as from Islamic governments that taught hatred of Jews, Israel, America, and the West. The very countries that these Muslims were living in were to be scorned, since they were meant to be replaced by a Muslim caliphate governed according to sharia law.

But surely, Bawer believed, this could not be permitted. He naively presumed that such contempt for pluralism, open-mindedness, democracy, and sexual equality would not be tolerated. Instead, political correctness, spineless leaders, and Islamic intimidation worked their magic so that in 1998, "Europeans were clueless" as to what was occurring under their very noses.

Exploiting the generosity of Western welfare states, the Muslims view this as proper dhimmitude status, wherein the host countries pay a jizya or tax. Muhammad clearly established that people of other religions have to pay a poll tax to Muslims as a reminder of their inferior status. Thus, welfare is the jizya and is expected by the Muslim community. Consequently, Europe cowers before Muslim demands, and with the help of a compliant or indifferent media and government leaders who do not raise any salient issues, the caliphate continues its march forward.

Furthermore, a double standard exists. For example, for "native Swedes, the minimum age for marriage is eighteen; for immigrants living in Sweden, there is no minimum."

Fast-forward to the Syrian refugees presently flooding across European borders, and the result is an "average of three child brides arriving each week in the Netherlands." Abigail R. Esman writes of "child brides married against their will. They are 11, 13 and 14 years old. Some are pregnant and others are already mothers at 14. Their husbands are 25 or 38 or 40." This is their plight, with no end in sight.

And yet, as Bawer earlier asserted, "the European establishment has been reluctant to challenge even the most reprehensible traditions brought to Europe by immigrant groups." Nicolai Sennels quotes a police inspector in Sweden who recently stated that "[t]he legal system, which is a cornerstone of a democratic society, is about to collapse in Sweden." Thus, "54 areas ... are now controlled by criminal gangs and more places also by religious extremism[.]"

The European governments are permitting  in fact, encouraging and aiding  these travesties. What happened in Cologne "is nothing[.] ... [T]hat happens here every day" is the headline emanating from Berlin.

Ingrid Carlqvist has been writing about the deteriorating situation in Sweden for years.

Mass immigration is continuing to claim victims in Sweden. Murder, assaults and rape have become everyday occurrences in this small country, with a population just short of ten million, which last year opened its doors to almost 163,000 immigrants. Although the massive influx of asylum seekers has decreased drastically since January 4, when Sweden implemented border controls on the Swedish/Danish border, the people who are already here pose a giant problem to municipalities, police and citizens. The police are fighting a losing battle against street crime, as well as daily incidents at asylum houses  general disturbances that include fights, rapes and threats.

Now known as the rape capital of the West, Sweden is experiencing a crime wave that has "increased by 300% and rapes by 1,472%." Most shocking is that "in an astounding number of cases, the Swedish courts have demonstrated sympathy for the rapists, and have acquitted suspects who have claimed that the girl wanted to have sex with six, seven or eight men." And while Sweden does not report on the background of the rapists, this increase in violence parallels the immigration, over the past 10-15 years, of people coming mainly from Muslim countries where they have been taught since childhood that it is perfectly acceptable to assault infidel women. As a result, "demand for firearms licenses is increasing; more and more Swedes are joining shooting clubs and starting vigilante groups." In essence, Swedes "have lost confidence in the State" and now aim to protect themselves.

In the fall of 2005, Mikael Tossavainen wrote about "Arab and Muslim Anti-Semitism in Sweden." Often Arab and Muslim pupils indicate an "appreciation for the genocide of European Jewry," or they deny the Holocaust altogether. A number of Muslim anti-Semitic websites exist in Swedish, the best known being Radio Islam. It began broadcasting in the 1980s, and the content accuses Jews of "being sexually perverted, brazen, and greedy, and committing ritual murders[.]"

Yet "the connection between anti-Semitism, Islam and Muslim mass immigration remains a mental no-go area in Sweden." Malmo, Sweden has always been governed by Social Democrats. They count on 70% of the Muslim vote. Instead of protecting the Jewish residents of Malmo, Swedish police chose to revoke the Jews' right to assemble for a peaceful pro-Israel demonstration. As a result of the rampant anti-Semitism, Jews have moved to other Swedish cities or to Israel.

But as Bawer points out, the "mendacious rhetoric" against America and Israel is rampant throughout Europe. An attack by an Arab gang on young Jews in Antwerp, Belgium is merely recorded as "violence between two communities." Moral equivalence repeatedly rears its ugly head, even though Muslims in Europe have not been attacked by Jews and unlike anti-Semitic acts, which are applauded by influential figures within the Muslim community, anti-Muslim attacks are isolated incidents that no respected person or institution approves of. Finally, the number of anti-Muslim attacks is dwarfed by the number of attacks on Jews. Since 2000, anti-Semitism in France has been epidemic.

There is a "tendency in Swedish society to become more lenient towards the expression of anti-Semitic attitudes that could be related to the Middle East conflict."

And when courageous souls speak out against the terror being inflicted by Muslim immigrants, they, and not the criminals, are arrested. Michael Hess, a local Swedish politician, tried to explain to journalists that misogyny is deeply rooted in Islam's culture, which teaches that it is acceptable "to rape and brutalize women who refuse to comply with Islamic teachings." He asserted that there was a "strong connection between rapes in Sweden and the number of immigrants coming from the Middle East and North Africa. For his factual revelations, he was charged with the "denigration of ethnic groups," which is a crime in Sweden.

This echoes Bawer's description of the defamation of Simon Petrus Fortuyn, better known as Pim. Pim argued that the Dutch government should stop issuing residency permits to imams who "preached that Dutch women are whores and gay men lower than pigs [.]" Instead of applauding his courage, the establishment turned against his "intellectual energy and moral determination."

Bawer's book makes for dismal reading, as what he warned about is happening at lightning speed in Sweden and the rest of Europe. It is poignantly visualized in this Dry Bones cartoon.

And we, across the pond, should not delude ourselves. The same thing is underway right here at home.

Eileen can be reached at middlemarch18@gmail.com.
Autocracy is the most natural form of government, and historically the most dominant form of political organization. There are more democracies in the world today than ever before, but most are autocracies or so-called hybrid governments that cannot objectively be called democratic.

Perhaps the most obvious way that America is exceptional is that there is no real autocratic domestic antecedent to our republican form of government. The American Revolution took place mostly because the British king had not exerted his authority on the colonies, and we revolted when he did. America has never truly been under the thumb of an autocratic regime, except for the brief period between the end of the Seven Years War (1763) and the Revolution (1776).

The risk for most democracies is a backward slide into atavistic autocracy. For the United States, the risk has been a gradual and organic process that has progressively shed the ideals of the founding fathers as the country has moved toward the international and historical autocratic mean. The presidency of Barack Obama and the rise of Donald Trump represent more disturbing evidence that this movement is continuing at an ever greater and more dangerous pace.

Donald Trump's remarkable political success has been attributed mostly to the anger of his supporters over their marginalization, the leftist agenda of the Obama administration, a biased media, and the misfeasance and malfeasance of the governing classes in of both parties. That is no doubt true, but a Trump supporter needs to be more than angry. He or she also must be accepting (if not outright supportive) of Trump's undeniable autocratic outlook. To the extent that Trump has any clear political philosophy at all, it is that of the strongman, and he sees himself as the paradigm.

Trump is not the cause of this political shift; he is evidence of it. Trump is not such a gifted politician or strategist that he is pulling the electorate along. Rather, he is a skilled and clever opportunist who sensed that the time was right for him and seized the chance. Trump would have been laughed out of the Republican nominating race 20 years ago. Today, he is poised to claim that nomination.

The opportunity arose for Trump not only due to the alienation of a large segment of the American electorate, but because America has been moving toward autocracy for over 200 years, arguably since the Constitution supplanted the Articles of Confederation and centralized the national government. Since then, with some stops and starts, the country has moved toward centralization of power in the federal government, and especially in the chief executive. What is uniquely American about this process is that it is not at all about revisiting a despotic past, but a new experience with each step. There is no collective memory of a reviled autocrat, no historic fear of a massive unlawful usurpation of power.

Since the Civil War, the move toward autocracy has gained steam. Occasionally there is a pushback, like the 22nd Amendment after the second Roosevelt administration. Some presidents have been less intent on consolidating power  e.g., Reagan  and some much more. With Obama we have a president clearly unmoved by Constitutional limitations, intent on obviating them in any way possible, and not ashamed to say so. Obama's autocratic tendencies were apparent before he was elected (remember the god-like Greek temple), made plain during his first term ("elections have consequences") and after his re-election ("I have a pen and a phone.")

Obama's election and re-election demonstrated that an overwhelming number of Democrats and a significant number of independents are entirely comfortable with autocratic rule, and this is not just a manifestation of having their man in office. Either you buy into the constitutional principles of limited government and checks and balances or you do not. It is pretty clear that Democrats as a group do not, and their consistent defense of big government and declarations that we need more prove this clearly enough. This doesn't mean that Democrats won't pretend to constitutional piety while they can manipulate the machinery of government to frustrate opponents. The Democrats' current embrace of two candidates of whom one is manifestly corrupt and advanced mostly on the basis of nepotism, and the other an avowed socialist, shows that Obama's autocratic tendencies are not anomalies to endure in an otherwise desirable (to them) leader, but exactly what they want.

It was probably inevitable that eventually many Republicans and conservative-leaning independents would adopt this outlook as well. For all the seeming schisms bedeviling the country between left and right, Democrat and Republican, white and black, we still live in a mostly common culture, are exposed to much the same mass media, and have experienced big government and increasing autocracy from leaders on both sides of the aisle. And while it is not impossible to fight an antagonistic autocrat with republican principles, it is easier to do so championing a rival not bound by those principles.

We don't know that Trump would be more of an autocrat than Clinton, but he is certainly more overt in his public pronouncements about his admiration of current and past autocrats, as well as openly espousing tyrannical ideas that Clinton likely keeps to herself  like expanding libel laws. The mere fact that Trump is so open about these things, and that his supporters actually like him for it, demonstrates more than that Trump is charismatic. His supporters are already conditioned and ready for another autocrat  this one presumably more to their taste than Obama, though how that would be with Trump is hard to precisely discern on many issues.

Because we have no collective memory of autocratic rule, no chapters in history books of American tyrants (though some ante- and post-bellum Southerners might have disagreed), Trump doesn't strike fear into his supporters. Instead, they are happy to see that his bluster unnerves those he defines as enemies  and whom presumably his supporters also see as adversarial to their interests. What a Trump supporter does not see as against his or her interest, as with Democrats, is autocracy. And that is why, win or lose, Trump's so far successful candidacy bodes ill for American democracy.
I managed to sneak into a Ted Cruz rally Wednesday night in suburban Kansas City. Upon leaving, I no longer counted myself among the uncommitted. I and thousands of others in this overflow crowd had to be thinking the same thought, Why would a conservative vote for anyone else?

That is not to take anything away from the other candidates. This is easily the best Republican crop in anyones memory. Even the remaining go-along, get-along candidate, John Kasich, would make for a better president than the five go-along, get-alongs the Republicans have nominated since 1988.

If Cruz is not nominated, I will vote for the Republican who is.

Those luminaries who insist they will not vote for Donald Trump if he is the nominee, confuse idealism with narcissism. The nation has barely survived eight years of Barack Obama. It will be unrecognizable after four years of Hillary Clinton, let alone eight. To worry about the Republican brand while the country speeds down the diamond lane towards serfdom flirts with treason.

Cruz represents conservative values more consistently, intelligently and forcefully than any candidate in the field. I recall seeing George Bush speak during the 2000 campaign. He used a briefing notebook to guide him through his speech. Lacking a fully formed understanding of conservative principles, he had to remind himself how he felt about a particular issue, and Bush was a more serious conservative than Bob Dole, John McCain, Mitt Romney, or his own father.

Barack Obama, of course, has no gift for impromptu speech.

At a campaign event in Virginia in June 2008, Obama was making an impassioned speech about the wasteful use of ER services in the treatment of childhood asthma when, suddenly, he seemed to lose his place on the teleprompter.

As he signaled his distress, he stuttered badly, talked about the use of a breathalyzer, corrected himself to say inhalator, laughed, stuttered some more, and blamed his performance on not having much sleep in the last 48 hours. The right word, by the way, is inhaler.

It is unimaginable that Cruz would falter so. At the rally he spoke for forty-five minutes without notes, let alone a teleprompter. His speech was a mix of time tested tropes and new riffs pulled from the headlines. He did not stutter, stammer, or search for a word. There was an ideological coherence to his presentation that I have not seen from a presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan.

Nor was this just all talk. In his three-plus years in the Senate, Cruz has deviated from his stated principles far less than any of his colleagues and has the stab wounds in his back to prove it. One can compromise, Cruz noted, on details like, say, the top marginal rate on taxes. What one cannot compromise on are core beliefs.

Of this years candidates, no one has a more solid core than Cruz. One cannot imagine him proposing a David Souter for the Supreme Court or expanding Medicaid or creating a new federal agency. For obvious reasons, one cannot have quite the same confidence in Marco Rubio, an otherwise exceptional candidate.

If Cruz has a weakness as a candidate it is that he can sometimes seem preachy and unpersonable. Watching him last night I got a sense of why that might be. Given his roots in the evangelical tradition, he is fundamentally a big tent speaker. That style does not work well on a small screen.

Charm is a valuable commodity in televised politics, and no candidate has more of it than Rubio. All factors being equal, charm carries the day, but in deciding between Cruz and Rubio, all factors are not equal. Besides, the Republican nominee will likely be running against a candidate with no charm at all.

A final question, perhaps a preliminary question, is whether Cruz qualifies as a natural born citizen. This is a subject I have researched at some length. In merely raising this question earlier in the campaign, I was smacked with the Scarlet R for racism by two different writers for the left-leaning TPM.

The delusional Amanda Marcotte insisted that my argument was just an elaborate mechanism for conveying, without coming right out and saying, that real Americans are white -- preferably of the blonde and WASPy stripe. No, Amanda, it is a legitimate question, one that the left will surely raise if Cruz is the nominee.

The founders, I am convinced, were less concerned that a child be born in the United States than that he born to two parents of undivided loyalty. As to Cruz and Rubio, the courts would likely rule in favor of both of them, with Cruz, despite his Canadian birth, having the stronger case. I would like to say I welcome input on this subject, but I dont. I have been inundated with input for months. Basta! Please! Tell me something I dont know.

After I posted a picture from the Cruz rally on Facebook, a liberal friend from New York responded, Cruz? Really Jack? He would suffer a Goldwater style defeat. No, the most principled Republican in thirty years would be running against the least principled Democrat in the history of the Republic.

This is a match-up I would enjoy. These are debates for which I would have friends over and make popcorn. This campaign season, finally, would be fun.
Peak warmism has already hit, and the global warming movement is now on its long glide path through loss of government funding, budget and hiring cuts, less media attention, on the way to unfashionability, embarrassment, and eventually obscurity, a historical footnote like phrenology (which was once the rage in elite academic circles). In retrospect, the December 2015 Paris Climate Accord, which was still able to draw heads of state but which could accomplish nothing substantive other than promise money, may well be seen as the definitive moment at which the movement began its official decline.

Now elite institutions, which always have their antennae attuned to the ebb and flow of the concerns of the worlds power elite, are acting out the consequences of decline. If you are a university president responsible for raising mega-donations by convincing the holders of wealth that they can achieve prestige and maybe a little immortality by funding your Good Works, then you have to be aware of their changing concerns.

Only a few years ago, global warming seemed like a sure winner to Yales then-president Richard C. Levin, when he announced in 2009 the establishment of the Yale Climate and Energy Institute and secured Rajendra K. Pachauri as its first head. Pachuari was the head of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the major force pushing global warming as a central battle to be fought to save humanity, and he was to serve both the U.N. and Yale at the same time, locking them together as leaders of the fight to rescue us all from doom.

That was then; this is now. The Yale Daily News announced three days ago:

After a University decision to cut all its funding, Yales Climate & Energy Institute will close by the end of June. The loss of the institute, which for the last eight years has conducted research related to issues of climate change, leaves a hole in climate and energy studies at Yale. (snip) The announcement came in a Monday afternoon email to the YCEI community from institute co-directors and geology and geophysics professors David Bercovici and Jay Ague, and follows years of cuts to the institutes funding, according to students involved in the organization. While not all good things have to come to an end, sometimes they just do, Bercovici and Ague wrote. The YCEI will stop activities and close up shop as of June 30, 2016. The YCEI was founded in 2008 with the backing of then-University President Richard Levin. Since then, the institute has hosted conferences, fostered collaborations across science departments and between universities outside of Yale, as well as supported scholarships and postdoctoral fellowships that address the changing climate. The institute also supplied undergraduates with a database of energy-related internships. Bercovici and Ague wrote that the YCEI was founded with overwhelming enthusiasm from faculty and students across campus. Bercovici and Ague declined to comment Monday night, citing time constraints.

You know there is deep embarrassment when professors decline to comment because of time constraints.

Part of that embarrassment might be related to the founding head of the YCEI. The Indian Express reports:

More than a year after the Delhi Police registered a case against former chief of The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI) [yet another NGO that Pachauri was the head of], R K Pachauri, the probe agency has chargesheeted the scientist for allegedly sexually harassing and outraging the modesty of a former woman colleague. Police Tuesday filed the chargesheet before Metropolitan Magistrate Shivani Chauhan, who has now fixed April 23 for taking cognizance of the chargesheet. The chargesheet before the designated Mahila Court in Saket District Courts has charged Pachauri under Section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354 A (punishment for sexual harassment), 354 D (stalking), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) under the IPC. Police had registered the case against Pachauri based on a criminal complaint filed by the woman in February last year. In its chargesheet, police has named 23 persons as prosecution witnesses, many of whom are former and present employees of TERI, said the sources.

Pachauri has been a controversial figure for quite some time, based on unproven allegations of financial self-enrichment and allegations of sexual misbehavior. His personal troubles no doubt have diminished his moral authority as a champion save-the-world advocate (and, oddly enough, parallel the sexual misconduct charges against the pre-eminent warmist profiteer, Al Gore), but a scandal-tainted founding director ordinarily would not be enough to kill a formerly well funded institute at a world-famous research university. In order to accomplish that, you have to starve it (and the university backing it) of funding.

And that is what must be behind the announcement of the demise of YCEI. Donors have moved on to more trendy opportunities to add to their personal prestige. It all begins when, at a cocktail reception or fancy dinner, people begin to ask about the failure of the globe to warm for the last 19 years, and you get stuck in an awkward conversation about how it was necessary to adjust the data in order to continue to claim that warming is a problem. That sort of thing is donor poison.

As for the poor Yale undergraduates who got those fellowships and saw themselves building careers, as rescuers of the world, they are out of luck. The Yale Daily News interviews a number of them, and they are obviously in shock.

They would be better off taking the advice of the great James Delingpole, who writes at Breitbart:

Make no mistake, these are dark and terrible times for the climate change industry. If you have a son or a daughter studying at university in a field like ecology, environmental studies or similar, do be sure to encourage them to polish up their burger-flipping or lap-dancing skills.

Actually, a better idea would be to move on to study inequality, for that is the subject about which it is much more fashionable to express deep concern, and it has several years more of popularity ahead.

Hat tip: Clarice Feldman
By all accounts, Mitt Romney gave a great speech on Trump. Romney spoke to the great character of the American people and of past presidents. He highlighted polls showing Donald Trump losing to Hillary Clinton in the general election and outlined a multitude of reasons why this would be bad for America  most notably Hillarys failings as secretary of state and her and Bills long track record of crony capitalism. He reiterated the theme that Donald Trump is a con man and shuckster:

This is what I know  Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud. His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University. Hes playing the members of the American public for suckers  he gets a free ride to the White House, and all we get is a lousy hat.

Where was this spunk in 2012? If Mitt had shown half this vinegar in his run for the White House, he would be president.

I like Mitt Romney as a man. I liked him and thought he was the right candidate to solve our economic problems in 2012. Many of his foreign policy positions turned out to be prescient. God knows he would have been better for America these last three years than Barack Obama.

Therein lies is the rub. The American people, and most certainly conservatives, would have had his back in 2012 if he would have (figuratively) taken a swing at Barack Obama. Donald Trump does not have half the character traits that Mitt Romney has to be commander in chief, but at least hes prepared to throw the haymaker.

As I understand the pundits, Mitt Romney is considering sidestepping the GOP nomination process and either hijacking the GOP convention or running as a Conservative Party candidate.

Dont do it! Americas success, and the GOPs future, demands an alliance between the conservative and moderate wings of our party, chartered in opposition to the progressive elements of the Democratic as well as the Republican Party.

The American people are right of center. This is not extreme right, as many in media (and political class) are wont to portray, but rather what used to be core American values: self-determination, personal responsibility, thrift, the work ethic, adherence to our founding principles, faith. and family. Americas popular culture has moved so far from these values that they only appear extreme.

Ted Cruz has staked out this beachhead. He has diligently fought big-government statists in both parties and has built a foundation of support in early primary states with wins in Texas, Iowa, Alaska, and Oklahoma. Its important to note that most of Trumps victories have come in open primary states, where one could argue that the Democrat machines could be elevating Trump as the opponent that theyd most like to see in the general.

Mitt Romney is a good man. He has a phenomenal track record of success. But the base wont tolerate him hijacking the convention, nor will they move to him in large enough numbers as an alternative to #NeverTrump.

At the closing of Mitts speech, he said:

Im convinced that America has greatness ahead, and that this is a time for choosing. God Bless us to choose a nominee who will make that vision a reality.

It is a time for choosing, but there is only one path available to save the GOP and to make America the Shining City on the Hill: swallow your pride, reach out to Ted Cruz, and offer to give him your endorsement. If you think you have it in you, and if hes so inclined, ask him to let you join him on a Cruz/Romney ticket. America could do worse (and might) than a conservative/moderate alliance in 2016.
U.S.-Israeli relations reached a low point one year ago yesterday as the White House scolded Congress over allowing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak directly to the American people through an address to a joint session. Nevertheless, from the well of the U.S. House of Representatives last March, the prime minister delivered his speech about the perils of the Iran nuclear deal, and now a recent poll suggests that the message was received.

A Gallup poll released last month finds that 30% of Americans approve, while 57% disapprove of the Iran nuclear deal. Along party lines, the difference is far more drastic, as a meager 9% of Republicans approve of the agreement compared to a slight majority of 51% of Democrats. Also telling is that only 30% of independents support it. Gallup concludes that Netanyahu's disapproval may have helped shape the sour national mood on this issue.

Yes, it is sour  a word defined in this context as harsh in spirit or temper. But it was not Mr. Netanyahu who was sour, because at the beginning of his remarks, the prime minister recounted longstanding ties between the two countries, citing specific instances where President Obama assisted Israel in recent years. It was U.S. politicians who shaped the sour national mood.

President Obama, who refused to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu while he was in Washington at that crucial moment, also made sure the world knew he wasnt planning on watching the speech, dismissing it altogether afterward. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said she was moved to tears during Netanyahus address because the speech took place without the Obama administrations blessing, and nearly 60 Democrats in Congress refused to attend.

What is insulting to the majority of Americans outside the Beltway is the extent to which the Iran agreement may actually help pave the way for that nation to become a nuclear power, as Netanyahu warns, which remains the key unresolved issue nobody can answer. Perhaps another reason the agreement is so unpopular is the technical jargon attached to it. Snap-back sanctions and breakout times were (and still are) Obama administration terms used to paper over Irans belligerent record in order to sell the deal to a skeptical Congress.

Somehow, re-imposing sanctions is supposed to be like pushing a button. As for the confusing breakout period, the White House maintains that due to the agreement, it will take nine months longer for Iran to become a nuclear power if it wants. Its no surprise Americans are left wondering when Iran will get the bomb and why this agreement is necessary in the first place.

It is necessary to uphold Mr. Obamas legacy. In his first inaugural address in 2009, he said of Islamic countries, [W]e will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist. Iran has clenched its fist, quashing the Green Revolution, test-firing ballistic missiles, and most recently capturing Navy sailors who inadvertently ventured into Persian waters and then parading them to the media.

Contrast Obama administration word games with the forceful clarity with which Mr. Netanyahu addressed Congress. America's founding document promises life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, he said. Irans founding document pledges death, tyranny, and the pursuit of jihad.

It is unclear if the president saw that part of the speech. It doesnt matter now. Israel is paying close attention to this years elections; U.S. presidential candidates regularly lead the news cycle there. Media outlets ranging from liberal newspaper Haaretz to the more conservative Jerusalem Post have special sections devoted entirely to U.S. election coverage.

Israel is closely watching who will be elected, because its citizens want to know what the next presidents position is on repealing the Iran deal. A telling headline in Haaretz captured Israeli sentiment after Mr. Netanyahus speech, stating that several domestic public opinion polls show a broad consensus against the deal that seems to transcend conventional political divides.

Here at home, the Gallup poll shows thta partisan differences remain over the terms of a nuclear-armed Iran. But those differences hardened when the prime minister received petty treatment from the Obama administration. Then-House speaker John Boehner, who orchestrated the speech to Congress, received widespread criticism from mainstream media for not seeking White House approval. But nobody recalls any criticism of congressional speeches among over a dozen other world leaders during Obamas presidency.

The next president has an opportunity to extend a hand to Israel in the wake of the Iran nuclear deal. Should that happen, around this time next year, it may turn out it is Benjamin Netanyahu who gets the last word.

Jim Pettit is a public policy and message development consultant. He is on Twitter at @jamesmpettit.
There is a well-known saying that goes like this: The way California goes, so goes the nation. This saying is about to be validated once again. The parallels between the special recall election of Gray Davis in 2003 and the 2016 presidential election are strikingly clear and obvious.

Californians were angry enough with the Democratic political machine that pandered to the illegal aliens to force a recall of the then-sitting Democratic governor, Gray Davis. Up stepped The Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger. His campaign slogan, which he repeated as often as he could in his deep Austrian accent, was I am going to Sacramento to clean house! The fact that Arnold had no experience whatsoever in politics and that he was an actor with close ties to Hollywood did not dissuade his supporters, including myself. The fact that he was a member of the Kennedy family by marriage to Maria Shriver did not arouse suspicion about his conservative bona fides.

As it turned out, we Californians were taken to the cleaners, and then some. Arnold went on to govern as an east-coast liberal. He forsook his supporters for the praise and friendship of the Kennedy family and the Hollywood elites. After one and a half terms as governor, he had not one conservative accomplishment. Thanks to Arnold and our current governor, Jerry Brown, California is an economic basket case of unfunded pension liabilities, entitlements, and business-strangling regulation. You might call it Greece on steroids.

A short thirteen years after Arnold was swept into office by public disgust with the system, we have the emergence of The Donald. The phenomenon of Donald is Arnold all over again. Theres even an eerie similarity in the magic of the use of their first names. Donalds third wife is a supermodel from Slovenia whose career brought her through the fashion capitals of Milan and Paris before she became a New Yorker. Donald himself is about as an authentic a New Yorker as there is. He is cozy with liberal politicians as well as Madison Avenue celebrities. He himself is a TV celebrity in the mold of Arnold. Only California can challenge New York as a laboratory of liberalism. Arnold promised to clean house and did nothing of the kind. Will Donald make America great again?

The analogy here between the two is so congruous, its almost spooky. I hope and pray that my worst fears for this country are unfounded. I am a Cruz supporter who would have to pull the lever for The Donald if given the choice between him and Hillary. Heaven forbid I am thrown into that predicament.
The media talking heads are all agog chatting up Donald Trumps commanding victory on Super Tuesday. But they are wrong. In fact, Trump fell seriously short.

While it is true that Trump won 7 out of the 11 states in contention on March 1, he won only 237 out of 562 delegates thus far awarded, for a score of 42%.

Before Super Tuesday, Trump had 82 out of 126 awarded delegates, or 65%. But after the smoke has now cleared, his new total is 319 out of 688, or 46%. If his win ratio in future primaries can be limited to what he achieved on Super Tuesday, he will arrive in Cleveland with minority of delegates and will fail to seize the nomination.

Trumps dramatic decline in performance occurred after only five days of serious attacks by other candidates. There are another 13 days before the next round of major contests on March 15, and 100 days before the decisive 172-delegate winner-take-all California primary on June 7. Trump is going to take a lot more battering. Far from being hopeless, the chances for beating him are excellent.

To ultimately beat Trump, however, the Republican candidates must adopt the right tactics. The wrong strategy, which unfortunately we saw up until the February 25 debate, would be for the genuine Republican candidates to strive to drive each other out of the race in order to gain a one-on-one match with the counterfeit intruder. The right approach is for all direct fire against Trump. If Rubio and Cruz want to have a real two-man contest, they need to ally against Trump and cut him down to size. Then they can have their two-man race  against each other. But the first priority of both needs to be to eliminate the menace of a Trump first ballot victory.

No candidate is going to do the others the favor of withdrawing from the national race. But as the winner-take-all primaries of March 15 approach, they must rise to the occasion and withdraw from contention against each other in specific states. Neither Rubio nor Cruz should campaign in Ohio. Let Kasich take it and secure that states 66 delegates against Trump. Neither Cruz nor Kasich should campaign in Florida. Let Rubio take it and secure Floridas 99 delegates against Trump. Cruz has the best chance in Missouri, so he should be given a clear field there. Responsibility for the remaining states should be divided along the same lines.

Any other strategy is insane. It will be hard enough for Rubio to win Florida, without wasting energy in Ohio to help Trump beat Kasich there. Instead of wasting resources helping Trump win Florida, Cruz should seize the moment to take the states not vital to Rubio or Kasich. Instead of weakening themselves fighting each other everywhere, the Republicans need to focus their forces on their respective best territories, stay out of each others way, and make Trump spread his forces thin fighting them all on multiple fronts.

Returning to Super Tuesday, I have been searching for an analogy from military history. The closest I can think of is the Battle of the Marne in 1914, with Cruz playing France, Rubio Britain, and Trump Germany. In August 1914, the Kaisers armies were victorious everywhere. They annihilated the Russians at Tannenberg in the east, beat the French in the battle of the frontiers, routed the combined Anglo-French forces in Belgium, and were pouring into France. By early September, they were within a few miles of Paris, and total defeat for the allies seemed imminent. But on September 5, the weary French, who had been retreating nonstop for two weeks, turned; took a stand on the river Marne; and, with British support, delivered a blow that halted the German onslaught.

The Miracle of the Marne did not win the war for the Allies, but it denied the Germans victory. It took four more years of tough trench and naval warfare for the allies to win. But eventually they did.

Vive la Marne.

Robert Zubrin is president of Pioneer Energy of Lakewood, Colo., and the author of The Case for Mars. 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.
The Conservative Political Action Conference got underway yesterday, with speakers extolling the virtues of conservatism.

But the name "Donald Trump" was rarely mentioned. Even Senator Ben Sasse, whose high-profile denunciation of Trump and his vow not to support him if he is the nominee, only alluded to Trump with some elliptical comments:

The apparent reluctance to forcefully talk about Trump in front of a conservative crowd seemed to typify the Republican Partys scattershot reaction to the GOP front-runner, who increasingly looks like he may be the general-election candidate. Many party elites have made no secret of their distaste for Trump, a candidate who has trampled on just about every sacred cow of conservatism. Even so, the establishment has not been able to decide how to respond to the Trump surge. Should influential conservatives go after Trump with everything theyve got? Should they embrace him in a bid for party unity, or as a way to make sure theyre on his good side in case he wins the Oval Office? Is it better to simply sit on the sidelines? No one seems able to agree, leaving the party in a state of paralysis.

Earlier in the week, there was an abortive effort to get Trump "disinvited" from speaking at the conference. But ACU president Matt Schlapp shot that idea down. So Trump will speak to attendees on Saturday.

One conservative is trying to get 1,000 people to walk out on Trump when he begins his remarks:

Were gonna do a walk-out on Mr. Trumpster, William Templea fixture at the conservative convention held just outside Washington, D.C., who Newsweek oncedescribed as the face of the Tea Partysaid Thursday, eagerly telling anyone who would listen about his plans to defy the Donald. Wearing a yellow DONT TREAD ON ME flag draped around his shoulders, Temple stood out from the crowd of mostly buttoned-up Republicans walking the halls of the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center. This isnt the first time he has organized a walkout at CPAC. Temple did the same thing last year, only then his target was Jeb Bush. What do Bush and Trump have in common? Neither ones conservative, he immediately replied. When he comes in, were going to let him know that we dont want to associate with a man that makes fun of Carly Fiorinas face, or denigrates women, or is rude and crude.

This effort epitomizes the attempts made by various Republican factions to stop Trump before he wins the nomination. Haphazard, scattershot efforts won't get the job done. And it won't happen in this case, either.

It's debatable whether Trump supporters are persuadable at this point, as these empty gestures are more for the benefit of the conscience of Trump opponents rather than a serious attempt to stop him.

But if the past is any guide, CPAC attendees will sit in mostly respectful silence and listen to what Trump has to say.
Why on earth did Mitt Romney parade himself before a Utah audience to slime Trump? Why did he do it on the day of a Republican debate? Even if every word he spoke is true, and that is debatable, all he did was give Trump supporters more reason to dig in their heels. Why do this? Does he want to insert himself as a potential candidate into a brokered convention? That would be dumb. Voters are not going to accept a candidate who got no votes in any primaries. Or are they? Who knows at this point? Trump is the ultimate fly in the ointment. He has single-handedly torn up and rewritten the GOP script for the 2016 election.

Trump may not actually be a jerk in his private life, but he certainly behaves like one on every level in public. He may treat his wife and children with respect and affection, but he has nothing but contempt for anyone with an opposing opinion toward him in public. He behaves like a playground bully who never graduated from the fourth grade. He is so thin-skinned, he cannot let the mildest of insults go by without an disparaging retort. Like every narcissist, he has to have the last laugh. But what he really has done is take the campaign deeper into the gutter. He has dragged his opponents there as well. He is as thin-skinned as a jellyfish  lethal when it stings, but bereft of substance.

Trump has made mincemeat of the RNC with such ease that he has proven they must deserve it. They do. The "establishment" Republicans, those folks elected to stop Obama from ruling like a tyrant, by executive order, by stealth, and by deceit, have failed their constituents. Romney just gave Trump supporters all the ammunition they need to fuel their support for Trump until November. Who among us disheartened conservatives can find solace in Romney's rant? Every word may be true, but the speech was delivered as a lecture to lesser beings  not the way to persuade people to one's side.

Romney did terrible damage with his "speech" yesterday. It most likely drove many more angry voters to Trump. Reference to it took up the first third of the debate, stupidly. Were I a Trump supporter, I would be ever more resolute in my support for Trump and set about recruiting everyone I know to his side.

I cannot imagine what Romney was thinking. He is a good and decent man. Had he been elected in 2012, the country would be in a far better place than it is today. There is no doubt he would have been a better president. But he failed in 2012 to go after Obama on each and every pathetic failure of the Obama administration: the Stimulus, Obamacare, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, etc. The list is long and devastating, and Romney was too polite to mention most of it. He lost, and the country has suffered because of his timidity. Like Ben Carson, he was just too polite.

What Romney did yesterday will do more harm than good. The overused but accurate term, the" Establishment," has yet to grasp why Americans of every demographic are furiously angry. They no longer care that Romney's words are true; they just want the oligarchy that rules the roost to be upended.
In a small island in the center of a remote Lake Tere-Khol, high in the mountains of southern Siberia, close to the Mongolian border, lies the ruins of Por-Bazhyn (also spelled Por Bajin), a structure that at first glance appears like a fortress. Por-Bazhyn, which means "clay house" in the Tuvan language, has been known since the 18th century, but it wasnt explored until the late 19th century. Since then the complex has been fascinating and frustrating experts in equal measure, because they are unable to tell who built it and why.

Por-Bazhyn was first explored in 1891 by a Russian archeologist who noticed similarity of the layout of Por-Bazhyn to that of Kara-Balgasun, the former capital of the Uighur empire that ruled for about a century between the mid 8th and 9th centuries. On the basis of this finding, the monument was dated to that time. It was also that first hypothesis, which gave rise to the name "fortress".

Photo credit: www.por-bajin.ru

The first excavations of the site wasnt carried out until almost 60 years later by another Russian archeologist who saw construction characteristics typical of Chinese architecture from the Tang Dynasty. Based on an anecdotal evidence, the so-called Selenginsk inscription, the lead archeologist of the excavation S.I. Vainshtein offered that Por-Bazhyn was a defense fortress built by the second Uighur ruler, Boyan-Chur in 750CE. Vainshtein's hypothesis soon became the most widely accepted and disseminated by other investigators, even though it was based solely on speculation.

In 2007, large-scale fieldwork was undertaken by the Russian Academy of Sciences, the State Oriental Museum, and Moscow State University. Archaeologists found clay tablets of human feet, faded coloured drawings on the plaster of the walls, giant gates and fragments of burnt wood, but nothing substantial that could provide a definitive answer as to why the structure was built.

Another mystery is the absence of traces of habitation. Some progress was made when radiocarbon dating suggested that the fortress was built between 770 and 790 AD, which is 20-30 years later than it was believed. Since Boyan-Chur died in 759 AD, it was hypothesized that his son Byogyu-Kagan built the place. Byogyu-Kagan is known to have declared Manichaeism as state religion, and could have commissioned Por-Bazhyn as a Manichaeism monastery, which would explain the isolation. Byogyu-Kagan was however killed in 779 during an anti-Manichaean revolt which would explain why there are no traces of habitation the monastery never got used. Of course, there are no evidence to support these interpretations.

Por-Bazhyns future is but at stake. The structure sits on a bed of permafrost with has been slowly melting over the past century, as a result of warmer temperature, causing the water level of the lake to rise. As the permafrost melts, the structure could collapse into the lake. According to one researcher, this could happen in about 80 years. There are also evidence of damage caused by at least two earthquakes in the past. One of them may have happened during construction in the 8th century, and another catastrophic one after it the abandoned that destroyed the building.

Photo credit: Irina kh/Flickr

Photo credit: sibved.livejournal.com

Photo credit: sibved.livejournal.com

Photo credit: unknown

Photo credit: unknown

Photo credit: sibved.livejournal.com

Photo credit: www.por-bajin.ru

Photo credit: www.por-bajin.ru

Photo credit: www.por-bajin.ru

Sources: Wikipedia / tuva.asia / Siberian Times
69th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron to continue Pacific presence

Airmen assigned to the 69th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, deployed from Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, to Andersen AFB, Guam to replace their sister unit, the 23rd EBS in support of the U.S. Pacific Commands continuous bomber presence.



Since March 2004, Andersen AFB has hosted the CBP mission, which is designed to enhance regional security and provides reassurance to allies and partners that the United States is capable of defending its national security interests in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.



The main goal out here is to advance and strengthen alliances, said Capt. Matthew Reoch, 23rd EBS pilot and resource adviser. Our continual presence out here, showing commitment to our allies and having our aircraft ready is critical in showing that the U.S. is always prepared to respond to any threats that arise.



The missions carried out in the Pacific region provide a different training environment and opportunities that differ greatly from Minot AFB.



Andersen provides a great experience when it comes to training with joint and international partners, said Capt. Erik Nelson, 23rd EBS B-52 Stratofortress aircraft commander. Also, the key to performing missions to the best of our ability was to remain flexible throughout all the missions, especially those that were short notice. That kind of ingenuity and flexibility is crucial and all of our guys have the capacity to do that.



While stationed here, the outbound aircrew and maintainers assigned to the 23rd EBS exceeded their flightline and training goals by logging 1,428 hours of flight time, performing more than 200 sorties and dropping over 300 munitions totaling 197,000 pounds.



The Airmen arriving from the 69th EBS will be stationed in Guam for the next six months to conduct CBP operations and training.



The B-52 is a symbol and a strategic projection of power, said Maj. Luke Dellenbach, 69th EBS assistant director of operations. The training environment and airspace out here is great. There are a lot of individuals in the squadron that have not had the experience flying a long-range distance over oceanic waters, so this will be a great opportunity for them.



In between flying missions, members from the 69th EBS hope to build good rapport and take an active role in the community while stationed on Guam through volunteering and partnership events, Dellenbach said.



The upcoming months present a unique opportunity for the 69th EBS in training and deployment experience in an environment unlike any found in the continental U.S.



Knowing you're a part of these Pacific power projection missions, which help to shape the best interest of the U.S. and parts of the world, is very rewarding, Dellenbach said. It's a great opportunity to represent the 69th EBS and fly out to Andersen AFB to promote deterrence and assurance.




There are a number of special days which we all need to remember. Birthdays being the obvious example. However, for those in committed relationships, anniversaries are certainly a big one. Making sure you do not forget the celebration of the day it all began can make such a big difference. Thankfully, there are a number of Android apps which are designed to help with the big day  from making sure you do not forget to order the flowers, there is an app to help.

Anniversary Cards

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Starting off todays list is Anniversary Cards. As the name suggests, this is an app which will let you put together your own eCard for the big day. You can pick from the variety already on offer or customize your own by adding images from your gallery or from the likes of Facebook.

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Anniversary Wishes

Anniversary Wishes is more about helping you say what it is you are trying to say. The app contains a number of love-themed quotes, images and sentiments. You can browse through and then simply pick the ones which best sum up what it is you are trying to say

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Love D-Day Widget

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Next up is an app which is part of the D-Day variety of apps. These are apps which are primarily designed to ensure you never miss a big day. Be it a birthday or anniversary, the app will provide you with essentially a countdown on your homescreen. This one is a love-themed D-Day app so perfect for an upcoming anniversary.

Couplete  App for Couples

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Couplete is an interesting and growing app. This is one which lets users create a personal space for them and their partners. Private messaging, timeline, matching lockscreens and a wishbox are the type of features you can expect. If you and your partner have yet to start using Couplete, then an anniversary could be an ideal time to do so.

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Romantic love wallpaper

If you are looking for an app which can provide your smartphone (or your partners) with the look of love, then this is an app which can help. This one comes full of love-inspired images and will help set the tone for a love-filled anniversary.

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MyDarling  Couple Application

MyDarling is another app which seems to have acquired quite the userbase and fairly consistent reviews. This is a cross between Couplete and a D-Day app. This one will keep you both informed of each others birthdays and anniversaries and also includes a few extra couples features for good measure.

Wedding Anniversary Card Maker

For those who could not find the right eCard using Anniversary Cards, then this might be an app worth checking out. This is a dedicated Wedding Anniversary card making app. You can choose the imagery, text, align as you see fit and generally create a more unique card.

Google Play Music

No matter what you have planned for the big day, there are a number of apps which can help you set the tone. Google Play Music is one of them. Set up your own playlist or just tune into one of the love-themed radio stations on offer.

OpenTable

One of the apps which is quite often used for anniversaries is OpenTable. This is your one-stop shop app to finding the right table at the right local restaurant. A perfect way to celebrate your anniversary. Choose from cuisine or locality, book a table and you are done.

1-800-Flowers: Send Gifts

Of course, one of the staples of an anniversary celebration is giving flowers and if that is something on your agenda for an upcoming anniversary, then this is likely the app which will be of most use. 1-800 Flowers will let you find just the right token to send to the one you love on that special day.
There are some court battles which seem to go on indefinitely. Samsung and Apple battling it out is certainly one which quickly springs to mind. However, the last few years has seen an equally long battle in the legal system between Oracle and Google. The crux of the battle revolves around the use of APIs by Google that are based on Oracles Java code. On the one hand Oracle argues that developers should be paid for their work while on the other hand Google argues that these fall under open source and their content is fair game, so to speak.

While Google is unlikely to argue with the notion of paying developers for their work, the problem is the sheer volume of API usage based on Java. An issue which if Oracle is successful, could see Google liable for a substantial amount. As a result, again like Samsung and Apple, Oracle and Google have been going back and forth on this debate. Although to try and reduce the impact of any decision, Google has already made moves to eliminate the dependency on Java. The issue is though, fair usage is not something that is easy to quantify in any meaningful capacity. So in spite of Oracle receiving backing that the underlying aspects of Java are ones which can be copyrighted, the current trial will rest squarely on the shoulders of the Jury selected to decide whether the use of the APIs was indeed a fair level of usage. Needless to say, the jury in this particular trial is pivotal. On that note, the latest reports detail that the judge presiding over the case believes both companies are trying to essentially build a jury, which they can then discredit when one of them eventually loses the case.

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In terms of the prepping of this particular jury, Judge Alsup has been noted stating that the two companies filed a joint questionnaire for the selection which was so vague that either company would have been able to question the validity of jurors based on the fact that their responses to the questions could be interpreted as untruthful ones. Furthermore, according to the information, both companies (again jointly) asked for a two-day extension on the selection process. Which although might sound like a reasonably request, is far longer than these selections take. As such, the request is being thought to be a move which is designed to give the companies ample time to thoroughly investigate the jurors backgrounds. Again, with a view to discrediting them if and when needed. Either way, it seems the moves are not working as the judge is reported to have forbidden the use of the questionnaire and refused the extension.
As revealed by some Federal Communications Commission (FCC) documentation filed in late February, Google is momentarily working on some brand new technology in New Mexico, USA. More specifically, it turns out that Spaceport America in the Jornada del Muerto desert basin is currently hosting a 100KW radio transmitter which is being tested for unknown purposes though some educated guesses can definitely be made.

While the majority of crucial information in the aforementioned documents was redacted for confidentiality purposes at Googles request, some details were still deduced from what was left. As such we know that the tech giant is currently trying out some extremely directional and consequently high-powered transmissions at 2.5 GHz, 5.8GHz, 24GHz, 71-76GHz, and 81-86GHz. Most of the FCC filing you can read for yourself by following the link below basically assures the FCC that Googles experimental transmission wont create any kind of unwanted and harmful interference though theres also some other interesting details to be read here. One of them is a radio license call sign WI9XZE used in the latest New Mexico experiment which cant be found in the FCC database and which Google has presumably created just for the purposes of this test. The filing doesnt detail the type of bands and transmitters Google is using which isnt particularly important given how most of the tested transmissions arent too interesting in terms of supported frequencies. However, those last two transmissions listed above could only have been emitted with some pretty impressive tech, i.e. a transmitter with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 96,411 W, or almost a hundred kilowatts. For comparison, thats the maximum radio frequency power used by the most powerful US FM stations. Googles antennas arent emitting omnidirectional waves like the radio station ones, though. Instead, the company is using ones with a beam width of less than half a degree while its transmitters are only outputting half a watt worth of power. In other words, the transmitters in questions have high range and low power consumption and are therefore extremely energy efficient.

That short description pretty much sums up why most people believe this latest test is either somehow related to Google Project SkyBender whose aim is to deliver 5G Internet speeds to remote locations or the Project Loon altitude balloons which are pretty much designed to do the exact same thing with LTE Internet. Time will tell whether one, both, or neither one of these initiatives will benefit from the latest New Mexico experiment.
Huawei is currently the number 1 Chinese smartphone brand, but only if we look at it from a global perspective. Xiaomi is still no. 1 in China, but Huawei had a great 2015, the company managed to become worlds third largest smartphone manufacturer. This company has introduced quite a few interesting products last year, and were still waiting for their high-end handset to be introduced this year though. Speaking of which, the Huawei P9 is expected to be announced soon, and judging by the companys latest teaser, the launch was scheduled for March 9th. Well, that might not be the case after all, read on.

I dont know if you remember, but Huaweis March 9th teaser leaked the other day, and everything pointed to the fact that the company will introduce the Huawei P9 in Berlin on the said date. Well, the company has now officially revealed that the Huawei P9 wont be launching on March 9th, even though they are planning to release it soon. According to the info coming from China, the Huawei P9 launch has been delayed due to some issues with the dual camera setup on the back. It seems like Huawei is having some problems fitting those two sensors on the back and making everything looks great in the process. Judging by all this news, it is highly likely that Huawei plans to introduce the Huawei P9 in April, rather than March, but well see.

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According to previous leaks, the Huawei P9 will sport a 5.2-inch 1080p (1920 x 1080) display, along with 3GB of RAM, and a 3,600mAh battery. This handset will, allegedly, going to be fueled by the Kirin 950 64-bit octa-core SoC. Huawei will almost certainly introduce the P9 Lite and P9 Max variants at the same time as well, and according to what weve seen, the Huawei P9 Max might ship with the Kirin 955, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. This phablet will sport a 6 or 6.2-inch display, and will pack a 4,000mAh battery on the inside. We still dont have any info when it comes to the P9 Lite, so stay tuned for that. Keep in mind that these are only rumors at this point, nothing has been confirmed just yet, but well let you know if any additional info surfaces.
Telus always warns us All dates are approximate and subject to change, and this is one of those times when Marshmallow upgrades are being delayed a few days. Marshmallow has been out for a few months now, and we are still waiting for many of last years flagships to receive their upgrade. A look at the chart below shows us that several original dates are changed. The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus and Galaxy Note 5 were pushed back a few days until March 13. The big jumper here is the Galaxy S6 Edge  it moved from Marth 16 to March 30. Owners of the original Samsung Galaxy S6 can still expect their Marshmallow loving on April 13.

The Nexus 6, Nexus 6P, Nexus 5 and Nexus 5X are all due for their usual Security Update on March 9, which may be the only update that stays consistent since there is no manufacturer UI skinned over top of the pure Android. The Moto X Play is getting a jump to Android 6.0.1, along with bug fixes, enhancements and a security update scheduled for March 9. Nobody likes to wait for their software upgrades and we love to blame the carrier for delays in software upgrades, but there is a long and complicated process. It could be a real disaster if an upgrade were to be rushed out and then having thousands of users calling in (if they could) with phones that no longer work. Google has even talked about taking more control over its OS in order to speed things up.

To ensure that the updates do not adversely affect the users devices, it all starts with the Manufacturer Testing, where device manufacturers and software manufacturers (Google in this case) perform rigorous testing of the new software. Next, there has to be Internal Network Testing on the carriers end (Telus in this case) to test the stability on their networks. Then after the cellular carriers, device manufacturers and the OS provider all give their approval, it must past Regulatory Approvals to ensure the device meets FCC and Industry Canada regulations. Finally, it is Pushed to [the] Customers. This process can take from four weeks to six months, especially if unexpected results occur and the process starts over. Many times in the past, a software upgrade was rolling and then abruptly stops because users reported issues and that is the last thing the carrier or the user wants to deal with.
Following the Samsung Galaxy S7 announcement at Mobile World Congress, the Korean tech giant aimed to increase the market presence of the new lineup by bundling a pre-purchase of the Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 Edge with a free Gear VR headset (available only in the US). Verizon Wireless even went to greater lengths by offering an alternative Galaxy S7 pre-order package which included a free Samsung Gear S2 smartwatch. Now it looks like Samsung wants to get more US customers on board with its mobile payment solution  Samsung Pay  as the company recently started a limited-time offer which includes a free wireless charging pad for first-time Samsung Pay users.

The offer is available only in the US and ends on March 10. Until then, eligible customers owning a Qualifying Device can download the Samsung Pay application on their Samsung phone, add their first card to Samsung Pay, and receive a coupon code for a free Black Sapphire wireless charging pad worth $49.99. The charging pad is compatible with the Samsung Galaxy S6 & Galaxy S6 Edge, the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+, the Galaxy S6 Active, the Samsung Galaxy Note 5, and, of course, the latest models in the series; the Samsung Galaxy S7 & Galaxy S7 Edge. In other words, whether you already own a Qualifying Device or you plan on buying one of the latest flagship phones, signing up for Samsung Pay for the first time will guarantee you a free wireless charging pad for your smartphone. Of course, terms and conditions apply, so participants will need to reside in the US, be at least 18 years old, have a plan with a qualifying carrier that supports Samsung Pay, and own a valid Samsung Account ID. Keep in mind that the offer is valid only for customers who have yet to use Samsung Pay for the first time.

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Samsung Pay is, of course, the companys mobile payment system released in the United States last September. It allows users to link their credit cards with their eligible Samsung smartphones and use the handsets to perform payments at contactless merchant terminals. The service has also been available in South Korea since August 2015 and is expected to go live in the UK and Australia in the coming months.
Samsungs home might be South Korea, but the firm of course operates all over the globe, and somewhat surprisingly  given their often highly-priced devices  Samsung is a big name in India. Constantly battling it out with local brand Micromax for the top spot, Samsung smartphones seem to be a big hit with the Indian consumer. So, it could perhaps come as no surprise that Samsung has been named one of Indias most trusted brands in the 2016 edition of the Brand Trust Report India Study issued by Indias Trust Advisory. The report is ran every year, and this year Samsung took a number of Number 1 spots in a handful of different subcategories, including the Mobile Phones subcategory.

In the All India ranking, Samsung even managed to back the number one spot overall, leading Sony and LG to make up the Top 3 spots. Rounding out the Top 5 in fourth and fifth, respectively were Nokia and Tata. Its unsurprising to see Tata in the Top 5 of the All India ranking, but to see Nokia up there is a little curious. After all, the firm hasnt been on the scene in a big way for a long time now. Back to Samsung though, and they took home the top spot in the Personal Gadgets category and of course the top spot in the Mobile Phones category. Fierce rival Micromax meanwhile, only managed to rank 25 in the All India section and third in the Mobile Phones category. One firm that has shot up in the ranking since last years report is HTC, ranking just 80 in last years report and 37 this time around. Thats a massive improvement and the Taiwanese firm managed to score a ranking of fifth in the Mobile Phones category.

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A new arrival to this years list is of course Xiaomi, and entered the All India ranking at 728, out of 1,000 ranked brands. They did however, manage to score a ranking of eighteenth in the Mobile Phones subcategory, so things werent too bad for the countrys latest import from China. This time next year however, it wouldnt surprise us if Xiaomi were to be ranked a hell of a lot higher, especially given Indian-exclusive devices like the Mi 4i and the upcoming Mi 5.
Today has been full of news coming through on encryption. While the last few weeks have generally been full of news on encryption, today has seen a slight uptake in the number of reports due to the ongoing court case with Apple and their refusal to comply with a court order to help the FBI gain access to an encrypted smartphone. On the wider scale of things, the last few weeks of encryption debate has seen an across-industry level of support with companies like Google and Microsoft both siding with Apple. Now it looks as though another Apple-competitor, Samsung, are also considering lending their support to Apple.

The latest on Samsung comes from a report emerging from Bloomberg today and although Samsung did not specifically mention Apple during their comments, what they did do is clearly offer some form of official stance on the encryption debate. Specifically, Samsung made the argument that protection customer data is one which is extremely important to them. Which although, vague does echo the sentiments made by every other tech company who has since come out in support of Apple. In terms of the actual case, Samsung did make it clear that they have not decided whether to file an amicus brief in the current case. Although, this could be seen as being hesitant, the very fact that they have not decided yet and considering this is Apple we are talking about, their general response does seem to suggest that they very well might offer their support to a company they have long been at disagreements with.

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However, Samsung did further comment on their own position on encryption and especially in respect to their customers by noting that Ensuring trust in our products and services is our top priority. The written statement goes on to further confirm that their phones are encryption protected and that they do not have backdoors. Furthermore, Samsung confirmed that they will work with law enforcement when required but explicitly stated that any requirement to create a backdoor could undermine consumers trust. Again, a sentiment which has been echoed by many of the tech companies who have publicly offered their support to Apple.
Heading into 2016 off the back of last months Mobile World Congress, its a little disconserting to see that there are few Android tablets being launched. Or at least, tablets that have anything to offer beyond the best of the best from last year. Lenovo did introduce a new lineup of budget-minded hardware, which is nice to see, but theres little else out there in terms of 2016 contenders. In fact, Huaweis big announcement from the show in Spain was  gasp  a Windows 10 tablet, and a premium one at that. So, where does that leave the world of Android tablets in March, 2016? Sadly, much where we were last month  with the choice of excellent 2015 hardware from a myriad of the usual suspects.

10. Amazon Fire, Fire HD

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The Amazon line of Android tablets has certainly become less clear over the past couple of years, with more models added all the time. Still, that doesnt mean that there cheaper Fire and Fire HD offerings arent worth looking into anymore. In fact, the Fire HD model comes in a competent 10-inch version that should offer families a lot of value. With a kids option also available, as well as a shockingly cheap 7-inch Fire version, the Fire line of tablets will get people into the tablet world, and make consuming apps, games and generally anything else fun really easy. As always, its worth noting these use Amazons App Store and services, theres no Google here, sadly.

09. Lenovo Tab 3

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While Lenovos new Tab 3 line of tablets  available in 7-inch, 8-inch and 10-inch versions  wont be available until June, we managed to spend some time with them on the show floor during MWC 2016 last month. Starting at just $79, these are seriously good value, and perhaps even better value than lat years Tab 2 model. With a fairly stock interface, Google services  meaning full access to the Google Play Store  and decent specs (including a quad-core CPU and HD displays) these also have some intriguing kid options in the software. With good speakers and decent all-around performance, the Tab 3 line of devices should be a great option for those looking for value above all. More information can be found on the Tab 3 line here.

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08. Samsung Galaxy View

The above photo  from Samsung themselves no less  with the Galaxy Note 5 pictured on the left sort of sums up who the Galaxy View is for; those who want bigger than bigger. The Galaxy View has been around for some time now, and it seems more and more as though itll forever be one of those products with those that get it and those that just dont know what to do with it. With an 18.4-inch display, the Galaxy View is practically a portable  albeit small  Smart TV, and its clear Samsung intends it to be used as such. Being able to use your Samsung smartphone as a controller for the thing is a neat idea, but with just a 1080p display and mediocre specs under-the-hood its clear that Samsung didnt try too hard here. Nevertheless, it is refreshing to see someone try something new in the Android tablet space, even if that is just to make it bigger.

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07. Google Nexus 9

Despite the fact that its a Nexus, the first HTC and Google partnership since the original Nexus One didnt really work out all that well for either party involved. Constantly on sale from HTC and all but forgotten in the wake of the more Googley Pixel C, the Nexus 9 has its problems. The display is okay and nice and bright, but its the 8.9-inch size of the device that helps save what would otherwise be a fairly boring tablet experience. The BoomSound speakers give the overall sound reproduction lots of oomph and such, but with little more than a larger smartphone experience, the Nexus 9 doesnt have much to offer overall. Still, if youre a stock Android fiend, and you can find one at a decent price then the Nexus 9 could end up being a favorite of yours.

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06. Dell Venue 8 7000

It was a surprise to most people last year when Dell launched a high-spec Android tablet, but it was even more surprising when it was the mundane PC manufacturer that had one of the better-looking hardware designs of the year. With a gorgeous OLED display and a powerful Intel processor on the inside, theres a lot to love about this higher-end Dell tablet. Right now, the big question is whether or not this will be updated to Android 6.0 Marshmallow, but I see no reason why it shouldnt be. Prices have steadily fallen since its original launch, and it now represents a fairly decent high-end tablet with a build and design to match, without costing the earth.

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05. Lenovo YOGA Tab 3 Pro

Lenovo has become something of a quiet success in the world of Android, and while they might now own Motorola, its their own YOGA brand that is making some of the better Android tablets out there. With a bulge that houses a large battery, acts as a nice handle for reading books or magazines and keeps the kickstand safe, this isnt your average sort of tablet. That stand is what makes the YOGA Pro 3 so versatile, it allows for a tilt view on a table, a good watching experience and it even has a hook to be hung up where convenient, too. With a 10.1-inch display, the YOGA Tab 3 Pro ticks a fairly standard box, but with a Pico Projector built-in to that aforementioned bulge, this is the one tablet that you can use to watch films and such wherever and whenever youd like. If youre interested in learning more, you can read our review here.

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04. NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet K1

While NVIDIA might have had a rocky ride trying to get other manufacturers and such to use their Tegra line of processors, the graphics giant has had no such trouble in going it alone. With the SHIELD Tablet K1, NVIDIA have created a fairly standard Android tablet with a few key differences and improvements. For one, the SHIELD Tablet K1 has one of the most powerful mobile processors ever made running the show, and for another NVIDIA have made this a true gaming powerhouse. The 8-inch display is no 4K 50-incher, but with the ability to stream Steam games from your PC, and even play classic PC games, like Sleeping Dogs, with excellent graphics through a dedicated controller, this ticks a lot of boxes for gamers. When youre done gaming, the stock Android build  which has recently been updated to Marshmallow  also makes for a standard tablet experience for everyday tasks, too.

03. Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet

When we reviewed the Xperia Z4 Tablet some time ago, we were very impressed with the overall experience that Sony had put together. With strong internals  taking shape in the form of a Snapdragon 810 and 4GB of RAM  water and dust-resistance and a seriously good keyboard attachment, Sony had a winner on their hands. At just 6.1mm thick, the Xperia Z4 Tablet was an elegant-looking device with lots of power on the inside. With software tweaks to make Android better on a tablet-come-laptop sort of design, this is easily one of the better options out there. The only thing that brings the Xperia Z4 Tablet down is its massive price tag, but if youre willing to pay the premium, it is reflected in what you get.

02. Google Pixel C

After being on shelves for a couple of months now, weve finally figured out why Google took the approach of staggered updates for the Pixel C. At launch, it was mired with bugs and little problems here and there. Now though, the Pixel C has become a serious contender as one of the best tablets out there. The design is excellent, it feels rigid and solid in your hand, and the keyboard is not just an afterthought here, but a genuine inclusion as one of the devicess main selling points. The sad thing however, is that stock Android continues to offer very little in the way of extra features for tablet users, and for all its good points, the Pixel C can often feel like a giant phone with a great keyboard.

01. Samsung Galaxy Tab S2  9.7-inch

If an all-rounder is what youre looking for, and for the majority of users it is, then Samsung has pretty much the only excellent option around. With a 4:3 9.7-inch display, which is a stunning Super AMOLED panel, the Galaxy Tab S2 is great for movies, browsing the web and yes, getting a little work done on the move, too. Samsung have loaded their well-designed tablet with a number of added extras, all of which help make Android more useful on a tablet and bring added value to the table. Going toe-to-toe with the iPad is no easy task, but Samsung almost make it look easy with the Galaxy Tab S2.

Buy the Galaxy Tab S2 from Amazon
Some time ago, Google themselves took wraps off of the Marshmallow update for Android Wear, and this week it finally started rolling it out to more watches. The Moto 360 was predictably first in line for the latest Android Wear update, but recently the Fossil Q Founder and popular Huawei Watch have joined the Marshmallow club as well. This now means the majority of Android Wear smartwatches out there have Marshmallow installed. As such, this means that weve managed to get our hands on whats new in this update. On the surface, it doesnt appear that much has changed, but as the update snuck onto our Fossil, weve noticed a few differences and of course, a few new features as well. So, lets see just whats changed in this bump from Android 5.1.1 to Android 6.0.1.

Calls

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Right now, an exclusive club of just two members with the ability to make and take phone calls from their wrist has opened its doors. Those two watches would be the Huawei Watch and the ASUS ZenWatch 2 (only the larger 48mm versions, bizarrely). Unfortunately, we dont have one of these on hand to test, but the handling of calls has at least changed in terms of look and feel on Marshmallow no matter which watch youve got. An incoming call now looks a little cleaner, and when you swipe up to get access to your canned SMS responses, they appear transparently over the top of the person calling. Which is actually more useful than youd think, you wouldnt send that message you send your significant other to your boss now, would you?

Permissions

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Since this version of Android was first announced simply as Android M, permissions have been a big focus of what Google wanted to improve with the OS, and its now trickled down to our watches. Theres now a new Permissions menu in the Settings menu, and within there, all the apps that have some sort of permission on your watch are listed one after the other. Opening them up will reveal what permissions they have enabled and from there, users can disable them.

As an example, lets take a look at Google Fit, which I dont use as I wear a Microsoft Band. I can see that Fit has access to my location and sensors. For me, theres no point in letting Fit have this access, so tapping them will Disable these permissions for Fit. The icons all fit in with the Material Design of Android Wear, and theyre easily-understood as well. Its not perfect, but this is a good example of bringing more granularity to such a platform without overloading users.

Messaging Improvements

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When LGs Watch Urbane 2nd Edition launched last Fall  and was subsequently yanked from shelves  it launched with the curious ability to stand on its two feet, without the need for a smartphone nearby. Something clearly went wrong with the launch, but the Marshmallow update  sometimes referred to as Android Wear 1.4  brings the calls feature to some watches, and presumably all future Android Wear watches. Googles own SMS app, dubbed Messenger, has also been updated for better support for Android Wear. Now, users can create a conversation from their wrist or take a look through all of their previous conversations as well. Presumably, being able to look through previous conversations will help settle arguments at the bar, who knows? Regardless, its a nice little feature to have, but for those living more in the 21st Century, Google has added better support for other messaging apps, such as WhatsApp.

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Sending a WhatsApp message works just as you think it does, all you need to do is ask your watch to send a WhatsApp message to Joe and it gets right down to work. This now also works for Hangouts, Nextplus, Telegram, Viber, WeChat and presumably a lot more services, too. Personally, WhatsApp integration was one thing that I felt was missing from Android Wear, and its really nice to see this finally make its way to watches all over the place.

Better Battery Life

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With the introduction of Doze, Marshmallow got much better battery life on smartphones, and now this has carried over to Android Wear as well. In our testing, its difficult to see how big a difference this has made for Android Wear, but were assuming that people with a lot of different apps in use a lot of the time, or those that open and use lots of them throughout the day will benefit more than others. This is because Doze puts apps running in the background into a deeper state of sleep before Android 6.0.1, where apps would use almost as many resources when the device was asleep. For reference, the Fossil Q Founder we have here, at the time of finishing this piece up has 61% remaining battery at 16:45 in the afternoon (this Editor lives in the UK, not necessarily, the Future). Dont take that little bit of info too seriously though, as the Fossil Q Founder has fairly mediocre battery life, and its display is set to always-on.

Miscellaneous Tweaks

Google wouldnt let an opportunity like this to pass them by without adding some extra polish to Android Wear, and so there are a few tweaks that might take some by surprise. The first of those is the lack of a Restart option in the settings. Much like the Lollipop update did a couple of years ago, the Restart option has now been removed from our wrists. A new addition has appeared in the settings in the form of the Unpair watch from phone option, and the Google app gets a little lick of paint, too. It now resembles the new icon the Internet giant introduced towards the end of last year, and theres a new microphone icon when speaking a voice search, too.

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Gestures get a little tweak here and there as well, and people can now open notifications with a gesture as well, rather than just scrolling through them all, but the main thing here is that the tutorials on both the watch and phone side of things are much better this time around.

It does also appear as if Google have made Android Wear just a hair quicker this time around, as animations appear to be much smoother and a little quicker, too. Other than that however, it appears that a few features, some changes in behavior and more were the order of the day for this update. A bigger, more feature rich update to Android Wear will presumably be showcased during Google I/O, itself scheduled for this May. For now though, let us know how youre enjoying the update to Android Wear in the comments and what you want to see hit Android Wear later this year.
Micromax releases Canvas Tab P702, A 7-Inch Tablet

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Micromax Canvas Tab P702 is the companys newest entry level tablet. This device features a 7-inch 720p display, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of native storage. MediaTEks MT8735 quad-core SoC running at 1.3GHz fuels this device, and a 3,000mAh battery is also available here. The 5-megapixel snapper is placed on the back, and a 2-megapixel shooter is available up front. Android 5.0 Lollipop comes pre-installed here, and the Canvas Tab P702 is exclusively available at Snapdeal and costs Rs. 7,999.

HTC Vive Now Available For Pre-Order In Australia

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HTC Vive is a very compelling VR headset, and it sure is pricey. The whole VR package is now available for pre-order in Australia, and it costs $817.27, though keep in mind youll have to pay an extra $110 for shipping. The whole Vive setup (two controllers, link box, ear buds and Vive accessories) will start shipping on April 5th. If youre interested, head over to HTC Vive website and pre-order it.

Chromecast 2015 & Chromecast Audio Hit Australia, New Zealand, Japan And South Korea

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Google has introduced the 2nd-gen Chromecast last year, and along with that dongle, the company has also announced Chromecast Audio. Both of these devices have been available out in the market for quite some time now, and their availability is constantly expanding. The two devices are now available in Australia ($42.30), New Zealand ($45.80), Japan ($44.11) and South Korea ($44.58).

Google Play Carrier Billing Rolls Out To Kuwait & Vietnam

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Google Play Billing availability is constantly expanding. Google has rolled out this direct carrier billing to Kuwait and Vietnam, following tons of other countries in the last couple of months. Viettel has enabled carrier billing in Vietnam, while Zain, Ooredoo and Viva have done the same in Kuwait. The MobiFone is actually expected to do the same in Vietnam soon, it is possible that they already did.

Huawei Launches Mate 8 In Taiwan, Costs $535 Unlocked

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The Huawei Mate 8 is currently the most powerful HTC-branded device. This flagship is made out fo metal, and was originally announced back in December. Huawei has re-announced this handset during CES in Las Vegas back in January, and the device is now available in Taiwan as well. The phablet is priced at NT$17,900 ($535), and it features a 6-inch 1080p display, 3GB of RAM (only that variant is available in Taiwan it seems), and it is fueled by the Kirin 950 64-bit octa-core processor. Read our full review if youd like to know more about the Mate 8.
(ANSA) - Rome, March 4 - The Bank of Italy has issued sanctions worth a total of 2.2 million euros against 27 former members of the 'old' Banca Etruria, the central bank said Friday.

Banca Etruria is one of four failed banks rescued by the government last November.

The 27 including former board members will have to pay fines ranging from 52,000 to 130,000 euros each, according to their level of responsibility and the length of time during which they held their posts.

The sanctions affecting former board members and managers of the 'old' Banca Etruria are not the first fines issued by the Bank of Italy against the Arezzo-based lender.

According to the central bank, some of those sanctioned this week had already been fined in September 2014.

The sanctions issued at the time were worth 2.5 million euros and followed an inspection the previous year.

Last month, a bankruptcy court in Arezzo declared the 'old' Banca Etruria insolvent, upholding a request by bank commissioner Giuseppe Santoni.

Following the ruling, prosecutors have opened a probe into fraudulent bankruptcy.

Premier Matteo Renzi's government at the end of November 2015 stepped in to save Banca Marche, Banca Etruria, CariChieti and CariFe, using financing from Italy's healthier banks.

The rescue saved jobs and protected account holders by setting up four new banks, but rendered shares and bonds in the 'old' lenders worthless. The case is sensitive for the government as Reform Minister Maria Elena Boschi's father was a former vice president of Banca Etruria.


(ANSA) - Rome, March 4 - A Muslim cleric who underwent torture while in Egyptian custody following a 2003 US extraordinary rendition from Milan on Friday said that Italy was now "drinking from the same bitter cup it made me drink from" as it investigates the case of Giulio Regeni, a graduate student who was tortured and killed in Egypt last month.

"Giulio Regeni was kidnapped and tortured, and after 10 days of abuse he didn't make it," said the cleric, known in Italy as Abu Omar but whose real name is Hassan Mustafa Omar Nasr, on Sky TG24 news.

"I endured the same torture that Giulio endured, not for 10 days, but for 15 months, day and night," he said, adding that he now suffers from numerous health problems.

"My body is like a cadaver," he said.

Late last month the European Court of Human Rights condemned Italy for preventing justice being done in the extraordinary rendition and ruled that Italy had infringed the rights of the cleric.

In 2003 Nasr was snatched by a team of CIA operatives with the help of of the Italian secret service agency SISMI and taken via Italy's Aviano air base to a NATO base in Ramstein, Germany, en route to Cairo.

He emerged from an Egyptian prison four years later claiming he had been tortured.

Italian courts have awarded him one million euros in damages.


(ANSA) - Rome, March 4 - Fausto Piano, Salvatore Failla, Gino Pollicardo and Filippo Calcagno were abducted on July 20 last year in the area of Mellitah, 60 kilometers from Tripoli.

They were employed by Parma-based firm Bonatti, an oil-construction company that works for Italian energy firm Eni.

Pollicardo and Calcagno were freed while Piano and Failla were killed late Wednesday in fighting in the western Libyan city of Sabratha.

According to initial reports, they had been separated from Pollicardo and Calcagno and they died as they were being transferred aboard a convoy attacked by Libyan security forces.

A number of sources have suggested they were used as human shields by ISIS militants. -FAUSTO PIANO, 60, was a mechanic from the Sardinian town of Capoterra, near Cagliari.

The mayor of Capoterra two weeks after his abduction had organized a demonstration to demand his release.

Piano was killed in Sabratha together with Salvatore Failla.

-SALVATORE FAILLA, 47, was from the Sicilian town of Carlentini, near Siracusa, where his family lives.

Married, with two daughters aged 22 and 12, he was a specialized welder and worked abroad for long periods of time.

He had been working for Bonatti for several years and was employed at a construction site in Tunisia before Libya.

-FILIPPO CALCAGNO, 65, from Piazza Armerina, in the province of Enna, is one of the two freed hostages.

His wife and two daughters live in the Sicilian town.

Calcagno, the oldest of the four Italians abducted in Libya, has worked for several years abroad, first with Eni and then Bonatti.

He was freed together with Pollicardo.

GINO POLLICARDO, 55, from the town of Monterosso, near La Spezia, has also been released.

He is very well-known in the town of Cinque Terre on the Italian Riviera where his family lives.

His son, Gino, on Friday confirmed his release and his wife Ema Orellana said she spoke on the phone with him.


(ANSA) - Washington, DC, March 4 - A symposium in the US capital on Tuesday highlighted the many influences Italy has had on the White House through the centuries, from Cicero's ideal of the gentleman politician to the concept of equality espoused by Filippo Mazzei, which influenced Thomas Jefferson in guiding the nation's founding principles.

The symposium "Italy in the White House: A Conversation on Historical Perspectives" was organised by the White House Historical Association in cooperation with the National Italian American Foundation, the Italian Institute of Culture and the Italian Embassy. The day-long event took place in the Association's headquarters, the Decatur House, a historical home built in 1818 just steps from the White House.

The symposium gathered experts in the overlapping histories between the two nations, as well as diplomats and first-person witnesses to the relationships between Italy and the United States.

Campbell Grey, an associate professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania, was on hand to lead conference attendants through some of the important historical connections that tie the two countries together, such as the long correspondence in the late 1700s between Benjamin Franklin and Italian philosopher and jurist Gaetano Filangieri.

Grey also touched on the friendship between Jefferson and Mazzei, a Tuscan physician who aided Virginia in acquiring arms during the American Revolution, and inspired the Declaration of Independence maxim that all men are created equal.

Grey said the White House contains a vast assortment of Italian items, among them a mosaic in the drawing room inspired by those found at Pompeii, the Carrara-marble fireplace mantle in the Red Room, and paintings by Costantino Brumidi in the Palm Room.

White House Historical Society President Stewart McLaurin in his welcome speech toasted new Italian Ambassador to the US, Armando Varricchio, who spoke positively of the event.

"Today's symposium represents for us Italians a great privilege, but above all, an excellent opportunity to deepen a long and in many ways surprising history of interactions between our country and the United States," Varricchio said.

photo: bust of Cicero
(supersedes previous)(ANSA) - Rome, March 4 - Italy's two remaining hostages in Libya, Gino Pollicardo and Filippo Calcagno, have been freed, Pollicardo's family confirmed Friday.

"It's over," said his son, Gino Pollicardo Jr. "I heard from him on the phone," said his wife.

The two employees of Parma-based Bonatti oil construction firm who were abducted along with two other colleagues last July 20 are in the hands of local police and will be moved to a secure zone where they will be picked up by Italian agents who will take them back to Italy, intelligence sources said. They were reportedly freed from a house in the city of Sabratha after they broke down the front door and local fighters came to their aid after being tipped off by neighbors. The area in the northwestern corner of Libya has seen fierce fighting between jihadists from the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) terror group and Sabratha's local forces. The foreign ministry said it was verifying the circumstances of the pair's liberation. Meanwhile the slaying in Sabratha late Wednesday of the other two abducted Bonatti workers, Fausto Piano and Salvatore Failla, appears to have set the stage for an Italian military commitment in Libya.

The head of the municipal council in Sabratha, Hussein al-Zawadi, on Friday said the two Italian hostages were killed in clashes between ISIS militants and troops loyal to Tripoli together with allied militia.

Speaking a day after news of their deaths, Unites States Ambassador to Rome John Pillips said Italy could deploy "up to 5,000" soldiers in the event of military intervention in the North African country.


(ANSA) - Rome, March 4 - Incidents in Libya involving criminals and terrorists who abduct for a ransom and use their victims like human shields stress the need for a national unity government to re-establish security and the rule of law in the country, US Ambassador to Italy John R. Phillips told Italian daily Corriere della Sera in an interview published Friday.

Speaking a day after reports that two Italians abducted in Libya last July, Fausto Piano and Salvatore Failla, were killed late Wednesday in a militia raid on an ISIS cell in western Libya, Pillips said Italy could deploy "up to some 5,000" soldiers in the event of military intervention in Libya.

Two other workers from the Parma-based oil-construction firm Bonatti abducted last July, Gino Pollicardo and Filippo Calcagno, have been freed and will soon be moved to a safe zone and taken back to Italy, Italian intelligence sources said Friday.

The diplomat also said Washington would not expect Italy to be involved in air raids.

He said Washington was working closely with Italy on Libya, where a national unity government could ask Italy and other countries, based on a UN resolution, to intervene and contribute to stability.

Phillips called Libya Italy's "top priority" and a very important dossier for the US as well, adding that it was important for Rome to take the lead in international intervention.

He also said Washington could contribute with intelligence and that the deployment of troops has not been discussed.

Asked whether the NATO-Italian air base at Sigonella in Sicily could be used for operations against ISIS in Libya, the diplomat replied that the base was one of several where Italy and the US were cooperating.

He added that Rome is one of the best partners in Iraq in international efforts against ISIS.

Italy currently has some 750 soldiers in Iraq, mostly involved in training Iraqi soldiers and police in Baghdad and the Kurdish regional capital Erbil.

Italy is also set to deploy 450 troops in Iraq, near the front line with ISIS militants, to protect workers repairing the Mosul hydro-electric dam.


(ANSA) - Rome, March 3 - Two Italian hostages, Fausto Piano and Salvatore Failla, workers for an oilfield construction firm abducted in July 2015, were killed in unclear circumstances in Libya Thursday.

According to one report, they were killed by government loyalists while being moved by a rival militia.

According to another report, they were killed while being used as human shields during a government attack on an ISIS hide-out.

It was said to be unsure, however, that they were being held by ISIS, according to the head of the COPASIR parliamentary intelligence oversight committee, Giacomo Stucchi. The fate of two other employees of the Bonatti company was also unclear most of the day until Intelligence Undersecretary Marco Minniti testified to COPASIR that the pair, Filippo Calcagno and Gino Pollicardo, were still alive.

Calcagno and Pollicardo were captured along with Failla and Piano near a Mellitah Oil Gas Company facility in western Libya, some 60 kms from Tripoli, last summer.

Piano and Failla were likely not killed as a reprisal for Italy's upcoming role, if requested by Libya, in leading an international coalition in the north African country, officials said.

The Italian government's priority is now to save Calcagno and Pollicardo, the head of COPASIR, Stucchi, said after Minniti reported to the panel. He said "a rigorous silence must be observed on such a delicate situation". The pair killed "have been recognised using photographic techniques, we hope their bodies will soon be returned to Italy", said Stucchi, who said militias had been trying to regain their positions after last month's US airstrikes in the area.

He also said Italian intelligence services were present in in Libya, though not necessarily in the area where the fatal shoot-out took place.

A ransom will likely not be demanded, Stucchi added.

The two Italians were being held prisoner by ISIS and are said to have been killed on the outskirts of Sabratha while being moved, judicial sources said on Thursday. The convoy they were travelling in came under attack by a militia group and all the passengers were killed, the sources said. The bodies were recovered by the militias, they said.

A Libyan witness who is in Tunis after leaving Sabratha, however, told ANSA Thursday that two Italians "were used as human shields" by ISIS jidahists. The witness said that the two were killed "in clashes" with local militias on Wednesday in the south of the city, in the area of Surman.

Libyan medical sources had previously said that at least seven people were killed on an attack by local militias on an ISIS hideout in the Sabratha area, while two jihadists, a Syrian and a Tunisian, were captured and three others escaped.

Piano, Failla, Pollicardo and Calcagno all worked for the Parma-based oilfield construction and maintenance company Bonatti.

They were captured near a facility of the Mellitah Oil Gas Company, a partner of Italian oil-and-gas company ENI oil and gas company.

The Italian intelligence services had believed that the abductions were carried out by criminal militias seeking a ransom. Renato Brunetta, the Lower House whip for Silvio Berlusconi's opposition centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party, and Lia Quartapelle, a lawmaker for Premier Matteo Renzi's Democratic Party (PD), both requested that the government report to parliament shortly on the reports and on the situation in the chaos-hit North African country.

Northern League leader Matteo Salvini told a House press conference after the reports the two Italians had been killed that "Renzi has blood on his hands in Libya as in Italy. In Italy he roots for and frees criminals, he is an accomplice of international terrorism on immigration." He went on that while the reports of the two slain Italians "are arriving from Libya, (President Sergio) Mattarella boasts Italy is in the vanguard (for welcoming migrants). Let's hope the news is unfounded".

Former premier Silvio Berlusconi said there was always the risk of victims if "hasty" action was taken.


(ANSA) - Rome, March 4 - Military intervention to enforce peace in Libya, if requested by the Libyan government, is urgently needed because inaction could heighten risks for Italy, the president of the parliamentary intelligence oversight committee COPASIR, Giacomo Stucchi, told ANSA on Friday.

"Now a military mission of robust 'peace enforcement' is needed quickly in Libya: if we wait longer, the situation could degenerate with heightened risks for Italy", Stucchi said, discussing the Libyan scenario with ANSA.

"The fear of terror retaliation against Italy in case of military intervention cannot stop us, also because we run risks anyway", Stucchi noted.

Talking about a government decree granting intelligence officers the possibility of using the country's crack special forces for their missions, the chairman of COPASIR said this would imply guarantees and "not the license to kill".


Family of slain hostage Failla 'demands explanations' Bonatti 'failed to protect employees'

(ANSAmed) - ROME, MARCH 4 - A lawyer for the family of slain Italian hostage Salvatore Failla said Friday his clients want to know why their loved one was killed just 24 hours before two fellow hostages were freed. "After so many silences, secrets and mysteries, the Failla family demands explanations," said lawyer Francesco Caroleo Grimaldi. "How is it possible the other two fellow Italians were liberated just 24 hours after the deaths of Salvatore Failla and Fausto Piano?" The lawyer added the hostages' employer, Bonatti oil construction company, must be held accountable "for lack of security for the four technicians, who had no protection". "It is a fact that the four had to travel from Tunis to the compound where they were supposed to work with no armed escort and no protection," Caroleo Grimaldi said. He also called "disturbing" unconfirmed reports that Failla and Piano had been shot execution-style in the back of the head. (ANSAmed).




(ANSAmed) - Rome, march 4 - Italy's two remaining hostages in Libya, Gino Pollicardo and Filippo Calcagno, have been freed, Pollicardo's family confirmed Friday. His son said "It's over" while his wife said "I heard from him in the phone". The two workers for the Parma-based Bonatti oil-construction firm are in the hands of local police and will soon be moved to a secure zone where they will be picked up by Italian agents who will take them back to Italy, intelligence sources said. The foreign ministry said it was verifying the circumstances of the liberation. Meanwhile the slaying in Sabratha late Wednesday of two other Bonatti workers taken hostage in July, Fausto Piano and Salvatore Failla, appears to set the stage for an Italian military commitment in Libya, on which the US appears to be pushing via its ambassador in Rome, John Phillips, who said Italy could take the lead of an international intervention in support of the Libyan government and deploy up to 5,000 men.


(by Massimo Lomonaco)

TEL AVIV - Flight from the big cities - in Israel as happens elsewhere, the tendency at the moment is to leave the big "metropoles," above all in favour of small towns where one lives better, also because of a lower cost of living.

And so people are leaving Jerusalem, and also to a lesser extent leaving Tel Aviv, the city that never sleeps. According to data for 2014 published by the central office of statistics at the apex of towns that are growing is a small centre such as Petah Tikva which in 2014 recorded a positive immigration balance (between entries and departures) of more than 3,000 Israelis.

Second placed is Ashkelon not far from the Gaza Strip with 1537 new citizens followed by Rehovot and then Netanya, a seaside resort in continuous expansion.

Jerusalem in contrast heads the standings of abandoned towns with a negative balance of 6,740 fewer people, followed by the southern Israeli port of Ashdod where 2,280 citizens have left the city.

Third placed is Bat Yam, a seaside resort city near Tel Aviv, with 1.774 fewer residents. Then Haifa, the industrial pole in the north of the country recently accused for its pollution, which lost 1,147 residents. Then Tel Aviv which lost 930 citizens in 2014.

But who is leaving Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and where are their destinations inside Israel? According to the Office of statistics, in the overall picture of the departures from the Holy City (17,091 in part compensated by 10,351 arrivals to give an overall negative balance of 6,740) many people (1464) have chosen to move to the countryside of not far away Beit Shemesh, while 1.454 others moved to Tel Aviv.

Tel Aviv itself counted 21,449 departures and 20,519 arrivals, with a negative balance of 930 people.

Of those leaving the city most did not go very far with 2017 people moving to the suburb of Ramat Gan or else a little further but still close to hand at Holon (1289). In all 445 instead chose to move to Jerusalem, the eternal rival of Tel Aviv.
(ANSAmed) - ISTANBUL, MARCH 4 - The Bodrum tribunal on the Aegean coast of Turkey has convicted two Syrians and sentenced them to prison terms of 4 years and 2 months each on charges of being the smugglers responsible for the shipwreck in which little Aylan Kurdi died in September, the state-run Anadolu news agency said Friday.



Prosecutors in the case had asked 35 years for the two, Muwafaka Alabash and Asem Alfrhad, who were convicted for "trafficking in human beings" but cleared of a separate charge of having caused the deaths of five people who drowned through "deliberate negligence".



In addition to Aylan, the Kurdish Syrian child aged 3 whose photo on the beach of Bodrum after he drowned upset and outraged the world, there also perished in the shipwreck his mother Rehan, Aylan's brother Galip aged 5, and two other people.



Last month at the first hearing of the trial, the two Syrians had accused Aylan's father Abdullah od having organised the crossing and of having steered the boat that sank.



The father strongly denied the accusations by the smugglers.



After the accident Aylan's father returned to the Kurdish Syrian city of Kobane, from where he had escaped from attacks by Isis, and where he buried his family.


Tunisia: homosexuality crime, debate on abolition re-kindled Appeal reduces sentence for six lads, but controversy continues

(by Paolo Paluzzi) (ANSAmed) - TUNIS, MARCH 4 - The debate in Tunisia on abolishing the crime of homosexuality, punishable with up to three years in prison under article 230 of the penal code, has been rekindled. The law, that punishes only the act and not homosexuality in general, says "the male homosexual act (liwat) and female (mousahaqa) is punished with prison up to three years".



For the LGBT associations, fighting for a long time for decriminalisation, especially after the revolution of 2011, this norm also is in contrast with the new Tunisian Constitution introduced in 2014.



Re-opening the question was the sentence of the Sousse Court of appeal, which drastically reduced the terms for six university students convincted last December to three years in prison for homosexuality by the Kairouan Triubunal. Now the three youngsters, who remain free, only have one month of prison and 400 dinar fines, but the sentence does not satisfy either the Shams association for the depenalisation of homosexuality in Tunisia, nor the young men's defense lawyers. If on the one hand in fact there are sighs of relief for the boys remaining in liberty and for the Court having cancelled their exile from Kairoaun and a conviction for offending public decency, there remains disappointment over the recognition by the judges of the remaining criminal offense.



The sentence in fact can be read in a political way, as if the judges wanted a compromise between the criminal offense and the rights of modernity in one of the most secular societies in the Islamic world, choosing not to damage the boys, but also not to deny clearly the Kairouan police and the lower court judges.



The case also re-kindled controversy over the way in which the proof of "guilt" was obtained - by anal test - when instead according to the law they should have been caught in flagrante.



The defense lawyers said they would appeal to the Supreme Court.



It is a judgement that underlines the contradictions of Tunisian society, symbolised by the story of the Shams association: recognised in May 2015, it was in fact suspended at the start of 2016 and then authorised anew only a few days ago by the magistrature.



So there is no shortage of obstacles in Tunisian society to abolition of the crime, even if a kind of consciousness is maturing for a different interpretation of the theme of homosexuality.



A video spot in which some actresses and bloggers speak against article 230, posted on the Facebook page of the Shams recently, is enjoying unprecedented success with thousands of hits constantly increasing. (ANSAmed).




TUNIS - The Sousse Court of Appeal has reduced to one month in prison and a fine of 400 dinars the sentences handed down to six university students convicted last December and sentenced to three years in prison on charges of homosexuality by the Kairouan Tribunal, the Shams association for the depenalisation of homsexuality in Tunisia said Friday.

The appeal Court also annulled another part of the original sentence handed down to the students banishing them from the city of Kairouan for five years and it cancelled their convictions for a separate charge of offending public decency.

Shams noted that the six young men remain at liberty but still remain convicted of the criminal offense of homosexuality in Tunisia. The association expressed its disappointment over the "lack of courage of the Court, considering this judgment as an offense to the rights of man and human dignity".

Defense lawyers for the youngsters plan to appeal to Tunisia's Supreme Court.

"They have not done anything, they are innocent, so why condemn them to a month? What hypocrisy," said lawyer Fadoua Braham after the sentence.
ANSAmed - Tomorrow's events in the Mediterranean

(ANSAmed) - ROMA, MARCH 4 - The following are the main events scheduled in the Euro-Mediterranean area for tomorrow: HAMMAMET - Droidcon Tunisia, appointment with digital and computer technology (to March 6).



LIVORNO - International conference: "Medi, voices and prospects in the Mediterranean" organized by the Sant'Egidio Community.



TUNIS - Tunisia Health Expo.



MILAN - Universita cattolica (Catholic University) - Festival of the Arab language, two days of conferences, debates, meetings and shows dedicated to the Arab culture.



TURIN - exhibitions begin for the Egypt-Pompeii project that will later continue in Pompeii and Naples. (ANSAmed).




ANSAmed - Weekly diary from March 7 to March 13

(ANSAmed) - ROME, MARCH 4 - Weekly diary of the main events scheduled in the Euro-mediterranean area from March 7 to March 13: MONDAY MARCH 7 CASABLANCA - Trade mission organised by Milan Chamber of Commerce (to March 9).



ALGIERS - Conference entitled 'Building a future for sustainable small-scale fishing in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea (to March 9).



TEL AVIV - Visit by Us vice-president Joe Biden (to March 8) ROME - Conference titled 'No more south of Lampedusa, Italy and Tunisia - transits, overviews, Mediterranean contamination".



BRUSSELS - EU, meeting of EU heads of state or government with Turkey, with European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker, and Eu High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Federica Mogherini.



BRUSSELS - EU, visit by Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdulmalek Al Mekhlafi.



TUESDAY MARCH 8 IZMIR - Summit between Greek Premier Alexis Tsipras and Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu during a high level intergovernmental cooperation meeting.



LISBON - EU, visit by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker (to March 9) ROME - Festival of Francophone cinema 'Francofilm' gets underway (to March 16) ROME - Conference titled 'EU, OSCE and the future of European security'.



WEDNESDAY MARCH 9 GENEVA - UN, new round of negotiating talks on Syria.



THURSDAY MARCH 10 BRUSSELS - EU, visit by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.



ROME - Presentation of catalogue of 140 works by contemporary Syrian artists collected by Imago Mundi.



TUNIS - Sousse international book fair (to March 20).



FRIDAY MARCH 11 MADRID - Anniversary of Madrid terrorist attack that killed 191 people.



SATURDAY MARCH 12 NO MAJOR EVENTS SCHEDULED SUNDAY MARCH 13 NO MAJOR EVENTS SCHEDULED (ANSAmed).




BRUSSELS - EU Migration and Home Affairs Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos on Friday presented a nine-month roadmap to save the Schengen Area and avert projected economic losses up to 1.4 trillion euros in 10 years.

The plan is to be tabled at an extraordinary joint EU summit on migration with Turkey on Monday.

The main premises are to halt the flow of migrants and refugees from North African and Middle Eastern war zones - which led to a record 1.2 million asylum claims in Europe in 2015, +123% in a year - enact a relocation and voluntary resettlement program, and prevent single countries from unilaterally shutting down their borders.

Countries including Austria, Macedonia and Serbia have imposed border restrictions which have led to bottlenecks of migrants in Greece, prompting Avramopoulos to warn of a looming large-scale humanitarian crisis along the migration route through the Balkans.

European Council President Donald Tusk has said the objective of the summit is to set up a European border and coast guard patrol to police external EU borders, thus shutting down the Balkan route that begins in Turkey. At least 880,000 people entered the EU from Turkey in 2015, with 128,000 entering in the first two months of 2016.

Also on the agenda is reforming the Dublin Regulation, which says asylum claims must be processed in countries of first arrival. That proposal will be presented March 16.
ROME - Italy is just 70 km from Tunisia and therefore 'no further south than Lampedusa'.

This is the consideration made by the title of a conference organised by la Sapienza university on Monday March 7 to deal with the processes of cultural mediation and historic memory that link Italy and Tunisia for centuries. The tie between the two countries has often led to a kind of inversion of the migratory routes, from north to south.

With a Tunisia that today like yesterday continues to welcome not just high-level Italian politicians but also new migrants, new anonymous loneliness, new forms of social suffering.

"Analysing, instead, the massive movement inn recent decades from Tunisia toward Italy, and therefore from the south to the north," explains Laura Faranda, a lecturer in cultural anthropology who organised the conference, "there emerge orchestrated lies and the false generosity of Italy that is a presumed country of welcome or of a Europe indifferent to the historical and anthropological implications that make the Mediterranean a memorable, promiscuous border." Faranda spoke also of "a Mediterranean transit the routes of which often are inverted and that leave a dissimulated and denied Tunisia to emerge." "Seen in their centuries-old Mediterranean transits, the 'Italians of Tunisia' or the 'little Tunisians of Italy' thus become direct witnesses of unexpected migratory contamination that could supply an extraordinary tool to understand or re-think the new transnational mobility, but also the ploicies of international understanding between the two countries that, it must not be forgotten, at their closest points are only 70 km apart".

The conference is expected to include participation by the Tunisian Ambassador in Italy, Naceur Mestiri, by the director of the Department of History Culture and Religions of 'La Sapienza', Emanuela Prinzivalli and of Ezzedine Anaya who will speak of the cultural change in Tunisia after the revolution.

Finally Chiara Peri of the Astalli Centre will deal with the theme of the arrival of refugees from north Africa since the Arab Spring.
Migrants: Macedonia, empty Greece with air corridors President Ivanov, EU help Athens and Skopje

(ANSAmed) - ROME, MARCH 4 - "Greece should be emptied of the presence of migrants, certainly not through the Balkan route, but with air corridors," Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov said Friday at an OSCE seminar dedicated to the theme of security and migration being held at the Italian Foreign Ministry.



At this moment of grave emergency with thousands of refugees massed on the borders of Europe, "Greece and Macedonia should be helped," the head of state of the former Yugoslav republic said.



Europe "must invest in Macedonia. Investing in our country means investing in your own security," Ivanov said.



Up until now the EU has been unable to defend its borders, but only to raise walls, he added.



"There are more walls now than during the Cold War," the Macedonian President said. (ANSAmed).




The Ministry of National Defense presents the annual report for 2015. The event is attended by president Klaus Iohannis and PM Dacian Ciolos.Radu Tudor, military analyst and producer of the Meeting Point show explained that, in the framework of some restless times, the Romanian Army should benefit from major investments."A restless period and complicated, with everything happening around us and in the Middle East. Changes are very important. Now there are nearly 1,000 NATO troops on Romanian territory, in at least three specific locations where the activity of the US military and allied troops is very strong and the whole of Romania is thinking of strengthening the Romanian Army with some consistent acquisitions, because our armys endowment is not good and we put our hope in the Romanian Army, the state institution with the largest share of trust. Clearly, all Romanians, the government, the parliament, everyone should support this institution, because it is the guarantor of the country's security. ""First, a message of solidarity and strong alliance within NATO should be conveyed. We have the largest security challenge of the last 25 years, coming from the Eastern border, we must strengthen our military very seriously, we must demand a stronger ally presence, we already house the NATO headquarters on Romanian territory and we must strengthen NATO s naval presence in the Black Sea. We cannot allow ourselves the luxury of being surprised by threats from the East or South. We need a high alert capacity and so far, the Romanian Army has fulfilled its tasks successfully nationally and internationally, "said Radu Tudor.
The accreditation, made by the International Business Aviation Council, is the first for a Middle East-based FBO and only the 15th successful implementation worldwide. It follows Gama Aviations Sharjah operations being awarded the FBO of the Year award at the 2015 Aviation Business Awards. The Awards recognised the high quality offering provided by Gama Aviation at Sharjah, including dedicated immigration and customs screening facilities, a stunning lounge setting, a food and beverage team, wireless internet, television, communal iPads for passengers and crew, fine art installations, along with VIP restrooms and shower facilities.

Martin Ringrose, managing director for Gama Aviation Middle East, said: I am delighted that the Gama Sharjah FBO is setting the standard for quality within the Middle East. Its a tribute to the hard work of our staff and those who support us within Sharjah International Airport. This accreditation recognizes the quality of our product which, combined with our convenient access to Downtown Dubai, and value for money for the services we provide, makes Sharjah the intelligent gateway to Dubai and the Northern Emirates.

This registration follows an announcement earlier this month that Gama Aviation had been given formal approval to expand its operations at Sharjah International Airport with the building of a new business aviation facility. The facility is designed to meet the needs of the Middle East business aviation market which is expected to grow by 7% a year between now and 20241.
The total 500 sqm facility is now available for Lufthansa, SWISS and Star Alliance passengers with Business Class tickets and Frequent Travellers cardholders (Business lounge), as well as guests with Miles & More flyer programme HON circle status, Senator and Star Gold cardholder, and First Class tickets (Senator lounge) so they can rest, dine, relax or freshen up in an exclusive comfort before boarding their flights.

On the official opening, Karsten Zang, Lufthansas regional director Gulf, I.R. Iran, Afghanistan & Pakistan, said: We are very excited to inaugurate our Business Class and Senator Lounge here at Concourse D. Finally, we are able to provide a bigger and more spacious comfort zone for guests with our signature quality on-ground services. In 2015, we welcomed around 40,000 guests at our Senator Lounge in Concourse C. Now, with our new premium facility that has just been doubled in size, we expect to receive about 75,000 guests, 35,000 of whom would be first-time visitors to our Business Class lounge. We are proud of the multi-million Euro investments we made to build this new lounge knowing that our passengers will have the comfort they deserve while waiting for their flights.

Guests who wish to freshen up will find showers and washrooms in the lounge and the extensive selection of food and beverages at the bistro will fortify them with fresh delicacies every time. For guests who wish to catch up on reading or work, the comfortable sitting areas are furnished with stylish leather armchairs and the modern work stations have free Wi-Fi access. Guests can also sit back and relax in the cosy recliners.

The new Business Class and Senator Lounges highlight our premium strategy - the design and the services provided are reflective of the highest standards of quality and of Lufthansas consistent commitment to superior customer service. It is quite apt that our modern lounge would also be located at the opulent Concourse D of the Dubai International Airport, said Dr. Bjorn Becker, director product management airport and passenger services.
Le CBD, cette molecule active du cannabis a aujourdhui le vent en poupe. Et cela est en grande partie du au fait quil permet...
The civilian and military personnel at the laboratories here are working on cutting-edge technologies to maximize human performance, protect the warfighter, and secure the nation.Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work made a number of stops here March 3 during a one-day visit, including to the 711th Human Performance Wing and the National Air and Space Intelligence Center.The visit was focused on the technologies that would support the department's third offset strategy , intended to deter and protect against emerging and new threats, he said.That strategy includes the development of learning systems, human-machine collaboration and combat teaming, and network-enabled and cyber-hardened autonomous weapons, the deputy defense secretary said.Research and development and readiness are deeply connected, Work said. The department has achieved a good balance between future readiness and current readiness, he added.Work highlighted the programs he was briefed on March 3, including the technology demonstration program known as BATMAN -- Battlefield Air Targeting Man-Aided Knowledge -- which focuses on adapting technologies to dismounted airmen.Its an advanced technology research program within the 711th Human Performance Wing, developed at the Air Force Research Laboratory.BATMAN includes the Battlefield Airmen Trauma Distributed Observation Kit, or BATDOK , which would allow an Air Force pararescue jumper to monitor the vital signs of several wounded service members at once through the use of sensors and a small, wireless computer that can be worn on the jumper's forearm."That's a perfect example of how wearable electronics and stuff like that can assist the human in doing their jobs on the battlefield," Work said.That technology could be used elsewhere in the battlefield to protect and assist service members, Work explained.Other technologies under development include autonomous weapons systems, advanced aircraft anti-collision systems, sophisticated monitoring sensors for aircrew, and new aerial radars and sensors that track activity on the ground.Work's impression of the day: "It was really cool. I was really excited."At the start of his visit here, Work spoke to a group of middle and high school students, to encourage them to consider a government career in science.The youth were visiting the base for "Week at the Labs," a White House initiative to inspire students -- especially those in underserved communities -- to consider careers in science, technology, engineering and math.The United States is among the most technologically advanced nations in the world, Work said. It is "absolutely critical for the security of the nation" that it stays on the cutting edge, he said, so recruiting the best people is important.In decades past, the technology that was driving military innovation was coming from the U.S. government, but that's not the case anymore, the deputy defense secretary said.Most of the military-relevant technologies of today, such as robotics, artificial intelligence and autonomous technology, are being driven by the commercial sector, he added."We're in a competition for talent," Work said. That is why it is critical to recruit the best and the brightest that America has to offer, who include, Work said, the youth who visited the base for the day.
From a media release: Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2022 Wants You 5 Nights of New Horror, Sci-Fi & Action Movies! Scotiabank Theatre, Toronto, Canada Toronto After Dark Film Festival will be back once again in person, this October 19-23, 2022 with the 16th Annual Showcase of amazing new Horror, Sci-Fi, Action and Cult films from around the world. The Call for Film Entries is now on! Toronto After Dark welcomes both Short & Feature length submissions of all forms of genre cinema including Horror, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Crime, Action, Cult, Animation, Documentary, and Music Videos. The Final Deadline is this August 26, 2022 , but Filmmakers are encouraged to submit as early as possible to save with reduced entry fees. Films can be entered to Toronto After Dark at the popular film submission platform FilmFreeway. Just click on the logo below to go directly to the Toronto After Dark page there now: ADVERTISING & SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES Toronto After Dark Film Festival is one
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by card. Oswald Gracias

The Archbishop of Mumbais moving testament to the for four religious killed today along with 10 civilians in a raid "for religious reasons" by armed men from Aden. Until the end, they carried out the task the Missionaries of Charity: quench the thirst for Christ through service to the needy. In the evening, Eucharistic adoration and prayer for Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil, Salesian priest kidnapped in the attack.

Mumbai (AsiaNews) - The gruesome murder of the 4 Missionaries of Charity has plunged the Church of India and Asia into deep sadness. We are grieving beacause of this tragedy, it is a personal loss for the Church in India, as Sr. Anselm was one of our very own, who sacrificed everything to serve Jesus in Aden. Despite of precarious situations, these brave and selfless Missionaries of Charity refused to leave even as fighting intensified. The Missionaries of Charity continued to quench the thirst of Jesus in Aden, through love, kindness, compassion, and selflessly .served without any consideration of their own safety, the most disadvantaged victims, through their work on humanitarian activities in hospitals, centers for the aged and the infirm and homes for poor and disadvantaged youth, they sought to risk their lives for the local people.

How can I satiate that thirst of God? was the daily prayer of these Missionaries of Charity in Yemen, the current fighting particularly within Aden, has made it more difficult than ever, yet like Bl Mother Teresa of Kilkatta the only desire of the 4 Missionaries of Charity was to quench that thirst for souls was done out of personal love for Jesus," kept quenching the Thirst of Christ through their service for the people of Yemen. While we grieve and mourn the snuffing off of their precious lives, we are consoled, that now as they behold the Beauty of Christ, their Blood will bring fruits of Peace for the people they served. God bless them with eternal happiness in His presence.

The Church in India and Asia also prays for the safe return of another of our children, Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil, who hails from Kerala and studied theology at the College Kristu Jyoti Bangalore, Fr. Tom sdb is a Salesian from Province of Bangalore but has worked in Yemen for several years. The Salesians of India (the province of Bangalore) have communities in Yemen.

Only four years ago, the Church celebrated the silver jubilee of the Salesian presence in Yemen, on September 7 2012 in Sana'a, Yemen's capital. This country is under the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia in the new constitution. The Salesians of Don Bosco, belonging to the Province of Bangalore, went to Yemen on the request of Msgr. Bernardo Gremoli, the then Vicar Apostolic of Arabia.

The Missionaries of Charity (MC) were formally invited by the government of Yemen to take care of lepers and the elderly. Blessed Mother Teresa accepted the invitation, provided that it also allowed for priests to enter the country to offer spiritual help to the Missionaries. And so today, five Salesians work in Taiz, Hodeidah, Sana'a and Aden. These brothers are taking care of the spiritual needs of the sisters and also a parish community in those places. The Catholic population is made up exclusively of foreign workers from India, Philippines, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, etc...

The Church in India prays for the safe return of our Fr. Tom, and tonight will offer Eucharistic Adoration for his wellbeing.

(Nirmala Carvalho, collaborated)
by Quang Vinh

He died at age 76 on the evening of 2 March. He was a member of the congregation for 53 years and a priest for 46. Under his leadership, the Redemptorists have brought support to the marginalized and the poorest in Vietnam. According to the faithful, his was a cry in the wilderness: "Even if society does not change - he said - we change as does our awareness of our responsibility."

Hanoi (AsiaNews) - The Vietnamese Catholic Church is mourning the death of Fr. Matthew Vu Khoi Phung, former superior of the Redemptorists in Hanoi, who died on March 2 at the age of 76 years. The priest, for 53 years within the congregation and a priest for 46, has devoted his life to the mission of the Redemptorists among the poorer sections of society in Vietnam, accepting the task, as he himself wrote, "to serve God in the poor and abandoned. "



Fr. Joseph Ngo Van Kha celebrated the funeral in the monastery of Hanoi. "Fr. Matthew was a humble and wise person - he said he was both a father and a teacher for the new generations of Redemptorists of Vietnam, who follow his teachings and his example. "



His brothers say Fr. Matthew has always had at heart the fate of Vietnam and its people. In a sermon he urged the faithful to "pray for peace and truth in our country. I am convinced - he said - that we have the power of faith, that we are ready to accept the sacrifice, suffering, beatings and many other methods of repression. Why? Because we have discovered that we possess not only our own strength but also the word of Jesus and his love for us. If we follow him joyfully on the path that he shows us we will reap great fruits".



In his parish of Thai Ha in Hanoi, Fr. Matthew always had lighted candles: "We must pray for our country in these dangerous circumstances, with faith and love." Many believers describe his activities as a cry in the wilderness: "In our society values are ignored, the human person and his dignity is not respected according to Gods will".

To those who asked what was the use of prayer in Vietnam, where the situation for Christians remains the same and tends to get worse if anything, the priest replied: " Even if society does not change we change as does our awareness of our responsibility. Thanks to our prayers God has done much for His people. "



Since their arrival in Vietnam in 1921, the Redemptorists have been active in proclaiming the Gospel and in society, working on behalf of the poor and marginalized, all of this despite the attacks and the restrictions imposed by the government in Hanoi. Following Pope Francis, according to whom "the faith and the poor are two inseparable entities", the religious have taken to heart especially the needy and the destitute of society.

The congregation has always been critical of the government and has been harassed for years by police and thugs, with arrests, threats and requisition of land. The Redemptorists, however, fearlessly continue their mission.
An adequate and updated preparation is need. In case absolution is not possible, one should first of all look if there is a way. Many times, there is one. Secondly, one must not be tied only to the spoken word, but rather to the language of deeds. Thirdly, if one cannot give absolution, one must speak like a father: Listen, I cannot do this for you, but I can assure you that God loves you, that God is waiting for you!"

Vatican City (AsiaNews)  Pope Francis on Friday met the participants of a course on the Internal forum organised by the Apostolic Penitentiary. In his address, he said that confessors must remember that they are the "instruments" of Gods mercy, and must be "careful not to put up an obstacle to the gift of salvation.

The Holy Father said that if one cannot give absolution, one must "first of all look if there is a way. Many times, there is one. Secondly, one must not to be tied only to the spoken word, but rather to the language of deeds. Thirdly, if one cannot give absolution, one must speak like a father: Listen, I cannot do this for you, but I can assure you that God loves you, that God is waiting for you!"

Francis used todays meeting to reiterate his instructions to the priests who hear confession. He reminded them of what Jesus said about the joy in heaven when a sinner converts, urging them to ensure that confessions become a channel of joy so that the faithful "no longer feel burdened by guilt, but can instead enjoy the deed God performed to free them, allowing them to live in thanksgiving, ready to undo the harm done and reach out to brothers and sisters with a good and friendly heart."

Celebrating the sacrament "that seems to find in the word 'mercy" its synthesis, Francis called for an adequate and updated preparation so that those who approach may touch the greatness of mercy, true source of inner peace'." Indeed, "before it is an attitude or a human virtue, mercy is Gods ultimate choice in favour of every human being with respect to his or her eternal salvation, a choice sealed with the blood of the Son of God.

Such divine mercy can freely reach all those who invoke it. The possibility of forgiveness is really open to everyone; in fact, it is wide open, like the widest 'holy doors because it coincides with the Father's own heart, of he who loves and waits for all his children, particularly those who erred the most and are faraway. Gods mercy can reach every person in many ways: from the openness of a sincere conscience, the reading of the Word of God that converts the heart, the meeting with a merciful sister or brother, or the experience of a life that speaks of wounds, sin, forgiveness and mercy."

"Nevertheless, mercy has a sure path along which we can go from possibility to reality, from hope to certainty. That path is Jesus, who has authority on earth to forgive sins (Lk 5:24) and passed on this mission to the Church (cf Jn 20:21-23). The Sacrament of Reconciliation is therefore the privileged place to experience Gods mercy and celebrate the Feast of the encounter with the Father."

"Lest we forget, as confessors, when we go to the confessional to welcome our brothers and sisters, we must always remember that for them we are instruments of Gods mercy. Therefore, let's be careful not to put up an obstacle to this gift of salvation! A confessor is himself a sinner, a man who always needs forgiveness; he is the first who cannot do without Gods mercy, who 'chose' and appointed him (cf. Jn 15:16) for this great task.

He must always have an attitude of humble and generous faith, with the sole desire that every believer experience the Fathers love. We have no shortage of such holy brothers; remember Leopold Mandic and Pio of Pietrelcina, whose remains we venerated a month ago in the Vatican."

"Every repentant faithful, after the priests absolution, is assured, by faith, that his or her sins no longer exist, that they were erased by the divine mercy. Each absolution is, in a certain way, a jubilee of the heart, which cheers up not only the faithful and the Church, but above all God himself. As Jesus said, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance (Lk 15:7).

It is therefore important that the confessor also be a' channel for joy' and for the faithful, who, after receiving forgiveness, no longer feel burdened by guilt, but can instead enjoy the deed God performed to them, allowing them to live in thanksgiving, ready to undo the harm done and reach out to brothers and sisters with a good and friendly heart."

"In our time, marked by individualism, so many wounds and the temptation to turn inward, seeing and supporting people who approach mercy is a true gift. This entails, for all of us, an even greater obligation of evangelical coherence and paternal benevolence; we are custodians, never masters, of either flock or grace. Let us put back in the centre  and not just in this Jubilee Year  the sacrament of Reconciliation, the true space of the Spirit in which everyone, confessors and penitents, can experience the only definitive and faithful love, that of God for each one of his children, a love that never disappoints."

Speaking without notes, the pope asked himself, "What do I do if I am in trouble and cannot give absolution? What should be done? We must first of all look if there is a way. Many times, there is one. Secondly, we must not be tied only to the spoken word, but rather to the language of deeds. Thirdly, we if we cannot give absolution, we must speak like a father: Listen, I cannot do this for you, but I can assure you that God loves you, that God is waiting for you! Let us pray together to the Virgin Mary, that she may watch over you; come, come back, because I shall wait for you as God is waiting for you. Then give the blessing. Thus, this person can leave the confessional, thinking 'I found a father and he did not beat me' . . . Yet, how many times have you heard people saying, 'I never confess because I went once and I was yelled at."

"Even in an extreme case in which I cannot perform absolution, should they not feel the warmth of a father? Bless them. If they come back, let them come back . . . You can even pray a little bit with them. Always keep in mind this: the father is there. This too is a celebration. God knows how to forgive things better than we do, right? At least in our case, let us be the Fathers icon."
Dentons has announced the appointment of five new global vice-chairs, each representing one of the firms regions. Each of the leaders is already a member of the firms global board and will serve in the vice-chair role until the end of this year. The new roles will work with the global chair, Joe Andrew, in ensuring best practice and strategic initiatives across the firm, which does not have a single central headquarters. The vice-chair for Asia-Pacific is Beijing-based partner Jinquan Xiao.International law firm DLA Piper has appointed Madrid-based corporate partner, Juan Picon, as senior partner and global co-chairman. His appointment, effective May 12016, follows the decision of Sir Nigel Knowles to stand down. Knowles will become a consultant to the firm.Picon has been with the firm since joining the firm in 2006 as managing partner for Spain. He has since headed the global corporate practice; joined the executive as joint managing director of groups and sectors; and been appointed joint managing director for Europe and the Middle East. He is also co-chair of the firms Latin American practice.Lawyers in Germany want Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg to face criminal charges for hate crimes. The Vice reports that the lawyers say that Zuckerberg is guilty under German law of facilitating the posting of anti-Semitic content on the site as the social network has not removed all offensive material that others have posted there.The lawyers, Chan-jo Juan and Christian Solmecke failed last year to prosecute Facebooks German executives for the same matter and have decided to raise their aim. If found guilty Zuckerberg would face a financial penalty of around US$150 million.The chief executive of a UK Top 200 law firm committed suicide after arguing with his wife while on holiday. The inquest heard that Aaron and Partners CEO Andy Duxbury drove to his birth-town on December 29 following the row over a personal matter. Mr Duxbury, who was the firms first non-lawyer partner, was a well-known figure among business circles in the UK. The Telegraph reports that the law firm paid tribute to him at the time of his death calling him generous with his time, enthusiasm and business acumen.
US lawyer and blogger Blaine Alan Gibson has spent the last 12 months travelling to remote islands around the Indian Ocean, in search for pieces of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which vanished almost two years ago with 239 people on board.Gibson discovered a piece measuring 130 centimetres by 55 centimetres this week with a local fisherman, found on a sandbank of the Mozambique Channel which separates Mozambique from Madagascar. He handed the piece to Mozambique authorities after reporting the discovery, chairman of the Institute of Civil Aviation of Mozambique commander Joao de Abreu Martins told CNN.An unnamed US official has said that the piece is a part of the aircrafts tail that is horizontal as the plane flies.According to Stuff, Gibson has been blogging about his own investigation, writing how he has been, combing beaches for a year to find anything that looks like it could be possibly ... from an airplane.One entry describes a visit to Bird Island off the coast of Myanmar, where debris often washed ashore and remained untouched.We anchored the speedboat ... and I swam ashore, he wrote, before writing about the finding of two items found interesting to him.He is pictured wearing a t-shirt with the image of a plane and the words, MH370 Search ON.
Mid-sized firms are the most profitable, a report by the Australasian Legal Practice Management Association and Crowe Horwath has found.



While the survey did not include top-tier or national and international firms, the results found that firms earning between $10m and $20m were the most profitable last, overtaking firms with earnings sitting in the $20m-plus bracket.



In large firms, average revenue per partner declined last year, sitting at $1.47m down from $1.51m in 2014, while boutique partner revenue average increased to $1.6m, up from $1.29m the previous year.



Theyre a lot more nimble, less overhead intense and able to respond (to the market), ALPMA president Andrew Barnes told The Australian.



There are significant pressures on the (top-tier and large mid-tier firms) because they are geared up for the big work, with big infrastructures, and those things are under pressure.



But the CommBank Legal Market Pulse survey released last month did survey the nations top 50 firms and found that business confidence had recovered, The Australian reported.



Crowe Horwath partner Andrew Chen said large firms had been optimistic believing that big ticket transactional work would boost profits but that didnt eventuate.



The report found that three quarters of firms would expect to hire more fee earners over the coming year but that this would replace existing staff. Ninety per cent of firms said they did not intent to change their billing methods.




True, they are processed in Australia, but the service standard on the website for Lodged outside Australia still says N/A, so it shouldn't have anything to do with where it is processed. This has often confused me as I've wonder how they can not have a service standard for this group of visas. And the service standard I have previously been advised on the phone differs from all the service standards published on their website. So why do they keep this service standard a secret? And then they complain when you call them that you are calling inside the time applicable for the service standard.On a side point, can a sponsored 600 tourist visa be granted with an enter before date greater than 3 months? We recently waited to be inside the three month window before planned travel as previously this class of visa was granted to us in two weeks and didn't want the visa to be granted too soon.
Hi,

Thanks in advance. I am living in Australia last one with my wife and 2 kids. But our relation is not good enough and we initiate our separation according to the law and procedure of my country. And within mid April 2016 I will received official divorce certificate. Considering kids, for the time being we living in same house. And I am going to marry 2nd time while just after receiving my divorce certificate. My questions to YOU:

1.) Should I need to inform Certerlink and medicare about our separation as we are getting family tax benefit. If yes, than who need to inform.



2) Should i need to inform immigration for the same?



3) What are the documents required to apply spouse visa for my upcoming wife?



4) My new wife passport status need to change or not?

5) after our Marriage she will move to Malaysia after 1/2 months for study. Is that affect her visa?

6) As processing time is 12 months, may I apply for her multiple visit visa after apply visa?

7) I applied for her student visa and it has been rejected.Does this affect her spouse visa.

8) As kids are small now, till my new wife come, we jointly agreed that we share same house. Is this can be a problem?



So I need your help, advice, expertise, whatever.

Any idea is welcome!





Thanks,

Akash
Adventure Bike range in pipeline to focus on Asian markets; could be commercially rolled out as early as April-May 2016.

Bajaj Auto along with its Austrian partner, KTM, has readied adventure-touring models for India and export markets. The company, one of the leading manufacturers and the largest exporter of motorcycles in India, which kick-started a trend of street models in India with the Pulsar and took it a notch higher with KTMs 200 and 390 Duke models, is now all set to popularise the upcoming adventure-tourer category in the mid-size motorcycle segment.

With the upcoming KTM models, the company will take on Royal Enfields recently revealed, single-cylinder, 411cc Himalayan which is to be commercially launched on March 16, 2016. Industry sources have confirmed the development of an all-new motorcycle platform, which is an adventure touring model under the Bajaj Auto  KTM alliance. Sister publication Autocar Professional learns that the company has developed the adventure model based on two engine options, which could be the single-cylinder, 375cc and the single-cylinder, 200cc engines that already power other KTM motorcycles on sale in India and other export markets.

Bajaj Auto has developed a new, adventure bike platform under the KTM umbrella.

The new model could come with two engine options. These are the ones that it manufactures locally at Chakan, informed a source. Reports suggest that KTM had started working on its adventure-touring project in entry level, small engine segments in 2011. It can be recalled that while talking to a leading Indian business news channel in 2012, Stefan Pierer, CEO and chairman of the executive board of KTM AG, had hinted at the development of a model for tour-purpose for India. The 390 (390 Duke) is coming, fully-faired versions (RC 200 and RC 390) and the so-called tour-purpose model are also coming. We will have the full model range that can settle in the Asian markets. We will focus more on the higher end, keeping the prime content of KTM very sharp, its ready-to-race attributes, its best performing engine, unique design different from others, Pierer had commented then.

Another source pointed out that The KTM adventure bikes are almost ready. Although it is not sure which engine option will come first, the model(s) could be commercially rolled out as early as April-May 2016.

Bajaj Auto is known to introduce market disrupting products and creating its own niche by offering premium features at a more accessible price range. The launch of the 150cc Avenger and Pulsar RS 200 can be seen as examples of its aggressive product strategy. That said, it is expected that the company will compete with Royal Enfields Himalayan with its KTM 390 Adventure and may find premium buyers initially. However, sources say that the company could roll out the 200cc version of the KTM Adventure to undercut the competition from its immediate rival to make this league of motorcycles more accessible with affordable pricing as well. Additionally, the production of adventure models at Chakan also boosts the export prospects for Bajaj Auto, which has witnessed a decline due to a drop in demand from key markets such as Nigeria and Egypt to more mature markets. It is understood that the bulk of these current key export markets rely on revenues from the global oil industry. The US, which is one of the largest markets for adventure motorcycles, could be one such lucrative export destination for Bajaj Auto in the near future.

Talking to our sister magazine, Autocar Professional in the context of Bajaj Autos aggressive product strategy at the premium end, VG Ramakrishnan, managing director, Avanteum Advisors LLP, says, Thats an area where it has worked hard and it makes sense if the company wants to protect its hold on it. The focus on the premium segment allows it to focus on profitability and the consumer shift towards the higher segment. Further, with manufacturing of new KTM models, its exports are also expected to pick up. However, these markets are very different, and we will have to see how this pans out in the near future.

Giving his perspective on the company, Abdul Majeed, partner, Automotive, Price Waterhouse (PwC India), said, For Bajaj Auto, which has its distribution network in place and has the knowledge of Indian consumers, the right products with the right pricing will define its prospects in 2016 and 2017. The company is not into scooters, so obviously it needs to be aggressive with motorcycles whether it is the 110cc, 125cc, 150cc or 250cc class onwards. The company will have to very clearly understand the changing customer preferences in order to continue tapping growth. To unsettle Royal Enfield, you need to have a very strong product with a very good pricing. People buy RE bikes because they can be used for pleasure riding as well as daily commutes. Any upcoming product(s) has to be better than what is already there in the market. Therefore, bringing the right product to the market would be the key. The company should be able to put a good fight in the market in 2016-17 against potential rivals, Majeed adds.

Royal Enfield and Bajaj Auto together are expected to jointly create a new value addition in the motorcycle industry in the form of an adventure-touring category, which comes with a new set of attributes suitable for long-distance riding. Entry level engines such as 250cc to 500cc of displacement within the mid-size category (250cc-800cc) powering the enduro (adventure-touring) platform could emerge as a popular option due to its multi-utility applications of long distance and city riding while delivering decent fuel economy.

Amit Panday (Autocar Professional)
NEDC

MPV

SUV

However, they ended up being made in the same template, and the novelty wore out. Soon, minivans were bland and not exciting to customers. Both in Europe and the United States of America.Eventually, the customers went for estates and SUVs, and the segment that was once dedicated to families started to see its sales dwindling.Nevertheless, all that has passed, as carmakers have begun making interesting minivans again. This time, we will focus on the European market, which has several cool MPVs in various segments. French automakers seem to be exquisite at making this kind of vehicles, but the Germans are not lagging too far behind either.In what follows, we have selected for you five people carriers that come with cool features, neat exterior design, and smart interiors. All of these are available on the European market, but one car on the list has just been presented at this years Geneva Motor Show. Expect the latter to come to European showrooms by this summer.Before we get started with the list, lets review the features that a people carrier should have to be considered cool. First of all, they must avoid a flat look at all costs. Classic or elegant is acceptable, but never bland. Having a big family should not mean you can only buy ugly or dull vehicles.The second thing on our list would be technology. Because it is the year 2016, a minivan should come with advanced tech features, several charging ports for the gadgets of the passengers, and neat solutions to improve safety and ease the job of the driver.Well, the Citroen C4 Grand Picasso was an easy choice for us to include on this list. The French people carrier is made by Citroen, and we all know they have a particular way of dealing with design. Unlike in the case of other categories of vehicles, the minivans from Citroen have a unique appeal.The C4 Grand Picasso was first shown in 2014, and its look was considered outlandish at the time. A perfect description for the design of a Citroen in the brands characteristic style.This model is cool because it looks like some space ship, but also because it comes with impressive cabin space and good fuel economy in real life, not just in thetests. Citroen supplied the C4 Grand Picasso with a fully digital instrument cluster, a unique feature in the segment when this model was launched.In traditional Citroen fashion, this car has its oddities. The instrument panel is in the center of the dash. Below it, the center console has been significantly simplified and is also touch-operated. Only a few physical buttons remain, for essential functions. It can also be ordered with a panoramic windscreen, which is excellent whenever it is not sunny outside. Otherwise, you will need a good pair of Polarized sunglasses.At this years Geneva Motor Show, Renault showcased their new Scenic, a compact. Its looks can be considered over-designed, but theres no way you can pass by this car and refrain from looking at it twice. It is complex and intriguing, and it also comes with several noteworthy tech features on the inside and other novelties.Do you want to know the coolest thing about the Scenic, if you were to ignore the exterior design? Well, this car comes with 20-inch alloy rims as a free feature on every trim level. You can consider them standard, but you can also ignore them and get 19-inch wheels or smaller instead.Renaults latest push in the minivan segment is an all-in bet, as the brands chief designer explained. If they were to make an ordinary or boring car, it would not achieve acceptable sales results. The new Scenic will make people fall in love again, says Laurens van den Acker, Renaults design director.The Espace is considered the car that invented the minivan class for the European market. It is also the flagship of Renaults range, and the French manufacturer has Kevin Spacey as a spokesperson for this car. However, that is not why the Espace is a cool minivan.The current-gen Espace came out in 2015, but the model has a 30-year-long career, the first version having been released in 1984, and has been considered the definition of the MPV. Meanwhile, things have changed, and so has the Espace, but the way Renault has managed to reinvent this car is impressive. It is still an MPV, but with a dash oflooks and with features that were unthinkable in the segment.You can get the Espace with Renaults four-wheel steering system, electronically controlled dampers, a cool set of cabin lighting systems, as well as a big tablet on the center console. The latter is unique in the segment due to its vertical placement, and it integrates the controls to most of the electronically operated features of this vehicle.The MY2016 Ford Galaxy is an all-new car, and it also comes with fascinating features. However, before we go into that, lets analyze the design of the Galaxy. Fords largest MPV has a look that has been adapted to the way the other cars in the Blue Ovals European range are designed. This is a safe strategy, as it focuses on brand identity to make the models easily recognizable as belonging to a particular brand.In a way, it is just as risky as Renaults bet on bold design, as there is a chance customers will not appreciate this look. However, we have a feeling Ford knows a thing or two about making cars that will sell, and the lines of the Galaxy are not bland or boring, on the contrary, they bear a particular blend of elegance and sportiness.Now, lets move on to the cool features of the Galaxy. You can get this car with third-row seats that fold and raise at the push of a button. While the first feature is not unique to the segment, the latter is a first. Furthermore, the Galaxy is available with an Intelligent Speed Limiter, which reads speed limit signs and adjusts the speed regulator accordingly. The system will prevent you from getting a fine while using cruise control or the speed limiter, while the speed limit restriction changes from a segment of the road to another. Also, the Galaxy can be had with a 210 PS bi-turbo TDCi diesel engine and with an Intelligent all-wheel drive system.The V-Class is Mercedes-Benzs reinterpretation of the MPV. It is the largest and youngest member of the passenger car family from this manufacturer, and it comes with all the safety and technology features available in the sedan range.Thanks to the implementation of the characteristics mentioned above, the V-Class is the S-Class of MPVs. Sure, its design is not bold or aggressive, but it carries itself with the elegance the Mercedes-Benz has accustomed its customers to. The German company also claims this model is just as comfortable as the high-end sedans they sell.This people carrier is on our cool MPV list thanks to its luxurious features that can be ordered from the factory. Mercedes-Benz has a generous range of materials for the interior of this vehicle, and its rear seating can be configured in multiple ways. The V-Class can be a smart shuttle for business people, as well as a deluxe hotel shuttle or the family car of choice for wealthy customers with several offspring.
But while we were busy making sure we were well covered in bubble wrap before getting up close and personal with what is now the world's fastest production car, a group of four Chirons was spotted out in the ferocious Swedish winter.This is the kind of setup not even the wildest Cars And Coffee dream can hope to reach - we are, of course, talking about Bugatti still being out there, completing the final tweaking for the Veyron's successor. The $10 million convoy we have here was spotted in the city of Lugnvik earlier this week (we must thank op.se , which also has a video of the event, for this image).Given the fact that Molsheim will only bring 500 units of the Chiron to the world, not even the 180 customers who have already ordered one can hope for such a drive, not that all millionaires are fans of such gatherings.We're sure you've checked out the specs of the Chiron already and perhaps some of you wonder why the performance numbers don't make the Veyron SS look like a hypersnail. The answer lies in the approach Bugatti used when designing the Chiron.While the Veyron simply had to reach a set of targets, this time around the company wanted to ensure all layers of the driving experience are covered. For instance, while the 261 mph maximum velocity is extremely close to what the Veyron could achieve, a drag race between the two would show dramatic results.At least when it comes to VW-owned brands (Lamborghini shows a similar attitude these days), uber-fast machine builders have started to favor real world speed over maximum velocity bragging rights. So while the top speed the Chiron-Veyron SS situation mentioned above stands, it's enough to look at the 0 to 186 mph (300 km/h) sprint to see the dynamic difference between the two - while the retired Bugatti takes 16.7 seconds for the job, the newcomer handles it in 13.6 seconds.Then there's the handling. While the Veyron was amazing, not engaging, the Chiron promises to deliver the kind of attitude that will keep willing drivers fully connected and the rest of the world dreaming.
You see, the 911 R was born as a response to all those voices complaining about the GT3 and GT3 RS coming in PDK-only form. The German automaker rolled its sleeve, started searching through its delightful parts bin, and came up with what is now the second most expensive model in the 911 line-up (after the Turbo S Cabriolet).Given Porsche's demonstration, we can now open a whole new chapter when it comes to dreaming about the kind of machines the company could offer. And here we are, talking about a potential special edition that would unleash the 987 Boxster's full potential. The rendering above, which comes from Hansen Art , shows a potential Boxster GT4.Porsche's engineering genius can only limit the dynamic drawbacks of the Boxster's open top form up to a point. This is why the company has always bet on the Cayman when willing to prove a mid-engined go-fast point, while the Boxster special editions were not 100 percent focused on going fast.This is also true for the pre-revamp Boxster and Cayman, with the first's Spyder incarnation also playing the styling card, while the Cayman GT4, with its 911 GT3 suspension, is an all-out dynamic effort.However, we're here to show you what could happen if Porsche ever reached the conclusion that it needs to make the most out of the 718 Boxster platform.This digitally manipulated image shows a 718 Boxster wearing 911 GT3 RS-inspired elements, such as the louvres on the front wings or the rear wing.While the 718 Boxster will obviously get its swansong when the time is right, don't expect Porsche to come up with a model such as the one we see here, as the Boxster-Cayman split mentioned above still stands. But a tuner such as Ruf could come up with such a proposal.
A video posted by SimonMotorsport Dubai OFFICIAL (@simon_motorsport_dubai) on Mar 2, 2016 at 3:58am PST

So, to bring the GT3 RS back under the spotlights, we're giving you a clip that shows what happens when people consider this Porshe's exhaust sound isn't wild enough for their taste.The piece of footage below shows a Lava Orange-dressed GT3 RS using a custom titanium exhaust system. While the hardware was built by iPE Exhaust, which comes from Taiwan, it was mounted on the car by Simon Motorsports, with the Porsche now expressing its flat-six feelings and emotions over in Dubai.We're talking about a complete system, including both the headers and the muffler (the two can also be installed as separate parts). This includes a valve system that allows the driver to control the intensity of the soundtrack. And with this being a GT3 RS, things go from bewildering to otherworldly.There's one thing we need to mention, though - don't get the illusion that such an exhaust will make your ride easier to notice when you're out there on the track. As for the street, though, this is another story.Since we mentioned the 991 R's production above, we have to explain the GT3 RS isn't exactly your showroom Carrera, either. The German automaker is only building 2,000 units of the track special per year and we heard the 2016 production is already sold out.Sure, you can always go for the various sellers who are ready to treat you to a GT3 RS, but before making such choices, do keep in mind that you may end up paying Lamborghini Aventador money for such a 911 (you can find more on this topic here ).
DOHC

SUV

The newest of the bunch is called Tiago, and it's a little hatchback the Indians buy as the Zica. They had to rename it because of the Zika virus outbreak and all that, plus the Geneva model features a Stepway-style body kit that we haven't seen before.In India, the Tiago is called a compact, but it's a supermini for us Europeans. Power comes from one of two engines. The basic one is a three-cylinderpetrol, producing 84 PS (83hp) and 114 Nm (84lb-ft) of torque. Alternatively, you could have it with a 3-pot diesel making 69 PS and 140 Nm of torque.We don't see any reason to be badge snobs, especially since there are plenty of cars made for the Indian market that we buy. These include both of the smallest Hyundai hatchbacks and the Ford EcoSport. Even the UK-spec Duster was manufactured there for a while.Joining the Tiago on Tata's Geneva Motor Show stand is the Hexa, shown in Geneva last year as a concept. This is a cross between anand a minivan with power coming from a 2.2-liter diesel engine that makes 154 horsepower. This kind of reminds us of the early SsangYong SUV models that had Mercedes engines.Lastly, Tata is showcasing the Kite 5. It looks like the Bolt they previewed in 2015, but it comes with a sort of shrunken sedan trunk. The Kite 5 was supposed to be called Zica Notchback but had to be renamed at the last moment due to the virus. It looks impressive, a bit like the old Chevrolet Cruze hatchback. Designers changed the doors to make the roof sleeker. With 420 liters of trunk space, it's a decent family car... that nobody in Europe will care about.
Photo courtesy of NHTSA.

U.S. traffic crashes in 2013 cost employers $47.4 billion in direct expenses including medical care, liability, lost productivity and property damage, according to a new report from the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety.

The study, funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, discusses how employers could control such costs by promoting safe driving habits, including seat belt usage and the elimination of speeding, drunk driving and distracted driving  whether or not employees are on the clock.

The report updates a 2002 study about the economic burden of traffic crashes on employers.

In 2013, more than 1.6 million workdays were lost because of traffic crashes, according to the new report. Nearly 90% of those lost days were attributed to crashes that occurred off the job. Such collisions involved employees or their dependents.

Speeding resulted in $8.4 billion in crash-related expenses, with distracted driving close behind at $8.2 billion. Driving under the influence of alcohol resulted in $6 billion in losses, and failure to buckle up a seat belt added $4.9 billion to the total.

The consequences of traffic crashes are far reaching. Its a domino effect that negatively impacts individuals, families, communities and businesses, said Mark Rosekind, NHTSA administrator. It is critical that individuals make safe choices. Driving behavior change in traffic safety is something NHTSA is exploring through a series of regional summits. We hope employers will join us and look at this report as a motivator to help save lives and prevent injuries on our roads.

Graphic courtesy of NETS.

The report also found that employer-paid medical costs per employee injured in a crash were nearly double in on-the-job crashes where the employee wasnt wearing a seat belt and were increased by a third for off-the-job crashes.

When people think of the human and financial impact of traffic crashes on the workplace, they think about company car drivers, said Jack Hanley, executive director of NETS. This new report is an eye-opener. It shows that employers bear the crash costs of all their employees, not just their company drivers. Investing in road safety is good business and todays report provides employers with a blueprint for developing business cases in support of employee road safety.

Click here to download the full report.

NETS has introduced a free toolkit to help companies encourage employees to wear a seat belt. Coca-Cola Refreshments developed the toolkit at its Bismarck, N.D., site, where observed seat belt usage increased from a baseline 54% to 84% over a six-week period. Coca-Cola Refreshments is a unit of The Coca-Cola Co., a NETS board member.

All of the materials used are available in the toolkit and require minimal time and cost to conduct an all-employee site-wide seat belt usage improvement campaign, NETS said. The free toolkit is available at 2seconds2click.org. NETS also offers, at no charge, The Comprehensive Guide to Road Safety for employers with occupational drivers. The guide is available on the groups website at trafficsafety.org.
A commercial flight school student from Egypt is in jail in California after he posted what immigration officials perceive as a threat to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. It appears the Immigration and Customs Enforcement department is intent on deporting Emadeldin Elsayed for the Facebook post even though there was not enough evidence to charge him criminally. In the post, Elsayed said he would be willing to go to prison for life for killing Trump and the world would thank him for it. Elsayed and his lawyer Hani Bushra both have said the post was dumb and Elsayed said he regretted hitting the button as soon as he did it. He said he was reacting to Trumps proposal to ban Muslims from the U.S. temporarily. Its just a stupid post. You can find thousands of these every hour on Facebook and the media, he told The Associated Press in a phone interview from jail. I dont know why would they think I am a threat to the national security of the United States just because of a stupid post.

It apparently took the Secret Service and immigration officials more than a week to determine it was more serious than a stupid post. He was interviewed by the Secret Service shortly after he put up the post and eight days later they returned to tell him that while he didnt break the law, his visa to attend flight school was being revoked. He said the agent who interviewed him spoke about the mass killing in nearby San Bernardino by a Muslim couple and the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, D.C. Elsayed will appear at an immigration hearing to discover his fate but it appears Customs and Immigration has already determined the outcome. The department issued a statement saying the student pilot violated the terms of his admission to the United States. Elsayed said that if hes deported hell seek a refund of the $65,000 he paid Universal Air Academy and get his training elsewhere. Universal Air Academy owner Alex Khatib said hed welcome Elsayed back. He is honestly a good student, Khatib said. He seemed to be a good guy.
Representatives of nongovernmental organizations involved in election monitoring processes in Armenia are dismayed at the changes proposed in the draft Electoral Code that was revealed by the government earlier this week, describing them as regression from even existing standards.

The organizations that monitored last Decembers constitutional referendum, which necessitates the current amendments, and pointed out large-scale violations and fraud during that vote argue that the government-proposed legislation does not address their concern and even makes things worse in terms of procedures compared to the current set of electoral laws.

Heriknaz Tigranian, of the Transparency International (TI) Anti-Corruption Center, outlined risks connected with a number of restrictions of the rights and opportunities of observers, proxies and media representatives. It seems they are trying to keep the electoral process away from public attention. And whatever is not available for observation always raises suspicions. This document is full of such risks, she told RFE/RLs Armenian Service (Azatutyun.am).

Experts say that another snag in the presented draft is that the circle of organizations entitled to conduct election monitoring missions is limited. Under the proposed legislation, only international and local organizations that have in their charters clauses on democracy and human rights will be entitled to deploy observers.

Besides, while under the current laws authorities are to send invitations only to international observers, then now such invitations must be sent also to local observers.

After the December referendum and our critical statements and report Im thinking who will invite us the next time. The president, the parliament speaker, the prime minister, the Central Electoral Commission? wondered the TI representative.

Leading human rights campaigner Levon Barseghian, who was part of the largest local observation mission, Citizen Observer, during last years referendum, also voiced doubts that organizations that have actively tried to preclude electoral fraud will be invited to monitor future elections should this provision be enacted.

The activist also mentioned another restriction in the proposed legislation concerning the presence of journalists and observers at polling stations. Thus, the draft Electoral Code suggests that the number of journalists and observers at one polling station at a time should not exceed eight. Practically, it may mean that no more that two or three media organizations will be able to cover elections at one place, considering that often media have to deploy crews, including reporters and cameramen.

They could have written it down that among those eight they mean only representatives of NGOs and media loyal to the [ruling] Republican Party, Barseghian commented.

Another risky novelty, according to experts, is entitling the head of a precinct commission to order the removal of an observer from the polling station if the latter violates the provisions of the Electoral Code. One of the provisions of the Electoral Code, meanwhile, is that observers shall be unbiased and shall refrain from supporting one political force or another.

Lawyer Norair Norikian questions this provision, saying that there will be elements of subjectivism in assessing the work of an observer. The word support can become a headache An appeal by an observer to organize a normal electoral process may be construed as his support for a certain candidate or party, he said.

Norikian also voiced concerns about the fact that unlike the current Electoral Code, the new draft does not expressly entitle foreign diplomats accredited to Armenia to conduct observation missions. It will further cast a shadow on the general assessment of the electoral process, he said.

Spokesman of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia Eduard Sharmazanov on Thursday said that the main debate around the draft Electoral Code will unfold in parliament and all stakeholders, including the countrys broader opposition and civil society, will be involved in the process.

We should also listen to the opinions of civil society representatives and the opposition. One should not state categorically today that the views of the opposition and civil society have been rejected, he said.

Earlier, Western governments and international organizations have urged Armenia to draft its next Electoral Code in an inclusive manner and adopt it with a broad consensus.

Representatives of the countrys leading opposition groups, meanwhile, have also indicated that none of their proposed anti-fraud safeguards have been addressed in the presented draft Electoral Code.
4 March 2016 16:00 (UTC+04:00)

By Chris Elias

Africas progress in fighting meningitis A is one of the best-kept secrets in global health. Thanks to the development and deployment of a low-cost vaccine, the lives of hundreds of thousands of children have been saved, and communities that might otherwise have been devastated by the illness are thriving.

Meningococcal A meningitis is a bacterial infection of the thin lining surrounding the brain and spinal cord, and it can be deadly. For more than a century, epidemics have swept across 26 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, killing and disabling tens of thousands of primarily young people every year. The disease is highly feared on the continent; it can kill within hours or leave its victims with severe brain damage.

Outbreaks usually occur at the beginning of the calendar year, when dry winds from the Sahara Desert begin blowing southward. The 1996-1997 epidemic resulted in more than 250,000 cases and 25,000 deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa, many of them children. Of those who survived, one in four were left with permanent disabilities, including paralysis, blindness, hearing loss, seizures, and brain damage.

The impact of meningitis A on families and communities is devastating. In order to pay for treatment, many families are forced to sell the assets they need to sustain their livelihoods: livestock, seed stock, and tools. Furthermore, the disabilities caused by the infection can leave survivors less able to earn income or care for themselves and their families. Whole communities can be plunged into deeper levels of poverty as health-care workers struggle to contain outbreaks.

The suffering caused by the disease served as an impetus for action. Sixteen years ago, African health ministers, the international health NGO PATH, the World Health Organization (WHO), the Serum Institute of India, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and dozens of other partners formed the Meningitis Vaccine Project (MVP). The mission was simple: to develop an affordable vaccine to fight meningitis A in Africa.

The project was successful. In less than ten years, the MenAfriVac vaccine was launched and has produced an immediate and dramatic break in the cycle of meningitis A epidemics. I was in Burkina Faso for the vaccines introduction in December 2010. I was worried whether anyone would show up. But when I met the minister of health the day before the launch and asked him what his biggest concern was, he gave me a surprising answer: Crowd control.

He was right. Huge crowds formed at every immunization site, standing in line in the hot sun, eager to receive protection against the deadly disease. It was, quite literally, a state event, with the president in attendance. The first vaccination campaign reached virtually everyone in the country aged 1-29.

In the five years since then, more than 235 million people have been immunized across Sub-Saharan Africa. By 2020, the vaccine is expected to protect more than 400 million people  preventing one million cases of meningitis A, 150,000 deaths from the disease, and 250,000 cases of severe disability among survivors.

The MVP stands as a powerful example of what is possible when African leaders and experts from across the spectrum of global health work together. Strong, temporary partnerships, with a focused goal, can have truly catalytic effects. But the work is far from over. Last year, the WHO approved MenAfriVac for use in regular vaccine schedules, making it possible for millions more to be protected.

The stakes are high. Universal access to immunization is a cornerstone of health, development, and economic growth. Recognizing this, several African countries are already making plans to roll out meningitis  and other  vaccines into routine immunization systems this year. The task before African leaders is to ensure a smooth and full transition from mass vaccination campaigns to routine immunization.

Last week, government officials assembled in Ethiopia for the first-ever Ministerial Conference on Immunization in Africa, where they re-committed to ensuring that everyone on the continent has access to the vaccines they need. This will require further investment in immunization, improved data collection and analytics, new tools and approaches, and most importantly, strong partnerships.

We must build on the legacy of the MVP and work toward a world in which every child receives the life-saving vaccines they need to survive and thrive.

Copyright: Project Syndicate:Defeating Meningitis in Africa
4 March 2016 13:40 (UTC+04:00)

By Ian Shapiro and Nicholas Strong

As the turmoil in the Middle East worsens, the fate of the Palestinians seems to have been put on the diplomatic back burner. Indeed, the two-state solution has been on life-support since Israels 2014 Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, despite US Secretary of State John Kerrys heroic efforts to revive it. Many in the region, and elsewhere, now believe that it is dead.

But that raises a new problem. With statehood seemingly out of reach, it will be only a matter of time before large numbers of Palestinians begin demanding the right to vote in Israeli elections. That fight will be intense. Israelis embraced the idea of two states for so long partly to keep Palestinian enfranchisement off the table.

How can the emerging order become more inclusive and legitimate? Elements of a constructive way forward are hiding in plain sight.

Shortly after Israel signed its 1994 peace treaty with Jordan, then-Foreign Minister Shimon Peres proposed a cross-border joint economic zone to solidify the agreement. This became the Jordan Gateway Industrial Park (JGIP), a 346-acre special economic zone (SEZ) occupying the Israeli and Jordanian banks of the Jordan River near Haifa.

Championed by Israeli industrialist Shlomi Fogel, the JGIP has recently experienced marked growth. Israels government contributed $34 million in 2013. Jordan, which has largely directed the project since 2001, provides ongoing fiscal support. As with SEZs elsewhere around the world, the industries in the park are exempt from taxes and tariffs and enjoy other economic benefits.

This model should be expanded to include special political zones (SPZs) that erode divisions between Israelis and Palestinians. SPZs could be created along the borders between Israel and the West Bank and Gaza. They should be more fully integrated than the JGIP, which depends on outside labor.

People in the SPZs would effectively constitute themselves as microcosms of a new order. SPZ businesses could be owned by Israelis, Palestinians, or jointly, and workers would come from both sides of the divide. But everyone would have to live in the SPZ, in which they would receive ownership shares and governance roles that would grow in proportion to the length of their tenure.

SPZs should enjoy high degrees of political autonomy from the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority. Residential infrastructure, from schools to municipal services and medical facilities, would be built in the zones, making them substantially self-sufficient. Day-to-day governance would be left to residents, who would have an economic interest in the SPZs vitality, as well as incentives to sustain integrated binational communities.

Co-Op City, the largest residential complex in the United States, is a suggestive model. Directed by a community-based corporation, Co-Op City contains schools, stores, and private law enforcement. Such common-interest housing developments (CIDs) have grown in the US in recent years. Part of the attraction is enhanced participation. In the Middle East, such arrangements could foster new forms of inter-ethnic cooperation.

Security would be a major concern. Initially, SPZ perimeters would have checkpoints like those for crossing into the West Bank and Gaza. But people would not need to come and go on a daily basis, an albatross that has bedeviled cross-border SEZs until now. Autonomous forces, similar to those employed by CIDs and university campuses, would maintain internal order. This differs from the JGIP, where Israel and Jordan maintain control over their respective spheres on either side of the Jordan River.

SPZs should be located near transportation on both sides of the border, but away from religious shrines, settlements, and strategically important military installations. Possible sites include the once-planned Khaddourie industrial park between Tulkarem in the West Bank and Herzliya, and the Karni Industrial Zone outside Gaza City.

The idea need not be sold to electorates or extremists to go forward. Nor need it uproot people. SPZs will be attractive to those who are hungry for constructive alternatives to the prevailing political stagnation and the inexorable, demography-driven drift toward Israeli apartheid.

Those who move into SPZs would be actively committed to making them work. If the early SPZs succeed, there will be pressure to create others. Indeed, cross-border SPZs might eventually be replicated within the occupied territories and in Israel proper, including cities like Ramallah and Tel Aviv.

Much will depend on the communities that the residents create. But outsiders can help. As with the JGIP, SPZs would provide opportunities for investors from the region and beyond to contribute to, and profit from, peace. They would receive local tax breaks, and maybe also support from their own governments.

The US could take the lead, as it has done with SEZs in Egypt and Jordan. Governments and philanthropists could provide seed grants. As with the JGIP, the goal should be to model best practices that others will want to imitate.

There are already serious players poised to become SPZ entrepreneurs. Fogel belongs to Breaking the Impasse (BTI), a group of prominent Palestinian and Israeli business leaders committed to advancing peace. Established by Palestinian magnate Munib al-Masri and Israeli tech billionaire Yossi Vardi in July 2012, BTI has some 300 members, whose companies account for at least 30% of Israeli and Palestinian GDP.In other words, they have the influence and resources to instigate a first wave of SPZs.

The first SPZs must demonstrate that a marriage of economics and politics can induce collaboration that would not be possible otherwise. Israels government and the Palestinian Authority must play facilitating roles. But they will mostly be in the back seat of a venture driven by entrepreneurs, external friends of regional peace, and  most important  the individual Palestinians and Israelis who make the sweat-equity commitment to become a new kind of pioneer for peace. If they succeed, the death of the two-state solution might prove to be a blessing in disguise.

Copyright: Project Syndicate:Beyond the Two-State Solution

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4 March 2016 09:46 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev has received a delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Rogozin.

The president said the visit of Rogozin created a good opportunity for reviewing the agenda of the issues of the bilateral relations between the two counties. President Aliyev noted the effectiveness of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission, saying it fulfilled a number of tasks. The president said both countries characterize the bilateral relations as strategic ties, and described this as recognition of joint achievements in the bilateral cooperation.

President Aliyev said Azerbaijan and Russia had active political relations, and underlined regular ties between the presidents. The president said they discuss many important issues with the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin both during their personal contacts and phone conversations, adding that there is mutual understanding on a number of issues. Touching upon the bilateral trade between the two countries, President Aliyev said active work is being carried out towards increasing the export of Azerbaijani products to Russia.

The president said Azerbaijan is interested in the Russian exports` occupying one of the important, even top places in the countrys import. Saying that the cooperation between the two countries is successfully developing in all fields, the president said Azerbaijan attaches great importance to the bilateral relations in political, economic, energy, military-technical and humanitarian spheres.

The president pointed to the creation of a format of cooperation between relevant bodies on the regional scale. President Aliyev said regional forums are being held, adding that there is positive dynamics in this regard. Emphasizing that the two countries` political leadership gave impetus to this process, the president said relevant authorities of Azerbaijan and Russia are working in one direction.

Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Rogozin said: Dear Mr President, I would like to underline that despite the global economic crisis in recent years and the known processes on the energy market, our Joint Intergovernmental Commission managed to expand cooperation. Today we see that the contacts between the two presidents not just increased, as apart from bilateral relations they already embrace the whole spectrum of regional affairs.

Dmitry Rogozin said the threats existing on the international arena, in the Middle East, including terrorism, are among important issues discussed at the regional level. Saying that the Russian Federation and the Republic of Azerbaijan currently enjoyed the highest level of the bilateral relations, Dmitry Rogozin said the Joint Intergovernmental Commission was discussing the issues of the expansion of the ties in a variety of areas, including economy, culture and education.

He emphasized Azerbaijans supporting Russia at a time when the country faced sanctions, and hailed the increase in the export of Azerbaijani agricultural products to Russia. Dmitry Rogozin said Azerbaijans agricultural products were widely popular in Russia, adding that special warehouses were built for storing these products.

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4 March 2016 10:25 (UTC+04:00)

By Elmira Tariverdiyeva

The Azerbaijani foreign ministry has recently presented a report "Illegal economic and other activities on the occupied territories of Azerbaijan". After reading the report, the question arises whether Armenia needs the negotiation process.

Armenia has been occupying Azerbaijani territories and violating all norms of international and criminal law on the occupied territories for many years. All years Armenia has been exacerbating the conflict in the region and destabilizing the situation. Taking this into account, Yerevans presence at the negotiating table is a lie.

The real criminals, namely, the Armenian authorities, support and encourage the illegal production and export on the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

On the one hand, this is a political project as some types of products being manufactured on the occupied territories and exported via the territory of Armenia to Russia and other countries do not bring any economic benefit.

The complicated export route of illegally manufactured products to the international market comes expensive to the Armenian lobby, which pays for political speculations of Armenia.

Armenian authorities themselves plunder the wealth of the occupied lands. For the poorest country with few natural resources, mining industry on the occupied territories is a very important source of income. Large mineral reserves in Azerbaijan remained on the occupied territories - there are 155 deposits of various minerals, including five gold deposits.

Currently, Armenian authorities use these deposits as a source of personal enrichment.

In 2015 alone, Armenia illegally produced 3.6 tons of gold and it is unlikely that the Armenian authorities are ready to yield this wealth to Baku.

The activities and the origin of many workers of foreign mining companies in the occupied territories are obscure and often they are offshore companies. It seems that these firms belong to the representatives of the Armenian authorities.

Regarding the export of goods, the label of which says made in Armenia, to the EU countries, Ukraine, the US, the UAE and Russia from the Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijans other occupied territories, it reminds the conflict diamonds [also known as blood diamonds] concept.

A part of African diamonds, which were sold in the West for many years, became o source of financing for terrorist movements and eventually, they became known as conflict diamonds.

In South Africa, where the first conference on conflict diamonds was held in 2000, nearly 50 countries announced the creation of a global system of control over the diamond trade [Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS)] from Jan. 1, 2003.

KPCS, in particular, involves the introduction of a special certificate containing the data about diamonds manufacturer and importer. It helped to avoid the entry of blood diamonds to the market.

In order to stop the indirect promotion of occupation, the international community should also monitor and prevent the sale of goods produced on the occupied lands.

For example, when purchasing products from Armenia, one can require certificates confirming that these goods were produced namely on its territory, but not on the occupied lands, which are internationally recognized territories of Azerbaijan.

Thus, by turning a blind eye to violation of the international law by Armenia, the countries which buy the illegally produced goods, also participate in stealing Azerbaijans natural resources.

Hopefully, taking into account the abovementioned factors, the international community will pay due attention to the facts of numerous crimes committed by the Armenian regime on the occupied territories and will take relevant measures to prevent them.

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4 March 2016 11:43 (UTC+04:00)

Air Forces of Azerbaijan and Turkey will hold joint military exercises TurAz Shahini-2016 in the Turkish province of Konya.

The exercises of the two countries will be held on March 7-25, the Turkish General Staff reported on March 4.

The first "TurAz Qartali" drills of the Azerbaijani and Turkish Armies were held in Azerbaijan in September 2015. The exercises were conducted as part of an annual joint military plan8. The joint military exercises TurAz Qartal or TurAz Shahini and drills of the Land Forces are a good example of the level of cooperation between the armies of both countries.

Baku and Ankara enjoy strategic relations in many fields, including the military. Military cooperation between these two neighboring nations dates back to 1992 when they signed an agreement on military education. Since then, the Azerbaijani and Turkish governments have been closely cooperating in both defense and security fields.

In December 2010, both countries signed a range of treaties provisioning for military assistance should any of the party be attacked by third party.

Based on numerous agreements on joint military exercises as part of bilateral progressive efforts towards military cooperation, the Azerbaijani and Turkish armed forces have hold regular drills, featuring various tactical and combat tasks so far.

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4 March 2016 14:58 (UTC+04:00)

By Aynur Karimova

Azerbaijan and Russia characterize their bilateral relations as strategic ties, and this is the recognition of joint achievements in the two countries' cooperation.

This was stated by President Ilham Aliyev at a meeting with a delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin on March 3.

President Aliyev said Azerbaijan and Russia enjoy active political relations, and underlined regular ties between the heads of state.

The head of state noted that they discuss many important issues with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin both during their personal contacts and phone conversations, adding that there is mutual understanding on a number of issues.

Touching upon the bilateral trade between the two countries, President Aliyev said active work is being carried out to increase the export of Azerbaijani products to Russia. He also expressed Azerbaijan's interest in the Russian exports' occupying one of the important, top places in the country's import.

Saying that the cooperation between the two countries is successfully developing in all fields, President Aliyev stressed that Azerbaijan attached significant importance to the bilateral relations in political, economic, energy, military-technical and humanitarian fields.

Rogozin, in turn, said despite the global economic crisis in recent years and the known processes on the energy market, the Joint Intergovernmental Commission of Azerbaijan and Russia managed to expand cooperation.

"Today we see that the contacts between the two heads of state not just increased, as apart from bilateral relations they already embrace the whole spectrum of regional affairs, he noted.

Rogozin added that the Joint Intergovernmental Commission is discussing the expansion of bilateral ties between Moscow and Baku in a variety of areas, including economy, culture and education.

He emphasized Azerbaijan's support to Russia at a time when the country faced sanctions, and hailed the increase in the export of Azerbaijani agricultural products to Russia.

Rogozin said Azerbaijan's agricultural products are widely popular in Russia, adding that special warehouses were built for storing these products.

Cooperation between Azerbaijan and Russia is based on the principles of mutual respect and good neighborly relations. Being long-time partners, the two countries are keen to continue developing multilateral cooperation in the future.

Currently, the relations between the two neighboring countries have reached the level of strategic partnership. The all-around strengthening of cooperation with Russia has been and remains one of the main priorities of Azerbaijan's foreign policy.

Rogozin said on his Twitter page that Russia and Azerbaijan are responsible and reliable partners in military and technical cooperation.

"The major result of the Baku visit is that the parties confirmed they are responsible and reliable partners in such a sensitive area as military and technical cooperation," he tweeted.

Economic ties between Baku and Moscow are at a high level as well. Azerbaijan's State Customs Committee reported earlier that the Azerbaijani-Russian trade turnover amounted to $1.85 billion in 2015. Some $416.77 million accounted for the export to Russia.

Today, more than 600 companies with Russian capital operate in Azerbaijan. Russian investments in the countrys economy have recently amounted to more than $1.8 billion. The leading Azerbaijani companies successfully operate in the regions of the Russian Federation. Direct Azerbaijani investments in the Russian economy have amounted to more than $1 billion for the last 10 years.

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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

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4 March 2016 16:28 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry harshly reacted to the recognition of the independence of Azerbaijans occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region by the US State of Georgia.

Recognition of any entity is under the powers of the U.S. Federal Government in line with the U.S. law, Ministrys spokesperson Hikmet Hajiyev told Trend on March 4, while commenting on the news.

Hajiyev added that the U.S. recognizes Azerbaijans territorial integrity and sovereignty within the internationally recognized borders.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The U.S. embassy in Baku, commenting on the news, once again announced that the United States does not recognize the so-called Nagorno-Karabakh Republic

The U.S. Foreign Policy is determined by the Federal Government. The resolution passed by the Georgia State House regarding Nagorno-Karabakh is an expression of opinion by a state legislative body and does not change the U.S. foreign policy on the matter, the embassy told Trend.

Yerevan and Baku signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council's four resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. For over 20 years, Armenia has been exacerbating the conflict in the region and destabilizing the situation.

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4 March 2016 15:38 (UTC+04:00)

Kuwait attaches great importance to developing its relationship with Azerbaijan.

Kuwait's First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Khaled al-Hamad al-Sabah made the remark as he received a copy of credentials from incoming Azerbaijani Ambassador Elkhan Qahraman.

The Deputy Prime Minister underlined the importance of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's visit to Kuwait in developing relations between the two friendly countries. He also hailed his 2013 visit to Azerbaijan when he attended the second meeting of the joint intergovernmental commission.

The ambassador hailed Azerbaijani-Kuwaiti ties as excellent, adding that Azerbaijan also places great emphasis on the overall development of relations with Kuwait.

He touched upon President Aliyev's official visit to Kuwait, saying such high-level visits give a strong impetus to the development of mutually beneficial relations.

Qahraman also expressed his gratitude to the Kuwaiti government for its political support for Azerbaijan within international organizations. He said he would spare no efforts to contribute to the development and expansion of close ties between the two countries.

The meeting was attended by Kuwaiti Deputy Foreign Minister Khalid al-Jarallah, head of the Foreign Minister's office Sheikh Ahmad Al-Nasser Al-Sabah and protocol affairs adviser Dahri Ajran Al-Ajran, Azertac state news agency reported.

Azerbaijan and Kuwait established diplomatic relations in 1994. Both countries being subject of military occupation and aggression by neighboring countries in the early 90s were primarily engaged in overcoming foreign occupation and managing its dreadful consequences.

The Azerbaijani embassy in Kuwait opened in late 2004 and the Kuwaiti Embassy in Baku began to function in 2006.

The establishment of the embassies fostered development of bilateral cooperation between the two countries. Mutually beneficial cooperation between the countries further broadened and deepened encompassing the areas like finance, economy, trade commerce, tourism and investment.

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4 March 2016 16:36 (UTC+04:00)

By Aynur Karimova

Baku and Tehran are planning to launch a passenger train between Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan city and Iranian city of Mashhad.

This intention was sounded at a meeting between Javid Gurbanov, the Head of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC and Abbas Hajfathaliha, a member of the Board of the Iran Railways in Nakhchivan on March 3.

During the meeting, the sides discussed launching a passenger train on the Nakhchivan-Julfa-Tabriz-Tehran-Mashhad route, and finding sources for funding the construction of the Rasht-Astara railway, Azerbaijan Railways reported.

The Azerbaijani and Iranian railways agreed to conduct inspection on the Julfa station in March, where a point for replacement of wheelpairs is located, consider and discuss the possibility of aligning the system of sale of railway tickets of the two countries.

The railway companies' next meeting will be held in April.

Commenting on details of launching the passenger train between Nakhchivan and Mashhad, Mansour Airom, Irans Consul General in Nakhchivan, told Trend that this train will run twice a week.

He believes that the railway companies' meeting on March 3 was aimed at laying a ground for inaugurating the plan of Azerbaijan and Iran to deepen cooperation in the railway transport section.

This cooperation was envisaged in a Framework Agreement between the Azerbaijani and Iranian governments on the coordination of railways of the two countries, which was signed by Iranian Minister of Transportation Abbas Akhoundi and Azerbaijan's Economy and Industry Minister Shahin Mustafayev during President Ilham Aliyev's Tehran visit on February 23.

Currently, Azerbaijan and Iran are focused on expanding economic ties in various fields, including industry, agriculture, energy, alternative energy, and transportation.

Iran's export to Azerbaijan during the first half of 2015 decreased 55.36 percent to $42.52 million year-on-year. Azerbaijan's export to Iran also decreased 67.11 percent to $11.16 million during that period.

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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

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4 March 2016 10:00 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Jazz has become an international language, influencing many cultures. Despite Azerbaijan is an Eastern country, jazz has entered the life of Azerbaijani people since the 1930s.



Azerbaijani jazz is a unique music, combining classical and Azerbaijani folklore genre and hardly any other national jazz scene has such a range of styles, traditions and techniques.

The oil boom, starting in the 19th century in Baku, turned the City of Winds into the economic and cultural center, making significant influence to the development of the impressive music, originated from African American communities, in the country.

Jazz has for long been a significant factor in the lives and feelings of the educated generations in the capital of the country.

Baku became the home for the first jazz Orchestra, established in 1938 by two legendary Azerbaijani composers Niyazi and Tofig Guliyev.

Despite jazz was prohibited by the Soviet government to avoid the anti-Western propaganda, true lovers of jazz were continuing to listen to Western radio and energize music-lovers with favorite melodies at private concerts.

The revival of jazz in the Land of Fire started in 1960s, thanks to the active efforts of great national composers such as Gara Garayev, Tofig Guliyev, Rauf Hajiyev and Niyazi.



The love for vocal singing and jazz brought together four young talents including Teymur Mirzoyev, Arif Hajiyev, Rauf Babayev and Lev Elisvetskiy in 1961 to create famous national quartet Gaya, whose records were popular in more than 40 countries around the world including Soviet Union, Europe, America and Africa.

The flowering of Azerbaijani jazz is associated with the names of giants such as Rafig Babayev and Vagif Mustafazade, who experimented creating unrepeatable compositions, becoming the founders of a new jazz trend jazz-mugham. This unique genre assembles both a traditional Azerbaijan music and a classic American jazz.

The two talented musicians stole the publics heart, performing at the same stage with legends such as Charles Lloyd, Jack DeJohnette at the Jazz Festival in Tallinn, Estonia. There American jazz trumpeter called Mustafazade creator of the music of future.

The outstanding pianist Mustafazade, who composed fugues, preludes, ballads and scherzos became the world's best of the best musicians in 1979.

The geniuss Waiting for Aziza composition sent to the World Contest of Jazz Music in Monaco won "White piano" prize, considering a symbol of pure music, bearing peace and love for life well-suited to the music of Mustafazadeh.

The daughter of the eminent musician, world jazz icon and charming Aziza Mustafazadeh inherited her talent from musical parents.

While still a girl of seventeen, Aziza took the first place in the pianists competition of the Thelonious Monk in Washington in 1986, impressing the jury by mixing music of prominent jazz pianist Monk with elements of mugham.

Since 1990 she has been living in Mainz, Germany where everyone knows her as Eastern Diva, Scheherazade at the piano and Jazz princess.

History of Azerbaijani jazz is very rich and illustrious and it continues to grow until now, thanks to talented musicians and composers such as Rain Sultanov, Jamil Amirov, Salman Gambarov, as well as young genius conquering worldwide fame Isfar Sarabski, Nurlan Novrasli, Emil Afrasiab, Elchin Shirinov and more.

Since 2002 the Caspian Jazz international festival has held in Baku every year, attracting many famous foreign musicians to the City of Winds.

Baku Jazz Festival becoming a tradition since 2005, promoting jazz in Baku and discovering new names.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



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4 March 2016 10:33 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Ismayilova

Bakus Nizami Cinema Center hosted a gala-night of the film "Ertugrul,1890", directed by Mitsutoshi Tanaka on March 25.

The full-length films gala was dedicated to the 125th anniversary of friendship between Turkey and Japan, Trend Life reports.

The event was attended by representatives of art, science, cultural community and diplomats.

Addressing the opening ceremony, Turkeys deputy ambassador to Baku Meral Barlas and Japanese Ambassador to Azerbaijan Tsuguo Takahashi named the film as a symbol of strong friendship and mutual help between the two nations.

The storyline of the films is as following: in 1889 Ottoman navy ship called "Ertugrul" paid a goodwill visit to the Imperial Japan. On the way back "Ertugrul" encountered a typhoon off the coast of Japan, subsequently drifted into a reef and sank.

The accident resulted in the loss of 533 sailors. Only sixty-nine sailors and officers could be rescued thanks to the efforts of the Japanese fishermen, who did not hesitate to risk their own lives.

Later, during the war between Iraq and Iran in 1985, 215 Japanese citizens have been stuck in Tehran. The Japanese government had no time to send a rescue flight to for these Japanese people.

Just before the air strike started, when the Japanese embassy in Tehran had asked the help of Turkish government, Turkish Airlines had been sent to Tehran with a volunteer crew who had highly risked own lives to rescue the Japanese citizens.

The film's main stars are Turkish actor Kenan Ece and Japanese actress Shiori Kutsuna. The producers of the film are Emrah Gamsizoglu, Teiji Ozawa and Oguz Peri.

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4 March 2016 11:19 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Ismayilova

A grand event in the fashion industry of Azerbaijan took place at the Excelsior Hotel and Spa Baku, Trend Life reports.

Hafiz Agayevs Producer Center has presented copyrights on Azerbaijan Fashion Week and Baku Fashion Week brands on March 3, Trend life reports.

The center's lawyer Timur Babayev said the use of logos and trademarks of other companies for commercial or private purposes without the prior written consent of the right holder is strictly forbidden by the Azerbaijani laws.

Baku Fashion Week brand is the only organization holding fashion weeks in Azerbaijan. We are confident that the project will be a great product for collaboration with FMS Models and IDFashion, " said Hafiz Aghayev.

Lubov Gutorova, Head of the modeling agency FMS Models said that such an important event requires the preparation at the international level.

Therefore, Baku Fashion Week, FMS Models and IDFashion Tv channel have joined their efforts for the general promotion of the project.

The primary aim of the union is the promotion of Azerbaijani designers in the global market, development of the fashion industry and provision of support to beginners in fashion industry and cultural exchanges between countries", said Gutorova.

Vasil Klimchuk, producer of the IDFashion spoke about the rapidly growing market of Azerbaijani fashion industry.

"Azerbaijan has a great potential in this sphere. Baku is truly considered the fashion capital of "The Great Silk Road", as it was evidenced by our distinguished guests, foreign designers, professional buyers, who are happy to take part in this project and come to the Azerbaijani market", said Klimchuk after the signing of the agreement on joint activity.

"Baku Fashion Week" will be held twice a year  in May and November.

The dates of the Fashion Project will marked in the official calendar of world Fashion WEEKS.

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4 March 2016 17:07 (UTC+04:00)

By Aynur Karimova

Tbilisi has reached an agreement with Baku on supply of additional blue fuel from Azerbaijan, which is Georgia's main gas supplier with a specific weight of 74.9 percent of total gas imports.

The relevant agreement on supply of additional blue fuel in the amount of 463 million cubic meters was signed on March 4 between Azerbaijan's state energy giant SOCAR and the Georgia government, Mahir Mammadov, the Director General of SOCAR Energy Georgia, told Trend.

Previously, we supplied 800 million cubic meters of gas a year to Georgia from the Shah Deniz, he said. We have managed to increase the supply through that route to 1.5 billion cubic meters, as well as to 1.5 billion cubic meters via a pipeline connecting the two countries in Azerbaijans Gazakh region.

Earlier, SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev said that Azerbaijan will additionally supply 500 million cubic meters of gas a year to Georgia.

In accordance with the agreement, Georgia will receive additional gas volumes from Azerbaijan.

SOCAR expressed readiness to reduce the price of commercial gas for the Georgian gas filling stations by $35-$40 per 1,000 cubic meters. Compared with 2012, gas consumption in Georgia increased by 40 percent, which made it necessary to purchase additional volumes, Georgia Online reported quoting the countrys Energy Ministry.

Azerbaijan supplies gas to Georgia via the Hajigabul-Gardabani pipeline with a gas pumping capacity of 6.5 million cubic meters per day.

The second way carrying gas to Georgian consumers is the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum (South Caucasus) Pipeline, through which the gas from the first stage of the Shah Deniz field is supplied to Georgia and a large proportion goes through its territory to Turkey.

Russia also supplies gas to Georgia. Russian gas deliveries to Georgia are carried out only in the form of payment for its transit to Armenia, for which the country receives 10 percent of total shipments. Gazprom supplied 300 million cubic meters of gas to Georgia in 2014.

Daily gas consumption in Georgia exceeds 11 million cubic meters per day and about 2.5 billion cubic meters per year. Last year, the country imported 1.51 million tons of oil equivalent of natural gas in the amount of $314.3 million from Azerbaijan.

On an annualized basis, the volumes of Georgian natural gas imports from Azerbaijan in terms of value increased by 9.4 percent, in quantitative terms by 127,170 tons of oil equivalent, or by 9.2 percent.

No need for Iranian gas

Georgia, with its huge transit potential for delivering hydrocarbon resources of the Caspian basin, has recently expressed intention to transit Iranian blue fuel to Europe.

However, as Georgian Energy Minister Kakha Kaladze said at a press conference with Abdullayev in Tbilisi on March 4, after reaching an agreement with SOCAR, the need to obtain natural gas from Iran no longer exists.

He said that Georgia has launched parallel negotiations with Iran on gas purchase due to the technical problems of natural gas supply from Azerbaijan.

"We had a meeting and talked about the possibility to receive Iranian gas. In theory, there is an opportunity for this, but today such a need does not exist. We have formalized an agreement with the country," he added.

Earlier, Kaladze said that the Iranian gas prices are not competitive, so the issue on the purchase of Iranian gas can only be discussed in the future.

In mid-February, Alireza Kameli, the Head of the National Iranian Gas Export Company, said the Islamic Republic is considering a plan to export 200 million cubic meters of gas to Georgia in a course of seven months.



He further said that Tehran and Tbilisi would consider signing a long-term deal, if they find a short-term gas deal economically justified.



--

Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

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4 March 2016 12:34 (UTC+04:00)

By Aynur Karimova

Tourism is undoubtedly one of the industries with the most promising growth prospects in Iran. Being one of the largest countries in the Middle East and one of the top 20 largest economies in the world, Iran is expected to see significant tourism growth following the lifting of sanctions that previously have restricted foreign investment since 2006.

Currently, the Islamic Republic's share in the world tourism stands at 0.24 percent and such a result does not meet the countrys interest.

Today, the country is in focus of American and European tourists, who are planning to beat a path to the long-isolated countrys door to explore whatever is beyond it.

Carlos Aragon Gil de la Serna, a Spanish envoy to Tehran, believes that Iran will become a regional tourism and economic destination.

He made this remark at a ceremony for signing an agreement on tourism between Iran and Spanish hotels chain - Melia Hotels.

Our aim is to expand trade volume in Iran in the coming years, he said adding that the construction of qualified hotels in Iran is an essential requirement for investment in the country's tourism industry.

Hotel Melia Hotels and Iran signed an agreement on the hotels entry into the Iranian market with the Gran Melia Ghoo Hotel.

Melia Hotels International has announced its plan for the construction of the first five-star branded hotel located in a large residential, commercial and hotel complex to be developed in Iran, currently being built in Salman Shahr, a popular holiday destination on the Caspian Sea.

Ana Rubio, the Communication Manager of the Melia Hotels International, told Trend that the hotel is expected to open in June 2017, while the retail mall is already open to public.

The hotel group has future investment plans regarding Iran's tourism industry. Rubio said that following the launch of Gran Melia Ghoo, Melia Hotels International will also look to potentially expand into Tabriz, Mashad, Shiraz and Esfahan cities.

Iran, which eyes attracting international hotel groups to the country, presents several great opportunities for Melia Hotels International to expand, as Tehran and other locations around the Caspian Sea are key tourism destinations that will be of great interest to tourists.

Earlier, Rotana Hotel Management, the Dubai-based hospitality group, voiced plans to open hotels in Iran.

Omer Kaddouri, President and CEO of Rotana that the company has a plan to open one hotel in Irans eastern city of Mashhad and two hotels in the capital city of Tehran by 2018.

Currently, there are about 1,100 hotels throughout Iran, but only 29 of them are listed as five-star and 75 as four-star hotels. This will require the development of additional hotel capacity, estimated at least 150 hotels to cater to the increased demand.

Taking this requirement into account, the country plans to triple the number of hotels.

Statistics show that Iran has earned at least $6.1 billion from tourism during the past year and Tehran intends to achieve the development of its tourism industry in a short term.

The Islamic Republic needs to lure 20 million visitors a year to generate $30 billion in revenue. Apparently with its plan to draw the attention of tourists, Tehran is going to compete with regional tourism spots, such as Turkey and UAE.

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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
4 March 2016 18:31 (UTC+04:00)

By Rufiz Hafizoglu

There are serious controversies between Iran and Turkey on the issue of conflict settlement in Syria since the beginning of its escalation nearly five years ago.



Iran actively supports the Syrian government, while Turkey condemns Syrian President Bashar Assads regime due to bloodshed in the country. But it is a paradox that all these controversies have almost no influence on the economic and energy partnership between Tehran and Ankara.



It is quite remarkable that the relations between the two countries started to improve considerably after 2002 when Turkeys Justice and Development Party (AKP), led by then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is now the country's president, came to power.



Turkeys late former Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan is considered as the initiator of the Iranian-Turkish friendly relations in the political circles of Tehran and Ankara.



Against the background of existing political controversies, mainly due to Syria and the potential of economic partnership, today Turkeys Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is going to leave for Tehran.



Davutoglu will discuss the main energy issue for Turkey as for now  transit of the Iranian gas via Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) to Europe, which is being built, according to the Turkish media.



The Syrian crisis, increasing Turkeys investments in Iran are also among the important issues on the agenda.



Observers suppose that Turkey and Iran wont be able to reach common ground on the settlement of the Syrian crisis, but, as before, they will agree that the "Islamic State" terrorist organization (IS, aka ISIS, ISIL or Daesh) really poses a threat to the whole world.



When coming to energy issues, the two countries positions coincide. From the geographical and economic point of view, Turkeys territory is the most expedient route for supplying Iranian gas to Europe.



Previously, Iran said it shows interest in transporting its gas to Europe via TANAP through Turkey and it is a real chance for Ankara which strives for turning into a regional energy hub.



Moreover, earlier, in an exclusive interview with Trend, Saltuk Duzyol, CEO of TANAP consortium, said he sees no obstacles for transportation of Iranian gas via this pipeline.



It will be possible by constructing adjacent infrastructure and signing relevant agreements, according to the TANAP CEO.



Moreover, freezing of the Turkish Stream project, lobbied by Russia, increases the significance of TANAP project, Duzyol added.



Turkey will receive the first volumes of Azerbaijani gas via TANAP in 2018. The pipelines capacity will be 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year, with the possibility of expanding to 31 billion cubic meters.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
4 March 2016 12:00 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Tourism is a large industry worldwide and a major sector in economy of many countries. Tourism management, accordingly, is an important feature directly impacting the tourist flow into a country.

In light of the recent devaluation of the national currency, the manat, many have put aside travel plans, as all industry sectors, including tourism have seen slow-down.

However, Muzaffar Agakerimov, Advisor to the Chairman of Azerbaijan Tourism Association sees the reason for slow-down in the travel agencies activity in a poorly organized management.

Good tourism management can provide a strong impetus for the attraction of foreign tourists to any country, he believes.

A company, which carries out a correct forecasting and planning, can get out of any unfavorable economic situation. After the devaluation of the manat, outbound tourism has been reduced in Azerbaijan. But with good management, the country could get out of this situation, the specialist said.

One of the main problems in this sphere, according to Agakerimov is that hotels and major travel companies operating in Azerbaijan mainly involve foreign experts in the management, but forget to increase the professionalism of local staff.

Brand hotels have been operating in Azerbaijan since 1995. Although more than 20 years have passed, few local staff is working in the 5-star hotels. Is it normal? In fact, foreign experts had to train local personnel, and then these trained people should be in the management,  he said.

Akakerimov further noted that candidates for management positions in the four- and five-star hotels and major travel companies should be accepted through the competitive review, which will help identify the good experts.

This will promote the development of tourism management, including the entire tourism industry in Azerbaijan, he said.

Currently 284 travel agencies and 535 hotels are operating in the country. The country can accommodate over 35,000 tourists in its 530 hotels, which include a series of luxury hotels, as well as many budget hotels for cost-conscious travelers. Prices for accommodation in the country start from $15 and increase depending on the hotel class and amenities provided.

Commenting on the slow down in tourism, a worker at Detour travel agency said that some travel companies close their offices because of low demand.

Since majority of tickets and hotels are booked in euros and USD, its disadvantageous for the population, who are paid in the manats, to travel abroad, she said.

The specialist claimed that to attract national tourists the travel company carries out several campaigns, but it mostly concerns ticket prices, excluding discounts for food and luggage.

Some countries have already lowered their tariffs. We also look forward to lower prices on the domestic tourism, she emphasized.

Director of the Flame Travel Company Shahmar Asgarov, for his part, said that tourism is developing in high speed in the world and ups and downs is natural on this way.

The main reason for poor development of the national tourism management is that students having graduate in tourism management do not know practice as better as the theory. And today we can clearly see that only 30 percent of workers in this sphere have tourism education, he explained.

Another reason is expensive prices and poor service, Asgarov said, noting that this will be fixed in the course of time.

Asgarov agreed with the fact that the number of outbound tourism sharply declined, but noted that local tourists now interested in domestic tourism. However, sometimes the price of the domestic tourism places is higher than the ones abroad, he added.

Asgarov, voicing hope for further development of local tourism, stressed that elimination of the license for travel agencies will be a good impetus for the strong development of this sector.

--

Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
 

       3.0 (      -       -         ): editor [at] bahrainmirror.com
The city will begin rewriting its municipal code to clearly define modern food trucks, the permits they need and the regulations that apply, a
The latest gasoline tax out of Sacramento, a levy of 5.6 cents per gallon set to take effect Monday, is fueling discussion locally over how to
Baked and cereal exports increased to 2.3bn in 2015, according to new HM Customs & Excise data.

The report, published by UK trade body the Food and Drink Federation (FDF), meant exports in the sector had grown a total of 5.2% year-on-year (yoy), making it one of 2015s big export successes.

While some European countries, such as Spain and Portugal, were responsible for much of the growth, consumers further afield also showed a growing taste for the UKs bakery goods. Exports to Thailand increased almost threefold to 36.5m, and rose by almost 20m in Saudi Arabia and Japan.

Scottish manufacturer Nairns, which supplies oat-based products including oatcakes, crackers and biscuits, said its biggest export customer was the US. This was largely as a result of interest in gluten-free biscuits and crackers, and the company has set up subsidiary Nairns Inc to help develop local expertise and import its products.

Martyn Gray, Nairns marketing director, said: We see great opportunities in the continued development of our export markets.

The key for us is developing long-term partnerships with local importers who have detailed knowledge of their markets. We have set very challenging targets to grow the proportion of exports within our total business.

Testament to Britain

Ben Clarke, chief executive of Burtons Biscuits and co-chair of the UK Food & Drink Export Forum, said: It is testament to Britains 400,000-strong food and drink manufacturing workforce and the strength of Britains reputation abroad, that branded food and drink exports continue to grow year-on-year.

As these figures show, the global appetite for our produce, which enjoys an enviable reputation for quality, safety and innovation, remains high.

Bakery outperformed the overall UK food and drinks export market, which fell by 0.6bn to 12.3bn in 2015. This was due to a drop in oil prices and the strength of the pound against the depreciated euro, according to the FDF. It said this had made UK exports less competitive in key Eurozone markets.
Claudes of Churchtown has closed after 12 years in business.

Owner Eddie James thanked all his customers and said the closure was due to increased competition in the area.

James said: I have loved doing this for the past 12 years, and have loved working with the staff and our customers, and the people of Churchtown have been absolutely fantastic.

It has been a great little place to work and it is a sad day, but unfortunately we just cannot continue and keep going.

When asked about the reason for the closure, James said: Its down to the number of businesses that are opening and selling food. When we first took over [from the previous owner] there were eight different places [selling food], and now there are over 16.

Claude Verite, who founded and ran Claudes for 30 years, died last March, aged 73. Verite moved to Southport from France in 1961 and began working at Mellors Bakery. After a number of years there, he opened Claudes Patisserie and ran the bakery until 2006, when he retired.
Britains Strongest Man, Eddie Hall, has teamed up with Wrights Food Group to launch a beefed-up Strongman Pie in time for British Pie Week.

The 11-inch round Strongman Pie is filled with steak, marinated in rich seasoned gravy and encased in Wrights classic pastry.

Hall, currently in training for The Worlds Strongest Man, said: Im ecstatic to be working alongside Wrights to launch the Strongman Pie, which is perfect for people who need to build their protein intake, like me, or for sharing among family and friends.

This pie is the champion of champions, and a real beast  just like me. Its extra meaty, and sure to be a real hit with the public.

Deadlifted a van

Wrights launched its partnership with the Staffordshire-born strongman last year, when Eddie deadlifted a 2.5 tonne Wrights Pies van in front of a crowd of hundreds.

Peter Wright, chairman and chief executive of Wrights, said: When it came to designing the pie, we had to think big if we were to compete with Eddies enormous appetite.

The Strongman Pie is one of the largest weve ever produced, and weve packed it full of top-quality steak, which we hope will help provide Eddie with that all-important hit of protein as he continues his mission to become the Worlds Strongest Man in 2016.

Eddie, known as The Beast, broke the world record for heaviest deadlift at Europes strongest man in July, when he lifted 463kg. In January he became the UKs Strongest Man for a fifth consecutive year, and also took home the title for Britains Strongest Man.

The Strongman Pie will go on sale across all Wrights stores in Staffordshire during British Pie Week, (7-11 March).

In January of this year, Wrights installed a 1.2m pie production line, which it hopes will double its pie production capacity.
The secrets of successful sourdough baking are set to be revealed in a new book by Emmanuel Hadjiandreou.

How to Make Sourdough will be released on 14 April by Ryland Peters & Small, priced at 19.99, and is Hadjiandreous third book, following How to Make Bread and Making Bread Together.

The book will cover all aspects of making sourdough bread and will offer recipes using on-trend ancient grains such as kamut, spelt and enner. Other chapters will also cover rye and gluten-free baking, with recipes including New York-style Rye Sourdough and Chickpea Potato Focaccia.

The baker and current tutor at The School of Artisan Food was born in South Africa and learned his craft in Germany, which gave him a special knowledge of continental breads.
Puerto Vallarta News Brief and This Weekend's Events



From live music and theater to cultural festivals, sporting events, charitable efforts and special interest group meetings, there's always something fun happening in Puerto Vallarta and around Banderas Bay. Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico - There's always so much going on in Puerto Vallarta and around Banderas Bay, it can be difficult to keep up with it all. Here's a look at some of this week's Puerto Vallarta news, community announcements and weekend events that you won't want to miss. Free Animal Sterilizations by Expert Vets This Sunday

Colina Spay Neuter Clinic is a permanent facility in the Old Town/Romantic Zone of Puerto Vallarta that provides spaying and neutering services for cats and dogs. Every Saturday morning, services are offered free to those who otherwise would be unable to get their pets neutered. According to Colette Zarry, co-founder of the Colina Spay and Neuter Clinic and owner of Langostinos, these clinics fill up very quickly, so on Sunday, March 5th there will be a huge extra clinic offering free sterilizations by expert vets on the Isla Cuale by the Cultural Center. Bring your pets and/or strays in your neighborhood by 7 or 7:30 am to ensure a space. Please tell your neighbors and friends about this fantastic opportunity! They are also looking for volunteers, so please send a Colina Spay Neuter Clinic is a permanent facility in the Old Town/Romantic Zone of Puerto Vallarta that provides spaying and neutering services for cats and dogs. Every Saturday morning, services are offered free to those who otherwise would be unable to get their pets neutered. According to Colette Zarry, co-founder of the Colina Spay and Neuter Clinic and owner of Langostinos, these clinics fill up very quickly, so on Sunday, March 5th there will be a huge extra clinic offering free sterilizations by expert vets on the Isla Cuale by the Cultural Center. Bring your pets and/or strays in your neighborhood by 7 or 7:30 am to ensure a space. Please tell your neighbors and friends about this fantastic opportunity! They are also looking for volunteers, so please send a message to Colette via Facebook if you can spare a few hours on Sunday to help the animals. Boutique Theatre Fundraiser Stars SYNG! and Alas Escuela

On Wednesday, March 9th, Vallarta's popular mixed voice show choir, SYNG! will present "Higher Ground, a Spring Bouquet of Music and Dance," with special performances by the students of Alas Escuela de Canto at PV's Boutique Theatre. Uplifting and entertaining, the Boutique Theatre fundraiser offers a melodious mix of gospel and Broadway instrumental arrangements for the full choir, ensembles and duets featuring Vallarta favorites, Todd and Gaye Ringness. Proceeds will benefit renovation projects for Vallarta's community dinner theatre, The Boutique Theatre, in its new location above On Wednesday, March 9th, Vallarta's popular mixed voice show choir, SYNG! will present "Higher Ground, a Spring Bouquet of Music and Dance," with special performances by the students of Alas Escuela de Canto at PV's Boutique Theatre. Uplifting and entertaining, the Boutique Theatre fundraiser offers a melodious mix of gospel and Broadway instrumental arrangements for the full choir, ensembles and duets featuring Vallarta favorites, Todd and Gaye Ringness. Proceeds will benefit renovation projects for Vallarta's community dinner theatre, The Boutique Theatre, in its new location above Nacho Daddy on Basilio Badillo. Dinner/Show 5 pm, $450 pesos. Show only 6 pm, $200 pesos. Tickets are available at Nacho Daddy or VallartaTickets.com. For more information, contact Virginia Fox at v(at)vcfox.net. Curvas Peligrosas Has New Name, New Location

Robina Oliver, the owner of Robina Oliver, the owner of Curvas Peligrosas, which has long been known and trusted as an excellent place to find quality swimwear in Puerto Vallarta, has had some big changes in both her life and the life of the store, and she would like her customers to be aware of them. There has been a shift in location to the space next door to the existing shop, and a brand new name: "La Sirena Reina." There has been a dissolution of both the business partnership and marriage of the owners, and due to legal copyright issues she is no longer able to keep using the original name and branding of the store as she continues to run the business on her own. Robina has shared that she intends to continue to operate regardless of these new circumstances, and hopes to continue to run this business for a very long time. The new location is right next door to the old one in a temporary space and has a brand new sign and logo. She says that she looks forward to continuing to provide customers with the same excellent service and selection as before this change. As of now the banking is still being set up so it is cash only until that gets resolved. Open Monday to Friday from 10 am to 5 pm, and on Saturday from 11 to 3, La Sirena Reina is located at Juarez 174B in downtown Puerto Vallarta. Whether you are living in Vallarta or just visiting, you'll find the swimsuit that's right for you at La Sirena Reina. Free Puerto Vallarta Health and Wellness Event

On Sunday, March 13, the first edition of Health and Wellness Puerto Vallarta will be held at Lazaro Cardenas Park in the Zona Romantica from 9 am to 3 pm. Brought to you by the Puerto Vallarta Tourism Board, Puerto Vallartas Culture Institute, the Emiliano Zapata Neighborhood Association and Stratos Media Agency, this free event promotes healthy lifestyle alternatives, including better eating practices, along with spiritual practices such as yoga and meditation. The day's events kick off at 9:00 am with a yoga class by the Yoga Collective. Other activities will take place throughout the day, including a "Replacing meat with vegetable proteins" workshop led by Veggie Table and "Quick-Cooking Vegetarian Food," by 8 Bottega Organic. Playa Detox will offer an "Eat to Heal" presentation and "Quick-cooking vegetarian food" will be presented by Wellness Latina. If all that talk about food makes you hungry, you're in luck! Local restaurants, including Veggie Table, Playa Detox, Rancho El Limon and Lamara, will have stands offering vegan and vegetarian cuisine at reasonable prices. Admission is free. On Sunday, March 13, the first edition of Health and Wellness Puerto Vallarta will be held at Lazaro Cardenas Park in the Zona Romantica from 9 am to 3 pm. Brought to you by the Puerto Vallarta Tourism Board, Puerto Vallartas Culture Institute, the Emiliano Zapata Neighborhood Association and Stratos Media Agency, this free event promotes healthy lifestyle alternatives, including better eating practices, along with spiritual practices such as yoga and meditation. The day's events kick off at 9:00 am with a yoga class by the Yoga Collective. Other activities will take place throughout the day, including a "Replacing meat with vegetable proteins" workshop led by Veggie Table and "Quick-Cooking Vegetarian Food," by 8 Bottega Organic. Playa Detox will offer an "Eat to Heal" presentation and "Quick-cooking vegetarian food" will be presented by Wellness Latina. If all that talk about food makes you hungry, you're in luck! Local restaurants, including Veggie Table, Playa Detox, Rancho El Limon and Lamara, will have stands offering vegan and vegetarian cuisine at reasonable prices. Admission is free.

Weekend Events in Puerto Vallarta and Around Banderas Bay

Click on titles for more information  South Side Shuffle Offers Fun and Friendly Shopping  2016 Becas Vallarta Ball to be held March 4th at Club Regina  Fifth Annual Riverfest to Benefit Pasitos de Luz  March 6 Pool Party at Hotel Mercurio to Support SETAC


NatGeo Adds Tequila to GeoTourism MapGuide Platform

Tequila, Mexico - National Geographic has extended its Geotourism MapGuide platform to Mexico with the launch of an interactive online guide for the town of Tequila, Jalisco.

The US$120,000 project required eight months of development and was supported by the Tequila Development Council, the Jose Cuervo Foundation and city, state and national government tourism programs. The end result, TequilaTourism.com, officially launched Tuesday with a presentation by all major stakeholders, including National Geographic representatives; Jose Cuervo CEO, Roberto Delgado; and Mexico Secretary of Tourism, Enrique de la Madrid Cordero.

The Tequila MapGuide is only the 18th to be launched worldwide, and the first in Mexico. The guides spotlight lesser-known destinations with unique cultural offerings, explained Jim Dion, sustainable tourism program manager for National Geographic's Maps Division.





The Geotourism program, Dion added, was launched to inspire people around the world to preserve their cultures and natural surroundings. "And the most important part for me," said Dion, "is the welfare of the local residents. We work to get the opinions of local residents and to involve small business owners."

The guides include interactive maps, local insight and responsive websites; business owners featured in the guides can tout their participation and by extension, the NatGeo seal of approval, via certificates and window stickers in their places of business. The Tequila guide includes 137 points of interest in the form of lodging, food, activities and various small businesses.

For individual travelers or planners seeking authentic experiences, the guides provide a wealth of local insight and recommendations. "The number-one desire of 'Geotravelers' is to share face-to-face experiences with the people who live there," said Dion. All of the MapGuide sites allow planners to save activity and venue ideas and to share them with others in their groups via email or social-media channels.

For the destination, the MapGuides and the National Geographic brand name could help them reach a previously untapped source of international travelers. "We're looking for an exponential increase in tourists," said Jalisco State Secretary of Tourism, Enrique Ramos Flores. "In three years, we could see a 20 percent increase."

Cuervo Group chairman Juan Beckman Vidal said the project was a first step in expanding the tourism appeal of Tequila, likely putting the town on a multi-stop itinerary that would include the better-known destinations of Puerto Vallarta, Guadalajara and San Miguel de Allende. Tourism officials at the presentation touted the ease with which the MapGuide model could be reproduced and applied to other small Mexican destinations with unique offerings. "It's not just about promotion of our product," said National Geographic's Dion. "It's about giving local destinations the tools they need to showcase what they have."

More information about the Geotourism program and Map Guides can be found HERE.
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A big robotics competition is coming up, and the first library team is gearing up in Pasco County to take part.

Edgar Allan Ohms is the first high school robotics team in the country to be hosted by a library. The team was given six weeks to make a robot ahead of the regional FIRST Robotics Competition in Orlando, which will be held March 11-12.

I've logged near 150 hours this season," said student Logan Boudredau.

Its hard work, especially when youre the new guy to the scene, in new digs not typically used for robotics before now.

I've always loved robotics and the library, but I never thought of mixing the two together," student Miller Bacon said. "Like this is my dream right now."

Students from all over the county are welcome to join the team, which works out of the Land O' Lakes Library. Matthew Pease is home schooled, and he says the experience has been life changing.

Before I joined the team I wanted to design and write stories for video games and now after having joined the team, I want to start my own engineering firm," he said.

The team has brought 18 students together as they continue to tinker with how to be big contenders in upcoming competitions.

No one else is doing this in the nation so we're breaking new ground and we have to figure out the ruling and go through all the hoops to make this work," said volunteer with AmeriCorps VISTA serving as the teams mentor, Joel Croteau.

The team doesnt have thousands of dollars to work with. The team raises money for everything. They made their most recent robot with only $1,000.

We have our team name, our little chant we came up with our first year and we have a robot," said Bacon.

This team also has a lot of faith.
A small dog caused its owner to crash her vehicle into a New Port Richey pet grooming business, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

The incident happened around 8:46 a.m. Thursday at the Pet Starr Salon located at 2345 Seven Springs Boulevard.

According to FHP, Julia Everett, 69, made a left turn and entered the parking lot of the business. She told troopers her small shih tzu became excited and jumped into the foot well of her Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Everett attempted to grab the dog, but as the dog jumped around, she pressed the gas pedal and lost control of the vehicle.

The front wheels of the Jeep hit a curb before traveling into the front of the Pet Starr Salon.

The Jeep traveled into the building, causing damage to the brick wall, metal framing and the counter.

Everett was not injured. No other injuries were reported.
The Tampa City Council has unanimously endorsed Hillary Clinton.

The Clinton campaign made the announcement about the endorsements from every member of the council Friday morning.

Hillary is the candidate who can do all parts of the job of presidentraising incomes for the middle class and keeping our communities safe as Commander-in-Chief, said Tampa City Council Chairman Frank Reddick. "She has a lifetime of experience fighting to break down the barriers that hold too many people back. Tampa families know she's the one who'll fight for themand that's why every member of the City Councile has decided to endorse her campaign for president."



Council members who endorsed Clinton include:

Council Member Mike Suarez (District 1, At-Large)

Council Member Charlie Miranda (District 2 At-Large)

Council Member Yvonne Yolie Capin (District 3 At-Large)

Council Member Harry Cohen (District 4)

Chairman and Council Member Frank Reddick (District 5)

Council Member Guido Maniscalco (District 6)

Council Member Lisa Montelione (District 7)

Floridas Democratic presidential primary will be held on March 15.
The cameras that followed Nicole Schroeder around for a week captured the emotional toll of working with young, first-time mothers struggling to make it on their own.

Schroeder, a nurse in the Port Arthur Health Department's Nurse-Family Partnership program, is featured in a short video segment released this week called "Lone Star Nurse." The short documentary is part of a new video series by The New Yorker.

Schroeder, 38, is one of four nurses in the Port Arthur program, which serves 105 low-income, first-time mothers by teaching them health and developmental skills.

The documentary, which is about 13 minutes, opens with Schroeder in her Beaumont home getting ready for the day with her two teenaged children.

Her daughter helps Schroeder put on her make-up. Her son goes over his responsibility for dinner - turning on the slow cooker.

Schroeder's morning spent mothering is predictive of the day before her - teaching young moms how to do the same.

Schroeder currently has 26 clients.

The Nurse-Family Partnership program is a national service set up in 43 states.

The Port Arthur programs serves about 100 families, but nurses often take on extra cases throughout Jefferson, Hardin, Orange and Chambers counties.

Pregnant women are eligible for the program up until their 28th week of pregnancy and have to qualify for Medicaid or Nutrition Services for Women, Infants and Children.

After more than two years with clients and their babies, the relationship is supposed to stop by the baby's second birthday.

Karla Quigley, the program's supervisor, said parameters are established on the first visit - the nurses won't give clients rides or go to their baby showers. Those rules don't stop them from getting attached.

In perhaps the most emotional moment in the documentary, Shroeder sat on a couch across from a young woman and told her it was OK for her baby to see her cry.

The conversation ended with Schroeder hugging the tearful woman and telling her how far she's come.

The woman seen with Schroeder is Monique Washington, a 21-year-old mother whose parents died before her 18th birthday.

Washington's 1-year-old son, Kyrian, will turn 2 in September, so her visits with Schroeder are becoming less frequent.

When they first met, Schroeder said Washington seemed scared and unwilling to say when she needed help.

Schroeder said she was surprised when she learned that Washington, at eight months pregnant, was walking two miles to work and then walking home in the dark.

Washington lost her job when Kyrian was born because she couldn't find affordable childcare.

In the documentary, Schroeder talked to Washington about setting a goal of putting in five job applications a day.

Since the filming of the documentary, Washington got a job at Great American Cookies inside Parkdale Mall.

"I know I didn't put any of the job applications in, but when Monique called about her job, I felt like we won," Schroeder said.

Schroeder worked as an ER nurse for two years and felt a desire to become closer to her patients.

She said she went through a teen pregnancy without the support of her parents, so when she saw the advertisement for a job at Nurse-Family Partnership it felt right.

"I thought, 'I'm going to get this job. That's my job,'" she said.

The time spent with clients is what attracts nurses to this position, Quigley said.

Quigley sees five clients in addition to her role as supervisor, though it's not part of her job description.

The waiting list is long and the need in Southeast Texas is high, she said.

Quigley is hoping to expand the program to serve at least 300 families.

MHeath@BeaumontEnterprise.com

Twitter.com/mheath31
It was Valentine's Day last year when Ian Christian Anderson traveled from Maryland to Lumberton, rented a room at the Days Inn Hotel and violated federal child exploitation laws.

The Baltimore man, who admitted to turning an online relationship with a Hardin County teenager into at least two sexual encounters, was sentenced Thursday to more than 11 years in prison.

Anderson, 36, pleaded guilty last September to enticement of a minor after prosecutors said he spent about a month chatting with a 14-year-old girl from Lumberton online before traveling to Southeast Texas and sexually assaulting her.

The online relationship started in January 2015, according to prosecutors. In February and March of the same year, Anderson had sex with the teen.

Prosecutors said Anderson also used a cellphone to send sexually explicit text messages to the victim and encouraged her to do the same.

Anderson spent about three days meeting the girl near her home to have sex - either at the Days Inn or in a rental car - before returning to Maryland, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Police said Anderson returned to Lumberton on March 17 and spent another several days having sex with the teenager.

Less than a week later, the teen's mother found explicit text messages in her daughter's phone.

When confronted, the girl admitted to her mother that she had sex with Anderson and gave her cellphone to a Lumberton PD sergeant.

Anderson met the teenager on an anonymous online chatroom, and they exchanged contact information for a smartphone messenger application.

The girl told police that Anderson was a dancer from Baltimore who also worked with computers. She believed at the time that he was 25 years old, according to the affidavit.

On both trips, Anderson gave the victim a "morning after pill" after unprotected intercourse, the affidavit stated.

He also provided her with pregnancy tests, according to the affidavit.

When she expressed concern to Anderson about getting pregnant, he reminded the girl of her previously stated personal opposition to abortion and advised her to give up the baby for adoption.

The affidavit documented a series of text messages with the teen, in which Anderson wrote that her raising a baby was not "a really good idea considering you're going to be in high school."

In one text, Anderson told her that the pill was just throwing off her menstrual cycle.

John M. Bales, U.S. Attorney of the Eastern District, said the girl did not become pregnant.

A federal grand jury indicted Anderson last May.

On Thursday, he was sentenced in the U.S. Eastern District of Texas to 135 months in federal prison.

BScott@BeaumontEnterprise.comTwitter.com/BrandonKScott
Arizona hospitals have reported fewer hospital-acquired infections, based on a CDC report, according to KTAR News.

Here are five observations:

1. The state has experienced a 47 percent decrease in bloodstream infections following IV catheter placement in large veins.

2. Arizona closely aligned with the national average decline of 50 percent of similar infections.

3. In contrast, Arizona still stands to improve its catheter-associated urinary tract infections, which have only decreased 1 percent.

4. Similarly, methicillin-resistant staph aureus bloodstream infections have only decreased by 1 percent in the state.

5. The report suggests medical providers heed hygienic practices, like excellent hand-washing, to prevent infections.
Bowling Green, Ky.-based TriStar Greenview Regional Hospital is building a new surgery center in Warren County, Ky., according to Bowling Green Daily News.

Here are five points:

1. The Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services approved the application for the new 13,000-square-foot surgery center.

2. Southern Kentucky Surgicenter will cost $9,109,500.

3. The hospital's outpatient surgery rate increased 38 percent between 2013 and 2015, so this new surgery center will help with the demand.

4. The center plans to see 2,774 patients in its first year, increasing to 4,624 patients in its second year.

5. Construction on the new surgery center will begin in 2016.
Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, N.Y., has plans to build a $230 million Ambulatory Care Pavilion, according to a report in The Journal News.

Here are four key notes:

1. The 280,000-square-foot facility will include 185,000 square feet of ambulatory care space, including an ambulatory surgery center, advanced imaging center and a heart and vascular institute.

2. It will also include 20,000 square feet of space for additional private rooms for the medical center and 75,000 square feet for doctors' offices.

3. The eight-story medical pavilion is expected to create 180 new full-time jobs when opened.

4. Westchester Medical Center plans to begin construction on the pavilion in the spring, and it is expected to be completed in 2018.
As healthcare changes, the industry is demanding more physician leaders.

Physician's Money Digest identified six pertinent skills a physician leader needs to be successful.

Here are six essential skills a physician leader needs:

 Teamwork

 Emotional intelligence

 Interdisciplinary collaboration

 Effective communication

 Adaptability

 Can identify and grasp the metrics for physician impact and output

In addition to these skills, many experts argue a physician leader must be able to strategically manage its organizations' roles, and the leader has to take on different roles to ensure the organization's success.

To produce successful physician leaders, some healthcare experts say the industry needs to conduct more research on collaborative leadership, which entails leaders who facilitate trust, forgo passive aggressive behavior, exercise transparency, utilize resources properly and effectively manage relationships between decision rights, accountability and rewards.



More healthcare news:

PAs trend away from primary care positions  5 observations

AmSurg to present opportunities for orthopedic surgeons at AAOS meeting 3 notes

5 key thoughts on outpatient joint replacements in Pennsylvania








Earlier this week, Chicago-based Huron Consulting Group, a provider of business consulting services, and Strata Decision Technology, a provider of cloud-based financial analytics and performance tools for healthcare, unveiled a unique software and service solution to drive ongoing value and performance in healthcare.

The solution is designed to assist healthcare providers with the transition from fee-for-service to value-based care and address the underlying challenges of accurately managing revenue, cost and margin, both parties said.

Dan Michelson, CEO of Strata Decision Technology, and Gordon Mountford, executive vice president of Huron Healthcare, recently spoke with Becker's Hospital Review about their new solution.

Question: How did this solution come about?

Dan Michelson/Gordon Mountford: The incredibly uncomfortable conversation taking place in the board room of most healthcare delivery systems is about how exposed they are from a business perspective relative to moving to a value-based reimbursement model. And they should be uncomfortable. Anytime the business model for a multi-billion [dollar] organization is being turned upside downthere is a lot of risk.

The core issue is most health systems don't have either the toolsets, skillsets or change enablement capabilities required to compete in this new world. One example is the need for a very clear and accurate understanding of true cost (not charges) and margins as they enter into risk-based and capitated contracts.

But it's not only information on cost that is missing, it's the lack of experience, expertise and resources required to drive out waste and reduce variation on an ongoing, every day basis. For all of the sophistication they have had in place for managing the top-line via revenue cycle management, they have Excel and Powerpoint for managing value and performance. Clearly as we move towards risk-based and capitated models that has to change.

We saw that gap in the market and recognized that while most providers have the mindsetto transition to value-based care, Strata and Huron help our clients execute on their strategies with a technology-enabled solution aimed at achieving measurable results. Up to this point, there hasn't been a single offering to help healthcare providers drive out and manage costs and margins now while preparing for value-based care in the future. In the same way that RCM has been a core competency for health systems in the past, a new competency around delivering performance and driving value was needed  what we refer to as value performance management.

Q: What makes this solution unique?

DM/GM: We are not aware of any such solution on the market right now. We have observed that many healthcare organizations either struggle with how to use the tools they have and/or lack the change management or performance improvement skills necessary to drive true transformation in their business. Our approach will help ensure healthcare providers have both the technology, methodology and resources to put their vision on value into motion. The scale of this is significant as we are combining Strata's cloud-based technology platform, which is rated No. 1 in KLAS and used by over 1,000 hospitals and 185 healthcare delivery systems, with the proven expertise and experience of Huron's 1,000 plus consultants in driving performance inside healthcare organizations every day, to develop data-driven solutions across the continuum of care.

Collectively we will providethe toolset to understand cost and margins via cost accounting and automate cost management as well as the capabilities, in resources, methods and expertise, to help healthcare providers identify and implement opportunities to reduce cost, drive margin and improve clinical performance on an ongoing, multi-year basis. This combined software and service solution from two of healthcare's most experienced and trusted companies was created to help define a market which has been created around driving ongoing value and performance in healthcare.

Q: What does this solution mean for healthcare providers?

DM/GM: We have some customers with 500 people on their revenue cycle team and five people on their performance improvement team. One way to think about what we are doing is bringing that same level of focus, effort and sophistication of managing revenue the top-line (RCM) to managing value and the bottom line (VPM).

In a very practical sense, the clients we work with will have a very clear and accurate understanding of true cost and margins as they enter into risk-based and capitated contracts. They will be able to continuously identify opportunities to drive margins by reducing waste and unnecessary variations in care and we will help them drive out that cost and reduce that variation. They will understand the financial impact of harm and poor quality and we will help improve clinical performance by reducing hospital-acquired conditions, patient safety indicators and readmissions.

Once again, to clarify, it is not just the software, it is also the service to ensure clinical and financial performance improves. Each of these elements is a building block that needs to be put in place in order for a health system to deliver ongoing value.

More articles on finance and revenue cycle management:

New Mexico takes aim at surprise medical bills

Auditor to Whidbey General: Improve payroll oversight

Fitch revises Mississippi Baptist Health System's outlook to negative
A federal report found scheduling errors, excessive wait times and false reporting schemes at VA Medical Center in Wilmington, Del., jeopardized patients' health, according to Delaware Online.



In 2014 the Veterans Affairs Office of the Inspector General launched a series of investigations into VA facilities in response to claims of excessive wait times for veterans seeking medical treatment.



The VA OIG has conducted more than 70 investigations into VA hospitals and clinics across the country, which are expected to be released within the next few months, reports USA Today.



The Inspector General's office withheld publishing the investigation's findings until this week, claiming the report could disrupt potential disciplinary actions, according to Delaware Online.



In the report released Tuesday, the VA OIG interviewed 35 employees from VA Medical Center and its affiliated outpatient clinics who were involved in patient scheduling.



Below are four findings from the OIG's investigation in Delaware.



1. Employees reported some clinics misrepresented patients' desired appointment times to make the clinic appear to have zero-day wait times.



2. Staff members "negotiated" with patients to choose different appointment times than the time slots they requested.



3. A lack of physician staff members at a clinic in Dover caused the patient wait list to extend beyond 3,000 names.



4. Employees at the Dover outpatient clinic and VA hospital in Wilmington maintained paper scheduling lists with appointment times and patient requests not that were not tracked on the VA's electronic scheduling system. This would skew electronic data to look different than the clinic's actual scheduling situation.



More articles on revenue cycle management:

65% of RAC denials overturned in favor of provider

Florida Hospital expands involvement with RCM provider

Survey shows half of orthopedic programs unprepared for CCJR
Winnsboro, La.-based Franklin Medical Center's board of commissioners agreed Thursday to terminate the hospital's 501(c)(3) charitable status, according to The Franklin Sun.

Internal Revenue Code Sec. 501(r) was created with the passage of the Affordable Care Act and sets forth requirements nonprofit hospitals must meet to maintain federal tax-exemption under IRC Sec. 501(c)(3).

With the board's move, the hospital will no longer have to meet charitable organization requirements such as conducting a community needs assessment every three years. It will also avoid penalties associated with failing to meet those requirements.

Franklin Medical Center Administrator Blake Kramer said ending the hospital's 501(c)(3) status will have little impact on the hospital's operations. The hospital is already tax exempt because it is considered a government entity under the Franklin Parish Policy Jury, according to the report.

"We may miss out on some grants, but the only big change is not having to worry about the IRS coming and saying 'you owe us a bunch of taxes,'" said Mr. Kramer.

At Thursday's meeting, Franklin Medical Center CFO Billy Page said "accounts receivable is big," which indicates the hospital is struggling with collections. Without 501(c)(3) status, the hospital will be able to more aggressively pursue collections because it will no longer have to wait 120 days to pursue claims for nonpayment as is required to maintain charitable status under the Internal Revenue Code.

More articles on healthare finance:

California hospital to close after restructuring plan fails

South Dakota hospital to lose Medicare funding

Mayo operating income dips 36.9% as expenses rise
Randall K. Segler, CEO of Comanche County Memorial Hospital in Lawton, Okla., has retired, according to a KSWO report.

Here are four things to know about Mr. Segler.

1. He is retiring after more than 20 years at CCMH.

2. He was promoted to CEO in 1997, after serving five years as COO.

3. Some of Mr. Segler's most notable accomplishments while at CCMH include playing a lead role in the creation of the Cancer Centers of Southwest Oklahoma and completion of the new McMahon Tomlinson Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Lawton, Okla., which opened in late 2014, according to KSWO.

4. Mr. Segler will be succeeded by Brent Smith, who has served as administrator at CCMH.

More articles on executive moves:

Adventist Health picks new regional CFO for Southern California: 3 things to know

IU Health Goshen names new COO: 4 things to know

Norman Regional CEO to step down: 5 things to know
For many people, peak productivity levels are the result of constant work and deadline-induced adrenaline, but are promptly followed by exhaustion and depletion. This cycle is not conducive to long-term success. How can you make productivity habitual and consistent?

Dorie Clark, a marketing strategist, professional speaker and adjunct professor of business administration at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, outlined three tips to cultivate sustainable productivity habits in the Harvard Business Review.

1. Recognize productivity means optimizing every facet of your life, not just work. "A well-designed personal life supports your efforts at work, and being strategic about when and how you work is what lets you have a rich personal life," Ms. Clark wrote. "So figure out ways for them to complement each other."

She suggests adhering to the "four-way win," a concept by Stewart Friedman, PhD, a practice professor of management at Philadelphia-based University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, in which you consider how one activity can have a positive effect in multiple areas  personal life, professional life, community relations and health. For instance, instead of eating a sandwich alone at your desk, Ms. Clark recommends eating a healthy lunch with a co-worker you enjoy, simultaneously benefiting your health and social life.

2. Distribute your energy output carefully. Energy management is a critical element of productivity. In this practice, taking breaks, renewing energy and getting enough sleep have a strong influence on productivity. In addition, Ms. Clark suggests keeping a list of tasks that must be accomplished but don't require as much mental energy.

"As the day progresses, my ability to be creative diminishes but I can still extend my productive workday by at least an hour or two if I confine my brain-dead time to low-stakes but necessary tasks like reading books for research or catching up on email discussion groups," she wrote. If you know you have the must energy and clearest thinking in the morning, for example, focus your attention on your most important tasks then, while saving the "low-stakes" items for the afternoon.

3. Create "micro-goals" to maximize short bursts of time. While most of us could knock out some serious work if we were afforded a three or four hour uninterrupted stretch, for most people, that is not the case. With calendars chock-full of meetings, phone calls and presentations, many professionals are forced to complete their work in half hour or hour long windows. However, you can tailor your goals to fit these small periods of time. Ms. Clark says she examines the next day's calendar every night, identifies the gaps in her schedule and creates a list of what she can accomplish during them.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump unveiled a healthcare reform plan Wednesday to "Make America Great Again," this time with more details to quell criticisms that his ideas are too vague.

Of course, Mr. Trump's plan starts with a repeal of the Affordable Care Act. "We will work with Congress to make sure we have a series of reforms ready for implementation that follow free market principles and that will restore economic freedom and certainty to everyone in this country," his campaign website reads.

He breaks down his plan into the following seven reforms that Congress must act on.

1. Repeal the ACA. Mr. Trump wants to eliminate the mandate that requires all individuals above a certain economic threshold to have health coverage.

2. Allow the sale of health insurance across state lines. "By allowing full competition in this market, insurance costs will go down and consumer satisfaction will go up," his proposal says.

3. Make health insurance premium payments fully deductible on tax returns. Mr. Trump says he believes individuals should be allowed to take these deductions because businesses can. "As we allow the free market to provide insurance coverage opportunities to companies and individuals, we must also make sure that no one slips through the cracks simply because they cannot afford insurance," his proposal reads.

4. Establish individual health savings accounts. Mr. Trump wants to make contributions to HSAs tax-free and part of an individual's estate so that they could pass on the assets to heirs or be used by any family member without penalty. This policy is similar to what candidate Ben Carson, MD, who recently dropped out of the race, had proposed.

5. Require price transparency from providers. Mr. Trump believes individuals should be able to shop around for the best healthcare prices. He does not provide more detail on how he would achieve this.

6. Restructure Medicaid to convert it to a block grant run by the states. Mr. Trump wants to give states the power to manage Medicaid, including fraud, waste and abuse protections.

7. Remove barriers to entry for international pharmaceutical companies, provided they offer safe, reliable and cheaper products. "Allowing consumers access to imported, safe and dependable drugs from overseas will bring more options to consumers," his plan reads. Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton has proposed similar ideas.

He adds additional goals at the end of his plan that include stricter immigration laws to help cut costs of providing care to undocumented immigrants, job creation to reduce those on Medicaid and better mental health programs.

Critics have called his plan just another Republican healthcare plan, save for his ideas about prescription drugs, which are typically supported by Democrats.

"The fact that his healthcare 'plan' is clearly cribbed from worn-out and false GOP talking points proves that Trump is just another Republican politician who wants to take healthcare away from millions of Americans without offering any substantive alternative," Democratic National Committee Communications Director Luis Miranda said in a statement, according to Reuters.

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University of Louisville (Ky.) Hospital ended a contract Tuesday that says it will provide post-abortion care to patients from Planned Parenthood, according to WDRB.

Planned Parenthood's lawyer Thomas Clay says the hospital did not end the agreement of its own accord. He claims it was pressured to end the agreement by the source of their funding, alluding to state government. However, he would not specifically name who was pressuring U of L, according to the report.

"It's kind of troubling that this agreement, which was entered into back in January, has now been canceled because of pressure that the hospital was receiving about funding from whoever provides that funding for them," Mr. Clay told WDRB.

Kentucky One Health, U of L Hospital's parent company, said in a statement that it would remain committed to providing emergency care to patients from any source, including Planned Parenthood, and it does not need a contract to do that.

Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin's (R) office provided WDRB with a statement that claimed Planned Parenthood was making accusations to distract from the fact it allegedly performed 23 abortions in December and January without a license. The state requires Planned Parenthood to have a transfer agreement with a hospital to have an abortion license, according to the report.

Mr. Clay told WDRB the Planned Parenthood clinic that had the contract with U of L is not offering abortions at this time, and is exploring legal options including a lawsuit.

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Three of Denver Health Medical Center's five neurosurgeons have resigned and will be gone by the end of March, CEO Arthur Gonzalez, DrPH, confirmed Wednesday, according to the Denver Post.

"We have five neurosurgeons," said Mr. Gonzalez, according to the report. "We had one who resigned two weeks ago. We had two who resigned [Tuesday]." He added the neurosurgeons' departure will not impact patient care, and in the meantime, the hospital is "reaching out to other organizations" with neurosurgeons "while we look for more long-term solutions."

A hospital spokeswoman said the remaining two neurosurgeons "have not notified the hospital of any intention to leave."

Mr. Gonzalez said the three departing neurosurgeons gave advanced notice of their resignation, and the two who quit on Tuesday plan to stay at the hospital until April 1. Although he could not comment on the physicians' reasons for resigning, Mr. Gonzalez said they involved concerns "as a result of some of the changes that have to be done" in a new healthcare environment. "Healthcare's going through a tough time," he said, according to the report.

In January, the Denver Post reported that Denver Health had lost other top physicians, including its CMO and chief of surgery.
From two physicians being charged for their involvement in a $13.4 million fraud scheme to the U.S. Supreme Court hearing a case that could have ramifications on abortion laws, here are the latest healthcare industry lawsuits making headlines.

1. Did Blue Cross cause Alabama hospitals to close? A federal judge wants to know

A group of healthcare providers filed a federal lawsuit last year, claiming Blue Cross and Blue Shield insurers are engaging in cartel-like behavior by divvying up markets to avoid competing against one another. BCBS of Alabama is included in the multidistrict litigation, and a federal judge recently made some demands on the healthcare providers for the case to proceed.

2. Abortion case goes to Supreme Court: 5 things to know

The U.S. Supreme Court heard Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt, a case that could have serious ramifications on abortion laws around the country.

3. 2 physicians charged for roles in $13.4M fraud scheme

Two Dallas-area physicians were among six people charged for their alleged participation in a $13.4 million healthcare fraud scheme.

4. Appeals court upholds hospital face mask requirement for unvaccinated healthcare workers

A New York appeals court decided the state was "comfortably" within its right to require healthcare workers who refused to be vaccinated against the flu to wear face masks when working with patients.

5. Supreme Court ruling to quash claims database initiatives in 18 states

The Supreme Court ruled that self-insured health plans could not be forced by a state to report claims information for use in state health pricing databases.

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The Supreme Court appeared to be divided Wednesday as it heard arguments on an abortion case that could be one of the most consequential this term.

Here are five things to know about the Whole Women's Health v. Cole hearing, which challenges a Texas law that would reduce abortion clinics in the state due to new requirements for physicians and the clinics.

1. The case likely rests on Justice Anthony Kennedy, who is typically the swing vote. Without Justice Scalia, Justice Kennedy's vote holds even more weight. If he votes with the court's liberal justices, the case would be decided to protect access to abortion. If he votes with the conservative judges, the case would tie 4-to-4. This means the lower court ruling is upheld, unless the justices decide to re-argue the case.

2. The crux of the case lies in two separate but related questions. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., suggested the two questions are if Texas presented a reasonable justification for the law and if the law creates an unconstitutional burden on those who want abortions, according to The New York Times. Justice Kennedy posited that these questions are related because the burden will be weighed against the justification for the law.

3. Justice Kennedy said it would be helpful to return the case to the lower courts to develop more evidence on how many abortions could be performed if the Texas law were to become effective. Under the law, abortion clinics in the state would be reduced from about 40 to 10 statewide. According to The New York Times, this call for more evidence from the lower court would lift a stay issued in June on the law, which would force about 10 clinics to close. Justice Kennedy voted with the court's liberal wing to put the initial stay in place, according to the report.

4. The justices also debated if the law were to go into effect, whether the remaining clinics would be able to handle the 65,000 to 70,000 abortions performed annually in Texas. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr., who was arguing in support of the abortion clinics, said those that would remain open perform about 14,000 abortions annually, or about 20 percent. However, Texas lawyer Scott Keller said one clinic in Houston can do about 9,000 abortions per year, and with that number the remaining clinics would be likely to handle the potential capacity, according to The New York Times. Justice Elena Kagan also brought up concerns about how far women would then live from the clinics, stating that about three-quarters of a million women would be living more than 200 miles from a clinic, according to the report.

5. A decision will likely come in June, according to The New York Times.

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Last week, Morristown (N.J.) Medical Center found lead in its water. But now officials claim the level of lead in the water has declined, according to NJ1015.com.

After further investigation this week, officials told anyone who drank the medical center's tap water between Jan. 22 and Feb. 25 they could have been exposed to a small amount of lead. Morristown Medical Center has taken the necessary steps to notify those who may have been exposed, according to the report.

As the medical center works with the state's Department of Environmental Protection and Department of Health, investigators have found the level of lead in the water has decreased recently. But until lead levels diminish completely, Morristown Medical Center will continue to use bottled water for drinking and food preparation.

Officials have not identified the cause of the contamination. "At this time, we are investigating the possibility that a lapse in a water treatment called orthophosphate, a commonly used chemical that keeps lead from entering our water system, may have caused lead particles to enter the water," said Morristown Medical Center spokeswoman Elaine Andrecovich.

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The following insurers made headlines this week. They are listed below, beginning with the most recent.

1. 4 major Massachusetts health insurers post operating losses

Four of the largest nonprofit health insurers in Massachusetts  Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Fallon Health, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan  reported losses in 2015.

2. AHA says Anthem-Cigna merger would boost Blue Cross dominance

In a letter to the Department of Justice, the American Hospital Association said Anthem's proposed acquisition of Cigna would reduce the ability of other health insurers to compete with Blue Cross Blue Shield plans.

3. Judge rules in Sanford, Sioux Falls hospital contract battle

A circuit judge denied Sioux Falls (S.D.) Specialty Hospital's request that Sanford Health Plan rewrite its health insurance contracts into a single network plan in keeping with the state's patient choice law.

4. Aetna CEO reverses opinion, now 'likes' ACA exchanges

In early February, Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini said his company had "serious concerns about the sustainability of the public exchanges." But now his thoughts are slightly different.

5. CMS finalizes changes to ACA marketplace: 6 things to know

CMS released a final rule containing standards for health insurers selling coverage through the Affordable Care Act exchanges in 2017.

6. Fitch: Blue Cross hit hard by ACA losses

Fitch Ratings expects the Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies to report a decline in earnings for 2015.

7. BCBS of NC financially breaks even for 2015

The hottest insurer in headlines as of late due to a system failure  Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina  finished 2015 breaking even.

8. Are more ACA insurance co-ops slated for closure?

Republican lawmakers are questioning the long-term viability of eight health insurance co-ops formed under the ACA.

9. BCBS of Michigan has highest earnings decline among nation's BCBS plans

Twenty-three of the nation's 35 Blues plans reported a total $1.9 billion decrease in earnings during the first three quarters of 2015, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan was the largest contributor.

10. BCBS of Illinois cuts agent sales commissions

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, the largest health insurer in the state, will no longer offer agents and brokers commissions on individuals health plans.

11. $400M financing values Oscar Health at $2.7B

New York-based health insurance startup Oscar Health closed a $400 million financing round, led by Fidelity Investments, that values the company at $2.7 billion.
Most Oregon health insurers reported net losses in 2015, and those that came out ahead for the year benefited from strong investment income, according to the Portland Business Journal.

A few Oregon health insurers went against the trend last year and saw financial gains. Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon recorded net income of $25 million, which was largely attributable to a significant investment gain.

Strong investment income also gave Pacific Community Health Plans a boost. The payer reported a $4 million gain in 2015.

The remaining major Oregon insurers did not have as much financial success last year. Here is how the payers stacked up, ordered by net loss.

Providence Health Plan, which has the most individual members in Oregon, reported a $63 million net loss in 2015. That's compared to a $22.3 million surplus the year prior.

Moda Health Plan reported a $49.5 million net loss. In 2014, Moda launched the lowest-cost plans in Oregon for the individual health insurance market created by the Affordable Care Act. The payer's cheap plans brought in more than 100,000 new customers in Oregon alone. Many of Moda's new enrollees were previously uninsured and utilized their new coverage. Therefore, the health insurer at a $33 million loss during the first six months of 2015. The health insurer was briefly placed under regulatory supervision last year, but it plans to remain in business by selling assets.

Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Northwest posted a $13.4 million loss in 2015, compared to a profit of $15.6 million a year earlier. The loss was attributable to a change in the way Kaiser reports retirement plan costs, Keith Forrester, vice president of sales, market and business development, told the Portland Business Journal. Without the change, the health insurer would have reported a $60 million surplus.

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New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has requested information from 16 health insurers on their coverage of hepatitis C treatments, according to Bloomberg.

The attorney general's office issued subpoenas to the insurers, including Aetna and Anthem, asking for documents detailing the process they use to determine if members' hepatitis C medications will be covered.

The high price of hepatitis C medications, specifically those made by Gilead Sciences, have caused some insurers to limit access to the drugs. Although some insurers have negotiated discounts for the drugs, which have a list price of about $1,000 a pill, they still restrict them to the sickest patients, according to the report.

A spokeswoman for the New York Health Plan Association, Leslie Moran, told Bloomberg the scope of the subpoenas is too broad. She also noted the attorney general is failing to consider the impact of "excessive and unsupported pricing" for the hepatitis C drugs.

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The healthcare industry added 38,100 jobs last month, contributing to the nation's 242,000 new jobs in February, according to the most recent jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

This is an increase from January, when healthcare added 36,800 jobs.

Within the healthcare industry, ambulatory healthcare services employment grew the most, by 23,600 jobs in February. Next was hospitals, which added 10,600 jobs last month.

In total, hospitals have added 181,000 jobs over the past 12 months, according to the BLS.

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Online searches for "How to move to Canada" surged in the hours following Donald Trump's gains in the Super Tuesday primaries, said Google.

The search engine's data editor Simon Rogers highlighted the trend, tweeting that searches had "spiked" 350% in four hours on Tuesday, peaking at 1,150% above the average and settling at around 500% above on Wednesday.

Four of the five US hotspots for the search term were in states where Mr Trump had won a majority: Tennessee, Massachusetts, Georgia and Virginia.

The Canadian government website also encountered technical difficulties on Tuesday night, which some have suggested was prompted by a surge in traffic from Americans considering fleeing north of the border.

An error message on the site at 5.06am GMT (12:06 a.m. ET) read: "You may experience delays while using the website. We are working to resolve this issue. Thank you for your patience."

Last year, digital analytics firm Luminoso found 4% of 4.5m Donald Trump-related tweets mentioned leaving the US.

The majority of people (75,000) wanted to move to Mexico but Canada was second choice, with 25,000 people claiming they would relocate there.

Meanwhile, an island in the eastern Canadian province of Nova Scotia is hoping for a boost from disillusioned US voters.

A site called Cape Breton if Donald Trump Wins (CBIDTW), created by DJ Rob Calabrese, offers to welcome Americans leaving their country because of Mr Trump.

The site went viral, linking to Destination Cape Breton, the island's tourist site and getting 300,000 visits in more than a week: two-thirds from Americans with the top three questions being immigration, employment and housing.
The National Grid could be stripped of its role managing the electricity supply under Government plans reportedly being considered to hand energy watchdog Ofgem sweeping new powers

The National Grid could be stripped of its role managing the electricity supply under Government plans reportedly being considered to hand energy watchdog Ofgem sweeping new powers.

Whitehall is looking at setting up a not-for-profit company, to be overseen by Ofgem, that would manage Britains electricity system and have the ability to switch off factories and request emergency back-up generation, according to The Times newspaper.

If given the go-ahead, it would mean the National Grid, one of the UKs biggest companies, would effectively lose its significant supervisory influence in the market.

It is understood ministers are concerned over the UKs increasing reliance on importing electricity and a dwindling power station network.

The Government is also believed to be worried over the increasing power held by the FTSE 100-listed National Grid, as it not only owns the countrys high-voltage transmission network, but is also the system operator.

It is thought that the new Ofgem-overseen group would take over responsibility for balancing the electricity system and preventing blackouts, and would have the power to call for extra supplies or request that factories temporarily shut down to curb demand for energy.

The report being drawn up by Whitehall is also looking at other options that could see a Government-supervised system operator created, or for the current system to remain as it is.

The Government is expected to make a decision this year.

The National Grid was forced to ask the energy industry to generate more electricity late last year after what it described as multiple plant breakdowns. It was the first time such a notice had been issued in three years.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change said there was a strong case for the UKs power system operator to have greater independence to improve competition in the electricity system, but stressed the work was in the very early stages.
Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary says he is feeling positive about the success of the airline's eight new routes flying from Belfast.

The budget carrier will begin the bulk of the services in late 2016 from Belfast International Airport, and more could follow in the future.

The routes include Berlin and Krakow, alongside popular sun destinations such as Malaga and Tenerife.

Ryanair will also operate five flights a day to London Gatwick.

Mr O'Leary yesterday called on Stormont to do more to help airlines.

He also came out against the United Kingdom leaving the European Union, claiming there was no upside to a Brexit.

He said he was confident Ryanair would see a million passengers passing through Belfast International.

"I hope later in the year we will be returning and announce that a fourth aircraft will be based here and some more exciting routes to announce as well," he added.

Mr O'Leary said he was plugging Belfast's "premier" airport.

Ryanair used to operate from George Best Belfast City, but pulled out in 2010.

And he added Ryanair's low-cost flights, starting at 19.99 each way, will ensure the airline remains a success.

Asked about ticket costs, he said the average price to destinations such as Berlin - a route once serviced by easyJet - could be around 25 each way.

Ryanair is investing 200m in three new planes and is creating 750 jobs. The Belfast hub will begin its Gatwick flights later this month.

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph, Mr O'Leary said: "It's great coming back up, coming back to Aldergrove, where we don't have a runway restriction."

He said there was no bad blood between the airline and Belfast City after it withdrew services due to runway extension delays.

If Belfast City did push ahead with a runway extension - something it has said is off the cards at the moment - Ryanair could return and fly into both airports.

Speaking about a Brexit, Mr O'Leary said big firms could invest elsewhere if the UK votes to leave the EU. "We, as a big investor in the UK economy, will invest less. Other big firms who want to invest in the EU will not invest in the UK. They will put those investments into the Republic," he said.

He added that the scrapping of air passenger duty was "the only way forward".

He also wants the Assembly to do more in order to help create more routes and attract more carriers. "I think Stormont could do more to support its airports," he said. "Stormont is great for talking about stimulating tourism, but when push comes to shove and the airports are looking for some support for new routes that aren't serviced - Milan and Berlin - they got nothing from Stormont."

Graham Keddie, managing director of Belfast International Airport, said the new routes would "provide direct access to Northern Ireland, drive up tourism numbers, increase Northern Ireland's international appeal and lead to many hundreds of new jobs".

He added: "Five routes have become seven, with Berlin and Milan topping the list. To say we're delighted with this expansion would be an understatement."

The new routes

Alicante (three flights a week)

Berlin (three flights a week)

Krakow (three flights a week)

Lanzarote (two flights a week)

Malaga (four flights a week)

Milan (two flights a week)

Tenerife (two flights a week)

Gatwick (five flights a day)
Ulster Bank is giving some small business and farming customers just weeks to refinance problem debts or risk them being sold off

Ulster Bank has written to some small business and farming customers in Northern Ireland giving them just weeks to refinance problem debts or risk their loans being sold off by the bank.

The borrowers are among a number understood to all be behind on payments or otherwise in breach of their original loan terms, and therefore are being managed by Ulster's specialist loan arrears unit.

The customers include farms and small and medium enterprises (SME) on both sides of the border.

While the bank wouldn't say how many customers are affected in total, it's understood the majority are in the Republic.

The bank has now written to the affected customers warning them that their loans may be bundled up and then put on the market for sale.

Mortgages are not affected, and neither are business borrowers that are fully up to date with their loans, a spokeswoman for the bank said.

So-called vulture funds, mainly based in the US, have become large scale buyers of Irish loans in recent years.

"Ulster Bank is in contact with a number of business customers, who are outside current arrangements or in arrears and under special management in our problem debt management unit, to discuss the potential inclusion of their debt in a future Ulster Bank loan disposal process together with their options for repaying or refinancing their debt in advance of any such process," a spokeswoman for the bank said.

"They are not mainstream customers, they are in our problem debt management unit and this action is part of the bank's strategy to manage non-performing loans," she said.

The time frame means borrowers, especially those in arrears, will struggle to refinance their loans with another bank or repay the debt before the March 30 deadline.

The bank won't be ready to fire the starting gun on a sale process immediately.

Ulster Bank has sold off masses of problem loans over the past 12 months in particular.
Steven Avery is escorted to the Manitowoc County Courthouse in Wisconsin for his sentencing in 2007. A documentary about his trial and incarceration has been a huge hit for Netflix

Amateur sleuths claim to have unearthed more evidence which may help Steven Avery's case.

Netflix documentary Making a Murderer, which charted Avery's trial for the murder of photographer Teresa Halbach, laid the foundation for doubts about the efficiency of the American justice system and particularly the Manitowoc County police department.

With Avery (53) serving a life sentence without parole, fans of the documentary, along with Avery's new lawyer Kathleen Zellner, have been digging for new evidence which may help to prove his innocence.

Zellner recently revealed that she had unearthed new forensic evidence to aid his cause, and now fans believe Teresa Halback's death certificate proves more inconsistencies in the case.

Uproxx has released a report on the certificate, which they point out is littered with contradictions, not least the fact that the under the 'Body Found' section the 'No' box is ticked while under the 'Autopsy Performed' section the 'Yes' box has been ticked.

Also, under 'Immediate Cause of Death' the word 'Undetermined' is crossed out and replaced with 'Homicide'.

The report further points out that the cert was issued on November 10, 2005. This was just one day after the Calumet County coroner received Halbach's bone fragments, the same day Avery was charged with murder.

The cert was also written six weeks before the bones were positively identified as Halbach's on January 19.

"These dates are important because Steven Avery was charged with murder on November 9, and in order to do that, there must be proof of death. So, it seems like the paperwork on Halbachs death certificate was pushed through improperly so charges could be laid," reads the report.

The date of the cert is also significant, they claim, because District Attorney Denis Vogel and Sheriff Tom Kocourek were both due to be deposed on November 10 and 15 respectively.

Both had been involved in Avery's original trial for murder in 1985 in which he was convicted but later cleared. Following Avery's 2005 arrest those depositions never went ahead.

Avery's lawyer Zellner has requested an appeal hearing.

Irish Independent
Actor Matthew Perry said he is excited about seeing his former co-star Matt LeBlanc step into the hot seat as Top Gear host.

Perry said LeBlanc, who he starred with in Friends, would be "great" at the job.

He added: "It's very exciting for him because he loves cars. He must be thrilled. I haven't spoken to him since he booked the gig, but he is going to be great."

After starring as his best friend for 10 years, Perry is well placed to allay any fears that LeBlanc could head the way of quick-tempered former host Jeremy Clarkson.

Asked whether LeBlanc would ever get "punchy" with producers, Perry said: "No. He was wonderful. Matt is one of the nicest, funniest guys in the world."

Perry is currently appearing in West End play The End Of Longing, which he wrote and directs.

He revealed that one scene was taken from a real-life incident when he was 25 and unable to turn off a porn video.

He recalled: "It wouldn't shut off, so I decided to turn the volume down, but I could still hear it.

"That's when I remembered that the night before I had been sitting in my backyard drinking a Martini and listening to music, and I realised that for the last half hour I had been blasting porn into my outdoor speakers... at 2 o'clock in the afternoon."
Benedict Cumberbatch is among a number of celebrities who have pledged to sponsor lone child refugees in the Calais "Jungle" camp to help reunite them with relatives in the UK

Celebrities and public figures, including Jude Law, Benedict Cumberbatch and Dominic West, have pledged to sponsor lone child refugees in the Calais "Jungle" camp to help reunite them with relatives in the UK.

The well-known figures, who also include X-Files actress Gillian Anderson and broadcaster Mariella Frostrup, have signed up to a buddy system to personally help and support unaccompanied children.

The stars have pledged to visit them in Calais or their families in the UK, contribute towards their legal and humanitarian costs and speak out on their behalf.

Citizens UK estimates there are around 150 unaccompanied youngsters with a legal right to join their relatives in the UK languishing in the cold, muddy and rat-infested Calais camp.

French president Francois Hollande said on Thursday that unaccompanied child refugees in France who have a claim to seek asylum in Britain should be able to reach the UK quickly.

As bulldozers rolled into the camp and mass evictions began this week, volunteers fear lone children could become lost and scattered across northern France with no humanitarian protection.

George Gabriel, lead organiser at Citizens UK, said: "We're glad that the president and Prime Minister have finally acknowledged the urgency of this problem.

"That these desperate children cannot be left in the chaos of Calais and should instead be reunited with their loved ones as a matter of the utmost urgency."

The buddy scheme has been set up between Citizens UK, Help Refugees, Good Chance Calais and Letters Live.

Meanwhile, 40 Christian, Jewish and Muslim faith leaders delivered a joint statement to the French embassy in London calling on the British and French governments to help unaccompanied children in Calais.

Their statement said that the children "have a full legal right to reunite with their loved ones" in the UK, and said it was "unacceptable" that youngsters were left in danger and distress.
George Shelley has left Union J - with his former band mates saying they kicked him out.

Josh Cuthbert, JJ Hamblett and Jaymi Hamsley told The Sun that the I'm A Celebrity runner-up refused to commit to the pop group after returning from the jungle in December.

But a spokesman for Shelley said it was a "mutual decision" - and called the other Union J members "simply jealous".

The boy band apparently gave him a final ultimatum by email, as the situation had become "heartbreaking".

Cuthbert said: " He did the jungle, he came off it and his head space was different to ours.

"Using a sporting analogy, he wanted to turn up to the big matches but not turn up to training."

Union J are now planning to replace Shelley with a new fourth member within weeks.

Hamsley said: "It's heartbreaking. I spoke to him the other day and I said I'm heartbroken over this."

He added: "He wasn't putting his full effort in. One member is not bigger than the band."

A spokesman for Shelley said: "It was a mutual decision for George to leave Union J so he could focus on his broadcasting and acting career."

This includes being a "regular part" of the Capital FM Breakfast Show, hosting the Brits Red Carpet Live and filming a part in BBC3's Murder In Successville.

The spokesman added: "He is an utterly charming and hardworking individual - not a diva in the slightest.

"The fact of the matter is that the other members of Union J are simply jealous he has achieved the start of an exciting new career and they have not.

"George had agreed to be totally magnanimous towards them, but unfortunately this has not been reciprocated."

Shelley, who "came out" to fans after leaving the jungle and discussed his attraction to both men and women in a video posted online, was not an original member of Union J.

The group were originally named Triple J and competed in The X Factor in 2012 - as did Shelley. The two acts joined forces during the show.

Union J tweeted on Sunday: "The three best friends that anyone could have" - with a photo of Cuthbert, Hamblett and Hemsley, posing together without Shelley.

On Wednesday, Shelley posted a photograph of him playing the guitar on Instagram, alongside the caption: "Throwback. Started writing again this week, feels good."
Sacha Baron Cohen based his look in new film Grimsby on the Oasis frontman

Liam Gallagher has responded to claims by Sacha Baron Cohen that he threatened to stab the Borat star in the eye, saying "it wasn't just the one eye, it was both".

Cohen, who based his look in new film Grimsby on the former Oasis frontman, said the singer made the threat during a conversation with U2's Bono after the GQ Awards.

According to the Ali G star, Gallagher said: "You know what, I'm going to stab you. I'm going to stab you in the eye."

In response to Cohen's claims, a spokeswoman for Gallagher told the Press Association: "Liam wants to clarify that it wasn't just the one eye, it was both."

Cohen said the incident happened after Ga llagher challenged the comedian on why he failed to tell a joke about him on stage.

Appearing on US television show Conan, he said: "I thought to myself, I've never heard such a specific threat. That's a good aim.

" Anyway, eventually he didn't stab me so I thought I would avoid confrontation by having my hair done like him in the next movie."
Gordon Ramsay has said he is the "real deal" - because he "started with nothing" and has gone on to win three Michelin stars.

The Scottish chef, who suffered a turbulent childhood, has previously described his father as a violent alcoholic.

But he was able to succeed in the restaurant industry - and his signature restaurant, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in London's Chelsea, has held three Michelin stars since 2001.

Ramsay said: "I started with nothing, and was dealt a bit of a dysfunctional card, because I shouldn't have made it this far."

Speaking to CNN International for a new Talk Asia programme eight months after opening new restaurant Bread Street Kitchen in Singapore, he said: "H olding on to your dream and staying focused is really important.

"And also striving for perfection is healthy, because having a palate that can be finessed in some of the best food in anywhere in the world, you know needs to be trained. You know, you are not born with that.

"So if I can come from a council estate in the middle of Stratford-upon-Avon, and live in 17 houses before I was 16, and win three Michelin Stars ... anybody who wants to come in and copy, or use me as inspiration, then you know, I'm the real deal."

Ramsay's television credits include Hell's Kitchen, Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares and The F Word.

But he insisted: "I am not a 'TV chef'. I do work on television."

He explained: " I produce a lot of programmes, and I know what makes viewers tick.

"I can smell drama a mile way, and I can turn a kitchen upside down in seconds. And I can get the best out of an amateur cook more than anybody on this planet.

"I know how to push individuals to the absolute limit.

"But I want to be recognised for what I produce, I think really. The results, that's the most important thing. Dealing with pros, amateurs or even eight-year-old kids, I know how to teach. And I know how to teach impeccably."

The chef is married to Tana Ramsay and has four children - all of whom are expert cooks, he explained.

His teenage daughter Tilly even has her own cookery show, Matilda And The Ramsay Bunch.

Ramsay said: " I think the only two that can't cook in our house are Bruno and Rumpole, our two dogs!

"Everyone else can literally muster up anything and everything in 20 minutes, so it's pretty chaotic and we are never short of cooks."

:: Talk Asia airs Saturday March 5 at 5.30pm on CNN International.
Professor Tony Dyson, who built the original Star Wars R2-D2 droid, has died in Malta.

The British inventor was discovered by police at his home on the island of Gozo.

Malta police said a 68-year-old man had died at the property on Thursday morning.

Force spokesman Kurt Bugeja Coster said: " A neighbour realised the front door was open and became concerned and called the police. Officers entered the apartment and he was found dead.

"Foul play has been excluded so far. An autopsy will be held to determine cause of death."

Professor Dyson also worked on Superman II, Moonraker and Dragonslayer, and was nominated for an Emmy for his film special effects supervision.

R2-D2 was designed by Ralph McQuarrie and P rofessor Dyson was commissioned to make eight robots for the Star Wars series.

They included four remote control units, two with seats inside for actor Kenny Baker and two units to be used in a bog scene in The Empire Strikes Back.

On his website he said he spent five months making the original eight R2-D2 droids and described it as "one of the most exciting periods of my life".

Christopher Muscat, who invited him to Malta's Comic Convention last year, said he had created an "icon" in R2-D2.

He said: "We were surprised how friendly he was and full of energy. He was always smiling.

"R2-D2 is an icon. He is one of the characters that stars in all the Star Wars movies."

In 2003, R2-D2 was selected for induction to the Robot Hall of Fame at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Professor Dyson designed and built 36 model spacemen with backpacks, laser guns and spacesuits for James Bond film Moonraker and worked on a giant robot dragon in 1981 film Dragonslayer.

He also designed and built robots for some of the world's largest electronic companies including Sony, Philips and Toshiba.
Bobbi Kristina Brown died from a combination of drug intoxication and drowning, her autopsy results have shown.

Marijuana and alcohol use were also involved in the death of the 22-year-old, who was Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown's daughter.

The Fulton County Medical Examiner revealed on today that Brown's death was caused by a combination of drug intoxication and her face being immersed in water - she was found face down and unresponsive in a bathtub at her Georgia home in January 2015.

Brown's autopsy had been sealed following her death in a hospice on 26 July last year. The protective order on the results was lifted on yesterday after local station 11Alive News requested it to be made public.

"The underlying cause of death is the condition which starts the downhill course of events leading to death and in this case is the immersion associated with drug intoxication," they said in the statement.

The drugs involved in her passing were revealed to be marijuana and alcohol, as well as medication used to treat anxiety and for sedation.

The office of the medical examiner revealed they had reviewed Brown's medical records, investigative files and other documents to reach a verdict on her cause of death.

Following Brown's death, her 22-year-old boyfriend Nick Gordon was hit with a $10 million (7.1 million) wrongful death lawsuit from Brown's court-appointed co-conservator, Bedelia Hargrove. District Attorney Paul Howard had argued that releasing the autopsy details could hamper the investigation into Gordon's alleged involvement in Brown's death.

Gordon denies any wrongdoing and at the time of the filing, his former legal team called the lawsuit "slanderous and meritless," and a "fictitious assault against the person who loved Krissy most".

Eyewitnesses have previously stated Brown and Gordon's romance was a turbulent one, fuelled by drugs. Brown's family barred her boyfriend from visiting the tragic youngster during the final months of her life.
Flawless looks: Linda and Emily Rice at Manor House of Beauty in Saintfield with stylist Rachael McKibben

Facials, spray tans, eyebrow threading and waxing have become staples in the lives of young women here. Stephanie Bell talks to mothers and their girls who say you can't beat a day at the beauty salon.

Girls as young as 12 are being introduced to the world of professional beauty pampering in a growing trend that is turning out a whole new generation of immaculately groomed young women in Northern Ireland.

A trip to the local salon has become routine for many mums and daughters who have discovered the beauty of bonding over their local nail and eyebrow bar.

While treatments don't come cheap, many working mums feel it is money well spent as they get to spend quality time with their daughters while also helping to boost their confidence.

It is a craze usually only associated with A-listers, but not anymore as teen girls in ordinary streets here are growing up to regard professional beauty treatments as a necessity rather than a luxury.

Gwyneth Paltrow recently hit the headlines for splashing out 140 a time on facials for her 11-year-old daughter Apple.

The 43-year-old star has enrolled her eldest child for treatments with Hollywood guru Sonya Dakar.

As Mother's Day approaches we talk to three local mums and their teenage daughters who have also found that regular trips to the beauty salon are a great way to spend quality time together.

'It's a very good stress reliever from school, if you look good then you feel good inside'

Linda Rice (46) from Ballynahinch has been taking daughter Emily (15) to her local beauty salon Manor House of Beauty in Saintfield since she was 12 years old. Linda, who is an insurance company manager, is married to Leo (45), a self-employed electrician, and they also have a son Adam (18). Linda says:

Emily and I do go regularly to the beauticians - although probably not as often as she would like. We get nails, eyebrows, the occasional spray tan and facials.

I have my eyebrows tinted while Emily gets hers threaded. We would also do a lot of mini facials at home with our own pamper nights.

I started taking her when she was 12 when her eyebrows were a bit out of control.

I think 12 is a bit young for a facial unless they have skin problems and need a special treatment.

I always liked getting professional beauty treatments myself and while I don't overdo it I think it is good to be well groomed.

And it's lovely being able to go together as mother and daughter - it is a way of spending quality time together as I hate shopping for clothes.

We visit the beauty salon together every three weeks for some preening.

The eyebrow treatments we have cost about 10-15.

Meanwhile, Emily goes for a nail polish and file while I get gel nails which are about 20 each and in the spring we would get our toenails done too.

When we go for a facial it is usually a deep mask facial which costs 17.50 which we get once every six weeks."

Emily (15), a pupil of Down High School, has recently started to model part-time and hopes to go to university to study criminology. She says:

I remember the first time my mum brought me to the beauty salon when I was 12 and it was quite a big deal.

Now I go and get something done about every four weeks and mum and I would book it together.

We usually go on a Saturday morning and maybe have coffee afterwards. It is also a good stress reliever from school. I think if you look good then you feel good inside as well.

I wouldn't leave the house without my make-up on. I just couldn't imagine going out bare-faced.

I've done a bit of modelling recently so I know I need to look my best.

While I don't go in for false nails I would always tidy them up and polish them and make sure they look good. It is just normal to me."

We often have wee pamper nights with face masks on

Lorna Smyth (46) from Ballynahinch is a self-employed advisor for the beauty and well-being company Forever Living. She is married to Mark (43) a self-employed consultant and they have three girls Courtney (18), Anna (16) and Molly (12). Lorna says:

Courtney now works part-time while studying so she pays for many of her own beauty treatments and Molly is still too young to go to a salon.

Anna and I would go together to our local salon Manor House of Beauty in Saintfield.

I started taking her for professional treatments when she was 14. She likes to get her eyebrows tinted and threaded and would have a spray tan for a special occasion.

Her school formal is coming up and she is booked in to get gel nails, her make-up done and a spray tan.

In my day you didn't get your make-up professionally done but these things are now considered necessities rather than luxuries.

We don't really go for facials, because of my job, I have all the good products at home and we tend to do our own at home.

I don't think you can be too young to start looking after your skin and I do teach the girls to do so. I think it is important to put up a line of defence at a young age as prevention is better than having to fix something later.

I love going to our local salon with Anna - it is a perk of having a daughter.

It isn't cheap but beauty treatments have become the norm now with teenage girls.

I have gel nails applied every three weeks which costs 20, and we both get our eyebrows tidied up every six weeks which is around 15.

Her spray tans are around 15. It isn't something I encourage but she wants it. It is all about how they look when they are young now and I do give in."

Anna (16), is a pupil at Down High School. She says:

I love going to the beauty salon with my mum and we would also do little treatments together at home.

We do go regularly and probably not as often as I would like. I think it is important to take pride in your appearance and take care of yourself and I would always make sure my nails, hair and eyebrows look good. My friends are all the same.

It is nice to go to a salon and have my nails and eyebrows professionally done."

'Life can be so busy that I think you need to take time out' of fresh air'

Claire Cassidy (35), a childminder from Dundonald, enjoys regular beauty treatments with her 16-year-old daughter Liberty. Claire, who is married to Jonathan (35) an architect, also has a 19-month-old son, Eden. Claire says :

I first took Liberty to the beauty salon when she was 11. I think it is the age when a negative self image can start to affect girls, and I felt it was a good way for her to feel better about herself.

We usually go once a month and Liberty gets one treatment. We have no specific salon and go to a few.

It is also a great way for us to have mother and daughter time.

I get regular waxing which costs around 30 but Liberty would only get waxed if she is going on holiday. We go to the salon as a treat and usually have a facial which is around 35.

Liberty also gets her hair coloured every month which costs 40."

Going to the salon is an important opportunity for some me-time.

The way I look at it is that I think you have to kind to yourself before you can be kind to others. Life is so busy that I think you need to take time out and have a treat."

Liberty (16), a pupil of Grosvenor Grammar, says:

My mum first took me to a beauty salon when I was 11. We were going to a wedding and I got my legs, armpits and eyebrows waxed. It has been a regular treat ever since and it's nice that me and mum can do it together.

It does make you feel better about yourself especially going on holiday when I would get more compliments than usual. I do take time at home to do my nails and make-up as it's important to be well presented."
Herbal cannabis worth an estimated 300,000 was seized by police yesterday - bring the total amount of drugs seized by the PSNI since Monday to more than 1m

Herbal cannabis worth an estimated 300,000 was seized by police yesterday - bring the total amount of drugs seized by the PSNI since Monday to more than 1m.

Since the start of February, the PSNI has arrested 96 suspects, made 122 drug seizures, charged 18 people and reported 23 others to the Public Prosecution Service.

Deputy Chief Constable Drew Harris told the Policing Board yesterday: "I am immensely proud of the sheer scope and scale of what all my colleagues are delivering to keep people safe."

Operation Torus, aimed at tackling street level drug dealing, will continue until the middle of this month.

Yesterday detectives recovered the herbal cannabis after they swooped on commercial premises in Newtownabbey. One man aged 30 was arrested and taken to a Belfast police station for questioning.

Detective Inspector Sean Taylor said: "Officers have also searched properties in Randalstown and Ballymena and our enquiries continue. This is the latest in a series of unrelated drugs seizures this week, which brings the total value recovered since Monday to more than 1m.

"We are aware of the threat posed by illegal drugs and are determined to use every opportunity to take these substances off the streets and bring anyone involved in their sale, supply or distribution before the courts."

Around 750,000 worth of cannabis and amphetamines were seized in a lorry on the M2 on Monday and from premises in Lisburn on Tuesday.

A 39-year-old man has been charged in relation to this.

Police also seized 60,000 of high purity cocaine in Belfast city centre on Monday.

And in the Portadown, Lurgan and Craigavon areas, eight suspects were charged earlier this week after a series of searches linked to the supply of heroin in Northern Ireland.

This brings the total number of individuals charged as part of the operation against heroin dealing to 17.
Police seal off a large area after a device exploded under a car in east Belfast, leaving a man injured. Pic Lesley-Anne McKeown/PA Wire

Police seal off a large area after a device exploded under a car in east Belfast, leaving a man injured.

The scene where a man, believed to be a prison officer, has been taken to hospital after a device exploded under a van in east Belfast. It happened around the Woodstock Road at about 07:10 GMT on Friday.

The van at the scene of the car bomb in East Belfast

A man, believed to be a prison officer, has been taken to hospital after a device exploded under a van in east Belfast.

A man, believed to be a prison officer, has been taken to hospital after a device exploded under a van in east Belfast. Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Press

The scene where a man, believed to be a prison officer, has been taken to hospital after a device exploded under a van in east Belfast. It happened around the Woodstock Road at about 07:10 GMT on Friday.

The scene where a man, believed to be a prison officer, has been taken to hospital after a device exploded under a van in east Belfast. It happened around the Woodstock Road at about 07:10 GMT on Friday.

A man, believed to be a prison officer, has been taken to hospital after a device exploded under a van in east Belfast.

Picture credit  Matt Mackey - Presseye.com Belfast - Northern Ireland - 4th March 2016 The scene where a man, believed to be a prison officer, has been taken to hospital after a device exploded under a van in east Belfast. It happened around the Woodstock Road at about 07:10 GMT on Friday.

A man, believed to be a prison officer, has been taken to hospital after a device exploded under a van in east Belfast.

A man, believed to be a prison officer, has been taken to hospital after a device exploded under a van in east Belfast. Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Press

The scene at the top of Hillsborough Drive off the Woodstock Road in east Belfast where a device exploded under a van resulting in one man being hospitalised. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye

A bomb disposal unit officer inspects the damaged van following a suspected car bomb attack on a prison officer at Hillsborough Drive on March 4, 2016 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

A bomb disposal unit officer at the scene following a suspected car bomb attack on a prison officer at Hillsborough Drive on March 4, 2016 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

Belfast bomb in pictures: Scene of explosion under prison officer's van on Hillsborough Drive Close

A bomb has exploded under a van in east Belfast, seriously injuring a prison officer - and police have warned it is part of a dissident republican plot to kill security forces in the lead up to the Easter Rising centenary.

The device "partially detonated" under the man's vehicle on Hillsborough Drive off the Woodstock Road just after 7am on Friday morning - causing a loud explosion.

The man was taken to hospital and has undergone surgery. His condition is described as serious, but not life-threatening.

Dissident republicans are being blamed and Deputy Chief Constable Drew Harris issued a stark warning from PSNI headquarters that more attacks are planned as the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising approaches.

Expand Close A bomb disposal unit officer inspects the damaged van following a suspected car bomb attack on a prison officer at Hillsborough Drive on March 4, 2016 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Getty Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp A bomb disposal unit officer inspects the damaged van following a suspected car bomb attack on a prison officer at Hillsborough Drive on March 4, 2016 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

'Desire to kill'

"I believe that there are people within the dissident republican groupings who want to mark this centenary by killing police officers, prison officers and soldiers," he said.

"We should not underestimate their willingness and their desire to kill. Someone made this device, someone transported it, someone planted it.

"We are working with [centenary] event organisers to ensure they pass off peacefully and we will be culturally sensitive in our policing of the Easter Rising events.

"We ask for the support of the community. Be vigilant - if you see anything suspicious, tell us."

Police have confirmed the victim is a 52-year-old prison officer who is married with grown-up daughters. He has worked for the Prison Service for 28 years.

Bomb detonated

He had only driven a short distance from his home when the device detonated as he went over a speed ramp.

ACC Martin said: "The prison officer is in hospital. I understand he has undertaken some surgery. We send him our very best wishes for a speedy recovery and we are hopeful that his condition is not life-threatening.

"However, the circumstances could have been very, very different."

The road remains closed where the Woodstock Road meets the Cregagh Road and the Army bomb squad is at the scene.

I've told the Deputy CC that we stand behind him. Disgraceful and despicable attack in East Belfast. #praying  Arlene Foster (@DUPleader) March 4, 2016

Evacuation

A number of houses in Hillsborough Drive are being evacuated and an emergency centre has been opened up at the Salvation Army on the Cregagh Road.

A large cordon has been put up around the scene with several streets closed off. Part of a twisted bumper can be seen lying at the side of the road.

A neighbour told the Nolan Show: "I heard the explosion and ran outside.

Thoughts & prayers are with the Prison Officer seriously injured in Belfast this morning.I unreservedly condemn this despicable & futile act  Martin McGuinness (@M_McGuinness_SF) March 4, 2016

"There were a lot of people looking really confused.

"The van was abandoned in the middle of the street and there were a lot of people tending to somebody injured on the pavement."

Anyone who may have witnessed any suspicious activity in the area is urged to contact police on 101.

Among the families making their way to school and people walking to work there was a real sense of shock.

'Massive bang'

One shop worker waiting to gain permission to open up said he had heard a "massive" bang at about 7.20am.

"I didn't know what it was but it was huge," said the man who declined to be named.

Superintendent Darrin Jones said; At this time we believe a device has exploded under a vehicle.

The incident was reported to police at 7.10am this morning Friday 4 March.

A spokesman for the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service said they received the call at 7.10 to reports of a large bang.

Expand Close The PSNI's Assistant Chief Constable Stephen Martin holds a press conference at police headquarters Knock after a prisoner officer was injured after a device exploded under is car as he drove along Hillsborough Drive off the Woodstock Road in east Belfast. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye / Facebook

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Whatsapp The PSNI's Assistant Chief Constable Stephen Martin holds a press conference at police headquarters Knock after a prisoner officer was injured after a device exploded under is car as he drove along Hillsborough Drive off the Woodstock Road in east Belfast. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye

Two ambulance crews were sent and two patients were taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital.

'Despicable'

First Minister Arlene Foster condemned the incident as "disgraceful and despicable".

She later issued a joint statement with Sinn Fein Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness: "We join all right-thinking people in condemning these cowardly actions.

"As a prison officer, he is someone who serves and protects our community and we are united in our rejection of this attack. Prison service workers have our full support as they play their part in building a peaceful society. The perpetrators offer nothing but hatred and fear.

"We urge anyone with any information on this attack to share it with the PSNI."

The Woodstock Road is a predominantly unionist area.

East Belfast Assembly member Chris Lyttle said he was outraged, describing the attack as a "sickening echo of the past".

"I am shocked and sickened someone has attempted to take the life of this man," said the Alliance Party representative.

"It is difficult to put into words the contempt every right-thinking member of society will have for those behind this attack. The people responsible offer nothing except death, injury and disruption.

"Those trying to return Northern Ireland to a climate of fear will not be allowed to win. My thoughts and prayers are with those injured by this device, and I would urge anyone with information about this incident to contact police immediately."

Dissident threat

Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers said: "This is a demonstration of how lethal the terrorist threat continues to be in Northern Ireland.

"These groupings are small in number but they are targeting prison officers and police officers... so were it not for the actions of the police we would be seeing these attacks happen far more frequently than they do."

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North Belfast MLA Gerry Kelly said yesterday's Policing Board meeting was told that the threat level from dissident republicans was "severe" - that an attack was believed to be imminent.

"But that is a constant process that has been ongoing for some years," he told Stephen Nolan.

"We ask this from month-to-month at the Policing Board.

"And it doesn't reflect what has been stopped and what has taken place."

Head of the Prison Officers' Association, Finlay Spratt said: "There is no let up for prison officers in work and in their personal life.

"Threats on their life are near constant."

"Every right-thinking person should be condemning this and those terrorists behind this need to think about what they are trying to achieve."

Stark reminder

The under-car bomb blast that injured a prison officer in Northern Ireland is suspected to be the latest attack perpetrated by dissident republicans opposed to the peace process.

While the actions of the violent extremists remain sporadic, the incident in east Belfast has provided another stark reminder of both their capacity and intent.

Since the Provisional IRA ceasefires of the 1990s, hard-liners have coalesced into various factions.

Only months after the signing of the Good Friday peace agreement in 1998 one of the radical groups - the Real IRA - killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins, in a bomb in the Co Tyrone town of Omagh.

The structure and membership of the disparate gangs have remained fluid ever since, with crossover and co-operation commonplace.

David Black

In 2012 prison officer David Black was shot dead by dissidents on the M1 motorway in Co Armagh as he drove to work at Maghaberry high security jail.

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In 2011, 25-year-old policeman Ronan Kerr was killed by an under-car booby trap bomb in Omagh.

Two years earlier, two British soldiers and a policeman were murdered in separate attacks within 48 hours of each other.

In March 2009, the Real IRA claimed responsibility for gunning down Sappers Patrick Azimkar and Mark Quinsey outside Massereene Army barracks in Antrim.

Two days later the Continuity IRA said they shot dead Pc Stephen Carroll as he attended a 999 call in Craigavon, Co Armagh.

As well as security force attacks, dissidents have become embroiled in conflicts with drug dealers on both sides of the Irish border, with a number of murders linked to those feuds.

Charlie Flanagan, Ireland's Foreign Affairs Minister, said he was deeply concerned.

"My immediate thoughts are for the health and welfare of the injured officer and I convey my best wishes to him, his family and colleagues," he said.

"This callous and cowardly incident must be utterly condemned. Not only was it targeted on an individual public servant, it represented a futile attack on the entire community which is determined to achieve a peaceful and reconciled society in Northern Ireland."
Two alleged 'boy racers' have denied causing the death of a Co Down pensioner by dangerous driving.

Appearing in the dock of Downpatrick Crown Court, with relatives of their alleged victim sitting in the public gallery a few feet away, 22-year-old Daryl Kirton and Che McManus (20) entered not guilty pleas to the charge that they caused the death of Patrick Wilkinson by dangerous driving on June 25, 2014.

The 72-year-old had been standing beside his son-in-law Pat Magee outside his family's farm on the Killard Road just outside Ballyhornan, Co Down when he was struck in what has been claimed was a race between two cars.

Mr Magee said at the time: "He was flung 50-odd feet down the road. What killed Paddy saved me, that's just the way it goes," he said.

"Nobody should have to go through that. It was not a pretty sight to see your father-in-law trapped under a car."

Mr Wilkinson was originally from Ballinderry, Co Tyrone, but had moved to Co Down to spend time with his daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren.

In court yesterday, lawyers for the defence and prosecution told Judge Piers Grant there would be forensic engineer reports submitted from both sides before the trial, which will last around two weeks. Prosecuting lawyer Samuel Magee also revealed that a police video recording of the route where the tragedy occurred will form part of the Crown case.

Both Kirton, with an address on Fell Street in Liverpool and McManus, from Carriff Court in Downpatrick, were released on continuing bail and Judge Grant said he would fix the trial date today.
The chairman of the historical institutional child abuse inquiry in Northern Ireland is Sir Anthony Hart

A long-running child abuse public inquiry will focus on alleged wrongdoing at institutions run by the Good Shepherd Sisters when it reconvenes next week.

Former residents of facilities in Belfast, Londonderry and Newry are expected to give evidence during the next two weeks of public hearings at Banbridge Courthouse in Co Down.

Proceedings will begin on Monday with a short opening from inquiry chairman Sir Athony Hart, a retired High Court judge.

Barrister and counsel to the inquiry Joseph Aiken will then provide an overview of matters relating to the institutions run by the Good Shepherd Sisters.

The Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry was set up by the Northern Ireland Executive in 2013 to examine harrowing allegations of physical, emotional and sexual abuse at state and church run residential institutions between 1922 and 1995.

By the time it concludes public evidence sessions this summer, more than 450 witnesses will have provided oral testimony.

Sir Anthony is expected to submit his findings to MLAs at Stormont by early next year.

The other members of the inquiry are Geraldine Doherty, a former head of the Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work in Scotland, and David Lane, who was director of social services in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England.
Child killer Robert Howard was likened to the Pied Piper at the Arlene Arkinson inquest yesterday.

Heather Moore, a former nurse, described how children, including Arlene, visited his flat in Castlederg, Co Tyrone, at weekends.

She told Belfast coroner's court: "There were so many of them. He was like the Pied Piper on a Saturday. It must have been the place to go for the young ones."

The inquest is investigating the disappearance of 15-year-old Arlene, who vanished after a night out at a disco in Co Donegal on August 13, 1994. Her body has never been found.

Howard was acquitted of her murder in 2005 by a jury which was not told of his conviction for killing a south London teenager several years earlier. The 71-year-old remained the prime suspect until his death in jail last year.

Ms Moore worked in Castlederg, Arlene's hometown, for more than 25 years and lived next door to Howard but was unaware of his violent past. She told the court he bought children sweets, let them ride his motorbike and took them out in his blue Metro car. "He was good to them in many ways," added Ms Moore.

She also claimed that Patricia Quinn, who previously denied being a girlfriend of Howard, visited his flat on an almost daily basis and said: "I never saw many adults, only Pat. It was obvious (they were together). She would have been there early in the morning, knocking to get in. I would have thought the youngsters would have been put to school and she would have come down."

On one occasion, it was claimed a blazing row erupted when Ms Quinn found her daughter, Donna, skipping school at the flat. Ms Moore recalled seeing the girl being frogmarched from the property by her shouting mother.

"It was a big row," she added.

Ms Moore also claimed to have seen Donna Quinn at the flat a day after Arlene went missing. When asked about the reliability of her recollection, she replied: "There could be some doubt because all the young ones look similar."

In her evidence, Ms Quinn claimed to have been at Altnagelvin Hospital at the time.

Later, the inquest heard evidence from a close friend and cousin of Arlene Arkinson.

Lynette Edgar recalled being in Howard's flat a number of times with friends and said they played hide and seek. But she was also wary of Howard and warned Arlene to be on her guard.

"I warned her to be careful as I thought he was a little strange," she said. "She also told me that she was warned to be careful of him by family members."

Ms Edgar also dismissed claims Arlene may have been pregnant as unfounded rumours.

"I never believed that Arlene was pregnant," she said. "You said something to see who we could trust. If you said something and then heard it back, then you couldn't trust that person.

Meanwhile, Henry Toner QC, barrister for the Arkinson family, called for outstanding police papers to be handed over. The lawyer described it as extraordinary that the documentation, which includes analysis of police actions between 1994 and 1998, had not been given up.

Adjourning the case until next week, Coroner Brian Sherrard said he would "encourage" the disclosure of the missing items.
The scene of a crash near Comber last night

An man aged in his 70s has died in a crash on a country road near Lisburn, while another person was yesterday critical after a collision in north Antrim.

Unconfirmed reports said that a car driven by the man had veered off the carriageway of the Comber Road between Lisburn and Carryduff.

His death is the 13th on Northern Ireland's roads so far this year.

An ambulance crew attended the crash scene after being called out at 7.30pm.

The road was closed for a period but has since reopened.

The name of the victim has not been released.

Local DUP councillor Uel Mackin said that although the section of the B178 where the accident occurred was quite a fast stretch of road and had what he described as "hidden dips", he did not believe it was a section of highway that had a very significant history of accidents.

"My sympathies go out to the family of the driver," the Downshire East councillor told the Belfast Telegraph. "This is tragic news."

However, fellow councillor James Baird, of the Ulster Unionist Party, said that the location where last night's crash occurred was known as an accident blackspot.

"In the place where the accident happened, the road is narrow with some deceptive bends," Mr Baird said.

"There has been a history of accidents just at that location - though none have been fatal, to my knowledge."

Meanwhile, a horror smash saw five ambulance crews race to the Dunluce Road in Bushmills, following a two-car road traffic accident last night.

Five people were taken to hospital afterwards.

The injured parties were rushed to the Causeway Hospital in Coleraine, where one person was last night described as critical.

The other four were described as stable.

By this time last year, eight people had died on Northern Ireland's roads.
Legal costs in the 'same-sex cake' case have soared to over 100,000, it was claimed yesterday.

The claim, made by Christian Institute spokesman Simon Calvert, came as a Belfast court gave the green light for Northern Ireland's Attorney General to become involved in a Christian-run bakery's appeal against being found to have discriminated against a gay customer.

Senior judges in Belfast decided he had raised an arguable case that sexual orientations regulations in Northern Ireland directly discriminate against those who hold religious beliefs or political opinions. The move gives Mr Larkin authorisation to make representations when Ashers Baking Company seeks to overturn the verdict against them at a full hearing in May.

The bakery, run by the McArthur family, is appealing the outcome of legal action over its refusal to make a cake with a pro-gay marriage slogan.

Last year Belfast County Court held that the bakery had discriminated against customer Gareth Lee on grounds of sexual orientation and political beliefs.

The company was ordered to pay 500 in damages to the gay rights activist. Backed by the Equality Commission, Mr Lee sued the Co Antrim-based firm after it refused an order placed at its Belfast city centre shop in May 2014.

Following yesterday's decision by the judges, Simon Calvert of The Christian Institute, which is supporting the McArthur family in the case, said: "The Attorney General has decided to intervene, using his constitutional power to raise questions about the validity of the legislation used against the McArthurs. And it is clear from the decision taken by the three judges, including the Lord Chief Justice, that he has raised matters of importance. These will now be fully argued when the appeal comes before the court in May.

"By the time the full hearing takes place it will be two years since the 36.50 cake at the centre of what has become a legal, political and theological saga, was ordered.

"So far, the case has generated legal costs on both sides which, combined, have broken the 100,000 barrier," Mr Calvert said. According to the Christian Institute spokesman, the McArthur family's legal costs are already well over 50,000.

"I'm sure the Equality Commission's costs are at least as high," he added.

"People are entitled to ask whether the Equality Commission should have chosen to bring the legal action over a 36.50 cake.

"It is 665 days since the cake was ordered, and we are a long way from securing a legal resolution to the case," Mr Calvert said.

Although the County Court judge accepted Ashers was entitled to have "genuine and deeply held" religious views, the judge said the business was not above the law.

The judge's ruling is now to be examined by the Court of Appeal.

It will determine whether the judge was correct in law to hold that Ashers discriminated against Mr Lee on grounds of sexual orientation and religious belief or political opinion.

Lawyers for the McArthurs are also expected to argue that they had protection under the European Convention on Human Rights.

Their planned appeal was dramatically stalled last month following the Attorney General's last-minute intervention.

The McArthurs' main appeal begins on May 9.
A glazier whose good-standing in the community helped him secure work to replace windows at a church has been sentenced for theft and fraud.

Nathanial Hugh Boyd (53), of Rusky Park in Aghadowey, was given a two-year conditional discharge at Coleraine Magistrate's Court. He had failed to fit windows worth thousands of pounds at the Church of Christ in Coleraine's Artillery Road.

A defence barrister said Boyd was not a cowboy builder but had fallen into financial difficulties.

A reference was handed into the court on behalf of Boyd from Rev John Anderson, the rector of Billy & Derrykeighan Church of Ireland parish near Bushmills, which spoke of the defendant in "very positive terms".

Defence barrister Alan Stewart said Boyd had a good standing in local churches generally and that led to him getting the job.

The charges stated that on January 13, 2014, Boyd dishonestly made a false representation that he would fit and supply windows at the Church of Christ, upon receipt of a deposit of 1,700 but the work was never carried out.

He also dishonestly made a false representation later in 2014 that he would obtain materials to fit and supply church windows upon payment of 2,000 but the materials were never obtained. Boyd also pleaded guilty to a third charge that he had stolen 3,700 in cash from the Church of Christ.

Prosecutor George Chesney said Boyd was a builder/glazier and the Church of Christ asked him to carry out work to replace windows, but despite paying a 1,700 deposit the work did not commence.

Boyd asked the church for more money for materials but the work still did not start and despite the defendant promising to pay the money on many occasions it was not forthcoming and after a year a complaint was made to police.

Alan Stewart said all the money has since been repaid and said when the case is first viewed you have to ask if Boyd was involved in such activity on a regular basis and if he was a "fraudster" but he said he was not and the case had arisen because he had "fallen on hard times".

The court heard Boyd had a police caution in relation to another 300 job but that was paid and he was not prosecuted.
Julie Hamill was last seen at her home in the early hours of March 3.

Missing Comber woman, Julie Hamill has been found safe and well, police have confirmed.

Julie Hamill was last seen on Thursday and police appealed for help to track her down.

They confirmed on Friday afternoon she had shown up safe and well.
Police have failed to disclose enough documents in a major legal action over alleged collusion with a loyalist paramilitary agent suspected of up to 15 murders, a High Court judge ruled today.

Mr Justice Colton also rejected claims the PSNI should not have to hand over more files to a man who survived two UVF assassination bids because the process could take years and cost hundreds of thousands of pounds.

He ruled there was potentially further documentation in the possession of the force that should be provided to John Flynn's legal representatives.

Mr Flynn, from north Belfast, is suing the police over two attempts on his life allegedly carried out by an agent who operated in the city's Mount Vernon area.

In 1992 a gunman tried to shoot him after he was lured to Whiteabbey Hospital on the outskirts of the city.

Five years later a second attempt was made to kill him in a failed car bomb attack.

The 56-year-old issued proceedings against the PSNI for alleged negligence and misfeasance in public office.

It was confirmed last year that the PSNI has admitted his misfeasance claim and accepted he should be paid damages which could ultimately reach 75,000.

But the force emphatically denies negligence or having ever employed the agent - identified only in the case as 'Informant 1'.

He is suspected of involvement in 10-15 murders, punishment shootings, serious beatings, conspiracy to murder, robbery, hijacking and drug dealing.

Mr Flynn's action was triggered by the findings of Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan that some Special Branch officers colluded with loyalist killers.

Her Operation Ballast report, issued back in 2007, centred on the activities of a UVF gang allegedly led by Mount Vernon man Mark Haddock.

As part of the lawsuit Mr Flynn's lawyers sought access to 94 categories of documents.

In court they argued that the police admission of partial liability was a tactical move to avoid handing over all files on the informant and cover over the full extent of alleged collusion.

An affidavit filed by Mr Flynn claimed police either failed to arrest the agent for the murders and other crimes or else conducted "sham" interviews, despite knowing he was a leading UVF figure.

Misleading records were deliberately compiled, while other documents and forensic exhibits were either destroyed or lost, he alleged.

Mr Flynn also claimed: "I believe that the police knew I was at risk from Informant 1 and were quite content to let me be murdered by him and his associates."

Counsl for the Chief Constable argued that it was disproportionate and unnecessary to try to gain access to a "vast" amount of documentation when an admission of liability has been made.

He revealed that the material being sought covers a period of up to 14 years.

The court also heard it would take an estimated two years to identify all the documents and comply with the level of discovery being sought.

A Public Interest Immunity (PII) process alone would cost in excess of 300,000, according to a Superintendent asked to assess the scale.

But Mr Justice Colton said today: "In a case such as this, given the grave allegations that have been made against the agents of the state, resource arguments are unattractive."

Despite accepting that an order for specific disclosure may be laborious and time consuming, he added: "There is a force in the plaintiff's submission that the defendant has not taken its discovery obligations seriously, at least prior to the admission defence."

According to the judge much of the requested files should be already available because it featured in the Ballast report.

"I simply cannot understand why that material cannot be identified," he said.

"Accordinglly, I have come to the conclusion that the list of documents served in this action does not comply with the defendant's obligations."

With potentially more material held to be in the police possession that should be handed over, Mr Justice Colton directed further submissions which may lead to a "bespoke" discovery process being devised.

Outside court Mr Flynn's solicitor pledged to take steps to ensure full and urgent disclosure.

Claire McKeegan of KRW Law said: "The PSNI have tried at every turn to avoid disclosing any relevant material to allow us to resolve this case.

"This decision is important not only to the matter at hand but to all of our legacy litigation where the state representatives have cited resources as justification for non-compliance with the rules.

"We see today's decision as a marker that this position will not be accepted."
Police thwarted an alleged heroin supplier's attempt to swallow 40 wraps of drugs during an operation in Belfast, the High Court heard today.

Prosecutors claimed Aidas Tumenas tried to dispose of the haul when he was detained as part of a wider investigation into illegal trading on the city's streets.

It was also revealed that a fellow Lithuanian national held along with him committed suicide last month while on remand in Maghaberry Prison.

Details emerged as Tumenas, with an address at Waterside in Lisburn, was refused bail.

The 26-year-old faces charges of possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply and conspiracy to supply.

He was allegedly spotted with his co-accused making a transaction near the Beersbridge Road in east Belfast on January 4, the court heard.

Prosecution counsel Kate McKay claimed that as officers moved in Tumenas transferred items from his pocket to his mouth.

"Police prevented him from swallowing and he began to struggle with them before spitting out approximately 40 wraps of (suspected) heroin," she said.

After he was arrested and cautioned Tumenas replied: "I don't sell the drugs."

According to Mrs McKay, however, police investigating heroin dealing in the greater Belfast area have been aware of him since last September.

His alleged accomplice was also taken into custody on charges of conspiracy and being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs.

"Tragically he committed suicide in Maghaberry Prison," the prosecutor disclosed.

She said he hanged himself on February 11, dying in hospital several days later.

Opposing Tumenas' bail application, Mrs McKay told the court police believe he has a "middle ranking" role supplying street dealers.

She added that forensic tests have confirmed 35 of the wraps contained heroin, with the other five made up of speed-type substances.

A defence barrister argued that as a foreign national Tumenas would struggle more in custody, particularly after his co-accused's suicide.

Richard McConkey said: "His friend very tragically took his own life and he's finding it very difficult."

Despite taking that bereavement into account, Mr Justice Deeny noted that two other heroin dealing suspects have fled since being released.

Identifying a further risk of re-offending, the judge ruled: "My duty is to refuse bail."
One of Ireland's oldest printers has laid claim to being the island's most technologically advanced after unveiling a 4 million upgrade.

Established in 1862, W&G Baird employs 95 staff at its main site in Antrim, with offices in Dublin and Nottingham.

On Friday it showed off a range of new equipment which, it claims, will put it at the cutting edge of the industry.

Stormont Economy Minister Jonathan Bell attended the launch event.

"W&G Baird has a long and distinguished history within the printing industry and this investment to upgrade the company's equipment cements its commitment to future growth," he said.

Patrick Moffett, managing director of W&G Baird, added: "Whilst we already operate the largest print room in Ireland, the installation of this new press and binder will enhance our already considerable capacity and maintain our position as an innovator in the industry."
The scene where a man, believed to be a prison officer, has been taken to hospital after a device exploded under a van in east Belfast. It happened around the Woodstock Road at about 07:10 GMT on Friday.

The van at the scene of the car bomb in East Belfast

A man, believed to be a prison officer, has been taken to hospital after a device exploded under a van in east Belfast.

A man, believed to be a prison officer, has been taken to hospital after a device exploded under a van in east Belfast. Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Press

The scene where a man, believed to be a prison officer, has been taken to hospital after a device exploded under a van in east Belfast. It happened around the Woodstock Road at about 07:10 GMT on Friday.

The scene where a man, believed to be a prison officer, has been taken to hospital after a device exploded under a van in east Belfast. It happened around the Woodstock Road at about 07:10 GMT on Friday.

A man, believed to be a prison officer, has been taken to hospital after a device exploded under a van in east Belfast.

Picture credit  Matt Mackey - Presseye.com Belfast - Northern Ireland - 4th March 2016 The scene where a man, believed to be a prison officer, has been taken to hospital after a device exploded under a van in east Belfast. It happened around the Woodstock Road at about 07:10 GMT on Friday.

A man, believed to be a prison officer, has been taken to hospital after a device exploded under a van in east Belfast.

A man, believed to be a prison officer, has been taken to hospital after a device exploded under a van in east Belfast. Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Press

The scene at the top of Hillsborough Drive off the Woodstock Road in east Belfast where a device exploded under a van resulting in one man being hospitalised. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye

A bomb disposal unit officer inspects the damaged van following a suspected car bomb attack on a prison officer at Hillsborough Drive on March 4, 2016 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

A bomb disposal unit officer at the scene following a suspected car bomb attack on a prison officer at Hillsborough Drive on March 4, 2016 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

Community and church leaders from across Northern Ireland's sectarian divide have united in condemnation of a bomb attack on a prison guard.

Secretary of State Theresa Villiers described the murder bid as vicious and appalling. Ms Villiers said: "Like all his colleagues in the prison service, this officer serves the whole of the community, in stark contrast to the people who carried out this appalling and violent crime."

Arlene Foster and Martin McGuinness, the region's First and Deputy First Ministers used social media to denounce the perpetrators before issuing a joint statement in which they described it as "despicable and shocking" attack.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with this senior prison officer and his family as he is treated for his injuries in hospital," the ministers said.

"We join all right-thinking people in condemning these cowardly actions. As a prison officer, he is someone who serves and protects our community and we are united in our rejection of this attack.

"Prison service workers have our full support as they play their part in building a peaceful society. The perpetrators offer nothing but hatred and fear."

Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan has also expressed concern at what he called a callous and cowardly incident.

Northern Ireland's Justice Minister David Ford said the people who planted the bomb had shown no regard for life.

"These devices do not discriminate when they cause injury or death.

"Those involved in carrying out this misguided attack and those who planned it should see the futility of their actions. They go against the democratic principles that the vast majority of people in this society support.

"My sympathy goes to this officer, his family and his colleagues."

Meanwhile, Prison Service director general Sue McAllister said her thoughts were with the victim and his family, adding that his colleagues would not be deterred.

"This was a despicable act and an attack on us all," she said.

"This officer serves the entire community and whoever was behind this has nothing to offer anyone in Northern Ireland.

"Today we stand side by side together, united as a service. We will continue to do our jobs, and to serve the whole of Northern Ireland."

The POA, the trade union which represents prison officers, branded the attack "cowardly and disgraceful".

The scene of the blast borders south and east Belfast.

Among those at the extensive police cordon from early in the morning were Democratic Unionists Emma Pengelly, whose constituency office is nearby, and East Belfast MP Gavin Robinson.

Mrs Pengelly said: "We are trying to build a peaceful Northern Ireland. This is not the type of thing that we want to see here.

"Regardless of who planted the bomb - this is absolutely unacceptable. It is disgusting, it is shocking, it is putting people's lives at serious risk and it needs to stop and needs to stop now."

Sinn Fein MLA Gerry Kelly has said there can be no place in society for such attacks, adding that they are wrong.

"I hope that the man injured in this incident makes a full and speedy recovery," he said.

"Those behind attacks like this represent no one and have nothing to offer the community.

"They need to listen to the views of the vast majority of people in our society call an immediate end to these futile actions."

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood described the perpetrators as thugs and criminals.

Mr Eastwood said: "They need to understand that an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us and the first generation brought up in peace will not stand for it.

"My thoughts and prayers and that of all party members are with the victim and his family during what must be an incredibly distressing time.

"These people claim to be in conflict with the British government, the British Army or the PSNI but they are not. Their fight is with the people of Ireland who have overcome the bombs and bullets of violent thugs in the past and are resolved never to allow it to happen again."

East Belfast MLA Chris Lyttle also expressed his outrage at the "sickening echo of the past".

"I am shocked and sickened someone has attempted to take the life of this man," said Mr Lyttle.

"It is difficult to put into words the contempt every right-thinking member of society will have for those behind this attack. The people responsible offer nothing except death, injury and disruption.

"Those trying to return Northern Ireland to a climate of fear will not be allowed to win. My thoughts and prayers are with those injured by this device, and I would urge anyone with information about this incident to contact police immediately."

Church leaders have also spoken of their horror and revulsion.

Presbyterian Moderator Dr Ian McNie said: "I saw first hand the invaluable work that prison officers undertake on our behalf on a visit to Maghaberry in November. This attack is a throwback to a past that should never be repeated, as violence, then as now, has no place in our society."

President of the Methodist Church in Ireland, Reverend Brian Anderson, who grew up in the area where the attack took place, said the action was a stark reminder that the men of violence were still active.

"Knowing that in reality such people do not give any heed to the condemnation of their actions, I would nevertheless utterly condemn this savage action and offer my sympathy to the prison officer, his family and all his colleagues," he said.

"I hope that this tragedy will galvanise the total community revulsion against those who have carried out this dastardly act."

Rev Harold Miller, Bishop of Down and Dromore, said it was a "deplorable" act and wished the victim well. Archdeacon David McClay, whose Willowfield Parish takes in the Woodstock area, said: "Local people in the Woodstock are appalled by the attack this morning.

"He and his family are in our prayers, as are all those who are impacted by this criminal and detestable act."
A flustered Tina McKenzie faces the media at the Kings Hall, Belfast, during the disastrous election night of May 26, 2014

Former NI21 candidate Tina McKenzie has revealed she met Chief Constable George Hamilton to discuss a possible plot to blackmail her before a European election.

The meeting in 2014 emerged as Mrs McKenzie broke her two-year silence on the collapse of the party on the eve of polling amid allegations of sexual misconduct by leader Basil McCrea.

In an exclusive interview with the Belfast Telegraph, the west Belfast-born businesswoman backed Mr McCrea's claim that he was the victim of a conspiracy to destroy his political career.

She also detailed the "horrifically bad" relationship between Mr McCrea and the party's deputy leader John McCallister.

Mrs McKenzie revealed that a man who had previously been associated with the party contacted her in April 2014.

She said: "He told me he had got me 'checked out' by a friend on the police and had my husband's family in England checked out by a friend in the Metropolitan Police, and he had found nothing on us. I was horrified."

In early May - fewer than three weeks before the European and local council elections - she received a phone call from the same man. It followed rumours that spread on social media about Basil McCrea's alleged conduct. "He said he had complaints about Basil McCrea and women," Mrs McKenzie said. "He said he was going to the papers. I told him to go to the police if he had complaints.

"He told me it was the end of my campaign and he said he would put it on the internet.

"He said, 'Your campaign is over'. He also said, 'All of this can go away'. I said I was going to end the call. I thought that it was blackmail, but now in hindsight, I think someone just wanted to get rid of Basil."

Mrs McKenzie, Mr McCrea and Mr McCallister met Mr Hamilton, then an Assistant Chief Constable, at PSNI headquarters in east Belfast on May 6, 2014.

"Mr Hamilton was very supportive," Mrs McKenzie said. "He asked me if there had been a complaint (against Basil McCrea), but there hadn't. He took it very seriously but advised me to keep going with my campaign."

It is understood that the PSNI has investigated the issues raised at the meeting but that no one has been charged in relation to the allegations.

The police confirmed to the Belfast Telegraph earlier this week that they were examining a complaint from Mr McCrea that he had been the victim of a criminal conspiracy - a claim supported by Mrs McKenzie.

"It was definitely a conspiracy," she said, "but I don't know who was behind it. I will give the police any help I can in their investigation."

In a wide-ranging interview Mrs McKenzie, a recruitment company boss and mother-of-three, also explained how she became involved in the formation of NI21 a few months after returning to Northern Ireland from England in 2013.

"The catalyst was the flag protests - the frustration and pain of communities," she said. "People didn't have a lot of hope, and there was a lack of political leadership.

"Most businesspeople I knew told me I was mad, not to touch politics with a bargepole, but when I came back and saw the state of the place, I knew I wanted to get involved."

She attended a meeting organised by Mr McCrea and Mr McCallister at the La Mon Hotel near Belfast in April 2013.

It was the same night that former party worker Ashleigh Murray, then aged 23, later claimed that Mr McCrea had made sexual advances towards her.

Mrs McKenzie said she heard and saw "nothing untoward". It was during the two-day event that she told Mr McCrea that her father, Harry Fitzsimons, was a former member of the IRA.

"It didn't concern him," she said. "It was never a problem."

She also detailed the increasingly toxic relationship between Mr McCrea and Mr McCallister, and what she saw as the latter's antipathy towards her.

"The relationship between Basil and John was horrifically bad. They could not work together, even from the earliest days," Mrs McKenzie told this newspaper.

"I did try to bring them together, to have a serious think about the impact on the party of their bad relationship. There was always underlying friction.

"John was uncomfortable with me. He made it clear that he was unhappy that the party executive voted for me to be the European candidate. He said it should be him or Basil, but Basil didn't want to be the candidate."

Mrs McKenzie also lifted the lid on the shocking events that led to the collapse of the party.

She said the rumours about Mr McCrea's alleged sexual misconduct towards women had persisted in the run-up to the election, although no complaint had been received.

Matters came to a head at a dramatic late-night meeting on May 14, 2014, a week before the election and the eve of the party's manifesto launch.

"John rang me at 10pm and said there was a very, very serious complaint against Basil and that I would be absolutely shocked," Mrs McKenzie said. "He said it was horrific. I rang the entire executive, except Basil, and called them to my house in Belfast at 11pm. There were six of us. It was a tough meeting. John would not tell us the nature of the complaint except that it was sexual. He would not tell us the person's name. I said several times that he should go to the police."

The PSNI confirmed no complaint has ever been received in relation to this allegation.

Two days before the election, the party executive backed a move by Mrs McKenzie and Mr McCrea to drop NI21's "unionist" designation, against strong opposition from Mr McCallister.

The night before the poll, he gave a media interview branding the party "dysfunctional" and 24 hours later, just before voting ended, Tina McKenzie and three other members of the executive resigned. "We knew the vehicle was poisoned and that the dysfunction between John and Basil was never going away," she said.

"We agreed not to talk until there was a full, independent investigation. We all acted with integrity. Basil was destroyed, Ashleigh was destroyed, people's hopes and dreams were destroyed.

"It was like a death. I was grieving for the party and the council candidates. I felt that I had failed all of the people in the party, all the people who had voted.

"I even felt I had failed Basil and John in some way because I couldn't fix it. I have never failed at anything before - I'm very resilient - but this was beyond my control. I thought, 'If this is politics here, I'm done'."

Mrs McKenzie retreated to her home but found that her tumultuous year was about to get a lot worse. "I focused on the family - we had deaths and serious illness to deal with," she said.

"My husband, aged 42 at the time, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in September 2014. He had an operation and is now totally recovered and in the clear, but it was horrific. That's the stuff that is important in life. You have to put political party issues into perspective."

Mrs McKenzie also told how she had "no feelings" towards Mr McCallister. "I have no relationship with him at all," she said. "I think that he could have handled it all differently."

She remains on good terms with Mr McCrea and said she was pleased that the report by Assembly Standards Commissioner Douglas Bain had cleared him of any wrongdoing.

"The report shows the dirty nature of Northern Ireland politics and that saddens me," she added.

"Basil is fastidious about detail, and that helped him to clear his name. He has a very strong family and a wonderful partner, Jill. People supported him behind the scenes. Some of us worried about his mental health as the pressure on him was horrendous.

"He is a friend and I wish him well in the election. I think he has a good chance because people on the ground love Basil. I think he was naive and trusting - he wanted to help everyone. He is still enthused by politics. His life is politics."

And it seems that Mrs McKenzie may still harbour political ambitions of her own.

"I'm not ruling out a return to party politics," she said. "Three parties have approached me to take a role. I've had discussions but have made no decision about that. I don't see a vehicle that is screaming out for me to join.

"I'm involved in lots of aspects of public life, like the Centre for Democracy and Peace, along with Lord Alderdice, the Social Investment Fund and the government's Steps to Success programme, which is helping 10,000 job-seekers.

"You don't need to be in a party to make a difference. Sticking on a rosette is a different thing to actually helping people. I want to make Northern Ireland a better place."
Jean Orchin, a classroom assistant at Whitehead Primary School, dressed as Hagrid for the day

Madison, a pupil at Woodburn Primary School, as Jadis The White Witch from Narnia

Kilkeel Primary School P3 did extreme reading. They had to get a picture taken of them reading in an unusual /funny place. Myles Griffin (7) reading with the First Minister Arlene Foster at the DUP Breakfast and underwater at Kilkeel leisure centre.

Cora and Cliona McCrissican from Downpatrick dressed up as a WW2 Wren & Dorothy for World Book Day 2016.

Emily Cousins (12) Year 8 Glenlola Collegiate. She is Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice.

Connor (8) and Catherine (5) Davis from Lisburn dressed up as Horrid Henry and Dorothy (with Toto) for World Book Day.

Emma and Jack Weir dressed up as Diary of a Wimpy Kid & Gangster Granny!

Danny P3 from Newtownabbey dressed up as the Mad Hatter ready for his Tea Party.

Trent Atkinson P6 from Springhill Primary School Belfast as Greg from diary of a Wimpy kid.

Eve Christina Quinn (7) from Belfast as Veruca Salt from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Amy and Calum Rice from Castlewellan dressed as Moody Margaret from Horrid Henry & Billionaire Boy (David Walliams).

Caitlin Boal (7) as Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz and 10-year-old Rachel Boal as Gangsta Granny from David Walliams' book. Both girls are from Comber and attend Comber Primary School.

Caitlin McAlinden (8) from Lower Ballinderry as Miss Root The Demon Dentist in the book by David Walliams.

Chloe (7) The Cat in the hat and Sophia Spence (3) as Goldilocks from Bangor who dressed up for World Book Day at Towerview Primary School and nursery.

Cora dressed as Lilly-Anna from her favourite book The Adventures of Shelby Stables.

Chennai Donegan (7) from Newtownbutler, Fermanagh dressed up as her favourite comic hero, Supergirl.

Alastair Mcdowell (4) - bag of porridge from Goldilocks and the three bears' book. Alastair attends Central Primary School in Randalstown.

Emily (5) and Jack (8) Davies from Comber dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood and Hiccip for World Book Day at Comber Primary School

Little bookworms from all over Northern Ireland dressed up as their favourite characters for World Book Day yesterday.

The international celebration aims to turn millions of kids into millions of readers.

One was Coleraine boy Oliver Dickey.

He was diagnosed with a form of cerebral palsy when he was 18 months old.

Big-hearted Ulster folk raised cash to take Oliver to America for surgery to help him walk, and yesterday the youngster dressed up as his favourite character Stick Man - doing his bit for the books he loves.

And Education Minister John O'Dowd, about to step down from his post, chose World Book Day to open a new library at St Patrick's Primary School in Cullyhanna.

"Reading is something that I encourage all young people to get involved with and enjoy," the minister told pupils and parents on his visit to the south Armagh school.
Unions have vowed to keep picketing a Cadbury factory over fears further jobs will be outsourced.

Talks between Siptu and Unite representatives and owners Mondelez Ireland will begin this morning after 17 positions at the Coolock factory were reassigned.

More than 200 workers went on strike, disrupting production of some of the company's most iconic chocolate bars such as Dairy Milk, Twirl and Flake amid concerns more permanent roles could go the same way.

The scheduled talks will be chaired by mediators from the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC).

Unite regional coordinating officer Richie Browne warned that the move to outsource 17 core roles in Coolock would herald a "move away from good permanent jobs to precarious work".

"The unions have put forward proposals which would achieve productivity improvements and cost savings with no loss of permanent jobs," he said.

"We welcome the intervention of the WRC, and hope for a meaningful engagement."

Siptu sector organiser John Dunne said: "Our union representatives have decided to attend these talks in the hope that a resolution can be found to this dispute.

"However, the work stoppage at the plant will continue tomorrow and the pickets outside the plant will remain in operation."

Cadbury in Coolock has been producing chocolate bars for five decades for the Irish, UK and other international markets.
Dance teacher Leonard Watters, who was jailed for making false allegations that he was sexually assaulted by Louis Walsh, has received a suspended sentence for raiding a man's bank account.

Father-of-two, Leonard Watters, 28, with an address at Woodview, Navan, Co. Meath pleaded guilty to stealing a named man's wallet containing 60 and bank cards from his apartment in Kilmainham in Dublin in the early hours of November 28 in 2014.

Watters, who was jailed in 2012, also pleaded guilty at Dublin District Court to theft of 290 and 300 from bank machines at O'Connell Street and Temple Bar Square in the city-centre on the same date.

Today, Judge Bryan Smyth noted that Watters had brought 650 to court for the victim. He imposed a nine month sentence but suspended it on condition that Watters keeps the peace and does not re-offend for two years.

Gda Graham O'Neill told Judge Bryan Smyth that Watters had met the injured party socially at Dame St in Dublin city-centre. They returned to the man's address and were seen on CCTV arriving at about 3am. Subsequently the accused was seen leaving at about 4.22am, Gda O'Neill said.

The following morning the victim, who is in his thirties, became aware that his wallet containing 60 and his bank cards was missing. He checked his bank account online and observed that there had been two transactions. Watters, who was identified from CCTV footage, had withdrawn a total of 590 from two ATMs within an hour of leaving the victim's home.

The man did not have to be called to give evidence and does not want to provide a victim impact statement but had come to court to watch the proceedings.

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Gda O'Neill said Watters had eight prior convictions. The latest three offences were for giving false information to gardai in relation to Louis Walsh which led to him getting an 11 month sentence with five months suspended in 2012.

His remaining convictions were for breaching a barring order and motoring offences.

Defence solicitor Leonard Leader said Watters had a drink problem but fell off the wagon and was under the influence of alcohol when the theft happened. He said it was on the spur of the moment after the victim fell asleep.

He told the court that when Watters was aged nine, he suffered third degree burns over a third of his body which had a huge impact on his emotional and cognitive development.

He has been on pain killers since and also suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He later began working as a barman and after that he set up a dance school. However that business has dried up as a result of the publicity and press intrusion following his previous case, and he has been unable to work since.

He also gets abused when walking around his home-town, the court was told. Pleading for leniency, Mr Leader also asked the court to note his client has a good relationship with his children and is tackling a drink addiction.

Judge Bryan Smyth had said there was a certain degree of calculation on Watters' part; he had befriended the man and left his home after stealing from him.

Four years ago Watters was jailed after he admitted he concocted unfounded claims that former X-Factor Louis Walsh groped him in the toilets of a nightclub in Dublin city-centre in April 2011. Described as a "Walter Mitty", he received an 11-month term with five months suspended after he pleaded guilty to making false reports to gardai.

After court yesterday/today his solicitor Leonard Leader said his client had no comment to make.

Irish Independent
A poll for Amnesty found support for the decriminalisation of abortion

The vast majority of people in Ireland want abortion decriminalised and access expanded, a poll for Amnesty International has found.

The survey of people during the general election showed almost two thirds of people want politicians to show leadership and deal proactively with the controversial issue.

Colm O'Gorman, director of the human rights group in Ireland, said the incoming government is being told to make abortion reform a priority.

"This poll demonstrates yet again that on the issue of abortion, Ireland's people are way ahead of their political leaders," he said.

"The incoming government cannot ignore the fact that the vast majority of Irish people want women's human rights to be respected. It must prioritise the expansion of access to abortion in Ireland without delay."

The survey by Red C found:

:: 69% of people called for expansion of Ireland's abortion law to be a priority issue for the next government, when "don't knows" and those who were neutral are excluded.

:: 68% described the ban on abortion as "cruel and inhumane", also when undecideds and neutrals are excluded.

:: Politicians, anti-abortion groups, media and church leaders are the least trusted sources of information on the issue.

:: 87% of people want access to abortion expanded and 72% want it decriminalised.

:: More than half of people agreed that Ireland's abortion laws are cruel and inhumane.

Amnesty said there were progressive views on abortion across all regions and socio-economic groups.

It said the survey showed two thirds of people think it is hypocritical for the constitution to ban abortion in Ireland while it is legal for women to travel abroad for the procedure.

Amnesty said the research showed almost three quarters of people surveyed believe that the fact that women must travel for abortions unfairly discriminates against those who cannot afford to or are unable to travel.

Mr O'Gorman said: "Almost three-quarters of respondents believe the government should hold a referendum to allow people an opportunity to vote on whether or not to remove the Eighth Amendment."

In the election campaign Labour vowed to hold a referendum on the constitutional ban, as did Sinn Fein.

Mr O'Gorman added: "Despite the dishonest efforts of many opposed to reform, the poll found that 80% of people are aware that women have a right to access abortion in certain circumstances under international human rights law. This is an increase of 10% on polling we ran in 2015."

The survey also found that of those in favour of expanding access to abortion in Ireland, 7% want it limited to fatal foetal abnormalities.

The Red C poll was conducted on the first three days of February and again from February 18-22 with more than 1,000 adults randomly selected each time.
Bangor man Ben Gleave who was mistaken for Ben Needham who went missing in 1991

A DNA test has proved that a Bangor man is not missing boy Ben Needham, who disappeared on a Greek island in 1991.

Police had asked for DNA samples from Ben Gleave (28) over 10 years ago while he was living in Canada when a neighbour told them that they believed he was actually the missing boy.

The Canadian police sent his DNA to a private investigator working for Ben Needham's grief-stricken parents, and not to South Yorkshire police who were investigating the boy's disappearance.

It's understood the private investigator lost the DNA samples and he was not given anymore information but after police emails were leaked to the media, Mr Gleave had to prove once more that he was not the missing child.

Last month he sent a new DNA sample to South Yorkshire Police to rule himself out of the case.

Today a post on the Help Find Ben Needham Facebook page said: The DNA results from Mr Gleave are back and is a negative match for Ben. We wish Mr Gleave all the best for the future and thank him for coming forward.

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph last month, Mr Gleave said "This whole thing is making my life hell. It's a disaster. I want my name ruled out - I am not Ben Needham," he said.

The DNA results from Mr Gleave are back and is a negative match for Ben. We wish Mr Gleave all the best for the future and thank him for coming forward. #helpfindben  Posted by Help Find Ben Needham on Thursday, March 3, 2016

"I have my birth certificate: I know who I am. The Canadian police told me that if no-one got in touch with me, I had nothing to worry about. And no-one got in touch with me for 10 years.

"I just don't know what I have to do to clear this up. I thought all this was behind me."

Ben, from Sheffield, vanished on July 24, 1991, after travelling to the island of Kos with his mother and his grandparents. The youngster would now be 25.
The ASCL accused the Government of "asking the impossible" by demanding that schools improve standards, without giving them the money and resources to do so

There is a "serious danger" that severe budget cuts will mean that schools will not be able to maintain their current standards of education, headteachers have warned.

Schools across England are being forced to cut courses, equipment and books, increase class sizes and make redundancies amid a continuing squeeze on finances, according to the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL).

It accused the Government of "asking the impossible" by demanding that schools improve standards, without giving them the money and resources to do so.

A survey of ASCL members, conducted by the union ahead of its annual conference in Birmingham on Friday, found that more than three in four (77.1%) believe financial pressures have had a detrimental impact on the education they are able to give pupils.

The vast majority (84.6%) said they have not received enough funding in the past 12 months to meet the essential needs of their school or college.

More than half (52.7%) said their financial situation was serious, or very serious, with a further 17.6% admitting it was critical. More than one in four (28.3%) said their situation was worrying but that they were coping, and the rest said their situation was fine.

Nearly seven in 10 of those polled (69.5%) said they had been forced to cut resources such as IT equipment and textbooks, while 65.9% said they had reduced the number of courses they offered and 63.9% had increased class sizes.

More than a third (38.4%) had made job cuts. Others said they had cut senior leadership posts or not replaced departing staff.

The survey also found concerns that the situation is unlikely to improve, with a third (33.5%) saying it will be "critical" and a further 56% saying it will be serious, or very serious.

Research has shown that England's schools will have to make real-terms cuts of around 8% over the next five years, because of extra costs that they will have to meet from their existing budgets, ASCL said.

It added that according to its own analysis, a secondary school teaching 1,700 pupils aged 11 to 18 with a budget of 7.9 million would have to make cuts worth 531,000 in 2016/17 - equivalent to more than 10 teachers.

In his speech to the conference on Friday, ASCL president Allan Foulds is expected to say that the combination of funding cuts with a teacher shortage poses a serious threat to schools and colleges.

"These problems are so acute that there is a serious danger we will not be able maintain current standards, let alone raise them further.

"Geoffrey Howe once made a famous observation about being sent to the crease only to find that your bat has been broken by the team captain. The situation with teacher supply and funding is now so serious that we are in danger of finding we are out there with no bat at all.

"The Government is rightly committed to raising standards. Nothing is more important to school and college leaders. But it is simply asking the impossible to demand that schools and colleges take the next big leap forward in raising the bar without providing the essential materials with which to achieve that ambition.

"There is a simple correlation between input and output in any process. The education system requires the raw materials of sufficient funding and teacher supply to achieve the outcomes we all want to see.

"No amount of hard work and dedication in schools and colleges can make up for the lack of them and it is wishful thinking to believe otherwise."

A separate report published by ASCL and the Policy Exchange think-tank on Friday argues that there should be more flexibility to allow teachers to come in and out of the classroom throughout their careers.

It argues that between 2008 and 2012, 6,000 women aged between 30 and 39 left the profession each year, and for many this is likely to be related to taking time out to care for children. Separate data shows that of teachers who leave in order to look after family, only around half will return to the classroom.

At the same time, of all the teachers who leave state school each year, around half stay in education in some form, the report says.

It suggests that more flexible working, including career breaks and secondments, could encourage more people to stay in teaching.

A Department for Education spokesman said: "The ASCL and Policy Exchange report is right to highlight the issue of flexibility for those who wish to return to teaching.

"The latest figures show that the number of former teachers returning to the classroom is rising year on year, which is encouraging.

"But we know that a lack of flexible options creates a barrier, in particular for women who take a career break, and we will soon be announcing further work to support flexible working for female teachers and to encourage women to return to the classroom."

A DfE spokesman added: "Education is a priority for this Government and we are continuing to invest billions into the sector each year as part of our drive to achieve educational excellence everywhere.

"To that end we have delivered on our manifesto commitment to protect the schools budget and as pupil numbers increase, so will the amount of money in our schools.

"At the same time we will make funding fairer by introducing a new national funding formula so that areas with the highest need attract the most funding."
Facebook will pay more tax on UK business - seen here the company's boss Mark Zuckerberg

Tax justice campaigners have called for an overhaul of Britain's corporation tax system, after Facebook announced voluntary changes which are likely to lead to the social media giant paying millions of pounds more to HM Revenue and Customs.

From April, the company will end the practice of routing sales from major UK companies through Ireland, where they were liable to corporation tax at the lower rates charged in the Republic.

Facebook was widely criticised after paying just 4,327 in UK corporation tax in 2014, while more than doubling its UK staff share bonus pot to 35.4 million. Corporation tax is charged at 20% on taxable profits, but Facebook's accounts showed a loss of 28.5 million for the year in Britain, under an arrangement which treated the UK operations revenues as a payment from Facebook Ireland for services.

The total corporation tax bill for the company - which has global profits of more than 1 billion every three months - amounted to less than a worker on the average wage would pay in income tax and national insurance. And a Freedom of Information request from Channel 4 News showed that it was less than a sixth of the 27,000 paid by HMRC for ads on the site urging people to pay their taxes.

The Treasury said it was clear that the new 25% diverted profits tax introduced by Chancellor George Osborne was having an impact.

A Treasury spokesman said: " The Chancellor introduced the world's first diverted profits tax to ensure multinationals change their behaviour, rather than artificially shifting profits out of the UK. We can see it is already starting to have an impact."

The tax targets multinational enterprises which enter into "contrived" arrangements to avoid a taxable presence in the UK and is applicable to profits arising after April 1 2015. HMRC will shortly begin assessments of companies' liabilities for the first year of the tax, though it is not yet known whether any of Facebook's activities during the current tax year will be deemed to fall under its provisions.

Facebook played down suggestions that it was responding to public and political anger over its tax arrangements, insisting that the new set-up was designed to improve "transparency".

In a statement, a Facebook spokesman said: "On Monday we will start notifying large UK customers that from the start of April they will receive invoices from Facebook UK and not Facebook Ireland. What this means in practice is that UK sales made directly by our UK team will be booked in the UK, not Ireland. Facebook UK will then record the revenue from these sales.

"In light of changes to tax law in the UK, we felt this change would provide transparency to Facebook's operations in the UK. The new structure is easier to understand and clearly recognises the value our UK organisation adds to our sales through our highly skilled and growing UK sales team."

There was no guidance from Facebook on how much additional revenue from advertisers can be expected to be routed through the UK or how much more tax the company will pay to HM Revenue & Customs as a result of the move.

The scale of any additional payment will not become apparent until HMRC assesses its corporation tax liabilities in 2017. Smaller advertisers who book advertising space online will continue to receive invoices from the Republic.

Alex Cobham, director of research at the Tax Justice Network, said that Facebook's announcement "raises more questions than answers" and had simply confirmed that international corporation tax rules were "a mess".

"Facebook's decision to allocate UK sales to major advertisers to its UK operation for tax purposes suggests that HMRC is completely unable to enforce corporate tax on major multinationals," said Mr Cobham.

"Multinationals must be taxed on a unitary basis, recognising that they maximise profits at the global level and then apportioning those global profits between countries according to where the real economic activity takes place. Pretending that an entity like Facebook UK is operating independently from the rest of Facebook, maximising UK profit on its own, is absurd."

The chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, Jonathan Isaby, said: "The fact that Facebook has taken a voluntary decision to change its structure so it pays more corporation tax just goes to show how absurd the system has become.

"The out-dated tax system is simply not suitable for the modern, global economy and leaves the tax liabilities of multinationals open to honest dispute. Instead of announcing another round of ineffectual 'clampdowns' at the Budget, the Chancellor should rethink corporation tax in its entirety."

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said Facebook's announcement meant " little or no real substantive change at this time".

"This Government must wake up to the scale of the corporate tax abuse scandal in the UK," said Mr McDonnell. "The truth is that the Chancellor has allowed a situation where some companies feel they can pay what they want when they want.

"It's time George Osborne pushed ahead with full country-by-country reporting so that we can finally get to the bottom of what is owed to taxpayers."

Liberal Democrat economics spokeswoman Baroness Kramer called for a "fundamental rethink of this discredited system" of corporation tax.

A spokesman for HMRC said: "We do not comment on individual taxpayers. But HMRC ensures that all multinationals pay the tax due under UK law and we do not settle for a penny less.

"We will closely examine any business's structure on behalf of the British public to make absolutely sure they pay all the tax due to the UK and the new diverted profits tax will ensure the UK gets its fair share of tax from a multinational's profits by making them restructure to stop shifting profits overseas."

The chairwoman of the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Meg Hillier, said that multinational companies were not "passive subjects of international tax rules".

"They choose how to structure their tax affairs and must acknowledge responsibility for those choices," said Ms Hillier. "In some cases this involves using complicated tax structures specifically designed to minimise their tax bills."

The PAC has repeatedly raised concerns about the effectiveness of HMRC in securing a fair deal for taxpayers from multinational companies, most recently in a report into Google's 130 million settlement to cover corporation tax for a 10-year period.

"The work of the Public Accounts Committee and continuing high levels of public anger about the behaviour of some corporations have done much to move these issues up the political agenda and we will see the effects of Facebook's new arrangements in due course," said Ms Hillier.

"We remain concerned that in the balance of power between corporations and HMRC, corporations have more weight.

"Our committee would reiterate its call for HMRC to take a lead in reforming international tax rules and to work with overseas tax authorities to secure lasting change in the international tax system."

Andrew Watters, tax specialist at law firm Thomas Eggar, said: "The decision to restructure their business model so as to pay more tax in the UK comes not from legal necessity but from the fear of bad publicity. That decision may have been influenced by conversations with high-profile clients who saw potential reputational. damage to themselves and wanted to make out cheques to a UK company for services provided to them in the UK.

"It is a triumph for the HMRC trident policy of more complex legislation, harsher penalties when a taxpayer gets it wrong, and appeals to the court of public opinion to encourage more generous giving via taxation."
A coroner has refused to broaden the scope of an inquest into the death of a young Tory who took his own life after alleged bullying.

Elliott Johnson, 21, was found dead on railway tracks in Bedfordshire in September after alleging he had been bullied by Mark Clarke, 38, who led the Conservative's RoadTrip2015 campaign.

His suicide note also said he feared his political career was over after he was dismissed from his job with pressure group Conservative Way Forward days after making the bullying complaint.

The Johnson family used a pre-inquest hearing in Ampthill on Wednesday to argue that the full inquest should hear more detailed evidence about events in the months leading up to his death, including the culture within the Conservative Party at the time.

But on Friday coroner Tom Osborne delivered a written judgment saying the original scope of the inquest was appropriate and he would not call members of the Conservative Party as witnesses.

Neither Mark Clarke or mutual friend Andre Walker will be called as they would only deny the allegations, he added.

Instead the inquest would focus on the fact Elliott believed he was being bullied and on him being made redundant by Conservative Way Forward after making the bullying allegation.

The family's lawyers have argued that Elliott's redundancy was "retaliatory action" linked to his bullying complaint.

He was also allegedly under pressure from Mr Clarke to withdraw his complaint.

Mr Osborne said: " The inquest is limited to answering the question as to how the deceased came by his death, will look at the circumstances of his employment and consider in detail the content of the notes left by the deceased to determine whether the correct conclusion should be that he died as a result of suicide.

"I emphasise again that an inquest is not a trial. The purpose is not to determine whether the allegations of bullying set out in the letters left by Mr Johnson were true and I will not allow the inquest to be used as a tool for putting anyone on trial."

The coroner added that it would not be appropriate to call members of the Conservative Party to give evidence about what steps or measures they are taking to investigate the bullying allegations by one party member towards another party member.

The Johnson family said they were pleased that Conservative Way Forward's actions would be investigated by the coroner.

Father Ray Johnson added: "It's good the coroner recognises the link between the dismissal and Mark Clarke. This is a really important step forward for the family."

After his death on September 15, a suicide note was found in which Elliott cited the alleged bullying by Mr Clarke, a "betrayal" by mutual friend Andre Walker and his loss of employment as reasons.

George Alliott , representing Conservative Way Forward, told Wednesday's hearing only selected parts of the suicide note had so far been made public.

Other parts, including reference to his sexuality preventing him giving his parents grandchildren, would have to be considered were the inquest to be broadened, he added.

"If the scope were to be widened, it is going to have to include reference to Elliott's mental health and his sexuality," he added.

Speaking after the coroner's ruling, Mr Walker, who says he was in a relationship with Elliott at the time of his death, said he had hoped the inquest would have explored other issues which affected his death.

He added: "I'm disappointed the motion to extend the inquest has been declined, it would have given us an opportunity to look at the allegations of homophobic discrimination in much more detail.

"Also it would have ensured all the previous suicide attempts were properly considered."
David Cameron has joined fellow European leaders to urge Vladimir Putin to help transform the current fragile truce in the Syrian civil war into the kind of long-lasting ceasefire which would add momentum to peace talks.

The Prime Minister took part in a 50-minute conference call with the Russian president, along with French president Francois Hollande, German chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian PM Matteo Renzi.

The European leaders told Mr Putin they welcomed the cessation of hostilities in Syria over the past week and that they wanted to seize the opportunity to create a "positive dynamic" for UN-sponsored peace talks due to start in Geneva next week, leading to a political transition to a new administration to replace the regime of Moscow protege Bashar Assad.

Mr Cameron's official spokeswoman said: "The call was initiated by the European leaders because we want to take the opportunity that has been created by the truce in recent days to open the path for more substantive peace process and negotiations.

"The main point that the European leaders made on the call to Putin was that we welcome the fact that this fragile truce appears to be holding. We have got to use this as a positive dynamic now to create some momentum behind the talks which we hope will get under way next week, so that we can move from a truce into a more lasting durable peace with a political transition away from Assad.

"President Putin agreed that the main task was now to maintain compliance with the truce and to make sure that it will stand and then to get people around the table in Geneva next week for the talks on transition.

"They also spoke about the importance of allowing humanitarian aid to reach besieged towns."

The spokeswoman said that Mr Cameron underlined the fact that all of the countries involved in the call had "a common interest" in defeating the Islamic State terror group - referred to by the Prime Minister as Daesh - in Syria and tackling the threat from Islamist extremists.

He told Mr Putin that "it is in all our interests to support a peace process in the country that can lead to a stable, inclusive government that has the support of all Syrians", said the spokeswoman.

The opening of the talks being led by United Nations envoy Staffan de Mistura has already been pushed back by the United Nations from March 7 to March 9 to allow the ceasefire "to better settle down", amid reports of violations on all sides.

Moscow has been carrying out air strikes against what it terms "terrorists" in Syria since September, but Western nations have accused Mr Putin of also targeting more moderate groups opposing the Assad regime.

Asked whether Mr Cameron trusted Mr Putin to deliver on promises to support the truce, the PM's spokeswoman said: "We are clear that this is an extremely difficult conflict that has proven very hard to resolve.

"We are committed to working with partners and to taking opportunities where we can to try to make progress. We think this fragile truce presents an opportunity. That's why we need to urge President Putin, the regime and its backers to work with the international community on this."

She added: "What we welcome is the fact that there was a sense from everybody in the call that we have an opportunity and we have got to create some momentum behind it.

"It was a very clear, direct conversation between all the leaders on .. the need to seize this opportunity and grab it, otherwise the prospects to resolve this are bleak."

The call was Mr Cameron's first conversation with Mr Putin since the release of an explosive inquiry report which found that the Russian president probably ordered the 2006 murder of former security agent Alexander Litvinenko in London. However, the PM's spokeswoman said that the case was not discussed in the call, which focused exclusively on Syria.
A bomb attack on a prison officer in Northern Ireland may be the first of a number of dissident republican murder bids launched to mark the centenary of the Easter Rising, police have warned.

Police commanders have expressed fears violent renegades are intent on killing security force members as a perverse way of commemorating the landmark republican anniversary.

The 52-year-old prison officer, a married father of three, required surgery after an explosive device detonated under the van he was driving to work in Belfast on Friday morning.

His condition has been described as stable. The long serving officer is based at Hydebank Wood Young Offenders Centre in south Belfast and works as a trainer for new recruits to the NI Prison Service.

Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Assistant Chief Constable Stephen Martin said he was extremely concerned about an upsurge in dissident activity ahead of the forthcoming 100th anniversary of the republican rebellion against British rule in Dublin.

Mr Martin said while the terror threat level in Northern Ireland has been categorised as "severe" for a number of years he was now describing it as "the upper end of severe".

"I believe there are people within dissident republican groupings who want to mark this centenary by killing police officers, prison officers and soldiers," he said.

"I am saying that publicly, I am saying it deliberately, and I am saying I need the help of the community. That is not inevitable, this does not need to happen, but we need the support of the community."

The 1916 uprising failed in its primary objective but it triggered a series of events that ultimately saw 26 counties of Ireland gain independence from Britain five years later.

Extremists who splintered from the mainstream republican movement during the peace process insist their armed actions will not end until the six counties of Northern Ireland are reunited with the Irish Republic.

The Rising has assumed great significance in wider republican and nationalist ideology and it will be marked by a series of state events in Dublin on March 27.

There are dozens of commemorative events planned north of the border as well. Mr Martin said his officers were "culturally sensitive" to those and would police them appropriately.

But he warned: "There are people within dissident republican groupings who want to mark the 2016 100th anniversary in an entirely more sinister way, who want to kill police officers, prison officers or soldiers.

"So we believe the threat is extremely high at the moment, it's at the upper end of severe, and we need community support and it's not inevitable that anyone needs to lose their life."

Stormont First Minister Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness described the bombing as a "despicable and shocking" attack.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with this senior prison officer and his family as he is treated for his injuries in hospital," the ministers said.

"We join all right-thinking people in condemning these cowardly actions. As a prison officer, he is someone who serves and protects our community and we are united in our rejection of this attack."

The explosion happened in the Hillsborough Drive area off the Woodstock Road in the east of the city just after 7am.

The senior prison officer had just left home to drive to work.

Detectives are examining whether the bomb dislodged from the vehicle as it was going over a speed bump, thus lessening the impact of the blast.

The Woodstock Road is a predominantly unionist/loyalist area.

Mr Martin said: "The intention of this device was to kill, someone prepared this device, someone transported this device and someone planted this bomb."

The police commander added: "This could have been a fatality, the people who planned this wanted to kill a prison officer.

"This is a 52-year-old man, he has been in the prison service for 28 years, he's a married man, he has grown-up daughters, and we could be facing an absolutely tragic set of circumstances today in which a man who goes to work every day to keep people safe, to protect people, is actually deprived of his life in the most callous of circumstances."
Facebook will pay more tax on UK business - seen here the company's boss Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook will pay millions of pounds more UK tax as they move to stop routing their sales from major UK customers through the Republic of Ireland.

The move comes after widespread criticism of multinational companies' use of complex tax arrangements to minimise their liabilities.

In 2014, Facebook posted results which showed that it paid just 4,327 corporation tax despite UK revenues totalling 105 million.

Facebook said in a statement that the new arrangement - which will start in April - would provide greater "transparency".

Sales from major businesses such as Tesco, Sainsbury's, Unilever and advertising giant WPP will go through the UK but smaller business sales where advetising is booked online will still be routed through the Republic and their Dublin office will remain their International Headquarters.

A Facebook spokesman said: "On Monday we will start notifying large UK customers that from the start of April they will receive invoices from Facebook UK and not Facebook Ireland. What this means in practice is that UK sales made directly by our UK team will be booked in the UK, not Ireland. Facebook UK will then record the revenue from these sales.

"In light of changes to tax law in the UK, we felt this change would provide transparency to Facebook's operations in the UK. The new structure is easier to understand and clearly recognises the value our UK organisation adds to our sales through our highly skilled and growing UK sales team."

There was no guidance from Facebook on how much additional revenue from advertisers can be expected to be routed through the UK or how much more tax the company will pay to HM Revenue & Customs as a result of the move.

The scale of the additional payment, which may run into millions of pounds, will not be known until official accounts are published in 2017.

Smaller advertisers who deal with sales staff based in Ireland will continue to receive invoices from the Republic.

The company's accounts recorded UK revenues totalling 105 million. But they showed it made an accounting loss of 28.5 million in Britain, after it more than doubled its staff share bonus pot to 35.4 million.

Facebook's payment of 4,327 was less than a single UK worker on an average salary would have paid in income tax and national insurance.

Before the introduction of the new arrangements, Facebook's UK revenues have been treated as a payment from Facebook Ireland for services.

As a result, sales of advertising space to UK customers have not been subject to corporation tax in Britain, but at the lower rates applied in the Republic.

Chancellor George Osborne last year introduced a diverted profits tax of 25% on multinational enterprises with business activities in Britain which enter into "contrived" arrangements to avoid a UK taxable presence.

It was nicknamed the "Google tax" because it was expected that the internet giant would be among those caught by its provisions. But the search engine company was not in fact required to make any payment under the new tax when it reached an agreement with HMRC to pay 130 million in taxes owed over the previous decade.

Responding to Facebook's announcement, a spokesman for HMRC said: "We do not comment on individual taxpayers. But HMRC ensures that all multinationals pay the tax due under UK law and we do not settle for a penny less.

"We will closely examine any business's structure on behalf of the British public to make absolutely sure they pay all the tax due to the UK a nd the new diverted profits tax will ensure the UK gets its fair share of tax from a multinational's profits by making them restructure to stop shifting profits overseas."

Liberal Democrat economics spokeswoman Baroness (Susan) Kramer said: "Facebook's decision shows once again that our corporation tax system is fundamentally broken. Whether a company pays its fair share of tax on UK profits cannot be left up to whether they are feeling charitable or not.

"We need a fundamental rethink of this discredited system, yet George Osborne continues to do nothing but boast about sweetheart deals with major companies that are not available to ordinary British businesses and taxpayers."
Police appealed for anyone who recognises the man to get in touch

An eight-year-old girl has been sexually assaulted while visiting a bakers shop with her mother and brother.

The girl was in Greggs, on The Headrow, in Leeds, when she was assaulted by a man, West Yorkshire Police said.

Police have released CCTV images of a man they want to trace and appealed for anyone who recognises him to get in touch.

A spokesman said the sexual assault happened shortly after 3.30pm on Friday February 12 when the girl was waiting with her younger brother in the seating area of Greggs while her mother paid at the counter.

The man is described as Asian, aged in his late 30s, tall, of a large build, with a shaved head and a beard.

Detective Inspector Steve Greenbank, of West Yorkshire Police, said: "This was clearly a distressing incident for the young girl involved and her mother and we urgently need to speak to the man shown in the CCTV images.

"We would ask that anyone who recognises him or who has any information that could assist the investigation contacts us immediately."

Anyone who recognises the man is asked to contact Detective Constable Kelda Hardwick on 101 quoting crime number 13160073167 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
The late Harry Harpham, whose widow Gill Furniss has been selected as Labour candidate for the by-election in Sheffield triggered by his death

The widow of former Labour MP Harry Harpham has been chosen to fight the Westminster by-election triggered by his death from cancer last month.

Gill Furniss was selected to contest the Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough seat by local party members at a meeting in the constituency on Thursday.

The long-serving city councillor told the Press Association her selection so soon after she lost her husband was "bitter-sweet" but said she was determined to carry on his work for jobs and investment in the South Yorkshire city.

Former miner Mr Harpham died just nine months after being elected in the 2015 general election to a seat formerly held by David Blunkett.

"Harry was only told he had terminal cancer last October and he was expected to live longer, so it was a shock that he only had four more months," said Ms Furniss. "Both being optimists, we never discussed what might happen to the seat after he was gone, and it never occurred to me that I might stand.

"But after he died, one or two people said to me `Why don't you try for it?' I mentioned it to my children almost as a joke and they all said 'That's exactly what we've been saying'. I gave it a lot of thought, and I felt it was the right thing to do.

"It's bitter-sweet because obviously I would rather that he was here carrying on his work, but I know that he would be absolutely thrilled. His time in Parliament was very brief but he really stood up for Sheffield and made a difference, and I am so proud of him.

"I am my own woman and I have a considerable amount of political experience, working as a trade union representative for Unison and being a city councillor for the last 16 years, but if I am elected I will certainly be carrying on his fight for jobs and investment in Sheffield."

The daughter of a steel-worker, Ms Furniss is Sheffield born and bred and is a former librarian and hospital worker.

No date has yet been set for the Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough by-election. Labour had a comfortable majority of 13,807 in the seat in the 2015 general election.
DUP MP Ian Paisley had his House of Commons credit card blocked after running up an expenses debt of 27,000.

The North Antrim MP was 27,766 in the red when his card was stopped last November, and the deficit was 20,337 by last month.

He was one of more than a dozen MPs who have had their Commons credit cards blocked by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) after running up expenses debts.

IPSA issues MPs with credit cards to pay for a variety of items such as travel, accommodation and stationery.

The politicians then have to prove the spending was allowable within a month, or they build up debts to the watchdog.

The sums are recouped by suspending the cards and not paying out valid expenses claims, or in instalments from the MP's salary.

Mr Paisley said in statement: "This card is used exclusively for House of Commons travel expenses etc. It is cleared each quarter. To my knowledge it was not stopped last year.

"The information published appears to give a snapshot in time position. Last June when an issue arose it was quickly resolved and all invoices reconciled with the card."

Five SNP politicians - including Westminster leader Angus Robertson and deputy Stewart Hosie - were among those subject to action by the Ipsa.

Four of the party's representatives have since repaid sums ranging from 33 to 3,446 in full.

Natalie McGarry, who has been suspended from the SNP amid allegations relating to missing donations, owed 2,270 when her card was blocked on January 25, according to the figures released to the Press Association under Freedom of Information rules.

She had 2,370 outstanding as of February 23. Her office blamed a "mix up" and said the situation had now been "rectified".

Shadow work and pensions secretary Owen Smith, former minister Liam Byrne and backbencher Simon Danczuk are on the list, having owed 953, 1,189 and 595 respectively. The amounts have all since been cleared.

Labour ex-policy chief Jon Cruddas was subject to action before Christmas over 2,967 of expenses.

Mr Cruddas said he exceeded the printing and postage budget for last year and had now agreed to settle the overspend by April 1.

Tory backbencher John Stevenson had his card blocked in December over 608 of debt, but has since settled the amount.

Fellow Conservative David Morris's card was suspended the same month, when he owed 12,240. He said Ipsa had initially failed to process the transactions properly and later discovered an overspend in office costs of nearly 5,000.

"This overspend happened due to numerous admitted errors by Ipsa with their system, but under the scheme any budget overspends must be personally reimbursed by the member from their own pocket," he said.

"This issue has now been resolved and the amount agreed as owed is being paid back by myself from my own pocket.

"I must stress that these expenses claimed for were all permissible claims and were legitimate office costs incurred by carrying out my parliamentary duties to my constituents."

Ms McGarry's office said her card was currently operational. "There was a mix up in the payment of the deposit for accommodation, but this has since been rectified, and Ipsa are satisfied with the repayment," a spokeswoman said.

The latest details date from the end of June, when a previous disclosure sparked a furious row between Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith and Ipsa about whether his card had been suspended over a 1,000 debt.

Some of the new cases involved disputed claims, with energy select committee chairman Angus MacNeil building up a 950 tab after charging a series of hotel bills for more than 250 a night. He insisted the rooms were the cheapest available, but has now repaid the difference above Ipsa's 150-a-night maximum rate.

Angela Crawley is the only SNP MP listed as having had her card suspended and still being in debt as of last month, owing 2,152.

An SNP spokesman said: "By its very nature the operation of the expenses system means that Ipsa often owes outstanding amounts to MPs and MPs often owe outstanding amounts to Ipsa. Outstanding amounts are then repaid."

The watchdog was challenged about the credit card rules by SNP MP Pete Wishart at a hearing of the Speaker's Committee that oversees it this week.

Mr Wishart complained that having to provide evidence for spending within a month could be "burdensome" and highlighted that new SNP MPs had seen their cards suspended.

"Ipsa had made such a fantastic impression on our new groups of MPs when they were newly elected," he said.

"There was goodwill towards Ipsa. Totally gone after that."

But the watchdog's chief executive Marcial Boo responded: "I am obviously very sorry that it has cost a lot of goodwill. But it is part of the role that we have to make sure that payments that we make are supported by evidence.

"As soon as MPs provide us with that evidence the card is turned back on again."

He added: "We cannot allow ourselves to be in a position where an MP is making thousands of pounds of payments on a card and failing to give us evidence to support that payment, without taking any action."

Mr Byrne said he was appealing after Ipsa refused to pay for leaflets to let constituents know about surgeries and other events.

"Ipsa is disputing whether they should pay for the invitations to residents' meetings and leaflets with information about my surgeries," he said. "But I think this is a point of principle.

"So, having discussed it with Ipsa's chief executive, I'm taking it to tribunal. Ipsa does a really difficult and important job and I will always defend it. But, MPs need to be at the service of their constituents - and that means residents must know how to get hold of the people they elect."

Plaid Cymru MP Hywel Williams had his card suspended over 2,183 of debt in November. He blamed Ipsa's "incompetence" for the issue, saying the watchdog continued paying the rent on a flat for two months after he moved out.

Mr Williams said he was later told to ask his old landlord to repay the money. " She repaid one month and asked for a receipt before paying the rest," he said. "Ipsa failed to do this despite repeated requests.

"Eventually Ipsa withdrew my parliamentary credit card, whilst I was trying to pay for parking and buy a train ticket - and catch the train - this without warning me.

"In the end they provided a receipt. She paid off the outstanding amount. They then reinstated my card."
Scientists are sure the asteroid will miss the Earth by at least 15,000 miles

A 100ft-wide asteroid is heading for a close encounter with Earth on Sunday and could come closer than some orbiting satellites.

But scientists are sure it will miss the Earth by at least 15,000 miles, and say there is no need to panic.

The space rock, named 2013 TX68, was spotted three years ago by astronomers in the US scouring the skies for potentially threatening near-Earth objects (NEOs).

Because it was tracked for only 10 days, its orbital path is uncertain. Experts believe it will make its closest approach to Earth on Sunday, although the forecast might be one or two days out.

Calculations show that 2013 TX68 could shoot past the Earth well within the ring of geostationary communications and GPS satellites stationed 22,300 miles above the equator.

At the other limit of its predicted range it could remain as far out as 40 times the distance to the moon.

US astronomer Sean Marshall, from Cornell University in New York, who studies NEOs such as comets and asteroids, said: "Should this asteroid come closer than the geostationary satellites, it would be a rare occurrence - that only happens about once per decade for large asteroids.

"What we know for sure is that it will not collide with Earth this month, so do not panic."

He added: "It is extremely unlikely that any satellite will get hit. TX68's trajectory will take it on an arc through a huge region of space, and satellites are very small objects.

"An asteroid hitting a satellite would be like a blindfolded person throwing a pebble and hitting a single small needle in an enormous haystack."

He said the asteroid had "absolutely no chance" of colliding with the International Space Station, which circles the Earth at an altitude of only about 250 miles.

"The closest that TX68 can possibly get to Earth is 24,000 kilometres (15,000 miles)," said Mr Marshall.
Statistics released by the EU's data agency provided fresh evidence of the unprecedented scale of the influx into the bloc

The number of people claiming asylum in EU countries jumped by as much as 800% last year, new figures have revealed.

Finland registered 32,150 first-time applicants in 2015 - a rise of nearly 10 times, or 822%, on the 3,490 recorded in the previous year.

The dramatic surge was disclosed as statistics released by the EU's data agency provided fresh evidence of the unprecedented scale of the influx into the bloc.

Eurostat said a record total of 1,255,600 first-time asylum seekers applied for international protection in the 28 member states - more than double the number in 2014.

Syrians accounted for the highest number of claims, doubling compared with the previous year to reach 362,800.

The number of Afghans seeking refuge in the EU nearly quadrupled to 178,200 while applications by Iraqis increased seven-fold to 121,500.

Citizens of the three countries made up more than half of the total first-time applicants registered last year.

Germany has received by far the largest number of asylum seekers, with nearly half of the Syrians who applied for the first time registered in the country.

Finland saw the sharpest increase in first-time applicants, followed by Hungary (323%), Austria (233%) and Belgium (178%).

Eurostat also revealed that at the end of last year there were almost a million applications pending, with almost half being considered in Germany.

On Thursday analysis of Home Office figures showed that the number of people claiming asylum in the UK as a proportion of the population has reached its highest level for 11 years.

Claims from 38,900 main applicants and dependants such as children were recorded in 2015 - a rise of 20% on 2014.

About one in 30 of those who sought asylum in the EU last year lodged their claim in Britain.
Iain Duncan Smith said he was troubled by the acrimony between the EU referendum factions

David Cameron has come under pressure from Brexit-backing senior ministers over the scale of immigration from the European Union.

Culture Secretary John Whittingdale challenged the Prime Minister to release figures which may point to higher levels of migration to the UK than official data as he warned public services were "creaking at the seams" because of the "influx" from the continent.

And employment minister Priti Patel said the UK had been "too tolerant" of immigration from the EU and the Government had "no control" over the number coming to the country.

Mr Whittingdale used a Daily Telegraph interview to release details of the active National Insurance numbers being used by EU citizens in the UK.

Official figures suggest that 257,000 EU migrants came to Britain last year, but over the same period 630,000 NI numbers were issued to EU citizens.

In the Commons on Wednesday, Mr Cameron said the reason why the numbers "don't tally" is because you can get an NI number for a "very short-term visit" and migrants already in the country can apply for one.

Mr Whittingdale said: "There is already enormous concern on the basis of the numbers that are published. The suggestion that they may understate the position is a cause for even greater concern.

"I have heard the reasons why National I nsurance numbers don't necessarily reflect actual levels, but at the very least that's a debate which we need to have and I can see no reason why we can't have the figures."

He warned that the number of migrants coming to the UK put pressure on housing, education and health.

"It is creaking at the seams," he said. "There is a very strong feeling that this is a small country and we simply cannot go on having an enormous influx over which we have no control."

His concerns were echoed by Ms Patel, who told the Daily Mail: " At the moment, we have no control. People move here from accession states, putting pressure on all our public services. School places is a classic example.

"We've become too tolerant. We've just sat back and accepted it."

Pulling out of the EU would allow the UK freedom to spend the money it currently sends to Brussels.

"You could build a hospital or a school with that. Think of all the roads we could build. The potholes we could mend. All the local services."

She also raised concerns about the impact of EU regulations on domestic appliances, claiming Brexit could mean " looking at a future with really powerful hairdryers, light-bulbs and vacuum cleaners".

"If you're like me and you need a hairdryer powerful enough to dry your hair in five minutes flat at 20 minutes past six in the morning, well, soon we might be able to get on again."

The interventions by the two ministers, both linked to the Vote Leave campaign, came as the rival Grassroots Out (GO) movement planned an "action day", taking the Brexit message to high streets across the country.

Ukip leader Nigel Farage said: " The grassroots will play a major role in this referendum campaign. Saturday's GO action day will be the first of many.

"The ground campaign will be vital to winning over wavering voters and getting our country back. We are proving that, by bringing people together under the GO umbrella, we have the troops needed to win."

Labour former minister and GO campaigner Kate Hoey said: "The referendum will be won town by town, street by street, house by house."
Two of the UK's leading airlines have been ranked in the top three of a list of the world's worst carriers

Two of the UK's leading airlines have been ranked in the top three of a list of the world's worst carriers.

EasyJet was at number two and Virgin Atlantic at number three - both behind Portuguese carrier SATA - in the table compiled by AirHelp, a company that handles compensation claims for delayed flights.

More than 30 airlines were given scores based on their punctuality, the length of time it takes them to make a payout and the number of times legitimate claims are refused.

EasyJet defended its record on compensation payments.

A spokesman for the low-cost carrier said: "We do not recognise these findings. EasyJet has been commended by its regulator the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) for its handling of EU261 claims and we will always pay compensation when it is due."

A Virgin Atlantic spokesman said: "We strongly question the validity of this report. We do everything we can to respond as quickly as possible and on average pay all eligible EU261 claims 14 days after receipt."
The Embassy of the Republic of Yemen, in Cromwell Road west London.

Unidentified gunmen have stormed a retirement home run by Catholic nuns in the Yemeni city of Aden, killing 16 people including four Indian nuns, security officials and witnesses said.

Two gunmen secured the outside of the home while another four entered the building, witnesses said. The gunmen moved from room to room, handcuffing the victims before shooting them in the head.

One nun who was rescued by locals said she hid inside a fridge in a store room after hearing a Yemeni guard shouting "run, run".

Witness Khaled Haidar said he counted 16 bodies, including that of his brother Radwan. All had been shot in the head and were handcuffed. He said six Ethiopians, one Yemeni cook and Yemeni guards were among those killed.

He said his family was the first to arrive at the house and he spoke to the surviving nun, who was crying and shaking. His family later handed her over to southern fighters in charge of security in the Sheikh Osman district of Aden.

The bodies were transferred to a police station and then a hospital run by the aid organisation Doctors Without Borders or MSF. An official with MSF confirmed that 15 bodies had arrived at the hospital. Mr Haider said his family took his brother's body for burial.

There were around 80 residents living at the home, which is run by Missionaries of Charity, an organisation established by Mother Teresa. Missionaries of Charity nuns also came under attack in Yemen in 1998 when gunmen killed three in the Red Sea port city of Hodeida.

Aden descended into lawlessness after a Saudi-led coalition recaptured the city from Shiite Houthi rebels last summer.

Yemen's civil war has split the country in two. The northern region, where Shiite rebels are in control, has been struck by an extensive air campaign by a Saudi-led coalition. The southern region, which is controlled by the internationally recognised government backed by Saudi Arabia, is suffering from a power and security vacuum.

Islamic State and al Qaida affiliates have exploited the lawlessness and created safe havens in the south.

Al Qaida controls several southern cities and IS has claimed a wave of attacks in Aden, including a suicide bombing that killed the city's governor and several assassination attempts on senior officials.

Aden's churches have also come under attack. In the summer, a Catholic church in the district of Crater was torched and sabotaged by Islamic extremists.

Yemen's war has killed at least 6,200 civilians and injured tens of thousands of Yemenis, and 2.4 million people have been displaced.
The ferry was en route from Gilimanuk port in Bali to Banyawangi on Java

At least 10 people are missing after a ferry capsized in the strait between the Indonesian islands of Bali and Java.

TV footage showed passengers standing on the side of the stricken ferry and jumping into the sea as it sank in placid waters.

Official statements about how many people were rescued ranged from 41 to 71.

Didi Hamzar, head of Bali's Search and Rescue Agency, said the ship's manifest listed 51 people on board including 14 crewmen.

He told TVOne that 10 people were missing based on the manifest, but passenger boats are frequently overloaded in Indonesia.

The ferry was en route from Gilimanuk port in Bali to Banyawangi on Java.

Footage broadcast by TVOne showed other ships in the background as the ferry, Tafelia 2, sank in the narrow Bali Strait. It languished on its side before capsizing.

Boats are a popular and relatively cheap form of transport in the world's largest archipelago nation which spans more than 17,000 islands with a population of 256 million. Sea accidents are common, with safety regulations often poorly enforced.

Local navy chief Lieutenant Colonel Wahyu Endriawan said 71 people had been rescued without any casualties.

"We cannot yet know whether some were trapped inside the ship which has totally submerged," he told MetroTV.
Abdullah Kurdi, father of three-year old Aylan Kurdi, waits at the morgue in Mugla, southern Turkey, on September 3, 2015, after a boat carrying refugees sank trying to reach the Greek island of Kos. AFP/Getty Images

Abdullah Kurdi, 40, father of Syrian boys Aylan, 3, and Galip, 5, who were washed up drowned on a beach near Turkish resort of Bodrum on Wednesday, cries as he waits for the delivery of their bodies outside a morgue in Mugla, Turkey, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2015.(AP Photo/Mehmet Can Meral)

A Turkish police officer carries the body of little Aylan Kurdi

A Turkish court has sentenced two Syrians to four years in prison over the death of three-year-old refugee Aylan Kurdi, state media reports.

Muwafaka Alabash and Asem Alfrhad were convicted of human trafficking but acquitted of the charge of causing the deaths through deliberate negligence.

They were put on trial charged with causing the deaths of five people, including Aylan, whose body washed up on a beach in Turkey last year.

Aylan was travelling with his father, mother and brother from Bodrum in Turkey to the Greek island of Kos when their boat capsized.

Images of the small boy lying face down on the beach galvanised a huge reaction to the refugee crisis.

Aylan and his family fled the northern Syrian town of Kobani, which was periodically besieged by Isis militants throughout 2014 and 2015.

After living in Turkey with the hope of returning to their hometown, the family made two failed attempts to travel through Europe to Canada, where Aylan's aunt lived in Vancouver.

The crossing, which killed all of the family except Aylan's father, Abdullah Kurdi, was their third attempt.

Mr Kurdi said the family paid a combined 4,000 (2,900) to people smugglers for places on a small dinghy.

The family began crossing at night, but when the sea became too rough for the vessel, the people smuggler's allegedly abandoned it, leaving the passengers to try and steer it on their own.

The boat soon capsized, throwing the refugees into the sea.

Independent
Brazilian police have pulled former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and two of his sons in for questioning and searched homes and other buildings connected to the family in a sprawling corruption case centred on the oil giant Petrobras.

Police turned up at addresses belonging to Silva, including his residence near Sao Paulo and the Instituto Lula, his non-profit organisation, police said in a news conference in the southern city of Curitiba, where the Petrobras probe is centred.

Acting on a warrant that required Silva to answer questions in the probe, he was taken to the federal police station at Sao Paulo's Congonhas airport. The Instituto Lula's spokesman, Jose Chrispiniano, said Silva's questioning finished after nearly four hours.

"No-one is exempt from investigation in this country," said public prosecutor Carlos Fernando dos Santos Lima. "Anyone in Brazil is subject to be investigated when there are indications of a crime."

Mr Lima and police and tax officials said they were looking into 30 million Brazilian reals (5.6 million) in payments for speeches and donations to the Instituto Lula by top construction firms - crucial players in the Petrobras corruption scheme.

They were also looking into whether renovations and other work at a country house and beachfront apartment used by Silva and his family constituted favours in exchange for political benefit.

In a statement, the Lula Institute said "nothing justified" the morning's events and denied any wrongdoing.

"The Instituto Lula reaffirms that Lula never hid patrimony or received undue advantages either before, during or after governing the country," the statement said, referring to the former leader by the nickname.

Silva last week denounced suggestions of personal corruption, accusing the media and opposition of spreading "lies, leaks and accusations of criminality".

Clashes broke out between Silva's supporters and detractors outside the ex-president's apartment in Sao Bernardo do Campo, and Brazil's GloboNews network showed crowds at Congonhas airport as well, with several hundred Workers' Party supporters chanting pro-Silva slogans.

Mr Lima said the decision to take Silva in for questioning was made for security reasons, to avoid demonstrations and other obstructions.

Silva, a plainspoken former union leader, was among the most revered leaders in Brazilian history when he left office in 2010, leaving the post in the hands of his chosen successor, Dilma Rousseff. He has made no secret of his continued presidential aspirations, saying he was mulling a run for the office in 2018.

Silva's Workers' Party reacted angrily, saying in a Twitter post, "we all must react now", and renewing calls for sympathisers to take to the streets in support of Silva.

In a video address, the party's president Rui Falcao denounced police actions as "a political spectacle that shows what the true character of this operation is".

The summons of Silva brings the sprawling probe closer to Ms Rousseff, though the once-close allies have visibly distanced themselves in recent months.

While Ms Rousseff has not been accused of wrongdoing in the Petrobras probe, she is facing impeachment proceedings in congress for her government's alleged use of the country's pension fund to shore up budget gaps. She denies the allegations.

During the press conference officials said police were carrying out 44 judicial orders as part of the broader Petrobras probe, known as Car Wash.

The Petrobras scandal has already ensnared top businessmen and heavyweight politicians from the governing Workers' Party as well as the opposition. On Thursday, the Supreme Court allowed corruption charges in the case to be brought against Eduardo Cunha, a top opposition figure and speaker of the lower house of congress.

Prosecutors say more than 2 billion dollars (1.4 billion) was paid in bribes by businessmen to obtain Petrobras contracts. Investigators have also said some of the money made its way to several political parties, including the Workers' Party.
China's army is being cut by 300,000 troops, although it remains the largest in the world (AP)

Military spending in China will rise by the lowest amount in six years amid slowing economic growth and a 300,000 cut in troop numbers.

Fu Ying, the spokeswoman for the National People's Congress, said the country will boost military spending by about 7% to 8% this year.

She told reporters that China needs to consider its defence needs, economic development and the country's fiscal position in drafting the military budget.

The People's Liberation Army is being trimmed to 2 million troops from 2.3 million, although it will still be the world's largest standing military.

It remains a major priority for China's leaders who have pushed an increasingly aggressive campaign to assert territorial claims in the South China Sea and East China Sea, raising tensions with its neighbours.

This year's budget comes as spending at all levels of government is being curbed because of a drop in the economic growth rate, which fell to a 25-year low of 7.3% in 2015 and is expected to decline further this year.

For most years since 2000, China posted double-digit increases in military spending, and this will be only the third time in that period with a single-digit increase, including 2010's increase of 7.5%.

China provides no breakdown of its defence budget and Pentagon and global arms bodies estimate actual military spending may be anywhere from 40 to 50% more.

That is because the official budget does not include the costs of high-tech weapons imports, research and development, and other programmes.

China says its military is strictly for defensive purposes, but takes a broad view of what constitutes threats to its core interests - including protecting maritime territory that is in dispute with neighbouring countries.

Its aggressive programme of building islands on reefs and atolls in the South China Sea as part of its campaign to claim virtually the entire region has unnerved China's neighbours.

Meanwhile, China continues a low-level campaign of confronting Japanese ships and aircraft near a set of contested East China Sea islands.
A man holds up a portrait of murdered Honduran indigenous leader and environmentalist Berta Caceres outside the coroner's office in Tegucigalpa (AP)

Honduran indigenous leader and environmentalist Berta Caceres has been murdered by gunmen who broke into her home.

Ms Caceres, 40, a Lenca Indian activist, w ho won the 2015 Goldman Environmental Prize for her role in fighting a dam project, had complained of receiving death threats from police, soldiers and local landowners because of her work.

Tomas Membreno, a member of her group, the Indian Council of People's Organisations of Honduras, said at least two people broke into the house and shot her dead early on Thursday in La Esperanza.

"Honduras has lost a brave and committed social activist," he said.

The killing appeared to be targeted, as a Mexican rights activist at the house was only slightly wounded in the attack, but Ms Caceres's body had four gunshot wounds.

Police said they had detained a suspect, but did not identify the person.

Ms Caceres, a mother of four, led opposition to a proposed dam on the Gualcarque river, considered sacred by the Lencas.

President Juan Orlando Hernandez said: "This act has caused mourning among all Hondurans."

His chief of staff, Jorge Alcerro, said: "The president has instructed all government security forces to use all means to find the killers."

He said Ms Caceres was supposed to be receiving special protection because of the death threats, but did not explain why there were no police protecting her when she was killed.
Missiles are paraded in Pyongyang last October during the 70th anniversary celebrations of its ruling party's creation (AP)

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered his country's nuclear weapons to be made ready for use at a moment's notice.

He also said his country will ready its military so it is prepared to carry out pre-emptive attacks, calling the current situation very precarious, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

The threats are part of the authoritarian nation's regular propaganda effort to show strength in the face of what it sees as an effort by its enemies South Korea and the United States to overthrow its leaders.

It follows harsh UN sanctions over the North's recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch and comes ahead of joint US-South Korean war games this month that the North claims are invasion preparations.

North Korea has threatened nuclear war in the past, but it is unclear just how advanced the country's nuclear programme really is.

Pyongyang is thought to have a handful of crude atomic bombs, but there is considerable outside debate about whether it is technologically able to shrink a warhead and mount it on a missile.

"The only way for defending the sovereignty of our nation and its right to existence under the present extreme situation is to bolster up nuclear force both in quality and quantity," KCNA said.

It stressed "the need to get the nuclear warheads deployed for national defence always on standby so as to be fired any moment".

On Thursday, North Korea fired six short-range projectiles into the sea off its east coast, South Korean officials said.

That happened just hours after the UN Security Council approved the toughest sanctions on the North in two decades for its recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch.

The firings also came shortly after South Korea's National Assembly passed its first legislation on human rights in North Korea.

The North Korean projectiles, fired from the eastern coastal town of Wonsan, flew about 60 to 90 miles before landing in the sea, South Korea's joint chiefs of staff said.

North Korean state media had warned that the imposition of new sanctions would be a "grave provocation" that shows "extreme" US hostility against the country.

It said the sanctions would not result in the country's collapse or prevent it from launching more rockets.

The UN sanctions include mandatory inspections of cargo leaving and entering North Korea by land, sea or air.

There is also a ban on all sales or transfers of small arms and light weapons to the North, and the expulsion of North Korean diplomats who engage in "illicit activities".
Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris (AP)

Independent national measures to tackle the migrant crisis are counter-productive, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said as she met her French counterpart in Paris to push for a joint European solution to the problem.

Border slowdowns and closures along the migrant route through Europe have meant people are piling up in Greece, overwhelming the country's resources, Ms Merkel said at a joint news conference with French President Francois Hollande.

The two leaders met in Paris ahead of a summit of EU and Turkish leaders to discuss the migrant crisis on Monday.

The Balkan countries and Austria have recently introduced tight restrictions to stem the flow of migrants, which has resulted in thousands of refugees and other migrants being stranded at Greece's border with Macedonia.

"Unilateral solutions do not help us," Ms Merkel said, adding that Europe needs to work closely with Turkey to stop the flow of migrants, and also to secure its outer borders.

Germany and France agree that the EU has to protect its external border to preserve freedom within Europe, get away from internal border controls and for security reasons, Ms Merkel said.

Mr Hollande said France will provide a ship to the Nato force deployed in the Aegean Sea - between Turkey and Greece - to help Europe's external border control.

As temporary controls between several member states are reimposed to deal with the migrant crisis, some fear a full collapse of the borderless Schengen zone through most of the EU.

The EU's head office, the European Commission, has estimated that the cost of fully restoring border controls between EU member states would be as high as 18 billion euros (14 billion) a year.

More than 1.2 million people applied for asylum for the first time in the EU last year, more than double the number in 2014. The EU's statistics agency said most people applying in the 28 EU countries were Syrian, Iraqi or Afghan nationals.

The bloc has kicked off the distribution of a promised 3 billion euros (2.3 billion) in aid for refugees in Turkey, formally pledging 95 million euros (74 million) for educational and food assistance.
A nanny accused of decapitating a four-year-old girl and brandishing her head outside a Moscow subway station has been formally charged with murder.

Vladimir Markin, spokesman for Russia's Investigative Committee, announced the charge.

Under Russian law, a conviction carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment or the death penalty, although Russia placed a moratorium on capital punishment in 1999.

Gulchekhra Bobokulova, 38, was detained in Moscow on Monday after she was seen with the child's head.

Officials have suggested the woman, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2003, could have been incited to kill as an act of terrorism, but Mr Markin said investigation into the motive is continuing.
The US State Department has admitted that its round-the-clock hotline service for Syrians to report violations of the recent ceasefire needs improvement, following reports that the volunteers manning the phones were unable to understand the Arabic speakers who called in.

The hotline was set up on Saturday after the declaration of a tentative ceasefire in Syrias devastating civil war. Witnesses on the ground have been encouraged to call and report any breaches of the agreement between rebels and the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

There have been repeated claims of air and artillery attacks in recent days, but a story published on Wednesday by Syria Direct  a non-profit group of journalists covering the war from inside Syria  suggested witnesses had found it difficult to describe the details of such violations to US officials.

Abu Odei al-Homsi, an activist with the Ceasefire Monitoring Centre in Homs, told Syria Direct he and his colleagues had tried to call the hotline, but we dont think they understood what we were saying. One State Department operator reportedly repeated the name Harbnifsah, a village south of Hama, as Harb Bebsi, which means Pepsi War. A call to the line was answered in English: Hello, this is the State Department cessation of Syria hostilities hotline, may I help you?

State Department spokesman Mark Toner said operators staffing the hotline were State Department employees who had volunteered in their spare time. He admitted that only some spoke Arabic, and that their language skills had not all been properly vetted. There were some language issues, Mr Toner said. Were working to correct those, obviously, because its important that we have Arabic speakers that were able to field incoming calls.

Syrians are also able to report violations of the truce by other means, including texting, emailing, or contacting the State Department via Google Voice. According to Syria Direct, some have decided to report the breaches instead to a United Nations hotline, which is manned by a native Arabic speaker.

The UNs special envoy for the Syrian crisis, Staffan de Mistura, said yesterday that the ceasefire had so far been successful despite scattered incidents of violence in the Homs, Hama, Lataki and Damascus provinces. Success is not guaranteed but progress is visible, he told reporters in Geneva.

State Department spokesman John Kirby said this week that US had not been informed of any claims of any additional violations of any significance since the truce took effect over the weekend, but Syrians were sceptical. Salim a-Rihal, from north Homs, which suffered shelling on Tuesday, told Syria Direct: America has no idea whats happening on the ground in Syria.

Both sides have accused the other of breaking the ceasefire, brokered by the US and Russia to give the Syrian government and the opposition a chance to reopen peace negotiations in the civil war, which has lasted almost five years and claimed at least 250,000 lives. However, the truce did not include Isis or the al-Nusra front, the regions al-Qaeda affiliate.

Residents across Syria were also left without power after a massive blackout whose cause was unknown, according to state media.

Language issues: The hotline in action

On Saturday night, Orion Wilcox, a journalist with the non-profit media group Syria Direct, called the US State Department hotline to report ceasefire violations in Homs province. I didnt expect an American to answer; he answered in English but switched to Arabic. I started telling him in Arabic about reports we were getting from Homs province of specific ceasefire violations, Mr Wilcox reported later.

Hes really struggling and cant understand me... Im like, why is this American guy on the phone who cant speak Arabic? Id give a detailed account of something happening in Homs province and he would listen and his answer was: Homs. Thats it.

On Monday, another Syria Direct reporter, Osama Abu Zeid, called the hotline to report on what were believed to be Russian air strikes on villages south of Hama city. The first State Department operator to answer the phone replied in poor Arabic, told him that he had the wrong number, and then hung up.

Independent
Nyima Yangzom, mother of Dorje Tsering, cries as she leaves with the body of her son from the hospital in New Delhi (AP)

A 16-year-old Tibetan living in India has died in hospital three days after he set himself on fire in a protest against Chinese rule.

The Tibetan suffered burns over 98% of his body and died late on Thursday, said Pankaj, an official at New Delhi's government-run Safdarjung hospital.

The teenager set himself on fire on Monday in the northern Indian city of Dehradun and was taken to New Delhi for treatment.

It was the second such protest this year, seen as an extreme expression of the anger and frustration felt by many Tibetans living under heavy-handed Chinese rule.

A Tibetan Buddhist monk died on Monday near the Retsokha monastery in western Sichuan province's traditional Tibetan autonomous prefecture of Kardze, Radio Free Asia reported. It said the monk called out for Tibetan independence while he burned, and died on the way to hospital in the provincial capital of Chengdu.

Tibetan exile sources say at least 114 monks and others have self-immolated over the past five years, with most of them dying. Radio Free Asia puts the number of self-immolations at 144 since 2009.

Tibetan monks and nuns are among the most active opponents of Chinese rule in the region and the strongest proponents of Tibet's independent identity, prompting the authorities to subject them to harsh and intrusive restrictions.

Beijing blames exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and others for inciting the immolations and says it has made vast investments to develop the region's economy and improve quality of life.

The Dalai Lama says he is against all violence. He fled Tibet to India in 1959 amid an abortive uprising against Chinese forces who had occupied the Himalayan region a decade earlier. He has been living in the northern Indian town of Dharamsala since then.
The attack targeted a traffic police station as well as police lodgings in the town of Nusaybin in south-east Turkey

Kurdish rebels have detonated a car bomb near a police station in south-eastern Turkey, killing two police officers and wounding 35 people, officials said.

The attack targeted a traffic police station and lodgings in the town of Nusaybin, near the Syrian border, where security forces are battling militants linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.

A fragile two-year-old peace process between Turkey's government and the PKK collapsed in July, reviving a three decades-old conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people. Hundreds - many of them police and soldiers - have died in the renewed fighting.

The governor's office for Mardin province said the explosion wounded 35 people, most of them police or family members. Four were being operated on, although their injuries were not life-threatening.

The explosion caused extensive damage to the police lodgings and left a large crater in the road, images published by the private Dogan news agency showed.

The PKK, considered a terror organisation by Turkey and its allies, is fighting for autonomy in Turkey's mostly Kurdish south east.

The attack in Nusaybin comes amid a surge of violence in Turkey.

Last month, a suicide car bombing that targeted buses carrying military personnel in the capital, Ankara, killed 29 people. A Kurdish militant group that is an offshoot of the PKK claimed that attack.

On Thursday, police in Istanbul killed two female militants of banned far-left group the Revolutionary People's Liberation Army-Front, or DHKP-C, who had hidden inside a building after attacking police with gunfire and a hand grenade.

Some 145 people have died since July in three separate suicide bomb attacks that authorities have blamed on the Islamic State group, including 12 German tourists who were killed in Istanbul's historic Sultanahmet district on January 12.

Turkey's Justice Ministry has submitted a formal request for parliament to lift the legal immunity of the two co-chairmen of the country's pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party, or HDP, and three other legislators, so they can be prosecuted for alleged links to the rebels, the Anadolu news agency said.

The move follows accusations by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that the HDP is the political wing of the PKK and his calls for parliament to remove their immunity, which shields legislators from prosecution.
Netflix is hiring 'Grammasters' - fans that are keen travellers with a talent for taking photos

Netflix is offering to pay TV and movie fans $2,000 a week to travel around Europe.

The US-based streaming service is now hiring 'Grammasters' - Netflix fans that are keen travellers with a talent for taking photos.

If your Instagram account is chocca with #travelporn, this may well be the opportunity you've been waiting for - and selfies are accceptable too.

Grammasters will travel for two weeks, visiting the sets of popular shows, films and Netflix originals, according to a very succinct jobs post.

Netflix will pay $2,000 per week, and handle all of your travel arrangements, subject to an independent contractor agreement.

To apply, all you need to do is follow @Netflix on Instagram, and hashtag your top three photos with #grammasters3 before March 6th.

In total, four successful applicants will be chosen to travel around Europe, taking photos of iconic TV and movie locations.

Morning ! Buenos dias ! Few weeks ago.... Barcelona ! A photo posted by @qorz on Mar 3, 2016 at 10:30pm PST

Applicants should be 21 years of age or older, have an Instagram account, and be sure to submit original photos that do not infringe third-party rights or include any "names or likenesses" other than yourself.

A shortlist of 25 finalists will be announced in or around March 11, with the final four Grammasters announced by March 29, Netflix says.

Find out more here: grammasters.netflix.com.
The watches are making exams a nightmare to administer, according to one deputy head

Smartwatches that allow pupils and students to cheat in exams are being openly sold on Amazon. An advert for one such watch, which has 4GB of memory, was offered on the website for 44.95.

This watch is specifically designed for cheating in exams with a special programmed software. It is perfect for covertly viewing exam notes directly on your wrist, by storing text and pictures.

It has an emergency button, so when you press it the watchs screen display changes from text to a regular clock, and blocks all other buttons, the seller wrote.

Joe Sidders, the deputy head at Monkton Combe senior school, in Bath, told BBC News that such devices were making exams a nightmare to administer. I expect the hidden market for these sorts of devices is significant, and this offering on Amazon is just the tip of the iceberg, he said.

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Mr Sidders said it was irresponsible to sell such devices and called for exam boards to challenge those involved in making them.

A spokesman for Amazon said the company did not want to comment on the sale of the cheating watches.

Independent
Sold is a film compelling story that spotlights the horrific business of sex trafficking. The age of girls trafficked for sex between the Nepal and India is between the ages of 13-16 years old or younger.

Based on the book, by Patricia McCormick, Sold, shares the story of a girl, Lakshmi, who hopes for a better life by moving to India for a new job. Hopes became dim after the youth found that she was recruited into a prison brothel with no escape. A U.S. photographer, played by Gillian Anderson, learns about Lakshmi and leads efforts to rescue her into states.

Director Jeffery Brown traveled to India as kid and when he read the book it rekindled his love of the country and the children who are desperate for help. Brown was inspired by the documentary Born into Brothels. The film shows the children of sex workers in Sonagachi, Asias largest red-light district in Kolkata, India. It also revealed how what the charity Hope House was doing for these kids, by creating a school to educate and protect those whove escaped. I was so moved by their tenacity, their energy, strength and determination to have a wonderful life. I was inspired by the kids in the movie and the philanthropic work that the film makers raised funds to educate the kids in the film.

Brown left the theater, and looked up towards the sky and said I am ready for my next assignment, universe. Then, the film Sold came to him and he worked to retool the script after the adaption from the book to make it a movie of hope and forgiveness, not purely revenge. They were able to get actress and executive producer Emma Thomson on board, and her stamp of approval was helpful to launch the project, and funding flowed.

Actress Seirah Royin stars as Mrs. Tripathi, the Hope House director in the movie. Jeff did far more than making a film, and the first time she met with Jeffery was to talk about his vision she offered.

It was how much this film could impact people all over the world. Very rarely do you get to be part of a project that can have such far-reaching consequences. For me, it became part of the same mission to do more than show up on set and do my part and then walk away, said Royin, also an associate producer in the film.

The problem with sex trafficking is not just in India, its in our backyard. Our hope is that the film will foster global policy change and raise substantial funds for survivors in India, Nepal and the United States. said Brown.

Audiences members are walking away from the film asking How can they can help and What more can I do after leaving the theater?

This is how. Brown and producer Jane Charles have created a platform where organizations have partnered with the movie. Non-profits like World Vision, Childreach International, Save the Children, United Way, Stolen Youth, and ECPAT are using the film as a tool to increase awareness to trafficking. Make sure to check them out.

Find out more about the importance of Sold.
When I was a young boy growing up in Pakistan, I was surrounded by every comfort for which anyone could ask. That is one of the benefits of belonging to a prominent Shia Muslim family. What I understand now that I didnt back then is that what is accepted by the masses isnt necessarily all that there is. At least it wasnt for me.

I had no doubt that my family loved me, and I knew that there were great things in store for me as a leader in our community, especially if I could strive to just be a good Muslim. I loved Islam and everything it taught me. But there was always something else tugging at me on which I couldnt put a finger.

Islam is a religion that calls for respect and devotion. I admire those who passionately put their faith first, making sure to closely follow the pillars of Islam. I also admire the faith of those who claim Christ as their savior, and go about sharing His message of love and forgiveness through grace, in spite of the danger they willingly place themselves in. There is no doubt that there are those on both sides that fiercely protect and defend what they know to be true. And as history has shown, that debate can lead to misunderstandings, which often produces horrific repercussions.

After my experience with Jesus, in which He spoke to me through dreams and visions, and promised me that He had more in store for my life, I came to discover that there are things about Him that answered questions about life that I just couldnt find an answer for in Islam.

There are a lot of misunderstandings between Christians and Muslims. What I know to be true, a lot of people, including some of my own family, dismiss. But, I fully believe there is a way to share love and respect with each other.

There's no doubt that Christians are called to show love to everyone (John 12:32 - "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.") As a result I feel called to return to Pakistan and share Christs love with the people of that country.

Even though I was chased out of Pakistan as a teenager because of my decision to follow Jesus, I want to return despite the fatwa on my life. I want to tell people that Christians are not to be feared. I want to share with them the love of Jesus. As evidence of that love, I plan to open a medical facility to help take care of the poor  something both Islam and Christianity ask us to do.

It is through that facility that I want to share what Christ has done in my life. I will no doubt be in constant danger for sharing my beliefs in a country that deems Christianity heresy. However, it is worth it to me to share what I have experienced with people who may be hurting and searching for something more in their lives.

Most Muslims you might meet are indeed good people, searching daily how to please Allah, take care of their families and serve their community. There are those who take it to the extreme, but then again there are also those who claim to be Christians, who have done just as much harm.

God seems to be calling Muslims to Him in great numbers. My story of how I met Jesus is not unusual for Muslims who convert to Christianity. God seems to be calling not just individuals but whole communities, tribes - even a whole religion  to Him, much like He did through Jonah for the Assyrians.

There is no Disney ending to the story of Muslims becoming Christians. There is always a cost. My story is complicated and messy and I struggled for a long time to come to terms with the loss of religious, cultural and family identity. But the cost is always worth it  and it creates a unique role for the Church to play in providing former Muslim believers with a loving, long-term community.

Ali Husnain (name changed for security reasons) had it all  prestige, security, wealth, social status. But when he made a life-altering choice to follow Jesus, he went from a typical teenager to a terrorist target overnight. "The Cost," releasing from Zondervan on March 8, 2016, is Alis riveting and remarkable journey of leaving everything behind to follow the one thing he knew to be true. Website: https://the-cost.squarespace.com/home


For Immediate Release, March 4, 2016 Contacts: Ted Zukoski, Earthjustice, (303) 623-9466 ext. 2622, tzukoski@earthjustice.org

Katie Davis, Center for Biological Diversity, (801) 560-2414, kdavis@biologicaldiversity.org

Alicyn Gitlin, Sierra Club, (928) 774-6514, alicyn.gitlin@sierraclub.org

Kati Schmidt, National Parks Conservation Association, (415) 847-1768, kschmidt@npca.org

Roger Clark, Grand Canyon Trust, (928) 890-7515, rclark@grandcayontrust.org Victory for Grand Canyon: Forest Service Rejects Project That Would Spell Disaster Agency Denies Stilo Development Groups Plan to Build Road,

Infrastructure Through Kaibab National Forest FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. Today the U.S. Forest Service rejected a proposal to widen roads and build infrastructure through the Kaibab National Forest that would have paved the way for a sprawling urban development near the southern entrance of Grand Canyon National Park. Stilo Development Group, an Italian corporation, sought to construct more than 2,100 housing units and 3 million square feet of commercial space, including hotels, a spa and a conference center in the tiny town of Tusayan, a plan that would have threatened water resources and put wildlife in harms way. Dave Uberuaga, superintendent of Grand Canyon National Park, called the proposal one of the greatest threats to Grand Canyon in the nearly 100-year history of the park. Such sentiment has been broadly echoed by American Indian tribes, local residents, city leaders, and local and national environmental organizations. This is a great day for Grand Canyon National Park and those who love its stunning vistas, abundant wildlife, and rich cultural heritage. The Forest Service was right to say yes to the public interest by protecting one of the most awe-inspiring places on earth, and no to the bloated development plans that threatened the park, Ted Zukoski, Earthjustice attorney said. Stilos proposal endangers water, wildlife, and wilderness that make the Grand Canyon a landscape revered in America and around the world. Well absolutely be there to defend this important decision. The Forest Services rejection of Stilos proposal to allow for roads to build a mega-mall development at the Grand Canyons doorstep is a huge win for the park and all those who love it, said Kevin Dahl, Arizona program manager of National Parks Conservation Association. Expanding Tusayan was an ill-conceived idea and would have been a massive threat to one of our countrys crown jewels. It would have threatened critical water resources, essential for the parks fragile and ecologically important springs and side creeks, and would have posed serious harm to Havasu Creek with its famous turquoise waterfalls. The Forest Service has made the right decision to protect our nations crown jewel national park and our national forest from a massive development. Grand Canyons visitors will benefit forever from the decision to protect the park from increased traffic, noise, light pollution, and litter. The lush springs in Grand Canyon will remain for the benefit of wildlife and people; their water wont be diverted to a massive commercial enterprise, said Alicyn Gitlin, Grand Canyon Program Coordinator for Sierra Club. "Americans demanded protection of Grand Canyon, and we thank the Forest Service for listening," said Katie Davis, public lands campaigner for the Center for Biological Diversity. "Todays decision means there is one less threat to this national treasure. We hope more positive decisions are made to protect the water and wildlife of this iconic region. Roger Clark, with the Grand Canyon Trust said: "Congratulations and thanks to the Forest Service for correctly recognizing that the development could 'substantially and adversely affect Tribal lands and the Grand Canyon National Park.' It got our public interest priorities right." Earthjustice, the National Parks Conservation Association, the Grand Canyon Trust, Sierra Club, and the Center for Biological Diversity  along with the city of Flagstaff and regional businesses  all opposed Stilos proposal, saying that it would negatively impact surrounding communities and Grand Canyon National Park. The groups previously urged the Forest Service to reject the permit application for the numerous threats it poses. The Forest Services letter rejecting the proposal is here.
When they weren't rubbing shoulders with the likes of the dearly departed David Bowie and Miriam Makeba, the founders of Kluk CGDT were working arduously to set a new benchmark in fashion design across the African continent and beyond. The enduring, masterly composition of their work over the years has put them among Africa's fashion top brass.

Malcolm Kluk and Christiaan du Toit, founders of Kluk CGDT. Image source: BDlive

If you think of some of the most renowned fashion brands in the world, you will find that they were often the illustrious products of two complementary partners  Versace, Valentino, Dolce & Gabbana. These brands are the dual aesthetic emanating from the marriage of individual creative characteristics of each partner in a collaboration.

A similar duality is sensed in the charm of the Kluk CGDT brand. "We are known for our sharp tailoring as much as our romantic feminine side," say Malcolm Kluk and Christiaan du Toit, the brands founders.

Kluk and du Toit were early members of SAs burgeoning fashion industry. Before they met, each designer had begun their own journey towards fashion fame.

After completing his education at the prominent Central Saint Martins College in London, Kluk went on to an apprenticeship under the extraordinarily talented John Galliano.

Du Toit graduated from the Cape Technikons fashion school, where he was proclaimed Most Promising Designer in 2001.

Both men have since proven to be far more than promising, adding to their individual accolades joint achievements from within the country and abroad. The duo met at a fashion show in 2001. Kluks label CGDT was a finalist in a design competition and du Toit was a featured designer.

Their collaboration  Kluk CGDT  was officially established in 2003.

Since then, the brand has achieved significant milestones that include showcasing their collections all over the world, earning them the African Fashion International African Designer of the Year award three times in a row, twice at shows in Nigeria and once in SA.

African Fashion International is a company established by businesswoman Precious Motsepe to promote African fashion brands.

"Christiaan is very detail-focused and concentrates on the finishing and finished product and Malcolm is more about the creative direction.

"We love that you have asked about our current muse because there are so many women that we love and (who) inspire us," they say.

"Elizabeth Taylor comes to mind immediately, as do Cate Blanchett, Grace Jones and Tilda Swinton. We love all of the women we dress and it would be bad manners to single anyone out."

However, they say there is "a certain redhead that has always been a muse for her grace and style and a certain radio personality and comedienne with a large personality that inspires us".

The brand creates separate pret-a-porter (ready-to-wear), haute couture and bridal lines. Their latest ready-to-wear collection, Guilty Pleasures, is powerfully sophisticated and modern, carried through in long silhouettes, sheer fabrics and elegant textures. The collection was inspired by the idea of "indulging in a fantasy of design, quality, (and) another world. One of the key elements in this collection was questioning what is appropriate for modern evening or cocktail wear."

Designing for each line must require a certain level of care to avoid falling into a cycle of repetition.

"We play with fabrics and ideas and designs. We love history and art and travel and, usually, one or all sparks an idea for a collection. We like to encompass all the senses, so music and food and colour and texture, all add something to that range."

"Time is the biggest hurdle," they admit. "We are both obsessive compulsive and do not like to delegate. We like being involved in everything. The decision for 2016 is about focus, about more exclusivity, about choosing who and what we will work with."
FRANKFURT - German retail and distribution giant Metro will decide by the end of this year on whether to expand into Myanmar and post-sanctions Iran, its chief executive said in a magazine interview on Thursday.

"Myanmar is benefitting from opening up politically and has high growth potential," CEO Olaf Koch told the weekly WirtschaftsWoche.

"We're also examining what opportunities Iran will offer with the end of Western sanctions," Koch said.

Preparations for the expansion of its whole cash and carry business are underway.

"We'll decide by the end of the year which way our journey is headed," Koch said.

Metro is already present in around 30 countries in Europe and Asia. Its brands include the consumer electronics chains Media Markt and Saturn, the supermarket chain Real and the hypermarkets Metro Cash&Carry.

In January, Western powers ended a political standoff with Tehran dating back to 2002, lifting sanctions after the UN's atomic watchdog confirmed Iran had complied with its obligations to curb its nuclear programme.

Western companies are now lining up to move back into the country. After half a century of military rule, Myanmar is moving to a popularly elected government.
This week, our 'Biz Online Insights' section explores the South African online population's views on the Oscars 2016.

The survey was carried out by Panel Services Africa on their premium online research panel, TellUsAboutIt, comprising 40,000 registered online users.

Who better to ask then, to glean insights into the local online population?

An Oscar from any angle is still an Oscar...  Vladimir Rublev  123RF.com

With #OscarsSoWhite and Leonardo di Caprio's Best Actor win dominating social media, we wanted to find out the average South African's views on this annual night of celebrating the movie world's best.

Overall, respondents admitted an interest in overseas movies and celebrities, with more of the younger set following the fashion and winner's results online and through social media and those over 50 getting the results delayed through TV or radio news broadcasts.

You can browse the results in the following SlideShare, which shows the 300 targeted responses, with additional quota control of sample according to age group, gender and province summary, in order to be nationally representative of the general South African adult online population:
7,721 injuries occurred nationally amongst policy holders during 2015, according to the Federated Employer's Mutual Assurance Company (FEM). This resulted in 61 fatalities, 603 permanently disabled persons and 34,385 lost man days.

Deon Bester, occupational health and safety manager at the Master Builders Association of the Western Cape (MBAWC), says, The rate of accidents in the construction industry still remain unacceptably high.

Western Cape, highest accident frequency rate

In the Western Cape alone, the number of accidents that have taken place over the past five years has risen by an average of 12.00% year-on-year. Between 2011 and 2015 there were 18 deaths and 202 permanent disabilities resulting from accidents. Furthermore, 29,671 man hours were lost and the average cost per accident stood at R17 532,20.

He continues, The Western Cape remains one of the provinces with the highest accident frequency rate. At a current rate of 3.7%, versus the national average of 2.67%, we are 28% worse than the average. In other words, we have 28% more accidents per 100 people employed in the construction industry. Whilst this is a very high variation, figures would indicate that we have less severe accidents based on the average cost of an accident. The current national average is R27,244 per accident whilst we are at R 15,813 per accident - 42% less.

Improving employee skills

In 2015, the Western Cape only had one fatality in 2015 compared with 12 in KwaZulu-Natal, 29 in the Gauteng region, 11 in the Free State, three in the Eastern Cape and five in the Northern Boland. Undoubtedly, one fatality is one too many and we should be striving for zero fatalities and zero harm - a target we believe is achievable, states the occupational health and safety manager.

To achieve this target, he suggests improving the skills of employees in the industry, providing proper training for employees and arranging adequate supervision. He also advises using the correct, quality tools for the job and utilising proper fall prevention equipment. In addition, Bester recommends regular drug screening and alcohol testing. These are just a few of the basic interventions required, shares Bester.

The construction industry, from large corporates to small sub-contractors, needs to take ownership of health and safety. Good health and safety practices in the workplace must be as important as ensuring turnover and providing a quality product and service on time to the end user. Only once health and safety carries the same weight as cost, quality and time will we see a reduction in accidents in the industry, concludes Bester.
With global cloud traffic expected to quadruple from current levels to 8.6 zettabytes (one zettabyte is equal to a billion terabytes), by the end of 2019, there is significant potential for Africa to capitalise on the move to Always-On. Gregg Petersen, regional director for MEA and the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation at Veeam Software, believes the African continent is well-poised to embrace changing business requirements for high availability.

While infrastructure is one of the traditional bugbears in Africa, many countries have turned to wireless as a viable alternative to copper connections. This has enabled business to transform into Always-On operations by providing employees and other stakeholders with increased access to data using a myriad of devices.

A greenfield opportunity

Petersen says there has been a big play in Africa around alliance integration with the likes of HP, NetApp, and EMC doing more in their partner programmes.

For many multinationals, Africa presents a greenfield opportunity. Service providers can come in and implement new technologies without being concerned about legacy solutions. They can therefore immediately virtualise their clients with the associated cost and efficiency benefits happening sooner rather than later.

For such an African expansion strategy to be successful, Petersen believes, a service provider needs to have a local presence in the countries. People do not want to do things remotely.

Emerging markets in Africa require a different strategy. Multi-nationals cannot simply bundle them together with countries in Europe with different operating environments and hope to be successful. It is about bridging the availability gap with a new breed of solution and a new way of doing business.

Always-One benefits

Petersen says the benefits of Always-On are becoming ever-more apparent.

Always-On brings rapid growth. With the focus moving away from traditional mindsets, the transition to the modern data centre brings with it a breath of fresh air when it comes to data availability.

By being able to adopt new availability solutions almost immediately, approaches in those countries are lending themselves to be more conducive to Always-On. And with many vendors focusing on solutions that are easy to use, customers have the peace of mind that they can focus on meeting their business deliverables.

We are entering an incredibly exciting time for the African continent. Significant opportunities are becoming available to solutions providers willing to cater for local nuances and therefore the shift to virtualisation is a case of when it will happen, rather than if, concludes Petersen.
PRETORIA: Cabinet has approved the submission of the National Land Transport Amendment Bill of 2015 to Parliament, which will transform and restructure the national land transport system.

The bill amends the National Land Transport Act, 2009 (Act 5 of 2009) and Cabinet says it will contribute towards a safer, accessible, efficient and effective public transport service.

The bill provides guidance in, amongst others, non-motorised transport; e-hailing transport services and branding of public transport. It further provides administrative clarity on the delegated powers and regulations in respect of the issuing of public transport operating licences, Cabinet said in a statement issued on Thursday, 3 March.

Cabinet said this bill will also enable the roll-out of the Integrated Public Transport Networks and it forms part of the National Infrastructure Plan and the Strategic Integrated Project 7.

The National Infrastructure Plan and the Strategic Integrated Project 7 focus on the coordinated development of integrated transport networks to establish cities as engines of growth.

The fortnightly executive meeting also approved the publication of the Draft Strategy for Addressing Air Pollution in Dense Low-Income Communities of South Africa for public comment.

The strategy seeks to provide a dedicated focused approach to deal with high levels of pollution in some of the densely populated low-income communities.

It provides a coordinated approach to the implementation of efforts to reduce domestic fuel burning, Cabinet said, adding that this focused strategy will support the existing national strategy to address air pollution in the country.

The intervention is to ensure these areas comply with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards.
Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe will be the keynote speaker at the second annual Vision 2030 Summit to be hosted by Topco Media in June.

The Summit, to be held at Emperors Palace on 8 and 9 June, follows on the successful Summit and the publication of a book on the National Development Plan (NDP) by Topco Media last year. Vision 2030 refers to the deadline outlined in the NDP for South Africa to be a significantly better place.

The aim of the summit is to look at what the private sector can do to advance the goals of the NDP, which is a plan intended to be embraced by all South Africans.

Radebe was also the keynote speaker at last years summit and said that the NDP calls on us to take measures to reduce income inequality and raise the income share of the bottom 40% earners. This requires all of us to discuss and reach an agreement on the kind of economic order we want and trade-offs and sacrifices we require to achieve it.

During the State of the Nation Address, President Jacob Zuma announced several programmes and incentives to attract investors and accelerate the plan and economic growth. The programmes focus on agriculture, electricity, manufacturing, automotive, water infrastructure, construction, health and mining.

To achieve our objectives of creating jobs, reducing inequality and pushing back the frontiers of poverty, we need faster growth. In the NDP, we set our aspirational target growth of 5% per year, which we had hoped to achieve by 2019. Given the economic conditions, it is clear that we will not achieve that growth target at the time we had hoped to achieve it, said President Zuma during SONA. The tough global and domestic conditions should propel us to redouble our efforts, working together as all sectors.

Topco Media editorial director Ryland Fisher said that the company is committed to promoting the NDP as a private sector company and will once again seek to bring together senior representatives of government, business and civil society in a forum where they can discuss the major issues facing the country.

Companies who will be represented at the Vision 2030 Summit include Cisco Systems, Anglo American Platinum, Aurecon, Curro Holdings, Tiger Brands, Kwikspace Modular Buildings, AfroCentric Health, Mega Water Corporation, Mine Workers Investment Trust, MMI Holdings, SBV Services, Sizwe Ntsaluba Gobodo, Siemens, USAASA, Group 5, Total SA, Afrilink, Lafarge Holcim and Aecom.

After last years summit, Topco Media published a White Paper which highlighted opportunities and challenges faced by the public and private sector. According to Minister Radebe, challenges facing South Africa are also challenges facing other countries in the world.

Read the paper: http://2030vision.co.za/event/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/WHITE-PAPER_new.pdf

To attend this event, to participate in the publication, or for more information, please contact Rose Setshoge:

az.oc.ocpot@egohstes.esor  086 000 9590




Theatre buffs are in for a royal treat with the screening of Christopher Hampton's deliciously wicked Les Liaisons Dangereuses at Cinema Nouveau and selected Ster-Kinekor cinemas from 5 March.

It forms part of the fantastic National Theatre Live series and was filmed live at the magnificent Donmar Warehouse in Londons West End, following successful productions of Coriolanus and King Lear, which were filmed at the same theatre and screened locally.

In 1782, Choderlos de Laclos novel of sex, intrigue and betrayal in pre-revolutionary France scandalised the world. Two hundred years later, Christopher Hampton's irresistible adaptation swept the board, winning the Olivier and Evening Standard awards for Best Play. Josie Rourkes revival now marks the plays 30-year anniversary.

Games of seduction and revenge

In the play, former lovers the Marquise de Merteuil (Janet McTeer) and Vicomte de Valmont (Dominic West) now compete in games of seduction and revenge. Merteuil incites Valmont to corrupt the innocent Cecile de Volanges (Morfydd Clark) before her wedding night, but Valmont has targeted the peerlessly virtuous and beautiful Madame de Tourvel. (Elaine Cassidy). While these merciless aristocrats toy with others hearts and reputations, their own may prove more fragile than they suppose.

Directed by Josie Rourke (Coriolanus), the cast includes Elaine Cassidy (The Paradise), Janet McTeer (The Honourable Woman), and Dominic West (The Wire, The Affair). It also features Adjoa Andoh, Theo Barklem-Biggs (Azolan), Morfydd Clark, and Edward Holcroft, who make their Donmar debut in Les Liaisons Dangereuses.

Elaine Cassidy returns to the Donmar after her performances in Fathers and Sons and Les Parents Terribles (Donmar Trafalgar Season). Janet McTeer returns to the Donmar after starring opposite Harriet Walter in Donmar associate director Phyllida Lloyds production of Mary Stuart in 2005. Dominic West returns to the Donmar following his critically acclaimed performance in Pedro Calderon de la Barcas Life is a Dream.

Josie Rourke is artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse where she has directed The Recruiting Officer, The Physicists, Berenice, The Weir (which transferred to Wyndhams Theatre), Privacy, Coriolanus (also broadcast by National Theatre Live), City of Angels (Olivier Award Winner  Best Musical Revival) and The Vote. In 2011 her production of Much Ado About Nothing, starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate, ran in the West End at Wyndhams Theatre and received an Olivier Award nomination for Best Revival.

Prolific playwright

Christopher Hampton is a prolific playwright, screenwriter and director. As well as the stage play Les Liaisons Dangereuses, he also wrote the screenplay for the 1988 film adaptation, Dangerous Liaisons, starring Glenn Close, John Malkovich and Michelle Pfeiffer, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. More recently Christopher adapted Ian McEwans Atonement for the screen, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Launched in 2009, National Theatre Live enables audiences to experience the best of British theatre throughout the year, as the National brings cameras into the auditorium to record and broadcast performances from stage to screen. National Theatre Live broadcasts have been seen by an audience of over 4 million people at 2000 venues in 50 countries. The Donmar previously collaborated with National Theatre Live in 2010 on King Lear with Derek Jacobi and Coriolanus in 2014 with Tom Hiddleston.

Forthcoming productions from NT Live, to be screened at Cinema Nouveau, include:

 From the Olivier Theatre, Shakespeares As You Like It, with Rosalie Craig as Rosalind, to be screened from Saturday, 19 March;

 The acclaimed West End transfer of the Royal Court Theatre production of Hangmen by Olivier and Academy Award winner Martin McDonagh, with a cast including David Morrissey, Andy Nyman and Johnny Flynn, from Londons Wyndhams Theatre, will be screened from 9 April.

Les Liaisons Dangereuses releases on South African screens from Saturday, 5 March for four screenings only: on 5, 9 and 10 March at 7.30pm and on 6 March at 2.30pm  at Cinema Nouveau theatres in Joburg, Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town. The running time of this production is three hours, including a 15-minute interval.

For booking information on Les Liaisons Dangereuses, download the Ster-Kinekor App on any smartphone for updates, news and to make a booking, go to www.cinemanouveau.co.za or sterkinekor.mobi. Follow on Twitter @nouveaubuzz and on Facebook at Cinema Nouveau. For queries, contact Ticketline on 0861 Movies (668 437).
NATIVE VML took top honours at last night's Bookmark Awards. Held at The Forum in Johannesburg, the agency walked away with the Best Digital Agency in the Special Awards category as well as a number of gold, silver and bronze awards.

Other awards in the Special Honours Awards included Best digital youngster Christopher Cannoo, Best digital brand award: SuperSport, Best digital marketer: Charl Bassil, and Best digital publisher: Eyewitness News. The Best individual contribution was awarded to Pete Case for growing the industry. No award was given for Best digital student.

This year there were over 60 categories with almost 70 entries. John Dixon, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Brandstock, and Bookmark Awards Jury President, says that generally the standard was not as high as last year, but this said there were still some outstanding pieces of work. What was great to see was the growth in some of the categories, such as the branded content category which was also a strong category.

A trend he believes is set to continue is the blurring of the lines between the publishers, marketers and builders divisions. That distribution is becoming less relevant he says.

He commented that while the advertising agencies are getting better and better, the Awards are still dominated by the digital agencies.

NATIVE VML CEO Jason Xenopoulos says this year has been gratifying. We have work that carries through from big platforms through to smaller platforms with concepts that included through the line fully integrated campaigns.

He was very happy with the agencys performance at the Awards. We created NATIVE VML as an agency for the digital age. So our ideas are born from digital but can extend into other forms. He thanked the Agencys clients saying: A big thank you to our clients without them we would not exist.

King James collected a number of Awards, in recognition of their work coming out and of the hard work the agency has put into that work. Creative director at Society, the social media agency of the King James Group in Cape Town, Dan Pinch explains that the Awards means a lot as King James is seen as a traditional agency. We have put in a lot of work behind the scenes to create digital teams and while we have been under the radar, we are now coming out as our work speaks for itself, and its really exciting.

Pete Case, founder of Gloo, says winning a Bookmark is always special. Its a sign that your peers believe that your work is above industry average. This is feedback that agencies and their clients like to hear. Winning work should reflect both creativity and effectiveness and not one or the other.

Kim Browne, a founder and CEO of Twisted Toast who won a bronze says the calibre of entries is high and that is why they entered. Gloo@Oglivys managing director digital portfolio, Ben Evans, who was a judge, adds to this saying that the Awards bring together the technical, results and creativity and all of these are important to our industry. As a judge I was impressed by the debate and deep interrogation by the judges.

Graeme Stiles, group head: organic search at Quirk and another judge, says the focus was on on results. The entries put more effort into data and results and the return on investment for clients. So it was about more than just the big idea.

Deirdre Ingpen, head of commercial at 24.com and jury chair: publishers says the category was disappointing as so few publishers entered. Some work will need to be done to get publishers to understand the category and the Awards and to encourage them to enter.

Ryan McManus, ECD NATIVE VML and a judge this year says some key pieces rose to the top. There was some great branded content this year.

This was the first time the Awards used the Loeries judging system. As a result, some of the judges were familiar with it. The criteria was different, but the back end and hardware is the same. This is a step up for the Awards and gives them more integrity. It also made the task of the judges less onerous. The judging was on the basis of in and out on a one pager in round one. In the next round all the material was viewed by the judges, says Dixon.
It appears that we are still answering the same questions regarding digital and the growth of digital. This is disappointing, says IAB Chairperson, Jarred Cinman, managing director of NATIVE VML.

Cinman was addressing delegates at this years IAB Summit that took place at Turbine Hall in Johannesburg in panel discussion.

While agreeing with him, Melissa van Zyl from the AMF is optimistic that digital is where people want to spend money. While media planners are too comfortable in buying big pieces of media rather than looking at what media does for a brand, the agency model is broken and audiences are fragmented and expensive to reach. We are at a watershed. Traditionally the industry is slow, but the need to adapt has arrived.

L to R, top to bottom: Cinman, Van Zyl, Kalenga, Ascar, Goosen, Harris, Roed and Buys

A main obstacle is the people making the decisions or gatekeepers of the budget do not understand the digital medium and remain with traditional channels because these are the channels they are familiar and comfortable with says Musa Kalenga, group head: digital marketing at Nedbank and head of brand, IAB South Africa. This is despite consumers being very ready for digital. The second obstacle is the structure of the medium, more specifically that measurement of the technology has been slow.

Amazing, complicated digital

Digital is a problem for the market because its complicated as opposed to reach and frequency, which simple  despite the fact that with digital you can do amazing things that other mediums cannot achieve.

In this context it is important to understand where the different digital platforms are and how they deliver a brands objectives says Kalenga. The tension of digital lies in the fact that it gives precision measurement and not mass.

Sharing knowledge and insights will assist clients and brands making the transition to integrating digital into their campaigns. This is a process and involves, for example, not talking jargon that the marketer doesnt understand, says Astrid Ascar, IAB SAs head of education & transformation.

We are too hard on ourselves, interjects Gustav Goosen, IAB vice-chairperson and CEO of The SpaceStation. We need to look further than the numbers and understand the real growth of digital. Measurement by media spend is a broken methodology and digital has been fragmented from the start, but if we calculate the entire worth of the industry then we see the growth of digital and it is extensive.

Build digital blueprints

Therefore, he says, the industry is selling itself short by only looking at one part of the growth and the challenge is to get the true view of the market in terms of media spend. What has worked in traditional media is not applicable to digital and that is why we need tools to build blueprints and case studies. This is not easy and that is why days like today are important.

The value of the measurement the IAB provides is immense, says Ryan Harris, IAB SAs head of measurement (FNB). We are trying to simplify it so you can plan reach and frequency, as pure reach and frequency can do incredible things.

He adds that the perception is still that the quality audience is sitting on the desktop but that is not true. Mobile is growing and if you compare the data, you will see that it is representative of people across the spectrum.

The agency guy used to be the smartest guy in the room but this is no longer the case, adds Fred Roed, CEO of World Wide Creative and IABs head of agencies committee. This is a challenging and fascinating time for agencies. Big international agencies are parking on their lawn, a lot of companies are bringing delivery type requirements in-house, while digital agencies are expanding their offerings and consulting houses are building in these costing structures. All of these are forcing us to innovate, to be more creative and to increasingly use digital.

In the same discussion, Josephine Buys, IAB CEO, told delegates that the IAB is dedicated to innovation in digital, saying that the IAB exists to build trust, knowledge and spend in a digital marketing. Our goal is to encourage brands and advertisers to consider digital not as an add-on, but as an integrated part of their marketing campaign. To accomplish this, we need to bring more brands into the conversation earlier and this is what will be driving us this year. The IAB is a critical component in this conversation.
The IAB launched its Native Advertising Guidelines at its Digital Summit, which took place on Thursday at Turbine Hall in Johannesburg.

Derek Abdinor, media management consultant, and volunteer with IAB, headed up the project for the IAB. Previously the general manager of digital publishing at Times Media Group, he explains that native advertising is the digital equivalent of the print advertorial. The IAB is about facilitating internet advertising and native advertising is one part of this; a part it was felt needed guidelines on how best to use it.

That said, Abdinor emphasises that the guidelines are exactly that: guidelines. They are not hard and fast rules as the IAB does not control advertising standards, but we want to facilitate good advertising standards. In keeping with this, we cannot stop a publisher from putting out a bad advertorial, but with the guidelines, at least marketers have something to judge native advertising by.

Buys and Abdinor

Native advertising should command a premium and when it is not done correctly, for example, by passing pure product advertising as native, then it is detrimental to the product. Not only for the publisher and advertiser, but also for the industry.

Abdinor describes the concept as exciting and one that generated lots of debate and discussion in the local industry. As a basis, we used the United States (US) and Irish native advertising guidelines. We then make sure we had participation from local agencies and brands. This took place over a two-and-a-half-month period and it produced great debates and even some disagreements, as well as some case studies we would not have found if we had not followed this route.

Agile, adaptable starting point

He adds that it was great to get the agencies and publishers around a table in the same room to get a 360 view. The Guidelines can be used by agencies and their clients so that both parties are on the same page and a great product is produced. In this way, the guidelines are unlocking value for the industry.

Commenting on the Guideline launch, Josephine Buys, IAB CEO says native advertising is a clear international trend and the Guidelines are very relevant as well as a starting point for the local industry. They are agile and can be adapted if need be, and while we had a lot of input, once the guidelines are out there we will continue with dialogue with our members and the industry. We will hold digital dens and talk to the creators of the guidelines.

Defining the difference between native advertising and content marketing is also becoming a critically needed conversation. It is a strong topic of conversation and I believe we will see much more of at the next Summit, she says.

The key is that as the IAB we look for the challenges and the opportunities in the industry. This is the opportunity to guide the conversation, she concludes.

The Guidelines are available as a pdf and can be downloaded from the IAB website.
The Next Einstein Forum (NEF) has launched a global call for support for Africa's scientific and technological emergence.



The video, which asks the question, "Can the next Einstein come from Africa?" calls on game changers from Africa and around the world to support Africas scientific renaissance.

The Next Einstein Forum Global Gathering 2016, Africas premiere global science and technology forum is convened by the NEF, a global platform that brings together leaders in industry, policy, science, and technology. The first edition of this biennial event will set the stage for a vibrant conversation on transforming Africa and the world through a renewed and increased focus on science, technology and innovation. The NEF is an initiative of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) in partnership with the Robert Bosch Stiftung.

At more than 700 participants from 80 countries already registered, 52% of them young people and 40% women, we are expecting a truly global forum that discusses opportunities, innovations, and solutions. The NEF Global Gathering will unveil Africas global contributions to science and technology and as the forum opens on International Womens Day, we will specifically acknowledge the contributions and address the challenges faced by female scientists, said Thierry Zomahoun, NEF chair and president and CEO of AIMS.

Showcasing Africa's brightest

The NEF Global Gathering 2016 will showcase the innovations and contributions of the NEFs 15 Fellows  some of Africas brightest young scientists who are on the frontline of Africas science renaissance. Flying under the radar, these scientists have been tackling some the continent's most urgent technological and development challenges  from big data and cybersecurity to hypertension, heart disease, immunology and public health. In addition, for the first time in history, all 54 African countries will come together to talk science and technology each represented by a NEF Ambassadors that will work to raise awareness about science and technology in their countries.

A great idea can come from anywhere in the world, and there is no doubt that new and novel scientific ideas to solve global health challenges will come from Africa., said Seema Kumar, vice president, Innovation, Global Health and Science Policy, Johnson & Johnson and Member of the NEF International Steering Committee. The scientific talent in Africa is outstanding with the potential to produce the next Einstein, Pasteur or Madame Curie. The world needs the best science from across the globe to solve the medical challenges of our lifetime like HIV, TB, and other infectious diseases like Ebola and Zika virus, and non-communicable diseases like hypertension and diabetes.

With a truly exciting programme that focuses on advances in basic and applied science and technology as well as an innovation pitching competition, a presidential panel with H.E. President Macky Sall of Senegal and H.E. President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and other exciting sessions like meet and greets with groundbreaking scientists and inventors, the NEF Global Gathering 2016 will be live-streamed to a global audience from 8 March 2016 starting at 10.10 am UTC at www.NEF.org.

Supporters of science, innovation and technology as drivers of growth in Africa can join the NEF movement by pledging their signature at www.IamEinstein.org.
Africa is seen to be one of the hottest global opportunities for corporate expansion. However, not all African countries are enjoying the same speed and pace and the continent remains complex and diverse, with each country and region coming hand-in-hand with its own opportunities, as well as challenges and hurdles.

Companies wishing to invest in the continent need a strong, specialist partner who can help them navigate through the intricate socio-economic, regulatory, legal and tax environments, unique to each country, says Louise Robinson, MD of Database 360.

Only a consultant partner with a range of skills and expertise across a wide variety of industries and locations can ensure this process is smooth and seamless. The number of cultural, political and organisational differences across the continent can be a daunting prospect for investors. The sheer size and scope of the region could make them reluctant to try to enter an African country, never mind multiple ones. However, it is not all that difficult to handle the unique African business environment with the help of a specialist consultancy.

Remember that European solutions dont translate well into the African market. What is needed is an African approach, which bears in mind culture, geography, political climate and specific markets. Businesses need to be creative and flexible when taking on these region-specific challenges. They need to break away from European or American thinking, and look at the different angles and challenges surrounding a country from the beginning, and coming up with unique and integrated solutions, to save time and money in the long run.

Despite the tremendous growth in Africa, businesses wishing to tackle the continent must have a smart entry strategy, and a consultant can help with this, she adds. Africa is both geographically enormous, and highly diverse, and a strategy that plays into its strengths is key to success.

Most importantly, the vital element about the African market is entrants need to take a long-term view, and be clear about their objectives as well as their operating model. The first question should be where to invest, and this requires a closer look at different locations, and careful consideration of each regions pros and cons. For example, North Africa boasts a reasonably mature market and is reasonably close to Europe, but is plagued by political instability. Southern Africa is far from Europe, but more economically mature and politically stable.

Finding the right strategy for the right region in Africa can be tricky. This goes far beyond cash resources. To succeed, any business needs to be talking to the right people in the right way. Bear in mind that the African Economic Outlook Report highlighted that administrative procedures for opening and running a company, as well as the costs of running a business, were the major factors that put people off African investment.

To navigate the complex African environment, a consultancy that specialises in the African business environment is key. A good partner will help to pinpoint the unique requirements of the specific region, and define and identify the target audience. Through years and years of experience and hands-on know how, a consultancy is able to smooth the path to entry into emerging African markets.

We understand the African market and have developed a strong foothold on the continent over the past ten years. We boast a thorough understanding of the factors and pitfalls relevant to doing business in this highly complex continent. The company provides a consulting service that specialises in offering marketing strategies and reliable data  helping organisations to reach the correct people in an environment where information is notoriously difficult to come by, concludes Robinson.
Got a question or tip? Contact us at bizmojoidaho@gmail.com.
(BMCR) publishes timely reviews of current scholarly work in the field of classical studies (including archaeology). The authoritative archive can be found atThis site was established to allow responses to reviews through the comments feature; all reviews from August 2008 have been posted and comments were allowed from 2008 until 2018.
Public talks to discuss the cement factorys use of coal as a power source were held on 29 February and 1 March in the villages of Neeton, Kawpanaw and Kawdon, which are nearby to the cement factory.

Mi Sandar Non, an activist opposed to the use of coal-fired power spoke to the Mon News Agency.

She said: The local residents dont accept the use of coal-fired power, we will object so that they [the cement factory] wont be able to use it. The local residents were not informed about the use of coal-fired power, they [MCL] planned this systematically and have deceived the residents. The monks havent accepted it either, the monks led [the public talks] by inviting experts and having them explain [the consequences of using coal-fired power] to the public.

She also added: In recent days about 500,000 tons of coal, which is to be used this year, has been transported in small boats [to the cement factory] from Kyaikkami at the mouth of the [Thanlyin] River.



Public talk in Kawpanaw Village on MCL cement factory's use of coal power. (Photo  Mon Htaw)

Prominent local Mon monks led the collection of signatures for the petition protesting against the cement factorys use of coal. Later, they will submit the petition and views of local residents to the government.

Residents from villages in the Pyar Taung area, including Neeton, Kawdon, Kawpanaw, Pauktaw, Kwanngan, and Ahlite, have already signed the petition. The monks will also invite Karen and Burmese villagers from the area to join them in their protests.

At a public talk in Kawpanaw Village, Vedana Thumana, the abbot of a monastery in Kawdon Village said: We are one step behind because we have only just found out that the company was secretly working on coal-fired power. Even though we are late, the monks and the local residents have a duty to protect against this threat.

MCL began constructing the cement factory in 2014 and it is set to begin cement production in July of this year, but local residents only found out that it would be coal powered in 2015.

Dr Khin Maung Nyo, U Sein Myint, a retired deputy director of the Ministry of Mines, and Dr Dewi Thant Sin from the Myanmar Green Network were also invited to explain the dangers posed by coal fired power to the public.

U Sein Myint said: Other countries have been reducing their use of coal-fired power due to its negative effects, we shouldnt try to use coal-fired power in our country. There are 13 types of waste produced from coal. Generations will suffer from these waste [products].

He said that the 13 waste products produced by burning coal are: carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen, carbon monoxide, dust particles, hydrocarbon, mercury, arsenic, lead, cadmium, fly ash, bottom ash, and uranium.

He explained that the longer the factory operates the further the negative effects will spread.

He said: When the factory starts operating, its surroundings will suffer the first negative effects [and] after a few years the negative effects will become more widespread.

Local residents have called on MCL to use other fuels such as natural gas rather than coal to power the cement factory.

Nai Shwe a resident of Maekaro Village said: Even though we have voiced our disagreement the company [MCL] has been doing what it wants. We are prepared to discuss what will be the best [solution]. Its not that we dont want the company, we just dont want them to use coal power.

He also added: We are still collecting signatures [for the petition]. Then, we will submit them to respective government departments. We will never allow the use of coal-fired power. If we cannot negotiate, we will have to protest on the street,

The MCL cement factory will consume 49 megawatts per day, 40 megawatts of which will be produced by burning coal and the remaining 9 megawatts will come from a generator burning bio-waste.

MCL is a subsidiary of the Thai company Siam Cement Group (SCG).

Previously the Mon News Agency reported that MCL in collaboration with Resource and Environment Myanmar, an environmental advisory group, had held public meetings in villages local to the cement factory to discuss environmental monitoring of the factorys construction.

Translated by Thida Linn

Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI
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Government officials in Mexico City have unanimously voted in favor of banning Donald Trump.

Unfortunately, city officials cannot enforce a ban on Trump, but they hope their call for action will pressure the Mexican government to do so.

Deputy Jose Manuel Delgadillo of the conservative National Action Party noted that the proposal was a way to urge Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to more forcefully confront Trump. What were saying is that if he wants to build a wall so that Mexicans cant enter his country, then he is not welcome in our country, Delgadillo said, according to the publication. What we need now is for President Pena Nieto to make a strong statement condemning Mr. Trumps anti-Mexican comments.

Mexico may not officially ban Donald Trump, but Finance Minister Luis Videgaray has ruled out paying for Trump's luxurious border wall. Videgaray participated in an interview on Wednesday when he said "Under no circumstance will Mexico pay for the wall that Mr. Trump is proposing."

While I don't believe Donald Trump will win in November, there is a possibility of that happening. I was going to make a joke about Trump becoming the first president to be banned by another country, but then I remembered George W. Bush and Dick Cheney never leave the country because they might be arrested.
Republicans enjoyed a brief moment of climax several days ago when news broke that Bryan Pagliano, the man responsible for administrating Hillary Clinton's email server, agreed to cooperate with the investigation of the email account in exchange for immunity.

Republicans thought the smoking gun and evidence of -- something -- was finally going to be revealed, but what Pagliano revealed was not quite what they expected.

Mister Pagliano delivered security logs to the FBI that show the email server was never hacked or compromised.

The security logs bolster Mrs. Clintons assertion that her use of a personal email account to conduct State Department business while she was the secretary of state did not put American secrets into the hands of hackers or foreign governments. [...] Mr. Pagliano told the agents that nothing in his security logs suggested that any intrusion occurred. Security logs keep track of, among other things, who accessed the network and when.

I'm sure for a certain group of people Pagliano's demand for limited immunity is itself evidence of something, but I don't see it that way.

I see it as a preemptive defense against any spurious claims Republicans in Congress and in the media throw at him. One can't be too careful when dealing with the Select Solyndra IRS Committee to Investigate the Benghazi ACORN Birth Certificate Email Account.

Republicans in Congress have the spent the last 6 years trying as hard as they can to find someone, anyone, to charge with a crime.
2015 has been another year of growth for the pan African micro lender, Letshego Holdings which saw its profit before tax exceeding P1 billion for the first time.

According to the companys 2015 end of year financial results released last week, this years results show good fundamental growth in an environment of depreciating exchange rates against the Pula for most of the markets Letshego operates in. Excluding a foreign exchange loss for the year of P75.6 million, profit before tax was P1.1 billion, a 5 percent increase on the prior period.

Letshego saw a 14 percent rise in loans and advances, excluding Nigerian and Tanzanian acquisitions in 2015. In its home market Botswana - despite strong competition it saw an increased loans and advances to customers by 7 percent to P2.2 billion, while Kenyas smaller and more diversified portfolio increased by 110 percent to P400 million. A number of new products were launched including agriculture supply chain financing, asset financing and micro insurance, as well as enhancements to existing products.





Embracing financial inclusion remains the cornerstone of Letshegos strategic agenda. In December 2015, Letshego was confirmed as an Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) private partner, making Letshego AFIs first Africa-focused private partner. AFI is a global network of financial policymakers from over 100 developing and emerging countries, covering the majority of Letshegos footprint. According to the groups Chief Executive Officer, Chris Low, this partnership status is important for the groups sustainability objectives, as it will enable accelerated dialogue with regulators sharing a common focus on creating policies conducive to financial inclusion.

Additionally, he noted that, we continue to seek deposit-taking licences to facilitate our financial inclusion agenda - this includes providing money transfer, bill payment and remittance services, as well as facilitating borrowings for micro and small enterprises for their productive needs. Access will be provided via third party agents and mobile telephony. This approach for enhanced customer experience has already commenced in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and most recently Nigeria.

Continued investment in people and systems has strengthened the groups operating platform, with Letshego Mozambique having gone live this year with USSD mobile banking. It is understood that additional customer solutions in partnership with a local mobile operator in Mozambique are planned for 2016, with similar initiatives being progressed in other deposit-taking countries.

The enhancement of existing products to ensure continued market relevance continues while for micro and small enterprises, agriculture, health and education solutions have been piloted in East Africa, said Low.

The use of mobile money is also well established in Kenya and following this, similar initiatives will be explored in other geographies with suitable environments, Low added. New developments include the securing of a dedicated Letshego short code number in Mozambique, Namibia, and Rwanda plus registration of Faidikas customer access points in Tanzania as agencies for the newly acquired Advans Bank Tanzania.

A key part of the groups strategy is to continue to diversify funding sources - in December 2015 Letshego refinanced R475 million of maturing bonds and raised an additional R180 million. Total ZAR bond issuance including commercial paper now stands at ZAR980 million.

In addition, the Group concluded various other refinancing and introduced new, predominantly Pula, funding lines, which on a blended basis, reduced the annual cost of borrowing to 10.5 percent from 11.3 percent in 2014. As a result debt to equity levels increased to 66 percent; this is in line with the strategic objective to optimise the Groups balance sheet

There are now four businesses within the group with deposit taking licences: two from acquisitions in Nigeria and Tanzania as well as those established in Mozambique and Rwanda. Low said, conversion of the provisional licence in Namibia is subject to satisfactory finalisation of certain conditions set by Bank of Namibia and is expected by mid-2016; the evaluation of opportunities for licensing in other countries continues.

While it is expected that deposit taking will, over time, lower the groups overall cost of funding, in the short to medium term, the benefits will lie in being able to access the customers transactional accounts and thereby offer them a broader based set of financial service solutions.

In December 2015 Letshego announced its acquisition of FBN Microfinance Bank, a deposit taking micro finance bank specialising in financing of MSEs in Nigeria. The transaction was closed on 31 December 2015 and provides Letshego with a national micro finance license that includes deposit taking. With over 80,000 depositors and approximately 10,000 MSE borrowing customers, the banks operations are directly aligned to Letshegos financial inclusion agenda and provide a strong platform from which to grow the groups business in Nigeria.

Entry into Nigeria gives an exposure to Africas largest economy, while Tanzania provides the ability to provide broader financial service, said Low.

Despite current market stresses from low oil prices and a weakened Naira, the management indicated that growth prospects in the low-to-middle income customer and MSE segments have significant upside potential.

With over 1500 fulltime staff, over 700 commission based agents; the groups aim is to continue to deliver on its strategic agenda towards creating a leading African financial services group, with a focus on financial inclusion.
Bank of Botswana, the countrys regulator of banks will closely monitor developments at Barclays Botswana following a decision by Barclays plc to sell its controlling stake at Barclays Africa.

Barclays plc owns 62,5 percent of Barclays Africa, which in turn owns a majority stake at Barclays Botswana, the lender that among the top four banks in the country.

In statement, BoB spokesperson Andrew Sesinyi said the central bank is watching latest development and it will play it regulatory role. Consistent with Bank of Botswana mandate, as enshrined in Bank of Botswana Actthe bank will monitor developments with a view to ensuring the safety and soundness of Barclays Bank operations in the country, he said.





This week, Barclays plc, the majority shareholder at Barclays Africa indicated to the market that it will sell down its stake at the African operation in the next two to three years. The bank said it is now concentrating on its United Kingdom and international banking units. The bank has also cited regulatory changes for quitting the continent where it has been operating for more than 100 years.
Today marks the close of a two-day workshop on intellectual property rights that Botswana Society for the Arts (BSA) had mounted for local musicians under the aegis of Botswana Musicians Union (BOMU).

The Companies and Intellectual Properties Authority (CIPA) has brought experts to facilitate on the various areas of IPR and related issues flowing especially from the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act as well as statutes of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

BSA Coordinator Motshidisi Makhurutha said the project was part of their campaign to build capacity for creators and innovators under the Non State Actors programme that is funded by the European Union.





Musicians are particularly constrained to eke out a decent life from their trade by the rife scourge of piracy; copying and plagiarism, which consign works of creativity to items of mass production without any value.

The conference that is being held at Oasis Motel in Tlokweng would among others, tackle these burning issues.
Gone are the days when looking and feeling good was only reserved for women or when women were thought to be the only ones who had the luxury to go out of the house dressed to the nines.

The modern day man is the sort who when geared up and wearing his finest leaves behind a string of envious eyes following his every move. It is in the way that he calmly walks into a room, the scent of his cologne trailing behind him and his crispy white shirt telling its own tale. The modern man is one who smartly dresses in a suit that fits him to the tee, no loose ends, no handing sleeves and most importantly his shoulders are just right, he does not appear to have added extra weight on his shoulder.

In the days of social media, when such a man posts a picture on social media you will instantly see the number on the like button growing every second with many admirers not holding back when it comes to praising his dress sense.

A suit is a defining feature in any mans life especially for the businessmen and those in the corporate world. It is very important for one to know and identify either on their own or with the help of a professional what will work for them and what will spell disaster. To me, clothing is a form of self-expression. There are hints about who you are in what you wear, says Marc Jacobs.





When renowed American Fashion designer, Jacobs penned this expression, he could very well have had the modern day man in his thoughts at that precise moment or these two gentlemen in mind. Style shopped around for ideas about what makes an ideal suit. And what we found out from our two fashion gurus is that their secret lies in tailor-made suits and nothing else. The duo of Wanetsha Mosinyi and Khali Mothopeng, two professionals working in Gaborone swear that there is nothing that looks good in a man than a tailor made suit, simple.

Mosinyi, who is very passionate about his fitness purchases has his tailor made suits from London and Hong Kong after discovering that the suits he bought were either too short or were unsuitable for his height. The fact that his body is well trimmed also means that he can never go wrong when it comes to his clothes. He advises that when one is choosing a suit, one should be mindful of ones age.Although he is modest when quizzed about what makes a suit, he offers that his preferred style is the classical look and that he is not one to run after trends.

How you feel and look is very crucial, he says. He also says that accessories such as pocket squares bring life to a suit. My preferred choice of style is a classic suit, accessorised to make it modern, he says. For Mothopeng selecting a suit depends on a number of factors such as weather conditions. Fabrics such as wool are suitable for winter, while light fabrics such as linen are ideal for the warm days. He also looks at factors such as colour, the designer and what his/her finishing touches look like. Mothopeng also swears by tailor made suits.

You cant go wrong with a tailor made suit especially as the designer has taken all your measurements and makes that suit based on those measurements, he says. His advice to those planning to buy suits is to remember to check factors such as long sleeves, shoulders, and the length that might work against them.

His preferred accessories to make a suit stand out to in different forms such as flower lapels, and pocket squares. Men also have the option of accessorising with happy socks. But they need to remember that the socks should match either the pants or the shoes and that there should be uniformity, he cautions.

According to the Store Manager of Levissons in Game City, Nisah Tladinyane, when it comes to picking a jacket for that suit, one should always remember that it should not hide the cufflinks or the watch. Levissons stocks accessories such as cufflinks, pocket squares and ties. And they have Italian brands such as Hugo Boss, Ettore Ravelli and Angelo Nardelli.

The shirt, she says should end at the wrist. A plain shirt should be paired with a detailed tie, while a patterned shirt should be paired with a plain tie. For those who are into double buttoned suits, they need to remember that one button should be buttoned especially the top one and that the belt should be showing, she says.

The bold suits, she says, are making a return in the market, as well as suits with gold buttons. The bold suits are ideal for certain events such as cocktail dinners, she explains.

One of our most selling suits is the corporate Hugo Boss suit in charcoal, she notes.






Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Shri Babulal Gaur presenting the "Vigyan Pratibha Samman 2016" to BrahMos Chief Sudhir K Mishra. A Brahmand photo

BHOPAL (BNS): BrahMos Aerospace CEO & MD Mr. Sudhir K Mishra has been honoured with the "Vigyan Pratibha Samman 2016" during the "Bhopal Vigyan Mela" organised by the Madhya Pradesh Council of Science & Technology last month.



Minister of Home, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh, Hon'ble Shri Babulal Gaur presented the award to the BrahMos Chief during the event organised on 19th February 2016 in Bhopal.



Also present on the occasion were Professor Pramod K Verma, DG & Scientific Adviser to the Govt. of Madhya Pradesh and Shri Tapan Bhowmik, Chairman, MP State Tourism Development Corporation.



"Immense feeling of satisfaction to be honoured by my home state," Mr. Mishra, who hails from Madhya Pradesh and has graduated from the Department of Mechanical Engineering (1982), Jabalpur Government Engineering College, remarked.



Addressing the event, he ignited the young minds through the vision of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam and motivated them to achieve excellence and serve the nation.



The Government of Madhya Pradesh has been organising the "Vigyan Melas" in order to create scientific awareness and science popularisation amongst the rural, tribal and urban people of the state.



The annual event provides a unique platform to Researchers, Scientists and students of the state.


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A declining moose population in Manitoba is pushing some hunters west, causing resource management issues, according to the former director of enforcement for Saskatchewan Environment.

We see, in Saskatchewan, an influx of Manitoba hunters coming into Saskatchewan in the form of First Nations and Metis hunters trying to exercise their rights in Saskatchewan because we have more moose than in Manitoba right now, said Dave Harvey, who spent 37 years working in conservation.

Its causing a pretty big ripple effect here among resource users, hunters and groups who are quite concerned about our moose population now.

Harvey, who is speaking at the Manitoba Wildlife Federations annual general meeting this week, was a leader in public consultations that led to the outlaw of spotlight hunting in Saskatchewan.

The Manitoba Wildlife Federation has been opposed to spotlight hunting in the province for a number of years, deeming it too effective and not sustainable for wildlife populations, particularly moose.

Manitoba Conservation was forced to shut down a number of game hunting areas for moose due to population concerns.

First Nation hunters arent allowed to use hunting methods that are careless, unsafe or dangerous, according to the Manitoba Hunting Guide.

While Saskatchewan follows the same rules, Harvey said the government amended the Wildlife Act in 1998, deeming spotlight hunting unsafe and dangerous, closing any potential loopholes or misunderstandings.

There were lots of confrontations between landowners and conservation officers with people who thought they were exercising their rights to use spotlight hunting, said Harvey about the practice in Saskatchewan prior to the amended legislation.

The key to the change, according to Harvey, was a year-long consultation process with First Nations communities  something that to the best of his knowledge hasnt been done in Manitoba.

Harvey said it was important to speak directly with hunters and residents in communities where hunting is a way of life. Too often, he said, when politicians were involved the facts became irrelevant.

We consulted with the communities because we wanted to keep it out of the political arena, Harvey said. Otherwise both sides try to grandstand and you dont get anywhere.

Spotlight hunting is the practice of using a bright light to seek animals during the night.

The animal freezes when it sees the bright light and then they shoot the animal, Harvey said. The animal is basically blinded. It cant see whats behind that light and its unsafe because you cant see whats behind that animal at night.

Its also a dangerous practice to police, according to Harvey, who has been on a number of stings to catch spotlight hunters.

First of all, its an unsafe practice, but then theres also the fact that they do not want to be caught doing it, Harvey said, adding that they often end up chasing a vehicle with multiple suspects in it who have weapons.

Theres lots of pursuits and confrontations, but you learn to expect that.

Many hunters consider it an unfair advantage, believing it doesnt adhere to fair chase hunting ethics.

Harvey said almost all of the people from the communities he visited agreed it wasnt a traditional hunting practice and were supportive of conservation measures protecting wildlife populations.

Rights are of no value if there isnt something to hunt or fish, Harvey said.

 ctweed@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @CharlesTweed
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Minnedosa  A senior has been jailed for a plot in which he helped Old Order Mennonite children to run away from their foster placements in a bid to foil Child and Family Services.

CFS had apprehended dozens of the southern Manitoba communitys children due to widespread abuse, but Crown attorney Rich Lonstrup said the offender wrongly thought CFS had overreacted.

He told children to repeatedly run from placements  and in one case hid a runaway boy in Saskatchewan  in the hope that the agency would give up and let the children stay at their home community.

CFS had apprehended dozens of the southern Manitoba communitys children due to widespread abuse, but Crown attorney Rich Lonstrup said the offender wrongly thought CFS had overreacted.

This is a very serious case because it strikes at the heart of the child welfare system, Lonstrup said during sentencing in provincial court on Thursday.

But even as he faced the threat of jail, the 75-year-old farmer claimed he was concerned about living conditions at homes used to house apprehended children. The man was not a member of the community, but a former "friend" of the community who did business with it.

One home was overcrowded, he said, and in the case of the boy he hid in Saskatchewan, who had been placed in a trailer at his home community, it was too hot. During a visit to the trailer, hed witnessed a child being beaten, he claimed.

Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta, however, described the mans actions as misguided and unlawful  hed returned vulnerable children to the scene of abuse  and his crimes should be denounced.

She rejected his request for time served with probation, and sentenced him to 12 months in jail, minus nine months credit for time he spent in presentence custody, followed by two years of probation.

It may not be a perfect system, Hewitt-Michta said of child welfare. But its a system that strives to do its best in very difficult circumstances.

The man had previously pleaded guilty to interfering with children in a CFS placement and to abducting a child under 14 years of age.

To protect the identity of the community and the young abuse victims, The Brandon Sun isnt naming the offender.

In early to mid-2013, CFS apprehended 42 of the community children from their horse-and-buggy community, which is rooted in 19th century traditions.

The child abuse committed in that community was not part of Old Order Mennonite culture, the Crown has said.

Zealous adults  who mistakenly believed that most of the children in the community had had sex with their parents and siblings  engaged in an obsessive campaign to save children from the sin of lust, prosecutors have said.

While being disciplined, or during counselling sessions in which children were brainwashed into admitting sexual acts with family members that never happened, they were strapped, punched, kicked, starved, whipped and shocked with a cattle prod.

Following the mass apprehensions, in May 2013, the man who was sentenced on Thursday picked up a 13-year-old boy and 14-year-old girl from their foster placement at a southern Manitoba town and drove them 200 kilometres back to their home community.

He told the children that the plan was to repeatedly return apprehended children until CFS gave up and let them stay.

Around that same time, he helped hide a 12-year-old boy who ran away from his foster placement of his own will.

After staying a month in one home, the man took the boy to a residence he had rented in Saskatchewan.

On Sept. 4, 2013, 101 days after he went missing, RCMP found the boy there with the offender and two adult sisters from the Old Order Mennonite community.

One of those sisters, 24, had wed the offender who was 72 years old at the time.

Lonstrup said the Old Order Mennonites were not co-operative at first in helping RCMP and CFS find the missing boy. They suddenly became cooperative after learning of the wedding. The former Old Order Mennonite woman had been betrothed to another man in the community.

The sisters have since left their home community, and the mans lawyer, Barry Sinder, said his client, his wife and her sister have now formed a family.

In November 2014, the man was held in jail for breaching his bail order by having contact with his wife and sister who were potential witnesses at the time.

Prior to his release on bail to await sentencing, his wife wrote him scores and scores of love letters, Sinder said.

She had admired him for the kindness he had shown Old Order Mennonite children during previous visits to the community, and it was she who had asked him to marry her, Sinder said.

The wife was in court for sentencing, as was her sister.

As for his clients interference with children in care, Sinder said his client had good intentions.

The man had been physically abused as a child himself, and had a poor experience while living in foster homes. He would later take in foster children to give them the positive life he didnt have.

In April 2014, the sisters each received 18-month suspended sentences with 60 hours of community service for taking part in the plot to have children run from their foster homes.

In November 2014, an Old Order Mennonite man was fined $50,000 for helping the runaway boy escape to Saskatchewan.

 ihitchen@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @IanHitchen
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The head of the Anglican Church of Canada says a bishop in eastern Newfoundland was wrong to suggest the churchs hierarchy is unlikely to allow same-sex marriages largely because of resistance from aboriginal bishops.

Its not only indigenous bishops who would hold a conservative view on the blessing of same-sex marriages, Most Rev. Fred Hiltz, primate of the Canadian wing of the church, said Friday.

There are many others in the Canadian house of bishops who would also hold a conservative view  To just say this is not likely to get approved  because of the indigenous voice, I think thats just not accurate.

Most Rev. Fred Hiltz, the head of the Anglican Church of Canada, says a bishop in eastern Newfoundland has made inaccurate statements about the church's internal debate over the blessing of same-sex marriages. Hiltz is shown responding to media questions after the results of a resolution at the church's General Synod 2007 in Winnipeg Sunday, June 24, 2007. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods

Peddle made his comments earlier this week during an interview broadcast across Newfoundland and Labrador by radio station VOCM. He could not be reached for comment Friday.

So many of us are First Nations and aboriginal people (and) some of our bishops are First Nations  They are not prepared to move forward with the marriage equality change, Peddle told VOCM.

It is cultural and theological for them that marriage remain between a man and a woman. Most of the rest of us can see how there is a way to move forward, but they werent prepared to do that and they represent a big part of the house of bishops.

There are 45 Anglican bishops in Canada. Four of them are aboriginal.

Hiltz, who is an archbishop, said the aboriginal bishops have made it clear the people they represent are predominantly opposed to same-sex marriage. But he stressed they arent the only bishops who hold this view.

In July, bishops from the Anglican Church of Canada and representatives from its clergy and laity will gather for a General Synod, which is the national organizations highest governing body.

On the agenda is a resolution aimed at changing the churchs marriage canon to allow same-sex marriage. Altering the canon requires two-thirds support from each of the three main groups  bishops, clergy and laity  over the course of two meetings held three years apart.

Earlier this week, the bishops issued a statement saying it was unlikely the group would provide the number of votes needed to change the rules.

The statement did not mention where the aboriginal bishops stood, but it did cite deep differences within the group that left some feeling mortified and devastated.

You cant pin that to the three indigenous bishops, Hiltz said, adding that the bishops statement does not mean the issue will be shelved.

In the end, he said, some bishops may change their minds because each will be guided by their own conscience, their interpretation of the debate and inspiration from prayer and the Holy Spirit.

As for Hiltz, he said he holds a liberal view of the issue, but he said he also has an obligation to focus on the unity of the church.

My responsibility is to hold us all together and continue the conversation, he said.

There are 1.6 million Canadians who identify themselves as Anglican, according to census figures. The church has 545,000 Canadians registered on its parish rolls.

The 85-million strong Anglican communion, a fellowship rooted in the Church of England, has been fracturing for decades over gay relationships and womens ordination.

The Episcopal Church  the Anglican body in the United States voted last year to authorize gay marriages in their churches.

Anglicans in Brazil, South Africa and some other countries have also expressed openness to accepting same-sex relationships.
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SASKATOON  The head of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce says politicians on both sides of the Energy East pipeline debate need to stop shouting and start talking.

Perrin Beatty told the Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce that Canada is the only oil producer that doesnt ship by pipeline to major seaports.

Beatty says the United States is becoming less dependent on Canadian oil, and as a consequence Canada needs to be able to ship its oil to other parts of the world that need it.

Beatty says the Energy East pipeline, which would stretch from Alberta to New Brunswick, would create billions of dollars in benefits.

Quebecs government is planning legal action against TransCanada Pipelines over the proposed line, but Beatty says they need to come to a conclusion on how they can get the pipeline built.

Beatty calls Canadian oil in landlocked Alberta and Saskatchewan a stranded resource whose value diminishes if it cant reach the global market.

We have a stranded resource here way in excess of what we could ever use in Canada and it means that the value of the resource then declines immeasurable, and living standards are affected as a result, Beatty told the Saskatoon audience on Thursday.

Quebec says TransCanada was advised in 2014 that the pipeline project must be submitted to a provincial environmental assessment.

The province says it got no response, so it will ask for an injunction to force TransCanada to follow provincial rules.

(CJWW)
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ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - Health officials in Newfoundland and Labrador are being urged to step up mental health services and teach students how to handle overdoses after the deaths last year of two young people.

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REGINA - The union for Saskatchewan's nurses has reached a deal with the organization that represents the province's health organizations.

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CRAIK, Sask. - Rural health care will be the topic of a town hall meeting in central Saskatchewan on Saturday afternoon.

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TORONTO  The evidence against a father, mother and son convicted of murdering the couples three daughters and another woman was so overwhelming that it could only have led to guilty verdicts, Crown lawyers argued Friday as they sought to block the trios attempts at new trials.

Mohammad Shafia, his wife Tooba Yahya and their son Hamed claim the trial judge made several errors that include allowing highly prejudicial expert evidence on so-called honour killings, and made improper instructions to the jury.

But those alleged errors  if they were to be accepted  were minor, the Crown suggested to the panel of three Ontario Court of Appeal judges.

Mohammad Shafia, front left, Tooba Yahya, front right, and their son Hamed Shafia, back left, are escorted at the Frontenac County courthouse in Kingston, Ont., on January 28, 2012. The Crown is expected to argue today against new trials for a father, mother and son, who were convicted of murdering the couple's three daughters and another family member. Mohammad Shafia, his wife Tooba Yahya and their son Hamed have asked Ontario's highest court for new trials, arguing the original one was tainted by "highly prejudicial" testimony on so-called honour killings. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

The evidence against the appellants in this case was overwhelming, said Jocelyn Speyer. Given the nature of errors that have been alleged and their relative insignificance in the context of this very large trial, the verdict would necessarily have been the same.

The Shafia trial captivated the country and made international headlines.

The family was originally from Afghanistan and eventually immigrated to Canada, settling in Montreal.

In June 2009, the bodies of Shafia and Yahyas daughters  Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17, and Geeti, 13  and Shafias first wife in a polygamous marriage, 52-year-old Rona Amir Mohammad, were found in a car at the bottom of the Rideau Canal in Kingston, Ont.

Shafia, Yahya and Hamed argued the deaths were the result of a tragic accident.

Crown prosecutors contended the murders were committed after the girls shamed the family by dating and acting out, and Amir Mohammad was simply disposed of.

The most important evidence in the case, Speyer argued, lay at the scene, where the car carrying the dead females was found.

The Shafia trial heard that the car, a Nissan Sentra, could not have entered the canal on its own and must have been pushed.

Speyer recalled that the Nissan and Shafias other car, a Lexis, were both damaged and debris at the scene supported a suggestion that one pushed the other into the canal. She also noted that the Nissans seats were all fully reclined and the ignition was off.

The evidence at the scene was completely inconsistent with the accident theory, she said.

There was also significant evidence of planning and deliberation, Speyer said, pointing to evidence about Internet searches on the family laptop about where to commit a murder. The trial also heard from teachers, child protection workers and police about reports from Shafias daughters that they were afraid of their father and brother and wanted to leave the family home, she noted.

Also significant was evidence on motive  that the deaths were so-called honour killings, a concept introduced through the words of the family patriarch himself, Speyer noted.

Speyer cited several wiretapped conversations played at Shafias trial where he was heard talking about the importance of his honour, and how it had been threatened by his westernized daughters.

In particular she recalled how Shafia cursed his daughters as treacherous and whores and was heard saying may the devil (defecate) on their graves.

An abundance of evidence for motive in this case comes from the mouth of Mohammad Shafia himself, Speyer said.

To help the jury at Shafias trial assess his conversations, the Crown called an expert witness to explain the concept of honour killings, Speyer said.

This is not cultural profiling, Speyer said. This was equipping the jury to understand an issue in the trial.

Speyer noted that the expert witness was careful to note at the original trial that honour killings are rare events, and also made sure there was no generalizations about citizens of Afghanistan or the Middle East in her testimony.

She is not stigmatizing or seeking to generalize or profile an entire nation, Speyer said. She didnt offer any opinion that this case was a case of honour killing.

But lawyers for Shafia, Yahya and Hamed argued that the expert should not have been allowed to tell the jury how honour killings are typically carried out, nor should she have been allowed to read out denunciations on honour killings.

They argued the experts evidence encouraged prejudice, invited the jury to extrapolate from the facts of other unrelated murders, and encouraged a more generalized cultural stereotyping.

The judges reserved their decision on the matter.
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VANCOUVER  A Vancouver Island couple who feared a Metis toddler was about to be removed from their home say they will hug the little girl in celebration after a judge ruled they can keep her in their care for now.

The foster parents battle to win the right to adopt the two-and-a-half-year-old is nowhere close to being over after the decision on Friday that granted the interim order.

Justice Mary Newbury of the British Columbia Court of Appeal ruled the toddler should remain in her current home, rather than be moved to live with biological siblings in Ontario. Newbury said her intent was to preserve the status quo until appeals in the case are decided.

She said her aim is to prevent the girl from being moved out of province with the possibility she could be sent back to B.C.

It seems to me (the child) is entitled at least to a second opinion of this court  as to whether the foster parents should be precluded from being seriously considered as adoptive parents, Newbury said from the bench.

Outside court, the girls foster father said the couple are getting worn down emotionally but the decision gives them some breathing space.

And now we have to formulate a compelling argument that sees her placed with us. Thats the end game, said the man, who cannot be named to protect the childs identity.

A lawyer for B.C.s Childrens Ministry had argued its director is the childs sole guardian and has unilateral discretion to determine where the child should ultimately be placed.

Court heard that under the Adoption Act and other provincial legislation, foster parents are not permitted to apply to adopt their wards. They may only get permanent custody if the director decides its in the childs best interests.

The ministry believes the child should be moved to live with her two sisters, who she has never met.

Lawyer Leah Greathead, representing the Childrens Ministry, argued that biological ties outweigh the fact the girl has formed bonds with the couple in B.C.

The girl has lived with her foster parents since just after her birth. But her case has raised cultural issues because the foster mother is Metis, while her potential adoptive parents in Ontario are not.

Court heard the out-of-province family only learned their own adopted children had Metis heritage after the B.C. toddlers case went to court.

Greathead declined to comment after the ruling.

No dates have been scheduled yet for the appeal, but Newbury urged that the case proceed expeditiously. The girls young age means the more time that passes before she has a permanent home will affect her well-being, say her foster parents.

Thats what (her) physicians say, thats what all the research says and add the cultural component and its hard to see how any other result would be just, said the foster father.

Two judges have ruled against the couples bid for permanent guardianship in earlier cases in B.C. Supreme Court. The first dismissed their petition based on the existing provincial legislation, while the second ruled it was abuse-of-process to argue the case a second time.

The couples lawyer said Newburys decision is a big victory because she recommended both appeals be heard together by a panel of five judges instead of the usual three.

Jack Hittrich said hes hopeful the panel will review B.C.s adoption legislation, which he said gives unfettered discretion to the director and bars the courts from deciding who can adopt.

This is a great day for equity and fairness, as opposed to technical rules, he said outside court. It is a victory for all foster children in a situation where the director appears to have absolute control over the adoption process.

 Follow @TamsynBurgmann on Twitter
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TORONTO  After nearly a decade-long legal battle, roughly 1,600 people who say they were required by Scotiabank to work unpaid overtime will soon be splitting a $20.6 million settlement.

Judge Edward Belobaba of the Ontario Superior Court approved a settlement in the class-action lawsuit against the bank Thursday, with written reasons to follow in the coming weeks.

The suit was originally settled in 2014 and since then, roughly $18.7 million has been distributed among 600 class members. But an additional 1,600 retail branch employees had their claims rejected or reduced.

The ruling is a victory for those workers, said David OConnor, a lawyer for the class members.

We are all very pleased and proud to have driven this hard fought case through certification, appeals and then into a settlement and resettlement that generated almost $40 million for a class of bank employees, OConnor said in an email Friday.

Scotiabank has confirmed in a very material way that it does recognize the significant contributions of its employees over many years. Lets hope that it inspires the same recognition at other employers across Canada.

In addition to the money being paid to frontline sales staff, the bank will have paid a total of $12.5 million in legal fees over the course of both settlements, OConnor said.

Scotiabank spokesman Rick Roth said the bank is pleased to reach the final stage in the case.

The bank values each employee and knows that their contributions are an integral part of our ongoing success, he said in an email.

The lawsuit was originally filed in December of 2007 by Cindy Fulawka, a personal banking representative at Scotiabank, who alleged that the institution breached the minimum standards of overtime compensation provided for by the Canada Labour Code, as well as employment contracts.

Fulawka, who first joined the bank at a Saskatchewan branch in 1986, also alleged that the bank was unjustly enriched by keeping money for itself that should have been paid as wages.

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MONTREAL - The son of deceased Montreal crime boss Vito Rizzuto will remain behind bars as he awaits trial on charges that include drug trafficking and gangsterism.

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Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 04/03/2016 (2422 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two Canadian police officers were accused of sexual misconduct during United Nations missions abroad last year, a report released Friday states.

In one case, according to the report, a Canadian officer was found after a 55-day investigation to have fathered a child, pulled back from the country involved, and suspended for nine days.

The second case is still under investigation, the report states. No further details of the two cases were reported.

A spokesman for Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale referred calls for comment to the RCMP, which manages foreign deployment of Canadian officers from two dozen services across the country.

In response, the RCMP said Canada adheres to the highest standards of police conduct on peace missions and will act appropriately where abuse occurs.

Once a police officer has returned to Canada, any disciplinary action for misconduct in mission is the responsibility of the officers home police service, RCMP Sgt. Harold Pfleiderer told The Canadian Press in an email.

Both of the Canadian caseswere based on the UN definition of sexual exploitation and abuse; as a result, the elements of these allegations may or may not constitute a criminal offence in Canada.

In addition, RCMP policy bans any kind of sexual relations between deployed officers and citizens of mission countries, Pfleiderer said.

The report on special measures for protection from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse by soldiers and police personnel serving as peacekeepers was released by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The secretary-general remains distressed by continuing instances of sexual exploitation and abuse but resolute in ensuring ever more effective means to prevent and address the profound betrayal through such acts by United Nations personnel against the people they are charged with protecting, the report states.

In all, 41 adults and 22 minors were either alleged or confirmed as victims, the report states.

Amid anger at allegations of sexual violence by foreign forces serving in the Central African Republic, Ban last year ordered intensified efforts to prevent sexual abuse. He also put in place a zero-tolerance policy.

The secretary-general also called for on-site courts martial of alleged perpetrators and DNA testing to identify them. He urged the 193 UN member states to update their national laws to ensure they apply to sex crimes committed by their citizens serving in UN peace operations.

The new report is the first one to identify the countries of alleged perpetrators.

The total number of new allegations of sexual exploitation or sexual abuse related to UN personnel last year reached 99  19 more than the year before.

This regrettable increase in the number of new allegations signifies that more needs to be done to reduce the number of allegations and, more importantly, the number of victims affected by sexual exploitation and abuse perpetrated by United Nations personnel, the report states.

Of those, 69 involved allegations of the sexual exploitation and abuse on nine current peacekeeping missions and one closed one. Of the missions involved, 15 involved staff members or UN volunteers, 38 involved members of military contingents or UN military observers, and 16 involved police officers.

At the end of January, investigators had finished work in 17 cases, finding seven complaints substantiated.

The largest number of complaints came from four peacekeeping missions in Haiti, Liberia, Ivory Coast and Mali. UN stabilization missions in the Central African Republic and Democratic Republic of the Congo also saw high numbers.

According to the report, an average of 84 Canadian police officers were deployed abroad last year. No allegations were made against the average of 29 Canadian soldiers deployed on peacekeeping missions.
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 04/03/2016 (2422 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An open letter to MLA candidates in Arthur-Virden:

For my support and my vote on April 19, I require your commitment to immediately increase the number of physicians in Melita by at least one and preferably two.

Melita presently has one and a half physicians, and the one physician is in his late seventies. This physician could get sick or retire at any time leaving this community and the Two Borders municipality with only an excellent but stressed out physician who practises three days a week.

This is not what the Canada Health Act envisioned.

Melita and area communities are thriving and prosperous with an abundance of oil, agriculture, retail and argibusiness; which in addition to the residents all pay taxes that fund this woefully inadequate health-care system. The emergency at the Melita Hospital was only open for eight days in the month of February due to a lack of physicians.

The outcome of an industrial or auto accident in this region could be more costly to Autopac or WCB and detrimental to the health of the individuals. Do the CEOs of Tundra Oil, Patterson Grain and Agrium realize that their workers are at risk?

The numberous empty and for sale properties is mainly due to a low price for crude oil, and a contributing factor is the lack of adequate health care. People are hesitant to move in with no doctors. Property values will reflect this undesirable situation. I am not alone in my concerns as the mayor and town council discuss the doctor shortage on a regular basis.

Deloraine and Souris also have insufficient doctors. The only community with excess doctors is Virden. Is this mismanagement or a vendetta? Possibly you as an MLA and our MP Larry Maguire could look into this. Why did Moosomin, Sask., recently obtain two new doctors?

The undemocratic solution is to blockade Highway 83 and the CPR line. A better solution is for the MLA and MP to represent me and the many who agree with me and solve this health care crisis.

JIM ANDERSON

Melita
There's nothing that Irish people love more than a good old sing-song at the end of a night out - and if it's as Gaeilge, sure, all the better.

The clever folks behind new Irish language music festival, Raveloid, put this to the test by setting up a camera on Grafton Street at 4am - prime sing-song time - and inviting passers-by to belt out a few bars in Irish.
A bomb attack on a prison officer in the North may be the first of a number of dissident republican murder bids launched to mark the centenary of the Easter Rising, police have warned.

Police commanders have expressed fears that dissidents are intent on killing security force members as a perverse way of commemorating the landmark republican anniversary.

The 52-year-old prison officer, a married father of three, required surgery after an explosive device detonated under the van he was driving to work in Belfast this morning.

His condition has been described as stable. The long-serving officer is based at Hydebank Wood Young Offenders Centre in south Belfast and works as a trainer for new recruits to the NI Prison Service.

PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Stephen Martin (pictured above) said he was extremely concerned about an upsurge in dissident activity ahead of the forthcoming 100th anniversary of the Rising.

Mr Martin said while the terror threat level in the North has been categorised as "severe" for a number of years he was now describing it as "the upper end of severe".

"I believe there are people within dissident republican groupings who want to mark this centenary by killing police officers, prison officers and soldiers," he said.

"I am saying that publicly, I am saying it deliberately, and I am saying I need the help of the community. That is not inevitable, this does not need to happen, but we need the support of the community."

The 1916 Rising failed in its primary objective but it triggered a series of events that ultimately saw the 26 counties gain independence from Britain five years later.

Dissidents who splintered from the mainstream republican movement during the peace process insist their armed actions will not end until the six counties are reunited with the 26.

The Rising will be marked by a series of state events in Dublin on March 27, and there are dozens of commemorative events planned north of the border too.

Mr Martin said his officers were "culturally sensitive" to those and would police them appropriately.

But he warned: "There are people within dissident republican groupings who want to mark the 2016 100th anniversary in an entirely more sinister way, who want to kill police officers, prison officers or soldiers.

"So we believe the threat is extremely high at the moment, it's at the upper end of severe, and we need community support and it's not inevitable that anyone needs to lose their life."

Stormont First Minister Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness described the bombing as a "despicable and shocking" attack.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with this senior prison officer and his family as he is treated for his injuries in hospital," the ministers said.

"We join all right-thinking people in condemning these cowardly actions. As a prison officer, he is someone who serves and protects our community and we are united in our rejection of this attack."

The explosion happened in the Hillsborough Drive area off the Woodstock Road in the east of the city just after 7am.

The senior prison officer had just left home to drive to work.

Detectives are examining whether the bomb dislodged from the vehicle as it was going over a speed bump, thus lessening the impact of the blast.

The Woodstock Road is a predominantly unionist/loyalist area.

Mr Martin said: "The intention of this device was to kill. Someone prepared this device. Someone transported this device and someone planted this bomb."

The police commander added: "This could have been a fatality. The people who planned this wanted to kill a prison officer.

"This is a 52-year-old man, he has been in the prison service for 28 years. He's a married man, he has grown-up daughters, and we could be facing an absolutely tragic set of circumstances today in which a man who goes to work every day to keep people safe, to protect people, is actually deprived of his life in the most callous of circumstances."
Secondary teachers are calling on the next Minister for Education - whoever that may be - to discuss Junior Cert reform.

The Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland is to hold a conference on the issue this weekend, as they continue to voice their opposition to changes which include in-school assessment.
The Workplace Relations Commission is to hold talks today to try and find a way forward in the Cadburys dispute.

Staff at the plant are on strike indefinitely over the proposed outsourcing of jobs.
SIPTU and Unite have suspended indefinite strike action at the Cadbury's plant in Dublin.

Staff had gone strike in Coolock over the outsourcing of 17 jobs.

In a statement tonight, SIPTU sector organiser, John Dunne, said: "Following discussions, the Workplace Relations Commission has put forward proposals which achieve cost savings at the company but do not involve the outsourcing of jobs'

For the moment the unions have decided to suspend their strike action.

Mondelez, the company which owns Cadbury's, issued a statement this evening.

"Following intense negotiations at the Workplace Relations Commission, Mondelez Ireland welcomes the significant progress made over the course of the day," the company stated.

"A comprehensive proposal has been recommended by the WRC and the company welcomes the suspension of industrial action.

"The Mondelez manufacturing business in Ireland remains under intense pressure from international competition.

"The changes planned, which include the investment of 11.7m in new chocolate making technology, are essential to help address competitiveness at the Coolock site.

"The company would like to thank Kieran Mulvey, director general of the Workplace Relations Commission and his team for their facilitation of todays talks."
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has challenged a TV interviewer when quizzed about any retirement plans, asking him: "Do you want me to punch you to the floor to realise I am still there?"

The 92-year-old, known for his pugnacious comments, was responding to an interviewer from state TV after a question about who would succeed him.
A car bomb attack in south-eastern Turkey has killed two police officers and wounded at least four other people, according to the country's state-run news agency.

Anadolu Agency said the attack on Friday targeted a traffic police station as well as police lodgings in the town of Nusaybin, which borders Syria.
A Turkish court has sentenced two Syrian smugglers to four years and two months each in prison over the death of three-year-old migrant boy Aylan Kurdi and four other people.

The state-run Anadolu Agency said the court convicted the two of human trafficking but acquitted them of the charge of causing the deaths through deliberate negligence.
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Canberra's universities are not doing enough to protect students from "widespread and deliberate" practices of dodgy employers, a local union representative says.

The Canberra Times reported at the weekend the story of Simon Cole, 34, who said he was paid $15 hour cash-in-hand by Crust pizza in Kingston.

A union says universities should take greater responsibility for their students who are working. Credit:Jessica Shapiro

The claim of cash payments would leave him about $9 an hour out of pocket pre-tax. Mr Cole, a student, says he was sacked when he asked for his entitlements.

He lodged an application with the Fair Work Commission this month seeking compensation for the underpayments  which would be worth thousands of dollars pre-tax  and wrongful dismissal.
Equal rights supporters are visible and vocal. Credit:Elesa Kurtz This is because, if it goes ahead, and toes are trodden upon by Christians slagging off at gays and gays slagging off at Christians, the hovering 116-year-old Constitution will come into play. And similarly, with any referendum on Indigenous recognition. The High Court has said that implied in the Constitution is a system of democratic and representative government. That can only work if people are well-informed, the court says. And, therefore, to the extent that any state law impinges upon the free flow of information implied in a representative and democratic system of government, it is invalid. Hitherto, the constitutional implication has been mainly applied to state defamation laws. It has permitted defendants in defamation cases to argue that publication of political matters, if done responsibly and carefully, cannot be successfully sued upon even if they ultimately turn out to be untrue.

So my guess is that the High Court will constrain state and federal anti-discrimination law when it comes to people engaging in debate on the marriage-equality plebiscite or on the Indigenous-recognition referendum. These are clearly matters of representative democracy. The constitutional implication of a free flow of information will not permit people to incite violence against gays or Indigenous people, but it will allow speech that offends them or that reasonable people might expect to offend them. The High Court will most likely read down these rather precious "take-offence" laws. I detest homophobic and racist comments, but making them criminal or even subject to civil sanction in the context of a national political debate over marriage equality and Indigenous recognition is not helpful. How much better would it be that after a successful Yes vote on marriage equality or Indigenous recognition to be able to say, "We let you do your worst. We let you say whatever you wanted and you still lost.".

That would be much better than successful Yes campaigns and a lingering resentment from the No campaigns that they only lost because they were muffled by do-good, anti-discrimination laws. Anther good thing might come of the Christian lobby feeling hard done by because of do-good speech-limiting opponents. They might see the value in having a general bill of rights which enshrines people's freedom of speech beyond the merely political context, to enshrine their freedom to express themselves in a non-political environment to oppose marriage equality and to vehemently oppose Indigenous recognition. It is important to win these great human battles after opponents have no excuse  after they have lost in a great big equal conquest of ideas. However, if the battles are lost, so be it. There is always another day. No one is now advocating that women should not be allowed to vote; that nine-year-olds should go down mines; that the impecunious sick should be left to die. It is detestable that opponents of marriage equality should be muzzled by badly thought-out and badly drafted state legislation which wants to make their speech an offence.

Free speech is not free speech unless you are allowed to offend someone  always provided you do not incite violence against them. Now to the Senate. In the past week we have had an instructive truism from psephologist Malcolm Mackerras: the Constitution says what the High Court says it says. With Green support a bill is now certain to pass under which voters will be allowed to vote preferentially above the line: Labor 1; Liberal 2; Nationals 3; Greens 4 and so on. Under the old system voters could only put a 1 above the line for a party and their vote was deemed to follow the preferences lodged by that party with the Electoral Commission. Or they could number all their preferences below the line, but for a valid vote they had to number them sequentially and accurately even if there were more than 100 candidates (as there have often been in some states).

Under the new arrangements, below-the-line voting will still require voters to number all candidates sequentially and accurately. This is a shame. It should allow an optional preferential system under which voters need only vote sequentially for, say, 12 candidates, not the whole 100 plus. It is a shame because the power brokers in political parties will get to order their candidates and 90 per cent plus of voters will be steered like sheep into a sheep dip to vote for that order. But it will not be unconstitutional. The Constitution requires that senators be "chosen directly by the people". The existing system was held not to offend the Constitution by a single judge of the High Court. That could have been re-argued, but with new provisions on their way that is irrelevant. What about the constitutionality of the new provisions? My guess is that if challenged (quite likely) the court would say that any system that provided for the choice of senators based solely upon what voters mark on a ballot paper, without any reference to an external party list (as the soon-to-be-former system provided) would be held "chosen directly by the people".
An inquiry into the rising rate of youth suicide in the ACT will hold public hearings later this month and is calling for submissions by April.

The inquiry, led by a Legislative Assembly committee, was launched in February when the Assembly heard suicide was the leading cause of death for children in Canberra aged between five and 17 years of age in 2013, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Opposition mental health spokeswoman Giulia Jones proposed the inquiry into youth suicide in February. Credit:Jeffrey Chan

Intentional self-harm is one of the leading causes of death among young males. In 2013, 37 people died from suicide in the ACT  an increase of 54 per cent from the previous year.

The inquiry will examine the roles and responsibilities of the ACT and Commonwealth government in regard to youth mental health and suicide prevention, ACT government-funded service provision and whether there are unique factors contributing to youth suicide rates in the ACT.
A young man who launched a vicious, prolonged attack on an elderly war veteran has been jailed for at least 20 months.

The bashing of Ian Gore, 82, was so severe that one of the ACT's most senior detectives, Marcus Boorman, said it was the "most horrific" he had seen in more than 26 years of policing.

Jacob Seretin, 22, exits the ACT Supreme Court last week. Seretin has been jailed for at least 20 months. Credit:Elesa Kurtz

It was characterised in court as "cowardly" and "brutal", but also out-of-character and inexplicable for the offender, Jacob Seretin, 22, who has no criminal history, no previous indications of violent tendencies, and no drug or alcohol problems.

The ordeal began one night in September 2014, when Mr Gore heard someone knocking over bins outside his Canberra home.
The weaker Australian dollar and competition from rival Hawaiian Airlines have taken their toll on Jetstar, with the low-cost carrier planning to abandon the Brisbane-Honolulu route from October to pursue more profitable flights to Bali and Phuket.

Jetstar's customers tend to be more sensitive to currency swings that have made a Hawaiian holiday more expensive than the higher-end flyers served by parent Qantas on the Sydney-Honolulu route.

There was a 2.6 per cent rise in the number of Australians visiting Hawaii in January. Credit:Marco Garcia

However, Jetstar will keep flying to Honolulu from Sydney, a larger market than Brisbane, and from Melbourne, where it is the only carrier offering non-stop flights.

"Despite the lower dollar, the Honolulu routes continue to perform well for both Qantas and Jetstar," a Jetstar spokesman said on Friday. "But it's fair to say we've seen a moderate dip in demand out of Brisbane and we believe it is the right time to move this capacity to Asia where more Australians want to travel."
High profile US investor, Rogers Holdings chairman Jim Rogers, says he is certain that the US economy will be in recession in the next 12 months.

During an interview on BloombergTV, the famous investor said that there was a 100 percent probability that the US economy would be in a downturn within one year.

Bancor issued its own tokens and raised about 390,000 Ethers (a crypto-currency that competes with Bitcoin) in its initial coin offering. That's $US153 million ($202 million) at the current exchange rate. Credit:Phil Carrick

"It's been seven years, eight years since we had the last recession in the US and normally, historically we have them every four to seven years for whatever reason - at least we always have," he said.

"It doesn't have to happen in four to seven years but look at the debt, the debt is staggering."
Clive Palmer has failed to convince a Queensland judge that his petroleum company shouldn't have to cough up almost $23 million it owes a Singapore-based exploration company.

Palmer Petroleum lost its bid to have the debt set aside in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Friday.

Brisbane Supreme Court dismisses action from Palmer Petroleum. Credit:Glenn Hunt

Justice David Boddice dismissed the court action, describing it as nothing more than a "cynical attempt" to deflect responsibility for the debt owed to BGP exploration.

BGP had surveyed resources and provided a report for Palmer Petroleum's lease areas in the Gulf of Papua.
Section 319 of the Corporations Act says companies limited by guarantee (such as BCA) must file their accounts within four months of the close of the financial year. Not to do so constitutes an "offence of strict liability". What then is the penalty for breaking the law? Schedule 3 Penalties, Item 112, says the penalty for breaching Subsection 319 (1) of the Act is "60 penalty units or imprisonment for 1 year, or both". If a penalty unit is $170, then one year's breach equates to $10,200 and eight years' breaches $81,600. This calculation doesn't include the 2015 accounts, which a spokesperson for the BCA said had been filed on time. Perhaps they have not been processed yet. Illustration: Michael Mucci.

We believe we have stumbled upon a most amenable revenue raising opportunity: apply the existing laws. In any case, as the council, by its own admission, is at the vanguard of best practice, and is most instrumental in influencing government policy on behalf of all Australians, we put this question: "In the interests of good corporate citizenship and setting the right example, would BCA be prepared to pay this amount, even if ASIC were not to take action under s319?" As at deadline, no response was forthcoming. This is disappointing, as yours truly, like other reporters in the finance area, has been bombarded by unsolicited BCA communications for years and this was only the second time we had returned serve and solicited a communication from the communications body. (No luck the first time either.) A spokesman for the regulator said: "ASIC does not comment on operational matters." To give it its due, though, in the year and a bit to December, it prosecuted 44 companies for 212 offences with fines ranging to $20,000 per offence for late filing, non-filing and failure to hold annual meetings. A credibility problem

The business lobby has a credibility problem, and the BCA and others need to address it. The cat is out of the bag on corporate tax avoidance. It will not go back in the bag. The public now knows it is being fleeced. Unless their members are seen to pay their fair share, business groups will only find it harder to speak with credibility on tax. How can the BCA be taken seriously when its members include reps from Chevron, Shell, the ATO's "number one tax risk" News Corporation, the very architects of the world's most aggressive tax schemes E&Y, KPMG, Deloitte and PwC, foreign investment banks, all the major tax law firms, and McDonalds and Google? It can't. Advocating that a GST be foisted on those who can least afford it, when large multinationals operating in Australia are paying a pittance, no longer washes with the public. Incidentally, although Qantas is by no means in the same stratosphere as the aforementioned avoiders, as its chief, Joyce, was lamenting the high tax rate, it is worthwhile noting the national carrier has paid no net tax in six years. Having enjoyed a $129 million rebate in 2010 and paid very little tax since, Qantas is $122 million in the black versus the ATO and perhaps other revenue authorities over six years. At least, that's what its cash-flow statements show.

Of course, Qantas suffered that humungous loss in 2014 and running the airline is perhaps the toughest corporate gig in Australia, so Joyce can be forgiven for whinging about the tax rate. That said, his preferred profit metric is to report "underlying profit before tax" (on which executive salaries are measured) and this was $1.55 billion for the period; and in the recent interim result, a mere $1 million tax was paid on a profit of $688 million or $983 million before tax. All for one, none for all So, does the BCA pay tax? No, it is a company limited by guarantee and, like other unions and not-for-profits, is not required to pay tax. In 2014, its 121 chief executive members  it is effectively the CEOs' union  tipped in almost $8 million in fees and there was a deficit of $563,673. The key reason for the deficit was two major projects that cost $821,352, one of which was espousing tax reform, so you can see why the council is cranky with the government: tax reform stasis.
Of all the conflicts that the United States embarked upon in the past 100 years, President Richard Nixon's war on drugs  launched in June 1971  was arguably the most futile. The aim was to reduce the illegal trade in drugs by criminalising their production, sale, possession and consumption. An army law enforcement agency equipped with all the resources the most prosperous and technologically advanced nation on earth could muster was enlisted to reinforce this prohibition. However, for all the national treasure expended and the millions of lives lost or blighted, the war has achieved little. Estimates of the size of the US's illicit drug trade are far from precise, but it's estimated that users spend in the order of $100 billion annually, sustaining and enriching large criminal organisations inside and outside the country.

One of the more pernicious aspects of Mr Nixon's crusade was the pressure he and other officials brought to bear on foreign governments to follow US thinking on prohibitions. Unsurprisingly, Australia obliged, if without quite the same zealousness that has seen US jails fit to bursting with people convicted of relatively trivial offences.

Nearly 45 years on, belief in the effectiveness of heavily policed drug prohibition regimes has all but collapsed, even in parts of the US. Evidence-based policies emphasising harm minimisation, drug treatment, and the decriminalisation of small amounts of cannabis for personal use are recognised almost universally as the approaches most likely to minimise the harmful, addictive effects of illicit drugs. But in certain government and law enforcement circles (including in Australia, disappointingly) attitudes to drug law reform remain hostile.

The hostility of the NSW government towards the concept of drug-checking laboratories at music festivals is but the latest manifestation of this recalcitrance. Pill-testing stations have become an almost routine feature of European music festivals, allowing patrons to test (anonymously) the purity of ecstasy tablets. Ecstasy, or MDMA, is the drug of choice for party and concert-goers because it heightens perceptions of colour and sound, among other things. One of the drug's side effects, however, is extremely high body temperatures that can lead to under or over-hydration and, in some cases, death. A National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre report in 2010 estimated that ecstasy was involved in nearly 100 deaths in Australia between 2000 and 2008, about a dozen each year.
I have concluded a formal review into the column "The horrifying untold story of Louise", published on Monday, February 22. The article has since been retracted and, on behalf of the Herald, I once again unreservedly apologise for the column and the hurt and distress it understandably caused.

The formal review, which included a comprehensive examination of editorial processes, found unacceptable breaches of fundamental journalistic practice. The columnist, who has also apologised for the report and admitted this serious lapse, will stand aside from his duties until further notice.

The Herald's reputation is founded on the trust our readers give us to provide fair, balanced and independent journalism, and it is critical that the editorial integrity of the Herald is maintained.
It would seem to be a no-brainer. Fix gender inequity in employment and we fix the economy. And we could legitimately say: It's never been a better time to be an Australian woman. The Australian government has already officially committed to increasing women's participation. Remember the G20? Back in November 2014 in Brisbane, all the headlines were about Prime Minister Tony Abbott's failure to "shirt-front" Russian president Vladimir Putin so maybe you have forgotten that at that meeting the G20 countries agreed to reduce the gap between women's and men's workforce participation by 25 per cent by 2025. A rock solid commitment you would think. Except that in Canberra at present policy seems to be directed at achieving the very opposite. To reach the G20 goal, Australia would need to increase women's participation by "at least three percentage points", according to the website of the Office for Women (OfW) in the Prime Minister's Department.

OfW has carriage of implementing the G20 commitment but there is, so far at least, no public reporting mechanism so no way to monitor what is being done. There should be a parliamentary inquiry into how the commitment is being met and businesses should be encouraged to make public pledges to increase the numbers of jobs for women, says Susan Harris Rimmer, an academic from Griffith University. Harris Rimmer and former television presenter Anne Fulwood are Australia's representatives on the W20 which is a group of women leaders established at the G20 meeting in Turkey late last year with the brief to advise on boosting women's economic performance. The experience of Canada, a country with a similar economy and social structure to Australia, is that women's participation increases when childcare costs come down and tax disincentives are removed. In Brisbane when the commitment was announced, the Australian government stated that its childcare and paid parental leave policies would be key to achieving the goal. Since then, both policies have been shredded  with dire implications for achieving the G20 target.

The federal government has given the Orwellian title of "Fairer Paid Parental Leave Scheme"  I kid you not  to its proposed new PPL arrangements. Under this "fairer" scheme 79,000 women of the approximately 160,000 who accessed the existing PPL scheme last year would have their payments cut by as much as $12,000 a year, according to research conducted by Professor Marian Baird from the University of Sydney Business School. The government says it doesn't like a woman "double-dipping" by using both government and employer-provided schemes so is proposing this "fairer" model. The savings of around $1 billion from this and cuts to family payments will be used to pay for a new child care scheme (known as "Jobs for Families Child Care Package"). This is what happens when policy is approached purely from a budget point of view. Instead of asking, what do we want policy to achieve e.g. increased workforce participation, the government has asked: how much money can we save. The result is a policy mishmash described by Professor Baird as "inconsistent" and "incoherent". While most other advanced countries are expanding their PPLs in recognition of the economic benefits of more women in the workforce, Australia is cutting back. The result will be either women will drop out of the workforce because the PPL is inadequate OR they return to work earlier (because their leave runs out) and thus put additional pressure on the already inadequate childcare system.

Even before these policies were developed, the government's own Intergenerational Report, released in March last year, revealed Treasury projections showing the G20 goal would not be achieved for at least 40 years. Instead of treating this as a wake-up call and putting in place policies to increase participation, the government headed in the opposite direction. But neither policy is assured of passage in the Senate  at least not this parliamentary sitting. Labor and the Greens are opposed to the "fairer" PPL and there is apparently little support from the crossbenchers. The childcare package is currently before a Senate committee that reports back on March 17  the last sitting day of this session so there will be no time to pass the legislation. This is good news. It keeps the G20 goal alive and retains policies that were at least a bit more friendly towards those women who want to have babies and continue in employment.
Schreiner bought his first significant piece at an auction in the early 1980s. It was a red gown she wore in publicity shots and for the premiere of Monkey Business, a 1952 movie starring Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers, in which she had a small role. He can't remember exactly how much it cost, he says, "but it started me on a path, a very expensive path."

He is in Australia for the opening of an exhibition devoted to Monroe at the Bendigo Art Gallery, featuring many items from his collection.

He started to acquire books and photographs, continued his devotion in college, and went to become a leading Marilyn collector, president of her fan club and organiser of a memorial service for her at Westwood Cemetery held every year on August 5, the date of her death in 1962. The smallest Marilyn item in his possession is a hairpin, the largest is her refrigerator. He has costumes, photographs, letters, scripts and personal effects of all kinds.

Seeing Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot changed Greg Schreiner's life forever. He was a child at the drive-in with his parents, he recalls, "and I remember falling in love with this amazing blonde angel on screen. I was growing up in a small farming community in Illinois, and no one looked liked that in Illinois. It was like she wasn't even of this earth. And I just never got over it."

An exhibition devoted to Marilyn Monroe at the Bendigo Art Gallery, features many items from Greg Schreiner's personal collection.

He's accumulated information as well as objects. As president of the fan club, Marilyn Remembered, he has invited guests to the club's regular meetings to share their memories of her, bringing in people who "worked with her or were married to her or were her friends". Through that, he says, "I feel I got to know her almost as well as if I'd met her." He doesn't expect to turn up many new names; he has already cast the net very wide. What's struck him most of all, listening to their stories, is the impact she made on everyone who came into contact with her. "They've been so moved by having met her that they can't get it out of their minds."

He counts himself "lucky beyond belief" to have met the people who bought Monroe's house and much of its contents after her death. He was able to buy "some furniture and special pieces" from them. When he moved to Los Angeles, one of his neighbours turned out to have worked at 20th Century Fox and accumulated an extensive collection, including Marilyn-related items, that he left to Schreiner in his will.

Schreiner knows all the other major Monroe collectors, counting them as friends and, in a way, competitors  " but frankly, most of us are out of the league when it comes to buying things now. I think big corporations are buying, and we don't even know where things are ending up any more." Only the auction house knows the identity of the buyer of the dress she wore when she sang Happy Birthday to President Kennedy. Schreiner doesn't expect any big new discoveries to be made, he says. "Certain gowns have never turned up, but most things have been accounted for. Still, you never know ...

"I am so blessed with what I have already, and they're so special to me. When everything is in my home, I feel like there's a little bit of her spirit floating around there, it gives me a warm glow."
Kendrick Lamar is a man of his word. The Grammy award winning artist hinted he would 'drop a project 1 day this week'.

On Friday, Australian time, the Compton-based rapper delivered with Untitled Unmastered, a collection of outtakes and untitled songs Lamar has performed over the last year including on The Colbert Report, The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon and most recently at the Grammy Awards.

Rapper Kendrick Lamar at the 58th Grammy Awards. Credit:John Shearer

This Instagram post from Lamar's label boss, Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith, had fans chomping at the bit.
The fight over the future of the ABC is getting personal.

The broadcaster has blasted a push by Coalition senators to overhaul its charter and board appointment process to favour regional Australia as "flawed", "illogical" and an attack on the broadcaster's independence.

In a strongly worded submission, the ABC also suggests Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie is hypocritical for demanding the ABC board include two directors living in regional areas, given she lives in a major city.

Fairfax Media recently revealed that Senator McKenzie, who has led the push to reshape the ABC, lives in the inner-city Melbourne suburb of Elwood, despite being regularly described as "Bendigo-based".
Malcolm Turnbull has publicly warned Tony Abbott he will not hesitate to correct the record if false statements are made regarding government policy, in a sign that the frosty relationship between victor and vanquished is deteriorating.

The unusually direct statement came as Mr Turnbull slapped down Mr Abbott's claim that the recently released Defence white paper contained a later delivery date for the future submarine fleet than the one originally nominated when he had been prime minister.

Responding to a leaked earlier version of the top secret blueprint  a security breach that is now the subject of an Australian Federal Police investigation  Mr Abbott had said he was not merely disappointed with the post-2030 delivery for the new subs, but was "flabbergasted".
A fresh Shares Race has kicked off and a strong rally on the Australian sharemarket has sent all but one contestant off to a flying start.

Few investors could wish for a better start for their investments: seven out of the eight contestants posted gains in week one. The All Ordinaries index posted a whopping 4 per cent gain for the week, rising for four straight days and buoyed by a global rally and GDP data that showed Australia's economy is tracking along much better than feared.

Seek helped Jessica Gardner take the lead after week one. Credit:Jessica Shapiro

To mark International Women's Day on March 8, this four-week race is a female-only affair.

Out of the blocks is The Australian Financial Review's deputy company and markets editor Jessica Gardner, whose savvy picks Seek and Vita Group helped earn a tidy $6253 profit in week one.
Frances Rings' Terrain, first seen in 2012, is Bangarra Dance Theatre's most beautiful work in recent years. This short season of four performances, finishing in Sydney on Saturday, March 5, will be on stage again as a regional tour later in the year.

Bangarra ensemble; Terrain Credit:Zan Wimberley

Although the diversity of our landscape is often a starting point for Australian dance, Indigenous and otherwise, Rings has taken a particularly thoughtful and sensitive approach. The result is both a handsome dance work and an eloquent essay on our country from an Indigenous point of view.

Rings' natural touch points revolve around the salt, spinifex and transformational flooding of Lake Eyre in South Australia. She also links these aspects with issues such as the struggle for Indigenous recognition and damaging human impact on the environment.

Her choreography is a contemporary mix of Indigenous and international dance languages and - as often seen with small ensembles and a handful of dancers  their bodies change the group shape in intricate partnerships as they move.

Tight, circular patterning of action and fluent rhythms are the peak of Rings' achievement, capturing a spirit and sense of purpose that make them engrossing and full of character.
Rome: Child sex abuse survivors who flew to Rome to hear Cardinal George Pell give evidence to a royal commission say they were disappointed to learn their request to meet the Pope was never received.

That's despite starting the application process back in Australia and obeying instructions to fax the request to the papal office.

The survivors were not impressed with Cardinal Pell's denials to the child abuse royal commission that he knew of paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale's offending in Ballarat in the 1970s and 1980s.
The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet has paid more than $4.5 million in severance costs to public servants who accepted voluntary redundancies last year.

The payments, detailed after additional senate estimates in February, come as senior management prepare to cut another 200 roles from a workforce of 2324 staff in 2016-17.

Dr Martin Parkinson, former Secretary of the Department of the Treasury. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

They reveal the majority of redundancies were sourced from the department's Indigenous affairs division, primarily from the regional network program.
Starting university can be both daunting and exciting for any school-leaver, but three young women are embracing their journey into a quality education more than most.

Kate Field, Angie Lu and Catherine Priestley are the three inaugural recipients of the Katrina Dawson Foundation scholarships at Sydney University's Women's College.

Katrina Dawson during her time at King & Wood Mallesons law firm in Sydney.

The foundation was set up by Ms Dawson's family following the horror of losing the devoted mother, wife, sister, daughter, barrister and friend in the Sydney siege of December 2014.

In establishing the scholarships, the family wanted to do something that reflected who Katrina was  and helping young women with extraordinary potential access opportunities beyond their reach seemed perfect.
The federal government is leaving room for two rail lines to the proposed airport at Badgerys Creek.

The potential to build both suburban and fast rail from the future airport was revealed at a conference on the construction of a fast train between Sydney CBD, Parramatta and Badgerys Creek held on Friday.

The government has not committed to having the airport connected to a working rail link when it opens its doors to about 5 million passengers a year in 2025.
"This punches a pretty big hole in Graham Quirk's costings," he said. "We already know he oversold the project by comparing it with the Paris Metro. "The truth is Graham Quirk has never been able to explain how he would pay for his so-called metro. "Now it looks like it will actually cost double what he told us." But Cr Quirk insisted his sums were correct and said TMR should publicly release its review of Labor's light rail proposal.

"I note that the state department completed a memo 24 hours after I made my Brisbane Metro announcement," he said. "I assume they have done the same for Labor's light rail proposal and it should be publicly released. "The Brisbane Metro is fully costed with a 50 per cent contingency built into the infrastructure component of the pricing and I have said that council will contribute the majority of funding, but will also be seeking state and federal government support." Fairfax Media has been told a similar briefing note had not been prepared about Mr Harding's light rail plan, which was still very light on detail, as bureaucrats did not usually prepare assessments of non-elected candidates' plans. Cr Quirk said the "first thing" his administration would do if re-elected on March 19 would be to commission a business case.

"We need to undertake detailed design and then we need to work with the private sector and other levels of government to achieve this outcome," he said. "We have built a lot of infrastructure in Brisbane in the past decade and local residents want us to keep building the necessary infrastructure to keep Brisbane heading in the right direction." The TMR memo notes Cr Quirk's Brisbane Metro would "require wholesale reconfiguration of the bus network across the Brisbane contract area, especially across the south-east". "There was previously very strong community and BCC opposition to a proposed network review that was much less disruptive," it notes. The memo also raises serious concerns about the Brisbane Metro's reliance on existing state-owned infrastructure.

"It is unclear what the expectation or implications would be with regards to operations and maintenance of the corridor," it notes. "It is unclear how buses would access the Queen Street Bus Station, Adelaide Street and Elizabeth Street. "If passengers are required to relocate to the King George Square bus station, many people would be disadvantaged in terms of access to their destination, especially those heading to the Queens Wharf precinct, the Riverside and Eagle Street precinct and the southern CBD. "It will provide significant challenges during construction and major disruption to the busiest part of the busway network." The memo also notes the Victoria Bridge, which would act as the Brisbane Metro's river crossing, was "known to have loading capacity limitations".

"It is unclear if and how these limitations have been addressed with regards to this proposal," it notes. Cr Quirk's office said that had been addressed (see below). The memo also questioned how the Brisbane Metro's proposed rollingstock stabling facility at Woolloongabba, on the Go Print site, would impact on the proposed Cross River Rail station at that site. Mr Harding said the memo showed the Brisbane Metro would have "serious implications" for the Cross River Rail project. "Perhaps that's because Graham Quirk doesn't support Cross River Rail," he said.

The LNP Newman government appointed Mr Scales TMR director-general in 2012, after Michael Caltabiano was forced out of the role. Cr Quirk's office was asked six direct questions arising from the TMR memo. The answers are provided below in full: Is the Quirk administration satisfied the cost can be kept to $1.54 billion? "Yes." Has there been any risk allowance in coming up with that figure?

"Yes. Fifty per cent contingency built into the infrastructure component of the pricing." Did the Quirk administration consult with TMR at all prior to the announcement? If not, why not, given the state-owned assets that would have to be modified? "No. The leaking of this memo shows that any consultation would have been likely to result in the Labor opposition being provided with details of our plan." Is the Quirk administration satisfied the Victoria Bridge's load capacity limitations will not adversely affect the scope of the project? "Yes. The 2009 Queensland Transport Technical Investigations of Inner City Metro and Busway Conversions Options report: 'It should also be noted that the Metro option does not require the reconstruction of Victoria Bridge, whereas the LRT co-location option would require the reconstruction of Victoria Bridge.'"
A Queensland police officer acquitted over a Palm Island death in custody is facing assault charges.

Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley, 47, has been charged with two counts of assault after allegedly pushing an on-duty female officer at Robina Town Centre on the Gold Coast last month.

Chris Hurley was acquitted over a Palm Island death in custody in 2007. Credit:Ian Hitchcock

He is also facing a charge over a third matter that "relates to conduct not related to the workplace", police say.

Sen Sgt Hurley is due to appear in Southport Magistrates Court on March 15.
A man accused of killing a Gold Coast drug addict admitted to bashing someone and it getting "out of hand", a murder trial has heard.

Shane Anthony Eric Hansen and Dean Mark Wills are accused of beating and stabbing Darren John Britza, 31, at an industrial shed in Southport in March 2001.

Victim Darren Britza.

Mr Hansen's former housemate told the Brisbane Supreme Court on Friday that Mr Hansen and Mr Wills took off from a party in March 2001 for a few hours, and a fews days later Mr Hansen told him they had bashed someone and it got "a bit out of hand".

AAP
Firefighters have performed a protracted rescue operation at a worksite in Brisbane's south-west, where a man fell six metres onto an elevated platform.

Emergency services were called to the site at Valance Street in Darra, about 9.30am, after reports the man had fallen from a ladder.

A man has suffered neck injuries in a fall from a ladder at a Darra work site. Credit:Nine News Brisbane

Three rescue firefighting units were called to stablise the man and lower him to the ground on a splint, after he complained of neck pain.

Workplace Health and Safety will investigate the incident.
A man accused of running a red light and mowing down two Melbourne teenagers, killing one and seriously injuring the other, has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Steven Vasilevski has been ordered to face trial following a two-day committal hearing in the Melbourne Magistrates Court.

Hit and run victims Anthony Nguyen and Jasmine Vuong.

He is charged with 11 offences, including dangerous driving causing death, dangerous driving causing serious injury, failing to stop and failing to render assistance.

Jasmine Vuong was 17 years old when she and her friend, Anthony Nguyen were allegedly struck by Mr Vasilevski's car in Delahey, in Melbourne's north-west, about 11.30pm on January 27 last year.
Shireen Gunn, of CASA in Ballarat. Credit:Konrad Marshall

Ms Worth spoke to one front line operator who could not recall a worse shift on the job than Monday's.

"She did 13 intakes, perhaps 30 minutes each, talking to desperate people who wanted to make an appointment for counselling," Ms Worth said. "We used to think one month was an unreasonable wait time. But now in a number of locations around the state we have wait times of two and three months, and others with wait times of five months. It just doesn't stop."

In Ballarat alone, more than 30 people have made appointments or had interviews with CASA in the past fortnight  a 25 per cent increase on the already-high numbers coming forward. Shireen Gunn, manager of the Ballarat CASA, said the centre could help anyone with an initial counselling session, but continued support might not be possible for upwards of four months.

Help may be on the way. Having met with a small group of survivors in Rome, Cardinal Pell expressed his desire to make Ballarat a model for peace by investigating a feasibility study into a potential research centre to "enhance healing" and "improve protection". This has long been proposed by survivors.
One man is fighting for his life and two other men have been serious injured following two separate shootings in Melbourne early Saturday.

In the first shooting, two men were gunned down outside the Bros outlaw motorcycle gang clubhouse in Yarraville in Melbourne's inner-west.

Two men were wounded outside this motorcycle clubhouse in Yarraville.

One of the men is believed to have suffered life-threatening injuries and both were taken to hospital.

The victims, a 38-year-old from Altona and a 37-year-old from Herne Hill, were shot about 1.40am at the clubhouse in Campbell Street.
A man who was charged with murder after he fatally shot a neighbour in Mandurah, south of Perth, has been found guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter.

Damian Degioannis has been on trial in the Supreme Court of Western Australia, accused of murdering 42-year-old Adam Hall just before midnight on November 13, 2014.

Damian Degioannis was found guilty of the manslaughter of 42-year-old nieghbour Adam Hall. Credit:Mandurah Mail

Defence lawyer Anthony Elliott told the jury in his opening submissions that his client was defending himself and his guests against a drug-affected Mr Hall, who had been aggressive and threatened to invade Degioannis' house.

Degioannis responded by going inside and grabbing a sawn-off rifle, which he used to shoot Mr Hall in the chest.
Inactivity by WA police in moving against shops selling synthetic marijuana has led to one family taking direct action.

A northern suburbs woman has spoken on condition of anonymity because of concerns of the drug's impact on the mental stability of an affected relative - and his unpredictable reaction to the story.

Synthetic marijuana is said to be widely available throughout Perth. Credit:NSW Police

She contacted WAtoday after reading a report on Thursday that charted how the drug had become widely available throughout Perth.

The woman told how a concerned family member had stormed into a Wangara store, which she alleges sold the drug to the family member.
Setting out a litany of Trump misdeeds  including his mocking of a disabled reporter and his serial demeaning of women  Romney declared Trump did not have the temperament for the White House. Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney weighs in on the Republican presidential race during a speech at the University of Utah on Thursday. Credit:AP He went on: "Donald Trump says he admires Vladimir Putin, at the same time he has called George W. Bush a liar. That is a twisted example of evil trumping good. There's a dark irony in his boasts of his sexual exploits during the Vietnam War, while at the same time, John McCain, whom he has mocked, was imprisoned and tortured [by the North Vietnamese]." That was the cue for McCain to lay into Trump, endorsing all that Romney had said before using an open letter by almost 100 Republican-associated national security and foreign affairs advisers as a cudgel. Republicans are on the attack, most notably previous nominee John McCain. Credit:AP

"[Trump's] vision of American influence and power in the world is wildly inconsistent and unmoored in principle," the letter reads. "He swings from isolationism to military adventurism within the space of one sentence." Such is the chaos and convolution in the GOP that the Romney lashing, no-doubt well intentioned, was read by analysts as more likely to cement than to break Trump's hold on the nomination. Hillary Clinton "will have an almighty battle in the general election if she faces Donald Trump". Credit:AP Chris Cillizza explains in The Washington Post: "Romney is the face of the establishment. He's just the sort of guy the party loves  he's 'serious'. He has 'gravitas'. He is 'trustworthy' and 'steady'. He's also the embodiment of everything Trump has built his campaign against  he's part of the problem, not the solution. "Will he persuade anyone who is voting for Trump not to do so? I seriously doubt it."

In keeping with the head-butting nature of an increasingly juvenile Republican contest for the presidential nomination, Trump retaliated while speaking in Maine. Deriding Romney as a "failed candidate", he mocked Romney's 2012 campaign performance, particularly his debate performance and his campaign-destroying comments about the "47 per cent" of Americans who don't pay taxes. Recalling his endorsement of Romney, Trump told his audience: "He was begging for my endorsement  I could have said, 'Mitt, drop to your knees'." The strategic point that Romney sought to make was that despite Trump's polling in the primaries, and particularly in the 12 states that voted in this week's Super Tuesday round of balloting and caucusing, it's not too late to block Trump. And Romney fed into a narrative coming from the other candidates' camps, dismissed as too late by some analysts, that if the others polled strongly enough, they could remain in the contest  and then slug it out for the nomination at the Republican convention in Cleveland in July. If it came to that, Cleveland would be a 'brokered convention' - the first such contest since modern primaries began in 1972. The others who might still matter in the Republican race  senators Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas  each claim that the other needs to bow out to allow one of them to use their combined swag of votes to topple Trump. On the voting so far, Trump has 34 per cent of the vote, compared with a combined almost 50 per cent for Cruz (28.1 per cent) and Rubio (21.7 per cent).

Neither Cruz not Rubio is acknowledging that one of them should offer to have the other run as his deputy. And while Cruz claims that his vote figure today crowns him as the anti-Trump candidate, the Rubio camp argues that Cruz has harvested his most supportive states and that Rubio's have yet to vote. Trump loves this kind of gridlock. As the Republican leadership veers into wrist-slashing mode, the numbers warrant attention  Trump has polled high (49 per cent in Massachusetts) and low (21 per cent in Minnesota). Given the unlikely possibility of the party allowing the TV cameras of the world to feast on four days of Republican plotting and back-stabbing to somehow rob Trump of his trophy, it seems that Cruz and Rubio will have to work harder to sell themselves and their policies to the party faithful.As one analyst observed: "they continue to count on others to give them the prize they're not capable of winning on their own." In the wake of the winnowing in the Super Tuesday ballots, it's politically sensible to conclude that Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton will face off in the US presidential election in November  but as the Republican ructions attest, political sensibility went missing in action months ago. If and when they do mee, the contest will be ugly  politically. As two flawed candidates seek to sell their wares to an electorate that increasingly is angry and skeptical, the race will become bruising, brutal and very personal. For the time being, however, Clinton and the whole Democratic machine are overshadowed by the Trump-induced conniptions in the GOP.

Testing voter thoughts in January on how candidates might perform in the White House, the Pew Research centre found for Clinton that 35 per cent were positive and 44 per cent negative  within that, 11 per cent believed she would be a great president; 28 thought she'd be terrible. Trump won a positive rating of about 30 per cent and almost 50 per cent negative. As with Clinton, 11 per cent thought he would be a great president; but 38 per cent, 10 percentage points higher than Clinton figured he would be terrible. But if the primaries are a guide, Republicans are coming out in greater numbers to vote for Trump  and Democrats have been staying at home, rather than to come out and vote for Clinton. Observers here conclude that while Trump is expanding the Republican electorate  Clinton is doing the reverse for Democrats. By comparison with 2008, Republican primary turn out skyrocketed  up 110 per cent in Virginia; 63 per cent in Tennessee; 57 per cent in Vermont and more than 25 per cent Massachusetts, Georgia, Oklahoma and Alabama; compared with the Democratic turnout being down by 40 per cent in Tennessee, 32 per cent in Georgia, and by double digits in each of Alabama, Oklahoma, Virginia and Vermont.

The FBI is investigating Clinton over classified emails being channelled through her private email server; and she refuses to release the transcripts of her recent "private" but highly paid speeches to Wall Street and other big-end-of-town gatherings. Trump says he can't release his tax returns because the Internal Revenue Service is auditing him  and he is embroiled in court cases over several of his less spectacular business ventures. You can see how the attack lines will be shaped. For the rest of the world looking in, the campaign is the logical end product of what passes for a political culture in the US  a "never-ending, thrill-a-minute, laugh-a-minute, sob-a-minute" affair, as described by Texas writer Heather Wilhelm. New Jersey governor Chris Christie, a Republican presidential contender who folded his tent in mid-February, discovered last weekend that just as policy is expendable in the Trump campaign, so too are people. Christie took a huge, some say reckless, leap in seeking to remain relevant, by becoming the first senior GOP figure to endorse Trump for the nomination. But after he introduced Trump at a rally in Arkansas, the mogul cut him dead  'get on the plane and go home,' Trump was heard saying through an open microphone. "It's over there  go home."
Washington: The White House and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will gather state and local officials next month to craft an urgent plan of attack to stop the spread of the Zika virus.

By June or July, federal health officials expect the first locally transmitted cases of the Zika virus in the continental United States. The virus has already been linked to thousands of suspected cases of microcephaly, a rare birth defect, in Brazil.

The White House is inviting officials involved in mosquito control and public health to an April 1 summit at the CDC's Atlanta headquarters to talk about how best to track and control the spread of the virus, and respond when people are affected.
Epitomised by the Supercivicos, an assortment of urban dwellers, activists and even government officials have taken up the habit of embarrassing illegal parkers, corrupt police officers and bad neighbours who often get away with misbehaviour. A protester in Mexico City runs to kick a tear gas canister back toward police as dozens of masked activists clashed with police in October last year. Credit:AP A former mayor in the state of Nuevo Leon put up a giant billboard with the face and name of one resident who refused to take out his trash even after he was fined three times. Meant to resemble a mug shot, the sign referred to the man as a cochino, or pig. The advertisement went on to explain that the city removed 25 tons of trash every day. The former mayor was chastised by the state's Human Rights Commission and was forced to take the billboard down. A woman dressed up and with her face painted as a "Catrina" takes part in a Day of the Dead celebration in Mexico City in October last year. Credit:AP

"They speak about respecting people's rights, but I ask them, 'What about collective rights of having a clean city?'" asked the former mayor, Pedro Salgado. Late last month, a video shot by an activist city manager surfaced showing President Enrique Pena Nieto's chief of staff heading to a gym in Mexico City, while his bodyguards parked outside illegally. The video application with which it was posted, Periscope, has grown so prevalent that the Human Rights Commission recently suggested its use could be a rights violation. A protester in Mexico last year holds a poster of Our Lady of Guadalupe that reads in Spanish: "Justice. Your pain is my pain. 43?" after a 43 hour protest fast by the relatives of 43 missing students. Credit:AP The same city manager had earlier made public a video on social media showing a woman he had asked to remove a bag of garbage that she had illegally tossed in a street. The woman, accompanied by a child, was angered by the request, refusing to remove the trash with a stream of expletives ... until a police car showed up. The video went viral with the hashtag LadyBasura, or Lady Garbage. The manager, Arne Aus den Ruthen Haag, has launched a one-man campaign to get all Mexican citizens to follow his lead and publicly shame bad behaviour.

People dressed and painted as "Catrinas," take part in a Day of the Dead celebration in Mexico City in October last year. Credit:AP The adherents of public shaming share the belief that, in a widely traditional and conservative society, appealing to the raw sense of humiliation is an effective means of encouraging people to abide by the rules. "It is a mix of ridicule and protest that reveals the level of fatigue in society," said Lorenzo Meyer, a historian and political analyst in Mexico. "But it also contains the message that things are not unalterable. It's a wake-up call to rebel, to act, to speak out." A man wearing a skull mask in October last year carries protest versions of the Mexican flag in Mexico City. Credit:AP For many Mexicans, improving public life is no laughing matter. Drug cartels and gangs dominate parts of the country where the authorities have unearthed dozens of bodies buried in unmarked mass graves.

Still, many Mexicans wholly embrace sardonic humour to respond to scandals, whether corruption in the president's office or the escape of the notorious drug lord Joaquin (El Chapo) Guzman. Social media explodes with memes, posts on Twitter or manufactured photos to elicit laughter, and it is that vein of humour that groups like the Supercivicos are hoping to tap. Supercivicos have become well-known in the streets of the city for their various sketches. In another, they harass individuals on the subway who selfishly sit in seats for disabled people, calling out over a megaphone that Jesus must have miraculously healed them. Sometimes, things get violent - recently, Hernandez was punched in the face by someone who did not take kindly to being filmed. He was beaten up again this week. "What we are trying to do is confront people with our own Mexican nature, our corrupt 'gene,' and we do it with comedy," said Hernandez. "We confront the absurd situations that arise from the absence of rule of law with irony and sarcasm."
"I thought this day would never come," said Chatwin, 48, a former member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the sect that rules the hearts and minds of followers here and across the state line in Colorado City, Arizona.

Hildale, Utah: Andrew Chatwin watched as federal agents and sheriff's deputies swarmed this rural polygamist outpost, storming dairy and produce stores and a food distribution centre in black bulletproof vests, guns drawn, handcuffs dangling from their belts.

According to prosecutors, the businesses were key players in a high-desert conspiracy that redirected millions of dollars in food-stamp benefits (the US food stamp program, provides food-purchasing assistance for low- and no-income people) from the pockets of American families to bank accounts controlled by the polygamist sect. Their leaders - most prominently, the jailed Warren Jeffs - follow a self-styled form of Mormonism and dictate where followers live, how much they eat and whom they marry.

Thomas Jeffs, foreground, the son of Lyle Jeffs, and Roy Jeffs, son of jailed polygamous leader Warren Jeffs, leave the federal court in Salt Lake City last week. Credit:AP

Not even defence attorneys dispute that the fundamentalist sect has gone to extreme lengths to preserve its vise grip on the community of Short Creek on the Arizona-Utah state line. For six weeks, tearful witnesses in the government's civil suit against the community in the twin bordering towns of Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah, testified to the church's constant spying and harassment of people considered a threat to the church.

Collectively known as Short Creek with a population of 10,000, the towns were both founded and operated by adherents of the FLDS faith - and, the US Department of Justice alleges, are run by the religion's prophet, Warren Jeffs, from the solitary confinement of his Texas prison cell, where he is serving a life sentence.

Federal government lawyers allege that when Jeffs was captured in 2006, Colorado City modified its old brand of justice, such as outright banishment, and adopted more modern forms of exclusion, such as denying water service to those perceived as threats to the church and its prophet.
New York: Seven women from the United States Senate have urged President Barack Obama to push for the election of the United Nations' first female secretary-general.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a former South Korean foreign minister, is due to step down at the end of 2016 after two five-year terms. A man has held the top job at the world organisation since its inception 70 years ago.

US Senator Barbara Boxer led the pleas to President Barack Obama. Credit:AP

The 15-member Security Council, including veto powers China, Russia, the US, Britain and France, will recommend a candidate for election by the 193-member General Assembly to succeed Mr Ban.

"We ask that the United States play a leading role in pressing for the strong consideration of qualified women," the seven Democratic senators wrote to Mr Obama.
Washington: Donald Trump's day began with two previous Republican presidential contenders hammering his lack of White House credentials and closed with the real estate mogul assuring a Detroit audience about the size of his penis.

"I guarantee you there's no problem," Trump said in the opening minutes of Thursday candidates' debate hosted by Fox News.

Responding to a joke about the size of Trump's hands, in the telling of which his opponent Marco Rubio said "You know what they say about men with small hands", Trump spread his hands for the audience and insisted any suggestion that "something else must be small" was false.
These delegates are not bound to a candidate and are more likely than not to coalesce around the party establishment's position. Senator John McCain has condemned Donald Trump. Credit:AP If Trump is to reach 1237 delegates, he is relying on voters in the primaries to deliver them. Anyone-but-Trump strategy Anti-establishment: Donald Trump's rhetoric has resonated with conservative voters. Credit:AP

When Romney recommended to voters that they "vote for Marco Rubio in Florida, for John Kasich in Ohio, and for Ted Cruz or whichever one of the other two contenders has the best chance of beating Mr Trump in a given state" it unveiled an anyone-but-Trump strategy. A hope that a brokered convention can end the real estate mogul's push to the White House. In modern US political history, party conventions have not decided the presidential candidates, it celebrated them. This year may be different. In 2012, Mitt Romney was the only candidate remaining at the time of the party convention. Credit:AP In the first round of voting at a convention, delegates must pledge for the candidate they have been assigned. If Cruz, Kasich and Rubio can tally more than 50 per cent of delegates between them, then the vote for the presidential candidate goes into a second round and all delegates are released from their voting obligations. They are then able to vote for any candidate they choose. That is a brokered convention. The last time it happened for the Republican Party was in 1948 and is unprecedented in the age of mass media.

In such a scenario the party may not even choose a declared candidate and could opt for another high-profile figure such as Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and Romney's running mate from 2012. Winner-takes-all primaries could prove crucial Romney's advice to voters was specific because no state has yet to hold a winner-takes-all primary. That changes from mid-March when 15 states will use that system. On Super Tuesday, Trump won the Arkansas primary with 32.8 per cent of the vote and picked up 16 delegates, just ahead of Cruz (30.5 per cent, 14 delegates) and Rubio (24.9 per cent and 9 delegates). Delegates were handed out in proportion to the vote. However, if such an even result is replicated in Florida on March 15, Rubio's home state, a candidate could pick up all 99 delegates with only a third of the vote. Such small margins may prevent Trump from gaining a majority of delegates.
Latest News NAB reveals six market megatrends for brokers More opportunities for investors, first home buyers

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A new fintech company which has created an online marketplace for home loans says it offers brokers strong lead generation opportunities.LoanDolphin  a resident of Sydney fintech hub, Stone & Chalk  operates as an auction platform where brokers and banks can bid for a consumers home loan. Speaking to Australian Broker, co-founder of Loan Dolphin Ranin Mendis said the platform wants to partner with brokers as a trusted referral source.We are definitely not competing with the brokers  we need the brokers and the banks to actually work in this platform.It is a marketplace so for us, we want the brokers to look at us as a place they can source really good customers from.Just as customers can create an online profile detailing what they are looking for in regards to a home loan, brokers can do the same  detailing what type of broker they are and what type of customer they want to service.[Brokers] can browse our platform to understand and search for customers they want to work with. For example, if the broker lives and works in Sydney then they could actually us the platform to look for customers around that area and within that radius.They can also specify on our platform what they are looking for in terms of targeting those customers. They can create a profile on our platform  it is like a LinkedIn profile  where they tell us about themselves, what they do, how many loans they have written and what types of loans they have written. They can connect to customers on that level.LoanDolphin has auctioned close to $15 million worth of home loans so far and Mendis says they already have about 15 brokers on the platform  with a big waiting list waiting until the platform goes to the wider market officially with their consumer value proposition.The platform has also partnered with many lenders including NAB , St George and Bendigo Bank, as well as mortgage franchises including Mortgage House.However, Mendis told Australian Broker that he expects brokers to be the main partners and users.I find that both bankers and brokers can get a lot out of this platform, but mostly I feel brokers will be the predominant player.We [Mendis and his business partner] worked in banking before  we worked for Westpac  and we know that brokers are much more driven than the bank lenders to look after the customer and get the best outcome for the customer.The platform will also run its own ratings and review system.We have a rating and review system so if a customer does choose a broker then the customer has an opportunity to rate a broker and tell us how their experience was, Mendis said.We really want to create a marketplace. We want to help the customers get where they want to get to, but we also want to have really good quality brokers in there.LoanDolphin is remunerated by taking a referral fee if a loan is sourced is settled. However, part of its profits are either given to charity or the customer can choose to take a cashback reward.
Latest News NAB reveals six market megatrends for brokers More opportunities for investors, first home buyers

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Federal Opposition leader Bill Shorten has stood by the Labor partys plan to alter negative gearing if they win power at this years election.Since announcing a little over two weeks ago that under a Labor government negative gearing would be restricted to new housing only from 1 July 2017, the Labor party has been the subject of attack from numerous property and housing industry lobby groups.Speaking to Sky News, Shorten has doubled down on the Labor proposal, claiming the changes will put investors and home buyers on equal footing.I think that what we will see is an opportunity where first homeowners are not competing with a long queue of property investors to be able to get that chance to be able to get that Australian dream, Shorten said.No one has given any evidence that it'll decrease prices and our modelling shows that it won't, he said.The Real Estate Institute of New South Wales (REINSW) is the latest organisation to hit out at Labors proposals, claiming that restricting negative gearing to new housing only could have severe consequences for buyers.The potential of capital gain is less on new dwellings due to inflated new prices and the unregulated spruikers will have a field day enticing naive investors into good returns and high depreciation in the first few years followed by years of disappointment after that, REINSW president John Cunningham said.This leaves the door open to the savvy investor who is positively geared to have a field day and thereby robbing the average person of his or her opportunity to get ahead, Cunningham said.Cunningham said negative gearing is not a huge tax saver for people and any revenue the government would generate from the changes to the system would come at a cost.The abolition of negative gearing will push investment dollars out of property and into other areas of the economy that do not give the consequential social benefits that property provides. The removal of negative gearing would deny an allowable tax deduction that all other entities that are in the pursuit of taxable income receive. It is time for government to stop treating property unequally, he said.People who invest in residential property do so as it is considered a safe haven but at the same time there is risk and as such a large assets class that risk is high. Negative gearing lessens that risk slightly. People are generally terrified of shares and dont trust government with super, whereas property provides them with a sense of security as they can see and touch it.The attacks on Labor's plans may now intensify as well, with the Australian Financial Review reporting the Government has scrapped any plans to alter negative gearing.The AFR claims the Government is no longer considering any alteration to neagative gearing as part of its tax reform package, quoting a senior Liberal party figure as sying "we're not going to touch it."
Phillies win pivotal NLCS Game 3 behind Segura's clutch hit

Kyle Schwarber hit a leadoff homer in the first inning and Jean Segura's two-run single led the Phillies over the Padres in Game 3.
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October 3, 2022

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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 ...
UB professors pledge $1 million bequest to support creative arts students

Diane Christian and Bruce Jackson are honoring their mothers by naming two awards after them that will support students of the creative and performing arts at UB. Photo: Douglas Levere

They are both true champions of learning and higher education whose giving sets a high standard and shining example to others. 

BUFFALO, N.Y.  University at Buffalo faculty members Diane Christian and Bruce Jackson are widely known for having multifaceted careers. They recently added a new role to their lengthy resumes: that of philanthropists. The pair has pledged a $1 million bequest commitment to support students of creative and performing arts at UB.

Once realized, the pledge will create a scholarship and a fellowship fund for undergraduate and graduate students in the creative arts. The pledge is made in support of the Creative Arts Initiative (CAI), a new UB program that brings world-class creative and performing artists to the university for on-campus residencies. Jackson, SUNY Distinguished Professor and James Agee Professor of American Culture, is co-director of CAI with SUNY Distinguished Professor David Felder, Birge-Cary Professor of Music.

Anyone who knows Christian and Jackson knows they cant be summed up in a single sentence. Their distinguished careers, acclaimed publications, creative art works and decades of accomplishments defy one-line descriptions, brief bios or abbreviated about-the-author entries.

Jackson, who began teaching at UB in 1967, met Christian when she joined him in the UB English department in 1970. They married soon after, establishing one of the most robust literary, artistic and enduring partnerships on the planet.

Christian, a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor, is also a poet and author who, while still in college, taught catechism to young violent offenders in prison. She has published extensively on issues of violence. She co-wrote several books with Jackson, and with him produced and directed the documentary Death Row, which the late French President Francois Mitterand used during his 1980s campaign to end the death penalty in France. Christian also is a religious literature scholar who was once a member of a religious order. Shes known for her courses on the Bible as literature; heaven, hell and judgment; and mythology.

In addition to professor, Jackson holds many titles: acclaimed folklorist, ethnographer, documentary photographer and filmmaker, and author or editor of more than 30 books in the fields of folklore, sociology and photography. And hes a Grammy nominee for Wake Up Dead Man, a CD of black convicts work songs, which accompanied his book by the same name. The French government named Jackson chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters, and chevalier in the National Order of Merit. Jackson also has served as president of the American Folklore Society, editor of the Journal of American Folklore and chairman of the board of trustees of the American Folklife Center in the Library of Congress.

In Western New York, the couple is perhaps best known as the creators and longtime hosts of the Buffalo Film Seminars, which began in 2000 and have been held each semester for the past 16 years.

Through their pledged gift, the couple will honor their mothers by naming the two awards for them: the Julia Jackson Scholarship in the Creative and Performing Arts, and the Ruth Christian Graduate Fellowship in the Arts.

President Satish K. Tripathi expressed thanks to the pair for offering such significant support to the creative arts at the university.

The Julia Jackson Scholarship in the Creative and Performing Arts and the Ruth Christian Graduate Fellowship in the Arts will have a deeply meaningful and lasting impact on our campus while serving as heartfelt commemorations of their respective mothers, Tripathi says. I applaud their abiding commitment to helping UB raise the bar, not only in the creative arts arena but campus-wide. They are both true champions of learning and higher education whose giving sets a high standard and shining example to others.

The professors recently talked about why they named their awards for their mothers.

Jacksons mother, who was born in Easton, Pa., the daughter of immigrants from Pinsk or Minsk in Belarus, he says, was one of 13 children. She couldnt afford to attend college, but made sure her own children knew the importance of reading, writing and music.

She wrote poetry and adored literature and music, Jackson says. When I was young, she took me to the library every Saturday, and there were piano and music lessons the family could ill-afford but which we had because she thought music was necessary. She delighted in every one of my books. I doubt my career would have taken the trajectory it did had it not been for her encouragement and support, starting in my early childhood.

Christian says her mother, Ruth Curran, also was born into a large family in West Bloomfield, just south of Rochester, the third youngest of seven girls and five boys, whose mother died when Ruth was 12.

Her sisters sent her and her younger sister to boarding school for high school and college  St. Joseph's in Emmitsburg, Md., the oldest Catholic college for women in the country, Christian says. She taught middle school until she married Anthony James Christian and had me and three sons. Her life was family and church. She happily resumed teaching after my youngest brother went to college. She was a Latin major and loved learning and the arts and young people. She disciplined by liveliness and humor, a super teacher and person.

The couple also talked about what they hope the scholarship and fellowship grants will provide for UB undergraduate and graduate students in the creative and performing arts.

We want very much to stoke the artistic climate at UB. It was a huge factor in drawing us to the university and its always needing support, Christian says.

Jackson agrees. There hasnt been much money at UB in the arts in recent years: not much for visiting creative artists, not much in dedicated scholarship and fellowship support for students in those fields. This provides some of the latter. Most of our students work, some at two and even three jobs. They need the help.

In fact, the couple only agreed to allow UB to publicize their commitment in order to spur others generosity.

It is our hope that our gift will encourage other people to make similar gifts to the university, Jackson says.
MARCEL CIOLACU:

"Nu cred ca ar fi crescut pensiile anul acesta daca PSD nu ar fi intrat la guvernare"
There you are in the prime of youth, skipping along barefoot, revelling in health and curiosity  taking in the odd bit of Marx, the odd pint of beer, using the odd condom, spitting out the odd bit of chicken bone when suddenly you step on a thorny issue.

When youre done hopping around on one foot and swearing, you prise out the thorn and wipe up the blood. Generally, its enough to treat the foot tenderly, swab the wound, and leave well enough alone. The antibodies in your system will gallop up to the site and do what they do best, which is to whack any bacteria senseless.

Thats all it usually takes: a short tussle between illness and the bodys natural self-help system. Its a quiet, no-cost, natural process. Life is all about stepping on a thorny issue and getting over it without a big fuss. Most physical afflictions turn out to be minor, self-limiting and self-healing.

Sometimes, a bit of bacteria enters the wound, and it gets infected. Then you have to really go at it with that swab, maybe take antibiotics. Think of it as sending the bacteria to jail and making it do some introspection, or beating it to a pulp, whichever makes it feel less cocky.

But sometimes, antibiotics arent enough; sometimes the bacteria are those superbug things doctors are always warning about in hospitals. Those critters are hard to beat down. Think of it like this: you keep sending the bacteria to jail, but it keeps breaking out. Its like being infected with an idea  very very easily communicated, almost impossible to stamp out. Then you might have to confine the patient in a controlled environment, put him or her on different kinds of very strong treatment, and hope for the best.

If you bungle it  if, for example, you prescribe an insufficient dose of medication, or the wrong kind of medication  then the bacteria grow stronger than ever, and now youve seriously messed up, because either the body develops antibiotic resistance, or has no help at all. Then you enter dangerous territory  what if you get gangrene, necrosis, the death of tissue, threat to the whole body? Now youre looking at life and death, people, and maybe a medical malpractice lawsuit. Thats when you call in the cavalry and bite the bullet and consider amputation. Best to cut off a foot, or a leg, to save the body. Thats the course of action any doctor would recommend, if it would save the patients life.

But diagnosing these things correctly to start with is tricky business. Sometimes, what looks like an infection is actually your antibodies already at work, getting rid of the really dangerous stuff; that nasty swelling is actually healing in process. Amputation would mean chopping off perfectly healthy body parts and destroying the body in the process. Medicating it would be like putting the antibodies in jail and letting the real problem run riot  youd be turning off the immune system, shutting down the bodys defences, and sentencing it to a raft of illnesses.

The worst of those is when the body turns against itself. Cells can suffer mutation that makes them out-of-control aggressive, and in their monstrous zeal they engulf healthy cells, turning everything in the body into a morbid version of themselves.

The line between having a thorn in the foot and getting cancer is not a fine one; it takes a doctor of monumental incompetence to steer a patient from the former to the latter. But relax. A lot of our doctors have suspect degrees, but, as it turns out, our antibodies are superstars.

PS: This piece has nothing to do with anything.

is a Delhi-based writer mitali.saran@gmail.com
Reading the rolling credits for Jai Gangaajal instantly told me that it is a Prakash Jha film through and through - he has written, directed and made his acting debut in this sequel of sorts to the 2003 Gangaajal. Outshining his co-star and lead actor, Priyanka Chopra, Jha literally takes over the screen, perhaps directing himself to act better than he does the rest of the cast. There can possibly be no plot spoilers with Jai Gangaajal. It is a black-and-white storyline masquerading as a grey, layered take on "social issues".

Abha Kumar (Chopra) is posted as the superintendent of police at Bankipur, a village mired in land-grab politics, activism from "foreign-funded NGOs" and politicians who rape and kill at the drop of a hat. Although the movie was made much before the Jawaharlal National University "anti-national" issue, the activist's character is eerily similar to Umar Khalid's - an IIT topper with a PhD from MIT, who now works for the rights of Indian farmers. Manav Kaul, Bollywood's current favourite villain, as Babloo Yadav and Ninad Kamat as his brother, Dabloo Yadav, appear in the film as the absolute bad guys. There's even an effeminate transgender character that is named Munna Mardani in a poorly executed attempt at irony.

Mardani and other characters casually throw the descriptor "napunsak" (impotent) around for anyone who is not "man enough". This is unfortunately in a film that is otherwise not as sexist as Jha's previous attempts. Unlike its predecessor, Jai Gangaajal is mercifully devoid of item numbers and scantily clad eye-candies for its male lead's pleasure. Chopra's character, though not completely fleshed out, is treated with neutrality, which is both refreshing and a tad disappointing. Refreshing because Chopra is freed from the gender burden and disappointing because that very burden is perhaps more real than what Jha believes is true of rural India. The only appearance of discomfiture among the male officers who have to now report to a woman is in the fact that they continue to call her "madam sir".

I will give some credit to Jha for his intent to deal with a complex and relevant issue - that of vigilantism and the stand-off between law enforcement agencies and the country's citizens. Jha attempts to show that the police straddle the worlds of citizen welfare and sycophantic politics. Through Chopra's "good cop" and Jha's own "bad cop" routine, he paints a picture of the police force that is rendered toothless by a crippled judiciary and corrupt bureaucracy. Eventually, justice triumphs all and a rising mobocracy is stemmed by an upstart yet upright Chopra.

But this is not new to Jha either - Gangaajal was also about that. And while the 1980 Bhagalpur blinding incident makes its way into Gangaajal, Jai Gangaajal addressed the issue of farmer suicide. Within the trope of suicides, too, the repeated shots of bodies hanging from the trees are a chilling reminder of the alleged murder and gangrape in Badaun in 2014.

Chopra, with her perfect makeup, surprisingly does not look completely out of place in the rural setting. Her acting does falter in a few scenes, but she largely holds her own. She is also disturbingly good during the fight scenes.

The Salim-Sulaiman composer duo has done a fabulous job with the music, which is both amusing and adds a lighter touch to an otherwise heavy film. Despite the hyperboles and melodramatic dialogues -"Khaki wardi mein baahubali banne ki koshish matt kijiye (do not try to be a superhero in your khaki uniform)" - the film's two-and-a-half-hour run kept me engrossed with the plot. I only lost interest towards the ends, but thankfully the film ended soon enough after that.
plans to bring down its losses by 40 per cent to Rs 2,000 crore in FY17 from the projected Rs 3,529 crore in FY16 on the back of revenue growth and cost optimisation. The airlines board, led by Chairman and Managing Director Ashwani Lohani, has finalised the budget estimates for FY17.

Passenger revenue for FY17 is projected to be around Rs 17,000 crore, up from the estimated Rs 15,500 crore in FY16, due to network expansion and improvement in load factor (capacity use). also plans to add flights to Delhi-Washington and Ahmedabad-London-Newark routes.

The airline is targeting passenger occupancy of 80 per cent and 75 per cent in domestic and international networks, respectively. In the next financial year, it aims to post Rs 3,500 crore as Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation), an airline executive said.

Air India, which has received government funding of Rs 22,000 crore so far, has been promised Rs 1,700 crore infusion in the Union Budget against the demand of Rs 3,900 crore. Funds from equity infusion will be used to retire loans and the airline is hopeful of getting another tranche in the supplementary budget.

We are rationalising costs and about 95 per cent of our capacity is generating a cash surplus over variable costs, the executive added.

Variable costs include expenses on fuel, maintenance, ground handling charges, crew allowances, etc, but does not include salaries, interest charges and depreciation, which continue to be high.

Loss for FY16, too, is projected to be 40 per cent lower with gains from fuel-cost savings. In FY16, is expected to post a net loss of Rs 3,529 crore from Rs 5,859 crore in the previous year, aided by reduction in jet fuel costs.

However, the airline is set to miss its revenue growth target in FY16 and has been unable to significantly lower its interest and maintenance expenses, resulting in the high loss figure.

Passenger revenue for FY16 is projected to be flat at Rs 15,500 crore due to decline in fares, lower yields, and a lack of projected capacity addition.

The airline has been able to cut down its fuel bill, which is estimated to be around Rs 6,000 crore - a reduction of around 30 per cent over FY15.

We will complete sale and lease back of nine of our 21 Boeing 787s by March-end and this will help us retire $900 million debt attached to the aircraft. Also, we are looking to refinance existing term loans of about Rs 10,000 crore with government-guaranteed non-convertible debentures. We have sought approval from the government for the issue of the debentures as this will lower the interest cost on this debt by two per cent to eight per cent, said an Air India executive.

Also on the agenda is aircraft acquisition both for replacing old planes and addition. Air India has a fleet of 107 planes including a mix of narrow-body A320s and wide-body Boeing 777, 747 and 787.

The airline will lease 14 Airbus A320neo aircraft beginning the first quarter of calendar year 2017 largely to replace nearly two-decade-old A320s. Additionally, the airline is looking up to 10 A320s for expansion. It will also induct six Boeing 787s by 2018.

We are launching flights between Delhi-Vienna, Ahmedabad-Newark, Delhi-Washington and additional frequencies on domestic routes such as Delhi-Pune and Mumbai-Indore, said the executive cited above.

Over the past few months, Air India has added flights between Ahmedabad-London and Delhi-San Francisco on international routes and introduced new flights to Kozhikode, Bhubaneswar and Surat on domestic routes.

Air Indias rivals have been adding capacity through aircraft induction and better fleet utilisation, while the carriers domestic network fleet of A320 aircraft has remained stagnant. In other metrics such as aircraft availability, load factor and on-time performance, Air India has fared poorly compared to its peers.

The airline executive, however, said performance was improving in all parameters. Our on-time performance and load factor have improved. Occupancy in business class has risen from 40-42 per cent to 52 per cent.



Fleet utilisation on both narrow-body Airbus A320s and wide-body Boeing 777s has increased with the introduction of new routes such as Delhi-San Francisco. The overall availability of aircraft for operations, too, has been enhanced and there are fewer grounded planes due to availability of spares.
The striking workers at India's largest automobile company Tata Motors' Sanand site don't seem to be amused with the roses offered by the company officials. After daylong negotiations on Friday, amid slogans of 'majdoor ekta zindabad', the striking workers at the site have not been convinced to resume work. However, a small section of workers, 25 of them, have left the group and reported back to work in the past few days.

Is this the first sign of a blink on the part of the workers? At least two or three striking workers who were leaving in a group after their shift timings, sounded worried - worried about what the future had in store for them. Some admitted that stress levels in the families were mounting.

M S Patel, assistant labour commissioner, Ahmedabad zone, confirmed that 25 workers have rejoined in the past few days, thus bringing down the number of striking workers to below 400 from an earlier 422. Busloads of apprentices, and ITI (Industrial Training Institute) graduates were spotted leaving the premises during the day, including a few buses that plied the non-striking permanent workers back home. At least 750 such employees were ferried after the morning shift ended.

The striking workers at Tata Motors' Sanand site don't seem to be amused with the roses offered



After daylong negotiations on Friday, the striking workers at the site not convinced to resume work



However, a small section of workers, about 25 of them, have left the group and reported back to work



Labour commissioner, confirmed that about 25 workers have rejoined in the past few days

When asked, what could be the impact of workers abstaining from work at site, a worker said, "It would affect them now, as they have to roll out the Tiago vehicle," hinting at the strategic timing of the strike.

The company, on its part, had been commuting these striking workers to and fro from the site for the past 12 days. However, now it does not seem to be in the mood to do so, especially after the labour department ruled against the strike on Wednesday. As the strike continued after the labour department order, it is now deemed illegal. Patel explained. "It will now be a no-work-no-pay system, and these workers would not get any pay if they do not join back. The company also now holds the legal right to fire them," he said. Workers informed that the company had conveyed to them that striking workers would no longer be allowed to enter the premises, until they joined duty.

Since morning on Friday, multiple rounds of meeting went on inside the Sanand site. Police officials from the nearby police station, including deputy superintendent of police of Ahmedabad (rural) P O Bhatt, and Patel, human resources officials held talks with workers at the site. The company said, "The government of Gujarat order dated March 2 prohibits the strike at our plant and directs workmen to resume work and restore normalcy. However, despite our repeated appeals and advisories by various government agencies, workmen continued to illegally occupy the plant premises on Thursday and even since Friday morning. We have clearly communicated the government order that they either resume their duty or vacate the premises. As included in the order, the matter is refererred to the industrial tribunal and we will abide by this process."



The workers were told to fight their case in the industrial tribunal and accept the judgement. Hitesh Rabari, a striking worker, said, "We were asked to temporarily resume work, and wait for the tribunal to come out with its verdict. We, however, would not join back till the 28 suspended are not taken back. What is the guarantee that the company will not suspend more workers later?"



Rabari, however, looked a worried man on Friday, unsure of what lay ahead for him.

"Our real issue is that of salary hikes. However, with this issue of suspension of workers, the real focus seems lost," he admitted.

Patel and his team have been trying hard to convince the workers to rejoin and wait for the tribunal to do its job. The unwilling workers are staring at a lengthy fight ahead of them.
B K Modi-led Smart Global has forayed into the electric vehicle segment in the country through a tie-up with Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed BYD, a global electric vehicle player. The group will manufacture electric buses and taxis for the Indian market through a technological tie-up with BYD. In the long run, the company will also look at producing electric cars for the Indian market.

Modi's electric vehicle arm, Smart Dreams has set up an electric bus manufacturing facility near Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh. Modi, who is a Singapore based businessman, is also foraying into electric bus manufacturing in Singapore.

"We are building a company with BYD in Singapore too. If things work out well we will look at other countries as well", Modi, founder and chairman of Smart Global said.

The partnership with BYD will help bring world class technology to the country, he added. When asked about the investments on the e-vehicle vertical, he said the group has already invested Rs 200 crore in a factory in Singapore.

Modi said all the investments in the immediate future will be made by his company while the technological inputs will come from BYD. "We will need investment from BYD when we come to the stage of battery manufacturing in India", Modi said.

The e-buses will initially have a 50 per cent localisation and will eventually move to a localisation level of 75 per cent with plans to produce the battery indigenously.

"We are focusing on metro and smart cities in the initial phase to cater to public transport. Later, we can also look at passenger vehicles too," Modi said. He added the group could come up with more production facilities across the country in future.

BYD Head, Automobiles Vertical, Liu Xueliang said India is a very big market for the company. "With the business environment being favorable we feel its the right time for us to capture the e-vehicle market of the country".

Modi said his company is in talks with state transport corporations to sell the electric buses. Without revealing the price of the buses he said it will not have a premium over normal buses. The company has given two electric buses for a trial to the Delhi Transport Corporation free of cost. It will have a price negotiation once the Corporation is certain about the product and has done the trial runs.
A section of bank officers today staged demonstration at Gyan Sangam, a two day retreat for banks and financial institutions, in Gurgaon to protest against government's plans to privatise .

Harvinder Singh, Senior Vice-President, All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC) said the proposal and move to bring-down government's stake in below 50% without any apparent rationale is condemnable as it is with ulterior motives.

"We held peaceful demonstration outside at Venue and handed-over memorandum addressed to RBI governor, Harvinder Singh told Business Standard. SBI Academy is venue for two-day retreat.

The confederation held an alternative Gyan Sangam last month to dwell on challenges before banks and finalised suggestions for government and regulators consideration, he said.

AIBOC has demanded autonomy for board of public sector banks in real sense. The government should strengthen forums like Debt Recovery Tribunal by giving teeth to them and make recovery process faster and less time consuming.

It sought amendment to Indian Penal Code to make willful default a cognizable offence with stern punishment. The promoters and whole time directors of which are willful defaulters should be barred from holding public office, AIBOC said.
Chit fund in Chhattisgarh duped investors to the tune of over Rs 343 crore over the last four years. States acting home minister Ajay Chandrakar today informed the Chhattisgarh legislative assembly that 159 offences had been registered against 79 unauthorised financial institutions.



The minister said 159 agents and 52 company officials/owners have been arrested in connection with the fraud.



"The had duped 46,092 people to the tune of Rs 343,02,59,305 in last four years," Chandrakar said. Of the 159 offences, the police had completed investigation in 105 cases and had filed charge-sheet in the court of law.



The investigation is pending in 54 cases and the police had closed three cases while one case was in process of closure, the minister said.

The fraud committed by the chit fund in the state created uproar in the state assembly with opposition Congress grilling the Bharatiya Janata Party government on the issue. The Congress members charged that those sitting in high places in the government were also involved in the scam.

"Many chit fund companies were inaugurated by senior cabinet members including Chief Minister (Raman Singh)," senior Congress legislator and partys state chief Bhupesh Baghel said. The presence of Chief Minister and Ministers in such programme (opening of chit fund company offices) had resulted in fraud of such a big intensity, he added.

Baghel said people saw the cabinet members in the programme and invested in the company that later fled with their hard-earned money.

Senior cabinet minister Rajesh Munat challenged Baghel and said if he had any evidence to support that ministers and chief minister were involved in the scam, he should table it in the House.



Baghel demanded that a House committee probe should be conducted that would bring out the facts. The opposition members later staged a walk-out from the House as the state government did not respond to their demand.
DCB Bank has acquired 5.81 per cent equity in Odisha based micro-finance institution Annapurna Microfinance Pvt Ltd. The equity deal is valued at Rs 9.99 crore.

Annapurna is a growing and successful microfinance institution (MFI) focused primarily on rural locations of Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. DCB Bank has 14 branches in Odisha, six branches in Chhattisgarh & 14 in MP.

"Annapurna & DCB Bank has had a long & fruitful relationship since the MFI's inception. The initiative of acquiring a strategic equity stake in Annapurna further strengthens our business partnership.

DCB Bank has a meaningful presence in microfinance segment which helps to achieve its financial inclusion goals", Murali M Natarajan, managing director of DCB said in a release.

Gobinda Pattnaik, managing director, Annapurna Microfinance said, "We are really happy that our long-standing business relationship with one of our most valuable banking partner is taking a new shape by way of us becoming equity partners. This capital infusion is a mandate for growth. It will help in striving forward to achieve our goal of serving the financially underserved. Domestic private bank investing in Annapurna is not only a great instance for our company but also good for the microfinance sector."

DCB Bank is a new generation private sector bank with 176 branches in 115 locations across 17 states and two union territories. It is a scheduled commercial bank regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
The controversy related to Freedom251, world's cheapest smartphone, is intensifying. Adcom, the smartphone vendor from whom Ringing Bells (RBPL) procured the "dummy models" to showcase during the February 18 launch, has threatened legal action against but Ashok Chadha, president of rejected any wrongdoing.

According to Sanjeev Bhatia, founder and chairman, Advantage Computers (Adcom), although they sold some smartphone models (Ikon4) to Ringing Bells, they were not aware of its plan to resell the handsets. "We are deeply grieved by this incident where our mobile phone has been presented to the masses for Rs 251, and therefore, will not hesitate from taking any legal actions against the company, in case the entire fiasco impacts Adcom's brand name or subsequently we face any other kind of losses," Bhatia added.

Freedom251 is claimed to be the cheapest smartphone priced at Rs 251 by a six month old Delhi-registered company Ringing Bells Pvt. Ltd. While, Mohit Goel, the promoter and managing director of RBPL remains more involved backend operations.

Chadha, the other face of Freedom251, remains involved in dealing media queries.

"We would like to clarify that they provided some prototypes for the sample Freedom- 251 handed to some special guests including media for initial impression about the way phone would look and behave in future. We have other partners for assembly of our phones", he said through a statement today.

However, confusion remains even after Chadha's new claims as ever. Over the past two weeks, origin of Freedom251 has changed several times - from local self-manufacturing to importing from Taiwan to procurement through OEMs (original equipment manufacturer).

Now according to Ringing Bells, they have tied-up with two partners in Noida, Uttar Pradesh and Janakpuri, New Delhi to procure the initial lot of Freedom251. The partners will be assembling the smartphones now as RBPL's own manufacturing units are yet to come up.

RBPL's corporate office - which the company claimed to be its main premise for all major operations and where all its documents and books of accounts could be found, along with its key officials, any time - became a topic of controversy too. While, last week the office at Sector 63 in Noida was found closed.

Chadha, however, claimed today that it was due to dispute between authorities in Noida and landlord of the property. "We wish to make it clear that the current dispute regarding the nature of business conducted at the property is between NOIDA authority and our landlord".

Incidentally, the company's registered office in Delhi's Gandhi market is not occupied by neither the company had any legal agreement with the owner of that property.
Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has decided to sell its casting manufacturing unit at Coimbatore to Bradken Limited for Rs 163 crore.

In an announcement to BSE, L&T said revenue of the foundry unit for the fiscal 2015 was Rs 122 crore and the percentage contribution of the unit by revenue and net worth is less than 1%.

The business transfer agreement was signed on November 2015 and it was now completed.

Bradken India, an Australian-listed entity through its Indian subsidiary acquired the foundry unit.

Bradken is a global manufacturer and supplier of capital and consumable products to the mining, transport, general industrial and contract manufacturing markets.

Bradkeh has 52 facilities, sales and service facilities across Australia, New Zeland, UK, China, US, Canada, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The sale of this business is in line with the company's strategic plan to exit non-core business and rationalise its portfolio. The company continues to maintain its foundries at Kansabahal, Odhisha and L&T Special Steels and heavy Forgings, Hazira, Gujarat.
Co, the world's biggest seed company, threatened to pull out of India on Friday if the government imposed a big cut in the royalties that local firms pay for its genetically modified (Bt) cotton seeds.

Mahyco Biotech Ltd (MMBL), a joint venture between Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Co and Investments, is unhappy with the reported recommendations of a government-appointed committee to cut the 'trait or licence fees' on Bt cotton seeds by over 70 per cent for 2016.

Read more from our special coverage on "MONSANTO" Monsanto urged to compensate farmers by a seed-body group

"If the committee recommends imposing a sharp, mandatory cut in the trait fees paid on Bt cotton seeds, MMBL will have no choice but to re-evaluate every aspect of our position in India. It is difficult for MMBL to justify bringing new technologies into India in an environment where such arbitrary and innovation stifling government interventions make it impossible to recoup research and development investments focused on delivering extensive farmer benefits and where sanctity of contracts is absent," said Shilpa Divekar Nirula, CEO, Monsanto India Region.

She said such a drastic intervention overrides existing private bilateral commercial contracts, and undermines the overall operating environment in India.

The committee, officials said, has suggested a price of Rs 800 per 450 g of Bt cotton which also includes Rs 49 as trait fee or licence fee. The trait fee is more than 60 per cent less than the current rate.

At present a 450 g packet of Bt cotton is sold at around Rs 830 in Maharashtra, while in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu it is sold at Rs 930. In the northern states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan etc it is priced at Rs 1,000. MMBL currently charges trait fees of Rs 122.96 and Rs 183.46 per packet of Bt Bollgard-I and Bt Bollgard II seeds, respectively.

The retail sale price recommended by the committee which held its last meeting few days back is almost 25 per cent less than highest prevailing price of Bt cotton in northern states, while it is around 14 per cent less than the price which prevails in areas where Bt cotton sales are the highest.

"We have taken a decision which is in the best interest of farmers and have tried to strike a balance between the interest of seed and also license providers," a senior government official said. He said the committee's recommendations are not binding on the government and a final call on the same will be taken by the Agriculture Ministry.

BITTER WAR OVER BT COTTON In December, Centre issued an order to control cotton seed prices including trait or royalty value effective from 2016-17 crop year

A committee was set up under Agriculture Ministry to recommend seed prices and royalty fee

On Friday, shares of Monsanto India dropped as much as seven per cent to a near two-year low before ending down 2.4%

Monsanto India CEO Shilpa Divekar said, "If the committee recommends imposing a sharp, mandatory cut in the trait fees paid on Bt cotton seeds, MMBL will have no choice but to re-evaluate every aspect of our position in India"

MMBL had challenged the order in Delhi High Court. MMBL has sub-licensed Bt cotton seed technology since 2002 to various domestic seed .

"It will be difficult for MMBL to justify bringing new technologies into India in an environment where such arbitrary and potentially destructive government interventions make it impossible to recoup research and development investments focused on delivering extensive farmer benefits and where sanctity of contracts is absent," she said.

Noting that certain reports in the public domain are false, Divekar said, "We sincerely hope that the government will be fair in its approach." Shares of Monsanto India dropped as much as 7 per cent to a near 2-year low before ending down 2.4 per cent. The Association of Biotech Enabled Enterprises Agriculture Group too hit back at the government over the reports of lower the trait price. "By slashing trait fee, which is anyway the lowest in the world and is 1-2 per cent of the cost of cultivation, the government will showcase that it will go for short term populist measures rather than supporting innovation in the long term. Such a decision, if true, will be contrary to the Prime Minister's vision of encouraging R&D, respecting IPR in agriculture and Make in India," said Shivendra Bajaj, executive director of the group.

The government's cotton seed order comes against the backdrop of a bilateral dispute where few licensees refused to honour their commitments to pay MMBL, over Rs 450 crore after collecting these amounts from the cotton farmers in Kharif 2015.

Meanwhile, competition watchdog CCI has ordered a detailed probe against MMBL for alleged abuse of dominance by the Indian arm of the US-based genetically modified seed giant Monsanto.
The world's largest luggage-maker, Samsonite, will introduce its third brand in India called Kamiliant in a bid to counter competition in the below-Rs 5,000 segment. The move comes as looks to consolidate its presence in India, its fifth-largest market in the world.

Along with American Tourister and flagship Samsonite, the company derives annual sales of around Rs 1,400 crore in India. American Tourister sits in the Rs 5,000-10,000 price range, while the flagship brand is available for Rs 10,000 and above.

"Test-marketing of Kamiliant was on for the last two months in select markets and now we will roll it out nationally," Ramesh Dungarmal Tainwala, Samsonite's India-born chief executive officer (CEO), said.

The launch is expected to help make inroads into 70 per cent of the Rs 5,000-crore organised luggage market in India. "We did not have a presence in this segment. With American Tourister and flagship Samsonite, we were addressing only 30 per cent of the market. That will change now," Tainwala, who took over as the company's CEO in 2014, says.

The need to tap the broader domestic market comes as India emerges among Samsonite's fastest-growing markets in the world. "India has the potential to get into the top three markets in the next four to five years," Tainwala, 56, says.

Samsonite's top four markets are the US, China, Korea, and Japan. But a growing middle class, aspirations, and income levels in India mean the urge to travel is growing among Indians, increasing the growth prospects for such as Samsonite, analysts tracking the market said. "Affordable, but good-quality luggage is something that will grow in the coming years," Tainwala says.

The company is stepping up investments in improving distribution both online and offline. The firm has 3,000 offline stores, and plans to ramp up this number. E-commerce already gives the company six per cent of its India sales, expected to touch 20-25 per cent in the next four to five years.

Additionally, to ensure the growing base of rich consumers is not ignored, will also expand the reach of Tumi Holdings, a US luxury luggage brand acquired on Friday for $1.8 billion. Tainwala says brand stores will be launched in a few more cities besides Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, and Bengaluru where it already has them.

The Tumi acquisition is the largest for Samsonite since its listing in 2011 and will add close to $600 million to Samsonite's reported global revenue of $1.82 billion for the first nine months of 2015. The company has not disclosed its full-year 2015 numbers yet.

In the past few years, Samsonite has been on an acquisition spree, buying brands such as high-end luggage makers Hartmann and Lipault, backpack makers High Sierra and Gregory Products, case maker Speck, and airport retailer Rolling Luggage. "These acquisitions were small transactions valued at more than $250 million each," Tainwala said over telephone from Hong Kong.

The Tumi acquisition, says Tainwala, has an Asian dimension, since the brand has a limited presence in the region. Tumi derives 68 per cent of its revenues from North America and the balance from the rest of the world. Samsonite, which has expanded aggressively outside of the US in recent years, is expected to push the brand in emerging markets.

The deal, says Tainwala, is the culmination of almost 15 years of courtship. "We had been wooing them for the last decade-and-a-half. It finally clicked.The transaction will be closed by the end of 2016 and the next two years will be spent integrating this acquisition with Samsonite," Tainwala adds.
Government's proposal to exempt excise duty on spare parts used for repairing of ship vessels is not expected to benefit domestic ship repair units in a big way amid drying toplines.

"Revenues from the ship repair business is extremely low. Even if dry docking is compulsory, with not all ships being employed (due to weak trade globally), only those vessels that need regular dry docking come to yards," said a top official with GOL Offshore.



"Thats not all. Those vessels that come for dry docking ask for the main basic services keeping safety priority unlike 4-5 years ago where they would ask for top class repair services," he added.

Dry docking, a compulsory exercise carried out twice in five years, is an activity used for repairs or when a ship is taken to the service yard.

"Ship repair business contribution is already very small to the total revenue (of the company) and many times this also runs into a loss," he said.

Mumbai-based GOL Offshore is into several businesses apart from ship repair services such offshore drilling, port and terminal services among other. The company's ship repair services form just about 5% of the total revenue stream.

"Ship repair units need steps that can boost revenues. This exemption will benefit in the long-term once trade picks up. Currently, the recession is too strong," said Nasir S, technical officier at Lilly Maritime Ship Repair.

Domestic ship repair industry is largely a scattered one and is spread across the 7,500 km coastline.

"Excise duty on capital goods and spares thereof, raw materials, parts, material handling equipment and consumable for repairs of ocean-going vessels by a ship repair unit subject to actual user conditon being exempted," said the Budget for financial year 2016-17 (Apr-Mar).



Apart from this proposed excise duty, the ship repair industry is already enjoying exemption of customs duty on spare parts which was declared a couple of years ago.

Industry officials were also of the view that though the excise duty exemption will lower costs encouraging domestic shipping to turn to repair units here, efficiency and existing infrastructure are two other hurdles that the latter needs to deal with.

At present, the cost of dry docking in India is about 15% higher than what it is in Dubai, Sharjah and Colombo, where domestic shipping take their vessels regularly.



"In terms of efficiency, if a ship take two weeks to get repaired in Dubai, the same repairs would take 3-4 weeks in an Indian shipyard," said a former general manager of ABG Shipyard.



"It is because of this that it is difficult for domestic shipping to switch easily to local ship repair units even if the quality of work is better here than even in Dubai or Sharjah," he added.

Cochin Shipyard, however, is an exception which is better placed among the existing yards in Goa, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, said officials.

"The move by the government is a small one but in the right direction. Domestic ship repair yards cannot take big-sized vessels and so the benefit overall is limited. These yards lack infrastructure," said Anoop Sharma, managing director of Essar Shipping.

Among domestic shipping companies, state-owned Shipping Corporation of India has the largest fleet of about 69 vessels comprising bulk, tanker and offshore.

"The pressing need for the shipping industry is to improve earnings per vessel. With crude oil prices on a decline and trade weak , there is no business across the entire shipping-building-repair chain. This part needs urgent attention," said the official with GOL Offshore.
The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the proceedings initiated by the Uttar Pradesh (UP) Legislative Assembly on a privilege notice against editorial management and journalists of two channels belonging to TV Today group in connection with a sting operation on Muzaffarnagar riots in September 2013.

"The proceedings against petitioners by the UP Legislative Assembly shall remain stayed," a Bench of justices J S Khehar and C Nagappan said and asked UP government and its legislative assembly to file their response within four weeks on the petition by the channel and its staffers.

The UP legislative assembly committee had probed the sting operation, broadcast channels, and held several staff members of TV Today group guilty of breach of privilege of Azam Khan, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister in the Samajwadi Party government in the state and an MLA from Rampur constituency.

In its report, the committee had recommended action against the staffers, as well as against police and administration officials for their alleged conduct before the team of TV journalists involved in the sting operation. Senior advocate Soli Sorabjee, appearing for the TV Today Network's channels  Aaj Tak and Headlines Today (now India Today)  submitted that UP assembly had no locus standi to direct journalists to appear before it for having conducted the sting operation since it pertained to a matter outside the assembly and did not in any way impede the functioning of the House or any of its members.

Sorabjee had filed a Special Leave Petition in the SC under Article 32 of the Constitution.

Additional Advocate General of the state Gaurav Bhatia sought some time to file counter affidavit so as to enable him to place the complete picture of the controversy on the record of this case.

In a statement, the media house said its team cooperated fully with the committee when asked on multiple occasions to appear for questioning and share raw footage. "For the faith of the citizens in the independence of our judiciary and its concern for the freedom of the press has been vindicated by the Supreme Court, the statement quoted Sorabjee as having said.
A senior faculty member of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) on Friday resigned alleging that he was "targeted" by the I&B Ministry for supporting the protests over Dalit student Rohith Vemula's suicide and JNU and FTII issues.

Amit Sengupta, an associate professor in the department of English Journalism, quit after an order was issued transferring him to the media school's campus in Odisha's Dhenkanal district. I&B Ministry officials said Sengupta has been moved to the institute's Dhenkanal branch till further orders only because of shortage of staff.

"I have been targeted because I supported the solidarity protest for Rohith Vemula in the campus, organised independently by students of IIMC in which other faculty members too participated."



"I have been targeted also because I supported the JNU and FTII students," Sengupta wrote in his resignation letter.

Refuting allegations of politically targeting the IIMC faculty, a senior Information and Broadcasting Ministry official claimed that certain acts of Sengupta suggesting "indiscipline" had come to the notice of the authorities including his attempts to "politicise" the campus through posts on social media.
The budgetary allocation of Rs. 115 crore for development of Organic Value Chain in Northeast will prove to be a game-changer for the entire region, said Jitendra Singh, Union minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER).

The Union budget, presented by finance minister Arun Jaitley on February 29, proposed to convert five lakh hectares in the country under organic farming and develop value chains in the Northeastern region.

Not only will it help in boosting the enormous unexplored potentials of organic entrepreneurship in the region but would also comfort the entire region into a favourite destination for new start ups from across the country to come to Northeast, said Singh.

The DoNER minister added that the emphasis of the current government had been on the promotion of organic farming and Northeast had become an important destination for that with state of Sikkim being declared as the first organic state of India by the Prime Minister recently.

He said that the budget for ministry of DoNER had been increased from Rs 2,334.50 crore to Rs 2,400 crore this year as compared to previous year. The main emphasis of the budget allocated for Northeast is on the overall development of the region. The provisions have been made for connectivity in the region, skill development and organic value chain development among others.



Singh also informed that Rs 150 crore has been provided for the newly launched Northeast road sector development scheme. He said that this scheme would be helpful in the development of the inter-state roads in the region. In addition, he said Asian Development Bank (ADB) would spare funds from its own sources for construction and maintenance of roads in the region.

Laying emphasis on the governments efforts to improve the connectivity in Northeast, Singh said the main initiative of the DoNER Ministry; as part of the Act East Policy, had been to provide funds to establish railway connectivity between India and Bangladesh. A sum of Rs 587 crore would be provided by his ministry for laying railway tracks on the Indian side.

A sum of Rs 33,097.02 crore has been allocated for the Northeastern region across 56 ministries in the budget. The budget allocation for North East Council (NEC) schemes has been increased from Rs 700 crore to Rs 795 crore this year.
The City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (Cidco) plans to invite the request for proposal (RFP) after March 20 from three qualified bidders - GVK-led Mumbai International Airport, GMR Delhi and consortium of MIA Infrastructure of France with Tata Realty and Infrastructure.

Cidco is likely to get Maharashtra Cabinets approval during the Budget session beginning on March 9.

Hiranandani Developers and Zurich Airport were also among qualified bidders. But, they wont be able to file RFP as the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) rejected their security clearance on January 22.

The project monitoring and implementation committee headed by the Maharashtra chief secretary Swadhin Kshatriya had on Thursday approved Cidcos proposal allowing inviting RFP from three qualified bidders.

A state government official told Business Standard, The state Cabinet will give its nod in the next 10 days. This will enable Cidco to invite RFP after March 20.



He said the three bidders would have to submit RFP by October and thereafter Cidco would award the contract so that the construction work would begin by December.

According to the official, Cidco is currently examining the bids for pre-airport development and thereafter the financial bids of the qualified parties will be opened.

The civil aviation ministry, while giving its approval for the RFP document, had said the airport would be developed as a joint venture between Cidco and the private developer.

The Airports Authority of India will have an option to hold a five per cent stake in the project. The state government has given a target of the completion of the first phase by December 2019 with passenger-handling capacity of 10 million.
The investigation wing of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has found Apollo Tyres, MRF, CEAT, JK Tyres and Birla Tyres guilty of cartelisation.

The ministry of corporate affairs had filed a complaint against these companies.

UNDER THE SCANNER

Top executives who have been asked to furnish their income details, including income tax returns: Neeraj Kanwar, vice-president and managing director, Apollo Tyres

K M Mammen, chairman and managing director, MRF Ltd

Anant Goenka, managing director, CEAT Ltd

Raghupati Singhania, chairman and managing director, J K Tyres and Industries Ltd

Basant Kumar Birla, chairman, Birla Tyres Ltd

"These five companies under the aegis of the Association of Tyres Manufacturers Association (ATMA) have from 2011-12 to 2013-14 indirectly determined the price of tyres in the market," said the report of the director-general's office of the CCI's investigation wing. The preliminary report has not been made public but was examined by Business Standard.

The has asked the companies and ATMA to submit objections on this preliminary report by March 16. Company executives have been asked to furnish income details, including income tax returns, for the past three financial years. A final decision will be taken by after an oral hearing on March 23.

"Despite a significant decline in input costs, particularly in 2012-13 and 2013-14, prices were kept higher, which could not have been possible without an agreement among these companies. The presence of conducive conditions in the market facilitated a cartel among the companies," said the report.

Apart from Apollo Tyres, no company responded to emailed queries from Business Standard. "This is just a preliminary investigation report, which has been submitted by the DG, to the Competition Commission of India. We are yet to submit our response/objections, post which, there would be proper hearing, and then a final determination by the CCI," said a spokesperson of Apollo Tyres.

The investigation found the five companies controlling 83 per cent of the tyre market. "Despite slack tyre demand in in 2012-13 and 2013-14, the companies were able to significantly enhance operating margins, a strong indication of coordinated action," the report said.

The ministry of corporate affairs had referred the matter to the CCI in December 2013, after hearing arguments of the All-India Tyre Dealers' Federation.

"The increase and decrease by similar magnitude during 2011-12 to 2013-14 indicated tyre prices moved in tandem," said the report.

DID TYRE COMPANIES TAKE CUSTOMERS FOR A RIDE? Feb 2007: All India Tyres Dealers Federation (AITDF) tells Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) that domestic tyre majors are involved in cartelisation

All India Tyres Dealers Federation (AITDF) tells Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) that domestic tyre majors are involved in cartelisation May 2009: The case shifted from the erstwhile Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission to Competition Commission of India

The case shifted from the erstwhile Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission to Competition Commission of India June 2010: Finding the allegations to be prima facie true, CCI orders investigation

Finding the allegations to be prima facie true, CCI orders investigation October 30, 2012: Enough evidence not found

Enough evidence not found April 2013: Competition Appellate Tribunal (Compat) dismisses AITDF appeal against the CCIs October stand

Competition Appellate Tribunal (Compat) dismisses AITDF appeal against the CCIs October stand November 2013: AITDF gives a fresh representation to MCA; submits average prices of seven tyre sizes for five years, between 2010 and 2014

AITDF gives a fresh representation to MCA; submits average prices of seven tyre sizes for five years, between 2010 and 2014 December 2013: MCA refers the matter to CCI June 2014: Finding the allegations to be prima facie true again, CCI orders thorough probe

MCA refers the matter to CCI June 2014: Finding the allegations to be prima facie true again, CCI orders thorough probe December 2015: DG office says tyre companies guilty of cartelisation under the aegis of Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association between 2011 and 2014

DG office says tyre companies guilty of cartelisation under the aegis of Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association between 2011 and 2014 February 2016: CCI asks tyre companies and complainant to submit their objections by March 16

"Email communications of May 2011 between MRF and Apollo through director-general, ATMA, with regard to the pricing strategy, clearly revealed active collusion," the report added.

Frequent meetings of various ad hoc groups consisting of representatives of only five tyre companies without any record of proceedings suggested ATMA, which comprises of 10 member companies, was exploited by a few controlling minds, the report said.

"Our legal counsels are studying the document sent by the CCI. Accordingly a reply will be submitted," ATMA said.
With its maiden investor summit at Gurgaon, will join the league of states trying to extract investment promises from domestic and overseas investors.

The state had confirmations from more than 1,400 delegates for its two-day summit from March 7, sources said and pointed out this was overwhelming response in the aftermath of mass protests last month by Jats.

has 13 districts in the National Capital Region, which has given the state a leg up in industrialisation, yet investment flows in recent years remain gloomy.

A precipitous drop in new investments establishes Haryana's need for an image makeover.

Fresh investments in small and medium enterprises have stagnated and the number of new units registered has fallen. Traditional clusters at Ambala, Panipat, Karnal and Yamunanagar are in a shambles due to cheap imports.

Software exports from are growing at 7-8 per cent against the national average of 12-14 per cent. Haryana's software exports in 2014-15 were $6.2 billion, up from $5.8 billion in 2013-14.

The state unveiled a new industrial policy last year but in the absence of fiscal incentives it did not draw the attention of companies. A real estate boom in the last few years has run its course over limited land supply.

The state government has proposed amendments to the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation's guidelines for management of industrial estates, prescribing terms of allotment, and transfer and leasing of plots.

The amendments involve lowering the threshold for prestigious projects, ongoing acceptance of applications for allotments and a Tatkal allotment scheme at 25 per cent higher price with a provision for refund of value-added tax up to 50 per cent of the land cost.

Other amendments include easier rules for time extension, surrender of plots, leasing of premises, and increase in the floor area ratio in select areas.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has waived electricity dues for the current and next billing cycles of all those whose houses or properties were damaged during the Jat reservation agitation from February 15 to 22.

The state government has decided in principle to offer VAT relief to traders and businessmen who suffered losses during the stir.
India has complained at the World Trade Organization (WTO) against the US, challenging that country over its recent increase in fees for categories of non-immigrant temporary visas, which has hit our information technology (IT) sector.

The US had in December doubled the cost of sponsoring workers under short-term H1B and L1 visas, spurring worry on future curbs on IT workers hired from abroad by companies there.

The Geneva-based said India had on Thursday moved the multilateral bodys Dispute Settlement Body, alleging the US measures appeared inconsistent with earlier commitments on treating foreign guest workers with respect. The complaint starts a 60-day period, upon completion of which, India has the right to ask to rule on it. This includes a 10-day period in which the US can respond to the charges.

Indian citizens are among the nationalities most commonly granted these visas, making roughly 67 per cent of the H1-B visas and 28 per cent of the L-1s (in 2013-14).

The recent move, analysts say, are aimed at making foreign workers an unfavourable choice for major US companies dealing with computer services. This is also estimated to quadruple the Indian IT sector's annual visa cost to $400 million.

India has argued the measures are inconsistent with the terms, limitations and conditions agreed to by the US in its Schedule of Specific Commitments under the General Agreement on Trade in Services.

A commerce ministry official said the government believes India stands a fair chance at the if it presents solid data on how such protectionist measures by the US discriminate against Indian IT and adversely affect it.

The US is likely to say the decision to raise visa fees isnt country-specific and data to show how the decision is tailor-made to target Indian IT will bolster this country's case.

According to a report issued last September by Nasscom, the Indian IT sector's apex association, companies in sector from here were providing at least 400,000 jobs in the US, of which around 300,000 were held by either US citizens or permanent residents. These companies also invested $2 billion in the 2011-2013 period and paid $22.5 bn in taxes to the US in those years.

The move is in line with the governments aim of seeking legal recourse at the multilateral body, instead of putting faith in bilateral action.

India recently lost a WTO ruling. The trade body had declared power purchase agreements signed by the government with companies for the ambitious National Solar Mission fell foul of international norms.

The US had filed a complaint before WTO on this issue in 2014, alleging foreign companies, including American ones, were likely to be kept out from taking part in India's electrification programmes and the government contracts that came with it.
The Odisha government plans to set up an in Bhadrak district with an investment of Rs 70 crore to give a fillip to the textile sector.

"The proposed park will be developed over 112 acres of land in Bhadrak district. We have sent a detailed project report to the textile ministry to grant funds under the Scheme for Integrated Textile Parks (SITP)", said an official of Idco (Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation), the land acquisition arm of the state government.

Idco which will develop the sector specific park, has sought Rs 21 crore from the Centre as grant under the scheme for major infrastructure development for the park.

The proposed park at Bhadrak is expected to house about 22 apparel manufacturing units.

It may be noted that the scheme launched in 2005 is aimed to encourage private investments and employment generation in textile sector by facilitating world class infrastructure for common facilities, such as roads, water supply treatment and distribution network, power generation and distribution network, effluent collection treatment and disposal system, design centre, warehouse, first aid centre, etc.

The project cost under the scheme will be funded through a mix of equity or grant from the ministry. The Government of India, as per the scheme guidelines , support will be limited to 40 per cent of the project cost with a maximum ceiling of Rs 40 crore for parks.

The scheme targets industrial clusters with high growth potential, which require strategic interventions by way of providing world-class infrastructure support. The project cost will cover common infrastructure and buildings for production and support activities depending on the needs of the .

As of now Idco will develop the park, if required, a special purpose vehicle may be constituted , added a source.

Last year, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has announced setting up two integrated textile parks at Cuttack and Bhadrak.
In a disquieting comment on how the ministry of defence (MoD) manages its money, Defence Minister revealed on Friday that he discovered India was paying the US Department of Defense (Pentagon) for new weaponry, even though $3 billion which had been earlier remitted was lying in an account in Washington.

New Delhi had placed the money in the Pentagon-managed account for weaponry it was buying under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programme. In this, the Pentagon procures equipment on behalf of foreign governments from US vendors like Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

"Because of ill-management, or lack of attention to this account, we had slightly less than $3 billion which is piled up in this account, which was not earning any interest. It was just lying there in the account," Parrikar said at a press conference here. Parrikar added that he drew on this account, saving money from this year's capital budget, which was returned to the finance ministry. "From somewhere near $3 billion, the account has come down to $1.7-1.8 billion. During last year, we must have paid nearly Rs 6,000 crore from this fund for our committed liabilities. We have saved almost $700-800 million in foreign exchange", he said.

He also claimed to have saved up to Rs 3,000 crore by tightening up payment norms to Indian vendors, including the defence public sector undertakings (DPSUs). He said payment had been made even to companies that failed to deliver the contracted equipment.

Now, said Parrikar: "We are strictly monitoring the staged payment clauses, according to contracts. We are not allowing it to be loosely paid, even to DPSUs." The current year's budget had allocated Rs 77,798 crore for capital expenditure; but the revised allocations brought that down to Rs 65,808 crore. Even if Parrikar saved Rs 9,000 crore, it still leaves Rs 3,000 crore underspent.

The coming year's capital budget for the three services amounts to Rs 70,380 crore. Parrikar stated that this provides Rs 10,000 to 12,000 crore for new purchases, with the balance pre-committed to instalments on procurements concluded in earlier years.

He claimed, since new contracts required an up-front payment of no more than 10-15 per cent, this amount adequately provided for the Rafale contract, expenditures on the mountain strike corps, and an estimated Rs 1 lakh crore worth of new contracts likely to be concluded in the coming year.

The figures do not add up, though. With the Rafale priced at a minimum of Rs 63,000 crore, the new contracts add up to at least Rs 1.63 lakh crore, for which the advance required is between Rs 16,300 to 24,450 crores.

Parrikar also clarified that the government had instituted a new way of tabulating the defence budget, which would reflect several expenditures that have so far been kept invisible.

According to the new methodology, he announced that the coming year's budget was Rs 3,40,922 crore, including, for the first time, defence pensions and allocations to the MoD. "This amounts to 17.23 per cent of the overall (government) expenditure of Rs 19,78,060 crore", he announced.

He hopes this will clear the confusion, since the budget documents themselves reflected two different figures. In the budget summary, where pensions and MoD allocations were excluded as in the past, the defence allocation added up to Rs 2,49,099 crore, almost the same as the current year's allocation of Rs 2,46,727 crore, just 10.9 per cent higher than this year's revised estimates of Rs 2,24,636 crore.

Adding pensions and MoD allocations to the budget makes for a more reassuring figure, and one that is founded on more honest accounting.

Separately, Parrikar rejected the notion of joint patrols in the Indo-Pacific, carried out by the US and Indian navies. There has been growing speculations, based on statements from senior US officials like the Pacific Command chief, Admiral Harry Harris; and the US envoy to New Delhi, Richard Verma.

Parrikar responded on Friday, "India does joint exercises with other countries, not joint operations. The question of joint patrolling at this stage (with the US Navy) does not arise."
Demonstrations outside the State Bank of India Academy at Gurgaon in protest against the government's plans to privatise IDBI Bank had no perceptible impact on the second edition of Gyan Sangam, which kicked off on Friday.

While some of the officers continued to protest, bankers and officials of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as well as the finance ministry continued to debate consolidation and asset quality issues of the lenders in the banking sector in closed rooms at the two-day event, of media gaze.

Credit growth, risk management, technology and stress in the banking system were the other discussion points the bankers brainstormed in their respective groups.

Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha, who inaugurated the Sangam, took pains to point out that the worst was over for banks as the pace of growth in stressed asset in the system had stabilised. "There was also the asset quality review undertaken by the RBI in collaboration with the government. We got a system-wide view of stressed assets in the banking system. We have a very good sense of the magnitude of stressed assets and believe they totalled about Rs 8 lakh crore, or 11.24 per cent," Sinha said.

The finance ministry was working with RBI to work on a resolution for stressed asset. "As far as stressed assets are concerned, it is a continuous process that will last till March 2017 in terms of recognition, classification and resolution. There are various mechanisms created and strengthened," he added.

RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan also made a presentation on asset quality review of banks. The contents were kept a secret.

To provide cushion to banks' balance sheets saddled with bad loans, the ministry had decided to infuse capital of Rs 25,000 crore in this Budget. Banks said the capital allocation promised might not be enough. RBI differed. The banking regulator said banks had enough avenues to raise capital and, therefore, the amount allocated by the government would be enough.

Sinha said banks would be given additional capital if required.

Later, Financial Services Secretary Anjuly Chib Duggal addressed a press conference and gave a detailed agenda of the Gyan Sangam.

Chief Vigilance Commissioner K V Chowdary cautioned bankers to be more vigilant and do due-diligence more carefully while giving loans.

Global consultancy firm McKinsey made a presentation. Last year, based on the suggestions received at Gyan Sangam last year, the government came out with a strategy, Indradhanush, to revive public sector banks.
Fine-Tuning Foreign Military Sales (FMS) Procedure with us Government by Ministry of Defence . . Part of Scrupulous and Holistic Financial Management . .

The Ministry of Defence has fine-tuned the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) procedure with the US Government. Rather than raising bills case-wise every quarter, all the funds against various cases have been pooled together in a corpus. As and when funds are required to be paid per case, in fulfillment of contractual liabilities, the said amount is being withdrawn from the corpus. Consequent to this creation of the corpus in consultation with the US Government, no payments have been made in the last two quarters of the financial year 2015-16, against cases which necessitated payments, against the said contracts. Instead, payment is being effected from the corpus of 2.3 billion US Dollars. It is hoped that no payments shall be required to be made till the amount of 2.3 billion US Dollars is depleted and there is a necessity for us to replenish certain amount as required. This has happened through scrupulous and holistic financial management. Consequently, while US government will continue to meet their contractual obligations, there will be no additional burden on Government of India on this account. It enables utilization of scarce funds on other projects and hedges the country against adverse exchange rates. .

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NW/NAO/NAMPI/RAJ
Prime Ministers address during the International Conference on Rule of Law for supporting 2030 Development Agenda

Hon. Chief Justice of India, .

Other Dignitaries on the dais, .

Judicial minds from India and abroad .

Invitees, Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen! .

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I am delighted to address the International Workshop on Rule of Law and Sustainable Development. I welcome our friends from abroad and thank them for their active participation. .

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This workshop is being organized soon after two important international agreements which happened during 2015. One is the Paris Agreement on climate change. The other is the Agreement on Sustainable Development Goals. Therefore, this conference provides a timely and useful opportunity to discuss the way forward. This is important not only in the national context but also in the global context. I hope you will keep in mind the welfare of mankind and the concerns of the international community in your deliberations. .

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The role of rules and laws in achieving sustainable development goals is going to be very important in the days to come. However, rules should be such that they facilitate the achievement of these goals. Unfortunately, some times, the concern for environment is defined narrowly. We all have to realize that if there is conflict, no ones purpose will be served. I hope that you will show us the way to build and ensure climate justice across the globe based on legal as well as social frameworks. .

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Last year, in September, I attended the meeting of the UN General Assembly where the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 were adopted. These goals reflect our evolving understanding of the social, economic and environmental linkages that define our lives. .

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This was followed by the COP-21 where we contributed significantly in shaping the narrative. Our commitments at COP-21 underline the Indian ethos which aims at changing human lifestyle along with changes in the manner in which we engage in economic activity. The problems of environment are largely the effect of our consumptive lifestyles. If we want to make a meaningful impact, we all need to look within; before we read the books of law. .

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Friends! .

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I have always felt that anything which is not sustainable cannot be called development. In our culture, development means ????? ?????, ????? ?????, ????? ?????? ?????? and ????? ??????? ?????? ??????. This cannot happen unless the development process is inclusive and sustainable. Anything which compromises on the ability of future generations to meet their requirements cannot be called development. We in India have always believed in sustainability. For us, the law of nature holds great value. If we all observe it, then many man-made laws will not be required. Only the practice of ?? ???? and ?? ???????? will be enough to help us. In modern terminology, there is a word called stakeholder. A path becomes sustainable, if all stakeholders are benefitted. However, I must add a word of caution here. The stake should be natural. It should be inherent. It cannot be stretched to include those who may be working with ulterior motives. Nature is pure. Hence, only pure intentions can keep it intact. .

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We, in India, have a strong tradition of living in harmony with nature. We worship nature. We worship the sun, the moon, rivers, land, trees, animals, rain, air and fire. These elements of Nature have been given the stature of Gods in our culture. Moreover, in Indian mythology, most of the Gods and Goddesses are associated with an animal and a tree. Thus, respect for Nature is an integral part of our culture, and has been passed across generations. Protection of environment comes naturally to us. This strong tradition has been a guiding principle for all of us. .

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There is a well-known Sanskrit saying: .

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? ???????? ????????????? ? ???????? ???????????? ? . ???????? ?????????? ? ???????? ?????????? ??

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Which means: .

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We always pray for welfare, peace, fulfillment and sustainability of all; at all places and for all times. .

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This is our commitment; not of today but since time immemorial. If we remember this, follow this and act accordingly, India could provide leadership in sustainable development. For example, the practice of Yoga is aimed at balancing contentment and worldly desires, to lead to a path of moderation and sustainable lifestyle. When I talk of yoga, it is not just its physical dimension. Yoga is very comprehensive. The ideas of YAM, NIYAM, PRATYAHAR teach us discipline, austerity and control. .

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Much before the debate on sustainable development began, Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of our Nation, had said that we should act as trustees and use natural resources wisely. It is our moral responsibility to ensure that we leave a healthy planet for future generations. .

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Friends! I am sure all of us agree that poverty is the biggest challenge for environment. Therefore, eradication of poverty is one of the fundamental goals of my government. Guided by our core values, we are working towards achieving this goal with sincerity. We want to ensure a conducive environment for 1.25 billion Indians to develop, and prosper. We are encouraging education, skill development, digital connectivity and entrepreneurship to provide an enabling ecosystem for our youth to blossom. We aim to do all this in a sustainable manner. .

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We realize that fulfilling the demand for energy is vital to the achievement of our development goals. This is why, one of the first challenges that we took up was generation of 175 Giga watts of renewable energy. We are well on our way to achieving this objective. .

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We have also taken up the Swacch Bharat and Clean Ganga Initiatives. I am happy to note that millions of people across the country have joined the cleanliness drive. I take this opportunity to invite the participants to explore as to how we can strengthen this collective endeavour. I am glad to learn that this workshop will also discuss issues related to pollution and waste management. These are issues that need to be addressed proactively. I look forward to your recommendations towards strengthening such initiatives. .

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Friends! .

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The problems we face in India today are not unique. Other civilizations have also faced similar problems and were able to overcome them. I believe that through our collective efforts we will succeed as well. While doing so, we must ensure that we avoid contradictions between our need to develop and develop sustainably. Our culture teaches us Union between the ??????? and ??????. If we become one with the universal order, there are no conflicts of interest. .

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Therefore, my Government is treating the challenge of adapting to climate change as an opportunity rather than a problem. We need to adopt the philosophy of ???: ?????? ??????. We must do things in a way that causes minimum damage to the environment. This is ???? or mastery. This is what I mean when I talk of zero defect and zero effect manufacturing. I have written some of my thoughts on this theme in my book, Convenient Action: continuity for change. .

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Friends! The rule of law dictates that no one can be punished for anothers misdeed. We need to recognize that there are many people who are least responsible for the problem of climate change. They are also the people who still wait for access to modern amenities. They face the adverse impact of climate change more than anyone else. This includes cyclones, droughts, floods, heat waves, and rising sea levels. The poor, vulnerable and marginalized groups have fewer resources to cope with climate disasters. Unfortunately, their present and future generations are also burdened by laws and agreements on environment. That is why I talk about Climate Justice. Moreover, the rules, laws, practices and principles of one country cannot be applied to another uniformly. Every country has its own challenges and its own ways of dealing with them. If we apply the same set of rules for all countries and for all people; it will not work. .

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Sustainable development is our responsibility. I am confident that we can achieve it, collectively. I am also confident that we can find ways for development which are in harmony with nature. We can find them along the road travelled by our forefathers. I hope the deliberations during this workshop will help in developing a shared understanding of these imperatives. .

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I wish this conference a grand success. .

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Thank you. .

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Steps to control the prices of essential items . .

The Government has taken a number of to improve the availability and to contain prices of essential food items. These include:- .

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National Consultation Meeting of the minister of states/UTs in-charge of Consumer Affairs and Food held on 7thJuly, 2015 at New Delhi resolved to take steps to keep prices of essential commodities, especially Pulses and onion under control. .

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Advisory were issued to State Governments to take strict action against hoarding & black marketing and effectively enforce the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 & the Prevention of Black-marketing and Maintenance of Supplies of Essential Commodities Act, 1980. .

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Regular review meeting on price and availability situation is being held at the highest level including at the level of Finance Minister, Committee of Secretaries, Inter Ministerial Committee, Price Stabilization Fund Management Committee and other Departmental level review meetings. .

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Higher MSP has been announced so as to incentivize production and thereby enhance availability of food items which may help moderate prices. .

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A Plan Scheme titled Price Stabilization Fund (PSF) is being implemented to regulate price volatility of agricultural commodities. .

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Export of onion were restricted through imposition of Minimum Export Price (MEP) when prices were ruling high and import is allowed at zero duty. .

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Retail sale of onion was undertaken from the stock held by SFAC and NAFED. Imported 2000 MT of onion from Egypt and China through MMTC. As no demands from state were received, the onion were disposed off through tender in the open market. .

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The stock limits in respect of onion have been extended by one more year i.e. up to 2nd July 2016 under the Essential Commodities Act. .

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Procurement of 15000 MT of onion by SFAC and NAFED for market intervention during lean period has been approved. .

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Export of all pulses is banned except kabuli channa and up to 10,000 MTs in organic pulses and lentils. .

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Import of pulses are allowed at zero import duty. .

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Stock limit on pulses extended till 30.9.2016. .

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Government imported 5000 MT of Tur from Malawi/Mozambique and allocated it to States for retail sale to consumers to improve availability and to moderate prices. .

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MSP (including bonus) raised for kharif pulses for Tur and Urad and Moong. MSP also raised for rabi pulses for Gram and Masoor. .

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Government has approved creation of buffer stock of 1.5 lakh MT of pulses for effective market intervention. .

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Export of edible oils in bulk is prohibited except coconut oil and other edible oils in branded consumer packs of up to 5 kgs is permitted with a minimum export price of USD 900 per MT. .

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MSP increased for various rabi and kharif oil seeds. .

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This information was given by the Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Shri Ram Vilas Paswan in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today. .

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Sustainable Development is our priority: Prime Minister . . Prime Minister inaugurates international conference on rule of law for supporting the 2030 development agenda/sustainable development goals . . Developed world should follow Indias example of taxing coal at $ 6 per tonne: Environment Minister . .

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, has emphasized that sustainable development is our priority. Delivering the inaugural address at the International Conference on Rule of Law For Supporting the 2030 Development agenda/Sustainable development goals here today, the Prime Minister said that the ideals of Bahujan hitay, Bahujan sukhay (well being and happiness of the maximum number of people) cannot happen unless the development process is inclusive and sustainable. He said that the government aims to encourage education, skill development, digital connectivity and entrepreneurship in a sustainable manner. He also said that anything which is not sustainable, cannot be called development. .

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The Prime Minister said that poverty is the biggest challenge for environment and eradication of poverty is one of the fundamental goals of the government. Shri Modi said that the poor, vulnerable and marginalized groups have fewer resources to cope with climate disasters. He underscored the need to look within to make a meaningful impact on environment. Reiterating the need for Climate Justice, the Prime Minister stated that rules, laws, practices and principles of one country cannot be applied to another uniformly. The Prime Minister said that Indias commitments at COP-21 underline the Indian ethos, which aim at changing human lifestyle along with changes in the manner in which economic activity is undertaken. .

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Addressing the gathering, Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Javadekar said that the Prime Minister convinced the world at Paris about Climate Justice and sustainable lifestyle. The Minister said that Climate Justice is about justice to the 3 billion poor people of the world. Shri Javadekar said that both the concepts of Climate Justice and Sustainable Lifestyle have been mentioned in the Preamble of Paris agreement. .

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Shri Javadekar said that the Finance Minister has presented a Green Budget. Highlighting the green features of the Union Budget 2016-17, he said that coal has been taxed to the tune of Rs. 400 per tonne, i.e about $ 6. He emphasized that no country in the world is taxing coal for $6 per tonne. Shri Javadekar added that if the developed world follows Indias example in taxing coal at $ 6 per tonne, $ 100 billion to be generated by the developed world to meet the mitigation and adaptation needs of the developing world will be collected through this $ 6 tax. The Minister said that some of the other green features of the Budget include the benefit of LPG being extended to 50 million BPL families, which is not just a health benefit, but also saves cutting of trees. Shri Javadekar emphasized the commitment of the government by preponing the migration to Euro VI by 2020, by investing Rs. 60, 000 crore in refineries to have cleaner fuel. .

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Speaking on the occasion, Union Finance Minister, Shri Arun Jaitley pointed out that the proposals presented in Budget 2016-17 pertain not only to coal and fossil fuels, but also towards hydrocarbons. The Finance Minister said that two important programmes on environment are Swachh Bharat and Clean Ganga campaigns. He pointed out that the 0.5% cess on all services will go only towards Swachh Bharat campaign. He also added that adequate money for Clean Ganga campaign has been provided. Shri Jaitley also said that as part of the Clean Ganga campaign, the most polluted stretch from Kanpur to Varanasi is being taken up for cleaning River Ganga. The Finance Minister emphasized that the decision to provide LPG connections to mitigate the adverse impact of chulha is not only a social sector scheme, but also an environmental programme. He also stated that while hybrid and electric vehicles have been encouraged, more polluting vehicles have been discouraged. .

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The Prime Minister released the National Green Tribunal International Journal on the occasion. .

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Chief Justice of India, Shri Justice T.S Thakur delivered the keynote address, while National Green Tribunal Chairperson, Shri Justice Swatanter Kumar gave the welcome address. Attorney General of India, Shri Mukul Rohtagi also addressed the gathering. Director, Division of Environmental Law and Conventions, UNEP, Ms. Elizabeth Maruma Mrema gave the Vote of thanks. .

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The three-day Conference has been organized by National Green Tribunal NGT), Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Ministry of Water Resources and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The objective of the Conference is to bring together Chief Justices, judges, environmentalists, scientists, lawyers, academicians, executives in the field of environment to exchange ideas on environmental issues such as climate change and disaster management, threat to marine environment, waste management and air pollution. Some of the other issues to be deliberated include global warming, marine environment, rule of law, remedies and judicial mechanism, increasing pollution and the impact on forest, wildlife and environment. .

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Union Home Minister briefs on MHAs budget Highlights . .

The Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh briefed the media on budget highlights of the Ministry of Home Affairs, here today. The Home Minister explained that due to the maximum budget utilization during the current financial year, the Ministry has received higher gross allocation and some schemes have also been revived for the year 2016-17 as below: .

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The total BE 2016-17 allocation for the Ministry of Home Affairs is Rs.77923.12 crore against BE 2015-16 of Rs.68924.10 crore. The gross allocation is 10.38% more as compared to RE of 2015-16 and 13.06% more as compared to BE 2015-16. .

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Total BE, Rs.70724.58 crore is for Police Head, which is Rs.8120.06 crore (12.97%) more as compared to BE 2015-16 and Rs.6622.45 crore (10.33%) more as compared to RE 2015-16. .

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Under the Umbrella Scheme for Modernization of Police Force BE 2016-17 provides for Rs.1753.90 crore which includes Rs.250 crore for CCTNS, Rs.595 crore for Modernization of State Police Forces, Rs.840 crore for Security Related Expenditure (SRE) and Rs.68.90 crore for India Reserve Battalions. .

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Delhi Police has been allocated Rs.5657.84 crore which is Rs.574.71 crore (11.31%) more as compared to Rs.5083.13 crore in RE 2015-16. .

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The Ministerial budget of MHA is provided Rs.4630.90 crore for 2016-17 which is Rs.496.31 crore (12%) more as compared to BE 2015-16 and Rs.675.25 crore (17.07%) more as compared to RE 2015-16. .

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The allocation in 2016-17 for UTs is Rs.2148 crore which is Rs.380 crore (21.49%) more as compared to BE 2015-16 and Rs.321.10 crore (17.58%) more as compared to RE 2015-16. .

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Border Management has been provided Rs.3777.40 crore which includes Rs.990 crore for Border Area Development Programme, Rs.2490 crore for Border Infrastructure, Rs.88 crore for Land Ports Authority of India. The allocation is 20.75% more as compared toRs.3128.26 crore in BE 2015-16. .

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Rs.910.28 crore has been allocated in BE-2016-17 for Relief & Rehabilitation of Migrants and Repatriates as compared to Rs. 582.18 crore in RE 2015-16. The addition of Rs. 328.10 crore in BE 2016-17 is 56.35 % more. Out of Rs 910.28 crore, Rs. 340 crore are for Land Boundary Agreement and Rs. 450 crore are for relief and rehabilitation of Migrants of Jammu and Kashmir. UDAAN scheme for J&K has been allocated Rs. 70 crore in BE 2016-17 as compared to Rs. 45 crore in RE 2015-16 which Rs.25 crore (55.56%) more. .

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The European Union said on Friday that it had added 16 people and 12 companies to its sanctions list following North Korea's latest nuclear test and rocket launch. The United Nations unanimously voted to expand existing sanctions against Pyongyang on Wednesday. The European Union introduced restrictive measures against in December 2006. The European Council, which represents the 28 member states, said that Friday's extension was a transposition of the UN vote on Wednesday.
continue to trade in a tight range oscillating between positive and negative territory amid profit booking after the sharp rally in the previous three sessions capped upside gains.



Read more from our special coverage on "MARKET"

At 2:15pm, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 40 points at 24,646 and Nifty50 was up 19 points at 7,488.In the broader market, the BSE Midcap index was up 1.1% and the Smallcap index was up 0.8%. breadth was strong with 1,448 gainers and 891 losers on the BSE.The top gainers on the Sensex are BHEL, Cipla, Tata Motors, DrReddys, and SBI have all gained between 2% and 4% each.The top losers on the Sensex are Bharti Airtel, NTPC, Sun Pharma, Maruti Suzuki, and Asian paints, down between 1% and 2% each.BSE Metal pack has gained over 2%. Vedanta, Hindalco, JSWSteel, Coal India have all gained between 2% and 5.5% each.Among other shares, shares of AGC Networks were locked in 20% uppper circuit at Rs 79.40 on the Bombay Stock Exchange after the company said its cyber security division CYBER-i announced a strategic Managed Services Provider (MSP) partnership with Intel Security to offer outcome based managed security services across the globe.--------------------------------------------------------(updated 1pm)continued to trade flat in noon trades as profit booking after the sharp rally in the previous three sessions capped upside gains.At 1pm, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 27 points at 24,634 and Nifty50 was up 6 points at 7,481.In the broader market, the BSE Midcap index was up 1.1% and the Smallcap index was up 0.8%. breadth was strong with 1,448 gainers and 891 losers on the BSE.Foreign institutional investors were net buyers to the tune of Rs 912 crore on Thursday as per provisional stock exchange data.Dr Reddy's Lab extended gains and was up 2.3% after the pharma major received the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval to launch Aloxi generics.HDFC is trading with marginal gains. The mortgage lender will raise Rs 1,000 crore by issuing non-convertible debentures, to cater to its housing finance business needs.Tata Motors continues to witness buying interest on the back of robust JLR sales in the US and commercial vehicle sales in the domestic . The stock was up 2.4%.BHEL was up nearly 4% on commissioning its first 700 mega watt (MW) supercritical thermal unit at Bellary Thermal Power Project (TPP) in Karnataka.Among others, shares of AGC Networks were locked in 20% uppper circuit at Rs 79.40 on the Bombay Stock Exchange after the company said its cyber security division CYBER-i announced a strategic Managed Services Provider (MSP) partnership with Intel Security to offer outcome based managed security services across the globe.***************************continue to trade in a tight range with financials capping the upside gains as investors sought to profit booking at higher levels. Meanwhile, participants will watch out out for the second edition of Gyan Sangam, a retreat of heads of public sector financial institutions, in the background of the government's strategy to consolidate public sector (PSU) banks.

At 10:20 am, the S&P BSE Sensex has gained 27 points to quote 24,634 at and the Nifty50 has climbed 4 points to quote at 7,479.

_______________________(updated at 10:25 am)After a firm opening, markets have turned flat and the benchmark indices are trading flat with a negative bias as investors book profits at higher and attractive levels. Participants will watch out out for the second edition of Gyan Sangam, a retreat of heads of public sector financial institutions, in the background of the government's strategy to consolidate public sector (PSU) banks.

Further, investors will keep an eye on US non-farm payrolls data due to be released later today.

At 9:30 am, the S&P BSE Sensex has shed 25 points to quote 24,581 at and the Nifty50 has lost 19 points to quote at 7,457.



If Nifty50 holds above 7,400 zones index has potential to continue its momentum towards 7,500-7,550 zones. Whereas on the downside, if it fails to hold 7,365 zones then only bears may again attack the market for a profit booking decline towards next support of 7,270 and 7,240 zones, according to Anand Rathi morning report.





ALSO READ: Top trading ideas from Chandan Taparia of Anand Rathi

Back home, the second edition of a two-day retreat, Gyan Sangam, will outline the reform agenda for the coming year for state-owned banks. The event follows Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's Budget statement that the government will unveil a road map for consolidation in public sector banks.





ALSO READ: Derivative strategy on Nifty from Shubham Agarwal

Asian equities are trading largely in green as participants remain cautious ahead of the US employment report due to be slated today amid volatility in crude oil prices. Japans Nikkei, Singapores Straits Times, Hong Kongs Hang Seng are up 0.3%-1.3%. However, Chinas Shanghai Composite is down 0.4%.

STOCKS IN FOCUS

Reliance Industries is set to miss its deadline for re-opening all 1,400 retail fuel outlets by March-end. The stock is trading 0.5% lower.

HDFC will raise Rs 1,000 crore by issuing non-convertible debentures, to cater to its housing finance business needs. The stock is down 1%.

Mahindra and Mahindra Financial Services (MMFSL) plans to raise up to Rs 2,000 crore through a mix of retail bonds and commercial paper (CP) for business expansion. However, the stock has lost over 1%.

Yes Bank has acquired 5% stake in corporate governance and proxy advisory firm Institutional Investor Advisory Services (IiAS). YES Bank is dow 1%.

Car maker Tata Motors extends gains on the back of good JLR sales numbers and is trading 2% higher.

Dr Reddy's Lab is trading 1% higher after the pharma major received the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval to launch Aloxi generics.





PSU banks are trading largely in the red ahead of the second edition of Gyan Sangam, a retreat of heads of public sector financial institutions, in the background of the government's strategy to consolidate public sector (PSU) banks.

Nifty PSU Bank index is down over 1%. Among the prominent laggards are Andhra Bank, SBI, PNB, Canara Bank, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, IOB, Union Bank and Allahabad Bank are down 0.2%-1%
Bollywood hunk John Abraham is back in the action mode with his action thriller film 'Rocky Handsome'. However, the film is all set to clash with Hollywood film 'Batman v/s Superman' at the domestic box-office.

Speaking about the same, the 'Madras Cafe' star said "Batman v/s Superman' is about super heroes and Rocky Handsome is about real heroes."

The 43-year-old actor, who was speaking at the trailer launch of the film in Mumbai, also said that his movie has no competition from the superhero flick.

Talking about 'Rocky Handsome', John added the trailer of his film is replete with high octane action.

John has also unveiled the trailer of 'Rocky Handsome' on Twitter.

'Rocky Handsome,' which also stars Nathalia Kaur, Nishikant Kamath, Nora Fatehi, Divya Chalwad, and Sharad Kelkar, is an official remake of 2010 Korean film 'The Man from Nowhere.'

The film, which marks the acting debut of Nishikant Kamath, is slated to release on March 25.
Who needs stress buster when you've got your bros? According to a study, bromance, a close but non-sexual relationship between two men, is good for your .

The University of California, Berkeley study's results lead researchers to believe that male bonding improves by significantly boosting an individual's ability to cope with stress.

The study extends to male rats housed in cage, and demonstrates that mild stress can actually make male rats more social and cooperative than they are in an unstressed environment, much as humans come together after non-life-threatening events such as a national tragedy. After a mild stress, the rats showed increased brain levels of oxytocin and its receptor and huddled and touched more.

Lead author Elizabeth Kirby said that a bromance can be a good thing. Males are getting a bad rap when you look at animal models of social interactions, because they are assumed to be instinctively aggressive. But even rats can have a good cuddle, essentially a male-male bromance, to help recover from a bad day.

She added that having friends is not un-masculine. These rats are using their rat friendships to recover from what would otherwise be a negative experience. If rats can do it, men can do it too. And they definitely are; they just don't get as much credit in the research for that.

The study appears online in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology.
Launching a frontal attack on the opposition parties, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday alleged that the Congress and CPI (M) have entered into an unlawful alliance to stop the development taking place in the state under the Trinamool Congress (TMC) regime.

Mamata, who announced the candidature list for the upcoming assembly polls, also made it absolutely clear that the TMC would not join hands with any political party under the present circumstances.

"We have tried our best in these four and a half years. The TMC will contest alone in West Bengal. We have always fought against the CPI (M) as I feel that this party believes in negativity. They believe in strikes and violence. They got the opportunity to rule for 34 years but did nothing. There has been an unlawful alliance of Congress and CPI (M)," she said.

The TMC supremo also trained her guns on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is looking to establish its foot in the state courtesy Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership.

"The BJP has also somewhere joined hands with them as they too don't want the TMC to work cordially with the people of West Bengal. You can understand it if you analyse some of their performances," she said.

Mamata also reached the occasion to reach out to the women and backward classes in the state.

"In 2011, the number of women candidates we had was 31. We have increased them to 45 this year. The number of minority candidates was 38 which we have increased this time to 57, almost by 20 percent. This is one of the developments," she added.

The election in West Bengal will be held in six phases in which the polling for first phase will take place on April 4 and 11. Polling for the second phase will be held on April 17, the third phase on April 21, fourth on April 25 and the fifth and six phases on April 30 and May 5 respectively.

The counting of votes will take place on May 19.

The Election Commission has this time decided to display photos of the contesting candidates to dispel confusion about their identities, as many have similar names. This time a symbol of NOTA will also be provided in the EVMs.
Fashion designer Shipra Malik, who went missing on Monday in Noida under mysterious circumstances, has been found in Gurgaon.

The Inspector General of Meerut, Sujit Pandey, said that she has been found in Gurgaon.

Meanwhile, Lakshmi Singh Meerut Zone DIG said that prima facie it does not appear to be a case of kidnapping.

He, however, said that the police is investigating the matter further to get to the bottom of this case.

Shipra had left her home on Monday afternoon for Chandni Chowk.

Last call made by victim's mobile phone was to 100. The victim's last location was found to be Lajpat Nagar in South Delhi.The victim's Maruti Swift car was found abandoned 500 metres away from her home in Sector 37.

Shipra Malik is a resident of Noida and runs a boutique. She is married to a local builder. Her husband had filed a missing complaint with the Noida police.
The film fraternity on Friday expressed delight over the government's decision to award this year's Dadasaheb Phalke Award to yesteryear Bollywood star Manoj Kumar, saying that the latter was an idol to many in the movie industry.

Filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar said that Kumar was not even aware that he has been chosen for the prestigious award when he called him to wish.

"I am very happy to hear this. When I saw this on TV and called him to wish, he was not aware of the fact. Then I told him that he has been chosen for Dadasaheb Phalke award, but he did not believe me. He then checked it on the TV and was very happy. I am a big fan of his. He was an idol to many in the industry," Bhandarkar told ANI.

Another filmmaker, Ashok Pandit, echoing similar sentiments, lauded Kumar for his 'patriotic' films.

"It is a matter of great happiness that an artiste whose performances we have been watching since our childhoods is being given the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke award. The entire industry is happy. When I and Madhur called him, he was sleeping and wasn't aware about the award," he said.

The 78-year-old actor, who already has seven Filmfare Awards to his credit, will be bestowed with a Swarn Kamal (Golden Lotus), a cash prize of Rs. 10 lakhs and a shawl.

Kumar, who is popular for making patriotic movies, was honoured with the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1992.

He is remembered for his films Hariyali Aur Raasta, Woh Kaun Thi?, Himalaya Ki God Mein, Do Badan, Upkar, Patthar Ke Sanam, Neel Kamal, Purab Aur Paschim, Roti Kapda Aur Makaan, and Kranti.
New Delhi, Mar. 4 (ANI): On September 5, 2015, in response to an agitation by retired soldiers of the Indian Army, commonly called "veterans" for a better deal in their pensions, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)- led Democratic Alliance (NDA) government announced the acceptance of the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme.

There was much celebration, in certain quarters only, on acceptance of a demand of Indian soldiers that had been held back by governments led by both the Congress and the BJP. Among the veterans and the defence services fraternity, there was a sense of disquiet, since it was largely perceived that the award given was not in consonance with the definition of OROP.

While Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has recently delivered the third budget of his government and the second full fledged one, the veterans continue to wallow at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, since their OROP demand has neither been met nor implemented in letter and spirit.

It would be fallacious to think that the NDA government would not be concerned about the continued impasse on this sensitive topic for which it feels it has walked the extra mile. The agony of the government would be propounded by the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always held the country's armed forces in very high esteem.

No better example of his feelings can be given beyond the fact that he spends Diwali, the most revered festival of the Hindus, with Indian troops on the border.

At this stage, when the impasse remains an embarrassment even after the passage of three budgets, it is time to see if there is a way out of this logjam.

The OROP order, as it stands, is re-fixing pension on the basis of the calendar year as 2013; it also envisages re-fixing of pensions every five years.

The prime objective of seeking OROP is seeking parity in pension for all defence forces retirees in their particular rank to an acceptable extent. A five-year revision scheme will only increase the gap in the parity sought.

Another contentious issue is the clause that the personnel, who opt for discharge at their own request after completion of colour service, will not be entitled to the benefits of OROP. This clause does not consider the fact that leaving after completion of "colour service," entails having served the minimum period required by law to earn a full pension.

The veterans feel that the aforementioned award is not in consonance with the accepted definition of OROP, as approved by Parliament. The veterans further feel that this dispensation will lead to a situation of One Rank Many Pensions instead of One Rank One Pension.

The apprehensions of the veterans and even the serving personnel of the defence services stand further aggravated by the position on the subject taken by the 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC) that, in its recommendations, has failed to cater for traditional compensation granted to defence personnel to cater for their truncated careers.

The idea is to bridge the massive gap between civilian and defence retirees. As things stand now, the defence personnel are at a disadvantage vis-a-vis their civilian central government counterparts in terms of life time earnings due to early retirement further compounded by aborted pension.

Since the pension of current retirees is passed on to the past retirees through OROP, the position of the 7th CPC will adversely impact the effectiveness of the OROP scheme.

Unlike the OROP scheme for defence pensioners, a similar scheme recommended by 7th CPC for civilian/CAPF personnel, is superior, especially since it has no conditions regarding applicability.

All seemingly complex issues have an inherent simple solution. In the case of OROP, there is a simple solution in case the government can muster the courage to implement the same.

The government can easily grant pension based on maximum model instead of average and award revision of OROP biennially instead of five yearly. By so doing, the government will conform to the OROP definition.

In fact, by applying the aforementioned principle of calculation, the government will save itself from the accounting complexity of maintaining two sets of Dearness Allowance (DA) rates i.e. one rate for past defence retirees and a second one for the more recent cases.

Accountants will agree that maintaining two kinds of pension tables for past retirees, one as per OROP and the other as per erstwhile modified parity table would be a nightmare to say the least.

The issue of personnel, who opt for discharge at their own request after completion of colour service, of course needs to be removed in totality, since it violates existing regulations. In this regard, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has already given a positive clarification. As such, the revocation should not pose any difficulty for the government.

The 7th CPC reward is likely to be implemented by the government with effect from January 1, 2016. Therefore, in addition to seeking improvements in the current OROP scheme, as discussed above, there is a simultaneous requirement of seeking modification in the erroneous/flawed pension related proposals submitted by the commission.

The next logical step would be to seek its integration with the OROP scheme so that the benefits of the 7th CPC can be passed on to the past retirees. We need to keep in mind that since the OROP links the past retirees to the current retirees, it is imperative to correct the pension of the current retirees in the 7th CPC regime.

One can only hope that the government, on its own, or through the one-member Judicial Commission headed by Justice L. Narasimha Reddy, will keep the aforementioned issues in mind, and especially look into further anomalies that the 7th Pay Commission can possibly create.

There is an urgent need to bring closure to the embarrassment of having our veterans sitting in Jantar Mantar indefinitely.

.
Former prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Friday condoled the ?demise of former Lok Sabha speaker P.A. Sangma, saying the north-east has lost an important voice.

Dr. Singh India has lost one of the tallest leaders from north-east who represented India in various forums as the Speaker of Lok Sabha.

Recalling his contributions as a public representative, the Congress president said that the nation had lost a tall leader.

The Congress vice-president said Sangma's demise is a great loss to the nation.

"Deepest condolences on the passing away of veteran leader & former LS Speaker Shri PA Sangma. His demise is a great loss to the nation," he tweeted.

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor also expressed grief at Sangma's demise, saying he was admired by all.

"It's deeply saddening and shocking news for all of us because he was in the house till two days ago. He was a very popular figure whatever the political differences the people may have with him, everyone used to like and admire him because he always used to laugh and was universally liked," said Tharoor.

" Our thoughts, our prayers go out to him and his family. This is a tragic development and India has lost a very important north-east leader. The whole country should mourn his passing," he added.

Congress leader Renuka Chowdhary on her part said Sangma's memories would always remain with the people of this country.

"He was a wonderful orator, who always had a smiling face. His memory will always be with us," Chowhdary said.

Sangma, who unsuccessfully contested the presidential election as an opposition candidate against Pranab Mukherjee, was 68 years old.

The former Meghalaya chief minister was elected to the Lok Sabha eight times since his first entry to the Lower House in 1977. He was the Lok Sabha Speaker between 1996 and 1998.

Sangma was expelled from the Congress in 1999 along with Sharad Pawar and Tariq Anwar for raising a banner of revolt against Sonia Gandhi over her foreign origin issue. Subsequently, the trio formed the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

However, he left the NCP in 2004 and formed a regional party, which later merged with Trinamool Congress. He later rejoined the NCP, but only to part ways with it later and unsuccessfully contested the presidential election against Pranab Mukherjee. He was supported by BJP, BJD, AIADMK and others.
Revealing the reasons behind his controversial exit from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Karachi's former mayor Mustafa Kamal has blamed the party's chief Altaf Hussain for 'deception' and poor management of one of the strongest political parties.

Kamal, moreover, announced the formation of a new political party, which he said is yet to be named. He raised a Pakistani flag and said it is the official emblem of his newly-launched organisation, reports Dawn.

Kamal broke down into tears while addressing the press conference, as he went on to make major revelations about the internal workings of the party and what he called the cult of personality made around Hussain.

He said that Hussain did not pay heed to the advice given by the party leaders despite repeated requests.

Kamal further said Altaf ruined two generations of Urdu-speaking youth.

He further stated that he tried to reverse the trend, which was prevalent within the party for five years, but left when he grew frustrated with the lack of progress.
The trailer of much-awaited Nishikant Kamath directorial 'Rocky Handsome' has been released today in Mumbai where John Abraham, who plays the lead, said that training for the action shots in the movie turned his body into black and blue, but he feels the pain paid off.

"My body turned black and blue during training, but it paid off," he said.

John added that the action scenes were real without usage of any VFX.

A huge fan of Sylvester Stallone, John feels himself to be an underdog like the American actor as he has not yet arrived in the film industry.

He also expressed his disappointment over Stallone's miss out at the Oscars this year.

"I was disappointed when Sylvester Stallone missed out on Oscars,' he said.

The whole team of 'Rocky Handsome', excluding the leading lady Shruti Haasan, was present for the trailer launch event.

Speaking about Shruti presently shooting for her upcoming movie in London, John clarified, "Shruti has a special appearance in the film."

'Rocky Handsome,' which also stars Nathalia Kaur, Nishikant Kamath, Nora Fatehi, Divya Chalwad, and Sharad Kelkar, is an official remake of 2010 Korean film 'The Man from Nowhere.' The film, which marks the acting debut of Nishikant Kamath, is slated to release on March 25.
Shipra Malik, the Noida-based fashion designer who had gone missing under mysterious circumstances on Monday, had planned her own kidnapping.

The Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Meerut Zone, Lakshmi Singh, on Friday ruled out a case of kidnapping and said that the fashion designer during questioning told the police that she was inspired by a TV crime show.

"As per her (Shipra Malik) statements given so far, it doesn't seem to be a case of kidnapping. Our team has left for verification of her statement. Shipra Malik made PCR call to prove that her husband and family has nothing to do with incident," Singh told the media here.

"She came back after seeing pictures of her family on TV and after being informed of missing case that had been filed. No injury has been detected during the medical check-up of Shipra Malik," she added.

The Meerut DIG also confirmed that Shipra called her husband at around 1-1:30 a.m. and informed him about her whereabouts in Gurgaon.

Shipra had left her home on Monday afternoon for Chandni Chowk.

The last call made by victim's mobile phone was to 100. The victim's last location was found to be Lajpat Nagar in South Delhi. The victim's Maruti Swift car was found abandoned 500 metres away from her home in Sector 37.

Shipra is a resident of Noida and runs a boutique. She is married to a local builder. Her husband had filed a missing complaint with the Noida Police.
The acting president of Nepali Congress, Ram Chandra Poudel, has registered his candidacy for the post of party chief.

Poudel registered the candidacy along with Shashank Koirala for the post of general secretary and Sita Devi Yadav for treasurer at Sanepa-based party office on Friday, reports The Himalayan Times.

Party leader Sujata Koirala on Thursday withdrew her candidacy for the top post and announced that she would lend her support to Paudel in the elections.

Nepali Congress' 13th National General Convention began yesterday with fanfare amid a grand function at the Khula Manch in the presence of thousands of supporters, leaders of political parties, including those from neighbouring countries.

The candidates wishing to fight for the party's Central Working Committee's elected posts will have to file their candidacy by this afternoon.
Stressing on the need for an effective deterrence and a strong defence force, President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday said India is firmly committed to peace and equality.

President Mukherjee said the nation is striving hard for all-round economic growth and social empowerment of its citizens.

"However, we remain equally focused on building capacity to defend our sovereignty and territorial integrity. Our Armed Forces give us confidence in the Nation's ability to face any aggression and safe guard its interests," said President Mukherjee.

"The Air Warriors, who stand before us today, epitomise the grit and the determination in fulfilling their responsibilities by upholding the highest standards of service ethos," he added.

President Mukherjee said the Indian Air Force has been fulfilling its role of protecting the Indian skies and safeguarding the sovereignty of the nation.

"The Indian Air Force has been fulfilling its role of protecting the Indian skies and safeguarding the sovereignty of our nation. It has also provided aid to the citizens during natural calamities. The resilience and tenacity displayed by the Air Warriors is a great source of encouragement and a matter of pride for the nation," he said.

President Mukherjee, who presented the Standard to 119 Helicopter Unit and Colours to 28 Equipment Depot of the Indian Air Force, said the nation is immensely proud of the Indian Air Force and remains eternally indebted to the air warriors for their selflessness and sacrifice.

"The massive relief operations undertaken by the Indian Air Force during many natural calamities in the past is all etched in our memories. Such operations are shining examples of the fortitude and determination of its gallant air warriors," he added.
Korean company Electronics is set to intensify its promotions in India by spending a record sum on marketing and promotion for the new flagship Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge that will be unveiled next week.

According to sources, is likely to invest about Rs. 100 crore on marketing its latest smartphones, which will be launched in India on March 8 and go on sale from the third week of March at prices that could match Apple's iPhone 6s models.

It has asked the dealers to ensure maximum mileage for the brand on shop floors, senior industry executives said.

Samsung India has issued an advisory linking payments to dealers to the visibility of its branding on store fronts and inside.

Industry executives said Samsung may offer the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge at a cheaper rate than the Rs. 50,000-plus launch price for last year's flagship Galaxy S6.

The company is looking at a price of about Rs. 45,000 to compete with iPhone 6s that's selling at Rs. 44,000-45,000.

Samsung has advised the dealers that any discounting will entail strict disciplinary actions, including blacklisting, since it does not want a price war on the new models.
The Nawaz Sharif-led government suffered a major setback in the Senate today when the House rejected a bill to convert the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Corporation into a public limited company.

The PIA Corporation Conversion Bill 2015 was introduced by Federal Minister for Climate Change Zahid Hamid, reports Dawn.

Deputy Chairman of the Senate, Abdul Gafoor Haideri, sought verbal consent to take the bill into consideration twice, which was rejected by majority voice both times.

The senate standing committee rejected the bill in its report presented to the house.

The bill has now been referred to a joint session of the Parliament, which is expected to take place next week.

The bill is expected to be passed as the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) enjoys a simple majority in a joint session.

Earlier, the National Assembly passed the PIAC Bill amid protests by the Opposition. The bill was then sent to the upper house, which referred it to the standing committee.

The PIA employees went on a protest last month after the government refused to accept a four-point agenda proposed by the Joint Action Committee and put off privatisation.
A day after the Border Security Force (BSF) discovered a tunnel near Nikki Tawi river in Jammu sector, they suspected that a big terrorist attack was being planned through the tunnel in near future.

BSF IG Rakesh Sharma told reporters that it appeared that a big terrorist attack was being planned after infiltration through this tunnel in near future.

He said the BSF has contacted the Pakistani Rangers and brought it to their notice, adding that they would now present the evidence before the Pakistan Rangers, requesting them to come forward for an investigation.

"We have conducted a detailed investigation of the tunnel that was detected yesterday. We have also contacted Pakistani rangers and brought it to their notice. We will present them the proof and the evidence," Sharma said.

"We expect them to initiate an investigation and take action. We have requested them to come forward for investigation. They said that they would take action," he added.

"When we looked at it carefully we found a tunnel. A detailed examination revealed that attempts were made to dig a tunnel from Pakistan side. The entry point of the tunnel is from Pakistan side and the opening in the India side was not yet ready, as we got to know about its existence," Sharma had said last evening.

"So, a possible infiltration attempt by Pakistan was foiled. It is around 20-22meters long. We will probe the matter and take it to a logical conclusion," he added.
Reports have surfaced that Daimler is connecting with a major corporation in the tech space. The move from the company is to position itself in a more upgraded scene in the trucking space. Top executives from the German truck maker recently paid a visit to LeEco, a global internet and software corporation. The company works with its headquarters in Beijing, and operates an ecosystem based on the web over many platforms and applications. Recently, LeEco tied up with Aston Martin to co-develop electric vehicle.

The meeting between the executives of Daimler and LeEco revolved over possibilities of stronger ties, hinting on a partnership. The companies have a sound knowledge of the emerging markets, and both agree that the future of the auto-space belonged to electric cars. Mr. Hubertus Troska, Chairman and CEO of Daimler Greater China, and Prof. Hans Georg Engel, Head of Daimler's Chinese R&D facilities in LeEcos Beijing headquarters, attended the meeting. They were received by Mr. Liu Hong, co-founder of LeEco and his colleague Mr. Ding Lei.

Mr. Hubertus Troska praised LeEco's SEE(Super Electric Ecosystem) plan, a project aimed at introducing electric cars in the market. Built within the company's internet ecosystem, the program maps out a plan to synthesise electric vehicles with the internet for real world usage. The program had received global attention. Mr. Troska emphasised Mercedes-Benz's commitment to evolve the world with the implementation of newer technologies constantly. The two firms talked over the possibilities of co-operation for unleashing the potential of electric cars for widespread, everyday usage.

Over the past year, LeEco had joined hands with numerous companies in the area, including Faraday Future, another electric car start-up. It had also collaborated with Aston Martin, another high end brand in the auto-space. Founded more than a decade ago, LeEco is today a booming business magnet, and is one of the largest start-ups in China. It has presence across the world, with regional offices spanning from Hong Kong to Los Angeles. The firm employs more than 10,000 highly trained professionals, and is valued at a staggering $12 billion USD.

Also Read: Apple Prepares to Build Electric Cars

Source : CarDekho
Honda Car India, announced a price hike following the 2016 Union Budget. Shri. Arun Jaitley, Finance Minister, Government of India had proposed a 1% to 4% infrastructure cess on automobiles in the budget. The price hike is across its model range and includes the Brio, Jazz, Amaze, City, Mobilio and the CR-V.

Model Increase in Ex Showroom Delhi Price across different variants (Rs) Brio 4,000 ~ 6,000 Jazz 5,000 ~ 19,500 Amaze Prices of new Amaze were announced on Mar 3, 2016 City 24,600  38,100 Mobilio 21,800 ~ 37,700 CR-V 66,500 ~ 79,000

Indias largest car manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki had announced a price hike following the budget as well. Unlike Maruti Suzukis Ertiga and Ciaz SHVS that remained unaffected from the price hike, all Honda models are now more expensive. While price hike for the Brio is relatively nominal at Rs. 4-6k, the CR-V is worst hit with prices being hiked upto 79k. Honda recently launched the Amaze facelift. The Amaze, priced between 5.29 lakh to 8.19 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi) already accounts for the raised infra cess.

The Japanese auto-giant plans on launching the BR-V compact SUV and the new - generation of the Honda Accord later this year. While the BR-V will take on the Hyundai Creta and the Renault Duster, the Accord will go up against Toyota Camry and the Skoda Superb.

Source : CarDekho
Dr Reddy's Laboratories rose 2.23% to Rs 3,259.50 at 14:25 IST on BSE, with the stock extending previous session's gains triggered by the company receiving approval from the US health regulator for anti-nausea drug.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was up 27.39 points, or 0.11%, to 24,635.26.

On BSE, so far 39,231 shares were traded in the counter, compared with an average volume of 49,262 shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 3,280 and a low of Rs 3,202.30 so far during the day. The stock hit a record high of Rs 4,382.95 on 20 October 2015. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 2,750 on 21 January 2016. The stock had outperformed the market over the past one month till 3 March 2016, rising 6% compared with the Sensex's 1.58% rise. The stock had also outperformed the market in past one quarter, falling 1.09% as against 4.94% fall in the Sensex.

The large-cap company has an equity capital of Rs 85.30 crore. Face value per share is Rs 5.

The stock had jumped 5.77% to Rs 3,188.35 yesterday, 3 March 2016 after Dr Reddy's Laboratories received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for Palonosetron Hydrochloride injection or Aloxi generic on 3 March 2016. Palonosetron Hydrochloride is used to treat chemotherapy induced nausea.

Media reports suggested that this is a positive news for the company in the background of USFDA warning letters for its three plants. In November 2015, it had received a warning letter from USFDA for active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) manufacturing facilities at Srikakulam (Andhra Pradesh), Miryalaguda (Telengana), and oncology formulation manufacturing facility at Duvvada, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.

In October 2015, Dr Reddy's Laboratories had entered into a settlement agreement with Helsinn Healthcare SA, a Switzerland-based pharma company for patent litigations related to Aloxi generic in the US. With this settlement, the company is permitted to market Aloxi generic on 30 September 2018 or earlier.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories' consolidated net profit rose 0.8% to Rs 579.20 crore on 3.2% rise in net sales to Rs 3967.90 crore in Q3 December 2015 over Q3 December 2014.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories is an integrated global pharmaceutical company. Through its three businesses - Pharmaceutical Services & Active Ingredients, Global Generics and Proprietary Products - Dr Reddy's offers a portfolio of products and services including APIs, custom pharmaceutical services, generics, biosimilars and differentiated formulations.

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A divergent trend was witnessed among the key index constituents in mid-morning trade with the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex trading with small gains and the 50-unit Nifty 50 index trading with minuscule losses. At 11:15 IST, the Sensex was up 16.58 points or 0.07% at 24,623.57. The Nifty was currently down 3 points or 0.04% at 7,472.60. The Sensex hit its highest level in more than four weeks. The Nifty hit its highest level in more than three weeks.

In overseas stock markets, Asian markets were mixed. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite was currently off 1.67%. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was currently up 0.54%. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 Average was currently up 0.05%. US stocks closed slightly higher yesterday, 3 March 2016, as oil prices stabilized.

Closer home, the market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was positive. On BSE, 1,214 shares rose and 838 shares fell. A total of 97 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently up 0.85%. The BSE Small-Cap index was currently up 0.71%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

Metal and mining stocks edged higher after favourable announcements in the Union Budget 2016-17 announced early this week. Hindustan Copper rose 0.83%.

Among steel makers, Steel Authority of India (Sail) (up 0.25%) and JSW Steel (up 0.69%) edged higher. Tata Steel (down 0.1%) and Jindal Steel & Power (down 1.11%) edged lower. The doubling of clean energy cess on coal from Rs 200 to 400 per tonne in Union Budget 2016-17 would further increase the input cost for domestic steel makers and hurt margins. On the flip side, the thrust on infrastructure sector in the Budget will help generate much needed demand for steel industry which is reeling under competition from imports and poor domestic demand.

Among aluminium makers, Hindalco Industries (down 0.19%) edged lower. National Aluminium Company (up 1.09%) edged higher. Union Budget 2016-17 addressed rising import issue of the aluminium sector by increasing the custom duty on primary aluminium to 7.5% from 5% and increasing the Basic Customs Duty on other aluminium products to 10% from 7.5%. The increase in custom duty will help to check imports of aluminium. On the flip side, the reduction in export duty on bauxite to 15% from 20% would decrease domestic ore availability.

Hindustan Zinc gained 2.29% at Rs 174.10. The government raised the Basic Customs Duty on zinc alloys to 7.5% from 5% in the Union Budget 2016-17.

Vedanta was up 0.72%. In Union Budget 2016-17, Finance minister Arun Jaitley withdrew export duty on iron ore fines and iron ore lumps with iron content below 58%, which were previously charged export duty of 10% and 30%, respectively. The low grade iron ore, exported by Vedanta from Goa, has few takers in the country, which still relies of high quality iron ore to produce steel. Hence, cut in export duty on low grade iron ore augurs well for the company. The finance minister also hiked import duty on aluminium to 7.5% from 5% in a bid to save the industry from cheap imports, which is also a positive development for Vedanta. Basic customs duty on other aluminium products increased from 7.5% to 10%. Basic customs duty on zinc alloys also increased from 5% to 7.5%.

IT stocks edged lower. Wipro (down 1.13%), TCS (down 0.25%), HCL Technologies (down 0.65%) and Tech Mahindra (down 0.38%) declined. Oracle Financial Services Software (up 2.44%) and Infosys (up 0.67%) edged higher.

The Union Budget 2016-17 is mixed for the technology and services sector. Industry association Nasscom believes, in the backdrop of global economic volatility, there are unmet expectations on policy announcements in the budget that enable ease of doing business for the IT sector. The budget partially covers its wish list on policy bottlenecks, including ease of business, nurturing start-ups, products and e-commerce sector. Domestic IT services and software companies such as TCS, Infosys, and Persistent Systems can look forward to service the technological initiatives announced in the budget and convert them into opportunities for growing their domestic business as well as help the government to increasingly digitize the economy.

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Significant increase of 11% in the Gender Budget for 2016-17

Women's safety, fighting malnutrition, preventing crimes against women and children, and economic empowerment of women shall remain the priority areas for the Ministry of Women and Child Development in the coming year. The Minister for Women and Child Development, Maneka Sanjay Gandhi said that these priorities are adequately reflected in the budget for the financial year 2016-17.

She was briefing media persons about the budget allocation for the Ministry of Women and Child Development in New Delhi today. Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi said that in reference to the Gender Budget 2016-17, the financial allocation for women in Central Budget stands as Rs.90,624 Crore as against Rs.81,249 Crores which is a significant increase of 11%.

Expressing satisfaction at the allocation, the Minister said that, we are very happy with the budget, we got everything we asked for.

The main highlights of the Budget 2016-17 of Ministry of Women and Child Development are as below:

1. The allocation of the Ministry for the year 2016-17 is Rs. 17,300 crores as against the original allocation of Rs 8,335 crores in 2015-16. Which was later revised at RE stage toRs. 17,257 crores. The Budget 2016-17 also contains provision of Rs.108 crore for Non-Plan expenditure bringing the total budgetary allocation for the Financial Year 2016-17 to Rs.17,408 Crores.

2. This allocation needs to be seen along with the overall Gender Budget of the central government. Gender Budget is divided in two parts. Part A covers all the programmes run by different Ministries which are fully dedicated to women. Part B covers those programmes of different Ministries which have a specific allocation for women or which benefit women in quantifiable terms.

3. The total allocation for Part A in the Gender Budget for 2016-17 is Rs. 17,412 crores as against Rs. 11,388 crores in 2015-16. Similarly, the allocation under Part B for 2016-17 is Rs. 73,212 crores as against Rs. 69,860 crores in 2015-16. Together, the total allocation for women in the Central Budget stands at Rs. 90,624 crores as against Rs. 81,249 crores which is a significant increase of 11%.

4. Major increase in the allocation include the component of Indira AwasYojana dedicated to women, components of schemes of farmer welfare, higher education, MNREGA etc.

5. The primary area of focus of the Ministry is malnutrition. A number of measures have been taken to enhance the capacity of the Ministry to deliver supplementary nutritional services for women and children in line with the philosophy of Economic Survey which had stated that investment in maternal and child nutrition is the best way to make economic social investment for reaping the benefits of demographic dividend.

6. The Ministry has been given enhanced allocation of Rs. 400 crores in 2016-17 for the MatritavaSahyogYojna as against the previous year's final allocation of Rs. 233 crores.

7. An allocation of Rs. 360 crores has been made in 2016-17 as against Rs. 65 crores last year under the National Nutrition Mission.

8. Alongwith this, an allocation of Rs. 450 crores has been made in 2016-17 under the World Bank assisted ICDS Strengthening Project as against last year's final allocation of Rs. 35 crores.

9. An additional sum of Rs. 15 crores has been provided to the Food and Nutrition Board for establishment of state-of-the art laboratories at four regional locations in the country.

10. The Budget of NIPCCD has also been increased from Rs. 20 crores in 2015-16 to Rs. 40 crores in 2016-17.

11. Similarly, the budgetary allocations for key programmes for women have also been enhanced.

12. The allocation of establishment of shelter homes for women has been increased from Rs. 52 crores in 2015-16 to Rs. 100 crores in 2016-17. This will enable the Ministry to create additional facilities, especially for widows.

13. The Ministry had proposed to significantly expand the reach of National Mission for Empowerment of Women (NMEW) to establish a network of village level facilitation centres. Accordingly, the Budget for the NMEW has been enhanced from Rs. 26 crores in 2015-16 to Rs. 50 crores in2016-17.

14. The Ministry has been giving focused attention to the subject of trafficking of women and children and it has been decided to establish a comprehensive framework to combat this problem. A Committee has already been constituted to draft a new legislation and design an institutional framework for this purpose. The allocation for this has accordingly been increased from Rs. 20 crores in 2015-16 to Rs. 35 crores in 2016-17.

15. One of the key elements of Ministry's functioning is a comprehensive outreach programme which can enable change of mind-set of common people. In order to further strengthen this, the budget has been enhanced from Rs. 40 crores in 2015-16 to Rs. 60 crores in 2016-17.

16. Establishment of One Stop Centres for providing safety to women affected by violence is being significantly expanded in 2016-17. For this purpose, the Budget has been enhanced from Rs. 13 crores in 2015-16 to Rs. 75 crores in 2016-17.

17. A sum of Rs. 500 crores has been provided under the Nirbhaya Fund to the Ministry in 2016-17.

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Shares of 11 metal and mining companies rose by 0.47% to 5.44% at 13:09 IST on BSE as commodities prices in the global market extended their recovery.

Vedanta (up 5.44%), NMDC (up 2.27%), Hindustan Zinc (up 1.94%), Steel Authority of India (up 1.77%), JSW Steel (up 1.71%), National Aluminium Company (up 1.64%), Hindustan Copper (up 1.55%), Hindalco Industries (up 1.13%), Bhushan Steel (up 1.12%), Tata Steel (up 0.70%) and Jindal Steel & Power (up 0.47%), edged higher.

The S&P BSE Sensex was up 17.75 points, or 0.07% at 24,624.74.

Iron ore scaled fresh four-month highs and is on course for its third consecutive weekly gain, boosted by firmer steel prices in China and expectations that the government may launch more measures to stimulate the economy.

Meanwhile, the High Grade Copper for May 2016 delivery was currently up 1.15% at $2.234 per pound on the COMEX.

Favourable announcements in the Union Budget 2016-17 announced early this week also boosted metal stocks. In Union Budget 2016-17, Finance minister Arun Jaitley withdrew export duty on iron ore fines and iron ore lumps with iron content below 58%, which were previously charged export duty of 10% and 30%, respectively. The low grade iron ore, exported by Vedanta from Goa, has few takers in the country, which still relies of high quality iron ore to produce steel. Hence, cut in export duty on low grade iron ore augurs well for the company. The finance minister also hiked import duty on aluminium to 7.5% from 5% in a bid to save the industry from cheap imports, which is also a positive development for Vedanta.

The doubling of clean energy cess on coal from Rs 200 to 400 per tonne in Union Budget 2016-17 would further increase the input cost for domestic steel makers and hurt margins. On the flip side, the thrust on infrastructure sector in the Budget will help generate much needed demand for steel industry which is reeling under competition from imports and poor domestic demand.

Union Budget 2016-17 addressed rising import issue of the aluminium sector by increasing the custom duty on primary aluminium to 7.5% from 5% and increasing the Basic Customs Duty on other aluminium products to 10% from 7.5%. The increase in custom duty will help to check imports of aluminium. On the flip side, the reduction in export duty on bauxite to 15% from 20% would decrease domestic ore availability.

The government raised the Basic Customs Duty on zinc alloys to 7.5% from 5% in the Union Budget 2016-17.

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Educational and Economic Empowerment Through Skill Development: Dr.Najma Heptulla

For 2016-17, the Ministry of Minority Affairs has prioritized its focus areas in tune with the National priority for educational and economic empowerment through Skill Development. Dr. Najma Heptulla, the Union Minister for Minority Affairs said that almost the 50% of the Budget of would go for educational empowerment of minorities being a critical need for their development. Further, the Ministry has made provisions to make Maulana Azad National Fellowship demand driven subject to eligibility.

The Minister said the Central Government has again increased the Budgetary Outlay in respect of Ministry of Minority Affairs from Rs. 3712.78 Crore in 2015-16 to Rs. 3800 Crore for 2016-17. The increase is of about Rs. 87 Crore for 2016-17.

She said in addition to these Rs. 3800 Crore the Central Government also channelizes minimum 15% financial resources and physical targets from other flagship schemes of various Ministries/Departments under Prime Minister's New 15 Point Programme for welfare & development of Minorities namely, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan, National Rural Livelihood Mission, National Urban Livelihood Mission, National Rural Drinking Water Programme, Integrated Child Development Scheme etc. Under these schemes, the flow of funds would go beyond Rs. 10,000 Crore for minorities. In addition, under Priority Sector Lending, the flow of funds for loans to minorities has reached to the level of Rs. 2,76,000 Crore.

The other issues highlighted by the Minister are-

She said Central Government is committed to development of minorities in the Country under the guiding principle of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikaas. Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India, has adopted a multi-pronged strategy for development of minority communities with focus on educational empowerment; economic empowerment; infrastructure development; fulfilling special needs; and strengthening of minority institutions. The welfare and development schemes of the Ministry focus on poor and deprived sections of the minorities.

During 2016-17, the Ministry aims to disburse scholarships to about 90 lakh minority students through National Scholarship Portal (NSP) in Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode in their bank accounts.

In conformity with Government's priority for Skill India and Make in India and to improve the workers' participation rate of minorities in the economy of the country, the outlay for Skill Development of minorities have been enhanced from Rs. 209.45 Crore in 2015-16 to Rs. 385 Crore for 2016-17, which includes allocation of Rs. 155 Crore to the new scheme of Nai Manzil, an integrated educational and livelihood initiative. For Skill Development, Ministry has started new programmes namely, USTTAD and Nai Manzil in 2015-16. The Ministry also established a special purpose vehicle called Maulana Azad National Academy for Skills (MANAS) in 2014-15 to address all skill development needs of minority communities and establish linkages with concessional credit to Skill Development to provide sustainable livelihood to Minority Communities with primary focus on self-employment and entrepreneurship. The skill development initiative for minorities Seekho aur Kamao (Learn & Earn), has been strengthened and expanded. Ministry aims to train about 1,40,000 minority youths under these schemes in 2016-17.

The new scheme 'Nai Manzil' which was launched on 8th August, 2015, will benefit the minority youths who do not have a formal school leaving certificate, i.e., those in the category of school-dropouts or educated in the community education institutions like the Madarsas, with a view to enabling them to seek better employment in the organized sector and thus to equip them for better lives. This scheme will open a gateway of opportunities for Madarsa students as well. The scheme has been approved with the cost of Rs. 650 Crore (US$ 100 million) for five years. 50% funding has to come from the World Bank. The World Bank has approved the funding of US$ 50 million. This is for the first time that World Bank has come forward to support a programme for welfare of minority communities in India. For 2016-17, Rs. 155 Crore have been allocated for the training of 25,000 minority youths under the scheme.

Another new ambitious initiative of the Government, USTTAD (Upgrading the Skills and Training in Traditional Arts/ Crafts for Development) was launched on 14th May, 2015 at Varanasi (U.P.). The scheme aims at capacity building and updating the traditional skills of master craftsmen and artisans. The scheme will also set standards for traditional skills. The trained master craftsmen/artisan will train the minority youths in various specific traditional arts/crafts. Ministry has signed a MoU with an E-commerce portal shopclues.com for facilitating the market linkages of crafts. Ministry has engaged National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), National Institute of Design (NID) and Indian Institute of Packaging (IIP) to work in various clusters for design intervention; product range development; packaging; exhibitions, fashion shows and publicity; tying up with e-marketing portals to enhance sales; and brand building. During 2016-17, work will start in 32 clusters associated with traditional arts and crafts of minorities.

Further, about 30% of the Budget would go for Jan Vikas Karyakram under Multi-sectoral Development Programme (MsDP) to meet the infrastructural requirements in minority concentration areas. It is an area development programme. It will be made more effective and focused on the targeted minorities, by analyzing the latest census data of 2011. The focus would shift from smaller projects to big projects in order to create infrastructure for students, working women, polytechnics etc.

Another unique initiative of the present Government Hamari Dharohar launched in 2014-15 would take up more programmes for preservation of rich heritage and culture of minorities.

In 2016-17, the minority women trained under women empowerment programme of Nai Roshni, would be linked with skill development and entrepreneurship development programmes of the Ministry, to make them economically empowered.

National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC) provides concessional loans for self-employment and income generating ventures for the socio-economic development of the 'backward sections' amongst the notified minorities. For the first time in the history of NMDFC, the present Government has increased the Authorized Share Capital of NMDFC by double i.e. from Rs. 1500 crore to Rs. 3000 crore in 2015. Thereafter, Ministry contributed Rs. 150 Crore to the equity of NMDFC and also earmarked Rs. 140 Crore for 2016-17. This has helped NMDFC to leverage more funds to extend concessional loans for minority communities for self-employment.

Ministry is making its all efforts to introduce the Bill on Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants from Waqf properties in the Parliament during Budget Session.

The subject of 'Haj' is being transferred from Ministry of External Affairs to Ministry of Minority Affairs.

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A range bound movement was witnessed as key benchmark indices traded near the flat line in early afternoon trade. At 12:15 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 31.67 points or 0.13% at 24,638.66. The 50-unit Nifty 50 index was currently up 3.05 points or 0.04% at 7,478.65. The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was strong. On BSE, 1,409 shares rose and 795 shares fell. A total of 120 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently up 1.05%. The BSE Small-Cap index was currently up 0.87%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The Sensex hit its highest level in more than four weeks when it rose 112.06 points or 0.45% at the day's high of 24,719.05 at the onset of the trading session. The barometer index lost 75.19 points or 0.3% at the day's low of 24,531.80 in early trade. The Nifty hit its highest level in more than three weeks when it rose 30.30 points or 0.4% at the day's high of 7,505.90 at the onset of the trading session. The index lost 31.50 points or 0.42% at the day's low of 7,444.10 in early trade.

In overseas stock markets, Asian markets edged higher after a batch of positive US economic data overnight. US stocks closed slightly higher yesterday, 3 March 2016, as oil prices stabilized. The latest data showed US factory orders rose in January after two straight monthly declines and the service sector index showed continued expansion.

FMCG stocks were mostly higher. Dabur India (up 1.92%), Nestle India (up 0.88%), Tata Global Beverages (up 1.14%), Colgate-Palmolive (India) (up 1.34%), Emami (up 0.61%), Marico (up 0.38%), Godrej Consumer Products (up 0.29%), and Britannia Industries (up 0.25%) edged higher. Jyothy Laboratories (down 0.05%), Hindustan Unilever (down 0.04%), Bajaj Corp (down 1.14%), Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care (down 0.06%) and GlaxoSmithkline Consumer Healthcare (down 0.4%) edged lower.

The FMCG industry will benefit by way of increase in rural demand following the government's thrust on agriculture and rural sectors in the Union Budget 2016-17. The government has provided Rs 47912 crore for agriculture, farmers' welfare and irrigation for 2016-17, which is nearly twice the allocation of the current year. The allocation for the rural sector is Rs 87765 crore and a highest ever sum of Rs 38500 crore has been allocated for MGNREGS.

Capital goods stocks were mixed. Crompton Greaves (up 4.6%), Bharat Electronics (up 2.02%), Havells India (up 1.28%), ABB India (up 1.49%) and Praj Industries (up 1.22%) edged higher. Alstom T&D India (down 2.52%), Siemens (down 0.8%), BEML (down 0.73%), Thermax (down 0.49%) and L&T (down 0.2%) edged lower.

The increased outlay in core infrastructure sectors of roads including village roads, power, ports and railways as well as incentives for affordable housing in the Union Budget 2016-17 are expected to improve the business opportunities of both domestic capital goods players as well as construction companies with increased order flow. Additionally, the rationalisation of tax structure so as to boost the domestic manufacturing under the 'Make in India' Scheme is expected to boost demand for domestic manufacturers and have cascading impact on domestic capital goods manufacturers.

Bharat Heavy Electricals (Bhel) rose 4.17% at Rs 107.40 after the company announced that it has successfully commissioned its first 700 megawatts (MW) supercritical thermal unit at Bellary Thermal Power Project (TPP) in Karnataka. Bhel is presently executing a 1,600 MW supercritical thermal power project at Yeramarus and a 370 MW gas-based Yelahanka combined cycle power project in the state. The announcement was made during market hours today, 4 March 2016.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories (DRL) rose 2.06% at Rs 3,254, with the stock extending previous trading session's gains triggered by the company receiving approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Palonosetron Hydrochloride injection or Aloxi generic. The stock surged 5.77% to settle at Rs 3,188.35 yesterday, 3 March 2016. Palonosetron Hydrochloride is used to treat chemotherapy induced nausea. In October 2015, DRL had entered into a settlement agreement with Helsinn Healthcare SA, a Switzerland-based pharma company for patent litigations related to Aloxi generic in the US. With this settlement, the company is permitted to market Aloxi generic on 30 September 2018 or earlier.

Asian Paints edged lower in volatile trade. The stock lost 1.06% at Rs 870.75. The stock hit a high of Rs 890 and a low of Rs 866.50 so far during the day. Asian Paints after market hours yesterday, 3 March 2016, announced that the operations at the company's paint plant situated at Rohtak, Haryana, have restarted. The company had halted production at the unit from 19 February 2016 due to the agitation by the Jat community in the state for quota.

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The decision to allow a probe team from Pakistan into the Pathankot IAF base will be a "political decision", Indian Air Force chief Arup Raha said on Friday.

The IAF, he told media persons here, wants a "closure" to the terror attack in January with action taken against the perpetrators.

Asked if the IAF will have any problem on allowing the Pakistani team into the base, Air Chief Marshal Raha said: "If government allows the team, why should we object?

"Whether to permit or not to permit (them) into the Pathankot base will be a political decision. I will not comment on it... But we need to pursue this so that there is some outcome.

"We want a closure of the case with appropriate action against those who attacked the base," he added.

The January 2 terror attack on the IAF base at Pathankot in Punjab left seven security personnel dead, while security forces killed all six terrorists involved in the attack. All of them were said to be from Pakistan.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's foreign affairs advisor Sartaj Aziz said on Wednesday that the probe team may visit India in the next few days.

Responding to another question on the security of airbases, the IAF chief said lessons have been learnt post the Pathankot attack.

"After Pathankot, we did learn few lessons. The terrorists are well trained, well armed and on a suicide mission. We have to be better prepared," he said.

Air Chief Marshal Raha added that walls, with a second line of security in terms of barbed wires will be erected at all critical airbases, so that any intruders can be stopped and quick response teams can reach in time to neutralise them.
Ami Bera, the only Indian origin member of the US House of Representatives announced his support for two progressive Indian-American women running for office in Vermont and Washington states.

Bera is supporting Kesha Ram, who is running for Lieutenant Governor in Vermont, and Pramila Jayapal, who is running for Congress in Washington state's 7th Congressional District.

Stressing the historic nature of the 2016 election for the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, Bera said: "We need more women and more members of the AAPI community running for office."

"Kesha and Pramila represent the next generation of leaders. Their focus on serving their communities and fighting for progressive values sets a powerful example to younger women," he said.

"I'm thrilled to have the support of Rep. Bera as I continue to work on solutions that help our community get ahead," Ram said.

"Having the support of another member of the AAPI community will be crucial as I continue to fight for solutions and make investments that grow our economy and create opportunity for Vermonters."

"As a candidate with nearly three decades of service to my community I'm proud to have the support of Rep. Bera, who shares my commitment to service, and I look forward to joining him in Congress," Jayapal said.

"With the strength of the AAPI community, we can create real change that expands economic equality and opportunity for all."
The Austrian government has accused the German government of releasing misleading information which may keep the refugees within its territory, the media reported on Friday.

A German government spokesperson on Wednesday said the country does not have quotas on daily refugee intake in place, which an Austrian interior ministry spokesperson on Thursday said was untrue, Xinhua news agency reported.

Germany has been limiting the intake at three selected border crossings to a maximum of 3,600 asylum seekers per day.

Those who claimed there was no upper limit "lacked either knowledge or the will for transparent communication," said the spokesperson.

The Austrian government once again called on its neighbouring country to issue visas to asylum seekers in Greece to allow their direct travel to Germany without creating a backlog in Austria.
State-run equipment maker Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL) on Friday announced the commissioning of its first 700 MW supercritical unit at the Bellary Thermal Power Project in Karnataka.

"The new 700 MW rating unit has been developed by BHEL in line with market requirements. With this 700 MW project, a new chapter has been added in the adoption and indigenous development of supercritical technology by BHEL," the company said in a stock exchange filing.

The Bellary project order from state-run Karnataka Power Corp. Ltd. (KPCL) was won by BHEL through international competitive bidding on engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) basis, it said.

This is the third unit commissioned by BHEL at Bellary, where two units of 500 MW each executed by the company are already in operation, it added.

The company said it has supplied and executed 3,210 MW of equipment sets in the state so far, which account for 94 percent of the coal-based installed capacity of KPCL.

BHEL shares closed trade on Friday at Rs.107.25 a share, up 4.15 points, or 4.03 percent, over its previous close on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
Around three dozen farmers who refused to reap their standing wheat crops before ripening to make space available for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's function in Vaishali district of Bihar on March 12 forced authorities to change the venue, officials said on Friday.

"Faced with protest by dozens of farmers, who have refused to reap their standing crops, the function venue has been shifted," a district official said.

Bharatiya Janata Party's Bihar unit president Mangal Pandey confirmed to the media here that the venue has been changed.

Farmers of Sultanpur near Hajipur, the district headquarters of Vaishali and about 30 km from Patna, had protested against the attempts by local authorities to hustle them into cutting their unripened crops for Modi's function.

"These farmers protested that they had not yet been paid compensation for their crops harvested in 2014 and 2015 to make space available for Modi's election campaign rally. They refused to harvest their crops this time and threatened to protest if forced to do so," officials said.

According to officials, the farmers made it clear that they would not go for early harvest since it would fetch low prices in the market. "Farmers also rejected the offer of adequate compensation."

The land on which Modi's function was proposed to be held belongs to nearly 40 farmers.

A team of local officials, during their visit to the area three days ago, said the farmers should cooperate for the prime minister's function. But the farmers said they would harvest only the fully ripened crops by March-end.

Modi will visit Bihar on March 12 also to attend the closing ceremony of the Patna High Court centenary function.
Brazilian police on Friday searched the home of former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in a probe into a corruption scheme, the media reported.

Federal police officer Jose Cyrispiniano said the police were at addresses belonging to Silva, including the Instituto Lula, his nonprofit organisation, Xinhua reported.

Brazil's O Globo news network released images of police officials around a building they said was Silva's residence in Sao Bernardo de Campo, in greater Sao Paulo.
The BSF's new Director General K.K. Sharma on Friday arrived here to inspect a 50-metre long tunnel unearthed on Thursday that facilitated infiltration from the Pakistani side of the international border, an official said.

A patrol party of the Border Security Force (BSF) had on Thursday discovered a 50-metre-long tunnel at AMK (Allah Mai Kothay) area in R.S. Pura sector of Jammu district, the BSF official said.

"The underground tunnel was 50-metre-long with the other end leading into the Pakistan side of the international border," the official said.

"It had a height of three to four feet. The objective of the tunnel had been to facilitate infiltration into the state from across the border. We have filled up the tunnel on our side and lodged a strong protest with the Pakistan Rangers," the official added.

BSF Director General Sharma, who succeeded D.K. Pathak this week, is visiting the district to inspect the tunnel and review security on the international border.

He was accompanied by BSF Inspector General R.K. Sharma.
The Border Security Force (BSF) gunned down a Pakistani intruder in Gurdaspur sector of Punjab on Tuesday, officials said. The incident took place near Simbal.

"A Pakistani intruder crossed the border and came inside Indian territory. BSF challenged him to stop but the intruder continued with his aggressive posture and kept moving towards (us). BSF troopers opened fire in self-defence and killed the intruder," a BSF spokesman said.

Suspected terrorists from Pakistan have carried out terror attacks in Punjab in 2015 and 2016.

The first attack was in Dinanagar town in Gurdaspur district on July 27, 2015. The second attack was on January 2 on the Pathankot air base.

--IANS

js/lok/mr

(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.)
China's defence spending will increase by about 7 to 8 per cent this year, the government said on Friday, adding that the rise was lower than that of last year.

"China's military budget will continue to increase but it will be lower than last year's," Fu Ying, spokesperson for National People's Conference (NPC) - China's parliament - told reporters here.

"I can give a rough estimate. It will be between 7 and 8 per cent. The exact increase will be announced tomorrow (Saturday)," Fu said at the Great Hall where the eleven-and-half-day NPC session begins on Saturday.

Since 2010, this will be the lowest hike in defence spending by whose military budget grew by 10.1 per cent (over $135 billion) in 2015.

China's economy expanded 6.9 per cent year-on-year in 2015, the slowest in a quarter of a century, weighed down by a property market downturn, falling trade and weak factory activity.

The announcement comes at time when there is tension between the US and over the militarisation of the South Sea.

"By sending aircraft (to South China Sea), the US is provoking the resentment of Chinese people. The US is provoking tension. There is a big question on the ulterior motives of the US," Fu said.

The spokesperson said the hike in 2016 is in line with China's national defence needs and fiscal revenue.

Xinhua news agency added that Premier Li Keqiang will unveil the government's GDP target on Saturday.

The figure is expected to be in a range between 6.5 and 7 per cent, compared with the "approximately 7 per cent" target announced by Li last year.
The Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed a plea seeking cancellation of the anticipatory bail granted to environmentalist R.K. Pachauri.

The trial court's March 21, 2015, order, granting anticipatory bail to Pachauri, was "based upon fair appraisal of the material and all the relevant aspect of the matter have been considered minutely", Justice S.P. Garg said while dismissing the plea of 29-year-old woman, a former research analyst at TERI, who has accused Pachauri of sexual harassment.

"The petitioner's counsel has failed to impress as far as for what purpose the custodial interrogation of Pachauri is required. While granting anticipatory bail to Pachauri, safeguarding the petitioner's interest and that of the investigating agency, stringent conditions have already been imposed upon the accused," the high court said.

Delhi Police have formally charged Pachauri under the Indian Penal Code for assault or use of criminal force on woman with intent to outrage her modesty, sexual harassment, stalking, criminal intimidation and word, gesture or act intended to insult her modesty.

Police have cited 23 prosecution witnesses and several SMSes, emails and WhatsApp messages allegedly exchanged between the accused and the woman as evidence in support of their case.

Advocate Prashant Mediratta, appearing for the complainant, had sought Pachauri's anticipatory bail be cancelled, and accused him of "influencing" the witnesses.

The complainant contended that Pachauri is an "influential man", who has been at the helm of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) for the last 34 years and was in active touch with its officials.

Her lawyer also told the court that one TERI employee, who has since resigned, had filed a police complaint on January 11, 2016, that senior TERI officials were pressurising him to get the matter settled between the woman complainant and Pachauri.

Delhi Police said they have been interrogating the TERI officials after the woman's colleague filed a complaint.

Pachauri, however, told the court that he "never exercised any pressure upon TERI and its officials".

On the complaint filed by the woman's colleague, the court said: "Its authenticity and genuineness is to be ascertained during the investigation/trial. At this stage, the complaint lodged by him can't be considered to be an attempt by the accused (Pachauri) to scuttle the investigation or to interfere with the due course of administration or any abuse of the indulgence granted to him (Pachauri)."

After the woman employee filed the sexual harassment complaint, Pachauri denied the allegation but stepped down as chairperson of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in February last year and proceeded on leave from TERI where he was the director general.

Later, Pachauri was removed as TERI head in July and Ajay Mathur was appointed in his place.

In November, the woman researcher who accused him of sexual harassment quit her job at TERI, alleging she was treated badly. TERI denied the charge.

On February 8, Pachauri was appointed as the executive vice chairman of the organisation despite the ongoing inquiry in the sexual harassment case. After severe criticism, TERI on February 12 asked him to proceed on indefinite leave.
The Danish government on Friday announced plans to send Special Forces and F-16 fighter jets into Iraq and Syria to join the fight against the Islamic State (IS).

"The government wants to intensify the fight against the terrorist organisation IS... It is a serious decision to send Danish men and women on mission in the world's trouble spots," Xinhua quoted Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen as saying in a statement.

"We must never give up the fight for peace and freedom," Rasmussen added.

The proposal to intensify Denmark's military contribution to the fight against IS from the middle of 2016 has received a wide cross-party support at a meeting with Danish foreign policy committee on Friday.

The contribution of Danish forces will consist of seven F-16 fighter jets, a transport aircraft and some 400 Danish soldiers including pilots and support personnel.

The Danish government will submit a proposal about the plan for the parliament's approval, according to the statement.

It is not the first time that Denmark has sent troops to fight the IS. Danish F-16 jets returned home for repairs and rest last October after taking part in the coalition's air strikes against IS in Iraq.
A case was registered against AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan on the charge of delivering a hate speech, using derogatory words against the Centre and inciting communal passion, the Delhi Police said on Friday.

The First Information Report (FIR) was registered at the Kotwali police station after a complaint regarding the Aam Aadmi Party leader's speech at an event at the Red Fort on February 16 was filed by advocate Vivek Garg on Thursday, police said.

As per the FIR, Khan is seen and heard in a video hurling abuses at the Narendra Modi government and appealing to the crowd to gherao union Home Minister Rajnath Singh's residence in Delhi.

"If you people decide to gherao Rajnath Singh's house, then I can assure you that the Modi government does not have that much courage to even touch your children," Khan told the audience as per the FIR.

The video allegedly shows Khan backing Delhi-based Mufti Abdus Sami Qasmi, who was arrested from Hardoi district in Uttar Pradesh by the National Investigation Agency last month.

Qasmi is accused of being an ideologue of the Indian Caliphate, a mission taken up by the 15 Islamic State suspects apprehended after the Republic Day celebrations, the FIR said.

"The hate speech video had made people question the secular credentials of the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi. Our case is strong. We hope justice will be done by the court," Garg, who filed the complaint, told IANS.
Elections to assemblies will be held in Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in April-May, it was announced on Friday, in the biggest popularity test for political parties since the 2014 Lok Sabha battle.

Nearly 170 million people will be eligible to vote in the staggered exercise that will see a two-phase polling in Assam, a six-phase balloting in West Bengal spread over seven days, and a day's battle each in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

Assam (126 seats) will vote on April 4 and 11, and West Bengal (294 seats) on April 4-11, 17, 21, 25 and 30 and May 5, Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi told the media.

Kerala (140 seats), Tamil Nadu (234 seats) and Puducherry (30 seats) will go to the polls on May 16. Counting of votes in all five states will take place on May 19.

Within hours of the announcement, West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress announced its candidates for all the 294 assembly seats.

The key players in the five-state electoral battle include the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Left, Trinamool, AIADMK, DMK, Asom Gana Parishad, the AIUDF as well as the NR Congress that rules Puducherry.

Although the BJP is a contender for power only in Assam, the outcome in all five states is important to it because of the two major defeats it has suffered in Delhi in February 2015 and in Bihar later in November.

While the Congress is in power in Assam and Kerala, it faces a stiff challenge in both states.

A resurgent BJP has tied up with regional groups to dislodge the Congress in Assam. The Left is confident of returning to power in Kerala, where the BJP is determined to open its account in the state assembly.

The Trinamool stranglehold has forced the Congress and the Left in the state -- for decades bitter enemies -- to try to close ranks. The BJP is a minor player in the state.

Ranged against the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu is the Congress-DMK alliance. The BJP is also trying to team up with the DMDK while several other regional parties may float a Third Front in the state.

The Congress is the main opposition in Puducherry.

For the first time in elections in India, the NOTA (None Of The Above) category would be represented by a "symbol" - like party symbols - and photographs of all candidates would figure on the electronic voting machines (EVMs) with their symbols, Chief Election Commissioner Syed Nasim Ahmad Zaidi said.

He said the Model Code of Conduct would come into effect immediately in all five states.

The April-May polls will be the biggest electoral contest in the country since the Lok Sabha election brought the Narendra Modi-led BJP to power nationally.

The number of voters will be 19.8 million in Assam, 25.6 million in Kerala, 57.9 million in Tamil Nadu, 65.5 million in West Bengal and 927,034 in Puducherry.

"The (Election) Commission has provided a new symbol for NOTA option, which was designed by National Institute of Design. This new symbol will facilitate the voters in casting their votes," Zaidi said.

He said elaborate security arrangements have been made for all the five states to ensure fair and free elections.

Central armed police forces and State armed police drawn from other states would be deployed in the five states during the poll period.
Elections to assemblies will be held in Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in April-May, it was announced on Friday, in the biggest popularity test for political parties since the 2014 Lok Sabha battle.

Nearly 170 million people will be eligible to vote in the staggered exercise that will see a two-phase polling in Assam, a six-phase balloting in West Bengal spread over seven days, and a day's battle each in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

Assam (126 seats) will vote on April 4 and 11, and West Bengal (294 seats) on April 4-11, 17, 21, 25 and 30 and May 5, Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi told the media.

Kerala (140 seats), Tamil Nadu (234 seats) and Puducherry (30 seats) will go to the polls on May 16. Counting of votes in all five states will take place on May 19.

Within hours of the announcement, West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress announced its candidates for all the 294 assembly seats but it also expressed its displeasure over the decision of spreading the voting into six phases.

The key players in the five-state electoral battle include the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Left, Trinamool, AIADMK, DMK, Asom Gana Parishad, the AIUDF as well as the NR Congress that rules Puducherry.

Although the BJP is a contender for power only in Assam, the outcome in all five states is important to it because of the two major defeats it has suffered in Delhi in February 2015 and in Bihar later in November.

However, before two consecutive defeats in Delhi and Bihar, the BJP formed governments of its own in Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand whereas it shared the taste of power in the country's only Muslim majority state Jammu and Kashmir for the first time.

While the Congress is in power in Assam and Kerala, it faces a stiff challenge in both states.

After Lok Sabha polls debacle, it lost badly in all the states including Maharastra, Haryana and Delhi but performed well in Bihar, where it formed the grand alliance with Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United and Lalu Prasad-led Rashtriya Janata Dal.

A resurgent BJP has tied up with regional groups like AGP and Bodo People's Front to dislodge the Congress in Assam. The Left is confident of returning to power in Kerala, where the BJP is determined to open its account in the state assembly and has tied with SNDP's political outfit Bharath Dharma Jana Sena.

The Trinamool stranglehold has forced the Congress and the Left in the state -- for decades bitter enemies -- to try to close ranks. Although, the BJP is a minor player in the state, but is leaving no stone unturned.

Ranged against the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu is the Congress-DMK alliance. The BJP is also trying to team up with the DMDK while several other regional parties may float a Third Front in the state.

The Congress is the main opposition in Puducherry.

For the first time in elections in India, the NOTA (None Of The Above) category would be represented by a "symbol" - like party symbols - and photographs of all candidates would figure on the electronic voting machines (EVMs) with their symbols, Zaidi said.

He said the Model Code of Conduct would come into effect immediately in all five states.

The April-May polls will be the biggest electoral contest in the country since the Lok Sabha election brought the Narendra Modi-led BJP to power nationally.

The number of voters will be 19.8 million in Assam, 25.6 million in Kerala, 57.9 million in Tamil Nadu, 65.5 million in West Bengal and 927,034 in Puducherry.

Zaidi said elaborate security arrangements have been made for all the five states to ensure fair and free elections.

Central armed police forces and state armed police drawn from other states would be deployed in the five states during the poll period.
Unknown gunmen attacked a care home for the elderly in Yemen's southern port city Aden on Friday, killing 17 people including four Indian nurses, a security official said.

The home was run by Christian nurses and the Missionaries of Charity, Xinhua news agency reported.

A group of well-armed gunmen stormed the home in Sheikh Othman district and opened random fire after killing the building's guards, a security official said.

Seventeen people were killed, including four Indian nurses working there, the source said.

A senior official of Aden's local government told Xinhua that suspected gunmen of the Yemen-based affiliate of the Islamic State (IS) group were behind the terrorist attack.

Aden, Yemen's temporary capital, has been witnessing chaos and lawlessness during the past weeks, resulting in the assassination of Aden's former governor, several high-ranking security officers and judges.

The turbulent and complicated security situation in Aden and neighbouring southern provinces is one of the biggest challenges for the Saudi-led Arab coalition forces operating in Aden.

The Saudi-led Arab coalition has dispatched thousands of soldiers from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Sudan and Bahrain into five anti-Houthi southern provinces to support and train local Yemeni security forces.

Yemen has been gripped by one of the most active regional Al Qaeda insurgencies in the Middle East and the affiliate of the IS.

The situation in the country has deteriorated since war broke out between the Shia Houthi group, supported by former president Ali Abdullash Saleh, and the government backed by the Saudi-led Arab coalition.
Top diplomats in France, Germany and Britain on Friday warned that Syrian peace talks would fail unless humanitarian aid was granted and a ceasefire respected.

"We wish for rapid resumption of negotiations in Geneva. But two conditions must be met: Access of all Syrians to humanitarian aid and the full respect of the ceasefire," French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

At a Paris meeting with his British and German counterparts on the Syrian crisis, Ayrault noted "a real progress" had been made in previous talks. However, "if these two conditions are not met, then the negotiation process is bound to fail, which we do not want," he said.

The ministers also called on the main Syrian opposition to attend Syrian peace talks due on March 9 with the aim to achieve a political solution to the country's civil war.
Permanent representatives of India, Brazil, Germany, and Japan to the United Nations on Friday called for a more representative, legitimate and effective Security Council which was reflective of the current geo-political realities.

Directors general on United Nations Affairs and permanent representatives met here and discussed the developments on the Security Council reform agenda at the Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) in moving towards text-based negotiations.

A joint statement issued after the meeting said that the G-4 members reiterated their commitments as aspiring new permanent members of the reformed UN Security Council, as well as their support for each other's candidatures.

"They expressed full support to the chair of the IGN in the 70th General Assembly Session in her important role of facilitating a concrete outcome of the process," it said, adding that the meeting emphasised the G-4 resolve to work together with all member states, including within the IGN process, and to accelerate outreach towards achieving an early and meaningful reform of the council.

"The G-4 meeting emphasized the core message that a more representative, legitimate and effective Security Council which is reflective of the current geo-political realities is needed more than ever to better address global conflicts and crises," the statement said.

"They also reaffirmed their view of the importance of developing countries, in particular from Africa, to be represented in both the permanent and non-permanent categories of an enlarged council," the statement added.

The next meeting of the directors general will be held in Japan in June 2016. The previous such meeting had taken place in Brasilia on July 10, 2015.
The gems and jewellery industry on Friday decided to extend their strike till March 7 in protest against the central government's decision to inpose excise duty.

In a statement the All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation (GJF) said the senior office bearers and representatives of many jewellery associations across the country have decided on the move.

More than three lakh jewellers including manufacturers and artisans are participating in the strike that began on March 2.

The size of the domestic industry was estimated to be around Rs. 3.15 lakh crore with the potential to grow to Rs. 5 lakh crore by 2018.

"The excise guidelines which has been drafted for the gems and jewellery industry are not practically implementable and will be detrimental to the survival of the industry."

"We are expecting positive results from the Government, but our agitation and protest continues," G.V.Sreedhar, chairman, GJF, was quoted as saying in a statement.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has proposed a one percent excise duty without input credit, or 12.5 percent with input tax credit, on jewellery, excluding silver, other than studded with diamonds and some other precious stones.

The Centre earlier introduced a one percent excise duty on gems and jewellery in 2005, but dropped the cess subsequently.

Meanwhile the government asserted that the sector should be taxed and be part of the system.

"The gems and jewellery industry, with a total turnover of Rs.2-3 lakh crore, is untaxed. The government feels that this economic activity should come into the system and should be taxed," Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) member Ram Tirath said at a post-budget interaction in New Delhi at industry chamber Ficci.

He said implementing the proposed levy has been "made as simple as possible".

"One is not required to give any statement of stocks and there are no verifications required," he said.

"Registrations will be granted within two working days of applying," Tirath added.
Actor Gerard Butler, whose film "London Has Fallen" released in India on Friday, has revealed that while on the set, he almost got shot.

"I actually almost got shot in the face this one day at shoot, by a blank. It was a mistake as he was supposed to be firing at the dummy and when we turned he still had an extra bullet in his gun and he fired right past me. It was like a blast and a punch in the face but thank god, I was fine," Butler said in a statement.

The movie, a sequel to the 2013-release "Olympus Has Fallen", centres on an attack on London during the funeral of the British prime minister, who dies under mysterious circumstances.

Butler reprised his role as an ultra-resourceful US Secret Service agent.

The film is distributed pan-India by Panorama Studios and Niche Film Farm.

"London Has Fallen", which also stars Aaron Eckhart and Morgan Freeman in pivotal roles, is directed by Babak Najafi.
Google's philanthropic arm .org on Friday announced grant funding of $8,00,000 to three Indian non-profit organisations to encourage and create more access and opportunity to people living with disabilities.

The three recipients are Ratnanhidi Charitable Trust, Leprosy Mission Trust India and Public Health Foundation India.

"Innovative technologies are already helping to improve everyday life for people living with disabilities. Through these grants, we want to empower organisations to build impactful solutions," said India and Southeast Asia MD Rajan Anandan in a statement.

The grant funding is a result of global Impact Challenge for disabilities which aims to invest $20 million in non-profit organisations which deploy emerging technologies to enhance the independence of disabled people.

The funding will help Ratnanidhi Charitable Trust to provide a well-fitting artificial leg using 3D scanning and printing technologies and Leprosy Mission Trust India to make high quality protective footwear using 3D technology.

Public Health Foundation India will develop a mobile app for village healthcare workers to scrutinise eligibility to government disability benefits, the statement added.
Environmentalists are hoping that Goa Governor Mridula Sinha will take a dim view of a bill that takes away the coconut palm's status as a tree, making it easier for people to cut it down.

"We hope she will keep her word and does not give assent to the amendment," green activist Prajal Sakhardande said.

Sakhardande, fashion designer Wendell Rodricks and other activists had met Sinha to urge her to refuse assent to the bill.

The controversial amendment to the Goa, Daman and Diu Protection of Trees Act, which derecognises coconut palm as a tree, was passed by the assembly in January.

"When we met her, the governor told us that the coconut palm was an essential part of Goa's cultural idenitity and that she supported our cause," Sakhardande said.

Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar told reporters on Friday that the bill had been sent to the governor for her assent.

The opposition and the environmentalists have slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led coalition government for supporting the bill which, they say, will facilitate "mass massacre of coconut trees in the state".

The MLAs of the ruling coalition said the amendment would allow farmers to cut down old and non productive trees without red tape.

The opposition also alleged that the amendment was made to facilitate easy clearing of coconut grooves, a common sight in Goa, to make way for real-estate development.

Green activists have been meeting Governor Mridula Sinha to apprise her of their concerns.

The Congress has said that if voted to power in the 2017 assembly elections, it would accord the status of 'state tree' to the coconut palm.
CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Friday said that JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar will be campaigning for Left in the upcoming assembly polls in five states, "as he had already been doing".

"He is a leftist and is already campaigning," Yechury told IANS.

The states of West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry will have election in April and May this year.

Left leaders said that students from the student wings of left parties had been campaigning in the elections, for a "United Left" in the past and Kanhaiya Kumar, who is from the Communist Party of India's student wing All India Students Federation was no exception to it.

"He had been campaigning for CPI in his hometown Begusarai in Bihar. He already campaigned during 2014 Lok Sabha elections for the Left. He was not famous at that time though, but now he is. Its natural that he will be campaigning for the left in upcoming assembly elections," CPI-M leader All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) president Subhashini Ali told IANS.

"The whole matter had bought Left at the centre stage of Indian politics though," she added.

Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested on February 12 over allegations of raising anti-India slogans. He was released on bail on Thursday. He comes from Begusarai, a left stronghold in Bihar.
India is considering manufacturing indigenously a second line of fighter aircraft and a decision on the issue will be taken within a year, (IAF) Chief Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha said on Friday.

Asked about the depleting squadron-strength in the IAF, he said there were aircraft that will soon become obsolete, and while the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas and under-process Rafale deal will help fill some of the gap, India still needs one more line of fighter planes, which will be made in India.

"Within a year, some decision will be taken on what will be the second line of the fighter aircraft," the air chief said.

"One more line of fighter aircraft is likely to be made in India," Raha said.

The IAF chief said he expected the deal for 36 Rafale fighter jets with France to be concluded soon.

Rafale is a multi-role twin-engine aircraft designed and built by Dassault Aviation of France.

India's squadron-strength is down, with reports suggesting that only 32 squadrons are operational at present, compared with the ideal number of 42 squadrons.

Raha was visiting the frontline Jamnagar airbase to attend a ceremony where President Pranab Mukherjee presented the President's Standard to 119 Helicopter Unit and President's Colours to 28 Equipment Depot of the IAF.
India is considering manufacturing indigenously a second line of fighter aircraft and a decision on the issue will be taken within a year, IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha said on Friday.

Asked about the depleting squadron strength in the Indian Air Force, he said there were aircraft that will soon become obsolete, and while the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft Tejas and under-process Rafale deal will help fill some of the gap, India still needs one more line of fighter planes, which will be made in India.

"One more line of fighter aircraft is likely to be made in India.

"Within a year, some decision will be taken on what will be the second line of the fighter aircraft," he said.

The IAF chief said he expected the deal for 36 Rafale fighter jets with France to be concluded soon.

Rafale is a multi-role twin-engine aircraft designed and built by Dassault Aviation of France. The initial plans were however to buy 126 Rafale jets, a deal which could not fructify, after which a government to government contract was signed to buy 36 jets off shelf.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has said that the indegenous Tejas aircrafts can replace the MiG-21 which are set to retire soon.

The first squadron Tejas is expected to be delivered by 2017-18.

India's squadron strength is down, with reports suggesting that only 32 squadrons are operational at present, compared with the ideal number of 42 squadrons.

Raha was at the frontline Jamnagar airbase for the ceremony where President Pranab Mukherjee presented the President's Standard to the IAF's 119 Helicopter Unit and President's Colours to 28 Equipment Depot.
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday ordered the suspension of construction of a new US military base in Okinawa prefecture.

"The government has decided to accept the court-mediated settlement plan," said Defence Minister Nakatani.

The Abe administration has been clashing for months with the Okinawa government over the latter's attempts to move the Futenma base from its present location to Henoko Bay, north of the prefecture's main island, EFE news reported.

In November 2015, the Japanese government gave the go ahead for the construction of the new complex despite an order by Okinawa governor, Takeshi Onaga, revoking a permit to build the base, which had been granted by the previous government.

The two governments already have three cases in court regarding this issue which could finally be resolved now as the agreement plan proposes the three cases be withdrawn and the matter be resolved through talks.

The Tokyo government had agreed with Washington to move facilities to Henoko, an area much less populated than the current base in Futenma, in order to reduce its impact on local population.

The local government, however, rejected the shift on grounds that it poses a threat to the area's environment and might prove to be detrimental to the local population.

The current base at Futenma, spread over 1,186 acres, is located in the centre of Ginowan town with a population of 94,000, surrounded by housings and public buildings, and has for years witnessed protests from citizens over the noise and possibility of accidents.

Okinawa is home to more than half of the nearly 47,000 troops that US maintains in Japan as well as 74 percent of US military facilities in the country.
The Karnataka High Court on Friday issued notice to industrialist Vijay Mallya and others on a plea by the State Bank of India (SBI) seeking his arrest and impounding of his passport in the multi-crore loan default case of defunct Kingfisher Airline.

Admitting the petition, Justice A.S Bopanna issued notice to Mallya, his Kingfisher and United Breweries Holdings Ltd as well as British liquor major Diageo plc and its Indian arm, United Spirits Ltd. for their response and posted the case for hearing next week.

The judge also made an observation that the Debt Recovery Tribunal, which is hearing the case, was free to pronounce order on the bank's applications as it deemed fit.

"We have filed a writ petition before the single bench of Justice Bopanna for the arrest of Mallya and impounding of his passport on the basis of a statement he made recently that he would move to Britain to be with his family," a lawyer for the bank, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told IANS here.

As a lead bank of the consortium of 17 state-run and private banks, which have a combined outstanding dues up to Rs.7,800 crore from Kingfisher, headed by Mallya, the SBI moved the high court after the debt recovery tribunal here reserved order on its four interlocutory applications filed on Wednesday.

"We have approached the high court as the tribunal had not yet acted upon our applications, which included disclosure of Mallya's assets in India and abroad and our claim on the $75 million (Rs.516 crore) severance package Diageo and USL signed with him on February 25 here," the counsel said.

The writ in the high court prayed for disclosure of properties of Mallya, his son Siddharth, and his relatives and restraining Diageo and USL from paying the deal amount to Mallya.

"We have petitioned the high court for relief in case tribunal judge R. Benkanahalli does not give order on our IAs on Monday or Tuesday and adjourns hearing in our case before it," said another lawyer for the bank.

The bank was expecting the tribunal to order attachment of the $75 million deal Diageo signed with Mallya for his resignation as chairman and non-executive director of USL and other group companies.

As part of the sweetheart deal, USL has to pay Mallya $75 million over a five-year period, including $40 million (Rs.275 crore) this year and $35 million over the next four years.

Earlier, Mallya's senior counsel Uday Holla, who filed objections to the tribunal's notices, presented arguments before its judge.

"The tribunal cannot attach the severance package as Mallya is getting it for signing a non-competitive agreement that bars him from entering into liquor (spirits) business and compete with Diageo over the next five years," Holla argued.

He also assured the tribunal that Mallya would not leave the country, as he was also an independent lawmaker in the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka.

Countering Holla's submission, bank's counsel George Joseph told the tribunal that Mallya's statement could not be taken on face value.

"Mallya is taking everyone for a ride. By not repaying the debt to the consortium banks, he is demeaning parliament as its lawmaker. It is a sin not to repay loans, which amount to Rs.10,000 crore, including interest on the loans sanctioned from 2004-12 and remain outstanding," Joseph argued.
Nearly Rs 1.4 crore have been saved by consumers due to distribution of more than one crore Light Emitting Diode (LED) bulbs in seven months across Maharashtra, an official said on Friday.

After Public-sector Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) distributed these under its Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme, this led to daily energy saving of an estimated 3.50 million KWh, reduced peak load by 298 Mw, slashed consumer bills and led to greenhouse gas emission reductions by around 2,900 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Read more from our special coverage on "LED BULBS" Govt distributes over 7 crore LED bulbs under DELP scheme

"The people of Maharashtra have realised the need for energy efficiency and are incorporating it in their lifestyle; the crossing of milestone figure of one crore is a testimony to this," EESL managing director Saurabh Kumar said here.

Under DELP, each LED bulb is provided at a discount of around 75 percent, helping consumers save between Rs.160-400 per annum.

Each LED bulb has a life expectancy of 25,000 hours and the bulb cost is recovered in less than a year, Kumar said.

Now the focus is on bringing down prices of seven-watt in retail, currently between Rs.25-300 each to ensure a sustainable market for the energy efficient, safe and non-hazardous product.

The EESL provides free replacement, including for technical faults, for three years.

Nationwide, the EESL has distributed over seven crore under the DELP, leading to power savings of more than 2.4 crore KWh daily. It aims to replace 77 crore incandescent bulbs across India by 2019.

The EESL is a joint venture of National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd., Power Finance Corporation, Rural Electrification Corporation and POWERGRID under the power ministry, set up to implement energy efficiency projects.

The energy efficiency market in India is estimated at 12 billion dollars.
The Malaysian government on Friday shrugged off a joint declaration call for the removal of Prime Minister Najib Razak, calling it an opportunistic and desperate move by former prime minister Mahathir Mohamed and opposition leaders.

Mahathir, longest-serving prime minister of Malaysia, joined hands with opposition leaders, activists and some ruling party veterans in signing a declaration calling for the removal of Najib "through non-violent and legally permissible means", Xinhua reported.

In a responding statement, a Malaysian government spokesperson said: "Mahathir and his former enemies have demonstrated the depth of their political opportunism and desperation."

The spokesperson said the only lawful and democratic mechanism to change the government and the prime minister was general election, which is not due till 2018.

"If Mahathir wants to change the government, he must follow democratic process and await the next election, in line with Malaysia's laws and the federal constitution," the spokesperson added.

Mahathir has openly called for Najib to step down over the allegations that large amounts of fund had entered the prime minister's personal accounts.

He quit the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) in protest earlier this week.

Najib has denied any wrongdoing. Malaysia's attorney general has cleared his name by announcing that the fund was a donation from the Middle East and no criminal offences were found committed by the prime minister in the issue.
More next-of-kin of those on board the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 are filing suits as the deadline for legal action against the carrier approaches.

The Montreal Convention stipulates that cause of action against an airline has to be brought within two years of the day of travel or the date the aircraft should have arrived at its destination.

On Friday, at least 11 suits seeking damages were brought by family members against the airline, the government and other relevant bodies at the Kuala Lumpur High Court, Channel News Asia reported.

More applications are expected to be filed next week before the deadline expires on March 8.

Malaysian Airline Flight MH370, a Boeing 777-200ER, disappeared on March 8, 2014, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, with a total of 239 people on board. Two years into the disappearance, the search operation in the southern Indian Ocean has yielded no concrete results so far.

On February 23, VOICE370, an international network of next-of-kin, issued a statement complaining of restrictions to filing suits, such as legally requiring the permission of the administrator of Malaysia Airlines System Berhad (MAS) to do so.

On Friday, the court heard an application by the government, MAB, the director-general of the Department of Civil Aviation and the chief of the Royal Malaysian Air Force to strike out a suit filed by the two teenage children and relatives of Tan Ah Meng and Chuang Hsiu Ling - who were onboard the plane with their eldest child, Tan Wei Chew, 19.

The defendants argued the family's suit seeking unspecified damages for negligence, breach of contract and breach of statutory duty were "frivolous, vexatious and an abuse of the court process".

Flight MH370, a Boeing 777-200ER, disappeared on March 8, 2014, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, with a total of 239 people on board.

Two years into the disappearance, the search operation in the southern Indian Ocean has yielded no concrete results so far.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday expressed concern over North Korea's statement on a recent sanctions resolution adopted by the UN Security Council.

"Obviously, there is serious concern. We are very closely following the development of the situation and hope that all regional and relevant countries will show restraint and balanced approaches in this complex situation," Xinhua quoted Peskov as saying.

Earlier in the day, North Korea issued statements, strongly condemning the new UN resolution and warning to take resolute measures against it.

North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test on January 6 and went ahead with a long-range rocket launch on February 7. The move has been condemned by the international community.

The UN Security Council on Wednesday unanimously approved a new package of sanctions against North Korea, which includes a ban on all exports of coal, iron, iron ore, gold, titanium ore, vanadium ore and rare earth metals from Pyongyang.

It also prohibits the supply of all types of aviation fuel, including rocket fuel, to North Korea, and requires all countries to inspect cargo destined for and coming from Pyongyang.
A small has been granting fully-paid 'period leave' to all its women employees since 2010 for both medical and religious reasons.

Currently, there is only one woman employee working at the Shree Lakshmi Steel Industries, owned by Uttam Jain and situated in a small bylane of Kumbharwada in congested south Mumbai.

However, in the past six years, at least six women employees were granted the facility of availing fully-paid "menstrual leave" which was satisfactory both at home and workplace, Jain said of his trail-blazing initiative.

Jain, 36, said he had thought of this years ago when he started managing the steel outlet's affairs though in the conservative Indian environment it was even taboo for women to talk about their menstrual cycles and the discomfort they undergo during those excruciating five days.

Undeterred by traditions and fully supported by his family including wife, parents and other elder women members, Jain offered the unprecedented privilege to the women employees as and when they worked with him.

"Recently, I heard of a British company Coexist in Bristol offering 'menstrual leave' which made global headlines... I never knew this was such a big deal as my women staffers have been enjoying this since 2010," Jain told IANS on Friday.

While he gives his women employees the option to work from home if the situation demands, it is not compulsory, nor is it treated as a sick leave or any other kind of absence from work.

The issue has never been openly discussed with his women employees and when they were appointed, he discreetly told them that "you need not come for five days every month".

At times, some reacted with disbelief and the first question posed was "how much salary would be cut", only for them to be reassured that it would be an extra, paid leave.

Coexist, a community interest firm in Bristol with nearly three-fourths of its staffers comprising women, sought to break the taboo of menstrual cycle by introducing the "period leave" policy, which has received worldwide appreciation.

Jain said that in his own Jain community, Brahmins and generally the Hindu communities, women are taught from their early teenaged days not to discuss the issue in front of boys or men, including from their families.

As in the past and even today, women having periods are barred from entering the kitchen or the prayer room, made to sit and live separately, served food away from other family members, and not touched by the spouse besides several other restrictions.

Though some communities and cultures treat the woman as "impure" for those five days, others have now grown to accept it as five days of extra rest for the women toiling all through the month.

However, the issue hardly bothers women or concerns employees in urban centres like Mumbai where it is all in a day's work, and the women risk salary cuts if they choose to take leave during their period days, Jain explained.

His current woman staffer C Diva informs that she avails the special leave granted by her company each month but has never suffered any loss in salary or perks.
US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has denied an Indian teen girl's claim that she was selected for its prestigious Goddard Internship Program (GIP) under the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS). However, the girl still sticks to her stand.

Eighteen-year-old suburban West Bengal resident Sataparna Mukherjee has attested to being the "youngest Indian to have been chosen for a NASA research project".

The resident of Madhyamgram in North 24 Parganas district claimed in an interview to IANS that the space agency had offered her a full scholarship to pursue graduation, post-graduation and PhD (as NASA faculty) in aerospace engineering at its "London Astrobiology Centre in Oxford University."

In an e-mail to IANS, a NASA official clarified: "We have no record of anyone by that name receiving an internship, scholarship or any form of academic or financial assistance from any NASA institute, center or program."

Further the official highlighted: "The program noted by multiple Indian media outlets does not exist."

The agency said its NASA GISS education program is the New York City Research Initiative (NYCRI), "where teams of high school and undergraduate students and faculty work alongside graduate students and the lead scientists of NASA-funded research projects at universities within a 50-mile radius of New York City..., or at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) under the mentorship of a GISS scientist."

NASA said the NYCRI application deadline has just passed and applications for its summer program were currently under review. "Selections have not been made."

However, an unfazed Mukherjee, who claims she is scheduled to leave for Britain in August, maintains she has the necessary documents to prove her assertions.

Mukherjee had earlier sent a screen-shot to IANS of a purported correspondence from the space agency stating "Goddard Internship program as an employee and researchist. Technical writing for NASA's Applied Earth Science and Technology Development Program."

Quizzed on NASA's reaction, Mukherjee told IANS that the agency was issuing denials to maintain confidentiality.

"I have the necessary documents and I can't send them via mail as I was asked by NASA to maintain confidentiality. I also have my visa. You can come and see them."

On the widespread media coverage and the interviews she willingly appeared for, the student said she was "forced by media channels" to tell her story.

"Since I am the only Indian selected, I was asked to maintain confidentiality. They (NASA) are denying it now because it's in the news now."

Mukherjee has maintained she had posted a paper on NASA's website on black hole theory which landed her the scholarship. She had also talked about getting through an exam (as one of top three scorers) for doing major in English at the Oxford University. However, even after repeated requests she failed to provide documentary evidence.

Media reports have quoted Sataparna as saying she verified the authenticity of the NASA website at the Chennai office of the British Council.

However, the British Council termed the claims as "false".

"British Council would like to refute and condemn false claims as they are baseless and without any premise. As per our records, nobody with this stated identity visited or contacted our office in Chennai," a British Council official told IANS over e-mail.
Senior Gujarat minister Vasuben Trivedi on Friday ruled out conceding the Patel comunity's demands for reservation in government jobs and educational institutions in the state.

Trivedi, considered Chief Minister Anandiben Patel's "voice", said: "We follow the rule of law and under the Constitution, the Patels cannot be granted reservation."

Trivedi, the women's welfare minister, made the statement on the issue at a meeting in Gandhinagar even as the state government has been claiming that a cabinet sub-committee headed by Health Minister Nitin Patel is looking into the issues raised by the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS).

A number of senior BJP leaders, including party MP Vithhal Radariya, who are mediating between the government and the PAAS, have publicly stated if the "Jats could be granted reservation in Haryana and Rajasthan, why not the Patels in Gujarat".

The reservation issue took a tragic turn on Thursday with the alleged suicide of a Patel youth in Dhoraji near Rajkot to press for the quota. The 22-year-old Prakash Patel is the second youth from the community to commit suicide.

A large number of Patel youths and others attended his funeral at his home village Moti Panoli in Rajkot district in Saurashtra region.

Prakash committed suicide by consuming poison in a guest house in Dhoraji, leaving behind a four-page note that he was ending his life in support of reservation for Patels.

His suicide had its echo in the ongoing budget session of the state assembly with the opposition Congress saying the suicide was a matter of shame for the state government.

Congress legislators asserted that the government was insensitive to the problems of the people.

Newly appointed state BJP president Vijay Rupani, meanwhile, advised the youths not to take any such extreme step and instead wait for a negotiated settlement of the issue.
The opposition in the Rajya Sabha on Friday united against the BJP-led government for its stand on the minority institution-character of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).

Almost all opposition members were up on their feet and shouted slogans against the Narendra Modi government as the issue was raised during Zero Hour in the upper house.

They shouted 'Stop discrimination against minority institutions', 'No injustice will be tolerated against the AMU' as Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien urged them to give notice to the chair for a discussion.

"Like this, you won't get anywhere... please give a notice if you want discussion on the issue," he said.

Senior members like Sitaram Yechury of the Communist Party of India-Marxist and Anand Sharma of the Congress also expressed concern over the issue.

Amid the din, the house was adjourned for 10 minutes at 11.50 a.m. No meaningful business could be carried out during Zero Hour.

When the house met again at noon, some members urged the chair to adjourn the Rajya Sabha in honour of former Lok Sabha speaker P.A. Sangma who died following a heart attack on Friday morning.

Chairman Mohammad Hamid Ansari politely rejected the demand, saying "the house has an established practice" that it would only be adjourned in case a sitting member passes away.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said if the chair deems fit, it could adjourn the house and the government would have no objection.

The house, however, went ahead with Question Hour. However, around 1 p.m., the chairman adjourned the house for the day as leader of the house Arun Jaitley too urged for it.

On January 22, eight opposition members of parliament of different parties had issued a joint statement slamming the Centre for its stand on the status of the Delhi-based Jamia Millia Islamia and the Aligarh Muslim University.

"We condemn the statement of the Attorney General of India, who has blatantly tried to outrage the rich tradition of the Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb by mentioning before the Supreme Court that these two institutions were not minority institutions," their joint statement said.
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has documented a total of 3,081 civilians killed in Yemen since March 26, 2015, a UN spokesman told reporters here on Friday.

In February 2016 alone, at least 168 civilians were killed and 193 injured, around two thirds of them by the Saudi-led Arab coalition airstrikes, deputy UN spokesman Farhan Haq said at a daily news briefing.

"Fighting and indiscriminate shelling by members of the Popular Committees affiliated with the Houthis and allied army units loyal to former president Saleh resulted in an additional 49 civilian casualties during February, mostly in Taizz, Ibb and Al Jawf," Haq was quoted by Xinhua.

"There have also been worrying allegations, which the Human Rights Office is still working to verify, that coalition forces dropped cluster bombs on a mountainous area to the south of the Amran cement factory, where a military unit loyal to the Houthis appears to have been the target," he said.

Stephen O'Brien, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said on Thursday that since the start of the conflict in Yemen, more than 2,000 children have been killed and injured during the fightings, including more than 90 deaths this year alone.

The Saudi-led coalition started daily air bombing on the Shiite Houthi rebels and their allied forces since March 2015, vowing to drive out the rebels and retrieve Sanaa, the capital.

Yemen has been mired in an all-out civil war since September 2014, when the Shiite Houthi group backed by forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh invaded the capital Sanaa and drove President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile. The war has killed nearly 6,000 people.
Over 5.79 crore voters in Tamil Nadu will be eligible to elect a new government on May 16 casting their vote in 65,616 polling stations in 234 assembly constitutencies, said Election Commission of India on Friday.

In the neighbouring Puducherry, over 9.27 voters will be able to exercise their democratic right on May 16 in 913 polling stations in 30 assembly constituencies.

Counting of votes will be held on May 19, along with the three other states - Assam, Kerala, and West Bengal - where assembly elections will be held.

The terms of current Tamil Nadu and Puducherry assemblies are set to expire on May 22 and June 2 respectively.

According to the poll panel, Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) will be deployed in 17 assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu and three in Puducherry.

In order to facilitate the electors in identifying the candidates, the commission has prescribed an additional measure by way of adding provision for printing the photograph of candidate also on the ballot to be displayed on the electronic voting machine and on postal ballot papers.

This will also take care of likely confusion when candidates with same or similar names contest from the same constituency, the Commission said.

The poll commission also said the model code of conduct comes into play immediately in the poll bound Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed on a facilitation package to boost bilateral trade to $5 billion in the next few years, the media reported on Friday.

An official of the commerce ministry told Dawn that in the first step the two countries would exchange revised draft transit trade agreement, by March 15.

"We are expecting to receive the draft from Kabul within the deadline," the official added.

Draft amendments would then be deliberated at the seventh meeting of Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Coordination Authority (APTTCA) to be held in last week of this month, the official added.

"Kabul will host the crucial meeting to finalise the revised treaty."

According to APTTA, the provisions of the present agreement shall be revised and amended appropriately to facilitate transit trade.

The official said that this amendment would help Pakistan export goods to Central Asian States without payment of duty and taxes via Afghanistan.

The Afghan trucks will be allowed to carry Pakistani exports to Afghanistan on their return journey. Similarly, Pakistani trucks will be allowed to carry Tajik and Central Asian export cargo while returning to Pakistan.
As the Election Commission announced the date for elections to the new 140-member Kerala assembly, the stage is set for what many call a "game changer" polls in the southern state.

Not only the two traditional alliances -- the ruling Congress-led United Democratic Front and the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) -- which have dominated the political landscape in the southern state since the 1970s, but the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance also will fight it out in the poll arena.

The Election Commission on Friday announced that polling in Kerala will be held on May 16. Counting of the votes will be taken up on May 19.

According to the Election Commission figures, 2.56 crore voters in Kerala are eligible to cast their votes in 21,498 polling booths.

Despite opposition accusations of scams and other wrong-doings, the Oommen Chandy-led UDF government is expecting to create history by retaining power. It would be the first ever time that incumbents retain power in Kerala if this happens.

On the other hand, the Left opposition is equally determined to ensure that history repeats itself - that power in Kerala alternates between the Congress and the Left opposition.

The BJP on the sidelines yet is claiming that "the lotus will bloom this time" in the southern state.

Hindu Ezhava leader Vellapalli Natesan's newly launched Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS) joined the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA on March 3.

Should, in the unlikely event, the BJP-led NDA win in Kerala, it would be the first ever time that the saffron party or a Hindutva combine would have come to power in the state that hoisted to office India's first elected communist government on April 5, 1957.

The BJP has as yet no representative in the state assembly.

As things stand now, the Indian Union Muslim League, the second biggest ally of the Congress in the UDF, has announced its candidates list for 20 of the 24 seats it will contest.

The Congress, mired in factional feuds in the past, has selected candidates at the constituency level. The list is now being vetted at the state leadership level, though the final clearance will come from the high command in Delhi.

"Tomorrow, we are meeting to prune the list we have received. It will be sent to the Congress high command, who will make the final selection," V.M. Sudheeran, the president of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee, told reporters here on Friday.

Meanwhile, the CPI-M too is busy finalising its distribution of poll tickets. It is, however, on the horns of dilemma: Whether 92-year-old political warhorse V.S. Achuthanandan or politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan be made the chief minister, should it return to power.

On the flip side, the LDF will now have to deal with UDF allies who have since switched sides. Seat-sharing could be difficult and existing LDF allies may feel the heat.

"The seat-sharing mechanism will be worked out when LDF leaders meet," said CPI-M state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.

The BJP has already completed one round of discussions and is expected to field all its popular state leaders, including former union minister O. Rajagopal.

However, it would not be until next week when all three formations will finalise their respective candidates. Thereafter, a keen political contest will be witnessed in Kerala.

(Sanu George can be contacted at sanu.g@ians.in)
President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday presented President's Standard to 119 Helicopter Unit and President's Colours to 28 Equipment Depot of the Indian Air Force here.

One of the premier flying units of the Indian Air Force, the 119 helicopter unit boasts of the country's latest helicopter Mi-17 V5.

The unit, also known as "The Stallions" and the first to fly Mi-8 choppers, will receive the award on its 45th raising day.

The unit has been part of many operations including, relief work in Nepal after the April 2015 earthquake; the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks; relief and rescue after the 2004 tsunami; Operation Cactus in 1988 to stop the attempted coup in Maldives; Operation Pawan - the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) operation in Sri Lanka's Jaffna in 1987; counter insurgency operations in Nagaland; and Operation Falcon along China's border in Arunachal Pradesh.

Talking about the capabilities of Mi-17 V5, an officer from the unit said the chopper has already seen action and proved its mettle in different terrains, be it in the Himalayas, the deserts of Rajasthan or the Maoist-hit central India.

So far, the unit has received one Vir Chakra, five Shaurya Chakras, four Yudh Seva medals, one Vishisht Seva medal, 10 Vayu Sena Medals.

The 28 Equipment Depot maintains explosive ordnance stores.

The depot is a one stop solution provider for all Russian origin guided weapons and ammunitions, and carried out the maintenance and warranty resting, modification and repairs.

The award of President's colours and standard is one of the greatest honours bestowed upon an Air Force Unit or Squadron in recognition of exceptional service rendered by it to the nation, both during war and in peace.
A group of 232 sociologists has urged President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to rein in violence in educational institutions across the country.

These sociologists from different universities and prestigious colleges and other institutions have written to the president and the prime minister on the issue.

The signatories to the letter brought up an incident at Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh on February 23, where Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarathi Parishad activists allegedly disrupted violently an event at which Vivek Kumar of Jawaharlal Nehru University was invited to speak.

"They attacked Professor Vivek Kumar," the sociologists said in the letter to the president.

They said the activists also abused and threatened Professor Rajesh Misra of the Lucknow University for his Facebook post.

"The constitution of India guarantees to all citizens the right to their beliefs and to peaceful expression of these beliefs, but we are deeply disturbed by the ongoing events in the country and feel the urgent need to make a public statement," they said.

"We are, therefore, deeply concerned at the growing attacks on students, faculty and staff of various universities by organisations which seem to have the backing of the authorities and the police," the academics added.

The group includes teachers and professors from renowned institutes like the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi University, Jamia Millia Islamia, St. Xavier's College, Guwahati University, Mumbai University and many others.
President Pranab Mukherjee will on Saturday inaugurate a national conference on 'Women Legislators: Building Resurgent India' here.

The conference, which intends to hone the skills of legislators to perform their legislative and non-legislative roles with greater effectiveness, will be addressed by Vice President Hamid Ansari and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Briefing media persons here, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said the two-day conference will provide women legislators a platform to interact with their counterparts from across the country as also women union ministers, chief ministers, MPs and eminent women from the judiciary and the bureaucracy.

Apart from the plenary, the conference will have three more sessions - contributing to social development, contributing to economic development, and contributing to better governance and legislation.

The conference is likely to be attended by more than 300 women members of parliament and state legislatures and legilative councils, union ministers and chief ministers.

Mahajan said the conference will equip women legislators with latest knowledge in relevant areas and motivate and guide them in their twin roles as legislators and as agents of socio-economic progress.

Former president Pratibha Devisingh Patil will address the valedictory session.

Bangladesh National Assembly Speaker Shirin Chaudhury, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptullah will also address the conference.

Others who will participate include former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar, Nationalist Congress Party MP Supriya Sule, Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi, Human Resource Development Smriti Irani, Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel, Food Processing Industries Minister Harsimarat Kaur Badal, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, former Delhi chief minister Shiela Dikshit and Water Resources Minister Uma Bharati.

The conference proceedings on March 6 will be held in the central hall of parliament.
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) -- a national programme for universal elementary education -- has seen Rs.1,15,625 crore ($17.7 billion) spent on it over the last five years -- but the quality of learning has declined.

For instance, only a fourth of all children in standard III could read a standard II text fluently -- a drop of more than 5 percent over five years, according to the 2014 Annual Status Report on Education (ASER).

The SSA received more than half the money (52 percent) in Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's school-education allocation in the latest budget, but over the last five years, the SSA budget declined 6 percent -- from Rs.23,873 crore ($4.4 billion) in 2012-13 to Rs.22,500 crore ($3.3 billion) for 2016-17.

Education is primarily the responsibility of states, but the central government directly finances 60 percent of education, through programmes such as the SSA. As many as 66 percent of India's primary school students attend government schools or government-aided schools -- the rest going to costlier private schools.

Of the money set aside for the SSA during 2015-16, only 57 percent was released till September 2015, according to an Accountability Initiative report.

While presenting his third budget earlier this week, Jaitley said nothing about the quality of education. The quality declines may be correlated with reduced funding, but they may not be caused only by a lack of money.

Less than one in five primary school teachers is adequately trained, IndiaSpend reported last year. The consequence is a marked decline in learning ability, in government and private schools.

The learning levels in government schools plummeted to a low of 41.1% in 2013 but recovered slightly to 42.2 percent in 2014, as IndiaSpend reported.

Similarly, with math, a quarter of children in standard III could not recognise numbers between 10 and 99, a drop of 13 percent over five years.

As much as 99 percent new elementary schools have been constructed of the 400,000 sanctioned since the launch of the programme in 2000-01 till September 30, 2015, according to this reply in the Lok Sabha (the lower house of Parliament) on December 7, 2015.

About 23 percent of schools surveyed by Accountability Initiative in 2015-16 needed to build at least one classroom in order to meet Right-to-Education norms. However, only 1 percent of schools received money from SSA during the financial year to construct new classrooms.

There are other gaps in the programme. The enrolment of girls has gone up from 48.12 percent in 2009-10 to 48.19 percent in 2014-15 at the elementary level. Many more girls clearly need to be enrolled. As many as 52 percent of boys are enrolled in primary schools.

The good news: Dropouts are down, highest in six to 14 age group

A 55 percent decline in dropouts was reported in the age group 6-14 years, from 13.46 million in 2005 to 6.1 million in 2013. The annual average primary school dropout rate declined from 6.8 percent in 2009-10 to 4.3 percent in 2013-14.

Mid-day meals in schools received Rs 9,700 crore ($1.4 billion), next only to SSA. About 102 million children across India in 2014-15 used the mid-day meal programme, the world's largest school-feeding scheme.

As part of its rural initiatives, over the next two years, the government is also planning to open 62 new Navodaya Vidyalayas (New-age schools) in the districts without them.

The Navodaya Vidayalaya scheme was launched under the National Policy on Education 1986 to educate the best rural talent. There are 591 Navodaya Vidyalayas across India, according to data tabled in the Lok Sabha on December 7, 2015.

Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti, which runs these schools, was allocated Rs.2,471 crore ($400 million) -- an increase of 8 percent over last year.

Focus on higher education to strengthen infrastructure, but enrolments are low. The finance minister proposed setting up a Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) with an initial capital of Rs.1,000 crore ($146 million) to strengthen infrastructure in higher education.

The HEFA will be a not-for-profit organisation, which will use funds from the market and supplement them with donations and corporate social responsibility funds.

Higher education-including central and deemed universities-received the most money, Rs.7,997 crore ($1.2 billion), followed by the Indian Institutes of Technology (Rs.4,984 crore) and University Grants Commission (Rs.4,492 crore).

About 80 percent students were enrolled in undergraduate programmes, but only 0.3 percent (84,058 students) were enrolled for PhDs in 2012-13, a sign that research is weak and faltering, as IndiaSpend has reported.

Only 21 percent of young men and women aged 18 to 23 are enrolled for higher education. India's enrolment rate in higher education is 18 percent below the global average of 27 percent and low compared to 26 percent in China and 36 percent in Brazil, a 2014 British Council report pointed out.

(In arrangement with IndiaSpend.org, a data-driven, non-profit, public interest journalism platform, where Chaitanya Mallapur is a policy analyst. The views expressed are those of India Spend. The author can be contacted at respond@indiaspend.org)
US News World Report has placed Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) above Delhi University and second to Punjab University on their list of overall Best Global Universities rankings.

Banaras Hindu University also follows AMU in the list.

The rankings take into account the research performance of the universities as well as their ratings by members of the academic community around the world.

With these rankings, displayed on the US News Education's website, www.usnews.com, the US News highly recommends international students to explore AMU and other top Indian universities for attending their higher .

The list also has Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay; Indian Institute of Technology, Madras; Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur in the top ten institutes of India.

The Aligarh Muslim University has also been awarded grade 'A' by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), which conducted an assessment exercise at the campus.
The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the on a plea by the Delhi government seeking the return of documents that the investigating agency had taken from the office of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal following a raid.

The apex court bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi issued notice on the Delhi government's plea challenging the Delhi High Court order putting on hold the lower court direction to the to hand over the documents to the Delhi government that it had seized from the chief minister's office.

The had taken into its possession the documents from the office of one of the officers attached to Kejriwal's office during a raid in the wake of the allegations of wrong doing on the part of the said officer.
Secret documents supplied to Pakistan's spy agency ISI by five Indians, including a BSF constable, can be used to counter Indian forces, a charge sheet filed by Delhi Police has said.

The police last week filed the charge sheet before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sumit Dass accusing the five - BSF Head Constable Abdul Rasheed and retired army Havildar Munawwar Ahmad Mir of supplying secret documents to operatives of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

According to informed sources, police alleged that Rasheed, Mir, schoolteacher Sabar, then soldier Fareed Ahmed and library assistant Kafaitullah Khan alias Master Raja, in connivance with another suspect, supplied the secret documents to Faisal, a Pakistan-based intelligence operative.

Faisal, who is on the run, persuaded Khan to gather sensitive information about the movements and other operations of the Indian Army to a Pakistan-based handler, the police said.

Khan collected the documents from Rasheed, Mir and Ahmad and paid them handsome money. Saber helped Khan to establish contact with Mir, said the police.

The chargesheet said the secret documents contained crucial information about the army, including their deployment in various places.

It added that confidential documents can directly and indirectly be useful to an enemy country and were likely to affect India's sovereignty, integrity and security.

"The documents can be used by the enemy to counter the moves of Indian forces," the chargesheet said.

Police have stated that the accused used Whatsapp, Viber and other technology to pass on the secret information and documents to one other.

A joint operation by Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir Police led to the arrest of the five accused in November and December.

Kafaitullah Khan, a resident of Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, was arrested from New Delhi railway station on November 26. Rasheed was held in Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir.

According to police, Kafaitullah's interrogation led to the arrest of Rasheed. Followed their arrest, police picked up Mir and Saber from Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir and Ahmed from West Bengal.

Mir took retirement in 2011 after serving with a Rashtriya Rifles (Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry) battalion, police said.

All the accused are in judicial custody and lodged in Tihar Jail.

The court, which was scheduled to take cognizance of the charge sheet on Friday, adjourned the case for March 17 for consideration of the investigation report.

The accused have been charged under various sections of the Official Secrets Act.

Police recovered documents, compact discs and details of bank accounts of the accused.

Police also cited conversations, contents of Whatsapp messages and call detail records of the accused persons. Police cited 23 witnesses to back its case.

(Amiya Kumar Kushwaha can be contacted at amiya.k@ians.in)
Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar on Friday said sedition charge was being used against those raising different issues in the country.

"Sedition is being used against those who are raising (public) issues. I never uttered any anti-national slogans. Nationalism is not silence over discrimination and injustice," Kanhaiya told English news channel 'India Today' in an interview.

"We want freedom, not from India, but within India - from poverty, inequality and exploitation," he said when asked about his definition of freedom.

"Afzal and Maqbool Bhat are not our heroes, but Rohith Vemula is. We want (Babasaheb Bhimrao) Ambedkar and Vemula to be born in every house," Kanhaiya said.

Earlier, he told media persons here that Hyderabad University research scholar Rohith Vemula was his icon and not parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

Guru was executed in the Tihar central jail here on February 9, 2013, for his role in the December 2001 parliament attack. Maqbool Bhat, co-founder of separatist group Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, was hanged on February 11, 1984, in Tihar jail.

Arrested on February 12 on sedition charge, the JNU student leader was released from the Tihar jail on Thursday evening after Delhi High Court granted him interim bail for six months.

"We are not fighting against the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh). We are fighting for development (of the country). We need equality between the rich and the poor," he said when asked about his incessant verbal attacks against the right-wing organisation.

Kanhaiya said "he can feel the change occurring in society and politics at large".

"There is a team of lawyers fighting for us. People from all over the world are supporting us; it is a reality," he said in reply to a question.

Responding to another query, he said (Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Prakash) Karat and (Sitaram) Yechury were not the only Jawaharlal Nehru University students in Indian politics.

"(Union Commerce and Industry Minister) Nirmala Sitharaman is also from the JNU," he said while recounting the names of other JNU alumni active in politics.
South Korea and the US began talks on Friday over the deployment of an American anti-missile system - Terminal High Altitude Area Defence system (THAAD) - a controversial project that has provoked strong protests from North Korea and China.

The negotiations were formally declared open after Seoul and Washington presented the new joint working group in Seoul, a South Korean defence ministry spokesman told Efe news.

The anti-ballistic missile system might be installed in Pyeongtaek, a town 70 km (43 miles) south of capital Seoul that has important US military installations, and early cost estimates puts the figure at around $810 million, according to the defence ministry.

Seoul and Washington had announced in February they would begin negotiations on installing THAAD on South Korean soil, in response to North Korea's nuclear test and space rocket launch; the last one widely considered a veiled missile test.

The THAAD project, a sophisticated system designed to intercept missiles in their terminal flight phase, has generated protests both from North Korea, which considers it a direct threat to its security, as well as China and Russia.

Beijing said the system will capture confidential Chinese military information, while Moscow denounced it on grounds that it will be able to inspect the air space of some regions in the eastern part of the country.
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said on Friday that becoming the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir was not her priority as she wanted to strengthen the party.

The Peoples Democratic Party leader also said that her mission was to carry forward her late father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's dream of bringing peace and development to Jammu and Kashmir.

Mehbooba Mufti was addressing party workers here.

Referring to the possibility of heading an alliance government with the BJP in the state, she said: "I do not know what will happen tomorrow. One thing I know for sure. If I and my party continue to relentlessly pursue the dream of Mufti Sahib, the people of the state will benefit.

"Whether I become the chief minister or not, the party has to be kept alive. That is the biggest tribute we can give to Mufti Sahib who founded the party for the people and not for any personal benefit."

Mufti said her father's last words during his illness to her were not about the properties he would be leaving behind, but about strengthening the party.

"He told me it was not important whether I became the chief minister or not. What was important was that the party (PDP) should be strengthened so that the people of the state benefit."

Jammu and Kashmir has been without an elected government ever since Mufti Sayeed died on January 7. Governor's Rule was imposed in the state after Mehbooba Mufti did not form a government.

On India-Pakistan relations, she said friendship and not confrontation was the way forward for the two countries and this was the only way to usher in permanent peace in Jammu and Kashmir.

Mehbooba Mufti said when her father was a Class 8 student, he desired to build a bridge between two parts of his hometown Bijbehara, which is divided by the Jhelum river.

"Mufti Sahib always wanted to build bridges between people and nations. His dream of peace and prosperity actually anchored the Congress in Kashmir and that paved the way for National Conference founder Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah to return to mainstream ."

She said it was Mufti Sayeed who dreamt of cross-border trade, people-to-people contact and easing of tensions between India and Pakistan.

"America tried fighting and winning a war in Afghanistan and Iraq. Did such a big power win that war? Ours is a much bigger country and we stand to lose more by fighting with Pakistan.

"It is in the best interest of both countries to be friends. That is the only way forward for peace to return to our state."

She said Pakistan had taken action against those involved in the terror attack on the IAF base in Pathankot. She quoted Pakistan as saying that these attacks were carried out by non-state actors.

"It is possible what Pakistan says is right. (Prime Minister Narendra) Modiji's decision to stop over in Pakistan is a great gesture.

"Manmohan Singh also wanted to go to Pakistan but he did not have a strong enough mandate to do so. Modiji has a strong mandate which can be used for bringing peace between the two countries. War and war mongering are no solution to any problem."
India is committed to peace for which it needs an "effective deterrence" and a "strong defence force," President Pranab Mukherjee said here on Friday.

"India is firmly committed to peace and equality for which we need an effective deterrence and a strong defence force," he said.

The president said the country is striving hard for economic growth, but remains "equally focused" on capacity building of its armed forces.

"The nation is striving hard for all-round economic growth and social empowerment of its citizen. However, we remain equally focused on building capacity to defend our sovereignty and territorial integrity," Mukherjee said.

He said the armed forces give the country the confidence in its ability to face any aggression.

The president was at the Jamnagar airbase to present the President's Standard to the 119 Helicopter Unit and President's Colours to the 28 Equipment Depot of the Indian Air Force (IAF). One of the premier flying units of the IAF, the 119 Helicopter Unit boasts of the country's latest helicopter Mi-17 V5.

The Unit, also known as "The Stallions" and the first to fly Mi-8 choppers, will receive the award on its 45th Raising Day.

The unit has been part of many operations, including relief work in Nepal after the April 2015 earthquake, the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, the relief and rescue operations after the 2004 tsunami, Operation Cactus in 1988 to stop the attempted coup in Maldives, Operation Pawan - the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) operation in Sri Lanka's Jaffna in 1987, the counter insurgency operations in Nagaland, and Operation Falcon along China's border in Arunachal Pradesh.

So far, the Unit has received one Vir Chakra, five Shaurya Chakras, four Yudh Seva medals, one Vishisht Seva medal, and 10 Vayu Sena Medals.

The 28 Equipment Depot maintains explosive ordnance stores. It has played an important role in supplying ammunition in the 1965 India-China war, as well as the 1999 Kargil conflict.

The Depot has been a trend-setter in innovation and has successfully modified the life-expired live missiles into its training version.

The Depot is a one stop solution provider for all Russian-origin guided weapons and ammunition and carried out the maintenance and warranty resting, modification and repairs.

The award of the President's colours and standard is one of the greatest honours bestowed upon an air force unit or squadron in recognition of exceptional service rendered by it to the nation, both during war and in peace.

Jamnagar is one of the frontline airbases of the IAF on the Gujarat coast and close to India's border with Pakistan.

The base has squadrons of fighter jets Jaguar and Mig-29 and Chetak helicopters along with the Mi-17 V5 helicopters.
The teaser of Suriya-starrer Tamil sci-fi thriller "24", with its world class visuals, will leave audiences in awe as well as intrigue them with the time-travel concept on which the core plot of the film is based.

IANS was given an exclusive sneak peek of the one-minute teaser, which will be released on Friday.

Going by the teaser, the film features Suriya in three diverse roles from which it is very evident that he also plays the baddie.

It could also be learnt that Suriya plays a scientist and a gangster, while the third role is kept under wraps.

Without giving too much away, the teaser smartly introduces the time-travel angle which is a pivotal part of the story.

The action-packed teaser is aptly supported by some breathtaking visuals, razor sharp cuts and A.R. Rahman's fitting score.

According to director Vikram Kumar, Suriya insisted on doing stunts from the film without a body double.

Gnanavel Raja, the film's producer, said the film will hit the screens in April.

"24" also stars Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Nithya Menen, Girish Karnad and Ajay.
Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh on Friday sought the suspension of fencing along the India-Myanmar border in the state and suggested an all-party delegation should meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others on the issue.

The chief minister stated his view on the last day of the assembly budget session on Friday in reply to a calling attention motion moved by I. Ibohanbi of the Trinamool Congress and Khumukcham Jaikishan of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The two legislators said they were concerned over reports that the border fencing would lead to a loss of at least 1,000 square km of Manipur land, a significant chunk given the fact that the north-east state's total area is just 22,327 square km.

Ibobi said: "There is no problem in areas covered by 19 boundary pillars. However, there is dispute in areas covered by nine pillars." He said Manipur will never compromise on its territory.

He said the Surveyor General of India and other officials had conducted a survey in these areas in January and July last year.

Many in Manipur are still sore over India 'gifting' away the Kavo Valley, an area rich in forest products and much bigger than Manipur, to erstwhile Burma soon after the Independence.

Tribals settled in border villages recently told reporters and Information Centre of Hill Areas Manipur (ICHAM) representatives that the proposed fence will pass through the middle of their habitations.

In case of Hollenphai village, for example, a larger chunk will go to Myanmar. The Choro Khunnou in Ukhrul district will entirely go to the neighbouring country.

The border fencing was suspended when visiting home ministry officials found it was to be located deep inside Manipur.

ICHAM president M. Rajendro said: "The joint team surveyed the border areas on December 20, 2015. There was no representative of the Manipur government. Most lands covered by the boundary pillars numbered 78 and 79 are being usurped."

The Assam Rifles, manning India's border with Myanmar, has been demanding border fencing to check the movement of insurgents, drug traffickers and other undesirable elements who sneak into Manipur from the no-man's land.
The Hindi remake of Malayalam hit film "Traffic" is set to release on April 29, Fox Star Studios which will be presenting the movie, announced.

"Traffic" is an emotional thriller based on a road trip from Mumbai to Pune. The plot is about a day in the lives of a few people who are at the same traffic junction in Mumbai in the beginning of the day, and how their fates get entangled because of an incident.

The film captures a police car which races to deliver a live heart (organ) from Mumbai to Pune just in time to save the life of a 13-year-old girl.

"Traffic", directed by late Rajesh Pillai who died the day after the Malayalam film was released, is produced by Deepak Dhar of Endemol India and presented by Fox star Studios, read a statement.

The Hindi remake will feature actors Manoj Bajpayee, Jimmy Sheirgill, Divya Dutta and Sachin Khedekar.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is expected to visit Iran on Friday to promote ties and smooth out growing differences between the two neighbours over Syria and Iraq.

The two-day visit comes days before a round of peace talks on March 9 to be held under the auspices of UN's Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura in Geneva, Xinhua reported.

Turkey supports opposition rebel forces in Syria and considers President Bashar al-Assad regime to be illegitimate. Iran, along with Russia, stands by Assad and provides military backing to the government forces.

"Both Turkey and Iran need each other as they are being impacted by what has been happening in their neighborhood," Mehmet Seyfettin Erol, professor of international relations at Ankara-based Gazi University, said.

"As the major powers gear up for peace talks for Syria, Turkey and Iran, the two regional heavyweights must be able to talk to each other frankly," he said.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu acknowledged last week in parliament that both countries have different views on regional matters.

Davutoglu's visit also aimed to tap into Iranian market after a July 2015 sanctions-ending deal with world powers on its nuclear programme.

The visit was organised "to develop and reinforce political, cultural and economic ties and cooperation" between the two countries, Iranian embassy in Ankara said in a statement on Thursday.
Micro-blogging website Twitter can be an effective tool to communicate with the public about cancer clinical trials and increase awareness and patient recruitment, researchers report.

Mina S Sedrak from Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and co-authors conducted a pilot study and analysed the content of 1,516 tweets.

The tweets were from among a total of 15,346 unique tweets that contained "lung cancer" over a little more than two weeks in January 2015.

About 83 percent of the tweets in the sample (1,260 of 1,516) contained lung cancer-specific content and most of the lung cancer-related tweets focused on support or prevention and were written by individuals, according to the results.

About 17.5 percent of the tweets in the sample (221 of 1,260) were related to clinical trials while only one tweet linked to a patient recruitment website, the authors report.

"Social media could become a very useful tool for clinical researchers but may also pose some challenges with respect to both non-coercive content and the assurance of privacy, both of which the IRBs [institutional review boards] will need to consider carefully," the authors noted in a paper which appeared in the journal JAMA Oncology.

"Future efforts are needed to explore whether Twitter can emerge as a viable medium for promoting accrual to clinical trials," they added.
The foreign ministers of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany on Thursday agreed that elections should be held in eastern Ukraine by the end of June, French top diplomat Jean-Marc Ayrault said.

"We (the four ministers) have underlined the importance of the adoption of an electoral law to hold local elections by the end of the first semester of 2016," Xinhua quoted Ayrault as saying.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin stressed the necessity of providing security in the run-up to the future elections.

The foreign ministers also called for "the release and exchange of all prisoners and people held in illegal detention between now and April 30," according to Ayrault.

The Paris meeting was part of the implementation of the Minsk peace agreement, signed in February 2015 in the capital of Belrus under the mediation of France and Germany.

The accord calls for a ceasefire along with a range of political, economic and social measures to end the conflict in Ukraine's eastern half.

According to the agreement, the elections in eastern Ukraine should be "held in accordance with relevant Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) standards and monitored by the OSCE."

The crisis in eastern Ukraine began in April 2014, when Kiev launched offensives against insurgents in a bid to retake the cities and towns they seized. The conflict has claimed more than 9,000 lives so far.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Friday issued a six-point plan to guide EU member states in solving the refugee crisis which is showing no signs of abating.

"We are running out of time, and strong leadership and vision are urgently needed from European leaders to deal with what is, in my view, a situation that can still be managed if properly addressed," Xinhua quoted UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi as saying in a statement.

"This is as much a crisis of European solidarity as it is a refugee crisis," he added.

UNHCR suggested fully implementing the 'hot spot' approach and the relocation of asylum seekers out of Greece and Italy while returning those who do not qualify for refugee protection.

The UN agency also called for increased support to Greece to address the humanitarian emergency, while ensuring compliance with all EU laws and asylum directives by member states.

The agency also proposed to make available safer, legal ways for refugees to travel to Europe through humanitarian admission programmes, private sponsorships, family reunion, student scholarships and labour mobility schemes.

The safe-guard of individuals at risk, including unaccompanied and separated children, and the implementation of measures preventing sexual and gender-based violence were integral to the plan.

Finally, UNHCR called for Europe-wide systems of responsibility to achieve a managed and orderly solution to the crisis which has already seen close to 135,000 migrants reach EU soil this year.

"Europe has successfully dealt with large-scale refugee movements in the past, during the Balkans Wars for example, and can deal with this one, provided it acts in a spirit of solidarity and responsibility sharing," Grandi concluded.

European heads of states will meet Turkey on March 7 in Brussels.
False flag operations have always been an integral tactic in war. In the days when battle formations were identified by flags, and orders given by semaphore, false flags were literally used. During WWII, both sides flew captured planes, pretended to be the other side in radio communications and deployed special forces dressed in enemy uniforms.
I met a young woman in the metro. She was reading a report of Kanhaiya Kumars speech. I asked her what she thought of it. It blew me away, she said. How can the police come on the campus and arrest him for sedition for criticising the government? But we do it all the time. Does that make me seditious? But I love my country.
My acquaintance and I are playing guessing games at a banquet in New York. "Can you name the flowers in the bowl," I ask her. We're jetlagged and passing time to stop ourselves from crashing asleep right in the middle of the speeches and courses. "Yes," she says, rattling off the familiar (roses and hydrangea), the unfamiliar (sweet peas and anemones), while waiting for dinner to be served so we can retreat to our hotels. Before that, there's the arduous task of figuring out what we want to eat from a menu that includes "compressed Asian pear" - "perhaps a truck fell on it", my friend giggles - cauliflower "steak", "curry oil", and since I'm vegetarian these days and prone to avoid the filet mignon, I'm delighted to learn that branzino is a fish. I eat fish. With relief I order a main course of sea bass, and even though it comes in its skin, at least it's not "jus of carrots".
surprises me by emerging, on time, from behind the wheel of a bright blue Honda sedan. As we enter Tres, a bistro in a sleepy street on the fringes of Lutyens Delhi, the Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member from West Bengal, also a history professor on leave from Harvard University, explains that he likes to try and drive himself. When he refuses wine, and I ask if he is being a circumspect Indian politician, he looks astonished and says, Not at all, I enjoy good wine but I usually have it in the evenings rather than in the middle of the day.



Such atypical political behaviour would have made me feel well-disposed towards my guest, even if he had not delivered that especially luminous speech (See video) during the debate in the Lok Sabha last week on Rohith Vemulas suicide and the police action on students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). Boses articulation of a nationalism that respects freedom and his powerful critique of the ruling partys narrow, selfish and arrogant nationalism was scholarly and elegant, as you might expect. But his speech was also passionate and lyrical, radiating empathy for students painted as anti-nationals.
My Blog List The America Needs Fatima Blog Sixth Fatima Apparition and the Miracle of the Sun October 13, 1917 As on the other occasions, the seers, Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta, first saw a bright light, and then they saw Our Lady over the holm oak... 1 week ago
It's clearly a Budget," said George W Bush when shown a document. "It's got a lot of numbers in it!" But the numbers in Arun Jaitley's Budget don't spell much hope for millions of young Indians languishing for want of appropriate employment. They wouldn't be gainfully absorbed even if every small and medium shop in the country takes advantage of the finance minister's flippant generosity and remains open not just on Sundays but round the clock. The focus on shops and shopkeepers is understandable but even Narendra Modi's Gujarat ventured beyond traditional occupations to tackle the challenge of massive unemployment.
What is it about the I have been trying to answer that question since forever, before I was made privy to the depredations of the Hollywood machine, and before I understood the trying demands of celebrity, all la-di-da on the outside but not nearly as glorious inside. The celebrate an industry that may be technically superior but does not always produce great content. And the selection process is prone to all manner of biases, a cautiously timed publicity cycle not the least of the considerations.
A botched robbery by four Mongolian men on a Bangkok gun shop today left one of the intruders dead after a dramatic daytime shootout in the city's Chinatown district, police said.

The men, who police said held Chinese passports, stormed the store with BB-guns in an effort to steal real firearms.

But the were thwarted after the owner of the store opened fire on the robbers.

Armed police quickly joined in the firing and three of the raiders were wounded, with one dying later in hospital.

Officers are still hunting for the leader of the network, who they said has entered Thailand several times.

"They planned the operation well, first surveying the shop one day ahead of the robbery," national police chief Chakthip Chaijinda told reporters at the scene.

"Their purpose was to steal guns but we don't know what they planned to use the guns for," he said, adding the men were Mongolian.

The besieged store, "Inter Arms", is on a popular street for trendy bars and restaurants in the capital city's historic Chinatown neighbourhood.

Gun ownership is widespread in Thailand and watchdog groups say the kingdom has one of the highest gun murder rates in Asia.

The Thai government does not provide a specific breakdown for annual gun murders, but Gunpolicy.Org website, an online database of gun statistics run by the University of Sydney, estimates 3.48 murders per 100,000 people in Thailand -- a ratio on par with the United States.

According to the Interior Ministry, there are 6.1 million registered firearms in Thailand, a country with 67 million people.

But Gunpolicy.Org puts the number at closer to 10 million after accounting for weapons purchased on the booming blackmarket.
A key rebel bastion east of the Syrian capital was hit by at least two air strikes today, in the first aerial bombardment there since a fragile truce began, a monitor said.

"Two air strikes hit the edge of the town of Douma in Eastern Ghouta and one person was killed," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

He said the strikes were conducted by either Syrian or Russian planes, and could not identify whether the individual killed was a civilian or a fighter.
A Turkish court today sentenced two Syrian smugglers to four years and two months each in prison over the death of 3-year-old Syrian boy Aylan Kurdi and four other people, state media reported.

The court in the Aegean resort of Bodrum convicted the two of human trafficking but acquitted them of the charge of causing the deaths through deliberate negligence, the Anadolu Agency reported.

The image of the boy's lifeless body lying face down on a Turkish beach galvanised world attention on the refugee crisis, graphically illustrating the magnitude of the migrants' suffering.

Aylan's brother, Galip, and mother, Rihan, were also among the five victims who drowned when their boat went down in the ill-fated journey from Bodrum to the Greek island of Kos last year.

While Turkish authorities have given the boy's first name as Aylan, his aunt says the family prefers that it be transliterated as Alan.

Trials in Turkey usually take months - even years - to conclude, but the verdict, which came just a month after the trial opened, appeared to be an effort by the country to show that it is cracking down on human traffickers, just days before a March 7 summit between Turkey and the European Union to discuss the migrant crisis.

Turkey is under pressure to reduce the tide of migrants to Europe and to combat the smuggling rings since it reached a deal with the EU in November.

Under the deal, Turkey is scheduled to receive a 3 billion euro (USD 3.26 billion) fund to help the country deal with Syrian refugees.

The defendants, Syrian nationals Muwafaka Alabash and Asem Alfrhad, had denied any responsibility in the migrants' deaths. Instead, they blamed Aylan's father, Abdullah Kurdi, for the deaths - accusing him of organising the trip.

Prosecutors had sought maximum 35 years in prison for each.

Abdullah Kurdi has since returned to Syria.

Turkish officials say authorities in 2015 detained more than 4,400 smugglers who organise the often-dangerous crossings in frail boats.
Four Indian nuns were among 16 people killed in strife-torn Yemen's Aden city Friday when a group of terrorists stormed an elderly care home run by Kolkata-based Missionaries of Charity, handcuffed the victims before shooting them in the head.

The terrorists, numbering between 2 and 4, asked the guard to open the gate of the elderly home on the pretext of visiting their mothers. On entering inside, they first shot dead the gate keeper and then started shooting randomly on the inmates, officials in India's camp office in Djibouti said.

"The assailants escaped soon after the attack. The area has been cordoned off and the police are investigating the incident," the officials said.

In New Delhi, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said government was trying to find out details of the Indians killed in the attack.

"We are trying to ascertain the details of the Indian victims," he said.

In the wake of escalation of violence, Indian Embassy in Yemen's capital Sana'a was closed last year and all its functions were carried out from a camp office in Djibouti, a country neighbouring Yemen and across the Red Sea.

Al-Qaeda and ISIS have been stepping up attacks in Aden.

Two gunmen surrounded the home while another four fighters entered the building, an AFP report quoted witnesses and officials.

They said the gunmen moved from room-to-room, handcuffing the victims before shooting them in the head.

One nun who survived and was rescued by locals said that she hid inside a fridge in a store room after hearing a Yemeni guard shouting "run, run."



There are around 80 residents living at the home, which is run by Missionaries of Charity, an organisation established by Mother Teresa. Missionaries of Charity nuns also came under attack in Yemen in 1998 when gunmen killed three nuns in the Red Sea port city of Hodeida.
Four Indian nuns were among 16 people killed today when unidentified gunmen stormed a retirement home run by Kolkata-based Missionaries of Charity in the southern city of Aden and started shooting at them, Yemeni security officials and witnesses said.

Two gunmen surrounded the home for the elderly in Aden while another four fighters entered the building, witnesses and officials said.

They said the gunmen moved from room to room, handcuffing the victims before shooting them in the head.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the press.

One nun who survived and was rescued by locals said that she hid inside a fridge in a store room after hearing a Yemeni guard shouting "run, run."



Khaled Haidar told The Associated Press that he counted sixteen bodies, including that of his brother, Radwan.

All had been shot in the head and were handcuffed. He said that in addition to the four Indian nuns, six Ethiopians, one Yemeni cook, and Yemeni guards were among those killed.

He said that his family was the first to arrive at the house and that he spoke to the surviving nun, who was crying and shaking. Haidar said that his family later handed her over to southern fighters in charge of security in the local Aden district, Sheikh Osman.

The bodies were transferred to a police station and then a hospital run by the aid organization known as Doctors Without Borders or MSF. An official with MSF confirmed that 15 bodies had arrived at the hospital. Haider said his family took his brother's body for burial.

There are around 80 residents living at the home, which is run by Missionaries of Charity, an organisation established by Mother Teresa. Missionaries of Charity nuns also came under attack in Yemen in 1998 when gunmen killed three nuns in the Red Sea port city of Hodeida.

Aden descended into lawlessness after a Saudi-led coalition recaptured the city from Shiite Houthi rebels last summer.

Yemen's civil war has split the country in two. The northern region, where Shiite rebels are in control, has been struck by an extensive air campaign by a Saudi-led coalition.

The southern region, which is controlled by the internationally-recognized government backed by Saudi Arabia, is suffering from a power and security vacuum.

ISIS group and al-Qaida affiliates have exploited the lawlessness and created safe havens in the south.

Al-Qaida controls several southern cities and ISIS group has claimed responsibility for a wave of deadly attacks in Aden, including a suicide bombing that killed the city's governor and several assassination attempts on top officials.

Aden's churches have also come under attack. In the summer, a Catholic church in the district of Crater was torched and sabotaged by Islamic extremists.
Forty-three Chinese lawmakers have resigned and 27 dismissed in the last three years for graft charges under President Xi Jinping's campaign against corruption in the Communist nation, a senior official said today.

Some of the lawmakers were dismissed because of violating codes of conduct and laws, while some resigned for their involvement or suspected involvement in graft, said Fu Ying, spokesperson of the China's legislature the National People's Congress (NPC)  which will begin its annual session tomorrow.

Earlier on Friday, the Communist Party of (CPC) Central Commission for Discipline Inspection announced an investigation into Wang Min, vice-chairman of the education, science, culture and public health committee of the NPC, for suspected violation of Party codes of conduct.

"These cases show that anti-corruption campaign leaves no blind spot. Any NPC deputy who violates Party codes of conduct or laws will face punishment from the Party or stand trial in line with law," Fu said.

The national legislature will step up efforts in legislation related to anti-corruption, in a bid to root up the source of corruption, she added.

Besides large number of officials, a number of high level leaders including the former national security chief, Zhou Yongkang and high level military officials were prosecuted and jailed in the anti-graft drive launched by Xi.

Since Xi took over as President and Party chief in 2013, thousands of officials have been punished in massive anti-corruption campaign.

The campaign also attracted criticism that Xi made use of the campaign to consolidate his power base in the CPC.
75,000 to 80,000 paramilitary personnel will be deployed to provide security during the forthcoming assembly elections in five states -- West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry.

"Peak request is around 750 to 800 companies. We will meet the demand," Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi told reporters here today.

One company of a paramilitary force comprises around 100 personnel.

Mehrishi said at any given time, the number of paramilitary personnel on poll duty will not be higher than the figure given.

Polls in the five states are expected to be held in April-May.

Apart from the central paramilitary personnel, police forces of all states will be deployed in the respective states to ensure free and fair polls.

The Election Commission has already said that central paramilitary forces will be deployed in all polling stations well in advance and they will be used for area domination and confidence-building measures.

EC-appointed observers will be looking into the booth-wise and area-wise deployment of the central forces.

Central paramilitary forces are expected to be deployed at every booth and supervised directly by the Election Commission.

Sources said there would be a minimum 2 to 3 layers of security to ensure that voters reach the polling station without any threat or intimidation.
Actress Tina Fey is grateful she lives in New York City because she doesn't have to deal with Hollywood's double standards.

The former "30 Rock" star was a guest presenter at the Academy Awards but she quickly grew irritated with all of the messages of social activism her fellow celebrities were trying to convey, reported Contactmusic.

Fey felt it was hypocritical to hear about topics including "corporate greed" from a room full of "rich people", while she was also just overwhelmed by the sheer number of differing issues brought up at the Los Angeles ceremony.

"I'm so glad I live here (in New York City) because halfway through (the Oscars), I was like, 'This is some real Hollywood...'," she told radio host Howard Stern.

"Everyone's telling me what to do. People are yelling at me about rape and corporate greed but really it's climate change. I was like, 'Guys, pick a lane. Like we're going to fix everything tonight?' And also, like, 'You're all rich.
"Afzal Guru is not my icon, Rohith Vemula is", said JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar today, while asserting that there is huge difference between treason and being anti-government.

A day after he walked out of Tihar to a grand welcome, the 29-year-old research scholar, addressed a press conference at the JNU where he deftly handled a number of tricky questions, including speculations about his entry into mainstream politics.

Coming down hard on the Modi Government for "maligning" the image of JNU, Kumar said efforts to patenting of nationalism must be defeated and that there is a huge difference between "treason" and speaking against the government.

"We strongly condemn what happened on February 9th. It's for court to decide if that was 'raaj droh' or not. But I urge the government not to use serious charge of sedition to ruin future of student," Kumar said adding he is "a resident of India and not a terrorist."



Kumar was arrested on February 12 in connection with the February 9 event organised to protest the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru on his third death anniversary during which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised.

Kumar was granted interim bail for six months by the Delhi High Court on Thursday on condition that he will cooperate in the ongoing investigation. He was released from Tihar yesterday.

"If you ask me, Afzal Guru is not my icon, Rohith Vemula is," Kanhaiya said responding to barrage of questions on his view about Guru.

"For me, Afzal Guru was a citizen of the country who was punished under the law. Whether that punishment was right or wrong, anyone can debate that as the law permits the same."



Asked whether he will join politics, Kumar "I am not a politician, I am a student," he said, insisting JNU students can never be anti-national as they understand the meaning of freedom of speech and meaning of freedom.

He said "my task is to study and fight for those who wish to study but are unable to do so. Since the fight is long, there can't be a victory march but a unity march on that."



Reacting to remarks that taxpayer's money was being wasted in running the university, Kumar said "I want to tell the people of the country that the taxes they pay are being invested in the right place."



To a question, he said "I am against patenting of nationalism and the concept of Akhand Bharat propagated by ABVP and select sections of society.
Air India will operate the longest all-women crew flight from the national capital to San Francisco on March 6, to celebrate the International Women's day.

The "historic" New Delhi -San Francisco flight would have 14 crew members and four pilots, all of whom would be women. The flight would leave on March 6 and return on March 8.

Besides, the national carrier today said it would be operate over 20 all-women crew flights in domestic routes on March 8 -- the International Women's day.

Air India,, was the first carrier in the world to operate an all-women crew in 1985.

Air India CMD Ashwani Lohani said the flight to San Francisco on March 6 would be a symbol of "women empowerment".

"It will be a historic flight and the longest to be operated by all-women crew," Lohani said.

The state-run airline has around 3,800 women workforce of the total 27,500 people with 20,500 of them regular.

Duration of the flight would be more than 15 hours.

According to him, the airline has immense respect for women and everyone associated with the flight, including pilots, engineers and those at the gate would be women.

Every year, Air India operates all-women flights to celebrate the international women's day.
Public sector Allahabad Bank will raise Rs 58 crore by issuing over one crore shares to LIC on preferential basis.

"Resolved...To create, offer, issue and allot upto 1,32,44,282 equity shares of Rs 10 each for cash at an issue price of Rs 43.42 per equity share aggregating up to Rs 58 crore on preferential basis to Life Insurance Corporation of India or its various schemes," it said in a BSE filing.

Bank's extraordinary general meeting of the shareholders will be held on March 30 to transact the said business, it added.

The issuance of shares will result into a rise of shareholding in the Bank to 14.50 per cent from present stake of 12.61 per cent.

While, the shareholding of the government will come down to 61.38 per cent from 62.73 per cent.

Allahabad Bank scrips closed 5.39 per cent higher at Rs 50.85 apiece on BSE today.
Aluminium Association of India (AAI) will approach the Ministry of Mines for the revival of Aluminum Development and Promotion Council, its newly elected President Tapan Kumar Chand has said.

"We are in an important phase of growth for the sector. We will emphasise on development of downstream Industries to go along with primary metal producers," Chand said in his address to the AAI Governing Council meeting here.

Chand, who is the Chairman and Managing Director of NALCO, was elected as Honorary President of AAI at its Governing Council meeting held here yesterday, according to a release by the Association.

He said they would also press for the revival of Development Committee on Aluminium Utilisation.

The Aluminium industry wants the government to declare the sector as a "Core Industry" like steel and cement as aluminium too has its applications widely spread out like steel in particular, the release said.

At the meeting, it was announced that the next International Conference on Aluminium (INCAL) would be organised in Bhubaneswar in early 2017, wherein all overseas associations will take part.

The theme of the conference will be 'Make in India: Aluminium the Strategic Metal'.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) will register one more FIR this week against contractors and officials in connection with bungling in another major irrigation project in the alleged Rs 70,000-crore scam, Maharashtra government has informed the Bombay High Court.

It also said that the entire investigation will be completed in six months.

Associate Advocate General Rohit Deo also submitted progress made by Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in irrigation scam probe before a division bench comprising justices Bhushan Gavai and P N Deshmukh yesterday.

In an affidavit filed on behalf of the state government, it was stated that investigations in respect of Gosikhurd Left Bank Canal, Right Bank Canal, Mokhabardi Tail Canal are in advanced stage.

The state also informed that 20 special teams have been constituted to investigate the complaints pertaining to 36 projects and role of contractors, officials and non-officials will be looked into, and entire investigations will be completed within next six months.

The ACB, on February 23, has already registered its first FIR against contractor Fazal Ahmed of F A Constructions and four of his family members, a retired Chief Engineer and also a retired Superintendent Engineer of Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC) in respect of work on Ghodajhari (Chandrapur district) branch canal in the stretch between 42.60 km to 88 km.

This canal is a part of the Gosikhurd national irrigation project.

The High Court was hearing a PIL filed by Jan Manch yesterday on alleged tardy pace of progress by ACB in the scam.

Contradicting the popular perception about very little progress in the irrigation scam, the state government stated that ACB is conducting a thorough probe and due to voluminous and technical nature of evidence, some more time is required but in any case entire investigation will end in six months.

Special teams constituted by ACB will look into 36 works that involved costs of Rs 25 crore or more. In three more cases, enquiry is nearing completion, the court was told.

Contracts for earth-work, canal lining and construction



of various works under Gosikhurd project have been given to different contractors, the state told the court.

Meanwhile, in Amravati Division, ACB is conducting enquiry into various works relating to Jigaon and Lower Painganga irrigation projects, it said.

Jan Manch which has filed the PIL demanding CBI probe into irrigation scam citing very little progress during last one year, has pointed out that ACB itself had admitted that probe was on only in three cases.

The petitioner organisation had submitted 3,200 pages of "detailed analysis of scam" to ACB and even then precious little had been done, it was contended.

"We have brought to fore corruption in 38 major projects," the petitioners claimed.

During the last hearing, the High Court had sought an affidavit giving factual position of investigations made so far. The High Court had made it clear that the original PILs demanding a thorough probe into Rs 70,000 crore irrigation scam was disposed of since the government had promised an open enquiry by ACB into this mind-boggling irrigation scam, but nothing has come out so far.

The petitioner organisation has alleged massive corruption and "involvement of greedy contractors, pliant officers and their political godfathers who tweaked the rules to siphon off public money" and has urged the court not to rely upon the ACB, but hand over the probe to CBI.

The PIL had highlighted that within a span of just seven months in 2009, cost of 38 irrigation projects under VIDC had escalated by a whopping Rs 20,050.06 crore (from Rs 6,672.27 crore to Rs 26,722.33 crore).

About 35 out of these 38 projects got hurried approvals in just four days -- August 14, 2009 (11 projects); June 24, 2009 (10 projects); July 7, 2009 (5 projects), and August 18, 2009 (4 projects).

Cost of six of these projects went up by six times to 33 times of their original cost and in case of 12 projects, the cost shot up by more than twice the original estimates.

Advocate Firdos Mirza appeared for the petitioner-organisation. Associate AG Rohit Deo and GP Bharati Dangre represented the state.
The Andhra Pradesh Assembly's Budget session beginning tomorrow is likely to be stormy in view of eight Opposition YSR Congress MLAs switching loyalty to ruling TDP, and war of words between the two parties over alleged land deals in capital city region.

The session would have 18 working days, Speaker K Sivaprasad Rao said here yesterday.

The Budget is expected to be presented on March 10. The YSR Congress is seething with anger following eight of its MLAs crossing over to the TDP and its MLA RK Roja suspended for one year in the last session for her alleged unparliamentary comments against ruling party members, including Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

YSRC deputy leader in the Assembly, Jyothula Nehru, had said they might move a no-confidence motion if the state Budget is not satisfactory.

"The TDP government so far failed to keep its promises and has been adopting anti-people policies. If the Budget is not satisfactory, we will move a no-confidence motion against the government. We may also move a no-confidence motion against Assembly Speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao," Nehru said after a meeting of the YSRC Legislature Party on March 1.

Some YSRC members feel that this can build a strong legal case against its MLAs who switched over to the ruling party. By moving a no-confidence motion, the YSRC gets to issue a whip to its MLAs, and whoever violates it will be liable for disqualification.

The TDP and YSRC have been engaged in a war of words, with the latter alleging that ruling party leaders have purchased lands "illegally" in the capital city region of Amaravati by "misusing" power. The YSRC has also sought a probe in its allegations.

The YSRC also charged the TDP government with having failed to implement its poll promises like loan waivers for farmers, women self-help groups and doles to unemployed youth.

The TDP failed to get the promises, including special status, railway zone at Visakhapatnam, bridging the revenue deficit, made to it by the Centre during state bifurcation in 2014, the Opposition party has alleged.
Tech giant Apple has sought permission from the government to import pre-owned iPhones for sale in India, Parliament was informed today.

"An application from Apple regarding import of certified pre-owned iPhones for sale in India and manufacturing certified pre-owned iPhones for sale in India has been received in the Ministry of Environment and Forests," Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.

Prasad was replying to a question on whether any company has sought permission for refurbishing and selling used mobile phones in the country.

The minister further said the government has not taken any decision on the matter.

Apple is putting more energy in India to cash-in on the booming smartphone market in the country.

The California-based company, which saw total iPhone sales grow by 76 per cent in the country, had earlier said it will continue to invest in markets like India in the long-term.

Recently, Apple has also sent an application for approval to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) for setting up retail outlets in India.

India is one of the fastest growing handset markets globally and is poised to overtake the US soon.
German firm Bosch Packaging Technology has said that over the next decade, the level of automation in the company would be increased further to accelerate the growth in its India operations.

"Automation is the current trend which will bring about visible changes. Through continuous innovation, improvement and 'out-of-the-box' thinking, Bosch has been able to develop and provide solutions tailored to the needs of the market," Bosch Packaging Technology Head in India, Ashok Gourish told reporters today.

He was addressing media on the occasion of completion of two decades of Bosch's presence in Goa through its plant at Verna Industrial Estate.

"Over the next decade, the level of automation will further increase, and this will accelerate growth. Additionally, we expect a rise of new and attractive pack styles. These trends will lead to more flexible and technically advanced machines that are robust, safe and easy to operate and maintain," Gourish said.

"Bosch's packaging technology business in India has come a long way. Over the past two decades, the business has focused on staying customer-oriented and this has yielded positive results. Globally, Bosch Packaging Technology has an installed base of over 1,700 machines coming from India," said Bosch Packaging Technology's president Friedbert Klefenz.

On the importance of the region to the global packaging business, Klefenz said, "India's economic growth and market potential favours our business. Local operations continue to be pivotal to Bosch Packaging Technology's global growth strategy."



With a built-up area of 7,150 sq meters, the company's facility in Goa houses the latest testing infrastructure, besides technology manufacturing.

Customers are offered a sophisticated testing environment and equipment to test product packaging and parts.

The plant can also accommodate the training needs of both internal and external customers, who are keen on familiarising themselves with operation and maintenance of packaging machines.
The AYUSH Ministry has launched a song contest as part of the International Day of Yoga (IDY) celebrations on June 21 this year.

"The Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa Rigpa & Homoeopathy (AYUSH) has launched an open contest for 'yoga song or yog geet' in Hindi Language...As a part of celebration of IDY on June 21 this year. The best entry would be rewarded a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh," an official statement said.

It said that every contestant individual, group or organisation can send a maximum of two entries of 3-5 minutes duration in MP3 format, the size of which is within 5 MB.

Contestants will have to send their entry through email to inf-moayush@gov.In. The last date for submission of entry would be March 31.

Ayush Minister Shripad Yesso Naik had earlier said that the IDY will be celebrated on a "grand scale" this year with the government issuing an "improved" common protocol of asanas, besides holding other events to attract people specially students.

He had said the Ministry of Human Resources Development has also been asked to organise a Yoga Olympiad to popularise the practice among students.
Fourteen people, including 12 foreigners, have been arrested in Bangladesh for duping people on social networking sites, two weeks after a westerner and three bank officials were held for allegedly embezzling millions of dollars by manipulating ATMs.

Bangladesh's elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) said they arrested 14 people, 12 of them foreigners, on charges of cheating people through the Internet.

"They are members of an international cyber fraud gang. They were stealing money cheating people by using social network sites. We arrested them last night," an RAB spokesman said.

He said 12 of them were foreign nationals - eight from Nigeria, three from Cameroon, and one from Congo - but the spokesman declined to elaborate further.

Mobile phones, laptops and dollars were seized from them.

The development came two weeks after Bangladesh police arrested a westerner and three officials of a private bank on charges of embezzling millions of dollars by manipulating ATMs in the capital Dhaka.

The fraudulence forced banks to take precautionary measures, including temporarily shutting down transactions through the national payment switch (NPS), to safeguard the interests of clients.

After the arrests linked to the ATM fraud, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal had said that authorities were keeping an eye foreign nationals in Bangladesh.

Last month, police said they kept five foreigners under vigilance for suspected involvement in cyber crimes.
British academics have used geographic profiling in a study which backs up a theory about the identity of mysterious street artist Banksy, they said today.

Scientists at Queen Mary University of London said the pattern of how Banksy's artworks were distributed suggested he was artist Robin Gunningham, in a study published in the Journal of Spatial Science.

Gunningham was first named as Banksy by the Daily Mail newspaper in 2008.

Banksy's often politically-themed street art has made him a celebrity in Britain, despite his true identity never having been confirmed.

His most high-profile recent project was Dismaland, which last year mocked the conventions of amusement parks and was located in southwest England.

Geographic profiling is a technique used in fields from criminology to studying patterns of infectious disease.

The study analysed a series of locations of Banksy's artworks in London and Bristol and mapped them against "anchor points" such as the homes of people suspected of being Banksy to draw conclusions about possible identity.

"Our analysis highlights areas associated with one prominent candidate (eg his home), supporting his identification as Banksy," the paper said.

"More broadly, these results support previous suggestions that analysis of minor terrorism-related acts (eg graffiti) could be used to help locate terrorist bases before more serious incidents occur, and provides a fascinating example of the application of the model to a complex, real-world problem."



One of the research team, Steve Le Comber, told the BBC: "I'd be surprised if it's not (Gunningham), even without our analysis, but it's interesting that the analysis offers additional support for it."



The BBC also reported that Banksy's legal team had contacted staff at the university with concerns about how the research was to be promoted.
Vice President Joe Biden is heading to the Middle East for a visit that won't focus on the flare-up of violence between the Palestinians and Israelis.

The White House says Biden's trip to United Arab Emirates, Israel and Jordan will include talks with key leaders on US economic and energy interests, as well as security concerns about Iran and Syria.

But Biden will not bring any initiative on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The White House has said it does not believe either side has the political will to revive the peace process.
The Election Commission was today vested with powers to carry out a limited delimitation exercise in West Bengal's Cooch Behar district to allow voting rights to people who became Indian citizens following the exchange of enclaveswith Bangladesh.

"Election Laws (Amendment) Bill enacted into Act. Coming into effect from March 4, 2016. Process to make new citizens of India from erstwhile Bangladeshi enclaves as Indian electorates set in motion. We wholeheartedly welcome," Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda tweeted this morning.

The Bill was passed by both Houses of Parliament without debate and sent to the President for his approval last week.

These people had become Indian citizens with effect from July 31 last following exchange of enclaves with Bangladesh. They can be extended voting rights ahead of the Assembly polls in the state set to be announced today.

The Election Laws (Amendment) Act, 2016 will amend Section 11 of the Delimitation Act, 2002 and Section 9 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950.

It has now enabled the Election Commission to carry out limited delimitation of Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies in Cooch Behar district of West Bengal following the exchange of 51 Bangladeshi and 111 Indian enclaves in July last year.

The term of the 294-member West Bengal Assembly ends on May 29 and elections are likely to be held before that.

Following delimitation, these people will be made voters of Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies.

The enclaves were exchanged pursuant to the 1974 Land Boundary Agreement and 2011 Protocol and Instruments of Ratification during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Bangladesh on June 6-7 last year.

Other than the 14,000 people of the 51 enclaves that became part of India, about 921 who came from Bangladesh have also become Indian citizens.

The last delimitation in West Bengal was held in 2008 and laws needed to be amended for a fresh, but limited delimitation exercise.
BJP today hinted at contesting the Thane Municipal Corporation elections alone and said the party has started its ground work for the polls.

The mood among BJP workers is, the party should contest the civic body polls alone, BJP's Thane district president Sandeep Lele said.

He however said all decisions would be taken by the committee members and not an individual. "Workers decide and the president presides," Lele said.

"BJP fared well in the last state Legislative Assembly polls. If we put in more effort, we can get good numbers in the civic body elections scheduled later this year," the district BJP chief said.

"Booth-level activities are underway and party workers have been assigned responsibilities for a systematic approach to the elections," he said.

Lele also claimed that a number of current and former corporators are in talks with BJP and they might join the party in a couple of months.

To a question on whether Shiv Sena would keep its word regarding granting the post of chairman of the standing committee of Thane Municipal Corporation to BJP, the party's district chief said, he was hopeful for the same.

The date for elections to the standing committee of Thane civic body is yet to be announced.

Speaking on the constitution of BJP's Thane unit, he said, "The district unit comprises of 91 members of which at least 30 are women. Representation has been given to every group."



Harshala Bubera has been appointed the party's Mahila Morcha chief for Thane, Lele said.

"There are eight vice presidents, four general secretaries and eight secretaries in the unit, besides those leading the frontal organisations," he said.

"There are a dozen other persons who are in the list as special invitees. They include MLAs, MPs, city corporators and chief of Maharashtra BJP Mahila Morcha Madhavi Naik," Lele said.
Opposition BJP today protested against absence of Health minister Tej Pratap Yadav in Bihar assembly to answer questions related to the department, with the government stating that any cabinet member could reply since it was part of its collective responsibility.

As the assembly sat for the day and Speaker Vijay Chaudhary ordered to take up short notice question of JD(U) member Shyam Rajak relating to the health department, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shrawan Kumar rose to answer in absence of minister Tej Pratap Yadav, elder son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad.

BJP members protested the minister's absence with Leader of Opposition Prem Kumar saying it was not a good tradition that somebody else was answering for a minister concerned.

Senior BJP leader Nand Kishore Yadav sought to know the valid reason for the absence of the health minister and said it reflected state government's "non-seriousness" to reply to questions raised by the members.

With the opposition members staging protest, Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav, younger brother of the Health minister, rose from his seat and said when the minister comes to answer, the opposition stages a walkout and when he has not come a hue and cry was being made.

The Parliamentary Affairs minister who answered all the questions related to the health department said under collective responsibility of the cabinet, anybody could reply from the government side.

He said since the minister was not well he answered the question of Health department from the government side.

Earlier, Nand Kishore Yadav had alleged that the state government did not include health department for a special debate in the assembly due to "fight within RJD to prove Tej Pratap Yadav incapable.
The women's cell of Maharashtra BJP has demanded stringent action against a local Shiv Sena worker who was caught on camera beating up a woman traffic constable on duty last week.

"If this can happen with a police personnel then one can imagine the condition of the common women in the state," said state unit Mahila Morcha chief Madhvi Naik.

She said the hearing in the case should be conducted on daily basis and deterrent action taken against Shashikant Kalgude (44).

The incident occurred when the constable (29) spotted Kalgude speaking on mobile phone while driving his SUV at Nitin Junction here and demanded documents of the vehicle after stopping him.

The Sena leadership has condemned the incident but denied that Kalgude was associated with the party.

"We have sought appointment of special public prosecutor in the assault case and trial of the case in a fast track court," she said.

Kalgude was arrested and booked under sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 354 (molestation) of the IPC.
Armed with just a hammer, an Indian-American woman store clerk bravely fought and chased away a man who tried to rob her store at gunpoint, according to a media report.

Bhumika Patel was behind the cash register at her store in Burke County Georgia when the man, identified by authorities as 17-year-old Christian Dakota Thornton approached the counter and instead of paying for the soda bottle he bought, brandished a gun in Patel's face and demanded that she hand over all the money to him, a report in WRDW-TV Augusta said.

Surveillance video shows that Patel did not hesitate for a moment and took on the robber all by herself.

"I say no I can't. He say I shoot you! I say go ahead. If you want to shoot me, shoot me!" Patel said in the report recounting the incident.

Patel said she slapped the gun off from his hand and after pushing the gun to the side, she clawed at the man's hoodie as he tried to grab the money.

She continues to hit the man and grabbing the cash register drawer, begins beating him over the head.

Then as she got her hands on a hammer, the man fell down and ran out of the store.

Patel said she chased the robber outside the store, hammer still in her hand.

According to the Sheriff's Office, Dakota is charged with Criminal Attempt Armed Robbery, Aggravated Assault, and Possession of a Firearm during a Crime.

Deputies said the Richmond County Sheriff's Office helped arrest Thornton at a home in Richmond County after surveillance video deputies said shows him fight with a woman at the convenience store.

Patel said she did not sustain serious injuries in the fight except for a few scratches.

People in her neighborhood are calling her a hero and praising her for fighting off the man with bravery.

Patel said she preferred to go down fighting the man instead of letting him rob the store and shoot her.
US biotechnology major Monsanto Friday warned of re-evaluating its presence in India and holding back new technology if the government cuts trait fee of Bt cotton seeds drastically through "arbitrary and potentially destructive" interventions.

The Centre had last December issued an order to control cotton seed prices including trait or royalty value effective from 2016-17 crop year. A committee under the Agriculture Ministry has been set up to recommend the seed price along with royalty fee soon.

Mayhco Monsanto Biotech Ltd (MMBL), a joint venture firm of Monsanto, has challenged the order in Delhi High Court. MMBL has sub-licensed Bt cotton seed technology since 2002 to various domestic seed .

"If the committee recommends imposing a sharp, mandatory cut in the trait fees paid on Bt-cotton seeds, MMBL will have no choice but to re-evaluate every aspect of our position in India," Monsanto India Region CEO Shilpa Divekar saidI.

MMBL currently charges trait fees of Rs 122.96 and Rs 183.46 per packet of Bt Bollgard I and Bt Bollgard II seeds, respectively.

Divekar threatened it would be difficult to introduce new technologies in India at a time when there is no sanctity of contracts between the two private parties and no guarantee of recovering investments made in research activities.

"It will be difficult for MMBL to justify bringing new technologies into India in an environment where such arbitrary and potentially destructive government interventions make it impossible to recoup research and development investments focused on delivering extensive farmer benefits and where sanctity of contracts is absent," she said.

Noting that certain reports in the public domain are false, Divekar said, "We sincerely hope that the government will be fair in its approach."



Over the past 19 years, MMBL's single-minded focus has been to serve over seven million cotton farmers in India. This has been reflected in benefits delivered by the technology, trait value prevalent in India, broad licensing of technology and extensive ongoing investments in stewardship for sustenance of technology, she added.

According to sources, the government committee has already held one round of discussions on this issue. It is likely to submit its recommendation to the ministry soon.

The government's cotton seed order comes against the backdrop of a bilateral dispute where few licensees refused to honour their commitments to pay MMBL, over Rs 450 crores after collecting these amounts from the cotton farmers in Kharif 2015.

Meanwhile, competition watchdog CCI has ordered a detailed probe against MMBL for alleged abuse of dominance by the Indian arm of the US-based genetically modified seed giant Monsanto.
Stepping up pressure, jewellery traders have decided to extend their strike till March 7 even as bullion markets across cities, including Delhi and Mumbai, remained shut for the third day today in protest against the government's move to re-impose 1 per cent excise duty.

Jewellers today called on Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who has promised to look into the matter.

"We have met the Finance Minister in New Delhi and gave him our representation... He gave us a patient hearing and has assured us to look into the matter," All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation (GJF) Chairman Sreedhar G V told PTI.

The proposed re-imposition of 1 per cent excise duty on gold and diamond jewellery and mandatory quoting of PAN by consumers for transaction of Rs 2 lakh and above has not gone down well with the traders.

Meanwhile, the finance ministry has clarified that only jewellers with turnover of more than Rs 12 crore will be liable to pay 1 per cent excise duty on non-silver jewellery items.

Traders in several parts of the country, including the metros, kept their shops closed for the third day, All-India Sarafa Association Vice-President Surinder Kumar Jain said.

Jain said the association today wrote a letter to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley demanding withdrawal of the proposal.

Jewellers in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry have also decided to extend their three-day strike till March 7 where as much as Rs 2,000 crore worth business has already been hit due to the stir.

"Already, Rs 2,000 crore worth of business have been affected. We expect it (business loss) could be more in coming days," Madras Jewellers and Diamond Merchants' Association, President Jayanthilal Challani told reporters in Chennai.

Tamil Nadu and Puducherry as a region racks up a business of about 800-1000 kg of jewellery on a day.

"The excise guidelines which have been drafted for gems and jewellery are not practically implementable and will be detrimental to the survival of the industry. We are expecting positive results from the government, but our agitation and protest continue," All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation (GJF) Chairman G V Sreedhar said.

The apprehension is the proposed excise duty would lead to day-to-day harassment of small-time jewellers.
BJP youth wing president Anurag Thakur today said it would not be proper to question the entire JNU for the few 'bad fish' who have spoilt the atmosphere at the institution.

Addressing the media on the occasion of Bharatiya Jana Yuva Morcha's National Executive meeting in Mathura today, Thakur said, "It would not be right to question the entire JNU institution for the acts of some people. The need of the hour is to identify such people and address them."



Thakur was answering questions in the wake of JNU controversy and the bail of JNU Students Union President Kanhaiya Kumar, whom the Delhi police charged with sedition. Thakur, the Lok Sabha MP from Hamirpur, slammed the Congress for vitiating the atmosphere in the country to halt the BJP Government's march towards development.

"This national executive meeting is important because it is happening at a time when some political forces and people are vitiating the country's atmosphere and dividing people. Some political leaders are fully backing these people and their agenda.

"Those who have lost their relevance and mandate among people of this country are now doing all they can to stop Prime Minister Narendra Modi's development agenda. The youth of the country need to be apprised with all this," Thakur said adding that the executive will debate the current political environment in the context of the raging national versus anti national debate.

He also said that poll strategy in election bound states will also be discussed apart from the strategy in UP, which he said, "Helped make PM Modi the PM by giving a huge mandate in Lok Sabha elections to the BJP".

Thakur said the venue of the executive - Vrindavan in Mathura - held a special significance as it was the birthplace of Lord Krish and Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyay, the Sangh ideologue.
China is drafting its first Civil Code to manage civil affairs in the country after having failed four times due to "immature conditions" in the past, an official said today.

The Civil Code, which isexpected to be submitted to the national legislature in June, is a fundamental law for managing civil affairs. Its core is the protection of private rights, spokesperson of the National People's Congress, (NPC) Fu Ying told media ahead of tomorrow's annual session of the body.

From 1954 to 2002, lawmakers made four attempts to draft the code but all failed due to "immature conditions," she said, adding that China has made remarkable progress in the legislation of civil laws.

Major laws, including the Property Law and the Contract Law, have been enacted.

The Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in October 2014 demanded the compilation of the Civil Code, and legislation work began later.

There are two steps in compiling the Civil Code. The first step is to stipulate the code's general rules and the second is to comprehensively integrate civil laws, Fu said.

The draft general rules of the Civil Code have been worked out and the top legislature is soliciting opinions on it, she added.
China will hike its defence budget by seven to eight per cent this year from about USD 145 billion in 2015 amidst its worst GDP growth in 26 years and an escalating military showdown with the US in the disputed South China Sea.

"China's military budget will continue to increase. But the increase will be smaller compared to last year. It will about seven to eight per cent," Fu Ying, spokesperson for the annual session of the national legislature the National People's Congress, (NPC) told media here.

The exact figure will be released in the work report to be presented by Premier Li Keqiang to the main legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC) tomorrow during which he will also release the new official target for China's economy which last year slipped to 6.9 per cent, the lowest in 26 years.

China's defence budget rose by 10.1 per cent last year amounting to around USD 145 billion based on the exchange rate of the Chinese and US currencies prevailing at that time.

That itself amounted to a three-fold rise against India's USD 40 billion.

The 7 to 8 per cent increase was expected to widen it further despite the 9.7 per cent increase taking India's defence budget to Rs 2.58 lakh crore proposed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his latest budget amounting to USD 40 billion. With the exclusion of the pensions the actual Indian defence budget was expected to come down further.

India's defence budget in dollar terms almost remains the same as last year's levels due to depreciation of the rupee.

The proposed increase in China's military budget comes in the backdrop of articles in the state media calling for increase to match the US defence budget of USD 599 billion.

Terming the increase as small, Fu said in formulating the defence budget China will take into consideration its defence needs, economic development and fiscal position.

She quoted President Xi Jinping's remarks last year that China's 2.3 million-strong military will faithfully fulfil its "sacred duty" of protecting the security of the nation and people's wellbeing and carry out the noble mission of upholding world peace.

"So the ongoing military reform is aimed at achieving this goal," she said.

"In the context of the United States' accelerated military deployment in the Asia-Pacific region, its strengthening of military alliances with countries in the region and increased military provocations in the SCS, it is only reasonable to make comparison between China's military spending and that of the US," state-run China Daily said in an editorial yesterday.

"A large military gap between China and the US is unfavourable to world peace, and may spark risky military moves from the US, the stronger party," it said.

REOPENS FGN 16



Fielding a variety of questions on foreign and domestic issues, Fu, a former Vice Minister of Foreign affairs minced no words in attacking the US which she said is primarily responsible for the militarisation of the Asia-Pacific, specially the South China Sea (SCS) which has become the new theatre of conflict between Beijing and Washington.

Some people have connected China with SCS issue and militarisation of the region. The issue of militarisation has been hyped up, and is misleading using the "language of hegemony" while blaming China for affecting freedom of navigation in the SCS, she said.

"Talking about the militarisation if we look at the advanced aircraft and ships entering the area, majority of them are from US," she said adding that it was Washington which decided to deploy 70 per cent of its naval assets under its pivot to Asia strategy.

"Isn't it militarisation?" she asked in reply, adding that the US wrongly accusing China of militarisation in the SCS waters is misleading.

Most Chinese lawmakers and ordinary people are not pleased and do not agree with the US showing off its military power by sending warships in waters close to the SCS islands and reefs, she said.

The US said it did not take sides in the South China Sea disputes, however, its acts and rhetoric make people feel that it is raising tensions in the region, Fu said.

"If the United States is really concerned about regional stability and peace, is should support negotiations between China and neighbouring countries," she said.

Fu defended China's construction projects in the islands and reefs of SCS which were objected to by a number of other claimants to the dispute. They are necessary for providing public services and strengthening China's capacities for safeguarding regional peace, she said.

China claims the whole of SCS as its own which has been objected to by Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Taiwan as they have counter claims over the area, stated to be rich in minerals and oil deposits.

China also has a long-running border dispute with India which has not been resolved either.

Deployment of missiles and other military equipment by China in the artificially built islands also drew ire from these countries.

Fu said China has never recognised some countries' illegal occupation of some islands and reefs, and its policy of putting aside disputes and seeking joint development is based on China's sovereignty over those islands and reefs.

As the islands and reefs are far from China, they should have defence capacities, but those efforts should not be described as militarisation, Fu added.
Chhattisgarh government today informed the state Legislative Assembly that chit fund companies in the state have duped more than 46,000 investors to the tune of over Rs 343 crore in last four years.

State Home Minister Ajay Chandrakar gave this information while replying to a query raised by BJP MLA Devji Bhai Patel during the Question Hour.

Patel sought to know the number of chit fund companies against whom the state government took action in the last four years and whether any arrests were made in this connection.

In his reply, Chandrakar said, "Chit fund companies in Chhattisgarh had duped 46,092 people to the tune of Rs 3,43,02,59,305 inthe last four years."



A total of 159 offences had beenregistered against 79 unauthorised financial institutions, while 159 agents and 52 company officials/owners have beenarrested in connection with the fraud during this period, he added.

Of the 159 cases, police havecompleted investigation into 105 cases and had filed charge-sheet in thecourt, the minister said.

"Investigation is pending in 54 cases and policehave closed three cases, while one case was in the process of closure," he said.

However, Congress members created a ruckus over the issue alleging that the ruling party members are allowing such fraudulent companies to flourish.

"Several chit fund companies were inaugurated by cabinet members, including Chief Minister (Raman Singh)," Congress state chief Bhupesh Baghel alleged.

"People's confidence in such companies grows when they see ministers at the opening ceremony, and therefore they invest in them," Baghel said.

Refuting the charges, Public Works Department minister Rajesh Munat asked Baghel if he had any evidence to support his allegation, he should table it in the House.

Baghel also demandedthat a House committee probe should be conducted to unearth the facts.

Accusing the government of covering up the chit fund companies and seeking stringent action against the accused, Congress members later staged a walkout from the House alleging that thestate government was not paying heed to their demands.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today expressed sorrow over the demise of former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma.

"Sangma had a very sound knowledge of parliamentary issues. He was an important and sensitive public representative of the North East," Chouhan said.

Paying rich tributes to Sangma, he described him as a multi-faceted personality, an able administrator and the one who devoted himself for the welfare of the poor.

The void created by Sangma's death will not be fulfilled, he added.

Sangma, 68, died in New Delhi today following a massive heart attack.
Congress today attacked Modi government in the backdrop of JNU row and Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula suicide, saying that never before in the history of independent India has there been a government that is so "intolerant" to dissent.

In an editorial in the latest issue of the party's journal 'Congress Sandesh', it said "anyone, be it political parties, groups of intellectuals, artists, youth, especially students, find themselves accused of being anti-national by the government."



The youth, especially students, were "mesmerised" by Modi during the Lok Sabha election campaign through promises of booming economy and jobs. Now, the new definition of being a nationalist....Is being a "follower" of RSS or pro-BJP, it said.

Referring to the JNU row, it said that instead of taking action against a handful of youths who had given adequate warning of their intentions by the pamphlets they distributed, the government chose to use this opportunity to "target" the university that has always been "opposed" to their ideology.
Stating that Congress and CPI(M) were forging an alliance in West Bengal to stave off their "crisis of existence", TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee today exuded confidence that her party will trounce the tie-up in the state assembly elections.

"It is a crisis of existence for both Congress and CPI(M). Had it not been such a crisis, neither CPI(M) would have sold its head off to Congress, nor Congress would have done so to CPI(M)," Banerjee said.

Asked about possible adding up of vote shares of the Congress and Left Front against her party, she said "nothing will happen. Rather if they had fought separately, then there would have been a question of ideals, but here they have given up everything. Where there is no ideology, policy, nothing can flourish."



"Left Front has an ideology, BJP has an ideology. We don't support BJP as it is a communal party.

"I don't support the Left Front though everyone is not bad among them. I don't support them because of the torture they had brought down on the people for 34 years and their negative politics that has taken the state backwards," Banerjee said.

"I don't understand the policy of Congress, somewhere with the Left, somewhere with BJP. They are fighting against the Left in Kerala and making an alliance with them in Bengal," the West Bengal Chief Minister told a vernacular channel in an interview.

"Now they are holding meetings and rallies together in Bengal, then why fight against each other in Kerala?" she said.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and other party leaders today condoled the death of former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma whom they hailed as a dedicated Parliamentarian and veteran leader.

"The nation has lost a tall leader and the North-East has lost an important voice," the Congress President Sonia Gandhi said in a message.

Sangma along with NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Tariq Anwar had parted ways with Congress in 1999 on the issue of Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin.

Gandhi recalled the contribution of Sangma as a public representative, Union Minister, Chief Minister and Speaker of the Lok Sabha.

"Deepest condolences on the passing away of veteran leader & former LS Speaker Shri PA Sangma. His demise is a great loss to the nation," Rahul Gandhi said on Twitter.

Leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said it is "very saddening" to hear about the sudden demise of Sangma.

Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh expressed grief over the death of Sangma whom he hailed as a "most affable and likeable person."



Pawar also took to micro-blogging site to express grief over the death.

"PA Sangma vibrant, dedicated parliamentarian & effective speaker. My close companion! Heartfelt tribute to him. Champion of northeast issues," Pawar said.

"The tragic demise of PA Sangma creates a deep void. I share my deepest condolences at this moment of grief," NCP leader and former Union Minister Praful Patel tweeted.
Congress today boycotted the proceedingsof ChhattisgarhAssemblyafter its adjournment motion notice on atrocities on tribals in Bastar region and the deteriorating law and order situation there was rejected.

The fourth day of the budget session witnessed uproar as Congress south discussion on the killing of villagers in Narayanpur district by Naxals and alleged gang-rapes by security forces in tribalpockets.

The House was first adjourned for five minutes, and later Congress boycotted the proceedings, not satisfied by the Home Minister's reply.

State Congress chief Bhupesh Baghel who raised the issue said the BJP government appeared to be confused, lacking precise information. "Officials are giving different statements tomedia. Innocentvillagersare bearing the brunt of bothNaxalsand the police. Tribal women are being raped. They are gang-raped bysecurityforces. There is virtually no law and order in Bastar," Baghel said.

Revenue Minister Premprakash Pandey said that as a discussion on motion of thanks on Governor's address was scheduled, no separate discussion was needed.

Leader of opposition T S Singhdeo said the government could not confirm the number of deaths in Narayanpur. For the first time Principal Secretary of Home Department briefed the media (yesterday) but he too gave contradictory figures, Singhdeo said.

Speaker Gaurishankar Agrawal rejected the adjournment motion notice saying enough time will be given for discussion on all these issues during the discussiononmotionof thanks.
Congressman Ami Bera, the only Indian-American lawmaker in the current Congress, has endorsed two other fellow community members running for elected offices in the November general elections.

Bera, 51, yesterday announced that he was supporting Kesha Ram, who is running for Lieutenant Governor in Vermont and Pramila Jayapal, who is running for Congress in Washington state's 7th Congressional District.

"We need more women and more members of the AAPI community running for office," said Bera, who is the third-ever Indian-American lawmaker in the US Congress.

"Kesha and Pramila represent the next generation of leaders. Their focus on serving their communities and fighting for progressive values sets a powerful example to younger women," she said.

"I'm thrilled to have the support of Representative Bera as I continue to work on solutions that help our community get ahead," Ram said.

"Having the support of another member of the AAPI community will be crucial as I continue to fight for solutions and make investments that grow our economy and create opportunity for Vermonters," Ram said.

"As a candidate with nearly three decades of service to my community I'm proud to have the support of Bera, who shares my commitment to service, and I look forward to joining him in Congress," Jayapal said.

"With the strength of the AAPI community, we can create real change that expands economic equality and opportunity for all," she said.

Bera's parents immigrated to the US from Rajkot, Gujarat in 1958.
A one-day national conference of Construction Labour Boards attended by representatives from 27 states today passed a resolution against the Centre for allegedly "interfering" in their functioning.

The AAP government organised the meet where secretaries of the Construction Labour Boards of 27 states discussed welfare policies, schemes and best practices in respect of workers in the sector.

Delhi Labour Minister Gopal Rai charged that the Centre has "snatched" the power of Construction Labour Boards to appoint their chair.

"At the conference today, we passed a resolution against the Centre for snatching the power of state Construction Labour Boards to appoint their chairpersons," said Rai.

Representatives from Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Goa, J&K, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Sikkim, Puducherry, Mizoram, Odisha, Manipur and Tripura, among others, participated in the meet.
Meghalaya Governor V Shanmuganathan today said the counter-insurgency operations were effective and yielded positive results in the state and the government had adopted a strategy to address the root cause of militancy.

"The intensive and sustained counter-insurgency operations carried out by the security forces against insurgent outfits have been effective and are yielding results," Shanmuganathan said while addressing the first day of Budget session of the state Assembly here.

The governor said his government had also adopted a comprehensive strategy to address the root cause of militancy and insurgent activities in the state.

He said 21 civilians and eight securitymen lost their lives and 30 civilians and 16 security personnel were injured in insurgency-related violence in the past one year.

The government had also initiated peace settlements with interested groups of militants and steps were being taken in right earnest for their rehabilitation, he said.

On the situation along the Indo-Bangladesh border, Shanmuganathan said the process of delineating the boundary on the ground was underway following its ratification by Parliament. Meghalaya would retain 241 acres and Bangladesh 41 acres as per the agreement.

On infiltration, he said 41 locations had been identified where facilitation centres would be set up to keep a watch on illegal entry while construction of fences along the border would help check the same.

The governor said the state had also identified an area of 40,000 hectres for organic certification program of which the first year conversion program had almost completed.

Till December last year, 89 lakh mandays of rural employment were generated under the MGNREGA, while 869 new houses were constructed under IAY.

Under PMGSY, Rs 1,078 crore were sanctioned with a target to cover 1,747 km of road length connecting 483 villages, of which 687 km were completed, Shanmuganathan said.

Over 33,600 infirm and 21,095 widows besides 8,477 disabled persons had also benefited from the Social Assistance Scheme of the Chief Minister during the past one year, he said.
A sessions court here today reserved its order on the bail application of Patel quota agitation leader Hardik Patel, arrested in a case of sedition.

Additional sessions judge N G Dave is likely to pronounce the order on March 8.

Hardik, currently at Surat jail (arrested in another sedition case) filed his regular bail plea in the court here in January, claiming he was wrongfully booked for sedition and 'waging a war against the government' by Ahmedabad police.

The crime branch opposed his application saying the 22-year-old leader may indulge in similar activities if released and tamper with the evidence.

Hardik's lawyer Rafik Lokhandwala today said sedition is a colonial law enacted by the British to suppress the voice of freedom fighters and it had been wrongfully applied in this case against a "patriot" who is fighting for his community.

Hardik and his associates had raised their voice only for the betterment of the community and there was no feeling of hatred, disloyalty or enmity against government, he said.

The police, who had submitted the record of Hardik's intercepted calls before the court, failed to establish a link between the state-wide violence and Hardik's conversations with others during the quota agitation, Lokhandwala argued.

The FIR was politically motivated, the lawyer said.

The crime branch, in its affidavit, said Hardik may abscond if released. It also accused the Patel leader of spreading rumours of secrete meeting with a top government officer and a leader in Surat jail recently.

There had been no such meeting, it said, adding that Hardik may once again try to destabilise the government if released.

Property worth Rs 40 crore was damaged during the Patel agitation last August. Police have argued that inciting such a mass violence amounted to sedition and waging a war against the government.
A local court today sentenced eight persons to life imprisonment for murdering a shopkeeper during a riot at Dahkheri village here in 2006.

Additional District Sessions judge Mayank Chouhan convicted Mushtak, Sabu, Shokin, Rifamat, Sultan, Taswer, Mosam and Hasnu under relevant sections of IPC for murdering Mangta on January 7, 2006.

A fine of Rs 31,000 each was also imposed on the convicts.

According to government counsel Anjum Khan, Mangta was shot dead over boundary dispute at Dahkheri village under Sikheda police station in the district. A case of rioting and murder was registered against the eight persons in the incident.
Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju today said he was offered the post of Chief Minister of but he declined as he did not want to get involved in state .

"Chief Minister Kalikho Pul offered me the post first but I declined. He wanted me to lead the new government but I did not want to switch at this point of time because I have been given a mandate to represent people of the state in Parliament and I am doing my duty," he told reporters at the sidelines of an event at Rajiv Gandhi University at Doimukh, near here.

"I politely turned down the offer of Kalikho Pul and his team and said I don't want get involved in the state politics, so I declined to become the chief minister and said that I will not come back to the legislative assembly's affairs and I will continue to be in Delhi," he said.

Rijiju also appreciated Pul saying that he is not a selfish person.

He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given him responsibility as a minister which he had to discharge for the country and he would get the maximum benefit for .

The union minister was responding to media queries on allegations by Congress that he was the mastermind behind the political crisis in the state.

"The Congress was saying that we (Centre) imposed the President's Rule (in Arunachal Pradesh) because I wanted it.

"In fact the MLAs and the Governor were unhappy with me because the Governor recommended central rule on the night when the Raj Bhawan was gheraoed on December 15. But we delayed it. We said let the state government handle the state affairs," Rijiju said.

"President's Rule was finally imposed on January 26 after the Cabinet recommended it on January 24," he said, adding the sequence of events was "opposite" of what had been said (by Congress).

"The Governor and the dissident group were unhappy with us because we did not agree to impose President Rule.

"But when the Governor said his and his family's life were under threat and when for the second time the Raj Bhawan was gheroaed and the road was blocked, the Cabinet took the decision.

"Initially we were reluctant as we were not interested in imposing it," he added.

Rijiju said he is not interested or involved in state



affairs but only interested in the welfare of its people and asserted that all possible help would be provided by the Centre to the people of .

"Who became the chief minister and who runs the state is not important for me. I have been given mandate by the people and I care for them. Which party rules the state does not make any difference to me. My perception is my conduct," he said.

On rumours that he had appointed his brother-in-law as secretary to the Governor to gain political mileage, Rijiju said an IAS officer cannot be stopped from being appointed.

"I have not made any IAS officer. They must be appointed somewhere or the other. I have so far not appointed any OSD, PS or PA from my family. This is my principle," he said.

On whether there is possibility that the new Arunachal government would merge with BJP, he said he is not interested.

"When I became MP, people across party line voted for me. I am not concerned for MLAs or parties. My concern is for the people of the state.

"All ministers, including the former chief minister, tried their best to defeat me but people supported me. So my primary concern is people's welfare," Rijiju said.

On a query over the law and order scenario of the state, he said, "Law and order is a state subject and we (Centre) can only supplement. Whenever the state asks for necessary support of the central armed forces, we will provide."



The Centre, he said, is providing additional money specially for Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts. Money was also being provided to the state for modernisation of police forces, police stations and for procurement of arms and ammunitions.

"We will give extra money for other necessary requirements. For non-plan and capital expenditure which is required for the basic welfare of the Arunachal civil police, I want to extend best possible help to modernise state police," he added.

"There is nothing like special package...Whatever is required will come from the Centre. The government should submit proposals and we are ready to help," Rijiju said.

The union minister said besides normal budget he would try to get some extra for Arunachal.
The government has "recalibrated" the management of an account, which was used to pay money to the US under Foreign Military Sales route, after a review showed that nearly USD 2.3 billion had piled up without earning any interest, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today said.

The minister also said that the Defence Budget for the next fiscal, "nearly Rs 2.59 lakh crore" sans the pension allocation, was adequate and as per the ministry's requirement.

India and the US have now fine tuned the FMS procedure whereby rather than raising bills case-wise every quarter, all the funds against various cases have been pooled together in a corpus.

The corpus had been created in September last year, defence sources said.

A statement released by the ministry said that as and when funds are required to be paid per case, fullfilment of contractual liabilities, the said amount is being withdrawn from the corpus.

"Consequent to this creation of the corpus in consultation with the US government, no payments have been made in the last two quarters of the financial year 2015-16, against cases which necessitated payments, against the said contracts.

"Instead, payment is being effected from the corpus of 2.3 billion US dollars. It is hoped that no payments shall be required to be made till the amount of 2.3 billion US dollars is depleted and there is a necessity for us to replenish certain amount as required," the ministry said.

It said that this has happened through "scrupulous and holistic financial management".

Consequently, while the US government will continue to meet their contractual obligations, there will be no additional burden on the Indian government on this account.

It enables utilisation of scarce funds on other projects and hedges the country against adverse exchange rates, the ministry said.

Earlier in the day, Parrikar, who had put the corpus figure at about USD 3 billion, countered reports that the ministry has failed to utilise about Rs 11,000 crore from the capital budget of 2015-16. He said the country has actually saved money.

He said that even though the provision of capital acquisition in the budget was around Rs 77,000 crore, the actual anticipated spending will be around Rs 66,000 crore.

"We have taken measures by which Rs 11,000 crore saving appears there," Parrikar said, briefing reporters about the defence budget for the next fiscal.

The minister said this was the "first time" that Defence



Ministry took stock of Foreign Military Sales under which defence equipment is bought from the US via a government-to- government route.

"We pay to the government in an account which is held by the US or managed by the government of US from where the payments, as per the contract, is made to private companies.

"Unluckily, because of ill management or lack of attention to the provision of this account, we had slightly less than USD 3 billion dollars (USD 2.3 bn) which had piled up in this account and was not earning any interest," Parrikar said.

He added that somewhere around May and June last year, the ministry held a "review" and realised that "unnecessarily money is lying with the US government without appropriate contractual obligation being carried out".

"And we are transferring the money without actually taking stock of the balance. So, it was a government of India account with the American government for FMS. I am happy to tell you that we have recalibrated the full management of the account," he said.

Parrikar said the amount in the account has now come down to around "USD 1.7-1.8 billion". Explaining how so much money got accumulated, he said the money is sent in stages as per the contract schedule.

"At times, for some reason the schedule gets disturbed. Sometimes, the amount is calibrated based on rough calculations and the actual expenditure is slightly less. Sometimes, it goes up but most of the time it is less.

"Suppose the issue is over and all payments have been made. Then we realise that about 2 lakh dollars are lying in that particular account.

"Secondly, is there is a disruption of staged payment... actual consumption is less. In nutshell, money got accumulated, disbursal was less. There was a delay in payment and we are now using it for clearing," he said.

Parrikar said that last year, the ministry paid about Rs 5,000-6,000 crore from this fund for the country's committed liability for supply against the US government's direct military sales route.

"Money has been paid, but the government is saving from its budget Rs 5,000-6,000 crore which we paid. We have saved USD 700-800 million precious foreign exchange that has been utilised from the fund which was lying there because of lack of management. We have now started managing it," he said.

(REOPENS DEL88)



Parrikar said that even though an expenditure was



incurred, money did not leave its coffers.

"The money was already in someone else's pocket. We have only asked him to pay on our behalf," he said, adding that another Rs 2,000-3,000 crore was saved because the ministry is now strictly monitoring staged payment clauses.

"We are not allowing it to be loosely paid even to defence PSUs. So, these payments of committed liability have slipped," he said.

Talking about the budget for the next fiscal, he said there is Rs 70,000 crore for defence acquisition even though the actual capital budget is over Rs 86,000 crore. The spending through the capital route is over a period of time, he said.

As per new contracts being signed, nearly 10-15 per cent of the amount has to be paid at the onset, he added.

Parrikar explained that for the nearly Rs 1.20 lakh crore worth of contracts signed since the NDA government took over, it would have paid a maximum of Rs 17,000 crore.

"Acquisition funds provided is as per calibrated purchases which are going to be done. For the first time in Defence Ministry, we have carried out an extensive review of the next 10 years' cash flow position vis-a-vis the requirement of the military," he said.

Replying to a query on the Mountain Strike Corps, which was cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) in September, 2013, Parrikar said, "Whatever arrangements need to be made, have been done."



Asked about large sums to be spent on salaries and pensions in the wake of the expected decision on the Seventh Pay Commission, Parrikar said the "expenditure is inevitable".

He added that the government was keen on rationalising the strength of the army through a process undertaken by the force itself.

"We have asked army to undertake the exercise," he said.

Parrikar said another way of cutting down expenditure was to use simulators for training pilots and drivers.
Denmark is ready to send F-16 fighter jets and 400 troops to Iraq and Syria to fight the Islamic State group, Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said today.

A majority of political parties in parliament's foreign affairs committee expressed support today for the government's proposal, and "the government will on the basis of today's meeting submit a bill to a parliamentary vote to strengthen the campaign against IS," a statement from the prime minister's office said.

The vote is scheduled for April 19.

"It is a serious decision to send Danish men and women on a mission in the world's hot spots. Therefore, I am grateful that the government's proposal enjoys broad support from the parties in parliament," Rasmussen said.

The Danish contribution, which also includes a transport aircraft, would be available from mid-2016.

The 400 soldiers would include pilots, support staff and 60 special operations forces. It was not immediately known what the special forces would be assigned to do in Syria.

"It doesn't mean that the Danish soldiers will be in direct offensive combat. But they could be attacked, and therefore they will have a robust mandate," agency Ritzau quoted Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen as saying after the foreign affairs committee's meeting.

Denmark is a member of the international US-led coalition against IS, but has so far only intervened in Iraq.

In October 2014 until October 2015, it had seven F-16s in Iraq to help combat IS militants.

It currently has around 120 troops stationed at the Al-Asad air base near Baghdad, where they have been training Iraqi soldiers and Kurdish security forces.
Tens of thousands of displaced Syrians along Turkey's border have not returned home despite a truce that began at the weekend, a humanitarian organisation said today.

"Some 100,000 people gathered near the border -- including 50,000 in past weeks after the spike in violence in early February from the Syrian government coalition -- have not yet started to return home because it's too dangerous," the head of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), Joanne Liu, told AFP.

Today marked the seventh day of the ceasefire brokered by the United States and Russia.

"There has been a drop in the violence and a marked decrease in air strikes and bombings but they haven't completely stopped," Liu said.

"We're in a transition period and I think it will take another few days for things to settle and for people to become convinced there really is a truce."



But "the movement of people fleeing the (northern) Idlib and Aleppo provinces to the border has decreased enormously", she added.

Tens of thousands of Syrians fled the northern city of Aleppo and surrounding areas in early February as Syrian forces backed by Russian air strikes pressed an offensive there against rebels.

More than 270,000 people have been killed and millions displaced in Syria's five-year war.

"For us, it's the most serious humanitarian and medical crisis at the moment," Liu said. "Work in Syria is a challenge and is extremely difficult."



She said that in 2015, 94 out of 153 clinics and hospitals supported by MSF in Syria were targeted by bombings and air strikes. 12 hospitals were completely destroyed.

These facilities treated 154,000 people wounded in the war, of whom 30 to 40 per cent were women and children, Liu said.
"If one wrote a letter to Gandhi today, where would it go," asked Delhi University professor Approvanand as he explained his idea of nationalism to JNU students.

"Gandhi's mail from around the world had a single address- his name, Gandhi, Bapu, India. If a letter is written to him today, where will it go? Will the letter reach? It is a question worth pondering over," he said.

Saying that the ashrams and trusts he stayed in couldn't represent his last address anymore, the Professor said that one had to go to the leader's last years to probably find his present mailing address.

"Lot of trusts run in his name, but they couldn't be his last address either. Bharat raj claimed they are Gandhi's last address. But if one has to find his true address we need to go to the last years of his life.

Touching upon the time between 1946-48 the professor spoke about the time of partition and the effects of communal conflicts Gandhi tried to mitigate wherever he went, whether it was Bengal or Delhi.

"He (Gandhi) was supposed to go to Punjab on 9th September buthe landed in Delhi. In a letter he wrote to his friend, he said that Delhi has turned into a graveyard," he said.

Spending his last days at Birla Bhawan where he observed fast to stop communities in Delhi from killing each other, Gandhi was urged by Nehru to end his fast. "Everyone goes to Rajghat, but no one goes to Birla Bhawan because it is said that Gandhi's ghost haunts the place and it asks you: What have you made of this country?".

The professor, however, said if there was one person whom Gandhi trusted with his idea of a secular nation, it was Jawaharlal Nehru."



And that is why I think if there is a letter addressed to Nehru, it should come to this university named after the leader".

"Gandhi chose Nehru as his last address. Because Nehru was the one man committed to Gandhi's idea of a secular nation. And even when they differed in ideas sometimes, they loved each other. And a place like JNU and its students has a responsibility to protect that vision which Gandhi and Nehru held for the country".
Militants are planning to mark the 100th anniversary of Ireland's Easter Rising against British rule with attacks on police and army targets in Northern Ireland, the province's police force warned today.

The warning came just hours after a 52-year-old prison officer was injured when an explosive device detonated under the van he was driving shortly after leaving his home in Northern Ireland's main city, Belfast.

Stephen Martin, a senior officer in Northern Ireland's police force said he was "very worried" about the threat ahead of the commemoration on March 27 of the revolt that paved the way for Ireland's independence.

The anniversary is being marked with a series of high-profile events both in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

"There are people within dissident republican groupings who want to mark the Easter 2016 100th anniversary in an entirely more sinister way, who want to kill police officers, prison officers or soldiers," Martin said in a video on Facebook.

A 52-year-old prison officer was injured today shortly after leaving home on his way to work when an explosive device detonated under the van he was driving in Northern Ireland's main city Belfast.

Martin said his injuries were "not life-threatening" but added: "This could have been a fatal attack."



Police are treating the bombing as attempted murder.

Northern Ireland's First Minister Arlene Foster and her deputy Martin McGuinness, a former leader of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), condemned the incident as "despicable and shocking" in a joint statement.

"The perpetrators offer nothing but hatred and fear," they said.

Some 3,500 people were killed during a mostly sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted more than three decades.

Much of the violence was brought to an end by the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement that created a power-sharing coalition in the province.
An Egyptian flight student who was arrested after posting threatening comments about Donald Trump on his Facebook page agreed today to leave the country by July.

Immigration authorities agreed to let Emadeldin Elsayed, 23, return to Egypt voluntarily instead of deporting him, so long as he departs by July 5. Elsayed, who is being held at a jail in Southern California, appeared at a hearing in immigration court in Los Angeles shackled and wearing a yellow jail jumpsuit.

His lawyer, Hani Bushra, told Immigration Judge Kevin Riley that he may seek another bond hearing for the aspiring pilot from Cairo because he believes Elsayed's detention is illegal.

Immigration authorities arrested Elsayed at his Los Angeles-area flight school on February 12, eight days after the Secret Service interviewed him about a post he wrote on his Facebook page. It said he would be willing to serve a life sentence for killing the Republican presidential hopeful.

Federal prosecutors have not charged him with a crime, but his visa was revoked.

Elsayed said in a phone interview earlier this week that Trump's comments about banning Muslims from traveling to the United States angered him, but he never intended to harm anyone.

Trump has used especially tough talk on immigration during his campaign. He has vowed to build a wall along the entire Mexican border and called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country.
An Egyptian flight student is expected to appear at a deportation hearing after he was investigated by federal agents for posting threatening comments on his Facebook page about Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump.

Emadeldin Elsayed has a hearing scheduled today before Immigration Judge Kevin Riley in Los Angeles.US Secret Service agents interviewed Elsayed in early February about the post.

Authorities told him eight days later that federal prosecutors were not charging him with a crime but his visa to attend flight school had been revoked.Immigration authorities then arrested him.

Elsayed's lawyer says the 23-year-old wrote he was willing to serve a life sentence for killing Trump and the world would thank him.

During his campaign, Trump has called for temporarily banning Muslims from entering the country.
The EU today imposed additional punitive measures against North Korea over recent nuclear and ballistic missile tests carried out in defiance of United Nations resolutions.

The 28-nation bloc said it was adding 16 North Korean individuals and 12 entities to the sanctions blacklist which counts some 60 individuals and groups who were hit with travel bans and asset freezes after previous tests.

The UN Security Council on Wednesday adopted the toughest sanctions yet against Pyongyang, imposing unprecedented inspections of all cargo to and from the notoriously reclusive country which has locked itself away from the rest of the world for the past 60 years.

The sanctions also ban or restrict exports of coal, iron and iron ore and other minerals from North Korea, and prohibit the supply of aviation fuel including rocket fuel as part of efforts to get Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear and missile ambitions.

EU foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini said earlier this week the bloc would act swiftly on the UN lead, describing North Korea's actions as a "grave threat to international peace and security in the region and beyond."



The European Union established diplomatic relations with North Korea in 2001 but contacts are minimal. Brussels adopted its first sanctions in 2006.

The names of the new sanctions targets will be announced in the EU's Official Journal tomorrow.
The European Union today unveiled a "roadmap" to end border controls reintroduced by member states because of the migrant crisis and restore by year's end the Schengen passport-free travel area.

Brussels called for the creation of an EU coastguard force by the summer, help for Greece to strengthen its external border, and to ensure the cooperation of Turkey in stemming the flow of migrants.

The plan was announced as figures showed that a record 1.25 million asylum seekers arrived in the EU in 2015, more than double the figure from the previous year.

"Let me be crystal clear on the ultimate objective of today's roadmap," EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos told a conference.

"It is to move from unilateral decisions on reintroduction of border controls towards a coordinated approach, and to lift all internal border controls by the end of this year," he said.

The 26-country Schengen area -- allowing passport-free travel from Iceland to Greece -- is under threat as eight countries have reintroduced border controls to stem the flow of migrants through the bloc.

Most migrants arrive in the Greek islands over the Aegean Sea from Turkey, but a majority then travel up through the Balkans to wealthy Germany.

The European Commission said that re-establishing border controls in the Schengen area could cost between five billion and 18 billion euros (USD 5.5 billion to 20 billion) a year -- equivalent to 0.05 per cent to 0.13 per cent of the bloc's economic output.

The plan by the European Commission, the executive arm of the 28-nation union, sets out a timetable for Greece to fix "serious deficiencies" in control of its external border.

The roadmap also says the EU will set out a replacment for the Dublin rules, under which refugees must claim asylum from the first country they arrive in -- currently most often Greece -- and should be returned there if they move on somewhere else.

The Commission plan also calls for member states to stop the "wave through" of migrants to other countries.

An EU border and coastguard system that European leaders have agreed to create should be operational by September at the latest, the plan says.

Avramopoulos said an EU summit with Turkey in Brussels on Monday, which is aimed at pushing forward a deal with Ankara to stem the migrant flow, would be "decisive".

The EU would also allocate a further 95 milllion euros in aid for refugees in Turkey, he said, the first part of three billion euros in assistance that Brussels has promised under the deal.
Former Chief Income Tax Commissioner Krishna Saini was today appointed as the new chairman of the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC).

Power Minister Satyendar Jain administered the oath of office to Saini, who was selected on the basis of the recommendation of a three-member Selection Committee.

As DERC was headless for few months, the regulatory body's work, including the process of new tariff determination in the national capital, was affected.

A senior official said the appointment follows permission granted by the Delhi High Court in its order on February 24 this year.

Saini, a 1981-batch Indian Revenue Service officer, will have to strike a balance between the three power distribution companies, which have been demanding an increase in power tariff, and the AAP government, which is against it.

Saini recently retired as Chief Commissioner of Income Tax.
Anti-corruption vigilance sleuths today arrested three persons including an Executive Officer and a dealing assistant of Baripada Municipality in Odisha for allegedly accepting a Rs 3 lakh bribe for issuing of trade license in favour of a hotel.

Executive Officer Samaresh Mohanty, dealing assistant Bula Mohanty alias Pankaj Mohanty and Gagan Bihari Mohanta, a private person, were arrested after vigilance sleuths laid a trap on the basis of a complaint by Chandan Mohakud, advocate of Hotel Golden Inn, Baripada, vigilance officers said.

Mohakud had alleged he had applied for Trade License in favour of Hotel Golden Inn. He met the Executive Officer dealing assistant for issue of license and both the accused persons demanded Rs 6 lakh as illegal gratification for the above purpose, they said.

After negotiation, both the accused agreed to settled the matter with Rs 5.5 lakh. On further request, they agreed to receive Rs 3,00,000 as first instalment, the rest Rs 2.5 lakh later on and promised to process the file after receipt of bribe money, they said.

A trap was laid by vigilance officials. The accused Dealing Assistant Pankaj directed the complainant to accompany him to a nearby photocopy shop owned by his friend Gagan Bihari Mohanta and asked him to hand over the cash of Rs 3,00,000, they said.

Accordingly, Mohakud handed over Rs 3 lakh to Gagan Bihari Mohanta and the bribe money was recovered from his possession, they said adding the three were arrested and further investigation was in progress.
Scientists today said they had found the first evidence of a biological link between the Zika virus sweeping Latin America and microcephaly, a severe deformation of the brain among newborns.

Laboratory tests found that the virus targeted key cells involved in brain development and then destroyed or disabled them, they said.

The findings are the first concrete evidence of a link between the mosquito-borne virus and microcephaly, which until now had been circumstantial, said Guo-li Ming, a professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins' Institute for Cell Engineering, and a co-leader of the research.

"Studies of foetuses and babies with the telltale small brains and heads of microcephaly in Zika-affected areas have found abnormalities in the cortex, and Zika virus has been found in the foetal tissue," he said in a statement.

Scientist exposed three types of human cells in a lab dish to the Zika virus, a method called in-vitro experiment.

The first -- known as human neural progenitor cells (hNPCs) -- is crucial for the development of the cortex, or outer layer, of foetal brains.

Damage to these cells, which eventually differentiate into mature neurons, would be consistent with the brain defects caused by microcephaly.

The other two types of cells were stem cells and neurons.

As predicted, Zika virus attacked the human neural progenitor cells. Within three days of exposure, 90 percent were infected, and nearly a third had died.

Infected cells, meanwhile, had been hijacked to turn out new copies of the virus.

Furthermore, the genes needed to fight viruses failed to activate, which was a highly unusual outcome.

By comparison, the other two types of human cells were relatively unharmed.

"Our results clearly demonstrate that Zika can directly infect hNPCs in vitro with high efficiency," the study concluded.

"It is very telling that the cells that form the cortex are potentially susceptible to the virus," Ming added.

The findings, published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, may help to identify drugs that protect these vulnerable cells or reduce infections after they occur.

"Now that we know cortical neural progenitor cells are the vulnerable cells, they can likely also be used to quickly screen potential new therapies," said co-author Hongjun Song, also from the Institute for Cell Engineering, based in Baltimore, Maryland.

By itself, Zika is typically no more threatening than a bad cold or a mild case of the flu. Sometimes there are no symptoms at all.
Families of 12 passengers on Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 today sued the carrier and the government, ahead of a filing deadline next week on the second anniversary of the plane's disappearance.

The Boeing 777 carrying 239 flew far off course for unknown reasons after leaving Kuala Lumpur for Beijing on March 8, 2014.

An ongoing search of the southern Indian Ocean has found no trace of the plane, though a wing part from the aircraft washed ashore on Reunion Island last year.

A global aviation agreement sets a two-year deadline for lawsuits by next-of-kin over air accidents.

Lawyer Sangeet Kaur Deo, who is representing 10 families, said the lawsuits involve a passenger from Russia, one from China and the rest from Malaysia.

Apart from the airline, the lawsuits also named the government and the then heads of the civil aviation department and the navy as defendants.

Sangeet said her clients were engaged in settlement negotiations with the airline earlier.

"Everyone waited till the last minute to give time to the airline to settle but nothing reasonable was forthcoming. So they have no choice but to take legal action given the time limitation," Sangeet said.

Lawyer Yeoh Cho Kheong, who is representing the families of two Ukrainian passengers, said his clients will continue negotiations with the airline despite the lawsuit. The two men, aged 44 at the time, were partners in a furniture business.

The families said they each earned USD 2 million annually and were on their way to Beijing for a business deal, Yeoh said.

"If an out-of-court settlement can be achieved, I believe my clients will accept it," Yeoh added.

All the lawsuits are seeking unspecified sums for negligence and breach of contract, the lawyers said. Sangeet said she expects to file two more lawsuits on Monday, the last day for filing.

An international aviation agreement allows each next-of-kin of passengers on board a plane up to USD 175,000 in compensation, but a plaintiff filing a lawsuit can seek more.
A whirling fan fell and hurt three students during the convocation ceremony of the prestigious Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST), Shibpur, today.

The three students of civil engineering department, who had received their degrees, were waiting for the ceremony to get over when the fan suddenly fell on their heads, IIEST officials said.

One of them, Abhijit Mandal received a cut on his neck from the blade of the fan, while two others Arghadeep Das and Devarun Banerjee were left with pain on their head and neck areas.

All the students were released after a first-aid in the campus, they said.

The ceremony continued after the accident, which created panic among the students and some of them even left the convocation hall.

IIEST registrar Biman Bandyopadhyay said action will be taken against those found guilty of making faulty arrangements.

Established in 1856, the Bengal Engineering Science and University (BESU) was upgraded to IIEST two years back by the Centre.

Located in Howrah, adjoining Kolkata, this was the institute's second convocation ceremony.

(REOPENS CES8)



During the convocation, Dadasaheb Phalke awardee



filmmaker Mrinal Sen and classical vocalist Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty were conferred with DLitt degrees (honoris causa).

93-year-old Sen, however, was not personally present at the convocation due to age-related issues.

Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy, an alumnus of the 1966 batch of Bengal Engineering College, was honoured with the 'Distinguished Alumnus Award' at the function.

Former IISc Bangalore Director Professor Goverdhan Mehta and retired IIT Delhi Professor Suhash Chandra Dutta Roy were conferred with honorary DSc degrees.

(REOPENS CES8)



During the convocation, Dadasaheb Phalke awardee



filmmaker Mrinal Sen and classical vocalist Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty were conferred with DLitt degrees (honoris causa).

93-year-old Sen, however, was not personally present at the convocation due to age-related issues.

Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy, an alumnus of the 1966 batch of Bengal Engineering College, was honoured with the 'Distinguished Alumnus Award' at the function.

Former IISc Bangalore Director Professor Goverdhan Mehta and retired IIT Delhi Professor Suhash Chandra Dutta Roy were conferred with honorary DSc degrees.
Farmers body FAIFA today protested against Health Ministry's directive on graphic pictorial warnings on cigarette packs.

Representatives of Federation of All India Farmer Associations (FAIFA), a body of farmers associations from South, West and North India engaged in cultivation of cash crops, today staged protest at Jantar Mantar here and demanded immediate government intervention.

"Illegal and contraband cigarettes do not carry any mandated health warnings, thereby creating an impression that such products are safer over legal, regulation-abiding domestic products. This along with high taxes on legal cigarettes has led to quantum growth of illegal tobacco and cigarettes," FAIFA said in a statement.

A Health Ministry directive on tobacco packaging mandates a revision in the existing warning size to 85 per cent on both sides of the pack. The directive will come into effect from April 1 this year.

The farmers fear that the larger graphic health warnings, if implemented, will further lead to increased growth of illegal and smuggled cigarettes in India, thereby affecting their livelihoods, it added.

The association also claimed that none of the other top ten tobacco growing countries in the world has adopted such an extreme position on graphic health warnings.
The proposed venue for programme of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to unveil some Railway projects on March 12 here is facing difficulties with farmers refusing to cut their crop in the 60 acre field in Sultanpur village prematurely.

Farmers of Sultanpur village under Hajipur Industrial Area police station, some 6 km from district headquarter here in Bihar's Vaishali district, are refusing to part with their wheat crop which would be ready soon, to clear the venue for the PM's programme on March 12.

District Magistrate Rachna Patil told PTI today "We are looking after the matter."



Chief Public Relations Officer of East Central Railway (ECR) Arvind Kumar Rajak told PTI that in view of the protest, alternative venue was being looked into.

The DM Patil also not ruled out the alternative venue.

The PM is scheduled to dedicate the Digha-Sonepur rail-cum road bridge besides the new Railway bridge at Munger at a function to be hosted by ECR on March 12.

The PM might also flag off a few trains in presence of Railway minister Suresh Prabhu and his deputy Manoj Sinha during the function.

Besides, the Railway programme, the PM would be attending closing function of centenary celebration of the Patna High Court on the same day.

Earlier, at a meeting on Wednesday between ECR General Manager A K Mittal and Chief Secretary Anjani Kumar Singh, it was decided that over twelve farmers who would lose their crop at the venue, would be compensated.

Sub Divisional Officer (SDO) of Hajipur Ravindra Kumar is trying for past two days to convince the farmers to make available the land.

One of the affected farmer Raja Ram Rai said to be close to RJD, said the wheat crop in their field was like a "young son for us which we do not want to sacrifice."



Media reports suggested that local BJP strongman Nityanand Rai, who is presently BJP Lok Sabha member from Ujiyarpur in Samastipur district, might broker peace with the agitating farmers.
Private sector Federal Bank today said it has entered a dealer financing agreement with Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) to thrust commercial vehicle and passenger vehicle loans.

Hyundai Motor India Ltd, the country's leading car manufacturer and the largest passenger car exporter, today signed a Preferred Financier Agreement with Federal Bank, Federal Bank said in a release.

"Federal Bank is expanding its operations in commercial vehicle and passenger vehicle financing. This arrangement with HMIL for funding the dealers will be one of several such initiatives.

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Zopper acquires retail POS company EasyPOS * Hyperlocal mobile marketplace Zopper today announced it has acquired cloud-based retail point-of-sale (POS) company EasyPOS, which would be utilized for billing, inventory, employee and loyalty management.

Zopper has made a cash and stock acquisition in the POS platform with the intent to create a long-term association and value for its partner retailers.

EasyPOS enables businesses to become organized and increase their overall sales.

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Largest integrated puzzle parking set up in Coimbatore * City-based Sieger today claimed to have set up the country's first largest integrated puzzle parking system at a hospital here with a capacity to accommodate 370 cars.

The project, set to become operational on March 10 at the GKNM Hospital, had been developed at a cost of Rs.13 crore, Seiger Managing Director G Radhakrishnan told reporters here.

This was the first of its kind parking system in the country, he said.

Stating that the company, with its footprint deep etched in textile machinery making, has already executed a basement car parking at a textile complex here, Radhakrishnan said that it had taken up two big projects in Chennai and some projects in nearby Salem and Erode.

British Airways offers special fares



*British Airways will offer special fares for its flights from India, which will be applicable on bookings made till April 24.

"The offer is available for flights from India to a huge selection of exciting destinations including the UK and US, the all-inclusive fares starting from just Rs 44,460 on World Traveller economy class and Rs 131,965 on Club World business class," the airline said in a release today.

It would be valid for booking till April 24. The outbound travel period would be till June 30 in World Traveller and in the Club World from May 1 to July 31.

*************



IFC opens trading at London Stock Exchange



*World Bank group member IFC today opened trading at the London Stock Exchange to commemorate issuance of a 15-year 'masala bond' through which it raised USD 30 million recently.

World Bank group's managing director and chief financial officer Joaquim Levy, IFC's vice president and treasurer Jingdong Hua, LCH Clearnet Group's chief executive Suneel Bakhshi, and Indian High Commissioner to the UK Navtej Sarna were present at the ceremony.

Till now, IFC had raised money through the 'masala bonds' in maturities of three, five, seven, and 10 years, and the longer maturity will help deepen India's capital markets by extending the yield curve and setting a pricing benchmark for future issuances, an LSE statement said.

****************



Bank of India introduces new technology for payments by mobile



*State-run lender Bank of India today said it has introduced a new technology for payments which will enable a customer to initiate a transaction using the mobile phone, rather than swiping the card.

The payments can be initiated by customer from the mobile using mVisa application, instead of traditional card swipe on the electronic data capturing (EDC) machine, it said in a statement.

The merchants can accept these transactions by creating a quick reference code using the same application which is provided to them as well, it said.

Apart from this, the bank has also introduced EDC machines which can accept transactions of contact less cards, it added.
Five members of an alleged motor-cycle lifting gang were arrested and 11 stolen bikes and some cash recovered from them at Jeypore in Koraput district, the police said today.

The arrest was made yesterday during investigation into a theft case.

A few more persons of the gang are on the run, Inspector In-Charge of Jeypore town police station Tapan Rath said.

The recovered bikes had been stolen from several places in Jeypore during the past few months.
India attracted USD 385.45 million FDI in the food processing sector during April-December period of the current fiscal, Parliament was informed today.

In the previous fiscal, foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in the food processing sector stood at USD 515.86 million.

According to the data shared by Minister of State for Food Processing Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti in a written reply in Rajya Sabha, the sector has attracted USD 5,285.66 million FDI during April 2012 to December 2015.

"In the Budget 2016-17, the government has announced 100 per cent FDI in marketing of food and food products produced and manufactured in India," Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.

Earlier this week, while tabling the Union Budget, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said that 100 per cent FDI will be allowed through FIPB route in marketing of food products produced and manufactured in India.

He added that this will benefit farmers, give impetus to food processing industry and create vast employment opportunities.
Country's foreign exchange reserves declined by a whopping USD 3.58 billion to USD 346.79 billion in the week ended February 26, on account of fall in foreign currency assets (FCAs), according to Reserve Bank.

In the previous week, the reserves had fallen by USD 1.47 billion to USD 350.37 billion.

FCAs, a major component of overall reserves, decreased by USD 3.56 billion to USD 325.03 billion in the reporting period, RBI said in a release here today.

FCAs, expressed in dollar terms, include the effect of appreciation and depreciation of non-US currencies, such as the euro, pound and the yen, held in the reserves.

Gold reserves remained unchanged at USD 17.70 billion in the week.

India's special drawing rights with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) dipped by USD 7.4 million to USD 1.48 billion in the week, while the country's reserve position with the Fund declined by USD 13 million to USD 2.59 billion, RBI said.
Goa police today said Rajesh Dessai, who was found dead at his family farmhouse in Curchorem village here yesterday, died of poisoning.

Rajesh Dessai was the brother of former Goa minister and senior BJP leader Ramrao Dessai.

"Forensic examination has revealed, he died due to consumption of poison. We are investigating whether he was fed the poison or he took it to end his life," Inspector Ravi Dessai told PTI.

"Viscera sample has been sent for forensic examination to ascertain the nature of poison," he said.

A case of unnatural death has been registered at Curchorem Police Station, the police inspector said.

The Dessai-family owned farmhouse in Curchorem village, was in earlier after Sameer Mapari who worked as a driver with the family, was found dead in a river in 2007 at the same place.

Rajesh Dessai was acquitted in the murder case in 2013 and was residing in the farmhouse ever since.
Former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma, who had a chequered political career in which he constantly shifted allegiance in the last two decades, died here today following a massive heart attack.

68-year-old Sangma, who was elected nine times to Lok Sabha from Tura in Meghalaya and who became the first Speaker from the North East, breathed his last here this morning.

The of his death was broken by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, who made obituary reference to him and adjourned the house for the day as a mark of respect.

Later setting aside protocol, the Rajya Sabha also adjourned after lunch for members to pay homage to Sangma, whose body will be taken to his home in Meghalaya.

Sangma leaves his wife Sorodini, two sons--Conrad, a former finance minister in Meghalaya, James, a sitting MLA, and daughter Agatha, who was the youngest minister in Manmohan Singh's ministry when she was inducted in 2009.

In the 11th Lok Sabha, shortage of numbers forced the BJP to accept Congress candidate Sangma as Speaker after Atal Bihari Vajpayee was sworn-in as Prime Minister at the head of a short-lived 13 day government.

An affable and convivial personality, Sangma had friends across parties. After a long stint in the Congress when he became a minister of state in the Rajiv Gandhi government in 1984, he later rose to become the Labour minister in Narasimha Rao's Cabinet.

Sangma was among those who rose in revolt against Sonia Gandhi's foreign origins in 1999 along with Sharad Pawar and Tariq Anwar to form the Nationalist Congress Party, which he left to join Trinamool Congress.

Later, he split with the TMC and formed his own National People's Party on whose ticket he was elected to the current 16th Lok Sabha.

In 2012, Sangma exited from NCP to become the official candidate of BJP against Pranab Mukherjee in the Presidential elections.

He was also the Chief Minister of Meghalaya from 1988 to 1990 and Leader of Opposition in the assembly from 1990 to 1991.

While expressing deep grief over Sangma's passing away, Mahajan said he knew how to run the House with a smile and "I learnt this from him."



"A man of masses, Sangma strove relentlessly for the amelioration of the marginalised sections," the Speaker said.

Condoling the death of Sangma, Prime Minister Narendra



Modi said he was "a self-made leader whose contribution towards the development of the North East is monumental. Saddened by his demise".

Sangma's tenure as Lok Sabha Speaker "is unforgettable. His down-to-earth personality and affable nature endeared him to many," he said, adding "Sangmaji was deeply influenced by Netaji Bose".

Born on September 1, 1947 in village Chapahati in the picturesque West Garo Hills District of Meghalaya, Sangma grew up in the small tribal village and struggled hard to rise in life.

After completing his graduation from St Anthony's College, he went to Dibrugarh University in Assam for his Masters degree in International Relations. Subsequently, he also obtained a degree in Law.

One of the founding members of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Sangma was expelled from it in July 2012 when he refused to accept his party's decision to quit the race for India's President. In January 2013, he had formed the National People's Party.

A multi-faceted personality, Sangma in 2004 split the NCP and merged his faction with Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress, forming the Nationalist Trinamool Congress.

As Speaker, Sangma was known to disarm agitated members with his spontaneous wit, affable disposition and a sense of impartiality.

From a humble beginning in a small tribal village in Meghalaya, Sangma became a Lok Sabha member at the age of 30 from Tura constituency on a Congress ticket in 1977 at a time when the nation was witnessing a major political upheaval with the Congress losing power for the first time since Independence.

In less than two years, the Janata Party went out of office and the Charan Singh government lasted but a few months.

In the mid-term Lok Sabha elections in 1980, the Indira Gandhi-led Congress returned to power at the Centre and Sangma was re-elected from the same constituency.
Four arms smuggler were



apprehended by troops of 27 Sector Assam Rifles in Churachandpur district, a press statement of IG AR (South) said today.

One country-made 9mm pistol, along with magazine, two live rounds of 9 mm pistol, one fired case and a moped have been recovered from the arms dealers during the February 28 raid, the statement said.

The arrested have been identified as Thaminlan Haokip (35), Nongminthan (23), Thanglan Gangte (28) and Jangngam Haokip (38).

All the arrested hailed from Churachandpur district.
France's interior minister today sought to defuse a row over the fate of migrants in Calais should Britain leave the EU, saying there was "no question" of letting them freely cross the Channel.

"If we open the border tomorrow, what will happen? The British, who run their own border, will block them and send them back," Bernard Cazeneuve said on BFMTV.

He said this would only increase the flow of people and "aggravate a humanitarian problem".

"We don't need statements that create buzz on this topic, we need long-term action."



The row broke out yesterday when France's outspoken Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron raised the possibility of camps similar to the so-called Jungle shantytown at Calais springing up on Britain's southern coastline.

He told the Financial Times that a so-called Brexit would scupper a bilateral agreement that allows Britain to conduct border controls on the French side of the border.

"The day this relationship unravels, migrants will no longer be in Calais," Macron told the newspaper.

Asked about his comments during a summit meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron, President Francois Hollande merely warned that "there will be consequences (to) the way in which we manage migration issues" if Britain voted in a referendum to leave the EU.

Cameron warned last month that a Brexit could mean British border checks being removed from Calais and that "there would be nothing to stop thousands of people crossing the Channel overnight."



But campaigners in favour of Britain leaving the 28-member bloc accused Cameron of scaremongering.

Observers are sceptical that France would make a move that would only draw thousands more migrants to its northern coast.

Thousands of migrants fleeing poverty and war in the Middle East and North Africa have gathered in the "Jungle", from where they make desperate bids to reach Britain.

The French government this week began dismantling the southern half of the camp, facing protests from residents who do not want to leave.

Firmly set on crossing the Channel, the migrants fear that if they move to better accommodation provided for them, they will be forced to apply for asylum in France.
A German court today convicted an Islamic State "storm trooper" who helped track down deserters for the jihadist group in Syria, sentencing him to 4.5 years in prison.

Nils Donath, a 25-year-old German national, had travelled to Syria in October 2013 to join the jihadist group which controls a large swathe of Syria and Iraq.

Prosecutors, who had sought a sentence of four years and nine months, said at the trial that tasks Donath took on at the IS included assisting in interrogations, prison guard duty, as well as participation in the jihadist group's "storm troops," a special assault team.

As a member of this unit, Donath took part in 10-15 missions, in which he helped to track down IS deserters, fully aware they would be tortured to death, according to the prosecution.

Donath has been in police custody since his arrest upon his return to Germany in January 2015.

During the trial that opened in January, he told the court of his troubled teenage years, when he was a "pothead" before he converted to Islam in August 2011.

But he later "slipped into radicalism" and joined a local jihadist group called the "Lohberger Brigade" that he travelled with to Syria.

Thousands of Europeans have headed for Syria to fight for the IS group, and concern is growing about the threat that returning jihadists pose on their home soil.
Germany says it wants France to shut down its oldest nuclear plant as soon as possible amid reports today that an incident at the facility two years ago was more serious than previously known.

German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung and public broadcaster WDR reported a series of problems when engineers tried to tackle a minor water leak that ended with an emergency shutdown of one of the two reactors at the Fessenheim plant, which lies just across the Rhine that marks the border between France and Germany.

The reports cite a letter from the French Nuclear Safety Authority to the head of the nuclear plant detailing the incident on April 9, 2014.

"It's not the first incident or the first problem that we know about from this reactor, and that's why the environment minister demands the reactor be shut down as soon as possible," said Stephan Haufe, a spokesman for Germany's environment ministry.

The French environment and energy ministry, which earlier in the day had put out an unrelated message of support for its nuclear safety agency, declined to comment on the German request.

Haufe said the incident was discussed by a Franco-German nuclear safety panel at the time, and Berlin agreed with Paris' assessment about the seriousness of the incident - "one" on a scale from zero to seven.

Still, Germany was concerned about the age of the reactor, he said. "Such an old reactor, it was put into operation in 1977, of course has many technical problems. This is the case with several reactors on the German border."



Germany has also expressed concern about nuclear plants in neighboring Belgium and Switzerland in recent years.

The French Nuclear Safety Authority said today the 2014 incident was minor and was neither minimized nor hidden. The nuclear plant has been certified to function for another decade, it said.

The French government said last year it would close the plant no later than 2018 as part of a plan to reduce dependency on nuclear power.

Haufe said Germany has received mixed messages from Paris about the shutdown, with one response being that it wouldn't happen until a new plant goes online.

"We don't have really reliable information when this nuclear plant will be shut down," he said.

Following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, the German government decided in 2011 to switch off all its nuclear plants by 2022.
Independent national measures to tackle the migrant crisis are counterproductive, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said today as she met with her French counterpart in Paris to push for a joint European solution to the problem.

Border slowdowns and closures along the migrant route through Europe have just meant that people are now piling up in Greece, overwhelming the country's resources, Merkel said at a joint conference with French President Francois Hollande in Paris.

The two leaders met ahead of a summit of EU and Turkish leaders to discuss the migrant crisis Monday. The Balkan countries and Austria have recently introduced tight restrictions to stem the flow of migrants. That has resulted in thousands of refugees and other migrants being stranded by Greece's border with Macedonia.

"Unilateral solutions do not help us," Merkel said, adding Europe needs to work closely with Turkey to stop the flow of migrants, and also to secure its outer borders.

Germany and France agree that the EU has to protect its external border to preserve freedom within Europe, get away from internal border controls and for security reasons, Merkel said.

Hollande said France will provide a ship to the NATO force deployed in the Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece to help Europe's external border control.

As temporary controls between several member states are reimposed to deal with the migrant crisis, some fear a full collapse of the borderless Schengen zone through most of the EU.

The EU's head office, the European Commission, has estimated that the cost of fully restoring border controls between EU member states would be as high as USD 20 billion a year.

More than 1.2 million people applied for asylum for the first time in the EU last year, more than double the number in 2014.

The EU's statistics agency said today that most people applying in the 28 EU countries were Syrian, Iraqi or Afghan nationals. It said 362,800 Syrians applied for asylum.

The bloc today kicked off the distribution of the promised USD 3.3 billion in aid for refugees in Turkey, formally pledging 95 million euros for educational and food assistance.
Government has initiated probe into circumvention of anti-dumping duty on imports of a chemical from China mainly used in the pharmaceuticals industry.

The investigation has been initiated by the Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD), under the Commerce Ministry, on a complaint by Amoli Organics Ltd, a major manufacturer of the product.

The DGAD has concluded that "sufficient prima facie evidence" exists to "initiate an anti circumvention investigation" of the alleged circumvention of anti-dumping duty imposed on the imports of 'Diclofenac Sodium' from China.

The authority would probe whether imports of the chemical "are at dumped prices and are causing injury to the domestic industry and the need for extending anti-dumping duty imposed on the imports", the DGAD said in a notification.

It is alleged that the existing anti-dumping measures imposed in 2014 are being circumvented.

In November 2014, India had imposed anti-dumping duty of USD 2,715 per tonne on import of the chemical from China for a period of five years to save the domestic industry from cheap shipments.

India has also initiated investigations into circumvention of anti-dumping duty on imports of certain stainless steel products from China, Korea, EU, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand and the US.

India has imposed anti-dumping duty on several products including electronics and chemicals from China.
Gujarat government today told the Legislative Assembly that at least 13 cases of Dalits being denied entry to a temple were registered in the state in last five years.

Congress MLA Shailesh Parmar had sought district-wise information of such cases.

In a written reply, Chief Minister Anandiben Patel, who handles the Home department, stated that as of June 2015, 13 such cases were recorded in eight districts in the last five years.

Three cases were registered in Bharuch, two each in Anand, Porbandar and Gir-Somnath and one each in Ahmedabad, Surendranagar, Mahisagar and Banaskantha districts.

In all these case, where complaints were filed by people belonging to Scheduled Castes, the police arrested the accused and filed charge-sheets, she said.

Congress leader Kumari Selja had last year claimed during a discussion in the Parliament that she was asked about her caste when she visited a temple in Dwarka in Gujarat as a Union Minister during the previous UPA rule.
Demanding reservation for his community, a 36-year-old man belonging to the Patel community allegedly committed suicide by consuming poison at a private guest house in Dhoraji town of the district, police said today.

Prakash Shaani (36), a farmer and native of Moti Paneli village near Dhoraji town, was found lying on the bed of his rented room when the guest house manager knocked the door to wake him up last night, police said.

"When we reached the guest house after receiving information from the manager, we found Prakash lying unconscious. He was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced brought dead," said Police Sub Inspector of Dhoraji J R Rana, adding that Shaani died after consuming some poisonous substance.

Upon searching the room, police have also found a four-page suicide note, in which, Shaani claimed that he was sacrificing his life for the ongoing agitation by Patel community demanding reservation under OBC quota.

"We have found a suicide note near his bed. He addressed it to Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) convener of Saurashtra region, Lalit Vasoya, who is a distant relative of Shanni. In the suicide note, Shaani indicated that he was ending his life for the ongoing agitation for reservation," added Rana.

Following the suicide, PAAS has given a call for Dhoraji bandh. "Most of the shops remained closed and there was no untoward incident," police added.

In the suicide note, which was shared by PAAS with media, Shaani stated that more Patel youths will end their lives if reservation was not granted.

"I am giving my sacrifice to wake up the government, which is still in deep sleep. I want to tell them that if reservation is not given, more Patel youths will end their lives. I urge Vasoya to fight till last breath for reservation and do not hesitate to give your life for that cause," stated the suicide note.

Shaani, who was a farmer, also mentioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's name in the suicide note and accused government of ignoring the plight of farmers.

"We helped Modi in arranging people for a rally when he visited Paneli village when he was not even the CM. But, 'Saheb' has forgotten us today, as farmers are waiting for crop insurance since last four years. Patels are broke financially," stated Shaani in his note.
Demanding reservation for his community, a 36-year-old man belonging to the Patel community allegedly committed suicide by consuming poison at a private guest house in Dhoraji town of the district, police said today.

Prakash Shaani (36), a farmer and native of Moti Paneli village near Dhoraji town, was found lying on the bed of his rented room when the guest house manager knocked the door to wake him up last night, police said.

"When we reached the guest house after receiving information from the manager, we found Prakash lying unconscious. He was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced brought dead," said Police Sub Inspector of Dhoraji J R Rana, adding that Shaani died after consuming some poisonous substance.

Upon searching the room, police have also found a four-page suicide note, in which, Shaani claimed that he was sacrificing his life for the ongoing agitation by Patel community demanding reservation under OBC quota.

"We have found a suicide note near his bed. He addressed it to Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) convener of Saurashtra region, Lalit Vasoya, who is a distant relative of Shanni. In the suicide note, Shaani indicated that he was ending his life for the ongoing agitation for reservation," added Rana.

Following the suicide, PAAS has given a call for Dhoraji bandh. "Most of the shops remained closed and there was no untoward incident," police added.

In the suicide note, which was shared by PAAS with media, Shaani stated that more Patel youths will end their lives if reservation was not granted.

"I am giving my sacrifice to wake up the government, which is still in deep sleep. I want to tell them that if reservation is not given, more Patel youths will end their lives. I urge Vasoya to fight till last breath for reservation and do not hesitate to give your life for that cause," stated the suicide note.

Shaani, who was a farmer, also mentioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's name in the suicide note and accused government of ignoring the plight of farmers.

"We helped Modi in arranging people for a rally when he visited Paneli village when he was not even the CM. But, 'Saheb' has forgotten us today, as farmers are waiting for crop insurance since last four years. Patels are broke financially," stated Shaani in his note.

He also slammed the Gujarat government on the quota issue



and police action against Patel youths.

"This government sends innocent Patel youths in jail for raising concern of the community. Patel community helped a lot in the formation of this government. I am sure that if Patels unite, this government will come on their knees," stated the note.

The issue of Patel youth's suicide also echoed in the ongoing budget session of Assembly in Gandhinagar today, as Congress MLA Harshad Ribadiya read out the suicide note before the House and accused the government of ignoring the issue of reservation to this community.

"Yesterday, a Patel youth committed suicide. It is shameful for this government to ignore the issue of reservation, which is forcing the youths to end their lives," said Ribadiya on the floor of the House.

While talking to reporters after the session, newly elected state BJP president and state Transport Minister Vijay Rupani appealed Patel community youths not to sway in emotions and give their lives.

"This incident is truly unfortunate. I request people not to take such extreme steps, as the state government has already started the dialouge process to arrive at a compromise with Patel leaders. All matters can be resolved through dialogue," said Rupani.

This is the second incident in last six months when a Patel youth ended his life on the issue of reservation. Earlier, on September 25 last year, one Umesh Bhalala had committed suicide at his factory in Rajkot.
In an apparent hate crime, a gurdwara in the US state of Washington was vandalised by a "naked" man who desecrated sacred items of the Sikh worship place, drawing condemnation from the community leaders.

The incident occurred on Wednesday when Jeffrey C Pittman, 44, broke into the gurdwara in Spokane.

Deputies say that Pittman was arrested early Thursday morning wearing nothing but a sheet taken from the temple's furnishings. He was also holding the gurdwara's ceremonial sword.

He also desecrated sacred items of the gurdwara.

Pittman was booked in Spokane County Jail connection with charges of burglary, malicious mischief and malicious harassment, which is the state's statute for a hate crime, The Seattle Globalist reported.

"All religions should be respected. Any crime committed due to someone's religious beliefs will be a priority and fully investigated," said Spokane Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich in a statement.

"They (deputies) detained Pittman after a short altercation. The damage is estimated to be several thousand dollars and there was damage to religiously sacred items of the Temple," Knezovich said.

Gurdwara priest Gurjwet Singh Augla said he and another man were able to detain the person until police arrived.

"We don't know the motivations behind the vandalism yet, but we do know that police are treating the case seriously and that the perpetrator has been arrested. There are no immediate indications that bias was involved," a statement issued by the the gurdwara said.

"No house of worship in America should ever be vandalised. The Sikh articles of faith, which include the turban and beard, show our commitment to equality, justice and freedom for all. These are not just Sikh values, they are American values," the statement said.

Rajwant Singh, chairman of the Sikh Council on Religion and Education, expressed shock and anguish over the vandalising of the Sikh gurdwara in Spokane, Washington.

"This is terrible for Sikhs in the Spokane area and nationwide," he said.

"This kind of incidents should not become norm for us or for the country," he said.

"This can change and Americans can appreciate our values once they know that Sikhs believe in equality and tolerance towards other religions," said Singh, who is also the senior adviser to the National Sikh Campaign.

The incident is thelatest in a number of hate crimes against Sikhs in America.

A gurdwara in a suburb has been vandalised with hateful anti-ISIS graffiti in December. In September, a Sikh-American father was viciously assaulted in a suburb outside of Chicago after being called "Bin Laden".

In 2012, a gunman with Neo-Nazi ties walked into a Sikh gurdwara and shot and killed six innocent Sikhs in Oak Creek, Wisconsin.
Prisoners in Guyana have clashed with police and guards following a fire that killed at least 16 men a day earlier during a riot over conditions.

Authorities say five officers were hospitalized for injuries that included smoke inhalation after prisoners set fires inside the Camp Street Prison today.

Smoke could be seen rising from within the gates. Police and guards firing tear gas later restored order and Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan arrived to meet with prisoners to discuss their grievances.

President David Granger said he would form a commission of inquiry to look into the circumstances of the deaths as eight prisoners remained hospitalised.

Officials say the deaths occurred after inmates set fires during a riot as guards seized drugs, cell phones and other items.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh today said the BJP government in Haryana handled the situation well during the Jat quota agitation.

"Whatever the state government had to do, they did. They did well," he told reporters when asked whether the Manohar Khattar government failed to control the violence that led to the killing of 30 people and destruction of property.

Singh, however, refused to comment on allegations of rape and molestation by Jat quota agitators near an eatery in Murthal on Delhi-Ambala highway, saying, "Law and order is a state subject."



Thirty people were killed during the Jat quota stir in Haryana late last month. A total of 713 FIRs have been registered and 133 people arrested in this connection.

The Haryana government has also set up a committee consisting of three women officers, including a DIG, for receiving any complaint of rape of women in Murthal near Sonepat.
The Allahabad High Court has upheld the death sentence awarded to a man for the murder of a police inspector in broad day light in Farrukhabad district of Uttar Pradesh in November 2014.

A division bench comprising justices AK Tripathi and Justice AK Mishra dismissed the appeal filed by Pappu alias Chandra Kumar and confirmed the death penalty awarded by the sessions judge on March 30, 2015.

The stategovernment's advocate Akhilesh Singh had contended that the nature of crime committed by the accused fell in the category of "rarest of rare cases".

He argued that the inspector, Raj Kumar Singh, was shot dead when he had gone to arrest the accused in connection with a crime and the gun used by the latter was recovered.

The inspector was murdered on November 29, 2014 in Kotwali police station area of Farrukhabad and the accused was arrested on the spot by other police officials.
The Karnataka High Court today ordered issue of notice to liquor baron Vijay Mallya and his defunct Kingfisher Airlines and nine other respondents on a petition filed by bankers, including SBI, seeking his arrest and impounding of his passport for defaulting on loans.

The notice, issued by Justice A S Bopanna came even as the Debt Recovery Tribunal reserved its order on one of the four applications filed by State Bank of India, seeking securement of the lenders' first right on the payout from Diageo to Mallya.

Thirteen bankers, including SBI approached the high court seeking arrest of Mallya and impounding of his passport along with two other pleas after they moved the DRT to take up their pleas on a priority basis.

The top state-run lender has approached DRT seeking action against the UB Group promoter for defaulting on loans.

SBI, which heads the consortium of 17 lenders to the grounded Kingfisher Airlines, had moved DRT here against the airline's chairman Mallya in its bid to recover over Rs7,000 crore due loans from him.

DRT judge Benakanahalli, on priority basis, took up the application for securing a first right on the USD 75 million severance package that Mallya will be getting for quitting Diageo-owned United Spirits (USL) as its chairman last week under a sweetheart deal.

The judge said the other three applications - seeking impounding Mallya's passport, getting him arrested and gettingfull disclosure of his assets in the country and abroad - would be heard later.

"For now, I am taking up the application seeking to secure lenders' first right on the payout from Diageo andgetting full disclosure of his assets in the country andabroad on priority basis. I will take up other applicationslater," he said.

After filing objections before DRT, Uday Holla,Mallya's counsel, submitted that USD 75 million cannot beattached because his client is getting the severance package after signing a non-compete agreement under which Mallya would not enter into liquor business for the next five years.

On the application seeking Mallya's arrest, Holla said his client's arrest would be tantamount to 'demeaning' the institution of Rajya Sabha because he is the respected member of the upper house of Parliament.

Holla also submitted his client was a "small-time" defaulter unlike companies like Reliance who he claimed are bigger defaulters and the banks were hounding small defaulters and leaving big defaulters off the hook.

"Recently the RBI had said that these banks do not take action against large fries, but small fries. My client Mallya is a small defaulter compared to Ambani's Reliance.

Some of the companies have defaulted to the tune of Rs 40,000 crore, and nothing happens to them," he claimed.

After the Finance Minister furnished bank details of total



amount due from Kingfisher Airlines Limited (KAL) of Mallya, mentioning a "staggering" due of Rs 9431.65 crore due to it, the panel examined the matter on April 25 and decided to seek an explanation from Mallya as it also took note of various other developments like issuing of non-bailable warrant against him and revocation of his passport.

"The committee was of the firm view that taking into consideration the gravity of the misconduct, a sanction not less than termination of membership from the House is warranted under the circumstances. The committee, however, decided to offer an opportunity in terms of principle of justice to Mallya to explain his position on the matter," the report said.

Citing various rules, the panel said it was convinced that non-disclosures of liabilities by Mallya in his declarations is a "serious misconduct" within the parameter of the edifice of the rules and procedure governing ethical standards set for members of Rajya Sabha.

It also felt that the basic information supplied by the Ministry of Finance has confirmed the fact that Mallya, by executing his personal and corporate guarantee, created a liability of an amount equivalent to the loans taken from several banks, which he should have reflected fairly and properly his declaration of assets and liabilities.

Besides considering various rules of Parliament, the panel also took into account two important passages regarding the House of Commons of UK regarding the expulsion of an MP.

Citing various rules and court orders, Mallya, had, however, said in his reply that that he was confident and convinced that there is "no tenable basis" for the "so-called" unanimous decision reached by Ethics Committee to recommend his expulsion.
The Allahabad High Court has upheld the death sentence awarded to a man convicted for the murder of a police inspector in Farrukhabad district of Uttar Pradesh.

A division bench, comprising Justice A K Tripathi and Justice A K Mishra, dismissed the appeal filed by Pappu alias Chandra Kumar and confirmed the death penalty awarded by the sessions judge of on March 30, 2015.

The state government's advocate Akhilesh Singh had contended that the nature of crime commited by the accused fell in the category of 'rarest of rare cases'.

He argued that inspector Raj Kumar Singh was shot dead when he had gone to arrest the accused in connection with a crime and the gun used by the latter was recovered.

The inspector was murdered on November 29, 2014 in Kotwali police station area of Farrukhabad while the accused was arrested on the spot by other police officials accompanying the slain inspector.
Extending its commitment to make safe riding an everyday habit for two-wheeler riders, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) today entered into a pact with the Municipal Corporation of Ludhiana to adopt the first-ever Children Traffic Training Park in Punjab.

The upcoming traffic park in Ludhiana is set to be Honda's tenth such tie-up in India after similar parks in Chandigarh, Jaipur, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Yeola - Nashik, Hyderabad, two in Delhi and a recently inaugurated Road Safety Education center in Indore, an official spokesman said here.

Through a dedicated road-safety team, Honda has trained over 2.6 lakh people on safe-riding in less than 3 years through these traffic parks, he said.

Present at the MoU signing ceremony were Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria, Mayor, Ludhiana Municipal Corporation, GK Singh -Commissioner, Municipal Corporation of Ludhiana, Ghanshyam Thori- Additional Commissioner, Municipal Corporation of Ludhiana, Harpreet Singh- Department Manager, Safe Riding Promotion & Training, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India, Rajeev Singh- Zonal Manager (Sales), Punjab, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India.

Key initiatives by Honda at Children Traffic Training Park, Model Town, Ludhiana will include expert Honda Safety instructors (female & male) to educate new riders on correct riding techniques, Honda's Proprietary riding trainers which shall aid people above 16 years of age to experience over 100 possible dangers on road.
Cars India today said it has hiked the prices of its entire product portfolio by up to Rs 79,000 to offset the impact of infrastructure cess that was proposed in Union Budget 2016-17.

The company has increased the prices with effect from March 1, Cars India Ltd (HCIL) said in a statement.

has hiked the price of its entry-level car Brio in the range of Rs 4,000 to Rs 6,000, premium hatchback Jazz between Rs 5,000 and Rs 19,500 and mid-sized sedan City from Rs 24,600 to Rs 38,100.

It has also hiked prices of multi-utility vehicle Mobilio in the range of Rs 21,800 to Rs 37,700 and that of its premium SUV CR-V between Rs 66,500 and Rs 79,000, depending upon different variants.

The company sells six models in the country, from Brio to CR-V, priced between Rs 4.27 lakh and Rs 25.23 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

Already various carmakers including Hyundai Motor India, Maruti Suzuki, Mercedes-Benz and Tata Motors have announced to hike their vehicle prices.

The government has proposed to impose 2.5 per cent cess on diesel vehicles of length not exceeding 4 meter and engine capacity not exceeding 1,500cc while higher engine capacity and SUVs as well as bigger sedans were slapped with a cess of four per cent on the value of the car.

These are over and above a cess of 1 per cent on petrol/ LPG/CNG driven vehicles of length not exceeding 4 meter and engine capacity not exceeding 1,200cc.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also proposed to collect tax at source at the rate of 1 per cent on purchase of luxury cars exceeding value of Rs 10 lakh.
A two-wicket haul against UAE in the Asia Cup has boosted his confidence and India pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar said he is now working on a slower delivery to further polish his skills.

Kumar, who last played a T20I game in the home series against South Africa in October last year, made a comeback in India's last league match in Asia Cup last night and returned with figures of 4-2-8-2.

"It feels great to get back to playing (in the XI). To be honest, I was nervous when I walked out to bowl since I was playing after a long gap," he told BCCI.TV.

"I was waiting for this opportunity for a long time. This performance will boost my mental confidence and if and when I get a chance to play in the future, I will remember that I had done well in my previous outing."



The 26-year-old said he wants to add one key aspect to his bowling.

"I want work on my slower deliveries. I know I can bowl a yorker at the death, but if I can bowl a slower ball as well then it can prove to be an advantage for me. I want to develop a good slower delivery and I am working on the same at the moment," he said.

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni also praised Kumar, saying he was happy with the way he had performed even after he hadn't had much of match practice.

"He is a hardworking guy and he works hard in the nets and in the gym and that is something that is important for the fast bowlers," Dhoni said.

"Fast bowlers have to keep themselves fit and take the break in the best possible manner if you are not in the playing eleven. I feel the break has helped him increase the pace, and at the same time, it has not affected his swing bowling which is the key.

"That is a big positive sign for us. He is still someone who can bowl consistently in a particular line and length. Bhuvneshwar coming good gives us that extra option if Mohammad Shami doesn't get fit. He is somebody who can straightaway come in and start doing the work for the team.
A senior faculty member of Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) today resigned alleging that he was "targeted" by the I&B Ministry for supporting the protests over Dalit student Rohith Vemula's suicide and JNU and FTII issues.

Amit Sengupta, an Associate Professor in the department of English Journalism, quit after an order was issued transferring him to the premier media school's campus in Odisha's Dhenkanal district, which he slammed as a "political decision".

Information and Broadcasting Ministry officials said that a recent inquiry into incidents at the premier journalism school by I&B Ministry Joint Secretary Mihir Kumar Singh showed that Sengupta had in a Facebook post asked students to carry out protests after Vemula's suicide.

In his resignation letter, Sengupta said that he had been "targeted" as he "supported the solidarity protest for Rohith Vemula (of Hyderabad Central University) in the campus, organised independently by students of IIMC in which other faculty members too participated."



"I have been targeted also because I supported the JNU and FTII students," he added.

Sengupta said that he was "proud" of standing up for Vemula and would continue to do so.

"This is my constitutional right. I think grave injustice has been done to him and the students of Hyderabad Central University. I will always stand and fight for Dalit rights," he said.

He said the JNU and FTII "struggles" are glorious and the country will enrich itself with the great leap of imagination and the brilliant content of the peaceful, democratic debate the students and faculty of these great institutions have generated.

Countering the allegations levelled by Sengupta, I&B Ministry officials said Sengupta has been moved to the institute's Dhenkanal branch till further orders only because of shortage of staff.

On January 19, they claimed, Sengupta had in a post said "Hello IIMC students; protests all over by students, why is IIMC silent? Put a poster at least. Also surely, the suicide note. I am ready to join you, I promise."



A student of IIMC had then objected to the post, accusing Sengupta of trying to politicise the campus and disturbing harmony, I&B officials added. A verbal altercation between the student and Sengupta had also taken place, they added.

Asked about the charges related to his posts on Facebook, Sengupta said views expressed on social media fell on his personal domain and was his "constitutional right".

(REOPENS DEL87)



IIMC had been recently in the after a student had posted certain "casteist" remarks on a social media platform, after which the I&B Ministry had asked its Joint Secretary to look into the matter.

Significantly, in his report, the official has proposed a set of institutional mechanism including a code of conduct for teachers and employees that among other things included a "ban" on political activity by the faculty on the campus.

In his resignation letter, Sengupta flayed the decision to transfer him accusing the IIMC authorities of reducing the institution into a "hand-maiden of a vicious, undemocratic and partisan regime".

Sengupta, who has worked for leading dailies and magazines in the past, said the move to transfer him "arbitrarily" was part of a "larger witch-hunt" against intellectual freedom and to "target and eliminate individuals who this regime has declared as enemies for reasons only they know".

"In IIMC, I have perhaps taken the maximum number of lectures/workshops, like many of my learned faculty members. I have taught my students that they will never do journalism which professes xenophobia, casteism, sexism, racism, and communalism.

"That they should be objective and impartial. Also, that they should have open-ended, non-dogmatic and independent minds and stand for truth and public interest, come what may. I presume I am paying a price for that," he wrote.

Sengupta said that it was an "honour" for him as a former JNUSU president to address the open air gathering of faculty and students of JNU and that he was proud being part of the "great intellectual and political tradition" of JNU.

IIMC, which comes under by the I&B Ministry, had earlier this week, ordered the expulsion of the student from its hostel for three weeks who had posted "offensive and insulting" remarks on social media against students belonging to Dalit community.

Another student, a Dalit and a complainant in the case, has also been expelled from the IIMC hostel for a week for allegedly using "indecent and vulgar language" against a faculty member on a WhatsApp group.
The Bombay High Court today suggested that political parties across the state set up toll free numbers on which people can lodge complaints, if any illegal hoarding, banner or poster by the party or any of its worker is displayed.

The suggestion was made by a division bench of Justices A S Oka and R D Dhanuka after advocate Vishwajeet Sawant, appearing for Shiv Sena, told the court that the party was setting up a toll free number for Mumbai where people can anonymously lodge complaints.

"People can call the toll free number 1800228595 from Monday to Saturday. The number will be manned by one Harshad Pradhan who will take down complaints of any illegal hoarding or poster and will initiate appropriate action," Sawant told the court.

Appreciating the step by the Sena, Justice Oka said it would, however, be ideal if arrangements are made to receive complaints even on Sundays and public holidays.

"It would also be ideal if all political parties follow this and have their own redressal mechanism in every city across the state. We direct political parties, especially those before us, to respond to this suggestion and file affidavits within a month," the court said.

The court was hearing a bunch of public interest litigations on the issue of illegal banners, hoardings and posters put up by political parties across the state.

The court also directed state Director General of Police to issue directions to all police stations in the state to take prompt action, if they receive any complaints from civic body officials.

The order was issued after the court was informed by counsels of various civic bodies that in some instances, police was not cooperating with the municipal officials.

The court was informed by prosecutor Geeta Shastri, appearing for the police, that as per HC directions, two armed police constables will accompany the civic body team entrusted with the task of removing illegal hoardings.

This is pursuant to an incident where RPI activists obstructed civic body officials from removing illegal hoardings put up by the party in suburban Deonar.

"According to the FIR registered and the report submitted by Deonar police, RPI workers obstructed municipal officers while they were removing hoardings and had also allegedly assaulted them. We direct the police to submit another report before us in a month on progress in the case," the court said.
Liquor worth more than Rs 300 crore was seized by police in Gujarat, which is under total prohibition, in the last five years, the State Assembly was informed today.

Illegal liquor worth Rs 316 crore was seized from different parts of the State during the last five years (2010- 15), Chief Minister Anandiben Patel said in a written reply tabled in the House.

Patel, who also handles the Home portfolio, was answering a query raised by Shailesh Parmar (Congress).

Parmar, through a written query, had sought details about seizure of illegal liquor, including Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and beer, seized in all the districts during the last five years (ended June 2015).

Sale and consumption of all types of liquor is prohibited in Gujarat.

Out of this cache, police destroyed liquor worth Rs 211 crore during the same period, said the reply.

As per the district-wise data tabled in the House, Surat topped the chart in country-made liquor with stock worth Rs 3.13 crore recovered from the diamond city.

Valsad topped in the seizure of IMFL (Rs 36.40 lakh), while Patan district saw the maximum recovery of beer (Rs 12.40 lakh).
Independent MLA Hanuman Beniwal was today marshalled out of the Assembly on direction of the Speaker when he interrupted Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje during her Motion of Thanks to Governor's speech.

Beniwal created an uproar in the house when Raje was replying and said the government should give statement on whereabouts of dreaded criminal Anandpal Singh, who escaped from police custody in Ajmer last year.

Speaker Kailash Meghwal directed the marshals to take him following which he was taken out of the House proceedings.

The Speaker and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rajendra Rathore condemned the behavior of the MLA.
India and three other G-4 countries today deliberated on developments on the Security Council reform agenda at the Inter-Governmental Negotiations at the UN in moving towards text-based negotiations.

The Directors General on UN Affairs and Permanent Representatives to the UN of India, Brazil, Germany and Japan met here to exchange views on the issue of the UNSC reform.

"The meeting discussed the developments on the Security Council reform agenda at the Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) at the United Nations in moving towards text-based negotiations," a joint statement said.

They expressed full support to the Chair of the IGN in the 70th GA Session in her important role of facilitating a concrete outcome of the process, it said.

"In this regard, the meeting emphasised the G-4 resolve to work together with all Member States, including within the IGN process, and to accelerate outreach towards achieving an early and meaningful reform of the Security Council," the statement said.

The G4 nations support each other's bids for permanent seats on the UNSC. India has been strongly pushing for its membership at the UNSC.

Syed Akbaruddin, India's permanent representative at the United Nations, was also present at the meeting.

"The G-4 meeting emphasised the core message that a more representative, legitimate and effective Security Council which is reflective of the current geo-political realities is needed more than ever to better address global conflicts and crises," the statement said.

"The G-4 members reiterated their commitments as aspiring new permanent members of the reformed UN Security Council, as well as their support for each other's candidatures. They also reaffirmed their view of the importance of developing countries, in particular from Africa, to be represented in both the permanent and non-permanent categories of an enlarged Council," it added.

"Deliberating Security Council reform in Delhi. Senior diplomats of G4 nations met to advance @UN reform agenda," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.

The DGs agreed to hold their next meeting in Japan in June.
Government today said it was trying to ascertain reports of at least four Indian nurses being gunned down in Aden city in strife-torn Yemen.

"We have seen the reports and are trying to ascertain the details," External Affairs Ministry Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.

Four Indian nurses were among at least 16 people killed today when gunmen opened fire at an elderly care home in Yemen's main southern city of Aden, AFP quoted security officials in Yemen as saying in its report.

The report said four gunmen stormed a care home in Aden's Sheikh Othman district, killing a guard and shooting randomly at residents.

One official said the attackers were "extremists" and blamed the Islamic State group, which has been gaining ground in Aden in recent months.

In the wake of escalation of violence, Indian Embassy in Yemen's capital Sana'a was closed last year and all its functions were carried out from a camp office in Djibouti, a country neighbouring Yemen and across the Red Sea.

The Djibouti camp office was a nerve centre of a major evacuation operation from Yemen last year. The government last month had announced shutting of that Djibouti office.

Al-Qaeda and ISIS have been stepping up attacks in Aden.
India has filed a complaint against the US decision to impose high fees on temporary working visas, WTO said today.

"India notified the WTO Secretariat on March 3 that it has initiated a WTO dispute proceeding against the US regarding measures imposing increased fees on certain applicants for L-1 and H-1B categories of non-immigrant temporary working visas into the US, and measures relating to numerical commitments for H-1B visas," the WTO said in a statement.

India had earlier raised serious concerns over the issue saying the move would impact Indian IT professionals.

The statement said that according to India, the USA's measure "appear to be inconsistent" with the global norms.

India claims that these and comparable measures are not in conformity with several provisions of the GATS including those on movement of natural persons supplying services, it added.

The request for consultations is the first step in a dispute at the dispute settlement system of the WTO.

Consultations give the parties an opportunity to discuss the matter and to find a satisfactory solution without proceeding further with litigation. If consultations fail to resolve the dispute, the complainant may request the Dispute Settlement Body to establish a panel of experts to study the dispute.
India and Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) on Friday signed an agreement to enhance cooperation in fields of energy forecasting and data.

The Statement of Intent to step up engagement in policy and technology research as well as enhance cooperation in numerous fields including forecasting and data, was signed by NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya and Executive Director Fatih Birol.

The pact, signed during Panagariya's visit to headquarters, "provides an umbrella accord for the many research and policy initiatives that apply to broader energy issues," said IEA, which coordinates energy policies of industrialised countries.

"As India moves to the centre of the global energy stage, it is vital that the IEA and our members step up our level of engagement," said Birol. "This agreement will allow us to do that by improving mutual understanding of the functioning of energy markets in the world."



IEA already shares with India best energy practices it has gleaned from its own analysis as well as the experiences of its member countries.

"The Statement of Intent will push forward ongoing IEA-India work in a number of cross-cutting issues that apply to the country's energy system. These issues include work for the Agency's flagship publication, World Energy Outlook (WEO), as well as modelling, forecasting and identification of data needs," an IEA press statement said.

The agreement also expands on ongoing joint research on relevant technologies and analysis of global trends in pricing and supply of energy supplies, plus development of human resources development strategies for the energy sector.

The two agreed to look into regular exchange of statistics and other energy sector information as well as increased seminars, training, and visits involving researchers and other experts.

(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.)
India and the US today agreed on a joint collaboration in standardisation and improving the quality of AYUSH products.

At a two-day workshop on traditional medicine, the highlight of the discussions were the role of AYUSH in prevention, cure and management of cancer.

The workshop was organised under the auspices of the first US-India Health Dialogue held in September last year Washington DC, an official release said.

The strength of AYUSH in management of various disease conditions were showcased in the workshop, it said.

"It has been agreed in principle to form joint working groups on the two sides to take forward the consultation process and mutual learning on sustainable basis," the release said.

An MoU is expected to be signed between Ministry of AYUSH and US Health and Human Services Departments in course of time, the release said.

The workshop was jointly inaugurated yesterday by Minister of State for AYUSH (Independent Charge) Shripad Naik and US Ambassador to India Richard Verma.

The discussions in this regard will be further held at the next US-India Health Dialogue slated to be held in India later this year, the release said.

The AYUSH ministry has also identified various stakeholders and scientific institutions with which it plans to work closely in cancer management.

The ministry will create special platform to take expertise of experts for this purpose, it said.
Independent investor Sunil Sabharwal has become the first Indian-American to occupy a key administration post at the IMF, three weeks after he was confirmed by the Senate.

Sabharwal, who was confirmed by the US Senate after a long waiting, assumed the position as Alternate Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund on Wednesday.

Given that the US commends more than 16.81 per cent of the total IMF voting share; this is one of the most powerful position in the International Monetary Fund.

US President Barack Obama nominated him for the post in April 2014 and then re-nominated Sabharwal in March 2015.

Born to an Indian father and a Hungarian mother in New Delhi, his parents separated when he was 9 years old and he later moved to Budapest.

Sabharwal served as board chairman of Ogone, a European e-commerce payment services firm, from 2011-13 and advised Warburg Pincus on its acquisition of easycash, a German network services company, subsequently becoming a board adviser there from 2006-2009.

From 2003-2006, he was senior vice president, strategic investments, at First Data Corp/Western Union and from 1997-2003, held executive posts at GE Capital, including managing director.

From 1992-96 Sabharwal worked at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, lastly as principal banker.

He has a BS from Ohio State University and an MS from the London Business School.
The four nations that are part of the $10 billion Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project have signed an initial investment agreement to turn the deal into a reality, according to a media report on Friday.

The agreement to operate the 1,814 kilometre-long gas pipeline was signed last month in the Turkish capital Istanbul by representatives of the four nations, The Express Tribune reported.

It said that already a company was registered in November 2014 in which Afghanistan, Pakistan and India have 5 per cent shareholding each and the remaining 85 per cent stake are held by Turkmenistan.

From India's side, state-owned GAIL India Ltd was to pick 5 per cent stake in the consortium, whereas from Pakistan side Interstate Gas Systems (ISGS) and Afghanistan's Afghan Gas Enterprise (AGE), were to take 5 per cent stake each in the project.

The investment agreement pertains to the 5 per cent shareholding of each of the three gas-importing countries, which means an initial investment of around $200 million.

"We have initialed an investment agreement in Istanbul and the final deal will be signed soon," ISGS Managing Director Mobin Saulat was quoted as saying by the paper.

The ground breaking for the pipeline, a scheme aimed at easing the energy deficit in South Asia, was performed in December last year in Turkmenistan.

The pipeline will have a capacity to carry 90 million standard cubic metres a day (mmscmd) gas for 30 years and is planned to become operational in 2018. India and Pakistan were originally to get 38 mmscmd each while the remaining 14 mmscmd was to be supplied to Afghanistan.

But Kabul is now willing to take only 1.5-4 mmscmd so the share of India and Pakistan will go up to 43-44.25 mmscmd each, he said.

will carry gas from Turkmenistan's Galkynysh field, better known by its previous name South Yolotan Osman, that holds gas reserves of 16 trillion cubic feet.

From the field, the pipeline will run to Herat and Kandahar province of Afghanistan, before entering Pakistan. In Pakistan, it will reach Multan via Quetta before ending at Fazilka (Punjab) in India.

On December 13, Turkmenistan began work on the 214 km section of the pipeline in its territory. The pipeline will travel 773 km in Afghanistan and 827 km in Pakistan before touching the Indian border.
Former Home Secretary G K Pillai, who has hit the headlines recently with his statements on the Ishrat Jahan killing, had said in 2013 that she has to be given the benefit of doubt on the issue whether she was an LeT operative.

"I don't think there is any conclusive evidence against Ishrat Jahan. Unless any proper investigation is carried out, we will have to give her the benefit of doubt," the retired bureaucrat had said in 2013.

Pillai had recently stoked a controversy saying that the the second affidavit of the Central government in Gujarat High Court filed in 2009 contradicting the earlier affidavit's claim that Jahan was an LeT operative was drafted by the then Home Minister P Chidambaram without consulting officials.

Ishrat, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an alleged encounter with Gujarat Police on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.

After Pillai's recent statement, Chidambaram owned up responsibility for the second affidavit but expressed disappointment over the retired bureaucrat distancing himself from it.

Pillai had said last week that "I would say that she knew something was wrong and an unmarried Muslim girl would not go with a married person to different places, etc. Spend the night outside....Perhaps she knew that something was happening. She could have been a cover."



Asked to comment on his comments in 2013 and the recent remarks, he said, "My comment in 2013 was in a particularly context. The context was not to vilify a dead person unless further investigation threw up more evidence.

"I have said even now that evidence is not conclusive about Ishrat's LeT membership. But her conduct of travelling with Javed raises questions that something was amiss.
Jailed Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko today refused to give up a hunger strike, after rejecting food and water in protest at delays in her controversial murder trial in Russia, her lawyers said.

Savchenko, 34, is demanding she be repatriated to Ukraine after a judge in the southern Russian town of Donetsk yesterday unexpectedly postponed her final address to court as her trial over the 2014 killing of two Russian journalists in east Ukraine nears an end.

Savchenko's defence lawyers visited her today at her detention centre in southern Russia but failed to persuade her to stop the hunger strike.

"Our arguments did not work," lawyer Nikolai Polozov told AFP. "Her only demand is that she be immediately returned to Ukraine."



He added that Savchenko was refusing to allow prison officials or doctors to touch her and any attempts to force-feed her would be seen by her as "torture."



He said she had not been drinking water since the trial was adjourned.

Her supporters are concerned that by refusing to drink water she may damage her health irreparably or not live long enough to attend the next hearing set for Wednesday.

Refusing both food and water is known in Russia as a "dry hunger strike" and was a method of last resort for some Soviet dissidents under Communism.

Savchenko has fasted before to protest the accusations against her but has never before refused both food and water.

She has already refused food for more than 80 days but broke off her hunger strike in March last year because of severe health problems.

Polozov said her defence team would not be able to visit her this weekend and during subsequent public holidays on Monday and Tuesday in Russia.

If she is not in court on Wednesday, her lawyers would start looking for her in local hospitals, Polozov said.
As jewellery shops across India remained shut for a third day to oppose levy of excise duty, the government today went into damage control, clarifying that the 1% levy on non-silver articles would be only for with Rs 12 crore turnover and not small traders.

Meanwhile, stepping up pressure, jewellery traders have decided to extend their strike till March 7, saying the new duty will not just hit business during slowdown but also put a significant compliance burden on the industry, which has been weighed down by the import duty and a value-added tax.

Finance Ministry issued a statement to clarify that Budget 2016-17 has proposed a nominal excise duty of 1% (without input tax credit) and 12.5% (with input tax credit) on articles of jewellery.

"Even for this nominal 1% excise duty, manufacturers are allowed to take credit of input services, which can be utilised for payment of duty on jewellery," it said.

Finance Ministry said central excise officers have been directed not to visit the premises of jewellery manufacturers.

It said the Budget provides for excise duty exemption limit of Rs 6 crore in a year for Small Scale Industries in jewellery business (as against normal limit of Rs 1.5 crore).

"Thus, only if the turnover of a jeweller during preceding financial year was more than Rs 12 crore, he will be liable to pay the excise duty," the statement said.

having turnover below Rs 12 crore during preceding financial year will be eligible for exemption up to Rs 6 crore during the fiscal.

"Such small will be eligible for exemptions up to Rs 50 lakh for the month of March 2016," it said.

Indirect tax proposals come into effect from the date Budget is presented in Parliament and so the exemption for small jewellers, with turnover of less than Rs 12 crore a year, would be Rs 50 lakh in March.

Articles of silver jewellery (other than those studded with diamonds, ruby, emerald or sapphire) are exempt from this duty.
Members of the JNU Teachers Association again met the university's vice-chancellor today with a list of demands, the primary among them being the removal of the officiating registrar Bhupinder Zutshi.

JNUTA secretary Vikramaditya Chaudhary said the delegation has sought the vice-chancellor's response on the issue by Monday.

JNUTA has accused Zutshi of "informing police in advance" on February 9 when the controversial event that triggered a massive fallout, was held.

The Association also demanded a credible enquiry into the JNU episode alleging the probe by the university so far has been conducted in a "partisan" manner.

We demanded that the arbitrary suspension of the students (involved in the JNU episode) be revoked as the action was taken against them based on evidence that was not credible, Chaudhary said.
Failure of state machinery to enforce environmental laws has necessitated the judiciary to step in to safeguard the public health, Chief Justice T S Thakur today said while crediting the Supreme Court for its efforts in worldwide movement to protect the ecology.

"We cannot deny the fact that the judicial orders are passed out of necessity for the enforcement of the laws only when system of governance fails to implement it.

"The judgments and orders passed by the court compel the discharge of constitutional and statutory duties. More often than not, the Supreme Court has to step in to protect the environment on account of failures of state machinery," he said.

In his address at the inaugural function here on 'International Conference on Rule of Law for Supporting the 2030 Development Agenda/Sustainable Development Goals', Justice Thakur also referred to objections of Executive regarding implementation of constitutional provisions on environment on the ground they fall under Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP) of Constitution and hence, unenforceable.

Referring to various judgements, the CJI said, "In the ongoing environment protection campaign, the role of Indian judiciary is no less significant. It is a matter of pride for the Indian judiciary that the movement of protection and conservation started because of the proactive role of the India judiciary and the Supreme Court.

"Parliament reiterated environment as the Directive Principle of State Policy (DPSP) and it's not an enforceable constitutional objective. The Supreme Court in... Declared the DPSP which have found statutory expressions will not be allowed to become a statutory mockery."



At a function, attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and others including Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, the CJI said the "plunder" of natural resources for "greed" may endanger the life on earth and there was a need for "prudent use of available resources".

The CJI also referred to the evolution of environment case laws and said India has been among few nations in the world which have recognised the right to clean environment as a part of the fundamental right.

He also referred to legislations on air, water and the 1986 law on Environment Protection to highlight the fact that the government and the Indian judiciary have been on forefront.

(Reopens DEL 89)



The CJI also cited some historic cases where apex court went the extra mile to ensure protection of environment.

"Accordingly, whether it is Taj Mahal case, the Ganges pollution case, the Delhi traffic police case and the forest cases... The Supreme court had to step in to devise mechanism to safeguard the health of the people from toxic pollutants which situational necessity would not have arisen if the enforcement of the law by the statutory body have been effective as it should have been," he said.

Justice Thakur also stressed the need to find a balance between need to development and maintaining the environment saying India has large population and they needed to grow and develop without causing more harm to the ecology.

"It's the duty of all citizens to protect and improve the natural environment, including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife and to have compassion towards living creatures," the CJI said.

"India doubtless is the first country to consider the issue of environmental protection in its basic documents of governance," he said.

The CJI also said the Supreme Court, in 1996, incorporated the international environmental principle of "polluter pays" in one of the cases.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, in his speech, lauded the efforts of the NDA government in taking steps for protecting the environment and referred to its flagship schemes like 'Swachh Bharat' and 'Clean Ganga' programmes.

"Previous government spent over one billion USD on cleaning of Yamuna and but nothing of that sort has happened, but with the keen interest of the government some steps have been taken," he said.

Justice Swatanter Kumar, the chairperson of the National Green Tribunal, lauded the efforts of the Modi government on environment front and referred to the 2015 Paris summit where the Indian stand on climate justice has found mention in the preamble of the resolution.
Cautioning against any interference in the legal system, JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar in an interview on Friday, said he had full faith in the country's judiciary and hoped it is not influenced by the RSS.

"Those who were burning flags earlier are now standing with the same flags asking people to show their nationalism certificates. I have faith in judiciary and Constituion but what they should do should not be decided in Nagpur at RSS headquarters," Kanhaiya said.

The 29-year-old research scholar, who walked out of Tihar on Thursday on interim bail after being lodged there for 18 days in a sedition case, said his agenda is not to be a politician but to be a teacher.

"I am an activist as a student and I will be an activist as a professor as well five years down the line. I do not have any intentions to join mainstream politics. Neither I want to use the kind of support I have got from public at large for petty political gains," he said.

According to Kanhaiya, the entire row about the university being allegedly branded as anti- has created a particular image of the varsity which is affecting the students.

"I was inside, what was happening outside jail, I was getting to know only from news reports. It's not just Left supporters which stood by me but also those who haven't been able to decide whether they should hold the left flag or the right are also coming out in support of JNU," he said.

"I am being told students are finding it difficult travelling in trains if passengers get to know they are from JNU, autowallahs are refusing to ferry them. This is the sad part of this controversy, rest all is a fight which will go on," he added.

Defining his idea of politics, Kanhaiya said, " politics has two centres- one in parliament and another on roads. The former one needs struggle while the latter one needs strategy. I believe there should be a two-way traffic between both".

Asked whether the controversy will affect his relationship with the students on campus who are affiliated to ABVP, Kanhaiya said, "My room in hostel is next to the president of JNU's ABVP unit. This is what is the beauty of JNU. It is a fight between two idelogies and not individuals".

"Those who are bothered about the tax-payers money being spent on anti-nationals should rest assured about their investments. Their money is also being used for developing businesses of a select few, may be it's time to bother about those investments," he said.

Jawaharlal Nehru University is caught in a row over an event on the campus to commemorate the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, where "anti-national" slogans were allegedly raised.

Besides Kanhaiya, two other students--Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya are also in custody in connection with the case.

"Our primary focus is to get them released but one thing I am sure of is if I adopt this ideology of raising our voice these trips to prison will become a frequent thing," he said.

While the varsity administration has been under criticism from teachers and students over their alleged mishandling of the row, Kanhaiya refused to comment on the same maintaining he has not been approached by anybody from the authorities.
A day after JNUSU president took on the Narendra Modi government, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said he was "enjoying free publicity" while leaders of opposition parties showered praises on him Kumar for his speech last night which is making waves on social media.

Naidu suggested that if Kanhaiya is interested in he should join his "favourite party" which, he said sarcastically, does "not even have in single digit" in representation in Parliament.

"He is getting free publicity and enjoying the publicity. The question is let him condemn those slogans, let him distance himself from them. Let him help the authorities curb such activities in universities.

"Universities are meant for education. They must study rather than getting involved in . If they are interested (in politics), then they can leave study and join . He can join his favourite party which does not even have single digit in Parliament," Naidu said.

Kumar represents All India Students' Federation (AISF), the students' front of Communist Party of India (CPI) which has one seat each in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who tweeted "What a brilliant speech by Kanhaiya" as the latter was speaking last night, today said, "I told you several times Modi ji (Prime Minister), don't mess with students. Modi ji did not pay heed."



"Heard Kanhaiya's speech many times. Amazing clarity of thought expressed wonderfully.He said what most people have been feeling.God bless him," he tweeted.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said Kumar's speech was "testimony" to the fact that JNU students are demanding the creation of a better India and that they are the "foot soldiers" protecting the secular and democratic character of the Indian republic.

Congress' Ashwani Kumar said his party has been maintaining that Kumar did not utter anything anti- at any point and yesterday he made it more clear through the speech.

Kumar was released from Tihar jail yesterday after the Delhi High Court granted him bail following his nearly three-week long incarceration in a case of alleged sedition.
Amid speculation that JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar would campaign for the Left parties in the five poll-bound states including West Bengal, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee today said it would "not have any impact" on the prospect of her party.

"Let them come. How does it matter? It is a democratic country. Anyone can come for campaigning. It will not have any impact on the prospect of TMC," the West Bengal chief minister said.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury today said in Delhi that Kumar, as a Left activist, will "campaign" for the Left parties in the five states where elections are due this year.

West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry will go to polls in April and May.

Kumar is a leader of All India Students' Federation, the students' wing of CPI.

"Our people also fought for them in Parliament," she said referring to the the party MPs who protested against the government action on Kumar in Parliament.

"Let them think about Kerala first. I have decided to go to Kerala and expose the nexus between Congress and CPI(M)," she said.

Talks are on about a tie-up between Congress and CPI(M) for the Assembly polls in West Bengal but the two parties are rivals in Kerala which will also go to polls.
Claiming that JNU students' union president is an activist, leaders of Communist parties today said he will campaign for the Left Front in the five assembly poll-bound states.

"He (Kanhaiya Kumar) is a Left activist. As a Left activist, he will naturally campaign (for the parties). It is often said that youth is not attracted to the Left. What they have to say about yesterday's meeting in JNU?" CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said.

Kumar is a leader of All India Students' Federation (AISF), the students' wing of CPI.

CPI national secretary D Raja said there is a demand for Kanhaiya to campaign in different parts of the country.

"As a student activist, political activist he is likely to campaign for us. There are demands for him to campaign in many places. We will have to see how it works out," Raja said.

West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry will go to polls in April and May.

Kumar was arrested on the charge of sedition three weeks ago for allegedly raising anti-India slogans. The government's move had triggered a massive outcry in the country.

The JNUSU President was released yesterday from Tihar jail, after he granted interim bail for six months by the High Court on Wednesday on condition that he will cooperate in the ongoing investigation and has to present himself before the police as and when required.
JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar today won accolades from non-BJP leaders for his rousing 'azadi' speech in which he took on Prime Minister Narendra Modi as they asserted whatever he said is true and he was more nationalist than those levelling sedition charge against him.

29-year-old Kumar's 66-minute speech laced with wit and sarcasm last night on his return to JNU campus after he walked free from jail three weeks after his arrest, however, did not go down well with the BJP with Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu saying he was "enjoying free publicity". Naidu also said students in universities must study rather than getting involved in politics.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar backed Kumar's assertions of freedom from poverty and intolerance and said the "talented" youth leader was more nationalist than those levelling charge of sedition against him.

"The speech given by Kanhaiya Kumar in JNU after his release from jail is very effective ... Whatever he said is true," Nitish told reporters at Patna Airport.

"Kanhaiya Kumar said we do not talk of freedom from India but freedom in India and demand independence in this regard," Nitish, who is a senior JD(U) leader, said.

"Kanhaiya Kumar put forth his views like there should be freedom from hunger, poverty and intolerance," he said and hailed the JNUSU President for putting his views effectively.

"These prove that our new generation has a lot of capability. The coming forward of such a talented student and youth will strengthen the roots of democracy in the country," he added.

Kanhaiya was slapped with sedition charge for allegedly raising anti-national slogans during the protest against the hanging of parliament attack convict Afzal Guru on his third death anniversary last month.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who tweeted "What a brilliant speech by Kanhaiya" as the latter was speaking last night, today said, "I told you several times Modi ji (Prime Minister), don't mess with students. Modi ji did not pay heed."



"Heard Kanhaiya's speech many times. Amazing clarity of thought expressed wonderfully.He said what most people have been feeling.God bless him," he tweeted.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said the speech was "testimony" to the fact that JNU students are demanding the creation of a better India and that they are the "foot soldiers" protecting the secular and democratic character of the Indian republic.

Congress' Ashwani Kumar said his party has been maintaining that Kanhaiya did not utter anything anti-national at any point and yesterday he made it more clear through the speech.

Hailing Kanhaiya's speech, JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav said



there should be more and more "Kanhaiya Kumars" in our country "so that people could live and sleep fearlessly as he is the true nationalist and not anti-national as BJP has branded him."



"At present, students go to colleges and universities with lot of fear as they do not know at what time and on what issue ABVP will start its activities which may result in confrontation with other groups.

"I am impressed with this student on his understanding of the issues of the nation. His speech was that of very matured person. The country needs such students who are really nationalists and are thinking about the country," he said.

Kanhaiya is a "real hero and true nationalist" and to brand him anti-national was anti-students and especially against those hailing from poor background, he added.

Venkaiah Naidu suggested that if Kanhaiya is interested in politics he should join his "favourite party" which, he said sarcastically, does "not even have in single digit" in representation in Parliament.

"He is getting free publicity and enjoying the publicity. The question is let him condemn those slogans, let him distance himself from them. Let him help the authorities curb such activities in universities.

"Universities are meant for education. They must study rather than getting involved in politics. If they are interested (in politics), then they can leave study and join politics. He can join his favourite party which does not even have single digit in Parliament," Naidu said.

Kumar represents All India Students' Federation (AISF), the students' front of Communist Party of India (CPI) which has one seat each in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
Kapu community leader Mudragada Padmanabham today threatened to launch another hunger strike from March 11 if government fails to give him in writing the assurances it had made orally while making him withdraw a similar protest last month.

"I am giving government the ultimatum till March 10 evening to give in writing the assurances they had given me orally on providing reservation to Kapus at the time of withdrawal of my fast last month," Mudragada told reporters at his residence at Kirlampudi, 75 kms from here.

He said the TDP government has cheated him and rescinded its promises including releasing of Rs 500 crore to Kapu Welfare Corporation and inclusion of a person proposed by him as one of the members on Justice (retd) Manjunath Commission on Kapu reservation issue.

Mudragada alleged that false cases are being foisted on innocent people from the community who were not involved in the violent agitation at Tuni in East Godavari district in January for inclusion of Kapus in the Backward Classes (BC) category.

He demanded from government to cut short the timeframe set for the Commission to submit its report to six months.

Mudragada and his wife Padmavathi had resorted to indefinite fast in the wake of the protest, but called it off on the fourth day on oral assurances by a team of TDP leaders, including ministers, sent by chief minister Chandrababu Naidu.

However, the government at that time did not issue a GO (Government Order) to include Kapus in the BC list, as had been demanded by the Kapu leader.

The ruling party has accused him of playing into hands of YSR Congress Party president Jaganmohan Reddy.
Kerala government has unveiled its AYUSH policy with an objective to make the state a global destination of traditional systems of medicine.

Tilted as AYUSH Health Policy 2016, it envisages to tap the potential of the traditional systems of medicines like ayurveda, Yoga-naturopathy, Unani and Siddha and integrate them to improve the primary and preventive health care system of the state.

The policy also aimed at improving the standard of AYUSH systems of health delivery, promoting AYUSH related education and research studies and basic infrastructure in the sector.

State Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala released the policy by handing over a copy to Health Minister V S Sivakumar at a function here last evening.

In his address, Sivakumar said it was necessary to create awareness about Ayush systems of medicines to check increasing lifestyle diseases in the society.

He said the integrated efforts of the government in the last five years had helped Kerala become a 'total Ayurveda state' and efforts are already on to make it a preferred destination of homeopathic treatment also.

The new AYUSH policy is expected to help propagate the traditional systems of medicines among people in a phased manner, the minister said adding that the government was also planning to set up a research centre of AYUSH.

Naik said the AYUSH Ministry had formed an expert



committee, under the chairmanship of H R Nagendra, to prepare a Common Yoga Protocol for control of Diabetes mellitus. It was finalised by the committee and the booklet was launched on October 2 last year.

The International Day of Yoga has become a world-wide event and is celebrated with overwhelming enthusiasm by people in different countries. The response "exceeded our expectations", he said.

Naik said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing the second International Day of Yoga celebration at Chandigarh had advised the AYUSH Ministry to focus on mitigating diabetes through yoga and this three-day international conference is one of the several programmes in response.

The ministry said diabetes is spreading at a very fast pace in India, particularly among urban population, and it is no more restricted to older people as the younger generation is also becoming prone to it.

At the conference, Naik released a 2017 calendar themed on 'yoga and diabetes' and also a book on yoga in which selected research papers from 2001 to 2016 have been compiled.
The deputy commander- in-chief and chief recruiter of Kamtapur Liberation Organisation, a banned militant outfit, was killed in a joint operation by army and police in Assam's Kokrajhar district today, officials said.

IGP, Assam, L R Bishnoi told reporters in Guwahati the operation was launched at Shilajan area of Kokrajhar after receiving specific information regarding movement of the activists of KLO.

After being fired upon by three ultras, the army and the police retaliated and killed the top leader of KLO identified as Dibakar Barman alias Anupal, while two others fled the scene.

A massive combing operation is on to apprehend the two others, Bishnoi said, adding a 7.65-mm pistol along with 7 rounds of ammunition was recovered from the spot.

Kokrajhar Superintendent of Police S P Saikia said Barman was on the most wanted list of Assam Police and actively involved in the killing incident of agriculture department engineer Godapani Pathak on May 3, 2012.

A defence spokesman said the terrorist had joined the outfit in 2012 following his training in Myanmar.

"His neutralisation is seen as a major success for the security forces as he was capable of perpetrating a lot of trouble in view of the coming legislative assembly elections in the state (Assam)," he said.

Since the last one year police has nabbed 22 KLO militants and killed seven of its top leaders, which he said was a major setback for KLO.

KLO is a key partner of the umbrella United Liberation Front of Western South East Asia (UNLFW) formed in April 2015 by NSCN(K), ULFA(I), and other banned terrorist groups of Manipur.
Infrastructure major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) today said it has sold its foundry unit at Coimbatore to Bradken Ltd for Rs 163 crore as part of its strategic plan to exit non-core business.

"The company today has completed sale of its casting manufacturing unit (foundry unit) located at Coimbatore to Bradken Ltd," L&T said in a regulatory filing.

The company said it received a consideration of Rs 163 crore from the sale of the foundry unit, which had a revenue of Rs 122 crore in the 2014-15 fiscal.

"The sale of this business is in line with the company's strategic plan to exit non-core businesses and rationalise its portfolio," the company said.

It said it continues to maintain its foundries at Kansbahal, Odisha and L&T Special Steels & Heavy Forgings, Hazira, Gujarat.

Shares of the company closed at Rs 1,193.75 apiece, down 1.03 per cent from the previous close.

Naik said there are over 20 Chief Information Officers



(CIOs) across Group companies, who will sit together to discuss the applications of digital technologies.

The Group's tech arms -- the IPO-bound L&T Infotech and L&T Technology Services which serves the engineering sector -- will also help the companies as part of the exercise, he said.

After the 'digital day' in July, the company will be hosting 'only digital and new-age technology workshop' with professionals from across the world in September, he said.

Speaking at the maiden IPO roadshow for L&T Infotech in the city, Naik said contrary to perception, the company is very important for the Group.

"It is very important, contrary to what many people think that it is not a core business of L&T. According to me, it is the corest of core," he said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that 'no consensus' has been reached over the timing of polls in rebel-held east Ukraine, after France and Germany pushed for elections to be held by the end of July.

The top diplomats from Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany met in Paris yesterday but failed to make a breakthrough on a stalled peace plan for east Ukraine thrashed out in the Belarussian capital Minsk a year ago.

Lavrov said that Germany and France had pushed for the meeting to call on all sides in the conflict to hold elections by the end of July, but that Kiev had opposed the demand.

"We were ready to support it but the Ukrainian side requested that it not be insisted upon. As a result, no consensus was reached," Lavrov said in comments posted on the foreign ministry website today.

The local elections in the areas held by pro-Russian rebels whom Kiev and the West say Moscow arms and directs - are seen as a key step in untangling a conflict that has claimed over 9,100 lives since April 2014.

Low-level fighting is dragging on in flashpoints along the frontline despite a string of ceasefire deals tamping down violence around most of the conflict zone.

Ukraine has long insisted there must be a total cessation of hostilities in the country's restive east before holding the polls.

Kiev says Russia must return control over its border in order to cut off the flow of weapons and fighters to the rebels but Moscow says the Ukrainian authorities must first guarantee the insurgents greater autonomy and hold elections.

"Unfortunately there have been no breakthroughs in the most important area -- preparations for elections," Lavrov said.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said that the Paris meeting yesterday was a "step forward", but his German and Ukrainian counterparts painted a gloomier picture of negotiations.
The health minister in Libya's internationally recognised government today demanded the release of Libyan funds frozen abroad, saying the situation in his violence-ridden country was "dramatic".

"The health situation in Libya is dramatic. We are currently unable to buy what is needed to treat the sick and wounded," health minister Redha el-Oakley said at a press conference at the UN mission's headquarters in Tunis.

"It's ridiculous that Libya has to endure financial difficulties in order to ensure supplies of medicines for its people when billions of dollars are blocked" abroad, he said.

Oakley said even just "one percent" of such blocked funds would be enough to buy "medicines for Libyans for a year".

In Tunisia, for example, he said there were some $295 million in frozen funds, and deplored the fact that approaches to the Tunisian central bank for more than a year had yielded nothing.

"Waiting for the establishment of a consensus government is a false pretext used by countries holding Libyan money," he said.

Oakley urged "the international community to intervene" to help unblock these funds. "This is a humanitarian responsibility," he said.

Chaos has engulfed Libya since the 2011 NATO-backed ouster of dictator Moamer Kadhafi, and rival administrations are being urged to sign up to a UN-brokered national unity government to help restore stability.

The internationally recognised government in which Oakley is a minister is based in the far east of the country, while an Islamist militia-backed administration operates in the capital Tripoli.

The representative of the World Health Organization in Libya, Sayed Jaffar Hussain, was also at the press conference and said USD 50 million in immediate funding was needed.

"The world is interested in conflict zones in Iraq and Syria but forgets about Libya. It is a crisis that must be addressed. Children are not vaccinated and women give birth in their homes," he said.

In January, Oakley said that persistent fighting in Libya had forced the closure or partial breakdown of 60 to 70 percent of its hospitals and that the country needed USD 3 million per day to buy medicine.

Last October, the United Nations said that in a country of 6.3 million, "2.44 million people are in need of protection and some form of humanitarian assistance".
BSF today said it has lodged a protest with Pakistan over a cross-border tunnel along the international border in RS Pura sector of Jammu district and passed on the evidence in this regard to them.

"Yes, obviously we have lodged a protest with Pakistan. We have asked them to take up an investigation (into the matter). We also gave them proof...And expect that they will take action," Inspector General of BSF, Jammu Frontier, Rakesh Sharma told reporters.

"We have told them that this has happened in front of your post and it cannot be that you are not aware of it and if you are, please take action," he said when asked whether the Pakistan Rangers were involved in the construction of the tunnel.

BSF had yesterday found the 30-meter-long well- constructed tunnel about 10 feet below the ground. This is the fourth tunnel unearthed by the force in the region since 2012.

"The tunnel even bypassed the three-tier fencing beneath the agriculture field and was designed exclusively for infiltration. A big terrorist attack was being planned...," Sharma said.

He said it was not possible to acertain the exact length of the tunnel on the Pakistan side. "It would be around 200 to 300 meters as it seems to have its entry point near Pakistan's Afzal Post, located about 300 meters from the Indian side," he said.

Asked if BSF fears construction of more cross-border tunnels along the IB to facilitate infiltration, he said "this is not the first act of such type from Pakistan side. We are taking adequate measures to detect and prevent construction of such tunnels."



Also, DG BSF K K Sharma today flew into Jammu to inspect the area. He, along with DGP of Jammu and Kashmir K Rajendra Kumar, was accompanied to the spot by Sharma who also briefed them on the current situation.

Kumar said "a major infiltration bid has been foiled by BSF and security forces. I compliment my brothers in the force...In the BSF. They have done a wonderful job.
Government today rejected suggestions that the five-month ban Swiss giant Nestle's Maggi noodles was in retaliation to EU's clampdown on marketing of 700 generic drugs for alleged manipulation of clinical trials by GVK Bio.

"I don't think that these two issues are at all linked. Many countries take many decisions in what they deem to be appropriate regulatory steps to protect their population," Department of Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia told reporters on the sidelines of a programme at the Indian School of Business (ISB) here.

"This is the legitimate right of every country. So whatever action was taken on Nestle was legitimately within the domain of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

"Whatever the EU did in the GVK Bio case, whether we liked it or not, whether we protest, it was what they felt was legitimate. They represented their case and we represented our case. I don't think that we can get into tit-for-tat mode," she said.

Regarding the free trade agreement (FTA), she said the EU needs to convince its member countries on some of the issues raised by India to boost two-way commerce and investment.

Teaotia said there have been 16 rounds of discussions up to 2012-13, but there has been a lull since then.

"Now after three years, the negotiators met in January. That negotiation was really a stock taking (of) where we stand and what happened in the last three or four years.

"What the EU requested was that there would be another meeting at my level, which was held a few weeks ago. A lot of discussions had happened earlier. There were just a few issues left for discussion. I think the EU will also agree now that they need to convince all its members," she explained.

On the exports front, she said there has been contraction during the current year on account of global economic slowdown.
Former Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad joined with political foes today in issuing a declaration signed by 58 public figures urging Prime Minister Najib Razak to resign over corruption allegations.

Najib is resisting growing pressure to step down after documents leaked last July showed more than USD 700 million was deposited in his private bank accounts.

The attorney general decided in January not to prosecute Najib, saying most of the money was a personal donation from Saudi Arabia's royal family. reports since then have said the total may exceed USD 1 billion.

Mahathir said the country's reputation has been tarnished, with Najib unable to quash accusations the money came from indebted state investment fund 1MDB, which he founded in 2009.

"We must rid ourselves of Najib" as prime minister, Mahathir said. "If he's allowed to go on, the damage will be worse and worse."



Mahathir was Prime Minister for 22 years before stepping down in 2003. He remains an influential political figure and since last year has led calls for Najib to resign.

The declaration comes four days after Mahathir quit the ruling Malay party after accusing Najib of hijacking it to protect his own interests.

In addition to Mahathir and key opposition figures, prominent civil society leaders and several ruling party lawmakers, including former Deputy Premier Muhyiddin Yassin, also signed the statement.

The prime minister's office, in an immediate response, said "Mahathir and his former enemies have demonstrated the depth of their political opportunism and desperation." It said Mahathir must follow the democratic process and wait for the next general election, due in 2018, if he wants to change the government.

The declaration is a show of unity by disparate forces who hope the call for Najib to resign will gather momentum nationally. They face a tough challenge as Najib has kept an iron grip since the scandal began by replacing critics in the Cabinet and ruling party with loyalists and cracking down on the media.

Najib also replaced the former attorney-general who had been investigating him with a loyalist, who last month ordered the anti-corruption agency to close its investigation of the Prime Minister. The agency is appealing the decision.

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that investigations into 1MDB have revealed that a total of more than USD 1 billion was routed into Najib's bank accounts several hundred million dollars more than had been reported before and that investigators believe most came from 1MDB through a complex web of transactions in several countries.
Malaysian Consul General for South India Ahmad Fajarazam bin Abdul Jalil today called on Tamil Nadu Governor K Rosaiah and said his country wanted to strengthen ties with India on all fronts.

"Malaysia and India have very strong cultural and commercial links. Malaysia would like to step up relationships on all fronts," Jalil was quoted as saying in a Raj Bhavan release.

"Both the countries have a very good flow of tourists. Connectivity between many tourist destinations have increased on both the sides," the Consul General said.

Noting that Malaysia and India have been trade partners since "ancient times", the Governor said, "Bilateral trade with Malaysia has been on the rise in the recent past".

"Tamil Nadu is an educational hub and a health care destination", he noted.
A man wanted by police in at least 16 criminal cases, including three of murder and his associate were arrested from arrested from southwest Delhi's Najafgarh area, police said today.

The accused, identified as 37-year old Sandeep alias Mental and his associate Pradeep, believed to be a sharp-shooter, were arrested by a police team yesterday after they laid a trap on the basis of a tip-off, DCP (Southwest) R A Sanjeev said.

According to the police, the duo were collecting money to eliminate one Shakti, who heads a rival gang in the area.

The police have seized one semi automatic pistol, three live cartridges and an SUV with a fake number plate from their possession. With further investigation it emerged that the duo had allegedly stolen the SUV from Gurgaon last year, police said.

Mental, a native of Haryana's Bahadurgarh who heads a gang in southwest Delhi, was wanted in at least 16 crimial cases, including three murder cases registered between 2009 and 2012.

His associate, Pradeep, who allegedly worked as a sharp-shooter for him, was also wanted in at least three cases, including two of murder, police added.
MDMK founder Vaiko today lashed out at both AIADMK and DMK on the issue of release of seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, charging Chief Minister Jayalalithaa with trying to get 'political mileage' on the matter.

He also charged DMK President M Karunanidhi with trying to 'hoodwink' people on the issue, claiming that his government was not earlier favourably disposed to mercy petitions filed by three of the convicts--Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan.

While the state government can release all seven of them including Nalini using Article 161 of the Constitution, Jayalalithaa "has written a letter to Centre through the Chief Secretary," he said in a statement.

"People are aware that this is an attempt to gain political mileage and hoodwink (them)," he said.

Tamil Nadu government had informed Centre of its decision to release V Sriharan alias Murugan, T Suthendraraja alias Santhan, A G Perarivalan alias Arivu, Jayakumar, Robert Payas, Ravichandran and Nalini, and sought its views on the matter as is required in certain cases before taking action.

Slamming DMK, which had backed the state government's decision to release the seven, Vaiko claimed that the Karunanidhi-led party never made attempts to set them free while in power.

In the past, when Nalini, Santhan, Murugan and Perarivalan had filed mercy petitions, the then DMK government had allowed clemency for Nalini citing Congress President Sonia Gandhi's support, but had "rejected" that of the others, Vaiko said.

The three persons had susbequently petitioned the President, he added.

"But he (Karunanidhi) seems to believe that people will forget all these and now supports the demand for the release of all the seven. He is good at such hoodwinking tactics," Vaiko said.
Meghalaya government today announced a seven-day state mourning following the demise of National People's Party founder late Purno Agitok Sangma.

Speaker Abu Taher Mondal broke the of his demise immediately after the Governor's address on the first day of the Budget session, shocking everyone present in the House.

"One of the stalwarts of this House and who is also a member of the Lok Sabha (P A Sangma) passed away this morning in New Delhi," Mondal said.

The Speaker also cut short today's session and announced adjournment of the House till the day of his funeral to facilitate and ensure that all members attend it as proposed by the Chief Minister.

Expressing shock at the news, an emotional Chief Minister Mukul Sangma said he is "perturbed and deeply grieved" the loss of a leader in the capacity of P A Sangma.

He said he had directed the Chief Secretary to keep in constant touch with the 'Meghalaya House' in New Delhi and the family to facilitate any arrangements required by the family members.

He also said that the state government has declared a seven days of state mourning to honour the great politician whose demise left an "irreplaceable loss" to the state.

Recalling P A Sangma's contribution, Mukul said, "No leader from this part of the country has achieved this extra-ordinary innings in political and public life."



He termed him as an "incomparable" leader who identifies the people of the state with the rest of the country.

Leader of Opposition and president of United Democratic Party Donkupar Roy said he realized that Sangma was an exceptional leader that the state ever produced ever since their first meeting in 1988.

Roy recalled the contribution made by Purno in the capacity of a former Union cabinet minister, a Speaker in the Lok Sabha and as a chief minister of the state besides as a member of the legislative assembly.

Government's chief adviser and Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee president D D Lapang said P A Sangma did have a "global mindset".

Hills State Peoples Democratic Party President Ardent Basaiawmoit recalled how "witty" P A Sangma could be.
The Meghalaya government declared a 7-day state mourning as a mark of respect to it former chief minister Purno A Sangma, who died today.

Expressing shock over the passing away of the former Lok Sabha Speaker, an emotional Chief Minister Mukul Sangma said the state government has declared a seven-day state mourning in honour of the former Union minister whose demise has left an "irreplaceable loss".

Assembly Speaker Abu Taher Mondal broke the of his demise immediately after the Governor's address on the first day of the Budget session.

"One of the stalwarts of this House, who was a member of Lok Sabha passed away this morning in New Delhi," he said.

The Speaker also cut short today sitting and announced that the House will remain adjourned on the day of Sangma's funeral to facilitate members to attend, a proposal made by the chief minister.

The CM said he is "perturbed and deeply grieved" at the loss of the top leader.

He said that he had directed the Chief Secretary to keep in constant touch with Meghalaya House in Delhi and the family to facilitate all necessary arrangements.

Recalling P A Sangma's contribution, Mukul said, "No leader from this part of the country has achieved such an extraordinary innings in political and public life" and described him as an "incomparable" man who made the state known to the rest of the country.

The Chief Minister is believed to have been groomed by Sangma himself. Both had a long association right from the time when Sangma attended a school where the former's parents were teachers in Ampati in South West Garo Hills district.

Leader of the Opposition and president of United Democratic Party Donkupar Roy said he realised that Sangma was an exceptional leader that the state ever produced when he met him first in 1988.

Roy recalled the contribution made by Sangma as a Union Cabinet minister, Speaker of Lok Sabha and as the chief minister of the state, besides as a member of the legislative assembly.

"Perhaps this (his rise in politics) was because of his efficiency as a politician and leader. People in the rest of the country know us because of him," Roy said, recalling his encounter with an MLA from Madhya Pradesh who did not know Meghalaya but Sangma very well.

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Condoling Sangma's death, D D Lapang, Chief Adviser to the Meghalaya government and state Congress president, said he had a "global mindset".

"He was not narrow and selfish. He was also fast in thinking and decisive too. PA has demonstrated his ability, dreams and determination to be great, rightly equipped with a vision, mission and determination," Lapang said.

Hills State Peoples Democratic Party president Ardent Basaiawmoit said the state has lost one of the tallest leaders it has ever produced. He also recalled Sangma's sense of humour.

"He was ever ready to share his experiences (as a seasoned politician). The state today lost one of the tallest leaders it has ever produced," he said.

State Urban Affairs Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh said, "He was witty, intelligent and was a committed leader."



She recalled her association with Sangma who was her father's friend. "He was a man who dared to live his dreams and whose agenda was real and focused," the minister said.
Indian-American supermodel turned chef Padma Lakshmi's memoir of food and family, survival and triumph is scheduled for launch in India on April 15 this year, publishers said in a statement today.

Lakshmi's book "Love, Loss And What We Ate," by Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins "traces the arc of her unlikely path from an immigrant childhood to a complicated life in front of the camera."



In her book, Lakshmi, a global style icon and the first internationally successful Indian supermodel, Lakshmi recounts how even as she shuttled between continents as a child her favorite food remained the simple rice she first ate sitting on the cool floor of her grandmother's kitchen in South India.

The memoir of the 45-year-old actress, model and television host of the reality cooking TV series "Top Chef" chronicles the fierce devotion of people who shaped her along the way.

It includes mention of her headstrong mother who flouted conservative Indian convention to make a life in New York, to her Brahmin grandfather-a brilliant engineer with an irrepressible sweet tooth-to the man seemingly wrong for her in every way who proved to be her truest ally, publishers said.

The book has "rich with sensual prose and punctuated with evocative recipes, is alive with the scents, tastes, and textures of a life that spans complex geographies both internal and external."



The New York based author, who was once married to celebrated author Salman Rushdie has previously authored two cookbooks -- "Tangy, Tart, Hot and Sweet" in 2007 and "Easy Exotic: A Model's Low Fat Recipes From Around the World" in 1999.
Amid questions being raised about credibility of huge investment commitments made during the Make in India Week, Maharashtra Industries Minister Subhash Desai today said his ministry is committed to translating at least 75-80 per cent of them into actual investments.

"We are aware of the fact that most of the times when MoUs are signed, they remain on paper. It isn't easy to convert all commitments into actual investments. At times it requires making changes in policies or bringing in reforms.

"But our government is committed to getting at least 75-80 per cent of these MoUs converted into reality," Desai told an event organised by industry lobby CII here.

Opposition parties, led by the NCP, on Thursday had claimed that 15 per cent of the investments announced at the Make-in-India week were "fake" and also questioned an MoU signed by Maharashtra for affordable housing.

Furnishing the MoU signed between Maharashtra and housing body MCHI-Credai during the summit, NCP leader Nawab Malik had said the pact to develop 5.69 lakh affordable houses valued at Rs 1.10 trillion in the Mumbai region was "fake" as a similar MoU was signed during Congress-NCP rule in 2010.

During the much-touted 'Make-in-India week held last month here, the state had claimed to have signed MoUs to the tune of around Rs 8 trillion across sectors and regions including the backward areas of Marathwada and Vidarbha.

The event organiser DIPP under the Central government has claimed the total commitment notched up Rs 15 trillion.

Many analyses have proved that the average conversion of investment proposals into actual investments are only 6-8 per cent across many states over the years.

Many have even been questioning the huge footfall (over 8 lakh through the summit) saying the actual numbers of visitors were actually not even a quarter of the official numbers.

"We have even formed a special task force consisting of officials from various departments to ensure that the MoUs received are brought into reality. As a state it is our responsibility to monitor and follow up with them if we want to become a globally competitive state," Desai said.

When asked about the criticism received for allegedly



quoting inflated numbers of investment, Desai said, "if we had to quote inflated numbers we would have announced Rs 12 trillion of commitments.

"In fact, we had received proposals worth Rs 12 trillion but we only announced Rs 8 trillion worth of MoUs because these were the ones which were scrutinised and approved by authorities concerned."



Desai further said the government is taking various initiatives like bringing down the number of approvals required to set up a project to 25 from the current 75.

When asked about the higher electricity tariff rates in the state, Desai said, "We are aware of the fact and we are also working towards ensuring that quality power is made available to industries at affordable rates."



Last week the government announced Rs 2,000 crore worth infrastructure projects in the MIDC area to enable industries to set up their businesses there.
Suspected militants attacked a designated camp of the members of the United Revolutionary Front (Chingkheinganba), which suspended operation in an agreement with the state government, at Napet Pali in Imphal East district, police said.

About ten suspected militants fired from sophisticated weapons and hurled bombs during the 30-minute operation at the camp on Wednesday night, a police officer said.

Although nobody was injured, property worth around Rs 1.5 lakh was damaged.

Police recovered from the spot the following morning an unexploded hand grenade along with forty empty cases, seven projectiles of AK-57, a plastic AK-57 magazine with eight rounds and three projectile of M 16, he said.

Meanwhile, the Maoist Communist Party, Manipur, in a statement today claimed that it had carried out the attack.
One of five "missing" Hong Kong booksellers who was detained on the mainland returned to the city today and met police, the government said, in a case that has provoked fears of increasing Chinese interference in the semi-autonomous region.

Lui Por, who has been missing since last October, was among three of the booksellers who Hong Kong police said earlier this week would be released on bail.

"Police met with Lui Por, who returned to Hong Kong from the mainland, this morning," a brief government statement released late today said.

"Lui requested to have his missing persons case closed and expressed that there was no need for assistance from the Hong Kong government or police," it said, adding he refused to provide any more information.

Hong Kong police had said that Lui and his counterparts Cheung Chi Ping and Lam Wing Kee, would all be released on bail.

The five booksellers from Hong Kong's Mighty Current publishing house, known for its salacious titles critical of Beijing, went missing last year, only to turn up in mainland China.

One who apparently disappeared from Hong Kong, Lee Bo, appeared on television on Monday and insisted that he had not been abducted by mainland authorities.

In the Phoenix TV interview, Lee said he had "resorted to illegal immigration" to get to the mainland as he did not want to draw attention to his visit.

The other four booksellers, who are under criminal investigation on the mainland, also appeared on Phoenix Sunday admitting to smuggling illicit books into China in sombre, sometimes tearful, interviews.

In their first appearance since they were detained, fellow booksellers Cheung Chi-ping, Lui Por and Lam Wing-kee blamed the company's illegal book trade on colleague Gui Minhai in their interviews.

Gui, a Swedish citizen, confessed he had "explored ways to circumvent official inspections in China", in his television interview Sunday.

The case has heightened fears of increasing mainland Chinese interference in Hong Kong and sparked international condemnation.
A 29-year-old Noida-based woman fashion designer, who had gone missing from Delhi under mysterious circumstances, has been found in a village close to Sultanpur bird sanctuary near here.

A Noida police team found Shipra Malik from a house in Sultanpur village, around 30 km from Gurgaon, late last night. She had gone missing on Monday afternoon shortly after she dialled Delhi Police helpline number from near Lajpat Nagar.

According to Laxmi Singh, DIG, Meerut, who is heading investigation in the case, "Shipra was unhappy and disturbed due to heavy loans, debt and property disputes between her husband and father in-law... In the last four days, she stayed at an ashram in Jaipur... After she mysteriously left Noida, she took a bus to Dhaula Kuan from where she boarded another bus to Jaipur."



Singh said, "Her last location was traced yesterday night in a house in Sultanpur Village on Jhajjar road near Sultanpur bird sanctuary. She called up her husband Chetan Malik who in turn informed Noida police."



Malik has been taken to Noida.

"Police are trying to verify the sequence of her locations and statements. There are no visible injury marks on her body," the police officer said, ruling out that she had been kidnapped.

"While going to Jaipur, she reached near Lajpat Nagar... She also tried to dial 100 -- Delhi Police control room -- to circulate the message that she was going on her own but, in the meantime, her phone got switched off due to non-availability of battery," Singh said.

On Monday, she had left her home in Sector 37 Noida for Chandni Chowk in Delhi and had been untraceable since then.

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Police said Malik scripted her own kidnapping story drawing inspiration from TV show 'Crime Petrol' and the recent abduction case of 25-year-old Snapdeal employee Deepti Sarna from Ghaziabad.

While Noida Police claimed that Malik called her husband from Sultanpur, Gurgaon Police had a different version.

According to Gurgaon Police, "Malik knocked the door of a house in Sultanpur around 11 pm and said she was abducted by three to four unidentified persons in a Maruti van and was later dumped near the village. She sought help from villagers who informed Gurgaon Police control room."



"A team of Gurgaon Police went to the spot. After interrogating her, they informed Noida Police," said Hawa Singh, APRO, Gurgaon police.

Malik told police that she was in "deep trauma" over the financial condition of her family as income of her husband, a local builder, went down in the past few years.

"Her boutique in Chandni Chowk was also not doing well and she was depressed. She had regular tiff with her husband over repayment of Rs 75 lakh loan. So she decided to stay in a peaceful ambiance for some days," Meerut DIG Singh said.

Malik was a graduate in fashion designing and married in 2010.

Last month, 25-year-old Snapdeal employee Sarna went missing after taking an autorickshaw from the metro station in Vaishali area in Ghaziabad. She returned home after 40 hours, saying her abductors had released her without harming her.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pet project for a between Mumbai and Ahmedabad appears to have hit a roadblock with the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) opposing the location of the underground station at Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC).

The MMRDA had selected BKC for its proposed International Finance Centre (IFC).

Principal Secretary, Urban Development-I (infrastructure projects), Nitin Kareer said the Ministry of Public Transport will be asking the Railway Ministry to either relocate the proposed station for the to its terminus stations at Bandra or Kurla.

Kareer said the site at BKC was selected by MMRDA for setting up IFC.

"Besides the area that the proposed IFC would cover, it will also include multi-level underground car parking. Apart from this, IFC could come up in a relative short duration, but it would take time for the bullet train to start generating revenue," he said.

Kareer said as compared to Metro stations, the underground bullet train station will require much bigger area. Hence, it was decided at a meeting of MMRDA, Transport and other senior officials that the Ministry of Railways be asked to consider an alternate site for the bullet train station.

Earlier in January this year, Railway Ministry fast tracked the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train project.

The high speed rail corridor, costing Rs 90,000 crore, will also have equity participation from Maharashtra and Gujarat.

The top speed on this corridor will be 350 kmph. The halts on the route include Thane, Virar, Dahanu, Lonavala, Valsad, Vapi, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodra, Anand or Nadiad and Ahmedabad.

The state government had recommended including Belapur in Navi Mumbai in the proposed route.
The Mozambican sandbank where a possible piece of a missing Malaysian airliner was found is in waters with treacherous currents and is not normally visited by tourists, a hotel owner said today.

Tony Manna, who owns a beachfront hotel in the Mozambican town of Vilankulo, said American adventurer Blaine Gibson was a guest at Manna's lodge, the Varanda, when he discovered debris that could be a piece of tail section from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared March 8, 2014 with 239 people aboard.

In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, Manna said he connected Gibson with a boat operator nicknamed "Junior," who took the American to the Paluma sandbank and first spotted the debris there.

The location is "not even an island, it's a sandbank in a dangerous area" that can only be reached by experienced mariners who know the waters, Manna said. Fishermen sometimes go there to collect rope and other washed up debris that might be useful for their work, he said.

The Boeing 777 flew far off course for unknown reasons after leaving Kuala Lumpur for Beijing on March 8, 2014. An ongoing search of the southern Indian Ocean has found no trace of the plane, though a wing part from the aircraft washed ashore on Reunion Island last year.

Gibson said in an interview with the AP on Thursday that he initially thought the piece that he and the boat operator found was from a small plane, and not from the missing airliner. Gibson, who is from Seattle, said the debris is with civil aviation authorities in Mozambique, and that he expects it to be transferred to their Australian counterparts.

Manna described Gibson as a sincere man who is also somewhat eccentric. He recalled that Gibson was emotional after the discovery of the debris.

"I was happy because maybe that little piece can give some peace to all those families" of the people who were aboard the missing airliner, Manna said.

Gibson, who is from Seattle, said the piece of debris is now in the hands of civil aviation authorities in Mozambique, and that he expects it to be transferred to their Australian counterparts.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau's chief commissioner Martin Dolan, who is heading up the search for the plane off Australia's west coast, today said the part should arrive in the nation's capital, Canberra, early next week. It is being taken to Australia rather than Malaysia because the ATSB has facilities set up for examining aircraft wreckage and trained technical staff on hand to help, he said.

The part will be analyzed by multiple people, including ATSB materials failure experts, with Boeing representatives and the Malaysian investigation team giving advice.

Investigators hope that once the part arrives, they will be able to confirm whether or not the piece is from Flight 370 within a matter of days, Dolan said.

"All that we know is that it's a piece from an aircraft. It's sufficiently similar to a part from a large passenger aircraft, possibly a 777, for us to want to take a close look at it," Dolan told the AP. "At this stage, we have no conclusive evidence as to what it is or where it comes from.
In a novel initiative, Madhya Pradesh government is going to organise an 'Online Parichay Sammelan' for the mute and deaf persons looking for a life partner.

"These people face a lot of difficulty in choosing their life partners. Therefore we have decided to organise, through video-conference, an Online Parichay Sammelan for them," Indore collector P Narhari told PTI today.

"The dates will be finalised soon," he said.

"Through video-conference, prospective brides and grooms can communicate through sign language to establish contact and then build on it," Narhari said.

We have written to the National Informatics Centre's Bhopal office seeking technical assistance, he said.

Commenting on the initiative, sign language expert Gyanendra Purohit said, "Because of the society's attitude to such people, they are (sometimes) unable to get married which results in loneliness and depression. This kind of 'Parichay Sammelan' is absolutely necessary.

"Most of them wish to marry someone like them (suffering from similar disability) so that they don't face difficulty in establishing rapport," Purohit said, adding that Madhya Pradesh has about five lakh mute and deaf persons including those suffering from partial disability.
Pakistan's former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf may testify in the coming weeks in two important cases relating to former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's murder and high treason, according to a media report today.

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) of Rawalpindi may summon Musharraf to defend himself and counter the evidence produced by prosecutors in the Bhutto murder case, Dawn reported.

Two-time premier Bhutto was killed in a terrorist attack in 2007 when Musharraf was president of the country and he was implicated in the case in 2010 for his alleged role in the murder.

However, it remains to be seen whether the 'ailing' 72-year-old former president will appear personally before the court to get his statements recorded or testify through a video link.

Proceedings in the Benazir murder case commenced in 2008 and the trial is in its final stages as the prosecution is summoning its last few witnesses.

Musharraf may also be summoned by the special court in the high treason case, dealing with the imposition of emergency in 2007.

In August 2013, Musharraf was indicted in the case but he denied the charges.

The prosecution in the case has presented all the evidence and produced its witnesses before the court.

The high treason case will resume proceedings on March 8.

Advocate Mohammad Akram Sheikh, head of prosecution in the high treason case, said the Supreme Court had removed all legal 'hitches' in the trial of Musharraf.

According to him, Musharraf has to appear before the court if he wants to defend himself.

"I will cross-examine Musharraf after he records his statement," he said.

Advocate Faisal Hussain, one of the general's lawyers, said the former president was not well and it would be difficult for him to personally appear before the court.

He said that Musharraf would get his statement recorded through video link and the prosecution might cross-examine him accordingly.
Leader Kim Jong-un has ordered North Korea's nuclear arsenal to be ready for pre-emptive use "anytime," in an expected ramping up of rhetoric, following the UN Security Council's (UNSC) adoption of tough new sanctions on Pyongyang.

We must always be ready to fire our nuclear warheads at any time, Kim was quoted as saying by the Norths official KCNA news agency today.

Kim also warned that the situation on the divided Korean peninsula had become so dangerous that the North needed to shift its military strategy to one of pre-emptive attack.

Such bellicose rhetoric is almost routine for at times of elevated tensions.

While the North is known to have a small stockpile of nuclear warheads, experts are divided about its ability to mount them on a working missile delivery system.

According to KCNA, Kim made his comments while monitoring the test firing of a new, high-calibre multiple rocket launcher yesterday, just hours after the UN Security Council unanimously adopted the resolution penalising the North for its recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch.

South Korea's defence ministry said the North had fired half a dozen rockets about 100-150 kilometres (60-90 miles) into the sea off its eastern coast on Thursday.

In a clear threat to neighbouring South Korea, Kim said the new rocket launcher should be "promptly deployed" along with other newly developed weaponry.

At an extreme time when the Americans... Are urging war and disaster on other countries and people, the only way to defend our sovereignty and right to live is to bolster our nuclear capability," Kim said.

The US-drafted UN resolution adopted by the Security Council late Wednesday laid out the toughest sanctions imposed on Pyongyang to date over its nuclear weapons programme that will, if implemented effectively, apply significant economic pressure to Kim's regime.

The resolution breaks new ground, sanctioning specific sectors key to the North Korean economy  such as mineral exports  and seeking to undermine the North's use of and access to transport systems.
Leader Kim Jong-Un has ordered North Korea's nuclear arsenal to be readied for pre-emptive use at any time, in an expected escalation of military rhetoric following the UN Security Council's adoption of tough new sanctions on Pyongyang.

The North's nuclear warheads must be deployed "on standby so as to be fired at any moment," Kim was quoted as saying by the North's official KCNA agency today.

He also warned that the situation on the divided Korean peninsula had become so dangerous that the North needed to shift its military strategy to one of "pre-emptive attack".

Such bellicose rhetoric is almost routine for North Korea at times of elevated tensions.

While the North is known to have a small stockpile of nuclear warheads, experts are divided about its ability to mount them on a working missile delivery system.

Washington downplayed Kim's threat as posturing.

"We have not seen North Korea test or demonstrate the ability to miniaturise a nuclear weapon and put it on an ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile)," a US defence official told AFP.

Still, the official added, "our forces are ready to counter-eliminate strikes if necessary".

In Seoul, President Park Geun-Hye promised South Korea would mete out "stern punishment" in the event of any North Korea provocation as she warned of a "fiercer" backlash than usual from Pyongyang over the latest UN sanctions.

According to KCNA, Kim made his comments while monitoring the test firing of a high-calibre multiple rocket launcher yesterday, just hours after the UNSC unanimously adopted the US-drafted resolution penalising the North for its fourth nuclear test in Jan and long-range rocket launch last month.

South Korea's defence ministry said the North had fired half a dozen rockets about 100-150 kilometres into the sea off its eastern coast yesterday.

In a clear threat to the neighbouring South, Kim said the new rocket launcher should be "promptly deployed" along with other "recently developed" weaponry.

In the wake of the "gangster-like" UN resolution pushed by the United States and its South Korean ally, North Koreans are now "waiting for an order of combat to annihilate the enemy with their surging wrath", he added.

The UNSC resolution adopted late Wednesday laid out the toughest sanctions on Pyongyang to date over its nuclear weapons programme and will, if implemented effectively, apply significant economic pressure on Kim's regime.

It breaks new ground by sanctioning specific sectors key to the North's economy and seeking to undermine the North's use of, and access to, international transport systems.

Pyongyang today rejected the sanctions as "unfair, illicit and immoral" and vowed to keep building its nuclear arsenal.

"The strengthening of our nuclear deterrent is a legitimate exercise of our right to self-defence, which will continue as long as the hostile US policy is in place," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The National Lok Adalat will be organised here and other states on March 12 to reduce the number of cases pending for a long time.

Delhi government's Revenue department has asked all its deputy commissioners to organise 'National Lok Adalat' on that day in all the 11 districts of the national capital.
NATO today accused Russia of complicating the search for a solution to the Syrian conflict by bombing moderate opposition groups battling President Bashar al-Assad.

"Moscow's challenge to the international rules-based order now extends to Syria and the Eastern Mediterranean," NATO deputy secretary general Alexander Vershbow said at an annual conference in Krakow, Poland.

"As Russia has provided greater levels of military support for President Assad -- including bombing moderate opposition groups, and driving tens of thousands of civilians from Aleppo and other cities -- it has made it even more difficult to find a long-term end to the violence and a negotiated peace and political transition."



French President Francois Hollande and British Prime Minister David Cameron had yesterday also called on Russia and the Syrian regime to "immediately stop attacks on the moderate opposition".

Speaking ahead of peace talks set for next week, Vershbow said he hoped the "current cessation of hostilities can be developed into something much longer lasting".

Air strikes and fighting have been drastically reduced by an unprecedented ceasefire brokered by Russia and the United States but some intermittent clashes and shelling continue, and many residents fear that the truce may not hold.

"Russia could still use its influence over Assad to be a force for peace in the Middle East. But it is still unclear whether this is Moscow's ultimate aim," Vershbow said.

His comments come on the heels of a stark warning earlier this week by NATO's top general that "Russia and the Assad regime are deliberately weaponizing migration in an attempt to overwhelm European structures and break European resolve."



Syria's conflict, which spiralled from widespread anti-government protests into an all-out civil war, has forced millions of people to flee their homes.

Of the record 1.2 million asylum seekers that arrived in the European Union in 2015, fresh figures published today showed Syrians were the largest group, numbering nearly 363,000.

More than 270,000 people have died in Syria since the conflict erupted in March 2011.
Actress Neve Campbell says she never "felt at home" living in LA and finds London too expensive.

The 42-year-old Canadian actress made the Hollywood movie hub her home when after she shot to fame in Wes Craven's slasher franchise "Scream".

But after a number of setbacks, including being terrorised by a stalker and hating the roles she was being offered, she ditched the American dream in favour of a quieter and cultured life in London, England, reported The Guardian.

"I had security because of a stalker, which was horrible. I wasn't interested in the things I was being offered. I was sitting in LA getting sad.

"I lived there for 13 years and I never felt at home. LA is very isolating. It's not a walking city and it's not a very cultured city. In London I got culture, that's for sure," Campbell said.

However, she didn't stay in London for long because it is "so expensive that people are grumpy" and finally settled in New York City, where she met her partner JJ Feild with whom she had three-year-old son, Caspian.

And the star is relieved she no longer gets caught up in the hype of Los Angeles and claims she doesn't even know when the Academy Awards take place.
The national human rights panel has issued a show-cause notice to the Chairman of Central Bank of India asking why it should not recommend monetary relief of Rs 1 lakh to the beneficiary of an education loan who was not a defaulter but still faced "insult and harassment".

The Manjoor Branch of the bank in the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu allegedly circulated photographs of the girl student and her father after wrongly captioning these as 'missing' and 'defaulters'.

The show-cause notice by the National Human Rights Commission comes after the bank admitted its error, an official statement said here.

The report submitted to NHRC by the bank says that due to erroneous data entry, the girl's loan account was wrongly classified as a 'Non-Performing Asset' (NPA).

The publication of her as well as her father's photographs was against the advice issued by the Union Ministry of Finance to all banks that the names and photographs of students who are unable to repay education loans should not be circulated publicly, the statement said.

"Displaying photographs of the girl and her father on a notice board was in violation of their right to live with dignity, and is recognised as dereliction of Article 21 of the Constitution as well as human rights," Justice D Murugesan, Member, NHRC, said while issuing the show-cause notice.

The bank has been given six weeks to respond.

The victim had taken an education loan of Rs 2 lakh from the Manjoor branch of the bank in order to pursue her BE degree course.

She completed the course in 2013 and, according to the model IVA Scheme, the first instalment for repaying the loan had to be provided in July, 2014.

She had repaid half the loan amount in the first month itself. She said that "coercive methods" adopted by the bank amounted to a violation of human rights, the statement added.

NHRC took cognisance of the matter on the basis of a complaint filed on July 13, 2015. The ailing father of the victim died due to shock after receiving threatening telephone calls from the bank, it added.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today expressed his support to JNU Students' Union President Kanhaiya Kumar's assertions of freedom from poverty and intolerance, saying the "talented" youth leader was more nationalist than those levelling sedition charge against him.

"The speech given by Kanhaiya Kumar in JNU after his release from jail is very effective... Whatever he said is true. Kanhaiya Kumar said we do not talk of freedom from India but freedom in India and demanded independence in this regard," Nitish told reporters at Patna Airport on his return from Nepal.

"Kanhaiya Kumar put forth his views for freedom from hunger, poverty and intolerance," he said and hailed the JNUSU President for putting his views effectively.

"These prove that our new generation has a lot of capability. The coming forward of such a talented student and youth will strengthen the roots of democracy in the country," he said.

The Bihar Chief Minister hailed CPI for launching a campaign in favour of JNUSU President and said, "Kanhaiya Kumar is more nationalist than those levelling sedition charge on him. I extend my good wishes to JNUSU President."



In a veiled dig at Narendra Modi government, Kumar said "They think they can silence people on the basis of their brand of thinking and divide people as well the society."



"By raising emotional issues like 'Love Jihad', 'Ghar Wapsi', beef eating and now sedition, they wish to divide the society, but they will not succeed," he said.

Backing the "ideologically alert" JNU students who had put across their views with clarity, he said, "This is not appreciated by them. They want to impose their views on everybody and those who differ with them are branded anti-national."



Nitish came down heavily on the BJP-led NDA government for not fullfilling the promises made before 2014 polls.

"They had promised to bring back black money but now have brought an amnesty scheme to convert black money into white... After presentation of general budget 'acchhe din' (good days) of common people did not come, but it has come for those having black money," Kumar said.

Farmers and youths have also been let down by the general budget, he added.
:Madras High Court was today informed that the transport department has taken a decision not to increase autorickshaw fares for the time being.

The counter affidavit filed by Transport Commissioner Sathyabrata Sahoo stated that several factors are required to be taken into account for the purpose of revising the fare like fuel price, driver salary, maintenance cost, replacement of tyres cost of vehicle, depreciation and major repairs.

To ascertain these factors it was necessary that all stakeholders be consulted and their views taken before fares are revised.

Sahoo said that considering all these facts,it may not be appropriate to revise the fares only on the basis of revision of fuel cost.

When the matter came up before the First bench,comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M Satyanarayana on a PIL by 'Coimbatore Consumer Voice', an affidavit to the above effect was filed by the transport Department.

The bench had directed authorities concerned to consider revising fares in accordance with changes in fuel price. Moreover,the revision would result only in a narrow difference ranging from 50 paise to Rs 1, the counter pointed out.

The bench posted the matter for further hearing to April 11,2016.
Amidst speculation on his political ambitions, JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar today said he has no intention of joining mainstream politics or contesting any election.

The PhD student, who is facing sedition charge, also said that Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru was a citizen of India and a debate on his death penalty is "legitimate".

He said Guru is not his "idol" but Rohith Vemula, the Hyderabad Central University student who committed suicide, is.

"I am not a politician, I am a student. I have no intention of joining mainstream politics or contesting any election.

"I want to question as a student and I will like to answer as a teacher in the future. So, the question about my political ambitions should be kept aside," he said.

"The people of the country have not voted for me... It's the students of the university who have. I am not the country's president but of the JNU students' union. I will only talk of them and for them," he said at a press conference here.

"For me, Afzal Guru was a citizen of the country who was punished under the law. Whether that punishment was right or wrong, anyone can debate that as the law permits the same. Guru is not my idol but Rohith Vemula is," Kumar added.

The 29-year-old said "my task is to study and fight for those who wish to study but are unable to do so. Since the fight is long, there can't be a victory march but a unity march on that."



Reacting to remarks that taxpayer's money was being wasted in running the university, Kumar said "I want to tell the people of the country that the taxes they pay are being invested in the right place."



Replying to a question, he said "I am against patenting of nationalism and the concept of Akhand Bharat propagated by ABVP and select sections of society."



Kumar was arrested on February 12 in a case of alleged sedition over a controversial JNU event to commemorate Guru's death anniversary.

He reached the varsity's campus around an hour after being released from Tihar jail yesterday, triggering celebrations on the campus that had lately become a venue for vociferous protests.

He was accorded a grand welcome on the campus and delivered a one-hour-six-minute speech outside the JNU administration building.
Leading bourse National Stock Exchange (NSE) will auction investment limits for overseas investors for purchase of government debt securities worth Rs 4,681 crore on Tuesday.

The auction will be conducted on NSE'-ebid platform from 1530 hours to 1730 hours  after the close of market hours on Tuesday, March 8, the exchange said in a circular.

The debt auction quota gives overseas investors the right to invest in the debt, up to the limit purchased.

A mock bidding session will be conducted today to check the system's performance.

Depository data showed that total investments, including limits acquired by foreign investors through auction route, stood at Rs 1,30,719 crore till yesterday, which was 96.54% of the total permitted investment limit of Rs 1,35,400 crore in government debt securities.

Accordingly, has decided to "conduct an auction for the allocation of unutilised debt limits on March 8, 2016".

During the earlier auctions, government bonds have been subscribed multiple times, given the huge interest among foreign investors.

The limit for overseas investors in securities was hiked to Rs 1,29,900 crore from October 12 and it was further increased to Rs 1,35,400 crore from January 1, 2016.

Prior to October limit, they were allowed to invest up to Rs 1,24,432 crore in government debt securities through auction.
Argentina's foreign minister is saying that President Barack Obama may visit a tourist city in Patagonia on March 24, the 40th anniversary of a military coup in the South American country.

Since Obama's March 23-24 visit was announced weeks ago, human rights groups have demanded Obama stay away on the 24th. They argue America supported the brutal 1976-1983 dictatorship.

Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra told Radio Vorterix Friday that on March 24 Obama may visit an Argentine satellite company in Bariloche, a popular tourist city in southwestern Argentina. She gave no other details.

President Mauricio Macri said Thursday that Obama would spend a few days in Bariloche. He gave no other details.

The official trip schedule has not been released. The US Embassy in Argentina has declined to comment.
prices are likely to recover after 11-year low to $55 per barrel from the current $34 in 12 months, following gains in the latter half of 2016, according to a report.

However, weakness in the price of crude is likely to continue in the short-term, with the market yet to see the end of the downside momentum, according to a research report by UBS Wealth Management's Chief Investment Office (CIO).

The market is still oversupplied in the first half of 2016 after supply expanded 2.7 per cent in 2015.

Prevailing market surpluses require accelerated supply curbs to rebalance the oil .

Market participants fear that the lifting of restrictions on Iranian oil exports might increase global oversupply even further in the short run.

A quick return of additional Iranian oil barrels would require accelerating supply curbs, including more company defaults, to rebalance the markets, which could keep prices sliding below $25/bbl in the short run, the report said.

However, in the longer term, the effects of declining investment are slowly becoming more visible.

The CIO expects it to shrink by 0.7 million barrels per day (mbpd) in 2016, with demand expanding by 1.1-1.2 mbpd. This should help cut the current oversupply of 1-1.5 mbpd.

The market could be balanced towards the end of the year, allowing Brent crude oil prices to reach $55/bbl at the end of 2016, the report said.

Risks to our expected price recovery come from a sharp increase in OPEC supply and/or weaker oil demand from emerging Asia, which would push the market's rebalancing into 2017.

"Low Brent crude prices remain an immediate challenge for oil exporting nations in Middle East and North Africa, and in particular for government budgets.

"The price recovery that we see in the second half of 2016 should support the region in the near term, but economic reforms will still likely have to be implemented as oil prices are unlikely to move back to triple digit levels anytime soon," said Simon Smiles, CIO for Ultra High Net Worth at UBS Wealth Management.

According to the Chief Investment Office, high-grade Gulf sovereigns like Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Kuwait should be more resilient to oil shocks than many other emerging market exporters.

Their high production means they needed lower oil prices to balance their budget and has enabled them to accumulate ample foreign exchange assets.

By contrast, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, and some other emerging market oil exporters in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East have lower fiscal buffers and require much higher prices to balance their budgets.
Oil prices rose today, with Brent reaching a near two-month high, on hopes of a deal among producers to tackle a global supply glut.

The pick-up in prices this week comes after crude wallowed near 13-year lows below USD 30 a barrel in January, also owing to a strong dollar and tepid demand growth.

Brent North Sea crude reached USD 37.40 a barrel today -- the highest level since January 5.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate hit a near two-month high of USD 35.32 yesterday.

"Both oil types have gained by more than five percent in the past five days of trading," noted Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch.

"The price rise was boosted by reports of declining supply" from OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) and the United States.

"What is more, efforts are ongoing to persuade other countries to cap their oil production, as Saudi Arabia, Russia, Venezuela and Qatar agreed to do in mid-February."



Nigeria yesterday said key crude producers plan to meet this month in Russia to discuss a proposed output freeze.

Nigerian oil minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu predicted there would be a "dramatic price movement" after the March 20 gathering, Bloomberg reported.

Crude has picked up recently following speculation over plans by major oil producers including OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia to cap output. Nigeria is also a part of the cartel, while major oil producers Russia and the US sit outside OPEC.

"If the big players such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, agree to freeze output, it could help somewhat. But, the fundamentals of the market remain largely unchanged, it is still quite oversupplied," strategist Bernard Aw at IG Markets Singapore told AFP.

"Maybe in the short term... We could see a return to maybe USD 40," Aw said.

Concerns about the oversupplied market were eased this week as US government data showed oil production falling to around nine million barrels per day.

At about 1230 GMT, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in April was trading up seven cents at USD 34.64 a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for May rose 28 cents to USD 37.35 a barrel compared with yesterday's close.
The tour of Maharashtra ministers in the 29 drought-hit tehsils of Beed, Latur and Osmanabad districts was today marred by a scuffle involving the personal assistant of Education Minister Vinod Tawde and supporters of Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatna.

SSS, headed by Sadabhau Khot, is an ally of the BJP-led ruling alliance in the state.

An enraged Khot said BJP ministers were "drunk on power" and demanded Tawde's resignation.

As a video of the incident went viral on social media, Tawde removed his PA Santosh Surve from the day-long tour of Marathwada.

The Minister said he could not understand why he was being targeted when he was there to hear farmers' grievances.

"I was there to ensure that the exams of students in drought-hit regions are held early and they can go back home as soon as possible. (We have announced) fee waiver to farmers' children, waiver of exam fees...I can't understand why the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatna attacked me," Tawde said.

"(At Yedshi village in Osmanabad) we visited a school. As we were coming out, one of the protesters threw a glass bottle at me which hit the school wall. Surve came forward to stop the protesters and it looked like he hit them which was not the case," Tawde added.

Khot said the farmers were not getting the due price for milk, and to add to their woes, there was an acute water scarcity. "These farmers went there carrying milk packets only to convey their dissatisfaction to Tawde. Some packets burst and milk spilt on the minister's entourage. But their (officials') reaction was not appropriate," he said.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis who visited Lambota



village in Latur district blamed the policies of the previous Congress-NCP government for the situation.

"We are suffering because of nature as well as past mistakes...Water problem has never been addressed in a planned way. We have made a systematic plan now to make Maharashtra drought-free in the next five years through Jalyukt Shivar (water conservation)," he said.

"The government has launched this scheme to give farm ponds to whoever demands. The scheme would be implemented through MNREGA with a direct subsidy to the farmers. Government has been making water available through tankers to all the villages which need it," he added.

In Beed district, Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said farmers had the first right over the state's treasury.

Rural Development Minister Pankaja Munde completed her tour of Georai tehsil in the morning and by late afternoon she left for New Delhi to attend a two-day conference of women elected representatives organised by the Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, sources close to Munde said.

She submitted her report to the Chief Minister before heading for Delhi, and had sought prior permission to attend the conference, they said.
One cannot decide how a woman must conduct herself after having suffered a "trauma", a US researcher today told a Delhi court during final arguments in the rape case allegedly involving "Peepli Live" co-director Mahmood Farooqui.

Reiterating the allegations levelled by the 30-year-old US researcher against Farooqui, her counsel told Additional Sessions Judge Sanjiv Jain that the complainant's testimony has remained unrebutted during the recording of evidence.

The lawyer also refuted the contention of Farooqui's counsel that the complainant's conduct was questionable.

"Defence had questioned the conduct of the prosecutrix post the alleged incident. Who decides how a woman, who has suffered from trauma, should behave? Her conduct inspires confidence and corroborates her testimony in the case," advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for the researcher, said.

The court has fixed the matter for clarifications, if any, on March 28 after which it is likely to reserve its verdict.

During the final arguments, Grover said mobile phone of Farooqui's friend Ashish, who was recently re-examined, should not be treated as a primary evidence as it had not been seized during the probe.

Wrapping up the arguments, advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan, appearing for Farooqui, said, "Prosecutrix is not an epitome of truth. It has to be seen whether her statement can be accepted or not during the course of the trial as it has an impact on the life of accused."



During the trial, Farooqui, who is out on bail, has denied all the allegations levelled against him.

On September 9, 2015, the court had started the trial in the case after framing rape charge under section 376 (rape) of IPC against Farooqui.

The court on February 22 had re-examined Ashish after the Delhi High Court had on February 12 allowed the plea filed by the complainant who had said his further examination was required as some new facts were introduced which were going against the prosecution case.

The final arguments in the matter were re-heard in the case after this development.

The woman, in her complaint, had alleged that Farooqui was drunk when he raped her at his house where she had gone to get his help for her research work.

The police had on June 19 last year lodged the FIR against Farooqui on the woman's complaint after which he was arrested.

On July 29, 2015, a charge sheet was filed against Farooqui alleging that he had raped the research scholar from Colombia University at his Sukhdev Vihar house in south Delhi on March 28 last year.
The External Affairs Ministry late tonight said only one Indian nurse was killed and not four in a terrorist attack in strife-torn Yemen's Aden city.

Earlier, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted that four Indian nurses were killed in the attack today as she asked all Indians living in "danger zones" to return home. She also said the nurses stayed back in Yemen, ignoring advisories by the government.

"Of the four nurses killed in Yemen, only one is Indian named Cecilia Minz," External Affairs Ministry Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.

Sixteen people were killed in Aden when a group of terrorists stormed an elderly care home run by a Kolkata-based Missionaries of Charity and sprayed bullets at the residents.
Over 6.75 lakh youths will cast their votes for the first time in Assam in the forthcoming Assembly elections due in April.

"In the age group of 18-19 years, there will be 6.76 lakh voters. They will be the first-time voters in the state," Assam Chief Electoral Officer Vijayendra said at a press conference here.

The state with 126 constituencies will have a total of 1.98 crore voters, of which 95 lakh are women, he said.

"Of the total number of voters, 31 per cent are under 30 years and 76 per cent are under 50 years...," Vijayendra said.

Earlier during the day, Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi said Assam will go to polls in two phases, on April 4 and April 11, while counting of votes will be held on May 19.

The notification for the first phase will be out on March 11 and last date for filing of nominations will be on March 18, while a candidate can withdraw the nomination till March 21.

In the second phase, the notification will be issued on March 14, while the last date for filing of nominations will be March 21 and last date for withdrawing the same will be March 26.

"In total, we will have 24,888 polling stations. In the first phase of polling in 65 constituencies, elections will be held in 12,190 booths in 8,887 locations, while there will be 12,698 poll stations in 8,169 places in 61 constituencies in second phase," Vijayendra said.

Of the total polling stations, 12 per cent fall in urban areas, while the rest are in rural places.

(Reopens CAL14)



Zaidi said the Election Commission has identified 3,663 polling stations as hyper-sensitive, 7,629 as sensitive and 1,913 as critical.

"The security assessment has been done of all the polling stations. We will have around 60,000 security personnel for poll related duties," Vijayendra said.

The Election Commission has photo electoral roll for 98.60 per cent voters, while 93.85 per cent have been issued Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPIC), he said.

Vijayendra said 10 constituencies consisting of over 2,300 booths will be equipped with Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) system, which will give a receipt printed by an electronic voting machine showing the voter his/her vote correctly.

The Election Commission will also have 76 general observers, 46 expenditure observers, five police observers and 3,197 micro observers, besides conducting videography in 2,549 and web casting in 865 polling booths in Assam.

Talking about expenditure limit, Vijayendra said the cap has been fixed at Rs 28 lakh per candidate per constituency.

For smoothly conducting the entire exercise, around 1.65 lakh persons will be involved and around Rs 130 crore will be spent to elect the representatives, he said.

Vijayendra also said around four helicopters, 24,700 vehicles, 600 boats and 10 elephants will be used during the elections.
Hundreds of shopkeepers today took out a march urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to not bring the Model Tenant legislation drafted by the Union Ministry of Urban Development.

Rajdhani Pagdi Kirayadar Sangathan, an apex body with the support of over 5 lakh 'Pagdi' shopkeepers belonging to more than 70 market associations, said if the new law comes into force, it will end up displacing around 40 lakh shopkeepers.

The Sangathan demanded immediate implementation of Gujarat Rent Control Act which it said was the "most- balanced" law across the country.

The 'Pagdi Kirayadar' system was launched before Independence to avoid payment of excessive taxes to the British. The transfer of the property was as per a verbal agreement wherein the tenant was given a slip of rent payment while payments were made in full to the landlord. The system has been running successfully since then.

"There is a completely unconstitutional drive going on these days to evict more than 5 lakh Pagdi tenants in Delhi. It is an attempt to destroy the livelihood of lakhs of people to benefit a few and this is happening in various heritage markets of Delhi like Chandni Chowk, Sadar Bazar, Gandhinagar, Karol Bagh, etc.

"Recently, 5 lakhs shops were asked to vacate under the Delhi tenant law where most of the shops are less than 20sq.Ft in area and are run by small traders and shopkeepers in various markets of Delhi," the Sangathan said in a statement.

Ravi Garg, President of the Sangathan said "the Model Tenant Act, 2015, drafted by the Ministry of Urban Development following the National Housing Policy has been approved by the Cabinet and is creating a "dreadful" feeling among tenants of losing their livelihood.

"This law will give the power of attorney to landlords and they may demand fresh payment for the shops whereas they got the full money long back.
The CEO and 18 others of a Pakistani software firm were charged today for duping over 240,000 students of different countries and minting USD 205 million by awarding them degrees of fake American universities.

Axact, a software house situated in an upscale area of Karachi, has been fraudulently making billions of dollars by deceiving people in the name of awarding degrees of fake colleges and universities through online learning programmes.

CEO Shoaib Ahmed Shaikh, managers Viqas Atique, Zeeshan Anwar, Mohammad Sabir and Zeeshan Ahmed and 14 other employees of Axact were booked in May last year for allegedly preparing and selling fake degrees, diplomas and accreditation certificates of fictitious universities through a fraudulent online system and illegally minting millions of dollars, The Express Tribune reported.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in a sessions court filed a chargesheet against the chief executive officer and other senior officials of a software company in a case about fake degrees.

In the final investigation report filed about eight months after the submission of an interim report, the FIA alleged that evidence forensically extracted from database of Axact from 2010 to 2015 showed that diplomas and degrees of fake universities based in the US had been issued to over 240,000 students of different countries, it reported.

The company earned more than USD 205 million in the process.

According to the chargesheet, the money earned from the sale of fake certificates was deposited in the accounts of these companies and their ownership had been confirmed by the detained suspects.

Moreover, it said, a Saudi student sent a complaint alleging that the company had defrauded him by selling a degree of a fake online institution.

The case has been registered against the company and others at the FIA Corporate Crime Circle Karachi under various sections.
MSME Ministry today held a meeting with industry experts and stakeholders to seek their views on the national MSME Policy.

The government had constituted a committee headed by Prabhat Kumar, Ex-Cabinet Secretary and the former Governor of Jharkhand, to make recommendations on a national policy of MSMEs in January this year.

"It was a meeting with industry associations and they have been requested to submit their views and suggestions soon," Development Commissioner (MSME) Surendra Nath Tripathi told PTI.

The committee is expected to submit its comprehensive recommendations to the MSME Ministry by June.

The National Policy is required to synergise with the policies of state governments as development of MSMEs is essentially a state subject.
The Budget session of Punjab Assembly will begin on March 8 while that of Haryana on March 14.

Haryana Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki will address the state Assembly on March 14, an official spokesperson said.

The Budget session of Punjab Assembly which will begin on March 8 will continue till March 22.

Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has called a meeting of the SAD-BJP Legislature Party on March 8, a party spokesperson said here.

"The agenda for the Budget Session, in particular, and some other related matters will be discussed in the meeting," he said.

All SAD and BJP MLAs have been asked to attend the meeting, the spokesperson said.
Union Minister Ram Shankar Katheria today hit out at BSP and SP, alleging that the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh was "very bad" and the people wanted a change in the state.

"People have now become aware of the way in which Mayawati has become 'thekedar' (holder) of Dalit voters in the state and used to sell them. The Dalit voters have become aware...," Katheria told reporters here.

"The situation in the state is very bad. Incidents of murder, loot, rapes are on the rise. It has raised a question mark on UP government...People of the state want a change," he said attacking the Akhilesh Yadav-led SP government.

Referring to the Agra incident where he allegedly made an inflammatory speech, Katheria said, "A Dalit, Arun Mahaur, was shot dead there. Earlier, university official Satendra Jatav was murdered. Mayawati kept mum on both the cases and did not mention them in Rajya Sabha."



Asked what the Centre was doing for security of Dalits, Katheria said, "We have written in this regard to the Union Home Ministry and it was taking necessary action. A letter has also been written to Akhilesh Yadav."



On Mayawati's statement that she would have sent him to jail had she been in power, Katheria said, "Only future can tell, who will send whom to jail."



Katheria, who is Minister of State for HRD and represents Agra Lok Sabha constituency, had allegedly made a controversial speech at a condolence meeting held in Agra for VHP leader Arun Mahaur, who was killed by some youths from another community last week.

Samajwadi Party has demanded that Katheria be sacked, alleging that his remarks were "anti-national", while Congress alleged it showed that BJP and RSS resorted to divisive agenda, especially ahead of elections.
A section of PSU bank officers today staged protest at the bankers retreat 'Gyan Sangam' to oppose government's move to bring about consolidation in the banking sector.

All India Bank Officer Confederation (AIBOC) also said the government should not bring down its stake in IDBI Bank below 50 per cent as announced in the Budget.

The association also demanded that the bank boards should be accorded autonomy to deal with the situation, AIBOC later said in a statement.

The two-day Gyan Sangam which began today deliberate on vaious issues including mounting bad loans and consolidation in the banking sector.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is scheduled to attend the meeting tomorrow.

This retreat is being held to take forward the government's commitment to reforms in the banking and financial sector.

The participants have been divided into five Working Groups. Working Groups include one each on restructuring, mergers and acquisition, NPA management and recovery, technology, digital and financial inclusion, credit growth and risk management.
Supporters of Mumtaz Qadri, who was hanged in Pakistan for brutally murdering liberal Punjab province governor Salman Taseer, today targeted the media in violent attacks over the blackout of coverage of his funeral.

The supporters of Qadri took out small rallies after Friday prayers despite a ban imposed by the provincial government on pillion riding and imposition of section 144 in the city that prohibits public gatherings.

Venting their anger at the hanging of Qadri, who gunned down Taseer in Islamabad in 2011 for seeking reforms in the controversial blasphemy laws, the protesters first attacked the AAJ TV channel office in a busy commercial area here and ransacked the place.

Qadri's supporters also attacked and damaged a van of another Express .

They were angry over the blackout of coverage of of the convict's funeral.

Meanwhile, protesters attacked the press club in Hyderabad city and damaged vehicles and motorcycles parked outside the premises.

"The crowd was very violent and we had to escape by climbing on the roof and jumping to an adjacent building or jumping out of windows," a member of the Hyderabad press club said.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the attack in Hyderabad, ransacking of the AAJ television channel and the assault on the van of Express in Karachi.

Sharif, in a statement, said the government believed in freedom of media and such attacks were condemnable.

The protesters also torched tyres near the MA Jinnah Road and Naz Plaza in Karachi and forcibly closed several shops in Saddar's electronics market.

Due to the different protests, traffic jams were seen in many areas of the city.

Qadri, deputed on the security of Taseer, had killed the governor at a market close to the latter's house in 2011 in Islamabad for allegedly criticising the controversial blasphemy laws and was convicted the same year.

Taseer, who died aged 66, had termed the blasphemy regulations, introduced by Pakistan's military ruler Zia-ul-Haq in 1980s, as "black laws" drawing the ire of extremists.

Qadri was hanged on Monday morning at a Rawalpindi jail after his appeal against the conviction was rejected by the Supreme Court.

Around 50,000 supporters of Qadri, mostly from Sunni Tehreek group had attended his funeral in Rawalpindi on Tuesday.
Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi today slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for "failing" to mention names of Hyderabad University student Rohith Vemula and JNU Students' Union President Kanhaiya Kumar in his Parliament speech.

"In Parliament he (Modi) did not give a second to Rohith and Kanhaiya because the Prime Minister thinks that there is no necessity to answer the questions India is asking, that our students are asking, as he has become the PM of India. This is wrong as the Prime Minister is not the country and the country is not the Prime Minister," Gandhi said at a party rally here in Assam.

"Rohith's mother was very hurt. The Prime Minister cannot say one word on it. He cannot say that I am sorry that Rohith Vemula committed suicide," he said.

The Gandhi scion asserted that Vemula was "forced to commit suicide due to a letter from a ministry in Delhi to his University".

"One letter from a ministry in Delhi went to Hyderabad University that you have done wrong. The country's entire weight was put on one student's shoulder and he committed suicide. It's sad", Gandhi said.

Stating that the RSS was thrusting its ideology on the students, he said, "Rohith Vemula is a symbol of what is happening now. In our colleges and universities, our youth are being terrorised. One ideology - RSS ideology - is being imposed on them.

Stating that those who were protesting against this



tactic of BJP-RSS were being framed, Gandhi noted, "Sedition charges have been put against me when I work all day for the poor, visit their homes and two of my family members were killed. The country is in my blood."



"And I am a deshdrohi!", he remarked.

The Congress leader further said, "Don't understand why those working for the poor, down-trodden are called deshdrohi (anti-national) and the one who works for 3-4 industrialists is a deshbhakt (patriot)".

Noting that the country was actually being run by the poor, farmers, workers, students in universities, the AICC Vice President said, "If the Prime Minister does not listen to them and answer their questions then the loss will not be theirs but the PM's".

"Elections are coming (in Assam) and the evil forces that forced Rohith Vemulla to commit suicide, put Kanhaiya in jail on sedition charges are trying to do the same in Assam also.

"They are trying to impose an ideology whose remote control is in Nagpur (RSS headquarters) and Prime Minister's Office. We will never allow that. Assam's remote control will be with the people of Assam," Gandhi said.

On the MGNREGA scheme, he said, " When Modi came to power he said in Parliament that he has never seen a worse scheme and that he would not allow it to continue. But his finance Minister Arun Jaitley told me that MGNREGA had a big role in the economic growth in our time (Congress) benefiting the poor".
Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday washed his hands off on the ongoing probe by the Delhi Police on the alleged anti-India activities in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) last month.

"Whatever the Delhi Police has to do, they are doing. I have nothing to say on that," he told reporters here when asked to comment about the investigation being conducted by the Delhi Police on the .

JNU Students Union President Kanhaiya Kumar and two others, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, were arrested for allegedly raising anti-India slogans at an event organised on February 9 against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

While Kumar, who was slapped with the sedition charge, was released from jail yesterday, Khalid and Bhattacharya are in judicial custody.
Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju today asked youths from Arunachal Pradesh to opt for a 'Pan Arunachal' identity instead of one related to clan or community to create an image of the state in the world outside.

"If we can create our own brand to market our state to the outside world, there will be no racial discrimination of our people in other parts of the country.

"Simply blaming others will not help. We must create popularity of our state so that people from other parts know our rich diverse culture and tradition," he said while addressing the 11th inter-college youth festival at Rajiv Gandhi University, near here.

"My concern is for the state's future. We are still in search of identity based on clan and community instead of Pan Arunachal identity. Our society is not monotonous. We are a conglomeration of cultural mosaic and with this brand we have to make our state popular in the country," he said.

He criticised political leaders in the state saying they use the youth force during elections with money power for which youths do not want to struggle in life.

"We are lacking in cohesiveness to make our youths more active," he said and lamented that their energy has been misused by a certain section of the people for their vested interest.

Rijiju asked the youths to respect dignity of labour and they should make efforts to contribute to the state's development.

Criticising the political leaders of the state for wasting time in amusement and playing cards till late night, he said they should devote their entire time for the people.

"Despite abundant natural resources, the state is still lagging behind due to certain lacunae in us in managing our resources which will have an adverse effect in the future," he added.

He assured to take care of the immediate pressing needs of the state's lone central university and said the voice of Arunachal Pradesh cannot be crushed in Parliament as long as he remained as the MP and he would leave no stone unturned to raise the state's issues.
is in talks with seven insurance companies to help provide insurance cover to rail travellers, the Rajya Sabha was informed today.

"Railway officials are holding talks with seven insurance companies. Once the decision is taken, then rail passengers can get an insurance cover for rail travel and passengers can buy it by paying an additional premium along with the ticket. Once the decision is taken, the House will be informed," Minister of State for Manoj Sinha said.

Preliminary discussions have been held with these seven public and private insurance companies on February 9, but no decision has been taken so far, he said.

Replying to supplementaries during Question Hour, he provided details of rail accidents in the last three years and said while there were 123 accidents in 2012-13, 118 in 2013-14 and 135 accidents in 2014-15, besides 100 in the current year 2015-16.

He said 579 cases of claims of compensation to victims of rail accidents were still pending with various Railway Tribunals which are quasi-judicial authorities.

As regards grant of compensation provided to victims of rail accidents through Rail Tribunals, he said during 2012-13 a compensation of Rs 318.85 lakh was paid, while in 2013-14 a total of Rs 149.22 lakh was paid and another Rs 127.48 lakh paid during 2014-15.

During 2015-16, a total of 115 lakh was paid as compensation to victims of rail accidents, he said.
A 35-year-old woman was strangulated to death by three armed men who attacked her house at Buddha town here and looted jewellery and Rs 46,000 cash, police said today.

The incident occurred last night when the accused barged into the house of Furkan Ali, killed his wife and decamped with jewellery and cash, police said.

A case was registered and the body has been sent for the postmortem, police said adding, a search is on to nab the perpetrators.
A Romanian court has ruled that a taxi driver who hacked the emails of former President George W Bush and former US Secretary of State Colin Powell and can be extradited to the US.

The country's top court of appeal agreed today to a request by the US to extradite Marcel Leher Lazar to the US, but said the period of extradition could not exceed 18 months. The ruling is final.

In 2011, the unemployed Romanian taxi driver calling himself "Guccifer" hacked the emails of Powell and Bush and other well-known figures, including the former head of the Romanian intelligence agency.

He was sentenced in 2014 to seven years in Romania for intercepting private correspondence. The US charged him with online fraud and began judicial proceedings against him.
Eminent economist Deepak Nayyar today said Rs 1,000 crore allocation made in the Union budget for the proposed Higher Education Financing Agency is "peanuts".

Disagreeing with the government's decision to create such an agency in the education sector, Nayyar, also a noted academician, favoured recreating the University Grants Commission (UGC) into a higher education financing authority.

"...This financing agency with the corpus of Rs 1,000 crore... What is it going to do? Who is going to lend to it? Because any lender will look for rates of return," he said when asked if it is practically viable in Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's budgetary proposal to allocate Rs 1,000 crore to create the higher education financing agency. "Allocation made for the higher education financing agency, forgive me, is peanuts. If you feed peanuts, you will get monkeys. It is not the answer," Nayyar said during an interactive session after delivering a lecture on "Union Budget 2016 and Beyond," organised by Malayala Manorama here. In his budget speech, Jaitley had announced creation of a Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) with an initial capital base of Rs 1,000 crore, which will leverage funds from the market and work to create infrastructure in India's top institutions like IITs.

HEFA, Jaitley had said, would be a not-for-profit organisation that will leverage funds from the market and supplement them with donations and CSR funds.

"These funds will be used to finance improvement in infrastructure in our top institutions and will be serviced through internal accruals," theFinance Minister had said.

Nayyar said, "I think you should actually recreate the University Grants Commission into a higher education financing authority, something which the United Kingdom has done, which France has done".

Lamenting that the UGC has the same "problem" as Reserve Bank of India, he said, "They do too many things. They do disbursement, they do accreditation, they do licensing, they do certification...It is wrong."



"No one institution, nowhere in the world does this," Nayyar said.
The family members of a 22-year old youth, who was killed in a road mishap three years ago, have been awarded a compensation of Rs 11.98 lakh by a Motor Accident Tribunal (MACT) here.

The MACT presiding officer Naveen Arora directed Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company Ltd, the insurer of the offending vehicle, to pay the money to the family members of Bihar native, Pankaj Kumar.

The court passed the order after noting that the offending vehicle, coming from wrong side in a negligent manner and in high speed, had hit the motorcycle.

While awarding the compensation, the court considered various factors like loss of dependency, love and affection, age, and finalised the money at Rs 11,98,400.

Pankaj, riding on the pillion with one Arjun Kumar, was returning from Agra to Delhi and when they reached Faridabad, the offending vehicle hit them.

The driver, owner and the insurance company had denied the charges.
The controversy over 'Rs 251 smartphone' took another turn today when a Delhi-based firm Adcom said it sold about 1,000 handsets to Ringing Bells for Rs 3,600 a unit and was unaware of its reselling plans.

Ringing Bells, which announced launch of the Freedom 251 smartphone, however said that Adcom provided some prototypes that it handed to some special guests, including media, for initial impression.

"We have other partners for assembly of our phones," Ringing Bells said in a statement.

When asked about the partner, a company spokesperson named one Noida-based Eminence Technologies.

Adcom also warned of legal action against Noida-based Ringing Bells in case the latter's activities adversely impact its brand name or cause any other kind of losses.

Ringing Bells last month unveiled the Freedom 251 phone which is being touted as the world's cheapest smartphone.

The company showcased some sample devices, which resembled Adcom's smartphone Ikon 4, which is already available in the market at Rs 3,999.

"Yes, it is true that although we sold the handsets to Ringing Bells earlier, like we sell Adcom mobiles to lakhs of users, we were absolutely unaware of the reselling plans of the company in question. Furthermore, we still haven't been able to evaluate their pricing policy, as we sold the handsets at Rs 3,600 per unit," Advantage Computers (Adcom) Founder and Chairman Sanjeev Bhatia said in a statement.

Bhatia also told PTI that Ringing Bells bought 1,000 devices from them and has made the payment also. Bhatia also said Ringing Bells was talking about an order of lakhs of devices but haven't placed the order yet.

Ringing Bells said its sudden rise should not be misconstrued as a fly-by-night operation. The company has already instructed the payment gateway to refund the few online payments that came in on the first pre-booking 18/2 date.

"The mode of payment now will be only cash on delivery. The orders placed by the customers are not cancelled but the payment will be taken only on delivery. Ringing Bells hopes to begin deliveries of Freedom 251 by around end of April," it added.

However, Adcom said the company is deeply grieved by this incident where its mobile phone has been presented to masses for Rs 251, and therefore, it would not hesitate from taking any legal actions against Ringing Bells, in case the entire fiasco impacts Adcom's brand name or subsequently it face any other kind of losses.

Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had already said the government was monitoring Ringing Bells and would take action if it fails to deliver the Rs 251 handset.
Russian investigators today filed murder changes against a nanny after she beheaded a four-year-old handicapped girl in her care and brandished the severed head in a Moscow street.

The Investigative Committee said suspect Gyulchekhra Bobokulova, a 38-year-old native of Muslim-majority Uzbekistan, would undergo psychiatric and drug tests to determine "her mental condition."



The maximum punishment for the murder of a minor is life in prison although women offenders cannot be sentenced to more than 25 years in jail in Russia.

A defendant cannot be sentenced to jail term if found to be legally insane.

"The investigation is currently taking exhaustive measures to study the personality of the accused and establish the motives of the crime she committed," the Investigative Committee said in a statement.

Bobokulova -- whom the media have dubbed "the bloody nanny" -- was detained on Monday as she was waving a child's severed head outside a metro station in northwestern Moscow.

In a court on Wednesday, the 38-year-old told journalists that "Allah ordered" the killing.

Video footage that emerged on the Internet appeared to show the mother-of-three saying the attack was "revenge" for President Vladimir Putin's bombing campaign in Syria, which began in September.

The Investigative Committee swiftly said she had "long been diagnosed with schizophrenia", while the Kremlin called her a "deranged person."



Some have suggested that the Uzbek nanny might have been radicalised by Muslim hardliners.

Moskovsky Komsomolets daily reported today investigators were focussing on Bobokulova's 48-year-old partner Mamur Dzhurakulov, who was detained in Tajikistan, another Muslim-majority nation in Central Asia, several days ago.

One of Bobokulova's sons, Rakhmatillo Ashurov, was questioned by Uzbek police and said his mother had become very devout after meeting Dzhurakulov, the newspaper said.

Bobokulova's son reportedly also said his mother wanted to take him to the Islamic State in Syria where she could "freely wear an Islamic veil and live according to Sharia law" and where he could "join jihad."



The son said he had told his mother he wanted to move to the United States or South Korea and had no plans to travel to the Islamic State, the newspaper said.
and the US were set to open talks today on the possible deployment  vehemently opposed by China  of an advanced US missile defence system to counter the growing threat from North Korea.

South Korea's defence ministry said initial discussions would focus on potential locations, as well as cost-sharing and a timeline for installation of the THAAD system.

The system fires anti-ballistic missiles into the sky to smash into enemy missiles either inside or outside the Earth's atmosphere during their final flight phase.

The interceptor missiles carry no warheads, instead relying on kinetic energy to destroy their targets.

Seoul and Washington announced their intention to begin formal talks on its deployment following Pyongyang's long- range rocket launch on February 7, which was widely regarded as a covert ballistic missile test.

The first official meeting has been on hold amid fierce opposition from China and Russia, with Beijing warning the deployment had the potential to "destroy" relations with Seoul.

China sees THAAD as a threat to the effectiveness of its own nuclear deterrent, arguing that it could be used to monitor Chinese missile launches as far inland as Xian in the northwest.

The defence ministry in Seoul stressed today that any deployment would be solely aimed at countering North Korea's "increasing nuclear and missile threats".

"North Korea has continued its nuclear tests and long-range missile provocations and defied and the community's deterrence efforts," the ministry said.

China is South Korea's most important trade partner and, in deference to Beijing's sensitivities on the issue, had previously declined to formally discuss bringing in THAAD.

But North Korea's continued testing and Beijing's previous resistance to imposing harsh sanctions on Pyongyang triggered a change in Seoul's stance.

There is already a THAAD battery stationed in Guam, and Japan, the US's other key ally in the region, is also considering taking on the system.
As Tripura Finance Minister Bhanu Lal Saha is admitted to a hospital in Delhi, Chief Minister Manik Sarkar today gave his finance portfolio to Tapan Chakraborty ahead of the Budget session of the state Assembly on March 18.

The council of ministers in a meeting yesterday decided to allocate the Finance, Food and Civil Supply and Information and Cultural Affairs (ICA) portfolio held by Bhanu Lal Saha to other ministers as he is sick and admitted to the AIIMS in New Delhi, state Higher Education minister Tapan Chakraborty told reporters.

"The council of ministers has taken this decision as Saha will not be able to discharge his normal duties. Now, he will remain as a minister without portfolio," Chakraborty said.

While the Finance department was allocated to Chakraborty, the Food and Civil Supply department was given to state Transport minister Manik Dey and the ICA department was given to Tourism minister Ratan Bhowmick, the minister added.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Legislative Council Chairman A Chakrapani today expressed grief over the demise of former Speaker of Lok Sabha P A Sangma.

"Sangma was a leader of the masses and served them well in various capacities in his long political career. As Speaker, he ran the Lok Sabha effectively," they said in separate statements here.

They conveyed condolences to Sangma's family members.

The 68-year-old politician, who was elected nine times to Lok Sabha from Tura in Meghalaya and who became the first Speaker from the North East, died in New Delhi following a massive heart attack this morning.
The Supreme Court today declined to pass a direction for a CBI probe into the mysterious disappearance of a prosecution witness and assaults on other witnesses in a rape case involving controversial religious figure Asaram Bapu.

A bench of justices Anil R Dave and Adarsh Goel said it could be raised before the Allahabad High Court as complaints on it have been lodged in Uttar Pradesh. If such a petition is filed, the High Court is requested to look into it and dispose the same on merits.

After the bench gave the liberty of approaching the High Court, Bennet Castelino, who had filed the petition agreed to withdraw it.

"In the circumstances, it will be appropriate if the petitioner approaches High Court of Allahabad by filing a petition with a similar prayer," the bench said noting that the FIR relating to disappearance of the witness was filed in Uttar Pradesh.

The petitioner had brought the case of missing of Rahul Sachan, who was one of the witnesses.

The petitioner informed the court that Sachan was also stabbed in Jodhpur court on February 13, 2015 where he was summoned as prosecution witness in the case.

"It is a matter of concern that coincidentally important Prosecution Witnesses are being killed or assaulted in this case. It is likely that prosecution witnesses have personal knowledge of events that can expose a history of sexual abuse that many minor children and women have been exposed to," he said in his plea.

The petition further said that Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat governments were conducting parallel probes into Sachan's disappearance but till date he has not been traced.

He further said since November 21, 2015 there has been no contact with Sachan and UP police has been following this.
The Supreme Court today sought response from CBI on Delhi government's plea to return them the documents seized during raids at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's principal secretary Rajendra Kumar's office here in December last.

A bench of justices Ranjan Gogoi and P C Pant also issued notice to CBI on AAP government's plea challenging the Delhi High Court decision allowing the probe agency to retain the documents seized during raids.

It had put on hold the trial court's direction to hand over the seized documents to the Kejriwal government.

CBI had raided office of Kumar on December 15 last year and registered a corruption case against him and others alleging "he had abused his official position by favouring a particular firm in the last few years in getting tenders from a Delhi government department".

While seeking stay on operation of February 10 decision of the High Court, Delhi government alleged that there was "illegality in passing the order and setting aside the well- reasoned decision of the trial court".

It said that "CBI under the garb of search warrant cannot seize documents indiscriminately which are not in any way related to the case".

Senior advocate Rajiv Dhawan, representing Delhi government, submitted that the "investigating agency cannot enjoy absolute immunity not to reveal the relevance of the documents seized during investigation until the stage of filing of the charge sheet".

Delhi government in its plea contended that the trial



court had rightly held that the court has all the powers to refrain CBI from abusing its authority during the search.

The high court, however, in its February 10 judgement had overturned the trial court decision directing CBI to return original documents seized during raids, saying the lower court had "exceeded its jurisdiction".

It had said the observations of the special judge in his January 20 order directing CBI to hand over the original documents to Delhi government, were "neither justifiable nor desirable" and tantamounted to "unnecessary interference in the investigation".

The high court order had come on CBI's plea challenging the January 20 order, claiming that the trial court's decision would interefere with probe which was at the initial stage.
The Supreme Court today stayed the proceedings initiated by the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly on a privilege notice against editorial management and journalists of two channels belonging to TV Today group in connection with a sting operation on Muzaffarnagar riots in September 2013.

"The proceedings against petitioners by the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly shall remain stayed," a bench of justices J S Khehar and C Nagappan said and asked Uttar Pradesh government and its legislative assembly to file their response within four weeks on the petition by the channel and its staffers.

The UP legislative assembly committee had probed the sting operation, broadcast channels, and held several staff members of TV Today group guilty of breach of privilege of Azam Khan, a member of the legislative assembly from Rampur assembly in UP.

In its report, the committee had recommended action against the staffers, as well as against police and administration officials for their alleged conduct before the team of TV journalists involved in the sting operation.

Senior advocate Soli Sorabjee, appearing for the TV Today Network's channels -- Aaj Tak and Headlines Today (now India Today) -- submitted that UP assembly had no locus standi to direct journalists to appear before it for having conducted the sting operation since it pertained to a matter outside the assembly and did not in any way impede the functioning of the House or any of its members.

Additional Advocate General of the state Gaurav Bhatia sought some time to file counter affidavit so as to enable him to place the complete picture of the controversy on the record of this case.

During the hearing, the apex court bench observed that



"how can the legislative assembly set up a committee to probe into the incident outside the House. The committee even hold them guilty. This right do not vest in you."



It also said that "they cannot pass such order as they are not above the law and this incident in question is not breach of privilege".

The bench said the assembly could have lodged a criminal case with the police instead of conducting proceedings on its own under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

"This incident is not against the legislative assembly but against an individual," the bench observed.

It, however, asked UP government to file a counter affidavit "so as to enable them to place the complete picture of the controversy on the record of this case".

The court's order came on a plea filed by the journalists who all have challenged UP Legislative Committee's order which found the channel guilty of breach of privilege as it failed to provide the original raw footage and camera used in the sting operation.

The assembly on February 23 passed a resolution directing the channel management and the journalists to appear before them on March 4 to respond to a report of privileges committee of UP assembly.
A section of AIIMS faculty today held a candle march in support of their former colleague, alleging his employment was terminated without proper inquiry.

Several senior faculty, members of the Faculty Association of AIIMS (FAAIIMS) took out the march in the campus that ended at the AIMS Director's residence, expressing their solidarity with Kuldeep Kumar, who was an Assistant Professor in the Medicine Department.

AIIMS administration has said Kumar had several complaints against him, including using of "objectionable language" during ward assessment and "bad behaviour" with patients.

His services were terminated on January 10 for allegedly misbehaving with and manhandling a patient in September last year.

A committee, set up after the incident under the department head S K Sharma, last week that took the decision to terminate Kumar's contract with AIIMS.

Demanding that his termination be withdrawn immediately, FAAIIMS have also written to Union Health Minister J P Nadda.
A senior faculty member of Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) today resigned alleging that he was "targeted" by the I&B Ministry for supporting the protests over Dalit student Rohith Vemula's suicide and JNU and FTII issues.

Amit Sengupta, an Associate Professor in the department of English Journalism, quit after an order was issued transferring him to the premier media school's campus in Odisha's Dhenkanal district, which he slammed as a "political decision".

"I have been targeted because I supported the solidarity protest for Rohith Vemula in the campus, organised independently by students of IIMC in which other faculty members too participated... I have been targeted also because I supported the JNU and FTII students," Sengupta wrote in his resignation letter.

Refuting allegations of politically targeting the IIMC faculty, a senior Information and Broadcasting Ministry official claimed that certain acts of Sengupta suggesting "indiscipline" had come to the notice of the authorities including his attempts to "politicise" the campus through posts on social media.

However, the official also added that Sengupta's services had only been "temporarily" placed in Dhenkanal in view of shortage of faculty on that campus.

Reacting to the charges, Sengupta said views expressed on social media fell on his personal domain and was his "constitutional right".

"I am proud of standing up for Rohith Vemula and will continue to do so in the days to come. This is my constitutional right. I think grave injustice has been done to him and the students of Hyderabad Central University. I will always stand and fight for Dalit rights.

"I think both the struggles (JNU and FTII) are glorious and the country will enrich itself with the great leap of imagination and the brilliant content of the peaceful, democratic debate the students and faculty of these great institutions have generated," Sengupta, a former journalist, said.
Market found itself stuck in a range for better part of the day as the benchmark Sensex today ended with a measly gain of nearly 40 points at 24,646.48, a one-month high, as Asian markets turned higher and prospects of a policy rate cut improved.

For the whole week, the Sensex rallied 1,492.18 points, or 6.44 per cent, and Nifty zoomed 455.60 points, or 6.48 per cent -- their biggest weekly gain in more than four years.

The 30-share barometer started on a strong footing before settling higher by 39.49 points, or 0.16 per cent, at 24,646.48, a level last seen on February 1. Intra-day, it slipped into the negative zone and hit a low of 24,531.80.

This is its best weekly performance since December 2011.

Higher levels could not be sustained as participants locked in gains in blue-chips. The gauge had gained 1,604.99 points in the previous three consecutive sessions.

The NSE Nifty after recapturing the crucial 7,500-mark closed at 7,485.35, up 9.75 points, or 0.13 per cent.

Traders said there is considerable improvement in risk appetite after the government kept its deficit target for the next fiscal at 3.5 per cent of GDP in the Budget 2016, raising hopes of a reduction in the policy rate.

"Market has gained more than 7 per cent during this week as the fiscal consolidation is attracting FIIs. The consensus is pointing to a significant upside on US non-farm payroll data, which could provide clues on Fed rate hike direction," said Vinod Nair, Head-Fundamental Research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.

The gains were led by BHEL, SBI, Coal India, Tata Motors, Cipla, ONGC and Bajaj Auto.

The rupee firmed up to a fresh two and a half month high of 67.08 on increased foreign fund inflows, boosting sentiment further.

IT stocks retreated as a stronger rupee adversely affects their earnings amid profit-booking at prevailing attractive higher levels.

Out of the 30-share Sensex pack, 16 ended higher, while 14 led by Sun Pharma, Asian Paints, Wipro, Maruti Suzuki, L&T, Bharti Airtel, TCS, GAIL, RIL and NTPC succumbed to profit-booking.

The BSE metal index jumped the most surging 2.15 per cent, followed by PSU 1.94 per cent, banking 1.28 per cent, power 1.19 per cent, realty 1 per cent and oil & gas 0.40 per cent.

In line with the trend, the mid-cap index rose 1.13 per cent and small-cap 0.75 per cent.

Foreign investors net bought shares worth Rs 911.98 crore yesterday, showed provisional data.

Stock exchanges will remain closed on Monday on account of Maha Shivratri.

Key indices in China, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore ended higher by up to 1.18 per cent following positive US economic data and a bounce in crude oil and commodity prices.

Major stocks in Europe remained little changed as investors awaited a key US jobs report.

Back home, from the 30-share Sensex kitty, 18 scrips ended



higher and 12 led by ITC, Maruti Suzuki, Axis Bank, Coal India, HDFC and ONGC finished lower.

Major gainers were, M&M (4.29 pc), Bharti Airtel (3.76 pc), Infosys (3.12 pc), Tata Motors (2.24 pc), Asian Paints (1.80 pc), Bajaj Auto (1.35 pc), Dr Reddy's (1.18 pc), NTPC (0.85 pc), Wipro (0.81 pc), TCS (0.80 pc), Hero MotoCorp (0.79 pc) and Tata Steel (0.79 pc).

Among BSE sectoral and industry indices, telecom rose by 2.77 per cent, teck (2.06 pc), IT (1.95 pc), auto (1.16 pc), utlities (0.82 pc), power (0.81 pc) and industrials (0.59 pc), while realty fell 0.61 per cent, FMCG dropped 0.38 per cent and finance took a hit of 0.08 per cent.

Buying by retail investors picked up in broader markets helping small-cap and mid-cap shares gain up to 0.52 per cent.

The market breadth remained positive as 1,651 stocks ended higher, 962 closed lower while 133 ruled steady.

The total turnover fell to Rs 2,060.35 crore from Rs 2,144.57 crore on Friday.

Meanwhile, Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 214.01 crore on Friday, as per provisional data.
Amid the row over case, former Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde today said he had no knowledge of the issue as no file came to him.

"I have no idea about this. The case file never came to me," Shinde told PTI here.

"All claims, including those by the ex-NIA official, are baseless," Shinde said, when asked about remarks of former NIA official Loknath Behera.

"Nobody came to me and I did not speak to anybody about this case," Shinde said. He was the home minister from July 2012 till May 2014 in the UPA-II government.

Shinde's comments came in the backdrop of allegations that the previous Congress-led UPA government tried to manipulate Headley's testimony on Ishrat Jahan's alleged terror links.

Behera, an IPS officer of Kerala cadre, was part of the NIA team that travelled to the US in 2010 to question Headley. He has said that he "did not remember exactly what Headley had spoken about Ishrat". But when he recently heard about his video deposition before the Mumbai court, he could recall "the same things" Headley had told to an NIA team in 2010.

Ishrat (19), Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an alleged fake encounter on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.

Gujarat police had then claimed that the four, with links to Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), had come to the city to kill the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

While testifying recently before a Mumbai court in connection with the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, Headley had said that Ishrat was an LeT operative.
Expressing concern over spate of suicides by students due to mounting pressure of studies, Madhya Pradesh Assembly Speaker Sitasharan Sharma today constituted a committee of ruling and opposition MLAs to look into the issue.

The matter was raised in the House by Congress members, Ramniwas Rawat and Arif Aqueel who moved a Calling Attention motion demanding the government to look into the issue of rise in the incidents of student suicides.

Both alleged that the government has failed to address the issue in an effective manner.

Intervening on the issue, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, "Tension free education is the need of the hour. For that change in education system and society's thinking is must. Children should get an opportunity to excel in their natural talent."



"For getting good marks, schools, teachers and parents are exerting pressure on students which is a social crime," he said.

The House should guide the society by deliberating on the matter by forming a committee comprising members of both ruling and Opposition parties, Chouhan urged the Speaker.

Agreeing with the Chief Minister's suggestion, the Speaker announced to form the committee of ruling and opposition parties MLAs on the issue and asked it to submit its report to the House after consulting experts.

Chouhan also highlighted various examples of noted scientists, artists, players, social workers and politicians among others to make a point that their talent cannot be gouged the numbers they scored in academics.

Announcing few temporary measures, Chouhan said, "From ninth class onwards counseling of student, parents and teachers will be done; games period will be made compulsory and yoga and meditation education will be imparted to them."



He also said that vocational education will be given to students of standard 11th and 12th and also professional training will be imparted to enhance employment opportunites.

Earlier, replying to the motion, the Minister of State for



School Education, Deepak Joshi informed about the recent incidents of suicides committed by students of various local schools.

Quoting a report of Police Department he said that because of failing in examination, 193 students committed suicide in 2012, 218 in 2013 and 223 in 2014 in the state.

Keeping in mind the seriousness of the issue, MP Education Board had launched a helpline in 2007 which is operational between January to June to address mental, psychological and personal issues being confronted by students.

Nearly 25,000-30,000 students avail the benefit of this facility every year since then, Joshi informed the house.

Besides, Chief Minister also appealed to the parents through radio not to put pressure on their children as it affects their natural talent and extend moral support to them during this period.
Airports Authority of India (AAI) today said Srinagar International Airport is ready for operation of night flights and it was for airlines to obtain clearances from the regulatory body, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

"Basically, we are ready, the infrastructure is ready. Since, this airport is a civil enclave, it was supposed to be cleared by Indian Air Force and IAF has already cleared it for night operations up to 10.00 PM," Director, Airport Authority of India here, R K Shinde, told reporters.

He said, it was for those airlines, "which are interested to commence the operations, to take a call. The only thing that they have to obtain is a clearance from the DGCA."



Once the clearance from the DGCA is there, night operations from this airport will be started, Shinde said.

A team of DGCA is expected to visit the airport this month to take stock of facilities for starting the night operations.

The Director said a number of steps have been taken to strengthen the security at the airport particularly after the Pathankot attack.

"This is a hypersensitive airport and that is why since the beginning we have J-K police for anti-hijacking purpose and CRPF, with arms deployed here," he said.

After the Pathankot incident, number of steps have been taken to further strengthen the security like multiple checking of the passengers as well as luggage, secondary ladder-point checking, he said.

"We have deployed additional Quick Response Teams which used to move to and fro and keep the vigil in the airport area," he added.

The director said that considering the continuous growth of the airport, AAI has planned expansion of the airport for which the works are already in the pipeline.

The expansion has been considered to handle the traffic to the tune of 5.72 million passengers per annum by the end of 2023, an increase from 2.04 million passengers per annum right now.

The building size, right now, is around 19,700 square metres.

"We are going to add an additional capacity of 33,000 square metre and this expansion will be on the left side of the existing terminal because we are already in a constraint. We will then have two additional aircraft stands, so that total stands will become 11. Also we will be having a common user domestic terminal to handle the domestic cargo in better manner," he said.

We are going to have free wi-fi at this airport in



coordination with BSNL. The equipment installation is over and maybe within a week s time we will commission free wi-fi system, the director added.

He said Srinagar International Airport has been rated as the second best airport world over in terms of customer satisfaction ratings.

For the customer satisfaction ratings, all airports are rated by Airports Council International (ACI) (a global non-profit organisation of airport operators), particularly those which come under the category of major airports.

So, in the last survey for quarter ending December 2015, ACI carried the survey and ASQ (Airport Service Quality) rating for Srinagar International Airport was recorded to be 4.77 out of five thus leading to the second in the world airports.

"So, we are second in providing good services to our valued passengers in the group of two million passengers handled per year," he said.

Sinde said the feat was achieved with the coordination, cooperation, excellent efforts and sincerity by all the colleagues, section in-charges and security personnel working at the airport.

"This is a team work and I feel proud of it. We have future plans to maintain this rating," he added.
Union Urban Development Ministry has asked states to conduct cleaning drives in the office buildings at the state headquarters and conduct an assessment exercise on cleanliness between March 16 and March 21.

As part of the drive, Ministry has reached out to all other Central ministries to conduct cleanliness drives in their office buildings.

The Central Public Works Department (CPWD) has been asked to carry out an assessment exercise on cleanliness for all government buildings in the NCR region.

"The Swachh Bharat Mission in order to become a Jan Andolan requires concerted efforts from each stakeholder, to make it a collective dream. Government officials are the face of public service in the country, and it is our duty to lead the Clean India movement by example," Swachh Bharat Mission Director Praveen Prakash said.

Urban Local Bodies have been asked to conduct similar drives and ratings for their respective office buildings in the cities.

The assessment parameters will focus on adequacy and cleanliness of urinals installed, the number of functional wash basins, the state of litter and betel stains, and the number of dustbins available for use, among others.

The result of the assessment of these office buildings in the states and cities will be announced on March 22.
Maharashtra government today assured the Bombay High Court that it would release Rs 23 lakhs within three days to meet the expenses for providing infrastructure in a special court set up under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POSCO) here.

Of the sanctioned amount of Rs 26 lakhs, Rs 3 lakhs has already been released while the balance (Rs 23 lakhs) would be made available within three days, senior government pleader Abhinandan Vagyani told a bench headed by Justice Abhay Oka.

Currently, there is only one POSCO court in the sessions court building in South Mumbai without any infrastructure, according to High Court administration which has filed a suo motu petition seeking facilities for smooth functioning of the courts in Maharashtra.

Two more such courts would soon be earmarked by the High Court administration to try POSCO offences, S R Nargolkar, senior counsel and lawyer appearing for High Court administration, assured the bench.

The petition also seeks separate enclosures for minors who are examined under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.

Currently, a minor witness/victim has to depose while facing the accused. This can put the child under pressure and inhibit him or her from telling the truth, Nargolkar said.

The High Court administration informed the bench that it would gather data on the situation concerning water supply in courts located in various districts of Maharashtra. In some courts, water is provided once a week and the situation is more acute in some remote areas.

The data collected would be tabled before the high court in two weeks, Nargolkar submitted.

The state government also assured the high court that it would provide 81 water coolers and 50 water purifiers in the district courts by March 31.

The petition also demands round-the-clock security in every court, saying that documents and seized evidence material are stored in the courts which must be guarded.

The government said steps were being taken to provide 24-hour security. CCTV cameras were installed in Bandra court in Mumbai and there was a proposal to provide them in other courts too.
Iranian state television is reporting that the Islamic Republic has invited Boeing Co. To Tehran to negotiate a possible aircraft purchase, just after the country signed a major deal with its rival Airbus.

The broadcaster, as well as semiofficial Iranian agencies, said Transportation Minister Abbas Akhoundi made the announcement yesterday. He gave no timeline for the visit, but said US officials gave Boeing "the green light" for commercial talks with Iran.

Chicago-based Boeing did not immediately return a request for comment early today.

The nuclear deal between Iran and world powers allowed for airplane manufacturers to sell aircraft to Iran's ailing airlines, which have relied on an aging fleet for years.

In January, Iran Air signed a 22.8 billion euros (USD 25 billion) deal to buy 118 aircraft from Airbus.
A plea to stop separation of Haldia dock system from the Kolkata Port was made in the Rajya Sabha today, with a CPI(M) member saying the move will financially ruin both the ports to the benefit of a private port being set up by the Adani Group.

Making a Zero Hour mention, Tapan Kumar Sen (CPI-M) said bifurcation will threaten viability of both Haldia dock system and the Kolkata Port.

The government has already ordered stoppage of dredging of channel leading to Kolkata port from March this year. Over- dependence on the Eden Channel to Haldia dock system will "help a private company, Adani which is developing a port nearby."



He claimed that infrastructure was being destroyed to "ensure benefit to selected private corporation with foreign collaboration" and asked the government not to "ruin" the Kolkata port and renew dredging in the Auckland channel.

Jesudasu Seelam (Cong) raised the issue of special category state status to Andhra Pradesh after the carving out of Telengana.

He said the previous UPA government had approved the special category status but the BJP government is now going back on the promise.

"They are trying to find an alibi to delay special category status to Andhra Pradesh," he said.

Vivek Gupta (Trinamool Congress) raised the issue of new excise levy on non-silver jewellery saying it was threatening the livelihood of poor and marginalised workers.

The government, he said, by all means should tax the purchase of precious metal but its taxation policies should not affect the livelihood of workers.

By levy of the excise duty, skilled workers in jewellery trade are being made to run to tax office for filing returns, he said, adding the government is trying to kill the hen that lays golden eggs.

Dilip Kumar Tirkey (BJD) demanded installation of a statue of Odisha stalwart Biju Patnaik in Parliament House complex on the occasion of his birth centenary. He also demanded conferring of Bharat Rata on Patnaik.

Tyagi said both countries have agreed "in principle" to



the logistics exchange agreement to enable both militaries to use each others' assets and bases for repair and replenishment of supplies.

Sanjay Raut (Shiv Sena) said that Mumbai High Court has directed the government to raze the Adarsh building.

"Instead of razing the building, it can be used for offices of the Army or for hostels for children of Kargil martyrs. Razing the building is a waste of public money. It can be utilised for better purposes, while the guilty can be punished," he added.

T Subbarami Reddy (Cong) raised the issue of pathetic condition of women in mental health institutions, saying women were living in unhygienic conditions and overcrowded wards in these institutions which also face staff shortages.

"The government should work in this direction," he said.

Madhusudan Mistry (Congress) said no work was done under the Centre's Adarsh Gram Yojna in Gujarat, while his party colleague Ananda Bhaskar Rapolu drew the attention of the House to the rising gap between qualified jobless youth and jobless economic growth.

"This is a dangerous trend," he said, adding that last year, only 1.35 lakh jobs were added compared to 9 lakh jobs in 2011.

Viplove Thakur (Cong) raised the issue of "pathetic" condition of children in orphanages and demanded that the government should raise its spending so that they have better living conditions.
In the wake of death of four Indian women in strife-torn Yemen's Aden city, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tonight appealed to all Indians living in "danger zones" to return home.

"I appeal to all Indians in such danger zones to please come back to India," she tweeted.

She said the nurses stayed back in Yemen, ignoring advisories by the government.

"Yemen - Four Indian nurses have been killed in a terrorist attack today. I am sorry the nurses stayed back/returned ignoring our advisories," she said in another tweet.

The four Indian women were among 16 people killed in Aden city today when a group of terrorists stormed a elderly care home run by a Kolkata-based Missionaries of Charity and sprayed bullets at the residents.
Japanese comedian-actor Takeshi Kitano will join Scarlett Johansson in the live-action adaptation of "Ghost in the Shell".

Rupert Sanders will direct the DreamWorks production, which is based on the famous Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masamune Shirow, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

"Ghost in the Shell" follows the story of a female special-ops cyborg who leads a task force called Special 9 in order to stop dangerous extremists bent on the destruction of the advancement of cyber technology.

Kitano will play the chief of public security Section 9, Daisuke Aramaki.

Kitano is one of Japan's top film talents, having worked both in front of and behind the camera.

The film will be Kitano's first Hollywood role since 1995, when he starred opposite Keanu Reeves in "Johnny Mnemonic".

Paramount Pictures will release "Ghost in the Shell" on March 31, 2017.
Telangana State Handicrafts Development Corporation (TSHDC) will tie up with e-commerce major Amazon to sell products online in its effort to build its trademark "Golkonda".

TSHDC vice chairman and managing director Shailaja Ramaiyer said some of the major Telangana handicrafts including 'Dokra', 'Bidri' crafts, 'Nirmal' artworks, Cheriyal paintings, pearls and brass-ware would be put up on the online platform to start with.

"There are several more...Based on the response from the public, we will see if we can expand (the product range on offer) further," Shailaja told PTI here.

She said the tie-up will take place tomorrow.

Stressing that the products available on the portal are hand-made and not factory-produced, she said, "These are not machine-made products...(so) can't be replicated again and again. We are looking at niche products."



After creation of Telangana, it was mutually agreed that the successor State of Andhra Pradesh would retain the erstwhile trademark of "Lepakshi", while Telangana unveiled its brand "Golkonda" for handicrafts.

"We are now going to build a new brand with trademark of 'Golkonda' (for Telangana handicrafts products)," she said.

But the online foray comes at a time when several crafts are "languishing" in the state, which has some 55 handicrafts clusters across the state with a total of 1.2 lakh artisans working in the sector.

Shailaja listed glass-blowing, stone-carving and Himroo among "languishing" crafts in the state.

"Stone-carving is one craft that is going to die with the way things are in Telangana," she said, adding that only a handful of artisans are involved in such craft now.

"Today, there is only one person in Hyderabad who is into glass-blowing craft and he too works as an electrician as his primary passion does not get him enough money for living. We don't have the wherewithal to train more people and get them to understand the craft. TSHDC is reeling under manpower crunch," Shailaja said.

On "Lepakshi" showrooms in Delhi and Kolkata which continue to be jointly owned by the two governments, she said, "We are also stagnating as no decision is coming on these showrooms. Both governments have to arrive at a decision," she said.
A sixteen-year-old Tibetan who had allegedly set himself afire during a protest against Chinese rule, passed away at Safdarjung hospital here.

Dorjee Tsering had suffered 98 per cent burns and was being treated in the ICU at the department of burns, plastics and maxillofacial surgery of Safdarjung Hospital, a senior doctor said.

He had set himself on fire on Monday in Dehradun. He was rushed to a nearby hospital and later referred to Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi.
A top Kamptapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) terrorist was today killed in a joint operation of the Army and Assam Police, defence sources here said.

The Army neutralised the self styled 'deputy commander-in-chief' and the 'chief recruiter' of the banned terrorist organisation KLO at Shiljan area of Kokrajhar district of Assam in the early hours of today.

Defence officials said the slain ultra was trained in Myanmar.

"His neutralisation is seen as a major success for the security forces as he was capable of perpetrating a lot of trouble in view of the coming legislative assembly elections in the region," an official said.

A large number of arms and ammunition were seized from the deceased terrorist.

KLO is a key partner of the umbrella United Liberation Front of Western South East Asia (UNLFW) formed by NSCN(K), ULFA(I), and other banned terrorist groups of Manipur beside it in April 2015.
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu today launched a long-distance train from Kamakhya in Assam and a passenger train from New Coochbehar in West Bengal.

Kamakhya-Bhagat Ki Kothi Express, flagged off from Kamakhya Junction through video conference here, will travel a 2,005 km distance traversing through seven states Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi and Rajasthan.

"This train was a long-pending demand which we are fulfilling today to facilitate movement of pilgrims from northern and eastern parts of the country to Kamakhya," Prabhu said after launching the train.

The weekly express service will take 52 hours and 45 minutes to complete the journey from Kamakhya in Assam to Bhagat Ki Kothi in Rajasthan.

Prabhu said the train will not only connect north India with the northeast but will also help lakhs and lakhs of pilgrims visiting the Maa Kamakhya Temple.

The New Coochbehar-Siliguri passenger service was flagged off from New Coochbehar station. The local train would cover 176 km journey in five-and-a-half hours.

"We are trying to provide maximum connectivity in north-eastern states and we want to do it with cooperation from all," Prabhu said.

He said the connectivity through local train between New Coochbehar and Changrabandha in West Bengal will benefit all sections of the society including daily passengers and businessmen.
Republican presidential front runner Donald Trump has announced to appoint a top American Senator as head of his national security team.

In a statement, Trump said Jeff Sessions, who has advised him on issues such as trade and immigration, will serve as his National Security Advisory Committee.

"It is an honour to have Jeff as a member of the team. I have such great respect for him and I look forward to working with him on the issues most important to Americans," Trump said yesterday.

The announcement came hours after he was blasted by top Republican national security experts who said that they were opposed to his presidency as his vision of American influence and power in the world is wildly inconsistent and unmoored in principle.

Sessions, who has been on the Armed Services Committee for almost 20 years and is Chairman of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee, had endorsed him over the weekend.

"Trump and the American people know our country needs a clear-eyed foreign policy rooted in the national interest. We need to understand the limits of our ability to intervene successfully in other nations. It is time for a healthy dose of foreign policy realism," Sessions said.

"In the Middle East, this means forming partnerships based on shared interests, not merely overthrowing regimes in the dangerous attempt to plant democracies. We must also combat the refugee crisis by creating regional safe zones, rather than depopulating the region by migration," he said.

"The only path to long-term stability and resolution of this humanitarian crisis for the United States and our European allies is to work towards the safe return of migrants to their home countries, as Trump has noted. This strategy will also protect our own national security," Sessions said.

Earlier in an open letter, 95 members of the Republican national security community slammed Trump on his national security, alleging that his advocacy for aggressively waging trade wars is a recipe for economic disaster in a globally connected world and that his embrace of the expansive use of torture is inexcusable.

"His hateful, anti-Muslim rhetoric undercuts the seriousness of combating Islamic radicalism by alienating partners in the Islamic world making significant contributions to the effort. Furthermore, it endangers the safety and Constitutionally guaranteed freedoms of American Muslims," they said in an open letter.

"Controlling our border and preventing illegal immigration is a serious issue, but his insistence that Mexico will fund a wall on the southern border inflames unhelpful passions, and rests on an utter misreading of, and contempt for, our southern neighbour," they said.

"Similarly, his insistence that close allies such as Japan must pay vast sums for protection is the sentiment of a racketeer, not the leader of the alliances that have served us so well since World War II," the letter said.

"His admiration for foreign dictators such as Vladimir Putin is unacceptable for the leader of the world's greatest democracy. He is fundamentally dishonest," the letter said.
Democratic presidential front runner Hillary Clinton has slammed her Republican rival Donald Trump for his hate-filled vision and has described the real-estate tycoon as "terrifying".

"I think Donald Trump is terrifying, and I absolutely hate what he stands for," Clinton said in an email to her supporters, hours after Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee blasted his party's own presidential front runner.

"I hate how he insults women, people of colour, and entire countries when it suits him. I hate his total lack of understanding of complex issues that impact Americans," Clinton, 68, said in her email yesterday.

"I hate that he said he 'didn't know enough' about the KKK to disavow an endorsement from its former leader - what does he need to know? it's the KKK! But here's what I hate most: He could be our next president," Clinton said.

Earlier in the day, Trump, 69, claimed that he was the only one who can defeat Clinton in the November presidential elections.

Clinton and Trump fast tracked their race to the White House after posting big wins in the recent crucial multi-state 'Super Tuesday' primaries to stay on course for clinching their



parties' presidential nominations.

Both won seven primaries of the Democratic and Republican parties as the possibility of a November presidential election showdown between the two seemed likely.

Clinton has attacked controversial Trump before also.

Attacking Trump's pledge to "make America great again", Clinton said "America never stopped being great!".
Describing detection of 30-metre long tunnel from Pakistan to the Indian side as a major success, BSF Friday said that it was dug with the aim of pushing in armed into Jammu region.

"We were carrying out our regular clearing operations, done monthly, when we found a well-constructed tunnel," Inspector General of BSF, Jammu Frontier, Rakesh Sharma said, noting that it was being dug with JCB machine.

"It was aimed at pushing in into Jammu region," he said.

Terming Friday's detection a major success, the IG said if not detected in time, Pakistan would have succeeded in pushing in 'fidayeen' and other inside Indian territory.

"Pakistan was objecting to our efforts to clear grass as it was anticipating that BSF would be able to detect the tunnel. We resisted Pakistan's attempts and went ahead with clearance operation during which the tunnel was found," Sharma said.

The tunnel is approximately 10 feet below the ground and has a length of 30 metres from their end to this side, he said.

"But it was blocked on our side. It was dead end. It had no exit as they could not complete it further. It came close to the border fencing," the IG said.

"One person can sit and easily move inside the tunnel which has came up in the vicinity of Allah-Mai-Di-Kothi BoP of ours from Pakistan Post of Afzal," he said, adding that a probe was on.

This is the fourth tunnel unearthed by BSF in the region since 2012.
A Turkish court today sentenced two Syrian people smugglers to more than four years in prison over the drowning of Aylan Kurdi, the toddler who became a symbol of Europe's refugee crisis when his lifeless body washed up on a Turkish beach.

The court in the resort town of Bodrum found Syrian nationals Muwafaka Alabash, 36, and Asem Alfrhad, 35, guilty of trafficking migrants and sentenced them to four years and two months, the Dogan Agency said.

But it cleared them of causing the death of five people "through deliberate negligence", a charge that carried a sentence of up to 35 years in prison.

Pictures of the three-year-old Syrian toddler face down in the sand on a Turkish beach triggered global anguish and the public outcry, to a certain extent, spurred the EU into greater action in the crisis.

He drowned after his family decided in early September to make the risky journey across the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece in an overloaded open boat.

Aylan's mother Rihana and brother Ghaleb, four, and two others also died in the same accident as they attempted the crossing from Bodrum to the island of Kos.

Aylan's father Abdullah Kurdi had been implicated in the tragedy, with Turkish authorities originally accusing him in absentia of being responsible for the deaths and driving the boat at the time of the disaster.

However prosecutors had dropped the legal proceedings against Kurdi, who now lives outside of Turkey, at an earlier stage in the trial.

A lawyer for the defendants, Kemal Ertugrul, said the pair would not have been jailed if they were Turkish and reaffirmed the past accusations against Abdullah Kurdi.

"There is one name missing from the real organisers and culprits," he said.

"Nobody is looking for him. All the witnesses and those who experienced the disaster said the organiser is Abdullah Kurdi. Therefore I will file a criminal complaint against him."



Asem Alfrhad said during the trial Abdullah Kurdi was the "the real criminal here... Who became a hero on television but did not even testify."



His family, many of whom are now based in Canada, had previously rubbished similar allegations against him broadcast by foreign television as "ridiculous".

Kurdi became a prominent figure through media interviews following Aylan's death and delivered an "alternative" Christmas message in Britain in 2015, aired on a rival channel at the same time as Queen Elizabeth II's traditional address.
Turkish armed forces launched new artillery strikes on positions of the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria, local media reported today.

Turkish artillery fired shells from howitzers positioned in its border region against IS targets in the north of Syria's Aleppo province, the state-run Anatolia agency reported reported.

A fragile ceasefire backed by Turkey has taken effect in Syria, but the deal does not apply to territory held by the IS group and Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front.

This was the second time within a week that Turkey had shelled IS targets in Syria, after a period of over a month when there had been no reports of Turkish strikes against the extremist group.

Turkey had on February 28 shelled six IS targets in Syria a total of 41 times, a senior government official said this week.

From mid-February, Turkish artillery had also on successive days shelled targets of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) inside Syria, with the military saying it was responding to incoming fire.

But Turkey has not shelled any positions held by Syrian Kurdish fighters inside Syria since the ceasefire was implemented from at midnight last Friday, the official said.

Washington had urged Ankara to halt its fire on the PYD and its People's Protection Units (YPG) militia.

The issue of the Syrian Kurds had caused a rare rift between Ankara and Washington, which regards the YPG as the most effective fighting force on the ground against IS and wants Turkey to focus on the fight against jihadists.
A court in Istanbul today ordered that Turkey's largest-circulation newspaper, which is linked to an opposition cleric, be placed under the management of trustees a move that heightens concerns over deteriorating press freedoms in Turkey.

The court action against Zaman newspaper comes as the government has intensified a campaign against the moderate Islamic movement led by US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. It accuses the movement of attempting to bring down the government.

The case was brought by a public prosecutor in Istanbul and means that the editorial board and management will be replaced by people named by the court.

The move, which also affects Zaman's sister newspaper, English-language Today's Zaman, and a agency linked to the group, further reduces the pool of opposition television and newspapers in the country, which is dominated by pro-government television channels and newspapers.

Hundreds of people gathered outside of the paper's headquarters in Istanbul in a show of support. Zaman Editor-in-Chief Abdulhamid Bilici addressed his colleagues on the grounds of the newspaper, calling the court decision a "black day for democracy" in Turkey as journalists and other newspaper workers held up signs that read: "Don't touch my newspaper" and chanted "free press cannot be silenced!"



The US-based watchdog, Freedom House, criticised the appointment of trustees and called on the European Union and the United States to speak out against the move. The EU, in particular, has been accused of keeping mute about human rights abuses and the deteriorating freedoms in Turkey because of the country's crucial role in curtailing the flow of migrants to Europe.

"The appointment of trustees to run Zaman amounts to a government takeover of a private media outlet, and is a flagrant violation of both rule of law and freedom of the press," said Daniel Calingaert, Freedom's House executive vice president.

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of Turkey's main opposition party, called the court decision "a violation of media freedoms" and "proof" that Erdogan and the government consider "all dissenting voices as criminal organizations."



Gulen, who has lived in the United States since 1999, was once President Recep Tayyip Errdogan's ally but the two have fallen out.

The government accuses the Gulen movement of orchestrating corruption allegations in December 2013 against ministers and people close to Erdogan as a plot to overthrow it. Authorities have since branded the movement a terror organization, although it is not known to have carried out acts of violence. Gulen was placed on trial in absentia last year on charges of attempting to topple the government.
Two Italians kidnapped last July in Libya were freed today in a raid on Islamic State jihadist group hideouts in a city near the capital, an official said.

"Two Italian hostages were released... In Sabratha after an operation targeting several houses after information reached security forces that Daesh elements were there," the city's mayor Hussein al-Dawadi said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

"They are now at a police station in Sabratha," 70 kilometres east of Tripoli, he added.

Gino Pollicardo, 55, and Filippo Calcagno, 65, said in a statement released by the Sabratha municipality: "We are free and are relatively well physically but are psychologically exhausted. We urgently need to return to Italy."



The two men were among four employees of Italian construction company Bonatti who were kidnapped in July 2015 in the Mellitah region west of Tripoli.

Italy said on Thursday that the two others had likely been killed in clashes between IS fighters and local militia fighters near Sabratha.

Sabratha has been the scene of intense fighting between local militias and IS jihadists since a US attack last month on an IS training camp on the outskirts of the city that left 50 people dead.

IS subsequently seized control of the centre of the city only to be pushed back to the outskirts last week.
Britain's spy chiefs are hunting for suitable candidates to join an undercover anti-terror squad to monitor UK streets against terrorist groups like the Islamic State (IS).

The Ministry of Defence has released an advert calling for volunteers to help fight terror groups in the latest edition of the British Army's official magazine.

It shows a woman at a bus stop reading a newspaper with the caption: "This woman has vital information. Do you have the skills to find out what it is?".

According to the 'Daily Express', the recruits are intended for the Defence Human Intelligence Unit (DHU) to conduct "special intelligence duties" on a mission dubbed "Operation Samson".

The DHU is undergoing an expansion after Prime Minister David Cameron pledged 2 billion pounds in additional funds for special forces in the fight against IS.

The unit, which works alongside the Special Air Service (SAS) and intelligence agencies, was set up to collate intelligence across Afghanistan when British troops were fighting the Taliban.

However, with increasing fears of a major terror attack on British soil the unit is now being used to support the UK Home Office by gathering information across the UK, the newspaper claims.

The DHU is said to already have 400 troops and is reportedly commanded by a military officer who worked undercover in Northern Ireland.

Operatives work in plainclothes throughout Britain, are not armed and receive orders from the MI5 security service and Home Office.

A military source told the 'Daily Mirror', "They will be in plainclothes and their single task is to monitor and record events. Nobody will know who they are, they will deploy as couples, a man or woman on their own, they will just fade into the environment".

"Very little is known about the unit. They select across the armed forces and have a large number of Asian recruits working for them and did an outstanding job in Helmand.

"They operate special intelligence duties in support of the Home Office and MI5, but are not armed and their role is simply to collate information from a wide range of activities.

The advert does not reveal where the soldiers will be operating or what sort of intelligence they need to collect, but they are likely to be stationed in areas where extremists are known to operate in the UK.
The UN humanitarian chief has accused all parties in Yemen's escalating conflict of attacking civilian facilities including hospitals and schools and demanded an immediate halt and access to the entire country to deliver desperately needed aid.

Stephen O'Brien told the UN Security Council yesterday that over 2,000 children are estimated to have been killed or injured since the start of the conflict including at least 90 children killed so far this year.

O'Brien said the relentless and often indiscriminate nature of the violence was made "starkly clear" last Saturday when 30 people were killed and 40 injured in a strike on a busy market in the capital Sanaa.

He also cited the complete destruction on February 24 of a health center in Bidbadah district in Marib governorate, reportedly by coalition airstrikes.

Yemen's conflict pits the government, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, against Shiite rebels known as Houthis, allied with a former president.

The Houthis took over Sanaa in September 2014, and the Saudi-led coalition began airstrikes against the Houthis in March 2015.

The absence of a national government in many parts of Yemen has facilitated the expansion of groups like the Islamic State and al-Qaida.

Despite many obstacles, O'Brien said UN and its partners delivered assistance to over three million people in February, some 400,000 more than in January. He said the goal remains to expand aid to 13.4 million people this year.

The Security Council called for "unimpeded" access for humanitarian agencies and stressed that only a speedy cessation of hostilities will improve the humanitarian situation and advance a political settlement.

Angola's UN Ambassador Ismael Gaspar Martins, the current Security Council president, said members are discussing a new resolution on the humanitarian situation in Yemen "because the situation is evolving toward a very drastic one ... Before our eyes."



The UN envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, who has been trying to arrange a new round of peace talks, briefed the council behind closed doors.

In mid-February, Cheikh Ahmed said he couldn't set a date for new talks because of deep divisions between the warring parties over whether a new round should be convened without a cessation of hostilities.

Gaspar Martins said Cheikh Ahmed is making preparations and consulting key countries, and that talks would be held soon.
An FBI demand that Apple unlock an iPhone risks setting a dangerous precedent that could have a chilling effect on human rights, the United Nations rights chief warned today.

Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein's intervention came after Apple's largest rivals backed the tech giant's bid to resist the US government demand seeking to access the iPhone used by one of the attackers in a deadly rampage in San Bernardino, California in December.

"In order to address a security-related issue related to encryption in one case, the authorities risk unlocking a Pandora's Box that could have extremely damaging implications for the human rights of many millions of people, including their physical and financial security," Zeid said in a statement.

He warned that the FBI order would "set a precedent that may make it impossible for Apple or any other major international IT company to safeguard their clients' privacy anywhere in the world".

The FBI wants to unlocked the iPhone used by Syed Farook, who was behind the San Bernardino massacre along with his wife Tashfeen Malik that left 14 people dead.

The agency has argued that by introducing encryption that can lock data, making it accessible only to the user, Apple and other tech companies are essentially creating "warrant-proof zones" for criminals and others that will cripple law enforcement and jeopardise public security.

Apple has in return said that the only way to unlock the handset would be to introduce a weakened operating system, which could potentially leak out and be exploited by hackers and foreign governments.

Zeid said the FBI "deserves everyone's full support" in its investigation into what he described as an "abominable crime".

But he added: "This case is not about a company -- and its supporters -- seeking to protect criminals and terrorists, it is about where a key red line necessary to safeguard all of us from criminals and repression should be set.

"There are many ways to investigate whether or not these killers had accomplices besides forcing Apple to create software to undermine the security features of their own phones.

"It is potentially a gift to authoritarian regimes, as well as to criminal hackers."



Zeid said encryption tools were widely used around the world, including by human rights defenders, civil society, journalists, whistle-blowers and political dissidents facing persecution and harassment.

"Encryption and anonymity are needed as enablers of both freedom of expression and opinion, and the right to privacy. Without encryption tools, lives may be endangered."



Three tech associations representing Apple's main business rivals - including Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Yahoo- said they supported Apple's efforts to challenge the order.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav today charged the previous Mayawati government with pushing the state back off the path of development by years and accused BJP of betraying the state which gave it 73 MPs.

"No government can compete with us on the issue of development...BSP now says it will not put up more parks if it comes to power but it has pushed the state back by years on the path of development (during its previous rule)," Yadav told the state assembly while replying to the debate on the state budget.

On BJP, he said now when the central budget has been announced it is for everyone to see what has been given to Uttar Pradesh which has given the saffron party 73 MPs in 2014.

"You all have given nothing to this state and people will not forgive you," he said, adding that the new tax structure has decreased the state's share by Rs 8,000 crore.

"We have asked only for permission to start work on the international airport at Jewar in Gautam Buddha Nagar and at Hirangaon in Ferozabad but the Centre does not seem to be interested in it," the chief minister said.

Pointing out that BJP and BSP had joined hands to form government twice in the state, Yadav alleged that they could repeat the same for their "vested" interests.

"They joined hands during Lok Sabha elections in Kannauj and made an unholy pact against the SP candidate and you never know when they can come together again," he said.

Responding to issues raised by opposition members on the state budget which was presented in the House on February 12, Yadav described it was a "pack of truth" aimed at balanced development of rural and urban areas.

Stressing that there could be no comparison between the coming up of Agra-Lucknow Expressway with Noida Expressway of the then BSP government, Yadav said unlike the previous government, no package or sweeteners were given to any business house nor were farmers forced to give their land for the same.

"No farmer was killed nor anyone sent to jail by our government for taking land for the Expressway," he said.

Rejecting opposition charge that Purvanchal and



Bundelkhand areas were neglected in the budget, Yadav said his government was taking good care of all regions.

For Bundelkhand, he said while ponds and rivers like Chandrawal which had become almost extinct were being revived, Hamirpur will be converted into an organic district where use of organic fertiliser will be promoted in a big way.

Besides, for these areas which have witnessed drought, Yadav said free foodgrains will be provided to people under the Right to Food Security Act.

"The government has decided to provide free foodgrains to the people of Bundelkhand region," he said, adding, "We have also decided to provide flour, oil, ghee, potato, salts and several other things to poor people of the state."



To address the shortage of drinking water, the government would press into service 1,500 water tankers in Bundelkhand so that villagers were provided with quality drinking water, he said.

The chief minister said his government would develop a greenfield city.

He said adequate power and good roads were the main priorities of his government.

Brushing aside criticism that sugarcane prices have not been hiked for consecutive years by his government, he said that on coming to power his government had hiked it by Rs 40 in one go in 2012.

"Besides, we have forced the sugar mills to pay over Rs 77,000 crore to the cane farmers during the four-year rule even though the prices of sugar was at the lowest," he said.

On law and order front, the chief minister said "some small issues" also become hot while the good work remain in the background.

He accused the media of tarnishing the image of his government over the law and order issue. "In some recent acts of missing women and other crimes, UP police had done an excellent job to arrest the culprits within a record time but still the media bashing against the government continues," he rued.

Yadav said investors were also coming to the state now and accused the previous government of not working on the infrastructure.
Upholding the religious freedom rights of Sikhs in the US armed forces, an American court has ruled in favour of a decorated Sikh Army Captain who had demanded that the military accommodate his articles of faith and abandon its impromptu discriminatory testing.

Captain Simratpal Singh, 28, in a lawsuit filed against the Department of Defence demanded the US military accommodate his articles of faith and dump the discriminatory testing.

"Thousands of other soldiers are permitted to wear long hair and beards for medical or other reasons, without being subjected to such specialised and costly expert testing of their helmets and gas masks," Judge Beryl A Howell swiftly ruled in Captain Singh's favour last evening.

The US Department of Defence, which had granted and then extended Captain Singh's temporary religious accommodation until March 31 this year, remains scheduled to make a final decision on Singh's permanent accommodation by that deadline.

Captain Singh, who is a West Point graduate, Ranger, and Bronze Star Medal recipient, has successfully passed the safety tests required of his unit.

"The US Constitution and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act make it crystal clear that Captain Singh's right to practice his faith and serve in our military are not mutually exclusive," said Amandeep Sidhu, Partner at law firm McDermott Will & Emery that represented Captain Singh.

"We are grateful that the court is on the right side of religious freedom with its ruling, which begs the question: does the world's largest employer really want to be on the wrong side of history?" he said.

The testing that the military planned to impose on Captain Singh is not required of any other soldiers, even the tens of thousands with medical or religious accommodations, and including previously accommodated Sikhs, he said.

Given that Captain Singh has passed the standard safety tests, further testing would clearly be discriminatory, he claimed.

"We have been advocating for the simple, straightforward, equal right to serve for years, and held onto the belief that the military would correct this injustice once they realized their mistake," said the Sikh Coalition's Legal Director, Harsimran Kaur.

"The military's treatment of Captain Singh, a decorated soldier, makes it clear that they deliberately want to squash diversity and religious freedom in their ranks; that is not something that any court, or American, should ever tolerate," Kaur said.

(REOPENS FGN28)



Last year,retired US Generalscalled on the US Department of Defence to eliminate the ban on observant Sikhs.

These generals joinedUS Senators, andnational interfaith and civil rights organisations, who had previously signed letters in support of American Sikhs' right to serve.

"What is so sad about the Army's position in this case is how unnecessary it is," said Eric Baxter, Senior Counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.

"Thousands of service members protect our country while wearing beards, including observant Sikhs. There is absolutely no evidence that there is any problem with providing a permanent accommodation so Captain Singh can continue to faithfully serve his country and Sikh beliefs," Baxter said.
A man charged with hate crime in the US for brutally assaulting a Sikh bus driver and calling him a "terrorist" and "suicide bomber" has pleaded not guilty.

KC Tard, 34, who could face up to six years in prison if convicted, entered the plea yesterday in California to a felony battery count with a hate crime allegation, local media reported.

The Inglewood District Attorney's Office in Los Angeles on Tuesday filed the hate crime charges against Tard for brutally assaulting bus driver Balwinder Jit Singh and calling him a "terrorist" and "suicide bomber" during the attack last November.

Singh, who was in beard and traditional Sikh turban, had sustained serious injuries during the November 6 assault and was taken to a hospital with a disfigured face and infection in his eye that required weeks of recovery.

Tard also accused Singh of hijacking the bus while he was viciously assaulting him.

In January, advocacy group the Sikh Coalition's legal team intervened and asked the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to investigate the case as a hate crime.

"I was attacked because of my Sikh religious appearance and I'm grateful that authorities re-examined my case and finally brought hate crime charges against the assailant," Singh had said, adding that "acknowledging hatred when it occurs is the necessary first step for combating the problem."



The rights group has said in recent months, as hateful political rhetoric has ramped up, it has witnessed a dramatic increase in hate crimes and backlash directed towards the Sikh community.

"The Sikh turban stands for justice and equality. It should be celebrated, not feared and we will continue to educate law enforcement agencies and Americans alike on the necessary steps required to combat the problem of hate in our country," said the coalition's Senior Staff Attorney, Gurjot Kaur.
Justifying its decision not to give visa to members of a US religious commission, India today said the group has no locus standi to pass its judgement and comment on its citizens' constitutionally protected rights.

"We do not see the locus standi of a foreign entity like USCIRF (US Commission on International Religious Freedom) to pass its judgement and comment on the state of Indian citizens' constitutionally protected rights," the Indian Embassy here said in a statement.

The embassy statement came after USCIRF expressed its disappointment that the Indian Government has not issued visas to its members who were planning to go to India to discuss and assess religious freedom conditions in the country.

"We are deeply disappointed by the Indian government's denial, in effect, of these visas. As a pluralistic, non-sectarian, and democratic state, and a close partner of the United States, India should have the confidence to allow our visit," said Robert P George, chairman of USCIRF.

India has not been giving them visa since 2009.

"There is no change in the policy of the Government of India with respect to such visits," the embassy said.

Asserting that India is a vibrant pluralistic society founded on strong democratic principles, the embassy said the Indian Constitution guarantees fundamental rights to all its citizens including the right to freedom of religion.

"We look forward to continuing working with the United States Government for sharing of experience and best practice on all issues of mutual interest under the established bilateral mechanisms like the India-United States Global Issues Forum," the statement added.
The Volleyball Federation of India (VFI) today announced that the Annual General Meeting of the body will be held on April 15 at Hotel Inderlok in Dehradun.

The decision was made in the Emergent Executive Committee meeting of the VFI held in Nagpur yesterday.

VFI President Chaudhary Avadhesh Kumar also announced that all roadblocks created by the rival faction headed by secretary Ramavtar Jakhar has been cleared by the Patiala House Court and Chennai High Court judgments dated March.

The Patiala House court has recognised the Emergent Executive Committee, to be presided over by the President, as official while the Chennai High Court has refused to give stay on the meeting to be held at Nagpur as pleaded by Secretary in Chennai High court on the February 26.

Commenting on these developments Chaudhary Avadhesh Kumar said, "It's hard to believe that people have overlooked court orders and called a meeting in Chennai, when we were authorised to hold a meeting under my chairmanship at Nagpur, by Patiala House Court."



The newly-elected interim Secretary of VFI K Nandkumar said, "The claim by Ramavtar-led faction that there were 22 state unit affiliates present for the illegal meeting was untrue. The Emergent Executive Committee meeting in Nagpur saw 14 state units turning up and 4 to 5 units deciding to skip both the meetings. So in no circumstances the Chennai meeting had more than handful members available. I would like to add that most of these members are already suspended for three years."



The suspended units will be replaced by the new state office bearers and this decision will be taken at the AGM. Also, the president has declared the March 11 meeting called by Ramavtar in Chennai as illegal, since neither the President nor the one-third members of the VFI units have requested to call for it.
Water returned today to pumping stations in Aleppo city, a water services official said, after the longest cut left residents without supplies for three months.

"Water has finally arrived from Al-Hafseh, the main water station east of the city to the pumping stations of Sleiman al-Halabi and Bab Neirab inside the city," the official said on condition of anonymity.

"Without electricity, the water will be pumped using generators with fuel provided by the Red Crescent, and water will gradually return to all parts of the city," he told AFP.

Residents had told AFP this week that they had gone about three months without steady water supply, their longest cut in the five-year war.

Once Syria's economic powerhouse, Aleppo city has been divided since 2012 between government control in the west and rebel groups in the east.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the water cut ended after the government repaired a pumping station that provided water to Al-Bab, a bastion of the Islamic State jihadist group further east.

In turn, IS fighters allowed water to be pumped through areas under their control from the Euphrates River into Aleppo city.

But Syria's state agency SANA said water was once again being pumped from Al-Hafseh "after a 48-day cut by the terrorists of Daesh," or IS.

The clashes tearing Aleppo apart for four years have damaged power generators and pumps that bring water to residential neighbourhoods, leading to intermittent shortages.

But a Russian air strike in November on an IS-held treatment plant had left 1.4 million people in the city without any water at all.




By MOE MYINT / THE IRRAWADDY| Wednesday, February 24, 2016 |MRAUK U, Arakan State  Throughout outgoing President Thein Seins term, the Arakan State government spent 1.5 billion kyats (over US$1.2 million) to preserve the remnants of the ancient Arakanese Mrauk U kingdom, according to the states annual audit report.Yet some officials connected with the project allege that it has been fraught with mismanagement. Khin Than, chairperson of Mrauk U-based Heritage Trust, claims that halls within two famous temple complexesthe Ko-thaung and Shite-thaung pagodaswere damaged by government contractors negligence. New shrines were built alongside originals, she addedconstructed out of concrete and sandstone.Archaeologists and scholars of Mrauk U, which boasts more than 1,500 documented temples, have advocated for its classification as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but fear that unscrupulous renovation of the ancient locale will put such an achievement further from reach.Nyein Lwin, director of the Mrauk U Department of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Conservation, admitted that reconstruction at Mrauk U had been carried out instead of maintenance. This often involves the use of concrete and new stones, rather than brickwork more authentic to the original structures.Contractors lack experience to properly preserve the temples and pagodas, he explained, clarifying that much of the work was carried out before he stepped into the directorial role three months ago.I saw a pagoda the conservation was wrongit was reconstructed, Nyein Lwin said, describing a site within the Shite-thaung complex. [It] was reconstructed with bricks, sand and stone. It is a 2015 model. It cant be a Mrauk U model anymore. I cant feel it [is an original].Some original Shite-thaung pagodas had echo chambers and an air circulation system built into the architecture, but after the preservation, both had been disabled.Arakan States Statistical Department Chief Tun Aung San also admitted that local contractors had proven unskillful in working on the ancient Mrauk U temples.The deputy director of the Sittwe Department of Archaeology and the National Museum provided The Irrawaddy with an annual report revealing that the regional government budget for Mrauk U maintenance had increased exponentially, from 8.4 million kyats (US$6,800) in 2011 to 639 million kyats (US$515,800) at present.Over the last five years, a total of 1.5 billion kyats (US$1.2 million) has been poured into the ancient ruins.Nyein Lwin claims he was kept in the dark about the funds allocated by the state before his tenure. This reportedly topped 665 million kyats (US$536,800) during 2014-15, while the project was managed by the Sittwe Department of Archaeology in the Arakan State capital.When he became the Mrauk U archaeology departments director, Nyein Lwin said that he identified discrepancies in the projects audit report, which led him to file a complaint with the Arakan State chief minister. He noticed that five renovations which had not yet been completed were marked as done, and the local companies responsible had prematurely collected payment for the projects.Nyein Lwin said he requested that the contractors provide cost estimates for the undertaking and a performance guaranteewhich most failed to present.If a contractor does not complete a project satisfactorily, authorities are supposed to take action, Tun Aung San explained. Yet he declined to say whether the state government follows through on this responsibility, simply adding that they manage any problems that arise.Despite allegations of poor work performance, Tun Aung San revealed that, to his knowledge, the statistical department had not yet scrutinized the 2015-16 budget for the Mrauk U project.According to the official audit list, contractors who were selected to lead the Mrauk U restoration include well-connected Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) members, a Sittwe hotel owner, and construction companies like Nilar Myint Myat, Myanmar Ariyan and Roma Mandaing.How certain local contractors obtained key positions on the project remains ambiguous. Burmese government protocol states that if a proposal is valued at above five million kyats (US$4,000), a tender competition is announced; if a project is appraised at 50 million kyats (US$40,300) or more, the public is informed through state-owned newspapers to facilitate competitive bidding.The Irrawaddy was unable to clarify whether the Arakan State government had called for an open tender for Mrauk Us temple maintenance.I dont know whether the tender was open or closed. And even at the Mrauk U branch, we dont know how many contractors are operating here, Nyein Lwin said, the latter claim also echoed by the Sittwe Department of Archaeologys deputy director.Arakan States audit chief told The Irrawaddy that such decisions are left up to regional authorities, and it was unclear if they adhered to a transparent bidding procedure.Its difficult to say whether the majority of tender cases are open or closed. It depends on the state governments plan, he said.When contacted by The Irrawaddy, Moe Hein, a director within the Arakan State government, denied that the state privately handled tenders for such projects.Further controversy has been courted by state government plans to construct a museum in a colonial era building which was once a Mrauk U palace.Arakan State authorities have reportedly offered 300 million kyats (US$242,200) to a local businessman to complete the project during the 2016-17 financial year.The Mrauk U Heritage Trust objects to the project on the grounds that it violates a 1998 law prohibiting both the reconstruction of ancient structures and the construction of new buildings at heritage sites.The state government and the Department of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Conservation are intentionally violating the existing laws. The projects are shared with their close [relations] and after that, our heritage is destroyed, said Khin Than, chairperson of the Trust.She lamented that some business contractors had already received official permits to construct guesthouses and hotels nearby.Nyein Lwin speculated that some government officials might be unaware of laws banning on-site construction, but added that the responsibility to enforce the rules remained with the manager of the project.If Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing gave a command to fight, it is the frontline commander, and not Min Aung Hlaing [that has to do it], said Nyein Lwin, referring to the Burma Army chief. Whether they win or are defeated depends on the commanders qualifications.It is the same here, he concluded, stressing the importance of lower level leaders in Mrauk Us chain of authority. The operation manager is key.http://www.irrawaddy.com/multimedia-burma/the-million-dollar-mismanagement-of-mrauk-u.html
Noted water conservationist Rajendra Singh, also known as 'Waterman of India', today announced his maiden intervention to rejuvenate polluted rivers in the urban areas of the country.

Singh will launch the campaign from the Dahisar river in northwest Mumbai with a 5 km 'river march' on Sunday. He said more such marches have been planned in other cities in India.

The 14-km long Dahisar river, which passes through densely-populated pockets of Borivali and Dahisar in northwestern suburbs, has been badly impacted over the years due to different kinds of pollution.

Some of the biggest pollutants of the river are the untreated discharge from an illegal 'dhobi ghat', many cowsheds, a crematorium and unplanned slum areas through which the river passes, experts say.

Singh, who is credited with reviving rivers in his home state of Rajasthan and was conferred the Stockholm Water Prize for his work in 2015, said the aim of this campaign is to rejuvenate urban rivers by taking appropriate actions.

"It's important that all living beings should lead a stress-free life and have access to clean water in its natural form. River rejuvenation work is, therefore, the biggest challenge before all of us and specially for urban citizens," Singh told PTI here today.

The winner of 2001 Ramon Magsaysay Award for community leadership rued that almost all the rivers in the country are "biologically dead" because of the activities which happen in their catchment areas and that they are now affecting all living beings, mostly the people living near it.

This two-year campaign is aimed at restoring the river to what it should be through this campaign, he said.

Deputy Director of the Maharashtra Nature Park Society, Avinash Kubal, explains that as the Dahisar river exits the protected area of Sanjay Gandhi National Park, it faces the wrath of the washers, who discharge detergents and other chemicals into the river.

Not just that, close to two dozen cowsheds, home to over 2,000 livestock, release dung and other waste into the river and then it passes through the area, where sanitation and waste water disposal systems are not working effectively, further compounding the problem.

The situation is very grave and posing health hazards for



the people living nearby, Kubal said.

"Generally, even the river, which gets polluted, will get purified naturally by the impact and actions of elements like biota in the riverbed. But in case of almost all the rivers in our cities this is not happening and as a result the river once polluted always remains polluted," he said.

Volunteers have worked for over last two years, collecting data on what ails the river system and have found that there is unbearable stench in many quarters because of the lethal gases getting released from the polluted waters.

Also, majority of the stretches of the Dahisar river are a breeding ground of mosquitoes, resulting in health-related worries.

There are as many as 19 educational institutions in the vicinity of the river and students suffer the bad stench when they are at their classes, Kubal said.

A meeting of 18 different stakeholder groups was held here under the chairmanship of Singh on January 29 to discuss the way ahead. Solutions like setting up an affluent treatment plant for the dhobi ghat area, biogas plants near cowsheds and correcting the sewage systems for shanties were also decided. All these can be done at a very minimal cost.

Students from over 10 different colleges, including Somaiya College, MD College, have come together and are working for different aspects of sustainable river rejuvenation for Dahisar river, Kubal said.

He said the government and the people are working together on the project and help will also be taken from corporates, which have evinced interest in supporting the scheme under their CSR initiatives.
The White House says President Barack Obama alone will decide whom to meet with when he arrives in Cuba on a history-making trip this month.

Spokesman Josh Earnest says the guest list will be determined solely by the White House.

Earnest was responding to reports that Secretary of State John Kerry is no longer making a solo visit to Cuba before the president, due to disagreements with Cuban officials over which dissidents will meet Obama.

Obama has set meeting with pro-democracy activists on the communist island nation as a condition for the trip.

Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro moved more than a year ago to restore formal diplomatic relations between their formerly estranged countries.

Kerry now plans to travel to Cuba with Obama.
Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee today said she was willing to talk to the Tata Group, if the company was willing to set up the plant on 600 acres in Singur.

"Court proceedings are on over the issue," she said referring to the state government's appeal against a Calcutta High Court order nullifying an Act to take over the land back from Tata Motors in Singur, which shifted its factory to Sanand in Gujarat following a prolonged agitation seeking return of 400 acres to the unwilling farmers.

Banerjee said she was ready to discuss the issue out of court with the Tatas.

"I am willing to talk. They can set up a plant on 600 acres of land at Singur," she told a vernacular channel.

Banerjee, whose party rode to success in the 2011 state Assembly elections largely on land acquisition issues at Nandigram and Singur, said she was committed to give back 400 acres of land to unwilling farmers out of the 1,000 acres acquired by the then Left Front government in 2007 for the Tata Motors' Nano car factory.

When asked about the stalled Infosys project at Rajarhat New Town on the outskirts of the city, the West Bengal Chief Minister said "I am against SEZs, but am ready to offer a different package."



Denying that her land policy was being an hindrance to setting up of new industries in the state, Banerjee said "we have 1,05,000 acres of land at our disposal, my government has set up a land bank.
A first-ever Women Legislators' Conference kicks off here tomorrow which could make a strong pitch for women's reservation in Lok Sabha and the state Assemblies, an issue hanging fire for long.

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, who is organising the meet, said there is no formal plan to bring a resolution on the issue, but suggested it all depends on how the discussions take shape during the meet.

Addressing a press conference on the two-day meet which is to be inaugurated by President Pranab Mukherjee, she said it would provide a platform to women legislators across the country to interact and learn from their counterparts, women Union Ministers, Chief Ministers, MPs and eminent women in the judiciary and bureaucracy.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Sunday address the valedictory session of the meet, which is expected to be attended by some 300 women MLAs, MLCs, Union ministers and Chief Ministers as also former President Pratibha Patil.

Mamata Banerjee and Jayalalithaa, respectively, the West Bengal and Tamil Nadu Chief Ministers, are not attending the meet due to elections in their states while BSP supremo Mayawati has prior political commitments.

Speaker of Bangladesh legislature Shirin Chaudhary will be present at the inaugural session which will be moderated by BJP MP Poonam Mahajan. Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptullah and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will address the session.

Titled 'Women Legislators: Building Resurgent India', the meet's inaugural session will be addressed by Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari and Mahajan.

While Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel will chair a session, former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit will head another.

Asked whether she would allow only women members to speak in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, which is International Women's Day, as suggested by the Prime Minister, she said the proposal was under consideration.

"In the Indian context, there is no issue more pertinent



than corruption, more importantly the politicization of corruption; it is something we should be deeply concerned about," said Professor (Dr.) C. Raj Kumar, Founding Vice Chancellor, O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU) in his inaugural address.

Prof Kumar who is also the Dean, Jindal Global Law School (JGLS) further noted that the criminal justice system in India has become an opportunity for power holders to engage in harassment, and said, "The anti-corruption mechanism has become a tool for extortion and harassment for many individuals."



"The business aspect of corruption is a very complex issue which occurs across the globe and needs a holistic and detailed insight to resolve the issue," observed Prof. Kumar. The keynote speaker, Professor Philip M. Nichols, Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics, Associate Director, The Zicklin Center for Research on Business Ethics, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania gave examples of countries like Singapore and Hong Kong which have successfully combated corruption and witnessed an economic and social transformation.

He said, "Singapore and Hong Kong are leading examples of dealing with deep rooted systemic and endemic forms of corruption. Both countries suffered extensively with challenges of rampant corruption in the past years and became notoriously popular for corruption in business and trade. It was almost impossible to have anything done in these countries without paying bribes to officials in charge, but what is remarkable is their transformation and the manner in which they have successfully dealt with the menace of intrinsic corruption.

Participating in the Practitioners Round Table at the



conference senior Supreme Court advocate Francis Julian said, "All power holders are involved in corrupt practices. So much that you now live in a polluted environment," he further lamented that, "People have no hesitation in paying for unaccounted money. We need to seek greater transparency and accountability."



Experts agreed that judicial pendency in Indian courts is a major factor that allows corruption to prevail and pervade. "Firm corporate laws and internal control procedures are needed to stop corrupt practices," said Poonam Puri, Professor of Law at York University in Canada, while Melanie Reed from Tufts University in the US, noted, "What happens inside a company transcends to the general practices outside."



Professor Suvrajyoti Gupta, Assistant Director, Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution, JGLS, "There is a wide body of economic literature available which states that corruption leads to misallocation of resources, inhibits firm growth and creates monopolies."



Defining how corruption feeds into extreme political philosophy, Prof. Gupta further noted "In terms of political economy, corruption undermines trust in the state and business organizations, leading to a situation where wealth generation itself starts being visualized as a corrupt and illegitimate activity."



"Healthcare is an issue concerning life or death and hence corruption in this sector can prove to be highly fatal. Better healthcare is essential for sustainable development and is also embodied as the third goal in Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)," observed Ms. Elizabeth Lin Forder, Secretary, World Bank Group Sanctions Board, in her paper titled 'Bad for Your Health: Case Studies of Fraud and Corruption in the Health Sector in South Asia.
World leaders hailed "real progress" in Syria today, but fresh air strikes showed the fragility of the week-old truce and the opposition cast doubt on its attendance at talks next week in Geneva.

Warplanes struck a key rebel bastion east of the Syrian capital for the first time since the fragile truce began last weekend, a monitor said.

"Two air strikes hit the edge of the town of Douma in Eastern Ghouta and one person was killed," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

He said either Syrian or Russian planes carried out the strikes.

Eastern Ghouta, the largest rebel bastion east of Damascus, had been regularly bombarded by government forces, but has been relatively calm since the ceasefire brokered by the United States and Russia.

Russia accused Turkey of continuing to bombard Kurdish positions and allowing jihadist groups to receive weapons across its border.

"Such actions on the part of Turkey, aimed at supporting terrorist groups in the provinces of Aleppo and Idlib, put the ceasefire in danger," the Russian defence ministry said in a statement.

British, French, German and EU foreign ministers met in Paris to discuss the cessation of hostilities, saying there had been "real progress".

"This cessation of hostilities is by no means perfect but it has reduced the level of violence, it has created an opportunity for some humanitarian access," said British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond.

The group said the focus now was on convincing all parties to return to UN-brokered peace talks in Switzerland tentatively set for next Wednesday.

"We want a speedy resumption of the negotiations in Geneva, but two conditions must be fulfilled: access for all Syrians to humanitarian aid, and full respect of the ceasefire," said French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault.

But after the group met with Riad Hijab, head of Syria's main opposition body, the High Negotiations Committee, he said the "conditions are not ripe" in Syria for a resumption of peace talks.

He cited continued sieges on cities, lack of access for humanitarian aid and ceasefire violations, but said the opposition had not yet decided whether it will come to the talks.

Hijab also said President Bashar al-Assad would have "no place" in a political transition because he has "blood on his hands".
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has announced that the government will take over all the country's diamond mines to stop foreign firms from syphoning off gems without declaring them.

"We have not received much (money) from the diamond industry at all," Mugabe said in a two-hour interview screened late yesterday by state broadcaster Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation.

"Our people... Have not been able to see or hear what was going on and lots of swindling, smuggling have taken place and the companies that have been mining virtually robbed us of our wealth.

"We have decided that this area should be a monopoly area and only the state should be able to do mining."



Mines Minister Walter Chidhakwa last month announced the government had seized diamond mines in the eastern Chiadzwa district after their licences expired.

Zimbabwe last year ordered diamond mines, including joint ventures with Chinese companies mining in the Marange district, to join a government conglomerate.

The country's diamond industry has been tainted by allegations of rights abuses including the killing and torture of workers.

Reports of abuse led to an international ban of gem exports from Marange between 2009 and 2011.

Diamonds were discovered in Marange in 2006, drawing thousands of small-time miners hoping to make a quick fortune.

The army cleared the area in late 2008, when rights groups said more than 200 people were killed.

The government in Harare pinned its hopes on the diamond industry to shore up the moribund economy, but with little success.

Zimbabwe, which earns most of its foreign exchange through mining, saw diamond production fall to 420,000 carats in the first five months of 2015 from 660,000 carats a year earlier, according to Bloomberg .
By Edward Taylor and Ilona Wissenbach

GENEVA (Reuters) - After a century building what it calls the "ultimate driving machine", BMW is preparing for a world in which its customers will be mere passengers, and the cars will do the driving themselves.

Days before BMW's 100th birthday, its board member for research and development described plans for a completely overhauled company, where half the R&D staff will be computer programmers, competing with the likes of Google parent Alphabet to build the brains for self-driving cars.

"For me it is a core competence to have the most intelligent car," Klaus Froehlich told in an interview at the Geneva auto show.

As a high tech world opens new business opportunities, BMW sees its competitors as including firms like internet taxi service Uber and sales website Truecar, which Froehlich described as "new intermediaries".

"Our task is to preserve our business model without surrendering it to an internet player. Otherwise we will end up as the Foxconn for a company like Apple, delivering only the metal bodies for them," Froehlich said.

BMW will have to ramp up quickly, striking deals with a new network of suppliers, many from outside the traditional automotive industry.

"We have some catching up to do in the area of machine learning and artificial intelligence," Froehlich said.

Today, software engineers make up just 20 percent of the 30,000 employees, contractors and supplier staff that work on research and development for BMW.

"If I need to get to a ratio of 50:50 within five years, I need to get manpower equivalent to another 15,000 to 20,000 people from partnerships with suppliers and elsewhere," Froehlich said, adding that German schools are not producing enough tech engineers for BMW to hire them all in house.

As software becomes as important as hardware, another cultural shift could see BMW free up resources by licensing out technology produced by its own engineers, such as drivetrains for electric and hybrid vehicles.

"Going forward we will sell electric drivetrains," Froehlich said. "We see many smaller manufacturers who cannot afford to develop a plug-in hybrid."

BRAGGING RIGHTS

Germany's premium auto makers are at the centre of the country's global reputation for meticulous engineering. Chancellor Angela Merkel will attend BMW's birthday bash at its Munich headquarters on Monday.

But with the expected shift in focus from a car's body to its brains, the risk is that the expertise will accumulate in silicon valley or in China, rather than Germany's carmaking regions of Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemburg.

"In the auto industry the battle will be not for horsepower but bragging rights will be 'my car is more autonomous than your car'," said Manuela Papadopol, director, global marketing automotive for Elektrobit, a software company now owned by Continental.

BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen's Audi are each making an effort to build a hub for automotive software and services. They clubbed together to buy digital map maker HERE from Nokia last year to create a neutral platform where smart cars can share data on road and traffic conditions.

BMW's own recent hiring included a 200-strong digital innovation team in Chicago, most of whom had worked for Nokia, the Finnish mobile phone pioneer.

Among the areas Froehlich identified where BMW will still need partners is in cloud computing, the technology of storing data and software remotely and accessing it over the internet. Data gathered from a car's onboard sensors will be combined with remote information, for example about weather and traffic, using next generation mobile networks, also known as 5G.

The ultimate aim would be to build as much expertise in-house as possible, although there could be mutual benefits from working with new outside suppliers.

"The thinking here is: they too have weaknesses and there may be some win win situations," Froehlich said of potential new suppliers. "Nonetheless I need to build our own in-house competence in the next 5 to 6 years."

(Reporting by Edward Taylor; editing by Peter Graff)
The government will issue bonds on March 29 as part of its market borrowing programme, the finance ministry said in a statement on Friday.

Investors can apply for the bonds between March 8 and March 14, which will sold through banks and designated post offices, the statement said.
GURGAON, India (Reuters) - India has "good control" over stressed loans at state-owned banks and will ensure lenders are well-capitalised, junior finance minister Jayant Sinha said on Friday.

Speaking as senior officials from the banks, the Reserve Bank of India and the finance ministry held an annual meeting, Sinha said the government would allocate capital based on the banks' capital-adequacy ratios, performance and credit growth.

"We will provide more as necessary to ensure that our banks are well-capitalised," he told reporters.

"As far as the set of stressed assets is concerned, as far as the NPA (non-performing assets) situation is concerned, that we think we now have very good control over and of course (we are) working very closely with the RBI."

Some critics accused the government of skimping on a bailout for the ailing state banks after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley did not announce additional funding in his Feb. 29 budget.

He stuck to plans to provide state banks with 250 billion rupees ($3.7 billion) of new capital in the next financial year towards a sector-wide bailout that the government estimates will cost $26 billion over four years.

Stressed loans -- those that have already turned bad and those seen at risk of doing so -- amount to 8 trillion Indian rupees ($119 billion), or 11.25 percent of total loans, Sinha said on Friday.

A recent surge in bad loans at state-run lenders after their regulator ordered a clean-up has led rating agencies to suggest banks will need more capital support from the government to cover losses and meet Basel III global banking rules.

More than two-dozen state-run lenders account for over two-thirds of India's banking assets and some 85 percent of troubled loans in the financial sector.

($1 = 67.0630 rupees)

(Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy; Editing by Catherine Evans)
By Rajendra Jadhav and Mayank Bhardwaj

MUMBAI/ NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian sugar mills signed export deals this week, the first in nearly two months, as an incentive by the top producing state Maharashtra and a rally in global prices of the sweetener made overseas sales attractive, industry sources told .

A pick up in exports by the world's second-biggest producer could put a lid on world sugar prices, which climbed to more than one-month highs on Thursday amid worries about lower shipments from top supplier Brazil.

Indian sugar export deals, absent earlier this year due to uncompetitive local prices, are trickling in now following a decision by Maharashtra to "exempt cane purchase tax for mills exporting their quota", said Sanjeev Babar, managing director of Maharashtra State Co-operative Sugar Factories Federation.

Just last week, the western Indian state said it would waive a 3 percent tax on cane purchases for mills that export 12 percent of their output in the year ending Sept. 31.

"This decision, along with the rally in global prices, is encouraging mills to export sugar," Babar added.

According to three dealers, mills have signed contracts this week to export 7,000 tonnes white sugar to Myanmar at around $411 per tonne, free on board (FOB).

"Mills have started approaching us. Earlier we were approaching them, but they were not interested in exports," said a Mumbai-based dealer with a global trading firm.

Offers of Indian sugar need to be at a discount of about $10 a tonne to ICE London front-month futures to be attractive in export markets, dealers said.

But in January, Indian mills were quoting a $30 premium as a threat to domestic output from the first back-to-back drought in three decades kept local prices high. The spread has now turned in favour of the country's exporters as world prices have spiked more than $50 in two weeks.

Indian mills have so far contracted to export 1.15 million tonnes of sugar since the start of season on Oct. 1, of which nearly 1 million tonnes have been dispatched. They have shipped mostly white sugar to Asian countries like China, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, dealers said.

Indian mills, which have concentrated on exporting whites due to strong demand from Myanmar, are unlikely to produce much raw sugar now as the crushing season is coming to an end.

Already a scarcity of cane has forced more than 100 sugar mills to shut operations ahead of normal schedule.

India's total sugar exports in the current season will be at least 2 million tonnes, said a government official, who did not want to be named as he was not authorised to speak to media.

"We will try to meet our target of 3.2 million tonnes."

(Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav and Mayank Bhardwaj; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
Is time running out on Arkansas? Did you know it has been 84 years since Arkansas has experienced an F5 tornado? According to the National...
By Donny Kwok

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Samsonite International S.A. said on Friday it would buy Tumi Holdings Inc for $26.75 per share in an all-cash transaction valuing Tumi at $1.8 billion, as the world's biggest luggage group expands in the luxury market.

Hong Kong-listed Samsonite said it would finance the deal with bank loans and that the transaction was expected to close in the second half of the year subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals.

Investors applauded the deal, sending Samsonite shares up to as much as HK$25.2, their highest since October. The stock trimmed gains but was up 2.3 percent by midday, outpacing a 0.6 percent gain in the benchmark Hang Seng Index.

"It is a perfect match in many aspects such as retail channels and regional mix, category mix and even price points," said Boyoung Kim, an analyst at BNP Paribas.

"It can bring huge synergies in the long term," she added.

The deal price represents a 38 percent premium to New Jersey-based Tumi's volume weighted average price of $19.34 for the five days up to and including March 2, the statement said.

Tumi's net sales increased 4 percent year-on-year in 2015 to $548 million, of which North America accounted for 68 percent. Its net income rose 8.6 percent last year to $63 million.

Samsonite Chief Executive Officer Ramesh Tainwala said the company planned to expand Tumi's presence in Asia and Europe, while strengthening its business in North America.

Morgan Stanley Asia Ltd acted as financial advisor to Samsonite, and Goldman Sachs & Co. acted as financial advisor to Tumi.

Apart from its flagship brand, Samsonite sells Lipault travel bags, high-end Hartmann suitcases, American Tourister luggage, and High Sierra and Gregory backpacks.

The company has been on an acquisition spree, buying last February Rolling Luggage, which operates stores in airports, and Italian travel luggage retailer Chic Accent in October.

Samsonite is also keen to expand its reach to offset slowing growth in China, which accounts for about 10 percent its global sales. The company has previously said it expected its China sales growth to halve from the second half of the year.

(Reporting by Donny Kwok; Editing by Stephen Coates and Miral Fahmy)
By Tom Finn

DOHA (Reuters) - Credit cards on the limit, huge bank borrowings and a struggle to repay loans: these are the personal debt problems of some Qataris despite the Gulf state's reputation for fabulous wealth.

Generous government salaries and free healthcare, funded by vast natural gas reserves in a country with only about 300,000 citizens, do not always translate into healthy bank balances for ordinary Qataris.

Instead, they can come under intense social pressure to live way beyond their means, spending lavishly on everything from the latest smart phones and designer fashions to family weddings. Now their problems are deepening as diving global energy prices mean even the Qatari welfare state is becoming less generous.

Many are borrowing enormous sums from local banks to finance lifestyles they cannot afford, according to a study by Qatar University.

"The idea of Qataris being a small, lucky, happy few - it's a myth," said Laurent Lambert, of the university's Social and Economic Survey Research Institute. "Many do not have the income to match the lifestyle and a small percentage are significantly poor by local standards and struggling to make ends meet."

Widespread personal debt, while familiar throughout the Gulf where loosely-regulated banks and extravagant living are commonplace, does not yet appear to threaten Qatar's overall financial system.

Of the 75 per cent of Qatari families in debt - most owe more than 250,000 riyals ($68,700), according to a 2014 Qatar National Development Strategy report - only a handful default on their loan payments, an offence punishable by prison.

But recent layoffs of some state employees and petrol price increases - reforms hastened by the sinking energy market - have refocused attention on indebtedness and the problems it could present to social cohesion if citizens start to press their relatives and the government heavily for help.

"FEVER"

While Qatar has a total population of 2.4 million, most are foreign workers who have less access to the cheap loans available in a country where a conventional banking system operates alongside - but separately from - Islamic financial institutions.

Likened to a "social curse" by Qatari commentators and a "fever spreading from house to house", over-indebtedness among the much smaller local population is a raising national concern.

Radio talk shows air interviews with distressed civil servants who complain of becoming mired in debt after borrowing from banks without understanding the costs of repayment.

In Friday sermons, Muslim clerics rail against those who finance holidays to Europe and lavish wedding parties with loans that can devour salaries and lead to depression and divorce.

Part of the problem, some Qataris say, is that the country's economic boom during the era of high energy prices that lasted until mid-2014 rapidly pushed up standards of living - and expectations of what it means to be both wealthy and successful.

"You cannot have a bad watch on your wrist, a second-hand car, or an old telephone. You need to have the latest models so as not to appear 'poor'," said Mohammed al-Mari, a former traffic policeman who works in the charity sector.

"People end up pretending they have money just to keep up. There is this social pressure."

Al-Mari said that while he has managed to pay off debts and save money during his career years, he knew of a recent university graduate who was struggling. "He buys the latest iPhone because his peers have it but then, at the end of the month, he sells it back to pay his bills," he said.

Al-Mari recalled how a Qatari woman had recently flown to neighbouring Dubai to purchase a counterfeit designer handbag. "Her friend had bought a bag that she wanted but couldn't afford," he said.

As well as a culture of extravagance and conspicuous consumption among some, others decry Qatar's "welfare syndrome" that has led a generation to believe it can live carelessly and be bailed out by relatives or a paternalistic government.

SPREADING WEALTH

Part of a strategy by Gulf Arab governments to distribute some of their newly-discovered wealth, loans were extended to citizens in the 1960s and '70s and again in the early 2000s to help them buy shares in the state's multi-billion dollar energy enterprises.

Liberal lending by local banks, flush with funds from a fast-growing economy, was later extended to households wanting for instance to build a holiday home or buy a new car. These were handed loans, often several times their annual salary, with virtually no collateral.

"It was a free for all. Anyone could borrow basically as much they wanted," said Mohamed al-Kubaisa, a Qatari sociologist and newspaper columnist.

After concerns grew about the proliferation of loans and of Qataris unable to pay them back, the central bank imposed in 2011 a cap of two million riyals on consumer credit secured only against borrowers' salaries, with a maximum repayment period of six years.

Later that year, as Arab Spring protests spread across the region, the government raised state employees' salaries by 60 percent and by 120 percent for military personnel.

In a similar move neighbouring Saudi Arabia, which like Qatar escaped major Arab Spring unrest, boosted welfare spending sharply in an apparent attempt to secure social peace.

Also in 2011, the United Arab Emirates set up a fund to help cover low-income citizens' debts. Wielding oil-funded state largesse, Kuwait has occasionally paid off citizens' personal loans in response to popular pressure.

Qataris are divided over how to tackle the debt problem.

Those who see fault in the reckless spending habits of individuals advocate imposing upper limits on spending for marriage ceremonies and other social occasions, with penalties for those who violate.

Others say the government should more strictly regulate the banks, for which personal loans remain a lucrative business, and help launch more share offerings to encourage citizens to enjoy long-term benefits such as bonus issues and regular dividends.

Authorities have tried to raise awareness about the depth of the problem, launching a campaign titled "Debt is Disgraceful" in 2013 that saw donations collected to help pay money owed by debtors in prison or others threatened with criminal charges.

But some Qataris say that absolving people of their debts sets an unhealthy precedent.

"If you remove a person's debt, you also absolve them of their personal responsibility to repay the debt," said Mustafa al-Khamisi, who owns an audit firm. "That is really dangerous, because if you start eroding a person's responsibility towards society, you start eroding society itself."

(Editing by William Maclean and David Stamp)
For years, Bob Dylan scholars have whispered about a tiny notebook, seen by only a few, in which the master laboured over the lyrics to his classic 1975 album "Blood on the Tracks." Rolling Stone once called it "the Maltese Falcon of Dylanology" for its promise as an interpretive key.

But that notebook, it turns out, is part of a trinity. Sitting in climate-controlled storage in a museum here are two more "Blood on the Tracks" notebooks - unknown to anyone outside of Dylan's closest circle - whose pages of microscopic script reveal even more about how Dylan wrote some of his most famous songs.

There have long been rumours that Dylan had stashed away an extensive archive. It is now revealed that he did keep a private trove of his work, dating back to his earliest days as an artist, including lyrics, correspondence, recordings, films and photographs. That archive of 6,000 pieces has recently been acquired by a group of institutions in Oklahoma for an estimated $15 million to $20 million, and is set to become a resource for academic study.

In a preview of the Bob Dylan Archive by The New York Times, it is clear that the archives are deeper and more vast than even most Dylan experts could imagine, promising untold insight into the songwriter's work.

"It's going to start anew the way people study Dylan," said Sean Wilentz, the Princeton historian and author of Bob Dylan in America, when told about the existence of the archive.

Bought by the George Kaiser Family Foundation - whose namesake is an oil and banking billionaire - and the University of Tulsa, Dylan's archives are now being transferred to Oklahoma, the home state of Woody Guthrie, Dylan's early idol. After two years of cataloging and digitisation, the material will take its place in Tulsa alongside a rare copy of the Declaration of Independence, a cache of Native American art and the papers of Guthrie.

Dylan said in a statement that he was glad his archives had found a home "and are to be included with the works of Woody Guthrie and especially alongside all the valuable artifacts from the Native American nations." He added, with typical understatement, "To me it makes a lot of sense, and it's a great honour."



With voluminous drafts from every phase of Dylan's career, the collection offers a comprehensive look at the working process of a legendarily secretive artist. Dozens of rewrites track the evolution of even minor songs like "Dignity," which went through more than 40 pages of changes but was still cut from the 1989 album "Oh Mercy."



Classics from the 1960s appear in coffee-stained fragments, their author still working out lines that generations of fans would come to know by heart. ("You know something's happening here but you," reads a scribbled early copy of "Ballad of a Thin Man," omitting "don't know what it is" and the song's famous punch line: "Do you, Mister Jones?") The range of hotel stationery suggests an obsessive self-editor in constant motion.

And while the archive is a further step in the canonisation of Dylan, now 74, as not just a musical icon but also an American literary giant, the documents are tantalising in what they do not reveal. A card from Barbra Streisand postmarked November 1978, for example, thanks Dylan for sending flowers and playfully suggests that they make a record together; there is no evidence of a response.

For longtime students, seeing the archive may conjure a familiar feeling of astonishment at just how deep the well of Dylanology goes. There is always far more beneath the surface than anyone could guess. One example of this phenomenon - and of how radically the material could change existing Dylan scholarship - is the "Blood on the Tracks" material.

The "little red notebook," which by most accounts was stolen from Dylan at some point, circulated among collectors and is now held at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York, with access severely restricted. But the existence of two more books shows how much raw material has been unavailable and unknown for study. The song "Tangled Up in Blue," with its refracted scenes of a wanderer haunted by a broken relationship, gets a slightly more picaresque telling here, with a refrain absent from the finished recording: "Wish I could lose, these dusty sweatbox blues." Even in songs that have been pored over for decades, new layers of meaning await discovery.

The archive also shows the careful work behind even the most disjointed parts of the Dylan oeuvre. Tarantula, his book of Beat-like prose poetry, has multiple typescripts, neatly annotated by hand, while the convoluted film Eat the Document is represented with a thick sheath of prosaic editing notes ("me fixing my hair - might be interesting"). There are hundreds of original tape reels, unseen concert films and business contracts going back to the very beginning of Dylan's career.

Humanising touches appear, but in small and scattered pieces. There is a wallet from the mid-1960s containing Johnny Cash's phone number and Otis Redding's business card. We can see the 1969 telegram from "Peter and Dennis" (Fonda and Hopper, that is) about the use of "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" in the film Easy Rider, but the response is by a lawyer. Amid these mountains of paper, Dylan, the man, remains an enigma.

"This is an artist whose working process has been as private as his personal life," Professor Wilentz noted.

George B Kaiser, the driving force behind the acquisition, is far from the cult of rabid Dylandom. In an interview in his spacious office at the Kaiser-Francis Oil Company here, Kaiser, 73, made clear that he is less of an aficionado of Dylan than an appreciator of his place in American history. "I was taken by Joan Baez in college," he said, "when she was singing down the block." (He went to Harvard.)



With a fortune estimated at more than $7 billion, Kaiser is the richest man in Oklahoma, although in his plain blue shirt and Casio watch he hardly looks the part. The son of refugees from Nazi Germany, he is a major Democratic fund-raiser in one of the reddest of states, and his family foundation - which Kaiser has endowed with about $3.4 billion - supports early childhood education and works with women in prison. Five years ago, the foundation acquired Woody Guthrie's archives, and Kaiser said that the Guthrie and Dylan deals fit into the organisation's broader mission of revitalising Tulsa.

"Portland wasn't always cool; Seattle wasn't always cool," Kaiser said. "One of the ways you can try to make your city cool is by attracting talented young people and hoping that a number of them stick."



The foundation built a slick mini-museum for the Guthrie material in downtown Tulsa, with interactive displays for the public and a professional staff for the papers. Then, in September 2014, Glenn Horowitz, a rare-book dealer in New York who had brokered the Guthrie transaction, emailed Ken Levit, the executive director of the Kaiser foundation, teasing an opportunity of "global significance." The hyperbole, Levit said, made him think it had to be either Dylan or the Beatles.

Dylan's archives had been amassed over the years as he and his office simply placed reams of material in storage. But as curious collectors and institutions made inquiries, and as evidence mounted of the astronomical sums paid at auction for some of his early manuscripts - a handwritten copy of "Like a Rolling Stone" sold for more than $2 million at Sotheby's in 2014 -Dylan's camp eventually hired an in-house archivist and retained Horowitz.

Horowitz, whose deals for the papers of figures like Norman Mailer, John Updike and Kurt Vonnegut have made him the go-to broker of major literary archives, said that the Dylan collection could have gone to virtually any university. But he did not want it to be treated as just another store of papers inside a giant library. At a place like Harvard, Horowitz said, "it would almost be as if it was just, after Emerson and after Updike, here comes Bob."



So he pitched the collection to the Kaiser foundation and the University of Tulsa as a magnet for both scholarly study and international tourism. Most of the material will be housed at the Helmerich Center for American Research, a facility at the Gilcrease Museum, which is affiliated with the university. The Gilcrease has a vast collection of western art and early colonial archives, a fittingly historical setting for a songwriter whose words are regularly cited by Supreme Court justices. Although plans are still being made, the Kaiser foundation is also considering a spot next to the Guthrie museum for a new Dylan gallery that will be open to the public.

Access to the bulk of the archive will be restricted, but Steadman Upham, the president of the University of Tulsa - and an avowed Dylan fan - acknowledged that when it comes to experts in this material, the standard academic credentials need not apply. "We will be set up for serious scholars and for people who have a record of being Dylanologists," he said.

So far, Dylan has not visited the foundation, the Gilcrease or the university. He had been scheduled to make a stop while passing through Tulsa on tour last year, but a tornado whipping through the region gave him only enough time to play the show and make it to the next town.

When asked about the size of the transaction, Kaiser and others involved in the deal declined to comment. The full archive was appraised at more than $60 million, with the bulk of it given as a donation; the difference between the appraised value and the purchase price may allow Dylan to claim a large charitable donation for tax purposes.

For Dylan, another motivation for the deal might be the prestige of an afterlife beside Guthrie, or a center devoted to serious study of his work. Over the last decade or so, he has also tended to his legacy, with the publishing of the first volume of his memoirs, "Chronicles," in 2004; the release of Martin Scorsese's documentary "No Direction Home," in 2005; and even his career-spanning speech at a Grammy event last year.

Dylan has also long been strategic about releasing material from his back pages, dating to the 1975 release of "The Basement Tapes," the heavily bootlegged private recordings of his work with the Band from around 1967, and his more recent "Bootleg" series - a collection, now up to 12 volumes, of outtakes, demos and live recordings.

The archive deal raises the question of whether other elders of the rock 'n' roll generation will follow his lead. Some, like Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen, are known to have extensive archives. Yet it is unclear how many more like them have even kept significant papers; what exists is already traded on a voracious collectors' market.

Jon Landau, the longtime manager of Springsteen, declined to comment on his client's papers. But while he acknowledged the need for professional maintenance of decades-old archives of major artists, he also noted the disconnect between the needs of professional archivists and the culture of rock in the 1960s. "Was anybody sitting around worrying about this kind of thing back then?" he said. "We were living in the era of 'Hope I die before I get old.'"



For the Dylan archive, at least, there is more than enough to study. Aside from lyrics and paperwork, the collection also includes a huge amount of multimedia. Among the plans are for Dylan's hundreds of original master tapes to be digitised down to the level of their individual instrumental tracks, or "stems," with the potential for close examination or even interactive exhibitions that would let a visitor zoom in on the organ or guitar. (The official Dylan website has already begun to experiment with this, letting visitors play with the stems on "Like a Rolling Stone.")



There are also some of his earliest recordings, from 1959, and films of Dylan's concerts at Massey Hall in Toronto in 1980 and the Supper Club in New York in 1993. One film in particular seems destined to be viewed again and again in Tulsa. It is of rehearsals for Dylan's "Rolling Thunder Revue" tour in 1975, in which he sits with a few musicians, working through the chords and lyrics of a particularly well-known song, but one he didn't write.

It was "This Land Is Your Land," by Woody Guthrie.



2016 The New York Times
Spring has come early to north India, and, as the silk cotton tree outside my window bursts into crimson bloom, the changing season puts me in the mood for thumri. The flowers and languorous music evoke the spirit of Holi, although it is still a fortnight away. But Im not alone in jumping the gun  in Brajbhumi, Holi is celebrated for nearly a month after Basant Panchami. And since a cousin and I began the Holi Project, a discovery of the beautiful but fast-disappearing musical tradition around Holi, my interest in the culture of Braj has become an enduring one.

A 30-second search on the internet yields gold  a rare recording of Begum Akhtar singing Kaisi yeh dhoom machayi. She sings about the passionate Holi that Krishna played with the gopis (milkmaids) and I recall the story that the bards of Brajbhumi have sung for generations. It is believed that the young Krishna was jealous of Radhas fair complexion since he was very dark. When he told his mother, Yashoda, she teasingly asked him to play Holi with Radha so that they may both be touched by the same colours of love. Akhtars thumri is sophisticated, almost delicate, and it brings to mind the discordance that occurred two years ago, when the Braj of my imagination met the Braj of today.

Some friends and I decided, at the spur of the moment, to go to Barsana, the birthplace of Krishnas lover, Radha, to watch its famous seasonal festivities. Situated upon a hillock and surrounded by Aravalli scrublands, Barsana is an important place in Braj with the only temple in the world dedicated to Radha. The temple was at the top of the hillock, reached by picturesque alleys snaking upwards. The air was redolent with the pleasant fragrance of gulal, dry colour that revellers traditionally sprinkle on one another. Strains of music emanated from the temple, and it all seemed much like the Braj the bards sang of. From the flower-bedecked ramparts of the temple, we watched the preparations for the days festivities, which were to culminate in the afternoon in the ritualised beating of the men of the neighbouring villages by the ladies of Barsana  the famous lathmaar Holi.

As we watched, the music slowly built up to a faster tempo. Some veiled women stepped out of the crowd to dance, and everything went south after that.

A man with wild eyes, crazed with bhang, ran up to us and forcibly rubbed colour across our lady parts. The police, many of whom were women, stationed at the temple said that we should expect this and worse in Barsana. After all, it is Holi, said one, laughingly. Shaken and suitably stirred, we took shelter in one of the temples towers to watch the festivities and protect ourselves. The music and dancing became crazier, which wasnt surprising since much of it was fuelled by hefty doses of bhang. Soon, we realised that by retreating into the tower, we had backed ourselves into a corner from which there was no escape. Man after lusty man decided to come up to us to play Holi there. So we decided to leave.

(Pic: Ramit Mitra (Delhi By Foot))

Eventually, we managed to beat an inglorious retreat, sick to our hearts that an age-old tradition had morphed into something so distasteful.

Im roused from my unpleasant reverie by a call from a photographer friend. She wants to go to Barsana for Holi this year and asks if Id go along. Wild horses wont drag me there, I say, but if she must go, then I suggest she travel with a group. We always go in large numbers and ensure that were in the temple before the festivities begin, and leave after theyve ended and crowds dispersed, says Ramit Mitra of Delhi By Foot, the Delhi-based walking tour operator that has been taking people to Braj for the last three years. Although only a few of our female guests have reported untoward incidents, I make sure to caution first-timers about the potential dangers of Holi in Braj, he adds.

Meanwhile, Im happily back on the Holi Project, listening to Shobha Gurtu extolling Holi in Braj with Aaj Biraj Mein Hori Hai Rasiya. Some places, I muse, are best left imagined instead of experienced. And then I daydream pleasurably about the men of Nandgaon and Barsana getting beaten with sticks.
Last Thursday, when Sanjay Dutt stepped out of jail, he proved that there may be such a thing as a free lunch after all. To celebrate the Munnabhai stars release, a restaurant in Mumbai served a special dish free-of-charge for one whole day. The trigger for this gesture was friendship and not fandom. Rashid Hakim, the owner of Bhendi Bazaars Noor Mohammadi Hotel, is one of Dutts closest friends but while the actor is a fan of Hakims culinary skills, the restaurateur hasnt seen many of Dutts films. Who has the patience to sit through movies for three hours? asks Hakim, whose appetite for Bollywood starts and ends with the most famous dish on his menu: Chicken Sanju baba.

Since 1986, when Hakims father Abdul was in charge, Dutt has frequented the 93-year-old establishment known for its nalli nihari, a slow-cooked lamb dish. Hakim and his elder brother, Khalid, are third-generation owners. While Khalid runs the hotel, mainly looking after administration, Hakim experiments with the food offerings. Salman Khan, Supriya Sule, Adnan Sami and Daler Mehndi are among the patrons of the restaurant. M F Husain, a regular, once drew a sketch on the walls to show his approval.

Some years ago when a young Hakim was experimenting in the kitchen, he offered Dutt a taste of an invention he calls white biryani. The actor was so impressed, he told him about his own special procedure for making chicken gravy. I cooked some for him. He said it tasted better than what he would make. The dish was christened chicken Sanju baba.

In a span of about eight years, this has become almost as popular as the restaurants signature nalli nihari. The formula is unique in that it includes garam masala whole instead of ground as well as onions, dry fruit and coconut. Admirers of Dutt come from Delhi and Gujarat for a taste, says Hakim. He recalls the story of a Jain vegetarian family where the parents allowed their daughter, an ardent fan of the actor, to sample it.

More than an admirer, Hakim sees himself as Dutts friend. He was among the who accompanied the actor to his mother Nargis grave in Marine Drive. When Dutt was out on parole, he went with him to the dargah in Dongri. The decision to give away chicken Sanju baba for free between noon and midnight on February 25 was a grand gesture to thank Dutt whose dish has boosted business further. It was no publicity stunt, he insists, because he announced the plan months ago on radio. Roughly 1,100 kilos of the delicacy were given away for free to a crowd that included the homeless and the well-heeled.

The restaurateur supposedly never takes selfies with Dutt, or uses his name to win favours. There isnt even the cliched claim to fame in the form of a framed photo. He has a lot of sympathy for the actor, who, he claims, was not given special treatment in Yerwada Central jail. The term he served, according to Hakim, is enough because he was not directly involved in the bomb blasts of 1993. He is a very good man, he says, adding with the concern of a friend. He seems to have aged in prison.
Two more companies, Honda and Hyundai, joined their peers today in raising prices of their vehicles following the addition of 'infrastructure cess' announced in the recent Union .

India's second largest car maker Hyundai said it would increase prices in the range of Rs 2,889-Rs 82,906 with effect from March 1, 2016 across all its 10 models.

Read our full coverage on Union Budget 2016

Rakesh Srivastava, Sr Vice-President, Sales and Marketing said, "The new levies in Union 2016 have led to price increase across the models ranging from Rs 2,889 to Rs 82,906. Today's customers are discerning on net off value offerings. The change in price value equations could alter the overall demand, from with-in the segment to across the segments and fuel types."

Honda Cars India said it will increase prices in the range of Rs 4,000-Rs 79,000 also with effect from March 1, 2016. Prices of the updated Amaze sedan were included in the announcement at the launch on Thursday.

In a surprising move utility vehicle segment leader Mahindra & Mahindra said it will not increase vehicle prices immediately with the exception of the KUV100. The Mumbai-based company will raise prices in the range of Rs 5,500-47,000 on April 1.

Car market leader Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors and Mercedes-Benz have already announced their hikes.
Nothing in budget for fisheries or aquaculture sector: Kamlesh Gupta

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the budget has completely ignored fisheries & aquaculture sector, proposing incentives and investments, only for agriculture

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the budget has completely ignored fisheries & aquaculture sector, proposing incentives and investments, only for agriculture

Fisheries & aquaculture is an important sector for food production in the country. The sector provides nutritional security to nations food basket, contributes to agro exports and provides employment to 14 million people. Indian fisheries and aquaculture contributes to 6.3 percent of the global fish production, 1.1 percent of the GDP and 5.15 percent of the agriculture GDP. Seafood exports from India have increased by five times during the past 15 years to touch $ 6.5 billion, making India the fourth largest global seafood exporter.



However, the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the budget has completely ignored fisheries & aquaculture sector, proposing incentives and investments, only for agriculture. This is highly disappointing for the Indian fisheries industry.



The centre should note that, aquaculture face challenges similar to agriculture - be it the climate, quantity and quality of harvest or price, often determined by market forces.



In the budget, for agriculture, the Finance Minister has proposed schemes and benefits, such as bringing more land under farm irrigation plan, new crop insurance scheme, increased agriculture credit, increased spending on animal husbandry, cattle and livestock breeding and introduction of Krishi Kalyan Benefit tax, for the benefit of farmers. However, I do not think, farmers involved in aquaculture or fisheries, would be benefited in any way with the aforesaid schemes.



There has not been a mention of blue revolution in this years budget, a subject dear to Prime Minister Modi.



Today, fisheries or aquaculture do not enjoy benefits of agriculture, even though the sectors come under the purview of Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries (DADF), which is a department in the Ministry of Agriculture. This needs to be corrected.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Kamlesh Gupta is the chairman & managing director of WestCoast Group, and chairman of Gujarat Aquaculture Farmers Association

Kamlesh Gupta
Medical devices industry seeks roll back of import duty

FICCI feels that 7% hike in duty coupled with high foreign exchange related pricing pressures will raise the cost of medical devices and is likely to affect affordability of medical care in India

FICCI feels that 7% hike in duty coupled with high foreign exchange related pricing pressures will raise the cost of medical devices and is likely to affect affordability of medical care in India

Medical devices and equipment industry has urged the government to completely roll back the import duty hike, proposed in the budget, to reduce patient inconvenience and cost.



Medical devices sector is largely supported by imports for meeting the healthcare needs of the country. In the budget, the government has announced move to relax import duty on spare and parts used to manufacture and maintain medical devices in India. This was long awaited to give necessary impetus to indigenous production of these devices.



FICCI has welcomed this move. However, the industry body feels that a simultaneous hike in import duty of medical equipment and devices will raise the cost and is likely to affect affordability of medical care in the country.



According to FICCI, this sector, being highly technology intensive, thrives on innovations which require an ecosystem for development and manufacturing complex medical devices and equipment. The 7 percent increase in duty coupled by high foreign exchange related pricing pressures puts medical technology (med tech) industry under stress as it endeavours to deliver affordable, quality medical access to all sections of population.



Milan Rao, chairman - FICCI Medical Electronics Forum (MEF), suggested, High end and complex equipment and devices such as MRIs, CTs, cyclotrons, new generation heart valves, grafts, oxygenators, etc require technology transfer, ecosystem for manufacturing, manpower skills and robust supply chain, all of which are time consuming. Hence, any such duty increases for echnologically advanced equipment and devices must be introduced in a phased manner over 3-5 years.



India is facing a tremendous opportunity in scaling up medical technology sector from $ 5 billion to $ 10 billion by 2020. In order to maintain this growth trajectory and encourage investments in indigenous manufacturing, the sector should be incentivised. In light of Make in Indias realisation and continued affordable healthcare access in country the increase in customs duties should be reviewed, said Probir Das, chairman FICCI Medical Devices Forum (MDF).



BS B2B Bureau
BYD, better known as Build Your Dream, is a Chinese automaker that may be the first to bring its green vehicles to India. The company has announced plans to manufacture and launch its pure-electric buses over the next few months.

In a joint venture with BK Modi-owned Smart Dreams (erstwhile Spice Mobile Group), BYD unveiled plans for an electric bus manufacturing facility at ModiCiti (next to Muradabad) in Uttar Pradesh.

As part of the 'Smart Dreams' project, the pure-electric vehicles will enter public transportation through e-bus and e-taxi all-electric offerings.

BYD, one of the largest electric vehicle manufacturers in which global investor Warren Buffett has a stake, will be the technical partner for these buses. BYD has already set up an electric bus manufacturing plant in southern California in 2014 and has a contract to supply electric buses to Los Angeles County. With presence in 190 cities across 43 countries, BYD has its electric buses and cars pressed into service from Uruguay in South America to Jakarta in Indonesia.

"Given the rising concern about pollution and public health in the Indian capital, and to realise the government's vision for clean, pollution-free mobility means, Smart Dreams has offered two pure-electric buses to the Delhi government for a free trial. These buses have been pressed into service by Delhi Transport Corporation," Modi said in a media conference in New Delhi on Friday.

The company has not shared the price of these buses that are air-conditioned with comfortable seats and a separate driver enclosure. It has a battery life of more than 4,000 recharging cycles and can cover a distance of 250 km with a fully charged battery that is fully recyclable. The bus's batteries can be charged at night in eight hours.

The factory is likely to roll out the buses in the next four to five months from Muradabad, which will also have a 110-acre smart and clean satellite township coming up "We are showcasing a new environment where development is being directed towards sustainable coexistence. I believe that this will be a highly successful project for the Smart Group. We have partnered with the world's largest player in the e-vehicle market, BYD Company Limited (BYD), to bring in world class technology to the country," Modi added.

BYD Company, which is one of the world's largest players in the electric vehicle space and the largest manufacturer of rechargeable batteries, also plans to target the pure-electric car space to bring high-efficiency, electrified personal transportation into the Indian market.


In July 2014, Xiaomi came to India with a bang. The company launched its popular smartphone Mi 3 through flash sale and disrupted the smartphone market in India. This followed with many more launches spanned over a few months which included Redmi Note, Redmi 1, Redmi 2 Prime, Mi 4 and Mi 4i to name a few. The launch of Mi 4i last year in May once again created the magic for it being a beautiful piece of hardware with great camera. The company also launched its fitness band, Mi Fit.

And then came the 'Made in India' announcement in August last year, after which the company wasn't as aggressive in launching more devices as it was since it entered the Indian market. That gave way to the competition. Brands including ZenFone, Huawei, Vivo, Meizu and the recently launched LeEco continued to storm the market with their devices and took advantage of this gap.

It seems Xiaomi themselves have faced this criticism as after announcing the Redmi Note 3 at an aggressive price of Rs 9,999, Hugo Barra, Vice President, Xiaomi, acknowledged, "I know from the bottom of my heart that what we have accomplished is still not enough. Lately, I have been hearing a lot of people say things that sometimes make me feel a little bit sad. Stuff like are you ignoring Indian fans? Has Mi India lost its magic? And we are here to say that Mi India has not lost its magic. We are bringing our blood, sweat and tear in brining the latest products to India in the shortest possible time."

Barra further added, "The Mi 5 is coming to India. We had 1.6 crore registrations in China. And it is coming to India in a month. We are working really hard to make this happen."

Announced just ten days ago, Mi 5, the company's next flagship device will come to India in just one month after the China launch. Xiaomi will be launching it in India within next one month. Well, this will be a comeback for Xiaomi as the Mi 5 is a beautiful price of hardware and packs in high end specifications.

The Xiaomi Mi 5 is the company's much awaited smartphone after the Mi 4 and was announced just ten days ago at Beijing as well as Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. It comes almost a year and a half after the Mi 4 launch. Xiaomi Mi 5 features a 5.15 inch full HD display, a metal body, 3D ceramic back, which is durable and water resistant and is merely 7.25 mm thin. Xiaomi has added a finger print sensor below the display that also bundles as a home button.

It is powered by Qualcomm's latest chipset, Snapdragon 820, and is paired with LPDDR 4 4GB of RAM. Weighing 129 grams, in packs in a 3000 mAh battery. It is also equipped with a Sony IMX298 16MP sensor and Qualcomm Spectra image processor with 4 axis OIS and can capture 4k videos too.

Mi 5 with Snapdragon 820 processor, 3GB RAM and 64GB internal storage is priced at Yuan 2299 (Rs 24,107 approximately) and the third one with Snapdragon 820 processor, 3GB RAM and 32GB storage is available for Yuan 1999 (Rs 20,962 approximaely). It will ship Android Marshmallow with MiUi and packs in a 3000 mAh battery and supports Quick Charge 3.0.

Hopefully, Xiaomi will continue to launch products in India and will not lose to the competition.
YEREVAN, MARCH 2, ARMENPRESS. The Syrian army captured a terrorist of the notorious Turkish nationalist organization, the Grey Wolves, who had played a role in the killing of one of the pilots of Russia's Su-24 bomber which was downed by Turkey's Air Force on November 24, 2015, Armenpress reports, citing Iranian FARS news agency.

"The captured terrorist was among the first group of militants who arrived at the Su-24 crash scene on November 24, killing one of the pilots and stealing his personal belongings," the Arabic service of Russia Today news channel reported.

Russia's Su-24 bomber with two pilots onboard was shot down by the Turkish Air Force on November 24, 2015.

The crew of the Su-24 bomber managed to eject but one of the pilots, Oleg Peshkov, was killed by gunfire from the ground. The second pilot, Konstantin Murakhtin, was rescued and taken to the Russian air base.

In late December, leader of the Turkish nationalist organization, the Grey Wolves Alparslan Celik claimed responsibility for killing the pilot of the downed Russian bomber.

In an interview with Turkey's Hurriyet newspaper in late December, Celik openly admitted that he had directly taken part in the murder of the Russian pilot. Moscow had repeatedly called on Ankara to find and detain Celik.

Ankara made no moves to detain Celik, Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov said at the time.

"Turkish authorities have taken no steps to detain him (Celik). He appears in TV programs and a number of newspapers have published his interview so Mr. Celik walks freely in Turkey," Karlov told the Rossiya 24 TV.
Approximately 30,000 employees could be accommodated in office space currently under construction in Dublin according to new research from Savills.



The property consultants estimate that 35 new office buildings, comprising almost 3.5 million square feet of space, are on-site  with the vast majority situated in the Central Business Districts (CBD) of Dublin 1, 2 and 4. Approximately one third of that space is already pre-committed to an occupier.



Furthermore, some development is taking place within the boundaries of a Strategic Development Zone in Dublins north and south docks, however, with a number of planning applications in place, activity in the area is expected to increase significantly this year.



The new projects currently underway include Vertium, a new 172,000 sq. ft. office building on Burlington Road due for completion in April 2017 which is being developed by three of Europes leading property companies  Union Investment, U+I and Ronan Group.

In Dublin 2, No.32 and No.40 Molesworth Street are two of 4 new developments currently under construction on the street and the first of these, No.32 is due for completion in October.

On nearby St. Stephens Green, Irish Life is expected to commence construction of a new building at Nos.69-71 before year end.

In the South Docklands, Park Developments and Target Investment Opportunities are on-site or imminently going on site with two prime buildings due for completion in late 2017/early 2018.

IPUT and Cosgrave are also on-site with The Exchange in the IFSC, the only new office development to LEED Gold that is west of the CCD within the IFSC.

Savils have noted that despite the significant increase in office development activity, the supply shortage is likely to continue due to the time lag between construction and completion.



Head of Offices at Savills Ireland, Andrew Cunningham said, "In an ideal world, the delivery of office space would be instantaneous. However, in reality, it takes time. The average lag time between planning, construction and completion is 2-3 years. In the interim, it stands to reason, as evidenced by the current rate of growth, that rents will continue to rise.

"Today, prime CBD office space is being let for 55 per square foot and we expect this to rise to 65 by the end of 2016. Where rents will go after that is completely dependent on the delivery of new stock and, of course, economic conditions."

Source: www.businesssworld.ie

About us
The American Chamber of Commerce Ireland have commissioned a new report which shows that Ireland is steadily attracting more foreign direct investment (FDI) from the United States.



The report was launched yesterday at the American Chamber 2016 Presidents Lunch in the Intercontinental Hotel, Dublin. It was researched and written by US academic and Wall Street economist, Joseph Quinlan.



Ireland now accounts for nearly 20% of all new U.S. investment flows to Europe, according to figures contained within the report. This compares favourably against France (3%) and Germany (2%) and Irelands share of the total U.S. investment stock in Europe has soared to 11% over the past decade and increased from 6% ten years ago.



Furthermore, at the end of 2014, US direct investment stock in Ireland was a record $310 billion while US investment flows to Ireland surged to a record $58.1 billion in 2014.



Irelands investment stakes in the U.S. are significant as well, with Irish affiliates estimated to have generated some $90 billion in sales from their US operations in 2014 and $35 billion in US economic output. US investment flows to China in the first nine months of 2015 were just 16.8% of those to Ireland in the same period.



The President of American Chamber of Commerce in Ireland, Bob Savage, welcomed the reports findings saying, "Our small country with a population that is less than 1% of the European total now accounts for 11% of US FDI on this side of the Atlantic. Last year alone, the IDA had a record year, announcing 19,000 new jobs  three quarters of those from US companies.

"To maintain and strengthen our success in the global battle for FDI, our nation must continually reassess the needs of business, both domestic and multinational. We believe Ireland can continue to compete strongly on the international stage continuing to attract strong US FDI over the coming decade."

Source: www.businessworld.ie

About us
The Small Firms Association (SFA) National Small Business Awards 2016 took place yesterday evening at the RDS Concert Hall.

Winners were selected from over 500 applications to seven categories and finalist companies employ 800 people across 16 counties.

The award categories are sponsored by Enterprise Ireland, Bord Bia, Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, DHL, AIB, Three, Energia and the Emerging New Business section is sponsored by IE Domain Registry. ManagementWorks is the management development partner.



Topform won the Overall SFA National Small Business Award 2016. The company was established in 1976 and employs forty seven at its manufacturing facility in Gort, Co. Galway.

Its fastest growing new product, TopShape, launched after many years of R&D, is a pre-manufactured square edged, fully finished countertop which the company has perfected in answer to customer requirements.



The seven category winners were:

 Manufacturing: EMCA, Cavan

 Food & Drink: Java Republic, Dublin

 Services: JJ OToole, Limerick

 Outstanding Small Business (up to 5 employees): Eirechrom, Cork

 Innovator of the Year: Ash Technologies, Kildare

 Sustainability: Gannon Eco, Westmeath

 Small Business Exporter of the Year: Topform, Galway



Speaking at the gala presentation, SFA Chairman, AJ Noonan said, "With the right environment, companies like those in the room tonight will revitalise every corner of our island, put the Irish small business community on the map and build on the 800 jobs they have already created, delivering prosperity and quality of life to more and more people.

"Tonight it is a privilege to have 38 of the best small businesses from 16 counties in Ireland in this room. You are the future of Irish business. You have proven your commitment, drive and ambition and we are delighted to celebrate your achievements."



Source: www.businessworld.ie

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When we discuss our blog postings here at Business World, we like to imagine our readers engaging with and enjoying our writing. We like to show off what we can do, we are content creators after all.

When we support our clients with content, they typically ask for the usual things. They want the content to be well written, thought provoking, contain original content etc., alongside SEO rich qualities.

Good SEO qualities

When we think of rich SEO qualities, we need to bear in mind a few golden rules that will react positively with search engines. Keywords used to be the most important factor driving search engine optimisation, now, the golden rules have broadened to be more comprehensive;

Strong relevant keywords

Correct keyword frequencies

Good backlinks

Original content

Keyword counting

So if we look just at keywords, our keyword content needs to be smarter than ever. Keywords need to be directly relevant to your website; there needs to be the right number within your text. Crucially youre content needs to be thought driven and concise; not just a vehicle for keyword stuffing.

We often get asked questions about keyword numbers;

How many keywords do I need in an article?

What keywords are relevant to my company?

How can we track what keywords bring people to our site?

There is no hard and fast rule for the number of keywords in a block of text. The most important factor for any online content is that it is well written and it is relevant to your site. If you are using content to reach out to customers, which most are, then yes you need to include keywords, but you should include relevant links that are correctly hyperlinked, original content and images.

All instructions from Google and other leading search engines, point to the overall holistic view of content. Search engines pick out articles, blogs and other content that reads well, that is linear and is not just a vehicle for keywords.

Content services

Build your site on the back of well written SEO rich content. Factors such as having your metadata listed correctly, easy to navigate pages and beautiful images are all important but content is king! The leading search engines looks for meaning, not just keywords.

Here at Business World we generate bespoke content for a range of clients across Banking/ Investments, FMCG and a range of other corporate institutions. We take the time to understand your business so we can write great copy for you.with the right number of keywords, whatever it might be.

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Tourism Ireland yesterday kicked off their Jump into Ireland sales blitzes across the United States



A delegation of 20 tourism companies from Ireland and the United States will meet with more than 200 top-producing travel agents, as well as about 80 influential travel and lifestyle journalists. They will take in cities such as Chicago, Boston and New York.



Tourism Irelands Head of North America, Alison Metcalfe said, "2015 was the third record-breaking year in a row for visitor numbers to Ireland from North America. Tourism Ireland is undertaking an extensive programme of promotional activity again this year  to keep the momentum going and build on that growth.

"Our ambition for 2016 is to grow visitor numbers from the United States by a further +7% and we look forward to working closely with our valuable industry partners, in both the US and Ireland, to achieve that target. Our Jump into Ireland sales blitz this week provides an excellent platform to kickstart our 2016 promotional programme and to spread the word about the many great things to see and do right around the island of Ireland."

Source: www.businessworld.ie
Tech industry leaders including Alphabet Inc's Google, Facebook Inc, Microsoft Corp , AT&T and more than two dozen other Internet and technology companies filed legal briefs on Thursday asking a judge to support Apple Inc in its encryption battle with the U.S. government.

The rare display of unity and support from Apple's sometime-rivals showed the breadth of Silicon Valley's opposition to the government's anti-encryption effort, a position endorsed by the United Nations human rights chief.

Apple's battle became public last month when the Federal Bureau of Investigation obtained a court order requiring the company to write new software to disable passcode protection and allow access to an iPhone used by one of the shooters in the December killings in San Bernardino, California.

Apple pushed back, arguing that such a move would set a dangerous precedent and threaten customer security, and asked that the order be vacated. The clash has intensified a long-running debate over how much law enforcement and intelligence officials should be able to monitor digital communications.

Apple's industry allies, along with several privacy advocates, filed amicus briefs - a form of comment from outside groups common in complex cases - to U.S. District Judge Sheri Pym, in Riverside, California, who had set a Thursday deadline.

Six relatives of San Bernardino attack victims on Thursday weighed in with their own amicus brief opposing Apple. Three California law enforcement groups, three federal law enforcement groups and the San Bernardino district attorney also filed in favor of the government.

The companies backing Apple largely echo the iPhone maker's main argument, that the 1789 All Writs Act at the heart of the government's case cannot be used to force companies to create new technology.

One amicus filing, from a group of 17 Internet companies including Twitter Inc and LinkedIn Corp, asserted that Congress has already passed laws that establish what companies could be obliged to do for the government, and that the court case amounted to an "end run" around those laws.

Apple, and some of the other briefs, did not go quite that far, but also asserted that Congress, not the courts, needed to address the issue. Congress has struggled without success for years to address law-enforcement concerns about encryption.

The victims' families argued that Apple's arguments were misplaced because the government had a valid warrant, and "one does not enjoy the privacy to commit a crime." The families also asserted that Apple "routinely modifies its systems" to comply with Chinese government directives.

Apple has also advanced a free speech argument, on the grounds that computer code is a form of expression and cannot be coerced. The families pushed back against that defense: "This is the electronic equivalent of unlocking a door - no expression is involved at all," they said.

The San Bernardino District Attorney's summary argument, contained in its application to file an amicus brief, alleges the iPhone might have been "used as a weapon to introduce a lying dormant cyber pathogen that endangers San Bernardino County's infrastructure." The court document contained no evidence to support the claim.

Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, urged U.S. authorities to proceed with "great caution," warning: "A successful case against Apple in the U.S. will set a precedent that may make it impossible for Apple or any other major international IT company to safeguard their clients' privacy anywhere in the world."

"It is potentially a gift to authoritarian regimes, as well as to criminal hackers," he said in a statement.

The tech and Internet industries largely coalesced around two filings. One includes market leaders Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon.com and Cisco Systems, along with smaller, younger companies such as Mozilla, Snapchat, Slack and Dropbox.

That group noted that Congress passed the All Writs Act more than 200 years ago, and said the Justice Department's effort to use the law to force engineers to disable security protections relies on a "boundless" interpretation of the law that is not supported by any precedent.

The brief also advanced constitutional arguments, saying the order violated free speech, the separation of power and due process.

The second industry coalition, which includes Twitter, eBay Inc and LinkedIn, contended in its filing that the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) of 1994, along with other statutes, has already made it clear what the companies could or could not be forced to do.

CALEA requires telephone companies to allow interception of communications, but notably excludes "information service" companies from such mandates. Apple said it was rightly considered an information company in this context.

AT&T's filing, by contrast, called for a "new legislation solution" that "applies equally to all holders of personal information," an apparent reference to the exemption for information providers in CALEA.

Semiconductor maker Intel Corp filed a brief of its own in support of Apple.

"We believe that tech companies need to have the ability to build and design their products as needed, and that means that we can't have the government mandating how we build and design our products," Chris Young, senior vice president and general manager for the company's Intel Security Group, said in an interview.

The Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society filed a separate brief on Thursday on behalf of a group of well-known experts on iPhone security and encryption, including Charlie Miller, Dino Dai Zovi, Bruce Schneier and Jonathan Zdziarski.

Privacy advocacy groups the American Civil Liberties Union, Access Now and the Wickr Foundation filed briefs on Wednesday in support of Apple.

Salihin Kondoker, whose wife, Anies Kondoker, was injured in the San Bernardino attack, also wrote on Apple's behalf, saying he shared the company's fear that the software the government wants Apple to create to unlock the phone could be used to break into millions of other phones.

Law enforcement officials have said that Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, were inspired by Islamist militants when they shot and killed 14 people and wounded 22 others on Dec. 2 at a holiday party in San Bernardino. Farook and Malik were later killed in a shootout with police, and the FBI said it wants to read the data on Farook's work phone to investigate any links with militant groups.

Earlier this week, a federal judge in Brooklyn ruled that the government had overstepped its authority by seeking similar assistance from Apple in a drug case. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie

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Hong Kong shares rose to a eight-week closing high on Friday, capping a bullish week on an upbeat note, as global equity markets continued to strengthen on higher oil and commodity prices.

The Hang Seng index rose 1.2%, to 20,176.70, while the China Enterprises Index gained 2.0%, to 8,557.69 points. Both indexes closed at their highest level since Jan 8.

For the week, the Hang Seng rose 4.2 percent and HSCE 6.5 percent.

Energy and resources shares led the benchmark index higher. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie
London Stock Exchange Group, which is in talks to merge with Deutsche Boerse to create a pan-European trading house, reported a 31 percent rise in full-year adjusted pre-tax profit on Friday.

The company, which owns Borsa Italiana and the London Stock Exchange, said discussions with Deutsche Boerse were ongoing.

LSE and Deutsche Boerse said last week they were in merger talks, although New York Stock Exchange owner Intercontinental Exchange has raised the prospect of a bidding war by saying it is considering making a counter-offer. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie

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Even though filing a tax return may be far from the minds of college students who are studying for their next exam, realistically, more young adults are working while they attend college, even if it is only a summer job. This means they may be required by the IRS to file a return. The task doesnt need to be overwhelming, but parents may need to remind their students it needs to be donebefore final exams start becoming a distraction.

Kansas State University accounting assistant professor Amy Hageman offers tips that can make preparing and filing a tax return easier for college students.

* First, students should check with their parents on whether theyre being claimed as a dependent on their tax returns. Whenever full-time college students under the age of 24 do not provide the majority of their own financial support, parents may choose to claim their son or daughter. Working students claimed as a dependent on another taxpayers tax return are still able to qualify for a deduction, but it will be smaller and they cannot claim a personal exemption on their own return.

* Second, students who claim a personal exemption and who also pay for their educational expenses may be eligible to file for certain tax credits. The maximum amount that can be claimed under this set of exemptions is $2,500. To learn more about what qualifies as an educational expense and how to figure what you may be entitled to, visit http://www.irs.gov/individuals/students/index.html.

* Third, get free help from Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, or VITA. The service is free and available in many Utah communities. Visit http://www.Utahtaxhelp.org to find a location near you and also for other tax tips. Hageman says students might also consider filing their tax returns through the IRSs Free File. Any individual taxpayer with an adjusted income less than $58,000 is eligible to use the free software. For others in the community looking for help to file their taxes, free tax assistance is often offered through local Senior Citizen Centers.

* Fourth, Hageman reminds students that scholarships used for room and boardnot tuitionmay be taxable. Scholarships received to help pay for tuition, books or fees are generally tax exempt. However, additional expenses may also qualify. For specific information and clarification, visit: http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc421.html.

* Fifth, be sure to file the return. Even students making minimal earnings and who are not required to file a return should file. It is the only way to receive a refund of any federal income taxes that were withheld.

Some still see taxes as an unnecessary burden and wonder why such a seemingly high percentage of income is required by the government. Briefly, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was created by Abraham Lincoln and Congress in 1862. An income tax was enacted to pay war expenses incurred by the Civil War. Though it has been repealed and reinstated throughout history, U.S. citizens today should consider themselves fortunate to have the current income tax brackets. In 1918, during World War I, the top rate of the income tax rose to 77 percent to help finance the war effort. (See http://www.irs.gov/uac/Brief-History-of-IRS.)
YEREVAN, MARCH 3, ARMENPRESS. The United States should be aware that by prolonging anti-Russian sanctions they are undermining the possibility of cooperation on key international issues. As Armenpress reports citing "RIA Novosti", it was said by the Russian Foreign Ministry on March 3.

"From the atmosphere of dialogue between our countries a lot depends in world affairs, in matters of global and regional security. Methodically shaking the framework of bilateral relations, the United States should take into account that thereby it undermines the possibility of cooperation on key international issues over which they themselves regularly turn to us", - this was noted in comments posted on the foreign Ministry website in connection with the extension of the anti-Russian US sanctions.
YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. Mark Arens novel Where wild roses bloom tops this weeks ratings of "Armenpress" news agencys project Yerevan Bestseller. This is the second novel of the author which describes the inner world of an Armenophobic Turkish former serviceman, when he, already an old man, suddenly hears a lullaby song that reminds him of his mother and finds out that the song is in Armenian, realizing that his parents were Armenians. The same former serviceman spends his remaining life searching the graves of his parents, not knowing that it was a misunderstanding.

Edgar Harutyunyans Art of Dedication or Ode to the rose is ranked 2nd.

English writer Oscar Wildes novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, which is considered one of his most significant works, is ranked 3rd.It is one of the most read books in the world. The plot of the novel is in line with the content of those books, where the main character sells his soul to the devil, and in return gets eternal youth, beauty and power.

Milan Kunderas The Unbearable Lightness of Being is ranked 4th. This is the authors most famous novel, which also a new qualitative level of 20th century novels.

The novel is about love and unordinary relationships, about a tragic period of history, written with original philosophical reflections regarding the incompatible dualism of body and soul, real opportunities and the difficulties of realizing them.

Experienced legislator and politician, late Vahan Hovhannisyans first detective genre novel Mandilion is ranked 5th this week. The story takes place on a broad historical background during different eras.

John Greens The Fault in our Stars is ranked 6th. Courageous, edgy and daring, this is John Greens most ambitious and heartbreaking work, which explores the tragic, glorious, touching and funny situations of falling in love.

The Alchemist by Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho comes next in the list. The novel is about having a dream and the dedication to making it come true, coupled with love, kindness and the ability to recognize a new country.

George Orwells Animal Farm is ranked 8th. It was written in 1944 and first published in 1945. It is an allegorical and dystopian novel, which is banned in China, Burma, North Korea and a few Islamic countries.

Thus spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche is a novel which summons up the German philosophers basic views by poetic inspirations. It was published in Armenian language in 2002.

Paulo Coelhos Adultery concludes the list. The novel, published in 2004, is one of his latest works. The main character in the novel is 31 year old reporter  Linda. Everyone thinks that she has a wonderful life, a loving husband, children and a good job. But not everything is so easy and simple.

To complete the bestseller list, the following bookshops have participated in the survey: New Book (093-60-40-64), Noahs Ark (56-81-84), Armenian Book (54-07-06), Edit Print (57-70-09), Bookinist (53-74-13), Art Bridge (58-12-84) and Zangak (23-26-49), Narek (51-96-36), Metro(091-96-14-88) , Antares bookshop (091  90-01-23).

Textbooks, professional and informative books were not taken into account during the survey.
SHARE Contributed photo The Trophy for Girlhood exhibit will be on display through April 1 at K Space Contemporary.

By Esther Hackleman, Esther.M.Hackleman@caller.com

K Space Contemporary celebrates female autonomy with its newest sculpture exhibit Trophy for Girlhood in the Corner Spot Gallery.

Sandy Tramel constructed each figure using household items such as beads, candy, dishes and figurines, and each of the pieces represents childhood restrictions from which the artist frees herself.

"These nostalgic items remind us of Grandma's curio cabinet  full of things that are precious, sentimental, delicate, things we 'Do not touch,'" K Space Contemporary Executive Director Michelle Smythe said in an email. "Combining these objects into columns, painting them a single color and placing them on a pedestal, imparts them with a sense of importance, value and grandeur that they do not normally possess."

Tramel's art also serves as an act of empowerment. The artist, who never received a trophy as a child, fulfills that youthful desire through her work.

"Tramel's trophies also carry a sense of feminist empowerment. I grew up in an era when trophies were hard earned and trophy-winning opportunities for girls were scarce," Smythe said. "To me, these trophies have a feisty attitude about them as if to say, 'Well, I'll just make my own trophy.'"

The artist will host a gallery talk at 11 a.m. Saturday to discuss her creations.

"There is a comfortable, at home feeling that comes with familiar objects in art; this can translate to easier understanding. Because the work contains dolls and figurines, women may have a more nostalgic reaction and stronger connection than men, but truly, everyone can see the "little girl" in the work, empathize with her, and cheer her on.

Twitter:@Caller_Esther

IF YOU GO

What: Trophies for Girlhood

When: 5:30-9 p.m. Friday for opening reception; exhibit will be open through April 1

Where: K Space Contemporary, 415D Starr Street

Information: 361-887-6834, www.kspacecontemporary.org

ART MUSEUM OF SOUTH TEXAS

'Exploring the Land ...'

What: The exhibit explores how depictions of American landscapes have evolved during more than 200 years of art, including the variety of style and social influences.

When: Through April 26

Where: 1902 N. Shoreline Blvd.

Information: 361-825-3500

'Visionarios 2016 Youth Art Contest'

What: The 15th annual "Visionarios Youth Art Contest" will showcase the work of artists from first to 12th grade representing concepts of science, technology, engineering and math through art. Artists in the exhibit, sponsored by Flint Hills Resources and the Art Museum of South Texas, will be recognized at an awards presentation during the museum's free family day.

When: Through March 20

Where: 1902 N. Shoreline Blvd.

Information: 361-825-3500

JANET HARTE LIBRARY

Wakefield Art Exhibit

What: The students of the Sally Wakefields Hobby Lobby art class will exhibit their work in the McArdle Gallery at the Janet Harte Library. There will be a free opening reception from 3-5 p.m. Saturday.

When: March 5-17

Where: Janet Harte Library, 2629 Waldron Road

Information: 361-852-1329

BEEVILLE ART MUSEUM

'Paintings from the Nave'

What: A collection of 40 paintings by Royston Nave, the namesake of the Nave Museum, will be on display showcasing the works of the La Grange native.

When: Through April 30

Where: 401 E. Fannin St., Beeville

Information: 361-358-8615

COASTAL BEND COLLEGE

'Oblivious'

What: The Coastal Bend College will host the photography and prints of Coastal Bend alumni's Carol Lee exhibit with the Oblivious exhibit.

When: Through April 7

Where: Simon Michael Art Gallery, Frank Jostes Visual Arts Building

Information: 361-358-8615

JOHN E. CONNER MUSEUM

'A Celebration of Quilts ...'

What: "A Celebration of Quilts 2016: A Heritage of Texas Quilts" showcases the hours of design and creativity stitched into the 36 quilts featured.

When: Through March 19

Where: John E. Conner Museum, 905 W. Santa Gertrudis St., Kingsville

Information: 361-593-2810

JOSEPH A. CAIN MEMORIAL ART GALLERY

Drawing and Small Sculpture Show

What: Celebrating 50 years, Del Mar College's annual National Drawing and Small Sculpture Show attracts works from some of the most creative contemporary American artists from across the United States. Each year, a guest juror of national stature judges the annual show with internationally known book art sculptor Brian Dettmer serving as the 2016 juror.

When: Through May 6

Where: Joseph A. Cain Memorial Art Gallery, Fine Arts Center, 101 Baldwin Blvd.

Information: 361-698-1216

K SPACE CONTEMPORARY

'Kitsch Show'

What: The juried exhibition will host a variety of art that is a collection of works that are tacky, overdone and melodramatic until they are cool. There will be an opening reception during ArtWalk from 5:30-9 p.m. Friday.

When: Through April 1

Where: Main Gallery, K Space Contemporary, 415 Starr St.

Information: 361-887-6834

'3SUM'

What: Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi alumni Catrina Phillips, Eugene Soliz and Mayra Zamora will showcase their recent colorful and dramatic drawings, paintings and sculptures.

When: Through March 26

Where: Hot Spot Gallery, K Space Contemporary, 415 Starr St.

Information: 361-887-6834

TREEHOUSE ART COLLECTIVE

'Paul Padilla'

What: Artworks by Paul Padilla

When: Through February

Where: 309 N. Water St., Suite D

Information: 361-882-4822

WEIL GALLERY

'Re-membering'

What: The Weil Gallery at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi presents Atlanta-based artist Fahamu Pecou's "Re-Membering." Concerned with notions of representation and black masculinity, Pecou's works reflect on ideas of philosophy, spirituality and hip-hop bravado, via the channels of popular culture and fine art.

When: Through March 11

Where: Weil Gallery, 6300 Ocean Drive

Information: 361-825-5700, ext. 5752

ROCKPORT CENTER FOR THE ARTS

Clay Expo

What: Vorakit Chinookoswong, known as V. Chin, has been crafting porcelain and stoneware for more than 30 years. Chin creates glossy stoneware vases, bowls, cups and pieces bearing his signature mark: a clay frog. Dozens of his works are on display.

When: Through March 5

Where: 902 Navigation Circle, Rockport

Information: 361-729-5519

Realist Works

What: Bastrop resident Renate Kasper has worked in a variety of media including acrylic, oil, watercolor, pastel, pencil, photography and clay. Her favorite medium is graphite pencil, which she mixes with other media. "I may paint the background entirely in acrylic, and I may lay a quick wash of color all over the paper before I start shading, but I regard those few minutes of work as negligible when I spend dozens or sometimes hundreds of hours shading intricate details with graphite," she explained.

When: Through March 5

Where: 902 Navigation Circle, Rockport

Information: 361-729-5519
Beatriz Alvarado/Caller-Times The Coastal Bend Coordinated Community Response Coalition, made up of mostly crime victim advocates and concerned residents, meets at noon on the first Thursday of each month in the Recreation Building behind First Baptist Church at 3115 Ocean Drive.

By Beatriz Alvarado of the Caller-Times

Feb. 22 marked another pivotal feat in reshaping the criminal justice system to help victims of violence.

It's been 10 days since Corpus Christi police started delving deeper into the lives of domestic violence victims, immediately after a crime takes place. Police started asking a series of questions to help better detect the risk of an aggressor's lethality.

"(Feb. 22 is) the day the coordination of services came to life," said Susan Trevino, chief operating officer of the Women's Shelter of South Texas.

Corpus Christi was selected for a grant to implement the National Lethality Assessment Program for which department officials were trained in November to implement. The police department, along with the Women's Shelter, applied for a Department of Justice grant to receive Maryland-based training. During the Coastal Bend Coordinated Community Response Coalition's monthly meeting, shelter and police department leaders credited the coalition for providing a platform for the partnership.

More than 100 questionnaires have been administered and about 30 victims have been connected via a phone call with advocates at the shelter, Assistant Police Chief Mark Schauer reported to the coalition. Responses by victims to the questionnaire determine if the crime, specific to intimate partner violence, warrants immediate services.

The coalition, made up of mostly crime victim advocates and concerned residents, meets at noon on the first Thursday of each month in the recreation building behind First Baptist Church at 3115 Ocean Drive.

Trevino said the partnership epitomizes the coalition's purpose: to protect victims of violence.

"That's just another example of what a coalition like this can do," she said. "You are part of something very important."

Nearly half of 2014's criminal homicides in Corpus Christi stemmed from domestic violence. The Caller-Times began the Behind Broken Doors series last year to explore domestic violence, including how law enforcement investigates the attacks, how prosecutors pursue offenders in court, how advocates help victims heal, and what the community must do to reverse the deadly trend.

Twitter: @CallerBetty
Why is Trump coming to Robstown? Here's what political experts think.

Trump will appear at the Richard M. Borchard Regional Fairgrounds on Saturday to "advance the MAGA agenda," according to his Save America PAC.
SHARE contributed photo Corpus Christi lawyers Jeffrey Wigington and Joseph Dunn secured a more than $124 million verdict against auto giant Audi AG.

By Krista M. Torralva of the Caller-Times

Corpus Christi lawyers secured a more than $124 million verdict against auto giant Audi AG for a boy who was disabled in a car crash.

A Bexar County jury on Wednesday found Audi AG and Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. mostly to blame for the boy's injuries after a the driver's seat in the Audi collapsed backward, causing the driver's head to strike the boy's head, according to court documents.

Jesse Rivera Sr. was driving the Audi with his two children to their San Antonio school on Dec. 18, 2012, when he stopped for a school bus. When a vehicle hit Rivera's from behind, his seat fell backward and his head hit his son's, Jesse Rivera Jr., who was sitting in the back seat.

Jesse, who was seven at the time, suffered severe permanent brain damage, partial paralysis and partial blindness, Corpus Christi lawyer Jeffrey Wigington said. Jesse requires assistance walking and supervision for most day-to-day activities, Wigington said.

Wigington and Joseph Dunn, of Corpus Christi law firm Wigington Rumley Dunn & Blair LLP, led the case along with San Antonio lawyers Fidel Rodriguez and Manuel Maltos of The Law Offices of Fidel Rodriguez, Jr.

During the nearly monthlong trial, the jury saw video of crash testing that showed a dummy hit the back seat when the vehicle is rear-ended, Wigington said.

The jury, which deliberated over three days, were split 10-2 on their verdict. The verdict determines the seat's design was unreasonably dangerous and that Audi was negligent because it didn't adequately warn its consumer about possible dangers. Jurors weighed its verdict on past and future physical pain, mental anguish, disfigurement, physical impairment and medical expenses, according to the jury charge. Ten jurors agreed and two did not, according to the charge.

The jury also found the driver that rear-ended Rivera's car partially at fault. And they found the father partially at fault.

Audi's team of lawyers argued the boy was not wearing a seat belt, which contributed to his injuries. Wigington said the boy was wearing a seat belt.

Austin lawyer Burgain Hayes, who represented Audi and Volkswagen, said he and his legal team anticipate Audi will appeal.

Twitter: @CallerKMT
contributed photo William R. Edwards III (left) and William R. Edwards

SHARE

By Krista M. Torralva of the Caller-Times

After a trial began, trucking and construction companies and a truck driver settled lawsuits with the families of four oil field workers killed in a 2014 crash.

The oil field workers were heading to work early April 9, 2014, while it was still dark, when the pickup they were riding in struck the back of an 18-wheeler parked in an unmarked shoulder, according to a news release from the Edwards Law Firm.

The men killed were Beeville residents Daniel Arredondo, 29, Richard Cuevas Jr., 33, Pedro Longoria, 30, and Reynaldo "Rene" Jimenez, 19, of Skidmore.

The crash happened on Interstate Highway 35 in La Salle County. The lawsuits, filed in Nueces County, were against Con-Way Truckload, Inc., that owned the 18-wheeler, the truck driver, Paul Garin, and the construction company Anderson Columbia Co. Inc.

The suits accuse the construction company workers of leaving the left lane unpaved in violation of Texas Department of Transportation rules. They also accuse the truck driver of being negligent when he parked his rig on the shoulder and the trucking company of being negligent in its driver training.

A trial began in January but the companies and driver settled Monday. The settlement terms are confidential.

Corpus Christi firms representing the families included the Edwards Law Firm, Wigington Rumley Dunn & Blair, LLP, and Liles Harris.

The settlements come on the heels of two other wins for the Edwards Law Firm in trucking crash cases.

In Webb County, a lawsuit settled involving a fatigued truck driver in a crash that killed Doroteo Gonzales, 63, of Sinton, and seriously injured three others. In addition to the suit against the truck owner, Texas Premier Resources LLC, lawsuits also settled against another driver and company involved in the crash.

In December, the lawyers persuaded a Nueces County jury to award $25 million in a crash that seriously injured two motorcyclists. The Edwards Law Firm represented a woman who suffered brain trauma and a man who had a leg and finger amputated. The jury found Chicago-area company Dillon Trucking Co. mostly responsible because "it did not properly supervise its drivers," according to an Edwards law Firm news release. Alejandro Blanco, of Glendale, Calif., also represented the male motorcyclist.

The Edwards Law Firm is known for taking on cases involving trucking companies and television commercials show the father and son namesakes with an 18-wheeler.

Twitter: @CallerKMT

EDITOR'S NOTE: An earlier version of this report incorrectly reported who the Edwards Law Firm represented in one of the lawsuits. The lawyers represented a woman who suffered brain trauma and a man who had a leg and finger amputated.
YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. Armenpress state news agency introduces on the air of Lratvakan.am all that you will read, hear and see on todays news.

The National Assembly Standing Committee on Social Affairs, as well as the Standing Committee on Health Care, Maternity and Childhood organize parliamentary hearings which will focus on the 2016-2018 Armenia's demographic situation improvement program and the measures to implement it. Issues referring to maternity and large families are planned to be discussed.

Post-electoral discussions on the parliamentary elections in Iran. PhD in Historical Sciences, Associate professor Gohar Iskandaryan, in Historical Sciences Nazeli Navasardyan and Candidate of Philological Sciences Armen Israelyan will sum up the February 26 parliamentary elections of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Draft Electoral Code has been publicized. Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs Hovhannes Sahakyan will detail on the changed provisions. Vice President of Heritage party Armen Martirosyan will present his remarks, as well as will touch upon domestic developments.

Members of Out of our pockets initiative plan to meet with journalists. Arsen Petrosyan, Artur Kroyan and Artak Petrosyan will speak about the process of taxi licensing after one year, as well proposed changes in the APPA system.

Economist Karlen Khachatryan will speak about key threats and structural changes in the finance management sphere. Chairman of Armenian Association of SME Accountants Vahagn Hambardzumyan will refer to changes in the Tax Code.

Which are the specifications of illustrating topics related to children and which are the principles not to harm children? To what extent are those norms preserved in Armenian media? Mira Antonyan, Head of Child Protection Network and representatives of the same network Knarik Garanfilyan and Arshak Gasparyan will touch upon the mentioned issues.

Opening of the new season of State Pantomime Theater of Yerevan will soon take place. Artistic director of the theater, Honored Art Worker of Armenia Jirayr Dadasyan will present details on the new season.

Literary awards ceremony 21st century will be held on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the independence of Armenia. The organizers are the Ministry of Diaspora, World Armenian Congress, Union of Armenians of Russia, and Writers Union of Armenia.

New books will be presented for readers. Presentation of Hovhannes Ghazaryans book Chapel is anticipated which is devoted to prelate of Armenian Diocese of Greece Bishop Khoren Doghramadjian.

More on these and other topics is available on armenpress.am. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
After evaluation tour in four councils by Wouri SDO, repressive measures were announced.

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Over 36,000 motorbikes in Douala (90 per cent of the total), be them commercial or private, are without number plates. Since they ply the road unidentified, it does not only pose great danger to the population, but contributes to the already worrying urban disorder that prevails in the economic capital.



To curb the prevailing situation, the Senior Divisional Officer, SDO, for Wouri, Naseri Paul Bea, last January launched a registration exercise, giving up to March 1, 2016, for motorbike owners to comply. Unfortunately, during an evaluation visit to the Douala I, II, III and V council areas on March 1, it was discovered that the exercise was still timid. According to statistics as at the day of visit, Douala V had not started the exercise, very few motorbikes were registered in Douala I and II, while Douala III registered an encouraging number of 210 motorbikes.



After the visit, Naseri Paul Bea expressed his discontentment and gave 30 more days for rigorous checks and repressive measures to be taken. I am not satisfied with the outcome of the evaluation. I call on all proprietors, motorbike unions and associations to go to their various council areas and register in order to avoid the rigorous checks beginning on April 1, 2016, he reiterated.



It is only during the repressive phase that most bike riders will know the importance of identification. Since an unidentified bike is likened to a child without a birth certificate, the SDO encouraged owners to get their bikes registered. On her part, the Divisional Delegate of Transport for Wouri, Marie Delphine Nfong-Yette, said identification will curb crime wave since perpetrators will easily be identified through their number plates.





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Straddling the divide between editorial and sales can be a gruelling job, even at the best of times, especially when the revenue model is completely advertising driven. But Justin Doebelewho carries the title of chief editorial advisor even though his remit includes overall managementfeels that if you are the head of the office with a journalistic background, you have a better shot at it. We have a very clear divide between our sales and editorial teams and in no case can one influence the other; the editor in me can never let go of that integrity."

This stance of Forbes has become its USP in a market where press junkets and advertorials have become an accepted norm. We do not write a piece or take out a piece to placate any company or an individual. And thus, each word on 80-plus pages Forbes prints each month is relevant to its target audience. The consumers as well as our clients in Indonesia are astute enough to sniff out a good product.

Doebele makes no attempt to hide his affection for Indonesia. For a republican who is Harvard graduate with a masters degree in international journalism from Columbia and spent the first 15 years of his career in fast paced markets such as New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore, this love for the archipelago touted as laid-back and inward looking seems to be an aberration.

He, however, begs to differ. The only thing that I find slow in Indonesia is the traffic. Indonesia is actually a group of very differing nations within itself and for businesses to do well here, they need to develop and execute strategies across these regions forcing them to be top of the top.

The market is becoming more prosperous, as different businesses are built, and people becoming more educated. It is one of the fastest growing economies in Asia and sits with the Top 20 in the world. While a lot of time and energy is focused on India and China, for an international media company the next story is in Indonesia. And we are already here telling that story.

For someone who is credited to have predicted Alibabas phenomenal success long before it became a case study, Doebele is keeping his antennas up for the next ecommerce miracle baby and believes Indonesia has the right ingredients to nurture one. There are companies that are doubling their size every six months and that is a big. I have my ears on the ground and am closely watching the space, says Doebele.

Continuing with its commitment towards developing its international titles, Forbes launched its Indonesia edition five years ago, in partnership with PT Wahana Mediatama. The president director of the local partner, Millie Stephanie, has been instrumental in the success of Indonesian Tatler, pegged as the leading English-language society magazine in the country. With precedence set by Tatler, Forbes, too decided to go with an English edition. Most of international titles in leading markets such as Korea, China and Japan are published in the local language. But our core audience here is fluent in the language and it is a decision we havent regretted.

The target audience for Forbes Indonesia, as every other place the title is published, continues to be tycoons, business leaders and entrepreneurs driving the economy. While launching the title in 2010, the then Indonesian president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had told Steve Forbes that he hoped the magazine would be a part of their national development, reminisced Doebele. That is a tall ask. In every issue, we strive to inspire businesses and people by giving them ideas, motivation and examples of how to succeed.

Forbes Indonesia claims to have 20,000 readers which when compared to the 50,000 readers of the 20-year old English language daily Jakarta Post, is an encouraging number, says Doebele. We have a very well-defined target group and most advertisers looking to tap the richest and the most successful people in the country are mostly on board. The main objective of the sales team would be to nurture relationships with local advertisers who in the future are looking to build their brands globally.



Justin Doebele

The advertiser set has also been resistant to the fluctuations seen in the belly of the market and Forbes, thus, managed to skirt the 12 percent decline in magazine revenue, according to Adex last year. 2015 was the best year for us. We are hopeful of Indonesian economy kicking right back this year. Most advertisers havent announced any budget cuts so far which is an optimistic sign.

Doebele and his team are also eyeing greater investment in Forbesindonesia.com as well as in the recent brand extension, Forbes Life Indonesia, a lifestyle stand-alone magazine targeted at the affluent male.

While in the US a significant amount of revenue for Forbes is off the website, the pool of advertising dollars available to drive forbesindonesia.com is still relatively small. 95 per cent of the budgets are still going towards mainline media in Indonesia, but the winds of change are here.

While keeping an eye on the digital medium, Doebele has built a solid revenue stream through events. It is a very active and growing part of our business model, he explained. We host close to 20 events a year and signature dates like Best of the Best, Global Rising Stars and the 50 richest in Indonesia have become coveted and sought after sponsored events.

While there is competition at every front and medium on the advertising side with everyone chasing the same advertising dollar, Doebele believes that Forbes Indonesia has no rival on the editorial side. With the Business Weeks decision to shutter its Indonesian edition after printing 100 issues and Fortune, too, decided to exit the market, we stand alone in the segment, says Doebele. While we here are producing a great relevant product, a lot of credit goes to the mother ship in nurturing its young ones. There is clear guidance and full support from the US. And that is the strength of the Forbes brand.
| BY Ricki Green |

A whirlwind visit to Melbourne has left leading weight management company Jenny Craig with a new suite of commercials featuring ex Spice Girl Mel B.

Created by Chocolate Studios, the new campaign shows a fit and svelte Mel B telling Australians that Jenny Craig works and that she has maintained her 16 kilos weight loss for over two years.

According to Jenny Craigs director of marketing, Stephanie Malkin, Mel B has proven to be one of the most successful ambassadors for the brand.

Says Malkin: One of the brands key points of difference is that we help teach clients lifelong healthy eating habits and Mel B is living proof of our success.

The campaign includes one 30 second and two 15 second TVCs and will air in both Australia and New Zealand from March through to May.

Mel B said that Jenny Craig played a huge part in her getting her life back on track after gaining weight from having babies.

Says Mel B: I want to tell Australians and New Zealanders how happy I still am two years later. I learnt the lessons to not only lose the weight, but also keep it off. That to me is everything.

Jenny Craigs PR agency, Project PR provided public relations support for the campaign securing interviews for Mel B with Sunrise, New Idea, Kyle & Jackie O and News Limited during the shoot.

Creative Agency and Production: Chocolate Studios

Dave Ellis  Managing Director

Nathan Primmer  Senior Creative Producer

PR Agency: Project PR

Lainie Coombes  Managing Director
| BY Ricki Green |

In collaboration with Queensland Treasury, Engine has developed a multi-faceted campaign to raise awareness about the need for a National Injury Insurance Scheme in Queensland.

The campaign was brought to life by cutting vehicles in half to demonstrate that Queenslands road users are not half as protected as they think, highlighting the fact that 50% of people who sustain catastrophic injuries are not covered by CTP insurance.

Launched outside Queenslands Parliament House by treasurer Curtis Pitt, the campaign activity runs across press, radio, digital and social, and includes activations in the Brisbane CBD.

Says Tim Weger, managing director, Engine: The team at Treasury were an absolute delight to work with and completely aligned in wanting to deliver standout creative to turn heads and truly educate motorists on their current level of cover.

Says Kory McAvoy, creative director, Engine: We needed to take messaging that was incredibly layered and confusing and make it as clear as day for absolutely everyone to understand. Hence, our half protected motor vehicles were born. Our production partners were super collaborative and always open to explore different ways of doing things, which was really fun for us.

Creative Agency: Engine Group

Kory McAvoy  Creative Director / Art Director

Mark Smith  Senior Writer

Sarah Deery  Account Director

Eloise Eagles  Account Manager

Caz Vize  Agency Producer

Megan Nguyen  Graphic Designer

Production: Damien Bredberg Photography

Photographer  Damien Bredberg

Retouching  Damien Bredberg

Producer  Tara Henry

Digital: Muse Interactive

Developer  Daniel Button

Radio Production: Sounds Like Butter

Stevie-leigh Batiste  Sound Designer & Audio Producer

Activation: Black Lab International
| BY Ricki Green |

Queensland Ballet has today launched a new program and website via Bigfish Digital Design and Creative Agency, that will offer kids a window into the wonderful world of ballet no matter where they live

QB Junior website has just gone live and is aimed at entertaining, educating and making sure that all Queensland children, both metro and regional, can enjoy the benefits of our state ballet company.

The wonderfully interactive website will open up Queensland Ballet through videos, photos, fun activities and competitions and sits alongside a new membership program called QB Junior Friends.

The website features bespoke illustrations throughout created especially to appeal to kids between 2  16 years.

Kids can explore the wonderful world of ballet by clicking through rooms in the QB Junior house to discover engaging activities, educational components and fun things to do, all related to ballet.

For young people with a passion for dance, QB Junior and the Friends program are a unique opportunity to connect with a professional ballet company, receive access to exclusive classes and workshops, invitations to special events and be eligible for special regional travel bursaries.

Junior Friends Membership also includes a complimentary pack with a bag, t-shirt and membership bag tag.

Queensland Ballet artistic director Li Cunxin said he was proud to be offering a program especially for children.

Says Cunxin: I was lucky enough to get my first ballet opportunity as a young child but I had little idea of what I was heading into at that stage. Its such a gift to be able to give these children insight and special access to the beautiful art form of ballet and were delighted to launch this unique program.

Throughout 2015 Queensland Ballet engaged with 80 schools and welcomed more than 22140 participants in a variety of long-term, pop-up, regional, metro activities.
GYUMRI, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. Russian soldier Valery Permyakovs trial, who is accused of killing seven members of the Avetisyan family, will continue on March 4 in the 102nd Russian Military base in Gyumri. As in previous court hearings, witnesses connected to the search and arrest of Permyakov will be questioned. 16 witnesses are to be questioned. Most of them, including Sergey Merzhlikin, acting detachment commander who is regulating the process, already appeared to the court. Witnesses are from the 2012 border detachment. Many factors that are associated with the case are incomprehensible for the judicial bodies. Sometimes contradictory testimonies are given not only by different representatives of the detachment, but also by the witnesses during current and preliminary interrogations.

The six members of the Avetisyans family were shot and killed in Gyumri at around 6 a.m. on January 12, 2015. The only survivor was 6-month old Seryozha Avetisyan, who was transferred to a hospital with injuries caused by a cutting and piercing tool. The childs health condition became worse on January 19. After fighting for his life and undergoing several difficult surgeries for a week, six-month old Seryozha Avetisyan also died on January 19. There was severe renal insufficiency and cardiac insufficiency, and doctors werent able to save his life. Soldier of the 102nd Russian military base stationed in Gyumri, Valery Permyakov was charged with killing the members of the Avetisyan family. Russian border guards found him when he was trying to cross the Armenian-Turkish border and handed him over to the commanders of the 102nd Russian military base. Permyakov confessed his guilt. On August 12, The Russian side sentenced Permyakov to 10 years of imprisonment for desertion and illegal possession of a firearm.

Armenuhi Mkhoyan
Thursday, March 3, 2016 at 6:40PM

Samsung hasnt said anything yet if they plan to support Apple with its ongoing battle with the FBI. But their recent statement makes it seem like theyre siding with Apple, without mentioning them specifically. In a statement released by Samsung, "Ensuring trust in our products and services is our top priority. Our phones are embedded with encryption that protects privacy and content, and they do not have backdoors. When required to do so, and within the law, we work with law enforcement agencies. However, any requirement to create a backdoor could undermine consumers' trust."

Apple is currently in a legal fight with the FBI over getting access to an encrypted iPhone by one of the suspects from the San Bernardino shooting. FBI wants Apple to unlock said smartphone but Apple believes this could lead to a bigger security issue. Other tech brands have been coming out to support Apple with this issue.

Source: Android Central
Parraga's defence lawyer argued for his release on grounds there was no evidence before the court to suggest there was a real risk he would reoffend, fail to appear at court or harass and intimidate witnesses.
YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. The US State Department issued a travel warning stating that the "Islamic State" is planning terrorist acts in Europe in the future . "Armenpress" reports,on March 4 extractions from the documents were made by RIA Novosti.

"According to reliable information terrorist groups such as the Islamic State and "Al Qaeda "and their supporters are planning to carry out terrorist acts in Europe in the nearest future," the document says. Moreover, all European countries are at risk.

Terrorist acts first and foremost are possible during major sports events, theaters, open markets, airports, transport systems and public places.

Terrorist acts in Europe are likely to continue," the document says. The State Department explains that this is due to the return of those citizens from Syria and Iraq who have joined the Islamic State
YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. Istanbul-Armenian writer and linguist Sevan Nisanyan is again taken to solitary confinement, this time with duration of 6 days, Armenpress reports, T24.com informs.

The reason for the new punishment of the Istanbul-Armenian intellectual is the accusation of offering bribe to the prison staff. Nisanyan has denied the allegations, Murat Akc considered unreasonable, demanding to stall the punishment. He also informed that the decision will be appealed in higher instances.

Earlier, Nisanyan had again been taken to solitary confinement reasoning that he had used internet service provider in the prison, which is prohibited.

Nishanyan, convicted for 11 years, has been in prison because of "construction infractions" since January 11, 2014. But the media had informed earlier that he was imprisoned because of publicly criticizing the Turkish Government. He always raised the issue of the Armenian Genocide in Turkey.




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Three college students who first met while attending a Catholic high school in Florida have launched a scholarship fund to help others experience faithful Catholic education at a Newman Guide college. As we went off to different colleges, we kept in touch and found time to catch up whenever we returned []
Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact.

Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here.

Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing.

You are our people. You Care. We Care2.
YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. Jim Costa, member of the House of Representatives, paid tribute to the memory of innocent Armenians massacred in Sumgait pogroms. Armenpress presents his speech, citing ANCAs official Facebook page,

I rise today to commemorate the twenty-eighth anniversary of the pogroms against people of Armenian descent in Sumgait, Azerbaijan.

Peaceful demonstrations descended into chaos when Azerbaijani rioters attacked Armenian men and women advocating for democracy on February 27, 1988. After three days of unspeakable violence, hundreds of Armenians lost their lives and thousands more no longer had a place to call home.

Undeterred by Soviet oppression, the Armenian community and its dedication to democratic self-determination sparked a movement that finally helped bring an end to the dictatorship of the Soviet Union. The courage demonstrated by the Armenian people of Nagorno Karabakh in demanding their rights even after all of the adversity is admirable and should never be forgotten.

Today, authoritarian leaders in Azerbaijan continue to aggravate efforts by the OSCE Minsk Group to achieve lasting peace in Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding region. This ancient Christian land has born witness to several crimes against humanity over the years, and I have hope the United States will take on its moral responsibility to ensure the people of Armenia do not live in fear.

On behalf of the thousands of Armenian Americans living in my congressional district, I invite my colleagues to stand with me and the proud people of Nagorno Karabakh in remembering the lives lost and reinvigorating our commitment to freedom and democracy.
YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian community of the United States of America welcomes the adoption of the resolution 1580 by Georgia State House recognizing the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh, Armenpress reports, citing ANCA.

The Georgia resolution was spearheaded by Representatives Pat Gardner (D-Atlanta) and Demetrius Douglas (D-Stockbridge), both broadly respected Members of the legislature with strong records on education and human rights related issues. The legislators worked closely with ANC of Georgia advocates Dr. Sarkis Agasarkisian and Haroutioun Agasarkisian, who have, for more than a decade, worked closely with federal, state and local officials on issues dealing with the Armenian Genocide and broader concerns dealing with Armenia and Artsakh.

The Georgia Armenian community applauds the leadership of Representatives Gardner and Douglas in securing Georgias recognition of Nagorno Karabakh, affirming the universality of the democratic rights and freedoms that are the birthright of Americans and all the citizens of the world, said Dr. Agasarkisian. Having taken this proud and principled stand, we now look now to other American states to join with Georgia in recognizing Artsakh.

The US Georgia State House adopted the resolution 1580 on recognizing the Nagorno Karabakh Republic on March 3. Georgia is the 6th US State to recognize the NKR. Prior to this, similar resolutions were adopted by legislative bodies of California, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Louisiana and Maine.
Fabrizio Curci, head of Alfa Romeo EMEA, admitted that engineering issues delayed the launch of the Giulia by just a few weeks.



The executive nevertheless denied reports talking about a six-month delay because of Giulias failure to pass front, side and rear crash tests.

This is the second time the company denies the failed crash test report that originated from AutoNews.

Speaking to Autocar, Curci said: Not one single screw is a carryover  this car is all new, and it is true that we wanted to launch this car with the right quality from the start, but that caused a delay of maybe some weeks, certainly not months.

There is no more to say than that. The car is ready, and it meets every requirement that has been set for it by the regulators and again internally by us.

PHOTO GALLERY
Ulrich Walker, Bogwards CEO, reiterated the brands objectives during the official debut of the BX5 Crossover and BX6 TS Concept at the Geneva Motor Show.



Those include a decision on where to build their new production facility in Germany and a sales goal of 500,000 cars a year in the medium term.

Borgward is fully aware of its responsibilities as a German company and of its own tradition of success. We will therefore be making a decision regarding our production location in Germany before the year is out, said Walker.

We only start with plug-in hybrids and purely electric vehicles on the German and other European markets, and these at attractive prices.

The automaker plans to offer purely electric models with a driving range of up to 250km (155 miles). The first Borgward to hit the road will be the BX7, which will be launched in China early this summer, with India and other emerging markets to follow.

The BX7 will be introduced to European markets in 2017 and it will be joined by the aBX5 and the production version of the BX6 TS Concept at a later date .

PHOTO GALLERY
Though celebrating its European premiere in Geneva, the new Genesis G90 didnt receive as much media attention as one might have expected.



Ask anybody at Hyundai and theyll probably tell you that the G90 is capable of battling it out with Europes best in this segment, and to some extent, they could be right.

The car was after all rigorously tested at the Nurburgring in Germany during its development, and the fact that by purchasing a flagship 5.0-liter V8 model you also get 420 HP, at least puts you in the conversation with other luxury saloons.

As it so happens, this very model on display in Geneva is the G90 5.0 H-TRAC, which aside from the impressive power output, also comes with 509 Nm (376 lb-ft) of torque and an advanced all-wheel drive system. Other powertrain configurations for the G90 include a turbocharged 3.3-liter V6 T-GDI unit with 365 HP as well as the 3.8-liter V6 GDI, which is good for 311 HP.

However, some European customers might need to look elsewhere if they also care about fuel economy, since there currently is no diesel option available for the G90.

PHOTO GALLERY
Photo: Contributed

The Canadian Home Builders 21st annual Home and Reno Show returns to the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre this weekend.



Its a one stop shop for homeowners, with a high level of innovative offerings," said Carol Sudchak, executive officer.

More than 130 exhibitors will be displaying their products and services, from renovations to innovative home improvements.



Members and exhibitors represent local and national companies.

Exhibitors include home builders, land developers, home security providers, renewable energy services, trade contractors, product and material manufacturers, building product suppliers, lending institutions, insurance providers, service professionals and more.

For home improvements, offerings include renewable energy services, low-emissivity glass, and home security programs with cellular options to make homes greener and safer.



The show is open Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the convention centre. Admission is $4.
YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. Members of the Armenian community of Ukraine, Ukrainian experts and researchers discussed the scope of events dedicated to the 400th anniversary of Armenian book printing in Ukraine at a special event in Kiev. "Armenpress" reports, citing the analitikaua.net website.

The round-table discussion concluded that the "Armenians of Ukraine" Civic Platform and the committee dealing with the cultural heritage of the Union of Armenians of Ukraine engage in closer cooperation.

The conference of the Union of Armenians of Ukraine will be held in Kirovograd on March 11. The main topic of discussion will be the 400th anniversary of Armenian book printing in Ukraine.

The Psalms of David is the first Armenian book printed in Ukraine in December 15, 1611 in Lviv. Lviv became the 4th center of Armenian book printing after Venice, Istanbul and Rome.
Photo: Deborah Pfeiffer

A Penticton man involved in an attempted smash and grab at Cherry lane Shopping Centre was sentenced to eight months in jail in Penticton court, Thursday.

Judge Gregory Koturbash handed down the sentence after Devon Brazeau, 26, pleaded guilty to attempted theft and two breaches of probation.

The first two stem from the mall incident on Jan. 29. The third is a breach of probation from Dec. 10, when Brazeau failed to report in Kelowna, according to Crown counsel Kurt Froehlich.

Froehlich said there was a probation order prohibiting him from having break-in tools when he went to the mall on Jan. 29. At the location, he used a modified dumbbell to smash glass at Paris Jewellers.

Froehlich said Brazeau didn't get away with anything, because he was tackled by a bunch of civilians.

Defence lawyer Bob Maxwell put forward that Brazeau's motivation for stealing was to obtain something to help him pay for his dog's surgery.

Brazeau has been in custody since the attempted theft. He was also sentenced to 18 months probation, with conditions including being prohibited from going to the mall.

In addition, he was ordered to pay $224 for damage to the glass at the jewelry store.
Photo: Facebook - Happy Lani

An employee has been fired from an indoor gymnasium in Surrey, B.C., after video surfaced of her apparently ignoring the cries of a little girl hanging from a climbing wall.

The 55-second video posted on Facebook on Wednesday shows a young woman who appears to be on her phone sitting at the bottom of a climbing wall while a girl struggles to climb it and cries when she can't go on.

Yasen Nikolov, a manager at Funtopia Surrey, says the incident never should have happened and the 19-year-old employee has been fired for breaking several of the facility's policies, including one prohibiting staff from having phones outside of the employee room.

He says the young woman worked at the gym for about six months and had received thorough training, including lessons from one of Canada's best indoor rock-climbers.

The girl's mother, who appears to have posted the video, could not immediately be reached for comment.

The video had been viewed more than 7,700 times by Thursday afternoon.
Photo: CTV

Police investigating a missing person case in Delta have found human remains.

Officers found the remains Thursday at an unoccupied residence on the Tsawwassen First Nation.

Acting Sgt. Sarah Swallow says the investigation into a missing 33-year-old man from nearby Surrey led them to the property.

Police have been looking for the missing man since Feb. 24.

Police say a detailed forensic analysis will be needed to confirm the person's identity and the cause of death.

The force is treating the investigation as suspicious.
Photo: Contributed

Enderby RCMP are asking for the publics help in locating a woman who recently moved to Calgary.

Friends and family of 27-year-old Caitlyn Brandy Potts have not heard from her since Feb. 22, when she had indicated she was moving to the Calgary area from Enderby.

Her friends have told police that her lack of contact is out of character for Potts.

The police have asked anyone with information on her whereabouts to contact them at 250-838-6818.
Photo: Twitter

Honour student Asher Potts was well into his senior year in high school when police got a tip that the earnest teenager who had so impressed community leaders for nearly four years was not the person he claimed to be.

Investigators soon concluded Potts was actually a 23-year-old Ukrainian named Artur Samarin, who had overstayed his visa, and they said in charging documents that he confessed to having sex with an underage teen girl.

His arrest last week  charged first with identity theft, then with statutory sexual assault and corruption of minors  drew astonished responses from people who knew the boyish-looking Samarin through his participation in a school military program, his academic excellence and his acceptance to a prestigious flight school.

"My understanding is his motives were pure coming over here, and given his time at John Harris (High School), no one had a complaint about him," said his lawyer, Adam Klein. "Until that's proven differently, that's my feeling at this point  that he came here to do what many immigrants do, to take part in the American dream."

Prosecutors said that they are working with federal investigators to piece together the facts about Samarin and that more charges are possible. But it's clear he made an impression in Harrisburg.

The city's mayor at the time pronounced Oct. 27, 2013, as Asher Potts Day to recognize his accomplishments; he was a student representative to the school board; and he was third runner-up for a spot on the homecoming court, Pennlive.com reported.

One aspect of the case that has drawn the attention of investigators is the role played by Michael and Stephayne Potts, with whom he lived for much of the past four years before moving in months ago with another family.

Samarin told Harrisburg station WHTM-TV last week in a call from jail that his family pooled money to send him to the U.S. "for a better life." After his visa expired, he said, the Pottses helped him obtain a birth certificate and a fake Social Security card in the name of Asher Potts.

He accused the couple of using his illegal immigration status as leverage to pressure him into doing work for them.

"Everything they ask of me, I could not tell them no," he told the station.

Court records say the couple "conspired with" Samarin in faking his way through high school, but they have not been charged.

Their lawyer, Corky Goldstein, said Thursday it was the Pottses who first alerted authorities about Samarin by contacting the FBI months ago. Goldstein would not say what motivated the couple to contact authorities, but said that they thought he was younger than he is and that they did not know he was having sex with the girl. They deny his claim he was pressured to work for them.

"She thought she was helping a young man who was being persecuted in his country, the Ukraine, by the Russians," Goldstein said. "They opened up their home to him."

Samarin had left the Pottses and was living in a shelter several months ago when Waleed McClintock and his family let him move in with them in nearby Middletown.

McClintock said he was troubled by what he and his wife saw of the Pottses' relationship with Samarin and equally impressed by the young man's drive.

Samarin, who shared a bedroom with McClintock's 17-year-old son, would rise before 5 a.m. to get a bus to school. He took college-level classes at night and also worked at a grocery store.

"This is the worst that Ukraine has to offer? OK, you can ship another busload over here," McClintock said Thursday. "He was a very impressive young man. He was respectful and intelligent and seemed to have a plan for his life."

He said Samarin was slight of build, disappearing beneath a hand-me-down coat. He told McClintock little about his past or his family.

"We never pried," he said. "We simply wanted to offer a safe space to be in."

In the TV interview, before he was charged with sexual assault, Samarin appeared to admit the identity theft allegations.

"What can I say? I did abuse the system. Yes I did," Samarin told WHTM. "I did use this identity, and it's the law."

Police said that by the time Samarin's tourist visa expired in March 2013, he already nearly finished his freshman year at John Harris, better known as Harrisburg High School, despite having attended two years of college in Ukraine.

"By all accounts he was an excellent student," Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico said. "He was involved in the community, he was in the ROTC program, he did community service."

Samarin's mother, Victoria Samarina, emailed WHTM from Ukraine this week after finding news accounts about him that confirmed her fears he might be in trouble. She said she was sure he could not have done anything wrong.

"I know that he just wanted to get a good education, I could not help to get him here," she wrote. "Please convey to him that I love him very much; he's my dearest person in the world."
Photo: The Canadian Press

A Turkish court on Friday sentenced two Syrian smugglers to four years and two months each in prison over the deaths of 5 people including three-year-old Aylan Kurdi, who galvanized world attention on the refugee crisis when a photo was published of him lying lifeless on a beach.

The court in the Aegean resort of Bodrum convicted the two of human trafficking but acquitted them of the charge of causing the drowning deaths through deliberate negligence, the agency said.

The image of the Syrian boy's body, face down on a Turkish beach, graphically illustrated the magnitude of the migrants' suffering.

Aylan's brother, Galip, and mother, Rihan, were also among the five victims who drowned when their boat went down in the ill-fated journey from Bodrum to the Greek island of Kos last year. While Turkish authorities have given the boy's first name as Aylan, his aunt says the family prefers that it be transliterated as Alan.

Trials in Turkey usually take months  even years  to conclude, but the verdict, which came at the end of the third hearing just a month after the trial opened, appeared to be an effort by the country to show that it is cracking down on human traffickers, just before Monday's summit between Turkey and the European Union to discuss the migrant crisis.

Turkey is under pressure to reduce the tide of migrants to Europe and to combat the smuggling rings since it reached a deal with the EU in November. Under the deal, Turkey is scheduled to receive a 3 billion-euro ($3.26 billion) fund to help the country deal with Syrian refugees.

The defendants, Syrian nationals Muwafaka Alabash and Asem Alfrhad, had denied any responsibility in the migrants' deaths. Instead, they blamed Aylan's father, Abdullah Kurdi, for the deaths  accusing him of organizing the trip.

The court initially sentenced them to five years in prison each, but then reduced the term to four years and two months due to the defendants' good behaviour during the trial and other legal reductions. The pair can appeal their conviction.

Prosecutors had initially sought the maximum 35 years in prison for each.

The Kurdi family was among hundreds of thousands who risked the journey to Greece in the hope of then heading to wealthier nations in northern and western Europe. After the deaths of his family, Abdullah Kurdi has returned to Syria.

The International Organization for Migration says at least 418 migrants have died this year alone while trying to cross into Greece or Italy.

Turkish officials say authorities in 2015 detained more than 4,400 smugglers who organized the often-dangerous crossings in frail boats.
The Associated Press/File photo

Los Angeles police are investigating a knife purportedly found some time ago at the former home of O.J. Simpson, who was acquitted of murder charges in the 1994 stabbing deaths of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.

Police Capt. Andy Neiman confirmed the investigation Friday, but released few details, stressing that the authenticity of the story is not known.

The weapon used in the killings has been a mystery for decades.

The account of the knife's discovery was first reported by TMZ, which said the knife was found by a construction worker during demolition of the home and given to a police officer who kept it.

In 1997, a jury found Simpson civilly liable for the slayings. He's now imprisoned in Nevada on a robbery-kidnap conviction.
Photo: Jennifer Zielinski

UPDATE: 3:42 p.m.:

According to Staff Sgt. Julie Gagnon with RCMP national media relations, the hearing for Goyal won't be taking place on March 8.

Gagnon said in a statement that every effort is made for adjudication board hearings to be scheduled in a timely manner. However, these hearings are formal, court like processes. Much like judicial proceedings, hearing dates, times and locations are subject to change for any number of reasons.

As of Friday afternoon, the date had not been changed on the hearing schedule list.

RCMP have finally listed five allegations faced by Cpl. Amit Goyal, who was suspended with pay from the Osoyoos detachment in June 2013.

They include three under Section 39 of the 1988 RCMP regulations and two under Section 45 (b).

Section 39 reads that a member shall not engage in any disgraceful or disorderly act of conduct that could bring discredit to the force.

Section 45 (b) states that a member shall not knowingly make a false, misleading or inaccurate statement or report to any member who is superior in rank or who has authority over that member pertaining to any investigation.

A hearing is set for March 8 in Vancouver.

Two prior conduct hearings set for July 28 and then Aug. 31 in Vancouver never happened.

Goyal's departure followed incidents in 2012, where there were two reports of vehicles being stolen from his home. The cars were later found torched.

Steve Condon, a former Osoyoos resident who was investigated regarding the thefts, was cleared after passing a lie detector test. He was not charged in the matter.

Charges were recommended by Trail RCMP against Goyal, but were not pursued by Crown.

Condon has since filed a separate lawsuit against Goyal, the RCMP and others.
Photo: Thinkstock.com

Climate change doubters may have lost one of their key talking points: a particular satellite temperature dataset that had seemed to show no warming for the past 18 years.

The Remote Sensing System temperature data, promoted by many who reject mainstream climate science and especially most recently by Sen. Ted Cruz, now shows a slight warming of about 0.18 degrees Fahrenheit since 1998. Ground temperature measurements, which many scientists call more accurate, all show warming in the past 18 years.

"There are people that like to claim there was no warming; they really can't claim that anymore," said Carl Mears, the scientist who runs the Remote Sensing System temperature data tracking.

The change resulted from an adjustment Mears made to the fix a nagging discrepancy in the data from 15 satellites.

The satellites are in a polar orbit, so they are supposed to go over the same place at about the same time as they circle from north to south pole. Some of the satellites drift a bit, which changes their afternoon and evening measurements ever so slightly. Some satellites had drift that made temperatures warmer, others cooler. Three satellites had thrusters and they stayed in the proper orbit so they provided guidance for adjustments.

Mears said he was "motivated by fixing these differences between the satellites. If the differences hadn't been there, I wouldn't have done the upgrade."

NASA chief climate scientist Gavin Schmidt and Andrew Dessler, a climate scientist at Texas A&M, said experts and studies had shown these problems that Mears adjusted and they both said those adjustments make sense and are well supported in a study in the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate.

The study refutes the idea of a pause in global warming, "but frankly common sense and looking at how Earth was responding over the past 18 years kind of makes this finding a 'duh' moment," wrote University of Georgia meteorology professor Marshall Shepherd.

Chip Knappenberger of the Cato Institute, who doesn't doubt that human-caused climate change is happening but does not agree with mainstream scientists who say the problem is enormous, said this shows "how messy the procedures are in putting the satellite data together."

The other major satellite temperature data set, run by University of Alabama Hunstville professor John Christy, shows slight warming after 1998. But if 1998 is included in the data, it sees no warming. But that should change with a warm 2016, Christy said. In fact, Christy used his measurements to determine that February 2016 was 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit above the average for the month  the largest such disparity for any month since records were first kept, in 1979.

As far as what this means for people claiming no warming, scientists don't expect them to change.

"I don't know what Cruz, et al., will do now," Dessler said in an email. "I think it will be increasingly difficult for them to claim that the satellite data show now warming, although it may be possible to say that it shows 'no significant warming.'
YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. According to the decree of March 4 of the President of The Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan , Ashot Kocharyan was relieved form the post of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Armenia to Lebanon. As "Armenpress" was informed by the Department of Public Relations and Mass Media of the Presidential Administration, by another decree of the President Samvel Mkrtchyan was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia to Lebanon (residence in Beirut).
If you have just started your journey in an online casino or are looking for a new site to play,...
YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. President of Artsakh Republic Bako Sahakyan summoned a consultation with the participation of heads and representatives of law enforcement and power structures. Armenpress was informed by the Central Information Department of the Presidents Office.

Issues related to the fight against crime, public order maintenance, plans for future to be implemented by the structures engaged in this process were discussed during the consultation.

Heads of the concerned bodies delivered corresponding reports and speeches.

In his speech President Bako Sahakyan noted that the efficiency of law enforcement and power system activity depended both on the work of individual structures and the level of their cooperation.

The Head of the State underlined that not a single crime should remain unpunished, which requires all structures to have an appropriate level of professionalism, adherence to principles and precise performance of their duties. Bako Sahakyan added that any criminal act should be considered unacceptable by the society.

National Assembly chairman Ashot Ghoulyan, prime-minister Arayik Haroutyunyan and other officials participated in the consultation.
CDC Director travels to Puerto Rico to assess Zika response

Media Advisory For Immediate Release: Friday, March 4, 2016

Contact: CDC Media Relations

404-639-3286

CDC Director Tom Frieden, MD, MPH, will travel to Puerto Rico March 7-9 to assess first-hand CDCs support for the Zika response. As of March 3, 103 cases of Zika virus infection have been reported to ArboNET, a surveillance system managed by CDC and state health departments, among residents in Puerto Rico. Public health experts are concerned the Zika outbreak could potentially lead to the infection of hundreds of thousands of people in Puerto Rico during 2016 based on past experience with dengue and chikungunya, which are transmitted by the same mosquitoes. We have seen increasing evidence of an association between Zika virus infection in pregnant women and microcephaly, a certain type of birth defect that occurs in some pregnancies, appear to be linked, with increasing evidence of causality.

CDC is collaborating closely with the Puerto Rico Department of Health on the public health response to the Zika outbreak. Dr. Frieden is traveling to the island to emphasize the need for preparedness and prevention to reduce the public health impact of the Zika outbreak in Puerto Rico, with a focus on reducing the risk of Zika virus to pregnant women. During his visit, Dr. Frieden will meet with key public health officials and local leaders to assess how CDC and other U.S. government partners can best support Puerto Ricos response to the outbreak.

Dr. Frieden will also meet with CDC staff on the island and visit the CDCs dengue lab, where Zika testing is underway. He will also tour the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) at the Puerto Rico Department of Health in San Juan.

Media interested in covering this trip are asked to contact the CDC Media Relations office at (404) 639-3286

###

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICESexternal icon
YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. After a 48 day halt the water supply resumed in Aleppo, Syria. As "Armenpress" reports this was announced by Aleppo's "Gandzasar" weekly. The Aleppo water company informed that it resumes water supply from the Khefse water supply center to the Sleymen Halapi center.

The company will clean the water supply pipes; afterwards water will be available for people in Aleppo. For 48 days, water supply in Aleppo was halted, because terrorist groups captured the Khefse water supply center 60 kilometers from Aleppo.

Photo by AFP / Getty Images
YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. Permanent Representative of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic to the USA Robert Avetisyan delivered a lecture at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law of the State of California on March 2. As Armenpress was informed from the press service of NKR MFA, the NKR Permanent Representative briefed on the formation and development of Artsakhs statehood, the past and present stages of the conflict between Azerbaijan and Karabakh, as well as the negotiation process.

A special emphasis was put on the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict in the context of international law. After the speech, Robert Avetisyan answered the questions of the participants concerning the current developments in Artsakh, the political and economic situations in the NKR, as well as a range of other issues. The lecture of the Artsakh representative, attended by representatives of the School's Armenian Students' Union and members of other Students' Associations, as well as by students and professors of law, was organized on the initiative of the School.
YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. The Kremlin is concerned over North Koreas statements about its readiness to use nuclear forces and urges all states to display restraint, Armenpress reports, citing TASS, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

"Certainly, it causes rather serious concern and we, of course, are very closely monitoring the situation and hope that all countries of the region and third countries will maintain a balanced and restrained approach in this difficult situation," he said.

Earlier on Friday, North Korea made a statement in response to the UN Security Council resolution on the toughening of sanctions against Pyongyang for its recent nuclear test and a space rocket launch.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has told the country's military to deploy the nuclear warheads so they can be fired at "any moment" and be prepared to launch preemptive attacks against its enemies. The Norths official Korean Central News Agency said on Friday that the forces hostile to Pyongyang led by the United States have approved "an unprecedented and gangster-like" resolution imposing sanctions on the country, undermining its rights as a sovereign state. In these circumstances, the agency reported, DPRK leader Kim Jong Un supervised the testing of a new multi-purpose missile launcher, which "will strengthen the striking power of the Korean Peoples Army."

The UN Security Council on Wednesday imposed a new set of tougher sanctions on North Korea to punish it for conducting a fourth nuclear test on January 6 and its subsequent launch of a long-range rocket using ballistic missile technology, both of which breached the UN Security Councils previous resolutions.
YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. The Seismological Network of the Seismic Protection Service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Armenia registered 17 earthquakes on March 4 from 11:03 to 13:24 by local time, 16 km south-west of Gavar, 10 km deep. The earthquakes measured 0.5-1.4 magnitude and 1-2 magnitude in the epicenter.
GYUMRI, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. The trial of Valery Permyakov, accused of killing 7 members of the Avetisyan family, resumed at the 102nd Russian military base in Gyumri. The first witness to testify was resident of Yerazgavors Michael Khlghatyan. "Armenpress" reports the witness said that on the night of January 12 he was driving near the Armenian-Turkish border and saw someone from distance and later heard gunshots. He thought they were hunters and left. Lawyers asked questions regarding his testimony given prior to the trial, which states that he approached a Willis car parked by the border, which was to be used to transport Permyakov, and inquired about him. The witness said that it happened a year ago, and he doesnt remember what he wrote.

There was also conflicting information in the testimony of the border detachments driver. When asked why he took the secret way to the gate while transporting Permyakov instead taking the usual way, the driver, Mamikon Harutyunyan, answered that he doesnt know and that he was obeying orders. The witness was also asked whether or not Permyakov had been interrogated by the border detachment commander and his deputy in the car. The driver said that he only heard them ask if he was the soldier who left the military base and where the weapon was. Mamikon Harutyunyan did not hear any other questions.

The deputy commander of the border detachment, State Border defense department head Davit Mirzoyan was also questioned. He said that as soon as he learned about the incident, he ordered to carry out constant surveillance of the border. Answering how long they have the right to keep someone in their detention, the witness said that if the person is unknown, they have the right to keep him for three hours and then must transfer him to the police or the National Security Service or to the agency that declared him fugitive. The witness also said that Permyakov was arrested as a fugitive, not as an Armenian-Turkish border violator. Another important factor that Mirzoyan mentioned is that Permyakovs transfer act was signed by the then- commander of the 102nd military base Andrey Ruzinsky and deputy commander of Russian border troops Bayandur border station Colonel Sergei Merzlikin, in the presence of the police.
YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. President Serzh Sargsyan conveyed a consultation over issues of bilateral economic relations between Armenia and France. As Armenpress was informed from the Department of Public Relations and Mass Media of Republic of Armenia Presidents Staff, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia to France Vigen Chitechyan was the keynote speaker. Considering that the relations between Armenia and friendly France are on a high level, and have developed in such a pace during the last years that both states assess those relations as preferential, todays consultation focused on current economic ties, opportunities to develop partnership in spheres of mutual interest, new directions and perspectives.

Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian, Head of Armenia-France Friendship Group, MP Ara Babloyan, Minister of Economy Artsvik Minasyan, and responsible members of Presidents Office attended the meeting.

Speaking about economic relations between Armenia and France, President Sargsyan mentioned that over 140 companies operating in Armenia by French capital which is a great contribution to Armenias economy.

The President also highlighted the launch of activities of the French Development Agency in Armenia, pointing out the construction of Vedi Reservoir. Everybody knows that back in 60-70s the citizens of Arart Province would dream of the construction of that reservoir. The agreement signed at the beginning of this year makes sure that the reservoir will be constructed within 3-4 years and will positively affect the development of Ararat valley, Serzh Sargsyan said.

President Sargsyan stated that trade turnover between Armenia and France is not satisfactory yet, adding that there are great potentials to develop those relations.

Ambassador Vigen Chitechyan reported in detail the issues on the economic agenda of Armenia and France. Armenian-French economic relations stay behind political relations to some extent. Todays consultation, for which I am very thankful, will definitely help us to analyze the reasons and find ways to level up economic relations, reaching them to political level, Vigen Chitechyan said.

He mentioned that economic relations between Armenia and France were not a priority until the end of 1990s. They activated since then and reached the pick in 2007-2008.

At the conclusion of the discussion, President Serzh Sargsyan gave instruction to the participants and relevant agencies on the issues, programs and problems which were raised during the meeting.
YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. In order to discuss the new electoral code international experts will arrive in Armenia in mid-March. "Armenpress" was informed by the Minister of Justice Arpine Hovhannisyan. "For a preliminary discussion of the new Electoral Code draft OSCE / ODIHR and the Venice Commission will arrive in Armenia in March 14-17," the Minister said. In December 6,

On December 6, 2015 the constitutional referendum was held in Armenia. The adoption of a new Constitution also implies the adoption of a new Electoral Code until June 1, 2016. The Government of the Republic of Armenia approved the new Electoral Code draft on March 3 and presented it to the National Assembly. The EC draft approved by the Government differs from the draft presented to the Venice Commission.
YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. Armenia's Defense Ministry hosted an event on International Women's Day, which was attended by Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan. The event was attended by mothers of 3 sons, performing military service in the Armenian army at the same time, women representatives of non-governmental organizations cooperating with the Armenian Ministry of Defense, female soldiers, veterans and MPs.

Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan in his speech congratulated the participants on International Women's Day on behalf of the Defense Ministry, wishing them further success, Armenpress reports.

Ohanyan said it is not accidental that Armenian Defense Ministry and Armenian army are the first starting to honor the Armenian women, as army is a big society of men who carry all the love and respect towards women; feel their warmth, so the first expression should be made by the entire staff of the army. The army has passed a long way. In the origins of the phrase Armenian army, heard from the mouth of each Armenian, we need to see a way, which was enormous, hard, full of war and fighting actions, in the origins of which not only men but also women stood, Seyran Ohanyan said.

According to him, the Armenian army is a complete character which represents all areas and segments of society.

Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan, during the event, awarded women freedom fighters, female veterans of the Great Patriotic War, mothers of 3 sons, performing military service in the Armenian army at the same time, women, working in the army, female officers in the Armenian Defense Ministry and female heads of NGOs with Armenian Defense Ministrys certificates and medals.

The event, dedicated to the International Women's Day, ended with a concert.
YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. The next court session over Permyakovs case, accused in murdering the Avetisyans family, will be held on March 11. As Armenpress reports, Romik Khachatryan the last witness, summoned from the border unit in 2012, who is currently on vacation, will be notified to appear in the court.

During this time, the court determines the location of Permyakovs 7 colleagues of the 102nd Russian military base, including the direct commander of the accused - Nikishin.

Successor of Avetisyans' family members, lawyer Yervand Varosyan said the testimony of these witnesses is very important for the consideration of the case. According to him, some of these soldiers were demobilized and others - were transferred to other units for the service.

Russian leadership could easily assure the presence of persons, who have not demobilized, at the trial, and what refers to those who no longer serve, it is necessary to clarify their addresses and alert. It is required to be performed by law, "- Varosyan said.

The 6 members of the Avetisyans family were shot and killed in Gyumri at around 6 a.m. on January 12, 2015. The only survivor was 6-month old Seryozha Avetisyan, who was transferred to a hospital with injuries caused by a cutting and piercing tool. The childs health condition became worse on January 19. After fighting for his life and undergoing several difficult surgeries for a week, six-month old Seryozha Avetisyan also died on January 19. There was severe renal insufficiency and cardiac insufficiency, and doctors werent able to save his life. Soldier of the 102nd Russian military base stationed in Gyumri, Valery Permyakov was charged with killing the members of the Avetisyan family and causing numerous injuries to little Seryozha. Russian border guards found him when he was trying to cross the Armenian-Turkish border and handed him over to the commanders of the 102nd Russian military base. Permyakov confessed his guilt.

State prosecutor Vladimir Andrusenko demanded 10 years of imprisonment for Valery Permyakov for desertion, usurpation and illegal bearing of arms. Valery Permyakov was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment for desertion, usurpation and illegal bearing of arms on August 12.
Let it be light between us,brothers and sisters from the Earth.Let it be love between all living beings on this

Galaxy.Let it be peace between all various races and species.We love you infinitely.

I am SaLuSa from Sirius

Channel:Laura/Multidimensional Ocean

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:Laura/Multidimensional Ocean
aShortChronicle covers local politics, events and issues in the Davidson, NC area.
Twenty-two years ago, Carmen Guzman and her husband followed a path. A journey which saw them migrate from Mexico City, Mexico to the United States. With only three changes of clothes and no literacy in the English language Ms. Guzman hoped for a better life for her family.



And today, two decades later, it is her family that is the driving force behind making a dream come true. The 53-year-old Ms. Guzman and her family now operate Rossville, Georgias newest restaurant, La Familia (or, The Family) Mexican Restaurant.



Celebrating a birthday Feb. 27, Ms. Guzman helped cut the ribbon on a present her entire family has worked day and night on for months. La Familia held its Grand Opening Feb. 26.



Ms. Guzman earned her Culinary Arts degree from Georgia Northwestern Technical Colleges Floyd County Campus in 2014. Her daughter, Paulina Martinez Diaz, is the general manager of La Familia. Also working at the restaurant are Ms. Diaz brothers, Moises Guzman, Josh Guzman, and Manuel Martinez and his wife, Fatima.



We didnt have the capital to start a restaurant, said Ms. Diaz. Its definitely been a miracle. From working full-time jobs during the day and then working until two or three in the morning doing renovations and repairs themselves, Ms. Guzman, Ms. Diaz, and the entire family put in the manual labor to make the restaurant happen. They had to paint, install sheet rock, rebuild booths, install plumbing, and more, just to get La Familia online and operational.



Now, the family who put in the hours working day and night, have quit their original full-time jobs to make La Familia their full-time priority. We worked really hard for this place and I dont regret it at all, said Ms. Guzman. "We came with nothing in March of 1994 to America from Mexico City. We worked very hard from 1994 to 2015. My husband washed dishes in a Mexican restaurant in Savannah and I ran the cash register. We saved up money for six months and then I went back to Mexico City to get Manuel and Paulina. We all four moved to Dalton and lived there eight years and then moved to Ringgold. My husband started working in construction in 1995."



Later this year, LaFamilia Mexican Restaurant plans to begin live music and karaoke each week. A patio is also in the works to be added to business. The family also plans to host fundraising events for local charities, including giving a portion of proceeds on a given day to benefit particular organizations, in the near future.



Ms. Guzman may have picked up on some of the culinary worlds giving spirit first-hand while attending GNTC. Among the projects the program hosted in 2015 was a specially catered event off-campus. The colleges Culinary Arts Director Chef Greg Paulson had his program prepare a luncheon for senior citizens early last year as part of a community development project in Rome, Ga.



Chef Paulson has been with the program since the ribbon-cutting in 2010. Before coming to GNTC to help build the Culinary Arts program, Chef Paulson spent two decades serving as the executive chef of the John Dominis Restaurant in Honolulu, Hi., the Mayflower Park Hotel in Seattle, Wa., and the Coosa Country Club in Rome, Ga.



The well-traveled chef also encourages his students to do the same. An international education initiative is taking place between GNTC, Savannah Technical College, and a Technical College System of Georgia partner school; Waterford Institute of Technology in Ireland. The three colleges are joining forces to offer Georgia culinary arts students a unique opportunity to participate in a culinary arts summer school later this year. Highly experienced faculty and professionals from across the food industry will direct practical and theoretical sessions and lead field trips to sites of culinary, cultural, and social significance.



Growing up in my hometown, there was a travel agency with a large marquee that stated See the world before you Leave it, said Chef Paulson. That was a very impressionable declaration for me and I have genuinely always guided my career path based on that statement. Because of that, I implore all of my students to travel and discover the vast culinary experiences, both regional and international.



GNTC offers a diploma in Culinary Arts. Those who enter the program learn everything from basic business skills to culinary principles to leadership. Students take their culinary lab courses in the Woodlee Building on the Floyd County Campus. With more than 7,300-square feet of operating space, the facility contains a dining room, office, storage space, and state-of-the-art teaching kitchen. GNTC is a unit of the Technical College System of Georgia and an equal opportunity institute.


Here is the Fort Oglethorpe arrest report for Feb. 26-March 3:

Heather Michelle Sexton, 26, of 60 Willow Street, Ringgold was arrested February 26 for driving while license suspended.



Christopher Matthew Qualls, 37, of 306 Alabama Street, Rossville was arrested February 27 for driving while license suspended.



April Faith Bruce, 25, of 7723 Selcer Road, Hixson was arrested February 27 on charges of safety restraint violation, registration and license requirements and driving while license suspended 2nd offense.



Karen Ann Coker, 39, of 505 Round Pond Road, Lafayette was arrested February 27 on charges of driving while license suspended and speeding.



Travis Antwain Sledge, 21, of 1711 Arlington Avenue, Chattanooga was arrested February 28 for violation of Georgias controlled substance act.



Jeremy Lee Summers, 31, of 727 East 11th Street, Chattanooga was arrested February 28 on charges of criminal trespass, fugitive from justice and theft by shoplifting.



Kirk Dewayne Lanier, 43, of 8103 Ciccero Trail, Chattanooga was arrested February 28 on charges of driving while license suspended/revoked and following too closely.



William Woodrow Tubbs, 34, of 762 East Asten Lane, Russellville, TN was arrested February 28 on a charge of pedestrian under the influence.



Mary Ann Fletcher, 46, of 1048A South Seminole Drive, Chattanooga was arrested February 29 on a charge of fugitive from justice.



Jacob Ryan Hardeman, 31, of 100 South Stovall Street, Fort Oglethorpe was arrested February 29 on charges of following too closely, insurance requirements and suspended registration.



Joshua Colin Peterson, 31, of 5305 Bennett Road, East Ridge was arrested February 29 for driving while unlicensed.



Alstin Gabriel Chavez, 18, of 59 Vinita Trail, Flintstone was arrested March 1 for driving while license suspended/revoked.



Mark Anthony Mode, 35, of 114 Yarbrough Drive, Flintstone was arrested March 1 on charges of acquiring license plate for purpose of concealing, driving while license suspended/revoked, failure to maintain lane, no insurance, operating an unregistered vehicle and obstruction of officers.



Magan Nicole Brumlow, 26, of 182 McOtis Drive, Fort Oglethorpe was arrested March 2 on charges of driving while license suspended/revoked, expired registration and tail light requirement.



Citation Statistics:



Speeding38

Pedestrian under the influence of alcohol or drugs..1

License required.1

Failure to obey stop signs and/or yield signs.3

Failure to yield right of way in crosswalk..1

Driving on roadways laned for traffic..1

Use of fighting words, obscene and/or vulgar language..1

Suspended registration..1

Failure to exercise due care.1

Brake lights and turn signals required.1

Window tint violation..4

Tail light requirements.1

Following too closely.11

Headlamps to be lit when transporting children.1

Failure to stop at, or return to the scene of an accident1

Driving while license suspended or revoked.7

Proof of insurance required.2

Removing or affixing license plate with intent to conceal.1

Safety belt violations18

Failure to obey traffic control device.1

Expiration and renewal of licenses; re-examination required1

Driving in circular or zigzag course; laying drags..1

Registration and license requirements..1

Failure to signal turn or lane change.1

License to be carried and exhibited on demand..2

Requiring or permitting the unlawful operation of a vehicle.1

Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.1

Operation of vehicle without current plate14






Barbara Ann Evans Woodfin, 82, of South Pittsburg, died on Thursday, March 3, in a local health care facility after an extended illness.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Bob; a daughter, Julie Dawn; her parents, Aubrey and Sadie; step-mother, Faye; and brother, Melvin.

She was born in Lafayette, on Jan. 17, 1934. Her family moved to South Pittsburg when she was two years old and Aubrey was named manager of a local grocery store, which he later purchased. She graduated from South Pittsburg High School and attended Union University in Jackson, Tn.

Returning to South Pittsburg from Sumter, South Carolina, where Bob finished his service in the Air Force, Barbara was first a stay-at-home mom and then later joined the family business as Advertising Manager of the South Pittsburg Hustler. After several years and awards, she migrated from the paid columns and began writing a cooking column, which combined two of her passions, good food and good stories.

She had an incisive wit and a concern for others, opting to keep her humor front and center and her benevolence out of public view.

Family members left to celebrate her life include her sons, Rob (Kimberly) and Chris (Terry), daughter, Kathryn (Norman); grandchildren, Joe, Chase, Aubrey, Chelsea, Alex and Sam; great-grandchildren, Luke and Maggie.

Visitation will be on Saturday, March 5, at 1 p.m. Central time at Rogers Funeral Home in South Pittsburg with a memorial service to follow at 2 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions could be made to Marion Animal Resource Connection.

A special thanks is extended to the staff of The Bridge at South Pittsburg for their kindness and care.

Condolences may be sent and stories shared by visiting www.rogersfuneralhome.com.
A chart compares mesons, composed of two quarks; baryons, composed of three quarks; and the lesser understood tetraquark, composed of four quarks.

The new particle is the first tetraquark to contain four quarks of different "flavors."

Research led by Indiana University physicist Daria Zieminska has resulted in the first detection of a new form of elementary particle: the "four-flavored" tetraquark.

Zieminska, a senior scientist in the IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Physics, is a lead member of the team responsible for the particle's detection by the DZero Collaboration at the U.S. Department of Energy's Fermi National Laboratory, which announced the discovery.

"For most of the history of quarks, it's seemed that all particles were made of either a quark and an antiquark, or three quarks; this new particle is unique -- a strange, charged beauty," said Zieminska, who has been a member of the DZero experiment since the project's establishment in 1985. "It's the birth of a new paradigm. Particles made of four quarks -- specifically, two quarks and two antiquarks -- is a big change in our view of elementary particles."

The results could also affect scientists' understanding of "quark matter," the hot, dense material that existed moments after the Big Bang, and which may still exist in the super-dense interior of neutron stars.

Quarks are the building blocks that form subatomic particles, the most familiar of which are protons and neutrons, each composed of three quarks. There are six types, or "flavors," of quarks: up, down, strange, charm, bottom and top. Each of these also has an antimatter counterpart.

A tetraquark is a group of four quarks, the first evidence for which was recorded by scientists on the Belle experiment in Japan in 2008. But the new tetraquark is the first quark quartet to contain four different quark flavors: up, down, strange and bottom.

Currently, Zieminska leads the "heavy flavor" group of the DZero experiment, which encompasses the study of all particles containing one or more "heavy quarks," including the new tetraquark, dubbed X(5568) for its mass of 5568 Megaelectronvolts, roughly 5.5 times the mass of a proton. The DZero experiment is led by Dmitri Denisov, a staff scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Fermilab.

"Daria was the lead person on the tetraquark observation and performed calculations, cross-checking and other work required to answer the hundreds of questions of the rest of the team," said Denisov, co-spokesman for the DZero experiment. "She was an active participant in the design and construction of the experiment and in the collection of the data."

The DZero experiment is also responsible for other fundamental physics discoveries, including the first observation, with the Collider-Detector at Fermilab experiment, of the elusive Higgs boson particle decaying into bottom quarks.

Other IU scientists engaged in the DZero project include the late Andrzej Zieminski, former professor of physics at IU Bloomington, who also joined the project in 1985, and Rick Van Kooten, IU vice provost for research, who joined in 2002 during "phase 2" of the project, which involved upgrades to the detector partially constructed at IU. Hal Evans, professor, and Sabine Lammers, associate professor, both at IU, also contributed to the upgraded detector.

DZero is one of two experiments collecting data from Fermilab's Tevatron proton-antiproton collider, once the most powerful particle accelerator in the world, officially retired in 2011. Zieminska and colleagues uncovered the existence of X(5568) based on analysis of billions of previously recorded events from these collisions.

As with other discoveries in physics, Zieminska said the new tetraquark's discovery was a surprise. Alexey Drutskoy, a colleague at Russia's National Research Nuclear University, spotted indications of the tetraquark signal in summer 2015, after which Zieminska joined him in the hunt. Only after performing multiple cross-checks, in collaboration with Alexey Popov, another Russian colleague, did the team confirm they were observing evidence for a new particle.

Although nothing in nature forbids the formation of a tetraquark, four-quark states are rare and not nearly as well understood as two- and three-quark states. Zieminska and colleagues plan to deepen their understanding of the tetraquark by measuring various properties of the particle, such as the ways it decays or how much it spins on its axis.

The discovery of the tetraquark also comes on the heels of the first observation of a pentaquark -- a five-quark particle -- announced last year by CERN's LHCb experiment at the Large Hadron Collider.
BY KEITH JACKSON

I SPENT NEARLY three years between 1970 and 1973 as station manager of Radio Bougainville .

The station was run by the TPNG Administration, its studios were in Kieta and I quickly discovered it was seriously disliked by most of its audience.

Even before I arrived in Bougainville , I understood that District Commissioner Des Ashton had a powerful influence over the station.

In fact, he had unknowingly lent his name to it. Throughout Bougainville it was known as Radio Ashton.

Which was better than Radio Des. But only just.

It was so-called because the District Commissioner was in the habit of directing the radio station as to how it should report the news. Especially news about the establishment of the Panguna copper mine.

Soon after arriving as manager I did two things: stopped Des' influence over our broadcasts and ran a contest for a new station identifier.

Maus Bilong Sankamap was the result. It's still in use.

When I arrived with the injunction that I should sort it out, I assessed the staff who would be assisting me to "sort it out".

There was Aloysius Sahoto, the senior broadcast officer from Sohano. A wonderful man. Never saw him rattled, even when he rolled the station vehicle.

There was Sam Bena, the smoothest, most complete radio announcer. Sam told me once, after hed been in the bush on a recording patrol, I went into this village and they laughed at me. I expressed surprise and Sam said: No, no. They looked at me and said, How can such a big voice come from someone so scrawny!

There was Tom Kathoa, a real tearaway back then, well settled 40 years later I understand, who is still doing great service at New Dawn FM on Buka.

Perpetua Tanaku, from inland of Kieta, was a beautiful black pearl who married a rebel leader and died of malaria, toothless and too young, after years in the bush.

And there was Aloysius Nase [NAR-say] of Nissan Island , a faraway place then as now, hardly part of Bougainville . Aloysius was a tall, quiet, good looking man of moody disposition and with eyes that flashed a challenge.

I was 25 with just three years radio experience under my belt and only a few months in management. In my anxiety as a neophyte manager I assessed Aloysius as ready to explode. But he never did. Nor did I, much. And certainly we never exploded at each other. When I think of Nase, the word than first comes to mind is reliable. The second is 'solid'.

Nase was a man to depend on. And I depended on him, as I did on Sahoto, to keep my youthful enthusiasm in check and to give me guidance about how one should deal with the big issues of Bougainville . And there were a lot of them.

Aloysius Nase died on Monday at the Buka General Hospital .

After Bougainville he became an Assistant Director at the head office of the National Broadcasting Corporation in Port Moresby before serving as Station Manager of Radio Madang and Radio Goroka.

At the time of his death, he was employed by the Ministry of Bougainville Affairs.

Aloysius Nase was a very good man.
"Our survey results said Sweden and New Zealand were the best ones for work-life balance," said Jacques Herman, head of international retail banking and wealth management at HSBC Bank USA. "The best work culture was in Sweden and New Zealand, as well. For job security, it was Sweden and Germany. Better career progression was Hong Kong and China."
Slim Geransar demonstrates PancakeBot on March 9, 2015, at the StoreBound booth at the International Home & Housewares Show at McCormick Place in Chicago. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)

Products from kitchenware brands CorningWare, Pyrex and Corelle have been in American homes for decades.

World Kitchen, the Rosemont-based company behind those brands, is trying to reach out to a new generation of customers: millennials.

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The demographic may have a reputation for living at home and delaying adulthood. But Kris Malkoski, president of global business and chief commercial officer, said millennials are also a generation of avid foodies who are seeing growing salaries and buying and outfitting first apartments and homes.

"We are really at the tipping point where more of our customers are becoming millennials," said Malkoski, who estimates the generation accounts for about half of World Kitchen's sales last year.

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Retailer Jill Foucre tours the 2015 International Housewares Show at McCormick Place. (Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune) (Chicago Tribune)

International Home & Housewares Show organizers said many companies at the 2016 show at Chicago's McCormick Place, starting Saturday, are exhibiting products designed to get millennials to open their wallets.

About 61 percent of the growth in sales of small home appliances came from millennials in 2015, according to a report from research firm NPD Group. The year before, although millennials only drove about 25 percent of overall spending on small kitchen appliances, they were the only demographic group increasing their budget for kitchen equipment, according to NPD Group.

"The sheer size of the millennial generation, and their fundamental need for the essentials, is what is moving the needle in many home-related categories," NPD Group home industry analyst Debra Mednick said in a statement.

Inventor Miguel Valenzuela, left, and Slim Geransar demonstrate PancakeBot at the Storebound booth at the International Housewares Show at McCormick Place in Chicago on March 9, 2015. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)

Millennials were also the only generation that reported eating more meals at home in 2014 than the previous year, saying they enjoy cooking and want to save money and eat healthier, according to NPD Group.

Companies selling kitchen products are eager to capture a slice of that market. Evan Dash, CEO of product innovation company StoreBound, said part of the reason his company targets millennial customers is the retailers who distribute his products demand it.

StoreBound's PancakeBot  which "prints" elaborate pancake designs  may be the company's most headline-grabbing product. But its fastest-growing products simplify making healthy, unprocessed food and combine a range of uses in a single appliance, such as a toaster oven that can roast, bake, dehydrate food, make yogurt and proof bread, Dash said.

Among World Kitchen's new products is a line of Corelle dinnerware that's still durable and stacks compactly but is now off-white, with more upscale designs, Malkoski said. New PRIME by Chicago Cutlery knives are made of black steel and have a stress ball-like grip designed to make chopping easier. Designs on glassware, bakeware and kitchen storage change more frequently so they can keep up with trends or offer seasonal products, Malkoski said.

Slim Geransar demonstrates PancakeBot on March 9, 2015, at the StoreBound booth at the International Home & Housewares Show at McCormick Place in Chicago. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)

"Millennials will tell you they don't have a lot of disposable income, but with the disposable income they have they do one of two things. They either buy something nicer that's going to last a long time, and our products fall into that, or they'll buy themselves a trip because they want that experience," Malkoski said.

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But they also often have tiny apartment kitchens, so Pyrex created a line of highly compact utensils designed for easy storage, like a collapsible whisk and measuring cups that snap tightly together.

While products matter, how they're pitched is also key, Malkoski and Dash said.

The demographic has been "a somewhat difficult code for larger companies to crack," said Dash.

When Malkoski came to World Kitchen in 2012, she said most brands didn't have Facebook pages. Now, the company has one employee whose sole job is to interact with customers on social media.

Both Dash and Malkoski said their companies try to "inspire" younger customers with photos, videos and recipes.

Millennials also do their homework, said Malkoski, who called them a "sophisticated and demanding audience."

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They read reviews on multiple websites and seek input from friends and family members who may have experience with a brand or product before making purchasing decisions, Malkoski said.

She said that can benefit World Kitchen's products with a long history, since millennials' parents or grandparents are likely familiar with the brands.

But they also like hunting for unique products and often aren't drawn to big-name brands, Dash said.

"They want to discover new things, share them, and use that as social currency with friends and parents," he said.

lzumbach@tribpub.com

Twitter @laurenzumbach
United Healthcare was one of the first health insurers to drop commission for sales of individual health plans. (Jim Mone / AP)

When Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois canceled his family's health plan last year, Tony Schor could have gone online to Get Covered Illinois, the state's insurance shopping mall, to buy a new policy.

But Schor, a small-business owner who lives in Highland Park, turned to his insurance broker.

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"There was not a chance in heck that I was going to navigate this by myself," said Schor. "I rely on a professional who is up to date about rules and regulations that are constantly changing in the insurance industry."

But such assistance to consumers like Schor who don't have employer-sponsored medical insurance may be in jeopardy. At least two health insurers in Illinois have either reduced or eliminated commissions this year to agents and brokers on new sales of exchange-based coverage. Blue Cross, the state's largest carrier, also recently announced it would ax payments to agents on individual and family plans that take effect April 1.

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Agents are upset with insurance companies because selling policies has become less lucrative. But they are also warning that reducing commissions could harm consumers and the fledgling state insurance exchange created by the federal Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

Russell Dixon, a Wheaton insurance agent and president of the Illinois State Association of Health Underwriters, said consumers will have a hard time finding an agent to help them or face the possibility of paying a separate consulting fee, which will raise the cost of insurance.

The elimination of commissions also is a move that signals the carriers' retreat from Obamacare business, Dixon said.

"ISAHU feels that the decisions being made now by insurance carriers in Illinois will impact the structure and functionality of the insurance marketplace in Illinois in the year ahead," Dixon said.

The trade organization, which represents more than 39,000 agents and brokers in Illinois, has expressed its concerns to federal and state insurance regulators. The group said the Illinois Department of Insurance has the authority to demand that consumer services promised as part of approved rates not be reduced during the year. Those services include support offered by brokers and agents.

Health insurers typically pay agents a flat fee or a small percentage of the monthly premium. Commissions are included in the rates that all consumers pay, whether they use a broker or not.

Karen Woods, director of Get Covered Illinois, declined to be interviewed.

Anjali Julka, spokeswoman at the Department of Insurance, which oversees the state insurance exchange, said in a statement, "The DOI is reviewing the issue and determining next steps to take."

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Eliminating commissions is a nationwide trend, as health insurers report financial losses in exchange-based plans. Carriers, which under the health law have to accept all applicants regardless of their health, have experienced higher-than-expected medical and drug costs. They also have not received the promised financial aid from a government program designed to reduce risk in the state exchanges.

In response, they raised premiums on 2016 policies and are cutting overhead expenses, such as marketing and administrative costs.

Broker commissions on exchange-based policies are now considered part of a company's overhead, after the Affordable Care Act required that insurers spend at least 80 cents of every premium dollar on medical care and activities that improve the quality of care. The rule is designed to protect against wasteful spending of consumers' premiums, but the change has resulted in carriers cutting commissions to reduce losses or boost profits.

Agents and brokers have played a big role in enrolling consumers in Obamacare plans. At Blue Cross, for instance, they generate about half of the individual policies sold on and off the exchange, said spokesman Michael Deering.

Blue Cross' decision to stop paying commissions in 2016 is a huge blow to agents and brokers because the insurer has about 80 percent of all the enrollees in the individual market in Illinois.

Deering said Blue Cross remains committed to the individual market but the nonprofit insurer hasn't decided whether to reinstate commissions next year.

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"The carriers are turning their backs on the very people that make up the company," John Jaggi, who runs an insurance agency near Decatur, said in an email. "They know that the brokers are the main reason a customer selects a carrier, and they know that we will be the first people that they come to for help in understanding benefits and being an advocate to help them settle premium and claim disputes."

UnitedHealthcare, the nation's largest health insurer, was one of the first to stop paying commissions this year. Blue Cross and Aetna dropped commissions in Illinois for plans sold after the annual open enrollment ended Jan. 31, highlighting their concerns about people who signed up for insurance after the deadlines in the last two years.

The health law created "special enrollment" periods for people who experience life changes such as marriage, a birth or loss of employer coverage between open enrollments. Last year, nearly 950,000 people, including about 40,000 in Illinois, used special enrollment periods to get coverage from late February to the end of June, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Insurers say the special enrollment periods are being abused. They claim people are waiting until they are sick to enroll and then dropping coverage after their health problems are resolved. Insurers say special enrollment periods weaken insurance markets and drive up premiums.

CMS last month tightened eligibility for special enrollment periods, but the change may be too little too late to appease insurers.

By eliminating commissions during special enrollment periods, carriers seek to reduce their exposure. But shunning the sickest and costliest patients may destabilize the market because carriers can unfairly shift risk to other insurers, Dixon said.

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As Illinois regulators review the issue, regulators in other states are taking more aggressive action. The Connecticut Insurance Department, for instance, blocked UnitedHealthcare from eliminating commissions because the company included them in its 2016 rate filing. The insurer agreed to a reduced commission.

In California, regulators are considering requiring insurers to give commissions to brokers and agents for both the open enrollment and special enrollment periods as part of their 2017 contracts.

Peter Lee, executive director of California's insurance exchange, addressed the agent compensation issue in a letter sent in January to Sylvia Burwell, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The director noted that mandated commissions would prevent potential discrimination by a carrier seeking to avoid adverse risk of a membership population, and ensure that all insurers fairly offer and promote enrollment.

Bill Forrest, a broker in Tinley Park since 1980, said dedicated and trained brokers add value to the insurance industry. But, without commissions, he has to take another look at his business model.

"Other professionals such as lawyers and engineers charge fees for their services," he said. "I will need to make a business decision."

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asachdev@tribpub.com

Twitter @ameetsachdev
There's an interesting signal in one of the opening scenes of "The Wave," the very good Norwegian tsunami disaster movie and Norway's official foreign language Oscar entry this year. Geologist Kristian (Kristoffer Joner) returns home from a job interview and finds his wife Idun (Ane Dahl Torp) underneath the sink, doing some home plumbing. Her comprehension of water pressure will serve her later, but, more importantly, it shows Idun to be resourceful and self-reliant, and the marriage between Kristian and Idun to be refreshingly egalitarian, devoid of traditional gender stereotypes. It's crucial that we know this early, because it comes into play with much higher stakes later.

"The Wave," directed by Roar Uthaug, is Norway's first ever disaster movie, and Uthaug has clearly taken some cues from American disaster movie conventions. Our hero is Kristian, the savant geologist, who seems to have a sixth sense for shifting mountain plates. It's his last day working on the early warning avalanche team in the small town of Geiranger, before he sets off for the city with his family to pursue a career in the oil industry. With a teenage son Sondre (Jonas Hoff Oftebro) and adorable daughter Julia (Edith Haagenrud-Sande), they're the picture-perfect family.

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But the persistent score doesn't let up from moment one, and the audience knows that Kristian's premonitions of rock slides triggering a massive wave of destruction across the peaceful and verdant fjord is inevitable. While the majority of the film takes place during the creeping dread and buildup to the tsunami, and then the wreckage and aftermath, the execution of the tsunami itself, starting from the first rumblings, through the 10-minute warning, to when it crashes into the steep mountain road lined with abandoned cars is awe-inspiring. But director Uthaug demonstrates a smart restraint in rendering the impact, and the violence is never gratuitous or overplayed.

Joner has a sort of hang-dog John Hawkes quality, and as the patriarch, he is the emotional center as much as the lifesaver. Husband and wife are each separated with a kid when the wave hits, and they get to share hero duties. Idun gets more of the physical action-based feats of courage, though the story emphasizes the power in teamwork. There's also a willingness to morally complicate their survival that's refreshing in a genre that's usually very black and white on right and wrong.

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What director Uthaug pitches perfectly right are the stakes. So many disaster movies are about the entire world ending, widening the scope too far to fully comprehend. In "The Wave," the whole world is the tiny seaside village of Geiranger, but the emotional connections are effectively established and the stakes of this tiny world ending feel both dire and realistic.

Realism seems to be the priority for Uthaug, and the film ends with a warning about the possibilities for an event of this type in the region sometime soon. While the hearty, bucolic charms of Geiranger beckon, the fear of a tsunami of this magnitude is enough to scare one away  perhaps because "The Wave" makes it look very, very real, and very terrifying.

"The Wave"  3 stars

MPAA rating: R (for some language and disaster images)

Running time: 1:44

Opens: Friday
The Republican presidential front-runner's proposal for a "serious" wall along the U.S./Mexico border spoke metaphorically to the first Thursday True/False screening. "Those Who Jump," a remarkable personal account of our global immigration plight, concerns African migrants living in a makeshift camp on Morocco's Mount Gurugu, overlooking the Spanish city of Melilla. The German filmmakers Moritz Siebert and Estaphan Wagner met one of those migrants, Abou Bakar Sidibe, from Mali. Sidibe became the primary filmmaker, recording the day-to-day life on Gurugu, as fresh waves of immigrants plot their next attempt at jumping the three fences separating Africa from Europe.
Some 650 Australian lives were lost in the Kokoda campaign and it is said this number would have been much greater had it not been for the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels.

The Angels were so-named by Australian soldiers to refer to Papua New Guineans who assisted and escorted injured troops along the Track.

He came from Manari village on the Track and was the last surviving Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel.

FAOLE Bokoi, the last living Papua New Guinean link with the World War II battles of the Kokoda Track, died in the early hours of yesterday morning

One Australian digger noted:

They carried stretchers over seemingly impassable barriers, with the patient reasonably comfortable. The care they give to the patient is magnificent. If night finds the stretcher still on the track, they will find a level spot and build a shelter over the patient. They will make him as comfortable as possible fetch him water and feed him if food is available, regardless of their own needs. They sleep four each side of the stretcher and if the patient moves or requires any attention during the night, this is given instantly.

Faole Bokoi died peacefully surrounded by his family and loved ones, including his two sons, Saii and Bokoi.

Saii, a Manari community leader, works in the Port Moresby office of the Kokoda Track Foundation.

Our thoughts are with Saii and Bokoi and their families, said KTF chairman, Patrick Lindsay AM. We send you love. We have lost the last living link with our beloved Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels on the Track.

Serviceman Sean Seery said, This man is part of my units history. What these men did on the Kokoda Track is in the entry to our units HQ [so] I'm lucky enough to be reminded every day of Kokoda and what they achieved.

My father spoke very fondly and with great respect for all that the Angels did for him and his mates while he was serving in New Guinea, you are now an angel in heaven, wrote Lyn Olsen.

And Cheryl Burner said, My dad was carried down from Kokoda by the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels. Their courage and bravery is part of our history and should never be forgotten.

Arlette Harris commented, My late father-in-law and many of his comrades-in-arms owed their lives to the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels. You will always be remembered with gratitude and respect by this family.
Kevin Spacey has spent so much time around the American presidency that he should have his own Secret Service code name.

The actor recently completed his fourth season playing President Frank Underwood on the Netflix political drama "House of Cards," which begins streaming March 4.

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He also wrapped up his first big-screen presidential role in "Elvis & Nixon," inspired by the strange 1970 Oval Office meeting between the king of rock 'n' roll, Elvis Presley, and the imperial president. Amazon Studios and Bleecker Street are releasing the feature this spring.

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And off-camera, Spacey is known to pal around with former White House occupant Bill Clinton, who is apparently a fan of the actor's spot-on impression of him. "He loves it," said Spacey, sipping a large cup of coffee recently as he prepared for a long day of press interviews at a hotel in Manhattan's NoMad district. "When we toured Africa together  he used to get up and pretend he was hoarse and say [as Clinton], 'My voice is gone, my friend Kevin is going to give the speech.' So I'd get up and start giving his speech, and he'd go, 'Sit down, you're doing too good. I'm going to do it.'"

Clinton, Nixon and even Underwood figure into Spacey's new CNN original series, "Race for the White House," which premieres March 6 (7 p.m. Pacific time). Each week, the show will look at a compelling presidential campaign from the past using some combination of reenactments, archival news footage and interviews with historians, experts and participants.

The races were selected for their historical significance and, perhaps coincidentally, have a high quotient of dirty tricks and bare-knuckle tactics. They range from the 1828 rematch between Andrew Jackson and incumbent John Quincy Adams, which led to the rise of the Democratic Party, to the generational power shift that came with baby-boomer Clinton's victory over World War II hero George H.W. Bush in 1992.

"These races give you a pretty great swath of time," said Spacey, who narrates the series as well as serving as co-executive producer. "They show that whether someone's ideas travel very slowly or very quickly, there is a lot that hasn't changed in terms of how politics works."

Dirty politics

While people complain about the deterioration of discourse in the current political environment, "Race for the White House" shows how ugly it was back in the day too.

Supporters of Adams leaked letters to the press that showed Jackson was bad at spelling (just like 2016 Republican contender Marco Rubio is doing to his tweeting rival Donald Trump). They called the general a bigamist and a brutal killer who executed his own men on the battlefield. Jackson's camp accused Adams of being a pimp, claiming he once procured female company for the Russian czar.

Such campaign handiwork would make Frank Underwood proud. The intrigue, music and even the credits for "Race for the White House" are bound to remind viewers of "House of Cards," and that's just fine with CNN.

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"We wanted it to feel like a political thriller," said Amy Entelis, executive vice president of talent and development for CNN. "We didn't want to make it a history lesson."

Entelis looked at a number of election-themed ideas for an original series to run in a year when CNN is providing saturation coverage of the presidential campaign. Most of them were looks at the 2016 race from an insider's perspective, which she believed might be overkill.

Then along came the pitch for "Race for the White House." Spacey, a fan of Tom Hanks' CNN series "The Seventies," came attached to the project with Dana Brunetti, his partner at Trigger Street Productions and the British TV company Raw.

"It might have been one of the fastest greenlights we've given to anything," Entelis said.

The premiere episode recounts Nixon's loss to John F. Kennedy in 1960, a hard-fought race so close that it may well have been decided on some dubious results in Illinois and in JFK running mate Lyndon B. Johnson's Texas. Nixon, who had trouble adapting to campaigning in the emerging television age, comes off as sympathetic and even heroic for choosing not to contest the outcome.

It's a different Nixon than the one Spacey became acquainted with as he studied for the role in "Elvis & Nixon." To prepare, the actor spent hours listening online to the obscenity-laden White House tapes that revealed Nixon's knowledge of the Watergate break-in, which led to his resignation.

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"He was remarkably grumpy," Spacey noted as he channeled the 37th president's rumbling cadences. "The level of paranoia  'They are out there trying to get in, trying to get us.' He was a man who felt entrapped. A man who felt unhappy. The thing that was really most surprising was his use of language  'the god damned [expletive deleted]'  I think that was more shocking than a missing 18-minute gap."

Spacey also examined his screen test for Ron Howard when the director was casting his 2008 feature "Frost/Nixon." (Nixon was played by Frank Langella.)

The reason I wouldn't think of running is because I like to get things done.  Kevin Spacey

"Ron Howard really needed to see if the actors tested could do Nixon," he said. "I thought I was talking too slow and thought it was too much of an imitation. I learned quite a lot watching again."

Spacey's portrayal in "Elvis & Nixon" is based more on the president's essence  a public man who didn't like dealing with the public. "It's often said he went into the wrong profession for the kind of person he was," Spacey said. "You look at private photos of him sitting in the White House, he was kind of uncomfortable being in his own body."

Spacey's interest in politics goes back to his teenage years in the San Fernando Valley. He stuffed envelopes for Jimmy Carter's successful 1976 campaign and worked on John Anderson's independent White House bid in 1980.

Run for office?

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He became friends with Clinton  his favorite president, he says  back when the Democrat was governor of Arkansas. The actor was also in the ballroom the night Hillary Clinton, the 2016 front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, celebrated her election to the U.S. Senate.

His connection to Washington has been further solidified by Frank Underwood. The Smithsonian recently added a portrait of Spacey in character as Underwood painted by British artist Jonathan Yeo.

That blurring of art and reality  no doubt aided by the use of real-life TV journalists who eagerly appear as themselves on "House of Cards"  has admittedly become bizarre for Spacey. He's been told there are "a great number of people in China" who believe he is the real president of the United States.

As comfortable as Spacey looks behind an Oval Office desk, he's never been seriously approached about running for any public office, nor would he consider it. Like many Americans, he's angry about political gridlock.

"The reason I wouldn't think of running is because I like to get things done," he said. "I like to have goals, and I like to achieve them, and I think I'd be very frustrated by the situation as it exists now. It doesn't mean I don't admire those in public service. I'd be enormously frustrated by not being able to get everything done that I wanted to get done. I might take on tactics of a Frank Underwood."

stephen.battaglio@latimes.com
Reporting from WASHINGTON  President Obama says he plans to stay in Washington after the end of his presidency so that his younger daughter can finish high school with her class, a rare disclosure about his family's personal plans.

During a visit with voters in Milwaukee on Thursday, Obama said he wasn't sure where he and wife Michelle Obama would settle down for the long term, but added that they were putting off the decision until daughter Sasha finished at Washington's Sidwell Friends School in spring 2019.

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"Transferring someone in the middle of high school  tough," Obama told a group of people gathered to have lunch with him at a Milwaukee restaurant.

Then he quickly asked a group of White House reporters to step away while he finished his lunch.

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Obama said in an interview with Barbara Walters three years ago that he and his family might decide to live in Washington after his presidency, at least as long as Sasha remained in school. Sasha, 14, is in ninth grade. Malia Obama, 17, will graduate from Sidwell this spring.

The first lady, protective of her family's privacy, has declined to discuss specific plans. The Obamas have also refused to talk about where they will live after their daughter graduates, spurring speculation that they might not return to her hometown of Chicago, where Obama began his political career.

In an interview with the Chicago Tribune last month, when asked whether he planned to move back to Illinois, Obama said only that he would "certainly be spending time here."

In Milwaukee on Thursday, Obama was relaxing as he met with people who have written him letters to talk about what Obamacare has meant in their lives. They also talked about the weather and life in the Midwest, prompting Obama to remark that he "always feels good being closer to home."

A woman at the table asked where he would live after he was through being president. Most presidents move back to their home states after they leave office, though some start new lives elsewhere; President George W. Bush went back to Texas, but President Clinton moved to New York instead of Arkansas so his wife could run for the Senate.

"We haven't figured that out yet," he said. "We're going to have to stay a couple of years so Sasha can finish."

He then urged the pool of reporters to move along, saying, "Get out of here." It was unclear whether Obama intended to disclose the family's plans so publicly.

Michelle Obama's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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christi.parsons@latimes.com

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Tourists interact with rock iguanas in the Bahamas, the site of a Shedd Adventure this summer. (Charles Knapp/Shedd Aquarium)

Shedd Aquarium wants to get nature lovers out of the aquarium  and the city  with trips designed to put people even closer to marine life.

The recently announced roster of summer excursions led by Shedd experts includes getaways to the Bahamas, the Pacific Northwest and Mexico.

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"We hear people say they want to make a difference and they don't know how," said Cheryl Mell, senior vice president of global field experiences at the Chicago aquarium. "We're always trying to connect what we love about these animals with what's really happening in the wild."

Swimming with whale sharks, kayaking and pitching in with conservation fieldwork are some of the activities featured in the Shedd Adventures program, now in its fourth year.

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Here's this summer's lineup:

Iguana Research Expedition

When: June 18-26 and Sept. 3-11

Spend 10 days in the Bahamas aboard the aquarium's research vessel, Coral Reef II, as you travel to islands in search of endangered Bahamian rock iguanas. You'll help collect iguanas for research and snorkel near Lee Stocking Island.

Price: $2,495 a person, double occupancy, excluding airfare to and from Miami.

Kayaking in the San Juans

When: June 30-July 4

Aimed at millennials, this five-day, four-night kayaking trip through Washington's San Juan Islands is tailored to people 35 and under. It's billed as suitable for all levels of kayakers. The lodging is a mix of camping and hotels, with guests spending the first and last nights at Swinomish Lodge in Anacortes, Wash.

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Price: $1,499 a person, double occupancy, not including airfare.

Swim with Whale Sharks

When: July 20-24

Spend four days in Mexico, where you'll swim with the world's largest fish during the popular Whale Shark Festival. (Don't worry; these docile fish prefer plankton to people.) Guests stay in a boutique hotel on Isla Mujeres off the coast of Cancun. The group will go on private boat tours in search of not only sharks, but also angelfish, crabs and schools of blue tang fish. The trip caps off with an exploration of Mayan ruins in Tulum.

Price: $1,495 a person, double occupancy, airfare excluded.

Trip prices include one sponsor-level Shedd membership (a $500 value) per household, Mell said.

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www.sheddaquarium.org
Escape artist and drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman made two furtive visits to the United States last year while he was on the lam, his daughter has told the Guardian in an exclusive interview.

Rosa Isela Guzman Ortiz, 39, a U.S. citizen, said her father sneaked into California to visit her in late 2015 at the large, five-bedroom home he purchased for her and her four children, the location of which was not disclosed. According to the Guardian, Guzman Ortiz owns a chain of small businesses, but she insisted that any money she received from her father was clean.

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Asked how her father managed to cross the heavily patrolled U.S. border with Mexico  whose alleged porousness has become a major theme of leading Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump  Guzman Ortiz declined to answer. "I asked him the same, believe me," she said.

Jacqueline Wasiluk, a Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman, said Friday the agency has "no information that substantiates the claims in news reports" about Guzman.

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Guzman's Sinaloa cartel has engineered dozens of smuggling tunnels under the U.S. border over the past decade or more, but those are only the ones authorities know about. It wouldn't have been difficult for Guzman to zip into California through one of the passageways, many of which have sophisticated ventilation systems and customized shuttle carts for moving drugs, guns, cash and people back and forth.

Guzman was recaptured by Mexican navy commandos in January and is being held at the same maximum security prison he escaped from last July using an elaborate mile-long tunnel leading straight up to his shower drain.

What Guzman Ortiz told the Guardian is what millions of skeptical Mexicans already believe: The government let him out. "My dad's escape was an agreement," she said in the interview.

At least 34 people have been charged with facilitating the escape, including the head of Mexico's federal prison system.

Guzman Ortiz's statements, and those of other Guzman surrogates in recent weeks, appear to be part of a concerted public relations campaign, with his wife, attorneys and now his daughter all giving detailed interviews reportedly at Guzman's behest.

"My dad is not a criminal. The government is guilty," Guzman Ortiz told the Guardian. She claimed that her father has financed the election campaigns of high-ranking Mexican politicians who have since betrayed him.

She said her father was also double-crossed by longtime trafficking partner Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, the man now believed to be at the helm of the Sinaloa cartel, Mexico's most powerful drug organization.

It was the first interview Guzman's daughter has given. The Guardian said it confirmed her identity with several documents and with an evangelical pastor in the rural community of Badiraguato in Mexico's Sinaloa state, where Guzman grew up dirt-poor and hungry.

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Through his lawyers and his wife, Emma Coronel, a former beauty queen, Guzman has recently alleged mistreatment by prison authorities, claiming that they frequently disturb his sleep.

Coronel, a dual U.S.-Mexican citizen in her mid-20s who gave birth to Guzman's twin daughters in California in 2011, told Telemundo that the treatment amounts to "torture" and that she fears for her husband's life.

On Wednesday, Guzman's attorney, Jose Refugio Rodriguez, told reporters that the wake-ups have become so intolerable that his client is willing to drop legal challenges to his extradition to the United States and plead guilty, provided he is allowed to serve at a medium-security U.S. prison. U.S. officials have not commented on the offer.

But the proposal also looks like a shot across the bow for Mexican authorities who may have ties to Guzman and the Sinaloa cartel, as his daughter and others allege.

Guzman, 61, or maybe 58  his birth date is also still a mystery  has been in the drug trade nearly all of his life, and he is believed to possess damning information about two generations of Mexican politicians and security officials.

On U.S. soil, there would be little to prevent him from sharing it with the Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. law enforcement as part of a deal for less-harsh prison conditions.

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Though she did not say, Guzman Ortiz's statements also raise the possibility that her father spent time in the United States prior to his previous arrest in 2014. He was also captured in Guatemala in 1993 but broke out of another maximum-security prison in 2001 by hiding in a laundry cart, as the legend goes.

Asked in 2011 where Guzman might be hiding, then-president Felipe Calderon said in an interview with The New York Times that the drug lord wasn't hiding in Mexico. "I suppose he's in the United States," he said. "How many families and drug bosses would be more comfortable on the northern side of the border instead of the southern side?"
Go jump in a lake. In March.

Why would anyone do it if it weren't for charity?

Giesbrecht

We found one guy, an expert nicknamed "Professor Popsicle," who has jumped into cold water 40 times as part of his study of the human response to extreme environments. (He says he never has participated in a Polar Plunge-type event, but he has been the master of ceremonies for two of them.)

Dr. Gordon Giesbrecht is a professor of thermophysiology at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. His research, which includes pre-hospital care for hypothermia and strategies to escape sinking vehicles, has led to protocols used by the military and law enforcement agencies in Canada, Sweden and the United States.

Giesbrecht explained in an email how the bodies of participants in Sunday's Chicago Polar Plunge at North Avenue Beach will react to the near-freezing Lake Michigan water.

Tribune: What is the body's initial reaction to the feeling of cold water?

Giesbrecht: It's known as cold shock response, which includes a few gasps followed by hyperventilation (rapid, shallow breathing). You also feel very cold and uncomfortable.

Mouth: Instant gasps for air followed by rapid, shallow breaths. Heart: Sudden increase in heart rate. Dangers for those with underlying heart disease. Lungs: Sudden increase in breathing Skin: Uncomfortable cold sensation that could turn into pain and numbness.

Tribune: How does the body's reaction change as the length of time in cold water continues?

Giesbrecht: The cold shock response usual dies down after about 45-60 seconds. The extreme cold sensation will also change to other feelings like pain or numbness.

Tribune: What are the health risks one takes when participating in an event like this?

Giesbrecht: If someone has underlying heart disease, the cold shock response also stimulates the heart and could trigger cardiac arrest. This does happen occasionally in polar bear swims, though rare.

The other risk  if you dive or jump in so your head goes underwater immediately, you could drown if you can't control the gasp of the cold shock response.

It is better to wait until the effects die down and then you are more able to hold your breath and put your head under the water if you really want to.

Tips for Polar Plunge participants from the event's organizers Wear shoes: They are required because of uneven sand and icy water.

They are required because of uneven sand and icy water. Bring dry clothes: Heated changing tents are available after the plunge.

Heated changing tents are available after the plunge. Be cautious: Enter the water slowly. As Giesbrecht says, don't put your head underwater immediately (or at all, if you don't want to).

Enter the water slowly. As Giesbrecht says, don't put your head underwater immediately (or at all, if you don't want to). No running or diving allowed. The water is too shallow.

or allowed. The water is too shallow. Not brave? Don't go underwater: Dipping your toes or going waist-high into the lake is allowed.

Dipping your toes or going waist-high into the lake is allowed. Exit the water quickly.

the water quickly. Don't drink alcohol: Celebrate after the event.

Celebrate after the event. Emergency medical personnel will be on hand, including Chicago police divers.

will be on hand, including Chicago police divers. Use common sense: If you have an underlying health condition, then check with your doctor before participating in this event.

Sources: Dr. Gordon Giesbrecht, University of Manitoba, Chicago Polar Plunge

@ChiTribGraphics
Fifth-graders at Highland Elementary School in Elgin sit at their computers after finishing PARCC testing. (Dave Gathman / The Courier-News)

The Illinois State Board of Education has launched an investigation into why so many kids in certain districts skipped state exams last year  which may include questioning parents and even students after several hundred schools failed test participation requirements.

The process  which one critical administrator likened to the centuries-old Inquisition  comes on the eve of 2016 state testing, when families are once again deciding whether to pull their kids out of state exams.

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The state's "inquiry" would gather "evidence and testimony" from school staff, community members, parents and "even students if appropriate," according to a letter sent to districts from state schools Superintendent Tony Smith.

The Feb. 18 letter, obtained by the Tribune on Thursday, said regional education superintendents in Illinois would gather the facts and report back to ISBE.

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The new state math and reading exams, called PARCC, were administered for the first time in Illinois to third- through eighth-graders and some high school students last spring. Thousands of families in Chicago Public Schools, affluent suburban districts and downstate allowed their children to forgo the exams, often citing the length of the tests and concerns about the amount of testing in schools.

"After reviewing and considering all this information, ISBE should have a clear understanding as to why the participation rate was not satisfied and then may tailor any course of action to the specific circumstances of each school district," the ISBE letter said.

What that action would be was not spelled out, but the inquiry itself spurred a backlash from families who support allowing students to opt out of state exams.

"It is shocking," said Cassie Creswell, a former CPS parent and activist in organizations that support the opt-out movement. "They are doing this to intimidate people as the new testing season starts."

School administrators raised concerns about the state's move, though they were awaiting more details on what would transpire. ISBE did not respond to requests for comment.

Given that the state remains in a budget crisis, "I think there are higher priorities for our state at this time," Winnetka Public Schools District 36 Superintendent Trisha Kocanda said of the inquiry.

Kocanda's district includes elementary and middle school students. She did not think those children should be interviewed as part of an inquiry.

None of the schools in her district met the federal requirement for participating in state exams, with only about half of middle school students taking the tests at Washburne School. The federal government requires that at least 95 percent of students in schools and districts take both English language arts and math state exams and has warned in the past that sanctions could result if too few students participate.

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Kocanda said her district was aware that a large number of students were not taking the exams last year. "We contacted the state multiple times to provide us guidance and to ensure we were doing due diligence to comply with policies and procedures.

"Our position was that families were going to make their own decisions, and we were very clear in our communication that the state requires us to administer the assessments," she said.

The participation requirement has become a growing factor in debates about state testing, as more families decide to remove children from the exams.

In 2015, 44,000 students missed the PARCC exam in the English language arts component and 42,000 didn't take the math segment  representing about 4 percent of the more than 1 million students who were tested. Students usually were marked absent or flat-out refused to test.

Those numbers are used in a complex formula that determines whether schools and districts meet the 95 percent participation requirement.

The state analyzes not only whether students as a whole meet the 95 percent threshold but if groups of students meet the requirement, based on their race and other factors. Overall, a little more than 400 schools did not meet the participation requirement in each of the English and math exams, according to data provided by the state. That reflects about 12 percent of all schools taking state exams in third through eighth grade and in high school.

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Some of Chicago's top-performing high schools were among those with the highest number of students who didn't take the exams, including Northside College Prep and Lane Tech on the North Side and Lindblom Math & Science Academy in the West Englewood neighborhood.

ISBE's letter said the agency "is legally required to inquire into circumstances surrounding the participation rate and respond in a manner appropriate to such circumstances."

Kevin O'Mara is superintendent of the Argo Community High School District in south Cook County and president of the Illinois High School District Organization. He's been disputing the state's calculations about his district  he said almost all of his students took the state exams last year, though the state says that's not the case.

"The Illinois State Board of Education's fixation on testing and compliance is overwhelming to students, families and teachers," O'Mara said. "The testing required by them and their threats for noncompliance based on wholly inaccurate attendance numbers for public schools' PARCC participation stops us from helping students learn. Let's not forget what our roles are; we are supposed to be helping kids, and the over-testing culture puts roadblocks in our way."

As for the state's investigation, O'Mara said, "The inquiry he (state Superintendent Smith) proposes is like something out of the Inquisition."

In Arlington Heights-based Township High School District 214, almost every school fell short of the 95 percent requirement, with only about 9 percent of students taking the state exams at Rolling Meadows High School.

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Superintendent David Schuler, who is president of the national School Superintendents Association, believes Illinois and other states were likely required by the federal government to determine why too few students took the exams, and he doesn't think sanctions would be involved.

"While the feds probably do have the right to require this of states, I do think it's a waste of time if everybody has agreed that there are no sanctions put in place," Schuler said.

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He said he was "fine" with his high school students being interviewed and that he's "really not stressed" about the inquiry. "We will see what the regional office comes up with. I'll be really frustrated if the requests are just over-the-top unbelievable."

The regional education offices are overseen by an elected regional superintendent. Appointed executive directors oversee the north, west and south suburban Cook County regional offices, which are called intermediate service centers.

Bruce Brown, executive director of the north suburban Cook office, said he was just recently brought into the inquiry process by ISBE to serve as the "investigative agency" for the districts in his area. He's received no further information or training materials so far, and his office has not previously been involved in state testing issues, he said. Brown said the office "is not out to be punitive."

The second year of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers exams, PARCC for short, starts next week, though districts can choose when to give them over the course of several months. The exams are based on Common Core standards for what students should know, and they focus on critical thinking and problem-solving.

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Creswell, of the opt-out movement, thinks the number of families opting out likely will rise this testing season, given that so far there have been no sanctions on schools or districts when students don't take state exams.

"The state has cried wolf for two years now. You (districts) are going to lose money, you're going to lose money. Maybe they'll ratchet up enough threats that people will be scared, but others will be more angry," she said.

drado@tribpub.com
Before a recent breakfast speech to the City Club of Chicago, Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez opted to walk in through the kitchen to avoid a group of sidewalk protesters out front who were angrily chanting about her handling of the Laquan McDonald police shooting case.

Later that day, protesters interrupted a domestic violence forum where Alvarez appeared with her two challengers. They chanted "16 shots and a cover-up," a reference to the number of times McDonald was shot by police, and they handed out comics titled "10 Things You Hate About Anita," featuring illustrated examples of their complaints with how she has run the office.

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The protests have made a difficult re-election campaign even tougher for Alvarez.

"It disrupts whatever event I'm at, for sure," said Alvarez, who called the protests "a politically driven diversion" orchestrated at least in part by backers of challenger Kim Foxx.

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A prosecutor of three decades, Alvarez has tried to counter the political firestorm by arguing that the most important issue facing voters in the March 15 Democratic primary is not the McDonald case, but Chicago's unremitting violence and who is best equipped to handle the fallout.

"As you know, there are very many important issues to debate in this race for Cook County state's attorney, but I think that the No. 1 issue that we need to discuss is violent crime and the horrific crime rate here in the city of Chicago," Alvarez said during the City Club speech.

Alvarez's success or failure in her bid for a third term may hinge on whether Democratic voters agree with her about the need for an experienced law-and-order state's attorney to combat violence, or with protesters and her opponents who say she has to go because of problems with the McDonald investigation, her failures on other high-profile cases and an unwillingness to embrace more progressive policies.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 11 State's Attorney for Cook County Anita Alvarez photographed in her office on Jan. 11, 2016. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

For Alvarez, this is the first time since she won a rough-and-tumble six-way race to succeed retiring State's Attorney Richard Devine in 2008 that she faces a strongly contested election. Challengers Foxx and Donna More are hammering her relentlessly for taking more than a year to charge white Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke with murder in the 2014 death of black teen McDonald, putting Alvarez in the position of repeatedly defending the investigation while trying to cast her foes as political opportunists.

Even before the McDonald case, Alvarez already faced displeasure from some African-American elected officials. They'd been critical of her before the 2012 primary, saying she had failed to reach out to the black community, but they didn't field a challenger. The animosity increased in some quarters following Judge Dennis Porter's April 2015 acquittal of white Chicago police Officer Dante Servin in the shooting death of Rekia Boyd, a 22-year-old African-American woman.

In his ruling, Porter said Alvarez's decision to charge Servin with involuntary manslaughter for killing Boyd when he fired into a crowd in March 2012 tied the judge's hands because Servin did not act recklessly. Pointing a gun at someone and firing is an intentional act, Porter ruled, implying Alvarez should instead have charged Servin with first-degree murder.

Critics said Alvarez fumbled the case. Alvarez said Porter engaged in "legal gymnastics" to let Servin off, and insisted she proceeded with the charges she believed her office could win.

Alvarez also has drawn criticism for other high-profile incidents. During a 2012 "60 Minutes" story on wrongful convictions in Chicago, she was portrayed as insensitive to the ability of DNA evidence to exonerate defendants.

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At one point, Alvarez suggested necrophilia could explain DNA linking a serial rapist to the 1991 murder of a 14-year-old girl in Dixmoor, a crime for which five teens were wrongly convicted. Alvarez said she simply responded to the "60 Minutes" reporter bringing up the necrophilia possibility that previously had been used in the case, and said her response was used out of context when the show aired.

If I wasn't in the middle of an election, would I still be getting criticized? I think the answer is no.  Anita Alvarez, on the ongoing criticism she receives related to her handling of the Laquan McDonald shooting

And Alvarez has faced criticism for her handling of the re-investigation of the 2004 death of David Koschman. In 2012, a judge handed the case over to a special prosecutor, who secured a guilty plea to involuntary manslaughter from Richard Vanecko, nephew of former Mayor Richard M. Daley, in Koschman's death. Judge Michael Toomin criticized Alvarez for seeking to "denigrate the evidence against Vanecko" and going out of her way to find "legal justification for Vanecko's use of deadly force."

A group of attorneys also recently called for a special prosecutor in the McDonald case, one that's shaken Chicago's political foundations.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel was pilloried for delaying the release of police dash-cam video of Van Dyke shooting McDonald until well after he was re-elected last year, while Alvarez found herself the focus of intense criticism for how long it took her to charge Van Dyke. The charges came more than a year after the shooting and just hours before the court-ordered release of the video.

Chicago seethed with mass protests late last year as marchers called for Emanuel and Alvarez to be removed from office. But few elected officials took up the call for the mayor's ouster. And while occasional protests continue, the rallies that were near-daily occurrences outside Emanuel's City Hall office in November and December have petered out.

Alvarez, on the other hand, was on the cusp of what was already shaping up to be a tough re-election fight, with Democratic Party officials split on whether to back her or Foxx even before the McDonald video cast the incumbent in a harsh light. That has offered Cook County's political class a clear opportunity to step away from Alvarez.

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"My point was the following: Laquan McDonald, there wasn't fairness, there wasn't justice for him," Democratic U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez said in January of his decision not to support Alvarez after having done so in the past. "I thought her office took just too long, 14 months." Gutierrez has endorsed Foxx instead.

After opting in August not to endorse, county Democratic committeemen reconsidered and threw their support behind Foxx in January at the behest of County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who's backing Foxx, her former chief of staff.

The impending election has provided those angered by her handling of the McDonald shooting a clear goal. Protesters at the City Club displayed a banner reading "Anita Alvarez Must Go  Vote March 15."

At the City Club, Alvarez tried to make light of the situation, painting the small crowd outside as being made up of young people who often turn up at her events.

"You know, I see the same group of people and I've gotten to know them, so as a mother I hope we can maybe give them some to-go bags to make sure they eat today," she said.

Alvarez pointed to the campaign to explain the ongoing criticism she faces for McDonald. "If I wasn't in the middle of an election, would I still be getting criticized? I think the answer is no," she said.

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Alvarez has keyed in on her experience, releasing a list of about 200 public employees and law enforcement officers who have been prosecuted during her time in office. Many of those she charged were low-level employees accused of theft or police officers charged with drunken driving or official misconduct.

The two-term state's attorney has been able to raise some money to get her campaign message on TV. Her political fund had nearly $700,000 to start the year, and she has reported tens of thousands of dollars more in the weeks since, much of it from construction trade unions and lawyers and law firms her office deals with in court. She and husband, Dr. James Gomez, also recently lent the campaign $200,000.

"The final decision is not going to be in the hands of politicians or party bosses," Alvarez said at the City Club. "The final decision is going to be left in the capable hands of the hardworking men, women and families of Cook County, who put a high value on public safety, and who demand honest answers from candidates running for important elected positions."

To some extent, Alvarez found herself in a similar political fight before and reacted much the same way.

The 2008 primary election saw Alvarez as one of six Democrats in the first open election for the office in 40 years. The county party declined to make an endorsement, as did Daley and other top Democratic officials, contributing to the chaotic vibe of the campaign.

Alvarez was a 21-year veteran prosecutor then, which other candidates seized on in arguing that she was part of an office culture that went easy on police misconduct and treated minorities unfairly. Opponents pointed out former police Cmdr. Jon Burge had escaped charges while Alvarez worked in the office despite allegations that he and detectives under his command engaged in widespread torture of African-American men.

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At the time, 21st Ward Ald. Howard Brookins Jr., a fellow state's attorney hopeful, said he wanted to restore minorities' trust in the office by "(showing) the people ... that we will call the balls and strikes fairly."

Alvarez got few endorsements eight years ago, but repeated her argument that the office is too important to be trusted to a political insider who she said might use it to punish enemies or protect friends, warning at one point about the "true danger in handing this over to someone who will make charging decisions for political reasons."

Despite her long tenure, Alvarez argued she wasn't an insider and played up her position as the only woman and sole Hispanic vying for the nomination. She pointed to the fact she was a mother with four children, and parlayed that mixture of experience and fresh-faced newness into a primary win with about 26 percent of the vote.

Now she's running on her record and experience, which she acknowledged can be a double-edged sword.

"People pick things to criticize me on when neither of my opponents have experience," Alvarez said. "What's important is that voters know about my experience, what I've been doing for the last 29 years, almost 30 years now, in this office. In many ways (the criticism) is unfair."

Anita Alvarez

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Current job: Cook County state's attorney, 2008-present

Age: 56

Born in: Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood

Lives in: River Forest

Personal: Married to James Gomez, four children

Previous positions: Assistant Cook County state's attorney

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Education: Loyola University, B.S. in social work, 1982; Chicago-Kent College of Law, J.D., 1986

Campaign website: www.anitaalvarez.com
SPRINGFIELD  Democrats once again sought to bolster their election-year campaign attack fodder against Republicans on Thursday, voting for the latest plan to fund higher education and another union-backed measure to prevent a worker lockout or strike following earlier vetoes by Gov. Bruce Rauner.

Neither proposal is expected to become law  Rauner opposes both measures, and Democrats in the House have been unable to remain united to overturn the governor. But calling the bills for votes provides roll calls that can be used in mailers and TV ads in which Democrats can say they voted to fund education and support unions while most Republicans were opposed.

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The action marked the second straight day of political gamesmanship at the Capitol. On Wednesday, House Democrats were unable to override Rauner's veto of a bill to funnel $721 million to community colleges and scholarships for low-income students tied up in the budget stalemate.

Instead, House Speaker Michael Madigan doubled down, bringing forth a different proposal Thursday that would provide more than $3.5 billion for higher education, as well as dozens of other programs including rape crisis centers, meals for seniors, violence prevention and mental health.

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The spending would be partially paid for by tapping into specialized funds and allowing the state to forgo repaying $450 million it borrowed from similar funds to plug a budget hole last year, a concept Rauner suggested in his latest budget proposal. Madigan's office characterized the legislation as a "compromise" because it relied on an idea from Rauner, though the governor's office was quick to dismiss the plan as a gimmick.

Before the vote, Rauner budget chief Tim Nuding sent a memo to lawmakers saying the state had no way to pay for the billions of dollars in additional spending. He declared the legislation a "giant step backward" as Illinois enters a record-breaking ninth month without a complete budget.

"It's just really, really sad that we're continuing down a process of more political propaganda," said House Republican leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs.

House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie of Chicago said Democrats were not suggesting "we have all the revenues in this needed to meet the need," but passing the legislation would allow those struggling without any funding from the state to get in line for possible payment.

Currie said it was up to the comptroller's office to continue to prioritize which programs rise to the top of the pile of bills to be paid, likening the role to "triage."

The measure now heads to the Senate.

Earlier Thursday, the Senate sent Rauner a separate labor-backed measure that would prevent a lockout or strike if talks with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and other unions reach an impasse, instead sending the matter to binding arbitration.

A similar bill passed the General Assembly last year but was vetoed by Rauner. An override effort failed in the House.

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The latest effort followed Rauner's request that the Illinois Labor Relations Board determine whether his administration and AFSCME have reached a stage in their protracted contract negotiations that would allow him to bypass further talks and impose his own terms on the roughly 38,000 state workers the union represents.

That review could take months, and Rauner and the union have agreed to keep workers on the job in the meantime. But if Rauner ultimately succeeds in putting a stop to the talks, the union will have to decide whether to go on strike for the first time.

Republicans argue the bill is an attempt by the union to force a contract on the state that it cannot afford, while Democrats say it's intended to stop a possible work disruption under a governor who has repeatedly tried to erode the power of organized labor.

In the end, it was approved 38-17, with two Republicans voting in favor. They were Sen. Neil Anderson of Rock Island and Sen. Sam McCann of Plainview, who also backed the bill last time. McCann's district includes Springfield, where many union state workers live. Rauner has endorsed McCann's Republican primary challenger in one of the most hotly contested legislative races pitting the governor and his allies against union interests.

Also Thursday, the House overwhelmingly supported a measure to give Chicago an elected school board. While praised as proof legislators can work together across the aisle despite larger differences, it's more likely another example of providing political cover before the primary, particularly for city Democrats.

There's been increasing outcry to shake things up at Chicago Public Schools amid a financial crisis that's seen the district lay off workers while seeking a bailout from the state.

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"CPS is in crisis. We've been facing devastating cuts, continually operating in crisis mode and instability all around," said Rep. Ann Williams, D-Chicago. "(The appointed school board) is not working for CPS kids. There's no accountability, no semblance of democracy or democratic process. There's no opportunity for input and there's no checks and balances."

Despite the strong support in the House, it's unclear if the measure will move through the Senate, where President John Cullerton is tightly aligned with Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who has long opposed an elected school board.

Asked about the legislation Thursday, Emanuel said the real issue is how Illinois funds schools.

"That legislation doesn't address all these inequities, and that's what I'm focused on adjusting," Emanuel said.

As he has in the past when asked about that opposition, Emanuel tried to argue that the local school councils at each Chicago school are like elected school boards.

"As you know, we have elected school boards for every school, and they're active, it's the largest democratic body in the country," he said.

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Chicago Tribune's John Byrne contributed from Chicago.

mcgarcia@tribpub.com

cbott@tribpub.com
Mr O'Neill's speech was clearly designed to promote a positive image of Papua New Guinea to a wider Australian audience, and reassure the audience at home, on the assumption there would be a television audience watching on ABC News 24 (also broadcast in PNG).

The address was a great opportunity to spur more awareness of Papua New Guinea, but the Prime Minister did not fully embrace it.

PAPUA New Guinea's prime minister, Peter O'Neill, gave an address at the National Press Club in Canberra on Thursday.

But the ABC was covering Cardinal Pell's testimony from Rome and the Prime Minister was instead preaching to an expert audience, composed almost entirely of friends of Papua New Guinea including Australian business people with interests in the country, past and present Australian government officers who have worked on PNG, academics and graduate students as well as his own cabinet colleagues.

O'Neill was frank about some of the more sensitive issues within the Australia-Papua New Guinea relationship, which was encouraging for those us trying to help improve awareness of Papua New Guinea in Australia.

But the audience in the Press Club and were probably hoping for greater candour about the economic and social challenges facing the country.

The Prime Minister said he did not want to 'sugar-coat' the challenges posed by Papua New Guinea's budget crisis, but went on to do exactly that.

He declared his Government was managing debt repayments, and in cutting spending had been careful to avoid having an impact on the delivery of essential services. But reports out of Papua New Guinea suggest otherwise.

In discussing climate change, he referred to the devastating drought his country had faced over the last year and was pleased that his government had been able to manage the response without seeking international help.

Evidence on the ground, however, has shown that assistance is not reaching communities who need it most and many people have died from the impact (in an interview after his address O'Neill rejected reports of drought-related deaths).

O'Neill was less than convincing in answering questions about his government's response to appalling levels of violence against women. He called violence unacceptable, but by attributing family and sexual violence to 'tribal issues' and saying he was surprised his government's own Lukautim Pikinini (Child Welfare) Act had yet to be certified and implemented, we were left with the impression that reducing violence was less than a top priority for him.

On the corruption allegations and outstanding arrest warrant against him, the Prime Minister argued that he had been targeted because he was doing his job, and claimed he had no knowledge of the letter approving fraudulent payments to Paraka Lawyers that is allegedly signed by him.

He also said it was unlikely Papua New Guinean politicians and business people were transferring the proceeds of corruption to accounts in Australia, saying these people were not wealthy and there were rigorous rules in place preventing money laundering.

However, Papua New Guinea is still on the Financial Action Task Force's grey list of countries with deficient anti-money laundering frameworks.

O'Neill was generally upbeat about Australia-Papua New Guinea relations, paying particular attention to the value of people-to-people relations. But on sensitive issues such as asylum seekers and aid advisers, he didn't do the Australian government any favours. Unusually, he also expressed concerns about Australian market access for Papua New Guinea goods.

He labelled asylum seekers as a 'problem' his government and the current Australian government had 'inherited' from their predecessors. The establishment of the Manus detention centre was agreed between the Howard and Somare Governments.

The current arrangement, however, is very much the responsibility of prime minister O'Neill, who negotiated a significant additional package of aid and attained remarkable leverage out of the deal.

His argument that Papua New Guinea could not afford to resettle refugees and wanted the eventual closure of the Manus detention centre is not surprising, but will challenge the Australian government's ongoing management of asylum seeker policy.

The prime minister said that he valued Australian aid but was sceptical about the outcomes of the aid program. He was keen to see closer alignment of aid with his government's priorities and wanted fewer advisers (a new aid partnership between Australia and PNG is soon to be signed).

But after announcing last year that he would ban foreign advisers, he told the Press Club audience that he wanted them to work for the PNG government rather than foreign governments and 'no-one had been kicked out'.

A small number of advisers have not returned to their posts as of January 2016.

Sean Dorney has made an excellent case in The Embarrassed Colonialist that Australians need to start learning more about Papua New Guinea.

Mr O'Neill's Government could do much more to capitalise on the goodwill (77% of Australians told the 2015 Lowy Institute Poll that Australia has a moral obligation to help PNG) that exists within Australia by being more open about the nature and scale of the challenges the country faces.
Debra Gittler reads to students at San Jorge School, in the middle of a coffee plantation in rural El Salvador, as part of her work with the educational organization ConTextos. She's the director of ConTextos, an educational NGO based in El Salvador. (Jim Garbarino)

Last week, I reached the halfway point of my pregnancy. And officially became the first high-risk pregnancy for Zika exposure in Chicago. There are five confirmed cases of Zika in Illinois and nine cases of pregnant women with Zika exposure in New York City. Sadly, one of those women just gave birth to a microcephalic baby, which means the infant's head is significantly smaller, often due to abnormal brain development.

While my health care providers have gone above and beyond to monitor my  and my baby's  progress, my insurance carrier balks at covering the costs.

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For the past five years, I've split my time between El Salvador and Chicago. I was exposed to Zika while abroad; the virus is transmitted by infected mosquitoes living in tropical climates and through sexual contact. In January, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced possible links between Zika and fetal brain deformation, I immediately moved full-time to Chicago.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 39 A Miami-Dade County mosquito control worker sprays around a home in the Wynwood area of Miami on Aug. 1, 2016. (Alan Diaz / AP)

I was the first pregnant patient with possible Zika exposure at the Erie Family Health Center and Northwestern Memorial Hospital's Prentice Women's Hospital. In December, while two months pregnant in El Salvador, two of 15 employees in my office were diagnosed with Zika. I had been doubtful about the spread of the Zika disease. Then suddenly there were two women in my own office infected with the virus. We didn't know then that the disease could become a global health threat.

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Days after arriving in Chicago, I was scheduled for an ultrasound. The results showed reasons for concern. Given my situation, my doctors recommended a battery of tests.

Days later, the CDC announced additional protocols. I had another round of appointments. My 20-week review, a milestone for any pregnancy, now carried an added weight. I was told  again  that given my potential Zika exposure, there were reasons to be concerned for my baby's health.

Erie and Prentice employees have treated me with the utmost respect. Nurses, doctors and counselors hand me tissues for tears while they review my baby's growth, constantly emphasizing how little we know about the disease. They stay on the phone and in consultations trying to understand the ever-changing CDC protocols: what tests to complete, frequency of ultrasounds, how to define risk.

Now, I've been told that for me and my baby's well-being, I should have ultrasounds every two weeks.

But my insurance provider refuses to cover these services. My benefits include 100 percent prenatal coverage. While doctor's visits are covered in full, the correlating ultrasounds, blood work and labs aren't included. Which raises the question: What does my insurance company think happens during a prenatal appointment? You urinate in a cup, get an ultrasound, give blood, repeat.

For a pregnancy with Zika, I'll repeat these steps every two weeks.

It's too bad my first pregnancy is so stressful. This should be a happy time, filled with excitement and wonder. But my experience is filled with dread, fear and lots of visits with doctors. And of course, disappointment that my insurance company refuses to cover medical services suggested by my physicians and the CDC.

If I had stayed in El Salvador, an emergency room ultrasound at an elite private hospital costs just $42. Here, my ultrasounds will cost me hundreds or thousands of dollars each, thanks to health insurance that aims to hustle me and my baby out of coverage during a high-risk, infectious disease-exposure pregnancy by one of the most frightening global health threats in recent history.

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I'm relieved to be back home in Chicago. And grateful for world-class doctors at world-class facilities. But my health insurance in America is just as Third World as the country where I was exposed to Zika in the first place.

Debra Gittler is founder and executive director of ConTextos, an educational NGO based in El Salvador.
There are many words to describe last night's Republican presidential primary debate. According to a focus group run by GOP pollster Frank Luntz, the main words were: disgusting, embarrassing, childish and sophomoric.

But those aren't the words I took away from that two-hour conservative yell-splosion. No, what echoed in my head was something simpler and more profound: presidential penis test.

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About 10 minutes into the debate, Donald Trump let his fellow candidates, the audience and all of America know that he has a big penis. He didn't elaborate, but the implication was that his penis is preposterously gigantic, quite possibly Mexican-border-wall sized.

Responding to Marco Rubio's past mockery of Trump's small hands  and make no mistake, they are freakishly small  the real estate mogul held up his mitts and said: "Look at those hands. Are they small hands? And he referred to my hands  if they're small, something else must be small. I guarantee you there's no problem, I guarantee."

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Boom! Finally we have a presidential candidate bold enough to highlight the importance that male genitalia size plays in leading the free world. I don't know about you, but I don't want a poorly endowed president with his penis on the button, potentially unable to launch our nuclear arsenal simply because his "little vice president" isn't up to the task.

I have no factual information to support this claim, but I'm absolutely certain that every American president throughout history has had a large penis. (They say Abraham Lincoln's required its own room, a part of the White House we still call "the Lincoln Bedroom.")

Also, a recent report claimed that Adolf Hitler had "a micro-penis." If that doesn't support this whole theory I don't know what will.

At the debate, as Trump tried desperately to make his mouse-like hands look larger, Rubio stretched his fingers out and displayed their considerable span.

It was a serious moment, one we can all be proud of, a scene that reflected the gravitas of our quadrennial presidential election. And it raised the question: Which candidate is telling "we the people" the truth?

Fingers, as most people know, are often referred to as "hand penises," so there's reason to believe hand size correlates with male endowment. However, while Trump has perversely shrunken phalanges, he still boasts of a mighty pants-presence.

So how do we separate fact from fiction and determine who has the largest Super PACkage?

It's simple: Each candidate needs to drop his pants and expose his Bill of Rights on live television.

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It is sensible, fair and right, and it's clear the American people are ready for some honest campaign penis talk. Fox News host Bill O'Reilly said after the debate that people "chortled" about Trump's boast.

"He's running for president as a populist," O'Reilly argued, apparently implying that all populists enjoy talking about their enormous penises.

Since the GOP candidates and the cheering debate crowd made clear that genital heft is a crucial matter, the Democratic candidates will also be pressured to "release their tax returns," so to speak.

That immediately disqualifies Hillary Clinton, though she could re-enter the race by picking an impressively endowed running mate, like famous American pornographic actor Ron Jeremy. (Clinton/Jeremy 2016! Change You Can Bel  OH MY GOD!)

Bernie Sanders also would be disqualified because his campaign followers have collective ownership of his penis and don't believe in genital exceptionalism.

So the Democrats don't matter. But we should still embrace this moment and encourage Trump, Rubio and the other Republican candidates to stand and deliver.

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It's an idea that once would've sounded ridiculous. But after a leading presidential candidate defends the size of his penis during a nationally televised debate, even the ridiculous starts to sound reasonable.

rhuppke@tribpub.com
Yes, Alvarez should have exhibited more urgency and outrage after seeing the police dash-cam video of Officer Jason Van Dyke gunning down Laquan McDonald in October 2014. She ultimately charged Van Dyke with murder 400 days after the fact, just hours before the public release of the video, but has yet to bring charges against other officers on the scene whose exculpatory reports were dramatically at odds with the video.
Law Enforcement Youth Academy looks for members

The Law Enforcement Youth Academy is looking for Kane County teens who are interested in learning about police work.

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The program, for those 14 to 18 years old, will run from June 20 to Aug. 3. It will be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays during that time, at the Aurora Police Department, 1200 E. Indian Trail Road.

Youths will experience many aspects of law enforcement in the program, including SWAT, bomb squad, FBI and police procedures; tours of the Aurora Police Station, the Kane County Sheriff's Office and the Kane County Judicial Center; mock traffic stops; the duties of a police evidence technician; meetings with the Kane County State's Attorney and assistant state's attorneys, judges and elected officials.

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To register, contact program director Pam Bradley at the Kane County State's Attorney's Office at 630-262-5107. The registration deadline is May 13.

Participating youths and parents should plan to attend an orientation at 6:30 p.m. June 2 in the Aurora Police Department's Community Room at 1200 E. Indian Trail Road.

Fundraiser set for new Yorkville school

"Party for a Purpose," a St. Patrick's Day fundraiser for a new Yorkville school, will be held from 6:30 to 9 p.m. March 17 at Two Brothers Roundhouse, 205 N. Broadway, Aurora.

Tickets for the event are $60 and include Irish food and beer, and dancing with a live DJ providing the music. All proceeds will go to benefit the Grace Holistic Center for Education, which will open this fall.

The school's founder, Tairi Grace, is a licensed clinical social worker and owner of Sense of Samadhi Studio in Yorkville. Grace said the new school will focus on developing mind, body, spirit and education by taking a proactive approach with every student.

"This school is not only going to focus on academics," Grace said, "but also will prepare the children to be emotionally connected and highly creative. We believe that ingenuity and creativity should be allowed to thrive."

In addition to its regular sessions, on Fridays the school will be open to homeschooled children from the community to enable them to participate in activities, Grace said.

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The school will divide students into three categories: kindergarten through second grade; third through fifth grade; and sixth through eighth grade. Grace said she is hoping to have 10 children in each classroom. The staff will include three teachers, three aides, two social workers and a gym teacher, Grace said.

For more information, call 630-881-1095 or visit www.ghcfe.org or Grace Holistic Center for Education on Facebook.

Free income tax preparation for seniors

Free income tax preparation for seniors is available at the Oswego Senior Center in Oswego.

The service is available by appointment from 1 to 5 p.m. Mondays through April 11.

Appointments will also be available on two Saturdays: March 12 and April 2, from 9 a.m. to noon. Appointments are mandatory, and returns are prepared at the Oswego Senior Center.

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People with incomes of $55,000 or less are eligible for free preparation and filing of federal and state returns. All volunteers in the program are trained through Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, in collaboration with the IRS.

To make an appointment or for more information, contact the Oswego Senior Center at 630-554-5602. The Oswego Senior Center is at 156 E Washington in Oswego.
The American Red Cross will hold a volunteer enrollment event from 10 to 11 a.m. Thursday, March 10, at Seymour Library, 176-178 Genesee St., Auburn.

A Red Cross staffer will provide information about opportunities in disaster services, blood services and service to the armed forces.

The event is free and open to the public.

For more information, visit redcross.org/ny/syracuse, call (315) 234-2217 or email julie.mucilli@redcross.org.
Over the past few seasons, shows in Paramount Theatre's Broadway Series have been presented with an altered vision and scope from the original Broadway production. "West Side Story" will be no exception.

"Every play at the Paramount is different from the original," said William Carlos Angulo, choreographer of "West Side Story." "This company is very much about looking at the piece and looking at the text for meaning and wildly re-imagining it."

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Paramount Theatre's Artistic Director Jim Corti, who is directing "West Side Story, agrees.

"All great shows that become more beloved over the years, they kind of get this veneer," Corti said. "People love the familiarity about it. So, that familiarity will be there with 'West Side Story,' but we hope to make it raw again. I think it will be like seeing it for the first time."

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"West Side Story" will be presented at 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Wednesdays; 7 p.m. on Thursdays; 8 p.m. on Fridays; 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Saturdays; and 1 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. on Sundays from March 16 to April 24 at the Paramount Theatre in Aurora. The show is rated PG and parental guidance is suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

"West Side Story" has a book by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. The show opened on Broadway on Sept. 26, 1957, and ran until June 27, 1959, for a total of 732 performances. Choreographer Jerome Robbins won a 1958 Tony award for Best Choreography for "West Side Story." The 1961 film version of the play won an Oscar for Best Picture.

Inspired by William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet," "West Side Story" is set in the blue-collar neighborhood of New York City's Upper West Side, where racial tensions are running high during the last days of summer in 1957. The musical centers on the Jets, a white gang, and the Sharks, a Puerto Rican gang, who are battling over boundaries. In the midst of the turmoil, former Jets member Tony meets Maria and, for a few hours, they are just two young people in love. But Maria is the sister of the Sharks' leader, Bernardo, so Tony and Maria's love struggles to endure. Songs include "Somewhere," "America" and "Tonight," among others.

One of the aspects of the Paramount show that will be different is the dancing.

"Dance storytelling is one of my favorite theatrical devices," Angulo said. "It's a language. The ballet language in 'West Side Story' has sometimes been criticized, but it is a contemporary criticism. In 1957 it was ground-breaking. The choreography over the years has passed through so many hands that it really is a shell of the original choreography. In current times, the ballet seems soft.

"This show does not have a lot of traditional dance steps," Angulo continued. "Jim and I are interested in finding visceral movement."

Corti plans to take "West Side Story" to a more basic level.

"This show feels more punishing and brutal," he said. "It will perhaps not be as balletic as Jerome Robbins did it.

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"It's a contemporary telling of 'Romeo and Juliet,'" Corti continued "'Romeo and Juliet' was written in late 16th century and it was a cautionary tale for adults where children are killing children. There is no redemption in the play. The kids are dead. Can I get the audience to see themselves and what is happening in the country now? Can I get them to have any culpability? This violence will continue until we stop it."

Angulo shares Corti's vision.

"I hope we can help the audience re-examine the subject matter in the piece: the hate, the anger," Angulo said. "If my choreographic voice can aid in that process, there is satisfaction in that. There is so much in the play that is relevant today. It's a gift that keeps on giving."

Randall G. Mielke is a freelance writer.

'West Side Story'

When: March 16-April 24

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Where: Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd., Aurora

Tickets: $41-$56
A 19-year-old man who had been pursued by police in connection with a carjacking early in the week was found dead Thursday afternoon in a Cook County Forest Preserve near Sauk Village, police said.

Sauk Village Police Chief Robert Kowalski said Christopher Smith of Dolton probably died of hypothermia within an hour of running into the preserve about 2 a.m. Tuesday. His body was found in a marshy area in the Plum Creek Forest Preserve. An autopsy was scheduled for Friday.

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Smith and an unidentified second man fled from police after crashing a vehicle in Sauk Village, Kowalski said. Police wanted to question the two men in connection with an alleged carjacking in Dolton, Kowalski said. Police said the two men had taken the car at gunpoint and robbed the victim of his wallet and cell phone.

Police quickly apprehended the second man after the crash but were unable to locate Smith, who ran in a different direction, Kowalski said. He added that the second man declined to identify Smith.

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Cook County officials subsequently searched the unincorporated area without success, Kowalski said.

Searchers had no idea where to look for Smith, Kowalski said. Searchers found no tracks to follow and were impeded by "so much brush and debris," he said.

Spurred by two calls from Smith's mother, who called to ask if her son had been arrested, two more searches were conducted. According to Sauk Village police, the first was conducted by Cook County sheriff's police and was unsuccessful.

Sauk Village police and firefighters launched a third search Thursday afternoon and found Smith's body "right away" in a marshy area of the preserve northeast of the intersection of Torrence Avenue and Steger Road, "totally opposite of where we found the first guy," Kowalski said.

Kowalski said both men are "not from here" and had no prior connection to Sauk Village. Smith's mother also has no connection to the village, he said.

Asked why Smith's mother called Sauk Village police in search of her son, Kowalski responded, "Your guess is as good as mine; maybe we're getting a good reputation."

Dennis Sullivan is a freelance reporter.
Rendering of The Reserve, a 47-unit apartment building planned for the northeast corner of 183rd Street and Oak Park Avenue in Tinley Park. (Handout)

Two days after the Tinley Park Village Board voted to hire the law firm Winston & Strawn to conduct an examination of the review process behind a controversial apartment development, the firm is backing out.

The village will instead turn to the Inspector General's Office of the Cook County sheriff's department, an option some trustees and many residents had urged at Tuesday's meeting where, in a 4-3 vote, with Mayor Dave Seaman breaking a tie, the board agreed to hire the high-profile law firm.

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In a statement issued late Thursday, Seaman said he was contacted Thursday by representatives of the firm and told that they "felt it appropriate to withdraw from representing" the village. Seaman said the village had been in touch with the Sheriff's Office about handling the investigation.

Attempts to reach him Thursday evening were unsuccessful.

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Seaman, at Tuesday's meeting, indicated that beyond the review, Winston & Strawn might also defend the village in potential litigation stemming from The Reserve, saying that a lawsuit has "been threatened."

The Buckeye Community Hope Foundation, an Ohio-based nonprofit, plans to build the 47-unit apartment building at the northeast corner of 183rd Street and Oak Park Avenue. For now, the proposal is on hold while the outside review is conducted.

Trustee Michael Pannitto, one of three trustees who voted against hiring the firm, said Thursday he had emailed the firm to try to get additional information about the scope of the work that would be performed, but hadn't gotten a response. He said that using the Sheriff's Office will also guarantee an objective review, and at no cost to the village.

"In my mind, we were going to spend a fortune" using Winston & Strawn, he said.

Residents have packed recent Village Board meetings to oppose the project, and have criticized village officials for not offering more information about the apartment project earlier in the village review process.

mnolan@tribpub.com
After much consideration about the current state budget impasse, I've come to the conclusion that a slight majority of fault for the standoff rests with Republicans led by Gov. Bruce Rauner.

There's plenty of blame to go around for the denial of funding for social services, state universities and grants for college students. The situation is reaching a critical point as agencies and universities lay off staff and many college students realize they can no longer afford to continue their educations.

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Democrats led by House Speaker Michael Madigan are nearly equally responsible for the disgraceful lack of a budget more than eight months into the state's fiscal year. The state needs to get its financial house in order and stop deficit spending. A majority of Illinois voters elected Rauner because they believed he could do that.

But 14 months into Rauner's term as the 42nd governor of Illinois I'm convinced he's woefully outmatched by the more politically experienced Madigan. Withholding funds from higher education and social services is the wrong way to achieve much-needed budget reform.

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Anyone who listened to Illinois House members debating Wednesday on whether to override Rauner's veto of $721 million in funding for higher education would realize that legislators voted for what's best for their political party, not their constituents. This was never more apparent than when the floor was held by Republican state Rep. Reggie Phillips of Charleston, home of Eastern Illinois University.

Eastern is among universities most affected by the lack of state funding, though its situation is not quite as dire as Chicago State University, which sent layoff notices to all its employees and canceled spring break in order to try to finish the academic year before money runs out. Eastern was expecting about $40 million for operations and about $8 million in Monetary Award Program reimbursements from the state this year. Its credit rating has been severely downgraded, and the school has laid of 177 employees.

I listened to Phillips make impassioned comments to colleagues about how the budget stalemate impacted his constituents. Then he proceeded to vote along party lines to not fund higher education, a vote that fell two short of the 71 needed to override the governor's veto.

I heard Republicans argue that the state doesn't have the money to fund higher education, but I heard Democrats counter with a more convincing argument. Expenditures exceed revenues, true, but Rauner authorized funding for K-12 education without input from the legislature.

His refusal to do the same for higher education and social services means Rauner is making choices about what programs receive funding. There's not enough money for everything, but Rauner has decided schools and municipalities will get their money and social services and higher education won't.

Another defense I heard Republicans use was that there's waste and inefficiency in higher education administration. True, but withholding funding doesn't address that. You don't help an overweight person become healthy by cutting off his food supply.

Illinois has serious fiscal issues. But the governor and legislature refusing to agree on a budget is no way to solve them. It's time to choose sides in this standoff, and I'm siding with Democrats, this time.

Madigan has too much power, but a tyrant is the lesser of two evils when chaos is the alternative. If you're going to take down the regime in charge you had better have a plan in place to govern in the aftermath. If you break it, you own it.

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Rauner owns the current crisis over the lack of funding for higher education and social services, I believe.

There are many excellent proposals for reform in Illinois. Solutions are offered by entities, including the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois, the Illinois Policy Institute, and the Institute for Illinois' Fiscal Sustainability at the Civic Federation, among others.

There are real solutions to reform pensions, restore equality to public school funding and balance the state budget. The governor has put forth some good proposals to reduce costs. Both lawmakers and the governor have a duty to work together to find solutions.

The state's practice of borrowing money and deficit spending is costly and unsustainable, and Democrats bear the brunt of the blame for that. One Republican House member during Wednesday's debate compared Democrats' penchant for deficit spending to a heroin addiction.

Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

This is no way to kick the habit, though. Piecemeal funding of some programs over others is arbitrary. Both sides agree comprehensive reform is needed, and members from both sides of the aisle seemed Wednesday to sincerely express a desire to work together and agree upon spending priorities.

But Rauner and Madigan, the leaders of the political parties, aren't negotiating ideas for comprehensive reform or even a budget. We're left with a void where people in need of social services are suffering and lasting harm is being done to higher education in Illinois.

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Our leaders need to take a scalpel and cut the fat from state government, not lop off limbs with an axe. The system needs fixing, but the current situation is inherently worse.

I believe Rauner needs to immediately authorize funding for all programs  even if it means deficit spending  and then work to solve our budget deficit. Or if he insists on withholding funds, then go all in. Shut down state government and withhold funds from municipalities and K-12 education until a balanced budget is achieved.

Otherwise, his argument that "the money isn't there" doesn't hold up. It's there for some, but not others, and that's on Rauner.

tslowik@tribpub.com

Twitter @tslowik
John from Hegewisch stated that Sarah Palin would make a better President than Hillary Clinton. You and others continue to blame her for four lives lost at Benghazi  and I am not minimizing those Americans. However, you never seem to mention who should be blamed for the thousands of lives lost due to the antics of two true war criminals: Bush and Cheney. Thousands of our soldiers were killed and how many more still suffer trauma from the Iraqi war. For what? Did those WMDs ever turn up? Bush and Cheney, along with the Wall Street bankers, need to be brought to justice.

Chicago

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How much did it cost for the Village Board to rent a room at the taxpayer funded convention center and, in light of the seemingly underhanded dealings of The Reserve, what kind of deal was that? Tinley taxpayers certainly got the short end of that stick.

Tinley Park

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I know the left hates Hillary's e-mail scandal, but how do we know what she had erased was not top secret also? What government clearance did the company that did the erasing have? And all four families of the Benghazi dead are liars too?

Orland Park

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, is a hypocrite. Back in the 1980s, when former President Reagan was in his last year of his term, McConnell voted for Anthony Kennedy, the justice that Reagan nominated for the Supreme Court. So, how come it's OK for McConnell to vote when Reagan had nominated someone for the Supreme Court in his last year of office, but President Obama wants to do it and it's wrong? McConnell, you're getting old. It's time for you to go.

Sly

You can't pick up the newspaper nowadays without seeing some school district that's wasting an enormous amount of money and paying superintendents and management outrageous wages and pensions. To put a stop to it, they should consolidate school districts. We've got too many. They can easily cut the number in half. With current systems, they can have committee meetings over computer. It'll work fine. Big corporations do it. It's really something when I see my taxes on my house approaching $10,000 a year, and I see where they're giving out bonuses for retirement for $272,000 to a handful of departing Lincoln-Way Community High School District 210 educators, including former Superintendent Lawrence Wyllie. I wish I had a job like that.

With the election of Bruce Rauner as governor, the people of Illinois have reason to believe real hope and change is coming to Illinois. The election of the governor is the first part of ending the Democratic machine's hold on local and state government. The end of the rape of the taxpayer may be coming soon. We need more courageous individuals to stand up to the Democratic Party and support reform, especially term limits. The future of democracy and fiscal stability in Illinois and Cook County rests on the outcome.

Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

Tinley Park

Don't buy Oreos or Nabisco products. After 100 years of making millions off Americans, they just fired 600 American workers and they are moving the plant to Mexico. They should be ashamed of themselves. They obviously only care about themselves, so give them what they deserve  nothing.

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Cubs fans should think long and hard about supporting that ball club. After the club owners, the Ricketts family, received lots of concessions from the city claiming they couldn't afford to proceed with renovations. The Ricketts family is donating $3 million trying to defeat Donald Trump. The family must have forgotten those funds were hidden from view of the fans.

Bob, Homer Glen

Cheap gas is due to geopolitical brinkmanship, and supply and demand. One reason gas prices are low are economic recessions, especially in China. Check back to April 2015, and watch the price of oil drop along with the Hang Seng Index, China's stock market. Also, Saudi Arabia is in a battle for oil customers with Iran. The Saudis cut prices so they won't lose customers to their rivals. Low energy prices also keep Russia in a deep recession, making it costly for Russia to fund wars in Ukraine and Syria.

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.
The Northern Illinois Food Bank will be hosting an event to promote financial wellness for those in the community needing assistance.

"An Evening of Financial Wellness" is designed to help individuals achieve financial independence and reach their philanthropic goals, according to a release from the food bank. The event will take place on March 16 at 6:30 p.m. at the Food Bank's West Suburban Center, 273 Dearborn Court in Geneva. The event is free and no donations to the Food Bank are required to attend.

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Attendees will be able to choose from three breakout sessions led by financial professionals. The seminars being offered are:

 Designing Your Retirement Plan  presented by Nancy Coutu, principal, Money Managers Financial Group.

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 Wills vs. Trusts  presented by Ted Kuczek, estate planning attorney, Kuczek & Associates.

 Planning for Your Child's College Education  Zac Larson, wealth advisor, and Jenny McAdams, financial associate, Thrivent Financial.

For information, or to reserve your place at An Evening of Financial Wellness, go to www.SolveHungerToday.org/seminar or contact Gina Gramarosso at 630-443-6910, Ext. 130.
A voice for the community

Dan Wilbrandt is a man committed to his community. As a lifelong resident of West Dundee, he has always taken an active role in promoting and caring for his friends, neighbors and all those around him.

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When he worked for Dundee Public Works, Wilbrandt worked tirelessly to clean up our town and make sure the streets and parks were a safe place for us all to enjoy. He is still keeping our roadways clean as a volunteer for the Adopt-A-Highway program. As a village trustee, he strives to reduce spending and promote local business to help his town flourish. As a proud resident of West Dundee, he participates in numerous local festivals and events, such as Heritage Fest and Dickens in Dundee.

He's actively involved within his own neighborhood, school and local community service activities. When he worked with the Peer Jury system, Wilbrandt helped many youth offenders turn their lives around through community service. For the last three years, he has been working as an assistant state's attorney, keeping our community safe by prosecuting criminals in McHenry County.

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His dedication and commitment to making our community a better place to live will undoubtedly serve us all well if he's elected to the state House of Representatives for the 66th District.

Amy Miller, West Dundee

Feels mislead by campaign

I received an email from the campaign of Kane County Board Chairman Chris Lauzen announcing a "free reception" sponsored by Lauzen and two other candidates. The urgent phrasing also said: "And vote to keep Kane County property taxes frozen."

I asked several neighbors how they interpreted that statement, and the unanimous reply was that Lauzen would continue to freeze our property taxes. I asked, "You mean the whole property tax bill?" The answer: "That's what it says!"

My property tax bill contains 16 items, including local school districts and their pensions, community college and their pensions, local police, local fire districts, park districts, libraries, etc. Lauzen does not have the statutory authority over any of the above tax categories. He has sway over two  Kane County government and the cost of its pensions  and that amounts to 5 percent. That means Lauzen will freeze one nickel for every dollar of total property tax. To say he is going to "keep Kane County property taxes frozen" is exceedingly misleading.

I believe Chris Lauzen owes everyone who votes in Kane County a clarification of his campaign's slogan. If he is sincere about Priority No. 3 on his campaign website, "Honest, competent administration through innovation and austerity," he should issue a press release explaining that he can only freeze the county board's levy. (The levy is the term given to the amount the county board budgets for spending each year.) One nickel on every buck, that's it!

Craig Conn, St. Charles

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I am writing to express my support for Dan Wilbrandt, who is running for the state House of Representatives in the 66th District. I believe that he will make an excellent state representative and will make decisions based on the best long-term interest of his constituents. He has pledged to fight for fiscal responsibility and financial reform, which is badly needed in our state's capital. His work ethic will be an asset to everyone in Illinois.

Wilbrandt is a lifelong resident of the area, and he cares about the people who live here. He is one of us, and I know he will make decisions based on sound judgment just as he has as West Dundee village trustee. For example, he continues to look at ways to improve downtown West Dundee and has helped create numerous public-private partnerships resulting in millions of dollars of investments for our village.

The long and short of it is that Wilbrandt is a smart guy who makes rational decisions, easy or not, and will do the right thing for the state of Illinois. As much as I want to be selfish and keep him solely in the village of West Dundee, I know that he will make a significant impact in the state House of Representatives and in the lives of everyone in our great state.

Dean Wiebenga, West Dundee

As residents of the 66th District, we hope that our vote will count and our representative will listen to our needs. We have a bipartisan stalemate that is crippling our state and hurting us all. We need Dan Wilbrandt as our state representative.

He is invested in his community and truly cares about the issues affecting its residents. He is our neighbor, our village trustee and someone willing to listen to our needs because they are his, too.

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Wilbrandt is a problem solver and a prosecutor trained to communicate clearly and effectively without alienating his opponents, which will go a long way toward resolving tensions across party lines. He is extremely hardworking, and his energetic attitude is contagious. He will not compromise his ideals or values and will never be for sale.

He is exactly what we need in Springfield.

Brian and Kate Taylor, West Dundee

Every election season, something happens that leaves me shaking my head.

This time, it's the mailings I'm getting in the 26th District Republican race from special-interest PACs. They are spinning facts to try to make it seem like only one of the three candidates is a Republican, all to support Dan McConchie.

Here's the ironic part: These PACs are run by the same people who have spent $514,166 in 2016 supporting Democratic candidates in Chicago.

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Yet they're trying to tell me who is and isn't a Republican? You gotta be kidding me. If they're backing Dan McConchie and are willing to be this hypocritical in the process, I'll be looking at the other two candidates when deciding who will get my vote.

Lynn Riordan, Inverness

Why is U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam afraid to engage with his opponent and his constituents? His challenger  Dr. Jay Kinzler  has formally invited him to a true debate where the candidates would publicly discuss the serious issues facing our country.

Roskam is a lawyer, while Kinzler is a surgeon and serves in our Army Reserve treating active-duty military patients. Kinzler is brave enough to continue the great political tradition that this state witnessed in the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858. Let's hear the differences between these two men so we are informed voters.

How about it, Mr. Roskam?

Laurel Q. Bowen, Downers Grove

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Vietnam vets need help

House Bill 969 and Senate Bill 681, both titled the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Agent Orange Act, are being held up in the Veterans Affairs Committee because no cost has been given. Without these bills, nothing will happen to provide VA benefits to veterans who are sick from Agent Orange exposure.

At this writing, there are 301 House members and 37 members of the Senate in favor of passage. This is well over the numbers needed to send the bills to the floor for a vote. But this cannot happen without a dollar amount assigned.

The VA is attempting to stop passage of these bills. The VA's job and obligation is to help veterans in need. Members of Congress may have to go to the Court of Appeals in Washington to stop the VA from blocking any action on the bills.

America is a free and sovereign nation. As such, we take on obligations to help other countries in need. This is well and good, it is a part of what America is about. However, what about our veterans who fight the battles to keep America free? Many come home sick and broken and in need of help. The VA does not recognize special veterans groups like the Blue Water Navy, Vietnam, meaning legislators must force the VA to care for these veterans.

John J. Bury, Vietnam War veteran, Media, Pa.

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A peace caravan demonstration in New Mexico, 2012 (Caravan 4 Peace/Flickr)

Mexico, John M. Ackerman wrote recently for Foreign Policy,  is not a functional democracy . Instead, its a repressive and corrupt oligarchy propped up by a blank check from Washington.

Since 2008, that blank check has come to over $2.5 billion appropriated in security aid through the Merida Initiative , a drug war security assistance program funded by Washington. Negotiated behind closed doors in the last years of the Bush administration, the plan was originally proposed as a three-year program . Yet Hillary Clintons State Department pushed aggressively to extend it, overseeing a drastic increase of the initiative that continues today.

Much of this aid goes to U.S.-based security, information, and technology contracting firms, who make millions peddling everything from helicopter training to communications equipment to night-vision goggles, surveillance aircrafts, and satellites.

This aid comes in addition to the direct sales of arms and other equipment to Mexico authorized by the State Department, as Christy Thorton pointed out in a 2014 New York Times op-ed. Those sales reached $1.2 billion in 2012 alone, the last full year of Clintons tenure. Indeed, as the Merida Initiative has grown, Mexico has become one of the worlds biggest purchasers of U.S. military arms and equipment.

But while sales have boomed for U.S.-based contractors, the situation in Mexico has badly deteriorated. The escalation of U.S. counter-drug assistance in the country has paralleled a drastic increase in violence, fueling a drug war thats killed more than 100,000 people since 2006.

State Complicity

High-profile human rights cases  such as the kidnapping and disappearance of the 43 students from the teacher-training college in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero in September 2014  sparked renewed attention to the devastating effects of the U.S.-funded drug war in Mexico. Yet, they didnt come out of nowhere.

Forced disappearances like these were ballooning even as Clinton was pushing Merida Initiative programs forward, with official records reaching upwards of 3,000 to 4,000 people a year in 2011 and 2012. According to the United Nations , these widespread kidnappings and disappearances often involve state authorities, and the problem is worsened by the governments failure to investigate.

U.S. laws explicitly prohibit the delivery of aid to foreign individuals and units implicated in systematic human rights violations. But files released by WikiLeaks revealed that Clintons State Department regularly received information on widespread  official corruption  in Mexico, even as they were bolstering the flow of equipment, assistance, and training that ended up in the hands of abusive and compromised security forces.

Indeed, in 2009 and 2010  the middle years of Clintons tenure at State  U.S. embassy cables boasted that intelligence and military cooperation between the two countries had never been better. Such cables, and the full archival orbit of declassified and leaked U.S. and Mexican records, demonstrate that Clintons State Department repeatedly cleared the delivery of U.S. assistance training and equipment to security forces implicated in corruption or abuse.

One document from June 2011 recorded a visit of U.S. officials to the northern state of Tamaulipas in May 2011 to assess training needs for state security forces. The visit came as Mexicos federal authorities were trying to cover up the discovery of mass graves from the recent San Fernando massacres in the region. Even as U.S. officials were reporting on the Mexican governments complicity and cover-up of the massacres, the U.S. embassy recommended further training for Tamaulipas security forces.

The same document also reports that Mexican immigration agents had been fired for kidnapping migrants. Yet the delivery of biometric data equipment to the same agency continued unimpeded.

In the southern state of Guerrero, meanwhile, records from 2009 to 2010 show that the U.S. embassy cleared local and federal police, military officials, and investigative agents for training and assistance from units implicated in human rights violations. Even then, the U.S. embassy  and not to mention reputable human rights groups  knew about the direct involvement of government officials in abuses there.

Human Rights Watch reported in 2011, for example, on widespread cases of torture in Guerrero going back to 1994. The group noted regular abuses by police and military forces, including cases of homicide, torture, and extortion overseen by the judicial police chief in the northern part of the state. The same report highlighted strong evidence of the involvement of military officials from Chilpancingo in cases of kidnapping and disappearances in 2010, as the U.S. embassy was clearing officials for training from the same military base.

After government security forces killed two students from the Ayotzinapa teacher training school during a protest in December 2011, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Earl Anthony Wayne sent a cable reporting that the evidence of heavy-handed police tactics is strong and disconcerting. It was the same school where, less than three years later, 43 students would be disappeared  and six others killed  after being attacked by local police forces.

The Beneficiaries

The implementation and delivery of this equipment took place hand-in-hand with private contractors. Major players like General Electric, Honeywell, Motorola, Sharp, IBM, and Dell appear throughout records of these transactions, along with scores of others  including Science Applications International, Rapiscan, American Science and Engineering, RCA, and many more.

Several contractors benefited significantly from helicopter deliveries and services in particular. These played a prominent role in both the conduct and the promotion of the broader drug war effort.

Three Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters, for example, were sent to Mexicos federal police in November 2010. Just two weeks after their handover, they were deployed in the largest aerial operation conducted to date against the La Familia de Michoacan drug cartel. The U.S. embassy boasted in a secret cable that the operation  which reportedly led to the killing of drug kingpin Nazario Moreno Gonzalez, or El Chayo  was a  needed win  for then-president Felipe Calderon in his increasingly unpopular war against the cartels.

El Chayos killing was the first clear evidence the State Department could highlight to show Congress that Calderons strategy  and the U.S. intelligence and security aid behind it  was leading to results. Yet the operation, which also caused large-scale civilian deaths, appeared to be in vain: The Mexican government reported that El Chayo was killed again , years later, in an operation carried out against the cartel in March 2014.

Nonetheless, the 2010 operation provided the justification to further ratchet up U.S. support. In May 2011, embassy staff accompanied Mexican federal police representatives to review an aircraft project in North Carolina and receive presentations from the AMCOM missile command and industry representatives. More aircrafts were subsequently delivered

Sikorsky, along with other companies such as General Electric, continued to reap the benefits of the drug war in Mexico even after Clinton left the State Department. In March 2015, the department approved the sale of three Black Hawk helicopters to the Mexican military for $110 million. This followed a larger deal in April 2014 for 18 Black Hawks at $680 million.

Notably, several of the contractors that profited from U.S. security assistance in Mexico  such as General Electric, Lockheed Martin, and United Technologies Corporation, which owns Sikorsky  reportedly contributed to the Clinton Foundation . And according to the transparency group Open Secrets, Clinton currently tops the list of all 2016 presidential candidates in campaign contributions from the military contracting industry.

Back to Business as Usual

Naturally, Clinton herself was aware of how her departments support for the Mexican drug war would look in light of the revelations about corruption and human rights abuses.

In January 2011, shortly after the release of a huge tranche of leaked diplomatic cables, Secretary Clinton apologized to her Mexican counterpart Patricia Espinosa for any embarrassment caused by the WikiLeaks documents, announcing her intention to get beyond WikiLeaks and reaffirm the U.S.-Mexico relationship. Clinton expressed optimism that they could create a better narrative than the waste, fraud, and abuse revealed in the cables and regular media accounts and explain to Congress why foreign assistance money under Beyond Merida should continue.

Getting beyond WikiLeaks, of course, meant getting back to business as usual  and back behind closed doors.

While thousands of Clintons own emails have since been released, the secrecy continues  with much of the important information still heavily redacted. For example, the emails contain potentially important documents, such as a memo to President Obama with a report on Clintons trip to Mexico City and Monterrey. This document, however, is completely redacted, except for one line.

In his piece for Foreign Policy, John Ackerman argued that Clintons defense of the status quo in Mexico is grounded in a vicious cycle of complicities between economic and political elites on both sides of the border. Indeed, the record available for public scrutiny shows that Clintons State Department  rather than addressing human rights concerns over the Merida funding  focused on ensuring that security assistance continued in the face of abuse, cover-ups, and ongoing impunity.

Jesse Franzblau is a researcher and policy analyst. He is a contributor to Foreign Policy in Focus, and has worked on human rights documentation projects and assembled archival evidence for lawyers and judges working to advance transitional justice cases in Guatemala, at the Inter-American Human Rights Court, and in Spain. Hes written for The Nation, Al Jazeera, NACLA, The Intercept, Animal Politico, and the Columbia Human Rights Law Review, among other publications.
Oak Terrace School in Highwood would serve as a dual language school for a combined Wayne Thomas-Oak Terrace attendance area under remapping options on the table should a referendum fail. (Courtesy of Photo courtesy of District 112)

North Shore School District 112 officials unveiled three possible plans that show how school lines might be redrawn if a $198 million referendum request fails.

In all three possible school maps presented at a March 1 board meeting, the Oak Terrace and Wayne Thomas school attendance areas would merge.

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Oak Terrace School in Highwood would serve dual language students living in the combined area, while Wayne Thomas School in north Highland Park would serve general education students, according to the plans.

In a 4-3 vote on Feb. 16, the school board adopted a cost-cutting plan should the referendum request fail. That plan calls for closing Ravinia and Lincoln elementary schools, Elm Place Middle School and the Green Bay Road Early Childhood Center. The plan, which would increase class sizes, is estimated to save $5 million a year and avoid millions of dollars in improvements.

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Administrators stressed that the three maps presented to the school board were merely a starting point for discussion.

"I wouldn't even call them boundary models yet," said John Petzke, chief technology officer for the district.

In the past, referendum opponents have criticized the announced school closings and budget cuts as a scare tactic to win referendum passage, while supporters say the board is being fiscally responsible.

In January, the school board endorsed a different school map to be implemented by 2021 if the referendum request is approved. The ballot question asks voters' permission to borrow $198 million to create a new middle school campus in southwest Highland Park for all fifth- through eighth-grade students in the district. The borrowed money also would be used to renovate the six schools that would serve students in kindergarten through fourth grade.

A 20-member boundary committee met for two days in mid-January to come up with the map for assigning pupils to the six schools that would serve elementary students: Braeside, Ravinia, Edgewood, Indian Trail, Northwood and Oak Terrace.

Under all three plans, Oak Terrace School in Highwood would no longer have a distinct attendance area. The school would serve only students enrolled in dual-language classrooms, which represent a mix of native Spanish speakers learning English and native English speakers learning Spanish as a second language.

"One big change with the Budget Deficit Reduction plan is if  you live in the Oak Terrace area, you would now go to Wayne Thomas," Petzke said. "If you live in the Wayne Thomas area and participate in the dual language program, you would go to Oak Terrace."

Wayne Thomas has the capacity to serve 640 pupils, though the school's current enrollment is 299, according to district figures included in the presentation.

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Under the mapping scenarios, Indian Trail School near downtown Highland Park would serve as a second site for dual-language instruction, but those classes would make up no more than one half of the school.

In two of the three maps, Indian Trail's new attendance area would fall entirely east of the Metra railroad tracks, running from Roger Williams Avenue on the south to Walker Avenue on the north.

All students living in the Lincoln and Ravinia attendance areas would change schools, as would many other students across the district.

"Just because you currently live in an area where the school is remaining open  doesn't mean you are going to continue to go to that school," said board President Michael Cohn, of the domino effect that comes with boundary changes.

In one map scenario, Ravinia-area students would be split among Braeside, Indian Trail and Sherwood elementary schools. In another map, they would attend Braeside, Indian Trail or Red Oak.

District 112 did not show any middle school maps as part of the presentation. But Petzke said it appeared that students from Elm Place Middle School would be reassigned to Edgewood Middle School rather than be split between Edgewood and Northwood Junior High. Due to capacity differences, Northwood is expected to serve about 550 sixth through eighth-grade students under the budget reduction plan, or slightly more than its current enrollment of 517 students.

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Enrollment at Edgewood, however, could jump from 572 to 800 pupils under the cost-cutting plan, according to district figures.

kberkowitz@pioneerlocal.com

Twitter: @KarenABerkowitz
The Starbucks in downtown Hinsdale soon will serve beer and wine.

The village staff was reviewing the coffee shop's application Friday for a liquor license in the restaurant category.

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The Hinsdale Village Board approved an ordinance March 1 to make a license available for Starbuck's, on the corner of Hinsdale Avenue and Washington Street, to sell beer and wine, but not other kinds of liquor.

Starbucks plans to expand its food menu to include flatbreads, cheese plates and other appetizers, along with selling from five to 10 different wines and craft beers, the village staff reported to the board. Starbucks will not sell alcohol for carry out, nor will it add televisions or a full-service bar, the staff reported.

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In material presented to the village, the company said selling alcohol and more food choices allows Starbucks to enhance its role as a gathering place into the evening.

Village Trustee Christopher Elder cast the sole vote against the proposal, saying, Starbucks "is not your typical restaurant" and noting children often hang out there.

Trustee Laura LaPlaca agreed that children congregate in Starbucks and other eating places in downtown Hinsdale after school, but alcohol also is served at family-friendly events, such as the Uniquely Thursdays summer concerts in Burlington Park. Hinsdale police officers keep a close eye to make sure none of the alcohol leaves the park, LaPlaca said, and she expects a national chain like Starbucks will be equally responsible about training its staff and not serving minors.

Starbucks reported it has a comprehensive training program for store owners and management teams, which includes the local liquor regulations, checking proper identification and handling disruptive situations.

Trustee Luke Stifflear said he would prefer Starbucks not sell alcohol because "it is so kid-oriented," but he thinks to refuse the coffee shop a liquor license would be holding Starbucks to a different standard than other restaurants in town.

The village has allowed alcohol to be served even at boutiques and hair salons.

Starbucks in Burr Ridge, Evanston, Countryside, Plainfield, Wilmette and Winnetka already serve alcohol, not to mention stores in Chicago and other cities across the country.

The village staff said it contacted officials in Highland Park and Wilmette and they said they had not received any negative feedback about the Starbucks selling alcohol in their towns.

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Redmond McGrath, an attorney representing Starbucks, said the operators of the Hinsdale Starbucks plan to start selling alcohol after 2 p.m. on weekdays and after noon on weekends.

The village's liquor license for restaurants permits alcohol to be sold starting at 11 a.m. seven days a week, and ending at 10:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and at midnight on Friday and Saturday.

The new liquor license would be for the downtown location only, and would not allow alcohol to be sold at the Starbucks, next to the Whole Foods store, at 500 E. Ogden Ave.

kfornek@pioneerlocal.com

Twitter: @kfdoings
Designed for 65 units when approved by the Waukegan City Council in late 2013, the River Glen subdivision off River Road and Route 120 features only a model home nine months after sales began. (Dan Moran, Lake County News-Sun)

More than two years after winning approval to break ground, and nine months after opening a sales trailer, the River Glen subdivision at River Road and Route 120 in Waukegan reportedly has yet to attract any buyers for homes starting at $550,000.

The situation was discussed publicly last month before the City Council's Finance Committee, when discussion of lakefront development prompted 9th Ward Ald. Ann Taylor to express her concerns about River Glen, a 22.4-acre tract that sits in her ward.

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"To date, not one lot has been sold," said Taylor, a vocal opponent of the project before and after she joined the council in 2015. "We sat up here and talked about how much money that was going to bring the city and blah, blah, blah.

"You know what? It's going to end up costing the city money, because I'm going to be the one code-enforcing it when there's just tons of problems out there."

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Asked to expand on those Feb. 16 comments, Taylor said this week that as of late February "there were no (building) permits pulled for the property other than for the model," which sits on the south end of the development.

"Honestly, most subdivisions would've sold homes by now," Taylor said.

She noted a sales trailer opened on the parcel last May.

"People aren't rushing to buy homes there," Taylor said. "(It) just worries me, because we've had all this time, and you haven't seen any progress."

Chris Shaw, managing partner for the Libertyville-based River Glen Capital Group, said Thursday that Taylor is correct that no building permits have been pulled, but added "we have a very good prospect list" and he is optimistic that sales will pick up with the arrival of construction season.

"We have an April 4 grand opening for the model, and we've had well over 120 prospects for the project," Shaw said. "A big portion of (interested parties) has been saying, 'Let us know when the model is done.'"

Shaw said River Glen Capital is 95 percent finished with pre-construction work like installation of a water-and-sewer connection to municipal lines. He also noted that "even if we had 65 out of 65 (units) sold, we wouldn't be able to do any construction right now" because of cold weather.

Taylor was one of five aldermen who attempted to derail the project last summer, voting against a final plat submitted by the developer. After River Glen officials pointed out a previous council vote had approved a preliminary plan and residential zoning for the property in December 2013, two aldermen switched their votes to approve the final plat.

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That episode in July 2015 reflected the general discord over efforts to develop the land, which sits at the north end of an upscale residential area with estate-style homes known locally as the River Road corridor.

In the early 2000s, Elgin-based Remington Homes came forward with a bid to build 81 single-family homes on the site. Two years later, after that concept was turned down over density concerns, Cambridge Homes proposed construction of 41 residences in the $600,000 range. The withdrawal of that plan was followed in 2008 by a concept that would have built 27 homes with a focus on green initiatives.

River Glen Capital first emerged in January 2013 with designs for a 155-unit town home project. That number was whittled down to 139 town homes that summer before the 65 single-family residences were approved by a 7-1 vote.

Taylor, who was elected four months after River Glen was approved, said she has always doubted that a market exists for higher-priced homes on a property adjacent to Route 120, but she is now hopeful the development can be salvaged.

"To me, this was just a development just for the sake of saying, 'We have development,'" Taylor said.

She said she does not want to see the property become "an abandoned lot" with a handful of structures.

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"I'd love to see it (succeed). I was opposed to it, but I lost that battle," Taylor said. "Now it's time to make sure it's going to be the best subdivision it's going to be."

Shaw, describing the development's model as being "a week away" from being ready for interior decorating, said he believes home buyers become more active in their searches during warm weather.

"We're excited to be at the point where we can start construction," he said. "We'd love to be sold out, but right now, we're looking forward to building."

danmoran@tribpub.com

Twitter @NewsSunDanMoran
The ironic statement is from the durable comic strip "Pogo" by cartoonist Walt Kelly, widely syndicated in newspapers from the late 1940s into the 1970's. He paraphrased the famous declaration by Admiral William Hazard Perry  "We have met the enemy and they are ours"  after the United States Navy won a great strategic victory over the British in the Battle of Lake Erie in 1813.
Tony Chirico, brother of Naperville mayor Steve Cherico, poses with Karen Helm in Cancun, Mexico, next to a donated fire engine from Naperville that still bears the city's name. (Courtesy of Steve Chirico)

Naperville residents traveling to Cancun, Mexico, on spring break might spot a familiar sight from home: The city's donated fire truck, complete with the Naperville Fire Department logo still on the side door.

Cancun Fire Chief Thomas Hurtado stopped by Tuesday's Naperville City Council meeting to thank city officials for the ladder fire engine, which he said his department received in October.

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The truck is servicing the city's popular hotel zone, which draws tourists from the United States and around the globe, Hurtado said.

"We kept the huge name of Naperville on it, so I'm sure you're going be, over the next few months and years, hearing from friends and relatives of yours here in Illinois that they went and visited us and they saw a ladder truck," Hurtado said.

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In fact, Mayor Steve Chirico said, that's already happened.

"My brother was visiting your fine town recently and sent me back a photo in front of the fire truck," Chirico said, receiving a laugh from the crowd.

The engine is a 25-year-old ladder truck that Naperville City Council agreed to donate in 2014, according to city reports. Naperville retired it in 2012.

The city had tried to sell the truck without success when Cancun officials approached Naperville leaders and asked if they might donate it. The city's hotel district is full of high-rise hotels that the ladder truck could help serve, according to city reports.

The fire engine traveled via truck to Miami and boarded a cargo ship to Cancun, according to city reports. Travel expenses were paid for by the City of Cancun and the Municipality of Benito Juarez of the State of Quintana Roo, Mexico.

Hurtado said he hopes a few Naperville firefighters will visit Cancun to help train that city's firefighters. He also would like Cancun firefighters to visit Naperville and learn additional techniques.

Looking ahead, Hurtado said, he and other Cancun officials hope to become sister cities with Naperville, and encouraged council members to say hi if they ever visit.

"Please let us know so we can give you a tour and maybe take you for dinner," Hurtado said.

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gbookwalter@tribpub.com

Twitter: @GenevieveBook
It's often fashionable, especially during election season, to claim the times are bad. That is, after all, how you encourage dissatisfaction and justify change. But I don't happen to believe that's true, especially when you look at our town.

Sure, locally and statewide, there are some financial challenges. Instead of taking advantage of the incredibly cheap electricity being produced by natural gas generating plants, we got bamboozled into joining a costly consortium burdened by a white elephant of a coal plant.

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And in Springfield the bill is coming due for many years of over-promises everybody knew could never be met. The question now is simply who is going to take the hit, the people to whom the money was promised or the taxpayers who might have to come up with it. However, both of these challenges are simply due to bad judgment. Neither has anything to do with the times themselves.

In fact, our downtown is a perfect example of how good these times are. Storefronts that have been vacant for years are now being rented by successful businesses like financial consultants and outdoor outfitters. Also, we now have an exciting new bakery and a tasty new pizza place.

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Soon, we will have a new store selling all sorts of clothing, jewelry and other products that attract female shoppers. Later this spring, there will be more new businesses, including a new sandwich shop, a new delicatessen and a much-anticipated new tavern. Much of this is due in part to the efforts of organizations such as the Naperville Development Partnership, the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Naperville Alliance, but they could never have happened unless the times were really good.

Naperville Sun Twice-weekly News updates from the Naperville area delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

That's especially true for major investment projects, such as the Water Street development. While I admit that I worried that the project was too big, and perhaps too ambitious, I really admire the courage it takes to mount an effort like that, and sincerely hope it is a resounding success. It actually seems to be coming at just the right time.

And we would never have events such as this weekend's Spring Style Weekend if we were living in bad times. We would never be able to shop in more than 75 stores during "three days of fashion, food, and fun" unless we were enjoying genuine prosperity. Nor would we, on Sunday, be able to enjoy a totally free concert by one of the most remarkable municipal bands anywhere just by dropping by Wentz Hall at 3 p.m.

As you can probably tell, I've grown a little tired of people telling me how bad the times are. Sure, things were bad when the stock market crashed and so many people lost their homes. Who could forget that? But we did not fall into the terrible abyss of a great depression, as we were just about to.

Now, the Iraq and Afghan wars are finally over. I just wish we had spent those trillions rebuilding this country. We cleverly made sure Iran will never have nuclear weapons, and helped Iranian reformers win a big election victory. American airlines are resuming scheduled flights to Cuba, where the Rolling Stones will soon put on a free concert. A record 195 countries have pledged to fight climate change. And the cease fire is holding in Syria.

The American auto industry is back and prospering, the Dow and our 401(k)s are restored, our credit cards can no longer have hidden fees, gays can finally openly serve their country and marry the people they love, unemployment is 4.9 percent, gas is a buck seventy-five, and you can't (as I was) be denied health insurance because you were once sick.

So the world has changed. There may be some who want us to see these as bad times, but the times are plenty good enough for me.

bill.mego@sbcglobal.net
For the third consecutive year, students at Maine South High School are coming together for a common cause through participation in the School-Wide Fundraiser. Junior Kamryn McKenzie is one of the organizers involved in this year's fundraiser.

Q: Who is the recipient of the fundraiser?

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A: We are raising money for Cure SMA, which stands for spinal muscular atrophy. It's a genetic disease most common in children. Cure SMA is located in Elk Grove Village and a lot of students from Park Ridge go to a conference every year that Cure SMA puts on.

Q: What kind of conference is it?

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A: It's a conference Cure SMA holds every year for parents of children with the disease. It's a time for parents to have a little time to do research themselves. Kids from Maine South will help babysit the kids during the day while their parents go to talks and informational sessions about the disease.

Q: What some of the big fundraising events coming up?

A: Our biggest event is Hawk Fest on April 15, which is somewhat of a carnival fundraiser at our school where clubs run booths to raise money. We also have Pizza Madness [on April 28 at 5:30 p.m.]. Last year, about 12 local pizza businesses set up stations where people paid $5 to try samples from each place. All the clubs and organizations at Maine South also run their own events, like National Honor Society, which is holding a Color Run [on April 16].

Q: What is your involvement in the fundraiser?

A: I'm in the School-Wide Fundraiser Club. We organize the events and plans the activities so there are no overlapping dates. I help coordinate the website  www.msgivesback.com  which is new this year with a calendar and an online donation portion.

Q: Can members of the community donate or is the fundraiser only open to Maine South students?

A: Anyone can give, that's mainly why we decided to have a the website [this year]. There's also a bunch of different events that parents and the community can come to, like the Color Run and Pizza Madness, which are open to everyone.

Jennifer Johnson, Pioneer Press

jjohnson@pioneerlocal.com

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Twitter: @Jen_Pioneer

Shout Out is a weekly feature in which we get to know and introduce our readers to their fellow community members and local visitors throughout suburban Chicago. Check out more online at ChicagoTribune.com/ShoutOut.
Porter County Officer Paul Czupryn stands guard on Thursday near a display featuring two genuine submachine guns used byJohn Dillinger as well as the carved wood gun he used to bluff his way out of Lake County Jail. (Kyle Telechan, Post-Tribune)

Three of the most infamous weapons in law enforcement history were on display together Thursday to mark the 82nd anniversary of gangster John Dillinger's escape from the Lake County Jail, the day that made the weapons famous.

Two 1921 Thompson submachine guns taken from police during Dillinger's 1934 escape  and the hand-carved wooden gun he is believed to have used to break out of jail with another inmate  were out for public viewing at the John Dillinger Museum in the lower level of the historic Lake County Courthouse.

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Three armed sheriff's deputies stood watch over the two submachine guns and the wooden gun, set out for display on a table. The two "Tommy" guns were each on a display rack so visitors could get close  without touching, officers warned. The wooden gun, colored with shoe polish to make it look like a real gun, was inside a locked, clear display case.

Ron and Pat Wojcik of Lansing, Ill., were among the first visitors during the special viewing. The couple said they had not visited the museum before, but were enticed by the gun exhibit.

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"Everybody knows Dillinger. This is very interesting," Pat Wojcik said, as they made their way through the museum. The exhibits helped to tell the true story of what happened and not just the folklore.

"There are a lot of legends surrounding the escape," said Cpl. Paul Czupryn with the Porter County Sheriff's Department. Czupryn was one of the three deputies guarding the valuable weapons. Other submachine guns from the era, but without the historical significance, can fetch $22,000 to $35,000 each.

Erika Dahl, communications director for the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority, said when Dillinger was housed in the Lake County Jail, the Lake County Sheriff's Department had back up from the Porter County Sheriff's Department.

While some stories say Dillinger carved a gun out of a bar of soap and used it trick his way out of jail, it is believed the fake gun he used was actually carved out of wood, possibly a washboard, and was painted with black shoe polish.

Dillinger took an opportunity to use the fake gun to get out of his cell, locking up the deputies and stealing the two submachine guns. It would be more than 65 years before the two submachine guns would find their way back to Northwest Indiana.

The Porter County gun was one found with a cache of other weapons in Lake Michigan. The FBI took possession of the weapon and it was not until more than five decades later it was connected back to Porter County. Sheriff Dave Reynolds was able to get the weapon returned in the early 2000s, Czupryn said.

The Lake County submachine gun was recovered later in 1934 in Wisconsin after a gunfight between the criminals and the FBI, according to Mark Back, public information officer for the Lake County Sheriff.

"It was lost for many years after that," Back said. It was returned to Lake County with the help of U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Merrillville, after Sheriff John Buncich was able to locate the weapon with the help of a researcher. It was returned in the late 1990s.

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The Thompson submachine guns were two of 17 similar submachine guns used by Dillinger and his gang during their reign of terror, Czupryn said.

Robert and Paula Tratebas, of Highland, were among the early visitors Thursday. Robert said he had to talk Paula into the visit.

"I just wanted to come out and see the guns. Guns are right down my alley," he said.

Paula Tratebas said she was surprised by how much she enjoyed the museum visit.

"It's well worth seeing.

Visitors to the museum can see a replica of the hand-carved gun anytime at the museum. The original is kept in a safety deposit box, officials said.

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The value of both the "Tommy" guns and the carved gun are unknown, officials said.

"It's one of those things that's priceless," Dahl said.

Carrie Napoleon is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.

About the Thompson:

Thompson submachine gun

Models 1921-23

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Round magazine holds 50 rounds

Stick magazine holds 20, 30 or 100 rounds

Gauge: 45 ACP

Barrel length: 10 1/2-inch, round

Grip: Walnut

Finish: Blue

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Rate of fire: 800 rounds-per-minute

Weight: 13 pounds

Length: 35 inches

Sources: www.militaryfactory.com, www.tommygunner.com
This blog is written solely by John Ray, who has a Ph.D. degree in psychology and 200+ papers published in the academic journals of the social sciences. It does occasionally comment on issues in psychology but is mainly aimed at giving a conservative psychologist's view on a broad range of topics. There are very few conservative psychologists.The blog originated in Australia and many (but not most) posts discuss Australian matters. Australians have an unusually good awareness of events outside their own country. Australian newspapers feature news from Britain and the USA not as an afterthought but as a major part of their coverage. So Australians do tend to have a truly Western heart, which is the reason behind the old name for this blog. So events in Australia, Britain and the USA all feature frequently here, plus occasional coverage of other places, particularly Israel.SCOTUS is the Supreme Court of the United States, the highest court in the landThe "GOP" stands for "Grand Old Party" and refers to the Republican party. The GOP is at present center/Right, while the Democrats have been undergoing a steady drift Leftwards and now have policies similar to mainstream European Leftist parties.The ideological identity of both parties has however been very fluid -- almost reversing itself over time. In the mid 19th century, the GOP was the party of big government and concern for minorities while the Democrats advertised themselves as "The party of the white man" -- an orientation that lasted into the mid 20th century in the South. The Democrats are still obsessed with race but have now flipped into support for discrimination AGAINST whites.Was Pope Urban VIII the first Warmist? Below we see him refusing to look through Galileo's telescope. People tend to refuse to consider evidence if what they might discover contradicts what they believe.Climate scientist Lennart Bengtsson said. The warming we have had the last 100 years is so small that if we didnt have meteorologists and climatologists to measure it we wouldnt have noticed it at all.The term "Fascism" is mostly used by the Left as a brainless term of abuse. But when they do make a serious attempt to define it, they produce very complex and elaborate definitions -- e.g. here and here . In fact, Fascism is simply extreme socialism plus nationalism. But great gyrations are needed to avoid mentioning the first part of that recipe, of course.Beatrice Webb, a founder of the London School of Economics and the Fabian Society, and married to a Labour MP, mused in 1922 on whether when English children were "dying from lack of milk", one should extend "the charitable impulse" to Russian and Chinese children who, if saved this year, might anyway die next. Besides, she continued, there was "the larger question of whether those races are desirable inhabitants" and "obviously" one wouldn't "spend one's available income" on "a Central African negro".Hugh Dalton, offered the Colonial Office during Attlee's 1945-51 Labour government, turned it down because "I had a horrid vision of pullulating, poverty stricken, diseased nigger communities, for whom one can do nothing in the short run and who, the more one tries to help them, are querulous and ungrateful."The book,, authored by T.W. Adorno et al. in 1950, has been massively popular among psychologists. It claims that a set of ideas that were popular in the "Progressive"-dominated America of the prewar era were "authoritarian". Leftist regimes always are authoritarian so that claim was not a big problem. What was quite amazing however is that Adorno et al. identified such ideas as "conservative". They were in fact simply popular ideas of the day but ones that had been most heavily promoted by the Left right up until the then-recent WWII. See here for details of prewar "Progressive" thinking.R.I.P. Augusto Pinochet. Pinochet deposed a law-defying Marxist President at the express and desperate invitation of the Chilean parliament. He pioneered the free-market reforms which Reagan and Thatcher later unleashed to world-changing effect. That he used far-Leftist methods to suppress far-Leftist violence is reasonable if not ideal. The Leftist view that they should have a monopoly of violence and that others should follow the law is a total absurdity which shows only that their hate overcomes their reasonFranklin Delano Roosevelt was a war criminal. Both British and American codebreakers had cracked the Japanese naval code so FDR knew what was coming at Pearl Harbor. But for his own political reasons he warned no-one there. So responsibility for the civilian and military deaths at Pearl Harbor lies with FDR as well as with the Japanese. The huge firepower available at Pearl Harbor, both aboard ship and on land, could have largely neutered the attack. Can you imagine 8 battleships and various lesser craft firing all their AA batteries as the Japanese came in? The Japanese naval airforce would have been annihilated and the war would have been over before it began. FDR prolonged the Depression . He certainly didn't cure it. WWII did NOT end the Great Depression . It just concealed it. It in fact made living standards worse Joe McCarthy was eventually proved right after the fall of the Soviet Union. To accuse anyone of McCarthyism is to accuse them of accuracy! The KKK was intimately associated with the Democratic party . They ATTACKED Republicans!People who mention differences in black vs. white IQ are these days almost universally howled down and subjected to the most extreme abuse. I am a psychometrician, however, so I feel obliged to defend the scientific truth of the matter:The average African adult has about the same IQ as an average white 11-year-old and African Americans (who are partly white in ancestry) average out at a mental age of 14. The American Psychological Association is generally Left-leaning but it is the world's most prestigious body of academic psychologists. And even they have had to concede that sort of gap (one SD) in black vs. white average IQ. 11-year olds can do a lot of things but they also have their limits and there are times when such limits need to be allowed for. America's uncivil war was caused by trade protectionism . The slavery issue was just camouflage, as Abraham Lincoln himself admitted . See also here Leftist psychologists have an amusingly simplistic conception of military organizations and military men. They seem to base it on occasions they have seen troops marching together on parade rather than any real knowledge of military men and the military life. They think that military men are "rigid" -- automatons who are unable to adjust to new challenges or think for themselves. What is incomprehensible to them is that being(to use the extreme Prussian term for following orders) actually requires great flexibility -- enough flexibility to put your own ideas and wishes aside and do something very difficult. Ask any soldier if all commands are easy to obey.
Third grade students at the Ambassador Christian Academy in Gary work on math and language arts studies in a computer lab. (Carole Carlson / Post-Tribune)

Indiana's appetite for its extensive school voucher program isn't waning.

A leap in state funding for Indiana's Choice Scholarship Program led to a surge in enrollment increases statewide and in Northwest Indiana private schools last year.

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Spending for the voucher program, which began in 2011, increased from $16 million in 2014 to $40 million last year. Correspondingly, statewide enrollment jumped from 19,809 in 2014 to 29,148 last year after state lawmakers removed the enrollment cap.

Voucher supporters applaud the program's expansion, while opponents maintain state funding for private schools affords little public accountability and safeguards. They contend public money is better spent on other school alternatives, such as public charters.

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Under the Choice Scholarship program, the state awards tuition money, or a voucher, to parents who meet income requirements. Parents can use the voucher at the private school of their choice.

In Northwest Indiana, those private schools are primarily religious-based. They range from Avicenna Academy, an Islamic school in Merrillville where students study the Quran, to Catholic schools in the Diocese of Gary where students attend Mass.

One of the voucher program's biggest supporters, the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, released a statewide poll in late January showing 70 percent of Northwest Indiana residents surveyed by Braun Research Inc. favored the voucher program.

Support grew to 80 percent from low-income survey participants statewide. Others surveyed cited harm to public schools because of the diverting of funding to private schools.

Increased voucher funding has led to a marked impact in enrollment at private schools.

St. Casimir Catholic School, in Hammond, leads Lake and Porter county private schools with the most state voucher students with 287, according to data from the Indiana Department of Education. Next was Gary's Ambassador Christian Academy with 206 students

Portage Christian School enjoyed one of the biggest enrollment jumps, going from 49 voucher students in 2014 to 194 students last year.

The Ambassador Christian Academy, sponsored by Embassies of Christ Kingdom Ministries, has been a leader in voucher enrollment since the program began. Principal Vercena Stewart said about 90 percent of her students come from the Gary Community School Corp. It has about 280 students and more than half are voucher students. Last year, it received more than $991,000 from vouchers.

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"Many parents aren't used to a private school environment," Stewart said. Parents tell her the reason they chose Ambassador is because they want a safe environment and academic excellence. "What they don't want is to be involved," said Stewart. Ambassador parents get a phone call as soon as their child's grade drops below a C.

In August, the 19-year-old school will expand, adding an 11th grade.

Diocese of Gary Superintendent Barbara O'Block said about 2,200 students in the diocese's 20 schools are voucher students. The infusion of tuition money has helped stabilize some of the diocesan schools that are supported by tuition and their parishes.

"Some of them have really strengthened their fiscal viability," she said. "We've welcomed some wonderful kids and families."

O'Block said the diocese also markets its schools and their strong academic traditions. She said 16 of the 20 schools recorded A's on the last state report card.

Portage Christian School Superintendent Larry Pender said students at his school have to pass an entrance exam. The school isn't associated with a specific church, so he markets it to surrounding churches in Portage, Hobart and Lake Station.

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"Our primary form of advertising, other than parents, are open houses," he said. "I try to visit churches and we try to draw our clientele from them."

Pender said the school, which opened in 1978, added four teachers this year because of the enrollment increase.

"We have greatly benefited from the Choice program," he said.

The Republican-dominated General Assembly is on a course of voucher expansion, ranking Indiana as one of the most extensive voucher programs in the nation. The voucher program survived a lawsuit by the Indiana State Teachers Association over its legality, but the debate still simmers on the campaign trail as Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Gregg prepares for a fall rematch with Republican Gov. Mike Pence.

Pence likely will have the support of voucher supporters like the Friedman Foundation, while Gregg is backed by teacher unions and public education supporters.

Friedman Foundation CEO and founder Robert Enloe said data from its poll shows most Hoosiers have a negative view of Indiana's K-12 public education system. The poll found 54 percent believe public education in the state is on the "wrong track."

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Enloe said the statewide poll also included an over sampling of five regions, including Northwest Indiana.

"Voters are very concerned where education is going and they want more freedom of choice," he said. "I think if you look at some low income places around the state, you'll find more dissatisfaction with public schools."

Enloe said the poll's purpose was to find out where Hoosiers stood on the voucher issue.

"Our plan is to make sure parents have options to get all the schools they want in their tool box," he said. "We care there's good schools, whether they're public, private or charter."

Meanwhile, Senate Bill 334, under consideration by the General Assembly, would provide for another expansion. It would allow the state to accept voucher applications for the spring semester of a school year. Previously, voucher applications only were accepted before the beginning of the school year.

Vic Smith, a retired educator and co-founder of the Indiana Coalition for Public Education, testified against the Senate plan that he says will cost another $2.1 million in state funding.

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He dismissed the Friedman poll as a marketing ploy.

"It doesn't surprise me they did a poll and found it favors their position," he said.

Smith pointed to a Ball State University poll, called the Hoosier Survey. It showed that 58 percent of Hoosiers prefer their tax dollars go to public schools. Support for vouchers for private schools and charters was at 39 percent. And 68 percent said they were satisfied with public schools.

"We believe that public money should go to public schools that are publicly watched and supervised," Smith said.

Unlike public schools that are governed by elected school board members, there is less scrutiny on the operation of private schools and officials of those schools often take partisan positions. The Indiana Department of Education does make routine, but infrequent visits to private schools.

Smith said one of the bedrock positions of the Founding Fathers was a separation of religion and government.

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"Our basic philosophy is every public school ought to be great and if it's not, it may need more public attention and more money," he said.

"We may need some choice, but it can be done in the public arena with charter schools."

ccarlson@post-trib.com

Twitter: @ccwriterPT

St. Casimir (Hammond) 287 students

Ambassador Academy (Gary) 206

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Bishop Noll (Hammond) 202

Portage Christian 194

St. John Bosco (Hammond) 167

*Indiana Department of Education

Top 5 Choice award amounts 2014-15*

Bishop Noll $1,221,205

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St. Casimir $1,153,806

Ambassador Academy $991,976

Portage Christian $830,794

Andrean $709,922

*Indiana Department of Education
What's Quickly? It's where readers sound off on the issues of the day. Have a quote, question or quip? Call Quickly at 312-222-2426 or email quickly@post-trib.com.

Is the Great Wall of Texas still being treated seriously? We should let the U.S. roads and bridges crumble while we build a wall? Ask China how well the one they have works as anything but a tourist trap. I know, we can build some casinos along it.

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Ted Cruz saying he sees a "pattern of sleaze" in Donald Trump's career is a classic example of The Pot Calling The Kettle Black. These two deserve one another. They are the masters of sleaze.

What happened again to get a 30 cent spike in Northwest Indiana gasoline prices? It is a local issue? I called out-of-state relatives and they are still paying just over a buck a gallon. Selling gasoline in Northwest Indiana has got to be one of the best businesses to be in the whole country.

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Poof! Sarah Palin has disappeared just as fast as she appeared. I think The Donald said "you're fired!"

If some people think electing Donald Trump as president is the way to "make America great again," then they're out of their minds. What it will make us is the laughingstock of the world. And deservedly so.

The Bernie Sanders followers go on and on about the greedy 1 percent, all while their hands are out for free stuff from their guy if he gets elected. Talk about calling the kettle black.

We have Bernie under scrutiny for his wild younger years, Hilary under FBI investigation, some guy trying to make some money off Ted with a lawsuit about his birthplace-what a mess. In the end, Donald may win by forfeiture. There may be hope yet that my Social Security will see no more cuts.

Free trade has to be one of the worst policy failures in history. It always runs huge trade deficits and creates a race to the bottom for labor and environmental standards. It benefits the nations that trade unfairly and the undeveloped, low wage sweat ship countries where the companies send the jobs to. It works against the nations that trade fairly and the developed/advanced nations with high standards of living.

Why can't the USA have a robust economy, middle class, jobs, manufacturing base and national health care system when other countries can? I read Saudi Arabia provides it's citizens with free education, free health care, middle class jobs and no taxes. China can have (in most years) huge trade surpluses, full employment, double digit economic growth, robust manufacturing base and a bullet train. But somehow the USA can't.

Trump and Sanders are doing well in the polls because they are the only 2 candidates talking about solving the problems people want solved. The other candidates are status quo candidates.

Post Tribune Twice-weekly News updates from Northwest Indiana delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

Why are we constantly getting charged more so NIPSCO can "upgrade technology?" We didn't ask them to do it. They are not getting any faster at getting the power back working when a storm knocks it out.

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Yeah, who needs social programs like Social Security, Medicare and the like. Oh I forgot those social programs you like. Maybe Bernie Sanders wouldn't be so bad. I like the sound of cutting out the insurance companies and going with a single payer system.

It's time Northwest Indiana got rid of emission testing for vehicles. It's a real scam on the citizens. Get rid of Pence too.

Robert Battle probably killed that guy. However, "innocent until proven guilty" is still a founding principle of the United States, and I'm very proud of that. Charlie Brown should know as a lawmaker that in this country, we don't punish people who are accused of a crime until they are convicted.

Indiana politics is a great example why people don't vote. Your vote is a waste of time and they always do what they want anyway no matter who's in office.

Congressional Republicans have brought a number of historically unprecedented lawsuits against President Obama for allegedly overstepping his constitutional powers. Why can't Obama sue them right back, for proudly proclaiming their intention to do absolutely nothing to fulfill their constitutional obligations in replacing Justice Scalia on the Supreme Court?

Read more at www.post-trib.com/quickly
Shauna Anderson is the young adult services supervisor at the Skokie Public Library. She leads a team of people dedicated to working with sixth through 12th graders. The Skokie Review recently asked her a series of questions.

Q: In what way do you help young people at the library?

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A: We provide after school activities and support for youth in our High School Lounge and Junior High Zone spaces as well as unique educational classes and events.

Q: Where did you grow up?

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A: I grew up in Rolling Meadows.

Q: Pets?

A: I have two cats that I adopted from the Philippines where I served as a Peace Corps volunteer.

Q: What book are you currently reading and what book would you like to read next?

A: For being a librarian, I definitely don't read as much as I imagined. I recently read "Bringing Up Bebe," which is a nonfiction book about French parenting techniques. I'm just trying to keep myself occupied until the next book in the "Song of Ice and Fire" series by George R.R. Martin comes out. Until then, very few books can compare.

Q: First job?

A: I helped out at a local preschool during the summers when I was younger. As I grew up, I took on more of an educator role, and those experiences eventually led me to working with youth in libraries.

Q: As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

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A: I wanted to be an investigative journalist when I was a kid, like Harriet the Spy. I have always had a passion for social justice, and I imagined myself traveling the world, uncovering corruption and promoting equality.

Q: A movie you'd recommend?

A: I think everyone should see the movie "Short Term 12." It's an incredibly moving picture about a group home for teens and the staff who work with them.

Q: Do you have children?

A: Not yet, but I have one on the way.

Q: Favorite charity?

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A: Big Brothers Big Sisters facilitates transformative relationships for young people across the country. Did you know there is a program that meets here in Skokie and is always looking for more mentors?

Q: Words of wisdom?

A: Young people live up to our expectations of them. Give them the benefit of the doubt and they rise to the challenge every time.

Q: Favorite local restaurant?

A: El Fuego. They recently worked with us to present a program for teens at the library. The owners are really invested in the community, and their food is delicious.

Q: What is an interesting factoid about yourself?

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A: I spent a summer in circus school, and I know the trapeze.

 Pioneer Press staff

Shout Out is a weekly feature where we get to know and introduce our readers to their fellow community members and local visitors throughout suburban Chicago.
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)

Weeks before the local gun control group People For a Safer Society lost its court battle to try to stop a gun shop from being built in Niles, the village of Skokie fulfilled a promise to the group.

Skokie officials repeatedly said they would not join the lawsuit despite the group's campaign to bring Skokie on board. But what Skokie Mayor George Van Dusen promised was that it would seriously consider expressing the village's concerns in a non-binding letter to Niles.

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In the letter to Niles Mayor Andrew Przybylo, Van Dusen said many Skokie residents have expressed "deep concern and dismay" over the Niles Village Board's vote allowing Sportsman's Club and Firearms Training Academy to operate at 6143 Howard St.

"We ask you to reflect on the fact that your decision may impact Skokie residents, businesses and schools due to the proximity to the gun range," he said. "As elected officials, we all hold public safety to be of paramount concern and we must carefully weigh our actions with this in mind."

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Przybylo said he was not surprised when he received the letter because "I was with (Van Dusen) four or five days before and he told me he was sending the letter and I said, 'OK, great.'"

Przybylo said the letter will have no bearing on Niles officials' actions regarding the gun shop and range because "we've made up our mind to do exactly what (Skokie) has done and other municipalities, including Chicago, have done and that is to create the hardest, toughest operating ordinance related to the gun store."

"We'll go in there and check their inventory and make sure the people they have selling guns are qualified," he said. Przybylo added that the village will also work to ensure the shop does not engage in any illegal transactions, commonly called "straw purchases," in which someone buys a gun for another individual who is prohibited by law from possessing one or for an individual who does not want their name associated with the gun sale. He also said the village would make sure the store does not sell firearms repeatedly to people who have reported lost or stolen guns, because "that's a sure sign guns are going into the wrong hands."

People For a Safer Society repeatedly and publicly asked Skokie to join its lawsuit because the planned gun shop is located near the Skokie border and some of its schools.

Village officials said it should not do so because a municipality's home rule authority allows it to govern on certain matters without interference.

Both Skokie and Niles have home rule powers. If the village were to join the lawsuit, Van Dusen told the group, it would have difficulty taking a legal position in court supporting home rule authority and then saying "except when someone is passing something we don't like."

Trustee Randy Roberts, in an earlier emotional address to the group, proposed the letter but supported that the village should not join the lawsuit.

In the letter sent to Niles, Van Dusen made a pitch to the mayor to consider the group's concerns.

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"While we are not part of this litigation," he wrote, "we believe that honest, respectful, communication between parties often brings a more satisfying and just result beyond what any lawsuit can accomplish. We ask that you take the time, while the court's ruling on the motion to dismiss is pending, to meet with advocates who oppose the current location and to try to reach a solution which addresses their safety concerns."

Despite the letter, however, the ruling on the lawsuit moved forward last month without Niles and People For a Safer Society coming to an agreement.

For the second time, a Cook County judge Feb. 19 granted motions to dismiss the suit filed by attorneys for Niles and 6143 Howard Partners, the company that plans to open the gun shop.

Przybylo said a draft operations ordinance is "95 percent done." He said village officials would like to work with the owners behind the gun shop and range on the local regulations but have had difficulty scheduling a time to meet.

"We'll pass the operations ordinance on our own if (the owner) doesn't have time to meet with us," Przybylo said.

Asked when he expects the range and shop to open, Przybylo said "my guess is nine months." He said the operations ordinance will be presented for Village Board approval sometime before the summer.

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A lawyer for People For a Safer Society said the group plans to appeal the ruling and push forward with its protest.

Lee V. Gaines contributed.

misaacs@pioneerlocal.com

Twitter: @SKReview_Mike
The view of Second Baptist Church on Washington Avenue to the west from the site of a proposed BEDS center to serve the homeless on the southwest corner of East and Ogden avenues. (Jane Michaels / Chicago Tribune)

A project to provide housing in La Grange for the homeless is getting a boost from Cook County in the form of a loan.

BEDS Plus Care, Inc. will receive a $1.3 million loan from Cook County to construct 20 units of permanent housing for chronically homeless individuals. The entire project, which will be built at 9601 Ogden Ave., is expected to cost $6.2 million.

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The La Grange-based, nonprofit Beds Plus will build the housing units, along with space for its offices, counseling services and daytime support staff. Offices and support staff/counseling space will be on the first floor and there will be two floors above it with 10 units each.

Tina Rounds, executive director, said they expect to break ground on the project in late summer. The project received approval from the village of La Grange last April.

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The agency is appreciative of the loan from Cook County.

"Sometimes you're fortunate enough to get support from a county," Rounds said.

Rounds said the agency has raised enough money and received the pledges of financial support it needs to complete the project, which was decried by some as it moved through the approval process.

Legal action that had sought to block the sale of the property for the homeless center was dismissed in Cook County Circuit Court in mid-February, Rounds said.

Though some in the community spoke out against the project, Rounds said the project was properly vetted.

"There was a public zoning process it was decided it was a fit for the community," she said.

Though it had opponents, the project also had community support. Rounds said 350 people signed a petition in favor of the project.

"Some of the opposition got attention," she said. "But we can't forget all the people who supported us."

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Rounds said having the new building will enable the agency to consolidate functions that are now completed in two different churches.

The loan, along with funding for several other housing projects, is being granted by the Cook County's HOME Investment Partnership Program, which has a goal of developing affordable housing.

"The need for affordable housing in the region is great and far exceeds our current stock. I am very pleased to see these projects moving forward," said Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle in a news release.

Rounds said individuals selected for the studio apartments will undergo a screening process by a committee that will include two individuals from the community.

Rounds said it is estimated there are 11 homeless persons per 10,000 people in Illinois.

She said housing the homeless provides them with the stability to conquer other challenges such as finding a job.

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"We know the solution of homeless is housing," she said.

amannion@tribpub.com

Twitter: triblocalam
With the scope and penalties of Chinas social credit system being further clarified in 2021, legal and regulatory compliance has become more important than...
China, an important partner in Africa's wildlife conservation, has made tremendous efforts in combating illegal wildlife trade, said Kenyan wildlife experts as the world celebrates the World Wildlife Day on Thursday.

China's role in promoting wildlife conservation in Africa has helped support economic growth in countries relying on tourism, Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) spokesman Paul Udoto said in an interview with Xinhua.

"Kenya has various joint programs with China to promote wildlife protection" when poaching remains a global problem, he said, adding this partnership has achieved great successes.

According to Udoto, China's unremitting efforts in protecting Africa's wildlife have led to a decline in poaching across Africa and a drastic fall in the value of illegal raw ivory in the Asian nation in the past two years, giving hopes the wanton killing of Africa's elephants may finally be curbed.

China imposed a ban on imports of African ivory in October 2015.

Kenyan analysts said the two countries' commitment to enact "a near total ban" on the import and export of ivory represents a major step toward shutting down an industry that has fuelled the illegal hunting of elephants.

"China responded to the issue by increasing the capacity of its smuggling supervision system and conducting in-depth investigations of its existing legal trade," said Charles Oluchina, director of Field Programs, Africa Region at The Nature Conservancy.

Oluchina said that, in countries like Kenya and Tanzania, China has provided technical assistance and material support to help them improve wildlife management and monitoring, and enforce related laws.

The expert said Beijing has made great efforts in encouraging its media and citizens to participate in wildlife conservation activities in Africa through digital platforms so as to raise people's awareness of the status and value of Africa's wildlife.

Chinese business community and superstars like Yao Ming have become great supporters and brand ambassadors for Africa's wildlife, Oluchina added.

Udoto said that Kenya's wildlife agency has been carrying out cooperation with Chinese authorities to protect threatened species from international trade.

Last April, a high-powered delegation led by KWS Director General William Kiprono visited Beijing with an aim to build strategic partnership in wildlife protection, tourism and national park infrastructure development.

"Both Kenya and China are among the eight countries mandated by CITES (also known as the Washington Convention) to strengthen wildlife protection and combat wildlife crime, and the two countries have forged a strategic collaboration to boost wildlife protection," Udoto said.

Cooperation in key areas such as intelligence sharing and technological exchange has been strengthened to boost the war against poaching, Udoto added.

As part of the efforts to protect wildlife in Kenya, China donated 18 four-wheel drive vehicles and assorted equipment to KWS in November 2015 to assist wildlife conservation and stem wildlife crime.

Conservationists estimate that about 100 elephants are killed every day in Africa by poachers.
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Kenyan police on Thursday denied that two terror suspects were arrested trying to sneak an explosive device into an event which was attended by President Uhuru Kenyatta on Monday.

Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinett clarified that only one person was found with a motherboard of a transistor radio as he queued to access the General Service Unit (GSU) training school.

"Someone was found with a motherboard of a small transistor radio in his bag at the security check as he queued to access the outer gate and was arrested for further questioning," he said.

The police chief was responding to local media reports that the two terror suspects were nabbed trying to sneak a bomb into the pass-out parade when Kenyatta was in the premises.

The local media reported that anxiety had gripped security officers manning the GSU gates, after it was discovered that an extra component to complete the explosive was missing, raising fears that it could have already been sneaked into the event.

The reports say the two suspects were whisked away to anti-terror police for questioning in order to establish their motive.

Kenyatta turned up for the event in a military uniform that surprised many people who had turned up for the pass-out parade of more than 1,900 graduands.

The event proceeded without a hitch after family members of graduates were barred from accessing the main venue in precautionary measures to avert any possible threat.

Security officials have been on high alert after Somalia-based Al-Shabaab militants named a former University student as the leader of their Kenyan faction.

Ahmed Imani warned in a video which was widely circulated that the group would carry out more attacks in the country suggesting that their main target is the State House.

The incident also came after the authoritiries had warned that Al-Shabaab terrorists plan to attack domestic flights in a series.

Security at the pass-out parade of more than 1,900 officers was heightened after the arrest of the suspects with thorough screening of visitors. There were almost 10,000 people who attended the event.

Boinnet has urged Kenyans to be vigilant and to report anything suspicious to the police for immediate action.
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New sanctions imposed on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to punish its nuclear tests and satellite launch is a "rigid but necessary" measure, Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

"The UN Security Council (UNSC) has expressed a consolidated opinion of the international community, which does not accept irresponsible 'games' with nuclear missiles," the ministry said in an online statement.

"We hope that the DPRK side will adequately accept this decision, make the right conclusions, and return to the negotiating table," the ministry said.

The statement said all concerned parties must consider the consequence of the deployment of U.S. missile system on the Korean peninsula in response to the DPRK's actions.

The DPRK conducted its fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6 and went ahead with a long-range rocket launch on Feb. 7. The launch was condemned by the international community.

The UNSC approved unanimously on Wednesday a new package of sanctions against the DPRK, which included a ban on all exports of coal, iron, iron ore, gold, titanium ore, vanadium ore and rare earth metals from the DPRK.

It also prohibits the supply of all types of aviation fuel, including rocket fuel, to the DPRK, and requires all states to inspect all cargo going to and from the DPRK.
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Iran's Foreign Ministry condemned a recent statement of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) enlisting Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah as terrorist group, official IRNA news agency reported on Thursday.

The Lebanese Hezbollah movement is a symbol of resistance against Israeli occupation and its racism in the region and the world and has praised the movement's fight against terrorist groups in the region, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari said on Thursday.

The GCC on Wednesday declared the Hezbollah a terrorist organization.

In a statement, GCC Secretary-General Abdullatif bin Rashid Al- Zayani said "The GCC states consider Hezbollah militias' practices in the Council's states and their terrorist and subversive acts being carried out in Syria, Yemen and Iraq contradict moral and humanitarian values and principles and the international law and pose a threat to Arab national security," according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

Jaber Ansari said that the move is against the interests of Islamic countries and serves the interests of Israel, which is unjustifiable.
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The Nigerian government has destroyed pirated items valued at 2.4 billion naira (over 12 million U.S. dollars) in southeastern Enugu State in its intensified fight against piracy.

The items were seized during the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC)'s enforcement raids in the zone, Afam Ezekude, Director-General of the Commission, said, during the destruction of the items on Wednesday.

The items included software, books, CDs and DVDs.

"Piracy is a crime and not a business, and that is why we are destroying these pirated products confiscated in the course of our enforcement campaign in the South-East," he added.

"This represents the value of money that would have been lost to the nefarious activities of pirates to the detriment of our hard-working copyright owners", Ezekude told reporters.

The director said the destruction would serve as a warning to those planning to venture into piracy that it was no longer a lucrative venture.

He added that the commission, in the last five years, had carried out 227 anti-piracy raids and arrested 537 suspected pirates.

The director told reporters that it also secured 54 convictions, with some of the convicts bagging prison sentences or huge fines.

The commission has the mandate to advance the growth of the creative industry in Nigeria through the dissemination of copyright knowledge, efficient administration and protection of rights.
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Turkey is determined to stop the illegal flow of refugees from its territory to European countries, a Turkish foreign ministry official said on Thursday.

"Turkey has the determination and will to stop the illegal flow of migrants to Europe from its territory," the official told foreign reporters in Istanbul, noting the process would take "some time" as Turkey has a border of more than 900 km long with Syria and Iraq.

The statement came before a special summit between Turkey and EU countries in Brussels on March 7 to push forward a deal aimed at stemming the flow of migrants into Europe.

Under a deal signed last November, Turkey agreed to help curb the flow of refugees in return for EU's provision of 3 billion euros (3.2 billion U.S. dollars) in aid and agreement to expedite its EU membership process.

The Turkish foreign ministry official said that as a result of close cooperation between Turkey and EU countries, the number of refugees reaching Greek islands from Turkey has dropped "drastically" during the last couple of months.

According to United Nations data, the number of migrant arrivals by sea to Greek islands is around 130,000 since the start of 2016, while the figure hit one million in total last year.

As of Feb. 15, the official said, Turkey had started to give permission to Syrian refugees to work in the country so as to stop them from going to European countries.

He also referred to changes made in the e-visa system for Iraqis and Libyans, who constitute another bulk of refugees intending to go to Europe, a move that has caused the number to "fall even further."

Turkey has lately strengthened its cooperation with Germany and a joint working group has met three times in a short time period.

NATO has agreed to send three ships to the Aegean Sea for naval patrolling to return migrants to Turkey.

Saying Ankara is the "mastermind" behind the NATO mission, the Turkish official denied allegations that Turkey is attempting to block it.
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More than 2,000 children have been killed and injured in Yemen since an all-out civil war broke out in September 2014, a senior UN official said Thursday.

Stephen O'Brien, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said that more than 90 children have been killed so far this year alone, while speaking to the UN Security Council by video teleconference on Thursday.

He said that air strikes and random shelling of civilians constitute the unlawful conduct of hostilities.

"It is unacceptable that medical facilities and schools are being hit," said O'Brien, who is also the UN emergency relief coordinator.

The senior UN official noted the delays impeding the delivery of humanitarian assistance in Yemen, due to restrictions placed both by the Yemeni government and its allies and by the Houthis.

He called once more on all parties to allow timely and unimpeded access for humanitarian assistance.

The UN Verification and Inspection Mechanism has been instituted and nominations for its steering committee will be finalized this week, allowing it to commence operations this month, he said.

The Security Council later went into closed consultations to discuss Yemen further, Farhan Haq, the deputy UN spokesman, told reporters here, adding that the council members heard an update from UN Special Envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, who also briefed by video teleconference.

On Saturday, warplanes of the Saudi-led Arab coalition launched airstrikes that mistakenly hit a public market in the northeastern parts of Yemen's capital Sanaa, killing about 45 civilians.

The Saudi-led coalition started daily air bombing on the Shiite Houthi rebels and their allied forces since March 2015, vowing to drive out the rebels and retrieve Sanaa.

Yemen has been mired in an all-out civil war since September 2014, when the Shiite Houthi group backed by forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh invaded the capital Sanaa and drove President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile.

The war has killed nearly 6,000 people.
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At least 9,167 people have been killed and 21,044 others wounded since fighting between government troops and independence-seeking insurgents broke out in eastern Ukraine almost two years ago, said a UN report released on Thursday.

"Overall, in the period from mid-April 2014 to February 15, 2016, there were a total of 30,211 casualties, which include civilians and combatants," said a report from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Currently, about 3 million people are estimated to live in the conflict-affected areas, with about 2.7 million of them residing in the territories controlled by rebels, the report said.

Crisis in eastern Ukraine began in April 2014, when Kiev launched offensives against insurgents in a bid to retake the cities and towns seized by them.

The easing of tensions came in September 2015 after the rival sides declared a comprehensive ceasefire in the conflict-torn region.
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Sweden on Thursday decided to extend the border controls it imposed in December in order to quell the flow of migrants into the country.

The checks, a departure from the free movement associated with the European Union's Schengen zone, will be in place until March 8, the government said in a statement.

"Europe has not handled the task of maintaining its external borders," Interior Minister Anders Ygeman said.

"Until we can see a common European solution, Sweden will need to implement short-term, national solutions. The inner border controls will provide us with a better control over who comes into the country," he added.

Migrants entering Sweden without identification documents needed to decide at the border whether to apply for asylum in the country, which received some 160,000 asylum applications during 2015, according to Migration Agency figures.

With the border checks in place, undocumented migrants wish to enter Sweden to travel to neighboring Norway are turned away by border agents.

A Schengen member country may introduce temporary border controls only in the case of major events such as terror attacks, according to Swedish authorities. Sweden joined the Schengen area in 2001.

The Swedish government introduced temporary residence permits for asylum grantees in November, during which the country received around 10,000 asylum applications per week.
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Nigeria's restive northeast Borno has concluded plans to collaborate with immigration to check influx of illegal aliens to the state, an official said Thursday.

Usman Zannah, the state Commissioner for Local Government and Emirate Affairs, stated this when the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) Comptroller in the state, Jacob Sabo, paid him a courtesy visit in Maiduguri, the state capital.

Zannah said the collaboration would also help reduce the high rate of crime in the state.

He said eight out of the 27 local government areas in the state shared common borders with Chad, Cameroon and Niger republics.

He commended the efforts of the NIS in combating the Boko Haram insurgency and prayed for the repose of the souls of those who died fighting insurgency.

The commissioner appealed to the command to assist in preventing crime and restoring order in some communities in Borno destabilized by the insurgency.

Earlier, the comptroller informed the commissioner that the visit was aimed at strengthening relationship between the NIS and the state.
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Two Israeli Arabs were indicted Thursday with supporting the Islamic State (IS) and planning to carry out attacks against security forces on behalf of the militant group.

A statement by the Shin Bet security service said that Bahaa Eldin Ziad Hasan Masarwa, 19, and Ahmad Nabil Ahmad, 21, were arrested in a joint operation by the Shin Bet and the police earlier this year. Both are Israeli citizens and residents of the northern Nazareth region.

An indictment filed Thursday in the Nazareth District Court accused them of "conspiring to assist the enemy during war." Masarwa was also indicted with contacting a "foreign agent" and supporting a terror organization.

During their interrogations, the pair said they were inspired by the IS, the Shin Bet said. They planned to perpetrate shooting attacks against soldiers or police in the northern city of Afula and the Jalamea Crossing, west of Jenin, said the Shin Bet.

They also allegedly collected money to buy a rifle for the attacks.

Dozens of Israeli Arabs have been accused of supporting or joining the IS over the past years.

In another development on Thursday, a man from Gaza was charged in an Israeli court with planning attacks on Jews in Ukraine. Sami Haviv, a 30-year-old Palestinian, who spent years in Ukraine, has allegedly also provided Hamas logistic assistance with excavating cross-border tunnels during Israel's 51-day offensive in Gaza in 2014.

The indictments came amidst a five-month-long Palestinian uprising, with frequent stabbing, shooting, and car-ramming attacks by Palestinians in Israel and the occupied West Bank. At least 170 Palestinians and 28 Israelis have been killed since October.
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South Korea and the United States will launch formal talks on Friday about the deployment in the South Korean territory of a sophisticated U.S. missile defense system, Seoul's defense ministry said.

The two sides signed an agreement to form a joint working group charged with discussing details on the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) deployment, including schedules, appropriate sites and cost-sharing, the defense ministry said.

The agreement is a document referring to the working group's representatives, personnel setup, agendas, report on meetings and meetings record.

The South Korean side will be represented by Army Maj. Gen. Jang Kyung-Soo, the ministrys director general for policy, while the U.S. side will be led by Maj. Gen. Robert Hedelund from U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) command that will represent the Pentagon.

The joint working group will hold its inaugural meeting later in the day at the headquarters of South Korea's defense ministry.

The ministry said that both sides will discuss a possibility for the deployment of the THAAD that will be operated in South Korea by the USFK as part of efforts to enhance the allies' joint missile defense readiness.

The joint working group will talk about various issues such as appropriate sites, safety and environment, cost-sharing and schedules, according to the ministry.

The launch of talks about the THAAD deployment came after the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) launched a long-range rocket on Feb. 7 after conducting its fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6.

Hours after Pyongyang launched the rocket, which outsiders see as a banned test of missile technology, Seoul and Washington jointly announced their plan to start talks about the THAAD deployment.
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On March 2, Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kristian Jensen, met with the president of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Jin Liqun, who is currently on a three-day visit to Denmark.

Both sides exchanged their ideas regarding opportunities for the new bank, which has a capital base of US$100 billion, and of which Denmark is a founding member.

"With our active support, the AIIB has been founded to invest in infrastructure and to create sustainable financial growth in Asia. Anyone who has visited an Asian metropolis will have been able to conclude that there is a great need for investment in better roads, public transportation systems, green energy solutions and access to clean water.

"The bank's investments will also increase the opportunities for trade between Asia and the rest of the world. And, it also provides excellent opportunities for Danish companies," said Kristian Jensen.

The AIIB is now ready for business, and in the first years of its existence, the bank will focus on investments in transportation, energy and water, where Denmark has special competencies. Jin Liqun has also met with a number of Danish companies to discuss the possibilities of collaboration.

According to Kristian Jensen, the visit by the President of the AIIB in Copenhagen underlines how important Danish membership is.

"The AIIB is first and foremost a regional bank, but Denmark and other Nordic and European countries will help shape the bank's development," says Kristian Jensen.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank was founded in January of 2016 after negotiations initiated by China in the fall of 2014. The primary purpose of the bank is to promote sustainable economic development and regional collaboration in Asia through investments in infrastructure.

The Danish capital contribution is around 500 million Danish kroner (US$72.9 million), which will be divided over five installments of 100 million Danish kroner between 2016 and 2019. In addition, two billion Danish kroner, not yet paid, have been guaranteed by Denmark. The Chinese national Jin Liqun was elected as president of the bank for a period of five years. The bank has 57 founding members, including all Nordic countries. Germany, the UK, France, and the Netherlands are some of the EU's founding members.
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South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Friday reiterated her call for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s nuclear renunciation, saying Pyongyang should return to a path to real change.

Park said during a commission ceremony for military officers that unless the DPRK is made to stop its nuclear program, it will continue to advance its nuclear capability and bring an irreversible disaster to the future of the Korean peninsula.

The president urged Pyongyang to come to a path to real change by dropping a wrong delusion that its nuclear weapons guarantee its regime survival, saying the DPRK should be made to realize that its regime cannot survive unless the country abandons its nuclear program.

Her comments came after new tougher-than-ever sanctions resolution was adopted at the UN Security Council against the DPRK for its latest nuclear test and long-range rocket launch.

Hours after the adoption, the DPRK fired off six short-range projectiles into eastern waters in an apparent show of anger over the resolution, which South Korea described as the toughest and most effective non-military measures in seven decades of UN history.

Calling the new sanctions as unprecedentedly strong measures, Park said South Korea will take all of strong and effective measures until Pyongyang abandons its nuclear program and becomes a responsible member of the international community.

Park warned that backlashes and provocations from the DPRK could become stronger than before due to the harsh sanctions, urging the commissioned officers to sternly respond to any DPRK provocations.

Tensions are expected to go up on the Korean peninsula as the United States and South Korea are scheduled to kick off their joint annual war games, which would become the largest-ever in scale, next week.

The war games, which the DPRK has denounced as a dress rehearsal for northward invasion, would run for more than a month through April, mobilizing U.S. strategic assets such as a nuclear-powered U.S. aircraft carrier, nuclear-capable combat aircrafts and a submarine.

Top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un ordered his military to get nuclear warheads deployed for national defense always on standby in order to be fired at any time, according to the DPRK's KCNA news agency.

Kim's order came as he guided the test-firing of a new multiple rocket launcher, boosting concerns over tensions forecast to be raised next week.
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The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Friday strongly condemned the new UN Security Council resolution and threatened to take resolute measures against it.

The new resolution, which further tightens sanctions against the DPRK, is the "worst and most explicit international criminal act that aims to isolate and stifle the defensive and just sovereign state," says a statement of a government spokesman.

The resolution is "the most outrageous provocation" against the DPRK and severely threatens the DPRK's sovereignty and the country's "just cause," it says.

The DPRK firmly rejects the resolution and will take "resolute counter-measures," which involve all methods including "strong and merciless physical counter-actions," it says.

The DPRK will not remain an onlooker to infringement on its sovereignty and right to existence, it warns. The resolution is "a criminal document fabricated by the UN Security Council" at the behest of the United States, other major countries and their followers, says the statement.

It warns that in case an undesired incident should take place on the Korean Peninsula, the United States and other major countries that took part in supporting the resolution would "be held wholly countable for ensuing consequences."
On Jan. 16, the Flagstaff BrewHaHa took place at the High Country Conference Center. The sixth annual BrewHaHa had over 500 attendees and raised much needed funds for for Habitat for Humanity of Northern Arizona.

The Flagstaff BrewHaHa had over 60 different breweries from across the country represented. We would like to thank all the people who attended, as well as all the volunteers, breweries and vendors that participated. We also want to thank our sponsors New Belgium Brewing, Greenhouse Productions, Rooftop Solar, Findlay Toyota, Twin Arrows Casino & Resort, The State Bar, Vino Loco, Hops on Birch, and McGaughs Smoke & Bottle.
A Coconino County judge has denied a motion to throw out a Flagstaff mans recent murder conviction over instructions to the jury and admission of evidence.

In January, a jury in Coconino County Superior Court convicted George Azar, 56, of second-degree murder in the April 2014 shooting death of Larry Hernandez, 38, in Azars Sunnyside home. In addition, jurors found him guilty on one count of marijuana possession and seven counts of weapons misconduct for owning firearms when he was already a convicted felon and, therefore, a prohibited possessor.

In court Thursday afternoon, Superior Court Judge Jacqueline Hatch said she saw no reason why the jurys decision should be invalidated and a new trial held.

In this matter, the jury found the defendant guilty of second-degree murder, Hatch said. The court is going to find that the evidence was more than sufficient to support a finding beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed second-degree murder.

Flagstaff police arrested Azar on the night of April 17, 2014, after he shot Hernandez once in the head inside Azars home in the 2700 block of North Rose Street. Hernandez died the next day in Flagstaff Medical Center.

At trial, the jury heard testimony that Azar had been drinking alcohol and Hernandez had methamphetamine in his system on the night of the shooting. An argument over money Azar had lent Hernandez ensued and Azar pulled a small gun out of the living room coffee table drawer. Azar testified that the gun went off accidentally when Hernandez grabbed it and then fell backward onto the couch.

Azar maintained his claim that the shooting was an accident when he apologized during a February hearing in which Hatch sentenced him to 22.5 years in prison. He chose to waive his appearance Thursday and was not present in the courtroom.

In the motion for a new trial, defense attorney Ryan Stevens challenged Hatchs decisions regarding which information about the charges and Arizona law to include in the final instructions to the jury. For instance, Hatch allowed the prosecution to include the second-degree murder conviction as an option for the jury when Azar was really charged with first-degree murder.

Hatch responded Thursday that there was enough evidence at trial to support that jury instruction. In general, it is not uncommon for prosecutors to include lesser included offenses as conviction options in high-stakes jury trials.

The judge also told Stevens she gave Azar the benefit of the doubt when she allowed the defense to include an explanation regarding the legal justifications for using force in self-defense even though the defenses explanation for the shooting sounded more like a claim that it was accidental.

The defendant brought a loaded weapon to what basically was a verbal argument  if, indeed, you believe the defense testimony that there was an argument, Hatch said. There has been nothing that was heard at trial or introduced at trial that indicated that the victim, Larry Hernandez, had any sort of a weapon on him.

She also stood by her decision not to allow the defense to introduce as evidence a methamphetamine pipe that was discovered between the victims buttocks during autopsy. Hatch said the pipe was irrelevant and would have been prejudicial because of its location on the victims body. She said the pipe was not necessary to prove Hernandez was high on methamphetamine during his fatal exchange with Azar.

The court found that it was not relevant in light of the other evidence that the court was going to allow in, she said. One of those, most importantly, the court believed, was the toxicology results and those results were very convincing.

Stevens indicated the judges ruling against his motion for a new trial would be necessary for future appeals. Azar is currently in the Coconino County Detention Facility but will be transferred to an Arizona Department of Corrections prison.
Kilamba, c. 2012 Anyone who has been to Luanda knows that the city lacks housing. The hotels are extremely expensive, and researchers h...
Taiwan Peoples News

2016-02-22 13:20

Yang Xianhong

Translated and edited by: China Aid

 The general election in Taiwan on January 16 has a meaning of a new lease of life and really brings a great deal of change. Leaders of many countries view Taiwan in a new light. They, in addition to having deep feelings regarding Taiwans political innovation due to the entire populations drive, still maintain that Taiwans future will, in this area, give rise to a lighthouse effect. From February 1820, three consecutive days, the first meeting of Asia Pacific Religious Freedom Forum after its founding was held in the Sunrise Country Club in Yangmei, Taoyuan. It is the most representative [aspect] of this new atmosphere.

The conference was collaboratively initiated by the American [organization] China Aid Association, Freedom House, the Heritage Foundation, the Lantos Foundation and Taiwan Association for China Human Rights. The purpose of this forum is to make known that different believers can respect each other and mutually collaborate, striving for the worlds peace and freedom. Religious freedom is the first freedom. This phrase was the leading principle emphasized by this conference. Human society has come to todays crossroads; the problem of unstable hearts has appeared everywhere. Many wars are due to different believers being unable to tolerate each other, which still wreak havoc to this day. Much oppression and persecution is also due to those in power who cant tolerate people who have different beliefs within their territory. Such persecution still occurs in each corner of the world every day.

This is an international conference of high universal value. It can be held in Taiwan, which represents that Taiwan has already obtained international recognition in the area of democratic freedom and human rights and rule of law. Over the past two years, in the course of preparation, there really were considerations given to the change that the outcome of Taiwans general election [would instigate], due to Taiwans local political party being in office in addition to the train of thought that elected Chairman Tsai Ing-wen as president. All [of these things] were thought about during the work units proposal of this conference. Yet, under the [current] circumstances of the elections results having already been made clear, there was significance in Taiwan being proclaimed a Star of Freedom because the Asia Pacific Religious Freedom Forum took the initiative to appear.

The invited international figures include politicians, religious and civil society organizations, up to 100 people, from 26 countries. Besides all Asian countries being represented, there were also members of Congress and international religious leaders from the European Union, Scandinavian [countries] (Norway, Sweden), Israel, Italy, Indonesia, Lithuania, Pakistan and other countries. The pope also sent representatives to participate in the conference. The U.S. State Department Religious Affairs Committee director and the people in charge of well-known NGOs [such as] the Lantos Foundation, the Heritage and Freedom House all personally attend the forum, [making it] an unprecedented grand occasion.

Additionally, at this conference, the representatives from all countries gave reports on the current situation of religious freedom in all regions, particularly the countries with the most serious persecution, [such as] China, the Middle East and Southeast Asian countries, and requested more future rescue operations and requested that aid be provided to religious refugees. China is particularly [guilty] of serious religious persecution, especially oppression to Christians, which is intensifying. In Zhejiang province alone, in the past two years, more than 2,000 churches or crosses were demolished by the CPC. Participants in the conference all expressed concern regarding the situation of refugees, and all are asking whether Taiwan can do some rescue work.

One of the most important tasks of the new Parliament is to pass the refugee law. All of the international public figures who participated in the conference inquired [as to whether] it is possible for Taiwan to pass this rescue law within this year, in order to save [people] from suffering bitter hardship, especially [in regards to] the Fishball Revolution that happened earlier this month in Hong Kong and caused Hong Kongs human rights situation to sink into a deeper crisis. The United States delegation also actively wanted to find out whether or not the Refugee Law, which Taiwan might pass, would be able to align with international [standards]. Almost all representatives of all countries agree that if Taiwan passes the Refugee Law, they will provide assistance, allowing the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to come to Taiwan to set up an office for the high commissioner. Concerning this point, the friends who participated in the conference are very seriously thinking about how they should allow this important humanitarian and human rights event, blossom and bear fruit in Taiwan in the future.

[As far as] speaking about human rights and freedom [is concerned], sitting is inferior to getting up and moving to genuinely go and save people. Asia Pacific Religious Freedom Forum is a think tank of action, not a public relations organization that meets but doesnt decide, or decides but takes no action. Rather, it is an organization that shares common experiences, paying particular attention to [putting decisions] into practice. This is the essence of the Beginning of all the firepower for Taiwan, and is the international first light after Taiwans rebirth.

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
Kevin Ho, president of Huawei Technologies' Consumer Business Group Handset Business, introduces the company's new smartphone Mate 8 at CES 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Jan 5, 2016. [Photo by Linda Deng / China Daily]

Huawei Technologies will open a new office in Bellevue, Washington, this month and hire as many as 100 workers at the location.

Huawei Technologies North America's research and development office will be staffed by up to 100 workers by 2017, according to William Plummer, vice-president of external affairs.

The North American unit of the Chinese telecommunications giant currently has a small office in Kirkland, Washington. Its North American website and LinkedIn page both had open positions for the Bellevue location. Bellevue is about 12 miles east of Seattle.

The office building, the Plaza Center Bellevue, is located in the heart of Bellevue's business district. Huawei's lease is for 11,000 square feet on the fifth floor.

Grant Yerke, a senior vice-president at Broderick Group, a Bellevue real estate company, said it is not enough space for 100 employees, but the company may have an option to expand.

The Greater Seattle area is a hot spot for tech companies, not only because it is the home to Microsoft, T-Mobile and Expedia, but also for its healthy ecosystem, the talent pool for tech company development, and its lower costs compared with Silicon Valley in Northern California.

In 2010, Facebook opened its first engineering office outside of Silicon Valley in Seattle. Google is expanding its existing Kirkland campus, significantly boosting its presence in the Seattle region.

"I believe Huawei chose the area because it is the center of the development of cloud computing technology," said Zhaohui Tang, CEO of adSage, a Chinese digital advertising technology company that also has an office in Bellevue. "A big benefit is that the city is filled with skilled programmers and developers who have expertise in the cloud and all its capabilities," said Bill Liu. He is president of the Association of Technology and Innovation, an organization that promotes entrepreneurship, technical leadership and technical exchange between China and the US.

"The city is excited Huawei has chosen Bellevue as the site for their new R&D center," said James Henderson, economic development director for Bellevue, in an article on Geekwire.com.

Huawei grew its shipments by nearly 45 percent in 2015 and is one of the world's top smartphone makers. The company is engaged in some 100 research projects with more than 50 universities in the United States

More than 70,000 of Huawei's 150,000 global employees work in R&D. At CES 2016, Huawei said it expects to surpass Apple in the next two to three years, and then pass Samsung by 2021, ultimately becoming the world's largest smartphone manufacturer.

Huawei Technologies Co Ltd is based in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. Founded in 1988 by Ren Zhengfei, it is the largest telecommunications-equipment maker in the world.

lindadeng@chinadailyusa.com
From ride-hailing business to online auctioneers, sharing economy platforms have created a market worth 1.95 trillion yuan ($298 billion) in 2015, according to figures released by the National Information Center. [Photo/Xinhua]

Ma Huateng, founder, chairman and CEO of Tencent Holdings, will make five suggestions at the National People's Congress annual session, which opens on Saturday, in areas including the development of a sharing economy, Internet-based medical services and security of the Internet ecosystem.

Ma Huateng, founder, chairman and CEO of Tencent Holdings

The sharing economy will become a new driving force in China's economic growth and will help push the service industry as the main engine of the economy, said Ma, whose company is China's largest Internet service portal.

Sharing economy refers to a phenomenon where individuals share their spare resources via third-party online platforms to make money. Ride-sharing service apps Uber and Didi Kuaidi and lodging website Airbnb are examples of popular online platforms for the sharing economy.

The market size for the sharing economy in the country surpassed 1 trillion yuan ($152.8 billion) in 2015, while the sharing economy in the United States was worth more than 3 trillion yuan and accounted for 3 percent of US GDP last year, Ma said in his suggestions.

"The sharing economy still has considerable room for development in China," Ma said.

He cited several problems that are inhibiting the development of the sharing economy in China, including the need for an improved credit investigation system and better Internet infrastructure.

"The supervision of the sharing economy is still the same as that of traditional industries, which makes it difficult to innovate," he said.

Tencent, based in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, is active in the Internet Plus campaign. It signed strategic cooperative agreements with 45 cities in 13 provinces and autonomous regions across China last year to help them transform their economic development through big data, cloud computing and other technologies.

"In the Internet Plus age, we face more challenges in terms of information security. Traditional means are not updated enough to crack down on cybercrimes. China should build a security system to protect the mobile Internet ecosystem," Ma said.

As for the suggestion concerning Internet-based medical services, Ma recommended that healthcare authorities encourage IT companies to participate in the development of graded diagnosis and treatment services in China.

"With remote education and remote medical care via the Internet, we can strengthen medical training and cultivate more reliable doctors at the grassroots level," Ma said. "We should, especially, get the doctors at the grassroots level into the habit of using mobile medical devices to monitor the health condition of middle-aged and elderly people."

To optimize the allocation of medical resources, Ma advised the government to remove the "hidden obstacles" that prevent doctors from becoming freelancers.

He also proposed the establishment of a system for electronic health records, optimized for mobile Internet devices, so that individuals and hospitals both have convenient access to information.
A robot plays a musical instrument at a national robots championship contest held at the Harbin Institute of Technology in July 2014. [Photo/IC]

Premier Li Keqiang is looking to the technology industry and emerging sectors as a leading factor to give impetus to the economy during its difficult transition.

The growth industries also have helped the country create more jobs than expected, Li told some political advisers on Friday, one day before he is to deliver the Government Work Report to lawmakers and political advisers as the National Peoples Congress convenes its annual session in Beijing.

In the coming months, the government will provide more support to growth industries, such as information technology, biotechnology and new energy, in policies and in financial incentives, Li said.

He made the remarks while meeting with members of the economy and agriculture groups of the nations top advisory body.

Li also told the advisers at the meeting that the country has achieved most of its goals set in its previous Five-Year Plan (2011-15).

The country is ready to unveil its 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) during the annual session of the top legislature.

On the policy front, the premier promised that the government will release more supply-side reform initiatives aimed at cutting overcapacity and easing taxation burdens on enterprises.

The premier said that enough funds and favorable terms will be guaranteed so the economy can achieve a reasonable growth rate this year, widely estimated at 6.5 percent or higher.
An Audi h-tron Quattro concept car is displayed at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan Jan 11, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

INGOLSTADT - China has great potential for the Audi brand, CEO of German automaker Audi Rupert Stadler said here on Thursday during an annual press conference.

"China is and will continue to be a very solid growth market in the long term- with great potential for the Audi brand," Stadler said.

"Our Chinese product portfolio is about to go through a broad-based generation change. By this summer, we will replace models that make up 60 percent of our unit sales in that market," Stadler added.

According to him, the company has multiplied its sales seven-fold since 2006 in China. With more than 570,000 automobiles delivered in 2015, Audi continues to achieve very high sales on the Chinese market.

Compared with 2014, Audi announced that its worldwide deliveries increased by 3.6 percent to around 1.8 million automobiles, and that it also achieved a new record for revenue, posting a figure of 58.4 billion euros ($63.7 billion).

Referring to the investment plan in 2016, Stadler said Audi will invest more than 3 billion euros for the mobility of tomorrow and push forward with the electrification and digitization of Audi products.

In order to gain more new customers and continue along its growth path this year, Audi announced it would provide more than 20 new or revised models.

In addition, Stadler also apologized for the diesel scandal. "We regret what happened. We will ensure full transparency and assure you that we will put things right."
Page burglary arrest

PAGE  Page Police announced the arrest Thursday of a suspect in a series of burglaries that occurred in late February.

A police news release said the burglaries centered on the residential area on the west side of Page, from 6th Avenue and South Navajo Drive around the loop to 6th Avenue and North Navajo Drive. The department collected evidence and gathered information resulting in the identification of a possible suspect.

The department, with assistance from the Coconino County Sheriffs Department, obtained and executed a search warrant at 826 Coppermine Road in Page on Tuesday. The suspect, identified as Dustin Drudge, 29, of Page, was arrested for numerous counts related to the burglaries, trespassing, criminal damage, and drug charges. Evidence from the search warrant linked Drudge to 11 different cases to this point. This investigation is ongoing, the release said.

The Page Police Department will be holding an open house for the public next Tuesday from noon until 2 p.m. Police would like to meet with other potential victims, people that may have information related to these investigations and to address any concerns the community has about these incidents. Anyone interested can stop by the police department during those times and speak with an investigator.

Burglary

Someone burglarized a home and vehicle in east Flagstaff.

According to the police report, the break-in happened Tuesday night at a residence in the 2300 block of North East Street. The victim told police he went upstairs to tuck in his son at about 8:50 p.m. While he was with his son, he heard a crash downstairs that he dismissed because he thought it was coming from the neighbors house.

The victim went downstairs at about 9:20 p.m. and noticed some items were out of place. The kitchen window was wide open, the front door, which had been locked, was unlocked, and his wallet and car keys were missing from the kitchen table. The passenger door of the victims vehicle was also open but nothing was missing.

After the victim spoke to the police, he took the battery out of the vehicle and went to sleep. The next morning, when he went out to the vehicle, he found the driver-side and both passenger doors open. Again, nothing appeared to be missing.

The investigation is ongoing.

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.
Sergio Ermotti, chief executive officer of UBS Group AG. [Photo/Agencies]

UBS aims to grow its business in China to the next level, says its chief

It was not a free lunch for Sergio Ermotti when the 56-year-old Swiss banker was appointed the chief executive of UBS Group AG five years ago as the bank was struggling in the wake of a trading scandal that caused it a hefty loss of $2.3 billion.

What came with the promotion was huge pressure and expectation, Ermotti told China Daily in a recent interview.

Since then the bank has undergone a drastic restructuring, including a radical downsizing of its investment banking business.

The bold transformation has allowed the bank to focus on its strength in wealth and asset management and shrug off businesses that are no longer profitable.

"The defining moment for me was not just finding the strategy and executing it," Ermotti said. "More importantly, it was about seeing our employees and clients embrace it."

When it comes to China, the Swiss banking chief has embarked a similar strategy with an emphasis on expanding wealth and asset management, while maintaining its leading position in investment banking business, aiming to grow the bank's business in the world's second-largest economy to the next level.

UBS has announced a plan to double its headcount in China by adding 600 staff over five years. The staff increases will be across wealth management, investment banking, equities, fixed-income and asset management as well as some back-office operations, according to Ermotti.

The decision was made at a time when the global banking industry's profit margin was shrinking in a volatile market condition and some of the big banks have been slashing jobs to cut costs.

While acknowledging that 2016 will be a year of adjustment for both China and the global economy, Ermotti said people should be realistic on China and expect challenges as the country is undergoing structural shifts.

Despite the short-term volatilities of the equities market, Ermotti said it is more important to focus on the mid- to long-term potential of China rather than short-term targets.

Recently, Ermotti spoke to China Daily about reasons for expansion in China, his thoughts on financial turmoil, UBS's market position and his management style. The following are edited excerpts:
Shenzhen Party chief Ma Xingrui takes part in a local Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference meeting in Shenzhen, Jan 29, 2016. [Photo/CFP]

Shenzhen, a neighboring city of Hong Kong, will reclaim 55 square kilometers of land from the sea to retrain hiking home prices, reported business media outlet 21st Century Business Herald.

"Shenzhen has recently seen its home prices increase rapidly and the city government is taking measures to restrain the prices," said the city's Party chief Ma Xingrui on Wednesday. He added that one major solution for soaring house prices was to provide more land for home construction.

Shenzhen is a city in South China's Guangdong province and a front-runner in China's reform and opening-up.

"Shenzhen is a city of small land area, so the city government eyed on the sea to solve the shortage of land. Except for the land reclamation plan, the city would also bulldoze mountainous areas of 50 square kilometers," Ma said.

"Shenzhen will have more than 100 square kilometers of land. People could expect more from the city's development in the future."

More than 10 million residents live in Shenzhen, a city of around 2,000 square kilometers. The city is about one-eighth the land mass of Beijing, which holds a population of about 21.7 million.

The per square meter home price in Shenzhen reached 48,095 yuan ($7363.34) on average in February, a year-on-year increase of 72.12 percent, according to Shenzhen's urban planning authority.

"The land reclamation plan has been approved by the central government and Guangdong provincial government," Ma said.
Soldiers in Taizhou city of East China's Zhejiang province take vows to protect and defend the country, in May 2012.[Photo/IC]

A man in his early twenties has been transferred to a judicial department for further investigation and possible prosecution after he was suspected of releasing military secrets to foreign organizations, Guangzhou Daily reported.

The man surnamed Li, a shipyard worker in Guangdong province, was detained late 2014 after he allegedly disclosed illegal publications which were intended for circulation only within the shipyard and took photos of the warships berthed in the waters around the shipyard for foreign organizations.

Li said he was paid 3,000 yuan ($458) a month to disclose the military secrets after he became cyber friends with a foreign spy via a QQ chatroom in February, 2014.

Authorities said Li's actions threatened national security.

This is just one of the many cases in recent years involving the disclosure of military and State secrets that have been reported in the southern province of Guangdong.

According to an educational exhibition on State security opened in Guangdong provincial capital this Thursday, a growing number of cases involving disclosure of military and State secrets have been reported in Guangdong.

Authorities have urged locals to raise their awareness on how to prevent disclosure of State and military secrets when it is getting easier to leak them online.

"Some Chinese military facilities and bases are not far from the reach of the public and people may not be aware that they are disclosing military secrets online," authorities said.

"While information spreads online quickly, it is necessary to popularize judicial knowledge, telling the public what information must be protected," according to authorities.

In 2012, a Foshan man surnamed Tang was sentenced to 15 years in jail when he was pronounced guilty for releasing military secrets to overseas organizations.

Before Tang was detained, he was hiding in a local military command as a delivery man for more than 6 years after he received special training in 2005 in a Southeast Asian country. Tang was paid more than 200,000 yuan for disclosing military secrets abroad.

A senior business executive surnamed Shen was sentenced to 17 years behind bars in 2009 after he disclosed secrets about Guangdong's bottom line for inviting public biddings for nuclear power project to foreign companies. Shen was also confiscated of his personal properties valued at 500,000 yuan.

In November 2014 a man in his mid-twenties surnamed Liao surrendered himself to police after he realized he was violating relevant laws and regulations by sending military photos abroad.

Liao began helping a foreign spy procure military secrets after he met the spy while seeking job opportunities online at the beginning of November 2014.

Liao frequently visited military ports in Zhanjiang, the western coastal of Guangdong, and illegally took photos of local military facilities and naval vessels for the foreign spies before surrendering himself to police.

A candy factory boss surnamed Chen was put under investigation and confessed his crime in Shantou in March, 2015.

Chen illegally visited local military airport and harbor before disclosing military secrets to a foreign spy who passed himself off as a foreign journalist in April, 2014.
The GQS restaurant chain now has nearly 200 branches nationwide, mainly in Shanghai and Hangzhou.[Photo/IC]

Steamed buns, also called baozi, is kind of food that couldn't be more familiar in Chinese daily life. Recently, a Hangzhou-based chain specializing in baozi is set to launch an overseas branch in America, the paper.com.cn reported on Friday.

Harvard Square in Boston will be the site for the first store.

This is the first time that a steamed bun chain has opened a branch abroad even though an American coffee chain, which merged with a well-known counterpart "Gou Buli" in Tianjin, declared that it would "never sell baozi in a cafe".

"Why do we try to sell steamed buns in the United States? If we select one kind of food as the ambassador of Chinese traditional food, baozi would be a nice choice, so we would like to promote Chinese cuisine while doing business. Moreover, Americans are keen on handmade things, which is just the way baozi is made," said Gao Jun, deputy general manager of Hangzhou Gan Qi Shi (GQS) Restaurant Management Co Ltd on March 3.

Established in 2009, the GQS restaurant chain now has nearly 200 branches nationwide, mainly in Shanghai and Hangzhou. It is said the annual sales revenue exceeds 200 million yuan, selling nearly 70 million steamed buns every year.

Near Harvard University, Harvard Square is home to dozens of cafes and restaurants, but is not a tourist area always crowded with Chinese visitors. "Our target consumers are local residents and college students who are more likely to accept foreign culture instead of Chinese tourists. Universities and colleges including Harvard University flock together in the Boston, so we make Harvard Square our first overseas site," explained Gao.

As for the filling of the steamed buns, the popular ones are beef with curry and pork meat, which will certainly be reproduced in the US, and the price of the pork ones may hit $3 before tax per bun. Besides, new products may be launched to cater to local tastes.

According to Gao, there will be steamed buns with fillings like chicken meat and lobster as Americans favor chicken and Boston abounds in lobsters. Compared with the other fillings, the lobster, of course, will be more expensive than others.

"An adult usually eats two or three baozi for one meal which cost around $10. That is equal to having fast food like McDonalds. But don't forget that our steamed buns are all handmade, so in light of this, Americans would think baozi are worth more," added Gao.

Besides the fillings, the same standards met by Chinese stores will be demanded in the States. For example, a single baozi weighs 100 grams, of which 60 grams is for the peel and 40 for the filling. Also, 22 peels should be made in 1 minute.

While the standards remain the same as at home, the employees in the American branch will all be local. "But they certainly need to be trained in Hang Zhou for three months. Right now we have 10 American employees trained among which there are ex-White House officials and head chefs from American restaurant chains, " said Gao.

The Harvard Square Chain is supposed to open in the first half of the year and their second overseas shop in Providence is also in the works now.
Beijing Customs announced Thursday that it had stopped two Tanzanian women from smuggling 155 capsules of heroin into China through their bodies making it the largest case of drug smuggling through human bodies in 2015.

The two Tanzanian women took the same plane which flew from Doha, Qatar to Beijing Capital International Airport on the afternoon of December 31, 2015.

Suspecting one Tanzanian woman passenger had drugs inside her body, a customs employee asked her to have an X-ray examination. She refused, saying she was pregnant.

They persisted and she complied. The X-ray examination showed that there were 75 capsules in her body. Police examined the capsules and found 956 grams of heroin.

Later, customs employees found another woman from the same plane attempting to smuggle 80 capsules of heroin weighing nearly 1,028 grams.

The first woman smuggler told police that somebody promised to pay her US$3,000 for swallowing the capsules and taking them to China.

She had received US$1,000 from the person who would pay the rest after she managed to take the capsules to Beijing.

According to the Beijing-based Legal Evening News, Beijing Customs cracked five drug smuggling cases in 2015, confiscating nearly 1,990 grams of cocaine and 2,347 grams of heroin.
Nearly 60 percent of the residents of Shanghai do not want to learn from Lei Feng, a cultural icon in the country who was ready to help the needy.

That was the result of an investigation made by the city's statistical bureau to find out whether residents were willing to do good deeds like Lei, according to the Shanghai Morning Post.

The newspaper did not say how many people responded to the poll. But it said nearly 60 percent of those who did said they feared they would cause trouble for themselves by helping others.

Quite a number of residents said they would not learn from Lei simply because they were not competent or had no time, according to the investigation.

Lei, who died at the age of 22 in 1962, had been a soldier of the People's Liberation Army of China. He was known as a selfless man who did good deeds all the time.

He achieved national fame and became the incarnation of earnestness and service in 1963 when the late Chinese leader Mao Zedong wrote "Follow the example of Comrade Lei Feng."
The increase in China's military budget will be much lower than earlier speculations, which put the figure at more than 20 percent, said the spokeswoman for the annual session of the top legislature on Friday.

"This year we will continue to increase our military spending, but the rate of increase will be lower compared with those of the past several years," said Fu Ying at a news briefing.

"The rise this year will stand between 7 and 8 percent," she said, one day before the opening of the annual session of the National People's Congress.

The exact figure is expected to be released in a draft budget report on Saturday, when the NPC convenes.

If Fu's remarks turn out to be accurate, the figure would be the lowest since 2010, when China's military spending grew by 7.5 percent from the previous year.

China's defense budget rose by 10.1 percent last year.

With last year's budget standing at $144 billion, an increase of 7 to 8 percent would take defense spending for this year to between $154 billion and $155 billion  less than one-third of what the US is proposing to spend this year, according to media reports. Fu said that the military spending increase is in line with national defense needs, the economic situation and fiscal revenue.

Major General Chen Zhou, director of the National Defense Policy Research Center of the People's Liberation Army Academy of Military

Science, told China Daily that the military budget is made in light of the Law on National Defense, and there are no so-called invisible budget items.

Each year the national lawmakers review and scrutinize the military budget, so it is impossible for invisible budget items to exist, said Chen, who also is a lawmaker.

"The PLA is conducting its affairs in an unprecedentedly confident, open and transparent way," Chen added.

The lower rise in the military budget represents the government's effort to strike a balance between economic growth and defense outlays.

It also reflects China's commitment to peaceful development, according to Chen.

China's economy expanded by 6.9 percent last year, the slowest rate in 25 years, weighed down by a property market slowdown, falling foreign trade and a weak manufacturing sector.
Suggestions pledged on reform and efficiency By Lu Haoting (China Daily) Updated: 2016-03-04 07:53:37

Yu Zhengsheng, chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee, takes the stage to deliver the top advisory body's work report in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Thursday. [Photo by Zou Hong/China Daily]

China's top political advisory body vowed on Thursday to produce a series of "substantive" and "significant" investigation results and suggestions to push forward economic reform and efficiency this year.

The pledge came as the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference convened its annual meeting in Beijing.

Yu Zhengsheng, chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, said the advisers will concentrate on implementation of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) and key economic issues such as supply-side structural reform aimed at cutting overcapacity and easing tax burdens on enterprises.

The advisory body will increase the number of special consultative meetings on major issues including industrial transformation and upgrading in Northeast China and encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation, Yu said.

"We will hold quarterly meetings to analyze the macroeconomic situation and make suggestions and proposals on promoting sustained and sound economic development," Yu told more than 2,100 political advisers from across the country as well as senior leaders attending the opening meeting.

The CPPCC National Committee will select a range of major issues, including those related to supply-side structural reform and development of high-end digitally controlled machine tools and industrial robots, for research and deliberation before giving policy suggestions, Yu said.

The meeting will last until March 14, while the National People's Congress, the top legislature, will start its annual session on Saturday.

The dual meetings, dubbed the two sessions, are China's most important annual events where political and economic developments are reviewed and key policies adopted. But at a time of slowing global economic recovery, economic issues are set to take center stage.

Premier Li Keqiang will unveil the country's economic growth target this year in his Government Work Report. The draft 13th Five-Year Plan will be reviewed and approved by the NPC.

Wang Guoqing, spokesman for the annual session of the political advisory body, answered 17 questions at a news conference on Wednesday. Nearly half of them centered on economic issues.

A separate report presented at the opening meeting showed that about one-third of more than 6,000 proposals submitted by the political advisers last year involved economic issues.

Chi Fulin, a member of the CPPCC National Committee, said: "I think a 6.5 to 7 percent GDP growth rate is achievable this year. The key is how to grab new growth opportunities."

The service sector is likely to contribute 52 percent of the country's GDP this year, up from 50.5 percent in 2015, said Chi, also president of the China Institute for Reform and Development.

Fu Yuning, also a member of the CPPCC National Committee, said cutting overcapacity will create pressure in the short term, but is conducive to healthy growth of the economy. "Some of our subsidiaries in the coal and property sectors cannot meet the economy's new requirements. We will take measures targeting these 'zombie firms'," said Fu, chairman of China Resources Holdings.

Li Xiang contributed to this story.

luhaoting@chinadaily.com.cn
NPC news conference: Major issues in focus (Xinhua/chinadaily.com.cn) Updated: 2016-03-04 13:48:43

Fu Ying, spokesperson for the fourth session of China's 12th National People's Congress (NPC), answers questions during a press conference on the session at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Friday. The fourth session of the 12th NPC is scheduled to open on Saturday. [Photo/Xinhua]

Fu Ying, spokesperson for the fourth session of the 12th National People's Congress, answered questions from reporters both Chinese and foreign at a press conference on Friday, one day before the top legislature starts its 2016 session. Here are some of the highlights. About Fu Ying

About two-child policy

China's new population policy, which took effect nationwide on January 1, is timely and proper and the government will address the country's aging problem, said Fu.

South China Sea

It is United States that is militarizing the South China Sea, said Fu Ying.

She said that currently most of the advanced aircraft and warships passing through the South China Sea belong to the United States.

According to its strategy of pivot to Asia-Pacific, the United States has decided to deploy a larger part of its naval force to this region, and is also strengthening military presence in the Asia Pacific region with its allies, said Fu.

Most of Chinese lawmakers and ordinary people are not pleased and do not agree with the US showing off its military power by sending warships to waters close to the South China Sea islands and reefs.

The United States said it did not take sides in the South China Sea disputes, however, its acts and rhetoric make people feel that it is raising tensions in the region, Fu said.

Wrongly accusing China's militarization in the waters is a hegemonic act in language, which will also mislead the situation, said Fu.

Military spending

China will raise its defense budget by around 7 to 8 percent this year, compared with an increase of 10.1 percent last year.

The increase is in line with China's national defense need and fiscal revenue, said Fu Ying.

About overseas NGOs

A new bill to regulate overseas non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in China, yet to be finalized, is not aimed at restricting them but at providing a better legal environment, said Fu.

The bill has been read twice by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and is still being amended, and lawmakers have extensively solicited opinions and suggestions from both within and outside China.

The Ministry of Public Security (MPS) is in charge of drafting the bill as it is a tradition that the MPS handles foreigners' activities in China, such as visa application and residence registration.

Philanthropy

"China has long tradition of helping the unprivileged. Chinese people are getting rich and many people and companies are willing to donate a part of their wealth to help people in need," Fu said.

The amount of donation by social entities and individuals in 2014 reached 100 billion yuan ($15 billion), a big rise from the 10 billion yuan in 2004.

Philanthropy is developing fast in China and the nation aims to standardize it through a charity law.
Foreign NGO draft would 'regulate, not restrict' operations By Cao Yin and Luo Wangshu (chinadaily.com.cn) Updated: 2016-03-04 20:18:27

Lawmakers are discussing and collecting opinions on legislation related to overseas NGOs, in a move to provide the legal foundation for the organizations to develop in China, a spokeswoman for the annual session of China's top legislature said on Friday.

The legislation covering the behavior of overseas NGOs has already been discussed twice in the NPC standing committee, and a draft of it draft has been published online to solicit opinions from home and abroad, said Fu Ying, spokeswoman for the fourth session of the 12th National People's Congress.

Fu confirmed that the draft has drawn attention because it is related to the interests of overseas NGOs and the activity of foreign individuals in China.

More than 7,000 overseas NGOs are active in China, including those engaged in environmental, technological, educational and cultural industries, she said, adding that their work benefits China.

"The legislation is to regulate overseas NGOs' activities, clarifying which behaviors are illegal," she said. "What we want is to lay a legal foundation for how they operate, not restrict their development."

It is still uncertain when the draft will be submitted to the committee for discussion, she added.

Deng Guosheng, vice-dean of Tsinghua University's Institute for Philanthropy, said that many overseas NGOs cannot register in China because there is no law specifically applicable to them.

"The gap in the law has brought difficulties for some foreign NGOs in hiring processes or opening bank accounts," Deng said. "Some are forced to register as enterprises that are not eligible for tax deduction policies."

The gap also leaves governments without a clear idea of the status of foreign NGOs, let alone knowledge of what and where they are, he said.

In Deng's view, different types of foreign NGOs should fall under different legal categories, "because some are agents solely representing the interests of their foreign headquarters, while some only engage in charity, so their developmental aims in China are different."

Deng suggested the legislation should clearly answer what foreign NGOs it applies to, "as academic activity sponsored by foreign universities and for international communication is also a kind of charitable organization."

Another question is whether the same rules should apply for foreign and domestic NGOs. One major international independent organization for children has voiced that it wants to be treated the same way local charities are.

"In the UK, we see charities registered with the charities commission under the same rules as Save the Children. UK-headquartered and non-UK ones are treated in the same way," wrote Pia MacRae, country director of Save the Children in China.
Sex offender notifications

Detectives with the Flagstaff Police Department would like to make the following Level 3 (high risk to the community) sex offender notifications:

 James Jim Thorgesen, 55, is living at 1526 E. Route 66, No. 116 in Flagstaff. Thorgesen was convicted in Los Angeles in 1989 of lewd and lascivious acts upon a child under 14 years old. The victim was a 9-year-old boy. Thorgesen also pleaded guilty to failure to carry required sex offender identification in February of this year. Thorgesen is not wanted by police at this time.

 Spencer William Bird, 23, is living at 4420 N. Mountain Meadow Drive in Flagstaff. He was convicted in Maricopa County in 2013 on two counts attempted sexual Assault and surreptitious photographing/filming. He is not wanted by police at this time.

Notification that Level 2 and Level 3 sex offenders are living in the community is required by Arizona law. Resident abuse of this information to threaten, intimidate or harass sex offenders will not be tolerated by the police department.

If residents have information about current criminal activity by any offender, contact the police department at 774-1414.

For more information on sex offenders in the Flagstaff area, visit the Arizona Department of Public Safety sex offender Web site at www.azsexoffender.com.

Charged with DUI

 Tyrel Leigh Hubbard, 30, of West University Avenue was arrested by Flagstaff Police Department and charged with DUI at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday.

City and county residents who want to report a crime but wish to remain anonymous may call Silent Witness at 774-6111 or (877) 29-CRIME, submit a tip online at www.coconinosilentwitness.org, or text the word Flagtip along with your information to 274637 (CRIMES). Rewards of up to $2,000 are given for information that leads to an arrest.
A white, meter-long chunk of metal was found off the coast of Mozambique in southeast Africa

A piece of debris found off the southeast African coast that could be from a missing Malaysia Airlines flight is being sent to Australia for testing, officials said on Thursday, two years after the plane carrying 239 people disappeared.

A white, meter-long chunk of metal was found off the coast of Mozambique in southeast Africa earlier this week by a US adventurer who has been carrying out an independent search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
The EU on Wednesday proposed 700 million euros in emergency aid for Greece and other states as it began to tackle the migrant crisis within its borders like humanitarian disasters in developing countries.

The United Nations has warned of a looming humanitarian crisis as thousands of people remained stuck in miserable winter conditions on the Greece-Macedonia border after Balkans states and Austria capped the numbers arriving.

Greece has been the main point of entry for the 1.13 million migrants who have arrived since the start of 2015 in the European Union, which has been divided and weakened by its biggest migration crisis since World War II.
The cast and crew of Downton Abbey attend the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles in this file photo of 2011.[Photo/Agencies]

What's happening to certain Downton Abbey stars is downright criminal.

Joanne Froggatt, the TV drama's vulnerable Anna Bates, is morphing into a 19th-century serial killer in PBS' Dark Angel. Michelle Dockery, who plays coolly elegant Lady Mary, is a sleazy American ex-convict in TNT's Good Behavior. And Kevin Doyle, the good-hearted Mr Molesley, is a bad-hearted police detective in Netflix's Happy Valley.

The end of Downton Abbey on PBS after six seasons means new career paths for its stars, with both the upstairs and downstairs crew embracing change-of-pace roles - although devoted viewers may want to enshrine them forever as their beloved characters.

"Anybody who's watched and loved Downton is going to remember these characters for the rest of their lives," says executive producer Gareth Neame. But cast members "can't put a pin in their career and say that's it".

British actors are especially keen on variety and like "to move away from things they've been previously successful with", Neame says.

Froggatt says change is part of acting's allure.

"After playing a role that you've loved playing for years, there is a certain part of you that goes: 'I fancy doing something a bit different,'" she says.

That's the path taken by Dan Stevens, who's avoided lord-of-the-manor roles since playing Matthew Crawley in the drama's first three seasons. Among his upcoming projects: the films Beauty and the Beast and sci-fi drama Colossal, and Legion, a Marvel Comics-based TV pilot for FX.

After Sunday's Downton Abbey finale, here's where to find its former occupants: Hugh Bonneville (Lord Grantham), playing Lord Louis Mountbatten in the Indian independence movie Viceroy's House; Laura Carmichael (Lady Edith), in a sibling role from the 1940s romance, A United Kingdom; Brendan Coyle (John Bates), as English politician Augustine Birrell in the Irish film The Rising; Elizabeth McGovern (Lady Cora), writing and recording her fourth album with the band Sadie and the Hotheads.

And more: Lilly James (Lady Rose), in the classic role of Elizabeth Bennet, in an adaptation of a Jane Austen parody, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies; Allen Leech (Tom Branson), in the film Hunter's Prayer, based on Kevin Wignall's novel For the Dogs; Penelope Wilton (Isobel Crawley), as lonely wife Pauline in British TV series Brief Encounters, where she's one of four women whose lives change when they start selling exotic lingerie at house parties.
A model wears designs by Sun.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Young Chinese designers are creating an impression in London, but resist being pigeon-holed. Deng Yanzi reports in Hong Kong.

For Hangzhou-born, London-based journalist and fashionista Wei Jing, attending the London Fashion Week twice a year is part of her routine, making her a keen observer of the grand event.

However, this year's fall/winter show, which ran from Feb 19-23, meant something more to her.

Wei was more than a spectator this time. She was in London as a jewelry designer to launch her new collection, Jw  By Sun, in collaboration with emerging Chinese designer Sun Ke, whose womenswear label By Sun was on display at the fashion week's showroom.

Wei, 29, started studying jewelry design last year at the renowned art school, Central Saint Martins, in London.

She is part of a growing group of Chinese designers shining at the city's biggest fashion show.

Wei says London Fashion Week is unique among the "big four" fashion weeks, which include Paris, Milan and New York, for its support of new designers.
A Swiss water expert's long collaboration with his Chinese counterparts yields results. Liu Xiangrui reports.

Andreas Goetz, a Swiss expert on water management, considers his work in China for more than a decade a great success.

"We first made a rope of cooperation. Now, it has developed into a net," the-68-year-old says of the roles Chen Lei, China's water resources minister, and he have played on various projects.

The two men first met in 2001, when Goetz was deputy director of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.

In its journey to become a developed country, Switzerland has gained much experience in water management and has collected relevant data for years.

During their interactions, the two experts found that both countries were pursuing similar goals in water management, and the first joint project began in 2002 after news of a Yangtze River flood drew Goetz's attention.

He wrote an e-mail to Chen, asking if Swiss experts could do anything to help.

When Chen replied, "a friend in need is a friend indeed", Goetz's organization sent a team to assist China in building a hydrological-forecast and warning system in the Yangtze basin.

The project, which used technologies developed in Switzerland, proved worthwhile. In the following year, when Chen invited Goetz to personally inspect the project, they decided to collaborate long term.

Since then, workshops on technical issues related to water have been held every two years, alternatively in both countries, with Chinese and Swiss officials and experts attending.

After a successful workshop in 2008, the two sides signed a Sino-Swiss cooperation agreement that enables not only high-level exchanges but also the joint undertaking of projects.

"The development of the water sector cannot be realized in a sustainable way without the support and cooperation of the international community," says Goetz.
According to Cai Wei, deputy director of the International Cooperation Bureau of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the top anti-graft body, China will release the names of officials wanted for corruption-related crimes committed since 2014 as part of this year's Operation Skynet.

Last year, the National Central Bureau of China of the International Criminal Police Organization released a Red Notice naming 100 people wanted for serious corruption-related cases that had fled overseas.

In an interview posted on the official website of the CCDI International Cooperation Bureau, Cai said they are determined to bring the wanted people on the Red Notice to justice. The "Fox Hunt 2016" that chases suspected criminals abroad and takes actions against illegal private banks and offshore companies that transfer money overseas will be the focus of Operation Skynet 2016.

The CCDI requires local authorities to collect information about the people named in the Red Notice and enhance their information sharing about them. In addition, the authorities are also strengthening border inspections and the freezing of assets.
File photo of China's fishery patrol ship Yuzheng-301.

The Philippines and some Western media recently reported that a Philippine fishing boat stranded on China's Wufang Reef in the South China Sea was towed away by Chinese rescue vessels and several more boats were on patrol and blocked the waters during the operation.

Citing the waters as the "traditional fishing waters" of the Philippines, these reports described a scenario in which Philippine fishermen were bullied by China and could not engage in their normal fishing activities.

However, the Wufang Reef incident immediately reminds Chinese people of a warship the Philippines deliberately grounded on Ren'ai Reef in May 1999. Disregarding the repeated demands by China that it be removed, the Philippines has endlessly sent logistical supplies to the ship in an attempt to occupy the Chinese reef as a permanent stronghold. The grounded ship has ever since remained a source of friction between the two countries.

China has always kept self-restraint in the sovereignty disputes with the Philippines despite repeated provocations. It is the Philippines that has seized and detained Chinese fishing boats and fishermen, sentenced Chinese fishermen to long terms in jail, and even caused the death of a Chinese fisherman in 2013. Such uncultivated acts even led both countries into a serious crisis in 2012 over Huangyan Island.

No matter what it does and what its excuse is, the Philippines can't hide the fact it is the cause of the frictions between it and China.

For example, despite its knowledge that the territorial dispute does not come under the jurisdiction of the arbitration tribunal in The Hague, Manila has still submitted its territorial dispute with China in the South China Sea to the tribunal for arbitration in an attempt to bring shame on Beijing and solicit the support of international opinion.

It is the Philippines' breach of its promises and the normal code of conduct for countries that have prompted China to take reasonable and moderate countermeasures in the South China Sea.
A big fire is seen at a chemical plant in the Gulei Peninsula in Zhangzhou, Fujian province, on April 8, where an explosion on Monday evening injured six people. The fire resurfaced hours after it was extinguished late Tuesday. [Photo/Xinhua]

THE MINISTRY OF Environmental Protection has rejected the plan for a chemical plant to produce polyolefin in Southwest China's Guizhou province, due to the pollution risk. The 17 billion yuan ($2.6 billion) project, led by Sinopec Group, Asia's largest oil refiner, failed to provide solutions to control the airborne pollutants, including sulfur dioxide, that would be discharged during production. Beijing Youth Daily on Thursday lauded the environment watchdog's decision:

Undoubtedly, Sinopec's rejected chemical project is a big blow not only to the oil giant, but also to the local government, given its projected annual production and revenues. But unlike many of its kind, which were often given a free pass in their environmental impact assessment, it failed to proceed without being preferentially treated.

Apart from its planned location, which is adjacent to underground water channels, the project also had huge air pollution risks, and did not offer a proper plan to cope with an emergency. Although the company is allowed to apply for an administrative review within two months or file an administrative lawsuit within six months, there is no doubt that the polyolefin-producing project as planned would jeopardize the environment.

Many have applauded the decision made by the ministry, which has rarely said no to similar projects because of their potential environmental impacts.

If properly operated, the suspended Sinopec project would have been conducive to alleviating the job losses from reducing the local overcapacity in coal production. That makes the environment authorities' well-founded rejection even more praiseworthy.

That some local governments, in the hope of sustaining economic growth, lower the standards when assessing the environmental impacts of major industrial projects is incorrect and short-sighted. Turning to blind eye to potential environmental risks for the sake of short-term yields, is not in line with the ongoing transition of the country's economic structure.
Bricks dug out from pavements are seen left on a chair after protesters clashed with riot police at Mong Kok district in Hong Kong, China, Feb 9, 2016.[Photo/Agencies]

Many people have been calling for an independent study into the cause of the recent riot in the Mong Kok area of Hong Kong. If the terms of reference are set right, an independent study may indeed prove useful. For example, reports say social media tools have increasingly been used by individuals and organizations to politically radicalize people.

Many young people get the attention and approval of peer groups in social media by saying outlandish things, because bold and provocative comments are more likely to attract attraction. In fact, terrorist groups are known to be adept at using social media to recruit youths to their ranks. So, how important was social media in instigating the Mong Kok riot?

Unfortunately, those who ask for an independent study into the cause of the riot seem more interested in finding faults with the Hong Kong government than in finding what might avert such crises. A commentator, sympathizing with the Mong Kok rioters, wrote: "No one is born an opponent of the government and violent. If one had the choice, who would want to put himself at risk and be labeled a rioter?" But the same could be said about Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 innocent people in Norway in 2011. Indeed, one could say the same thing about all criminals. So where does all this end?

The worrying thing is that instead of condemning the riot, many opinion leaders have sympathized with the rioters. Perhaps as a result of this, more people, rather than moderating their behavior, are now using violent language. One netizen even said he would pay a reward of HK$10,000 for every policeman killed.

In response, Hong Kong Legislative Council member Priscilla Leung, said people who say such things are being cruel to young people, and inciting them to violent acts was tantamount to condemning them to a life of hopelessness and hatred.
A man in traditional Mexican apparel takes part in an anti-Donald Trump, pro-immigration protest in the Manhattan borough of New York December 10, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

Queuing up recently in a post office in Cleveland Park, Washington, D.C., a woman complained to me in a loud voice about the long line of customers being serviced by only one clerk. She then angrily provided a long list of what is going wrong in the United States.

Americans are known for being optimistic, but the word most often used to describe public sentiment in the US these days is "angry".

A number of polls in recent months have shown more Americans saying they are angry and that those that were already angry are angrier than before.

A CNN/ORC poll conducted in December revealed that 69 percent of Americans say they are either "very angry" or "somewhat angry" about "the way things are going" in their country.

A November survey by Esquire/NBC found that about half of the more than 3,000 American adults polled are angrier today than they were a year ago. The survey also showed whites are angrier than other ethnic groups and Republicans are angrier than Democrats.

Such anger is reflected in the 2016 presidential race where leading candidates have been scrambling to cash in on people's anger.

This week, billionaire businessman Donald Trump won seven of the 11 states on Super Tuesday by skillfully tapping into people's anger. He said in a debate in January that he would "gladly accept the mantle of anger," adding "yes, I am very, very angry".

Tapping into people's anger has been proven so powerful for Trump that some Republican heavyweights are wondering if they still have the clout to get rid of the non-mainstream tycoon in favor of Marco Rubio or Ted Cruz.

Likewise, Bernie Sanders, the Democratic candidate who carried four states on Super Tuesday, said "I am angry and millions of Americans are angry." And Hillary Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner told National Public Radio that "I understand why people get angry".
PHOENIX  Saying signs dont protect people from homicidal maniacs, the state Senate voted 18-12 Thursday to allow people with concealed-carry permits to bring them into unsecured public buildings.

SB 1257 would overrule existing laws that allow government agencies to declare their buildings to be weapons-free zones by posting signs at entrances and providing lockers so those who are armed can store their guns. Instead, they would have to buy and install metal detectors and have staffers available to check those coming in.

And if they did not, then those who have state-issued permits would be free to ignore the signs.

That means more than the 255,000 Arizonans who have the permits. It also would apply to anyone from a any other state which has an agreement to recognize permits from here if Arizona recognizes their CCW permits.

Sen. Steve Farley, D-Tucson, chided colleagues for imposing a financial burden on local governments to hire the staff and buy the equipment.

But Sen. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, said there is no burden at all. He said there is an alternative: Dont put up the detectors and let permit holders keep their weapons with them.

He said local governments are operating under the belief that the signs matter.

There are very few facilities now, other than court houses and correction facilities, that do the screening, he said. They apparently believe that a little sticker on the wall that says No Guns keeps them out.

But Kavanagh said only law-abiding people obey the signs and leave their weapons outside or check them. This will simply allow those who have CCW permits to keep them.

And everyone else?

People who do not have CCW permits who are homicidal maniacs, robbers, rapists, killers and assaulters will enter that building, Kavanagh said. He said if there are no metal detectors to keep them out, we need some CCW permit holders in there for protection.

Kavanagh said its not like his legislation opens the door to just anyone bringing guns into public buildings. The exemption from the no-guns requirement applies only to those with CCW permits.

Consequently, the person will have to have gone through a complete fingerprint and background check, will have to have taken a course that deals with the legal aspects of using a firearm, safety issues, and would have to qualify and show that they can shoot, hit a target, he said.

Farley sniffed at that making any difference.

He quoted from the Department of Public Safety web site which said that changes in law in 2010 removed many of the statutory requirements to get a CCW permit and instead provide alternate ways of getting one. The result, said Farley, is DPS is no longer checking to ensure that those who claim to offer CCW training are complying with state law.

The result, he said, is some states like Nevada wont honor Arizona CCW permits because they dont think we train our people well enough.

Sen. Martin Quezada, D-Phoenix, said the problem is even deeper than that.

We dont know if an individual who has a CCW permit has the technical skills to operate that instrument in a highly stressful situation, he said, the kind of situations that will occur if theres an active shooter inside a public building.

This isnt at a gun range where youre pointing at a still target, Quezada said.

This isnt out in a hunting situation where youre pointing at an animal that cant shoot back, he continued. This is going to be a highly intense situation where there are innocent people running around, children running around.

But Sen. Steve Smith, R-Maricopa, said foes of the measure are losing sight of the larger issue.

When you read the constitution, the right of the people to bear arms shall not be infringed, he said. Smith said that trumps any debate on the relative merits of having CCW permit holders in public buildings.

Thursdays vote sends the measure to the House.

They apparently believe that a little sticker on the wall that says No Guns keeps them out. Sen. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills
Fu Ying, spokesperson for the fourth session of China's 12th National People's Congress (NPC), attends a press conference on the session at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 4, 2016. The fourth session of the 12th NPC is scheduled to open in Beijing on March 5. [Photo/Xinhua]

China will increase military expenditure by about 7 to 8 percent this year, according to Fu Ying, spokeswoman for the fourth session of the 12th National Peoples Congress. No wonder it has drawn worldwide attention as usual despite it will be a slower growth than that in the past years.

In recent years, foreign critics have been most concerned about the modernization of Chinas military, which is basically supported and guaranteed by the increase in its defense budget. But what these critics dont understand is that Chinas growing military capacity will not pose a threat to regional peace and security.

First, the increase in Chinas defense budget is justified, especially because its militarys modernization has always been at an appropriate level.

China needs its armed forces to protect its peaceful development. This is important for maintaining peace and managing crises. China has to safeguard its sovereignty, security and development interests, and to deal with both traditional and non-traditional security threats. Given these facts, China has every reason to develop its militarys capabilities.

Militaries of all countries need to develop, for that is the global trend, and the Chinese military is no exception. Since Chinas military is in the semi-mechanized/mechanized stage of development, it still lags behind others in terms of capacity. And it will take a long time to become a fully modernized force.

The Chinese militarys development is in proportion to its economic development, with the latter being the countrys priority.

Second, to determine whether a countrys military poses a threat to other countries, the key factor is not defense expenditure or the size and capability of its armed forces; instead, it is its defense policy and military strategy. A country with an aggressive policy could invade another country despite having a weaker military.

Another typical misconception about Chinas military is that, since its missiles can strike a certain country, it is capable of destroying that countrys satellites and thus poses a threat to it. But the fact is, many countries have developed long-range strategic missiles, and the United States has the greatest capability of destroying other countries space assets, and its weapon systems can attack any country. So, is the US the greatest threat to the world?

Also, let us not forget that the US has 11 aircraft carriers while China has just one, which is not fully operational. It is, therefore, clear that it is a countrys defense policy that matters most whether it poses a threat to other countries. And Chinas national defense policy has always been defensive in nature and its military strategy is to strike only when it is struck.

Third, since China has developed at an unprecedented pace because of a peaceful environment, it is committed to maintaining peace. China plans to double the average income of its people by 2020 compared with 2010 and become a mid-level developed country by 2050. All this can be achieved only in a peaceful environment  a conflict or war will disrupt the process.

Today we live in a world of shared destinies and interdependence. In the 21st century, no country, including China, can rise by using military force. More importantly, China is dedicated to the path of peaceful development, a defensive defense policy and a military strategy of active defense.

China has a chapter of history of being bullied, invaded and semi-colonized. As a result, it will never pursue expansionism or hegemonism.

And fourth, with a reasonable increase in its budget, the Chinese military will develop steadily to fulfill its domestic and international obligations and responsibilities. Besides, Chinas military will continue to participate in UN peacekeeping missions, keep conducting escort and anti-piracy missions in the Gulf of Aden and other seas, as required, and work with other countries to maintain world peace.

The Chinese military is also committed to reducing risks, managing crises and controlling conflicts, so as to prevent untoward incidents that could disrupt peace and stability. With the growth in Chinas national strength, its military will be better prepared to shoulder more international responsibilities, provide more public security services to the international community and contribute more to world peace and common development.

The author is an associate researcher with the Institute of Strategic Studies, National Defense University, PLA.
Like for anyone who grew up in the West in the 1960s, China was a huge enigma, a vast country of unknowns

It's time to confess. In the 55 years since I first set foot on a plane (a propeller-driven Vickers Vanguard operated by British European Airways), I've traveled and worked all over the world. But I've never been to Beijing - until now.

In a few weeks, this column and I will be packing our bags and heading off to China's teeming capital; and to be honest, I just can't wait.

I'm one of those weird people who actually enjoy the mechanics of air travel, that sublime moment after all the hassle of check-in and the associated security procedures when you sink back in your seat and contemplate the first gin and tonic before supper.

It's probably only fair to say that I haven't a clue what to expect.

My first and most sustained contact with China was in the late 1980s, when I lived and worked in Hong Kong and took the occasional trip to Guangzhou, Guangdong province. I retain a sort of kaleidoscopic image of thousands of people, an inordinate number of bicycles, and a goat at the local zoo that ate my camera case.

Added to that mix is the image of tens of thousands of geese being herded over the rice paddies as we all peered down from Lok Ma Chau, then the observation post in Hong Kong's New Territories for those unable to get visas.

Well, I know for fact that all that has changed. A friend recently showed me an image he'd snapped from that same spot a few weeks back and all you can see are gleaming steel and glass towers and major four-lane highways - with not a goose or a rice paddy in sight.

In the meantime, all efforts are focused on my upcoming Beijing trip, meeting old friends and colleagues, and encountering new ones.

In terms of the physical look of Beijing, all I can find out is that there are an awful lot of towering modern buildings in a city dominated by the internal combustion engine.

One of the pleasures of my job here at China Daily UK in London is the fascination, and indeed privilege, of writing and editing stories that tell of the extraordinary transformation of China over the past 20 years or so. A transformation that is still going on, its latest phase being the switch from "made in China" to "branded in China".

Like for anyone who grew up in the West in the 1960s, China was a huge enigma, a vast country of unknowns presided over by a man who gave his name to a particular brand of socialism. Our understanding was limited to the insights offered by the few Western newspaper reporters living and working in Beijing - insights that, with hindsight, were of necessity limited. Any contact we had was cautious and restricted.

Now, the best analogy I can give is that China and its people have blossomed, like a flower that's been waiting for spring and the sunshine.

At the risk of sounding like an old gramophone record (one of those vinyl things you played on a turntable), I'm still in awe of a country that can change from an inward-looking, puzzling entity into a bright, vibrant country, a dominating force in the geopolitical world with an economy that is on track to become the world's biggest.

Spending three weeks in Beijing is going to allow me to put flesh on the bones, and get rid of the stereotypes.

But before I head off, there's the small matter of my first-ever visit to West Africa, to spend Easter with my youngest daughter, Mai-Anh, who is now working in Dakar, Senegal. That should give me yet another way of contrasting my world with the new.

This column will, I hope, give you my reflections of Beijing as I find it.

The author is managing editor of China Daily Europe, based in London. Contact the writer at chris@mail.chinadailyuk.com
(Reuters)

Updated: 2007-03-12 10:11

TEHRAN - Iran said on Sunday President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wants to go before the UN Security Council to defend his country's civilian nuclear plans, which the West says are a covert attempt to make atom bombs.



Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addresses a news conference in Sudan's capital Khartoum, March 1, 2007. [Reuters]



The five permanent members of the Council - the United States, France, Britain, China and Russia - plus Germany are discussing imposing new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear ambitions, which Tehran insists are entirely peaceful.

"The president of Iran plans to speak in a possible meeting of the Security Council on Iran's nuclear program to defend the right of the Iranian nation to use peaceful nuclear technology," state TV on Sunday quoted government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham as saying, without giving further details.

Iran's IRNA news agency quoted Elham as saying Ahmadinejad planned to attend "if the Security Council has a meeting on Iran's nuclear program."

Chinese UN ambassador Wang Guangya told reporters after a meeting of the six on Sunday in New York: "Any member has the right to come to the council."

Alejandro Wolff, the US representative, said he had seen the news report but no request for a visa. "I have not seen anything concrete so I don't know what to make of it," he said after the meeting.

Iran has ignored United Nations demands that it halt uranium enrichment, a process Western nations say Tehran is mastering so it can produce atom bombs. Iran, the world's fourth biggest oil exporter, insists its aim is nuclear power generation.

In December the Security Council imposed a package of limited sanctions including a ban on the transfer of sensitive nuclear technology or know-how. It threatened further steps if Iran failed to meet its February 21 deadline to suspend enrichment.

Among measures under consideration are a variety of financial restrictions as well as an expansion of an earlier list of people, firms and groups whose assets would be frozen or with whom trade would be banned, such as Iran's Revolutionary Guards and the state-owned Bank Sepah.

The six are also discussing a travel ban against those on the list and an embargo on conventional arms.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy told a news conference in Abu Dhabi that new sanctions should be imposed on Iran for failing to meet Security Council demands.

"Our position has not changed but it is based on two words: firmness and dialogue," he said according to Arabic translation.

"Our aim is to find a solution based on negotiation," he added when asked about the possibility of military action, a step the United States has not ruled out if diplomacy fails.
Luo Ping (left), founder of Able2Shine, an NGO aimed at preparing Asian-American children to succeed in the US, helps Gracie Li show her drawing of the Silk Road at the Feb 27 opening ceremony of the ongoing Silk Road - a New Look, an exhibition of pictures taken by Chinese photographers along the route from Xi'an, Shaanxi province, to Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Chang Jun / China Daily

China still has a long way to go before its proposals for world peace and development are fully heard and understood worldwide. Happily, the country has stepped up its efforts to send messengers of good will abroad to help cut through the misunderstandings and confusion.

During a talk on Feb 17, Martin Jacques, a British scholar and author of the best-seller When China Rules the World, repeatedly used the term "overreaching" to describe China's stance on certain international and domestic issues.

I wish I could have invited him to attend the opening on Feb 27 of Silk Road - a New Look, an exhibition of pictures taken by Chinese photographers along the route from Xi'an, Shaanxi province, to Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

More than 2,000 years ago, smart and courageous people of Eurasia explored and opened up several land and sea routes that linked the major civilizations of Asia, Europe and Africa, which were collectively part of what was called the "Silk Road" by later generations.

For thousands of years, the Silk Road Spirit - peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit - has passed down from generation to generation.

The exhibition displays the new look of areas in China along the ancient Silk Road and their people going about their everyday lives. It is a portrait of inclusiveness, openness and harmony.

"We'd like our audience to learn more about the scenic beauty, the traditional richness of China's landscape along the Silk Road, as well as the vigor and strength of our people, the peaceful co-existence of our Han people with ethnic minorities," said Wu Junkai, president of the San Francisco International Art Center, an exhibition sponsor.

Wu invited a group of American-born Chinese children and their parents to walk through the exhibit and discuss the importance of the Silk Road.

Dressed in traditional Chinese silk and satin costumes, 8-year-old Arian He and his partner Terry demonstrated how ancient Chinese merchants carried China-made merchandise such as tea, porcelain and fine fabrics on treks through deserts and wilderness, and finally arrived in the Middle East and Mediterranean, where they were warmly received.

"It only took us parents and children two days to come up with this mini-drama idea and rehearse it," said Luo Ping, Arian's mother and an organizer with Able2Shine, a non-profit aimed at preparing Asian-American children to succeed in the US.

"I'm so proud of China's history and being Chinese," said Luo. "I hope my child will inherit this profound pride and retell the wonderful story whenever he gets a chance."

Like a beautiful ribbon, the Silk Road closely linked the civilizations of East and West, playing a key role in advancing globalization and the development of human cultures.

In the 21st century, multi-polarization and economic globalization are further developing, and the interdependence between all countries keeps growing, said Ren Faqiang, deputy consul-general at the Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco, who attended the opening ceremony.

"Therefore, it's more important and valuable than ever to inherit and carry forward the spirit of the Silk Road," he said.

China has proposed an initiative to jointly build a Silk Road Economic Belt (or the Belt), and a 21st century Maritime Silk Road (or the Road), which will give a contemporary connotation to the ancient Silk Road.

With the aim of promoting connectivity between the Asian, European and African continents and their adjacent seas, the initiative will set up networks and help realize balanced and sustainable development in those countries.

"The joint effort of building the Belt and Road is in the best interest of the world community and reflects the common ideas and pursuits of human society," said Ren.

Contact the writer at junechang@chinadailyusa.com.
Big pants: China Central Television (CCTV) headquarters in central Beijing, often cited as one of the country's unusual buildings. CFP

It looks like China's "weird" buildings got caught with their pants down.

The headquarters of China Central Television in Beijing is among the most famously odd. The building designed by noted Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas is known as the "big trousers" by locals.

Now the government is going after monstrosities and also has had it with gated communities.

"There is a phenomenon that buildings in cities are attempting to be large, Western-orientated and weird," was how Xinhua quoted a State Council report detailing the new design guidelines. "Bizarre architecture that is not economical, functional, aesthetically pleasing or environmentally friendly will be forbidden."

The aesthetic issue came up in the Feb 21 report addressing problems with China's massive urbanization and city expansion.

The report, which calls for "applicable, economic, green and elegant" designs, was preceded by a December planning conference of Chinese leaders.

The Central Urban Work Conference in December was the first such meeting to address the issue since 1978, when only 18 percent of China's population lived in cities. By the end of 2015, the number approached 50 percent.

"These changes, long overdue, should give every city in China a new lease on life," said Ming Wu, AIA, design principal for the New York-based international architectural firm Perkins Eastman, which is prominent in China. "President Xi Jinping famously remarked about this first in 2014."

Wu told China Daily that for many years "as China has been intent on commanding the world's stage, the global community of architects has been only too happy to oblige when it came to the built environment. Client ambition and ego, combined with architects' wildest dreams, created a playground for the design - and engineering - community that was bound to result in 'too much fun' from time to time.

"However, given the scale of China's demand, coupled with some one-upmanship, the result has been an excess of high-profile, `weird' buildings, in both the private and public sectors.

"The flip side of this coin is that, at the same time, China has been a key and fertile proving ground for advancing the state-of-the-art for many building typologies, in terms of both architectural design and engineering."

Wu also believes the move against gated communities makes sense.

"Such private enclaves tend to occupy much too much land - land that China cannot spare - and often in some of the best locations in the hearts of cities. These developments have been characterized by uncomfortably large blocks that are not walkable nor pedestrian-friendly, deny active street settings edged by storefronts, and are simply anti-urban in every way.

"The new policy advocates smaller blocks, smaller developments that turn outward to address surrounding streets, and thus a more dense network of streets - all good.

"After all, streets are the circulatory system of cities. Of course, in the near term, we can expect a NIMBY (not in my back yard) outcry from those enjoying such residential sanctuaries at the expense of the larger communities," he said.

Cities no longer will be allowed to grow beyond what their natural resources can support, according to the guidelines.

Increased urbanization has brought more pollution, traffic congestion and public safety hazards. Poor urban planning also has led to overtaxed power grids, the report said.

The document calls for greater oversight by city legislative bodies and harsher punishment for anyone contravening regulations.

Construction techniques that generate less waste and use fewer resources, such as prefabricated buildings, will be encouraged. In 10 years, 30 percent of new buildings are expected to be prefabricated.

Within five years, a map of non-conforming buildings across China's cities will exist, and violations will be addressed, the State Council document said.

The reform of urban housing will be geared to the basic needs of disadvantaged groups, with the market expected to meet the demand of other residents.

By 2020, the transformation and renovation of shantytowns, urban villages and dilapidated houses in cities will be complete.

Open residential communities will be established, with links to public roads that can become part of the urban road system, leading to better land use and optimization of roadways.

Cities will get more green belts and urban parks. The buildings occupying public green land also should be phased out, the report said.

By 2020, mega cities with a population greater than 5 million will have at least 40 percent of trips completed via public transport; that figure will be 30 percent in cities with a population above 1 million, and 20 percent in other cities.

"Advancements achieved in China can be applied everywhere in the world," Wu said. "So one can say that some of the 'weirdness', but not all of it, can be forgiven."

Contact the writer at williamhennelly@chinadailyusa.com
Top leader of the Democratic People's Republic (DRPK) of Korea leader Kim Jong Un looks through a pair of binoculars as he guides the multiple-rocket launching drill of women's sub-units under KPA Unit 851, in this undated file photo released by DPRK's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang December 30, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

PYONGYANG - Top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un said that the only way to defend the nation's sovereignty is to further strengthen nuclear forces in quality and the military should be prepared to deliver nuclear warheads at any time.

The DPRK leader made the remarks when guiding a test firing of newly developed large-caliber multiple rocket launcher, the state media KCNA reported Friday.

Kim said that as the enemies are planning to carry out the "beheading operation" that targets the DPRK leadership and the DPRK system, the DPRK will make the military corresponding measures in "preemptive manners," the KCNA reported.

Kim said the prevailing situation when strategic and tactical weapons have been deployed to South Korea has proved the DPRK's foresight to choose to become a nuclear state and try to strengthen nuclear power in all ways.

He instructed that the military should be ready to deliver the deployed nuclear warheads at any time for national defense.

Kim was satisfied with the test-fire, saying the new-type large-caliber multiple rocket launcher "further strengthens the striking power of the Korean People's Army."

The KCNA report also condemned the UN Security Council's new resolution on the DPRK in response to its nuclear and missile programs, saying the resolution "delegimitizes the DPRK's sovereignty and the DPRK will not remain an onlooker to political and economic pressure imposed by the United States and its following forces."

"All the people in the DPRK are now waiting for an order of combat to annihilate the enemy with their surging wrath at the US imperialists and South Korea," it said.

South Korea's Defense Ministry said Thursday that the DPRK had fired several short-range projectiles into eastern waters after UN Security Council voted on Wednesday to adopt a resolution that imposes a set of new sanctions on Pyongyang, while calling for a resumption of the long-stalled six-party talks.

The resolution, in response to DPRK's nuclear test on Jan. 6 and a satellite launch on Feb. 7, is aimed at curbing the country's ability to develop its nuclear and missile programs.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms DPRK's nuclear test on Jan. 6 and the satellite launch on Feb. 7, which it said used ballistic missile technology banned by previous UN resolutions. Pyongyang insisted it was a peaceful satellite launch.
Sweden's Prince Daniel speaks to the media during a news conference at Karolinska hospital to announce that Crown Princess Victoria gave birth to a baby boy, in Stockholm, Sweden March 2, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

STOCKHOLM - The latest addition to the Swedish royal family was christened on Thursday in Stockholm, King Carl Gustaf XVI announced.



Prince Oscar Carl Olof, Duke of Skane region, was baptized at the Royal Palace in Stockholm before salutes were fired in five Swedish cities at midday, daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter reported.



"We have been blessed with a prince," the King said after the cabinet meeting that follows a royal birth.



Prince Oscar was born to Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel on Wednesday evening before the family's discharge from a Stockholm hospital on Thursday morning.



"The whole family was shining. We wish them all the best," Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said after visiting the newborn at Haga Castle north of the city.



Prince Oscar is third in line to the Swedish throne after his mother Victoria and older sister Princess Estelle.

Prince Oscar's was the fourth royal birth in Sweden since 2012.
OECD warns of negative impact of Brexit on EU, UK economies (Xinhua) Updated: 2016-03-04 09:06

THE HAGUE - Britain leaving the European Union (EU) would be bad for the bloc's economy and the country's economic prospects, deputy secretary-general of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Stefan Kapferer said on Thursday.



"The main advantage of the EU is the free trade of goods and services, which will be negatively affected if the British decide to leave the EU," said the German economist of the Paris-based organization.



And, "a Brexit will cause an additional uncertainty during a time when our economies are facing uncertain perspectives due to a number of different reasons," said Kapferer during his visit to the Netherlands to present the OECD regular bi-annual survey of the Dutch economy.



According to the OECD, the EU is an important market for the United Kingdom. EU countries account for 53 percent of Britain's imports and 48 percent of its exports. The country's main trading partner in 2014 was Germany, which accounted for 12.3 percent of the total trade in Britain. In second position was the United States (9.5 percent), followed by the Netherlands (7.5 percent), China (7.3 percent) and France (5.9 percent).



In case of a Brexit, the Dutch economy would also be negatively affected, Kapferer predicted. He added that major multinational companies currently based in the UK might opt for moving their European headquarters to other EU countries.

"But it is too early to predict what will be the outcome on the financial sector and what will happen to different branches of financial organizations," said Kapferer.



A referendum on whether Britain should remain in the European Union is to be held on June 23.
A new US government report praises the bilateral cooperation between China and the US in combating wildlife trafficking.

The 2015 annual progress assessment of US national strategy was released on Thursday by the Task Force on Wildlife Trafficking, set up by US President Barack Obama and including 17 federal departments and agencies, to mark the 2016 World Wildlife Day on Thursday.

It lists as a major achievement the agreement between Obama and President Xi Jinping in Washington last September to enact nearly complete bans on ivory imports and exports and to take significant and timely steps to halt the domestic commercial trade of ivory.

The 32-page report features a big photo of Obama and Xi shaking hands in the White House to highlight global and bilateral cooperation on the issue. China, the US and the European Union are major markets for illicit wildlife trade.

The report cites efforts by US government departments in China in the past year. For example, the State Department published in Chinese newspapers and websites an op-ed commending the bilateral commitments and calling for their quick implementation.

Bilateral engagement has been conducted on multiple levels, such as a daylong session on wildlife trafficking as part of the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) in Washington in June 2015.

According to the report, the discussions at the meeting led to a bilateral agreement to stem the illegal trade in totoaba and sea turtles, to work jointly on enforcement, and to explore opportunities to use new and emerging technologies to inform and improve wildlife protection and law enforcement.

Last September, the US Fish and Wildlife Service organized trilateral meetings of China, US and Mexico on the illegal trade in totoaba to address the trafficking problem of the endangered fish species.

US Ambassador to China Max Baucus filmed an anti-ivory public announcement for the Chinese media and conducted an anti-wildlife trafficking print media campaign of billboards across China using his image.

The report also praised the commitment reaffirmed by China and the US on trilateral cooperation in Arica.

On Wednesday evening, the US State Department marked World Wildlife Day with a projection of images of endangered species on its C Street facade.

In China, the State Forestry Administration said in a statement on Thursday that it will revise laws and regulations for the protection of wild animals.

The revised draft of the Law on the Protection of Wildlife will build a mandatory protection system for their habitats, set a threshold for wildlife products to be traded, and put a stricter rein on trafficking and other illegal business involving wildlife, according to the statement.

Protection projects on wildlife will be listed in work agendas for the next five years as the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) has stipulated protection targets, for example, conducting programs on precious species such as the panda and Siberian tiger. The revised draft was presented to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for discussion on Dec 21.

The Vienna-based United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said on Thursday that billions of dollars in profit are made from the wildlife and forest crimes, destroying biodiversity and hindering sustainable growth.

In 2015, 1,175 rhinos were poached in South Africa, while Central Africa has now lost 64 per cent of its elephants in less than a decade, it said.

Contact the writers at chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com and zhengjinran@chinadaily.com.cn
SEOUL - South Korea and the United States will launch formal talks on Friday about the deployment in the South Korean territory of a sophisticated US missile defense system, Seoul's defense ministry said.

The two sides signed an agreement to form a joint working group charged with discussing details on the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) deployment, including schedules, appropriate sites and cost-sharing, the defense ministry said.

The agreement is a document referring to the working group's representatives, personnel setup, agendas, report on meetings and meetings record.

The South Korean side will be represented by Army Maj. Gen. Jang Kyung-Soo, the ministrys director general for policy, while the US side will be led by Maj. Gen. Robert Hedelund from US Forces Korea (USFK) command that will represent the Pentagon.

The joint working group will hold its inaugural meeting later in the day at the headquarters of South Korea's defense ministry.

The ministry said that both sides will discuss a possibility for the deployment of the THAAD that will be operated in South Korea by the USFK as part of efforts to enhance the allies' joint missile defense readiness.

The joint working group will talk about various issues such as appropriate sites, safety and environment, cost-sharing and schedules, according to the ministry.

The launch of talks about the THAAD deployment came after the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) launched a long-range rocket on Feb 7 after conducting its fourth nuclear test on Jan 6.

Hours after Pyongyang launched the rocket, which outsiders see as a banned test of missile technology, Seoul and Washington jointly announced their plan to start talks about the THAAD deployment.
Flagstaff Unified School District is one of 18 Arizona school districts that utilize a tax levy designed to promote equality in education for minority or disadvantaged students called desegregation funding.

In Flagstaff, this tax levy garners about $2.2 million annually, which is added to the districts maintenance and operations budget, district finance director Scott Walmer said in a presentation to the district governing board.

Legislation to allow districts to levy the tax was passed in 1985, after the United States Department of Educations Office of Civil Rights found Phoenix Union High School District had engaged in segregation. While Phoenix Union was required by a court order to fix the violations, other districts throughout the state, including FUSD, were allowed to levy the tax through a court agreement.

The desegregation funding now amounts to about $200 million a year statewide.

However, recent legislative proposals have threatened the districts ability to levy this tax in the future.

Bills in both the Arizona Senate and House of Representatives have threatened a phase-out of districts ability to levy this tax.

Advocates of the bills say the funding is outdated and creates an unfair system that favors some school districts over others.

Opponents say Arizonas education system is already underfunded and a further reduction would devastate districts.

The proposed phase-down would remove 15 percent of the amount levied in 2009 each year for five years beginning in 2017, and districts would not be allowed to budget for desegregation expenses after the 2012-2022 fiscal year.

The bill in the House of Representatives, HB2401 was removed from the legislative calendar last month, and it is unclear if the bill will return during this legislative session.

In FUSD, 52 staff members are paid with funds from desegregation, including teachers, administration and classified staff.

According to district statistics, 92 percent of the funds are instructional, meaning they fund teachers or programs that are in direct contact with students. The other 8 percent of the funds are used for staff support, development and administration.

District statistics show 1,177 students out of about 10,000 total are directly affected by desegregation funds annually. Much of the money is used for teacher salaries at Puente de Hozho trilingual school and Leupp Public School, which serves students on the Navajo Reservation.

This money is collected through a property tax, which, unlike a budget override, is not voted on directly by residents. However, district officials said past support for overrides have indicated that there is support locally to continue the desegregation tax levy.

Programs supported by the desegregation funding must already be budgeted separately and reported to the Arizona Department of Education.

While the removal of the bill from the calendar has stalled the possibility of passage, educational leaders are still speaking out against the potential for the phase-down.

Flagstaff Unified School District governing board members have voiced their disapproval of eliminating the funds, and all board members signed a resolution to oppose the legislation.

In the resolution, board members said eliminating the funds will harm the districts best performing programs that serve the most vulnerable populations.
Mary Wadsworth Darby

Mary Wadsworth Darby believes China is already equipped with everything foreign workers would want, and now it is up to employers to educate their potential employees on what they can offer.

"They need to know about the opportunities," said Darby, emphasizing the word "know". "China is now an active place," she said. "A place where things are happening."

Darby is the senior director of the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB) Americas. Since 2005, she has also been a senior research scholar with the Chazen Institute at Columbia Business School, specializing in China's economy and financial system.

Darby suggests Chinese companies go directly to foreign universities to recruit, or hold job fairs in the major cities.

"They can have a nice event at the Mandarin Oriental," she said, referring to the five-star luxury hotel in New York, with headquarters in Hong Kong.

A few Chinese companies already have implemented the strategy. In the past year, the CEO of Anbang Insurance, the Chinese insurer that bought the Waldorf Astoria New York hotel in October 2014, held a recruitment event at Harvard University.

The chairman of Hainan Airlines taught classes on the Harvard campus.

The leading Chinese phone maker ZTE toured a handful of top American universities.

"Tell them what job is available," Darby said. "They are always attracted to the job."

Based on her observations, Darby said there is a need for foreign talent in many professions in China.

"Researchers, engineers, Internet people, journalists, lawyers," she said. "It's important to be very clear with the qualifications. Be specific about what language skill is needed."

Sun Baohong

It's one thing to attract talented workers, but another to make them stay.

Sun Baohong, the dean's Distinguished Chair Professor of Marketing and associate dean of global programs at CKGSB, pointed out some practical issues for China and the companies to address, including working hours and residential status.

Sun said she was glad that China will ease the permanent-resident application process for foreigners and provide them with better services. It means more foreigners will be able to stay, and overseas Chinese have the option to go back.

Sun suggested that the Chinese government be more transparent with its plans and educate the foreign talent on specific policies that may benefit the group.

Before joining CKGSB in 2011, Sun was a marketing professor at the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University. She said her years living in the US taught her the importance of family time to Americans.

"Here most people get off at 6 pm, and they want to spend time with their family," she said. "Chinese business owners should keep that in mind."

She agreed with Darby on the importance of education for foreign talent, not only the opportunities but also the culture.

"By learning about how China works, they will have more innovative ideas and will better adapt to the working environment," Sun said.

hezijiang@chinadailyusa.com
Minister Gao Hucheng (R) meets with UK Business Secretary Sajid Javid. [Photo/ mofcom.gov.cn]

UK agreed to take lead to push the European Union to start free trade talks with China, a step seen as vital by analysts, following as it does London's early support for Beijing's Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank initiative.

Sajid Javid, British Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, recently met Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng and told him "the UK is willing to play active role within EU...to start a feasibility study of EU-China free trade zone as soon as possible," according to a British statement.

China Daily has learned that Gao also urged the UK to play such a role when the two ministers held closed-door bilateral trade talks on February 26.

They agreed to help speed up bilateral investment talks between Beijing and Brussels, while EU is still reviewing whether to give China market economy status at the end of this year.

Experts in China and Europe hailed the UK's positive stance in becoming the best partner of China in the West, and now expect China and the EU to kick off the long-awaited feasibility study of a bilateral free trade zone, which would cover 1.8 billion consumers, at this year's bilateral summit. But the date is still unknown.

"There are tremendous business and investment opportunities that can be reached between China and the EU through the establishment of bilateral investment agreement and free trade zones, and in this process British businesses would also benefit tremendously," said Alan Barrell, Entrepreneur in Residence at the Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning within the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge.

"The UK is able to help China on these agendas because it has significant influence in the EU, and because China and the UK already have a strong trade and investment relationship, British firms with expertise in working with China can be a part of the China-EU trade and investment relationship, and the UK can become a gateway for China into the EU," Barrell said.

The UK's support for China on its increasing trade with the EU came after it voiced its strong support for the establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank which China proposed in 2015. Britain was the first western power to become a partner.

Chi Fulin, president of China Institute of Reform and Development, said the agreement by the UK and Chinese leaders is a "very positive sign", and "is one of the concrete actions the UK has taken to implement its commitment to become China's best friend in the West, after taking actions to support the AIIB".

Chi said he has high hopes that the EU will respond to the UK and China's efforts and take discussions forward, and that he believes the feasibility study into the free trade zones can start when the EU-China summit takes place this year.

"The EU-China investment agreement is a very important step to further enhance China and EU trade within the framework of China's One Belt One Road vision, and will bring great benefits to markets encompassing 2 billion people," Chi said.

The meeting between Gao and Javid took place on February 26. Javid said that the UK is keen to actively participate in China's OBOR proposal, and welcomed Chinese companies to participate in UK's regional development.

He said the UK is the most open country in Europe for foreign investment, and it is China's best friend in Europe, so it is happy to use its influence in the EU to push forward China's trade and investment cooperation with the EU.
Beijing has called on Pyongyang, Washington and Seoul to "be cautious" amid rising tension on the Korean Peninsula, after the official news agency of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea reported on Friday that the country's leader, Kim Jong-un, had said the military should be ready to deploy nuclear warheads at any time for national defense.

Kim also said the DPRK will take corresponding military measures in a "pre-emptive manner" against any enemies that pose a war threat, the Korean Central News Agency reported.

In response, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei called for "exercising restraint and caution in words and actions" and "avoiding further escalation of the tense situation".

He also voiced Beijing's "resolute opposition" as Washington and Seoul are set to start discussions on deploying the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, an advanced missile defense system, in the Republic of Korea.

"We urge the relevant countries to be cautious in actions and they should not damage China's strategic security interests," Hong said.

Earlier this week, the UN Security Council approved a new resolution imposing tough sanctions on the DPRK because of its nuclear and missile programs.

Zhang Yunling, a senior researcher on Asia-Pacific studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the peninsula situation is "undergoing a period of risks". As Washington and Seoul have planned military drills in April, Pyongyang might react further, and the standoff on the peninsula will continue, Zhang added.

"There will be no winner if a massive conflict takes place there," Zhang said.

Fu Ying, spokeswoman for the annual session of the country's top legislature, said on Friday that China will "strictly abide by" the latest UN resolution.

Addressing the first news conference of the annual session of the National People's Congress in Beijing, Fu rejected allegations that China has not abided by previous UN Security Council resolutions regarding the DPRK.

Fu noted that there has been only a truce, and not a peace treaty, to cover the Korean Peninsula after hostilities ended more than 60 years ago. "Isn't this bizarre?" she said.

"The Korean Peninsula has long been a weak link of East Asia security", and as for the resolution, China "upholds peace talks, resolving (the issue) through the Six-Party Talks," Fu added.

Cheng Yonghua, China's ambassador to Japan, echoed President Xi Jinping's recent calls that "there should be no war or chaos on the Korean Peninsula".

"Not any single one of the relevant parties"  including the DPRK, the US and the ROK  is expected to take actions that will dampen the situation,'' Cheng said.
Flagstaff Unified School District is one of 18 Arizona school districts that utilize a tax levy designed to promote equality in education for minority or disadvantaged students called desegregation funding.

In Flagstaff, this tax levy garners about $2.2 million annually, which is added to the districts maintenance and operations budget, district finance director Scott Walmer said in a presentation to the district governing board.

However, recent legislative proposals have threatened the district's ability to levy this tax in the future.

In the district, 52 staff members are paid with funds from desegregation, including teachers, administration and classified staff.

According to district statistics, 92 percent of the funds are instructional, meaning they fund teachers or programs that are in direct contact with students. The other 8 percent of the funds are used for staff support, development and administration.

District statistics show 1,177 students are directly impacted by desegregation funds annually. Much of the money is used to teacher salaries at Puente de Hozho trilingual school and Leupp Public School, which services students on the Navajo Reservation.

Check back later for the full story about how desegregation funding affects Flagstaff students.
(Photo : YouTube) Oppo could be planning to release the R9 smartphone later this month.

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Chinese smartphone maker Oppo will possibly launch the successor to the Oppo R7 smartphone called the R9 on March 17 this year. The company recently released a video trailer on its official Weibo account with an advertisement stating that it will be organizing event on March 17.



According to one of the teasers that was posted on the company's Weibo account, the Oppo R9 smartphone's main innovation would be its camera. No other details about the camera or the smartphone's features was revealed.



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Gizmo China claims to have spotted another teaser which seemingly gives a hint that the Chinese tech company will release the smartphone during an event on March 17. While it is unclear whether Oppo will debut the R9 at the event, it is clear that the company will launch a handset that has "9" in its name.



The upcoming Oppo R9 smartphone is expected to feature a 6-inch QHD with 1440x2560 pixels resolution display. The device is likely to be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor paired with 3 GB or 4 GB of RAM. It said to come with a built-in 16 GB internal storage, which can be further expanded via a microSD card slot.



In terms of the camera, the handset might sport a 21-megapixel sensor main camera along with a 13-megapixel front-facing shooter. The device is expected to be fueled with a 3,700mAh capacity battery and will run on Android 6.0 Marshmallow operating system. There is a big possibility the phone might also be equipped with the company's recently unveiled Super VOOC fast charging technology.



At the Mobile World Congress trade show last month, Oppo unveiled its latest battery technology called the Super VOOC Flash Charge, an upgrade version over its VOOC Flash Charge technology. Oppo claims that the new technology can charge a 2500mAh battery from 0 to 100 percent in just 15 minutes.



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Tagsoppo smartphone, oppo r9, Mobile World Congress, oppo r7, weibo
(Photo : Reuters) EU member nations are at odds with each other over moves to limit the "lesser duty rule" on imported Chinese steel. European steelworkers (above) make their sentiments on the issue known outside the European Commission in Brussels.

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The European Union (EU) is struggling to find balance in its relations with China amid a dispute among members over anti-dumping tariffs levied on steel products from the Asian country.



The organization's Dutch presidency, with strong support from the UK, is resisting pressure from the European Commission (EC) and other member nations to strengthen the continent's trade instruments against steel imports from China.



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The dispute centers on the organization's "lesser duty rule," which cuts the size of the anti-dumping tariffs on imported Chinese steel to the limit of what is strictly necessary to prevent an injury of the continent's domestic industry.



Lesser Duty Rule



The Commission had proposed to curtail the rule in 2013, a move supported by France and a number of other European countries who say the conditional provision greatly diminishes the effectiveness of the anti-dumping tariffs against China's steel products.



The Anglo-Dutch alliance has rejected this position, saying that higher duties are possible within existing EU rules. The two countries likewise argue that lifting the lesser duty rule would bring harmful consequences to other parts of the value chain, and ultimately hurt consumers.



Speaking to the members of the EU's Competitiveness Council on Monday, French economic minister Emmanuel Macron said "the only way" to protect the continent's steel industry is to bring the subject to the table of the organization's trade ministers.



The adoption of the proposal made in 2013 would bring greater effectiveness to the anti-dumping duties imposed on Chinese imported steel, Macron told council members, because it would allow the EU to raise current duties to a more "credible level."



The council has since issued a statement urging steps to hasten the process of imposing further anti-dumping measures in a bid to stop China's low cost steel from dominating the European markets.



"Blatant and Unfair"



When asked about the issue later in the week, a spokesman for the EU's Dutch presidency said the EC has launched a public consultation to come up with a new proposal on the lesser duty rule.



Any attempt to forge a consensus before the Commission issues its new proposal in June or July would not make sense, the spokesman told EurActiv news.



China's overcapacity has been a key issue in the global economy for the past months, and is becoming a growing political issue in Europe.



Unable to match the low prices commanded by Chinese steel, the European steel association (EUROFER) has warned that hundreds of thousands of European workers stand to lose their jobs if the EU fails to address the problem soon.



Despite current anti-dumping measures, concerns over job security continue to fuel moves to impose even higher duties against the massive influx of China's low cost steel into the European market.



The EU debate comes even as members of the British Labour Party have mounted a vigorous effort to urge the Cameron government to scrap the lesser duty rule altogether.



"To work, tariffs have to be high enough to deal with the problem -- the EU tariffs are not," Labour's Andrea Eagle said during a debate in the British Parliament on Monday. "It is important to make it crystal clear that we are objecting to blatant and unfair dumping, not free trade."



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TagsEU-China, China Faces Anti-Dumping Petitions, industrial overcapacity
(Photo : Getty Images) Samsung may be planning to release a Galaxy S7 Active smartphone soon.

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Samsung's latest smartphones - the Galaxy J7 (2016) and Galaxy J5 (2016) - have received the approval of China's telecommunications equipment certification center TENAA, indicating their imminent release.



The upcoming devices are the successors to the Galaxy J7 and Galaxy J5 handsets, which were launched in 2015. According to TENAA, the Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) will have two versions, one with the model numer SM-J7108 and the SM-J7109 model.



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The SM-J7108 model will head to China Mobile along with the Samsung Galaxy J5 (SM-J5108), while the SM-J7109 version will make its way to China Telecom.



Specs-wise, the Samsung Galaxy J5 weighs about 155.4 grams and measures 145.7 x 72.3 x 7.9 mm in dimensions. The phone features a 5.2-inch Super AMOLED display screen with 720p resolution and comes with the Android 5.1.1 Lollipop operating system out of the box.



It has a 13 megapixel camera on the back with LED flash and laser autofocus feature, and a 5 megapixel front-facing unit. Under the hood, the Galaxy J5 packs a 1.2 GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, up to 16GB of built-in memory storage, and support for 4G. It will be available in gold, white and pink gold colors.



As for the Samsung Galaxy J7, the SM-J7108 model will have a 1.6 GHz octa-core chipset, while the SM-J7109 will pack a 1.5 GHz octa-core. The rest of the specs for these models are the same. Both devices feature a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED display screens with 1080p resolutions, 13 megapixel rear-facing cameras with LED flash and laser autofocus as well, 5 megapixel front-facing units, 3GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable internal memory.



The SM-J7108 is expected to be available in white and gold, while the SM-J7109 will be available in black and gold. Both devices will run on the Android 5.1.1 Lollipop OS.



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TagsSamsung Galaxy J5 J7 2016 March TENAA China, Samsung Electronics, Samsung Galaxy J5 J7 2016 Specs
(Photo : Getty Images) China's huge retrenchment of 2 million workers from the coal and steel industries has overshadowed its upcoming opening of the National People's Congress on the weekend, the largest annual political event in the country.

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China's two million job cut is casting a shadow over the upcoming annual session of the National People's Congress, which is set to open this weekend.



Around 3,000 delegates - including China's top leaders and the country's richest - will gather in Beijing for China's National People's Congress, the largest annual political event in the country.



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While the event is largely seen overseas as a ministerial affair - with the rubber stamp parliament approving national matters which have already been approved behind closed doors - the event is still seen by the world media as an opportunity to field questions to high-ranking leaders.



1.8 million workers



Reports indicate that one of the top topics that will be discussed at the upcoming gathering is China's announcement that it will lay off 1.8 million workers from state-owned coal and steel companies.



The impending lay is already being felt by workers in China's steel companies as many claim they have not received their salaries for months already.



"Job losses are a temporary problem", senior official Wang Guoqing said at a press conference in Beijing this week. "We will ensure that the economy grows in a sustainable way," he said.



Zombie companies



Observers will be closely watching the speed with which state-owned companies will retrench workers including the proliferation of 'zombie companies.'



'Zombie companies' refer to state-owned companies that have shut down but continue to pay its workers in an effort to keep the closure a secret to minimize reports of unemployment figures.



"They haven't set a timeline for [the layoffs], so it'll be interesting to see how quickly they move because obviously it has some social stability aspects to it," Beijing-based analyst Tom Rafferty, said.



Premier Li Keqiang



Analysts are expecting Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to set a 6.5 percent GDP growth target for China in the coming year amid the country's slowing economy.



Analysts are also expecting an announcement of an increase in military budget and spending to cover a gamut of expenses including redundancy payments for up to 300,000 military personnel set to be axed.



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TagsNational People's Congress, Premier Li Keqiang, retrenchment, slow economy, china
(Photo : Getty Images) One of the many zombie factories in China where machines and equipment sit idle.

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China is not just dealing with plunging stocks, plummeting currency value and economic slowdown, but it has zombie troubles too. There are several zombie companies in China - state firms that cannot survive on their own and need the support of the government.



Unfortunately, these companies are dragging the world's second-biggest economy's progress. When these firms fail to pay debts, it could cause losses for banks, which will in turm have a hard time lending capital to solid investors. Expert ssay if the government continues to pump resources to support zombie establishments, it could weaken the country's economy.



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This matter, according to Institute of International Finance chief economist Charles Collyns is a very serious dilemma. "The Chinese so far have been very reluctant to let market mechanisms work their way," he said.



Finance ministers and bakers from G20 economies gathered for a meeting in Shanghai last week and the focal point of discussion was China's economy. The head of the central bank of China Zhou Xiaochuan stressed that China's need to monitor its debt loads. He pointed out that even if the country's economy is running at a moderate-to-high pace, the debt accumulation is pretty fast.



McKinsey Global Institute reports that by mid-2015, Chinese establishments, except financial institutions, had lumped a debt of $14.5 trillion, which is fourfold higher than eight years ago. The debt is equivalent 131 percent of China's GDP, which is 76 percent higher than in mid-2007. The figure is so big that it is almost twice the corporate debts' share of the US' GDP.



China's overall debt under President Xi administration - including funds borrowed by corporations, financial firms, government and households - skyrocketed from $6.6 trillion to $31.9 trillion in mid-2007 and mid-2015, respectively. The figure is equivalent to 290 percent of the country's GDP, and of note, McKinsey stressed this is way too much for a still-developing nation.



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(Photo : Getty Images) China's One Road, One Belt initiative attempts to interlink the country with trade routesin Europe and Asia.

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China's investment in recreating the ancient silk route have already reached nearly $1 trillion. Dubbed the One Belt, One Road initiative, the project is China's attempt to create trade routes over land and sea between Europe and Asia.



China's trade network could reach up to more than 60 nations, which are home to 4.4 billion people. Moreover, the move would connect economies that comprise of over 40 percent of the world's GDP. In fact, this is a gigantic program with capabilities to affect the world's trade patterns.



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Funding this gigantic program is not easy at all. According to the PBS Newshour, China has found a handful of institutions to finance its wild ambition.



China's capital city Beijing began raising a $40 billion "Silk Road Fund," which has contributed to finance Pakistan's hydroelectric power project and Russia's liquefied natural gas project. Also, PBS Newhour reveals that it is reasonable to assume that the newly opened $100 billion Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, of which China holds 26 percent of the votes, will soon help fund projects related to the One Belt,One Road initiative. In June 2015, China Development Bank revealed plans of investing a staggering $890 billion to support more than 900 projects in 60 countries.



China's initiative is composed of two components, namely, the land (otherwise known as the Silk Road Economic Belt) and the sea (also called Maritime Silk Road). The "Belt" here refers to the corridors that interlink the mainland to far-reaching locations of the Eurasia by road or rail. On the other hand, the "Road" will concentrate on port and shipping routes developments, linking Chinese ports with harbors in Europe and South Pacific.



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(Photo : Getty Images) Google's Skybox Imaging has been renamed Terra Bella.

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Tech giant Google surprised the tech community when it launched the digital wallet platform Android Pay, which allows users to easily purchase goods and services using their mobile devices. Now, Google is yet again making another major breakthrough in the digital payment platform with Hands Free, a payment system that allows users to pay for purchases without touching their smartphones.



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Google launched Hands Free on March 2. The company said that the service will be released in a few locations in the San Francisco area. The tech giant added that stores like McDonald's and Papa John's will support the new payment method.



Hands Free is just one of the many experiments tech companies are engaged in to create a new and secure way for consumers to complete their transactions. With services like Hands Free, users can easily pay for services using not only their mobile phones but also their smartwatches and smart home appliances like refrigerators.



Google said that Hands Free will be a completely different service from Android Pay. Although both services help users in mobile payment transactions, their methods are different. While Hands Free uses voice commands, Android Pay utilizes near-field-communication in order to complete user transactions.



According to CNet, Hand Free works by tracking user location through Wi-Fi connection and other sensors installed into the user's smartphone. Through this sophisticated array of sensors, Hands Free will be able to detect which exact store the user is currently in.



Users only need to say "I'll pay with Google" and the cashier will confirm their identity through their initials and photo loaded into the Hands Free app.



Google said that it is experimenting with using in-store cameras to verify user identity. The tech giant added that using cameras will be a handy and easy way to confirm user identity.



In a statement, Google said, "We're also in the early stages of experimenting with visual identification so that you can breeze through checkout even faster."



While it might open up security concerns, Google said that all images and data taken by these cameras will be immediately deleted once the verification process is completed and stores will have no direct access to the data.



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(Photo : YouTube Screenshot) The Rainbow Mountains of China is one of the world's geological wonders.

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Lying within the Zhangye Danxi Landform Geological Park is one of the world's geological wonders, the Rainbow Mountains of China. This mountain range is extremely pleasing to the eyes, but after seeing it, many are left wondering how the hills got their vibrant, striking colors.



Lately, the Rainbow Mountains, located in the Gansu province, have caught the attention of tourists, who flock to the place many say resembles the United States' Grand Canyon. The mountains, which span up to 200 square miles, was named a UNESCO Heritage Site in 2009.



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But clearly, what is the rationale behind the diagenetic and mineralogical processes that results in the blues, greens, reds and yellows?



The Rainbow Mountains result from the deposition of cretaceous sandstones and siltstones before the Himalayan Mountains were formed. Along with these sand and silt were iron and trace minerals that provided the key ingredient to make up the colors we see these days.



Between 40 and 50 million years ago, strong force of tectonic plates forced an island - now India - to bump into the rest of Eurasia. This impact reportedly occurred at a slow pace. For more than 50 years, India, which gradually moves at 27 feet per century, bumped towards the bigger continent, resulting in rifts of fractured rocks and forming mountain ranges like the Himalayas.



The collision also disturbed the layer of red rock and minerals. The rainbow patterns we now see at Danxia is due to the same crumpling event, explaining why the mountains have perfect striation.



From relative obscurity before Danxia is now getting worldwider recognition.



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Falwell's wife defends Trump endorsement: Tells board member Mark DeMoss Falwell Sr. also 'embraced sinners' 03 March, 2016 by Samuel Smith/CP , |

LYNCHBURG, Va. (Christian Examiner)  The wife of Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. took to social media Wednesday to argue that her husband's decision to endorse Republican billionaire Donald Trump for president is in line with Jerry Falwell Sr.'s endorsement of Hollywood actor Ronald Reagan in 1980.

In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Becki Falwell defended her husband's endorsement of the Manhattan real estate mogul after Mark DeMoss, the evangelical institution's chairman of its board of directors executive committee and former chief of staff for Falwell Sr., stated earlier in the week that he was disappointed by Falwell Jr.'s endorsement.

DeMoss told The Washington Post Monday that thrice-married Trump's insult-laden campaign is "not Christ-like" and defies the Christian morals that Liberty University presses upon its students. DeMoss explained that he decided to break his silence on the endorsement because he saw how upset many Liberty University alumni were with endorsement, including one alumnus who even returned his diploma to the board of directors because he was so ashamed by Falwell's endorsement.

After DeMoss criticized Falwell Jr. for past comments in which he compared the similarities of Trump to Falwell Sr., Becki Falwell argued in her post that her husband's comparison of Trump to his father is accurate because of Falwell Sr.'s political outspokenness.

"The fact is that LU's founder was the most political and outspoken university chancellor of his time. His courage and willingness to speak out likely changed the course of his nation for a generation," Falwell wrote. "And, sorry, Mark DeMoss, I remember that you resigned in protest after working for Jerry Sr. for five years after graduating from LU in the '80s because you didn't agree with Dr. Falwell's actions. Now you suddenly are trying to speak for Dr. Falwell as his 'confidant.'"

Although Falwell claims it is inaccurate to say DeMoss was a confidant to Falwell Sr., DeMoss told Religion News Service that he worked for about 11 years for Falwell Sr. and even gave up his salary in the final year working with him.

"I worked closely with Jerry Falwell Sr. from January 1980  Labor Day 1991. For most of that time, I was his chief of staff," DeMoss said. "The final year of my time there, I gave up my salary because the ministry was going through a difficult financial time and was laying off employees. I left in September 1991 to start a PR firm in Atlanta, which I still lead today."

Although some Liberty University alumni, like Florida Pastor Dean Inserra, say that Falwell Sr. would be "disappointed" by be Falwell Jr.'s Trump endorsement, Becki Falwell wrote that her husband's Trump endorsement is similar to Falwell Sr.'s endorsement of Reagan in the 1980 election. She also decried online posts from alumni claiming that Liberty University has "changed for the worse."

"It is easy for alumni to sit back now and talk about the 'good ole days' at LU when there was no political controversy or bad press but the facts tell a different story," Falwell asserted. "Dr. Falwell was outspoken with his politically incorrect statements and embraced sinners. When he first had heart problems in 2005, the only national figures who wrote letters of well wishes were Jesse Jackson, Larry Flynt and Ted Kennedy."

"He supported a divorced and remarried Hollywood actor over a Southern Baptist Sunday School teacher [Jimmy Carter] for president and, now, suddenly, Liberty has changed because its leader has embraced Donald Trump," Falwell continued. "Jesus was called a friend of publicans and sinners and called the religious elite of his time hypocrites and a generation of vipers. We all need to remember what Jesus said  that he who is without sin, cast the first stone."

This article first published in Christian Post and is used with permission.
'The Young Messiah' depicts 7-year-old Jesus with 'reverence,' director says Guest Reviewer | 04 March, 2016 by Michael Foust

LOS ANGELES (Christian Examiner)  Director Cyrus Nowrasteh knows there will be critics of his new movie "The Young Messiah," which opens nationwide March 11 and depicts the life of a 7-year-old Jesus.

Nowrasteh, though, believes skeptics will change their minds once they watch it. The film is based loosely on Anne Rice's book, Christ The Lord: Out of Egypt, although several key points were changed  such as making sure that the young Jesus in the film doesn't do anything that can be depicted as sin.

Scripture is mostly silent on Christ as a child, and the film largely is historical fiction.

But Nowrasteh  himself a Christian -- says he has screened the film all over the country and has received positive feedback from people of every denomination.

Among its endorsers are Kevin Palau, president of the Luis Palau Association, and Johnny Hunt, pastor of First Baptist Church in Woodstock, Ga., who formerly served as president of the Southern Baptist Convention

"I've had a lot of people say to me, 'I came in skeptical, but I fell in love with it,'" Nowrasteh told the Christian Examiner. "There's nothing in this movie that contradicts anything in the Bible. If you're going to go outside the Canon, it's all about how you do it. And I think we've done it with reverence and respect."

Nowrasteh  who along with his wife, Betsy, wrote the screenplay -- said he wanted to make a "faith-affirming movie" that "the entire family can enjoy," especially children.

Christian Examiner spoke with Nowrasteh about the film and why he wanted to get involved in it. Following is a transcript, edited for clarity:

Christian Examiner: How did you get involved with "The Young Messiah"?

Cyrus Nowrasteh: My wife, Betsy, who is a screenwriter, had read Anne Rice's novel when it first came out about 10 years ago, and it was a bestseller at the time. It struck me as: what an original take on the Jesus story. We have a rich history of Jesus movies, but we've never had a glimpse into what His life might have been like as a boy. Several years later, in 2010, Anne Rice wrote a rave review of a film I had directed called "The Stoning of Soraya M," which was a true story of a stoning incident in Iran  which is the country of my parent's origin. So through a series of circumstances, Anne was interested in us making her book into a film, and we were interested in adapting it.

CE: Does the film differ any from Anne Rice's book, or does it mostly follow it?

Nowrasteh: It differs from it quite a bit. I think we were faithful to her book, but are not literal to her book. There are things we wanted to address. There were theological issues we felt were sticking points. Anne knew that some of her source material would not be accepted by a lot of denominations. So we tried to address those theological issues.

CE: Was one of the sticking points you're referencing making a film about a young Jesus, but a young Jesus who did not sin?

Nowrasteh: Yes. She used an incident from the [Gnostic] gospel of Thomas which we had to change and alter dramatically. Fundamentally, our approach was that Jesus as a child had to behave in ways as Jesus is described as an adult and He's revealed in the Bible. He's compassionate. He's generous. He's humble. You want to remain true to the character of Jesus even though you're portraying Him as a child. If we're looking at a situation of how Jesus would react, then we look at how the Bible tells about He reacted to a similar situations as an adult. So we're trying to show Him behaving consistent with Him in the Bible.

CE: When you were casting the role of a young Jesus, what were you looking for in the actor?

Nowrasteh: A lot of things you're looking for are kind of indefinable. First and foremost, I was looking for the best young actor I could find. I needed a bright, energetic child who had the light of God in his eyes -- that's the indefinable. We saw over 2,000 children. I got a call one day from the casting director in London who said that he just saw a child who would make "the hair stand up on the back of my neck." I looked at the actor on tape, and then I flew to London and put him through an audition process. The producers agreed with me. It was a pretty easy choice when it came down to it.

CE: What kind of characteristics were you trying to write into the roles of Mary and Joseph, with as little as we know about Joseph in the Scriptures?

Nowrasteh: I have never been satisfied with the portrayal of Joseph in any movie that I've seen. He's basically wallpaper in movies. The inherent problem is that Mary has been deified; they've been icons  a disappearing icon and a very prevalent icon. In this movie, we've got to go inside the Holy Family and watch them as parents. I wanted people to connect with them as a human being.

CE: You will receive criticism for this film because we don't know much about Jesus as a child. Some people will say this film should not have even been made. How do you respond?

Nowrasteh: We have screened this film all over the country. We've had far less resistance than we expected. I've had a lot of people say to me, "I came in skeptical, but I fell in love with it." I think this is what happens: People come and watch the movie, and they connect with these characters. This movie causes people to think about Jesus, to talk about Jesus, to consider Jesus and to consider Scripture. There's nothing in this movie that contradicts anything in the Bible. If you're going to go outside the Canon, it's all about how you do it. And I think we've done it with reverence and respect.

For more information, visit TheYoungMessiah.com
UN post office refuses to recall 'gay' postal stamps after complaints 04 March, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , |

NEW YORK (Christian Examiner)  The United Nations Postal Administration (UNPA) has given approval to the worldwide lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) movement through its release of six commemorative stamps promoting the UN "Free & Equal" campaign.

The initiative, overseen the by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, features stamps showing gay men and women embracing, gay men with an adopted child, a "transgender butterfly" and a figure coming out of the darkness of a closet. The set features two stamps in German, two in French and two in English.

Sergio Baradat, the Cuban-born artist who designed the stamps, said he hoped the stamps would be a step toward changing minds worldwide about the way members of the LGBT community are treated.

"There are some countries in the world right now where not only are we not celebrated and respected, be are beaten and killed. And I thought that it would be a wonderful opportunity using art, to use postage stamps as a vehicle  using art to change hearts and minds," Baradat said.

"We live in a world where even though [developed] nations have embraced marriage equality [and] LGBT equality, we still have a far, far, far way to go. But we are making some strides," he said.

We wish to remind the UN to limit itself strictly to activities mandated by member states and especially to promote issues that are beneficial to mankind rather than lend itself as tool to promote aberrant behavior under the guise of promoting human rights.

According to the UN's Postal Administration, this is the first time the world body has issued such stamps, dedicated to raising awareness of "homophobic and transphobic violence and discrimination globally."

In the UNPA's stamp catalog, the agency claims all political, cultural and economic systems "have a legal duty to promote and protect the human rights of all, including the LGBT members of the community."

UN Free & Equal recently celebrated the second year of the campaign for LGBT equality. In May 2015, the UN laid out a multipoint plan to prevent discrimination against gays and lesbians. It also noted that its efforts would pertain to "intersex" persons. So far, it is said to have reached more than 2 billion people.

Some, however, have been very critical of the new stamps and called on the UN to pull them from circulation.

Nigeria's ambassador, Usman Sarki, said many of the African states  usually very conservative and tied either to European mainline denominations or the Catholic Church  oppose same-sex relationships strongly. Sarki and others want the stamps recalled.

"We wish to remind the UN to limit itself strictly to activities mandated by member states and especially to promote issues that are beneficial to mankind rather than lend itself as tool to promote aberrant behavior under the guise of promoting human rights," Sarki said.

"The UN should not take unilateral decisions on such sensitive matters that offend the sensibilities of the majority of its member states, and contradict their religious beliefs, cultures, traditions and laws."

UN officials, however, are sticking by their decision to issue the stamps.

Charles Radcliffe, who oversees the Free & Equal campaign, said the UN had to speak because 76 countries still penalize LGBT persons. Radcliffe said the UN was going to work to get laws allowing punishment for homosexuality repealed, and UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said the emphasis is "in line with the mandate" of the UNPA.

The United States was one of the key sponsors of the stamp series, according to the UN's press release. But the US is no stranger to the LGBT stamp theme. Last year, it announced that a US postage stamp would feature Harvey Milk, the "visionary leader" who was the first openly gay elected official in the US.

Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. He was shot to death in November 1978 along with other city leaders by a disgruntled former city supervisor. He was not shot because he was gay.

Milk's stamp, now in circulation, features a rainbow colored bar on the left side of the black and white photograph. According to the US Postal Service, the bar represents "the colors of the gay pride flag."

In 2009, President Barack Obama posthumously awarded Milk with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest honor for citizens not serving in the military.
The first oral arguments of pro-lifers vs. abortion activists were heard in the US Supreme Court on Wednesday.

The Texas House Bill 2, which mandates safety requirements for clinics providing abortions was challenged at the highest court in the Whole Women's Health v. Hellerstedt case.

Eight judges presided over the hearing concerning the bill that was passed in 2013.

The law makes it imperative for doctors at abortion clinics to have admitting privileges to near-by hospitals in emergency cases, and to have similar medical facilities as outpatient surgical clinics to help the patient get immediate assistance in botched abortions.

After the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, the court is left with eight judges, with a possibility of tie, which would validate the lower court ruling of upholding the Texas law.

The Fifth Circuit Court had ruled favorably almost all aspects of the law, but enforced an injunction from the law to be implemented in the state.

Last November, when the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, Steven Aden, asserted that the new requirements are meant for the safety of the women. "Abortionists should not be exempt from medical requirements that everyone else is required to follow," he said.

Legislative director of Texas Right to Life, John Seago, told the Christian Post that there was an apparent chasm between the three conservative and four liberal judges at the hearing.

"We saw that Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan were very aggressive. They were very outspoken in trying to undermine the solicitor general's arguments for the law, but overall it was a good hour of arguments and we think that the state did a good job of defending the law."

"Justice Kennedy was going to be critical when we had Justice Scalia on the court. However even now we still depend upon him to side with the other three conservative Justices to have a four-four tie," Seago said.
A bill introduced in the California State Assembly would prohibit institutions that are found to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity from receiving Cal Grants. The bill (AB 1888) was introduced by Assemblymember Evan Low (D-Silicon Valley) in mid-February, and would take effect beginning the 2017-2018 school year if passed.

"I'm proud to be a voice for the LGBT community throughout the state and in the country," said Low in a statement. "The Golden State has always been a leader in protecting civil rights and preventing discrimination."

There has already been a law in place prohibiting institutions that receive federal financial aid from discrimination based on sex: Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. However, educational institutions and programs owned by religious organizations were eligible to apply for exemptions from Title IX, and maintain their eligibility to receive federal aid.

AB 1888 includes a measure that would prohibit religious institutions from applying for or receiving those exemptions.

"This bill would require, commencing with the 2017-18 academic year, each Cal Grant participating institution, ... to certify ... that the institution shall not subject a student or employee of the institution on the basis of, among other things, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression, and that the institution shall not apply for, or receive, a waiver by the United States Department of Education from nondiscrimination requirements for the receipt of federal funds," the bill summary reads.

As of December 14, 2015, over 220 institutions have been granted religious exemptions from Title IX, including Biola University, Loma Linda University, Pepperdine University, and West Coast Christian College, all of which are located in California.

Of those, Biola, Loma Linda, and Pepperdine Universities are currently eligible to receive Cal Grants. Should AB 1888 pass, these institutions would be compelled to choose to either receive Cal Grants, or maintain their religious exemptions from Title IX. This means students who are accepted and wish to go to such schools would not be able to receive additional financial aid through the Cal Grant program, and institutions may face more financial constraints in the acceptance process.

The bill has been referred to the committee on higher education on February 25.
Washington State's Supreme Court will hear the case of floral artist who was sued by American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Washington State Attorney General for declining to make flower arrangements for a gay wedding.

Barronelle Stutzman, 70, was found guilty by a lower court for discrimination under consumer protection laws, and was asked to pay penalties and attorneys' fees to the plaintiffs.

She is being represented by Alliance Defending Freedom in the court, and the judges will weigh the arguments citing violation of religious freedom as per First Amendment and anti-discrimination laws.

Stutzman was running Arlene's Flowers in Richland, Washington, for the last 40 years.

In 2013, she was asked by her long-time friend Robert Ingersoll to make floral arrangements for his gay wedding. Stutzman explained her stance and suggested three nearby florists to him.

"I put my hand on his and said, 'I'm sorry, Rob, I can't do your wedding because of my relationship with Jesus Christ,'" Stutzman told The Daily Signal. "We talked a little bit, we talked about his mom [walking him down the aisle] ... we hugged and he left."

The anti-discrimination law states that no business or service can decline customers on the basis of their creed, race, sexual orientation or physical disability.

Bob Ferguson, Washington State Attorney General, filed a lawsuit against Stutzman, while ACLU also sued her on behalf of Ingersoll and his partner Curt Freed. Both the suits were heard in Washington's Benton County Superior Court under the case Arlene's Flowers v. Ferguson, and the ruling went against her.

She challenged the verdict, and said that the government was depriving her of one of her "basic rights, and feels that she is being used as a case example after the state of Washington legalized same-sex marriage in 2012."

"No one should face personal and professional ruin simply for exercising these foundational freedoms," said Jeremy Tedesco, ADF Senior Counsel.

Stutzman's lawyer, Kristen Waggoner, said in a statement: "Barronelle and many others like her around the country have been willing to serve any and all customers, but they are understandably not willing to promote any and all messages. We hope the Washington Supreme Court will affirm the broad protections that both the U.S. Constitution and the Washington Constitution afford to freedom of speech and conscience."

Ingersoll and Freed released a joint statement last year saying that they were "hurt and saddened" by her refusal to make the flower arrangements.

"We respect everyone's beliefs, but businesses that are open to the public have an obligation to serve everyone," they said.

In reply to their comments, Stutzman said, "I did serve Rob. It's the event that I turned down, not the service for Rob or his partner."
We are highlighting the Top 40 articles of Leadership Journals history. Of all the articles we have published, this may be the most photocopied. Why? Because the author offered specific, practical steps for handling a common and powerful temptation: sexual attraction.

We asked Randy what has happened since the article first appeared. He writes: "I wasn't prepared for the extent to which this article would strike a resonant chord among pastors and parachurch workers around the world. Professors distributed copies to students, missions organizations circulated it to their fields, pastors quoted sections from the pulpit, radio preachers read the list of immorality's consequences.

"One pastor left this message on my answering machine: 'Just wanted you to know that I was on the verge of committing adultery with a woman in my church when I read your booklet [based on the article]. God used it to get hold of me. I cut off the relationship and straightened out my life ...

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UNC excavation crew in Galilee region of Israel uncover first known depictions of biblical heroines An excavation team in Israel has discovered the first known depiction of two biblical heroines from the Old Testament.

World to reach 8 billion people in November, India to unseat China as most populous in 2023: UN By Nov. 15, the worlds population is projected to reach 8 billion, and by 2023, India is projected to surpass China as the worlds most populous country, according to a new report from the United Nations.

Single, non-religious young adults are most unhappy Americans post-COVID-19: report Young adults under 35 who are single and non-religious report the highest levels of unhappiness since the COVID-19 pandemic began and since 1972, when the General Social Survey began measuring levels of happiness among Americans, a new analysis from the Institute of Family Studies suggests.
16 shot dead, including 4 nuns, as gunmen target Catholic retirement home

Gunmen have stormed a Catholic-run retirement home in Yemen's southern city of Aden, killing 16 people including four Indian nuns.

According to the Associated Press, witnesses said two gunmen remained outside the building while four others entered it. They moved from room to room handcuffing the victims before shooting them in the head.

One nun who survived and was rescued by locals said that she hid inside a fridge in a store room after hearing a Yemeni guard shouting "Run, run."

The home, run by the Missionaries of Charity, an organisation established by Mother Teresa of Calcutta, has about 80 residents. Nuns from the order were attacked in Yemen in 1998, when gunmen killed three of them in the Red Sea port of Hodeida.

Khaled Haidar told The Associated Press that he counted 6 bodies, including that of his brother, Radwan.

He said that in addition to the four Indian nuns, six Ethiopians, one Yemeni cook, and Yemeni guards were among those killed. He said that he spoke to the surviving nun, who was crying and shaking.

Haidar's family took his brother's body for burial; the others were taken to a hospital run by Doctors without Borders or MSF.

Yemen has been in turmoil since the outbreak of a civil war between Iran-backed Shia rebels and the Saudi-backed Sunnis. The south, which has international recognition, is a largely lawless area whose security vacuum is being exploited by Islamic State and al-Qaeda groups.

Once a cosmopolitan city home to thriving Hindu and Christian communities, Aden has gone from one of the world's busiest ports as a key hub of the British empire to a largely lawless backwater.

Its small Christian population left long ago. Unknown assailants have previously vandalized a Christian cemetery, torched a church and last year blew up an abandoned Catholic church.

So far at least 6,200 civilians have died in the conflict and around 2.4 million people have been displaced. There is widespread hunger and the UK is facing calls to stop arms sales to Saudi Arabia amid claims civilians are being killed with UK weapons in the Yemen conflict. The International Development Committee says evidence is "overwhelming" the Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthi rebels has violated humanitarian law.
Donald Trumps Super Tuesday victories in the GOP primaries leave him in commanding position to be the partys presidential nominee. One problem: Many Republicans say they wont back Trump for president  but theyre not going to vote for the Democratic front-runner, Hillary Clinton, either. That leaves two options: Sit out the election or mount a third-party challenge.

Which should it be? Joel Mathis and Ben Boychuk, the RedBlueAmerica columnists, discuss the issue.

JOEL MATHIS

Republicans who cant accept the idea of voting for Donald Trump have three options  none of them very palatable, probably.

They can sit out this election, which would probably hand the presidency to Hillary Clinton. They can vote for a third party, which would probably hand the presidency to Hillary Clinton. Or they can vote for Hillary Clinton. Yes, that would help Hillary Clinton, too.

So maybe the real question here is: Can we get dissident Republicans to live with the idea of a Clinton presidency  even if just for four years  rather than return to the party, hold their nose and vote for a candidate (Donald Trump) they clearly think is harmful to the country?

Lets examine the possibilities.

If youre a Republican, you might sit out this election banking on an ability to reunite and restore the party in 2020. That means, though, you dont think Trump would irrevocably destroy the Republican brand in the meantime. If you opt for a third party, you might think Trump has already destroyed the GOP brand, and that its time to start building new right-of-center institutions to fill the void. Both ideas require long-term thinking and a willingness to abide with Clinton.

Heres a liberals argument to non-Trumpian conservatives why they should do so: Despite all the GOPs attempts to take down the Clintons over the last 25 years, the truth is that Hillary Clinton and her husband hail from the moderate wing of the party. They defend abortion, yes, but theyve time and time again co-opted or signed onto conservative ideas ranging from welfare reform to Middle Eastern wars. Shes even a darling of Wall Street!

Dont misunderstand: Shes clearly a Democrat. Clearly left-of-center. But she might also be the closest thing the Democratic Party has to an actual Republican. How bad could her presidency really get?

Trump is a destructive force. Clinton, at least, would preserve a government that non-Trumpian Republicans could hope to fight for again. Believe it or not: Its time for principled Republicans to embrace Clinton.

BEN BOYCHUK

Ronald Reagan, a New Deal Democrat until he switched parties in 1962, famously said, I didnt leave the Democratic Party. The party left me. Its a quip that newspaper columnists, disillusioned activists and disaffected politicians love to haul out at times of partisan upheaval.

This is one of those times.

Incredible as it seems, Donald Trump appears to be headed for the Republican presidential nomination. Trump the serial adulterer, the business fraudster and the fan of Vladimir Putin. Trump the GOP front-runner who couldnt quite bring himself to denounce David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan on national television.

Are you kidding?

Heres the most amazing part: Trumps basic critique is correct.

The old party establishments are politically and intellectually bankrupt. They need to be swept away.

Time and again, Republican elected officials made promises they either couldnt keep or had no intention of ever keeping, whether on the national debt or health care or illegal immigration. Middle-class voters feel insecure and no longer trust the Republicans to deliver. Theyre right to be angry.

At the same time, conservatives have lamented for 25 years the mediocrity of presidential candidates. Every four years we hoped for the second coming of Reagan. What we got instead were the likes of Bob Dole, John McCain and Mitt Romney.

We might have realized the weakness of our position after Romneys defeat in 2012. Instead, some Republicans are looking to Romney to save them from Trump at the 11th hour. Less than a week ago, some other Republicans were putting their hopes on a one-term senator from Florida who will likely lose to Trump in his home state. Their alternative is a first-term senator from Texas.

Have Republicans learned nothing about elevating inexperienced senators to the Oval Office? No wonder Trump is winning.

Yet given the choice between Trump and Hillary Clinton, many Republicans could be forgiven for rejecting them both. I know I will. And I know other Republicans will, too.

We dont need a strongman with an overinflated ego and a big mouth. A political party that embraces Trump is no longer the Party of Lincoln. We will not have left the Republican Party. The Republican Party will have left us.
4 remaining GOP presidential bets all vow to support nominee after debate turns into mud-slinging contest

After another fiery bout of insult-swapping on Thursday night, the four remaining candidates for the U.S. Republican presidential nomination eventually agreed to support the GOP nominee, whoever he may be.

Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and John Kasich all pledged to support the eventual nominee before concluding their debate in Detroit, Fox News reported.

Their moment of unity provided the only positive element in the debate which once again degenerated into a personal mud-slinging contest between Trump and his two fiercest rivals, Cruz and Rubio, with Kasich also throwing a few jabs of his own at the presidential front-runner.

Cruz, Rubio and Kasich attacked Trump on his alleged inconsistencies, his character, his credibility and his business record as they sought to disrupt his march to the nomination following the Super Tuesday contests where Trump padded his sizeable delegate lead, winning seven of 11 states.

The debate began with a question to Trump about former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's scathing criticism of him earlier in the day, WND reported.

"He was a failed candidate. He should have beaten Obama very easily," Trump said, calling Romney an embarrassment to the Republican Party.

Then Trump was asked about his "failure to denounce David Duke of the Ku Klux Klan" on Sunday.

He replied that he had answered the question for the "18th time," stating clearly, "I totally disavow the KKK. I totally disavow David Duke."

Rubio then explained why he has resorted to launching personal attacks on Trump, calling him a con artist for instance.

"This campaign for the last year, Donald Trump has mocked everybody with personal attacks. ... So if there's anyone who's ever deserved to be treated that way, it's Donald Trump," Rubio said.

Trump responded, "I also happened to call [Rubio] a lightweight. I would like to take that back. He's really not that much of a lightweight.

"But I have to say this, he hit my hands! Nobody's ever hit my hands before. I've never heard of this. Look at those hands. Are those small hands?

"And he referred to my hands, saying, if they're small, something else must be small. I guarantee you there's no problem. I guarantee you."

The innuendo on his manhood elicited a huge roar from the crowd and some embarrassed guffaws from the moderators.

Rubio then accused Trump of hypocrisy for manufacturing his clothing in China and Mexico while blaming both Republicans and Democrats for the huge trade deficits with those countries.

"Believe me, I know what's happening in the economy. You haven't employed one person," Trump responded.

Cruz accused Trump of using "angry rhetoric," saying he understands Americans' anger at Washington, D.C.

"But for 40 years, Donald Trump has been part of the corruption in Washington that you're angry about," Cruz said. "... You're not going to stop the corruption and cronyism with a man who has used government power for private gain."

Trump admitted that he supported politicians on both camps, saying he did this as a businessman, not a politician.

"We need to get along," he said. "We need to be able to get things done."

Cruz noted that Trump has written checks to Hillary Clinton 10 times, and four of those checks were to her 2008 presidential campaign.

"It was for business," Trump said, adding that he has also donated to George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan.

"The last person that Hillary wants to face is Donald Trump," he said. "That I can tell you."

Trump was asked about the New York Times' audio recording of him admitting his stance on immigration is actually flexible.

"I may have discussed something like that with the New York Times," he said. "But I would never have released off-the-record conversations. I don't think that's fair. Many of those things were off the record. I take being off the record as a very important thing ... and I would always honour that."

Cruz butted in: "Donald, you could resolve this issue very easily by simply releasing the New York Times tapes. If in fact you went to Manhattan and said, 'I'm lying to the American people,' the people have a right to know," Cruz said.

"You're the liar!" Trump shot back. "I've given my answer, lyin' Ted."
Christian refugees from Syria find sanctuary in Istanbul church

Syrian refugees stranded in Turkey are being hosted in a small church in Istanbul where they are being given food and accommodation.

The Meryem Ana church in the city's Samatya district is looking after the refugees while they wait for their asylum requests to be approved so they can join relatives in Europe, according to Daily Sabah.

Former textile businessman Naaim Lazie, who managed to get his wife and three children to Germany via Greece but was stranded himself after he was defrauded by human smugglers, said it was a "rough journey" for his family but they made it anyway. "I now await them to settle down there and I will travel later," he said.

Church volunteer Silva Kurtalan said most guests were women "waiting for their husbands who already made it to Europe to take them."

The Meryem Ana church is also hosting Syrian Armenians and Berbers, according to Hurriyet Daily News. Turgay Alnsk, the manager of the church's foundation for the Syriac community, told Hurriyet that the church provides refuge for all, regardless of their religion or sect.

Volunteer Silva Kurtalan said the church was doing its best to help people stranded in Turkey after they fell into the hands of unscrupulous smugglers and were scammed of their money. He said many had feared for their lives. Many of the families in the church stranded there with children, while they wait for their paperwork to be completed.
Franklin Graham calls for campaign truce, tells presidential candidates to stop their 'childish bickering'

Reverend Franklin Graham is sick and tired of hearing American presidential hopefuls tear each other to shreds just so they can get ahead in the election race, and this is why he is calling for a campaign truce.

Graham writes on his Facebook page that he is calling for a time out, or "a halt to the insults, the back-stabbing, the dirty tricks, and the name-calling that has been spewing from most of the presidential candidates."

The evangelist adds that "the campaign for the highest office in our land has stooped to a new low  and it's not something to be proud of. Seriously."

"I call on the candidates to drop the childish bickering and get back to the issues that can change America for the good, for the sake of our children and grandchildren. Otherwise America is ultimately the loser. It's obvious that this country is in trouble  spiritually, morally, and politically," he says.

Earlier, Graham quit the GOP after Republican lawmakers allowed Congress to pass the budget bill that includes budget items for controversial abortion service provider Planned Parenthood. At the same time, he did not want politics to get in the way of his Decision America Tour, his self-imposed mission to travel from state to state to try and encourage Christians to get involved in politics and go out and vote.

Graham also said that he is not going to endorse any presidential candidate since the only thing that he plans to endorse is prayer.

"I have heard from people all over America who believe that our nation is in trouble  morally, spiritually, and politically. But as attention turns to an election year, I do not believe that Republicans or Democrats (or any other party) can turn this nation around  only God can," he earlier wrote.

"God hears the prayers of his people, so I'm calling on people of faith in every state to pray fervently for America and our leaders. I want to challenge Christians across our land to boldly live out and promote biblical principles at home, in public and at the ballot box. The only hope for this country is if the people of God are willing to take a stand for truth and righteousness," he added.
Government urged to reconsider Justin Welby's offer to house refugees

The government has been urged to reconsider the Archbishop of Canterbury's offer to house Syrian refugees as the country struggles to find suitable housing for an influx of asylum seekers.

The home affairs select committee, which scrutinises the work of the home office, has published a report warning "the UK will be facing an unprecedented demand on housing" for asylum seekers in the next couple of years.

The report said the government's commitment to accept an additional 20,000 Syrian refugees means as many as 50,000 asylum seekers may need housing by 2017.

"Reconsideration should be given to the generous offers from individuals such as the Archbishop of Canterbury and others to house Syrian refugees," said chair of the committee, Rt Hon Keith Vaz MP.

Justin Welby has offered to house "a family or two" in a four-bed cottage in the grounds of Lambeth Palace.

The committee also said the dispersal of refugees around the country was "unfair" and urged more to be placed in rural areas such as Tory counties, including the home secretary's own constituency of Maidenhead.

"Whole swathes of the country never receive a single asylum seeker," said Vaz.

"The majority are being moved into low-cost housing in urban areas such as Glasgow, Stoke, Cardiff and of course Middlesbrough, where the ratio is one asylum seeker per 137 people. However, on the data we have received, local authorities in areas such as Maidenhead, Lincoln and Warwick have housed none."

Welby's offer was made in September at the height of the refugee crisis. Thousands of Christians in Britain joined him offering to house families fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria and Eritrea.

It followed a similar gesture made by Pope Francis who said two refugee families could move into Vatican housing.

The report comes after Church of England parishes were urged to accept more refugees as part of their Christian mission.The Bishop of Chelmsford, Rt Rev Stephen Cottrell, wrote a blog post calling on Anglicans to accept asylum seekers as part of spreading the gospel.

"Faith communities can really make a difference and put local, warm, welcoming flesh on the bones of statutory structures," wrote Cottrell.

"This is not the church saying 'look at us being charitable!', but the people of God letting their deeds speak for Him.

"Helping to support displaced people into a sustainable, long-term future amidst a strange culture is not for the short term and it is not for the faint-hearted.

"It is brilliant if we churches can provide premises, or money, or a friendly welcome: much better if we can commit to long-term, costly partnership with local authorities and charities to go the distance."
Hundreds of children suffer 'soul murder' at hands of clergy abusers

A Catholic diocese in the US is to publish a full list of all priests who have been accused of child sex crimes after a Grand Jury report disclosed a horrifiying catalogue of abuse.

Bishop Mark Bartchak also pledged a full review of child proection after what Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane described as a "day of reckoning" for abusers in the Altoona-Johnstown diocese.

Kane said she was sorry no-one can be charged after the two-year investigation that revealed how hundreds of children were raped and abused by priests whose crimes were covered up by bishops and even some law-enforcement officials.

This because the abuse happened too long ago, the abusers had died or because the victims were too badly affected to testify.

The Grand Jury report, covered and posted in full online by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, described the abuse as "soul murder," and taking place in camps, homes and even the cathedral.

"Over many years hundreds of children have fallen victim to child predators wrapped in the authority and integrity of an honorable faith. As wolves disguised as the shepherds themselves  these men stole the innocence of children by sexually preying upon the most innocent and vulnerable," the report said.

Bishop Bartchak said in his statement: "I will publish a list of all priests who have been the subject of credible allegations, along with each priest's current status. The list will be posted on our website."

He issued a "heartfelt and sincere apology" to victims, families, Catholics, to the "good priests" of the diocese and to the wider public.

He said: "I have been bishop for five years. During this time, we have re-examined allegations, removed clergy from ministry, reported allegations to civil authorities, and strengthened our training program. I am committed to doing even more to protect children."

He said he had been "deeply affected" by the words and pain of survivors.

"With the grand jury report, we know more, and we will do more."
Jude Law, Benedict Cumberbatch and 40 faith leaders urge support for refugee children in Calais

Jude Law, Benedict Cumberbatch and a delegation of 40 faith leaders have urged the UK and French governments to act immediately to help unaccompanied children living in the refugee camp in Calais.

More than 600 children, 423 of whom are unaccompanied, are currently living in the 'Jungle', a sprawling makeshift camp inhabited by thousands of refugees and migrants hoping to make it across the Channel. According to Citizens UK, a network of faith groups, schools and colleges, at least 150 of these unaccompanied minors have family in the UK, and may therefore legally seek asylum in Britain. Just 70 of those cases are currently live.

A statement signed by Christian, Muslim and Jewish faith leaders, in addition to celebrities including actor Juliet Stevenson, children's author Michael Morpugo, Benedict Cumberbatch and Sophie Hunter and Jude Law, has called for an urgent response from officials on both sides of the Channel.

"We call on the British and French authorities to immediately make provisions for the safe passage of all the unaccompanied minors and refugee children identified by Citizens UK with verified family connections to Britain," the statement reads.

"These children have a full legal right to reunite with their loved ones. It is unacceptable that they are left in danger and distress for administrative convenience. The system established to reunite these families must either be set aside, or made to work as a matter of extreme urgency."

Every signatory of the statement has signed up to a 'buddy' system; promising to support one unaccompanied child currently in Calais and ensure they receive full humanitarian support. Under an initiative organised by a number of organisations including Citizens UK, Help Refugees and Good Chance Calais, they will write letters to both UK Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande on behalf of the child, visit them where possible and donate money to fund legal costs.

Salvation Army officer Nick Coke said of the pledge: "With evictions beginning in earnest and these minors' homes being demolished we must act urgently to ensure these children are not lost, scattered across Northern France and away from the humanitarian protection they need and the legal support they require to reunite with their loved ones."

Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson of Good Chance Calais, said: "Given the perilous position the camp sits in at this time, it is imperative that we work actively to use the legal routes to reunification as soon as possible."

The buddy scheme initiative follows a statement made by Hollande yesterday in which he said all children in Calais who had relatives in Britain "should go to the United Kingdom quickly and efficiently".

"We're glad that the President and Prime Minister have finally acknowledged the urgency of this problem," said George Gabriel, lead organiser at Citizens UK. "That these desperate children cannot be left in the chaos of Calais and should instead be reunited with their loved ones as a matter of the utmost urgency".

Campaigners have condemned the demolition of a large southern part of the Jungle over the past week. Violent clashes broke out in the camp as teams began dismantling shelters using crowbars and mallets and police fired teargas at people trying to stop the demolitions.
Millions of Christians worldwide come together in new 'Click to Pray' app

Millions of Christians worldwide can now join in prayer with the Pope via a new app, Click To Pray.

The app invites users to pray with Jesus in the morning, in the afternoon or in the evening. Prayers are based on the monthly prayer intentions of Pope Francis which address current challenges facing humanity, such as children and families in difficulty.

The application allows users to ask others for prayer, prompts users to pray for others and lets users know the monthly prayer intentions of Pope Francis, Vatican Radio reported.

The app was originally launched in November 2014 by the Apostleship of Prayer in Portugal to help young people pray with the Pope.

It became so successful with more than 80,000 users that today it went global across 100 countries.

It is available now in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese for iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. The target user group has also moved from just young people to Christians of all ages.

The app promotes prayer three times a day.

In the morning, users pray "with Jesus" and entrust their lives to God in communion with the Church. At noon, they pray to be more open to the Holy Spirit. At the end of the day, they pray to be available for the mission of Christ.

Users can also compose prayers and ask others to unite with them in prayer.

Pope Francis said he was "pleased" with the effort and "encouraged" that in the Year of Mercy the prayer network will help all Catholics to pray in communion.
New job for hijab-wearing Christian college professor

The Christian academic who was first suspended and then left her college after she stated that Muslims and Christians worship the same God has a new job.

Professor Larycia Hawkins is to start work at the University of Virgininia as the Abd el-Kader Visiting Faculty Fellow, named after a 19th centiry Islamic scholar. She will conduct research on the relationship between religion and race, the Chronicle for Higher Education revealed.

She has previously worked for the university's non-partisan Miller Center that studies politics and the presidency.

According to the University of Virginia, the principal aims of the fellowship, at the university's Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, are academic.

The aims are also in keeping with Abd el-Kader's commitment to intercultural dialogue and the Institute's commitment to foster the common good across deep differences, the institute says.

The Abd el-Kader Fellowship is awarded to applicants "whose scholarship seeks to contribute directly to transdisciplinary and intercultural dialogue."

Hawkins' new job comes after she and Wheaton College, a well-known private evangelical Christian college announced that "they have come together and found a mutual place of resolution and reconciliation". Hawkins was widely criticised after she wore a hijab throughout Advent in solidarity with Muslims and also stated that Muslims and Christians worship the same God.

Wheaton College president Dr Philip Ryken said at the time: "Wheaton College sincerely appreciates Dr Hawkins' contributions to this institution over the last nine years. We are grateful for her passionate teaching, scholarship, community service and mentorship of our students."

Dr Hawkins said: "I appreciate and have great respect for the Christian liberal arts and the ways that Wheaton College exudes that in its mission, programmes, and in the calibre of its employees and students."

In a joint statement they said that they both share a commitment to care for the oppressed and the marginalised, including those who are marginalised because of their religious beliefs, and to respectful dialogue with people of other faiths or no faith. "While parting ways, both Wheaton College and Dr Hawkins wish the best for each other in their ongoing work."
Romania: Pastor who brought down Communist regime stripped of state honour

Romania's president has stripped the Hungarian pastor who helped trigger the downfall of the infamous Ceaucescu regime of a high state honour, according to the Associated Press.

Laszlo Tokes, a politician and bishop of the Reformed Church, received the prestigious Star of Romania award in 2009. It was given in recognition of his key role in the revolution that was to result in the deaths by firing squad of the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena.

However, Tokes, himself an ethnic Hungarian, has been outspoken in calling for a Hungarian protectorate to be established over Romania's sizeable Hungarian minority. The issue is highly sensitive in Romania as the country includes territory that was Hungarian until borders were redrawn after the First World War and that Hungarians would still like back.

A Romanian politician, Corina Cretu, urged the withdrawal of the award in 2013 saying Tokes had "harmed the Romanian state and all Romanian citizens who disavow extreme positions going against inter-ethnic coexistence".

Romania's President Klaus Iohannis confirmed yesterday he was withdrawing the award after a court ruled in favour of the action, suggesting Tokes did not respect Romania's constitution.

Tokes was a pastor in Timisoara in Transylvania in 1989, where he led protests against the government's policy of forcibly removing the population of small villages and destroying churches and monasteries.

In spite of threats and harassment by the feared Securitate secret police, he led the protests that become a revolt.
It never ceases to amaze us how difficult it is for the riptide of popular support for more gun controls to gain legislative traction.

Polls show that up to 90 percent of Americans support mandatory background checks for all gun sales except between immediate family members. Other common-sense controls with wide support include:

provide greater access under the law to mental health records to prevent persons with serious mental illness from purchasing weapons;

ban the sale of armor-piercing bullets;

limit magazines to 10 bullets;

expand restrictions on gun possession and ownership to those convicted of domestic violence and stalking

repeal the ban on studies by the Centers for Disease Control on the effects of gun ownership and use on public health

lengthen the waiting period for gun purchases when background checks have been delayed.

Well concede that all of those proposals have their pros and cons. But all are worthy of debate. If elected representatives wont bring them up for hearings and a vote, then citizens deserve to use the initiative process to rally broader support.

Congress to date has stonewalled or defeated every single proposal above. President Obama has moved on some of them through executive order, but they do not hold the force of law. Not surprisingly, states have moved to fill the void, either through their Legislatures or citizen petitions.

Second Amendment activists pay attention to the polls and realize they are vulnerable to direct democracy, especially when a billionaire like Michael Bloomberg is bankrolling background check initiatives like the one in Nevada. So they have hit on a clever scheme that targets state legislatures with hardline gun rights majorities to form compacts that would allow gun controls by member states no stricter than those in federal law. The aim of such compacts is to override the citizen initiative petition process in state constitutions  a legislature acting alone has no such power.

State Rep. Bob Thorpe, long an advocate of an interpretation of the Second Amendment that recognizes few if any limits, has introduced such a bill in Arizona. It is somewhat suprising, given his record as a fervent advocate for Arizona sovereignty over federal lands, health care policy and immigration. This bill, however, would cede that sovereignty to a multi-state entity empowered to enforce federal gun laws that themselves could change.

More serious than loss of sovereignty, however, is the threat such a compact poses to the direct democracy enshrined in the Arizona constitution. We dont necessarily agree with all the recent initiatives brought forward on issues as diverse as medical marijuana, casino gaming, campaign finance and higher taxes for schools. And lately many of those campaigns have been run or influenced by wealthy backers who have hidden their financial ties from voters.

But the framers of the Arizona constitution and those in many other states saw citizen petitions as part of the checks and balances needed for a healthy democracy. They recognized that election to the Legislature by district can sometimes result in narrow causes pushed by groups with special access to the Legislature winning out over statewide concerns. A citizen initiative taps that broader base, and it can be amended by the Legislature only in a way that furthers its purpose and only by a three-fourths vote.

The Thorpe measure abrogates that process  and without consulting the voters via a constitutional amendment. As a result, it will likely undergo its own constitutional legal challenge if adopted. But the greater concern is the short-term impact: shutting off a constitutionally guaranteed channel to improving gun safety. Many lives potentially hang in the balance. Thorpe needs to consider carefully just how serious the consequences of this misguided bill could be.
What EasyJet's treatment of a Christian 'terrorist' says about race, fear and common sense

Last November I was on my way home from India. At Delhi airport I was in an interminable airport security queue. I noticed a bag hanging on one of the stanchions, apparently not belonging to anyone. The queue shuffled forwards a little, the bag stayed where it was.

A few minutes went by. I  and others  were looking at it uneasily. The obvious scenarios were playing through our heads. Were we, in fact, only feet away from a bomb that would blow us to pieces and spread bloody ruin through a crowded departure hall? After a titanic internal battle between the fear of dying and the uniquely British fear of making a fuss, I told a security guard. It was nothing, of course.

So I have rather more sympathy with the nervous EasyJet passenger who reported a Christian as a suspect terrorist when he saw a WhatsApp message about prayer on his phone than most people might.

For those who haven't followed this, Londoner Laolu Opebiyi, a Christian, was aboard a flight waiting to take off from Luton Airport to Amsterdam last Thursday when his neighbour saw a message from the ISI (Iron Sharpens Iron) prayer group and misread it as ISIS.

His accuser asked him, "What do you mean by prayer?" before walking to the cockpit and asking to leave the plane. Six other passengers also left. He was ordered off by security officials who questioned him and asked him if he was converting to Islam.

It's not unreasonable to be vigilant about terrorism. But there are two things here that are really worrying.

The first is this: we have to suspect that Opebiyi, originally from Nigeria, may have been targeted because of his race. The likelihood that I, for instance, a middle-aged white Brit, would have sparked a stampede for the plane doors with a message about prayer on my phone is vanishingly small. The identification of Islamic State supporters with particular ethnic groups is not only inaccurate  there are white British converts fighting with them  but it leads to the insidious demonization of whole sections of the population. When we are less likely to trust someone because of their colour, we have gone to a very bad place.

Secondly, this: the airline, and the police, appear to have wildly over-reacted. All that needed to happen was for a steward to see his phone and explain the message to the anxious passenger. If the passenger didn't choose to fly, that's his lookout. As it is, it's Laolu Opebiyi who has suffered embarrassment and inconvenience, and who has well-founded grounds for fearing he may now be on a terrorist watch-list. If I were him, I think I would be looking for rather substantial compensation, as well as a better apology from EasyJet than the one he actually got ("We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused to the passenger", forsooth.)

Opebiyi told the Guardian: "If we keep on giving into this kind of bigotry and irrational fear, I dare say that the terrorists will have achieved their aim." That's exactly right. When fear makes us act irrationally and unjustly, we've lost something very valuable. But that is exactly what's happening.

Follow Mark Woods on Twitter: @RevMarkWoods
Donald Trump's Christian faith: What we know about Trump's Christianity

U.S. president Donald Trump testifies that he is a Christian, and while his personal walk with the Lord remains mostly private, here are some of the things that we do know about Donald Trump and his personal faith.

1. He is Presbyterian

Trump says that he first attended the First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica, Queens, and the congregation has confirmed that. Trump has said he is surprised that not many people know that he is protestant, but he says he is an active Christian, participating in various activities within the denomination.

Trump claims that he currently attends Marble Collegiate Church on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, although a representative of Marble Collegiate Church has told CNN that Trump is not a regular member.

2. He doesn't ask for forgiveness

A cornerstone of Christianity is the importance of repentance, turning away from sin and asking God for forgiveness. Trump, however, has said that he personally does not ask for God's forgiveness.

When asked about whether he has asked God for forgiveness, Trump said, "I am not sure I have. I just go on and try to do a better job from there. I don't think so."

Speaking to CNN, Trump said: "I think if I do something wrong, I think, I just try and make it right. I don't bring God into that picture. I don't."

3. He goes to church

Trump has said that he goes to church on a regular basis, although he has indicated that he mainly goes on "major" occasions, and on Sundays "when I can". Without going into too much more detail he describes himself as a "Sunday church person."

He said: "[I go to church] as much as I can. Always on Christmas. Always on Easter. Always when there's a major occasion. And during the Sundays. I'm a Sunday church person. I'll go when I can."
William and Kate to visit Christian youth charity tackling knife crime and gang war

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will visit Christian charity XLP next Friday to hear about the struggles facing inner-city young people.

The urban youth charity said Prince William and Kate will listen to personal stories about life growing up among gangs, violence and poverty.

Chief executive and founder of XLP, Patrick Regan thanked the royal couple for their "encouragement and support" which he said was "immensely important to us". He will use the opportunity to highlight a recent rise in the number of stabbings and deaths due to knife crime, which is up 18 per cent.

The charity runs a mentoring programme for teenagers involved in gangs, crime and anti-social behaviour. The Duke and Duchess will meet mentors involved in the scheme and young people.

Regan said: "We need long-term trusted mentoring relationships to help the next generation come through these challenges, build strong families and finally escape poverty and social deprivation.

"We're in this for the long-haul and to see the greatest impact."

The initiative is one of a number of projects by XLP to tackle gang culture, anger management and violence, racism, image and identity.

The Duke and Duchess will meet Sephton, one of their mentees who has had several stints in prison because of a "series of poor life choices", according to a statement from XLP.

The statement continued: "His family life was broken and chaotic. Anger and frustration caused ever more difficult behaviour resulting in exclusion from school without qualifications, and involvement in violence and criminal activities."

However as a result of the mentoring programme, XLP said he faces a "different and better future".

Sephton said: "XLP came in and showed me love, compassion and time, something I'd never been given before."
The abandoned paintbrush factory producing arts new superstars

In Romanias second city, a new school of artists led by Adrian Ghenie is making headlines by confronting the countrys troubled past. Maria Howard talks to Post-War and Contemporary Art specialist Cristian Albu about the key players in this extraordinary movement. Photography by Christoffer Rudquist at DMB

Adrian Ghenie made headlines recently as his Van Gogh-inspired painting The Sunflowers in 1937 sold for 3.1 million against an estimate of 400,000600,000, but what is behind this spectacular success?

Certainly the painter has been making waves in the contemporary art scene for over a decade with impressive shows at Pace and consistently strong auction results, including the $1,565,000 realized for Pie Fight Interior 9 (2013) at Christies New York in May 2015, but his success is part of a larger contemporary art movement from Cluj, Romanias vibrant second city thats home to a generation of artists bringing painting back from the dead.

Adrian Ghenie photographed in his studio in Cluj, Romania. Artwork: Persian Miniature, 2013. Oil on canvas. Photograph Courtesy Adrian Ghenie Studio

First showcased by the pioneering Plan B gallery and curator Mihai Pop, the Cluj school of artists, led by Adrian Ghenie, Victor Man and Marius Bercea, is revolutionising contemporary painting. The Eastern Bloc aesthetic, inevitably tinged with a history of Communism and violence, continues to attract collectors and institutions worldwide to this city at the heart of Transylvania.

Christies Post-War and Contemporary Art specialist and fellow Romanian Cristian Albu insists, however, that this is nothing new for a country whose forebears include sculptor Constantin Brancusi and surrealist Victor Brauner. Romanian art doesnt start now, he says. The art community in Romania has had incredible links with Paris and Berlin since the beginning of the 20th century.

Marius Bercea received his MA from the University of Art and Design, Cluj, in 2005, and is regarded as one of the leading artists of the Cluj school. His large-scale colourful paintings often combine landscapes of post-Communist Romania with a surreal element. Szabolcs Veres starts with the traditional notion of the portrait and proceeds to distort it into something disturbing in the manner of Bacon and Ghenie. Living and working in Cluj, he is represented by Spencer Brownstone Gallery in New York.

But if Bucharest was once a little Paris, it wasnt for long: Communism came in 1957, and Ceausescu in 1962  politically things changed but artistically they didnt. Artists still thrived within their own community, but the only place where they could display art was in a church. Artists had to show in their own apartments, for just 24 hours, and then it disappeared.

On the fringes of Mitteleuropa, Cluj was, until the Revolution of 1989, in the hands of conquerors and dictators  a crossroad of empires, from the Romans and the Ottomans to the Austro-Hungarians and eventually the Russians. Everybody put their stamp on it, says Albu, and then they left, so there is a certain darkness and survival element to everything.

A self-proclaimed abstract expressionist, Dan Maciuca paintings resemble those of Frank Auerbach, the paint layered on like a thick paste and occasionally smoothed out like one of Richters Abstrakte Bilder. Currently living and working in Cluj, Cristina Gagiu completed an MA in painting in 1996. She has contributed to many group and solo exhibitions in Cluj, and focuses mainly on interiors and painting.

Albu remembers the revolution like a dream, and then the sour taste of corruption left by Ceausescus successors. He describes the countrys upheaval as a catalyst for young painters to express their sorrows and their frustrations in art. This is particularly true of Ghenies work which explores the darkness of the human condition, the darkness of our ability to destroy each other through portraits of figures like Charles Darwin and Josef Mengele, who appropriated the formers theories of natural selection in the search for Aryan perfection.

The influence of modern artists such as Francis Bacon is also evident in these portraits  faces are distorted and the paint gives the impression that the skin is melting before our eyes  yet the compositions, the dark ground, suggests the presence of Rembrandt, whose work Ghenie studied early in his career.

With an academic background in painting, Ioana Iacob now practises both installation art and painting, working with the idea that art should confront the socially generated expectations of the public. Her latest exhibition used the same image again and again, creating a sense of nostalgia. Another graduate of the University of Art and Design, Cluj, Istvan Betuker is a portraitist who is just as interested in the manipulation of his medium as the depiction of his sitter. He paints neighbours and cats alike with broad brushstrokes often in poses reminiscent of Lucian Freuds later work.

Ceausescu is given the same treatment in paintings such as Study for Boogeyman and The Trial, depicting the dictator and his wife awaiting execution by firing squad just days after the initial wave of dissent began at a rally in Bucharest.

By focusing on these dark figures, Ghenie shuns the canon of history painting and presents us, instead, with something strikingly contemporary yet rooted in tradition  much like Sigmar Polke and Gerhard Richter, who experienced life under the Third Reich and later in Communist East Germany, and whose influence is very much evident in the work of many other leading Cluj school artists, including Marius Bercea and Victor Man.

Oana Farcass influences are evident in her 2012 series depicting artists in their studios such as Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud and Picasso, but it is the works inspired by Romanian fairytales that play with reality and logic and catch our attention. One of the more conceptual artists within the Cluj school, Radu Cioca has moved away from the citys tradition of painting to focus on sculpture and installations that challenge materials and interrogate a given reality through a series of connections.

Aptly centred on a brutalist paintbrush factory-turned-contemporary art space, the Fabrica de Pensule, the school is transforming Cluj into a hub for painting. Although the setting naturally invites associations with Warhol, Albu prefers to compare the movement to the Bauhaus school: Its that feeling of socialist culture where great minds get together to give birth to great ideas.

Ghenie had his first exhibition in 2006 with Plan B gallery, and was featured in Art in America, which Albu credits with kicking off interest in the artist. This led to him being picked up by Mihai Nicodim gallery in LA, Tim Van Laere in Antwerp, Nolan-Judin in Berlin and now international giant Pace, where his 2014 show Golems at the Museum of Mankind in Mayfair featured a beautiful and unsettling installation that proved Ghenie could do more than paint. He took you from the gallery into the world of Darwin to question where we come from, who we are. The room was dark, a shy and singular space [where] you retrieved yourself, Albu muses.

That was the year Ghenies paintings passed the $1 million mark with works like Duchamps funeral and The Fake Rothko more than doubling their estimates and placing him firmly at the forefront of the contemporary art market just 10 years after his initial rise to fame.

Albu credits this result to the artists American following. It was owned by an LA collector and must have been seen by half the world. He made the most of it, put it into the right context at auction and boom! Boom indeed.

After an onslaught of video, performance and conceptual art in the post-modern era, Ghenie, Man et al. are satisfying a need for painting among the kind of collectors Albu has brought to Cluj. He describes a recent visit to the paintbrush factory: We arrived at the factory and [the collectors] were like children in a candy shop, they would not get the hell out of that factory for 10 hours! They were going from one studio to another with that joy of talking directly with the artists. They forgot about lunch, drinking; the meal was art. They havent stopped talking about it since.

The Cluj connection: More emerging stars at the Fabrica de Pensule

Serban Savu is a figurative painter, creating poignant canvases that capture the daily existence of contemporary Romanians at work and leisure. The angle from which his subjects are depicted often generates a feeling of distance from the subject and a sense of alienation.

One of the more conceptual artists in the Cluj school, Ciprian Muresan is well known for his short videos that focus on contemporary post-Soviet life in Eastern Europe. Strong visual messages are characteristic of Muresans work, making it historically and politically engaging.

A graduate of Ceramics and Sculpture in Cluj, Mihut Boscu Kafchin has experimented with various mediums. He has a reputation as one of Clujs more experimental artists, and takes his inspiration from science, space exploration and science fiction.

Mircea Suciu paints often surreal subjects with a sombre realism that alludes to Goya and Magritte while parodying Socialist Realism.

One of the most significant artists to emerge from Romania in recent years, Victor Man represented Romania in the 2007 Venice Biennale and is known for his enigmatic paintings and installations which shift between eroticism and the canon with references to Piero della Francesca and Goethe.

Inspired by the human figure and animal expression, Gabriel Marian focuses on Abstract Impressionism. Having graduated from the University of Art and Design, Cluj, in 2011 with an MA in Fine Art, his work is part of the Benetton art collection. He has showcased his paintings in multiple exhibitions across Europe.

Main image at top: Exterior shot of Fabrica de Pensule, Cluj. Photograph  Roland Vaczi. Courtesy of Fabrica de Pensule, Cluj

For more features, interviews and videos, visit Christies Daily
A woman in New York was pulled over on Wednesday after attempting to drive around with a fake license plate.

The plate was constructed out of cardboard and painted to replicate the New York license plate.
Former Metro board member Carrin Patman is returning to the transit agency as Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner's choice for chairwoman, according to an email sent from the mayor's office to City Council members on Friday.

Turner is set to announce the new Metro board chair at 2:30 p.m. on Friday.
A Houston real estate company landed in the top 10 of Fortune magazines annual 100 Best Companies to Work For list. Camden Property Trust placed ninth overall, moving up one spot from the previous year.

MUCH LOVE: The most admired companies in Texas
Constitutional rights under attack

To the editor:

The news comes like artillery shells exploding around us: state government has launched yet another attack on the Arizona Constitution and the democracy it guarantees and implements. There are the governors frontal assaults, his bullying; there are the power plays by the legislature, passing a law that says we cant break their laws by fiat, more bullying; and there are backdoor guerrilla actions, smokescreens, from legislators.

The targets and the plans are apparently controlled by moneyed lobbyists, fearing democracy. Their concern goes beyond clean government, fair representation, education, minimum wages. They fear people looking clearly at state government, into the cobwebby caverns of the power-brokers, getting mad-as-hell, seeing why Arizona government was ranked as the most corrupt in the nation in a 2014 report. Secrecy is the lifeblood of corruption, money fueling opaque transactions, distorting governance, arbitrarily choosing the favored and the losers. This secrecy already controls Arizona state government.

Now the controllers want to stamp out the remaining constitutional rights  initiative and local control  the last bastions, the laboratories, of democracy. Our right to integrity trumps secrecy. Our right to clarity trumps cobwebs. Our right to faithful leaders trumps their need for power.

VIC SMITH

Flagstaff
A prestigious academic honor society will welcome its first University of Houston members Friday.

Phi Beta Kappa, the nation's oldest liberal arts and sciences honor society, is opening a branch on the Houston campus. UH has been trying since the 1980s to become a member of the group, which late last year announced it would welcome the rising research university into the fold.

The 79 UH students to be inducted will receive an engraved gold key, the symbol of the society. Phi Beta Kappa Society Secretary John Churchill and President Catherine White Berheide will preside over the ceremony.

Among the students to be inducted is Hayder Ali, whose father was an Iraqi journalist imprisoned under Saddam Hussein's regime. The family later sought asylum in Syria and finally in America.

Also joining the society is Jacob Wagner, a child of a Vietnam War veteran. He attends UH on the Hazlewood Act, which covers college costs for veterans and their children. Wagner plans to teach at Yes Prep Public Charter School System after graduation. Vanessa Alejandro, a bilingual psychology major who had to drop out of college for a year for treatment after a cancer diagnosis, is another inductee.

"As an urban, public institution of distinction, the University of Houston has a tremendous track record of educating a diverse student body to have real impact in the world," Churchill said in a statement. "To have grown a core of excellence in the arts and sciences is no small achievement. I can't emphasize enough how important it is to create these pathways for broad, disciplined learning at our public institutions."

Officials at UH touted the announcement as another historic moment in the university's effort to become a top-tier institution. In some ways, they said, it is as significant as the Tier One designation the school earned four years ago.

"It's a stamp on the institution that it's really achieved the pinnacle of excellence in undergraduate education," said Andrew Davis, the director of the Moores School of Music at UH and the co-chair of the committee that led the latest effort to join Phi Beta Kappa.
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In the wake of votes in recent weeks by trustees at a number of Texas public colleges to raise tuition, two state leaders sent a letter to university presidents Friday chiding them for not holding the line on college costs.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and state Sen. Kel Seliger, a Republican who chairs the senate's higher education panel, wrote to university presidents asking them to send information on cost of attendance since 2002 -- just before the Legislature gave school leaders the authority to set their own tuition rates. They also requested university leaders send them plans to reduce student debt.

"Last year, the Legislature provided substantial increases to higher education institutions for overall academic performance as well as for structural improvements," Patrick said in a statement. "Yet in recent months, a number of our public higher education systems have moved to increase student tuition."

It's the latest in a back-and-forth between state leaders and university heads, who have blamed one another for the rising cost of college. School presidents say they don't get enough money from the state to cover operating costs and have to rely on students to help carry the burden. State leaders say colleges should look to cut costs rather than charge students more.

UT Chancellor William McRaven told the university's regents last month that tuition is the greatest driver of revenue in the system. UT's tuition and fees are "at or well below the national average," he said.

"This is really about staying competitive," he said.

The regents later approved tuition increases at all of the system's schools, including UT Austin, where students will pay about $300 more per semester in 2017.

A push by the Legislature to re-regulate tuition gained bipartisan support last session, but failed to make it to law.

State Sen. Rodney Ellis, a Houston Democrat who has argued the Legislature should have oversight of tuition since it was deregulated, tweeted on Friday that he's "glad #txlege is getting concerned about rising tuition." Ellis was one of the lawmakers who filed a bill last session to re-regulate tuition.

"It's time to rein in costs for students & families and make #txlege accountable for properly funding higher education," Ellis tweeted.

Patrick has tasked the senate's higher education committee with studying tuition rates and student debt before the next session begins in January.
A Houston developer who hoped to build a mixed-use project on 200 acres of land in Baytown no longer plans to do so.

Hunington Properties told the Chronicle late last year that it hoped to create Baytown's first mixed-use project on land at Texas 146 and Kilgore Parkway. The developer had the land under contract at the time. It now says the project is "on the shelf" for now.
When The Woodlands Township started looking at building a parking garage in 2009 to relieve congestion in the urban-like Town Center area, it set out to find ways to fund it.

Between grants from the Federal Transit Administration and Houston-Galveston Area Council, The Woodlands would only have to pay $1.7 million of the $5.3 million to build the proposed garage that would provide more than 200 additional spaces at the corner of Six Pines and Lake Robbins drives. But there was a catch.

The FTA grant of $1.8 million was intended to be used for a bus facility and the H-GAC grant of another $1.8 million was tied to improving air quality as a result of reducing the number of cars commuting to Houston. But, when The Woodlands Township revisited moving forward with pursuing the grant money, the board realized that its vision for the parking garage had drifted from the transportation hub concept that justified the use of the grant money in the first place.

"The grant language implies more than we ever intended to perform," said board member Gordy Bunch. "My initial concern was that we would be misleading in the grant application."

So, after years of entertaining the idea of the parking garage, the board voted unanimously to forfeit the grant money at its February meeting.

Transit plan

In 2013 and 2014, H-GAC, commissioned by the township, put together a Woodlands Transit Plan that explored the possibility of implementing bus routes within Town Center - encouraging a "park once" mentality that would reduce congestion and free up parking - building on the existing park and ride program and eventually extending bus services to the villages and surrounding community. The idea was that the proposed Town Center parking garage would serve as a transit hub.

Implementing the plan would not be cheap. Capital costs alone to launch the Town Center route could exceed $5 million, plus an additional $2 million in annual operating costs, H-GAC estimated. Expanding the park and ride operation, which has recently seen a decline in ridership, would cost more than $2 million.

In August 2015, transit consultant The Goodman Corp. released a 16-page analysis highlighting the function of a transportation center, assuming the implementation of transit services such as a drop-off commuter service, an express bus to Exxon Mobil Corp.'s campus to the south, and a reverse commute service from Houston, as well as a place for shoppers and workers to park.

The consultant calculated that the transportation center, should the various transit services be implemented, would take nearly 2,000 cars off the roads and reduce annual miles driven by 14.7 million, resulting in an annual emission reduction of 54.5 tons. While this would be helpful in securing the FTA and H-GAC grant money, there was one problem: The Woodlands hadn't approved any of these emission-reducing transit measures.

Economic uncertainty

The Woodlands Transit Plan, particularly for the Town Center bus route, received pushback from some residents who argued that any public transit system implemented should be more geared toward the transportation dependent community members, rather than focused primarily on business and retail centers.

Woodlands board member John McMullan took up the banner against the Town Center bus system, maintaining that it would disproportionately benefit businesses and The Woodlands Development Co., rather than the residents. He, along with Bunch and former board member Peggy Hausman, voted to remove the parking garage from the 2016 budget plan last August, asserting that the project would obligate the township to implement costly transit measures.

"If we take the grants, spending $1.7 million, we get a parking garage, but the township incurs the obligation to pay for a bus service entirely within Town Center," McMullan said. "The true cost is not $1.7 million, it is much, much larger."

And as the downturn in the oil industry threatens The Woodlands' sales tax revenue projections, even the board members who initially supported funding a bus service have decided to be more conservative with taxpayer money for the foreseeable future.

Mike Bass, a board member who sat on the recently disbanded Ad Hoc Transportation Committee, initially promoted incorporating the existing park and ride and trolley services to stop at the parking garage to fulfill the grant requirements, but ultimately moved that the board defer the project to a later date.

"What we tried to do is to write up a rationale based on what we understood going into the budget process may be possibilities," said Don Norrell, president and general manager of The Woodlands Township. "There's a number of things that once (the board) got into the budget process and once we started talking transportation, that's where the board did not want to go ... (the grant) terminology would not work today if we actually made the grant application."

By the numbers

Deferred 241-space garage: $5.3 million

Cost to township: $1.7 million

FTA grant: $1.8 million

H-GAC grant: $1.8 million

Proposed Town Center bus route capital costs: $5 million

Operating costs: $2 million annually

Proposed expanded the park and ride: $2 million.
The Hill, by Hannah Burns

I recently attended a panel discussion at The Atlantic Council in Washington on Economic Recovery and Revitalization in the Middle East. I was immediately struck by the fact that three of the four panelists were Egyptian, one of whom co-authored the report on which the panel was based. Each one of the three panelists has made enormous strides in helping to transform the Egyptian economy by creating and supporting sustainable, high impact businesses, as well as to transform education. A few days later, I read in the local media a summary of the Sisi administrations economic and social accomplishments and goals over the past year. And just recently I saw the statistics of the private sectors continued contribution to the countrys economic recovery, despite the severe drop in tourism and the currency crisis.

Why is Egypt viewed by the world only through the pessimistic prism of negative events? To be sure, Egypt has had to bear the devastating effects from terrorism, political unrest and economic instability. Its behavior on human rights efforts is far from exemplary, and the international media is raising the possibility of increased social unrest that could lead to an uprising at some point. The government has been slow to embrace education reform with a holistic focus on critical thinking, math and science and other skills relevant to this century and essential to economic sustainability. Yet, the world is unaware of the positive, transformative developments occurring across the private, not-for-profit and government sectors, ones that are destined to provide the framework and opportunity for Egypt to flourish. These developments are fueling another kind of uprising.

Entrepreneurs are not new to Egypt; nor are small businesses. However, todays massive youth population with access to technology, combined with a favorable regulatory environment and a relevant education system that feeds entrepreneurship, job creation and addresses market needs, can and will accelerate small business growth and the growth of the national economy. As Sherif Kamel, vice president for Information Management and former dean of the Business School at The American University of Cairo, noted aptly in the Economic Recovery and Revitalization report he co-authored with American venture capitalist Christopher Schroeder, by creating the environment where an entrepreneur will thrive, you create the economic conditions for all to thrive.

Ahmed El Alfi, chairman of Sawari Ventures, an Egypt-based venture capital firm he founded just six years ago, and a panelist at the Atlantic Council event, is an important example of how the private sector is leading the drive to promote sustainable businesses. In the past three years his firm, through its start-up accelerator, Flat6 Labs, has launched 45 companies. CIB, Egypts largest private sector bank, launched its Business Banking group two years ago to address the needs of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Not only does the bank provide financing to these businesses, but also provides customized services to help them grow. Most recently, CIB introduced Smart Wallet to afford small customers with the same quality of services as its larger ones. This digital banking effort has tremendous positive implications for financial inclusion in Egypt.

Not-for-profit organizations are equally important contributors to the movement. The American Chamber of Commerce Egypt has a vibrant, dedicated effort to support small businesses. In fact, they were a sponsor of the Rise Up Summit last December, the Middle East and Africas leading entrepreneurship event that attracted 5,000 entrepreneurs and innovators to Egypt. Education for Employments (EFE) innovative high-impact youth employment solutions are influencing how governments, educators and businesses prepare youth to enter the workforce across the Middle East and North Africa. With an impressive 85% placement rate, EFEs Egypt affiliate has trained over 1,300 graduates as future change-makers and leaders in their companies, families, and communities. El Alfis online platform, Nafham (We Understand in Arabic) launched only two years ago, where parents and students can upload supplemental education videos, garners over 105,000 views per day. Over 36.5 million videos have been viewed, and the site averages 500,000 distinct monthly users. Established in 2013, The American University of Cairos Venture Lab incubates, connects and supports talented youth, giving them access to experienced mentors and facilitating their success. Over 5,000 Egyptian and regional entrepreneurs have benefited from Venture Lab.

For its part, the government has begun the process to facilitate the success of small businesses. While education reform is critical, and the regulatory and legal framework needs to be relaxed to give enterprises the freedom to succeed, important first steps have been made. In a recent address to Parliament, President Sisi is looking to create jobs for young people by earmarking financing for SMEs, in addition to creating more investor-friendly regulations. And the Central Bank of Egypt has mandated all banks to allocate a percentage of their lending activities to SMEs.

By harnessing the efforts of these sectors to leverage the economic potential of a young population empowered by technology, there is every reason to view Egypt through an optimistic prism. The entities and individuals I have cited, and countless more, are making a difference and moving Egypt firmly forward. They are proving every day, that amidst the turmoil and economic uncertainty, progress is not only possible, it is a reality.

Burns is a managing director at Cambridge Global Advisors in Washington and a consultant to both private and not-for-profit organizations in Egypt.
This is a long excerpt. Read on here.

Memri

On February 24, 2016, a letter from an Islamic State (ISIS) fighter to ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi was posted on social media. In it, the fighter strongly protests the close ties and cooperation between ISIS's Sinai province and Hamas, particularly Hamas's military wing.

This letter is the first confirmation of ties between the two organizations that comes from ISIS itself, and a unique firsthand account of the nature of these ties. It appears that the document was not meant for circulation outside ISIS, and to have been leaked by Al-Qaeda supporters.[1]

The letter is by ISIS fighter Abu 'Abdallah Al-Muhajir, who presents himself as a Gazan who joined ISIS in Syria. He writes that he decided to appeal to Al-Baghdadi in order to fulfill his duty as a Muslim to give loyal advice to the leader of the Muslims. His letter is based on his own personal knowledge from his time in Gaza, as well as on information provided to him by other fighters who came to Syria from the Gaza Strip.

With regard to the ties between Hamas and ISIS's Sinai Province, Abu 'Abdallah explains the areas in which the groups collaborate: ISIS fighters in Sinai are smuggling weapons into Gaza for Hamas; Hamas is producing weapons and explosive devices for ISIS Sinai; Hamas is providing logistical assistance to ISIS Sinai, including communications systems and hospitalization for its wounded fighters in Gaza; and ISIS Sinai officials are visiting Gaza and dining at the homes of Hamas government and military wing officials.

Abu 'Abdallah says that he considers these Hamas-ISIS Sinai ties a violation of the principle of loyalty to the Muslims and rejection of non-Muslims (Al-Walaa Wal-Baraa), stating ISIS considers Hamas a movement that has betrayed Islam and that as such there is no justification, even on the pretext of tactical, operational, and logistical necessity, for maintaining ties with it.



ISIS Sinai province displaying weapons training. Source: Telegram.me/HaiAlaElJehad5, February 6, 2016.

Noting that what motivated him to take the unusual step of writing directly to Al-Baghdadi was the rising rage and frustration among ISIS supporters in Gaza who feel abandoned by the ISIS leadership and by ISIS Sinai, Abu 'Abdallah expresses harsh criticism of ISIS Sinai for its warm relationship with Hamas. Hamas, he says, is persecuting and torturing ISIS loyalists, and adds that the disconnect between ISIS supporters in Gaza and ISIS Sinai itself is so great that the Gaza jihadis are now questioning the sincerity of ISIS Sinai's loyalty to ISIS itself and are hesitant to join with it.

Abu 'Abdallah's letter caused a stir among ISIS supporters, particularly in Gaza, both because of its content and because such a direct appeal to ISIS leader Al-Baghdadi had been posted online. A group of pro-ISIS media activists in Gaza, Al-Nusra Al-Maqdisiya, which publishes and disseminates pro-ISIS materials on social media. responded to the letter's publication; however, it denied neither Abu 'Abdallah's claims in the letter, nor the details he gave about the Hamas-ISIS Sinai relationship. It was merely enraged because he mentioned the group his the letter.

Following are excerpts from the letter:

Abu 'Abdallah: If ISIS Sinai Maintains Its Ties With Hamas "We Will All Regret The Disaster That Will Befall Us In Sinai"

Abu 'Abdallah begins his letter by explaining that what ISIS Sinai is doing in its ties with Hamas is serious and could lead to disaster: "A complaint by a soldier in the [Islamic] State to the Caliph of the Muslims, against the actions of the brothers in Sinai Province. An urgent letter from Abu 'Abdallah Al-Muhajir to our commander and Caliph of the Muslims Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, may Allah protect him.

"The Prophet said: 'The religion is sincere advice'... which is why I seek Allah's aid in writing and disseminating this urgent and highly important letter, which has in it serious matters that must be addressed, and ended, by Sheikh Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi and the Islamic State leaders. For by Allah, if these things continue and persist, we will all regret the disaster [that will befall] us in the beloved land of Sinai, which is the most important and powerful [Islamic] State province outside Iraq and Syria.

"This is a letter from your son Abu 'Abdallah Al-Muhajir, and in it are matters that I have experienced during my presence on Gaza soil, as well as matters about which the brothers [in Gaza] wrote to me after I joined [the fight] in Syria, and matters that I learned from brothers who emigrated to Syria and Iraq before I did. I recoiled from writing [the letter], and consulted with my immigrant brothers, and we agreed to publicize what we know, while the brothers in Gaza advised me to say these things secretly and not write publicly for fear of the response of the brothers in Sinai province. But matters have reached a point where it is no longer possible to remain silent, and providing advice in secret would not have helped. Silence in the face of what is happening would have made us the devils of silence, and silence is betrayal of Allah, His messenger, and the Caliph of the Muslims.

"Oh, Caliph of the Muslims, I wish to speak to you about an issue related to the foundations of the religion and the tenets of the faith  Al-Walaa Wal-Baraa [loyalty to Muslims and rejection of non-Muslims], for which the blood of thousands of Islamic State jihad fighters has been spilled. For the sake of this principle, we are hostile towards the entire world, we are withstanding a war waged against us by the whole world, and even by some who claim to be jihad fighters.

"[But] even after all these great sacrifices, some brothers come along and destroy [the principle of] Al-Walaa Wal-Baraa, on weak pretexts and for reasons unbecoming of any jihad fighter who belongs to this mighty state.

"I speak to you today about the suspect and illegitimate ties between Sinai province and Hamas, which are hidden from no one. What I will write about now is based on two main things:

"1. After a period of being in Syria, I have learned that the Islamic State considers Hamas, with all its branches and wings, to be an apostate movement, and that it treats it as an apostate cult, including [the 'Izz Al-Din] Al-Qassam [Brigades, Hamas's military wing]. This is known to all the brothers here in Syria and Iraq.

"2. The second thing is the internal memos coming from the [Islamic] State leadership ruling that many factions in Syria are apostates, including for collaborating with apostates and for transferring weapons to them or maintaining a relationship with them."

ISIS Sinai province fighters undergoing military training. Source: Telegram.me/HaiAlaElJehad5, February 6, 2016.

"Sinai Province Is Smuggling Weapons For Hamas In Gaza"

Abu 'Abdallah then explains the ties between ISIS Sinai and Hamas, and tells why he thinks they are a violation of the tenets of loyalty:

"Allow me, Caliph of Muslims, to inform you of some aspects of the suspect ties between Sinai province and Hamas:

"1. Sinai province is smuggling weapons for Hamas in Gaza, because of the province's fighters' expert knowledge of the [smuggling] routes from Libya, Sudan, and Egypt.

"2. Sinai province depends very much on Hamas and Al-Qassam for weapons and for explosives and ammunition. There are direct and continuous supply routes from Hamas to Sinai province. The Al-Qassam factories operate assembly lines for manufacturing explosive devices and bombs for the Sinai province, but do not stamp the Al-Qassam logo on them, as they usually do.

"3. Sinai province leaders are regularly visiting the Gaza Strip, and holding cordial meetings with Hamas and Al-Qassam leaders, even [Hamas] government [representatives]. Animals are slaughtered for them, feasts are held, and they are embraced in Gaza.

"4. Hamas and Al-Qassam are accepting all wounded Sinai province [fighters], and they are treated in Gaza Strip hospitals under Al-Qassam's direct protection.

"5. Hamas is providing wireless communication hubs for Sinai province, because of the difficulty of operating them in Sinai and because they are vulnerable to swift destruction by the Egyptian army.

"[Hypothetically,] if we disregard the religious dimension, and Al-Walaa Wal-Baraa, we would be able to say that Sinai province benefits greatly from these ties, and that the province is being clever and devious in order to attain power and ammo from Hamas, for fighting the infidel [Egyptian President] Al-Sisi. However, in truth, and viewing things on a shari'a level, the province is committing several religious transgressions... among them:

"1. Violating the principle of loyalty to jihad fighters in Gaza and Islamic State supporters [there], and abandoning them and handing them over to their apostate enemy (Hamas)...

"2. Violating the principle of rejecting Hamas, which has replaced the laws of Allah and rules Gaza with laws of unbelief, and of [rejecting] the Al-Qassam Brigades, [which is] this government's violent aggressive force. I was shocked when I discovered here in Syria that the Islamic State treats the Hamas government and movement, and the Al-Qassam Brigades, as apostates. Where, then, does Sinai province stand on this?

"3. Strengthening the apostates and making it easier for weapons to reach them by smuggling weapons to Hamas via Sinai province land, even using the province's men and vehicles. One of the brothers told me, by means of his brother who is in the [Gaza] Strip, that Israel bombed one of these convoys, killing province jihad fighters as they were transporting weapons to Hamas.

"4. Maintaining friendly ties with the leadership of Hamas and Al-Qassam, which the [Islamic] State considers apostates. [These ties include] exchanging visits with them, welcoming them, and treating them in a manner displeasing to Allah...

"5. Relying on Hamas and Al-Qassam  which the [Islamic] State consider apostates  for its supply of ammunition and weapons. This is no different than taking weapons from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, or Qatar in order to fight [Syrian President] Bashar Al-Assad, as the apostate factions do here in Syria, or as Hamas does when it takes money from Iran. [This action by Hamas] is a crime for which we have condemned Hamas for decades, and have ruled that it is apostate, for this and other reasons.
Hi my name is Barb, I love to create and travel. I plan to use this blog to share my artwork and travel tales with friends.
Three leaders and four underlings were sentenced in federal court Friday for their roles in running a string of hydroponic marijuana "grow houses" in northwest Harris County.

Investigators found a total of 3,253 plants growing in eight houses. The trio running the operation and five others who pleaded guilty to helping cultivate the plants are all immigrants from Vietnam.

The married couple who headed the operation, Dang Hai Nguyen, 37, and Carry Le, 40, got the steepest sentences, along with Le's brother Son Kim Le, 42. U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon sentenced the husband and wife to 10 years in federal prison plus five years supervised release for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana. Le's brother, who investigators believe ran two grow houses, was sentenced to nine years in prison and three years of supervised release.

Le's attorney, Donald Ervin, told Harmon prior to sentencing that the brother was "more of a gofer," but the judge disagreed and sentenced him as a leader of the operation.

The remaining co-defendants pleaded guilty to helping at the various grow houses. Lam Thanh Ho, 45, and Tuan Anh Le, 42, were sentenced to two years each in federal prison. Hien The Nguyen, 29, and Tuan Anh Nguyen, 46, who had been in pretrial detention since their arrest in 2013, were sentenced to time already served.

The last defendant, Minh Quang Hoang Nguyen, 35, is set to be sentenced April 8.

A joint effort by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Texas Department of Public Safety, Houston Police Department and the Harris County and Fort Bend County sheriffs offices tracked the operation from August 2011 to May 2013. Investigators placed pole cameras near the suspected grow houses and GPS trackers on the vehicles they believed were involved.

The defendants were seen picking up hydroponic supplies and delivering them to the residences, where the windows were blocked out.
Humble police have arrested a 45-year-old male nurse and charged him with sexually assaulting a patient earlier this year.

Humble police spokesman Ken Theis identified the nurse as Brandon Faunce.

The incident took place in June at Memorial Hermann Northeast Hospital, according to the complaint filed in Faunce's arrest, in which the alleged victim told police she had been hospitalized for seizures. When she was alone, a male nurse entered the room, gave her a sedative, and then sexually assaulted her, according to the Faunce's arrest complaint.

Police linked Faunce to the incident through DNA evidence and a photo lineup, according to the document.

Faunce was arrested and booked on Friday. His bail is set at $100,000. A lawyer for Faunce was not listed online.

State medical licensing records show that he has been licensed in Texas since 2008. He does not have any current disciplinary actions against him. Court records show he has had one other run-in with the law dating back to 1991, when he was likewise arrested for sexual assault, but a grand jury later declined to indict him with a crime.

After news of Faunce's arrest surfaced, officials said he had been suspended pending further investigation and adjudication of the case.

"This allegation is deeply concerning as the safety and well-being of our patients are our top priorities," hospital spokeswoman Alex Loessin said, in an email. "We will continue to monitor this situation and cooperate fully with police in their investigation of this matter."
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-- THE LEAD: What was that debate last night? Rubio, Cruz forge loose alliance to block Trump, by the APs Julie Pace. So when Rubio and Cruz took the stage in Detroit in Thursday, they shelved their well-practiced attacks on each other's immigration policies, national security views and campaign tactics.

Instead, Rubio hammered Trump for manufacturing his branded clothing in China and Mexico, not the United States, and challenged the practices of a Trump-branded educational company that's facing lawsuits. Cruz questioned why the Republican front-runner had donated to Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, and accused him of having used government power for private gain.

-- Abbott did himself no favors with the House GOP caucus, by Quorum Reports Harvey Kronberg. The surprising loser from Super Tuesday was Governor Greg Abbott who emerged with less political capital. And no, it was not his surprisingly late endorsement of Cruz that cost him. Abbott lost ground because he broke faith with Texas House Republicans who went to the mat for him last session.

Abbott remains the most popular Republican in Texas among the general public, but that is not the audience that counts when the next Legislature convenes. His constituency is 181 House and Senatemembers and despite all the good will he engendered in the run up to his first session, he waffled at a critical moment.

-- Justice soon could hint at outcome in Texas abortion case, by the APs Mark Sherman. The justices may not decide the high-profile case about regulation of abortion clinics in Texas until late June. But an order could come any day in the Louisiana case in which clinics are asking the high court to block enforcement of a 2014 law that requires doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. The law could leave the state with just one clinic in New Orleans, down from four, the clinics said.

The cases are at different stages in the legal process, but they involve similar laws and actions by the same federal appeals court, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

-- Perrys abuse-of-power case is not over yet, by the Express-News Peggy Fikac. Special prosecutor Michael McCrum of San Antonio said he and his co-counsel, David Gonzalez, are looking into it, because we owe that to the people of this State, and because we just witnessed an activist court create new law for a public official indicted for public corruption. So, we must take time to carefully review this.

-- Texas GOP goes nativist in 2016, by Jim Henson and Joshua Blank for TribTalk. The widespread embrace of more restrictive policies on immigration, more tightly controlled international borders and more punitive policies toward undocumented non-citizens is not new, but recent evidence also suggests the embrace of a range of negative attitudes among Republican voters aimed at perceived outsiders. Donald Trump and, to a lesser but still significant degree, Ted Cruz have found success in the Republican presidential nomination process by appealing to these attitudes among GOP primary voters. Their success, and the failure of those who have tried to counter them, point to the emergence of a strain of nativist attitudes that is exerting a powerful influence over the politics of the Republican Party.

>> Spend some time today with The Texas Tribune and ProPublicas Hell and High Water project, about the next big hurricane that could destroy Houston. Learn why Texas isnt ready. By the Tribs Neena Satija and Kiah Collier and ProPublicas Al Shaw and Jeff Larson.

SPEED READ

Abbott weighs in on controversial GOP chairman, Texas Tribune

Mitt Romney says he will not run for president, Associated Press

Conservatives still blocking Export-Import bank, Houston Chronicle

District 120 runoff rivals clash on charter schools, San Antonio Express-News

Anti-toll stance gains momentum with bankruptcy announcement on SH 130, Quorum Report

Beeson: This is not the America where I grew up, Center for Public Policy Priorities

NY judge hears arguments on Cruz ballot challenge in state, Austin American-Statesman

Molly White, R-Belton, requesting recount in close election loss, The Dallas Morning News

Abbott Weighs In on Controversial GOP Chairman, The Texas Tribune

AP FACT CHECK: Claims from the GOP debate, Austin American-Statesman

Two GOP Texas lawmakers publicly blast Donald Trump, The Dallas Morning News

Whatever happened to the unruly mob? Texas Monthly

Chris Christie: I wasnt being held hostage, The Dallas Morning News

How will the Supreme Courts swing vote judge rule in Texas abortion case? Texas Observer

Scalias death already strengthening EPAs hand, farmers say, San Antonio Express-News

Mexico: No, we're not going to pay for the wall, Politico

Obamas long-term plan? Sticking around in D.C., The Dallas Morning News

Caitlyn Jenner: If Ted Cruz is elected president, Ill be his trans ambassador, The Dallas Morning News

Student files civil rights case against UNT over handling of rape report, The Dallas Morning News

Mexicans are disappearing from Texas in latest twist on oil bust, Bloomberg

QUOTE TO NOTE

No, I wasnt being held hostage. No, I wasnt sitting up there thinking, Oh, my God, what have I done?

- NJ Gov. Chris Christie on his appearance with Donald Trump after Super Tuesday

RACE TO THE WHITE HOUSE

-- 5 takeaways from the GOP debate, by Politicos Glenn Thursh. Trump bellowed and brayed, his face turning from burnt sienna to fiery crimson, as he was hit with accusations from all sides: Hed fleeced students at Trump University, flip-flopped on the assault weapons ban, sold out his supporters by secretly softening his immigration plan at a closed-door New York Timeseditorial board meeting and is, in general, too much of a lout to represent Republicans in a national election.

Trump, hoarse and irritated, stumbled badly when asked to explain the specifics of his thus-far vague policy proposals and responded with the usual insults aimed at Little Marco and Lyin Ted. He looked bad, real bad -- the lowlight was a personal guarantee that he had an adequately-sized penis. But so did his accusers, while fourth-place John Kasich made a pretty convincing case that he was the only adult in the room.

-- Rubio scrambles to undo Trump in Florida, by Politicos Marc Caputo. Polls show it. Elections data indicate it. The political class frets about it. And now his own campaign manager admits it. Marco Rubio is losing his home state of Florida  the place he has guaranteed hed win on March 15.

-- Is the Republican Party over? by CNNs Stephen Collinson. But unleashing a Republican civil war is fraught with risk, has staggering implications for the party itself and appears to fly in the face of the grim precedent of divided parties in American political history.

The path Romney and his allies have chosen leaves Republicans with a dilemma, assuming Trump extends his march toward the nomination in coming primaries and caucuses -- and there is little reason to think he won't. Either they must embrace a Romney-led attempt to overturn the democratically expressed will of millions of voters and risk alienating Trump supporters who, if they reject the GOP, could effectively hand the election to the Democrats.
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.
Exit Right: The People Who Left the Left and Reshaped the American Century, by Daniel Oppenheimer (Simon & Schuster, 404 pp., $28)

Daniel Oppenheimers Exit Right: The People Who Left the Left and Reshaped the American Century is an extended, misnamed argument-by-indirection. Its title notwithstanding, this is a book about the Left in which there is very little about how the Right reshaped the American century. Oppenheimer looks at the lives of six figuresWhittaker Chambers, James Burnham, Ronald Reagan, Norman Podhoretz, David Horowitz, and Christopher Hitchensin chronological order, he says, to show how beliefs are shaped and reshaped by psychological traumas and, for the first three figures, by the course of history. The upshot is a disjointed effort to acknowledge the crimes of Communism while turning a blind eye to the soft Stalinism and neo-Black Nationalist politics that have taken root today on campuses and in the Democratic Party.

The book opens with the early life of Chambers, whose extraordinary memoir Witness detailed his six-year stint as a Soviet spy and subsequent conversion to Christianity. The second chapter, on James Burnham and Trotskyism, shines, in part because Oppenheimer takes a break from pop psychologizing. In a footnote, the author quotes my old mentor and former Trotskyite Irving Howe on how the old man (Trotsky) believed that to write is to engage in a serious political act, a gesture toward the redemption or recreation of man. Seeing themselves as the true heirs of the Bolshevik Revolution, Trotskyites felt free to criticize the crimes of Communism. But in the wake of the 1939 HitlerStalin nonaggression pact, Burnhama leading anti-Stalinist leftistabandoned Trotskyism. Burnhams 1941 book, The Managerial Revolution: Whats Happening in the World, had a major influence on George Orwell, who transmuted his ideas about both the end of capitalism and the rival assertions of oligarchical power into the drama of 1984.

Oppenheimer rationalizes his labored treatment of these six figures by noting that it is during periods of political transition when the bones of ones belief system are broken and poking out through the skin, that the contingency and complexity of belief become most visible. This comely but tenuous formula falls apart when Oppenheimer writes about Norman Podhoretz. Maintaining that Podhoretzs shift from left to right was simply a result of the harsh reaction to his memoir, Making It, Oppenheimer ignores shattering events like the Six Day War and the civil war among American liberals set off by the battle over black self-segregation in Gothams Ocean Hill-Brownsville school crisis. He mentions neither incident, not even in passing.

Throughout his discussion of Podhoretz, Oppenheimers pop psychologizing substitutes for history. He seems puzzled by Podhoretzs disdain for Hannah Arendts Eichmann in Jerusalem and its benighted argument about the banality of evil. If Oppenheimer had paid attention to the evidence laid out in Bettina Stangneths Eichmann Before Jerusalem, he would have understood that the imperious Arendt had been hoodwinked by the Nazi war criminal. Similarly, if Oppenheimer hadnt concluded his examination of Podhoretz so abruptly, he could have noted that the Commentary editor and his then close friend, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, had broken with the Left without joining the Right.

The root problem with Exit Right is its ahistorical focus on how its subjects processed their anger. The book fails to account for the differences between political correctness in the 1940s and political correctness today. At the end of World War II, Ronald Reagan spoke of Americas triumph over the venom of fascist bigotry. But as Stalin was conquering Eastern Europe, Franklin Roosevelts oldest son, James, was assailed by Soviet supporters for supporting American ideals. Jimmy [Roosevelt] needed someone to stand up for him, said Reagan. Well, sir, I found myself waist-high in epithets such as fascist and capitalist scum and enemy of the proletariat and witch-hunter and red-baiter before I could say, Boo. Its redolent of Martin OMalley being pilloried by Black Lives Matter for stating that all lives matter. But unlike Reagan, OMalley quickly apologized for his politically incorrect faux pas.

Oppenheimer attempts to reduce the transformations hes written about to largely personal journeys. He fails to grasp that the tolerant liberalism he identified with the middle-aged Ronald Reagan was merely an interregnum. By the time Oppenheimer awkwardly concludes with a section on the idiosyncratic and independent leftist Christopher Hitchens, the book has sunk into a morass of misunderstandings.

Hitchens was the Madonna of Western journalisma man skilled at striking different poses. On the Israeli-Palestinian matter, Oppenheimer writes, which came to define Hitchens leftism perhaps more than any other issue in the 1980s, the British-American journalist took as guiding light the literary confidence man Edward Said. But Oppenheimer never mentions Saids Trump-like con, in which he posed as a victim of Israeli eviction from Jerusalem during the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict. The young Said, son of an American citizen, was actually living a comfortable life in Cairo at the time. The adult Said became an apologist for Palestinian terrorism and Arab dictators on the grounds, as he explained in his academic bestseller Orientalism, that the failures of the Arab world were created by the imperialist constructs of Western literature.

Oppenheimer has a hard time explaining Hitchenss conflicted postures. Strikingly, he misses one of Hitchenss central motivationsanti-fascism. No matter how much the British Left gyrated on issues, anti-fascism seemed to Hitchens the sturdy pole around which its enthusiasms orbited. That was largely true until the 2003 Iraq War, when the U.S. deposed Saddam Hussein, whose government had been modeled, like the Baathist Assad regime in Syria, on Mussolinis fascism. Hitchens had friends in London whod been tortured by Saddam Hussein. He was shaken free of much of his leftism by the Labourite defense of the dictator. Needless to say, none of this appears in Oppenheimers book.

Exit Right will get good reviews on the left and polite reviews elsewhere, but it offers no insights. It is simply pop psychology.

Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Californias legislature set out in 2012 to encourage the current and future development, testing, and operation of autonomous vehicles on the public roads of the statebut now, the state is poised effectively to ban such cars from the roads and highways. The Department of Motor Vehicles held a public workshop in Sacramento in late January and another in Los Angeles in early February to discuss draft regulations for autonomous vehicles. Though the rules wont be finalized before the end of the year, the news so far isnt goodfor the cars. Under the cover of consumer protection, the DMV proposes to limit the rollout of autonomous technology by, among other things, barring its commercial use, precluding truly autonomous operation, and prohibiting private sale and ownership of self-driving cars.

The DMV is best known for ensuring that 16-year-olds are minimally competent behind the wheel of traditional motor vehicles; it has no particular expertise in evaluating the appropriateness of vehicle-safety requirements. But that hasnt stopped the department from imposing an excess of caution on the approval of autonomous-vehicle technology. The idea of cars or trucks operating without steering wheels or human drivers is exciting to entrepreneurs and commuters. Googles autonomous car would have no steering wheel, or even pedals. A delivery service such as Google Express would likely roll out without drivers. Uber is researching how to replace drivers as well. Shipping and logistics companies also envision a future when goods move from harbors to warehouses in autonomous trucks. More than a dozen disabled activists appeared at the hearing in Los Angeles to urge the DMV to allow purely autonomous vehicles, saying they would be a boon for people, such as the blind, who are incapable of driving right now. But the idea is terrifying to bureaucrats and regulators. The DMVs smotheringand costlyapproach will likely become state policy, squelching such innovations.

Keeping driverless cars off the streets is one thing; why ban their sale entirely? DMV chief information officer Bernard Soriano said last month that because the proposed rules would place a three-year limit on the use of approved vehicles, buyers likely wouldnt receive much benefit over such a short period of ownership. Furthermore, the DMV believes that by prohibiting sales, the rules would protect early adopters of the technology from being stuck with vehicles that are later deemed unsafe by the department. Finally, the DMV maintains that leased vehicles, which remain under the ownership of the vehicle manufacturer, will be easier to collect data from.

The first of the rationales is the most compelling, but only compared with the others. With only three years before retirement, a purchased vehicles valuemuch of it traditionally recouped in its resalewould be destroyed by these regulations. The rule would shift a greater financial burden onto manufacturers and all but guarantee that the only people able to afford early vehicles, even by leasing them, will be wealthy. If anything, the three-year sunset requirement is itself a constructive ban on ownership, which makes the DMVs second rationale irrelevant. If a small, wealthy segment of the population is aware of the states strictures and doesnt mind temporarily possessing a vehicle thats doomed by law, it can certainly afford the risk. The states supposed desire to protect these people from loss seems at once unnecessary and disingenuous.

The DMVs third and final rationalecompliance with reporting requirementsis even more poorly conceived. As with every vehicle sold today, the manufacturer, for better or worse, controls the technology used and the data it produces. When you buy or lease a car, you sign a contract that says so explicitly. So the DMV would have access to any safety data it likes, regardless of whether the owner is the manufacturer or the end user.

Without question, prohibiting private sale and ownership of self-driving cars and trucks would destroy value and raise costs. Google has already threatened to take its autonomous vehicle business elsewhere. Given that outcome, the DMVs justifications simply dont hold up. So why would the DMV push prohibition with such gusto? Why would the state pursue policies to discourage the adoption of vehicles that, by virtually all accounts, would be orders of magnitude safer than traditionally operated vehicles? And, how does a department charged with enacting the will of the legislature land so far afield of the legislatures stated goal of creating a legal framework that promotes autonomous vehicles? Very simply, lawmakers deferred too much authority to a bureaucracy, and Californias motorists will pay the price.

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Journalism has a drug problem. Its festered for years, from the panic-stricken coverage of marijuana in the 1930s, through the War on Drugs, to the spike in heroin use today. At issue is reporting that is frenzied, frightened, and too often shaped and spun by law enforcement. At risk is a misinformed public.

But what if a news outlet were to abandon the long-held assumptions and conventions of drug and addiction reporting? Thats the goal of The Influence, a single-issue website with a four-person staff that aims to promote a rational view of drugs. It comes at a time when a number of news outlets are amping up their drug coverage. Yet The Influences progressive view of drugs trades one battle for another: Instead of police spin, its writers contend with slant from advocates and the sprawling rehab industry.

The site, which launched last month, doesnt officially support or denounce drug use. Editor in Chief Will Godfrey says the work is largely guided by an often ignored reality: that most people who get high, even off hard drugs, dont become addicts. That focus leads the outlet to stories that are overlooked by big-name media. Drugs are not malign entities out to get us; neither are they manna from the gods, Godfrey says. If we approach drugs rationally, we have a much better chance of using or not using them in a way that is good for society.

Over the past few years, a demand for advertising in the recovery industry, coupled with large news outlets resolve to cover the growing heroin problem in the US, has begun to stimulate the drug reporting beat. In the best cases, the journalism coming out of these outlets is thoughtful, and its skeptical of prevailing narratives. A few recent examples: The Atlantic has challenged the effectiveness of Alcoholics Anonymous, The Huffington Post has investigated legal obstacles facing addicts seeking Suboxone and similar recovery drugs, and The Boston Globe has questioned the very language we use to discuss addiction.

If we approach drugs rationally, we have a much better chance of using or not using them in a way that is good for society.

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For years, this has been an area where bad things can flourish because there is no light, says Maia Szalavitz, a longtime drug reporter and author of the upcoming book Unbroken Brain: A Revolutionary New Way of Understanding Addiction. In the past, I could name the people who have specialized in covering this for more than a few years on one hand.

The Influences story on synthetic drugs like K2 is an example of that changing tide. The piece, by Deputy Editor Tana Ganeva, calls into question the fear and hype that has marked similar reports, such as those that echo police concerns and label the substance highly dangerous or describe users as zombies. Ganeva focuses on the drugs grip on homeless people, and she builds her story on interviews with users, advocates on the street, and scientific researchers. The piece doesnt undermine the health and social dangers of synthetic drugs; it challenges the notion that these drugs are causing mass hysteria, opting to explore why people use themand where to go from here.

That kind of nuance, rather than alarmist absolutism, represents The Influence at its brightest. But in a country thats still waging the War on Drugs, merely presenting a more complex story can ring the bell of bias. Reporting on drugs from any standpoint but the status quo can draw suspicion from readers and policymakers, and the staff at The Influence knows it. The publications most challenging hurdle may be getting people to believe them.

Were not going to run a story that says marijuana cures cancer, says Kristen Gwynne, an associate editor who previously ran drug coverage at the far-left website AlterNet. We are committed to backing up everything we say with evidence. Scientists and their studies, Influence staffers say, guide coverage. Of course, sites run by activists and wishful thinkers, whether disingenuous or simply misguided, have also claimed a dedication to science, and their efforts have ultimately led to the spread of misinformation.

The Influences writers acknowledge that they harbor opinions. But they are markedly different from that cohort in that they are actually journalists. Their bylines have appeared in publications like The Daily Beast, Rolling Stone, and Vice News. Theyre all millennials, but theyve been in the business for several years. One associate editor worked in the Middle East as a foreign correspondent. Digital heavyweights like Vice, HuffPo, and Refinery29 have republished The Influences work.

The site is not without its flaws. A piece on attacks against electronic cigarettes, for instance, casually mentions an avalanche of methodologically flawed and widely publicized studies that link the product to cancer. But the author neglects due diligence, linking to the academic reports but to nothing that refutes their legitimacy. Unsupported assertions supply critics with ammo.

Perhaps the greatest worry for the sites reputation is its owner and founder, AVA Consultants, a marketing company that designs websites and magazines for rehab clinics and halfway houses. Godfrey says the company is pumping $30,000 per month into The Influences editorial operation. An executive at AVA says stakeholders hope the site will become a household name in the recovery field, which could boost the companys ability to draw new clients. AVA declined to provide any additional information regarding the investment.

For years, this has been an area where bad things can flourish because there is no light.

Drug-centric news services are becoming more common as recovery companies look to advertise. Insiders say the trend picked up after the passage of the Affordable Care Act, which expanded insurance coverage for addiction treatment. The first of its kind was The Fix, which was established in 2011 and soon found that there was money in directing people toward the rehab clinics that best suit them. Rehabs.com, the defunct Substance.com (Godfrey once edited the site, along with The Fix*), and RenewEveryDay.com have all made a business out of covering the wide-ranging world of drugs while selling ads or marketing plans to recovery companies, backed by their editorial work. Theres been little reporting on this phenomenon and few verdicts on the strength of the resulting news coverage. The force of the invisible hand of the business side in each operation is unknown.

Godfreys contract includes a clause that protects The Influences editorial independence, a power that he has demonstrated. One of The Influences strongest pieces is a reported column by Szalavitz, who highlights the lack of regulations in the rehab industry and argues for reform. The piece questions some strategies used by AVAs clients. I certainly wouldnt be interested in writing for anywhere that is going to get me seen as some kind of tool of industry, Szalavitz says. Conversely, AVA Consultants does not endorse any opinions or information published on The Influence.

Interested parties loom over nearly every subject monitored by journalists. Yet to achieve a place of respect in the industry, The Influence must battle public perceptions molded by decades of pro-drug war propaganda. Its reporting and prose, therefore, must help readers to distinguish between unconventional drug and addiction reporting and advocates messages. Further, Influence staffers repeatedly make clear that they respect the horrible effects associated with some drug use.

The Influence does publish opinion pieces by well-known doctors in the addiction space. But the reporting in these stories relies on factslike the column by Carl Hart, a Columbia University psychology and psychiatry professor, on the proven effects of meth, which are similar to the study-drug Adderall when properly administered, and parroted misperceptions of the drug.

The Influences reporters do original deep dives, first-person takes (such as this crusade against the stereotype of junkie sex workers), and snarky aggregation.

This counter-intuitive journalism requires readers to scrutinize the truths put forth by anti-drug public service announcements, self-interested police, and politicians who are hooked on the status quo. But Godfrey says moves toward marijuana legalization and harm-reduction measures for opioid users make now the right time for a journalistic pivot. Where America is right now is discussing the extent and exact nature of drug policy reform, he says. Its not talking about whether drug policy reform should happen.

Perhaps the issue for sites like The Influence, then, is not whether its coverage may succumb to the sway of drug-policy reformers, or even their owners. The pressing question is whether such outlets can more accurately report reality than mainstream journalists historically have. Reaching that goal requires the fear-mongering to go up in smoke, and The Influence is stoking those flames.

*This sentence has been edited for clarity.

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Jack Murtha is a CJR Delacorte Fellow. Follow him on Twitter at @JackMurtha
It was two snippets of video that ended up costing Melissa Click her job last week.

Click shot from obscurity to infamy in November when, while employed as an assistant professor of communications at the University of Missouri in Columbia, she was caught on tape calling for some muscle to remove a student videographer from a public space during a campus protest.

When the universitys Board of Curators voted to fire Click on Feb. 25, that episode was listed as part of the reasonbut only part.

The board also cited Clicks actions at an October homecoming demonstration that was a pivotal moment in the campus protests, when she cursed at a police officer as he moved protesters off of a street. That, too, was captured on video.

Both videos came to light via the work of student journalists, but the second came from an unusual source: a police body camera. The footage was obtained from the Columbia police department through an open-records request by the Columbia Missourian, a community newspaper staffed by students but managed by professionals and faculty.*

These body-cams have come into increasingly widespread use in recent years, as civil-rights activists and law enforcement alike turn to them for a record of the truth in controversial police incidents.

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But the proliferation of police video has prompted new questions about who gets to see itand with the rules about retention and release of the footage very much up for debate, the Missouri case highlights the challenges in striking a balance between police accountability, government transparency, and personal privacy. It shows, too, how efforts to resolve that tension can divide advocates for open government and civil liberties, who often find themselves on the same side of debates involving police.

The video of the encounter at the homecoming parade is not what body cameras are supposed to be used for, said Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst for American Civil Liberties Union, which supports the use of cameras but favors limits on the release of footage. While Click very rightly was criticized for her actions in the video captured by a student journalist, Stanley said, the release of the body-cam video has the feel of surveillance being used for piling on.

His comments echo those of The Atlantics Conor Friedersdorf, who wrote that the body-cam footage demonstrated a troubling unintended consequence of the technology:

[W]hile I very much favor mandatory body cameras on police officers, this footage strikes me as an example of their costs. A woman becomes an object of controversy, and suddenly people are digging back into the archives of body-cam footage to unearth any moment that might reflect poorly on her.

For transparency advocates, those misgivings are worth grappling with; some of the national coverage in this case made me uneasy, too. Still, given Clicks elevation, however unsought, to the status of public figure, its hard to argue that footage of her actions at a public protest, viewed alongside other accounts, wasnt newsworthy. And its hard to imagine a system for retention and release that doesnt make some trade-offs between competing concerns. (In a statement, Click disputed elements of the report that led to her termination, and said that both videos deserve to be understood in a wider frame of reference, among all of the momentous events occurring on campus.)

At the Missourian, journalists say their goal was not to expose or hurt Click, but simply to tell her story, and that of the protest movement on campus, as comprehensively as possible. And the homecoming protest captured by the body-cam footage wasnt just any moment, says Tom Warhover, the papers executive editor and an associate professor of journalism at MU. It was one of the pivotal moments in the social-justice movement on campus in the last year.

The Missourian had already published a video of the homecoming protest just after it happened in October. Click, in fact, was visible in that video, but at that point, no one took notice.

Before the muscle incident happened, she was just another person who joined the protest. But her actions changed perceptions, Brian Kratzer, the Missourians director of photography and an assistant professor of journalism, wrote in an email. About a day or two later, one of my students pointed out she was in our Homecoming video.

Kratzer asked graduate student reporter William Schmitt to make a public-records request to the Columbia police for all body-cam footage of the protest and relevant incident reports. They received the footage in late January; Kratzer reviewed it and found the sequence in which Click cursed at police. Still, the paper hesitated before releasing it.

Fully aware that this video alone could feel like a hit piece, with little or no context or reason other than the spectacle of more public shaming, I realized we had to wait for the right time, Kratzer said.

The paper sat on the video for a few weeks before finally folding it into a long-form profile written by Schmitt that was published on Feb. 13. Framed around Clicks efforts to rehabilitate her image, the story quoted her at length along with comments from friends, students, and former colleagues. Schmitt also gave her the opportunity to respond to the previously unreleased homecoming video, which appeared two sections into the piece.

But despite the broader perspective the article provided, it was the video itself that drew all the attentionand spawned a new wave of national coverage. The public shaming happened anyway.

Body-cams present us with a very tricky dilemma.

This is what concerns body-cam advocates like the ACLUs Stanley, who has written that police dash-cam footage has at times been released for no important public reason instead serving only to embarrass individuals. Body-cams, he wrote, present the same risks.

Its difficult for us because we are a transparency organization, but we also are a privacy organization, he said in an interview. Body-cams present us with a very tricky dilemma.

Stanley has helped craft ACLU model legislation that, among other things, would set limits on what footage can be retained and released. Under the model bill, body-cam video would be deleted after six months and exempt from public disclosure unless certain conditions were met, including use of force or events leading up to a felony arrest.

Its not clear, though, that release of the homecoming video would have been blocked under such a law. Some use of force, however minor, was arguably applied by police in moving demonstrators off the street. And, as Stanley said, we dont want the definition of use of force to be too narrow. A narrow definition could give too much discretion to police about when to release footage.

For now, the Columbia police department says that its policy is to retain all footage for 60 days, with the option to retain indefinitely if necessary in some cases. There are no apparent limitations preventing release of footage beyond exemptions that already exist in Missouri for all police records.

But Missouri and states throughout the country have been considering legislation governing body cams, ostensibly to protect privacy but sometimes imposing limitations on access more onerous than those proposed by the ACLU. When South Carolina last year became the first state to require all local police departments to adopt body-cams, it simultaneously made the footage exempt from public-records requests.

Even the ACLUs proposal goes too far for some transparency advocates. In December, researchers at Yales Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic argued in a white paper that existing freedom-of-information laws are sufficient to protect citizens privacy, and that states should not enact further restrictions on body-cam access. We appreciate the ACLUs high regard for citizen privacy, the authors said in a statement to CJR. But, they added, where needed, courts can decide how best to balance this privacy with the need for information accessibility. Body cam footage can and should be treated like other public records.

The fight for access to body-cam footage, as with all kinds of public records, will continue for the foreseeable future. There may never be a full consensus, but journalists can help their case for access to footage by being judicious in how they use it.

At the Missourian, Warhover is confident his paper did the right thing. But, he says, I totally get the privacy concerns with body cameras. If theyre misused, you could be publishing anything about anybody in which police respond to a call. And thats one reason we need a responsible press as opposed to a free-for-all.

* This sentence originally referred to the Missourian as a campus newspaper. The Missourian is staffed by students at the Missouri School of Journalism, but it serves the city of Columbia and the surrounding region. The sentence has been adjusted for clarity.

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Deron Lee is CJRs correspondent for Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska. A writer and copy editor who has spent nine years with the National Journal Group, he has also contributed to The Hotline and the Lawrence Journal-World. He lives in the Kansas City area. Follow him on Twitter at @deron_lee.
Its not legal, but Doug Klein says he hasnt put front license plates on his cars in 30 years. Hes willing to risk getting a ticket to keep it that way.

Klein is the owner of American Dream Machines in downtown Des Moines, a dealership with an inventory that includes such classic cars as a gleaming red 1957 Cadillac Eldorado convertible and a sleek black 1995 Ferrari 348 Spider.

I dont see the logic of someone spending $50,000 to $100,000 for a beautiful car, and then you have to slap a license plate on the front, Klein said.

The Des Moines Register reports that the Iowa House is considering House File 540, which would require only a rear license plate on vehicles. The Iowa Department of Transportation says the change would save more than $500,000 annually.

But Iowa law enforcement officials have pushed back against the bill, raising concerns that the absence of a front license plate can hinder police work.

State Rep. Josh Byrnes, chairman of the House Transportation Committee, said hes received more emails in support of getting rid of one license plate than he did from both sides last year when the Legislature raised the gas tax by 10 cents a gallon.

People want this thing gone, Byrnes said.

Nationwide, 19 states do not require a front license plate.

But law enforcement officers say having front and rear license plates is important for criminal investigations, both for tracking vehicles and surveillance camera recordings. Law officers also say having two plates on a car is important when they issue Amber Alerts to seek public cooperation when a child has been abducted and is in danger.

Not having that front plate cuts the chances of seeing the suspects license plates in half. We think it would be a step backward for public safety, said Maj. John Godar of the Linn County Sheriffs Office, who is also president of the Iowa State Sheriffs & Deputies Association.

The Iowa DOT hasnt taken a position on the one-plate debate. But eliminating the front license plate would prevent people from avoiding detection of unregistered vehicles by splitting plate pairs on two vehicles, said Mark Lowe, director of the DOTs Motor Vehicle Division. Although if pairs are split, only one plate would have a registration tag.

The Iowa Automobile Dealers Association officially supports the one-plate legislation, in part because new car bumpers dont have holes drilled to install license plate brackets. Sales representatives need to inform new car buyers that Iowa law requires a front license plate and then get permission to install it.

For a lot of people, the front of a car typically looks much cleaner, much better, without a front license plate, said Jim Usgaard, general manager of Willis Auto Campus in Clive, which sells seven brands of new vehicles and all types of pre-owned cars.

In addition, many new vehicles are designed with bumpers that cause low-hanging license plates to strike curbs, damaging the plates, said Bruce Anderson, president of the Iowa Automobile Dealers Association. He noted Iowa law already permits car dealers to demonstrate vehicles with a single dealer plate, and cars from states with one-plate laws can operate legally in Iowa.

But theres not much sympathy for those one-plate arguments from legislators with backgrounds in law enforcement.

State Rep. Clel Baudler, who is a retired state trooper, recalled how he would closely inspect vehicles without a front plate when they would pull into an interstate highway rest area.

If there are a bunch of bugs on the back plate, the car is probably stolen, because the plate was taken off the front of a vehicle, he said.

State Sen. Kevin Kinney, a retired investigator for the Johnson County Sheriffs Office, said hes found that front plates often are more visible to surveillance cameras than rear plates, which frequently are mounted on the back of the cars trunk lid.

In response to critics, Byrnes said hes hoping to forge a compromise that would exempt owners of cars and trucks at least 25 years old from needing to install two license plates. Another idea is to allow people with high-priced cars to pay an extra fee, perhaps $100, for the right to have just one license plate.

If you can afford an expensive car, you could afford the fee, Byrnes said. I have talked with people who own Corvettes or whatever and asked, `Would you pay for this? They have said, Absolutely. So I think we are making some headway.

But Baudler, who chairs the House Public Safety Committee, said while hes OK with allowing one plate for vintage cars, he doesnt like the idea of buyouts for well-heeled owners of newer vehicles.

I understand that people dont want to display a front plate on their Corvette, but its not good policy, Baudler said.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Uncle Sam is looking for a few good hackers.

As part of an effort to test its cybersecurity, the U.S. Defense Department is challenging computer geeks from the private sector to hack its public websites and networks. To sweeten the pot for would-be hackers, the military is dangling unspecified cash awards and the prospect of other recognition.

I am always challenging our people to think outside the five-sided box that is the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Wednesday in a statement announcing the program. Inviting responsible hackers to test our cybersecurity certainly meets that test.

The Hack the Pentagon initiative marks the first time the U.S. government has put a bounty on finding weaknesses in network security, a technique private companies often employ, according to a Pentagon statement. Federal agencies are under almost constant assault from computer hackers, and defense officials have repeatedly cited Russia and China as suspected perpetrators of attacks on U.S. networks.

One requirement that may scare off those hackers who consider themselves rebels and might even admire Edward Snowden for the government secrets he disclosed: The Pentagon is requiring participants to register and pass a background check before deputizing them to go after its websites. Nor will the program turn the hackers loose on any mission-critical systems, the Pentagon said.

The controlled, limited duration pilot program in hacking will start in April, according to the Pentagon, which promised more details in coming weeks.

Russian Hackers

In a speech last year, Carter disclosed that Russian hackers had penetrated one of the Defense Departments unclassified computer networks. The perpetrators had entered through an old vulnerability that hadnt been patched, he said in remarks at Stanford University.

Since taking office a year ago, Carter has sought to enlist private-sector help in strengthening the Pentagons cybersecurity, particularly through collaboration with some of the biggest companies in Silicon Valley.

As part of that effort, the defense chief announced on Wednesday plans to create a 12-member Defense Innovation Advisory Board, headed by Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Alphabet Inc., the company that owns Google.

The other members will be chosen by Carter and Schmidt and represent a cross-section of Americas most innovative industries, drawing on technical and management expertise from Silicon Valley and beyond, the Pentagon said in a statement.

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.
A sense of normalcy is returning to St. John the Baptist Parish after a tornado struck the west side of LaPlace, Louisiana, last week and damaged more than 500 buildings but remarkably left no one seriously injured.

The area hit last week was the same area that flooded in 2012 during Hurricane Isaac.

Schools in the parish reopened Monday while businesses and homeowners began repairs.

The LaPlace tornado was one of 13 that struck in Louisiana on Feb. 23. Two men were killed when a tornado touched down at a RV park in nearby St. James Parish. Thirty others were injured there, officials said.

We have some resilient people in St. John Parish and they will do what it takes to return to a normal life, said Travis Perrilloux, assistant director of the St. John Parish Office of Emergency Preparedness.

Perrilloux said 525 structures were damaged and 100 are considered uninhabitable in five subdivisions. St. John received help from surrounding parishes that have supplied personnel and equipment to remove much of the debris, he said.

Perrilloux said it will take several months for some homes to be repaired and even longer for others. Homes that cant be repaired will be torn down, he said.

Jennifer Boquet (bow-kay), a spokeswoman for the school system, said there was no noticeable drop in attendance on the first day back to school Monday. It appears the extra days off gave families time to regroup and return to the school routine, she said.

The school district will provide supplies and uniforms to students who lost their possessions in the tornado, Boquet said.

The Home Depot store in LaPlace is ground zero for those needing repair supplies.

First it was lumber, plywood and tarps to help cover homes in the days after the tornado, store manager James Barger said.

We are now seeing a run on shingles and insulation as homeowners begin to repair their roofs, Barger said.

Barger says Home Depot sent a truck to different subdivisions to hand out water, tarps, trash bags and racks to help people clean up their property.

He says electricians are also coming in to buy meter heads and breaker boxes to replace those damaged by the storm.

Volunteers have flocked in too.

Among them are about 100 volunteers with Hope Reigns, a nonprofit Christian group based in Tupelo, Mississippi. John Fuqua, one of the leaders of the group, said this is his second time in LaPlace. The first time was after Hurricane Isaac.

One of those getting help from Hope Reigns is Kristine Darwin.

The whole family was home when the tornado struck. We could feel the pressure change and part of the roof was torn off and the rain starting pouring in, Darwin said.

Darwin, whose husband works for St. John Parish, was going to attempt the repairs, but she said after speaking to a representative with Hope Reign, a crew of volunteers showed up and repaired what they could on the roof and covered the rest with tarps.

They were a godsend, Darwin said.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Akron police 4

Akron police are investigating the attempted robbery of a pizza deliverywoman.

(File photo)

AKRON, Ohio -- A group of men grabbed a pizza deliverywoman from behind and tried to rob her, police said.

The 22-year-old Marco's Pizza driver told police she was delivering pizzas about 7 p.m. in the 2100 block of 12th Street.

Three men walked up from behind her and grabbed her. One man demanded the woman give them money. The woman told police that she screamed and that the men ran away, police reports say.

The girl got into her car and drove back to the pizza shop in the 2400 block of Manchester Road and waited for police.

It's the second time a Marco's Pizza delivery driver has been robbed within the past week.

The first robbery happened Feb. 25 on North Hawkins Avenue. The robber threatened to shoot the driver if he looked at him. He stole $100, pizza and wings, according to police reports.

The gunman ran to a van parked nearby and jumped in. The van sped off. The pizza delivery driver got in his car and followed. The deliveryman followed the van until it crashed into a telephone pole at Stadelman and Hayden avenues.

The 19-year-old and a 17-year-old were arrested. A second 17-year-old was arrested later that day. An 18-year-old man was later accused of being the getaway driver. He turned himself in to police on Thursday.
BARBERTON, Ohio -- A jury on Friday acquitted a Coventry Township trustee of resisting arrest on the morning he was voted into office.

Richard Kutuchief, 63, was found not guilty of a third-degree misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest. A second-degree misdemeanor charge of obstructing justice was dismissed by Visiting Judge Robert Lavery before the trial.

The trial lasted all day Thursday. Closing arguments took about an hour Friday and the jury of six women and two men deliberated about two hours before reaching a decision. The trial was held in Barberton Municipal Court.

Kutuchief is a longtime defense attorney and a member of the local bar association's grievance committee, which investigates and recommends punishment for ethical violations by attorneys.

He said he found a new level of empathy for the criminal defendants he represents.

"I really have a new appreciation of what they go through," Kutuchief said. "There was just such a great sense of relief after the verdict."

Kutuchief testified during the trial that he voted for himself on Nov. 3 and went to another polling location to shake hands with voters. He stopped his motorcycle along the way to take some pictures in a residential neighborhood.

Lt. Richard Armsey testified Thursday that Kutuchief piqued his interest because of a recent string of burglaries. The lieutenant said that he confronted Kutuchief and asked him why he was taking pictures.

Both men's testimony included conflicting accounts of what happened next. Armsey said Kutuchief pulled away and he had to take him to the ground. Kutuchief said that Armsey knocked the phone out of his hand and slammed him to the ground.

Defense attorney Jeff Laybourne that his client complied with all of Armsey's orders.

"Why would a politician on election day argue with anyone?" Laybourne said. "He wouldn't with you, the gas station attendant, the person he gets his coffee from, let alone a police officer. It's illogical."

Special prosecutor Brendan Mackin, a Stow prosecutor, argued Friday that Kutuchief was within his rights to not answer questions by Armsey. But Armsey was also within his rights to detain him until he got a proper identification.

"He has a reputation to uphold," Mackin said. "Now he needs to save face and come up with an excuse for himself. He's shifting the blame to Lt. Armsey."

Mackin also said Kutuchief as a defense attorney had time to come up with a story to defend his actions.

"He's a defense attorney," Mackin said. "He knows how to spin a story and he's had four months to come up with this one."

Laybourne, in turn, pointed to the taped interview with investigators that happened right after the incident.

"What he said in that interview is 100 percent consistent with his testimony yesterday," Laybourne said. "He didn't have any time to come up with a story. Lt. Armsey had four months to come up with his story."

Armsey refused to shake Kutuchief's hand after the trial ended.
Springfield Township police

A Springfield High School student was charged after police say she wrote a shooting threat on a bathroom wall at the school.

(File photo)

SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- A Springfield Township High School student faces criminal charges Friday after school officials after school officials discovered a shooting threat on a bathroom wall.

An 18-year-old junior was arrested on a second-degree felony count of inducing panic.

School officials learned about the threat about 10 a.m. The girl wrote that a shooting was going to happen that day at the high school, according to court records.

The school was locked down as police investigated. Investigators found no evidence of a possible shooting.

Springfield Township police said another student was arrested Wednesday for a bomb threat in the Springfield Intermediate School wing of the building.

An eighth-grade student wrote a threat on the wall in that case. He was charged in juvenile court.

"This irresponsible and dangerous behavior will not be tolerated and there will be serious consequences for these actions," according to a post on the police department's Facebook page. "With that in mind, please know that we also can not allow a few reckless youths to disrupt and dictate the educational process."

Two other area schools had bomb threats on Thursday and Friday.

Kent Roosevelt High School on Friday was evacuated after a bomb threat was found written on a bathroom wall. Classes were cancelled for the day and police searched the school with six bomb-sniffing dogs.

Superintendent George Joseph said the dogs gave an alert for a locker and a car in the parking lot.

"That was enough to evacuate," Joseph said.

Nothing was found in the locker or the car, Joseph said.

A bomb threat written on the bathroom wall Thursday at Kimpton Middle School in Stow caused a band concert to be canceled. Stow police searched the building and found nothing.
Circle K 1.JPG

This drawing of an aerial view of the Circle K proposed for Mayfield Road in Cleveland Heights shows the large amount of greensapce the company has planned for the site. Residents attending a public hearing Thursday night at city hall, however, were against the development.

(Jeff Piorkowski/Special to cleveland.com)

Resident Brenda May of the Noble Neighbors group speaks against the proposed Circle K development. May was one of 30 speakers at Thursday night's public hearing.

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- In a public hearing Thursday night that lasted two and a half hours and featured comments from 30 residents, one thing was made clear -- the sentiment of those in attendance was that a Circle K gas station/convenience store is not wanted on Mayfield Road.

One by one, residents took to the microphone stating their objections to the station proposed for Mayfield Road and Vandemar Street, property centered around the old Center Mayfield movie theater.

Residents argued that the new business would cause added litter, traffic problems, environmental concerns and safety issues.

Circle K is attempting to get rezoned for retail use the last two single-family homes on the southern end of Vandemar, on the east side of the street. Demolition of these homes, combined with demolition of the Center Mayfield Theater and adjoining retail buildings that extend east to Noble Road would clear space for a Circle K.

At the end of the hearing, during which residents heard for the first time from the property's owner and a Circle K representative, Mayor Cheryl Stephens said council would deliberate on the matter and have an answer for the public at City Council's next meeting, March 7.

Circle K plans to invest $4.5 million at what would be, with the two houses, a 1.8-acre site, according to Circle K Real Estate Development Manager John Iski.

During the hearing, Iski attempted several selling points to residents.

"When completed, there would be .8 acres of greenspace that doesn't exist now," he said.

Also, Iski said that, in acknowledgement of the surrounding neighborhoods, Circle K would a build a convenience store with a brick facade at an extra cost of $100,000. Brick is not in keeping the more plain look of the current Circle K prototype store.

He also spoke of adding sidewalks on three sides of the property, and of providing a greenspace at the rear property line of 58 feet, much larger than the city code's requirement of 20 feet.

Iski further said downlighting would be used at the pump stations, keeping glare at a minimum. The station would have 16 pumps and would be open 24 hours.

Speaking of residents' concerns, Iski said, "We understand and we want to be part of the community."

Also speaking to residents was Arthur Treuhaft, president of the property's owner, T-Building Co. The Center Mayfield property goes back a long way in Treuhaft's family, as his grandfather, father and uncle were responsible for building the retail storefronts there in 1917. The theater was added in 1936.

Treuhaft termed the strip as it now exists "obsolete," and gave several reasons for that description.

For one, he said, "The property has always been challenged by parking."

Further, he said the theater building is not ADA accessible and to convert it for accessibility would be too costly. He also said that because of its condition, the rent that can be obtained from it is low versus the taxes, $63,000 annually, that must be paid.

The building contains asbestos that would cost an estimated $179,000 to remove.

Treuhaft said he spent two to three years working with the city to try and find other uses for the building, but none were feasible, until getting interest from Circle K.

"I believe that kind of business (Circle K) can be beneficial to the neighborhood," he said. "At the end of the day we believe that the Circle K project is going to be an enhancement to a neighborhood confronted with a blighted building."

Residents did not see it the same way as Treuhaft.

"I'm afraid the Circle K gas station there will cause an increase in crime, with fighting and gunshots," said Vandemar resident Ivory Jordan, who lives next door to one of the homes proposed for rezoning.

Resident Bob Brown, who described himself as a zoning expert of 40 years, said the city is under no obligation to rezone the home properties as a benefit must be shown to the city to properly bring about rezoning. He also reminded council that any gas station would also require a conditional use permit.

Resident C.J. Nash, who said she is a research chemist, spoke about the cumulative negative effects on the environment of drops of gasoline falling on the pavement when motorists fill their tanks.

A resident who gave her name as Patricia and who resides on Vandemar, said she moved to the street from New York City. She said that she and her boyfriend are considering raising children on the street.

But, she said, "Having a gas station at the end of the street is really making us think about moving to another neighborhood."

Deanna Bremer Fisher, executive director of the organization Future Heights, read a statement in which the organization officially opposed the rezoning.

Meanwhile, resident Evie Morris suggested using the old movie theater, which showed its last movie in 1996 and which last had a business operating inside more than six years ago, as a community arts center. The old LaSalle Theater on East 185th Street in Cleveland is going through such a transition and could as a model, she said.

Adding some levity to the situation was Mayfield Road resident Howard Van Kleef, who used his time at the podium to sing, to the tune of "16 Tons," a song he wrote lyrics to called "16 Pumps," about how bad the Circle K would be for the neighborhood.

The approximately 70 people in attendance behaved in a mannerly fashion.

Iski said that Circle K now has a purchase agreement in place for the homes at 1411 and 1490 Vandemar St.

When asked if Circle K would still build if it didn't get the home properties rezoned, he said, "We don't want to do that."

Iski, who commented that he sees the proposed development as a "convenience store that sells gas," rather than a gas station with a convenience store, said Circle K is actually spending more money to acquire the homes so that more greenspace can be provided for residents.

Iski said, however, it is possible that Circle K would build without getting rezoning for the homes.

Meanwhile, Treuhaft said, T-Building Co. has a purchase agreement in place with Circle K for the Center Mayfield property.
fbi.jpg

The Cleveland Division of the FBI is closing its Elyria office.

(Plain Dealer file photo)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland Division of the FBI will close its Elyria branch in April, a decision that came as a disappointment to law-enforcement officials who worked with agents for years.

While often referred to as "the Elyria branch," the office is actually located on Ridge Road in Lorain.

Special Agent in Charge Steve Anthony, who heads the local FBI division, said it became difficult to justify the expense of the office since it's only 28 miles from the agency's Lakeside Avenue branch in downtown Cleveland and only serves one county.

"Our commitment to Lorain County has not wavered a bit," Anthony said.

There have been two agents in the Lorain County office in the past few years. No agents will lose their jobs as a result of the closure, Anthony said.

"We have to, as an organization, as a government entity, make those hard decisions on what we want to be," he said.

The decision to close the office comes at a time that Lorain County's population is growing, as some who live closer to Cleveland are moving farther west.

And the law enforcement that patrols that area think the void left by the small office will be felt. In the past few years, the FBI investigated several large cases in Lorain County, including a now-convicted sex trafficker from Elyria and a Sheffield Lake man accused of buying an AK-47 to support the Islamic State terrorist group.

"We feel there's enough work here to keep us busy," Lorain police Chief Cel Rivera said.

In addition to investigating federal crimes, the FBI also helps local police process crime scenes and analyze evidence. Elyria Police Chief Duane Whitely said Anthony assured him that agents and staff will show up when needed.

Anthony also said several FBI agents live in Lorain County and that large cases will still be investigated. The only thing that changes is where the agents work, he said.

Whitely said that he would like to see the office remain open.

"I would prefer them to be here, there's no question about that," he said, adding that seeing agents from time-to-time helped foster a better relationship between the federal and local agencies.

Chief Deputy Dennis Cavanaugh of the Lorain County Sheriff's Office shared Whitely's concerns, but said the department will adapt.

"It's much easier to have that working relationship one-on-one with people you see frequently," Cavanaugh said.

All three administrators said they have offered permanent space for FBI agents to work. Anthony said he has accepted their offers when needed.

The Cleveland division also has offices in Painesville, Akron, Canton, Youngstown, Sandusky, Toledo, Mansfield and Lima.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A federal judge ruled that the city of Bedford Heights may be liable for the death of a Shaker Heights man who was restrained in the city's jail.

U.S. District Judge Patricia Gaughan wrote that officers there might have been indifferent to the medical needs of Omar Arrington-Bey when they put the 38-year-old in an isolation cell for nine hours. She wrote that they put Arrington-Bey in a restraint chair after he attacked two officers, and he later died at the hospital.

Gaughan also ruled that a jury should decide whether the city should be held liable for Arrington-Bey's death because the city rarely provided mental-health training for its officers, if at all. Judges rarely allow such claims to proceed, because they are difficult to prove.

"While the City had written policies for dealing with mentally ill inmates, the evidence shows that there was no training program in place regarding the policies," Gaughan wrote in a 53-page opinion. "Many of the officers had not reviewed the policies in years, and no supervisors required the officers to review them."

(You can read the full opinion here or at the bottom of this story.)

Arrington-Bey, 38, suffered a "sudden cardiac death in association with physical altercation and bipolar disease," according to the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office. The death was labeled a homicide.

The family of Arrington-Bey, who wrestled for Shaker Heights High School as a teen, filed suit in 2014.

Terry Gilbert, an attorney representing Arrington-Bey's family, said he is thrilled with Gaughan's ruling. He said the officers should not be held completely at fault for Arrington-Bey's death, because they didn't know how to properly handle the situation.

"They were put in a situation where they really had no training and no direction and no resources," Gilbert said. "So I didn't want to just go after the individuals. I wanted to make sure the city of Bedford Heights is held accountable."

Jim Climer, an attorney representing the city, declined to comment. A message left for the mayor was not immediately returned.

The decision lays out excruciating details of the events that led up to Arrington-Bey's death. The officers took no steps to determine if Arrington-Bey was mentally ill, according to the opinion.

According to the opinion:

Bedford Heights police were called to Lowe's on Miles Road on June 21, 2013. Arrington-Bey was fired from his job there and he went to the store with his mother Anita to pick up his final paycheck.

Arrington-Bey acted out, kicked and threw cans of stain, and he was arrested.

Officers found an unmarked bottle of pills in his pockets. He told the officers that he had the pills for a psychiatric condition and that he had not taken his medication for days. His mother agreed.

During the investigation, Arrington-Bey "'did not stop talking' and 'was rambling and ranting and raving about every possible topic he could think of.'"

Officers took him to the jail. Arrington-Bey was agitated and continued to ramble and act out. Corrections officer Jeffrey Mudra took him out of his cell to make a phone call. Arrington-Bey "grabbed Mudra by the neck and slammed him to the floor" and choked him.

Officer Cheryl Sindone tried to intervene, but Arrington-Bey pinned and choked her. They then handcuffed Arrington-Bey and put him in the restraint chair, where his condition deteriorated.

During their depositions, the officers gave varying accounts of the training the city gave them. Gaughan wrote that it seems as if the officers used the training they had "on a somewhat ad hoc basis."

She also wrote, "many of the officers testified that they did not regularly review jail policies, and some had not reviewed or had refresher training on the policies in years."

The Bureau of Criminal Investigation launched a probe into Arrington-Bey's death but none of the officers faced charges.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A 28-year-old Cleveland man faces an attempted murder charge in a shooting that police are calling a road-rage incident.

Toby Trevino was indicted Wednesday on charges of felonious assault and attempted murder stemming from the Feb. 13 encounter.

Trevino tailed his neighbor at 2:40 a.m. on Gifford Avenue in his Chevy S-10 pickup, then swerved across the road to pass as a passenger flipped a middle finger out the window, according to a police report.

When the two arrived home in the 4400 block of W 56th Street, Trevino went into the house, grabbed and 22-caliber pistol and fired several shots across the yard, police say.

A bullet struck the neighbor in her left thigh, police said. Bullets also shattered the back window of the car the woman was driving, according to police. Officers found bullet casing near the neighbor's home.

Trevino was arrested and released three days later on $50,000 bond under condition that he refrain from any contact with his neighbor. Trevino previously completed one year probation after pleading guilty to resisting arrest in 2010.

He is scheduled to be arraigned Monday morning.
Technology available at Beatrice High School outside of the classroom is opening doors for students.

The high school purchased a 3D printer and a robotics kit and started a technology club in 2015. Three upperclassmen are particularly active in the club, experimenting and learning from the equipment located in the BHS media center.

Without this, I would probably be playing video games, said junior Lapis Itzen. I was a loner until I found this. I found my place here. Its fun for me.

Itzen uses the schools robotics kit to experiment, build and learn. He said he would like to study mechanical engineering at the University of California in Los Angeles.

Seniors Nickolas Funk and Kyle Hernandez use the 3D printer frequently to produce plastic items. They design the pieces using a program in their computer-aided design (CAD) class and use the plastic models as prototype test-runs before producing the items from steel.

Its setting me up to do what I want to do, Funk said of the extra time with technology.

Funk will attend Southeast Community College in Milford in the fall to study precision manufacturing.

An aftermarket heater in Funks car and the clutch mechanism in his 3-wheel racing car were manufactured using the prototypes produced from the 3D printer.

Hernandez credits his exposure to technology at BHS to his interest in future plans. He will attend SCC-Lincoln in 2018 for welding and is interested in becoming a science and technology teacher, like his instructors at BHS.

Without CAD, I wouldnt have taken Welding II, Hernandez said. CAD and welding got me into 3D printing and mechanical CAD.

The students said enrollment in CAD is helpful, if not necessary, in order to use the 3D printer. They use the printer for personal projects outside of class time or during class time after they finish class assignments.

BHS offers classes including Intro to Auto-CAD, Mechanical CAD I and II, Advanced CAD and Architecture I and II.

Other prototypes the students have made with the 3D printer include the frame of a drone, a chain, a wrench and a dog head. The models are made from ABS plastic, coils of which are fed into the machine, melted and printed in layers to form a shape.

A simple cube takes 15 minutes for this 3D printer to produce, the students said. The drone model took 24 hours.

The prototypes dont always turn out. If the students program too low of an in-fill, the plastic pieces can break off.

Failure is always an option, Funk said. We learn more from failure than from successes.

BHS Media Specialist Carol Oltman said she and BHS math teacher Ed Ankrom wanted to start a coding club, but decided to start with a broader technology club. Several students signed up, but Funk, Hernandez, and Itzen are the students consistently active, Oltman said.

Having technology available for them to explore and learn from is priceless, Oltman said. You have to give those opportunities. So many students are afraid to fail. Our students dont love to fail, but they know that they can learn from those experiences.
watch now

British researchers have found a new way to identify immune cells capable of detecting tumors  opening a path to treatments that could trigger the body's natural defenses to wipe out cancer. The discovery by scientists at University College, London promises to bring greater precision to the new generation of "cancer immunotherapies", which have been generating excitement as the most important breakthrough in oncology for decades. Immunotherapies, which aim to help patients' disease-fighting T-cells hunt and destroy tumours, have been shown to extend the lives of some people with advanced forms of cancer for months or years. But the first of these drugs to reach the market only work in about a third of patients. The research could open the way to increase response rates by identifying T-cells that can reach every tumour cell  rather than just a subset  leading to more potent therapies. Working with academics across the US and Europe, the UCL scientists sought to understand how the immune system could keep track of the constant genetic mutations in tumour cells that make the disease so hard to treat.

watch now

They found that some of the earliest mutations produced antigens  the tell-tale signs of disease that activate the immune system  that were displayed in all subsequent mutations. This in itself does not provide a silver bullet because cancer cells use a range of tricks to defend themselves against attack. However, by finding a way to identify antigens that are ubiquitous in tumours and detectable by T-cells, the research could aid development of immunotherapies that disable these defenses. More from the Financial Times :



Japanese monetary firepower misses the mark

Oil crash takes heavy toll on midstream energy companies

Brazil's GDP shrinks 3.8% Sergio Quezada, co-author of the study published in the journal Science on Thursday, likened the breakthrough to a technology that allowed police to catch all criminals at once. "Genetically diverse tumors are like a gang of hoodlums involved in different crimes  from robbery to smuggling. And the immune system struggles to keep on top of the cancer  just as it's difficult for police when there's so much going on.
The Gage County Democratic caucus will be held in the meeting rooms of the Beatrice Public Library at 2 p.m. Saturday.

The Democratic caucuses throughout the state on Saturday will determine Nebraskas delegate support for the Democratic presidential candidates. The Democratic caucuses throughout Nebraska are led by the Nebraska Democratic Party and the local caucus is organized by Gage County Democrats.

Opinions are out in the open at caucuses. Neighbors who are eligible to vote gather at local caucus sites to declare their presidential candidate preference.

Attendees are allowed to persuade others to support their choice candidates and discuss their stances, the NDP website state. Attendees can wear stickers, wave signs and bring cookies with a candidates name on them, for examples, to show their support. There may be several rounds of voting until there is a significant majority who support one candidate.

More information can be found at nebraskacaucus2016.org.

Citizens unsure of their voting status can visit votercheck.necvr.ne.gov to find out if and where they are registered to vote and under what party.

To register to vote, visit the voter registration portal of the Nebraska Secretary of State website. This can be found by visiting Nebraska.gov and clicking on the Online Voter Registration icon on the front page.

Gage County citizens may also register to vote at the Election Commissioners office at the Gage County Courthouse anytime during its hours from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Those wishing to register as Democrats may also do so at the caucus on Saturday. To participate in the Democratic caucus on Saturday, voters need to be registered as Democrats, be eligible to vote in Nebraska and be at least 18 years old by Election Day, November 8, 2016.

Beatrice Public Library is located at 100 N. 16th St.
As Chinese Communist Party Leaders gather for the National People's Congress (NPC) on Friday, they will likely reinforce a key theme highlighted in this week's developments and data: reforms.



The annual meeting is China's biggest political event and primarily serves as a rubberstamp to the annual budget and various government reports. This year, the ten-day review also coincides with the approval of the next Five-Year Plan, the official economic blueprint for 2016-2020.

The biggest takeaway from the NPC traditionally tends to be the Party's annual gross domestic product (GDP) target, expected at 6.5 to 7 percent for 2016 from 7 percent last year.

"Doubtless Western economists will pore over whether the headline rate of growth is 6 or 6.5 percent,' said Mark Tinker, head of Framlington Equities Asia. "But this really is to miss the point, which is one of ongoing reform."

Indeed, the recent weakness in February factory activity data and a downward revision in China's ratings outlook from Moody's have resurfaced the urgency for Beijing to undertake structural reforms to bolster an economy growing at its slowest pace in 25 years and stabilize volatile capital markets.

"Uncertainty about the authorities' capacity to implement reforms to address imbalances in the economy given the scale of reform challenges," was one of Moody's criteria for lowering its outlook on China's Aa3 rating to negative from stable. Ratings could be slashed further if tangible progress isn't made, Moody's warned.
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The world's largest luggage company just got a lot bigger.

Samsonite has zipped up a deal to acquire luxury rival Tumi for around $1.8 billion, in what will be the largest acquisition for Samsonite since its initial public offer in 2011. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2016 subject to shareholder approval. "This is a transformational acquisition for Samsonite. It will meaningfully expand our presence in the highly attractive premium segment of the global business bags, travel luggage and accessories market" Samsonite's Chief Executive Ramesh Tainwala said in a statement. Samsonite will pay US$26.75 per share in an all-cash transaction, which represents a 33% premium to Tumi's closing price on Wednesday.

Adam Jeffery | CNBC

Speaking to CNBC, Samsonite Non-Executive Director Tim Parker defended the cost of the deal. "This is a wonderful brand. The opportunities to bring two bring great companies together is going to be worth a lot of value to our shareholders and we feel this is a good price," he told CNBC. Founded in 1975, Tumi offers a line of business bags, travel luggage and accessories through 2,000 points of distribution across 75 countries. For the year ended December 31, 2015, its net sales were US$548 million, representing a year on year increase of 4%. North America accounted for 68% of 2015 net sales, with Asia Pacific accounting for 17%, Europe, Middle East and Africa accounting for 14% and Latin America accounting for the remaining 1%. "This is an exciting day for Tumi and all the travelers around the world who count on us," said Tumi Chief Executive Jerome Griffith.
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Thailand's largest state-owned oil and gas producer PTT Public Company is scouting for acquisitions as valuations have cheapened, according to its chief executive.

Tevin Vongvanich, who is also the president of PTT, told CNBC's "Managing Asia" that now was a good time to acquire companies as the cash balance of the company, and its subsidiaries, are healthy at the moment.

"The prices of upstream assets have come down quite a lot. We are thinking of entering into the unconventional, the shale oil business in the U.S. or elsewhere," he said.

"We feel that that is one area, well actually one of the main reasons for this drop in oil prices is that the development of new technology, the fracking technology, that allowed us to recover this oil. So we need to get into that kind of business for the long term." He reckons oil prices could reach $50 a barrel eventually to keep pace with growing consumption of cheap oil, but the timing remains uncertain. "We have seen, in Thailand, in December, consumption of gasoline in itself increase by 10 percent in a month," he said. "That shows the consumer may be less aware or cautious of spending on energy, because it is so cheap."



Tevin Vongvanich, president and CEO of PTT Public Company

Vongvanich had hints of what he was signing up for when he took over the helms at PTT in 2015. An industry veteran with over 25 years of experience, he had seen the collapse in oil in 2008, when prices fell from "$150 per barrel to about 30-something dollar."

Starting in 2014, energy prices began to retreat from heady heights once more. A further decline eventually saw the price of crude oil fall below $40 a barrel by end of 2015, wreaking havoc with the finances of energy producers.

Data showed while large, publicly traded companies such as ExxonMobil , BP and Chevron may have the necessary resources to weather the tough times, dozens of smaller firms had already filed for bankruptcy by the end of last year. More companies are expected to join them.

PTT wasn't immune to the turmoil either. The company's sales and services income for the year ended December 31, 2015 was at 2.03 trillion baht ($57.19 billion), down 22 percent from a year earlier according to financial statements. The company's full year operating profit was down 42 percent from 2014 at 79.6 billion baht.

"Last year, our performance was affected heavily by the impairment of some of our assets in the upstream, exploration production, as well as in the coal business," Vongvanich said.

In the meantime, the company is focusing on efforts to keep PTT afloat until prices go back up again. These include cutting cost, increasing productivity and investing only in necessary infrastructure. Vongvanich is confident of managing the performances of most of PTT's oil business, except upstream exploration production. He said it remains a challenge due to the drastic drop in oil that isn't reflected on the cost side. Upstream refers to exploration and production of oil.

He said, "Obviously we have done a lot of cost management, increasing productivity, but the scale is still not matching with the price reduction, so that is still a challenge on the upstream side."
You'll be able to see this new Mexican health hotel from California, even if Donald Trump gets to build his great big wall.

Developers in Tijuana, Mexico, reportedly are planning to cash in on the longstanding phenomenon of Americans heading south of the border to get less-expensive health care by building a big new medical facility that will also feature a 140-room hotel.

A stethoscope and blood-pressure machine Regis Duvignau | Reuters

The New City Medical Plaza would feature a 26-story tower that would include "doctors offices, a medical lab, a surgery center," according to a Los Angeles Times story about the project. It will cost an estimated $50 million, and is scheduled to open in 2019. The one-stop health shopping center, whose developers have already sold 30 percent of its space, would be just a short walk from a border crossing that connects San Diego to Tijuana. "A lot of our patients come from the U.S. We think it's going to be very convenient for our patients to have a place to stay, to have all the medical testing that we could use available here," Elias Bemaras, general director of stem cell treatment provider ProgenCell, told the Times. ProgenCell plans to move its operations into the new center.

Ives Lelevier, undersecretary of tourism for Baja California, told the newspaper that another similar large health facility is planned for elsewhere in Tijuana to take advantage of a resurgent trend of medical tourism. "We seen an enormous potential, if we are able to promote it through a well-structured program," Lelevier said.
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After seven years of promises, President Barack Obama again vowed last week to close Guantanamo Bay, but for Hillary Clinton, if elected president, another prison-closure issue may loom larger  and be as tough to solve: the growth of for-profit privately run prisons across the United States. The for-profit prison industry is estimated at as much as $7 billion to $8 billion, and both Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., have spoken forcefully  Sanders even more so than Clinton  about a desire to phase out private prisons as part of the U.S. criminal system. "In my view, corporations should not be allowed to make a profit by building more jails and keeping more Americans behind bars," Sanders recently said. "Criminal justice and public safety are, without a doubt, the responsibility of the citizens of our country, not private corporations, and they should be carried out by those who answer to voters, not those who answer to investors." On the campaign trail, Clinton said that "we should end private prisons and private detention centers." But it's tough talk that could prove difficult to enact as presidential policy, involving issues of federalism, since many of the private prisons around the country are under state and local contracts, and legislative efforts to change current laws that would be opposed by the status quo support for private prisons.

A guard escorts migrant detainee from his segregation cell back into the general population at the Adelanto Detention Facility in Adelanto, California. The facility is managed by the private GEO Group. Getty Images

The for-profit prison industries and publicly-traded companies, such as GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America , have grown in recent decades as a result of a ballooning prison population. The federal government, under former Attorney General Eric Holder, began a policy of reducing the total number of inmates in federal facilities. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 2014 more than 131,000 inmates were held in private prison facilities, a decrease of 2,100 prisoners from 2013. But BJS says seven states housed at least 20 percent of their inmate population in private facilities at the end of 2014, including New Mexico, Montana, Oklahoma and Hawaii. And since BJS first started tracking these statistics, the size of the private prison population has grown 90 percent from 19992014. (Updated data through 2015 will be released this summer.)

The big houses

CCA is the largest private prison operator, with a market cap of about $3.6 billion. Geo Group, with a market cap above $2 billion, is the second-largest private prison player. Non-profit In the Public Interest has estimated that these two companies represent roughly 75 percent of the private prison industry. CCA's prison mix is 51 percent federal, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Bureau of Prisons and U.S. Marshalls' facilities. The remaining 49 percent is state and other municipalities (e.g. county prisons). GEO operates approximately 170 locations, including correctional, detention, community reentry, youth treatment and day reporting facilities. Of those, 38 sites are contracted with federal agencies, and the balance are contracted with state and local agencies as well as seven international locations. GEO had revenue of $1.8 billion last year, slightly higher than 2014. CCA had revenue of $1.79 billion in 2015 vs. $1.65 billion in 2014.

The only current presidential candidate in either party to receive a contribution from Geo Group in the 2014 election cycle was Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who received a little more than $12,000. A GEO Group spokesman said the company cannot comment on specific contributions or beyond the public filings made with the Federal Elections Commission, but added, "The GEO Group participates in the political process as do other organizations, including corporations and organized labor. As a matter of long-standing policy, our company does not take a position on, or advocate for or against, any specific criminal justice or immigration policy." A CCA spokesman said its political action committee has not contributed to any of the presidential candidates, nor has the company taken a position on any of the individuals running. No outside lobbyist has donated to any presidential campaign on CCA's behalf, either, the spokesman said.

On the campaign trail, Rubio has said private prisons are a state issue.

"States are making a decision about how can we best house prisoners given the constraints of our budget, and in some instances, they have found that a private company can do it better than the public sector is doing, and others found that they can't and don't, and it really just depends on a state-by-state basis," Rubio said. Gov. John Kasich's spokesman, Joe Andrews, told CNBC that in the Ohio governor's first year, the state sold and privatized a prison, outsourced operations and merged two facilities that were adjacently located. "We did this as part of a plan to drive down costs to taxpayers and ensure that Ohio could meet its fiscal responsibilities after inheriting an $8 billion shortfall," Andrews said. Jack Donson, a former Bureau of Prisons official who now runs a private consulting firm, said he doesn't believe either Clinton or Sanders could do much, if anything, to reverse the private prison trend. "Absolutely nothing. These are contracts that conform to current federal law, so the law would need to be changed." Donson said. "It's lip service. It would take years to pass legislation to prohibit privatization. All the while, contracts would be being renewed under the current legal framework. Disingenuous to say the least in my humble opinion. Way too much lobby money behind the status quo." He added, "If they were sincere about reform, they would advocate for things they can do under the existing framework and law, but that is not as sexy as playing to the base."

It would take years to pass legislation to prohibit privatization. ... If they were sincere about reform, they would advocate for things they can do under the existing framework and law, but that is not as sexy as playing to the base. Jack Donson a former Bureau of Prisons official and prison consultant

Others say that at least in the case of federal prison facilities, Clinton or Sanders could accomplish their goals. Roughly 10 percent of inmates are held in federal facilities for federal crimes (mostly immigration-related), and the president could end those by executive order, said Brian Wolf, associate professor of Criminology at the University of Idaho. Wolf said either Clinton or Sanders could also encourage Congress to enact legislation to end federal private prisons. However, most of the inmates held in private prisons are from states, so there is not much the federal government could do to directly abolish private prisons. Federal money does flow to state criminal justice systems in the form of grants, Wolf said, and the 1994 Crime Bill, which both Clinton and Sanders supported, is an example of this. Prohibitions on using federal money for private prisons at the state level could be attached to those grants, but that does not mean states won't fund private prisons from state tax dollars. "The president could work to sway public opinion on the matter if he or she wanted to make it a key issue, but the change will probably have to happen on the state level," Wolf said. He added, "Privatizing prisons is not like privatizing concession stands at a state park."

Tim Lynch, director of the Project on Criminal Justice, said prisons are overwhelmingly administered by state and local governments, so at most, Clinton could propose that Congress attach riders to "aid to the states" appropriations measures, which would essentially say, 'Take this money and you agree to stop contracting with private prisons.'"

The Clinton campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

A Sanders campaign spokesman said private prisons and detention quotas create an incentive for corporations and law enforcement to put people behind bars, and Sanders believes that eliminating this perverse incentive by ending private prisons is the first step toward reducing the U.S. prison population. Sanders also believes the nation should end mandatory minimums, reinstate the federal system of parole, and invest in jobs and education to prevent people from entering the criminal justice system in the first place. The Sanders spokesman said the senator has focused on ending private prisons at the federal and state level through legislation and has introduced legislation covering these reforms. Paul Ashton, development and finance manager for JusticePolicy.org, said of Sanders' legislative effort, "I don't believe it ever made it out of committee."

Donald Cohen, executive director of the nonprofit organization In the Public Interest, which is against privatization, said whoever is president can close federally-owned facilities that are operated by private companies as soon as legally possible, and convert them to public operation. Democratic strategist Julian Epstein said the Bureau of Prisons would probably need to expand or acquire more space, but federal prisons are no longer as overcrowded a trajectory as they once were, due to changes in drug policy. "It can certainly be accomplished, but given the large number of people involved, it would be logistically complex in early phases. Clinton would probably have to phase in the plan over three to five years," Epstein said.



Passing judgment

John Wooldredge, a criminal justice professor at the University of Cincinnati, said the federal policy under President Obama of placing illegal immigrants in prisons has been a boon to the private prison and criticism of that policy could lead to a decline in private prison populations. Wooldredge added, "They would eventually fill back up, however, because the industry would simply redefine itself by selling its services for the confinement of yet another 'offender' group." He added that many of these facilities flip from "private" to "public" from time to time, so it's not like they would literally be abandoned or torn down. "The use of private prisons was at a maximum in 2012, when almost 9 percent of the total U.S. prison population were housed in private facilities," according to BJS.

Wolf said the best bet may be that private prisons, which have been very profitable, have had growth that is unsustainable. "There has yet to be conclusive evidence that private prisons save money, in fact, they might cost taxpayers more," he said.

But Wolf said of CCA and Geo Group, "Wall Street loves the stock."
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On a cold February night in Stamford, Connecticut, the chill in the air is doing nothing to dampen patrons' thirst for Half Full Brewery's craft beers. The brewery's tasting room is serving a steady flow of customers looking to sip a glass of its Bright Ale, Pursuit IPA or Onward Pale Ale. The mood may be mellow, but it belies Half Full's rapid growth. Opened in August 2012, Half Full saw its revenue top $350,000 by the end of 2013. Last year it hit $750,000, and this year owner Conor Horrigan expects it to top $1 million. As demand has increased for Half Full's beers, the brewery is looking to hire more workers.

"I would say in the next 60 days we're looking to almost double our staff," said Horrigan, who currently counts seven employees on his payroll.

Half Full is not the only craft brewer looking for workers. The Brewers Association trade group said here in the U.S. one or two craft breweries open every single day, and growth in this industry shows little sign of slowing down.

A worker at the Half Full Brewery in Stamford, Conn. Karina Frayter | CNBC

Defined as small, independent and traditional, these brewers will make less than 6 million barrels a year, but small is increasingly mighty in the world of beer. Bart Watson, chief economist at the Brewers Association, said craft beers accounted for about 12 to 13 percent of all beer sales by volume last year, a number he forecasts could reach 20 percent by 2020. As volume increases, so too will the need for workers to fill a whole host of positions at these businesses, creating what Watson estimates will be tens of thousands of new jobs.

"The types of positions that brewers are looking to fill are really going to vary by the size of our brewer," said Watson. "So a small brewery is going to need a jack-of-all-trades. They're going to need somebody who is both a chemical engineer and a forklift driver, whereas, as you move up to a regional craft brewer, they're going to have much more specific positions  lab technicians, that chemical engineer, or a head brewer, somebody that understands production processes and can help in the canning line."





I would say in the next 60 days we're looking to almost double our staff Conor Horrigan, owner, Half Full Brewery

While humans have been making beer for what historians believe is well more than 5,000 years, there is a shortage of workers experienced in this ancient craft. It takes years to become a master brewer and while a lot of people are familiar with the product, they lack the know-how to produce it.



"I would say that the toughest thing in this industry, as it grows, is finding people with an advanced level of knowledge," said Horrigan, the 34-year old himself a refugee from Wall Street, where he once was a trader for Bear Stearns.

The need to fill that knowledge gap is the primary reason San Diego State University created a program where students can receive a professional certificate in the business of craft beer. With San Diego home to more than 100 craft brewers, local businesses wanted to hire qualified people, and find ways to ensure the quality of the product and the process among new entrants. The brewers' concerns and input helped SDSU develop the 13-course program.



A worker at the Half Full Brewery in Stamford, Conn. Karina Frayter | CNBC

"So every student needs to start with (the course) Exploring Craft Beer. That gives everybody the same level of education coming in, and then they can choose their path," said Program Director Giana Rodriguez. "Those that are really interested in the brewery start-up piece can take our Brewery Startup One and Brewery Startup Two."

Rodriguez said these courses teach students how to write a business and marketing plan, how to get the financing to start the brewery and how to handle front-of-the house management which includes tasting room management and draft systems. Additionally, students who are more focused on the hospitality side of the business can take courses on various beer styles, and beer and food tasting.





"We get the emails saying we want to hire directly from your group because we know that they can talk about beer," said Rodriguez.

More than 600 students have taken at least of one the program's courses over the last three years, and 144 have received their certificates, said Rodriguez.

"We have a mix of students who are in a career looking to change careers who are really trying to get their foot in the door in the industry," she said. "We have some entrepreneurs that come in who are actually looking to invest into the industry and are starting to make connections and learn about the craft."

Twenty-seven-year-old Ashley Benson is currently enrolled in the program. A home brewer for five years, she never considered a job in the industry until she started seeing ads for openings at craft breweries in and around San Diego. She has completed one course of the SDSU program and is enrolled in another. A social media specialist for pet supplies retailer Petco, Benson said she plans to pursue the certificate, with her sight set on landing a marketing position.

"I'm hoping to switch as soon as possible, but I think in the next year would be a good goal," she said. "And then in five years I'm just hoping to kind of have enough knowledge to either be doing marketing for a good craft brewery or be looking to open my own craft brewery."

Ashley Benson in Beer Styles class at San Diego State University. Source: Issac Cadriel

The positions craft brewers are looking to fill these days are on the business and service side, include salespeople to work with distributors, tasting room managers and tasting room staff, said Rodriguez. As for what those jobs and others in the brewing operations pay, it depends on the worker's experience and skill set.

"Service industry jobs are going to be comparable to other service industry jobs, so a job in a brewpub is going to look like a job in a restaurant," said the Brewers Association's Watson. "Highly skilled technical brewers can be making you know, as much as six figures if they're working in a large regional brewery."

The pay also may vary by region. Horrigan said he pays his workers more because the the cost of living on Connecticut is higher than the national average.

Beer Styles class at San Diego State University. Source: Issac Cadriel
The Labor Department said Friday that the U.S. unemployment rate remained at 4.9 percent in February. But does that tell the whole story?

There's no one true unemployment rate. That 4.9 percent figure is the official rate used by the government, but the Labor Department calculates a number of figures to capture what's going on in the labor market. On jobs day, they release a lot of data, each of which says something different about the state of jobs and wages.

Most economists looks past the official rate (also known as the "U-3") to the U-6, which includes more unemployed workers.
Democrats should not expect the path to the White House to be a cakewalk if Hillary Clinton faces Donald Trump in November, former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said Friday.

Neither Trump nor Clinton has secured their respective party's nomination, but both candidates cemented their leads in this week's Super Tuesday contests.



There are currently two schools of thought, Richardson said. One believes that Trump will be the Republican nominee, and Clinton will best him in a general election by a wide margin. But others  Richardson included  think the businessman won't go down so easily.

"We've got to be very careful because Trump has tapped into a negativity, a populism that is out there, and I think we have to work extra hard" to attract young voters and turn out the party's base, the 2008 Democratic presidential contender told CNBC's "Squawk Box."

Clinton faces the challenge of not just defeating Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary, but overcoming him in a way that allows her to rally his "significant coalition" of supporters, Richardson said.

He said he believes Clinton can ultimately do just that and go on to beat Trump.
European markets posted solid gains by Friday's close, as investors cheered on the rally in mining stocks, a better-than-expected U.S. jobs report and a recovery in oil prices.

The pan-European STOXX 600 finished up 0.7 percent provisionally. On the week, the STOXX 600 jumped 3.1 percent. London's FTSE jumped 1.1 percent by the close, while France's CAC ended 0.9 percent up. Germany's DAX fell slightly behind its counterparts, closing up 0.7 percent. All sectors finished mostly higher.

Sentiment was buoyed by new data that showed the U.S. economy added a better-than-expected 242,000 jobs in February. Its unemployment rate came in at a steady 4.9 percent. Economists were initially expecting 190,000 new positions and no change in the jobless figure.



Despite the strong number, the average hourly wages declined, falling 3 cents for the month. Fed policymakers are looking at wages for evidence of inflation. The average hourly work week also declined 0.2 hours to 34.4.



"A strong report. The only fly in the ointment was a dip in earnings," analysts at Credit Agricole said in a note.

Despite a weak open, U.S. stocks traded mostly higher on Friday, after the monthly jobs report and oil prices boosted market sentiment.
Local children between the ages of 5 and 11 were interviewed for jobs as doctors, teachers and police officers on Thursday.

Children of the Before and After School Program at the YMCA in Beatrice chose what they want to be when they grow up and answered why they would be good at the career, three things they are good at, if they have any awards and what three people would have good things to say about the applicant. The children dressed up as their future selves and gave their answers a second time while filmed.

Logan Busboom, 6, wants to be a ballerina, she told the camera while dressed in a pink tutu, pink shirt and pink tights.

Because they dance a lot and I like to dance, she said. I already go to two classes!

Maddie Nielsen, 10, wants to be a doctor when she grows up.

I like to take care of people and I like to help people, Maddie said.

The activity, led by the coordinator of the YMCA program, Morgan Tunink, is part of a nationwide campaign that emphasizes the potential of each child.

Were talking about their potential and what they bring to the table, Tunink said.

The face of the Zoe for President campaign is a fictional 1-year-old girl named Zoe who is running for president in the year 2064.

The campaign highlights the potential the Y sees in all kids to grow up and change the world if theyre nurtured properly and supported along the way, according to a press release from the Y.

A professional gamer and a professional race car driver were among the careers other children said on Thursday they want to have some day.

Tunink said the activity didnt delve too much into the process of applying for a job but that it helps the kids start to think about their futures.

I want them to start setting goals and achieve what they want to achieve, Tunink said. They have to know they cant just sit back and wait for something to happen.

Tunink, dressed in a blazer and dress pants, joined in on the fun.

I already have my dream job, but someday, Id like to be a senator, she said. Its really fun to share that with them.

Instructor Lizzy Veverka said exposing the children to resume building and interviews, even on a small scale, is important because they will use those skills several times in the future.

The campaign is a smaller part of an annual fundraising campaign happening now at YMCAs across the nation, called the YMCA Strong Kids Campaign, which raises money for scholarships for kids and families to be able to join and visit the Y.

All of the funds stay locally, Tunink said.

The video of the children talking about their future careers will be posted on the Beatrice Mary Family YMCA Facebook page. It will also be part of a longer video about what the YMCA in Beatrice brings to the community and why its important to support it, Tunink said.

The video will be shown at the YMCAs luncheon for the Strong Kids Campaign at noon on April 5 at Classics, which will feature guest speakers.

The YMCA will also host a Healthy Kids Day on April 30, which will feature vendors, a booth for summer camp registration and other information and attractions.
"The people who are supporting Donald Trump have already factored in character flaws. I don't think they think Donald Trump is a saint. They know he's got a bunch of 'warts,' so to speak," said Pawlenty. "So it's already baked in the cake. And I don't think it's going to change much."

"The core of [Mitt Romney's] argument was Donald Trump has character flaws," said Pawlenty, who gave up his own presidential aspirations to support Romney in his failed bid for the White House in 2012.

"[Trump supporters] are not voting on character. They're voting on change. It's not to say character is not important, but they want something very different. They want somebody to come into Washington and elsewhere, and sort of 'break the furniture.'"

Pawlenty said Republican leaders have promised grassroots conservative activists for years that they'll cut taxes, balance the budget, rein in spending, repeal and replace Obamacare, reform entitlements, and restore the military. "Eventually, you say, 'You're all full of B.S., and it's not working. We're going to try something dramatically different,'" Pawlenty said.

The Republican Party would be best served if Florida Sen. Marco Rubio becomes the nominee, said Pawlenty. "I think you get all the upside with him without any of the downside: He's strong, but he's informed; he's conservative, but electable; he doesn't just talk about the American dream, he's actually lived it; and he's a person of good character. I think he's got the total positive package."

Pawlenty said there's still time to defeat Trump. "But you've got to consolidate the field down to one candidate. And they're not willing to do that." He acknowledged that Rubio, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich were all unlikely to drop out anytime soon. "They can all make a rationale to stay in the race and they're all going to stay in the race. And that's going to defuse the non-Trump, the 65 percent of the vote, that isn't currently for Trump."

Still, Pawlenty stressed that he'd support whoever becomes the Republican nominee, even Trump. "It would be a very new adventure for all of us if Donald Trump is the nominee."

Pawlenty's worst-case scenario would be if one of the candidates were to enter the convention with a plurality of delegates but not enough to win the nomination outright. A brokered convention of backroom deals to consolidate delegates and decide the nominee would be disastrous heading into the general election, he said.

"My strong, strong advice and I'll say this as strongly as I can, hey look, compete; win it; lose it; but don't steal it; because if somebody gets in there and tries parliamentary monkeybusiness and steals away this endorsement, you'll have a massive mess on your hands," Pawlenty said.

"If you understand the modern day Republican Party, not at the donor level but at the grassroots level, these are people who are in it for their true beliefs and their cause," he said, adding they'll detest being told by party powerbrokers what to do. Such a scenario would be "disconnected from the modern-day grassroots movement."
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On the last day of February, the price of crude climbed to its highest level since January 6. While it still has a ways to go to be a rebound of any note, no less an authority than Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson said this week that it expects oil to trade in a range of $40 to $80 per barrel.

And on Thursday, the energy sector turned positive for the year, though only by the slightest of percentage gains. Those who want to take advantage of a potential rebound may want to consider getting into the sector now, when stock prices are still depressed. While one can buy energy-related stocks, that's not an approach for the faint of heart, and there may be a cheaper and less risky way to play this sector. Over the last several years, numerous sector-focused ETFs have come to market, including several energy industry funds. Since ETFs track market indexes, it's not surprising that most energy ETFs have done poorly over the last year. For instance, the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE ), the largest energy ETF, with $12 billion in assets, is down 22 percent over the last 12 months and 1.4 percent on the year. Other funds, such as the PowerShares' S&P Small-Cap Energy Portfolio ETF (PSCE ) is down much more  55 percent over the last 12 months and 14 percent since January.

Yet, if someone thinks that oil prices will rebound, owning an ETF is a good way to go, said Aniket Ullal, founder of First Bridge Data, an ETF research firm. It's typically cheaper to own an ETF than a mutual fund, while also offering a diversified basket of stocks and not requiring deep research and ongoing monitoring of individual companies in the energy sector. Stock picking in a volatile sector can also be difficult for the average investor. "There was a 122 percent difference between the best- and worst-performing energy stocks in 2015," said Dave Mazza, head of research at SPDR ETFs. "There's a lot of risk with getting a stock pick wrong."

Ticker Name 1-month (%) YTD (%) 1-year (%) Annual fee (%) XLE Energy Select SPDR 5.45 0.17 -22.17 0.16 VDE Vanguard Energy 6.57 0.83 -23.66 0.1 XOP S&P Exploration & Production 1.24 -7.8 -46.61 0.35 IYE iShares US Energy 5.73 0.24 -22.73 0.46 OIH Market Vectors Oil Services 7.05 0 -25.54 0.35



One of the misconceptions around ETFs is that they all track the same indexes. While that may be true for some things  all S&P 500 index ETFs follow the S&P 500  within sectors, there are usually several ETFs that track different markets. That means that investors can find products that suit their risk-tolerance level and industry view. In the energy space, there are ETFs that follow only large-cap stocks, such as Exxon Mobil and Chevron . There are others that track small caps, such as Green Plains and Ultra Petroleum , and still others that look at the entire cap universe. There are also funds that hold all energy-related stocks, while others focus solely on oil and gas producers. Each fund rises and falls differently from one another.

For more defensive investors, owning a large-cap fund may be a better way to go, Mazza said. Larger companies tend to be less volatile than smaller ones, and the numbers bear this out. The large-cap XLE is down much less than the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (XOP ), which holds small- and mid-cap names, in addition to large-cap ones. It's down 50 percent over the last 12 months and 16.6 percent on the year. However, if someone can stomach bigger losses, the upside is greater with a small-cap-owning ETF. Smaller companies always get beaten down the most during a downturn, but because they tend to be more growth-oriented, they rise fastest on the rebound. "It's those mid- and small-cap names that would likely have the best return in a rally," Mazza said. If they are around long enough to enjoy one: One recent analysis from Deloitte predicts that as much as one-third of U.S. oil and gas companies are still on the way to bankruptcy.

There was a 122 percent difference between the best- and worst-performing energy stocks in 2015. There's a lot of risk with getting a stock pick wrong. Dave Mazza head of research at SPDR ETFs

While the average American will likely be more comfortable owning equity-based ETFs, Ullal said savvier investors have another option: the oil futures market.

Owning an ETF such as the United States Oil Fund (USO ), which has about $3.8 billion in assets under management, will give you more direct exposure to oil itself and doesn't require taking on company risk. Going this route, though, is not without unique risks. The ETF doesn't track the spot price of oil, but rather the futures price. When buying futures, you have to worry about contango, which is when the futures price is higher than the spot price. Those two prices must converge when that futures contract is up; if the spot price is still below the futures price, then you'll lose money on the deal. This phenomenon was explored in a recent Wall Street Journal piece that showed the performance of the ETFs tracking the price of oil had done worse than the price of oil itself.

An offshore rig stands against gloomy skies. Matthew Lloyd | Bloomberg | Getty Images

A steeper futures curve has been a feature of the recent oil slump and is a drag on returns. "Many oil exchange-traded products hold or track the nearest-month futures contracts and regularly rebalance into the following month's contracts. If the nearer-term contract costs less than the further-dated one, the rotation involves getting rid of cheaper contracts to buy more expensive ones. The bigger the difference between the two, the more this so-called roll cost drags on performance. When front-month futures cost less than next-month futures, it's known as contango," the WSJ explained. Ideally, you want the futures price to be below the spot price, but that's not what's happening today. The ETF rolls over contracts  no investor ever actually possesses a barrel of oil when a futures contract comes due  so if the market is in contango, it can end up losing money every time a contract has to be renewed. USO has fallen harder than most large-cap energy ETFs, down about 50 percent over the last 12 months, but it's dropped more in line with funds that track only the oil and gas producers, which is typical, Ullal said. USO is down 15 percent this year. XOP, which tracks the exploration and production companies, is down 46 percent in the past year and 12 percent so far in 2016.

Ticker Name 1-month ($) YTD ($) XLE Energy Select SPDR $300M $722M VDE Vanguard Energy -$428M -$300M XOP S&P Exploration & Production -$85M $71.54M IYE iShares US Energy -43.85M -$18.39M OIH Market Vectors Oil Services -$73M -$90M


Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump holds up a CNN poll of voters nationally, showing him in the lead, while addressing a campaign rally in Portland, Maine March 3, 2016. Joel Page | Reuters

The Catch-22 of Republican opposition to Donald Trump was laid bare in the final moments of the latest debate, when co-moderator Chris Wallace asked the candidates about their previous pledge to support the party nominee.

Following a two-hour indictment of Trump's basic integrity, sanity and honesty, with his rivals describing a Trump presidency in the terms of a global catastrophe, Marco Rubio, John Kasich and Ted Cruz nonetheless said they would support him if he won the nomination. It was a whimpering comedown for a day that was supposed to mark the opportune moment of the "Never Trump" movement, which began with the unprecedented action of the party's past nominee, Mitt Romney, taking to a podium to vilify his near-sure successor. In a "State of the Race" speech at the Hinckley Institute of Politics in Salt Lake City, Romney called Trump a "phony," and warned Americans that his election could imperil the nation's economy and national defense. And yet, it stopped well short of a denouement.

To New York magazine's Jonathan Chait, the speech typified the fundamental problem of the GOP anti-Trump revolt: "Full of righteous rage, but confused about how to proceed and unwilling to follow its own analysis through to its conclusion."

That unwillingness was only further ratified at the debate.

Whether Trump's GOP opponents keep to their pledge remains to be seen  the term "flexible" got bandied about quite frequently during Thursday night's Fox News debate  but one thing is clear: Trump might not need to build any more reinforcements to his political wall if his Republican opposition can't get off the fence.

Joining Romney, Sen. John McCain, whose Vietnam War service was mocked by Trump, likewise issued his own dire warning to Republican voters about the front-runner. But shortly thereafter, a McCain spokesman suggested to Politico that the senator would still support the billionaire in a general election.

And so a presidential race that has so far redefined the idea of American politics, public decorum, and Republicanism, is threatening to redefine the definition of the word "never."

If the ultimate goal is to keep Trump away from the nuclear codes, as Never Trump proponents insist, they will likely have to confront a lesser-of-two-evils choice of supporting Hillary Clinton in November.

It's a realpolitik scenario CNBC.com put to some of Trump's most devoted dissidents, who seem disinclined to take the oppositionist crusade to its inflection point  a vote for Clinton.

"For me, I haven't put a checklist of pro versus con," said Doug Heye, a veteran GOP strategist who was among the early Trump declaimers, when asked to say who would be worse, Clinton or Trump. "I think they are both terrible directions."

Heye holds out hope that a viable write-in conservative candidate will manifest, allowing him to vote for a non-Trump Republican without having to engage in voting-booth game theory.

"The extremities we would see, if Trump is our nominee, I think make it very easy to find a constitutional conservative to vote for," said Heye. "I think we could be at a place were, in November, if Trump is our nominee, voting for Trump is symbolic because he can't win."

The prospects of a mainstream Republican running on a third-party ticket  with names like Romney, rising-star Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, and House Speaker Paul Ryan  have been floated in recent weeks, but with little optimism. Moreover, such a candidacy would risk only further splintering the party and the conservative movement.

For now, the best the phalanx can do is to sit astride the anti-Trump fence.





When asked about voting for Clinton if all else fails, Katie Packer, the former Romney aide now leading the anti-Trump Our Principles super PAC, told CNBC.com: "I don't have an opinion at this point.  We feel like we have a path to prevent him and a way to prevent him, and a way to prevent him is for somebody else to get the nomination. There is a whole lot more game to be played before we even get to what you are talking about."

According to various news reports this week, certain anti-Trump GOP factions are trying to wrest the nomination from Trump with a floor fight at the Republican National Convention. But on Thursday, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus sought to douse any notion of a delegate insurrection, telling CNN the party would avoid "shell games." And even Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, a strong Trump adversary, said a brokered convention would be unfair.

Former Rep. Bob Inglis, a moderate Republican from South Carolina, said he thought many of his former colleagues would prefer Clinton, even if their support will remain tacit.

"We've got to hope Hillary wins the nomination because at least it prevents the worst-case scenario, which is Trump beating Bernie Sanders in a landslide," Inglis told CNBC.com. "It is a very difficult position to be in: You don't support Hillary, incumbent Republicans do not support Hillary, but they are sane, and they want sane people in government."





We've got to hope Hillary wins the nomination because at least it prevents the worst-case scenario, which is Trump beating Bernie Sanders in a landslide. Former Rep. Bob Inglis, moderate Republican

Come Friday evening, attention will turn to former candidate Carly Fiorina, who is slated to give a keynote address at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington. Fiorina has been silent since dropping out of the race last month, but she was a notable target of Trump's misogyny on the trail. Fiorina's deputy campaign manager, Sarah Isgur Flores, announced earlier this week that she would not support Trump if he becomes the nominee, but neither would she commit to voting for Clinton as the lesser evil.



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The American economy is standing because of President Obama's policies, but it's not yet running at full steam, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton said Friday, making her economic case for the presidency.

Speaking with CNBC Friday afternoon, ahead of a weekend featuring several party contests and a debate, Clinton acknowledged that many Americans do not feel the economy is as secure as it could be.

"I think a lot of Americans are really worried that it's not going to get better, and that's why I'm running on specifics, on policies, on what I think I can do," Clinton said.

The former secretary of state said she recognized that people are "angry and fearful"  in part because of long-stagnate wages and the difficulties of recovering from recession. Clinton argued that the administration of her husband, former President Bill Clinton, set America "on the right path" economically, but "trickle-down" policies under the next presidency diminished that course.

"Even now, when you listen to the Republicans who are vying for their nomination, it's the same thing: It's cut taxes on the wealthy  in fact (GOP front-runner Donald) Trump says wages are too high in America," she said. "They don't have an agenda for the middle class, working people, poor people trying to get ahead, so I think it's imperative that I do everything I can in this election to make the case that we can get back to a growing, vital middle class."

In fact, discussing U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders' tax plan, Clinton said it would raise taxes "across the board" on middle-class families, and "probably disadvantage" people on Medicaid. In contrast, she said hers is "sensible, defensible," and "far more responsible than anything the Republicans are proposing."
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Researcher Marie Moe woke up after emergency surgery in 2011 with a new pacemaker to correct a heart condition. What she didn't realize at the time was that the lifesaving device in her chest exposed her to a completely different kind of threat. The pacemaker keeping her alive has wireless connectivity capabilities  a detail her doctors didn't tell her  meaning it could be hacked. Moe was understandably disturbed that it never occurred to her doctors to tell her that her device had wireless capability, and they had not considered the security implications. "They really had not thought about the pacemaker security at all," she said. Vulnerabilities like Moe's are moving quickly from the rare to the extremely common. The FBI recently warned consumers that the proliferation of connected devices  from medical devices to security systems  means even more potential targets for malicious cybercriminals. That opportunity will be huge, as there will be more connected devices than humans by 2017, according to Gartner. Security experts believe the tech industry needs to figure out how to secure the "Internet of Things" now, while the architecture is still being developed. That means building in features such as encryption, authentication and the ability to remotely update devices now, said experts.

"Software bugs could actually kill me," said Moe."That's something developers should have in mind when they write the code for these devices."

Moe is a hacker and Ph.D. research scientist at SINTEF in Norway, which carries out research in information and communication technology. She presented some of her findings at the RSA Conference in San Francisco on Friday. After the surgery in 2011, Moe found a technical manual for her pacemaker online and discovered it had two different wireless communication interfaces (wireless connectivity can be very useful for patients in need of frequent follow-ups). Even though that capability was not active in her pacemaker, the potential  and the fact that she wasn't told  disturbed her. "For me that was not the case, the functionality was not switched on and I was not informed," said Moe.



They really hadn't thought about the pacemaker security at all. Marie Moe SINTEF ICT research scientist

X-ray with pace maker. Peter Dazeley | Getty Images

Frustrated with her doctors and the manufacturer of her pacemaker, Moe has turned her life's work into finding out more on behalf of all patients. She has testified in front of the FDA and worked with grassroots organization I Am The Cavalry to develop a Hippocratic Oath for Connected Devices. Her goal is to force transparency into an industry where doctors are uninformed, code is proprietary and third-party access limited. Moe would like an independent investigator to be able to access her pacemaker and its data, "in the case that I drop dead and it is because of my pacemaker," she said.



So far, there are no known cases in which malicious hackers have attacked a pacemaker, but researchers have proved it's possible. In addition, research firm Forrester has predicted that 2016 will be the year we see ransomware for a medical device or wearable. The systems those devices connect to in hospitals often have a lot of legacy equipment  like MRI's and X-ray machines  running outdated operating systems and software that cannot be updated. "It's about time hospitals started worrying about computer viruses, not just ordinary germs," said Moe.

"That's what we have to look at today, to invest in the area to make sure we are solving those problems today, not four years from now when the problem is too heavy to be solved," said Google vice president, security and privacy Gerhard Eschelbeck at the RSA Conference on Tuesday.



It's about time hospitals started working about computer viruses, not just ordinary germs. Marie Moe SINTEF ICT research scientist

Of course, it's not just medical devices that pose a threat. Well-publicized car hacks by researchers have shown just how easy it is for hackers to take remote control of certain car models. Automakers are acutely aware of the liability issues surrounding connected vehicles and are working to build security into their systems. It's the task of General Motors chief product cybersecurity officer Jeff Massimilla and his team of 70 cryptologists, mathematicians and certified ethical hackers, to look for vulnerabilities in their vehicles. "With the addition of connectivity to the vehicle and potential automated driving systems, there's a responsibility to ensure that there's a cybersecurity posture that's appropriate for those systems, he said. "We take this very seriously." The average GM car has 30 computers, all built by different partners and suppliers. (For example, a car stereo system may be integrated with Apple CarPlay or Android Auto.)



The General Motors logo on the world headquarters building in Detroit. Getty Images

In January, GM launched a new bug bounty program and also has a partnership with start-up HackerOne. The goal is to encourage researchers to reveal bugs in the company's computing infrastructure and vehicles so it can patch problems and prevent hackers from exploiting those vulnerabilities. Massimilla is also vice chairman of the Auto Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Auto-ISAC), a group of automakers that share vulnerability and threat intelligence across the industry and is developing a set of industry best practices. Legislation has also been passed to enable the industry to share threat intelligence to help car companies act more quickly on any new vulnerability or intelligence. "We are, with many other industries, at a tipping point of cybersecurity posture of products and connected services," said Massimilla.
We have a very serious political problem in this country. Our system of government works best when it is balanced between roughly equal political parties, one on the center-right and the other on the center-left.



Unfortunately, what we have is a centrist Democratic Party and a far-right Republican Party. Therefore, the system is out of balance, creating gridlock even as the public cries out for action on serious problems such as our deteriorating public infrastructure, epitomized by that in Flint, Michigan.

I believe that Republicans made a deal with the devil in 2009 when they embraced the Tea Party, a populist group who were just mad as hell and weren't going to take it anymore. In Congress, the Tea Party has been aggressive in destroying all the norms that made it work for more than 200 years.


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Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, fighting for their political lives, relentlessly demeaned and baited Donald J. Trump at Thursday's debate, all but pleading with Republicans to abandon a candidate with a long history of business failures, deep ties to the Democratic Party and a taste for personal insults.

Warning that Mr. Trump would lead the party to a historic defeat in November, Mr. Rubio and Mr. Cruz delivered their attacks with urgency, as if trying to awaken voters who had fallen under Mr. Trump's spell. Mr. Rubio derided Mr. Trump as untrustworthy and uncivil, while Mr. Cruz bashed him for donating money to Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign and to other Democrats. Mr. Trump looked on with disgust, but as in their 10 previous debates, he seemed impervious and perhaps unstoppable. At times, the face-off in Detroit also deteriorated into the kind of junior high school taunts that have startled many Republican elders but have done little to dent Mr. Trump's broad appeal. As Mr. Trump and Mr. Rubio traded insults over their manhood, Mr. Trump recalled Mr. Rubio's innuendo that Mr. Trump's "small hands" correlated with another part of his anatomy.



Donald Trump Chris Keane | Reuters

Mr. Trump, who has boasted about his sexual exploits, insisted that nothing was small about him. "I guarantee you," he continued with little subtlety, "there's no problem. I guarantee you." More from The New York Times:

DebateTranscript

The Moments You Missed

WhoWon the Debate? Maybe No One, Analysts Say The two senators repeatedly urged Republicans to align against Mr. Trump in nominating contests over the next two weeks, saying that Mr. Trump could sew up the nomination even though a majority of voters so far have cast ballots for other candidates.

"Two-thirds of the people who cast a vote in a Republican primary or caucus have voted against you," Mr. Rubio told Mr. Trump. "The reason why is because we are not going to turn over the conservative movement or the party of Lincoln or Reagan, for example, to someone whose positions are not conservative."

The pleas reflected not only Mr. Trump's advantage in the race, but also the party's growing disquiet about the implications of nominating him. The specter of Mr. Trump as the Republican standard-bearer has long troubled both establishment-aligned and conservative leaders. But his initial hesitation to condemn the Ku Klux Klan in an interview on Sunday, and his success in seven states on Super Tuesday, have set off a new wave of anxiety that Mr. Trump could tarnish the party this year and perhaps beyond.

Still, in a striking moment, all of Mr. Trump's rivals on stage indicated that they would support him if he became the Republican nominee. The consensus was especially unusual in the case of Mr. Rubio, who has been caustically attacking Mr. Trump as a "con man."

While Mr. Rubio savaged Mr. Trump repeatedly on Thursday, Mr. Cruz combined his jabs with high-minded appeals to conservatives. He emphasized his support for a "simple flat tax" and a strong national defense, trying to position himself ahead of Mr. Rubio as the more competitive candidate against Mr. Trump. Mr. Cruz also appealed directly to Mr. Trump's supporters by saying that their desire for a political outsider to lead the country was misplaced.

"For 40 years, Donald has been part of the corruption in Washington that you're angry about," Mr. Cruz said. "And you're not going to stop the corruption in Washington by supporting someone who has supported liberal Democrats for four decades, from Jimmy Carter to John Kerry to Hillary Clinton."

"Donald Trump in 2008 wrote four checks to elect Hillary Clinton as president," Mr. Cruz added, turning to Mr. Trump to demand why he had done so.

"Actually, it was for business," Mr. Trump said, before noting that he had also given to Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.

Mr. Trump found himself on the defensive throughout the night, challenged by his rivals and the Fox News moderators to explain his inconsistent stands in the past. He also had to defend himself against a movement begun earlier Thursday by Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee, who shredded Mr. Trump as a "phony" and a "fraud" who must be blocked from the nomination. Mr. Trump, offered the chance to respond to Mr. Romney with harshness or with substance, chose the former.

"He was a failed candidate," Mr. Trump said. "He should have beaten President Obama very easy."

Mr. Cruz and Mr. Rubio, who have been grappling for ways to halt Mr. Trump's political momentum, seemed intent on trying to bait him into losing his cool. At one point, as Mr. Cruz tarred Mr. Trump for donating to Mrs. Clinton's 2008 campaign, Mr. Trump tried repeatedly to interrupt.

"Count to 10, Donald  count to 10," Mr. Cruz said. Later, in an exchange over Supreme Court nominations, Mr. Cruz taunted, "Breathe, breathe, breathe  you can do it." That prompted Mr. Rubio to joke that his two rivals were primed for yoga, especially Mr. Trump. "He's very flexible," Mr. Rubio said, a quip referring to Mr. Trump's changes in political positions.

Mr. Rubio tried to get under Mr. Trump's skin by boring in on Trump University, the defunct education and training venture over which Mr. Trump is facing civil litigation alleging that he defrauded students. Recalling that he had spoken to "one of the victims," Mr. Rubio said that what students had gotten in the courses was "stuff you could pull off of Zillow." "Why won't you give them their money back?" Mr. Rubio asked.

Mr. Trump, who described the litigation as "a minor civil case," claimed that almost all students who had signed up for the courses "said it was terrific," but he quickly lost patience with Mr. Rubio. Calling him "little Marco"  a phrase he used several times  Mr. Trump noted that the senator was losing to him in Florida polls before the state's March 15 primary.

"The people in Florida wouldn't elect him dogcatcher," Mr. Trump said.

Mr. Rubio, his voice ragged, appeared frustrated at times as he repeatedly sought to sow doubts about Mr. Trump. He has been trying for months to catch fire against Mr. Trump, whom he holds in low regard on policy matters, and now the Florida primary looms as make-or-break for Mr. Rubio's candidacy. "You have yet to answer a single serious question about any of this," Mr. Rubio said, referring to Mr. Trump's generalities on foreign affairs. As Mr. Trump responded by reiterating praise he had received from President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, Mr. Rubio threw his arms up and turned away in exasperation.

If Mr. Trump struggled to deflect the attacks on his character, business sense and political viability against Mrs. Clinton in the fall, he seized opportunities to reassure conservatives that he would be a forceful commander in chief. Questioned by the moderators about his past advocacy for torture and for killing the families of terrorists, Mr. Trump stood firm and argued that "we should go tougher than waterboarding." Pressed about whether military officers would carry out such orders  killing terrorists' family members would violate the Geneva Conventions  Mr. Trump offered a boast.

"If I say 'do it,' they're going to do it," he said.

At another point, in a rare concession from Mr. Trump, he acknowledged that he was "changing" one of his positions in the highly charged immigration debate and was now open to offering visas for highly skilled foreign workers. He also lamented that foreign citizens "go to the best colleges" in America and "as soon as they are finished, they get shoved out," and said he was "softening the position because we have to have talented people in this country." While his shift could appeal to some business leaders and moderate voters he would need in a general election, his campaign also issued a statement after the debate saying he would "institute an absolute requirement to hire American workers first for every visa and immigration program. No exception."

Mr. Trump's shifting positions have been a target for months, but during this debate, his rivals received help from the Fox News debate moderators. They played a compilation of video clips in which he was depicted changing his mind on issues like the war in Iraq. Mr. Trump was then asked directly if he had "a core."

"I have a very strong core, but I have never seen a successful person who wasn't flexible," Mr. Trump said.

One of the most anticipated face-offs of the night was between Mr. Trump and the moderator Megyn Kelly, who infuriated the candidate with her aggressive questions at the first Republican debate in August. Ms. Kelly and Mr. Trump breezily engaged each other on Thursday night, but Ms. Kelly was pointed if polite in her questioning.

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Malaysia's iconic former leader Mahathir Mohamad on Friday signed a declaration with members of both opposition and ruling parties to remove Prime Minister Najib Razak.

If Najib is allowed to remain in power, the damage from the scandal related to the deeply indebted state fund 1MDB will become worse, Mahathir said.

"We must rid ourselves of (Najib) as the prime minister of Malaysia," he said.

The declaration, which Mahathir read aloud in English at a press conference, said that Malaysia had descended to become one of the 10 most corrupt countries in the world under Najib's leadership; Mahathir didn't provide a source for that figure, although he noted that Malaysia fell four slots in the 2015 Transparency International corruption perception ranking from 50 to 54.

Najib's office didn't immediately respond to an email requesting comment.

In a statement emailed to CNBC, a Malaysian government spokesperson said: "Today, Tun Mahathir and his former enemies have demonstrated the depth of their political opportunism and desperation.

"There is an existing mechanism to change the Government and Prime Minister. It's called a general election. And it is the only mechanism that is lawful, democratic and fulfils the people's will.

"In 2013, the Malaysian people expressed their will and elected the current government, led by Prime Minister Najib Razak. If Tun Mahathir wants to change the Government, he must follow democratic process and await the next election, in line with Malaysia's laws and Federal Constitution."



Reuters also reported that opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who Mahathir removed as deputy prime minister in 1998, issued a statement from jail saying that he supported the push to remove Najib.



Najib has been under pressure since the Wall Street Journal published a report in July alleging that nearly $700 million had flowed from the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) fund to Najib's personal bank account.

Najib has repeatedly denied wrong-doing and, under pressure from the WSJ report, said at the time the funds were a private donation from a Middle Eastern country he declined to name. In January, Malaysia's Attorney General Mohamed Apandi Ali told an unscheduled press conference that Saudi Arabia's royal family gave Najib a $681 million gift that was subsequently partially returned.
The divisions over the migrant crisis in Europe are widening with some leaders trying to deter more arrivals from coming to the region while others are using the crisis as a way to cajole U.K. voters into remaining in the EU.



On Thursday, European leader tried a different tack, warning economic migrants not to even attempt to come to Europe. Donald Tusk, the president of the European Union, implored economic migrants  those travelling to a better way of life rather than because their lives are in danger  not to come to the region during a press conference in Athens.

"I want to appeal to all potential illegal economic migrants wherever you are from: Do not come to Europe. Do not believe the smugglers. Do not risk your lives and your money. It is all for nothing," Tusk said, according to AFP.

Tusk had met with Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras earlier in the day to discuss the country's handling of the migrant crisis.
It's about jobs and wages, stupid.

Despite continued improvement in the U.S. job market, many voters remain worried about whether they'll lose their livelihood. And with wage gains hard to come by, they're also wondering whether they'll be able to pay their monthly bills.

Since this year's election campaign got underway, job creation has been the centerpiece of each candidate's rhetoric on improving voters' economic well-being.

"I will be greatest jobs president that God ever created, I tell you that," Republican candidate Donald Trump declared when he launched his campaign at a speech in New York last June. "I'll bring back our jobs from China, from Mexico, Japan, from so many places. I'll bring back our jobs and I'll bring back our money."

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been somewhat less pointed in her claim, but has repeated the theme of job creation and higher wages broadly in stump speeches. In a talk last year unveiling a broad economic plan, she noted that small businesses remain a key source of job creation for many American workers.

"I've said I want to be the small-business president, and I mean it," she said " And throughout this campaign, I'm going to be talking about how we empower entrepreneurs with less red tape, easier access to capital, tax relief and simplification."

Read MoreLatest election news and coverage

On Friday, the Labor Department reported that total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 242,000 in February, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.9 percent.

Despite the strong payroll increase, wage gains remained weak. Last month, average hourly earnings fell by 3 cents  to $25.35. For the year, earnings are up 2.2 percent.

Those numbers will likely continue to play a major role in this year's presidential campaign. As the field narrows, the front-runners from both parties remain focused on economic issues in states where upcoming primaries may soon win enough delegates to clinch their party's nomination.

The U.S. economy has been steadily putting Americans back to work for the last six years  the jobless rate has been cut in half since peaking at 10 percent in October 2009. But that recovery has been unevenly felt around the country.

Read MoreJob creation jumps in February

In December, the latest state level data available, the average national jobless rate was 5.0 percent. But in North Dakota, where an oil and gas boom has  until recently  generated a surge in employment, the jobless rate stood at just 2.7 percent. In Mississippi, on the other hand, 6.8 percent of the workforce was unemployed in December.

The difference in the job outlook from state to state could either help or hurt the front-runners as their campaigns continue through the remainder of the primary season. In states where job gains have been robust, Clinton may have a better chance making the case that keeping a Democrat in the White House would produce more jobs than electing a Republican.

Trump's message of an American economy in decline, on the other hand, may resonant more strongly in states that have been losing jobs.
Pianist Shane Spangler and violinist Kenya Patzer will perform in Pawnee City on Sunday, March 13. The Pawnee County Arts Council is bringing Spangler and Patzer back for another memorable concert.

The program will begin at 2 p.m. at the Presbyterian Church, 801 G St. Those that need auxiliary assistance should contact Virginia Schlender, 402-852-2037. Free-will donations are welcome.

Shane Spangler grew up in rural Fairview, Kan., and made his orchestral debut in 1998, soloing with the St. Joseph Symphony Orchestra. Shane has performed in solo and collaborative recitals across the United States, and in the United Kingdom.

Shane was ordained to the ministry in 2008, and is currently pastor of Bethany United Church of Christ in Hiawatha, Kansas and Fairview United Church of Christ in Fairview, Kansas

Kenya Patzer, violin, has performed across the United States and Russia as orchestral member, chamber musician and soloist. Kenya is also an accomplished orchestral musician, a member of the Topeka Symphony Orchestra, Lawrence Chamber Orchestra, and is an alumnus of the National Repertory Orchestra and the American-Russian Young Artists Orchestra.

Kenya also works at Topeka High School, where she teaches orchestra and physics.

The Pawnee County Art Councils 2016 season includes an array of talent, musical styles, and an art show. The Pawnee County Art Show will be April 15-17; the annual Community Band concert and ice cream social on the court house lawn will be in June; and the University of Nebraska Lincoln Faculty String Quartet, CHIARA, is scheduled to play Oct. 16.

Members may renew their memberships at the program or contact one of the Arts Council board members. Membership in the Arts Council provides funding to help bring a broad variety of artistic programs to residents of southeast Nebraska and northeast Kansas.
Singapore will require all of the city-state's aircraft operators both passenger and cargo services  to ping the location of all their aircraft every 15 minutes throughout flights.

"This move is consistent with the International Civil Aviation Organization's (ICAO) plans to require a 15-minute standard for normal flight tracking by November 2018," the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) said in a press release Friday. "Also, we will impose this requirement on our airlines flying over any area, which is more comprehensive than the ICAO requirement which is only for aircraft flying over oceanic areas."

The new rules will apply to all passenger aircraft of more than 27,000 kg and carrying more than 19 passengers and cargo aircraft larger than 45,500 kg. The requirements will allow airlines to track their planes either manually or automatically from July 1 of this year, but they must all switch to automatic tracking by November 8, 2018.
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Can Donald Trump be stopped? That is the big question hanging over the GOP establishment and the 2016 presidential race. The answer is yes. But it's a long shot and almost certainly depends on denying Trump the Republican nomination at the GOP convention in July. From a delegate math perspective, the effort to stop Trump likely depends on the Florida primary on March 15. If outside groups going up with negative ads on Trump, including the Wall Street-funded Our Principles PAC, can move the numbers in the Sunshine State and deliver a win to its home-state senator, Marco Rubio, there is a good chance Trump will fall short of the 1,237 delegates he needs to win the nomination outright before the convention in Cleveland. Because if Trump loses winner-take-all Florida, he could also lose winner-take-all Ohio to the state's governor, John Kasich. And as the race progresses, the terrain becomes somewhat less hospitable to Trump, with contests moving out of the South and into the Midwest, West and Northeast. Trump has shown the ability to win anywhere (see Massachusetts) but he has not faced the kind of sustained assault on the air he is about to face over his business record and past positions on abortion and gun rights and other issues key to GOP primary voters. He could face $10 million in negative ads in Florida alone over the next 10 days.

Republican presidential candidates (Lto R) Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), and Ohio Gov. John Kasich Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images

The conundrum for political operatives working to stop Trump is what they refer to as the "magnet problem." They are trying to use powerful magnets to drive voters away from Trump but at the moment they don't have a single magnet to draw in the voters leaving the front-runner. In Florida, they have Rubio. In Ohio, Kasich. In other states, Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz. At some point there has to be a single recipient of the anti-Trump vote. And that may not happen until the convention. This problem is the reason some inside the party still believe that a consensus candidate will have to emerge who is not in the race now. House Speaker Paul Ryan and 2012 nominee Mitt Romney  who spent the latter part of this week savaging Trump  are the most oft-mentioned names to emerge at the convention. The belief among those working in the #NeverTrump movement is that while some of the billionaire's supporters will certainly revolt if he goes into the convention with a plurality but not a majority of delegates and is denied the nomination, the damage in the fall will be much worse if he is the GOP standard-bearer. These people believe that Trump's awful numbers with black, Hispanic and female voters will make it all but impossible for him to beat likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. He could also drag down Republicans in down-ballot races and possibly cost the party its Senate majority. And these people believe the narrative around the GOP race will be much different by July if Trump is trending down in states and delegates won rather than up. "If it's clear by summer that 60 percent or more of the Republican Party has rejected Trump as the nominee then giving the nomination to somewhat else at the convention will be much less difficult," one person working on efforts to stop Trump told me this week. One thing working in the "stop Trump" movement's favor may be the early decision by the front-runner to try and switch into general election mode.



Trump came under heavy fire in the debate Thursday night, essentially admitting that he told The New York Times in an off-the-record discussion that he wasn't as solid in his plan to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants as he has been on the campaign trail. He came under relentless pressure from the Fox News moderators over his claims that he can balance the budget while cutting taxes by massive amounts and not cutting entitlements. He also took big hits for hiring immigrants over Americans at his Mar-a-Lago Club, making Trump-branded clothing outside the United States and over the lawsuit against his defunct "Trump University" by students who say they were left with piles of debt and nothing to show for it. Trump also struggled to name any serious foreign policy advisors or explain how he would get the U.S. military to kill the families of terrorists. Trump for the first time talked about his willingness to show "flexibility" on immigration and other policies, an obvious nod to the general election. The question is whether that will turn off supporters who hail Trump as a fire-breathing truth teller. So far, bad debate performances haven't hurt Trump. This one probably won't either unless it's because his true believer followers feel like he is betraying them with moderation. Trump remains the front-runner with the most obvious path to the GOP nomination. But if he starts losing the biggest states  and his supporters wobble on him  that front-runner status could easily evaporate. This thing isn't over.
PHOTO CREDIT: Le Moyne College

SYRACUSE, N.Y.  The Madden School of Business at Le Moyne College has announced that well-known pollster John Zogby will become director of the Keenan Center for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Creativity, effective March 15.

Zogby is an internationally respected pollster, opinion leader and best-selling author, Le Moyne said in a news release posted March 1 on the schools website.

As director of the Keenan Center, Zogby will help develop a plan for entrepreneurial leadership, education, opportunity and training to make it a driving force for economic development in the upstate New York small-business community, Le Moyne said.

This role is a perfect match between my alma mater and my skills in the world of entrepreneurialism, Zogby said in the release. I have started a successful business and am now starting a new one with my sons, so I will be an entrepreneurial practitioner while I am directing and encouraging others. Theres no better place to do this than where my education began.

Zogby is a 1970 graduate of Le Moyne College.

For three decades, the Zogby companies have produced polls for numerous media organizations and other clients. Zogby was also an early pioneer in the practice of online polling, according to Le Moyne.

The Keenan Center for Entrepreneurship is one of three centers within the school. Besides Keenan, the Madden School also houses the Center for Reflective Leadership and Business Ethics and the Center for Global Engagement and Impact, according to its website.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
It may be self-evident, but the most important aspect of operating for the cow-calf producer is the cow.

It all starts with the cow, said Tom Brink, founder and owner of Brink Consulting and Trading in Brighton, Colo., speaking to around 180 farmers and ranchers attending the State of Beef Conference in North Platte recently. You need to have a functional cow, he said.

That is the first dimension of a successful cowherd. The cows should fit the resources the producer has available. The cows should fit a cross breeding program to produce healthy and very productive calves. The cows should have the calm temperament desirable for farm producers.

Steve Tonn, University of Nebraska Extension Educator focusing on beef, said Wednesday night in Beatrice that cow-calf producers should aspire for more. A two-dimensional cowherd has functional cows that are adapted females with good reproduction rates, reasonable feed costs, longevity and that produce calves that have marketability for feeders, he explained. You want those calves to perform above average in the feedyard, and you will enjoy better demand for your calves and better sales prices.

More than ever, there is a link between cow-calf producers, feedlots and packers. The first goal is to put the plan together with the right kind of genetics and a care and management plan that is both efficient and adapted to the feedlot/packer programs. For small herd producers those goals are only part of the desirable outcome. The marketing plan may demand groups larger than a single producer can supply. Enlarging the herd, collaboration with other small producers or altering the operation to fit a need in the industry can be profitable and may be options.

A three-dimensional cowherd is even more profitable. To build a three-dimensional herd, you want to have the ability to create value that includes calves that produce superior carcasses. Seventy-percent of fed cattle produced today are sold based on a carcass-merit payment system.

Thats why carcass value makes this list, Tonn said. Following these dimensions will allow you to maximize profit potential in all market conditions. Everybody in the system wins, because you are producing value at the farm level and adding value at the feeder and packer level, too.

Tonn told producers that they need to prepare their calves as best they can to go into a challenging environment. Feeders and packers value traits like calves that are extremely healthy and can withstand less-than-desirable weather conditions that always come along, he noted. Calves need to grow fast and put on weight efficiently, and they need to grade. Cow-calf producers that have calves that excel at these traits will have feeders lined up to purchase their calves.

Market access is a challenge to the small producer. Carcass traits that improve profitability most include carcass weight, marbling, ribeye, and to a lesser extent, backfat.

It pays to finish cattle bigger because adding pounds cheapens your break-even price most of the time. Performance is better in heavier finished cattle. Tonn explained that finding a balance between farm traits, growth and carcass traits, and a strong health program is the key to garnering premium calf prices from feeders.
With the death of Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court lost a great defender of originalism.

His commitment to the original meaning of the Constitution made him a staple of American law.

Though he is gone, other judges can carry forward his legacy.

Where the Government accuses a citizen of waging war against it, our constitutional tradition has been to prosecute him in federal court for treason or some other crime. Where the exigencies of war prevent that, the Constitution's Suspension Clause...allows Congress to relax the usual protections temporarily. Absent suspension, however, the Executive's assertion of military exigency has not been thought sufficient to permit detention without charge.

I always hate to use a jargonistic term, but I'm a textualist. I believe that the written Constitution reflects the social contract that people have made with each other and with their government. And just as with any contract, a judge's role is to enforce that contract vigorously. And the best way of doing that in an objective manner is to resort to the text, and to give meaning to the words as they were intended to mean. Obviously that's not always possible, so occasionally a judge will have to resort to legislative intent and things of that manner. But I think textualists are the most faithful to the Constitution. When you stray from the text you are literally amending the Constitution, which in my view leads to judicial lawlessness.

In 1776 the Drafters of the Declaration of Rights in our state constitution provided for separation of powers...; the next day, those same Drafters specified legislative appointment of the entire executive and judicial branches...In appointing the Governor, the then-seven-member Council of State, an Attorney General, Secretary of State, and Treasurer, id., the General Assembly did not exercise the power of those offices. The authority to appoint all the officials of the other branches did not violate separation of powers because a separation of powers violation only occurs when one branch of government exercises the power belonging to another branch.

"The Court's decision reflects the philosophy that judges should endure whatever interpretive distortions it takes in order to correct a supposed flaw in the statutory machinery," Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in his dissenting opinion in King v. Burwell , a contentious 2015 case on the constitutionality of provisions of the Affordable Care Act. "The philosophy ignores the American people's decision to give Congress '[a]ll legislative Powers' enumerated in the Constitution...This Court holds only the judicial power-the power to pronounce the law as Congress has enacted it. We lack the prerogative to repair laws that do not work out in practice, just as the people lack the ability to throw us out of office if they dislike the solutions we concoct."Such opinions were typical of Justice Scalia, who suddenly and tragically passed away last week in Texas. His commitment to the original meaning of the Constitution, and his rigorous advocacy for that originalism, made him a staple of American law. He single-handedly kept originalism in the conversation as a valid, and respected, form of constitutional interpretation, and worked that interpretation into decisions in which he authored the majority opinion.Scalia's originalism was often identified with political conservatism. But not all originalists have been conservatives. Justice Hugo Black, who upheld President Franklin D. Roosevelt's progressive New Deal legislation, took a textualist approach to constitutional interpretation that was in some ways similar to Scalia's originalism. So while the two might disagree on whether the intentions of the framers should inform our understanding of the Constitution, both would agree that the founding document ultimately prescribes a mandate that is not easily subject to change.Justice Scalia's mode of constitutional interpretation also led him to sometimes depart from his conservative colleagues, instead allying with the liberal wing of the court. In 2004, during the height of post-9/11 fear of terrorism, he joined with liberal Justice John Paul Stevens in arguing that the executive branch could not unilaterally prescribe the indefinite detention of an alleged terrorist who was a U.S. citizen:Perhaps only one time did Justice Scalia depart from his strict originalism - that being the case of Gonzales v. Raich , where he read the Necessary and Proper and Interstate Commerce Clauses of the U.S. Constitution as allowing the federal government to regulate the noneconomic intrastate production and consumption of marijuana.This rare departure from his normal modus operandi notwithstanding, Justice Scalia left a strong originalist mark on American jurisprudence. The question now is how long this mark will endure. With justices such as Anthony Kennedy writing opinions referring to a "liberty to...express [one's] identity" that is found absolutely nowhere in the text or origins of the Constitution, the survival of Scalia's legacy is by no means guaranteed. Among the Court's current makeup, perhaps only Clarence Thomas will be able to carry forward Justice Scalia's originalism. But while Justice Thomas is certainly a brilliant legal mind in his own right, he simply is not Justice Scalia.But who could possibly fill Scalia's shoes? Well, the short answer is - no one. There was and ever will be only one Antonin Scalia. But there certainly are some judges in our nation who could, if given the opportunity, carry forward the philosophy of originalism.One such judge is Justice Clint Bolick of the Arizona Supreme Court. In a recent interview with Reason Magazine , Bolick described his own legal philosophy:Another committed originalist resides right here in North Carolina - Justice Paul Newby of the North Carolina Supreme Court. In a recent dissenting opinion on separation of powers , Newby addressed the question of whether the ability to appoint an administrative officer necessary includes the power to control that officer. For his answer, Newby turned to the text and original meaning of the state constitution:The point is this - with Scalia's passing, we absolutely did lose perhaps the greatest originalist Supreme Court Justice in American history. But we did not lose the philosophy of originalism itself, in large part due to Justice Scalia's work to keep it alive. And while Scalia's shoes will never completely be filled, there are jurists today who are ready and able to carry forward his legacy.
Crony capitalism is a term that we have been hearing a lot lately. The term has come into use to distinguish the kind of economic system we, in large part, have in this country with true free market capitalism. In the former there is a cozy relationship between business, particularly big business, and government where political favoritism rules resource allocation. My colleague Julie Tisdale, JLF's City and County Policy Analyst, offers a great example of this in Henderson County in a recently published Carolina Journal op ed . And Jon Sanders, Locke's Director of Regulatory Studies, takes a broader perspective looking at various crony capitalist schemes that plague North Carolina's economy more generally.Under free market capitalism, there is an arms length relationship between government and business where the government creates a broad institutional setting of secure property rights that allows entrepreneurs to succeed or fail based on their own talents. It is a system that abhors government favoritism and embraces neutrality with respect to business decision-making.It should be noted that nearly all crony capitalist schemes  whether subsidies for renewable energy companies, Hollywood movie moguls via film incentives, or giant shipping companies like CSX  are typically advocated for with pseudo analysis using any one of several "economic" models developed and sold by private companies, who are ultimately part of the crony nexus. The most common is a proprietary model called IMPLAN, but there are others. These models have been designed as tools of crony capitalism. No matter what the subsidy is that is being advocated for, when used, usually by the industry being subsidized, the studies always give results that support the crony relationship between government and business. In other words, an entire industry is built up around the crony capitalism model. State, local, and federal governments offer subsidies to certain industries. These industries try to convince politicians that they are worthy of the taxpayer largesse. In turn this creates a demand on the part of these companies for "economic studies" showing that their particular subsidy will be great for the economy. This, in turn, generates a supply of "economic models" that are designed to give the businesses or industries what they want.This video produced by Prager University takes an analytical yet entertaining look at crony capitalism, compares it to free market capitalism, and explains why it is economically destructive.
Greeting Guinea Pigs! As we all navigate our way through this epidemic, Cobaya is looking for ways to support our local restaurant community...
A serious theft of 50 notes from the security printing firm Royal Johannes Enschede of Haarlem, Netherlands, was the result of an inside job, says a Feb. 25 report by the Dutch website Crimesite.nl.

A serious theft of 50 notes from the security printing firm Royal Johannes Enschede of Haarlem, Netherlands, was the result of an inside job, says a Feb. 25 report by the Dutch website Crimesite.nl. Enschede is one of the authorized printers of euro bank notes.

Crimesite was told by sources that there had been reports for two years that employees were stealing a substantial amount of 50 notes. Moreover, the theft is said to include not only finished notes, but also ones still missing the overprint of serial numbers.

No arrests had yet been made in the case that is being handled by the public prosecutor in Haarlem. Much is still unknown about the alleged theft and the police are saying little, reports RTL News.

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Theo Peters, a leading coin and paper money dealer in Amsterdam, says he has not yet heard of any of the purloined error notes being offered on the market.

The printing firm was called Johan Enschede en Zonen (and sons) until it received a royal warrant in 2003. It was established in 1703 and does about 55 million in sales annually. It is among the oldest businesses in the Netherlands, and was the exclusive supplier of guilder bank notes for the Netherlands central bank. Today printing euros is one of its core activities.

The serial numbers of euro notes printed by Enschede begin with the letter P.

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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 self-anointed pedestal; a functioning society of a good Constitutional people cannot withstand this level of "existential" favoritism as it exists now.
By Yolanda Jones of The Commercial Appeal

Memphis Police are asking for the publics help to find the car of a homicide victim that was stolen from his home after he was shot and killed.

Police said Albert Earl Farmer Jr., 51, was found dead Wednesday afternoon in his home in the 800 block of West Holmes.

Police said his dark blue 2005 Suzuki Forenza with Tennessee tags DVS-210 was stolen.

Farmer, a Navy veteran, leaves two children and five grandchildren.

Police had made no arrests Friday. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 901-528-2274.
On The Docket Whether it's a verdict or a hearing, it's On The Docket SHARE

By Katie Fretland of The Commercial Appeal

A 44-year-old Olive Branch man was sentenced Friday to nine years in prison for defrauding victims of more than $2 million, said the office of Edward L. Stanton III, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee.

Anthony Davis owned ADLM Automotive, Inc. and promoted an "investment opportunity" that defrauded investors, Stanton's spokesman, Louis Goggans, said in a news release.

In another scheme, Davis obtained social security numbers to fraudulently obtain credit for buying vehicles.

"As a result of the scheme, Davis and co-conspirators fraudulently obtained and attempted to obtain credit to finance the purchase of approximately 16 vehicles," Goggans wrote.

In a plea agreement, Davis also agreed to pay restitution to the victims.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Carroll L. Andre III prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Marshals Service, and the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General.


Tom Campbell

Following "Super Tuesday," both political parties are wondering how they can survive their nominees, while North Carolinians are pondering the impact on our state.The presidential races have turned into a referendum on outsiders. The numbers don't lie. Swarms of Republicans have turned out in impressive and increasing numbers. Both Trump and the masses voting for him are running away from mainstream Republican positions.National GOP leaders are in panic mode, not just worried that Trump will win the nomination, lose the White House and possibly their majority in the U.S. Senate. What has them really frightened is that 2016 might signal the death of the GOP. Donald's largely white, middle class coalition is both deep and wide. It has no loyalty to party, feels disenfranchised and is fed up with Washington politicians.Even though many are unwilling to admit it, Democrats have their own problems. A red flag warning is that Democratic primary turnout is significantly down from 2008. Hillary Clinton was supposedly on a cakewalk to the nomination but, aside from African Americans, party faithful appear uninspired. A growing number are concerned she is too closely connected with Obama and the establishment. Bernie Sanders, though he has served in Congress many years, is capturing a large faction of mostly young and women voters with his message of a revolution against Wall Street, the wealthy and political PACs, swelling his treasury with millions from small donations. If you subtract "super delegates," originally created so no nominee would take the party too far off the reservation, Hillary and Bernie are running close. Party leaders question whether Clinton has too much baggage to win the presidency but can't see Bernie winning either.Here in The Old North State party leaders and candidates are worried about who and how many will turn out on March 15th. The decision to combine the presidential primary with statewide primary elections was obviously a huge mistake. Further, the state GOP decision to award convention delegates based on proportional, rather than winner-take-all outcomes, almost assures we won't get much attention. Trump has a big lead and Rubio and Kasich will devote their efforts to their home states. Understanding that second place finishes won't win him the nomination, Florida is a must-win state for Rubio. If Kasich doesn't win Ohio he is toast, so he will spend his dollars and time there. Cruz will go for broke with winner-take-all states.With such a large percentage of African American voters (about 92 percent) who vote for Clinton, Sanders will also focus on winner-take-all states. Hillary will take a victory here for granted. Our state won't be much of a factor in determining nomination outcomes.There are some very important elections that deserve our attention and consideration, to include the important Connect NC bond referendum, but with all the focus on the presidential contests and recent court decisions, state and local candidates have had big problems raising money, translating to an inability to purchase TV and radio, direct mail and social media sufficiently to excite supporters and get their message to voters. Analysts are adjusting March 15th turnout predictions downward.The chaos and theatrics are unsettling, a bad sign for the parties, the candidates and the whole electoral process. Only time will tell how this plays out.
SHARE From upper left clockwise, Tracy Hall, Gina Sweat, Virzola Law and Shirley Raines

By Linda A. Moore of The Commercial Appeal

The American Association of University Women-Memphis will honor four female trailblazers who were first in their fields on Saturday during its Women's History Month program, "Trailblazers: Women on the Move."

The honorees are: Dr. Tracy Hall, president of Southwest Tennessee Community College; Rev. Virzola Law, senior pastor at Lindenwood Christian Church; Dr. Shirley Raines, president emerita of the University of Memphis; and Gina Sweat, director of the Memphis Fire Department.

The program is from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library, 3030 Poplar.
March 3, 2016 - Memphis city councilman Frank Colvett Jr., City of Memphis chief HR officer Alexandria Smith, and City of Memphis deputy COO Patrice Robinson listen to Memphis Firefighters Association President Thomas Malone during a Public Safety Task Force meeting to discuss about how to keep police officers and firefighters from leaving their city jobs. (Nikki Boertman/The Commercial Appeal)

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By Ryan Poe of The Commercial Appeal

In the first meeting of the Public Safety Task Force on Thursday, Memphis Chief Human Resources Officer Alexandria Smith read a list of complaints about the city's police and fire pay and benefits package.

"I have sacrificed my body for this city," she read. "Who will take care of my family when I am dead?"

"Why should I stay if you won't take care of me when I get old, and I can go to another city and make more?" another complaint read.

Over the next three Thursdays, the task force will look for "out-of-the-box" ways to sweeten the city's pay-and-benefits package without breaking the budget, said task force chairman and City Council member Frank Colvett Jr. Recommendations are due to the council at its April 5 meeting.

"I know the pension and benefits is going to be the 800-pound gorilla of the conversation," he said.

The backdrop to the task force's creation by the council Feb. 2 was the shortage of police officers and firefighters, who have quit in higher numbers since their pay and benefits were cut in recent years. Smith told the other members of the task force that the city lost 160 officers and 60 firefighters in 2015, up from the 100 officers and 36 firefighters it lost in 2013.

"The things that are not working well, as you can see, is a longer list," she said.

Smith said she's created three subcommittees - each with city, fire and police representation - that will look at benefits, career development and recruiting, and bring their recommendations to the task force in late March to talk about funding.

The task force meeting Thursday was more of a brainstorming and scheduling session, generating ideas like giving education or pay incentives to police officers who move into the city, as opposed to establishing residency requirements.

Memphis Firefighters Association President Thomas Malone, a member of the task force, said he'd been in similar meetings before, but the mayor's office hadn't been willing to pony up the money to keep employees from leaving the city.

"The bottom line is, it's going to take money to fix our problems," he said. "It's that simple."

He asked Smith how committed Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland's administration is to solving the problem, to which she replied "very committed."

"It's my top priority," she said.

Malone said nine other cities, including Washington, D.C., Aurora, Colo., and Austin, Texas, are recruiting Memphis officers, and two more cities are looking at recruiting. He said the International Fire Fighter Association is working on a study that compares the city's total compensation to those nine cities, and that he would present the study to the task force at an upcoming meeting.

The city is also expecting to soon receive a study that compares Memphis' compensation to other cities. Strickland has said he'll use the study in weighing changes to the city's compensation package.

The meeting Thursday included Colvett, Smith, Thomas, Deputy Chief Operations Officer Patrice Thomas, police major Keith Watson and attorney Zayid Saleem, and Our Fallen Heroes Foundation CEO Donna Kirk.

A Memphis Police Association representative, and council members Edmund Ford Jr., who sponsored the resolution to create the task force, and Phillip Spinosa Jr. were also present for part of the meeting.

The task force will meet at 3 p.m. Thursdays in the fifth floor conference room of City Hall, 125 N. Main.
Sen. Bob Corker has crafted his own "fiscal cliff" solution, and will be the top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee next year. (J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press files)

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By Michael Collins of The Commercial Appeal

WASHINGTON - U.S. Sen. Bob Corker offered words of caution Thursday for GOP leaders waging a last-ditch effort to stop Donald Trump from winning the Republican nomination for president.

"Here's my message to the Republican Party leaders," Corker said in a statement. "Focus more on listening to the American people and less on trying to stifle their voice."

Corker, a Chattanooga Republican, released his remarks just hours after Mitt Romney, the party's 2012 nominee for president, excoriated Trump in a speech in Salt Lake City. Romney called Trump a "phony" who is "playing the American people for suckers" and isn't fit to be president.

Corker has not publicly backed any Republican candidate for president, and his office said his statement should not be construed as an endorsement. The senator does not plan to endorse a candidate in this election, his office said.

What's happening in the presidential race, Corker said, "is the result of two things: the fecklessness and ineptness of the Washington establishment in failing to address the big issues facing our country and years of anger with the overreach of the Obama administration."

"And to be candid," he added, "I think the American people should be angrier than they are."

Trump has won 10 of the 15 states in which the GOP has held presidential primaries or caucuses and has a sizeable lead in the delegate count for the GOP nomination.

Earlier this week, the New York real estate mogul won seven of the 11 states that voted on Super Tuesday. He carried Tennessee by 14 points, beating out U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who came in second, and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who placed third.

Preliminary results show that Trump will receive 15 at-large delegates as a result of winning Tennessee, while Cruz will pick up 10 and Rubio will get six. Delegates in Tennessee are awarded on a proportional basis to any candidate that receives at least 20 percent of the vote.

Other delegates will be awarded by congressional district. Those delegates will be distributed as soon as a breakdown is available from each district, the Tennessee Republican Party said.

Tennessee Republicans will award a total of 58 delegates.
Fred J. Griffith/The Commercial Appeal files Mrs. Hamilton Smythe III (right) is the new president of The Junior League of Memphis. Other officers are (from left) Mrs. Robert J. Hussey Jr., recording secretary; Mrs. Thomas F. Johnston, corresponding secretary; Mrs. John Stokes Jr., treasurer; and Mrs. Thomas C. White, vice president. They began work on March 4, 1970, despite the rain.

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March 4

25 years ago: 1991

SAFWAN, Iraq - The Iraqi general wore an unsettling grin at the negotiating table, as if he thought that some simple misunderstanding had turned into war quite by accident. But the American who faced him was somber. Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf said that Sunday morning he had seen for the first time the devastation wrought by Iraq on Kuwait. Within two hours, the obviously humbled Iraqi delegation had accepted all the demands that were presented for a permanent cease-fire in the Persian Gulf war. In effect the Iraqis had surrendered and the coalition's victory over the government of President Saddam Hussein appeared complete.

50 years ago: 1966

Nearly 300 conventions, trade shows and events, ranging in size from 17 persons to more than 500,000, have been scheduled for Memphis during the next five years. James C. Wood, manager of the Convention and Visitors Bureau of the Memphis Area Chamber of Commerce, said that 200 of the meetings already booked will be held this year. He said they will bring an estimated 15 million dollars to Memphis.

75 years ago: 1941

The majority of South Americans lean to totalitarianism and are swayed by the glory of a German military victory, Abe Scharff, South American jungle traveler, said last night at the Memphis Public Affairs Forum at the YWCA.

100 years ago: 1916

Earl Barnes of Philadelphia, famous authority on economic subjects, will lecture at Goodwyn Institute tonight on "Who Should Own the Earth, or The Single Tax."

125 years ago: 1891

An audience of moderate dimensions assisted last night at the Grand Opera House presentation of "The Master of Woodbarrow." The play has been sufficiently criticized. It is not a hit.
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By Noah Feldman

What is an undue burden? That question was at the heart of Wednesday's oral argument at the U.S. Supreme Court in the Texas abortion case of Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt.

In particular, the conversation focused on whether the court needs to do a cost-benefit comparison to determine an undue burden - and if it does, what statistical evidence is needed to do it properly.

As expected, the oral argument reinforced the sense that the outcome of the case depends on Justice Anthony Kennedy. The four liberal justices made it pretty clear that the Texas law, which requires abortion clinics to operate more like hospitals, should be struck down. The three conservatives, sorely missing the support of Justice Antonin Scalia, will surely vote to uphold it, although Justice Clarence Thomas kept silent on Wednesday. What matters, therefore, is how Kennedy is thinking about the undue-burden problem.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wanted to help. She pressed counsel for both sides on the question of what benefits, if any, the law might have. Under her careful guidance, Stephanie Toti, the lawyer for the reproductive rights group, said there was no medical benefit to be had from taking abortion-inducing drugs in a clinic rather than at home, as the law requires.

And Toti said there was no medical advantage to performing the procedure known as D&C (dilation and curettage) during an abortion in an expensively equipped ambulatory surgical center given that an identical procedure is often performed in other cases in a doctor's office.

Then Sotomayor asked Scott Keller, the Texas solicitor general, "Are you taking into account in the undue-burden analysis the value of the need being imposed?"

Sotomayor's point was that determining whether the law created an undue burden would require comparing the burden imposed with the benefits created by the law. Keller tried to deflect, by saying that the court should assume that a law has a rational basis unless proved otherwise. The reason for Texas to avoid a weighing of costs and benefits is pretty clear: The real purpose of the law is to reduce the total number of abortions. The state legislature almost certainly considered that to be the law's benefit, but it couldn't say so when writing and passing the law, because that would seem to violate the very idea of a constitutional right to abortion. Instead, the law was presented as protecting women's health. On that dimension, the law does little or nothing.

Kennedy was listening. After Sotomayor's foray he asked the Texas lawyer whether the premise or effect of the law was "to increase surgical abortions as distinct from medical abortions." He added that "my reading indicated that medical abortions are up nationwide but down significantly in Texas." Furthermore, Kennedy said, "this may not be medically wise."

Abortion rights activists will be heartened to hear Kennedy's final suggestion. But it would be a mistake to assume that he fully bought the argument that the law has no medical benefits. If the court's method of analysis were to balance cost against benefits, then it would be relevant that more women seem to be having surgical abortions in Texas, thus incurring greater medical risk than they would if they were having the drug-induced procedure. But if undue burden is just a question of individual women being able to get an abortion of some kind, then a different sort of evidence would be needed.

On this point, Kennedy was also animated. He suggested that it might be necessary to send the case back to the lower courts to ascertain whether, as a matter of practice, women in Texas have sufficient access to abortions going forward.

His thought seemed to be that new ambulatory surgical centers might come into existence to satisfy the need created by the closure of existing abortion clinics. He even asked, somewhat fancifully, whether the federal district court would have the authority to freeze the operation of the law for several years to see if such new centers came into existence. After all, he said, "district judges often think they can do anything."

Kennedy got a laugh for this quip; district judges, who, statistically speaking, are rarely reversed on appeal, may be among the most powerful government officials for that reason and may seem omnipotent. Yet the serious implication of Kennedy's question was that if the Texas law is to be analyzed based on abortion accessibility, rather than costs and benefits, the court might need more empirical facts.

The upshot is that it seems relatively unlikely that Kennedy would vote with the conservatives, creating a 4-4 split that would uphold the law without creating a national precedent. But it remains uncertain - possibly even to Kennedy himself - whether he would vote to strike down the law now by a vote of 5-3 or to send the case back to the district court for more fact-finding.

The court's outcome depends on whether Kennedy chooses the cost-benefit route or chooses to focus on access. Whichever he picks, he'll be pointing the way for future jurisprudence in the area of abortion rights, even after he's gone from the court.

Bloomberg View columnist Noah Feldman is a professor of constitutional and international law at Harvard University.
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) 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)

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Early in his quest for the Republican nomination for president, Donald Trump promised major H-1B reforms. But Thursday night, at a debate in Detroit with his fellow Republican candidates, Trump said he was "softening" his position.

The move created an instant mess for Trump. So early this morning, his campaign issued a statement condemning the H-1B program and stressed the need to "hire Americans first."

But the damage was done.

Norm Matloff, a computer science professor at the University of California at Davis and a leading critic of the visa program, noted in a post-debate blog post: "I'm getting e-mail messages from some absolutely furious supporters of Donald Trump  who are now FORMER supporters of Trump."

The trouble began with a question from Fox News Reporter Megyn Kelly about inconsistencies in Trump's statements. Said Kelly: "Mr. Trump, your campaign website to this day argues that more visas for highly skilled workers would, quote, "decimate American workers." However, at the CNBC debate, you spoke enthusiastically in favor of these visas. So, which is it?" (see transcript)

"I'm changing. I'm changing," said Trump, in response. "We need highly skilled people in this country. In Silicon Valley, we absolutely have to have."

He also said: "I'm changing it, and I'm softening the position because we have to have talented people in this country."

Trump's post-debate statement suggested that Kelly's question wasn't specific to the H-1B program: "Megyn Kelly asked about highly-skilled immigration." Then the statement goes to attack the visa program:

"The H-1B program is neither high-skilled nor immigration: these are temporary foreign workers, imported from abroad, for the explicit purpose of substituting for American workers at lower pay. I remain totally committed to eliminating rampant, widespread H-1B abuse and ending outrageous practices such as those that occurred at Disney in Florida when Americans were forced to train their foreign replacements. I will end forever the use of the H-1B as a cheap labor program, and institute an absolute requirement to hire American workers first for every visa and immigration program.

"No exceptions," wrote Trump.

Trump's statement appears to argue that he was discussing green cards, permanent immigration, for university graduates and not H-1B visas.

But Kelly was asking Trump about the H-1B program. She used the word "decimate," in her question, citing the same word Trump's platform uses in its criticism of the higher H-1B visa caps sought in the I-Square bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), one of Trump's GOP presidential rivals.

Trump, in response to Kelly's question, spoke about how foreign students will go to Harvard, Stanford and Wharton and "as soon as they're finished they'll get shoved out. They want to stay in this country. They want to stay here desperately, they're not able to stay here.

"For that purpose, we absolutely have to be able to keep the brain power in this country," said Trump.

Pressing for clarity, Kelly asked Trump: "You are abandoning the position on your Website?"

Trump's H-1B position has two main features. It raises the pay of visa workers to keep employers from paying entry-level wages. Higher salaries "will force companies to give these coveted entry-level jobs to the existing domestic pool of unemployed" workers "instead of flying in cheaper workers from overseas."

A second major feature is the campaign's "hire American workers first" edict. Trump wrote that H-1B "petitions for workers should be mailed to the unemployment office, not USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service)."

During the debate, Kelly also quizzed Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) about his inconsistencies on the H-1B program. She pointed out that Cruz supported a major hike in the visa cap, and did not join the group of bipartisan Senators seeking an investigation of the program following Southern California Edison's layoff last year.

"The abuse of the H-1B program has been rampant," said Cruz, in response.

Cruz is co-sponsoring legislation with Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) to substantially hike H-1B wages, tighten program rules and eliminate non-disparagement clauses that serve to keep IT workers from speaking out.

As president, Cruz said he would impose a 180-day moratorium on the H-1B program and "implement a comprehensive investigation, because "you got U.S. companies that are firing American workers, bringing in foreign workers, and forcing them to train their replacements."

Trump recently received the endorsement Sessions, who also heads the Senate immigration subcommittee. Two former IT workers, who each said they had to train a foreign replacement, spoke at a recent Trump rally.
Governor Pat McCrory with SECC Chairman's Award recipients for agencies under 100 employees from the Office of State Human Resources: From left to right: Paula Woodhouse (Deputy Director, OSHR) Neal Alexander (State HR Director and 2015 SECC Chariman), Governor Pat McCrory, and SECC department executives for OSHR Carol Battlle and Danny Stutzman.

The State Employees Combined Campaign (SECC), established in 1984, held its annual recognition reception at the Governor's Mansion in Raleigh yesterday (Wednesday, March 2). In attendance were agency leadership, numerous campaign volunteers, and Governor Pat McCrory, who expressed his gratitude for everyone's efforts and for the ongoing success of the campaign:The SECC is the only authorized fundraising campaign permitted to solicit charitable contributions in the state employee workplace. It provides state employees and retirees an opportunity and choice in directing their contributions to charitable organizations through a uniform and systematic process. It gives state employees and retirees an opportunity to support charitable organizations that are accountable, fiscally sound, and committed to improving the quality of life in North Carolina, across the nation and around the world.The chairman for SECC's 2015 campaign, themed "Give - Make it Grow," was C. Neal Alexander, Jr., State Human Resources Director. Secretary of the Department of Environmental Quality, Donald R. van der Vaart, acted as co-chair. At the reception, Director Alexander passed the campaign gavel to Secretary van der Vaart who will chair the 2016 campaign. Keith Werner, CIO with the Department of Information Technology, will serve as the 2016 co-chair.The 2015 SECC campaign raised $3,760,000 which boosted the total contributions since its inception to over $102 million! Each state agency and university had its own team of volunteer campaign organizers who raised awareness with state employees of the over 1000 charities that are part of the SECC and facilitated collecting the donations.Out-going SECC chairman Alexander acknowledged his appreciation to all the volunteers for their tireless efforts in making the 2015 campaign such a success. He also presented the Chairman's Award for campaign excellence. "This is awarded to an organization in each category based on number of employees, with the highest per capita giving level," Alexander explained. The Chairman's Award was presented to representatives of the following agencies and universities. Under 100 Employees - State Human Resources 100-499 Employees - State Treasurer 500 -999 Employees - Information Technology 1,000-1,999 Employees - Revenue 2,000-9,999 Employees - State Employees' Credit Union (SECU)* 10,000+ Employees - Public Safety *The SECU is not a state government agency, but they qualified for the award through their partnership with the SECC.Under 500 Employees - University of North Carolina General Administration500 -1,499 Employees - Fayetteville State University1,500 -4,999 Employees - University of North Carolina at Greensboro5,000+ Employees - University of North Carolina at Chapel HillDavid Prickett
Global bodies: Q&A with Sociology Professor Afshan Jafar

Sociology Professor Afshan Jafar in the classroom.

Sociology Professor Afshan Jafar talks with Edward Weinman, editor of CC: Connecticut College Magazine, about the concept of beauty in a globalized world, whether Syrian refugees should be called migrants and what she thinks about Taco Bell.

Edward Weinman: You had never been to the U.S. until you went to college at Ohio Wesleyan University. I hear you had an interesting encounter with a customs official.

Afshan Jafar: When I was going through customs, the immigration officer told me that I should eat at Taco Bell.

EW: Why should someone from Karachi, Pakistan, eat at Taco Bell?

AJ: You see, people often think Im from South America. They dont quite know where to place me, and they do try to speak Spanish to me all the time. So the immigration officer told me that I should go and try Taco Bell. It was awful.

EW: You won the 2015 Feminist Activism Award from the national organization Sociologists for Women in Society. Your classes include Gender, Culture and the Body as well as Sex, Gender and Society. Do you ever discuss what its like for a Pakistani woman to be confused with someone from South America?

AJ: Pakistanis are hard to place geographically because from north to south you have such a variety of skin tones, hair colors, eye colors. Even just within my family, we have three people who could probably pass as white in some countries because they are light-skinned. And then theres three of us who are slightly darker-skinned with darker features. Theres not a typical Pakistani face that you can placelike, Oh. That persons Pakistani.

EW: Did you grow up conscious of your skin color?

AJ: Im the youngest of six kids. Im not one of the lighter-skinned kids in my family. Skin color is very big in Pakistan. The lighter you are the more beautiful you are considered. I have this memory of me as probably a 5- or 6-year-old girl and my aunt tells me, People arent going to think that youre beautiful, but you know, if you work on your personality and you are nice to people, theyll like you. But you have to work on being nice.

EW: Because youre darker-skinned you wouldnt be considered beautiful?

AJ: I always grew up assuming that Im not going to be the one whos considered beautiful. But then I came to the U.S. and, for example, when people talked about tanning [they would say to me], Oh, youre so lucky you dont have to think about tanning. I was thinking, What is this world? What is happening? Why am I being told that this is the color people are trying to be? It didnt make sense.

EW: Did the ideas behind skin color influence your two most recent books, Global Beauty, Local Bodies (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013) and Bodies Without Borders (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013)?

AJ: You realize from these interactions how socially constructed the ideas are about beauty and bodies and whats attractive and whats not. So personally, this has always been there for me. And then when I started studying sociology and started talking more about norms and how we construct reality, I realized we actually shape our reality and we interpret it a particular way.

EW: If we shape and interpret our reality, then who decides whats beautiful? How are these norms, such as tanned skin equals beauty, set?

AJ: Ill give you the answer of a sociologist because thats what I am. It has to do with power. Our norms arent just norms. Our ideals arent just ideals. They are norms, practices and ideals of those who hold power in a society. They are always to the benefit of some people and the detriment of others. Who has the power to shape those? We see throughout history its always been the ideals of the wealthy and powerful that people have admired. Thats the reason why, when you look at a couple of centuries ago, you have these plump women who were put up as the ideal because it reflected wealth. They were very pale women.

EW: Plump and pale because they didnt have to be outside working?

AJ: Yes. Theyre not doing manual labor, and they have a luxurious lifestyle that results in this particular body. And so that was the ideal, but the ideal starts to change. This ideal of a fit, tanned woman is the ideal of the wealthy because [you have leisure time to exercise] and the money, even in the winter, to travel to an exotic location and sunbathe. Its the ideals of the wealthy that we see others trying to live up to.

EW: You write and lecture about bodies and beauty in the era of globalization. So how do you define what is beautiful?

AJ: [Laughing] I guess as a sociologist I would first ask why we need to define a beautiful body; why does a body need to be defined as beauty in the first place?

EW: It doesnt, but it always is.

AJ: Yes, it always is. So I dont think I can give you a straight answer for what a sociologist would consider a beautiful body because you cant speak with one voice because everybodys social location is going to matter. If you were to ask a feminist or a sociologist they would say just about anything can be beautifulanything, anybody should be beautifulbut thats not reality. We know that. Thats not how society sees it. Trying to come up with a definition of a beautiful body no matter what it is will eventually become just as restrictive as anything we have right now. Thats why Im struggling with this question. I think the correct answer, from a sociologists perspective, is that there is no answer.

EW: With regards to beauty, you have said that wearing the hijab can be a sign of oppression as well as liberation. Can you explain?

AJ: When you live in a country where the hijab is mandated, you have to cover your head. Any mandated practice, no matter what and where it is, can become oppressive. By definition, the law has taken your choice away to dress yourself a particular way or not.

EW: And the hijab as liberation?

AJ: Tradition gets invented and reinvented and re-created all the time. What were seeing, currently, is a recreation of tradition. In England a few years ago, it was suggested that they might follow in Frances footsteps and try to ban the hijab or the burka. The sales of these items actually went up in England. So it becomes a form of protest: You dont get to tell me that I cant do this because then Im going to do it. This is why in Western countries we are seeing a resurgence of the hijab. The hijab is an act of agency.

EW: During a TEDx talk, you said that the language we use to describe our reality shapes how we view it and understand it. There has been a debate as to whether Syrians fleeing their war-torn country are refugees or migrants. Why does it matter what term we use?

AJ: One of the things my students hear me repeat often is a sociological theorem: Once you define something as real, it has real consequences. Right now, whether we define people as refugees has real consequences in terms of whether they are allowed into a country or not. International conventions lay out rules for who can be turned away and who cannot or rather should not. Refugees should not be sent back to the countries they are fleeing and should be provided with basic necessities (according to international conventions). From a political and legal perspective, it matters a great deal whether we label someone a refugee or migrant.

EW: What about our cultural perception of the label refugee?

AJ: Looking at it from a cultural perspective, we tend to think of a refugee as somebody who needs our help. Its not a relationship of mutual benefit, but a relationship between somebody whos powerful and somebody whos not. The point is that we think of refugees as not being beneficial to the country. Instead, we think of them as a burden. I think the word refugee is so embedded in connotations of weakness and helplessness, we dont think they have anything to offer. We see them as a drain on our resources. So thats not an easy label to live with.

EW: And a migrant?

AJ: With a migrant you can say they chose to leave one place and go to another, so this is an act of choice. On the one hand, this means that countries are more comfortable turning away people they label as migrants because they have a choice. So politically, countries can be very invested in giving that label versus refugees. On the other hand (my students suffer through a lot of on the one hand and on the other hand), culturally speaking, the label also brings with it certain rights and a responsibility to be a citizen of where theyre going. Migrants can work, maybe they have families here, they live here, they go to schools here. And so were more likely to see them or accept them as citizens. This is not to say that we do, but more so than compared to refugees.

EW: Sociology is depressing. At least, this is what you tell your students. Why?

AJ: I tell my students all the time that sociology is depressing. Sociology students are confronted by ideas about their life or their privilegeor their oppressionwhich they hadnt thought about. This can be depressing. But I also tell them that I dont ever want them to just throw up their hands and say, Well society tells us this or that.

EW: You mean society tells us whats beautiful and what words we should use to describe a displaced person? We dont have any say in the matter?

AJ: Society doesnt exist without us in it. So lets talk about what our role is. We arent just placed on these tracks and just going wherever the tracks take us. To some extent sociology is telling us that there are larger forces than you, that your life isnt just what you decided to make it, that your life turned out to be a whole combination of these cultural and structural opportunities that are available to you or not. But we have to acknowledge how and in what ways we can exercise what small amount of agency we have.

March 3, 2016
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.
Jonathan Carr-West is the Chief Executive of the Local Government Information Unit (LGiU).

Local government finance reform is one of the perennial bug bears of British political life. Since the poll tax, successive governments have failed to grasp this nettle. At LGiU we have, every year for the last five years, conducted a survey of local government finance in partnership with The Municipal Journal. Every year, the same message comes through: the system is broken. Council leaders and finance chiefs of all parties and from councils of all types, believe that local government finance is not fit for purpose.

And the Government agrees. Thus we have the most ambitious plans for local government finance reform in a generation: the revenue support grant phased out by 2020; councils to keep 100 per cent of business rates; universal business rates abolished; removal of the council tax freeze grant; and upper tier authorities able to pose an additional two per cent council tax precept to fund adult social care.

Of course with radicalism comes uncertainty and there still remain questions about how all this will work, particularly around what distribution mechanism, if any, will succeed the current system of tariffs and top ups. It hasnt all been plain sailing so far. Changes to the needs formula applied in Decembers provisional funding settlement led to an unprecedented backlash by Conservative County and District leaders who felt the Government was giving with one hand and taking with another and who felt confirmed in their suspicions that the Governments growth policy is dominated by cities.

There were the anticipated reductions in the Government grant, but business rates were not devolved as expected. For many councils, higher tariffs left them millions short in their calculations and some were looking at a Kafkaesque world of negative RSG before the Government back-tracked and tried to smooth things over with additional funding.

Despite these uncertainties, our survey this year does give us a valuable insight into the future of local government finance in a time of change. One certainty in that future, is that we will all see our council tax bills go up. Nine out of ten councils told us that they planned to raise council tax, the majority by a fraction under the two per cent referendum trigger. Virtually all upper tier authorities plan to use the two per cent social care precept: though three quarters of them agree with the LGA that this will be insufficient to close the funding gap.

Many councillors, especially Conservatives, may resent the burden of raising taxes being passed from central to local government. Especially given the Chancellors weekend warning of further cuts to come in the Budget.

Looking further ahead, we see that councils and government share the same ambitions.

Six out of ten councils are confident that they can meet the Governments aspiration for councils to be financially independent by 2020. But, and its a big but, four out of ten do not think this is feasible and even the 60 per cent that do, are not confident they can achieve it with the fiscal powers currently available from the Government. Seven out of ten councils felt that the devolution package currently on offer from government wouldnt, in and of itself, provide a meaningful redistribution of funding and spending power from central government to local government. They called for increased powers over charging and trading, freedom to undertake council tax rebanding, and the ability to raise specific local taxes.

So the clear message that comes through for the Chancellor is this: if youre going to be radical, be radical; if youre going to devolve, devolve. Either we trust local government to manage its own finances, or we dont, but without more fiscal devolution the whole enterprise is at risk. As George Osborne looks ahead, not just to next months budget but to his legacy and to larger prizes, its time to be bold and to go all in.
There are numerous trends notable within the breakdown of Conservative MPs backing either Leave or Remain in the EU referendum  from the divide between the frontbench and the backbenches, to the geographical patterns and the generational divide. One which no-one seems to have picked up on yet is the split among ethnic minority Tory MPs.

The majority of ethnic minority members  nine of the 17  have backed Leave, with six supporting Remain. Two  Rehman Chishti and Seema Kennedy  are still undeclared on the topic. Ive listed them all below, and annotated the members of the 2015 intake, who have broken 5-1 for Leave, an even more pronounced margin.

One MP suggested to me that a possible factor behind the figures is that ethnic minority MPs are by background more inclined to take a more global  rather than eurocentric  view. All are proudly British, but all also have good reason to look beyond the relatively parochial EU when they consider the world and our countrys place in it. Nadhim Zahawis positive case for a Britain which can change itself and change the world is just one example of this. Nus Ghani, another Leaver, argued in her maiden speech that this country is at its best when it is open to the world.

It may be a coincidence, but it is of course the case that various other prominent Eurosceptics have personal stories which link them to the world beyond the EU  such as Dan Hannan, who spent his childhood in Peru, and Douglas Carswell, who grew up in Uganda. While some on the other side choose to sneer about little Englanders, these facts suggest thats a nonsense.

This breakdown among MPs points to a referendum battleground which hasnt been explored much in the early stages of the referendum campaign, but which could play a major part in the result. While the pro-EU campaign are trying to work out ways to play on the fears of those whose friends or family members are EU citizens resident in the UK, there is a possible opportunity for the Leave campaign to make a very specific pitch to those voters whose family background is non-EU.

One theme highlighted by Leave campaigners which will form part of that pitch is the perception of a deep unfairness in immigration policy, as non-EU migrants are treated increasingly strictly in an attempt to counter-balance the free movement of EU citizens. Saqib Bhatti, the joint secretary-general of the newly-formed Vote Leave group Muslims for Britain, wrote about it in yesterdays Yorkshire Post:

we are a global country, linked by migration to every part of the world. If you are from a Commonwealth background, you will almost certainly know people who have had difficulty bringing friends and relatives to the UK  not to settle, but simply to visit. The UK has had to crack down savagely in its visa regime for non-EU nationals to make unlimited space for people with no connections to Britain. How can we have got to the position where we effectively turn away computer programmers from Bangalore in order to admit unskilled workers from Brasov? Im not arguing for an open-door immigration policy vis-a-vis the Commonwealth, any more than we should have one vis-a-vis the EU. All Im asking for is fairness.

This wont be the last we hear of this and other messages specifically targeted to ethnic minority voters.

How ethnic minority Conservative MPs divide on the EU

Leave: (*=2015 intake)

Adam Afriyie

James Cleverly*

Suella Fernandes*

Nusrat Ghani* (pictured)

Ranil Jayawardena*

Kwasi Kwarteng

Priti Patel

Rishi Sunak*

Nadhim Zahawi

Remain:

Helen Grant

Sam Gyimah

Sajid Javid

Alan Mak*

Alok Sharma

Shailesh Vara

Undeclared:

Rehman Chishti

Seema Kennedy*
Iain Dale is Presenter of LBC Drive, Managing Director of Biteback Publications, a columnist and broadcaster and a former Conservative Parliamentary candidate.

Ben Gummer is a very good MP, according to many friends of mine. I rather admire him for standing in a seat which is never going to be safe. He won Ipswich in 2010 by a majority of just over 2000. Most predicted he would lose the seat to Labour in 2015, but he confounded everyone by increasing his majority to more than 3,700. Thats about as good as it gets in Ipswich. Assiduous locally, hes also now a Minister at the Department of Health, where he is spoken of in glowing terms.

But, like his dad, he has a complete blind spot over Europe. On Twitter this week, hes been advocating the Remain case, but mainly by tweeting the usual Project Fear guff. I gently chided him and suggested that he might use some positive arguments for a change. Back came a rather pompous reply, so I told him to grow up. He didnt like that and said I was being very rude.

Well, maybe  but if the best any politician on either side of the debate can do is to insult our intelligence and treat us like children, many be they need to be shocked out of their complacency. Project Fear scare tactics may turn out to win the day in the end, but it will be a very sad day for our politics if so.

         

So this week Labour announced that Yanis Varoufakis had been appointed to advise Labour on economic policy and John McDonnell said that winning elections isnt the most important thing for Labour  creating a social movement is. At least we now know that theyre not serious about winning an election. As if we didnt before.

         

One of my LBC producer colleagues opined to me a couple of weeks ago that it was impossible to support the Leave campaign because of the people who were representing them in the media. They look completely unhinged, he said  and the remark hit home.

Two weeks on, I wonder if minds are changing on that front. Serious people have now come out to support Leave, and most of them dont have flapping white coats or stary eyes. This sort of thing is important. People advocating major change have to be both believable and likeable. Thats why Alan Johnson and Ken Clarke are such powerful advocates for the Remain side of the argument.

Even if youre not on their side in party politics, the chances are that you like them and find them believable. Leave now have Gisela Stuart, Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, Kate Hoey, Michael Howard, Priti Patel, David Davis and many more. The campaign could still do with a few more, though.

         

Kudos to Iain Duncan Smith and Priti Patel for having had the balls to stand up to Number Ten and insist that they should receive exactly the same level of support on the EU issue as other Government ministers. It is a constitutional outrage that Jeremy Heywood should issue an edit telling civil servants to limit the support and information available to Ministers who are supporting Leave.

Hes overreached himself, and it was good to see Bernard Jenkins Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Select Committee holding the Cabinet Secretary to account. Sir Jeremy put in a typical oily performance and emerged relatively unscathed, but he need be under no illusion that his every action will now come under great scrutiny, and rightly so.

         

If Remain wins, attention will then turn to David Camerons next reshuffle, and what he will do with Boris Johnson. In theory, he would be within his rights to completely ignore the soon-to-be ex-Mayor of London, but I suspect a job will be found.

But which one? The Foreign Office is certainly out. Northern Ireland might have a certain appeal for the crueller minds in Downing Street, but I suspect they will come up with a suitably middling position which Boris wouldnt like but would find difficult to turn down. Transport comes to mind.

         

I wonder if the BBC has overreached itself. No, Im not talking about the sacking of Tony Blackburn  Im talking about the fact that they have hired Wembley Arena to host a referendum debate and question and answer session in mid June. They havent got any star speakers lined up, and its difficult to imagine how this whole event would work.

Why on earth hire an arena that holds 12,000 people when only about ten of them would get to ask a question? Im hearing that neither side of the debate is keen on this event, and would be reluctant to put up their star people. So instead of Boris v Dave, its likely to be more like Ken v Liam.

         

Gavin Barwell is one of the nicest MPs in Parliament. I cant believe that he has any enemies at all. Normally, Id think that was not necessarily a good thing. If you havent got enemies, you usually arent very effective  but thats not the case with Gavin.

Like Gummer, he won a marginal seat in 2010 and increased his majority in 2015. Hes now written a book about how he did it which, if youre fighting a marginal seat next time around, you really ought to read. Its called How to win a marginal seat and is out in a couple of weeks. You can pre-order it here.

         

Rather like the Labour Party, the US Republicans seem to be going through a seemingly never-ending nightmare. Although numerically the presidential nomination isnt yet sewn up for Donald Trump, his candidacy is looking increasingly likely. His popularity is another sign of peoples dissatisfaction with the political elites although, given his wealth, its nonsense to suggest that he comes from anything other than an elite.

Marco Rubio seems to have vacated the challenger position to the somewhat bizarre Ted Cruz. If Rubio cant even win his home state of Florida in ten or so days time, then his campaign is toast. So it really does look like Trump v Clinton. Itll be some spectacle to watch, but I wonder what it will do to the Republican Party. Perhaps they will finally realise they need to appeal to the whole country and not just to a narrow section of it.
Syed Kamall is Chairman of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group and is an MEP for London.

For a European Parliament often ignored by the British press, MEPs have generally welcomed the increased attention and the pouring over every individual statement on the UK renegotiation deal in the last fortnight. And in general, across much of the European Parliament, there has been a general feeling of goodwill towards the UK  either out of genuine affection for the British or for fear of us leaving.

There is a debate about how much difference the issue of whether or not the deal is legally binding will make when us Brits come to vote on June 23rd, and whether the secondary legislation on changes to migrant benefits will be passed by the European Parliament. In trying to explain the technicalities of the debate, I have compared the deal to a colouring book in which the EUs governments have drawn the lines, but it is for the European Parliament to colour it in.

We would hope that the European Parliament acts as a mature institution and stays within the lines of the agreement, but many are worried that, instead, it will scrawl all over the page when the time comes to legislate  desperate for the added attention. I hope that the European Parliament will keep within the lines and deliver the content of the deal.

Last week, when the European Parliament discussed it, Gianni Pitella, the leader of the socialist group in the European Parliament, said :Imagine two young people  Europeans, same job, same work: there is a danger one would have less rights than the other. We dont want to see any distinction between rights in the European Union. It is true that this intervention was less than helpful but, with so many challenges mounting up, can the European Parliament really afford to unpick the UK deal?

Some parts of the UK press have claimed that a slew of EU regulation could be coming our way after the referendum, and that its being held back to avoid becoming an issue during the referendum campaign. This is possibly true  but, in fairness to this European Commission, they have cut back on the amount of legislation produced since the European elections in 2014. Some of the more thorny pieces of legislation can wait, not least because the EU needs to spend all of its political capital in making some sense of the migration crisis.

As our referendum debate gets underway, the EU is now able to turn its full attention to the growing migration and refugee crisis. This week marks the six week anniversary of Mark Rutte, Hollands Prime Minister, warning that we had six weeks to save the passport-free Schengen area. Since September, eight EU countries have restored border checks, and fences and barbed wire are becoming a feature of European borders across southern Europe and the Balkans.

Today, the European Commission is expected to publish a report urging these countries to drop border checks by the end of this year. Given that more migrants and refugees have crossed the Mediterranean in the first two months of this year than during the first six months of last year, this is probably optimistic.

No borders between Schengen countries had generally been welcomed by both businesses and citizens in these countries, but on the understanding that Schengens external border would be protected. As long as the external border of the Schengen area remains open, internal borders between countries will continue to be re-erected.

We now go into this summer in a really dangerous position. A sense of willingness to help genuine refugees 12 months ago has now turned into finger-pointing and anger. The southern countries  especially Greece  are not able to handle the situation, and frankly they have been remiss in not asking for help from other EU countries. The EU is now looking at providing aid to the UNHCR and other agencies within our own borders.

It seems hard now to find a way out of this mess. Frankly, too many in the EU are looking at solutions for next year or the year after, such as a European border guard  able to be deployed even if the country concerned objects  or a review of the Dublin Regulation that decides which country should process asylum applications.

The reality is that what we really need to focus on the basics of border control to put in place systems to process all arrivals, distinguish between genuine refugees, who deserve our help, and economic migrants, who should be returned to apply through legal migration channels. Pressure should be placed on governments such as Pakistans to accept their nationals back when they are returned. Ships and equipment are needed in the sea to stop people drowning  with NATO perhaps playing a leading role to pick up people from the sea and to target the traffickers. My ECR colleagues Timothy Kirkhope, Monica Macovei and Jussi Halla-aho are working on new legislation that helps to return those who are not genuine refugees, and to check people coming into the EU against criminal databases.

Will all this be enough to solve the current crisis? No. But it might be enough to slow it down, and to discourage people from making the journey in the first place. Frankly, until Mrs Merkel makes it clear that she made a well-intentioned mistake, and cancels her invitation, this crisis will run over this summer as well. One of the things that us Brits are admired for is our sense of understatement. In that spirit, it is safe to say that the next few months were never going to be dull.
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Bail-Order For Bailed Student Leader Worrisome

By Asian Human Rights Commission

04 March, 2016

Countercurrents.org

Mr. Kanhaiya Kumar, President of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU), is finally out on interim bail following a Delhi High Court order. Kanhaiya has just spent 20 days in police and judicial remand on the charge of sedition.

The manner and facts surrounding his arrest, charge, and detention have caused much consternation. Many eminent jurists have questioned the legality of even his arrest, never mind the serious charge of sedition, something that harks of black colonial eras.

Evidence based on doctored videos, a relentless trial by media against anti-national Jawaharlal University (JNU) students, and the feeling that this is but a juvenile vendetta orchestrated by the government stand out amidst the cacophony.

Furthermore, the frenzy created by a section of media against the anti-national students of JNU culminated in lawyers attacking Kanhaiya, as well as JNU students, teachers, and media personnel inside the Patiala House Court in Delhi, with the police choosing to look away.

Seen from one prism, news of Kanhaiyas bail is welcome. However, a closer look at the bail-order itself makes it clear that the judge has stepped into territory above and beyond a judges brief.

The Bail-order reflects the insinuations against Mr. Kanhaiya and the whole of JNU as facts, and brings unnecessary comparisons with soldiers protecting the borders of the country and the students. The Order goes against various decisions of the Supreme Court that differentiate between advocacy and incitement and criminalise only the latter.

In stark opposition to decisions of the Supreme Court in cases like Kedar Nath Singh vs. State of Bihar (1962 AIR 955), Balwant Singh and Anr vs. State of Punjab (Criminal Appeal 266 of 1985), Arup Bhuyan vs. State of Assam (Criminal Appeal no(s). 889 of 2007) and Sri Indra Das vs. State Of Assam (Criminal Appeal 1383 of 2007), this Bail-order observes that:

It is a case of raising anti-national slogans which do have the effect of threatening national integrity

The decision of the Supreme Court in the Balwant Singh case is relevant in this context. A charge of sedition was slapped on the accused for a similar offence, i.e. of shouting slogans against India and shouting Khalistan Zindabaad(Long live Khalistan) and Raj Karega Khalsa (Khalsa will rule now onwards).

In that case, the Court had observed the following:

It appears to us that the raising some slogan only a couple of times by the two lonesome appellants, which neither evoked any response nor any reaction from anyone in the public can neither attract the provisions of Section 124A or Section 153A IPC. Some more overt act was required to bring home the charge to the two appellants, who are Government servants. The police officials exhibited lack of maturity and more of sensitivity in arresting the appellants for raising the slogans - which arrest  and act the casual raising of one or two slogans  could have created a law and order situation, keeping in view the tense situation prevailing on the date of the assassination of Smt. Indira Gandhi. In situations like that, over sensitiveness sometimes is counterproductive and can result is inviting trouble. Raising of some lonesome slogans, a couple of times by two individuals, without anything more, did not constitute any threat to the Government of India as by law established not could the same give rise to feelings of enmity or hatred among different communities or religious or other groups.

The Bail-order in the Kanhaiya case does not only go against established jurisprudence, it also hitches itself to the bandwagon of executive overreach, in criminalising any dissent hereafter and the slapping of sedition charges on any behaviour/acts that the executive may find reason to dislike.

The learned judge has also used analogies like infection, gangrene, and amputation in the order. For instance, the order also states:

Whenever some infection is spread in a limb, effort is made to cure the same by giving antibiotics orally and if that does not work, by following second line of treatment. Sometimes it may require surgical intervention also. However, if the infection results in infecting the limb to the extent that it becomes gangrene, amputation is the only treatment.

The reason behind using such an analogy is hard to comprehend; the impact, in such a charged atmosphere, is not. The judge had the responsibility of assessing the criminality alleged in the act and discharging the bail petition in light of the evidence.

Going beyond this responsibility and making such observations and analogies can prejudice the investigation on one hand and incite even more violence against the accused on the other.

Judicial over-reach in the form of judges giving vent to their personal prejudices is something of a trend in India. Recently, in the National Herald case, the Supreme Court had to expunge the observations of the same Delhi High Court:

We are of the view, that it was not open to the High Court to record any firm conclusions, and the same ought to have been left to the Trial Court, to be rendered after recording evidence in the matter. Accordingly, we hereby expunge all final inferences and conclusions drawn by the High Court, on the various factual aspects in the matter.

In the Kanhaiya case too, there is a pressing need for the remarks of the judge to be expunged so that the law can take its own course, in a free and fair manner. Without restraint in their orders, judges can negatively impact the entire body politic of the republic.




Capital Punishment Is Premeditated Murder

By Pratap Antony

04 March, 2015

Countercurrents.org

When the state orders an execution, of a human being we dont know, we are detached, because it is disconnected from our own reality. Peace-loving, non-violent and moral people accept the termination of a humans life by the State without condemnation.

And because execution is decreed by a court and by an impersonal government order, we do not see ourselves as being responsible for the actual killing of another human being. But we are!

We are complicit in a murder ourselves! We are complicit though it is a state-sponsored execution. We are the State. And we have blood on our hands!

Lewis Lawes, warden of Sing Sing prison in NY in the 1920s and 30s, put it so well, "As if one crime of such nature, done by a single man, acting individually, can be expiated by a similar crime done by all men, acting collectively."

Premeditated murder - Murder is against the law. This is a fundamental law based upon our sense of morality. A human should not take the life of another because it violates a natural right to life. Therefore whenever the State takes a life with the death penalty, we all are party to the killing. We all are responsible for the immoral act of taking a life. We get away with murder!

The murder that is depicted as a horrible crime is repeated in cold blood, remorselessly Beccaria, C. de, Traite des Delits et des Peines, 1764

Revenge and Retribution is not justice  A criminal may be a serial killer and rapist who has violated other people's rights, yet execution seems like revenge. Reprisal! Its like - I will do to you what you did to someone else because it was wrong of you to do that. Vengeance and retribution is definitely not justice. Nor is tit for tat.

We dont punish a criminal with the same act he committed. We wouldnt personally torture a torturer or rape a rapist or batter a batterer. So how could we kill a killer!

A revenge killing by the State does not bring back anything. It does not bring back a loved one, nor does terminating the life of a criminal bring "justice" and "peace" to the state. It just makes us killers too.

Death is not a civilized way to punish a criminal. Capital punishment is not a punishment, it is the end for the perpetrator. The criminals life is put out, not punished.

To take a life when a life has been lost is revenge, it is not justice. Attributed to Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Though a murderer may have taken the life of innocents, it does not make us more human to take the life of a murderer. And even if the death penalty is viewed as a form of justice, it does not make anything better for the victims families. Its the family that is punished. Their pain and loss is not eased. And they do not deserve to be punished like that.

And what if the court is wrong and has passed a judgement that is incorrect due to lack of evidence and trust. The death penalty. The order to kill, is irreversible. The prisoner will die.

The most common and most cogent argument against capital punishment is that sooner or later, innocent people will get killed, because of mistakes or flaws in the justice system.

The death penalty legitimizes an irreversible act of violence by the state and will inevitably claim innocent victims. As long as human justice remains fallible, the risk of executing the innocent can never be eliminated - Amnesty International

The death penalty is not a deterrent  The United Nations conducted a survey to determine the relation between the death penalty and homicide rates in 1988 and updated it in 1996. They concluded that ...research has failed to provide scientific proof that executions have a greater deterrent effect than life imprisonment. The key to real and true deterrence is to increase the likelihood of detection, arrest and conviction. A report from Amnesty International, USA

Apparently, the death penalty doesn't deter violent crimes; or a person who is mentally unsound, or a murderer, from committing murder. The likelihood of being caught seems to be a deterrent.

Statistics show that the death penalty leads to a brutalisation of society and an increase in murder rate. In the USA, more murders take place in states where capital punishment is allowed. In 2010, the murder rate in states where the death penalty has been abolished was 4.01 per cent per 100,000 people. In states where the death penalty is used, the figure was 5.00 per cent. These calculations are based on figures from the FBI. "The gap between death penalty states and non-death penalty states rose considerably from 4 per cent difference in 1990 to 25 per cent in 2010. Source: FBI Uniform Crime Report, from Death Penalty Information Center.

Imprisonment for the-whole-natural-life is better  On a more malevolent note, the death sentence is an easy way out for a murderer. Dying is an easier way out than living and suffering for a crime that has been committed. Being imprisoned and living and suffering for the crime that has been committed is more just.

Scapegoat scheme  The Justice system in every country you can think of, is not perfect. It is difficult to separate the guilty from the innocent. Until there is a fool-proof way of making a judgement of guilt, we need to send convicted criminals to jail so they can be released if they are not guilty, as has happened to several prisoners who have served many years in jail.

To make a scapegoat scheme effective it would be necessary to go through the appearance of a legitimate legal process and to present evidence which convinced the public that the person being punished deserved their punishment. BBC Ethics

JNU students have courted arrest, persecution and brutalisation by the State for exercising their views on Capital punishment on 9th February 2016, using as an example, Mohamed Afzal, who we know as Afzal Guru who was hanged on 9th February 2013. His was a scapegoat conviction. He was not among those who attacked parliament on December 13, 2001; all five of the attackers were killed during the attack. The circumstantial evidence against Afzal Guru was said to be conspiring in the attack. Here is the conclusion of a report in The Hindu Sunday, February 10th,2013 by Anjali Modi, who had covered the Parliament attack case trial since 2002. On Saturday morning, a man was hanged who was not guilty beyond reasonable doubt. Mohamed Afzal died without his case ever being heard properly, turning on its head the idea that the rule of law, due process and justice are embedded in the Indian system.

The death penalty should be abolished - Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 18 December 2014 the United Nations adopted resolution 63/168, which is a reaffirmation of its call for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty (62/149) passed in December the previous year. The resolution calls for states to freeze executions with a view to eventual abolition.

What we must do- is guard ourselves from degrading ourselves by being cruel, inhumane and brutalised as individuals, and as a society.

We must be consciously aware of our own moral guidance system. And follow our own natural law and our natural instinct towards fairness and doing what is right and good, and stand up for our right of free expression.

Pratap Antony is a Passive activist.Active pacifist Blogs pratapantony.blogspot.in, reformcommunications.blogspot.in




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Iranian Regimes Torture, Abuse Of Political Prisoners Continues

By Rahim Hamid

04 March, 2016

Countercurrents.org

Despite Irans continuing imprisonment of large numbers of political activists, dissidents and journalists, Ali Asghar Jahangir, the regimes prisons chief, claims that there are no political prisoners in the country. In an interview with the Iranian News Agency [IRNA] published on March 2, 2016 Jahangir said, In our country, we dont have political prisoners according to the international definition of the term, adding We have a very few security prisoners  those individuals who have endangered national security  although the number of these prisoners is minimal.

So how did the regime magically make the countless political prisoners in its jails disappear? By the simple means of failing to define any political offences within its legal system. Instead, detained dissidents, journalists, artists, campaigners and activists face charges such as endangering national security or enmity to God, with brutal torture being a standard means of coercing confessions, and death sentences for these crimes being routine.

Under Iranian law, defining these prisoners as a threat to national security enables the authorities to keep them in pretrial detention for months for questioning without granting them access to lawyers or the right to see family members or have any contact with the outside world. The subsequent show trials take place in revolutionary courts whose proceedings fail to meet the most basic standards of a fair trial under international law.

In the same interview, Jahangir told IRNA that all prisoners are granted access to a lawyer, social worker and physician, as well as having the right to make phone calls and access to a library and to take advantage of the countrys education system during their imprisonment in accordance with the Iranian penal system. The availability of these rights will surely be welcome news to the tens of thousands of political prisoners who have been consistently denied them to date.

In response to a question from IRNA about reported hunger strikes by many prisoners over their lack of access to any legal counsel, Jahangir, who is also the adviser to the head of the Judiciary of the Islamic Republic, flatly denied the reports: [Reports of] lack of access to a lawyer are not true in any way; this is a standard right in all prisons and for all prisoners, he asserted, adding, Those who are on hunger strike often misuse such strategies simply to get into media and create a name for themselves.

Despite the regime officials assertions, countless political prisoners remain incarcerated in jails across Iran, including infamous prisons such as Karoon and Sepidar  both in the Ahwaz region  and the notorious Rajah Shahr Central Prison and GhezelHesar Prison in Karaj, a city to the west of Tehran.

One example among many of the regimes standard disregard for international law is the deplorable treatment meted out to Ahwazi Arab prisoners detained for campaigning for human rights and for converting to Sunni Islam. Like countless other dissidents in Iran, particularly among minorities, Ahwazi Arabs are routinely detained for months and even years without charge before being tried at show trials.

Former Ahwazi detainees, both male and female, describe being subjected to torture during interrogations by regime personnel, whose methods include physical assault, hanging prisoners upside down, beating them on the soles of their feet, electrocution, rape or threats of sexual assault. The subsequently coerced confessions are the norm, with the Iranian regimes notoriously weak and corrupt judiciary simply ignoring this wrongdoing.

The horrendous abuse suffered by Ahwazi political prisoner, Majed Al-Boghobeish is, unfortunately quite typical: imprisoned for eight years on charges of endangering national security for the alleged crime of converting from Shiite to Sunni Islam, was rushed to the Khomeini Hospital in Ahwaz City on January 31 this year for emergency treatment due to suffering life-threatening injuries inflicted by sustained savage torture by staff at the Karoon Prison and throughout the period of his detention. In just one of the incidents, warders who claimed to have witnessed him praying in the Sunni manner broke both his arms as a punishment. According to sources in Al-Ahwaz, Al-Boghobeish was subjected to psychological as well as physical torture by the prison staff, with both being standard, if unofficial, regime policy.

The Ahwazi rights groups have appealed to the United Nations and its constituent bodies and to all international organisations concerned with human rights to put pressure on the Iranian government to fulfil its legal obligations under international law in order to help to bring an end to the systemic and increasing brutal persecution and human rights abuses of Ahwazi activists and all other political prisoners in Irans prisons.

Rahim Hamid is Ahwazi freelance journalist and Human rights advocate






Art Of The Deal Politics, Billionaires Wars, And The Decline Of America

By Jon Kofas

04 March, 2016

Countercurrents.org

Introduction

Is Trump a reflection of America, at least a segment of the population that has proved it wants him as the next president, or is he a historical accident, an aberration from the norm in politics? Despite both Republican and Democrat, conservative, liberal and leftist critics that Trump is not a reflection of the American mainstream, the astonishing results of the primary voting process reveal a very different story for a man who could easily win the nomination. This would be especially the case if the Republican Party establishment owned by billionaires like Trump supports his candidacy instead of undermining it in every respect possible.

Although Trump has opportunistically toyed with right-wing populism - racism, xenophobia, misogyny, jingoism - and although he is indeed a con-artist as Marco Rubio calls him and a fraud as Mitt Romney calls him, he is very much a reflection of mainstream America as much as Bernie Sanders representing the anti-neoliberal pro-Keynesian wing of the Democrat party. It is indeed true that he is an embarrassment at home and overseas because of who he is and because he is a right wing populist approaching as close to neo-Fascism as any candidate for president.

However, Trump is a product of and reflects the traditions and institutions as much as any Republican who in essence represents the same ideological and policy position. Nor can it be argued that the corrupt billionaires and Republican political establishment is against Trump on moral grounds as though these people are on a higher moral plane like Pope Francis who criticized Trump for lacking compassion for the poor trying to cross the border. Therefore, the issue comes down to the degree to which the Republican political and business establishment wants Trump as its presidential candidate no matter what the voters want, and the degree of control the party machinery and billionaires wish to exercise in the political arena as they are looking beyond the presidency to House and Senate seats that may be at risk because of Trump at the head of the party ticket.

Legitimacy and Democracy

Regardless of whether Trump becomes the nominee or the next US president, the larger issue is one of a bourgeois democratic societys institutional mechanisms and sources of legitimacy. If legitimacy rests with the party machinery and the wealthy people funding it, then the system parading as democratic is a fraud, and it is not just Trump. The issue of legitimacy is at stake in American democracy and especially with this campaign of 2016 where the frontrunner and presumptive nominee after striking a deal with the party bosses finds himself isolated from the party bosses and those funding the party.

In US, does legitimacy emanate from the political party apparatus that chooses candidates and presents them to voters for election? If the people by majority vote for a candidate that the political party establishment has chosen to be on the ballot but does not want that candidate does this mean that popular vote is meaningless as is the electoral process? According to 19th century German sociologist Max Weber, the sources of legitimacy converge in an open society and they are based on tradition, charismatic leadership and legal authority. Based on a constitutional system and laws, legal authority by elected and/or appointed officials is one source of legitimacy.

The powers of legal authority are not without limits considering checks and balances in the US democratic system and popular consent as the underlying source of political power, at least in theory. It should be stressed that Max Weber never created linkage between social justice and political legitimacy, whereas his contemporaries ideologically to the left did exactly that. The question of popular sovereignty and legitimacy is one with limits in American history that had excluded slaves, women, and for all practical purposes the poor and minorities from the voting process. Although in the early 21st century the system ideally permits for all citizens to vote for pre-selected candidates of the party machinery, the issue of legitimacy remains a big question mark because the preservation of the public and private institutions take precedence over any elected official whose goal must be to serve the institutions and not change them without congressional authorization.

The Historical Role of the Wealthy in Politics

Historically in Europe the very wealthy recognized the symbolic significance of not running for office and simply manipulating the political process from behind the scenes. After all, money has always bought political influence at all levels of government, and one way of protecting the interests of capital has been to rely on the legislative branch of government because one never knows if the executive deviates from serving capital as faithfully as the socioeconomic elites expect. This rule of the very wealthy staying out of politics was broken in the Age of Imperialism in Europe (1870-1914) when the stakes became so important that competing interests at the national and international levels were fighting for market share on a world scale.

More recently, there have been billionaires like Silvio Berlusconi who was Italys prime minister and many European politicians have used their political office as a vehicle of moving into the socioeconomic elite class. Last spring a millionaire businessman Juha Sipila was elected to Prime Minister of Finald by promising to make the country competitive just as Republicans have been advocating, never mentioning income inequality or social justice. Therefore,

Europe is not entirely free of the businessman-politician promising the moon to voters.

From its founding, the US carved a different path than Europe that tended to be skeptical of wealthy oligarchs in political power. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Andrew Jackson, Theodore Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt were all multi-millionaires and saw their class interests converging with the nations interests, without necessarily neglecting completely the marginalized in society. It is true, of course, that after 1850 and the era of Lincoln we have layers and professionals with a record of public service running for office, but they were just as representative of big capitals interests as the wealthy presidents. The Gilded Age (1870-1900) proved as much despite presidents in the White House that were not super wealthy like Washington and Jefferson. There are remarkable parallels between the late 19th century Gilded Age and the new Gilded Age of the late 20th-early 21st century America.

The Progressive Era (1900-1920) that started at the local level in Wisconsin during the age of mass consumerism as the Industrial Revolution was expanding the economy prompted calls by the rising professional middle class for limits on the role of the wealthy in politics. After all, American politics was blatantly bought and paid for by the wealthy in all levels of government to the degree that calling such a system democracy could not be taken seriously.

Ironically, Theodore Roosevelt who was very wealthy and a Republican favored the role of the state as an arbiter of capital and he favored reforms that would rationalize the political economy. He recognized that capitalists left to their own devices were predatory and the rise of big business meant the need to create large government bureaucracies to regulate and assist the private sector. In short, Roosevelt had no illusions that capitalism must be rationalized otherwise it would cause havoc in society and destroy democracy rooted in pluralism. He knew first hand that the wealthy had politicians in their back pockets and tried to broaden the process to integrate the lower middle class into the political mainstream largely to afford legitimacy to a corrupt system. Progressivism only regulated big businesses and hardly placed restrictions on capital accumulation to the detriment of labor.

The Great Depression forced Franklin Roosevelt to expand on many programs of the Progressive Era that started at the turn of the century under Roosevelt and continued under Wilson. Despite opposition by the wealthy who did not want the state used as an agent of growth and development and an arbiter in society, FDR had no choice if he wanted to save a system from chaos and collapse. He broadened the political process and co-opted the lower classes into the Democrat mainstream, thus affording legitimacy to the system. When the Second World War ended, however, the US began to slowly deviate from the premises of governments role in society, justifying it on the basis of the Cold War and the need to compete in the world considering the US was the worlds number one economy having inherited Europes and Japans imperial role.

Just as people today complain of wealth concentration among the top one percent, so did the people in the late 19th century. Just as people today complain that government is corrupt, bought and paid by the rich, so did the people in the Gilded Age (1870-1900). Just as people today are receptive to populism from the center-left and the extreme right because the so-called middle represents the very rich, so did people in the Gilded Age. The fundamental difference is that the US economy was expanding very rapidly in the late 19th century in every sector from agriculture, mining, manufacturing and services. In the early 21st century there is no comparable expansion, making politics and the role of the billionaires in society much more controversial. Finally, whereas in the late 19th century the US had room to expand its middle class, in the recent Gilded Age from Reagan to the present the middle class has been contracting and the future prospects are very bleak for upward mobility.

Billionaires and Trump

The challenge for Republican or Democrat party politicians who represent the existing social order and capitalist political economy has always been to forge consensus by securing a broad popular base in order to govern in what is supposed to be a bourgeois democracy. It is never easy to convince people from the middle class and working class that their interests rest with a political representative of the rich, although it has been done around the world for the last two centuries. The politicians with the ability to make their case and secure public support win elections.

The Republican Party invited Trump knowing that it needed a star quality candidate, a celebrity billionaire with mass appeal to broaden the partys popular base. This is exactly what this man did but the idea was to broaden the popular base, not to win. Someone more mainstream establishment would actually be the one to win the nomination. Political parties have always sought popular figures to run for office precisely because of their mass appeal and ability to convince voters to identify with the candidate, despite the reality that the candidate is beholden to those who chose him/her to run for office.

The Trump brand in the age of pop culture sells as much in real estate development as in politics. After all, Trump made hundreds of millions of dollars selling his name that he equated with business success; this despite massive losses and three bankruptcies, failure of an airline business, the phantom Trump University, etc. Just like the Democrats, the Republicans are a well oiled political machine and no one can run without the blessing of the party hierarchy as Trump is doing with self-financing campaign, which in essence means he does not have to answer to campaign donors. The billionaires and party operatives invited Trump to run because they knew he was selling the brand name to voters, mostly white and male without a college degree that aspire to dreams of becoming billionaires or at least identify with the anti-establishment nationalist rhetoric, often bordering on Fascist considering he has borrowed quotes from Mussolini that Trump preaches to win votes.

Just in case there is any doubt that the wealthy own politicians, just follow the money trail and look at newspaper endorsements and media coverage. The media built up Trump as a political messiah so that people would vote Republican. The media follows the marching orders of its billionaire and millionaire owners. On 3 March 2016, FOX news instructed its reporters and guests to stop giving Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio any sort of favorable coverage. In itself this is hardly newsworthy that a news organization would pick favorites, considering this is how it has been throughout the history of the press. However, it does reveal the factionalism within the Republican Party at a time that the economic elites in the US are split over which candidate even within their own party best represents finance capital. Usually, the wealthy rally around one candidate and recognize the need to sell that individual to voters as though he is a popular choice. There have been cases from the 19th century to the present when the elites have been split about political parties and leaders, mostly obviously during the election of 1860 that brought Abraham Lincoln to the White House.

A number of billionaires, including the founder of Home Depot, the Ricketts family that owns the Chicago Cubs, the Koch brothers and many others have become public with their adamant opposition to Trump. Considering he too is from the billionaire class just like Mitt Romney who ran on the Republican ticket in 2012, there is no reason to oppose Trump if his policy positions are not so very different from Romneys and if he is as malleable as some like Jimmy Carter believe. There are of course many reasons that conservative billionaires oppose Trump to the degree that some have publicly stated Hillary would make a better president.

The underlying assumption that there is solidarity among capitalists is simply wrong, although there is indeed a common interest among them to keep profits high, and wages and their taxes low. There are competing capitalist interests and always have been in the political economy.

a. The inability to buy the election, as Bernie Sanders and Trump have argued, frustrates billionaires, even if the candidate is one whose policy positions are very close to theirs.

b. There are competing interests that believe Trump will favor one or the other. For example, he has argued that drug companies are engaged in price gauging and that Apple is taking away jobs from the US and shipping them to China. Clearly, he would probably favor construction firms because he is on record favoring rebuilding of the aging infrastructure, probably with mob-connected firms, although there is hardly a difference between mob money and legitimate one given the interactivity that takes place between banks and the mod.

c. His proposal of taxing Hedge Funds has not been well received by Wall Street and the banks involved in such products.

d. Defiance toward congress, even toward Majority Leader Paul Ryan that Trump threatened of getting along or paying a big price is no way to forge alliances in Washington and on Wall Street. This kind of bravado and reckless rhetoric is what the billionaire-politician Romney alluded to when he asked Americans to oppose Trump.

e. Promising to do something about illegal immigration but in essence winking at the elites that the Obama policy will continue does not sit well with right wing ideologue billionaires of the Republican party.



A closer examination of Trumps positions on policy, without actually knowing what he would do once in office if elected, reveals that he is indeed no different than his colleagues still in the race and hardly different on many issues from Hillary Clinton a many issues once the hyperbolic populist rhetoric is taken out.

1. Ever since Republican presidential candidate announced he would run for office. Trump began to denigrate Mexicans, women, Muslims, and just about every non-white male Protestant group, including Catholics offended by Trumps trashing of Pope Francis. The reasons for this is that a segment of American society that includes the establishment agree with Trump, but disagree on the modality of expressing such views considering one must abide by political correctness to cover up bigotry in America.

2. Although he proposed assassinating the families of ISIS jihadists, a war crime as the United Nations defines it, the media stayed silent because they agree and would never dare support international law.

3. When he berated the Pope, the media sided with Trump against Francis who argued that Christians built bridges not walls. Pope Francis is the most leftist Pope in modern history and a critic of American consumerism and the culture of greed that the US media and establishment support as part of the value system.

4. When he proposed sending back more than 11 million illegal aliens, conservatives found it difficult to justify defending illegal aliens, except to argue that they do provide cheap labor and it would cost too much to ship them back. How could they oppose Trump considering this is a core issue for the Republican Party that rhetorically opposes non-white immigrants but in practice uses them for cheap labor just as Trump has in his hotels and construction projects?

5. When he argued that he would go to an economic war against China, Japan, South Korea and Mexico, no politician or media bothered pointing out that the world economy is tightly integrated and economic nationalism makes no sense for the US at the core of globalization. How could anyone argue that that products coming from Mexico and China are made by US firms and in Japan and South Korea exporting companies in which US investors have a stake. How could anyone argue that Japan finances the US debt and unleashing an economic war would also have geopolitical consequences that would only strengthen China and weaken US strategic allies in Asia?

6. When he argued that he would have the Chinese get rid of the leader of North Korea, no one criticized such a proposal because political assassinations and coup detat hardly pose a problem for either Republican or Democrat.

7. When he proposed cutting the Department of Education, no Republican or the press asked why because they agree. After all, the teachers and their unions have a long-standing history of usually voting Democrat. Moreover, the media and the Republicans have cultivated the perception that the Department of education is to blame for all calamities befalling the countrys educational system. Never mind that schools well funded in rich communities have excellent schools while the ghetto suffers along because its schools are underfunded owing to funds going to support prisons.

8. When Trump argued that he would send in massive forces to defeat ISIS, no one in either political party or in the media bother pointing out that jihadists operate in roughly fifty countries and employ unconventional methods of warfare that have proved almost impossible to eliminate with conventional means in the last two decades.

9. When this man employed the nebulous slogan Make America Great Again, only Clinton insisted that America is already great because she is running on the Obama legacy, such as it is with a record of pursuing neo-liberal policies that make the rich richer. No conservative dared to argue that America is already great because that would be an endorsement for Obama. Therefore, Trump reflects their view.

10. When he proposed eliminating OBAMACARE, no Republican or mainstream media objected because it is an anathema for the conservative elites and big business to support social welfare. However, they have no problem when Trump proposed lowering corporate taxes at home and to have corporate money repatriated. How could the media and the conservatives criticize Trump for wanting to erode social welfare and strengthen corporate welfare?

11. When he proposed cutting funding for Planned Parenthood, there was no criticism from the Republicans because they advocate the exact same thing.

12. When he offered unqualified support for the Second Amendment, neither his Republican colleagues nor the media argued that something must be done to bring under control the epidemic of shootings with handguns.

13. When he admitted that he hates to pay taxes and there are reports he pays very little taxes, no one had a problem with this issue because it is ubiquitous among conservatives who want the working class and middle class to carry the brunt of the tax burden through direct and indirect taxation. There are studies indicating Trumps proposed tax cuts for the rich would cost an estimated $1 trillion per year; this in a country that has $19 trillion in public debt soon to rise at $21 trillion. The irony here is that Trump has said his plan would lower the debt but non-partisan groups looking at his tax policy insist the opposite would be the case.

14. Although he is on record opposing the war in Iraq, and argued that Saudi Arabia is the worlds biggest funder of terrorism, he has repeated the need to bomb ISIS in Syria and Iraq, and placing troops on the ground to bring down Syrias Assad.

15. Trump alarms US allies so he is unacceptable. Reagan alarmed allies as did George W. Bush, but they were both presidents that much of the world viewed very unfavorably and destabilizing for the world. Why would Cruz or Rubio be any less destabilizing for the world than Trump the deal maker? It is indeed true that conservatives, centrists and leftists around the world are amazed that the US has Trump as a frontrunner, but they would be more interested in making sure he does not pursue economic nationalism or start new wars as his hyperbolic rhetoric would suggest. They have the exact same concern about Cruz and Rubio, and they realize that any president would have constraints from congress.

16. When he publicly stated that he wants to repeal the law to after the media legally on libel cases, there was no outcry by politicians, business people or even most of the media about the First Amendment and freedom of the press.

17. Even when he was forced to repudiate David Duke, a well known KKK member, many conservatives argued that this is not as bad as some present it because the late West Virginia Democrat Senator Robert Byrd was also a former KKK member in his youth during the 1940s. Ultra right winger Mike Huckabee among others noted that Sen. Byrd endorsed Obama and that was acceptable but Duke endorsing Trump is an anathema. In short, we are all Klansmen here under these three-piece suits so lets just stop pretending. Trumps hesitancy to denounce emphatically the KKK has been cited as proof he does not belong in the Republican Party. However, institutional racism as manifested in the criminal justice system, the educational system, infrastructural policies such as the Flint Michigan water poisoning afflicting blacks, all these are acceptable.

18. Business deregulation that would be in line with the neoliberal mainstream all administrations have pursued since Reagan. This would result in fewer environmental, labor, health and safety regulations. Republicans and many Democrats hardly have a problem with neoliberal policies such as these considering this is the general direction they have been going in the last three decades.

Many critics of Trump pretend as though he is a recent visitor from a distant planet, as though he is not a reflection of the Republican Party and at least a segment of American society. Although Trumpism has similarities with Reaganism, among them Nativism and xenophobia, underlying racism and sexism, jingoism and right-wing populism embodying the popular issues already part of the Republican Party mainstream, there are many who insist he is outside the mainstream of Republican politics.

Organized Crime: It is true that he may be an embarrassment because Trump has worked with organized crime in New York. When confronted with the allegations, he replied that he had to work with organized criminal elements to have his hotels constructed because organized crime controlled the cement business. A number of US banks have paid fines for laundering drug money, so why should Trump be an exception to major banks?

Trump University: He may carry a stigma because he created an unaccredited makeshift real estate university that was in essence a get-rich quick scheme where students tuition ran as high as $35,000. Trump University turns out to have been another of the billionaires many ways of making money promising the moon and delivering nothing. The US government has been investigating a number of online and brick and mortar colleges that promise the moon and deliver fast food jobs to their students. Why should Trump be any different?

Illegal Workers: It is true he may have hired illegal workers knowingly and had to pay more than $1,000,000 in fines. He publicly justified on the basis of worker shortage, not low wages. It is also true that he used tax abatements to make money in real estate and there are reports he probably pays very little or no taxes.

KKK: Only when Trump was not emphatic and categorical about disavowing former Ku Klux Klan member David Duke and the Klan did some elements of the mainstream media turn on him. It is one thing to embrace aspects of the Klans belief and entirely another to remove the thin veil of political correctness that exposes a mainstream politician as just another Klansman and neo-Nazi. White Anglo-Saxon Protestants want to project the appearance of respectability by distancing themselves from neo-Nazis and the Klan, while all along wholeheartedly supporting institutional racism as evidence by the criminal justice system that weighs heavily in the black and Hispanic communities; poising blacks in Flint Michigan for profits; police shootings of black youth in the inner city; black youth unemployment at 50%, and a series of other real life measures that keep the apartheid society alive and well. Obama not Trump has been the president in the last seven years when all of this has taken place. If Obama is not doing much about racism, why should a right-wing populist trying to win the White House?

Conclusions

It hardly stretches credulity to conclude that Trump is not the ideal candidate for a normal individual to be displayed at a psychologists convention. Nevertheless, within the realm of what is acceptable as normal in politics, Trump may be granted a generous pass. One could argue that a politician would have to be inhuman to propose massive displacement of 11 million illegal immigrants; or the deaths of thousands of innocent people as a result of a jingoistic foreign policy? But Reagan and George W. Bush were harsh toward minorities and carried out foreign interventions resulting in millions dying and displaced. Yet, Reagan and Bush are heroes, while Trump who advocates similar measures is outside the Republican mainstream?

I am amazed that even leftist critics of Trump have difficulty assessing the situation. Some have argued that the Trump phenomenon represents white anger and fear because society is changing demographically and the economic pie is becoming smaller. Demographic change and smaller economic pie has actually hurt minorities more than whites, but it is true the absence of upward social mobility among whites has driven a segment of them to the right politically. Another critique by the left is that the Trump phenomenon represents a breakdown of society and or the two-party system essentially representing the same class. It is true that both parties have always represented the same capitalist class, but it is just as true that American society was on verge of breakdown during the depression of the 1890s and of the 1930s. Yet, it bounced back and revived itself.

What is so different in the early 21st century? The US has actually slipped very rapidly into a role of interdependence with China that is headed for global economic hegemony. This is hardly good news for those who believe in the American Dream accessible to all who work hard. The increasingly secondary role of the US in the world economy and its dogmatic insistence on policing the world as political and economic leverage is running its course and will continue to erode living standards.

All candidates agree that the debt at $19 trillion will rise to $21 and probably well in the upper 20s in the next ten years. This means that unless there is a radical shift in the political economy, America of the 2030s will probably resemble that of the 1930s. The political arena reflects the ugly realities in the economy and society. In the end the larger question is how the electoral process has exposed the reality of the wealthy in control of the political class trying to sell a dream to voters, a brand like the Trump band when in fact there is nothing but empty air behind it because the real economy is faltering under the existing system. The future is bleak and the stakes very high for the wealthy trying to make sure they retain their privileges as the economy is on its way to a long steady decline relative to China and Asia at large.

Jon Kofas is a retired university Professor from Indiana University.




Mother India And Her Infantilization Programme: Taming A Recalcitrant Son

By Mithilesh Kumar

04 March, 2016

Countercurrents.org

April is the cruellest month, breeding

Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing

Memory and desire, stirring

Dull roots with spring rain.

Winter kept us warm, covering

Earth in forgetful snow, feeding

A little life with dried tubers

Your shadow at morning striding behind you

Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;

I will show you fear in a handful of dust. T. S. Eliot - The Wasteland

Our courts decidedly have a penchant for quoting literary pieces in their precedent shattering path blazing judgments. Learned as our justices are Shakespeare, Milton, Hume, Rousseau and others come tumbling down their pen nibs to immortalize the piece of paper on which a citizens life (or death) permanently etched. However, when a bail verdict begins with that most iconic song of the most patriotic film made by the champion of that nationalism which only sees black and white then we know that particular verdict is going to change our hard held views on nation, patriotism etc. It must be mentioned here in passing that this iconic filmmaker had the audacity to make Saira Banu a French blonde.

Yes, of course, the bail verdict is of the JNUSU president arrested on charges of sedition and the song mere desh ki dharti. The president came back to JNU accompanied by a rousing reception and then went on to deliver a speech that moved one and all. It was a consummate performance. It was delivered by someone who has attained the status of a hero and if his supporters are to be believed on facebook; a messiah. Now, we should always be wary of these twin phenomena of hero and messiah. This article is an exercise to look into a little more detail this rise of heroism in relation to the bail verdict.

Since the learned judge made a reference to spring and blossoms just after her bollywood inspiration I was reminded of The Wasteland by T. S. Eliot. In the opening passage, quoted above, Eliot gives this excruciating account of how difficult regeneration is during the spring as a long period of inaction during a hostile period has created a feeling of pessimism. Something akin to this was happening with the student movement in India which no matter how hard it tried could not break through in terms of its politics or in the consciousness of the masses.

All changed, changed utterly when FTII movement started. It galvanized people, academics and artists who were either dormant or looking for a cause. This movement started the debate of institutional autonomy and its saffronization. Then came the tragic death of Rohith Vemula. It shook the conscience of an entire nation barring those who have a rather suspicious and surreptitious love for the colour khakhi. This brought to the fore all the fissions of our society. Caste, atrocities on dalits and how even those institutions that are supposed to be modern and spaces for free inquiry and questioning in fact muzzle its spirits. Then came JNU, sedition, nation and patriotism. It is no ones case that these movements led to each other in a teleological way but they did in a political way. It was that moment when similar but separated grievances in time and space find their consummation. Or if we want to use an insurrectionary metaphor then these form a potent Molotov cocktail which can then be thrown at the state. Here in JNU because of the naked state intervention everything precipitated from past to the present. Caste, freedom of speech and thought, the idea of nation and future of our institutions everything resonated and each of this found a charged mention in the speech of our hero. But did this really happen? Did we put the state in its place and told them to back off from where they had no business? Or is it the case that the state came dyed as a sheep or, in fact, as a shepherd who cares about his flock?

The document of the bail verdict is a document that reminded me of the books of moral science which we were made to suffer. In that book the attempt was to make a productive, patriotic and pliant citizen of the country. It would have lessons on how to respect teachers, parents, pray and once in a while sing mere desh ki dharti sona ugle which had several rather coarse and colourful versions within us unpliant students. Anyway, let us see what the bail verdict asks of the petitioner. We are merely interested here in the conditions of release and not the criminal case which is sub-judice. We are also not interested in the surgical lessons on limb given by the honourable judge because frankly this surgery business sheds a lot of blood precisely the situation both the state and the petitioner want.

In point 41 the judge goes on to great length to emphasize that it is the soldiers who protect our borders that we could even think of shouting anti-slogans. The judge does not stop here and remind us that our forces are there at the battle field situated at the highest altitudewhere even the oxygen is so scarce that those who are shouting anti-national slogans holding postersmay not be even able to withstand those conditions for an hour even. This is an instructive piece of observation. The demarcation is unambiguous the soldier is strong, he is resolute, and determined and can brave nature and most importantly he is HE. Contrast the agitators, they are physically weak, indulgent and need to be protected more problematically they could be both HE, SHE or NEITHER. We now have an unequivocal characteristic of nationalism, patriotism and citizens. Clearly, the petitioner erred in the duties but it is not beyond redemption.

In point 51 and 52 the justice of the state is delivered. It is noted that the petitioner comes from a poor family and hence cannot furnish the personal bond and surety bond if it is too high. The balance of justice now becomes balance of the shopkeeper and there is a trade off. The petitioner will not participate actively or passively in any activity which may be termed as anti-national. Apart from that, as President of JNU Students Union, he will make all efforts within his power to control anti-national activities in the campus. His surety should also be either a member of the Faculty or a personthatcan exercise control on the petitionerto ensure that his thoughts and energy are channelized in a constructive manner. (emphasis mine). That the individual person will not indulge in anti-national activity is a personal decision but if the JNUSU President becomes eyes and ears of the state on the lookout for criminal/anti-national activities we are setting a dangerous precedent. I am sure that the president was not elected to fulfill this duty. It leaves the JNUSU to permanent intervention by the state. I do not know if that can happen legally. That even future JNUSU office bearers have to take on that role assigned by the organ of the state. This is for the jurists to explain. However, on the face of it it looks very dangerous and something that needs to be brought up and discussed at appropriate forums both inside and outside JNU. Similarly, the faculty member or the person who files the bond has to teach the petitioner lessons in constructive manner which is presumably like my moral science book.

In conclusion, the point I am trying to make is that with this bail verdict the judiciary has sought to infantilize a movement that had and still has the potential to redefine radical politics away from the usual and routine strategy and tactics. This is being done through defining the subjective forces of the movement as non-martial, weak and effeminate. While we can joke about the MLA who was counting condoms the morals at display was not very different. We need to be taken care of by the state and the elders who know best. And of course, we will have a class monitor who will look out for recalcitrant students and reports the teacher. The bail has now been signed and there would be enough time to think if it could have been dealt differently. But he is an honourable man.

Mithilesh Kumar is a PhD Candidate at Western Sydney University, Australia. His interest is in the issues of logistics, migration and labour, political philosophy and theory. He wants to work on the nature, evolution and innovation of the Indian state with respect to social and political movements in India. Email: kmithilesh@hotmail.com






Police High Handedness In Mumbai For Standing With JNU

Press Release

04 March, 2015

Countercurrents.org

In response to JNUSU's call for observing 2nd March as International Day of Protest and to demand justice for Rohith Vemula and the release of the then three arrested students, numerous organisations decided to gather outside Mumbai, Dadar station (E) and carry out a peaceful protest. Among them were All India Students Association (AISA), All India Students Federation (AISF), Students Federation of India (SFI), Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), All India Youth Federation (AIYF), University Committee for Democracy and Equality (UCDE) and others. The protest was supposed to begin at 5pm.

In accordance with the procedure, a written application was submitted for permission for the protest outside Dadar station on the 1st of March. Citing law and order reasons (despite the application specifically mentioning that the protest shall be peaceful), the Matunga Police Station denied permission for the same and stated that if at all the above mentioned organisations still conduct the protest and the law and order situation gets disturbed, the responsibility of the same shall lie with the organisations. Subsequently, over a phone call with Abhilasha (AISA), an inspector from the police station urged the organisers to not carry out the protest since a lot of the protesters were students and they wouldnt want to ruin their lives. Abhilasha responded by saying that she alone is not responsible for the decision making and that she will have to consult all the other participating organisations. It was therefore decided to meet at Shramik Bhavan (situated in a building one block away from Dadar station and in an extremely narrow lane) at 4.30 pm and arrive on a decision. At around 5pm, the police entered the lane with a van and a jeep. A few comrades were standing under the building to receive other participants and guide them to the building. There we learnt that Sec 144 was imposed around Dadar station. 10 people from various aforementioned organisations were forcefully put in the police van and the jeep and were taken to Matunga Police Station. Some comrades who were sitting inside Shramik Bhavan were also arrested. For the record, the protest had not even begun yet.

It is interesting to note the arguments Mumbai Police gave for the reason of our arrest.

1. According to the police, Mumbai has a dedicated site for protests  Azad Maidan. All other protests at any other location thus become illegal.

2. Sec 144 of the IPC objects to unlawful assembly of people carrying deadly weapons. The only weapons of the protesters were a few banners and mostly, slogans.

3. The letter from the Matunga Police although makes no mention of Sec 144 of the IPC. Instead it quotes Sec 37 (1) and (3) of the Bombay Police Act, 1951 under which even singing of songs is prohibited. It also prohibits any assembly or procession whenever and for so long as it (The Commissioner and the District Magistrate) considers such prohibition to be necessary for the preservation of the public order. Both these provision do not apply to the situation under which these comrades were arrested. No songs were sung, no slogans were raised, no assembly of people ever happened.

4. On questioning the Police, reference was again made to Sec 144 of the IPC. This time we were told that not more than three people are allowed to assemble and since we were more than three, now we are being arrested. One must not forget that we are still standing in a lane one block away from Dadar station where a multitude of chai and paanipuri wallahs are a usual hangout of the millions of citizens who frequent Dadar station every day. If Sec 144 was indeed imposed around Dadar, how was the Police handling those millions coming in and out of the station in hoards?

At the police station, all details of those arrested were taken down on a blank sheet of paper. Under the pretext that people were not carrying their residence proofs and photo IDs, Inspector Yevale was seen clicking pictures of the arrested on his personal phone. Meanwhile as they realised the station had run out of stationery, a constable was promptly sent to get printouts of arrest forms. On constant enquiries from us about what charges we are booked under, the only response seemed to be Wait, our senior shall decide that. The Senior PI arrived more than an hour later. There were a few friendly exchanges between the comrades and the Police as we decided to while our time away singing songs  an activity that caused them much distress.

As Senior PI Balasaheb Kakad arrived, only a few of us were allowed to go speak to him. Mr. Kakad initially tried to scare us by threatening that we all can be jailed for doing what we are doing. He also threatened us by saying that we are able to do this now, but in a month, he would ensure that we arent able to do anything at all. What he meant by that, he only knows. When it was pointed out that we had not really done anything yet and all we intended to do was protest which happens to be our fundamental right, an understanding was reached upon. Bail bonds were signed in the name of seven comrades and the all of us were released.

A police station is quite an interesting place. The same officers who physically forced us into the van and the jeep were now behaving as if they carried a moral edge over us. We were after all creating a nuisance to society by standing under a building waiting for our friends. We were not those ABVP activists who were allowed complete freedom to enter railway stations and carry out protests within. Nor did we try to create fear in the minds of people by distributing pamphlets at railway stations asking people to be aware of anti-nationals roaming around them. Banners were found in our bags that demanded for immediate release of our arrested comrades in Delhi and enactment of the Rohith Act. Pamphlets were found that tried to analyse what the actions of the present government and its different ministries (and ministers) meant politically and how they were against the interests of the common Indian citizen  the same Indian citizen who boards and alights trains at Dadar station in search of a more complete life every day. Inspector Yevale though chose to look at it as intention of protest and thus justified our arrest.

The songs that we sung called for unity devoid of class, caste and gender barriers, they spoke of hope and revolution, they spoke of the undying human spirit of pursuit of freedom. We spoke of the same things that Kanhaiya and Umar Khalid are speaking of and may be that is why we needed to prove that we were not guilty. In one such exchange, as another Inspector patiently heard us and could not come up with any argument as to why we should be in custody, in his bid to reassure us he ended up saying, ...so youll be released if you havent done anything. He was immediately reminded that the law of the land does not work according to guilty until proven innocent but innocent until proven guilty. We were promptly sent out of his cabin and made to wait till the Saaheb appeared.

After the bail bond formality, a signed complaint was registered at Matunga Police Station for unlawful arrest of citizens. The complaint shall be sent to the District Magistrate and the Commissioner.

It is noteworthy to look at these arrests in the context of Com. Kanhaiya Kumar being granted bail on the same day. While the Delhi Police lay exposed with no evidence against him, the Mumbai police were carrying the baton ahead suppressing any voice that stood in JNU's support. The Delhi High Court's order is no different from the morally uptight gazes of the police personnel we faced. One does see a moral high-ground maintained by institutions meant to serve the people - the police and the judiciary. At such times one cant forget Kanhaiya's words as he addressed the large gathering in JNU last evening. 'Who are the people that join the police service in this country?' he asked. 'They are people belonging to the weakest section of the society.' Our cry of azaadi is as much for the police as it is for the farmer who commits suicide or for the soldier who is martyred on the borders. It is in equal measure for Rohit Vemula or Soni Sori or Irom Sharmila or SAR Gilani. The students of JNU, the people who came out in their support and the subsequent discoveries of the whole 'plot' are only giving us more strength and hope of a just and equal society in the future. It is to this near future that we sung our songs and raised our slogans as the hapless pawns in the hands of the establishment felt pity for us. What they did not realise is those songs and slogans were for them too.

One hopes they realise it soon. One hopes they all realise it soon. One hopes they all join the struggle and hand in hand we all claim the azaadi of this country - azaadi from class, caste and gender discrimination, from aggressive communal forces, from the RSS, from Brahminism, from poverty, azaadi from state sponsored terrorism, azaadi from the very idea of establishment... azaadi for all! One hopes...

In that hope, red salute to Com. Kanhaiya Kumar, red salute to JNU, red salute to peoples' struggle for rights.

Awaaz do, hum ek hain!




Maharashtra Cabinet On Disaster Tour To Curb Farmer Suicides

By Samar

04 March, 2016

Countercurrents.org

The government of Maharashtra has finally woken up to the agrarian crisis that has, according to official statistics, already ensnared the lives of 124 farmers in the state in the first 45 days of the year. Awoken, the government has decided to take action. And, the action that the government has decided to take is to send its Council of Ministers on a tour of three of the worst hit districts: Beed, Osmanabad, and Latur.

Anyone who knows anything about the farmer suicides and the agrarian crisis in Maharashtra, actually, any sensible person anywhere, would be flummoxed at the absurdity of the plan of action. But, not the Maharashtra government. Nothing can faze these leaders. There is no flummoxing them.

It would have been useful, however, for the government to inform us lesser mortals, how this tour, with ostensible goal of assessing how drought relief measures are operating on the ground, will stem the continuous spurt of suicides. Disaster tourism and poverty porn are real. But, since when did they become solutions?

The governments own data is showing how none of its measures are working on the ground. Had this not been the case, 3,228 farmers would not have ended their lives in 2015 and made the state top the ignominious list of farmer suicide states in the worlds largest democracy.

The Council of Ministers does not need to leave its comfortable cushions in Mumbai to learn that its measures are not working on the ground. All the Ministers need to do is look at the data closer. The clue to the abject failure of the measures is found in breakup of the data of the 3,228 farm suicides in 2015.

Of the 3,228 suicides last year, 903 were found ineligible for government aid, while 1,841 were found eligible, i.e. caused by agrarian factors, in the governments view. That still leaves 484 cases, which are still pending inquiry.

Is a government that still cannot find out if 484 farmer suicides are related to the agrarian crisis or not capable of preventing those living in distress from killing themselves? Our public institutions cannot even respond properly and categorize those who died last year. What can they do for those living on the edge? And, while the great big hole in the form of corrupt and inept institutions only grows bigger, the Cabinet has embarked on its disaster tour.

And what if the Cabinet is forced to confess that the drought relief measures are indeed dysfunctional? Does the Council have any blueprint to fix this problem and put in place a system that does function under its authority?

Even before the summer settles in, the region of Marathwada is reeling with just 6% water available, against 18% last year. Add to this the hailstorms and unseasonal rains that have badly affected standing crops last fortnight. In such a situation, the government could have rushed the village officials to the farmers for timely estimation of losses and disbursal of compensation. The Cabinet is instead conducting its tour.

One can be reasonably certain that it is humanly impossible for the ministers to attend individually to each and every farmer in distress. What would the Council of Ministers do during this tour then? Arrive, make recommendations, and return to business as usual? For, this is exactly what Ministers have done repeatedly, for two decades since the crisis became too obvious to ignore.

Arresting farm suicides is impossible without making dysfunctional public institutions work by radically restructuring them. When it comes to agriculture, the system already possesses required officials from the capital, in the form of the Agricultural Secretary, right down to the last villages, in the form of village development officers, revenue clerks. But, while they have always been there, most of them have been known to be notoriously corrupt, extracting bribes to be distributed from bottom to top, even for issuing a death certificate, on which all other compensation depends! Till the Cabinet has the political will to dismantle this obnoxious nexus and work for the farmers, curbing suicides will remain impossible.

Samar is Programme Coordinator - Right to Food Programme Asian Legal Resource Centre / Asian Human Rights Commission, Hong Kong




A Student Uprising In India

By Shubhda Chaudhary

04 March, 2016

Countercurrents.org

On 18th December 2010 when Mohammed Bouzazi in Tunisia set himself on fire, it galvanized the youth across Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Bahrain and Yemen, asking for democracy, for the right to dissent, for a better standard of living and freedom of political prisoners convicted without evidence. There leaderless revolution creates surprising outcomes; the year-long dictators had to resign, there was hope for a better tomorrow.

India is witnessing something similar like the Arab Spring. The youth of India, well-educated and rational, is all geared up to demand freedom from oppression, to exercise the right to dissent and to carve out their own identity which is not a neo-liberal product. It started with protests in FTII and occupy UGC movement where students were protesting against the governments motive to cut down Rs 5000 and Rs 8000 per month research grant given to M.Phil and PhD Students. Its quite disparaging that students of India have to fight for such paltry amount of money, which is a mockery in its own. But before the issue could gain more foothold, attention shifted to Hyderbad University where a young Dalit PhD scholar Rohith Vemula had to commit suicide because of the institutionalized anti-Dalit maneuver of the University. Journalists like Manu Joseph easily called it a depression story rather than a Dalit story, obviously unaware of the atrocities that Dalits in India have to face in spite of our so-called modernization and emancipation.

When this issue started to gain momentum, JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar was charged on the draconian charges of sedition and criminal conspiracy and through severe media trial, he was labeled an anti-national. When he called for Azaadi, he was talking about Azaadi from oppression. A PhD student from the rural contours of Begusarai in Bihar has a family income of Rs 3,000 per month and if a student like him demands freedom from poverty, from oppression, whats wrong in it? The collapsing left movements in JNU gained momentum and more than 15,000 students participated in the solidarity march towards Jantar Mantar on 18th February, demanding the release of Kanhaiya.

Umar Khalid, a PhD Student in History Department in JNU along with Anirban Bhattacharya was also charged with sedition and criminal conspiracy. It was quite obnoxious that within ten days, the identity of Umar was reduced to being a Muslim, which reveals so much about our fascist regime and how insecure the minority lives in India, especially in the current regime. In order to force aggressive nationalism on educational institutions in campuses, HRD Minister Smriti Irani asked the 40 Vice Chancellors to hoist a 270 feet high national flag on campus. Instead of investing money in the research grants of students, Irani believes that research can take place in penury, a reason why the research and development in India is in such deplorable conditions. One of the prime reasons our educational institutions cannot compete with global institutes like Stanford or Berkely, is because our government is not ready to invest in education, a fact that is never questioned. This is exactly what is causing brain drain in India.

Nevertheless, the next victim of HRD Ministry was AMU, the Vice Chancellor Shah had been odiously asked by Ms. Irani that Who pays your salary? when he came to request her for establishing 5 AMU units in India by 2020.

Its shocking that our current regime is anti-education and anti-intellect. This is what is tormenting the youth of today. Along with it, HRD is on its way to belittle the public universities in India and create more privatization of education into a money minting business. Education is not the right of only the elite; it is the right of every citizen of India.

Today the youth is not ready to be oppressed anymore. The youth is ready to question, debate and dissent and march out in masses to make its voice led. It is a treacherous time for the government because it is not able to tame the youth, for example, with the fabricated videos of anti-national sloganeering in JNU Campus, there is no concrete evidence with the police.

What would be the future of this uprising in India? The death of Rohith Vemula would not be forgotten. The arrest of Kanhaiya, Umar and Anirban would not be forgotten. The current regime is trying to terrorise the students and saffronise the educational institutions, it would not be forgotten. It is the time to revolt, to ask for ones rights and exercise it. No form of oppression will be tolerated.

Shubhda Chaudhary is a PhD Student at JNU. She can be contacted at shubhda.chaudhary@gmail.com




Ive been gone a while from the blogging scene. Some of my more regular readers no doubt noticed but did not hassle me about it. Thank you for that. Sinc...

6 years ago
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Five businesses with Evansville presences are among the 100 Best Places to Work in Indiana as determined by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.

According to the Chamber, 48 of the 100 honorees are small companies.

The actual rankings will be unveiled at a May 5 awards dinner in Indianapolis.

Small companies, described as those employing 15-74 in the United States, honored included United Leasing Inc. and Weddle Bros. Construction, which includes Koester Construction and Weddle Brothers Building Group in Evansville.

Heritage Petroleum LLC of Evansville was recognized as a medium company (74-249 employees). Traylor Bros. Inc. of Evansville earned honors as a large company (250-999 employees), while Edward Jones, with many offices statewide, was honored as a major company (1,000-plus employees).

More information is available at www.bestplacestoworkIN.com.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP)  The state of Indiana is honoring cartoonist and Indiana native Jim Davis who created the "Garfield" comic strip.

The Indiana Arts Commission says Davis is one of the recipients of the Governor's Arts Awards, which recognize contributions to and achievements in the arts. The ceremony is April 9.

Davis was born in Marion and raised on a farm. He went to Ball State University with majors in art and business. Davis developed "Garfield" about a fat, lazy cat who loves lasagna. The strip debuted in 1978 and is seen in newspapers around the world.

Davis lives in Albany now where he writes his strip and runs Paws Inc., which employs nearly 40 people.

He says the award is an honor and "validates cartooning as a legitimate art form."
Check out Evansville-area HS football scores from sectional openers

The postseason has arrived and the stakes haven't been higher. Follow along for the latest high school sectional scores, results, highlights and more.
SHARE John Albert Bivins

By Mark Wilson of the Courier and Press

The former boyfriend of a woman sentenced to prison for the death their infant son pleaded guilty to misdemeanor neglect charges related to the same incident.

Although John Albert Bivins Jr., 34, had been charged with two counts of neglect as level 6 felonies, on Thursday in Vanderburgh Circuit Court he pleaded guilty to the charges as class A misdemeanors.

He also pleaded guilty to an unrelated charge of unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon - a charge defense attorney Chad Groves said was based on an old burglary conviction in Kentucky.

The plea deal calls for Bivins to serve one year probation on each of the misdemeanors, served concurrently, and two years of probation on the gun charge. Sentencing was set for 1 p.m. April 14.

The neglect charges stemmed from a 2014, incident at the Westbrook Mobile Home Park where Bivins and was living with Beth Ann Montgomery. Also living in the trailer home at the time was their 3-year-old daughter.

Montgomery, 31, was convicted of causing the death by death by asphyxiation of their infant son, Beau Bivins, by falling asleep with him on a couch while on prescription pain medicine.

Vanderburgh County Sheriff's deputies were dispatched their home about 2:30 a.m. Sept. 30, 2014.

At the time of Bivins' and Montgomery's arrests, Vanderburgh County Sheriff David Wedding said his officers described noted the "horrible living conditions inside the residence."

Law enforcement and fire department officials testified at Montgomery's trial that the home smelled of animal feces and urine, and that the kitchen counter was covered with dirty dishes, as well as food and animal waste, and there were holes in the bathroom and living room floors.

Bivins has been free on bond since October 2014 and has since married.
SHARE Michael Loveless

By Mark Wilson of the Courier and Press

The attorney for an Evansville firefighter charged with rape and criminal confinement asked a judge Friday to dismiss those charges.

Michael Vernon Loveless, 42, is accused of threatening his girlfriend with a handgun and a knife while children were present in the home they shared.

The woman reported she was raped during the encounter.

Loveless has pleaded not guilty to charges of rape, a level 1 felony; criminal confinement, a level 3 felony; intimidation, a level 5 felony; and battery resulting in bodily injury, a class A misdemeanor.

Attorney Scott Danks filed the motion to dismiss the first two charges. He argued that there are no supporting facts for the rape charge and that a probable cause affidavit "fails to state or even aver that the sexual relations engaged in the defendant and the victim was forced or under threat of force."

The woman told deputies that early in the morning on Feb. 23, a drunk Loveless arrived at the home with a family member, threatened her with a handgun and at one point put it to his own head and pulled the trigger, not knowing it was unloaded, according to an affidavit of probable cause.

The woman told investigators that she threw the gun out a window while Loveless attempted to load it. Loveless then cut his head and arm with a knife before threatening to kill her with it, according to the woman's statement to deputies.

She told deputies that fearing for the safety of herself and her children that were in the house, "she had intercourse with Loveless as he continually threatened to kill her then himself," the probable cause affidavit reads.

The woman also told investigators that Loveless allowed her to leave and take her children to school, according to the affidavit.

Danks' motion to dismiss argues that the probable cause affidavit does not allege that at any time Loveless prevented the victim from leaving the home.

"The affidavit does not even allege that the defendant told the victim she could not leave," Danks wrote. "Ultimately, the victim was free to leave to ensure her children went to school, and when she left to do this, she appeared at the Vanderburgh County Sheriff's Command Post to report the incident."

Vanderburgh County Prosecutor Nicholas Hermann declined to comment because Hermann has filed a motion to appoint a special prosecutor but one has not yet been named. Warrick Circuit Court Judge Greg Granger has agreed to be special judge over the case.

Local officials have been cautious in their handling of the case because the alleged victim is well known in the Evansville legal community.

Loveless is in the Vanderburgh County Jail in lieu of $500,000 surety or $50,000 cash bail. He is scheduled to appear March 10 in Warrick Circuit Court.
SHARE James Allen

By John Martin of the Courier and Press

The Washington, Indiana, man who was driving a packed van of factory workers that overturned on Interstate 69 on Sept. 24, killing two passengers and injuring more than 20 others, has offered to enter a guilty plea.

James D. Allen, 30, is to enter his plea and be sentenced on April 25 in Gibson Superior Court. He offered his intent to plead guilty pursuant to a written agreement, according to court staff.

The crash happened on I-69 near the Fort Branch exit after the vehicle blew a tire and overturned. The van, which had 23 passengers plus the driver in it, was coming from the Washington area and going to AmeriQual on U.S. 41 in Vanderburgh County. All 23 passengers were Haitian immigrants.

Two women, Christela Georges, 29, and Gena Moise, 60, died from injuries suffered in the crash. Moise was pronounced dead at the scene, while Georges - who was 24 weeks pregnant - died the next morning at St. Mary's Medical Center. Before Georges died, St. Mary's staff delivered her baby.

The baby was released from intensive care after 24 weeks, reportedly in good health.

Allen tested positive for THC during a post-crash blood test, according to an affidavit, although he reportedly denied using any drugs between the time he woke up on the morning of Sept. 24 and the crash.

Allen faced a total of 19 criminal charges. Gibson Superior Court staff said it's still unsettled which charges Allen will plead guilty to.

Passengers inside the van have said Allen was racing another vehicle and ignored pleas from them to slow down before the blowout.

Two passengers in the van filed civil claims against Allen in Gibson County court. They both were filed by an Evansville attorney on Oct. 9. The two lawsuits blame both Allen and his father, Robert Allen Sr., for the crash. Robert Allen is the registered owner of the crashed vehicle, which in addition to worn tires had insufficient seat belts, according to investigators. The van's middle and back seats had been removed in favor of wooden benches to fit more people in the vehicle, authorities previously disclosed.

Investigators also have said that the tires on the van had dry rot. That and the excessive weight from 24 people in a 15-passenger van were the primary reasons for the blowout, police said.
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By Megan Thorne, megan.thorne@courierpress.com

First-graders chanted "something went bump" and then erupted in laughter after the Cat in the Hat ran into the Ivy Tech Bookstore and bumped into one of the bookstands.

Janet Peterson, director of the business office at Ivy Tech, and her husband Steve acted out the "Cat in the Hat" and "Green Eggs and Ham" for 80 first grade students from Stringtown Elementary Thursday afternoon.

Students had the opportunity to tour the college campus and have Cat in the Hat read them a story as part of the Dr. Seuss and the Read Across America Celebration.

Dr. Seuss - writer Theodor Seuss Geisel - would have turned 112 on Wednesday.

Gracie Baumgartner a first-grader at Stringtown Elementary, said she doesn't think she is ready for college yet, but was interested to see the school.

"I want to know what it's like to go to college, so when I grow up I'll know,' she said.

Baumgartner said her favorite part was seeing the Cat in the Hat fall down during the story.

"He's not the real Cat in the Hat, but it was funny when he fell," Baumgartner said.

Ella Doughty, another first-grader, said she finds college "very big."

"I don't want to go to college because you're there for a long time and your family will be at home," she said.

Doughty said her favorite experience was when the readers were doing the Dr. Seuss tongue twisters.

"You have to read them fast," she said. "I'm good at 'Green Eggs and Ham' because I read it a lot."

Laura Bowman, Ivy Tech bookstore manager, said the college joined the bookstore to do a tour of the college to get kids excited about education.

"The marketing director at the college suggested we contact one of the elementary schools and we invited the first grade class," Bowman said. "It was very exciting and it's awesome to see them so excited about reading and being out and learning about education."

Bowman said she didn't anticipate the event to turn out as well as it did and said the staff enjoyed seeing it come together.

"It's amazing and it gives you hope," she said. "It's great to see little kids get so into reading and so into doing things, I love talking to little kids."
DENNY SIMMONS / COURIER & PRESS An immature bald eagle casually cruises above Old Ben Station at the Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge Tuesday afternoon.

SHARE DENNY SIMMONS / COURIER & PRESS Wildlife Refuge Specialist Heath Hamilton refuels his chainsaw at the Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge Tuesday afternoon. DENNY SIMMONS / COURIER & PRESS The Patoka River National Wildlife Reguge custodians are cutting down trees and brush to allow two large grass plains to meet and become one huge plain in the Columbia Mine area. DENNY SIMMONS / COURIER & PRESS A muskrat shares a log with two red-earred sliders near McClure's Station at the Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge Tuesday afternoon. DENNY SIMMONS / COURIER & PRESS Heath Hamilton, a wildlife refuge specialist at the Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge, takes trees down in the Columbia Mine area of the refuge Tuesday afternoon. Hamilton said they are taking the stand of trees out - some native, but most invasive species - to allow two grass plains to meet and become one large plain.

By Mark Wilson of the Courier and Press

OAKLAND CITY - Thousands of migrating ducks, geese and swans stop in the Patoka River valley along their way north every February and March.

The birds find temporary lodging in Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge and Management Area and other nearby Southwestern Indiana wetlands as they wait for their northern destinations to warm.

While the refuge is both home and sanctuary to hundreds of wildlife species, appreciation for it has been slow in growing among Southern Indiana residents.

But more and more, people other than hunters and fishers are discovering what the refuge has to offer.

"People are really just starting to find us. We are getting more and more birders and hikers now," said Bill McCoy, refuge manager.

A non-profit volunteer support group - Friends of the Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge - has been instrumental in spreading the word.

"It's becoming a more well-known place to see some interesting birds," said David Howell, president of the group. "It's a place where you can walk and enjoy nature and see some interesting things."

McCoy said the historical aspects within the refuge boundaries also are beginning to draw attention, such as the Wabash & Erie Canal, its connection to the Underground Railroad and the many old cemeteries tucked away from early Indiana settlements.

The refuge's boundaries encompass 30 miles of Patoka River, three miles of the South Fork Patoka River and 19 miles of old oxbows cut from the river's flow.

However, the diversity of habitat within the refuge area is much broader than just wetlands. It includes what is considered one of Indiana's best remaining bottomland hardwood forest habitats as well as upland habitat such as grasslands.

That's not surprising since the boundaries of its acquisition area stretch across Gibson and Pike counties, two time zones and encompass a diverse array of wildlife habitats and lands.

Preserving and restoring those habitats is the core of the Patoka refuge's reason for being.

"The goal is to have a forested corridor along the river. We're restoring the natural habitat," McCoy said.

The goal, he said, is to reforest 5,000 acres in the refuge area - mostly bottomland that was once cleared for farming. Already, more than 1,000 acres have been replanted with a mix of trees found in bottomland areas, such as oak, hickory, gum, persimmon, pecan and even some cypress, McCoy said.

The refuge also has been at work restoring grassland habitat on the former Columbia Mine - more than 1,000 acres located in the heart of the refuge between the Patoka River and South Fork.

"Lack of grassland habitat is a serious problem for grasslands nesting birds," McCoy said.

When Peabody Coal stopped mining at the site in 2002 and reclaimed it, the site's lush mix of prairie grasses and oaks was a nesting paradise for Northern Harrier hawks and short-earred owls, McCoy said.

However, by the time the site was acquired as a nature preserve by the Bloomington, Indiana-based Sycamore Land Trust in 2012, there had been 10 years for foreign invasive plants to overtake the property.

Although reclamation of the Columbia Mine land prairie is ongoing, McCoy said he already is seeing some indications of success, gauged by the return of Henslow's sparrows to the area - birds that will not nest in an area if there are not at least 250 acres of grasslands.

After purchasing the Columbia Mine tract, the Sycamore land Trust trust entered into a conservation easement arrangement allowing the Patoka refuge to manage it.

Last month, the trust purchased another 108-acre land tract for the Patoka refuge.

Grants and assistance from non-profits have been essential in piecing together the refuge as lands become available for sale within its acquisition boundaries, which encompass 22,473 acres.

It has taken more than 20 years for the wildlife refuge to reach one-third of the way to that goal.

Since the refuge was approved in 1994, it has slowly acquired 8,803 acres, although many of the tracts are not connected to each other, causing maps of the wildlife refuge to resemble a quilt.

"We're buying land as we get the money. There is no lack of willing sellers," McCoy said.

But the primary source of money for land acquisitions at the refuge is the federal government's Land and Water Conservation Fund.

"We haven't received LWCF funding in six years," McCoy said.

Instead, the McCoy has used $3,250,000 in funding received from environmentally related lawsuit settlements to leverage acquisition funding by providing matching funds for other non-profit grants.

"To be successful you have to know how to work all the angles and partners," he said. "We chip away at it."

Christian Freitag, executive director of Sycamore Land Trust, said it makes sense for the trust to help out Patoka National Wildlife Refuge when it can.

"You look at wildlife pictures taken there and you think they are from a magazine like National Geographic or Smithsonian - 'there can't possibly be animals like that here in Southern Indiana.' But there are three national wildlife refuges in Indiana and all of them are in Southern Indiana," Freitag said. "It makes sense for Sycamore Land Trust to help (Patoka) because there are dozens and dozens of rare and sensitive species that call the refuge home. Wetlands and bottomland hardwood forests have exceptional wildlife habitat value.

"They are called refuges for a reason."
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By Zach Osowski, zach.osowski@courierpress.com

INDIANAPOLIS -- Lawmakers are "very close" to bridging the gap on two bills dealing with pharmacists and the sale of pseudoephedrine medication.

Sen. Randy Head, R-Logansport, said during a conference committee on Senate Bill 80 that there are a few sticking points left between the version he passed out of the Senate and what Rep. Ben Smaltz, R-Auburn, pushed through the House.

The biggest concern, however, is how much Sudafed a person who is not a patient of record, and who does not have a prescription, can purchase in a given time frame.

The current version of the bill says if a person has an existing relationship with a pharmacist, they can continue to purchase as much Sudafed as is allowed by state law. If a person is not a "patient of record" they will be offered a small amount of either Sudafed or meth-resistant medications. If they refuse either option, they would need to get a prescription.

Next week on Canvass, land banking blighted properties

The bill as written drops the amount of Sudafed a person can by in a day to about 700 milligrams, five times less than currently allowed.

Other issues include concerns from INSPECT, the prescription monitoring board, and State Pharmacy Board. The definition of "pharmacist discretion" also needs to be finalized, Head said.

Rep. Ron Bacon, R-Chandler, who is on the committee, said he is optimistic legislators will be able to work through the issues. Bacon said he has been pushing for an overhaul to the current system for about six years, trying to help curb the number of meth labs in Southwestern Indiana.

"I really think after six years of trying, we've got a way to get it done," Bacon said.

Those thoughts were echoed by House Speaker Brian Bosma, who has been advocating for a change in Indiana's laws since the beginning of the session. Bosma said the issues still needing ironed out are workable.

A concurrence on House Bill 1157, updating Indiana's NPLEx system to prohibit felons convicted of drug-related offenses from buying Sudafed, was approved by the House on Friday. The bill will now go to the governor for final approval.
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Police are against a proposal in the Ohio Legislature that would loosen reporting requirements for pawnbrokers and scrapyard owners, making it easier for thieves to sell stolen property. Lucas Sullivan of the Columbus Dispatch reports that Senate Bill 270 would remove the burden on pawnshop owners to comply with municipal laws detailing how they must report the items they buy to police, which typically entails reporting purchases to a database operated by a third-party company. The burden would instead shift police and local governments rather than business owners. The bill also eliminates a requirement for pawnshop owners that says they must refuse to purchase items from people who are intoxicated or who are known or believed to be a criminal or receivers of stolen property. The bill has yet to be scheduled for a committee hearing.An Alabama judge ruled Thursday that the state's death penalty sentencing scheme, which permits judges to override jury recommendations, is unconstitutional. Kent Faulk of AL reports that Jefferson County Circuit Judge Tracie Todd's ruling, which followed a hearing, barred the death penalty in the cases of four men charged in three murders. Todd's order does not apply statewide, as she has only barred imposition of the death penalty in the cases before her, but it could become precedent if an appellate court were to uphold her ruling. Defense attorneys argue that Alabama's death sentencing scheme is the same as Florida's, which was ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in January, and that a jury, not a judge, should have the final say in whether to impose a death sentence. Prosecutors say, however, that the two systems are not exactly the same because Alabama law, unlike Florida, allows juries to decide on aggravating factors. Further, the U.S. Supreme Court knew about the similarities between the two sentencing schemes but did not strike down Alabama's two months ago when it made its ruling against Florida's.House and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairmen expressed outrage this week toward an Obama administration policy that facilitated the release of three criminal aliens charged with drunk driving and implicated in the murder and injury of Americans. Caroline May of Breitbart reports that at the center of the issue is the selective immigration enforcement policies of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that were enacted with President Obama's 2014 executive amnesty, in which deportations of illegal immigrants are prioritized to include only those who have a felony conviction, are a threat to national security, have multiple misdemeanors or are recent border crossers. The Chairmen say that the Obama administration's high bar to enforce immigration law has resulted in at least two women dead, one in a coma and another seriously injured.
Cisco Australia head Ken Boal has reiterated his companys line that conventional network resellers have no choice about transitioning to a software-based world.

The vendors partner conference this week in San Diego has persistently emphasised the importance of turning to software and services in the new world, for both Cisco itself and its channel.

For our traditional networking partners, they have no choice, Boal told journalists Thursday morning Australian time.

They, like [Cisco], have no choice. Weve moved to a software-driven architecture, DNA - so the whole industry has to go through this re-skilling process over the next 12 to 24 months.

The vice president said that partners facing this reform have many personnel-related questions to answer.

How do I take my existing network engineer workforce and up-skill them? And/or how do I attract new talent with more software skills? Whats the right mix of skills to really lead this significant market transition?

Cisco worldwide sales executive vice president Chris Dedicoat said that "software is now pervase in a network environment" and pleaded with partners to get on-board.

"The average customer has 69 different revisions of Cisco OS," he told partners Friday morning Australian time. "We need to do a better job."

Cisco global partner organisation senior vice president Wendy Bahr said there will always be a need for partners that wire up the networks, but in the current climate of customer business units increasingly making technology decisions in lieu of IT departments, old-school resellers cannot sit idle.

If youre a traditional reseller and youre not going to develop those capabilities yourself, you need to team up with an ecosystem partner that represents the interests that customers face, so that you can tap into that [non-IT] budget. she told international media.

The journalist travelled to San Diego courtesy of Cisco.
Australian PC manufacturer Pioneer Computers is aiming to cash in on the Internet of Things market with the release of Dreamcare Dr Glucose, a non-invasive glucose measurement system.

Pioneer general manager Jeff Li said there are 100 million people with glucose-related problems in China alone, a big opportunity for its PioneerIoT business.

Dreamcare Dr Glucose system is based on the metabolic heat conformation (MHC) method. MHC involves the measurement of physiologic indices related to body heat generation and local oxygen supply.

The device, which resembles a mouse, integrates sensors that collect information from a patient's fingertip. The internal circuit takes care of the data conversion and a microprocessor calculates the value of the parameters. The result is displayed on any personal device with the app provided, compatible with iOS and Android.

The process takes 60 seconds and is 88.4 percent accurate compared against an Autolab 18 automatic biochemical analyser blood glucose, according to PioneerIoT, the most used product in the bigger test labs and hospitals with 99 percent accuracy.

According to Li, investing in the health market is part of the companys growth plan for the next 10 years.

Li said the target market extends from home users to clinics and hospitals, because the product is very simple to use and there is no need for blood samples.

Dreamcare is already available for buy directly from the website or via partners who will get rebates from the sales.

Li added that PioneerIoT has received enquiries about the product from China, Japan, US and Europe.
Security News

RSA Panel: Apple-FBI Battle Is Bigger Than A Tug-Of-War Over Encryption

Sarah Kuranda

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As the controversy surrounding Apple and the FBI continues to heat up, a panel of tech industry leaders, privacy experts and former top government officials at the 2016 RSA Conference said the debate is about something much bigger: how government and privacy fit into the new digital age.

"The issue of security and privacy is the defining issue of our age," said Art Coviello, former RSA executive chairman and now venture partner at Rally Ventures. "It's only a symptom of a larger issue. Whether we can solve it or not will determine if we are masters of the digital [era] or are its victims."

The panel, which took place Thursday night at the RSA Conference in San Francisco, included Coviello; Michael Chertoff, executive chairman and co-founder of The Chertoff Group and former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Mike McConnell, senior executive adviser at Booz Allen Hamilton and former director of National Intelligence; Nuala O'Connor, president and CEO of the Center for Democracy and Technology; and Trevor Hughes, president and CEO of the International Association of Privacy Professionals.

[Related: Apple-FBI Debate Center Stage At 2016 RSA Conference]

The debate between Apple and the FBI centers around the FBI's demands, backed by a court order, for the technology giant to open an encrypted iPhone belonging to one of the shooters involved in the San Bernardino terrorist attacks. However, Apple says it will need to create a new operating system to fulfill the court order, something it has so far refused to do. The debate has taken center stage in the nation, with a congressional hearing Tuesday as well as ongoing discussion at the RSA Conference this week.

The panelists agreed that the debate represents a bigger conversation than just the tug-of-war between Apple and the FBI over encryption. Rather, they said, it is about how the government will balance security and privacy in the digital age.

"It isnt a question of one phone, its a question of all of our phones, all of our devices and our country," O'Connor said. "There are ramifications for the world we envision in the technology sector and the security sector."

That debate will only grow with each new emerging technology entering the market, especially with the Internet of Things, Chertoff said. Encryption technologies will be critical to protecting new connected devices, he said, and, at the same time, they will raise new questions about privacy.

"Without trust, the economic opportunity of the Internet will be squandered," Chertoff said. "These are important discussions not just for people who are advocates, but everyone who worries about security."

These types of conversations have always happened when new technologies have emerged, Hughes said. What makes the digital age different, he said, is the sheer pace of change. With each new technology, the government will have to have a continuous discussion around "reframing and resetting the norms of privacy," he said.

"I think the technology will continue to challenge our expectations of privacy and continue to change our expectations of privacy," Hughes said.

However, the panelists agreed that pitting privacy and security against one another is a false dichotomy. The two can co-exist peacefully if both parties agree to engage in a thoughtful and open-minded discussion, they said. McConnell urged the audience of security professionals to have a "dialogue, not a debate" with the government, with an objective to find the most concrete set of recommendations and compromises that address the issue.

"By and large, the public at large is not informed on this issue," McConnell said. "An informed set of informed dialogues ... will [create] a more engaged dialogue."

Multiple members of the panel urged for that conversation to happen in Congress, rather than in the courts. That will promote transparency and allow for a public discussion on the issue, they said.

"This is a new era. That is a new technology development. The intimate connection [of these devices] really raises the stakes," Hughes said. "It demands the type of open dialogue that has been asked for on the panel today."


P&O Cruises Australia today announced a commercial arrangement has been reached to transfer Pacific Pearl from its fleet as part of an ongoing fleet expansion and renewal program.

The ship will be farewelled from the fleet in April 2017. By then, Pacific Pearl will have completed 294 separate cruises under the P&O Cruises banner and will have carried more than half a million passengers over a period of more than five years service.

P&O Cruises Australia President Sture Myrmell said Pacific Pearl had become a firm favourite with many guests in Australia and New Zealand during the 63,786-ton ships time with the fleet.

However, the commercial transfer of the 1,800-passenger ship is part of an unprecedented fleet renewal program for P&O Cruises, with the addition of Pacific Aria and Pacific Eden at the end of last year and Pacific Explorer due to join the fleet next year.

At the same time, P&O Cruises is making history in becoming the first cruise line to build a new ship specifically for the Australian market with the newbuild to be delivered in 2019.

After her P&O Cruises launch in December 2010, Pacific Pearl played a game-changing part in becoming New Zealands first superliner, beginning with an eight-night cruise from Auckland to the South Pacific.

In becoming a much loved passenger favorite, the Pacific Pearl made a huge contribution to building the cruise category in the region particularly in New Zealand, introducing thousands of holidaymakers to the joys of cruising, Myrmell said.

In addition to contributing to the growth of cruising in Australia, the Pacific Pearl played a big part in growing the New Zealand season by more than 20 per cent over the past four years. This year, P&O Cruises is sailing from Auckland for a record 140 days.

P&O Cruises remains the only cruise line to homeport from New Zealand and we are committed to the market. Following the Pacific Pearls farewell in 2017, the Pacific Jewel will become New Zealands ship and will sail from Auckland for two months from September 1 offering fantastic holidays to the Pacific Islands before returning again in 2018.

Myrmell said Pacific Pearls departure was part of the ongoing evolution of the P&O Cruises brand.

Farewelling Pacific Pearl is a natural progression in which we are increasing the size of the fleet while redefining modern cruising in this part of the world. This is a very exciting time for P&O Cruises and our guests and is part of our long-term commitment to grow the cruise market.

Pacific Pearls last New Zealand cruise  a four night cruise to the Bay of Islands  will depart Auckland on March 23, 2017. Her final P&O Cruises voyage will be a 16-day cruise to Singapore departing Auckland on March 27, 2017, which will provide an opportunity for Pacific Pearl's many fans to give her a celebratory farewell from the fleet.
Port Everglades has released a study that shows that sixty-two percent of the cruise passengers surveyed stayed at least one night prior to their cruise vacation, staying an average of 3.4 nights, and 21 percent planned to stay an average of 2.6 nights after their cruise.

"This study validates what we have long known - that our local economy benefits from the cruise industry. But, we are seeing that hoteliers are taking advantage of the opportunities that having a cruise port in their backyard offers," said CEO and Port Director Steven Cernak. "Just look at the number of new hotels that have opened around Port Everglades in recent years and the creative pre- and post-cruise vacation packages offered on Sunny.org in the Cruise & Play section.

Expenditures before and after the cruise were nearly identical. However, guests planned to spend more money on land tours after the cruise than before the cruise -- $80 spent on land tours before the cruise and $133 to be spent on land tours after the cruise.

The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau encourages pre- and post-cruise vacation stays through its "Cruise & Play" section on the sunny.org website. The "Cruise & Play" section features as list of hotels offering shuttle service to and from the cruise port and airport, as well as deals on hotels, attractions and special discounts available just by showing your cruise card or cruise documents.

In addition, travel agents have the opportunity to become certified Greater Fort Lauderdale experts with the Greater Fort Lauderdale Specialist program, offered in conjunction with Travel Agent Academy.

Another benefit to cruising from Port Everglades includes the Port's proximity to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL). More than 21 percent of the cruise guests surveyed said that they came directly from FLL, and an overwhelming majority (66 percent) said they selected FLL based on its close proximity to the Port.

FLL is located within two miles of Port Everglades and is accessible by taxi, shuttle or bus transfer from the cruise line. The Port is also within 30 miles of Miami International Airport (MIA), which is an approximate 40-minute drive.

Port Everglades is consistently ranked as one of the three busiest cruise ports in the world, with more than 3.7 million passengers in 2015. Nine cruise lines, one ferry and more than 40 cruise ships sail from the South Florida port.
The online theft of U.S. intellectual property (IP) by other nation states continues to be a big problem, a panel of experts agreed this week at the RSA conference in a session titled, Responses to state-sponsored economic espionage.

That much is obvious  awareness of economic cyber espionage has reached the mainstream, with CBS-TVs newsmagazine 60 Minutes even doing a segment on it last month, labeling it, the great brain robbery of America.

What to do about it is also a big problem. The panel agreed that the most tempting and instinctive response of active defense  more commonly known as hacking back  is not a good one.

Stewart Baker, partner, Steptoe & Johnson

The debate over hacking back remains fierce overall in the security community, with a number of prominent advocates in favor of it, including Stewart Baker (also an RSA presenter), now a partner at Steptoe & Johnson but with a high-level government history as a former assistant secretary for policy in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and former general counsel at the National Security Agency.

But there wasnt much debate on this panel.

Hacking back doesnt get your IP back, said Christopher Painter, coordinator for cyber issues at the State Department, adding that attribution  determining who actually committed the theft  can be very difficult.

It can be a bit like you trying to punch somebody, but they duck and you punch somebody else, he said. You dont get the benefit and it can cause legal and international harm. It just doesnt work very well.

[ MORE FROM RSA: See all the news happening at the show ]

Mark Weatherford, chief cybersecurity strategist at vArmour agreed, noting that given the difficulties of attribution, a victim could be punching an opponent you cannot see  and it might be a nation state.

That, he said, could result in unintended consequences, including retribution from a much more powerful adversary, not to mention legal problems.

Hacking back doesnt get your IP back.

Christopher Painter, coordinator for cyber issues at the State Department

The only partial dissent was from Paul Rosenzweig, founder of Red Branch Law & Consulting and a former deputy assistant secretary for policy at the DHS. He said hacking back can work effectively sometimes.

But he agreed on the legally complicated part. He told of an unnamed corporate client that had retaliated against a hack and was then looking for legal help against the attacker from both the U.S. government and the government of the country where the attacker was located.

The problem, Rosenzweig said, was that the firm, had committed crimes in both countries, so they were in a legal box they couldnt get out of.

We basically agreed that they should just fix the hole and then never speak of it again, he said.

That leaves less volatile responses  diplomacy, threats and agreements like the one between President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping announced with much fanfare last September. But while they are less risky, they also have not been very effective so far.

Painter said he thought some good has already come from the U.S.-China agreement. He said in the past China had not acknowledged any distinction between economic and political espionage, and now it has.

Also, while he said it will take time to see if it works, it does set a standard of accountability  one that other G20 countries have agreed with.

But Rosenzweig was less optimistic, saying the entire topic makes me grumpy.

That, he said, is because he believes economic espionage is a policy problem, not a legal problem.

Most countries have robust laws against the theft of IP, he noted, but there is little enforcement.

Besides that, those from other countries who steal from U.S. companies are frequently beyond the reach of the American justice system. When, if ever, would we see extradition to the U.S.? The chances are pretty thin, he said.

So the law is inadequate  it has almost no utility unless you can bring people to justice.

That, he said, leaves diplomatic avenues, including sanctions, but the sanctions policy has yet to be used, he said. Were in the middle of that story.

Jessica Malekos Smith, law student at UC Davis School of Law, was also dubious about the effectiveness of available responses, again citing the difficulty of enforcing an agreement without foolproof attribution. She cited a Wall Street Journal article that she said called the U.S.-China agreement, full of promise with no enforcement.

The panelists agreed that more and better sharing of threat information might help, but Rosenzweig said most private sector firms, dont see the benefit as worth the cost  they see it creating more regulation and costing too much to put together the information.
The U.S. is aggressively targeting ISIS in cyberspace, attempting to halt the group's ability to communicate electronically, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said Thursday.

His comments build on those from earlier this week when, for the first time, the Department of Defense admitted to an active offensive cyberspace mission.

"There is no reason why these guys ought to be able to command and control their forces," Carter said Thursday morning at a Microsoft-sponsored event in Seattle.

Drawing a parallel with the use of more conventional tools of warfare like missiles, Carter said the attacks are intended to hit the heart of ISIS operations.

"Were using cyber in Iraq and Syria the same way," he said. "Black these guys out. Make them doubt their communications, make it impossible for them to dominate and tyrannize the population in the territory they are and just whack away with this as we are whacking away with everything else. We have to put an end to this fast."

The DOS first disclosed its cyberwar operation against ISIS earlier this week, when Carter hinted that one tool being used was a denial-of-service attack. The DOD was trying "to overload their network so that they can't function," he said.

Offensive cyberspace operations have been in the DOD toolbox since at least 2013, when a DOD publication noted their use to degrade, disrupt, or destroy access to a particular online system. The DOD also used offensive tools to control or change an adversarys information systems, it said then.

However, recognizing the delicacy of such attacks over public networks, the publication said that any offensive use requires "national level approval."

"This is something that's new in this war, not something you would've seen back in the Gulf War," Carter said during a Pentagon briefing on Monday. "It's an important new capability and it is an important use of our Cyber Command and the reason that Cyber Command was established in the first place."

Carter's visit to Seattle is part of a West Coast tour that has also seen him stop by tech companies in San Francisco. Since he became secretary of defense a year ago, he's been trying to forge closer links between the DOD and high-tech startups.

Tim D. Godbee/DOD Secretary of Defense Ash Carter meets with former Google CEO Eric Schmidt in San Francisco, March 2, 2016.

On Wednesday, the DOD said Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Alphabet, would chair a new advisory board that brings Silicon Valley thinking to DOD problems.

The department also laid out plans to invite cybersecurity experts to examine its public website as part of the federal government's first bug bounty program.

Later Thursday, Carter is due to visit Microsoft's cybersecurity control center.
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BRIDGEPORT  A few days ago, Tax Assessor Elaine Carvalho put the finishing touches on the citys real estate property evaluation.

On Friday, she was one of two dozen city employees, many of them longtime, out of a job, the latest casualties of what returned Mayor Joe Ganim and his allies characterize as taxpayer relief.

The reductions could save the city hundreds of thousands of dollars. But critics complained that the cuts are politically motivated or incompetent decisions  or both.

It was a pleasure to serve the city, Carvalho, an 18-year veteran of City Hall and the just-elected president of the Fairfield County Assessors Association, said when reached by phone Friday.

Ganikm also laid off Kristin duBay Horton, Bridgeports director of health and social services.

Horton confirmed she was let go despite the fact she has a new contract approved in October by then-Mayor Bill Finch. Finch issued the contract just a few weeks after Ganim defeated the incumbent in the Democratic primary.

Danny Roach, Ganims chief of staff, said those two jobs in particular would not be left empty.

Parks Manager Andy Valeri and Human Resources boss Jodie Paul-Arndt are also gone, as is Robert Bobby Kennedy, a deputy public facilities director. A second key public works staffer  John Cottell, who oversees utilities and energy conservation  was let go, too.

Word of other, more rank-and-file job cuts was also trickling out of City Hall late Friday afternoon, after weeks of rumors that a hit list of roughly 24 names was circulating.

We are going through a restructuring, and there are some jobs that are going to be eliminated, said Av Harris, Ganims communications director. At least 20. There may be more than that.

Harris declined to provide further details.

Sworn in on Dec. 1 after handily winning Novembers general election, Ganim has claimed he inherited a $20 million budget hole from Finch.

As of late February the returned mayor  Ganim also ran the city from 1991 to 2003  had forced out 56 people in the name of cost savings and restructuring. It is unclear where the cuts will end, given that Ganim, who campaigned on a pledge to hold the line on taxes, must present a budget to the City Council in early April.

Asked who how the administration was making its decisions, Harris noted that Ganims chief administrative officer, John Gomes, whom Finch had fired from another position, was involved. Harris also said that Ganim has hired a management consultant, Dorinda Borer.

Borers husband, former West Haven Mayor Richard Borer, ran that city from 1991 to 2005, and was an early and strong supporter of Ganims successful comeback last year.

Dismayed and betrayed

One city employee ,who wished to remain anonymous, said while Ganims decision to replace numerous department heads and other top Finch-era staff over the winter was understandable, Theyre doing the worker bees, here. ... Its the people that are day-to-day getting all the work done.

One Ganim critic argued that many of those being fired were Finch allies  It looks to me like its political retribution day.

Ex-Councilman Michael Marellas wife, Judy Marella, was fired from the after school Lighthouse Program. Marella was a Finch ally.

But Carvalho had close ties to Ganim from his prior tenure as mayor. Horton, unlike many other department heads at the time, actually kept her distance from supporting Finch and his re-election bid.

The motivation is pretty simple, Roach said. If its an option to raise taxes or trim what we can from payroll, you trim as much as you can from payroll.

Judy Marella is freshman Councilman Anthony Paolettos aunt. Paoletto is a Ganim ally.

Take out the fact shes my aunt, said Paoletto. Shes such a hard worker. And that department has gotten nationwide awards. That is really, really disheartening.

Paoletto was in Washington, D.C., Friday with many council colleagues for a National League of Cities meeting.

Were all totally flabbergasted, he said.

And then there is Kim Rose.

Rose has worked for Bridgeport for 14 years, most recently in the building and anti-blight departments handling permits and complaints. She is also a state Representative from Milford, and supported Ganims comeback.

In fact, Rose criticized her union last year when it endorsed Finch.

After being among those let go, Rose said Friday that she felt betrayed. She said many departments were already short-staffed  Finch had claimed he eliminated 190 jobs during his two terms.

We were short on inspectors (in the building department), literally killing ourselves every day and stretching to get the job done and correctly, Rose said.

She said that Ganims City Hall, like Finchs, is top-heavy with advisers and assistant advisers.

Friends of Ganims

Even as the heads are rolling, Ganim has been able to make job accommodations when it suits his purposes.

The mayor recently struck a deal that gave Police Chief Joseph Gaudett a six-figure job as an emergency communications consultant, rather than buying him or heading to court over the new five-year contract Finch gave Gaudett on his way out the door.

Gaudett resigned this week, allowing Ganim on Thursday to promote political ally Capt. Armando A.J. Perez to acting chief of police.

The mayor also found a job for Danny Pizarro, who accompanied Ganim on the campaign trail, often as his driver. Pizarro continued to spend a lot of time around Ganim when he returned to City Hall, and was finally hired as a $75,000-a-year aide.

Ganim submitted a proposal to the City Council to create a new department focused on governmental accountability.

That office was a continuation of his effort on the campaign trail to win back voter confidence after he was convicted of corruption in 2003. The department may be run by Ed Adams, the retired FBI agent who investigated, then last year endorsed, Ganim, and landed a job as another mayoral adviser.

Then there is Tom Gecewicz, Ganims former health director, who helped campaign for his old boss last year.

Gecewicz is back, earning $71,000 with the Office of Planning and Economic Development, managing a federal grant that supports lead abatement in Bridgeport residential buildings.
BRIDGEPORT  Police agencies are looking with caution at new laws on training and staffing to deal with men and women with mental health concerns. On the one hand, police agree that training and retraining are generally in their own best interests. But training does not come free  and neither do the on-call mental-health experts a proposed law may require.

Lawmakers are kicking around whether to require cadets and officers to undergo regular two-hour training sessions on mental illnesses and behavioral differences. The second half of the law would require each city or town to have a staffer on call all day, every day, to respond to mental health crises in collaboration with police departments.

State law already requires training, but specifies no mandatory threshold.

In Bridgeport, dispatchers advise officers of a possible 52 or known 52 - short for 10-52, or a party with mental health problems - several times a day.

Av Harris, a spokesman for the city, agreed with many law enforcement officers that the best training makes for the safest city, but he said there would be a balancing act in trying to figure out how to pay for the hours city police would have to invest in training.

Obviously its important for our officers to have the highest level of training when it comes to dealing with people with mental illnesses, Harris said. Still, he said, any tweaks to department policy would have to mesh with the citys budget crunch with a projected deficit looming over City Hall.

Other towns have also taken issue with the prospect of bringing on new staff.

Having to employ someone, that is an unfunded mandate, which seems to have been covered by the (Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services), said Redding Police Douglas Fuchs, who is the president of the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association.

Fuchs, who supports more mental health education during basic training, said his department already works with state clinicians through its crisis intervention team.

In the last decade, dozens of police departments statewide have created teams and sent hundreds of officers to the five-day, 40-hour class that touches on topics ranging from suicide prevention to the different varieties of mental illnesses.

That training is invaluable, because so many of the people we deal with are in crisis, Fuchs said. Law enforcement agencies also have access to mental health clinicians through the states mobile crisis teams.

In Fairfield, a Crisis Intervention Team is already at work, but police there said they welcomed the possibility of new training.

Policing is a living entity  its not just something you got to school for once and then you forget it, said Lt. James Perez, a spokesman for the department. Laws are changing every year, issues are brought up that have to be covered, and so in-service training provides us with opportunities to keep our officers as sharp as possible.

State Rep. Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, co-chairman of the Public Health Committee, said the group introduced the legislation after hearing more and more about interactions between police and the mentally ill.

Ritter said the committee will next decide its next steps for the bill, since a public hearing was held on the legislation last week. He said it could be sent to the Legislatures Public Safety Committee.

Were trying to have a conversation about what gaps there are in coverage, he said.

Ritter said he understands why people are concerned about the cost of paying for an on-call clinician, and thinks that the bills two-hour training component has a better chance of being enacted in the near future.

Louise Pyers, a mental health clinician who helped bring crisis intervention training to Connecticut more than a decade ago, echoed Fuchs in her written testimony submitted to the Public Health Committee.

Given that the (Crisis Intervention Team) program in Connecticut already uses this collaborative police/mental health model which can be readily duplicated in every community, we cannot support an unfunded mandate that would require municipalities to pay for on-call mental health clinicians, said Pyers, who founded the Connecticut Alliance to Benefit Law Enforcement.

The Newington nonprofit partners with the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services to conduct the training, which the state has paid for since 2004. Pyers said the state doesnt have enough money to operate its crisis teams and to have clinicians on-call 24/7.

It would make more sense and be less expensive for the state to provide funding to enhance these teams so they could expand their ability to do what they do best, she said.
HARTFORD  Democrats who control the state Senate are polling their 21 members gauge support for rejecting a pending union contract for University of Connecticut workers before it takes effect on March 9.

Bridgeport changes policy to get police cadets on streets faster

Were talking to our members in the course of today and are figuring out what day works best, said Senate President Pro Tempore Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven. I wouldnt want to characterize it until we have finalized it all, but were pushing forward on that, and expect there will be a vote.

Looney said that Gov. Dannel P. Malloys call this week to reject the five-year agreement with non-teaching employees at UConn had no effect on the Senates growing opposition. Senators on the budget-setting Appropriations Committee voted recently to reject the contract, while in an unusual parliamentary move, House members voted to approve it.

Were discussing with members where they are on this, said Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk. Looney and Duff told members to set aside Friday and Monday as possible session days for debate and votes on the contract.

First we have to make sure people are around, Duff said.

After the committee vote, the states revenue projections showed a startling shortfall, pumping up the state budget deficit from $20 million, to over $266 million in the fiscal year that ends June 30.

If one chamber takes it up, it defeats it, said Looney in response to a reporters question on whether rejection in one chamber means the contract for 1,800 librarians, dining staff, administrators and others is turned down. The other one would presumably not be required to vote then.

A defeat would mean the contract talks would have to begin anew between campus workers and the university.

A recent nonpartisan legislation analysis of the contract, which was negotiated last year, found that the 4.5 percent raises would cost $94 million over the five-year life. Malloys budget office predicted that if extrapolated to the more than dozen pending union agreements, it could cost the state $1 billion.

Larry Perosino, spokesman for Speaker of the House Brendan Sharkey, said Thursday that the issue will be the subject of a Friday morning Capitol caucus for the 87-member House Democrats.

The speaker is talking to members and is encouraging them to support agreeing to vote on the contract, Perosino said.

Democrats have a 21-15 majority in the Senate and a 87-64 advantage in the House.

kdixon@ctpost.com
HARTFORD  Faced with near-certain rejection of their negotiated five-year contract, 1,800 non-teaching professionals at the UConn on Friday abruptly withdrew their deal from consideration, sparing the Democratic-dominated General Assembly from what might be an awkward, constituent-sensitive vote in an election year.

Speaker of the House Brendan Sharkey made the announcement at about 12:45 p.m., following a closed-door caucus of his 87 members, whom he believes would have rejected the deal because of sharp declines in revenue and a recent discovery that the deal would cost the state an additional $94 million over its lifetime.

We have been advised by the parties to the UConn contract that has been in discussion recently, that the parties have agreed to withdraw the contract and take another look, potentially, at going back to the bargaining table to renegotiate, Sharkey, D-Hamden, said.

He was critical of Gov. Dannel P. Malloys monitoring of the deal, which was approved last year and finally reached lawmakers last month.

Kathleen Sanner, president of the University of Connecticut Professional Employees Association, blamed an inadvertent technical error in an appendix that must be corrected and refiled with House and Senate clerks.

But faced with the fact that the contract would likely fail, the withdrawal allows the union to regroup and lawmakers to avoid voting against the contract, the first of about 16 that are up for renewal this year.

The next step in the collective bargaining process will be decided by UCPEA members, Sanner said. We will be meeting soon with the full membership and it will be up to the majority on how next to proceed. I wont speculate on our members choice regarding their future, but our priorities remain the same; we want to do what is right for our members, the university we care about and our students. This also is about more than just securing a fair contract. Its about protecting and preserving the collective bargaining process in the state of Connecticut.

A negative vote in either the House or the Senate would have rejected the contract, which otherwise would have taken effect Wednesday.

House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, R-Derby, said it seems convenient for Democrats.

The fact is there was not support for this contract, so the Democrats came up with a last-second glitch in the contract and avoid exposing their members to a vote, Klarides said Friday afternoon.

Republicans have called for legislation that requires all contracts to come up for votes in the House and Senate, rather than allowing them to go into effect without legislative action.

It has been 19 years since a single contract has been rejected, Klarides said. No wonder the states finances are in such bad shape.

kdixon@ctpost.com;
David Yellen

Ag Mahmud is 29 and owns four Papa Johns restaurants in New York and Connecticut. But he didnt always know what pizza was. He grew up in a small village in Bangladesh, where fast food wasnt exactly common fare. In 2002, when he was 16, his family moved to America. I didnt really have any goals at the time, he says. I was just focusing on school and getting a part-time job.

That first job was as a delivery driver for Dominos. I realized I could make a career out of this, he remembers. I saw how the franchisee was making a lot of money and was able to grow his own business. I made owning a pizza franchise my goal and aimed to get to that level. To do that, he worked his way to manager and studied the business. Then, in 2013, he applied to become a Papa Johns franchisee. He was accepted, and using his savings and loans from family, he opened his first unit. Now he runs his restaurants as a family business: Each of his three brothers is in charge of one location, and his dad works as a delivery driver.
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BRIDGEPORT  If Armando A.J. Perez has learned anything in his long quest to become chief of the citys police department its patience.

That virtue paid off Thursday, when Perez took the oath of office as Bridgeports acting chief to the thundering applause of hundreds of police personnel, state troopers, city officials, religious leaders and private citizens.

Considered a shoe-in for the departments top job when his friend, Joseph Ganim, was elected mayor, Perez, who climbed up the ranks from patrolman to head of the detective bureau in his 32-plus years on the force, saw his hopes dimmed when Bill Finch re-signed Chief Joseph Gaudett to another five years hours before Finch surrendered the mayors post to Ganim.

To put it mildly I was disappointed, Perez, 60, said earlier Thursday from behind police chiefs desk.

I remember that next weekend, I went with my family to Manhattan and we were sitting in St. Patricks Cathedral for Mass, behind the statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe, he recalled. The cardinals sermon was about patience patience was a virtue  he kept harping on the word patience. Later, when we were walking on Fifth Avenue, I turned to my wife and asked her if the cardinal was trying to tell me something.

Three months after Perez reflected on that sermon, the new Bridgeport mayor swore him in at the City Council Chambers in City Hall, the domed ceiling echoing with Scottish bagpipes and Cuban guitar.

Police union President Sgt. Charles Paris told the Post he would look for a return to community policing under Perez, a policy he said had begun to make the city a safer place before being abandoned by the department.

We missed out on it for many years, Paris said. It made a huge difference compared to where we were.

The union endorsed Ganim over Finch, apparently angling for a police regime change.

When Paris took the podium Thursday, he remembered the cars Perez drove when the two friends were younger men. He especially recalled a 1968 Chevrolet Camaro with a decal  a rising sun  that puzzled Paris at the time, but now made sense.

The sun rose in Bridgeport today, Paris told the audience. We have a new chief, and were proud of him.

Sgt. Joseph Hernandez, the president of the Bridgeport Police Hispanic Society, remembered Perezs softer side, even during busy shift changes.

He always stopped you and asked you, How are you? How was your day? How is your family?,  Hernandez said.

Perezs first act  after Ganim administered his oath as chief  was to remember and congratulate two of his colleagues who just became chiefs in other towns after long careers in with the BPD  James Viadero, now in Newtown, and John Cueto, the new chief of Duck, N.C.

Then Perez vowed to cut crime rates in Bridgeport, with the cooperation of other local law enforcement.

We're going to clean this place up; were going to make this city the safest city, Perez said. Later, he added, I will not have 108 people shot in this city. I will not have 18 homicides. It is unacceptable.

In 2015, there were 19 homicides in Bridgeport. So far this year there has been only one.

Perez said the thought of being chief had taken some getting used to, but it was the first thing to enter his mind when he woke up Thursday.

I am the chief of the Bridgeport Police Department, and I will lead this department as long as God gives me strength.

The new boss

Gaudett, agreed this week to resign as chief to take over the citys emergency communications center as a consultant, for roughly the same salary he had earned.

When the chiefs seat is vacant, the city has traditionally mounted extensive searches to identify candidates. But the citys hiring law allows the mayor to appoint a member of the Bridgeport Police Department as the acting chief of police, who is then entitled to run the department until a permanent successor is named.

Perez also thanked Guadett for his service at his swearing-in Thursday.

Chief Gaudett is now in a good position, Perez told the Post. He is overseeing a system that he created, and I know we will be working well together for the betterment of the department.

Perez also said he was not about to cast stones, But the store is a mess. The Police Department is down about a hundred officers through retirements and exoduses to suburban departments offering greater salaries.

The prior administration dismantled a number of the departments units, handing those responsibilities to the state police and the feds. Thousands of dollars seized as evidence disappeared from a safe in the departments records room.

And then there was the racist letter that an investigation determined was written by the officer who reported receiving it. That cop, no longer with the force, said he was told to write the letter by Lt. Lonnie Blackwell, the president of the minority police organization The Guardians and head of the training academy.

Blackwell has denied any connection to the letter but is on administrative leave pending a hearing before Perez.

There is no room for that kind of hatred in the Police Department, said Perez. I believed we were past that. ... I have a lot of work to do, a lot of healing to do.

With the encouragement of Ganim, Perez has brought together the different divisions into a unified anti-violence task force that has already been responsible for some high-profile arrests and seizures of guns and drugs.

He said the task force brings together veteran detectives along with younger officers such as Sgt Jason Amado, who has gotten very familiar with whats going on in the streets. Perez is also giving the captains a greater role and the four deputy chiefs have been given new tasks.

Perez also hopes to eventually hook up the citys camera surveillance system to those of stores and businesses.

What we can now do with technology is amazing, he said.

Sense of community

But Perez said he would also like to bring back the feeling in the department when he came on in the early 1980s.

It was like a family, he said. And we were much closer to the people in the community.

Perez recalled that on his second day on the job, he was assigned to the midnight shift in the P.T. Barnum housing project. He was riding with a veteran cop who ordered him to start ticketing cars parked illegally around one of the projects courtyards.

It was freezing out and my pen wasnt working, and as I was going along I could hear people shouting ... out the windows at me, Perez said.

When he got back into the car, the senior officer told him to go back out and take the tickets off the cars.

When I finally go back into the car I was shivering, and this son of a gun asked me what I had learned. I told him I learned how to freeze ... accomplishing nothing and he told me, No, you learned how to make friends in the project.

The easiest thing to do as a police officer is to arrest someone, Perez continued. Sometimes you have no choice, and no one is above the law, but there are a lot of poor people in the community and a lot of kids who just need an opportunity to belong.

So the department is going back to community policing, with plans to reassign officers to the housing projects on a permanent basis.

I spent my first five years in P.T. and its a tough place, Perez said. But to this day I can go there and walk around without any fear. The kids that I saw and talked to when I was first there are now adults and they remember me and thats want I want for my officers.

While Ganim is his friend, Perez was adamant that he is his own man.

I run this department, no one else, he said. Im going to be fiscally responsible and Im going to run the department.

Staff Writer Alex N. Gecan contributed to this report.
Somerset jury finds two of three defendants guilty of murder

Now in its fifth day of testimony and seventh day overall, the double murder trial taking place in Somerset County is now over. The jury decided.
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Whenever meningitis hits the headlines, my mind flashes back to July 1987 and a small, whitewashed room off the paediatric isolation unit at St Thomass Hospital in London.

For it was there that a doctor uttered the most terrifying, heart-stopping words ever addressed to me.

My eyes still prick as I remember them, almost 30 years on.

TOM UTLEY: Whenever meningitis hits the headlines, my mind flashes back to July 1987 and a small, whitewashed room off the paediatric isolation unit at St Thomass Hospital in London (file image)

In our family album, we have a photo of Archie, then four months old, which Id taken the day before, on a walk in the grounds of Hampton Court Palace.

My wife is standing by the lake on that muggy Sunday afternoon, holding the baby in her arms, with his elder brother beside her (we had only two sons then, two more were to follow).

A pair of swans are swimming in the background. Studying it now, I can see there is something not quite right about Archie  a vacant, listless expression in his slightly sunken eyes  but that day, we noticed nothing to worry about.

When we arrived home, he fed normally, had his bath and went straight to sleep as soon as his mother laid him in his cot.

By the next morning, it was clear that he was not well.

He had a high temperature and was vomiting everywhere. My wife said we should take him to the doctor, but I told her not to be silly. Didnt all babies catch the occasional bug?

The boy would be as right as rain before we knew it.

The cells of the coxsackieviruses which an cause more serious infections like meningitis

Malingerers

Indeed, all my adult life, Ive maintained that most illnesses get better of their own accord, without any need to trouble the medical profession.

Nine times out of ten, I reckon Im right (though of course its identifying the tenth thats the problem)

You could say I share at least some of the philosophy of Dr Christian Solomonides, the North London consultant who has been in trouble with the General Medical Council this week  in part, for posting a series of tweets laying into malingerers who clutter up doctors waiting rooms when theres nothing much wrong with them.

As he put it in one of them (using more robust language than I would care to spell out in a family newspaper): A few aches and pains Who f****** cares Just crack on like every other normal thinking person.

But that July morning in 1987, my wife overruled me, ringing Dr Ruben at our surgery and making an appointment for five that afternoon (in those days there was nothing unusual about same-day NHS appointments).

Shaking my head over the folly of fusspot mothers, I set off for work, ringing home after lunch to ask how the baby was.

My wife said hed been fast asleep all day. Aha! I said. I told you hed get better in no time.

But when I told her to cancel the appointment, she still wouldnt listen. It wasnt like Archie to sleep so much, she said. There was something up with him and she wanted to know what it was.

To my dying day, I will thank God this was one of our arguments that she won.

Shortly before 6pm, she rang me at my office in the Press Gallery at Westminster with an update.

Dr Ruben had said there was probably nothing to worry about but Archies stiff neck made him think there was just a remote chance he might have meningitis.

He had told her that to be on the safe side, she should take him immediately to casualty at St Thomass, just across the river from my office.

She was there now and she thought Id better join her ASAP.

I still wasnt worried. At the time, I knew nothing whatever about meningitis (although I was soon to become something of an expert).

Indeed, Im ashamed to remember, that my first thought was: Oh, good, shes got the car. Ill get a lift home.

In no great hurry, I strolled across the bridge. It was only when I arrived at casualty that I began to realise that something was very seriously wrong with my son.

This was when a nurse, looking frighteningly sympathetic, told me that Archie had been admitted to the isolation unit and I should go straight there.

Sure enough, there he lay unmoving in a cot  a tiny, helpless figure, with a blazing hot temperature I could feel without touching his forehead. He was hooked up to all sorts of drips.

It was then that a doctor led me and my wife into that little whitewashed room and uttered the words Ill never forget.

Dont worry, he said, he has a very good chance. Its lucky you brought him here so soon.

My heart leapt into my mouth. A very good chance of what?

He looked at me quizzically, as if I were a bit simple-minded. A very good chance of surviving, he said.

Dangerous

And only then did the realisation crash over me of how dangerous meningitis is.

The doctor began warning us of possible long-term consequences. I remember him saying that Archie could lose his hearing  and did he say something about the chance of amputations?

By then, I wasnt listening.

I was just praying fervently that he would live. If he went deaf, we would cross that bridge when we came to it. Whatever happened, wed look after him.

For the moment, just let him grab that very good chance. Just let him survive.

I later learned that it was while he was waiting for tests in casualty that Archie had suddenly gone downhill.

His temperature had shot up and he had started vomiting again. A lumbar puncture confirmed meningitis and at that point, the NHS at its most magnificent swung into action.

I wont go on about the anguish of the following ten days, when my wife took up residence beside Archie at St Thomass and it was touch and go.

Ill just say that, no thanks to the boys damnfool father, the infection had been caught in time.

So it is, anyway, that I have a strong personal interest in the debate raging about meningitis jabs on the NHS.

As readers whove been following the story will know, the vaccinations have been offered free since last year to all babies under 12 months (which means Archie would have qualified, if hed been born 28 years later).

But ministers have ruled that it would not be cost effective to make the jabs available to older children on the NHS.

Remembering my familys experience, my heart tells me that the discount price offered to the NHS for meningitis B vaccine (60 for a three- dose course) doesnt seem inordinate, if it spares even a couple of hundred families from suffering what we went through (or much worse

As I write, this decision is being challenged by a record 820,000 people who have signed an internet petition to Parliament, demanding that the vaccine should be offered to all under-11s.

In defence of the Government, it should be said that the UK is the only country in the world that offers the jabs routinely to children of any age.

It should also be said that the infection is mercifully rare, with only 276 children contracting meningitis B last year, of whom more than 100 were under one year.

Five months, apparently, is the age at which it is most common.

Furthermore, as hard-headed realists will argue, the spread of ever more expensive treatments means the day cannot be far away when it will be quite possible to spend the nations entire output on the NHS.

Since resources are necessarily limited, brutal decisions have to be made.

Frittered

Again, there is not much point in railing against profiteering by drug companies.

After all, research, development and testing are hugely expensive processes, with most trials leading up blind alleys.

If firms such as GlaxoSmithKline werent allowed to profit from the odd breakthrough, there would be no such breakthroughs.

So says my head. Yet remembering my familys experience, my heart tells me that the discount price offered to the NHS for meningitis B vaccine (60 for a three- dose course) doesnt seem inordinate, if it spares even a couple of hundred families from suffering what we went through (or much worse).

Indeed, when you consider the millions the NHS has frittered away on useless vaccines against various strains of flu, it seems cheap at the price.

But then, what does this complete layman know?

No, Im going to wimp out of the debate and say that if there is one message parents should take away from this column, it is that they should be on the alert for the signs of meningitis and act fast if they see them.

It is thanks only to a mothers instinct, Dr Rubens sound professional judgment and the consummate skill and dedication of the doctors and nurses at St Thomass that Archie, in possession of all his limbs and faculties, will be celebrating his 29th birthday on Sunday.
Apologising for an all-night party at his 20million Primrose Hill mansion, Matthew Freud, 52, says: I recognise that the arrivals and departures of [Kate Moss, Bob Geldof, Idris Elba] at these occasional events are a mighty pain in the a*** for people living very close by.

One pyjama-clad neighbour, woken at 3am, wailed: There were at least 200 people there. They were singing (I Cant Get No) Satisfaction. Well, I couldnt get any sleep  it was unbearable.

Matthew Freud has since apologised for the 'deafening' noise coming from his 20million mansion in Primrose Hill during his annual London Fashion Week afterparty, pictured in 2013

The Oldies agony aunt, Mary Kenny, is asked: I read a rather alarming account of how the spy Guy Burgess was traumatised as a young boy by having to pull his father off his mother when the father died during sexual congress. Im a widow in my late sixties and this scenario would make me slightly anxious about embarking on an intimate relationship again.

Experienced Mary, 71, who was 29 when Private Eye coined the phrase Ugandan Discussions after her amorous encounter with a one-legged African politician, replies: It would be just as absurd not to run upstairs for fear of having a heart attack as it would be not to have sex for the same reason. So Id say  have confidence!

Media baron Rupert Murdoch asks of Donald Trump: When is he going to stop embarrassing his friends, let alone the whole country?

His Wall Street Journal describes Trump as Frankenstein, with Murdoch now advising the Republican party hierarchy: If he becomes inevitable, party would be mad not to unify. Rupert does like to be on the winning side.

Animal rights charity PETA asks Prince Harry to join his friend Joss Stone and support their Id Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur campaign.

Will the spare heir agree? Probably not. His father, brother and nephew George head army regiments where many thousands of soldiers wear Canadian black bearskins on their heads.

Prince Harry has been asked to support PETA's Id Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur campaign

The EU Referendum might prove useful to the Queen and the Prince of Wales.

Their annual accounts are published then and both the monarch and her heir do not care for the often negative publicity they attract, says my Court source.

It might also be an opportune moment for Sir John Chilcot to issue his long-delayed report.

If it falls short of damning Tony Blair and his cronies off the face of the earth  and most Westminster types think it will  Sir John will be seen as the author of an expensive whitewash.

Churchills granddaughter, Emma Soames, 66, discussing grey hair complains on Radio 4s Today programme: Its utterly infuriating, when a man goes grey we go weak at the knees and theyre called silver foxes.

The shows resident silver fox, John Humphrys, 72, bleats: I was grey at 28. So be grey and proud, thats what I say!

Sir Ranulph Fiennes, 72 next week, was recovering in hospital in 2000 after the amputation of five of his frost-bitten fingertips when a friend brought him a book.
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It's a parade of the most glamorous looks of the year showcasing gym-honed bodies and acres of flawless skin - but is it possible for a mere mortal to pull off looks from the Oscars red carpet?

I was challenged to channel the A-list's haute couture outfits - which cost thousands of pounds - and faithfully recreate them with a high street budget.

Would I be able to find dazzling styles to match Rooney Mara's ethereal style, Saoirse Ronan's glittering glamour gown and Miranda Kerr's skin-baring cut-away look - and could I translate them to real life?

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Can these haute couture red carpet looks, which cost thousands of pounds, be faithfully recreated with high street versions? And do these high-fashion looks translate to real life? FEMAIL writer Emily Hodgkin, 25, from London, decided to put it to the test

I consulted celebrity stylist Lucas Armitage, who has dressed the likes of TOWIE's Jess Wright and TV presenter Katie Piper.

Personal hairstylist to Victoria Beckham, Jason Collier, who has also styled the likes of Sienna Miller and Geri Halliwell, was on hand to provide Hollywood-worthy hair while international make-up artist and founder of WOW Beauty, Denise Rabor, created the red-carpet ready looks.

With the help of my glam squad I discovered that there's no need to splash thousands of pounds on a designer dress. It's possible to create high-end style without the stratospheric price tag.

And to my surprise, each design oozes elegance which is all it takes to look like a star. But the bottom line is that it pays to shop around.

FIRST LOOK: ROONEY MARA

Rooney Mara is somewhat of a red carpet maverick with a rather severe aesthetic. She tends to stick to what she knows will flatter, with a neutral palette, pulled-back hair and bold brows and lips.

She is a fan of Alexander McQueen, Chanel and Givenchy Haute Couture - who created her 2016 Oscars look, which is thought to be worth up to 5,000. The Carol star also wore Givenchy Haute Couture to the world premiere of Pan, donning a sheer black tiered creation laced with beadwork on that occasion.

The 27-year-old is keen on ramping up the glamour and makes the most of her Audrey-Hepburn-like bone-structure, by not allowing her style choices to outshine her model-like features.

Carol actor Rooney Mara is somewhat of a red carpet maverick but she has her go-to style. She tends to stick to what she knows with a neutral palette, pulled-back hair and bold brows and lips. Emily thought the look might be a head turner, but not for good reasons

Dress: Jarlo 120

This is a very bold, fashion-forward look. The not-quite-so-demure dress with racy but subtle cut-outs, paired with the gothic make-up, complete with angular brows, felt really modern to me.

Jarlo makes a pretty good match for 120. It's missing the racy thigh split and keyhole detail on the stomach but the sheer cut outs make it a flattering option - and one that is more forgiving on those of us without Rooney's physique.

However, the long sleeves felt quite conservative and the style was a little older than I'm used to.

Emily thought the high street version (right) 120 from Jarlo, was a pretty good high-street match for Rooney's (left) although it's missing the racy thigh split and key hole detail. However, she felt the long sleeves made it feel quite conservative and ultimately too old for her

Hair and make-up:

Rooney's beauty look was my favourite part of this outfit.

Jason, who is also hairstylist to Victoria Beckham, informs me that Rooney's hair, which is a series of ponytails bound tightly at the back of the head, with the top one tied into a tiny top knot, would have been sewed in place.

However he deftly recreates it on me using pins and hairspray. The top ponytail is tied into a tiny top knot, while the others are twisted together to create a dramatic shape in the back. I have to admit I think the style looks much better in the flesh, although my top knot was a little bigger than Rooney's thanks to my thick hair, making me look a bit like a unicorn in the pictures.

I'd certainly feel very self-conscious wearing this hair-do on a night out I'm sure the pretty tall protrusion on the top of my head would attract a few double takes - and not the flattering kind.

But the make-up a is stunning piece of art, but the eyebrows, which share a likeness with those of Mr Spock, might take people aback. However, I am a huge fan of Rooney's beautiful, simple, perfectly structured lip.

Make-up artist Denise recommended using using MAC taupe eye shadow on the lids and used Clinique High Impact Volume mascara to recreate the dramatic eye look.

Emily thought the make-up was stunning piece of art, but suggested that the eyebrows, which share a likeness with those of Star Trek's human-Vulcan character Spock might take people aback. She felt that the overall looks would only really suit a high fashion event

The hair, which was sewn into place on Rooney for Oscar night, was created by hairstylist Jason Collier, by tying three pony tails tightly down the back of the head. The top one is tied into a tiny top knot, while the others are twisted together to create a shape in the back

VERDICT:

I felt confident in this look in front of fashion professionals but I'm not sure it work well off the red carpet. While the dress wasn't flattering on me I think it would be suitable for a fancy occasion, but I'd soften it by opting for a simple pony tail and going a little lighter on the brows.

Overall, Rooney is out of this world in the ensemble, but try wearing this outfit away from a high fashion event and you will probably end up looking a little alien.

SECOND LOOK: SAOIRSE RONAN

For my money, Ms Ronan totally won the Oscars' style showdown in 2016.

This look is both sultry and has high-octane glamour while being totally age appropriate for the 21-year-old Irish actor.

Despite being low cut in the back and the front, the Calvin Klein evening dress (which typically go for around 1,500) shies away from falling to racy territory thanks, in part, to the beautiful green colour - perhaps an homage to Saoirses own Emerald Isle.

To inject a touch of whimsy to the ensemble the Brooklyn star wore mismatched Chopard chandelier earrings.

Despite being low cut in the back and the front, the Calvin Klein dress shies away from falling to racy territory thanks, in part, to the beautiful green colour. Emily thought the dress was a lovely and unusual choice, which made her feel like an Oscar's nominee herself

Irish actor Saoirses dress paid homage to her homeland, the Emerald Isle. To inject a touch of whimsy to the ensemble the actor, above, wore miss-matched Chopard chandelier earrings. Evening dresses from the Calvin Klein collection typically go for around 1,500

Dress: Starlet Vintage 52.50

My version of Saoirse's look - a 52.50 number from Hollywood-inspired online boutique Starlet Vintage - is an absolute bargain. Plus it's bang on for anything you could hope to find ready-to-wear.

The forest green shade is stunning and a lovely and unusual choice that stands out from the usual sea of black, red and white dresses at movie awards events.

The sequins catch the light in a way that is really quite spell-binding in the flesh. I felt uber-glamorous in this look and the heavy swish of the sequin-laid material made me feel like a movie star.

Hair and make-up:

Although it looks natural and effortless, Saoirse's mussed-up blow dry was by far the most temperamental hairstyle we created on the day. My hair was blow-dried and sprayed with what seemed like a whole can of L'Oreal Pro spray and Original Mineral texturising spray and it still refused to adopt Saoirse's bouncy look.

It looks beautiful and very Hollywood, but it requires constant attention to keep it from falling flat and on that basis I don't think I could cope with it for the length of an evening.

Although it looks natural and effortless, Emily felt Saoirse's mussed-up blow dry (left) was by for the most temperamental hair style recreated on the day. She felt it looked very Hollywood, but it requires constant attention to keep it from falling flat

And while this strong eye look with washed out lips is pretty on the fair-skinned Saoirse, This is a make-up look I would never, ever wear.

The metallic silver and grey eye-shadow does suit my blue eyes, but I just dont feel the look over all is very flattering for my face shape. I would also opt for a pop of colour on my lips over a flesh tone for both day or night.

I can't question the skill of the make-up artist - I just can't help feeling I look like Robbie Savage in drag.

While this strong eye look with washed-out lips is pretty on the fair-skinned Saoirse, Emily felt the look definitely did not suit her. The metallic silver and grey eye-shadow complimented her blue eyes, but she felt the look over all wasn't very flattering for my face shape

VERDICT:

This dress was stunning, young and a little more compelling than your usual red carpet fare. What's more, it's allows you to show a bit more skin (unlike the slightly frumpy Rooney Mara look) while at the same time staying demure and sophisticated.

Give me a red lip and bold lashes to go with it and I would definitely wear this look again - I just need the right occasion.

THIRD LOOK: MIRANDA KERR

Gorgeous model Miranda Kerr wore this rather raunchy red Kaufman Franco creation to the Vanity Fair Oscars party this year. Kaufman Franco gowns sell at Harrods from between 3,000 and 5,500 so we had our work cut out for us finding a cheap version.

The style left little to the imagination. The scarlet gown had a plunging front and cut-away panels at the side revealing the lingerie models taut and toned abdominals, as well as a sultry side-slit revealing the Aussie babes right leg.

Gorgeous model Miranda Kerr wore this a raunchy red Kaufman Franco creation to the Vanity Fair Oscars party this year (left). Emily's 330 Sephora red maxi dress from Forever Unique, (right) was unimpressive on the hanger, but was incredibly flattering once it was on

It was a struggle to find a high street version just like Miranda's and that's hardly surprising. Most women aren't keen to put so much flesh on show, especially when they aren't Victoria's Secret models.

Dress: Forever Unique 330

This 330 Sephora red maxi dress from Forever Unique originally came with embellishment detail, which Lucas snipped off to stay faithful to Miranda's outfit. This dressed looked the best on me, but I was far than impressed by it when it was on the hanger.

The flesh-revealing panels which snake down around the waist and along the leg are incredibly flattering and contour the shape of the body. The dress also comes with built-in cups, enhancing your bust and creating even more of a statuesque shape.

This is certainly a sexy look, harking back to some of the most sultry Academy Awards looks of all time (see Cindy Crawford circa 1991), but it also has a timeless, old-Hollywood glamour feel to it. I feel a million dollars in it.

Emily also loved this fairly minimal make-up look. She loved the red lip, especially paired with a red dress, a combination which she found overtly glamorous, but loved. Emily said the only issue with this dress is finding an occasion glamorous enough to warrant wearing it

Hair and make-up:

This make-up is really simple, and most similar to how I would do my own at home before a night out. I adore a red lip, especially paired with a red dress. It's overtly glamorous - and I love that.

The look focuses on clear skin and sparkly eyes (enhanced by a little silver shimmer under the eye).

When it comes to the hair, while the model looks good with a bob, I'm too attached to my long tresses to really like the look of myself with one. It makes me feel old. I might be prepared to try the look again for a night out, but I don't think it will becoming a go-to for me any time soon.

VERDICT:

Too sexy for an office party or relative's birthday, too dressy for the date, too glamorous for the club. The only issue with this dress is finding an occasion glamorous enough to warrant wearing it.

As for the styling, I'd personally ditch the earrings and the bob in favour of clear ears and a simple centre parting and long straight hair to suit my age.
Victoria is one of over 70 men and women who have shared their stories of hope despite the loss of a family member or loved one online online

A writer who lost her mother to brain cancer has told how the experience helped her to positively channel her grief when she lost her seven-year-old daughter after she was diagnosed with an incurable disease.

Victoria Strong, a writer and advocate from Santa Barbara, California, was struck by double tragedy when first she lost her mother and a few years later her daughter Gwendolyn after she was diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA).

Despite this, the 39-year-old said the quiet strength of her late mother and the words of a psychologist who encouraged her to switch her perspective have helped her to have experienced unbridled joy with her child - despite knowing that she would not live.

Never give up: Victoria Strong, 39, holding her message of hope after losing her mother and daughter to illness

Victoria is one of more than 70 men and women who have shared their inspiring stories of loss online as part of a project, On Coming Alive.

When she was just six-months-old her mother was diagnosed with aggressive stage three breast cancer aged 34.

Some of my earliest memories are crawling up into the big reclining chemo chair, the nurse giving me a lollipop and switching the overhead TV from All My Children to Sesame Street while Mom went back for her check-ups, she wrote on website Scribbles and Crumbs.

After a mastectomy, radiation and chemotherapy her mother survived, but when she was 54 she was diagnosed with brain cancer. Despite being optimistic, as she always was, wrote Victoria, her mother did not survive.

I was 21-years-old. And I was angry. Mom was my go-to person. She was full of gentleness as she guided me, never judging or squashing who I innately was,' she said in her account.

I was young and in denial about her illness, unequipped to truly deal with grief of this magnitude. Now, I so wish I had allowed her the opportunity to impart her tenderness and her grief experience.

Instead, I pushed it all down and kept pushing after she was gone, which left me with pain on top of pain, emptiness, and darkness. It was what I thought grief was. It was what I thought grief always had to be.

'Small miracles': Victoria Strong and husband Bill tried to celebrate their late daughter Gwendolyn's life while she was alive - despite knowing she had an incurable disease

She saw a psychologist who suggested that the time she had spent with her mother were a gift. She dismissed his words at first but later found her perspective changed.

I started to imagine what my life would have been like if Id never known my mother, never had her influence in my childhood, she said.

When, a year later she had her first child Gwendolyn she said she felt the quiet strength of her late mother. Adding: I knew I could make her proud by honoring her in parenting my sweet Gwendolyn.

I was the mother now, and I needed to gently guide my sweet child through the struggles we would all face together Victoria Strong, 39 , from California

But within a few months, tragedy struck again. Her daughter was hospitalized after being diagnosed with SMA and doctors gave her less than two years to live. With no cure available they were told: Take her home and love her.

When my husband and I were told our giggling 5-month-old with perfect pudgy thigh rolls was going to die, she wrote, I knew right then that I had to handle this experience differently.

I was the mother now, and I needed to gently guide my sweet child through the struggles we would all face together.

Dont get me wrong, I was devastated and broken and grieved intensely. I am still all of those things. But, a consciousness began, an understanding that even though I was now facing the absolute worst-case scenario, I could choose to still see the good.

Victoria, who with her husband founded the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to SMA, said instead of focusing on how their daughters deteriorating health, they celebrated the small miracles of daily life and being thankful for what they had.

She said she is devastated by her seven-year-old daughter's death, but still tries to focus on the positives.

I am devastated and still wading through my sorrow. I expect I will always feel emptiness where she once captivated my whole world. And that is okay.

At least I had seven years and nine months and experienced unbridled joy with her, she wrote.

'Silver linings': Munchie Morgan, 37, from Wilmington, Delaware, says a positive perspective and the support of her husband Wes are what helps her continue after losing her sister Sarah after she took her own life

Also featured on the site is Munchie Morgan, 37, from Wilmington, Delaware, whose sister Sarah took her own life after battling drug addiction for years.

In her account she describes the moment she was told the news and how despite her death, Munchie and her now husband Wes decided to go ahead with their wedding just over two weeks later.

'Every single thought, every single detail we had visualized in the months before that day, every piece of the puzzle magically fit together and our day was more perfect than either of us ever dreamed it could be.

The day after her sister died, Munchie, who is a small business owner and bar tender, started writing. She wrote on Facebook about her sisters heroin addiction and she was amazed to find that after three days she had more than 500 messages of support.

Munchie said I search the stars for silver linings so that grief doesnt swallow me whole.

On Coming Alive was created by Lexi Behrndt, a communications director from Florida, who her son Charlie when he was six months old.

Sharing experiences: Lexi Behrndt, 24, pictured with her son Lincoln, three, started writing Scribbles and Crumbs after her other son Charlie's death.

Charlie had Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Return, a type of congenital heart disease, and pulmonary hypertension.

Lexi, whose other son, Lincoln, is three, said she started writing on her website after Charlies death not really thinking anyone would read it. But it grew so much that she decided she wanted to do more for people.

So she decided to create the platform On Coming Alive to showcase the inspiring stories of others who had lost family or loved ones.

She told FEMAIL: After a year I wanted to do more for people, illustrate that they could mend. Not necessarily that they would move on or that it would be magically better but that they could continue living after suffering.

Lexi asked around 70 people she had met or come across at grief groups and through writing for different publications to tell their stories.

Lexi and her late son Charlie before he passed away after being diagnosed with heart disease and pulmonary hypertension

She said: I just promised them that if they showed their hearts I would do what I could to make their voices heard.

Their bravery in writing the things they did I felt it needed to be read by people taking time to sit down and listen to their hearts. That became my mission.

Since launching the project, which took her just four months to create, last month she has been inundated with submissions from people wanting to tell their stories and messages of support.
See more news on Sydney at www.dailymail.co.uk/sydney

They have large blue wings for the ocean and Viking-inspired costumes

Sydney Queer Irish Float are going for a 'Viking Pirate Queen' theme

Trishy spends months and up to $20,000 preparing for the parade

She will have fluro colours, feather

If you plan to board the Hot Kandi float this Mardi Gras, you better be prepared to show some skin.

Float organiser Trishy Dishy told Daily Mail Australia less is best when it comes to her float, and this year would be no different.

Glitter bombs, body paint, LED lights and feathers are synonymous with Sydneys Mardi Gras parade, but behind every costume is months of planning, sewing and team work.

Here Femail reveals the work that goes in to Mardi Gras costumes and the hottest trends at this years parade.

All that glitters: Trishy spends months and up to $20,000 preparing for the Mardi Gras parade

Here they come: Trishy Dishy of Hot Kandi said when it comes to preparing for Mardi Gras 'less is best'

Trishy Dishy is known as Australias Party Queen.

This year is the sixth time the former Jehovahs Witness has taken part in the Mardi Gras parade where her daring approach to fashion has previously earned her the title of Best Costume and Best Float.

This year she has planned an Amazonian Kingdom theme, and told Daily Mail Australia the costumes have taken months of planning.

Wild theme: This year Trishy will go for an Amazonian Kingdom theme with fluro colours and animal body paint

I have four sewing machines going at once': Trishy and her team have worked for months hand-making costumes at her home

'Everyone will be dressed in bright, fluro colours, she said.

The ladies will have a very sexy long sheer skirt, but its cut right up either side so you can see the legs right up to the hip.

Its a jungle-inspired theme with body paint and people dressed as animals.

It takes months of preparation for this, I get designers on board to help me. We have working bees at my house and the last few nights we have been here until after midnight.

I have four sewing machines going at once on my dining table.

Amazonian theme: They have spent countless hours working on the costumes which include giant feather Mohawks

While Trishy will herself be dressed by Marco Marco - a Hollywood designer who has dressed the likes of Britney Spears and Jennifer Lopez  the rest of the 120 costumes are made by hand.

Financially its costing in excess of $20,000, Trishy said.

I have a whole team of body painters from a body painting school coming on the day.

Its not just costumes, theres big feather Mohawks on their head and LED lights on their costumes which will really stand out.

Leading the way: Trishy is known for her extravagant floats, and in previous years has won Best Costume and Best Float

Glam squad: A team of 20 make-up and body artists will assist the Hot Kandi team get ready for this year's parade

This year Hot Kandi has the finale position of the parade, and Trishy said they will have a team of 20 make-up and body artists on hand to help get them ready.

While Hot Kandi will be all glitter and glam, the Hashtag Honeys have opted for a more androgynous look.

Float organiser Nicky Bryson said this years theme would be Gay for Ruby Rose, and their squad of 20 would dress in the iconic red snapback and gold aviators Ruby wore in a photo with Justin Bieber.

Gender fluid: The Hashtag Honeys float is called 'Gay for Ruby Rose' and the participants will channel the actor and DJ's style

Topical issue: They settled on the theme after straight women proclaimed they would turn 'gay' for Ruby Rose after her stint on the TV series Orange is the New Black

'Gay for Ruby Rose': The float members will mimic Ruby's (left) androgynous style she wore while meeting Justin Bieber (right)

Ruby Rose shot to international stardom after her stint on Netflix series Orange is the New Black where she appeared naked.

Her revealing scene promoted many straight women to say they would turn gay for Ruby Rose, prompting a debate in the community over whether you can be gay for one person.

Nicky said while some people took offence to the trend, others genuinely believed you could be gay for one person.

Sparking debate: The gay for Ruby Rose trend drew attention to the issue of whether you can turn gay for one person

Androgynous: What I love about her style most is it hits the mark between really cool street wear and then this sexy boundary that blurs between male and female,' Nicky said

Costume-wise Hashtag Honeys will replicate Ruby Roses outfit she wore upon meeting Justin Bieber.

Its gender fluid and androgynous, Nicky said.

What I love about her style most is it hits the mark between really cool street wear and then this sexy boundary that blurs between male and female.

Its a fun look to emulate.

Attention to detail: Each Ruby Rose impersonator will have Ruby's distinctive arm tattoos transferred on their own body

'Its a fun look to emulate': Nicky Bryson and Danielle Warby at the 2015 Mardi Gras

The hardest part of the costume was recreating Rubys distinctive tattoos.

In the months leading up to Mardi Gras we met with a special effects artist to recreate the tattoo, she said.

Nicky said float participants would arrive at the venue from 7am where they would apply the custom tattoo transfers in a production line.

Time to shine: This year the Sydney Queer Irish Float has gone for the theme The Viking Pirate Queen of Ireland

Glamorous: Their incredible costumes include feathers, glitter and extravagant make-up

Dressing to theme is a huge part of Mardi Gras, and this year the Sydney Queer Irish Float has drawn inspiration from Irelands recent decision to legalise same-sex marriage in a Viking-inspired theme.

This years float is called The Viking Pirate Queen of Ireland, and the 140 participants will dress as the ocean, Viking pirates or slaves.

Theres an Irish woman called Grace OMalley, and she was this Viking pirate queen who sailed around Ireland fighting for equality and fighting for all things she thought was right, Sydney Queer Irish Float costume director Nicola Freyne said.

We tied this in with Australia and Sydney continuing to fight for marriage equality so they can follow Ireland in that path.

Promoting equality: The theme is based on Viking pirate queen Grace O'Malley who sailed around Ireland fighting for equality

Leading the way: Ireland recently voted in support of same-sex marriage, and the Sydney Queer Irish Float hopes Australia can follow in Ireland's path

Getting ready: The costumes feature gold-tasseled swords, glittering capes and feathered bodices

The costumes themselves will feature Viking hats, sparkly swords and larger-than-life blue wings.

I get a lot of inspiration for the costumes from festivals Ive been to over the last couple of years and Mardi Gras event, Nicola said.

The 140 float participants play a hand in making their own costume with inspiration and help from the teams leaders.

Its a lot of sparkle, a lot of colour and a lot of fun, Nicola said.

Beautiful: Participants of the float help make their own costumes with make-up artists to help on the day

What it's all about: Its a lot of sparkle, a lot of colour and a lot of fun, Nicola said

We drew a lot of elements from medieval and Viking times when designing mixed with Mardi Gras glitter.

It will look absolutely amazing underneath all the lights, especially with the wings and gold foil.
Writing a memo on a sticky note, peeling it off and sticking it on to an object may have previously been something you may have thought was straight forward enough.

However, Netherlands blogger Martin Schapendonk has revealed that we've been using Post-it notes wrong - and how peeling the colourful stacks of sticky paper from the bottom is incorrect.

While this is how you would traditionally peel a sticky note, it apparently causes the note to curl up once peeled - and limits the amount of time that the paper sticks for.

By using Post-it notes the traditional way, the blogger claims that it means that the note doesn't adhere properly to the surface it gets stuck to, causing it to fall off, or for the ends to curl up.

Instead, Martin advises people to peel the notes from the side of the Post-it pad, or shear them off flat.

He claims that doing it this way means that the notes will stay completely flat after they have been stuck to a surface.

In an instructional video, YouTube user William Turner can be seen demonstrating the technique. Here you can see that the note stuck to the table was peeled from the bottom and is curling up ineffectually

He then peels a sticky note from the side, which allows the note to lay flat on the clean white surface

The blogger demonstrated the technique, peeling the notes from all angles and showing how they stick to surfaces to show readers the best techniques.

The trick has spread throughout the internet recently, with videos showing people who have unwittingly been using Post-it notes wrong how to use them more effectively.

YouTube user William Turner, believed to be from the US, showcases the trick in a video that shows that peeling the notes without bending them upwards yields the best results.

The difference in the peeling techniques can clearly be seen here - the two notes on the right were peeled from the bottom of the post-it note pa and are curling up, whereas the three notes on the left were peeled gently from the left of the pad and are lying flat on the surface

In his footage, his hands are shown peeling two notes in the traditional manner, which immediately curl up and become ineffective when stuck to a clean white surface.

He is then seen peeling the notes gently from the left hand side of the pad, which allows the piece of paper to lie completely flat once stuck down.

He reproduces the trick three time with different Post-it notes, to prove that it wasn't a fluke and that the life hack really works.

This means that the Post-its are less likely to fall of the surface that they're stuck to, will last longer and will mean that you waste fewer sticky notes.

The original tweet which went viral which Twitter user Bort ofDarkness shared after seeing it on Facebook. She only expected it to receive 'a couple of interactions' but instead it quickly went viral

It comes after another life hack went viral when an Australian woman shared an image which showed people worldwide they've been using chopsticks wrong all their lives.

The nifty trick is fairly simple: just snap the chunky wooden tab off the end of a pair of disposable chopsticks and use it as a stand to avoid putting utensils straight onto the table.

However, it seems the trick was enough to break the Internet when people reacted to the ground-breaking chopsticks news with absolute shock and amazement.
Placing a tender kiss on his baby boy's head - this is the love rat who secretly married another woman while his girlfriend was in labour.

Adonis Rodriguez wed German tourist Julia Schuberth in the Dominican Republic while his pregnant lover Heather McGillon was 4,000 miles away in Scotland having their baby boy.

The womanising Romeo, 21, a hotel entertainer in the Caribbean, when a friend sent saw photos of the ceremony on Facebook and sent them to Heather.

Flaunt: Adonis Rodriguez, 21, has covered his Facebook page with pictures of his new son - despite marrying another woman while his girlfriend was giving birth

Cheat: Adonis was in a relationship with Diego's mother Heather McGillion for a year before she fell pregnant and the pair planned a life together on the Caribbean island

Ceromony: But as Heather welcomed Diego into the world, she was horrified to receive a message on Facebook from a friend showing Adonis, 21, marrying German Julia Schuberth ten years his senior

Before split: Heather, pictured in happier times with Adonis, said he treated her like a princess and was so excited about their baby. He admits he was still with Heather when he married Julia and says he is sorry

Now Adonis has posted a series of adorable photographs on Facebook showing off his baby boy, Diego, alongside loving messages from his new bride.

One picture with the boy wrapped in a cream blanket, Adonis wrote: 'I'm so, so happy thanks god me baby love you so much.'

And in January he posted one showing Diego sleeping on his back, wearing a striped baby grow with a dummy in its mouth, with the words; 'Awww me Baby come Fast.'

In February Adonis wrote: 'Love does not need to be perfect it just needs to be true.' Beneath his bride added: 'And we have it.'

Heather, from Johnstone, Renfrewshire, revealed yesterday how her boyfriend Adonis married holidaymaker Julia after she had gone home to have their baby.

She said they met working together in the same hotel on the island  and after a year together she fell pregnant and they made plans for a new life together in the Caribbean.

But after suffering complications during her pregnancy, Heather she decided to return home to Scotland for the birth but Adonis was denied a visa.

Recalling the moment she discovered Adonis' betrayal as she was in the hospital welcoming their son into the world, Heather said: 'When I opened the message it felt like I had been hit by a double-decker bus. Adonis had his arms around a woman and she was wearing a wedding dress.'

Heather, 24, a trained dancer, added: 'For a second I didn't twig who it was. Then to my horror I realised it was Julia.

'She was a German tourist who came to stay at the hotel. About a year before I had noticed Adonis had become friends with her on Facebook and they had been messaging each other.

'It was nothing sexual but it made me feel uneasy. But Adonis assured me there was nothing going on and when I discovered I was pregnant I forgot all about it.'

Cute: Adonis posts adorable pictures of his infant son with the captions: 'Tire [sic] dad' and for above, 'Aww, me baby come fast'

Proud: Heather McGillion, 24, from Johnstone, Renfrewshire met Adonis when she worked in a hotel in the Dominican Republic where he worked as a dancer

Betrayal: But while Heather was 4,000 miles away in Scotland, Adonis was tying the knot with Julia, from Germany, who had stayed at the hotel where he worked. They are now together - but Heather is living in the Dominican Republic with her mother so Adonis can see his son

When Heather called Adonis to confront him about he admitted everything.

She also noticed in the wedding photos that Julia, 31, had undergone a radical makeover.

'She was unrecognisable from the slightly plump, mousy woman I had seen on Adonis's Facebook page.

'In fact she now looked like me. She had lost weight and dyed her hair to look just like me, only with added wrinkles.

'When I phoned Adonis and asked "Why is Julia in a wedding dress?", there was a pause and then he said: "Heather, I'm so sorry". I hung up and burst into tears.'

Heather later discovered that after Adonis had moved to another hotel to find work, he had been meeting up with Julia.

She had travelled to visit him around four times and they planned the wedding to take place while she was back in the UK.

Heather has returned to the Dominican Republic with Diego, who is now three months old, and is allowing Adonis to visit him.

She said: 'My mum has retired here so I have come out again with my son.

'Despite everything, I want Diego to have a father so Adonis is in regular contact with him but it's very hard.

'I feel so foolish for trusting Adonis but I keep telling myself there were no warning signs.

'I had been in a relationship with him before he ever met her.

'She came out every six months but it was the fourth holiday in which they married so it was very fast.

Love: On his Facebook page, Adonis posted: 'Love does not need to be perfect it just needs to be true'. He also wrote alongside this picture: 'I'm so so happy thanks god me baby love you so much'

Together: The couple had been together a year when Heather fell pregnant. She moved back to Scotland to have her baby due to complications with the pregnancy and Adonis could not get a visa

Romeo: Baby Diego is believed to be 21-year-old Adonis's second child, who also posts pictures on Facebook of his older son, a toddler

'She knew all about me and him and the baby but still married him, they had both planned it and I was the one not in the know.

'He treated me like royalty and he was so excited about our baby.

'I still can't believe what happened. Adonis had given me the impression he wanted to be together forever but while I was giving birth to his baby, he was marrying another woman.'

Adonis said: 'Yes I'm married, Julia is my wife. I was still with Heather when I married her.
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A-listers flocked to Paris today for Dior's AW16/17 showcase at the city's Louvre museum to watch Kendall Jenner tread the runway in a futuristic, space-like catwalk.

Crowds were on tenterhooks to see the first ready-to-wear collection from new head designers Lucie Meier and Serge Ruffieux, in the wake of Raf Simons' recent departure.

And the fashion house's latest womenswear offering did not disappoint, with chic, crisply-tailored suits worn over colourful shirts and knitwear. Dark lips and gothic shades were the order of the day, as outfits were paired with preppy lace-up ankle boots.

Scroll down for video

Models paraded through a futuristic, tunnel-like runway as they debuted the fashion house's much-anticipated AW16/17 collection

All eyes were on the second-youngest Jenner sister as she sported a dark lip and chic side parting with a fur-collared coat

Dark lips and dark shades: A model treads the runway in a double-breasted suit jacket with punk-inspired silver earrings and jewellery

High necklines, dark lips and matching shades were the standout beauty look for Lucie Meier and Serge Ruffieux's ready-to-wear debut

Dark suits and skirts were complemented with pops of colour in the form of bright shirts and knitwear poking out beneath the neckline

The new collection was marked by dark, tailored suits with sporadic pops of colour like these bright pink and yellow shirts, above right

The models looked like femmes fatales, but it wasn't all doom and gloom; a handful of ensembles featured autumnal jewel colours, including a burnt orange shirt and an emerald green coat with exaggerated lapels.

The smart two-piece suits seemed to hark back to Christian Dior's iconic 'new look' silhouette that transformed the fashion world in the 1940s.

Other stand-out items included flowing skirts with and heavily-embellished sleeves, with jewel-like detail and punk-inspired jewellery.

Dior could hardly have picked a more opulent setting for the show than the Cour Carre, set in a building that once housed the French royal family.

Dramatic shoulders and cinched-in waists were reminiscent of Christian Dio's iconic 'new look' silhouette of the 1940s

The Louvre's Cour Carre was the opulent setting for Dior's much-anticipated Paris Fashion Week showcase, with a futuristic runway

Models paraded through a futuristic, tunnel-like runway as they debuted the fashion house's much-anticipated AW16/17 collection

Mirrored walls created a dizzying effect in the Louvre's Cour de Carre, which was specially decorated for Dior's show in Paris today

Famous guests included a very glamorous Kris Jenner, 60, who coordinated with the runway in an all black ensemble and shades, as well as actresses Jessica Alba and Rosamund Pike.

The show, which is one of the most hotly-anticipated events of Paris Fashion Week, kicked off at 2.30pm local time (1.30pm GMT), and backstage shots showed Kendall Jenner - who was making her debut for the iconic fashion house - being prepped for the runway as well as a sneak peak at some of the outfits - including a rose pink strapless dress.

Guests were met with an eye-popping mirrored construction bearing the name Dior at the Louvre's Napoleon courtyard, before being treated to a futuristic, tunnel-like runway that could have been taken straight from the pages of a sci-fi novel.

Model of the moment: It was 20-year-old Kendall Jenner's first time walking the runway for Dior

Lighter looks included flowing skirts with and heavily-embellished sleeves with jewel-like detail, and punk-inspired jewellery

Beige, taupe and pastel colours were mixed in with the wintery black fabrics in the new AW16/17 collection debuted in Paris today

A model wows the FROW with a high-waisted, patterned pencil skirt worn over a black polo neck shirt

The crowd applauses as models take to the runway for the finale. One fan tweeted: 'These pieces make me think of Old Hollywood glamour'

Not all doom and gloom: Some looks featured opulent leaf patterns in burnt orange and pale blue with chunky collars

Commenting on the show, fashion expert Simon Glanzin said: 'I love the dark lip and moody faces, but they look somewhat out of place'

Masters at work: Behind-the-scenes photos show stylists working on Kendall's flawless side-parting and glossy black lips

Opulent jewel-coloured wool and thick furs adorned some of the standout pieces in Dior's AW16/17 showcase in Paris today

The second-youngest Jenner was sporting a decidedly more gothic look after debuting blonde locks at yesterday's Balmain showcase, with her dark hair swept back into a chic side-parting and a slash of dark lipstick.

She joined fellow models Lineisy Montero and Topshop muse Binx Walton treading the runway.

Sneak peaks from insiders on the FROW showed models parading down a dimly-lit, futuristic tunnel, dressed in immaculately-tailored black coats worn over polo neck knitwear, with lashings of fur and ruffles.

Commentators took to Twitter to praise the new season looks, with one gushing: 'The collection reflected Raf's modernism and the house's classic silhouettes.' Fellow fan mRenee tweeted: 'These pieces make me think of Old Hollywood glamour'.

All eyes were on the runway as Lucie Meier and Serge Ruffieux debuted their first read-to-wear collection since Raf Simons' departure

Femmes fatales: Models sport black lips and slicked-back hair as they showcase Dior's latest collection for AW16/17

Monochrome magic: Smart, black and white ensembles with structured collars added a decidedly preppy feel to the new collection

Backstage bling: Behind the scenes, models sported identical buns with immaculate side-partings paired with smokey eyes and dark lips

Fashion expert Simon Glanzin told FEMAIL: It's hard to criticise a Christian Dior collection - I feel as a fashion journalist, you're naturally just meant to love everything the House pumps out - but thinking about it now, it's hard to criticise a Raf Simons' Christian Dior collection.

'The problem now, though, is that he has left the building. And in fact, the job still remains vacant. And it shows in this offering.

'Yes, a lot of the pieces are gorgeous - the coats, the exposed necklines, the peekaboo prints - but there is little stringing this collection together. Lots of ideas are great, but a rounded, cohesive collection is better.'

The FROW look on as models walk down the runway for the show's dramatic finale, after wowing the crowds with Dior's latest collection

Endless runway: A mirrored backdrop in the Louvre's Cour Carre gave the illusion of the runway stretching on forever

Bright accessories and floral prints provided a welcome pop of colour to the otherwise sombre palette that marked the new collection

Kris Jenner makes a glamorous entrance in a black fur-trimmed coat and dark shades as she arrives at Paris' Louvre musuem

Rosamund, 37, looked impeccable in a red A-line coat and tortoiseshell shades as she arrived at the famous Paris landmark today

Simon added: 'I love the dark lip and moody faces, but they look somewhat out of place. That being said, the end of the show was the best - the architectural shoulder and neck shapes, the clashing prints and the last draped-off-the-shoulder coat.

'We're ready for a new creative director to take the lead once again now. Having a group of in-house designers is fabulous, but someone needs to come up with an idea, and stick to it.'

Last year it was reported that Kendall Jenner had been teased by fellow model Binx Walton via comments on a post by Vogue Germany's Instagram account during New York Fashion Week.

But she has since proved her critics wrong as she confidently hit the runway for designers including Dior and Balmain.

Kendall was later seen leaving the iconic venue in oversized aviator shades, her hair and make-up from the show still intact. Her immaculate look was a world away from the fresh-faced look she had sported on her arrival just hours earlier, when the starlet had a noticeable spot on her chin.

Actress Jessica Alba links arms with a friend as she enters the iconic Napoleon courtyard at Paris' Louvre museum for the Dior show

Off-duty: Supermodels Natalia Vodianova and Elena Perminova share a joke in the Louvre's opulent forecourt ahead of the show

Guests were met with an eye-popping mirrored construction bearing the name Dior at the Louvre's Napoleon courtyard

A very stylish Jessica Alba arrives dressed in block heels, red culottes and a cropped black jacket at the city's Louvre museum

Continuing their amorous display, Muse frontman Matt Bellamy and model girlfriend Elle Evans arrive at the Louvre ahead of the show

Fashion consultant Sofia Sanchez, left, and model Aymeline Valade, right, pose for photographers as they arrive at the Louvre

Model and actress Lily McMenam amde a stylish entrance as she sported cornrows with a shimmering black coat and gold pointed heels

Fashion entrepreneur Christina Pitanguy sported a decidedly boho look with a flowing black skirt and cropped leather jacket
Just over a week ago James Martin dropped quite a bombshell, announcing out of the blue that he was quitting his popular Saturday Kitchen programme after ten years for 'new projects'. 'It's been an amazing journey,' he said, 'and a privilege to work with some of the world's greatest chefs and some of the greatest names in showbiz. I wish the new chefs every success.' And that, as they say, was that.

He's since revealed that his final show will be on 26 March, but the good news for the three million viewers about to be deprived of their weekly fix of James is that they can still see him - and, even better, in the flesh - on his UK tour Plates, Mates And Automobiles. Today he's on the edge of his seat with a mixture of excitement and blind panic about it. 'We've already sold 28,000 tickets,' he blurts out, incredulous. 'I'm just a farmer's kid from Yorkshire. What's going on? It's a monster and yes it's scary. But a lot of thought's gone into it. It's part-kitchen, part-garage [referring to his love of fast cars and bikes] and nothing like you've ever seen before in a cookery show.'

James Martin with his Triumph Thunderbird motorcycle. He says one day he wants to travel

The last eight minutes of the show, apparently, will blow your socks off. 'It involves 50 people including Mary Berry and a couple of ex-Formula 1 world champions on video.' The mind boggles. He's been rehearsing this finale for months, including four hours on Christmas Day, but he won't disclose any more than that. 'AlI I'll say is that it's totally out of my comfort zone and I can't imagine why I agreed to it in the first place.' He pauses. 'Actually, I can. It was after four lagers too many.' He'd been to see other cookery shows, and been unimpressed. 'I didn't want to do, "Here's a scone recipe" or whatever. You might as well watch paint dry. No, you've got to make it something special, otherwise why would people come?'

Given his highly successful track record on TV, he's unlikely to be off the air for long. And it's a success story the young James couldn't possibly have foreseen. An undiagnosed dyslexic, he left school at 16 with just one O-level - in art. 'Aged 11 I'd come home every Wednesday night in tears because I knew it was English the next day and I'd have to write out thousands of words because I'd spelt them all wrong the previous week. Even to this day the hardest part of presenting Saturday Kitchen was reading the autocue. I'm not proud of this but I've never read a book in my life. I couldn't. Dyslexia forces your brain to focus on what you're good at. I equate it to the blinkers you put on racehorses. Everything else is blocked out.'

I haven't grown up yet. At the moment I'm working all hours, and when I'm not I like driving cars at high speed or flying a chartered plane or helicopter

James's focus was food, and he landed a place at catering college in Scarborough. When a number of leading chefs came to judge the end-of-year exams, every one of them offered James a job. He chose the One Ninety Queen's Gate restaurant in London under Antony Worrall Thompson before moving on to work with Marco Pierre White at Harveys. Stints in various kitchens in France followed, and by the time he was head chef at the boutique Hotedu Vin in Winchester - aged just 21 - James's food was attracting a starry clientele. TV presenter Loyd Grossman and his producer companion were so impressed that James was offered his TV break on Ready Steady Cook. 'I'll never forget being sent my first cheque for 650. I thought there'd been a mistake. I was used to saving up 10 over four weeks to buy a CD. When I'd received another couple of cheques, I part-exchanged my little Ford Fiesta and bought a Lotus Caterham, the most ridiculous car ever with no doors or roof. I loved it, but then I've always been a petrolhead.'

No matter how his career has snowballed since then, his mum Sue is always the first person he calls for advice. 'We talk on the phone two or three times every day. You're taught values as a farmer's kid and that includes looking after your family, respecting your elders and staying close to one another.' Sue, clearly, is the most important woman in his life. 'Mum is my biggest fan,' he says, 'and the most honest person I know. My granny, Marjorie, also watched everything I did. She was a huge fan of Strictly but sadly she didn't live long enough to see me take part in it in 2005.' He lost three-and-a-half stone in the process and reached the semi-finals with partner Camilla Dallerup.

James was on Saturday Kitchen for 10 years

He's had a few regrets along the way. His biggest, he says, was writing his autobiography back in 2008. His former stepmother, Sarah Briggs, took exception to certain passages in the book that suggested she'd destroyed keepsakes from James's childhood during her marriage to his father Ian. A legal action resulted in the book, Driven, being pulped, damages paid and an apology issued: 'Mr Martin,' it read, 'accepts it was untrue to say his father's then-girlfriend cruelly destroyed childhood mementoes of him and his sister.'

His former girlfriend Barbara Broccoli, the Bond producer, also took umbrage at the chapter dealing with their four-year romance - in which he claimed she lavished expensive gifts on him, though he refused to accept a 180,000 Aston Martin like 007's - and instructed her lawyers too. 'It was horrendous,' he says. 'The worst time of my life.'

The lesson he took from the experience was to keep his personal life private. Indeed, any attempt to get him to discuss his string of good-looking girlfriends today instantly transforms him into a Trappist monk. There was Sally Kettle, a former Miss England, actress Claire Goose, TV producer Louise Davies and interior designer Julia Dempster. If rumours are true, he and Ms Davies are currently stepping out again. Not that you'll hear that from James.

At 43, isn't it about time he settled down? 'I haven't grown up yet. At the moment I'm working all hours, and when I'm not I like driving cars at high speed or flying a chartered plane or helicopter. I've had my pilot's licence for ten years now, and I have a licence to race cars. But one day I'm going to stop and then I want to travel. So none of that would make me very good husband material.' What about ten years from now? 'I'll have my own pub and I'll do the cooking. I'll be the happiest man alive. I've already achieved everything I ever wanted. I've nothing left to prove. I've been living the dream for 20 years now so anything else would be a bonus. That's why I'd like to go back to basics.'

The pub sounds like an ideal setting for Mrs Martin and the kids. 'You never know,' says James, but without much conviction.
Giant pandas would rule the world if evolution was all about survival of the cutest. It's not just their fluffy fur and soulful black-ringed eyes - their playful antics and soppy habits make them as lovable as children's teddy bears.

Unique footage for a new documentary series, Giant Pandas Go Wild, reveals them in all their cuddliness. At the Conservation and Research Centre in Sichuan, south-west China, they nibble treats from their keepers' hands and flop out in the sunshine like oversized rugs, soaking up the warmth. One cub chases after a volunteer and pulls the wellie off his foot to give it a good chew. Another drapes himself over a rope, for all the world like a soft toy hung out on the washing-line to dry. Look up into the trees and there are pandas dangling from the forked branches, perilously asleep. On the ground, a mother is picking up her muddy twins by the scruff of the neck to give them a thorough wash.

Giant Panda sleeping in tree in Chengdu, China. Pandas dangle from the forked branches, perilously asleep

When winter comes to this hillside reserve, the behaviour becomes even more adorable, as the cubs go tobogganing down the slopes on their backs. They're cute alright, but as film-maker Mark Orton discovered, they're not the smartest creatures. 'I know they're endearing,' says the New Zealander, 'but they're quite a hopeless species. They're solitary, they struggle to find mates, and in the wild they often kill their young by sitting on them accidentally.'

Most bears are omnivores, and can thrive by eating just about anything. Pandas evolved to eat meat too, but for reasons nobody understands they gave it up about three million years ago. Giant pandas are not only vegetarian but their staple food is bamboo leaves and stems, which contain virtually no nutrition. Unlike cows which survive on grass, another low-calorie food source, pandas have only one stomach instead of four. So they have to consume colossal quantities - up to 40lb a day - to stay alive.

Because they're such territorial animals in the wild, pandas tend to stay out of each other's way and colonies spread out over hundreds of square miles. That makes it difficult for them to find a mate - especially as females are in heat for just 24 to 72 hours each year. There are few species less well equipped to survive, and the most recent census counted barely 2,000 in the wild. Worse, the main population has been split in two by roads and towns. For all the pandas, north and south of the divide, that means 50 per cent of potential mates are now out of reach.

Scientists in China wear panda suits to raise babies to ensure they do not become acclimatized to humans

Experts fear the two groups are so small they're doomed to dwindle into extinction. 'This is an alarming situation. Within 50 to 100 years, if we do nothing, they'lbe wiped out,' says the director of the conservation centre, Zhang Hemin. But the Chinese have a plan: to breed pandas by the score in captivity and release them into the wild.

This ambitious scheme is still in its early days, but the keepers have more than 100 pandas at the centre and are doing all they can to encourage them to mate. To keep them supplied with bamboo, locals bring lorryloads every day. Tourists flock from all over China to enjoy the spectacle of baby pandas - and volunteers travel from around the world for the unique opportunity to work with them. One woman, from Denmark, told Mark that she'd saved for more than four years to make the trip: panda lovers, it seems, are fanatics.

I know they're endearing, but they're quite a hopeless species

Pan Pan is the centre's prize stud, the father of dozens of cubs. He was found abandoned by his mother in the wild in 1986, and has certainly earned his keep. But he's old now and prefers to laze around in the sun, chewing his bamboo and watching the females with what looks suspiciously like a panda twinkle in his eye.

When Mark arrived, it was thought three females might possibly be pregnant - though it is notoriously difficult to tell. A newborn panda weighs as little as three ounces, about 1,000th the size of its mother, since adults are typically 12 to 15 stone. As a foetus, the unborn baby is simply too small to show up on an ultrasound scan. But if a female is off her food, that's a likely sign of an imminent birth, and Mark set to work watching Shiu Xio, Su Lin and Jini, the likely candidates. Jini is 20, and having a baby at her advanced age would put her in the record books. Mark's instincts told him to watch Su Lin instead, and two days before his documentary team was due to leave, he was rewarded.

After an eight-hour labour, most of it spent flat on her back with her legs pushing against the walls in discomfort, Su Lin gave birth. 'I was exhausted at that point,' Mark said. 'The keepers told me to stay in one place so as not to alarm Su Lin, and I was afraid that if I moved I'd be asked to leave. But I was roasting in the sunshine, and I didn't have a hat - by the time the baby came I was quite badly sunburnt.'

Giant panda rolling on snow Wolong Sichuan China

For Mark, though, an even more exciting event lay ahead. He joined the keepers as they trekked to Wolong, the nature reserve where cubs go to learn to live in the wild. Alof the young bears wear radio collars, so that they can be tracked in the 775 square miles of carefully preserved mountain wilderness.

But even finding a panda is no guarantee of catching it. The team spent days following a young female called Shin Yuan, hoping to trap her and release her into the wild hundreds of miles away to boost another population. All the staff dressed in panda suits and smeared themselves with dung to mask their human smell. Cameraman Mark had to follow suit. 'That was a new experience,' he says drily.

But Shin Yuan wasn't fooled and refused to be lured down from her tree. The two years she's spent in the reserve, learning to live and think like a wild animal, have plainly paid off. It took days more work before the handlers were able to coax another of their former cubs, Xue Xue, into a cage with treats. A day later, Xue Xue was released into the wild, watched by a phalanx of Chinese photographers and reporters. It was a triumph, but everybody knows it's only a single step. There's a long, long way to go to save the giant panda.
Can there ever be a good moment to discover that your respectable family actually hails from the slums of east London and was once up to its neck in criminality? Spare a thought for Madeleine Ogilvie, who took the phone call alerting her to her startling family past while in the middle of an election campaign. The Tasmanian lawyer and MP says she laughed down the phone at the voice bringing her the news from the other side of the world. 'There was this plummy voice, someone from the BBC talking about my ancestors being female Fagins and running criminal gangs. I thought it was a hoax.'

No one who hears the tale could read Oliver Twist again without wondering if Dickens should have brought out a sequel featuring Oliver's female sidekicks. For what Madeleine discovered is that her family tree included real-life versions of the Artful Dodger - but they were girls, pickpockets and shoplifters who formed gangs and disguised themselves as ladies before swooping on shops.

A Victorian street urchin. Madeleine discovered that her family tree included pickpockets and shoplifters

The amazing story of the Gadbury sisters was unearthed as part of a new BBC genealogy programme. Coming from the Who Do You Think You Are? stable, The Secret History Of My Family eschews celebrities, but instead follows the fortunes of ordinary families. The twist is that while Who Do You Think You Are? starts in the present day and works backwards, the new show starts with pictures or recordings in the archives and tries to work out what became of those individuals - and their descendants. 'With Who Do You Think You Are? you know how the story ends. It ends with Gary Lineker or whoever,' says series producer Joseph Bullman. 'This is the opposite. We had researchers starting off way back and moving forwards, hoping we'd end somewhere interesting. Luckily we did.'

They were responsible for 40 robberies a day

The project yielded some extraordinary stories, none more so than that of the Gadbury sisters. All researchers knew at first was that the three sisters, Caroline, Sarah and Mary Ann, were known troublemakers and that two of them were banished to the penacolonies of Australia - Sarah to New South Wales and Caroline to Van Diemen's Land (modern-day Tasmania). The sisters came to light when the researchers were poring over the records of Victorian criminologist William Miles, whose interviews with offenders made for oddly familiar reading. 'One talked of teaching younger kids to pick pockets by treating it like a game,' says Joseph. 'We thought this guy was having a laugh. It was pretty much the plot of Oliver Twist. We thought, "He's just nicked that!" But the prison accounts were written a few years before Oliver Twist. We think Miles and Dickens met, and it's possible Oliver Twist was based on these stories.'

By her mid-teens Caroline Gadbury was running a gang responsible for up to 40 robberies a day. The girls she led were the female Artful Dodgers of their age, and they were good. 'They were highly organised,' says Joseph. 'They'd dress as ladies and go in pairs into upmarket shops.' One would cause a distraction while the other made off with the swag.

Real-life versions of the Artful Dodger formed gangs and disguised themselves as ladies before stealing

Caroline came a cropper, though, when at 15 she targeted a haberdashery store with Mary Ann. Shop assistants noticed Mary Ann walking strangely and when she was stopped, 20 yards of fabric was pulled from under her skirts. At their trial Mary Ann, who didn't have as colourful a past, vowed to go straight - which she did - but Caroline, whose first Old Bailey appearance had been at the age of 12, was sentenced to seven years' transportation in 1838.

In 1845, when she was freed, she married and had three daughters. Her husband, Charles Chapman, and two of her daughters died but the surviving one, Sarah (named after her sister, who she never saw again) married a property tycoon and one of their descendants is a Supreme Court judge in Australia.

Caroline then married ex-convict George Ogilvie, deported from Aberdeenshire. George already had a son, Jimmy, who then had two children of his own, Eric and Albert, who became lawyers and went into politics. Albert became premier of Tasmania - 40,000 people lined the route for his state funera- and his brother attorney-general. Astoundingly, the descendants of two convict bloodlines had become law-makers.

Madeleine now says she has a new heroine, her great-great-grandfather's wife Caroline, who was clearly a 'gutsy, clever woman - a true survivor'. She also wonders whether Caroline deserved to be deported or whether her sentence was more about the 'huge social experiment' that the deportation system was. 'Let's face it, they needed wives, they needed mothers,' she says. n
Among the dozen 15-year-old girls in lavender leotards in Tatyana Galtseva's class at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow, Russia, one is different  thought you wouldn't know it just by watching her dance.

Unlike her classmates, Harper Ortlieb is an American, who left her small town in Oregon to travel over 5,300 miles to Moscow, where she now lives and is following her dream of becoming a prima ballerina.

The prestigious academy has 84 foreigners among its 721 students, but few are accepted when they are as young as Harper and few are integrated into the regular Russian program.

Prima ballerina: Harper Ortlieb, from Mount Hood, Oregon, is seen performing at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow, Russia, where she is one of the youngest students

Standing out: The 15-year-old is one just 84 foreigners at the school, where there is a total of 721 students

Bold steps: Last year, when she was 14, she moved by herself to Russia to attend the academy

'She is a very gifted girl. She is all ballet, all inspiration,' Galtseva said. 'When children are talented, regardless of their nationality, they are alike in some way in how they approach what they do.'

The Bolshoi took notice of Harper during a summer program it held in Connecticut, and from there offered her a place in the Moscow academy. She knew her teachers would be tough and that it would be a challenge to be so far away from home, but it has been even harder than she expected.

'It's been very difficult, but with that comes strength and with that I improve,' Harper said. 'I feel like I came here to get better, to improve, not only technically but emotionally so when I dance people see something.'

One concern for her parents in the decision to send their daughter, then 14, to Moscow was the strain in U.S.-Russian relations and the strong anti-American sentiments in Russian society.

Adjusting: She said the transition has been difficult but her teachers offer her praise

Finding her spot: She was first noticed during a summer program she did with the academy in Connecticut

Keeping busy: Besides attending dance class, she is learning Russian and takes regular school classes at night and on the weekends

Harper, though, says she feels accepted by her classmates. Her teacher concurs, noting that just that morning some of the other girls had brought her a skirt to wear over her leotard because they were expecting a visit to the class by foreign journalists.

In her Moscow neighborhood, the women in her favorite grocery store have taken a shine to the delicate American teen, helping her pick out fresh fruit and keeping her favorite almond butter stocked. And in the local Starbucks they have learned to spell her unusual name on her cup.

A total of 17 Americans study at the Bolshoi academy, outnumbered among the foreign students only by the 28 from Japan, with the rest coming from 22 other countries. Some of the foreign students took part in the spring concert on Thursday evening, and Harper was among the few girls from her class chosen for two of the dances.

'Preparing for a performance, it's all you think about. It kind of overtakes your mind,' she said. 'Preparing for exams, I'm always very nervous. There's a lot of stress. But with that stress, you know, comes happiness and you feel overjoyed when you're dancing, you forget about everything, you forget about the sacrifices you make, you forget about the pain, or the tears.

Missing mom: At first, Harper moved to Russia by herself, but her mother has since moved there to live with her in an apartment

Staying in touch: Harper was able to move out of her dorm, and she and her mom Skype her dad every night

Young lady: There are only 17 Americans at the school, and few were accepted at just 14 as Harper was

Arduous study: The Mount Hood, Oregon, native will have three more years at the school if she decides to peruse a diploma

'Dancing is what makes me happy, no matter how much you have to sacrifice,' she added.

Her teacher believes Harper has what it takes to be a classical ballerina, possessing not just the necessary physical and aesthetic qualities but the will to learn.

'She is extraordinarily attentive,' Galtseva said. 'She is always smiling. Such a sweet, wonderful girl.'

If Harper wants to be one of those rare foreigners who receive a diploma from the Bolshoi Ballet Academy, she has three more difficult years ahead. But now she has her mother back by her side.

Harper's mom, Layne Baumann, made two trips to Moscow after she and her husband, Tim Ortlieb, dropped off their only child in September. In February, Baumann decided to move to Moscow at least for the rest of the school year, and she now rents an apartment two blocks from the academy, which has allowed Harper to move out of the dormitory.

At the end of each day, Baumann talks to her daughter about what she learned in class and logs onto Skype so Harper's father can join the conversation from their home in Mount Hood, Oregon, 11 time zones away.

All is OK: Though her parents were worried at first about US-Russian relations, Harper has had no trouble fitting in with her classmates

Loving it: Though she admits that ballet takes sacrifices, she said dancing is what makes her happy

Busy bee: She only has Sundays off, and uses them to explore her adopted city

Big changes: Though ballet was 'fun' when she was starting out at age three, she's found that it's a lot harder since she's become more professional

In addition to her dance classes, Harper has Russian language lessons every day at the academy. For her other subjects, she takes online classes in the evenings and on weekends.

On Sundays, her only day off, she and her mother often explore their new city. They also have already seen more performances at the Bolshoi Theater than most Russians see in a lifetime.

Harper started ballet at a local dance school when she was three years old. When she turned 11, she was accepted to the School of Oregon Ballet Theatre in Portland, a three-hour round-trip journey that she and her mother made six days a week.

'Being three in ballet class, it's fun and games,' Harper said, smiling at the recollection. 'My teacher was wonderful, it was so much fun. And then once I got more professional I realized how much you have to sacrifice, and how difficult it is.'

She talks about learning to deal with the pain of wearing pointe shoes and the constant feeling of doubt that she's not good enough.
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Remember the countless weddings you've attended in which the newlyweds cut the cake, fed it to one another, and inevitably smashed the frosting all over each other's mouths? Well, those days might be over  and plenty of brides are saying good riddance.

With weddings becoming more nontraditional these days, a new trend in desserts may be putting an end to tiered layers of white frosting, buttercream flowers, and his-and-hers figurines.

The next big thing in sweet after-dinner eats is the dessert bar or dessert table, which brides and grooms will have packed with tons of mouth-watering goodies like cupcakes, doughnuts, candy, mousse, chocolate-covered strawberries  and sometimes even a miniature tiered cake thrown in for good measure.

Delicious I do's! Newlyweds are opting for dessert bars with plenty of variety instead of  or in addition to  wedding cakes, like ones set up by Simply charming Socials (pictured)

A pie-in-the-sky kind of love: Event planner Kristine Cholakian Cooke of Simply Charming Socials says sweets like pies are becoming popular for dessert tables too (pictured)

All the sweets! Tables can include chocolate covered strawberries, cake pops, and brownie bites, like this table by Michigan-based company Designed with Sugar

Nuptial nom-noms: The key is picking desserts that the bride and groom (and guests) will actually enjoy

Not so old-fashioned: Having different types of dessert offers variety and also offers a chance to step away from tradition

'Dessert is one of the sweetest moments at weddings, but couples are straying from the traditional tiered wedding cake and opting for decadent dessert bars,' event planner and designer Kristine Cholakian Cooke of Simply Charming Socials told Daily Mail Online. 'Sweets tables are becoming more and more popular at receptions for many reasons.'

For one thing, wedding cakes can be incredibly expensive  and incredibly limiting, as they offer just one flavor for what can sometimes be hundreds of guests with different tastes. If a great aunt is allergic to chocolate cake or the kid cousins are not a fan of strawberry jam filling, they're out of luck when it comes to satisfying their sweet tooth.

And then there's the fact that couples these days just don't want to do everything their parents and grandparents did, and are aiming for less formal  and more unique  ways to express themselves and entertain their guests on their big day.

Yummy meets pretty: Upgrade Events by Ingrid Mason created this table, which features chocolate mousse, raspberry shooters, macarons, key lime tartlets, and mini creme brulees

Don't miss out! Some newlyweds who don't want to lose the cake-cutting tradition might opt for a smaller tiered cake along with their decadent dessert tables

I now pronounce you man and cupcake! Couples might also pick a theme, like s'mores or cupcakes (pictured here at a wedding planned by Simply Charming Socials)

Over-the-top: The bride at one wedding (pictured) was a baker herself, and made all of the desserts

Makes an impact: Yummy treats included mousse in martini glasses and cake pops decorated to look like roses

So where do they start? Kristine said brides-to-be ask for things like pies, petit fours, cupcakes, brownies, French macarons, and kid-friendly milk and cookies, which can be displayed in plenty of different combinations once the dancing and celebration are underway.

Some newlyweds stick to themes, calling on local bakeries to serve up ethic sweets that celebrate their cultural backgrounds, or else pick yummy treats from romantic vacations they've taken.

'We've seen Swedish cakes, Greek pastries, and Italian cookies all as part of the wedding dessert table,' she explained of a facet of the trend that will definitely make traditionalist yayas and nanas smile with satisfaction. 'Couples pay homage to their countries of origin, home towns, or travel experiences by sharing an edible delight from their favorite places in the world.'

In fact, more and more couples are finding that they don't have to be limited by what generations of married couples have done at weddings in the past, choosing to do what they want even if it completely bucks tradition.

Seriously glamorous: This Winter Wonderland-themed wedding catered by Sweet Events by Anh included cupcakes, chocolate-covered strawberries, and frosted cookies

Here comes the yums! This creative display included sweets made to look like sparkly engagement rings (photographed by Lin & Jirsa)

No skimping on sugar: Just because there's no cake doesn't mean there's not enough to eat for everyone

Touching everyone's tastebuds: Different flavors like turtle cheesecake (pictured) mean everyone can find something they like

'Childhood favorites come up all the time,' added Kristine. 'People ask, "How can we include our favorite ice cream into the reception?" Or, "My husband-to-be loves root beer floats... can we have those?" Sure! We've helped couples relive their past by bringing back old family recipes, creating DIY s'mores stations, and booking a popsicle stand for guests to enjoy.'

One-item dessert bars have become a favorite, too. Instagram and Pinterest are packed with suggestions for doughnut displays featuring several flavors to choose from, whoopee pie stations that allow guests to pick their cookies and fillings, and sundae bars that rival the ones found at ice cream and froyo chains like 16 Handles.

With her Atlanta-based company, Kristine has designed sweet tables that feature several types of homemade pies, cupcakes in flavors like red velvet, strawberry, coconut lemon, and Guinness, and mini tastes of treats including tartlets, turnovers, and doughnuts.

Ingrid Mason of the Miami-based Upgrade Events has staged similar displays with different flavors of dessert shooters, tartlets, and macarons, while Linaya Heatherly of Grand Rapids, Michigan-based company Designed with Sugar catered a wedding with cake pops, cupcakes, brownie bites, mini cheesecakes, chocolate-dipped pretzels, and chocolate-covered strawberries.

From dancing to dining: It's also possible to make the desserts fit a color palette or visual theme

Eat up! This wedding featured chocolate-covered strawberries, doughnuts, different kinds of candy, and cake pops

Making it fancy: Even mini Jello cups can look decadent when they're done right

Dancing fuel: Candy items like meringues, chocolate-covered pretzels, and macarons are sometimes interspersed with flowers

Switching it up: Some newlyweds also make dessert items into party favors, offering ways to grab sweets on the go

The Bay Area Candy Buffet Company in San Francisco also does full-fledged candy stations, complete with custom rice crispy treats, monogram cookies, cotton candy, marshmallow trees, and meringue towers. And Sweet Events by Anh in Orange County, California has included strawberries dipped in white and milk chocolate to look like tuxes and wedding gowns.

But while a seemingly endless array of dessert options that are sure to satisfy every guest is certainly an attractive idea, some couples don't actually want to give up their big cake-cutting moment.

'Although these dessert bars are all the rage, many brides and grooms have a hard time leaving out the cake cutting tradition,' said Kristine. 'The solution? A small one- or two-tiered cutting cake for the couple to cut at the reception. This won't be enough to feed all the guests, but if a grandmother wants a slice, you should have some to spare.'
Forget glugging countless glasses of water or getting your beauty sleep. The secret of looking young is simply to stay out of the sun.

A study of hundreds of women has revealed that those who avoided the suns rays looked up to 20 years younger than they actually are.

However, other supposed rules for a youthful complexion, from drinking lots of water to sleeping well and exercising regularly, failed to hold back the hands of time.

Only keeping out of the sun, and wearing sunscreen when this wasnt possible, made a difference, the American Academy of Dermatologys annual conference will hear today.

Forget glugging countless glasses of water or getting your beauty sleep. The secret of looking young is simply to stay out of the sun

The intriguing finding comes from a study of 231 women of all ages who were quizzed about their lives, including whether they were sun-worshippers.

When researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital in the US - commissioned by skincare firm Olay - guessed how old the women were, they found those who took care in the sun tended to have aged more slowly.

A lucky four had so few wrinkles and age spots, and such a glowing complexion, that they appeared to be a full two decades younger than they really were.

Researcher Dr Alexa Kimball, a professor of dermatology, said the popular perception that we drink lots of water to stay healthy is a myth and the body is pretty good at judging how much we need.

Previous research by the British Nutrition Foundation reached a similar conclusion.

Experts there said: Just drinking water for the sake of drinking water really has no effect on improving the appearance of skin.

It isnt clear why the women who slept well didnt have younger-looking skin. But it may be that the question they were asked was too narrow and didnt take into account their long-term sleep patterns.

A second study, also by Olay, suggested that low-level day to day exposure to the sun is more ageing that occasional, intense blasts.

Finally, DNA examination of tiny samples of the womens skin gave some insight into the damage done by the sun.

A gene called CDKN2A was more active in facial skin that is exposed to the elements than on samples taken from the buttocks.

This gene was also more active in women who said they loved the sun  and in those who looked older.

Dr Kimball said CDKN2A activity is a sign that a cell is tired out and urged women should protect their skin year round and not just when on a beach holiday.

She added: Its not just what you are born with, its also what you do with it.

Dr Frauke Neuser, principal scientist at Olay, which has used the research to develop its latest face creams, said: This research gives us a detailed picture of the effect of sun exposure on skin ageing and illustrate the importance of protection on a daily basis.

Matthew Gass, of the British Association of Dermatologists, said: When it comes to skin ageing prevention is more important than a cure, as once damage has occurred it is very hard to hide or reverse it.
Drinking six cups of coffee a day may cut the risk of developing multiple sclerosis, research suggests.

A study of nearly 7,000 people found that people saw their risk of the condition drop by 30 per cent if they drank more than 900ml of coffee a day.

That volume, contained in six small cups, may seem a lot, but it is also the equivalent of just two large coffees from Starbucks or other high street coffee shops.

Drinking six cups of coffee a day may cut the risk of developing multiple sclerosis, research suggests

MS is the most common disabling neurological condition, with 50 people in Britain diagnosed each week, usually in their 20s or 30s.

The condition, which affects twice as many women as men, causes loss of mobility, sight problems, tiredness and excruciating pain.

Experts are not sure why coffee protects against the disease - but they suspect that the caffeine is responsible.

The chemical is known to have neuroprotective properties, and has been shown to suppress inflammatory responses in the body.

Researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Johns Hopkins University in Maryland and the University of California, Berkeley, examined data from two studies which tracked people with and without MS.

One study in Sweden involved 1,620 adults with MS and a comparison group of 2,788 people without MS. The second was a US study of 1,159 people with MS and 1,172 healthy people.

In both studies, people were asked about their coffee consumption and how long they had been drinking coffee for.

The researchers then estimated coffee intake at and before the start of MS symptoms in those who developed the disease, and compared this with healthy groups.

Experts are not sure why coffee protects against the disease - but they suspect that the caffeine is responsible

The results showed that the risk of MS was consistently higher among people who drank fewer cups of coffee every day in both studies, even after taking into account other factors that might influence the results.

In the Swedish study, drinking coffee was linked to a lower risk of MS both at the start of symptoms and five and 10 years beforehand.

Among those who drank more than 900ml every day, there was a 28 per cent to 30 per cent lower risk compared with non-coffee drinkers.

Similar results were found in the US study, with a 26 per cent to 31 per cent lower risk among those drinking more than 948ml daily at least five years beforehand and at the start of symptoms.

The authors, writing in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, stressed theirs was an observational study, so no firm conclusions could be drawn about cause and effect.

But they concluded: Lower odds of MS with increasing consumption of coffee were observed, regardless of whether coffee consumption at disease onset or five or 10 years prior to disease onset was considered.

In accordance with studies in animal models of MS, high consumption of coffee may decrease the risk of developing MS.

In an accompanying editorial, Elaine Kingwell and Jose Maria Andreas Wijnands, from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, said growing evidence shows that coffee is good for health.

Although it remains to be shown whether drinking coffee can prevent the development of MS, the results of these thorough analyses add to the growing evidence for the beneficial health effects of coffee, they wrote.

The intriguing findings indicate that the role of coffee in the development of MS clearly warrants further investigation, as do the mechanisms that underlie the relationship.

Dr Emma Gray, head of clinical trials at the MS Society, said: This study provides new evidence that the link between the risk of developing MS and coffee consumption is worth exploring.

There are more than 100,000 people with MS in the UK and we dont yet fully understand what causes it.
she has raised 53,500 for charity on JustGiving

When Sophie Morris went to her GP with neck pain, she was reassured to be told her pillow was most likely to blame.

But just weeks later, the mother-of-three received the devastating news she actually had a deadly brain tumour.

Ms Morris, 37, initially put her sickness and tiredness down to being pregnant while working 10 hour days and having two children under six.

But when her pain it became so bad she was struggling to get up the stairs, she spoke to her midwife who advised her to eat more.

Her vision and balance deteriorated in the following months, forcing her to give up driving over fears she was a risk to herself and other road users.

Ms Morris, from St Ives, Cambridgeshire, went to her GP but was told it was likely just tiredness from being a new mother again.

It was only when she made an appointment to see her opticians that she discovered something was pushing on her eyes.

She was referred to hospital where doctors operated before making the devastating diagnosis - and told her she only had months to live.

Mother-of-three Sophie Morris, pictured here with partner Gavin Smythers and son Cian when he was a toddler, was told she only had 15 months to live after being diagnosed with a deadly brain tumour

Ms Morris said she is heartbroken that she won't get to see her children Cian, eight, Fynn, nearly three, and Rhea, six, grow up. But she is determined to make the most of the time they have together, saying: 'I cherish every second with them and am thankful I am still here to cuddle them on Mother's Day'

'When the doctor said the prognosis was around 15 months, I struggled to register his words,' she said.

'My children's innocent little faces leapt into my mind. Fynn was only five-months-old and I had two other children under six. My babies needed me. How could I possibly die?

'All I'd ever wanted was to be a mum. We'd recently moved house and I'd just had another baby to complete our family.

'I thought we had years of happy memories in front of us all. Now that had all been snatched away from us.

'But I couldn't cry, I just felt numb.'

Ms Morris said the symptoms started with tiredness and headaches. She thought perhaps she was expecting twins and her anaemia could be another factor.

But when she started getting mood swings and her exhaustion was making simple things like walking upstairs a problem, she sought help from her midwife.

'She told me I should be eating better.

'By the time I'd got home from work and sorted the kids out, I was too tired to have a proper meal and would just grab a slice of toast. She also said to rest when I could  easier said than done.'

Ms Morris has explained her prognosis to daughter Rhea and eldest son Cian but says little Fynn is too young. 'It breaks my heart that I won't see my children get married and hold their babies in my arms,' she said

She hoped she would feel better after Fynn was born in May 2013, but the symptoms intensified.

Ms Morris started getting double vision, night headaches and pins and needles in her arms and legs a month after he was born.

They didn't really take it in at first. Now it's affecting them more. Cian gets angry with me and Rhea can't stop hugging me and says she's sad I won't be at her wedding Sophie Morris, 37

As her vision got worse, she gave up driving as it felt like 'oncoming cars were driving into me'.

When she could hardly cross the road because of double vision and balance problems, she went to see her family doctor in August 2013.

'She said I was tired as I was a new mum.

'Then she told me to buy a new pillow to help with my neck pain which I did.'

The GP also advised her to get extra help from her partner, Gavin Smythers, a 37-year-old welder.

But by October, when her symptoms became so bad she could hardly get out of bed - and her headaches started waking her up at night - she made an appointment to see an optician.'

'I could see by his face there was a problem,' she said.

'He showed me pictures of my eyes and said there was something pushing on them causing the pressure and told me to go straight to the eye clinic at my local hospital.

'At that stage, I never dreamt it was something sinister.

'One night I had googled my symptoms and read about brain tumours, but I told myself not to be daft. They were rare and it was far more likely to be something else.

Ms Morris's extreme tiredness and vision troubles were put down to her being the mother of three children under six but tragically turned out to be from a brain tumour

Ms Morris, pictured here with partner Gavin Smythers and children Rhia and Cian, underwent surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy but was told the tumour has returned and is growing

'I thought it must be a virus or even multiple sclerosis.'

The following day, she went to the eye clinic at Hinchingbrooke Hospital and had an MRI scan.

It revealed she had a lesion on her brain and that they would meet with the neurosurgery team at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, to discuss the scan.

Doctors were uncertain what it was and said they would only know for certain when they operated.

She underwent a six-hour operation that month where surgeons removed as much of the tumour as they could.

There's no easy way to tell your children that Mummy is going to die

'Even when I came round from surgery and asked what it was, I was told I'd have to wait until the test results,' she said.

'It was our 10th anniversary the next day which we spent with Gavin at my bedside.'

A week later bruised and battered from surgery, her oncologist broke the devastating news from the biopsy which revealed she had a highly aggressive, terminal glioblastoma.

Tragically, she was told her prognosis was little over a year.

Ms Morris underwent six weeks of radiotherapy and started chemotherapy but her platelets count dropped too low to finish the course.

She now has scans every three months to monitor the tumour.

In August 2014, the tumour started growing back and this time was inoperable.

Ms Morris has told her tragic story as part of today's 'Bandanas for Brain Tumours Day' to raise awareness about brain tumours

Ms Morris, pictured front row left, at a fundraising event with family. She has raised 53,500 for The Brain Tumour Charity in the hope their work will help others

She underwent more radiotherapy last summer which did shrink the tumour but her last scan in February showed that it was growing again.

'Now I'm running out of treatment options,' she said.

'I'm deciding whether to try a new chemo treatment and am hoping to get on a clinical trial to buy me more time.

WHAT ARE THE SIGNS OF BRAIN TUMOURS? As brain tumours are relatively rare, most times the symptoms will not be due to a brain tumour, but to other conditions that can cause similar signs and symptoms. The most common symptoms include: Severe, throbbing headaches, worse in the morning and aggravated by straining or coughing Blurred vision, making it difficult to read or watch TV. Or people may experience fleeting loss of vision (greying out) when they stand up suddenly or change posture Seizures or fits. One quarter of people diagnosed with a brain tumour go to the doctor after a seizure. Seizures can be severe or mild. Nausea which, like headaches, may be worse in the morning or if they suddenly change position eg: move from sitting or lying to standing Drowsiness is usually a later symptom of brain tumours. As the tumour grows and the pressure increases, it can cause people sleep more than usual Source: The Brain Tumour Charity Advertisement

'It's now been two-and-half years since I was told I had 15 months to live.

'I don't really let myself think about the future  I take each day as it comes.'

A year ago, the couple broke the news to children Cian, eight, and Rhea, six, but Fynn - who turns three in May - is too young to understand.

'There's no easy way to tell your children that Mummy is going to die,' she said.

'I told them Mummy had a lump in her head which made her very poorly. And that sadly doctors couldn't make me better.

'They didn't really take it in at first. Now it's affecting them more. Cian gets angry with me and Rhea can't stop hugging me and says she's sad I won't be at her wedding.

'It breaks my heart that I won't see my children get married and hold their babies in my arms.

'And, as a mother, all you want to do is protect your children, but I am absolutely powerless that this cruel disease will take me away from them and Gavin.

'But I cherish every second with them and am thankful I am still here to cuddle them on Mother's Day.'

Ms Morris has shared her story to support The Brain Tumour Charity's 'Bandanas for Brain Tumours Day'.

Although Ms Morris has been told that earlier diagnosis would not have made a difference to her prognosis, she said she wishes she had been more aware of the symptoms of brain tumours.

She has raised 53,500 for the charity on her JustGiving page.

Charity chief executive, Sarah Lindsell, said it was funding researchers to trial a checklist of simple tests that GPs could use in the surgery to identify patients whose symptoms might be caused by a brain tumour and who should be referred for further investigations.

'We have already brought down the average time it takes to diagnose childhood brain tumours in the UK through our HeadSmart campaign, which sets out for GPs and others the key warning signs of brain tumours in children and young people,' she said.

'Sophie's experience shows how important it is that we do the same for adults. She is a true inspiration and, despite her own challenges, she has raised an amazing 53, 500 for the charity.

'We are hugely grateful to her for helping us to raise awareness and money. It's only through the efforts of people like Sophie that we can continue to make a real difference.'
Teen Mom 2 star Jenelle Evans has been suffering from a mystery illness' for the past six weeks.

Shed been experiencing night sweats, anxiety, hot flashes, pelvic pain, back aches and more.

The 24-year-old visited several doctors, from North Carolina to New York, in search of answers.

And yet, no one could properly diagnose her illness  until she flew to Los Angeles to seek help from the CBS medical talk show The Doctors.

Finally, on Fridays episode, the reality star received the answers she had been searching for.

Shes been experiencing side effects from the new birth control pills shed been taking  as well as withdrawal from marijuana, according to two specialists who appeared on the show.

Dr Joseph Pinzone, an endocrinologist who examined Jenelle, said: In this case, theres in fact two sets of substances that are going on.

'One thats been added, another one that has been taken away.

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Teen Mom 2 star Jenelle Evans (far right) went on The Doctors to get some answers about a 'mystery illness' she had been suffering for six weeks. Pictured here (left to right), The Doctors co-hosts Dr Andrew Ordon, Dr Travis Stork and Dr Jennifer Ashton, and specialists Dr Joseph Pinzone and Dr Peter Weiss

Jenelle is mother to six-year-old son Jace, as well as one-year-old Kaiser.

She told The Doctors that she had been in good health until her symptoms began six weeks ago.

The reality star said: I thought I was getting sick at first with a pretty bad cold or flu because I was getting night sweats.

However, she then began experiencing night terrors and insomnia, as well as the anxiety and pelvic pain.

Jenelle said: Ill wake up in the middle of the night, my legs will be throbbing like someone is hammering my knee caps.

The former star of the reality show 16 And Pregnant told The Doctors that she was desperate for answers.

She said: Everything kept building up and building up and I was like, I need to get help.

The Doctors host Dr Travis Stork explained that its not uncommon for patients who have a constellation of symptoms to struggle to figure out whats going on.

And so, The Doctors arranged an appointment for Jenelle with Dr Pinzone, which was filmed for the show.

During the examination, Jenelle told the doctor that her symptoms came on gradually.

She had been smoking marijuana a long time, for years and years but quit in December.

The reason why I stopped is Im taking my own mother to court to get custody of my son back, she said.

Jenelle's son Jace was put into her mother's care after numerous drug issues and other charges.

The 24-year-old has previously admitted spending $2,800 a week on drugs when she opened up about battling a heroin addiction.

In August 2013 the then 21-year-old was in court to answer charges following an arrest for possession of heroin, prescription drugs, drug paraphernalia and assault of her estranged husband Courtland Rogers.

Jenelle pleaded guilty to possessing drug paraphernalia but the other charges were dropped.

However, when the drug test revealed marijuana in her system she was sent to jail for 48 hours.

Jenelle (pictured here with boyfriend David Eason and son Kaiser) told The Doctors that she had been perfectly healthy until the beginning of January. Then she started experiencing hot flashes, pelvic pain, night sweats, insomnia, throbbing legs, anxiety and more

Both an endocrinologist and an obstetrics and gynecology expert examined Jenelle on the show. She said she had been smoking marijuana for years but stopped in Dovember, and also started a new birth control pill at that time

The specialists determined that she was experiencing bad side effects to her birth control pills, in addition to going through withdrawal symptoms from marijuana

She told The Doctors her symptoms started to appear at the end of January.

Dr Pinzone then conducted a physical exam and a blood test on Jenelle.

The reality star, fed up with the lack of answers she had received in the past, had told The Doctors that shed like a second opinion as well.

And so, she next visited Dr Peter Weiss, an obstetrics and gynecology expert.

Jenelle told Dr Weiss that she had started taking a new birth control pill, called Junel, in November.

Everything kept building up and building up and I was like, I need to get help Jenelle Evans

And, she hasnt had a period in six weeks.

Furthermore, she told Dr Weiss that sex has become painful for her.

He said: Sometimes the simplest answers are right in front of you.

Both Dr Weiss and Dr Pinzone appeared on today's episode to deliver their diagnosis to Jenelle in front of the live studio audience.

The specialists agreed that the majority of her symptoms are a result of the birth control pills she had been taking.

Dr Weiss said: The simplest thing to do is to stop the pill. And when you stop the pill youll let the levels come back to normal.

Part of the problem that you had in the past, when they checked the estrogen levels, when youre on the pill, it artificially lowers your own endogenous estrogen hormones so youre really measuring the birth control pill, so it really led you down the wrong path.

Jenelle, pictured following an arrest for possession of heroin, prescription drugs, drug paraphernalia and assault of her estranged husband Courtland Rogers in 2013, was told to stop taking her birth control pills. The specialists said that her symptoms should subside after that

The Doctors also recommended that the reality star start seeing a counselor to deal with her anxiety, and set her up with six months of free therapist appointments in her hometown. She was also told that she should either start a new birth control pill, or consider another form of contraception

Furthermore, Dr Pinzone added that she may also be experiencing withdrawal from marijuana.

The host of the show then explained to Jenelle that her recent anxiety may have made her symptoms even worse.

Dr Stork said: In medicine, its often the cart before the horse. So youve been dealing with all these medical issues, which leads to anxiety, which can worsen medical symptoms.

He recommended she see a counselor to help clear her head  and then revealed that a clinic in her hometown of Wilmington, North Carolina has offered to provide her with six months of free weekly counselling sessions.

Co-host Dr Jennifer Ashton, who is an obstetrics and gynecology specialist, said: Birth control pills, while they are the same hormones that your body makes, in my opinion medically, they are not one size fits all and they do need to be individualized.

It may just be the matter of finding one thats right for you, or it may be that you need to consider another form of contraception.

Jenelle explained that shes not ready to have another child.

She said she hopes to buy a new house first  and would be willing to become a mother again in a year or two.
Scientists claim women who regularly apply talcum powder to their genitals, sanitary napkins, tampons and underwear have a 33 per cent higher risk of developing ovarian cancer

Women who regularly powder their genitals with talc have a one-third higher risk of being diagnosed with ovarian cancer, scientists have warned.

A new study asked 2,041 women with ovarian cancer - and 2,100 free of the disease - about their talcum powder use.

Those who routinely apply talc to their genitals, sanitary napkins, tampons and underwear were found to have a 33 per cent higher risk of ovarian cancer.

The study comes a week after a St. Louis jury ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $72 million in damages to the family of a woman who allegedly died of the disease after using their baby powder.

Lead study author Dr Daniel Cramer, of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, told Reuters that there must be warning labels on talcum powder.

He said: 'This is an easily modified risk factor.

'Talc is a good drying agent, but women should know that if it's used repeatedly, it can get into the vagina and into their upper genital tract.

'And I think if they knew that, they wouldn't use it.'

Dr Cramer first linked genital talc to ovarian cancer in 1982.

However, the current study, published in the journal Epidemiology, is the first to limit the association to premenopausal women and postmenopausal women who used hormone therapy.

The new confines of the association may help explain earlier contradictory results on the link between talc and ovarian cancer, researchers said.

Dr Cramer has testified as a paid expert in lawsuits against talcum powder makers.

Talc is a mineral that absorbs moisture, and is made of magnesium, silicon and oxygen.

It may contain asbestos - a known carcinogen - in its natural form.

But, all commercial products in the US have been free of asbestos in the US since the 1970s.

Almost 20,000 women in the US are diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year - and almost 14,500 die from the disease annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer classified genital talc as possibly carcinogenic in 2006.

Talc is a good drying agent, but women should know that if it's used repeatedly, it can get into the vagina and into their upper genital tract Dr Daniel Cramer, of Brigham and Women's Hospital

Yet, the CDC does not currently list talc as a risk factor for ovarian cancer.

Dr Nicholas Wentzensen, of the National Cancer Institute, who was not involved in the study, told Reuters that the new study strengthens the evidence linking genital talc to ovarian cancer.

He said: 'The recent paper in Epidemiology has provided additional support for an association between talc use and ovarian cancer from a case-control study.'

Yet, Dr Wentzensen isn't fully convinced of the link.

That's because he believes the study wasn't the most rigorous.

He noted that so-called prospective cohort studies would be particularly strong because they would assess exposure at the start of an investigation and follow participants over time to see if they developed the disease.

Dr Wentenzen said: 'Scientific consensus emerges over time, especially in cases like this, where the results have been somewhat inconsistent.

'While this recent analysis provides additional evidence supporting an association of talc and ovarian cancer, it will be important to test the methods used in this analysis in other data to see if the findings are confirmed.'
Scientists believe they have discovered how the Zika virus likely causes the birth defect microcephaly in unborn babies, it emerged today.

Zika has been blamed for causing the condition where a child is born with an abnormally small head and as a result often severe brain damage.

Since the outbreak sweeping through the Americas first emerged, scientists in Brazil have raised concerns over a possible link between Zika and microcephaly.

Such was the weight of international concern, on February 1 the World Health Organization declared the current outbreak a public health emergency.

A new study has today offered more evidence as to how the Zika virus could cause the severe birth defect microcephaly. Experts at Johns Hopkins, Florida State and Emory universities believe the virus selectively targets the cells that form an unborn baby's outer brain later

Now, scientists at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Florida State University and Emory University in Atlanta have discovered evidence of how the virus could cause the severe birth defect.

They found the virus selectively infects cells that form the unborn baby's brain's cortex, or outer layer.

The virus causes those cells to die off rather than divide normally to create new brain cells.

While the breakthrough does not prove a definitive link between Zika and microcephaly, it sheds more light on how the virus attacks the body.

Professor of biological science Hengli Tang at Florida State University said: 'We're trying to fill the knowledge gap between infection and the neurological defects.

'This research is the very first step in that, but it's answering a critical question. It enables us to focus the research.

'Now you can be studying the virus in the right cell type, screening your drugs on the right cell type and studying the biology of the right cell type.'

Researchers said their experiments suggest these highly-susceptible lab-grown cells could be used to screen for drugs that protect the cells or ease existing infections.

Dr Guo-li Ming, a professor of neurology, neuroscience, psychiatry and behavioral science at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, said: 'Studies of fetuses and babies with the telltale small brains and heads of microcephaly in Zika-affected areas have found abnormalities in the cortex, and Zika has been found in the fetal tissue.

The virus, which is most commonly spread by the Aedes mosquito (pictured) causes those cells to die off rather than divide normally to create new brain cells

'While this study doesn't definitely prove that Zika virus causes microcephaly, it's very telling that the cells that form the cortex are potentially susceptible to the virus, and their growth could be disrupted by the virus.'

Professor Ming led the research team, along with Professor Hongjun Song at Johns Hopkins, and Dr Hengli Tang, a virologist at Florida State University.

In a quickly executed study that reflects the global public health threat posed by Zika, the researchers compared Zika's effect on cells known as cortical neural progenitor cells to two other cell types: induced pluripotent stem cells and immature neurons.

We're trying to fill the knowledge gap between infection and the neurological defects. This research is the very first step in that, but it's answering a critical question Professor Hengli Tang at Florida State University

Induced pluripotent stem cells are made by reprogramming mature cells, and can give rise to any cell type in the body, including cortical neural progenitor cells.

Cortical neural progenitor cells in turn give rise to immature neurons.

The experiments, conducted in less than a month, began when Dr Tang contacted Professor Ming and Professor Song, who use stem cells to study early brain development.

The Johns Hopkins labs sent team members and cells to Dr Tang's lab, where the cells were exposed to Zika virus.

Then the cells' genetic expression - evidence of which genes were being used by the cells and which weren't - were analyzed in Peng Jin's laboratory at Emory University.

According to Dr Tang, three days after exposure to the virus, 90 per cent of the cortical neural progenitor cells were infected, and had been hijacked to churn out new copies of the virus.

Furthermore, the genes needed to fight viruses had still not been switched on, which is highly unusual, he added.

Many of the infected cells died, and others showed disrupted expression of genes that control cell division, indicating that new cells could not be made effectively.

Using specific, known types of cells allowed the researchers to see where the developing brain is most vulnerable, Professor Song said.

While the breakthrough does not prove a definitive link between Zika and microcephaly, it sheds more light on how the virus attacks the body, scientists said. They hope their discovery will form the basis of future research to help screen for drugs that could prevent the defect

He and Professor Ming are now using the cells to find out more about the effects of Zika infection on the developing cortex.

'Now that we know cortical neural progenitor cells are the vulnerable cells, they can likely also be used to quickly screen potential new therapies for effectiveness,' Professor Song added.

Zika virus has recently emerged as a public health concern, but it was first discovered in Uganda in the 1940s.

Since then, small outbreaks have appeared in Asia and Africa, but symptoms were generally mild and did not appear to have any long-term effects.

Carried by infected Aedes aegypti mosquitos, Zika is largely transmitted through bites, but can also occur through intrauterine infection or sexual transmission.

In 2015, the Zika virus began spreading throughout the Americas and a potential link was seen between the virus and a significant increase in cases of fetal microcephaly, as well as other neurologic abnormalities.

This connection and the proliferation in cases led to the World Health Organization declaring Zika virus an international public health emergency.

According to the World Health Organization 48 countries have now reported local outbreaks of the Zika virus.
There has been a surge in twin births in the US over the past 30 years.

And, it is known that in vetro fertilization (IVF) is partially responsible for the increase.

Thats because IVF is expensive, argued Dr Eli Adashi, a Brown University professor of medicine.

Most patients can only afford one procedure, so doctors intentionally fertilize multiple eggs in the lab and implant those embryos  with the hopes that one will implant succesfully.

Yet, if IVF were covered by insurance companies, it could also be the key to reducing unintended twins, Dr Adashi wrote in an editorial in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

For that would lead to an increase in single  rather than multiple  embryo transfers, he claimed.

IVF is partially responsible for the surge in twin births in the US - but an expert argued that IVF could be the key to reducing the twin birth rate, if only insurers covered single embryo implantation procedures. Currently, IVF is expensive, so people get multiple embryos implanted to get the best results from one procedure, he said

Dr Adashi said: Sometimes nature can make [twin births] happen and there is not a whole lot you can, or want to, do about it.

But in the cases of IVF or other technologies, if you can avoid it, you often want to.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that the US had a record-high twin birth rate in 2014.

That year, twins accounted for nearly 40 per 1,000 live births in the US.

However, in the 17 year-span before the ovulation-stimulating drug clomiphene citrate  also known as Clomid  was introduced in 1967, the twin rate hovered around 20.

One reason for the increase in twins is that more women are waiting until they are older to become pregnant  which increases the risk of twins.

However, the climb in the twin birth rate mostly occurred because Clomid, and later IVF, became more common, Dr Adashi argued.

Its true that many twins live healthy lives.

Yet, many of the serious medical complications and fetal development  including preterm birth or low birth weight  are more common and severe in twin pregnancies.

As a result, many doctors and public health officials consider technologys artificial contribution to the soaring twin rate to be problematic.

Yet, many who use reproductive technologies arent even trying to have twins.

Instead, the technologies just carry a higher risk of having them.

Rhode Island and Massachusetts are two states that require insurers to cover single embryo IVF procedures - and those states have seen a reduction in their twin birth rates, the expert argued. Pictured here, a graph depicting the surge in twin births in the US since 1980

The drug Clomid boosts the twin rate by increasing ovulation  which means that multiple eggs can become available for fertilization.

And in IVF, doctors often implant multiple embryos.

Doctors have reduced the number of implantations down to two in most cases  which has reduced the incidence of triplets and quadruplets, while increasing the rate of twins.

Combining a direct path to IVF with the judicious use of [Clomid] should go a long way toward curtailing the national twin birth rate Dr Eli Adashi, of Brown University

Dr Adashi said many people implant multiple embryos because of the high cost of IVF.

For those who want children, but can only afford one procedure, they would rather have twins than no kids, according to the doctor.

Yet, if cost werent a problem, most people would only have one embryo implanted.

Some states, including Rhode Island and Massachusetts, require insurers to cover the cost of IVF  and also recommend skipping Clomid in favor of IVF with single embryo transfer.

In those cases, the likelihood of twins from Clomid and IVF is eliminated.

There are some instances where Clomid-assistance is medically necessary, Dr Adashi acknowledged.

But he concluded that to reduce unintended twin births, all states should require insurance to cover single embryo transfer.
SCIENCE

IN TO THE BLACK

by Rowland White

(Bantam 18.99)

Nearly 50 years on, we all realise that the Apollo missions to the Moon were an extraordinary achievement, something that was only just possible with the technology of the time.

Those astronauts were essentially travelling to the Moon in a well-insulated biscuit barrel, launched into space by an enormous bomb. Its astonishing that any of them survived at all.

But we tend to forget about what came next: the Space Shuttle. Having established that there was nothing much on the Moon except dust - though there are now six American flags and two golf balls, too - Nasas next project was not as superficially sexy as Apollo, but it was every bit as extraordinary.

Nearly 50 years on, we realise the Apollo missions to the Moon were an extraordinary achievement, something that was only just possible with the technology of the time. But we tend to forget about the Space Shuttle

From scratch, within about seven years, it developed a new, reusable biscuit barrel and built half a dozen of them.

In 135 flights, more than 350 men and women from many nations went into orbit. The Hubble Space Telescope was deployed. The International Space Station was built and expanded.

Now that the Shuttles themselves are in museums looking a bit battered, we can only marvel that we did it at all.

The Space Shuttle was expensive and resisted strongly by the Air Force and the CIA, who wanted no part of anything they hadnt thought of themselves. But in 1971, President Richard Nixon went to the Azores for a two-day summit with President Pompidou of France.

Nixon turned up in Air Force One, as usual. Pompidou arrived in Concorde. At dinner, Nixon observed that Pompidous journey there had been three times faster than his own. I only wish we had made the plane ourselves, he said.

National pride, therefore, drove the Shuttle project.

White, an airflight historian, is good on the single-mindedness of the astronauts. As part of the selection process, candidates would be zipped into a tiny, dark, fabric ball and left there for a while. That weeded out the claustrophobics.

On the big day, April 12, 1981, the first shuttle, Columbia, made its maiden flight.

In 135 flights, more than 350 men and women from many nations went into orbit

John Young, who had walked on the Moon as commander of Apollo 16, was at the controls alongside Bob Crip Crippen, who had been waiting nearly 20 years for his first trip into space.

An hour into the journey, it became clear that tiles were missing from the heat shield. If the damage was too great, they would not be able to return to Earth. The temperatures generated when the craft made contact with the atmosphere were similar to those you might find on the surface of the sun. What could they do?

I wont spoil the story, for the last quarter of the book moves nearly as quickly as the Shuttle itself. As I rip through the pages, I marvel at the bravery, resourcefulness and ingenuity of everyone concerned. They really did have the right stuff.

White has spoken to everyone still alive and mourns the loss of the Challenger in 1986 and the Columbia in 2003, but points out that neither disaster was caused by a failure on the craft itself.

Each one fell victim to an assault: Challenger to a blowtorch of burning rocket fuel . . . Columbia to the percussive attack of a sharp-edged lump of moulded foam that might as well have been a sledgehammer. Neither machine stood a chance.
Members of the Communist Party of China have been asked to 'absorb' the views of President Xi Jinping

While India endlessly debates intolerance and the lack of freedom to think, China is following its own path - tolerance with Chinese characteristics.

Of course, none of those who speak of Indias lost freedom dare to challenge China. But they should.

On February 25, Xinhua announced that members of the Communist Party of China have been asked to absorb the views of President Xi Jinping by learning from an article written long ago by Mao Zedong.

Ideas

All are requested to study and implement the ideas put forward in The Work Method of Party Committees, published in March 1949, during the historic Second Plenary Session of the CPC Central Committee - hardly six months before the party took over the Middle Kingdom.

A Guardian article, Love the party, protect the party: How Xi Jinping is bringing Chinas media to heel, asserted: The Communist party is in a no holds barred battle to wrestle absolute control of all media to project a better image of China.

Quoting an editorial in The China Daily, the British publication affirmed: It is necessary for the media to restore peoples trust in the Party The nations media outlets are essential to political stability.

Read stability of the Party.

Last week, when President Xi Jinping paid a highly-publicised visit to Chinas top media organisations, journalists had to pledge absolute loyalty to Xi.

A few days ago when Ren Zhiqiang, a property tycoon, one of the richest men in China, and a long-time outstanding party member, dared to question President Xis absolute loyalty to the Party, Rens micro-blogging accounts were swiftly blocked.

A Party official announced that Ren would be dealt with seriously for his critical postings.

As a party member, any remark that does not accord with the partys lines, principles and policies, whether its on the Internet or other media platforms, is not allowed under party discipline, the official stated.

Ren has (or had) 26 million followers. What is worse is that the Party diktats are spreading to Hong Kong, jeopardising the model of governance.

In 1997, at the time of the territorys transfer of sovereignty from the British Crown to the Peoples Republic of China, Hong Kong became a Special Administrative Region governed by a principle known as One Country, Two Systems, a genial brainchild of Chinas Paramount Leader, Deng Xiaoping, who thought that the recipe could later be applied to Taiwan, the rebel island.

Limits

With Beijings growing intolerance, the scheme has now shown its limits. The Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1997 had provided Hong Kong with a high degree of autonomy in all areas except defence and foreign affairs, while the territorys political and judicial systems continued to function independently from those of the Mainland. The guarantees for Hong Kongers individual rights and freedoms were enshrined in the Hong Kong Basic Law, the territory's constitution.

Last week, when President Xi Jinping paid a highly-publicised visit to China's top media organisations, journalists had to pledge 'absolute loyalty' to Xi. (Pictured: President Xi Jinping, centre, arrives for the opening session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference on 3 March.)

Recently, strange events have happened, putting all this into question. When in December, Lee Bo, a bookshop owner and publisher in Hong Kong, went missing, his wife filed a police complaint saying that he had disappeared.

Soon after, alarm bells started ringing louder: four of Lees colleagues - Gui Minhai, Cheung Ji-ping, Lui Bo and Lam Wingkei - were also untraceable. Lee Bo was the owner of Mighty Current, a publishing house which specialises in books banned on the Mainland, often revealing secrets about the Partys apparatchiks.

Censured

Lees crime is that he may have been working on a private life of Xi. Tricky business these days, certainly not appreciated in Beijing, which has tightened its grip on the internet and literary freedom in the recent months.

Political and gossip books on the Chinese leadership have been a lucrative business for Hong Kong booksellers as Mainland visitors are avid readers of censured literature, unavailable at home.

With the Hong Kongers particularly attached to their special status, the issue has quickly taken a political turn.

The CPCs mouthpiece, The Global Times, articulated Beijings position: the booksellers were exercising an evil influence in China through their political publications.

The South China Morning Post announced last week that Hong Kong police had finally been allowed to meet the missing booksellers, six weeks had passed since they had first requested Beijing.

In the meantime, Lee Bo reappeared on Hong Kongs Phoenix TV and admitted he had sneaked into the Mainland to assist in an investigation involving his publishing associate Gui Minhai, co-owner of Mighty Current and also missing.

Appearing calm and smiling, Lee said he would return to Hong Kong once his help was no longer needed. He declined to say more.

Beijing has always believed in the saying, Kill a few chickens to scare the monkeys.

In terms of tolerance India is eons ahead of China, with an opinionated press, scores of anti-government news channels, and an extra-vigilant judiciary.

This is not the case in China, though that cant be said in as many words to the mighty dragon. Beijing, after all, is far too influential.
Defiant: Vijay Mallya rued that Kingfisher Airlines 'is not flying today when the oil price is so low'.

With banks gunning for him to recover unpaid loans given to long-grounded Kingfisher Airlines, beleaguered businessman Vijay Mallya remains defiant.

I have no regrets as such. Perhaps the only regret is that Kingfisher Airlines is not flying today when the oil price is so low, Mallya said.

Global crude oil prices have fallen by almost 75 per cent from the peak seen in mid-2014, and domestic airlines are reporting better financials with their fuel cost down by 30-40 per cent.

When asked about his long professional journey, Mallya who inherited the UB Group from his father as a young 28-year-old, said he has got nothing to prove.

I built India's biggest beer company. I built India's biggest spirits company. Okay, Kingfisher Airlines went wrong. But there is a whole list of reasons why it went wrong, Mallya told PTI in an interview days after the Diageo settlement.

Aisa nahi ki bewakoofi se band ho gaya (it did not shut down for some stupid reason)... There were genuine reasons. It did not go well. You experience ups and downs in life... (but in the end) I have enough to be proud of, he said.

Mallya, known for his flamboyance and lavish parties, also brushed aside the criticism about he deciding to spend more time in England after Diageo deal.

I have had my residence in England (for a long time) ... So what is new? All I have said is that I would like to spend more with my family, he said.

The State Bank of India on Wednesday approached the Debt Recovery Tribunal seeking Mallya's arrest and and the impounding of his passport for defaulting on Rs 7,00 crore worth of loans.

Mallya said he will remain actively involved in the running of IPL franchise Royala Challengers Bangalore.

My son is a director and I have been appointed Chief Mentor. What does that mean? If I am going away why should I be Chief Mentor? I will be part of the planning and I will be around during the tournament, he said.

In my statement, I have said that I want to win the IPL trophy. If I am not associated at all, why would I make that statement, Mallya added.

The banks are now eyeing the Rs 515-crore bounty sealed by Mallya as part of a 'sweetheart deal' with Diageo to exit United Spirits.
"We are not demanding freedom from India, we demand freedom within India from corruption and discrimination.

These were the words of JNU students' Union president Kanhaiya Kumar as he returned to the campus after 20 days in custody.

Clad in a white t-shirt, black jacket and blue jeans, Kanhaiya thanked everyone who stood with the students to save the varsity from those who tried to malign its image.

JNU students' Union president Kanhaiya Kumar gave an impassioned speech three weeks after his arrest on sedition charges

I want to thank all the ministers who are discussing JNU in Parliament, Delhi Police, and a few TV channels who have made us popular in last one month, he said.

With the return of Kanhaiya, an energy suddenly returned to the dull administrative block as students waited for the JNUSU president.

We salute, red salute to comrade, shouted the gathering.

Mocking the Modi government, former Delhi Police chief BS Bassi, and the ABVP, Kanhaiya said he holds no grudges against anyone.

I have no grudges against anyone. Not even ABVP. At least, our unit is more rational than the one sitting outside, Kanhaiya said.

Shouting slogans of lal salaam and azaadi, Kanhaiya appeared in a different avatar on Thursday. Clean-shaven and in the best of his moods, Kanhaiya was welcomed by the students.

People say its not easy to get admission in JNU, I would like to say, similarly, its not easy to forget the students of JNU, he said.

Students greet JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar after his release from Tihar Jail

Kanhaiya addresses students on the campus, where students and teachers gathered to hear him

Answering the people who have been comparing Indian soldiers with protesting students, he said: You cannot dilute our campus and thoughts. My brother also goes to the border and fights for the country. Do not politicise while just sitting in Parliament.

In a reference to political leaders, he said: I will not do witch-hunting against you as you dont deserve it.

On the ongoing controversy he said: I trust the countrys law and Constitution. I dont want to say anything against the matter which is sub-judice.

Quoting Lenins famous saying, Democracy is dispensable to socialism, Kanhaiya said: We should have a country where there should be no class difference. PM has tweeted and said 'Satyamev Jayate, I would also say Satyamev Jayate.

Sharing his experience during his jail stay, Kanhaiya said earlier he used to read more and feel less, but this time, he had seen the reality and does not need to read.

One policemen asked me what is the meaning of lal salaam. When I told him, he claimed the same slogan was being raised by the ABVP members. He told me that earlier he wanted to thrash me but now he wanted to beat those people who created the controversy, Kanhaiya said.

Talking about Umar Khalid and Anirban, he said: Our two brothers are still in jail. We will continue our fight for them.

Meanwhile, students and teachers gathered at the Ganga Dhaba and took out a victory march to the administrative block, which has become a venue of protest since February 12.

Two separate meetings of the students union and JNU teachers association were underway to decide the future course of action.

The five-member panel had a deadline till 12am today. The varsity will take a call based on their recommendations, a senior JNU official said.

Learning from their past mistakes, the Delhi Police on Thursday had meticulously planned their security arrangements at Patiala House Court and Tihar Jail.

Since 8am, a number of policemen were deployed outside the Patiala House Court, but the legal formalities for surety were completed at Diplomatic Security Force (DSF) office in Chanakyapuri.

The same plan was repeated later in the evening outside Tihar Jail.

Family wants Kanhaiya to focus on his PhD now

By Sneha Agrawal in New Delhi

Although Kanhaiya Kumars father could not be there to receive him outside Tihar Jail, he left a message for his son through his family members that he wants Kanhaiya to complete his PhD - for which he had come to Delhi.

Talking to Mail Today, Kanhaiyas uncle, Rajendra Singh, lamented: It was unfortunate and disappointing to learn his name being taken in a sedition case, but now we hope that he would finish his education and pave his way to success in future.

Family members of JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar celebrate his release in Begusarai, Bihar

He said this before boarding a train to Bihar along with Kanhaiyas elder brother Manikant Singh on Thursday.

Kanhaiyas family, however, praised the police authorities for the kind of treatment their son was given during custody.

The police had kept him nicely in jail. He had a TV to watch, books and newspaper to read. They took care of his clothes and food too. The last couple of weeks have been tough on Kanhaiya as well as for us. It was a long wait. We are happy that he no longer has to live in jail and we pray for his bright future, Rajendra said.

Respecting Kanhaiyas political ideology, Rajendra said: My nephew has his own ideology and we would not interfere with it. He has always been a person with strong mind and values. We want to tell him that his family would always support him.

Kanhaiyas uncle and brother had come to the Capital after he was arrested on sedition charges.

Manikant Singh said that he hopes that his brother sails through all difficulties.

We are optimistic that his name would come clean in this case.

Though he should have got a clean chit as no evidence of him indulging in anti-national activities were found, yet the courts have their own wisdom. We welcome the order on Kanhaiya, he added.

Kanhaiyas uncle said people were also celebrating his release at his native place in Bihar.

Kanhaiya was granted six-month interim bail by the Delhi High Court on Wednesday, with a condition that he would not indulge in any anti-national activity nor let any such activity occur inside the JNU campus.

He was released on Thursday evening from Tihar Jail after his bail bonds were furnished before the magistrate with a surety from a JNU faculty member and a personal bond of Rs 10,000.

Police hit a dead end in sedition case

By Ankur Sharma in New Delhi

The Delhi Police investigation into the alleged sedition case against JNU students is coming to a dead end.

More than three weeks after registering the FIR under sedition charges, police have failed to identify the people who entered the JNU campus, covered their faces, and shouted anti-national slogans.

Now, for the Delhi Police to keep up the pace of the investigation, it is necessary to identify the accused who shouted anti-India slogans.

The Delhi Police investigation in the alleged sedition case against JNU students is coming to a dead end (file picture)

According to the sources, police also have doubts that videos were tampered with. However, cops are waiting for authentication of the same.

This is the reason the Delhi Police report didnt mention the anti-India slogans which can be heard in different videos.

So far, police have only questioned students belonging to Left parties. But in one of its reports, they mentioned that there was another group of students, including those affiliated to ABVP, who were also shouting slogans.

According to ABVP office bearers, who were present in JNU campus on February 9, they had invited media and helped them enter the JNU campus. They have not been questioned so far.

Sources said at least 50-60 students from ABVP were present in JNU, along with Left-affiliated groups who were around 200-300.

Both the groups were shouting slogans. The local police positioned themselves between both the groups while they were on the move assisted by the security staff of the JNU, who had already made a human chain separating the groups. The antinational slogans continued unabated which were opposed by the other group by pro-India sloganeering. In this process, the students from both sides engaged in verbal as well as physical jostling and heckling. This situation led to law and order problem which disturbed the public order in JNU campus, the Delhi Police report claims.
With United States Admiral Harry Harris on Wednesday pitching for the US, India, Japan and Australia to open a four-way security dialogue, China has responded warily to the move, warning that it should not be targeted at a third party.

Speaking in New Delhi, Admiral Harris, who heads the US Pacific Command, called for closer maritime security cooperation between the four countries, while apparently hitting out at Chinas recent moves in the South China Sea.

Last year, India hosted Japan and Australia for its first ever high-level trilateral dialogue in New Delhi, Harris said at the Raisina Dialogue.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hong Lei (right) has reacted warily to US Admiral Harry Harris (left)'s call for Asian quadrilateral dialogue.

An idea to consider is perhaps expanding this trilateral to a quadrilateral venue between India-Japan-Australia and the US. We are all united in supporting the international rules-based order that has kept the peace and is essential to all of us.

China has in the past expressed strong reservations at the idea, viewing a quadrilateral security dialogue as a front to contain China.

Such reservations have previously made both India and Australia wary of going ahead with the dialogue, although the US and Japan have long pressed for it.

Whether Chinas recent moves in the South China Sea, which have worried both India and Australia, will prompt a rethink remains unclear.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said in Beijing: We have no objection to relevant countries normal cooperation, but we believe that relevant cooperation should not be targeted at a third party.

Harris announced that the Exercise Malabar 2016 with India will once again include Japan, and that the three countries naval drills will take place in the northern Philippine Sea, which is close to the South China sea.

When asked about the naval drills, Hong said: We hope that cooperation among relevant countries will be conducive to regional peace and stability as well as security, instead of harming interests of a third party.
There is a common thread connecting the raging controversy over the arrest of JNU students on charges of sedition, and the recurring debates over the need to decriminalise offences like homosexuality, adultery and defamation.

The offences inserted in the penal code during the colonial regime more than 100 years ago may no longer be in tune with the social structure and philosophy of the society.

Speaking at the valedictory function of the year-long celebrations of the 155th anniversary of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in Kerala last week, President Pranab Mukherjee emphasised the need for a thorough revision of the IPC to ensure that our criminal law reflected contemporary social consciousness and was a faithful mirror of a civilisation underlining the fundamental values on which it rests.

Charging JNU students with sedition was seen as an attempt by the Government to stifle free speech

Mukherjee emphasised that some offences in the penal code were enacted by the British to meet their colonial needs.

The speech assumes relevance in the backdrop of the furore over the arrest of JNU students under Section 124A of IPC for protesting against the execution of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

With the offence inserted in the penal code during the colonial rule to bar criticism, this was not an isolated case when invocation of sedition was seen as an attempt by the government to stifle free speech.

A large number of people now find it obnoxious to punish people for their sexual orientation. (File picture)

Justifying the introduction of Section 124A in the code in 1870, James Stephen said: The law relating to riots and unlawful assemblies is very full and elaborate, but it is remarkable that the Penal Code contained no provision at all as to seditious offences not involving an absolute breach of the peace.

The idea clearly was to curb free speech and not to deal with likely breach of peace which had been taken care of by other provisions.

Later, the provision was amended in 1898 to make it harsher than in England.

Sir Alexander Mackenzie, Lieutenant Governor of Bengal, supporting different yardsticks for India and England, said: It is clear that a sedition law which is adequate for a people ruled by a government of its own nationality and faith may be inadequate, or in some respects unsuited, for a country under foreign rule and inhabited by many races, with diverse customs and conflicting creeds.

Another offence which is being opposed for having a chilling effect on free speech is defamation.

With several progressive democracies limiting the remedy for violation of reputation to civil defamation, which allows recompense in monetary terms, a number of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of Section 499 of the IPC have been filed in the Supreme Court.

International opinion reflected in views expressed by various UN bodies is clearly against providing jail terms for peaceful expressions.

While introducing an amendment in October 2009 to outlaw libel in the UK, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice, Lord Bach said: They stem from a bygone age when freedom of expression was not seen as the right that it is today.

Coming to Section 377, which criminalises gay sex, a large number of people now find it obnoxious to punish people for their sexual orientation.

A petition seeking a re-look at the decision upholding the validity of Section 377 is pending before the Supreme Court.

Explaining the call for change, Mukherjee stressed that criminal law has to be sensitive to changes in social structure and social philosophy.

With the change in society's outlook towards women, Section 497 (adultery) of the IPC may require a re-examination in view of the restricted application of the provision to extramarital relationships involving only married women and not married men.

The provision permits a husband to prosecute a man having sexual relations with his wife.

But the wife cant do the same to a woman in an extramarital relationship with her husband.

It is no offence for married men to have extramarital relationships outside marriage provided the partner is not underage or married.

The provision was questioned twice, in the 1950s and the 1980s, but the Supreme Court upheld its validity.

The provision was put in the IPC to maintain the sanctity of matrimonial relationships, but there is no reason to put the entire burden of preserving the sanctity of marriage on women.

The executive and legislative need to review offences in the light of changing outlook of the society.

The fact that the validity of some of the laws, including sedition, has been upheld by the Supreme Court does not make them good laws.

Strange end to Akbar's custody battle

A long-drawn custody battle between a Hindu adoptive father and a Muslim mother ended in favour of the former.

After over eight years, the Supreme Court finally disposed of the matter holding that the child would remain with Aiku Lal, who had found the child over 12 years ago, rather than with the biological mother.

The judgment assumes importance as it reinforces the principle that the welfare of the child should override all considerations while deciding a case of custody.

Aiku Lal with his adopted Muslim son Akbar, whom he found 12 years back (File picture)

Though DNA tests were in favour of the mother, the court took into account the wishes of the child and the manner in which he was brought up.

The legal battle between Aiku Lal and Shahnaz Begum  who lost Akbar in 2004  began with a habeas corpus petition in the Allahabad High Court in 2007.

Shahnaz rushed to the Supreme Court in appeal after an adverse order, but Akbar continued to live with his tea-seller father.

Though many lawyers lent their services, the court finally decided the matter after hearing Shahnaz, Aiku, and Akbar.

The court said Akbar would be free to take a decision after he turned 18 in two years time but till then he would remain with Lal.

Lal, however, will allow Akbar to be with his mother in Allahabad during summer vacations.

Akbar had lost his way in 2004 and had landed in Lucknow where Lal found him.

Ten-year quota turns 70

A petition challenging repeated extension of reservation to SCs and STs in Parliament and state legislatures since Independence is set to be considered by a Constitution bench of the Supreme Court.

Article 334 of the Constitution initially provided quota for SCs and STs for 10 years, but the provision has been repeatedly amended to extend the period.

It now reads 70 years, extending quota till January 25, 2020.

Petitioners challenging repeated extension of reservation to SCs and STs at the Parliament. (File picture)

The Constituent Assembly debate shows that the intent of the founding fathers was not to put an end to reservation after 10 years, but to provide for an appraisal before extending it further.

Parliament has been extending the period every 10 years.

The government will have to defend the extension by showing that it had conducted a study on the status of SCs and STs and their political representation before extending the quota further.

The government justified the last extension till January 25, 2020 by stating that the reasons which weighed with the constituent assembly while providing for reservation had not ceased to exist.

While justifying reservation in Parliament initially only for 10 years, a constituent assembly member said that if reservation was provided indefinitely, the state might come to think that it had done its duty towards these classes.
It was easy to miss amid the noisy deployment of the Indian Army in Haryana last month, but a significant effort by a force of 2,275 Indian servicemen in South Sudan has saved thousands of lives.

Malakal, Pibor and Melut may not be locations many in India are be aware of. However, with the help of the Indian Army, these provincial locations have staged the most remarkable defence operation in the history of United Nations peacekeeping operations.

Tension peaked on February 17 when ethnic clashes were reported in Malakal, among the larger towns of the country.

Indian troops protect civilians in South Sudan where 2,275 troops have been deployed as ethnic clashes intensify.

Subsequently, refugees putting up at the Protection of Civilian Camp came under machine-gun fire.

To add to the woes, nearly 37,000 more people then sought shelter in the camp.

The army, deployed there under the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and recognised with the acronym IndBatt, took positions and fired back at the attackers to prevent the slaughter.

Reports have emerged which state there were killings which took place during this commotion. However, no official data is available.

Matters came to the boil in Pibor, located close to the countrys eastern border with Ethiopia, on February 23.

Simmering for nearly 48 hours since a transfer of power, town residents began seeking refuge in the UN camp since the evening of February 21.

The 800 men constituting IndBatt-2, manned by men from the Indian armys 7 Kumaon, had the unenviable task of not just securing the base but also frisking those entering to ensure no armed personnel sneaked in.

UN estimates listed the figure at over 2000 civilians and other aid workers.

Meanwhile, that evening, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) staff sought extrication after reports that armed men were moving towards the facility.

Using a mine-proof vehicle as a shield from the raging gunfire, the IndBatt-2 extracted 25 civilians to the safety of the UNMISS compound. Included were 11 patients who were subsequently treated within the base.

South Sudan has seen tens of thousands of deaths in the last two years, claim international press reports quoting United Nations officials.
Iconic writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar has said that cancelling shows of the new film Aligarh in the city of Aligarh was nothing short of extra-constitutional bullying.

To stop the screenings of a film is wrong. We have a film certification board, which watches films and tells what needs to be cut. So, when it has given a clearance to the movie, if you remove (it from the theatres) by extra-constitutional ways then it is not right. If you have a complaint, go to the court. But to take off a film by bullying is wrong (sic), the 71-year-old poet told the press in Delhi.

He made his comments while launching a new television show, titled The Golden Years 1956-75: A Musical Journey With Javed Akhtar.

Writer Javed Akhtar, 71, said using 'extra-constitutional ways' to stop films being screened was wholly wrong

The critically-acclaimed Aligarh has generated controversy owing to its themes of homosexuality.

The film narrates the true story of Dr Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras, who taught Marathi at Aligarh University, and who was sacked on charges of being gay, after a TV sting showed him in a compromising position with a rickshaw puller at his campus flat.

Homosexuality has nothing to do with culture. When (Deepa Mehtas film) Fire was made, a lot of hullabaloo was created and it was taken off from theatres, then taken to court. Homosexuality exists in human race. it is everywhere in the world (sic), he said.

Akhtar said pulling Aligarh off the screens raised questions about freedom of expression.
The simmering discontent within the Karnataka Congress against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has come to the fore, with nearly half of the party legislators (both MLAs and MLCs) skipping the crucial Congress legislature party (CLP) meeting and the dinner bash hosted by him.

For the first time since he assumed power in Karnataka nearly three years ago, the rebellion in the Congress has shocked the Siddaramaiah camp.

Of the 152 legislators (123 MLAs & 29 MLCs), only 80 turned up for the CLP.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was snubbed by 72 party legislators at crucial Congress party meeting and dinner in Karnataka

The attendance was less for the dinner hosted at a nearby hotel.

The major leaders who did not turn up include Revenue Minister V Srinivas Prasad, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) Treasurer Shyamanur Shivashankarappa, and former ministers K B Koliwada, A B Maalkaraddy, and Ramesh Kumar - none of whom are on good terms with the chief minister.

Skipping CLP in extreme conditions is acceptable, but the absence of 72 legislators is shocking. By skipping CLP and the dinner bash, the legislators and leaders have conveyed to Siddaramaiah their dissidence, said a senior Congress leader who skipped the CLP.

It is said that Siddaramaiah was particularly upset with the poor turnout of the legislators.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has tutored the present Gandhis on their predecessors in an attack on the Congress and its vice-president Rahul Gandhi.

During his 75-minute-long speech, on the motion of thanks for the Presidents address, Modi quoted excerpts from the speeches of former Prime Ministers - Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi - turning the tables on Rahul.

While the PM never named names, his innuendos were clear enough as he threw jibe after jibe at Rahul, who was flanked by his mother, Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

Prime Minister Modi launched a thinly-veiled attack against Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi

Interrupted a few times by stray questions and remarks, Modi told the House he had learnt to live with allegations and accusations, in an obvious reference to the aftermath of 2002 Gujarat riots.

I have been getting certificates for the past 14 years, even accused. I have learnt to live with it, the PM said.

Admonishing the Congress for continued disruptions and the consequent washout of recent sessions, Modi also made Rajiv Gandhi a point of reference.

There may be conflict of thoughts in Parliament, there may be angst, but it needs to be expressed. The House is a forum where logics are presented; where sharp answers are given; it is a forum where the government is questioned and where the government has to defend and explain itself. Nobody is spared in discussions and none should expect any. But, if the dignity of the House is maintained, then we can present our arguments more forcefully. This message is not that of Narendra Modi, but of Indias former PM Rajiv Gandhi, said Modi.

Modi also quoted Rajiv Gandhi on the significance of letting the Bills get passed: The Bill is for the people. It is necessary to weed out middlemen from the system. It is for devolving responsibilities on the ground; so that the administration can be made accountable; so that participation of people can be increased in schemes as also in social justice and development. This is to strengthen the foundation of our democracy. This too was said by former PM Rajiv Gandhi and we should heed the advice of elders, Modi said.

The PM called upon the words of Nehru to underline the importance of the need to transact business in Parliament.

PM Modi quoted Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi to their descendant and Congress vice-president, Rahul Gandhi (right).

We have come to this Parliament with the responsibility to administer the country. There can be no bigger responsibility and fortune than this as this House is responsible for the fate of the population of the country. We all must havefelt this destiny for which we have been called upon. Whether we deserve it or not is another question. Therefore, in these five years we not only stood beside history, but also became a part of history-making at times. These lofty ideals were expressed by our first PM Jawaharlal Nehru in 1957. At that time none of usour party was there, Modi said.

Modi also suggested that the Congress had been disrupting Parliament only to ensure that no other young MP could shine over the Gandhi scion.

Why is this House not been let to function? Not because there is angst against the government, but because of an inferiority complex. There are talented and glorious MPs and I believe we should listen to them; their thoughts are an asset in themselves. If the House functions they will get chance to speak and if they speak, they will be praised, then what will happen to us (reference to Congress); this is the anxiety; this is the insecurity, Modi said.

Modi accused the Congress of scuttling the capable MPs of the Opposition so that they are not able to speak and the nation remains oblivious to their talent.

It was done, claimed Modi, so that none in the Opposition should become strong; none should look promising.

The PM slammed the Congress for its criticism of the NDA governments flagship schemes Make in India.

PM lambasts Congress' MGNREGA legacy claims

By Mail Today Bureau

Faced with the criticism that the BJP government has hijacked the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA), the PM accused the Congress of having perpetuated poverty in India.

PM Modi said the Congress had tried to claim programmes and schemes of the State for itself in a game of one-upmanship.

Modi said that had there been no poverty, there would have been no need for MGNREGA.

He said the Congress is jealous as it is concerned that the NDA government is doing well, and that the Congress is asking: What we could not do in 60 years, how could you do it?

Whenever anything comes up here (in the Paliament), it is said This belongs to our period; this is our legacy. There are some things which are your legacy, said Modi - before mentioning the absence of toilets in schools and the Centres initiative for the same.

He also counted the Bangladesh border issue as one of the legacies of the Congress which his government had solved.
The BJP is apprehensive that the newly-floated 'Bhartiya Modi Army' might use the PM's name for dubious purposes

The Bharatiya Janata Party has written a letter to the Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, and the Director General of Police, J&K, seeking action against people who have formed the Bharatiya Modi Army.

We suspect these people, who have come up with this organisation, Bharatiya Modi Army, want to use the Prime Ministers name for ulterior motives. We have written to the IGP and the DGP to take note of their activities, Khalid Jehangir, BJPs spokesperson said.

We dont know where has this group, claiming to be Modis Army cropped up from. This needs thorough investigation and they should be booked if involved in a fraud, he said.

Manzoor Ahmad Khan, the state president of the Bharatiya Modi Army which was formed a few days ago, recently told reporters that they were fans of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and would be in the field to spread the ideologies of Modi, his programmes, and his progressive schemes among people.

However, the sudden advent of the group has unnerved the state BJP in J&K.

BJP state general secretary Ashok Kaul has issued a statement distancing the party from Bharatiya Modi Army.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh has given a clean chit to Union minister Ram Shankar Katheria as he rejected the Oppositions demand to sack him for an alleged hate speech in Agra.

Defending Katheria, the home minister said Katheria did not say anything objectionable and media reports on the event appeared to be distorted and incorrect.

He said it is expected that the Uttar Pradesh government will conduct the investigation of the case in a fair and impartial manner, and take necessary action.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that Ram Shankar Katheria did not say anything objectionable and media reports on the event in Agra appeared to be distorted and incorrect

The government is opposed to all statements and speeches which divide the country on the basis of religion, caste and creed. This government is fully committed to the Constitution and the law of the land, Singh said in the Rajya Sabha while replying to the issue.

He said the government had examined the video recording of the February 28 condolence meeting of slain VHP leader Arun Mathur, where Minister of State for Human Resource Development Ram Shankar Katheria had participated.

We gave the CD to our officers. They informed that there were no objectionable utterances by the minister. He had not said anything against or used derogatory language against any community, Singh said.

No objectionable comments against any particular community have been noticed in the speech.
An alarming rise in suicides amongst Delhi Police officials has shaken the top brass to the core

An alarming rise in suicides amongst Delhi Police officials has shaken the top brass to the core.

With complaints of high stress levels among cops, the Delhi Police has decided to become more liberal while sanctioning leaves to its personnel.

A decision has been taken that there should be no delay in approving leaves for officials on occasions like their wedding anniversaries and birthdays of their children.

According to a senior officers, in the past few months, there have been cases where policemen have committed suicide due to stress.

Two officers of the Delhi Police committed suicide in the last two months triggering the need to have a lenient view on the leave policy.

High stress Last month, a 45-year-old Delhi Police sub-inspector posted with the ATS, allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself at his residence in Greater Noida at 1 am.

Family members of the deceased, identified as Yash Pal Singh, claim that he was under depression due to work pressure.

Yash Pal was posted at the Kalkaji area in south-east Delhi.

Recently, a sub-inspector committed suicide due to stress and work pressure. On Friday, Special CP welfare issued a circular regarding the rising stress levels in the force. It was noticed that seniors didnt approve leave of juniors even for special functions. We are hopeful that junior staff will get leaves at least on special occasions, a police officer said.

The order came into force after Pankaj Kumar Singh, Additional DCP (Outer district) issued an order for his district asking officials not to deny leaves to juniors unnecessarily.

Job perils

Policing is a job, which demands not only physical alertness but also deep application of mental faculties. The levels of stress in policemen are resultantly observed to be very high. The absence from various social/family functions heightens their stress levels and deteriorates situations.

"It is therefore directed that all the police personnel working at police stations may be given leave/off on the days of their marriage anniversary and birthdays of their children, Pankaj Singh said in his letter.

Appreciating the efforts of the Additional DCP, Delhi Police welfare department also issued a letter to all units asking them to implement the same circular.

The DCP of a district has way in strengthening team spirit and bonding among members. The same may, as far as possible, be replicated in other districts/units, S Vasudeva Rao, Special Commissioner, Welfare, said in his letter on Friday.

Appreciating the efforts of the Additional DCP, Delhi Police welfare department also issued a letter to all units asking them to implement the same circular.
The safety and security of Jawaharlal Nehru University students union president Kanhaiya Kumar, who returned to the campus from Tihar Jail on Thursday, has become a matter of prime concern for the students.

Keeping his location under the wraps, Kanhaiya has not been lodged in his hostel.

The JNUSU president was previously residing in Brahmaputra hostel.

Students form a human chain around Kanhaiya everytime he ventures out in the varsity

He has not come here. He was taken to a professors residence on Thursday and since then he has been changing his locations. No one is informing or discussing about his whereabouts, one of the students from the hostel said.

Sources in the campus told Mail Today that Kanhaiyas safety is of high importance.

He is not going anywhere alone. Students are forming a human chain around him. He cannot move without that, university official said.

Kanhaiya was arrested and booked for sedition in connection with an event held on the campus to commemorate the hanging of Afzal Guru.

He was granted interim bail for six months by the Delhi High Court on the condition that he would cooperate with the ongoing investigation.

Learning from their past mistakes, the Delhi Police on Thursday had meticulously planned their security arrangements at Patiala House Court and Tihar Jail to prevent untoward incidents.

The JNUSU president was guarded by a group of students while he was on his way for the press conference on Friday.

Meanwhile, the anti-homophobia film Aligarh is all set to be screened at JNU on Saturday.

Excited to show Aligarh at JNU tomorrow. No better place to have conversations on society, politics and our film than this hotbed, director Hansal Mehta said in a Facebook post tagging actor Manoj Bajpai. The movie will be screened at 2pm at the School of Arts and Aesthetics.

Aligarh, which has received wide acclaim, is based on the life of AMU professor Ramchandra Siras, who was suspended because of his sexual orientation.

He later committed suicide. Supporting the right to dissent of Kanhaiya, who was released after being lodged in jail for 18 days, Mehta said on Twitter, Dont know #KanhaiyaKumar enough to be a supporter. But I support his right to dissent. And I support my right to dissent.

'The people will decide if I fight elections'

By Mail Today Reporter

He is being seen by many as a rising political star but 28- year-old JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar says he is not a neta (leader) but one who speaks about evils in the society.

Kanhaiya was hounded by a section of the media and booked by the Delhi Police for allegedly organising an antinational event on JNU campus but he had maintained that he was not talking about breaking the country but freedom from social evils.

Locked in jail for 22 days and even thrashed by suspected lawyers inside court, Kanhaiya Kumar has put all this behind him.

He is being seen by many as a rising political star but 28-year-old JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar (left) says he is not a 'neta' (leader). Pictured right is Afzal Guru.

In a candid interview to India Today TV, also his first after release from Tihar Jail, Kanhaiya thanked everyone who supported him in his fight for azadi against social evils.

Kanhaiya insisted that he is not trying to become a neta.

Main neta nahi ban raha hoon, samaaj ke andar jo galat hai, main bas uske baare mein bol raha hoon (I am not trying to become a neta (leader), I am only speaking against the evils in our society. I am not an orator, I simply speak the truth), Kanhaiya said.

I want to thank you and others who helped me in a good cause. I am a student, when I speak, I am a speaker and those listening are listeners. We talk about freedom while keeping the integrity of India intact, he said.

Talking about the blistering speech at the university campus after his release on Thursday, the JNUSU president said he wasnt delivering any speech but sharing his experience with students. You say that my speech had a different kind of energy.

The energy was actually the strength against the fear that some people are trying to force upon our students, the 28-year-old said.

On the controversial Afzal event, Kanhaiya reiterated that he never made any seditious speech while adding that there was a conspiracy behind this.

The matter is sub-judice but I want to clarify on the issue again. I never gave any seditious speech. There is a need to understand the conspiracy behind this. The case of sedition was misrepresented. I want everyone to realise that mere sloganeering cannot break India, Kanhaiya said.

Hours after his release, Kanhaiya addressed a large gathering in JNU.

He was fearless and direct in his attack on the Narendra Modi government during his 50-minute speech.

However, on targeting Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani, he said, She is the HRD Minister. The UGC is under her. If the UGC continues to give our fellowship, why will we shout slogans like Smriti Irani Murdabad? Our fellowship was scrapped. This was the prime reason behind students protesting against her, Kanhaiya added.

There is an attempt to divide students on the basis of their ideological branding, he said. He also left it on the people to decide whether he should contest elections or not.

Fighting election is not up to me. It is a part of political process. It is up to the people to decide whether I should contest an election or not. People will decide if I am a youth icon or not," he said.
Chief Justice of India TS Thakur broke his silence on the violence indulged in by lawyers during the hearing of JNU sedition case

Chief Justice of India TS Thakur finally broke his silence on the violence indulged in by lawyers at Patiala House courts during the hearing of JNU sedition case.

The CJI felt that it symbolised the fall in standards of lawyers.

What has happened to the noble profession and the lawyers? Fall in standards is visible. It is time we introspect, raise the standard, look what is happening around us.. Some advocates are agitating, some are stoning, some are firing and very few are arguing, he said in an indirect reference to the incident.

Top paramilitary man left standing

Last week, a chief of a paramilitary force had to stand for several minutes in front of a senior Cabinet minister as the minister didnt offer him a seat.

Force DG had taken an appointment to invite the senior minister for an event as his guest.

This whole incident was witnessed by a bunch of journalists who were already sitting inside the ministers room.

Contest to decide Yoga Day anthem

All budding lyricists and music directors have an opportunity to get recognition and win Rs 5 lakh.

AYUSH Ministry which is in full swing to prepare for International Day of Yoga on June 21 has announced an open contest to make Yoga Song/Yog Geet in Hindi Language that will be sung on the day.

Every contestant individual, group or organisation can send maximum two entries of three to five minutes duration in MP3 audio format within a total size of 5MB space.

Contestants will have to send their entry through email to inf-moayush@gov.in. latest by March 31.

PM Narendra Modi again praised Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu

PM Modi sings Prabhus praises

PM Narendra Modi again praised Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu for carrying out reforms in the public transporter.

No one has given attention to the reforms being undertaken in railways till now. Those who talk of big reforms can see how much changes have come in the Railways, Modi said at the launch of Setu Bharatam Project.

Prabhu has unleashed a series of reform measures to make the Railways a financially viable organisation, said the PM.

Kejriwals day out with Aligarh

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal along with his deputy Manish Sisodia may go for a special screening of controversial anti-homophobia film Aligarh at a multiplex at Saket on Saturday evening.
India has filed a complaint against the United States over non-immigrant temporary working visas, the World Trade Organization

India has filed a complaint against the United States over non-immigrant temporary working visas, the World Trade Organization (WTO) said on Friday.

India has disputed measures imposing increased fees on certain categories of temporary work visas for the United States and limits on their numbers, the WTO said in a statement, according to a Reuters report from Zurich.

India said these measures appear inconsistent with commitments that the United States has made by treating persons from India working in sectors such as computer services in the United States less favourably than US persons, it added.

The United States had 10 days to respond to the request, which will go to the Dispute Settlement Body if India and the United States cannot come to a satisfactory agreement. In a major blow to Indian IT firms, the U.S. had in January this year notified an additional fee up to $4,000 for certain categories of the popular H1B and L1 visas.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) said applicants for certain categories of H1B visas after December 18, 2015 must submit an additional fee of $4,000.

Besides those applying for certain L1A and L1B category visas must submit an additional $4,500.

Referring to the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 signed into law by U.S. President Barack Obama on December 18, 2015, USCIS said the additional fees apply to petitioners who employ 50 or more employees in the U.S., with more than 50 per cent of those employees in H1B or L non-immigrant status.

This fee is in addition to the base processing fee, Fraud Prevention and Detection Fee, American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act of 1998 fee (when required), as well as the premium processing fee, if applicable.

This will remain effective through September 30, 2025, USCIS said. According to Indian IT industry lobby group, the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), Indian IT companies have paid between $70 and $80 million annually to the U.S. treasury.

The measure passed last month by the U.S. Congress doubled the cost of sponsoring workers under short-term H1B and L1 visas. Nasscom, estimates local IT firms would incur an extra $400 million a year in costs due to the spike in visa fees.

India's roughly $150 billion outsourcing sector comprising companies such as TCS, Infosys and Wipro generates about three quarters of its revenue from the United States, where they send thousands of staff every year to work at client locations.

"The higher fee is unjustified because it is designed to hurt India firms disproportionately," said R. Chandrasekhar, president of Nasscom.

In December, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had raised the visa fee issue with Obama when the latter telephoned him to thank him for his leadership role on achieving the historic agreement on climate change in Paris on December 12.

However, since it is politically sensitive, the Obama administration went ahead with the move. WITH the US now going into election mode the rhetoric against Indian workers and ``offshoring of jobs has picked up further momentum.

Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump has proposed raising the minimum wage for H-1B visa holders comprising mainly Indian technology professionals as he released his policy of putting American workers first.

Such a move, Trump argued, would force companies to give IT jobs to unemployed Americans and not cheaper workers from overseas, including India.

Releasing his much-awaited immigration policy, the realestate tycoon lashed out at Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Florida senator Marco Rubio, who has introduced a bill to triple H-1B visas.

The Trump Campaign has come out in strong opposition to the Zuckerberg s move to increase the number of H-1B visas, which at present is mandated to 65,000 per annum every year by the US Congress.
Super Tuesday catapulted Donald Trump to front runner of the Republican candidates in the US Presidential Election.

After claiming victory this week in seven states, the polls gave the businessman-cum-celebrity a 27 per cent chance of becoming the next US president.

But with a host of outlandish policies, not least building a wall across the border to Mexico, what would a Trump triumph in the November election mean for investors?

America's 45th president? Donald Trump was originally written off as a joke but he has since electrified US politics claiming victory this week in seven states and is said to have a 27% chance of wining the election

HEALTHCARE

One of Hillary Clintons campaign promises is that she will introduce regulation around drug pricing. Biotechnology and Healthcare funds, which had had an incredibly strong run over the past few years, took a major hit when she first broached the subject back in September.

The Pictet Biotechnology fund is down 19.7 per cent over the past three months, and the Axa Framlington Biotech fund has fallen 16.7 per cent over the same period.

But a Trump victory could be good news for these funds as he has made no mention of capping the amount that pharmaceutical firms can charge for their products.

However, Adrian Lowcock, head of investing at Axa Wealth, points out: Trump has said he believes in providing support for all but wants to repeal the Obamacare act and replace it with something else, though its not clear what.

He could be good for the healthcare sector but his stance is quite contrary to the typical Republican beliefs so might not get much support.

He also thinks insurance companies could suffer under a Trump regime. Part of Trumps proposals include allowing health insurance firms to sell policies to people in other states than the company is based, something they cannot currently do. There is a risk that this could drive out smaller providers.

BUY: Biotechnology funds. The Axa Framlington Biotech fund is down 16.7 per cent over the past three months, but its up 87 per cent over three years.

SELL: Watch out with US funds with big holdings in insurance. For example the Jupiter North American Income fund has 8.5 per cent of its cash in non-life insurance companies, while the M&G North American Value fund has 3.9 per cent of its money in the sector.

THE WALL

ONE of the most striking promises Trump (pictured) has made is to build a wall between the US and Mexico. If that goes ahead then construction firms are likely to benefit.

Ben Gutteridge, head of fund research at Brewin Dolphin, says it depends who will foot the bill for the construction as to which companies will benefit. If Mexico has to construct the structure then it will likely pick its own domestic firms to build it.

He says: Cemex is a Mexican building material company which could benefit if the wall did go ahead. However it does seem pretty implausible at the moment.

Elsewhere, businesses which rely on a low-paid work force could be hit if the construction goes ahead.Lowcock says: Hotels, restaurants and agriculture businesses are dependent of cheap labour, and would suffer if access to those employees dried up.

The Republicans tend to spend more on defence, which is good news for companies such as engineering firm Meggitt and engineering company Cobham.

The party is also typically thought of as being better for the economy as they are pro-business, although history suggests that may not actually be the case.

Fidelity research has looked at how the US economy has fared under each Government since 1928. On average the US stock market returned 10 per cent a year under Democrat leadership, compared to just 1.8 per cent under the Republicans.

The best stock market performance in that time was during Roosevelts second term when the market grew 24.2 per cent a year. Directly before him, under President Hoovers four years in power, the stock market lost 24.7 per cent a year.

BUY: Defence firms such as Meggitt and Cobham.

SELL: An S&P 500 tracker fund which aims to match the performance of the US stock market.

EXPORTERS

The infamous proposed wall will affect more than the building sector, of course. Emerging markets which are heavily reliant on the export of commodities such as oil could suffer if Trump introduces protectionist measures such as increasing tax on imported goods.

It would be good news for US firms though. They are likely to benefit from an increase in domestic demand and talk of cuts to corporation tax.

Lowcock says: While this is great for companys which already produce all their items at home, the main aim is to try and encourage manufacturers to relocate to the US and not operate out of Mexico. Relocating and building new factories, for example, will cost manufacturers though.

BUY Shares in big US tech firms such as Apple and Alphabet (Google).
A mansits on the sofa in a private area on McLarens stand at the Geneva Motor Show. Hes dressed in smart jeans and designer trainers, and is ringed by his three sons.

A serious collector of some of the worlds most expensive vehicles, the businessman from Kent has a passion for cars with performance like no other.

His previous purchase of a McLaren P1 which can reach 0-61mph in a staggering 2.8 seconds and has a 866,000 price tag  has earned him this special invitation. And this self-made millionaire is in the market for a new car.

From its base in the unassuming commuter town of Woking, Surrey, McLaren has cornered the market for vehicles that give owners the closest possible experience to driving racing cars.

Good times: British luxury car makers  or, more precisely, luxury car brands made in the UK, as many are foreign owned  have never had it so good

The Geneva Motor Show is internationally regarded as one of the industrys big showcase events. Its where all the top names unveil their latest designs. And this year, vehicles made in the UK are leading the way.

McLarens latest, the 570GT, with a 154,000 price tag, is intended to be easier to drive and more practical.

The firm was perhaps best known as a Formula 1 team, boasting world champion drivers such as Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna. But ten years ago it made its first road car.

It then went into partnership with Mercedes but in 2009 it decided to go it alone and launched McLaren Automotive.

The handmade cars that come from this unit offer something very different to the mass-produced cars rolling off the production lines of Nissan in Sunderland and Honda in Swindon.

On Tuesday it announced 1billion of new investment over the next six years.

And other British made luxury cars were also showing off their new lines in Geneva this week.

Bentley had rolled out three new versions of its top-of-the-range Mulsanne, including a stretch version.

Showman: The New McLaren 570GT has won many admirers at the 86th Geneva International Motor Show

Sensible choice: The 570GT, which comes with a 154,000 price tag, is intended to be easier to drive and more practical

Rolls-Royce introduced the Ghost Black Badge and Wraith Black Badge, aimed at a younger driver and designed using dark metal and dazzling chrome.

It has also transformed its iconic silver Flying Lady marque into a high-gloss black vamp.

Aston Martin has also brought out its replacement to the DB9.

The DB11, which it announced last week would be made in Wales, will come with a 5.2 litre twin-turbo V12 engine thats capable of producing up to 600 horsepower.

British luxury car makers  or, more precisely, luxury car brands made in the UK, as many are foreign owned  have never had it so good.

In 2010, 37 per cent of cars made in the UK were premium brands, according to data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). This has risen to 46.6 per cent in 2015 and is forecast to rise to 54 per cent by 2020.

And it is not just luxury thats selling. The UK is the second-biggest maker of premium cars in the world, behind Germany, largely because of brands such as Jaguar and Land Rover.

In recent years, UK car production has seen a switch in production away from basic, entry or some mid-market cars and towards higher-value premium vehicles, according to Ian Henry, who has published a report for the SMMT.

In contrast, production by mass-market brands, even when it has risen, has grown more slowly than at the premium brands.

Boy toy: Rolls Royce introduced the Ghost Black Badge and Wraith Black Badge aimed at a younger driver because they are designed in dark metal and dazzling chrome

This, says Henry, is because costs are high in the UK so theres more profit to be made at the premium end of the market.

When it comes to luxury  thats vehicles costing more than 118,000  Britain and Italy have cornered that market. Estimates calculate this market to be worth more than 3.5bn globally amounting to sales of 30,000 cars.

McLaren produced just 375 supercars five years ago, and sold them from one showroom. Last year it made 1,654, sold from a network of 80 dealerships. It has ambitions to produce 4,000 cars by the end of next year.

Chief executive Mike Flewitt says the boom is due to the luxury market having become more global, with the ranks of the super-wealthy burgeoning.

The number of markets in which we sell cars is significantly greater than it was ten to 15 years ago, he said. We now sell in China and South America.

'The size of the luxury market has considerably increased. A lot is due to increased prosperity around the world and increased communication. In China, people are well informed about whats around.

McLaren sells a third of its cars in North America.

Latest industry figures show a record 77.3 per cent of cars made in Britain were exported in 2015.

In demand: British luxury car makers, or more precisely luxury car brands made in the UK because many are foreign owned, have never had it so good

Luxury rocket: Bentley rolled out three new versions of its top of the range Mulsanne including the Mulsanne Speed (pictured) which can reach 190mph

Haber-dasher: Bentley's stretched Mulsanne EWB with bespoke privacy curtains for those who would rather be driven than drive

Around 40 per cent of car parts for these vehicles are sourced locally, supporting other companies in the UK. That may sound impressive, but in Germany its manufacturers source 60 per cent of their parts locally.

German car makers produces three times as many cars as the UK and are able to support a growing local supplier base. And it is German firms which own both Bentley and Rolls-Royce.

At Rolls-Royce, which became part of BMW in 2003, cars are made at Goodwood in Sussex. The two new models are an attempt to broaden its appeal towards a younger, wealthy customer.

During the Geneva Motor Show the luxury marque pumped out loud chart music and beamed images of tattooed drivers on big screens as part of a new edgier image.

B ack in 2003 the firm was producing just 300 models, which jumped to 1002 in 2009 and then quadrupled to 4063 in 2014. The workforce has grown from 300 to 1,600 over the past 13 years.

While its signature Phantom marque became the car of choice for royalty and captains of industry, the business was boosted by the introduction of the Ghost.

A spokesman said: Ghost attracted a younger, more dynamic breed of entrepreneur rather than an HRH or a star of the screen. The success was in connecting to a growing breed of successful men and women who enjoy being driven as well as driving.

Icon: If you fancy owning a car like the one James Bond drove in last years movie Spectre, now you can  as long as you have 154,900 to spare. Aston Martin has unveiled its latest supercar, the 200mph DB11 (pictured)

Racy: It follows on from the limited edition DB10 driven by Daniel Craig as Bond in Spectre. Aston Martin claimed the British-built DB11, which will be delivered to its first buyers at the end of this year, was the most significant new model it has launched in its history

Bentley also has a German parent, and is owned by Volkswagen. Its vehicles are made in Crewe, Cheshire, and, from the summer it will be making the new Mulsanne models. In 2011, just over 7,000 cars rolled off its production line, growing to 10,100 last year.

Kevin Rose, head of sales and marketing, says Britain is synonymous with luxury car marques. Britain has a great reputation for brands with a strong heritage, he said.

There is a hunger and desire for European luxury goods. Italy is known for clothes, Switzerland its watches and Britain its luxury goods and car brands. Only Italy and Britain can claim this.
Austere: New Rolls Royce boss Warren East

The belt-tightening at troubled Rolls-Royce has even extended to its boss, the annual report for the engineer has revealed.

Rolls, which has had a string of profit warnings in the past year, is trying to reduce costs by 200million and has been undergoing a radical restructure in recent months to get it back on track.

And yesterday it was revealed that chief executive Warren East, who took over in July, has been taking a rather more austere approach to perks than his predecessor.

East took home just 8,000 in benefits for the six months since he took over the helm. This comprised a car allowance and medical insurance.

For a similar period, though, former boss John Rishton took perks worth 82,000. This included 47,000 for a London flat rented by the firm for him, a car allowance, chauffeur and financial planning help.

Rishton had been criticised in 2014 for the 151,000 he took in benefits on top of his 2.39m pay package. This included a 106,000 housing allowance.

That came on top of a 93,000 housing allowance the previous year, plus 99,000 for housing costs in 2012 and 148,000 of benefits, including housing, in 2011.

Last year he walked away with total pay, including incentive rewards, of 2.5million for the half year he worked.

In a refreshing change, East, who plays the organ in his local church every Sunday, drives himself to work, took the Tube to the Stock Exchange for the firms annual results and regularly eats in the staff canteen.

He earned a total of 543,000 in pay for the period he worked in 2015. His annual salary will be 925,000.

The annual accounts also shows that 33 employees have parted company with the firm for breaching its code of conduct.
Budget airlines all enjoyed a busy February in the run up to the crucial summer holiday season, with easyJet, Ryanair and Wizz Air posting growth in passenger numbers during the month.

Luton-based easyJet said today that its passenger numbers increased by 9.8 per cent in February to 4.9 million from 4.5 million, but it saw a slight slip in its load factor - the measure of how full its planes are - for the second consecutive month to 90.5 percent from 90.9 per cent..

On a rolling 12-month basis, easyJet's passenger numbers rose by 7.5 per cent to 70.5 million from 65.6 million.

Going nowhere: Chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall revealed last month that she snubbed the chance to become the boss of Marks & Spencer, despite being approached after Marc Bolland said he will step down

Meanwhile yesterday, Ireland's Ryanair reported a rise in both its customers and load factor for the month.

Customer traffic grew 28 per cent year-on-year to 7.4 million from 5.8 million, while its load factor increased by four per cent to 93 per cent from 89 per cent.

And not to be outdone, on Wednesday Wizz Air also posted growth in both passenger numbers and load factor last month.

The airline - which is focused on central and eastern Europe - said its load factor increased by 2.6 per cent in February to 86.4 per cent from 83.7 per cent, as the number of passengers carried grew by 22 per cent to 1.4 million from 1.2 million.

FTSE 100-listed easyJet shares saw its shares gain 48.0p at 1,534.0p this morning, while FTSE 250 firm Wizz Air rose 12.0p at 1,864.0p, with Ryanair shares flat at 14.0p

Airlines and travel firms were hit at the back end of last year by a string of terrorist attacks, damaging revenues as people's confidence in flying took a knock.

In January, easyJet said the spate of terror attacks had hit its revenue for the three months to the end of December.

During the final months of 2015, easyJet cancelled 684 flights, compared to 468 during the same period a year earlier.

Most of the cancellations were from the suspension of flights to Egyptian resort Sharm El-Sheikh after the downing of a Russian A321 aircraft by terrorists in November. It plans to reopen the route on May 27.

The Sharm air disaster and terror attacks in Paris in the same month resulted in lower demand and yield in November and December for easyjet, offsetting a strong revenue per seat performance in October. As a result, the airline's revenue per seat was down 3.7 per cent.

Ryanair said in February that the terrorist attack in Paris and ensuing alerts in Brussels had led to 'weaker prices and bookings', although its quarterly profits still jumped to 103million at the end of 2015, up from 49million in December 2014.
One of the UKs biggest investors provoked fury after declaring its 8million-a-year boss was to step down but then revealed he would be handed the chairmans job.

Schroders yesterday confirmed that Michael Dobson would be stepping down after 14 years at the helm.

But rather than heading off to pastures new, Dobson will become the fund managers non-executive chairman  having raked in almost 50million in pay and perks over the past decade.

The move triggered an angry reaction in the City, with business lobby groups accusing the FTSE 100 giant of violating the UK code of governance.

Anger: Schroders yesterday confirmed that Michael Dobson would be stepping down after 14 years at the helm to become the fund managers non-executive chairman

This recommends that firms should only switch a chief executive to the chairman job  supposedly an independent position  in exceptional circumstances. A firm should also explain to shareholders why it has done so.

Dobson defended his change of roles, which he claimed is backed by the founding Schroders family which still controls 45 per cent of the company and is represented on the board.

We know the code says chief executives should not become chair, but the board has decided it is in the best interests of the company, bearing in mind my experience and knowledge of our clients.

The 63-year-old conceded some investors were likely to vote against the decision at the annual general meeting on April 28, but that most shareholders were happy.

He said that in theory the tendency of the former chief executive continuing to pull the strings as chairman was an issue.

But he added that his replacement Peter Harrison  the firms head of investment  has a strong personality and has his own views.

This defence received short shrift from influential bosses group the Institute of Directors which questioned the independence of the board with Dobson as non-executive chairman.

Chairmen are meant to be independent, and their primary job is to hold the chief executive to account  firing them if they come up short.

Oliver Parry, senior corporate governance adviser at the IOD, said Dobsons appointment does raise concerns, adding the firms strong performance is no excuse for ignoring the corporate governance rules without a very convincing explanation.

He said: Although we understand Schroders desire for continuity, this should not come at the expense of board independence.

'There are good reasons CEOs should not become chairs. The chairs role is to lead the board in holding the executive team to account, without interfering in the day-to-day operational management.

Schroders also came under attack from shareholder lobby group Pirc. Alan Macdougal said: It will be difficult for Schroders to be critical of poor governance practices in the companies its clients are invested in when it has done this itself.

The announcement that Dobson will receive a chairmans fee of 625,000  almost double the 325,000 pocketed by his predecessor Andrew Beeson, may rub salt in the wounds for some shareholders. Dobson justified this by saying he will play a more active role speaking to investors.

But details of his bumper pay package could fuel criticism of excessive pay in the fund management industry  which has also been led by the Institute of Directors.

The row came as the fund manager announced a 14 per cent jump in profits to 589million.

In contrast with some rivals, Schroders said more money flowed into its funds than was taken out by investors, although net inflows fell to 13billion last year from 24.8billion the previous year.
Business Secretary Sajid Javid vowed to tackle the petty, pointless bureaucracy that hinders growth

The Government yesterday outlined plans for a new bonfire of red tape that holds back British business  but it was given a cool reception by industry leaders.

Business Secretary Sajid Javid drew on his background in the private sector as he vowed to tackle the petty, pointless bureaucracy that hinders growth.

He pledged to cut a further 10billion of red tape on business by 2020, on top of the 10billion reduction by the previous coalition government between 2010 and 2015.

Javid said that for every 1 of new regulation introduced, 3 would have to be cut, up from the previous target of 2.

Promising to get rid of heavy-handed over-regulation and build a more productive Britain, he said: It all comes down to my fundamental view that government should stand behind business rather than in your way.

Speaking at the annual conference of the British Chambers of Commerce, he added: I grew up above the family business.

I spent most of my adult life working in business. I know how hard it is to make a business work. And how that task gets infinitely harder when you have to deal with petty, pointless bureaucracy.

I dont believe you need someone from the government peering over your shoulder all the time.

You deserve a regulatory regime thats fit for business and fit for the future. And with me, thats exactly what youre going to get.

But the plans were given a mixed reception by business amid rising costs associated with Government policies such as the National Living Wage and apprenticeship levy.

John Longworth, director general of the BCC, said. The one thing Sajid Javid cannot do anything about is European legislation and that is where the bulk of the burden is coming from.

'All power to his elbow if he is able to do something about home-grown legislation, but Ill believe it when I see it.

Tim Thomas, director of employment and skills policy at EEF, the manufacturers organisation, said: Confirmation that the Government will find 10billion of savings from cutting red tape will receive a mixed reception from UK manufacturers.
The slump in petrol prices boosted the finances of millions of households but also led to a rise in car accidents and injuries, insurance giant Admiral claimed yesterday.

Announcing a surge in profits, the FTSE 100 firm said that motorists made more discretionary trips last year because it cost them less to fill up a tank.

David Stevens, the veteran chief operating officer who will replace Admirals multi-millionaire founder Henry Engelhardt at the helm in May, said: We did see more crashes and the transport statistics supported that.

Look out: Blue chip insurer Admiral reported record full year 2015 profits today claiming the slump in petrol prices has led to a rise in car accidents and injuries

'There were more road miles being done, more injuries in those accidents as well, which is an unusual development.

He added that the trend tailed off in the second half of the year as people got used to lower prices at the pump and were not feeling quite as flush  meaning they made less discretionary journeys.

The Cardiff-based firm cited figures from the Ministry of Justice, which showed motor insurance claims worth 25,000 or more increased 5 per cent last year.

But the rise was offset by an 8 per cent jump in motor insurance premiums.

Admiral, which owns UK price comparison site Confused as well as the Elephant, Diamond and Bell brands, said that profits rose 6 per cent to 377million last year.

The better than expected results prompted shares to soar more than 9 per centto 1919p.

The firm also announced a full-year dividend of 114.4p per share  which equates to a 37.4million payout for Engelhardt, who owns 11.6 per cent of the company.

The colourful businessman from Chicago, who founded Admiral in Cardiff 25 years ago, described 2015 as the year of the uncut diamond.

The 58-year-old said: When the year started many people thought it would turn out to be a lump of coal. But no, 2015 was no lumpy coal year.
Nobody could accuse former BBC Dragon and multi-millionaire freight entrepreneur Hilary Devey of having success handed to her on a plate.

The Bolton native left school at 16 before taking on a range of jobs, including a short stint in the Woman's RAF.

While working as a clerk at a freight delivery firm, she overheard one of the drivers complain that he would have to wait until morning to fill his lorry with enough cargo to justify driving to his destination. This inspired her to found freight distributing company Pall-Ex in 1996, which got drivers to pool their freight, making distribution quicker and easier.

Hilary Devey: 'I can remember bailiffs coming to our house and taking our possessions'

After being refused funding, she sold her house and car to finance the business, which ultimately netted Hilary her first million at the age of 40. Today, the business is worth an estimated 100million.

Thrice-divorced, Hilary has one son. In 2009 she made history as the first woman to win the prestigious Sir Robert Lawrence award for her contribution to the logistics and transport profession

In 2013 she was awarded a CBE for her services to the transportation industry and to charity. She has also had a varied TV career, going undercover on the Secret Millionaire and appearing on two series of Dragons' Den.

More recently, she gave young people a chance to win their dream job on The Intern, and appeared on Running the Shop, where she supervised staff taking over a business while their boss was away.

In our latest edition of Start-up Secrets, Hilary reveals the advice she wishes she could tell her younger self, and why she is backing the Stronger In campaign.

Who or what has most inspired you?

My father inspired me the most, because he lost everything, rebuilt from scratch, and still managed to provide for his family. He'd originally grown a very large central heating company, where he employed some 300 people at its peak.

CV: Hilary Devey 1957: Born in Bolton, Greater Manchester 1973: Left school aged 16 and worked for the RAF and in air traffic control 1996: Founded Pall-Ex, one of Europe's biggest palletised freight networks 2008: Featured in Channel 4s Secret Millionaire, and donated more than 70,000 to the Back Door Music Project and the Syke Community Centre in Rochdale 2011-13: Appeared on BBCs Dragons Den alongside fellow Dragons Peter Jones, Theo Paphitis, Duncan Bannatyne and Deborah Meaden 2013: Appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours, for services to the transport industry and charity 2016: Endorsed the Britain Stronger In Europe campaign as Small Business champion

Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse  I can remember the bailiffs coming to the house and taking our possessions.

Despite this, he was able to get into another business and provide a good living for us all.

His mantra was always, 'One door closes and another one opens'. He was a born optimist.

What is the one piece of advice you would go back and tell your younger self?

I'd tell myself to choose the right partner, in life and in business.

I've been married three times, and two of them took me for a lot of money. I guess I never really knew those people.

You need to choose someone on an even keel, who aspires to the same dreams and ideals, and will support you, otherwise it simply won't work.

How did you manage to secure funding?

I didn't! When I had the idea for Pall-Ex I knew I'd need capital to get it up and running. However, I was turned down by the bank, despite going to them with a business plan so accurate it traded pound for pound and pallet for pallet.

The bank manager was a bit of a misogynist, frankly. He patted me on the head, said I had no chance. Told me one in every three businesses fails. Just go home and look after the child.

My business, Pall-Ex, is 20 years old this year, and that's the one he turned down. When the bank refused me, I sold my house and car, and everything but my son (and myself) to raise the money. I needed 112,000 to get going, and that was what I put in all on my own.

Shairng her wisdom: Hilary replaced James Caan on Dragon's Den, after appearing on Secret Millionaire

What advice would you give to someone pitching for investment?

I would say keep it simple. Be concise, and explain your concept clearly and effectively. The thing you need to focus on and be completely transparent about is the return it will provide, and the length of time it will take to return to the investor(s) with equity.

Prove that your model is sound  know your numbers, be determined, and don't allow for any holes in your pitch. You will be expected to justify every aspect and projection contained in your business plan, so make sure you can.

TV favourite: on the set of Running the Shop

What makes a good business idea?

You've got to look at the competition. Can you genuinely beat it in terms of quality, execution, and price? If you believe so, then it probably is a good business idea  now you just need to make it demonstrable.

What is the most important quality you look for in a business partner/ employee?

I look for a number of qualities: people who are selfless and have tenacity, focus, energy, motivation and determination.

Ideally, someone whose career is the most important facet of their life at that time. Someone who can challenge and debate, but also accept when they're wrong.

Often, people's biggest strengths emerge when they're in a low moment. The best people are those who know if they do make a mistake, they can ensure they won't make it again.

We all need to go through learning curves to enhance our knowledge, and they're a common part of life and business. But give me someone who can hold their hands up and say 'I messed up  and I ensure it won't happen again', over someone who passes the blame any day.

'I'd like to see more business incentives for young people': Hilary on the set of TV show The Intern

What one change to legislation or policy would help your business the most?

I'd like to see more incentives provided to get young people into business. I also think smaller companies should get better breaks for maternity pay, parental leave, or receive grants that ensure they are compensated when employing young people for training schemes and apprenticeships.

Life would be a lot easier (and fairer) if tax breaks were made more readily available for these sorts of things, but very few companies can currently take advantage.

Young people give companies zest, and influence other employees with their determination and will to work, so anything possible to support them should be undertaken.

Finally, I want to put again on record my full support for the Stronger In campaign. The UK needs to be part of a united Europe; it is just so important  I honestly think any company that doesn't take advantage of trade in Europe is short-sighted.
Police have filed a missing persons report but have no '

The family of a 21-year-old woman who told them she went for a job interview and never returned have released a desperate plea for help finding her.

Reannan Ellis, 21, was dropped off at Tuggerah train station at 7.20am on Wednesday by her sister Natasha, heading to Sydney for the meeting.

Her family have since claimed the job interview was fake, and the family have only been in contact with Ms Ellis via text message since she left the NSW Central Coast.

A source told Daily Mail Australia this is not the first time the 21-year-old has run away, and believe she has left her hometown of her own free will.

Reannan Ellis was last seen at Tuggerah train station on NSW central coast on Wednesday morning

Family have described Ms Ellis' disappearance as 'out of character' and said the situation 'doesn't add up'

'This 21 year old woman has gone missing. She went to Sydney Wednesday morning (2nd March) from Tuggerah to go for a job interview,' a family member posted online.

'The company ended up giving her a trial for the day so she didn't leave there till after 5pm.'

Family have described Ms Ellis' disappearance as 'out of character' and said the situation 'doesn't add up'.

'She is a very small build weighing only 46kgs and about 5 foot 4. She was last seen wearing blue jeans with a rip, a black jacket with blue sleeves and hood and red converse shoes.'

Police confirmed to Daily Mail Australia they had received a missing persons report and are making inquiries, however said they have 'no immediate concerns for her safety'.

About midday on Thursday Ms Ellis' family revealed that the email was 'fake', and had only spoken to her via text message.
Country has confirmed 71 cases this year, most from Tonga or Samoa

New Zealand authorities are investigating if the Zika virus was contracted through unprotected sex, after a woman contracted the virus when her partner returned from a Zika-affected region.

The woman and her male partner have since recovered and experienced only mild symptoms after the pair both tested positive to virus upon his return.

There is limited scientific evidence to suggest the virus can be sexually transmitted, due to the rarity of cases, Ministry of Health spokesperson Don Mackie said.

The woman and her male partner, tested positive for Zika after he returned from a trip to a Zika-affected country. The pair have since recovered and experienced only mild symptoms

Authorities are also investigating if the woman may have been bitten by an infected mosquito brought into the country in her partners luggage

Authorities are also investigating if the woman may have been bitten by an infected mosquito brought into the country in her partners luggage.

The woman's house is under surveillance to search for any exotic mosquitoes at the property, but none have been detected.

The health authority has stressed the risk to the wider public is extremely low. The species of mosquito that can spread Zika are not native to New Zealand.

However, Brazilian scientists have recently been able to infect the Culex quinquefasciatus species of mosquito, which has inhabited New Zealand since the 1850s, stuff.co.nz reported.

The finding suggested it was 'misguided and potentially dangerous' to rule out New Zealand as home to mosquitoes capable of transmitting the virus, Dr Jose Derraik, senior research fellow at the Liggins Institute, University of Auckland, said.

Zika has been linked to thousands of suspected cases of microcephaly, a rare birth defect defined by unusually small heads.

Zika has been linked to thousands of suspected cases of microcephaly, a rare birth defect defined by unusually small heads (pictured)

New Zealand has so far this year reported 71 confirmed cases of people infected by Zika, most of whom had been infected in Tonga or Samoa, according to Ministry of Health data.

U.S. health officials said last week they were investigating 14 reports of the Zika virus that may have been transmitted through sex, including to several pregnant women.ms.

Brazil said it has confirmed more than 580 cases of microcephaly, and considers most of them to be related to Zika infections in the mothers. Brazil is investigating an additional 4,100 suspected cases of microcephaly.
Malcolm Turnbull has been captured on camera refusing to shake the hand of former prime minister Tony Abbott at a Liberal Party dinner - and then icily staring at him as he greets other guests at the table.

The dinner, on Wednesday in Canberra, was celebrating the 20th anniversary of the election of John Howard's government in 1996.

Footage shows Malcolm Turnbull and his wife Lucy shaking the hands of various people, before it cuts to Tony Abbott, leaning across the table to shake the hand of Blackmores CEO, Marcus Blackmore.

Abbott then makes a movement towards the Turnbulls before deciding against it, as Malcolm Turnbull remains impassive and makes no attempt to engage in conversation.

Abbott pauses before leaning across the table again to the woman seated next to Lucy Turnbull, wife of Blackmores CEO, Caroline Blackmore.

Tony Abbott shakes her hand before moving away from the table.

Former prime minister tony Abbott at the Liberal dinner, walking to shake hands with another guest across the table

The former and current Liberal party leaders were seated across from one another throughout the dinner.

The awkward dinner stand off comes just days after Abbott was accused of being responsible for a national security leak, in which he released details of the defence White Paper which claimed acquisition of new submarines had been delayed after the leadership change.

Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, Christopher Pyne, defended former prime minister Tony Abbott, saying he doesn't assume he is the source of the leak.

Mr Pyne says he doesn't believe Mr Abbott is destabilising the Turnbull government and he doesn't assume Mr Abbott is responsible for a national security leak being investigated by the Australian Federal Police.

'I wouldn't raise matters like the leak with Mr Abbott because I wouldn't immediately assume it was him,' Pyne told the Nine Network on Friday.

When asked if he believed Mr Abbott, treasurer Scott Morrison told The Australian that he believed his word.

Malcolm Turnbull is pictured greeting other Liberal party members and supporters at the anniversary dinner

'Youve got to do the right thing on national security and when there are breaches such as that, then they need to be investigated without fear or favour, and its important the integrity of how national security measures are handled that that process is undertaken.'

Labor has seized on the signs of internal tensions in the Turnbull government by comparing it to a horror movie.

Labor MP Anthony Albanese told the Nine Network watching the Liberal party was like a movie where it rains sharks.

Tony Abbott leans across the table to shake hands with Marcus Blackmore, CEO of Blackmores, while Malcolm and Lucy Turnbull are seated next to him

'Another week of conflict, this is like watching the Sharknado movie as they eat each other on the other side,' he said.

Liberal backbencher Dennis Jensen believes the story is a media beat-up and journalists were going 'way over the top'.

'It's a nice, interesting news story but there's nothing happening internally,' he told ABC radio.

As they shake hands, Lucy and Malcolm Turnbull are pictured in the background

Lucy Turnbull's head is turned towards Malcolm Turnbull, who remains impassive throughout the exchange

Lucy and Malcolm Turnbull don't make eye contact with Tony Abbott during the exchange

Abbott makes a motion towards the Turnbulls but decides against it, as Malcolm Turnbull remains impassive and doesn't make a move to greet him

Abbott then turns his greetings towards Caroline Blackmore, wife of Blackmores CEO Marcus Blackmore, whose company was sponsoring the dinner

As Tony Abbott chats with Caroline Blackmore, Lucy Turnbull looks away and Malcolm Turnbull continues to remain impassive

Lucy Turnbull smiles and looks away while Malcolm Turnbull reaches for a drink

Caroline Blackmore takes a seat at the table next to Lucy Turnbull, after shaking Tony Abbott's hand

Tony Abbott walks away from the table. In recent days he has been accused of being responsible for a national security leak, currently being investigated by the Australia Federal Police

Other guests seated at the table included John and Janette Howard, former treasurer Peter Costello, Meg Alston, her husband and Liberal Party president, Richard Alston and National Party president Larry Anthony

The commemorative dinner, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the election of the Howard government, hosted 650 guests

The guest of honour, John Howard (centre) outside the event with his daughter Melanie (left) and his wife Janette (right)

John Howard greets guests outside the Liberal party dinner, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the election of his government in 1996

Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull (left) and John Howard (right) posing for photographs outside the Liberal party dinner
Branko and Lela admitted thefts and will be sentenced later this month

Judge allowed her to begin prison term in September of this year

Julia - due to give birth next month - was sentenced to 15 months in jail

Family stole dolls, toys, cosmetics from across America in last decade

A pregnant woman who helped her parents steal more than $9 million of toys in a nationwide crime spree has been sentenced to 15 months in jail.

Julia Bogdanov, of Northbrook, Chicago, was arrested alongside her father Branko, 59, and mother Lela Bogdanov, 53, in March 2014 by the Secret Service - bringing a decade-long theft spree to an end.

The family have stolen hundreds of dolls, toys, cosmetics and other valuables from all over the country in the last ten years and sold them online for more than a total of more than $4 million.

Today Julia, who is eight months pregnant, was sentenced to serve a year and three months in jail for her part in the crime ring, the Chicago Sun Times reports.

Two generations of thieves: Julia Bogdanov (left) was arrested with her father Branko (right) and mother Lela Bogdanov - bringing a decade-long theft spree to an end

But U.S. District Judge Andrea Wood granted a six months reprieve to the 36-year-old, who is due to give birth next month.

Her attorney, Scott Frankel had argued that his client was brought up in a strict household by her parents, along with four siblings.

'She did not have any real choice or ability to refuse participation in the trip,' Frankel told the Chicago Sun Times.

'Yes, she is an adult. Yes, she is responsible for her own actions. But she was under the enormous pressure and expectations her family placed upon her.'

Bogdanov's parents, who moved to the Unites States from the former-Yugoslavia, admitted in a plea agreement last November to stealing as much as $9.5 million in goods dating to 2004.

Both Branko and Lela face up to about six years in prison when they are sentenced later this month.

Prosecutors say that Lela would don a long black skirt with large compartments sewn on the inside during the family's shoplifting binges. Shop staff became suspicious after she would be seen on Surveillance cameras leaving the stores some time later with her skirt looking noticeably fuller.

She was also accused of faking having cancer in a bid for leniency.

Prosecutors say authorities found $74,698 in merchandise in the family's Northbrook home in Chicago

Prosecutor Renato Mariotti said at an earlier hearing that Lela's slow shuffle in court didn't match her behavior on surveillance video which shows her sprinting out of stores with toys and other items concealed in her skirt.

Investigators watched footage of the Bogdanovs leaving a Toys 'R' Us in New Orleans when a gust of wind revealed a box hidden in the lining of her dress.

Meanwhile, Lela's husband Branko, who has a previous theft conviction from Georgia in 1989, and was convicted of burglary in Texas in 1977, was accused of concealing his wealth.

The 59-year-old claimed he was $28,500 in debt and owed $1.3million on his house and 12 cars- which include a Lexus and Corvette.

Julia, who has a history of thefts on record including a 1997 conviction in Florida, would help her parents by causing a distraction.

During one theft at a Barnes & Noble in Maryland, she ran interference after a guard clocked her parents trying to take mini American Girl dolls.

Her father then choked a store detective, court records show.

The United States Secret Service brought down the Bogdanovs after Barnes and Noble Inc. and Toys R Us Inc. contacted the agency about what the complaint describes as 'a huge loss in merchandise

The United States Secret Service brought down the Bogdanovs after Barnes and Noble Inc. and Toys R Us Inc. contacted the agency about what the complaint describes as 'a huge loss in merchandise'.

With the help of those companies and eBay, authorities traced stolen items to an online trading account of the cooperating witnesses, who, in turn, agreed to help in the investigation of the Bogdanovs.

Prosecutors say authorities found $74,698 in merchandise in the family's Northbrook home.

Their latest spree before the 2014 arrest and seen them sweep through Louisiana, Tennessee, Maryland, Florida, Oklahoma and Texas - stealing high end toys and baby items as they went.

Julia Bogdanov, who pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing, was told she must start her 15 month jail term on September 12.

She had told the judge: 'I'm a first-time mom. This is my first baby.'

She also assured the court she had no plans to return to her life of crime.

But Judge Wood seemed dubious about her promise to keep herself of trouble.

'I can't help but feel that Ms. Bogdanov is not so much sorry for what she did, but sorry that she got caught,' Wood said.

Despite her record, Julia currently works at a cosmetics counter at a department store.
Understandably, he declined an invitation to join the naked man inside

The delivery man took the prank in his stride and remained professional

A man holding a banana his cheeks answered the door as his friend filmed

A Domino's Pizza delivery worker managed to expertly keep his cool when a naked man with a banana clenched between his bottom cheeks answered the door in a hilarious prank video.

In a clip posted to YouTube on Tuesday, a tattooed man being filmed through a window by his friend answers the door stark naked to a pizza delivery man in an apparent setup in Melbourne.

But the delivery man, clearly a professional, doesn't falter once as he hands over the pizza boxes and reaches for his cash bag.

A tattooed man (pictured left) being filmed through a window by his friend answers the door stark naked with a banana clenched between his bottom cheeks to a pizza delivery man (pictured right) in an apparent setup in Melbourne

He remains unphased by the man's stark appearance, as the prankster also maintains a straight face while his friend can be heard giggling from behind the camera.

The interaction becomes awkward when the delivery man attempts to place the cans of coke on a nearby bench while the prankster insists on stacking them on top of his pile of pizzas and wings.

With many other pizzas to deliver, he declines an invitation to join the naked man inside.

'Nah I'm alright mate' - with many other pizzas to deliver, the Domino's employee declines an invitation to join the naked man inside

'Do you want to come in, or?' the naked man can be heard asking.

'Nah I'm alright mate,' the delivery man says.

Despite outstanding service and professionalism, the pizza delivery man left without being tipped.

In a quote from the person who posted the initial video, Andrew Clarke explains how the video occurred: 'After a big night that turned into a day session, we decided to order some pizza, with a banana split surprise!'




Michael Weiss now has sole custody of chis child with Buchbinder and has filed a $5million civil suit against his ex

Buchbinder has not been criminally charged despite the fact that she was seen with Nolan buying the

In his opening statement, Nolan's lawyer argued that the young man had been brainwashed by his cousin who was also a

Nolan's cousin Pamela Buchbinder, was Weiss' ex, and the two have a son together

Jacob Nolan, 23, has been charged with attempted murder after attacking Michael Weiss with a

The defense team of a young man on trial for attempted murder is accusing their client's psychiatrist cousin of brainwashing him into committing the violent act.

Jacob Nolan, 23, allegedly went after Michael Weiss with a sledgehammer and stabbed him multiple times with a kitchen knife in November 2012 at his home office in Manhattan before Weiss was able to break free and call for help.

Nolan was able to get into Weiss' office because his ex was Nolan's cousin Pamela Buchbinder, who is also the psychiatrist Nolan's lawyers are arguing he was brainwashed him into committing the act.

Nolan had been living with Buchbinder, 43, at the time and the two were seen purchasing the sledgehammer used in the attack the night before at a Home Depot.

Trial: Jacob Nolan (above leaving court on Thursday) has been charged with attempted murder after attacking Michael Weiss with a sledgehammer and stabbing him in 2012

Motive: Nolan's cousin Pamela Buchbinder, was Weiss' ex, and the two have a son together (Michael Weiss above leaving court Thursday)

Defense: In his opening statement, Nolan's lawyer argued that the young man had been brainwashed by his cousin who was also a psychiatrist (Nolan above on Thursday)

'As a psychiatrist, she knew what buttons to push,' said Nolan's lawyer in court on Wednesday during his opening statement according to the New York Post.

'Pam Buchbinder, the psychiatrist, turned Jake Nolan into her weapon against Michael Weiss.'

Roger Stavis, Nolan's lawyer, claimed the young man was suicidal and suffering from 'depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder,' saying; 'He was putty in her hands. She programmed him.'

Shortly before opening statements began, Nolan actually turned around and winked at friends and family members in the courtroom.

Evidence photo provided by DA New York of the sledgehammer used in the attack which was bought from Home Depot

A knife found at the scene of the attack. In his opening statement, Nolan's lawyer argued that the young man had been brainwashed by his cousin who was also a psychiatrist

Prosecutors meanwhile used their opening statement to state that Nolan knew exactly what he was doing when he decided to carry out his failed attack.

'He had a destination. He had a plan and he was armed with the tools he needed to accomplish that plan,' said assistant district attorney Linda Ford.

'He knew what he was doing  he put a lot of thought into it.'

Just says before the attack Buchbinder had convinced Weiss to change his $1.5million life insurance policy so that she was a trustee.

Their now seven-year-old son was the sole beneficiary of the policy.

Evidence photo provided shows the injuries sustained by Michael Weiss during the attack

Nolan (mugshot lefte, on Thursday right) had been living with Buchbinder, 43, at the time and the two were seen purchasing the sledgehammer used in the attack

Scene: Weiss' home office (above) where the attack took place in 2012

Prosecutors claim that Buchbinder even drew Nolan a map to show him how to get into her ex's home office.

She has not, however, been charged with any crime at this time.

In December, a family court judge ruled that she had acted with Nolan in the attack though and barred her from having any contact with her son, who now lives full time with his father.

Weiss is expected to testify against Nolan during the trial. He has also filed a $5million Manhattan civil suit against Buchbinder.
One source said the studio is subtly trying to make it disappear so Trump 'doesn't sue' but another source said 'there's no worries'

Sony is reportedly concerned about the Republican presidential candidate's reaction to the scene

While another viewer at another screening said 'the whole cinema clapped when Donald Trump got given AIDS'

One viewer at screening of the film's world premiere said the scene was met with 'loud cheering'

While audiences at screenings of the new Sacha Baron Cohen movie have been cheering a scene in which Donald Trump accidentally contracts HIV, Sony Pictures is reportedly concerned about the his reaction.

At The Brothers Grimsby world premiere in London last week, one viewer said the scene was met with 'loud cheering,' while another viewer at a different screening noted 'the whole cinema clapped.'

Industry sources said Sony made its disapproval at the scene clear and pushed to cut it, but in a rare deal for a producer-actor, Baron Cohen has final authority, according to The Huffington Post.

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While audiences at screenings of the new Sacha Baron Cohen movie have been cheering a scene in which 'Donald Trump' accidentally contracts HIV, Sony Pictures is reportedly concerned about Trump's reaction

A viewer at a screening of the film last week wrote that 'the whole cinema clapped when Donald Trump got given AIDS'

The film includes a scene in which Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe, who is played by a double, is infected after a misdirected gunshot splatters the blood of a HIV-positive child into his mouth, according to The Daily Telegraph.

At the end of the satiric comedy, Trump is then infected with Radcliffe's blood leading to news reports that 'Donald Trump has AIDS.'

The movie includes a disclaimer noting that Radcliffe was not involved in the film and is not HIV positive, along with a similar notice that appears for the Republican presidential candidate.

The joke has reportedly been met with 'loud cheering' and even standing ovations at screenings in Europe, but Sony executives are nervous that it could anger Trump, according to sources.

'If you were told that they're shying away from the movie because of the political implications, I can tell you that's 100 per cent true,' a source told the Huffington Post.

Baron Cohen and his brother in the film played by British actor Mark Strong are shown above in a scene. The which opens March 11 in the United States

Actor Sacha Baron Cohen, center, pictured at the LA Premiere of The Brothers Grimsby at the Regency Village Theatre on Thursday in Los Angeles

Another source noted: 'They're subtly trying to make it disappear so Donald Trump doesn't sue the studio, and also if Donald Trump wins, then they don't have a major problem with the corporation where they've alienated the president.'

However, contrary to those claims, another industry source told the Huffington Post that the reports of a panicking studio are part of a 'stunt' to gain more publicity.

'Sacha's been a great partner with the studio. It's silly. The studio always knew what the movie was,' the industry insider said.

'It's Sacha Baron Cohen's outrageous brand. Legal vets it. There's no worries there, and there's no big love affair with Trump out here in Hollywood.'

Meanwhile, as the film is set to open in the US on March 11, many may not be aware as a marketing campaign has not been visible given a decision by the studio to limit its marketing, the Huffington Post reported.

'You see any ads for it? See any television spots? See it digitally?' one source asked who added that in North America, there is not one billboard for the film.

A publicist for Baron Cohen declined to comment while a Sony spokeswoman called claims that the studio was not fully backing the film 'utter nonsense' - noting they have been 'supportive of the filmmaker and the film,' according to the Huffington Post.

A publicist for Baron Cohen declined to comment while a Sony spokeswoman called claims that the studio was not fully backing the film 'utter nonsense' - noting they have been 'supportive of the filmmaker and the film'

Baron Cohen has been promoting the film, appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live in character as Borat, at the Oscars as Ali G and recently showed the film to Kim Kardashian West and her family who posted their reactions to social media.

The applause the scene has received overseas has been providing comedic relief for Europeans horrified by Trump's rise in the race for president.

Super Tuesday's results, in which Trump won seven of 11 states, mean he is a contender.

A day after his Super Tuesday wins, Sen. John McCain joined 60-plus leaders in the Republican national security community to blast Donald Trump's foreign policy prowess in an open letter.

The GOP experts penned an open letter warning that a Trump presidency would make 'America less safe' and would 'diminish our standing in the world.'

The experts pointed out that Trump calling for global trade wars, as he has against China, Japan and Mexico, would be a 'recipe for economic disaster in a globally connected world.'

Torture, and Trump's embrace of waterboarding and more, was also 'inexcusable,' the experts said.
Nine in ten sunshine Easter holidays are likely to be more expensive this year following the slump in the value of the pound.

Research published Friday suggests spending money will not go as far in most resorts given the pound buys fewer euros and dollars.

The average increase in the total cost of a holiday for a family of four this Easter is put at 72, according to the M&S Bank.

Nine in ten sunshine Easter holidays are likely to be more expensive this year following the slump in the value of the pound (stock photo)

The real situation is likely to be even worse because this figure is based on exchange rates that applied in the middle of February and the pound has fallen further since then.

City speculators have marked down the value of the pound because of the economic uncertainty surrounding the EU referendum in June.

But while the pound is looking weak at the moment, there is a chance it could bounce back before the schools break up in the summer.

Researchers looked at total holiday costs, including travel, accommodation and spending money, in resorts from Europe to Dubai, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Florida compared to a year ago.

The problems surrounding the value of the pound come at the same time as package holiday prices are already going up.

Prices to Spain, Portugal and Italy have risen this year because many families are choosing safe haven destinations over places like Turkey, Tunisia and Egypt.

An investigation of 10 popular destinations found the cost of one week for a family of four ranges in price from 1,820 in Crete to 6,769 in Florida.

The figure for Crete is up by 78 to 1,820, Andalucia is up by 86 to 1,884, and Malta is up by 85 to 1,892.

The biggest increase in cash terms was 167 for a one-week trip to Punta Cana, in the Dominican Republic, taking the total to 6,120.

An investigation of 10 popular destinations found the cost of one week for a family of four ranges in price from 1,820 in Crete to 6,769 in Florida (stock photo)

People holidaying in Dubai face paying an increase of 118, taking the price to 3,084, which works out at less than half the price of Florida.

The report said the Canary Islands offer the best temperatures at this time of year out of top five most affordable destinations.

The total cost of a holiday for four in Lanzarote is put at 2,552, which is up by 94 on a year ago.

The only destination that is cheaper this Easter is Cancun, Mexico, where the total cost is down by 66 to 6,056.

Paul Stokes, head of products at M&S Bank, said: Even though most holidays have risen in price this Easter, there are some great destinations that offer families warm weather and value for money.
Wood was eventually charged with separate child sex offences in the UK

Pilot Simon Wood (pictured), 54, molested scores of young girls on overseas trips

British Airways has agreed to pay substantial damages to 38 child victims of a paedophile pilot who abused them on stopovers in Africa.

The settlement comes two and a half years after the Daily Mail revealed how First Officer Simon Wood, 54, had molested scores of young girls on overseas trips.

Wearing a bogus captain's uniform, the bachelor groomed victims with BA-branded toys and colouring books before subjecting them to horrific ordeals at five-star hotels used by the airline.

After the Mail revealed the enormity of his crimes, BA faced a damaging lawsuit brought by 38 of his victims.

They argued that the airline had failed to protect them from his abuse.

Wood's 13-year campaign of terror ended when he was charged with separate child sex offences in the UK.

Days after appearing in court in London in August 2013 charged with the abuse, he died after throwing himself under a train.

Leigh Day, the law firm that represented Wood's victims in Africa, claimed he molested victims aged four to 18 in schools and orphanages during stopovers in Kenya and Uganda between 2001 and 2013 while flying for BA.

The lawsuit centred on whether BA could be held liable for the actions of Wood and whether BA 'had a duty of care for the children abused in the countries Wood visited whilst working for the airline and taking part in charity work'.

Nichola Marshall, of Leigh Day, said: 'For three years we have been fighting for compensation for these young girls, whose childhoods were destroyed by the sexual abuse they were subjected to by Simon Wood, a British Airways pilot.

'Now British Airways has agreed to compensate our clients, these girls will be able to complete their education, which for many was seriously disrupted because of the abuse. They will also be able to access therapeutic treatment to help relieve the psychological pain that has resulted from the abuse.

'This settlement should send a message to organisations which send employees to work or volunteer with children. They need proper safeguards to prevent such horrific acts.'

Responding to the news of the settlement, one of the girls said: 'The money will help my school fees because it has been a problem to me.

And when I finish schooling I would like to start a business which could help me in the future.'

Leigh Day said a confidentiality agreement meant it could not reveal the exact amount of compensation.

In a statement, BA said: 'The allegations against Simon Wood have been shocking and horrifying.

The settlement comes two and a half years after the Daily Mail revealed how First Officer Simon Wood, 54, had molested scores of young girls on overseas trips

Though we do not bear any legal responsibility for Simon Wood's actions, we recognise the impact they had on his victims and the distress and suffering they caused.'

After his crimes came to light, questions were asked over why he was allowed to work near children.

During his 16-year career with BA, Wood chose unpopular routes in and out of East Africa, using his stays there to prey on vulnerable children in the slums.

His first known contact with children in Africa came in 2001 when he began visiting an orphanage in the Karen area of Nairobi, the Kenyan capital.

At Easter 2002, he was among 20 crew members who volunteered to spend the holiday with the youngsters, showering the orphanage with presents, medicines and donations raised at home.

Wood first came to the attention of police when he was accused of an indecent assault on an eight-year-old girl. He met her while volunteering for Diabetes UK, escorting children on a trip to North Yorkshire in 2000.

British Airways (file photo) has agreed to pay substantial damages to 38 of Wood's child victims

Following a tip-off, officers rearrested him over the allegation at Heathrow in July 2013. In a search, explicit images of African youngsters were found on his laptops.

He appeared in court on August 16, 2013, charged with possessing indecent images and indecently assaulting an eight-year-old girl.
Iain Duncan Smith today delivers a devastating attack on the 'spin, smears and threats' being deployed by the Government machine to 'bully' Britain into remaining inside the EU.

Writing in today's Mail, he said a series of 'highly questionable' dossiers churned out by Number Ten and the Foreign Office had threatened the public with 'almost Biblical consequences' if they dared to vote to leave.

And he warns of lasting damage to British politics beyond the June 23 referendum if David Cameron and the other leading players in the Remain camp do not conduct the debate in a more 'respectful manner'.

Iain Duncan Smith is attacking the 'spin, smears and threats' being deployed by the Government machine to 'bully' Britain into remaining inside the EU

Two weeks after the Prime Minister returned from Brussels with his EU deal, the debate on the European Union has shifted significantly. The Remain campaign's case seems almost wholly based on what they describe as the nightmare of leaving. This case has in whole or in part become characterised by spin, smears and threats.

This was not what we were told the debate would be about and so for those keen to stay in the EU I register a concern and also a challenge.

In the last fortnight we have had a series of highly questionable dossiers  threatening almost biblical consequences if we dare to consider a future outside of the European Union.

We've seen a series of stunts, whereby big businesses, big banks, and powerful politicians from other EU member states seek to bully the British people into believing their jobs and security are at risk. The impartiality and integrity of the civil service  on whose credibility the whole institution of Government depends  has even been called into question by Parliament.

The acrimonious manner in which all this has been conducted is troubling, and will I fear have consequences long beyond June 23. After all, such desperate and unsubstantiated claims are now being made that they begin to damage the very integrity of those who make them in the eyes of the public.

The biggest danger to the European Union comes not from those who advocate departure, but from those who denounce such thinking as heretical and dangerous.

This is the most important question we have faced in a generation, and it is vitally important that the debate is conducted in a respectful manner  where we maturely interrogate the issues, rather than indulge in scaremongering.

And so that brings me to the challenge.

In January 2013, the Prime Minister made an excellent speech, setting out his vision for a reformed European Union. He made a powerful case for 'fundamental, far-reaching change'  without which he said the EU 'would make our countries weaker not stronger'.

Now, I know that the Prime Minister entered the negotiations with good intent. He said at the time that 'with courage and conviction, I believe we can deliver a more flexible, adaptable and open European Union'.

The problem was that he was faced with the final reality that the EU is disinclined to make such fundamental reform.

Now there will be some people who will have believed from day one that we should stay in the Union regardless, and others who may have wanted to leave irrespective of any changes that might have been secured.

However, the original referendum challenge set by the Prime Minister was not predicated on whether we wanted to remain in the EU or not  it was whether we wanted to remain in a 'reformed EU'. That is a vital distinction and one which is now being deliberately avoided.

After all, the Prime Minister said himself that the case for staying in was conditional on achieving reform. So for those who are undecided, surely the paramount question that they will want to answer for themselves is whether the European Union that we now have is reformed or not.

If they arrive at the conclusion that it has not, then it would be quite logical for them to decide that Britain would be better served Out.

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions warned of lasting damage to British politics beyond the June 23 referendum if PM David Cameron (pictured) does not conduct the EU debate in a more 'respectful manner'

Perhaps that's why the terms of the debate seem to have been shifted by the Remain camp. They no longer seek to pretend the Prime Minister's deal amounts to fundamental reform.

Instead, the question being asked seems to be whether we could cope on our own at all. Why they would seek to present our country, and themselves, as so weak is beyond me.

But ask yourself this: with razor wire fences going up in mainland Europe due to fears of unsustainable levels of migration, with the failing euro creating economic misery for Europe's poorest people, with high unemployment and economic stagnation, is this a set up you would seek to join?

If the answer is no, then we as a country should have the confidence that, as the fifth largest economy in the world, we can have a more prosperous and more positive future if we take control of our own destiny.

We should not be intimidated into forgoing that choice.

Indeed, as the Prime Minister himself said in that same 2013 Bloomberg speech: 'Of course Britain could make her own way in the world, outside the EU, if we chose to do so.'
Man facing several charges - will appear in Perth Magistrates Court

He was stopped by members of the public after trying to escape on foot

Man, 26, swerved into traffic and crashed through a fence in stolen car

Man chased by police vehicles and helicopter through Perth on Thursday

A dramatic police chase involving a police helicopter has come to an end after members of the public caught the alleged driver attempting to run away.

Police chased the 26-year-old man from Middle Swan through Perths northern suburbs for 90 minutes as he swerved into the path of oncoming traffic and crashed through a fence to escape on Thursday.

Officers first attempted to stop the allegedly stolen blue Holden Commodore in Lockridge at 9.50am, 7 News reported.

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The 26-year-old man from Middle Swan (pictured) is facing several charges including stealing a motor vehicle and will appear in Perth Magistrates Court today

Witnesses said they saw up to six police cars following the Commodore as it drove through Lockridge, Eden Hills and Morley as police helicopter, PolAir tracked the vehicle from above.

An hour into the pursuit police vehicles stopped following the car as the police helicopter continued to follow.

The man dumped the car after crashing into a concrete bollard in Bayswater and fled on foot.

He ran across a railway line, jumping two fences in the hope of stealing another car, before he was stopped by members of the public.

Police chased the 26-year-old alleged driver from Middle Swan through Perths northern suburbs for 90 minutes as he swerved into the path of oncoming traffic and crashed through a fence (pictured)

Officers first attempted to stop the allegedly stolen blue Holden Commodore (pictured) in Lockridge at 9.50am

'My brother grabbed him and we stopped him and he took off and ran down the road, tried to get into the office first, but then ran down the road,' witness Owen Ellis told 7 News.

Police arrested the man at the corner of Grand Promenade and Railway Avenue just after 11am, where he appears lay down and give in, exhausted after the chase.

The man has been charged with stealing a motor vehicle, reckless driving in circumstances of aggravation, driving without a licence, failing to stop in circumstances of aggravation, being the driver of a car involved in an incident where property was damaged and failing to report that damage to police.

He is due to appear in Perth Magistrates Court on Friday.

The man dumped the car after crashing into a concrete bollard in Bayswater and fled on foot

He ran across a railway line, jumping two fences (pictured) in the hope of stealing another car, before he was stopped by members of the public
A senior police officer is being investigated over claims he asked a female colleague if she 'hoovered in her underwear'.

Detective Chief Inspector Alan Moore will appear before a disciplinary panel on Monday to face accusations that he was sexist, racist and aggressive while on duty.

The Scotland Yard detective is accused of breaching standards of professional behaviour on six occasions over two years.

The allegations mirror some of the characteristics displayed by Gene Hunt  the politically incorrect fictional detective in the BBC crime drama Life on Mars and its sequel Ashes to Ashes.

Scotland Yard detective Alan Moore will appear before a disciplinary panel on Monday to face accusations that he was sexist, racist and aggressive while on duty (file photo)

Det Chief Insp Alan Moore was said to have been in the CID office at Stratford Police Station in East London when he asked the woman officer if she 'hoovered in her underwear' in 2012.

Another female colleague filed a complaint claiming the detective put his arms around her and hugged her during a conversation with her in 2013.

In the same year a woman officer claimed he 'told a colleague that he didn't think that she would make an allegation of rape against him' during a meeting.

A fourth complaint, again from a female colleague, states that he had a meeting with an officer where he showed her a photo and asked how many 'coloured faces' she could spot.

Det Chief Insp Moore went on to say that the 'Equip to Achieve' scheme was 'designed for coloured people', it is claimed.

In January 2014, a woman officer claimed he reduced her to tears by 'shouting and swearing' at her when she passed on a message that the senior officers would have to remain on duty until midnight.

The final complaint is from a male officer who claims Det Chief Insp Moore interrupted him in a meeting and 'asked him what language he was speaking in'.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: 'DCI Moore, based at Newham, will answer allegations that his conduct amounts to a breach of standards of professional behaviour, in respect of: authority, courtesy, respect, equality and diversity.'

Detective Chief Inspector Alan Moore was said to have been in the CID office at Stratford Police Station in East London when he asked the woman officer if she 'hoovered in her underwear' (file photo)

Det Chief Insp Alan Moore, who has recently worked on Newham's gangs and firearms unit, has been placed on 'restricted duties' away from the borough.

The senior officer was the head of Wandsworth CID during the 2011 riots and help spearhead the police's response in south London at the time.

In the aftermath he said: 'We are determined to use all means available to identify offenders responsible for the disorder.
British Chambers of Commerce director general John Longworth said the EU remains 'essentially unreformed' and is 'incapable of meaningful reform'

The head of one of the biggest groups representing small and medium-sized firms came out in favour of leaving the EU yesterday.

In a strident attack on the Prime Minister's 'deal' with Brussels, British Chambers of Commerce director general John Longworth said the EU remains 'essentially unreformed' and is 'incapable of meaningful reform'.

He added the risks of staying in such a club were 'as daunting' as leaving, telling the Daily Mail: 'I have analysed the facts personally and my view is we should leave.'

The intervention is a bruising setback for David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne, who are desperate to get business leaders to back the In campaign.

Mr Longworth, a former executive at Tesco and Asda, said the Prime Minister's deal with Brussels 'fell far short of our expectations'.

He warned that staying in an unreformed EU would leave Britain 'sitting on the margins' as the eurozone integrates further.

Saying the UK would have a 'brighter economic future outside the EU', he urged business leaders to look beyond any short-term disruption and think about the future they want for their children and grandchildren.

Mr Longworth also pointed out that by 2010, European red tape was costing British business 80bn a year. 'Since then there has been major costs added by Europe,' he said.

'The one thing that Sajid Javid [the Business Secretary] cannot do anything about is European legislation and that is where the bulk of the burden is coming from.'

His comments, at the annual conference of the BCC in London, make Mr Longworth the first leader of a major business group to take on the Prime Minister over the referendum.

Unlike the pro-EU Confederation of British Industry, which is seen as the voice of 'big business' and was a supporter of Britain joining the euro, the BCC represents 75,000 small and medium-sized businesses with millions of staff across the country.

Mr Longworth said the referendum represented a chance for voters to decide on 'the type of economy we want, the type of society we want and what it means to be British'.

He added: 'A business which exports only to the EU is likely to be in favour of staying in... [One] which exports only to countries outside the EU...will likely want to leave... because it experiences only the burdens imposed by Brussels, making it less competitive in the world market.'

BUSINESS SECRETARY SAJID JAVID: I WISH PM'S DEAL WAS BETTER Business Secretary Sajid Javid directly criticised the Prime Minister yesterday by saying he 'wished there was more' in his deal with Brussels. Mr Javid, previously seen as a prominent Eurosceptic, has surprised many by coming out on the Remain side. He insisted he remains a 'Brussels basher' and said his decision to campaign against Brexit had not been easy. He had gone with his head and not his heart  because jobs and growth depended on EU membership. Mr Javid told the British Chambers of Commerce: 'I have no time for closer political union and in many ways I am a Eurosceptic. I am still a Brussels basher and will remain so. I have huge respect for people on both sides of the debate. I can see it's a very difficult decision for many people.' Advertisement

Mr Longworth, a former executive at Tesco and Asda, said the Prime Minister's deal with Brussels 'fell far short of our expectations' and warned that staying in an unreformed EU would leave Britain 'on the margins'

Mr Longworth, who advised Margaret Thatcher's government on cutting red tape for business, insisted he was speaking in a personal capacity and pointed out that the BCC will not join either the 'remain' or 'leave' campaigns.

But his decision to speak out underlines the fact that the business community is not as committed to the EU project as Downing Street or the CBI would have voters believe.

PATEL: WHY WE CAN'T TRUST CBI A Eurosceptic minister warned voters not to trust big business on Europe  because they got it wrong on the euro. Employment minister Priti Patel said the Confederation of British Industry was ignoring the voice of small businesses by supporting the Remain side. As well as supporting entry into the disastrous single currency, the CBI had pushed Margaret Thatcher into entering the European Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1990, she said. This led to disaster two years later, when Chancellor Norman Lamont  whose special adviser at the time was David Cameron  had to take us out of the ERM and devalue the pound. Miss Patel wrote in The Times: 'The CBI has consistently got the big decisions on Europe wrong. The CBI is again ignoring the views of small businesses and entrepreneurs. The truth is that business opinion is split on Europe.' Advertisement

Mr Longworth warned Mr Cameron's deal with Brussels would not be delivered until after the referendum on June 23. 'In other words, it depends on the goodwill of strangers,' he said.

He added: 'The people of our country now face a choice between staying in what is an essentially unreformed European Union, with the eurozone moving off in another direction and with Britain sitting on the margins, or of us leaving the European Union, with all the near-term uncertainty and disruption that this will cause.

'If I were to ask the business community one thing in this referendum, it would be to look to the long term and to the wider interests of the society and make your choice based not on the next financial year, but on what you want for your children and grandchildren.'

Turning his fire on Brussels, Mr Longworth added: 'The EU is incapable of meaningful reform, at least in the foreseeable future. It certainly does not appear capable of the sort of reform necessary to give the UK the breathing space to fulfil its true potential.

'The longterm risks of staying in the EU are likely to be as daunting as the shortterm risks of leaving. The dynamism and resilience of the City of London and of the UK business sector suggest that, in the long run, we have the capacity and capability to create a brighter economic future outside of the EU.'

In what appeared to be an attack on rival business groups and leaders calling for Britain to stay in the EU, he praised the BCC for having an 'authentic voice'. He added: 'The BCC correctly has taken the view, because the membership is split, that it will not campaign for either side.'
Lord Rose, the sometime Marks & Spencer floorwalker who is making the most wonderful balls-up of leading the official Remain campaign

Another day of harum-scarum, beware-the-bogeyman bruising about leaving the EU  this time with a foreign flavour. In France, David Cameron invited President Hollande to tell us how to vote in the referendum. Zut! Napoleon has spoken and there will be consequences if we disobey.

In London, after BMW had told its British arbeiters to vote Brussels or be fired, we had Germanys finance minister, Wolfgang Schauble. He turned up at the British Chambers of Commerce conference to give us clipped instructions to remain in the EU. You have to stay, he declared. He added that if we left, he would cry. How very unGerman of him and rather sweet. Sturm, Drang und Hankie.

The Chambers of Commerce, a sort of CBI for smaller fry, had quite a day: lectures from Jeremy Corbyn, Sajid Javid, George Osborne, Mr Cameron (Projecting Fear via videolink) and Stephanie Flanders, va-va-voom, flicking her hair here and there like Jomo Kenyattas fly whisk. Last year they had a woman from the SNP and that was about it. This year the elite was crawling all over them.

We also had everyones favourite new comedy turn, Lord Rose, the sometime Marks & Spencer floorwalker who is making the most wonderful balls-up of leading the official Remain campaign. When it came to flogging smalls, Stuart Rose had few equals. His political abilities are proving more elusive. After his admission on Wednesday (oops) that lower-ranking workers wages will rise if we leave the EU, he yesterday glumly said he hoped he would be dead when we next debate Europe. The Remain people havent quite got the hang of this sunlit optimism thing yet.

Business Secretary Javid spoke first. He used to be trenchantly Eurosceptic but has now fallen in with his political patron Mr Osborne and opted for Remain. Gosh, hes a dull speaker. It is amazing to think that some schmucks ever considered Mr Javid a potential Tory leader. I asked if he had changed his mind and gone for Remain after being told it would affect his career prospects. He swerved that point but did later admit he did not think much of the Cameron EU deal. Sell Javids.

When Mr Osborne had his turn, a delegate asked if BMW had been right to issue its unsubtle threat to its British employees over Brexit. The Chancellor affected distance. He said BMW  as he understood it  had only denounced Brexit after being begged to express a view by its workers. Believe that if you will. I know senior bankers who have been leaned on by the Treasury to big up the EU. Has it been beseeching foreign car makers to do likewise?

A vote to leave the EU would mean our Brussels trade deals would automatically fall, said Mr Osborne with delight. Having not negotiated trade deals for 40 years we would struggle to reconquer that art, he claimed.

'It is amazing to think that some schmucks ever considered Mr Javid a potential Tory leader,' says Letts

John Longworth, director general of the Chambers, was more cheerful (Brexiteers tend to be). In a personal speech he said we could have a bright, if not brighter future outside the EU. What a relief it was to hear someone concede  unlike the ruddy lying, hyperbolising, pocket-stuffing, job-watching, promise-breaking, bribe-fishing Establishment politicians  that there are hazards on both sides.

Which leaves us with Mr Corbyn. This was his first speech to a business audience since he became Labour leader. He ambled on stage with his top shirt button undone, tie askew, right eye bulging. He proceeded to mumble through a speech in a slapdash manner. For pitys sake, get that man a speech writer.
Chancellor will drop plans to introduce flat rate of tax, sources have said

George Osborne is set to abandon a planned raid on middle-class pensions in the face of a Tory backlash.

Well-placed sources say the Chancellor will reluctantly drop plans to introduce a flat rate of tax relief on pensions in this months Budget.

The scheme would have penalised the better off and raised billions for the Treasury.

He is still considering a controversial scheme to scrap pension tax relief altogether, and instead allow savers to draw their pots tax-free years later. But sources say it is now likely to be restricted to youngsters entering the job market for the first time  if it happens at all.

George Osborne (pictured) is set to abandon a planned raid on middle-class pensions in the face of a Tory backlash

Money Mail has led a major campaign to raise public awareness of the proposals. The plans have also sparked a fierce Tory backlash, with MPs warning Mr Osborne will face a riot if he mounts another major raid on savings.

And David Cameron is reported to have advised the Chancellor to play it safe rather than risk a revolt at a time when the party is already struggling to contain tensions over Europe.

Treasury sources last night insisted that final decisions on the proposals have not yet been taken ahead of the Budget on March 16. But the Chancellor is said to have been swayed by the counsel of the Prime Minister and the intense lobbying campaign.

Cutting tax incentives for people to save through pensions has been seen at the Treasury as a short-cut to balancing the budget by the end of the current Parliament without big tax increases.

Pension pots can be seen as a soft target when it comes to reform, as the consequences of reducing allowances or tax relief is often not seen until years later.

Savers currently receive relief on pension contributions at the highest rate they pay tax. Under one plan considered by Mr Osborne, a new flat rate of 25-30 per cent would be imposed, meaning that those who pay tax at 40 per cent would face huge losses.

Such a move was seen as a means of reinforcing Mr Osbornes image as a friend of working families, in-keeping with his launch of the National Living Wage shortly after last years election.

But after a series of detailed consultations the Chancellor is understood to have concluded that removing higher rate tax relief from the middle classes would be both a political and economic mistake  as well as undermining his reputation as a Chancellor who has set out to help savers.

Well-placed sources say the Chancellor (pictured) will reluctantly drop plans to introduce a flat rate of tax relief on pensions in this months Budget

There is still intense debate among Treasury officials over the creation of a so-called pensions ISA for young people new to the labour market. Subscribers would lose all tax relief coming in but would pay no tax several decades later when they begin to take their pensions.

The idea has been enthusiastically embraced by some at the Treasury, and is thought to enjoy the support of the Financial Secretary to the Treasury David Gauke. But opponents fear it would be too risky as a product because it would tempting for future governments to tamper with the tax-free promise.

The Government has so far raised an extra 6billion of extra income a year by dramatically cutting the annual and lifetime amounts that individuals can save into pensions without paying tax.

When the Coalition came to power in 2010 people were allowed to save up to 1.8million in their pension pots untaxed  a figure which Osborne has lowered to 1million in recent budgets. No further lowering of limit is now expected in the coming budget.

The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association, which represents 1,300 private pension funds, says that while the current system is not ideal it doesnt believe that the challenge of reform can be met by changing tax relief.

Privately, it argues that if higher rates of relief were removed it would cause a dramatic decline in pension savings by removing the incentive to put money aside.

It is calling on the government to appoint a new Pensions Commission to look into the issue, rather than make short-term changes.

Anxious savers have also been rushing to top up their pensions amid fears of a further crackdown.

According to investment giant Hargreaves Lansdown, contributions have soared by 65 per cent ahead of the Budget.

Tom McPhail, head of retirement policy at the firm, said: The main issue for investors has been the impending loss of tax relief on pension contributions.
BMW was accused of disgraceful scaremongering yesterday after warning thousands of its British employees against voting to leave the EU.

In a controversial move, the chief executive of Rolls-Royce, which is owned by the German car giant, wrote to staff to warn how leaving the EU could spark a trade war that would harm exports and cost jobs.

Torsten Muller-Otvos said: Tariff barriers would mean higher costs and higher prices and we cannot assume that the UK would be granted free trade with Europe from outside the EU.

The chief executive of Rolls-Royce, Torsten Muller-Otvos, which is owned by the German car giant, wrote to British staff to warn how leaving the EU could spark a trade war that would harm exports and cost jobs

Our employment base could also be affected.

Versions of the letter were circulated to around 8,000 workers at subsidiaries of BMW operating in the UK, including staff who build the Mini.

Mr Muller-Otvos stressed that it was up to staff which way they voted in the referendum. But the letter was seen as a heavy-handed warning that they could lose their jobs if Britain leaves.

Tory MEP David Campbell Bannerman accused the firm of disgraceful scaremongering. He said most senior German industrialists believed it was ridiculous to suggest the EU would try to freeze trade with Britain.

BUT DO CLAIMS ADD UP? Warnings by BMW about the dangers of Brexit were undermined by figures showing that far more of the German firms cars are imported from the continent to the UK than we send to Europe. The group, which warned that UK jobs could be put at risk, imported 157,000 cars into the UK for sale last year. But just 110,000 Minis and Rolls Royces  both made by BMW  were exported from Britain to the continent. Around 80 per cent of Minis  the only car fully built by BMW in the UK  are exported, with around 55 per cent going to the EU last year. More than two million have been manufactured in Britain since its Oxford plant opened in 2011. In total, the BMW group exports 2.4billion worth of cars, engines and parts from its UK plants worldwide each year. Last year, 140,000 engines constructed at its Hams Hall plant near Birmingham were exported to the EU. The group directly employs 8,000 workers in the UK. Around a fifth of staff who work for its Rolls Royce arm are EU citizens. Advertisement

And Conservative MP Bernard Jenkin accused BMW of joining an Establishment campaign to scare Britons into voting to remain. He said it was no surprise that the German multinational wanted to stay in the EU. But he claimed it was absolute nonsense to suggest Britain would not be able to negotiate a free trade deal from outside.

Mr Jenkin said: Surprise, surprise  German multinational supports membership of the EU.

The motor industry is almost totally regulated by the EU. Of course BMW are not going to say anything critical of the EU or anything to upset the German or British governments.

But this issue is not going to be decided by bureaucrats and big business who spend money lobbying each other and scratch each others backs  it will be decided by the people.

The Government has stopped talking about the Prime Ministers deal because they know it is so trivial that they cannot sell it. Instead they are now throwing the kitchen sink at all these scare stories, and trying to galvanise companies and other governments to frighten people into voting to remain in the EU.

Downing Street yesterday welcomed BMWs intervention, but denied orchestrating it.

A spokesman said it was important that voters hear the arguments of the car industry. A BMW executive said yesterday that Rolls-Royce had written to employees because workers had repeatedly asked how a Brexit would affect them.

Dr Ian Robertson claimed the 250 workers from EU countries who make up part of Rolls-Royces 1,300-strong UK workforce were particularly concerned about the possibility of Britain leaving the EU. He said: What we have tried to do is to inform the argument, but ultimately it will be down to those UK citizens to vote.

He suggested that the firm would have to reconsider investing in UK operations and jobs if operating in the country became uncompetitive after leaving the EU. But speaking at an event organised by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, he admitted BMW had not yet formed any concrete plans to prepare for a possible exit.

Tony Walker, deputy managing director of Toyota in the UK, also said the company had no Plan B.

Despite championing Britain staying in the EU, he admitted: We are fully committed and we will stay with our UK operations whatever happens.

But he also warned a Brexit could push costs up, which would have the potential to affect jobs.
At the age of 15 Kennii Kermit was forced to come out to his family after an uncle found an online profile in which he identified as pansexual.

Now, years down the line, he's found acceptance in an unexpected place - the remote outback region of The Kimberley in Western Australia.

This year, for the second year running, Broome Pride will transform the only nightclub in town into a Mardi Gras oasis where Kennii will shine.

The locals will have to brave the 43 degree heat that's forecast for Saturday - but Kennii says the weather will not stop him from dressing up in full drag.

Kennii works at a local radio station in Fitzroy Crossing but this weekend will travel 4 hours to perform as drag queen Eliza Bythian

He will travel four hours from where he lives in Fitzroy Crossing to perform in drag as Eliza Bythian at Skylla Bar Lounge.

He says it'll take him hours to transform from Kennii to Eliza but it will all be worth it in the end.

'I'll do a skit out of "I Love Lucy", a number from Burlesque the movie and a parody version of "I Will Survive" he said.

Eliza Bythian well perform this weekend at Broomes second annual Mardi Gras celebration

He says the celebration will rival Sydney's.

'We're going to turn Skylla Bar rainbow for the night and we're going to party it out in true Mardi Gras style even though we're miles away!'

The party will be 4,470 kilometres away to be precise, but between the red dirt of the famous Great Sandy and Tanami Deserts there will be a rainbow beacon of pride.

'It's important to have like-minded people around and the Broome Pride social group have really made a big difference to my time in the Kimberley, so showing that we can have fun and be social with like-minded people makes a great impact,' said Kennii.

Being a minority in a remote community can often be intimidating but Kennii said it was better than he was expecting: 'Believe it or not, it's a lot more accepting than you would think. There's a few gay couples in Fitzroy.'

Kennii grew up in South Australia and volunteered for ten years with the Feast Festival which celebrates GLBTI individuals. He says his own experience helped him to relate to other young adults.

'I know there are a lot of people that struggle with coming out, it was definitely a kick in the guts at the time but in the long run it helped,' he said.

Celebrations at last years first Mardi Gras event in Broome, Western Australia were bigger than New Years Eve

He moved to Fitzroy Crossing in northern Western Australia to work for as a presenter on a local radio station.

The Broom Pride group now boasts around 300 members, chairperson Lucy Falcocchio says of that 60 to 70 per cent would be straight.

'But they're just there to show their support and be inclusive. We want to promote social inclusion'.

The group also do fundraisers within the community to raise money for other causes.

They competed in their local Rotary Club's Dragon Boat last year, but unfortunately their boat quickly capsized under a lot of weight of wigs and tiaras.

'Admittedly, there was not a lot a lot of talent, but we added a lot of fun to the day!' said Ms Falcocchio.

Last year's Mardi Gras event was bigger than the club's New Years Eve celebration.

'There's no anti-social behaviour, everyone's having a good time. We're so damn isolated, this is the only club in 400,000 square metres, but this brings everyone together, it's such a positive vibe,' she said.

'There'll be a costume prize on the night. It's going to be colourful and wild and the event is close to selling out!'

The Broome Pride group of around 300 individuals consist of GLBTI and straight individuals fighting for equality
Blind or partially sighted British owners have been left shaken up and sometimes hurt, a study warns. On average, 11 guide dogs were mauled each month in 2015, up from three a month in 2010

Attacks on guide dogs by other dogs have more than tripled in five years.

Blind or partially sighted owners have been left shaken up and sometimes hurt, a study warns. On average, 11 guide dogs were mauled each month in 2015, up from three a month in 2010.

One in seven attacks resulted in physical injuries, usually to the guide dogs owner.

They also felt anxious or upset after the attacks, the study by the University of Nottingham found.

The dogs themselves were hurt in 43 per cent of incidents and two in five dogs, their ability to work afterwards was affected.

The researchers used data provided by the charity Guide Dogs, which supports 8,750 dogs in the UK.

They said the attacks cost the charity 650,000, including the cost of dogs having to retire, while they have a long-term impact on owners wellbeing.

Writing in the Veterinary Record journal, the authors say some incidents could have been avoided if the attacking dog had been put on a lead. Owners of dogs that attack a guide dog face up to three years in prison.

The authors wrote: The guide dog harness is designed to be visible and should have been apparent to the owners of aggressors who were present.

It is feasible that a proportion of these attacks could have been avoided if the aggressor was put on a lead when the owner saw the guide dog in harness.

The veterinary costs were estimated to be 34,514, with puncture wounds from bites the most common.

After the attacks, 40 per cent of the dogs experienced a negative impact on their ability to work.

The researchers used data provided by the charity Guide Dogs, which supports 8,750 dogs in the UK

The authors conclude that the impacts for the owners of these guide dogs are likely to be long-term and complex, affecting not only their mobility and physical health, but also their social and emotional well-being.

Under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Police Act passed in 2014, a dog attack on a trained assistance dog will be treated as an aggravated offence.

This means prison sentences of up to three years could be handed to the owner of the attacking dog.

The authors say it is not clear whether the rise in dog attacks reflects higher levels of reporting or a real trend.
See more news on Donald Trump at www.dailymail.co.uk/trump

have not commented on allegations but the photo has since been removed from the site

Others have mocked the poor alleged Photoshop comparing it to something carried out by a third grader

one used by another website - but there the model was white

Donald Trump's campaign has been accused of using Photoshop to make one of his t-shirt models appear black.

The photo, which has sparked fierce debate online, appeared on the Republican front runner's campaign apparel store.

A black female model was pictured wearing a gray 'Trump's campaign women's short sleeve V-neck T-shirt' which features The Donald's slogan: 'Make American great again.' They sell for $22 each.

Is this before and after? Donald Trump's campaign has been accused of using Photoshop to make one of his t-shirt models appear black (pictured left is an image of a white model taken from jcgapparel, on the right is Trump's campaign mode)

But people became suspicious that the picture may have been altered after they noticed it looked almost identical to the photograph of a model wearing a grey V-neck t-shirt on online clothing store JCG Apparel.

The only difference was, JCG Apparel's model was white. On Trump's campaign website, she appeared to be black.

Eric Ming, digital director for Maryland Democratic Rep. Donna Edwards' Senate campaign, called out the alleged Photoshopping in a tweet on Thursday.

He posted both pictures of the model with the caption: 'So it appears Donald Trump's campaign photoshopped their model to be brown:'

Other on Twitter have mocked the alleged Photoshopping, claiming it was obvious and poorly done.

'That's more of a 3rd grade (Microsoft) PAINT job, one Twitter user wrote about the picture.

'Not even a good Photoshop,' Haru Bell added. 'The brown skin is so flat and featureless, barely any shadows.'

The Trump campaign is yet to respond to a request for comment. However, the picture has now been removed from the campaign apparel website

Others even joked the model could be sporting Trump's 'favorite shade of spray-on tan orange?'

The Trump campaign is yet to respond to a request for comment. However, the picture has now been removed from the campaign apparel website.

The altered image may have been an attempt by the campaign to introduce a little more diversity into the store's site.

Currently, none of the models featured on the apparel site's women's page are African American.

The allegations are the latest race-related scandal to hit the billionaire who is leading the Republican race to become the next presidential candidate.

Earlier this week, Trump came under fire when it appeared that he refused to denounce former KKK grand wizard and white supremacist David Duke.

He later claimed he had misheard the question.

While Trump has been criticized for making racist comments about Hispanics and African Americans.

Only last year, during his presidential announcement speech, he stated: 'When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best.
Donald Trump, Senator Marco Rubio, Senator Ted Cruz and Governor John Kasich will face off on Thursday night in the Fox News debate

Those entering the venue to attend the debate largely ignored the protesters gathered outside

There were also members of Fight for 15, the group advocating for a national minimum wage of $15 an hour

Many were holding signs that read 'Flint Lives Matters' and calling for the resignation of Governor Rick Snyder

A large group of protesters gathered outside The Fox Theater in Detroit before

Hundreds of protesters gathered outside The Fox Theater in Detroit on Thursday night ahead of the Republican debate.

Most of the group were protesting the water crisis in nearby Flint, just an hour north of Detroit, holding signs that read 'Flint Lives Matters' and calling for the resignation of Governor Rick Snyder.

They were not the only group protesting though, with a large number of people also calling for a national minimum wage of $15 an hour outside the venue as well.

Those entering the venue to attend the debate largely ignored the protesters gathered outside.

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Ready: Protesters gather outside of The Fox Theatre in Detroit before the Republican presidential primary debate

Many protesters were holding signs that read 'Flint Lives Matters' and calling for the resignation of Governor Rick Snyder

Cold scene: The protesters gathered despite the freezing temperatures and snow

Quiet: The Republican candidates have said little to nothing about the water crisis in Flint

'Youre going to see two hours essentially of insults and attacks and who can try to get under Donald Trumps skin more as opposed to actually talking about how to raise wages, how to deal with Flint, how to make sure we have better education,' Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Brandon Dillon told The Detroit News about Thursday night's debate.

Dillon also confirmed that Hillary Clinton will be making an appearance in Detroit this coming weekend.

The Republican candidates have said little to nothing about the water crisis in Flint, and it was revealed on Thursday that Governor Snyder had hired outside legal counsel to deal with the situation.

It was also revealed that a mother who had testified in Washington DC about the lead-contaminated water had filed a lawsuit against Flint's former public utilities director, a former Michigan Department of Environmental Quality spokesman and the state's chief medical executive, among others.

Reverend Charles Williams II, president of the National Action Network's Michigan chapter, worked to plan Thursday night's protest.

The group said in a statement; 'In the midst of the Flint water crisis many feel Republicans in the Senate have been silent on passing a bill to support the rebuilding of the infrastructure of Flint.

'Activists will gather in front of the Fox Theatre and stage a protest demanding a Republican response from candidates and its party.'

The group will certainly get a response from the Democratic candidates in the race however, with Clinton and Bernie Sanders facing off in a debate Sunday night that will take place in Flint.

Nothing to see here: Those entering the venue to attend the debate largely ignored the protesters gathered outside

Mad: A protester shouts slogans outside the Republican party presidential debate site in Detroit on Thursday

Voices heard: It was revealed on Thursday that Governor Snyder had hired outside legal counsel to deal with the Flint water crisis as lawsuits began to roll in

Getting ready: A group of protesters prepare to line up with individual signs that spell out 'Dump Trump'

The minimum wage group Fight for 15 meanwhile was not only protesting but also also posting to their Twitter account on Thursday night, writing that they were 1200 strong, and saying; We have crossed police lines and have taken over the front entrance to the #GOPDebate #FightFor15.'

They were also chanting during the protest; 'We work! We Sweat! Put 15 on our check!'
While Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn makes much of his 'ethical' foreign policy, his Shadow Justice Secretary, Charlie Falconer, has just lost a highly embarrassing High Court case.

Lord Falconer of Thoroton, the former flatmate of Tony Blair, was speaking in court on behalf of the African Republic of Djibouti, which had falsely branded London-based businessman Abdourahman Boreh a terrorist. As a result, Mr Boreh's assets, including a Belgravia townhouse and French chateau, were subjected to a worldwide freezing order.

Last year, Falconer was forced to make a grovelling apology after his American law firm, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, misled a judge with its claims on behalf of Djibouti.

Lord Falconer of Thoroton (left), the former flatmate of Tony Blair (right), was speaking in the High Court on behalf of the African Republic of Djibouti, which falsely branded businessman Abdourahman Boreh a terrorist

This week the peer was back in the High Court, sporting a new, Corbyn-style beard, to hear a damages claim he subsequently brought on behalf of Djibouti against Mr Boreh rejected on all counts.

The businessman, formerly a close friend of Djibouti's controversial president, Ismail Guelleh, had been accused of abusing this position for his own gain during the construction of a dry port and container terminal.

Guelleh, who has been in power since 1999 and is accused of overseeing a host of human rights abuses during that time, was supposed to have been Falconer's star witness during the three-month hearing, but withdrew at the 11th hour, leaving the peer to make yet another apology to the court.

Mr Justice Flaux issued a damning 280-page judgment that categorically dismissed all the claims made against Mr Boreh and his companies.

While not referring to Falconer by name, he also delivered several scathing broadsides against the claimants and their conduct in court.

The judge said he could not 'recollect a case in which so many claims (let alone ones involving allegations of dishonesty) have been pursued with such vigour then abandoned at trial'.

He added that he was 'left with the distinct impression that the Republic was intent on pursuing a scattergun approach against Mr Boreh of throwing as much mud as it could in the hope that something would stick, even though many of the matters were not ones in respect of which the Republic could have had a legitimate or sustainable claim'.

At PMQs this week, David Cameron made mocking reference to Jeremy Corbyn's local paper in London, the Islington Tribune. The Tribune, far from being cowed, was delighted  so much so that it sent a reporter and snapper to stand outside Parliament yesterday, dispensing free copies and getting snapshots of leading political figures holding its latest issue. Cameron's Commons jibe is the best thing to have happened to the Tribune for years.

Why Moriarty really isn't the marrying kind

Sherlock's Andrew Scott with actress Olivia Colman

Sherlock star Andrew Scott, who plays the detective's nemesis Moriarty in the BBC show, took a break from his evil ways this week to attend a party with actress Olivia Colman.

The Irishman arrived at the National Theatre's Bright Young Things Gala with Broadchurch star Olivia, who stuck by his side all night.

'I'd love to play Andrew's wife in something,' the married mother-of-three tells me.

But sadly Andrew, 39, admits real-life marriage is not on the cards for him.

'Just because I'm gay doesn't mean I have to want to get married now it's legal. It's just an option.

'But it's about having the same options as everyone else.

'So now a gay person has a right not to get married.'

Roly-poly Tory MP Nicholas Soames is pursuing his new diet with amazing determination.

The grandson of Winston Churchill asked for an omelette at a lavish lunch this week to mark the departure of auctioneer Henry Wyndham from Sotheby's, where the other guests were served ceviche, duck, and profiteroles.
Is the cut-throat world of fashion finally taking its toll on designer Stella McCartney?

The 44-year-old daughter of Beatle Sir Paul has posted this shocking selfie on social media.

Stella, who recently revealed fuller lips and plumper cheeks, is more unrecognisable than ever due to her darkened eyes and wrinkles.

But all is not what it seems: Stella might be a self-confessed workaholic, but she is also rather nifty with technology  for this is, in fact, a digital reconstruction of her face using a phone app.

'Fashion induced ageing!' she writes, referring to the arduous preparation for her Paris show.

Stella McCartney, the 44-year-old daughter of Beatle Sir Paul, posted this shocking selfie on social media. But all is not what it seems - for this is, in fact, a digital reconstruction of her face using a mobile phone app

As a star of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Celia Imrie showed the elderly can be fun, but young people are a different matter.

'I don't want to be thought of as one of those people who is always down on the young, because I'm really not, but I do think there is just too much time spent on mobile phones and tablets,' says the 63-year-old actress.

'I was in a lovely restaurant in Monaco the other day. There was a big Italian family in there, and all the kids were looking at their phones. They weren't living in the moment at all  that's a tragedy.'

How Oscar-winning 'bag lady' had the last laugh

Oscar-winning costume designer Jenny Beavan has endured harsh criticism for her less-than-glamorous personal wardrobe.

First, Bafta host Stephen Fry called her a 'bag lady', then this week's Oscar ceremony audience conspicuously failed to clap as she collected her award for the outfits worn in Mad Max: Fury Road.

But the London-born costumier is forgiving of her detractors. 'I am British with a slightly rebellious character, I always have been,' she says. 'I'm short, I'm fat. I really would look ridiculous in a gown.

'What I was actually wearing at the Oscars was sort of an homage to Mad Max  a kind of biker outfit.

'I thought, 'If I can't beat them, or if I can't sort of join them, then why not try doing something a little bit fun?' '

Dark side of Rosie

Blondes have more fun, but Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, 28, knows that brunettes can turn heads, too.

After hopping over to France for Paris Fashion Week, the Devon-born model channelled her sultry Gallic side by covering her trademark golden locks with a dark wig to stride down the catwalk in brocaded Balmain couture.

Im sure Rosies fiance, the 48-year-old hardman actor Jason Statham, who proposed in the New Year after five years together, is a fan of his bride-to-bes new Gothic look  even though Rosie temporarily removed her 250,000 engagement ring during the show.
Jimmy Fallon reprised his role as Donald Trump in a joke filled sketch on Wednesday, just one day after the billionaire's appearance at the Super Tuesday press conference at his sprawling, opulent Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach following his win.

When asked by a member of the press about Trump's refusal to disavow David Duke and the KKK, Fallon as Trump said: 'I love the KKK. Kim, Kourtney, Khloetheyre fantastic people, Ive known them a long time.'

The joke is a reference to Trump's Sunday CNN appearance in which he declined to disavow the support of former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke and other white supremacists.

Roast: Jimmy Fallon reprised his role as Donald Trump in a joke filled sketch on Wednesday, just one day after the billionaire's appearance at the Super Tuesday press conference

Trump had disavowed Duke on several other occasions and later blamed a faulty IFB  a television interview earpiece  for his lack of a forceful response Sunday on the air.

When asked by a reporter if he would accept an endorsement from the Nazi party, Jimmy Fallon's Trump took the party's name a bit literally and said he has no trouble taking an endorsement from someone who can 'not see,' adding that he loves blind musician Stevie Wonder.

Fallon didn't forget to make a joke about Chris Christie following his endorsement and the public's criticism of the New Jersey Governors troubled stare, according to the Daily Beast.

Fallon as Trump thanked Christie for his 'unblinking support.'

The press conference: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, accompanied by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, left, speaks during a news conference on Super Tuesday primary election night

He also said: 'I love this guyhes fantastic. Hes like my Mini-Me, except bigger. Hes my Mega-Me.'

Fallon as Trump also quipped that Hillary Clinton Lost to a black man in 2008 but that she would lose to an orange man in 2016.

'Orange is the new black,' he joked referring to the popular television program.

Tuesday night's real Trump show was an event in a category of its own: an election victory lap with no voters in attendance. The public wasn't invited.
A British tourist and his French companion have been arrested in Peru after posing naked for photos at the ancient site of Machu Picchu.

The police stopped 23-year-old Adam Burton and French national Eric Xavier Mariec, 28, while they were still naked at the ancient site, which re-opened this week after maintenance work.

They were arrested on the spot and police later released the images from a mobile phone, showing the two men posing in body-builder stances with no clothes on.

The police stopped 23-year-old Adam Burton and French national Eric Xavier Mariec, 28, while they were still naked at the ancient site, which re-opened this week after maintenance work

They were arrested on the spot and police later released the images from a mobile phone, showing the two men posing in body-builder stances with no clothes on

The men were prosecuted for offences against morality, according to state news agency Andina, and the photos were released to warn other tourists against lewd behaviour at the ancient site.

The photos showed the Incan citadel in the background, which is a proud part of Peruvian heritage and one of the Seven Wonders Of The World.

Millions of tourists from all over the world visit the site every year, which is set in the Andes mountains.

It had been closed throughout February but the Inca trail route was open again on Tuesday, according to the Department of Culture of Cuzco.

The incident is almost exactly two years after police in Peru announced a crackdown on tourists taking naked photos at the site after a number of online photos and videos emerged.

Foreigners stripping off and streaking across the Incan ruins, prompting a response from the Ministry of Culture.

In 2013, two Antipodeans - an 18-year-old Australian and 30-year-old New Zealander - were detained by guards for baring their backsides at the citadel.

They were briefly held in custody and forced to delete naked photographs from their digital camera - but not before it had gone viral on Peruvian social media after it was 'irresponsibly published to the Internet,' a police statement said.

'They were made aware that it is totally forbidden to take photographs of this magnitude,' the report, obtained by local travel agency Fertur Peru Travel, added.

In February 2014, a video was posted to YouTube showing a naked couple streaking across Machu Picchu, considered to be a sacred holy site, as a park guard gave chase.

The couple could be seen running through the grass, holding their clothes in their hands, jumping over the ancient stone walls, and the incident was filmed by another tourist.

The incident is also reminiscent of Eleanor Hawkins, a 24-year-old student who jailed last year for stripping off on a sacred mountain in Malaysia.

Miss Hawkins, along with Canadian siblings Lindsey and Danielle Petersen and Dutch national Dylan Snel, pleaded guilty to a public nuisance offence after going topless while on Mt Kinabalu.

A recent graduate with a masters degree from Southampton University, Miss Hawkins was in the middle of a gap year travelling around south-east Asia.

A spokesman for Fertur Peru Travel, which organises tours to Machu Picchu, said: 'Stripping naked at Machu Picchu probably isn't a great idea, unless you want to be removed from the citadel and possibly face criminal charges. Prudish perhaps, but those are the rules.'

An FCO spokesman said: 'We are in contact with local authorities in Peru following an incident involving a British national in Machu Pichu.'

However, it is not believed that the FCO have been asked for any assistance in this case.
Donald Trump doubled down on waterboarding saying the military would follow his orders to use the

Donald Trump said members of the military 'won't refuse' to waterboard terrorist suspects if he becomes commander-in-chief.

'They won't refuse, they're not going to refuse me, believe me,' Trump said. 'And, and, I'm a leader, I'm a leader, I've always been a leader, I've never had any problem leading people, if I say do it, they're going to do it.'

The question came up in tonight's Republican debate after former CIA Director Michael Hayden suggested during an interview with HBO's Bill Maher that members of the military could refuse to follow a President Trump's orders if they violated international law.

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Donald Trump said military members 'won't refuse' to waterboard terrorists if he becomes commander-in-chief: 'If I say do it, they're going to do it'

'You are required not to follow an unlawful order,' Hayden told Maher. 'That would be in violation of all the international laws of armed conflict.'

Trump explained that any use of waterboarding, which the Obama Administration has branded as torture and thus discontinued, would be justified when compared to how the Islamic State has treated civilians.

'You look at the Middle East, they're chopping off heads, they're chopping off the heads of Christians and anybody else who happens to be in the way, they're drowning people in steel cages and now we're talking about waterboarding,' Trump said.

'Can you imagine, can you imagine, these people, these animals over in the Middle East that chop off heads sitting around talking and seeing that we're having a hard problem with waterboarding,' Trump continued.

'We should go for waterboarding and we should go tougher than waterboarding,' Trump added.

Besides waterboarding, the campaign rhetoric that Hayden specifically brought up in his interview with Maher was comments the brash billionaire made about going after the loved ones of terrorists too.

Targeting terrorists' family members is indeed barred by the Geneva Conventions.

Trump tried to justify this statement by saying that the family of the 9/11 terrorists knew that the attack was coming.

'The wife knew exactly what was happening, the left two days earlier with respect to the World Trade Center and they went back to where they went,' Trump said on tonight's debate stage. 'And they watched their husband on television flying into the World Trade Center, flying into the Pentagon and probably trying to fly into the White House except we had some very, very brave souls on that third plane.'

He added: 'I have no problem with it.'

It's a statement he's made previously and is problematic because none of the 9/11 hijackers' spouses and girlfriends, which there were few, were living in the United States, according to the 9/11 Commission Report.

Politifact fact-checked similar Trump rhetoric in the past and said 'there is no substance behind the statement.'
A war veteran accused of murdering his girlfriend threw her across a room so hard she hit a wall just over a month before she died, a jury has heard.

The Newcastle Supreme Court heard on Thursday that Ross Albert Merrick, 32, 'ragdolled' Marika Ninness, 35, during an intense argument before Melbourne Cup day in 2013, the Newcastle Herald reported.

It was done with such force that her head damaged a wall and she was hospitalised to receive treatment for her injured tailbone.

Pictured: A jury heard that Marika Ninness, 35, was 'ragdolled' by her boyfriend Ross Albert Merrick, 32

The jury also heard that mother-of-three Ms Ninness told hospital staff she had injured herself when falling off a chair, but later told her best friend, Megan Beukers, about the incident.

'They screamed at each other a lot, and then he picked her up and threw her, like a ragdoll she told me,' Ms Beukers told the jury.

Another workmate, Kristy Hardy, said Ms Ninness had also told her of being thrown into the wall, and that she couldn't tell hospital staff how she had injured her tailbone because 'she loved him'.

Coined as a 'one-off' incident, defence counsel Tania Evers told the jury that Mr Merrick had pulled Ms Ninness out of bed during an argument without knowing the extent of his strength.



Just over a month later, Mr Merrick allegedly struck Ms Ninness in the head while walking through the Stockland Green Hills shopping centre in East Maitland on December 7, 2013.

Ms Ninness fell backwards and slammed her head on the pavement when she was allegedly struck by Mr Merrick - a collision that left her with 'massive head fractures' that kept her unconscious until her death two weeks later.

Mr Merrick (left), a war veteran, 'once threw her across a room so hard he injured her head and back'

The three-time Iraqi war navy veteran pleaded not guilty to murdering her, arguing that him striking her with an elbow was unintentional and part of a 'conditioned response' to his military training after she had confronted her.

But the prosecution contests that Mr Merrick hit her to intentionally cause either grievous bodily harm or death.

Ms Beukers, a former police officer, told the court that Mr Merrick became 'really controlling' once they moved into their own place at Ashtonfield, and appeared to be a normal couple at first while Ms Ninness lived at Ms Beukers' home.

He pleaded not guilty to murdering her, arguing that him striking her with an elbow was unintentional and part of a 'conditioned response' to his military training after she had confronted her

'He didn't want her to talk to a lot of her friends, he would ring her and if he couldn't get her he would ring me. He needed to know where she was all the time,' she told the jury.

She later added: 'He would always want to know where she was, who she was talking to, whether she had spoken to [separated husband David Blackie] that day, what the texts said'.

The court heard from Ms Hardy that Mr Merrick had possessive characteristics and 'didn't let her do a lot of things.'

'Her words actually were that the relationship was quite poisonous,' she said.

The court heard from one of Ms Ninness' friends that Mr Merrick had possessive characteristics and 'didn't let her do a lot of things'

'Marika and I would have the conversation every week; that she loved Ross but she couldn't stay with him,' Ms Hardy said.

'It was the possessiveness, the aggression and the abuse she was getting from him.'

Felicity Freeman, one of Ms Ninness' colleagues, said she appeared 'agitated' and in a mood 'I had not actually seen before' at a work Christmas party. The following night she suffered head injuries.

The trial before Justice Helen Wilson continues.
Kansas police awoke a naked woman in her bed and then shot her to death when she complied with orders to show them where she kept her gun, according to a lawsuit filed by the woman's daughter.

In a wrongful death lawsuit, Michele Choate has sued Gardner, Kansas and three police officers for the 2015 death of her 53-year-old mother Deanne Choate, which sparked protests and rallies.

Michele Choate claims the city prefers a 'shoot-first-ask-questions-later' policy, discouraging its police from using deescalation tactics with suspects, according to Courthouse News Service.

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Kansas police awoke naked Deanne Choate, 53, in her bed and then shot her to death when she complied with orders to show them where she kept her gun, according to a lawsuit filed by her daughter, Michele Choate

In a wrongful death lawsuit, Michele Choate has sued Gardner, Kansas and three police officers for the March 26, 2015 death of her mother. The home where the shooting took place pictured above

She also alleges that the city erected a 'veil of secrecy surrounding the shooting' and that the 'city's efforts were to cast doubt on the investigation into the shootings.'

Last March, Gardner police received a 911 call from Deanne Choate's boyfriend, Andrew Musto, who said she had been drinking alcohol, was suicidal and had a gun, the complaint states.

When Officers Robert Huff, Justin Mohney and Jeff Breneman arrived at the scene on March 26, 2015, they handcuffed and arrested Musto, before removing him from the house.

The officers then found Deanne Choate, who was sleeping naked in her bed under the covers, before waking her and questioning her, according to the February 25 complaint.

'Where is the gun?' they repeatedly asked her before looking under the sheets of the bed, the lawsuit states.

They remained in the room with her, eventually giving her a sweatshirt to put on, as they continued to demand, 'Where is the gun?' and 'We know you have a gun,' according to the complaint.

Deanne Choate eventually produced a handgun, stating, 'Oh, here it is,' before officers fatally shot her, Courthouse News Service reported.

'She goes to lift her blanket and get up and the cop says 'Drop the gun. Drop the f****** gun' Boom-boom-boom-boom,' Deanne Choate's 37-year-old son told The Daily Beast, referring to body camera footage the family reviewed of the fatal shooting.

Deanne Choate's son, Michael Weddington, 37, (pictured above) who has a summary of the autopsy said in an interview that his mother was struck twice in the chest and once in the abdomen

Michele Choate (pictured right) claims the city of Gardner prefers a 'shoot-first-ask-questions-later' policy, discouraging its police from using deescalation tactics with suspects

Last March, Gardner police received a 911 call from Deanne Choate's boyfriend, Andrew Musto, who said she had been drinking alcohol, was suicidal and had a gun before shooting her dead, the complaint states

Weddington, who has a summary of the autopsy, also told The Daily Beast that his mother was struck twice in the chest and once in the abdomen.

However, the Johnson County morgue refused to disclose any of its finding.

Michele Choate said her mother was 'obviously not carrying or concealing on her person any type of weapon,' according to the complaint.

'Deanne was not threatening in any way as she complied with officers' instructions in providing a handgun located between the mattress and headboard of the bed,' Michele Choate said.

'The gun would have easily been located by officers if they had searched and 'cleared' the room as reported.'

After shooting Deanne Choate, officers then carried her from the bed to the front door, according to the complaint.

The lawsuit alleges the officers were ordered to turn off their video and audio recordings 'to further protect officers and prevent recording of incriminating evidence.'

Deanne Choate pictured in a Facebook photo. According to the lawsuit, after officers arrived she eventually produced a handgun, stating, 'Oh, here it is,' before she was fatally shot

'They didn't even do any lifesaving techniques,' Weddington told The Daily Beast.

'They grab her two arms and two legs and dragged her out into the hallway and then lay her there and leave her there until the paramedics get there.'

Gardner officials did not respond to a request for comment, according to the Courthouse News Service.

Earlier reports said Choate's boyfriend, who she lived with at the home, had called police on the day of the shooting and said his girlfriend had fired a gun inside the house, WDAF reported.

Police also previously said Choate did not comply with the officers' commands to put the gun down, according to the New York Daily News.

The officers, who are still on the force, were cleared of any wrongdoing by the Johnson County District Attorney's Office following an investigation.
Stowaway: Marilyn Hartman, 64, claims to have attempted to stow away on planes 13 times - successfully on three occasions

A serial stowaway in Chicago who has been arrested eight times for sneaking onto planes without a ticket has been placed under six months of house arrest and two years of mental health probation.

Marilyn Hartman, 64, appeared before Judge William Raines - who has overseen some of her previous cases - on Thursday with charges of probation violation and criminal trespass.

In her latest incident, Hartman was picked up on February 17 in a bus shuttle center at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport - one of a number of 'exclusion zones' on her probation, including the Midway international airport and Union train station.

That had occurred just two weeks after she was transferred out of Sacred Heart Home, a secure mental health facility, to a less restrictive nursing home. She had been fitted with a GPS system to tell police where she was at all times.

Raines is believed to have talked to both Amy Campanelli, Hartman's public defender, and a representative of the facility to see how they can deal with the repeat offender, The Chicago Tribune wrote.

'Im not trying to be your dad,' the judge told the 64-year-old woman in her February 23 hearing. 'Im doing everything in my power to keep you out of jail.'

Repeat offender: Hartman, who lives in Chicago has a number of 'exclusion zones,' stopping her from going to airports and rail stations in the city. These are mugshots from February 24 (left) and March 18, 2014 (right)

Arrested: Hartman on March 27, 2015 (left) and April 9, 2015 (right). In total she was arrested five times in the space of just two months. Hartman is homeless, and says that she feels 'safe' in airports

However, the judge told the court this time around, he is worried that punishment may be the only option. 'If it's not going to work, then guess what we need to do? There's a punishment factor that comes in,' he said.

'I don't want to even address that until we have more information, but this is really kind of the last opportunity, I think.'

But Campanelli says that cases like Hartman's 'don't need to be in the criminal justice system'. The Tribune quotes her as saying: 'They need to be in treatment. We don't have the mental health treatment facilities for them to go to.'

Campanelli hopes that Hartman will be able to get the kind of medical help that will let her transition into normal society - and answer the question, 'Why, why, does Marilyn Hartman have an obsession with airports?'

Nevertheless, for now at least it seems like Hartman isn't playing ball. Footage from a court appearance in July last year - after making five attempts to stow away in late April and early May - shows her struggling to keep a straight face as she stands in court.

In an interview with KTLA after the trial, she laughed when she was asked whether she would continue to sneak onto planes. 'No! No,' she giggled. 'I don't want to be in that position I want to go with a paid ticket and that's exactly how - I want to do everything legal.'

Two days later she was arrested again at Midway Airport.

Lost and found: In February 2015, after sneaking on a flight from Florida to Minnesota, she pretended to be a Biggest Loser contestant to sneak into a resort. She later fled and was found hiding in a cupboard

Relatives: Hartman (pictured left on May 3, 2015 and right on August 26, 2014) has a brother and cousin, but in at least one court session they appeared unwilling to take her in

Troubled: Hartman, seen here at her most recent court appearance, says she was made to flee her home by the FBI, and blames her habits on 'whistleblower trauma syndrome,' an unrecognized medical condition

In her frequent court appearances, Hartman has testified that she is homeless and only feels safe in airports. She has a brother and cousin in Chicago but, NBC reported last year, they have no interest in taking her in.

Meanwhile, her rap sheet continues to grow. She claims to have made at least 13 attempts to board planes, and was arrested three times in August 2014 alone, having made attempts to slip by security at Mineta San Jose International Airport, LAX, and Sky International Airport in Phoenix, Arizona.

After her Phoenix arrest, she asked in a press conference, 'Why has the government allowed me to get past security points?'

In February last year she was arrested in Jacksonville, Florida, after she succeeded in flying from Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport with no ticket or boarding pass, then conned her way into the Omni Amelia Island Plantation Resort after claiming that she was a Biggest Loser weight-loss contestant.

She fled after the real contestant, Maria Sandgren, turned up, and was later found by security guards in a vacant room.

That was one of at least three times that Hartman succeeded in her attempts, including a flight from Minnesota to Jackson, Florida and a trip from San Jose, California to Los Angeles.

Sneaky: In this CCTV footage from a Minneapolis airport, Hartman can be seen in the highlighted area, standing close to a man (behind the blue-uniformed guard), pretending to be his companion

Challenged: When the guard spots her, he asks her to step back and show her ticket, but she has none

Fleeing: With her cover blown, Hartman sidles off. She was later found sleeping on airport chairs

Footage of a failed attempt to sneak into another plane in Minneapolis was obtained by Fox 9 News last May. It shows Hartman standing close to another passenger, pretending to accompany him.

The security guard asks her to step back and show a travel pass, which she doesn't have. As he starts looking through another traveller's documents, she sidles away. She was later found sleeping on chairs in the airport.

Hartman says that she attended Chicago Vocational High School and took classes at the Chicago College of Commerce, working as a legal secretary and in legal research and telemarketing between 1971 and 2003.

However, she has since been unemployed and frequently homeless, she says. She claims she was forced by the FBI to flee her home and live on the streets, and blames her penchant for sneaking onto planes on an unrecognized medical condition she calls 'whistleblower trauma syndrome.'

Her 'house arrest' will take place in her current nursing home.




Donald Trump came full circle at tonight's Fox News GOP debate in Detroit by promising  seven months later  to support the Republican nominee.

'Even if it's not me?' he first answered and grinned.

Before giving his answer, Trump touted the millions and millions of people he said he brought into the Republican party. 'And, by the way, the Democrats are losing people,' Trump said.

'It's the biggest thing that's happening in politics and I'm very proud to be a part of it and I'm going to give them some credit too, even if they don't deserve it,' Trump said, motioning to his three rivals. 'But the answer is yes, I will.'

On the Fox News debate stage in August  the last time Trump appeared in the same room with moderator Megyn Kelly as he skipped the network's Iowa debate  the billionaire was the sole person who raised his hand when asked if there was any candidate who, at that time, wouldn't commit to supporting the eventual GOP nominee.

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Donald Trump put to bed, at least for the evening, the thought that he might wage a third-party independent bid and not support the GOP nominee

While Donald Trump stood on the debate stage in August and raised his hand when asked who wasn't on board with supporting the eventual GOP nominee - tonight he said he would

By early September, however, he was holding up a signed Republican National Committee pledge, alongside Chairman Reince Priebus, in the lobby of Trump Tower.

'The best way for the Republicans to win is if I win the nomination and go directly against whoever they happen to put up. And for that reason, I have signed the pledge,' Trump declared at the time.

Since then, he's given himself some wiggle room to get out of it if needed.

In recent weeks, several issues have cropped up where he's suggested that the RNC is not holding up its end of the bargain.

There was the debate auditoriums that Trump believed to be filled with Jeb Bush supporters and donors a reaction the frontrunner had after he was booed during two debates.

When Ted Cruz ran ads against Trump on the billionaire's former pro-choice record, Trump threatened to sue 'liar' and 'totally unstable' Cruz, but he complained about the RNC too.

'Additionally, the RNC should intervene and if they dont they are in default of their pledge to me,' Trump said in the run-up to the South Carolina primary, which he handily won.

Sen. Marco Rubio (left) and Sen. Ted Cruz (right) both said they'd support Donald Trump as nominee after spending a large part of the GOP debate in Detroit going after him

Ohio Gov. John Kasich had the most colorful response when asked if he would support Donald Trump as the nominee: 'I think once it's all said and done I'll be the nominee'

Even this morning, when Trump was defending himself against Mitt Romney who was on the verge of making a big attack in the form of a speech today in Utah, the frontrunner suggested that the people he brought into the party, he would also take away.

'These millions of people who joined, they're all coming with me,' he said on Morning Joe.

With Trump winning in delegates and with the most momentum coming out of Super Tuesday the other candidates were asked a slightly different version of the question  would they support Trump if he becomes the Republican nominee?

'I will support the Republican nominee. Yes, I'll support Donald if he's the Republican nominee,' Marco Rubio said, then went on to blast 'socialist' Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, who is 'under FBI investigation.'

'She lied to the families of the victims of Benghazi,' Rubio shouted about the Democratic frontrunner.

Next up, Cruz answered in the affirmative.

'Yes, because I gave my word that I would,' he said, before touting his Super Tuesday win in Texas, one of three states that he gobbled up from Trump.

Kasich had the most animated response.

'Yeah,' he began. 'But I think once it's all said and done I'll be the nominee.'

Kasich then motioned to Trump.
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As protesters of Sydney's first Mardi Gras marched down the streets almost 40 years ago, they were called 'p***ters' and brutally punished for supporting gay rights.

On the eve of this year's Mardi Gras, the NSW Police have finally apologised for their cruel actions back in 1978.

LGBTI spokesman Detective Inspector Tony Crandell delivered the apology on Friday morning as the city geared up for its 38th annual parade.

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A protester is grabbed by a NSW Police officer on June 24, 1978 outside the Central Court of Petty Sessions. The march would come to be known as Sydney's First Mardi Gras

Dozens of officers prepare to descend on crowds on that Saturday. Protesters held up signs with slogans such as: 'Full democratic rights for homosexuals'

One of the men among the protesters was The University of Sydney 's Centre for English Teaching anthropologist Mark Gillespie and he has shared photos of that night on June 24, 1978

'I spoke with our commissioner this morning and I have his full support in saying that the NSW Police Force is sorry for the way that first Mardi Gras was policed back in 1978,' he said.

'For that, we apologise and we acknowledge the pain and hurt caused by police actions back then.'

Mr Crandell's statement was made a week after the NSW Parliament apologised to the 78ers, the name given to the protesters who took to the streets 38 years ago.

'We do understand the apology issued by the parliament was on behalf of all NSW Government agencies but we felt it important that the NSW Police perspective is well understood,' he said.

One of the men among the protesters was The University of Sydney's Centre for English Teaching anthropologist Mark Gillespie and he has shared photos of that night on June 24, 1978.

As he marched through the streets, Mr Gillespie said he heard 'the commonly used Australian put-down of those times, "p***ters", hurled at us'.

'"Ratbag p***ters", too. When we reached Hyde Park we were denied entry.' Mr Gillespie said.

When the protesters reached Darlinghurst Road in Kings Cross they were cut-off and 'ambushed' by 'hundreds of police with dozens of wagons blocking us in front and from behind'.

When the protesters reached Darlinghurst Road in Kings Cross they were cut-off and 'ambushed' by 'hundreds of police with dozens of wagons blocking us in front and from behind'

Mr Gillespie said police took advantage of the semi darkness of the night on June 24, 1978 and unleashed 'a reckless and ugly attack on the marchers'

Some photographs show police officers trying to grab hold of people, and above is a mob of protesters gathering around the police station

'It was there in Darlinghurst Road that we faced the most brutal onslaught of the whole night. The police, arriving in numbers, took advantage of the semi darkness of the night, unleashing a reckless and ugly attack on the marchers,' Mr Gillespie said.

'They acted as if they had a licence to inflict as much injury as they could and I feared there would be dead bodies everywhere if they had guns in those paddy wagons and were to open fire.

'Despite that fear we did not run, we fought back, resisting arrest as the police wielded their heavy batons indiscriminately.

'The more we were assaulted the more we resisted. The group-solidarity had taken hold as we tried to stand our ground, rescuing "brothers" and "sisters" from the clutches of the police as they were being forced into paddy-wagons.

'I distinctly remember the way that the police near the El Alamein Fountain targeted women for arrest, in particular, and the smaller and more vulnerable among us.'

In the series of photographs, a dozens of policemen can be seen descending on the crowd and in another officers appear to be pushing protesters to the ground.

Others show a pair of men-in-blue trying to grab hold of a marcher and a mob of people gathering around the police station.

The 78ers who attended the launch expressed their disappointment Mr Scipione did not offer the apology himself.

Barbarella Karpinski was not quite 18 when she marched in 1978.

'An apology by Mr Scipione himself would be very much appreciated,' she said.

'I was a young person at that time and I watched extreme violence... we're waiting, so it's going to be his starring moment if he can give us an apology.'

Mr Gillespie said he feared there would be 'dead bodies everywhere if they had guns'

More than 500 activists descended on Darlinghurst in June 1978 to protest the criminalisation of homosexual acts

Following the march, The Sydney Morning Herald published the names, addresses and occupations of many involved in the first march

Det Supt Crandell said Mr Scipione was in rural NSW and unable to attend the event, but the apology was made with his full support and the sentiments raised were in his mind.

More than 500 activists descended on Darlinghurst in June 1978 to protest the criminalisation of homosexual acts.

The protest ended in violence, ill-treatment, public shaming and the arrest of more than 50 people, as well as allegations of police bashing some protesters.

The NSW Parliament apology came after an apology from The Sydney Morning Herald for publishing the names, addresses and occupations of many involved in the first march.

Sydney Independent MP Alex Greenwich received a standing ovation after his brief speech, in which he said NSW would not now have 'the gayest parliament in Australia' without the original protesters.

'Many 78ers, who participated in that peaceful march that ended in brutality from government agencies, could not back then imagine the day where you have two openly gay members of parliament sitting across this chamber and delivering a formal apology on behalf of this parliament for what happened to you,' Mr Greenwich said.

Being gay in 1978 brought with it huge social and economic risks, Mr Greenwich said.

'There were significant and devastating repercussions for the 53 people,' he said.
Last year Ireland became the first country in the world to legalise gay marriage by referendum.

So it's no wonder that the Irish float at this year's Sydney Mardi Gras will be bigger and better than ever.

On the May 23, 2015, two thirds of the Irish population voted in favour of marriage equality.

'It's been heart-warming to see the joy and happiness around the country of Ireland as gay people have their loving relationships officially and equally recognised,' said Lorna Markey Hennessy, the co-creator of the float.

Panti Bliss (pictured) was a prominent figure during the Irish referendum and has now touch down in Sydney for the parade

On the May 23, 2015, two thirds of the Irish population voted in favour of marriage equality. Supporters were overjoyed by the announcement in Dublin (pictured)

The Sydney Queer Irish float is inspired by Ireland's Pirate Queen of the 1600's Grace O'Malley.

Well known Irish civil and gay rights activist Panti Bliss has been flown in especially to be the captain of the pirate ship.

Ms Bliss had a vocal presence during Ireland's referendum and is thrilled to be here for the parade.

'I'm beside myself with excitement for Saturday's parade. The Irish float is an explosive and colourful celebration of Irishness!' said Ms Bliss.

After an incredibly exciting and revolutionary year for the Irish LGBTI community, their float will be just as inspiring.

Panti Bliss (pictured) has been flown out for the Sydney Mardi Gras and will be the Queen of the Irish pirate float

The Sydney Queer Irish float is inspired by Ireland's Pirate Queen of the 1600's Grace O'Malley

'Panti the Pirate Queen will be on a beautiful pirate ship, surrounded by 140 glittering and sparkling pirates and winged wave dancers, celebrating together the momentum of love and equality sweeping across the oceans. We will dance to Tiestos remix of Enyas hit Orinocco Flow' said Ms Markey Hennessy.

The group Sydney Queer Irish has become the fastest growing Irish group in Australia, it also won the Best Float at the St Patrick's Day Parade.

Almost ready to set sail! A sneak preview of what the Sydney Queer Irish pirate float will look like

But the crew of sailors and pirates aren't too concerned with competition, they just want Australia to follow their lead in the fight for equal rights.
Journalist Paul Sheehan (pictured) has been suspended from the Sydney Morning Herald, after an apology was issued for a column by Sheehan, detailing an alleged gang rape in Sydney which he later acknowledged had not been justified

Journalist Paul Sheehan has been stood down indefinitely from his position at Fairfax Media, following a column detailing an alleged gang rape in Sydney, which he has since acknowledged was fabricated.

Editor-in-chief of the Sydney Morning Herald, Darren Goodsir, issued a formal statement on Friday apologising again for the column and 'the hurt and distress it understandably caused'.

'The formal review, which included a comprehensive examination of editorial processes, found unacceptable breaches of fundamental journalistic practice,' Mr Goodsir wrote.

'The columnist, who has apologised for the report and admitted this serious lapse, will stand aside from his duties until further notice.

'The Herald's reputation is founded on the trust our readers give us to provide fair, balanced and independent journalism, and it is critical that the editorial integrity of the Herald is maintained.'

The column, published by Fairfax on February 22, tells the story of a nurse who claimed she was viciously assaulted and raped after finishing a late shift at Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital in August 2002.

Fairfax acknowledged the original column's aspersions against the Middle Eastern community and said it raised untested allegations of inaction against the NSW Police.

This comes after Sheehan apologised to NSW Police and admitted to publishing unchecked claims that authorities ignored a woman's allegations she had been 'gang raped' by a group of Middle Eastern men.

A tweet from the Sydney Morning Herald editor-in-chief with the announcement that Paul Sheehan was being stood down indefinitely from his position at Fairfax Media

The woman, who went by her middle name Louise, told Sheehan she had fallen asleep in her car near St Mary's Cathedral and woke to a man pulling her leg before she was punched in the face.

She then claims she was beaten and raped by six men of Middle Eastern appearance before several homeless men found her.

Among her injuries, the woman says she suffered a broken jaw, 79 fractures, a broken ankle, a broken back vertebrae and broken nose.

STATEMENT FROM SYDNEY MORNING HERALD EDITOR-IN-CHIEF DARREN GOODSIR I have concluded a formal review into the column 'The horrifying untold story of Louise', published on Monday, February 22. The article has since been retracted and, on behalf of the Herald, I once again unreservedly apologise for the column and the hurt and distress it understandably caused. The formal review, which included a comprehensive examination of editorial processes, found unacceptable breaches of fundamental journalistic practice. The columnist, who has also apologised for the report and admitted this serious lapse, will stand aside from his duties until further notice. The Herald's reputation is founded on the trust our readers give us to provide fair, balanced and independent journalism, and it is critical that the editorial integrity of the Herald is maintained. Advertisement

This follows retraction from Sheehan, who interviewed the woman for four hours on four separate occasions, saying he now believes details of her horrific story were false.

He said when he pressed her about why there was no complaint of the attack in the system, she told him she had tried to report the crime six months after it happened but claims police told her she waited too long and she had no evidence.

Sheehan published a column in the Sydney Morning Herald last week telling the story of a nurse who claimed she was assaulted and raped after finishing a late shift at Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital in August 2002

Sheehan apologised to NSW Police in his recent column because the story accused them of not treating the crime seriously. He said the Commissioner quickly responded to the allegations made in his column but Louise would not assist police.

The veteran journalist said Louise's claims she had been raped in 2002 was at a time when a series of gang rape assaults had occurred in Sydney with many unreported to police.

Sheehan, who interviewed the woman for a total of four hours on four separate occasions, has written a retraction saying he now believes details of her horrific story were false

During 2000 to 2002 there were several trials for gang rape cases where victims had been attacked by groups of Middle Eastern men - a fact Sheehan said gave him some context with Louise's allegations.

'In the story recounted to me by Louise, she made insulting references to rapes committed by Middle Eastern men. I had wrongly amplified this insult by including her words in the column,' he wrote.

Social media was divided with the original story of Louise's alleged rape and many users started poking holes in the story almost immediately after it was published.

Several Twitter users pointed out that Louise's claims were remarkably similar to allegations made by a woman at two Reclaim Australia rallies last year where people protest against Islam - with some suggesting her story was fabricated.

Sheehan wrote that he has not been able to get in contact with Louise since Febuary 22.

The woman, who went by her middle name Louise, told Sheehan she was beaten and raped by six men of Middle Eastern appearance before several homeless men found her. Among her injuries, the woman says she suffered a broken jaw, 79 fractures, a broken ankle, a broken back vertebrae and broken nose (file photo)

Social media has also reacted to today's apology, with many saying the print version has not been given much prominence, particularly compared to the original article.

'The 'Apology' written by the SMH doesn't name Paul Sheehan and isn't given the same prominence of the original article', lawyer, Mariam Veiszadeh wrote on Twitter.

'You'll be needing one of these [microscope] to find the apology for the Paul Sheehan debacle,' comedian Tony Martin wrote.

Social media has also reacted to today's apology, with many saying the print version has not been given much prominence, particularly compared to the original article
Police have appealed to a mystery caller who called them about the Salt Creek backpacker attacks to get back in touch with them as the person had information of potential value.

The Advertiser reports that police urged the person to call Taskforce Coorong - the team investigating the assaults on two overseas female backpackers.

Two foreign women, both aged in their 20s, were seriously injured when a man in his 50s allegedly raped and tried to kill them while they were camping at Salt Creek, south-east of Adelaide, on February 9.

Police have appealed to the mystery caller to get back in touch with them again after the attack at Salt Creek in the south-east of Adelaide

Crime Stoppers were contacted by the person with specific information at 11.13pm on February 10, the day after the two women were attacked.

'If the caller cant ring during that time, please call any time and your information will be relaid to the taskforce investigators,' Taskforce Cooring officer-in-charge Inspector Trent Cox said.

'The very nature of the information leads us to believe its of potential value to the investigation and hence the appeal for that person to ring again.'

Both women, who cannot be identified, were travelling with a man they had just met when he allegedly attacked them at Coorong National Park in Salt Creek, south-east of Adelaide, at around 6.30pm on February 9.

The two backpackers suffered horrific injuries when they were attacked at the campsite

The backpackers were Brazilian and German, and cannot be identified under state law

Salt Creek in Coorong National Park in South Australia was where the attacks took place

The backpackers were Brazilian and German, and cannot be identified under legislation that protects alleged sex crime victims in the state.

A man was arrested by police and was charged with attempted murder, rape, aggravated cause serious harm and detaining a person to commit an indictable offence.

He will face court again in March.

Anyone with information about this incident should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Both women were travelling with a man they had just met when he allegedly attacked them at Salt Creek in Coorong National Park
Authors say the picturesque villages are at risk of becoming ghost towns'

At slowest speed in Miserden it would take 119 hours to download Spectre

Thousands dream of swapping city life for quaint, picturesque villages in the British countryside - but it could come at a price.

Internet speeds in some of these remote and beautiful spots are as slow as the enviable pace of life, and tests reveal that it can take up to five days to download a single HD movie on sites like Netflix.

A new survey has named the worst five places in the UK, where internet speeds are slower than at Everest base camp, with Gloucestershire village Miserden topping the list.

A new survey has named the worst five places in the UK, where internet speeds are slower than at Everest base camp, with Gloucestershire village Miserden (pictured) topping the list.

Second on the list was Ashwell in Hertfordshire (pictured), where the lowest test result was just 0.13mbps, with an average of 1.39

Two villages in Cumbria made the list, including Ulverston (pictured), where more than 1,000 tests were done, revealing the average speed to be just 1.45mbps

Cumbria's Gilsland also made the top five, with a lowest test speed of just 0.51mbps and an average of 1.86

Brent Knoll was fifth on the list, falling only just under the Everest base camp speed of 2mpbs via satellite connection, with an average speed of 1.99

THE DIGITAL NOT-SPOTS IN PICTURESQUE RURAL VILLAGES OF BRITAIN Village Average speed Number of tests Lowest Highest 1. Miserden, Gloucestershire 1.30 94 0.12 12.44 2. Ashwell, Hertfordshire 1.39 136 0.13 3.63 3. Ulverston, Cumbria 1.45 1107 0.12 37.07 4. Gilsland, Cumbria 1.86 97 0.51 6.05 5. Brent Knoll, Somerset 1.99 106 0.63 16.96 Research by Cable.co.uk

Visitors to Everest could expect speeds of up to two megabites per second (mbps) vial a satellite connection, but in Miserden, near Cirencester, one tests revealed a speed of just 0.12mbps.

At that speed, it would take a full five days to download the James Bond film Spectre in HD, according to the authors of the survey.

The average speed of all 94 tests in the Cotswolds village was just 1.3mbps, which means downloading the movie would still take ten hours.

Second on the list was Ashwell in Hertfordshire, where the lowest test result was just 0.13mbps, with an average of 1.39.

Two villages in Cumbria made the top five list, Ulverston - where more than 1,000 tests were done - and Gilsland, with averages of 1.45 and 1.86mbps.

Number five was Brent Knoll, in Somerset, which was just below the Everest speed, with an average of 1.99mbps, although the slowest of all 106 tests was just 0.63.

Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire has the fastest average broadband speed at 77.17Mbps, 60 times faster than Miserden.

Downloading Spectre in Rickmansworth would take 11 minutes based on the data, according to survey authors Cable.co.uk.

Dan Howdle, from reports authors Cable.co.uk, warned towns like Miserden (pictured) that 'these often beautiful, scenic locations will become ghost towns,' as businesses need good internet speeds to operate

Elverston (pictured) falls well below the average UK broadband speed was 14.7mbps according to Ofcom, in April 2014 when it was last calculated

The second fastest area is Shepshed in Leicestershire, with an average speed of 66.34mbps, followed by Llanwit Major in Glamorgan, 66.27mbps, Guisborough in Cleveland, 61.43Mbps, and the district of Springburn in Glasgow, 60.27Mbps.

Dan Howdle, telecoms spokesman at Cable.co.uk, said: 'Digital inequality is a huge problem in the UK, both for those who suffer at the bottom end and for the UK economy as a whole.

'While the number of UK households on the right side of the 'digital divide' is increasing thanks to the continuing rollout of superfast broadband, those left stranded are finding themselves further and further behind - to the detriment of both themselves and their local economies.

'And it's not all about whether or not you can stream the latest Bond movie. Digital black holes like Ulverston, Miserden and others, unless addressed, will suffer steady economic decline as homes become less desirable, and businesses can no longer sustain themselves without an online presence.

'These often beautiful, scenic locations will become ghost towns.'

Even areas such as Brent Knoll, which built around a huge hill (pictured) should have speeds of above 2mbps, as the Government pledge to make that speed a reality for every part of Britain

A Department for Culture, Media and Sport spokesman said the Cable.co.uk survey reflected the average speed consumers had taken up, not the speed that could be available.

He said: 'Around nine out of 10 homes and businesses can now access superfast broadband and so we'd urge people to check what speeds are available to them.

'As a minimum, every home and business in the UK is now guaranteed speeds of at least 2Mbps through our satellite broadband scheme. This scheme offers immediate assistance to those in the most remote areas with the slowest speeds and is all part of our transformation of the UK's digital landscape.'

A spokesman for BT, whose Openreach network provides the final mile of connection into consumers' homes, said: 'This report doesn't give an entirely accurate picture, as fibre broadband is widely available to two of the slowest areas identified.

'Fibre is available to 93% of premises connected to Ulverston exchange and to 81% of those connected to the Brent Knoll exchange - a far cry from the 'digital black holes' described.

'This report is either based on out-of-date information or on the speeds people choose to buy rather than the maximum speeds available to them.
A suspected gang member tried to burn down a house with his girlfriend and her five children still inside, police say.

Daniel Eugene Thornton trapped his partner, along with another woman, in a bedroom of the home in a quiet, rural street in Niles, Michigan before nailing the door shut, according to the Cass County Sheriff's Department.

The 39-year-old - who has facial tattoos affiliated with Chicago gangs including the Insane Gangster Disciples - then set fires all over the house and threatened to kill anyone who called the police, WNDU reports.

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Daniel Eugene Thornton tried to burn down a house with his girlfriend and her five children still inside, police say

His girlfriend's five children, who were inside the property at the time, managed to escape unharmed.

A passerby, who noticed the flames, called 911 but when when fire crews arrived, at around 11.30pm on Tuesday night, Thornton tried to bar them from entering the property, police say.

Thankfully, the firefighters' arrival and confrontation with Thornton allowed his girlfriend and the other woman the chance to climb out the window to safety.

Thornton was arrested in a nearby street and now faces charges of arson in the second degree and third degree, unlawful imprisonment, assault by strangulation, assault with a deadly weapon and aggravated domestic assault.

His bond was set at $150,000.

A neighbor, Elizabeth Shelton, told WNDU she had heard Thornton and his girlfriend arguing out on the lawn, before his arson attempt.

Thornton (pictured on Facebook, left, and in court, right) faces charges of arson in the second degree and third degree, unlawful imprisonment, assault by strangulation, assault with a deadly weapon and aggravated domestic assault

Daniel Eugene Thornton trapped his partner, along with another woman, in a bedroom of the home in a quiet, rural street in Niles, Michigan (pictured)

The 39-year-old has a long criminal history which includes six felony convictions - including larcey in 1993 and assault with a dangerous weapon in 2010 - and three misdemeanors.

'The defendant has a rather extensive criminal history,' Assistant Prosecutor Tiffany Vohwinkle told WNDU.

'He does show a transient behavior as you can see from his own admissions of six months in Illinois. His last conviction was in Berrien County, I was able to review the pre-sentence report in there and they indicate he has a very transient history.'

The court also heard that Thornton has possible gang affiliations - based on his face and body tattoos.

They include a Yosemite Sam on his right forearm which has GD inked across it - for the Gangster Disciples, according to Alex Kotlowitz's book, The Other Side of the River.

Insane Gangster Disciples is a faction of the GDs - a gang from the South-side of Chicago that was created in the 1960s. Famous members include Chicago-based rapper Lil Jay.

'He does have gang relations,' said Vohwinkle.

Police say that Thornton also assaulted an officer during his arrest.
Tilly received money from his projects as part of their divorce

Jennifer Tilly, Simon's ex-wife, has asked she continue to receive money from his projects - including the Simpsons

The makeup artist said she upheld his deal that she stop working

Both the ex-wife and girlfriend of Sam Simon, the co-creator of The Simpsons, have filed separate claims against his estate - asserting he promised them money before his death last year.

Simon died of colon cancer aged 59 in March 2015. A renowned animal rights advocate, Simon dedicated his $100million fortune to charities and animal rights organizations.

But Kate Porter now claims Simon, who she described in the claims as her 'intimate' partner for the last three years, says she was promised $5million tax free in his will.

Kate Porter, who dated Simpson's co-creator Sam Simon up until his death in March 2015, has filed claims against his estate saying she was promised $5m tax free in his will

Meanwhile Jennifer Tilly, who was married to Simon from 1984 to 1991 and remained close with him until he died, has asked that she continue to receive money Simon's projects, including The Simpsons

Porter said Simon only asked that his girlfriend agree that she would 'refrain from continuing to work', according to TMZ.

The makeup artist, who called Simon her 'hero, love and best friend' in a tribute after his death, said she upheld her deal with Simon.

Meanwhile Jennifer Tilly, who was married to Simon from 1984 to 1991 and remained close with him until he died, has asked that she continue to receive money Simon's projects, including The Simpsons.

Simon created the hit cartoon alongside Matt Groening in 1991. He technically retired from The Simpsons in 1993, but his severance package earned him about $10 million a year.

Tilly claimed in her December filing that the couple's 1993 divorce guaranteed her an ongoing community property interest, meaning she was entitled to one-half of it, in her ex-husband's projects, which also included long-running The Drew Carey Show.

Simon and Tilly were best friends before his death. The actress and professional poker player went to every one of her ex-husbands chemotherapy sessions, according to Vanity Fair.

Tilly, along with second ex-wife Jami Ferrell and Porter, all attended Simon's last birthday party - his 59th - before his death.

Simon died of colon cancer aged 59 in March 2015. A renowned animal rights advocate, Simon dedicated his $100million fortune to charities and animal rights organizations

The makeup artist, who called Simon her 'hero, love and best friend' in a tribute after his death, said she upheld a deal with Simon that she would stop working

'I will possibly be celebrating my final birthday in a few weeks with two ex-wives, an ex-girlfriend, and a current girlfriend,' Simon told the Magazine in December 2014.

'Probably, my social life is more active than it's ever been. Astonishingly. And that's because of my fine choice in women throughout my life. In my time of need, they've all come back to comfort me.'

Simon admitted in the interview that Porter, who planned the party, had been shocked at first when she saw the guest list.

'But I named a grizzly bear after her,' he said. 'Then we were fine.'

Tilly said at the time that Simon's terminal diagnoses changed him for the better.

'He was always a very Type A personality,' she said. 'And I think he realizes that a lot of things that maybe would make him crazy, they're just not important.'

'He's discovered what's important in life. Such a difference. A lot of the stuff he does he doesn't even talk about.'

For Simon that was animal rights. After he was diagnosed with cancer, the television vet immediately teamed up with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), and dedicated much of his time to the rescue of mistreated animals and conservation.

Before his death, the Emmy-winning producer spoke about why he decided to dedicate his fortune and final months to animal rights.

Until his death, Simon funded projects dedicated to feeding homeless people and saving animals from being killed in shelters

Simon (right) developed The Simpsons in the late 1980s with Matt Groening (left) and James L. Brooks

He said: 'The thing about animals that speaks to me so much is that my passion for the animals and against animal abuse is based on the knowledge that these creatures which think and feel can't speak for themselves.'

'I feel it is my responsibility to speak for those who can't speak for themselves.'

Until his death, Simon funded projects dedicated to feeding homeless people and saving animals from being killed in shelters.

Among his charitable efforts, he established the Sam Simon Foundation, which rescues dogs and trains them to assist disabled veterans and the hard-of-hearing.

But no animal meant as much to Simon as his beloved rescue dog Columbo, who has become the center of another ongoing dispute involving his estate.

Simon bequeathed his five-year-old Cano Corso to his friend and dog trainer Tyson Kilmer and his wife Alison.

The Kilmers claimed in September they have not received the $140,000 allowance needed to care for Columbo, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Simon had paid for Columbos treatments  which included acupuncture twice a week at a cost of $3,640 every month  until he died, the magazine reported.

Kilmer told DailyMail.com: 'He told me on his deathbed: 'Tyson, take my dog, I got you covered.' That's all I needed to hear.'

He claimed that if Columbo does not maintain his care regimen, his behavior could become more aggressive, which he fears will endanger his children.

But he refuses to give Columbo away, adding: 'I love this dog. Sam would want me to fight against this. Columbo was Sam's son.'

No animal meant as much to Simon as his beloved rescue dog Columbo (pictured), who has become the center of another ongoing dispute involving his estate

He bequeathed Columbo to his friend and dog trainer Tyson Kilmer (pictured), who claimed in September he has not received the $140,000 allowance needed to care for the dog

'There is no way he would not continue to get Columbo his treatments.'

However, in a statement sent to DailyMail.com, the Simon Trust - which is overseen by Simon's former business manager Julie Miller - said the late TV veteran had 'carefully planned every detail of his trust'.

It said Kilmer had demanded 'ludicrous sums' - including an initial demand for $1.7million - which the trust is not legally able to distribute.

Kilmer told DailyMail.com that he made no such demands, adding the allegations were 'laughable'.

He also claimed that Miller had been the one to sign off on the medical bills for Columbo while Simon was alive.

'But as soon as we took Columbo home, those payments stopped,' he said.

Describing Simon as a 'passionate philanthropist', the trust said: 'Friends of Sam regularly saw his love and complete dedication to Columbo, his beloved Cane Corso dog, who was consistently at Sams side during his brave and inspiring, but ultimately unsuccessful battle against cancer.'

However, it explained that the trust had allocated 'reasonable' resources for Columbo's care despite others who offered to take in the dog for free.

It said: 'The trustee charged with carrying out Sams wishes allocated reasonable resources for Columbos care within the limitations allowed by the trust and the law.

'However, these generous contributions were met with endless frivolous complaints by the trainer that these funds were insufficient.'

'These demands were even more outrageous considering that a back-up person named by Sam to care for Columbo was willing and able to do so at no cost,' it added.

'When Sam left Columbo in his trusted friend and dog trainers hands, he felt secure that his dog would be loved and cared for, and that his fortune would go toward causes that were close to his heart.'
Donald Trump has softened his position on immigration and insisted he would encourage intelligent foreigners to come to the US for work

Donald Trump has softened his position on immigration and insisted he would encourage intelligent foreigners to come to the US for work, even if it meant Americans missed out on jobs.

In a startling U-turn, the Republican front runner revealed he no longer stood by his claims that giving visas to highly skilled workers would 'decimate American workers'.

During a grilling from Fox's Megyn Kelly during Thursday night's GOP debate, Trump backtracked on a number of key policies and was forced to defend himself for being 'flexible'.

When asked where he stood on the brightest immigrants wanting to come to the United States for work, Trump said: 'I'm changing.

'We need highly skilled people in this country, and if we can't do it, we'll get them in,' he said.

He continued: 'But, and we do need [them] in Silicon Valley, we absolutely have to have [them]. So, we do need highly skilled [workers], and one of the biggest problems we have is people go to the best colleges.

'They'll go to Harvard, they'll go to Stanford, they'll go to Wharton, as soon as they're finished they'll get shoved out.

'They want to stay in this country. They want to stay here desperately, they're not able to stay here. For that purpose, we absolutely have to be able to keep the brain power in this country.

'I'm softening the position because we have to have talented people in this country,' he added.

Trump's remarks on immigration was just one of a number of U-turns he made during a heated debate in Detroit.

Kelly also played excerpts of interviews with Trump in which he contradicted his usually well-rehearsed stances on refugees and the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

In an exchange with Fox's Megyn Kelly (left) during Thursday night's GOP debate, Trump (right) backtracked on a number of key policies and was forced to defend himself for being 'flexible'

'I have a very strong core,' Trump shot back, adding: 'I've never seen a successful person who wasnt flexible, who didnt have a certain degree of flexibility.

'You have to be flexible, because you learn,' he said.

Trump was also called out on his change of views on gun regulation.

He used to support a ban on assault rifles, but said during the debate that he had changed his mind.

'I don't support it anymore. I do not support the ban on assault,' Trump said.

'I'm a big defender of the Second Amendment. And if you look at what's happened, whether it's in California, where you had the 14 people killed, whether it's in Paris - which, by the way, has the toughest gun laws in the world and 130 people killed.

'If we had guns, or if they had guns on the other side of the room, with the bullets going in the opposite direction, you would not have had 130 people killed. That I can tell you right now.'

In another flip-flop, Trump came out all guns blazing with a disavowal of the Klu Klux Klan.

Earlier in the week he was criticized for failing to condemn the racist, white supremacist group and its former leader David Duke, who has come out in support of The Donald.

Tonight, Trump said: 'I totally disavow the Klu Klux Klan. I totally disavow David Duke.
With executions halted and the prosecution of some murder cases in limbo, the Florida Legislature overhauled the state's death penalty law Thursday in response to a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court that the current sentencing law is unconstitutional.

Legislators sent Governor Rick Scott a bill that would require that at least 10 out of 12 jurors recommend execution in order for it be carried out. Florida previously only required that a majority of jurors recommend a death sentence.

The measure includes other changes that lawmakers hope will resolve the lingering legal questions and open the door to the state resuming executions. Scott, who has overseen the most executions under a single governor since the death penalty was reinstated in Florida in 1979, plans to sign the bill into law, said his spokeswoman, Jackie Schutz.

Changing the death penalty: Legislators sent Governor Rick Scott, pictured in July, a bill that would require that at least 10 out of 12 jurors recommend execution in order for it be carried out

'Today the Legislature acted swiftly and decisively to restore the death penalty in Florida,' said State Senator Rob Bradley, a Fleming Island Republican and an attorney. 'There will be no further delays in justice for victims and victims' families.'

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in January that the current law is unconstitutional because it allows judges to reach a different decision than juries, which have only an advisory role in recommending death.

The state Supreme Court halted two pending executions following the ruling, and court cases across Florida were put on hold.

The ruling reverberated in other states as well: On Thursday, a state court judge threw out the mechanism for imposing the death penalty in Alabama, where judges also are allowed to overrule jury recommendations.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling triggered a debate in Florida over how much the state should change its law, including whether lawmakers should require a unanimous jury recommendation in death penalty cases.

Florida is one of only a handful of states that does not require a unanimous decision by the jury. But switching to a unanimous jury recommendation was fiercely opposed by the state's prosecutors, who argued that some of the state's most notorious criminals  including serial killer Ted Bundy  did not receive a unanimous vote.

The decision to move from a simple majority to 10 jurors was part of a compromise reached between the Senate and House.

But some legislators warned that the decision could result in the law being challenged once again. The Senate approved the bill by a 35-5 margin, while it cleared the House on a 93-20 vote.

Florida execution chamber: Florida previously only required that a majority of jurors recommend a death sentence. Pictured here is an execution chamber in Florida

'In Florida, we've exonerated 25 men who were once wrongly convicted of death,' said State Senator Jeff Clemens, a Lake Worth Democrat and one of the 'no' votes. 'I just think if you're going to kill someone, you'd better be sure.'

The legislation passed Thursday also requires prosecutors to spell out before a murder trial begins the reasons why a death sentence should be imposed, and requires the jury to decide unanimously if there is at least one reason, or aggravating factor, that justifies it.

It also prohibits a judge from imposing the death penalty if the jury does not recommend it.

Michelle Richardson of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida said the changes address some, but not all of the flaws in Florida's death penalty system and questioned if the law would pass muster with the courts.

'Even after this bill is signed into law, there will still be serious constitutional problems with the death penalty in Florida, and we have to stop tinkering with the machinery of death and address them,' Richardson said.

'We hope that it doesn't take another ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court for legislators to find the political will to do so.'

The bill sent to Scott does not apply to the 389 inmates now sitting on Florida's death row.
The Kurdish PKK killed two police officers with a car bomb and injured 35 people with a rocket attack during a terror spree in southern Turkey today.

Security forces confirmed the attack this morning, conducted by a left-wing militant group of Kurds known as the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the town of Nusaybin near the Syrian border.

It comes a day after two female militants were shot dead in a police siege after launching an attack on officers with a machine gun and grenades in Istanbul.

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Turkish police and soldiers inspect the scene of a car bombing that killed two policemen in Nusaybin

The attack was orchestrated by a left-wing militant group of Kurds known as the Kurdistan Workers Party

The attackers targeted a riot police bus with what appeared to be a machine gun and hurled explosives as it drove towards a station in the Bayrampasa district of the city.

Police returned fire, injuring one of the militants, before tracking them to a nearby government building after they escaped the scene in a vehicle.

Officers then launched an assault on the building and shot the pair dead after the women ignored calls for them to surrender.

The women were named as Cigdem Yaksi and Berna Yilmaz, both members of the radical leftist group, The Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C).

Two policemen were killed and 35 people wounded by car bomb and rocket attacks in Turkey a day after two female militants (pictured) were shot dead after opening fire at a police bus in Istanbul

Special forces units were sent to the area and residents were evacuated as officers prepared to carry out an operation after the women fled to a nearby government building

Siege: Security forces officers open fire during an operation against the two attackers. Police shot and killed the two women who had hidden inside a building after they ignored calls for the to surrender

Kill or capture: Special forces officers conduct a search operation following an attack at the entrance to a police station in the Istanbul suburb of Bayrampasa by two women who fled to a nearby government building

The DHKP-C later claimed responsibility, issuing a statement saying: 'Greetings to you, our two brave female liberation fighters who have taken the people's liberation fight on their shoulders.'

It has repeatedly staged similar attacks on police stations, largely in Istanbul suburbs, in the past.

Three Turkish soldiers and 10 Kurdish militants were also killed in two clashes in the southeast on Wednesday.

The army said yesterday that latest casualties were due to a revived conflict that has killed hundreds since the collapse of a ceasefire last summer.

In the Dargecit district of Mardin province, near the Syrian border, three soldiers and eight PKK fighters were killed on Wednesday during security forces' operations, the army statement said.

Two police officers were killed by a car bomb and 35 people were injured in a rocket attack by the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) just hours after violent clashes that left 13 dead on Wednesday (pictured)

Two PKK militants were killed in the Sur district of Diyarbakir, the largest city in the southeast (pictured)

Another two PKK militants were killed in the Sur district of Diyarbakir, the largest city in the southeast, where police on Wednesday fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse hundreds protesting against security operations.

The mainly Kurdish southeast has suffered the worst violence in two decades since the ceasefire fell apart last July, leaving a three-year peace process between Ankara and the PKK in tatters.

Hundreds of militants, security force members and civilians have been killed in the conflict since then.

Diyarbakir's Sur district has been under lockdown since December 2 as police and soldiers try to root out PKK militants who erected barricades and dug trenches in the neighbourhood.

A curfew in the town of Cizre was partially lifted on Wednesday.
A personalized license plate that reads 'JIHAD 1' has been allowed in the state of Missouri.

A St Louis news station was contacted by a viewer who spotted the license plate and found it 'insulting' before sending an email with the subject line, 'WHAT WAS THE DMV THINKING!!!!'

The viewer said he found the plate 'a bit scary especailly (sic) with the latest shootings in San Bernardino', referencing the terror attack that left 14 people dead in California last December, News 4 reported.

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A personalized license plate that reads 'JIHAD 1' (pictured) has been allowed in the state of Missouri

A St Louis news station was contacted by a viewer who spotted the license plate and found it 'insulting and actually a bit scary especailly (sic) with the latest shootings in San Bernardino', referencing the terror attack that left 14 people dead in California last December (scene from the attack pictured)

After examining the policies for granting or denying personalized license plates, a Department of Revenue representative told them they had no legal authority to deny the word.

However, a similar personalized license plate that read 'J1HAD' was rejected by the state in 2009.

The state did not provide an explanation for why that particular license was rejected while this one was allowed, according to News 4.

The 'JIHAD 1' license plate, which was seen on a car in St Louis county, belongs to a Muslim couple who have a 14-year-old son named Jihad, whose name inspired the license plate, News 4 reported.

The family also noted that Jihad, a traditional Muslim name, has a spiritual meaning for Muslims, contrary to violence and terrorism associations with the word.

'Jihad is very common and it doesn't mean Holy War,' Faizan Syed, the executive director of the St Louis Chapter Council on American Islamic Relations told News 4.

Faizan Syed, the executive director of the St Louis Chapter Council on American Islamic Relations, said when a child is named Jihad, it means someone who is going to struggle to be better

'It means someone who is struggling, so when you name your kid Jihad, it means someone who is going to struggle to be better.'

However, he added that the word 'has the ability to confuse' and said since the average American thinks of Jihad as a certain thing, 'it's probably better for this individual not to use it.'

In Illinois, the word Jihad is banned from being used on license plates, according to the station.
ruled DNA can't be used as main evidence in rape cases

A powerful Pakistani religious body that advises the government on the compatibility of laws with Islam on Thursday declared a new law that criminalises violence against women to be 'un-Islamic.'

The Women's Protection Act, passed by Pakistan's largest province of Punjab last week, gives unprecedented legal protection to women from domestic, psychological and sexual violence.

It also calls for the creation of a toll-free abuse reporting hot line and the establishment of women's shelters.

A powerful Pakistani religious body has declared a new law that criminalises violence against women to be 'un-Islamic', saying it conflicts with the Muslim holy book, the Koran, as well as Pakistan's constitution (file picture)

But since its passage in the Punjab assembly, many conservative clerics and religious leaders have denounced the new law as being in conflict with the Muslim holy book, the Koran, as well as Pakistan's constitution.

'The whole law is wrong,' Muhammad Khan Sherani, the head of the Council of Islamic Ideology said at a news conference, citing verses from the Koran to point out that the law was 'un-Islamic'.

The 54-year-old council is known for its controversial decisions.

In the past, it has ruled that DNA cannot be used as primary evidence in rape cases and supported a law requiring alleged victims get four male witnesses to testify in court before a case is heard.

The council's decision this January to block a bill to impose harsher penalties for marrying off girls as young as eight or nine has angered human rights activists.

Activists carry placards during a protest in Islamabad in May 2014 against the killing of Farzana Iqbal who was stoned to death by her family for marrying against their wish. The Women's Protection Act, passed last week, gives unprecedented legal protection to women from domestic, psychological and sexual violence

The new law establishes district-level panels to investigate reports of abuse and mandates the use of GPS bracelets to keep track of offenders.

It also sets punishments of up to a year in jail for violators of court orders related to domestic violence, with that period rising to two years for repeat offenders.

Fazlur Rehman, the chief of one of Pakistan's largest religious parties, the Jamiat-i-Ulema Islam, said the law was in conflict with both Islam and the constitution of Pakistan.

'This law makes a man insecure,' he told journalists. 'This law is an attempt to make Pakistan a Western colony again.'

In 2013, more than 5,800 cases of violence against women were reported in Punjab alone, the province where Wednesday's law was passed, according to the Aurat Foundation, a women's rights advocacy group.
Unmasked: The adoptive parents of 23-year-old Ukrainian national Artur Samarin (pictured in his mugshot), who is accused of posing as a high school student, were the ones who tipped off the FBI about his ruse

The adoptive parents of Pennsylvania high school student Asher Potts were the ones who reached out to the FBI months ago saying claiming their son, a senior in high school, was not the person he claimed to be, according to the couple's attorney.

Investigators soon concluded Potts was actually a 23-year-old Ukrainian named Artur Samarin, who had overstayed his visa, and they said in charging documents that he confessed to having sex with a 15-year-old girl when he was 22.

Last week, the baby-faced Samarin was arrested on charges of identity theft, statutory sexual assault and corruption of minors - a development that drew shocked responses from those who knew him through his participation in a school military program, his academic excellence and his acceptance to a prestigious flight school.

'My understanding is his motives were pure coming over here, and given his time at John Harris (High School), no one had a complaint about him,' said his lawyer, Adam Klein.

'Until that's proven differently, that's my feeling at this point - that he came here to do what many immigrants do, to take part in the American dream.'

Following his arrest, Samarin told the station WHTM that he had no regrets about passing himself off as a teenager to get quality education but claimed that it was not his idea, but rather that of his adoptive parents, Michael and Stephayne Potts, with whom he lived for much of the past four years before moving in months ago with another family.

Samarin said in the phone interview from jail that his birth family pooled money to send him to the US 'for a better life'. After his visa ran out in 2013, he said, the Pottses helped him obtain a birth certificate and a fake Social Security card in the name of Asher Potts.

He explained that his adoptive parents came up with the idea to knock five years off his age because at the age of 20, they would not have been able to adopt him.

Impostor: Samarin, also known as 'Asher Potts,' was arrested last week on charges of identity fraud, statutory sexual assault and corruption of minors. This image from 2014 shows Pennsylvania state Rep. Patty Kim presenting Samarin-Potts with a certificate of recognition

Imitation game: Samarin (left) made a reputation for himself at Harrisburg High School as a stellar student who also took part in the ROTC program (right). In fact, he was an immigrant who had overstayed his visa

In the same interview, Samarin accused the couple of using his illegal immigration status as leverage to pressure him into acting like their house servant.

'Everything they ask of me, I could not tell them no,' he told the station.

Court records state the couple 'conspired with' Samarin in faking his way through high school, but they have not been charged.

Their lawyer, Corky Goldstein, said on Thursday it was the Pottses who first alerted authorities about Samarin by contacting the FBI months ago.

Goldstein would not say why the couple made the decision to blow the whistle on their adoptive son, but said that they thought he was younger than he is and that they did not know he was having sex with the girl. They deny his claim he was forced to work for them.

'She thought she was helping a young man who was being persecuted in his country, the Ukraine, by the Russians,' Goldstein said. 'They opened up their home to him.'

Goldstein strongly contested Samarin's claims that the Pottses had taken advantage of him and used him as free labor.

'They had nothing to gain [from Samarin],' Goldstein told PennLive.com. 'She [Stephayne] did all the cooking. They bought him clothes and took care of him. They even bought him plane tickets' to visit colleges.

Mother and son: Samarin's birth mother, Victoria Samarina (pictured with Artur in this undated photo emailed to WHTM) she said she was sure he could not have done anything wrong

The lawyer also denied that Samarin's adoptive parents, who have been struggling to make ends meet and have been evicted multiple times over the past four years, took the Ukrainian youth into their home for financial gain.

They wanted to do the right thing for him, whether they were right or wrong, Goldstein said. If they did anything improper or illegal, they're willing to own up to whatever she did... If charges are filed, she will turn herself in.

Samarin had left the Pottses and was living in a shelter several months ago when Waleed McClintock and his family let him move in with them in nearby Middletown.

McClintock said he was troubled by what he and his wife saw of the Pottses' relationship with Samarin and equally impressed by the young man's drive.

Samarin, who shared a bedroom with McClintock's 17-year-old son, would rise before 5am to get a bus to school. He took college-level classes at night and also worked at a grocery store.

'This is the worst that Ukraine has to offer? OK, you can ship another busload over here,' McClintock said Thursday. 'He was a very impressive young man. He was respectful and intelligent and seemed to have a plan for his life.'

He said Samarin was slight of build, disappearing beneath a hand-me-down coat. He told McClintock little about his past or his family.

'We never pried,' he said. 'We simply wanted to offer a safe space to be in.'

Samarin (pictured here with friends) accused his adoptive parents, Stephanye and Michael Potts, of taking advantage of him while he lived with them, but their lawyer denied these claims

In the interview, before he was charged with sexual assault, Samarin appeared to admit the identity theft allegations.

'What can I say? I did abuse the system. Yes I did,' Samarin told WHTM. 'I did use this identity, and it's the law.'

Police said that by the time Samarin's tourist visa expired in March 2013, he already nearly finished his freshman year at John Harris, better known as Harrisburg High School, despite having attended two years of college in Ukraine.

'By all accounts he was an excellent student,' Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico said. 'He was involved in the community, he was in the ROTC program, he did community service.'

He excelled in his studies, earning a 4.16 GPA by May 2014, was inducted into the National Honor Society and set his sights on a doctorate in aerospace engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida.

The school rescinded Samarins acceptance last week, PennLive reported.

The mayor of Harrisburg at the time pronounced October 27, 2013, as Asher Potts Day to recognize his accomplishments; he was a student representative to the school board; and he was third runner-up for a spot on the homecoming court, Pennlive.com reported.

Samarin's mother, Victoria Samarina, emailed WHTM from Ukraine this week after finding news accounts about him that confirmed her fears he might be in trouble. She said she was sure he could not have done anything wrong.

'I'm sure that he could not do anything wrong. I know that he just wanted to get a good education I could not help to get him here,' she wrote. 'Please convey to him that I love him very much; he's my dearest person in the world.'
Britain would be trapped 'hook, line and sinker' in an unreformed EU if voters reject Brexit in June, Boris Johnson warned today.

In a new attack on David Cameron's deal, the London mayor said Britain would be like a 'frog in the boiling saucepan of water' unable to escape greater political integration.

Mr Johnson's fierce new attack on Mr Cameron's renegotiation efforts come after Iain Duncan Smith warned the Prime Minister to cut out 'dodgy dossiers' and 'bullying' from his EU campaign.

Tory grandee Norman Tebbit warned Mr Cameron would find it difficult to 'change sides' and negotiate a Brexit following referendum defeat

Boris Johnson launched new attacks on David Cameron's deal today, insisting it would leave Britain in an unreformed EU

Iain Duncan Smith, left, attacked the 'spin, smears and threats' being deployed by the Government machine to 'bully' Britain into remaining inside the EU, while Liam Fox warned the party had to come back together in June

Liam Fox today warned the 'ramped up' infighting between senior Tories would make it more difficult to reunite the party and govern after the referendum in June.

The blistering new row comes a day after Mr Cameron was forced to deny a 'conspiracy' to keep Britain inside the EU amid claims he had orchestrated a row over the 'jungle' migrant camp in Calais.

In an interview with the Evening Standard, Mr Johnson warned: 'We will never be able credibly to argue for any reform in Europe again.

'We will be signed up to this thing lock, stock and barrel  hook, line and sinker.'

TEBBIT: DAVID CAMERON 'PROBABLY SHOULD' STAND DOWN' IF HE LOSES EU POLL Tory grandee Lord Tebbit, right, has suggested that David Cameron should quit after the European Union referendum if the country votes to leave. The former Cabinet minister said it would be 'very difficult' for the Prime Minister to be in charge of the Brexit negotiations with the other EU countries having campaigned to retain ties with Brussels. The veteran politician also condemned the 'silliness' from Mr Cameron and fellow senior Tories over their warnings that a vote to leave the EU would represent a 'leap in the dark'. Suggesting the Prime Minister 'probably should' stand down if he is defeated in the referendum, Lord Tebbit said 'it would be very difficult for him to negotiate for all those things that we need to get settled with our European partners having said that it would be a disaster if we did leave'. Advertisement

He said the conclusions of Mr Cameron's renegotiation, painstakingly hammered out with the EU a fortnight ago, offered 'no real change' to Britain.

Lord Tebbit told the BBC: 'What I am saying is that I think he would find it extraordinarily difficult to suddenly change sides again, from a man who was willing to leave and take a leap into the dark unless he got what he wanted, and he came back with a piece of paper and said that this was what he wanted.

'Now to say 'that's what I wanted but the country doesn't want it, so now I'm going to go over to the side of my country'.

'I think that would be an extremely difficult thing for him to do.'

Former defence secretary Dr Fox made a series of interventions today, speaking on the fringes of the Scottish Conservative Party conference and doing a series of media interviews.

He hinted for the first time the Prime Minister might have to quit if the 'peasants revolt' and vote for Brexit despite the onslaught from the In campaign.

His remarks after Mr Duncan Smith, writing in today's Daily Mail, delivered a devastating attack on the 'spin, smears and threats' being issued by the Government machine.

Mr Fox told the BBC today: 'The Conservative Party is in a position where we will have to come back together to govern the country after the 24th of June.

'And the difficulty we will face is that if the arguments have been ramped up too much in that initial period that will become harder for us.

David Cameron, pictured in Scotland today, faced warnings from senior Conservatives not to 'ramp up' attacks on party colleagues during the referendum

'How easy or how hard it is for us to come together and govern this country as a majority party is largely dependent on how well we treat one another, and the respect with which we treat one another, in the run up to the referendum.'

Mr Fox today insisted the claims from the In campaign were all 'nonsense'.

He said: 'The whole point behind Project Fear is it has to be credible.

'We need to have some credible stories, we need to have some credible statistics and the sort of cases we've had that you'll not get cheap flights, children's books won't get published, you'll not be able to be rescued if you're stranded abroad  this is all nonsense.'

Mr Fox repeated his warnings on Twitter today and at a speech on the fringes of the Scottish Conservative Party Conference

He insisted the Tories were not yet at the point where unifying on June 24 was impossible.

Asked if Mr Cameron could stay in Downing Street if the Brexit camp win, Mr Fox said: 'Yes, constitutionally, of course.

'I've been saying for a long time to my colleagues they need to understand the binary nature of a referendum, the fact it will arouse a lot of passions.

IN CAMPAIGN LAUNCHES NEW 'GRAB A GRANNY' TACTIC Young voters are much more likely to back EU membership Younger voters are being urged to steer their grandparents away from the Brexit door in a new campaign tactic dubbed 'grab a granny'. The Remain campaign wants to tap into the belief voters in their 20s and 30s - the so-called EasyJet generation - are more pro-EU because they take much greater advantage of cheap flights, easy communication and the ability to live and work across Europe. The 39-year-old Education Minister Sam Gyimah is to spearhead the campaign ahead of the EU referendum on June 23. He told The Times: 'This is a generation that has lived its entire life while the UK has been in the European Union. 'This is the generation that takes for granted the fact that on a weekend they can weigh up a flight going to Manchester or Madrid. 'They carry everything on their smartphone. Through Facebook they communicate with three times the population of Europe.' Mr Gyimah insisted the referendum was more important for the young as they still had their entire lives ahead of them. He added: 'The EU can be incredibly annoying and frustrating from a national government perspective but after thinking about it quite hard I came to the view that it's a bit like being in a relationship. 'If all you ever looked at was what you gave and the sacrifices you are making, but not the give-and-take element, most of us would end up as singletons.' Advertisement

'In fact I'd said to a number of my colleagues that in a referendum friendships get tested, relationships can sour.'

Today's row comes a day after Mr Cameron was accused of orchestrating a bitter row over whether the French would tear up a bilateral borders agreement and move the Calais 'jungle' camp to Kent.

At a press conference with French President Francois Hollande yesterday, Mr Cameron was forced to deny there was a 'David Icke-style conspiracy' to keep Britain in the EU.

Mr Duncan Smith warned of lasting damage to British politics beyond the June 23 referendum if Mr Cameron and the other leading players in the Remain camp do not conduct the debate in a more 'respectful manner'.

Mr Duncan Smith said: 'After all, such desperate and unsubstantiated claims are now being made that they begin to damage the very integrity of those who make them in the eyes of the public.'

In a series of so-called dodgy dossiers, the Government has set out a nightmarish Brexit scenario which could lead to 'a decade or more of uncertainty', destroy trade and even stop Britons holidaying around Europe. Mr Duncan Smith said this 'bullying' campaign was designed to distract attention from the fact Mr Cameron had secured no meaningful reform to the EU.

He points out that, at his Bloomberg speech in 2013, the Prime Minister himself had said that staying in an unreformed Europe would make the country weaker.

In his Mail column, ex-Tory leader Mr Duncan Smith argues that, given EU reform has not been achieved, Mr Cameron's own logic should point the country towards the exit door.

In one of the post powerful interventions in the EU debate so far, he said: 'Ask yourself this: with razor wire fences going up in mainland Europe due to fears of unsustainable levels of migration, with the failing euro creating economic misery for Europe's poorest people, with high unemployment and economic stagnation, is this a set up you would seek to join?'

His comments reflect growing anger among MPs and ministers in favour of leaving the EU at the Government's tactics.

Senior figures say the country is being denied the mature debate the country was promised by the PM.

On Wednesday, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond triggered fury by claiming that Out campaigners are secretly content to 'sacrifice' British jobs in order to regain control of our borders.

He was also accused of 'scaremongering' over claims two million UK citizens living in the Costa del Sol and elsewhere in the EU could be forced to return home.

Time to halt the smears spin and threats: IAIN DUNCAN SMITH

Two weeks after the Prime Minister returned from Brussels with his EU deal, the debate on the European Union has shifted significantly. The Remain campaign's case seems almost wholly based on what they describe as the nightmare of leaving. This case has in whole or in part become characterised by spin, smears and threats.

This was not what we were told the debate would be about and so for those keen to stay in the EU I register a concern and also a challenge.

In the last fortnight we have had a series of highly questionable dossiers  threatening almost biblical consequences if we dare to consider a future outside of the European Union.

We've seen a series of stunts, whereby big businesses, big banks, and powerful politicians from other EU member states seek to bully the British people into believing their jobs and security are at risk. The impartiality and integrity of the civil service  on whose credibility the whole institution of Government depends  has even been called into question by Parliament.

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions warned of lasting damage to British politics beyond the June 23 referendum if PM David Cameron (pictured) does not conduct the EU debate in a more 'respectful manner'

The acrimonious manner in which all this has been conducted is troubling, and will I fear have consequences long beyond June 23. After all, such desperate and unsubstantiated claims are now being made that they begin to damage the very integrity of those who make them in the eyes of the public.

The biggest danger to the European Union comes not from those who advocate departure, but from those who denounce such thinking as heretical and dangerous.

WE MUST LEAVE THE EU TO ESCAPE THE RED TAPE, BUSINESS CHIEF WARNS The head of one of the biggest groups representing small and medium-sized firms came out in favour of leaving the EU yesterday. In a strident attack on the Prime Minister's 'deal' with Brussels, British Chambers of Commerce director general John Longworth, right, said the EU remains 'essentially unreformed' and is 'incapable of meaningful reform'. He added the risks of staying in such a club were 'as daunting' as leaving, telling the Daily Mail: 'I have analysed the facts personally and my view is we should leave.' The intervention is a bruising setback for David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne, who are desperate to get business leaders to back the In campaign. Mr Longworth, a former executive at Tesco and Asda, said the Prime Minister's deal with Brussels 'fell far short of our expectations'. He warned that staying in an unreformed EU would leave Britain 'sitting on the margins' as the eurozone integrates further. Saying the UK would have a 'brighter economic future outside the EU', he urged business leaders to look beyond any short-term disruption and think about the future they want for their children and grandchildren. Mr Longworth also pointed out that by 2010, European red tape was costing British business 80bn a year. 'Since then there has been major costs added by Europe,' he said. 'The one thing that Sajid Javid [the Business Secretary] cannot do anything about is European legislation and that is where the bulk of the burden is coming from.' His comments, at the annual conference of the BCC in London, make Mr Longworth the first leader of a major business group to take on the Prime Minister over the referendum. Unlike the pro-EU Confederation of British Industry, which is seen as the voice of 'big business' and was a supporter of Britain joining the euro, the BCC represents 75,000 small and medium-sized businesses with millions of staff across the country. Advertisement

This is the most important question we have faced in a generation, and it is vitally important that the debate is conducted in a respectful manner  where we maturely interrogate the issues, rather than indulge in scaremongering.

And so that brings me to the challenge.

In January 2013, the Prime Minister made an excellent speech, setting out his vision for a reformed European Union. He made a powerful case for 'fundamental, far-reaching change'  without which he said the EU 'would make our countries weaker not stronger'.

Now, I know that the Prime Minister entered the negotiations with good intent. He said at the time that 'with courage and conviction, I believe we can deliver a more flexible, adaptable and open European Union'.

The problem was that he was faced with the final reality that the EU is disinclined to make such fundamental reform.

Now there will be some people who will have believed from day one that we should stay in the Union regardless, and others who may have wanted to leave irrespective of any changes that might have been secured.

However, the original referendum challenge set by the Prime Minister was not predicated on whether we wanted to remain in the EU or not  it was whether we wanted to remain in a 'reformed EU'. That is a vital distinction and one which is now being deliberately avoided.

After all, the Prime Minister said himself that the case for staying in was conditional on achieving reform. So for those who are undecided, surely the paramount question that they will want to answer for themselves is whether the European Union that we now have is reformed or not.

If they arrive at the conclusion that it has not, then it would be quite logical for them to decide that Britain would be better served Out.

Perhaps that's why the terms of the debate seem to have been shifted by the Remain camp. They no longer seek to pretend the Prime Minister's deal amounts to fundamental reform.

Instead, the question being asked seems to be whether we could cope on our own at all. Why they would seek to present our country, and themselves, as so weak is beyond me.

But ask yourself this: with razor wire fences going up in mainland Europe due to fears of unsustainable levels of migration, with the failing euro creating economic misery for Europe's poorest people, with high unemployment and economic stagnation, is this a set up you would seek to join?

If the answer is no, then we as a country should have the confidence that, as the fifth largest economy in the world, we can have a more prosperous and more positive future if we take control of our own destiny.

We should not be intimidated into forgoing that choice.

Indeed, as the Prime Minister himself said in that same 2013 Bloomberg speech: 'Of course Britain could make her own way in the world, outside the EU, if we chose to do so.'
The UN human rights chief has warned that a 'Pandora's Box' will be opened if Apple cooperates with an FBI demand to unlock an iPhone.

The FBI has ordered the tech giant to assist it with unlocking an phone used by San Bernadino gunman Syed Farook.

But speaking today, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein warned the FBI order would 'set a precedent that may make it impossible for Apple or any other major international IT company to safeguard their clients' privacy anywhere in the world.'

He added: 'In order to address a security-related issue related to encryption in one case, the authorities risk unlocking a Pandora's Box that could have extremely damaging implications for the human rights of many millions of people, including their physical and financial security.'

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UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein (pictured) insists 'encryption tools save lives'

Apple argues it will lose the trust of his loyal customers if it helps law enforcement agencies unlock the iPhone of San Bernardino gunman Syed Farook

Syed Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik (pictured) killed 14 people in San Bernardino on December 2 last year

FBI want to unlock the iPhone used by Farook, who was behind the San Bernardino massacre along with his wife Tashfeen Malik that left 14 people dead.

The agency has argued that Apple's software update in September 2014 - which means data on Apple devices is now encrypted by default - has created 'warrant-proof' zones for criminals.

Apple's update prevents anyone without the owner's four-digit code from accessing the phone's data. If 10 wrong attempts at the code are made, the device will automatically erase all of its data. No-one, not even Apple, is able to then access the data.

But the FBI has asked the tech company to help it find a way round the security by altering Farook's iPhone.

The agency wants it to do two things: first change the settings so unlimited attempts can be made at the code without deleting the data; and second help implement a way to rapidly try different combinations to save tapping in each one manually.

Their court order has been backed by many family members of the victims.

They said Apple wanted to portray the debate as 'one in which the privacy interests of millions of Americans are at stake in order to obtain sympathy for its cause.'

'What is implicated here is the United States' ability to obtain and execute a valid warrant to search one phone used by a terrorist who committed mass atrocities,' the brief said.

Protesters demonstrate outside the FBI headquarters in Washington DC, objecting to the US government's attempt to force Apple to change the security settings on iPhones

FBI Director James Comey wants Apple to help the law enforcement authorities crack an encrypted iPhone belonging to San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook

Apple has said in return the only way to unlock the handset would be to introduce a weakened operating system, which could potentially leak out and be exploited by hackers and foreign governments.

The tech giant's main rivals - Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Yahoo - have all backed Apple's efforts to challenge the order.

Prince Al Hussein said the FBI 'deserves everyone's full support' in its investigation into what he termed an 'abominable crime'.

But he added: 'This case is not about a company - and its supporters - seeking to protect criminals and terrorists, it is about where a key red line necessary to safeguard all of us from criminals and repression should be set.

'There are many ways to investigate whether or not these killers had accomplices besides forcing Apple to create software to undermine the security features of their own phones.

'It is potentially a gift to authoritarian regimes, as well as to criminal hackers.'
Holocaust denial leaflets calling the brutal genocide of some six million Jews the 'greatest swindle of all time' have been handed out to students at a reputable Australian university.

Roughly 300 anti-Semitic flyers were found in the University of Melbourne's Square car park on Monday, the first day day of the new university semester.

The leaflets linked to a website promoting similar ideologies, saying that 'Holocaust studies is replete with nonsense, if not sheer fraud.'

They also disputed the reliability of eyewitness testimonies from Holocaust survivors, the Jewish News reported.

Holocaust denial leaflets were handed out at the University of Melbourne on Monday

Roughly 300 flyers were distributed in one of the university's main car parks (pictured)

The leaflets said that 'Holocaust studies is replete with nonsense, if not sheer fraud' - a line first said by American political scientist Norman Finkelstein

It really is a testimony to the effectiveness of post war propaganda that so few people ... realise the practical non-existence of material or documentary evidence in support of essential Holocaust allegations,' the website states.

'At the same time, so many harbour the deep impression that witnesses to alleged Holocaust crimes are far more numerous and far more credible than they really are, it continues.

A spokesman for the University of Melbourne confirmed that the flyers were removed and other car parks were checked for flyers, but the matter had not been reported to police.

Dvir Abramovich, chairman of the B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation Commission, said the flyers were an 'utterly sickening' case of 'hateful propoganda.'

'This is an alarming escalation in anti-Jewish hostility and is a cause for serious concern, Mr Abramovich said.

The racists and bigots who distributed these Holocaust denial materials want to confuse readers by disguising this venom and vileness as a legitimate alternative view of history, and are trying to promote the abhorrent message of racism, Nazism and Fascism.

Hebrew and Jewish Studies have been offered at the University of Melbourne since 1946, and allow students the opportunity to study the language, literature and history of Jewish culture and society.

It is believed the holocaust denial flyers may have referenced a line of thinking first put out by American political scientist Norman Finkelstein, whose 2000 book 'The Holocaust Industry' suggested that the memory of the Holocaust was exploited and used as an 'ideological weapon.'
Chance of further attacks is 'highly possible', as police warn of threat level

A police chief has warned that republican terrorists want to kill 'police, prison officers and soldiers' after a Belfast prison worker was seriously injured when a car bomb exploded.

Assistant chief constable, PSNI, Stephen Martin, said those responsible for today's attack wanted to 'kill the prison officer' ahead of the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising. The Rising was mounted by republicans in an attempt to end British rule in Ireland in 1916.

The policing boss added attacks were being identified and countered 'every day'. No group has yet claimed responsibility.

We have said on many occasion that the threat in Northern Ireland remains at severe and the definition of that is that an attack is highly possible,' he said.

'I am not surprised by this attack and I would encourage people to be vigilant. We still have people in our society who want to kill and the primary targets are police officers, prison officers and soldiers.

We are deeply concerned by the current threat picture. In recent weeks we have been increasing patrols and we intend to do that in the coming weeks and through Easter. Easter is a very, very important part of the annual calendar, this year it has much greater and increased significance.'

Attack: Police guard the blue van that was hit with a car bomb this morning in an attack on a prison officer

Injured: The unnamed victim was driving through east Belfast when the bomb went off - and police believe it may have gone off as he drove over a speed bump

A bomb disposal robot at the scene in Woodstock Road after the device went off underneath the van

Police officers stand guard as ordinance experts arrive to assess the van and if it still poses any danger

Moving in: The robot is used by to get close to the van without risking the safety of nearby officers

The unnamed victim, 52, was rushed to the Royal Victoria Hospital in the city with serious leg injuries and another person was also injured in the attack.

Police were called at around 7.10am to the Woodstock Road area in the east of Belfast, a predominantly Unionist area.

The prison officer was driving a blue VW van when the device detonated and the bomb may have been set off as he drove over a speed bump.

He has served for 28 years and is married with grown up daughters.

It is understood the prison officer works in Hydebank Wood Young Offenders' Centre in Belfast.

Northern Ireland's First Minister Arlene Foster and Sinn Fein Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness called today's bombing a 'despicable and shocking attack.'

Doctors said the prison officer, who required surgery for his injuries, is now in a stable condition in hospital.

Police Service of Northern Ireland Superintendent Darrin Jones said: 'We believe a device has exploded under a vehicle. The incident was reported to police at 7.10am this morning Friday, March 4. One man has been taken to hospital.'

This afternoon police said the officer was wounded by an IRA-style booby trap bomb.

Woodstock Road has been closed at its junctions with Omeath Street and Ravenhill Avenue. Emergency services are at the scene.

In a joint statement, Mrs Foster and Mr McGuinness said: 'Our thoughts and prayers are with this senior prison officer and his family as he is treated for his injuries in hospital.

'We join all right-thinking people in condemning these cowardly actions.

'As a prison officer, he is someone who serves and protects our community and we are united in our rejection of this attack.

'Prison service workers have our full support as they play their part in building a peaceful society. The perpetrators offer nothing but hatred and fear.

'We urge anyone with any information on this attack to share it with the PSNI.'

Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers said: 'I utterly condemn this vicious attack on a prison officer in east Belfast.

'Like all his colleagues in the prison service, this officer serves the whole of the community, in stark contrast to the people who carried out this appalling and violent crime.

'I strongly urge anyone with information about this murder attempt to contact the police to help bring those responsible to justice.'

A large cordon has been put up around the scene with several streets closed off. Part of a twisted bumper can be seen lying at the side of the road.

In a joint statement, Mrs Foster and Mr McGuinness said sent their 'thoughts and prayers' to the prison officer

Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers said she condemned the 'vicious attack' on the prison officer

Location: Police were called at around 7.10am to the Woodstock Road area in the east of Belfast, a predominantly Unionist area

Cordon: Police have closed off a large stretch of Woodstock Road, a long street that cuts through much of the area

Explosion: Police say the prison officer was injured in a car blast in the Woodstock Road area Belfast and emergency services are at the scene, pictured in the background

Among the families making their way to school and people walking to work there was a real sense of shock.

One shop worker waiting to gain permission to open up said he had heard a 'massive' bang at about 7.20am.

'I didn't know what it was but it was huge,' said the man who declined to be named.

Woodstock Road is a predominantly Unionist area.

East Belfast Assembly member Chris Lyttle said he was outraged, describing the attack as a 'sickening echo of the past'.

'I am shocked and sickened someone has attempted to take the life of this man,' said the Alliance Party representative.

'It is difficult to put into words the contempt every right-thinking member of society will have for those behind this attack. The people responsible offer nothing except death, injury and disruption.

'Those trying to return Northern Ireland to a climate of fear will not be allowed to win. My thoughts and prayers are with those injured by this device, and I would urge anyone with information about this incident to contact police immediately.'

A number of houses in Hillsborough Drive have been evacuated and an emergency centre has been opened at the Salvation Army in the Cregagh Road.

The van (centre, top) under which a device exploded in east Belfast, leaving a man injured

The suspected republican attack has been described as a 'sickening echo of the past' and Northern Ireland's First Minister Arlene Foster has called it: 'Disgraceful and despicable'
Facebook is set to pay millions more in UK tax after abandoning its ploy of funnelling cash out of the country to Ireland to cut its overall bill.

The social media giant paid 4,327 in UK corporation tax in 2014 - 1,000 less than the average British worker - despite revenues of more than 700million.

But from April it will abandon sending its UK advertising sales to Ireland and on to the Cayman Islands where it pays a zero tax rate, citing the need for 'transparency'.

Pressure: Facebook is to pay millions more in UK tax after admitting it will abandon its ploy of sending its UK advertising sales to Ireland and on to the Cayman Islands where it pays a zero tax rate

UK base: Facebook employs 362 UK staff at his London HQ (pictured) with an average salary of 210,000 and is moving to a huge new 17million-a-year office - but claims its sales are closed in Ireland

Facebook employs 362 UK staff with an average salary of 210,000 and is moving to a huge new 17million-a-year London headquarters next year.

HOW FACEBOOK TURNS ITS UK MILLIONS INTO BIG LOSSES Admission: Mark Zuckerberg's business has said that it must be more transparent and will end its sales practice from April In the UK, from 2006 to 2014 Facebook paid: A total of 855,832 in taxation - including 4,327 in 2014. It says it has made 54,186,962 of losses in the UK in that period. Its most recent declared is 105million in 2014. In Ireland, from 2008 to 2014, where international sales are sent: Facebook Ireland Limited has paid a total of 14.8million in tax It has made a pre-tax profit of 3.2million on a 2014 turnover of 4.837billion SOURCE: DueDil Advertisement

Yet it has managed to turn its 700million of revenues into losses by claiming its British advertising sales, the main source of its income, are 'closed' in Ireland.

Cash is sent from Dublin to another Irish subsidiary in the Cayman Islands - in a tax arrangement called the 'Double Irish' by experts.

The same ploy has also been used by big businesses including Amazon, Apple, Starbucks and Google, who agreed to pay more tax in January.

Figures released under Freedom of Information laws even revealed that HMRC has paid more to advertise on Facebook than it received from the company in tax.

HMRC paid 27,000 in 2015 for adverts on Facebook urging people to pay their taxes - more than six times the 4,327 it received in corporation tax from the company the previous year.

From April Facebook will stop sending UK advertising revenue from giants like Tesco, Sainsbury's and even HMRC to Dublin to benefit from Ireland's lower tax rate.

It said in a statement that the new arrangement - which will start in April - would provide greater 'transparency'. It means it larger tax bill will be due in 2017.

A Facebook spokesman said: 'On Monday we will start notifying large UK customers that from the start of April they will receive invoices from Facebook UK and not Facebook Ireland. What this means in practice is that UK sales made directly by our UK team will be booked in the UK, not Ireland. Facebook UK will then record the revenue from these sales.

'In light of changes to tax law in the UK, we felt this change would provide transparency to Facebook's operations in the UK. The new structure is easier to understand and clearly recognises the value our UK organisation adds to our sales through our highly skilled and growing UK sales team.'

In numbers: Facebook employs tens of thousands of people and made 12.7bn in revenue in 2014, the latest figures available

Facebook has also reportedly slashed its UK tax bill by paying staff with shares.

It came weeks after ministers were accused of going soft on Google as it emerged the internet giant escaped fines despite failing to pay its taxes in full for a decade.

HMRC PAYS MORE TO FACEBOOK FOR ADS THAN IT GETS IN TAX HMRC pays more to Facebook for advertising than it receives from them in tax, it emerged today. Facebook paid just 4,327 in tax in 2014. But HMRC paid them 27,000 for adverts placed on the site the following year. The figures, released to Channel 4 News under the Freedom of Information Act, will be an embarrassment for the government, showing the taxman is handing over thousands for ad space to companies paying back minimal amounts into the public kitty. Advertisement

In a damning report, the Commons public accounts committee accused HM Revenue and Customs of double standards over its failure to penalise Google for its controversial tax arrangements.

The report also criticised HMRC for accepting an offer from Google of just 130million to cover unpaid taxes dating back to 2005.

It said the figure seems disproportionately small, given the firms vast revenues in the UK. MPs said the taxman seems unable to collect a fair share of corporation tax from global companies in the UK.

Facebook's decision to change their tax policy will pile huge pressure on Google, Apple, Amazon and Starbucks - who

They also face an Brussels investigation their methods of moving money around to avoid taxes to countries offering them so-called 'sweetheart tax bills'.

Baroness Joanna Shields, Facebook's former European boss, is the Government minister for internet security.

HQ: This is Google's UK reception at one of its central London offices, where thousands are employed, but it insists that it has no 'fixed base' in Britain to reduce its tax liability

The revelation came weeks after a controversial HMRC agreement with Google - which George Osborne welcomed but was widely panned.

Google has agreed a bill of 130 million for the period of 2005 to 2014 - but it includes no fines or penalties.

Other giant firms - including Apple, Amazon and Starbucks - have also come under scrutiny in Brussels for their methods of moving money around to avoid taxes.
The former crew of Top Gear have been spotted filming their new TV show in a souped-up Mercedes with enormous off-road wheels.

Jeremy Clarkson, 55, was pictured driving the bizarre car up and down the high street of quiet Cobham, Surrey.

Footage shows the sacked BBC star slowing down to ask onlookers 'are you filming this car because it's excellent?'.

The former crew of Top Gear have been spotted filming their new TV show in a souped-up Mercedes with enormous off-road wheels

Jeremy Clarkson, 55, was pictured driving the bizarre car up and down the high street of quiet Cobham, Surrey

Footage shows the sacked BBC star slowing down to ask onlookers 'are you filming this car because it's excellent?'

James May was filmed sitting next to him while Richard 'the hamster' Hammond could be seen in the back, berating him for the choice of car.

The trio are currently filming their new Amazon Prime TV programme.

Stuart Cox, 51, headed out of the opticians where he works after he spotted cameramen filming the white retro car.

The optical technician said: 'I saw the car go past a few times so I went to be a bit nosey and see what was going on.

'I was quite shocked when I saw who it was behind the wheel.

'I was standing on the traffic island in the middle of the road and I really didn't expect him to stop, but he did.

'Jeremy asked me what I thought of the car and it sounded like he was trying to convince the other two about it.

'They didn't exactly look enamoured.

'It was brilliant to see. I'm a Top Gear fan so it made me smile.'

According to reports, the ex-Top Gear trio have signed with Amazon to produce three 12-episode seasons, each episode lasting around an hour.

James May was filmed sitting next to him while Richard 'the hamster' Hammond could be seen in the back, berating him for the choice of car

The trio are currently filming their new Amazon Prime TV programme. Meanwhile Clarkson has officially apologised to producer Oisin Tymon, who launched the lawsuit against both Clarkson and the BBC after the presenter gave him a bloody lip

Clarkson tweeted a photo of a wrecked car from Barbados on Wednesday saying: 'Had a bit of an accident while filming today.'

But they were back filming in Surrey on Thursday afternoon, when they were spotted by Mr Cox.

The clip shows Clarkson pull up and Hammond asking him: 'What are you doing?'

Mr Cox then says: 'Hello Jeremy' and he answers: 'Are you filming this car because it's excellent?'

He replies: 'It's different' and Hammond adds, 'yes, different.'

Apparently unfazed, Clarkson replies: 'He means brilliant'.

Meanwhile Clarkson has officially apologised to producer Oisin Tymon, who launched the lawsuit against both Clarkson and the BBC after the presenter gave him a bloody lip in a fight which led to him being sacked from the motoring show.

Clarkson flew into a rage after being told he could not order a sirloin steak after a day of filming in March last year, calling Mr Tymon a 'lazy, Irish ****' during a confrontation at a hotel in North Yorkshire.

It has since emerged that the presenter and his former employers have agreed to pay out more than 100,000 to the producer, following his claim for personal injury and racial discrimination.

The move will allow the BBC the dodge the embarrassment of a full tribunal hearing.

It was also recently revealed that the new BBC series of Top Gear could soon be available to watch on Netflix as the streaming service considers a head-to-head battle with rival Amazon Prime which will air Clarkson's new show.

The motoring show, which is currently filming, will be presented by BBC veteran Chris Evans, former Friends actor Matt LeBlanc and will feature The Stig, Formula 1 commentator Eddie Jordan, German racing driver Sabine Schmitz, motoring journalist Chris Harris and car reviewer Rory Reid.
Up to 20,000 military uniforms hidden inside aid packages have been uncovered after Spanish authorities busted a large scale smuggling ring to jihadi groups in Syria and Iraq.

The camouflage fatigues were discovered inside boxes marked as second-hand clothes following a routine inspection by custom officials in Valencia and Algeciras.

Spanish police confirmed they have confiscated all the supplies but refused to reveal whether the uniforms had been originally shipped from Europe.

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The camouflage fatigues were discovered inside boxes marked as second-hand clothes following a routine inspection of custom officials in Spain

A suspicious pile of wood parcels attracted the attention of a Spanish sniffer dog

At the ports at Valencia and Algeciras, inspectors found other military gear which they believe the senders were planning to deliver to al-Qaeda linked Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS in Syria and Iraq.

Photographs have emerged of large bundles of military-grade uniforms lying on the floor after they were found at the bottom of the aid packages, according to the International Business Times.

'The containers which carried the military uniforms were declared as second-hand clothes so as to not raise suspicions and be able to pass different customs inspections without any difficulty,' a statement read.

Spanish security did not confirm the intended final location for the cargo but it is thought the bust may have been linked to the arrest of seven smugglers in Spain last month.

Police search through the large pile of military grade uniforms after discovering the hidden supply

At the ports at Valencia and Algeciras, inspectors found other military gear which they believe the senders were planning to deliver to al-Qaeda linked Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS in Syria and Iraq

It is unclear if the latest smuggling bust was linked to the arrest of seven men accused of smuggling

Five of the men arrested at the time were Spanish nationals of Syrian, Jordanian and Moroccan origin, and two were Syrian and Moroccan nationals

The arrests last month were made in the context of an investigation launched in 2014 into 'foreign structures' providing logistical support for ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra

The arrests were carried out in the eastern cities of Valencia and Alicante and in Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta, the police said in a statement.

'Five are Spanish nationals of Syrian, Jordanian and Moroccan origin, and two are Syrian and Moroccan nationals,' it said at the time.

The arrests were made in the context of an investigation launched in 2014 into 'foreign structures' providing logistical support for ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra.

The interior ministry warned that the latest discovery emphasised Spain's growing concern over the illegal smuggling of goods to Syria and Iraq.

'With the roughly 20,000 military uniforms and accessories, it would have been possible to equip an entire army, which would be ready to enter into combat in any of the battlegrounds which jihadist terrorist organisations have round the world,' it said in a statement.

One of ISIS's biggest group of foreign fighters have come from North Africa, particularly Tunisia and Morocco

The interior ministry warned that the latest discovery emphasised Spain's growing concern over the illegal smuggling of goods to Syria and Iraq
Magistrates told she'd been filled with 'remorse and regret on a daily basis'

Actress Rula Lenska has been banned from driving after she flipped her car with her three-year-old grandson in the back seat after downing a shot of vodka with Polish builders, a court has heard.

Wimbledon Magistrates' Court heard Lenska, 68, was marginally over the limit as she hit a parked car in her Kia at around 7pm on 22 February.

The impact caused her car to mount the kerb and roll onto its side in the middle of Hospital Bridge Road in Twickenham, southwest London. Onlookers helped to pull the former EastEnders star and her toddler grandson out through the boot.

The court heard she had been filled with 'remorse and regret on a daily basis' since the incident.

Actress Rula Lenska (pictured leaving court) has been banned from driving after she flipped her car with her three-year-old grandson in the back seat after downing a shot of vodka with Polish builders, a court has heard

Wimbledon Magistrates' Court heard Lenska, 68, was marginally over the limit as she hit a parked car in her Kia at around 7pm on 22 February

Police were called and 30 minutes after the accident and a breathalyser found she had 47 mgs alcohol in 100 ml of breath. The legal limit is 35 mgs.

The court was told that Lenska had downed a large vodka at lunchtime as she toasted the completion of her fence with Polish builders at her home in Chiswick.

LENSKA 'HAUNTED BY REGRET EVERY DAY SINCE INCIDENT' Seema Parikh, defending Lenska, told the court the incident has 'haunted her every day since'. She said: 'Her cat had been attacked. She had to take the cat to the vets and asked my client whether she would be able to drop him back to her home address that day.' Saying that Lenska felt 'absolutely fine' by the evening, she continued: 'She would not have risked her own grandson's life in this kind of situation. 'She is now thinking about this on a daily basis and it is just remorse and regret.' Advertisement

Lenska was breathalysed after witnesses smelled alcohol on her breath at the scene and complained to police.

She was arrested and taken to Kingston Police Station on suspicion of drink-driving and being drunk in charge of a child.

Seema Parikh, defending Lenska, told Withe court the incident has 'haunted her every day since'.

She said the actress had been riddled with guilt since the incident which saw her endanger the life of her 'darling grandson'.

Ms Parikh explained the actress had been too 'traumatised' by the event to answer questions in police interview, but had given a prepared statement.

Describing the events that led to the crash, Ms Parikh said it was normal for Lenska to spend 'cherished' time with her grandson on a Monday.

Her Kia clipped a parked car and rolled onto its side as she drove the toddler through Twickenham, west London, in February

Police were called and 30 minutes after the accident and a breathalyser found she had 47 mgs alcohol in 100 ml of breath. The legal limit is 35 mgs

She added: 'Earlier in the afternoon she has toasted the completion of her garden fence with her Polish builders and they had a vodka to drink.'

The bench heard that Lenska felt 'quite normal' later in the evening when her daughter asked her to drop the toddler home.

Ms Parikh said: 'Her cat had been attacked. She had to take the cat to the vets and asked my client whether she would be able to drop him back to her home address that day.'

Saying that Lenska felt 'absolutely fine' by the evening, she continued: 'She would not have risked her own grandson's life in this kind of situation.

'She is now thinking about this on a daily basis and it is just remorse and regret.'

Accident: Actress Rula Lenska, pictured left last year and right with ex-husband Dennis Waterman, has been charged with drink driving after reportedly flipping her car with her three-year-old grandson in the back seat

TV star: The 68-year-old as Krystal with EastEnders co-star Mike Reid as Frank Butcher

Chair of the bench Bukky Okunade said the offence had been aggravated by the fact that Lenska's grandson had been in the car and that she had collided with another vehicle.

The actress, of Chiswick, south west London, was disqualified from driving for 16 months, fined 410, and ordered to pay a surcharge of 41 as well as 85 in costs.

A statement released on behalf of Lenska said: 'The incident of 22 February will always be engraved in her mind and she cannot express enough her remorse for what happened.

'She is thankful that no one was injured and would like to thank her friends, family and legal team for their committed support during this very difficult period.

'She looks forward to resuming her professional commitments and putting this matter behind her.'

The former wife of actor Dennis Waterman has played Claudia Colby in Coronation Street in recent years and also appeared on Celebrity Big Brother.

Miss Lenska, born Countess Roza Lubienska, is descended from Polish aristocracy. Her parents fled to England in 1946.
British authorities are no closer to extraditing a 31-year-old man from India who faces rape and murder charges, five years after police began investigating him.

Aman Vyas is wanted by police over the alleged murder and rape of a woman in east London who died in 2009.

Michelle Samaraweera, 35, from Walthamstow, was attacked and strangled after she went out to buy a pint of milk while staying with her boyfriend.

Aman Vyas (pictured) is wanted by police over the alleged murder and rape of a woman in east London

Michelle Samaraweera who was discovered dead in a park off Queens Road in east London in May 2009

CCTV still of Michelle Samaraweera entering a supermarket in Walthamstow on the night of her murder

Police released CCTV stills of a suspect that detectives wish to speak to - here visiting the Somerfield shop on the night of the murder of Ms Samaraweera

Ms Samaraweera, 35, from Walthamstow, was attacked and strangled after she went out to buy a pint of milk

Vyas has made almost 30 appearances in Indian courts but his lawyers have managed to delay proceedings by not turning up or misplacing important documents.

He had been on bail since 2011 and is living with his family in Delhi.

The Metropolitan Police has linked him to a string of late-night attacks as well as the alleged murder.

Vyas faces questioning over three allegations of rapes in the two months before Ms Samaraweera's murder. Detectives are investigating if he is responsible for five other sex attacks.

His lawyers tried to dismiss the case in 2012 but an Indian court rejected the bid. Despite this the British authorities have still not been able to extradite him, three years after the process began.

Vyas, the son of a wealthy businessman, was on a student visa in Britain at the time of the attacks.

The E-fit police released at the time of the murder of the man they want to question

He then went to New Zealand where he is reported to have married. In July 2011 he was arrested boarding a plane at Delhi airport that was heading to Auckland and was granted bail in November of the same year.

Vyas has now been granted bail again until next month.

Ms Samaraweera's family have hit out at the extradition process and the delays.

Ann Chandradasa, 44, one of the victim's three sisters, told The Times: 'We feel like there's nothing going on. It just feels like the whole thing has been left stagnant for the last few years.'

The family are now so angry they only want to hear from police when the extradition is approved.

Ms Chandradasa added: 'We just want to see justice done. I just want him back.'

Vyas is also accused of a further two rapes and an attack on a woman in a churchyard.

Detectives want to talk to him over the alleged rape of a 59-year-old woman after she was grabbed outside her front door.

Vyas is further accused of raping a 46-year-old woman in an alleyway.

Walthamstow's MP, Stella Creasy, has written to Navtej Sarna, the Indian High Commissioner in London, over the matter.

Ms Creasy said: 'It's worrying about whether they [the Indian authorities] are serious about dealing with this issue.'

A march in Walthamstow will take place to raise awareness about the case. The Metropolitan Police said they were working with the Indian authorities.

Ann Chandradasa, 44, one of the victim's three sisters, said the family felt like the case had stalled

Michelle Samaraweera here with her husband and her nephew in a family photograph

Ms Samaraweera with her mum Mary and her nephew Aaron - she was murdered after going out shopping
A pair of Syrian people smugglers have been cleared of negligence charges and will serve just four years in prison for the death of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi.

The youngster and four others - including his brother and mother - drowned last year when their boat capsized during the ill-fated journey from Bodrum to the Greek island of Kos.

The image of the boy's lifeless body lying face down on a Turkish beach galvanized world attention on the refugee crisis, graphically illustrating the magnitude of the migrants' suffering.

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The image of the boy's lifeless body lying face down on a Turkish beach galvanized world attention on the refugee crisis

Asem Alfrhad (top left) and Muwafaka Alabash (centre) were found guilty of human trafficking but cleared of negligence charges, meaning they will serve just four years and two months in prison

According to Turkish state-run media, a court acquitted the two men of the charge of causing the deaths through deliberate negligence.

The pair will serve just four years and two months in prison each after being found guilty of human trafficking.

The defendants, Syrian nationals Muwafaka Alabash and Asem Alfrhad, had denied any responsibility in the migrants' deaths.

Instead, they blamed Aylan's father, Abdullah Kurdi, for the deaths - accusing him of organizing the trip. Prosecutors had sought maximum 35 years in prison for each.

Abdullah Kurdi has since returned to Syria.

Trials in Turkey usually take months - even years - to conclude, but the verdict, which came just a month after the trial opened, appeared to be an effort by the country to show that it is cracking down on human traffickers.

Turkey is under pressure to reduce the tide of migrants to Europe and to combat the smuggling rings since it reached a deal with the EU in November.

Under the deal, Turkey is scheduled to receive a 3 billion euro fund to help the country deal with Syrian refugees.

The photo of little Aylan (pictured), his red shirt bunched up over his waste, inspired an outpouring of sympathy for the refugees fleeing the bloodbath of Syria

Galip Kurdi, 5, and Aylan Kurdi, 3, both of whom died in the tragedy, pictured with their father Abdullah
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull left many people scratching their heads on Friday when he posted a photo of his kindergarten class form 1960, igniting a debate about which of the cherub faced students went on to lead the country.

Mr Turnbull posted the black and white photo of his class at his former school, Vaucluse Public School in Sydney, during a trip down memory lane to mark 25 years of Clean Up Australia.

It was great to meet the boys and girls who are all enthusiastic environmentalists, keenly picking up rubbish around the school. And of course, as is always the care when you visit your old primary school  everything seems much smaller than you remember  especially my year two classroom where we were all well instructed by the firm but fair Mrs Corrigan, Mr Turnbull wrote.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull posted a picture of his kindergarten class from 1960 (pictured) on Friday but didn't mention which young student he was

Mr Turnbull posted the black and white photo of his class during a trip down memory lane to his former school, Vaucluse Public School in Sydney, to mark 25 years of Clean Up Australia (pictured)

And here is a class picture from my kindergarten class at Vaucluse in 1960. I hope some of our old classmates recognise themselves and each other.

Failing to mention which student he is, Mr Turnbulls followers began immediately speculating which students features mirrored the PM.

Commenters quickly became evenly split between two options  the young boy in the third row on the far left or the boy in the top row, third from the left.
A Pakistani man was sentenced to 13 years in prison yesterday for allegedly posting religiously offensive material about the Prophet Mohammed on his Facebook page.

Rizwan Haider, 25, was convicted in an anti-terrorism court of three charges including promoting sectarian hatred, after he supposedly published a post referring to Prophet Mohammed.

'This case... was registered against Haider, who is a Shiite Muslim by faith, in January for posting objectionable material against the belief of Sunni Muslims,' Adeel Chattah, public prosecutor in the case, told AFP.

Pakistan tightened its hate crime laws as part of a campaign to combat extremism after a Taliban attack at a school in Peshawar in December 2014 killed 153 people, mostly children

Mr Haider was also fined 250,000 rupees ($2,500), Chattah said, adding that he denied the charges and has the right to appeal.

'He only liked it and did not post it on the page,' Shameem Zaidi said, lawyer for Mr Haider.

Pakistan tightened its hate crime laws as part of a campaign to combat extremism after a Taliban attack at a school in Peshawar in December 2014 killed 153 people, mostly children.

Authorities have arrested and sentenced several religious clerics, mostly from hardline Sunni sects, for hate speech in recent months.

A Pakistani anti-terrorism court jailed another Shiite man for 13 years in November 2015 after he also posted what it deemed sectarian hate speech on Facebook

Pakistani man was sentenced to 13 years in prison for allegedly posting religiously offensive material on his Facebook page

But Haider's case is one of the few in which a Shiite Muslim has been jailed for such a crime.

A Pakistani anti-terrorism court jailed another Shiite man for 13 years in November 2015 after he also posted what it deemed sectarian hate speech on Facebook. Rights activists condemned the ruling as 'extremely concerning'.
An environmental campaigner praised by Leonardo DiCaprio for her activism has been killed by gunmen who stormed her home and shot her dead.

Berta Caceres, a 43-year old indigenous campaigner in Honduras, was murdered in her home yesterday, her family said, labeling her death an assassination.

The mother-of-four had previously complained of receiving death threats from police, soldiers and local landowners because of her work.

Berta Caceres speaks to people near the Gualcarque river, Honduras, where she fought relentlessly to protect the indigenous peoples' rights to protect the land from corporate interests

Last year Caceres was awarded (pictured) the Goldman Prize - dubbed by some as the 'Green Nobel' - for her tireless work. On Thursday she was murdered by at least two gunmen who broke into her home

Actor and committed environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio posted this tribute to Instagram after news broke that Caceres had been murdered

Caceres was a winner of the 2015 Goldman Prize for leading the indigenous Lenca people in a struggle against a hydroelectric dam project that would flood large areas of native lands and cut off water supplies to hundreds.

Caceres's mother, Berta Flores, said police had indicated her daughter was killed in a robbery, 'but we all know it was because of her struggle.'

And committed environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio issued a tribute, saying the world had lost an 'incredible indigenous leader'.

He said: 'Indigenous communities are targeted, killed for their work fighting for their land and the environment. Berta was a warrior for justice who refused to take the safe road.'

Overnight riots broke out as news of her killing reached her supporters throughout the tiny Central American country.

Incredibly, 101 such environmental advocates have been slain in the country in recent years, making Honduras the most dangerous country per capita to be an environmental activist.

In awarding her the prize, the Goldman organization commended her for carrying on her campaign despite the threats.

They wrote: 'Her murder would not surprise her colleagues, who keep a eulogy - but hope to never have to use it. Despite these risks, she maintains a public presence in order to continue her work.'

As Caceres' body lay in a hall at a union headquarters in the Honduran capital late yesterday, supporters outside shouted, 'Berta is alive, the fight goes on.'

Members of the Honduran Prosecutor's Office load Caceres' body into the back of a truck

Her death caused mourning throughout the tiny Central American country where she was considered a hero among the indigenous people

Relatives and friends carry Caceres' coffin through La Esperanza during her funeral today

Her mother said police told her her daughter's death was because of a robbery gone wrong, but she added 'we all know it was because of her struggle'

Hundreds turned out to mourn the environmentalists' death today after her well publicized battles with the government and corporate interests

Mourners place flowers on Caceres' body during the funeral today. Honduras is considered to be the most dangerous country in the world for environmentalists, with more than 100 murdered in the past five years

Some 3,000 students blocked a road elsewhere in Tegucigalpa before police dispersed them with tear gas.

Honduras, which has seen an explosion of gang violence in recent years, has one of the highest murder rates in the world.

Labor leader Carlos Reyes joined Caceres's mother in insisting that she was not just another victim of violent crime.

'The information from the police is that [attackers] broke into her home from the back and shot her twice, but we all know it's a lie, that they killed her because of her struggle,' said Reyes.

'It's a political crime by the government.'

Security Minister Julian Pacheco said police arrested two people, a security guard at the complex where Caceres lived and another suspect who was wounded, but he did not give further details on the investigation.

He said police had measures in place to protect Caceres, who recently won a ruling by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights granting her special security measures.

Police formerly provided her an around-the-clock guard, but switched to an occasional security detail at the activist's own request, he claimed.

However, this claim was dismissed by the Center for Justice and International Law, a rights group, which denied Caceres had turned down bodyguards and accused the government of providing her 'deficient' security.

As news of her death spread, riots broke out across the country's capital of Tegucigalpa

The protesters, many of whom threw rocks at police while covering their faces, were dispersed with tear gas

A protester hurls a rock at police as students clash with police in the country's capital of Tegucigalpa

Police responded by deploying riot police to smash through the gates of the University of Tegucigalpa. Caceres had previously complained of receiving death threats from police for her environmental work

The security minister said Caceres had spent the night away from the home that was registered with the authorities. Fellow activists said she had moved to a safe house fearing for her life.

Gustavo Castro, a Mexican environmental activist who was with Caceres at the time of the attack, was grazed with a bullet. He will be a witness in the investigation, activists said.

Flores said her daughter had recently had a 'very big altercation' with soldiers and representatives of a hydroelectric company during a visit to the Gualcarque river, where the company is at work on a dam project.

Caceres co-founded the Civic Council of Indigenous and People's Organizations (Copinh) in 1993 with her then-husband Salvador Zuniga, gaining fame for her fearless fight against environmental destruction by hydroelectric and mining companies.

Although she was active in a range of political and social causes, she was best known for her battle to save the Gualcarque river, which earned her the Goldman Prize last year - dubbed by some the 'Green Nobel.'

Two activists embrace one another as their mourn the killing of Caceres, who was gunned down yesterday

A human rights activist holds a sign that roughly translates that 'Berta [Caceres] will return'

This photograph, from Amnesty International, shows Caceres (left) sharing a joke with locals

On accepting the prize, Caceres linked her environmentalism to her indigenous roots.

'In our cosmic vision we are beings born of the Earth, the water and the maize plant. We are the ancestral custodians of the rivers,' she said.

The U.S. ambassador in Honduras, James D. Nealon, issued a statement saying: 'We strongly condemn this despicable crime.

'The United States of America calls for a prompt and thorough investigation into this crime and for the full force of the law to be brought to bear against those found responsible.'

Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director for Amnesty International, said in a statement that 'the cowardly killing of Berta is a tragedy that was waiting to happen.'
He told Sky News he 'never clashed' with

Australia's most notorious pedophile priest was a tense and unusual man but not someone Cardinal George Pell came to know well despite sharing a house with him.

'I didn't warm to him but we never clashed,' Cardinal Pell told Sky News on Friday, speaking of the 10 months he lived with Gerald Ridsdale at the Ballarat East presbytery where Ridsdale molested an 11-year-old girl in the 1970s.

The country's now most-senior Catholic said Ridsdale in essence was 'a mystery man'.

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Cardinal Pell gave his first interview to Sky News after appearing at a royal commission into child abuse

Cardinal Pell said Ridsdale was undoubtedly a capable man and was not someone people complained about to him at the time, even though they might have about other priests.

'I once celebrated mass after him and I remember his vestments were there and they were sopping wet from some tension or something like that, and I remember noticing that at the time, and I thought him a very tense man,' he said.

'But that's the only particular characteristic [of Ridsdale's] that I can remember.'

Cardinal Pell also revealed during a lengthy interview with Sky that he later learned a psychiatrist treating Ridsdale in 1975 was contacted by police who said they had held concerns about him but were pleased something was finally being done about him.

Cardinal Pell who spent four days giving evidence to the Royal Comission (left) said Ridsdale (right) was undoubtedly a capable man and was not someone people complained about to him at the time

Catholic priest Gerald Ridsdale, who was jailed on pedophile charges in 1994

Cardinal Pell gave his first interview to one of his defenders, Andrew Bolt, on Sky News on Friday

However, the psychiatrist had been compelled to explain that he hadn't been treating Ridsdale's sexual behaviours, rather his anxiety.

Cardinal Pell, 74, who was questioned by the abuse royal commission over Ridsdale and other pedophile priests in the Ballarat and Melbourne dioceses this week, said he felt tremendous relief that everything was now said and done.

While acknowledging that his denials of a cover-up angered abuse victims who said he must have known, he said he regretted putting the church before victims in the past but he had never put himself before either.

He said the reason he sometimes came across as 'wooden' and 'armour-plated' was partly to do with how he'd been trained, partly to do with his personality and partly to do with 'needing to survive'.

He said the 'evil, insensitive stereotype' being pushed by the media was incorrect.

'It's very, very difficult and upsetting. There's no way around it and I've tried to put out the truth,' he said.

Cardinal Pell described claims that Victoria Police were investigating him over alleged abuse as 'extraordinary and completely false'.

He said he had not been approached by police.

When asked whether he would resign from his high-ranking position, he gave an emphatic no.

'I wouldn't resign as that would be taken as an admission of guilt,' Cardinal Pell said.

Australian Cardinal George Pell (C) speaks to journalists at the end of a meeting with the sex abuse victims, at the Quirinale hotel in Rome

Cardinal Pell leaves the Quirinale hotel after meeting the relatives and victims of priestly sex abuses




Education minister Sam Gyimah, pictured with David Cameron, will lead the 'Grab a Granny' campaign

Younger voters are being urged to steer their grandparents away from the Brexit door in a new campaign tactic dubbed 'grab a granny'.

The Remain campaign wants to tap into the belief voters in their 20s and 30s - the so-called EasyJet generation - are more pro-EU because they take much greater advantage of cheap flights, easy communication and the ability to live and work across Europe.

The idea is based on similar tactics used in Ireland during the gay marriage referendum last year.

The 39-year-old Education Minister Sam Gyimah is to spearhead the campaign ahead of the EU referendum on June 23.

He told The Times: 'This is a generation that has lived its entire life while the UK has been in the European Union.

'This is the generation that takes for granted the fact that on a weekend they can weigh up a flight going to Manchester or Madrid.

'They carry everything on their smartphone. Through Facebook they communicate with three times the population of Europe.

'Boundaries mean something different to them.

'They can watch a movie on their phone and when they travel to Spain, Italy, Portugal or wherever, they can take their world with them.'

Mr Gyimah insisted the referendum was more important for the young as they still had their entire lives ahead of them.

He added: 'The EU can be incredibly annoying and frustrating from a national government perspective but after thinking about it quite hard I came to the view that its a bit like being in a relationship.

'If all you ever looked at was what you gave and the sacrifices you are making, but not the give-and-take element, most of us would end up as singletons.'

The Britain Stronger in Europe campaign has begun building a presence in university campuses as the referendum builds momentum.

The campaign group counts NUS president Megan Dunne among its board members.

The Times said its latest YouGov poll indicated 75 per cent of under-25s would vote to remain.

Polling data from YouGov makes clear young voters, left, are much more like to back staying in the EU than voters aged over 65, right

By contrast, almost 70 per cent of over-65s wanted to leave the EU.

Differences in turnout, however, mean that for every two voters under-25, three pensioners will vote.

The referendum campaign today became dominated by an increasingly angry internal Tory row over scaremongering claims.

Writing for today's Daily Mail, Iain Duncan Smith delivered a devastating attack on the 'spin, smears and threats' being issued by the Government machine.

Mr Duncan Smith warned of lasting damage to British politics beyond the June 23 referendum if Mr Cameron and the other leading players in the Remain camp do not conduct the debate in a more respectful manner.

Mr Duncan Smith said: After all, such desperate and unsubstantiated claims are now being made that they begin to damage the very integrity of those who make them in the eyes of the public.
Pilots did manage to land the aircraft safely and no one believed to be hurt

An investigation is launched as police label the behaviour 'irresponsible'

A green laser light was directed towards the cockpit of an aircraft on its descent into Liverpool John Lennon Airport.

Police said the plane was targeted with a laser pen in the Runcorn area at 9.30pm on Wednesday but landed safely.

Inspector Mike Evans, of Cheshire Police, said: 'Such irresponsible and idiotic behaviour can have potentially serious consequences for airline passengers and crew.

Police said the plane was targeted with a laser in the Runcorn area at 9.30pm on Wednesday but landed safely

'Similar cases have been successfully prosecuted and those found guilty of participating in such behaviour are liable to a term of imprisonment.'

A spokesman for the airport told the Liverpool Echo: 'The airlines that operate here and the police all take these incidents very seriously due to the potential safety implications of such foolish activity.

'This is a national issue not unique to Liverpool. The courts take such cases extremely seriously too with individuals who have subsequently been tracked down often receiving custodial sentences.'

Anyone with information should contact Cheshire Police on 101 quoting incident number 973 of 2/3/2016.

Alternatively information can be reported anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Last week a British Airways flight from Amsterdam was targeted by a powerful laser as it approached the runway.

Scotland Yard launched an investigation after the captain was struck in the eyes by the stream of light just seconds before touching down on February 22.

Despite the attack, the pilots managed to land the British Airways plane, flying in from Amsterdam, safely.

There are now major concerns about the safety of aircraft flying in and out of the airport - the busiest in Britain - as the incident is the second involving lasers in just ten days.

The First Officer of a Virgin Atlantic jet bound for New York was dazzled in a similar attack on February 14 and was forced to return to Heathrow.

A spokesman for the airport the incidents were taken 'very seriously' because of the safety threat they pose

Those responsible were said to be using a laser capable of melting plastic or wood, so powerful that it managed to injure the pilot flying the Airbus A340 at 8,000 feet.

Audio from the cockpit revealed the attack came 'six to seven miles' west of Heathrow - and the jet, which was carrying nearly 270 people, turned back when it became clear the First Officer was badly hurt.

It was forced to make an emergency landing and the pilot was taken to hospital.
Baby shock had been under extreme stress and

These heartwarming pictures show the moment a man rescued a tiny beached shark and released it back into the sea.

Alan Holyoak, 56, came across the stranded shark when he was out for a morning walk with his wife Kathrine at the beach in Seaside, Oregon.

The marine biologist picked the 46-inch long shark up and, after a few tense minutes, it was soon gliding back through the waves.

Alan Holyoak, 56, came across the stranded shark when he was out for a morning walk in Seaside, Oregon

The shark was being rolled around in the surf and was under obvious and extreme stress

Despite the shark having a full set of teeth, the marine biologist bravely picked it up and released it back into the water

Mr Holyoak, from Idaho, recalled: 'We saw a young girl looking at something in the water. It was at least a few feet long.

'At first I thought it might be a stranded dolphin or porpoise pup. But when I ran over and got close enough to see it was a shark, I had the shock and thrill of my life.

'It was only around 46 inches long, but it came with a full set of teeth.

'The shark was being rolled around in the surf and was under obvious and extreme stress. It showed no signs of life, but it was still very flexible so I thought it had a chance.'

The first time he put the shark back in the water, it 'remained like a ragdoll' but after trying again, it started to show weak signs of life and then began beating its tail fin

After releasing it back into the sea, the shark managed to get its bearings and make it into the deeper water

The marine biologist then grabbed it and carefully removed it from the beach, extremely wary it could thrash around at any time.

He said: 'As it was so lethargic I decided to pick it up and take it back out into the wash zone, where there was a lot of highly oxygenated water - just what it needed.

'I was walking on pins and needles - even a small shark like this could give you a nasty gash.

'Sadly, the shark remained like a ragdoll - I tried again, and this time it started to show weak signs of life.

'I gave it a gentle shove, launching it toward deeper water - surprisingly it started to beat its tail fin.

'It was having a hard time, but at least it was getting back into the waves - luckily it managed to get its bearings and make it into deeper water.

'I hope this shark was simply disorientated, and is fine now.

'This is the biggest fish I've ever caught - and it's a story I'll love telling over and over.'

Despite saving the shark, he urged caution to those wanting to help animals in the wild.

'Any wild animal lives according to its own rules - so it's always better to leave it alone and give it plenty of space', he noted.

'It doesn't know you're trying to do it a favour, and may react unpredictably or dangerously.
Cleveland is advertising for thousands of sets of riot suits and batons ahead of the Republican National Convention later this year.

The Ohio city is stepping up it's preparations for security during the July event, including spending some of its' $50 million security budget on 2,000 sets of riot gear.

This comes just months after an investigation by the U.S. Justice Department found that the Cleveland Police Department systematically engages in excessive use of force against civilians.

Preparation: Cleveland is seeking to buy 2,000 sets of riot gear, including an 'Elite Defender' riot-control suit, and 26-inch collapsible batons, for its police force to wear during the GOP convention in July

Cleveland has been granted a $50 million federal security grant for the GOP convention, which kicks off on July 18.

The city posted a notice on its website looking for contractors to provide equipment for police and security forces, Cleveland.com reports.

Cleveland is seeking to buy 2,000 sets of riot gear, including an 'Elite Defender' riot-control suit, and 26-inch collapsible batons.

Local authorities are also advertising for hundreds of riot-control gear for police officers on bicycles ahead of the GOP convention, which is expected to attract 50,000 visitors.

Host city: Cleveland has been granted a $50 million federal security grant for the convention in July

The city is also boosting its 1,200-strong police force, looking to have 5,000 officers working during the convention.

The 2016 party event gathering is more than a month before the GOP traditionally hosts its national convention.

Party representatives said last year that the shift will give the next Republican presidential nominee an advantage in the 2016 general election.
A German water park that has been the scene of two sex attacks by migrants have announced plans to segregate men and women.

The plan will involve banning men and teenage boys from using the waterslides at certain times when only women, girls and very young boys will be allowed access.

It comes days after police arrested two asylum seekers from Afghanistan for a sex attack on two girls on the slides at the Arriba water park in Norderstedt in the Schleswig-Holstein region.

The Arriba water park (picture) in Norderstedt, Germany, says it has been forced to segregate men and women after a string of girls were sexually assaulted by migrants over the last year

The girls aged 14 and 18 had been using the water slides but their attackers, both from Afghanistan aged 14 and 34, had been waiting for them at the bottom and had then sexually assaulted them.

The accused are being kept in custody as prosecutors said that the degree of the sexual assault was so severe that it justified rape charges.

Before that, the fun park was at the centre of similar problems last summer when four teenagers aged 15 and the fifth aged 17 had also been molested on the slides by a group of asylum seekers.

Seven boys had blocked the slide with their rubber rings and then started groping the girls on the breasts and had been putting their hands between their legs.

At the time, Arriba boss Ruud Swaen, 55, said he regretted what had happened and added: 'We will be doing everything to make sure something like this doesn't happen in the future.'

But those measures did not stop the attack in February on the two teenagers, although the water park is still not going as far as banning asylum seekers.

Two alleged victims, aged 14 and 18, were reportedly assaulted on Sunday near the water slide at the main pool of the town's Arriba baths complex (above)

Instead they have pledged to have the segregation of women and men on the slides at certain times, as well as further security cameras on top of the 48 already being used.

They have also hired plainclothes security officials, dressed in swimwear to look like other visitors, who will be on patrol swimming in the pools and using the slides.

Germany has spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on the distribution of posters in numerous languages aimed at asylum seekers, informing them of correct behaviour towards women.

Local swimming pools have become a focus of efforts to try to educate the new arrivals to respect women and girls, even if they are wearing bathing costumes.

There have been several attacks reported in Germany at such venues and in neighbouring Austria an Iraqi asylum seeker is awaiting trial for the brutal rape of a young boy in a pool changing room.
An Islamic group has been ordered to stop segregating men and women after a journalist won a gender discrimination case against it.

Journalist Alison Bevege had attended a lecture hosted by Hizb ut-Tahrir on October 10, 2014, but was forced to sit in women's-specific seating at the back of a venue in Lakemba, in Sydney's south west - so she sued the group and five of its members for sexual discrimination.

On Friday, the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal said the action was unlawful sexual discrimination, a decision welcomed by Ms Bevege, who told Daily Mail Australia it was a 'win for everyone - progressive muslims and non-muslims'.

Ms Bevege, who, when attending a Hizb ut-Tahrir lecture, was forced to sit in women's-only seating, separated from men

A photograph from the lecture which Ms Bevege was forced to sit in segregated seating for

In its finding, the tribunal ordered a member of the group to ensure attendees of further meetings were aware that segregated seating arrangements were not compulsory.

Ushers at such events also must be made aware and not instructed to enforce segregated seating.

Ms Bevege, who was 'really happy' with the outcome, said at the lecture she was made to sit with women, and she did not want to leave and give up the opportunity to ask questions at the end by arguing or leaving.

'I had to sit down the back like a second class citizen'.

Hundreds of Australian Muslims attend the Khilafah 'Uprising in the Muslim World' conference in Lidcombe, Sydney, hosted by Hizb ut-Tahrir in 2011

WHAT IS HIZB UT-TAHRIR? Hizb ut-Tahrir (Arabic for Party of Liberation) is an international Muslim organisation founded in 1953 with about 300 adherents in Australia. It advocates a single Islamic state, or caliphate, in the Middle East under Islamic law. The group is banned in many Middle East countries and also in Russia, Turkey, Pakistan and Germany but not in Australia, the US or UK. In February 2015 the group said it doesn't preach hate or spread discord and has accused the Abbott government of playing to right-wing racist opinion. In a long statement, the organisation - singled out for possible action in former prime minister Tony Abbott's national security statement - said Mr Abbott has painted the Australian establishment as good-natured, tolerant, decent and accepting. The children of asylum seekers drowned out at sea or incarcerated in prisons like criminals would beg to differ, spokesman Uthman Badar said in the statement. He said the national security statement continues the disingenuous approach of western states of seeking to alter 'the victim-aggressor paradigm'. Mr Badar said the emphasis on revoking citizenship, restricting immigration and denying welfare is window-dressing right-wing racism. 'Hizb ut-Tahrir rejects the charge of preaching hate or spreading discord and division. 'It is those in the political establishment and media who constantly demonise Islam and Muslims and partake in a cheap politics of fear that spread discord and division.' Advertisement

She had attended the 'politics and plots of the American led intervention in Iraq and Syria' public lecture with the hopes of asking questions and writing an opinion piece, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

At the tribunal's hearing - which no representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir attended - it received documents which said Ms Bevege had not contested the seating and that she would have been allowed to sit with men if she asked.

The group's spokesperson, Ismail al-Wahwah, said the segregation - a 'fundamental consideration in Islam' - was so noisy children were at the back of the venue and did not distract from the lecture, and also so women and children were closer to exits in the case of an emergency.

Although the tribunal ruled against the Islamic group, it rejected a claim made by Ms Bevege for $100,000 compensation.

She had said the money would go to four charities, as she had not suffered financial loss or damage, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
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Billionaire art collector James Stunt has been spotted out his 3.1million supercar for the first time.

The 34-year-old, the husband of Formula One heiress Petra Ecclestone, splashed out on the one-of-a-kind Lamborghini Aventador last month and the car has been compared to the Batmobile used in the Batman superhero films.

But rather than use it for chasing criminals, Mr Stunt employed his new run-around for a quick pop to the shops and a bite to eat this yesterday afternoon.

This is the Lamborghini Aventador bought by James Stunt, the husband of Formula One heiress Petra Ecclestone, for 3.1million

Mr Stunt was seen out in the vehicle yesterday was seen out and about in central London yesterday before heading to a restaurant

Mr Stunt, well-known for travelling around London with a cavalcade of blacked out Rolls-Royce Phantoms, was seen in a pair of loafers, jogging bottoms and a black coat and cap as he walked through central London.

Helped by his staff, he was heading to Benares, a twice Michelin starred Indian restaurant in Berkeley Square.

Mr Stunt, whose father-in-law is Formula One chief executive Bernie Ecclestone, has bought a one-off carbon fibre Lamborghini after it was customised by German firm Mansory.

James Stunt met Petra Ecclestone on a blind date in 2006. They married in Odescalchi Castle, Rome in 2011, enjoying live performances from David Guetta and Black Eyed Peas.

It is capable of doing 0-60mph in just 2.7 seconds and accelerating to 220mph thanks to its 830bhp engine, which has been specially upgraded for Mr Stunt from the standard 750bhp. The maximum thrust rises from an imposing 690 to 750 nm.

The redesigned front of the J.S.1 Edition is also crafted from a carbon fabric to give it its stealth. With a new spoiler lip on the front, there are a number of aerodynamic changes which have been made to give additional downforce.

The vehicle is made of carbon-fibre and has a maximum speed of 220mph, thanks to a engine which has been modified by specialists

The one-off carbon fibre Lamborghini was customised by German firm Mansory. They said Mr Stunt is always looking for new cars

A diffuser and an enlarged and more powerful spoiler at the back are also special modifications which give aerodynamic advantages, while Mr Stunt's unique Lamborghini comes complete with a new exhaust system including manifold, muffler and tailpipes.

The supercar is the 21st car Mr Stunt has ordered from Mansory, with the Lamborghini joining a fleet which includes Range Rovers, Rolls-Royces and Bentleys.

Most of his cars are fitted with personalised plates reflecting their owner's name. Mansory would not confirm the exact value of the car but it is understood to be worth in the region of 3.1million.

A statement from the firm said: 'Someone like Stunt is constantly on the lookout for something special owned by no one but him.

'The J.S.1 Edition by Mansory is covered by a tailor-made carbon fibre shell that meets the highest demands on looks and aerodynamics - and meets in full the strict demands of James Stunt.'

The 34-year-old was accompanied by a number of staff, who drove behind him in a fleet of Bentleys and Rolls Royces
A former teacher who pretended to wipe young schoolgirls' upper legs clean and pulled their shorts up so he could indecently touch them has been convicted in a Supreme Court after a jury verdict.

The Darwin man, 62, was found guilty of two counts of indecently touching girls - aged between 12 and 14 - on their upper legs, breasts, bottom and lower backs, the ABC reported.

In one of the incidents the man was convicted over, he was accused of using a cloth to clean the legs of two girls who were dirty after climbing in a rubbish skip.

A former teacher from Darwin, 62, has been found guilty of indecently touching young girls from his school

'He did not wipe below the knee,' Justice Jenny Blockland said, reading out the girl's submission.

'He tried to get me in places I didn't have dirt.

'She knew he pulled her shorts up and started wiping down there ... that's when she said 'No, Mr, that's not appropriate,'' Justice Blockland said.

The former teacher, whose identity has been supressed, admitted that he had attempted to wipe dirt from the girls legs, but denied touching the girls inappropriately or lifting up their shorts.

The Northern Territory Supreme Court heard of a number of other incidents where the teacher was accused of acting inappropriately with students over the week-long trial, the NT Times reported.

He was accused of asking a girl to 'twerk' and sit on his lap, touching a girl on her breast and 'grooming' students in Year 7 and 8 to 'accept him in their personal space,' the prosecutor alleged.

But of the six counts of indecently touching young girls he was facing, he was found guilty of just two of them.

The case came before the court after a number of teachers and students brought the allegations to the attention of the school principal in December 2013, which led to an investigation by the Department of Education.

The man, whose identity has been supressed, was convicted over an incident where he used a cloth to pretend to wipe clean the upper legs of two girls who were dirty after climbing in a skip bin
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The number of people claiming asylum in Europe more than doubled last year to over 1.2million, new figures revealed today.

In Finland, some 32,150 first-time applicants registered in 2015  a rise of nearly 10 times, or 822 per cent, on the 3,490 recorded in the previous year.

The statistics released by the EU's data agency, Eurostat, provided fresh evidence of the unprecedented scale of the influx into the bloc.

It came as the Dutch prime minister said he was cautiously optimistic Turkey would agree to take back non-Syrian refugees as part of a 'step-by-step' approach to confronting Europe's migration crisis.

Meanwhile, the United Nations called for some 400,000 Syrian refugees in Turkey to be relocated around the world to ease the burden on the country.

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Some of the lucky few migrants allowed across the Greek-Macedonia razor wire border make their way to a registration camp near Gevgelija

The latest EU figures revealed today that the number of people claiming asylum in Europe more than doubled last year to over 1.2million

A unit of the Macedonian special police force patrol the fences at the border between Greece and Macedonia, near Gevgelija, on Friday

Macedonian soldiers patrol between the fences at the border line between Greece and Macedonia. Restrictions along the so-called Balkan route, the main corridor for migrants headed to richer EU countries, have led to bottlenecks along the way

Eurostat said a record total of 1,255,600 first-time asylum seekers applied for international protection in the 28 member states  more than double the number in 2014.

Syrians accounted for the highest number of claims, doubling compared with the previous year to reach 362,800.

The number of Afghans seeking refuge in the EU nearly quadrupled to 178,200 while applications by Iraqis increased seven-fold to 121,500.

Citizens of the three countries made up more than half of the total first-time applicants registered last year.

Germany has received by far the largest number of asylum seekers, with nearly half of the Syrians who applied for the first time registered in the country.

Finland saw the sharpest increase in first-time applicants, followed by Hungary (323%), Austria (233%) and Belgium (178%).

Eurostat also revealed that at the end of last year there were almost a million applications pending, with almost half being considered in Germany.

The figures emerged as thousands of migrants remained trapped on the Greek-Macedonia border after the latter continued to block their entry, although a small number of Syrian and Iraqi refugees were being allowed across the razor wire to a registration camp near Gevgelija.

Greek police say Macedonian authorities let in 320 people in the 24 hours to 6am on Friday. A few dozen were being admitted later in the day.

Hundreds of brightly-coloured tents cover the muddy ground around an overflowing official camp at Idomeni, stretching almost right up to the border.

Syrian Saswat Estif, 26, has been there for 15 days, waiting patiently as others jumped the queue to enter Macedonia.

He says 'last night was cold and it rained a lot,' adding that 'there's not enough food.'

In Athens, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was briefing opposition leaders on the immigration crisis that has left more than 32,000 people stranded in Greece.

Meanwhile, The United Nations refugee agency says that 400,000 Syrian refugees in Turkey should be resettled around the world to help ease the burden on the country.

UNHCR Europe bureau director Vincent Cochetel said the refugees could be distributed from Turkey over the next two years and called on Europe, Russia and the United States to do more.

More than two million refugees, most of them Syrians, are currently on Turkish soil.

Cochetel said that only 7,500 refugees were resettled from Turkey last year, including 1,100 Syrians.

Refugees set up tents in a makeshift camp as they wait permission to cross the border between Greece and Macedonia, near Gevgelija

A migrant warms herself by the fire in a makeshift camp at the Greek-Macedonian border near the Greek village of Idomeni

A migrant woman waits in her tent at the camp near Idomeni. Macedonian authorities let in 320 people in the 24 hours to 6am on Friday

A migrant makes their feelings known on a tent as they and others wait to cross the Greek-Macedonian border near the village of Idomeni

Refugees line before crossing the border from the Greek side to Macedonia at the northern Greek border station of Idomeni on Friday

A migrant holding a child stands in a makeshift camp at the Greek-Macedonian border near the Greek village of Idomeni

Migrants walk along a road towards a makeshift camp at the Greek-Macedonian border near the Greek village of Idomeni on Friday

The European Union is looking to send more migrants arriving in Greece back to Turkey. But the UN has called for 400,000 Syrians in Turkey to be relocated around the world to ease the burden on Ankara

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, shakes hands with European Council President Donald Tusk before a meeting in Istanbul to discuss what further measures Ankara can take to reduce the flow of migrants

The statistics by Eurostat provided fresh evidence of the unprecedented scale of the influx into the bloc as tensions and bottlenecks continue to flare up along the route from the Middle East to European countries like France, Germany, Britain, Finland and Sweden

His call comes as the European Union seeks to send more migrants arriving in Greece back to Turkey.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he was hopeful Turkey would agree to a more effective implementation of a deal under which Ankara agreed to help stem the flow of refugees into Europe.

'We hope we can reach an agreement with Turkey on taking back economic migrants, the non-Syrian refugees,' said Prime Minister Mark Rutte, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the 28-nation bloc.

EU leaders are scrambling to prevent a repeat of the chaotic arrivals last summer, which has pushed Europe's cherished free-travel Schengen zone to the verge of collapse, raised security concerns and fueled support for nationalists and anti-migrant groups across the bloc.

Flattened: A general view shows part of the southern half of the Jungle migrant camp in Calais during its ongoing demolition on Friday

French authorities began demolishing the camp on February 29 and by Friday were still razing shelters under heavy police protection

Razed: Diggers are used to collect debris in the southern half of the Jungle migrant camp in Calais during its ongoing demolition

A French anti-riot police officer stands near a pile of debris in the southern half of the Jungle migrant camp in the French port city of Calais

A man asks a French anti-riot police officer for permission to pass at the Jungle migrant camp during its demolition

A man looks at part of the southern half of the Jungle migrant camp during its ongoing demolition in the French port of Calais

'If it works with the non-Syrians we have dealt with 40 to 50 per cent of the entire refugee stream already,' he said, adding that sealing borders in the Western Balkans would help discourage refugees from undertaking the perilous journey.

In the longer run, EU countries would have to agree to distribute refugees among themselves, he said  a policy opposed by many of the bloc's members.

'Europe has to say you go to Lithuania, you to Germany, you to the Czech Republic and so on,' he said. 'That resettlement instrument is clearly not yet in sight.'

Muslim migrants pray during Friday prayers next to makeshift shelters as the dismantlement of the Jungle shanty town continued

Iranian migrants with their lips sewn shut hold signs to protest against the ongoing demolition of the southern half of the Jungle camp

European Union head Donald Tusk also met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for talks on how to stem the massive flow.

Speaking in Istanbul earlier in the day, Tusk had expressed determination to 'break the business model of smugglers' floating the idea that migrants could be shipped back to Turkey from Greece.

On Thursday, analysis of British Home Office figures showed that the number of people claiming asylum in the UK as a proportion of the population has reached its highest level for 11 years.

Claims from 38,900 main applicants and dependants such as children were recorded in 2015  a rise of 20 per cent on 2014.

About one in 30 of those who sought asylum in the EU last year lodged their claim in Britain.

A migrant rides a bicycle past a referance to their desire to reach Britain during the partial dismantlement of the Jungle camp in Calais

French police secure the area called the Jungle where migrants living in makeshift shelters have been forced to move to another camp
The 97-year-old woman a California landlord was trying to evict from the home she has lived in for 66 years died on Thursday, and her lawyers say it was the stress of the legal battle that did her in.

Marie Hatch, who was also battling cancer, passed away late Thursday, just a week after her attorneys filed a lawsuit to fight her eviction notice.

'There is no doubt that the callous eviction of Marie Hatch has caused her death,' her attorneys Nanci Nishimura and Nancy Fineman said in a statement. 'The legal battle will continue on behalf of her live-in partner of 36 years Georgia Rothrock, the Hatch family everyone who knew and loved her. Sadly evictions of our senior citizens are epidemic and must be addressed by our society immediately.'

Nishmura and Fineman - partners at the powerhouse law firm Cotchett, Pitre and McCarthy - are working on the case pro bono.

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Passed: Marie Hatch, 97, died Thursday at her rental home in Burlingame, California. The cancer sufferer was in a legal battle with her landlord, who wanted to evict her so that he could sell the property

Nishimura was at the Hatch home on Thursday, comforting the woman's family and roommate.

She told SF Gate: 'There is no doubt that her being served with a notice that she had to be out on the sidewalk brought about her death.'

She added: 'From December 2015 when she first learned that (landlord) David Kantz intended to sell the house and believed he had a right to evict her in 60 days, Marie Hatch mentally and physically deteriorated because she was so scared, upset and distraught.'

Former neighbor Cheryl Graczewski remembered Hatch as a 'real sweetheart'.

'Its so sad - we will miss Marie,' she said.

Hatch first moved into the Burlingame, California house 66 years ago when her friend Vivian Kroeze needed a companion to assist her after the death of her husband.

Kroeze allegedly gave her a verbal promise that she could live in the home until she died - a promise that was guaranteed by Kroeze's daughter and then granddaughter.

But after Kroeze's granddaughter died in 2006, her husband took control of the home and now he is pushing to sell the property.

Verbal agreement: Hatch said the home's original owner promised she could live in the house for as long as she wanted

New landlord: But the husband of that woman's dead grand-daughter recently took ownership of the property and wanted to force her out

Hatch and her 85-year-old roommate Rothrock were served with eviction papers on February 11, giving them 60 days to vacate the property.

The new landlord says the home was bought by his wife's ancestors for just a few thousand dollars. The home's value on Zillow is now estimated at $1.2million or $3,200 in monthly rent. Hatch and Kroeze paid a combined $900 in rent each month.

When the story first made headlines, both single women said that they had no family they could live with and feared they would be left homeless since the neighborhood around then had grown exponentially pricier since they first moved there.

When she was asked where she'd go if kicked out of the cottage-style home, Hatch told CBS San Francisco: 'I havent the slightest idea. I dont know where Im going to go. What Im going to do. I really dont. Keeps me awake at night.'

Her roommate added: 'Ill be out on the bus stop bench surrounded by my boxes of my beloved books. And thats all I can foresee.'

Courtesy KTVU

Battle continues: Hatch's lawyers say they will continue the legal battle on behalf of the late woman's roommate Georgia Rothrock (above)

Cozy kitchen: Above, a view of the kitchen at the Burlingame apartment. For his part, the new landlord said he doesn't enjoy kicking out two elderly ladies

Signs of home: The new landlord said he need to sell the property for his sons before a trust expires this summer

For his part, new landlord David Kantz said he didn't take any pleasure with kicking two old ladies to the curb.

In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Kantz said he inadvertently inherited the property in 2006, when his wife was murdered by her new boyfriend while the couple were going through a divorce.

Now, he says he's duty bound to sell the property for his sons before the trust expires in July.

'I didnt want to say, "Were going to just throw you out," but I thought I would give her plenty of notice,' said Kantz, who added that he offered to help the two women move out. 'There is no one part of this whole thing I dont feel bad about.'

'I feel bad for the elderly lady, I feel bad for my sons, I feel bad for me.'

Hatch said she felt no sympathy for Kantz, and calls his actions 'greedy'.
Carl Iverson, 85, left his phone at a Starbucks - employees opened it up and found sickening pictures of child pornography

An 85-year-old man was sentenced to 20 years in prison when employees at a Starbucks discovered pornographic images of children on his phone which he had accidentally left at the coffee shop.

Carl Iverson, 85, was already on probation for trying to seduce an undercover detective who was posing as a 14-year-old girl, when he went to the coffee house in Marietta, in Georgia.

He left his phone behind after visiting the shop on September 23.

Employees checked through the phone to identify its owner and found revolting pornographic pictures and videos of children.

Shocked, the workers immediately contacted police.

They were able to identify Iverson by first name initially, as he was a regular customer, but they also had a Starbucks customer card with his full name.

Police obtained a search warrant and found eight pornographic pictures of children on his phone. One picture showed a six-year-old boy performing sexual acts with an adult male.

He was brought in for questioning when he returned to the shop to try and retrieve it.

Iverson, who is homeless and a nudist, pleaded guilty to eight counts of sexual exploitation of children.

Cobb Superior Court Judge Adele Grubbs accepted his guilty plea and sentenced him to 20 years, with seven years to be served in prison.

Last April Iverson had pleaded guilty to having obscene internet contact with an officer who was posing as a 14-year-old girl.

For that offence, he was sentenced to 30 days in jail with 10 years in probation.

He was placed on the sex offender registry and agreed to stop using the internet, unless he was under direct supervision and paying bills or dealing with the VA, according to court documents.

Iverson, who is homeless, pleaded guilty to eight counts of sexual exploitation of children and was sentenced to 20 years in jail
Prime Minister David Cameron, pictured today at the Scottish Conservative conference, urged the Russian to stop bombing in Syria

David Cameron has joined other EU leaders in a conference call pleading with Vladimir Putin to stop bombing civilians in Syria.

The Prime Minister took part in the call alongside French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian PM Matteo Renzi.

Russian bombing has threatened the fragile and limited ceasefire in Syria's civil war amid concerns the Kremlin is continuing to launch attacks far beyond ISIS-held territory.

The call is the first time Mr Cameron will have spoken to Mr Putin since a UK inquiry found that the Russian president probably ordered the murder of former agent Alexander Litvinenko in London

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said today: 'The PM told him that everyone has a common interest in defeating Daesh (ISIS) and that it is therefore in all our interests to support a peace process that can lead to a stable inclusive government that has the support of all Syrians.

Putin said they were committed to complying with the cessation of hostilities.

'That needs to hold as we move towards peace talks, the spokesman said.

We need to seize this opportunity and grab it, otherwise the prospects are bleak.

EU leaders also warned Mr Putin directly to halt the indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas blamed for fuelling the migration crisis.

No 10 said: There was a very clear message from EU leaders to make sure that civilians are not being targeted or bombed.

Mr Cameron also warned Mr Putin that any peace settlement would have to involve a transition away from (Bashar) Assad.

But No 10 said Russias support for Syrias hated dictator would be one of the trickiest points in discussions.

No 10 said leaders had also reached a tentative agreement to use the truce to allow aid into besieged towns where civilians are reported to be starving.

On the 50 minute call, the European leaders told Mr Putin they welcomed the cessation of hostilities in Syria over the past week.

They said they wanted to seize the opportunity to create a 'positive dynamic' for UN-sponsored peace talks due to start in Geneva next week, leading to a political transition to a new administration to replace the regime of Moscow protege Bashar Assad.

Russia began its bombing campaign in Syria last year, officially to attack ISIS but in practice launching huge attacks on civilian areas held by rebels opposed to president Bashar Assad.

Activists claim Russia launched more than a dozen airstrikes on behalf on the Assad regime on districts in Aleppo and in the surrounding countryside on Saturday and Sunday  the first two days of the United Nations brokered truce.

Francois Hollande and Angela Merkel, pictured together today at the Elysee Palace in Paris, were also on the call to Vladimir Putin

Film footage allegedly showing Russian aircraft dropping bombs on a village in Aleppo province on Saturday  the first day of the ceasefire  has been posted by anti-government activists.

Syrian activists have told the BBC that the Russian airstrikes north of Aleppo were targeting Nusra Front fighters, who are allied to Al Qaeda.

The truce  which began at 0001 on Saturday  involves Syrian government and moderate rebel forces.

Mr Cameron told the House of Commons on Wednesday that the cessation of hostilities was 'an important step forward, imperfect though it is, and it does enable the possibility of political negotiations starting next week'.

He added: 'Even though the ceasefire is imperfect, the fact that we have it is progress.

'Not every group is included in the ceasefire, but basically we are not seeing the attacks that were taking place on the moderate opposition, which is welcome.

'It has also enabled us, with others, to get aid to communities that desperately need it, including through air drops and convoys.

'I would not put too much optimism into the mix right now, but this is progress and we should work on it.'
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon, pictured aboard a Trident submarine, will be asked to decide which bases could accommodate migrants

British military bases will become migrant camps under dramatic plans being examined by defence officials.

Hundreds of asylum seekers could be housed for months - if not years - on bases across the country in a desperate attempt to cope with the influx of migrants from the rest of Europe.

In the Army's first intervention in the crisis, soldiers could be drafted in to help protect the security of the bases.

Last night politicians said the military's involvement highlighted how the crisis had become a national emergency.

Officials from the Ministry of Defence have visited dozens of bases across the entire estate to see whether they could take in migrants following an urgent request from the Home Office.

It is understood the department asked the MoD to look at both land availability and bed space.

They have ruled out certain bases, including military barracks currently in permanent use by soldiers, however they have identified a handful of bases that could accommodate large numbers.

The bases that have been chosen include ones currently being used by soldiers on a temporary basis for training exercises, vacant barracks, and brownfield sites.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon is due to be handed the list in the coming days and will make a decision on which sites will be offered up to the Government.

Soldiers would be brought in to protect the security of the bases that are still being used but it is not yet clear if they would have any larger role in helping house the migrants.

Empty bases would be likely handed over to the Home Office to take control.

A defence source said: 'We are not saying that people are going to pitch up in the coming days... it is all still at a very high level scoping stage.'

At least three camps in Wales have been earmarked as possible holding centres for asylum seekers but it is understood there will be others across the country.

It raises the prospect of illegal migrants living on bases still used as a training camp for military personnel for months at a time until their applications are processed.

Colonel Bob Stewart, a member of the Defence Select Committee, said the plans highlighted the crisis Britain was facing.

He said: 'They don't have much choice, where can we put them? Hospitals, schools? The military has to step in.

'This underlines the severity of what we are facing. Our country is full and the more people that flood in the more challenging it will get. This is a pragmatic approach and is using common sense.'

Sir Gerald Howarth, a former defence minister, said: 'If there is spare capacity then it is right to use these assets, however it must not interfere with military training.

'The state needs this spare capacity for an emergency and this is an emergency.'

Tory MP David Davies said: 'This goes to show how out of control this crisis is becoming.'

Migrants fleeing the Syrian war have been at RAF Dhekelia, Cyprus since last year, pictured. Another group of migrants has been on the base for many years

Andrew Percy MP added: 'The UK is already welcoming record numbers of immigrants into the UK, not least thanks to the fact EU rules mean we can't limit immigration from the EU.'

The proposals come after local councils have been 'overwhelmed' with the numbers of migrants reaching Britain and claiming asylum.

They have struggled to find temporary housing for refugees and have resorted to using local youth hostels meant for tourists and hotels.

It is understood the migrants could sleep in service accommodation at Penally, Castlemartin and Manorbrier in Pembrokeshire.

Temporary accommodation may also be set up on site.

Up to 1,000 migrants could be housed temporarily at Penally training camp before they are either given leave to remain or told to go back home.

It could become the biggest centre for asylum seekers in the UK.

Castlemartin is one of the UK's major live-fire training and manoeuvre facilities for armoured fighting vehicles and has been in use since 1951.

Tory MPs, including Sir Gerald Howarth, left, and Andrew Percy, right, have refused to endorse the proposals warning the bases should be used for military training

Manorbier is the main UK 'close air defence' range for the army and is used to fire missiles and machine guns systems. Penally training camp is also used for live firing exercises.

Under the plans, migrants who claim asylum as soon as they touch down on British soil will be taken to the camps.

They will sleep in the bases or outside while their asylum applications are considered by the Home Office.

Typically migrants have to wait several months before their application is considered by officials.

But if they appeal a decision, they could be left waiting years until a final decision is made.

Currently there are 11 immigration centres throughout England and Scotland but none in Wales.

The biggest centre is currently Harmondsworth in Middlesex, with a capacity of 615 people.

A government spokesperson said: 'As part of a range of options being considered by UKVI, the MoD has been asked to examine the possibility of providing temporary accommodation for asylum applicants on the defence estate.
A student was perusing a website featuring women dressed up as anime characters for a convention when he saw a familiar face and unearthed his teacher's double life.

The student from Guangdong, a coastal province on southeast China, noticed one of the female characters on the website looked a lot like his male teacher, according to Shanghaiist.com.

To confirm his suspicions, the student texted his teacher a photo of the female anime character wearing a blue skirt decorated with flowers, a white shirt, heels and a tan and blue hat.

A student from Guangdong province in China was perusing a website featuring women dressed up as anime characters when he noticed that one of the women (pictured) looked like his male teacher

His male teacher (pictured) professionally dresses up as female anime characters and posts photos online

To confirm his suspicions, the student texted his teacher a photo of the female anime character wearing a blue skirt decorated with flowers, a white shirt, heels and a tan and blue hat (pictured)

The teacher, who posts photos of each of his characters under the name Crome Moe, has gained many more followers since his astute student broke the news and has nearly 20,000 followers.

Donning an array of wigs  from long brunette pigtails to short, choppy blonde and purple hair  and immaculate makeup, the teacher appears to have perfected his female characters.

Wearing short skirts, frilled blouses, knee-high socks and hats, the teacher easily passes as a young female character.

The teacher, who posts photos of each of his characters under the name Crome Moe, has gained many more followers since his astute student broke the news
Amanda Schweickert, 28, from Sardinia, New York, has been charged with felony forgery for driving around with a licence plate made of cardboard

When it comes to forgeries, this one turned out to be paper thin.

A New York woman was arrested on Wednesday after being discovered driving around with a licence plate made from painted cardboard.

Amanda Schweickert, 28, from Sardinia, was arrested in Erie County after officers noticed she didn't have a front licence plate, and the rear one looked unusual.

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It subsequently turned out that she had painted a piece of cardboard blue and yellow to appear like a licence plate, before attaching it to the rear of her car with screws.

It is unclear whether she made a second false plate for the front and it fell off, or if she thought that one would be enough to complete the deception.

It also transpired that Schweickert's registration had been suspended and she had no insurance, officers said, perhaps explaining the reason behind her attempted deception.

Schweickert was charged with a felony count of possession of a forged instrument, driving with a suspended registration and ticketed for three traffic infractions, the Erie County Sheriffs Office said.

Cops uploaded images of the licence plate to Facebook, along with the caption: 'In case you are wondering, homemade cardboard license plates are NOT legal.'

Schweickert is currently being held in Erie County Holding Center in lieu of $400 bail, and is due to make an appearance at Springville Village Court.

Officers said they first noticed that Schweickert's car had no front licence plate, then saw that her rear plate looked unusual and so decided to pull her over
Kierra Spriggs (pictured), 26, of Woodbridge, was convicted on four counts of felony child cruelty and two misdemeanor counts of assault and battery

A second day care teacher was convicted of child cruelty on Thursday for abusive behavior toward a classroom of two-year-olds that a prosecutor described as a 'baby fight club'.

Kierra Spriggs, 26, of Woodbridge, was convicted on four counts of felony child cruelty and two misdemeanor counts of assault and battery after a two-week jury trial in Prince William County.

Two other teachers in the classroom testified that Spriggs systemically mistreated the toddlers, including encouraging twin sisters to fight each other.

One teacher testified that Spriggs fed a Flamin' Hot Cheeto to a toddler, leaving the girl gasping for air.

The teachers also said Spriggs stepped on kids' toes and laughed, and put rubber bands on their hands and snapped them, making the toddlers cry.

The jury acquitted Spriggs on 14 counts, and the judge threw out three misdemeanor convictions for contributing to the delinquency of a minor because he said prosecutors failed to introduce evidence that Spriggs was over the age of 18, a necessary element of that crime.

Later Thursday, a jury recommended jail sentences of three to 12 months on the various counts, adding up to a potential sentence of nearly three years when Spriggs is sentenced in May.

Spriggs is the second teacher convicted in the 'baby fight club' case.

In 2013, when the mistreatment took place, Spriggs and Sarah Jordan were teachers at what was called the 'monkey room' of Minnieland Academy at the Glen (pictured), a room that had nearly 20 toddlers ranging in age from about 18 months to 27 months

A coworker of the two Minnieland workers called child protective services, which is how the allegations against them surface in 2013. Desiree Edwards (pictured right after her testimony in January), who also worked with the toddlers, said she saw Jordan trip a running child and then laugh

Sarah Jordan was previously found guilty on similar charges and will also be sentenced in May.

At Jordan's trial, prosecutor Ashleigh Landers likened the day care class to a 'baby fight club' inflicting suffering for the teachers' amusement.

In 2013, when the mistreatment took place, Spriggs and Jordan were teachers at what was called the 'monkey room' of Minnieland Academy at the Glen, a room that had nearly 20 toddlers ranging in age from about 18 months to 27 months.

The allegations against the two Minnieland workers surfaced in fall 2013, after a coworker of the women called child protective services, according to NBC 4.

Desiree Edwards, who also worked with the toddlers, said she saw Jordan trip a running child and then laugh.

On another occasion, Jordan dumped water on a little girl's head, making her cry, Edwards said.

Sarah Jordan (pictured), 31, was convicted on 13 felony and misdemeanor counts, including child cruelty, and assault and battery

Parents of the toddlers testified that their children started becoming fearful of the monkey room. Many started acting out, and several parents described how their toddlers suddenly started stepping on others' toes and laughing.

'That's not terrible twos. That's mimicking,' prosecutor Ashleigh Landers told the jury.

Spriggs did not take the stand in her own defense. Her defense lawyer suggested the teachers may have been motivated to testify against Spriggs because of a workplace dispute.

The defense lawyer, Patrick Foltz, also questioned whether eating a Flamin' Hot Cheeto could be equated to abusive behavior and said prosecutors failed to make that case because they didn't introduce any evidence of the snack food's relative spiciness.

'Is it felony torture if nobody's told you a Flamin' Hot Cheeto is hot? How hot is it? You don't know,' Foltz told the jury in closing arguments.

The Woodbridge facility is one of 50 day care centers operated by Minnieland and happens to be immediately adjacent to Minnieland's corporate headquarters.

Teachers in the monkey room testified that they alerted their supervisors to the problems there but nothing was done.

Eventually a teacher called state welfare agents, who conducted an investigation.

After the conviction, several parents testified at the trial's sentencing phase about the effect of the abuse.

Parent Brittany Hess looked at Spriggs and called her a 'monster,' fighting back tears.

In 2013, parent, Shanna Greisen (left), pulled her son, Preston (right), who was 21-months-old at the time, out of Minnieland because he dreaded going to daycare

Parents expressed frustration that they still don't believe they know all of the abuse their children may have suffered, because their children were too young to articulate it.

'I don't know the full extent of what happened in the monkey room, but I know it changed her,' Traci Helmick said of her daughter.

In 2013, Shanna Greisen told NBC 4 that she pulled her son, Preston, who was 21-months-old at the time, out of Minnieland because he dreaded going to daycare.

Another parent, Blake Buckner (left), the father of Kendall (right), who was two-years-old at the time, said he also witnessed a change in his son while he was at Minnieland. They are both pictured in 2013

'He would just cry,' she said. 'He would throw himself on the floor, you know. Just, 'No mommy, no mommy.''

Another parent, Blake Buckner, the father of two-year-old Kendall, told NBC 4 that he also witnessed a change in his son.

He said that Kendall would scream 'No, no pool', but he had 'always loved swimming'.

Buckner added that every day he took Kendall to school 'he would cry'.
Marco Rubio says he isn't to blame for the 'vulgar spectacle' that played out at last night's GOP presidential debate - that's Donald Trump's fault.

'Donald Trump has been perhaps the most vulgar - no I don't think perhaps - the most vulgar person to ever aspire to the presidency in terms of how he's carried out his candidacy,' Rubio said this morning on CNN's New Day.

Rubio said on Good Morning America that he does 'regret' the mean-spirited and tawdry discourse of campaign lately but said of his opponent, 'He needs to get a taste of his own medicine.'

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Marco Rubio says he isn't to blame for the 'vulgar spectacle' that played out at last night's GOP presidential debate - that's Donald Trump's fault

'Donald Trump has been perhaps the most vulgar - no I don't think perhaps - the most vulgar person to ever aspire to the presidency in terms of how he's carried out his candidacy,' Rubio said this morning on CNN's New Day

'Nothing I have ever said comes anything close to what Donald Trump says regularly on a daily and routine basis,' Rubio said.

The Republican senator said Trump 'has offended personally every single person running for president, hes offended journalists, hes offended the disabled, hes offended women.

'I would love for all that to stop. Id rather talk about the issues.'

Attempting to regain some of his lost momentum, Rubio engaged in hand-to-hand combat with Trump last week on the trail.

In response to Trump's name calling - the billionaire dubbed him 'Little Marco' - Rubio took a shot at the size of Trump's hands....and made a euphemism about his manhood.

Trump brought it up at last night's presidential debate and assured the audience, 'there is no problem. I guarantee.'

On the Today show this morning co-host Savannah Guthrie asked Rubio if he's 'sorry he went there' on the hands, and he said, 'no.'

As he defended himself on Good Morning America Rubio said, 'Look, I regret the way the campaign has become, absolutely, because Donald Trump for the last year has made it one of the most vulgar spectacles in American politics history,'

'He hit my hands. Nobody has ever hit my hands': Donald Trump began the Republican debate in the way it continued, with a crude remark about the size of his hands and his manhood

'He has offended personally every single person running for president, hes offended journalists, hes offended the disabled, hes offended women.

'I would love for all that to stop. Id rather talk about the issues.'

Asked about on CNN about the 'raunchy' debate on CNN, Rubio let out a big sigh and said, 'Well, I think it's par for the course in this very unusual election.

'Look, I go into the debates and I hope every question is a policy question,' he said.

Rubio said 'it is what it is' but 'voters deserve better than what they are getting out of these debates and out of this campaign.'

Asked for his reaction to Trump's 'guarantee' last night, the U.S. senator said 'nothing surprises us anymore.'

'He's injected a level of vulgarity into the political discourse that we've never seen,' Rubio said.

He added: 'I didn't say what he's saying and I said it one time. He has personally attacked a disabled journalist. I mean, everyone basically. There is no one who he has not personally attacked, sometimes in the most vulgar ways.'

'That's not what I want my campaign to be about. It's not what my campaign is about,' he said. 'I'm out there every day talking about the future of America, outlining real plans, and by the way, an optimistic vision of the future. My campaign is not doom and gloom.'

In response to Trump's name calling - the billionaire dubbed him 'Little Marco' - Rubio took a shot at the size of Trump's hands last week....and made a euphemism about his manhood. Trump brought it back up during last night's debate

And yet, New Day co-host Alisyn Camerota pointed out, Rubio recommitted last night to supporting Trump if he is the GOP nominee.

'That's the quandary I'm trying to avoid the Republican Party having to face. I don't want us to have a nominee that people have to make up an excuse why they're voting for or hold their nose and vote for. I want us to have a nominee that we're excited about,' he said.

Rubio argued that, 'If Donald Trump is the Republican nominee, we are going to have a party that's divided, we're going to have a party that has to somehow justify to itself why it's voting for this man.

'I think it's hard to win an election with a nominee like that. The fact that people even ask that question should be indicative of how bad his nomination would be,' he said.

The Republican senator likewise asked voters in his to put a 'stop to this ridiculousness' by rallying behind his campaign.




A 19-year-old migrant has died after being stabbed in the throat during a brawl at a Swedish refugee hostel.

Police say they are still investigating the motive for the killing but have arrested three suspects, all of whom are also asylum seekers.

They were alerted to the fight at the Stora Asylum Centre, just outside of the town of Lindesberg, some 100 miles west of Stockholm, around 5am this morning.

Police tape cordons off the entrance to the asylum seeker accommodation where a 19-year-old was killed

The teenager was stabbed in the throat during a brawl at the centre around 5am this morning

The stabbing occurred at a refugee centre outside of the town of Lindesberg, inland from the capital Stockholm

Stefan Wickberg, a police spokesman, said: 'We are still investigating the attack and its motive. We now have arrested three suspects whom we are questioning.

'Asylum centres have been a problem for us and we have had frequent calls to sort out fights and other disturbances.

'People in these centres live too close together and many of them come from war zones. It's not easy for them to all get along.'

He added: 'We now need to secure anything that can help us in terms of forensic evidence,' The Local reported.

'The second thing to do is gather information from various people. The third thing is to establish as accurately as possible who did what. Presumably they didn't all hold the same knife.'

Police declined to release the nationalities of the casualty or the three suspects.

The victim was stabbed in the throat and rushed to hospital, but died shortly after his arrival, said police.

Two other murders have occurred at Swedish refugee centres this year.

In 2014, there were 148 incidents at asylum centres throughout Sweden and in 2015 that number jumped to 322.

Arson attacks targeting asylum shelters have also surged, with at least two dozen centres reduced to ashes or damaged by fire last year.

Sweden, like the rest of Europe, has been struggling with the continent's biggest migration crisis since the Second World War.

A country of 9.8 million, Sweden took in more than 160,000 asylum-seekers in 2015, putting it among the EU states with the highest proportion of refugees per capita.
Four people have been arrested for the alleged sexual abuse of two four-year-old children at multiple locations over a five-month period.

Horry County Police detectives say the two children, a boy and a girl from Tabor City, North Carolina, confessed that they had been forced to have sex with their siblings and other family members during counseling sessions with an unnamed witness.

The couple arrested as part of the case, Lindsey Honeycutt, 29, and Ambrose Heavener, 30, were charged with incest as well as sexual conduct of a minor, sexual exploitation of a minor and engaging a child for sexual performance.

Honeycutt is a dancer at the Myrtle Beach strip club Chez Joey in South Carolina, where police say some of the alleged abuse took place. Heavener is believed to be the father of the victims.

Couple: Ambrose Heavener, 30 (left), and Lindsey Honeycutt, 29 (right), have been charged with incest as well as sexual conduct of a minor, sexual exploitation of a minor and engaging a child for sexual performance

Honeycutt (right) is a dancer at the Myrtle Beach strip club Chez Joey, where police say some of the alleged abuse took place. Heavener (left) is believed to be the father of the victims

Involved: Panteleimon N. Spirakis, 55 (left), and Anthony L. Strickland, 45 (right), were also arrested as part of the case and charged with criminal sexual conduct with minor in the first degree, sexual exploitation of a minor in the first degree, and engaging a child for sexual performance

Two other men, Panteleimon N. Spirakis, 55, of Myrtle Beach, and Anthony L. Strickland, 45, of Myrtle Beach, were also arrested as part of the case, Myrtle Beach Online reported.

They are charged with criminal sexual conduct with minor in the first degree, sexual exploitation of a minor in the first degree, and engaging a child for sexual performance.

Both men are believed to be patrons of Chez Joey.

The young female victim told police she was forced to have sex with Spirakis.

Between December 2014 and April 2015, Honeycutt, Heavener, Spirakis and Strickland allegedly engaged in sex acts, including intercourse, with the two victims, their arrest warrants state.

In January, both victims disclosed during a trauma-focused therapy session that Honeycutt and Heavener forced them to have sex with their siblings and each other, according to the police report, WMBF News reported.

The victims also disclosed that Honeycutt and Heavener would have sex with them.

Ambrose Heavener has prior convictions for possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. He is seen here in a photo from his Facebook page

The children said Honeycutt would take them with her to work at the strip club 'until she got off'.

The victims referred to the venue as 'the dance club'.

Two other locations - 407 Queens Rd. in Myrtle Beach and 808 48th Ave. N. in Myrtle Beach, both residences - were listed as scenes of the alleged abuse in the arrest warrant.

The Queens Rd. property is listed to a relative of Spirakas, while the other address is registered to Strickland.

All four of the accused were arrested Tuesday following a lengthy investigation.

Spirakis was arrested and charged in 2008 for allegedly molesting an 11-year-old girl for three years.

Scene: Police say the alleged abuse occurred at three locations, including the Chez Joey strip club (pictured)

Spirakis was subsequently sentenced to five years in prison in 2010.

However the sentence was suspended to two years in prison and five years on probation, according to court records.

Honeycutt was jailed four separate times in 2015 on charged including possession of marijuana, filing a false police report and violating probation, Myrtle Beach Online reported.
A 20-year-old nanny in California was caught on a hidden camera allegedly suffocating a 13-month-old boy to stop him from crying, police say.

Moriah Gonzales, who was hired through the popular babysitting website Care.com, was arrested on February 19 for felony child abuse following the incident and was booked into Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, California.

She has since pleaded not guilty to child abuse and was ordered to stay away from children as she appeared in court on Friday.

The parents of the boy, identified only as Amanda and Nicole, reported the incident in the early hours of February 18 and showed Livermore Police video footage of the alleged abuse, officials said.

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Moriah Gonzales, 20, was arrested on February 19 after being caught on a nanny camera allegedly suffocating a 13-month-old boy. The woman, who was hired through Care.com, faces child abuse charges

Gonzales (center) pleaded not guilty to child abuse and was ordered to stay away from children when she appeared in court on Friday

The hidden nanny camera in the boy's room shows Gonzales trying to put the boy down for a nap, but he wouldn't stop crying, according to KRON 4.

In the video, the baby, identified in court documents as 'Doe' can be heard crying as Gonzales carries him around the room before lowering him into the crib.

'Moriah then placed her hands closer to Doe's face and the sounds went from clear and audible to a muffled cry,' a police report describing the video said, according to KGO.

The document continues: 'After a few seconds, Doe began to squirm and kick. He then went limp. Once Doe went limp, Moriah lifted him up and flung him over her shoulder in a supine position, the back of his head resting on her shoulder.

'When Moriah moved her hands away from Doe's face, clear and audible crying/whimpering could once again be heard.

'As Doe lay in a supine position over Moriah's shoulder, his arms extended outward as if he was limp. Moriah then put Doe into his crib and left the room.'

It is unknown if the baby had to go to the hospital to be evaluated by doctors.

Nicole discovered the footage of Gonzales and her son when she returned home at about 3pm on February 18.

She told Gonzales to leave but did not tell her about the video footage.

The following day, police contacted Gonzales about the incident, but she told them a story that was inconsistent with the video and denied hurting the boy.

Before court on Friday, Gonzales was seen holding her sister's hand and walking with her attorney, William DuBois. Her mother was also at the hearing.

Gonzales did not speak to reporters at the court house, according to NBC Bay Area.

Gonzales (center) smiled at onlookers as she arrived at court on Friday. When investigators asked her about the incident earlier this week, she told them a story that was inconsistent with the video and denied hurting the boy

Care.com released a statement following the incident, saying the company is 'deeply troubled' after hearing what happened.

'We are deeply troubled by this incident and our thoughts are with the family,' the statement said. The safety of our community is of paramount importance to us and we have proactively contacted local law enforcement to provide whatever assistance we can in this matter.'

Care.com spokeswoman Nancy Bushkin told families that they can purchase background checks through Care before choosing a babysitter from the site.

Bushkin told KRON 4: 'We recommend that families purchase a background check once they have narrowed down their candidates to their top choice but they can be purchased at any time in the process.

'Yes, families typically purchase the checks and have to ask the caregiver to agree since they need to get private information, like a SSN, from the caregiver to have the check run. Caregivers are also able to purchase and run a background check on themselves to have on file.

'As for costs: The Criminal Records Check is $59; the Criminal Records Check + MVR Records Check is $79; [and] the Investigative Criminal Plus Check is $300

'We also offer the MVR Records Check a la carte to caregivers only and that costs $20.'
An Italian model and actress - and girlfriend of a luxury suit designer - has been arrested for stealing a $400 hat from an upmarket New York store.

Eleonora Pieroni, who was a finalist in the Miss Italy competition in 2010, is accused of stealing the designer hat from Saks Fifth Avenue on December 22 last year.

The model appeared in a Manhattan court Thursday along with boyfriend Domenico Vacca, who has designed clothes for the likes of Denzel Washington, Harrison Ford and Queen Latifah.

Italian model Eleonora Pieroni was appeared in court Thursday for stealing a $400 hat from luxury department store Saks

But Pieroni (left and right) who was a finalist in the Miss Italy competition in 2010, says that the theft was a complete accident and that she was distracted while texting

Pieroni was arraigned Thursday and offered three days of community service as part of a completion of a shoplifter's program, according to Page Six.

But this was rejected by her lawyer and she is now due back in court on March 14.

Her attorney Brad Gerstman told Page Six: 'It was a complete misunderstanding. She was texting and distracted in the store when the accident of her walking out without paying happened. Without paying proper attention she put the hat in her bag.'

Gerstman added that since the store got their goods back there was 'no harm done' and that they hoped this matter will be resolved 'as soon as possible'.

Pieroni and Vacca appeared in court after spending a week at a string of glitzy Oscar events in LA , including the exclusive Night of 100 stars event at the Beverly Hilton.

Pieroni is the girlfriend of Domenico Vacca (who she is pictured with left) who has designed clothes for the likes of Denzel Washington, Harrison Ford and Queen Latifah

Although Pieroni now faces being barred from the US, she has clearly embraced American culture and is pictured here reading Ivanka Trump's The Trump Card: Playing to Win in Work and Life

The pair were also pictured a week later attending the Hughie opening night on Broadway, starring Forest Whitaker.

Boyfriend Vacca is due to open a new store called Branson at Fifth in May, which will contain his flagship store, a members-only club, a rooftop lounge and a hair salon, according to Page Six.

A Rome native, Pieroni currently lives in New York with Vacca but may now face being barred from the US.

But the model has clearly embraced American culture and posted an Instagram picture of herself reading Ivanka Trump's book The Trump Card: Playing to Win in Work and Life.

Pieroni commented: 'I have my nose in this book every weekend. Trump family one of my icon in life. Great respect to Ivanka Trump to write this book.
Former President Lula (pictured) has been detained and questioned by Brazilian police over the widening corruption scandal

Police have detained and questioned Brazil's powerful ex-president Luiz Inacio Luda da Silva as a probe into corruption widens to encompass many of the country's ruling elite.

The growing scandal - said to be the biggest in Brazil's history - centres on the state-owned oil company Petrobras and features accusations of widespread bribery and kickbacks.

A spokesperson for Lula confirmed agents searched his house in Sao Paulo, the offices of the Lula Institute, and houses of family members and associates.

Prosecutors say Lula is being targeted as part of the Operation Car Wash probe which has already seen a Who's Who of Brazilian politicians and businessmen face charges.

Officials said that a major sweep including detentions and searches of properties had taken place in three states.

A prosecutor's statement read: 'About 200 federal police and 30 auditors served 44 warrants, including 33 warrants for search and seizure and 11 for detention for questioning.'

The operations in Rio de Janeiro, Bahia and Sao Paulo states involved probes into 'corruption and money laundering, among other crimes practiced by various people in the context of the Petrobras criminal scheme'.

Lula, who was president from 2003-2010, remains one of Brazil's most influential figures and his fate is closely linked to that of his successor, President Dilma Rousseff, and the future of the ruling Workers' Party.

His spokesperson Jose Chrispiniano called the search, in which agents were backed by armed officers, 'arbitrary, illegal and unjustified'.

The allegations against Lula center on a luxury seaside apartment and country house that authorities say were given to the ex-president as bribes.

'There is evidence that former President Lula received assets arising from the Petrobras scheme through the allocation and renovation of a triplex apartment and a site in Atibaia [as well as] luxury furniture,' prosecutors said in their statement.

Lula denies ownership of the apartment and any involvement in the Petrobras scheme.

Prosecutors, however, said that beyond the immediate issue of the properties, they were examining Lula's wider role in the alleged Petrobras-related web of corruption enveloping the Workers' Party, the Lula Institute and also campaign finances.

'Former president Lula, beyond being party leader, was ultimately responsible for who would be the directors at Petrobras and was one of the main beneficiaries of the crimes,' the statement said.

Acknowledging the extraordinary nature of a once hugely popular president being detained, prosecutors said: 'It is not a value judgment about who he is... but an investigative judgment based on facts and certain acts which are under suspicion'.

'In a republic, even famous and powerful people must come under judicial scrutiny when there is a well-founded suspicion of criminal activity.'

A protester is forcefully detained by police during the unrest which erupted outside Lula's home today

Moments later, blood pours down his back after he clashed with police in the town of Sao Bernardo do Campo

The protester squares up against a police officer trying to control the unrest outside the ex-president's home

The man was bleeding heavily from the back of his head though it was not clear how the wound was caused

Here he is pictured being restrained by a police officer trying to quell the unrest that stemmed from news of Lula's detention

The former president remains a popular figure in Brazil but has now become another of the country's ruling elite to be dragged into the widening corruption probe

Supporters of the former president confront police officers guarding his home in Sao Bernardo do Campo

The news comes a day after a bombshell claim by a Brazilian magazine that a former close ally of Lula and Rousseff - a senior Workers' Party senator who has already been charged in the Car Wash probe - was preparing to testify against them.

Senator Delcidio do Amaral, who was arrested last November, was reportedly negotiating a plea bargain deal with prosecutors in which he would testify that Rousseff obstructed the Petrobras probe and that Lula had also been involved in the scheme.

The report, although unconfirmed, sparked a furious reaction from Rousseff's government and the president said in a speech that fighting corruption was her 'first priority.'

Both Lula and Rousseff are also facing political heat after the arrest of their former campaign manager, Joao Santana, who allegedly took money originally embezzled from Petrobras.

No allegations have been made officially against Rousseff in the Petrobras scandal. But she faces a growing number of other problems that could see her removed from office.

The former leftist guerrilla, who has become deeply unpopular as Brazil sinks into ever deeper recession, faces an impeachment drive in Congress over her alleged breaking of fiscal rules.

She also is being investigated for alleged campaign finance irregularities in the electoral court.

A man screams in anger at news the former president's house was searched and he had been detained by police
Newly installed video cameras captured the moment a 20-man brawl caused the Santa Clara County Jail to go into lockdown yesterday afternoon.

The incident left one retired judge, who chairs a commission into jail operations, with questions about the jail's operations.

The fight, which took place between black and Hispanic prisoners, started at around 3.10pm in the California prison after 'one inmate brushed up against another', Sheriff Laurie Smith told NBC Bay Area, 'and then the fight was on, with fists'.

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Brawl: The footage shows black and Hispanic prisoners, some shirtless, brawling (pictured left) or fist-fighting one-on-one (pictured right)

Guards: The video ends as guards, clad in black (pictured, top right and bottom left), wade into the melee, using pepper spray to subdue fighters, before pinning them to the ground

Prisoners - voluntarily or otherwise - lie down on the ground as guards restore order. The affected area is used to hold those on trial for murder or attempted murder

The footage shows around 30 men in the Module 4A common area 'pod', which is used to hold suspects awaiting trial for murder and attempted murder.

Around 20 men from the two groups quickly get into a brawl that required pepper-spray-wielding guards to subdue, and left some prisoners needing medical attention.

Speaking to NBC Bay Area, Smith said that she was glad the fight took place in front of the 12 newly installed cameras.

'I'm really glad that it did, it will give us the opportunity to see what actually happened. We will be able to see who was the aggressor who was assaulted who was involved in the fight.'

The cameras had only been installed the previous night, and Smith had paid for them out of her own pocket, after being told by local authorities that it would take two years and $20million to install cameras across the entire jail.

'The inmates are spread pretty much throughout the pod,' Smith said, 'but that's where we installed the cameras, we don't have cameras in any of the other housing areas and they only went in last night, so this... it's interesting that it happened here'.

Sheriff Laurie Smith, was 'glad' the 20-man brawl took place in the one part of the prison with security cameras, so that officials could see 'who was involved'. The cameras had been installed the previous night

Questions: Retired judge Lardoris Cordell said she had been told just the previous day that groups of men that were liable to fight would not be allowed in the same areas together

But Lardoris Cordell, a retired judge who chairs a blue-ribbon commission into jail operations and had reviewed the prison's operation in person the day before the fight, expressed concerns to the channel.

'If in fact the officers knew that on that pod, in that unit, there were groups, be they racial or whatever, that did not get along, I was told, repeatedly, that they would never have them all out at the same time,' she said.

'It wouldn't make sense because what would happen, there would be a big fight in which case people would get hurt.'

Exactly why the men were released into the same room together is not currently known.

The jail-wide lockdown was lifted by the time evening arrived, with only the area where the brawl occurred remaining on high security.

Smith confirmed that nobody had sustained life-threatening injuries in the incident.

NBC Bay Area interviewed Smith on Wednesday after she spent $741 of her own money having the cameras installed.

The station says she has been asking for cameras since August, when inmate Michael Tyree, who was homeless and mentally ill, was beaten to death.

Three California correctional deputies were arrested on suspicion of murder, and are now on trial for the beating.

Smith told NBC Bay Area: 'I was frustrated [with the lack of surveillance cameras]. It's been going on for six months and it would be two years before [the cameras would be] installed,' Smith said. 'We knew we needed an interim system.'
Bobolukova has today been formally charged with murder of girl, four

Arrested: Rakhmatillo Ashurov, 19, was encouraged by ISIS to come and join the war in Syria

The eldest son of the nanny who beheaded a young girl was 'influenced' by recruiters for ISIS who encouraged him to go and fight in Syria, say police.

Rakhmatillo Ashurov, 19, is currently held in detention in his native Uzbekistan as Russia laid formal murder charges against his mother Gyulchekhra Bobokulova.

The 38-year-old Uzbeki is expected to undergo psychiatric tests after claims that she suffered from schizophrenia.

The nanny confessed to Russian interrogators that she decapitated the four-year-old girl before brandishing the child's head in the streets of Moscow.

She stated her act was revenge for Vladimir Putin's aerial bombardment of Syria, but the Kremlin said she was 'insane'.

The son is held in Uzbekistan on a 15 day 'administrative punishment' which 'was applied in order to prevent a crime and as a disciplinary measure', said a law enforcement source in Tashkent.

'Being surrounded by people from the Middle Asia, he was influenced by the recruiters who encouraged him to take part in fighting for terrorists in Syria.'

A source added: 'Operational information is being collected and the family and friends of Gyulchekhra Bobokulova are being interviewed. The materials are being submitted to Russian colleagues.'

The son was questioned over his mother's role in the child's death but a 'criminal investigation' against him would not follow because of limited contact between the pair.

He revealed her delicate mental state.

'She was often bad-tempered, could start a scandal from nothing, broke dishes and other things. But just a little bit later she behaved normally, as if nothing had happened,' he told Uzbek police.

Charged: Gulchekhra Bobokulova, 38, has been charged with murder after she was caught walking around Moscow brandishing the decapitated head of a four-year-old girl

The burka-clad babysitter was arrested in Moscow after she walked through the streets carrying the severed head of the young girl

At the same time, a hunt is underway for the supposed accomplices of Bobokulova, who has since been dubbed the 'bloody nanny' by the Russian media.

Russian and Uzbek secret services are seeking her common law husband Suhrob Muminov, his sister Manzura and her husband, who are believed to live in Moscow, according to sources reported by Rosbalt news agency.

Before travelling to Uzbekistan over the New Year, she was not seen as being radicalised.

But a theory is emerging that the nanny was influenced at this time by Suhrob.

He was a frequent visitor to the Urgut Mountains district of Samarkand region where radical groupings including ISIS have been active in recruiting men and women.

Other extremist groups are called Tahrir al Islami and Islom Lashraklari.

Muminov started praying very often and also talked about his readiness to go to fight in Syria, it is claimed.

'After getting in touch with Suhrob, Gyulchekhra completely changed,' said a source, according to Rosbalt.

'She got a hijab, a carpet for praying, religious literature.

'She started talking some nonsense about the war in Syria.'

The nanny also told people she was missing Nastya, the girl she cared for in Moscow.

Gulchekhra Bobokulova explains her reasoning during a video interview that was posted online

Her appearance in court came a day after a police source revealed she had kept her schizophrenia a secret and was 'kicked on to the streets' after a divorce

A radio journalist asked Bobokulova (pictured) as she walked towards court room handcuffed to a police officer why killed the child, and she replied: 'Allah ordered me'

Gyulchekhra Bobokulova sits inside a defendants' cage as she attends a court hearing in Moscow

In scenes that shocked the world yesterday, the hijab-wearing nanny was seen walking the streets of Moscow brandishing the head of Nastya Meshcheryakova

Questioned if she felt sorry about the girl, she shook her head, evidently meaning no. Inside the court cage, she smiled and waved to journalists

Her friends, probably Suhrob Muminov too, decided to use this affection of the sick woman in their own purposes, source believe.

A police source said: 'She was told: 'You are sympathizing with the wrong child.

''You should think about those children killed by bombs in Syria.

'And Gyulchekhra experienced the next attack of her mental illness then.

'The real voices were followed by the voices in her head and all of them were talking nonsense about Syria.

'And does the sick woman need much?

'Everything in her head turned upside down and the beloved Nastya (Anastasia) turned into an enemy.'

Bobokulova 'was influenced in a way the women suicide bombers are influenced. And exactly as it happens with those women, Gyulchekhra was watched by certain people in Moscow when she came back from Uzbekistan'.

It is claimed that shortly before the crime she was in touch Muminov's sister Manzura and her common law husband, the citizen of Tajikistan.

It is believed the nanny set the apartment ablaze after strangling the four-year-old child then severing her head

Fire crews rescued a number of people from the block of flats after smoke was seen billowing out of windows

Bobokulova had been registered at a psychiatric clinic in her homeland Uzbekistan - and her condition had been deteriorating in recent months, the source said

Emergency crews discovered the child's body after they were called in to tackle a fire in the flat

The child, who has been identified as Anastasia (Nastya) Meshcheryakova, whose nanny Gyulchehra Bobokulova is thought to have killed her

Eyewitnesses say the woman shouted 'Allahu Akbar' as she appeared near Oktyabrskoye Pole metro station in the northwest of the Russian capital and threatened to blow herself up

Sources say the babysitter told interrogators she did not want to hide from police, and aimed to draw maximum attention to what she has done

The woman was seen pulling the severed head out of a bag and walking around near the entrance to the metro station as police moved in

He also supports the radical Islamic ideas, it was alleged.

'Since the girl was killed, this couple has vanished, we are searching for them now,' said our source.

One active aspect of the investigation relates to Suhrob Muminov's alleged close friendship with Shukhrat Ganiev, the deputy head of Samarkand city interior ministry, in charge of police.

The senior official has been called in for interrogation by the Uzbek secret services, it is claimed.

Rosbalt stated that it is through him that the nanny may have received her new Uzbekistan biometric passport, even though her medical condition should have prevented it being issued.

'It is known that she left Samarkand with her hijab and carpet for praying, and people are often barred from leaving Uzbekistan for much smaller signs of their religious habits, for example, for texts of prayers in their mobile phones.'

A Russian source law enforcement said: 'We hope that our Uzbek colleagues will help to understand what happened to Bobokulova during her stay in Samarkand region, and who caused the changes.

'Maybe the answers will come when Muminov's sister and husband are detained.'

Meanwhile, it is claimed Russia has begun 'massive checks' on Central Asian migrants employed as nannies and servants in Moscow.

The victim was a girl identified as Anastasia (Nastya) Meshcheryakova - and the child's 38-year-old nanny Gyulchehra Bobokulova (left), from Uzbekistan, has been arrested. The girl's mother Ekaterina is pictured right

Mother Ekaterina and father Vladimir Meshcheryakov of four-year-old Anastasia

Tributes: A man leaves a flower site near the Oktyabrskoye Pole underground station in Moscow, Russia

Floral and toy tributes were left by mourners outside the apartment block at Narodnogo Opolcheniya Street
Former child star Sarah Monahan, who was abused by her Hey Dad! co-star Robert Hughes, has described Cate Blanchetts 2014 Best Actress Oscars speech as a slap in the face to his victims after she thanked Hughes' wife.

Ms Monahan was one of the many victims who suffered Hughes' sexual abuse on the set of Hey Dad!, which began to air in 1987.

In an interview ahead of the launch of her autobiography, Allegedly, which will detail her abuse, Ms Monahan had a pointed question for Blanchett, who thanked her agent Robyn Gardiner - Hughes' celebrity agent wife - in her acceptance speech for Blue Jasmine.

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A young Sarah Monahan (centre, front) pictured with Robert Hughes and the Hey Dad! cast

Cate Blanchett thanked Hughes' wife Robyn Gardiner in her acceptance speech for Blue Jasmine

Now that shes got a daughter, would she let [Robert] at her house? she asked during the Daily Telegraph interview.

I get that she was trying to show her support for Robyn but it was a slap in the face to all the victims. I wonder if she would let ... Robert babysit her kids.

Blanchett said during the speech: 'To my agent in Australia, Robyn Gardiner, I love you so very much.'

Hughes was sentenced in 2014 to a maximum 10 years nine months with a non-parole period of six years.

The actor was convicted on ten of 11 child sex charges, with the jury being discharged after not being able to reach a majority verdict on the 11th charge.

Hughes' wife Robyn Gardiner (left) and daughter Jessica Hughes (right), seen leaving a Sydney court during the actor's sentencing

The trial took almost six weeks to come to a verdict, with Hughes pleading not guilty to all charges against him regarding indecent and sexual assault committed between 1983 and 1991.

There is no suggestion Robyn Gardiner was aware of her husbands offending.

Monahan, who gave evidence at the trial, said the court proceedings were more traumatising than the abuse and there were times she struggled to cope.

There were times I thought about killing myself, seriously, she told the Daily Telegraph.

Former child star Sarah Monahan was abused by her Hey Dad! co-star Robert Hughes

Monahan, who was six years old when she joined the show in 1987, first went public with her story of abuse in a Woman's Day article in March 2010.

She went on to repeat allegations on A Current Affair, that she was abused while on the set of Hey Dad! by Hughes.

Sarah Monahan previously said she 'got away light' compared to her on-screen dad Robert Hughes' other victims - but was relieved and vindicated by his guilty verdict.

Some of the show's former actors say members of the Australian acting industry ostracised them after they spoke out about Robert Hughes' child sex abuse.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Cate Blanchett for comment.
Former dot.com millionaire and then partner agreed to pay 7.4m in 2011

Former Dragons' Den star Sarah Newman was declared bankrupt in the UK less than a week before she was set to be questioned in the Dublin High Court about her debts to Allied Irish Banks, it has emerged.

The 47-year-old ex-RTE star's legal move - which was carried out on election day - means no Irish creditors can seek orders enforcing judgements on debt against her while the UK process is ongoing.

Just under five years ago, the former dot.com millionaire and her then partner, hurling player DJ Carey, had each consented to court orders to repay about 7.4million to AIB.

It's understood the bank claims Ms Newman, who sold her highly successful needahotel.com website in 2006 for at least 23million, still owes more than 4.6million.

The original court orders were made in 2011 on foot of bank loans the couple had secured against two upmarket properties at Ladycastle, an exclusive enclave in Co. Kildare's K Club.

Sarah Newman with her 'Dragons' - the 47-year-old is understood to owe Allied Irish Banks around 4.6million

The couple - who have since split up - had also given guarantees over each other's debts. The Commercial Court previously heard that the loans were drawn down as part of a wider restructuring of her then partner DJ Carey's business.

AIB had wanted Ms Newman to attend the High Court's commercial wing in Dublin yesterday to answer questions from the witness box about why she hasn't paid all the money back yet.

However the hearing was postponed after the court heard the mother of two was believed to have been adjudicated bankrupt in the UK.

James Doherty, for AIB, told the court he was not proceeding with the planned cross-examination in light of that overseas development.

Mr Justice Brian McGovern agreed to strike out the motion to cross-examine the businesswoman - but gave the bank permission to re-apply to cross-examine her at a future date if the need arises.

The Irish Daily Mail has learned that Ms Newman went bankrupt in Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, England, on February 26 - and will be automatically discharged from her bankruptcy by February 26, 2017, as long as she co-operates with the process.

According to her online insolvency report, seen by the Mail, her last-known address is in Bury St Edmunds and she is described as 'unemployed'.

The report also lists her previous address in Dublin's Monkstown.

Well-placed UK insolvency sources told the Mail that Ms Newman presented her own bankruptcy petition to a county court in Bury St Edmunds last week.

Next, the Cambridge-based Bankruptcy Trustee who will handle her debts and assets, Julian Goode, will ask Ms Newman to attend for an interview to 'investigate how her debts were run up', a UK source explained.

Mr Goode is now charged with securing assets from Ms Newman for distribution among her creditors.

Sarah Newman with former partner DJ Carey at a club dinner - the couple agreed to pay back 7.4million to Allied Irish Banks in 2011

AIB first sued Ms Newman - who was a lady captain of the K Club - and Mr Carey in January 2011 and secured debt repayment court orders for about 7.3million against each of them in May 2011.

Yesterday AIB had been expected to apply to the High Court's commercial wing in Dublin for permission to question Ms Newman in the witness box about what assets she may have to help repay what she owes.

Ms Newman was not in court when the hearing was abandoned by agreement between the two sides.

A statement published said she had made the 'extremely difficult decision' to file for bankruptcy and that she has worked with all financial institutions that she owes money.

'Sarah has disposed of all her assets to reimburse the banks however there is still a significant shortfall,' the statement said, according to The Irish Times.

'Despite every effort to avoid this outcome Sarah has taken this step.'

The statement added the move meant she could restart her career and help her two children.

As part of her previous efforts to pay off her debts, Ms Newman reportedly sold her multi-millioneuro ski resort holiday home Chalet Grace at the foot of the Matterhorn Mountain in the Swiss Alps in 2011 - along with her mansion in Dublin's Monkstown in 2012.

She later claimed it was 'cathartic' to downsize to a rented house, telling a newspaper in December 2012: 'I have moved to a smaller house, but that was my choice and my children's choice I feel relief. I feel free. I feel happy.'

Yet, she was still not free of debt. It was reported in June 2013 that Ms Newman was in talks with creditors about resolving her debts.

She had been due to marry her partner DJ Carey in the summer of 2011 but they went their separate ways the following year.
On his six week journey, he explored neglected congress rooms, forgotten spaceship hangers and even Chernobyl

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Resting alone in its long forgotten hanger in the Kazakh desert, the abandoned prototype Soviet Buran spacecraft embodies the ambition and dreams of the old Soviet Union. Now it serves as a hidden reminder of the past which was only recently re-captured by photographer David de Rueda.

From train graveyards to long neglected congress rooms, Mr de Rueda travelled for six weeks across the Balkans and Eastern Europe, exploring abandoned urban buildings for their long-forgotten Soviet past, according to CNN.

The inquisitive Franco-German photographer captured these stunning scenes with his camera and produced this series of photos, entitled 'The Line'.

On the way, he risked his life visiting the cooling towers of Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, where the infamous nuclear accident led to the town of 50,000 being abandoned in April 1986.

Exploring inside some of the long-deserted buildings, Mr de Rueda managed to capture the staggering emptiness of the site, with possessions left exactly in their place almost 30 years ago.

Glimpses inside Pripyat Hospital reveals the sheer apocalyptic scale of the disaster, with the eerily surroundings becoming home for Mr de Rueda for several days as he often waited til dark to capture his stunning surroundings.

He also went on to explore neglected concert halls in Estonia and the alien-looking Moscow power station as well as other unusual sites.

Resting alone in its long forgotten hanger in the desert in Kazakhstan, the abandoned prototype Soviet Buran spacecraft once embodies the ambition and dreams of the Soviet Union

Exploring inside some of the long-deserted buildings, Mr de Rueda managed to capture the staggering emptiness of the site, with possessions left exactly in their place almost 30 years ago

Mr de Rueda spotted Chernobyl's abandoned main bus station and seized the chance to experiment with light and capture a self-portrait

He also went on to explore neglected concert halls in Estonia and the alien looking Moscow power station as well as other unusual sites

Once a site of enjoyment and fun, the forgotten Ferris-wheel stays still among the snow-covered trees in Chernobyl nuclear power plant

With just a solitary figure standing on the steps, this spooky photograph epitomises the emptiness of the site

Glimpses inside Pripyat Hospital reveals the sheer apocalyptic scale of the disaster, with the eerily surroundings becoming home for Mr de Rueda for several days as he often waited til dark to capture his stunning surroundings

The devastating 1986 Chernobyl explosion forced over 50,000 residents to flee the nearby town of Pripyat (pictured the local cafe)

Eerily quiet, Mr de Rueda captured this stunning image from inside the cooling tower of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant

The inquisitive Franco-German photographer captured the scenes with his camera and produced this series of photos, entitled 'The Line'

From train graveyards to long neglected congress rooms, Mr de Rueda travelled for six weeks across the Balkans and Eastern Europe, exploring abandoned urban buildings for their long-forgotten Soviet past

With its mesmerizing light, this abandoned hall caught the attention of Mr de Rueda, who took care to capture the eerily silence and emptiness of the room

Mr de Rueda said he often waits until dark before using a single torch light to play aroudn with the lighting

Its face might be missing and its wheels rusting but this old train is beautifully captured by Mr de Rueda in Budapest, Hungary

Mr de Rueda spent four days in Pripyat, the abandoned city near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station

Many of the sites visited by Mr de Rueda have not seen civilization for a number of years since they were abandoned

'This is an abandoned radar station in the mountains of Italy. After almost three hours of walking through snow 50cm deep, we reached these huge frozen antennas,' he told CNN

This stunning, almost sci-fi inspired photograph was captured inside a former concert hall in Tallinn, Estonia
Tragedy: Elliott Johnson, 21, killed himself by lying on train tracks

The Conservatives will escape an investigation into wider bullying claims surrounding the suicide of a party activist who complained of intimidation, a coroner ruled yesterday.

Tatler Tory Mark Clarke, a senior election aide sacked from the party over the scandal, also looks set to avoid having to give evidence at the inquest into Elliott Johnsons death, despite being accused of targeting him in a suicide note.

Elliotts parents had urged the coroner to examine allegations of systemic bullying within the Tory party, claiming their son took his own life last September after suffering inhuman and degrading treatment by Clarke and his associates.

But Coroner Tom Osborne turned down the request, saying: I will not allow the inquest to be used as a tool for putting anyone on trial.

He said he did not expect to call Mr Clarke or his ally and Elliotts lover, Andre Walker, who was also named in the suicide note.

Mr Osborne said: The allegation against them is a blunt one of bullying and betrayal. It is difficult to see that, beyond the assertions made by [Elliott] in his letter, what these potential witnesses could add to the inquest, save for to deny any bullying.

He added: It would clearly be going beyond the proper scope of this inquest to be calling members of the Conservative Party to inquire into what steps or measures they are taking to investigate the bullying allegations by a party member towards another party member.

A few weeks before taking his life on railway tracks at Sandy, Bedfordshire, Elliott had complained about Mr Clarkes alleged threats to his immediate boss at Conservative Way Forward, a campaign group.

His colleague passed the complaint on to Conservative Campaign Headquarters, the nerve centre of the party.

Face-to-face: Ray and Alison Johnson, parents of Tory activist Elliott Johnson who killed himself last year, came face-to-face with Andre Walker, who Elliott named in his suicide note as betraying him

Elliott killed himself on a railway line in September, leaving a suicide note accusing senior election aide Mark Clarke, 38, of bullying him (pictured together in October 2014)

But a few days later he was told the CWF was considering making his full time position redundant, a move his familys lawyers have argued was a retaliatory action linked to his bullying complaint.

Mr Osborne said the inquest will consider Elliotts complaint letter about Mr Clarke and the decision by CWF to make him redundant soon afterwards.

As part of this, the coroner said he would hear evidence from Paul Abbott, a Conservative campaigner and former chief executive of CWF, although it is not clear if he will have to attend in person or give a statement.

Elliotts father, Ray, from Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, expressed surprise at the decision not to call Mr Clarke or Mr Walker.

He says they would simply deny the bullying  I am not sure why he says that. But he added: Its good the coroner recognises the link between the dismissal and Mark Clarke. This is a really important step forward for the family.

The tragic last message written by Elliot Johnson to his parents before killing himself

Upset: A tearful Alison Johnson and husband Ray Johnson leave the Bedfordshire inquest this afternoon

Denial: Mr Walker, who is understood to have been in a relationship with Elliott, says he did not betray him

At a pre inquest review this week, Heather Williams QC for Elliotts family had said his death was an indication of a wider systemic picture of bullying in the party.

But a lawyer for CWF had argued if the scope of the inquest was expanded it would have to include a reference to Elliotts mental health and his sexuality.

This is believed to have included a previous suicide attempt by Elliott when he was 18 at around the time he came out as gay.

Speaking after the coroners ruling, Mr Walker said he had hoped the inquest would have explored other issues which affected his death.

He said: Im disappointed the motion to extend the inquest has been declined. It would have given us an opportunity to look at the allegations of homophobic discrimination in much more detail.

Mr Clarke, a former Conservative parliamentary candidate who once appeared in a Tatler photo shoot and was tipped as a future minister by the magazine, was expelled from the party after an investigation following Elliotts death. He has denied all the bullying allegations.

The Tory party has started its own inquiry into Elliotts death and the bullying claims that is being conducted by law firm Clifford Chance.
Gray's personal doctor confirmed her identity with help of surgical scars

After taking another look at the body on Thursday without makeup, Gray's relatives said it was their grandmother in the casket after all

In the end, Virginia Gray's body had not been accidentally swapped for that of a stranger by careless undertakers - her grandchildren just didn't recognize her during the funeral.

The 83-year-old woman's indignant relatives went to the media earlier this week claiming that they found a stranger lying in her casket and wearing her clothes during a viewing at Horton's Funeral Home in Washington DC last month.

Turns out, it has all been a big misunderstanding.

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Oops! Virginia Gray, 83 (pictured left and right), passed away in Washington DC on February 19. Her family initally claimed they found a stranger laying in her casket, but they have since admitted that it was her after all

Gray's grandchildren visited the mortuary again on Thursday, accompanied by their grandmother's personal physician, and had the staff wipe off all the makeup from the deceased's face and place her in natural lighting.

Upon closer inspection, they identified the woman as their dearly departed relative, reported NBC4..

Ms Gray's doctor confirmed her identity with the help of surgical scars found on the body, which proved a match.

The woman's grandchildren apparently were thrown off by her funeral makeup and the artificial lighting inside the mortuary the first time around.

Quentin Gray, Virgnia's grandson, said the family are now convinced that the body at Horton's is their grandmother.

'So now we can move forward and have closure and get our funeral going,' he said.

Mixup cleared up: Gray's grandchildren said they were thrown off by her funeral makeup and artificial lighting in the mortuary

No more doubts: Gray's grandchildren, pictured above, say they are now convinced the funeral home has their grandmother's body

Virginia Ernestine Gray, 83, fell unconscious in her home on Dix Street Northeast on February 19 and was taken to Prince George's Hospital Center, where she passed away later that day.

Ms Gray had a daughter, four grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

The woman's relatives made arrangements with Horton's Funeral Home on Kennedy Street Northwest to host a viewing for Virginia Gray on February 26, reported the station NBC Washington.

Closure: Virginia Gray in her younger years. Her family are now getting ready to move on with her funeral arrangements

The solemn event was supposed to be followed by a religious service at New Covenant Church of the Lord Jesus Christ in Maryland on Saturday, with the burial scheduled for later that day in Fort Lincoln Cemetery.

But when the family of the deceased arrived at the DC mortuary to bid farewell to the octogenarian matriarch, they claimed there was another woman in her place.

According to Gray's relatives, the stranger was reposing in their grandmother's casket, dressed in the clothes they had brought to the funeral home for the viewing.

I saw the body of another female that wasn't my grandmother, Gray's granddaughter Tawana Murphy told the local station earlier this week. My heart dropped. I was in disbelief.

Quentin Gray described the predicament the family have found themselves in as 'lunacy' ripped straight out of a bad film script.

The Prince George's Hospital Center released a statement to the local station on Thursday confirming that it had released the right body to the funeral home.
Robyn Gentile, 23, was arrested on Wednesday in Las Vegas for allegedly performing sex acts with a 17-year-old male student

A 23-year-old substitute teacher in Las Vegas was arrested on Wednesday on sexual misconduct charges after she allegedly performed sex acts with a 17-year-old male student.

An investigation into Robyn Gentile began in December.

Parents of the 17-year-old boy noticed suspicious communications between their son and the teacher and reported them to authorities, police said.

Gentile was a longtime substitute math teacher at Harney Middle School in East Las Vegas before departing about a month ago.

She had been with the school district since 2013, according to the Las Vegas Sun.

Most recently she taught seventh grade math classes.

The 17-year-old student involved in the investigation does not currently attend the middle school, detectives said.

Gentiles cellphone was seized by police at about the same time she stopped teaching, an acquaintance told KSNV.

She is now facing two counts of sex acts with a student and is being held at Clark County Detention Center on a $10,000 bail.

Officials said that Gentile is now banned from teaching at any schools in the Clark County School District.
Revelations 'challenge' or 'at least complicate' the origins of LDS's plural marriage belief, says professor

Mormon founder Joseph Smith had apparently 'offered her marriage as a way of promising her that she would still have eternal offspring'

One of Mormonism's most iconic founding mothers was gang-raped and left infertile, it has been revealed in a shocking historical account.

Eliza R. Snow is said to have been sexually assaulted by eight Missourians during 19th Century tensions between Latter Day Saints (LDS) settlers and their Midwestern enemies.

'The rape was brutal, and so it made Eliza unable to have children,' Idaho professor Andrea Radke-Moss told the Salt Lake Tribune.

Eliza R. Snow (left) is said to have been sexually assaulted by eight Missourians during 19th Century tensions between Latter Day Saints (LDS) settlers and their Midwestern enemies (pictured right)

The alleged rape came in the context of the bloody Mormon War of 1838, which saw the massacre of eighteen unsuspecting Mormon men and boys during an attack on a settlement by Missouri non-Mormons, after a period of intense unrest.

The scandalous sexual assault allegations come from the autobiography of Alice Merrill Horne, who was the granddaughter of Bathsheba W. Smith, one of Snow's closest friends.

Snow was one of the most celebrated Mormon women of the nineteenth century: A renowned poet, she chronicled history, celebrated nature and relationships, and expounded scripture and doctrine.

Born in Beckett, Massachusetts in 1804, she was the second daughter of Oliver and Rosetta Snow and when she was two years old the family moved to Western Reserve valley in Ohio.

The Snow family became members of Disciples of Christ but when in 1831, Joseph Smith, founder of LDS moved to Ohio, four miles from the Snow family farm, the family took a strong interest in the new religious movement.

Snow was married to American leader Brigham Young (left) as well as Mormon's founder Joseph Smith (right)

Snow's mother and sister joined the LDS and Snow was also baptized into the church, later donating all her inheritance to the church.

Several years later, the Snow family moved West to Missouri, and it was at this time - during the 1838 Mormon War - that Snow is believed to have been raped.

Later, Mormon founder Smith offered her marriage 'as a way of promising her that she would still have eternal offspring and that she would be a mother in Zion', according to Radke-Moss.

These revelations of sexual assault might help to challenge or 'at least complicate' the origins of LDS's founding belief, plural marriage, says Radke-Moss.

Smith is said to have wed as many as 40 wives, including some who were already married and one as young as 14 years old.

Radke-Moss described how for Snow, polygamy was about 'spiritual comfort following a savage crime' and was a 'protective measure in the context of trauma and sexual violence that Mormon women experienced.'

Some have cast doubts on the legitimacy of Horne's sexual assault claims on Snow.

But Horne says she learned of the rapes after listening to her grandmother and her friends discuss stories about the early days of LDS.

And Snow's autobiographer seems to suggest that something was awry during her time in Missouri and says her writing there 'exposes particular rage that is not seen in most of her other poetry.'

Joseph Smith (pictured right) is seen preaching to a Native Indian settlement - what followed was a period of intense unrest between Mormons and the original settlers

The rape revelations come in the context of the Momon War of 1838, where non-Mormons in Missouri attempted to expel them by force, massacring eighteen unsuspecting men and boys

After Smith's death in 1842, Snow married the president of LDS, Brigham Young as a plural wife.

She then traveled to Salt Lake City in 1847 and there, childless Snow became a prominent member of Young's family, moving into an upper bedroom in Young's residence.

Snow was called on by Young to head up a re-organized Relief Society and her presidency emphasized spirituality and self-sufficiency.

The Relief Society sent women to medical school, trained nurses, opened the Deseret Hospital, operated cooperative stores, promoted silk manufacture, saved wheat, and built granaries.

Snow died in Salt Lake City in 1897 and was buried in Young's family cemetery.

A BATTLE OF BELIEFS: THE BLOODY MORMON WAR OF 1838 Mormonism, founded by Joseph Smith, gained center stage in Missouri politics during the 1830s and quickly gained in popularity throughout northeastern America. In 1830, Smith sent missionaries to Missouri 's western border to preach to the Native American tribes. In 1831, he designated Missouri as the place where 'Zion' would be 'gathered'. But the state's 'Old Settlers' said the Mormon settlers' 'clannish behavior' made a mockery of the republican institutions already in place. Violence broke out in 1833 as the 'Old Settlers' under the guise of 'extra-legal' justice took the law into their own hands. By 1836, a 'separate but equal' proposal was devised to resolve this and borders were devised across the state. This quickly failed after the growing Mormon population burst its borders into neighboring states, culminating in a riot at an election riot in 1838. That same year, the violence escalated further when on October 30, an organized mob launched a surprise attack on the small Mormon community of Haun's Mill, massacring eighteen unsuspecting men and boys. Over the next year, around eight thousand church members, often ragged and deprived of their property, left Missouri for Illinois. The Missouri State Archives' 'Mormon War Papers' add detail to this tumultuous period, and reveals that Joseph Smith and other church leaders had been heard for treason and other crimes. Source: Missouri Digital Heritage Advertisement

Snow became a prominent member of Brigham Young's family, moving into an upper bedroom in Young's residence in Salt Lake City (pictured)

The LDS has since abandoned polygamy after 'God withdrew the command to practice plural marriage' in 1890, according to Mormon Newsroom.

The practice had also come under frequent attack from the US federal government during the late 19th Century.

Now only splinter groups, such as the Fundamentalist Church of the Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) practice plural marriage.

These details come in the context of countless reports of sexual abuse from the FLDS.

While the FLDS founder himself, Warren Jeffs, is currently serving a life sentence for sexually abusing two 12-year-old girls he claimed were his 'spirit wives'.
He recorded the ceremony on a cellphone then told police what occurred

Indian police have arrested three men for marrying off their daughters, one of which was aged only two, during a secret ceremony last month.

The four girls - all aged between two and 12 - were secretly married off to boys their age in a ceremony in Gajuna village of Bhilwara district in Rajasthan on February 23.

The weddings were planned for February 25 but in fear of being caught by police one of the fathers brought the wedding forward by two days.

Police say the wedding ceremony (pictured) saw four girls aged between two and 12 married off to boys their age

The girls were all married off to boys their age, though activists say they will get the marriages annulled

When a journalist learnt of it he went undercover disguising himself as a villager and secretly captured the ceremonies on his mobile phone.

He later told police about it and they arrested a 37-year-old and two men aged 40.

The father of the fourth girl had died a year earlier and so no-one from her family was arrested.

Child brides traditionally don't live with their husbands until after puberty and the four are now staying with their mothers while police monitor them.

Surendra Kumar Mishra, station in-charge of Bhilwada, said: 'We ran to arrest the men involved as we heard about it, but they had gone missing. We could only get them after four days.'

He said the police had registered complaints against the three men - required under Indian law before an investigation can begin - and had arrested them under the Child Marriage Act.

'The maximum punishment they might have to serve is a fine of 100,000 Indian Rupees (1,000) and three to four years in prison.'

Child rights activist Kriti Bharti, who spearheads child marriage annulment cases, is now looking to help the four get their marriages annulled.

She said: 'While a police case has been registered against the family we are now looking the remedial approach.

'We will definitely work for the annulment of all the four marriages that took place.'

When a journalist learnt of the wedding plans he went undercover and secretly recorded the ceremonies

A older man walks with one of the boys believed to be wed to one of the girls during the ceremony
Safety bollards which were due to light up at night to guide motorists through the darkness are only coming on during the day - because a bungling council mixed up the times.

The traffic island signs, which tell motorists to keep left, were installed in Edinburgh nine months ago to ensure nighttime drivers could see where they were going.

But, since their installation in June, the lights have only been glowing during the day before switching off at 6.30pm on the dot - just when drivers need them.

Safety bollards which were due to light up at night to guide motorists through the darkness are only coming on during the day - because a bungling council mixed up the times

Since their installation in June, the lights have only been glowing during the day before switching off at 6.30pm on the dot - just when drivers need them. Resident Dave Henniker took photos to emphasise the issue

Residents say they have complained repeatedly to the council but nothing has been done.

Dave Henniker took three photographs showing the blunder before sending them onto the council's online help team.

His first image shows a bollard fully lit on a bright afternoon but the second image, taken later that evening, shows the safety sign in darkness.

He wrote: 'New keep left signs were added to the traffic island but since then they are illuminated during daylight hours, and in darkness at night. Someone failed to set a timer correctly.'

Mr Henniker sent photos to the council last week and said an official responded to tell him that the system would be reviewed.

But he responded: 'I can't believe they're coming now. It's only been since June 2015. Another day won't matter - provided nobody gets run over here.'

Mr Henniker sent photos to the council last week and said an official responded to tell him that the system would be reviewed. The Keep Left signs are supposed to help drivers

The city's potholed streets are an endless source of frustration for the city's road users.

In 2012, it was revealed that tourists from less developed countries were complaining that the Scottish capital's roads are worse than back home.

Fabien Chornogubsky, who is originally from Argentina and works with a tour company called Escocia, said: 'Almost everyone I've taken on tours recently has commented on the appalling state of the roads in Edinburgh, even people from Third World countries.

'It is something they all bring up, and it tends to range from comments like "this isn't what we were expecting" to those who say roads are worse than in their own countries.

'For a capital city, it's just shameful.'
Expectant fathers in Sweden should have the right to 'legally abort' their unborn child up until the 18th week of pregnancy, the youth wing of the country's Liberal Party has proposed.

Swedish Liberal Youth argues that men should be given an equal say in whether or not they wish to become a parent, and be granted the option to cut any lawful responsibilities.

The suggested 'legal abortion' would be irreversible and would see the man renounce all parental duties and rights to see the child once it has been born.

'Male abortion': Swedish Liberal's youth wing proposed that men should be granted the right to 'legal abortion' up until the 18th week of pregnancy, renouncing all parental duties and rights

'Men should have an equal right to choose whether or not to become a parent, says Marcus Nilsen, chairman of the Swedish Liberal youth wing West told Aftonbladet.

The proposal suggests a man should have the same right to 'abort' parenthood as a woman - up until the 18th week of pregnancy which is the legal abortion limit in Sweden.

Mr Nilsen also refuted accusations of misogyny, telling the newspaper that the original motion had been filed by female members of the party.

This is the second controversial proposal to be suggested by the Swedish Liberal Party's youth wing in just over a week.

At the end of last month, the Liberal Youth of Sweden filed a motion to legalize necrophilia, with written pre-death consent, and incest between two consenting siblings.

Equality: The Liberals argues that men should be given an equal say in whether or not they wish to become a parent, the same way that a woman has

A spokesperson for the party enclave said that just because it is 'viewed as unusual and disgusting', does not mean that the deprived sexual acts should be illegal.

The controversial announcement was quickly criticised by the Liberals, and several senior figures within the mother party.

Former Liberal MP Carl B Hamilton lashed out at the youth wing accusing them of craving publicity over politics by focusing on issues that 'hardly determines our, and Sweden's future.'

'Surely, you must understand that people are laughing at your liberalism, you nitwits? And what other challenges facing society is on the top 100-list for Stockholm's Liberal Youth? Sex with hippos?'
Willie Bee Turner, of Oakland, was found guilty of malicious killing of an animal, animal abuse, and two counts of arson on Thursday after killing his puppy

A 21-year-old California man was convicted of burning his eight-week Chihuahua-mix puppy alive after the dog defecated in his friend's apartment more than a year ago.

Willie Bee Turner, of Oakland, was found guilty of malicious killing of an animal, animal abuse, and two counts of arson on Thursday.

Turner was visiting a friend in Sacramento with his puppy, named Angel Star, when the incident occurred in the late hours of January 20, 2015.

While at the apartment, the puppy defecated and it became apparent that the young dog had worms, according to the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office.

In the late hours of January 21, Turner became enraged and told the puppy that she had 'betrayed' him and began excessive discipline, the release said.

Witnesses described the scene as an 'hour of escalating cruelty that led to egregious abuse and its death', according to the Sacramento Bee.

The puppy soon began limping, and witnesses saw Turner douse the animal with a bleach cleanser, KTLA reported.

Witnesses then took the puppy and put it in a dog carrier.

But Turner grabbed the carrier and walked across the street, where he lit fire to the bedding and the puppy inside the carrier, the release said.

The charred remains of the puppy were found by firefighters just after midnight on January 22, after receiving a call about a debris fire.

'It was a small dog, in a small crate that was burned beyond belief,' Sacramento Metropolitan Fire Capt. Michele Eidam told the Sacramento Bee after the animal's death. 'It's horrible.'

A county veterinarian testified that the puppy was burned alive while trapped inside the carrier.
For more of the latest on El Chapo visit www.dailymail.co.uk/elchapo

Guzman after he had contributed money to their

His daughter claims his prison break was the result of a deal with Mexican

Brazen: A daughter of Mexican drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, pictured above in January after his capture, said in an interview her drug kingpin father snuck into the US twice while a fugitive

Mexican drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman crossed the border into the United States twice to visit his family in California while on the run, one of his daughters revealed in a bombshell interview.

Rosa Isela Guzman Ortiz, who lives in California, told The Guardian her 58-year-old father entered the US last year shortly after his now-notorious October meeting with US actor Sean Penn, evading a manhunt with the complicity of corrupt Mexican officials.

She did not disclose the exact dates of his visits but told the British newspaper that Guzman crossed the border to visit relatives and see her five-bedroom house, which he bought for her and her four children.

'My dad deposited the money in a bank account with a lawyer and a while after he came to see the house, his house. He came twice,' the 39-year-old woman, who has US citizenship and runs several small businesses in Southern California, including car washes and cafes, told The Guardian.

She declined to say how the world's most wanted fugitive managed to enter the United States.

'I asked him the same, believe me,' she said.

Guzman's Sinaloa drug cartel has used sophisticated tunnels to ship massive amounts of narcotics to the US, so such secret passages would have been available to him.

During his clandestine visits to the US, Guzman sought out his twin daughters and his wife, the former beauty queen Emma Coronel, who all live in Los Angeles, according to Ms Guzman Ortiz.

A Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman told The Washington Post on Friday the agency has 'no information that substantiates the claims in news reports' about Guzman.

Guzman Ortiz said her father bought protection at the highest official level, sending representatives to meet with senior politicians.

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Rosa Isela Guzman Ortiz, who lives in California, told The Guardian her 58-year-old father entered the US last year shortly after his now-notorious October meeting with US actor Sean Penn

Ortiz accused politicians of betraying Guzman after he had contributed money to their campaigns

Guzman, the world's most wanted-drug trafficker, center, is escorted by Mexican security forces at a Navy hangar in Mexico City on January 8 after his recapture

'All I know is that my dad told his lawyer to deliver some checks to [a politician's] campaign, and asked that he respect him,' she said, adding that the family was considering releasing copies of the checks, as well as names of officials and politicians who accepted his donations.

Guzman escaped twice from maximum-security prisons.

The first time was in 2001 and he was re-captured in February 2014. His second jailbreak took place in July last year, using a mile-long tunnel equipped with a rail in a brazen escape that left President Enrique Pena Nieto's administration red in the face.

During his clandestine visits to the US, El Chapo sought out his twin daughters and his wife, the former beauty queen Emma Coronel, pictured above,who all live in Los Angeles, according to Ms Guzman Ortiz

His daughter claims that Guzman's second escape had the blessing of senior officials, whom she did not name.

'My dad's escape was an agreement,' she said.

The warden of the Altiplano prison near Mexico City and the head of Mexico's penitentiary system are among the more than 30 people detained over the escape.

Guzman was sent back to Altiplano following his January 8 recapture.

Guzman's daughter claims that his second escape had the blessing of senior Mexican officials

In an interview over Skype following her father's sensational arrest, Guzman Ortiz blasted Mexican government officials, calling them traitors and 'hypocrites.

'The government broke its promise,' she told the paper. 'If theres an pact, they dont respect it. Now that they catch him they say hes a criminal, a killer. But they didnt say that when they asked for money for their campaigns.'
Pope Francis described the influx of migrants into Europe as an 'Arab invasion' before explaining that the new arrivals will enhance Europe for the better.

The pontiff was giving a speech to an audience of French Christians when he reflected on Europe's history of migration and the positive impact it has had on its culture today.

He described the migrant crisis as 'a social fact' before explaining the change will help Europe in the future by making it more multi-cultural, according to Bloomberg.

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Pope Francis described the influx of migrants into Europe as an 'Arab invasion' before explaining that the new arrivals will enhance Europe for the better

Pope Francis referred to an 'Arab invasion' when he was recalling the moments of mass migration to Europe in history, according the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano.

'Today we can talk about an Arab invasion. It is a social fact,' he told his audience.

The pope went on to explain that the arrival of migrants, predominantly from Syria and Iraq, should be seen from a wider perspective in time and impact.

He insisted Europe will 'go forward and find itself enhanced by the exchange among cultures.'

Speaking proudly of Europe, the Pope declared that the continent 'can bring about a certain unity to the world.'

Men pray outside in the 'Jungle' migrant camp in the French port city of Calais

The news comes as Greek's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras accused Austria and other Balkan countries of 'ruining Europe'

The number of Syrians seeking asylum doubled to 362,800 last year while the growing number of Iraqi nationals has now reached 121,500, the European Commission said today.

The news comes as Greek's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras accused Austria and other Balkan countries of 'ruining Europe' by imposing border restrictions.

The restrictions have been designed to try to slow the flow of migrants heading north from Greece.

Austria angered Greece by not inviting it to a meeting of Balkan leaders in Vienna last week to coordinate a slew of border restrictions.

Refugees who hope to get on a waiting list to cross the border wait in line in Greece

The number of Syrians seeking asylum doubled to 362,800 last year and the number of Iraqis jumped to 121,500, the European Commission said today

Some 30,000 migrants are now stranded in Greece, waiting for Macedonia to reopen its border so they can continue their northward trek, mostly to Germany.

'What those countries agreed on and decided goes against all of the rules and against the whole of Europe and we regard it as unfriendly,' Tsipras told Germany's mass-selling Bild newspaper in an interview due to be published on Saturday.

Tsipras urged his European Union partners to reject unilateral measures at a summit in Brussels on Monday. The summit will discuss progress on protecting the EU's external borders and helping Greece to cope with the influx of migrants, who mostly arrive by sea from Turkey.

'The situation is difficult but not out of control,' Tsipras said. 'We have fulfilled more than 100 percent of our commitments, whereas others have not even fulfilled 10 percent and prefer to criticise us.'
A Virginia family was told they must cut their son's dreadlocked hair or he will be reprimanded every day he attends school.

Isaiah Freeman, who is in seventh grade at West End Christian School in Hopewell, Virginia, has had dreadlocks past his ears since he was in the school's third grade.

Now, administrators are threatening the student with a referral every day he comes to school without the haircut.

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Isaiah Freeman (pictured, left) and Shawn Freeman (pictured, right) are upset after Isaiah was told he can not wear his hair long and in dreadlocks to school even though he's had it that way for years

But Isaiah's father, Shawn, said this problem wasn't flagged up throughout the years until now and he thinks it's a cultural issue.

'As he gets older people are uncomfortable with him having dreadlocks and getting older and bigger.

'It's an issue of people feeling uncomfortable with a young black male having dreadlocks and having a certain persona of negativity,' Shawn told CBS 6.

Isaiah and his father tried to find a solution like pulling his hair back, but the school wouldn't budge

Isaiah has worn his hair in dreadlocks since he the third grade and they have never been an issue until now

Shawn and Isaiah tried to come to a common ground with the school, tying Isaiah's hard back so it doesn't cover his ears or face.

'I was a bit confused because my hair has been that way for so long.

'I was thinking they would approve it and I can go to school as normal,' Isaiah said.

Principal Amy Griggs wouldn't agree to it and said if they make an exception now, they'll have to do it for other boys.

Amy Griggs, principal of West End Christian School (pictured), said if she makes an exception for Isaiah, she will be forced to make an exception for all the boys at the school

Isaiah has decided not to return to the private Christian school, a decision that Griggs said she's extremely saddened by

Because of the issue, Isaiah will not be returning to West End Christian School.

Principal Griggs said the dress code was 'designed to hold students to a higher standard and each year families sign a handbook agreeing to follow the rules'.

The Freemans signed the code of conduct, not realizing the bind they had put themselves in with Isaiah's hair.

Principal Griggs told CBS 6 she's 'saddened that Isaiah won't return to their school, calling him a respectful and exemplary student'.
Officials pulled the five-page handout entitled 'My Life as a Slave'

A South Carolina school district has scrapped an assignment asking third-grade students to pretend to be slaves.

Officials pulled the five-page handout entitled 'My Life as a Slave' after a parent complained it wasn't appropriate for 8-year-old students at Killian Elementary in Columbia.

The students were to write about being kidnapped alongside their families from West Africa, riding on a slave ship together and later being sold at an auction.

The journal also asks students to draw pictures and discuss life with their slave owners.

Qwayla Deter's 9-year-old nephew was given the assignment, WIS reported.

She told the TV station: 'It made me upset, mainly because I feel like it's offensive, like it's disrespectful, and it's very insensitive to the culture and everything that slaves had to go through.'

Deter said: 'As an 8-year-old mentally, you are not able to internalize the information that is being given.

'You can't make a connection with this. I don't think it's educational.

'I don't think it's informative. If anything, it's just re-enslaving children.'

School officials say three teachers found the lesson online and ordered it.

Assignment: The students were to discuss being kidnapped from West Africa, riding on a slave ship and being sold at auction

Task: School officials say three teachers found the lesson online and ordered it

They came across the lesson at teacherspayteachers.com, according to WLTX.

The product's description page with the website says: 'All of the information presented in this diary came from South Carolina's third grade social studies standards/support documents.

'Based on the standards, the students must explain the role of Africans in developing the culture and economy of South Carolina, including the growth of the slave trade; slave contributions to the plantation economy; the daily lives of the enslaved people; the development of the Gullah culture; and their resistance to slavery.

'Slavery is an abstract concept to third graders, so the purpose of this diary is to help your students have a better understanding of what slavery was like.'

The product's description page says: 'Slavery is an abstract concept to third graders, so the purpose of this diary is to help your students have a better understanding of what slavery was like'

Concerns: A parent complained the five-page handout entitled 'My Life as a Slave wasn't appropriate for 8-year-old students at Killian Elementary in Columbia

District spokeswoman Libby Roof says one class had done the assignment, which won't be distributed to the other two.

District diversity officer Helen Grant says teachers will brainstorm about more culturally sensitive plans in the future.

Grant told WLTX: 'The principal talked with his teachers about the need for all of the materials to be culturally sensitive. The need for them to be age appropriate.
Identified only as Safia S, police say she was inspired by radical Islam

It has been revealed she was radicalised by a preacher at the age of seven

A teenaged female ISIS fanatic who nearly killed a policewoman in a knife attack in Germany last week was radicalised at the age of seven, it has been revealed.

The grammar school girl identified only as Safia S told detectives she wanted to strike in Germany because she could not make it to Syria.

An attempt to enter the country last month failed when her mother flew out to Turkey and brought her back from the border.

The alleged attacker (pictured), now aged 15, was said to have been radicalised at the age of seven

Police say hate preachers in a mosque where she regularly attended Friday prayers as a toddler 'manipulated' her mind and set her on the path of perverted Islam and violence.

Her mother Hasna L, 57, came from Morocco and her father is German. Both she and brother Saleh, 18, were brought up by Hasna after their father walked out on the family in childhood.

The mosque she attended has for long been under the observation of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany's domestic intelligence agency.

'Sie is a loving girl and no terrorist,' said her mother after her arrest following the near-fatal stabbing at Hanover railway station last Friday evening. The knife she used to stab the policewoman only narrowly missed a vital artery in her neck.

A well known German Salafist preacher called Pierre Vogel got to know her when she was seven and appeared on a propaganda video with him in which he said: 'The children are proud of the headscarf, want to live as chaste women and dress themselves accordingly.

'This is a new Muslim generation here and I am proud of her. Learn the Koran by heart, for on judgment day you will go one level higher for every verse.'

A police spokesman said: 'We are looking at radical Islam as the cause behind the attack on our colleague last week.' Her brother Saleh is languishing in a jail in Turkey after he was stopped at the border with Syria where he was trying to cross over to join ISIS.

The girl attacked the police officer when she was stopped for a routine search in Hanover main station last Friday.

'As she was politely pulled to one side to confirm her identity a knife appeared lightningly quick in her hand and our colleagues had little chance to defend themselves,' said a police spokesman. 'This was an Islamic attack against our officers.

'The attacker was ice cold. Her only worry was that her headscarf was rumpled and she wanted to put it straight. It was nothing to her if the police officer lived or died.'
The baby of a pregnant woman who was stabbed in Sutton Coldfield 'has been born in hospital and is doing well', West Midlands Police said tonight.

The 40-year-old woman remains in a critical condition after being taken away from the scene by air ambulance at around 4pm.

A 41-year-old man, who is said to be known to the victim, was immediately detained in connection with the attack after the incident in the busy town centre, West Midlands Police said.

Witnesses said they heard a woman scream 'not the baby' while men were heard shouting 'drop it' as the attack unfolded.

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Police pictured at the scene in Sutton Coldfield today where a 40-year-old pregnant woman was stabbed

A 41-year-old man was arrested by West Midlands Police in connection with this afternoon's incident

Blood-stained clothing and medical supplies, pictured, were seen scattered across the ground after the attack

Passers-by flagged down a police car in the West Midlands town after witnessing the brutal stabbing at around 3.15pm.

Five members of the public were said to have intervened with two, both men, suffering minor injuries.

The Good Samaritans suffered hand injuries while trying to detain the man and were treated by paramedics.

A large section of the area surrounding the busy town centre remained cordoned off as officers search for clues.

Force Incident Manager Julian Harper, from West Midlands Police, said: 'This happened in a busy area but I would reassure the community that a man has been arrested and we are working hard to understand the circumstances that led up to the assault.

Forensic teams arrive at the scene, pictured, to comb the area for evidence as crowds watch on

Police say they believe the attack was carried out with a knife and inquiries continue at the site of the attack

The air ambulance, pictured left and right in the town, took the woman to hospital after the attack

'What is clear at this early stage is that two members of the public bravely stepped into what was a dangerous and volatile situation, with complete disregard for their own safety and I commend them for their actions.

'Fortunately they suffered only minor injuries.'

In a press conference, Chief Inspector Harper confirmed one man initially intervened in the attack before 'four younger males' got involved and 'prevented further injuries' to the woman.

He said: 'I would like to give a big thank you to those individuals who intervened. Their actions should be commended.

'At this time they [the victim] is in hospital and are in critical but stable condition. Our thoughts are with them and their family.'

The scene outside Sutton Coldfield Baptist Church Centre, pictured, which remains cordoned off today

Police commended the actions of the Good Samaritans who intervened and prevented further injuries

The chief inspector confirmed the victim was stabbed 'multiple times' with what is believed to be a knife, and called the incident 'domestic-related'.

West Midlands Ambulance Service said an ambulance, paramedic area support officer, a BASICS doctor and the Midlands Air Ambulance from Cosford attended the scene.

A service spokesman said: 'Crews treated one female patient at the scene before she was airlifted to hospital.

'Two further patients were treated for minor injuries and taken to hospital by land ambulance.'

A glove, pictured, and blood stained medical supplies remain on the floor outside the church

According to witnesses, the victim screamed 'not the baby' during the assault, which was stopped after several people intervened

The stabbing happened in a side road next to the Sutton Coldfield Baptist Church Centre and close to the posh town's main shopping parade.

Witnesses said they heard people arguing before the incident, the woman scream 'not the baby' and male voices shouting 'drop it, drop it.'

A resident living just yards from where it happened, who did not want to be named, said: 'I heard shouting at around that time, but I just assumed it was workmen at the church.

'My son normally walks home that way from school but when he got there he found it all taped off by the police.

Two men received hand injuries in the incident after witnesses said they tried to intervene in the incident in Sutton Coldfield (file picture)

'There was a lot of activity. I'd say there was a crowd of about 50 people standing around taking pictures and filming it on their phones.

'It's very disturbing to think that a pregnant woman has been stabbed a few yards away from my front door. It's awful, and in broad daylight too.'

Another local resident added: 'We heard a lot of arguing and shouting and the next thing we know there were police everywhere.

'I heard male voices shouting 'drop it, drop it' and a woman screaming something about 'not the baby' or 'not our baby'. It was terrifying.

'She must have made a run for it up the side road but it was a dead end. He must have cornered her and that was it.'

Another witness Joe Owens, 19, said: 'This is a nice town and nothing like this happens around here.

'There were loads of people standing around to see what had happened. It was a bit ghoulish to be honest.
Migrants who landed on a British military base in Cyprus over 18 years ago and still live there are in a 'legal limbo' out of choice, the High Court heard today.

The refugees 'insist' European law entitles them to 'travel to the opposite end of the continent to a country which they have no connection', it was said.

Rather than 'integrate into the civilian population' in Cyprus, they are still living on a UK base two decades later because they believe it is their human right to come to Britain.

More migrants arrived at the RAF base on Cyprus last year, pictured, joining a group who arrived more than 18 years ago. The future of the original group is the centre of a High Court case

75 migrants landed on RAF Akrotiri in a boat described as a 'barely floating coffin' in 1998.

Six of the families, from the Sudan, Ethiopia, Syria and Iraq are still living on British soil on the island after repeated appeals for asylum in the UK have been turned down.

Leigh Day law firm claims a decision by Home Secretary Theresa May to not allow them to the UK - amid fears Cyprus could end up being a backdoor to Britain - is unlawful.

They have taken the case to the High Court in a move that politicians fear could set a precedent for more migrants to follow.

Thomas Roe QC, acting on behalf of the government, said today: 'I said these were unhappy events... but it is unfair to suggest that this is all the fault of the British Government, it is not.'

He said 'if they are in legal limbo', it is not the fault of the government, but because 'they insist that EU law' and the refugee convention 'entitles them not to do what is proposed... and integrate into the civilian population... but instead to travel to the opposite end of the continent to a country which they have no connection'.

Leigh Day have argued that by not allowing them to the UK, Mrs May is violating the European Convention on Human Rights, as well as the EU charter, and the refugee convention.

They say it is discrimination under the ECHR because they are being treated differently to those asylum seekers and refugees living on British overseas territories who can be given meaningful citizenship.

But the government maintains they should live in Cyprus.

Mr Roe said: 'The attack they make is not on the treatment (of the refugees)... they say instead that the Secretary of State has acted unlawfully by telling them that she is not prepared to admit them to the UK for settlement.'

He said Leigh Day are arguing that Mrs May is contravening EU law, and that she is 'bound to admit' the refugees to comply with Article 8 of the Human Rights Act.

Earlier in the case, it was heard how defence officials had admitted it was 'inevitable' that the migrants would eventually be allowed to come to the UK.

The Ministry of Defence said in a note that it faced a 'battle' with the Home Office, but in the end the migrants who arrived would be granted asylum in Britain.

The migrants who arrived in 1998 have lived in the Richmond Village community on the base since their arrival in 1998 as the British government refused them access to Britain

However the department said it was in their interest to keep the refugees in Cyprus 'for a bit longer' - to reduce the prospect of the case opening up the floodgates.

The MoD note from 2001 said: 'Only an eventual offer of asylum in the UK seems inevitable but it will require a battle with the Home Office.

'We in the Ministry of Defence have a joint interest in keeping this group in Cyprus for a bit longer to reduce the impression of automatic transfer to the UK and the pull effect that this will have.'

Raza Husain QC, representing the families on behalf of Leigh Day, said of the note: 'So over 14 years ago, keep them there for a bit longer.'

He said their rights to come to the UK had been 'rejected purely for political reasons' and that a decision needed to be made with 'some urgency'.

He added: 'They have been living in legal limbo for almost 18 years.

'A satisfactory resolution is long overdue.'

He noted there were concerns allowing them to the UK would 'increase the attractiveness' of landing on the base and it would be seen as a 'shortcut to the UK', an outcome which had been described as 'politically untenable'.

But he maintained that allowing them to the UK would not open up the floodgates.

He said they could not work, which meant 'financially the families are wholly reliant on welfare payments', which had been significantly reduced over the years.

Mr Husain said the refugee convention gives 'a special class of aliens a basket of rights' and that the UK had to uphold them.

He said the children had 'no hope' for their future and had been living among rats, snakes and scorpions on the base amid concerns of asbestos.

The High Court today heard that the migrants who landed on a British military base in Cyprus over 18 years ago and still live there are in a 'legal limbo' out of choice

He said there was a belief by the Government that resettlement in Cyprus was the 'panacea' but this was not the case.

It also emerged in a letter that the MoD feared that allowing the migrants to the UK would create 'bad publicity' and drain taxpayers' money.

In a 1999 letter from the MoD to the Home Office, officials said: 'Our ministers are concerned of the living conditions of the refugees and the drain on the MoD resources that their presence on the base entails. We have so far been fortunate that the press have not picked up on this story.'

The government's 'inability to offer any long term security for these people' offered 'considerable scope for bad publicity', it said.

added: 'They are a continuing source of friction with Cyprus.'

In 2010, the administrative secretary of the Sovereign Base Authority - where the migrants are living on British soil - warned the MoD that 'we may find our hand is forced in the not too distant future by our own courts'.

They said: 'The current situation is not just unfair to the refugees and asylum seekers and costly and problematic for the MoD.. It also leaves HMG vulnerable to legal challenge.'

They said they would guess that the argument the British government is responsible for their rights and therefore they should be allowed to come to the UK 'would eventually prevail.

The hearing comes after 115 more migrants landed on RAF Akrotiri last October.

Leigh Day is currently seeking a judicial review for several of the families, arguing they too should be allowed to come to Britain.

The hearing continues.




This is the heartwarming moment two policemen filmed themselves jamming out to Journey in their patrol car in honor of their fellow officers.

Detective Mark Post and Officer Bryce Raber, from Palisade Police Department in Colorado, recorded themselves singing and air-guitaring along to 1981 hit Don't Stop Believing.

The pair said they filmed the video to pay tribute to the bond between police officers amid difficult times, and to capture the good times they have in their patrol car on a daily basis.

Detective Mark Post and Officer Bryce Raber, from Palisade Police Department in Colorado, filmed themselves rocking out to 1981 Journey hit Don't Stop Believing in their patrol car

Posting the footage online, the pair wrote: 'We know its been a hard year so far for our law enforcement family.

'Always remember the brotherhood that we have and know it will always keep us together as we push through the struggle, don't stop believing.'

Speaking to KDVR, Raber said: 'Its a reminder to our law enforcement brothers and sisters. Dont stop believing theres a brotherhood that keeps us together and let them know we are good.'

The film was posted on the department's Facebook page on Monday, where it has since been viewed more than half a million times and received 7,500 likes.

The pair can be seen signing to one another, fist pumping and playing air guitar throughout the song in touching and hilarious scenes

Posting the footage online, where it has received more than half a million views so far, the pair wrote: 'We know its been a hard year so far for our law enforcement family... don't stop believing'

Post added: 'We were driving around one day and thats kinda how we act, so we recorded it one day. This is what we normally do riding around in the car, we like to have some fun.'

The footage shows the pair sitting stationary in their patrol car while Journey's song, which has sold more than six million copies worldwide, comes on the stereo.

The officers then sing along, bobbing around in their seats as Raber plays air guitar along to some of the record's more memorable riffs.

The pair also clench fists during some of the more emotional lyrical passages, and at one point turn and smile at each other.

Post added that the pair wanted to capture some of the fun they have inside their patrol car each day and decided to film one of their routines

At the end of the footage, a woman can be seen sitting up from the back seat and telling the two officers: 'Ok, ok, can we please just go to the jail?'

At the end of the footage a women sits up from the backseat and says: 'Ok, ok, can we please just go to the jail?'

So far this year, 16 cops have been killed in the line of duty across the country, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page, with 12 of those being shot.

While 16 officers also died in the first few months of 2015, only one of those was shot dead. Most died through illness or vehicle accidents.
Michigan parents were gifted with one-in-a-million daughters after giving birth to twins with different skin tones.

Briana Laws, of Grand Haven, said that she thought her fraternal twins, Aila and Adalynn, were switched at birth when she realized the pair had different skin tones, with one being black and the other white.

She said about two weeks after giving birth last year she and her husband, Cameron, realized that one of their daughters has a lighter complexion, with curly hair and blue eyes, while their other daughter has darker skin, with brown eyes and straight hair.

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Briana Laws (left), of Grand Haven, Michigan gave birth to fraternal twins, Aila and Adalynn in October of last year. She said about two weeks after giving birth last year she and her husband, Cameron (right), realized their daughters had different skin tones

Geneticist Helga Toriello from Spectrum Health told FOX 17 that this happens when one parent is multiracial and the other is white.

Laws said that she is a quarter black while her husband Cameron is 100 percent white.

'It basically comes down to chance,' Toriello said. 'The average situation we would see a child have a skin color in between that of both parents.'

But with Aila and Adalynn, that didn't happen. Instead, Toriello told FOX, that their skin tones were determined by the genes each of them got.

'If a child gets some genes that code for a lot of pigment from one parent and some genes that code for less pigment from the other parent, you'll expect to see an average,' Toriello said, adding that genes change when they're mixed.

Aila (left) has darker skin, with brown eyes and straight hair while Adalynn (right) has a lighter complexion, with curly hair and blue eyes

'Such as one child receives almost all of the genes that code for pigment from the one parent and then the genes that code for very little pigment from that parent,' she added.

Laws told FOX that her daughters' personalities are as different as their skin tones.

'Aila is more quiet, she's a lot more calm and she babbles more and she's a little more clingy,' Laws said. 'Adalynn has a temper, very boisterous.'

She said she and Cameron are thrilled to have two little girls.

'It's kind of a big deal. I guess it's a good way to be able to tell them apart,' she said.

Cameron agreed, adding that 'nobody will ever know they're twins', and the couple will of course 'love them all the same'.

Cameron and Briana said, however, that their two-year-old daughter, LillyAnn, still has trouble distinguishing her sisters and calls them by the same name.
can't tell if it was intentional or accidental

Manner of death has been labeled 'undetermined' as

Grinning from ear to ear, this is Bobbi Kristina Brown's boyfriend Nick Gordon today - the day that the horrific details of her death were detailed as her autopsy was published.

The official document showed how she had alcohol and four different drugs in her system when she was found face-down in the bath of her suburban Atlanta home.

It detailed scars on her head and body, missing teeth, and the ravages and indignities she suffered during the seven months she spent in a coma before finally succumbing to the effects of the time she spent in the water.

It said the manner of how she came to drown - and therefore whether anyone was involved - could not be determined.

Her devastated father Bobby Brown said he wanted to see 'justice' for his daughter.

Indeed, so upset was Brown that he canceled his concert at the North Charleston Coliseum & Performing Arts Center in North Carolina on Friday, citing illness as the reason.

But today Gordon grinned as he told Daily Mail Online: 'I'm glad that s*** is all over.

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Grin: Nick Gordon emerged from his gated home in Sanford, Florida, to buy food at a gas station as the full horror of his girlfriend's death emerged

Laughing: 'I'm glad that s*** is all over,' Gordon told Daily Mail Online. No criminal charges have been brought in the death of his girlfriend, but her family are suing him for wrongful death

Remembered: Gordon had previously posted this picture of him and Bobbi Kristina together

Cause of death: Bobbi Kristina Brown died of a combination of alcohol, drugs and drowning, according to her autopsy. The 22 year old pictured above in 2011 with her mother Whitney Houston

'I just want to wish my girl a Happy Birthday. I can't say any more but it's good.'

The autopsy into the death of Whitney Houston's daughter was released on what would have been her 23rd birthday by the Fulton County Medical Examiner in Atlanta, Georgia.

Gordon, 20, has been under suspicion of being involved with Bobbi Kristina's death ever since she was found face down in a bathtub in January 2015.

She remained in a coma until her death in July at a hospice in Atlanta, Georgia.

Bobbi Kristina's family filed a $10m wrongful death lawsuit against Gordon claiming he had injected her with drug and blamed him for her death.

He vehemently denied the allegations and the lawsuit is ongoing.

Officials had previously said her autopsy showed 'no significant injuries' at the time of her ' non-natural death'.

A court order has kept the information sealed as police said they were actively involved in an investigation into Bobbi Kristina's death.

Gordon has often appeared sullen and moody when photographed leaving the gated community in Sanford, Florida, where he lives with his mother Michelle.

But hours after the release of the autopsy results he emerged smiling to walk a short distance to a gas station to buy food and drink.

A tattoo of Bobbi Kristina was clearly visible on his right arm as he talked on his mobile phone.

The lawsuit brought by Kristina Brown's family means he is not free to talk about what took place inside the Atlanta apartment where her body was found.

The Fulton Medical Examiner's office released details of the autopsy ahead of the full report into her death.

History repeating: Bobbi Kristina's mother died in eerily similar circumstances in February 2012. Above, the bath tub where Bobbi Kristina was found unresponsive

Emergency: Bobbi Kristina pictured above being taken by ambulance to the hospital the day she was found unresponsive in her bathtub

Father and daughter: Bobbi Kristina pictured above with her famous father Bobby Brown in a picture posted to the singer's Twitter

According to the statement, Bobbi Kristina died of lobar pneumonia, which was caused by the combination of drugs found in her system, drowning and hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy - a neurological condition resulting from a lack of oxygen to the brain.

'The drugs involved included marijuana, alcohol (ethanol), benzoylecgonine (a cocaine-related substance), benzodiazepines (medications used for sedation or to treat anxiety), and morphine.

'It could not be determined from toxicology tests whether the morphine resulted from heroin use.'

The autopsy alone could not reveal the underlying cause of death because of the long interval between Brown being found unresponsive in the bathtub and her eventual death.

They also do not say if it was an accident or not - leaving questions about her boyfriend Nick Gordon's possible role in her death up in the air.

Her death was 'clearly not due to natural causes', but they can't tell if it was due to intentional or accidental causes, and the coroner classified the manner of death 'undetermined'.

Other details revealed in the full autopsy report include how Bobbi Kristina was missing two teeth, was covered in scars and bruises and was just 93 pounds when she died.

The report lists dozens of scars covering her body - including at least six scars on her forearms.

As for the teeth, it appears they had always been missing, according to pictures which show her missing her front incisor teeth, leaving her with a gap.

When her body arrived at the morgue, examiners noted that she was wearing a disposable diaper, a tracheotomy tube and a feeding tube.

Her hair was tied back and swept off her face with a pink headband, matching the pink on her nails.

She carried a cloth doll with light brown and gold clothing that was returned to the family after the exam.

'The drugs involved included marijuana, alcohol (ethanol), benzoylecgonine (a cocaine-related substance), benzodiazepines (medications used for sedation or to treat anxiety), and morphine.

'It could not be determined from toxicology tests whether the morphine resulted from heroin use.'

They also said the autopsy alone could not reveal the underlying cause of death because of the long interval between Brown being found unresponsive in the bathtub and her eventual death.

They also do not say if it was an accident or not - leaving questions about her boyfriend Nick Gordon's possible role in her death up in the air.

Her death was 'clearly not due to natural causes', but they can't tell if it was due to intentional or accidental causes, and the coroner classified the manner of death 'undetermined'.

Bobbi Kristina's father appears to believe someone is responsible for his death.

In a statement issued to US Weekly, Bobby Brown said he was upset that the autopsy report had been released 'before anyone has been brought to justice' for his daughter's death.

'First and foremost, 23 years ago today, Bobbi Kristina was born,' Brown said. 'Krissy will always live in my heart and soul. I love my baby girl.

Accused: Nick Gordon is being sued over the wrongful death of his former girlfriend

FULL STATEMENT FROM THE FULTON COUNTY MEDICAL EXAMINER'S OFFICE Update on the Death of Bobbi Kristina Brown The cause of Bobbi Kristina Brown's death as determined by the Fulton County Medical Examiner is: Lobar pneumonia Due to: Hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, delayed effects Due to: Immersion of face in water complicating mixed drug intoxication The underlying cause of death is the condition which starts the downhill course of events leading to death and in this case is the immersion associated with drug intoxication. The pneumonia and encephalopathy are more immediate causes which resulted from the immersion and drug intoxication. The autopsy alone could not reveal the underlying cause of death because of the long interval between Ms. Brown being found unresponsive in the bathtub and her eventual death. Thus, the underlying cause of death is based substantially on review of medical records, the results of toxicology tests, investigative records, and the fact that the autopsy did not show any other likely underlying cause of death or reason for Ms. Brown becoming unresponsive. The drugs involved included marijuana, alcohol (ethanol), benzoylecgonine (a cocaine-related substance), benzodiazepines (medications used for sedation or to treat anxiety), and morphine. It could not be determined from toxicology tests whether the morphine resulted from heroin use. The other question which arises is manner of death. In other words, did death result from natural causes such as disease, an intentional act such as suicide or homicide, an unintentional cause (accident), or in an undetermined manner when a more specific manner of death cannot be established. Death was clearly not due to natural causes, but the medical examiner has not been able to determine whether death was due to intentional or accidental causes, and has therefore classified the manner of death as Undetermined . The Roswell Police Department and the Fulton County District Attorney have been provided with the Medical Examiner's findings. No further information will be available from the Medical Examiner's Office at this time. Fulton County Medical Examiner Posted March 4, 2016 Advertisement

'For news affiliates to seek and obtain my daughter's autopsy report, before anyone has been brought to justice for her death is mind blowing to me. Please pray for my family.'

Brown's lawyer Christopher Brown also issued a statement.

'Yesterday we were informed that two news affiliates were granted access to the autopsy of Bobbi Kristina Brown.

'While this action is unsettling, we will continue in our efforts in the civil lawsuit and the criminal investigation.

'Bobby Brown has had to be strong and mourn his loved ones in a fashion that is foreign to most people. So public, so raw, with apparently no end in sight.

'Hopefully public indictments and prosecution will lead to private healing and closure for Bobby Brown and his family,' Christopher Brown said.

Gordon, 20, is currently fighting a $10million wrongful death lawsuit from the Brown family.

According to the lawsuit, Bobbi Kristina's estate claims that she was drugged 'with a toxic cocktail' and drowned in a tub of cold water by Gordon.

Gordon's lawyers have called the claims 'slanderous and meritless'.

'Nick has been heartbroken and destroyed over the loss of his love and it's shameful that such baseless allegations have been presented publicly. Nick has engaged civil counsel and intends to defend the lawsuit vigorously and expose it for what it is: a fictitious assault against the person who loved Krissy most,' his lawyer's statement reads.

A judge on Thursday granted a request filed by media organizations to unseal the autopsy.
to arrive at airports two hours ahead of domestic flights and three hours ahead of international flights

Waiting an hour to get through security at American airports is getting more and more normal these days as the Transportation Security Administration struggles with staffing shortages, budget cuts and an influx of travelers.

Monday morning lines at Chicago's O'Hare Airport have been snaking through the concourses and the PreCheck expedited line at New York JFK's Delta terminal was almost out the door on a recent Friday morning, according to the Wall Street Journal.

With the spring and summer peak travel season approaching, airlines and airports are becoming more fed with with the TSA's lacking performance getting passengers through security and onto their flights.

Waiting an hour to get through security at American airports is getting more and more normal these days as the Transportation Security Administration struggles with staffing shortages, budget cuts and an influx of travelers. Above, a security line at Los Angeles International Airport in March 2011

'It is only going to get worse as travel ramps up in the spring and summer,' Doug Parker, chief executive at American, told the newspaper. 'We all want security at airports, but TSA has an obligation to be properly staffed to handle the traffic. Currently they are well understaffed and there dont seem to be any plans in place to address the shortage.'

But TSA officials say they are doing everything in their power to combat the wait problem, which has been caused by budget cuts, a surge in travelers and ramped up security in the wake of more terrorist threats.

'We know there are going to be some real crunch periods' this summer, TSA administrator Peter Neffenger said. 'I would tell people be prepared for longer lines than maybe youve been used to in the past few years. I hope its not severe.'

Naffenger, a Coast Guard veteran who has been head of the TSA for eight months, explains that staffing is currently at 41,000 screeners - which is significantly below the 42,500 Congressional cap.

But even if they were fully staffed, they would still be down 12 per cent from staffing levels in 2011.

TSA is currently training 192 new staffers a week to reach the cap by summer.

The TSA plans to ask Congress for another increase in funding for screeners, but hasn't determined the exact amount yet. As a stop-gap they only asked for funding for 300 more screeners during a hearing on Tuesday.

The lines have also been slower because TSA officials don't want their screeners rushed. Last summer the administration failed to identify weapons and other mistakes during a covert investigation by the Department of Homeland Security, and they are facing other pressures in the wake of recent terrorist attacks in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The line problem caused the Atlanta airport to recently threaten to apply for a privatized screening program.

In response, TSA offered to send new screeners and bomb-sniffing dogs to the nation's busiest airport but the head of the airport says change isn't happening soon enough.
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Hundreds of Muslim migrants were today photographed praying in the so called Calais Jungle, which is being systematically torn down by French authorities.

They were pictured holding a Friday prayer service, surrounded by the makeshift tarpaulin-covered tents they have called home.

Officials said demolishing the south section of the Jungle would take at least a month, but they have yet to announce what will happen to the rest of it.

Local official Vincent Berton said: 'The idea is not to rush things. There are some zones that are easier than others. We must act very pragmatically, very humanely.'

Council workers have been trying to convince migrants living in the destruction zone to move to official centres around France or to heated shipping containers near the Jungle.

Hundreds of Muslim migrants were today photographed praying in the so called Jungle encampment in Calais

The men held a traditional Friday prayers service among the makeshift tents, and restaurants, in the illegal camp

But many have refused to give up on their dream of sneaking aboard lorries to the UK - and have shifted to even more squalid camps further along the northern French coast.

The population of the sprawling migrant camp is currently 3,800, down from its peak of 6,000 last year after thousands were relocated, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told BFM television today.

He said France has set up 102 shelters across the country to house the migrants and blamed a handful of 'extremists' for inciting protests and violence in the Jungle.

However, Cazeneuve admitted to feeling 'immense compassion and sadness' for a dozen Iranian migrants who sewed their mouths shut as a protest to the Jungle's demolition.

For a third day straight, the men faced up to the riot police who have been brought in to protect the workers dismantling shacks in the illegal encampment.

Cazeneuve also sought to defuse a diplomatic row over the fate of the migrants should Britain leave the EU, saying there was 'no question' of letting them cross the Channel to the UK freely.

Thousands of migrants fleeing poverty and war in the Middle East and North Africa converge on the jungle, from where they make desperate bids to reach Britain

France's Interior Minister today said the population of the illegal camp is currently 3,800, down from its peak of 6,000 last year

The Friday prayers came as French authorities continued to systematically demolish the southern half of the camp

Riot police (right) have been brought in to protect the workers who were tasked to take down the makeshift tents the migrants call home

Council workers have been trying to convince migrants living in the destruction zone to move to official centres around France

But many have migrants have refused to give up on their dream of sneaking aboard lorries to the UK

He said: 'If we open the border tomorrow, what will happen? The British, who run their own border, will block them and send them back.'

He added that the move would only increase the flow of people and 'aggravate a humanitarian problem'.

The diplomatic row broke out Thursday when France's outspoken Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron said camps similar to the Jungle could also spring up on Britain's southern shores.

He told the Financial Times that a so-called 'Brexit' would scupper a bilateral agreement that allows Britain to conduct border controls on the French side of the border.

He said: 'The day this relationship unravels, migrants will no longer be in Calais.'

Asked about his comments during a summit meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron, President Francois Hollande merely warned that 'there will be consequences [to] the way in which we manage migration issues' if Britons voted to leave the EU in an upcoming referendum.

Cameron warned last month that a Brexit could mean British border checks being removed from Calais and that 'there would be nothing to stop thousands of people crossing the Channel overnight'.

But campaigners in favour of Britain leaving the 28-member bloc accused Cameron of scaremongering.

Hundreds of migrants were pictured holding a Friday prayer service, surrounded by the makeshift tarpaulin-covered tents they have called home

As Muslim men prayed in the squalid camp, around a dozen Iranian men sewed their mouths shut for a third straight day as a protest to the camp's demolition

David Cameron warned last month that a Brexit could mean British border checks being removed from Calais and that 'there would be nothing to stop thousands of people crossing the Channel overnight'.

Iranian migrants with sewn lips protest against the dismantling of the makeshift shelter migrant camp the 'Jungle' in Calais

Observers are sceptical that France would make a move that would only draw thousands more migrants to its northern coast.

Thousands of migrants fleeing poverty and war in the Middle East and North Africa have gathered in the 'Jungle', from where they make desperate bids to reach Britain.

The French government this week began dismantling the southern half of the camp, facing protests from residents who do not want to leave.

Firmly set on crossing the Channel, the migrants fear that if they move to better accommodation provided for them, they will be forced to apply for asylum in France.
A woman accused of having sex with her boyfriend as her 21-month-old son drowned in a bathtub has been sentenced to five years in prison.

Lonna Lauramore Barton, 26, was sentenced on Friday after she pleaded guilty to child neglect and lying to police, The Florida Times-Union reported.

Lonzie Barton was reported missing last summer and after months of fruitless searching, Lauramore Barton's ex-boyfriend William Ruben Ebron Jr, 32, led investigators to the boy's remains in January.

Lonna Lauramore Barton, 26, (left) accused of having sex with her boyfriend as her 21-month-old son Lonzie Barton (right) drowned in a bathtub has been sentenced to five years in prison

Lauramore Barton (pictured previously in court) was sentenced on Friday after she pleaded guilty to child neglect and lying to police. She still faces unrelated drug charges in Baker County, Florida

He pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter and is expected to be sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Lonzie's remains were too badly decomposed to determine a cause of death.

The ex-boyfriend said the child drowned while being left alone in a bathtub while he and Lauramore Barton had sex.

His admission came days after Lauramore Barton, who has had the custody of her two surviving children taken away, pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against him.

Judge Mark Borello who handed down the sentence said it was justified because Lonzie would still be alive if not for the actions of his mother.

According to prosecutors, the case is still being investigated.

During Friday's sentencing, Lauramore Barton's attorney addressed claims that she was pregnant with Ebron Jr's child.

Her attorney said she lied about being pregnant because she thought it would make Ebron Jr tell her where Lonzie was located, according to The Florida Times-Union.

However, she cannot have any more children because she reportedly had a tubal ligation procedure done after Lonzie was born to keep her from having more children.

After months of fruitless searching for Lonzie, Lauramore Barton's ex-boyfriend 32-year-old William Ruben Ebron Jr (pictured) led investigators to his remains in January

State Attorney Rich Mantei also noted that Lauramore Barton and Ebron Jr have different versions of what happened to the boy but that neither can be refuted by evidence.

Ebron Jr's parents were in court during the sentencing on Friday, along with Lauramore Barton's parents.

'I'm never gonna dispute my son had some involvement but he wasn't alone,' William Ebron Sr told WFTV. 'True justice for this baby would be equal amount.'

Attorneys said Ebron Jr traumatized Lonzie's five-year-old sister when he made her ride in the car when he dumped dumped the boy's body.

Ebron Jr said Lonzie drowned while being left alone in a bathtub while he and Lauramore Barton had sex. His admission came days after Lauramore Barton pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against him

A defense attorney said Lauramore Barton took her son to the doctor after his sister pushed him down the stairs, according to WFTV.

On July 24 Lonzie disappeared. Ebron Jr told police he had left the boy alone in his car for a few minutes to retrieve something from the house.

He said when he returned, Lonzie and the car were gone.

But police later released surveillance video that showed Ebron's car driving past the camera, and later a man they believed to be Ebron running back the other direction.

For months, Ebron Jr denied involvement in Lonzie's disappearance, but after Lauramore Barton pleaded guilty last month and agreed to testify against him, things changed.

An emotional Ebron Jr led a convoy of investigators down a long, dark road to a wooded area in Bayard in January.

After searching for hours, an investigator saw a bone sticking out of a tire in a pile of garbage.

Ebron Jr led a convoy of investigators to a wooded area in Bayard in January (shown above). After searching for hours, an investigator saw a bone sticking out of a tire in a pile of garbage. Lonzie's remains were too badly decomposed to determine a cause of death

There was evidence that the boy's ribs had been broken previously and had healed, and there was some damage to his skull, according to the medical examiner's report.

Ebron pleaded guilty to child neglect, giving false information to police and tampering with evidence.

Lauramore Barton met Ebron, who was known as someone who could supply drugs to the women, during her time as a stripper at Wacko's Gentlemens Club.

They then began a romantic relationship that seemed to be focused on drugs, according to The Florida Times-Union.
Jean-Claude Juncker provoked fury today as he urged critics of the EU to visit WWI cemeteries

Jean-Claude Juncker today provoked fury as he said those who do not believe in the European Union should visit Europe's war cemeteries.

In an astonishing attack on Eurosceptics, the European Commission president dismissed those who criticise the EU as forgetting its role in the years since the Second World War.

The former prime minister of Luxembourg who heads the EU's bureaucracy in Brussels said: 'Europe gains whenever again we point out that Europe is a major project for peace.

'Whosoever does not believe in Europe, who doubts Europe, whoever despairs of Europe, should visit the military cemeteries in Europe.'

Former defence secretary Dr Liam Fox said instead of 'lecturing' Mr Juncker needed to examine whether the EU was 'fanning the flames of nationalism and the rise of the political fringe once again'.

The Vote Leave campaign said Mr Juncker's remarks were 'crass and an insult to the sacrifice those cemeteries represent.'

Mr Juncker's incendiary comments came during a speech in The Hague, in which he said he hoped the issue of Brexit 'could as quickly as possible be put in the attic of world history'.

'If we had to deal for years with this topic, everything will go wrong in Europe,' he said.

Mr Juncker boasted about how David Cameron had been forced to grovel to him for help with the 'self-created problem' of the renegotiation despite have unsuccessfully tried to block his appointment two years ago.

Ruling out a second referendum if Britain votes to leave, Mr Juncker said: 'There must be a 'no' to further renegotiations with the British, who I otherwise really like; not only because the British Prime Minister voted against me to be president of the Commission, but also because he was so happy that we have helped him to get to grips with his problem, his self-created problem.'

Mr Juncker said he had been attempting to limit his comments on the referendum as he admitted he and the Commission were unpopular in Britain.

'I wanted to say a word about the so-called 'Brexit' - without saying anything, because I have thought about saying something about it again and again, but I never did because it is not useful if the president of the Commission becomes involved in the British referendum campaign,' he said.

'The European Commission is even more unloved in the UK than in other countries, and this is already a remarkable achievement, that we manage to be at all unpopular in Britain and every word of the President of the Commission or the Commission in the direction of Great Britain has contrary effects.'

In an attempt to explain his criticism of Eurosceptics, Mr Juncker said when talking about Europe it would be a 'mistake' not to talk about the underlying causes that led to the formation of the EU in the wake of the Second World War.

'Peace is never a sure thing. Anyone who thinks peace would set in eternity, is wrong fundamentally. And there is in Europe again war,' he said.

'If one had talked two years ago about the war in Europe, people have smiled. After what happened in Ukraine and the Crimea, no one smiles.

'And we must never smile because 20 years ago there was war in Bosnia, Kosovo and throughout the Balkans - the Balkans, which remains a highly complex and highly sensitive European region.'

Ukip leader Nigel Farage said: 'If you visit these military cemeteries you realise what can happen when nation states are not democratic.

David Cameron and French president Francois Hollande visited a World War One cemetery yesterday as part of a Franco-British summit

'If you enforce an artificial identity and uniformity you risk a situation like pressure cooker Yugoslavia, which exploded in violence.'

Dr Liam Fox said: 'The military cemeteries of Europe are testament to the failure of the continent to control extremism in the twentieth century. If Britain had not been a free and independent nation, we would have been unable to intervene to protect Europe from the result of its own folly.

'Before we are lectured by the European Commission, we should take a look at the rise of extremism across the continent and ask whether they are helping or hurting. Those in charge of the EU today need to ask if they are fanning the flames of nationalism and the rise of the political fringe once again.

Robert Oxley, a spokesman for Vote Leave, said: 'It is NATO and British diplomacy that have kept the peace on the continent, not un-elected officials like Juncker. His comments are crass and an insult to the sacrifice those cemeteries represent.'

Mr Juncker, 61, became president of the European Commission in 2014, despite opposition from Mr Cameron who tried to block his appointment. His role is to lead the EU's executive arm.
A pair of Florida siblings have been arrested after allegedly stealing a cash box from a Girl Scouts cookie stand and making off with about $300.

Nicholas Delbrugge, 20, and his sister Ashley Winters, 25, were arrested in Deltona on Thursday.

Police say the two stole the cash from a stand outside the Walmart on Howland Boulevard on Sunday afternoon.

However Delbrugge was caught on CCTV footage at the store, and police were able to track the pair down, Click Orlando reported.

'Who could do such a thing?': Nicholas Delbrugge, 20, and sister Ashley Winters, 25, were arrested in Deltona, Florida, after allegedly stealing $300 from a Girl Scout cookie stand on Sunday

Caught: Police say they used this Walmart CCTV footage of Delbrugge to identify and track him down

Getaway car: Police say that after Delbruegge took the cash box, he got into a car being driven by his sister

The footage shows Delbrugge take the box and get into a car allegedly being driven by his older sister.

According to a Girls Scouts spokesperson, there was $300 inside from cookie sales inside the till.

A local officer recognized Delbrugge as a person he had previously arrested and was able to track him down. The duo were then arrested.

Both face multiple theft charges. Jail records didn't list attorneys for them.

Once news of the robbery spread around the area, members of the community came together in an attempt to recuperate the money that was stolen.

Outpouring of support: Members of the community came together to donate money to recuperate what was stolen in the robbery. They have raised over $1,000

Once news of the robbery spread around the area, members of the community came together in an attempt to recuperate the money that was stolen

As of Thursday, $520 had been raised on GoFundMe, while much more was collected in person from where the robbery took place.

Together the donations are now over $1,000.

'It was an unfortunate situation but we are so touched by the outpouring of support and it's wonderful,' Vandra Washington, the chief of staff of Girl Scout Cirtus Council, told Click Orlando.

One local who donated, Teresa Raimundo, said: 'I heard about it this morning when I was taking my grandchildren to school. I was thinking, how can a person do something like that?'
Trudeau also said the rise of a certain U.S. presidential candidate could be attributed to 'Americans' lack of knowledge of foreign affairs'

The response was to a question about what he most disliked about the U.S.

The Canadian Prime Minister has said Americans should pay more attention to what's happening in the rest of the world.

Justin Trudeau says Canadians would appreciate it if Americans paid more attention to what's going on around the globe.

In a 60 Minutes interview to be aired Sunday, Justin Trudeau said 'it might be nice if they paid a little more attention to the world.'

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Justin Trudeau says Canadians would appreciate it if Americans paid more attention to what's going on around the globe in a 60 Minute Interview due to be aired Sunday

Trudeau, elected in October, made the remarks after being asked what Canadians don't like about the U.S.

'Having a little more of an awareness of what's going on in the rest of the world, I think is, is what many Canadians would hope for Americans,' he said in a transcript released to The Associated Press Thursday.

The 60 Minutes profile of Trudeau will air just days before he travels to the White House for a state visit.

While Trudeau has not been long in office, he has already made some bold moves on the foreign stage.

Trudeau's comments about America come just days before Trudeau is due to visit the White House (pictured) for a state visit

In November last year, he unveiled pledged to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of the 2015.

In contrast, the United States plan to take in just 10,000 over the next year, and even that provoked opposition.

And Donald Trump caused a worldwide uproar last year with a proposal to temporarily block Muslims from entering the U.S.

But Trudeau himself welcomed the first plane of refugees in December as they arrived in Toronto and has planned to see all 25,000 in the country by February.

Speaking during the 60 Minute interview, Trudeau said Canadians must be aware of the United States, because of its importance.

Trudeau himself welcomed the first plane of refugees in December (pictured) as they arrived in Toronto after his pledge to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees in the country by February

These numbers come in contrast to the United States who plan to take in just 10,000 over the next year

But added: 'I think we sometimes like to think that, you know, Americans will pay attention to us from time to time, too.'

He also seemed to take a jab at an unnamed U.S. presidential candidate whose rise he attributed to Americans' lack of knowledge of foreign affairs.

A spokeswoman for Trudeau said she didn't immediately know what candidate Trudeau was referring to.

The comments come after Trudeau made a scathing comment last December about Republican front runner Donald Trump's legitimacy in the presidential race.

When asked if he would condemn the 'hateful rhetoric' of Trump a town hall debate, he replied: 'I don't think it comes as a surprise to anyone that I stand firmly against the politics of division, the politics of fear, the politics of intolerance or hateful rhetoric.
Came under fire from campaigners who said comments were 'luvvie drivel'

Richard Gere (pictured), 66, said people should hand cash to beggars

Richard Gere has said people should hand cash to beggars even if they are going to use the money to buy drugs and alcohol.

The Hollywood star, 66, said the 'moment of compassion' that comes with giving money 'heals' both people and is more important than trying to wean homeless people off their addictions.

But the actor was criticised by campaigners last night who branded his comments 'luvvie drivel' and said they would lead to more deaths on the streets.

They called on Gere, best known for films such as Pretty Woman, to attend the funerals of beggars who die because of their addictions to explain to their grieving families how giving them money was 'healing'.

The American, reportedly worth 71million, told Radio 4's Today programme that people who do not give money are 'stingy' and dismissed the advice of charities who call on people to stop handing out cash.

He added: 'The reality is compassion is part of community. That's how we're all retrievable. It doesn't matter what they do with the money.

'The generosity from our side of giving it heals us, them understanding that this is a genuine act of generosity heals them. It's not up to us to tell them what they should do with that money?'

Pressed on if he felt comfortable about this money being used to buy drugs and alcohol, he added: 'The compassionate moment is more important.'

He added that he has 'friends' on the street in New York who are scared to go to homeless shelters because, 'there are gangs in there, they get shaken down, they get ripped off, they get intimidated. It's safer for them they feel to be on the streets.' He did not say whether he allows them to stay in any of the multiple homes he reportedly owns.

However, Jeremy Swain, chief executive of charity Thames Reach, took exception to his comments and posted on Twitter: 'Rarely heard worse luvvie drivel than Richard Gere saying giving money to someone begging 'the generosity heals them' Richard it kills them'.

He then added to the Mail yesterday: 'Why not cut out the middle person and just give money straight to the drug dealer? It's that certain.

'He talks about how giving money is a healing process both for the giver and for the person receiving the money.

Hollywood star Gere (right, on Jonathan Ross show) said giving money to the homeless is better than trying to wean them off their addictions

But Gere (left and right) came under fire from campaigners who branded his comments 'luvvie drivel'

'Now, all I would say to that is, he can go in my place to the funerals of the people we see dying through drug overdoses where begging is a contributing factor and explain to the families how that giving became a healing process for their son, daughter, father, mother.'

Gere was formerly married to Cindy Crawford when she was just 25 and is now dating Spanish socialite Alejandra Silva, 32.

He is currently promoting a film called Time Out Of Mind, in which he plays a homeless man in New York. It was shot largely using hidden cameras, to see how real people on the street would react to him. He has also been an active campaigner on homeless issues, working with charities such as Centrepoint.

Mr Swain, who has worked to tackle homelessness for 35 years, said the 'reckless' interview undermines the work done by more than 30 charities nationwide who have called on people not to give money to beggars.

He added: 'For him to talk about giving money to people on the street being an act of generosity that heals them, it is very difficult to stomach.

They urged the Pretty Woman star to attend the funerals of beggars who were addicted to drugs (file photo of homeless person)

'What we see is that the connection is largely between drug use and begging, not homelessness and begging, all the police statistics show that.

'He's made my life more difficult but more importantly he's made the lives of the outreach workers on the street more difficult and most importantly he's putting more people at risk by saying this.'
Three Kurdish terror suspects accused of targeting politicians across Europe are set to remain in the UK after claiming they might be mistreated in an Italian jail.

Awat Wahab Hamasalih, 34, Bakr Hamad, 39, and Zana Rahim, 32, were arrested as part of a Europe-wide probe into the 'dangerous and active' jihadist network, Rawti-Shax, last November.

The terror cell planned to join ISIS in overthrowing the Iraqi Kurdistan government and establish a caliphate, Italian authorities said.

Through their online headquarters on the 'dark web', the extremists were said to be plotting terror attacks.

Awat Wahab Hamasalih (left), 34, Bakr Hamad (right), 39, and Zana Rahim (second from left), 32, were arrested as part of a Europe-wide probe into jihadist network, Rawti-Shax.

They are also believed to have offered their followers cash rewards for carrying them out, and sent several of them to training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Notorious hate preacher Mullah Krekar, 60, controlled Rawti-Shax from behind bars in Norway.

His son-in-law Rahim, dubbed a 'senior leader' who is in charge of the group's propaganda, visited him in prison after he was arrested in 2012.

Hamad was said to be the computer expert leading 'radicalisation for the jihad in Kurdistan' while Hamasalih travelled through Europe recruiting, seeking funds, and spreading 'jihadi values'.

The trio aimed to kidnap dignitaries, including a British ambassador, to barter for Krekar's release, Westminster Magistrates' Court heard.

Senior District Judge Howard Riddle denied the extradition request from Italian prosecutors after hearing that the men could be tortured or killed in an Italian prison.

Their lawyers also claimed an extradition would be in breach of international laws against 'refoulment', which prevents the illegal returning of refugees.

They also referred to Article Two [right to life] and Article Three [prohibition of torture] of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Crown Prosecution Service confirmed that they are appealing the ruling yesterday.

Julian Knowles QC, for the Italian judicial authorities, previously said: 'The organisation aimed to establish a caliphate in Iraqi Kurdistan and also to establish cells in Europe to share and disseminate jihadi material and to participate in Jihad in Iraq and Syria together with IS and al-Nusra.

Senior District Judge Howard Riddle denied the extradition request from Italian prosecutors after hearing the men could be tortured or killed in an Italian prison. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) confirmed that they are appealing the ruling yesterday

'The objectives of the organisation were established, as were the existence of a military training camp which was run by a group called the Kurdistan Battalion, which operated between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

'It is described as a transnational, radical and fundamental group.

'Their purpose is international terrorism, operating on the internet and active in Europe and the Middle East in Germany, Switzerland, the UK, Finland, Italy, Greece, Sweden and Norway and in the Middle East, Iraq, Iran and Syria.

'The structure of the organisation was designed to operate in secret. It drew up plans to carry out violent actions against Western targets to intimidate the population and to put pressure on public powers and international organisations.'

Outlining Rahim's role in the group, Mr Knowles said: 'He was seen as a senior leader in public and in secret, dictating the actions and management of Rawti Shax.

'He was head of press, which involved the publication and dissemination of the fundamentalist thoughts of Mullah Krekar.

'As head, he oversaw management that included financial relationships, meeting with many financiers.'

Mr Knowles told the court Rahim was related to Mulla Krekar, having married his daughter, but this wasn't his only link.

He said: 'He is not just one of the family, he has an active involvement. He was one of the people to meet Mullah Krekar in prison, where they discussed the group's security, as well as their financial situations.'

He said they wanted to 'promote jihadi values in Syria, as well as the rise of that project in Kurdistan.

'They may have been Italian centred, but the attacks were to take place across Europe, including here in England.'

Hamad is alleged to be the computer expert of the group, using his expertise to engage in 'proselytising and radicalisation for the jihad in Kurdistan' on Rawti Shax's secret website.

He also helped run the financial side of the organisation, actively trying to raise funds.

Rawti Shax aimed to establish a Caliphate in Iraqi-Kurdistan and also to establish cells in Europe to share and disseminate jihadi material, and to participate in jihad in Iraq and Syria together with IS and Al-Nusra.

Hamad also asked young Muslims if they were willing to engage in martyrdom, the court was told.

Hamad, Hamasalih, and Rahim were detained by officers from the North East and West Midlands counter terrorism units on European arrest warrants and were fighting extradition to Italy where they would have faced charges of conspiring to commit an act of international terrorism and subverting democracy.

Nine other suspects have been detained in Norway and Italy and Italian prosecutors have indicated that they are trial-ready.

Hamasalih, of Finchley Road, Birmingham, Hamad, of All Saints Street, Hull, Rahim, of Curzon Street, Derby, would have faced charges of conspiring to commit an act of international terrorism and subverting democracy if they were returned to Italy.
Liam Fisher, 37, also had child abuse images and asked for an online sex show with a boy, aged 8

An internationally-respected dressage trainer who worked with Olympic gold medal riders has been jailed for possessing bestiality pornography - involving horses.

Liam Fisher, 37, also had child abuse images and asked for an online sex show involving an eight year-old boy.

The vile material was discovered when police arrested a man named Matthew Armsworth on the Isle of Wight and examined his computer.

He was found to have a link with Fisher and after officers searched his Cotswolds home he confessed his dark secret and told them: 'My life is now over.'

Brendon Moorhouse, prosecuting, said Fisher's hoard included 219 extreme pornographic images, mostly of men and women having sex with horses and dogs.

Police also found 182 indecent photos and films, mostly of boys aged from infants to 16-years-old.

Of those 97 were deemed to be in the most serious harm category, 58 in the mid and 27 in the least harm category.

In addition, Fisher had file transferred 237 indecent images via Skype.

It was also discovered that he had conversed with Armsworth and, believing he had an eight-year-old brother, encouraged him to commit sexual offences online with the boy.

Bristol Crown Court was told it transpired no such little brother existed.

Fisher was based at Norton Grounds Farm in Chipping Camden, Gloucestershire, where he worked alongside Italian Olympic dressage rider Vittoria Panizzon.

The court heard he had previously trained Olympic gold medallists in dressage and taught successful competitors at Badminton and Burghley equestrian events.

But he hung his head as defence barrister David Maunder said he was now 'crippled with shame and embarrassment'.

Smartly-dressed Fisher, now of Bow, London, was jailed for two years, five months after pleading guilty to all charges.

Mr. Maunder told the court: 'Mr Fisher is an intelligent man, a sensitive man. For that reason he is crippled with embarrassment and shame at the position that he finds himself in.

'He makes no attempt whatsoever to excuse his behaviour. He can do no more than to ask to explain it.

'He doesn't wish, through me, to ask to justify what took place which was entirely unacceptable.'

Mr Maunder said Fisher had ridden horses since his late teens, following his mother's death.

He turned what started as a hobby into a career, developed it and became successful.

Mr Maunder added: 'From 25 he was training horses successfully. He has assisted Olympic gold medallists in dressage.

'He has tutored successful competitors at Badminton and Burghley. That looked like his life-time career and one which brought him success.'

Mr Maunder said his downfall was the result of a relationship split which had a 'catastrophic effect' on his client's life and emotional condition.

It led to a downward spiral involving the loss of his career, home and emotional and sexual instability.

Fisher turned to the internet, downloading images and making sexual requests involving a child who didn't actually exist.

The court heard since being caught Fisher had re-invented himself, completing a probationary period as an estate agent in London with 'flying colours' and doing bar work at night.

Mr Maunder said: 'He obviously understands that there will be punishment in this case and it will be severe punishment.

'He has taken just about every positive step that he could have done to try and seek help.

'He has expressed to the probation officer his absolute determination to engage with such assistance and direction as the probation service would be able to offer him.'

Judge Michael Cullum told Fisher: 'The reality is that you are responsible for the rape of children, very young children, children from infants to babies.

'That's the responsibility you bear by fuelling a market where real children have been witnessed by you having their lives ruined.'

Fisher was handed a sexual harm prevention order, banning him from unsupervised contact with youngsters, for ten years.

He was ordered to register as a sex offender for ten years and his computer equipment was forfeited for destruction.
A fugitive yoga guru who tried to have sex with 1,000 virgins so he could reach a 'higher spiritual level' has been arrested in Paris.

Romanian Gregorian Bivolaru, 64, was sentenced to six years in prison in 2013 but has been on the run since 2004, when he left his home country after being charged with having sex with an underage girl.

His school gathered thousands of members and was involved in a huge scandal when it became public that it encouraged group sex.

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Romanian Gregorian Bivolaru, 64, was sentenced to six years in prison in 2013 but has been on the run since 2004

His school gathered thousands of members and was involved in a huge scandal when it became public that it encouraged group sex

The movement was known for its bizarre rituals called yoga spirals, in which devotees would gather and hold hands in order depending on their zodiac sings

Bivolaru, who started practising yoga at the age of 17, also promised tantric illumination in exchange for sex with virgin girls as young as 15.

He was the founder of a yoga organisation called the Movement for Spiritual Integration in Absolute (MISA) that was set up in the 1990s.

Bivolaru is currently under arrest in France, where judges will now decide whether or not to extradite him to Romania.

The movement was known for its bizarre rituals called yoga spirals, in which devotees would gather and hold hands in order depending on their zodiac sings.

The guru was arrested in Sweden under international arrest warrant, but later the country granted him political asylum and he took the name of Magnus Aurolsson.

One of the victims, Agnes Arabela Marques, currently lives in Portugal and had a relationship with Bivolaru when she was 15.

Agnes Arabela Marques, now 31, had a relationship with Bivolaru when she was 15

Bivolaru was arrested in Sweden under international arrest warrant, but later the country granted him political asylum and he took the name of Magnus Aurolsson

Madalina Dumitru, 17, was one of the virgins who had sex with Bivolaru

'Bivolaru claimed that, if I had sex with him as a yoga master, I could achieve superior levels of tantric spirituality,' she said. 'In his apartment, there were constantly girls that were there to have sex with him.

'The girls living in that apartment would spend a few days or even a few weeks there and afterwards their place would be taken by other girls,' she said. 'This way Bivolaru wanted to ensure the so-called 'avalanche state'. In order to keep sexual desire alive, he said it was not good to live with your partner for too long.'

'Gregorian Bivolaru was interested in an Indian myth that said you could get to a high spiritual level if you had sex with 1,000 virgin girls. He knew the age of each girl he had sex with because he received photos from his yoga students and the date of birth was written on the back.'

Another of the virgins he had sex with was the then 17-year-old Madalina Dumitru.

Throughout the court proceedings however, she complained of being used to prosecute him and alleged that she had been put under pressure to testify against him.

'Bivolaru claimed that, if I had sex with him as a yoga master, I could achieve superior levels of tantric spirituality,' said Agnes Arabela Marques, now 31
A professor who sparked controversy at an Illinois Christian college after asserting that Christians and Muslims worship the same God is joining the University of Virginia.

Dr Larycia Hawkins, who left Wheaton College earlier this year after refusing to stop wearing a hijab, has been named the 'Abd el-Kader Visiting Faculty Fellow', which is named for the 19th-century Islamic scholar and leader.

The university's Institute of Advanced Studies in Culture said Thursday in a statement that Hawkins will research relationships between religions and races.

Dr Larycia Hawkins, who left Wheaton College after refusing to stop wearing a hijab and insisting that Christians and Muslims worship the same god, has been named the 'Abd el-Kader Visiting Faculty Fellow'

The University of Virginia's (pictured) Institute of Advanced Studies in Culture said Thursday in a statement that Hawkins will research relationships between religions and races

James Davison Hunter, executive director and founder of the institute, said in the statement: 'Professor Hawkins brings keen insights into the intersections of religion and race and will greatly enrich our scholarship in this area.

'We're fortunate to have the opportunity to welcome her here.'

The tenured political science professor agreed to leave her position in a settlement with Wheaton College after she was suspended by the private evangelical Christian institution for wearing an Islamic headscarf, worn by some Muslim women to counter what she called 'vitriolic' rhetoric against Muslims.

Wheaton announced last month that it and Hawkins reached a 'confidential agreement' for her to leave.

Hawkins had announced on Facebook in December that she would wear a hijab over the holidays to show solidarity with other Muslims.

The Christian professor wrote that it was her duty to love others, adding that Muslims and Christians 'worship the same God'.

In the controversy that followed, the school suspended her and initiated termination-for-cause proceedings, but nearly 80 faculty members stepped in, asking Wheaton to restore Hawkins.

Because Hawkins failed to clarify the differences between the two religions, Wheaton found her to be in conflict with its statement of faith, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The college then reportedly suggested she resign and proposed they revoke her tenure for two years while she engaged in conversations about her faith.

In December, just weeks after the San Bernardino terror attack and the anti-Muslim sentiment that followed, Hawkins wrote a post on Facebook announcing her decision to wear a hijab in the spirit of Advent.

The post read: 'I don't love my Muslim neighbor because s/he is American. I love my Muslim neighbor because s/he deserves love by virtue of her/his human dignity.

'I stand in human solidarity with my Muslim neighbor because we are formed of the same primordial clay, descendants of the same cradle of humankind--a cave in Sterkfontein, South Africa that I had the privilege to descend into to plumb the depths of our common humanity in 2014.

Hawkins, who became the first African-American tenured professor at Wheaton College, agreed to leave her position in a settlement with the college after she was suspended for wearing an Islamic headscarf

Wheaton College (pictured) announced last month that it and Hawkins reached a 'confidential agreement' for her to leave

'I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book. And as Pope Francis stated last week, we worship the same God.'

The Chicago Tribute reported that Wheaton Provost, Stanton Jones, then wrote an email apologizing to question the sincerity of her faith.

He wrote: 'I asked Dr. Hawkins for her forgiveness for the ways I contributed to the fracture of our relationship, and to the fracture of Dr. Hawkins' relationship with the college.

'While I acted to exercise my position of oversight of the faculty within the bounds of Wheaton College employment policies and procedures, I apologized for my lack of wisdom and collegiality as I initially approached Dr. Hawkins, and for imposing an administrative leave more precipitously than was necessary.'

In 2013 she became Wheaton Colleges first female African-American tenured professor.

While at UVA, she will focus on the relationship between black theology and the rhetoric, policies, and agendas of African-American organizations and movements.

The University of Virginia enrolls more than 20,000 undergraduate and graduate students per year.
A groom was arrested on his stag do after battering a reveller in a pub brawl, a court heard.

Stephen Weatherall, 23, was supposed to be celebrating his last night of freedom, but ended up spending it in a police cell instead.

Bricklayer Weatherall attacked dairy farmer Sam Jackson, 21, while drunk in a pub in a Narbeth, Pembrokeshire, before two of his fellow stags - including his brother - joined in.

Stephen Weatherall, 23, was supposed to be celebrating his last night of freedom, but ended up spending it in a police cell

Prosecutor Vaughan Pritchard-Jones said: 'Weatherall started chatting to Mr Jackson and his friends and there wasn't a problem, but then one lad laughed at something in a way Weatherall didn't like, and the atmosphere changed.

'Weatherall shouted "come on boys, let's teach these boys a lesson" then started hitting Mr Jackson under the chin with the back of his hand.

'He punched him once to the side of the face. He grabbed him by the throat, and punched him again.

'Mr Jackson's head went back and hit a pebble-dashed wall. Blood from the gash went all down his shirt.'

Haverfordwest Magistrates Court heard Weatherall's brother Christopher and friend Jack Price also brawled with other drinkers during the stag night out at the Farmers Arms.

Stephen Weatherall, of Cosheton, Pembs, admitted assault, his brother Christopher causing grievous bodily harm, and Price also admitted assault.

Haverfordwest Magistrates Court heard Weatherall's brother Christopher and friend Jack Price also brawled with other drinkers during the stag night out at the Farmers Arms

A court heard Weatherall, who got married in August in Cyprus, was so drunk 'he had no recollection' of the attack.

Mark Layton, defending, said: 'It's no excuse to go out and drink so much you don't know what you're doing, but perhaps a stag night is one of those rare occasions where drinking to excess seems to be the norm.

'My client was so drunk he doesn't remember the incident, but to his credit he has pleaded guilty. He deeply regrets what happened.'

Magistrates fined Weatherall 130 and ordered him to pay Mr Jackson 165 compensation and 105 costs.
A married mother of triplets from Colorado has been shot dead while trying to break up a fight between her mother and stepfather, who police say then took his own life.

When Monica Montoya, 43, got a frantic call from her mother at around noon on Saturday saying she was being attacked by her husband, 62-year-old Luis Lara, the mother of three raced to the couple's home in Commerce City hoping to put an end to the altercation.

According to police, Montoya came between the feuding couple, the fight escalated and her stepfather, who was armed, fatally shot her.

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Domestic drama: Monica Montoya, 43, pictured with her nine-year-old triplets, was killed while trying to break up a fight between her mother and stepfather, who then took his own life

Crime scene: Montoya arrived at her family's residence in Commerce City, Colorado (pictured), after getting a frantic call from her mother about a domestic dispute

Police say the 62-year-old man then turned the gun on himself and took his own life, reported CBS Denver.

Montoya's 73-year-old mother, Silvia, suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was treated and released from the hospital.

Police in Commerce City told The Denver Post they had investigated two prior domestic disturbances at Luis Laras address, but he was never arrested.

Montoya leaves behind her husband, Alex, and three children, Alex, Samantha and Anna, all of them nine years old. She is also survived by her three sisters.

Cathy Germann, a neighbor of Montoyas in Westminster, said she worked as an engineer and was a great person and the perfect wife and mother.

Role model: A neighbor said Mrs Montoya worked as an engineer and was the perfect wife and mother to her triplets. One of her daughters is pictured on the right

Montoya's sister, Silvia (left), has launched an online campaign to raise money towards the education of her nieces and nephew

A funeral for Mrs Montoya was held Friday morning at The Crossing Church in Westminster, after which she was laid to rest at Golden Cemetery.

One of her sisters has launched an online fundraiser on YouCaring.com to collect donations towards the triplets education fund.

'In her personal life her kids education was always at the forefront of her planning, her sister Silvia Briscoe writes on the page. This donation will help finish the work she so lovingly began.
She added: 'We may have been visited already'

Clinton herself said words to the same effect in December

While Donald Trump continues to promise a wall between the US and Mexico, Hillary Clinton is thinking about a different kind of alien: if elected she will release classified UFO files, her campaign chairman revealed.

As the Clinton campaign passed through Las Vegas last month, campaign chairman John Podesta told KLAS-TV Politics NOW that he has persuaded the Democratic candidate to open up the long-closed documents for the US public.

'I think I've convinced her that we need an effort to kind of go look at that and declassify as much as we can, so that people have their legitimate questions answered,' he said.

Seeking the truth: Hillary Clinton says that humanity 'may have been visited' by aliens and that she will 'get to the bottom' of the government's alleged UFO files, which are still classified, if elected

Believer: John Podesta (pictured) is Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, and says that he has convinced her to look into the area if she becomes President. He has demanded declassified UFO documents for decades

Podesta continued: 'More attention and more discussion about unexplained aerial phenomena can happen without people  who are in public life, who are serious about this  being ridiculed.'

In December of last year, Clinton said much the same at a meeting with The Conway Daily Sun, in which she 'enthusiastically' told the editorial board, 'Yes, I'm going to get to the bottom of [the UFO files].'

She added that Podesta 'has made me personally pledge we are going to get the information out, one way or another. Maybe we could have, like, a task force to go to Area 51.'

Area 51 is an infamous US military base in Nevada which is ostensibly used to test stealth technology, but has long been linked to UFOs by conspiracy theorists, who say that the base was used to imprison and perform tests on aliens.

She also said, 'I think we may have been [visited already]. We don't know for sure.'

Clinton's remarks emerged in conversation with a Conway Daily Sun reporter who had questioned her on the topic in 2007. She was described as 'recalling the conversation with a smile' and 'having fun with the topic.'

A later CNN report characterised the remarks as 'tongue-in-cheek,' a descriptor not used in the Daily Sun's report.

She has been linked to UFOs since 1995, when a photograph was taken of her and businessman Laurance Rockefeller in which she can be seen holding a copy of the book Are We Alone: Philosophical Implications of the Discovery of Extraterrestrial Life by Paul Davies.

Area of concern: The highway near US base Area 51, Nevada, has been renamed 'Extraterrestrial Highway' by locals. Many tourists there believe the base harbors secrets about UFOs, and Clinton has vowed to investigate

Voyage into the unknown: Laurance Rockefeller (pictured right, with Clinton in 1995) tried to get Bill Clinton's administration to declassify UFO-related documents

Two years before, Rockefeller had started up an initiative requesting that then-President Bill Clinton release information about UFOs.

That Podesta would use his position as Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman to press her to look into the files is no surprise - he has been campaigning for declassification of secret documents, especially UFO-related ones, for decades.

As White House Chief of Staff for Bill Clinton, Podesta declassified hundreds of millions of documents himself, but was never able to get to the UFO documents.

And in 2014, as he left his position of counselor to Barack Obama, he tweeted: 'Finally, my biggest failure of 2014: Once again not securing the #disclosure of the UFO files.' He concluded with the hashtag '#thetruthisstilloutthere,' a reference to popular sci-fi conspiracy show The X-Files.

Obama brought on Podesta after the disastrous rollout of his health care law. Several current and former White House officials said Podesta  regarded by many as an elder statesman  quickly injected more depth into strategy discussions and would often play devils advocate, pushing the team to consider things not on their radar.

Brought down to Earth: When stepping down as Obama's advisor in 2014, Podesta remarked in a tweet that his 'biggest failure' was 'not descuring the disclosure of the UFO files'

Space men: Podesta was White House Chief of Staff for Bill Clinton, who also looked into the UFO question, but did not declassify UFO-related documents

No aliens: Bill Clinton told Jimmy Kimmel (pictured) that when he became president he looked at documents related to Area 51 'to make sure there was no alien down there'

Bill Clinton has also broached the topic on various occasions, including a conversation on The Jimmy Kimmel show in 2014, when he said that during his time as President he had made enquiries about Area 51 itself.

'First I had people go looking through the records of Area 51, to make sure there was no alien down there,' he said, going on to say that stealth technology is developed in the base, 'but there were no aliens there.'

He added that he also looked at the files related to the Roswell Incident in 1947, when a US Air Force surveillance balloon crashed in Rosewell, New Mexico. Since then rumors have swirled that the balloon was actually an alien spacecraft.

Kimmel asked the former president whether he would tell the audience if he'd found proof of alien life. 'Yes,' he replied, without hesitation, to the cheers of audience members.
District attorney Michael Ramos said that hacking into the iPhone used by the San Bernardino terrorists could give clues to a possible third shooter

The district attorney for San Bernardino has suggested there could be evidence pointing to a third shooter during last year's terror attack hidden on an iPhone that Apple is refusing to unlock.

Michael Ramos, in an amicus brief filed at the court in California where Apple and the FBI are set to battle over access to the phone, said at least two 911 calls were placed during the attacks identifying three shooters.

Backing the FBI's request for Apple to hack into the iPhone, Ramos says the only way authorities can know about a third gunman for sure is to get access to the phone.

Syed Farook and wife Tashfeen Malik killed 14 people during a gun and explosives attack on the Inland Regional Center in California on December 2 last year, before dying in a shootout with cops.

While initial reports indicated there were possibly three attackers, those reports were never corroborated and the FBI has repeatedly said there were only two shooters.

In his filing, Ramos writes: 'Although the reports of three individuals were not corroborated, and may ultimately be incorrect, the fact remains, that the information contained solely on the seized iPhone could provide evidence to identify as of yet unknown co-conspirators who would be prosecuted for murder and attempted murder.'

Ramos also states that, since the iPhone in question belonged to San Bernardino County where Farook was employed as a health worker, it also had access to their computer network.

He goes on to claim that the phone could have been used 'as a weapon to introduce a lying dormant cyber pathogen' into that network.

In papers filed at the Central District of California (pictured), Ramos also claimed the iPhone, which belongs to the county, could have been used to infect their network with a 'dormant cyber pathogen'

Syed Farook and wife Tashfeen Malik (pictured) were responsible for killing 14 people in San Bernardino last December. The iPhone in question is the only one of their electronics to survive the attack

He argues that this pathogen could 'endanger San Bernardino County's infrastructure and pose a continuing threat to the citizens of San Bernardino County.'

However, that claim has been derided by security experts who claim they have never heard of the term 'cyber pathogen', and say Ramos has provided no evidence to support this.

Jonathan Zdziarski, a forensics expert and author, said: 'It sounds like hes making up these terms as he goes. We've never used these terms in computer science.

'I think what hes trying to suggest is that Farook was somehow working with someone to install a program on the iPhone that would infect the local network with some kind of virus or worm or something along those lines.'

Speaking to Arstechnica, he added: 'The world has never seen what he is describing coming from an iPhone. I would expect that in order to make that statement, he should make some kind of proof.'

Asking for his brief to be permitted as evidence at the hearing on March 22 when Apple and the FBI will clash over the issue, Ramos said that Apple has created a 'repository' of information that only the company can help unlock.

He added: 'By failing to assist in the acquisition of this information, Apple is infringing on the victim's rights as provided by the California Constitution.

'Apple is impeding the District Attorney's Constitutional obligation to investigate and prosecute crimes committed against these victims.'

FBI director James Comey wants Apple to create a temporary version of its operating software which allows his agency to access data on the iPhone, saying he cannot do it without Apple's help

However, Apple lawyer Bruce Sewell says that creating the software would set a dangerous legal precedent and could expose millions of customers to cyber attacks

The iPhone is one of many computer devices Farook and Malik possessed, but is the only one they failed to destroy before being shot dead by police.

Found inside the black Lexus where they were killed, FBI agents want access to the phone in order to help gather more information about the crime, and any evidence that might linking Farook and Malik to a wider terrorist group.

In a court filing last month, the FBI asked Apple to make a version of its operating system with a security 'backdoor' built in, allowing them to break into the phone and gather data from it.

The agency insists the software will only be used one time, and that Apple can keep hold of the program and then destroy it afterwards.

But Apple is refusing, saying it will not willingly compromise the security of its own phones and warns that, once created, the weakened version of its operating system could be used to compromise the security of millions of its customers.

Earlier on Friday, UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein warned that a 'Pandora's Box' will be opened if Apple cooperates with the FBI.
An inquest into the death of the Briton who died in the Paris terror attacks is set to take place in May.

Nick Alexander was killed alongside 88 other people at the Bataclan concert venue during a series of co-ordinated terror attacks in Paris in November.

Chelmsford Coroners Court today heard the 35-year-old, from Weeley, Essex, died from a gunshot wound to his chest after he was shot while working as a merchandising manager for the Eagles of Death Metal, who were performing at the venue.

An inquest into the death of the Briton who died in the Paris terror attacks - Nick Alexander (pictured) - is set to take place in May

Phil Howarth, who is the country's senior investigating officer for the Paris attacks, told the hearing they were still waiting for a summary of the findings from the French team.

He added: 'I have been involved in the investigation from the beginning.

'On November 12, a terrorist attack took place on six sites in Paris. One British national died.

'The French investigation into the attacks continues and we are still awaiting the summary of their findings. It is a large, high volume and high scale investigation.'

ISIS gunmen attacked six locations in the French capital on the evening of November 12, with most of the victims killed at the concert venue.

DCI Howarth told the court three men stormed the venue and fired shots using automatic weapons and pistols.

Nick Alexander was killed alongside 88 other people at the Bataclan concert venue during a series of co-ordinated terror attacks in Paris in November. Above, a Twitter post from shortly after news of his death emerged

ISIS gunmen attacked six locations in the French capital on the evening of November 12, with most of the victims killed at the concert venue. Above, a body is removed from the venue the day after the attacks

Gunmen also targeted revellers at cafes and restaurants. Above, a body is covered on the Boulevard des Filles du Calvaire

He added: 'The identity of those involved remains under investigation by the French authorities.'

Metropolitan police detectives have secured statement 22 witness statements from people who survived the Bataclan attack.

Coroner Catherine Beasley-Murray told Mr Alexanders family: 'This is my first opportunity to express sympathy to you upon the loss of a much-loved and admired son and brother in the most appalling circumstances.'

She set a provisional date for Mr Alexanders inquest to be heard 'the end of May'.

Thousands of people left flowers at the scenes of the attacks, with one woman (above) paying her respects with a pink-covered bouquet

Mr Alexander began his life in music by selling programmes at Chelmsfords V Festival when he was just 15. He continued to dedicate nearly all his time to supporting bands.

After his death, a number of world-famous bands and musicians paid their respects to the former Colchester Grammar School pupil, including Kylie Minogue, Blurs Damon Albarn, Cat Stevens, Smashing Pumpkins and Sum 41.
The 'Son of Sal' killer has been sentenced to 75 years to life in prison after brutally murdering three shopkeepers in Brooklyn in 2012.

Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Alan Marrus told him he was lucky 'we don't have the death penalty here in New York' as he 'would be a prime candidate'.

Salvatore Perone, 67, was given the sentence at a downtown Brooklyn courtroom Friday after being convicted in February of three counts of murder.

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Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Alan Marrus (left) told Salvatore Perone (right) he was lucky 'we don't have the death penalty here in New York' as he 'would be a prime candidate'. He was sentenced to 75 years to life in prison for brutally murdering three shopkeepers

During the sentencing in a downtown Brooklyn courtroom Friday, Perone gave a 25-minute-long address that was so long many of the victims' family walked out

Several members of the victims' family were present at the trial and took it in turns to address the Staten Island salesman, reported New York Daily News.

Victim Rahmatollah Vahidipour's daughter, Marjan Vahidipour told him: 'My father was a dedicated hardworking man, lived a life with dignity. ...God will punish you. You're pathetic. You will rot and die alone, loser.'

Mourad Gebeli, 36, the son of 65-year-old Mohamed Gebeli said: 'I've known you for 20 years. ... I just want to ask him one question, your honor, why did you do this? Why?

'Every time you walked into my dad's store it was near closing and my father would stay open and wait for you, we treated you with love and respect.

'What did he do to you? Why did you do this?'

Several members of the victims' family were present at the trial and took it in turns to address the Staten Island salesman. Pictured: Mourad Gebeli, 36, the son of 65-year-old Mohamed Gebeli said: 'I've known you for 20 years. ... I just want to ask him one question, your honor, why did you do this? Why?'

Victim Rahmatollah Vahidipour's daughter Jacqueline told Perone that he will 'rot in jail'

Perone maintained his innocence during his sentencing, as he has done throughout the trial, despite a mountain of evidence stacked against him.

He read from a typed script and listed the witnesses who weren't called in his defense.

Perone has always claimed that he was framed by a business associate.

His 25-minute address was so long that many of the victims' family walked out in the middle and returned for the final sentencing.

Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson told CBS Local: 'It's hard to think of anyone who deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison more than this cold-blooded and unrepentant serial killer.'

Justice Alan Marrus had compared Mr. Perrone to Colin Ferguson, who was convicted of killing six Long Island Rail Road passengers in 1993, and David Berkowitz, the so-called 'Son of Sam' serial killer.

This led to Perone being nicknamed Son of Sal.

The three murders were committed during a five-month period in 2012. All victims were male shopkeepers of Middle Eastern descent, who were shot to death in the Brooklyn stores where they worked.

The balding, mustachioed suspect, dubbed 'John Doe Duffel Bags' by police, was seen carrying a duffel bag near the murder scenes of two victims. Pictured left, Perrone carrying a bag on November 16, 2012, close to the shop of victim Rahmatollah Vahidipour, and right, walking with the bag shortly before Isaac Kadare was killed on August 2, 2012

Weapon: Police say that Perrone used this sawed-off shotgun to kill three New York shop keepers

The first victim, 65-year-old Mohamed Gebeli, was shot in the neck inside his store Valentino Fashion in Bay Ridge on July 6, 2012.

Almost two months later, Isaac Kadare, 59, was shot in the head and then had his throat slit inside the Amazing 99 Cents Deals store in Bensonhurst on August 2, 2012.

On November 6, 2012, Rahmatollah Vahidipour, 78, was shot in the head, face and chest inside the She-She Boutique in Flatbush.

After the third murder Perrone was captured on surveillance footage carrying a black duffel bag near the crime scene. The then-unknown murderer was dubbed 'John Doe Duffel Bags' by police.

Perrone was arrested on November 21, 2012. A subsequent search of his girlfriend's apartment revealed the duffel bag hidden behind a couch.

The bag contained the weapon used in all three murders, a 22-caliber rifle with Perrone's DNA on it, and the knife used to cut Kadare's throat with the victim's blood still present.

The blood of the third victim was also found splattered on the bag.

Perrone was further incriminated by cell phone data and security footage that indicated he was in the areas near the second and third murder scenes when those killings occurred.

Isaac Kadare, 59, was shot in the face and stabbed in the neck by Salvatore Perrone while working at his store
Romney seemingly took it the same way: 'Its beneath the dignity of the office of president and even being a candidate for president,' he said today

Commentators on Twitter suggested it was meant to be a sexual innuendo implying Romney would have performed a sex act to be endorsed

'I could have said, "Mitt drop to your knees," and he would have dropped to his knees,' Trump recalled, saying Mitt 'failed horribly'

Donald Trump says the 2012 GOP presidential candidate 'begged' for his endorsement

Mitt Romney is among those who interpreted Donald Trump's claim that he would have 'dropped to his knees' for an endorsement in 2012 as lewd.

'Its characteristically disgusting on his part,' Romney told Neil Cavuto today during an appearance on Fox Business today 'I mean, its beneath the dignity of the office of president and even being a candidate for president.'

Trump leveled what some saw as a sexually suggestive insult at Romney on Thursday, just two hours after the former Republican presidential nominee savaged him in a nationally televised address.

Mitt Romney is among those who interpreted Donald Trump's claim that he would have 'dropped to his knees' for an endorsement in 2012 as lewd

Trump said Mitt Romney was so desperate for his endorsement in 2012 that he could have ordered the then-Republican candidate to get on his knees and he would have done it

SIGNS OF THE TIMES: Former Barack Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau summed up the controversy after Trump seemed to suggest he could have gotten oral sex in exchange endorsing a desperate Romney

Romney had told a Utah audience that Trump is 'a phony, a fraud'  and 'very very not smart.'

In response, Trump said during a raucous Portland, Maine, campaign rally that Mitt is 'a failed candidate' who delivered an 'irrelevant' speech  and would have done anything to secure Trump's endorsement four years ago.

'I dont know what happened to him,' Trump said Thursday during his early afternoon rally, recalling how he backed Romney during the last election. 'You can see how loyal he is. He was begging for my endorsement!'

'I could have said, "Mitt, drop to your knees," and he would have dropped to his knees!' Trump said.

Some in the audience had barely finished gasping at the sexual overtones of the boast when The Donald referred to the one-time Massachusetts governor as 'a choke artist.'

'He choked like Ive never seen anyone choke. Other than Rubio.'

Mehdi Hasan, an Al Jazeera presenter, summed up the impromptu outrage in a tweet that mentioned 'b***w job gags.'

And as MSNBC broadcast crowd reactions live after Trump's speech, journalist Thomas Roberts got more than he bargained for.

Conservative radio host Andrew McKay said he lived in a region 'dominated by religion,' and his neighbors would 'all have to ask themselves a question: Do they want a candidate who gets up there and says that that a former presidential candidate for their party got down on his knees and offered to b**w him?'

FORTY-SEVEN PERCENT OF PEOPLE DISAGREE ... Romney is remembered for losing the 2012 presidential race after telling a fundraising audience that he would write off the 47 per cent of Americans who would never vote for him because they fear being kicked off the government dole

FLASHBACK: Trump endorsed Mitt Romney in February 2012 in Las Vegas as the then-GOP front-runner lavished praise on The Donald

THE NATIVES ARE RESTLESS: Novelist Brad Thor tweeted that he 'can't wait for all the b**w job references in Trump's first State of the Union address. What a class act!'

Romney's scathing attack on his party's 2016 front-runner came just hours before Thursday's GOP primary debate.

Switching off between scolding, mocking and lecturing, Romney told a friendly audience at the University of Utah that Trump would hand the presidency to Hillary Clinton if he's the GOP nominee.

'His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University,' the former Massachusetts governor said, referring to a controversial real-estate seminar series Trump once ran.

'He's playing the American public for suckers: He gets a free ride to the White House and all we get is a lousy hat.'

'There's plenty of evidence that Mr. Trump is a con man, a fake,' Romney said, acting as a conduit for every complaint about the billionaire that the GOP's establishment wing has been searching for a way to articulate.

On his way through a 20-minute oration, he carped about 'the bullying, the greed, the showing off, the misogyny, the absurd third-grade theatrics.'

Donald Trump reminded supporters that Mitt Romney had asked for his endorsement in 2012 when Romney was at the to top of the Republican ballot

VICIOUS: Mitt Romney tore into Donald Trump Thursday morning in Utah with an air assault that will clear a path for The Donald's rivals to attack him in the evening debate

Romney's air assault from 2,000 miles away tee'd up Trump's rivals  Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich  a clear path to wage a ground assault during Thursday night 's debate in Detroit.

Before they had their chance, though, Trump brought up a comment Marco Rubio had made on his small hands as he asserted that all his parts were up to snuff.

The moment was a new low for the increasingly rowdy fight nights, and Rubio was repeatedly pressed this morning to defend the role he played in raunchy discussion.

The U.S. senator said he was regretful the debate between the campaigns had moved so far away from policy - but blamed the affair on Trump and his brand of politics.

On Today this morning, Romney said of Trump, 'I don't think he has the temperament to be president and so I want to see one of the other three become the nominee.'

'I think he would be terribly unfit for office.'

Appearing on Cavuto's Coast to Coast show this afternoon, Romney said, 'Well, its temperament and personal characteristics  character, if you will.'

Unlike past presidents, who have tried to keep 'their foibles and weaknesses to themselves,' Romney said, 'This is very different.

'This is a person who, on almost every occasion he can, brings this into the public view,' he contended, according to Politico.

Donald Trump took to Twitter this morning and started attacking Mitt Romney, who will deliver harsh words about the Republican frontrunner in a speech today in Utah

Donald Trump reminded audiences this morning that he's brought 'millions and millions' of voters into the Republican party

The two time presidential candidate says he's not interested in challenging Trump for the GOP mantle. He's made no nods in any specific direction, either.

During his Thursday speech the best he could muster was a state-by-state strategy that backs the most popular non-Trump opponent wherever a primary election occurs.

'If the other candidates can find common ground, I believe we can nominate a person who can win the general election and who will represent the values and policies of conservatism' he said.

'Given the current delegate selection process, this means that I would vote for Marco Rubio in Florida, for John Kasich in Ohio, and for Ted Cruz or whichever one of the other two contenders has the best chance of beating Mr. Trump in a given state.'

Splitting the party's convention delegates that way would likely produce a floor fight at the week-long Cleveland nominating event in July, opening the door for someone new to swoop in and be nominated.

Romney insisted that's not him.
and then got into a car accident

Fournier was suspicious because he stole an oil truck around the time of the girl's

Thirty six years after a Maine teen was found beaten to death after going for a jog in her rural New England hometown, her alleged killer is finally being brought to justice.

On Friday, police in East Millinocket arrested 55-year-old registered sex offender Philip Scott Fournier for the 1980 murder of 16-year-old Joyce McLain.

McLain was last seen the night of August 8, 1980, when she left home to go for a jog.

The teen's partially-clad body was found two days later in a clearing near a local high school, her head and neck bludgeoned.

Until Friday, the identity of her killer had remained a mystery.

Cold case solved? Philip Scott Fournier, 55 (right), was arrested on Friday for the 1980 murder of Maine 16-year-old Joyce McLain (left)

Fournier was booked at Penobscot County Jail at 12.48pm on Friday and he is set to appear in court for his arraignment at 11.30am on Monday.

However, this isn't the first time that Fournier has been connected to the case.

When he was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in jail in 2009 for child pornography, he was called a 'person of interest' in McLain's death.

And his ex-wife told the Bangor Daily News that year that she believed Fournier was involved the girl's brutal murder.

Resting place: Above, a view of McLain's headstone in East Millinocket, Maine. She was last seen the night of August 8, 1980, going for a jog. Her body was found two days later, beaten to death

Fournier was initially suspicious because around the time of McLain's disappearance, he stole an oil truck and then proceeded to get into an accident that left him in a coma for several days.

Investigators struggled to explain why he had behaved so rashly. He was 19 years old at the time.

In addition to the child pornography rap, Fournier has arrests for burglary, theft and unauthorized taking on his criminal record.

He was released from federal prison on January 6, 2015, and ordered to register as a sex offender in the state for 10 years.

In the past few months, Maine State Police have revisited the site where McLain's body was found, and neighbors say that early Friday morning, several cars were parked outside the victim's mother's home.
A school newsletter translated into Slovakian

A parent has voiced her concerns after finding her child's school newsletter has been translated into Slovak.

A quarter of all the pupils at the primary school, which is one of the closest mainland schools to France, are Slovakian.

The head of Priory Fields Primary School, Anne Siggins, said the Dover-based school wants to support everybody who attends.

But the parent, who wished to remain anonymous, questioned why even the newsletter was translated into another language.

They said: 'Isn't this an English speaking school in England?'

A spokesperson for the school in Dover, Kent, said they haven't received any complaints from other parents about the newsletter or signage.

She said: 'We are inclusive of all our children and facilitate all children and all ethnicities. If we had French children we would have newsletters in French.

'There is nothing in Slovak that isn't in English. We're supportive of everybody that comes to this school.'

The school said it was actually an English parent who suggested a 'do not knock' sign should be written in Slovak - so that Slovakian parents knew not to disturb those inside.

The website also includes a booking form for parent consultations which is in English and Slovak, so all parents can read it.

Priory Fields Primary School, pictured, in Dover, Kent, has defended the decision to translate the newsletter

In the last Ofsted report, the school, which had 350 pupils aged 4-11, was granted the second-highest rating - Good.

In the June 2013 report, inspectors wrote: 'The school is a larger-than-average-sized primary school.

'The proportions of pupils from minority ethnic groups is average.

'The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is higher than average.'

Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a small country in central Europe bordered by five other countries, including the Czech Republic, Austria and Poland.

Many Roma refugees from Slovakia and the Czech Republic settled in Dover in the late 90s, seeking asylum after being persecuted in their own country.
Joey Feek has passed away Friday afternoon at the age of 40 after a lengthy battle with cancer.

'My wifes greatest dream came true today. She is in Heaven,' wrote her husband Rory in a post on their blog.

'The cancer is gone, the pain has ceased and all her tears are dry. Joey is in the arms of her beloved brother Justin and using her pretty voice to sing for her savior.

'At 2:30 this afternoon, as we were gathered around her, holding hands and praying.. my precious bride breathed her last. And a moment later took her first breath on the other side.'

Rory also shared on Friday a touching story about a video Joey received last year from one of her idols - Dolly Parton.

The family surprised Joey with the video last November, and on Friday Rory posted a video of the moment Joey got to see her idol.

'From the time she was four years old, Joey had been singing Dollys songs and dreamed of one day meeting her. Coat of Many Colors was a regular part of our show and at home she loved to put on Dolly and listen to Hello God, When I Sing For Him, Me and Little Andy and many others,' wrote Rory.

'She never got the chance to meet her in person and had no idea that Dolly even knew who she was. But that changed one Friday evening this past November.'

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Gone: Joey Feek passed away at the age of 40 Friday afternoon with her husband Rory writing; 'My wife's greatest dream came true today. She is in Heaven. The cancer is gone. The pain has ceased'

Farewell: Joey held her oldest daughter Heidi's hand for the final time in a heartbreaking photo posted on Facebook (above) earlier in the day

One last kiss: Earlier this week Rory posted a photo of Joey's final kiss with her young daughter Indiana

Final farewell: 'At 2:30 this afternoon, as we were gathered around her, holding hands and praying.. my precious bride breathed her last. And a moment later took her first breath on the other side,' wrote Rory (above in April 2011)

'When a person has been through as much pain and struggle as Joeys been through, you just want it to be over. You want them to not have to hurt anymore, more that you want them to stay with you. And so, it makes the hard job of saying goodbye just a little easier,' wrote Rory.

'After four-and-a-half months in Indiana, we will soon be back home in Tennessee. Me, and our little one, with our older daughters.

'Its hard for me to imagine being there without Joey, but at the same time it is where she wants us to be. Its where she will be Shes gonna be in the mint growing beside our back deck, the sweet-corn frozen in our freezer and a million other places that her hand and heart has touched around our little farmhouse and community. Joey will still be with us. Everywhere.

'So if its okay, Im gonna close, wipe my tears and pack our bags to hit the road headed south.

'Shes already got a head-start on me.'

Carrie Underwood wrote on Twitter shortly after Joey's passing; 'Praying for the family & friends of Joey Feek. A beautiful soul moved into heaven today. A beautiful legacy she left behind.'

Governor Mike Pence of Indiana wrote; 'Saddened to hear of the loss of courageous Hoosier Joey Feek. Karen & I send our thoughts/prayers to her family, friends & fans.'

Kimberly Perry of The Band Perry wrote; 'Heartbroken by the passing of the beautiful Joey Feek and completely inspired by the way she lived every minute. Full of love and life.'

The Grammys wrote on their Twitter account; 'We are so very saddened to learn of the passing of Joey Feek. Our thoughts are with her family, friends, and fans today.'

Rory had revealed earlier this week that Joey was reaching the end.

'My wife has been asleep for days now and her body is shutting down quickly,' wrote Rory on the couple's blog This Life I Live earlier this week.

'The hospice nurse came again this morning and said Joey will most-likely only be with us for a few more days at the most.'

Rory also said that shortly after their daughter Indiana's second birthday Joey, 40, said she was ready to stop fighting after her long and brave battle with cancer, telling him 'enough is enough'.

She then asked to see Indiana so she could give her daughter one last kiss.

After learning last October that her stage 4 cervical cancer was terminal and she had six months to live at most, Joey's only wish was to live long enough to see her daughter have one more birthday.

She managed to do just that, and few days later told Rory; 'Its time to go home.'

First though, she wanted to say goodbye to her loved ones.

Tragedy: Joey's hospice nurse said Monday morning that the terminally-ill star had just a 'few more days'

Love: Joey's husband Rory shared the tragic news, saying; 'My wife has been asleep for days now and her body is shutting down quickly'

'Joey gathered her family together around her and she said goodbye to each of them to her mother and father and her three sisters,' wrote Rory.

'There were lots of tears as she explained to each one how much she loved them and that she was going to be going home soon.'

Then Joey asked to see her daughter.

'I set our little Indy on Joeys lap and we all cried with my wife as she told her how much her mama loved her and, you be a big girl for your papa and that mama will be watching over you,."' said Rory.

'And then she pulled Indiana up and she kissed her.'

Soon after she gave Indiana that last kiss Joey began to sleep, and then Rory learned that his wife had only a few days to live.

'In the 40 short years that Joey has lived, my bride has accomplished many great things shes lived a very full life,' wrote Rory.

'But even more than that, she has loved those around her greatly and been loved greatly in return. I can honestly say that Joeys isnt just a life well-lived, its a life well-loved.'

Rory also shared that Joey is at peace, telling him just before she went to sleep; 'I have no regrets I can honestly say, that I have done everything I wanted to do and lived the life I always wanted to live.'

He ended the post by thanking those who have been supporting Joey and the family over the past few months, writing; 'Thank you to all who have followed my wifes beautiful journey. Who are still following. Though our hearts are heavy we all need to do our best to remember that this is not the end. Its only the beginning.

'When Joey takes her last breath here she will take her first breath there. In heaven.'

Rory also posted a video he made featuring some of his favorite photos of Joey set to a song the two recorded but never released called 'In The Time That You Gave Me.'

Big day: Rory also said that after their daughter Indiana's second birthday, Joey told him she wanted to stop fighting and was ready to 'go home'

Baby girl: 'Joey barely slept the night before Indianas birthday. She was too excited. Jody said she didnt fall asleep until about 5am, around the time that Indy and I woke up,' said Rory of their daughter's big day

Mother and daughter: Joey and Indiana in her bed last year shortly before Christmas

The difficult and tragic news comes after a very memorable February for the family, who got to celebrate Valentine's Day, the Grammy Awards, Indiana's birthday and the release of their new album this month - which topped the country charts.

Rory posted photos of some of these moments including Joey watching as daughter Indiana blew out her candles, a smiling Indiana celebrating her second birthday and an image of Rory and Joey laying in bed together for the first time since November.

'When dinner was over, as I said goodnight and tucked the blankets around her in the little hospital bed she has been living in for months, she thanked me for the special night and then made one last request. If Jody helps me to scoot over to one sidecould you try to lay down with me and put your arms around me?' wrote Rory of the couple's Valentine's Day.

'I havent been able to be in the same bed with my wife or hold her in my arms since the beginning of November  when she made her last trip to the hospital.

'But for one sweet half-an-hour that changed on Valentines day.'

The big event however was Indiana's second birthday.

'Joey barely slept the night before Indianas birthday. She was too excited. Jody said she didnt fall asleep until about 5am, around the time that Indy and I woke up,' said Rory.

'When Joey woke up, a little before noon, I came in to see her and tears were flowing down her face. Again, I put my arms around her and asked, why are you crying honey?

'We made it, she softly answered. We made it."'

Joey got to watch her daughter blow out her birthday candles and Indiana could be seen smiling from ear to ear in photos from the day, especially as she enjoyed her cake.

'For the most part, Indianas big day was nothing but joy and more joy. She has a way of bringing even the most painful parts of life back into perspective,' wrote Rory.

All the girls: Joey with daughter Heidi, Hopie and Indiana opening Christmas presents

Happy couple: Joey (above in April 2013) was diagnosed with cancer in June 2014, just a few months after she and Rory welcomed Indiana, who was born with Down's syndrome

Big dance: Rory posted a photo of him and Joey enjoying a dance from a past New Year's earlier this year

Joey was given just six months to live last October and told she would be bedridden for the remainder of her life in late November.

She got out of bed in December though and then began to walk again, all things that seemed impossible just weeks before.

She even got to spend Christmas with her family near her childhood home in Alexandria, Indiana.

Joey was diagnosed with cancer in June 2014, just a few months after she and Rory welcomed Indiana, who was born with Down's syndrome.

The cancer eventually spread and in October doctors revealed there nothing they could do for Joey.

Joey was as a restaurant owner when she met Rory, falling in love with him as he performed during a songwriter's night.

He was also a single father with two daughters, another reason Joey has said she was first attracted to him.

On June 15, 2002, the couple was married in a small ceremony.

Joey shared how she first fell in love with Rory in an interview with People earlier this year, saying; 'Rory was singing In the Round at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville with three other songwriters.

'I was just one of dozens of people in the audience that night. From the first song Rory sang, I fell head over heels for him.'

She then added: 'I didn't even know him, but something inside me said, "You're going to marry that man and spend the rest of your lives together."'

And while Rory was a noted songwriter who had penned hits for artists such as Blake Shelton, the couple got their big break in 2008 when they appeared on the reality show Can You Duet which aired on Country Music Television.

They finished in third place on the show and signed a record contract soon after - and have been making music ever since right up until the release of their new album last month.

'Our music has taken us many incredible places and let us experience some amazing things in the past 8 years and people we meet have often asked if we had a plan to get to where we are. Ive always answered, yes, theres a master plan its just not ours,'" Rory wrote in a blog post after the release of the album.
Ted Cruz has rejected the idea of stopping Donald Trump's presidential campaign at a brokered convention, saying the move would lead to a 'revolt' among voters.

Cruz lashed out at the Republican 'establishment', saying their desire for a brokered convention only happened because their 'golden children' keep getting rejected by the grassroots.

He added: 'So they seize on this plan of a brokered convention, and the D.C. power brokers will drop someone in who is exactly to the liking of the Washington establishment.

'If that would happen, we would have a manifest revolt on our hands all across this country.'

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Ted Cruz has blasted the idea of using a brokered convention to stop Donald Trump's presidential run, saying it would lead to a 'revolt' among the Republican grassroots

Cruz (pictured at a rally in Louisiana) said beating Trump must involve 'the voters'. Other than Trump, Cruz likely has the most to lose from a brokered convention, given his unpopularity among senior GOP figures

Cruz likely has his own reasons for wanting to avoid a brokered convention, however, as it is unlikely that he would receive the backing of many superdelegates, once released from the candidate they are now tied to.

The Texas senator is deeply unpopular with many senior figures within the Republican party, as well as his own senate colleagues.

BROKERED CONVENTION: WHERE DO THE GOP CANDIDATES STAND? Should the Republican Party reach its national convention, starting on June 18, without one candidate claiming a majority of delegates, it becomes brokered. At that point some delegates are given a free vote, depending on rules in each state, and a series of bartering takes place until one candidate has at least 50 per cent support. Here's where each of the candidates stands on a brokered convention: Trump - Having won the backing of huge numbers of Republican voters, Trump has the most to lose from a brokered convention. While he has not addressed the issue directly, he will oppose it, given how senior GOP officials have openly discussed using it to derail his campaign. Cruz - Spoke out against it today, saying it would cause a 'revolt' among voters. While this is true, Cruz also likely fears the possibility due to his own unpopularity among establishment Republicans. Rubio - While he has not discussed the possibility directly, CNN reports that his campaign manager spoke to donors about it on Friday as a way to stop Trump winning the nomination. Kasich - Has openly said that this is his best route to the White House. His strategy depends on winning just enough state caucuses and primaries to deprive the other candidates of a majority, then using last-minute power-brokering to secure the nomination. Advertisement

In the case of a brokered convention, Rubio and Kasich likely have the most to gain - and unsurprisingly they are the two candidates thought to be preparing for just such an event.

Kasich has openly reveled in the idea, telling CBS that if he wins Ohio it will cause a brokered convention, and he sees that as his best bid for the White House.

Rubio meanwhile has stopped short of openly touting a brokered convention has his strategy, but according to CNN his campaign manager told donors at a closed-door meeting that it would be one way to take the nomination from Trump.

While many senior GOP figures have been content to ignore or underplay the significance of Trump's campaign so far, since his dominant showing on Super Tuesday, party officials have been scrambling to find a way to unseat the business mogul.

Meanwhile Trump has given no indication that he plans on bridging the gap with the 'establishment' after shunning the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday to hold his own rally instead.

Taking to the stage at CPAC, Cruz used the opportunity to attack Trump, saying: 'I think someone told him Megyn Kelly was going to be here.'

Trump and Kelly have a well-established beef with one-another and were back face-to-face on Thursday at the GOP debate in Detroit.

Hammering home his point, Cruz continued: 'Or even worse he was told conservatives were going to be here.

'Or even worse he was told libertarians were going to be here. Or even worse he was told young people were going to be here.'

The Donald still had some support from those attending the annual conservative confab as shouts of 'Trump, Trump, Trump,' rang out through the convention hall, though were quickly shushed by boos.

While Trump has not addressed the issue of a brokered convention directly, having won over huge swathes of Republican voters, he will be looking to secure the nomination well in advance of June

Ted Cruz used his CPAC speech to promote his candidacy over that of Donald Trump, who announced today that he would be skipping the annual event attended by the conservative grassroots

Trump, yet again, surprised the political world today by announcing he was skipping CPAC, after appearing at the conference in years past.

Trump decided to head to Kansas and hold a rally with supporters instead.

Unlike the warm reception Cruz received, Trump could have faced an embarrassing walk-out at the conference, as activist William Temple, a tricorn hat-wearing rabble-rouser, planned to have fellow activists get up and leave, a play he made last year during then-frontrunner Jeb Bush's speech.

'We're having a massive walkout on Saturday when he comes to speak,' Temple threatened yesterday to the conservative magazine National Review.

'We already have over 300 people who are going to get up at one time and go to the bathroom,' Temple added.

Another group, an anti-Trump Super PAC called 'Make America Awesome,' had been trying to pressure organizers to cancel on Trump.

'Allowing Trump to speak at the conservative conference 'will do lasting and huge (yuge!) damage to the reputations of CPAC, ACU, individual board members, the conservative movement, and indeed the GOP and America,' argued Liz Mair, the GOP strategist behind the Super PAC, to Politico.

With Trump canceling, that made Cruz, who has the second-most delegates in the Republican race, the big-ticket get.

Cruz delighted the crowd by taking on Trump.

Since his dominant showing on Super Tuesday, establishment Republicans have scrambled for a way to unseat Trump from the top spot, including denying him at the last minute at the convention

'Where was Donald?' Cruz asked, as he has during Republican debates, when immigration reform was heading through the Senate in 2013. 'Sadly, worse than nowhere, Donald was funding the Gang of Eight.'

Trump had started moving to the center more in last night's Detroit debate, playing toward the general election, which allowed Cruz to attack the billionaire on his political malleability.

'Flexible is code word in Washington, D.C., for getting ready to stick it to you,' Cruz said.

Sean Hannity joined Cruz onstage after his remarks to toss the senator several questions  mainly, how Cruz becomes the GOP nominee.

Unlike John Kasich, who articulated earlier in the day how he might grab the nomination through a brokered convention, Cruz said he simply wanted to win enough delegates to bypass Trump.

'If you want to beat Donald Trump, this is how you do it, you beat Donald Trump with the voters,' Cruz noted.

'It is the Washington establishment in a fevered frenzy,' Cruz said, explaining that's who wishes to see a floor fight at this summer's Republican National Convention.

'All of their golden children, the voters keep rejecting,' Cruz laughed, suggesting that he and Trump were the two candidates the 'establishment' didn't want to see moving into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

A brokered convention, he also warned, would create a 'manifest revolt' among voters.

Cruz again asked the audience, and those who had supported Republican candidates who have already dropped out, to join his movement against Trump, promising that he could see any of those candidates  from Chris Christie to Carly Fiorina  as playing a role in a Cruz administration.
A man in a clown suit was busted by Georgia police Tuesday after he allegedly smoked meth inside a Waffle House restaurant carrying a knife and a book bag of drugs.

Waffle House staff called police shortly after 4am after they noticed Jacob Worthington, 25, appeared to be using meth inside the restaurant, located at 140 Clayton Street in Athens.

When cops arrived they found a cannabis pipe on the counter where Worthington had been sitting, officials with the Athens-Clarke County police department told Daily Mail Online.

Jacob Worthington, 25, was arrested wearing a clown suit for allegedly smoking meth inside a Waffle House

After police asked the young clown to step out of the restroom where he had locked himself, he admitted he was the owner of the pipe.

Upon searching the suspect, cops said they found a knife, rolling papers, some LSD wrapped in foil, and a deck of cards with Worthington's identification card inside it.

A book bag that belonged to Worthington contained a jar of cannabis, a jar of mushrooms, a digital scale, and a 'small golden keepsake' that had weed and a 'small bag of white powder' inside it, police said.

Worthington, of Gainsville, Georgia, said nothing after officers read him his Miranda rights and was booked on four drug-related counts, including possession with intent to sell, police said.

Police said Worthington was carrying several kinds of drugs, a knife, and a digital scale on the night he was busted
The next time youre despairing at the state of the world, heres what you need to do. Catch a train to Wolverhampton, and sit down on a patch of damp pavement opposite the church of St Peters Collegiate.

Youll need to wrap up warm, and remember to bring a plastic cup. Make yourself a cardboard sign, nothing fancy, then go and sit cross-legged and wait. Within minutes, your spirits will be lifted by the overflowing milk of human kindness.

Thats what I did on Thursday, following reports that a beggar in the West Midlands town was earning 300 to 500 a day. I couldnt believe this to be true. In London, maybe, but Wolverhampton? Where the average salary is 18,500? Ridiculous! Yet no sooner had I plonked myself down at 7.50am than I saw how it might be possible.

My first benefactor, a black girl in her 20s, actually emptied her purse into my cup, kick-starting my float with 80p in coppers and 10ps. Next up was a builder who gave me a quid, followed by 70p from a dishevelled man who easily could have passed for a tramp himself.

Matthew Bell, sat on the pavement, is seen thanking a woman after she hands him some spare change

By 8am Id made 2.50  enough to buy me a Continental breakfast at a cafe nearby. Ten minutes more, and I could upgrade to the Full English.

You may think me cynical  a London professional posing as homeless. But I was genuinely trying to understand why people with homes  and presumably with a fighting chance of getting a job  instead choose to beg in the cold. And, of course, all the money I raised has gone to a local Wolverhampton homeless charity (I paid for breakfast myself).

Of course, many homeless people have genuine reasons for being on the streets. They often have dreadful background stories  drug addiction, domestic abuse, mental health issues and countless other problems.

But there is a worrying rise in rogue beggars, people who arent actually rough sleeping, who have dawned upon the depressing truth that you can make more money on the streets than toiling away for the minimum wage of 6.70 an hour.

This week, it was reported that only one in five beggars is genuinely homeless, while many are doing it to top up their benefits or even incomes from work.

The Mail ran a story about a man who was caught on film clambering back into his 40,000 Audi sportscar, after a day begging in Newquay, Cornwall. In another case, a conman pretended to be an ex-paratrooper to earn 5,000 over six months by begging in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, last year. One woman admitted begging after leaving her office job each day to pay for a new kitchen.

Then theres the claim by a local Labour councillor that one beggar pretending to be homeless was making up to 500 a day  the equivalent of 2,500 a week  on the streets of Wolverhampton.

I wanted to find out if the reports were true: could I actually make hundreds of pounds, or would it be a humiliating struggle to scrape a few pence?

Unsurprisingly, I was a little nervous before starting. It takes a big gulp of pride to stick your paw out and ask for alms from strangers. Begging is, or should be, the last resort.

Apart from anything, its illegal, with a maximum penalty of 1,000. So I had expected to be ignored, kicked, spat at, and generally treated like a sponging wastrel. How wrong I was.

After two hours, Id made 23.13, plus donations of a jumbo cup of tea, a can of Coke, and a Kit-Kat Chunky, bringing the total value to about 26. All that from 24 separate people, making the average donation more than a pound.

After two hours, Matthew made 23.13, plus donations of a cup of tea, a can of Coke, and a Kit-Kat Chunky

The advice from experts and homeless charities is typically not to give money to beggars as it perpetuates the root problems of alcohol, drugs and dependency.

John Bird, the founder of the Big Issue, wrote very passionately in this paper how giving money locks the beggar in a continuing downward spiral of abject dependency and victimhood, where all self-respect, honesty and hope are lost. Mr Bird, who has dedicated his life to helping Britains homeless  estimated to number 3,569  is no doubt right.

But it seems that the kind-hearted people of Wolverhampton  and no doubt across the country  cannot help giving when they see someone apparently in need.

Unlike the fake paratrooper, I hadnt even had to use an elaborate back story to win over peoples sympathy. Just the sight of me looking pitiful on that damp cold pavement was enough to pull a lot of heart strings. I was astonished at the unquestioning kindness of strangers.

I neednt have worried about looking too comfortable. Because anyone who sits on a pavement when the mercury is at 3C starts to feel and look pretty sorry for themselves. Your nose goes red and your eyes start to stream.

I may not have been homeless, but I was certainly cold, frightened and ashamed. Which made it easy to sound pitiful and make puppy eyes. All too easily, I had slipped into the habits of a real beggar.

Location is key. I struck lucky with my first pitch, in a leafy part of town, between the university, an art gallery and the council offices. The students of Wolverhampton University proved a sympathetic bunch.

One Asian boy gave me a pound, then came back to give me two more, chatting on his mobile phone the whole time.

A 20-something girl, who looked pretty cold and tired herself, came back to give me two pounds, and said with a smile: I know what its like to go through difficult times. That broke my heart.

Im sorry to say, begging involves a lot of deception. For example, if you have raised enough money to buy yourself breakfast after just ten minutes, you cant truthfully carry on claiming to be hungry.

One must have a near-empty cup at all times because nobody is going to add money to a brimming cup. So even for the genuinely homeless, its a necessary fiction to pretend that you are poorer than you are.

I was less lucky when I sat outside the shopping mall. Within minutes Id been told to get a f***ing job.

However, I quickly learned that theres no type that gives: they were men and women of all ages and races. People in groups hardly ever stop to give money. And what you dont really want is a long conversation with someone, as that stops other passers-by from giving. I found politeness helped  a well-timed please, sir, was better than mate as a form of address.

One bizarre man came over to loiter with me, moaning that he was being kept waiting in the cold by a student he was due to meet.

He then said he was going to a gay bar later on. Perhaps he thought I was a rent boy. I shuddered to think what might happen to vulnerable young men in this situation. I shuffled off, fast.

There was the occasional jibe. An elderly Asian man shouted: Im a beggar myself! Go and sign on. One young man said: Go to Birmingham. Youll make 800 a day there. One student stopped to give me something, but his friend stopped him, saying: No man, he should get a job.

On the whole, the people who looked less well-off were more likely to give. The woman I most admired was the one who stopped to ask incredulously why I was there. Surely, she said, there was someone I could turn to, somewhere I could go? And, of course, she was right. Just at the end of the street is a charity providing shelter and hot meals and drinks for the homeless. At the other end is the council, which has an extensive re-housing program. The church opposite has also raised money for a temporary shelter which has just opened.

Over four hours begging  two in Wolverhampton and two in London  Matthew made 41.50, plus a decent amount of food and drink

But at the rate of money I was making  12-13 an hour  Id have enough to check into a hotel by the evening, and buy myself a decent bottle of Cabernet Shiraz.

Soon, however, the shame of my deception was becoming too much  I was starting to recognise people Id seen earlier. Wolverhampton has a population of 250,000, and I could see that here was a community that really cares for its people.

Would it be the same in London? That afternoon I headed to the capital with my cardboard sign, and set up outside Sexy Fish in Mayfair, the most fashionable restaurant of the moment where a fillet steak will set you back 110.

This proved to be a completely different story. Hundreds of well-heeled professionals bustled past without so much as a glance. Many seemed affronted by the sight of me.

Yet the wealth on display was astonishing: gleaming great Bentleys lolled around Berkeley Square, and glamazon women stilted past me on high heels weighed down with their Bond Street shopping bags.

It made the few people who did stop all the more extraordinary. One immaculately coiffed woman in knee-high Christian Louboutin boots handed over a fiver before I had even opened my mouth.

A smartly-dressed man gave me a coffee (not my favourite flavour but beggars cant be choosers) and a chocolate brownie from Pret a Manger. As one businessman gave me a pound, he put a kind hand on my shoulder and said: Good luck. Get yourself off the street.

Time passes slowly when youre cold, and its the cold and boredom that get to you in the end. I felt like I had done a full days work by 4 oclock, when all Id done was sit on the ground pretending to be Tiny Tim.

I must have looked seriously convincing by the end of the day, because as I headed home to have a bath, a man came up to me unprompted and handed over 1.20.

Over four hours begging  two in Wolverhampton and two in London  I made 41.50, plus a decent amount of food and drink. It wasnt anywhere near the 500 alleged to have been made by that unknown Wolverhampton beggar, but it was cash in my pocket, tax free, and came in rather quicker than it would have done in a minimum-wage job.

Yes, I had sacrificed my pride but I did learn something about the British people: that even when they know there are rogue beggars out there, and that its wiser to give to charities, they still give cash to beggars. They cant help it.
Britain is powerless to boot out thousands of illegal immigrants, a minister admitted last night.

In a stark indictment of the UKs porous borders, Richard Harrington said many could not be deported because they had no place to go.

By refusing to disclose their nationality  often burning their passports  they can exploit human rights laws that bar the expulsion of failed asylum seekers of unknown origin.

Britain is powerless to boot out thousands of illegal immigrants, a minister admitted last night. Above, a Macedonian police officer points directions to the refugees after they cross the border between Greece and Macedonia today

Mr Harrington, who is a Home Office minister, spoke out after MPs criticised the Government for failing to send back illegals. Where would they be deported to, most of them? he said. This deportation sounds easy, it sounds a common sense thing to do. But the truth is most of these illegal migrants have got no place to be deported to.

Tory MPs said the UK had become a soft touch and efforts to tackle illegal immigration were at an all-time low.

Home Office data shows the number kicked out had almost halved from 21,425 in 2004 to just 12,056 last year. The Conservative revolt comes amid mounting anger at David Camerons failure to seize back control of Britains borders in his EU negotiations ahead of Junes referendum.

Christopher Chope, whose private members bill would make it a criminal offence to be an illegal immigrant after June, insisted migrants were given a perverse incentive to head to the UK. The Tory MP said they were given a slap on the wrist by soft touch officials.

Public anxiety about illegal immigration is at an all-time high and the effectiveness of the Government in tackling it, in my submission, is at an all-time low, he added.

If we got tough with illegal migrants in our country then the people smugglers would divert them away from the United Kingdom, because the way people smugglers operate is they are always going to try to use the weakest points of entry.

In a stark indictment of the UKs porous borders, Richard Harrington said many could not be deported because they had no place to go. Above, migrants walk toward a transit camp after entering Macedonia on Friday

Mr Harrington also blamed the Dublin Convention, an EU rule under which migrants are supposed to claim asylum in the first member state they set foot in, for the UKs inability to deport illegal immigrants.

It is often difficult to establish exactly where an individual first arrived in the EU and, in 2014, Britain sent only 49 asylum seekers back to France  despite thousands making their way here via Calais.

Migrants are also spared being sent back to homelands judged unsafe.

Challenging Mr Harrington on the convention, Sir Edward Leigh, a Tory Eurosceptic, said: What people cant understand is where someone has palpably come through perfectly safe countries  Spain, France, Italy  and theyve arrived here and theyre caught, why cant they be sent back to France and claim asylum there?

Figures yesterday showed that a record 1.25million asylum seekers arrived in the EU last year  more than double the figure from 2014.

By refusing to disclose their nationality  often burning their passports  migrants can exploit human rights laws that bar the expulsion of failed asylum seekers of unknown origin. Above, refugees walk on the Greek side of the border as they wait permission to enter Macedonia on Friday

The figures from Eurostat, the EUs official statistical agency, showed that 38,400 lodged claims in the UK  a 19 per cent increase on the year before.

Campaigners and MPs warned the figures were the tip of the iceberg because they cover only official claims and do not take account of migrants who have not claimed asylum.

Many do not immediately seek sanctuary when they arrive in Europe  either waiting until they reach wealthy northern Europe or working illegally in the black market. Analysts estimate more than a million foreigners are living unlawfully in the UK.

A Home Office spokesman said: We have legislated to make it harder for people to lodge spurious appeals and through the Immigration Act 2014 we have made it easier to remove people who should not be in the UK through the introduction of deport now, appeal later provisions.
According to police, both the truck driver and bus driver are at fault

The incident took place on March 2 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province

One person died and five more were injured when the truck hit them

One person has died and five more were injured after a truck crashed into a crowd of pedestrians waiting at a bus stop in Hangzhou, eastern China, on 2nd March.

The incident, which was caught on CCTV cameras, show the truck being nudged into an outside lane by a bus and then careering straight into pedestrians who were about to board the bus, the People's Daily Online reports.

According to Chinese authorities, initial reports have found that both the truck and the bus driver are at fault.

The aftermath: One person died and five more were injured after they were hit by a truck while boarding a bus

Accident: Video footage shows the bus pulling out in front of a truck loaded with sand in front of a bus stop

Footage from the scene showed that the entire incident was over in a matter of seconds.

One minute people were waiting for the bus, the next, the truck was pushing them over, showing no signs of stopping.

Five people were wounded and a female pedestrian died in the accident.

The woman was taken to hospital along with the other casualties but her injuries were too severe and she later died in hospital.

Another injured pedestrian was four months pregnant. She was taken to the hospital for a check up and both the mother and baby were fine.

Shocking: CCTV footage caught the moment the truck careered into a group of people waiting to board a bus

According to police, both the driver of the bus and the truck driver are at fault for the incident in Hangzhou

A man surnamed Chen was one of the injured.

He said: 'I was waiting to get on the bus. I was standing the closest to the bus' door waiting to get on. Then I felt myself being pushed to the ground.'

The city's traffic police have released a statement on the accident.

After investigating, they found that both vehicles played their part in the crash.

They say that the bus driver should not have changed lanes so abruptly.

The truck was also overloaded.

Officers say they are still investigating the case.
Doctors in China had to remove a six inch metal wire from a mans stomach after he swallowed it following an argument with his wife.

The 36-year-old Shanghainese man, known as Mr Qi, angrily swallowed the wire then refused to go to the hospital on March 2.

He suffered severe abdominal pain the next day and was eventually rushed to hospital. The metal object was removed at 5pm in an emergency operation, reportsHuanqiu.com, and affiliation of the Peoples Daily Online.

Dangerous: 36-year-old Mr Qi from Shanghai suffered with abdominal pain when he swallowed a metal wire

Speaking to the Peoples Daily, doctors at the Shanghai Songjiang District Central Hospital said they gave him a CT scan which showed his stomach had a six inch foreign object inside.

One end of the wire had lodged itself in his stomach wall, while another end entered the duodenum of his small intestine.

Mr Qi needed to be treated as soon as possible. They successfully removed the wire from his stomach by using endoscopy to locate the wire and pull it out.

After surgery, Mr Qi stomach pains disappeared and he was feeling much better, if not embarrassed.

Endoscopy: Doctors performed emergency surgery on Mr Qi after he swallowed the wire arguing with his wife

According to the Shanghai Songjiang District Central Hospital, in recent years the hospital Digestive Endoscopy Center has taken many cases similar to this.

Patients have entered the hospital with a number of foreign objects inside them including chicken bones, nails, coins and even rocks.

Dr Li Qinghua from the hospital said if Mr Qi had delayed medical treatment, the wire could have penetrated or pierced the wall of the digestive tract tissue or blood vessels outside the wall.

This would cause bleeding and could result in death.
intervened by armed police, two were shot and one later died

Four suspected Chinese gang members broke into a gun shop in Thailand and attempted to rob it using fake weapons.

Before they could get away they were stopped by armed Thai police on Charoen Krung Road in Bangkok, reports Huanqiu.com, an affiliation if the Peoples Daily Online.

Two of the men were shot and taken to hospital where one later died from his injuries. One man managed to escape from the heist which took place at 10am on Friday.

Busted: Four suspected Chinese men tried to rob a gun shop in Bangkok weilding knives and fake weapons

Escape: One man is reported to have fled the scene and is on the run and one man was shot dead in the heist

Heist: Two of the robbers are now in custody while one remains on the run, the case is still under investigation

The suspects were wielding replica BB guns and knives when they charged into the shop, stabbing employees who tried to resist.

During the attack, the owner and a member of staff were stabbed by the men but they were not seriously injured.

Speaking to local reporters, the police said they suspected the criminals were Chinese and none of them spoke any Thai.

Their passports showed that they were from Inner Mongolia, and entered Thailand on February 27.

As well as the fake weapons, the men also possessed walkie-talkies, keys, screwdrivers and other tools that could be used in a crime, suggesting this was not a random robbery.

The owner of the shop said that he had seen the men a few days before outside his shop checking out the location.

Caught red handed: Armed policed stormed a gun shop in Thailand that was being robbed by four men

Injured: The shop keeper and a customer were injured during the robbery, one of the attackers later died

One of the men escaped and the police were told he was the gang leader controlling the other members from outside, but this is yet to be confirmed.

According to Tairath.com, officers examined the scene and found two motorcycles that they believed belonged to the criminals.

A witness said that the criminals were wearing coveralls and helmets obscuring their faces at the waiting area in front of the store before the attempted robbery.

Two of the robbers are now in custody while one remains on the run,
Giving people 'laughing gas' after a traumatic or harrowing event could stop them being haunted by any potential distressing memories.

In tests, people who inhaled nitrous oxide after watching graphic scenes of extreme violence reported fewer troubling memories in the days after the film.

While people who only breathed normal air had a much more gradual decline in the number of bad memories, or 'intrusions.'

Giving people 'laughing gas' after a traumatic or harrowing event could stop them being haunted by any potential distressing memories. In tests, people who inhaled nitrous oxide after watching graphic scenes of reported fewer troubling memories than people who only breathed normal air. Stock image pictured

The research may help to reduce effects of post traumatic syndrome disorder - experienced by people caught up in awful events such as soldiers or civilians in wars or emergency services workers.

To test the effects of nitrous oxide, the researchers from University College London asked 50 healthy volunteers to watch two scenes of graphic violence in a French film described by one critic as 'so violent and cruel that most people will find it unwatchable'.

The film clips were chosen to create a milder form of the sorts of intrusive memories that follow from people suffering trauma in real-life and a trained psychologist and medical doctor were on hand during the screening.

MEMORIES AND NITROUS OXIDE People watched two scenes of graphic violence in a French film described by one critic as 'so violent and cruel that most people will find it unwatchable'. People who inhaled nitrous oxide after watching the graphic scenes reported fewer troubling memories in the days after the film. People who only breathed normal air had a much more gradual decline in the number of bad memories. If information is 'important' enough to remember, because it produces a strong emotional response, it is 'tagged' for storage. The brain requires N-Methyl D-Aspartate (NMDA) receptors to tag information during the day, which is then filed for long-term storage while we sleep. Nitrous oxide blocks NMDA receptors, so could interfere with tagging. Advertisement

The 2002 film, Irreversible, features a violent rape scene and a man's face being battered with a fire extinguisher.

People who inhaled a mixture of 50 per cent nitrous oxide and oxygen afterwards experienced a much faster decline in distressing memories than those who breathed normal air.

The number of distressing memories reported by volunteers went down exponentially over the days following the film for those given nitrous oxide, while the decline was more gradual for those given air.

In the week that followed, volunteers completed a daily diary to record any distressing intrusive memories they experienced, the paper in Psychological Medicine reported.

Dr Ravi Das, of the UCL Psychology department said: 'The day after they saw the film, the number of intrusions experienced by the group who received nitrous oxide fell by over a half.

'By contrast, the decline in intrusions was much slower in the group who received air, where there was not a significant drop in intrusions until the fourth day.

'We think that this is because nitrous oxide disrupts a process that helps permanent memories to form.'

He added: 'On any given day your brain will be exposed to a huge amount of information, some important, but most trivial.

To test the effects of nitrous oxide, the researchers asked 50 healthy volunteers to watch two scenes of graphic violence in a French film called Irreversible (pictured). It features a violent rape scene and a man's face being battered with a fire extinguisher

'If information is "important" enough to remember, for instance because it produces a strong emotional response, it is "tagged" for storage.

'The brain requires N-Methyl D-Aspartate (NMDA) receptors to tag information during the day, which is then filed for long-term storage while we sleep.

'We know that nitrous oxide blocks NMDA receptors, so could interfere with tagging.

'This might explain why the nitrous oxide group seemed to have weaker memories of the film the day after they watched it.

The film starred Monica Belluci as the heroine Alex and was rated an 18 by the British Film Board

The research also found that people who felt more 'dissociated' after watching the film tended to experience more intrusive memories.

Dissociation is a measure of how detached someone feels from a situation and from themselves, and is assessed by questionnaire.

Signs of dissociation include a distorted experience of time, a feeling that things are unreal and dream-like, and a feeling of disconnection from one's body.

Co-author Dr Sunjeev Kamboj said: 'Nitrous oxide is routinely used as a painkiller by paramedics and in A&E departments because it is safe and easy to administer.

'Many people who end up in an ambulance will have undergone some form of psychological trauma, and our study suggests that the nitrous oxide is likely to be having some effect on how their brain processes it.

'However, whether it helps to prevent symptoms of PTSD or makes them more likely may depend on how dissociated patients feel before they receive it.

Further research is now needed to determine whether dissociation similarly affects the response of trauma victims who receive nitrous oxide or other painkillers such as ketamine.

The researchers note that intrusive memories differ from flashbacks.

While intrusive memories are recollections of an event, during flashbacks PTSD sufferers re-experience a traumatic event in full as though it were happening and may be unable to distinguish it from the present reality.
The flush button in an airplane bathroom has about 265 colony-forming units of bacteria per square inch it has been claimed - which is enough to deter some people from using the restroom for the entire flight.

However, Boeing is working on a solution that it says kills 99.9 percent of the pathogens that are traveling in airplane lavatories by using the power of ultra violet lights (UV).

This technology turns on the moment someone exits the small latrine and sanitizes all surfaces in just three seconds, it even lifts and shuts the toilet seat.

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But Boeing is working on a solution that kills 99.9 percent of the pathogens that are traveling in airplane lavatories by using the power of ultra violet lights (UV). This technology turns on the moment someone exits the small latrine and sanitizes all surfaces in just three seconds, it even lifts and shuts the toilet seat

WHAT ARE THE FEATURES? Boeing is working on a solution that kills 99.9 percent of the pathogens that are traveling in airplane lavatories by using the power of ultra violet lights (UV). This technology turns on the moment someone exits the small latrine and sanitizes all surfaces in just three seconds, it even lifts and shuts the toilet seat. The design also includes hands-free faucets, a soap dispenser, trash flap and a hand dryer to cut down on the waste of paper towels. The manufacturing firm is looking at developing hands-free door latches a vacuum system is being developed that will suck up any excess water or spillage on the restroom floor. Advertisement

'We're trying to alleviate the anxiety we all face when using a restroom that gets a workout during a flight,' Jeanne Yu, director of environmental performance for Boeing's commercial airplanes division, said in a statement.

This UV light isn't the same as ultraviolet A or B that is used in tanning beds or growing lights, so this method is harmless to humans.

'The UV light destroys all known microbes by literally making them explode,' said Jamie Childress, Associate Technical Fellow and a BR&T engineer.

'It matches the resonant frequency of the molecular bonds on the outside of the microbes.'

The design also includes hands-free faucets, a soap dispenser, trash flap and a hand dryer to cut down on the waste of paper towels.

The manufacturing firm is looking at developing hands-free door latches, as they each have 70 colony-forming units of bacteria per square inch.

And a vacuum system is being developed that will suck up any excess water or spillage on the restroom floor.

'Some of the touch-less features are in use on our airplanes today,' King said. 'But we feel these, combined with the UV sanitizing, will make for a great clean package that passengers and airlines will love.'

Boeing is working with engineers in Commercial Airplanes Product Development on the lavatory concept as well as other technologies to make the overall cabin cleaner, because the tray tables have about 2,555 colony-forming units of bacteria per square unit.

Other airplane manufactures have already started their technology for cleaner restrooms.

Airbus is creating its own technologies for jetliner bathrooms, reports Bloomberg.

'Airbus is developing 'touchless' technologies for our future lavs, and we will also include 'anti-bacterial' surfaces as an upcoming lav feature,' said Ingo Wuggetzer, vice president of marketing at Airbus.

The design also includes hands-free faucets, a soap dispenser, trash flap and a hand dryer to cut down on the waste of paper towels. The manufacturing firm is looking at developing hands-free door latches, as they each have 70 colony-forming units of bacteria per square inch

Boeing is working with engineers in Commercial Airplanes Product Development on the lavatory concept as well as other technologies to make the overall cabin cleaner, because the tray tables have about 2,555 colony-forming units of bacteria per square unit

'Moreover, as well as improving lav hygiene, the ambiance and overall freshness will be noticeably enhanced.

'So, overall, Airbus is set to significantly raise the bar on the passengers' experience of using an in-flight lav.'

Boeing has filed a patent for its UV light self-cleaning bathroom, which through testing has shown it can minimize the growth and potential transmission of disease-causing microorganisms.
Study carried out by team at University of New South Wales, Australia

Researchers studying fruit flies, pictured, found their offspring's size could be influenced by the length of previous mates, and believe something similar could occur in humans (file picture)

It's common knowledge that a mother and father's DNA help form their offspring's genetic make-up  but now scientists have thrown something else into the mix.

Researchers studying fruit flies found their progeny's size could be influenced by the length of a previous mate.

This may be because chemicals in the original male's seminal fluid can have a lingering effect, and scientists have even suggested that something similar could occur in humans.

The theory is known as 'telegony' and was first proposed by Aristotle in ancient Greece.

It was one of the reasons kings were banned from marrying divorcees.

The theory was discredited thanks to the advent of genetics. But now, writing in the journal Ecology and Evolution, scientists have suggested flings can influence the offspring of future mates.

Professor Russell Bonduriansky, of the University of New South Wales in Australia, said: 'Traditionally, the idea is when this type of mating takes place, there is no resource transfer and there is no paternal care.

'Males contribute DNA to fertilise an egg, but we believe there is something more complex going on.'

His researchers began thinking about evolutionary preferences for seminal fluid in 2014 while studying the offspring of female fruit flies that mated with males of varying sizes.

They found if a male, either large or small, mated with a female fly before she was fertile, he would pass his sperm along, but the immature eggs would not be fertilized.

The surprise came two weeks later when it was discovered the size of the young was determined by the size of the first male the mother mated with, rather than the second male that sired the offspring.

The lingering effects appeared to stem from chemicals in the first male's seminal fluid, even though he was not the father.

Prof Bonduriansky said if seminal fluid plays a critical role for future offspring regardless of the father's actual identity, then females may have evolved to exploit the benefits.

On top of situations where semen is just passing through, some female animals can store semen from multiple males before allowing any of it to fertilize their eggs, and this system could have advantages beyond holding out for the best DNA.

Prof Bonduriansky said: 'Females might be choosy even when they do not have eggs ready to be fertilised.

'They might be getting something for future offspring that will be fertilized later on, or they might be getting something for themselves.'

This idea has been around for decades when thinking about pairings based on obvious resources.

Female gibbons and hawks, for example, have evolved to choose males that provide food, territory, or the promise of parental care, even if they are not ready to have offspring.

But Prof Bonduriansky said that reasoning hasn't been applied to systems where there's nothing but a small ejaculate being transferred.

It means chemicals in male seminal fluid could have lingering effects that influence a child's DNA (file picture)

And size might not matter as much as previously thought. Seminal fluid is chemically complex, with proteins and tic messengers called RNA floating in the liquid outside of the sperm.

So even the effects of a small ejaculate could be significant, giving females a largely unexplored bonus from sex.

Prof Bonduriansky said: 'It is pretty clear now seminal fluid is packed with paternal RNA. And this would be in humans, mice, fruit flies and nematode worms at least.'

He added: 'In some systems, mostly nematodes and mice, there is evidence these RNAs can play a role in early embryonic development.

'But the jury is still out on exactly what effects these molecules have.'

Prof Bonduriansky said researchers typically think of seminal fluid in a small ejaculate as playing different roles, but not as a resource that females purposefully seek out.
Some threw stones for no reason while others placed rocks at foot of tree

Footage showed group of chimps behaving in an unusual way around it

The discovery defied explanation. A researcher studying chimpanzees in the savannahs of the Republic of Guinea was baffled by a strangely scarred tree she had found.

Laura Kehoe, a PhD student at Humboldt University in Berlin, wondered whether it was the work of the chimps.

So she set up a remote camera and it showed that chimpanzees were indeed behind it. A group had approached the tree and behaved in a highly unusual way.

Some of them threw stones at the tree for no apparent reason, which explained the scars. Others gathered stones and laid them at the foot of the tree, creating a rough cairn. This was no idle play.

The chimps were fully committed to their stone-throwing and cairn-building, and yet on the face of it, their behaviour appeared to serve no purpose whatsoever.

Laura Kehoe, a PhD student at Humboldt University in Berlin, set up a camera which found chimps were behaving bizarrely around a scarred tree

Perhaps the chimps were using the tree to communicate long-distance with each other, throwing the rocks to make a drumming sound that could be heard far away.

But why then did a juvenile chimp silently place stones inside the tree? And what use would a cairn be for long-distance communication?

Though she hardly dared think it, one suggestion kept rearing itself in Laura Kehoe's mind. Perhaps this was a display of reverence. A form of ritual. And if so, did it mean that  incredible as it may sound  chimpanzees have something that we might call religion?

You have to be careful with such suggestions if you are a scientist. Academics have a professional dread of foisting human ideas on non-humans, and the notion of religious animals is about as far-fetched to many scientists as it can get.

Yet Kehoe stuck to her guns: 'Maybe we found the first evidence of chimpanzees creating a kind of shrine that could indicate sacred trees,' she said. And if you think about it, the fact that chimps are animals is no reason to rule out the possibility that the tree has some kind of special meaning for them.

We humans share more than 98 per cent of our genetic material with chimpanzees. The many things we have in common include smartness, communications skills, tool-use, a strong social sense and marked problem-solving abilities.

Footage showed how some of the chimps threw stones (left) at the tree for no apparent reason, others gathered stones and laid them at the foot of the tree (right)

To suggest that both species can have a shared experience of reverence is not the biggest leap that has ever been made in the history of philosophy and science.

Anthropologists usually suggest that religion first developed among humans to get us through hard times and, above all, as a way of dealing with death.

It involves an understanding of what death is: an appreciation of the fact that death is a permanent state, and that someone who dies will never be seen alive again.

It was once widely accepted that this understanding was one of the unbridgeable chasms that separated human from non-human animals for all time: but that view has had to be modified.

The ethologist Cynthia Moss devoted her life to the study of elephants. Here's what a group of elephants did after poachers had killed one of their number, an individual Moss had named Tina.

'They stood around Tina's carcass, touching it gently with their trunks and feet . . . they tried to dig with their feet and trunks and when they managed to get a little earth up they sprinkled it over the body.

'Trista, Tia and some of the others went off and broke branches from the surrounding low bushes and brought them back and placed them on the carcass . . . by nightfall they had nearly buried her with branches and earth.

'Then they stood vigil over her for most of the night and only as dawn was approaching did they reluctantly walk away.' Make of this what you choose: but the incident certainly seems to show an awareness of death, a consequent grief and an ad-hoc ritual of mourning.

'Maybe we found the first evidence of chimpanzees creating a kind of shrine that could indicate sacred trees,' Kehoe said

I have no doubt whatsoever that an elephant knows what death is, having witnessed an elephant mother's distress at seeing her calf taken by a crocodile. And if you understand death and the loss it brings, you have to find a way of living with it.

San Ignacio lagoon in Baja California, Mexico, used to be a killing-ground. It is a great meeting and mating and birthing place for grey whales at the end of their annual migration, so the small whaling boats in past centuries used to enter the calm waters and turn them red.

But they didn't have it all their own way. The whalers called the grey whales 'devil-fish' because they would deliberately and systematically attack and overturn the boats.

I was there a few years ago, in a small boat. The whales approached with great enthusiasm, but not to overturn our boat. Instead they raised their heads out of the water for a pat.

I saw mother whales nudging their calves forward, so they could have the strange  and perhaps educational  experience of being tickled and kissed by humans. In the first years of commercial whale-watching the boats were approached by tickle-seeking whales that bore scars from harpoons. That is seriously odd.

It would be too much to claim this as a ritual of forgiveness from the whales for our past sins. But to us humans, always prone to sentimentality, that's how it felt.

In the Gombe forest in Tanzania, a strange behaviour has been observed in baboons, primates far more distant from humans than chimpanzees. On occasions they have been observed just sitting all together, contemplating the water of the stream.

Baboon troops are noisy, all-action things: but here was a silence and a stillness observed for 30 minutes, even by the youngest and noisiest.

It's been suggested that this has elements of a shared meditation: something not a million miles from a religious service.

A similar thing has been observed in chimpanzees. Lionel Tiger, anthropologist and professor of Rutgers University in New Jersey, has discussed a period of shared peace enjoyed after breakfast in a chimpanzee group, in a place that felt safe, surrounded by tall trees  'cathedral-like' as Tiger said. (Are our pillared cathedrals an ancient, unconscious memory of such places?)

The behaviour (right, illustrated as a graph) results in accumulations of rocks (pictured left) at the foot of a tree

At another site in Guinea Bissau, footage confirmed suspicions that chimpanzees (pictured) were responsible for these stone piles and were regularly visiting these trees

At these times there is a marked lessening of the day-to-day tensions of communal life. A lot of mutual grooming goes on. The dominant males leave off bothering the smaller ones. It's a special time of shared comfort: 'What you could call a religious-type service,' Tiger suggested.

The British primatologist Jane Goodall has spent her life with chimpanzees, and no human has ever known more about our nearest relative. She has witnessed some extraordinary behaviour across the decades she has spent in Gombe Stream national park in Tanzania. Here she describes a male chimpanzee approaching a waterfall.

'As he gets closer, and the roar of the falling water gets louder, his pace quickens, his hair becomes fully erect, and upon reaching the stream he may perform a magnificent display close to the foot of the falls.

'Standing upright, he sways rhythmically from foot to foot, stamping in the shallow, rushing water, picking up and hurling great rocks. Sometimes he climbs up the slender vines that hang down from the trees high above and swings out into the spray of the falling water. This waterfall dance may last ten or 15 minutes.'

Chimpanzees have been seen to dance in greeting to heavy rain, during violent wind-storms and in response to wildfire.

Where most animals flee, chimpanzees will sometimes linger to marvel at the flames. Goodall asked: 'Is it not possible that these performances are stimulated by feelings akin to wonder and awe?'

The chimps were fully committed to their stone-throwing and cairn-building, and yet on the face of it, their behaviour appeared to serve no purpose whatsoever

She took this a little further: 'If the chimpanzee could share his feelings and questions with others, might these wild elemental displays become ritualised into some form of animistic religion? Would they worship the falls, the deluge from the sky, the thunder and lightning  the gods of the elements?'

A total rejection of these ideas is as foolish as a too-eager acceptance. Just mark this. Everything I have read and observed of humans and animals in the entire course of my life writing about our natural world has confirmed that we have so much more in common with our fellow creatures than we think.

Whether we are talking about communication, intelligence, problem-solving, tool-making, awareness of self, the ability to experience grief, happiness, love and consciousness itself, Charles Darwin was  as usual  spot on when he said: 'The difference in mind between man and the higher animals, great as it is, certainly is one of degree and not of kind.'
This follows recent encounter between a dog and Boston Dynamics robot

Brawl spans seconds, as iguana thrashes the lookalike and abruptly stops

Iguanas are known to be territorial, but the warning comes a bit late for one unfortunate stuffed animal.

A video posted by Instagram user 'robinsmall' shows a massive iguana as it sizes up its inanimate counterpart, and goes in for a vicious attack.

The stuffed animal comes out of the scuffle fully intact, but the tense-looking iguana remains close by.

Scroll down for video

Iguanas are known to be territorial, but the warning comes a bit late for one unfortunate stuffed animal. A video posted by Instagram user robinsmall shows a massive iguana as it sizes up its inanimate counterpart, and goes in for a vicious attack

The video shows the brief encounter between the iguana and what appears to be a plush iguana of a similar size.

For a moment, the two are face-to-face, until the real iguana springs into action.

In just a span of seconds, the hilarious brawl erupts in a blur of green and yellow before coming to an abrupt end.

In just a span of seconds, the hilarious brawl erupts in a blur of green and yellow before coming to an abrupt end

Recently, the internet has been abuzz with animals defending their territories from life-like imposters.

A feisty terrier has taken on Boston Dynamics' 'Spot' dog by barking at it and even giving chase, showing that in the event of a robot uprising, dogs will still be man's best friend.

The dog, named Cosmo, is said to belong to Andy Rubin, the co-founder of Android, who has previously managed the robotics program at Google.

Google acquired Boston Dymamics, which makes numerous sized robotic animals in differing sizes, including Spot, which can run, climb stairs, jog next to its owner and even cope with being kicked.

Cosmo can be seen barking at and chasing Spot in a dog versus robot stand-off captured in a video by venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson who shared the footage onYouTube.

He told IEEE Spectrum: 'I was told that this is the only Spot (their latest robot) in civilian hands.'

The dog, named Cosmo (pictured), is said to belong to Andy Rubin, the co-founder of Android, who has previously managed the robotics program at Google

The 160lb (72kg) electrically powered and hydraulically actuated robot can walk, trot and even climb steps as well as cope with being kicked

The US military has been putting Spot, or the 'Legged Squad Support System' through its paces as a reconnaissance robot, but its future is unclear, according to a report by military.com

Captain James Pineiro, the Ground Combat Element branch head for the Warfighting Lab told the site: 'I see Spot right now as more of a ground reconnaissance asset.

'The problem is, Spot in its current configuration doesn't have the autonomy to do that.'

However, Mr Jurvetson praised the robot's lifelike movement, which certainly captured the attention of Cosmo.

In the video, Cosmo the dog keeps barking at the robot and even when its operator makes it run away, the dog follows (pictured above), seemingly distrusting of the technology

Google acquired Boston Dymamics, which makes numerous sized robotic dogs (pictured) in differing sizes, including Spot, which can run, climb stairs, jog next to its owner and even cope with being kicked

SPOT CAN WITHSTAND KICKING A video showing Spot being kicked last year sparked an ethical debate. It was intended to show how stable the machine is, but viewers complained the 'dog'in the clip had been mistreated. The action was dubbed 'cruel', 'wrong' and has even raised concerns about robotic ethics. One Twitter user wrote: ''Kicking a dog, even a robot dog seems wrong.' Another said: 'Just wrong, kick a robot dog as practice: Google's dog robot looks too real for comfort when getting kicked.' But a more practical user wrote: ''Kicking a dog is wrong; it feels, breathes, and remembers. A robot is a piece of sheet metal.' Noel Sharkey from the University of Sheffield, UK, added: 'The only way it's unethical is if the robot could feel pain.' Advertisement

He quipped: 'the tradition of the uncanny valley continues...To the un-canine valley!'

In the video, Cosmo the dog keeps barking at the robot and even when its operator makes it run away, the dog follows, seemingly untrusting of the technology.

An observer says of the dog: 'He totally thinks he's winning' and when Spot drops to a crouch, his operator says "you win".'

Last year, Boston Dynamics released a video showcasing the robot's amazing abilities.

It shows the 160 lb (72kg) electrically powered and hydraulically actuated robot walking, trotting and even climbing steps.

A sensor on the robot's head helps it navigate over rough terrain - and to spot when humans, or another robo-dog, is nearby by, allowing it to follow its owner and run in formation.

However, in the latest video it appears the dog is being completely controlled by a human operator.
After a century of building what it calls the 'ultimate driving machine', BMW is preparing for a world in which its customers will be mere passengers, and the cars will do the driving themselves.

Days before its 100th birthday, a board member for research and development has described plans for a completely overhauled company.

He revealed BMW's plans where half the R&D staff will be computer programmers, competing with the likes of Google parent Alphabet to build the brains for self-driving cars.

BMW has said it plans to make half the R&D staff computer programmers, competing with the likes of Google parent Alphabet to build the brains for self-driving cars. The firm recently partnered with Baidu on a self-driving car (pictured) in China

'For me it is a core competence to have the most intelligent car,' Klaus Froehlich told Reuters in an interview at the Geneva auto show.

'Our task is to preserve our business model without surrendering it to an internet player.

'Otherwise we will end up as the Foxconn for a company like Apple, delivering only the metal bodies for them.'

GERMANY'S SELF-DRIVING CARS Germany's premium auto makers are at the centre of the country's global reputation for meticulous engineering. Chancellor Angela Merkel will attend BMW's birthday bash at its Munich headquarters on Monday. But with the expected shift in focus from a car's body to its brains, the risk is that the expertise will accumulate in silicon valley or in China, rather than Germany's carmaking regions of Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemburg. BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen's Audi are each making an effort to build a hub for automotive software and services. They clubbed together to buy digital map maker HERE from Nokia last year to create a neutral platform where smart cars can share data on road and traffic conditions. BMW's own recent hiring included a 200-strong digital innovation team in Chicago, most of whom had worked for Nokia, the Finnish mobile phone pioneer. Advertisement

BMW will have to ramp up quickly, striking deals with a new network of suppliers, many from outside the traditional automotive industry.

'We have some catching up to do in the area of machine learning and artificial intelligence,' Froehlich said.

Today, software engineers make up just 20 per cent of the 30,000 employees, contractors and supplier staff that work on research and development for BMW.

'If I need to get to a ratio of 50:50 within five years, I need to get manpower equivalent to another 15,000 to 20,000 people from partnerships with suppliers and elsewhere,' Froehlich said.

He added that German schools are not producing enough tech engineers for BMW to hire them all in house.

As software becomes as important as hardware, another cultural shift could see BMW free up resources by licensing out technology produced by its own engineers, such as drivetrains for electric and hybrid vehicles.

'Going forward we will sell electric drivetrains,' Froehlich added.

'We see many smaller manufacturers who cannot afford to develop a plug-in hybrid.'

BMW said data gathered from a car's onboard sensors will be combined with remote information, for example about weather and traffic, using next generation mobile networks, also known as 5G. Any autonomous cars will rival the ones being developed by Google's parent company Alphabet (pictured)

One of Google's driverless cars was recently pulled over in Mountain View, Silicon Valley, for driving more than 10mph (16km/h) below the street's speed limit in November (pictured)

Among the areas Froehlich identified where BMW will still need partners is in cloud computing, the technology of storing data and software remotely and accessing it over the internet.

Data gathered from a car's onboard sensors will be combined with remote information, for example about weather and traffic, using next generation mobile networks, also known as 5G.

The ultimate aim would be to build as much expertise in-house as possible, although there could be mutual benefits from working with new outside suppliers.

'The thinking here is: they too have weaknesses and there may be some win win situations,' Froehlich said of potential new suppliers.

'Nonetheless I need to build our own in-house competence in the next 5 to 6 years.'
St Paul's team believe that the project will help to spread the treasures of the cathedral to a new audience

Mosaics of the building's famed domed Quire Ceiling can be seen in stunning detail, revealing secrets of the past

The team captured more than 100 detailed views of the cathedral as well as a 'street view' to move through

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The domed ceiling at London's St Paul's cathedral contains stunning works of art containing intricate mosaics and vibrant colours - but if you've ever battled the queues of tourists to gain entry, you'll know they're simply too high to enjoy in detail.

To give a unique and unprecedented glimpse into this Quire Ceiling, Google has partnered with St Paul's to create super high-resolution images of the inside of the cathedral using a gigapixel camera.

The result is the most detailed image of the cathedral ever produced, providing viewers with a digital tour of one of the most iconic of London's historic buildings.

Explore St Paul's Cathedral on the module below. Mobile users can explore the gigapixel image on Google Maps

To give a unique and unprecedented glimpse into this Quire Ceiling (grab pictured), Google has partnered with St Paul's to create super high-resolution images of the inside of the cathedral using a gigapixel camera. The result is the most detailed image of the cathedral ever produced, providing viewers with a digital tour of one of the most iconic of London's historic buildings

As part of the project for Google's Cultural Institute, the tech giant worked with St Paul's to capture more than 100 detailed views of the cathedral.

The St Paul's team believe that the project will help to spread the treasures of the cathedral to a new audience.

It includes a number of specially curated exhibitions, which captures famous artworks of the religious building in unprecedented detail.

Simon Carter, head of the Cathedral's Collection Department said: 'The Cultural Institute partnership will help us to share the many significant objects and archive material that we have in store - and to use that material to shed light on some of the inspiring stories; remarkable achievements; ingenuity, faith and human endeavour which made and continue to make St Paul's a unique phenomenon.'

One of the exhibitions, 'Glories in gold and glass', highlights the detail of the domed Quire Ceiling, which captures the intricate details of the ceiling's beautiful paintings and mosaics.

As part of the project for Google's Cultural Institute, the tech giant worked with St Paul's to capture more than 100 detailed views of the cathedral. The St Paul's team believe that the project will help to spread the treasures of the cathedral to a new audience

The interior of the cathedral's dome was painted by James Thornhill, who was commissioned to carry out the work in 1708. While the intricate mosaics (example pictured) adorning the border of the domed ceiling were designed by William Blake Richmond

Experts believe the scene may give a nod to Charles Darwin. They hint that the animals (birds pictured) point to the ongoing struggle of life to compete and adapt in the theory of evolution. The previously unseen detail shows 'a sign of nature being red in tooth and claw'

'What may have been seen as a calm view of biblical creation reveals a violent struggle on closer inspection.'

DESIGNING THE FAMOUS DOME The interior of the cathedral's dome was painted by James Thornhill, who was commissioned to carry out the work in 1708. While the intricate mosaics adorning the border of the domed ceiling were designed by William Blake Richmond. The whole dome was originally intended to be a mosaic, but due to the size and cost, was considered too elaborate. Instead, Thornhill painted murals based on the life of St Paul's. The paintings took four years to complete, but later deteriorated, thanks to the British climate and London's choking smog. According to the team at St Paul's, the lasting images seen today are reproductions from Thornhill's designs, repainted in 1853. Advertisement

The new detailed images of the intricate mosaics adorning the border of the domed ceiling, designed by William Blake Richmond, have led experts to suggest they may contain a nod to the theory of evolution.

Speaking to The Times, Mr Carter hinted that it may point to a secret nod to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, and the ongoing struggle of life to compete and adapt.

The previously unseen detail shows struggling animals, a sign of nature being 'red in tooth and claw'.

He said: 'The Origin of Species had been published 40 years earlier and the Church was still wrestling with that.

'With the fishes, it looks like they are struggling for survival. Richmond was obviously driving at something else.'

Dr Heike Zech, Senior Curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum and an expert in the ceiling, said: 'Google's Gigapixel of the mosaic dome is in a way a case of history repeating itself: in Victorian times the mosaics were created by arranging thousands of minuscule glass pieces to form the picture.'

The interior of the cathedral's dome was painted by James Thornhill, who was commissioned to carry out the work in 1708.

It was originally intended to be a mosaic, but due to the size and cost, was considered too elaborate.

Instead, Thornhill painted murals based on the life of St Paul's. The paintings took four years to complete, but later deteriorated, thanks to the British climate and London's choking smog.

According to the team at St Paul's, the lasting images seen today are reproductions from Thornhill's designs which were repainted in 1853.

St Paul's Cathedral (pictured) was designed in the 17th century by Sir Christopher Wren, who was responsible for designing much of London's architecture after the great fire of London. This ornate design is thought to be the fourth cathedral to stand on the site, since it was first established in 604 AD. It continues to form a key part of the London skyline, despite the rise of skyscrapers like the Shard

Piotr Adamczyk of the Google Cultural Institute said: 'This new partnership with St Pauls Cathedral has opened the doors to one of Britains most iconic locations.

'Through innovative gigapixel technologies, people around the world will be able to see its hidden treasures and amazing views, in extraordinary detail.'

In addition, digital tourists can take a tour of the building using a street view to move between chambers.

The stunning detail of the images reveal the treasures of St Paul's, such as this section of the Quire Ceiling

The team behind the project said it hopes it will let people around the world see the hidden treasures (Quire Ceiling pictured) as well as offer amazing views of Sir Christopher Wren's cathedral

According to Google, visitors from around the world will be able to 'take a virtual stroll' through the cathedral, including the famous Whispering Gallery - an area in which the acoustics enable people to hear whispers from the other side of the room.

The cathedral continues to form a key part of the London skyline, despite competition from skyscrapers including the 'Cheese grater', The Shard and the giant Millennium Wheel.

In addition to the images, a Google Maps Street View enables viewers to take a 'digital tour' of the cathedral in high-definition detail

Viewers can 'walk' around St Paul's Cathedral (pictured) without leaving their homes, seeing the iconic ceilings, the Whispering Gallery and the views over London

It was designed in the 17th century by Sir Christopher Wren, who was responsible for designing much of London's architecture after the great fire of London. This ornate design is thought to be the fourth cathedral to stand on the site, since it was first established in 604 AD.

London has a number of protected views, lines of sight in which tall structures cannot be built. St Paul's is a focal point of one of these protected views and can be seen from numerous distant points across the city.
For the brave few heading off on long-haul missions to Mars and beyond, staying mentally connected to Earth will be a challenge.

But keeping the link alive may be as simple as providing them with the tastes, and memories, of home.

Celebrity chef and futurist Heston Blumenthal believes nostalgia may be the key ingredient in the future of food, combining tastes, sounds and smells which evoke memories, to keep the astronauts in top mental shape.

He told MailOnline: 'It's really all about embracing food, from being rooted in time and place, in a happy moment and the effect that's going to have on you I think is huge.'

Celebrity chef and futurist Heston Blumenthal (pictured right) believes nostalgia may be the key ingredient in the future of food to keep the astronauts in top mental shape. He worked with with British astronaut Major Tim Peake (picutred left) to design a number of meals for the astronaut to eat aboard the ISS

Blumenthal has worked with British astronaut Major Tim Peake to design a number of meals for the astronaut to eat aboard the International Space Station.

At the end of last year, the chef dined with Major Peake via satellite link - with astronaut orbiting the Earth 400km above in the ISS - with a bacon sandwich and a cup of tea, Tim's favourite.

It was an emotional lunch, he explained.

Beyond the typical space rations, the meals were designed to reconnect Peake with home in a way that nothing else could.

The chef (pictured) has long been a proponent of multisensory cooking, and suggests technology may play more of a subtle role in the future of food

'I wanted to see if I could show the power of food to root Tim or link him to his family back on Earth. Because you can't really be much extracted from Earth than being up there,' he told MailOnline.

'I find it really bizarre that with all of that modern technology and the advancements space travel has helped create, they've still got to eat tinned food,' he added.

US astronaut Scott Kelly, who has just returned from a 340-day stint aboard the ISS spoke of a 'loss of connection'.

Earlier this week he told reporters that the hardest part of his extended mission was 'being isolated in the physical sense from people on the ground who are important to you.'

For those in for the long haul, treating them occasionally to home comforts and eliciting memories of childhood through food could keep that sense of isolation in check.

The innovative chef has long been a proponent of multisensory cooking, and suggests that technology may play more of a subtle role in the future of food, by augmenting the dining experience at home as well.

He envisions a connected dining experience where we use existing technology to pair food and drink with simple elements such as mood lighting and music.

'There are things within the room, the music you play, the lighting, or the cutlery you use. All this stuff, it has a major impact,' he explained.

1st 48hrs on #ISS - busy but incredible. Amazing how fast the body adapts to new environment. Found my tea...life is good! #Principia  Tim Peake (@astro_timpeake) December 17, 2015 What makes a good leader? @StationCDRKelly having a hot bacon sarnie waiting as my 1st meal on #ISS. Boy that tasted good! #Principia  Tim Peake (@astro_timpeake) December 17, 2015

At the end of last year, the chef dined with Major Peake via satellite link - with astronaut orbiting the Earth in the ISS - with a bacon sandwich and a cup of tea. The astronaut tweeted about the event (pictured)

Blumenthal told MailOnline: 'It's really all about embracing food, from being rooted in time and place, in a happy moment and the effect that's going to have on you I think is huge.' He said helping astronauts stay 'connected' to Earth will help on long space trips. This could include the long-haul missions to Mars (illustrated)

'If you had a bottle of wine, or even on food packaging, I don't see why we couldn't have bar codes there where you can scan it and it recommends 'drink this juice or wine with 'x', or eat soup to 'this song'.

'You would scan the box and the song plays or the lighting in the room sets automatically.'

'I find it really bizarre that with all of that modern technology and the advancements space travel has helped create, they've still got to eat tinned food

The approach of combining the senses has already been used to good effect at the Fat Duck, Heston's three Michelin-starred restaurant in Bray, where diners are invited to listen to soundscapes of the seaside through earphones while tucking into a seafood dinner.

Recruiting our ears to the dining experience can actually change the taste, making it seem saltier or the fish taste stronger to the diner.

Although each of the diners is eating the same meal, the soundscape may stir up slightly different memories of their own childhoods, giving them a unique experience.

'The sound of the sea was a bit of a game changer as the sound was quite generic,' he explained; 'so it was enough to nudge you into your own memory.'

Looking ahead, the chef shared his thoughts on the future of food in the home, and it turns out those elusive Star Trek-style replicators may still be a way off.

US astronaut Scott Kelly (pictured), who has just returned from a 340-day stint aboard the ISS spoke of a 'loss of connection'. Earlier this week he told reporters that the hardest part of his extended mission was 'being isolated in the physical sense from people on the ground who are important to you'

The first man in space Yuri Gagarin ate pureed meat from toothpaste tubes as he orbited the Earth in 1961. When the Americans followed the Russians into space they developed freeze dried foods for the Project Mercury missions. Pictured is a tray of food eaten on Skylab, America's first space station, from 1973 - 1974 Astronauts found the initial freeze-dried offerings unappetising and hard to rehydrate. By the time of the Gemini missions from 1965 to 1966 the flavours had improved and the menu included shrimp cocktail, chicken and vegetables and butterscotch pudding. Vacuum-packed food from an early Apollo mission is shown

As a technology, 3D-printing continues to mature, but its use in printing food is still very much in its infancy.

ICE CREAM MEALS What's in a name? When it comes to food, quite a lot apparently. Heston Blumenthal has previously worked with researchers to test the effects of changing what we call a food on how it tastes. A person's taste of smoked salmon could be tweaked depending on whether they were told they were eating ice cream of mouse, showing that the name changes our perception of taste. 'When it was called smoked salmon ice cream it was perceived to be saltier because the expectation was sweet,' he told MailOnline. 'The difference between expectation and delivery was created just by the name. And that was was really the opening of this realisation of all the senses.' Advertisement

Describing his experience working with a company behind prototype food printers last year, he said: 'They've got some pretty interesting shapes they can do  a ball within a cube - but at the moment it's all sugar-based stuff.'

But while the adventurous chef has long been a proponent of bringing the scientific and technological to the dinner table, he admits he's not quite ready to embrace laboratory-grown meat.

When asked if he would add items such as the lab-grown burger  which hit headlines in 2013  to the menu at one of his Michelin star restaurants, he said: 'As it stands now, no, I wouldn't. I don't know enough about it.'

He recounts seeing things at a much less appetising stage of development, when it 'looked like lumps of mucus' in a petri dish.

However, the chef isn't ruling it out the emergence of such methods.

'I think that it's almost inevitable that more things like this will come onto the market,' he said, pointing to Quorn  the mycoprotein meat substitute launched in the late 1980s  as an example.

Astronauts now make up a panel that tastes the food before it blasts off into space on supply missions. Foods are either partially or completely dehydrated to prevent them from spoiling. Meats are exposed to radiation before they are put on-board the shuttle (Soyuz craft pictured) to give them a longer shelf life

Astronaut Terry Virts recently tweeted a photo of a strange-looking 'space cheeseburger' wrapped in a tortilla (pictured). When asked if he would add items such as the lab-grown burger to the menu at one of his Michelin star restaurants, Blumenthal said: 'As it stands now, no, I wouldn't'

EVOLUTION OF ASTRONAUT FOOD Astronaut Terry Virts recently tweeted a photo of a strange-looking 'space cheeseburger' wrapped in a tortilla. While it looked disgusting to many, it was the pinnacle of cosmic cuisine. The first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, ate pureed meat from toothpaste tubes as he orbited the Earth in 1961. When the Americans followed the Russians into space they quickly developed freeze-dried foods for the Project Mercury missions. However, astronauts found the offerings unappetising and hard to rehydrate. By the time of the Gemini missions from 1965 to 1966 the flavours had improved and the menu included shrimp cocktail, chicken and vegetables and butterscotch pudding. Astronauts now make up a panel that tastes the food before it blasts off into space on supply missions. Foods are either partially or completely dehydrated to prevent them from spoiling. Meats are exposed to radiation before they are put on-board the shuttle to give them a longer shelf life. Advertisement

Beyond this, the chef is continuing to explore other cutting edge realms of cooking.

'We have been working on virtual reality for about three or four months,' he told MailOnline.

And leading us further down the scientific rabbit hole, Heston revealed he is also working with researchers to explore the interplay between food, genetics and gut bacteria, and how this changes hormone levels.

But above all, he said, recruiting our other senses as we eat to evoke feelings and memories remains a powerful tool.

'The link between nostalgia and happiness is so strong,' the chef explained, highlighting the importance of taking time to be in the moment and appreciate the dining experience.

'I think that food should simply be fun [and we should have] a happy relationship with it.'

Last week the Royal Society of Chemistry celebrated its 175th year since opening its doors.

The London institution marked the preceding weeks by releasing its 'face s of chemistry', of which Blumenthal was the penultimate face.

A culinary chemist in his own right, Blumenthal has long been an advocate of science in cooking, so much so that he was awarded an honorary fellowship with the RSC in 2005.
The generation who grew up playing The Sims could end up reliving their childhood when it comes to buying their first properties.

A futuristic report predicts that by 2025, the process of buying a house could be filled with game-like 'cyber-safaris', virtual house tours and augmented reality that allows you to virtually redecorate a room while standing in it.

Unfortunately, though, there probably won't be a 'rosebud' cheat for real life.

By 2025 the process of buying a house could be like playing The Sims, pictured, filled with game-like 'cyber-safaris', virtual house tours and augmented reality that allows you to virtually redecorate a room while standing in it

The report was commissioned by easyProperty and The Future Laboratory and explored the transformation that the property market will undergo in the next few years.

It forecasts that by 2025, new technology will make the process of buying a home much more like playing a game than the experience it is today.

For example, one of the first things that comes to peoples' minds when finding a property is location - disruptive neighbours can ruin the perfect house.

USING DRONES AND BEACONS TO SUSS OUT YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD easyProperty and the Future Laboratory expect that drone technology will enable people to scout out their potential neighbourhoods before committing to living there. People will be able to use it to search potential neighbourhoods to find out whether houses nearby throw loud parties and what the noise from the traffic is like. People will also be able to explore their neighbourhoods using augmented reality technology, by linking their mobile devices to beacon technology. It will make the process of wandering around a neighbourhood more similar to hovering your mouse on buildings to see what they are. Advertisement

In The Sims, this was an easy obstacle to overcome because the gamer had complete control of all the neighbourhood, and a particularly annoying neighbour they might find themselves accidentally in the swimming pool without any steps leading out of it.

Whereas technology is not forecast to go as far as getting rid of noisy neighbours, easyProperty and the Future Laboratory expect drone technology will enable people to scout out their potential neighbourhoods before committing to living there.

'As drone technology becomes more affordable, we imagine potential house-hunters will cotton on to its use for conducting those vital pre-purchase searches,' the report explained.

'To find out whether the neighbours throw loud parties every weekend, how noisy the traffic is at key points throughout the day, and other information not easily available from an inspection of the house but vital to long-term happiness.'

People will also be able to explore their neighbourhoods using augmented reality technology, by linking their mobile devices to beacon technology.

This will make the process of wandering around a neighbourhood more informative and will involve hovering your mouse on buildings to see what they are.

As drone technology, pictured, becomes more affordable, people will be able to use it to search potential neighbourhoods to find out whether houses nearby throw loud parties and what the noise from the traffic is like

Digital beacon technology will link passing consumers to properties that match their own personalised criteria and create a virtually guided tour of a neighbourhood

'By linking a buyer's mobile device to digital beacons that will, by then, be embedded in practically every building and business, property service brands will be able to create neighbourhood cyber-safaris that lead buyers to sites of personal interest in an unfamiliar area,' the report said.

'Beacons will allow estate agencies in the future to turn exploring a strange new area into an entertaining game, a bit like an online game translated into the real world,' added Douglas McCabe, boss of technology research company Enders Analysis.

'Deciding to move to a new neighbourhood often relies on a leap of the imagination by buyers.

'They need to understand that this is a place full of possibilities that will appeal to them on a very personal level.

'Gamified tours will help them do that.'

Psychographic profiles using lifestyle preferences will create a hyper-personalised portfolio of properties that increases efficiency when searching for the ideal home, the report explained, and lead buyers to sites of personal interest in an unfamiliar area

Once someone has found the perfect house in the perfect neighbourhood, the chances of finding the interior design and layout to their own taste is quite slim.

At the moment, buyers rely on their imagination to picture what each room would look like decorated in furnishings of their choice.

But in the next few years, this process will be made much easier by technology that will allow buyers to virtually redecorate the rooms they are in using mobile phones and tablets.

Just like The Sims, people will be able to play around with putting different furniture in their rooms before they commit to buying, the report says.

In the computer game The Sims, users can play around with the decoration of their properties by trying different furnishings in the rooms before they buy them, as pictured. In a few years, the real-life process of buying a house might be very similar to this, according to a new report

People will be able to play around with putting different furniture in their rooms before they commit to buying, the easyProperty report said. Augmented reality technology (shown right) will enable consumers (pictured left) to virtually refit a room, showing how a house might look with their preferred colour scheme or furnishings

People will be able to imagine redecorating their bathrooms like playing The Sims (pictured) using tablets and smartphones. Technology could even allow people to have a completely virtual tour of their property without having to travel, if they are moving far away

'Buyers will use a new generation of Heads-up Display (HUD) glasses - more advanced and user friendly future versions of Google Glass - to carry out virtual refits as they stage physical viewings of the two or three homes on their final shortlist,' says the report.

Technology could even allow people to have a completely virtual tour of their property without having to travel, if they are moving far away.

Although it may seem like it, this technology is not entirely the stuff of science fiction.

'We've been working on showrooms that have virtual reality headsets that enable buyers in China to virtually and realistically sit in the rooms of the beautiful penthouse in London they are about to spend millions on,' said Matt Ratcliffe, co-founder of creative studio Masters of Pie.

A company called Masters of Pie has been working on showrooms that use virtual reality headsets to enable buyers in China to virtually and realistically sit in the rooms of beautiful penthouses in London, for example, like looking at a mansion on The Sims (pictured)

Multisensory virtual reality exploriums (pictured) will provide an immersive experience for consumers to view, explore and interact with a property, according to the reporty by easyProperty

'But by 2025, the experience offered by this technology will have become so convincing that it will be difficult to tell the difference between reality and virtual reality  and it will have moved from the luxury sector into the mass market.'

Next year, virtual reality is expected to make a big breakthrough into the mainstream as more affordable cutting-edge headsets such as Apple, HTC Vive, Samsung Gear VR, and Sony Playstation VR, formerly Morpheus, arrive in-store.

Google is also rumoured to be developing a product to add to its Cardboard headset.

The ability to virtually redecorate a room has also been demonstrated in a collaboration between perceptual computing company String and paint brand AkzoNobel that won the Innovation of the Year prize at the 2015 Digital Communication Awards.
Sony is working on a wearable device believed to be a new way to experience music and sound.

Dubbed 'N', the device has been teased in a video from the Japanese firm and will be the first to be released under its new Future Lab Program.

The mysterious gadget will be unveiled at the SXSW Interactive Festival later this month, along with other Future Lab Program concepts.

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Japanese tech giant Sony has announced a new research and development (R&D) program called Future Lab Program that will involve its customers at early stages of development. The company announced the scheme with a video hinting at a current prototype - a wearable device to create new ways of experiencing music

The company announced its new Future Lab Program with a video hinting at a current prototype - a wearable device that will create new ways of experiencing music and sound.

The video shows a woman wearing the white device around her neck, after floating around in water with earphones in.

The device then appears to start talking to her as she stands at the top of a breezy hill, overlooking a city.

It says: 'It's going to be another sunny day in paradise. Just take a look at this weather. Let's get this day off to a great start. Good morning!'

The new R&D programme will let Sony share 'concept prototypes in development at Sony R&D with users for opportunities to co-create future lifestyles' the company said. The design for the newly-announced Future Lab Program concept logo is based on an 'F' and 'L' motif, new letters will be added as products are released

The company said the device will be a 'hands-free user interface that creates a new way of experiencing audio such as music and sound.

This will allow the user to receive audio information without having to insert any object into his or her ear.

The N device will be demoed at the SXSW Interactive Festival (mock-up pictured) from 12 to 14 March

The new R&D programme will let Sony share 'concept prototypes in development at Sony R&D with users for opportunities to co-create future lifestyles' the company said.

The Future Lab Program will 'embrace an approach to technological research and development that emphasises an open creative environment and direct lines of communication with society,' according to the company.

The design for the Future Lab Program concept logo is based on an 'F' and 'L' motif that resembles a frame honing in on a target, the company says.

'This reflects the mindset behind the Future Lab Program of setting challenging goals that Sony will strive to achieve through technological innovation, together with input from the user community.'

Additional letters will be added inside the logo frame to coincide with the launch of each new prototype.

'Sony will unveil a number of concept prototypes and technologies, including 'N,' at its booth during the SXSW Interactive Festival,' the company said in a press release.
New research suggests that people who use porn may not necessarily hold any more negative views of women than those who don't use it

Despite being a billion-dollar industry, many believe pornography promotes a negative and degrading view of women.

But new research suggests that people who use porn may not necessarily hold any more negative views of women than those who don't use it.

The authors suggest pornography users and non-users likely view women equally, and are more likely to identify as feminists.

Many detractors of pornography have long-argued that it is demeaning to women, breeds negative attitudes and may even contribute to poor mental health.

However, researchers at Western University in Ontario argue that the idea that pornography leads to a negative view of women may not necessarily be the case.

The research used data from a large-scale study, which interviewed more than 24,000 randomly selected people across the US between 1975 and 2010.

Of the total who said they used pornography - based on the question 'have you watched an X-rated film in the last year?' - more than half (56 per cent) were female and 53 per cent identified themselves to be married.

As they were randomly selected, the researchers said the sample is more likely to accurately reflect the views of the average person.

Their analysis showed those people who admitted using pornography had more egalitarian views towards a number of women's issues, including in their attitudes towards abortion, women in the workplace and women in positions of power.

Interestingly, when it came to men, the biggest differences between users and non-users were in their views of women in power and abortion, with those who used pornography showing more positive attitudes.

The same was true of women in the study.

Women showed more positive views than non-users, followed by their more positive attitude towards abortion.

People who admitted using porn had more egalitarian views towards a number of women's issues, including in their attitudes towards abortion, women in the workplace and women in positions of power. In addition, a higher proportion of men and women who used pornography identified as feminists, compared to non-users

In addition, a higher proportion of men and women who used pornography identified as feminists, compared to non-users.

According to the team at Western, their findings do not support the idea that pornography necessarily leads to an unequal view of women.

STUDY SHOWS PORN USERS MORE LIKELY TO BE FEMINISTS The research used data from a large-scale study, which interviewed more than 24,000 randomly selected people across the US between 1975 and 2010. Of the total who said they used pornography - based on the question 'have you watched an X-rated film in the last year?' - more than half (56 per cent) were female and 53 per cent identified themselves to be married. People who admitted using pornography had more egalitarian views towards a number of women's issues, including in their attitudes towards abortion, women in the workplace and women in positions of power. When it came to men, the biggest differences between users and non-users were in their views of women in power and abortion, with those who used pornography showing more positive attitudes. The same was true for women who admitted using pornography. Advertisement

Writing in the Journal of Sex Research, they explained: 'In contrast to radical feminist theory concerning the impact of pornography on gender inequality, the current study...found no support for the proposition that pornography is associated with holding attitudes supportive of gender non-egalitarianism.'

The authors added: 'Compared to non-users, participants who reported viewing a pornographic film in the previous year also reported more positive attitudes toward women in positions of power, less negative attitudes towards women in the workforce, and less negative attitudes toward abortion.'

While the current study shows that pornography use isn't necessarily tied with negative views of women, a growing body of evidence is showing the serious implications of overuse.

Previous studies have indicated that compulsive users of pornography may show the same signs of addiction in their brain as those with alcohol and drug addictions.

In 2013, neuroscientists at Cambridge University studying self-confessed compulsive pornography users, found that a part of their brains, called the ventral striatum,'lit up' when they were shown erotic video clips.
Handing over more of the decision-making to machines may ease the human burden in warfare, but those in charge should be wary of being lulled into a false sense of security, warn experts.

They caution that autonomous machines - such as drones and or advanced guided missile systems - might not only make the wrong decisions, they could also be used against us by hackers.

Failing to address either of these aspects, they said, could generate an 'almost limitless' potential for disaster.

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Autonomous weapons, such as drones (stock image) or advanced guided missile systems, might not only make the wrong decisions, they could also be used against us by hackers. Failing to address either of these aspects, they said, could generate an 'almost limitless' potential for disaster, warn experts

The stark warnings follow in the wake of a recent report from the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) that raised concerns of the decision-making ability of autonomous weapons systems, including drones.

The Autonomous Weapons and Operational Risk report, published earlier this week, was produced by former US Secretary of Defence official Paul Scharre.

Now, leading the CNAS's programme on future warfare, Scharre questioned whether automation of weapons will lead to 'robutopia or robocalpyse.'

The report highlights that while no state has officially confirmed plans to build fully autonomous weapons, 'few countries have renounced them either.'

Autonomous weapons are in danger of going rogue, warn experts. Hollywood has long-warned of the threat of AI in weapons, such as in the movie Robocop (still pictured) where a droid fails to recognise civilians

Hollywood has long laid out the rocky road to autonomous weapons, with malfunctioning droids and robots a sci-fi staple.

A classic example comes from the 1987 movie Robocop, in which a security droid fails to recognise targets from civilians, with fatal - albeit fictional - results.

AUTONOMOUS WEAPONS COULD SPELL DISASTER Advances in artificial intelligence are taking us closer to fully automated version of drones and weapons systems. But Dr Sarah Kreps, an Associate Professor in Cornell University's Department of Government and an expert in drone warfare, cautions that following the road to autonomy will lead to two main problems. The security expert warns that machines lack subjective-decision making  which humans use to tell friend from foe  and are at risk of being hacked. The stark warnings follow in the wake of a recent report which raised concerns of the decision-making ability of autonomous weapons systems, including drones. Advertisement

Dr Sarah Kreps an Associate Professor in Cornell University's Department of Government and an expert in drone warfare, cautions that following the road to autonomous weapons will lead to two main problems: a lack of subjective-decision making - which humans use to tell friend from foe - and hacking.

Explaining the limitations of machine intelligence to recognise targets, the security expert highlights the need to keep humans in the frame.

The inherent confusion of a war zone can make it difficult to pick out those intent on doing harm from those caught in the crossfire.

'You can't put subjective decisions about who's a combatant or civilian into an algorithm. This has implications for targeting decisions,' said Dr Kreps.

'A human, or rather many humans, should be in the loop to analyse individuals' behaviours to see whether they are directly and actively involved in combat.

'Enemy status is often a subjective judgment and something that cannot easily be programmed into an autonomous weapon. We should not be lulled into thinking that technology can make these decisions easier.'

Experts warn machines lack subjective-decision making which humans use to tell friend from foe. If the machines pick the targets for missile strikes (stock image), can we be sure they are making the right choice?

But beyond the lack of human judgement, autonomy brings added the threat of cyber-attacks. If the security systems safeguarding the autonomous technology can be overridden by hackers, it could cause havoc on the battle field.

'There are benign cases of interruptions, like a computer bug, but also less benign cases like hacking' she explained.

'If groups can hack into the Pentagon's system of security clearances, they can almost certainly hack into the system that controls autonomous weapons, in which case the potential for disaster is almost limitless.'

The CNAS report states that, while difficult for security reasons, there is a need for greater transparency from countries on how they will likely approach autonomous weapons.

Sharre wrote: 'Few states have issued clear national policies on the use of autonomy in weapons. Given the potential for dangerous interactions between autonomous systems, a common set of international expectations is critical.'
Climate change doubters may have lost one of their key talking points: a particular satellite temperature dataset that had seemed to show no warming for the past 18 years.

The Remote Sensing System temperature data, promoted by many who reject mainstream climate science and especially most recently by Sen. Ted Cruz, now shows a slight warming of about 0.18 degrees Fahrenheit since 1998.

Ground temperature measurements, which many scientists call more accurate, all show warming in the past 18 years.

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Climate change doubters including Ted Cruz may have lost one of their key talking points: a particular satellite temperature dataset that had seemed to show no warming for the past 18 years.

HOW THE MISTAKE WAS MADE The satellites are in a polar orbit, so they are supposed to go over the same place at about the same time as they circle from north to south pole. Some of the satellites drift a bit, which changes their afternoon and evening measurements ever so slightly. Some satellites had drift that made temperatures warmer, others cooler. Three satellites had thrusters and they stayed in the proper orbit so they provided guidance for adjustments. Advertisement

'There are people that like to claim there was no warming; they really can't claim that anymore,' said Carl Mears, the scientist who runs the Remote Sensing System temperature data tracking.

The change resulted from an adjustment Mears made to the fix a nagging discrepancy in the data from 15 satellites.

The satellites are in a polar orbit, so they are supposed to go over the same place at about the same time as they circle from north to south pole.

Some of the satellites drift a bit, which changes their afternoon and evening measurements ever so slightly.

Some satellites had drift that made temperatures warmer, others cooler.

Three satellites had thrusters and they stayed in the proper orbit so they provided guidance for adjustments.

Mears said he was 'motivated by fixing these differences between the satellites.

'If the differences hadn't been there, I wouldn't have done the upgrade.'

NASA chief climate scientist Gavin Schmidt and Andrew Dessler, a climate scientist at Texas A&M, said experts and studies had shown these problems that Mears adjusted and they both said those adjustments make sense and are well supported in a study in the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate.

The study refutes the idea of a pause in global warming, 'but frankly common sense and looking at how Earth was responding over the past 18 years kind of makes this finding a 'duh' moment,' wrote University of Georgia meteorology professor Marshall Shepherd.

RSS mid-troposphere temperature, v3.3 and v4.0: The Remote Sensing System temperature data, promoted by many who reject mainstream climate science and especially most recently by Sen. Ted Cruz, now shows a slight warming of about 0.18 degrees Fahrenheit since 1998.

Chip Knappenberger of the Cato Institute, who doesn't doubt that human-caused climate change is happening but does not agree with mainstream scientists who say the problem is enormous, said this shows 'how messy the procedures are in putting the satellite data together.'

The other major satellite temperature data set, run by University of Alabama Hunstville professor John Christy, shows slight warming after 1998.

But if 1998 is included in the data, it sees no warming.

CRUZ ON CLIMATE CHANGE Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz laid down a marker last year on global warming, saying that denying human activity is heating the planet makes him a renegade truth-teller in the mold of the Renaissance astronomer Galileo Galilei. Climate activists, he said in a half-hour videotaped interview, 'brand you a heretic' if you disagree with them. 'Today the global warming alarmists are the equivalent of the flat-Earthers,' he told the Texas Tribune. 'It used to be: 'It is accepted scientific wisdom the Earth is flat.' And this heretic named Galileo was branded a denier,' Cruz said. Texas Tribune political reporter Jay Root's one-on-one interview in New York City with U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas' junior senator and the nation's first declared 2016 presidential candidate, included a series of jabs about global warming As evidence, he pointed to data from heat-sensing weather satellites. 'The satellite data demonstrate that there has been no significant warming whatsoever for 17 years,' he emphasized. 'Now that's a real problem for the global warming alarmists. Because all those computer models on which this whole issue is based predicted significant warming, and yet the satellite data show it ain't happening.' Advertisement

But that should change with a warm 2016, Christy said.

In fact, Christy used his measurements to determine that February 2016 was 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit above the average for the month  the largest such disparity for any month since records were first kept, in 1979.

As far as what this means for people claiming no warming, scientists don't expect them to change.

'I don't know what Cruz, et al., will do now,' Dessler said in an email.
A 100ft-wide asteroid is heading for a close encounter with Earth on Sunday and could come closer than some orbiting satellites.

But scientists are sure it will miss the Earth by at least 15,000 miles, and say there is no need to panic.

The space rock, named 2013 TX68, was spotted three years ago by astronomers in the US scouring the skies for potentially threatening near-Earth objects (NEOs).

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Scientists are sure it will miss the Earth by at least 15,000 miles, and say there is no need to panic. At the other limit of its predicted range it could remain as far out as 40 times the distance to the moon.

HOW CLOSE WILL IT COME? Calculations show that 2013 TX68 could shoot past the Earth well within the ring of geostationary communications and GPS satellites stationed 22,300 miles above the equator. At the other limit of its predicted range it could remain as far out as 40 times the distance to the moon. Advertisement

'We already knew this asteroid, 2013 TX68, would safely fly past Earth in early March, but this additional data allow us to get a better handle on its orbital path,' said Paul Chodas, manager of CNEOS.

'There is no concern whatsoever regarding this asteroid  unless you were interested in seeing it with a telescope,' said Chodas.

'Prospects for observing this asteroid, which were not very good to begin with, are now even worse because the asteroid is likely to be farther away, and therefore dimmer than previously believed.'

The data indicate that this small asteroid will probably pass much farther away from Earth than previously thought.'

Because it was tracked for only 10 days, its orbital path is uncertain.

Experts believe it will make its closest approach to Earth on Sunday, although the forecast might be one or two days out.

Calculations show that 2013 TX68 could shoot past the Earth well within the ring of geostationary communications and GPS satellites stationed 22,300 miles above the equator.

At the other limit of its predicted range it could remain as far out as 40 times the distance to the moon.

US astronomer Sean Marshall, from Cornell University in New York, who studies NEOs such as comets and asteroids, said: 'Should this asteroid come closer than the geostationary satellites, it would be a rare occurrence - that only happens about once per decade for large asteroids.

'What we know for sure is that it will not collide with Earth this month, so do not panic.'

He added: 'It is extremely unlikely that any satellite will get hit. TX68's trajectory will take it on an arc through a huge region of space, and satellites are very small objects.

'An asteroid hitting a satellite would be like a blindfolded person throwing a pebble and hitting a single small needle in an enormous haystack.'

He said the asteroid had 'absolutely no chance' of colliding with the International Space Station, which circles the Earth at an altitude of only about 250 miles.

'The closest that TX68 can possibly get to Earth is 24,000 kilometres (15,000 miles),' said Mr Marshall.

Scientists at Nasa's Center for NEO Studies (CNEOS) in California, say 'there is no possibility that this object could impact Earth during the flyby next month.' But they have identified an extremely remote chance that this small asteroid (stock image pictured) could impact on Septmeber 28, 2017, with odds of 1-in-250-million

Nasa's initial estimate showed the whale-sized space rock may skim past Earth at just 11,000 miles (17,000 km), which is around 21 times closer to Earth than the moon - but Nasa admitted this estimate may be widely inaccurate, and the asteroid may also pass Earth as far out as 9 million miles (14 million km).

Now a new prediction for 2013 TX68 is that it will fly by roughly 3 million miles (5 million kilometers) from our planet.

'Additional observations of asteroid 2013 TX68 have been obtained, refining its orbital path and moving the date of the asteroid's Earth flyby from March 5 to March 8,' Nasa said.

The observations, from archived images provided by the Nasa-funded Pan-STARRS asteroid survey, enabled scientists at Nasa's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, to refine their earlier flyby and distance predictions, reconfirming that the asteroid poses no threat to Earth.

Scientists are sure the asteroid will miss the Earth by at least 15,000 miles

Marco Micheli of the European Space Agency's NEO Coordination Centre (NEOCC/SpaceDys) in Frascati, Italy, is the astronomer who identified the object in the archived images, measured its position, and provided these observations to the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

CNEOS's new prediction for 2013 TX68 is that it will fly by roughly 3 million miles (5 million kilometers) from our planet.

Nasa's initial estimate showed the whale-sized space rock may skim past Earth at just 11,000 miles (17,000 km), which is around 21 times closer to Earth than the moon - but Nasa admitted this estimate may be widely inaccurate, and the asteroid may also pass Earth as far out as 9 million miles (14 million km).

There is still a chance that it could pass closer, but certainly no closer than 15,000 miles (24,000 kilometers) above Earth's surface.

The new observations also better constrain the path of 2013 TX68 in future years; CNEOS has determined that 2013 TX68 cannot impact Earth over the next century.

Orbit calculations of asteroids are constantly updated based on observations reported to the Minor Planet Center.

This results in projections of minimum, maximum and nominal distances from Earth, which can sometimes have a wide disparity due to limited data.

Over time, with additional observations added to the equation, scientists are able to refine and narrow the orbit uncertainties.

Scientists have also identified an extremely remote chance that this small asteroid could impact on September 28, 2017, with odds of no more than 1-in-250-million.

Flybys in 2046 and 2097 have an even lower probability of impact.

'The possibilities of collision on any of the three future flyby dates are far too small to be of any real concern,' said Paul Chodas, manager of CNEOS.

'I fully expect any future observations to reduce the probability even more.'

Asteroid 2013 TX68 is estimated to be about 100ft (30 meters) in diameter.

By comparison, the asteroid that broke up in the atmosphere over Chelyabinsk, Russia, three years ago was approximately 65 feet (20 meters) wide.

THERE'S AN ASTEROID WITH OUR NAME ON IT, SAYS BRIAN COX Science presenter, Brian Cox, told DailyMail.com we are at risk of being wiped out by asteroids  and we're not taking the threat seriously While the March 5th asteroid poses no threat, scientists have long said that these space rocks could threaten life on Earth. Last year, Brian Cox said we are at risk of being wiped out by asteroids  and we're not taking the threat seriously. 'There is an asteroid with our name on it and it will hit us,' Professor Cox told DailyMail.com. In fact, the Earth had a 'near-miss' only a few months ago. 'We didn't see it,' says the 46-year-old. 'We saw it on the way out, but if it had just been a bit further over it would have probably wiped us out. These things happen.' The bus-sized asteroid, named 2014 EC, came within 38,300 (61,637km) miles of Earth in March - around a sixth of the distance between the moon and our planet. And it wasn't the only one threatening Earth. Nasa is currently tracking 1,400 'potentially hazardous asteroids' and predicting their future approaches and impact probabilities. The threat is so serious that former astronaut Ed Lu has described it as 'cosmic roulette' and said that only 'blind luck' has so far saved humanity from a serious impact. Advertisement

If an asteroid the size of 2013 TX68 were to enter Earth's atmosphere, it would likely produce an air burst with about twice the energy of the Chelyabinsk event.

The asteroid was discovered by the Nasa-funded Catalina Sky Survey on October 6, 2013, as it approached Earth on the night-time side.

After three days of tracking, the asteroid passed into the daytime sky and could no longer be seen.

Because it was not tracked for very long, scientists cannot predict its precise orbit around the sun, but they do know that it cannot impact Earth during its flyby next month.

'This asteroid's orbit is quite uncertain, and it will be hard to predict where to look for it,' said Chodas.

'There is a chance that the asteroid will be picked up by our asteroid search telescopes when it safely flies past us next month, providing us with data to more precisely define its orbit around the sun.'

In September, Paul Chodas, manager of Nasa's Near-Earth Object office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, said: 'There is no existing evidence that an asteroid or any other celestial object is on a trajectory that will impact Earth.

'In fact, not a single one of the known objects has any credible chance of hitting our planet over the next century.

Nasa tracks around 12,992 near-Earth objects which have been discovered orbiting within our solar system close to our own orbit.
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This is the breathtaking moment a pride of lions brought down and savaged a buffalo just metres from cars full of stunned tourists in South Africa, with their guide saying that everything would be ok, as long as they didn't move.

The kill, which was recorded by field guide Marten Lange, saw two buffalo running away from a lion near the Mantimahle Waterhole in the Kruger National Park, before being pulled to the floor.

After the attack, the largest predator leaves the rest of the pride to finish their meal as he turns towards the tourists and takes a nap beside their vehicle.

Shocking footage has emerged of a lion chasing a buffalo through a game reserve and onto the road

For a moment it appears that the roles have reversed as the slower, and smaller, of the buffalo turns and faces the predator head on

At the start of the shocking footage, one lion can be seen chasing the buffalo through the game reserve and onto the road.

For a moment it appears that the roles have reversed as the slower, and smaller, of the buffalo turns and faces the predator head on.

Despite appearing to back away, the lion pounces onto the back of the animal - which had turned again in an attempt to flee after seeing the second of the four lions emerge from hiding.

Despite appearing to back away, the lion pounces onto the back of the animal - which had turned again in an attempt to flee

Grabbing onto the throat of the grunting buffalo, the two lions hold down their lunch and wait for the rest of their pride to join them

Field guide Lange said: 'All hell broke loose and the lions started the chase. It was like watching an exciting wildlife documentary'

Grabbing onto the throat of the grunting buffalo, the two lions hold down their lunch and wait for the rest of their pride to join them before fully killing it.

As three of the group pull at the kill between them, the largest of the lions - who was last to join in - walks towards the camera before slumping beside a group of tourists in the shade.

Lange, who had taken a keen group of tourists to the area after hearing that lions were resting nearby, said that he told his 'ecstatic' group not to move when the 'King of the bush' came close.

Commenting on the video, which has had 286,000 views since being added to YouTube last week, one user, Chris B, said: 'That lion just approached that vehicle like, "So what did you think?" And then the lion just sat beside the vehicle.'

A pride of four lions feasted on the fresh kill in front of vans full of stunned tourists who had witnessed the kill moments before

As three of the group pull at the kill between them, the largest of the lions - who was last to join in - walks towards the camera

Lange said: 'After about 20 minutes something caught my eye and I saw two stragglers from the southern side of the road following the rest of the herd of buffalo that had already crossed the road and headed north to drink. I later learned that the lions tried their luck with the herd but got chased off. I saw that the two buffalo were heading straight towards us and were going to cross the road right in front of us.

'Suddenly one lion lifted its head and saw the buffalo. Then all hell broke loose and the lions started the chase. It was like watching an exciting wildlife documentary, but now we were part of the action. I have seen a couple of kills by leopard, lion, cheetah, wild dog and hyena. But nothing previously seen could compare with this experience, because it was so in your face. My guests were absolutely blown away.

'The fourth and larger of the lions got up and came straight to my vehicle. I asked my guests not to move and everything will be OK. It was absolutely awesome to be so close to the King of the bush.'
Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan were seen holding hands this week.

The actors were on the set of their film Fifty Shades Darker, which sees Anastasia Steele reunite with Christian Grey.

The sequel has been shooting this winder in in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

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So happy together? Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan were seen holding hands this week on the set of Fifty Shades Darker in Vancouver, BC, Canada

Happy: Despite each receiving the dubious honours from the Razzies earlier this week, they seemed to be in good spirits while in front of the camera

As filming began earlier this week, no doubt the American actress is right back in the swing of things returning to her signature role as the meek, innocent college student girlfriend of billionaire and S&M enthusiast Christian Grey.

When walking with Jamie she had on a dark coat, jeans and loafers. He wore a brown jacket and jeans.

Earlier, Dakota looked chic in a tan coat over a burgundy dress with buttons down the middle of it and finished off the look with black stockings and matching suede booties.

Before getting in front of the film cameras, Dakota was dressed comfortably and for warmth as she sported a black fur-lined parka and a pair of brown Uggs.

Showing her style: the 26-year-old actress sported a tan coat, black stockings and black suede ankle booties

Signature look: She wore her brunette tresses, including fringe, down

Ready for her close-up she also sported a burgundy mini dress with buttons down the middle

Warming up: Dakota combated the cold Canadian weather with a black fur-lined parka

Comfortable customer: She also sported a pair of Uggs before filming

The beginning of filming comes just after the original flick picked up five Razzies at the annual awards given out to Hollywood's worst films on Sunday.

Dakota picked up the Razzie for Worst Actress and Jamie was named Worst Actor for their roles in Fifty Shades, which earned more than $571 million worldwide.

They also 'won' worst chemistry, and the erotic film also earned a Razzie for worst adapted screenplay, as well as tying for worst movie with Fantastic Four.

Regardless of the dubious honours, the cast of Fifty Shades Darker just keeps getting bigger as Eric Johnson was spotted for the first time on set as he joined Dakota for a few scenes.

New guy: Eric Johnson was also sported on set for the first time as he filmed with Dakota

Good rapport: The 36-year-old actor and Dakota already seemed to be getting along swimmingly

Look away Christian! Eric had his arm around Dakota as they walked around on set

Looking good: He sported a blue blazer over a light blue dress shirt and patterned tie

Interesting: The actor will be playing Jack Hyde in the flick, who in the books was a former Commissioning Editor at Seattle Independent Publishing

Mr Grey: Jamie Dornan was also spotted briefly on set

The 36-year-old actor will be playing Jack Hyde in the flick, who in the books was a former Commissioning Editor at Seattle Independent Publishing.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about Johnson's character is in his origin story as he had lived in the same foster home as Christian but harbored jealousy as the Grey family adopted Dornan's character instead of him.

Things are definitely going to be heating up as Aussie actress Bella Heathcote was also spotted on set as she will be playing Christian's jilted ex lover Leila Williams.

Fifty Shades Darker is set to to hit the cinema on February 10 2017.

Interesting: Bella Heathcote was also spotted on set and in character for the first time

Worse for wear: The 28-year-old beauty looked much different as she plays billionaire Christian's jilted ex lover Leila Williams

Uh oh: She also appeared to have a blood soaked bandage on one of her wrists
Erin Holland wowed in a Leah de Gloria and White Runway gown on Thursday night as she attended the Qatar Airways Gala Dinner in Darling Harbour, Sydney.

While gushing about Kylie Minogue's performance, the 26-year-old flaunted her incredibly toned physique in the figure-hugging piece, which also featured sheer long sleeves and cut-out details across her torso.

The plunging neckline garment showcased a straight-cut down to her knee before falling into a fishtail design.

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Erin Holland wowed in a Leah de Gloria and White Runway gown on Thursday night as she attended the Qatar Airways Gala Dinner in Darling Harbour, Sydney

Erin pulled back her recently cut-short hair and slicked it into a tight bun, giving onlookers a clear view of her naturally flawless complexion.

She added a pinch of fierce to her attire by sharpening her eyes with a dark smokey eye shadow which included thick false lashes and black eyeliner.

The model defined her cheekbones with a blended pink blush and bronzer while giving her lips volume with a baby pink glossy lipstick.

Catwalk ready: The 26-year-old flaunted her incredibly toned physique in the figure-hugging piece, which also featured sheer long sleeves and cut-out details across her torso

Erin accessorised with a pair of gold Pierre Winter Fine Jewels circular earrings which featured matching coloured tassles.

She went on to add thick gold cuff to her left wrist as well as a glittering clutch, which she cradled with the opposite hand.

While speaking to Daily Mail Australia following the event, the beauty gushed about her experience of watching international popstar Kylie Minogue perform on the night.

Flawless: Erin pulled back her recently cut-short hair and slicked it into a tight bun, giving onlookers a clear view of her naturally flawless complexion

'Kylie was amazing,' she said while adding 'She had the whole room crowded to the stage dancing...totally infectious.'

Daily Mail Australia understands the exclusive evening included a four course sit down meal as well as multiple dance and singing performances.

The event was catered by celebrity chef George Calombaris who dished Marron for the first course and a sweet Peach baklava for dessert.
She was recently linked to newly divorced comic David Walliams.

But it seems Ashley James is single and ready to mingle as she attended a dating app dinner in London on Thursday night.

The former Made In Chelsea beauty was a VIP guests at the Bumble event held at Soho House and she certainly turned heads as she arrived.

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Back on the scene: Reality star Ashley James looked single and ready to mingle as she attended a dating app dinner in London on Thursday night

The blonde showed off a very generous amount of cleavage in a racy cut-out gown as she made a stylish entrance at the bash.

The cut of the frock ensured her prized assets were on show, while also displaying her shapely waist.

The stunning reality star was joined by socialite pals Charlotte De Carle and Paula Anton at the glitzy event.

Her sensational appearance comes after Ashley revealed a shocking secret that she suffers from body dysmorphia.

Up front! The blonde showed off a very generous amount of cleavage in a racy cut-out gown as she made a stylish entrance at the bash held by Bumble

Girls' night: The stunning reality star was joined by socialite pals Charlotte De Carle and Paula Anton at the glitzy event

Three's a cool crowd: Charlotte De Carle and Ashley James attend a private dinner hosted by Whitney Wolfe, founder and CEO of Bumble dating app, at Soho House

Opposing looks: While Ashley showed off her curves, Charlotte kept covered up in a mustard lace vintage number

The reality star shared a selfie snaps of herself with fans on Tuesday morning as she explained: Just found this pic I took it to send to @Josiestweet cause I thought I looked too fat. Body dysmorphia is real.

Sporting a scalloped white crop top with a high-waisted black leather mini skirt, the 27-year-old held her black handbag while she took the image on her mobile phone.

The blonde beauty sent the image to former Big Brother star and celebrity fitness guru Josie Gibson.

Confession: Her sensational appearance comes after Ashley revealed a shocking secret that she suffers from body dysmorphia and tweeted about her struggle on Twitter

Ashley left Made In Chelsea in 2013 after just two series of the show and doesn't expect to return to the genre which made her famous.

She told the Mail: 'I don't see myself going back to reality TV anytime soon, but I wouldn't rule it out.'

Ashley told Mail Online: 'I've had a great evening but it has been non-stop for me at the moment. I'm flying to Ireland on Tuesday for my new show I'm co-presenting, Expose, which I'm really excited about.

I'm also redesigning my website which should be ready in six weeks so I'm really busy.'
Shes known for her love of fitness, often hitting the gym at any given opportunity.

But on Friday, Tiffiny Hall was feeling a little bogged down as she revealed she cant wear tight jeans thanks to her sculpted quads.

The Biggest Loser trainer, 31, did however look incredible in the Instagram picture she posted, showing off her muscular pin in all their glory following a fitness session.

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'It's hard to have both': The Biggest Loser trainer Tiffiny Hall was feeling a little bogged down as she revealed she cant wear tight jeans thanks to her sculpted quads on Friday

She flaunted her physique in a tiny pair of black gym shorts and a coordinating vest top, which was teamed with plain white trainers.

You either want quads or you want jeans. It's hard to have both #jeansneverfit #quads #legday#stronggirls, she captioned the image.

Her ultra-defined limbs and abs certainly took centre stage, while her long blonde locks were swept away from her face and pulled back into a carefree updo.

The 31-year-old - who is married to Australian actor Ed Kavalee - frequently posts daily updates on to her social media sites, giving fans and encouraging them with their workouts

Social media lover: The star often tweets daily snaps of her flawless physique

Tiffiny - who is married to Australian actor Ed Kavalee - frequently posts daily updates to her social media sites, encouraging them with their own workouts.

Earlier on in the week, she shared: Put ya hands up in the air if you've ever tried these! After a knee reconstruction I still struggle with stability stuff. I go slow and wear my concentration face, it helps.

Shedding light on how she keeps her legs in great shape, the blonde suggested trying out a particular stretch with a gym partner.

Don't mess with her! Tiffiny - who is married to Australian actor Ed Kavalee - has a black belt in Taekwondo

'Not every session should be intense': The star recently shed light on how she keeps her legs in great shape, by suggesting to try out a particular stretch with a gym partner

Fitness buff: Tiffiny shot to fame when she joined the cast of the Australian TV revival of Gladiators in 2008

Yo yo yo calling all runners and kicky peeps, she said. If you hammer your hamstrings, you'll lurrve this stretch. Bit of an OM moment with my sister @bridget_hall_. [sic]

Later adding: Try to keep your heel down (ha! I'm looking at you bridge) and push against your partner to match their strength. Remember not every session should be intense and cray cray.

Tiffiny shot to fame when she joined the cast of the Australian TV revival of Gladiators in 2008 before going on to front the The Biggest Loser franchise, she also has a black belt in Taekwondo.

Fitness buff: Tiffiny shot to fame when she joined the cast of the Australian TV revival of Gladiators in 2008
Time Out Of Mind (15)

Rating:

Even before I sat through this dreary drama about a homeless man surviving in New York City, I felt Id spent far too much time in Richard Geres company lately.

In The Benefactor, released last week with deservingly little fanfare, he played a hugely rich philanthropist.

This time hes on the other side of the tracks, playing George, estranged from his only daughter, living in a mens hostel, and clearly suffering some kind of mental illness.

Lightweight: Richard Gere in Time Out Of Mind. Oren Movermans film is entirely reliant on Geres acting qualities, which is rather like relying on the Titanics buoyancy qualities

Oren Movermans film is entirely reliant on Geres acting qualities, which is rather like relying on the Titanics buoyancy qualities.

We spend a lot of time watching him sleeping, eating, trying to remember things and not saying very much.

And while theres no doubting the curiosity value of seeing a pampered movie star playing down-and-out, and he certainly gives it his best shot, as an actor he doesnt have the heft to carry the load.

Hector, a recent British film about the tribulations of a homeless man, painted a similar portrait much more engagingly.

We spend a lot of time watching him sleeping, eating, trying to remember things and not saying very much

Goodnight Mommy (15)

Rating:

Goodnight Mommy is a strange and chilling Austrian psycho-drama, in which a woman returns from hospital all bandaged up following facial reconstruction.

Her ten-year-old identical twin sons dont like what they see, and find that shes not the loving, nurturing mother they remember.
She's been busy pushing herself to her physical limits while filming the latest installment of the xXx franchise.

But Ruby Rose enjoyed some down time in the gorgeous Dominican Republic on Friday, kicking back in the swimming pool with her rescue dog Roo.

With her aqua-dyed locks falling over her face, the 29-year-old smiled and laughed as the wet pooch swam slowly to the side of the pool in a video shared to Instagram.

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Dog day afternoon! Ruby Rose took her dog Roo swimming on Friday while enjoying some downtime in between filming xXx: The Return Of Xander Cage

'She's not a Pisces like me,' she wrote in the caption, making reference to the astrology sign that is represented by fish.

The Orange Is The New Black star laughed as the dog placed her paws up on the side of the pool to hoist herself out of the water.

'And then there's the slow exit,' laughed Ruby.

'When your 'ride or die' is scared of flying hahaha': Ruby shared a snap with Roo from the plane to Instagram

Her expressive pup has accompanied her owner throughout her travels filming her latest film alongside veteran action star Vin Diesel.

Sharing a selfie she took while on the plane, Roo's eyes open wide as she gets snuggled tightly by Ruby.

'When your 'ride or die' is scared of flying hahaha,' the model-DJ wrote in the caption.

Breakout star: The model, DJ and actress scored a role in hit US show Orange Is The New Black, which saw her international stardom explode

A firm believer in animal rights, Ruby was recently announced as the face of cosmetics brand Urban Decay, who do not participate in animal testing.

In a smouldering snap for the makeup label, Ruby sported a tough faux leather vest with winged liner and bright pink lips.

While speaking about her new role with Urban Decay, Ruby praised the brand for celebrating that same individuality that she has always endeavoured to embrace.

'Urban Decay believes in supporting individuality and personal self-expression two values I hold very dear because everyone deserves the freedom to explore their personality and discover their true selves,' she said.

Travel pup: Roo has been accompanying Ruby on her travels for the filming of her latest film
Hail, Caesar! (12A)

Verdict: Glorious Hollywood parody

Rating:

The Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan, by all accounts told their friend George Clooney years ago that they wanted to write a film called Hail, Caesar! poking fun at Hollywoods golden age.

Hes been nagging them to make it ever since, and now, gloriously, they have. Clooney gets the title role, too, as none-too-bright Fifties matinee idol Baird Whitlock, who togas up for the movie-within-the-movie, a swords-and-sandals epic called, youve guessed, Hail, Caesar!

The Coens have always known how to help Clooney release his inner idiot. He was a memorable imbecile in their 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou? and as Baird hes similarly dim-witted, making him the perfect victim of an almost-bungled kidnapping.

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George Clooney, pictured, stars as dimwitted actor Baird Whitlock in the Coen Brothers' Hail, Caeser!

If the film has a pivotal scene, the Baird Whitlock kidnapping is probably it.

However, for those who prefer a story with a beginning, middle and end, or in screen-writing terms a bit of rigidity in the narrative arc, Hail, Caesar! might come as a disappointment.

Indeed, there barely is a narrative arc, the Coens instead delivering what amounts to a series of pastiches, parodies and sketches.

Busby Berkeley spectaculars and Anchors Aweigh-style musicals are lampooned beautifully, the latter with Channing Tatum playing a Gene Kelly type, leading a distinctly homoerotic sailors dance routine in a bar.

Well see a lot of fish, but we wont clock a dish, he croons, in a song called No Dames, about the regrettable dearth of women at sea.

There are three or four scenes in this film that are worth the price of admission alone, and thats one of them.

Another comes courtesy of Ralph Fiennes, once again reminding us (as he did in The Grand Budapest Hotel, and more recently A Bigger Splash) that heavyweight dramatic actors sometimes make the best light comedians.

Hes priceless as a prissy English director, painstakingly trying to get another intellectually challenged star, singing cowboy Hobie Doyle (Alden Ehrenreich), to enunciate his lines properly in a drawing-room comedy of manners, a film for which, apart from his immense box-office appeal, he is ridiculously ill-suited.

The Coens and their excellent cast (which includes Michael Gambon, plummily narrating) have huge, hammy fun with all this.

Scarlett Johansson, pictured, plays a golden age actress involved in one of the film's biggest set pieces

They also target much that went on off-camera in Fifties Hollywood, such as the vindictive gossip-mongering of columnists Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons (represented here as feuding twins by Tilda Swinton), and the McCarthyite paranoia about Soviet-led Communist plots (with which the Coens deal by showing, hilariously, that there was plenty to be paranoid about).

Theres also a fleeting but lovely turn by Scarlett Johansson. She plays the brattish DeeAnna Moran, an actress manifestly based, in terms of image if not brattishness, on MGMs watery star Esther Williams.

Weaving together all these disparate strands is the films core character, Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin).

Mannix really existed; he was MGMs notorious fixer, responsible for covering up any number of potential scandals involving Hollywood stars, from drink-driving accidents to homosexual relationships.

He was also energetically promiscuous, although Brolins version is racked with painful Catholic guilt only for keeping his cigarette habit from his wife.

Hail, Caesar! really just chronicles a standard day in Eddies life: managing problems as varied as Bairds disappearance and DeeAnnas illegitimate pregnancy, while frantically trying to keep the gossip columnists at bay.

In some ways the film is a companion piece to the Coens 1991 picture Barton Fink, which shone an unforgiving light on old Hollywoods treatment of screenwriters. But its infinitely more playful and, at times, laugh-out-loud funny.

London Has Fallen (15)

Verdict: Risible thriller

Rating:

So is London Has Fallen, only its not meant to be.

The last time we encountered beefy U.S. secret service agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler), he was saving the White House, and in particular President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart), from North Korean terrorists in 2013s Olympus Has Fallen.

This time, hes in London, detailed to protect President Asher during a funeral for the British Prime Minister, who  look out, David Cameron  has mysteriously expired in his late 40s.

The event poses a security nightmare, with 40 heads of state descending on St Pauls Cathedral and scarcely any time to plan their protection.

Worse still, militant Islamic terrorists have somehow infiltrated the Metropolitan Police and Household Cavalry in massive numbers.

They launch a devastating attack in which multiple heads of state are killed, though only by way of collateral damage, since the primary target is, of course, noble President Asher.

Its hard to overstate how preposterous all this is.

Gerard Butler returns in London Has Fallen, pictured, as a US secret service agent tasked with keeping the President alive after terrorists attack a funeral service for the British Prime Minister

London might have fallen, but not as low as Morgan Freeman, who signed up to this rubbish.

He plays the U.S. Vice-President, safely back in the White House watching a U.S. news broadcast stating solemnly that the attack has decimated most of the known landmarks in the British capital.

Sure enough, St Pauls, Buckingham Palace, Chelsea Bridge and several double-decker buses all cop it, in a series of CGI explosions of varying technical quality.

So does Westminster Abbey, which is a terrible shame for Italian Prime Minister Antonio Gusto, who (being Italian) has decided to skip the funeral for a spot of rooftop canoodling with his mistress.

The evil mastermind is sinister arms-dealer Aamir Barkawi (Alon Moni Aboutboul), plotting dreadful vengeance for a drone attack on his daughters wedding in Pakistan.

But hes not half as guilty in this enterprise, directed by Babak Najafi, as screenwriters Creighton Rothenberger, Katrin Benedikt, Christian Gudegast and Chad St John, who all deserve to be named and shamed.

I could just about forgive them the way Banning knows Londons back doubles as if he spent four years away from his military training studying the Knowledge.

But making the Mets head of counter-terrorism (Colin Salmon) a chief inspector, which (being foreign) they obviously thought sounded like the highest imaginable rank, is unforgivably slapdash.
The Revenant director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu has furiously denied claims he did not clap when costume designer Jenny Beavan won an Oscar.

Beavan, 52, drew gasps from shocked celebrities when she walked towards the stage to collect her Academy Award for best costume design while wearing a leather jacket bought at a British retailer.

Footage shared by millions online appeared to show Inarritu with his arms crossed as Beavan, who worked on Mad Max: Fury Road, went to accept her gong.

But the celebrated director hit back last night with a short clip showing he was applauding the award winner - and slammed claims he did not clap as 'mean-spirited and false'.

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The Revenant director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (circled) furiously denied claims he did not clap when costume designer Jenny Beavan (pictured) won an Oscar

Footage shared by millions online appeared to show Inarritu with his arms crossed as Beavan, who worked on Mad Max: Fury Road, went to accept her gong

Different: The mother-of-one is seen accepting her Oscar in a bejewelled leather jacket bought at British retailer Marks & Spencer

'I think Jenny Beavan is a masterful costume designer and very deserving of the Oscar for Mad Max: Fury Road,' Inarritu told The Guardian in a scathing retort.

'By editing and omitting the full reality and suggesting I felt anything but admiration is mean-spirited and false.

'What you dont see in the 10-second clip being circulated is my applause for Jenny as she ascended the stairs to the stage,' the director, who won the Oscar for best director for his work on The Revenant, said.

Inarritu, who also won an Oscar for Birdman at last year's Academy Awards, added that he had learned a lot during the awards season, but his main lesson was that he 'should never cross my arms when I am sitting down'.

He was not the only Hollywood star who appeared to be holding their applause for Beavan, with Spotlight director Tom McCarthy also seeming to be holding back on the clapping.

Beavan told The Hollywood Reporter that she did not care if her peers did not applaud her win.

Still clapping: The Revenant director appeared to be applauding for at least several seconds

Repeat winner: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu accepted the Oscar for best director on Sunday on a night of success for The Revenant. He won the same award last year for Birdman

'They didn't have to,' she said. 'I dont mind in the least if they didn't clap.'

Beavan admitted that she did not clap during the entire ceremony as her hands got tired.

She wore a $60 (44) vegan leather jacket from Marks & Spencer to the ceremony, which stood out among the hundreds of A-listers in ball gowns and tuxedos.

Explaining why she chose her outfit, she said: 'I'm short, I'm fat. I really would look ridiculous in a gown.

'I think my Oscar outfit succeeded to some extent because I think the majority in the audience seemed to like it. And if I ever happen to get nominated for an Oscar again, I'll probably wear something a little more in line with the film.

'But it will always be trousers, because there is absolutely no way I would frighten the LA natives with my legs.'
One's a real journalist, while the other only plays one in a movie.

But that didn't stop Tina Fey wiping the floor with Rachel Maddow in an intense game of Know It All on Wednesday night.

The two ladies faced off with Tonight Show Host Jimmy Fallon explaining the rules, where each had to name as many things as they could think of in a particular category within 20 seconds, alternating back and forth until time ran out - but could challenge any opponent's answer they thought was bogus.

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Face off: Tina Fey owned journalist Rachel Maddow in intense game of Know It All on Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show on Wednesday

With Cocktails, Famous Bobs, Dog Breeds, Cheeses, Rappers and Spanish Words on the board, A very excitable Rachel chose dogs and squared off against the comedienne.

After rattling through beagle, poodle, Labrador, German shepherd, collie, shih tzu - pausing for a giggle - Pomeranian, Yorkie, Dachshund, Weimaraner and Vizsla - which a suspicious Fallon suspected was 'also a cheese' - Fey was left stumped.

With her clock running out she grasped at 'Wiener dog' in her desperation, which drew an immediate challenge from Maddow.

'A Dachshund is the medical name,' Fey sheepishly offered, but the round was lost.

The rules: The two ladies faces off with Tonight Show Host Jimmy Fallon explaining the rules, where each had to name as many things as they could think of in a particular category within 20 seconds

Intense: They alternating back and forth until time ran out - but could challenge any opponent's answer they thought was bogus

But to Maddow's dismay, Fey chose rappers next - 'Any rapper or hip hop artist who has released a studio album' - with the TV host really showing her age with her selections.

'Jay-Z! Eve! Nicki Minaj!' Fey fired while Maddow responded to each with 'Ice T, Eazy E and Too Short.'

But when the straight-faced Fey threw a curve ball in 'Snow', Maddow challenged and lost, as the 30 Rock star sang a celebratory few bars of his 1992 single chart topper 'Informer'.

Dog breeds: After rattling through beagle, poodle, Labrador, German shepherd, collie, shih tzu - pausing for a giggle - Pomeranian, Yorkie, Dachshund, Weimaraner and Vizsla - which a suspicious Fallon suspected was 'also a cheese' - Fey was left stumped

Dachshund is the medical name: With her clock running out she grasped at 'Wiener dog' in her desperation, which drew an immediate challenge from Maddow

'That was a sneaky one,' Fallon praised her. 'You didn't say he had to be a good rapper,' Fey replied.

With the next round the decider, both women suddenly became interested in what was at stake.

'What kind of car do we get?' Tina asked. 'It's a photo of a great car,' Jimmy assured her.

Weak point: To Maddow's dismay, Fey chose rappers next - 'Any rapper or hip hop artist who has released a studio album' - with the TV host really showing her age with her selections

I lick he bum bum down: But when the straight-faced Fey threw a curve ball in 'Snow', Maddow challenged and lost, as the 30 Rock star sang a celebratory few bars of his 1992 single chart topper 'Informer'.

The host then selected the category for the tie-breaking round 'types of cheese according to Cheese.com', pressing the challenge button on himself just to check there indeed was a such thing as Cheese.com.

'Gouda! Rachel opened with. 'Alpine lace - why would I start there? I dont know,' Tina responded, a good question since it's a brand and not a type of cheese, but it slipped past unchallenged.

'Pepper jack! Cheddar! Parmesan! Gruyere! Taleggio! Drunken goat! Chevre! they parried and riposted, until Fey landed the fatal blow with the challenge: 'Chevre IS goat!'
Home And Away has certainly changed over the years, with fan favourites coming and leaving the show.

But one character who has remained in Summer Bay since the start is iconic Alf Stewart, played by veteran Australian actor Ray Meagher.

Since appearing in the Channel Seven show's debut episode back in 1988, Alf's loveable nature has managed to stand the test of time, as have his memorable catchphrases 'strewth' and 'stone the flaming crows', along with his warm on-screen presence.

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Strewth! Home And Away's Alf Stewart, played by Ray Meagher, has been on the show since 1988 and while his hair has changed, his stern stares and mannerisms haven't - pictured now (L) and in 1988 (R)

Sporting a generous mop of brown hair back in the early days, before transitioning to a blond look and then his naturally greyed, thinned out hair, Alf's locks may have changed but his stern stares and mannerisms haven't altered one bit.

The active Summer Bay resident, with a keen interest in fishing and the community, has fronted the bait shop for many years as well as giving a hand in the local diner.

In the pilot episode he was the owner of the Summer Bay caravan park, before selling the business to Tom and Pippa Fletcher.

Back in the day: Since appearing in the Channel Seven show's debut episode back in 1988, Alf's loveable nature has managed to stand the test of time

Mourning the death of his wife Martha, he then forged an onscreen relationship with Ailsa Hogan played by Judy Nunn.

No doubt over two decades in the Bay have resulted in varied experiences for Alf.

From seeing his love Ailsa pass away in 2001, to later discovering he had a brain tumour, heartbreak has been unavoidable at some stages of his life.

Progressing: He sported a generous mop of brown hair back in the early days of the soap before transitioning to a blond look

Mourning: Alf pictured in 2001 when his love Ailsa passed away

Fans will note the strong bond Alf shared with Sally Fletcher over the years, played by Kate Ritchie who was on the show from 1988 to 2008.

In 2008 Alf was left devastated when Sally decided to leave Summer Bay, but the pair were briefly reunited five years later when Sally returned with her daughter for a short time.

As the longest-standing original cast member on the show, Ray admitted last year that he is still just as much in love with the show as he was when he started.

Summer Bay resident: In times of need, those in the bay have called upon Alf Stewart to give them a hand

Fan favourites: Fans will note the strong bond Alf shared with Sally Fletcher over the years, played by Kate Ritchie who was on the show from 1988 to 2008

Part of him: As the longest-standing original cast member on the show, Ray admitted last year that he is still just as much in love with the Bay as he was when he started

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph in September last year he said: 'Im still upright, Ive still got a pulse, I still enjoy it more than 90 per cent of the time I am there and the new kids coming through keep it fresh'.

Meanwhile in an interview a few months earlier in February, the actor told 2GB radio host Ben Fordham that he believed the long-running series has strayed over the years.

'The whole show originally was about an escape to the seaside country by a city family that had foster kids' he explained.

Intense storyline: Alf was catapulted back to the bloodied battlefields of 1915 Turkey, when Home And Away paid tribute to the ANZAC centenary last year

Reunited: Actor Ray pictured with co-stars Judy Nunn and Cornelia Frances in 2006

Milestone: Actor Ray lead the celebrations in 2009 when Home And Away celebrated 21 years on screen

'The story has gone a little away from foster kids on to sex, drugs and rock and roll...' adding that it is only just appropriate enough to fit in its 7pm time slot.

'Once you would never see "Parental Guidance Recommended" over a Home And Away opener, but over the last few years, we have seen that a bit' he said.

Ray's stellar performance as the iconic character was truly recognised in 2010 when he won the coveted Gold Logie award - Australia's highest television honour - at the TV Week Logie Awards.

Strong views: Last year Ray admitted he believed the long-running series has strayed over the years
She's the globetrotting bikini blogger known to enjoy the VIP treatment on Hollywood red carpets.

But despite her busy travelling schedule, it seems Natasha Oakley still makes time for her family when visiting her hometown of Sydney.

The Australian-born model, 25, was spotted enjoying a relaxing day out with her younger sister, Sophia Vantuno, at Bondi Beach on Friday.

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Out and about: A Bikini A Day co-founder Natasha Oakley (right) was spotted enjoying a stroll at Bondi Beach in Sydney on Friday with her younger sister Sophia Vantuno (left)

Natasha, who hails from the New South Wales capital, opted for beach chic in a grey summer dress as she walked arm-in-arm with Sophia, 13.

She wore her blonde locks loosely and donned a pair of aviator-style sunglasses to protect against the sunny climes - which reached heights of 26 degrees Celcius.

The sunkissed model also accessorised with a flashy silver watch, which drew attention to a discreet tattoo of an outline of a heart on her left wrist.

Taken under her wing: Natasha, who hails from Sydney but is based in Los Angeles, opted for beach chic in a grey summer dress as she placed her arm over Sophia's shoulders

Learning from the best: Model-blogger Natasha - who has a whopping 1.7 million followers on Instagram - likely shared some photography tips with her 13-year-old sister, who struck a pose by the beach

Interestingly, her ink design seemed to match one belonging to her best pal, and co-founder of their popular blog A Bikini A Day, California-born Devin Brugman.

Meanwhile, Natasha finished off her effortless style with a pair of Adidas Originals Superstar black-and-white sneakers, featuring the brand's distinctive gold label.

Her younger sister - who also runs her own lifestyle blog, Love Sophia - wore a light pink jumper, despite the warm weather, emblazoned with the words 'Cest La Vie'.

Summer style: Natasha wore her blonde hair loosely and wore a pair of stylish Adidas black-and-white trainers, while concealing her gaze behind aviator style sunglasses

'C'est La Vie': Sophia, who runs her own lifestyle blog, wore a light pink jumper, despite the warmer weather

Of course, no day at the beach for Natasha would be complete without posing for a photo - and at one point, she pulled out her smart phone as Sophia struck a pose.

During the day trip, Miami-born Sophia may well have picked up social media tricks from her older sister - who has amassed an incredible 1.7 million followers on image-sharing website Instagram.

Natasha recently jetted down in Sydney after enjoying a bikini-clad holiday Beverly Hills, California with fellow blogger Devin, 25.

While in the States, the pair also stopped by the Conde Nast HQ in New York City for a SELF Magazine photo shoot to promote their new sportswear range, Monday Active.

Natural beauty: Natasha accessorised with a flashy silver watch, which drew attention to a discreet tattoo of an outline of a heart on her left wrist - a similar design to that of close pal Devin Brugman, 25

But despite being based in Los Angeles, Natasha always catches up with her family when back home in Sydney.

And even before finding fame as Instagram's hottest property, Natasha came from a distinguished NSW family.

She previously told Elite Daily that her mother, Lynette, is a former Miss Universe, while her father, Guy, is an Australian Surf Champion.

Hugging it out: Sophia claims on her blog that she was born in Miami, Florida, but mostly raised in Sydney

Don't go! Natasha makes frequent trips back to Sydney, but spends much of her time in the United States
She had much publicised breast reduction surgery last year.

But Ariel Winter proved once again she kept plenty for herself on Thursday as she wore a plunging outfit to a children's benefit.

The 18-year-old flashed her still-considerable assets in a black scoop neck top as she attended The Dream Builders Project 3rd Annual 'A Brighter Future For Children' Black Tie Charity Gala at The Taglyan Complex in LA.

Black tie: Ariel Winter brought her boyfriend Laurent Claude and her cleavage to the Dream Builders Project children's fundraiser in LA on Thursday

The Modern Family star matched it with a pair of three-quarter length black trousers, and a pair of strappy black heels.

The actress brought her boyfriend Laurent Gaudette to the shindig, who looked sharp in a black suit and white shirt, leaving his tie-less collar open.

The event was held to benefit the Audrey Hepburn CARES Center at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, which provides comprehensive medical expertise to reliably identify and treat children who have been affected by domestic abuse and neglect.

Taking the plunge: The 18-year-old flashed her still-considerable assets in a black scoop neck top as she attended The Dream Builders Project 3rd Annual 'A Brighter Future For Children' Black Tie Charity Gala at The Taglyan Complex

Back in black: The Modern Family star matched it with a pair of three-quarter length black trousers, and a pair of strappy black heels

Good cause: The event was held to benefit the Audrey Hepburn CARES Center at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, which provides comprehensive medical expertise to reliably identify and treat children who have been affected by domestic abuse and neglect

The Dream Builders Project is a Los Angeles-based, nonprofit organization whose mission is to grow and develop the community by aiding, funding, and raising awareness about many of the citys key social issues, including child abuse and neglect, poverty, homelessness, and severe illness and disease.

It is 'not restricted to any particular group or cause but is purely dedicated to the improvement of humanity'.

Tickets to the gala, which included a celebrity poker tournament and silent auction, cost $2,000 for a table of ten.

Fate: Speaking to reporters at a Vanity Fair-hosted party on Friday, Ariel claimed the young couple were meant to be

Beau: Laurent looked sharp in a black suit and white shirt, leaving his tie-less collar open

Speaking to reporters at a Vanity Fair-hosted party on Friday, Ariel claimed the young couple were meant to be.

'When I first came to this school and met him, I immediately thought there was something special about him,' she said. 'I got to know him and, almost three years later, we're here.

'I love him,' she added, 'he's great.'
She was a vision of impeccable style as she took to the streets of Paris shortly after arriving in the fashion capital on Thursday.

But Jessica Alba was a little less perfectly put together when she stepped out to the Balmain bash, following the catwalk showcase as part of Paris Fashion Week, that evening.

She looked a little unsteady on her feet as she was pictured being helped out of the star-studded party which was held at Laperouse restaurant and attended by guests including Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner.

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Steady as she goes: Jessica Alba looked a little unsteady as she was pictured being helped out of the Balmain bash at Laperouse restaurant in Paris, France, on Thursday evening

A female friend of the 34-year-old was seen clutching her upper-arm to ensure she didn't trip in her towering heels.

Jessica was far from worse for wear and looked grateful for the assistance as they called it a night.

The Sin City actress gave an affirmative nod to Olivier Rousteing's signature style when it came to her evening attire as she squeezed her slim figure into a tight-fitting khaki bandage dress.

Walk this way: Jessica, 34, was assisted by a female friend as the pair called it a night. She looked sensational in a khaki bodycon mini dress which highlighted her slim figure

It's ladies' night: The Hollywood actress appeared to have had a great night mingling with the fash-pack as she beamed from ear-to-ear while sat in her getaway vehicle

The mother-of-two played the supermodel party-goers at their own game as the mini bodycon number perfectly flattered her svelte form.

Jessica's frock was long-sleeved in style and featured a thigh-high hem but she concealed her lean limbs in a pair of black tights.

A stand-out detail was the thin strips of sheer which ran horizontally from arm to arm, offering a small glimpse of her perky chest.

Party time: Jessica looked gorgeous in her statement dress as she caught up with her fashionable pals

Peekaboo: Jessica flashed a big smile as she mingled with the style elite at the party

Shopping until she drops: Earlier in the day, the businesswoman was pictured ambling around the capital city's luxury shopping district

There's no rest for the wicked: Jessica enjoyed a girls' day out, visiting Dior's and Saint Laurent's Parisian flagships

She teamed the one-piece with a pair of high-heeled peep-toe shoes which featured an ankle strap.

Jessica's hair and make-up was perfectly in place following the celebrations with a shimmering bronze tone decorating her eyelids while her highlighted tresses were lightly tousled.

Her fashionable appearance followed her shopping sighting earlier in the day which saw her visit Dior's and Saint Laurent's flagship stores with a female friend.

The Golden Globe nominee was comparably dressed down in black skinny jeans, a checked top, a khaki utility jacket and small-heeled ankle boots for her outing ambling the streets of the beautiful city.
She's been keeping herself busy since recently announcing her split from on/off beau David Gandy.

And Mollie King, 28, showed no signs of heartbreak on Thursday night when she turned out to support Save the Children's A Night of Motown gala at the Roundhouse in Camden.

The singer cut a sophisticated figure in an all-black ensemble which revealed her taut tum.

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All for a good cause: Mollie King, 28, showed no signs of heartbreak on Thursday night when she turned out to support Save the Children's A Night of Motown gala at the Roundhouse in Camden

The style queen rocked a smart blazer with the sleeves rolled up for a more casual look, worn over a crop top which exposed her tanned midriff.

She teamed the items with pleather leggings and a pair of teetering heels, while she stored her belongings in a leather clutch.

The Saturdays songstress styled her shoulder-length blonde tresses in a middle parting and added a touch of glamour to her face with a slick of deep red glossy lipstick.

Back in black: The singer cut a sophisticated figure in an all-black ensemble which revealed her taut tum

Classy: The style queen rocked a smart blazer with the sleeves rolled up for a more casual look, worn over a crop top which exposed her tanned midriff

Blonde beauty: She teamed the items with pleather leggings and a pair of teetering heels while she stored her belongings in a leather clutch

Mollie had a twinkle in her eye as she flashed a pearly white smile on her way into the venue.

The blonde beauty has a long-running relationship with the charity, having designed a pair of shoes for an auction back in 2013.

She announced her split from model Gandy at the Elle Style Awards last month. Speaking to MailOnline, she said: 'I'm single so I guess I'll just see when Mr Right comes knocking on my door. I'm not playing the field and I'm not on any dating sites. But if you've got any hook ups send them my way.'

Big hair, don't care: Host for the evening was actress and Save the Children supporter Helena Bonham Carter

Laughing out loud: Event director Dora Loewenstein and Helena had a blast at the Motown themed bash

Doing her bit for charity: Presenter Myleene Klass also stopped by the musical fundraiser, which saw live acts perform Motown classics as well as soulful newer songs

Hostess with the mostess: Helena, pictured with Sir Tim Rice and Dora, took her duties seriously

Headline news: Natasha Kaplinsky rocked a sparkling halterneck jumpsuit

Host for the evening was actress and Save the Children supporter Helena Bonham Carter.

The Harry Potter star was her usual quirky self, rocking an eye-catching perm and incorporating plenty of colour into her make-up.

She decorated her eyes with a shimmering silver and blue shadow and added a touch of red just beneath her thick eyebrows.

Displaying her plump pout for the cameras, her lips were given a slick of glossy pink, and she added even more glam with a pair of large white hooped earrings.

Eye-catching: Former Olympian Denise Lewis wowed in a patterned mini dress

Plenty of sparkle: Mylene Klass's shimmering black jacket caught the lights

All smiles: Lenny Henry was joined by a pal in a glitzy gown as he posed for a picture with Jon Snow and Precious Lunga

Family affair: Alexander Armstrong and his sister Alice enjoyed a glass of bubbly

Her nude and black dress was made up of curved lines which drew the eye from top to bottom. A sparkly silver clutch complemented her eye-make-up and nicely finished her ensemble.

The star-studded guestlist included news anchors Jon Snow and Natasha Kaplinsky, comedians Lenny Henry and Alexander Armstrong, former Olympian Denise Lewis, media personality Myleene Klass and lyricist Sir Tim Rice.

It was the fifth year in a row the charity held a gala at the iconic London venue following A Night of Disco, A Night of Reggae, A Night of Funk & Soul and A Night of Blues.

The events have proved to be a successful way of raising funds, with A Night of Disco bringingin 1.41million and included performances by Heatwave, Sister Sledge, Sophie Ellis Bextor and Earth, Wind & Fire.

Soul man: Lamar put on a soulful performance for the star-studded audience
They're famous for throwing raucous and self-indulgent parties.

So the Geordie Shore team were in their element when they were snapped partying the afternoon away on board a luxury sailing vessel in Sydney Harbour on Thursday.

Geordie Shore co-stars Gaz Beadle and his on-and-off again girlfriend Charlotte were joined on board by former housemate Ricci Guarnaccio, as well as Australian radio shock jock Kyle Sandilands and his lads mag model girlfriend Imogen Anthony.

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Rocking the boat! Imogen Anthony and Geordie Shore's Ricci Guarnaccio were pictured flipping the bird on board at passers-by during the raucous boat party cruising Sydney Harbour on Thursday

The gathering was certainly causing a stir as the scantily-clad group cavorted wildly on the boat's deck across the afternoon.

The party-goers danced under the sun in their teeny tiny swimwear, thrusting their hips and sashaying along the deck with their drinks in their hands.

Imogen, 24, and Ricci, 29, made sure to leave their mark after being snapped flipping the bird at passers-by as their luxury liner cruised along the picturesque Sydney Harbour.

Free spirit: Showing off her best nightclub moves, the slinky hipped Maxim model let loose as she danced alone on-board without a care in the world

Showing off her best nightclub moves, the slinky hipped Maxim model let loose as she danced alone on-board without a care in the world.

Not one for vigorous movements, her boyfriend of five years, Kyle, was happy to sit back and admire his girlfriend's twinkle toes, before raising his hands in the air, as if to boogie along to the beat.

But the party didn't stop with rude hand gestures and raunchy dance moves - an old school style CD player was also seen being cast overboard into the water.

Overboard: The group were also spotted throwing an old school style CD player was also seen being cast overboard into the water

Not concerned about the bright sunshine or the water drenched environment, Kyle didn't deter from his favoured uniform - a white un-buttoned shirt on top of a black T-shirt and a pair of navy shorts.

Despite vowing to lead a healthier lifestyle, the KIIS FM radio presenter was snapped smoking cigarettes on the star-studded cruise.

He was also seen snacking on a baguette roll later in the day.

The uniform: Despite the warm weather Kyle still opted for a covered up look, sporting his favoured uniform of cap, black T-Shirt, bandanna and shorts

Fallen off the bandwagon? Despite vowing to lead a healthier lifestyle, the KIIS FM radio presenter was snapped smoking cigarettes on the star-studded cruise

Red faced: Charlotte, 25, was spotted red faced as she spoke to one of the staffers on board the luxury liner

Meanwhile on the boat, 25-year-old Charlotte and Gaz, 27, couldn't keep their hands and lips off each other while enjoying some private time below deck.

But the blissful romance didn't last long, with the North-East starlet looking a little red faced as she leaned over the railings of the boat with a drink in hand.

The grim look didn't last long though, with Charlotte later seen splashing about with her beau in the refreshing Australian waters.

After the outing, Gaz showed his chivalrous side and helped his barefoot beauty walk along the cement wharf.

Charlotte and Gaz have been joined by their MTV co-stars for a week of promotional duties ahead of the 12th series of Geordie Shore.
She's been making the rounds promoting her new book, Pretty Happy.

And Kate Hudson seemed to be practising what she preaches as she stepped out in London on Friday looking both chic and cheerful as she headed into the BBC Radio 2 studios.

Looking beautiful in blue, the 36-year-old cut a striking figure as she made her way out of her car, striding forward in a pair of towering nude wedges.

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Role model: Kate Hudson seemed to be practicing what she preaches in her Pretty Happy book as she stepped out in London on Friday looking both chic and cheerful as she headed into the BBC studios

Opting for a pair of oversized baby blue trousers, the Almost Famous star turned heads with the fashion-forward garment, which she teamed with a a matching duster coat.

However, it slightly swamped her enviable, famously toned frame, but she just about pulled off the tricky look.

Donning a nude crew neck top, the mum-of-two looked effortlessly glamorous, finishing off her ensemble with a khaki fringed saddle bag.

Leaving her golden locks loose and poker straight, Kate sported a neutral make-up palette, concealing her eyes beneath a pair of brown cat eye sunglasses.

Feeling blue: Looking beautiful in blue, the 36-year-old cut a striking figure as she made her way out of her car and into the Radio 2 studio striding forward in a pair of towering nude wedges

Leggy lady! Opting for a pair of oversized baby blue trousers, the Almost Famous star turned heads with the fashion-forward garment, which she teamed with a a matching duster coat

Finishing touches: Donning a nude crew neck top, the mum-of-two looked effortlessly glamorous, finishing off her ensemble with a khaki fringed saddle bag

Perfect shade: The pale blue of her co-ord was the ideal tone for her honey-kissed skin and blonde locks

With her new book promoting a lifestyle that promises to leave women feeling 'healthy, strong and beautiful,' Kate was a perfect advocate for a brand, looking the picture of health and happiness on the outing.

Speaking about her new venture, the co-founder of fitness clothes line Fabletics, explained that there was no such thing as a quick fix, however, as she revealed it takes hard work.

She confessed: 'It takes a lot of work. For me, its more about how do you motivate women to want that to be a part of their lifestyle, the actual work part, because it is a discipline.'

All done! She was later pictured emerging from the BBC studios, her flowing garments cascading around her as she stepped into the sunshine

Channelling the 1970s? There was a distinct retro vibe about her appearance on Friday

Onto the next one? She looked determined as she strode through the streets of London for the next appearance

Happy! Busy Kate looked radiant as she flashed a smile at onlookers

During her Radio 2 interview, however, talk turned to her famous family as she opened up about growing up with her mother, Goldie Hawn, and step-father Kurt Russell.

'My parents are cool!' she exclaimed when asked about her famous relatives.

Kate - who recently claimed her biological father Bill Hudson 'abandoned' her when he divorced Goldie - continued: 'Everything in my family is very super open. We like hanging out with each other the most.'

And whilst Kate said that she and her two brothers formed a tight-knit family alliance with their parents, she revealed that she still respected their authority.

'They were very tough parents that set very clear boundaries,' she revealed.
The stars of the Real Housewives of Melbourne are known for making on-screen gaffs and hilarious social slip-ups.

But fans were treated to a different kind of blunder on Friday when ARENA TV shared a teaser clip for this season's third episode, which contained a spelling mistake.

Facebook fans were quick to pick up on the error, which saw the word 'Housewife' misspelt as 'Houswife', missing the letter 'e'.

Did someone say, 'spell check?': Fans of the Real Housewives of Melbourne were treated to a different kind of blunder on Friday when ARENA TV shared a teaser clip for this season's third episode, which contained a spelling mistake

'HOUSWIFE??? really??????? Truly and honestly - the proofreading on all television lately is horrendous!!!' wrote one astonished fan beneath the clip.

'I noticed that too!! Not a good look', wrote another, while one fan shared a screen-grab of the spelling error captioned: 'Planet what?'

The teaser clip features a series of highlights from Sunday's episode, including what seems to be the moment Gamble Breaux excludes Pettifleur Berenger from her wedding celebrations.

Bridezilla! The teaser clip features a series of highlights from the upcoming episode, including what seems to be the moment Gamble Breaux excludes Pettifleur Berenger from her wedding celebrations

'Ditch a wedding guest,' appears on screen before Gamble is seen throwing an envelope over her shoulder into nearby shrubbery.

'Get f****d', exclaims the fiery blonde before storming off, leaving her fellow housewives with a look of shock on their faces.

One eagle-eyed fan made sure to point out the fact that, while the other housewives seem to be holding an invitation in the scene, Pettifleur seems to have been neglected.

Someone's not happy! The fiery blonde told one cast member to 'Get f****d' before storming off, leaving her fellow housewives with a look of shock on their faces

Shocked! Jackie Gillies was left looking shocked after Gamble threw a tantrum in front of the reality stars

'If you pause it at the 10 second mark you can see everyone has an invite in their hand but Pettifleur!' wrote the fan on Facebook.

Also in the clip, barrister-turned-entrepreneur Gina Liano is seen discussing the launch of her new perfume while Lydia Schiavello is filmed unveiling her brand new Porsche.

Lydia is also seen making what appears to be a racial slur toward her housekeeper.

'Choong choong, not ching ching', says Lydia to her clearly unimpressed employee as the pair stand in the glamorous brunette's driveway.

Expanding the brand! Also in the clip, barrister-turned-entrepreneur Gina Liano is seen discussing the launch of her new perfume

Ruffling feathers! Lydia is also seen making what appears to be a racial slur toward her housekeeper
She ensured all eyes were on her in a shimmering purple gown at the Oscars on Sunday evening.

But off the red carpet, Naomi Watts, 47, showed she's just a laid back mother.

The While We're Young star was seen make-up free while tending to her youngest son Samuel, aged six, on Thursday in New York City.

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Her favourite role: Naomi Watts was seen smiling on Wednesday as she played doting mother while taking her son Samuel, six, to school in New York City

The duo embraced the chilly winter weather, bundling up in puffy jackets for their regular school run.

Naomi appeared to cut a casual figure in a navy coat, blue tights and white joggers.

She teamed the look with a set of woollen gloves, a beige scarf tucked neatly inside her warm jacket and an over-sized red beanie which certainly made her stand out.

The mother-of-two also slung a navy studded designer handbag over one shoulder as she pounded the pavement hand-in-hand with her look-a-like son.

Quality mother and son time: The duo held hands which which were covered in woollen gloves as they embraced the chilly winter weather, bundling up in puffy jackets for their regular school run

The King Kong starlet left her blonde locks in a relaxed 'do and went for the early morning stroll without any make-up on, showing off her luminous skin.

Samuel kept warm in a khaki camouflage print jacket, purple jeans and black lace up shoes.

The youngster completed his casual school look with a burgundy coloured back pack and a grey beanie which he placed firmly on top of his blonde tresses.

Stunner: Naomi's purple gown for the Oscars on Sunday showed off her slender figure as it hugged tightly around her petite frame before dropping to the floor

On Sunday evening, Naomi stunned in a Armani Prive gown at the Oscars.

The mermaid-like ensemble, which went from blue to bright pink, highlighted her petite frame as it fell to the floor in an elegant style.

The Australian actress accessorised her strapless dress with a sparkling Bulgari diamond necklace and a black Bulgari clutch.

She styled her glossy hair in a fifties do and opted for a simple eye shadow as the centrepiece for her make-up look, and accentuated her perfect pout with red lipstick.

Couple selfie: Naomi took to social media to show off her red carpet look ahead of the ceremony, posing with her very dapper partner Liev Schreiber, 48, for a series of happy snaps

Naomi took to social media to show off her red carpet look ahead of the ceremony, posing with her very dapper and equally famous partner, Liev Schreiber, 48, for a series of happy snaps.

Alongside the shot, she wrote 'Out the door, just in time... On the arm of @lievschreiber my #winner here we go! Good luck #Spotlight #oscars @Armani @BulgariOfficial @jeanannwilliams.'

Liev looked smart in a black fitted tuxedo which he teamed up with a simple white button-up shirt.

In another upload, the actress was pictured posing with her L'Oreal lipstick.

She captioned the ode to make-up selfie: 'Getting #oscarready! This is my #rougeenvy color from @lorealmakeup, and a little touch of sparkle from @bulgariofficial #Naomi4LOreal #Oscars.'
He's a heart-throb for countless women - and probably a few men, too.

So it's perhaps not surprising that actor Aiden Turner was seen horsing around in typical alpha male style on Friday afternoon.

The star was seen riding a stallion as filming got underway for the second season of BBC programme Poldark, where he commanded attention.

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Filming scenes: Aiden Turner was seen horsing around in typical alpha male style on Friday afternoon

Clad in a grey waistcoat and smart overcoat, Aidan's character looked windswept as he navigated a hill-top surrounded by crew-members.

Spotted taking direction as the scenes were committed to film, the popular - and professional - actor seemed to be in full focus.

Also flanked by a white screen to enhance lighting, the filming process seemed somewhat stop-and-start due to the conditions.

Lights, camera, action: The star was seen riding a stallion as filming got underway for the second season of BBC programme Poldark, where he commanded attention

Working hard: Spotted taking direction as the scenes were committed to film, the popular - and professional - actor seemed to be in full focus

Fortunately, the weather didn't spook the horse, who seemed content to be part of the headline-making show.

The latest production sighting after Captain Ross and his loyal wife Demelza were spotted shooting an explosive scene on Thursday.

Filming got underway for the second season of the hit programme in windy Cornwall, with the sandy beach at Holywell Bay providing a beautiful yet bleak backdrop for their lovers' tiff.

Dressed for the weather: Clad in a grey waistcoat and smart overcoat, Aidan's character looked windswept as he navigated a hill-top surrounded by crew-members

That's impress the neigh-sayers! The Irish hunk was looking good as he saddled-up in his outfit

While it's unclear what Captain Poldark was being reprimanded for, fans of the first BBC One series will know that he previously spent three years in the army to avoid charges of smuggling.

Though he served his time and abandoned his sweetheart, Elizabeth (played by Heida Reed) to fight in the American War of Independence.

He was also seen being taken away to Truro jail by a sergeant at the end of Series 1 on a charge of theft and murder - the likelihood being that George Warleggan had snitched on him.

Animal magic: Fortunately, the weather didn't spook the horse, who seemed content to be part of the show

Canter: The star is steadily taken back to the production base thanks to his four-legged co-star

The final episode of the first series aired in April 2015, leaving fans guessing about Demelza and Ross' welfare, following the loss of their daughter Julia.

Elizabeth actress Heida proved that her part in the second season filming wrapped on Tuesday when she posted a clapboard snap.

Teasing fans further she captioned it with: 'It's a wrap for Elizabeth on series 2!!!'.

Acting up: Aiden was also joined on-set by a fellow character in the show, dressed in similar gear
She's made no secret of enjoying domestic life since wedding her husband Christian Horner.

And Geri Horner, 43, looked to have bought plenty of new items for the family home during a shopping spree in London on Thursday.

The former Spice Girl had her hands full with bags as she made her way back to her car following the productive outing.

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Splashing the cash: Geri Horner, 43, looked to have bought plenty of new items for the family home during a shopping spree in London on Thursday

The mother-of-one was clearly prepared to bring home a big haul as she dragged a black travel bag behind her, presumably full of purchases.

Geri covered up in an all-black ensemble consisting of a loose tunic with waist tie, tights and heeled boots.

She looked like a woman on a mission as she lugged her cargo, with her sizeable over the shoulder bag adding even more weight.

Heavy load: The former Spice Girl had her hands full with bags as she made her way back to her car following the productive outing

Hands full: The mother-of-one was clearly prepared to bring home a big haul as she dragged a black travel bag behind her, presumably full of purchases

The star wore her hair scraped back into a ponytail and a couple of tendrils framed her face.

When she finally reached her vehicle, Geri raised a cute smile from behind her Ray Ban aviators.

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail's Event magazine, Geri opened up about her marriage to Red Bull Racing team principal Christian.

She explained: I do cook for him, I do like to see that hes happy.

When I go to the Formula 1 races, Im not about all the glamour. Ive been there and done that. I never thought Id meet the man who I knew I would be with always. I can be myself with him, I can breathe out. I dont ever want to get divorced.

Happy days: When she finally reached her vehicle, Geri raised a cute smile from behind her Ray Ban aviators

Determined: Geri was a woman on a mission on her way to finally being able to offload her items

Woman in black: Geri covered up in an all-black ensemble consisting of a loose tunic with waist tie, tights and heeled boots

Geri  who has a nine-year-old daughter, Bluebell, with former boyfriend, screenwriter Sacha Gervasi  insisted she was not betraying her feminist principles.

I believe in equality but Im proud to be a wife and this is me saying I believe in the union of marriage and everything that goes with it, she said. I want to share his name. I want me and Christian and Bluebell to have the same name, to be our family.

A keen cook, Geri recently impressed with her culinary skills when she was crowned the winner of the Sport Relief Bake Off.

Judge Paul Hollywood was effusive in his praise of her savoury Mediterranean tart, saying: It was one of the best ones Ive seen on Bake Off overall  not just in Sport Relief Bake Off, but in the whole Bake Off.

Time to go: After struggling to her car with her bags, Geri climbed behind the wheel and prepared to set off
She's been one of Hollywood biggest success stories thanks to her ability to take on acting, singing, producing and reality TV. And she continues to rack up the hits even at age 46.

On Friday, Jennifer Lopez confessed to People she never imagined she would do this well at this age.

'When you first start in this business, you think, "This is going to run out" or "It's going to finish at a certain time" or "If I reach a certain age I won't be relevant,"' said the Bronx beauty, who signed a massive record deal with Epic this week.

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A surprise to her: Jennifer Lopez told People on Friday she never imagined she would do so well at 46; here she is seen (left) in February and (right) in the year 2000 after her hit Waiting For Tonight came out

 Slide me  Her face does not change: One secret to the hit maker's success is her inability to age

But now she knows otherwise.

'I have found that I just get better and better with more experience and more life,' said the star, who appears on American Idol and Shades Of Blue, and also has a gig in Las Vegas called All I Have.

'I have more to give to what I do and that's what I look forward to when creating this record,' said the I Luh Ya Papi hit maker.

Being back at Epic means she will again collaborate with L.A. Reid. She originally worked with Epic at the beginning of her career in the Nineties but left for Def Jam in 2010 where Reid was CEO.

She loves to stay in the spotlight: 'I have found that I just get better and better with more experience and more life,' said the star, who appears on American Idol and Shades Of Blue, and also has a gig in Las Vegas called All I Have; here she is seen in Sin City in January

And the singer - who has the hits Waiting For Tonight, Love Don't Cost A Thing, Jenny From The Block, On The Floor and Booty under her belt - is excited to try a new sound.

'I've had so much success over the years but this is going to be a great starting point again,' she said.

'It's all about finding the right sound for me and the right songs and the right lyrics for me right now,' the cover girl added.

The star - who is reportedly looking to buy a nearly $23m home in Beverly Hills (she used to live in Hidden Hills near friend Kim Kardashian) - is still working on the new beat.

'Hopefully we'll have new music very soon,' said the mother to twins Max and Emme.

Lopez was last seen in New York City on Wednesday in a cute grey track suit that had a grey hoodie with grey sequined slacks.

Comfort is key: Lopez looked worlds apart from her on-stage self as she slipped into a comfy tracksuit while strolling around Manhattan, New York City, on Wednesday

Booty-ful: Jennifer highlighted her pert posterior in a pair of form-fitting jogging bottoms which she teamed with a co-ordinated hooded jumper

The key to success: The First Love hit-maker also made the most of her enviable curves in the comfy ensemble as she picked up a healthy green juice which may explain why she's in such good shape
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For Balmain's all-star runway on Thursday she dramatically transformed her look with platinum blonde locks.

But just 24 hours later, style chameleon Kendall Jenner was back to brunette as she led the models down the Christian Dior catwalk held inside the Cour Carree at the iconic Louvre for Friday's highlight of Paris Fashion Week.

The 20-year-old looked like a gothic goddess with her slicked back dark locks, black lipstick and dressed in a luxurious fur dress coat as she strutted down the runway in front of a celeb crowd, including her mother Kris Jenner.

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Back to her roots: Kendall Jenner was back to brunette as she led the models down the Christian Dior catwalk at the iconic Louvre during Paris Fashion Week on Friday

The top model looked super chic in her Dior design, showing off her long legs in the short winter number, which was teamed with lace-up shoe boots in silver and black.

The black vintage-style dress coat featured a statement, oversized fur collar which accentuated Kendall's porcelain complexion.

Her dramatic piece was accessorised with silver rings and earrings to continue the gothic vibe, while a slick of glossy black lip colour completed the look.

See Kendall Jenner updates as she is transformed from blonde ice queen to gothic goddess for Christian Dior Paris Fashion Week runway

Winter chic: The top model epitomized the French fashion house's gothic vibe for the show with her slicked back dark locks and black lipstick

Strike a pose: Kendall's black velvet dress featured a statement, oversized fur collar which accentuated the model's porcelain complexion

Super chic: Statement earrings and gold and silver rings continued the edgy vibe of the collection

What a difference a day makes: Just 24 hours before Dior's show, Kendall rocked a blonde wig for Balmain's PFW runway

After being styled in a blonde wig for Balmain's show, Kendall was back to her roots for Dior, with her dark locks pulled back into a sleek up do.

Kendall was the top name on the catwalk, notching up another high profile show after leading the Balmain Army the day before alongside her best friend Gigi Hadid.

Dior's Fall/Winter collection was stuffed with vintage-style pieces in luxurious fabrics.

Star of the show: Kendall is finishing her latest Fashion Week season with a string of big name shows in Paris

Dark and myserious: After being styled in a blonde wig for Balmain, Kendall was back to her roots for Dior, with her dark locks pulled back into a sleek up do

Finishing touches: Kendall was pictured in hair and makeup backstage, with her black lips looking dramatic against her pale skin, while a stylist got to work slicking back her locks

Ready for her closeup: Kendall's dark glossy lips were offset by pale skin and lashings of mascara teamed with bold brows

Leading the way: Despite partying with her Balmain runway mates the night before, Kendall was back in work mode on Friday

Runway star: Kendall is making a name for herself, scoring shows with some of the biggest names in fashion

What a setting: Dior's models walked in a perfect line down the mirrored runway at Paris' iconic Louvre

What a setting! A tunnel had been created at Paris' famous museum with mirrors accentuating the venue's vast space

Colour pop: The models wore sophisticated ensembles, completed with preppy, lace up shoes, and colour pop shirts

Pops of colour were provided with over-sized prints on ladylike dresses, while flashes of skin were kept demure with off-the-shoulder styles and midi-length hemlines.

Preppy lace-up shoes in blacks and metallics completed the ensembles, while the models followed Kendall's lead with dramatic black lips.

A host of celebs turned out to see Dior's Autumn/Winter collection, including Kendall's proud mum Kris Jenner.

Pale and interesting: Pristine white and pastel pieces were mixed in with the wintery black fabrics

Riot of colour: Pops of colour were provided with over-sized prints on ladylike dresses, while flashes of skin were kept demure with off-the-shoulder styles and midi length hemlines

Snap happy: The style elite clicked away on their phones as the beautiful designs passed by

Floral frocks: Delicate prints prettified the dark dresses which were teamed with lace-up shoe boots in a variety of styles

Vintage style: Frills and furs adorned the stunning designs while all the models were styled with slicked back locks and black lips

Showing no emotion: The stunning clothes horses' ensured their faces were expressionless as they sashayed down the catwalk

Strike a pose: Kendall and her fellow models posed for snaps backstage in their beautiful designs

Time for a fun one? One model pulled a face as the group did their best to stick to the dark and moody vibe

Plenty of colour: Neon brights were mixed into the eclectic Fall/Winter collection

Mirror image: The long line of models was reflected in the tunnel of the jaw-dropping venue

The Momager sat front row, and dressed to match the gothic vibe of the French fashion house's presentation.

Kris plumped for a one-colour ensemble, wearing a very similar coat to her model daughter's and adding over-the-knee boots and suitably showy sunglasses.

Keeping Up With Kardashians' momager Kris was spearheading the A-list arrivals, with Hollywood royalty like Jessica Alba and Rosamund Pike not far behind.

Captivated: Fashion lovers eagerly snapped away from the sidelines as the models glided down the runway in an eclectic mix of styles

Vamp-lified: Kendall once again returned to the make-up chair were artists transformed her into a sultry gothic beauty

The world's a show! The models also posed up a storm in Dior's designs backstage, with the looks offset against a minimal white background

Medley of shades: There was no overriding colour theme during the show, with the clothes horses fashioning everything from plum and navy tonesa to vibrant florals

Popular as ever: As always the showcase was a success with the fashion elite packing the rafters

Momager's here! On the front row, Kris Jenner showed her support for her model daughter, matching the gothic vibe of the show in a black coat and statement shades

All in black: Kris arrived at the Cour Carree at the Louvre Museum, with a waves and a smile

Floating in: She sauntered past the masses, giving them a little wave as she anticipated the arrival of her model daughter Kendall

Well-dressed: Meanwhile, actress Jessica Alba had plumped for colour in her red trouser and blue shoes look

Making her arrival: The superstar arrived on the phone, having battled extreme traffic to get to the venue

Work it: Even as she arrived, Jessica was noticed by the photographers who wanted to capture her fashionable ensemble

What a beauty: The actress and fashion fan stood out in her ultra elegant ensemble

They're in fashion: Russian model Natalia Vodianova showed off her stunning natural beauty in a pale and interesting outfit as she posed with Jessica

Where Kris had gone for classic black, fashion maven Jessica was bold in red rolled up trousers that just skimmed her ankles to reveal some adorable blue patent heels.

Her polished image was capped off with a preppy white shirt, encrusted with colourful crystals all the way around the collar, and a bolero jacket that hung off her shape in a structured fashion.

For Gone Girl star Rosamund, meanwhile, it was a bold, colour pop coat that made her show outfit and she arrived looking effortless in a vermilion shade.

Bold: Rosamund Pike arrived in a tomato red colour, smiling broadly for the cameras

Classic: She channeled Parisian style perfectly in a clean palette of red and black

Pure glamour: The Hollywood star removed her patterned sunglasses and flicked out her hair in the spotlight

Shady lady: Rosamund kept her fashionable frames on as she headed inside and stopped to pose for the cameras

Date day: The actress made a rare public appearance with long-term boyfriend Robie Uniacke, 54, for the show

Similar shade: Emmy Rossum wore a coat dress, which featured an asymmetric hemline and a pleated skirt

Sitting pretty: Emmy sat front row with her pal, fellow actress Riley Keough who looked super chic in a frilly black and cream number

Pretty as a picture: Riley, the eldest grandchild of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, looked gorgeous in her delicate dress

Fashion fans: Olivia Palermo wore a colourful furry coat for the anticipated show, while Bond star Naomie Harris was pretty in print

Making a statement: Olivia looked sensational in a fur coat with colour pop yellow pockets and shiny detailing

Thigh's the limit: Olivia made the most of endless legs in a pair of sexy thigh-high leather boots

Another day, another show: Muse frontman Matt Bellamy and his model girlfriend Elle Evans made for a dapper couple

She channeled Parisian chic perfectly with a classic palette of red, black and charcoal as she shunned heels and paired a sophisticated dress with formal, flat shoes in monochrome.

The blonde had styled her hair with a polished finish, blunt cut and sharp side-parting and as she smiled for the cameras she removed her shades to capture the perfect arrivals look.

The Louvre's square courtyard had been transformed especially for the bi-annual event, this time creating a futuristic contrast to the architecture of the Siene's former royal palace with the use of a mirrored construction that bore the brand's name, Dior.

Making a scene: The entrance to the show featured mirrored glass, which reflected the museum's architechture

Incredible scenes: The mirrored construction reflected the Siene's former royal courtyard for a futuristic feel

Iconic name: The French fashion house set up shop in the magnificent courtyard of the Louvre

Making her exit: Kendall looked glam in a monochrome print shirt layered under a smart black coat as she left the show

Still in fashion mode: The top model carried a silver bag and slipped on aviator shades to head to her next stop in Fashion Week

Fan of the look? Kendall still had her dark locks slicked back and her dark lipstick on as she dashed from the runway

Runway dash: Kendall looked in a hurry to leave as she continued onto the next appointment in her busy schedule

Get me to makeup: After a late night partying at Balmain aftershow party, Kendall went makeup free as she headed to Dior in the same outfit earlier on Friday

All made up: Kendall looked in better spirits after the show, with her runway makeup still on
Coming up with new storylines for soap has to be one of the toughest jobs in TV: a machine that can never stop whirring. Sometimes, those storylines are inspired - the unexpected friendship between Mary and Erica in Coronation Street is a joy - and sometimes they are breathtaking in their banality.

Unfortunately, Izzy's Weed on Wheels plot in the Street is one of its less great ideas and I have absolutely no clue where they're going with it. EastEnders has managed to turn one of its better storylines - Who Killed Lucy? - into one of tedium, not least in its being the worst-kept secret in the history of mankind (well, an open secret to everyone apart from the cops, who couldn't find a crane in a haystack). And in Emmerdale, the obsession with guns is even more out of control than... well, gun control.

When it comes to awards being handed out, soaps tend to put their big storyline episodes up for nomination - rape, murder etc - but it is really the day-to-day communication, the minutiae of normal human existence, that is at the heart of the shows - or should be. That's the real prizeworthy stuff.

In the hospital, Eileen Grimshaw thanks Phelan for coming to Michael Rodwell rescue. But when Michael spots Phelan at his bedside, he suffers further chest pains, before revealing how Andy overheard Phelan

CORONATION STREET: WHEN A PLOT NEEDS TO BE POLEAXED

Given how much money the O'Driscolls clearly have, it's hard to believe they need a Polish slave. When Eva, Aidan and Billy find Marta sleeping rough, they decide to tackle the O'Driscolls, but Julia is a tough opponent. Is she lying when she says Marta's returned to her homeland? I care as much about this as I do about the future of Polish sausage.

Phelan is still making his presence felt, and after a confrontation with Michael, the latter finds himself in hospital again (above) and later attempts to hit his love rival with his crutch (for an ex-con, Michael's fairly inept these days). Eileen decides enough's enough and ends her relationship with Michael. Her ability to choose the wrong men has just rocketed up the emotional Richter scale, and when Phelan tells her he has feelings for her, she's doomed. Let's be honest: she's slept with men for a lot less than a few kind words (a bag of crisps usually does it).

Zeedan also loses his cool this week when he smells a love rival for Rana's affections in Jason. Enjoying Zeedan's display of machismo, Rana kisses him after sneaking into the Bistro kitchen. Does anyone ever do any cooking in that place? Last week, Robert rushed back to the kitchen, claiming he'd forgotten about a Tuscan bean stew in the oven. Really? I must have been asleep when that vegetable delivery arrived

EASTENDERS: MUM'S THE WORD? NO, THANKS!

A furious Claudette takes drastic action. Gavin Sullivan (PAUL NICHOLAS), Claudette (ELLEN THOMAS)

Joy of joys, here's a Mother's Day that lasts the entire week - and this shambolic group of muvvers see more action than the Gunfight at the OK Corral. Claudette tries to solve her problems by hitting Gavin over the head with a candelabra (below). Let's hope it dislodges that ridiculous dead albino stoat from his head. Phil's day is another drunken spree that lands him in hospital. Ronnie has a distressed day (no surprises there) when she finds a picture of Jack and Delphine on social media, captioned 'last night of freedom'. Leaving Phito his death wish, Ronnie rushes off (don't ever take up nursing, Ronnie) to try and stop Jack and Delphine's wedding. Will she make it in time? And is everything as it seems?

Life at the Hubbards' isn't so great, either, and when events spiral out of control, Patrick is caught up in the commotion (another excuse to hit the rum bottle). It's not long before things turn deadly. Meanwhile, Jordan's saga with Denise drags on - please tell me he's done something exciting, like find a splinter in his finger from that carpentry course he was planning.

Mick will need a carpenter when, after discovering Lee and Nancy arguing again (Happy Mother's Day, eh?), he snaps, smashes a chair and throws the pair out. The street's the safest place to be, if you ask me.

EMMERDALE: CHARITY BEGINS BACK AT HOME

Charity finally gets out of prison, with the police in hot pursuit over a stolen Ferrari

At last, she's back. Yes, Charity finally gets out of prison, with the police in hot pursuit over a stolen Ferrari (above). She's soon up to her old tricks, even using Moses to try to get what she wants.

It's not a happy stag do for Rakesh, who has money problems (that's the least of his worries - he's marrying Priya), and then the unhappy couple have a bust-up on their wedding day. So, it's the inevitable will-they-or-won't-they question as, with everyone waiting in the pub, the pair are nowhere to be seen.
He's known for playing action heroes.

But Armie Hammer was playing a very different role when he was spotted filming in south London on Friday.

The 28-year-old co-stars as writer James Lord in Final Portrait with the neighbourhood streets standing in for Paris in the 1960s.

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Stepping back in time: Armie Hammer was was spotted filming on Friday on the streets of south London that had been transformed into 1960s Paris

The young American interviewed Swiss painter and sculptor Alberto Giacometti, played by Geoffrey Rush, as he painted Lords picture in 1964 - his final work before his death two years later at 64.

For his role, Armie donned a brown raincoat that he wore over a mid-blue jacket and matching tie, with a crisp white shirt, cream trousers and light brown leather shoes.

His dark brown hair was side parted and cut short, in keeping with the era.

The production team put up French signs on the old English shop fronts and parked a vintage car on the street to transform it into the French capital.

Sixties style: The 28-year-old stars as James Lord in Final Portrait, set in Paris in 1964 when the young American writer interviewed Swiss painter-sculptor Alberto Giacometti (Geoffrey Rush) two years before his death

Time travel: The production team put up French signs on the old English shop fronts to help create the illusion

Actor Stanley Tucci is directing Final Portrait from his own script, based on Lords book, A Giacometti Portrait. The movie also stars Clemence Poesy and Tony Shalhoub.

Meanwhile, it seems Armie has been getting into London life, judging from the pictures he's posted on Instagram.

The Lone Ranger admitted to feeling homesick when he shared a photo of his wife, TV personality Elizabeth Chambers, lying on the floor of their home, with their year-old daughter Harper offering her her bottle. He captioned it: 'Missing my Valentines terribly....'

Checking out the neighbourhood: Armie stood with his back to the camera on the seemingly run-down street

Waiting for their cues: Further down the street a crowd of extras watched the filming

But the Man from U.N.C.L.E. has been taking in Richmond Rugby Club games and appears to be a fan.

He posted an apres-game video clip get together in a local pub, captioned: 'Take me back home to Richmond! #saturdaynightsinlondon @richmondrugby @hughiemann.'

Armie hasn't been put off by the country's terrible Winter weather, sharing a snap of himself standing on the rugby field, captioned 'It's raining, it's pouring, Richmond ain't snoring!

Getting into London life: It seems Armie is a rugby fan and he's been taking in Richmond Rugby Club games, posting a video clip of himself post match in a pub with pals, with the hashtag, 'Saturdaynightsinlondon'

More rugby: On Monday Armie posted this shot of himself standing on the rugby team's turf, saying, 'It's raining, it's pouring, Richmond ain't snoring! They kicked some ass tonight!!!'

'They kicked some ass tonight!!!' he said, adding '#comeonRichmond #goonrichmond follow @richmondrugby for the best rugby in London!! And the second oldest rugby club in the world... Yes, I sponsor the team (Go Small-Edwards). Yes, I am a die hard Richmond fan!'

And it seems he has had a visit from Elizabeth, as he posted a very wonky snap of himself and his wife with friends, saying: 'About last night... #doubledate #notaselfiemasterandproudofit #sorrywife.'

Final Portrait has yet to set a release date.

Picture this: The same day he posted a shot of himself with wife Elizabeth enjoying a drink with a friend, captioned, 'About last night... #doubledate #notaselfiemasterandproudofit #sorrywife'
She's been in and out of make-up chairs as she continues to dominate the runways at Paris Fashion Week.

But it looks like all of those cosmetics - and no doubt late nights - are starting to take their toll on Kendall Jenner's skin as the model stepped out from her hotel in the French capital with a painful-looking pimple on her chin on Friday.

Refusing to bow down to the pressures of being one of the most photographed beauties in the world, the 20-year-old made no attempt to hide her break-out and instead bravely stepped out without an inch of make-up on her face as she exited her temporary digs ahead of the Christian Dior showcase.

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Ouch! It looks like all of those cosmetics - and no doubt late nights - are starting to take their toll on Kendall Jenner's skin as the model exhibited a sizeable pimple on her chin when stepping out in Paris on Friday

The Keeping Up With the Kardashians star seemed as though she wanted to conceal her zit by strategically placing her hand across her face to lift up her aviator shades.

But the talented make-up powers backstage at the Christian Dior show appeared to use their cosmetic prowess to completely conceal Kendall's pimple as she hit the runway with seemingly flawless skin just hours later.

It's hardly surprising that Kendall's skin has been subject to breakouts given the model's hectic Fashion Week schedule, with the style maverick commanding the catwalks of Balmain, Diane von Furstenberg, Bottega, Versace, Michael Kors and Vera Wang, among others, in just a few short weeks.

See more of the latest Kendall Jenner updates as she exhibits a large pimple on her chin

And as if by magic... The make-up powers at Christian Dior ensured Kendall's pimple was non-existent as she exited the show that afternoon

Nice try! The Keeping Up With the Kardashians star did at times seem as though she wanted to conceal her zit by strategically placing her hand across her face to lift up her aviator shades

Gothic goddess: It seemed the famous clothes horse was fond of her vamp new style as she chose to keep the look when she headed across town to the Ellie Saab offices for a fitting

Effortless: Kendall swept her brunette locks into a chic low knot for her jaunt around the French capital

Fashionista: The workaholic looked as trendy as ever as she left the brand's studio in a geometric print shirt, which she wore partially unbuttoned in a bid to show some skin, and skinny black skinny jeans

Wednesday's Balmain show alone saw the reality star sit patiently in the make-up chair as her porcelain complexion was heavily bronzed to compliment the platinum blonde locks she had been given.

And just 24 hours later, Kendall was back doing the same thing for Dior, though this time the style chameleon was modified into a gothic goddess with a paler foundation and black lip lacquer.

It seemed the famous clothes horse was fond of her vamp new style as she chose to keep the look when she headed across town to the Ellie Saab offices for a fitting.

Finishing touches: The statuesque stunner continued the monochromatic theme of the look with a black trench coat and heeled leather boots, her eyes concealed beneath dark aviator shades

Busy bee! It's hardly surprising that Kendall's skin has been subject to breakouts given the model's hectic Fashion Weeks schedule

Style chameleon: Kendall's pale foundation and striking black lipstick look was a stark contrast to the heavily bronzed style she modelled on the runway for Balmain the previous day

Still smiling! Despite her relentless schedule, the fashion-forward starlet seemed in high spirits

Keeping a low profile: The Keeping Up With The Kardashians favourite kept her hand covering her face

Self-conscious: Kendall appeared a little shy as she hopped out of her vehicle

Statement accessory: Kendall's silver satchel added a funky twist to her classic look

Why so shy? The star cut a serious figure as she left her plush Paris hotel solo

The workaholic looked as trendy as ever as she left the brand's studio in a geometric print shirt, which she wore partially unbuttoned in a bid to show some skin, and skinny black skinny jeans.

The statuesque stunner continued the monochromatic theme of the look with a black trench coat and heeled leather boots, her eyes concealed beneath dark aviator shades.

The TV personality also returned to her brunette locks as she led the models down the catwalk for Christian Dior earlier in the day, which was held inside the Cour Carree at the iconic Louvre.

Governing the fashion pack, Kendall was dressed in a luxurious fur dress coat as she strutted down the runway in front of a celeb crowd, including her mother Kris Jenner.

Back to her roots: Kendall was back to brunette as she led the models down the Christian Dior catwalk at the iconic Louvre during Paris Fashion Week on Friday

The top model looked super chic in her Dior design, showing off her long legs in the short winter number, which was teamed with lace-up shoe boots in silver and black.

The black vintage-style dress coat featured a statement, oversized fur collar which accentuated Kendall's porcelain complexion.

Her dramatic piece was accessorised with silver rings and earrings to continue the gothic vibe, while a slick of glossy black lip colour completed the look.

Winter chic: The top model epitomized the French fashion house's gothic vibe for the show with her slicked back dark locks and black lipstick

Strike a pose: Kendall's black velvet dress featured a statement, oversized fur collar which accentuated the model's porcelain complexion

Super chic: Statement earrings and gold and silver rings continued the edgy vibe of the collection

What a difference a day makes: Just 24 hours before Dior's show, Kendall rocked a blonde wig for Balmain's PFW runway

After being styled in a blonde wig for Balmain's show, Kendall was back to her roots for Dior, with her dark locks pulled back into a sleek up do.

Kendall was the top name on the catwalk, notching up another high profile show after leading the Balmain Army the day before alongside her best friend Gigi Hadid.

Dior's Fall/Winter collection was stuffed with vintage-style pieces in luxurious fabrics.

Star of the show: Kendall is finishing her latest Fashion Week season with a string of big name shows in Paris

Dark and myserious: After being styled in a blonde wig for Balmain, Kendall was back to her roots for Dior, with her dark locks pulled back into a sleek up do

Finishing touches: Kendall was pictured in hair and makeup backstage, with her black lips looking dramatic against her pale skin, while a stylist got to work slicking back her locks

Ready for her closeup: Kendall's dark glossy lips were offset by pale skin and lashings of mascara teamed with bold brows

Leading the way: Despite partying with her Balmain runway mates the night before, Kendall was back in work mode on Friday

Runway star: Kendall is making a name for herself, scoring shows with some of the biggest names in fashion

What a setting: Dior's models walked in a perfect line down the mirrored runway at Paris' iconic Louvre

What a setting! A tunnel had been created at Paris' famous museum with mirrors accentuating the venue's vast space

Colour pop: The models wore sophisticated ensembles, completed with preppy, lace up shoes, and colour pop shirts

Pops of colour were provided with over-sized prints on ladylike dresses, while flashes of skin were kept demure with off-the-shoulder styles and midi-length hemlines.

Preppy lace-up shoes in blacks and metallics completed the ensembles, while the models followed Kendall's lead with dramatic black lips.

A host of celebs turned out to see Dior's Autumn/Winter collection, including Kendall's proud mum Kris Jenner.

Pale and interesting: Pristine white and pastel pieces were mixed in with the wintery black fabrics

Riot of colour: Pops of colour were provided with over-sized prints on ladylike dresses, while flashes of skin were kept demure with off-the-shoulder styles and midi length hemlines

Snap happy: The style elite clicked away on their phones as the beautiful designs passed by

Floral frocks: Delicate prints prettified the dark dresses which were teamed with lace-up shoe boots in a variety of styles

Vintage style: Frills and furs adorned the stunning designs while all the models were styled with slicked back locks and black lips

Showing no emotion: The stunning clothes horses' ensured their faces were expressionless as they sashayed down the catwalk

Strike a pose: Kendall and her fellow models posed for snaps backstage in their beautiful designs

Time for a fun one? One model pulled a face as the group did their best to stick to the dark and moody vibe

Plenty of colour: Neon brights were mixed into the eclectic Fall/Winter collection

Mirror image: The long line of models was reflected in the tunnel of the jaw-dropping venue

The Momager sat front row, and dressed to match the gothic vibe of the French fashion house's presentation.

Kris plumped for a one-colour ensemble, wearing a very similar coat to her model daughter's and adding over-the-knee boots and suitably showy sunglasses.

Keeping Up With Kardashians' momager Kris was spearheading the A-list arrivals, with Hollywood royalty like Jessica Alba and Rosamund Pike not far behind.

Captivated: Fashion lovers eagerly snapped away from the sidelines as the models glided down the runway in an eclectic mix of styles

Vamp-lified: Kendall once again returned to the make-up chair were artists transformed her into a sultry gothic beauty

The world's a show! The models also posed up a storm in Dior's designs backstage, with the looks offset against a minimal white background

Medley of shades: There was no overriding colour theme during the show, with the clothes horses fashioning everything from plum and navy tonesa to vibrant florals

Popular as ever: As always the showcase was a success with the fashion elite packing the rafters

Momager's here! On the front row, Kris Jenner showed her support for her model daughter, matching the gothic vibe of the show in a black coat and statement shades

All in black: Kris arrived at the Cour Carree at the Louvre Museum, with a waves and a smile

Floating in: She sauntered past the masses, giving them a little wave as she anticipated the arrival of her model daughter Kendall

Well-dressed: Meanwhile, actress Jessica Alba had plumped for colour in her red trouser and blue shoes look

Making her arrival: The superstar arrived on the phone, having battled extreme traffic to get to the venue

Work it: Even as she arrived, Jessica was noticed by the photographers who wanted to capture her fashionable ensemble

What a beauty: The actress and fashion fan stood out in her ultra elegant ensemble

They're in fashion: Russian model Natalia Vodianova showed off her stunning natural beauty in a pale and interesting outfit as she posed with Jessica

Where Kris had gone for classic black, fashion maven Jessica was bold in red rolled up trousers that just skimmed her ankles to reveal some adorable blue patent heels.

Her polished image was capped off with a preppy white shirt, encrusted with colourful crystals all the way around the collar, and a bolero jacket that hung off her shape in a structured fashion.

For Gone Girl star Rosamund, meanwhile, it was a bold, colour pop coat that made her show outfit and she arrived looking effortless in a vermilion shade.

Bold: Rosamund Pike arrived in a tomato red colour, smiling broadly for the cameras

Classic: She channeled Parisian style perfectly in a clean palette of red and black

Pure glamour: The Hollywood star removed her patterned sunglasses and flicked out her hair in the spotlight

Shady lady: Rosamund kept her fashionable frames on as she headed inside and stopped to pose for the cameras

Date day: The actress made a rare public appearance with long-term boyfriend Robie Uniacke, 54, for the show

Similar shade: Emmy Rossum wore a coat dress, which featured an asymmetric hemline and a pleated skirt

Sitting pretty: Emmy sat front row with her pal, fellow actress Riley Keough who looked super chic in a frilly black and cream number

Pretty as a picture: Riley, the eldest grandchild of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, looked gorgeous in her delicate dress

Fashion fans: Olivia Palermo wore a colourful furry coat for the anticipated show, while Bond star Naomie Harris was pretty in print

Another day, another show: Muse frontman Matt Bellamy and his model girlfriend Elle Evans made for a dapper couple

She channeled Parisian chic perfectly with a classic palette of red, black and charcoal as she shunned heels and paired a sophisticated dress with formal, flat shoes in monochrome.

The blonde had styled her hair with a polished finish, blunt cut and sharp side-parting and as she smiled for the cameras she removed her shades to capture the perfect arrivals look.

The Louvre's square courtyard had been transformed especially for the bi-annual event, this time creating a futuristic contrast to the architecture of the Siene's former royal palace with the use of a mirrored construction that bore the brand's name, Dior.

Making a scene: The entrance to the show featured mirrored glass, which reflected the museum's architechture

Incredible scenes: The mirrored construction reflected the Siene's former royal courtyard for a futuristic feel

Iconic name: The French fashion house set up shop in the magnificent courtyard of the Louvre

Making her exit: Kendall looked glam in a monochrome print shirt layered under a smart black coat as she left the show

Still in fashion mode: The top model carried a silver bag and slipped on aviator shades to head to her next stop in Fashion Week

Fan of the look? Kendall still had her dark locks slicked back and her dark lipstick on as she dashed from the runway

Runway dash: Kendall looked in a hurry to leave as she continued onto the next appointment in her busy schedule

Get me to makeup: After a late night partying at Balmain aftershow party, Kendall went makeup free as she headed to Dior in the same outfit earlier on Friday

All made up: Kendall looked in better spirits after the show, with her runway makeup still on
She commanded the catwalk at Balmain on Thursday.

But fashion lover Rosie Huntington-Whiteley was more than happy to sit back and be a style spectator as she sat in the front row of Isabel Marant during Paris Fashion Week on Friday afternoon.

While she may not have been walking in the show, the 28-year-old model effortlessly stole the spotlight as rocked up to the showcase in a fashion-forward ensemble.

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Taking a break from the runway: Rosie Huntington-Whiteley was more than happy to sit back and be a style spectator as she sat in the front row of Isabel Marant during Paris Fashion Week on Friday afternoon

While the Victoria's Secret beauty has dressed up in a series of monochromatic looks during her turn in the French capital, her most recent look offered a slightly eccentric twist on the trend.

Instead of black skinny jeans, which are not only a style staple in Rosie's fashionable wardrobe, but almost all of the celebrities immersing themselves in Paris Fashion Week, the Mad Max: Fury star opted for a more daring choice of trousers.

The British pin-up broke the mould in a PVC style bottoms, which were deliberately creased to make for a more edgy finish, while their turn-up hem created the illusion of jeans.

Here she is! While she may not have been walking in the show, the 28-year-old model effortlessly stole the spotlight as rocked up to the showcase in a fashion-forward ensemble

Breaking the mould: While the Victoria's Secret beauty has dressed up in a series of monochromatic looks during her turn in the French capital, her most recent look offered a slightly eccentric twist on the trend

Safety first: The Mad Max: Fury Road actress was escorted into the event by security

The fiancee of action star Jason Statham banished the chilly weather with some stylish outerwear, wrapping up in a ribbed grey jacket which featured an asymmetric lining, fastened with only a single button.

Ensuring the muted design didn't swamp her svelte figure, the face of iconic British retailer Marks and Spencer created a feminine silhouette with a tie-up belt that she appeared to wrap multiple times around her waist.

But Rosie's jacket and trouser combo was no doubt overshadowed by her garish footwear.

Red hot! Isabel broke up the collection's prevailing grey styles by instilling splashes of vibrant reds and animal print into the collection

If you've got it... Ensuring her over-sized outwear didn't swamp her figure, Rosie created a feminine silhouette with a tie-up belt that she appeared to wrap multiple times around her waist

Gorgeous: Rosie's signature blonde locks cascaded in loose waves around her face, which modelled a minimal make-up look

Flattering the female form: Many of the designs embodied belted waists in a successful bid to create a feminine silhouette

Outlandish: Isabel wasn't afraid to mix up styles and clash prints, pairing checked patterns with garish leopard prints while also making things a little provocative with sheer fabrics and fishnet tights

The statuesque beauty put her best foot forward in a pair zebra print heeled boots which boasted studded detailing and a pointed front, designed by Isabel Marant herself.

And it seemed as though the fashion house had dressed Rosie from head-to-toe as her killer style was echoed on the runway.

The designs received Rosie's seal of approval as she later gushed about the showcase on Instagram with a series of stills and videos from the event.

'Forever My Fave @ISABELMARANT A/W' 16. Thank You for having me! Tres beau defile!' the Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon stand-out enthused.

All in the details: Models also cavorted down the runway in outlandish headpieces which juxtoposed with their preened hairstyles

Minimalism: The runway was stripped back compared to some of the other Fashion Week shows with only an abstract centre-piece and industrial lighting
EastEnders wouldn't be the same without its resident violent psycho.

In fact this is one of Walford's finest traditions with the likes of the Mitchell brothers, the Mitchell sisters, Peggy Mitchell, and Ben among the best. Or worst.

Bobby Beale though was another level  shorter but much scarier than the likes of Carl White and Derek Branning, if only because of his haircut.

Following 'Damian' was never going to be easy.

Perhaps only a mass murderer would do. So unsurprisingly the writers and producers turned/returned to Lucas Johnson.

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Be afraid... Preacher/serial killer Lucas Johnson is in cahoots with Jordan as he targets Denise

Only in EastEnders would someone in a script meeting about chirp up: 'you know what we should do? Bring back that preacher/serial-killer who drowned his son's dog and locked his wife in the basement, killing another woman to pass as Denise's body.'

It's even more telling that everyone else said: 'that's a great idea! Damn, I miss that guy.'

Never mind that Lucas was in prison. For now...

Where there's a will there's a way.

Hey presto, within weeks of Johnson's rarely-mentioned son Jordan Johnson and his own little boy Jordan Junior Johnson chipping up in the Square and Lucas was back too, ready to launch a cunning plan to break out of jail and wreak havoc in Walford again - before getting the ferry from Dover to Calais.

See more of the latest EastEnders spoilers as Lucas Johnson targets Denise again

Amusingly, the scriptwriters had decided that this time round the victim of Lucas' Machiavellian malice should be, well, the same: Denise.

It saves time writing a new storyline I suppose.

Plus Denise was probably the only resident of Albert Square thick enough to have any contact with him  even though she was the one most likely not to.

As her sister Not So Lil' Kim said when she found out 'D' had been visiting Lucas and had now agreed to support his application to get on to the scheme to earn prison privileges (such as an escape route): 'why are you bending over backwards to help a God-bothering psychopath who held you captive?! What's all that about?!'

Good question.

The twist in the tale was that Jordan had been in on the plan to lure Denise all along, and that thanks to her Lucas had been given a job in the kitchens.

The twist in the tale: Lucas' son Jordan has been in on the plan to lure Denise all along

'And I know when the deliveries are...' he said eagerly.

Yikes.

Once Lucas escaped, he told Jordan, the two of them plus baby JJ were heading for France  with one more passenger: yes, Denise again.

'I'm taking her with us,' he explained with that his familiar psychotic simplicity. 'We're family.'

This was the obvious ending to the week's episodes. What other justification for such deranged behaviour would there be? 'We're family' is the explanation for everything in EastEnders  especially if it's something criminal.

Denise's reasons for co-operating with Lucas' request for help persuading the prison governor that he had changed were more complex/vague/nonsensical.

Up to no good: Denise previously supported Lucas' request for help persuading the prison governor that he had changed his way which unknowingly to her was part of his escape plan

She had shifted from her initial rationale for visiting him  that he could have repented and seemed a reformed man  to a view that was the exact opposite.

'It's about Jordan not going the same way as Lucas,' she insisted to Kim. 'If I can help Jordan, if I can make him see sense and make him actually see what a disaster his father's become, then somehow I can break the cycle.'

Never mind that before she started 'helping' Jordan there was no real cycle or that meeting Lucas had the opposite effect on his son  of bonding.

'What do you get up to in here?' Jordan asked him during visiting time.

'I read. I work out when I can,' replied Lucas. 'They're kind of strict on what we get up to.'

Yeah well that's because it's a PRISON.

Luckily, Lucas had his mobile phone to keep him occupied  which he kept hidden under his mattress. The prison guards would certainly never look there.

With this kind of evil genius, he's bound to escape.

Switching lanes: It's obviously Claudette's turn to be a victim and us to feel sorry for her after all

The week's other storylines were  predictably - rather lame by comparison.

Nancy quit her job as a barmaid, packing up her dungarees and moving out of The Vic, reinforcing the image of Walford as some kind of enclosed encampment by only managing to go across the square to live with Donna and get a job on the market.

So much for leaving home... Going any further would obviously have been madness.

Ronnie Mitchell continued to remain eerily oblivious to the fact that her new lodger Phil was drinking more than ever  so drunk he was watching Daytime Television.

And Ian had his driving licence suspended for a year for supposedly hospitalising Denny  a price some of us might consider well worth paying.

Finally, it was Claudette's turn to be stalked by Gavin, who is Sharon's real dad and, judging by his haircut (kind of nicotine stained fringe) seemingly Paul Weller's granddad.

This subplot didn't bode well for Claudette, given that ever since Gavin arrived in the series he's spent his time doing the same thing to other people - threatening his daughter Sharon, her 'usband Phil, the love of his life Kathy, and even his grandson Denny.

Gavin knew something about Claudette's secret past and was demanding money  with menaces, but which he mostly whispered.

'Gavin, I'll have your money on Sunday. My place. 2pm,' Claudette told him, symbolically battering a steak with a hammer (not a real one).

Moving on: Nancy Carter quit her job as a barmaid, moved out of The Vic and now works in the market

How scary Gavin was  or how scared Claudette would be  was a matter of opinion.

After all he was basically ancient and she had not only encouraged Vincent to take on the Mitchells (at a cost of Fatboy losing his life) but even worse, callously deflated Kim's bouncy castle  with Kim on it.

She looked worried though  occasionally  so it's obviously Claudette's turn to be a victim and us to feel sorry for her after all.

It's good to have the dual hate figures running in tandem. But the writers are mistaken if they think either Gavin or even Lucas the deranged preacher-turned-serial killer are actually the scariest character in the series.

They're certainly not as alarming as the violent psycho they're taking over from: little Bobby Beale.

And no one will ever be as terrifying as Aunt Babe. Well hopefully.
N. Korea leader orders nuclear arsenal on 'standby'

Leader Kim Jong-Un has ordered North Korea's nuclear arsenal to be readied for pre-emptive use at any time, in an expected escalation of military rhetoric following the UN Security Council's adoption of tough new sanctions on Pyongyang.

The North's nuclear warheads must be deployed "on standby so as to be fired at any moment," Kim was quoted as saying by the North's official KCNA news agency on Friday.

He also warned that the situation on the divided Korean peninsula had become so dangerous that the North needed to shift its military strategy to one of "pre-emptive attack".

North Korea has yet to demonstrate the ability to miniaturise a nuclear weapon and put it on an ICBM, according to US defence officials

Such bellicose rhetoric is almost routine for North Korea at times of elevated tensions.

While the North is known to have a small stockpile of nuclear warheads, experts are divided about its ability to mount them on a working missile delivery system.

Washington downplayed Kim's threat as posturing.

- 'Stern punishment' -

"We have not seen North Korea test or demonstrate the ability to miniaturise a nuclear weapon and put it on an ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile)," a US defence official told AFP.

Still, the official added, "our forces are ready to counter-eliminate strikes if necessary".

In Seoul, President Park Geun-Hye promised South Korea would mete out "stern punishment" in the event of any North Korea provocation as she warned of a "fiercer" backlash than usual from Pyongyang over the latest UN sanctions.

According to KCNA, Kim made his comments while monitoring the test firing of a new, high-calibre multiple rocket launcher on Thursday, just hours after the UN Security Council unanimously adopted the US-drafted resolution penalising the North for its fourth nuclear test in January and long-range rocket launch last month.

South Korea's defence ministry said the North had fired half a dozen rockets about 100-150 kilometres (60-90 miles) into the sea off its eastern coast on Thursday.

In a clear threat to the neighbouring South, Kim said the new rocket launcher should be "promptly deployed" along with other "recently developed" weaponry.

In the wake of the "gangster-like" UN resolution pushed by the United States and its South Korean ally, North Koreans are now "waiting for an order of combat to annihilate the enemy with their surging wrath", he added.

The Security Council resolution adopted late Wednesday laid out the toughest sanctions imposed on Pyongyang to date over its nuclear weapons programme and will, if implemented effectively, apply significant economic pressure on Kim's regime.

It breaks new ground by sanctioning specific sectors key to the North Korean economy and seeking to undermine the North's use of, and access to, international transport systems.

Pyongyang on Friday rejected the sanctions as "unfair, illicit and immoral" and vowed to keep building its nuclear arsenal.

"The strengthening of our nuclear deterrent is a legitimate exercise of our right to self-defence, which will continue as long as the hostile US policy is in place," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

- 'Dangerous phase' -

Kim said the resolution had opened a "very dangerous phase", coming just days before the United States and South Korea kick off annual joint military drills that Pyongyang views as provocative rehearsals for invasion.

The exercises involving tens of thousands of troops are scheduled to begin next Monday.

The Security Council resolution ushered in the fifth set of UN sanctions to hit North Korea since it first tested an atomic device in 2006, and was the result of arduous negotiations between the US and China, Pyongyang's sole major ally.

China had been reluctant to endorse tough sanctions out of concern that too much pressure would trigger the collapse of the pariah regime, creating chaos on its border.

The measures Beijing finally signed off on are extremely tough on paper, but experts have warned that some of the language is vague enough to allow varying levels of enforcement.

China's commitment could depend on the outcome of formal talks that opened Friday between Seoul and Washington on the possible deployment of an advanced US missile defence system in South Korea.

Its deployment is strongly opposed by China and Russia, with Beijing saying it would undermine its own nuclear deterrent and has the potential to "destroy" relations with Seoul.

South Korea warned it would mete out "stern punishment" in the event of any North Korea provocation after Pyongyang fired six short-range missiles into the sea Jung Yeon-Je (AFP)

Timeline of Kim Jong-Un's nuclear and rocket tests

People in Seoul watch a news report on March 4, 2016 showing file footage of multiple North Korean rocket launchers Jung Yeon-Je (AFP)
Nigeria frees 63 after dislodging Boko Haram Islamists: army

Nigeria's military said on Thursday it had rescued 63 people after dislodging Boko Haram Islamists from villages in the country's restive northeast.

Five Boko Haram fighters were also killed at their hideouts in Lawin Meleri, Matiri Bulaka and Aljeri villages during the clampdown, army spokesman Sani Usman said in a statement.

"During the operation, they (troops) killed five Boko Haram terrorists and also rescued 63 persons held captive by the terrorists," he said, adding that arms and ammunitions were recovered.

Soldiers and policemen walk past burnt house on February 4, 2016 during a visit to the village of Dalori village, northeastern Nigeria, after an attack by Boko Haram insurgents on the village left at least 85 people dead on January 30, 2016

The military said government troops also destroyed a Boko Haram "spiritual power base" at the Alagarno forest in Borno state, the heartland of the insurgency.

"The troops, based on tip-off, conducted a clearance operation around Alagarno forest general area, destroying terrorists camps at Mosa, Ariwuzumari and Kagalmari as well as Missene, Joba, Yajiwa and Sansan," the military said.

"During the operations, the troops were able to clear all the camps, killing quite a number of terrorists and recovered Boko Haram terrorists' flags hoisted on some premises, destroyed their logistics base and recovered 31 motorcycles, assorted foodstuffs, a donkey and a pick up van," the statement said.

A cache of arms and ammunitions were also recovered during the operation, it said.

Since 2009, the Boko Haram insurgency to carve out an Islamic state in northeast Nigeria has left at least 17,000 dead and left some 2.6 million others homeless.
UN report: peacekeepers from 21 nations accused of sexual abuse

The United Nations is reporting a "deeply concerning" increase in allegations of sex abuse by its peacekeepers, with 69 claims last year against troops from 21 countries.

A much-awaited report by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon obtained by AFP on Thursday provides, for the first time, the nationalities of the troops facing the allegations.

First on the "name and shame" list was the Democratic Republic of Congo, whose troops faced seven allegations, followed by Morocco and South Africa, each hit with four accusations.

Two UN missions account for the majority of claims of sex abuse by peacekeepers: the MINUSCA force in the Central African Republic and MINUSCO in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but there were also cases in Ivory Coast and Mali Issouf Sanogo (AFP/File)

Most of the allegations involved troops from African countries: Cameroon, Congo, Tanzania, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Gabon, Niger, Nigeria and Togo.

Police from Rwanda, Ghana, Madagascar and Senegal also faced claims.

Peacekeeping police from Canada and Germany as well as soldiers from Moldova and Slovakia were also accused of sexual abuse or exploitation while serving as UN peacekeepers.

Two UN missions accounted for the majority of claims: the MINUSCA force in the Central African Republic and MINUSCO in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but there were also cases in Ivory Coast and Mali.

"This increase in the number of allegations is deeply concerning," said the report, to be formally released on Friday.

The 69 allegations represent a "marked increase" from 52 in 2014 and 66 the previous year.

At least 22 children were sexually abused by peacekeepers, according to the report, but that figure may be higher as the age of the victims was not always determined.

- No prosecution -

None of last year's cases have yet resulted in criminal prosecution, though a Canadian police officer who served in Haiti was given a nine-day suspension.

Under UN rules, it is up to the country that contributed the relevant troops to investigate and prosecute those accused of misconduct while serving under the UN flag.

Human rights groups have complained about the lack of accountability for peacekeepers serving in UN missions; many have avoided investigation altogether or received light punishment.

Last year, the United Nations was informed that 10 soldiers and three police would be repatriated and barred from taking part in any future missions, the report said.

For allegations dating back to 2014, one soldier was sentenced to six months in prison for sexually abusing a minor in exchange for money while another was punished with a 60-day jail sentence.

Another soldier was "forced into retirement" for child rape while a military observer received a warning for engaging in prostitution.

The United Nations has been badly shaken by the wave of allegations of sex abuse by the troops it deploys in missions with a clear mandate to protect civilians.

An independent panel concluded in December that the United Nations had grossly mishandled serious cases of child rape in the Central African Republic despite the official zero-tolerance policy on sexual violence.

Of the 69 allegations, 22 involved peacekeepers in the Central African Republic while 16 were from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The high number of cases from the Central African Republic stems from the violent conflict that has pushed women and girls into prostitution and increased their vulnerability to abuse, said the report.

"It is deplorable that United Nations personnel would take advantage of this situation," it added.

Two victims who became pregnant succeeded in establishing the peacekeepers as the fathers but some 25 other paternity claims dating back to 2010 have yet to be settled, said the report.

Ban reported that payments to 12 peacekeepers, three police and one government-provided worker were suspended last year after credible allegations of sexual abuse surfaced against them.

The UN chief is also recommending a six-month limit for investigations, establishing on-site courts martial for soldiers and requiring peacekeeping countries to provide DNA samples of their soldiers on missions.

The United States is preparing a draft UN resolution that would endorse his proposals, and the report is expected to be discussed at a Security Council meeting on March 11, diplomats said.
UN's Ban arrives in Mauritania: report

UN chief Ban Ki-moon began an official visit to the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott late Thursday, as part of a tour of West and North African countries, Mauritania's official AMI news agency said.

He plans to hold talks Friday with President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz and Prime Minister Yahya Ould Hademine, his programme showed.

Before flying to Mauritania from Burkina Faso, the first stop in his tour, Ban had expressed "concern" over a string of jihadist attacks in Africa's Sahel region.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon (R) is greeted by Mauritania's Foreign Minister Isselkou Ould Ahmed Izid Bih upon his arrival at the airport of Nouakchott on March 3, 2016, for his two-day visit to the country Ahmed Ould Mohamed Ould Elhadji (AFP)

"I am deeply concerned by the terrorist attacks in the (Sahel) region," he said in Ouagadougou.

"The response to terrorism must be global," he said, urging "a strict adherence to human rights and international humanitarian law."

Burkina Faso was struck on January 15 by a string of coordinated attacks that left 31 dead, including 28 in Ouagadougou, where jihadists attacked a hotel and a nearby cafe popular with foreigners.

"I returned to the region to ensure the international community continues to support the Sahel region. This evening I will go to Mauritania to continue my work of awareness-raising," Ban said.

In Mauritania, Ban is due to hold talks "about the relationship of cooperation between Mauritania and the United Nations", chiefly "the growing role and the support given" by the country to the UN's peacekeeping missions, particularly in Africa.

Some 1,000 Mauritanian nationals are deployed as UN peacekeepers in missions across the world, including Ivory Coast, the Central African Republic and Darfur in Sudan.
Samsonite to buy US luxury baggage maker Tumi for $1.8 bn

Luggage giant Samsonite said Friday it would buy US luxury bag maker Tumi in a deal worth $1.8 billion that analysts said would give the firm a foothold in the lucrative Chinese high-end market.

In a statement to the Hong Kong exchange, where it listed five years ago, Samsonite said it would pay $26.75 a share for the firm -- a third more than its value on Wednesday before the likely buyout was sounded.

Samsonite, which saw its shares edge up 1.27 percent to HK$24 ($3.09) at the close following the announcement, said Tumi was a "perfect strategic fit" for its business.

Samsonite said it would pay $26.75 a share for US luxury bag marker Tumi in a deal worth $1.8 billion Philippe Lopez (AFP)

"This is a transformational acquisition for Samsonite. It will meaningfully expand our presence in the highly attractive premium segment of the global business bags," Samsonite chief executive officer Ramesh Tainwala said in a separate statement.

Financial analyst Jackson Wong at brokerage firm Simsen Financial group told AFP the purchase was a "good move".

"Tumi is a premium brand name... higher end names would enhance their brand image," Wong, associate director of Simsen, told AFP.

"Chinese people love to buy Samsonite. However in the last few years they have been buying extremely luxurious suitcases, and that's why they are trying to go upscale."

- 'Shopping spree' -

Numerous western brands in recent years have been setting up shop in China, which is widely considered the world's biggest luxury market, as a burgeoning middle class drives a shopping frenzy.

France's Hermes -- known for its luxury handbags -- opened a four-storey flagship store in China's commercial capital Shanghai in 2014.

US-based Samsonite raised $1.25 billion in an initial public offering in Hong Kong in June 2011, one of several Western brands -- including Prada and Esprit -- seeking to use the city to boost their presence in fast-growing Asian markets, particularly China.

But the world's second-largest economy expanded 6.9 percent in 2015, the worst performance in a quarter century and a far cry from the years of double-digit increases.

The country's luxury market also took a hit from a years-long corruption crackdown.

"The luxury segment has been affected because of austerity in China, but that doesn't take away from the whole story of Tumi, there's great opportunity there," Tainwala told Bloomberg News.

The luxury brand, which sells bags for as much as $1,300, has more than 170 stores worldwide with plans to open up to 20 more this year, according to Bloomberg.

Financial analyst Dickie Wong said Samsonite made the right decision, despite slowing growth in China.

"The Chinese economy is definitely slowing down and the (tourism) market is not growing as fast as it was couple of years ago, but on the other hand, the US market is doing very well," Wong, executive director of research for Kingston Securities, told AFP.

Samsonite is planning to double annual sales to $4.7 billion by the end of 2020 and has announced nine acquisitions since 2012.

In 2014, the firm bought backpack-maker Gregory Mountain Products for $85 million and in 2012 it acquired high-end luggage brand Hartmann for $35 million.

"They want to spend money to increase their market share, that's why they are on a shopping spree," said analyst Francis Lun of Geo Securities.

Factfile on luggage giant Samsonite
Moody's cuts mining giant BHP's rating on weak commodity market

BHP Billiton's credit rating has been cut by Moody's as the industry battles weak commodity prices and softer demand, just a month after Standard & Poor's also downgraded the global mining giant.

The Anglo-Australian firm last month reported a first-half net loss of US$5.67 billion and slashed dividends amid the income slump hitting miners on the back of a global economic slowdown, led by China.

"Moody's views current weak commodity prices and softer demand as representing a fundamental shift in the operating environment beyond a normal cyclical downturn," the ratings agency said in a statement late Thursday.

BHP Billiton last month reported a first-half net loss of US$5.67 billion and slashed dividends amid the income slump hitting miners on the back of a global economic slowdown

BHP's rating was downgraded to A3 from A1 and placed on a negative outlook.

"As a result... Moody's expects BHP Billiton's credit metrics to remain substantially weaker, over the next 12-24 months, than historical levels and to be more appropriately aligned with a rating of A3."

BHP said in a statement that the company "remains committed to maintaining its strong balance sheet through the cycle".

The ratings cut followed S&P's decision in February to cut BHP's rating to A from A+, also citing a downturn in the commodities sector, with the cost of key materials such as oil, iron ore, copper and aluminium at multi-year lows.

"When you lose nearly Aus$8 billion in profits from price movements that are beyond your control and the industry is still somewhat unstable, then you would expect that the rating houses would have moved to downgrade BHP's credit rating," Fat Prophets resources analyst David Lennox told AFP.

"They've still kept it within investment grade, however."

Moody's investment-grade rating is usually seen to be at least Baa3, with lower credit ratings raising the cost of borrowing. A "junk" rating is Ba1 or lower.

Major miners such as BHP and Rio Tinto have ramped up output, cut costs and dumped their progressive dividend policy, in which shareholders are given gradually higher payouts, to combat the headwinds in the industry.

Meanwhile, Moody's said the US$6.2 billion settlement by Samarco, co-owned by BHP and Brazil's Vale, announced Thursday over a fatal mine disaster in Brazil "lessens the uncertainty around potential liabilities for BHP Billiton".
Soldiers plotting to destabilise G. Bissau will 'pay with life': army chief

The army chief of coup-plagued Guinea-Bissau warned Thursday that any soldier involved in a plot to destabilise the west Africa nation would be put to death.

General Biague Na Ntam said during a public address that there would be "zero tolerance in the barracks", while soldiers found "taking money to attempt a subversive act will pay with their life".

Guinea-Bissau has been hit by a series of coups since independence from Portugal in 1974, but the rule of law has been largely reintroduced since the election of President Jose Mario Vaz last year.

Guinea-Bissau's President Jose Mario Vaz (R) congratulates new army chief-of-staff, General Biague Na Ntam, during the oath-taking ceremony in September, 2014 Alfa Ba (AFP/File)

"Any soldier who fires so much as a shot (against Guinea-Bissau) will be killed. There will be no prison for him. I ask the heads of various units to kill anyone who fires a single shot," the general said during a ceremony to mark his involvement in peace efforts.

"Peace must reign in this country, and it is the army's job to ensure this happens."

Military officials contacted by AFP declined to comment on General Na Ntam's statement.

But a serving member of the air force told AFP that around 10 people had been arrested on suspicion of "preparing an act that would destabilise the country".

The claim could not be confirmed by the army or any other sources.
In a first, Philadelphia Orchestra to play Mongolia

The Philadelphia Orchestra announced it will travel to Mongolia for concerts and cultural exchanges in a first for a Western classical ensemble.

The two sides signed an agreement at a ceremony in the US Capitol in Washington that included the first ever musical performances played in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee room, the orchestra said.

The orchestra will put on two full concerts in mid-2017 in the capital Ulan Bator and design a series of community activities.

The Philadelphia Orchestra will put on two full concerts in mid-2017 in the Mongolian capital Ulan Bator and design a series of community activities Stephen Shaver (AFP/File)

Allison Vulgamore, the orchestra's president and CEO, said in a statement that its musicians were looking forward to "sharing person-to-person the common language of music in schools, hospitals and with our fellow Mongolian musicians."

Mongolia's ambassador, Bulgaa Altangerel, said his country hoped to pursue its own cultural exchanges in the United States.

Sandwiched between Russia and China, the land of Genghis Khan has actively built relations with the United States and other major countries in recent years as the young democracy seeks to guarantee its long-term sovereignty.

The Philadelphia Orchestra, considered one of the "big five" US orchestras, has long been active on the international stage.

In 1973, it became the first US orchestra to play China on the heels of Richard Nixon's historic visit and later was the first US orchestra in Vietnam.
Malaysia cross-party alliance demands removal of PM

Leaders from across Malaysia's political spectrum joined forces Friday to call for the removal of scandal-hit premier Najib Razak, in a sharp escalation of a festering corruption crisis.

"We call upon all Malaysians, irrespective of race, religion, political situation, creed or parties, young and old, to join us in saving Malaysia from the government headed by Najib Razak," read a joint statement endorsed by heavyweights from the ruling party, opposition, and civil-society groups.

The alliance brought together previously bitter political foes and was led by 90-year-old former premier Mahathir Mohamad, who has spearheaded calls to remove Najib over allegations of corruption and misrule.

Malaysian PM Najib Razak has been under fire over allegations that billions of dollars were stolen from a state firm he founded, and his own admitted acceptance of a murky $681 million overseas "donation" Mohd Rasfan (AFP/File)

"We must rid ourselves of Najib as prime minister," Mahathir, who quit the Najib-controlled ruling party earlier this week in protest, said at a Kuala Lumpur press conference.

The call is the biggest challenge yet to Najib and gives voice to a growing sense of public disgust with his tenure.

- 'Badly tarnished Malaysia' -

Najib, 62, has been under fire for a year over allegations that billions of dollars were stolen from a state firm he founded, and his own acceptance of a murky $681 million overseas payment.

Reports have also emerged of the luxurious lifestyles, lavish spending and jet-set travel arrangements of his family.

Even before the graft allegations emerged, Najib had faced mounting criticism for eroding civil liberties, allowing multi-racial Malaysia's ethnic divisions to widen, and poor economic stewardship.

Najib denies wrongdoing, saying the corruption accusations are part of an unspecified political conspiracy.

Responding to the fresh call for his removal, a Najib spokesman said it revealed "political opportunism and desperation" by Mahathir and others, and that only elections could change the leadership.

Najib has curbed investigations into the scandals and purged his ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) of critics, essentially shutting off internal party challenges.

Whistle-blowers have been arrested, while media outlets reporting on the allegations have been muzzled, raising concerns over rights and freedom speech.

"Today Malaysia is badly tarnished," the joint statement said, calling for political reforms.

Those present included former deputy premier Muhyiddin Yassin, whom Najib sacked last year after he urged a probe into the funding questions.

They also included top leaders of Malaysia's opposition parties and of an electoral-reform movement that staged huge demonstrations last year over the scandals.

Critics say perhaps billion of dollars were skimmed from state investment firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) in complex overseas transactions.

1MDB, established in 2009 by Najib, denies wrongdoing.

But US authorities are reportedly looking into 1MDB-related fund flows, while Swiss, British, Singaporean and Hong Kong authorities also are scrutinising them.

Swiss authorities said recently up to $4 billion may have been stolen from Malaysian state firms and that they were investigating possible fraud and money-laundering.

Najib at first hotly denied allegations that the mysterious $681 million payment was transferred to his personal bank accounts in 2013.

But the government now claims it was a gift from the Saudi royal family, most of which was returned.

The Saudis are yet to officially confirm that claim, which is broadly ridiculed in Malaysia as far-fetched.

A Wall Street Journal investigative report this week said the money originated from 1MDB, not the Saudis.

- 'Momentum is building' -

Wan Saiful Wan Jan, head of Malaysian think tank IDEAS, said pressure on Najib was increasing.

"The momentum is building against Najib and is stronger than before. It can possibly snowball into bigger pressure, but the resistance from the government and UMNO will be strong as well," he said.

Najib has weathered the pressure by rallying loyal UMNO leaders and using the party's tight grip on the country to secure his position.

The new movement announced no plans for public protests and its future strategy was not clear.

The escalating crisis has brought warnings that fears of political instability could impact foreign investment just as the Malaysian economy's reliance on energy exports is being strained by low oil prices.

UMNO has dominated Malaysia since independence in 1957 by championing the rights of Muslim Malays, Malaysia's majority ethnic group.

But voters have increasingly rebelled against its divisive racial politics, authoritarian tactics, corruption, and an electoral system seen as tilted in its favour.

Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad (C) speaks during a press conference with members of the opposition party in Kuala Lumpur on March 4, 2016 Mohd Rasfan (AFP)

Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad (C) reads a citizens' declaration during a press conference with members of the opposition party in Kuala Lumpur on March 4, 2016 Mohd Rasfan (AFP)
16 dead in gun attack on Yemen care home

At least 16 people, including four Indian nurses, were killed when gunmen opened fire Friday at an elderly care home in Yemen's main southern city of Aden, security officials said.

Four gunmen stormed the facility housing dozens in Aden's Sheikh Othman district, killing a guard before tying up and shooting employees, the officials told AFP.

Screams of elderly residents echoed from the home during the shooting rampage, witnesses said.

Pro-government Yemeni fighters loyal to exiled Yemeni President Hadi gather outside an elderly care home in the main southern city of Aden after it was attacked by gunmen on March 4, 2016 Saleh al-Obeidi (AFP)

They told AFP that they saw bodies of slain workers with their arms tied behind their backs scattered on the floor as the aged residents cried out in fear.

The dead nurses were Indian nuns, the officials said, adding that the rest of those killed were Yemenis working at the home.

No group claimed responsibility for Friday's attack, the first of its kind in Yemen, where the internationally-recognised government is grappling with an Iran-backed rebellion on one side and a growing jihadist presence on the other.

One official said the attackers were "extremists" and blamed the Islamic State group, which has been gaining ground in Aden in recent months.

The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council backing the Yemeni government "strongly" condemned the attack which it said "reveals the goals of forces which are against the return of security and stability to Yemen".

President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi has declared Aden Yemen's temporary capital as Sanaa remains in the hands of the Huthi rebels and their allies since they seized it in September 2014.

- 4 dead in drone strike -

Further east, a suspected drone strike hit a vehicle carrying Al-Qaeda militants in Shabwa province, killing four, local government and tribal sources said Friday.

Only the United States is known to operate armed drones over Yemen.

Al-Qaeda and IS have stepped up attacks in Aden despite the efforts of the government and its backers in a Saudi-led coalition battling the Huthis and their allies to secure it.

However, most attacks have so far targeted coalition forces and pro-government Yemeni troops.

Late on Thursday, gunmen in Aden shot dead Hussein al-Wuhayshi, a leader of local pro-government militia formed in the south in 2011 to fight Al-Qaeda, along with his brother, a security official said.

On Monday, suicide car bombing in Sheikh Othman hit a gathering of loyalist forces killing four people and wounding five others, according to a security official.

The rebels controlled Yemen's main port city for months before government loyalists pushed them out in July.

Because of the unrest gripping Aden, Hadi himself and many senior officials in his government spend most of their time in Riyadh.

Al-Qaeda has been well-established for years in south Yemen, but now faces competition from IS, which has mounted a series of deadly attacks, particularly in Aden.

In December, suspected jihadists blew up a small deserted Catholic church in the city dating from the 1950s when Aden was a British protectorate.

More than 6,000 people have been killed in the Yemeni conflict with more than 80 percent of the population in dire need of food, medicine or other basic necessities, according to the United Nations.

Pro-government Yemeni fighters loyal to exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi gather outside an care home for the elderly in the main southern city of Aden after it was attacked by gunmen on March 4, 2016 Saleh al-Obeidi (AFP)
'Missing' bookseller back in Hong Kong: government

One of five "missing" Hong Kong booksellers who was detained on the mainland returned to the city Friday and met police, the government said, in a case that has provoked fears of increasing Chinese interference in the semi-autonomous region.

Lui Por, who has been missing since October, was among three of the booksellers who Hong Kong police said earlier this week would be released on bail.

"Police met with Lui Por, who returned to Hong Kong from the mainland, this morning," a brief government statement released late Friday said.

Members of the Civic party voice their concern about five missing booksellers outside the China liaison office in Hong Kong on January 19, 2016 Philippe Lopez (AFP/File)

"Lui requested to have his missing persons case closed and expressed that there was no need for assistance from the Hong Kong government or police," it said, adding he refused to provide any more information.

Hong Kong police had said that Lui and his counterparts Cheung Chi Ping and Lam Wing Kee would all be released on bail.

However, police on Friday were not able to immediately provide information about Lam and Cheung when contacted by AFP.

An unnamed source quoted by the South China Morning Post said Lui was not handed over to the city's police by mainland authorities.

Instead, Hong Kong police were sent to meet Lui at his Hong Kong home, according to the newspaper.

"He told officers that he was safe and he did not need any assistance from the police," the source said.

Meanwhile, pro-democracy lawmaker Albert Ho said Lui "must be very scared" to say he wanted to drop his case.

"It's just to show the mainland authorities that he will keep quiet," Ho told AFP.

- Tearful confessions -

The five booksellers from Hong Kong's Mighty Current publishing house, known for its salacious titles critical of Beijing, went missing last year, only to turn up in mainland China.

One who apparently disappeared from Hong Kong, Lee Bo, appeared on television on Monday and insisted he had not been abducted by mainland authorities.

In the Phoenix TV interview, Lee said he had "resorted to illegal immigration" to get to the mainland as he did not want to draw attention to his visit and that he made the trip so he could cooperate in an investigation.

The other four booksellers, who are under criminal investigation on the mainland, also appeared on Phoenix Sunday admitting to smuggling illicit books into China.

In their first appearance since they were detained, Cheung, Lui and Lam blamed the company's illegal book trade on colleague Gui Minhai in their interviews.

Gui, a Swedish citizen who was among the five missing, confessed he had "explored ways to circumvent official inspections in China", in the interview Sunday.

Amnesty International on Friday sent Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying an open letter regarding the booksellers, pressing for action.

"Amnesty International calls for the Hong Kong government to urge the mainland authorities to immediately and unconditionally release the booksellers and facilitate their return to Hong Kong, or another destination of their choice," the letter said.

The case has heightened fears of increasing mainland Chinese interference in Hong Kong and sparked international condemnation.

Britain had said the disappearance of Lee, a British citizen, was a "serious breach" of an agreement signed with Beijing before the city was handed back to China in 1997 which protects its freedoms for 50 years.

Washington has called on China to explain the disappearances and the EU has urged an investigation.
'El Chapo' entered US twice while fugitive: report

Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman snuck into the United States twice to visit relatives while he was a fugitive, one of his daughters told The Guardian newspaper.

Rosa Isela Guzman Ortiz, who lives in California, said her 58-year-old father entered the US state last year shortly after his now-notorious October meeting with US actor Sean Penn, evading a manhunt with the complicity of corrupt Mexican officials.

She did not disclose the exact dates of his visits but told the British daily that Guzman crossed the border to visit relatives and see her five-bedroom house, which he bought for her and her four children.

Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was recaptured after a raid in Los Mochis, Sinaloa State, on January 8, 2016 Alfredo Estrella (AFP/File)

"My dad deposited the money in a bank account with a lawyer and a while after he came to see the house, his house. He came twice," the 39-year-old woman, who has US citizenship and runs small businesses in California, told The Guardian.

She declined to say how the world's most wanted drug lord managed to enter the United States.

"I asked him the same, believe me," she said.

Guzman's Sinaloa drug cartel has used sophisticated tunnels to ship massive amounts of narcotics to the United States, so such secret passages would have been available to him.

Jackie Wasiluk, a spokeswoman for US Customs and Border Protection, told AFP that the agency "has no information that substantiates the claims in news reports."

Guzman Ortiz said her father bought protection at the highest official level in Mexico, sending representatives to meet with senior politicians.

"All I know is that my dad told his lawyer to deliver some checks to (a politician's) campaign, and asked that he respect him," she said, adding that the family was considering releasing copies of the checks, as well as names of officials and politicians who accepted his support.

Guzman escaped twice from maximum-security prisons.

The first time was in 2001 and he was captured in February 2014. His second escape took place in July last year, using a 1.5-kilometer (one-mile) tunnel in a brazen prison break that left President Enrique Pena Nieto's administration red-faced.

His daughter claims that Guzman's second escape had the blessing of senior officials, whom she did not name.

"My dad's escape was an agreement," she said.

The warden of the Altiplano prison near Mexico City and the head of Mexico's penitentiary system are among the more than 30 people detained over the escape.

Guzman was sent back to Altiplano following his January 8 recapture.

His lawyer, Jose Refugio Rodriguez, said this week that his client, who claims to be sleep-deprived in the prison, has decided to drop his opposition to extradition to the United States in the hope of negotiating a "relatively reasonable" sentence in a medium-security prison.

Meanwhile, his wife, Emma Coronel, will go to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Washington to lodge a complaint about the "torture" he allegedly endures in prison, Rodriguez told Radio Imagen on Friday.

He did not say when she would go to the commission.

Coronel, 26, has dual Mexican-US citizenship and she gave birth to their twin daughters in California in 2011.

Two other Guzman lawyers, Jose Luis Gonzalez Meza and Juan Pablo Badillo, launched a hunger strike outside his prison on Friday to demand better conditions for the drug lord, saying they feared for his life.

A man wears a t-shirt that reads "Extradition - Never!!", in protest against the extradition of El Chapo to the US, in front of El Altiplano prison on February 24, 2016 in Almoloya de Juarez Yuri Cortez (AFP/File)
Clinton email probe fraught with political consequences

WASHINGTON (AP)  The Justice Department will have to decide whether Hillary Clinton or any of her subordinates could face legal consequences for her use of a private email server, a decision whose timing is fraught with serious political repercussions.

Even though Attorney General Loretta Lynch has said there is no "artificial deadline" for concluding the investigation, the Obama administration is in the unenviable position of conducting an election-year probe that, no matter the outcome or reassurances to the contrary, will result in grievances about its impact on the presidential election.

One year ago, The Associated Press reported its discovery of Clinton's private email server, which she ran in the basement of her home in Chappaqua, New York, to use exclusively for her work-related emails while she was secretary of state. Clinton has emerged from the Super Tuesday primaries earlier this week as the presumptive Democratic nominee for the presidency.

FILE - In this Oct. 18, 2011, file photo, then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton checks her Blackberry from a desk inside a C-17 military plane upon her departure from Malta, in the Mediterranean Sea, bound for Tripoli, Libya. Clintons work-related emails from her private account are now public, a ledger longer than 52,000 pages detailing her tenure as Americas top diplomat while failing to resolve questions about how she and her closest aides handled classified information. (AP Photo/Kevin Lamarque, Pool, File)

Republican candidate Donald Trump has indicated he plans to target Clinton over the email investigations. Trump said Thursday he looked forward to running against Clinton, "assuming she's allowed to run, assuming she's not arrested for the email situation." He added, "Let's assume the Democrats will protect her."

The FBI for months has investigated whether sensitive information that flowed through Clinton's email server was mishandled. The State Department has acknowledged that some emails included classified information, including at the top-secret level, though Clinton has said she never sent or received anything that was marked classified at the time. The inspectors general at the State Department and the U.S. intelligence community are separately investigating whether rules or laws were broken.

"It will always be either too soon or too late," said Stephen Vladeck, an American University law professor and national security expert who has followed the case. "The best the Justice Department can do is try to accept that there will be political noise no matter what, and try to figure out what makes the most sense from their institutional perspective."

"Any political appointee is going to be sensitive to the electoral calendar," he added. "The fine line is between being sensitive and being beholden to it."

Lynch told the AP last month that the investigation involves career lawyers from the Justice Department and is being done independently and without regard for politics. She told Fox News this week that there was no "artificial deadline" for completing the investigation.

FBI Director James Comey declined to discuss the case with Congress during an appearance on Capitol Hill this week, saying only that he was very close personally to the matter "to ensure that we have the resources we need, including people and technology, and that it's done the way the FBI tries to do it all of its work: independently, competently and promptly."

The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the Justice Department has granted immunity to the staffer who set up the server, Bryan Pagliano, so that he would be willing to speak with investigators. A person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss an ongoing investigation, confirmed to the AP that Pagliano had been offered immunity "some time ago." Pagliano had previously asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination to refuse to answer questions from lawmakers investigating the server setup.

A spokesman for the Clinton campaign, Brian Fallon, said the campaign is pleased Pagliano is cooperating. Fallon said Clinton herself has offered to meet with investigators.

On Thursday, Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson, chairmen of the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committees, respectively, asked the Justice Department for a copy of the immunity agreement.

Also complicating the timing of any decision or public announcement is the chance that Clinton or her former top aides could be deposed by private lawyers in coming weeks. A federal judge last week opened the door to such depositions as part of a lawsuit by Judicial Watch, a conservative legal group. It's not clear what impact, if any, those interviews might have on the Justice Department investigation, but presumably federal agents would be interested in whatever Clinton or others say under oath.

There's no question there are obvious political sensitivities. Though it's extraordinary for a presidential candidate to be implicated in a federal investigation, there are instances of it happening to elected officials during campaigns.

The late Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska., was indicted on ethics violations months before the 2008 election and found guilty just days before Election Day. He lost the race, and the Justice Department ultimately moved to reverse the conviction amid revelations of withheld evidence.

Former District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray was identified in court as having knowledge of an "off-the-books" shadow campaign during a campaign finance plea hearing for a local businessman weeks before the 2014 mayoral primary. Gray lost the election, but prosecutors never charged him.

Then-Attorney General Eric Holder directed in 2012 that "politics must play no role" in investigations or criminal charges, and said prosecutors should not choreograph criminal charges or investigations for the purpose of affecting an election. There is no bright line, but investigators ideally will look to conclude an investigation well before Election Day over concerns that a signification action could sway the outcome or at least have that appearance, said Justin Shur, a former Justice Department public corruption prosecutor.

"There's a concern where you're going to take some investigative step and it's going to be reported on and it's going to get out in the public domain and it's going to have some impact on the election," Shur said.

While Lynch is technically correct there is no artificial deadline for resolving the Clinton investigation, Vladeck said the reality is more nuanced.

"That's not the same thing as saying that external factors aren't weighing in some of the calculus," he said.

___
Paul Haven named AP news director for Latam and Caribbean

NEW YORK (AP)  Paul Haven, a veteran foreign correspondent and news manager who has led Associated Press bureaus in South Asia, Europe and Latin America, has been named the cooperative's first all-format News Director for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Haven's appointment was announced Thursday by John Daniszewski, AP's Vice President for International News. He succeeds Marjorie Miller, who last year became Director of Global News and Enterprise in New York.

The 44-year-old Haven will oversee more than 100 journalists and editors in text, photos and video in a region stretching from the U.S.-Mexico border to Chile's Tierra del Fuego. He will also be responsible for the cooperative's Spanish-language service, with correspondents throughout Latin America, as well as in the United States and Spain.

In this Feb. 26, 2016 photo, Paul Haven, the Associated Press' Acting Regional Editor for Latin America and the Caribbean poses for a portrait outside of the AP offices in Mexico City. Haven is the new Latin America director, announced Thursday, March 3, 2016. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)

The appointment is part of a transformation to make the cooperative fully cross-format, with multimedia journalists and integrated editing desks that emphasize video and social media, along with a streamlined management structure to meet customer needs.

"Haven has worked in Latin America for the past seven years, and his global experience before that gives him extraordinary breadth and depth of perspective for the challenge of telling the exciting stories from this region," said Daniszewski.

Haven has reported for AP from more than 15 countries in a career spanning two decades. He began as a reporter in Bogota in the 1990s, covering the violent drug wars and clashes between leftist rebels and right-wing paramilitaries. While in the region, he was part of a team that won the Associated Press Managing Editors Award for coverage of a commando raid that ended a four-month hostage crisis in Peru.

After a transfer to New York, Haven had stints as a national issues writer, a political polling editor and leader of the cooperative's international terrorism investigations following the Sept. 11 attacks.

As bureau chief in Pakistan and Afghanistan, Haven won the 2005 Daniel Pearl Award Silver Prize for investigative reporting on al-Qaida, and covered the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He transferred to Spain in 2006, focusing on al-Qaida's reach into Europe as head of the cooperative's offices in Madrid and Lisbon.

In 2009, Haven became chief of AP's Havana bureau, spearheading coverage of Cuba's nascent free-market reforms. He also helped lead print coverage of the 2010 Haiti earthquake and served as a special writer at the 2012 London Olympics.

Since 2013, Haven has served as deputy Latin America editor, part of a leadership team driving award-winning all-format coverage of the region. He has been acting regional editor since June.

"He is an experienced editor who will drive smart coverage of the region in all formats," said Miller. "He will be a terrific leader for the AP in Latin America."
Early takers say new SAT 'wasn't so bad' and not so tricky

WASHINGTON (AP)  Not so tricky. More straightforward. Guessing allowed. The newly redesigned SAT college entrance exam that debuts nationally Saturday is getting good reviews from some of the students who took it early this week.

The new exam focuses less on arcane vocabulary words and more on real-world learning and analysis by students. Students no longer will be penalized for guessing. And the essay has been made optional.

The College Board says more than 463,000 test-takers signed up to take the new SAT in March, up slightly from a year ago.

High School juniors Brian Keyes and Isabel Suarez, both 16, pose for a photograph in front of Woodrow Wilson High School in Washington, Thursday, March 3, 2016, after recently taking the new SAT exam. The new exam focuses less on arcane vocabulary words and more on real-world learning and analysis by students. Students no longer will be penalized for guessing. And the essay has been made optional. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Because the exam is new, the College Board, the nonprofit organization that owns the SAT, has restricted the exam on Saturday to those applying to college or for scholarships, financial aid or other programs requiring a college test score. People who don't fall into these categories have been rescheduled to take the May test, which will be released at a point afterward. The College Board said it took the action because of concerns about possible theft.

Things to know about the new SAT exam:

____

THE NEW STUFF

The new SAT continues to test reading, writing and math, with an emphasis on analysis. Gone: some of those obscure vocabulary words like "lachrymose" that left kids memorizing flash cards for endless hours. Test-takers will instead see more widely known words used in the classroom. Students will have to demonstrate their ability to determine meaning in different contexts.

Go ahead, take a guess. Test-takers no longer will be penalized for wrong answers.

In math, students will see more algebra and problem solving, instead of testing a wide range of math concepts. But use of calculators is limited to certain questions.

Overall, there are fewer questions  154 on the new test plus one for the essay, compared to 171 on the old version.

Students will have a choice about whether to write the essay.

A perfect score goes back to 1,600 with a separate score for the essay.

____

SOME EARLY REVIEWS

Brian Keyes, a junior at Woodrow Wilson High School in the nation's capital, says he really didn't mind the new SAT.

"There aren't as many questions where it's trying to trick you ... It was much more straightforward," he said

For math, he said, "the new version was a lot more like basic concepts, so it wouldn't be very obscure formulas that you have to remember. If you had the basics of algebra down, even if the problem was difficult, you could work your way through it."

Said classmate Isabel Suarez: "I liked it better than the old one. I thought that it was way more applicable to what we've been learning in school. The English was a lot easier for me than it was with the old one."

Isabel, a junior, said the math was a little harder. "It was more algebra based, but I think I was able to perform a lot better on it than the old one because it was stuff that I actually learned in school."

In fact, Suarez, who likes to write, said she enjoyed the reading section. "My AP English class definitely really prepared me for it. I honestly enjoyed the grammar part because I like to pick out problems in writing. It was pretty fun actually."

The exam was administered Wednesday at Wilson and other District of Columbia high schools and at schools in more than a dozen states as part of SAT School Day.

____

WHAT'S BEHIND THE REDESIGN?

This was the first revision in the SAT since 2005. The head of the College Board says students taking the new SAT will find more familiar reading passages, vocabulary words and math.

"The sum of the redesign of the test is to make it much more like the work that kids are already doing in high school," said David Coleman, president and chief executive officer of the board. It was retooled, he said, "so that all kids could feel that they had a shot."

With fewer questions on the new test, Coleman said, there's more time for each of the reading and math questions.

____

TIPS FROM TEST PREP EXPERTS

Some advice from Lee Weiss, Kaplan Test Prep's vice president of college admissions programs, on taking the new SATs:

"If you've been preparing and putting in your study time, then you should go in confident. If you haven't, you can take this test again or you can take the ACT, too. It's not the end of the world if you don't perform well," he said.

Don't skip the essay. Weiss said Kaplan's research of college admissions officers shows that many of the top most-competitive programs for college do look at the essay and it's an important part of their admissions process. "Make sure you are writing a good, structured essay that answers the prompt," said Weiss. "Make sure that you are varying your word choice and your sentence structure."

On reading, Ned Johnson, president of PrepMatters, said students should be literal, not literary. He said students could help themselves by coming up with their own answers before looking at the options provided.

Johnson says the new test has math problems that are much wordier than before. "Read slowly," he said. "If you read and analyze the problems piece by piece, you can avoid feeling overwhelmed and 'translate' all those words into math, you know how to do."

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FREE PRACTICE TESTS

The College Board has teamed up with online educator Khan Academy to offer SAT practice with the new exam  for free  to all students through diagnostic quizzes and interactive practice tests. The tests are available at https://www.khanacademy.org/sat.
Police: Suspect fled to Europe, wanted to fight IS group

ANNISTON, Ala. (AP)  A former Alabama jailer is accused of fathering a child with a 15-year-old girl before fleeing to Europe years later and boasting to a bed and breakfast owner that he wanted to join Syrian rebels as a sniper to fight the Islamic State group.

Sheriff's investigators said Thursday that penchant for bragging was his undoing: A Croatian bed and breakfast owner slipped a note in his passport to authorities at a border crossing last month, telling them Pirritano was wanted overseas.

DNA testing showed that David Alan Pirritano, a 54-year-old former Calhoun County corrections officer, fathered a child with a girl 15 years ago. She is now 30. Authorities had been investigating allegations that her daughter was raped by a boyfriend when they learned Pirritano was the father.

This undated booking photo provided by the Calhoun County Sheriff's Office shows David Pirritano, in Anniston, Ala. Pirritano allegedly fathered a child with his stepdaughter, fled to Europe and told the owner of a Croatian bed and breakfast that he was a fugitive and wanted to join Syrian rebels in their fight against ISIS. Pirritano fled in June and has been returned to east Alabama to face charges of rape and other offenses. He is being held on $100,000 cash bond. (Calhoun County Sheriffs Office via AP)

"It never came to light, the relationship between Pirritano and the victim, until the victim's child  who is now 15 years old  became a victim herself," said Calhoun County Sheriff Larry Amerson.

Pirritano fled to Frankfurt, Germany, in June and was detained Jan. 10 when authorities at a border crossing in Croatia learned that he was a fugitive in the United States, Amerson said. He was booked into the county jail Feb. 25 and is being held on a $100,000 bond on rape and other charges.

Pirritano traveled throughout Europe while he evaded authorities and eventually began staying at a Croatian bed and breakfast that catered to cyclists. He forged a relationship with the owner, who thought it was odd that a visitor would show up on foot in an area popular with cyclists.

"As that relationship grew, Mr. Pirritano apparently liked to brag, and he informed the gentleman there that he was wanted in the U.S.," Amerson said, later adding that Pirritano told the man he wanted to join Syrian rebels as a sniper to fight the Islamic State.

Paul Daymond, spokesman of the FBI's Birmingham division, declined to comment in an email.

Pirritano asked the owner of the bed and breakfast to take him to a border crossing, and Amerson said the man alerted border agents to Pirritano's fugitive status by hiding a note in his passport. U.S. authorities had already put out a notice about Pirritano to Interpol, and he was detained at the border.

It wasn't immediately clear which country Pirritano was looking to enter from Croatia, and authorities said the owner of the bed and breakfast also used a link on the department's website to send them a message about Pirritano.

During the investigation, Pirritano's 55-year-old wife, Tammy Rogers Pirritano, told authorities her husband quit his job and asked to be taken to the Atlanta airport in June. But she said she didn't know where he went.

Investigators determined she did have information on her husband's whereabouts and had been wiring him money while he was abroad. She's been charged with hindering prosecution and is out on $7,500 bond, said Assistant District Attorney Randy Moeller. She was arrested Feb. 17.

David Pirritano is charged with rape and having sex with a minor, Moeller said. It's unclear if he or Tammy Pirritano have attorneys, Amerson said. A phone number listed under Tammy Pirritano's name rang unanswered Thursday.
Amy Adams: 'I knew I was being paid less' than male co-stars

LOS ANGELES (AP)  Amy Adams says she knew she was receiving less money than her male "American Hustle" co-stars.

The actress told British GQ magazine that she agreed to play a con artist opposite Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper and Jeremy Renner despite being paid less than them for the 2013 film.

Adams' co-star Jennifer Lawrence wrote in an essay published last year that she blamed herself for failing as a negotiator when she learned from leaked Sony emails that her male co-stars were paid more.

FILE - In this Feb. 28, 2016 file photo, actress Amy Adams arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills, Calif. Adams told British GQ magazine that she agreed to play a con artist opposite Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper and Jeremy Renner in the film, "American Hustle" despite being paid less than them. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

"I knew I was being paid less and I still agreed to do it because the option comes down to do it or don't do it," Adams said. "So you just have to decide if it's worth it for you. It doesn't mean I liked it."

Adams and Lawrence were nominated for the best actress and supporting actress Oscars, respectively, for their roles in "American Hustle."

"I'm really proud of Jennifer," Adams said. "What I liked is that it was not necessarily about getting paid, or not getting paid ... It's like we have been conditioned to not be controversial, to not cause problems. It's about finding your voice."

Adams, who has also been nominated for Academy Awards for her roles in "Doubt" and "The Master," said in the magazine's April issue that "American Hustle" filmmaker David O. Russell made her cry during production.

"I was really just devastated on set," said Adams. "I mean, not every day, but most. Jennifer doesn't take any of it on. She's Teflon. And I am not Teflon."

Adams is reprising her "Man of Steel" role as reporter Lois Lane in the upcoming movie "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice."

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Online:
Trudeau say Americans should pay more attention to the world

TORONTO (AP)  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canadians would appreciate it if Americans paid more attention to what's going on around the globe.

Trudeau said in a 60 Minutes interview to be aired Sunday that "it might be nice if they paid a little more attention to the world."

Trudeau, elected in October, made the remarks after being asked what Canadians don't like about the U.S.

FILE - In this Jan. 26, 2016 file photo, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during a news conference in Montreal, following his meeting with Montreal mayor Denis Coderre. Trudeau says Canadians would appreciate it if Americans paid more attention to what's going on around the globe. Trudeau said in a 60 Minutes interview to be aired Sunday, March 6, 2016, that "it might be nice if they paid a little more attention to the world." (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP, File) MANDATORY CREDIT

"Having a little more of an awareness of what's going on in the rest of the world, I think is, is what many Canadians would hope for Americans," he said in a transcript released to The Associated Press on Thursday.

The 60 Minutes profile of Trudeau will air just days before he travels to the White House for a state visit.

Trudeau said Canadians must be aware of at least one other country, the United States, because of its importance.

"I think we sometimes like to think that, you know, Americans will pay attention to us from time to time, too," he said.

He also seemed to take a jab at an unnamed U.S. presidential candidate whose rise he attributed to Americans' lack of knowledge of foreign affairs.
Friday, March 11

Today is Friday, March 11, the 71st day of 2016. There are 295 days left in the year.

Highlights in history on this date:

1302 - Romeo and Juliet's wedding day, according to Shakespeare.

1784 - British sign peace treaty with Tippoo of Mysore in India.

1810 - Emperor Napoleon of France is married by proxy to the Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria.

1812 - King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia gives Jewish citizens equal rights.

1845 - Maori stage further uprisings against British rule in New Zealand.

1888 - The "Blizzard of '88" strikes the northeastern United States, piling up snow up to 6 meters (20 feet) deep and resulting in some 400 deaths.

1913 - Britain and Germany agree on frontier between Nigeria and Cameroon.

1917 - British forces capture Baghdad during World War I.

1938 - German forces enter Austria.

1941 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs into law the Lend-Lease Bill, providing war supplies to countries fighting the Axis.

1943 - British Eighth Army repulses heavy German counterattacks in Tunisia in World War II.

1965 - A white minister from Boston, the Rev. James J. Reeb, dies after whites beat him during civil rights demonstrations in Selma, Alabama.

1966 - President Sukarno of Indonesia is forced to delegate wide powers to army Gen. Suharto, who later replaces him.

1977 - Brazil cancels 25-year-old military assistance treaty with the United States because of U.S. State Department report criticizing its alleged human rights violations.

1985 - Politburo leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev is chosen to succeed the late Soviet President Konstantin U. Chernenko.

1990 - Lithuanian Parliament declares independence from Soviet Union.

1992 - Sikh militants round up 17 Hindu workers and execute them at a government-owned mill in Punjab.

1994 - Eduardo Frei becomes president of Chile.

1998 - South Korea says it will compensate women who were enslaved in Japanese army brothels in World War II, then recover the money from Japan.

2002 - Fifteen are killed and more than 50 others injured in a fire and stampede at a girls' school in Saudi Arabia, sparking an outcry after religious police prevented male firefighters and paramedics from rescuing the girls because they were not wearing the black head-to-toe covering required by Saudi law.

2004 - A series of bombs hidden in backpacks blow apart four commuter trains in Madrid, Spain, killing at least 199 people and wounding more than 1,400 in the worst terrorist attack in Spanish history.

2006 - Former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic, being tried at The Hague for war crimes after orchestrating a decade of bloodshed that killed 250,000 people and broke up his country, is found dead after a heart attack in his prison cell.

2008 - The Belgian government and banks agree to pay $170 million (euro110 million) to Holocaust survivors, families of victims and the Jewish community for losses during World War II. About half of the 50,000 Jews in Belgium were exterminated in the Holocaust.

2009 - A 17-year-old wielding a Beretta 9m pistol bursts into a classroom in his former high school in Germany and guns down students in a rampage that leaves 15 dead before he takes his own life.

2012 - A U.S. Army sergeant opens fire on Afghan villagers as they sleep, killing 16 people  mostly women and children  in an attack that reignites fury at the U.S. presence following a wave of deadly protests over Americans burning Qurans.

2014  In trade talks, the European Union wants to ban the use of European names like Parmesan and feta on cheese made in the United States, but U.S. dairy producers, cheesemakers and food companies are fighting the idea.

2015  The European Union studies new ways to beef up border patrols in the face of an unprecedented influx of migrants crossing the Mediterranean and traveling through the Balkans.

Today's Birthdays:

Torquato Tasso, Italian poet (1544-1595); Louis Florence d'Epinay, French author (1726-1783); Christian Ditlev, Count Reventlow, Danish statesman who abolished serfdom (1748-1827); Astor Piazzolla, Argentine musician (1921-1992); Douglas Adams, British writer (1952-2001); Rupert Murdoch, Australian media magnate (1931--); Alex Kingston, British actress (1963--); Terrence Howard, U.S. actor (1969--).

Thought For Today:
Trump responds to Rubio's crude remark with one of his own

DETROIT (AP)  Donald Trump replied to a dig from Republican presidential rival Marco Rubio about his sexual prowess with a crude sexual reference of his own at Thursday night's GOP debate.

In the early moments of the first debate since Super Tuesday, the GOP front-runner noted that the Florida senator had mocked the size of his hands. "And you know what they say about men with small hands," Rubio told a mostly college-aged audience at Roanoke College in Virginia last weekend.

Said Trump at the debate: "He hit my hands. Nobody has ever hit my hands. I have never heard of this. Look at those hands. Are they small hands?"

Republican presidential candidate, businessman Donald Trump, right, speaks as Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., listens during a Republican presidential primary debate at Fox Theatre, Thursday, March 3, 2016, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Holding them up to laughter among the crowd at the debate in Detroit, he continued: "If they are small, something else must be small. I guarantee you there is no problem. I guarantee."

It was a new level of nasty in a Republican campaign that's become increasingly coarse in the past few weeks, as Trump has begun to emerge as the clear front-runner.

The exchange at the debate began after Rubio justified his attacks on Trump by saying the billionaire businessman had "basically mocked everybody" in the past year.

"He has done so to people that are sitting on the stage today," Rubio said. "He has done so about people that are disabled. He has done it about every candidate in this race.

"So if there is anyone who has ever deserved to be attacked that way, it has been Donald Trump, for the way he has treated people in the campaign."

Trump countered with a mild effort at detente, saying he'd called Rubio a "lightweight" in the past, but "he's really not that much of a lightweight."
AP FACT CHECK: Claims from the Republican debate

WASHINGTON (AP)  On taxes, trade and drug prices  along with the always tangled tale of opinion polls  viewers of the latest Republican debate didn't get a straight story.

A look at some of the claims Thursday night and how they compare with the facts:

DONALD TRUMP: "I beat Hillary Clinton in many polls. The Pew poll just came out. I beat Hillary Clinton in a recent Fox poll, I beat Hillary Clinton in USA Today, I beat her today in a poll in Ohio. I beat I'm the only one that beats Hillary Clinton."

Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, argues a point as Ohio Gov. John Kasich listens during a Republican presidential primary debate at Fox Theatre, Thursday, March 3, 2016, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

THE FACTS: Trump has bested Clinton in a few polls dating back to May, but Clinton has beat him in many more. A listing of national polls compiled by Real Clear Politics finds Trump on top five times in that period, while Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, beat him in 41 polls. There were two ties.

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TRUMP: "We are getting absolutely crushed on trade.... With China we're going to lose $505 billion in terms of trades. You just can't do it. Mexico, $58 billion. Japan, probably about, they don't know it yet, but about $109 billion."

THE FACTS: Trump is way off on the U.S. merchandise trade deficit with China. It was $365.7 billion in 2015  indeed, a record and the largest deficit the United States had with any country.

But the U.S. deficit with all countries last year was $531.5 billion, up from $508.3 billion in 2014, close to the $505 billion deficit that Trump assigned just to one country, China. Trump did get the deficit with Mexico correct.

But not Japan. His estimate of a $109 billion trade deficit with Japan compares with the actual deficit of $68.6 billion last year.

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CRUZ on his proposal to abolish the IRS: "Now, at the end of that there will still be an office in the Treasury Department to receive the postcards but it will be dramatically simpler."

THE FACTS: Cruz dodged the question of how the tax system will be enforced if he abolishes the IRS and has people pay taxes on simple postcard-like forms. No matter how simple taxes might become, the government still has to make sure people are paying their share, and that takes a large workforce. It's not just a matter of receiving postcards.

Cruz's flat tax would consolidate seven tax brackets into one at 10 percent. It's almost certain that this level would give the wealthy huge tax breaks and cause budget deficits to soar.

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TRUMP: "Because of the fact that the pharmaceutical companies are not mandated to bid properly, they have hundreds of billions of dollars in waste."

THE FACTS: This relates to Trump's unachievable promise to save $300 billion by allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices. That's impossible because the entire country  Medicare, private insurance, individuals and other government programs  spends about $300 billion on drugs ($297.7 billion in 2014).

Trump's promise could only be fulfilled, in essence, if drugs were free.

Savings estimates from Medicare-negotiated drug prices have not been nearly as huge as Trump supposes.

A study last year by the advocacy group Public Citizen and a professor at Carleton University in Ottawa estimated that Medicare's prescription program would save $15.2 billion to $16 billion a year if it were able to get the same discounted prices for brand name drugs that state Medicaid programs and the Veterans Health Administration receive.

That's far from a $300 billion savings.

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MARCO RUBIO dismissed Trump's business record, saying he "inherited over $100 million."

THE FACTS: That's hard to pin down. Trump's father, Fred Trump, died in 1999, and left behind an estate publicly estimated at between $200 to $250 million. But no firm numbers are available  and the estate was to be split among Trump and two of his siblings.

If Rubio's estimate is high, however, Trump's insistence that he only received a "small loan" from his father is even harder to justify. Fred Trump not only gave his son an initial stake, but also guaranteed loans on the Grand Hyatt project that first made Trump's name. Fred Trump also let his son borrow against his future inheritance  and, in 1991, one of Trump's casinos admitted it had broken New Jersey law by accepting an illicit $3.5 million loan from Fred Trump.

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CRUZ: Obamacare is "the biggest job killer in America."

THE FACTS: That assertion flies in the face of an unemployment rate that has fallen to 4.9 percent from 9.9 percent in March 2010, when President Barack Obama signed the health care law.

The economy has added more than 13.4 million jobs during that period.

While the health care law doesn't seem to have had a major impact on jobs, some lesser consequences are likely. The Congressional Budget Office projected that the availability of government subsidized health insurance will prompt some people to drop out of the labor market, since they can get coverage without holding down a job.

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Associated Press writers Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Jeff Horwitz contributed to this report.

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Republican presidential candidate, businessman Donald Trump takes a drink of water during a commercial break at a Republican presidential primary debate at Fox Theatre, Thursday, March 3, 2016, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Debate takeaways: Under attack, Trump strikes back at rivals

DETROIT (AP)  Donald Trump was under fire even before taking the debate stage Thursday night.

The Republican front-runner walked into the Fox Theater after being targeted for much of the day by the GOP's last two presidential nominees, who warned voters across the nation that Trump must be stopped.

His three rivals  Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and John Kasich  set out to keep Trump on his heels on what they hope will be remembered as a pivotal day in the 2016 contest. Knowing he would be attacked, Trump warned voters ahead of time that his tone might have to be less-than-presidential.

Republican presidential candidates, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and businessman Donald Trump argue as Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich listen during a Republican presidential primary debate at Fox Theatre, Thursday, March 3, 2016, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Here are some takeaways from the 11th Republican presidential debate of the 2016 campaign:

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THE DONALD STRIKES BACK

Thursday night was among the nastiest debates to date and offered a highlight reel of the best and worst of Trump  including some new material.

The New York real estate mogul set the tone early on with a crude sexual remark, responding to equally vulgar comments from Rubio days earlier about the size of his hands. "If they are small, something else must be small," Trump said, repeating Rubio's insult. "I guarantee you there is no problem. I guarantee."

That was the only reference to Trump's sexual prowess. But he directed many other insults at his rivals.

Trump called Cruz "Lying Ted," repeatedly jabbed Rubio as "Little Marco," and charged that Florida voters wouldn't elect Rubio dog catcher.

They were the kind of blunt attacks his supporters love. But they could lead undecided voters to think twice in the primary contests to come  and November's general election.

After all, it's hard to imagine a sitting president making a joke in public about, well, you know.

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FLEXIBLE IMMIGRATION FANTASY?

Trump doesn't often talk policy details. We may have found out why.

The front-runner reversed a position posted on his website about visas for high-skilled immigrant and opened the door to a broader shift on immigration when pressed to explain a private conversation with The New York Times.

Having embraced tough immigration rhetoric for much of the last year, Trump said the next president needed "flexibility" and "a little give and take" on the issue. He praised Rubio's past willingness to embrace compromise on immigration, even though Rubio's position has been widely condemned by conservatives.

The tone and content of Trump's message prompted the moderator to cite a Trump negotiating tactic, outlined in his book, which suggests scoring points by playing to people's fantasies.

"I'm not playing to anybody's fantasies," an irritated Trump replied.

Yet his inconsistencies on various issues were highlighted time and time again throughout the night. They included his shifts on Afghanistan, Syrian refugees and former President George W. Bush's honesty. As he did on immigration, he often responded by citing the need for flexibility.

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FRESHMAN TAG TEAM

Rubio and Cruz paid little attention to each other, spending most of the night instead attacking Trump.

While Rubio was the leading Trump aggressor early on, Cruz took shots, too. The Texas senator played the part of a condescending parent multiple times, first ordering an angry Trump to "Count to 10," and later telling the front-runner to "breathe, breathe, breathe. I know it's hard."

Trump seemed at a loss for words on both occasions.

Rubio repeatedly tried to expose Trump's lack of specificity on policy and seized on Trump's unwillingness to refund tuition to many people who paid thousands of dollars to attend Trump University. Trump is having to defend the school in a class-action lawsuit.

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LOYALTY TO THE NOMINEE

As a growing number of leading Republicans vow never to support Trump, the billionaire's rivals went the other way.

Each was asked in the debate's final moment whether he'd support the party's nominee, even if it were the billionaire businessman. And each responded in the affirmative  even Rubio, who has been Trump's leading attacker in recent days.

The loyalty pledges could undercut the #nevertrump movement started by his Republican foes on Twitter.

But it's hard to imagine leading Republicans, such as Mitt Romney and Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, suddenly making an about-face on the point after casting Trump in recent days as dangerous and woefully unprepared to lead the nation.

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KASICH ABIDES

Kasich again played the adult in the room. He has adopted the strategy in virtually every debate so far, but on a night that was among the messiest to date, his unwillingness to sling mud was remarkable.

His focus on substance allowed him to stand out when the debate turned to the federal deficit and national security, two key issues on which he has years of experience. He scored a big applause at one point by declaring, "Let's stop fighting!"

Yet Kasich also conceded that he has a narrow path to the nomination. He noted he's not the only one, when asked about adopting a strategy that depends upon a contested convention in July to win: "We're all really there," he said.

He's probably right  with the exception of Trump, of course.
Trump's GOP rivals attack his 'flexibility' on policies

WARREN, Mich. (AP)  With an eye on the general election  and suddenly "flexible" on immigration  Donald Trump has backed off from some of the hardline rhetoric that has fueled his presidential campaign, at least for the moment.

"Believe it or not, I'm a unifier," Trump offered during a raucous rally Friday in suburban Detroit. "We are going to unify our country."

Republican adversary Ted Cruz wasn't having it. "Donald is telling us he will betray us on everything he's campaigned on," he said as he campaigned in Maine, one of five states voting in weekend primaries and caucuses.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump autographs for supporters during a rally at Wexford County Civic Center, Friday, March 4, 2016, in Cadillac, Mich. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Trump's apparent outbreak of moderation on several fronts, including the most inflammatory one, immigration, comes after a dominant Super Tuesday performance that extended his reach for the Republican nomination and as GOP establishment figures stepped up to assail him.

In the rollicking Republican debate Thursday night, Trump retreated from a position paper on his website, saying he had swung in favor of more temporary H-1B visas for skilled foreign workers. His stance against that had been one of the few specific policies he had laid out.

"I'm changing, I'm changing," he said. "We need highly skilled people in this country." Hours later, his campaign released a statement backing away from the new position, deepening the sense that Trump's agenda may be less strategic than improvisational.

More broadly, he spoke of the virtues of compromise.

"In terms of immigration  and almost anything else  there always has to be some, you know, tug and pull and deal," Trump added. "You have to be able to have some flexibility, some negotiation."

Cruz and others lashed out at Trump's sudden embrace of flexibility on the central issue of his campaign. "Flexible is Washington code word that he's going to stick it to the people," Cruz said Friday.

Campaigning in Kansas, rival Marco Rubio said Trump has shown "constant movement" on the issue, a "pattern" the Florida senator says is "disrespectful to voters."

"He finally took a position on ... guest workers coming from abroad, and then as soon as the debate was over he changed back," Rubio said in Topeka, Kansas. He added, "I think it indicates that this is a person who has spent zero time thinking about public policy."

Mitt Romney, the GOP's 2012 presidential nominee, followed up a lacerating speech against Trump by declaring Friday he would not vote for the billionaire if he became the standard-bearer in the fall.

Romney told NBC's "Today" show he would "do everything within the normal political bounds to make sure we don't nominate Donald Trump." He also said, "I'm not running for president and I won't run for president."

Still, some members of Romney's vast donor network said they were ready should he reconsider. Chicago Republican donor Bill Kunkler said he had recently spoken to Romney's 2012 finance chairman, Spencer Zwick, and told him he would support Romney again.

"Mitt is the guy who will put the party before himself," Kunkler said.

Also this week, Republican foreign-policy luminaries from diverse flanks of the party wrote an open letter opposing Trump's candidacy, for his "hateful, anti-Muslim rhetoric," his "embrace of the expansive use of torture" and more.

Trump is showing new sensitivity on these matters.

He said Friday he understands the U.S. is "bound by laws and treaties" and he will not order U.S. military officials to violate or disobey those laws if elected president. His statement attenuated earlier comments that he would revive waterboarding in interrogations  which is now illegal  and "a lot worse," and that he would target the wives and children of suspected extremists.

This was a switch of sorts from the debate the night before.

"These animals over in the Middle East, that chop off heads, sitting around talking and seeing that we're having a hard problem with waterboarding?" he offered in the debate. "We should go for waterboarding and we should go tougher than waterboarding."

Despite the softened tone on some issues, though, Trump is still Trump.

He canceled an appearance at the American Conservative Union's Conservative Political Action Conference, often a can't-miss event for candidates catering to the right. It was there Friday that Ben Carson brought a formal end to his campaign for president, where he drew an adoring standing ovation and said there are "a lot of people who love me, they just won't vote for me."

Trump's decision to skip the meeting, meanwhile, "sends a clear message to conservatives," the unhappy group tweeted.

Trump showed no mercy for his critics when he spoke at the Detroit-area rally.

He repeatedly called Marco Rubio "Little Marco," Cruz "Lying Ted," and introduced a new pet name for Romney: "Stupid Mitt."

"He is a stupid person," the 2016 Republican front-runner said of the party's 2012 nominee.

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Associated Press writer Bill Barrow contributed to this report from Topeka, Kansas.

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Follow Steve Peoples and Jill Colvin on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/sppeoples and http://twitter.com/colvinj

Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, wave to the crowd as he speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Friday, March 4, 2016, in National Harbor, Md. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., speaks at a campaign rally in Wichita, Kan., Friday, March 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Jordan test ground for large jobs program for Syria refugees

MUWAQER INDUSTRIAL ESTATE, Jordan (AP)  A new trade deal with Europe, a rush of foreign investment and public works are to put 200,000 Syrian refugees to work in Jordan in what the international community has described as a radical new approach to tackling the biggest displacement crisis in decades.

Still, senior officials acknowledged that it may take several years to reach that target.

Such a slow pace could keep many Syrians in limbo and possibly undercut one of the main aims of the global intervention  to quickly reduce refugee migration from struggling regional host nations to Europe.

In this Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016 photo, a worker from India arranges steel tubes at a factory in the Muwaqer Industrial Estate, in northern Jordan. A new trade deal with Europe, a rush of foreign investment and ambitious public works are to put 200,000 Syrian refugees to work in Jordan in what the international community says is a precedent-setting new approach to the biggest displacement crisis in decades. (AP Photo/ Raad Adayleh)

Shifting from handouts to helping refugees sustain themselves is now seen as the most effective way to deal with the fallout from a prolonged conflict that has defied a negotiated solution. The Syria war enters its sixth year later this month.

Up to now, humanitarian aid for Syrians has consistently fallen short because of the staggering needs of millions of displaced, forcing cuts in food and cash support, which helped trigger last year's exodus of hundreds of thousands to Europe.

The new deal, described by Jordanian Planning Minister Imad Fakhoury as "transformative," was struck at last month's annual Syria aid conference in London.

Jordan is the main testing ground for job creation.

Under the new pact, Jordan promises to allow up to 200,000 Syrian refugees to work legally, an idea it rejected in the past because of high domestic unemployment.

In exchange, Jordanian products would win easier access to European markets, meant to create new investment and jobs. Jordan would also receive hundreds of millions of dollars in grants and cheap loans for development projects.

If successful, the scheme would probably mean replacing some of Jordan's hundreds of thousands of foreign workers, mostly from Egypt or Asia, with Syrians.

Easing access to European markets would also throw a lifeline to Jordanian factories whose exports have plummeted following the conflict-driven closures of Jordan's trade crossings to Syria and Iraq last year.

Jordanian business owners are eager to employ Syrians, seen as hard-working, but remain skeptical, said Jalal al-Debei, head of the Jordan Industrial Estates Company which administers five industrial zones with hundreds of factories.

"They heard a lot of promises from the government, from the world, but nothing happened," al-Debei said of the entrepreneurs.

A key element is a promise by the European Union to ease its "rules of origin."

Under relaxed rules, Jordanian factories could, for example, bring in raw materials from other countries, such as fabrics from Asia, and still label the finished products as Jordan-made, and qualify for duty free trade.

Jordan's free trade agreement with the United States has boosted exports over the years, amounting to $1.4 billion in 2014, or five times more than to Europe.

The EU is to finalize the new rules before its summer break in August, said Andrea Matteo Fontana, the EU ambassador to Jordan.

Greater access to Europe is intended to encourage investment in five industrial zones in Jordan, but investor response is hard to predict. "At the end of the day, this is a business decision from the private sector," Fontana said.

The plan calls for 150,000 jobs for Syrians to be created in the industrial zones and 50,000 in labor-intensive projects, such as building schools and water cisterns, he said.

Creating all 200,000 jobs could take years according to the World Bank's chief economist for the Middle East and North Africa, Shanta Devarajan.

However, some firms could likely ramp up quickly to employ large numbers of workers, based on experiences in other special enterprise zones, Devarajan wrote in response to emailed questions.

Patrick Daru, coordinator of the International Labor Organization in Jordan, said he believes the job target could be reached in two and a half years.

The ILO has prepared $10 million worth of public works projects that could be launched once money is available, he said.

At the Muwaqer Industrial Estate in northern Jordan, home to 21 working factories and another 36 in the pipeline, a possible new trade deal with Europe was rare good news; businesses have been hit hard by the border closures.

International Technical for Metal Industries Co., which makes steel tubes and pipes, saw sales drop 40 percent after Iraq closed its trade crossing with Jordan. Iraq made the decision, in part, to deprive Islamic State of profits from "customs" the group imposed on trucks passing through border areas it controls.

The slowdown forced the factory to reduce its work force from 160 to 100, manager Dirar Ahmad said during a walk across the factory floor, where hissing machines were spewing steam cut raw steel sheets imported from Saudi Arabia.

All of those fired were foreign workers, most from India, he said, adding that he now employs 85 Jordanians and 15 foreigners.

If production were to pick up again, Ahmad said he would prefer to hire Syrians because they speak the same language and follow the same traditions as Jordanians.

Ashraf Bani-Yassin, a factory foreman, said he would welcome Syrian colleagues, provided they don't take jobs from Jordanians.

Jordan hosts about 635,000 out of more than 4.7 million Syrians registered with the U.N. refugee agency. The total number of Syrians in Jordan is more than 1.2 million, including those who arrived before the conflict.

Jordan's Labor Ministry said about 90,000 Syrians currently work in Jordan, but fewer than 5,000 have permits, which are difficult to obtain.

Most Syrians hold low-paying jobs in construction and agriculture, competing with foreign labor in sectors Jordanians traditionally shun.

The ministry now plans to issue 4,000 more work permits to Syrians in a pilot project, including for jobs on farms and in textiles, said spokesman Mohammed Khateeb.

Granting such permits remains politically touchy, and government officials emphasize that Syrians wouldn't crowd out Jordanians.

Daru, the ILO official, welcomed Jordan's willingness to allow Syrians into the formal labor market.

"Here you have a country that has decided that if we have a bigger pie, they are actually ready to share this pie with the refugees," he said. "This is really a major shift in the thinking on how to accommodate the refugee population."

In this Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016 photo, a worker looks through a roll of pressed steel at a factory in the Muwaqer Industrial Estate, in northern Jordan. A new trade deal with Europe, a rush of foreign investment and ambitious public works are to put 200,000 Syrian refugees to work in Jordan in what the international community says is a precedent-setting new approach to the biggest displacement crisis in decades. (AP Photo/ Raad Adayleh)

In this Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016 photo, workers line up steel tubes at a factory in the Muwaqer Industrial Estate, in northern Jordan. A new trade deal with Europe, a rush of foreign investment and public works are to put 200,000 Syrian refugees to work in Jordan in what the international community has described as a radical new approach to tackling the biggest displacement crisis in decades. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh)

In this Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016 photo, a Jordanian machine operator takes a break at a factory for steel tubes and pipes in the Muwaqer Industrial Estate, in northern Jordan. A new trade deal with Europe, a rush of foreign investment and ambitious public works are to put 200,000 Syrian refugees to work in Jordan in what the international community says is a precedent-setting new approach to the biggest displacement crisis in decades. (AP Photo/ Raad Adayleh)

In this Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016 photo, a worker handles steel products at a factory for tubes and pipes in the Muwaqer Industrial Estate, in northern Jordan. The estate is one of five zones in Jordan that would benefit from proposed new trade terms with Europe, part of a precedent-setting plan by Jordan and international donors to put up to 200,000 Syrian refugees in coming years. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh)
Adventurer who found plane part drawn to mysteries

SEATTLE (AP)  That an American adventurer could be the one to help crack one of aviation's greatest mysteries came as no shock to his friends, who say they aren't surprised Blaine Gibson's passion for mysteries, travel and meeting people would bring him to the Mozambique coast in search of clues about the missing Malaysia Airlines flight.

The lawyer from Seattle may have discovered what could be a piece of tail section from Flight MH370 that disappeared March 8, 2014 with 239 people aboard. The airliner is believed to have crashed somewhere in a remote stretch of the southern Indian Ocean.

According to New York Magazine, Gibson has also spent much of the past year searching for traces of the missing airliner. Gibson has traveled to the Maldives Islands to investigate reports of a plane flying low at the time of the disappearance, Reunion Island to interview a man who found another section of the plane and met with former Australian Transport Minister Warren Truss to discuss Australia's seabed search for the plane.

Blaine Gibson poses for a photo during an interview with the Associated Press in Maputo Mozambique Thursday March 3, 2016. Gibson who discovered an aircraft part in Mozambique that may be from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 says he initially thought it was part of a much smaller plane. Gibson, who has been searching the region's beaches for the debris, said Thursday March 3, 2016 in an interview with that a boat operator who took him to a sandbank named Paluma called him over after seeing a piece of debris with NO STEP (AP Photo/Tom Bowker)

"I'm not surprised that he pursued this mysterious disappearance of the plane," said Vladimir Gololobov, who described his friend as eccentric, bright and kind. He met Gibson nearly two decades ago while the American was in Siberia on business trips.

"He is interested in things that are very mysterious and makes you wonder what happened," Gololobov said.

The 58-year-old Gibson, who grew up in California, told The Associated Press he came to Mozambique as part of a dream to see every country in the world.

"It has been my ambition since I was 7 to visit every country in the world. Malawi was number 176, Mozambique was number 177," Gibson said.

Dave Ryan, a Seattle attorney who befriended Gibson in law school, said Gibson traveled a lot and had different business ventures around the globe.

He would take off to Tajikistan and come back with pieces of mortars, for example, or visited Cambodia at a time when few tourists did, Ryan recalled. "He collected interesting stuff as well as stories and made a lot of fascinating friends."

Gibson's friends say they do not believe he's motivated by fame but that he is genuinely drawn to the mysterious.

In the past Gibson has traveled to Siberia to investigate a meteor crash, Ethiopia to search for the lost ark and Central America to find out why the Maya civilization disappeared, according to New York Magazine.

"At the same time he loves to travel and meet people. I think he ran across enough different people whom the disappearance of the flight had touched. He knows his geography and knows how to get around," Ryan said. "I think he was interested in looking for himself."

In an interview, Gibson said of his search: "I wanted to go out to a place where debris washes ashore from the open Indian Ocean, because of my personal interest, also because it's a nice trip out to an island. It's a beautiful place."

Gibson said he graduated from University of Oregon and received a degree from a law school that was then at the University of Puget Sound south of Seattle. Gibson also served as a staffer to the late Washington state Sen. Ray Moore and a state senate committee for several years before and after law school.

His father, Phil S. Gibson, served as Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court from 1940 to 1964.

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Associated Press writer Tom Bowker contributed to this report from Maputo, Mozambique.
2 police killed in car bomb attack in southeastern Turkey

ANKARA, Turkey (AP)  Kurdish rebels on Friday detonated a car bomb near a police station in southeastern Turkey, killing two police officers and wounding some 35 people, officials said.

The attack targeted the traffic police station and lodgings in the town of Nusaybin, bordering Syria, where the security forces are battling militants linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.

A fragile two-year-old peace process between Turkey's government and the PKK collapsed in July, reviving a three-decades-old conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people. Hundreds  many of them police and soldiers  have died in the renewed fighting.

The governor's office for Mardin province, where Nusaybin is located, said the explosion wounded 35 people, most of them police or police family members. Four of them were being operated on, although their injuries were not life-threatening condition.

The explosion caused extensive damage to the police lodgings and left a large crater in the road, images published by the private Dogan news agency showed.

The PKK, considered a terror organization by Turkey and its allies, is fighting for autonomy in Turkey's mostly Kurdish southeast.

The attack in Nusaybin comes amid a surge of violence in Turkey.

Last month, a suicide car bombing that targeted buses carrying military personnel in the capital, Ankara, killed 29 people. A Kurdish militant group that is an offshoot of the PKK claimed responsibility for that attack.

On Thursday, police in Istanbul killed two women militants of the banned far-left group, the Revolutionary People's Liberation Army-Front, or DHKP-C, who had hidden inside a building after attacking police with gunfire and a hand grenade.

Some 145 people have died since July in three separate suicide bomb attacks that authorities have blamed on the Islamic State group, including 12 German tourists who were killed in Istanbul's historic Sultanahmet district on Jan. 12.

In a related development Friday, Turkey's Justice Ministry submitted a formal request for parliament to lift the legal immunity of the two co-chairmen of the country's pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party, or HDP, and three other legislators, so that they could be prosecuted for alleged links to the rebels, Anadolu reported.

The move follows accusations by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that the HDP is the political wing of the PKK and his calls for parliament to remove their immunity, which shields legislators from prosecution.
Ukrainian pilot on trial pledges to keep up hunger strike

MOSCOW (AP)  A Ukrainian pilot on trial in Russia says she will remain on hunger strike until she is extradited back home.

Nadezhda Savchenko was fighting with a Ukrainian volunteer battalion against Russia-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine when she was captured in June 2014.

Russia claims she was acting as a spotter who called in coordinates for a mortar attack that killed two Russian journalists and several other civilians.

Ukrainian jailed military officer Nadezhda Savchenko stands in a glass cage during a trial in the town of Donetsk, Rostov-on-Don region, Russia, Thursday, March 3, 2016. Savchenko, a Ukrainian pilot on trial in Russia says she is going on hunger strike. Nadezhda Savchenko, on trial in the Russian border town of Donetsk for her alleged involvement in the deaths of two Russian journalists, was fighting in a volunteer battalion against Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine when she was captured in June 2014. (AP Photo)

After the judge adjourned the hearing on Thursday and did not allow her to give her final argument, Savchenko said she was going on hunger strike.

In her final argument released by her sister, Savchenko said she will keep up the hunger strike after the verdict. She called on Kiev to negotiate her extradition and pledged to return to Ukraine "dead or alive."
Carson spent heavily on consultants, lightly on campaigning

WASHINGTON (AP)  Ben Carson ran for president, and his consultants won.

The political newcomer, who said Friday that he was ending his bid for the White House, raised $58 million, more money than any other GOP contender raised.

But an Associated Press review of his campaign finance filings show Carson's campaign is an extreme example of the big-money business of presidential politics. His campaign burned through the millions he raised by spending more on fundraising and consultants than on mass media advertising, on-the-ground employees and other things that could have swayed voters, the filings show.

Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Friday, March 4, 2016, in National Harbor, Md. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Over the past week, the candidate himself, a soft-spoken retired Baltimore neurosurgeon, has wondered aloud whether his campaign aides took advantage of him, even saying he was disappointed in himself for trusting some people around him "without really vetting them carefully."

Carson addressed the issue in an interview with CNN last week and again Thursday in a Yahoo News interview with journalist Katie Couric, who questioned Carson on whether his campaign had spent so much on fundraising to gather a list of donors for a future business venture.

"Mistakes were made," Carson said. "We probably had the wrong team in place, people who probably had different objectives than I did. And once we discovered that and rectified it, the situation changed dramatically."

Some people who worked with Carson's presidential campaign are positioned to continue profiting from his elevated profile even after he officially ends his bid.

All told, the Carson campaign turned over at least one-quarter of the money it raised  $16 million  to fundraising and marketing firms owned by a pair of his top consultants, Mike Murray and Ken Dawson.

By contrast, the Carson campaign's payroll for nine months cost less than $700,000, finance documents show, and the campaign spent less than $600,000 on television and radio advertising during the month that voting has taken place, according to advertising tracker Kantar Media's Campaign Media Analysis Group.

Murray has been a campaign senior adviser, owns TMA Direct and is managing partner of Precision Data Management, firms that provide fundraising services for direct mail and email to voters and broker lists of would-be supporters.

Dawson has been Carson's unofficial chief marketing officer and owner of Eleventy Marketing. That company uses Facebook, Twitter and other social media to place digital advertising and raise money for its clients.

Murray and Dawson say the payments to their firms do not give a full picture of all the work they did  transforming a candidate with 50 percent name recognition among likely Republican voters into one who became nearly universally known.

"We had the task of building the Carson brand along with raising money," Murray said. "Everything we did netted money."

Payments to TMA and other firms did not all go into the consultants' pockets, he said. Much of it paid for postage, printing and other costs associated with fundraising. Dawson also said much of the $10 million paid to his company went right back out to pay for digital advertising and social media promotion.

He said every payment to Eleventy was approved by Carson's campaign managers and audited by campaign staff.

Carson has vowed to continue his "grassroots movement," which includes his 700,000 campaign donors, the majority of whom gave $200 or less.

On Friday, Carson announced in a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in suburban Maryland that he has accepted a position as national chairman of My Faith Votes, a nonpartisan group that encourages Christians to participate in the political process.

Before the campaign, Carson was the face of a health care project funded by the American Legacy Political Action Committee, a group that has substantial crossover with the Carson campaign; in fact, Murray is its founder. Armstrong Williams, Carson's longtime confidant and off-the-books campaign guru, took over the American Legacy PAC chairmanship and has also said he encouraged Carson to come back to the group.

American Legacy PAC appears to do little more than raise money to pay people raising money.

The group's mission is to help conservative candidates, but it reported giving less than 3 percent of the $10 million it raised in the past five years to candidates and political committees, FEC documents show.

Murray said the PAC's impact on politics isn't fully reflected in its FEC filings, in part because the group encourages donors to give directly to candidates. He said those candidates have netted "hundreds of thousands of dollars," which the group has tracked through software.

The cost of all that fundraising is laid out in FEC documents.

American Legacy PAC has paid Williams' production company more than $170,000 and Murray's companies nearly $400,000 since its establishment in 2010. It also paid Dawson's Eleventy about $30,000, which he said paid for building a website.

More than half of American Legacy PAC's budget went to the telemarketing company Infocision. Carson's campaign also paid the company almost $5 million.

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Follow on Twitter: Julie Bykowicz at https://twitter.com/bykowicz and Chad Day at https://twitter.com/chadsday
Trump rallies: Tense, racially charged, immensely successful

VALDOSTA, Ga. (AP)  Among the many ways Donald Trump has redefined presidential politics, he stands alone for how he has used large, protest-ridden rallies, often bubbling with raw anger, to fuel his candidacy.

The Republican front-runner says the massive events are evidence of a "movement" of a "silent majority" frustrated by everything from the nation's uneven economy and immigration laws to a government run by "stupid people."

"And you know what?" he asked from the stage in Louisville, Kentucky, this week. "It's not about me. I'm a messenger. It's really about you. We're going to take our country back and make it great again."

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump holds up a child he pulled from the crowd as he arrives to speak at a campaign rally in New Orleans, Friday, March 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

While Trump generally exaggerates his crowd sizes, thousands routinely line up for hours to attend. There are almost always protests, and the response to them isn't always peaceful. Yet Trump supporters, some driving hours to see the former reality television star, appreciate the boisterous performance and see in it a strength they don't find in Washington leaders.

"Hell yeah, I'm voting for Trump ... that's a man right there  a man," said Joe Hash, a 57-year-old building contractor, after a raucous Monday rally at Virginia's Radford University.

In Texas last week, Arlene Smart attended her fourth Trump rally. "It's just the feeling," said Smart, 58, who said she'd be traveling the country to his events if she didn't have a construction business to run. "There's pride in America. There's a reason to believe."

Detractors see something darker.

"It's a spectacle driven by pure hate," said Michael Marmol, a 20-year-old student who was ejected from the Radford event after he yelled at Trump over his plan to construct a wall on the Mexican border.

Indeed, crowds from Nevada to New Hampshire have devoured Trump's hour-long offerings of economic populism and unrepentant nationalism, all wrapped in promises to "win, win, win" and "make you so proud of this country again."

A natural showman, Trump peppers his speeches with humorous asides, imitation and dramatic acting. In Texas last week, he threw water across the stage and then tossed the bottle behind him to mock a rival's sweat. He frequently holds events in open airplane hangars, circling in his private jet with giant gold "T-R-U-M-P" letters as thousands hold cellphones up to capture its descent as soaring music from the movie "Air Force One" plays.

The crowd anticipates applause lines like rock concert throngs.

"We're going to build a wall. And who's going to pay for the wall?" Trump shouts.

"MEXICO," they yell.

"Who's going to pay for the wall?"

"MEXICO," they thunder back.

But the atmosphere sometimes turns darker, with booming chants that can shake arenas. Young men pound their fists in anger, attendees sometimes shout racial slurs.

Police are investigating at least two alleged assaults against protesters at a recent Kentucky rally. One, captured on video, involves a young African-American woman who was repeatedly shoved and called "scum."

In recent weeks, one of Trump's biggest applause lines has been his vow to bring back waterboarding and other methods of torture. "We don't go far enough," he told a Las Vegas crowd before the Nevada caucuses, prompting thundering applause and chants of "USA! USA!"

Anti-Trump protesters have also becoming increasingly common as the election calendar has moved away from the more subdued early-voting states.

"Get 'em outta here, get 'em outta here," Trump often booms when he spots one. "Are you protesting, darling?" he asked a demonstrator at Radford. He mocked another: "He just got on television. He's happy." Sometimes, he suggests they're high on drugs.

Occasionally Trump complains police are being too gentle with protesters, bemoaning the "old days" when police didn't fear for their jobs when they roughed up citizens.

"You know what they used to do guys like that when they were in a place like this?" he asked in Las Vegas as a protester was removed. "They'd be carried out on a stretcher, folks." Amid cheers, he added, "I'd like to punch him in the face."

On Friday, Trump recalled an incident at a New Hampshire rally where a protester started "swinging and punching." Trump said some people in the audience "took him out."

"It was really amazing to watch," he told an audience in Warren, Michigan.

Later Friday in New Orleans, Trump's rally was interrupted by a near-constant stream of protesters, including many from the Black Lives Matter movement. At points, campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was spotted personally assisting police as they escorted protesters out of the building. Members of Trump's personal, private security detail were also on hand to assist.

Months ago, Trump's team began telling supporters they should not harm demonstrators. Instead, crowds are instructed before rallies to surround protesters with signs and chant "Trump! Trump! Trump!" until authorities arrive.

Some incidents have carried racial undertones. At Radford, Trump asked one protester, who appeared to be of Asian descent, "Are you from Mexico?"

Later, as black demonstrators were led out, Trump recalled Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders once yielding his microphone to Black Lives Matter protesters. "That's never gonna happen here," Trump boasted, saying the Vermont senator acted "like a little boy."

While Trump often talks about how much he likes protesters  suggesting he'll hire some because they encourage television cameras to show his crowds  his aides have, at times, become aggressive about ejecting them.

On Monday, black Valdosta State University students were escorted out of a campus event in Georgia before it began. Ameer Junious, 19, said police directed him to the back of the arena  with no explanation given  before Trump arrived. Videos shot by Junious show a person who appeared to be police officer telling him, "They asked me to have y'all moved," adding, "I can't explain that, OK?"

In a statement, Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks said the campaign "had no knowledge of the incident."

Video of a fall rally in Birmingham, Alabama, captured Trump supporters physically assaulting Mercutio Southall Jr., an African-American activist Trump ordered removed  "Get him the hell out of here, will you, please?"  after Southall shouted "black lives matter!"

Trump later said on Fox News, "Maybe he should have been roughed up."

Yet as he continues his march toward the nomination, Trump reassures his backers they have the moral high ground. "I'm not an angry person," he said at Radford. "You're not angry people." Then, pointing at demonstrators, he said, "They're angry people."

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Barrow reported from Radford, Virginia. AP writer Steve Peoples contributed to this report.

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Follow Bill Barrow and Jill Colvin on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/BillBarrowAP and http://twitter.com/colvinj

A protester chanting "Black Lives Matter" is escorted away as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, background, speaks at a campaign rally in New Orleans, Friday, March 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

FILE - In this Jan. 4, 2016, file photo Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gestures as a protester is removed from the arena during a campaign stop at the Tsongas Center in Lowell, Mass. Massive rallies are the hallmark of Trumps unusual presidential campaign, and protesters, along with Trumps reaction to them, have become a defining characteristic of the tense, sometimes racially charged affairs (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

FILE - In this Feb. 28, 2016, file photo, protesters are removed from a rally hosted by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Madison, Ala. Massive rallies are the hallmark of Trumps unusual presidential campaign, and protesters, along with Trumps reaction to them, have become a defining characteristic of the tense, sometimes racially charged affairs (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)

FILE - In this Feb. 27, 2016, file photo, a protester has his sign ripped apart by members of the crowd during a rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at Millington Regional Airport in Millington, Tenn. Massive rallies are the hallmark of Donald Trumps unusual presidential campaign, and protesters, along with Trumps reaction to them, have become a defining characteristic of the tense, sometimes racially charged affairs (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

FILE - In this Dec. 11, 2015, file photo, a protester shouts as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Des Moines, Iowa. Massive rallies are the hallmark of Donald Trumps unusual presidential campaign, and protesters, along with Trumps reaction to them, have become a defining characteristic of the tense, sometimes racially charged affairs (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 24, 2016, file photo, a protester, right, is removed after interrupting Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as he speaks at a rally at Muscatine High School in Muscatine, Iowa. Among the many ways Donald Trump has redefined presidential politics, he stands alone in modern campaigns for how he has used large, protest-ridden rallies, often bubbling with raw anger, to fuel his candidacy. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 4, 2016, file photo, police remove a protester from the arena during an address by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at a campaign stop at the Tsongas Center in Lowell, Mass. Among the many ways Donald Trump has redefined presidential politics, he stands alone in modern campaigns for how he has used large, protest-ridden rallies, often bubbling with raw anger, to fuel his candidacy. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)
Clinton urges candidates to present 'credible' economic plan

DETROIT (AP)  Hillary Clinton said Friday the nation needs a "new bargain" for the economy and called upon all the presidential candidates to offer a "credible strategy" for raising wages as her primary race against rival Bernie Sanders shifts to a series of Rust Belt contests.

Clinton's address at Detroit Manufacturing Systems, a manufacturer of instrument panels for cars, offered her the opportunity to contrast herself with both Sanders and business mogul Donald Trump, the leading Republican candidate.

"Anyone running for president owes it to you to come up with real ideas, not an ideology, not an old set of talking points but a credible strategy designed for the world we live in now," Clinton said in remarks pointed at both rivals.

Democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton speaks at the Detroit Manufacturing Systems plant, Friday, March 4, 2016, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Speaking Friday night at a rally in western Michigan, Sanders repeated his charge that Clinton has backed trade deals that have had "disastrous" consequences for workers. He has sought to diminish her standing by implying she waffled when she initially called the Trans Pacific Partnership trade as the "gold standard" as secretary of state but later opposed the deal.

"It's not just the loss of jobs that resulted from these trade agreements," Sanders said. "Right now in manufacturing plants in Michigan, many of the new jobs that are being created are paying substantially less than the older jobs because companies are saying, 'If you do not accept these low wages, we are going to move to China or Mexico.'"

In her address, Clinton called for a so-called "clawback" of tax benefits for companies that ship jobs overseas, rescinding tax relief and other incentives intended to encourage domestic investment. Revenue raised by this "clawback" would then be used to support investment in the United States.

Clinton made clear to differentiate with Republicans, saying there were "so many insults" at Thursday night's Republican debate "it was hard to keep track." She said the "biggest insult of all was to the American people" and the economy was an "afterthought" during the Republican debate.

The Republican National Committee accused Clinton of promising a "trillion-dollar tax hike" and "four more years of Obamanomics."

The Democrats' focus on manufacturing jobs and trade policy is forming the backdrop for Michigan's primary and contests on March 15 in Ohio, Illinois and Missouri amid global economic weakness.

President Barack Obama's decision to rescue the U.S. automakers still reverberates through the nation's manufacturing belt, but many communities have struggled with the shift of factory jobs to Mexico and Asia.

Trailing Clinton in the chase for delegates, Sanders has ratcheted up his criticism of her past support for trade deals, including the North American Free Trade Agreement and normalizing trade relations with China. Both were signed by President Bill Clinton while she was first lady.

Including superdelegates, Clinton now leads Sanders 1,066 to 432, according to the latest Associated Press delegate count. It takes 2,383 delegates to win.

Clinton said on trade the next president would need "judgment and experience" and she would not support any deal unless it creates good jobs, raises wages and protects the nation's security.

She also sought to undercut Sanders' credentials on the economy, accusing the senator of failing to produce a detailed plan to promote manufacturing and pointed to his past opposition to the federal Export-Import Bank, which makes and guarantees loans to help foreign customers buy U.S. goods.

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Associated Press writer David Eggert in Allendale, Michigan, contributed to this report.

Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., greets his supporters as he arrives at Grand Valley State University Field House Arena, Friday, March 4, 2016, in Allendale, Mich. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at the Detroit Manufacturing Systems plant, Friday, March 4, 2016, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at the Detroit Manufacturing Systems plant, Friday, March 4, 2016, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
Grizzly hunts loom as US seeks to end protections

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP)  Grizzlies could be hunted across parts of three states under a proposal by the Obama administration to lift federal protections for the animals that were first imposed more than forty years ago.

The administration on Thursday declared the Yellowstone-area population of grizzlies has recovered from near-extermination, in what U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe called "a triumph for partner-driven conservation."

Most grizzlies in the American West were killed by trapping and hunting in the late 1800s. Their low reproductive rate has made them slow to rebound.

FILE - This July 6, 2011 file photo shows a grizzly bear roaming near Beaver Lake in Yellowstone National Park, Wyo. Federal officials will propose on Thursday, March 3, 2016, to lift Endangered Species Act protections for grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park, opening the door to state-sponsored hunting of the animals following their decades-long recovery from widespread extermination.(AP Photo/Jim Urquhart, File)

Revoking the feared predator's threatened status would return jurisdiction over the species to state wildlife managers in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. Hunting within Yellowstone National Park would still be prohibited.

Grizzlies once roamed much of North America and came to symbolize the continent's untamed wilderness. They now occupy only about 2 percent of their original range across the Lower 48 states, according to government officials and wildlife advocates.

Thursday's announcement came as conflicts between humans and grizzly bears have been on the rise, including six people fatally mauled since 2010. A record 59 bears were killed by humans last year, often by wildlife managers following attacks on livestock.

That's resulted in pressure to turn over management of the animals to states, in part so hunting can be used to control the population. But wildlife advocates declared the government's announcement premature and warned that it could reverse the species' gains.

"It's simply too soon to remove protections for grizzly bears," said Andrea Santarsiere, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. She said the administration was taking a "narrow view of grizzly bear recovery" that ignores the Yellowstone population's isolation.

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock said the bear population would be responsibly managed by state wildlife officials. If a public hunt for the animals is pursued, the Democrat said, it could be done in a way that avoids killing bears that live on the periphery of Yellowstone.

"Yellowstone wildlife is treasured. We understand that. We'll manage them in a way that addresses that sensitivity," Bullock told The Associated Press.

A final decision on the proposal is due within a year. It could come sooner if state wildlife commissioners act quickly to adopt rules on how much hunting is allowed. Those rules are not mandatory under the federal proposal.

The federal government has spent roughly $20 million to $30 million on grizzly recovery efforts in the Yellowstone area, according to Fish and Wildlife Service spokeswoman Serena Baker.

Protections would remain in place for about 1,000 bears in and around Glacier National Park and smaller populations elsewhere in Montana, Idaho and Washington state. Grizzlies are not protected in Alaska, where hunting has long been allowed.

Since grizzlies in the Lower 48 were added to the endangered and threatened species list in 1975, the number in the Yellowstone region increased from 136 animals to an estimated 700 to 1,000 today, according to government researchers.

Yet after years of growth, the grizzly population plateaued in recent years.

Dozens of American Indian tribes that view the grizzly as sacred also oppose ending federal protections.

Formal consultations between the tribes and the Interior Department are ongoing, although Ashe said the issue is unlikely to be resolved.

Federal and state officials said limits on how many bears can be killed will safeguard against a collapse in the bear population.

If bear numbers drop below 600, intentional killings through hunting and the removal of bears that attack livestock would be prohibited. Exceptions would be made for bears that threaten public safety. More hunting would be allowed when bear numbers increase.

Grizzly numbers rebounded despite declines in some of their key food sources, including cutthroat trout and the nuts of whitebark pine, a high-elevation tree devastated by bark beetles and an invasive fungus.

Environmentalists argue that those declines are good reasons to keep protecting the region's grizzlies.

The last legal hunts for Yellowstone-area bears happened in the 1970s. The animals were taken off the threatened species list in 2007, but that move was struck down and protections were restored two years later after environmental groups challenged the government in court.

Subsequent government-sponsored studies have shown grizzlies are able to adapt easily to different types of food.

___

Associated Press Writer Mead Gruver in Cheyenne, Wyoming, contributed to this report.

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Follow Matthew Brown on Twitter at https://twitter.com/matthewbrownap .
Chinese propaganda machine places hopes in cartoon rappers

BEIJING (AP)  What's the world's largest propaganda organ to do when it finds itself struggling to get TV drama-obsessed young Chinese to pay attention to the latest raft of Communist Party slogans?

Standing over a video-editing computer on the third floor of the Xinhua News Agency headquarters, Li Keyong is convinced the answer lies in a cartoon character rapping while performing the 1990s dance move known as "raising the roof."

"Look at how we got this bald fat guy and a tiny cute girl singing together," said Li, a deputy director of Xinhua's All-Media Service, as he watched two animated characters promoting President Xi Jinping's "Four Comprehensives" political doctrine with a mix of high-tempo rap and choir singing in what might be called a neo-Communist hip-hopera.

In this Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016 photo, Li Keyong, right, a deputy director of Xinhua All-Media Service, gestures while standing next to a video editor reviewing an animated political cartoon at the Xinhua All-Media Service in the newsroom of China's official Xinhua News Agency in Beijing. Carrying echoes of the party-promulgated Red Songs that drowned out folk music 50 years ago, the catchy mix of click-baiting animation and old-fashioned propaganda is a reminder that, for all its ambitions of becoming a savvy, media industry leader with global appeal, Xinhuas core mission is to serve as the partys mouthpiece, something Chinese President Xi Jinping reinforced last month in a politically charged newsroom visit. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

"We thought, 'With such an abstract political theme, it's difficult for young people to accept," Li said. "Young people want fun, they want joy."

The fun and joy that Xinhua is searching for reflects a quandary facing China's leadership: As Xi navigates a difficult phase of his administration, his messaging machine  for decades one of the Communist Party's most crucial levers of power  has been struggling to make itself heard.

Carrying echoes of the party-promulgated "Red Songs" that drowned out folk music 50 years ago, the mix of click-baiting animation and old-fashioned propaganda is a reminder that, for all its ambitions of becoming a savvy, media industry leader with global appeal, Xinhua's core mission is to serve as the party's mouthpiece, something Xi reinforced last month in a politically charged newsroom visit.

During a recent office tour by The Associated Press, Xinhua officials spoke about their challenges and argued that it's their delivery, not the party's message, that needs a refresh at a time when Chinese youth are glued to their smartphones watching streaming dramas and game shows.

"We used to be number one, the biggest," said Qian Tong, a former diplomatic reporter who, like Li, is a deputy director of Xinhua's All-Media Service, a new newsroom division formed in 2014 to organize the agency's efforts penetrating the online market and manage social media. The Associated Press interviews with Li and Qian were the first with a foreign media outlet about the division's work.

"If you wanted to read anything, you opened a newspaper, and you read us."

Like news agencies in the West, Qian said, Xinhua was squeezed by digital rivals. "Our social status isn't guaranteed anymore," he said. "The question is: 'Can we change fast enough?'"

It's something the top leadership has been aware of. Immediately upon assuming power in 2012, Xi instructed a top-level committee to find new "innovative ways" of promoting propaganda on the Internet. In a communique published in January, Xinhua reported that government bodies at all levels has been investigating and improving the use of influential social media accounts and new media channels as "critical channels that connect the party to the masses."

Xi's efforts to shore up official media were prominently broadcast last month when he toured the three major state outlets  Xinhua, China Central Television and the People's Daily newspaper  and urged its journalists to ramp up their coverage of positive news, pledge complete loyalty and to "love the party, protect the party and act for the party."

The tour became a flashpoint in online discussions. This week, Internet censors deleted the account of a prominent government critic after he said state media funded with taxpayer money should serve the country as a whole, not the ruling party.

Fu King-wa, a media professor at Hong Kong University, said the Xi administration tactic of promoting ideology with a irreverent touch mirrors how state media has used a "more down-to-earth image to try to humanize Xi Jinping himself" even as he simultaneously wages an intense battle against dissent within the party and clamps down on numerous aspects of civil society.

Ying Zhu, a Chinese media expert at the College of Staten Island-CUNY and the author of "Two Billion Eyes, the Story of China Central Television," said that while Xinhua was "clever" to turn to pop culture, it was too late.

"People have long tuned out," she said. "This is an old political campaign with a modern PR twist."

The All-Media Service occupies a gleaming, remodeled area in Xinhua's Beijing newsroom. Its more than 20 employees manage concerns like Xinhua's recently launched mobile app and the agency's accounts on microblogging platform Weibo and messaging app Weixin, as well as what executives have identified as three key global platforms: Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, all of which are walled off from ordinary Chinese by Internet censors.

In a modern twist on one of Xinhua's historic functions as a gatherer of domestic and foreign intelligence, which it compiles into briefings for internal party consumption, the digital center also monitors public sentiment on Chinese and international social media using analytical software.

On a recent morning shortly after Xi's visit, Li introduced employees mostly in their 20s and plucked from across text, photo and Web departments. One bearded graphic artist worked in Photoshop on the agency's yet-to-be-unveiled mascot, which vaguely resembled a slimmed-down blue Teletubby clutching a microphone.

"Xinhua has a cute side too," Li said. "This gives us a sense of affinity, as if we're close to the people."

On Friday, the All-Media Service debuted an animation explaining China's annual meeting of the nominal parliament, the National People's Congress, which opens Saturday. Dotted with colorful flowers and springtime themes, the three-minute spot aims to show how this political season is aimed at boosting discussion and participation in policy-making.

It also plans to roll out four additional animations in nine languages in the coming days, and will try to experiment with virtual reality broadcasts.

So far, top Xinhua officials are convinced they struck gold with the videos, Li said. He said his biggest hit, with lyrics like "Repeat after me: four comprehensives, four comprehensives, party-building is the key" has attracted 70 million views and appeared on thousands of online accounts.

Xi himself watched precisely 40 seconds of it during his visit. Li counted.

The video has drawn a deluge of responses  not all positive, Li acknowledged. On Xinhua's Weibo account, many found the video catchy while others complained that too much propaganda material had been forced into state media during the Lunar New Year period.

One user suggested the lyricist who came up with the line "four, four, four, four, four comprehensives" had obsessive-compulsive disorder, and a propaganda official from China's Inner Mongolia region offered dubious praise, calling the song "bewitching and brainwashing."

What pleased him most, Li said, was that final sentiment, when commenters say they could not get the song out of their heads, or that they sometimes found themselves involuntarily humming it.

"This," he said, "is what we call all-media."

_____

Video journalist Annie Ho in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

In this Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016 photo, staffers work at the Xinhua All-Media Service to produce animated political cartoons in the newsroom of China's official Xinhua News Agency in Beijing. Carrying echoes of the party-promulgated Red Songs that drowned out folk music 50 years ago, the catchy mix of click-baiting animation and old-fashioned propaganda is a reminder that, for all its ambitions of becoming a savvy, media industry leader with global appeal, Xinhuas core mission is to serve as the partys mouthpiece, something Chinese President Xi Jinping reinforced last month in a politically charged newsroom visit. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

In this Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016 photo, a video editor reviews an animated political cartoon while working at the Xinhua All-Media Service in the newsroom of China's official Xinhua News Agency in Beijing. Carrying echoes of the party-promulgated Red Songs that drowned out folk music 50 years ago, the catchy mix of click-baiting animation and old-fashioned propaganda is a reminder that, for all its ambitions of becoming a savvy, media industry leader with global appeal, Xinhuas core mission is to serve as the partys mouthpiece, something Chinese President Xi Jinping reinforced last month in a politically charged newsroom visit. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

In this Wednesday, March 2, 2016 photo, an elderly Chinese woman in an electric wheelchair past by a traditional government propaganda with the Chinese words " Freedom, Equality, Fairness, Rule by Law" on the outskirts of Beijing. As Chinese President Xi Jinping navigates a difficult phase of his administration, his messaging machine _ for decades one of the Communist Partys most crucial levers of power _ has been struggling to make itself heard.(AP Photo/Andy Wong)

In this Wednesday, March 2, 2016 photo, Chinese women walk past traditional propaganda in the form of a mural promoting values aligned with the Chinese communist party on the outskirts of Beijing. As Chinese President Xi Jinping navigates a difficult phase of his administration, his messaging machine, for decades one of the Communist Partys most crucial levers of power, has been struggling to make itself heard.(AP Photo/Andy Wong)

In this Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016 photo, staffers work at the Xinhua All-Media Service to produce animated political cartoons in the newsroom of China's official Xinhua News Agency in Beijing. Carrying echoes of the party-promulgated Red Songs that drowned out folk music 50 years ago, the catchy mix of click-baiting animation and old-fashioned propaganda is a reminder that, for all its ambitions of becoming a savvy, media industry leader with global appeal, Xinhuas core mission is to serve as the partys mouthpiece, something Chinese President Xi Jinping reinforced last month in a politically charged newsroom visit. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Slovakia's ruling party makes migrants a hot election issue

PRAGUE (AP)  The question in Slovakia's parliamentary election on Saturday is not which party will win  but how big that margin of victory will be.

Prime Minister Robert Fico's ruling leftist Smer-Social Democracy party is a clear favorite but some feel Fico may have misjudged the public mood by focusing too much on Europe's migration crisis and not enough on Slovakia's own issues.

In the 2012 vote, Smer won a landslide, taking 44.4 percent of the vote, or 83 seats in the 150-seat Parliament. That allowed the party to govern alone in this nation of 5.4 million people, the first time one party has held sole power in Slovakia since the 1993 split of Czechoslovakia.

FILE - In this June 27, 2014 file photo Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico arrives for an EU summit in Brussels. Prime Minister Robert Ficos ruling leftist Smer-Social Democracy party is a clear favorite in Saturday's, March 5, 2016, election but some feel Fico may have misjudged the public mood by focusing too much on Europes migration crisis and not enough on Slovakias own issues. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Fico favors a strong state role in the economy, has been critical of Western sanctions against Russia and is known for strong anti-Muslim rhetoric. Slovakia has not been part of the route that hundreds of thousands of refugees are using to reach Western Europe  but Fico has made it the central tenet of his campaign.

"We protect Slovakia," is the Smer slogan, splashed on giant billboards across the country.

Together with his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban, Fico is a vocal opponent of a compulsory EU plan to redistribute refugees in member states and is suing the EU over it.

Fico claims there is a "clear link" between the waves of refugees, the deadly Islamic extremist attacks in Paris and the New Year's Eve sexual assaults in Germany. He said the attacks prove "the migrants cannot be integrated."

Last fall, his anti-migrant message seemed to be a sure bet, with Fico's popularity surging. But his campaign has been losing steam since because many Slovaks feel the migrant issue is not a major one for them, according to major polling agencies.

A recent teachers strike over low pay, nurses quitting hospitals en masse and corruption scandals in the health care system have overshadowed the migrant crisis, said Martin Slosiarik, director of the Focus polling agency.

"Fico has underestimated the domestic topics," he said.

Polls still indicate Fico's party will get well above 30 percent of the vote, but that may mean he needs at least one coalition partner to govern. That could be the ultra-Nationalist Slovak National Party, which hopes to return to Parliament after a four-year-absence.

The vote is still a tough challenge for the center-right opposition.

The Slovak export-oriented economy has been among the fastest growing in Europe, the overall debt is among the lowest and the unemployment rate is falling. Fico managed to attract Jaguar Land Rover to build a $1.7 billion plant last year to create up to 4,000 new jobs.

Fico has made other populist moves, such as giving free train tickets to retirees and students and having lower value-added tax on basic food items.

Five other parties, including a party of ethnic Hungarians, have a chance to win parliamentary seats in Saturday's election. The Net party established by Radoslav Prochazka, a conservative lawmaker who went to Yale Law School, is the only of them expected to win more than 10 percent.

But if Fico's victory is not big enough, the five parties could possibly put together a majority and send Fico into the opposition.

"In this respect, (the race) remains wide open," said Slosiarik.

FILE - in This March 2, 2016 file photo Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico, second right, visits Slovakian police officers deployed in Macedonia near the southern Macedonian town of Gevgelija. Prime Minister Robert Ficos ruling leftist Smer-Social Democracy party is a clear favorite in Saturday's, March 5, 2016, election but some feel Fico may have misjudged the public mood by focusing too much on Europes migration crisis and not enough on Slovakias own issues. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu, file)
N. Korea, on defensive after sanctions, makes nuclear threat

SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his military to be ready to launch nuclear strikes at any time, state media reported Friday, an escalation in rhetoric targeting Seoul and Washington that may not reflect the country's actual nuclear capacity.

The threats are part of the authoritarian government's ramped-up propaganda push to signal strength at home and abroad in the face of what it portrays as an effort by South Korea and the United States to overthrow its leadership.

In North Korea's first official response to the U.N.'s recent adoption of harsh sanctions over its recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch, the North also warned Friday it will bolster its nuclear arsenal and make unspecified "strong and merciless physical" measures. A government statement called the U.N. sanctions the "most heinous international criminal act" aimed at isolating and stifling the country.

People walk by a TV news program showing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, March 4, 2016. Kim ordered his military on standby for nuclear strikes at any time, state media reported Friday, an escalation in rhetoric targeting rivals Seoul and Washington that may not yet reflect the country's actual nuclear capacity. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

"The only way for defending the sovereignty of our nation and its right to existence under the present extreme situation is to bolster up nuclear force both in quality and quantity," the North's official Korean Central News Agency said, paraphrasing Kim. It said Kim stressed "the need to get the nuclear warheads deployed for national defense always on standby so as to be fired any moment."

North Korea has threatened nuclear war in the past, but it is unclear just how advanced the country's nuclear program really is. It is thought to have a handful of crude atomic bombs, but there is considerable outside debate about the state of its arsenal.

Most experts say it's highly unlikely that North Korea currently has a reliable intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching U.S. shores, let alone the ability to arm it with a miniaturized nuclear warhead. But North Korea can probably place nuclear warheads on its shorter-range Scuds and its 1,300-kilometer-range Rodong missiles, which can strike targets in South Korea and Japan, said Lee Choon Geun, an analyst from South Korea's state-funded Science and Technology Policy Institute. Other analysts, however, question this.

Kim issued the nuclear threat while guiding the test-firing of a new large-caliber multiple launch rocket system, in a likely reference to six short-range projectiles that Seoul says North Korea fired on Thursday.

South Korea's Defense Ministry said the projectiles, fired from the eastern coastal town of Wonsan, flew about 100 to 150 kilometers (60 to 90 miles) and landed in the sea. Ministry officials said they couldn't confirm whether they were fired by the weapons system referred to by the North Korean news agency. The report did not say when the test-firing occurred.

Thursday's firings were seen as a "low-level" response to the U.N. sanctions, with North Korea unlikely to launch any major provocation until its landmark ruling Workers' Party convention in May, according to Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

The U.N. Security Council sanctions, the toughest of their kind in two decades, include mandatory inspections of cargo leaving and entering North Korea by land, sea or air; a ban on all sales or transfers of small arms and light weapons to the North; and the expulsion of North Korean diplomats who engage in "illicit activities."

The North Korean statement described the sanctions as "nothing new" and "not that surprising." Citizens of the capital, Pyongyang, interviewed by The Associated Press on Thursday said they believe their country can fight off any sanctions, in a reflection of official propaganda.

Recent commercial satellite imagery indicates new activity, possibly preparations for a rocket engine test, at a launch site where North Korea fired a long-range rocket on Feb. 6, according to an analysis by the North Korea-focused 38 North website.

In another development that will anger North Korea, South Korean and U.S. officials began formal talks Friday on deploying a sophisticated U.S. missile defense system in South Korea.

The deployment of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, is opposed by North Korea, China and Russia. Opponents say the system could help U.S. radar spot missiles in other countries as well.

The U.S. and South Korea are to kick off large war games next week that North Korea says are preparations for an invasion. South Korea is also taking a much harder line meant to squeeze North Korea's government.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye said Thursday she will cooperate with the international community in trying to end North Korean "tyranny that suppresses the freedom and human rights" of its own people. She recently warned of North Korea's future collapse, and South Korea's National Assembly passed a human rights bill that criticizes the North Korean government's abysmal treatment of its citizens.

In January, North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test, which it claimed was a hydrogen bomb. Last month, it put a satellite into orbit with a long-range rocket that the United Nations and others saw as a cover for a test of banned ballistic missile technology.

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Associated Press writer Kim Tong-hyung contributed to this report.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye, left in foreground, cheers new military officers during a military commissioning ceremony at Gyeryongdae, South Korea's main military compound, in Gyeryong, South Korea, Friday, March 4, 2016. (Chung Sung-Jun/Pool Photo via AP)

South Korean President Park Geun-hye delivers a speech during a military commissioning ceremony at Gyeryongdae, South Korea's main military compound, in Gyeryong, South Korea, Friday, March 4, 2016. (Chung Sung-Jun/Pool Photo via AP)
2 Syrians receive 4 years prison over Aylan Kurdi's death

ANKARA, Turkey (AP)  A Turkish court on Friday sentenced two Syrian smugglers to four years and two months each in prison over the deaths of 5 people including 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi, who galvanized world attention on the refugee crisis when a photo was published of him lying lifeless on a beach.

The court in the Aegean resort of Bodrum convicted the two of human trafficking but acquitted them of the charge of causing the drowning deaths through deliberate negligence, the agency said.

The image of the Syrian boy's body, face down on a Turkish beach, graphically illustrated the magnitude of the migrants' suffering.

FILE - In this September 2, 2015 file photo, a paramilitary police officer investigates the scene before carrying the lifeless body of 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi from the sea shore, near the beach resort of Bodrum, Turkey. Turkey's state-run news agency said Friday March 4, 2016 a court has sentenced two Syrian smugglers to four years and two months each in prison over the death of 3-year-old migrant boy Aylan Kurdi and four other people. (AP Photo/Nilufer Demir, DHA, File) TURKEY OUT

Aylan's brother, Galip, and mother, Rihan, were also among the five victims who drowned when their boat went down in the ill-fated journey from Bodrum to the Greek island of Kos last year. While Turkish authorities have given the boy's first name as Aylan, his aunt says the family prefers that it be transliterated as Alan.

Trials in Turkey usually take months  even years  to conclude, but the verdict, which came at the end of the third hearing just a month after the trial opened, appeared to be an effort by the country to show that it is cracking down on human traffickers, just before Monday's summit between Turkey and the European Union to discuss the migrant crisis.

Turkey is under pressure to reduce the tide of migrants to Europe and to combat the smuggling rings since it reached a deal with the EU in November. Under the deal, Turkey is scheduled to receive a 3 billion-euro ($3.26 billion) fund to help the country deal with Syrian refugees.

The defendants, Syrian nationals Muwafaka Alabash and Asem Alfrhad, had denied any responsibility in the migrants' deaths. Instead, they blamed Aylan's father, Abdullah Kurdi, for the deaths  accusing him of organizing the trip.

The court initially sentenced them to five years in prison each, but then reduced the term to four years and two months due to the defendants' good behavior during the trial and other legal reductions. The pair can appeal their conviction.

Alabash's lawyer, Kemal Ertugrul, criticized the verdict saying Abdullah Kurdi and others had not been punished.

"Those really responsible are not being penalized," Ertugrul told reporters outside the courthouse.

Tima Kurdi, the aunt of the boy, said from Canada that she takes little comfort from the prison sentences.

"It's not about how many years they give them, even if they give them 35 years, this is not going to stop the smugglers," she said, speaking in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia. "To me the only way to stop them is political action. That's the only way we'll stop this operation."

The aunt added that Abdullah, the father, is not interested in coming to Canada and that her family continues to mourn the loss of three relatives.

"The family, the whole family, is gone," Kurdi said. "Our pain is still hurtful, every single day. There is nothing in the world (that) will bring them back."

The Kurdi family was among hundreds of thousands who risked the journey to Greece in the hope of then heading to wealthier nations in northern and western Europe. After the deaths of his family, Abdullah Kurdi returned to Syria.

The International Organization for Migration says at least 418 migrants have died this year alone while trying to cross into Greece or Italy.
Flipping the script: Could peace talks help defuse N. Korea?

TOKYO (AP)  The new U.N. sanctions on North Korea are out and they are going to pinch Pyongyang hard. But they also beg a big question  since sanctions thus far have failed to persuade North Korea to roll over and give up its nukes, are more, but tougher, ones really the most effective way to bring the North out of its hardened Cold War bunker?

Is it time to flip the script?

China, a key broker in the North Korea denuclearization puzzle, thinks so. It wants the U.S. and North Korea to sit down for peace talks to formally end the Korean War. That idea has always been a non-starter in Washington, which insists the North must give up its nuclear ambitions first, but some U.S. experts also think it might be a viable path forward.

FILE - In this Wednesday, March 2, 2016, file photo, the United Nations Security Council votes on a resolution that would impose the toughest sanctions on North Korea in two decades, during a meeting at U.N. headquarters. After the Norths Jan. 6 nuclear test, Beijing joined the U.S. in imposing tougher sanctions that were approved unanimously Wednesday by the U.N. Security Council. But it insisted sanctions alone will never solve the nuclear issue. Instead, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi suggested a parallel track approach that separates nuclear talks from negotiations to replace the more-than-60-year-old Korean War armistice with a peace agreement. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

For sure, advocates of sitting down with a nuclear-armed North Korea are the minority camp in the United States. And even those who do support the idea generally agree sanctions can be a useful tool in pushing negotiations forward, if there is a coherent and internationally coordinated follow-up plan on where those negotiations should go.

But sanctions can also backfire, pushing an insecure and threatened regime into a more defiant, and potentially more dangerous, direction.

Pyongyang gave a hint at that possibility Friday in its first official response to the sanctions, saying the measures were an "outrageous provocation" that it "categorically rejects." North Korea threatened to carry out countermeasures against the U.S. and other countries that supported the sanctions.

While such threats usually amount to nothing, the U.N.'s efforts to change the North's behavior through sanctions haven't amounted to much, either.

"Sanctions have sort of become the default strategy for not having a strategy," said Joel Wit, of the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

"If you don't have a strategy, you don't have objectives, you don't know how to deal with a problem, you press that button," said Wit, who in the 1990s was a U.S. State Department official deeply involved in North Korea negotiations. "You press the sanctions button and pretend that's a strategy. But it really isn't, in and of itself. It's part of a strategy."

U.N. sanctions have long been the main tool to put international pressure on North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program. They were imposed after its first nuclear test in 2006, then in 2009, 2012 and 2013. But the North has refused to give up its nukes, made them a central part of its military and diplomatic strategies and enshrined its right to have them in its constitution.

In the end, 50 days after the North's Jan. 6 nuclear test, Beijing joined the U.S. in imposing tougher sanctions that were approved unanimously Wednesday by the U.N. Security Council. But it insisted sanctions alone will never solve the nuclear issue. Instead, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi suggested a "parallel track" approach that separates nuclear talks from negotiations to replace the more-than-60-year-old Korean War armistice with a peace agreement.

"What the Chinese are saying is, what's your strategy, what are your objectives? OK, sanctions, great. But what are you trying to achieve?" Wit said. "As a general rule, the U.S. really hasn't had a strategy."

Wit said an initial step could be to work out a declaration that the Korean War is over and begin a negotiation process toward a more formal peace arrangement, which could involve suspending or halting annual military exercises with South Korea, establishing borders, getting rid of the Demilitarized Zone and cross-recognition, along with the nuclear issue.

In exchange, the North would have to agree to suspend the things Washington doesn't want it to do  like nuclear tests and missile or rocket launches.

"It would get complicated, no doubt about it," Wit said.

Washington's longstanding demand has been the North must either give up its nuclear program or verifiably demonstrate it is willing to do so before any serious peace talks can start. Pyongyang wants talks first since it says the threat of a U.S. invasion is what forced it to develop a nuclear deterrent to begin with.

Wang's suggestion was for both sides to "meet each other halfway."

The U.S. has recently indicated a little more flexibility on the idea of a "parallel track" in negotiations. The White House said last week that before the latest nuclear test, North Korea sought to discuss a peace treaty with the U.S. but got cold feet after the U.S. insisted denuclearization be part of the discussions.

"I don't think we're in a position to rule out possible discussions on a peace process. But we're not going to decouple that in any way from what really needs to happen, which is complete denuclearization and adherence to the six-party process," State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters Thursday.

David Straub, associate director of the Korea Program at Stanford University's Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, said that given North Korea's past record in negotiations and its current position never to give up nuclear weapons, "it would not make sense to begin parallel nuclear and peace treaty talks."

"There is no support for such an approach in Washington," he said.

Straub noted the U.S. and South Korea, along with China, tried to negotiate a peace treaty with North Korea in now mostly forgotten four-party talks from 1996 to 1998. Another attempt to negotiate through the denuclearization issue and discuss a permanent peace mechanism was made in six-party talks that added on Japan and Russia and were held intermittently from 2003-2009.

"China is well aware of this history of peace treaty talks with North Korea," he said. "But China wishes to deflect international, especially U.S., criticism that it is not doing enough to induce Pyongyang to give up nuclear weapons." China is by far North Korea's biggest trading partner.

Although Afghanistan is generally placed atop the lists of America's longest wars, the Korean War, which began in 1950, is technically still going on. The armistice  in effect, a cease-fire  ended the fighting in 1953.

That may seem like semantics to some. American troops haven't died in a direct, hand-to-hand confrontation with North Koreans since two Army officers were killed in the "Ax Murder" incident along the DMZ in 1976. But it has had a tremendous impact on North Korea's siege mentality, been used to justify its martial law-like restrictions on political and civil freedoms and significantly warped regional security in general.

With few good options and other priority foreign policy issues on its plate, Washington under President Barack Obama has exercised "strategic patience"  essentially refusing direct talks while keeping the sanctions pressure high and bolstering relations with U.S. allies in the region.

Zhiqun Zhu, director of the China Institute at Bucknell University, said that policy has clearly failed  North Korea hasn't moved any closer to denuclearization  and underscores the fundamental problem in Northeast Asian security, which he said isn't North Korea but "distrust between the United States and China."

He called Washington's policy an attempt to "outsource" the heavy lifting on denuclearization to Beijing, which he said no longer sees itself as an ally of Pyongyang and has significant doubts about Washington's intentions as well.

"How can one say that the U.S. policy has not failed?" he said. "Some in Washington may oppose direct talks with Pyongyang  how can we reward bad behavior?  but how can you expect North Korea to simply give up the nuclear program without receiving any tangible benefits in return?"

___

AP writer Matthew Pennington contributed to this report from Washington.

___

Eric Talmadge is the AP's Pyongyang bureau chief. Follow him on Instagram at erictalmadge. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/eric-talmadge

FILE - In this Wednesday, March 2, 2016, file photo, Chinese ambassador to the United Nations Liu Jieyi, right, talks with United States ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power before a Security Council meeting at United Nations headquarters. The U.N. Security Council voted Wednesday on a resolution that would impose the toughest sanctions on North Korea in two decades. After the Norths Jan. 6 nuclear test, Beijing joined the U.S. in imposing tougher sanctions that were approved unanimously Wednesday by the U.N. Security Council. But it insisted sanctions alone will never solve the nuclear issue. Instead, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi suggested a parallel track approach that separates nuclear talks from negotiations to replace the more-than-60-year-old Korean War armistice with a peace agreement. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

FILE - In this Wednesday, March 2, 2016, file photo, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power votes on a resolution during a Security Council meeting at U.N. headquarters. The U.N. Security Council voted Wednesday on a resolution that would impose the toughest sanctions on North Korea in two decades. The U.N. Security Council voted Wednesday on a resolution that would impose the toughest sanctions on North Korea in two decades. After the Norths Jan. 6 nuclear test, Beijing joined the U.S. in imposing tougher sanctions that were approved unanimously Wednesday by the U.N. Security Council. But it insisted sanctions alone will never solve the nuclear issue. Instead, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi suggested a parallel track approach that separates nuclear talks from negotiations to replace the more-than-60-year-old Korean War armistice with a peace agreement. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
The Latest: Greece seeks 'major' border patrol boost

PARIS (AP)  The Latest on the flow of refugees and other migrants into Europe (all times local):

9:30 p.m.

Greece says it will seek a "major enhancement" of international assistance to patrol its sea border with Turkey during a highly anticipated European leaders' summit next week on the migration crisis.

A boy walks past tents after a rainfall while waiting to be allowed to cross the border into Macedonia in the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Friday, March 4, 2016. More than 10,000 mostly Syrian and Iraqi refugees were stuck at the country's Idomeni border as Greek officials said that nearly 32,000 migrants were stranded in the country after drastically reduce of number of transiting migrants. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

In a statement signed by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the leaders of three opposition parties, the government said it would also press for faster implementation of relocation plans for asylum seekers across European Union countries.

In the note, the leaders said Greece is "seeking not only to cooperate with (the EU border protection agency) Frontex" but also seeking its "major enhancement toward its transformation into the European Coast Guard."

Tsipras met with opposition party leaders for several hours Friday, but failed to reach a broader agreement, as the conservative leader argued Greece needed to create more detention centers for migrants instead of open camps.

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3:35 p.m.

A Serbian court has sentenced a human trafficker to four and a half years in prison for smuggling some 200 migrants over the border from Macedonia last year.

The Organized Crime Court ruled Friday that Rade Sivcev was guilty of "illegal crossing of the state border and human smuggling" between August to December last year. The migrants included Palestinians, Syrians and Pakistanis who sought to reach Hungary, which is a member of the 28-country European Union. Serbia is not.

Human smuggling has flourished in Serbia since the country became part of the so-called Balkan migrant corridor for hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Migrants are often transported in overcrowded vans or crammed in cargo trucks. Many get robbed or double-crossed by ruthless smugglers.

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3:30 p.m.

Hungary's prime minister says the European Union should not give up its power to "exclusively" protect its external borders even if an agreement is reached with Turkey next week on stemming the flow of migrants into the region.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Friday that "zero immigration is optimal" for Hungary, which has filed a lawsuit at the European Court of Justice against the quota plan to redistribute migrants from Italy and Greece.

Orban spoke after a meeting with Horst Seehofer, head of the Christian Social Union, the smallest party in Germany's governing coalition, and one of the most prominent domestic critics of Chancellor Angela Merkel's policies on migrants.

While Seehofer said he supported Orban's position of tightening national border controls as long as so many migrants were at the EU's external borders, both leaders said their meeting was not an effort to weaken Merkel or her government.

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3:05 p.m.

A Slovenian archaeologist says three statuettes dating back nearly 5,000 years from the Sumerian civilization and found in a refugee camp last year have been temporarily placed in the care of the country's national museum.

Curator Peter Turk said Friday that the Oscar-sized alabaster statuettes date back to the Sumerian civilization which inhabited present-day Syria and Iraq.

He says "if a museum from Syria or Iraq report they own the statuettes, they will be returned."

The statuettes were found last November in a transit migrant camp that has hosted hundreds of thousands of Syrian and Iraqi refugees.

Turk says the statuettes, depicting two males and a female goddess, have their hands clasped in prayer, suggesting they had been originally placed in a sanctuary to impersonate their owners in prayer.

Turk says he has no doubt about the authenticity.

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2:40 p.m.

Sweden's prime minister says the European Union must get on top of the influx of refugees or it could put EU cooperation "at risk."

Stefan Lofven says member states in Europe's passport-free Schengen area must work together and "secure their borders" or face consequences. Sweden temporarily reintroduced ID checks at its border on Jan. 4.

Lofven described a meeting of the Swedish parliament's EU committee on Friday that the current situation whereby hundreds of thousands of people are entering Europe as "a humanitarian disaster."

Sweden has accepted the highest number of migrants per capita in Europe.

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2:25 p.m.

Croatia's government has proposed to Parliament to amend a law that would allow the army to be deployed to the country's borders to tackle the migration crisis.

Croatia's Prime Minister Tihomir Oreskovic said Friday the measure would not mean that the army would be deployed "tomorrow, but would leave the possibility open."

He says Croatia's neighbor Slovenia has already deployed its army to the border, while Serbia is considering the option.

The Balkan countries and Austria have recently introduced tight restrictions to stem the flow of migrants. That has resulted in thousands of refugees and other migrants being stranded in Greece on the border with Macedonia.

According to the proposed amendment, Croatia's army would help the police in patrolling the borders.

Opposition parties denounced the government's plans, saying the deployment of the army would raise tensions among Balkan countries that are still reeling from the wars in the 1990s.

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1:30 p.m.

The European Union has kicked off the distribution of the promised 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) in aid for refugees in Turkey, formally pledging 95 million euros for educational and food assistance.

Days ahead of Monday's EU summit with Turkey, the European Commission said it has pledged 55 million euros ($60 million) to give Syrian children fleeing violence proper schooling in refugee camps. The Commission said the funds would help put 110,000 Syrian children in school.

The Commission said that an additional 40 million euros ($44 million) will be provided through the World Food Program to seek to help feed some 735,000 Syrian refugees.

The EU aid plan aims to provide 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) in aid over the next two years to refugees who are now sheltered in Turkey.

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1:15 p.m.

The German government says it has offered to help Greece cope with migrants camped at its borders but points out Athens hasn't yet requested assistance.

A spokesman for the Interior Ministry says Germany's disaster response agency THW stands ready to assist with water preparation and provide technical and logistical support for camp construction.

Asked by reporters in Berlin on Friday why Germany had so far only provided limited assistance to Greece, spokesman Johannes Dimroth said that "it's not the case that we're not prepared to help."

He added that "on the contrary the available services and resources ... have been offered and need to be requested by the Greek side. That hasn't happened yet."

Government spokeswoman Christiane Wirtz said EU leaders would discuss the "dramatic situation in Greece" in Brussels on Monday.

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1:10 p.m.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says it's counterproductive for European countries to implement individual measures in response to the migrant crisis.

She says border slowdowns and closures have just meant that migrants are now piling up in Greece, overwhelming the country's resources.

Merkel is pushing for a European solution, and said Friday while meeting with French President Francois Hollande in Paris that "unilateral solutions do not help us."

She said Europe needs to work closely with Turkey to stop the flow of migrants, and also to secure its outer borders so that it knows who is entering, and that movement within Europe is not restricted.

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12:35 p.m.

The European Union's head office estimates that the cost of fully restoring border controls between EU member states would be as high as 18 billion euros ($20 billion) a year.

As temporary controls between several member states are reimposed to deal with the migrant crisis, the fear of the full collapse of the borderless Schengen zone through most of the EU has increased over the past month.

The European Commission said Friday that the cost could amount to 0.13 percent of Gross Domestic Product. It estimated that cost for road transport alone could go as high as 7.5 billion euros ($8.2 billion) annually, hitting countries with major exports especially hard.

In a planning document on how to fully restore the Schengen zone by December at the latest, the Commission said that beyond trade, the re-imposition of borders "would also risk putting in jeopardy the judicial and police cooperation."

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12:30 p.m.

More than 1.2 million people applied for asylum for the first time in the European Union last year, more than double the number in 2014.

The EU's statistics agency said Friday that most people applying in the 28 EU countries were Syrian, Iraqi or Afghan nationals. It said 362,800 Syrians applied for asylum.

More than a third  441,800 people  applied for the first time in Germany. In per-capita terms, the most people applied in Hungary, Sweden, Austria and Finland.

Only 140 people sought asylum in Croatia.

Eurostat's figures concern only first-time applicants in 2015. Almost half a million asylum applications were still being processed at the end of 2014.

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12 noon.

The United Nations refugee agency says that 400,000 Syrian refugees in Turkey should be resettled around the world to help ease the burden on the country.

UNHCR Europe bureau director Vincent Cochetel said Friday that the refugees could be distributed from Turkey over the next two years, and he called on Europe, Russia and the United States to do more.

More than 2 million refugees, most of them Syrians, are currently on Turkish soil.

Cochetel said that only 7,500 refugees were resettled from Turkey last year, including 1,100 Syrians.

His call comes as the European Union seeks to send more migrants arriving in Greece back to Turkey.

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11:55 a.m.

Swedish police say a male asylum-seeker has been stabbed to death at a refugee center in central Sweden, adding three suspects, also asylum-seekers, have been detained.

Police spokesman Stefan Wickberg says they had no immediate motive for Friday's pre-dawn stabbing at an asylum center north of Lindesberg about 200 kilometers (124 miles) west of Stockholm.

Wickberg said the victim who was fatally stabbed in the neck, was in his 40s while the suspects were younger. He could not immediately give their citizenships.

Since the start of the year, at least three people have been murdered in asylum centers in Sweden, which has accepted the highest number of migrants per capita in Europe. The events are not believed to be related.

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11:35 a.m.

A tiny trickle of Syrian and Iraqi refugees is being admitted into Macedonia at the Idomeni crossing on the border with Greece, as more than 11,000 remain camped around waiting for their turn.

Greek police say Macedonian authorities let in 320 people in the 24 hours to 6 a.m. Friday. A few dozen were being admitted later in the day.

Hundreds of brightly-colored tents cover the muddy ground around an overflowing official camp at Idomeni, stretching almost right up to the border.

Syrian Saswat Estif, 26, has been there for 15 days, waiting patiently as others jumped the queue to enter Macedonia.

He says "last night was cold and it rained a lot," adding that "there's not enough food."

In Athens, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was briefing opposition leaders on the immigration crisis that has left more than 32,000 people stranded in Greece.

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11:20 a.m.

The United Nations refugee agency has criticized European Union leaders for warning migrants not to come to Europe when most people arriving are from conflict zones rather than looking for work.

UNHCR Europe bureau director Vincent Cochetel said Friday that "the inconvenient truth is that refugees are still coming to Europe because there are wars in the neighborhood of Europe."

He told reporters in Brussels that "91 percent of the people arriving in Greece are coming from those three major crises," in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. He said almost half were Syrians.

On Thursday EU Council President Donald Tusk warned "all potential illegal economic migrants, wherever you are from: Do not come to Europe."

People fleeing conflict have the right to apply for asylum under international law.

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11:15 a.m.

France's top security official says the population of the sprawling Calais migrant camp is now at 3,800 people, down from a peak last year of 6,000, after and the inhabitants were relocated and many of the shanties later dismantled.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told BFM television on Friday that France has set up 102 shelters across the country for migrants, and blamed a handful of extremists for inciting them to protests that have included some who stitched their lips together.

The migrants converge in Calais in hopes of slipping across the Channel to Britain. The shantytown has become a flashpoint in relations between France and Britain and has fed far-right backlashes in both countries.

Migrants make their way to the registration and transit camp after entering Macedonia from Greece near the southern Macedonian town of Gevgelija, Friday, March 4, 2016. Thousands of refugees and migrants continue to wait on the border between Greece and Macedonia on Thursday morning. At the moment, some 30,000 refugees and other migrants are stranded in Greece, with 10,000 at the Idomeni border crossing to Macedonia. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

Refugees covered with blankets wait to be allowed to cross to Macedonia in the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Friday, March 4, 2016. More than 10,000 mostly Syrian and Iraqi refugees were stuck at the country's Idomeni border as Greek officials said that nearly 32,000 migrants were stranded in the country after drastically reduce of number of transiting migrants. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Refugees crowd before crossing the border from the Greek side to Macedonia one at the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Friday, March 4, 2016. More than 10,000 mostly Syrian and Iraqi refugees were stuck at the country's Idomeni border as Greek officials said that nearly 32,000 migrants were stranded in the country after drastically reduce of number of transiting migrants. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Children stand in a tent near the border crossing in the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Friday, March 4, 2016. More than 10,000 mostly Syrian and Iraqi refugees were stuck at the country's Idomeni border as Greek officials said that nearly 32,000 migrants were stranded in the country after drastically reduce of number of transiting migrants. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

France's President Francois Hollande, right, welcomes German chancellor Angela Merkel prior to a meeting, at the Elysee Palace, in Paris, Friday, March 4, 2015. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

Migrants walk toward the registration and transit camp after entering Macedonia from Greece near the southern Macedonian town of Gevgelija, Friday, March 4, 2016. Thousands of refugees and migrants continue to wait on the border between Greece and Macedonia on Thursday morning. At the moment, some 30,000 refugees and other migrants are stranded in Greece, with 10,000 at the Idomeni border crossing to Macedonia. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

Migrants make their way to the registration and transit camp after entering Macedonia from Greece near the southern Macedonian town of Gevgelija, Friday, March 4, 2016. Thousands of refugees and migrants continue to wait on the border between Greece and Macedonia on Thursday morning. At the moment, some 30,000 refugees and other migrants are stranded in Greece, with 10,000 at the Idomeni border crossing to Macedonia. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

Macedonian soldiers patrol beside the two-line protective fence set along the border line between Macedonia and Greece, near southern Macedonia's town of Gevgelija, Friday March 4, 2016. Thousands of refugees and migrants continue to wait on the border between Greece and Macedonia on Thursday morning. At the moment, some 30,000 refugees and other migrants are stranded in Greece, with 10,000 at the Idomeni border crossing to Macedonia. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)
Police question Brazil's ex-president in corruption probe

SAO PAULO (AP)  Brazilian police hauled former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from his home and questioned him for about four hours Friday in a sprawling corruption case involving state-run oil company Petrobras that has already ensnared some of the country's most-powerful lawmakers and businessmen.

The once-immensely popular president, who governed from 2003 to 2010 and remains a towering figure in Brazil, angrily denounced the morning raid as part of a campaign to sully his image, that of his party and that of his hand-picked successor, President Dilma Rousseff.

Rousseff also expressed her "total inconformity" with the operation, which she called unnecessary, although she appeared to distance herself from her one-time mentor by only briefly mentioning Silva in an address Friday afternoon.

Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva speaks during a press conference at the Workers Party headquarters in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Friday, March 4, 2016. Brazilian police acting on a warrant questioned the former president and searched his home and other properties, in the most recent development yet in the sprawling corruption case at the oil giant Petrobras. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

"I felt like a prisoner this morning," said Silva, who has expressed interest in possibly running for president again. "I have gone through many things, and I am not one to hold a grudge, but I don't think our country can continue this way."

At a rally late Friday in Sao Paulo, an emotional Silva insisted on his innocence. "If they are a cent more honest than I, then I will leave politics," he pledged, his eyes welling with tears.

Police arrived at about 6 a.m. at Silva's residence in greater Sao Paulo's Sao Bernardo do Campo and spirited the 70-year-old to a federal police station at the city's Congonhas airport. Silva was released after around four hours of questioning.

Police said they also searched the headquarters of his nonprofit foundation Instituto Lula, as well as properties connected to his sons and other family members. One of his sons was brought in for questioning.

Clashes broke out between Silva's supporters and critics outside several sites where police were conducting searches. After his release, cheering supporters gathered outside Silva's apartment to welcome him home.

Judge Sergio Moro, who is heading the Petrobras investigation, said he allowed the police to haul in Silva for security reasons, citing fears that demonstrations could complicate efforts to question him. He also stipulated that police were not to handcuff or film the former leader.

Officials said they were looking into 30 million Brazilian reais ($8.12 million) in payments for speeches and donations to the Instituto Lula by construction firms that were crucial players in the Petrobras corruption scheme. They were also looking into whether renovations and other work at a country house and beachfront apartment used by Silva and his family constituted favors in exchange for political benefit.

"No one is exempt from investigation in this country," said public prosecutor Carlos Fernando dos Santos Lima. "Anyone in Brazil is subject to be investigated when there are indications of a crime."

Prosecutors in the so-called Car Wash corruption case say more than $2 billion was paid in bribes to obtain Petrobras contracts, with some money making its way to several political parties, including the governing Workers' Party. Some of Brazil's wealthiest people, including the heads of top construction companies, have been caught up in the probe, as have dozens of politicians from both the governing coalition and the opposition.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court authorized that charges be brought against Eduardo Cunha, the speaker of the lower house of Congress and a leader of the effort to impeach Rousseff.

In a separate development Friday, Supreme Court justice Rosa Weber dismissed a request by Silva's lawyers to suspend state and federal investigations against him, the court said in a statement.

In her address Friday, Rousseff spoke out in support of Silva, though she made only a brief reference to the day's events. Instead she focused on separate allegations that emerged in the press a day earlier, leading some observers to suggest she was trying to distance herself from Silva.

The reaction of the governing party was scathing. Workers' Party president Rui Falcao issued a video statement calling the detention "a political spectacle" that revealed the "true character" of the probe.

"It's not about combatting corruption but simply to hit the Workers' Party, President Lula and the government of President Dilma," Falcao said.

Legal analysts said that bringing Silva in for questioning suggests that any possible case against him is still in its early phases.

"Police are still collecting evidence. There is no smoking gun because if there were, the searches wouldn't be needed," said Jair Jaloreto, a Sao Paulo-based expert on money laundering.

A lathe operator at a metal factory who entered politics as a labor union leader, Silva was widely seen as representing the common man, and his ascension to the country's highest office was hailed in a nation long dominated by the elite. During his two terms in office Silva presided over galloping economic growth that pulled tens of millions of poor Brazilians into the ranks of the middle class.

Despite a votes-for-bribes scandal that took down his chief-of-staff and others, Silva left office with record high popularity levels and his hand-picked successor, Rousseff, handily won the presidency.

Silva and Rousseff have seen their popularity nosedive as Brazil has slipped into its worst recession in decades and the Car Wash investigation spread. Rousseff's approval ratings have dipped into single digits, though they've rebounded slightly of late. She faces impeachment proceedings.

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Associated Press writer Stan Lehman contributed from Sao Paulo.

Federal police officers stand outside the residence building of Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Sao Bernardo do Campo, in the greater Sao Paulo area, Brazil, Friday, March 4, 2016. Brazilian police are questioning former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and searching his home and other buildings linked to him as part of the sprawling corruption case at the oil giant Petrobras.(AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Federal police officers stand outside the residence building of Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Sao Bernardo do Campo, in the greater Sao Paulo area, Brazil, Friday, March 4, 2016. Brazilian police are questioning former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and searching his home and other buildings linked to him as part of the sprawling corruption case at the oil giant Petrobras.(AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Anti government demonstrators shout slogans outside the residence building of Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Sao Bernardo do Campo, in the greater Sao Paulo area, Brazil, Friday, March 4, 2016. Brazilian police are questioning former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and searching his home and other buildings linked to him as part of the sprawling corruption case at the oil giant Petrobras.(AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Demonstrators shout slogans in support of former Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva outside his residence building in Sao Bernardo do Campo, in the greater Sao Paulo area, Brazil, Friday, March 4, 2016. Brazilian police are questioning former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and searching his home and other buildings linked to him as part of the sprawling corruption case at the oil giant Petrobras.(AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Federal police officers restrain a Lula supporter as he confronts anti-government demonstrators outside Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva residence building in Sao Bernardo do Campo, in the greater Sao Paulo area, Brazil, Friday, March 4, 2016. Brazilian police are questioning former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and searching his home and other buildings linked to him as part of the sprawling corruption case at the oil giant Petrobras.(AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva speaks during a press conference at the Workers Party headquarters in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Friday, March 4, 2016. Brazilian police acting on a warrant questioned former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and searched his home and other properties, in the most recent development yet in the sprawling corruption case at the oil giant Petrobras. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva speaks during a press conference at the Workers Party headquarters in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Friday, March 4, 2016. Brazilian police acting on a warrant questioned the former president and searched his home and other properties, in the most recent development yet in the sprawling corruption case at the oil giant Petrobras. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Brazils President Dilma Rousseff reacts during a meeting with mayors at the Planalto Presidential palace, in Brasilia, Brazil, Friday, March 4, 2016. Brazilian police have questioned former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and searched his home and other properties, in the most recent development yet in the sprawling corruption case at the oil giant Petrobras. While Rousseff herself has not been accused of wrongdoing in the Petrobras probe, she is facing impeachment proceedings in Congress for her government's alleged use of the country's pension fund to shore up budget gaps. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

Brazils President Dilma Rousseff reacts during a meeting with mayors at the Planalto Presidential palace, in Brasilia, Brazil, Friday, March 4, 2016. Brazilian police questioned former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and searched his home and other properties, in the most recent development yet in the sprawling corruption case at the oil giant Petrobras. While Rousseff herself has not been accused of wrongdoing in the Petrobras probe, she is facing impeachment proceedings in Congress for her government's alleged use of the country's pension fund to shore up budget gaps. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

Supporters of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva clash with anti-government demonstrators in front of the Congonhas airport federal police station in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Friday, March 4, 2016. Brazilian police acting on a warrant questioned former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and searched his home and other properties, in the most recent development yet in the sprawling corruption case at the oil giant Petrobras. (AP Photo/Nelson Antoine)

Supporters of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva clash with anti-government demonstrators in front of the Congonhas airport federal police station in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Friday, March 4, 2016. Brazilian police acting on a warrant questioned former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and searched his home and other properties, in the most recent development yet in the sprawling corruption case at the oil giant Petrobras. (AP Photo/Nelson Antoine)
How China's transforming military, especially in air, at sea

BEIJING (AP)  Even though China says its military is growing at a relatively modest pace of about 7 percent this year, it is clear that the country is marching toward a top-to-bottom expansion and modernization of its forces. Here's a look at how it's been changing:

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SHIFTING FOCUS

FILE - In this file photo taken Thursday, Sept. 3, 2015, military vehicles carry DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missiles, potentially capable of sinking a U.S. Nimitz-class aircraft carrier in a single strike, during a parade commemorating the 70th anniversary of Japan's surrender during World War II held in front of Tiananmen Gate in Beijing. Double digit annual percentage increases in Chinas defense budget have been fueling a top-to-bottom modernization drive that has brought in new equipment and vast improvements in living conditions for the Peoples Liberation Armys 2.3 million members. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

While the land forces still account for about 73 percent of total troop strength, China is shifting resources to the navy and air force. Those services will be responsible for dealing with the main perceived threats to China's interests  a conflict over control of the South China Sea and a move by self-governing Taiwan toward formal independence that China has threatened to respond to with force. That was a primary motivation behind President Xi Jinping's Sept. 3 announcement that the PLA would be reduced in size by 300,000 members, drawn mainly from non-combat units and those operating outdated weapons systems.

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CONTROL OF THE SKIES

Seeking an edge in air combat, China invested heavily in Su-27 jets from Russia, eventually copying that technology and producing its own version known as the J-11. Recent years have seen the introduction of an advanced home-made fighter jet, the J-10, and upgraded H-6 bombers capable of longer missions. At least two prototype stealth fighters have flown, although it's not known what they're capable of or whether or when they'll enter service. China has also shot up the global ranks in drone technology, producing unmanned aerial vehicles comparable to the U.S. Air Force's Predator and Reaper models that are capable of high speeds, sustained overflight and launching missile attacks on ground targets.

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NEW NAVY

Equally dramatic has been the transformation of the People's Liberation Army Navy from a coastal patrol force to one capable of operating on the high seas far from base. The most eye-catching addition has been the commissioning of the navy's first aircraft carrier that was purchased as an incomplete hull from Ukraine more than a decade ago then rebuilt, armed and equipped in China. Although the carrier, christened the Liaoning, has yet to take on its full aviation complement, China announced in December that it was already building its second aircraft carrier, this time entirely with domestic technology. China is also adding cutting-edge frigates, destroyers and nuclear submarines and by some estimates has been launching more vessels than any other nation on an annual basis. That rapid modernization is seen as aimed at asserting its maritime claims and extending its power far from its shores, raising tensions with Japan, the U.S. and Southeast Asian nations with rival territorial claims.

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MORE MISSILES

China's missile force, formally known as the Second Artillery, has one of the most potent attack capabilities of any of the world's armed forces. Along with its nuclear force, China now fields at least 1,200 conventionally armed ballistic missiles, along with an array of land attack cruise missiles, surface-to-air missiles, and  of greatest concern to the U.S. Navy  anti-ship cruise and ballistic missiles that may be able to sink an aircraft carrier. China has continued to build its stocks of short- and medium-range ballistic missiles deployed just across the 160-kilometer (100-mile) strait from Taiwan, backing up its threat to attack the island should it irrevocably reject Beijing's demand for unification.

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CHANGING TACTICS

Along with its gradual shift away from Asian land war preparations, the PLA has been developing systems to prevent outside intervention in contingencies such as a campaign against Taiwan. It's doing so largely through its use of missiles and submarines, along with cyber warfare efforts to disable opposing forces' high-tech battle systems. The PLA has also reorganized its structure to better integrate its different services. It's even shifting some of the longstanding political principles underpinning the PLA's use of force, moving to set up a logistics center in the African Horn nation of Djibouti that some are calling China's first overseas base, despite Beijing's longstanding disavowal of any form of foreign alliance or permanent overseas presence.

FILE - In this file photo taken Thursday, Sept. 3, 2015, the front of the Wing Loong, a Chinese made medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle, moves past spectators during a parade commemorating the 70th anniversary of Japan's surrender during World War II held in Beijing. Double digit annual percentage increases in Chinas defense budget have been fueling a top-to-bottom modernization drive that has brought in new equipment and vast improvements in living conditions for the Peoples Liberation Armys 2.3 million members. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

FILE - In this file photo taken Thursday, Sept. 3, 2015, Chinese 155mm self-propelled howitzers take part in a parade commemorating the 70th anniversary of Japan's surrender during World War II held in front of Tiananmen Gate in Beijing. Double digit annual percentage increases in Chinas defense budget have been fueling a top-to-bottom modernization drive that has brought in new equipment and vast improvements in living conditions for the Peoples Liberation Armys 2.3 million members. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)
The Latest: Trump says fracking approval can help him win NY

WASHINGTON (AP)  The Latest on campaign 2016 (all Eastern Standard Time):

9:15 p.m.

GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump says he thinks he can win New York, despite Democrats' significant voter registration advantage, because he's in favor of a practice called fracking.

A protestor holds up a sign as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in New Orleans, Friday, March 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Trump tells an audience in New Orleans on Friday night that "New York has been let down" because its governor, Andrew Cuomo, will not allow hydraulic fracturing to release natural gas.

He says that, had Cuomo made a different decision, the state would have been able to lower taxes and pay off its debt.

He points to Pennsylvania, which allows the natural gas extraction process, saying: "They took those beautiful, beautiful natural resources. They took 'em out."

He says that in Pennsylvania, people drive around in Cadillacs. He then pivoted to a Cadillac-sponsored event being held on one of his golf courses.

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9 p.m.

Donald Trump's rally Friday evening at a New Orleans airport hangar was repeatedly interrupted by more than two dozen protesters, including many from the Black Lives Matter movement.

Trump was in Louisiana to rally voters ahead of the state's GOP presidential primary on Saturday.

But the event was overshadowed by the protesters, some of whom stood clustered, holding onto each other to resist being removed by police.

Video footage from the event showed that some of the confrontations between protesters and supporters turned violent, with shoving and even biting.

At points, Trump appeared visibly annoyed by the interruptions. "Stupid people, stupid," he said. "They don't get it ... they don't understand what's happening."

Trump's campaign manager was spotted personally assisting police as they escorted protesters out.

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8:55 p.m.

Bernie Sanders is continuing to blame "disastrous" trade policies for the staggering loss of manufacturing jobs in auto-centric Michigan and other states.

At a rally in western Michigan Friday night, the Vermont senator told thousands of supporters at Grand Valley State University that his opponent, Hillary Clinton, has supported bad trade deals. He says American workers should not be forced to compete against people in other countries making as little as 50 cents an hour.

Michigan's primary is Tuesday, and Sanders and Clinton will debate Sunday in Flint  where residents' water supply is contaminated with lead.

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8:35 p.m.

Presidential candidate John Kasich is downplaying the idea that a contested convention would result in too much chaos for the GOP.

Speaking to reporters in Holland, Michigan, Kasich says conventions have rules that outline a "fair process." He says if a candidate doesn't come into the convention with enough delegates to clinch the presidential nomination, that person is not entitled to be picked as the nominee.

Kasich is hinging his candidacy on winning his home state of Ohio on March 15 and stopping Donald Trump from going into the convention with the necessary 1,237 delegates.

The Ohio governor says he's somewhat worried that "lobbyists" and "K Street" would try to "pick their guy" in a contested convention, but he didn't specify which candidates he was referring to.

Kasich was also picking up the endorsement of Michigan's No. 2 elected official, Lt. Gov. Brian Calley. Republican Gov. Rick Snyder does not plan to endorse a candidate.

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8:30 p.m.

On the eve of the Kansas presidential caucuses, Marco Rubio is assuring voters that he would never house foreign prisoners in their state.

Rubio told more than a thousand enthusiastic supporters in Kansas City that foreign detainees "don't have the right to remain silent, and we're not bringing them to Kansas." Instead, the Florida senator says "they're going to Guantanamo."

The issue has been a source of tension in Kansas since Pentagon officials visited Fort Leavenworth last year as they studied placement options for prisoners now held at the detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The Obama administration announced in February plans to close Guantanamo, but did not say where detainees would be transferred.

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6:15 p.m.

The word from House Speaker Paul Ryan's camp is nope, he's not running for president.

The professed lack of interest from the Wisconsin Republican came Friday in a letter from a lawyer representing Ryan to the Federal Election Commission. The note by Timothy E. Kronquist disavows the Committee to Draft Speaker Ryan, a political action committee that filed papers with the FEC this week.

The letter says Ryan "has not, and does not, explicitly or implicitly, authorize, endorse, or otherwise approve of the organization's formation or activities, and he is not involved with the organization in any way."

It notes that "Ryan has repeatedly announced publicly that he is not running for president in 2016."

Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong added in an emailed comment, "He is flattered, but not interested."

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5:40 p.m.

Ben Carson, who recently ended his White House bid, is declining to endorse any candidate for the Republican nomination, though he says he has "talked to all of them this week."

Speaking to a gathering of conservative activists in suburban Maryland, the retired neurosurgeon says the United States needs "trickle-down ethics." He says the ideal presidential candidate is ethical and accomplished, has clear policies and treats others well. He says whoever can check all of those boxes would be a "great leader."

Carson reiterated that he is leaving the campaign trail, something he announced on his Facebook page the day after Super Tuesday contests.

The Conservative Political Action Conference crowd gave him an adoring standing ovation. He says there are "a lot of people who love me, they just won't vote for me."

Carson says he will now be working on a project to encourage religious values voters to participate in elections.

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5:05 p.m.

Ted Cruz says a contested convention would cause a revolt among Republicans.

He says voters keep rejecting "all of the golden children" of the Washington establishment and that's why talk has turned to a contested convention. "The way to beat Donald Trump is with voters," he says.

Cruz is speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference in suburban Maryland, where an enthusiastic crowd greeted him.

He noted that Trump was skipping the event, theorizing that Trump was not attending because he didn't want to answer questions from conservatives and young people. Trump's campaign said he had decided to hold two rallies elsewhere instead.

Cruz says the billionaire businessman helped fund some of the very politicians whom conservatives loathe, including those who tried to pass a plan that would have provided a pathway to legalization for some immigrants in the country illegally.

"As dire as things are, people are waking up all over this country," Cruz says. "And help is on the way."

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4:30 p.m.

Flint's lead-contaminated water has become a hot-button issue for Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

It's so dominant a topic that the White House hopefuls agreed to a primetime debate in the majority-black, impoverished city on Sunday, two days before Michigan's primary. Both have made campaign stops in Flint in the last month.

Sanders says Republican Gov. Rick Snyder should resign over the disaster. Clinton, who has not called for his resignation, says the crisis never would have happened in a wealthy, predominantly white community.

Republican candidates, meanwhile, are mostly avoiding talk of Flint along with mention of Snyder, whose administration has come under heavy criticism for the disaster. Republicans accuse Democrats of politicizing Flint for their own gains and oversimplifying how the fiasco happened.

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3:45 p.m.

Marco Rubio is taking quite a risk campaigning in Kansas a day ahead of the state's Republican presidential caucus: He's competing alongside Wichita State basketball.

The Florida senator took the stage at a Wichita airport hangar Friday with about three minutes remaining in a tight conference tournament game between the local favorite Shockers and Loyola University of Chicago.

More than a few Rubio loyalists directed their attention at the television screens around the venue instead of the would-be leader of the free world.

Rubio acknowledged the timing, and tried to capitalize, telling the crowd that all his opponents were "cheering for Loyola." He said they "all told me at the debate last night, 'I hope Wichita State loses.'"

He laughed and added, "Nice try. I know."

Trailing Donald Trump and Ted Cruz in delegates, Rubio sought inspiration from the Shockers. He noted "they were down six just a few minutes ago," before taking the lead about the time the rally started.

Wichita St. won 66-58.

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3:30 p.m.

Hillary Clinton says the nation needs a "new bargain" to create better-paying jobs, pointing to Michigan as an example of manufacturing success.

Clinton was speaking at Detroit Manufacturing Systems, which makes instrument panels for cars. She says the corporations need to do right by their communities and the nation, employers should treat workers "like assets to be invested in" and the government shouldn't reward greed and special interests.

Clinton is campaigning in Michigan ahead of the state's primary next Tuesday. She has built a lead among delegates against rival Bernie Sanders.

The Democratic presidential candidate is proposing a so-called "clawback" of tax benefits for companies that ship jobs overseas, which would rescind tax relief and other incentives intended to encourage domestic investment.

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3:15 p.m.

"You will not beat Donald Trump by smearing him," John Kasich is telling conservative activists gathered in suburban Maryland.

The crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference cheers when Kasich asks whether they like his "positive campaign."

Kasich is discussing his time in Congress and how he has governed in Ohio, emphasizing that he won over all types of voters, including union members and minorities.

"Don't wait for somebody to show up to fix the problems  fix them yourselves," Kasich is saying in remarks tailored to the younger activists in the room.

Kasich is one of four presidential candidates scheduled to speak Friday and Saturday. Donald Trump has declined to attend.

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1:45 p.m.

Donald Trump says that he understands that the U.S. is "bound by laws and treaties" and he will not order U.S. military officials to violate or disobey those laws if elected president.

Trump said in a statement Friday that he will "use every legal power...to stop these terrorist enemies," but recognized the need for restraint under international law.

His statement Friday follows an open letter written by leaders in the Republican foreign policy and national security committee pledging to oppose Trump's candidacy, in part, because of his "embrace of the expansive use of torture," and other controversial views.

Trump has repeatedly said that he will bring back the use of waterboarding and "a hell of a lot worse," and that he would target the wives and children of suspected extremists.

At the GOP debate in Detroit Thursday, Trump insisted that they are "chopping off people's heads" in the Middle East, noting that any reluctance to embrace waterboarding in such circumstances is wrong.

"Gen. Douglas MacArthur and Gen. Patton are in their graves right now spinning in their graves," Trump told ABC News on Thursday.

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1:30 p.m.

A Florida judge is dismissing a suit demanding that Republican presidential candidates Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz be taken off the March 15 ballot in Florida's GOP primary because they are not "natural-born citizens."

Michael Voeltz, a registered Republican voter from Broward County, filed the suit against Rubio and Cruz.

Cruz was born in Calgary, Canada, to an American mother and Cuban father. Rubio is a U.S. citizen by birth. He was born in Miami to Cuban immigrant parents.

Alex Burgos, a Rubio campaign spokesman, described the lawsuit Friday as "ridiculous."

Broward County Judge John Bowman said Voeltz showed no evidence he was being harmed and that, like anyone else, could exercise his right to vote.

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12:55 p.m.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is trying to cast himself as the GOP's conservative savior as party insiders look for an alternative to Donald Trump, an irony considering his years spent fostering a reputation as an outsider willing to anger fellow Republicans, as well as Democrats.

Cruz, a candidate who has railed against the "Washington cartel," is arguing now for a big-tent GOP after his stronger-than-expected performance on Super Tuesday.

Cruz made the pitch for unity to a nationwide audience in Thursday's Republican debate in Detroit. He argued that his four victories, in Iowa, Texas, Oklahoma and Alaska, make him a more viable candidate than Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who managed to win just Minnesota and faces a nearly impossible road to securing the nomination outright.

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12:50 p.m.

Campaigning in Kansas ahead of Saturday's caucus, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio affirmed that he would support Donald Trump in November of the billionaire businessman wins the GOP presidential nomination.

Rubio told a few hundred supporters that Trump's nomination would "split" the party. And he repeated his assertions that Trump is not qualified "to be commander-in-chief."

Asked later how he could reconcile those statements with a pledge to back Trump as nominee, Rubio told reporters, "Because that's how bad Hillary Clinton is."

The former secretary of state currently leads Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in Democratic delegates.

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12:25 p.m.

Sen. Bernie Sanders' call for free higher education is resonating on an Illinois college campus facing deep cuts in state funding amid an eight-month budget impasse that has led to widespread layoffs at other state schools.

The Democratic presidential candidate spoke Friday morning at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, where the primarily student audience packed a 4,000-seat campus basketball arena, including on the gym floor and outer hallways.

Sanders touched on familiar campaign themes, calling for campaign finance reform, marijuana decriminalization and increased corporate taxes.

Southern Illinois is among the schools that have had to front state scholarship money to students to cover expenses in the current school year as Rauner and Democratic-majority state lawmakers remain unable to agree on a budget for the fiscal year that began in July 2015.

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12:20 p.m.

Donald Trump has decided not to attend the Conservative Political Action Conference, according to the group's Twitter account.

Trump was scheduled to speak Saturday morning at the gathering of conservative activists in suburban Maryland. The four other GOP presidential contenders are still slated to attend.

The American Conservative Union, which holds CPAC, wrote: "Very disappointed @realDonaldTrump has decided at the last minute to drop out of #CPAC -- his choice sends a clear message to conservatives."

Trump's campaign says in a statement that he will be holding a rally on Saturday in Kansas, followed by one in Orlando, and therefore will not be able to attend the conference.

The statement says Trump looks forward to attending next year, "hopefully as president of the United States."

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12:15 p.m.

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz is attacking rival Donald Trump over his flexible stance on immigration.

Cruz also criticized Trump for saying during Thursday's Republican debate that he would get advice on foreign affairs from Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations. He called Haass a "liberal client" of Democrat Hillary Clinton.

"That was a fairly extraordinary admission," Cruz said.

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12:02 p.m.

Marco Rubio is in Kansas on Friday trying to balance his offensive against GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump with an overarching promise of a better future for a struggling nation.

Addressing a few hundred supporters at a Topeka airport Friday, Rubio warned Trump's nomination would "split the Republican Party" and "end the... conservative movement."

Rubio avoided the most personal insults he and Trump have traded recently, but he told potential caucus-goers that "what (Trump) says he is and what he'll do is not the same thing."

The front-runner's message "accentuates the most dangerous instincts in humanity," Rubio says.

Trump should not have the "power to send your ... sons and daughters off to war," Rubio argued.

Kansas will caucus Saturday, alongside three other states holding nominating contests.

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12:00 p.m.

Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio told a Kentucky sports radio host he does not regret his petty attacks about the size of Donald Trump's hands, but added if he did have regrets, it would be "because Jesus would be embarrassed by it."

Rubio's quip about Trump's hands led to a crass remark from Trump during Thursday night's debate when the Republican front-runner defended his sexual prowess on live television. Rubio spoke to Kentucky Sports Radio, the state's largest sports talk show, one day before Kentucky Republicans cast votes in the first presidential caucus since 1984.

Rubio told host Matt Jones that Kentuckians' votes matter and that he believes politics will never be the same after this election cycle. He said Trump has dangerously divided the Republican party.

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11:30 a.m.

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz is attacking rival Donald Trump for softening his stance on H-1B visas for highly-skilled workers.

Speaking to reporters before a rally Friday at the University of Maine, Cruz said Trump would allow immigrants to "take away our jobs."

The two clashed over the issue at Thursday's Republican debate in Detroit, with Cruz and other rivals accusing Trump of being flexible on the issue of immigration.

Cruz also criticized Republicans who view a brokered convention as a way to keep the nomination from Trump, calling the strategy a "pipe dream of the Washington establishment."

He said a brokered convention would be a disaster for the party and encourage a revolt from voters.

Republican presidential candidate, Ohio Gov. John Kasich speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Friday, March 4, 2016, in National Harbor, Md. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Ben Carson speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Friday, March 4, 2016, in National Harbor, Md. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Friday, March 4, 2016, in National Harbor, Md. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gives a thumbs-up as he arrives during a rally at Wexford County Civic Center, Friday, March 4, 2016, in Cadillac, Mich. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton speaks at the Detroit Manufacturing Systems plant, Friday, March 4, 2016, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
Mozambique hotelier discusses possible Malaysian plane part

JOHANNESBURG (AP)  The Mozambican sandbank where a possible piece of a missing Malaysian airliner was found is in waters with treacherous currents and is not normally visited by tourists, a hotel owner said Friday.

Tony Manna, who owns a beachfront hotel in the Mozambican town of Vilankulo, said American adventurer Blaine Gibson was a guest at Manna's lodge, the Varanda, when he discovered debris that could be a piece of tail section from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared March 8, 2014 with 239 people aboard.

In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, Manna said he connected Gibson with a boat operator nicknamed "Junior," who took the American to the Paluma sandbank and first spotted the debris there.

Blaine Gibson poses for a photo during an interview with the Associated Press in Maputo Mozambique Thursday March 3, 2016. Gibson who discovered an aircraft part in Mozambique that may be from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 says he initially thought it was part of a much smaller plane. Gibson, who has been searching the region's beaches for the debris, said Thursday March 3, 2016 in an interview with that a boat operator who took him to a sandbank named Paluma called him over after seeing a piece of debris with NO STEP (AP Photo/Tom Bowker)

The location is "not even an island, it's a sandbank in a dangerous area" that can only be reached by experienced mariners who know the waters, Manna said. Fishermen sometimes go there to collect rope and other washed up debris that might be useful for their work, he said.

The Boeing 777 flew far off course for unknown reasons after leaving Kuala Lumpur for Beijing on March 8, 2014. An ongoing search of the southern Indian Ocean has found no trace of the plane, though a wing part from the aircraft washed ashore on Reunion Island last year.

Gibson said in an interview with the AP on Thursday that he initially thought the piece that he and the boat operator found was from a small plane, and not from the missing airliner. Gibson, who is from Seattle, said the debris is with civil aviation authorities in Mozambique, and that he expects it to be transferred to their Australian counterparts.

Manna described Gibson as a sincere man who is also somewhat eccentric. He recalled that Gibson was emotional after the discovery of the debris.

"I was happy because maybe that little piece can give some peace to all those families" of the people who were aboard the missing airliner, Manna said.

Gibson, who is from Seattle, said the piece of debris is now in the hands of civil aviation authorities in Mozambique, and that he expects it to be transferred to their Australian counterparts.

On Friday, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau's chief commissioner Martin Dolan, who is heading up the search for the plane off Australia's west coast, said the part should arrive in the nation's capital, Canberra, early next week. It is being taken to Australia rather than Malaysia because the ATSB has facilities set up for examining aircraft wreckage and trained technical staff on hand to help, he said. The part will be analyzed by multiple people, including ATSB materials failure experts, with Boeing representatives and the Malaysian investigation team giving advice.

Investigators hope that once the part arrives, they will be able to confirm whether or not the piece is from Flight 370 within a matter of days, Dolan said.

"All that we know is that it's a piece from an aircraft. It's sufficiently similar to a part from a large passenger aircraft, possibly a 777, for us to want to take a close look at it," Dolan told the AP. "At this stage, we have no conclusive evidence as to what it is or where it comes from."

Even if confirmed to be from Flight 370, Dolan said it was too early to speculate on whether the part could shed any light on what happened to the aircraft, including whether it could clarify if someone was at the controls when the plane hit the water.

The search team has been operating on the theory that no one was steering the plane when it crashed, but some critics have argued there may have been someone controlling the plane at the end of its flight. If that was the case, the plane could have glided much further than investigators believe, thus tripling in size the search area.

"That's the sort of thing we'll have to do a very close analysis of this part (to find out), if indeed it is associated with MH370," Dolan said. "The question we will have to establish to the best of our ability is what level of energy was involved in the aircraft colliding with the water to have led to the separation of the part."

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Associated Press writers Kristen Gelineau in Sydney and Rod McGuirk in Canberra contributed to this report.

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Follow Christopher Torchia on Twitter at www.twitter.com/torchiachris

Australian Transport Safety Bureau chief commissioner Martin Dolan poses for a photo in his office on Friday, March 4, 2016, in Canberra, Australia. Dolan, who is heading up the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370 plane off Australia's west coast, said the part discovered in Mozambique should arrive in Australia early next week for examination. (AP Photo/Rod McGuirk)

In this Feb. 28, 2016 image provided by Blaine Gibson and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), a piece of aircraft debris with the words "NO STEP" is photographed after it was found washed up on a beach in Mozambique. Debris that washed up in Mozambique has been tentatively identified as a part from the same type of aircraft as the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, a U.S. official said. (Blaine Gibson/ATSB via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT, NO SALES
In its first week, Syria truce brings sharp drop in violence

BEIRUT (AP)  A shaky cease-fire in Syria brokered by Moscow and Washington has survived its first week, outlasting skeptics' expectations and providing some hope that a diplomatic solution to the five-year-old war might be possible.

With daily incidents of artillery shelling, airstrikes and clashes, it would be easy to dismiss the "cessation of hostilities" as a charade. But the partial truce, which came into effect last Saturday, has dramatically reduced overall violence across the devastated country  a remarkable accomplishment in a war that has killed a quarter million people, displaced half the population and decimated towns and villages. And because the cease-fire excludes areas held by the Islamic State group and al-Qaida's Syria affiliate, the Nusra Front, some of the continuing violence is not technically a breach.

Much now depends on whether peace talks actually resume next week and make progress  and on the determination of the Russians and Americans to prevent a full-scale resumption of fighting.

FILE -- In this March 2, 2016, file photo, a Syrian soldier holds his weapon near Maarzaf, about 15 kilometers west of Hama, Syria. A shaky cease-fire in Syria brokered by Moscow and Washington has survived its first week, outlasting expectations and providing a glimmer of hope that a diplomatic solution to the five-year-old war may be possible.(AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, File)

Here are some takeaways from the past week:

VIOLATIONS AND CASUALTIES

The first few hours of the cease-fire saw a dramatic drop in military operations, with residents reporting an eerie quiet not experienced in years. Russia grounded its warplanes and skies were clear of the feared government helicopters that drop barrel bombs on opposition-held areas. But complaints of violations have mounted in the past few days, including reports of Russian and Syrian government strikes that have hit rebel targets well away from areas controlled by IS or Nusra Front. The Russian government reported on Thursday that there were 66 cease-fire violations by opposition forces since the truce went into effect Feb. 27  either shelling of residential areas or of government positions. The Syrian opposition, in turn, reported more than 170 breaches, all of them in rebel-held areas. The reasons are rarely clear; some cases appear to be local initiatives, or specific battlefield dynamics that could not be centrally controlled.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition group that closely monitors the conflict using activists on the ground, says the overall violence has decreased by 90 percent. It documented the death of 118 people in areas included in the cease-fire agreement in its first five days  a sharp drop from the daily toll before the truce. On Friday, it reported 12 people had been killed in Syria on Thursday  the lowest daily toll in 13 months. The group's director, Rami Abdurrahman, says the violations are like "small waves that rock the boat but are not strong enough to capsize it."

AID DELIVERIES

So far, the cease-fire has failed to achieve one of its most important objectives: to facilitate the free flow of desperately needed aid supplies to besieged areas in Syria.

"Fewer Syrians may be dying in bomb attacks but they are still facing starvation," said Henrietta McMicking of The Syria Campaign, an opposition advocacy group. The U.N. said Monday it planned to deliver assistance to about 154,000 people over the following five days in Syria, but only a trickle of that aid has been delivered so far.

Jan Egeland, humanitarian aid adviser to U.N.'s Syria envoy, warned that in recent days, aid shipments have been beset by "logistical" problems. U.N. officials have cited a shortage of available trucks as well as difficulties in gaining approvals from Syrian government officials, who have at times removed medical supplies from convoys. Egeland said U.N. officials had received "indications" that the system for gaining permissions will be "much simplified," including a monthly schedule.

REFUGEE CRISIS

The international community is hoping that if the cease-fire continues to hold, it will ease the refugee flow toward neighboring countries and Europe. But the truce would have to be sustained for weeks, if not months, to discourage people from fleeing and for refugees to contemplate returning. This week, there were reports that some of the tens of thousands of people who had fled February's government offensive in Aleppo and were trapped near the Turkish border have returned home. But aid organizations say thousands are still sleeping in makeshift shelters, cars or open fields.

POLITICAL SOLUTION

The implementation of the cease-fire has demonstrated the dependence of players on the ground on their international sponsors. The Obama administration has made the centerpiece of its policy a U.N. Security Council endorsed road-map outlining an 18-month political transition for Syria. It is working with and counting on Russia to help eventually convince Syrian President Bashar Assad to step aside. With the U.S. and Russia having engineered the cease-fire and cooperating on making it work, it seems the sides on the ground have little choice but to comply, at least in the beginning. That creates hope for serious political negotiations between the government and the opposition. U.N.-brokered proxy talks are scheduled to resume in Geneva next Wednesday, March 9.

If it lasts, the cease-fire could also focus and intensify the fight against the Islamic State group, which controls large swaths of territory in the country's east.

PROSPECTS

The sides agreed to an initial cease-fire of two weeks with the aim of extending it if it works, and there is no clear day-after scenario for what happens if no formal extension occurs. Breaches and the lack of aid deliveries complicate things, as do claims that Russia and the government are continuing air operations against mainstream rebels under the pretext of fighting the Nusra Front and IS. Another problem is the absence of neutral and credible observers on the ground to monitor and identify violations, and no clarity on the actions that would be taken in case of violations.

It would be awkward for the sides to simply resume the previous level of attacks. But if the violations ramp up and the talks go nowhere, the effort could unravel in stages. Saudi Arabia and Turkey could then stoke the fire further by deciding to arm rebels with more efficient weapons to carry on fighting. And the Syrian government will probably be eager to complete its effort to encircle rebel-held parts of Aleppo and make additional advances in the north and around Damascus.

FILE -- In this March 3, 2016, file photo, Syrian solders keep watch on a roof with portraits of Syrian President Bashar Assad in Al-Tall, a town of northern outskirts of Damascus, Syria. A shaky cease-fire in Syria brokered by Moscow and Washington has survived its first week, outlasting expectations and providing a glimmer of hope that a diplomatic solution to the five-year-old war may be possible.(AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, File)

FILE -- In this March 1, 2016, file photo, a Russian soldier keeps watch as local residents receive humanitarian aid in the Syrian village of Ghunaymiyah, about 15 kilometers from Turkish border. A shaky cease-fire in Syria brokered by Moscow and Washington has survived its first week, outlasting expectations and providing a glimmer of hope that a diplomatic solution to the five-year-old war may be possible.(AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, File)

FILE -- In this March 2, 2016, file photo, Sheikh Ahmad Mubarak, second from right, shakes hands with a Russian military officer after signing a cease-fire declaration in Maarzaf, about 15 kilometers west of Hama, Syria. A shaky cease-fire in Syria brokered by Moscow and Washington has survived its first week, outlasting expectations and providing a glimmer of hope that a diplomatic solution to the five-year-old war may be possible.(AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, File)

FILE -- In this March 1, 2016, file photo, local resident greet a Russian soldier, who escorted a group of journalists, to the Syrian village of Ghunaymiyah, about 15 kilometers from Turkish border. A shaky cease-fire in Syria brokered by Moscow and Washington has survived its first week, outlasting expectations and providing a glimmer of hope that a diplomatic solution to the five-year-old war may be possible.(AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, File)

FILE -- In this March 3, 2016, file photo, Women cross a road north of Damascus, Syria. A shaky cease-fire in Syria brokered by Moscow and Washington has survived its first week, outlasting expectations and providing a glimmer of hope that a diplomatic solution to the five-year-old war may be possible.(AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, File)
Trump signals flexibility on key issues after party attacks

WARREN, Michigan (AP)  Donald Trump is embracing what he calls flexibility on issues like torture and illegal immigration, abandoning at least for now the tough rhetoric that has fueled his rise to Republican front-runner status. His critics, as well as fellow Republican candidates, remained skeptical Friday.

In the days after his dominant Super Tuesday primary performance, Trump is using more moderate tones and downplaying his call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States.

The billionaire reality TV star has shot to the top of the primary contest with denigrating remarks about Hispanics immigrants and Muslims. But in Thursday's chaotic debate, he signaled his willingness to compromise on immigration, among other key issues.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Wexford County Civic Center, Friday, March 4, 2016, in Cadillac, Mich. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

He said he was retreating from the anti-visa position advocated in a position paper posted on his website, one of the few specific policies his team has released during the campaign.

"I'm changing. I'm changing. We need highly skilled people in this country, and if we can't do it, we'll get them in," he said in the debate.

More broadly, Trump insisted that compromise would be part of any immigration reform.

That didn't sit well with challenger Ted Cruz, the Texas senator.

"'Flexible' is Washington code word that he's going to stick it to the people," said Cruz, who holds second place in the number of Republican delegates collected so far on the way to the party's nominating convention this summer.

Trump faces s growing list of high-profile Republicans who denounce him as dangerous, not a true Republican and lacking the experience to lead the world's most powerful nation.

Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential nominee four years ago, declared Friday that he would not vote for Trump if he were the nominee. He told NBC that he would "do everything within the normal political bounds to make sure we don't nominate Donald Trump."

Still, some members of Romney's vast donor network said they were ready should he reconsider. Chicago Republican donor Bill Kunkler said he had recently spoken to Romney's 2012 finance chairman, Spencer Zwick, and told him he would support Romney again.

"Mitt is the guy who will put the party before himself," Kunkler said.

On Thursday, dozens of conservative national security experts wrote an open letter pledging to oppose Trump's candidacy in part because of his "embrace of the expansive use of torture."

Trump responded to such concerns in a statement Friday, saying that he understands that the U.S. is "bound by laws and treaties" and he will not order U.S. military officials to violate or disobey those laws if elected president. It appeared to be a retreat from declarations that he would bring back the use of waterboarding and that he would target the wives and children of suspected extremists.

If Trump's immigration shift did not bother conservatives, his decision to cancel a scheduled weekend appearance at the nation's largest annual gathering of conservative activists did.

"Very disappointed @realDonaldTrump has decided at the last minute to drop out of #CPAC -- his choice sends a clear message to conservatives," the American Conservative Union, which hosts the Conservative Political Action Conference, said in a Twitter post.

Trump's campaign said the cancelled because of newly scheduled rallies in Kansas and Florida.

Trump shrugged off Friday's wave of criticism by unleashing a verbal assault on his Republican rivals at a Detroit-area rally. He repeatedly called Florida Sen. Marco Rubio "Little Marco" and Cruz "Lying Ted."

Despite the verbal abuse, Cruz, Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich all declared during Thursday's debate that they would support Trump if he won the primary election battle. Trump, in turn, said he would support whoever wins, though he seemed to find it inconceivable that it might not be him.

So far, Trump has 10 state victories and leads the field with 329 delegates. Cruz has 231, Rubio 110 and Kasich 25. It takes 1,237 delegates to win the Republican nomination for president.

Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., speaks at a campaign rally in Wichita, Kan., Friday, March 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump waves to the crowed as he arrives at Wexford County Civic Center, Friday, March 4, 2016, in Cadillac, Mich. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gestures while speaking at a rally at Macomb Community College, Friday, March 4, 2016, in Warren, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally at Macomb Community College, Friday, March 4, 2016, in Warren, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump points out a protester during a rally at Macomb Community College, Friday, March 4, 2016, in Warren, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., speaks at a campaign rally in Topeka, Kan., Friday, March 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Supporters of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump wait in line for a rally at Wexford County Civic Center, Friday, March 4, 2016, in Cadillac, Mich. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Republican presidential candidate, businessman Donald Trump walks into the spin room to meet with reporters after a Republican presidential primary debate at Fox Theatre, Thursday, March 3, 2016, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Republican presidential candidate, businessman Donald Trump talks to reporters in the spin room after a Republican presidential primary debate at Fox Theatre, Thursday, March 3, 2016, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Through the curtains, Republican presidential candidates, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., businessman Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich appear during a Republican presidential primary debate at Fox Theatre, Thursday, March 3, 2016, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidates, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and businessman Donald Trump argue during a Republican presidential primary debate at Fox Theatre, Thursday, March 3, 2016, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidates, businessman Donald Trump and Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, argue a point during a Republican presidential primary debate at Fox Theatre, Thursday, March 3, 2016, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidate, businessman Donald Trump, second from left, gestures as Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich watch him a Republican presidential primary debate at Fox Theatre, Thursday, March 3, 2016, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidates, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and businessman Donald Trump argue a point during a Republican presidential primary debate at Fox Theatre, Thursday, March 3, 2016, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., gestures during a Republican presidential primary debate at Fox Theatre, Thursday, March 3, 2016, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Republican presidential candidate, businessman Donald Trump speaks during a Republican presidential primary debate at Fox Theatre, Thursday, March 3, 2016, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Republican presidential candidate, Ohio Gov. John Kasich speaks during a Republican presidential primary debate at Fox Theatre, Thursday, March 3, 2016, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Doctor, mom who helped expose Flint crisis win courage award

DETROIT (AP)  A prominent literary and human rights group is giving its annual courage award to a doctor and a mother of four who faced scorn as they tried to expose dangerous levels of lead in the water in Flint, Michigan.

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha and LeeAnne Walters will be awarded the Freedom of Expression Courage Award on May 16 in New York, PEN America announced Friday.

"The willingness of individuals to stand up, speak out and refuse to be denied is an essential catalyst for the vindication of rights and the realization of reform," said Suzanne Nossel, executive director of PEN America, a group of 4,400 writers dedicated to free expression. The group sparked controversy last year by giving the award to staff members who survived an attack on the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.

FILE- In this Feb. 10, 2016 file photo, Hurley Medical Center Pediatric Residency Program Director Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha speaks during a House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee hearing on The Flint Water Crisis on Capitol Hill in Washington. The doctor and a community activist who helped expose the lead contamination in Flint's water will receive PEN American's Courage Award, it will be announced Friday. Last years inaugural award sparked controversy when it was given to Charlie Hebdo. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Hanna-Attisha held a news conference last September that turned the controversy over Flint's water into a full-fledged storm. The Hurley Hospital pediatrician reported high levels of lead in the blood of children and pleaded with the public to stop drinking the corrosive water, which had been releasing lead from old pipes for more than a year.

Officials with the state of Michigan dismissed her remarks as "unfortunate" and derisively said Hanna-Attisha was adding to a "near-hysteria" in Flint. But Gov. Rick Snyder eventually acknowledged what the doctor had found and gave her full credit.

Hanna-Attisha said she's humbled by the PEN award but insists, "I was just doing my job."

"We knew this was a politically sensitive issue," she told The Associated Press. "Flint was in the middle of a mayoral campaign. Hurley is a city-chartered hospital with state funding. But it never caused us to hesitate to do what we needed to do. ... Our mission is service to the community."

Walters, a former Flint resident who now lives in Virginia, knew there was nothing normal about the brown water flowing from her tap. She subsequently learned the water had extraordinary lead levels and shared a critical federal report with a reporter. Upset with the response from the state, she contacted Marc Edwards, a Virginia Tech expert in corrosion and old water systems.

Edwards and graduate students drove to Flint, took water samples and were stunned by the results.

In a statement, Nossel praised Walters for her "gutsy perseverance in the face of ... willful ignorance" by the government.

In 2015, the courage award for Charlie Hebdo sparked a spirited debate about free expression among PEN members. Some skipped the spring gala, saying some of the magazine's cartoons were offensive to Muslims.

The group will also award "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling this year for rousing a love of literature among children.

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Clinton email probe faces serious political consequences

WASHINGTON (AP)  The Justice Department will have to decide whether Hillary Clinton or any of her subordinates could face legal consequences for her use of a private email server, a decision whose timing has serious political repercussions.

The Obama administration is in the unenviable position of conducting an election-year probe that, no matter the outcome, will result in grievances about its impact on the presidential election. Clinton has emerged from this week's Super Tuesday primaries as the presumptive Democratic nominee.

One year ago, The Associated Press reported its discovery of Clinton's private email server, which she ran in the basement of her home in New York, to use exclusively for her work-related emails while she was secretary of state.

FILE - In this Oct. 18, 2011, file photo, then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton checks her Blackberry from a desk inside a C-17 military plane upon her departure from Malta, in the Mediterranean Sea, bound for Tripoli, Libya. Clintons work-related emails from her private account are now public, a ledger longer than 52,000 pages detailing her tenure as Americas top diplomat while failing to resolve questions about how she and her closest aides handled classified information. (AP Photo/Kevin Lamarque, Pool, File)

Republican candidate Donald Trump has indicated he plans to target Clinton over the email investigations. Trump said Thursday he looked forward to running against Clinton, "assuming she's allowed to run, assuming she's not arrested for the email situation."

The FBI for months has investigated whether sensitive information that flowed through Clinton's email server was mishandled. The State Department has acknowledged that some emails included classified information, including at the top-secret level, though Clinton has said she never sent or received anything that was marked classified at the time. The inspectors general at the State Department and the U.S. intelligence community are separately investigating whether rules or laws were broken.

"The best the Justice Department can do is try to accept that there will be political noise no matter what, and try to figure out what makes the most sense from their institutional perspective," said Stephen Vladeck, an American University law professor and national security expert who has followed the case.

The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the Justice Department has granted immunity to the staffer who set up the server, Bryan Pagliano, so that he would be willing to speak with investigators. Pagliano had previously asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination to refuse to answer questions from lawmakers investigating the server setup.

A spokesman for the Clinton campaign, Brian Fallon, said the campaign is pleased Pagliano is cooperating. Fallon said Clinton herself has offered to meet with investigators.

Though it's extraordinary for a presidential candidate to be implicated in a federal investigation, there are instances of it happening to elected officials during campaigns.

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Germany, France push for joint EU solution to migrant crisis

PARIS (AP)  Independent national measures to tackle the migrant crisis are counterproductive, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday as she met with her French counterpart in Paris to push for a joint European solution to the problem.

Border slowdowns and closures along the migrant route through Europe have just meant that people are now piling up in Greece, overwhelming the country's resources, Merkel said at a joint news conference with French President Francois Hollande in Paris.

The two leaders met ahead of a summit of EU and Turkish leaders to discuss the migrant crisis Monday. The Balkan countries and Austria have recently introduced tight restrictions to stem the flow of migrants. That has resulted in thousands of refugees and other migrants being stranded by Greece's border with Macedonia.

Migrants walk through a field near the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Friday, March 4, 2016. More than 10,000 mostly Syrian and Iraqi refugees were stuck at the country's Idomeni border as Greek officials said that nearly 32,000 migrants were stranded in the country after drastically reduce of number of transiting migrants.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

"Unilateral solutions do not help us," Merkel said, adding Europe needs to work closely with Turkey to stop the flow of migrants, and also to secure its outer borders.

Germany and France agree that the EU has to protect its external border to preserve freedom within Europe, get away from internal border controls and for security reasons, Merkel said.

Hollande said France will provide a ship to the NATO force deployed in the Aegean Sea  between Turkey and Greece  to help Europe's external border control.

As temporary controls between several member states are reimposed to deal with the migrant crisis, some fear a full collapse of the borderless Schengen zone through most of the EU. The EU's head office, the European Commission, has estimated that the cost of fully restoring border controls between EU member states would be as high as 18 billion euros ($20 billion) a year.

More than 1.2 million people applied for asylum for the first time in the EU last year, more than double the number in 2014. The EU's statistics agency said Friday that most people applying in the 28 EU countries were Syrian, Iraqi or Afghan nationals. It said 362,800 Syrians applied for asylum.

The bloc on Friday kicked off the distribution of the promised 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) in aid for refugees in Turkey, formally pledging 95 million euros for educational and food assistance.

A woman holds a baby's hands during a rainfall at the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Friday, March 4, 2016. More than 10,000 mostly Syrian and Iraqi refugees were stuck at the country's Idomeni border as Greek officials said that nearly 32,000 migrants were stranded in the country after drastically reduce of number of transiting migrants.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

A woman sits in a tent in a camp where thousands of refugees are waiting to be allowed to cross the border into Macedonia in the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Friday, March 4, 2016. More than 10,000 mostly Syrian and Iraqi refugees were stuck at the country's Idomeni border as Greek officials said that nearly 32,000 migrants were stranded in the country after drastically reduce of number of transiting migrants.(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

A woman washes clothing in a camp where thousands of refugees are waiting to be allowed to cross the border into Macedonia in the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Friday, March 4, 2016. More than 10,000 mostly Syrian and Iraqi refugees were stuck at the country's Idomeni border as Greek officials said that nearly 32,000 migrants were stranded in the country after drastically reduce of number of transiting migrants.(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Children wait in line for a daily ration of food distributed by an NGO, a sandwich and a fruit, during rainfall at the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Friday, March 4, 2016. More than 10,000 mostly Syrian and Iraqi refugees were stuck at the country's Idomeni border as Greek officials said that nearly 32,000 migrants were stranded in the country after drastically reduce of number of transiting migrants.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

A woman carries a baby during rainfall at the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Friday, March 4, 2016. More than 10,000 mostly Syrian and Iraqi refugees were stuck at the country's Idomeni border as Greek officials said that nearly 32,000 migrants were stranded in the country after drastically reduce of number of transiting migrants. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

France's President Francois Hollande, right, and German chancellor Angela Merkel attend a press conference after a meeting at the Elysee Palace, in Paris, Friday, March 4, 2015. Hollande, after speaking with the leaders of Russia, Germany, Britain and Italy, said Friday there was agreement to take advantage of the truce to coordinate humanitarian aid and open a process of political transition in Syria. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

France's President Francois Hollande, right, and German chancellor Angela Merkel arrive for a press conference after a meeting at the Elysee Palace, in Paris, Friday, March 4, 2015. Hollande, after speaking with the leaders of Russia, Germany, Britain and Italy, said Friday there was agreement to take advantage of the truce to coordinate humanitarian aid and open a process of political transition in Syria. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

France's President Francois Hollande, right, attends a meeting with German chancellor Angela Merkel at the Elysee Palace, in Paris, Friday, March 4, 2015. (Ian Langsdon/Pool Photo via AP)

France's President Francois Hollande, right, and German chancellor Angela Merkel arrive for a press conference after a meeting at the Elysee Palace, in Paris, Friday, March 4, 2015. Hollande, after speaking with the leaders of Russia, Germany, Britain and Italy, said Friday there was agreement to take advantage of the truce to coordinate humanitarian aid and open a process of political transition in Syria. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Uribe: Colombia President Santos ordered brother's arrest

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP)  Former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe is accusing his successor of orchestrating the arrest of Uribe's brother to squash dissent. The two politicians were once close but are now bitter rivals.

Friday's tweet is the former leader's first public response after the arrest of Santiago Uribe on Monday. The brother is accused of involvement in murders and forced disappearances while helping form a far-right death squad in the 1990s.

The death squad allegedly plotted dozens of slayings from an Uribe family cattle ranch in northern Antioquia state. Santiago Uribe has long denied any involvement in the killings.
Sheriff: 2 teens knew boy had gun at school before shooting

CINCINNATI (AP)  Two 14-year-old students who knew a boy had a gun at school before a cafeteria shooting have been charged with failing to report a crime, a sheriff said Friday.

Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones said 14-year-old James Austin Hancock showed the handgun to the boys early in the school day, before the lunchtime shooting Monday at Madison Local Schools, near Middletown, about 25 miles from Cincinnati.

Jones said the boys have been issued a summons to appear in juvenile court on the misdemeanor count.

Parents run to see if they are allowed to pick up their kids at Madison Local Schools, Monday, Feb. 29, 2016, in Madison Township in Butler County, Ohio, after a school shooting. An Ohio sheriff says a 14-year-old suspect in the school shooting that wounded multiple classmates is in custody. (Nick Graham/Dayton Daily News via AP)

"I have to stress, it is imperative that if there is rumor or firsthand knowledge about any type of weapon or weapons that someone has or is intending to bring to school, it has to be reported to someone," Jones said in a statement. He also urged parents to talk with their children about how important that is.

Authorities say two students were shot and two others were hurt Monday. They're all expected to recover.

Hancock is in juvenile detention on charges including attempted murder. He denied the charges through his attorney in a court appearance Tuesday.

The Butler County prosecutor has said he is considering seeking to have Hancock's case moved into adult court.

Three days after the shooting, deputies arrested a man they found asleep in his car with two handguns and a box of ammunition near the Madison schools campus. Jones said there was no evidence that 23-year-old Bryan Miller posed a threat to the school, but his arrest Thursday alarmed parents in the district, which has nearly 1,600 students in pre-K through 12th grade.

Middletown Municipal Court records show that a hearing scheduled Friday for Miller, 23, of Nicholasville, Kentucky, was continued until March 18 to give him time to obtain an attorney. He is charged with having control of a vehicle while intoxicated and improper handling of a firearm in a vehicle, both misdemeanors. No phone listing was available for him.

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A child is comforted Monday, Feb. 29, 2016, near Middletown, Ohio after a school shooting at Madison Local Schools. An Ohio sheriff says a 14-year-old suspect in a school shooting that wounded four classmates, including two who were shot, is in a juvenile lock-up and facing several charges. Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones says the boy has been charged with two counts of attempted murder, two counts of felonious assault, inducing panic and making terrorist threats. (Nick Graham/Dayton Daily News via AP)

Butler County Sheriff Deputies stand on the scene at Madison Local Schools, Monday, Feb. 29, 2016, in Madison Township in Butler County, Ohio, after a school shooting. An Ohio sheriff says a 14-year-old suspect in the school shooting that wounded multiple classmates is in custody. (Nick Graham/Dayton Daily News via AP)

Butler County Sheriff Deputies stand on the scene at Madison Local Schools, Monday, Feb. 29, 2016, in Madison Township in Butler County, Ohio, after a school shooting. An Ohio sheriff says a 14-year-old suspect in the school shooting that wounded multiple classmates is in custody. (Cara Owsley/The Cincinnati Enquirer via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT; NO SALES

A child is comforted Monday, Feb. 29, 2016, in Madison Township in Butler County, Ohio after a school shooting at Madison Local Schools. An Ohio sheriff says a 14-year-old suspect in the school shooting that wounded multiple classmates is in custody. (Marshall Gorby/Dayton Daily News via AP)

Parents and community members form a prayer circle as they wait to pick up their kids Monday, Feb. 29, 2016, in Madison Township in Butler County, Ohio, after a school shooting at Madison Local Schools. An Ohio sheriff says a 14-year-old suspect in the school shooting that wounded multiple classmates is in custody. (Nick Graham/Dayton Daily News via AP)

A child is comforted Monday, Feb. 29, 2016, near Middletown, Ohio after a school shooting at Madison Local Schools. An Ohio sheriff says a 14-year-old suspect in a school shooting that wounded four classmates, including two who were shot, is in a juvenile lock-up and facing several charges. Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones says the boy has been charged with two counts of attempted murder, two counts of felonious assault, inducing panic and making terrorist threats. (Nick Graham/Dayton Daily News via AP)

A child is comforted Monday, Feb. 29, 2016, near Middletown, Ohio after a school shooting at Madison Local Schools. An Ohio sheriff says a 14-year-old suspect in a school shooting that wounded four classmates, including two who were shot, is in a juvenile lock-up and facing several charges. Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones says the boy has been charged with two counts of attempted murder, two counts of felonious assault, inducing panic and making terrorist threats. (Nick Graham/Dayton Daily News via AP)

People look on as James Austin Hancock is arraigned in Butler County Juvenile Court, Tuesday, March 1, 2016, in Hamilton, Ohio. An Ohio sheriff says Hancock, the 14-year-old suspect in a school shooting that wounded multiple classmates on Monday, is in a juvenile lock-up and facing several charges. (Greg Lynch/The Journal-News via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
Attacks in east German town blamed on far-right 'guerrilla'

BERLIN (AP)  A string of attacks in the eastern town of Nauen near Berlin was likely committed by an anti-immigrant "guerrilla" group led by a local member of Germany's biggest far-right party, officials said Friday.

Their alleged crimes included an arson attack in August on a gym intended as temporary housing for refugees. Nobody was injured in the fire but the building was destroyed in what authorities described as the worst attack on a refugee shelter in the state for over 20 years.

Police on Tuesday arrested a local councilman for the National Democratic Party who is suspected of forming a "criminal organization" intent on committing crimes against migrants and foreigners, according to prosecutor in the eastern state of Brandenburg.

FILE - In this Aug. 26, 2015 file picture police officers and their sniffer dog examine the ruins of a burned out gym in Nauen, Germany. Security officials in Germany say friday March 4, 2016 they believe a far-right guerrilla group may have been behind a string of attacks in the eastern town of Nauen, near Berlin. Prosecutors in Brandenburg state are investigating whether a local member of the far-right National Democratic Party formed a group intent on committing crimes against migrants. Among the crimes allegedly committed by the group was an arson attack on a gym that was meant to house asylum seekers. ( Nestor Bachmann/dpa via AP)

"One gets the impression that a kind of 'right wing urban guerrilla' was active in Nauen over the past year," said Karl-Heinz Schroeter, Brandenburg's interior minister. The group is also suspected of setting alight a Polish man's car, storming a local council meeting and damaging offices of a left-wing party.

The alleged ringleader, 29-year-old NPD councilman Maik Schneider, was arrested the same day Germany's highest court opened hearings on a bid to outlaw the party. Germany's 16 states claim the NPD promotes a racist and anti-Semitic agenda. A ban would prevent it from receiving state funding, which political parties are entitled to.

Germany has seen a surge in far-right attacks over the past year. Figures obtained by The Associated Press put the number of crimes committed against refugee homes last year at 1,029, way ahead of the previous year's 199.

That trend has shown no sign of abating in the first two months of 2016, as Germany continues to grapple with an unprecedented influx of people fleeing war and poverty. Federal police records provided to the AP listed 181 crimes by the end of February, including 25 cases of arson.

Authorities say most of the attacks were committed by people without previously known links to far-right groups.
Preliminary hearing set for officer charged with murder

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP)  A white Alabama police officer charged with murder in the shooting death of a black man will go before a judge at a March 24 preliminary hearing.

Authorities on Wednesday arrested 23-year-old Aaron Smith for the fatal Feb. 25 shooting of 58-year-old Greg Gunn. Gunn died on a neighbor's lawn, just steps away from his home, where he lived with his mother.

Gunn's family attorney has said he was unarmed and walking home from a friend's house around 3 a.m. when Smith attempted an unlawful search.

This undated photo provided by the Montgomery County Sheriffi's Office shows Montgomery Police officer Aaron Smith. Smith has been charged with murder in the shooting death of a black man, Greg Gunn, outside a neighbor's home. (Montgomery County Sheriffs Office via AP)

Smith's attorney, Mickey McDermott, said earlier this week that Gunn resisted and used "deadly force" before Smith opened fire, but he wouldn't go into further details.

Authorities won't discuss evidence that led them to charge Smith. McDermott said the arrest skipped the normal protocol of letting grand juries consider whether to charge officers who use deadly force while on duty. The State Bureau of Investigations continues to examine the case.

McDermott called Smith's arrest a "political witch hunt" meant to appease the city amid a national debate over police violence in minority communities.

Gunn's mother, Nellie Ruth Gunn, told reporters this week that she wanted Smith to attend her son's funeral, set for Saturday.

"All I want is justice," she said.

The move to charge a white officer with murder in the shooting of a black man stood in contrast to past episodes of police violence dating back decades in Montgomery.

A cover-up after a deadly police shooting of a black man in 1975 led to the resignation of the mayor, police chief and multiple officers. The city has erected two monuments in memory of the victim, Bernard Whitehurst.
EU ratchets up sanctions on North Korea

BRUSSELS (AP)  The European Union has boosted sanctions against North Korea in line with a U.N. Security Council Resolution imposing new measures over Pyongyang's recent nuclear test and rocket launch.

EU headquarters said in a statement on Friday that 16 people and 12 companies were added to its list of sanction targets. They were not identified by name.

The EU first imposed sanctions on North Korea in late 2006. They target its nuclear, weapons of mass destruction and missile programs.

FILE - In this Wednesday, March 2, 2016, file photo, the United Nations Security Council votes on a resolution that would impose the toughest sanctions on North Korea in two decades, during a meeting at U.N. headquarters. After the Norths Jan. 6 nuclear test, Beijing joined the U.S. in imposing tougher sanctions that were approved unanimously Wednesday by the U.N. Security Council. But it insisted sanctions alone will never solve the nuclear issue. Instead, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi suggested a parallel track approach that separates nuclear talks from negotiations to replace the more-than-60-year-old Korean War armistice with a peace agreement. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

Measures include bans on the trade of arms, goods and technology that could contribute to the programs.

Separately from the U.N., the EU has also adopted measures aimed at financial services and transport.

The U.N. sanctions regime is expected to chip away at North Korea's already limited trade and economic ties.
Univision channels go dark for AT&T U-verse customers

NEW YORK (AP)  Univision, the biggest Spanish-language broadcaster in the U.S., has gone dark for 5.6 million AT&T U-verse customers because the companies are fighting over how much AT&T should pay Univision for its channels.

These disputes have become common in recent years as channel prices rise. That means customers' bills keep going up too. Blackouts can last for less than a day, weeks or even months.

Univision said Friday that it wants "fair compensation, on par with English language broadcasters." AT&T says it wants to "resolve this matter quickly."
Rhode Island could give harbor seals an honorary title

NEWPORT, R.I. (AP)  Rhode Island has made calamari its official appetizer and the burying beetle its official insect, and now the 500 harbor seals that spend winter around the state's rocky shoreline could get a new distinction: official state marine mammals.

"They're adorable," said Lisa Konicki, who came up with the idea as executive director of the Ocean Community Chamber of Commerce in the beachfront town of Westerly. "Look at their faces. They're so cute. What's not to love about a harbor seal?"

Coastal business groups have lined up behind a bill in the Legislature as a way of promoting tourism. So has Providence's Roger Williams Park Zoo, which renovated its seal exhibit.

In this Thursday, March 3, 2016 photo seals rest on rocks in Narragansett Bay off the coast of North Kingstown, R.I. Rhode Island state Rep. Samuel Azzinaro, D-Westerly, has introduced a bill to designate the harbor seal as the state's official marine mammal. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

The Westerly Democrat who introduced the legislation, Rep. Samuel Azzinaro, said he has never seen one except on TV, but he knows they are a source of pride to Rhode Islanders who use binoculars to watch them or take wintertime boat tours led by nonprofit organization Save the Bay.

When tides are low along Narragansett Bay, the seals can be spotted hauling onto rocks from the shadow of Newport's Pell Bridge to the industrial edges of Providence. They recline in a way that marine veterinarian Allison Tuttle likes to describe as "the happy banana."

"That's a really restful position for them," said Tuttle, who directs the veterinary rescue program at Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut. The program responds to animals needing assistance  often because of human interaction  on the coast of Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York's Fishers Island.

Raising local awareness and educating people about the seals could also help the animals, said Tuttle. The seals are not considered threatened or endangered but the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act made it illegal for humans to approach or harass them.

By late spring, most of Rhode Island's wintertime seal population begins migrating north before their breeding and pup season begins. Tuttle said they travel around Massachusetts and toward colder waters near New Hampshire and Maine. They return to Rhode Island by November.

Azzinaro said fellow lawmakers have greeted his bill positively and he isn't worried about detractors who might consider it a waste of time. Harbor seals would join a long list of animals and products granted honorary titles, from the Rhode Island Red  named state bird in 1954  to the quahog, which became state shell in 1987.
The Latest: Egyptian held in Trump threat agrees to leave US

LOS ANGELES (AP)  The Latest on an Egyptian flight student arrested after posting threatening comments about Donald Trump on Facebook (all times local):

10:05 a.m.

An Egyptian flight student who was arrested after posting threatening comments about Donald Trump on Facebook has agreed to leave the country by July 5.

FILE - This undated file photo provided by Ohoud Ali Mohamed Nasr El Sayed shows her brother, Emadeldin, an Egyptian aviation student in the Los Angeles area. Emadeldin Elsayed, a 23-year-old aspiring pilot from Cairo, is expected to appear in immigration court Friday, March 4, 2016, to determine whether he should be deported after being investigated by federal agents for posting threatening comments on his Facebook page about Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. (Ohoud Ali Mohamed Nasr El Sayed via AP, File)

Immigration authorities on Friday agreed to let Emadeldin Elsayed return to Egypt voluntarily instead of deporting him. Elsayed is being held at a jail in Southern California.

His lawyer, Hani Bushra, told Immigration Judge Kevin Riley that he may seek another bond hearing for Elsayed because he believes the detention is illegal.

Immigration authorities arrested Elsayed at his Los Angeles-area flight school on Feb. 12, eight days after the Secret Service investigated a post he wrote on his Facebook page. It said he would be willing to serve a life sentence for killing the Republican presidential hopeful.
Cyprus' first public gay wedding takes aim at prejudices

LARNACA, Cyprus (AP)  The newlyweds wanted to go all-out with their wedding celebrations. All the trappings of a traditional Cypriot wedding were on display; the huge line of well-wishers with cash-filled envelopes in hand, a band playing the latest Greek pop hits and the mandatory roasted pork.

Marios Frixou and Fanos Eleftheriades said they wanted it that way, a public declaration of their commitment to each other. Their hope is to offer other gay couples on the small east Mediterranean island nation the courage to be open about their love for each other.

Their union is the first public gay wedding in Cyprus, which has ranked low on an index of LGBT rights. It follows last month's first gay wedding but that was a low-key event involving an anonymous couple.

Marios Frixou, right, and Fanos Eleftheriades smile during their wedding ceremony at the Nicosia District Office in the capital of the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, Friday, March 4, 2016. Cyprus first gay couple to go public with their wedding on this east Mediterranean island nation say theyve done so to give courage to other gay couples to shed fears of derision and shame. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Late last year, lawmakers paved the way for the weddings by passing a civil union law that in effect recognizes gay marriage. It was a big step forward for gay rights in Cyprus, which only decriminalized homosexuality 18 years ago.

"We wanted to give courage to other couples and to all gay and transgender people to accept themselves and not to be ashamed of who they are," says Frixou. "We've gotten scores of messages from people telling us how much courage we've given them."

The wedding ceremony itself took just minutes  a simple exchange of vows in front of the Nicosia District Officer with the couple's two best women and a few friends on hand.

The reception was not so modest and hundreds of people showed up to wish the happy couple all the best.

Keeping with Cypriot tradition, Frixou's mother greeted the couple by handing both newlyweds a gold coin, old family heirlooms which they hung around their necks. The couple danced to a violin rendition of the traditional wedding song.

Frixou  a 36-year-old former literature tutor who hails from the small village of Xylophagou in the island's southeast  isn't shy about being in the public eye. The garrulous prison guard has racked up several talk show appearances, authored five novels and is actively involved in charity work. He says some of the proceeds from the reception will go toward helping sick kids. Fanos, 26, works at an upscale store of a famous Italian clothier.

"The village doesn't see my as 'Marios the gay guy' because I was up front about who I am from a very early age," says Frixou.

The wedding caps a seven-year relationship that began when the two met through a colleague of Frixou's.

Frixou says the civil union law that paved for Friday's wedding bestows all legal rights to gay couples that heterosexual ones are entitled to, like a widowed partner receiving the pension of a deceased spouse. The only restriction is that the law doesn't provide for joint adoption of children for gay couples wishing to have a family. However, Costas Gavrielides, the president of gay rights group ACCEPT, said it does allow for one of the partners to adopt.

In spite of its ingrained conservatism, influential Greek Orthodox Church and Mediterranean machismo, Cyprus has made huge strides on gay rights in recent years.

"People are coming to terms with the fact that the rights of all people must be respected and actually enshrined in law," said Gavrielides.

"Same-sex couples have been given the opportunity to feel legitimized," he said.

The machinery of government has stayed in step; Gavrielides says a recent Interior Ministry memo instructed employees that civil union couples are entitled to the exact same rights as straight ones.

Not everyone has been so accepting. The Church and local religious groups have been clear in their opposition to such civil unions, but have not been as vocal against it as activists like Gavrielides expected.

"I won't judge these people," said Marinos Spetsiotis, president of the Pancyprian Orthodox Christian Movement (PAHOK), an organization that has vociferously denounced homosexuality as "an unnatural way of being."

"We've made our effort to prevent this from happening, but we're not going to act in a way that escalates the situation," he added.

What may also account for the attitude shift is an understanding that in an ethnically divided country where leaders preach respect for the rights of all that laws can't be selective about who's entitled to them or not.

For all the progress, there's still a way to go. Social stigma still keeps many closeted, like the 37 year-old man who married his 36-year-old partner last month in the country's first gay marriage.

The 37-year-old, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he hasn't told his parents yet about his homosexuality said he and his partner wanted to keep the ceremony under wraps because they weren't yet ready to come out.

He also said he's still wary of a "risk" from the possible reaction of work colleagues and employers if he were to open up about his sexual orientation.

"Cyprus has really made huge strides in a short time, but we're still not there yet," he says.

Marios Frixou, right, places a wedding ring on the finger of his new spouse Fanos Eleftheriades during their wedding ceremony at the Nicosia District Office in the capital of the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, Friday, March 4, 2016. Cyprus first gay couple to go public with their wedding on this east Mediterranean island nation say theyve done so to give courage to other gay couples to shed fears of derision and shame. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Marios Frixou, left, and Fanos Eleftheriades walk down the hall of the Nicosia District Office after their wedding ceremony in the capital of the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, Friday, March 4, 2016. Cyprus first gay couple to go public with their wedding on this east Mediterranean island nation say theyve done so to give courage to other gay couples to shed fears of derision and shame. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Marios Frixou, right, and his new spouse Fanos Eleftheriades run to their car from the entrance of the Nicosia District Office after their wedding ceremony, in the capital of the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, Friday, March 4, 2016. Cyprus first gay couple to go public with their wedding on this east Mediterranean island nation say theyve done so to give courage to other gay couples to shed fears of derision and shame. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Marios Frixou wipes tears from his eyes after embracing his mother with his new spouse Fanos Eleftheriades next to him during the couple's wedding reception in the village of Kellia on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, on Friday, March 4, 2016. Cyprus first gay couple to go public with their wedding on this east Mediterranean island nation say theyve done so to give courage to other gay couples to shed fears of derision and shame. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Marios Frixou, left, and his new spouse Fanos Eleftheriades await friends, family and other well-wishers during their wedding reception in Cyprus' in Kelia village near coastal resort town of Larnaca, on Friday, March 4, 2016. Cyprus first gay couple to go public with their wedding on this east Mediterranean island nation say theyve done so to give courage to other gay couples to shed fears of derision and shame. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
The Latest: Victims of house fire were lobbyist's children

CENTRALIA, Wash. (AP)  The Latest on a house fire that killed three children in Washington state (all times local):

11:50 a.m.

Colleagues say a Washington state lobbyist is the father of three children killed in a house fire.

Scene of a fire where three children perished Friday, March 4, 2016, in Centralia, Wash. Authorities say a house fire killed three children in southwestern Washington state after their mother wasn't able to rescue them as they slept upstairs. Police in the city of Centralia say the fire woke the woman sleeping downstairs and she couldn't get to her children. (AP Photo/Natalie Johnson/The Chronicle)

Police say their mother tried to save the children as they slept upstairs but wasn't able to reach them early Friday. She escaped the flames.

Both houses of the Legislature held moments of silence for Brad Tower's family, and a rabbi and pastor mentioned them in morning prayers. Lt. Gov. Brad Owen and several lawmakers addressed the tragedy, with Owen describing it as "the greatest pain a person could ever have."

Tower has been a lobbyist in Washington since 2000. He has represented the state's community bankers, its dental association and the Washington Christmas Tree Growers.

Authorities haven't officially released the victims' identities.

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11:10 a.m.

Authorities say there's no reason to suspect arson started a house fire that killed three children in western Washington state.

Centralia police Sgt. Carl Buster says their mother tried to save the children as they slept upstairs but wasn't able to reach them early Friday. She escaped the flames.

He says investigators will need to follow up with the woman, but there's no indication of foul play so far.

Buster says the mother was sleeping on the lower level of the two-story home and could not get through thick smoke and flames when she reached the landing of the stairs to the second floor.

Investigators have not determined the cause of the fire but say they have confirmed it started just inside the front door.

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7:05 a.m.

Authorities say a house fire killed three children in western Washington state after their mother wasn't able to rescue them as they slept upstairs.

Police in the city of Centralia say the mother and children were the only people in the two-story home when emergency responders arrived early Friday.

Police Sgt. Carl Buster says the fire woke the woman sleeping downstairs and she couldn't get upstairs to her children. She escaped the blaze and hasn't reported any injuries.

Buster says an officer climbed on the roof and tried to break a window to save the kids, seriously injuring his hand. He was taken to hospital.

Investigators are working to determine the cause of the fire in the city between Seattle and Portland, Oregon. The children's ages haven't been released.
Federal probe of bid-rigging goes beyond Chesapeake ex-CEO

DALLAS (AP)  As advanced drilling technology opened untapped sources of oil and natural gas, it triggered fierce competition among energy companies to scoop up rights to drill on vast swaths of land across the country.

The rush caused lease prices to skyrocket in the most promising fields. In a few cases, gas companies responded by cutting secret deals to rig the bidding and hold down their costs. Federal officials are now investigating to see if these shady practices are more common than believed.

The first big indictment of an executive came this week, when former Chesapeake Energy Corp. CEO Aubrey McClendon was charged with conspiring to rig bids for gas leases in Oklahoma from 2007 to 2012. Prosecutors moved Thursday to drop the charges after McClendon died in a fiery crash one day after the indictment was handed up by a federal grand jury in Oklahoma City.

FILE - In a Sept. 8, 2009, file photo, Chesapeake Energy Corp. CEO Aubrey McClendon speaks during the opening of a compressed natural gas filling station in Oklahoma City. As advanced drilling technology opened untapped sources of oil and natural gas, it triggered fierce competition among energy companies to scoop up rights to drill on vast swaths of land across the country. Before McClendon's death, the Justice Department said that his indictment was "the first case resulting from an ongoing federal antitrust investigation into price fixing, bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct in the oil and natural gas industry." (AP Photo/File)

Before McClendon's death, the Justice Department said that his indictment was "the first case resulting from an ongoing federal antitrust investigation into price fixing, bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct in the oil and natural gas industry."

No one else was charged in the indictment but two unnamed companies and an unnamed co-conspirator were mentioned. The wording of the indictment made clear that Chesapeake was one of the companies. A Chesapeake Energy spokesman said the company does not expect to face criminal prosecution or fines.

The Justice Department accused McClendon of orchestrating a scheme in which the two companies would decide who would win a particular bid. The winner would then give the apparent loser an interest in the lease. McClendon denied the charges and vowed to prove his innocence and clear his name.

McClendon protested that he was the first person accused of a crime in relation to joint bidding on leases. Joint bidding is the practice of companies, often smaller ones, working together on a bid. It is more common in offshore leases such as the Gulf of Mexico, and the bidders disclose that they are working together, according to people in the industry.

A prominent Houston lawyer who advises energy companies told The Associated Press that he had never heard of bid-rigging of the sort described in the indictment.

An attorney who is suing the companies described the oil patch differently.

"It's the wild, wild West out there," said Dallas attorney Warren Burns.

Burns filed a civil antitrust lawsuit in federal court in Oklahoma on Thursday against Chesapeake, SandRidge Energy Corp. and former SandRidge CEO Tom Ward. He believes SandRidge and Ward are the other company and the co-conspirator mentioned but not identified in the McClendon indictment. Representatives of SandRidge and Ward did not respond to several requests for comment.

Landowners "can tell you that on one side of a dividing line is Chesapeake's territory and on the other side is SandRidge's," Burns said.

SandRidge has disclosed in regulatory filings that it received a subpoena from the Justice Department about an ongoing antitrust investigation into land or mineral rights leases before 2012  coinciding with the time period in the McClendon indictment. SandRidge also said it was told by the Justice Department that it was the target of a grand jury investigation in Oklahoma.

For decades, the government did not intervene in the business of how oil and gas companies bid for the right to drill. That has changed in the last few years, with some major cases.

Chesapeake Energy, the company that McClendon and Ward founded and built into the nation's second-biggest producer of natural gas, pleaded no contest to antitrust violations and agreed last April to pay $25 million to settle charges that it conspired with Encana Oil and Gas USA to rig bids in Michigan. Encana paid a $5 million fine.

Oil and gas leases fell from $1,510 to $40 an acre, and officials said there were more than 700 victims of the scheme in Michigan.

In 2013, Gunnison Energy Corp. and SG Interests Ltd. agreed to pay $275,000 each to settle a Justice Department lawsuit accusing them of bid-rigging on federal land in Colorado. Officials said the companies agreed that only one would bid on leases but they would split the acreage after paying as little as $2 an acre.

The Justice Department said the Colorado case marked the first time it had challenged anticompetitive bidding for mineral-rights leases.

Houston lawyer Philip Hilder, a former federal prosecutor, said he expects more prosecutions. He said the energy sector has been largely ignored by the antitrust division and that bid-rigging is a widely accepted practice.

By winning an indictment of McClendon, prosecutors may have made other potential targets of the investigation more willing to cooperate, said David Weinstein, a Miami attorney and also a former federal prosecutor.

McClendon, 56, started out as a landman, someone who calls and knocks on the doors of mineral rights owners about letting oil and gas companies drill under their land. It's a bare-knuckles business in which rivals try to beat each other to the doorsteps of residents who may have no idea of the wealth beneath their land.

If a landman moves into an area before competitors do, he can line up cheap leases that become hugely profitable if his company strikes oil or gas. Once a field becomes hot, however, landmen from different companies swarm in, driving up lease prices.

McClendon resigned as CEO in 2013 after a revolt by activist shareholders including Carl Icahn. He started a new company, American Energy Partners, less than a mile from Chesapeake's headquarters in Oklahoma City.

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Peanuts for babies? Studies back allergy-preventing strategy

CHICAGO (AP)  Two new studies bolster evidence that feeding babies peanuts or other allergy-inducing foods is more likely to protect them than to cause problems.

One study, a follow-up to landmark research published last year, suggests that the early prevention strategy leads to persistent, long-lasting results in children at risk for food allergies. It found that allergy protection lasted at least through age 5 and didn't wane even when kids stopped eating peanut-containing foods for a year.

That means at-risk kids who don't want to eat peanut butter on a weekly basis can safely take a break, at least for a year.

FILE - This Feb. 20, 2015 file photo, photo shows an arrangement of peanuts in New York. Two new studies bolster evidence that feeding babies peanuts or other allergy-inducing foods is more likely to protect them than to cause problems. One study, a follow-up to landmark research published last year, suggests that the early prevention strategy leads to persistent, long-lasting results in children at risk for food allergies. It found that allergy protection lasted at least through age 5 and didn't wane even when kids stopped eating peanut-containing foods for a year. (AP Photo/Patrick Sison, File)

The second new study suggests that the early strategy could also work with eggs, another food that can cause allergies in young children. It found that allergies to peanuts and eggs were less common in young children who started eating those foods at 3 months of age than in kids who as infants received only breast milk.

The New England Journal of Medicine published both new studies online Friday, coinciding with their presentation at a medical meeting in Los Angeles.

Food allergies are common, potentially serious and sometimes deadly. They're becoming more prevalent in children in many countries, affecting up to 8 percent of kids under age 3. About 2 percent of U.S. kids have peanut allergies.

The results from last year's study prompted a sea change in experts' approach to preventing these allergies. It was the first "to show that early introduction of peanut can prevent the development of allergy to it," Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in a statement.

It also led to new draft guidance issued Friday by a panel convened by Fauci's agency. The recommendations include giving at-risk kids peanut-containing food as early as 4- to 6-months of age. Infants at risk are those with severe skin rashes or egg allergies; allergy tests are recommended beforehand.

The agency paid for last year's study and follow-up, and will issue final guidelines after a 45-day comment period. The draft guidance echoes advice issued last year by the American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical groups in response to the ground-breaking study.

That study involved more than 600 at-risk British infants. By age 5, peanut allergies were much less common in children who had started eating peanut-based foods before age 1, usually peanut butter or a peanut-based snack, than among children who'd been told to abstain.

The follow-up involved most of those children. After a year off, an additional three kids in both groups tested positive for peanut allergies. The allergies remained much less common in the early peanut eaters  affecting just under 5 percent of those kids versus almost 19 percent of the others.

The new results suggest that early introduction of allergy-inducing foods results in "true tolerance" in at-risk kids, said Dr. Stacy Dorris, an allergist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She was not involved in the research.

The second study involved 1,300 study breast-fed British children randomly assigned to get several types of allergy-inducing foods or just breast milk.

The strongest results were with peanut-based food and eggs but there was one hitch. About 60 percent of the early eaters didn't stick to the program. Some may have had immature swallowing skills; some doctors don't recommend starting solid foods until around 4 months of age. But it's possible some parents stopped giving solid foods because they noticed allergy-like symptoms, which may have included false alarms, said Dr. Gideon Lack, a King's College London researcher who led all three studies.

The results suggest feeding these foods to at-risk infants is safe, but often not feasible in infants so young, said Dr. Gary Wong, a Hong Kong pediatrician. He wrote an editorial published online with the new studies.

Still, Wong said the new studies confirm that the old approach to preventing food allergies  avoiding certain foods early in life  is probably obsolete.

"Evidence is really building up. It appears early introduction would be better off than avoidance," said Wong, who is also an associate editor at the journal.

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Online:

Journal: http://www.nejm.org

Government draft guidance: http://tinyurl.com/j2d6vx6

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Saudi ambassador: No UN resolution needed for Yemen crisis

UNITED NATIONS (AP)  Saudi Arabia's U.N. ambassador said Friday he is concerned about the worsening humanitarian situation in Yemen but doesn't see the need for a Security Council resolution addressing it.

U.N. humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien has accused all parties in Yemen's conflict, including the Saudi-led coalition and the rebels it has been fighting for nearly a year, of attacking hospitals and schools. Security Council members have begun discussing a proposed resolution on the humanitarian crisis in the Arab world's poorest country.

But Saudi Ambassador Abdallah Al-Mouallimi said the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs had told his office that it doesn't believe the council's intervention is needed.

"There are reports here and there about what the Security Council is up to," Al-Mouallimi said. "We continue to believe that a political solution is the only way to resolve the Yemeni crisis."

OCHA deputy spokesman Jens Laerke said the office couldn't comment on the ambassador's statement. "OCHA cannot comment on what a diplomat may say he has heard," he said.

Yemen's conflict pits the government, backed by the Saudi-led coalition, against Shiite rebels known as Houthis allied with a former president. The Houthis took over the capital, Sanaa, in September 2014, and the U.S.-backed coalition began airstrikes against them in March 2015.

The absence of a national government in many parts of the country has allowed for the expansion of groups like the Islamic State group and al-Qaida. Amid the chaos, the vast majority of Yemenis are reported to be short of basic supplies like food and fuel.

Angola's U.N. Ambassador Ismael Gaspar Martins, the current Security Council president, said Thursday that members are discussing a new resolution on the humanitarian situation "because the situation is evolving toward a very drastic one ... before our eyes."

Rupert Colville, the spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, told journalists in Geneva on Friday that the number of civilians killed in Yemen doubled between January and February. At least 168 civilians were killed and 193 injured last month, around two-thirds of them by coalition airstrikes, he said.

O'Brien has told the council that more than 2,000 children are estimated to have been killed or injured since the start of the conflict, including at least 90 children killed so far this year.

On Friday, gunmen in southern Yemen stormed a retirement home run by a charity established by Mother Teresa, killing 16 people, including four Catholic nuns, officials and witnesses said.

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North Dakota lawmakers look to beef up gun restoration laws

FARGO, N.D. (AP)  The fatal shooting of a Fargo police officer responding to a domestic disturbance has spurred efforts to clamp down on North Dakota's gun restoration laws, which researchers say are among the most forgiving in the nation.

The suspect in the Feb. 10 shooting death of Officer Jason Moszer was convicted of negligent homicide for shooting a Grand Forks man in 1988, but state laws did not disqualify Marcus Schumacher from having his gun rights restored.

A lawmaker who represents the district where the shooting took place is proposing a bill prohibiting violent felons from possessing firearms.

FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Cass County Sheriff's Office in Fargo, N.D. shows Marcus Schumacher, the suspect in the February 2016 shooting death of Fargo police Officer Jason Moszer. Moszer's death has some legislators looking at changing North Dakota's gun laws that allow someone who has killed another person to lawfully own a weapon. Schumacher became eligible to own guns 10 years after serving a sentence for shooting and killing a Grand Forks man. (Cass County Sheriff's Office via AP, File)

"This happened right in our neighborhood. I could hear the shots from my window," Republican Rep. Blair Thoreson said. "People are concerned about what's being done."

Federal law prohibits someone convicted of any federal felony from owning a gun. The restoration process for felons convicted of state crimes is varied, complicated and in some cases as specific as allowing the use of shotguns, rifles, muzzleloaders and antique weapons, but not handguns or concealed weapons.

Only a handful of states, including North Dakota, automatically restore gun rights  even to violent felons  after sufficient time has passed without requiring petitions or pardons, said Margaret C. Love, a Washington pardon lawyer who has researched restoration laws. She said felons in more than half the states can usually get back their gun licenses, although typically not for violent crimes.

"North Dakota laws are not typical, but they are also not unique," Love said. "New Mexico and Louisiana have schemes that are similar to North Dakota's, and there are a number of states that don't limit long guns at all for anyone."

Allison Anderman, an attorney for the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said North Dakota "is particularly weak" when it comes to restoration of gun rights.

Catherine Mortensen, a spokeswoman with the National Rifle Association, said at one point she was waiting to hear back from the group's lobbyist for comment and then declined to respond to further requests for an interview.

Bruce Quick, a prominent Fargo defense attorney, said any changes in the law should be specific about the types of crimes that would prevent a felon from legally getting a gun.

"I wouldn't necessarily be opposed to limiting it to murder convictions," Quick said. "... Just simply saying that with any felony of violence there is no restoration, I think is a bad idea."

North Dakota lawmakers aren't due to reconvene until 2017, and it's unclear what kind of reception they will give Thoreson's idea.

Democratic Sen. Mac Schneider, the Senate minority leader, said he does not "see any reasonable justification for allowing convicted violent felons to own firearms." Republican Rep. Al Carlson, the House majority leader, said he was open to discussing the proposal but wouldn't commit to supporting it until he can analyze the written bill.

"It always happens after an incident in which somebody decides there ought to be a bill to make it tougher," Carlson said. "We'll take a look at it. The door is wide open to make it better if it can be."

Homicides are rare in North Dakota, and Moszer was the first Fargo police officer to die in the line of duty in more than 130 years. The state is protective of its gun rights when it comes to hunting. It has abundant wildlife and a few years ago gave out more than 100,000 deer gun licenses.

North Dakota passed a law in the mid-1980s that prohibited anyone convicted of a felony involving violence or intimidation from owning a gun for 10 years after the completion of a sentence and probation. Other felonies and Class A misdemeanors involving crimes with firearms or dangerous weapons require a five-year waiting period after all time is served.

State lawmakers made another change in 2011 that allows convicted felons to petition judges to get their gun rights restored before the five- or 10-year waiting period has elapsed.

Police searching Schumacher's home found five guns, nearly 50 spent shell casings and other ammunition, including two unopened boxes with more than 400 rounds. A .243-caliber Winchester bolt-action rifle was found under Schumacher's body in the living room and a .22-caliber Ruger model firearm was found in the kitchen. Two other rifles and a shotgun were found in a gun cabinet in an upstairs bedroom.
Turkish-Russian tensions not felt in village near border

AL-ISSAWIYAH, Syria (AP)  In this Syrian mountain village perched above the Mediterranean, residents say they have enjoyed a measure of peace, even though they live near a border that has seen escalating tensions in recent months between Turkey and Russia.

The villagers, most of whom are members of Syria's Turkmen ethnic minority, have formed their own militia, but they rely heavily on the Syrian army, said Al-Issawiyah's mayor, Mustafa Yussef Kafe.

On Friday, hundreds of them lined up to receive a truckload of food, water and other humanitarian aid sent by Moscow, a longtime ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad. The delivery was part of a cease-fire that began last weekend in the 5-year-old civil war between Assad and the rebels trying to oust him from power.

Turkmen people received a humanitarian aid by Russian military in Al-Issawiyah, about 15 kilometers of Turkish border, Syria, Friday, March 4, 2016. Al-Issawiyah, populated by Turkmen, Turks' ethnic kin living in Syria, has remained peaceful unlike some other Turkmen areas at the border with Turkey where local militant groups opposed Syrian government forces. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

"We live in peace here, and we are very grateful to Russia for the help it is offering," the mayor told international reporters on a trip to the village organized by Russia's foreign and defense ministries.

On Nov. 24, NATO-ally Turkey shot down a Russian Su-24 that it said ignored repeated warnings and crossed into Turkish airspace from Syria for about 17 seconds. The two pilots of the Russian warplane ejected, but one was killed by Syrian rebel fire as he parachuted from his aircraft. One of two helicopters sent to the crash site to search for survivors was also hit by rebel fire, killing a serviceman.

The incident came less than two months after Russia began a campaign of massive airstrikes in Syria. The bombardment helped Syrian government troops retake lost ground in an offensive against groups that Assad considers to be terrorists, although the U.S. said most of the targets have been rebels supported by the West.

"We are deeply sorry for the Russian pilot," Kafe said, referring to the Russian airman's death as a "heroic deed."

Russia denied the intrusion, and President Vladimir Putin denounced Turkey for what he described as a "treacherous stab in the back." He responded by imposing economic sanctions, including restricting Turkish imports to Russia and a ban on Russian package tours to Turkey.

Putin also ordered the deployment of long-range air defense missiles to the Russian air base in Syria that is 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of the border with Turkey. Russia has said it would destroy any target threatening its warplanes.

Al-Issawiyah sits in the mountains just 15 kilometers (9 miles) south of the Turkish frontier.

Before the cease-fire, the Syrian army launched an offensive around the northern city of Aleppo under Russian air cover, and the Kurdish YPG militia sought to extend its gains near the border.

Turkey has threatened unspecified military action to halt the Kurdish offensive and has shelled militia positions along the border before the truce began, leading to a significant reduction in hostilities.

Lt.-Gen. Sergei Kuralenko, who heads the Coordination Center at the Russian air base, said monitors registered 41 truce violations Wednesday and Thursday, but he emphasized that "the cease-fire has been largely holding."

The most troubling situation was in Aleppo province, where there have been 13 violations in the past 24 hours, Kuralenko said.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj.-Gen. Igor Konashenkov said the Russians have been involved in round-the-clock information exchange with the U.S., in what he described as business-like and "very professional."

He said the Russian warplanes that operated at hectic pace throughout the five-month Russian campaign have mostly stayed on the ground since the beginning of the cease-fire. Russian and Syrian jets haven't targeted opposition groups that have pledged to abide by the truce, he said.

With the truce helping sharply reduce hostilities across Syria for the first time in the five-year conflict, the Russian military said it was trying to reach out to local communities and opposition groups to encourage them to support the cease-fire.

"Our groups are working with the population, local authorities and the opposition so that peace comes to each Syrian province," Kuralenko said.

Residents of Al-Issawiyah said the village has been spared the fighting, although Turkmen militants operated just to the north against Syrian troops.

"The Syrian army is protecting us, and it has remained calm," said school teacher Daed Akili.

Dr. Ayub Kara Fallah said the Turkmen in the village don't feel alienated from the rest of the country.

"We don't make difference between the Turkmen or the Arabs. We are all Syrians," he told the reporters on the Russian-led tour of the village. "The cease-fire is the right way forward."

Added 76-year-old Ahmad Zaza: "We are thankful to Putin for helping the Syrian people."

Muhammad Najar, a refugee from Damascus whose wife is from the village, denounced the Turkmen militants as "traitors of the Syrian people."

Abdel Hamid Akkad, a 42-year-old office worker who fled Aleppo with his family of seven, said he has had to live on his savings because he couldn't find a job in the village.

"This area is among the safest in Syria," he said, but he still dreams of going home.

"If Aleppo is freed, I will be among the first to return," he added.

Turkmen people receive humanitarian aid from the Russian military in Al-Issawiyah, about 15 kilometers of Turkish border, Syria, Friday, March 4, 2016. Al-Issawiyah, populated by Turkmen, Turks' ethnic kin living in Syria, has remained peaceful unlike some other Turkmen areas at the border with Turkey where local militant groups opposed Syrian government forces. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

A Turkmen man receives humanitarian aid from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent in Al-Issawiyah, about 15 kilometers of Turkish border, Syria, Friday, March 4, 2016. Al-Issawiyah, populated by Turkmen, Turks' ethnic kin living in Syria, has remained peaceful unlike some other Turkmen areas at the border with Turkey where local militant groups opposed Syrian government forces. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

Turkmen people reach out showing their Syrian passports to receive humanitarian aid from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent in Al-Issawiyah, about 15 kilometers of Turkish border, Syria, Friday, March 4, 2016. Al-Issawiyah, populated by Turkmen, Turks' ethnic kin living in Syria, has remained peaceful unlike some other Turkmen areas at the border with Turkey where local militant groups opposed Syrian government forces. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

Turkmen women wait for the distribution of humanitarian aid by Russian military and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent in Al-Issawiyah, about 15 kilometers of Turkish border, Syria, Friday, March 4, 2016. Al-Issawiyah, populated by Turkmen, Turks' ethnic kin living in Syria, has remained peaceful unlike some other Turkmen areas at the border with Turkey where local militant groups opposed Syrian government forces. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)
For Democrats, Flint crisis offers campaign opportunity

FLINT, Mich. (AP)  Nakiya Wakes raised her hand in a church to ask Bernie Sanders what he would do to help the people of Flint if he is elected president.

The city's lead-tainted water, Wakes said, is to blame for her miscarriage and her son's repeated suspensions from the first grade.

About 2 weeks earlier, she and another mother met privately with Hillary Clinton during her stop in city to discuss solutions, not politics.

FILE - In this Feb. 7, 2016 file photo, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton holds the hand of Flint Mayor Karen Weaver during a meeting with officials at the House Of Prayer Missionary Baptist Church in Flint, Mich. Flint, a majority-black impoverished community in a state run by Republicans, has become a dominant issue for the Democratic candidates before Tuesdays primary in Michigan, so much so that they will return to the city for the seventh Democratic debate on Sunday. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

"It's really not political with me," Wakes, 40, said after Sanders' forum. "When are you going to get something done for the families and these children?"

This majority-black impoverished community in central Michigan is dealing with a months-long state of emergency over its contaminated drinking water. The crisis has become a hot-button issue for Democratic presidential candidates.

The issue has become so dominant for these White House hopefuls that they scheduled a prime-time debate in the city on Sunday ahead of the state's primary Tuesday. Sanders has called for Michigan's Republican Gov. Rick Snyder to resign, saying an apology is not enough.

Clinton dispatched aides to the city of nearly 100,000 in January, raised the issue during a nationally televised debate and won the mayor's endorsement. A campaign ad with scenes from Clinton's Feb. 7 visit to an African-American church in the city touts her resolve to "fight for you in Flint no matter how long it takes." She has called the crisis "immoral" and says it never would have taken so long to resolve such a problem in a wealthy, predominantly white city.

Sanders vowed "never again" would a disaster like this occur if he is elected president. In a break from his large rallies, he listened to angry residents voice their frustrations and he pointed to Flint's aging underground pipes while pushing his $1 trillion infrastructure spending plan.

Political experts say Clinton's focus on Flint both before and since her loss in New Hampshire  including her assertion that racism is a factor  has helped shore up her standing with black voters.

"You can tell that from their perspective, it's a very important signal of affiliation with the African-American community nationally and in Michigan," said Matt Grossmann, director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research at Michigan State University. "The fact that she consolidated that support despite a pretty aggressive outreach from the Sanders campaign and a change in focus by the Sanders campaign, too, suggests that the overall message  'I care about Flint'  is working."

GOP candidates, meanwhile, are mostly avoiding talk of Flint along with mention of Snyder, whose administration has come under heavy criticism for the disaster. Elevated lead levels in children can cause adverse health effects, developmental delays, and emotional and behavioral problems.

In the U.S. Senate, Republican Mike Lee of Utah said Friday that he was blocking a bipartisan bill to provide federal aid to Flint because Michigan had a budget surplus and doesn't need the money.

Republicans accuse Democrats of politicizing Flint for their own gains and oversimplifying how the fiasco happened. Clinton said on Super Tuesday that kids "were poisoned by toxic water because the governor wanted to save a little money" when the city was under state emergency financial management. Snyder, who has apologized for his mistakes and a lagging initial response, says there also were failures by local and federal officials.

Asked about Flint in Thursday's GOP debate in Detroit, Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio said "all of us are outraged by what happened" but added that Snyder "took responsibility."

"This should not be a partisan issue. The way the Democrats have tried to turn this into a partisan issue, that somehow Republicans woke up in the morning and decided, 'Oh, it's a good idea to poison some kids with lead,' it's absurd. It's outrageous. It isn't true," Rubio said to applause.

The state has committed $70 million in assistance, and Snyder is asking for at least $165 million more while Democrats seek a federal aid package, too. The second-term governor, who once considered a presidential run himself and has said he prefers a governor to be the Republican nominee, is not expected to endorse a candidate before the primary to stay focused on Flint residents, spokesman Ari Adler said.

When the last governor standing in the GOP field, Ohio's John Kasich, was questioned about Flint in a town hall event in East Lansing, he called for a re-examination of federal water regulations and said Snyder was probably "not even sleeping trying to get on top of the whole thing and fix it."

Mike Gooch, 57, a University of Michigan-Flint research assistant and Sanders supporter who lives near the city, cheered the decision to have a debate in Flint.

"Anything to pull a spotlight on Flint in helpful," he said. "Whether you look at it as exploitation or whether you look at it as elevating, it all depends on your perspective. I tend to think ... as long as that attention is elevated, we're going to get support. As soon as that goes away, the support goes with it."

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Follow David Eggert on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DavidEggert00 . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/author/david-eggert
New charges filed against man accused in hot SUV death

ATLANTA (AP)  A Georgia man accused of intentionally leaving his toddler son to die in a hot SUV faces new charges of sharing sexually explicit communications with underage girls, according to an indictment prosecutors filed Friday.

The new indictment charges Justin Ross Harris with two counts of sexual exploitation of children and six counts of dissemination of harmful material to minors. Harris already faced multiple charges, including murder, in the June 2014 death of his son Cooper.

His trial on the original charges is set to begin April 11.

"We are concerned that the timing of this indictment is a calculated maneuver to inflame public opinion against Ross on the eve of jury selection," Harris' attorney Maddox Kilgore said in an emailed statement. "It is clear that these allegations are wholly unrelated to the accidental death of Cooper Harris."

The state has investigated every aspect of Harris' life for nearly two years, and makes no new allegations of cruelty, abuse or neglect in the new indictment, Kilgore said.

"The content and timing of this indictment confirms the absence of such evidence, and it signals the State's desperation to convict Ross of the worst mistake any of us as parents could make," he said.

Cobb County District Attorney Vic Reynolds said in an emailed statement that the new charges stem from advances in electronic forensic analysis and newly discovered victims. If the state had waited any longer to file the new charges some would have been barred by the statute of limitations, he said.

The indictment names three separate underage girls and says he had lewd photos of two of them, sent nude photos to two of them and gave two of them printed material containing "explicit and detailed verbal descriptions and narrative accounts of sexual excitement and sexual conduct."

Harris was previously indicted in September 2014 on multiple charges, including malice murder, felony murder and cruelty to children. That indictment also includes charges related to accusations that Harris tried to get an underage girl to send him a photo of her genitalia, had sexually explicit online conversations with her and sent her a sexually explicit photo.

Police have said the boy was left in an SUV for about seven hours on a day when temperatures in the Atlanta area reached at least into the high 80s. The medical examiner's office has said the boy died of hyperthermia  essentially overheating  and called his death a homicide.

Harris has been in jail without bond since the day his son died. His lawyers have said the boy's death was a tragic accident.
Judge: Man who admits molesting daughter can avoid jail

INDIANAPOLIS (AP)  An Indiana judge is allowing a man who admitted that he molested his daughter to avoid prison in return for long-term financial support of the now 7-year-old girl, who has cancer.

Marion Superior Court Magistrate Steven Rubick sentenced the man Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to felony child molesting, The Indianapolis Star reported (http://indy.st/1LF7zqQ ). Rubick also required the 41-year-old man to register as a sex offender, continue treatment at a counseling center and vacate the family's home so his estranged wife and children could move back in.

The ex-wife wrote a letter asking the court not to send him to prison because she said he could help financially support their children.

Deputy Prosecutor Courtney Curtis, who requested the man serve nine years in prison and three years on probation, said she "completely" disagreed with the sentence, but understood Rubick took into account the mother's wishes.

The man was charged last year after his wife notified the Indiana Department of Child Services of the abuse. The girl told her mother that she had touched her father's genitals, according to court records. The girl later told officials that her father also touched her genitals. The Associated Press is not identifying the man because it would also identify the victim.

The girl, now 7, said her father told her not to tell or he would go to jail, court records state. She eventually told her mother it happened every night when she slept with her father.

The crimes occurred after the girl was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2013 and her parents took turns taking care of her at night, records state.

The man has been out of jail for the past year but has not paid anything to support his kids, Curtis said. The man also had been living in the family home, records state.

Campbell said the man lost his job after his arrest and was unable to find work until starting a new position two weeks ago. He fully intends to financially support the children in future, Campbell said.

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Celebrities join buddy scheme for unaccompanied Calais child refugees

Celebrities and public figures, including Jude Law, Benedict Cumberbatch and Dominic West, have pledged to sponsor lone child refugees in the Calais "Jungle" camp to help reunite them with relatives in the UK.

The well-known figures, who also include X-Files actress Gillian Anderson and broadcaster Mariella Frostrup, have signed up to a buddy system to personally help and support unaccompanied children.

The stars have pledged to visit them in Calais or their families in the UK, contribute towards their legal and humanitarian costs and speak out on their behalf.

Benedict Cumberbatch is among a number of celebrities who have pledged to sponsor lone child refugees in the Calais "Jungle" camp to help reunite them with relatives in the UK

Citizens UK estimates there are around 150 unaccompanied youngsters with a legal right to join their relatives in the UK languishing in the cold, muddy and rat-infested Calais camp.

French president Francois Hollande said on Thursday that unaccompanied child refugees in France who have a claim to seek asylum in Britain should be able to reach the UK quickly.

As bulldozers rolled into the camp and mass evictions began this week, volunteers fear lone children could become lost and scattered across northern France with no humanitarian protection.

George Gabriel, lead organiser at Citizens UK, said: "We're glad that the president and Prime Minister have finally acknowledged the urgency of this problem.

"That these desperate children cannot be left in the chaos of Calais and should instead be reunited with their loved ones as a matter of the utmost urgency."

The buddy scheme has been set up between Citizens UK, Help Refugees, Good Chance Calais and Letters Live.

Meanwhile, 40 Christian, Jewish and Muslim faith leaders delivered a joint statement to the French embassy in London calling on the British and French governments to help unaccompanied children in Calais.
David Cameron and allies urge Vladimir Putin to get behind Syria peace drive

David Cameron has joined fellow European leaders to urge Vladimir Putin to help transform the current fragile truce in the Syrian civil war into the kind of long-lasting ceasefire which would add momentum to peace talks.

The Prime Minister took part in a 50-minute conference call with the Russian president, along with French president Francois Hollande, German chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian PM Matteo Renzi.

The European leaders told Mr Putin they welcomed the cessation of hostilities in Syria over the past week and that they wanted to seize the opportunity to create a "positive dynamic" for UN-sponsored peace talks due to start in Geneva next week, leading to a political transition to a new administration to replace the regime of Moscow protege Bashar Assad.

Russian president Vladimir Putin is a key ally of Syria's Bashar Assad

Mr Cameron's official spokeswoman said: "The call was initiated by the European leaders because we want to take the opportunity that has been created by the truce in recent days to open the path for more substantive peace process and negotiations.

"The main point that the European leaders made on the call to Putin was that we welcome the fact that this fragile truce appears to be holding. We have got to use this as a positive dynamic now to create some momentum behind the talks which we hope will get under way next week, so that we can move from a truce into a more lasting durable peace with a political transition away from Assad.

"President Putin agreed that the main task was now to maintain compliance with the truce and to make sure that it will stand and then to get people around the table in Geneva next week for the talks on transition.

"They also spoke about the importance of allowing humanitarian aid to reach besieged towns."

The spokeswoman said that Mr Cameron underlined the fact that all of the countries involved in the call had "a common interest" in defeating the Islamic State terror group - referred to by the Prime Minister as Daesh - in Syria and tackling the threat from Islamist extremists.

He told Mr Putin that "it is in all our interests to support a peace process in the country that can lead to a stable, inclusive government that has the support of all Syrians", said the spokeswoman.

The opening of the talks being led by United Nations envoy Staffan de Mistura has already been pushed back by the United Nations from March 7 to March 9 to allow the ceasefire "to better settle down", amid reports of violations on all sides.

Moscow has been carrying out air strikes against what it terms "terrorists" in Syria since September, but Western nations have accused Mr Putin of also targeting more moderate groups opposing the Assad regime.

Asked whether Mr Cameron trusted Mr Putin to deliver on promises to support the truce, the PM's spokeswoman said: "We are clear that this is an extremely difficult conflict that has proven very hard to resolve.

"We are committed to working with partners and to taking opportunities where we can to try to make progress. We think this fragile truce presents an opportunity. That's why we need to urge President Putin, the regime and its backers to work with the international community on this."

She added: "What we welcome is the fact that there was a sense from everybody in the call that we have an opportunity and we have got to create some momentum behind it.

"It was a very clear, direct conversation between all the leaders on .. the need to seize this opportunity and grab it, otherwise the prospects to resolve this are bleak."
Father tried to stop daughters from travelling abroad to be bridesmaids

Two little sisters had to wait for a family court judge to rule on a dispute between their separated parents before they could be bridesmaids.

Their Malaysian mother wanted to take the girls - aged nine and six - to her home in Malaysia for a family wedding.

But their British father asked Judge Carol Atkinson to block the trip.

The daughters were to be bridesmaids at a wedding

He said his ex-wife would not bring the girls back to the UK and he would lose contact with them.

But Judge Atkinson ruled that the trip could take place, after analysing the case at a family court hearing in London.

She decided that the risk of the woman staying in Malaysia with the girls was "virtually non-existent".

The woman had lived in England for more than 15 years, worked as a childminder and had a settled life in south-east London.

She said the girls wanted to go to Malaysia to be bridesmaids.

And she said the advantages of allowing them to be the "centre of attention" and be surrounded by cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents outweighed any risks to their welfare.

Judge Atkinson has not identified the family involved in a written ruling on the case.

She said the couple had separated after eight years together.
Andy Murray set for doubles duty with GB level with Japan after day one

Andy Murray is set to once again pull triple duty for Great Britain after giving the Davis Cup champions a winning start to their title defence.

Britain and Japan are tied at 1-1 after the first day of play at Birmingham's Barclaycard Arena, with Murray easing past Taro Daniel 6-1 6-3 6-1 before Kei Nishikori withstood a fierce challenge from Dan Evans to win 6-3 7-5 7-6 (7/3).

Murray's match was his first since becoming a father nearly a month ago and he was wary of committing to doubles as well as singles, but captain Leon Smith confirmed the plan is for the world number two to partner brother Jamie on Saturday.

Great Britain captain Leon Smith confirmed the plan is for Andy Murray, right, to partner brother Jamie in doubles on Saturday

In guiding Britain to last year's remarkable triumph, Murray played in all three rubbers in three of the ties, an experience that was extremely draining, but he is clearly prepared to go through the same thing again.

Smith said: "We will have a conversation about it and hopefully he feels good. The good thing is that, honestly, even if he does feel that he doesn't want to play, we have got a very good guy in Dom Inglot ready to go as well.

"So I am quite relaxed about it. Andy and Jamie is our strongest team so it is great if they can play."

Murray has only taken part in one doubles practice session this week, but Smith said: "That is pretty normal. He's played a lot of tennis in his life - it is not an issue that he has not had enough doubles practice."

The good news for Murray was his work-out against 87th-ranked Daniel was hardly taxing, lasting just an hour and 30 minutes.

The world number two was given a hero's welcome when he took to the court and any early nerves were eased when he won the first 11 points.

Murray looked a little rusty at times and certainly did not have to play at his highest level. Daniel said afterwards he had expected his opponent to hit the ball harder, which affected his timing.

The half-American Led Zeppelin fan briefly matched Murray in the second set, but the world number two served superbly and never looked in any danger.

Murray, who told the crowd the last few weeks since the birth of his daughter Sophia had been "the best of my life", admitted he had struggled to concentrate at times.

He said: "It's very easy to start to think ahead. If someone tells you, 'Don't think ahead if you get up early', you think ahead. That's what happens.

"It's being able to deal with that and stick to your processes and your cues when you're out there. Because I hadn't played a match for a while, I wasn't quite as sharp. I just need to make sure I do that a little bit better in the next match."

Murray's victory set the stage for Evans to play his first match in his home city of Birmingham against Nishikori - ranked 151 places ahead of him.

The 25-year-old, in the team after Kyle Edmund suffered a back injury on Wednesday, again played well above his ranking and had his chances in the second and third sets.

But he could not capitalise on twice being a break ahead in the third and there was to be no repeat of his stunning upset of Nishikori at the 2013 US Open.

Evans said: "The level was good. It was obviously a tough match. He played too good for me.

"The crowd were excellent. Obviously especially playing at home, it is special, but it's just been like every other week with these guys. I always enjoy myself and they make me feel welcome."

Evans may yet have a crucial role to play in a fifth rubber but, even if the tie is decided before that, keeping Nishikori on court for two hours and 44 minutes did his team a valuable service.
Slovak Republic - Factors To Watch on March 2

BRATISLAVA, March 2 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press reports and events to watch which may affect Slovak financial markets on Wednesday. ALL TIMES GMT (Slovak Republic: GMT + 1 hours) =========================ECONOMIC DATA======================== Real-time economic data releases................... Previous stories on Slovak data............ Overview of economic data and forecasts......... ===========================NEWS================================ SLOVAKIA VOTE: Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is on course to win another term in parliamentary elections on Saturday, maintaining an anti-immigration alliance with his European Union neighbours, Hungary's Viktor Orban and Poland's Jaroslaw Kaczynski. Story: Related news: BUDGET BALANCE: The Slovak central government budget deficit reached 834.07 billion euros ($905.55 billion) at the end of February, wider than a 680.0 million euro gap posted a year ago, the finance ministry said on Tuesday. Story: Related news: CEE POWER: Central and southeastern European day-ahead power was mixed on Tuesday with forecasts for more wind supply pushing Czech and Slovak lower while declining renewables drove up Hungarian and Romanian prices, traders said. Story: Related news: ======================PRESS DIGEST============================= CORPORATE TAX: Prime Minister Robert Fico said he wants to lower the corporate tax by one percentage point to 21 percent if he wins reelection this weekend. Hospodarske Noviny, page 2 Reuters has not verified the media reports, nor does it vouch for their accuracy. For Instant Views of key economic data click on For summary of economic data and forecasts For diary of forthcoming Slovak events For calendar of east European economic indicators TOP NEWS -- Emerging markets TOP NEWS -- Convergence watch For real-time stock market index quotes click in brackets: Warsaw WIG20 Budapest BUX Prague PX News editor of the day: Jan Lopatka on +420 224 190 474 E-mail: prague.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com ($1 = 0.9195 euros) (Reporting by Prague Newsroom)
Hotels in Havana are sending their American customers away to make room for the President's entourage later this month.

Visitors from the US will be transferred to Varadero, tantalizingly close to a place US law effectively forbids them from visiting: the beach.

Obama will make his historic trip to the Communist-ruled Caribbean island on March 21 and 22 with hundreds of people in tow, crowning 15 months of warming relations after more than half a century of Cold War animosity.

Major Havana hotels are being cleared, according to the head of a US travel company who asked not to be identified for concern it would damage future business relations.

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Americans visiting Cuba later this month are being moved out of big hotels in Havana and transferred to Varadero (pictured), a touristic hotspot with white-sand beaches and stunning hotels

'Just got notice that the Capri, Panorama, Nacional, half of Parque Central and potentially other hotels have been told to send all guests to Varadero from March 19 to 23,' he wrote in an e-mail.

Cuba is already experiencing a tourism boom and March is traditionally its busiest month. The Obama visit has put additional strain on hotels that have already been booked to capacity for much of the high season.

Varadero, an hour-drive east of Havana, is Cuba's most sought-after tourism destination, with sandy white beaches, shimmering waters and dozens of luxurious hotels.

But the beach is off limits to Americans as US restrictions expressly forbid tourism in Cuba. Americans are limited to 12 pre-authorized categories of travel, such as educational and cultural exchanges.

This means most US visitors are concentrated in Havana, where there are lots of cultural sites and activities, a rocky seafront and scarce hotel rooms.

Varadero (pictured) is one of Cuba's most sought-after destinations but US citizens cannot legally travel to the island solely for tourism. Their trip has to fit one of 12 pre-approved categories

President Barack Obama, pictured shaking hands with Cuban President Raul Castro at the United Nations in September last year, will crown 15 months of warming relations between the two countries with his visit

'The Cuban government is clearing out Havana hotels and sending visiting U.S. groups to Varadero Beach for a long weekend,' said Collin Laverty, president of Cuban Educational Travel, which organizes authorized US travel groups.

'Tourism will be hard to avoid for a few days as U.S. visitors are surrounded by white sand, turquoise water and all you can eat and drink bars and buffets,' he added. 'But we will try.'

Cuban travel agencies were not immediately available for comment.

Following the US-Cuban detente announced by Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro in December 2014, American visits to Cuba soared 77 percent in 2015 to 161,000 visitors. Cuba is expecting a similar increase this year.

Obama, a Democrat, has loosened travel restrictions to the once-forbidden land as well as some other trade barriers.

But only Congress, currently controlled by Republicans, can lift the US embargo and its ban on tourism, in place since the early 1960s.
Protesters in Kentucky claim they were assaulted at Trump rally

By Steve Bittenbender

LOUISVILLE, Ky., March 3 (Reuters) - Protesters at a Donald Trump rally in Kentucky last Tuesday have filed complaints with police claiming they were assaulted by Trump supporters, according to police and protesters.

Henry Brousseau, 17, of Louisville, said he went to the Super Tuesday event at the Kentucky International Convention Center in Louisville to protest Trump's campaign and was punched in the stomach by a woman who was wearing a T-shirt of the Traditionalist Worker Party.

"We're going to see how the police can find out who she is and hopefully we'll move on from there," he said in a telephone interview.

Another protester, Molly Shah, 36, also of Louisville, said that she, too, had filed a complaint.

Alicia Smiley, spokeswoman for the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department, said three complaints were filed on Wednesday and Thursday and were under review.

These would mark the latest clashes between Trump supporters, security, and protesters. The day before Trump visited Louisville, black students were removed from a rally in Georgia.

A website for the Traditionalist Worker Party describes it as a grassroots political organization that believes, among other things, that "European-American identity is under constant attack."

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a non-profit civil rights and public interest advocacy organization that monitors groups it considers extremist, classifies the Traditionalist Worker Party as a white nationalist hate group, said Ryan Lentz, a writer and researcher for the center.

Brousseau, who is white and transgender, said he joined people from Black Lives Matter, Parents for Social Justice, Showing Up for Racial Justice and other groups that went to the Trump rally to protest.

Video footage that has been circulated on social and traditional media shows people in Traditionalist Worker Party t-shirts pushing people, notably a young black woman, and taking their protest signs.

Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks said in an email that the campaign does not comment on security matters.

The Traditionalist Worker Party did not respond to requests for comment, and its website, tradworker.org, does not say where it is based.

Matthew Heimbach, the group's chairman, wrote in a blog on the website of the Traditionalist Youth Network that the protesters, including those from Black Lives Matter, were the aggressors. And he tweeted, "Its (sic) funny how BLM comes to a Trump event to fight, starts the fight and then loses the fight but plays big victims to the media."

Southern Poverty Law Center's Lentz said, "Matthew is a figure who is core to the white nationalists and white supremacist culture as it is right now in the U.S."
N.Korea leader tells military to be ready to use nuclear weapons

By Jack Kim

SEOUL, March 4 (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his country to be ready to use its nuclear weapons at any time and the military to be in "pre-emptive attack" mode in the face of growing threats from its enemies, state media said on Friday.

The comments, carried by the North's official KCNA news agency, marked a further escalation of tension on the Korean peninsula after the U.N. Security Council imposed harsh new sanctions on the isolated state for its nuclear programme.

North Korea, known for belligerent rhetoric, has previously threatened pre-emptive attacks on its enemies, including South Korea and the United States. Military experts doubt it has yet developed the capability to fire a long-range missile with a miniaturised warhead to deliver a nuclear weapon as far as the United States.

Kim made the comments as he supervised military exercises involving newly developed rocket launchers, KCNA reported. It did not mention the date of the drills but said the new weapons had South Korea within range.

South Korea's defence ministry said on Thursday the North launched several projectiles off its coast into the sea, up to 150 km (90 miles) away, an apparent response to the U.N. sanctions.

Kim said North Korea should "bolster up (its) nuclear force both in quality and quantity" and stressed "the need to get the nuclear warheads deployed for national defence always on standby so as to be fired any moment," KCNA quoted him as saying.

"Now is the time for us to convert our mode of military counteraction toward the enemies into a pre-emptive attack one in every aspect."

Kim criticised South Korean President Park Geun-hye in his first direct published mention of her by name for acting "in league with the U.S. scoundrels," adding, "her hysteria will precipitate only her ruin in the long run," KCNA said.

A spokesman for South Korea's Unification Ministry, which handles relations with the North, said Kim's comments were not helpful and may have been intended for the domestic audience, to boost morale in the face of the new U.N. sanctions.

Responding to the report, a U.S. Defense Department spokesman, Commander Bill Urban, said, "We urge North Korea to refrain from provocative actions that aggravate tensions and instead focus on fulfilling its international obligations and commitments."

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said that given the sensitive and complex situation on the Korean peninsula, China hoped the parties would maintain restraint, and "be careful in their words and actions, and not take any actions that would exacerbate tensions in this situation".

The latest U.N. sanctions, drafted by the United States and China, the North's main ally, punish the isolated country following its fourth nuclear test, in January, as well as last month's satellite launch, which the United States and others say was really a test of ballistic missile technology.

Later on Friday, North Korea rejected the Security Council resolution as a "criminal act" masterminded by the United States and vowed to continue boosting its nuclear deterrent and move forward on the path to become a "satellite superpower".

"Our response will involve the full use of various means and tools including a strong and ruthless physical response," KCNA quoted an unnamed government spokesman as saying.

POSSIBLE ENGINE TEST EYED

South Korea and the U.S. militaries are set to formally begin talks on Friday on deployment of the advanced anti-missile Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system with the U.S. military in the South.

China and Russia oppose the deployment of THAAD, which has powerful radar capable of penetrating deep into their countries, but South Korea and the United States have said it is needed in response to the heightened missile threat from the North.

Johns Hopkins University's 38 North project, which monitors North Korea, said recent commercial satellite imagery showed new activity in the isolated country, including a convoy of trucks at its satellite launch station that could be preparations for a rocket-engine test.

The site on the North's west coast is the upgraded rocket station where it launched a long-range rocket on Feb. 7 that put an object into space, but was condemned by the Security Council as violation of past resolutions that ban the use of ballistic missile technology by the North.

On Thursday, South Korean President Park repeated a warning to the North to abandon its nuclear ambitions and said she would work to "end tyranny" by its leader.

They were the toughest-ever comments against Pyongyang by Park, whose recent hard line against the North is a shift from her earlier policy of "trustpolitik" that focused on trying to engage in dialogue.

North Korea's Rodong Sinmun, the official daily newspaper of the ruling Workers' Party, on Friday carried three pages of a report and photographs of leader Kim supervising the rocket launch drills.

It also ran a full-page commentary insulting Park as "a wicked woman who does everything evil against the compatriots in the North."
Kerry trip to Cuba for rights dialogue canceled - U.S. officials

WASHINGTON, March 3 (Reuters) - Tentative plans for U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to visit Cuba before mid-March for a human rights dialogue have been canceled, two U.S. officials said on Thursday, amid concerns over the Cuban government's human rights record.

Kerry told a congressional hearing on Feb. 23 that he might be in Cuba "in the next week or two" to hold a dialogue on human rights, ahead of President Barack Obama's scheduled trip to the island later this month.
Kenya tackles poverty by sending teen mothers back to school

By Hezron Ochiel

Laikipia, KENYA, March 4 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - C hristine Gathoni dreamed of becoming a doctor, not a patient, grimacing in pain as she pushed her baby girl into the world.

But boredom and frustration at her parents' inability to pay for her education led her to sex, pregnancy and motherhood at the age of 19 with only two years of secondary education to go.

"I was idle and my boyfriend asked me out," she said, looking pensive. "After a few weeks, I realised I was pregnant."

Two out of five 19-year-old women in Kenya are either pregnant or have given birth, with the highest rates among the poorest, according to government statistics.

Their parents often encourage them to get married to escape the stigma of being a single mother.

The persistent cultural belief that girls who have given birth are adults - who have no place in a classroom - also means that as many as nine in 10 Kenyan girls who drop out of school due to pregnancy never return.

Gathoni, however, was determined to complete her education.

"If I had decided to get married, I guess life would have been unbearable," she said. "I hadn't totally lost hope in securing an education to save my family from poverty."

When Gathoni's baby turned one, her father brought a goat to Laikipia's Ilpolei Secondary School to pay for her re-entry.

Instead of accepting the goat, Gathoni's headteacher enrolled her in Jielimishe - Swahili for "educate yourself" - a programme to encourage girls from deprived communities in the East African country to stay in school.

DISADVANTAGED

In 1994, Kenya introduced a "return to school" policy for teenage mothers as a way of ensuring more girls finish their education, but implementation has been lax.

Despite free primary education being introduced in Kenya more than a decade ago, many students still drop out of school because their families cannot afford uniforms, books and admission fees.

Almost six out of 10 students who start primary school do not complete secondary school, government figures show.

Girls are often disadvantaged because many communities prioritise boys' education. Menstruating girls may skip lessons because of a lack of toilets and sanitary towels.

But research shows that girls who are allowed to complete secondary schooling, are likely to earn more, and have fewer unwanted pregnancies and healthier children.

In Gathoni's home county of Laikipia, a stunning region of thorn trees and grasslands, 48 percent of girls are in school compared with 52 percent of boys, according to a survey commissioned by Jielimishe.

Its mission is to identify 10,050 girls in Laikipia, neighbouring Meru county, and Mombasa on the coast, who need the most help and cover their school fees, textbooks, uniforms and sanitary towels.

Since the project started in June 2014, more than 300 girls have gone back to school.

Another key component of the two-and-a-half year programme, funded by the British government, is to convince local communities that keeping girls in school - rather than marrying them off for dowry - is in their best interest.

"Due to the intense and targeted community interventions, the communities are gradually becoming responsive of girls' education," director of the project, Mike Mutungi, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

It is one of several initiatives across the country.

In 2014, the U.S.-based Population Council set up a three-year project to expand access to secondary school education for teenage mothers in western Kenya.

It has also sponsored a radio soap opera focused on an out-of-school teenage mother to get people talking about the issue.

There are still challenges - even for the Jielimishe girls.

Jielimishe programme manager Dennis Ratemo said some young mothers struggled to find childcare while they attended class. He also said four girls had dropped out of school in 2015 to take care of their babies - out of 356 who had returned to school since 2014.

"In the past I struggled a lot to get the basics to keep me in school, but that's history now," Gathoni said.
Kerry trip to Cuba for rights dialogue canceled - U.S. officials

By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON, March 3 (Reuters) - Tentative plans for U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to visit Cuba before mid-March for a human rights dialogue have been canceled, two U.S. officials said on Thursday, amid concerns over the Cuban government's human rights record.

Kerry told a congressional hearing on Feb. 23 that he might be in Cuba "in the next week or two" to hold a dialogue on human rights, ahead of President Barack Obama's scheduled trip to the island on March 21-22.

The sources said the trip had been canceled because U.S. and Cuban officials were deep in negotiations on issues including which dissidents Obama might see in Havana and that a trip in the timeframe Kerry had mentioned was not seen as constructive.

State Department spokesman John Kirby said he had no updates regarding Kerry's potential travel to Cuba.

"The Secretary is still interested in visiting in the near future, and we are working with our Cuban counterparts and our embassy to determine the best timeframe," Kirby said in an emailed statement.

U.S. critics of Obama's opening to Cuba have complained that the president has received little in return for restoring diplomatic relations with the former Cold War foe.
Hungary, Factors to watch, March 4

BUDAPEST, March 4 (Reuters) - Following is a list of events in Hungary and the region, as well as news stories and press reports which may influence financial markets.

(For any queries: Budapest editorial +36 1 327 4745)

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN HUNGARY (ALL TIMES GMT)

BUDAPEST - OTP Bank holds press conference on Q4 (0800)

BUDAPEST - PM Orban speaks on state radio (0630)

BUDAPEST - joint press conference of Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Minister-President of Bavaria Horst Seehofer. (1230)

BUDAPEST - Rating agency Moody's to review Hungary's rating (after markets close)

IN THE REGION

CZECH - final Q4 GDP data

IN THE NEWS REUTERS

OTP Bank posts Q4 profit, forecasts more predictable 2016

BUDAPEST, March 4 (Reuters) - Hungary's OTP Bank OTPB.BU beats analysts' expectations with its fourth-quarter profit as legal changes in Hungary, and a positive tax effect in Ukraine provided an unexpected one-off boost to the bottom line, the bank said on Friday.

INTERVIEW-Europe must support western Balkans in halting migration -Czech PM

PRAGUE, March 3 (Reuters) - The European Union must provide support to western Balkan countries outside the bloc to help them halt the flow of migrants north from Greece towards the heart of the EU, Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said on Thursday.

CEE MARKETS-Forint jumps on hopes of upgrade, ECB easing

BUDAPEST/WARSAW, March 3 (Reuters) - The forint led a rise of Central European assets on Thursday, boosted by hopes that Moody's will lift Hungary's credit rating on Friday.

POLL-Hungary seen weakening forint, zloty and leu expected to firm

BUDAPEST, March 3 (Reuters) - Expected monetary easing in Hungary will weaken the forint in the next 12 months even though Central Europe's healthy growth and stability could support the region's currencies, a Reuters poll found on Thursday.

Hungary's retail sales grow 2.1 pct y/y in Jan -stats

BUDAPEST, March 3 (Reuters) - Hungary's calendar-adjusted retail sales HURETY=ECI rose by an annual 2.1 percent in January following a 4.5 percent increase in December, the Central Statistics Office (KSH) said on Thursday.

Public support for Hungarian PM's party drops in February

Public support for Hungary's ruling Fidesz party dipped in February, a poll by the Median institute said, after months of growing or stable backing boosted by the hardline handling of the migrant crisis.
Turkey's AKP forms plans for stronger presidency

By Ercan Gurses and Orhan Coskun

ANKARA, March 4 (Reuters) - Changes to Turkey's constitution envisaged by the ruling AK Party could hand President Tayyip Erdogan new powers to draft legislation directly and pick ministers, senior officials said, moves opponents fear could entrench authoritarian rule.

A cross-party commission charged with drafting a new constitution collapsed last month after the main opposition pulled out over attempts by the AKP, founded by Erdogan more than a decade ago, to change Turkey from a parliamentary to a presidential system.

Erdogan won Turkey's first popular presidential election in August 2014 and has made no secret of his ambition to imbue the largely ceremonial post with more powers. Previous heads of state had been elected by parliament.

The debate over the constitution has profound implications for Turkey, a NATO member state of 79 million people with aspirations to join the European Union. The outcome could change the way Turkey is ruled and redefine issues ranging from Turkish citizenship to the protection of religious freedoms.

Erdogan's supporters say an executive presidency is vital if Turkey is to have the powerful leadership it needs to take a bigger role on the world stage. They reject suggestions it is about the personal ambition of one man.

His opponents say it will consolidate too much power in the hands of a leader, whose grip over the media, the judiciary and police has tightened in recent years. They fear Erdogan's roots in conservative Islamist politics will take Turkey ever further from Western standards on free speech.

Erdogan has urged parliament to take the issue to a referendum, saying he believes Turks will accept a new charter and stronger powers for the head of state. Amid opposition dissent, the AKP is readying its own draft proposals.

"If it emerges that the constitutional commission cannot work, the AKP will begin work on a constitution including the presidential system and will rapidly complete it," said Mustafa Sen, a chief adviser to Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

"A decision (on the AKP draft) could be reached before the summer ... We are not writing a 10-volume novel. It must not be a text of more than 60-70 articles," he told Reuters.

Several other senior AKP officials said the party's proposals, which would need the support of 14 opposition members of parliament to be put to a national vote, were already under discussion.

The plans would allow the president to dissolve parliament, officials familiar with the discussions said. Such a move would also end the president's term and trigger parliamentary and presidential elections to ensure checks and balances, they added.

Two senior AKP officials involved in the deliberations said the president would be able to issue decrees to enact legislation without consulting parliament.

"The president in our proposal would be more powerful than under the U.S. system," one of the officials said, declining to be identified because the plans have not yet been finalised.

The head of state would also appoint the cabinet as well as senior figures including ambassadors and some members of the judiciary.

"SECRETARIES, NOT MINISTERS"

The AKP has broad cross-party support for overhauling the constitution, which dates back to an era of military coups and has been repeatedly revised. But there are wide divergences over what a new charter should look like.

Opposition parties want it to focus primarily on protecting minority rights and democratic freedoms.

"The current system is already pretty much like a semi-presidential system ... Even if there are shortcomings, a 200-year-old parliamentary system must not be sacrificed to the ambitions of one person," said Omer Suha Aldan, a deputy from the main opposition CHP.

"The president would designate and unseat (cabinet members). They wouldn't be ministers, they'd be secretaries," he said.

Erdogan, who was prime minister for more than a decade, hoped after his election as head of state for swift constitutional reform to bolster his powers. But those plans have been impeded in part because of opposition fears of creeping authoritarianism.

More than 1,800 court cases have been filed against people accused of insulting Erdogan since he became president, from students and a former Miss Turkey to journalists and academics, fuelling those fears.

The looming trial of two prominent editors on terrorism charges, after their opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet published video of what it said were intelligence officials trucking arms to Syria, has also raised international concern.

ANOTHER ELECTION?

Erdogan himself has insisted the plans are not about personal ambition but about replacing a system he says is out of date and unsustainable, with both the prime minister and president popularly elected.

"A powerful prime minister and a president elected directly by the people could pave the way for a crisis. The presidential system aims to fix that anomaly," the presidency source said.

There was no crisis already only because Erdogan and Davutoglu share the same political vision, which may not be the case for future presidents and prime ministers, he said.

Several AKP officials said they believed the party could quickly agree a draft proposal to put to parliament and they were confident of winning enough support for a referendum in the autumn, or early next year.
Turkish authorities seize newspaper close to cleric Gulen -state media

By Ayla Jean Yackley and Daren Butler

ISTANBUL, March 4 (Reuters) - Turkish authorities seized control of the country's largest newspaper on Friday in a widening crackdown against supporters of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, an influential foe of President Tayyip Erdogan.

Police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse a few thousand supporters who gathered outside Zaman newspaper's offices and chanted, "Free press cannot be silenced."

Rights groups and European officials criticised the confiscation of Zaman and its sister publication, the English-language Today's Zaman, which occurred on the eve of a summit between Turkey and the European Union and as concerns mount that the Turkish government is stifling critical media.

Administrators were appointed to run Zaman at the request of an Istanbul prosecutor, state-run Anadolu Agency reported. Officials were not immediately available to confirm the reports.

Erdogan accuses Gulen of conspiring to overthrow the government by building a network of supporters in the judiciary, police and media. Gulen denies the charges. The two men were allies until police and prosecutors seen as sympathetic to Gulen opened a corruption probe into Erdogan's inner circle in 2013.

"It has been a habit for the last three, four years, that anyone who is speaking against government policies is facing either court cases or prison, or such control by the government," said Abdulhamit Bilici, editor-in-chief of Zaman.

"This is a dark period for our country, our democracy."

Zaman is Turkey's biggest selling newspaper, with a circulation of 650,000 as of the end of February, according to media-sector monitor MedyaTava website.

Police in riot gear pushed back Zaman supporters who stood in the rain outside its Istanbul office where they waved Turkish flags and carried placards reading "Hands off my newspaper" before they were overcome by clouds of tear gas, live footage on Zaman's website showed.

Officers then forcibly broke down a gate and rushed into the building. The footage showed them scuffling with Zaman staff inside the offices.

EU STANCE

"Zaman Media Group being silenced in Turkey. Crackdown on press freedom continues sadly," Kati Piri, the European Parliament's rapporteur on Turkey, said in a tweet.

The EU is accused of turning a blind eye to Turkey's human rights breaches, including the deaths of hundreds of civilians during security operations against Kurdish militants, because it needs Turkey's help curbing the flow of migrants.

The crackdown on Zaman comes at an already worrying time for press freedom in Turkey.

Two prominent journalists from the pro-opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper are facing potential life sentences on charges of endangering state security for publishing material that purports to show intelligence officials trucking arms to Syria.

Authorities have previously seized and shut down opposition media outlets associated with the Gulen movement. The state deposit insurance fund said this week that an Islamic bank founded by Gulen followers might be liquidated within months.

The Zaman takeover came hours after police detained businessmen over allegations of financing what prosecutors described as a "Gulenist terror group", Anadolu said.

Memduh Boydak, chief executive of furniture-to-cables conglomerate Boydak Holding, as well as the group's chairman Haci Boydak and two board members, were taken into custody.

Nobody from the company, based in the central Turkish city of Kayseri, was available to comment.
Romania - Factors to watch on March 4

BUCHAREST, March 4 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press reports and events to watch which may affect Romanian financial markets on Friday.

DEBT TENDER

Romania sold a planned 600 million lei ($146.48 million) worth of April 2019 treasury bonds on Thursday, with the average accepted yield at 1.90 percent, central bank data showed.

Debt managers last sold the paper in February, at an average yield of 1.62 percent.

CEE MARKETS

The forint led a rise of Central European assets on Thursday, boosted by hopes that Moody's will lift Hungary's credit rating on Friday.

Regional currencies and equities have been buoyed by solid economic data, expectations for more monetary loosening in the euro zone and a rebound in global stock and commodities markets in recent weeks.

For the long-term Romanian diary, click on

For emerging markets economic events, click on

For an index of all diaries, click on
Malaysia's Mahathir, opposition leaders call for removal of PM Najib

KUALA LUMPUR, March 4 (Reuters) - Former Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad, opposition leaders and some ruling party members on Friday called for the removal of Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is engulfed in a financial scandal surrounding state fund 1Malaysia Develoment Berhad (1MDB).

Mahathir read out a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) reached between the groups at a joint press conference. Leaders from the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), including suspended deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin attended the event.
Going round in circles: Europe's 10 migration dilemmas

By Alastair Macdonald

BRUSSELS, March 4 (Reuters) - European Union leaders meet on Monday to debate how to end the migrant crisis before a second summer of chaos, but they have already long known the available answers -- and why they have yet to add up to a solution.

The political dilemmas of the crisis have had EU governments going round in circles for a year. This is how they go:

1. MEDITERRANEAN "MOAT"?

Physical isolation from Africa, Asia and the Middle East has not prevented people reaching Europe. A fence built by Greece on its land border with Turkey in 2012 to condemnation from the EU was followed by more people using boats to reach Greek islands.

In late 2014, the EU scaled back naval patrols off Libya, arguing that rescuing people was a "pull factor" encouraging more to sail for Italy. But last April, the drowning of hundreds on one boat caused an outcry and rescue missions were restored.

Bound by the Geneva Conventions to offer at least temporary asylum to those saved in international waters, the Mediterranean has gone from being Europe's "moat" to a delivery channel for migrant smuggling gangs, in Libya and especially now in Turkey.

2. ASK THE NEIGHBOURS?

With neighbours like Libya? In fact, anarchy in Libya has seen a sharp drop in migrants going there to reach Italy.

The main route is now through Turkey. In November, the EU promised Ankara 3 billion euros to help 2 million Syrian refugees living in Turkey, revived EU membership talks and easier visas for Turks in return for stemming the flow. Lack of evidence that a winter drop is due to more than weather will be discussed with the Turkish premier at Monday's summit. At the same time, EU leaders' critics at home say they should not offer favour to President Tayyip Erdogan due to human rights concerns.

3. FEND THEM OFF?

Although the EU is now working on establishing a European Border and Coast Guard this year, and has enlisted NATO navies to patrol the straits between Turkey and the Greek islands, and although it threatens to attack smugglers, physically preventing people reaching safe haven is illegal and politically untenable.

4. SEND THEM BACK?

Once ashore, the EU wants to send many migrants back. Easier said than done. Asylum claims can take years and fewer than 40 percent of those rejected actually go. It can be hard to know where to send them. Many countries refuse to take back their own citizens. Offering cash incentives, or strong-arm deportations are expensive and politically controversial.

The EU wants Turkey to take back people from Greece. But that is still being negotiated and it faces criticism that Turkey's human rights record does not make it safe for everyone.

This year so far, most arrivals have strong asylum claims: 44 percent of have been Syrian -- or at least say they are Syrian -- 29 percent Afghan and 18 percent Iraqi.

In any case, many experts argue that an ageing Europe needs more young people of the kind enterprising enough to reach it.

5. LOCK THEM UP?

EU leaders and voters are uneasy about the chaotic movements of migrants. Italy and Greece reject building "concentration camps" and detaining asylum seekers is legally problematic, even though they do not have a right to move to other EU states. Leaders are increasingly stressing that asylum seekers do not have a choice of where in the EU they can go. However, local communities are unwilling to host large reception centres.

6. FOLLOW THE RULES?

Friction began years ago. Italy and Greece, frustrated at a lack of help from others, let migrants to travel north to richer states in defiance of the EU Dublin rules which say people must stay in the first EU state they reach and claim asylum there.

That had long eased pressure on the "frontline" states. But the northern reaction to last year's huge surge in numbers from Syria has led to new border controls across Europe. The EU is drafting new Dublin rules but that will be hard and take time.

7. SHARE THE LOAD?

New border controls across the passport-free Schengen zone threaten a cherished EU achievement and have poisoned relations to the point many fear for the future of the Union.

A plan to spread asylum seekers away from Italy and Greece and around the bloc according to national quotas prompted a furious backlash, especially in eastern Europe. Only 598 have been "relocated", angering Rome and Athens. Northern states say they have found it hard to find people willing to be relocated and say many prefer to make their own way to preferred cities.

That chaos has prompted more EU talk of forcing people to be relocated and that barring Greece's northern border, creating the current build-up there, will help kick-start relocations. It faces critics, however, who say people should not be coerced.

8. CHECK WHO'S COMING?

A big complaint of northern states against Italy and Greece was their failure to document, fingerprint and security screen those arriving. With EU support, "hot spot" processing centres have finally been largely set up. But Rome and Athens are still wary of holding people, for fear they will not then move on.

9. MAKE IT LEGAL?

One option being experimented with by the EU and favoured by Germany is to take the chaos out of the crisis by resettling genuine refugees directly from the Middle East to Europe, saving them risk and the cost of paying smugglers. There are legal and logistical hurdles to offering asylum to people not yet in the EU and some states simply oppose taking in any refugees anyway.

The resettlement option has now become a central bargaining chip in negotiations with Ankara, with Berlin trying to persuade Turkey that if it cracks down on people leaving for Europe via smuggling routes, the EU will take a share of refugees direct. Unless Ankara first shows results, however, any deal is on hold.

10. WORLD PEACE AND PROSPERITY?

You know you have a big problem when fruitless circular arguments end up with ending poverty and war looking like the simplest answer. EU leaders have burnished their long-term programmes to promote economic growth in Africa that could help diminish the lure of Europe. And they are doing what they can to promote an end to war in Iraq and Syria. It is no quick fix.
Swiss, EU agree to extend free movement deal to workers from Croatia

ZURICH, March 4 (Reuters) - Switzerland and the European Union have signed a deal to include Croatia in an agreement on the free movement of workers, the Swiss mission to the EU said on its Twitter account on Friday.

Swiss lawmakers are at odds with Brussels over how to implement a binding Swiss referendum in favour of immigration quotas that would violate a bilateral pact guaranteeing freedom of movement for all EU citizens.

Later on Friday, Switzerland is expected to detail its own plans for limiting the flow of migrants from the EU if it cannot reach agreement with Brussels on the issue before a February 2017 deadline.

Switzerland had at first declined to sign the protocol covering workers from Croatia, citing the binding February 2014 referendum on curbing immigration.

A senior Swiss official said last month that Switzerland can expect no progress in talks with the EU over migrant caps until after Britain's referendum on EU membership in June.

The 2014 referendum, spearheaded by the anti-immigration Swiss People's Party (SVP), has jeopardised a host of other Swiss-EU treaties that govern bilateral economic ties with the country's largest trading partner.
Denmark to expand military mission against IS to Syria

COPENHAGEN, March 4 (Reuters) - Denmark's government will draw up proposals to expand its mission against Islamic State to Syria, including air strikes, the prime minister's office said on Friday.

As many as 400 military personal may take part in the campaign, it said.

The statement came after politicians from the main political parties voiced support for the proposal in a cross-party committee meeting that included the defence and foreign ministers. Parliament is expected to vote on the proposals soon.

The 400 military personnel will include pilots, soldiers on the ground and support staff.

Denmark contributed seven F-16 in 2014 to the U.S.-led coalition's air strikes against IS in Iraq but pulled them back for maintenance last year. The jets are expected to be back in service in the coming months.
UK lawmakers say Facebook may have broken tax rules

By Tom Bergin

LONDON, March 4 (Reuters) - Facebook said it would ditch a corporate structure that helps minimise its UK tax bill, prompting lawmakers and campaigners to ask whether the arrangement had ever complied with UK tax rules.

Facebook said on Friday it would stop booking sales to major UK clients via an Irish subsidiary and in future report sales agreed by UK staff in Britain.

"In light of changes to tax law in the UK, we felt this change would provide transparency to Facebook's operations in the UK," the company said in a statement.

The change follows the British government's introduction last year of a new tax on profits shifted offshore.

"From the start of April ... UK sales made directly by our UK team will be booked in the UK, not Ireland," Facebook added.

The California-based company declined to say if it currently booked sales made by UK-based staff, to UK clients, in Dublin.

If it did, this would break UK and international tax rules, which require companies to book sales where they are made.

Caroline Flint, member of parliament (MP) with the opposition Labour party, said the statement "raises more questions than it answers".

"Facebook are trying to improve their corporate reputation but, in so doing, they appear to have confirmed that UK-based staff were conducting UK sales in the UK, but artificially diverting that income as though it was generated by Facebook Ireland," she said.

Labour MP Nick Smith said the UK tax authority, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC), should have challenged Facebook's arrangement before now.

"Both HMRC and Facebook need to be brought to book over this," he said.

"HMRC should not just give Facebook a wrap over the knuckles over this," he added.

A Facebook spokesman said "we are compliant with UK tax law".

A spokesman for the tax authority said "HMRC ensures that all multinationals pay the tax due under UK law".

ECHO OF GOOGLE

In 2013, the parliamentary public accounts committee (PAC) investigated Google over the way it reported revenues from UK clients in Ireland, following a Reuters investigation which showed Google employed dozens of UK salespeople, despite denying staff in Britain made sales to UK clients.

Google said then and now that UK customers transacted directly with the company's Irish staff.

A PAC report said in 2013 that Google's structure was "contrived" and criticised HMRC for being too lenient on big businesses. Google says it complied with all tax rules and HMRC said it treated all taxpayers equally.

Google, now part of holding group Alphabet, in January agreed to pay 130 million pounds ($184 million) in UK back taxes and interest and said it would also start to report more revenue in Britain.

Crawford Spence, Professor of Accounting at Warwick Business School, said Facebook's new arrangements lacked sufficient transparency to tell if they would result in the company paying a "fair share" of tax.

Prem Sikka, Professor of Accounting at Essex University, said Facebook could easily use alternative arrangements, such as inter-group charges to shift profits out of Britain as effectively under the new arrangement as it does under the current system.

HMRC has previously downplayed the potential that increased reporting of revenue in Britain would lead to higher tax bills.

The tax authority says it assesses how much value a multinational creates in the UK and assesses its tax bill on that basis, rather than simply following the company's own accounts of where profits are generated.

Facebook's main UK subsidiary said it had a 28 million pounds loss in 2014, the most recent year for which accounts are available, and a tax charge of just 4,327 pounds. The group does not report UK revenue but analysts said it was likely to run to hundreds of millions of pounds.

The company declined to answer questions about its potential future UK tax bills.

A spokeswoman for Prime Minister for David Cameron said on Friday the government was "committed to making sure that multinationals pay their fair share of tax".

Facebook declined to say whether it planned to change its structure in other European countries.

Unlike Google, which shifts non-U.S. profits to Bermuda, a territory with no corporate income tax, Facebook moves profits from overseas back to the United States which has the highest corporate income tax rate in the world.

However, this does not lead to big tax payments since it has billion of dollars in tax losses related to investments from earlier years, a Reuters analysis of its filings shows.
Gunmen kill at least 7 in old people's home in Yemen, including 4 nuns

ADEN, March 4 (Reuters) - Three gunmen attacked an old people's home in the Yemeni port of Aden on Friday, killing at least seven people, including four Christian nuns from India, local officials and residents said.

The gunmen stormed into the home with rifles and opened fire, one local official said. As well as the nuns, the dead included two Yemeni women working at the facility and a guard.

Some local sources put the death toll higher, saying that 12 elderly residents of the home had also been killed but the official could not confirm that figure.

The motive of the gunmen was not immediately known. They fled after the attack, the official said.

Yemen's embattled government is based in Aden but has struggled to impose its authority there since its forces, backed by Gulf Arab troops, expelled Iran-allied Houthi fighters who still control the country's capital, Sanaa.

Once a cosmopolitan city home to thriving Hindu and Christian communities, Aden has gone from one of the world's busiest ports as a key hub of the British empire to a largely lawless backwater.
Denmark to expand military mission against Islamic State into Syria

COPENHAGEN, March 4 (Reuters) - Denmark's government will present proposals soon to expand its mission against Islamic State into Syria, including air strikes, Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen's office said on Friday.

If approved by parliament, F-16 fighters, C130J transport aircraft and 400 military personal, including special operations forces and support staff, would take part in the Syria campaign by the middle of the year. Danish forces have already seen action against Islamic State in Iraq.

Parliament is expected to vote on the proposals in separate readings on April 1 and April 19. The main political parties have already said they backed the proposal, at a cross-party committee meeting that included the defence and foreign ministers.

Denmark's expanded mission into Syria comes after direct requests from France and the United States, Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen told reporters after the committee meeting.

The defence ministry said the larger mission would make Denmark one of the highest contributors per capita in the fight against the militant group.

"The fight against ISIL will be long and the terrorist organisation's horrible ideology cannot be defeated with military means alone," its statement said, using a different acronym used for Islamic State.

"Therefore the government will also increase efforts along the civilian track - stabilisation of liberated areas, stopping ISIL's finiancial sources, stopping foreign fighters and counteracting ISIL's propaganda," it said.

Denmark contributed seven F-16 in 2014 to the U.S.-led coalition's air strikes against Islamic State in Iraq but pulled them back for maintenance last year. The jets are expected to return to service in the coming months.

Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen called for Danish air strikes in Syria following the multiple attacks in Paris on Nov. 13 that killed 130 people.

Denmark, whose former prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, served as the head of NATO until 2014, has a history of military contributions in Afghanistan and the Middle East.
EU priority should be to shore up Schengen-France's Hollande

PARIS, March 4 (Reuters) - The European Union should make shoring up the Schengen agreement on open borders between some of its members a priority despite the strains put on it by the migrant crisis, French President Francois Hollande said on Friday.

"In the end, our objective is to put Schengen back in order, which will happen through coordination, solidarity and reinforcement of our mutual resources," he said at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Paris ahead of an EU-Turkey summit on the crisis in Brussels on Monday.
Serbia's president calls parliamentary vote for April 24

By Ivana Sekularac

BELGRADE, March 4 (Reuters) - Serbia's President Tomislav Nikolic called an early parliamentary election for April 24 after the government said it needed a stronger mandate to push through economic reforms and complete EU accession talks.

Nikolic signed a decree dissolving parliament live on state TV on Friday, then told viewers: "The time has come to re-examine the support for reforms painful for many citizens."

The government led by Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and his SNS party has promised to downsize a bloated public sector and stop subsidising loss-making state companies to curb the deficit and cap debt, under the terms of an IMF loan deal.

But the Fiscal Council, the government's top advisory body, has criticised the government for delaying the reforms that will include laying off of about 35,000 state workers.

Vucic asked Nikolic on Thursday to set an election date saying he needed "a clear mandate for the completion of the reforms" Serbia needs to take on in order to join the European Union.

Nikolic's SNS (Serbian Progressive Party) has a clear majority in parliament and is well ahead in opinion polls. Analysts say it is now trying to build on its strong position before the more painful effects of the reforms kick in.

Once an ultra-nationalist disciple of the "Greater Serbia" ideology that fuelled the wars of federal Yugoslavia's bloody disintegration in the 1990s, Vucic has since rebranded himself as a pro-European moderniser.

In December, the European Union opened so-called chapters of accession talks with Serbia, rewarding the country for a series of accords with its former Kosovo province that declared independence in 2008.
Dutch PM says optimistic on migrant deal with Turkey

By Thomas Escritt

AMSTERDAM, March 4 (Reuters) - Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Friday he was cautiously optimistic that Turkey would agree at a European Union summit on Monday to take back non-Syrian refugees as part of a "step-by-step" approach to confronting Europe's migration crisis.

The European Union is pushing for more effective implementation of a deal under which Ankara agreed to help stem the flow of refugees and migrants into Europe.

"We hope we can reach an agreement with Turkey on taking back economic migrants, the non-Syrian refugees," said Prime Minister Mark Rutte, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the 28-nation bloc.

EU leaders are scrambling to prevent a repeat of the chaotic arrivals last summer, which has pushed Europe's cherished free-travel Schengen zone to the verge of collapse, raised security concerns and fueled support for nationalists and anti-migrant groups across the bloc.

"If it works with the non-Syrians we have dealt with 40 to 50 percent of the entire refugee stream already," he said, adding that sealing borders in the Western Balkans would help discourage refugees from undertaking the perilous journey.

In the longer run, EU countries would have to agree to distribute refugees among themselves, he said - a policy opposed by many of the bloc's members.
U.N. Syria envoy says Syrians should decide President Assad's future - France 24

BEIRUT, March 4 (Reuters) - U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said on Friday the future of President Bashar al-Assad should be decided by Syrians themselves and should not be decided in advance.

"We have said that it is to be a Syrian-led solution, a Syrian owned (solution)," said de Mistura in an interview with France 24 television.

"Can't we leave the Syrians to actually decide on that? Why should we be saying in advance what should the Syrians say, as long as they have the freedom and the opportunity of saying so?"
Syrian opposition says truce not respected, conditions unfavourable for talks

PARIS, March 4 (Reuters) - Syrian opposition coordinator Riad Hijab said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Russia and their allies had carried out 90 air strikes in the country since a ceasefire was declared last weekend.

Speaking at a news conference in Paris, the former Syrian prime minister said that the conditions of the truce had not been met, and that medical and food supplies were being blocked and failing to get to those who need them.

"We believe that the current conditions are not favorable for these negotiations, no aid has entered the besieged areas and detainees have not been released," he said.
Fetus of Venezuelan woman who likely had Zika dies; had microcephaly -doctors

By Alexandra Ulmer and Corina Pons

CARACAS, March 4 (Reuters) - A fetus whose mother likely had the Zika virus suffered the rare congenital defect known as microcephaly and ultimately died, doctors said on Friday, in the first Venezuelan case linking the infection to damage in babies.

The mosquito-borne virus has been linked to thousands of suspected cases of microcephaly in Brazil, and a recent study has suggested the virus may be associated with stillbirths.

The World Health Organization declared Zika an international health emergency on Feb. 1, citing a "strongly suspected" relationship between Zika infection in pregnancy and microcephaly, a condition in which an infant's head is markedly smaller than those of other babies of similar age and gender.

Public health officials say that link is growing stronger with new evidence, but expect it could take years to prove a connection.

In the Venezuelan case, the unidentified 24 year-old woman from the hot, oil-rich state of Monagas suffered a skin rash and general malaise during the thirteenth week of her gestation in January, according to a report by doctors from the Central University of Venezuela (UCV).

Some symptoms of Zika include a mild fever, skin rash, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain and fatigue, though as many as 80 percent of those infected never develop symptoms.

Nearly four months into the woman's pregnancy, a scan revealed that the fetus' heart had stopped beating. The dead fetus was diagnosed with microcephaly and there was a deficiency in the amount of amniotic fluid.

"Initial results... undertaken in the blood and the umbilical cord, as well as the amniotic fluid, reveal the presence of Zika's genetic material in these tissues," the report says.

The woman tested negative to cytomegalovirus, rubella, dengue and chikungunya, the doctors added.

Further information was not immediately available. The Health Ministry did not respond to requests for comments.

Venezuela last month said that suspected cases of Zika had risen to 5,221, one of only two official estimates on the virus that is rapidly spreading through the Americas.

Doctors say Venezuela actually has a far greater incidence of Zika and accuses the government of not doing enough to combat the outbreak.

An economic crisis in the OPEC country has meant that insect repellent, reagents to detect the virus, and fever relievers are running short. A scarcity of birth control pills has also led to unwanted pregnancies in Venezuela, where abortion is banned unless a woman's health is at risk.

President Nicolas Maduro's administration has not reported any cases of pregnant Venezuelans with the virus.

Infectious disease specialist Julio Castro, who is closely tracking Zika, says he knows of no other cases of potential Zika-linked microcephaly in Venezuela.
Purno Agitok Sangma was a man who kept national interest above his personal interests and political gains.

While following him for around three days during the election campaign trail in Arunachal Pradesh in 2009, we interacted on several subjects. When I asked him if his stand on Sonia Gandhis foreign origin was the biggest mistake of his political career, he justified by saying that his stand was in the national interest, not just a cultural issue, as many politicians and political parties made it out to be.

In his paternalistic, yet measured words, he recalled becoming the Union minister of state (home affairs) in 1984, when Rajiv Gandhi was the prime minister, only to be moved into another ministry shortly thereafter.

"It was perhaps in the nations interest to shift me away since situations were fragile," he said and added that the Union government had genuine reasons to be wary of leaders from the Northeast since it was around that time that the Assam Accord (signed in 1985) was being hammered out and the Mizo Accord was in the offing (signed in 1986).

Sangma will be remembered as one of the best Lok Sabha speakers of our time who oversaw the proceedings of the lower house of Parliament at a time when then his party, Congress, was going through a tumultuous transition; a rainbow Third Front and its leaders were wriggling to come to terms with its new-found political power and the BJP was gaining momentum. It wasnt an easy task inside and outside the floor of the House, as he made it out to be, with a smile on his face.

In ascending the chair of the Lok Sabha speaker, Sangma emerged as the mascot of the Mongoloid race, when the dominant Aryan race bought peace with the Dravidians by allowing the nation to have its first-ever non-Congress prime minister from the south of the Vindhyas since Independence in HD Deve Gowda.

As the speaker, Sangma effectively communicated in Hindi, broke the language barrier, demystifying the stereotypes about the Northeast region. He did it when the then prime minister, Deve Gowda wasnt able to read or write the language of the majority.

He has been a political force on his own merit since the early 1980s when he held many portfolios as junior minister in the Union government. He spent many years grinding his teeth in state politics too as legislator and chief minister of Meghalaya.

Sangma, as a voice and face, stood out and stood for the regions political aspirations and identity in the mainstream political battleground. He has been the biggest export from this politically insignificant eight per cent of Indias landmass, which has a miniscule 25 seats in Lok Sabha and nine seats in Rajya Sabha and represents only about 3.8 per cent of Indias population. In spite of odds, his rise sowed the seeds of hope and dream among 160 scheduled tribes and 400 sub-tribes of the region speaking more than 250 different languages.

In his demise, we have not only lost a political stalwart but a dreamer, a dream merchant who taught us  the people from the Northeast  the importance of national unity, yet was firm that within the framework of Indias Constitution tribal rights must be top on the agenda. He dreamt of tribal unity across India; talked of assembling and building a parliamentary institution called NE Union in line with the European Union (EU) to counter-balance the number games within the Parliament.

Is it possible? I asked him. "May be not possible in my lifetime, but its for the younger generations like you all to work on it; we must dream of it and work towards it," said Sangma.
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Fauquier County is the latest locality capitalizing on the craft beer industry with some assistance from the commonwealth.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe recently announced a $600,000 low-cost loan through Virginias Industrial Revitalization Fund program for the proposed Wart Hog Brewing Company to be situated in a former auto garage and car dealership complex in the town of Warrenton.

Partners Cris Bezdek, Matt Lutz and Louis Oliva plan to invest $1.4 million over the next several years to transform a one-block section along Lee Street into the brewery and pub, according to a news release from the Town of Warrenton Economic Development Office.

Warrenton has been aggressive in demonstrating its commitment to our vision, Lutz said. When we began considering the area for our brewery, town and county officials stepped up to help us investigate potential sites. When it was clear our initial site wasnt going to work, they were able to show us alternate properties the same day, including what will now be our brewery.

Bezdek said the state loan would help expedite the project. Phase one will focus on remodeling the auto garage and if all goes as planned the pub will open in August, according to the release.

McAuliffe, during a visit to Warrenton last month, said small business growth is critical to growing the new Virginia economy.

The redevelopment of properties like this is key to the revitalization of historic downtown areas and helping the region to attract businesses and visitors, he said.

Warrenton will reimburse Wart Hog for water and sewer infrastructure improvements to support the brewery, as part of the local match requirement for the industrial fund contribution.

This is going to help continue to revitalize Old Town Warrenton, said Mayor Powell Duggan. We already have great restaurants and shops and this is going to bring more of them.

The long-term plan for the new beer-based business includes a kitchen, an area for live music and expanded seating. The Warrenton project was part of more than $1.9 million in funding recently announced by the governor which also included awards for the Academy of Music Theatre in Lynchburg, the Bedford Brewery Block Development and the Boones Mill Industrial Park Revitalization.

The funds are intended to leverage local and private resources to achieve market-driven redevelopment of these derelict structures, creating catalysts for long-term employment opportunities and on-going physical and economic revitalization, according to the governors office.
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A leisure trip to Maldives would have ended tragically for Sana Khan had there not been the timely divine intervention that saved the actress from a fatal mishap.

The actress who is currently holidaying in Maldives had gone parasailing around 9.30 am on Thursday when the mishap took place.

A source close to the actress reveals, Sana is an adventure freak and loves to do death-defying stunts. Today morning while parasailing, one hook of her harness slipped when she was 20 feet above the sea. At that crucial moment, the actress, by sheer presence of mind, somehow managed to save herself with the help of a guard.

The freak accident left the actress with a sprained right hand. The actress is still in a state of trauma post the mishap and is struggling to come to terms with what happened. She is recuperating in a medical centre in Maldives at the moment.

Talking to DC from the medical centre, Sana said, I was looking forward to an adventure filled trip in Maldives, but it has ended like this. God has been kind and I was saved in the nick of time. I had gone parasailing this morning and suddenly while landing the hook slipped and I lost control.

The guard who was with me in the air came to my rescue. I am still in a state of shock. I cannot believe what happened. Even the thought that I could have been dead is scaring me out of my wits. Fortunately, its over.
Harish Kumar, a Dalit researcher, told reporters in Meerut that the Research Design Course committee gave the nod to his research topic in 2012 but he could not start his work because the UGC had issued an order that all research scholars had to go through a six-month pre-PHD course. (Representational image)

Lucknow: In what could be a replay of the Rohith Vemula case, a Dalit scholar in the Chaudhary Charan Singh University in Meerut district had threatened to commit suicide like Vemula if no action is taken against faculty member who has been harassing him. Harish Kumar, a Dalit researcher, told reporters in Meerut that the Research Design Course committee gave the nod to his research topic in 2012 but he could not start his work because the UGC had issued an order that all research scholars had to go through a six-month pre-PHD course. Harish Kumar alleged that when the course started in November-December 2014, he found that his batch had been merged with the second batch whose course had to be started six months after his batch.

The coordinator, Aradhana Gupta shouted at me instead of giving me any answer. I started to attend the classes but most of the time I was provided a paper to mark my attendance instead of any register. After six months 10-12 scholars including me were asked to take extra classes as we were short on attendance. On this ground I was not permitted to take internal exams, he said.
A 30-metre-long tunnel from Pakistan to the Indian side is shown by BSF on a screen after it was detected by them in R S Pura Sector, Jammu. (Photo: PTI)

R S Pura (Jammu): Describing detection of 30-metre long tunnel from Pakistan to the Indian side as a major success, BSF on Friday said that it was dug with the aim of pushing in armed militants into Jammu region.

"We were carrying out our regular clearing operations, done monthly, when we found a well-constructed tunnel," Inspector General of BSF, Jammu Frontier, Rakesh Sharma said, noting that it was being dug with JCB machine.

"It was aimed at pushing in militants into Jammu region," he told reporters here.

Terming the detection a major success, the IG said if not detected in time, Pakistan would have succeeded in pushing in 'fidayeen' and other militants inside Indian territory.

"Pakistan was objecting to our efforts to clear grass as it was anticipating that BSF would be able to detect the tunnel. We resisted Pakistan's attempts and went ahead with clearance operation during which the tunnel was found," Sharma said.

The tunnel is approximately 10 feet below the ground and has a length of 30 metres from their end to this side, he said.

"But it was blocked on our side. It was dead end. It had no exit as they could not complete it further. It came close to the border fencing," the IG said.

"One person can sit and easily move inside the tunnel which has came up in the vicinity of Allah-Mai-Di-Kothi BoP of ours from Pakistan Post of Afzal," he said, adding that a probe was on.

This is the fourth tunnel unearthed by BSF in the region since 2012.
Pope Francis has also ordered a streamlining of the annulment process in a bid to help many Catholics caught in limbo between unhappy personal situations and their faith. (Photo: AFP)

Vatican City: Vatican protocol has been rewritten to enable divorced Catholic leaders and their new spouses to be received jointly by Pope Francis, Holy See sources confirmed on Thursday.

The move is unlikely to be officially announced but has already been applied once; when Argentinian President Mauricio Macri visited Francis on Saturday accompanied by his third wife, Juliana Awada.

Under the previous protocol, Awada would have been made to wait in a separate room before being greeted by the pope after her husbands audience -- and after the official photos of the visit had been taken.

That practice was based on a belief that the pontiff should not be seen to endorse relationships which Church teaching maintains are adulterous unless a first marriage has been annulled. Since coming to office in 2013, Francis has tried to steer the Church away from such a judgemental approach, arguing that divorced and remarried believers should be able to play a fuller part in the life of their congregations.

At present their marriages are considered invalid and they are banned from taking communion. Francis has also ordered a streamling of the annulment process in a bid to help many Catholics caught in limbo between unhappy personal situations and their faith.

The treatment of divorced people was one of the hot button topics discussed during a major synod of Catholic bishops and others, which concluded last year.

The Church is now waiting for Francis to announce what, if any, conclusions he has drawn from those discussions which exposed a deep rift between Catholic leaders in Europe and North America and more conservative clerics in Africa and Asia.
Three robbers were arrested after a shootout with police in outer Delhi on Wednesday. The gang was involved in over 100 cases of robbery and a case of theft in outer and north west Delhi, police said on Thursday.



Rohini North police station had received information about one notorious robber Rajesh travelling along with associates with illegal weapons. We deployed pickets near Rohini West Metro station and started checking vehicles, said Vikramjit Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer).



At 12.30 am on Wednesday, three men on a motorcycle coming from Rithala Metro station approached the picket at high speed. The motorcycle was signalled to stop, but the riders tried to flee.



We chased the gang when they fled brandishing pistols, Singh added. The gang was cornered near Ayodhya Chowk, where another picket had been set up. It is alleged that a pillion rider opened fire on which the police team fired in retaliation.



They were soon overpowered and apprehended. On enquiry, the accused were identified as Rajesh, Ajay and Anil, residents of Mangolpuri. A pistol and a country-made pistol were recovered along with four cartridges.



A case of attempt to murder under the Indian Penal Code and Arms Act has been registered with Rohini North police station. On interrogation, the accused were found involved in several cases of robbery and snatching across Delhi, Singh said.



Rajesh is involved in over 100 cases of robbery and snatching, including Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). He was arrested last year and released on bail in November  after a stint of about six months in jail. His brother Ajay also has criminal history. Anil was declared a proclaimed offender in three cases by court.


Panic struck Vasant Vihars Modern School on Thursday afternoon after a caller claimed that a bomb had been planted in the school.



School authorities informed the police and bomb disposal squad. Following a thorough search for around an hour, the call was declared a hoax by the police. Students and staff of the south Delhi school were evacuated after the call was received around 1.15 pm on one of landlines at the school.



Police tweets

A bomb call was received regarding modern school vasant vihar. ACP & SHO with staff at school. All evacuated with help of teachers and students, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South Delhi) Prem Nath tweeted.



Anti-sabotage check being undertaken to trace device if any. So far situation is normal, Prem Nath further tweeted. Police are currently investigating the identity of the caller who placed the call.



Hoax call at airport

In another case of hoax call in Delhi, a Gorakhpur-bound flight of Jet Airways was on Thursday held up at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) for over three hours following a hoax call that claimed there was a bomb on board.



According to police, a call of bomb being planted in the Jaipur-Gorakhpur Jet flight was received at 12.08 pm at the office of the Gorakhpur Air Director.



Jet flight No.9W 2647 which was scheduled to land at 3.30 pm in Gorakhpur, was detained in Delhi and thoroughly checked, said a senior police officer.



Police said the flight landed at Delhi airport and all passengers were deboarded and the necessary checking was done.



The flight landed in Delhi at 12.57pm from Jaipur with 61 passengers and four crew members on board.



The flight then took off at 3.18 pm with 59 passengers on board from IGI airport after it was given a security clearance.


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The magistrate hinted at the absence of eyewitnesses to Khalid and Kanhaiya Kumar's alleged shouting of anti-national slogans.



It could be presumed that Khalid was the first speaker and initial slogans were raised by him, which were: Kashmir ki janta sangharsh karo, hum tumhare saath hain..., the report said seeking investigation into his role.



The 26-page report said: Though hardly visible from any side, many security guards have identified his voice to be the first that emerged from the crowd.



It said Kanhaiya Kumar arrived at the scene to sort out an argument between two groups and was not shouting anti-India slogans, the alleged offence for which he was booked.



The report said nothing adverse could be found against Kumar and that no witness or video was available to support allegations against the student union president who was released from Tihar on bail on Thursday. The report confirmed that anti-national slogans were shouted on the campus and policemen in civil dress were present at the venue but refrained from interfering at that volatile stage.



It said Khalid, a PhD student who hails from Amravati district in Maharashtra, had sought permission from the University authorities for poetry reading from the book The Country without a Post Office at Sabarmati Dhaba and put the strength of the expected gathering at seven.



The report indicated that despite cancellation of permission Khalid and a core group of around 10-15 students raised slogans. The role of Khalid should be investigated further, it said.



On Khalids role, the magistrate noted: I have shown the video of this footage to two-three witnesses, here they claimed the first voice resembles that of Khalid, thereafter, second voice is of Anirban and then Ashutosh.



In one of its major findings, the magistrate said Khalid was visible in many videos. His support for the role of Kashmir and Afzal Guru is known and he was the organiser of the event.



Many students from outside university especially some Kashmiri students joined this group, said the report.



The magistrate raised suspicion about presence of outsiders of Kashmiri descent  identified through their accent  and claimed that the JNU administration later identified faces of a few people who were clearly heard raising slogans.



The magistrate also raised suspicion about tutoring of witnesses, including employees of private security agency G4S, who changed their statements.



It said the security agencys manager Devender Singh Bist and guard Amarjeet Singh first gave statements that Umar Khalid started shouting slogans but later changed their stands by claiming that they did not hear anyone specifically uttering those words and attributed the slogans to the crowd.



The magistrate noted that Singh admitted during repeated questioning that he memorised the police Daily Diary entry for the sake of originality and authenticity.



On the police FIR, the report said Pakistan Zindabad slogans were not heard in a TV channels raw footage or transcripts of videos shot by JNU security staff.



Unlike other slogans, the Pakistan Zindabad slogan is mentioned in the FIR in inverted commas...This shows the presence of doubts in the mind of police regarding the raising of the slogan, it said.



The magistrate also noted that three out of seven videos which were sent for the verification were found to be doctored including one news clipping of a News Channel found on YouTube.





Arrested JNU student Syed Umar Khalid presumably raised the first slogans on Kashmir at the February 9 event in the university over which a sedition case was filed by Delhi Police, a magistrate's report has said.But the report appeared to doubt if Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union president Kanhaiya Kumar himself shouted any anti-India slogans.The report by New Delhi district magistrate Sanjay Kumar, who was asked to conduct the probe by Delhi government, also pointed at the doubts in the minds of policemen on whether Pakistan zindabad slogans were at all shouted in the university.
Delhi government and police have cracked down on two godowns, which were hoarding an illegal stock of 2,200 quintals of pulses and contributing to their rising prices in the city.



The scale of hoarding can be seen from the fact that the stock was about half the total estimated daily consumption of pulses in Delhi of about 5,000 quintals, said a police officer.



Both godowns were sealed. The crackdown aims to ensure that pulses are available at affordable rates. A case under the Essential Commodities Act was registered with Delhi Police on Wednesday. Police said the raids were conducted at outer Delhis Libaspur on information received by the Department of Food Supplies and Consumer Affairs.



A team with Crime Branch inspector Satish Kumar was deputed to check the stock limit of pulses in godowns in outer Delhi. They first reached the godown of Makhan Lal Suresh Kumar and Bros at Siraspur Road.



The godown was found locked on which the proprieter Rajesh Gupta, was contacted. He took the team to another godown. The stock found there was checked in the presence of Gupta, the officer added.



A variety of pulses were found and the quantity exceeded the stock limits prescribed by the state government.



Violation of rules

It also violated section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955. Gupta told the team that the godown also belonged to another firm  MSB Foods. However, he failed to produce any document to support his statement, the officer said.



A complaint was later filed by Department of Food Supplies and Consumer Affairs. Their team was headed by an assistant commissioner.



An FIR has been registered and we have also recorded the statement of Rajesh Gupta, the officer added. The police team have also seized documents of the godowns suppliers.


P A Sangma, the first Lok Sabha Speaker from the North East, had a roller coaster ride in politics opposing Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin and later tied up with her in the UPA only to become BJP's Presidential candidate against Pranab Mukherjee.



For long a staunch Congressman, he became a minister in the Rajiv Gandhi government and later was appointed Labour Minister in the Narasimha Rao ministry.



Backed by all parties, he rose to become the Lok Sabha Speaker in 1996 when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was Prime Minister in the shortlived BJP government.



A nine-time member of Lok Sabha, 68-year-old Sangma passed away in Delhi today following a heart attack.



He was expelled from the Congress on May 20, 1999 along with Sharad Pawar and Tariq Anwar for raising the banner of revolt against Sonia Gandhi over her foreign origin.



He went on to form the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) with Pawar and Anwar. A multi-faceted personality, Sangma in 2004 split the NCP and merged his faction with Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress, forming the Nationalist Trinamool Congress.



On June 20, 2012, Sangma resigned from the UPA constituent after Pawar opposed his Presidential candidature polls. A day later BJP declared Sangma as its official candidate for the Presidential polL which he lost to Mukherjee.



As Speaker of the 11th Lok Sabha, Sangma was known to disarm agitated members with his spontaneous wit, affable disposition and a sense of impartiality.



From a humble beginning in a small tribal village in Meghalaya, Sangma became a Lok Sabha member at the age of 30 from Tura constituency on a Congress ticket at a time when the nation was witnessing a major political unpheaval with the Congress losing power for the first time since Independence.



In less than two years, the Janata Party went out of office and the Charan Singh government lasted but a few months.



In the mid-term Lok Sabha elections in 1980, the Indira Gandhi-led Congress returned to power at the Centre and Sangma was re-elected from the same constituency.
President Pranab Mukherjee today honoured the Indian Air Force's elite 119 Helicopter Unit, involved in various counter insurgency operations including the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai to flush out terrorists, for their outstanding performance.



Mukherjee also accorded 'Colours' to 28 Equipment Depot, the air armament stores division which "provides lethality" to fighter and bomber squadrons of IAF units.



Addressing a function at the crucial and one of the oldest Air Force stations, he said India is firmly committed to peace and equality for which the country needs effective deterrence and a strong defence force.



"The nation is striving hard for all-round economic growth and social empowerment of its citizens. However, we remain equally focused on building capacity to defend our sovereignty and territorial integrity.



"Our Armed Forces give us confidence in the nation's ability to face any aggression and safeguard its interests. The Air Warriors, who stand before us today, epitomise the grit and the determination in fulfilling their responsibilities by upholding the highest standards of service ethos," the President said addressing men and women of the Air Force.



Mukherjee, who is the supreme commander of the defence forces, said the Indian Air Force has been fulfilling its role of protecting the Indian skies and safeguarding the sovereignty of the nation and also provided aid to citizens during natural calamities.



"The massive relief operations undertaken by the Indian Air Force during many natural calamities in the past is all etched in our memories. Such operations are shining examples of the fortitude and determination of its gallant air warriors," he said.



The President honoured 119 Helicopter Unit with 'Standard' and he 28 Equipment Depot with 'Colours' for their outstanding performance.



119 Helicopter Unit was raised in Guwahati in March 1972 as 'Angels of Mercy' with Mi-8 helicopters.

Initially, the unit flew extensively in support of counter insurgency operations in Nagaland and 'Operation Falcon' in Arunachal Pradesh to check Chinese incursion.



It took part in 'Operation Cactus' in November 1988 (which is India's intervention for restoration of government's rule in Maldives) and played a major role during the 'Atlantique Crisis' of August 1999 (in which a Pakistan's Navy plane was gunned down) and 'Operation Black Tornado' after the terrorist attack on Mumbai in November 26, 2008, Mukherjee said.



The unit now operates the newly acquired Mi-17 V5 helicopters. It had undertaken humanitarian aid and disaster relief operations in Gujarat and Nepal recently.



The 28 Equipment Depot, which deals with all facets of air armament stores, has completed 62 years of service to the nation.



The Depot played a significant role in the operations of 1965, 1971 and 1999 wars by providing huge quantity of explosive stores in serviceable condition to the units engaged in operations.



"It would not be wrong to say that this Depot provides the lethality to the fighter and bomber squadrons of the Indian Air Force. In the years gone by, the Depot has been a trend-setter in innovation and has successfully modified the life-expired live missiles into its training version," the President said.



During the programme, there were fly pasts by three Mi-17 helicopters each with the national flag and a Jaguar fighter aircraft.
Three CRPF commandos have been killed and over a dozen injured after multiple encounters took place between security forces and Naxals in Chhattisgarh's worst Maoist violence-affected Sukma district.





Officials said while two commandos, identified as constables Linju N and Fateh Singh had succumbed to their bullet injuries yesterday, their collegaue Lakshman Singh died today.



At least 15 others, including CoBRA Comamnder P S Yadav and the chief of the state polices' District Reserve Group (DRG), have been injured in the encounter which ended early today.



The patrol squad that came under fire yesterday noon in the jungles of the district, has been brought to the Kistaram police station from the encounter site of Dabbanarka in Sukma early today by multiple Mi-17 helicopter sorties, they said.



Inspector General (Bastar range) S R P Kalluri and Sukma Superintendent of Police D Shravan are camping at Kistaram, about 500 kms from the state capital to monitor the operations, they said.



The others who sustained bullet and splinter injuries include Assistant Commandant Yogendra, Sub-Inspector Rajveer Singh, Head constable Santosh, Constable Sona Ram and some men of the DRG.



The encounter began when pesonnel of CRPF's exclusive jungle warfare unit CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) had the first exchange of fire with Maoists in the jungles of Bastar area.



The CoBRA team encountered multiple ambushes and fire fights beginning 12.30 PM yesterday and while evacuating the area, heavily armed Maoists engaged them in intermittent gunfire, till late in the night.



"The operation is underway to retrieve the injured jawans. Around 600 personnel (of CRPF and state force) have been pressed into service," Chhattisgarh's Special Director General of Police (Anti-Naxal Operations) D M Awasthi told PTI. MORE PTI NES TKP VMN 03041626



While the three commandos are said to have lost their lives due to excessive blood loss as their evacuation was delayed due to the ambush put up by Maoists, officials said one of the CoBRA commandos, Fateh Singh, was a highly trained member of the squad who had brought successes for the force in numerous operations.



SI Singh was the first to be hit in the exchange of fire and others were injured in the later part of the operation.



The squad that came under the attack largely belonged to the 208th CoBRA battalion, deployed for undertaking special anti-Naxal operations in the Bastar area, along with few DRG personnel.



Security forces personnel, including those from Central Reserve Police Force, CoBRA and state police, are combing the area, they said.
A sixteen-year-old Tibetan who had allegedly set himself afire during a protest against Chinese rule, passed away at Safdarjung hospital here.





Dorjee Tsering had suffered 98 per cent burns and was being treated in the ICU at the department of burns, plastics and maxillofacial surgery of Safdarjung Hospital, a senior doctor said.



He had set himself on fire on Monday in Dehradun. He was rushed to a nearby hospital and later referred to Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi.
Karnataka Fisheries Development Corporation (KFDC) Managing Director V K Shetty said KFDC will open a mobile Matsyadarshini (fish canteen) at Pilikula Nisargadhama on March 6.





Speaking at the inaugural programme of the Rashtriya Matsyamela 2016 organised jointly by the Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Sciences University, Fisheries College, National Fisheries Development Board and KFDC here on Friday, Shetty said the mobile Matsyadarshini is built on a Tata Ace Super vehicle chassis.



He said the mobile canteen will supply fresh and value added products of fish to customers. The mobile vehicle has a refrigerator, equipment for fish storage, electric grills for frying the fish, overhead tank to supply water and facility to collect the fish waste and other necessities. All the systems inside the vehicle are battery operated. The cost of the vehicle, including the chassis, is Rs 12 lakh, he added.



Shetty said the KFDC has already identified a few locations for the sale of fish food. It has been decided to place the mobile canteen at Pilikula Nisargadhama every Sunday for the public to savour the delicacies, he noted.



He said a mobile fish outlet will also be launched in Mangaluru shortly. The fish will be cut and sold to the customers at selected areas. The outlet will have chiller to preserve the fish, water facility, facility to cut and clean the fish and a separate counter to collect the waste from the fish.The estimated cost of the vehicle is also Rs 12 lakh. Apart from selling the fish, the vehicle will be taken to various Matsyamelas and Krishi Melas to be held across the State to sell fish delicacies, he added.



The KFDC MD said the KFDC fish outlet will be opened at 10 places in Hyderabad-Karnataka region within the next two years. The fish outlets are opened with the assistance from Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana. The Matsyadarshini at Cubbon Park will be upgraded to cater to a large number of customers shortly, he added.



Deputy Commissioner A B Ibrahim, in his inaugural address, said a system where the fish price is decided in Mangaluru should be evolved in the future, just like the way cardamom price is decided in Alleppey for the country. The price of the fish should be made available online to bring in stability in the market. Fishing industry provides a lot of job opportunities, he said and added that the export of goods to Lakshadweep should be encashed for the export of value-added products of fish caught in Lakshadweep.



Fish catch declining



KFDC Chairman Hiriyanna said the fish catch is on decline though the demand for fish is increasing. The fingerlings should be released in the inland water for the fish to thrive in the sea. There is a need to support the fisheries sector, he added.



In his presidential address, Fisheries College Dean Dr K M Shankar said there is a need to promote cage culture to boost fisheries production. The marketing of fish also needs to be developed in the country, he added.




Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha district unit president D R Duggappa Gowda has charged that the State government is following anti-farmer policies.





Speaking at a protest rally staged by the Raitha Sangha members in the town on Friday against the lathicharge on agitating farmers in Bengaluru on Thursday, he said the farmers felt proud when Siddaramaiah became the chief Minister as he belonged to a farmers family. But, Siddaramaiah, who claimed to be the wellwisher of the farmers, is following anti-farmer policies from the last three years and has failed to fulfill their demands. If the farmers urge the government to solve drinking water problem, the State government has assaulted them, he claimed.



JD(S) leader Sattaganahalli Vijendra said the government is in utter chaos. The ministers must remember that those who were held in high esteem for securing power once upon a time have now been sidelined. The police who caned the farmers should be dismissed and the demands of farmers have to be fulfilled. If not, the farmers organisations will carry out massive protests, he added.



Karnataka Rakshana Vedike taluk unit president Daradahalli Prasanna said the government has completely failed to safeguard the interests of the farmers. The government is not taking up any measures with respect to Mahadayi issue despite staging an agitation. It will have to pay for its negligence and the people will give a fitting reply in the upcoming elections, he said.



Raitha Sangha leader M C Basavaraj, district unit honorary president K K Krishnegowda, taluk unit president N G Uddegowda, Zilla Panchayat member Nikhil Chakravarthi, Aam Admi Party taluk convener Maggamakki Ganesh, Rehman, P K Nagesh, Banal Ramesh, Surendra and S P Raju took part in the protest.



The farmers also took out a protest rally from Raitha Sangha and Hasiru Sene district office and expressed ire against the government by burning tyres at Azad Circle. Later, they submitted a memorandum to Additional Deputy Commissioner M L Vaishali.



They claimed that the police caned the farmers who had arrived from various parts of the State even before entering Bengaluru. They urged the government to provide compensation to the farmers who were injured in the incident and sought the release of the arrested farmers.






The rich in Bengaluru live in HSR Layout while the poor are concentrated in Banashankari, according to JD(S) MLC T A Saravana.





The MLC, who is into jewellery business, even sought a survey in Banashankari, when his claims were contested by the other members in the Legislative Council, on Friday. He made this rather interesting observation while highlighting the plight of the poor of the State through a poem.



Congress MLC V S Ugrappa wondered which category Saravana belonged to - rich or poor. Saravana shot back at Ugrappa stating that he belonged to the same category as the latter. He however said that the rich, like Ugrappa, lived in HSR Layout, and poor people like him live in Banashankari. To this, Congress MLC M R Seetharam said that if that was the case, then there was no work for policy makers and that all the members had better retire home.


Not waiting for the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to act, a group of citizens has started removing advertisement posters, small banners and handbills from trees. In just over two weeks, the citizen activists have cleared 200 trees in different parts of Bengaluru.





Volunteers of Save Green organisation remove posters every Sunday, from 11 am to 2 pm, as part of a mission to beautify the city and save the trees.



They are a motley crew of software professionals, college students, citizen activists and women. They also keep a record of people, firms and organisations that put up these posters and handbills.



Most of the posters are advertisementss for accommodation, mobile phone and broadband connection, PAN card and property, said Tejaswini K, vice president of the organisation.



The group has also decided to put up information boards at Xerox shops and printing presses on the harms of fixing nails into trees. These places are inevitably visited by advertisers, thats why we are targeting them, said D V Sreekanth, secretary of Save Green.



The organisation has more than 20 volunteers and has removed posters from trees on Old Airport Road, Domlur, New Thippasandra, HAL, Indiranagar and other localities. Its next stop will be Koramangala.



The organisation is also contacting advertisers, calling them or visiting their offices. If they continue messing up the trees, we issue them notice. Sometimes, when we are in the midst of removing the posters, people from the advertising company come and heckle us. But we manage to handle them and warn them about violating High Court rulings and BBMP rules, said Hemant Kapoor, president, Save Green.



Those who want to be part of the organisation can write to hemant@savegreen.in or visit www.savegreen.in




A 36-year-old labourer set herself on fire after quarrelling with her husband over preparing fish curry at their house in Tarabanahalli, Chikkajala, on Thursday night. The victim was rushed to Victoria Hospital by her neighbours.





The police said timely intervention by the neighbours saved Anjalis life. Doctors treating her said she had suffered 10 per cent burns and her condition was stable.



On Thursday, Anjalis husband, Venkateshwarappa, also a labourer, got fish from Chikkajala market and asked Anjali to prepare fish curry. Anjali refused saying she doesnt know how to cook the dish. However, Venkateshwarappa insisted that she prepare the curry, which led to a heated argument between the two, added the police.



An upset Anjali went into the kitchen at around 9.30 pm, doused herself with kerosene and set herself ablaze. When Venkateshwarappa cried for help, the neighbours rushed in, doused the flames with the help of a blanket and shifted Anjali to Victoria Hospital. They also alerted the police about the incident.



The Chikkajala police registered a case and detained Venkateshwarappa for questioning.



Stove explosion



A 32-year-old woman died when a kerosene stove exploded in her makeshift home in Chokkanahalli, Kothanur, east Bengaluru, on Thursday night.



Kalpana, the victim, tried to light the stove to heat the sambar around 9.30 pm. She didnt realise the stove was leaking.



The moment she put a match to it, the stove exploded, leaving her with serious burns.

Hearing the explosion, her husband Uttam and the neighbours rushed in.



They took her to a hospital but she died on the way, the jurisdictional Kothanur police said.



Kalpana was living with her husband. The couple, from West Bengal, were working as construction labourers in Bengaluru.




Fifteen years after the closure of Bharat Gold Mines Limited in the Kolar Gold Fields, a company floated by its former employees has signed an Expression of Interest (EoI) with the State government to revive the mines.





The EoI was signed during the Invest Karnataka summit this year between the State government and JMJ Minerals Private Limited, a Kolar-based firm floated by BGML Ex-Employees Society. The company proposes to take up shallow mining in the tail dumps in KGF.



The Union government had shut down the mines in September 2001. It is yet to settle pension and other dues of around 3,000 employees. The total estimated settlement is said to be close to Rs 52 crore.



Speaking with Deccan Herald, president of the Society and chief executive and director of JMJ Minerals, G Jayakumar, said they were in talks with Kolar Gold Company, a subsidiary of a gold exploration firm in Australia.



The official website of Kolar Gold Company says it is engaged in gold exploration.



Nodal officer



The State government has appointed a nodal officer to co-ordinate with JMJ Minerals to provide their investment proposals to take them forward.



We have three months time and will soon place all the details before the government, he said adding that he cannot provide the details of investments as he had signed a confidentiality clause with the investing company. Jayakumar said the revival company would not only clear Rs 52 crore dues of the 3,000 employees but will also take up community development work in the region. He appealed to the State government to appoint an administrative officer to BGML to ensure effective co-ordination.




The Supreme Court on Friday refused to grant any interim relief to telecom companies against the Delhi High Courts order which upheld the Telecom Regulatory Authority of Indias (Trai) decision making it mandatory for them to compensate subscribers for call drops from January 1, 2016.





A bench of Justices Kurian Joseph and R F Nariman said the court would examine the telecom companies plea on March 10. The court asked senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who was appearing for the cellular operators, to take adjournment before the Trai, where they are supposed to appear on Monday.



The court also issued notice to the Centre, Trai and others, directing them to file their response before next week on appeals filed by Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), a body of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India and 21 telecom operators, including Vodafone, Bharti Airtel and Reliance.Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi opposed the telecos plea, saying the high court has rightly upheld the Trais decision.



Agreeing to his view, the bench said it was of the view that prima facie, there was nothing ultra vires in the decision of the high court.
It was a running-away-from-home nightmare for the age of global terrorism. Marilyn Nevalainen, a pregnant teenager, decided to follow her boyfriend last year when he set out to wage jihad, leaving the lakes and forests of southwest Sweden for life under the Islamic State in the desert heat of Iraq.



Apparently lacking any clear idea of what she was getting herself into, she ended up with militants near Mosul, with a new baby to care for and her boyfriend dead on an Iraqi battlefield. Remarkably, Nevalainen, now 16, and her infant son made it out alive. Much remains unknown about how she turned up two weeks ago in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, and she has not spoken publicly beyond a brief television interview in which she contended that she had followed her boyfriend without knowing what IS means, what Islam is, nothing. She is now back in Sweden.



Europe has been troubled for several years by the number of its young people who have run off to join the Islamic State, and it is increasingly concerned about the potential for them to come home to carry out terrorist acts in their native countries.



Nevalainen stands out as a rare case in which a young European went unwittingly into the heart of jihadi territory, ending up with the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, and was freed.



Her story seems less one of ideology than of teenage rebelliousness and naivete gone awry in a world where, with a bit of determination, a young woman can travel unchallenged from Sweden to the war zones of West Asia.



The second of at least four daughters of Pasi and Ann-Kristin Nevalainen, she grew up in a village in Swedens rural Mark municipality. It was a childhood troubled enough that her family voluntarily placed her in the care of a foster family, according to neighbours and social services officials.



She was a problem girl, said a long-time neighbour, who spoke on the condition that she be identified only as Annika. She didnt like to go to school and the parents tried to help her, but they were too late and she went away. If she didnt get to do what she wanted, she rebelled. Annika knew the Nevalainen family from when they lived in Lekvad, a hamlet of winding gravel roads, vast fields and few people. When night falls, the only lights are from the lanterns on distant farm porches.



By Nevalainens account, given on Kurdish television once she was out of the IS territory, she dropped out of school when she was 14 and fell for her boyfriend, a Muslim from North Africa who was five years older and had immigrated to Sweden on his own by 2012, according to records from the Swedish migration board. It was a little less than a year after they met that the pair left for Syria, in the summer of 2015.



In a jarring video that appears to be addressed to her parents and was obtained by a Swedish tabloid, the Aftonbladet, a bearded young man who seems to be her boyfriend and identifies himself as Mokhtar Mohammed Ahmed speaks into the camera in Swedish, saying, You can just forget about this little girl, because she is never coming back.



The circumstances of how she eventually did come back remain unclear. Senior Kurdish officials say she was rescued on February 17 by Kurdish special forces without a shot being fired. The officials said they were able to locate her using information derived from her occasional use of the Internet, but they offered no details. A sheikh interviewed in the Kurdish city of Irbil said he had been approached to try to get her out by the girls uncle, who he said worked for UNICEF.



The sheikh said he had received photos of landmarks from Tel Keif, a village near Mosul, that Nevalainen was able to send to identify her whereabouts. He claimed he had been able to arrange her escape with smugglers and was supposed to be paid $35,000. He said that the next thing he knew, he saw the girl on television  and that he had never been paid.



The release of foreigners by the Islamic State is rare; most cases have involved ransoms. Kurdish officials denied that any ransom was paid, and the Swedish government and the girls parents have declined to provide any details.



Nevalainens case highlights how even villages in the heart of rural Sweden are grappling with the presence of increasing numbers of Muslim refugees, some of whom may bring with them preconceptions about the West and even allegiances to groups in fiery Middle East conflicts. In his video, the young man believed to be Nevalainens boyfriend says the reason he and Nevalainen left Sweden was racism.



You have forced me to leave because you would not let the two of us live in peace, he said. He says with anger: I cant live there because they are racists. I cant live with racist people. Damn racists. Kurdish officials said Ahmed was killed fighting in Ramadi, in western Iraq, sometime last fall. It is not clear if Nevalainen was forced to marry another fighter or if she lived with other women.



Extremist groups



The number and activities of extremists in Sweden has grown greatly over the past 15 years, according to terrorism experts. Sweden now has more would-be jihadis per capita going to fight for extremist groups than any European country other than Belgium, according to a 2015 study by the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence.



Recruiters for the IS and for al-Qaeda affiliates active in Syria and other groups, including al-Shabab, target the second generation of immigrants, terrorism experts said.



The issue of the foreign fighters is quite serious given the numbers, but until last year, there were very few barriers to people going, said Magnus Ranstorp, the research director at the Centre for Asymmetric Threat Studies at the Swedish Defence University.



Nevalainens grandfather, Tenho Neva-lainen, told a local newspaper that her parents were worried about her liaison with Ahmed. The family tried to keep her away from him, he said.



In her interview on Kurdish television, Nevalainen said, At first, we were good together, but then he started to look at IS videos and start to speak about them and stuff like that, and I dont know anything about Islam, or IS, or something, so I didnt know what he meant.



When her boyfriend said he wanted to go fight for IS, I say to him, OK, no problem, because I didnt know what IS means, what Islam is, nothing. Soon after she arrived in Mosul she began to reach out to her mother, according to her own account. In the television interview, she said it was a really hard life there. In the house we didnt have anything  no electricity, no water  and it was totally different from our life in Sweden, she said.



An initial effort to rescue her, in October, failed, according to several people close to the family. Her grandfather described that rescue attempt as botched. Those who know her and her family said they wanted her homecoming to bode well, but they sounded unsure.



You have to hope that it goes well for her in the future, said Lisbeth Pehrsson, who lived across the street from the family for many years. And for her little boy, I hope so.


Investigation has revealed that Noida-based fashion designer Shipra Malik faked her abduction to escape family dispute and debt in business.





According to the sources, the fashion designer was facing problems in her business and had been in debt.



The police said that Shipra faked her abduction after watching the TV serial Crime Patrol.

Shipra was not abducted...She deliberately planned her abduction...Her statements are being checked, said a senior police officer here, adding that she had also called her husband from Gurgaon on Thursday night.



DIG Lakshmi Singh told reporters in Meerut that Shipra returned home on Friday.

Singh said Shipra told the police that she was upset over disputes in the family and sought asylum at a religious institution in Rajasthan. She later went to Gurgaon to the house of a village sarpanch. According to sources, the fashion designer was also facing problems in her business and had been in debt.



She decided to return home only after learning that a case had been registered. The officer said Shipra was found to be fit during her medical examination.



Inspired by TV serial



Shipra went missing from her residence on February 29. Her car was found abandoned near a park in Noida. She also called the police around noon on the day she disappeared.

Her sudden disappearance triggered sharp reaction from political parties here, especially as it came close on the heels of the kidnapping of a Snapdeal employee in Ghaziabad.

The police launched a massive hunt to trace Shipra after Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav directed for a speedy probe.






Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar on Friday sought to put an end to speculation about his political aspirations, saying that he is not PM of the country, but only a student.





So I will not run away from your questions, he said, addressing the media a day after Delhi HC granted him bail.



The 29-year-old PhD student, who was booked on charges of sedition following the controversial February 9 event, said the 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru was a citizen of India and a debate on his death penalty doesnt flirt with limits on freedom of speech. But he added: Afzal is not my hero, Rohith Vemula is.



Vemula, the University of Hyderabad scholar who committed suicide, became a rallying point for JNUSU-led OccupyUGC movement against scrapping of non-NET fellowship for scholars. He quoted from 3 Idiots movie and said, I am not a politician, I am a student. Accusing the government of using pre-colonial law as a political tool, he said there is difference between deshdroh and rajdroh.



The people of the country have not voted for me; it is the students of the university who have. I am not the countrys president but of the JNU Students Union. Ill only talk of them and for them, he said. The half an hour long press conference saw a few disruptions when Kanhaiya supporters tried to corner journalists who were apparently trying to solicit his reactions on the High Courts order that directs him to control anti-national activities on campus.



We will defeat those who are destroying the soul of our Constitution, he said and deflecting questions on the arrest of Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, the two co-accused arrested in connection with the February 9 event where anti-India slogans were allegedly raised.



Kanhaiya launched an offensive against the RSS-affiliated ABVPs idea of Akhand Bharat. Im against patent-wadi, nationalism cannot be anyones patented idea, he said.



Kanhaiya warned his supporters of divisive and false binaries. Students of JNU are patriotic not anti-national, he said, assuring the taxpayers of this country that the JNU is a custodian of democratic space in the country.



The JNUSU president told media that JNUs fight to reclaim the democratic space will be a long drawn plan. There cant be a victory march but a unity march on that, he said.



Problem is that the government of the country has become the government of one party. Not one party but one office, he said in a veiled attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.




The State government on Friday came under severe criticism from the combined opposition in the two Houses of the legislature on Friday for failing to control incidents of violence during the protest by farmers in Bengaluru on Thursday.





The police had lathicharged farmers from Chikkaballapur and Kolar when they tried to proceed towards Vidhana Soudha to press the State government for a solution to water problems in their drought-hit districts. The protest had also led to a huge traffic chaos in Bengaluru.



In the Assembly, Opposition BJP and JD(S) members took up the issue as soon as proceedings began on Friday morning, demanding a judicial probe into the incident and also a public apology from the government for police excesses against the farmers.



Leader of the Opposition Jagadish Shettar (BJP) said that the government failed to take adequate measures to prevent the protest from turning violent.



What happened to your intelligence machinery? Why was there no alert? The farmers have the right to protest but the government mismanaged the entire situation resulting in hardship for people. There was also police high-handedness against the farmers, Shettar said.



H D Kumaraswamy (JD-S) said the government was responsible for creating a situation for the protest to turn violent. Why did no minister meet the farmers? Why were the farmers prevented from entering the city? he sought to know.



Kumaraswamy said the farmers were sceptical of the governments promise that the Yettinahole project would address their water woes. He said the government had made no effort to address their apprehensions.



Cases to be withdrawn



Home Minister G Parameshwara told the Assembly that all cases registered against 11 farmers during their protest in Bengaluru will be withdrawn.



Parameshwara said the police had no other option but to use mild force when the agitating farmers did not heed to repeated requests not to breach the barricades.

He said firstly the farmers had violated police orders by bringing tractors to their protest march. The police had told them that bringing tractors inside the city would cause traffic chaos.



The agitators had jumped the barricades placed by the police at Devanahalli, Yelahanka and again at Mehkri Circle. However, when the farmers tried to break the barricade at Windsor Manor bridge the police had to use force to prevent them proceeding further, the minister said. Parameshwara said some protesters had resorted to violence and threw stones on public transport buses and even school vans.




The Kolar-Chikkaballapur bandh called by various organisations against Thursdays police action on farmers in Bengaluru, was total and peaceful on Friday, barring stray incidents of stone- throwing.





Normal life was disrupted as shops and commercial establishments had downed their shutters. Movie halls had suspended shows and there was sparse traffic on roads as the KSRTC and private buses did not operate.



Banks remained closed and protesters were seen forcing closure of government and private offices. Holiday had been declared for educational institutions and the first PU examination scheduled for Friday were postponed.



Traffic went haywire on National Highway-75 as the farmers blocked the busy road for more than seven hours. The commuters stuck in the traffic jam and had to go without food and water.



Two KSRTC buses and three private vehicles were damaged as some miscreants threw stones on them. The protesters burnt an effigy of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and raised slogans against the police.



The scene in Chikkaballapur was no different. Members of various organisations took out a bike rally and staged a dharna at Ambedkar Circle. However, there were no reports of any violence.



Silent march in Bluru



Condemning the State government for using police force to crush the voice of protesting farmers seeking a permanent irrigation project in Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts on Thursday, several members of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and Hasiru Brigade staged a silent march in Bengaluru on Friday.



State secretary of the Sangha, Abbni Shivappa, sought the resignation of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, over the governments failure to protect the farmers.



We were beaten up for asking the government our basic rights. About 10 farmers were hospitalised and hundreds of them were caned to silence our voice. The police took 190 farmers into custody. Its a shame on the Congress-ruled government, which came to power promising a permanent irrigation project for the parched districts, he said.


Rajan Anandan, Vice President and Managing Director of Google South East Asia, said the company will focus on next generation technologies, including the Natural Language Processing (NLP), to bring on board the next 400 million users to internet in the country.





In an interaction with Deccan Herald, Anandan said the company is tied up with the startup ecosystem to develop new technologies to expand the reach of internet, as mobile penetration is growing in India.



We continue to work on a lot of technologies so that internet should work on different geographies in India, where language diversity is a differentiating factor. Access works and open source platform will help us expand the reach of internet, he said.



Rajan said that NLP is an underlying technology, and Google India has been working on 11 different languages in India. NLP deals with interaction between computers and humans, enabling computer systems to understand human language and respond adequately.



Anandan said that India is expected to double its internet user-base to 700 million by 2020, and bringing the last 400 million people who are illiterate will be a bigger challenge.



Since India is the third largest internet ecosystem in the world, Google is committed to innovation where startups have a major role to play. So we have roped in industry bodies, incubation centres, and are organising hackathons. We have invested in four startups through Google Capital, he said.



Commenting on the growth opportunity of startup in software as a service (SaaS) in the next 10 years, he said that India can play a major role as there is a hyper growth and adoption by SMBs of this service.



SMBs will contribute to more than 75% of the public cloud revenues driving the global SaaS industry to $132 billion revenues by 2020, of which SMB SaaS is expected to reach $76 billion, he said.



DH News Service



Anandan also said that Indian startups have the opportunity to grab 8% of this revenue by creating purpose-built innovative solutions targeted at SMBs globally.

In a market with demand fulfillment largely led by US, Indias competitive advantages will help SaaS companies see strong growth and create $50 Billion in value over the next 10 years. This is also reinforced by the fact that venture funding for SaaS solution startups exceed $18 billion in the last four years , said Anandan.



Google India and Accel Partners also brought out a joint report on the growth opportunities of SaaS business vertical.
The government needs to do a lot more towards improving the industry in India, said Clive Wiggins, Senior Analyst, Autos and Auto Parts, Equity Research BNP Paribas Securities (Japan).





Speaking at the CII Karnataka Annual Meeting, Wiggins said, The industry needs to be on its feet, given the infrastructure problems in India. Businesses tend to look for certainity and stability.



It is the skill of the government to accommodate people with different ideologies. People usually look for businesses in a stable environment. Having said that, business moves on, just like in Thailand, despite coups, he added.



He also emphasised that India holds a very important place in the global economy. Despite the world economy slowing rapidly, Indias GDP (gross domestic product) has been growing more than 7%, he said.



Minister for Large and Medium Industries R V Deshpande said, The Karnataka government is placing more thrust on research and development, heritage industries, infrastructure and on human resource skill development. The governments focus has been on clearing projects.
Bernie Sanders beat Hillary Clinton by a margin of 19 percentage points in Colorado caucus straw polls this week, but the delegate count is starting to tell a different story.

Clinton now looks likely to tie the Vermont senator 38-38 in the states delegate count, according to projections from The Denver Post, Bloomberg Politics and The Associated Press. That includes a potential 38-28 split in Sanders favor in projections based on Tuesdays preference poll results, plus 10 superdelegates (out of 12) who have committed to Clinton, the former secretary of state.

The potential for a split decision or worse for Sanders stands in stark contrast to celebrations by his supporters across Colorado on Tuesday night.

Sanders rallied Colorado Democrats in a big way, drawing on young voters, passionate liberals and, the campaign says, big support from Latinos.

Even as Clinton solidified her status as the Democratic front-runner on Super Tuesday with big victories across the South, Sanders swept 51 of Colorados 64 counties. He relegated Clinton to wins mostly on the Eastern Plains and a handful of other low-population counties.

Sanders carried the Western Slope, the mountains and every county in the Denver area, although the Douglas County margin was only five votes.

Turnout broke state Democratic caucus records and resulted in long lines at many caucus sites that delayed start times, pushed some meetings outdoors and kept caucusgoers from voting at some places, notably in Boulder County.

The state party said the 121,600 registered Democrats who voted Tuesday exceeded the turnout of 120,000 in 2008, when Barack Obama beat Clinton 2-to-1.

In some respects, Colorado is a bit of an outlier  in that Democratic participation (in other states) has been down the last couple years, while Republican participation has been on steroids, said Eric Sondermann, a Denver political analyst.

The Colorado results are a testimony that Sanders engaged the race and captured the attention of the most activist, liberal base of the Democratic party in a state that tends to favor insurgent caucus candidates. The turnout amounted to 11 percent of all registered Democrats for a caucus process that rewards depths of support rather than breadth of support, as Sondermann sees it.

But that was Tuesday. The delegates sent to the Democratic National Convention may paint a different picture of Colorado Democrats preferences.

Although the superdelegates can change their allegiances  and two so far have not committed to either candidate  a key indicator is Clintons apparent ascendancy.

If her momentum continues, she could maintain her tie in Colorados 78 delegates or even exceed Sanders total by two, once the state party leaders who are standing on the sidelines make their superdelegate choices later in the primary season.

In 2008, after Obama seized the momentum from Clinton and went on to win the Democratic nomination, many superdelegates switched their allegiances to the new front-runner.

Unless Sanders is able in upcoming primaries to narrow the gap and eventually surpass Clinton in earned delegates nationally, a switch of most Colorado superdelegates would be unlikely.

Sanders won the presidential preference poll conducted across 3,010 precincts Tuesday night 59 percent to 40 percent.

Before the caucus, The Post explored the potential that a decisive outcome for one candidate could be diminished by the delegate math. Given the size of Sanders straw poll margin, the greatest potential for that now is in the superdelegate votes. Without them, the delegate projection would be only slightly narrower than the vote proportions.

Of Colorados 78 delegates, 66 are based indirectly on Tuesdays caucus preference polls and will be assigned at meetings through the April 15 state party convention, based in part on complicated allocations by congressional district that take into account Tuesdays straw polls.

Some caveats: No delegates will be settled completely until the state convention. The delegate proportion also may change because delegates to county conventions are not bound and may change sides.

And the superdelegates undoubtedly will face pressure from Sanders supporters in coming weeks or months to represent the will of Colorados vote.

So far, none who have committed to Clinton are budging publicly.

Gov. John Hickenlooper on Wednesday said that despite Sanders win among caucus attendees, he was firm in his commitment to Clinton. He is among elected officials designated as superdelegates.

I endorsed Hillary Clinton because I think of all the candidates in both parties, she is by a large margin the most qualified to come in and be president on Day 1, he told The Post through a spokeswoman. I appreciate the intense attraction that Sen. Sanders has for many, but my support for Secretary Clinton has never wavered.

Regardless of the potential delegate counts, supporters of each candidate reflected Wednesday on the meaning of the straw poll results.

The Sanders campaign pointed to his vote leads in 10 of the 15 counties where Latinos make up the largest shares of Democrats. The largest in that group carried by Clinton was Pueblo County, which she won by just under 5 percentage points.

You can only win the state of Colorado by more than 18 points if you get the support of the states Latino community in a big way, Arturo Carmona, the campaigns deputy political director, said in a news release.

Without exit polling, Sanders level of Latino support was tough to gauge, prompting some skepticism from Clinton supporters because Sanders has struggled to connect with minority communities in some places.

If you dont have any to start with and then you get a few  yeah, I guess you can say you did a little better you did before, said former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb, a staunch Clinton supporter.

But Sanders high level of overall support was undeniable. Clintons state campaign declined interview requests Wednesday.

Obviously, we wish we had done better, Webb said. When I spoke (to precincts Tuesday night), I applauded Sanders for getting so many new people out for the election. I also believe that Hillary is the strongest candidate that we can put forth for the party. 

Colorado caucus results: Complete results of Colorados 2016 Democratic caucus.
Most of Colorados top Republicans arent on the bandwagon for Donald Trump. Some have been openly critical of the brash New York billionaire. But if the front-runner becomes the nominee?

Most still wont say if or how much they would back him, instead choosing to refer to Trump as a hypothetical, one they clearly havent yet embraced. They are keeping an arms length, as new polling shows Trump losing, badly, to Hillary Clinton in a head-to-head match-up.

Few in Washington, in either party, have roasted Trump more than Colorados Republican U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner of Yuma, the first senator to endorse Marco Rubio. Gardner traveled to Detroit Thursday to join Rubio at the Republican debate.

Yet even Gardner, who last year called Trump a buffoon, wont speculate on what hell do if Trump is the GOP chosen one headed into the fall.

I will not engage in hypotheticals, but I urge my colleagues, leaders across America and those who are still in the race to join me in supporting Marco Rubio, Gardner said.  He is the only candidate who can prevent a third term of Barack Obama in the form of Hillary Clinton.

U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman of Aurora, didnt mince words about his personal dislike of the way Trump campaigns. He also isnt ready to say whether he would support Trump as the partys nominee. He is backing Rubio.

As for Donald Trump, if he wants to unify Republicans, and if he has any true aspiration of winning the White House, he needs to elevate his rhetoric out of the gutter, Coffman said.

Colorado Republican Party chairman Steve House passed.

Former state party chairman Dick Wadhams, a prime shaper of GOP opinion in Colorado, doesnt plan to endorse anyone until after this summers nominating convention in Cleveland.

Im on the Trump bandwagon if hes the nominee, Wadhams said.

U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton of Cortez also isnt entertaining hypothetical nominees or handing out endorsements, his office said.

This is for the party and process to work out, said his chief of staff, Josh Green.

U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn of Colorado Springs said he would support the Republican nominee, regardless.

From Supreme Court vacancies, to national security and defense issues, to taxes and spending, a left-wing socialist like Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders must not become the president of the United States, he said.

Added U.S. Rep. Ken Buck: I believe that Sen. Ted Cruz is the most conservative and consistent candidate in the race. I wont answer hypotheticals about other candidates, because this race is far from over.

As a group, the 13 Republicans running against incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet this fall have the same position as Bennet, a Clinton supporter: They will support the partys nominee.

With only a one-seat Republican majority in his chamber, Colorado Senate President Bill Cadman of Colorado Springs isnt ready to assume a Trump nomination would hurt the down-ticket races in Colorado.

He said Trumps rise represents uncharted political territories.

I will absolutely support the partys nominee, whoever that turns out to be, said Cadman, who hasnt endorsed anyone for president. The known quantities on the other side dont appeal to me at all.

Colorado House Republican leader Brian DelGrosso of Loveland also isnt endorsing any candidate before the convention.

My caucus members need to focus on their own elections, and we need to focus on whats going on here in Colorado, he said.

Veteran Republican politico Greg Brophy, a former state senator and gubernatorial candidate who served as an area manager for U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard and chief of state for U.S. Rep Ken Buck, sees shades of 2010, when the Colorado Republican Party fractured over its candidate for governor.

Thats the year bombastic and controversial Dan Maes won the GOP nomination for governor and lost the general election by 40 percentage points.

Nonetheless, Brophy sees a clear path between Trump and the nomination.

I think Trump could very well win the nomination and the presidency; I see him winning Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin in addition to Ohio and Florida, Brophy said. However, I think hed lose Colorado by 10, and that to me is eerily reminiscent of 2010 where a debacle at the top of the ticket caused the Republican wave that was flowing across America to crash here.

We should have won everything that year. Trump at the top might cost us the state senate and likely the U.S. Senate. Coffman holds on; he always does.

Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174, jbunch@denverpost.com or @joeybunch
By Jonathan Soble, with additional reporting by Makiko Inoue

29 February 2016 TOKYO (The New York Times)  Japanese prosecutors indicted three former executives of the Tokyo Electric Power Company, the owner of the ruined Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, on Monday, charging them with criminal negligence for their role in reactor meltdowns after an earthquake and tsunami five years ago. The indictments were the first stemming from the 2011 nuclear disaster, which spread radiation across a wide area in northeastern Japan and led to evacuations that left more than 100,000 homeless. The sudden and often chaotic evacuations caused the deaths of 44 people, prosecutors said in a statement. They did not identify the victims, but most, if not all, are believed to have been older Fukushima residents who were in hospitals and nursing homes, or bedridden at home, when the disaster occurred. One died in a hospital because doctors and nurses were forced to flee, leaving the person without treatment or care, the prosecutors said. Others died in transit or in makeshift temporary shelters. (No one was killed by radiation, because levels outside the plant itself were too low.)
By Laura Bliss

2 March 2016 (CityLab)  The Great Salt Lake is drying up, thanks to 150 years of human diversions from the rivers that feed it. Thats the takeaway of a white paper released by a team of Utah biologists and engineers. And if those diversions continue ramping up, as a bill working its way through the Utah legislature proposes, the waterbody may face a withering fate similar to other dried-up salt lakes around the world. The namesake of Utahs capital city, the Great Salt Lake is the the states defining geographic feature and one of its economic anchors. A 2012 report by the Great Salt Lake Council estimated that the total economic output of the waterbody at $1.32 billion, between mineral extraction from the lake, brine shrimp egg production (used in aquaculture all over the world), and recreation that takes place in and around it. It also serves as an essential migration flyway for millions of birds each year. But the lake, which approached record-low water levels last year, is under threat. According to the Utah researchers calculations, since the mid-19th century, consistent reductions from the rivers that feed the lake have caused the lakes elevation to drop by 11 feet, lose roughly half its volume, increase the lakes salinity, and expose approximately 50 percent of the lake bed. Those numbers are unrelated to natural fluctuations over wet and dry periods, including the current drought. Since the lake is a closed basin, the only way water leaves it is through evaporation. That makes it fairly simple to calculate just how much water has been lost to agriculture and urban growth.
1 March 2016 (UN)  Europe faces an imminent humanitarian crisis, largely of its own making, following a rapid build-up of people in already over-stretched Greece, the United Nations refugee agency warned today. With governments not working together despite having already reached agreements in a number of areas, and country after country imposing new border restrictions, inconsistent practices are causing unnecessary suffering and risk being at variance with EU and international law standards, Adrian Edwards, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told a press briefing in Geneva. Mr. Edwards added that as of last night, the number of refugees and migrants in Greece in need of accommodation has soared to 24,000. Around 8,500 people are at Eidomeni, near the border with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. At least 1,500 had spent the previous night in the open. The crowded conditions are leading to shortages of food, shelter, water, and sanitation. Tensions have been building, fuelling violence and playing into the hands of people smugglers, Mr. Edwards stressed. The Greek authorities have responded with the military setting up two camps near Eidomeni with a projected capacity of 12,500 and a nearby third site already under construction. UNHCR is supplementing the Greek response effort. We have provided rub halls, tents and refugee housing units, other core relief, plus additional staff and specialists, including protection and technical staff, the spokesperson added. According to the agency, overall Mediterranean arrivals have slowed over the winter but remain relatively high. Data as of this morning shows that 131,724 people made the journey during January and February, with 122,637 individuals landing in Greece. This is approaching the total for the first half of 2015 (147,209). So far, 410 lives have reportedly been lost. Vincent Cochetel, UNHCRs Regional Refugee Coordinator for the Refugee Crisis in Europe, called for Europe to implement burden-sharing agreements reached last year, warning there is no plan B. Greece needs a safety valve. It is time for Europe to wake up, either we have a massive orderly relocation from Greece or a repeat of what we saw last year, more chaos and confusion, he told the briefing in answer to questions on the current situation on the ground. He added that some 55 per cent of refugees from Syria currently arriving in Greece are women and children and many are from the north where fighting has recently taken place. Meanwhile, UNHCR has reiterated its overall position that solving Europes refugees and migrants situation and preventing a new crisis in Greece requires a number of clear actions. Among the most urgent of these when it comes to Greece is the need for better contingency planning, with increased accommodation capacity and other support. The authorities are trying to respond now to prevent a further deterioration of conditions throughout Greece. But, more resources and better coordination are critical for averting wider suffering and chaos, Mr. Edwards stressed. UNHCR is continuing to support the response operation and has set up field offices in eight locations and deployed additional staff including mobile emergency teams who quickly move to wherever the changing situation demands. However, with increasing border restrictions across the Balkans, the agency says it is concerned that the situation could escalate into a humanitarian crisis similar to that on the Greek islands last autumn. UNHCR is urging the Greek authorities with the support of the European Asylum Support Office and EU Member States to strongly reinforce its capacity to register and process asylum seekers through the national asylum procedure, as well as through the European relocation scheme. Greece cannot manage this situation alone. It remains absolutely vital therefore that the relocation efforts that Europe agreed to in 2015 are prioritized and implemented. It should concern everyone that despite commitments to relocate 66,400 refugees from Greece, states have so far only pledged 1,539 spaces, and only 325 actual relocations have occurred, Mr. Edwards detailed. Increased regular pathways for admission of refugees from countries neighbouring Syria will also help in the overall management of this situation, UNHCR underlined. More resettlement and humanitarian admission, family reunification, private sponsorship, and humanitarian and refugee student and work visas all serve to reduce demand for people smuggling, onward movements, and dangerous boat journeys, the agency added. UNHCR is convening a conference on this topic in Geneva on 30 March 2016.
Santa Clara, Calif., March 3, 2016  GLOBALFOUNDRIES, a leading provider of advanced semiconductor manufacturing technology, announced today that Alain Mutricy has joined the company as senior vice president of the Product Management Group. In this role, Mutricy is responsible for the companys leading edge and mainstream technology solutions and go-to-market activities for these differentiated products.

Mutricy succeeds Mike Cadigan, who will transition to a newly created role as senior vice president of global sales and business development.

Alain is an accomplished senior executive with more than 25 years of experience in the consumer electronics, mobile, and semiconductor industries, said GLOBALFOUNDRIES CEO Sanjay Jha. He brings a strong portfolio of successes contributing to growth, profitability, and competitiveness for global product organizations, which will help him build on the strong foundation we have already established in our product management group. I am thrilled to welcome Alain to the GLOBALFOUNDRIES team.

Before joining GLOBALFOUNDRIES, Mutricy was founder and executive adviser at AxINNOVACTION, a consulting firm that promotes action to unlock and accelerate innovation in big organizations, as well as co-founder and CEO of Vuezr, which attempted to revolutionize mobile direct marketing by delivering product visual recognition to consumers mobile devices via augmented reality.

From 2007-2012, Mutricy served as senior vice president of portfolio and device product management for mobile devices at Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc., where he led a global team responsible for defining the companys mobile devices product portfolio strategy and structure. He and his team advanced a strategic focus on Android-based smartphones, which included the widely acclaimed family of DROID by Motorola products. During his tenure at Motorola Mobility, Mutricy was also responsible for defining and directing the Mobile Devices business units global strategy for silicon and software platforms, as well as leadership of a global R&D team responsible for designing and implementing integrated circuits, wireless chipset solutions, platform software, product software for non-CDMA products, and an ecosystem strategy for mobile devices.

Prior to joining Motorola in 2007, Mutricy served at Texas Instruments for 18 years, where he was promoted to vice president in January 2002. From 2004 until his departure from Texas Instruments, Mutricy served as vice president and general manager for the companys Cellular Systems Solutions business. In that role, he was responsible for commercializing and building a leadership position for the companys wireless chipset solutions for GSM/GPRS/EDGE/3G and OMAP application processors. Prior to leading Cellular Systems Solutions, Mutricy was general manager for the Texas Instruments OMAP business, which he led from start-up status to global leadership between 2000 and 2004. Additionally, from the time he joined Texas Instruments in 1989, Mutricy was promoted through a series of general- management positions, each with increasing scope and responsibility in areas including sales, marketing and general management.

Mutricy holds a masters degree in engineering from ENSAM and an MBA from HEC Groupboth in Paris.

ABOUT GLOBALFOUNDRIES

GLOBALFOUNDRIES is the worlds first full-service semiconductor foundry with a truly global footprint. Launched in March 2009, the company has quickly achieved scale as one of the largest foundries in the world, providing a unique combination of advanced technology and manufacturing to more than 250 customers. With operations in Singapore, Germany and the United States, GLOBALFOUNDRIES is the only foundry that offers the flexibility and security of manufacturing centers spanning three continents. The companys 300mm fabs and 200mm fabs provide the full range of process technologies from mainstream to the leading edge. This global manufacturing footprint is supported by major facilities for research, development and design enablement located near hubs of semiconductor activity in the United States, Europe and Asia. GLOBALFOUNDRIES is owned by Mubadala Development Company. For more information, visit http://www.globalfoundries.com.






Integrated Solutions Deliver Enhanced Security Capabilities, Simplifying Threat Defense Lifecycle for Customers

RSA SECURITY CONFERENCE 2016, San Francisco, March 1, 2016  Intel Security today announced several major strategic initiatives, from the expansion of the Intel Security Innovation Alliance to collaborations with Siemens* and BT*. These initiatives build on Intel Securitys commitment to help customers address the increasingly urgent need to shorten response times when advanced targeted attacks occur and more easily remediate compromised systems, leading to a simplified and more automated threat defense lifecycle.

In the current security environment, collaboration and integration are more important than ever to create a strong security posture, said Tom Fountain, Intel Securitys vice president of Strategy and Business Development. Our goal is to become our customers No. 1 security partner. In doing so, we remain committed to working across the industry to deliver solutions that detect new threats more quickly and enable automated workflows to correct issues as they arise.

Intel Security and Partners Empower Customers to Build a Unified, Connected Security Ecosystem

Intel Security is leading the way in integrating its management platform, security information and event management (SIEM) tools, threat intelligence solutions, threat data sharing technology, advanced persistent threat protection, and automated detection and response capabilities with more than 150 partners in more than a dozen security markets.

The Intel Security Innovation Alliance technology partnering program accelerates the development of interoperable security products that converge with Intel Securitys integrated, connected security system and reinforce detect, protect and correct processes across the threat defense lifecycle. This expanded portfolio of tightly integrated products and specialized solutions simplifies and expedites deployment of security solutions within complex enterprise environments, to help customers resolve more threats faster and with fewer resources in a more complex world. Intel Security Innovation Alliance partners deliver solutions that are designed to maximize the value of existing investments, reduce time to resolution and help lower operational costs.

McAfee Data Exchange Layer Enables Threat Intelligence Sharing Across Multivendor Security Products

As part of the key technologies that form the foundation of the Intel Security Innovation Alliance program, McAfee Data Exchange Layer is an underlying communications fabric technology that not only connects Intel Security products but also connects products from other vendors. This open, yet secure, framework connects multivendor security products and enables them to exchange information, and helps make customers security tools work more efficiently and effectively. More than 20 partners in the Intel Security Innovation Alliance have completed or are currently in the process of integrating to McAfee Data Exchange Layer.

Intel Security Welcomes New Innovation Alliance Partners

More than 30 Intel Security Innovation Alliance partners have joined the program within the past six months, increasing the number of interoperable security products that converge with Intel Securitys integrated, connected architecture. A full list of these partners can be viewed here.

New partners that have joined the Intel Security Innovation Alliance this quarter include:

Siemens Expands Collaboration with Intel Security for Industrial Security Solutions

Siemens and Intel Security are expanding their collaboration to help protect industrial automation systems from increased cyberthreats. Siemens experts leverage Intel Security solutions such as anti-virus software, whitelisting and SIEM within the framework of plant security services. These tools are designed to help detect security incidents promptly, enabling Siemens experts to notify plant operators without undue delay and allowing them to implement countermeasures. The two companies are coupling their expertise in the area of industrial automation and cybersecurity to provide industrial plants with products and services designed to help minimize cyberrisks, while increasing system availability.

BT and Intel Security Collaborate to Develop Next-Generation Security Services

BT and Intel Security today announced a strategic agreement to create new solutions that help organizations improve security and prevent cyberattacks. The companies will also work together in a joint cyber initiative to further develop their common vision of next-generation security services. RSA Conference attendees can visit BT Security booth 7.07 at the Moscone Center for a demo.






The GSMA has announced three new signatories to the Humanitarian Connectivity Charter at Mobile World Congress 2016.

Operators Telefonica, Zain and Millicom each signed the Charter. They join seven other signatories who are all committed to the Charter principles: Axiata Group, Ooredoo Group, Smart Communications, Globe Telecom, Etisalat, Roshan, and Ericsson.

The GSMA Humanitarian Connectivity Charter was launched at Mobile World Congress 2015 in Barcelona. It provides a common set of principles for the mobile industry, aimed at supporting access to communications with the aim of reducing loss of life and positively contributing to humanitarian response. The Humanitarian Connectivity Charter is intended to create a more coordinated and predictable response to disasters.

The Charter is an industry-wide initiative which demonstrates the commitment of the mobile industry to supporting customers and responders before and during humanitarian emergencies. The signing of these new operators further emphasises the mobile industrys awareness of its role in providing humanitarian connectivity in times of crisis.

The launch of the Humanitarian Connectivity Charter reflects the growing recognition within the mobile industry and among government and responding stakeholders of the crucial role that mobile connectivity plays during humanitarian crises. Mobile devices are often one of the first things people reach for when disaster strikes.

The Charter is supported by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA), the UN Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC) and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). It was created following two years of industry workshops and collaboration facilitated by the GSMA Disaster Response program, in association with UN agencies, mobile operators, vendors and non-government organizations (NGOs).

Over the last decade, 1.8 billion people have been affected by disasters around the world. The challenges posed by these crises are too large for any single entity to address individually and the Charter provides a vehicle for driving collaboration and partnership both within the industry and with external partners. In this context, ensuring preparedness and resiliency is critical from both a sustainability and business perspective.

All three new Charter signatories have strong track records of humanitarian engagement. In 2013 Tigo Guatemala, a Millicom company, formed a partnership with Oxfam to enable the distribution of humanitarian cash transfers to families affected by child malnutrition and drought. Similar programmes have been run by Tigo in Chad with Action Contre le Faim and in Honduras with the World Food Programme to help communities with special needs.

Commenting on becoming a Charter signatory, Zain Group CEO Scott Gegenheimer remarked, Zain has and shall continue to work rigorously to improve the conditions of people in distressed or unfortunate situations. However, throughout history has been made abundantly clear that the pooling of efforts and resources often achieves more positive results than what can be done individually, and we are thus looking forward to contributing our efforts and resources under the Charter.

Eduardo Puig de la Bellacasa Aznar, Director of Corporate Stakeholder Engagement & Corporate Reporting at Telefonica said: The GSMA Humanitarian Connectivity Charter aligns directly with Telefonicas corporate social commitments to respond to humanitarian needs during crisis situations. Telefonica is actively engaged in the response to emergency crisis in natural disasters and the refugee crisis. In collaboration with our partners, the GSMA and other Charter signatories, Telefonica is committed to finding and implementing communications based solutions which will help refugees to support themselves economically and better integrate into societies over the long term.
Netflix is running its Grammasters content, in which it'll pay for your trip to Europe and Middle East. All you need to do is take pictures on Instagram.

Like sharing photos on Instagram? Maybe you could take a break from your regular surroundings and go to Europe or the Middle-East? No? How about if you get paid $2000 per week for it? Thats exactly what Netflix is doing, with its Grammasters program. The premier video streaming service is teaming up with Instagram, hiring Instagrammers to travel to Europe and Middle East to click pictures of popular sites. The eligibility criteria covers anyone who is over 21 years old and has a mobile phone or other wireless or electronic device supporting Instagram and having the digital camera feature. Wonder if the Freedom 251 qualifies, right?

Any way, Netflix will cover your travel arrangements and pay you $4000 for two weeks that you will spend in the above mentioned places. To apply, users must follow @Netflix on Instagram and tag three of the best pictures that you have taken, along with the hashtag #grammesters3, by March 6. According to Netflix job description, the company is looking for TV and movie fans who are talented for taking pictures. You can check the contest terms and conditions here.
Nokia has been a legendary name in the world of mobile devices. For most of us, our first devices were possibly a Nokia, and the Finnish giants continued to be invincible, right until the world took a turn towards smartphones near the end of the last decade. Taken over by Microsoft, Nokia resigned to the corners, and seemed nearly out of the industry. However, as its contract with Microsoft nears an ending, and CEO Rajeev Suri stating that Nokia will be back in the market with its smartphones, we could not help but be optimistic. On that note, we decided to go back and dig up some of the most curious designs that Nokia came up with, on their phones. Some of them seem exceedingly weird, and a few others look unbelievable, but all of them stood out for their uniqueness. Heres taking a look at some of Nokias craziest ideas, that made it to different markets across the world.

Nokia 6800 Announced in early 2003, the Nokia 6800 had a full QWERTY keyboard concealed within its bulky candybar body. The Nokia 6800 was a messaging-oriented phone with a standard alphanumeric keypad on the top. The keypad had a hinge that could be flipped over to give access to a full keypad. It was big and bulky, and had an 8-line 128x128-pixel colour display, without a camera.

Nokia 3600 The Nokia 3600 had a circular keypad with a 176x208-pixel resolution display. The bizarre device was a smartphone running on Symbian S60, with 4MB memory and a VGA rear camera. The Nokia 3600 had users divided on opinion - while many stated that it enhanced messaging, a lot of others claimed inconvenience.

Nokia 7600 The phone with a teardrop design was one of Nokias most bizarre form factors. Featuring a 2-inch 128x160-pixel design, the Nokia 7600 had its keypad running around the display. Its form factor meant that it was nearly impossible to use it with one hand. The Nokia 7600 also had a VGA camera with Sub Quarter CIF video capability, along with 29MB of internal memory, Bluetooth, Infrared and USB port.

Nokia 7700 A device that looked partially like a handheld gaming console and partially like an F1 drivers steering wheel, the Nokia 7700 was a bit of a rebel for its time. Housing a 3.5-inch touchscreen display with 640x320-pixel resolution and a stylus for input, the Nokia 7700 had a speaker on top of the display and controls on either side, making it a rather bizarre device in overall terms. The Nokia N-Gage, aimed at gamers, was a precursor to it. Announced in 2003, the Nokia 7700 never made it to commercial stores, as the company cancelled its launch and followed it up with the Nokia 7710 in 2004.

Nokia 8910i A business-oriented phone with an external Titanium shell, the Nokia 8910i focussed on durability rather than entertainment or usage experience. The device featured a 96x65-pixel resolution CSTN display, and you had to slide out its keypad with narrow buttons from within a Titanium clamshell. The device almost looked like a walkie-talkie, because of its design.

Nokia 7370 The Nokia 7370, to put it mildly, was an extravagant flourish of design with Nokias swivelling form factor. The flowery design, however, seemed a little odd on it, and probably appealed only to a very limited section of the audience. Apart from the design, the Nokia 7370 was a very ordinary device in terms of its specifications.

Nokia 7280 Otherwise known as the lipstick phone, the Nokia 7280 looked as weird as it functioned. A navi-wheel was used to choose characters to type on a tiny display with a resolution of 208x104 pixels. It was a case of Nokia at its pompous best coming up with a device that bordered on being a daring experience. There was nothing really exceptional about it apart from its queer design, which ensured that it found its place in the records of bizarre-looking devices in the history of mobile devices.

Nokia 3250 The Nokia 3250 was unique, weird and ingenious at the same time. Made for music lovers, the Nokia 3250 had a rotating half beneath the display, on which it featured an alphanumeric keypad, a 2-megapixel camera and dedicated music controls, making it not only an incredibly functional device, but a very unique device to own.

Nokia 7900 Prism The first device to incorporate Nokias Prism design philosophy, the Nokia 7900 Prism had smooth flowing aesthetics, with triangular buttons. It never became a massive hit among the customers, but led to the formation of an entire series of devices inspired by this design philosophy. It featured an OLED display, a big deal for its time, along with a 2MP primary camera and 1GB of internal memory.

Nokia N91 The Nokia N91 commanded some kind of a coveted respect among phones - 4GB of storage, 3G support, WiFi, 2MP rear camera, and to top it all, a metallic build that had dedicated music keys on a panel that slid down to reveal the keypad. It was large and weird in terms of aesthetics, but made for a beautiful device that possibly would not find itself out of place even today (not in terms of performance, maybe, but we would love to own one!)
City of London Group finance director Howard Goodbourn has decided to step down, the AIM-listed company confirmed on Friday.

In a statement, COLG said Goodbourn would be leaving on 18 March to pursue full-time business interests.

While he has been the FD for the past four years, Goodbourns role has not been full-time since 30 September.

He will not be directly replaced, the company said. Rather, his duties will be assumed by other COLG staff.

COLG's two investee businesses  Credit Asset Management Limited and Trade Finance Partners Limited  continue to have their own full-time finance directors.

At 1641 GMT, COLGs share price was unchanged at 10p.
Italian lender Banca Carige was ordered by the European Central Bank to present a new funding plan and a fresh strategic roadmap to counter falling deposits and profitability and meet compliance and supervisory requirements.

Shares in the Genoa-based lender plummeted on the news.

Last month, Banca Carige restated its 2015 accounts to show a net loss of 102m versus an origginal estimate of 45m.

The bank had been left with a market capitalisation of 525m after a 75% drop in its share price over the last year.

It had approximately 30.2bn in assets as of 31 December 2015, down from 38.3bn one year earlier, and 2bn in cash.

Banca Carige was forced to go cap in hand to investors for 850m after the ECB's last health-check of the sector detected a shortfall in its capital base.

As of 08:27 shares in Banca Carige were down by 8.25% to 0.58.
China's currency jumped at the end of the week after a top central bank official said the yuan and the country's monetary policies will remain stable, apparently helping to curb worries of further easing moves.

Speaking on Friday, People's Bank of China deputy governor Yi Gang appeared to voice support for the currency ahead of this weekend's National People's Congress.

Yi also said that while the exchange rate uses a basket of currencies as a guide, it was not "strictly" tied to it.

The yuan strengthened by 0.27% to 6.5173 a dollar, taking its advance for the week to 0.37%.

In parallel, the PBoC lifted the value of its daily fixing by 0.2%, the most in almost three weeks.

At the weekend Congress, China's Ministry of Finance was expected to unveil a looser fiscal stance in its Budget, while the new Five-Year plan might include details on the country's infrastructure investment plans.

Both would serve as reminders that Beijing, "has not yet run out of options to support the economy," Capital Economics said in a research report sent to clients on 2 March.

Chinese officials were also likely to unveil their latest set of targets for growth in gross domestic product for this year and beyond "that are unrealistically high and will do nothing for policy-making credibility," the think-tank said.
European equities nudged higher in early trade but moves were muted as investors erred on the side of caution ahead of the all-important nonfarm payrolls report.

At 0900 GMT, the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 index, Germanys DAX and Frances CAC 40 were all up 0.2%.

Meanwhile, oil prices were fairly steady following choppy moves on Thursday, with West Texas Intermediate up 0.1% at $34.60 a barrel and Brent crude down 0.2% to $36.98

The nonfarm payrolls report and the unemployment rate are both due at 1330 GMT.

While the ADP employment report was fairly good, it was also pretty positive in January which would suggest perhaps that todays non-farm payrolls report could well see an upward revision. We can also expect to see various monthly revisions for the whole of last year as well, said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.

He said expectations are for an improvement to 195,000 while the unemployment rate is expected to stay unchanged at 4.9%.

There has been some debate as to whether todays number could shift the dial with respect to a March rate rise, but given recent volatility its safe to assume it probably wont. Some might argue that a March rate hike remains on the table, but it isnt really, especially since the ECB will probably ease monetary policy further next week. This would suggest that any Fed rate rise that might be on the table is more likely to stay there and gather dust.

In corporate news, London Stock Exchange was little changed after posting a 31% increase in full year profit and reiterating the case for a merger with Deutsche Boerse.

Shares in WPP rose after it posted strong 2015 results, although it sounded a cautious note over the outlook for the advertising industry.

Dutch digital security firm Gemalto surged after its full-year profit beat analysts expectations.

French hotel group Accor rallied after a spokeswoman for the company said it was not in talks to buy Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group.

On the downside, William Hill slid after UBS downgraded the stock to sell from buy, pointing to an increasingly competitive backdrop.
Kennedy Wilson Europe Real Estate has been notified by the European Public Real Estate Association that it will be added to the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Global Real Estate Index Series as of 21 March.

The company said it had successfully satisfied the required eligibility criteria during the indexs March 2016 quarterly review.

Chief executive officer and president Mary Ricks said: "Our inclusion in the EPRA index is further recognition of the progress made by the company and will benefit all shareholders. We are very pleased to have reached this milestone as we celebrate two years since our successful IPO."

At 0825 GMT, Kennedy shares were up 4.1% to 1,181p.
UDG Healthcare 's proposed sale of two of its businesses to McKesson Corporation has made it over a significant regulatory hurdle, the company revealed on Friday.

The FTSE 250 company had announced details of the sale of United Drug Supply and MASTA on 18 September and 13 October 2015, respectively.

On Friday, UDG's board said the European Commission had confirmed competition clearance for the businesses based in the Republic of Ireland.

However, the EC had referred the UK aspects of the proposed transaction to the Competition and Markets Authority for their review.

"Notwithstanding the referral to the Competition and Markets Authority, the clearance from the European Commission enables the transaction to complete in full and this is now expected to occur on 1 April," UDG's board confirmed in a statement.
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Olentangy Berlin shuts out Thomas Worthington in Game of the Week

Olentangy Berlin visits Thomas Worthington for the central Ohio high school football Game of the Week for Week 10.
Alamo Wing honors 33 CCAF degree recipients

The 433rd Airlift Wing held its first Community College of the Air Force degree recognition ceremony here honoring 29 graduates during the unit training assembly Feb. 27.



The Community College of the Air Force was established in 1972 to meet the education and training requirements of the Air Force and help Airmen achieve their professional goals. The CCAF is the world's largest degree granting institution of higher learning.



"When I say the University of Alabama, University of North Carolina, University of Texas and University of Virginia, what do you think of," Chief Master Sergeant Brian M. Pinsky, 433rd Airlift Wing, Command Chief asked.



"What they have in common is that the CCAF is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools just like those schools," he said.



The CCAF is a federally chartered degree-granting institution that serves the United States Air Force's enlisted total force. They partner with over 108 affiliated Air Force schools, 82 education service offices located worldwide and more than 1,500 civilian academic institutions to serve approximately 300,000 active, Guard and reserve enlisted personnel, making CCAF the world's largest community college system.



The college annually awards over 22,000 associate in applied science degrees from 68 degree programs according to the Air University website.



"It feels great to accomplish my goal of earning my degree," said Tech Sgt. Kim Herrera, the 433rd AW Historian.



"I would tell Airmen they should complete this degree to show you are dedicated and determined because potential employers look for these traits," she said. This degree is also a factor in promotions Herrera said.


There is still time to register for Landmark Parks special Spring Break Day Camps and Family Programs, running the week of March 28-April 1.

Ten camps for children ages 4 to 11 will meet from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Each camp is $15 per child for members and $20 per child for non-members. Registration is required, and each camp is limited to the first 15 children.

Camps are broken up by age groups and different camps are held each day. Also, the Planetarium will present special programming on stars, planets and their related mythology at 1 p.m. each day. Family programs will be held each afternoon at 2:30 p.m.

Camps will cover spring flower beds, the moons of the solar system, the parks piglets, nocturnal animals, trees, remnants and footprints animals leave behind, Native Americans, animal habitats, and birds and other sounds of nature.

For details on camps and to register for a program, contact the park at 334-794-3452 or visit landmarkparkdothan.com.
Joe C. Graddy, a resident of Cottonwood, died Tuesday, March 1, 2016 at his residence. He was 79. Graveside services will be held at 2 PM Friday, March 4, 2016 at Cottonwood City cemetery with Reverends Stan Sullivan and John Smith officiating. Flowers will be accepted or memorial contributions may be made to Covenant Hospice, 104 Rockbridge Road, Dothan, AL 36303. Mr. Graddy was born June 28, 1936 in Headland, Alabama to the late William Haywood and Cynthia Campbell Graddy. He was a graduate of Headland High School and later joined the United States Army where he was stationed in Germany. Mr. Graddy was a business man who was involved in several ventures before he started raising cattle. His passion for Texas Longhorn cattle was evident in the many awards he won for cattle breeding. He was also the Southeast Director of the Texas Longhorn Breeders Association. Mr. Graddy is preceded in death by his parents, wife, Barbara Lewis Graddy and a brother, Billy Graddy. Survivors include his son, James Graddy; daughter and son-in-law, Carolyn and Bruce Wozow; grandson, Jacob Wozow; granddaughter and her husband, Cynthia and Andrew Anderson; great granddaughter, Tinlee Wozow; three sisters, Julia White, Nell Johnson, Elizabeth White and several nieces and nephews. The family wishes to thank Mr. Graddy's caregivers, Mrs. Lillian Deese, Joe and Katrina Mathews and Jodi Grayson. A special thank you to Covenant Hospice, Lynn, Cynthia, Dr. Nichols and Sarah. Southern Heritage Funeral Home and Crematory 334-702-1712 is in charge of arrangements. www.southernheritagefh.com Sign the guest book at www.dothaneagle.com.
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.
Moving on quickly from the Geneva motor show and the world premiere of the Q2, Audi has used an annual accounts press conference held at its Ingolstadt headquarters in Germany on Thursday as the backdrop for the unveiling of the new SQ7 TDI.

Significantly, the latest addition to the Q7 line-up is the first series production car to receive an electric powered compressor to boost the performance of its engine  a new 320kW 4.0-litre V8 diesel also destined for the fourth-generation A8 and a new Q8-badged range topping SUV, both already under intensive development at the German car maker.

In a first for Audi, it also uses electro-mechanical active roll stabilisation system to suppress roll during cornering as well as a 48-volt electric sub system in combination with the existing 12-volt electric system used on other new second-generation Q7 models.

The 2016 model year SQ7 TDI is the first Q7 model to receive the "S" treatment, following on from the SQ5, on sale since 2013. Pricing is yet to be announced, however, officials confirm it is planned to head into Australian showrooms by the end of year.

Heading the list of developments brought to the SQ7 TDI is an all-new diesel engine. With a swept volume of 3956cc, its overall displacement is 207cc smaller than that of the unit it replaces in keeping with current downsizing trends. It also adopts a new common rail injection system that generates up to 2500bar of injection pressure as well as Audi's patented valve lift system  the latter marking the first time it has been applied to one of the German car maker's diesel engines.

In a move similar to that of rival BMW and the most powerful version of 3.0-litre in-line six-cylinder diesel, the new Audi unit uses three chargers to boost induction. But whereas the BMW powerplant relies on three conventional exhaust gas driven turbochargers, the new Audi engine receives two exhaust gas driven turbochargers and a separate electrically driven compressor in what the German car maker is billing as a world first for a series production car.

The two exhaust gas driven turbochargers, mounted within the 90-degree angle of each cylinder bank to provide them with short flow paths, run in a sequential process, with the smaller turbocharger engaged at low and intermediate throttle loads and the second larger turbocharger activated at higher loadings. The electrically powered compressor, or EPC as commonly referred to, augments the efforts of the turbochargers by increasing the throughput of air within the induction system at lower throttle loads in a bid to improve overall response.

Modern day diesel engines tend to drop their revs quite markedly when you back away from the throttle as result of the induction pressure being dramatically reduced as the boosting effect of the turbochargers is halted. The idea behind the new induction process applied by Audi to its new V8 is to use the additional air forced into the induction system by the EPC, whose compressor wheel spins at up to 70,000 rpm, to keep the smaller turbocharger primed and ready to spin back up to its maximum boost pressure as fast as possible so that full torque is available virtually the moment you get back on the throttle.

"The electrically driven compressor in the SQ7 TDI is a world first, with which Audi underscores its claim Vorsprung durch Technik," said Stefan Knirsch, member of the Audi board responsible for technical development.

In the SQ7 TDI, the new engine produces 320kW and 900Nm of torque on a band of revs between 1000 and 3250rpm.

This is 70kW and 100Nm more than Audi's old twin-turbocharged 4.2-litre V8 diesel used in the superseded first-generation Q7 4.2 TDI. However, it is not the most powerful diesel engine to feature in the top-of-the-line Audi SUV. That honour rests with the discontinued twin-turbocharged 6.0-litre V12 diesel engine, which produced 368kW and 1000Nm in the Q7 6.0 TDI.

Predictably, the new V8 receives a selective catalytic converter, which is integrated into a particulate filter and uses urea injection to reduce NOx levels. In keeping with the sporting pretensions behind the latest Q7 model, it also uses a sound actuator that allows the driver to vary the acoustic qualities, with the synthetic exhaust note played back through the speakers.

The stout reserves of the SQ7 TDI are fed through an eight-speed automatic gearbox and Audi's Torsen torque sensing four-wheel drive system with a self-locking centre differential to all four wheels. Buyers can also specify an optional sport differential, which provides a torque vectoring effect with a variable amount of drive between each of the individual rear wheels dependant on traction levels and wheel speed, making it the only Q7 model to offer it.

Audi quotes an official 0-100km time of 4.8sec  some 1.3sec faster than the most powerful of existing Q7 models, the 245kW supercharged 3.0-litre V6 petrol engine powered 3.0 TFSI. Top speed is limited to 250km/h. Combined cycle consumption on the European test cycle is put at 7.4L/100km, endowing the SQ7 TDI with an average CO2 emissions of 194g/km.

Although not yet made official, Drive can reveal the new V8 forms the basis for a smaller V6 diesel featuring a similar electric powered compression (EPC) enhanced induction system.

The chassis of the SQ7 TDI is described as the most advanced applied to a road-going Audi model yet. Together with the electro-mechanical four wheel steering, air suspension and adaptive damping functions brought over from standard second-generation Q7 models, it also uses a new electro-mechanical roll stabilisation system similar to that available on the latest BMW 7-series. Fitted with an electric motor boasting a three-stage planetary gearbox that separate the two halves of the stabilizer bar, it is claimed to significantly reduce lean. In off-road driving, the stabilizers are decoupled.

The new Audi comes with standard 20-inch wheels fitted with 285/45 profile tyres, though it can be fitted with wheels up to 22-inch in diameter. An optional brake package using the same ceramic-carbon brake discs offered on the second-generation R8 are also among a long list of options.

Energy to run the electric powered compressor used by the SQ7 TDI's engine as well as its electro-mechanical active roll stabilization system is provided by a new 48-volt electrical sub-system. Also set to be adopted by the next A8 and upcoming Q8, it uses a 48-volt lithium ion battery mounted beneath the luggage compartment boasting an energy content of 0.47 kWh and output of up to 13 kW. A DC/DC converter connects the new 48-volt and existing 12-volt systems  the latter of which is brought over from other second-generation Q7 models with little change.

Originally showcased in Audi's RS5 TDI road going concept car, the 48-volt electrical sub-system has necessitated the adoption of a new generator, which Audi says operates with an efficiency level of over 80 per cent at an output of up to 3kW.

The SQ7 TDI is differentiated from other second-generation Q7 models by a series of subtle exterior design revisions, including a new grille insert, uniquely styled bumpers, aluminium housings for the door mirrors and four rectangular tailpipes. As with is standard sibling, buyers can choose between a five or seven seat interior layout.
Did I see McGahon out there, Enda Kenny asked the local press when he dropped into PayPal on his whistle stop tour that took him to Dundalk during the election campaign.

Flanked by Peter Fitzpatrick and Fergus O'Dowd, Mr Kenny inquired about his old friend, the former Fine Gael deputy from Dundalk, Brendan McGahon.

I shared an office for four years with that fellow, the Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader said, and for a brief moment his face lit up and you could see him recalling the maverick McGahon, the foxy figure who had brought so much colour to the Dail in his day.

Later I met Mr McGahon as we both tried to find our way out of the beautiful vast PayPal international headquarters, the industrial pride of Dundalk, where nearly 1,000 people now work.

He was asking for you, I said. Said you shared an office in the Dail.

Brendan stopped and turned.

We did, said Brendan. And you know something, he's changed, or rather, high office has changed him. It wears people out. Hes still a genuine, intelligent fella, who cares about people and wants the best for everyone, but it's a job that takes its toll. When I stepped away from it all fourteen years ago, I told him to get out whenever he got the chance. He didn't take my advice and went on to greater things.

Yes, I said. He did. And then I thought that maybe things have become too great. And although Mr Kenny showed that he still had the peoples touch when visiting Clare and Mayo later in the election campaign, when he visited Dundalk it was all business and the economy. Nothing wrong with that. But what about meeting the people on the streets?

It seemed very much a leaders campaign.

When Mr Kenny asked did I see McGahon, you felt that he was fed up with having to speak the same lines day after day, and that he longed for a little bit of election banter. But it was not to be. During this campaign we were endlessly told that the play, or what the Government had done, was the thing.

You always got the feeling that this election was about the actors performance before the media rather than connecting with the audience.

Much of the media is denigrating politics, Brendan McGahon continued, as we both continued our journey through the magnificent PayPal Centre, an economic powerhouse in what was once an industrial white elephant.

Take for instance how Brian Cowen was treated., he said. It was disgraceful. Politicians may be fair game but lambasting people is another thing.

The emergence of so many small parties and independent groups is destabilising the country.

Its now a one minute banjo. Government is a serious business.

He said that irrespective of who wins the election, politics should be taught in schools.

Why politics is necessary should be taught in both primary and secondary schools so that people will grow up with a better understanding of politics and the responsibilities it entails.

If there is no clear winner in the election I hope to see a Fine Gael - Fianna Fail led coalition.

I would hope that the Civil War politics would be a thing of the past because Irelands future is at stake.

But whatever about the outcome, he definitely believes that politics is the art of listening to people.

Irish people understand politics, said Brendan, but as somebody who has always stood for democracy I am concerned.

Whatever about our democracy changing. Our style of campaign seems to have changed. This was like an American election campaign by the outgoing Fine Gael and Labour Government.

In Shakespeares As You Like It, Rosalind tells us that love is merely a madness. Well, if thats true, then politics is definitely a madness. But it used to be fun. A politician in power could walk about and meet the people, find out what was really going on in the country, instead of being told where to go and what to say by your PA.

Our picture here shows Brendan McGahon introducing Enda Kenny to Dundalk people in the last general election.

It was all very natural then. No wonder Enda looked for McGahon this time. Sure the poor man must have been fed up.
After a year in which the world economy experienced heightened volatility and global growth slowed, there has been a positive shift in opportunities ahead for SME exporters.

Trade is still growing, albeit at a slower pace than before the global financial crisis (GFC).

After relatively modest growth of 2.6 per cent last year, Efic expects global trade will accelerate to 3.4 per cent in 2016.

Softer global demand has been the main driver of this modest growth, as the global economy continues to recover from the GFC, the domestic integration of the Chinese market and growing protectionism in economic policy.

For the foreseeable future we expect annual global trade flows to remain below the 7 per cent growth experienced in the decades before the GFC.

As China has focused on rebalancing its economy away from investment-led growth and over-supplied commodity markets, global commodity prices have fallen, which has impacted on many SME exporters and supply chain contractors involved in the mining services industry.

These falls in commodity prices are weighing heavily on mining export receipts, which has impacted both Australias terms of trade and the AUD.

CHART 1: Terms of trade now in line with GDP, with a lower AUD positive

A shift in sectors

The good news for SME exporters is there are still many new export opportunities for those seeking to expand in international markets.

The weaker AUD has boosted Australias international competitiveness in many sectors outside mining services, including agriculture, services and manufacturing.

Service exports, such as tourism and education, have been particularly responsive to the lower AUD, recording 8.5 per cent average annual growth over the last three years.

This has been driven by increasing numbers of both international tourists and students coming to a more affordable Australia, which has driven up the countrys export earnings in these sectors.

Export earnings from tourism and related services were over A$42 billion in 2015, up 11 per cent from 2014.

CHART 2: Agriculture and services are accelerating, manufacturing set to follow

What does 2016 hold?

We expect global growth overall will remain soft through 2016, with improvements in the US economy being impacted by a slowing China and sluggish emerging market demand.

The trifecta of free trade agreements (FTAs) with China, Japan and South Korea, and the new Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement, should all add to opportunities for Australias SME exporters.

Signed in October 2015, the TPP is the largest trade agreement in over two decades and has been linked by ten Pacific Rim countries including the United States, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore.

These agreements will open up these markets to SME exporters by improving access and reducing costs like tariffs and import fees. This will pave the way for greater diversification, and improved competitiveness and productivity.

Among the biggest winners will be agricultural exporters, especially those in processed food and beverages, as Australia gains greater access to Asias expanding middle class.

This is a huge opportunity given the scale of Asias growth, especially when you consider Chinas middle class is expected to grow by 400 million people over the decade to 2022.

The recent removal of agriculture export subsidies by the World Trade Organization across its members will also put Australian SME exporters on a more level playing field globally, with dairy, meat and wheat exporters likely to benefit from this decision.

Finally, Australias advanced manufacturers are expected to export more in 2016.

Manufacturing is typically the last sector to respond to a depreciation of the AUD reflecting lead times in ordering capital equipment required to manufacture.

The latest Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) data suggest Australian manufacturers are optimistic, with exporters particularly sanguine.

About the author:

Andrew Watson is the Managing Director of Efic, a specialist in export finance. With a career spanning over 20 years, Andrew Hunter held a series of senior positions in financial services before joining Efic. After spending 10 years at Bankers Trust working in Australia and Hong Kong in credit and risk management, structured finance and debt origination, Andrew joined Macquarie in 1999 when the Group acquired BT.
The #FreeWaters #FeelsGood to be part of 1000 campaign launch tops my list for the best product launch ever , this is a game changer #changeeverything.

DAY 1

March 1 3AM we met at our pickup point on our way to Baler, Aurora province. With us being reminded before our trip to bring our outfit for Yoga, Trekking and Surfing, it sounded such an awesome trip already, little did we know we are off to much better surprise.

The bus we rented got a little bit lost so we were two hours delay of our schedule, we arrived at Costa Pacifica in Baler about almost 11 am and we had our late beakfast early lunch. While doing so, we were told that we will no longer be able to do all three adventures planned for us, so we have to choose among doing Yoga, Trek or Surf.

Because the waves were too intense that day, I picked Trekking. Ana Gonzalez, Aisa Ipac and Paul Chuapoco was the other bloggers with me at this trip, we all choose trekking because were clingy like that haha!

Before heading for our chosen adventure, we were handed out our welcome kit which comes with our very own #Freewaters #FeelsGood footwear, a freewaters shirt and rashguard. We all got the Tallboy pieces.

We went to our assigned rooms, Ana was my roomie and then by 2PM we had our lunch and straight to our chosen adventure.

Ive been to Dimatubo Mother Falls in Baler before, but the trail was not that hard as it was this time (you may read about that first time in Baler here). Because of typhoon Lando the trail became more difficult, there were too many bolders, drift wood and debris, even the concerte braces supporting the water pipes almost gave up and a few more bad weather and landslide, it could be badly damaged. The easier trek I tried before was already covered by rocks , wood and soil. You could see how Baler was badly hit by typhoon Lando.



Getting to the falls was still a wonderful feeling, you cant see such magnificent view anywere in Manila. What I noticed though was the part at the falls where visitors could usually swim was already covered with rocks from the recent landslide. It was still good though because the falls was still intact. I am afraid a few more deadly typhoon like Lando could make going to Dimatubo Mother Falls impossible, I hope this will be the last bad typhoon there, everyone should see this falls once.

The trek was tiring and very challenging, but despite wearing butterfly strap slippers, we encountered no accidents. Freewaters Mariposa was very durable, reliable , slip-free, water friendly and very comfortable and light. It was so easy to trek with it! We got back at Costa Pacifica Baler by 6PM .

Watch us conquer this Dimatubo Mother Falls trail here:

#Freewaters #FeelsGood aims to provide clean drinking water all over the globe. They also briefed us about what will we expect the next day for our adventure to Casiguran Aurora where we will give away water filters to those who are badly affected by typhoon Lando. The community we choose was selected through the help of the Mayor of Casiguran Mayor Ricky and the Great Adventure people who did the research for Freewater

Come nightfall, a program was held to officially introduce Freewaters, the brands philosophy as a coastal lifestyle footwear (designed for coastal living, boardsports, outdoor and travel)and likewise to reveal the inspiration behind the event  which is to contirbute positive change through its advocacy.

DAY 2

We woke at 4am so can reach Dipontian Aurora before lunchtime. It will take about 5-6 hour drive from Baler and then another 1 hour or so boatride to reach. It is a very farflung Agta Community in the province of Aurora, it will be my first time going there . We even have Coastguard and Police security with us during our trip (the area is notorious for NPAs so dont go there without an escort).



After the gruesome travel time, we reached our first destination the Dipontian School in Casiguran where the Agta Tribe schoolkids welcomed us with a smile (despite being behind for an hour).

Casiguran is a coastal community where Agta tribe lives that was devastated severly by Typhoon Lando, Freewaters aims to provide this community water filters so they can have easy access to fresh clean water. This is part of the brands #FeelGood to be part of 1000 campaign  an in-store campaign where 1% of the sale top selling product goes to this initiative of giving back to the community.



After the Dipontian School, we went to another destination, the Dalugan beach located at the northern part of Aurora Province where we had our lunch and turned-over another batch of water filters to the leaders of the Agta community living in the area. We were told there is about 360,000 plus people living in the Casiguran coastal area.

We had our boodle fight style lunch at this wonderful beach where we ate with the locals.

All the tiring travel time, back ache and some hunger we felt going to this remote community was all worth it. Seeng the smiles and discovering another beautiful beach in the Philippines is something everyone doesnt experience all the time.

It definitely feels good to be a part of this incredible campaign. If not for Freewaters how would I know about this relatively unknown and gorgeous beach area in Casiguran Aurora, the Dalugan beach is a surfers paradise with its beautiful waves, white sand beach and clean coastal area. We were told that the locals here take care good of their surroundings. It was unfortunate that they were hit badly by typhoon Lando and they are all so happy to have us there to help them. We will definitely be back with more help and see how they are enjoying their new water filters!

The smile on their faces shows how grateful they are and this picture will be forever in my mind and in my heart. The little things we do for people who need it, the little things we take for granted for are very much appreciated in this community. I feel more blessed than ever and I am thankful for the life I have. I couldnt as for more but whatever good comes is already a bonus!

It was not easy going to Dipontian and Dalugan in Casiguran province of Aurora but all the hunger, sweat, wet clothes and long drive was all worth it. We head back to Costa Pacifica Baler with warm fuzzy feeling inside.our

You may watch the entire trip to the remote islands in Casiguran here:



***

We had late dinner and small awarding ceremony for the best IG post capturing the best moments and essence of this entire trip . You may see all the Instagram post using the hashtags : #FeelsGood, #FreshWaters, #ChangeEverything.

Our dirt road ride to reach the beautiful Dalungan beach:



Take a look at the beautiful Dalungan beach in Casiguran Aurora:



DAY 3

Ana, Pax and Paul went home like early for some other commitment like 4AM. I dont want to stress myself, I stayed for some little R&R and have solo beach time. The rest stayed in late and woke around 10am. I was at the beach before sunrise so I can make some little time lapse video and Yoga by the beach ! I enjoyed this solo beach time altho a little company could not hurt so I can have decent photos hahahaha!



I enjoyed my breakfast ahead of everyone at the Beach House and broadcast at bit on my #Periscope. It just feels good to be in the beach doing nothing but chill! Unfortunately as much as I wanted to surf I cant because the monthly visitor just paid a visit! Bummer.



We left Baler before noon and had a super late lunch almost 5PM after the NLEX toll way! We all slept through in the van.

The #Freewaters #FeelsGood event is sponsored by RES-TOE-RUN, R.O.X, Grind, Cobra, Summit, Brew Kettle, Great Escapes, Brush Stroke, Primer, Freewaters, NOA Watergrear and Go Pro. Thank you for making me a part of this solid adventure of a lifetime!

Meanwhile, you too can help give free water around the world as Freewater gives 1% of its top line (gross) sale to fund global clean drinking water projects. Currently they have mobilied projects in Kenya, Haiti, California and now the Philippines.

Want to see how durable the Freewaters footwear is? Heres a video of where I took mine and I am satisfied how reliable it is!



Stay gorgeous everyone!

You may view the entire photo album here:


The Snyder administration had long been thought to be using fees to process FOIA requests as a way to avoid transparency and to scare off inquisitive journalists and private citizens from poking around in their (public) affairs. Then, last October, the fine folks at Progress Michigan got definitive proof that FOIA fees were being wielded as a weapon against transparency. As I wrote in my earlier reporting on this, Progress Michigan asked the state government for copies of all communications between Paul Pastorek, one of Snyders education advisers, and employees of the Michigan Department of Education, Education Achievement Authority and Michigan Department of Treasury. Pastorek was the state superintendent of schools in Louisiana from 2007-2011 and he has been widely criticized for his handling of schools there in the wake of Hurricane Katrina which obliterated many of the neighborhoods and their schools in New Orleans.

In response, the Department of Treasury told them they could have the information with one caveat: it came with a $52,000 price tag. The Department of Education and the Education Achievement Authority provided the information without cost.

Progress Michigan later obtained an email that proved that Schuettes office was using a fee approach to dissuade them from pursuing the matter. In an email to Sara Wurfel and David Murray, communications staffers in Gov. Snyders office, along with Carla Robert, FOIA coordinator of the Treasury Department, Treasury Department spokesperson Terry Stanton had this to say (the portions in bold italics were supposed to be redacted but were clumsily left legible):

I wanted to share this with you, in case other departments received similar FOIA requests from Hugh Madden with Progress Michigan, ie copies of all communications with Paul Pastorek, education adviser. Given the incredibly broad nature of the request, and per advice from the AG, the response carries a $52k fee. This may cause them to cry wolf. Our initial plan was to deny, given the broad nature of the requestbut the AG preferred the fee approach.

Today, CNN is reporting that it has smashed into the FOIA fee barrier in Michigan in its efforts to report on the Legionnaires Disease outbreak in Flint:

Michigans health department has demanded thousands of dollars to release documents related to one of the worst outbreaks of Legionnaires disease in U.S. history, which some experts say could have been prevented had state officials acted sooner. In response to a public records request from CNN, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services asked for payment of $11,071 in order to search for and prepare emails and documents in which state officials discussed the disease and its spread. [] An attorney with the health department said processing CNNs request for documents and emails referencing Legionnaires in the county would burden the departments epidemiologists, some of whom would have to search their individual accounts and decide for themselves which emails were relevant. The attorney said the lack of a central data system in the department drives up the costs of processing these requests. A letter sent to CNN said searching for and locating the material would cost $9,000 with another $2,000 in duplication fees. CNN narrowed the request to ask for emails on lead and Legionnaires from three officials but the department still has not provided the documents.

Mlive journalist and News Leader Jen Strayer Eyer made this wry observation on Facebook:

CNN gets a taste of what it's like to be a journalist in Michigan, where public officials try to scare the press with Posted by Jen Strayer Eyer on Thursday, March 3, 2016

Its time to end the use of FOIA fees as a roadblock to transparency in Michigan. Now that its gotten national attention, perhaps well begin to see some change. I only wish it hadnt taken so long for the story of the Snyder administrations profound lack of transparency to make the national news.
State steps in to halt lead water line removal in Flint

Today marks the 155th day since Gov. Rick Snyder publicly conceded that the drinking water in Flint, Michigan was poisoned with the powerful, odorless, tasteless, invisible neurotoxin lead. Since that day, exactly ZERO lead water service lines have been removed by the state. Yesterday, Flint took matters into their own hands and began a lead water line replacement project Mayor Karen Weaver calls the Fast Start Initiative. Thats when things got really weird:

The first lead-line replacement began in Flint on Thursday, then abruptly ended after a contractor was stopped by the state environmental agency. Saying the community could not wait any longer, Jenan Jondy of the Broome Center said Mohammed Hammoud of Crescent Contracting was hired by the Flint Coalition, a consortium of private businesses and individuals, to begin pipe removal in the city, according to the Flint Journal. [] Hammonds crew was to work on lead pipe removal on up to three houses. Local activist Arthur Woodson said the crew arrived early at 717 E. Alma on the citys north side, along with the mayors chief of staff nominee, Steven Branch, and Councilman Eric Mays. Then, Woodson said, police arrived as we started to dig up the lead service line. Police alerted the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, and people then came out and made us stop digging, temporarily, to check and make sure we had the right permits, Woodson said. Tensions rose and construction was halted, according to the Flint Journal and WFNT.

The DEQ, which has shown a callous disregard for critical federal regulations relating to the proper treatment of drinking water and the required reporting of elevated water lead levels, has suddenly found its spine and moved quickly to halt the water line replacement to check on permits.

Work eventually resumed after DEQ was certain all the is were dotted and ts were crossed. Its a real shame they werent so thorough two years ago. If they had been, we wouldnt be talking about this today.

U.S. Senators continue to block federal aid to Flint

Showing a callous disregard for the plight of Flint residents, Republican Senator Mike Lee and another unnamed Senator continue to hold up federal funding to help the beleaguered city:

A couple of U.S. senators including Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah continue to delay review of a $220 million Flint-inspired bill, pushing a vote on the measure into next week. Among Lees problems with the legislation are that it didnt go through the Senates ordinary procedure, and the funds designated to pay for the legislation are repurposed from a stimulus appropriation, according to a Senate staffer familiar with the deliberations. Lee is also concerned that the bill is federalizing what has traditionally been a local issue  the maintenance of public water infrastructure. Separately, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, lifted his objection last week and wont block the bill; however, other holds placed to stall the bill may still exist, according to Senate staffers.

Lets not pretend that Republicans in Washington give a damn about Flint. Their presidential candidates held a debate in Detroit last night and in the course of the two-hour event, spent all of two minutes discussing the Flint water crisis. During those two minutes, Sen. Marco Rubio backslapped Gov. Rick Snyder for doing a heckuva job and decried the politicization of the debacle:

The politicization of it, I think, is unfair because I dont think someone woke up one morning and said Lets figure out a way to poison the water system I give the governor credit. He took responsibility for what happened, and hes talked about people being held responsible. It should not be a partisan issue. The way the Democrats have tried to turn this into a partisan issue  that somehow Republicans woke up in the morning and decided  its a good idea to poison some kids with lead  its absurd. Its outrageous. It isnt true.

Clearly Sen. Rubio is unaware that all the major failures that led to the poisoning of Flints drinking water can be laid directly at the feet of our Republican governor, his appointed Emergency Managers, and the Republican policy of Emergency Management. Thats not politicization, thats reality. And the only people Gov. Snyder is holding responsible are everyone but himself and his Emergency Managers. Calling the hue and cry against them unfair is ludicrous.

Meanwhile, a delegation of U.S. House Democrats along with Senator Debbie Stabenow is in Flint today to raise awareness of their horrific circumstances. The delegation includes:

Congressman Dan Kildee

Democratic Leader Pelosi

Assistant Democratic Leader Clyburn

House Democratic Chairman Xavier Becerra (CA-34)

Congressman Keith Ellison (MN-05)

Congressman G.K. Butterfield (NC-01)

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03)

Congressman John Conyers (MI-13)

Congressman Sander Levin (MI-09)

Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-12)

Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence (MI-14)

Congresswoman Katherine Clark (MA-05)

Congresswoman Yvette Clarke (NY-09)

Congresswoman Susan Davis (CA-53)

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC)

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18)

Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-13)

Congressman Jim McGovern (MA-02)

Congresswoman Gwen Moore (WI-04)

Congressman Donald M. Payne Jr. (NJ-10)

Congressman Mark Pocan (WI-02)

Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (IL-09)

Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03)

Congresswoman Maxine Waters (CA-43)

Flint mother whose children were poisoned with lead ready to sue the ass off those responsible

One of the heroes in the catastrophe in Flint is LeeAnne Walters, a mother of four whose kids are now experiencing the horrendous physical and mental devastation that lead causes in small children. Her activism and insistent voice played a huge role in exposing the problem and propelling it to the national spotlight. Now that things have settled a bit, Walters has filed a lawsuit against government officials and their infrastructure contractors who caused the problem:

The Flint mother who told federal lawmakers her house was ground zero for lead-contaminated water has filed a lawsuit against those she says are responsible for poisoning her children. The lawsuit, filed Thursday, March 3, in Genesee Circuit Court by LeeAnne Walters, names multiple corporate entities and three current and former government employees for their role in the citys water crisis. Walters claims her four children have been exposed to extremely high levels of lead and have experienced brain development injuries, cognitive deficits and other problems. Its time for the kids to be heard, Walters attorney, Corey Stern said. With so much talk among officials, heads of corporations, and the media, the reality of what happened to these children  and how it will affect each of them for the rest of their lives  has been drowned out in the noise. The lawsuit alleges the companies hired evaluate and review the citys water services, Rowe Professional Services Company, Veolia and Lockwood, Andrews and Newnam, committed professional negligence by failing to insist on corrosion control for the citys treated water. Former Flint Public Utilities Director Howard Croft, former Michigan DEQ spokesman Brad Wurfel and Michigans Chief Medical Executive Eden Wells are accused of gross negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress for their outrageous conduct that allowed lead to remain in the water despite residents concerns, according to the lawsuit.

This is only the first of many, according to Walters attorney who said, We are prepared to file as many individual cases for children in Flint as there are children in this city who have been lead poisoned. The number of children harmed should not deprive each child of his or her individual day in court.

Walters along with Flint pediatrician Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha are being honored with the 2016 PEN/Toni and James C. Goodale Freedom of Expression Courage Award for their activism and heroism in the face of a state government that repeated ignored them and then maligned them in an effort to discredit their alarm bells.

Godspeed, Ms. Walters.

State Auditor General report finds DEQs oversight of drinking water not sufficient

The State Auditor General released a report this morning following an investigation of the state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), calling their oversight of Michigans drinking water not sufficient:

Michigans Office of the Auditor General has found deficiencies in the states oversight of community water supplies  a likely critique of the Department of Environmental Qualitys handling of the Flint crisis. Investigators took a hard look at one DEQ unit in particular, the Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance. That department has been at the heart of questions raised about how the state oversaw Flints water issues while the city was under the control of an emergency manager. A summary of the audit released this week used the phrase not sufficient to describe the departments oversight of Michigans Community Water Supply Program.

All together now: YA THINK???!

Federal government okays expansion of Medicaid to cover more kids and their families in Flint

Heres some good news:

Federal officials say they will expand Medicaid coverage for Flint families to make additional health care and other services available to thousands of children up to age 21, as well as pregnant women, who have received water from the citys lead-contaminated system. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday that those now eligible include Flint households making up to 400 percent of the poverty level  rather than the usual 130 percent ceiling in Michigan  for those living in Flint between April 2014 and a future date when the water system is deemed safe by Gov. Rick Snyder. For example, a family of four making up to $97,200 a year or an individual making $47,520 would qualify for the waiver under the eligibility guidelines. The program is normally targeted at the poor.

Thank heavens this didnt require an okay from the U.S. Senate or it never would have happened.

Gov. Snyder takes a break from hiring lawyers and PR firms to brag about 81 new jobs in Flint

As Chad Selweski noted at his most-excellent Politically Speaking blog, Gov. Snyder took time from his busy schedule to post a press release on the state government website bragging about the new jobs hes brought to Flint. Heres Chads commentary:

Among the pathetic efforts by Gov. Rick Snyder to confront the horrific revelations about his administrations inability to deal with the Flint water crisis  including the hiring of two outside PR firms and the shakeup within his internal communications team  the announcement by Snyder earlier today may be the most tone-deaf response yet. Snyder tried to put lipstick on a pig by trumpeting plans to hire 81 Flint residents for temporary jobs distributing bottled water to city residents. According to a press release, the Snyder administration decided to replace Michigan National Guard troops with Flint residents as the water distribution efforts continue. Once hired, the governors PR team declared, participants will fill leadership and general team member roles. Members of the Flint community continue to support each other and there is no better group to assist in this effort. The partnership with Michigan Works! is another step toward ensuring Flint residents benefit from relief efforts in multiple ways. Beyond that, Snyder declared that Michigan Works! (an agency title with such irony that it seems to be lost on the governor) will provide the water distributors with future careers by working closely with our staff, who will help them build skills for the job market.

As someone on the internets recently said, I have run out of evens to cant.
Its a good gig if you can get it

Darnell Earley, the disgraced former Emergency Manager for the city of Flint and, more recently, Detroit Public Schools (DPS), will receive $82,862.90 through mid-July to work as a consultant for the school district. Earley resigned his position last month because, according to his jaw dropping assessment, he had rectified the school districts financial emergency. (Im not kidding.)

By any objective standard, Darnell Earley has been part of the problems faced by Flint and Detroit schools, not part of the solution. There is a direct line between his exclusive focus on cost cutting and the poisoning of Flints drinking water with the powerful, odorless, tasteless, invisible neurotoxin lead.

During Earleys tenure at DPS, the school buildings continued to fall apart with shocking images being made public of massively warped gym floors, mushrooms growing out of walls, pools of water from leaking roofs and windows, and black mold spores throughout the buildings. The outrageously horrendous environment Detroit children are forced to learn in and DPS teachers are forced to teach in is one of our states most shameful failures. Darnell Earley did nothing to correct this and, in fact, made it worse.

And now Gov. Snyders administration is going to pay him $20,000 more than the average Michigan teacher makes in a whole year for five more months of his services. And hell be paid using our tax dollars.

Every day that passes I think I cant be more shocked by the ineptitude of the Snyder administration.

And every day they prove me wrong.
Lon Johnson, the former Chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, has made shutting down Enbridge Oils notorious Line 5 oil pipeline the center of his primary bid for Michigans 1st Congressional District seat. The controversial pipeline runs under the Straits of Mackinac and the horror of it rupturing is nearly too horrible to contemplate. Imagine that it fails in the winter time when the lake is covered with several feet of ice. Imagine that hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil are released into Lake Michigan, despoiling the shoreline, destroying entire ecosystems, and having a devastating impact on the Great Lakes fisheries. The thought of even the smallest release of oil is the stuff of Michiganders nightmares.

The issue is so big that it has transcended partisan boundaries. This isnt an issue only the Democrats care about. You dont need to be a tree-hugging dirt worshipper to understand the peril involved with the 63-year old pipeline. Clear evidence of that comes tomorrow when Johnson is teaming up with the Republican mayor of St. Ignace, the city on the north end of the Mackinac Bridge. Johnson and Mayor Connie Litzner will hold a town hall meeting tomorrow, Saturday, March 5th at 2:00 p.m. The event takes place at 275 Marquette Street in St. Ignace.

Johnson, who has been calling for the shutdown of Line 5 for months, said in a statement, Michiganders around the U.P. [Upper Peninsula] and Northern Michigan are rallying around this issue because the ongoing crisis in Flint demonstrates that we can no longer blindly trust government politicians with our Great Lakes and our jobs. Trust must now give way to vigilance. The time is now to shut down Line 5 until its proven independently to be safe. The impact of an oil leak from this aging pipeline upon our health, economy, and wildlife is immeasurable and too important to be risked. I look forward to talking with community members and answering their questions.

Despite the nonpartisan nature of this fight to save the Great Lakes from a devastating oil spill, Congressman Dan Benishek, the Republican who has the MI-01 seat now, has been essentially silent on the issue as has Johnsons primary opponent, Kalkaska County Sheriff Jerry Cannon. Should Johnson be successful in his bid to represent the 1st District, he will be the first member of Congress from that area to advocate for the closing of Line 5.
In the days following the court order directing Apple to help the FBI unlock an encrypted iPhone associated with the San Bernardino terrorists, supporters have lined up behind both sides.

A federal magistrate last week ordered Apple to create software that would let authorities access data in an iPhone used by the shooters in the attack last year. Apple CEO Tim Cookresponded with an open letter in defense of the companys resistance to the court order.

Analysis of online news and blogs about Cooks letter shows little change in public views, according to Chris Orris, account executive atOxygen PR.

He ran analytics on news stories that contain the words Apple or Tim Cook and also words related to the iPhone decryption issue such as Bernardino, FBI and backdoor.

Sentiment is the general positivity or negativity of the language used in the text. So since the start of the month, the average has been 56 percent positive, 18 percent negative and 26 percent neutral. Since the FBI made its decision on Tuesday, it has averaged 52 percent positive, 19 percent negative and 30 percent neutral, Orris said.

Measuring Sentiment

Analytics gauges the sentiment factor by measuring the balance of positive versus negative words and phrases in an article, he told the E-Commerce Times. Since the process is automated, however, it is not measuring whether the positive or negative phrases are directed at Apple or the FBI.

Generally youre measuring if the author is happy or not, Orris said.

Achart shows that positive sentiment shrank considerably on the day of the court order. It got much better the next day when Apple put out its letter.

Legal Issues

Libertarians and technologists find themselves supporting Apple, while law enforcement and those sympathetic to the safety over privacy movement are sympathetic to the FBIs position, said Eric Crusius, a privacy attorney atMiles & Stockbridge.

Public sentiment has meshed closely with legal reality, he told the E-Commerce Times.

From a legal standpoint, the FBIs position is potentially difficult to support, Crusius maintained. A court is ordering a nonparty private citizen to do something without a finding that the court has jurisdiction over that party, and there hasnt been any accounting for Apples rights in the matter.

However, for those lining up behind Apple, there is the potential of appearing sympathetic to the terrorists, he cautioned.

So long as Apple and its supporters can distinguish the legal issue from that, Apple should wield greater influence in public opinion and over the political establishment, Crusius said.

Libertarian Leanings

Silicon Valley is able to communicate directly with the public via the social media channels it invented, giving it an advantage in winning the hearts of the public concerning privacy in the absence of abject fear of terrorism, said Guy Smith, chief marketing strategy consultant atSilicon Strategies Marketing.

Silicon Valley has undeniable libertarian leanings. Privacy is a fundamental aspect of both local and tech corporate culture, he told TechNewsWorld.

Techies will gain public support, but the feds will win in the end, Smith predicted.

Vantage Points

What side of the issue people come down on depends on how they view the problem. Those who see it as an issue with one phone, one case, are going to side with the FBI, noted Jason L. Bauman, SEO associate atTrinity Insight-Philadelphia.

But if youre like myself and other tech enthusiasts, you see this as an issue of precedent, and youre much more likely to side with Apple. In most cases, the more you know about encryption, the more likely you are to side with Apple as well, he told TechNewsWorld.

The issue also sets an international precedent, Bauman noted. Apple, Google and others already are fighting for data privacy in Russia, China , the EU and other areas.

If they bow to the FBI, they must bow to other countries. And even if youre OK with the U.S. government having access to your private data, are you OK with Russia having the same? China? he asked.

Taking Sides

Edward Snowdens revelations in 2013 about the National Security Agencys data collection practices have colored the debate, according to Ebba Blitz, CEO ofAlertsec.

Society has been polarized by the Snowden revelation, and the discussion is spinning around liberty versus security, she told TechNewsWorld.

The goal with encryption is to protect us from hackers and cybercriminals. By weakening security, we put ourselves at risk, Blitz said.

The risk worsens when the bad guys find strong encryption elsewhere and go dark. Weaker encryption creates vulnerabilities for the good guys and capabilities for the bad guys, she said.

Public Voice

Cook issued a battle cry that thrust the conversation into the public realm. By going public, Apple appealed to its legions of supporters and other technology companies, noted Miles & Stockbridges Crusius.

Federal judges are not immune to public opinion. In the end, they are mere mortals like the rest of us, and Apples actions may help influence the outcome even if they have to take the issue on appeal, he said.

The more discussion that occurs, the more support will continue around Apples no-tamper stand, noted Trinity Insight-Philadelphias Bauman. Siding with the FBI would create a precedent against constitutional privacy guarantees.

Industry thought leaders need to steer the public discussion, noted Vanita Pandey, vice president of product marketing atThreatMetrix.

To be an active participant in this debate, one needs to have a deep level of understanding of both sides. The average public is not as aware as they need to be on the longstanding impact of both decisions, she told TechNewsWorld.

Ultimate Scare

Ultimately, the FBI may have the NSA to thank for the current public outcry, said Dovell Bonnett, CEO ofAccess Smart.

In 1993, the NSA tried to get computer and telephone manufacturers to install the Clipper chip in all their motherboards. The chip would have given the NSA a backdoor into everyones electronic devices without any search orders, he told TechNewsWorld.

The privacy community killed the Clipper Chip proposal in 1996. One result was the release of Pretty Good Privacy software, which allowed consumers to add high-power encryption to their data. That started the trend of making stronger encryption products available to everyone.

So in a roundabout way, NSA caused the problem the FBI is having today with the inability to decrypt data, Bonnett said. So if Apple opens this up, the security/privacy community will develop a solution that will block both Apple and FBI, thus making it even harder for future issues.
Apple last week filed a motion to vacate a federal order requiring the company to create a tool or code to unlock the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino, California, shooters.

The order would set a dangerous precedent and release a powerful means to breach security on potentially millions of phones around the world, Apple argued.

It transcends one phone and would empower government to make private companies compromise the security of all their users whenever it sees fit, the company said.

This is not a case about one isolated iPhone. Rather, this case is about the Department of Justice and the FBI seeking through the courts a dangerous power that Congress and the American people have withheld: the ability to force companies like Apple to undermine the basic security and privacy interests of hundreds of millions of individuals around the globe, the motion says.

Signature Required

Apple already has tools that could compromise the security of millions of people, so the implication that this code is any different from similar capabilities the company possesses is baseless, according to Stewart Baker, partner atSteptoe & Johnson.

Furthermore, Apple has security in place to protect itself and its users from data breaches, he told TechNewsWorld.

The code that theyre so worried will get out is no different than any of the other codes they write, in that if it gets out, then bad things will happen. Apple already protects its code very aggressively because they dont want that to happen, so theres no super-burden to protecting this code, Baker noted.

This is particularly true because in order to install this code on the phone that is the target it is going to be necessary for Apple to sign the code with their super-secret signature, he added.

What would happen is that Apple would send this signature to the phone, which will identify itself back to Apple, which means Apple almost certainly has to be right in the middle of any such transaction. Its not like you can just steal the code and walk off and use it  because you also have to have Apples signature, Baker said.

If Apples signature is compromised, its the end of security for everyone, and theyre already in a position where they have to protect that aggressively, he added.

The case is a matter of getting information thats imperative to an ongoing investigation, according to Paul Charlton, a partner at Steptoe & Johnson.

What we can say with absolute certainty is that if you think about this as something other than a technology company  if you think about this in terms of Apple being the landlord that holds within its building evidence of terrorist activity  there wouldnt be any doubt in anyones mind that the government should be allowed, with the appropriate court authority,  to go in and take what they need, he told TechNewsWorld.

FBI director James Comey has made it very clear that what hes interested in is not a back door, not a wide open door into this apartment complex, if you will, but entry into a specific apartment  to grab this specific piece of information. That seems narrowly tailored and wholly reasonable to me, Charlton said.

Uninted Consequences

Creating the code the government is asking for would open a Pandoras box of unforeseen consequences, according to Christopher Maurer, assistant professor of information technology and management at theUniversity of Tampa.

We see time and time again that there are really good intentions. There might be a real problem and government is not addressing the underlying issue and instead is creating other issues in the form of loopholes or unintended side effects, he told TechNewsWorld.

One such side effect would be a precedent allowing other law enforcement agencies to order phones to be unlocked, noted Chris Calabrese, vice president for policy at theCenter for Democracy & Technology.

In terms of the idea that this is no different and that this back door doesnt create a vulnerability is just not true. What were talking about is a precedent that will not just be for the FBI but will almost certainly be for those state and local law enforcement, of which there will be tens of thousands across the country. Theyre all going to encounter iPhones. Theyre all going to want them to be unlocked, he told TechNewsWorld.

A back door would be a potentially hazardous tool if it fell into the wrong hands, Calabrese added.

Theres going to have to be an entire process in place on unlocking iPhones somehow, which is to say subverting their security. Thats a giant process designed to be exploited by bad guys. And you just cant say somehow that this is a one-off, he said.

Congressional Action Ahead

Congress eventually will have to answer the larger privacy question, Steptoe & Johnsons Charlton noted.

We are constantly weighing our rights to privacy versus our need for security. Thats why we have a Fourth Amendment. Thats why we have to get search warrants before we conduct searches on individuals homes, he said.

Here, thats exactly what happened. The FBI obtained a valid court order after showing probable cause to believe that theres evidence of terrorist activity on this phone, and right now that court order is still in place, absent the lawyers from Apple being able to reverse that order theyre going to have to turn that information over, Charlton added.

However, incentives already are in place to ensure that customer data is secure, the Center for Democracy & Technologys Calabrese maintained, citing the Sony hack.

There are a lot of incentives to want to build devices that are private and secure. There are reputational harms, potential liability, the requirement that they do a data breach notice if the information gets out, he said.

Weve all seen, for example, what happened with Sony and the devastating result of not having good security in their systems, Calabrese said.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has published standards for good security and cryptology, he noted. There are guidelines in place that help people know what they need to do. There are best practices out there that have nothing to do with legislation.

On the other hand, rigid mandates might freeze the development of security technology, Calabrese added.

You dont want to say you must do the following six things to secure a phone when in three years those things could be totally out of date but you still have a legal requirement to do them, he said.

Theres a push pull when it comes to whether you should mandate security, Calabrese added. Our view is that you need baseline security standards, and you need to let people know what best practices are and then create incentives to get people to meet those best practices without mandating anything in particular.
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(UN Photo / Pierre Albouy)Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, addresses the opening of the thirty-first session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva Feb. 29, 2016.

Geneva - The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein has urged the authorities in the United States to proceed with great caution in the ongoing legal process involving the Apple computer company and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Zeid noted it could have potentially negative ramifications for the human rights of people all over the world in a March 4 statement.

"In order to address a security-related issue related to encryption in one case, the authorities risk unlocking a Pandora's Box that could have extremely damaging implications for the human rights of many millions of people, including their physical and financial security," Zeid said.

The FBI has a court order calling on Apple to help unlock an iPhone used by Syed Rizwan Farook, the gunman behind the San Bernardino attack.

Before police fatally shot them dead, Farook and his wife killed 14 people in the California city in December.

The FBI want to change the phone settings so unlimited attempts can be made at the passcode without deleting the data. It also wants Apple to help it apply a way to rapidly try different combinations to avoid inputting each one manually.

"I recognize this case is far from reaching a conclusion in the U.S. courts, and urge all concerned to look not just at the merits of the case itself but also at its potential wider impact."

Zeid emphasized that, "The FBI deserves everyone's full support in its investigation into the San Bernardino killings."

"This was an abominable crime, and no one involved in aiding or abetting it should escape the law. But this case is not about a company - and its supporters -- seeking to protect criminals and terrorists, it is about where a key red line necessary to safeguard all of us from criminals and repression should be set."

The U.N. rights chief said there many ways to investigate whether or not the killers had accomplices apart from forcing Apple to create software to undermine the security features of their own phones.

"This is not just about one case and one IT company in one country. It will have tremendous ramifications for the future of individuals' security in a digital world which is increasingly inextricably meshed with the actual world we live in."

DNA India reported, however that some criminals have gone over to new iPhones as their "device of choice" to "commit wrongdoing due to strong encryption Apple Inc has placed on their products, three law enforcement groups said in a court filing."

'SET A PRECEDENT'

Zeid said, however, that a successful case against Apple in the United States "will set a precedent that may make it impossible for Apple or any other major international IT company to safeguard their clients' privacy anywhere in the world."

He said it is a potential gift to authoritarian regimes along with criminal hackers.

"There have already been a number of concerted efforts by authorities in other States to force IT and communications companies such as Google and Blackberry to expose their customers to mass surveillance."

The UN commissioner noted that encryption tools are extensively worldwide, including by human rights defenders, civil society, journalists, whistle-blowers and political dissidents who can face persecution and harassment.

Zeid asserted, "Encryption and anonymity are needed as enablers of both freedom of expression and opinion, and the right to privacy.

"It is neither fanciful nor an exaggeration to say that, without encryption tools, lives may be endangered. In the worst cases, a Government's ability to break into its citizens' phones may lead to the persecution of individuals who are simply exercising their fundamental human rights."

Zeid said there is no shortage of global security forces ready to take advantage of the ability to hack people's phones if they can.

"And there is no shortage of criminals intent on committing economic crimes by accessing other people's data," he added.

"Personal contacts and calendars, financial information and health data, and many other rightfully private information need to be protected from criminals, hackers and unscrupulous governments who may use them against people for the wrong reasons."
Two thousand fifteen was a big year for personalized learning. Nearly every ed-tech pitch to my venture capital fund opened with a black-and-white image of a 1950s one-size-fits-all classroom, and proceeded to tell the story of how Startup X would fix schools through personalization. In a world where we expect our Starbucks drinks customized, gifts recommended by Amazon.com, and music playlists tailored to our tastes, why should our education be any different? Personalization seems like a natural target for the educational pendulum to swing to after decades of factory-model schooling.

With all the investment hype and entrepreneurial frenzy, I worry that some might view personalization as yet another silver bullet for education. Or worse, if we mistake personalization as the ultimate goal and combine it with the (over)promise of adaptive technology, we risk transforming our classrooms from the outmoded factory model into tech-supported cubicles where kids sit alone for a majority of the day.

This image may seem extreme, but we see similar things all around us, like families out to dinner with faces in their phones rather than looking at each other. I, too, struggle to find quality, tech-free family time. Technology is immersive, and all the more so when personalized. However, when applied thoughtfully, it is a powerful strategy for connection, integration, and growth. In fact, the impetus behind the personalization movement was inclusion, not isolation.

Despite claims to the contrary, the shift from one-size-fits-all to a more personalized approach to learning began with teachers, not techies. Personalization has its roots in gifted and special-needs classrooms where educators had to get creative and innovate beyond traditional teaching methods in order to teach unconventional learners. Some of these students had learning disabilities like dyslexia or dyscalculia, while others were advanced or bored by content learned years earlier. These extreme cases demanded new, personalized teaching strategies and were then often codified into a childs individualized education program.

Soon, differentiation became a thing and was further popularized in the 1990s by University of Virginia researcher Carol Ann Tomlinson. Its popularity among educators really took off as various court rulings throughout the 1990s fleshed out the Individuals with Disabilities Education Acts core principle of least restrictive environment that requires schools to make every possible effort to integrate students with special needs into the mainstream classroom.

What happened next was exciting: With the inclusion of these students in the regular education classroom came their innovative and personalized strategies, breaking the calcified mold of the one-size-fits-all class. As it turned out, these strategies proved promising for all students by enabling more access points for learning. So began the shift toward greater personalization.

In a world where we expect our Starbucks drinks customized, ... why should our education be any different?"

To this day, differentiation is among the most requested topics of interest by teachers for professional development, according to ASCDs Educational Leadership 2015 Readers Survey. Great teachers know that instruction designed around the individual ought not be isolating but engaging, purposeful, and multimodal. The personal interaction and idea-sharing that drives greater understanding and empathy offers more-powerful learning. A great example is the ed-tech startup Newselain which my fund investswhich enables all children in a class to engage in a debate around a single news article. Instead of dividing children into groups based on their reading levels, which is stigmatizing to struggling readers, or keeping students together but giving them different reading material, the tool provides five versions of the same article, allowing the whole class to join in one conversation.

This type of integration is important not only because it enables deeper learning and collaboration, but also because our schools were founded with an important civic function, and a democratic society expects much more than individual achievement. It asks us to prepare graduates who exhibit sound character, social conscience, and critical-thinking skills; a willingness to make commitments; and an awareness of global problems. If our schools are truly microcosms of our society, as

John Dewey articulated, then our classrooms must foster caring relationships between students. This necessitates teaching children how to interact in a kind and empathetic manner, while still giving them an education tailored to their needs.

The most promising new school models use personalization to help achieve a constellation of goals aimed at serving the larger democratic society.

Keeping these goals in mind, Im as excited as anyone about personalization. The old model left far too many kids behind.

But personalization does not mean isolation, and it doesnt mean sitting our students down in front of laptops all day. Personalization is a strategy that allows us to adapt to the needs of all children, preferably after giving them a powerful, shared learning experience that motivates them to dive deeper. The best schools and ed-tech companies understand that technology and personalization are not the ends of education, but that they are merely means to help achieve higher goalsgoals on which the health of our society and democracy depend.
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.
The EIB Vice-President Laszlo Baranyay will be representing the EIB at the Hungary National Press Conference in Budapest. VP Baranyay will be providing journalists with information regarding the EIBs activities in 2015, focusing on operations in Hungary and the prospect of future co-operation in the country.

EIB investment in Hungary for 2015 totaled EUR 1.4 billion, almost doubling the 2014 investment of EUR 750 million. Investments crossed all sectors of the Hungarian economy, with 27% going towards services and transport accounting for 26%. Notable contributions were also made to the water sector as well as urban development, energy and SMEs.

The event is free to attend and registration for journalists can be done by contacting Dusan Ondrejicka.
The European Investment Bank supports investment projects in Poland designed to reduce disparities in regional development, strengthen economic competitiveness and improve peoples living standards. In 2015, we provided financing in Poland amounting to EUR 5.54 billion. This year, we want to focus on financing under the European Fund for Strategic Investments, a crucial part of the Investment Plan for Europe, said Laszlo Baranyay, Vice-President of the EIB with responsibility for the Banks operations in Poland at a press conference showcasing the Banks activities in Poland.

Poland is the largest beneficiary of EIB loans among all Member States that have joined the European Union since 2004, and the sixth largest recipient of EIB support. In 2015 the Bank supported primarily the development of Polish road and rail infrastructure, having allocated over EUR 1.7 billion to the construction and upgrading of more than 350 km of expressways and 300 km of rail tracks. In addition, the EIB financed public sector investment in research and development projects, supporting Polands science and innovation strategy with loans totalling EUR 1 billion.

Innovative and dynamically developing local enterprises used EIB funds to finance expansion into new markets and innovative research. The European Union banks financial support, amounting to almost EUR 1 billion, targeted Polish small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and midcaps, thus contributing to job creation in the sector. In addition, the Bank supported the development of Polish cities, financing the modernisation of municipal transport, educational facilities, health and social care facilities and environmental protection infrastructure in several Polish cities and regions with loans amounting to almost EUR 577 million. The EIB also allocated almost EUR 700 million to investment projects in the energy sector, so enabling 45 000 new users to connect to the upgraded power supply network.

In 2016 the EIB will continue to support the implementation of investment projects in the above sectors in Poland. It will focus in particular on increasing the pace of modernisation of Polish cities, promoting major investments in the energy sector (including renewable energy) and supporting SMEs and midcaps. The EIB will also examine new opportunities for increasing funding for innovative enterprises operating in the domestic market, in particular by making use of new instruments being implemented under the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), a crucial part of the Investment Plan for Europe.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Bankinter have today concluded a EUR 350m loan aimed at facilitating the financing of investment and working capital projects promoted by SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) and midcaps in Spain and Portugal. The corresponding finance contract was signed by EIB Vice-President Roman Escolano and Bankinter's CEO, Maria Dolores Dancausa.

Bankinter will match the EIB financing with a further EUR 350m, meaning that a total of EUR 700m will be made available to SMEs and midcaps.

Part of the funds may be used by Bankinter to finance new loans to SMEs eligible for guarantees under the SME Initiative, the loan guarantee programme promoted by the EIB together with the European Commission and the national and regional structural fund management authorities

Supporting SMEs, the key drivers of job creation and economic recovery, is one of the EIBs top priorities. The EIB funds will provide businesses with long-term financing for their investments under favourable conditions.
Funds for the cleanup

Farbers Ginkgo Fund raised EUR 80 million for seven decontamination and redevelopment projects in Belgium and France, all of which are on course to be cleared for construction by the end of 2018. The fund included EUR 15.6 million from the European Investment Bank.

The success of Ginkgo led Farber to start raising money for Ginkgo II, which would expand Ginkgos reach to the UK, Luxembourg and Spain. EIB investment officers were keen to get on board again.

But without the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the EIB wouldnt have been able to invest as much in Ginkgo II as it has.

EFSIs built to accelerate investment in innovative projects, as part of the Investment Plan for Europe. The aim is to use a combination of EUR 5 billion of EIB funds and a EUR 16 billion European Commission guarantee to trigger EUR 315 billion of new investment by 2018. The EIBs supposed to use the guarantee to carry out investments it might otherwise have done differently. That means, for example, taking bigger positions or accelerating investment and job creation on the ground.

Ginkgo II certainly fits the EFSI bill. James Ranaivoson, the managerial adviser in the EIB Climate Change & Environment division who led the Ginkgo deals, recognised that Ginkgo Is path had been smooth. Due to the EFSI guarantee he was able to go quickly into the second fund and with a larger amount than hed otherwise have been able to do. He committed EUR 30 million to Ginkgo II, which was approved by the Bank in November and signed in February.

We can already see how well Ginkgo I is doing, says Ranaivoson. Its very important that we continue to support the investments targeted by Ginkgo with the second fund right away. EFSI gives us that acceleration.
'Joe Biden can have them': Mastriano vows to bus migrants to Delaware
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Ely, Cambridgeshire is best known for its majestic cathedral dubbed the 'Ship of the Fens' because it dominates the flat landscape. The city, which is the second smallest in England, is about 14 miles north-northeast of Cambridge and about 80 miles by road from London.

17:55, 17 OCT 2022
Re: Can expats be happy? I was an expat for nearly 40 years in the UK and was very happy. Of course you do miss things, but mainly people, from back home- that is normal. But I would have never stayed in a country I didn't feel comfortable in and mope. Be it in a job, or wherever- if you are unhappy, DO something about it- get off your proverbial and go- and find what you want.



Now, it is much weirder to be an 'expat' in my own country- eg a Brit, albeit by adoption- back where I grew up. I was just 19 when I left- and in late 50s when I returned. Strangely enough- we have many friends here who have lived and worked all over the world- and who also totally get this. Like me, feel so close to our roots, and yet in many ways so distant- a really interesting bunch who, like us, often have quite a different take on things than our friends who never left. It really helps. I love it because I've kept a foot in the UK- and can split my life between the two- with cheap flights, fast trains and driving back and forth- it is so easy. Having a flat there in a place we love really helps, and both daughters and sils and bils all have plenty of space for us whenever we want.



Couldn't cope with daughters and grandchildren being further than a short hop away- I can go whenever i feel like it, be it for a week or 3 or just for a week-end. And they also visit regularly and many friends too. When I can't do that anymore, I'll move back to UK as grandchildren are just too important for me. Last edited by Odile; 04.03.2016 at 16:59 .
Re: Marriage and Citizenship



Need help with marriage visa



Your spouse would get a one year B permit, renewable annually providing you stay married. Here's some general info on marriage.



https://www.ch.ch/en/marriage/



They could also apply for facilitated naturalisation if certain conditions are met:



" I am a foreigner and married to a Swiss citizen. How can I apply for naturalisation?



You must have lived in a stable marriage with your spouse for at least three years, have lived in Switzerland for five years all in all, the last twelve months of which must be without interruption. If you live abroad, you must have lived in a stable marriage for at least six years and must have close connections with Switzerland. Regardless of where you live, you must be integrated in the Swiss way of life at least by analogy, comply with the Swiss rule of law, and you must not endanger Switzerlands internal or external security."



https://www.sem.admin.ch/content/sem...06.html#a_0006



A word of warning if you marry an American or if you have a US Green Card yourself. Outside of the US you/spouse are still obliged to file US tax returns and could owe US tax on top of Swiss ones.



https://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Inte...-Aliens-Abroad



You/they will also have to sign a W-9 form for any "foreign", i.e. outside of US, bank accounts you open and you could also find it difficult to get a mortgage here. And you/they would also have to file an FBAR form if any account/s come to more than the aggregate amount of $10,000 at any time of the year.



If you hold a Green Card it's fairly easy to terminate using an I-407 form, but you would still need to file a final return for the partial year you held it and file an 8854 form to exit the US tax system cleanly. If you marry an American keep everything financial separate if you can. This thread explains regarding the fiance permit if you want to get married here:Your spouse would get a one year B permit, renewable annually providing you stay married. Here's some general info on marriage.They could also apply for facilitated naturalisation if certain conditions are met:You must have lived in a stable marriage with your spouse for at least three years, have lived in Switzerland for five years all in all, the last twelve months of which must be without interruption. If you live abroad, you must have lived in a stable marriage for at least six years and must have close connections with Switzerland. Regardless of where you live, you must be integrated in the Swiss way of life at least by analogy, comply with the Swiss rule of law, and you must not endanger Switzerlands internal or external security."A word of warning if you marry an American or if you have a US Green Card yourself. Outside of the US you/spouse are still obliged to file US tax returns and could owe US tax on top of Swiss ones.You/they will also have to sign a W-9 form for any "foreign", i.e. outside of US, bank accounts you open and you could also find it difficult to get a mortgage here. And you/they would also have to file an FBAR form if any account/s come to more than the aggregate amount of $10,000 at any time of the year.If you hold a Green Card it's fairly easy to terminate using an I-407 form, but you would still need to file a final return for the partial year you held it and file an 8854 form to exit the US tax system cleanly. If you marry an American keep everything financial separate if you can.
Irish food available in Switzerland? Hi all,



Another foodie question - does anyone know where I can get Irish brands in Switzerland? I need them as a prize for an Irish-themed event. I know that Globus had an Irish range last including Brodrick's Brother's cakes and other items year but now I can only see Keogh's crisps and Irish whiskey on their site. Migros only has salmon and beef, neither of which are really suitable for a hamper prize or a bake sale, and Coop has a similar range, plus alcohol. I'd love to a find a few things like tea and cakes or biscuits if I could.



Any tips?



Thanks in advance!
As the brains behind hits like Beyonces Upgrade U and Drakes Fancy, and even getting behind the mic for his own popular songs like Money In The Bank, its safe to say rapper and mega producer Swizz Beatz is more than established in the music industry. But hes also a major player in the world of art, known for launching The Dean Collection exhibit in 2014, kicking off the Basel Art and Concert Series last year and is also on the board of the Brooklyn Museum.. Now hes helping some talented--but undiscovered--artists gain some much-needed attention in a unique way.

Alongside Canon, the camera company, Beatz just announced a new partnership in association with the companys Rebel with a Cause campaign. Entitled #TheUnknowns, the venture promotes the work of unknown artists like never before. Here, Enstars catches up with the Grammy Award-winning producer to discuss it, chat about working with Kanye on Life Of Pablo (including THAT Taylor Swift jab), and his famous wife, Alicia Keys.

I was a nobody at one point, Beatz says of wanting to give back. We all start somewhere.

For #TheUnknowns, Beatz curated work from a rag-tag group of art-world outsiders, which was then projected onto the homes of some New Yorks most well-respected art institutions (the Brooklyn Museum and Bronx Museum of the Arts), literally turning the walls of the art world establishment into the canvas for those struggling to break through them. Some of the work was eventually even featured in a gallery in Sothebys, and pieces are now available for auction online.

But first, Beatz had to find the artists--a task made much easier in the age of social media.We just hit them up on Instagram if they catch our attention or have a huge following. The ones who are pushing the boundaries, he says.But they have no idea what theyre signing up for [at first].

According to Beatz, true art (or at least the art that matters to him) isnt confined by rules and limitations. Ive seen it in every form with the amazing opportunity Ive had to travel around the world... to see museums in places like Africa and Cuba that display their unique form of art, he explains. There are no boundaries to it.

And while it may seem like the worlds of hip-hop and art crashing into one another is a fresh and trendy combination, for Beatz its nothing new. He used to host concerts and art shows on the same night. The [fans] would go into a gallery and look at the art before coming into the concert, Beatz says.

He later adds: It goes back to the beginning of art and Hip Hop. You cant separate the two. Art is Hip Hop and vice versa. Things got separated when people came into it and made it more about business than the art. It wasnt always the cool thing to do.

Beatzs work with #TheUnkowns may have kept him busy, but it hasnt keep him out of the studio. Most recently, he helped out on Kanye Wests The Life of Pablo, rapping and producing for different tracks.

It was like working with a friend that you never get to see because you are both so busy, he says of West, whos been gaining more and more attention lately for everything other than his music. We literally just spent like three days in the studio with no sleep. We made like 50 beats.

As for the diss that West made at Swift in Famous (you know, this one), which Beatz is featured on, he views the buzz as drawing many fans attention away from more important songs on the album, specifically Ultralight Beam, the track he produced.

[Its] such an inspirational song! Beatz laments, before noting that the controversial Famous is a song thats a different kind of fun. And yet, the former is gaining more recognition. With the whole Taylor Swift thing,... the media kind of took it and ran with it and it overshadowed Ultralight Beam, he explains.

But luckily fans can expect to hear more of Beatzs work soon...on his wife Alicia Keys upcoming album. Hes the Executive Producer. And yes, Beatz is aware that weve been missing new music from Keys.

I think the whole world has been craving for more music. Shes just so amazing with everything that she doesIm so proud of her! But I feel like because Im her husband it doesnt count when I say it, he says with a laugh.
She has told no one of what transpired between her and Chase (Jonathan McClendon), but Ciara (Vivian Jovanni) may need to come clean after she realized Claire (Olivia Rose Keegan) is making plans to meet up with him on Days of Our Lives.

Ben's Escape From The Hospital Worries Chad

Under the advice of Andre (Thaao Penghlis), Chase didn't take 'no' for an answer with Ciara, and wound up raping her on Jennifer's (Melissa Reeves) couch. Since then, he has been mostly MIA and Ciara hasn't seen himbut she has been acting out, which has caused her mother, Hope (Kristian Alfonso), and her best friend, Theor (Kyler Pettis), some concerns, though neither one is aware of the real reason she's been acting so different.

However, when Claire tells Ciara she is going to meet up with Chase, Ciara will begin to panic, because she doesn't want her friend to suffer the same fate she did and wind up also rapedor potentially worse. However, when she doesn't give Claire a reason why she thinks her hanging out with Chase is a bad idea, it could force her to share at least part of the truth in an effort to warn Claire about the possible danger.

Salem Celebrates News Of Stefano's Passing

But, if she still can't bring herself to come clean, Claire could misinterpret why she seems so freaked out, and it could affect their friendship. Claire knows Chase had a thing for Ciara, which she swore she didn't return. And now, with Claire potentially getting to have a date with the guy she likes, she may believe Ciara wants Chase for herself insteadand the girls' friendship could be tested greatly as a result.

Days of Our Lives airs Monday-Friday at 1 p.m. on NBC.
Its been a year and a half since Keanu Reeves surprising box-office slaying action flick John Wick hit theaters. And its going to be almost a full year before moviegoers will see the sequel to the revenge story of an ex-hitman out to kill the thug that murdered his puppy (a gift from his dead wife). But from new evidence floating around the Internet, it seems like Reevess preparation to return to the role may just have actually turned him into an actual badass combat operator.

Yesterday, California-based firearm accessories company Taran Tactical Innovations uploaded a video of Reeves demonstrating some impressive firearms skills across its social media platforms. The video, which demonstrates the Bill & Ted actor using LIVE AMMUNITION, has already racked up over a million views on YouTube and been watched almost three million times on Facebook. In the footage, Reeves can be seen quickly moving, aiming and firing three different weapons: an assault rifle, a handgun and a tactical shotgun.

Taran Tacticals customers are competitive and tactical shooters, and according to the companys Facebook page, owner and founder Taran Butler is a competitive shooting champion whos consulted and helped out on movies like Public Enemies, Miami Vice, The Kingdom and Charlies Angels. Last week, Taran Tacticals Instagram account posted videos of Butler moving and shooting on the same course with The Matrix star, timing him, likely from the same day the video was shot (Reeves seems to be wearing the same the outfit in all the footage).

A video posted by Taran Tactical Innovations (@taran_tactical_innovations) on Feb 24, 2016 at 2:28pm PST



Reeves is notorious for his dedication to training and preparation for his action roles. Hes always first man there, last man to leave, John Wick director Chad Stahelski said of Reeves in one of the bonus features for the film. Stachelski, a former stuntman is also the co-founder, with his John Wick co-director David Leitch, of 87Eleven, the stunt and fight choreography company behind some of Hollywoods most recent memorable action scenes. Reeves already had a considerable amount of martial arts experience from the Matrix films, but starring in John Wick and its sequel required learning shooting and driving skills--adding to his screen combat repertoire.

But does all that training for the movies translate into actual ability? From the video, it would seem so for Reeves. Tell us what you think in the poll below!
The Zika virus infects a type of neural stem cell that gives rise to the brain's cerebral cortex, Johns Hopkins and Florida State researchers report March 4 in Cell Stem Cell. On laboratory dishes, these stem cells were found to be havens for viral reproduction, resulting in cell death and/or disruption of cell growth. While this study does not prove the direct link between Zika and microcephaly, it does pinpoint where the virus may be doing the most damage.

The researchers, led by Guo-li Ming and Hongjun Song of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Hengli Tang of Florida State University, with collaborators at the Emory University School of Medicine, worked around the clock for a month to conduct the study, which provides a new platform to learn about the Zika virus using neuronal cells derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells. In the near future, the researchers hope to grow mini-brains from the stem cells to observe the long-term effects of Zika infection on neural tissue and to screen for potential therapeutics.

"This is a first step, and there's a lot more that needs to be done," says Song, a neuroscientist and stem cell biologist. "What we show is that the Zika virus infects neuronal cells in dish that are counterparts to those that form the cortex during human brain development." We still don't know at all what is happening in the developing fetus. These findings may correlate with disrupted brain development, but direct evidence for a link between Zika virus and microcephaly is more likely to come from clinical studies, the researchers say.

As humans are typically infected by Zika virus carried by mosquitoes, the researchers also grew their Zika virus stock in mosquito cells for a few days before applying the virus onto the human cells used in all of their infection experiments.

One concerning discovery was that the stem cells that Zika was found to infect, called cortical neural precursors, become factories for viral replication. From a single infection, the virus particles spread through a plate of stem cells within a span of three days. There's also no evidence that the cells are employing antiviral responses, which means we don't know whether or how the virus is being cleared from the precursor cells.

"There are case reports for the Zika virus where they show that certain brain areas appear to have developed normally, but it is mostly the cortical structures that are missing," says Ming, a neuroscientist interested in brain disorders like microcephaly. "So a very important question that emerges from our work is whether the Zika virus specifically targets the neural progenitor mostly responsible for generating the cortex."

There are several other questions left to answer as well: why are the symptoms in adults so mild? How is the virus entering the nervous system of the developing fetus? Zika infects adults when mosquitoes deposit the virus on human skin, and our immune cells carry it into the blood. But how is the virus crossing the blood-brain barrier? And could Zika infect the small population of neural stem cells that adults keep above the brain stem in their hippocampus?

"We are trying to fill the knowledge gap between the infection and potential neurological defects," says first author Hengli Tang, the team's virologist whose lab studies RNA viruses like Zika, Dengue, and hepatitis C virus. "The questions we address here are among the very first questions people want to know the answers of."

Of note is how Ming, Song, Tang, and their collaborator Peng Jin, a geneticist at the Emory University School of Medicine, assembled a group of experts from four labs with different research interests to quickly tackle the Zika public health emergency. "We hope our results will help educate the public and government decision makers because they need to have more information on this virus, and we have to take it seriously," Song says.

###

This study was supported by The Florida State University, the National Institutes of Health, and the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund.

Cell Stem Cell, Tang, Hammack, Ogden, Wen, and Qian et al.: "Zika Virus Infects Human Cortical Neural Precursors and Attenuates Their Growth" http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.stem.2016.02.016

Cell Press Statement on Data Sharing in Public Health Emergencies

The Cell Press family of journals is committed to the sharing of data relevant to public health emergencies. To this end, and in alignment with other publishers and funders, we agree that, in the context of a public health emergency of international concern, there is an imperative on all parties to make rapidly available any information that might have value in combatting the crisis. We are committed to working in partnership to ensure that the global response to public health emergencies is informed by the best available research evidence and data, and as such, we will make all content concerning the Zika virus free to access. We will work in partnership with reviewers to fast-track review all submissions concerning Zika. We will adapt the editorial criteria that we apply to Zika submissions by asking reviewers to evaluate only if the research methods are sound and support the conclusions and if the work will contribute in some way toward resolving the immediate challenges. We will expedite publication of papers that meet these two criteria.

Cell Stem Cell (@CellStemCell), published by Cell Press, is a monthly journal that publishes research reports describing novel results of unusual significance in all areas of stem cell research. Each issue also contains a wide variety of review and analysis articles covering topics relevant to stem cell research ranging from basic biological advances to ethical, policy, and funding issues. For more information, please visit http://www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell. To receive Cell Press media alerts, contact press@cell.com.
SCIENTISTS have made a groundbreaking discovery in understanding how the genetic complexity of tumours can be recognised and exploited by the immune system, even when the disease is at its most advanced stages.

The findings, by researchers funded by Cancer Research UK and the Rosetrees Trust, could guide future immunotherapies and improve the way existing immunotherapy drugs are used.

As a tumour develops, the diversity of its genetic faults can be flagged on the cancer cell surface, as unique mutations appear in different parts of the tumour.

Crucially, by analysing data from hundreds of patients from previous studies, researchers found that some of these flags - known as antigens - represent the very earliest mutations of the disease and are displayed on all cells in the tumour, rather than a subset of tumour cells.

Then in the lab, they isolated specialised immune cells, called T-cells, from samples of two patients with lung cancer that can recognise these common flags present on every tumour cell.

Although they have the potential to wipe out all cancerous cells within the tumour, these potent immune cells are switched off by the tumour's defences.

This research paves the way for therapies that specifically activate these T cells to target all the tumour cells at once based on the disease's genetic signature. In the future, scientists could exploit this by developing a therapeutic vaccine to activate T-cells, or harvesting, growing and administering T-cells back into the patient that recognise the antigens common to every cancer cell.

Dr Sergio Quezada, co-author of the study, Cancer Research UK scientist and head of the Immune Regulation and Cancer Immunotherapy lab at UCL Cancer Institute, said: "The body's immune system acts as the police trying to tackle cancer, the criminals. Genetically diverse tumours are like a gang of hoodlums involved in different crimes - from robbery to smuggling. And the immune system struggles to keep on top of the cancer - just as it's difficult for police when there's so much going on.

"Our research shows that instead of aimlessly chasing crimes in different neighbourhoods, we can give the police the information they need to get to the kingpin at the root of all organised crime - or the weak spot in a patient's tumour - to wipe out the problem for good."

The genetic complexity of cancer**, which is flagged by tumour antigens, arises when cancers evolve in a branched manner. The earliest faults are found in all cells, forming the 'trunk' of the disease, while later mutations arise in some cells but not all. It is these 'branches' that allow the disease to adapt and become drug resistant.

Professor Charles Swanton, co-author from the UCL Cancer Institute and a Francis Crick Institute scientist, said: "This is exciting. There was evidence that complex tumours with many mutations could increase the chance of the immune system spotting them; now we can prioritise and target tumour antigens that are present in every cell, the Achilles heel of these highly complex cancers.

"This opens up a way to look at individual patients' tumours and profile all the antigen variations to figure out the best ways for immunotherapy treatments to work, prioritising antigens present in every tumour cell and identifying the body's immune T cells that recognise them. This is really fascinating, and takes personalised medicine to its absolute limit where each patient would have a unique, bespoke treatment."

Dr Quezada added: "For many years we have studied how the immune response to cancer is regulated without a clear understanding of what it is that immune cells recognise on cancerous cells. Based on these new findings, we will be able to tell the immune system how to specifically recognise and attack tumours."

Professor Peter Johnson, Cancer Research UK's chief clinician, said: "This fascinating research gives us vital clues about how to specifically tailor treatment for a patient using their immune system.

"It gets us closer to knowing why some patients respond to immunotherapy treatment and others don't, and how we might select which patients will benefit the most.

"As well as suggesting a new way to treat cancer, the research fills key gaps in our knowledge about the effects of the immune system on tumours. This gives us hope of developing better treatments for some of the cancers we have previously found hardest to treat."

Sam Howard, Chief Executive of Rosetrees Trust, said: "Rosetrees Trust is delighted to be able to support such cutting edge research carried out by outstanding researchers, which potentially has a direct human impact."

This research is published today (Thursday) in Science.

###

For media enquiries contact Stephanie McClellan in the Cancer Research UK press office on 020 3469 5314 or, out of hours, on 07050 264 059. Notes to editor:

* McGranahan et al. Clonal neoantigens elicit T cell immunoreactivity and sensitivity to immune checkpoint blockade. Science

** This phenomenon was first reported by Cancer Research UK scientists in 2012 who were studying kidney cancer. This followed work at The Institute of Cancer Research that had found the same in blood cancers.

Link to animation: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0nbx5amtaban8x4/CRUK_Heterogeneity_final_edit_SOUND_total.mp4?dl=0 About Cancer Research UK

Cancer Research UK is the world's leading cancer charity dedicated to saving lives through research.

Cancer Research UK's pioneering work into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer has helped save millions of lives.

Cancer Research UK receives no government funding for its life-saving research. Every step it makes towards beating cancer relies on every pound donated.

Cancer Research UK has been at the heart of the progress that has already seen survival in the UK double in the last forty years.

Today, 2 in 4 people survive their cancer for at least 10 years. Cancer Research UK's ambition is to accelerate progress so that 3 in 4 people will survive their cancer for at least 10 years within the next 20 years.

Cancer Research UK supports research into all aspects of cancer through the work of over 4,000 scientists, doctors and nurses.

Together with its partners and supporters, Cancer Research UK's vision is to bring forward the day when all cancers are cured.

For further information about Cancer Research UK's work or to find out how to support the charity, please call 0300 123 1022 or visit http://www.cancerresearchuk.org. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

About Rosetrees Trust

Rosetrees Trust is a substantial family foundation established in 1987 that funds life changing medical research. Rosetrees enables outstanding medical researchers, often at the start of their career, to conduct early stage research. Under the guidance of top researchers, it gives them the opportunity to experiment with ideas and become future leaders in their field. Rosetrees believes that basic (rather than just translational) research is a crucial cog in the scientific wheel and can, ultimately, lead to the major discoveries of our generation. The UK has world class medical research, but lacks funding - especially seed corn funding. Rosetrees aims to change that.

Rosetrees currently supports over 250 live medical research projects, and since establishment over 25 years ago, in excess of 240 million has been invested in world class research, either from Rosetrees, co donations or the major grants that followed from Rosetrees' initial support. Rosetrees has a target of generating 1 billion for medical research.

Rosetrees' unique entrepreneurial philanthropy model sources and selects only the best projects and researchers to support, and then carefully manages the funding throughout the duration. Rosetrees actively seeks trusts and philanthropists to co donate with in order to direct more funds to the best medical research projects, and co donors who fund alongside Rosetrees benefit at no cost from this expertise. http://www.rosetreestrust.co.uk Follow us @RosetreesT
The volcanic rock found in the south of Leon (Spain) experienced a rotation of almost 60 300 million years ago, an example of what could have occurred across the entire Iberian Peninsula when, in that moment, it was still being formed. This fact is demonstrated by the magnetic signals of its minerals, currently being analysed by researchers from the universities of Salamanca and Utrecht (The Netherlands). This discovery improves our understanding of a now-disappeared mountain range that stood over what is now north-western Spain, France, and the southern United Kingdom.

The bathers that gather every summer on the banks of the rivers of the mountain ranges of La Cabrera and El Teleno in Leon (Spain) have little reason to suspect that the rocks that they can see near the water are of volcanic origin, over 460 million years old, when an emerging Iberian Peninsula was still on the coast of the continent of Gondwana, on the shore of the Rheic ocean.

Around 350 million years ago, that ancient ocean closed during the formation of the Pangea supercontinent, and the sediments deposited in it became a large mountain range that later acquired a curved shape, becoming part of what is now the Iberian Peninsula around 300 million years ago.

Now scientists at University of Salamanca have collected, in the Leonese towns located between Truchas and Ponferrada, 320 samples of volcanic rock and limestone, a record of that turbulent, volcanic period of our planet's history.

After having analysed the samples in one of the most important Palaeomagnetism laboratories in the world, located at Utrecht University (The Netherlands), they have been able to reconstruct the history of these ancient rocks based on the magnetic signal of their mineral content. The results have been published in the journal 'Tectonophysics'.

"These rocks were deposited on the ocean floor 440 million years ago near the south pole, and its components were oriented in the direction of the Earth's magnetic field at the time (N-S)," explains to SINC Javier Fernandez Lozano, a geologist at the University of Salamanca and co-author of the research.

About 120 million years later, the collision of two continents occurred, between what is now the North and South of Europe. The result of this collision was what is known as the Variscan orogeny, the raising of a mountain range along the North-South axis, which left the rocks with a secondary magnetic signal, adapted to the new magnetic field of the Earth.

The changes in the direction of that magnetic field were preserved in their minerals, and indicate that shortly after that process, the rocks of these mountains experienced a rotation of almost 60, until they ended up in with their current orientation," notes Fernandez Lozano.

He points out that this magnetic signal can be associated with large-scale processes of mountain formation, and how these ranges can be curved until they create structures known as oroclines: "With a rock sample, we can analyse a process that has occurred on the tectonic plate level; and, specifically, offers new data that allows us to discover how this orogeny or large Variscan range and its curvature occurred. This information was preserved in the rocks of the British Isles, France, and North-West Spain, along more than 3,000 kilometres.

This study forms part of a long-debated geological problem: the Cantabrian orocline, an issue that a few years ago brought together specialists at an international congress held in Salamanca. An orocline is the curvature of a range or chain of mountains that was originally linear, and the Cantabrian orocline is recognizable 300 million years later in the geography of the Iberian Peninsula and surrounding areas.

Concretely, one can observe the arc formed by the Cantabrian range until it disappears into the continental shelf, and the curvature that continues onward towards the Iberian Range. Fernandez Lozano notes that the new research "goes beyond previous efforts, primarily focused on Asturias, in order to understand this orocline, and now we can find its traces further to the south, on the border between Leon and Zamora."

"Thanks to studies like this one, we can continue to provide information on the causes and processes that gave birth to curved mountain ranges after the collision between two continents," concludes the geologist.

###

References:

Fernandez-Lozano, J., Pastor-Galan, D., Gutierrez-Alonso, G. y Franco, P. "New kinematic constraints on the Cantabrian orocline: A paleomagnetic study from the Penalba and Truchas synclines, NW Spain". Tectonophysics , 20 February 2016 (on line). Doi: doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2016.02.019
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida State University researchers have made a major breakthrough in the quest to learn whether the Zika virus is linked to birth defects with the discovery that the virus is directly targeting brain development cells and stunting their growth.

This is the first major finding by scientists that shows that these critical cells are a target of the virus and also negatively affected by it. Hengli Tang, professor of biological science at FSU, is a lead author of the study published today (March 4) in the academic journal Cell Stem Cell.

"We're trying to fill the knowledge gap between infection and the neurological defects," Tang said. "This research is the very first step in that, but it's answering a critical question. It enables us to focus the research. Now you can be studying the virus in the right cell type, screening your drugs on the right cell type and studying the biology of the right cell type."

Though the Zika virus was discovered in 1947, there is very little known about how it works and its potential health implications, especially among pregnant women. Anecdotal evidence has suggested a link to microcephaly, a condition where a child is born with an abnormally small head as a result of incomplete brain development.

Tang, along with researchers at Johns Hopkins University and Emory University, found that the virus directly targets a cell type called human embryonic cortical neural progenitors in as little as three days after being exposed to the virus. They also discovered that these infected cells replicate the Zika virus, posing potential treatment problems, and that the virus is directly interfering with cell growth and function. Some of the cells died after being infected.

"Potentially, this could explain why there is a link to microcephaly, but there is a lot more work needed to show the direct causal effect," said Guo-Li Ming, professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins University.

The research took a remarkably quick path. Because of the public health implications, researchers worldwide have been working around the clock to study how the virus works and its potential targets.

According to the World Health Organization, 48 countries have reported local transmission of the Zika virus.

About a month ago, a research team led by Johns Hopkins University Neurology Professors Hongjun Song and Ming, brought neural stem cells to FSU where Tang and his graduate students infected them with the virus and began monitoring them. A few weeks later, they were transported to Emory so scientists there could analyze changes in gene expression caused by the virus.

Tang had been funded by the National Institutes of Health to study the Dengue virus, which is similar to the Zika virus, and was in the unique position of already running a lab equipped to handle and study samples of the virus. Song and Ming, who went to graduate school with Tang, were experts on the neural cells that they believed the virus was targeting.

The three labs will continue to collaborate and also tackle various aspects of the disease separately. Tang is investigating how it enters the cell and then how it specifically disrupts the normal cell processes. Ming is using 3D models of brains to further examine the link between the neural progenitor cells and microcephaly. And Song is investigating why the virus is going after neural progenitor cells as opposed to other cell types.

Many questions still remain about the virus, but this discovery is the pivotal first step.

"It's significant because we're literally the first people in the world to know this, to know that this virus can infect these very important cells and interfere with their function," Tang said. "Research is rewarding in general, but when you have something this timely and this clinically relevant, it's extra satisfying because we'll be helping people in the long run."

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Other authors on the paper are Florida State University researcher Ruth Didier and graduate students Christy Hammack, Sarah Ogden and Emily Lee; Zhexing Wen, Xuyu Qian and Kimberly Christian from Johns Hopkins University; and Yujing Li, Bing Ya, Feiran Zhang and Peng Jin from Emory University.

The research was funded by Florida State University, the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund and the National Institutes of Health.

Video and photos available upon request.
If all patients scheduled for knee replacement were directed to high-volume hospitals for the surgery, it could save the U.S. healthcare system between $2.5 and $4 billion annually by the year 2030, according to a study at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York City.

"Numerous studies have shown lower complication rates and better outcomes in hospitals that do a high number of knee replacements compared to low-volume hospitals. Our study aimed to determine whether the lower rate of complications, hospital readmissions and revision surgeries translated into cost savings," said Jayme Burket, PhD, lead study author.

"We found that knee replacement surgery at higher-volume hospitals is less costly over a patient's lifetime and provides better outcomes, and if all knee replacements were performed at these hospitals, it could save between $15 and $23 million annually in New York State alone. With the number of procedures growing at a rapid rate nationwide, this could potentially translate into annual cost savings to society of up to $4 billion by 2030," according to Dr. Burket.

The study, "Cost-Effectiveness of Total Knee Arthroplasty at High Volume Hospitals," will be presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) on March 4, in Orlando, Florida.

"Regionalization of knee replacement surgery to high-volume hospitals has been proposed as a means for reducing escalating health care expenditures in the United States, especially given the large and growing demand for the procedure," said Stephen Lyman, PhD, study author and director of the Healthcare Research Institute at HSS.

"This is the first study to include a younger patient population in addition to Medicare patients in a cost-effectiveness analysis of total knee replacement. This is important because patients under 65 now account for about 50 percent of those having the procedure," said Douglas Padgett, MD, chief of the Adult Reconstruction and Joint Replacement Service at HSS. "The list of complications included in our study was also much more comprehensive than those in previous analyses."

Researchers compared the cost-effectiveness of elective knee replacement over a patient's lifetime in low-, medium-, high-, and very high-volume hospitals utilizing data from the New York Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System (SPARCS) from 1997-2014. The various volume categories were defined as follows:

Low volume: less than 90 total knee replacements per year.

Medium volume: 90-235 total knee replacements per year.

High volume: 236-644 total knee replacements per year.

Very high volume: 645 or more total knee replacements per year.

Complication, revision and mortality rates, as well as costs, were obtained from SPARCS for the younger (ages 55 - 65) and Medicare-age patients (65 - 75). All costs were converted into 2014 U.S. dollars.

Researchers identified, 89,796 patients in the younger group and 111,492 cases in the Medicare group. Among the young patients, 16% of surgeries were performed at low-volume hospitals; 31% at medium-volume; 32% at high-volume; and 20% at very high-volume centers.

Total knee replacement in the younger patients at very high-volume hospitals was associated with the lowest lifetime costs and the greatest benefits. Hospitals performing the most knee replacements showed significantly greater cost-effectiveness than all other hospital categories. In the Medicare group, results were similar; however, the cost savings of very high-volume centers relative to the other categories was more modest than in the younger patient group.

"Based on current trends, 2.8 million patients will be eligible to regionalize to very high-volume hospitals annually by the year 2030," Dr. Burket noted. "While regionalization may not be feasible for all patients, many low-volume hospitals are located in or near a metropolitan area with a high-volume hospital. Policy initiatives aiding to guide patients to higher-volume hospitals when available will not only reduce their risk for complications and improve outcomes, but will also considerably reduce the large financial burden knee replacement surgery places on our healthcare system. "

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New Rochelle, NY, March 4, 2016--Tom Vilsack, Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), views the agriculturally-based bioindustries sector as one of the transformational components of an American economy with a greater emphasis on manufacturing and production, and as an opportunity to address climate change in a creative and innovative way. Secretary Vilsack discusses topics such as the Renewable Fuel Standard, government collaboration with industry and academia, and the USDA's BioPreferred program in an interview published in Industrial Biotechnology, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free for download on the Industrial Biotechnology website until April 4, 2016.

The IB Interview entitled "A Conversation with US Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack" included discussion of a new version of the Billion Ton study in development by the USDA and U.S. Department of Energy to assess supply and demand of biomass-based feedstocks, the USDA's role in implementing the White House's National Bioeconomy Blueprint, and recent and planned changes in monitoring and reporting of procurement of biobased products by the federal government and its contractors. Secretary Vilsack also responded to questions about the USDA's role in introducing new agricultural plants to support the development of biobased products and materials and bioenergy, and USDA initiatives to promote investments in the U.S. biobased economy.

"We are fortunate in this issue of IB to have a leading champion for agriculturally-based bioindustries share with our readers his view of challenges and opportunities facing our industry," says Co-Editor-in-Chief Larry Walker, PhD. "We are very thankful for this engaging dialogue with USDA Secretary Vilsack.

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About the Journal

Industrial Biotechnology, led by Co-Editors-in-Chief Larry Walker, PhD, and Glenn Nedwin, PhD, MoT, CEO and President, TripleDNA Consulting, LLC, Davis, CA, is an authoritative journal focused on biobased industrial and environmental products and processes, published bimonthly in print and online. The Journal reports on the science, technology, business, and policy developments of the emerging global bioeconomy, including biobased production of energy and fuels, chemicals, materials, and consumer goods. The articles published include critically reviewed original research in all related sciences (biology, biochemistry, chemical and process engineering, agriculture), in addition to expert commentary on current policy, funding, markets, business, legal issues, and science trends. Industrial Biotechnology offers the premier forum bridging basic research and R&D with later-stage commercialization for sustainable biobased industrial and environmental applications.

About the Publisher

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Environmental Engineering Science and Sustainability: The Journal of Record. Its biotechnology trade magazine, GEN (Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 80 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.
A new study finds significant differences between the blood clot structure in adults and newborns, helping researchers better understand the challenges in addressing post-operative bleeding in neonatal patients. The researchers also found that the current standard of care for treating post-operative bleeding may pose an increased risk of thrombosis in newborns compared to adults, which researchers hadn't suspected. The study was performed by researchers at North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Emory University, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and the Georgia Institute of Technology.

"We knew that neonates - infants less than one month old - are more likely than adults to suffer from severe bleeding after heart surgery, which poses a variety of health risks," says Ashley Brown, first author of a paper on the study and an assistant professor in the joint biomedical engineering department at NC State and UNC-Chapel Hill.

"The current standard of care is to give neonatal patients blood products - such as a protein called fibrinogen - derived from adult blood," Brown says. "But neonatal blood and adult blood aren't the same; many of the components involved in clotting in newborns have differing levels of activity, or effectiveness, compared to the same components in adults. Our goal was to better understand how clotting in neonates differs from that in adults, so that we can move closer to developing more effective treatment strategies for these infants."

The researchers' hypothesis was that fibrinogen - the main blood-clotting protein - from neonates would form clots that are different from those formed by adult fibrinogen, and they were correct. However, they were surprised to find that fibrinogen from adults did not integrate well with the fibrinogen in neonates. In other words, the fibrinogen from adults and newborns wouldn't stick to each other and form a clot.

To test this hypothesis, the researchers took samples of neonate fibrinogen and adult fibrinogen and compared how they formed clots. They looked at clots formed solely of adult fibrinogen, clots formed solely of neonate fibrinogen, and clots formed of mixed adult and neonate fibrinogen.

The researchers found that neonate fibrinogen formed less dense, more fragile clots than adult fibrinogen. And they found that a mixture of adult and neonate fibrinogen formed clots that were also fragile and less dense - even if there was relatively little neonate fibrinogen in the mixture.

The researchers also evaluated how long it took these clots to dissolve. This is important because blood clots that don't break down can form thrombosis or be released into the bloodstream and cause a stroke.

The study showed that clots of neonate fibrinogen dissolve about twice as quickly as clots formed from adult fibrinogen. It also showed that clots formed from an adult and neonate fibrinogen mixture dissolved at approximately the same rate as adult-only clots - regardless of the percentage of neonate fibrinogen in the mixture.

"This suggests that using adult fibrinogen in neonatal patients may pose an increased risk of embolism or other adverse thrombotic events," says Nina Guzzetta, MD, corresponding author on the study, associate professor of anesthesiology at Emory University School of Medicine, and a pediatric cardiac anesthesiologist at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.

"This work drives home that newborns are not just small adults, and we still have much to learn about clotting in neonates," Guzzetta says. "It also tells us that there is a great deal of room for improvement in the current standard of care for post-operative bleeding in neonates.

"We are investigating several approaches that may help address this problem, evaluating various modes of action," Brown says. "It is possible that we can use various external factors that promote clotting to stimulate the fibrinogen in neonates to form a denser clot. We are investigating possible alternatives to help neonates form a better clot after major surgery without having to use adult fibrinogen. For example, we are investigating the use of synthetic platelet-like particles developed by our team to augment hemostasis - the biological process that stops bleeding - in blood samples collected from these patients."

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The paper, "Fibrin network changes in neonates after cardiopulmonary bypass," was published online March 3 in the journal Anesthesiology. The paper was co-authored by Riley Hannan, now at the University of Virginia; Lucas Timmins and Thomas Barker of the biomedical engineering program at Georgia Tech and Emory; and Janet Fernandez of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. The work was supported by the Emory University and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Children's Center for Cardiovascular Biology and by the National Institutes of Health under grant R21EB019068.
FORT LAUDERDALE-DAVIE, Fla. - They are among the most unique looking animals in the oceans - deep-sea creatures. Seemingly out of the latest sci-fi movie from Hollywood, these animals rely on a trait that's incredibly rare on land (i.e. fireflies) but very common in the oceans - bioluminescence.

While we know that many sea creatures can actually "light up" to hide their shadows, we have no idea how they're able to so closely match the light around them with their own bioluminescence. That's where Tamara Frank, Ph.D., a researcher at Nova Southeastern University's (NSU) Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography comes in.

Frank is joining Heather Bracken-Grissom at Florida International University and Megan Porter at the University of Hawaii in this research. Frank's portion of the National Science Foundation grant is more than $215,000 over three years, while the total amount of the grant is $815,230.

What the research team will be focusing on is the evolution of bioluminescence and vision in deep sea shrimp (Oplophoridae and Sergestidae), as well as how these primitive animals can so precisely control the intensity of their bioluminescence to match the downwelling light.

"For most of us, natural light ceases around 700 meters down, but many of these deep-sea animals have truly magnificent eyes, so they can still see at depths humans can't," Frank said. "However, there is so much bioluminescence down there that it's probably the major stimulus for the visual adaptations we're seeing."

Frank said that she will be accompanied by NSU graduate students on upcoming research trips to the Straits of Florida. So little is known about these creatures because it is so difficult to bring up live, healthy deep-sea animals, but Frank has a trawl net designed specifically for this purpose.

Her research will focus on the physiological control of this complex system. There have also been some major advancements in genomic techniques, allowing the other members of the team to study the co-evolution of vision and bioluminescence in these animals.

Frank also said that the research team will develop molecular and organismal-based curriculum and workshops, working with local schools to bring this research to life for elementary through college-age students.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DEB-1556279."

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About Nova Southeastern University (NSU): Located in beautiful Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Nova Southeastern University (NSU) is a dynamic research institution dedicated to providing high-quality educational programs at the undergraduate, graduate, and first-professional degree levels. A private, not-for-profit institution with more than 26,000 students, NSU has campuses in Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Jacksonville, Miami, Miramar, Orlando, Palm Beach, and Tampa, Florida, as well as San Juan, Puerto Rico, while maintaining a presence online globally. For more than 50 years, NSU has been awarding degrees in a wide range of fields, while fostering groundbreaking research and an impactful commitment to community. Classified as a research university with "high research activity" by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, NSU is 1 of only 37 universities nationwide to also be awarded Carnegie's Community Engagement Classification, and is also the largest private, not-for-profit institution in the United States that meets the U.S. Department of Education's criteria as a Hispanic-serving Institution. Please visit http://www.nova.edu for more information about NSU and realizingpotential.nova.edu for more information on the largest fundraising campaign in NSU history.

About NSU's Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography: The college provides high-quality undergraduate and graduate (master's and doctoral degrees and certificates) education programs in a broad range of disciplines, including marine sciences, mathematics, biophysics, and chemistry. Researchers carry out innovative basic and applied marine research programs in coral reef biology, ecology, and geology; fish biology, ecology, and conservation; shark and billfish ecology; fisheries science; deep-sea organismal biology and ecology; invertebrate and vertebrate genomics, genetics, molecular ecology, and evolution; microbiology; biodiversity; observation and modeling of large-scale ocean circulation, coastal dynamics, and ocean atmosphere coupling; benthic habitat mapping; biodiversity; histology; and calcification. The college's newest building is the state-of-the-art Guy Harvey Oceanographic Center, an 86,000-square-foot structure filled with laboratories; offices; seminar rooms; an auditorium; and indoor and outdoor running sea water facilities. Please visit cnso.nova.edu for more information.
A new article "A Case Exemplar for National Policy Leadership: Expanding Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE)," in the March 2016 Journal of Gerontology, chronicles the beginnings of PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) and outlines its rise to nationwide acceptance. PACE is a viable and sustainable model of community-based long-term care that provides coordinated and comprehensive services with an interdisciplinary patient-centered team model that is paid for through Medicare, Medicaid, and other insurers.

Written by two nurse-leaders, Tara A. Cortes, PhD, RN, FAAN, and Eileen M. Sullivan-Marx, PhD, RN, FAAN, the article recognizes the advocates and leaders who have driven the model forward, describing the impact of nursing on the legislation and policy.

It also highlights the nurses, such as Drs. Cortes and Sullivan-Marx, who for decades worked in various key political, policy, and clinical leadership positions behind the scenes and out on the front lines with community advocates, policy makers, and legislative groups to advocate and demonstrate the viability of the program.

"PACE provides coordinated acute, chronic care, and long-term services in an integrated seamless approach to healthcare by an interdisciplinary team across the care continuum," said Drs. Cortes and Sullivan-Marx. "This integrated and holistic patient-centered approach, made possible using a capitated financing payment model, results in greater longevity, better health outcomes, and a better quality of life for patients and their caregivers enrolled in the program."

Most importantly, PACE has demonstrated that it can keep individuals in the community and delay admission to institutions for an average of two (2) years.

"The program offers fully integrated Medicare and Medicaid services for dually eligible adults 55 and older who meet the criteria for nursing home level of care but are able to live in the community at the time they are enrolled," said Drs. Cortes and Sullivan-Marx.

In November 2015, President Obama signed into law, an expansion of PACE. The PACE Innovation Act (PIA) allows the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to develop pilot projects based on the successful PACE Model of Care.

"The PIA allows CMS to bring the PACE model to more populations -- including younger individuals, people with multiple chronic conditions and disabilities, seniors who do not yet meet the nursing home level of care standard, and others," said Drs. Cortes and Sullivan-Marx. "The goal being to improve the quality of health and life for adults 55 and younger and to reduce healthcare costs by maintaining individuals in, or returning them to, the community."

In the article, the authors take the reader through a brief historical overview of the PACE program, beginning with its genesis in the 1970s in San Francisco's Asian community, touching on legislative milestones along the way, which allowed the program to successfully expand nationally throughout the next four decades.

In its 2012 report to Congress, the Medicare payment Advisory Commission (MEDPAC), an independent Congressional agency established by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 to advise the U.S. Congress on issues affecting the Medicare program, included recommendations to expand the PACE Model of Care.

Support for the legislation was built over the next three years through discussions and "ownership" from groups that would be needed to promote this expansion program to Congress. Organizations such as the National PACE Association, Alzheimer's Association, March of Dimes, and some consumer advocacy groups became engaged as proponents of this expansion.

On November 5, 2015, with the stroke of the Presidential pen, PIA became law. Specifically, PIA amends title XI of the Social Security Act to authorize the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to waive applicable general and Medicaid requirements of PACE in section 11934 of the Social Security Act to conduct demonstration projects through the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovations (CMMI) that involve PACE.

"The PACE Innovation Act also encourages CMS to allow operational flexibilities that would not only support adaptation of the PACE model for new populations but also promote PACE growth, efficiency, and innovation," said Drs. Cortes and Sullivan-Marx. "CMS now needs to use this broad authority to create PACE demonstration programs to establish the ability of this program to improve outcomes, enhance patient experience, and be cost-effective. This program offers new opportunities to existing PACE providers and other for-profit as well as non-profit providers to explore new ways of providing services to high-need, high-cost populations."

The article concludes with some visions for the PACE expansion, grounded in the tenants of providing access to the full continuum of preventative, primary, acute and long-term services, as well as short personal biographical vignettes highlighting a selection of nurse-leaders who paved the way for PACE, and now PIA, to become reality.

"In 2006, the American Academy of Nursing (AAN) recognized the PACE Program, Living Independently For Elders (LIFE) at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing), as an Edge Runner program that meets its criteria for innovation of a nursing program that drives better care, better quality, and lower cost," said Antonia M. Villarruel, PhD, RN, FAAN, Penn Nursing Dean and Director, WHO Collaborating Center for Nursing and Midwifery Leadership. "A dedicated team of nurse leaders, including Dr. Sullivan-Marx, was integral to the success of LIFE UPENN. Through their trailblazing efforts the program expanded and thrived. In fact, the team's success was recognized as an exemplar for the Institute of Medicine (2010) Future of Nursing Report as a nurse-driven model."

Nursing has been central to the PACE care model since its inception, and nursing leaders have been crucial in its development in both policy and operational expansion. The leadership of both Drs. Sullivan-Marx and Cortes contributed to the Congressional action culminating in the signing of the PACE Innovation Act.

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About the Authors:

Dr. Cortes is Clinical Professor of Nursing, and Executive Director, The Hartford

Institute for Geriatric Nursing at New York University College of Nursing. Dr. Cortes is also 2013-2015 Health and Aging Policy Fellow, Medicare/Medicaid Coordination Office, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Baltimore, Maryland.

Dr. Sullivan-Marx is Dean and Erline Perkins McGriff Professor, New York University College of Nursing. In 2010, Sullivan-Marx became a Health and Aging Policy Fellow (HAPF), under the American Political Science Association's Congressional Fellowship, for 2 years with CMS MMCO, an office established as part of the ACA. As a fellow, Sullivan-Marx, an expert in PACE programs, was appointed as a CMS Senior Advisor to update regulations, remove barriers to the growth of PACE models nationally, and assist Melanie Bella to advocate for PACE programs within CMS and Congress.

The authors have disclosed no potential conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise.

About New York University College of Nursing

NYU College of Nursing is a global leader in nursing education, research, and practice. It offers a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, a Master of Science and Post-Master's Certificate Programs, a Doctor of Philosophy in Research Theory and Development, and a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree. For more information, visit https://nursing.nyu.edu/

About the University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing is one of the world's leading schools of nursing and is ranked the #1 graduate nursing school in the United States by U.S. News & World Report. Penn Nursing is consistently among the nation's top recipients of nursing research funding from the National Institutes of Health. Penn Nursing prepares nurse scientists and nurse leaders to meet the health needs of a global society through research, education, and practice.
Washington, DC - SURA today announced that Zhong Lin Wang, the Hightower Chair in Materials Science and Engineering Regent's Professor at Georgia Institute of Technology, will receive its 2016 SURA Distinguished Scientist Award.

The annual honor goes to a research scientist whose extraordinary work fulfills the SURA mission to "advance collaborative research and education" in the Southeast and nation. The award and its $10,000 honorarium will be presented to Dr. Wang on April 13 at the SURA Board of Trustees meeting being held at the North Carolina State University in Raleigh.

"Professor Wang represents the very finest in research leadership among our SURA member institutions," said E. Gordon Gee, President of West Virginia University and Chair of the SURA Council of Presidents. "His work in the field of nanoscience is both exciting and cutting-edge - bringing distinction to himself, his institution and our nation."

Wang has authored and co-authored six scientific reference and textbooks and over 1,100 peer reviewed journal articles (16 in Nature and Science, 15 in Nature sister journals), 45 review papers and book chapters, edited and co-edited 14 volumes of books on nanotechnology, and held over 100 US and foreign patents. Dr. Wang is the world's top 5 most cited authors in nanotechnology. His entire publications have been cited for over 91,000 times [an updated report from SCI data base can be found at: ResearcherID; from: Google Scholars]. The H-index of his publications is 146 per SCI data base, which is the highest among his peers worldwide. He has delivered over 850 plenary, keynote, invited and seminar talks at international and national conferences as well as universities and research institutes worldwide.

Dr. Wang made pioneering contributions to the synthesis, characterization, and fundamental understanding of physical properties of nanostructures. This led to his discovering and developing various nano-generator devices that represent an unprecedented and innovative technology for energy harvesting. This work has established the technological road map, and inspired worldwide efforts in academia and industry for harvesting ambient energy for micro-and nano-scale systems. Major multinational corporations like Samsung, Hyundai, Lenovo, and Medtronic are investing in these technologies. He has three start-up companies exploring the development of small-signal measurement systems and security senors.

Dr. Wang has received numerous honors and awarding, including: 2015 Thomas Router Citation Laureate in Physics; 2014 World Technology Award (Materials); 2014 Distinguished Professor Award (Highest faculty honor at Georgia Tech); 2014 NANOSMAT prize (United Kingdom); China International Science and Technology Collaboration Award, China (2014); The James C. McGroddy Prize in New Materials from American Physical Society (2014); ACS Nano Lectureship (2013); Edward Orton Memorial Lecture Award, American Ceramic Society (2012); MRS Medal from Materials Research Soci. (2011); and the Dow Lecture, Northwestern University (2011).

During the course of his academic career at Georgia Tech, he has graduated 41 Ph.D. students and mentored 40 post-doctoral fellows, 60 visiting research scientists, and 20 faculty. Dr. Wang has received funding from NSF, DOE, DARPA, NIH, NASA, Air Force, Samsung, NIMS (Japan) and industry. The total funding for supporting his research from 1995 to date is $22M.

Born in Shaanxi, China, Dr. Wang received his bachelor's degree in applied physics at Xidian University in China and his Ph.D. in physics from Arizona State University. His early career included being a visiting lecturer at Stony Brook University, a research fellow at Cavendish Laboratory in the University of Cambridge, followed by research scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

The SURA Distinguished Scientist Award was established in 2007, commemorating the organization's 25th Anniversary. SURA's Development & Relations Committee manages the solicitation, screening and selection of the recipient from a SURA member institution. The president and trustee of each of SURA's 62 member research universities is eligible to make one nomination for the Distinguished Scientist Award.

The award and honorarium will be presented to Dr. Wang at the SURA board meeting in Raleigh on April 13.

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The Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA) is a consortium of over 60 leading research institutions in the southern United States and the District of Columbia established in 1980 as a non-stock, nonprofit corporation. SURA serves as an entity through which colleges, universities, and other organizations may cooperate with one another, and with government and industry in acquiring, developing, and using laboratories and other research facilities and in furthering knowledge and the application of that knowledge in the physical, biological, and other natural sciences and engineering. For more information, visit http://www.sura.org.
CINCINNATI--The Black Death swept Europe in the 14th century eliminating up to half of the population but it left genetic clues that now may aid a University of Cincinnati (UC) researcher in treating HIV patients co-infected with hepatitis C using an anti-retroviral drug therapy.

Kenneth Sherman, MD, PhD, Gould Professor of Medicine, says he will look at the blood samples of nearly 3,000 patients, primarily individuals with hemophilia, who were exposed to HIV during the early 1980s and late 1990s, to see if an inherited genetic variant that protects against HIV might also help prevent injury from Hepatitis C and other liver diseases.

Sherman, also director of the Division of Digestive Diseases in the UC College of Medicine, recently received a $2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to further the research which focuses on ways to inhibit CCR5, a protein that is the main chemokine receptor on the body's immune cells, also known as T-cells. The grant will be awarded over a four-year period and builds upon a July 2014 study Sherman authored and published in Science Translational Medicine.

"It turns out that HIV and its evolution high-jacked that receptor and uses CCR5 as its primary way of binding to T-cells, entering them and killing them," explains Sherman. "That's what causes AIDS. CCR5 is not just present on T-cells but also exists in the liver on the surface of hepatocytes and also in the liver on stellate cells. Stellate cells are the cells that produce scar tissue in the liver which can lead to the development of cirrhosis. The focus of this grant is to look at how inhibition of CCR5 might influence the development of liver injury and/or the development of scar or cirrhosis in the liver."

"An additional question to consider is, 'How does interfering with CCR5 affect viruses like hepatitis C that might be co-infecting the liver?'" says Sherman. "We know hepatitis C causes liver injury, but is that injury modulated in part through this receptor, which may not be a specific receptor for hepatitis C but is for HIV?"

Medications have been developed to block the CCR5 receptor and Sherman will be examining their effect in clinical populations and conducting lab studies of the meds. Two medications that will be reviewed are Cenicriviroc, an investigational drug currently under study for the treatment of fatty liver, and Maraviroc which is currently approved for treatment of HIV.

Sherman says an aberrant CCR5 protein created by a CCR5-delta 32 gene mutation may be protecting individuals who have been exposed to HIV, but don't have rapid AIDS progression. Researchers think CCR5-delta 32 mutation is a gene that was selected among Europeans as a result of another great epidemic, Europe's black plague of the 14th century, explains Sherman.

"HIV has been particularly devastating in Africa. It is certainly a terrible disease in Europe and the U.S. but some people had slower disease progression." says Sherman. "Those that didn't get high HIV viral loads and had slow AIDS progression were called 'elite controllers.'

"Research showed that Europeans and people of European descent who were selected genetically through their ancestors during the plague--the black death of Europe--and they have the CCR5-delta 32 mutation," says Sherman. "This variant in the population also protected people from the plague. The disease was highly fatal in the 14th century. Many died, but some did not. Those who did not die from the plague were able to reproduce and pass forward the gene variant down through the generations. The gene was enriched in Europeans. If you have this gene, it's like taking a drug that blocks CCR5."

The Black Death hit Europe in the years 1346-53 and was spread by a bacillus called Yersina pestis, which traveled from person to person through inhalation of fine infective droplets or through the bite of infected fleas and rats, according to History.com. The disease followed European trade routes to devastate large populations.

Sherman says his review of hemophiliacs will allow for the comparison of fibrosis or liver scarring, examining those that have the CCR5-delta 32 mutation versus those who don't.

"We are using a very special group of patients, a long-term longitudinal cohort called the Multicenter Hemophilia Cohort Study," he says. "It was a study started in the early days of the HIV epidemic. It looked at outcomes of patients with hemophilia, many of whom developed HIV and hepatitis because of blood contamination. We have obtained samples from thousands of those patients and are studying differential outcomes in terms of liver disease to determine if CCR5-delta 32 mutation provided protection in those patients."

"If over the next few years, we can show that CCR5 blockade protects HIV-infected people from liver disease, then we may change the entire treatment paradigm of HIV and make this part of the routine treatment of many or most patients," says Sherman.

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This research was supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under award number R01AI065256.
An international team of researchers lead by the University of Granada has scientifically proven, for the first time, that depression is associated with important alterations of the oxidative stress, so it should be considered a systemic disease.

An international team of researchers lead by the University of Granada (UGR) has scientifically proven, for the first time, that depression is more than a mental disorder: it causes important alterations of the oxidative stress, so it should be considered a systemic disease, since it affects the whole organism.

The results of this work, published in the renowned Journal of Clinical Psychiatry magazine (one of the most important magazines in the field of Psychiatry), could explain the significant association that depression has with cardiovascular diseases and cancer, and why people suffering from depression die younger. At the same time, this research may help finding new therapeutic targets for the prevention and treatment of depression.

The lead author of this work is Sara Jimenez Fernandez, PhD student at the UGR and psychiatrist at the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Unit at Jaen Medical Center (Jaen, Spain). The co-authors are the UGR Psychiatry professors Manuel Gurpegui Fernandez de Legaria and Francisco Diaz Atienza, in collaboration, among others, with Christoph Correll from the Zucker Hillside Hospital (New York, USA).

A study with 3961 people

This research is a meta analysis of 29 previous studies which comprise 3961 people, and it's the first detailed work of its kind about what happens in the organism of people suffering from depression. It studies the imbalance between the individual increase of various oxidative stress parameters (especially malondialdehyde, a biomarker to measure the oxidative deterioration of the cell membrane) and the decrease in antioxidant substances (such as uric acid, zinc, and the superoxide dismutase enzyme).

The researchers have managed to prove that, after receiving the usual treatment against depression, the patients' malondialdehyde levels are significantly reduced, to the point that they are indistinguishable from healthy individuals. At the same time, zinc and uric acid levels increase until reaching normal levels (something that does not occur in the case of the superoxide dismutase enzyme).

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A University of Illinois team has developed predictive visual data analytics tools, called "Flying Superintendent" to automate and streamline today's time-consuming practices for construction progress monitoring. Their award-winning solution utilizes both images and videos taken with camera drones and four-dimensional Building Information Modeling (BIM) to quickly identify and visually communicate the actual and potential performance problems during execution of construction projects via smartphones and tablets to project participants, on and off site.

The Illinois team is collaborating with Turner Construction Company's Northern California office to implement the technology on the NBA's Sacramento Kings new downtown arena, the Golden 1 Center. The goal was to use the resulting color-coded 3D visual production models from University of Illinois' technology to easily and quickly inform project stakeholders about at-risk locations on a project site, allows them to prioritize problems based on their impact on construction plan, and take corrective actions to improve the reliability of short-term project plans and develop more productive workflows for construction.

Mani Golparvar-Fard, an assistant professor in civil and environmental engineering and a faculty entrepreneurial fellow is the lead principal investigator on the group, and Derek Hoiem, associate professor of computer science, and Tim Bretl, associate professor of aerospace engineering are co-principal investigators on the project. The team also involved Jacob Lin, Kevin Han, Nour Dabboussi, Gustavo Garcia, CEE graduate students, Darren Liu, CEE undergraduate student, and Joseph Degol, Rajbir Kataria, and Ka Wai Tsoi, CS graduate students.

"Our web-based solution provides real-time visual reporting of work completed using unordered images collected by any device, from drones to commodity phones," Goparvar-Fard said. "All personnel, on and off-site, can interact with our 3D visual production models to communicate and analyze work in progress throughout the life of the job. Teams can conduct quality control by comparing as-built models with specifications, and improve safety by having a clear and immediate understanding of potential hazards. The analytics we conduct on these survey-grade 3D visual production models offer construction managers a transparent view into what's happening on site each day, empowering them to improve reliability in short-term plans and eliminate problems before they happen."

That collaboration has earned a Turner Innovation Award in Turner's Fourth Annual Award for Innovation program.

Lincoln Wood, regional manager for virtual design and construction at Turner Construction Company says that while it monitors progress closely on its projects, the aerial images and software analysis being used provides a comprehensive picture of what's going on, and can highlight how a slowdown in one area may affect the entire project.

"The powerful thing about this is that it highlights issues with our schedule grouped by their location in 3D," Wood said. "This streamlines the management of our weekly work planning efforts by allowing us to visualize and mitigate potential risks to our schedule before they happen."

The University of Illinois team received a nearly $1 million Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) grant through the National Science Foundation for the project, which kicked off in January 2015 and continues through the end of 2019. With the support of the new faculty entrepreneurial fellowship (FEF) program by the Technology Entrepreneur Center (TEC), Golparvar-Fard and the team are commercializing the solution via RECONSTRUCT Inc. a new spinoff company housed in University of Illinois Research Park.

To further streamline the data collection practice, the team is currently developing and testing their recent prototypes to autonomously collect images on construction sites using the drones and ground robots without heavily relying on GPS for navigation purposes. As part of this project, the team is also exploring mechanisms to autonomously mount video cameras on building elements to detect and track construction resources and offer visual data analytics on construction safety and productivity.

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URBANA, Ill. - A new University of Illinois study reveals that the transition from home to child care is an important time for creating a partnership between parent and provider that benefits the child's development.

In this mixed-methods study, researchers at the U of I report that several factors--including the child's age, child temperament, and maternal depressive symptoms--may play a role in the ease or difficulty that mothers and their young children experience during the transition into child care.

"Finding child care outside of the immediate family can be an emotional process," says Nancy McElwain, an associate professor of human development and family studies. "We wanted to understand, from the perspective of moms, what challenges they and their children face when transitioning to a new care setting. We also wanted to know, again from the mom's perspective, how providers may help families during these transitions."

Rebecca Swartz, an early learning specialist with the Early Care and Parenting Collaborative at the U of I, and lead author of the study, says that having a strong connection with the child-care provider that began at the time of the transition or before the child's first day made a big difference to mothers who participated in the study.

"That warm hello by the provider is really important in setting the tone for the relationship," Swartz says.

Swartz encourages providers to pay special attention to building relationships with families. "If parents bring their child to the center so they can get acquainted before they start care, it eases the transition," she notes.

The researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with 65 mothers of 18- to 36-month-old children about their own and their child's ease in transitioning from home to non-parental care. Mothers generally had a more difficult time with the transition than their children did, and mothers whose children had a difficult adjustment reported that they also had a difficult transition.

"For mothers, an easy transition was characterized by their comfort with the provider and the idea of returning to work, and also by the ability to exercise some control over when they returned to work and how many hours they would work," says Kate Speirs, a U of I postdoctoral research associate and co-author of the study.

"When mothers valued being able to return to work or their child spending time in early care and education, that helped make the transition easier," Speirs says.

Swartz adds, "Moms who reported some level of depression or having a difficult time coping with other people's emotions, including their children's distress, indicated that the transition was difficult for them," Swartz said.

Just over 20 percent of moms experience some level of postnatal depression in the year following their child's birth, and depression also affects dads. The researchers suggest that providers and programs think of the whole family's experience to best help children make a smooth transition to non-parental care. "If a child is having problems or the teacher is having trouble communicating with parents, that family may need extra support from the provider during the transition period," Swartz notes.

Children's temperament mattered in a successful transition, as well, with socially fearful kids having a harder time adjusting to the new environment, she adds.

Early child care programs in the United States might also look to effective transition practices and policies in other countries. Swartz, who has visited child-care centers in Italy, said that Italian centers used photos of children and families placed at children's eye level so children can "connect" with their parent throughout the day.

"When the child is looking at the photo, the teacher can say, 'oh, maybe you miss them.' Then the teacher is able to say to the mother, 'your child missed you too. We were looking at your picture, and we talked about where you were, that you were at work.' Those photos in the center may be reassuring to parents and give them a feeling of connection to the care setting," she says.

The authors were inspired by practices in New Zealand, where the ministry of education stresses the idea of the families feeling a sense of belonging at the center. "There they believe that parents and the child-care center staff are partners in supporting children's development. They use the term te whariki, which means a woven mat. They imagine that the intentions of the parent for the child and the efforts of the center will be woven together to make a strong foundation for the child," Swartz says.

Managing transitions well means that a child is secure and ready for new experiences, the researchers say.

"We know that from birth to age three is a critical time for children's development. If they have a secure foundation, they'll be ready and able to learn when they start school. If a child is continuously stressed and anxious, she won't grow as much, learn as much, explore as much," Swartz explains.

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"A Mixed Methods Investigation of Maternal Perspectives on Transition Experiences in Early Care and Education" is available online in Early Education and Development. Co-authors of the study are Rebecca Anne Swartz, Katherine Elizabeth Speirs, and Nancy McElwain of the University of Illinois, and Amy Johnson Encinger of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The U of I's Family Resiliency Center funded the study.
DURHAM, N.H. - University of New Hampshire scientists have conducted the first study of oyster farming-nitrogen dynamics in New Hampshire, providing the first solid research on the state's oyster farming industry and the role oyster farms play with nitrogen removal. The research, which was funded in part by the NH Agricultural Experiment Station, contributes to a growing body of research on how oysters affect the nitrogen content of estuaries such as Great Bay.

The research was conducted by Ray Grizzle, research professor of zoology at the UNH School of Marine Science and Ocean Engineering; Krystin Ward, research assistant at the UNH Jackson Estuarine Laboratory; Chris Peter, research associate at the UNH Jackson Estuarine Laboratory; and Mark Cantwell, David Katz, and Julia Sullivan with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development.

"Every oyster that is harvested represents some amount of nitrogen leaving the system. We're beginning to quantify nitrogen dynamics and how the oyster farms on Great Bay affect it. Secondly, we're putting some numbers on the oyster farming industry itself," Grizzle.

Stretching 15 miles inland, Great Bay is a drowned river estuary with 144 miles of shore. According to the NH Water Resources Research Center at UNH, Great Bay has experienced a deterioration of water quality and aquatic life as a result of high nitrogen levels. A 2009 study indicated that nitrogen had increased 42 percent over the previous five years. Researchers also report that eelgrass declined by 64 percent between 1990 and 2008, and adult oyster populations have decreased from 125,000 in 1997 to 10,000 in 2009.

In this study, UNH researchers studied oysters at six sites in Great Bay over a three-year period beginning in 2010. The scientists measured the amount of nitrogen in different components of the oyster body, in different sizes of oysters, and at different farm sites.

"Oysters feed on organisms that contain nitrogen, mostly phytoplankton, single-cell plants. When they feed upon these plants, they digest some of them and some go out as waste. But a significant percentage of them are incorporated into the oyster's body -- the shell and soft tissue," Grizzle said. "We wanted to see how much nitrogen is in farm-raised oysters, what factors cause nitrogen content to vary, and how oyster farming compares with other ways to remove nitrogen from the estuarine system."

Researchers found that the nitrogen in farmed oysters varied depending on size of oyster, farm site, age of oyster, seasonal variability, water quality, and time of harvest. They also found that the farmed oysters with the most nitrogen were those at sites that had the most nitrogen in the water. Overall, the average nitrogen content in the shells and soft tissue was comparable to that found in previous studies ranging from Cape Cod to the Gulf of Mexico.

Those who manage the Great Bay Estuary now are using this research to determine the amount of nitrogen that could be removed by oyster farming. "We have about 50 acres of oyster farms now. We are now modeling different levels of oyster industry size and how it would affect nitrogen removal in Great Bay," Grizzle said.

"It's never going to be a huge amount of nitrogen. I suspect it will be below 5 percent of the nitrogen that goes into the estuary, but 5 percent is 5 percent," he said.

According to Grizzle, the destruction of the natural oyster reefs in Great Bay likely has contributed substantially to the increase in nitrogen. Great Bay used to have many more natural oyster reefs, but in the 1990s, two oyster diseases hit the estuary. As a result, Great Bay has about 10 percent of the natural oyster reefs it had 30 years ago, and they are not in good shape.

"If we were at ten times the amount of natural reefs, the oysters would be filtering a substantial amount of water through their bodies. Some of the estimates have been upwards of 90 percent. That's the far end, but probably half would not be an exaggeration. So when they are filtering that much water, they are removing all of the particles and would have affected water quality," Grizzle said.

"However, we're getting to the point now that there may be as many oysters on farms as there are on natural reefs. We need to begin to look more carefully at how farms compare to the reefs in terms of the habitat they provide, the amount of water they filter, and the spawn they put out. We need to look at the farms in a more ecological manner," said Grizzle, who estimates Great Bay could sustain 100 acres of oyster farms.

Although Grizzle doesn't see oyster farms as being a substantial solution to reducing nitrogen in the entire Great Bay, he believes it could have a measurable impact on Little Bay. Using floating rafts may be a viable option for future oyster farming on Great Bay.

But even if oyster farming does not become a major solution to reducing nitrogen in Great Bay, Grizzle emphasizes that oyster farming still provides valuable ecosystem services. "When the discussion focuses on one factor like nitrogen removal, people think that if it doesn't work, we shouldn't do it. Oysters provide habitat. They filter the water. They clear the water. Eel grass could expand. All of these ecosystem services come along with the farms," he said.

Going forward, Grizzle plans to research ways to increase production on oyster farms such as how to grow oysters more quickly.

Jay Baker, owner of Fat Dog Shellfish Co., said Grizzle's latest research adds to a growing body of work that demonstrates the value of farmed oysters in improving coastal water quality and mitigating human impacts to sensitive estuarine waters.

"While much of this work has focused on nutrient removal efficiencies of existing oyster populations and the results of enhancing wild stocks, Dr. Grizzle's work highlights the important role our industry can and does play in making coastal waters cleaner, and creating habitat for other valuable species," Baker said.

"Oyster aquaculture is one of few truly sustainable industries, and Ray Grizzle's great work continues to move this from abstract concept to a quantified and well documented fact. Both Dr. Grizzle and UNH have played a key role in not only improving our understanding of the value of restored and farmed oyster populations in Great Bay and the Northeast, but also in promoting shellfish aquaculture and sharing valuable knowledge and experience with new growers. The result is what has been called the 'New Hampshire Oyster Renaissance,' and we thank Dr. Grizzle and UNH for their great work," he said.

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The researchers present their findings in the article "Growth, morphometrics, and nutrient content of farmed eastern oysters, Crassostrea virginica (Gmelin), in New Hampshire, USA" in the journal Aquaculture Research.

This material is based upon work supported by the NH Agricultural Experiment Station, through joint funding of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 1003387, and the state of New Hampshire. The research also was funded by the Ecological Services Research Program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration.

Founded in 1887, the NH Agricultural Experiment Station at the UNH College of Life Sciences and Agriculture is UNH's original research center and an elemental component of New Hampshire's land-grant university heritage and mission. We steward federal and state funding, including support from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, to provide unbiased and objective research concerning diverse aspects of sustainable agriculture and foods, aquaculture, forest management, and related wildlife, natural resources and rural community topics. We maintain the Woodman and Kingman agronomy and horticultural farms, the Macfarlane Greenhouses, the Fairchild Dairy Teaching and Research Center, and the Organic Dairy Research Farm. Additional properties also provide forage, forests and woodlands in direct support to research, teaching, and outreach.

The University of New Hampshire, founded in 1866, is a world-class public research university with the feel of a New England liberal arts college. A land, sea, and space-grant university, UNH is the state's flagship public institution, enrolling 13,000 undergraduate and 2,500 graduate students.
That was fast. The sound of one hand clapping? Now, its no hands. Besieged by a furious mob of censors, the editors at the peer-reviewed journal PLOS ONE have retracted a paper on the architecture of the human hand that repeatedly invoked notions of design and a Creator.

An announcement under Reader Comments, time-stamped an hour after we last posted on this, now says:

The PLOS ONE editors have followed up on the concerns raised about this publication. We have completed an evaluation of the history of the submission and received advice from two experts in our editorial board. Our internal review and the advice we have received have confirmed the concerns about the article and revealed that the peer review process did not adequately evaluate several aspects of the work. In light of the concerns identified, the PLOS ONE editors have decided to retract the article, the retraction is being processed and will be posted as soon as possible. We apologize for the errors and oversight leading to the publication of this paper.

This is followed by still more angry comments demanding a full explanation of how the paper appeared at all, dismissal of the editor, and other steps. The upset over this echoed around the Internet, reported on by Nature, Retraction Watch, Gizmodo, Vox, and of course Evolution News. Londons Independent roared about intelligent design:

[M]embers of the scientific community have demanded the paper be retracted, for its several perceived references to the pseudoscientific theory of intelligent design and a possibly divine Creator.

I must note here that the theory intelligent design does not infer a Creator, a religious idea that goes beyond what the scientific evidence says. ID infers a source of intelligence, and leaves it to others to argue about the identity of the source.

That aside, this should be an eye-opener. True, the language about a Creator was not what you expect in a scientific paper. Its not justified by the science. An unadorned inference to design is a different matter. But thats moot now.

You can see, far from the first time in our coverage of matters relating to academic freedom, how the mechanism of intimidation works. Science papers are pulled routinely upon the revelation of all kinds of chicanery far more serious than this. You can follow it all at Retraction Watch. In this case, an editors naivety has become an occasion for admonishing others not even to consider researching their own heretical ideas.

In an oppressive atmosphere where doubters are shamed and punished, honest investigation hardly stands a chance. The censors want an echo chamber, and thats what theyve created.

There are closeted design thinkers scattered around the academic science world  indeed, we know many of them, while you can be sure a great many more are out there too, unknown except to themselves. Whatever the merits of this paper, the episode was another warning to them.

The article by Chinese researchers is still up, though, as of now and you can download a copy if you act promptly. Its a collectors item.

Image credit:  kantver/ Dollar Photo Club.
The authors and editor of the now retracted PLOS ONE paper, making reference to design and a Creator in analyzing the human hand, are Chinese. One author appealed for mercy, citing problems with the translation of their work into English. In Chinese, he explained, they attributed the architecture of the hand to Nature, not God. Nevertheless, rather than simply amend the article, the peer-reviewed journal bowed to a lynch mob of censors and pulled it altogether.

A blogger who goes by the handle dr24hours made me think about something I hadnt considered: the possibility that racial bigotry played a role. Retracting a paper is serious business:

Retractions matter, and can destroy careers. These scientists dont deserve one. Their paper is valid. They have a poor translation of an idiom, which made a bunch of anti-religious bigots in the scientific community flip out and start howling, and mob PLOSONE, who retracted the paper reflexively with no investigation of their own. Disgrace all around.

Whats racist about it, though?

This is an example of being so closed-minded and culturally isolated that its got to be intentional. A reflexive disavowal of a reasonable explanation made by the author, and ascribing to malice that which is completely explained by a simple cultural difference. This kind of idiom is common in every language. Japanese driving manuals  badly translated  refer to skid demons. I doubt that they believe theres a demon in the road that makes the car slide. Its the same as when we say damn it. Imagine if every time you said that, someone took it as a literal prayer to god to send something to eternal hellfire. Thats what science twitter is doing. Its asinine, and its bigotry. We are so isolated by our western scientific environment that we assume what weve decided is the worst possible thing (Gasp! Religiosity!) about anyone who doesnt assiduously scrub any potential supernatural language from their translations. Participating in that kind of cultural isolation is racist. It reinforces the barriers to participation that prevent members of other cultures, languages, and societies from making contributions. Because theyre not like us. Their language translates funny, or they may believe things that we dont.

Im not endorsing this theory. Calling people racist is also serious business. Plus, the editor of the paper, who received his BS from Peking University, studied for his PhD in Australia and currently teaches in Ohio. So presumably he speaks English.

But certainly some form of bigotry played a role in the retraction. Mere mistranslation or an editors goof that did not seem to favor a religious interpretation would obviously not have occasioned the riot this did. Since the journal is online, it could easily have been fixed, with an editors note added indicating as much, not retracted.

My late father-in-law was a professional translator, from Russian to English, specializing in technical and scientific literature. That an error like this could creep into his fine work and survive scrutiny by reviewers seems surprising to me. But who knows.

H/t Retraction Watch.

Image credit:  Romolo Tavani / Dollar Photo Club.
yet

Hi guys,Firstly I would like to apologise in advance if this topic has been discussed before, I did do a search but I couldn't find the answers I was looking for.I am from South Africa, and was recently granted my Australian Permanent Residence Visa (I applied from South Africa, under the skilled migration program).I am planning a 2 week LSD (look, see, decide) trip to Sydney (as its most likely place where I will find work as I am in the railway signaling industry) around May 2016 to visit friends, open bank accounts, make my first entry to validate the visa etc, and then after my 2 week trip I will be coming back to South Africa to sort out the rest of my affairs and try find a job in Oz from South Africa. Hence I am notpermanently living in Australia.However during my 2 week trip I would also like to get a NSW driving licence as it seems that I only have up to 3 months from my first entry to Australia to convert my South African drivers licence (I can get a direct conversion, as South African drivers are exempt from having to do any tests provided im over 25 years of age, which I am, I am 29). Is this possible? Im a bit worried about it as I am not actually living in NSW, im just visiting for my LSD trip, but I dont want to come back later after 3 months since my first entry to discover I now have to go through the hassle of doing all the tests and stuff. Can someone please advise me on this situation? I have tried contacting the NSW Roads and Maritime about this but I haven't had any response yet from them.Also do you think it is necessary for me to get Tax File Number on my LSD trip, or do you guys think it is only necessary when I make my permanent move?I would really appreciate any advice or guides you can give me. Thanks- Neil
Wheat: Net sales of 344,300 metric tons for delivery in marketing year 2015/2016 were down 11 percent from the previous week, but up 42 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported for unknown destinations (105,900 MT), Mexico (45,900 MT), South Korea (39,200 MT), Ecuador (35,600 MT, including 25,500 MT switched from unknown destinations), Italy (30,600 MT), and Venezuela (30,000 MT). Reductions were reported for the Leeward Windward Islands (500 MT) and Nicaragua (200 MT). For 2016/2017, net sales of 66,300 MT were reported for the Philippines (30,000 MT), unknown destinations (30,000 MT), Mexico (6,000 MT), and Italy (300 MT). Exports of 388,000 MT were up 69 percent from the previous week and 32 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were Mexico (77,600 MT), South Korea (59,900 MT), the Philippines (46,700 MT), Taiwan (41,100 MT), Peru (39,700 MT), and Ecuador (29,400 MT).

Exports for Own Account: Exports for own account totaling 2,800 MT to Italy were applied to new or outstanding sales. The current outstanding balance totals 50,400 MT, all Italy.

Corn: Net sales of 1,097,600 MT for 2015/2016 were up 18 percent from the previous week and 25 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported for Colombia (301,000 MT, including 37,200 MT switched from unknown destinations and decreases of 2,800 MT), Mexico (202,000 MT), Japan (183,800 MT, including 40,200 MT switched from unknown destinations and decreases of 1,500 MT), unknown destinations (111,900 MT), and Peru (81,700 MT, including 35,000 MT switched from unknown destinations and decreases of 8,000 MT). Reductions were reported for Costa Rica (7,500 MT) and Panama (7,200 MT). Exports of 789,800 MT were down 9 percent from the previous week, but up 13 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were South Korea (206,300 MT), Mexico (182,700 MT), Japan (99,000 MT), Peru (90,500 MT), Guatemala (67,400 MT), and Colombia (60,400 MT).

Optional Origin Sales: For 2015/2016, the current outstanding balance totals 340,000 MT, all unknown destinations.

Barley: Net sales of 1,000 MT for 2015/2016 were reported for South Korea. There were no exports reported during the week.

Sorghum: Net sales of 39,000 MT for 2015/2016 were down 10 percent from the previous week and 75 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases for China (68,000 MT) and Mexico (21,000 MT), were partially offset by reductions for unknown destinations (50,000 MT). Exports of 107,000 MT were down 51 percent from the previous week and 46 percent from prior 4-week average. The destinations were China (104,800 MT) and Mexico (2,200 MT).

Rice: Net sales of 91,200 MT for 2015/2016 were up 64 percent from the previous week and 53 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases for Venezuela (30,000 MT), Colombia (26,000 MT), Japan (12,100 MT), Costa Rica (10,600 MT, including 5,200 MT switched from unknown destinations), and El Salvador (2,300 MT), were partially offset by reductions for unknown destinations (900 MT). Exports of 38,100 MT, down 45 percent from the previous week and 22 percent from the prior 4-week average, were reported to Haiti (13,000 MT), Costa Rica (5,200 MT), South Korea (5,100 MT), Mexico (3,700 MT), Jordan (3,200 MT), Taiwan (2,800 MT), and Canada (1,900 MT).

Exports for Own Account: New exports for own account totaling 100 MT were reported to Canada. Exports totaling 200 MT to Canada were applied to new or outstanding sales. The current outstanding balance totals 300 MT, all Canada.

Soybeans: Net sales of 440,100 MT for 2015/2016 were up 70 percent from the previous week and 35 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported for China (281,400 MT, including 123,000 MT switched from unknown destinations and decreases of 11,200 MT), Mexico (93,800 MT), Indonesia (85,900 MT, including 68,000 MT switched from unknown destinations and decreases of 6,800 MT), Taiwan (79,100 MT, including 60,000 MT switched from unknown destinations and decreases of 200 MT), the Netherlands (70,000 MT, switched from unknown destinations), and Germany (69,800 MT, previously reported as the Netherlands). Reductions were reported for unknown destinations (297,600 MT). For 2016/2017, net sales of 2,100 MT were reported for Japan. Exports of 1,228,100 MT were down 14 percent from the previous week and 11 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were China (755,600 MT), Indonesia (85,000 MT), Taiwan (81,700 MT), the Netherlands (70,000 MT), Germany (69,800 MT, previously reported as the Netherlands), Mexico (57,900 MT), and Japan (52,700 MT).

Optional Origin Sales: For 2015/2016, the current outstanding balance of 180,000 MT is for China (120,000 MT) and unknown destinations (60,000 MT).

Exports for Own Account: The current outstanding balance totals 500 MT, all Canada.

Export Adjustments: Accumulated exports to the Netherlands were adjusted down 69,756 MT for week ending February 18, 2016. The correct destination is Germany and is included in this weeks report.

Soybean Cake and Meal: Net sales of 132,100 MT for 2015/2016 were down 23 percent from the previous week and 20 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported for the Philippines (50,900 MT), Mexico (45,200 MT), Colombia (36,900 MT, including 33,000 MT switched from Ecuador and decreases of 600 MT), Guatemala (22,200 MT, including 17,100 MT switched from unknown destinations, and 2,000 MT switched from Nicaragua), the Dominican Republic (15,000 MT, switched from unknown destinations), and Lebanon (8,200 MT, switched from Egypt). Reductions were reported for Ecuador (33,000 MT), unknown destinations (28,000 MT), Egypt (6,400 MT), and Nicaragua (2,000 MT). For 2016/2017, net sales of 200 MT were reported for Canada (500 MT). Exports of 261,500 MT were up 19 percent from the previous week and 23 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were Mexico (54,200 MT), Colombia (47,200 MT), Egypt (38,100 MT), the Philippines (27,300 MT), and Guatemala (24,500 MT).

Optional Origin Sales: For 2015/2016, the current outstanding balance totals 99,000 MT, all unknown destinations.

Soybean Oil: Net sales of 900 MT for 2015/2016 were down 72 percent from the previous week and 89 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported for Mexico (600 MT) and Canada (200 MT). Exports of 4,400 MT were up 12 percent from the previous week, but down 69 percent from the prior 4-week average. The destinations were primarily Mexico (3,900 MT) and Canada (300 MT).

Cotton: Net upland sales totaling 173,900 RB for 2015/2016 were up 57 percent from the previous week, but down 23 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported for Turkey (69,100 RB), Vietnam (29,800 RB), Mexico (14,400 RB), Indonesia (10,600 RB, including 800 RB switched from Japan and decreases of 1,400 RB), China (10,000 RB), and Pakistan (9,600 RB). For 2016/2017, net sales of 3,600 RB were reported for El Salvador (4,900 RB) and Taiwan (900 RB). Reductions were reported for South Korea (2,200 RB). Exports of 197,100 RB were up 15 percent from the previous week and 5 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were Vietnam (50,500 RB), Turkey (34,000 RB), Thailand (17,400 RB), Mexico (16,100 RB), Indonesia (15,200 RB), and South Korea (14,700 RB). Net sales of Pima totaling 15,600 RB for 2015/2016 were up 45 percent from the previous week and 39 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported for India (5,400 RB), China (4,800 RB, including 1,600 RB switched from Hong Kong), Indonesia (2,300 RB), and Pakistan (2,100 RB). Reductions were reported for Hong Kong (800 RB) and Japan (300 RB). Exports of 24,800 RB were up noticeably from the previous week and 61 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were China (12,400 RB), Turkey (6,600 RB), Pakistan (4,300 RB), and India (1,200 RB).

Exports for Own Account: New exports for own account totaling 1,200 RB were reported to China. Exports totaling 1,200 RB were applied to new or outstanding sales. 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 402,300 pieces for 2016 were down 4 percent from the previous week, but up 24 percent from the prior-4 week average. Whole cattle hide sales of 403,400 pieces--a marketing-year high--were primarily for China (220,600 pieces), South Korea (101,700 pieces), Mexico (33,400 pieces), and Thailand (12,900 pieces). Reductions were reported for India (100 pieces). Exports of 380,600 pieces were up 4 percent from the previous week and 2 percent from the prior 4-week average. Whole cattle hide exports of 373,700 pieces were primarily to China (240,800 pieces), South Korea (68,000 pieces), Mexico (22,700 pieces), Thailand (16,000 pieces), and Italy (12,000 pieces).

Net sales of 166,200 wet blues for 2016 were up noticeably from the previous week and 16 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported for China (55,500 unsplit and 9,200 grain splits), Mexico (37,400 unsplit and 6,300 grain splits), Italy (22,500 unsplit and 3,600 grain splits), and Vietnam (21,400 unsplit). Reductions were reported for Thailand (3,100 grain splits), Japan (500 grain splits), South Korea (500 grain splits), and Vietnam (400 grain splits). Exports of 151,600 wet blues were up17 percent from the previous week and 8 percent from the prior 4-week average. Exports were primarily to Italy (38,300 unsplit and 3,600 grain splits), China (18,600 unsplit and 13,000 grain splits), Vietnam (12,000 unsplit and 10,400 grain splits), and Mexico (13,100 grain splits and 4,100 unsplit). Net sales of splits totaling 118,300 pounds for 2016 were reported for South Korea (54,000 pounds), China (48,000 pounds), Vietnam (11,800 pounds), and Italy (8,200 pounds). Reductions were reported for Hong Kong (3,700 pounds). Exports of 445,800 pounds were reported to Vietnam (324,300 pounds), China (116,500 pounds), and South Korea (5,000 pounds).

Beef: Net sales of 10,200 MT for 2016 were down 18 percent from the previous week, but up 2 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported for Japan (5,000 MT), South Korea (1,800 MT), Mexico (1,700 MT), Canada (700 MT), and Taiwan (700 MT). Reductions were reported for Hong Kong (400 MT). Exports of 10,500 MT were up 2 percent from the previous week, but down 7 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were Japan (3,900 MT), South Korea (2,200 MT), Hong Kong (1,300 MT), Mexico (1,200 MT), and Canada (900 MT).

Pork: Net sales of 20,000 MT for 2016 were up 39 percent from the previous week and 2 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases were reported for Mexico (6,000 MT), South Korea (4,500 MT), Japan (3,600 MT), Australia (1,800 MT), and China (800 MT). Exports of 18,300 MT were up 2 percent from the previous and from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were Mexico (4,500 MT), Japan (3,700 MT), South Korea (3,600 MT), China (2,600 MT), and Canada (1,500 MT).

Source : USDA
Image courtesy of NordionMedical isotope provider Nordion (Canada) Inc. and a former employee settled SEC charges Thursday of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by bribing Russian government officials. The former employee was also charged with taking kickbacks.

The SEC said Mikhail Gourevitch arranged bribes to Russian officials through a third-party agent for approval to sell a Nordion liver cancer treatment called TheraSphere.

Gourevitch agreed to settle the FCPA charges by paying $100,000 in disgorgement, $12,950 in prejudgment interest, and a $66,000 penalty.

Gourevitch is a dual citizen of Canada and Israel. He lived in Canada when he worked for Nordion as an engineer. He now lives in Israel.

Nordion Thursday agreed to pay a $375,000 penalty to settle charges that it lacked internal accounting controls and basic FCPA due diligence.

The SEC resolved the enforcement actions through internal administrative orders and didnt go to court. Nordion and Gourevitch consented to the orders without admitting or denying the findings.

The administrative orders charged that Nordion violated the books-and-records and internal accounting controls provisions of the FCPA and Gourevitch violated the antibribery, books-and-records, and false records provisions.

The SEC corporate enforcement action named Ottawa, Canada-based Nordion (Canada) Inc.. The privately-held company is the successor to Nordion, Inc., which traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol NDZ from 2004 to 2011 when the bribery in Russia occurred.

In August 2014, during the SECs investigation, Nordion Inc. went private when it was acquired by Nordion (Canada) Inc. for $727 million.

The company provides medical isotopes and sterilization technologies used by drug and biotech companies, medical-device makers, hospitals and clinics, and research labs. It has customers in about 60 countries.

Around 2000, Gourevitch was working as an engineer for Nordion in Canada. He told the company about a childhood friend in Russia who could help it buy cobalt-60. Nordion needed a cobalt-60 supply to process its medical isotopes.

The agent had no experience in the nuclear power industry, nuclear medicine, or medical isotopes, the SEC said.

But in March 2002, Nordion signed a written consulting agreement with the agent to obtain cobalt-60 from a Russian government agency.

As of that time, Nordion had performed virtually no due diligence on the agent, the SEC said.

After the agent secured cobalt-60 supply contracts, Nordion asked him in 2004 to help win Russian government approval to distribute a liver cancer treatment, TheraSphere.

Gourevitch ran the relationship with the agent. The SEC said Gourevitch knew the agent intended to use some of the consulting money to bribe Russian government officials.

The agent also kicked back to Gourevitch some of the money from Nordion.

The SEC said,

Email communications (primarily in Russian) between Gourevitch and the agent documented the bribe scheme. For example, the agent emailed cost estimates to Gourevitch for each step of the process required to register and license Therasphere in Russia. These cost estimates noted the payment of unofficial costs or bribes to Russian government officials.

In one email Gourevitch told the agent, Nordion does not want to see the bribes in your cost estimate and justification.

Gourevitch hid the bribes and kickbacks by communicating with the agent in Russian, preparing multiple drafts of documents, and lying about how the agent would use the money from Nordion, the SEC said.

Nordion did not do due diligence on the agent or follow its own internal controls procedures in place at the time, the SEC said.

Nordion paid the agents invoices even though they lacked detail and directed Nordion to make payment to offshore bank accounts for entities that were unknown to Nordion and appeared to be unrelated to the agent.

From 2005 through 2011, Nordion paid the Agent about $235,000 related to approvals for TheraSphere.

Ultimately, Nordion was unable to distribute TheraSphere in Russia and, as a result, did not earn any profits on the sale of the product in Russia, the SEC said.

The agent secretly paid Gourevitch at least $100,000 in kickbacks, the SEC said.

After Nordion found evidence of Gourevitchs scheme, it self-reported to the SEC, cooperated with the investigation, and took immediate steps to remedy the problems, including firing Gourevitch.

The SEC said it considered the companys significant cooperation, self-reporting and remedial acts when determining a settlement.

Nordion first disclosed the investigation to the public in an SEC filing in September 2012.

The SEC said Thursday it had help in the case from the DOJs Fraud Section, the FBI, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Financial and Capital Market Commission of Latvia, the Finantsinspektsioon Financial Supervision Authority of Estonia, the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, the British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission, the Liechtenstein Federal Market Authority, and the Financial Supervisory Authority of Finland.

* * *

Securities Exchange Act of 1934 Release No. 77288 and Administrative Proceeding File No. 3-17152 (both dated March 3, 2016) In the Matter of Mikhail Gourevitch are here (pdf).

Securities Exchange Act of 1934 Release No. 77290 and Administrative Proceeding File No. 3-17153 (both dated March 3, 2016) In the Matter of Nordion (Canada) Inc. are here (pdf).

_____

Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog. He can be contacted here.
An article in this months edition of The Accounting Review by Paul Healy and George Serafeim looked at the direct effect of robust compliance programs on companies return on equity (ROE) in countries perceived to have a high incidence of corruption.

One finding was that companies with good governance tended to have more robust compliance programs. The authors noted, Managers of firms with independent and engaged board oversight may take anti-corruption laws and enforcement seriously and adopt/enforce policies to deter corruption.

Conversely, the authors said, some investors, boards, and managers may jointly view corruption as an unavoidable cost of doing business in certain parts of the world, yet engage in cheap talk in an effort to reduce regulatory costs.

This good governance was more than simply tone at the top. It was also measured by board independence and board oversight of a companys compliance program.

Not surprisingly, in countries at low risk for corruption, there was not much difference in the sales growth for companies with robust anti-corruption compliance programs and those the authors put into the cheap talk category. However, when it came to growth in countries that had a high propensity of corruption, there was a dramatic difference.

The authors found a negative relation between investments and a companys return on investments in high countries where the company did not have an effective compliance program. This was true even when there was increased sales growth. For firms with up to 10 percent growth in high-risk countries that didnt have a robust compliance program, the negative ROE was between 24 percent and 30 percent.

The authors conclude with several observations.

First, companies with more robust compliance programs are from countries that have more robust enforcement and monitoring.

Second, companies with more robust compliance programs, even with lower sales growth, will have a higher overall return in a high risk country.

Finally even if a company sustains high sales grow in a high-risk country, if it doesnt have a robust compliance program, the sales will drop off dramatically and may well lead to a negative return on equity.

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Thomas Fox, pictured above, is a contributing editor of the FCPA Blog and a Compliance Week columnist. Hes the founder of the Houston-based boutique law firm tomfoxlaw.com. A popular speaker on compliance and risk-management topics, Fox is also the creator and writer of the widely followed FCPA Compliance Report. His book Lessons Learned on Compliance and Ethics topped Amazons bestseller list for international law. He can be contacted here.
Charlotte Riley is back on the big screen this week as one of the new faces on the cast list of the action-packed London Has Fallen.

Charlotte Riley in London Has Fallen

The British actress has been making a name for herself in recent year as she has moved between a string of film and television projects - working with some great actors and directors along the way.

We take a look back at Riley's career so far and some of the roles that she has brought to life.

- Easy Virtue (2008)

Riley came to the big screen for the first time in 2008 when she landed a role in Easy Virtue, a comedy based on the 1925 comedy by Noel Coward. The movie saw her star alongside Ben Barnes, Jessica Biel, Kristen Scott Thomas, and Colin Firth.

Easy Virtue tells the story of glamourous American widow Larita, and charming Englishman John. Tying the knot in the idyllic setting of the South of France, reality soon hits when John's mother takes an immediate dislike to her new radical-thinking daughter-in-law.

Riley took on the role of Sarah Hurst, the woman that John's mother had intended her son to marry. But Sarah puts John's happiness first and is happy for the love that her friend has found... but it is not long until the cracks start to show.

Easy Virtue is a movie that really is a lot of fun. It is a comedy that has some real laugh out loud moments and some wonderful characters - Kristen Scott Thomas is particularly good.

This is a wonderful ensemble and they all bring Coward's dialogue to life wonderfully. It really is a terrific watch that I have enjoyed time and time again. This was Riley's first taste of the big screen and she delivers a very assured supporting performance.

- Wuthering Heights (2009)

In 2009, Riley returned to the small screen for the new adaptation of the Emily Bronte novel, in which she took on the central role of Cathy alongside Tom Hardy's Heathcliff.

Andrew Lincoln, Sarah Lancashire, Burn Gorman, Rosalind Halstead, and Kevin McNally completed an impressive cast list.

The two-episode adaptation follows Heathcliff as he is brought up by the Earnshaw family - only to fall in love with their daughter Cathy. The love that he has for the family that raised him turns to vengeance when she marries another man.

Heathcliff and Cathy are two of literature's most iconic lovers and Hardy and Riley both deliver excellent central performances. This may be a story that we have seen adapted many times, but these two actors brought a fresh feel to the story and to the characters.

They have a wonderful onscreen chemistry and it is their performances that really pushes the story forward. The writer and director also capture well the dark undertones that are so evident in the book.

- Entity (2012)

Riley returned to the big screen in 2012 as she stared alongside Dervla Kirwan and Branko Tomovic in thriller Entity. The movie was written and directed by Steve Stone, as he made his feature film directorial debut with the project.

Winning two awards at the 2013 London Independent Film Awards, Entity tells the tale of a mystery within a remote Siberian forest. When thirty four unidentified bodies are found in shallow graves with no explanation, a film crew becomes determined to get to the bottom of the event.

With a fearful journey ahead, Riley finds herself as Kate Hansen, the host leading the team on in the hope of finding the path to discovery. But as events unfold and terror creeps in, Riley's strong character begins to waver as she begins to question whether it was ever the right direction at all.

At the time, this was one of Riley's biggest film roles and she delivers a great performance in what is a very strong female role.

- Grand Street (2014)

Riley stayed with independent film as she starred in Grand Street in 2014, a movie that saw her team up with writer and director Lex Sidon. This was the feature film directorial debut for Sidon.

In a dark romance set in the heart of New York City, Riley stars as Camilla in this tale of a chance encounter. When a failing scriptwriter tries his luck with a deeply personal script, Camilla remained her stoic self, dismissing it without a second glance.

But a year later when he waltzes back into her life she lets her curiosity get the better of her. Far from the definition of a perfect romance, the two let their guards down as they entered into a muddled love story.

Grand Street is a movie that did go under the radar in terms of being played to a mainstream audience but it really is worth a watch. There is a charm and a melancholy to it that I was a huge fan of.

Grand Street is a wonderful character study and Riley and Tom Byam Shaw both give strong and touching performances in the central roles of Camilla and Amory.

- Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (2015)

Riley continued to move between film and TV as she returned to the small screen last year with Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell.

The TV miniseries was based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Susanna Clarke; adapted for TV by Peter Harness and directed by Toby Haynes.

Set during the Napoleonic Wars at the beginning of the 19th century, the series follows two warring magicians Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, played by Bertie Carvel and Eddie Marsan. Marc Warren, Charlotte Riley, Alice Englert, Samuel West, Enzo Cilenti and Paul Kaye completed the great cast list.

Riley takes on the role of Arabella Strange, wife of Jonathan, who is drawn into the dark world of magic leaving her in grave danger.

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell was a big critical hit when it screened on the BBC last year. Not only did it bring together a terrific cast, but it explored an interesting topic in a fascinating time period.

- London Has Fallen (2016)

Riley tackles the big budget blockbuster this week as she stars alongside Gerard Butler and Aaron Eckhart in London Has Fallen, the sequel to Olympus Has Fallen.

Butler and Eckhart reprise the roles of Mike Banning and President Benjamin Asher while Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett, and Melissa Leo are some of the other familiar faces returning.

Riley, Jackie Earle Haley, and Colin Salmon are the big new additions to the cast list this time around. It is also all change in the director's chair as Babak Najafi takes over from Antoine Fuqua.

London Has Fallen sees an explosive series of events as London becomes the setting for the Prime Minister's funeral. With most world leaders in attendance, the event intends to stand as the most protected on earth. Instead, the intense security is infiltrated, and it emerges that the event is a deadly plot to kill each of the leaders, devastating every known London landmark in the process.

Riley plays an MI-6 agent who makes it her mission to get to the bottom of the events, rightly trusting no one in the process.

Other Charlotte Riley films check out include Edge of Tomorrow and In the Heart of the Sea as well as TV series The Take, World Without End, and Peaky Blinders.

London Has Fallen is out now.

by Helen Earnshaw for www.femalefirst.co.uk

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Britain's Duke of Edinburgh will attend a service to mark 400 years since the death of William Shakespeare.

Britain's Duke of Edinburgh

The 94-year-old royal will attend the event at Southwark Cathedral to mark the event on April 23, which is thought to be the birth and death date of the late playwright.

The Dean of Southwark Cathedral, the Very Reverend

Andrew Nunn, said: "Amongst the many famous and notorious former residents of the parish of what is now Southwark Cathedral, William Shakespeare stands premier amongst them. We are delighted, therefore, to be hosting the service which will commemorate his death 400 years ago.

"Anything said of the Bard does not do justice to what he has given to our nation and to the English language and arts but we hope that in word, drama and music the service in the cathedral will express something of our delight in our association with the world's greatest playwright."

Whilst Neil Constable, who is the chief executive of Shakespeare's Globe, added: "We are thrilled to be joining our neighbours at Southwark Cathedral in celebrating this momentous occasion.

"The 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death will be a busy weekend for Shakespeare's Globe, with the return of the Globe to Globe Hamlet company after their unprecedented round-the-world tour, and brand new short films of all 37 of Shakespeare's plays being screened along the riverbank for The Complete Walk."
Britain's Queen Elizabeth will attend the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey later this month.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth

The 89-year-old royal will be joined by her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, at the afternoon service at Westminster Abbey in London, England on March 14.

A post on the Abbey's official website reads: "The Service this year takes the theme of 'An Inclusive Commonwealth,' emphasising the Commonwealth's strength in working together to achieve progress.

"The Commonwealth Service is Britain's largest annual inter-faith gathering, held on the second Monday in March and organised with the Royal Commonwealth Society. Among the 2,000-strong congregation will be more than 1,000 children from schools and youth groups."

During last year's service, the Queen's speech highlighted the importance of "common goals".

She said: "One simple lesson from history is that when people come together to talk, to exchange ideas and to develop common goals, wonderful things can happen. So many of the world's greatest technological and industrial achievements have begun as partnerships between families, countries, and even continents.

"But, as we are often reminded, the opposite can also be true. When common goals fall apart, so does the exchange of ideas. And if people no longer trust or understand each other, the talking will soon stop too."
Muhammad Ali wants to meet Queen Elizabeth.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth

The retired boxer is reportedly desperate to see the 89-year-old royal on what he believes will be his last trip to the United Kingdom later this year.

A source told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "He wants to meet the Queen. He knows it will be the last time he comes to the UK and his number one wish is to meet Her Majesty."

Meanwhile, Muhammad previously dubbed Prince Charles as "the greatest".

During a tour of the United States, the Prince of Wales and his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, were welcomed to the Kentucky Centre for African American Heritage with a letter from the former sportsman.

He wrote: "[My wife] Lonnie and I welcome you to our hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, USA.

"We are honoured that you have come to explore, share and learn about new sustainable initiatives that are so close to your heart.

"As you travel back to your homeland, we hope you know how much this city respects and admires the many contributions you have made in the world. We think you are the greatest."
In a new interview with Elvis Duran and the Morning Show, Lady Gaga confirmed she'll be returning for the sixth season of American Horror Story.

Lady Gaga in American Horror Story: Hotel / Credit: FX

Asked about the rumours, she said: "Yes! I can't promise you how, or when, or anything like that."

Despite being sketchy on details, this should be big news for Gaga fans who saw her win a Golden Globe for her performance in the show's fifth season, Hotel, where she played The Countess.

She also took the interview as opportunity to chat about Oscar-nominated track 'Til It Happens To You'.

"I am so proud to hear this song and see it's being heard and see the effects it's having on people. What I've witnessed since the performance is really the most astounding thing I've ever seen. There's so many people in the world that feel alone and this song fills them by bringing them together, and it also reminds people that don't feel alone to have empathy for others."

American Horror Story will return to screens on FX in the US and FOX in the UK later this year.

by Daniel Falconer for www.femalefirst.co.uk

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A top Bangladeshi official has urged foreign denim manufacturers to invest in the country 's denim sector which has enough opportunities in the face of rising demand.Gowher Rizvi , International Affairs Adviser to the Prime Minister, made the statement while inaugurating a two-day Denim and Jeans.com Bangladesh show in Dhaka. The expo displays jeans and denim products along with fabrics to local and foreign jeans manufacturers.

A top Bangladeshi official has urged foreign denim manufacturers to invest in the country's denim sector which has enough opportunities in the face#

Bangladesh has become a global player in manufacturing RMG products and there is no reason that it cannot be the number one manufacturer in the world, Gowher said.He said Bangladesh could become the world's largest supplier of clothing products because China was shifting its business from clothing to high-end industryThe adviser added: Bangladesh has made lots of investment in power and infrastructure. So you (foreign investors) can come up with your investment here in manufacturing industry.Bangladesh now exports denim products of $2 billion annually. The figure will increase and we want to raise our 2021 RMG export target.Gowher was backed by Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) Acting President Humayun Rashid who said Bangladesh should be considered as a place of investment, not a source of import only.It is high time to invest in Bangladesh's denim industry as the country is increasingly becoming a lucrative place of sourcing denim products, he said, claiming that by 2021 Bangladesh's denim export will reach $7 billion.Envoy Textile Assistant General Manager (Marketing) Rizwanul Karim said the expo was a platform to inform the global consumers as well as the buyers about the capacity of Bangladesh Denim industry.Square Denim deputy manager Muhammad Zakir Hossain said since the denim industry was an emerging sub-sector of the RMG industry, the government should offer special policy support on import chemicals needed to produce denim.He said since the manpower was available in the country, investment could produce good returns.Considering the rise of demand, we are going to increase production capacity to 2 million yards from existing 1.5m yards per month, Zakir said.India's Nandan Denim is also a participant at the expo. The company's Director, DK Jain said, Bangladesh is highly potential country for us as it supplies products to the European and United States market. Bangladesh is a good source of garment products, even India imports from Bangladesh. (SH)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
The Union Budget 2016-17 is aimed to bring the huge chunks of industry including area-based exemptions together with SSI, edible oil, textile sectors and others into the tax net in a most easy manner, a top Finance Ministry official said at an Assocham event in New Delhi.Out of the GDP Rs 110 lakh crores and manufacturing sector contributing about 17 per cent to it, we have huge chunks of industry which is out of the net, said Najeeb Shah, Chairman, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) while inaugurating a post-budget seminar organised by Assocham.

The Union Budget 2016-17 is aimed to bring the huge chunks of industry including area-based exemptions together with SSI, edible oil, textile sectors and others into the tax net in a most easy manner, a top Finance Ministry official said at an Assocham event in New Delhi. Out of the GDP Rs 110 lakh crores and manufacturing sector contributing about 17...#

Area-based exemptions, it is one lakh plus crore which is out of the net, SSI, edible oil, textile sector, these are huge chunks of industry, said Shah.If we are talking of GST, we are now talking of all these sectors having in to move towards the tax net, how else are we going to have a GST? he asked.He expressed surprise at tax exemption demands by the industry even with the GST on the anvil.The industry supports GST but very, very surprisingly, keeps expecting and wanting exemptions, the two do not go together, every time there is a break in the CENVAT chain, you have a problem, you have tax sticking on to some products, which the next man has to bear and there is no reason why you should bear it, added Shah.The CBEC boss said such a line of thinking was behind decision to slowly bring these sectors into tax net and the government believes these are essential steps to move towards GST.Talking about the CENVAT credit rules, he said that more than 10-12 per cent of the litigations were because of two specific rules in the CENVAT i.e. Rule 6 and Rule 7, that have now been completely revamped. We have tried to simplify them to the extent possible.We are expecting a hit of more than Rs 1,000 crores only because of the CENVAT credit rule changes, in terms of simplification, we thought it is something essential, because the cost of litigation was much more than the revenue which we are otherwise getting, he said.According to Shah, the simplified processes will add to ease of doing business and reduce transaction costs.The focus right through the budget has been on simplification, on ensuring that the taxpayer gets better value for money, gets better services from us and has lesser interaction with us, said Shah.He also said that his department has now taken the move to withdraw all old pending prosecutions.On the customs side, Shah said that deferment of payment of duty had been permitted. These are sections which have been amended in the Customs Act which permits removal of goods without payment of duty, the rules and details will be finalised in the course of next few weeks, basically we want to club this along with a concept of an accredited client, a scheme which we already have.
Russia and Turkmenistan held discussions this week to explore possibilities of selling Turkmenistan's textile and cotton products in the Russian market, the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry said on its website.During the discussions, the Russian side was represented by the vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Alexander Rybakov. Turkmenistan's delegation included its ambassador to Russia Berdymurad Redzhepov, representatives of the Cabinet of Ministers and the Ministry of Textile industry formed the .

Russia and Turkmenistan held discussions this week to explore possibilities of selling Turkmenistan's textile and cotton products in the Russian#

The meeting was also attended by heads of various textile enterprises from the two countries.Russia is interested in purchasing textile products from Turkmenistan, but due to a large number of barriers and requirements to buyers, it is more beneficial to purchase these products through European dealers, the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry said.Delegates at the meeting discussed the steps which could improve the situation by benefiting both sides. The two sides decided to discuss the issue in the near future.Turkmenistan traditionally grows cotton, which serves as the basis for developing the country's textile industry.Most of the products are exported to the US, Canada, Germany, UK, Russia, Italy, Turkey, China and Ukraine. (SH)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
Retail software developer Index is deploying a cloud-based payments infrastructure for American Apparel.Index's solution for American Apparel will drive efficiencies and cost savings as well as improve security, future-proof payments and expand digital capabilities across its stores, a press release revealed.

Retail software developer Index is deploying a cloud-based payments infrastructure for American Apparel.Index's solution for American Apparel will#

"Our launch with Index provides a strong technical foundation to prepare our stores for the future," said Brian McHale, American Apparel's chief information officer."Index is an incredibly valuable partner to help us accomplish our objective of moving major systems to the cloud and overhauling security," he added.Index hosted gateway and index semi-integrated payments provide American Apparel with a turnkey solution for point-to-point encryption (P2PE), EMV, NFC, processing flexibility and value-added services.By integrating with American Apparel's existing systems, its Retailpro point-of-sale (POS) deployment and Ingenico PIN pads, Index delivers a seamless upgrade for its stores, the company too added."Our integrated solution provides tremendous flexibility, reliability and enhanced security for American Apparel's in-store environments," said Jonathan Wall, Index co-founder and CTO."Our technology enables them to accelerate innovation across customer experience, cross-channel personalisation and performance-based marketing," Marc Freed-Finnegan, Index CEO too said.The benefits Index provides to American Apparel include; EMV & P2PE, an advanced security technology, which validates payment card authenticity for in-store transactions and protect card data.Apple Pay & Android Pay is an enablement for the latest mobile technology as with Apple Pay, it's never been easier or safer to pay in-store.Custom fonts, colours and seasonal branding, engage customers on the PIN pad and streamline the checkout experience and the Index software for Ingenico PIN pads unlocks the full potential of these devices.Seamless email capture on the PIN pad offers easy, one-time sign-up for e-receipts and loyalty, Index informed.Index technology provides the foundation to protect American Apparel customers in-store and further elevate their shopping experience.According to Index, for retailers, PIN pads are one of the most underutilised devices, but with Index, American Apparel has unlocked the potential of these devices to secure payments and personalise every checkout.Index offers a full set of solutions for apparel, grocery and quick service retailers, which includes payments, security, marketing, analytics and loyalty.It leverages strong partnerships with leading POS platforms, PIN pad providers and payment processors to elevate the in-store experience and transform online and offline retail. (AR)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
Moods of Norway, a fashion lifestyle brand located in Stryn, Norway, has implemented Gerber Technology's YuniquePLM V6 web-based product lifecycle management software to manage its design and development process, according to a press release.Moods of Norway head of product Thomas Frodal said, With YuniquePLM V6, we are able to have an individual perspective on products from the 'get go,' allowing designers and buyers to monitor and focus on the progress of various products without the use of multiple systems, data files, and complexity.

Moods of Norway, a fashion lifestyle brand located in Stryn, Norway, has implemented Gerber Technology's YuniquePLM V6 web-based product lifecycle #

Kristin Karlsen, head product developer at Moods of Norway said, As first time PLM users we have been supported by a team of dedicated industry experts from Gerber and Amatec, Gerber's distributor in Norway, during the implementation. We look forward to increased efficiency and productivity from the improved collaboration and greater access to data in a single location.Bill Brewster, vice president and general manager, Enterprise SW Solutions said, We are very pleased to have Moods of Norway, an iconic Scandinavian brand, as one of our customers. We are certain that the company will increase their speed to market and, ultimately, their profitability with YuniquePLM. In addition, we are excited to collaborate with Amatec, a long-time distributor of Gerber Technology's YuniquePLM, CAD, plotting, spreading and cutting solutions. The implementation of YuniquePLM has been a tremendous collaborative effort. (GK)

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India
Suva, March 4, 2016- The Fijian Government today received $188,679. 25 or Vt10million from the Vanuatu Government to help with relief efforts in the wake of severe Tropical Cyclone Winston.



Fijis Minister for Foreign Affairs Hon. Ratu Inoke Kubuabola received the donation from Vanuatu Foreign Minister Bruno Leingkone who presented it on behalf of the Vanuatu Council of Ministers and the people of Vanuatu.



The donation would be directed to the Prime Minister's National Disaster Relief and Rehabilitation account to help those affected by the cyclone.



Mr Leingkone, here on a goodwill mission said the people of Vanuatu rallied behind Fiji in their efforts to recover from the devastation caused by Winston - just how Fiji greatly assisted Vanuatu in the aftermath of Tropical Cyclone Pam last year.



He conveyed Prime Minister Salwai Tabimasmas and the people of Vanuatu's condolences to the people of Fiji who lost their loved ones from the wrath of the cyclone.



Minister Leingkone said Fiji would always be a close friend, a brother and an important development partner to Vanuatu.



Minister Kubuabola said the people of Fiji were grateful and humbled by the gratitude expressed by the people of Vanuatu. He said the people of Fiji would use the assistance to rehabilitate given the status of devastation that the cyclone left them in.



Minister Kubuabola said the assistance from international development partners especially their bilateral partners was overwhelming.



He said the Government was grateful for the all the assistance pouring into the country.
Over 150 families in Clopcott settlement in Ba have also been assisted through food rations, clothes and bottled water. Minister Akbar also visited and assisted families in Veisari village, Raviravi, Karavi, Yalalevu in Ba and Bucalevu village in Ra including Nailega village in Korovou, Tailevu.

The families in Maruru village in Ba have commended the efforts of Minister for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation, Hon. Rosy Akbar for reaching out to families who have been affected by Tropical Cyclone Winston.Minister Akbar while visiting the Maruru village earlier this week, provided the families with food rations. Apart from providing relief supplies, Minister Akbars visit to the Maruru village has encouraged the villagers to work together as a way forward in rebuilding their lives. Mr Simione Tora, spokesman for Maruru village informed Minister Akbar of the damages caused to the houses, plantations and power lines.Mr Tora said that the impacts of cyclone Winston has not dampened their spirits and they are determined to work together to rebuild their lives.It is alright that we dont have enough to eat, some of the homes have been broken down, our unity and strength to rebuild our lives is stronger than the challenges we face. We thank Minister Akbar for visiting us, her visit has assured us that we are not alone during this time.Minister Akbar is the first to visit us and it reflects governments timely response to address our needs. We see this through her compassionate heart and approach in serving the people, Mr Tora said.
Kalyana Vaibhogame starring Naga Shaurya and Malavika Nair, is apparently a litmus test for director Nandini Reddy as she took her time to comeback, post Jabardasth's debacle. Read the review to know whether she passed off the test with flying colors.

Rating: 3.0 /5

Kalyana Vaibhogame Story:

The plot of the movie is straight to the point as it completely revolves around a guy and a girl, who are not interested in marriage, but enters the wedlock. It proceeds further stressing it that, marriage involves two families and not just two people.

Did they stay together, post the marriage? How did they fix their struggling relationship? What role does the families play in their relation? This forms the rest of the story. Read more about the performances, technical details and overview of the film in the slides below.

Performances Naga Shaurya and Malavika Nair helped the film's plot a lot with their uninhibited traits and effortless performances, while Rashi was a surprise in the film. Pragathi, Urvashi and everybody were aptly cast. Entertainment The movie was majorly entertainment driven, which makes it a happy watch. For people, who loves to watch rom-coms, with a pinch of emotional content hear and there, Kalyana Vaibhogame is for you. Nandini Reddy Though the film wasn't brilliantly written, director seems to be particular about the sensibilities of her script and thus delivered what is usually expected from her. Music Music by Kalyani Koduri played an important part of the film like it should, for any rom-com or a family entertainer. Title song was shot very well. Ala Modalaindi A few traces of diretcor's debut film, Ala Modalaindi were visible. Especially in the way hero and heroine roles were handled. Overview On the whole, Kalyana Vaibhogame is a simple movie, which talks its point in an entertaining manner. It is conceived in its own space, without overdoing any emotion.

Analysis:

Kalyana Vaibhogame has been heavily inspired by many Telugu movies that discussed marriage as its central point. Especially, you would reminisce Krishna Vamsi's Mogudu and Jagapathi Babu, Priyamani starred Pellaina Kothalo.

Though Kalyana Vaibhogame was dealt differently from them, it does remind you of some of the episodes from the old Telugu films. Perhaps, Nandini Reddy has a great influence of her guru, Krishna Vamsi on her and one can see a typically Vamsi's kind of set up.

Nevertheless, the film was smooth and simple without much dramatization, which makes it a good watch. Moreover the casting of the film is interestingly done. Malavika Nair's own dubbing adds a fresh flavor to her character. Sweet nuances between the couple and the initial cat-fight was well handled. A little slow screenplay plays a spoilt sport since it drags at the end.

We can say Nandini Reddy moderately passes off the litmus test as she is succesful enough in producing a meaningful film with good commercial viability. Give it a watch folks.
Oaktree Capital has opened an office in Sydney at a time when falling commodity prices and Chinas economic slowdown are weighing on the economy Down Under, the distressed debt investment specialist said on Thursday.

Byron Beath will lead investment activities in the region, the Los Angeles-headquartered firm said in a statement.

The move follows Australias mining boom collapse in the face of falling commodity prices and rising costs, whucb has caused equity and debt financing via capital markets to virtually dry up.

Other specialist private equity firms and hedge funds have in recent years also spotted value in Australian miners, albeit to a limited degree.

Funds Senrigan, D. E. Shaw and Blackstone invested A$40 million in Sundance Resources back in 2013. In 2012 Spring Capital invested in Australian coal developer Stanmore Coal. Terracom, previously known as Guildford Coal, restructured its debt and received capital from Orchard Capital Partners in 2014.

Perhaps the reason there has not been more distressed debt investment is that there is little certainty of income in contrast to the consumer sector, where cash flows are more consistent and can be more easily valued.

Also there is less debt available to buy up in the mining sector compared with other sectors. Hence outstanding debt is limited relative to other sectors where they can get more leverage. Greenfield miners have no income stream to service debt financing, so banks are relatively reluctant to lend and firms have fallen back on selling equity.

On the plus side, Australia offers a clear bankruptcy code and route to recovery of capital for distressed debt investors, in contrast to China.

Beath joined Oaktree in 2016 to focus on investment opportunities in Australia and New Zealand. Prior to Oaktree, Beath spent 15 years with Macquarie, where he was most recently a director in the corporate and asset finance division.

"Opening an office in Sydney will better enable Oaktree to create and seize investment opportunities across Australia and New Zealand, Beath said in the statement.

Having first established an Asia-Pacific presence in 1998, Oaktree continues to expand its footprint across the region, its Sydney location adding to offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore, Shanghai, and Tokyo.

Oaktree had $97 billion in assets under management as of December 31.
David Orlofsky, chief restructuring officer, RCS Capital



The fate of some Cetera Financial Group advisors' savings, totaling somewhat "less than $100 million" in deferred compensation accounts, rests in the hands of a bankruptcy judge.

However, Cetera is assuring advisors that their savings will not be wiped out by its reorganization, thanks to its pre-packaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan, which is supported by 86% of its creditors, according to a court filing.

"We have gone to significant lengths to ensure that our restructuring process will have absolutely no impact on our advisor deferred compensation plans," Cetera spokesman Joe Kuo says.

The prospect of the bankruptcy judge rejecting the plan proposed by Cetera parent RCS Capital is "extremely unlikely," according to RCS' chief restructuring officer, David Orlofsky. Orlofsky is also senior managing director of the corporate restructuring firm Zolfo Cooper.

"The first and second lien lenders have already consented to the restructuring plan and its details provided within our filings. Since there are no other creditors who are considered impaired, no other creditor is entitled to a vote," Orlofsky says in an email.

Read more: 40 Cetera Advisors Depart

Cetera advisors currently may deposit a maximum of $150,000 of their annual income into the accounts, in order to take distributions later at lower tax rates, often after retirement, according to a 2015 description of the program provided by a Cetera advisor. The money is held in so-called rabbi trusts that can be wiped out in some bankruptcies, according to an explanation on Fidelity's website.

"The plan essentially represents a promise by the company to pay you back," the Fidelity description continues. "The funds in this trust are still part of the companys general assets, and would be subject to creditors claims in a corporate bankruptcy."

Orlofsky also calls this prospect all but impossible.

The "lien lenders could have availed themselves of numerous remedies, which they chose not to do, because the overarching goal was to support the advisor base and create the most expedited restructuring process possible," he says.

They "chose not to put a claim on the funds in the rabbi trust," he adds. Significant opposition "is simply not going to happen. Period.

CREDITORS' SUPPORT 'BINDING'

RCS did include the total value of the advisors' savings in the consolidated $1.97 billion of assets RCS declared in its bankruptcy petition, an RCS spokesman confirmed.

However, Cetera's rabbi trust is excluded from collateral amounts provided for creditors, according to a filing in the case.

RCS filed for a pre-packaged bankruptcy, with the blessing of most creditors, in January. Once filed, those creditors' votes of support are binding, says law professor and bankruptcy expert Richard Squire, of Fordham University's School of Law in New York.

However, a judge must rule in favor of the plan for it to succeed, Squire says.

ONE FATAL OBJECTION?

Even objections from a small minority of creditors could knock it off track, Squire adds.

"If any of those objections are found to be valid by the court," he says, "then the court will tell the debtor that it has to renegotiate its bankruptcy plan. Then everything that was binding is back on the table."

Orlofsky calls this prospect "irrelevant" to the case at hand.

Speaking hypothetically, even if a party that is not an impaired creditor files an objection, that doesnt mean the extreme and speculative scenario noted above happens," he says.

Thus far, only two creditors have filed objections to the plan. One is a disgruntled landlord in Arizona, who says RCS left his commercial property in an inadequate state, filled with discarded personal items.

The other objection came from Nicholas Schorsch, RCS' former executive chairman, and other associated parties. They requested an extension of time to review the highly complex details of the bankruptcy plan by 30 days from the end of March to the end of April.

The court granted the extension.

SCHORSCH OPPOSITION NOT EXPECTED

"We do not believe that any objections by Nicholas S. Schorsch or [his associates] will have an impact on the status of the prepackaged bankruptcy, the deferred comp plans or on the existing timeline" of the case, Orlofsky says.

Two Cetera advisors, both of whom asked to remain anonymous, say they have substantial funds in their non-deferred savings accounts.

One advisor based in the West saved more than a million dollars into his plan. Another in the Midwest says his account size falls below that level, but he knows others with well over a million dollars in each of theirs.

BIG TAX BILLS

"We are all of the same opinion," the latter says of himself and his fellow advisors. "I think people are leaving the money in the plan because they believe the company will be restructured and perform well in the future."

Or it could be the fact that, if they leave their broker-dealer, the advisors must take the entirety of their savings in the funds in a lump sum, triggering tax bills of up to half the value of the savings, another advisor says.

Read more:




Aurora's Revolutionary Aircraft Design Includes the First-Ever Distributed Hybrid-Electric Propulsion System

MANASSAS, Virginia, March 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --Aurora Flight Sciences announced today that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded the company the prime contract for Phase 2 of the Agency's Vertical Takeoff and Landing Experimental Plane (VTOL X-Plane) program.

Experience the interactive Multimedia News Release here: http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7617851-aurora-flight-sciences-vtol-xplane-darpa/

VTOL X-Plane seeks to develop a technology demonstrator that could:

Achieve a top sustained flight speed of 300 kt-400 kt

Raise aircraft hover efficiency from 60 percent to at least 75 percent

Present a more favorable cruise lift-to-drag ratio of at least 10, up from 5-6

Carry a useful load of at least 40 percent of the vehicle's projected gross weight of 10,000-12,000 pounds

The Aurora team's design for its unmanned aircraft, named LightningStrike, seeks to provide an approximately 50-percent increase in speed over existing VTOL aircraft designed for comparable mission applications.

"Aurora is proud to support DARPA on what we all hope to be a truly historic breakthrough in aviation technology," said Dr. John Langford, chairman and CEO of Aurora. "If successful, VTOL X-Plane's radically improved flight capabilities could lead to revolutionary advancement of the U.S. military's future mission capabilities. We're honored to have been selected by DARPA to build and flight test the demonstrator aircraft."

The technology demonstrator was designed in close collaboration with Aurora's team members, Rolls-Royce PLC and Honeywell International Inc. The Aurora-led team intends to deliver a number of aviation milestones with the demonstration aircraft, including being the first aircraft designed to demonstrate:

Distributed hybrid-electric propulsion ducted fans

An innovative synchronous electric-drive system

Both tilt-wing- and tilt-canard-based propulsion for vertical takeoff and landing

High efficiency in both hover and high-speed forward flight

The aircraft design features a Rolls-Royce AE 1107C turboshaft engine that would power three Honeywell generators, and 24 ducted fans distributed on both the wings and canards. The aircraft's electric distributed propulsion (EDP) system would consist of highly integrated, distributed ducted fans that, combined with the synchronous electric drive system, would enable the design's potentially revolutionary hover efficiency and high-speed forward flight.



"The Aurora team's goal is to help redefine the future of vertical flight," said Mark Wilson, chief operating officer of Rolls-Royce LibertyWorks, an advanced aerospace technology research and design unit. "Rolls-Royce LibertyWorks is proud to contribute both proven components and innovative new technologies in turbo-electric distributed propulsion to this exciting program."

"Honeywell is proud to be a part of the Aurora team and contribute to this groundbreaking aviation research," said Carey Smith, president of Honeywell Defense and Space. "Our goal is to demonstrate technology that significantly improves electric power-generation efficiency, power density and size. The improvements are needed to meet the aggressive goals for this very innovative aircraft, and would raise the bar for electric power-generation efficiency that would enable this revolutionary advance in hybrid-electric aircraft propulsion."

The DARPA technology demonstrator'sflight control system (FCS) builds on the heritage of Aurora's Centaur and Orion optionally manned and unmanned aircraft platforms. The FCS system runs on a triplex-redundant design to ensure detection and correction of flight anomalies in both vertical and forward flight.

Pending successful completion of key program milestones to be achieved in close collaboration with DARPA, Aurora plans to conduct the first flight tests of the technology demonstratorin the 2018 timeframe.

About Aurora Flight Sciences

Aurora Flight Sciences is a leader in the development and manufacturing of advanced aerospace vehicles. Aurora is headquartered in Manassas, VA and operates production plants in Bridgeport, WV and Columbus, MS; and a Research and Development Center in Cambridge, MA. To view recent press releases and more about Aurora please visit our website at www.aurora.aero.
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 03/03/16 -- Lundin Mining Corporation (TSX: LUN) (OMX: LUMI) ("Lundin Mining", "Lundin" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into a purchase agreement with an affiliate of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. ("Freeport") to purchase an interest in Freeport's stake in the Timok project located in Serbia. The high grade copper-gold Cukaru Peki deposit is situated on one of the four mineral licenses comprising the Timok project. The project partners are currently Freeport, who is operator of the project, and an affiliate of Reservoir Minerals Inc. ("Reservoir") which holds a minority stake in the project and has certain transfer rights as a result of the proposed transaction.

Total consideration of up to US$262,500,000 is payable in stages upon the achievement of key development milestones defined under the purchase agreement, as more particularly described below.

The transaction is subject to Reservoir's right of first offer ("ROFO"), as well as other customary closing conditions. Prior to entry into the purchase agreement, a ROFO notice was provided today by Freeport to Reservoir, and is open for acceptance by Reservoir for 60 days from the receipt of notice. If the ROFO is not exercised by Reservoir, the transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2016.

Mr. Paul Conibear, President and CEO commented, "The acquisition of an interest in the Timok project is consistent with our growth criteria that we have rigorously followed over the last few years. This high quality copper/gold project fits ideally within our overall asset base of operations in the Americas and Europe. This transaction enables the existing Freeport/Reservoir partnership to leverage our proven underground base metals development, construction and operating skill sets to advance the Timok project into operation in a timely manner. The Timok project is expected to enhance the Company's long term copper growth pipeline, while preserving our strong balance sheet. We are very pleased to be able to extend our partnership with Freeport and we intend to advance a meaningful and cooperative relationship with Reservoir to the benefit of all stakeholders including those in Serbia."

Transaction Terms

Under the purchase agreement, and subject to Reservoir's ROFO, Lundin will acquire (1) 100% of Freeport's interest in the upper zone of the Cukaru Peki deposit which is characterized by high grade massive and semi-massive sulphide mineralization (the "Upper Zone"), as well as Freeport's interest in all the mineral licenses comprising the Timok project, and (2) 28% of Freeport's interest in the lower zone of the Cukaru Peki deposit which is characterized by porphyry-style mineralization (the "Lower Zone"). Freeport will retain the remaining interest in the Lower Zone. In addition, Freeport has the option to have any new large mineral deposit containing at least four million tonnes of contained copper equivalent characterized in the same manner as the Lower Zone upon the payment to Lundin of two times drilling, study and other similar costs plus other direct costs such as land acquisition costs.

As part of the transaction, Lundin will be appointed as operator of the Timok project until the occurrence of certain events and Lundin will advance the development of both the Upper Zone and the Lower Zone in accordance with approved budgets and work programs. Lundin will have the sole right to propose budgets and work programs relating to the Upper Zone and for certain agreed Lower Zone work, and Freeport will have the sole right to propose budgets and work programs relating to the Lower Zone, subject to specified exceptions.

Until the delivery of a feasibility study Lundin will fund 100% of the Upper Zone development costs, as well as $20 million of agreed Lower Zone work, and Lundin and Freeport will fund 28% and 72% of all other Lower Zone development costs, respectively. After the delivery of the feasibility study, Lundin and Reservoir will be responsible for funding the development of the Upper Zone on a pro rata basis (75%/25% respectively) and each will be entitled to its pro rata share of economic benefits of the Upper Zone. Freeport, Reservoir and Lundin will be responsible for funding of the development of the Lower Zone on a pro rata basis (54%/25%/21% respectively) and each will be entitled to its pro rata share of economic benefits of the Lower Zone.

Key Investment Highlights

-- High grade copper and gold deposit: High grade copper and gold epithermal deposit overlying potentially large porphyry-style mineralization. -- Located in a historic mining region: Project stands to benefit from existing extensive infrastructure which is in place to support the nearby RTB Bor mining complex that has a long mining history. -- Lundin core competency: Size, quality and stage of the Upper Zone is ideal for Lundin Mining and fits well with our exploration, project development and underground base metals operating skill sets. -- Staged development: Staged development of the Upper Zone and Lower Zone will allow time to quantify and fully develop the Lower Zone potential to advance this prospective large-scale deposit in an optimal manner. -- Balanced acquisition cost: Total acquisition cost is paid over time and is directly tied to key project development and commercial operations milestones. -- Excellent exploration potential: Timok project comprises a total of four mineral licenses covering an area of over 200 square km of prospective ground. -- Minority interest in potential large-scale asset: Provides Lundin with an opportunity to participate in a potential large-scale porphyry deposit.

Transaction Overview

Timok Project Joint Venture

The Timok project is currently held 55% by Freeport and 45% by Reservoir. Freeport is currently operator of the project and is fully funding the project pursuant to a joint venture/shareholders agreement ("Timok JVSA") dated December 15, 2015. Upon the delivery of a feasibility study, Freeport will earn an additional 20% interest, for a total project ownership interest of 75%, at which time Reservoir will be required to contribute its pro rata share of development expenditures. Freeport may cease to sole fund at any time, in which case it would not be entitled to earn the additional 20% interest.

Subject to the ROFO, upon the completion of the transaction, Lundin's ownership interest in the Timok project will be as follows:

-- 55% of the Upper Zone (Reservoir 45%), and -- 15.4% of the Lower Zone (Freeport 39.6%, Reservoir 45%)

Following the delivery of the feasibility study upon which Freeport's interest in the project will increase to 75%, Lundin's ownership interest in the Timok project will be as follows:

-- 75% of the Upper Zone (Reservoir 25%), and -- 21% of the Lower Zone (Freeport 54%, Reservoir 25%)

Purchase Price

Total consideration of up to US$262.5 million is payable as follows:

-- US$135 million payable to Freeport upon closing of the transaction -- Up to a maximum of US$20 million to be spent by Lundin in connection with agreed exploration and study work on the Lower Zone -- US$45 million payable to Freeport upon the earliest to occur of (i) a build decision on the Upper Zone, and (ii) access to any ore body for direct ship ore -- US$50 million upon the achievement of commercial production -- Up to US$12.5 million in recoupment of project expenditures

Project Overview

The Timok project is located in eastern Serbia and is currently centred on the development of the Cukaru Peki deposit located within the Brestovac-Metovnica mineral license. The project contemplates the development of a high grade massive and semi-massive sulphide deposit and conceptually, an underlying deep seated copper-gold porphyry deposit. The Cukaru Peki deposit is located approximately 6 km south of the famous century-old RTB Bor copper-gold mining/smelting complex. The region has a rich mining history and is complete with the necessary infrastructure and skilled workforce.

Please refer to Reservoir's news release dated January 27, 2014, and to the NI 43-101 Technical Report dated January 2014 for the initial mineral resource estimate for the Upper Zone.

Conference Call and Webcast

Lundin Mining will hold a conference call and webcast on Monday March 7th, 2016 at 8:00 am Eastern time. Details of the call are provided below:

Please call in 10 to 15 minutes before the conference starts and stay on the line (an operator will be available to assist you).

Call-in number for the conference call (North America): +1 734 385 2616 Call-in number for the conference call (North America Toll Free): +1 866 393 4306 Call-in number for the conference call (Europe Toll Free): +46 (0) 8 5661 9361

To take part in the interactive presentation, please log on using this direct link: http://www.investorcalendar.com/IC/CEPage.asp?ID=174778

The presentation slideshow will also be available in PDF format for download from the Lundin Mining website www.lundinmining.com before the conference call.

A replay of the telephone conference will be available approximately one hour after the completion of the conference call until March 14, 2016.

Replay numbers:

North America: +1 404 537 3406

The pass code for the replay is: 65793436

About Lundin Mining

Lundin Mining Corporation is a diversified Canadian base metals mining company with operations in Chile, the USA, Portugal, and Sweden, primarily producing copper, nickel and zinc. In addition, Lundin Mining holds a 24% equity stake in the world-class Tenke Fungurume copper/cobalt mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in the Freeport Cobalt Oy business, which includes a cobalt refinery located in Kokkola, Finland.

On Behalf of the Board,

Paul Conibear, President and CEO

The information in this release is subject to the disclosure requirements of Lundin Mining under the Swedish Securities Market Act and/or the Swedish Financial Instruments Trading Act. This information was publicly communicated on March 3, 2016 at 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

Forward Looking Statements

Certain of the statements made and information contained herein is "forward-looking information" within the meaning of the Ontario Securities Act. Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, the potential exercise of the ROFO by Reservoir, satisfaction of closing conditions, the timing of closing the proposed transaction, the completion of the feasibility study on the timetable proposed, foreign currency fluctuations; risks inherent in mining including environmental hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected geological formations, ground control problems and flooding; risks associated with the estimation of mineral resources and reserves and the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; the potential for and effects of labour disputes or other unanticipated difficulties with or shortages of labour or interruptions in production; actual ore mined varying from estimates of grade, tonnage, dilution and metallurgical and other characteristics; the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses, commodity price fluctuations; uncertain political and economic environments; changes in laws or policies, foreign taxation, delays or the inability to obtain necessary governmental permits; and other risks and uncertainties, including those described under Risk Factors Relating to the Company's Business in the Company's Annual Information Form and in each management discussion and analysis. Forward-looking information is in addition based on various assumptions including, without limitation, the expectations and beliefs of management, the assumed long term price of copper, nickel, lead and zinc; that the Company can access financing, appropriate equipment and sufficient labour and that the political environment where the Company operates will continue to support the development and operation of mining projects. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements. Accordingly, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

Contacts:

John Miniotis

Senior Manager Corporate Development & Investor Relations

+1-416-342-5565



Sonia Tercas

Senior Associate, Investor Relations

+1-416-342-5583



Robert Eriksson

Investor Relations Sweden

+46 8 545 015 50




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) - The Japanese yen strengthened against the other major currencies in the Asian session on Friday. The yen rose to 2-day highs of 113.24 against the U.S. dollar and 84.38 against the Canadian dollar, from yesterday's closing quotes of 113.67 and 84.79, respectively. The yen advanced to 123.93 against the euro, 160.42 against the pound and 114.09 against the Swiss franc, from yesterday's closing quotes of 124.53, 161.42 and 114.55, respectively. Against the Australian and the New Zealand dollars, the yen edged up to 83.25 and 76.25 from yesterday's closing quotes of 83.57 and 76.40, respectively. If the yen extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 111.00 against the greenback, 82.00 against the loonie, 122.00 against the euro, 156.00 against the pound, 112.00 against the franc, 80.00 against the aussie and 73.00 against the kiwi. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The establishment of the Republican Party pulled out all the stops on Thursday, taking desperate steps to try and slow the march of businessman Donald Trump in his quest for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination.



Hours after 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney savaged the real estate mogul, fellow candidates Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz took turns attacking Trump in the 11th GOP debate of the election cycle.



Facing off in the Fox Theatre in Detroit, Michigan, Trump took fire from all quarters as Rubio and Cruz finally found something they could agree on - stopping the bombastic GOP frontrunner.



The two-hour affair was quite heated at times, with most of the talking done by Trump - since a candidate is typically allowed time to respond to criticism. And he drew plenty of that.



Flanked on either side by 'Little Marco' and 'Lyin' Ted' as he called them, Trump spent most of the debate arguing about his character and credentials.



Only the fourth man on the stage, Ohio Governor John Kasich, remained unencumbered by the bickering and was largely the only man able to put forth specific strategy.



Rubio in particular engaged in at times tenacious discourse with Trump, pointing to the frontrunner's lack of specific ideas in foreign policy. He also hammered away at the so-called Trump University, which is still wrapped up in litigation over charges of fraud.



Cruz, the spawn of the Tea Party, tore into Trump's credentials as a conservative, warning that his choices for the Supreme Court likely would have serious repercussions - particularly regarding Second Amendment rights.



But at the end of the debate, Trump could still smile and point to the fact that he's won 10 of the 15 primary and caucus contests so far and has a commanding lead in delegates as he marches toward the party's nomination.



And the very last question put to the other three asked if they would support the GOP candidate even if it was Trump - and they grudgingly said yes.



Trump was then asked if he would support one of the others if they prevailed, or if he would strike out on an independent run. He also answered that he would tow the party line.



Earlier in the day, Romney claimed the prospects for a safe and prosperous future for America would be greatly diminished if Republicans choose Trump as their nominee.



'Here's what I know. Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud. His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University,' Romney said.



Trump currently leads the Republican field with 319 delegates, followed by Cruz with 226, Rubio with 110 and Kasich with 25.



It takes 1,237 delegates to clinch the nomination, and there are 1,777 still at stake.



The primary schedule picks right back up with contests Saturday in Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana and Maine.



Puerto Rico is Sunday, followed by Hawaii, Idaho, Michigan and Mississippi on Tuesday.



After that, the candidates all hit the same stage again on March 10th for a debate at the University of Miami in Florida.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
DUBAI, UAE, March 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica, Dr. Hon. Roosevelt Skerrit has hailed as "very significant" the contributions of Dominica citizens living in Dubai and elsewhere in the United Arab Emirates.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/340260 )



Mr. Skerrit visited Dubai and Sharjah recently and said his government was very appreciative of the generosity and ongoing interest of citizens of the small Caribbean island, who had acquired that status through the very popular Citizenship By Investment Program, promoted in the UAE by outstanding and trustworthy company CTrustGlobal, Caribbean Trust Immigration Services led by CEO Dr. Aly El Dakroury and Mrs. Nivin Ali.

The Prime Minister emphasized that all citizens of Dominica were equal in the sight of the Constitution of the country. He said there were not two class of Dominicans and therefore he welcomed the ongoing interest and investments of Dominicans living in the UAE in the economic development of the Caribbean island.

"I am always very pleased and encouraged when Dr Aly El Dakroury report to me on the enormous desire of our citizens living in Dubai to invest in and play a greater role in the social and economic development of their country. I wish to make clear, this morning, that you are 100 per cent Dominican and that you have all the rights and privileges of any other Dominican, resident on Dominica or elsewhere in the Diaspora.

"Therefore, I urge you today to pursue with pride and determination, your investments in the island. Your contributions to date have assisted with the revitalization and maintenance of our infrastructure, especially since the passage of Tropical Storm Erika, in August last year.

"The Citizenship By Investment Program has been invaluable in its contribution to the social upkeep of the country. The proceeds from the services offered by promoters such as CTrustGlobal, have been used to sustain our National Employment Program, for example, where we introduce hundreds of young men and women, living on the island, to the wonderful world of work. Funds generated also go to the upkeep of healthcare, public education and the nurturing of our vital agricultural sector," Mr. Skerrit explained.

The Prime Minister assured citizens, in Dubai, Sharjah and elsewhere in the UAE, that the Government of Commonwealth of Dominica is working feverishly to conclude plans for the creation of a diplomatic presence on Dubai.

"Mrs. Nivin Ali and her husband Dr. Aly El Dakroury have been outstanding citizens of Dominica and very prolific producers in the Citizenship By Investment Program offered by their company, CTrustGlobal. We are very appreciative of their efforts. I would like for other promoters in the UAE to follow their very professional approach to the marketing of the Program, so that it remains the premier citizenship program in this region," Mr. Skerrit said.

Dominica's CBIP has been credited for its strict due diligence regime, whereby even though persons may readily wish to participate and qualify for citizenship of the country, they are subjected to rigid due diligence that ensures they are of good character and integrity, and are worthy of the status of citizen of the country.

"This due diligence means a lot to us as a country. We do not focus merely on quantity. We wish to ensure that the quality of our program is observed and respected by friendly nations around the world. That is why I urge Promoters here in UAE to fly the Dominica flag with pride. Let prospective citizens and investors know how proud we are of our status in the program and how we look forward to their continued interest and involvement, not only on the island of Dominica, but in the wider Caribbean region as well."

During his recent visit to Dubai, Prime Minister Skerrit presided at the launch of the new Silver Beach Resort project which will start on Dominica later this year. He also toured several projects owned and operated by nationals of Dominica living in the UAE.


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A recent research, comprising of two studies, suggests that consuming over 900 ml or around 6 cups of coffee a day may lower the risk of multiple sclerosis, adding one more perk to the growing list of benefits associated with the beverage.



The two studies - one conducted in Sweden and the other in the U.S. - quizzed participants about their coffee drinking habits right from when they were aged 15-19 until they were at 40-plus. The participants included healthy adults and those with multiple sclerosis.



Using the data, the researchers estimated the coffee consumption at and before the start of multiple sclerosis symptoms and compared this tally with that in the healthy groups.



In both studies, it was found that those drinking fewer cups of coffee every day had a higher risk of multiple sclerosis, even after accounting for other potentially related factors.



In the Swedish study, drinking more than six cups (900 ml +) every day was associated with 28-30% lower risk of multiple sclerosis. In the U.S study, the risk was lowered by 26-31% among those drinking more than 948 ml daily.



The higher the quantity of coffee drunk, the lower the risk of multiple sclerosis, and the scientists attribute this link to the neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory properties of caffeine that is present in coffee.



There is about 60 to 100mg of caffeine in a 150ml sized cup of instant Coffee, 40 to 90mg in espresso Coffee and 3 mg in decaffeinated Coffee, according to the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University New South Wales.



However, given the limitations of the two studies, the scientists conclude that more research is needed to establish a link between coffee consumption and multiple sclerosis as well as to understand the mechanisms that underlie the relationship.



The research findings are published in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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Basilea Pharmaceutica AG / Basilea launching antifungal CRESEMBA (isavuconazole) in Germany . Processed and transmitted by NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

Basel, Switzerland, March 04, 2016 - Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. (SIX: BSLN) hosts a symposium to support the launch of the new azole antifungal CRESEMBA (isavuconazole) in Germany. The symposium will be held on March 5 and 6, 2016 in Berlin. The symposium is co-chaired by Prof. Oliver A. Cornely, Department of Internal Medicine I, University of Cologne, Germany; and Prof. Andrew J. Ullmann, Julius-Maximilians-University, Department of Internal Medicine II, Infectious Diseases, Wurzburg, Germany. The focus of the symposium will be on current challenges and recent developments in the management of invasive mold infections.

David Veitch, Basilea's Chief Commercial Officer, commented: "We are excited to be launching CRESEMBA in Germany. The symposium provides an opportunity for clinicians to discuss important clinical data and share their experiences in relation to the treatment of potentially life-threatening invasive mold infections. CRESEMBA addresses an important medical need of immunocompromised patients. We are focused on rolling out CRESEMBA in our core European markets this year."

CRESEMBA (isavuconazole) was approved by the European Commission in October 2015 for the treatment of adults with invasive aspergillosis and the treatment of adults with mucormycosis for whom amphotericin B is inappropriate. Invasive aspergillosis and mucormycosis are life-threatening fungal infections that often affect immunocompromised patients, such as patients with cancer and after transplantation. Invasive aspergillosis is often fatal. Mucormycosis (also known as zygomycosis) is a rapidly progressive and life-threatening invasive fungal infection, often affecting the nose and sinuses with high mortality.

Prof. Andrew J. Ullmann stated: "Clinicians have with isavuconazole a new antifungal agent with a broad spectrum activity against invasive fungal diseases and an improved safety profile. The combination of these features demonstrates clearly that isavuconazole is an improvement for the care of our patients with severe invasive fungal diseases."

About CRESEMBA (isavuconazole)

Isavuconazole is an intravenous and oral azole antifungal and the active agent of the prodrug isavuconazonium sulfate. Isavuconazole was co-developed with Astellas Pharma Inc. under an agreement granting Astellas a license to commercialize isavuconazole in the U.S. Basilea holds full isavuconazole rights in markets outside the United States. Isavuconazole is marketed under the trade name CRESEMBA. The drug was approved in March 2015 by the U.S. FDA for the use for patients 18 years of age and older in the treatment of invasive aspergillosis and invasive mucormycosis. The European Commission granted marketing authorization in October 2015 to isavuconazole for the treatment of adult patients with invasive aspergillosis and for the treatment of adult patients with mucormycosis for whom amphotericin B is inappropriate. The European marketing authorization is valid in all 28 European Union (EU) member states, as well as in Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. Isavuconazole has orphan drug designation for the treatment of invasive aspergillosis and mucormycosis in Europe and the U.S.

About the isavuconazole invasive aspergillosis and mucormycosis studies

The approval of CRESEMBA is based on results from the isavuconazole development program. The safety and efficacy profile of isavuconazole in adult patients with invasive aspergillosis was demonstrated based on data from two phase 3 clinical studies: SECURE, a randomized, double-blind, active-control study in 516 patients (intent-to-treat population, ITT) with invasive aspergillosis, and VITAL, an open-label non-comparative 146-patient study (ITT) of isavuconazole in the treatment of invasive aspergillosis patients with renal impairment, or invasive fungal disease (IFD) caused by rare molds, yeasts or dimorphic fungi, including invasive mucormycosis.

In the SECURE study, isavuconazole was non-inferior to voriconazole based on the primary endpoint of all-cause mortality at Day 42 in the intent-to-treat population. All-cause mortality through Day 42 was 19% in the isavuconazole treatment group and 20% in the voriconazole treatment group.1

In the SECURE study, similar rates of non-fatal adverse events were observed for isavuconazole and the comparator, voriconazole. Further, the percentage of study drug-related adverse events in invasive aspergillosis patients was 42% for isavuconazole and 60% for voriconazole. In addition, the percentage of treatment-emergent adverse events in the system organ classes of hepatobiliary disorders was 9% for isavuconazole versus 16% for voriconazole; skin or subcutaneous tissue disorders was 33% for isavuconazole versus 42% for voriconazole; and eye disorders was 15% for isavuconazole versus 27% for voriconazole.1

The safety and efficacy profile of isavuconazole in patients with mucormycosis was demonstrated based on data from the VITAL study, which included a subpopulation of 37 patients with proven or probable mucormycosis, of whom 21 received isavuconazole as primary treatment for their infection. All-cause mortality at Day 42 was 38% which is similar to mortality rates reported in literature for the treatment of mucormycosis. In this trial the rate of overall response against mucormycosis at the end of therapy was 31%, with an additional 29% exhibiting a stable response. For patients receiving isavuconazole as primary therapy, this number was 32%, with an additional 32% having stable disease. The efficacy of isavuconazole for the treatment of mucormycosis has not been evaluated in concurrent, controlled clinical trials.

The most frequent adverse events for patients treated with isavuconazole in clinical phase 3 studies were nausea (26%), vomiting (25%), diarrhea (22%), headache (17%), elevated liver chemistry tests (17%), hypokalemia (14%), constipation (13%), dyspnea (12%), cough (12%), peripheral edema (11%), and back pain (10%).

About aspergillosis and mucormycosis

Aspergillosis is the name given to a wide variety of diseases caused by the airborne fungus Aspergillus. Common Aspergillus infections include invasive aspergillosis, allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis, chronic pulmonary aspergillosis and aspergilloma. Mucormycosis is the name for fungal infections caused by numerous fungi found in soil and mouldy bread.

About Basilea

Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. is a biopharmaceutical company developing products that address increasing resistance and non-response to current treatment options in the therapeutic areas of bacterial infections, fungal infections and cancer. The company uses the integrated research, development and commercial operations of its subsidiary Basilea Pharmaceutica International Ltd. to discover, develop and commercialize innovative pharmaceutical products to meet the medical needs of patients with serious and potentially life-threatening conditions. Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland and listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (SIX: BSLN). Additional information can be found at Basilea's website www.basilea.com (http://www.basilea.com).

Disclaimer

This communication expressly or implicitly contains certain forward-looking statements concerning Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. and its business. Such statements involve certain known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. is providing this communication as of this date and does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

For further information, please contact:

Peer Nils Schroder, PhD

Head Public Relations & Corporate Communications

+41 61 606 1102

media_relations@basilea.com (mailto:media_relations@basilea.com)

investor_relations@basilea.com (mailto:investor_relations@basilea.com)



This press release can be downloaded from www.basilea.com (http://www.basilea.com).

References

1 J. A. Maertens, I. I. Raad, K. A. Marr et al. Isavuconazole versus voriconazole for primary treatment of invasive mould disease caused by Aspergillus and other filamentous fungi (SECURE): a phase 3, randomised-controlled, non-inferiority trial. The Lancet 2016 (387), 760-769





Press release (PDF) (http://hugin.info/134390/R/1991798/732950.pdf)


POXEL SA (Euronext POXEL FR0012432516), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of innovative drugs to treat type 2 diabetes, today announced that the Company will make a presentation at the 28th Annual ROTH Conference to be held on March 13 16, 2016 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, Dana Point, California.

The Company's management will present on Tuesday, March 15, 2016 at 12:00 p.m. PT 3:00 p.m. EST/ 9:00 p.m. CET.

The simultaneous live webcast, including a slide presentation, can be accessed by logging onto http://wsw.com/webcast/roth30/register.aspx?conf=roth30&page=poxel.pa&url=http://wsw.com/webcast/roth30/poxel.pa/index.aspx or on the Poxel website at www.poxel.com. A replay of the webcast will be available on Poxel's website shortly after the conclusion of the call and will be archived there for 30 days following the call.

About Poxel

Poxel uses its unique development expertise in metabolism to advance a pipeline of truly novel products currently focused on type 2 diabetes. Our first-in-class lead product, Imeglimin, targeting mitochondrial dysfunction, has successfully completed Phase 2 development in the US and EU and has started Phase 2b development in Japanese patients. We are advancing our second program, PXL770, a direct AMPK activator, through clinical proof-of-concept. We will generate further growth through strategic partnerships and pipeline development. (Euronext: POXEL, www.poxel.com)

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160303006414/en/

Contacts:

Investor relations Media EU/US

MacDougall Biomedical Communications

Gretchen Schweitzer, 49 89 2424 3494

or

Stephanie May, 49 172 861 8540

smay@macbiocom.com

or

Investor relations Media France

NewCap

Florent Alba/Nicolas Merigeau, 33 1 44 71 98 55

poxel@newcap.fr
Regulatory News:

The Annual General Meeting of Gunnebo AB (publ) (STO:GUNN) will be held at 4 p.m. CET on Tuesday, April 12, 2016, at Chalmers Karhus, Chalmersplatsen 1, Goteborg, Sweden. Registration starts at 2.30 p.m. CET.

Participation

In order to be entitled to participate, shareholders who wish to attend the AGM must be recorded in the register of shareholders maintained by Euroclear Sweden AB on Wednesday, April 6, 2016, and must notify Gunnebo of their intention to attend the AGM no later than Wednesday, April 6, 2016 (preferably before 4 p.m. CET), on the company's website www.gunnebogroup.com, or by telephone: +46 (0)10 209 50 32, or by written notice under address Gunnebo AB, Annual General Meeting, P.O. Box 5181, SE-402 26 Goteborg, Sweden, whereby notification should also be given of the attendance of any assistants.

Nominee-registered shares

Shareholders whose shares are registered in the name of a nominee through the trust department of a bank or similar institution must, in order to be entitled to participate in the AGM, register the shares in the shareholder's own name on Wednesday, April 6, 2016. Shareholders must inform their nominees well in advance of this date. The registration in the shareholder's own name can be temporary.

Proxies, etc

Shareholders who are represented by a proxy shall issue a written and dated power of attorney for the proxy. The power of attorney may not be valid for longer than five years from the date of issue. The form to use for a power of attorney is found on the company's website, www.gunnebogroup.com. The original power of attorney should be sent to Gunnebo AB under the above address well in advance of the AGM. If the power of attorney is issued by a legal entity, a verified copy of the certificate of registration or a corresponding document of authority of the legal entity shall be attached.

Agenda

1. Election of the Chairman of AGM

2. Preparation and approval of voting list

3. Approval of the agenda of the AGM

4. Election of one or two persons to approve the minutes

5. Determination whether the AGM has been properly convened

6. Presentation of the annual report, the consolidated accounts, the Auditor's report and the Auditor's report on the consolidated accounts for the financial year 2015

7. Address by the company's President and CEO

8. Resolutions in respect to

a) adoption of the profit and loss statement and balance sheet, the consolidated profit and loss statement and the consolidated balance sheet for the Group

b) appropriation of the profit or loss in accordance with the approved balance sheet

c) discharge of liability for the members of the Board and Directors and the President

9. Determination of the number of Board members and Deputy members of the Board of Directors

10. Determination of the fees payable to the members of the Board of Directors and to the Auditor

11. Election of the members of the Board of Directors

12. Election of the Chairman of the Board of Directors

13. Appointment of the Nomination Committee

14. Election of Auditor

15. Resolution on approval of the principles for remuneration to senior executives

16. Authorisation for the Board of Directors to decide on new share issue

17. Closing of the AGM

The Nomination Committee's Proposals for Resolutions

Chairman of the AGM, Number of members of the Board of Directors, fees payable to the Board of Directors, fees payable to the Auditor, election of the members of the Board of Directors, election of the Chairman of the Board of Directors, appointment of the Nomination Committee and election of the Auditor (Items 1, 9 14) Gunnebo AB's Nomination Committee, which is composed by Dan Sten Olsson, Chairman (Stena Adactum), Nils Olov Jonsson (Vatterledens Invest), Ricard Wennerklint (If Skadeforsakring), together representing shareholders holding approximately 57% of the shares and votes in the company, and by Martin Svalstedt (Chairman of the Board of Directors), proposes the following.

Item 1: Martin Svalstedt as Chairman of the AGM.

Item 9: Seven ordinary Board members without Deputy members.

Item 10: A total fee to the Board of Directors amounting to SEK 2,000,000, to be divided with SEK 500,000 to the Chairman of the Board of Directors and SEK 250,000 to each of the other Board members elected by the shareholders. Remuneration for those Board members assigned to the Audit Committee with SEK 50,000 for the Chairman and SEK 30,000 each for other members. Remuneration for those Board members assigned to the Remuneration Committee with SEK 50,000 for the Chairman and SEK 30,000 each for other members. However, no remuneration will be payable to the Chairman of the Board for committee work. The proposed fees are unchanged in relation to previous year.

Auditors' fees to be paid in accordance with approved invoices.

Item 11: Re-election of Tore Bertilsson, Goran Bille, Charlotte Brogren, Bo Dankis, Eva Elmstedt, Mikael Jonsson, Martin Svalstedt. A presentation of the nominated Board members is available on the company's website: www.gunnebogroup.com.

Item 12: Re-election of Martin Svalstedt as Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Item 13: The Nomination Committee shall consist of the Chairman of the Board of Directors together with one representative of each of the three by voting power largest shareholders at the end of the third quarter of 2016. Should such shareholder not wish to appoint a representative, the fourth largest shareholder by voting power will be invited to do so instead etc.

The Nomination Committee shall appoint its Chairman subject to that the Chairman of the Board of Directors may not be elected Chairman of the Nomination Committee. The constitution of the Nomination Committee shall be made public not later than in connection with the publication of the Company's report for the third quarter 2016. The mandate period of the Nomination Committee runs until the next Nomination Committee has been appointed and its mandate period starts. Should a member of the Nomination Committee resign from the Nomination Committee during the mandate period or become prevented from fulfilling his/hers assignment, the Nomination Committee shall without delay request the shareholder that has appointed the member, to appoint another member to the Nomination Committee. Should the shareholder not appoint another member, the right to appoint another member of the Nomination Committee shall transfer to the subsequent largest shareholder by voting power, provided such shareholder has not already appointed a member of the Nomination Committee or previously waived such right.

The Nomination Committee's shall provide to the Annual General Meeting of the Shareholders 2017 proposals for (i) chairman of the Annual General Meeting, (ii) number of members of the Board of Directors and Deputy members to be elected by the shareholders, (iii) chairman of the Board of Directors and other members of the Board of Directors elected by the shareholders, (iv) fees payable to members of the Board of Directors elected by the shareholders and fees payable to members of the Board's committees, (v) fees payable to the Auditor, (vi) procedure for appointing the members of the Nomination Committee and (vii) election of Auditor.

Item 14: Re-election of the registered auditing company Deloitte AB for the period until the end of the Annual General Meeting of the Shareholders 2017.

The Board of Directors' Proposals for Resolutions

Dividend (Item 8 b)

The Board of Directors propose a dividend to the shareholders of SEK 1 per share and that Thursday, April 14, 2016, shall be the record date for receipt of the dividend. Should the AGM decide in favour of the proposal, payment of the dividend is expected to be made by Euroclear Sweden AB on Tuesday, April 19, 2016.

Principles for remuneration to senior executives (Item 15)

The Board of Directors proposes that the Annual General Meeting resolves to determine the following principles for remuneration to senior executives.

These principles concern remuneration and other terms of employment for members of the Gunnebo group management team and are valid for employment agreements entered into after the approval of the principles by the Annual General Meeting and for changes to existing employments agreements made thereafter. The proposal is in compliance with the principles of previous years.

Gunnebo shall offer a level of remuneration and other terms of employment which enables the company to recruit and retain senior executives. The overall principles for salary and other remuneration to senior executives are thus that compensation shall be competitive and on market level.

The total remuneration to senior executives shall consist of fixed salary, variable remuneration including long-term incentive programmes, pension and other benefits.

The fixed salary shall take into account the individual's position, competence, areas of responsibility, performance and experience and shall normally be reviewed on an annual basis. The fixed salary shall constitute the basis for the calculation of the variable salary.

The variable salary shall be dependent upon the individual's achievement of specific quantitative financial business objectives and shall not exceed 50% of the fixed salary.

The Board shall, for each financial year, evaluate whether a share or share-price related incentive programme shall be proposed to the Annual General Meeting or not. It is the Annual General Meeting who decides upon such programmes. The Board has decided not to propose to the Annual General Meeting to decide upon an incentive programme.

Pension premiums for senior executives resident in Sweden are paid in accordance with a premium based plan. The premiums may, depending on age and salary level, amount to a maximum of 35% of the base salary. Senior executives resident outside Sweden may be offered pension benefits that are competitive in the countries where the senior executives are resident, preferably defined-contribution plans. The retirement age shall be 65.

Additional benefits consist of company car and private health insurance.

For senior executives resident in Sweden, the termination period in case of termination by the company shall be 12 months and 6 months in case of termination by the senior executive. Severance pay is not applied. Senior executives resident outside Sweden may be offered notice periods for termination that are competitive in the countries where the senior executives are resident, preferably notice periods comparable to the notice periods applied to senior executives resident in Sweden.

The Board reserves the right to deviate from these principles if special reasons for such a deviation exist in any individual case.

Remuneration to senior executives already decided which has not become due for payment at the Annual General Meeting 2016 falls within the frames of these principles, except that the CEO is entitled to 12 months' severance pay in case of termination by the company and that any variable salary to the CEO shall be treated as pensionable income and furthermore that the CEO is entitled to retirement at the age of 63.5.

No deviations from the principles approved by the Annual General Meeting 2015 have been made.

Authorisation for the Board of Directors to decide on new share issue (item 16)

The Board of Directors proposes that the Annual General Meeting resolves, during the period until the next Annual General Meeting to authorise the Board of Directors in conjunction with agreements on company acquisitions, on one or several occasions, with or without deviation from the preferential rights for the shareholders, for a cash payment or through payment in kind or set-off, to decide upon a new share issue in the company. The authorisation shall comprise a maximum number of shares corresponding to 10% of the total number of shares in the company.

The reason for the possibility to deviate from the preferential rights for the shareholders is that the company shall be able to issue shares as payment in conjunction with company acquisitions, alternatively to procure capital for such acquisitions. The issue price will be determined in accordance with then current market conditions.

The Board of Directors, the CEO or a person appointed by one of them shall be entitled to make any minor adjustments to the above decision which might be required in conjunction with registration with the Swedish Company Registration Office.

A decision under this item is valid only if supported by shareholders representing at least two-thirds of both votes cast and shares represented at the Annual General Meeting.

The shareholders' right to require information

The Board of Directors and the CEO shall at the annual general meeting, upon request by a shareholder, provide information in respect of any circumstances which may affect the assessment of a matter on the agenda, and any circumstances which may affect the assessment of the company's financial position. Such information may be provided where the Board of Directors believes that such may take place without significant harm to the company. The duty to provide information also applies to the company's relationship to other group companies as well as the group accounts and the abovementioned circumstances regarding subsidiaries.

Further information

The Annual Accounts and the Auditor's Report and the statement of the Auditor regarding the application of the principles for remuneration to senior executives will be available at Gunnebo AB and on Gunnebo AB's website www.gunnebogroup.com no later than March 22, 2016, and will be distributed without charge to shareholders who so request and state their address.

The Nomination Committee's complete proposals for resolutions and the motivated opinion by the Nomination Committee regarding the proposal for the Board of Directors as well as the Board of Directors complete proposals for resolutions in respect of items 15 and 16 on the agenda are available at Gunnebo AB and on Gunnebo AB's website www.gunnebogroup.com and will be distributed without charge to shareholders who so request and state their address.

The President's address will be available on Gunnebo AB's website as of April 12, 2016.

At the time of the issue of this notice, the total number of shares in the company amounts to 76,185,001, corresponding to the equal number of votes. The company does not hold any own shares.

Goteborg, March 2016

Gunnebo AB (publ)

The Board of Directors

The Gunnebo Group is a global leader in security products, services and solutions with an offering covering cash handling, safes and vaults, entrance security and electronic security for banks, retail, CIT, mass transit, public commercial buildings and industrial high-risk sites.

The Group has an annual turnover of 660 million, employs 5,500 people and has sales companies in 32 countries across Europe, Middle East Africa, Asia-Pacific and the Americas as well as Channel Partners on over 100 additional markets.

We make your world safer.

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160303006791/en/

Contacts:

Gunnebo

Karin Wallstrom

Box 5181 402 26 GOTEBORG

+46 (0)10 2095 000

http://www.gunnebo.com

info@gunnebo.com
LONDON, March 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Global professional services provider Evalueserve has been identified as one of London Stock Exchange's 1000 Companies to Inspire Britain for the second year. The report is a celebration of the UK's fastest-growing and most dynamic small and medium sized businesses.

Marc Vollenweider, CEO, Evalueserve said: "I am proud that Evalueserve UK Ltd. was chosen as one of the companies inspiring Britain once again. Our strategy is to focus on providing differentiated and insightful research and analytics. We leverage our powerful mind+machine approach to support our clients' business decisions and help them improve productivity, time-to-market, and quality. We help to provide new capabilities by leveraging advanced digital technologies. By means of our unique approach, many clients improved their competitiveness in a tough global market place."

Xavier Rolet, Chief Executive, London Stock Exchange Group said: "High growth SMEs are the driving force behind the UK economy, developing the skills, jobs and growth we need. But ambition alone is not enough; their success must be highlighted and their growth properly supported with appropriate finance. That's why today's event is so important: demonstrating the strong alliance between UK Government, financial market participants, investors, entrepreneurs and companies to support these inspiring businesses."

"Today's celebration is fundamental to London Stock Exchange's core, the need to support UK high growth companies in their journeys from Start-up to Stardom and create an entrepreneurship revolution."

Writing in the publication, The Rt. Hon. George Osborne MP said: "UK high-growth businesses are leading the charge in rebuilding our economy. These companies are the backbone of the British economy. They create high-quality, well paid jobs, innovate and drive economic growth. This government fully understands the need to support ambitious entrepreneurs and ensure they can access the finance they need to grow."

"We have held the steadfast belief that - alongside deficit reduction - nurturing entrepreneurs, creating jobs, supporting hard-working families and keeping taxes low would get the UK economy back on track. Our measures to increase access to finance for business and encourage more investment have had a transformative effect on our economy."

To be included in the list, companies needed to show consistent revenue growth over a minimum of three years, significantly outperforming their industry peers. More detail on the methodology can be found in the report online at http://www.1000companies.com.

About Evalueserve

Evalueserve is a global professional services provider offering research, analytics, and data management services. We are powered by mind+machine - a unique combination of human expertise and best-in-class technologies that use smart algorithms to simplify key tasks. This approach enables us to design and manage processes that can generate and harness insights on a large scale, significantly cutting costs and timescales and helping businesses that partner with us to overtake the competition.

We work with clients across a wide range of industries and business functions, helping them to make better decisions faster; reach new levels of efficiency and effectiveness; and see a tangible impact on their top and bottom line.

For more information about Evalueserve, visit: http://www.evalueserve.com

For interview requests and any other information, please contact Sandra Winkler at sandra.winkler@evalueserve.com, +49-30-91524378.
Regulatory News:

Official Notice

Nr: Title: Nordea Bank Finland plc Announces Consent Solicitations Valor-No.: 12338577 ISIN: CH0123385772

FOR DISTRIBUTION ONLY OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES TO PERSONS OTHER THAN "U.S. PERSONS" (AS DEFINED IN REGULATION S OF THE UNITED STATES SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, AS AMENDED (THE "SECURITIES ACT")). NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN OR INTO, OR TO ANY PERSON LOCATED OR RESIDENT IN, ANY OTHER JURISDICTION WHERE IT IS UNLAWFUL TO RELEASE, PUBLISH OR DISTRIBUTE THIS DOCUMENT.

NORDEA ANNOUNCES CONSENT SOLICITATIONS

NORDEA BANK FINLAND PLC (Incorporated with limited liability in the Republic of Finland) (the "Issuer")

announces invitations to eligible holders of the outstanding covered bonds listed in the table below (each a "Series" and, together, the "Covered Bonds")

to consent to certain modifications of the terms and conditions (the "Conditions") of the relevant Series and related programme documents in connection with the proposed merger of the Issuer with Nordea Bank AB (publ), by approving an extraordinary resolution of the holders of such Series (an "Extraordinary Resolution"), all as further described in the consent solicitation memorandum dated 4 March 2016 prepared by the Issuer (the "Consent Solicitation Memorandum" and each such invitation in respect of a Series, a "Consent Solicitation"). Capitalised terms used in this notice and not otherwise defined shall have the meanings given to them in the Consent Solicitation Memorandum.

Background to the Consent Solicitations

As previously announced, Nordea Bank AB intends to simplify its legal structure by merging its three wholly owned banking subsidiaries, Nordea Bank Denmark A/S, Nordea Bank Finland PLC and Nordea Bank Norge ASA into Nordea Bank AB (publ)("NBAB"). This will be pursued as three separate cross border mergers under the Cross Border Mergers Directive (2005/56/EC). Within Finland, the relevant provisions for a cross-border merger have been implemented into the Companies Act and as such the Issuer will be dissolved and will cease to exist.

Prior to the cross-border merger proposal, the Issuer is conducting a partial demerger (the "Demerger") so that its mortgage bank business together with its existing Covered Bonds and the collateral relating thereto shall be transferred to a company to be incorporated at the time of the Demerger (the "New Issuer") and entering into the Deed Poll and NBF Guarantee (as defined below) in order to preserve the existing Covered Bonds' status as Covered Bonds under the Finnish Covered Bonds Act (the "CBA"). The Demerger and the Consent Solicitation will also align the structure of the Nordea group's Finnish covered bond programme with its covered bond programmes in Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

To address the contemplated cross-border merger, the Issuer has announced the Demerger of the Issuer prior to the cross-border merger of the Issuer and has signed the Demerger Plan on 4 February 2016. The Issuer has filed a notice to execute the Demerger to FIN-FSA on 8 February 2016.

The Demerger is expected to be implemented on 1 July 2016 and Covered Bondholders should note that the Demerger is subject to certain matters of Finnish law and timeframes for implementation. Covered Bondholders are being asked to consider and pass the Extraordinary Resolutions as set out in the Consent Solicitation Memorandum in advance of the implementation of the Demerger.

The interests of Covered Bondholders are of foremost importance to the Issuer. The Issuer and NBAB have taken, in their opinion, necessary steps to ensure the interests of Covered Bondholders are adequately protected post the implementation of the Demerger and the completion of the cross border merger, via the execution of the Deed Poll as well as the NBF Guarantee. The Covered Bonds are expected to continue to be recognised as eligible collateral for monetary policy operations of the central banking system for the euro (the "Eurosystem") and intra-day credit operations by the Eurosystem.

However, Covered Bondholders should note that it is the intention of the Issuer to consummate the Demerger (and the subsequent cross-border merger) irrespective of the outcome of the Consent Solicitations as this would not constitute a default under the terms of the Covered Bonds or otherwise require the consent of Covered Bondholders (nor, for the avoidance of doubt, would the subsequent cross-border merger). In the Demerger, all assets and liabilities of the Issuer that are allocated to the New Issuer in the Demerger Plan, are by operation of Finnish law transferred to the New Issuer upon implementation of the Demerger. Under Finnish law there is no need for any additional or separate acts of transfer nor is there a legal requirement for Covered Bondholders to agree to the proposal under either Finnish law or the terms of the Covered Bonds. The Issuer is undertaking the Consent Solicitation to receive confirmation from Covered Bondholders that they support the proposal and the Proposed Amendments and thereby to remove any unforeseen legal uncertainties for existing stakeholders including the Covered Bondholders. There is no inter-conditionality between the Extraordinary Resolutions in respect of any Series of Covered Bonds.

Key Terms and Conditions of the Consent Solicitations

Proposed Amendments

The purpose of each Consent Solicitation is to modify the Conditions of the relevant Series and the related documents to provide that the Covered Bondholders: a) acknowledge and accept the terms of a deed poll (the "Deed Poll") and a secondary guarantee (the "NBF Guarantee") which are being given to Covered Bondholders in connection with the partial demerger of the Issuer, and b) agree to release and waive all rights, claims or entitlements against the Issuer (whether arising under English or Finnish Law (including, without limitation, the right to object to the Demerger under the Finnish Companies Act 624/2006, as amended)) in its capacity as issuer of the relevant Covered Bonds (the "Proposed Amendments"). The Proposed Amendments are more fully described in the Consent Solicitation and Notice of Meeting.

Pursuant to the Deed Poll, the New Issuer will agree to assume all of the obligations of the Issuer as primary obligor in respect of the relevant Covered Bonds. The Issuer will enter into the NBF Guarantee on the date of implementation of the Demerger in favour of the Covered Bondholders, whereby it will agree to meet any claims of Covered Bondholders in respect of principal and interest under the Covered Bonds to the extent that these are not paid by the New Issuer and are not met out of the assets of the Cover Pool held by the New Issuer. For the avoidance of doubt any Covered Bondholder or Beneficiary (as such term is defined in the NBF Guarantee) should first make a demand upon and seek to enforce their claim against the New Issuer before seeking to enforce the NBF Guarantee. The purpose of the NBF Guarantee is to provide Covered Bondholders with secondary rights of recourse against the current Issuer in order to acknowledge the dual rights of recourse that they currently enjoy under the terms of the Covered Bonds. If the cross-border merger of the Issuer with NBAB is completed, the NBF Guarantee will become an obligation of NBAB.

Early Participation Fee

Pursuant to each Consent Solicitation, each Covered Bondholder who is (a) located and resident outside the United States and not a U.S. person (as defined in Regulation S under the Securities Act) and (b) otherwise a person to whom the relevant Consent Solicitation can be lawfully made and that may lawfully participate in the relevant Consent Solicitation (each an "Eligible Covered Bondholder"), who validly consents to the approval of the relevant Extraordinary Resolution is eligible to receive an early participation fee.

Each Eligible Covered Bondholder from whom a valid Consent Instruction in favour of the relevant Extraordinary Resolution is received by the Tabulation Agent by 5.00 p.m. (Central European time) on 18 March 2016 (such time and date with respect to each Series, as the same may be extended, the "Early Instruction Deadline") will be eligible to receive payment of an amount equal to 0.1 per cent. of the principal amount of the Covered Bonds that are the subject of such Consent Instruction (the "Early Participation Fee"). Payment of the Early Participation Fee in respect of a Series of Covered Bonds is conditional on, amongst other things, the satisfaction of the Consent Conditions (as defined below) in respect of that Series.

Eligible Covered Bondholders may continue to submit Consent Instructions after the Early Instruction Deadline and up to the Expiration Deadline but such Covered Bondholders will not be eligible to receive the Early Participation Fee in respect of those Consent Instructions. The deadline for receipt by the Tabulation Agent of Consent Instructions from Covered Bondholders wishing to vote in respect of the relevant Extraordinary Resolution is 10:00 a.m. (Central European Time) on 30 March 2016 (such time and date with respect to each Series, the "Expiration Deadline").

Consent Conditions

The implementation of each Consent Solicitation and the related Extraordinary Resolution will be conditional on:

(a) the passing of the relevant Extraordinary Resolution; and

(b) the quorum required for, and the requisite majority of votes cast at, the relevant Meeting being satisfied by Eligible Covered Bondholders, irrespective of any participation at the relevant Meeting by Ineligible Covered Bondholders,

(together, the "Consent Conditions"). There is no inter conditionality between the Extraordinary Resolutions in respect of any Series of Covered Bonds.

The Issuer will announce (i) the results of each Meeting and (ii) if any Extraordinary Resolution is passed, the satisfaction (or otherwise) of the other Consent Condition relating to that Extraordinary Resolution, as soon as reasonably practicable after the relevant Meeting and following such satisfaction (or otherwise).

Meetings

A notice (the "Notice") convening the Meetings to be held at the offices of Clifford Chance LLP, 10 Upper Bank Street, London E14 5JJ on 1 April 2016 has been given to Covered Bondholders in accordance with the Conditions on the date of this Consent Solicitation Memorandum.

The initial Meeting (in respect of the 11 July 2016 Covered Bonds) will commence at 10.00 a.m. (Central European Time), with subsequent Meetings in respect of each other Series (in chronological order of scheduled maturity date) being held at 5 minute intervals thereafter or after the completion of the preceding Meeting (whichever is later).

General

The Issuer may, at its option and in its sole discretion, extend, or waive any condition of, any Consent Solicitation at any time and may amend or terminate such Consent Solicitation at any time (subject in each case to applicable law and the relevant Meeting Provisions, and provided that no amendment may be made to the terms of the relevant Extraordinary Resolution). Details of any such extension, waiver, amendment or termination will be announced as promptly as practicable after the relevant decision is made.

Set out below is an indicative timetable showing one possible outcome for the timing of the Consent Solicitations, which will depend, among other things, on timely receipt (and non-revocation) of instructions, the rights of the Issuer (where applicable) to extend, waive any condition of, amend and/or terminate any Consent Solicitation (other than the terms of the relevant Extraordinary Resolution) and the passing of each Extraordinary Resolution at the initial Meeting for the relevant Series. Accordingly, the actual timetable may differ significantly from the timetable below.

Event

Announcement of Consent Solicitations

Announcement of Consent Solicitations: 4 March 2016

Early Instruction Deadline

Deadline for receipt by the Tabulation Agent of valid Consent Instructions from Eligible Covered Bondholders for such Covered Bondholders to be eligible to receive the Early Participation Fee. Such Consent Instructions must be in favour of the relevant Extraordinary Resolution in order for the relevant Covered Bondholder to be so eligible for the Early Participation Fee: 5.00 p.m. (Central European Time) on 18 March 2016

Expiration Deadline

Final deadline for receipt by the Tabulation Agent of valid Consent Instructions from Covered Bondholders for such Covered Bondholders to be represented at the relevant Meeting: 10.00 a.m. (Central European Time) on 30 March 2016

This will also be the deadline for making any other arrangements to attend or be represented or to vote at any Meeting

However, Covered Bondholders making such other arrangements or submitting Consent Instructions after the Early Instruction Deadline will not be eligible to receive the Early Participation Fee

Meetings

Meetings to be held at the offices of Clifford Chance LLP, 10 Upper Bank Street, London E14 5JJ: From 10.00 a.m. (Central European Time) on 1 April 2016

Announcement of results of Meetings and satisfaction of Consent Conditions

Announcement of the results of the Meetings and, if the Extraordinary Resolutions are passed, satisfaction of all of the other Consent Conditions: As soon as reasonably practicable after the Meetings

Payment Date

Payment of any Early Participation Fee: No later than the fifteenth Business Day following the applicable Meeting at which the Extraordinary Resolution is passed for the relevant Series

Objection Date

Latest date for creditors of the Issuer to object to the Demerger Plan: 23 May 2016

Proposed Demerger Date: 1 July 2016

Covered Bondholders are advised to check with any bank, securities broker or other intermediary through which they hold their Covered Bonds when such intermediary would need to receive instructions from a Covered Bondholder in order for such Covered Bondholder to participate in, or (in the limited circumstances in which revocation is permitted) to validly revoke their instruction to participate in, a Consent Solicitation by the deadlines specified in this Consent Solicitation Memorandum. The deadlines set by any such intermediary and each Clearing System for the submission and (where permitted) revocation of Consent Instructions will be earlier than the relevant deadlines specified above.

Relevant Covered Bonds

ISIN Description Outstanding principal amount Principal amount held by Issuer

XS0803123859 EUR 150,000,000 Floating Rate Covered Bonds due 11 July 2016 EUR 150,000,000 N/A

XS0811905933 EUR 10,000,000 Floating Rate Covered Bonds due 2 August 2016 EUR 10,000,000 N/A

XS0815215065 | EUR 172,500,000 Floating Rate Covered Bonds due 10 August 2016 EUR 75,000,000 N/A

XS0960828860 EUR 50,000,000 Floating Rate Covered Bonds due 15 August 2016 EUR 50,000,000 N/A

XS0672636262 | EUR 1,500,000,000 2.375% Covered Bonds due 2 September 2016 EUR 1,500,000,000 N/A

XS0731649660 EUR 2,250,000,000 2.375% Covered Bonds due 17 July 2017 EUR 2,250,000,000 N/A

XS0843329417 USD 10,000,000 Floating Rate Covered Bonds due 16 October 2017 USD 10,000,000 N/A

XS0851135342 EUR 35,000,000 Floating Rate Covered Bonds due 2 November 2017 EUR 35,000,000 N/A

XS0619476632 | EUR 25,000,000 Floating Rate Covered Bonds due 27 February 2018 EUR 25,000,000 N/A

XS0580574449 EUR 10,000,000 Floating Rate Covered Bonds due 11 March 2018 EUR 10,000,000 N/A

XS0811908101 | EUR 100,000,000 Floating Rate Covered Bonds due 2 August 2018 EUR 100,000,000 N/A

XS0965104978 EUR 1,500,000,000 1.375% Covered Bonds due 28 August 2018 EUR 1,500,000,000 EUR13,000,000

XS1109365244 | EUR 50,000,000 Floating Rate Covered Bonds due 11 September 2018 EUR 50,000,000 N/A

XS1109365244 EUR 1,500,000,000 1.25% Covered Bonds due 14 January 2019 EUR 1,500,000,000 N/A

XS0583191985 EUR 20,000,000 3.520% Covered Bonds due 25 January 2019 EUR 20,000,000 | N/A

XS0778465228 EUR 1,500,000,000 2.25% Covered Bonds due 3 May 2019 EUR 1,500,000,000 N/A

XS0835318196 EUR 50,000,000 Floating Rate Covered Bonds due 27 September 2019 EUR 50,000,000 N/A

XS0874351728 | EUR 1,250,000,000 1.375% Covered Bonds due 15 January 2020 EUR 1,250,000,000 EUR 11,500,000

XS1191054474 EUR 15,000,000 Floating Rate Covered Bonds due 18 February 2020 EUR 15,000,000 N/A

XS1204134909 | EUR 1,000,000,000 0.125% Covered Bonds due 17 June 2020 EUR 1,000,000,000 N/A

XS1323998754 EUR 45,000,000 0.3% Covered Bonds due 23 November 2020 EUR 45,000,000 N/A

XS0591428445 EUR 1,000,000,000 4.00% Covered Bonds due 10 February 2021 EUR 1,000,000,000 N/A

CH0123385772 CHF 150,000,000 2.375% Covered Bonds due 2 March 2021 CHF 150,000,000 N/A

XS1072529677 EUR 70,000,000 Floating Rate Covered Bonds due 28 May 2021 EUR 70,000,000 | N/A

XS1118022208 EUR 10,000,000 Floating Rate Covered Bonds due 7 October 2021 EUR 10,000,000 N/A

XS0740844609 EUR 10,000,000 Floating Rate Covered Bonds due 2 February 2022 EUR 10,000,000 N/A

XS0770378379 | EUR 15,000,000 2.77% Covered Bonds due 11 April 2022 EUR 15,000,000 | N/A

XS0772660386 EUR 36,000,000 Floating Rate Covered Bonds due 20 April 2022 EUR 36,000,000 N/A

XS1308350237 EUR 1,250,000,000 0.625% Covered Bonds due 19 October 2022 EUR 1,250,000,000 N/A

XS1112680969 EUR 10,000,000 1.11% Covered Bonds due 22 September 2023 EUR 10,000,000 N/A

XS1031054981 EUR 53,000,000 Floating Rate Covered Bonds due February 2024 EUR 53,000,000 N/A

XS1132790442 EUR 1,000,000,000 1.00% Covered Bonds due 5 November 2024 EUR 1,000,000,000 N/A

XS1189764449 EUR 10,000,000 0.7% Covered Bonds due 13 December 2024 EUR 10,000,000 | N/A

XS1204140971 EUR 1,000,000,000 0.625%. Covered Bonds due 17 March 2027 EUR 1,000,000,000 N/A

XS1263007350 EUR 15,000,000 1.442% Covered Bonds due 21 July 2027 EUR 15,000,000 N/A

XS1318736540 | EUR 20,000,000 1.451% Covered Bonds due 11 November 2030 EUR 20,000,000 N/A

XS1321423862 EUR 50,000,000 1.55% Covered Bonds due 18 December 2030 EUR 50,000,000 N/A

Further Information

A complete description of the terms and conditions of the Consent Solicitation is set out in the Consent Solicitation Memorandum. A copy of the Consent Solicitation Memorandum is available to eligible persons upon request from the Tabulation Agent.

Before making a decision with respect to the Consent Solicitation, Covered Bondholders should carefully consider all of the information in the Consent Solicitation Memorandum and, in particular, the risk factors described in the section entitled "Certain Considerations relating to the Consent Solicitation".

Further details about the transaction can be obtained from:

The Solicitation Agents

Deutsche Bank AG, London Branch

Winchester House

1 Great Winchester Street

London EC2N 2DB

United Kingdom

Telephone: +44 20 7545 8011

Attention: Liability Management Group

email: liability.management@db.com

Merrill Lynch International

2 King Edward Street

London EC1A 1HQ

United Kingdom

Telephone: +44 20 7996 5698

Attention: Liability Management Group

email: DG.LM_EMEA@baml.com

Nordea Bank Danmark A/S

Strandgade 3

DK-1401 Copenhagen K

Denmark

Telephone: +45 3333 1675

Attention: Nordea Liability Management, Att. Bibi Larsen

Email: NordeaLiabilityManagement@nordea.com;

Tabulation Agent

Lucid Issuer Services Limited (Attention: Paul Kamminga, Telephone: +44 20 7704 0880, Email: nordea@lucid-is.com)

The Solicitation Agents and the Tabulation Agent do not take responsibility for the contents of this announcement and none of the Issuers, the Solicitation Agents, the Tabulation Agent, or any of their respective directors, employees or affiliates makes any representation or recommendation whatsoever regarding the Consent Solicitation. This announcement must be read in conjunction with the Consent Solicitation Memorandum. No offer to acquire any Covered Bonds is being made pursuant to this notice. This announcement and the Consent Solicitation Memorandum contain important information, which should be read carefully before any decision is made with respect to the Consent Solicitation. If any holder of Covered Bonds is in any doubt as to the action it should take, it is recommended to seek its own advice, including as to any tax consequences, from its stockbroker, bank manager, solicitor, accountant or other independent adviser.

Distribution Restrictions

This announcement and the Consent Solicitation Memorandum do not constitute an offer or an invitation to participate in the Consent Solicitation in any jurisdiction in or from which, or to or from any person to or from whom, it is unlawful to make such offer or invitation under applicable securities laws. The distribution of the Consent Solicitation Memorandum in certain jurisdictions may be restricted by law. Persons into whose possession the Consent Solicitation Memorandum comes are required by each of the Issuer, the Solicitation Agents and the Tabulation Agent to inform themselves about, and to observe, any such restrictions.

No action has been or will be taken in any jurisdiction by the Issuer, the Solicitation Agents or the Tabulation Agent in relation to the Consent Solicitation that would permit a public offering of securities.

Any materials relating to the Consent Solicitation do not constitute, and may not be used in connection with, any form of offer or solicitation in any place where such offer or solicitation is not permitted by law. If a jurisdiction requires that the Consent Solicitation be made by a licensed broker or dealer and the Solicitation Agents or their affiliates are such licensed brokers or dealers in that jurisdiction, the Consent Solicitation shall be deemed to be made by the Solicitation Agents or such affiliates (as the case may be) on behalf of the Issuer in such jurisdiction.

United States

The Consent Solicitations are only being made outside the United States, to persons other than "U.S. persons" (as defined in Regulation S under the Securities Act). Any purported participation in any Consent Solicitation resulting directly or indirectly from a violation of these restrictions will be invalid and any participation in any Consent Solicitation by a person that is located or resident in the United States or that is a U.S. person or by any agent, fiduciary or other intermediary acting on a non-discretionary basis for a beneficial owner that is giving instructions from within the United States or that is any U.S. person will not be accepted.

Neither this announcement nor the Consent Solicitation Memorandum is an offer of securities for sale in the United States or to any U.S. person. Securities may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration. The Covered Bonds have not been, and will not be, registered under the Securities Act, or the securities laws of any state or other jurisdiction of the United States, and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons, unless an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act is available.

Each Covered Bondholder participating in any Consent Solicitation will represent that it is not a U.S. person (as defined in Regulation S under the Securities Act), and is not acting for the account or benefit of any U.S. person, and that it is not located or resident in the United States.

"United States" means the United States of America, its territories and possessions, any state of the United States of America and the District of Columbia.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160304005164/en/

Contacts:

Nordea Bank Finland Plc

Deutsche Bank AG, London Branch

Telephone: +44 20 7545 8011

Attention: Liability Management Group

liability.management@db.com

or

Merrill Lynch International

Telephone: +44 20 7996 5698

Attention: Liability Management Group

DG.LM_EMEA@baml.com

or

Nordea Bank Danmark A/S

Telephone: +45 3333 1675

NordeaLiabilityManagement@nordea.com

Attention: Nordea Liability Management, Att. Bibi Larsen

or

Tabulation Agent

Lucid Issuer Services Limited

Attention: Paul Kamminga

Telephone: +44 20 7704 0880

nordea@lucid-is.com
Altan Pharma Limited ("Altan"), an Irish specialty pharmaceutical company, today announced that it has signed a licensing agreement to commercialise a generic version of caspofungin. The agreement covers the territories of Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Portugal, Poland and Latin America.

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Altan Pharma, Guillermo Herrera stated: "Licensing the rights to generic caspofungin reflects a significant step forward for Altan as we continue to build a strong portfolio of injectable drugs which we can bring to the European and other markets. Altan are committed to building a deep and diverse pipeline through ongoing internal development, in-licensing and further acquisitions."

According to IMS, the market for caspofungin in the European countries covered by the agreement was approximately 260 million 2015.

About Caspofungin Solution for Infusion

Caspofungin is an antifungal medicine indicated for the:

Treatment of invasive candidiasis in adult or pediatric patients;

Treatment of invasive aspergillosis in adult or pediatric patients who are refractory to or intolerant of amphotericin B, lipid formulations of amphotericin B and or Iitraconazole. Refractoriness is defined as progression of infection or failure to improve after a minimum of seven days of prior therapeutic doses of effective antifungal therapy;

Empirical therapy for presumed fungal infections (such as Candida or Aspergillus) in febrile, neutropenic adult or pediatric patients.

Please see the package insert for indications, complete side effect profile and prescribing information.

About Altan Pharma Ltd.

Altan Pharma Ltd. is a privately held, specialty pharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures and commercialises injectable drugs for the hospital and other provider segments. Altan has an international distribution network covering many European, Latin American and Asian markets. The company is highly focused on building its pipeline of injectable drugs and expanding its commercial presence to new markets through both organic and inorganic means.

For more information visit www.altanpharma.com

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160304005102/en/

Contacts:

Altan Media Relations

Mark Gorman

Tel: +353 (1) 908 1280

Email: info@altanpharma.com
Lawsuit follows Thai Securities and Exchange Commission declaration of no evidence of wrongdoing, and Thailand's Department of Special Investigation dropping all investigation

BANGKOK, March 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Mr. Eric Mark Levine, the founder of 'California Fitness' clubs worldwide as well as 'California WOW Xperience' fitness clubs in Thailand, today filed a US$2.8 million (Bht 100 million) defamation lawsuit through his legal representative at Bangkok Criminal Court against Thailand's Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO), as well as it's Secretary-General Police Colonel Sihanart Prayoonrat, for damaging Mr. Levine's reputation through public remarks made by the Police Colonel alleging improper payments and fund transfers by Mr. Levine.

Mr. Levine, formerly also the Chief Executive Officer of California WOW Xperience plc (CAWOW) said, "The Office of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand (SEC) has already investigated CAWOW's operations and financial records with specialist forensic accounting investigators as well as specially trained police officers and they have all publicly stated that there is no evidence of wrongdoing or of any action to substantiate the Anti-Money Laundering Office's allegations."

He added that the Department of Special Investigation has also refused to conduct any further investigation as requested by Police Colonel Prayoonrat and the AMLO.

Mr. Levine said that he and all involved in the management of California WOW Xperience had given their full cooperation to authorities during the investigations which had cleared them of the AMLO's allegations.

Mr. Levine added that internationally recognised auditing firms like "Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Jaiyos and Price Waterhouse Cooper have confirmed the accounts and transactions of California WOW Xperience to be correct and without irregularity, and that, far from taking money out of the company, I had injected personal funds to support the operations of the company in its final days."
EDE, The Netherlands, March 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Artists from around the world are flocking to Akoesticum, a performing arts training center and thriving cultural hub in a beautifully converted military academy situated in the countryside outside of Amsterdam.

This first and only Dutch national training center offers artists the opportunity to rehearse, create, perform, eat and sleep in a beautifully restored historic site designed for professional use.

Center of expertise and excellence

Akoesticum was opened by his Royal Highness King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands on January 23, 2015. During its first year, Akoesticum welcomed over 15,000 artists, musicians, performers and esteemed local and international guests.

Cultural groups from all over the world now have a home in the Netherlands: from orchestras, small ensembles and large performing groups to theatre and dance companies. Akoesticum plays host to a full range of performers, from emerging talent to established artists.

Unique ambiance

Akoesticum resides in the unique historic premises of a former army base. Now dedicated to the performing arts, it nurtures the creative potential of both professional and amateur dancers, musicians and actors.

This characteristic, neo-renaissance heritage site has been fully renovated to facilitate teaching, rehearsing, auditions, and performance. It offers state-of-the-art equipment and overnight facilities at rates designed to accommodate groups of all sizes.

Akoesticum is conveniently located in the heart of the Netherlands, less than one hour from Amsterdam Airport. The railway station is at walking distance. Close to all major cities and hubs in the Netherlands, Akoesticum itself is surrounded by nature: the beautiful National Park De Hoge Veluwe, green heart of the Netherlands, is on its doorstep.

Touchstone for the exploration and expansion of culture

Here groups will find the focus and dedication to fully immerse in performance and learning. It is a place where people of all ages and backgrounds come together - a unique environment fostering discovery and creativity.

Akoesticum is a private foundation, staffed by a group of highly motivated professionals with backgrounds in performing arts, hospitality or entrepreneurship, as well as a number of volunteers.

Take the online tour and explore Akoesticum: http://www.akoesticum.org/english/akoesticum-virtual-tour/

11 rehearsal studios: flexibility to rehearse one or more days or over a series of visits. 1 auditorium (14,5x20m), retractable seating (160 seats) for concerttype events, 2 large spaces (12,5x15m) and 8 small (7x7m) studios, floor for dance and theatre instruction, pianos and grand pianos and percussion section included.

Onsite accommodations and multifunctional spaces: 56 spacious bedrooms (2-4 single beds) each with shower and toilet, lobby, cafe/restaurant, outdoor terrace, general areas and free parking.

For more information contact

Harold Lenselink, artistic director Akoesticum

Phone +31-(0)318-304-349 "

Email info@akoesticum.org

Address:

Akoesticum, international training center for dance, music and theatre

Nieuwe Kazernelaan 2 D 42, Ede (Gld), the Netherlands

http://www.akoesticum.org




LONDON (dpa-AFX) - London Stock Exchange Group Plc (LSE.L) reported Friday higher profit in its fiscal 2015, benefited by higher revenues mainly with the full year contribution from Russell Indexes acquisition. The company also lifted dividend.



For the year, pre-tax profit from continuing operations of 336.1 million pounds. Profit to equity holders from continuing operations was 259.6 million pounds or 73.7 pence per share.



In the nine months ended December 31 last year, the company's pretax profit was 182.1 million pounds, or 37.4 pence per share.



Adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations was 101.9 pence, compared to 72 pence per share last year.



On a twelve month comparable basis, basic earnings per share increased 67 percent to 94.6 pence from 56.5 pence.



Adjusted profit before tax increased 31 percent to 643.4 million pounds from 491.7 million pounds last year. Adjusted basic earnings per share increased 25 percent to 129.4 pence from 103.3 pence.



Operating profit increased 44 percent to 499.9 million pounds from 346 million pounds, on a twelve month calendar year comparative basis. Adjusted operating profit rose 27 percent to 709.6 million pounds, due to the inclusion of Frank Russell Company for the full year.



Total income increased 72 percent to 2.38 billion pounds from 1.38 billion pounds last year. On an organic constant currency basis, adjusted total income was up 2 percent.



Total revenue was 2.28 billion pounds, 78 percent higher than last year's 1.28 billion pounds. The results reflected strong performance from underlying growth in Capital Markets, Information Services including indices, SwapClear and Italian Post Trade operations, as well as full year contribution from Russell Indexes.



Information Services revenues were up 41 percent and Technology Services revenues increased 22 percent. Meanwhile, capital markets revenues were down 1 percent and revenues from Post Trade Services - LCH.Clearnet dropped 8 percent.



On a continuing operations basis, revenues climbed 11 percent, and was up 15 percent excluding LME clearing. On a constant currency basis, revenues grew 2 percent.



Further, the Board of LSE proposed a final dividend of 25.2 pence per share, which results in an implied 20 percent increase in the total dividend to 36 pence per share. The company said it remains committed to a progressive ordinary dividend policy.



In February 2016, the company confirmed that it is in detailed discussions with Deutsche Borse regarding a potential merger of equals to form a global market infrastructure group.



The company said the discussions between the parties remain ongoing regarding the other terms and conditions of the potential merger. There can be no certainty that any transaction will occur. Any transaction would be subject to regulatory approval, LSEG shareholders' approval and Deutsche Borse shareholders' acceptance, as well as other customary conditions.



In London, LSE shares were trading at 2,860 pence, down 1.14 percent.



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Regulatory News:

Vivendi's (Paris:VIV) Combined General Shareholders' Meeting will be held on Friday, April 21, 2016 at 10am, at L'Olympia, 28 Boulevard des Capucines in Paris.

The preliminary notice of meeting (avis prealable de reunion) containing the agenda for the meeting and the text of the draft resolutions proposed by the Management Board will be published in today's issue of the Bulletin des Annonces Legales Obligatoires

The preliminary notice also explains the terms and conditions for participating in and voting at this Shareholders' General Meeting.

Documents and information relating to this Shareholders' General Meeting will be made available to shareholders in accordance with relevant legal and regulatory conditions. The information referred to in Article R. 225-73 of the French Commercial Code can be found on Vivendi's website at http://www.vivendi.com/shareholders-meeting

About Vivendi

Vivendi is an integrated media and content group. The company operates businesses throughout the media value chain, from talent discovery to the creation, production and distribution of content. The main subsidiaries of Vivendi comprise Canal+ Group and Universal Music Group. Canal+ is the leading pay-TV operator in France, and also serves markets in Africa, Poland and Vietnam. Canal+ operations include Studiocanal, a leading European player in production, sales and distribution of film and TV series. Universal Music Group is the world leader in recorded music, music publishing and merchandising, with more than 50 labels covering all genres. A separate division, Vivendi Village, brings together Vivendi Ticketing (ticketing in the UK, the U.S and France), MyBestPro (experts counseling), Watchever (subscription video-on-demand), Radionomy (digital radio), the Paris-based concert venue L'Olympia, the future CanalOlympia venues in Africa and the Theatre de l'Oeuvre in Paris. With 3.5 billion videos viewed each month, Dailymotion is one of the biggest video content aggregation and distribution platforms in the world. www.vivendi.comwww.cultureswithvivendi.com

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160304005241/en/

Contacts:

Vivendi

Shareholders Information Service: +33 (0)1 71 71 34 99

or

Media

Jean-Louis Erneux, +33 (0)1 71 71 15 84

or

Solange Maulini, +33 (0)1 71 71 11 73

or

Investor Relations

Laurent Mairot, +33 (0)1 71 71 35 13

or

Julien Dellys, +33 (0)1 71 71 13 30
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Democratic presidential front runner Hillary Clinton has described her potential Republican rival Donald Trump as terrifying, and said she absolutely hates what he stands for. The former Secretary of State slammed the real-estate tycoon in an email she sent to her supporters Thursday. 'I hate how he insults women, people of colour, and entire countries when it suits him. I hate his total lack of understanding of complex issues that impact Americans', Clinton said. Trump, who is one year elder to the former First Lady, claimed that only he could defeat Clinton in the presidential polls. 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.
Endeavour Mining to acquire True Gold to grow its low-cost gold production

View News Release in PDF Format (http://hugin.info/171882/R/1991975/733026.pdf)

George Town, March 4, 2016 - Endeavour Mining (TSX:EDV) (OTCQX:EDVMF) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a definitive arrangement agreement with True Gold Mining Inc. ("True Gold") (TSX-V:TGM) pursuant to which Endeavour Mining will acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of True Gold via a court-approved plan of arrangement (the "Arrangement Agreement"). In conjunction with the acquisition, Endeavour Mining is pleased to announce that La Mancha Holding S.A r.l., its largest shareholder with 30% ownership, intends to exercise an anti-dilution right that will result in an approximate CDN$82.6 million (US$61.5 million) new equity placement in Endeavour Mining.

Summary of the transaction

Acquisition of True Gold in an all share transaction with each True Gold common share exchanged for 0.044 of an Endeavour Mining common share valuing True Gold at approximately CDN$0.57 per share or CDN$226 million, using closing prices on the TSX and TSX-V as of March 3, 2016. Using Endeavour Mining's 20-day volume weighted average price ("VWAP"), the acquisition is valued at CDN$191 million.

The offer represents a 43.4% premium for the True Gold shareholders using closing prices as of March 3, 2016 and a 32.7% premium using 20-day VWAPs, on the TSX and TSX-V, respectively.

True Gold has a 90% interest in the Karma gold mine in Burkina Faso, which is nearing production start-up with first gold pour anticipated in late March / early April 2016. The acquisition will increase Endeavour Mining's forecast gold production rate by approximately 110,000 - 120,000 ounces per year at a low AISC of approximately US$700/oz in years 1 to 5, with a mine life of 8.5 years based on current reserves.

Endeavour Mining's attributable Proven and Probable gold reserves will increase by 19% to 5.4 million ounces and Measured and Indicated gold resources will increase by 39% to 10.2 million ounces, and Inferred gold resources will increase by 123% to 3.9 million ounces (see Appendix 2).

Under the transaction, Endeavour Mining is providing a US$15 million convertible bridge loan to True Gold (the "Bridge Loan") to ensure True Gold remains well funded as it completes construction of the Karma Mine. Currently, True Gold has drawn US$105 million of its US$120 million gold streaming facility with Franco-Nevada Corporation and Sandstorm Gold Ltd. Endeavour Mining is providing the Bridge Loan as a financing alternative that allows True Gold to maintain its current liquidity without additional gold streaming.

The anti-dilution right permits La Mancha to subscribe for new Endeavour Mining shares to maintain its current 30% ownership. Upon completion of the True Gold acquisition, La Mancha has committed to purchase approximately 7.5 million Endeavour Mining shares at a price of CDN$10.94 (in line with 20-day VWAP) for proceeds of approximately CDN$82.6 million. The subscription for, and listing of, all new shares is subject to TSX and other regulatory approvals.

Neil Woodyer, CEO of Endeavour Mining, stated: "The production profile and low cost of True Gold's Karma Mine is a very attractive fit with our West African operating portfolio. Karma is nearing production, and Endeavour Mining has both the financial strength and an experienced operations team to ensure Karma's value is maximized during this important stage. While True Gold shareholders are receiving an attractive premium and an opportunity to participate in a larger diversified West African producer, Endeavour Mining shareholders are gaining a new, low-cost mine that boosts group production while reducing group AISC/oz in a value accretive transaction. In the long term, the Karma Mine has extensive exploration potential to extend its mine life. Endeavour Mining's enhanced ability to finance an expanded exploration strategy at Karma, and at our own mines, is expected to generate significant value.

With the expected closing of this acquisition in April 2016, we intend to see Karma complete its production ramp-up and then commence construction of the Hounde Project.

This transaction also demonstrates the strength of Endeavour Mining's strategic relationship with La Mancha and Naguib Sawiris as our long term partner with the shared vision of building a leading, Africa-focused gold producer."

Terms of the Arrangement Agreement

Under the Arrangement Agreement, each True Gold shareholder will receive 0.044 of an Endeavour Mining common share ("Endeavour Mining Share") in exchange for each True Gold common share. Also under the Arrangement Agreement, True Gold stock options will become exercisable for Endeavour Mining Shares using the same 0.044 exchange ratio subject to a maximum term of 180 days from closing, or 1 year from closing if so provided under the relevant optionee's employment agreement.

True Gold shareholders will represent 20.9% of Endeavour Mining capital after the exercise of the La Mancha anti-dilution right.

Completion of the Arrangement will be subject to, among other things, approval by 66 2/3% of the True Gold shareholder votes cast, approval by 50% of the Endeavour Mining shareholder votes cast, and other customary conditions including court approvals. The two shareholder meetings are expected to occur in the third week of April 2016 and the transaction is expected to close before the end of April 2016.

For the benefit of Endeavour Mining's shareholders, full details of the proposed transaction will be included in a management information circular to be filed with regulatory authorities in Canada and mailed to the Endeavour Mining shareholders in accordance with applicable securities laws. The record date for the special meeting of the Endeavour Mining shareholders will be announced in the near future.

Highlights of the Acquisition

The True Gold acquisition is consistent with Endeavour Mining's previously-announced 'buy-and-build' strategy and firmly positions the company as one of West Africa's premier gold miners.

The Karma Mine provides a material upgrade to the recently divested Youga Mine and emphasizes management's dedication to proactive portfolio management and cash flow maximization.

On a pro forma basis, Endeavour Mining will have five producing mines; the Hounde Project, a long-life and low-cost development project that is construction ready; and an attractive pipeline of development and exploration properties (see Figure 1 for locations).

Through an all-stock transaction, True Gold shareholders can continue to participate in the future growth of Karma through Endeavour Mining shares and, importantly, access its superior financial capacity and leverage its proven operating team.

Endeavour Mining's cash balance and available amount from its revolving credit facility totaled US$220 million, as of December 31, 2015. Including the US$20 million proceeds received from the sale of the Youga Mine on February 29, 2016 and the La Mancha anti-dilution investment of US$61.5 million increases the available liquidity to approximately US$301.5 million.

A pro forma market capitalization of CDN$1.08 billion using Endeavour Mining's closing price on the TSX as of March 3, 2016.

For 2016, Endeavour Mining has production guidance range of 535,000 to 560,000 ounces (updated to exclude the recently sold Youga Mine) at an AISC/oz range of US$870 to US$920. Adding the Karma Mine potentially lowers the AISC range by approximately US$25/oz (assuming Karma achieves US$700 AISC/oz in 2016).

Endeavour Mining will integrate Karma into its existing operations management structures and does not anticipate an increase in its corporate G&A expense also True Gold G&A will be eliminated (~6 m C$/year).

Across a range of valuation metrics and contribution analysis, this acquisition is value accretive to the Endeavour Mining shareholders.

Valuation upside as Endeavour Mining continues to grow its low-cost gold production, and this transaction enhances a financing plan that accelerates the construction of the Hounde Project and the ability to finance an expanded exploration strategy.

Figure 1 - Mine & Project Location Map

Additional Transaction Details

The proceeds of the US$15 million Bridge Loan may be used by True Gold to fund capital expenditures for the completion of the Karma Mine, and for other working capital needs. The terms of the Bridge Loan include a repayment date which is 12 months from the date of the loan; the loan may be repaid in cash or, at Endeavour Mining's sole election, may be converted into common shares of True Gold on certain events. The conversion price for the principal amount of the Bridge Loan will be at a price per common share equal to the 5-day VWAP on the date prior to True Gold's drawdown of the Bridge Loan. Interest on the Bridge Loan will accrue from draw-down at a rate of LIBOR plus 4% and may be paid in cash or in True Gold shares based on True Gold's future market price prevailing at the time.

The Arrangement Agreement includes customary deal protections. True Gold has agreed not to solicit any alternative transactions; Endeavour Mining has been granted the right to match any superior competing offer; True Gold has agreed to pay Endeavour Mining a break fee of approximately C$4.5 million in certain circumstances; Endeavour Mining has agreed to pay True Gold an expense fee of C$4.5 million in certain circumstances.

Both the Endeavour Mining and True Gold Boards of Directors have unanimously approved the terms of the Arrangement Agreement and recommend that their respective shareholders vote in favour of the proposed acquisition.

All of True Gold's officers and directors and certain shareholders, holding, in the aggregate 15.7% of the issued and outstanding True Gold shares, have entered into support agreements with Endeavour Mining to vote in favour of the Transaction.

All of Endeavour Mining's directors and officers and certain shareholders, holding in the aggregate 31.5% of the issued and outstanding ordinary shares of Endeavour Mining have entered into support agreements with True Gold to vote in favour of the issuance of the ordinary shares pursuant to the Transaction.

Pro Forma Capital Structure

Table 1: Pro Forma Capital Structure

Issued and outstanding shares (millions) Pro Forma Issued shares (millions) Pro Forma Ownership Endeavour Mining 59.04 59.04 70.19% True Gold 398.84 17.55 20.86% La Mancha, anti-dilution investment 7.53 8.95% 30.00%1 Total issued shares 84.12 100.00%

1 La Mancha currently owns 17,706,157 shares of Endeavour Mining such that it will hold 30.00% ownership following

the anti-dilution investment

Advisors

Endeavour Mining is being advised by UBS Investment Bank and Stikeman Elliott LLP.

True Gold is being advised by National Bank Financial, Haywood Securities Inc. (Special Committee) and Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP.

La Mancha is being advised by Norton Rose Fulbright LLP.

Conference Call and Webcast Details

Endeavour Mining will host a conference call and webcast to discuss the transaction as part of its previously announced year-end results conference call and live webcast at 9:00 am Toronto time (EST) on Friday, March 4th, 2016.

The conference call and live webcast are scheduled on Friday March 4, 2016 at:

6:00am in Vancouver

9:00am in Toronto and New York

2:00pm in London

10:00pm in Hong Kong and Perth



The live webcast can be accessed through the following link:

http://edge.media-server.com/m/p/p944mzru (http://edge.media-server.com/m/p/p944mzru)

Analysts and interested investors are also invited to participate and ask questions using the dial-in numbers below:

International: 1 212 444 0412

North American toll-free: 1 877 280 2342

UK toll-free: 0800 279 5004

Australian toll-free: 1 800 027 830

Confirmation code: 4692288

The conference call and webcast will be available for playback on Endeavour Mining's website.

Contact Information

Vincent Benoit

EVP - Strategy & Business Development

+33 (0)1 70 38 36 96

vbenoit@endeavourmining.com

Martino De Ciccio

VP - Strategy & Investor Relations

+33 (0)1 70 38 36 95

mdeciccio@endeavourmining.com

Brunswick Group LLP

Carole Cable, Partner

+44 7974 982 458

ccable@brunswickgroup.com (mailto:ccable@brunswickgroup.com)

Qualified Persons

Adriaan "Attie" Roux, Pr.Sci.Nat, Endeavour's Chief Operating Officer, is a Qualified Person under NI 43-101, and has reviewed and approved the technical information in this news release, except where noted otherwise.

About Endeavour Mining Corporation

Endeavour Mining is a TSX-listed intermediate gold mining company which operates four West African mines in Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana. In 2016, it expects to produce between 535,000 and 560,000 ounces at an all-in sustaining cost of US$870 to US$920 per ounce, after the sale of the Youga Mine and before the addition of the Karma Mine. Endeavour Mining is focused on effectively managing its existing assets to maximize cash flow as well as pursuing organic and strategic growth opportunities that benefit from its management and operational expertise.

Endeavour Mining | Executive Office | Bureau 76, 7 Boulevard des Moulins, Monaco 98000

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" including but not limited to, statements with respect to Endeavour's plans and operating performance, the estimation of mineral reserves and resources, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of future production, future capital expenditures, and the success of exploration activities. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "expects", "expected", "budgeted", "forecasts" and "anticipates". Forward-looking statements, while based on management's best estimates and assumptions, are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: risks related to the successful integration of acquisitions; risks related to international operations; risks related to general economic conditions and credit availability, actual results of current exploration activities, unanticipated reclamation expenses; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; fluctuations in prices of metals including gold; fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, increases in market prices of mining consumables, possible variations in ore reserves, grade or recovery rates; failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; accidents, labour disputes, title disputes, claims and limitations on insurance coverage and other risks of the mining industry; delays in the completion of development or construction activities, changes in national and local government regulation of mining operations, tax rules and regulations, and political and economic developments in countries in which Endeavour operates. Although Endeavour has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Please refer to Endeavour's most recent Annual Information Form filed under its profile at www.sedar.com for further information respecting the risks affecting Endeavour and its business

Appendix 1: Endeavour Mining's Mineral Reserves and Resources Statement and Notes1 Resources inclusive of Reserves On a 100% basis On an attributable basis Tonnage (Mt) Grade (Au g/t) Content (Au koz) Tonnage (Mt) Grade (Au g/t) Content (Au koz) Nzema Mine (90% owned) Proven Reserves 3.2 2.25 230 2.9 2.25 207 Probable Reserves 1.5 2.57 125 1.4 2.57 113 P&P Reserves 4.7 2.35 356 4.2 2.35 320 Measured Resource 22.4 1.36 976 20.2 1.36 878 Indicated Resources 12.2 1.31 514 11.0 1.31 463 M&I Resources 34.6 1.34 1,490 31.1 1.34 1,341 Inferred Resources 5.9 1.28 244 5.3 1.28 219 Agbaou Mine (85% owned) Proven Reserves 1.9 2.53 156 1.6 2.53 132 Probable Reserves 11.3 2.40 871 9.6 2.40 741 P&P Reserves 13.2 2.42 1,027 11.2 2.42 873 Measured Resource 1.9 2.67 166 1.6 2.67 141 Indicated Resources 12.5 2.53 1,014 10.6 2.53 862 M&I Resources 14.4 2.54 1,180 12.3 2.54 1,003 Inferred Resources 1.2 1.71 65 1.0 1.71 56 Tabakoto Mine (80-90% owned) Proven Reserves 2.3 3.19 235 1.9 3.18 190 Probable Reserves 4.2 3.68 491 3.5 3.67 413 P&P Reserves 6.4 3.50 725 5.4 3.50 603 Measured Resource 6.3 2.86 575 5.1 2.85 463 Indicated Resources 12.3 3.22 1,270 10.5 3.17 1,068 M&I Resources 18.5 3.09 1,844 15.5 3.07 1,531 Inferred Resources 9.0 3.55 1,023 7.3 3.52 826 Hounde Project (90% owned) Proven Reserves 3.7 2.48 296 3.3 2.48 266 Probable Reserves 26.9 2.06 1,779 24.2 2.06 1,601 P&P Reserves 30.6 2.11 2,075 27.5 2.11 1,867 Measured Resource 3.7 2.57 305 3.3 2.57 274 Indicated Resources 34.2 2.04 2,247 30.8 2.04 2,022 M&I Resources 37.9 2.09 2,551 34.1 2.09 2,296 Inferred Resources 3.2 2.62 274 2.9 2.62 246 Ity Mine & CIL Project (55% owned) Proven Reserves - - - - - - Probable Reserves 30.4 1.65 1,613 16.7 1.65 887 P&P Reserves 30.4 1.65 1,613 16.7 1.65 887 Measured Resource 27.3 1.35 1,190 15.0 1.35 655 Indicated Resources 34.1 1.75 1,916 18.7 1.75 1,054 M&I Resources 61.4 1.57 3,106 33.8 1.57 1,708 Inferred Resources 14.1 1.52 687 7.7 1.52 378 Total Proven Reserves 11.1 2.57 916 9.7 2.56 796 Probable Reserves 74.2 2.04 4,879 56.8 2.06 3,757 P&P Reserves 85.3 2.11 5,795 65.1 2.17 4,550 Measured Resource 61.6 1.62 3,211 45.2 1.66 2,411 Indicated Resources 105.3 2.06 6,960 81.6 2.08 5,468 M&I Resources 166.9 1.90 10,172 126.8 1.93 7,879 Inferred Resources 33.4 2.13 2,293 24.3 2.21 1,726

1Please refer to Endeavour Mining's Notes to Mineral Reserves and Resources as published on Feb 29th, 2016 in the press release entitled "Endeavour Mining Increases P&P Reserves and M&I Resources by 32% and 39%, respectively" available on the Company's website at www.endeavourmining.com

Appendix 2: Pro Forma Mineral Reserves and Resources Statement and Notes

Resources inclusive of Reserves On a 100% basis On an attributable basis Tonnage (Mt) Grade (Au g/t) Content (Au koz) Tonnage (Mt) Grade (Au g/t) Content (Au koz) Total - Endeavour Mining1 Proven Reserves 11.1 2.57 916 9.7 2.56 796 Probable Reserves 74.2 2.04 4,879 56.8 2.06 3,757 P&P Reserves 85.3 2.11 5,795 65.1 2.17 4,550 Measured Resource 61.6 1.62 3,211 45.2 1.66 2,411 Indicated Resources 105.3 2.06 6,960 81.6 2.08 5,468 M&I Resources 166.9 1.90 10,172 126.8 1.93 7,879 Inferred Resources 33.4 2.13 2,293 24.3 2.21 1,726 True Gold's Karma Mine (90% owned)2 Proven Reserves - - - - - - Probable Reserves 33.2 0.89 949 29.9 0.89 854 P&P Reserves 33.2 0.89 949 29.9 0.89 854 Measured Resource - - - - - - Indicated Resources 75.2 1.08 2,621 67.7 1.08 2,359 M&I Resources 75.2 1.08 2,621 67.7 1.08 2,359 Inferred Resources 65.3 1.13 2,362 58.8 1.13 2,126 Pro Forma - Endeavour Mining & True Gold Proven Reserves 11.1 2.57 916 9.7 2.56 796 Probable Reserves 107.4 1.69 5,828 86.7 1.65 4,611 P&P Reserves 118.5 1.77 6,744 95.0 1.77 5,405 Measured Resource 61.6 1.62 3,211 45.2 1.66 2,411 Indicated Resources 180.5 1.65 9,581 149.3 1.63 7,827 M&I Resources 242.1 1.64 12,793 194.5 1.64 10,238 Inferred Resources 98.7 1.47 4,655 83.1 1.44 3,852

Technical Notes: 1- Please refer Appendix 1 of this news release for additional details and to www.endeavourmining.com for Endeavour Mining's Notes to Mineral Reserves and Resources 2- Karma



Mineral Reserves are that portion of the mineral resource that has been identified as mineable within a design pit and incorporates criteria such as mining recoveries and waste dilution. The Mineral Resources are inclusive of Mineral Reserves. The Mineral Reserves are reported on the basis of parameters and assumptions defined in True Gold's Feasibility Study, which is published on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The Feasibility Study is based on an open-pit operation averaging 97,000 ounces of gold per year over 8.5 years and all-in sustaining cash costs of $720/oz gold, at a US$1250/oz gold price. Cut-off grades (COG) vary by pit and material type as shown in the Feasibility Study.



Mineral Resource estimates were based on a gold price of US$1,557 per ounce, a 90%, 80% and 85% respective process recoveries for oxide, transition and sulphide; oxide mining costs of US$1.61/tonne, $US1.94 per tonne for transition and US$2.05 for sulphide; process costs of US$7.25/tonne for oxide and transition and US$19 per tonne for sulphide; and General & Administrative costs of US$1.35 per tonne were used to determine the respective 0.20, 0.22 and 0.50 oxide, transition and sulphide open pit cut-off grades. Mineral resources are reported at cut-off grades of 0.20 g/t Au for oxide material in all deposits, 0.22 g/t Au for transition material in all deposits and the sulphide material at Rambo and Nami, and at 0.5 g/t Au for the remaining sulphide material at GG1, GG2, Kao and North Kao. Mineral resources which are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The estimate of mineral resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-political, marketing, or other relevant issues. The quantity and grade of reported Inferred mineral resources in this estimation are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define these Inferred mineral resources as an Indicated or Measured mineral resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in upgrading them to an Indicated or Measured mineral resource category. The mineral resources reported here was estimated using the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM), CIM Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves, Definitions and Guidelines prepared by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions and adopted by CIM Council. Material within optimized pit shells have engineering mining aspects applied to the global mineral inventory.



For more information on Karma Resources and Reserves, please refer to NI 43-101 technical report entitled "Technical Report on an Updated Feasibility Study (GGI, GGII, Kao, Rambo & Nami Deposits) and a Preliminary Economic Assessment (North Kao Deposit) for the Karma Gold Project, Burkina Faso, West Africa", dated August 10, 2014 and filed on SEDAR on December 5, 2014 at www.sedar.com.



Scott Heffernan, M.Sc., P. Geo, is True Gold's Vice President Exploration and a Qualified Person within the meaning of NI 43-101. Mr Heffernan has reviewed and verified that the technical information related to Karma's Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves contained herein is accurate and approves of the written disclosure of same.

View News Release in PDF Format (http://hugin.info/171882/R/1991975/733026.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: Endeavour Mining Corporation via Globenewswire



HUG#1991975


DUBLIN, March 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The global autonomous car technology market is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 10% through to 2035, according to an industry report available from Research and Markets. The report states that semi-autonomous car technology will see robust growth over the next decade, thanks to declining prices and rising sales. The findings in the report were supported today by news of BMW's plans for the future. The German automotive giant has revealed plans to completely overhaul the company, with 50% of the R&D team to work on autonomous car technology exclusively.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130307/600769 )



Just 20% of BMW's 30,000 employees are software engineers. The company acknowledges the growing importance of machine learning and artificial intelligence within the automotive industry, and how software is becoming just as important as hardware. BMW recently hired a 200 plus digital innovation team in Chicago, and plan to continue building their in-house expertise over the next five to six years.

Over 40 million cars will have sophisticated autonomy by 2035, as forecast in a technology report. The sheer volume of this market justifies BMW's heavy investment in software developers and autonomous car technology. If BMW wish to remain a global leader in the automotive market then they need to ensure that their technology can compete with that of tech giants like Google and IBM.

The strong growth of the autonomous car market will result in growth in related markets. The global market for enterprise applications of deep learning will be worth USD 10.4 billion by 2024, up from USD 109 million by 2015, as estimated in a recent report. BMW are taking the right steps to keep themselves ahead of the competition and prepare for a future of driverless cars.

For further information on this topic, and a full list of all related documentation, please visit the Automotive section at http://www.researchandmarkets.com/rm/MMIM.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-autoshow-geneva-software-exclusive-idUSKCN0W60ET

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CLAREMONT, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 03/04/16 -- Kiwa Bio-Tech Products Group Corporation (OTC PINK: KWBT) reported today that its China regional agent, Kangtan Gerui (Beijing) Bio-Tech Co., Ltd., has signed a sale agreement with Joyvio Great Northern Wilderness Holding Company ("Joyvio"), for an initial purchase of 10,000 tons of Kiwa's special organic fertilizer for rice formula. Based on the terms of the agreement, KIWA special fertilizer will be delivered on or about March 15, 2016. The Company believes that initial sales under this agreement during calendar year 2016 will be approximately US$4 million.

The sale of Kiwa's special fertilizer to Joyvio Great Northern Wilderness Corporation marks KIWA's initial entry into the Northeast China market. Joyvio has plans to develop and plant nearly one million mu (approximately 164,737 acres) of high-end rice crop in the next three years, and the fertilizer products of KIWA will be extensively utilized in connection with this development.

Kiwa's CEO, Mr. Jimmy Zhou, stated that, "In addition to the sales contract with Joyvio, KIWA has also started testing of KIWA fertilizer products with the large state-owned agricultural company in Heilongjiang-Kunfeng Agricultural Group in anticipation of utilizing KIWA fertilizer products in the Kunfeng planting area. We expect that this sales campaign in these two major agricultural planting areas in Northeast China will have a positive impact on the sales performance of KIWA fertilizers in connection with the company's renewed overall market strategy."

About Kiwa Bio-Tech Products Group Corporation

We develop, manufacture, distribute and market innovative, cost-effective and eco-friendly bio-technological products for agriculture. Our main product groups are bio-fertilizer, biologically enhanced livestock feed. Our products are designed to enhance the quality of human life by increasing the value, quality and productivity of crops and decreasing the negative environmental impact of chemicals and other wastes. Our businesses include bio-fertilizer and bio-enhanced feed.

Kiwa's strategy is to implement increased visibility for marketing Kiwa's current bio-fertilizer products, together with the development of a "green agriculture" safe food platform in China. Our goal is to build market penetration for our Kiwa brand in China's trillion dollar "green" agricultural produce market.

For more information on Kiwa and its products, please refer to the Company's website at www.kiwabiotech.com or the Company filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, available for free at www.sec.gov

This press release contains information that constitutes forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any such forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results described by the forward-looking statements. Risk factors that could contribute to such differences include those matters more fully disclosed in the Company's reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking information provided herein represents the Company's estimates as of the date of the press release, and subsequent events and developments may cause the Company's estimates to change. The Company specifically disclaims any obligation to update the forward-looking information in the future. Therefore, this forward-looking information should not be relied upon as representing the Company's estimates of its future financial performance as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.

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CONTACT:

Kiwa Bio-Tech Products Group Corporation

Yvonne Wang

yvonne@kiwabiotech.com




DENVER, CO--(Marketwired - March 04, 2016) - Registration and abstract submission is now open for the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer's 17 th World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) set for Dec. 4-7, 2016 in Vienna, Austria. The WCLC is the world's largest meeting dedicated to lung cancer and other thoracic malignancies, attracting more than 6,000 researchers, physicians and specialists from more than 100 countries. Bringing together many of the world's greatest minds, the conference goal is to increase awareness and collaboration so that the latest developments in lung cancer can be understood and implemented throughout the world.

This year marks the first that the WCLC will be held annually. Previously, the IASLC hosted the conference every two years. The WCLC was held in Denver, Colorado in September 2015.

"The pace of new developments in lung cancer research is so rapid that we must meet every year to ensure that we share the latest knowledge and the newest best practices with each other," said Fred R. Hirsch, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine and Pathology at the University of Colorado Cancer Center and School of Medicine and CEO of the IASLC. "Lung cancer is a massive problem -- it accounts for nearly a third of all cancer deaths around the world each year. But we are making huge progress in treatments and even more of these developments will be announced at our conference."

The four-day conference will cover a wide range of disciplines, including an estimated 300 invited talks and 3,000 formal research studies and clinical trial results shared in oral, mini oral and poster sessions. Falling under the overall theme of "Together Against Lung Cancer," the scientific abstracts are categorized into different tracks for different specialties:

-- Epidemiology and -- Advanced Non-Small -- Chemotherapy, Prevention Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) Targeted Therapies and Immunotherapy -- Biology and Pathology -- Small Cell Lung -- Clinical Trial Design Cancer and Statistics -- Early Detection and -- Palliative Care and -- Surgery Diagnosis Ethics -- Locally Advanced -- Radiotherapy -- Early Stage NSCLC NSCLC -- Regional Aspects, -- Mesotheliomas, -- Education, Scientific Health Policy and Public Thymic Malignancies and Co-Operation and Research Health Other Thoracic Groups Malignancies

The conference will also feature special educational programs for community practices, nurses and advocates. The IASLC is also including patients in the conference free of charge.

In addition to research, several events throughout the conference will facilitate the interaction between medical experts, advocates, patients and caregivers including:

Educational sessions

Exhibit showcase sessions

The Young Investigator's Session

Attendees at the WCLC include surgeons, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, pulmonologists, radiologists, pathologists, epidemiologists, basic research scientists, nurses, allied health professionals, advocates, caregivers and patients.

The abstract submission deadline is July 15, 2016. The IASLC will notify authors about their acceptance in mid- September. Click here for more information, including submission guidelines.

All IASLC members can take advantage of discounted registration rates and there is also a discount for early registration. Early registration ends on Sept. 23, 2016. Click here for more information about registration.

"The wide range of scientific discoveries we will share in Vienna will be astounding and I am very excited to take part in this experience," Robert Pirker, MD, WCLC 2016 Congress President, and Professor of Medicine and Program Director for Lung Cancer at the Department of Medicine I, Medical University of Vienna, Austria. "It is an honor to extend a warm invitation to the world to the 17 th IASLC World Conference on Lung Cancer in majestic Vienna."

For more information on the 2016 WCLC, visit: http://wclc2016.iaslc.org/.

About the IASLC:

The International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) is the only global organization dedicated to the study of lung cancer. Founded in 1974, the association's membership includes more than 5,000 lung cancer specialists in over 100 countries. Visit www.iaslc.org for more information.

Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/2/17/11G083341/Images/WCLC_2016_1st_Announcement_Revised-d00e43bc4c0382358c9ec2b6814804cf.jpg

Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/2/17/11G083341/Images/047_Sept-7-ORAL-02-001-59c0029e0bc694b6aeb62356b4717cd5.jpg

Contact:

Jeff Wolf

IASLC

Director of Communications

Jeff.Wolf@IASLC.org

720-325-2952



Becky Bunn

IASLC

Projects Specialist

Becky.Bunn@IASLC.org

20-325-2946
The Computer/IT Security Conference is an annual must attend event in the calendars of security researchers and professionals around the world. Held annually in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Amsterdam in The Netherlands, the conference is a platform for the discussion and dissemination of next generation computer security issues.

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.
BRAMPTON, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 03/04/16 -- Editors Note: There is a photo associated with this press release.

When the people at Trailcon Leasing embarked on a journey to redesign its parts and inventory process, they knew the sky was the limit.

And so, after extensive research, they decided to align with a company in the aviation industry.

Trailcon is a Canadian leader in the trucking industry in trailer rental, leasing, and maintenance. President Alan Boughton says they are always looking for ways to improve operations, and realized there were further business opportunities they could explore to better achieve company goals and growth plans.

"Knowing we wanted to develop processes that were state-of-the-art and enduring, we focused on the 'fix it before it fails' aviation approach and searched for companies that had an exceptional focus on parts excellence."

Boeing was the perfect choice, with its undeniable track record and century-long experience. A Trailcon team of Paul Lahie, Don Andrews, Giovani Cani, and Bryan Burningham travelled to Boeing Aerospace in Seattle to learn about that company's best practices and get a hands-on look at the detailed steps in its processes. This firsthand experience allowed the team to understand some key procedures for enhancing accuracy and repetition in the day-to-day parts practices at Trailcon.

A tour of the plant used to manufacture the 737 and the newest model, the MAX, was also on the agenda. Boeing uses Lean Six Sigma methodologies extensively, and Boughton says that progress in production and quality is evident in every step of Boeing's manufacturing process. The Trailcon team reports that a highlight of the tour was learning about the improvement in the passenger-seat installation process. While it originally took three shifts more than 24 hours to complete, Boeing automated the loading process to install the seats in just two hours.

These kinds of improvements have allowed Boeing to boost production from 22 planes a month to 42, with plans to increase even further as it continues to identify bottlenecks and streamline processes.

Bryan Burningham, Trailcon's Vice President, Service and Operations, says Trailcon will continue on its own journey to remove waste and bottlenecks, and streamline its parts business.

"We want to remain the industry leader in trailer leasing, rentals, and service. We have to offer a big thank you to the Boeing staff who spent such quality time with our Trailcon team."

For more information, visit www.trailcon.com. Follow Trailcon on Twitter @trailconleasing or find them on Facebook.

To view the photo accompanying this press release please click on the following link: http://www.marketwire.com/library/20160303-trailcon_at_boeing.jpg

About Trailcon Leasing Inc.:

Founded by Alan Boughton in 1992, Trailcon Leasing Inc. is a nationwide leader in trailer rental, leasing and maintenance solutions. Its fleet comprises more than 6,500 units - including refrigerated and heated trailers, dry vans, chassis, and other specialized transportation equipment - servicing major companies across the country. Trailcon has operations in Brampton and Cornwall in Ontario and in Calgary and Edmonton in Alberta. For more information, visit www.trailcon.com.

Contacts:

Media contact:

Isabella Devine

Marketing Coordinator, Trailcon Leasing Inc.

Office: 905-670-9061; Mobile: 416-884-9080

idevine@trailcon.com

www.trailcon.com




Energijos Skirstymo Operatorius AB (hereinafter - and ESO), identification code 304151376, registered office placed at Aguonu str. 24, Vilnius, Republic of Lithuania. The total number of registered ordinary shares issued by company is 894 630 333; ISIN code LT0000130023.An Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders of ESO is to be convened on the initiative and by the decision of the Board of company on 4 March 2016.The date, time and place of the Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders: The Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders of ESO will be held on 29 March 2016, at 10.00 a.m., on the premises of ESO (Aguonu str. 24, second floor, 207 hall, Vilnius).The shareholder registration will start at 9.25 a.m. and will end at 9.55 a.m.The record date of these General Meetings is 21 March 2016. Only persons who are shareholders of ESO at the end of the record date of the General Meeting of Shareholders of company shall have the right to attend and vote at the General Meeting of Shareholders of ESO.The following agenda of the Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders of ESO was approved by the decision of the Board of company on 4 March 2016 and the following draft decisions is proposed:Agenda of the Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders of ESO:1. Regarding the approval of the consolidated Annual Report of the group of LESTO AB and the Annual Report of Public limited liability company Lietuvos Dujos for the year 2015. 2. Regarding the approval of the audited consolidated Annual Financial Statements of LESTO AB for the year 2015 and the approval of the audited Annual Financial Statements of Public limited liability company Lietuvos Dujos for the year 2015. 3. Regarding the allocation of the profit (loss) of Energijos Skirstymo Operatorius AB of the year 2015.The proposed drafts decisions of the General Meeting of Shareholders of ESO on the abovementioned agenda items:1. Regarding the approval of the consolidated Annual Report of the group of LESTO AB and the Annual Report of Public limited liability company Lietuvos Dujos for the year 2015:"1.1. Approve the consolidated Annual Report of the group of LESTO AB (see attached);1.2. Approve the Annual Report of Public limited liability company Lietuvos Dujos for the year 2015 (see attached)."2. Regarding the approval of the audited consolidated Annual Financial Statements of LESTO AB for the year 2015 and the approval of the audited Annual Financial Statements of Public limited liability company Lietuvos Dujos for the year 2015:"2.1. Approve the consolidated Annual Financial Statements of LESTO AB for the year 2015 (see attached) audited by the audit company PricewaterhouseCoopers UAB;2.2. Approve the Annual Financial Statements of Public limited liability company Lietuvos Dujos for the year 2015 (see attached) audited by the audit company PricewaterhouseCoopers UAB;"3. Regarding the allocation of the profit (loss) of Energijos Skirstymo Operatorius AB of the year 2015."3.1. To allocate the profit (loss) of Energijos Skirstymo Operatorius AB of the year 2015 (see attached)."Shareholders participating in the General Meeting of Shareholders of ESO shall produce an identity document. Shareholders shall be granted pecuniary and non-pecuniary rights provided for by laws and other legal acts of the Republic of Lithuania. Shareholders entitled to participate in the aforementioned shareholder meeting shall have the right to authorise, in writing, a natural or legal person to participate and vote on their behalf at the General Meetings of Shareholders indicated in this notice. Such a written authorisation shall be approved in accordance with the procedure laid down in legal acts and shall be delivered to Aguonu str. 24, Vilnius no later than by the end of shareholder registration for a relevant General Meeting. Shareholders entitled to participate in the General Meeting of Shareholders of ESO shall also have the right to authorise, by electronic means of communication, a natural or legal person to participate and vote on their behalf at the General Meeting of Shareholders. An authorisation issued by electronic means of communication shall be recognised as valid provided that the security of the information transferred is ensured and it is possible to identify the shareholder. Shareholders shall report the issuance of an authorisation by electronic means of communication by sending it by e-mail to info@eso.lt not later than by the end of the working day on 25 March 2016 (3:15 p.m.). The authorised person shall have an identity document and shall enjoy the same rights at the General Meeting as the shareholder represented by him would enjoy (unless the issued authorisation or laws provide for narrower rights of the authorised person). The shareholder's right to participate in the General Meeting of Shareholders shall also include the right to ask. ESO has not approved any special authorisation form of the abovementioned General Meeting of Shareholders.The agenda of the General Meeting of Shareholders of ESO may be supplemented on the initiative of shareholders of company whose shares held in company carry at least 1/20 of all votes at the General Meeting of Shareholders of ESO. The proposal to supplement the agenda of the respective General Meeting of Shareholders shall be accompanied by draft decisions or, where no decisions have to be taken, by explanations on each proposed agenda item of the Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders. The agenda shall be supplemented if the proposal is received no later than 14 before the respective General Meeting of Shareholders. Shareholders whose shares held in ESO carry at least 1/20 of all votes at the General Meeting of Shareholders of company shall have the right to propose, at any time before the General Meeting of Shareholders of ESO, new draft decisions on issues that are included or will be included in the agendas of the General Meeting of Shareholders of ESO. Proposals on the supplementation of the respective agenda or relevant draft decisions shall be submitted in writing to ESO, Aguonu str. 24, Vilnius, or by e-mail to info@eso.lt.Shareholders of ESO shall have the right to present questions related to the agenda of the General Meeting of Shareholders of company. Questions may be presented by e-mail to info@eso.lt or delivered to ESO to Aguonu str. 24, Vilnius, no later than 3 working days before the General Meeting of Shareholders.Shareholders will be able to vote on the agenda items of the General Meeting of Shareholders of ESO in writing by filling in ballot papers. At the request of a shareholder, ESO shall send, free of charge, a ballot paper to the shareholder by registered post or deliver it by hand against signature no later than 10 days before the General Meeting of Shareholders of ESO. A completed ballot paper shall be signed by the shareholder or a person authorised by the shareholder. Where a person authorised by the shareholder casts a vote, a document certifying the right to vote shall be attached to the completed ballot paper. Filled and signed general ballot paper and the document confirming the voting right can be sent to the company by registered mail or delivered at Aguonu str. 24, Vilnius, no later before the General Meeting of Shareholders. The company retains the right not to recognize the advance vote of the shareholder or his/her authorised representative, if his/her submitted general ballot paper does not meet the requirements of Paragraphs 3 and 4 of Article 30 of the Law on Companies of the Republic of Lithuania, was received to late or is filled so that the true will of the shareholder on an individual matter cannot be determined. Electronic means of communication shall not be used for participation and voting at either of the abovementioned General Meeting of Shareholders.Shareholders can familiarise themselves with documents related to the agenda of the General Meeting of Shareholders of ESO, draft decisions on the agenda, documents to be submitted to General Meeting of Shareholders and other information related to the implementation of the rights of shareholders specified in this notice on the website of ESO at http://www.eso.lt from the date of this notice as well as on the premises of ESO (Aguonu str. 24, Vilnius) during working hours (7.30-11.30 a.m. and 12.15-4.30 p.m.; 7.30-11.30 a.m. and 12.15-3.15 p.m. on Fridays).Representative for Public Relations Martynas Burba, tel. (8~5) 2514516.Attachment:https://cns.omxgroup.com/cds/DisclosureAttachmentServlet?messageAttachmentId=550287
ORLANDO, FL--(Marketwired - March 04, 2016) - Pinnacle, one of the nation's leading multifamily management firms, announced today that it has been selected as the management provider for two separate portfolios, resulting in a major expansion in Florida. Lee Ann Edwards has been hired as a Regional Vice President to oversee the communities in south Florida totaling 44 properties and over 14,000 apartment homes.

To accommodate the growth and concentration of assets in the southern markets, Pinnacle has opened a regional office located at 1580 Sawgrass Corporate Parkway, Suite 403 in Sunrise, Florida. A team comprised of a vice president and six regional property managers will be reporting to Edwards from this office.

"Pinnacle has been ramping up in Florida for several months to accommodate this opportunity by growing transition teams and hiring the best talent we could find to supplement our existing efforts in the state," explains Greg Mark, senior vice president of Pinnacle's east coast operations. "Leading the charge, Lee Ann brings an incredible combination of operational and team building success to our company and is already emerging as a strong leader at Pinnacle."

Edwards comes to the firm with 18 years of industry experience working for many of the largest companies in the multifamily arena, including Greystar, Riverstone, Alliance Residential and Bell Partners. She is an award-winning operations leader specializing in third party relationships with both institutional and private clients. Her portfolio has included new construction lease-ups and value-add assets as well as properties in the student, senior and affordable sectors.

"My vision is to make Pinnacle a major player in south Florida by finding the best people in the market, retaining them and leading them to greatness. Without people we have nothing," said Edwards. "My leadership philosophy contains equal parts respect, integrity, accountability, performance, and fun. My hope is that I make an imprint on people that encourages them to do better for their residents, clients, and teams."

Edwards has assembled top-tier talent in her market, which includes the recent addition of Vice President Colleen Yeager, who migrated to Pinnacle from a Senior Regional Management position at Equity Residential. Yeager has 30 years of experience which spans affordable to luxury high-rise with a specialty in revenue enhancement projects and new development. She will lend her broad-based background and exceptional track record to ensure success for Pinnacle's clients.

Also reporting to Edwards are five regional managers, based in the Sunrise office, to add value in a variety of capacities:

David Lane, regional property manager, brings 17 years of experience spanning multiple markets across central and south Florida. His portfolio is concentrated in Broward and Miami/Dade counties and consists of conventional assets totaling 1,784 units.

Stacey Haygood, regional property manager, brings 19 years of experience with specializations in digital marketing, lease-ups, and renovations. Her portfolio is concentrated in Palm Beach and Broward counties and includes six assets totaling 2,400 units.

Loren Valentine, regional property manager, brings 20 years of experience specializing in luxury "A" quality communities. She oversees nine communities with over 3,000 units in Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Lucy Garcia, regional property manager, brings 20 years of industry experience with specializations in market rate, LIHTC, HUD and senior housing throughout south and central Florida. Her portfolio includes Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Lee Counties and consists of eight communities totaling 1,789 units.

Christine Pagan, regional property manager, has 27 years of experience with specializations in conventional, affordable, rehab and development. Her portfolio is concentrated in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade and includes seven assets totaling 1,800 units.

A sixth regional property manager will be brought on in the coming months to assist with the growth in these markets.

Along with the regional positions overseeing operations, several others have also joined Pinnacle in south Florida, including James Betancourt and Osvaldo Ochoa as construction managers; Guillermo Soca in regional maintenance; Ariel Garcia as a marketing manager; and Hasina Kronenburg as office manager.

About Pinnacle Property Management Services, LLC

Pinnacle Property Management Services, LLC, ("Pinnacle") is a privately held national real estate provider specializing in third party management of multifamily residential communities. As one of the nation's preferred property managers, Pinnacle's portfolio includes nearly 135,000 residential units and 2 million square feet of commercial assets. With the Corporate headquarters located in Dallas, Texas, Pinnacle has 3,000 employees located in 35 states and 25 major metropolitan areas. For more information, visit www.pinnacleliving.com.

Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/3/3/11G085880/Images/Lee_Ann_Edwards_NEW-1d81def836c88c539ce8ae822c744ed2.jpg

MEDIA CONTACT

Kerri Fulks

(972) 499-6617

Kerri.Fulks@hck2.com
Nestle Skin Health, global leader focused on enhancing the quality of life by delivering science-based solutions for skin health, today announced the appointment of Johannes Baensch as Chief Scientific Officer. Effective immediately, he will lead the company's global Research and Development activities, leveraging his experience of leadership in innovation to ensure the successful development of novel skin health solutions.

Humberto Antunes, Chief Executive Officer of Nestle Skin Health, said "I am delighted to welcome Johannes Baensch as our Chief Scientific Officer. Innovation plays a critical role in everything we do. Scientific research and clinical development has been a keystone of our activity since the very first days of our company. With this appointment, we have strong leadership as we move forward and take up the skin health challenges of tomorrow."

Nestle Skin Health leverages five research and development centers across the world, where more than 700 people are entirely dedicated to innovation in dermatology. In 2015, 57 new patent applications were submitted and the company received numerous new approvals for both medical and consumer science-based solutions around the world.

"It is an honor and privilege to join Nestle Skin Health. It is a rare opportunity to drive the scientific innovation journey of a company which has experienced such growth and transformation over the past years. We will succeed by keeping our focus and embracing a holistic view on skin health to create new options for the future. Our global R&D footprint is a fantastic platform to generate excellent products and state of the art knowledge to fuel Nestle Skin Health's sustainable growth" said Johannes Baensch, newly appointed Chief Scientific Officer. "I look forward to working with our experienced international teams, the broad healthcare community and scientific networks. Together we will leverage and expand our innovation pipelines with cutting edge science and technology that meet the patient needs and consumer expectations, while supporting and partnering with healthcare professionals."

Johannes Baensch studied Food Science and Technology and holds a chemical engineering Doctorate from the University of Munich. He spent over 25 years at Nestle in a variety of roles in R&D management, operations and strategy around the world. For the last five years, he has been Nestle's Global Head of R&D, renamed Global Head of Product and Technology Development.

About Nestle Skin Health

Nestle Skin Health's mission is to enhance quality of life by delivering science-based solutions for the health of skin, hair and nails. As one of the category's leading companies, Nestle Skin Health conducts ground-breaking product research to provide both the healthcare community and the consumer with an ongoing progression of innovative technologies and products to protect, serve and enhance skin health.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160304005497/en/

Contacts:

Media Contact

Nestle Skin Health

Sebastien Cros, +41 21 642 76 94

Head of Corporate Communications

info@nestleskinhealth.com
BURNABY, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 03/04/16 -- Innovative cleantech company General Fusion has been awarded $12.75 million by Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) to continue developing its fusion energy technology, culminating in the design of a full-scale fusion energy demonstration system.

The grant, announced today by the federal Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Hon. Navdeep Bains in Edmonton, is part of a 36-project, $206 million package of funds designed to help cleantech companies bridge the gap between research and commercialization.

The grant is staged across a number of milestones and requires an investment of matching funds equal to twice the amount of the grant. To date, General Fusion has raised more than $100 million from a global syndicate of investors. This is the second major grant from SDTC, the first an award of $13.9 million in 2009.

"The Government of Canada has been a key partner in the evolution of our company and fusion technology," said Nathan Gilliland, General Fusion CEO. "The dedicated team at SDTC are champions for cleantech and its importance to the diversification of our economy. It's also important to realize that SDTC's clean energy projects will help Canada meet its commitment to reducing greenhouse gases," he said.

"SDTC is incredibly proud to support General Fusion," said Leah Lawrence, President and CEO of SDTC. "This is the kind of technology that has the potential to generate jobs, growth and export opportunities, and to bring lasting economic, environmental and health benefits to Canadians and the world."

General Fusion is partnering with McGill University's Shock Wave Physics Group and Hatch, the global engineering firm headquartered in the Toronto area. Hatch will work on the design of the full-scale energy demonstration system that is the next step in General Fusion's mission to develop its Magnetized Target Fusion technology on an industrial scale. They bring their expertise in power plant design, engineering, material sciences, and technology commercialization to the consortium.

"Hatch has a strong tradition of research and development of new technologies and bridging the gap between ideas and commercial success. We are therefore extremely proud to be a part General Fusion's innovative team, who are helping to push the world forward with clean technology," said John Pearson, Hatch's Global Managing Director. "We're excited about the opportunity to bring positive change to Canada's power market through this green technology."

About General Fusion:

General Fusion is developing the fastest, most practical, and lowest cost path to commercial fusion energy. The company was established in 2002 and is supported by a global syndicate of leading energy venture capital funds, industry leaders, and technology pioneers, including: Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital, Bezos Expeditions, Khazanah Nasional Berhad, Cenovus Energy, Growthworks, Braemar Energy Ventures, BDC, Entrepreneurs Fund, SET Ventures, Sustainable Development Technology Canada, and NRC-IRAP.

www.generalfusion.com

About Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC):

Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) acts as a primary catalyst in building a sustainable development technology industry in Canada, funding and supporting Canadian cleantech projects across a number of sectors. SDTC invests in Canadian companies that through their innovative technologies bring positive contributions to Canada: creating quality jobs, driving economic growth, and preserving our environment. SDTC is a foundation funded by the Government of Canada. For more information, please visit sdtc.ca

About Hatch:

Hatch has served clients for over six decades with corporate roots extending over 100 years and has project experience in more than 150 countries around the world. With over 10,000 people in over 65 offices, the firm has more than $35 billion in projects currently under management.

Clients recognize Hatch for its ability to bridge the gaps between research and innovative technologies, and between engineering and reliable operations. We are particularly known for working with senior client management to develop business strategies; managing and optimizing production; executing projects that involve the scale-up of process technologies; and managing startups, commissioning and ramp-ups.

Hatch delivers unprecedented business results for our clients through a commitment to quality, lower operating costs, more efficient utilization of capital assets, higher standards for safety and risk management, faster startups and continuous performance improvements in all projects and programs.

www.hatch.ca

Contacts:

Breakthrough Communications

Paul Sullivan

Mobile: 604-603-7358

Office: 604-685-4742

p.sullivan@breakthroughpr.com




OAKVILLE, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 03/04/16 -- Terrestrial Energy, a vendor of next-generation nuclear power plants has been awarded a CAD$5.7 million grant from the Sustainable Development Technology Canada's (SDTC) SD Tech Fund. SDTC is a foundation funded by the Government of Canada.

Grants funds will be used to support Terrestrial Energy's pre-commercial activities, which conclude with the construction of an electrically-heated non-nuclear mock-up within 30 months. The mock-up will test and demonstrate many aspects of IMSR operation, and will include the data collection over a wide range of operating scenarios of the performance of the IMSR's passive cooling systems; this will validate Terrestrial Energy's safety analysis computer codes, a common industry requirement. The results will support Terrestrial Energy's regulatory engagement and key aspects of the IMSR's Safety Case, one built on simple, natural and passive cooling mechanisms.

"Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) is incredibly proud to support Terrestrial Energy" said Leah Lawrence, President and CEO. "Our mission is to help Canadian cleantech entrepreneurs move their ground-breaking technologies to commercialization by bridging the funding gap between research and market entry. Terrestrial Energy's Integral Molten Salt Reactor technology is the kind of technology that has the potential to generate jobs, growth and export opportunities, and to bring lasting economic, environmental and health benefits to Canadians and the world."

"With this award, the SDTC's engagement shines a bright light on the entire advanced nuclear sector and the enormous industry opportunities offered by nuclear innovation today" said Simon Irish, Terrestrial Energy's CEO. "The IMSR's unique Safety Case, one built on simple, natural and passive mechanisms, creates such an opportunity - to out-compete and out-scale coal and natural gas in global industrial markets for heat and power, starting in the 2020s, and starting here in Canada."

About Sustainable Development Technology Canada

Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) acts as a primary catalyst in building a sustainable development technology industry in Canada, funding and supporting Canadian cleantech projects across a number of sectors. SDTC invests in Canadian companies that through their innovative technologies bring positive contributions to Canada: creating quality jobs, driving economic growth, and preserving our environment. SDTC is a foundation funded by the Government of Canada.

For more information, please visit http://www.sdtc.ca/

Terrestrial Energy will be presenting at this year's Fortune Magazine Brainstorm E Conference on May 16-17 in Carlsbad, California. CEO Simon Irish will provide conference participants with the opportunity to learn why next generation nuclear technology is moving to the center stage of cleantech.

About Terrestrial Energy

Terrestrial Energy is developing a next-generation nuclear reactor based on its Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) technology. The IMSR represents true innovation in safety, cost and functionality. It will offer safe and reliable power solutions for electricity production, both on- and off-grid, and also energy for industrial process heat generation. These together extend the applicability of nuclear energy far beyond its current footprint. With this profile, the IMSR is capable of driving the rapid global decarbonization of the primary energy system by displacing fossil fuel combustion across a broad front. It is complementary to renewable power sources and ideal for distributed power systems on existing grids. Using an innovative design and proven Molten Salt Reactor technology, the IMSR can be brought to global markets in the 2020s. Terrestrial Energy is currently developing its IMSR commercial demonstration power plant for deployment in Canada.

Social Media

Facebook: TerrestrialMSR

Twitter: TerrestrialMSR

YouTube: Terrestrial Energy

LinkedIn: TerrestrialEnergy

Google+: TerrestrialEnergy

Contacts:

Grant Draper

Terrestrial Energy

(415) 745-0254

grant@capstreamx.com



Brian Smith

Terrestrial Energy

(416) 822-3130

bsmith@the-lanes.ca



www.terrestrialenergy.com

info@terrestrialenergy.com




BRUSSELS, March 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Following the Iranian elections on February 26, Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi declared them to be a sham which would not lead to moderation in Tehran. She added that all the factions of the clerical regime share common interests in suppression, terrorism and plundering of public wealth.

Rajavi made these remarks at an event at the European Parliament's headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday. Scores of members of Europe's legislative body from various political groups took part in the afternoon event.

Gerard Deprez, Belgian MEP (ALDE), chairman of the Friends of a Free Iran inter-parliamentary group presided over the event, titled Post-Nuclear Agreement Policy on Iran by the EU.

The speakers also addressed the issue of human rights in Iran under Rouhani and Iran's role in the Syrian civil war. Jaromir Stetina presented a gift on behalf of Czech Republic MEPs to Rajavi welcoming her to the Parliament.

Rajavi addressed the issue of elections and said: "The so-called election was held without the presence of any opposition groups. It was in fact a race among present and former officials in charge of torture and executions." She went on to add, "The regime's former president Rafsanjani and his cabinet members are pursued by the German, Swiss and Argentine judiciaries for their terrorist crimes in foreign countries."

According to the Iranian opposition, Hassan Rouhani's tenure as president of the Islamic Republic of Iran has been marked by at least 2,300 executions, growing contributions to the massacre of civilians in the Syrian Civil War, and greater repression of the rights of the Iranian people.

UK Conservative MEP Anthea McIntyre emphasized that human rights and women's rights should be the main benchmark for Europe when deciding on its policy vis-A -vis the Iranian regime. "The human rights situation has evidently not improved but has tremendously deteriorated and certainly does not meet our standards in Europe," she said. "In my view, we can only judge the state of human rights in Iran by what we see, not by the words of the regime but by their action. No change, whether small or significant, should be trusted as long as these executions are going on in Iran."

Turning to Maryam Rajavi, McIntyre finished by saying: "This is what Mrs. Rajavi said on the first day that Rouhani came to power. Europe should listen to these remarks and put them in action. We stand behind Mrs. Rajavi as she has been an inspiration to the Iranian people who want democracy."

Rajavi rejected the notion that democratic transformation would come about through elections like those that took place last month. She added that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei could never be expected to step down voluntarily, but would have to be overthrown.

Estonian MEP Tunne Kelam agreed that the Iranian regime has not changed recently and that change would come not from within this regime. "There is no reason to believe that Tehran has stopped lying," he said. "The Litmus test for moderation is change in situation of human rights."

Patrick Kennedy, former Democratic Congressman from Rhode Island and son of late Senator Edward Kennedy traveled from the US to attend the meeting. In it, he rejected the Iranian elections as a farce and expressed his support for the Iranian resistance. He said the flow of the refugees from Syria is the result of the Iranian regime's genocide there.

Regarding the Syrian crisis, Rajavi said: "The Iranian regime uses the money it gets from the West after lifting of the sanctions, to buy advanced weapons for the Assad regime. The weapons are then used to murder the people of Syria and send a wave of refugees to the same Western countries."

"The solution to the tragedy in Syria, the crisis in Iraq, and instability in the Middle East will be found only after the IRGC is expelled from those countries," she said further. "The most dangerous thing is to engage and involve the Iranian regime in the case of Syria."

The representative of the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces stressed that if it were not for the presence of the Iranian regime and the Revolutionary Guards, Bashar Assad would have been overthrown years ago.

Mrs. Rajavi denounced the European Union's weak position on violations of human rights in Iran and turning a blind eye on Tehran's role in the massacre of the people of Syria. She warned: "The failure to adopt a decisive policy on human rights abuses in Iran will embolden the mullahs to resume their bomb-making project and step up their warmongering in foreign lands, particularly the genocide of the people of Syria."
According to the latest research study released by Technavio, the GCC home automation market is expected to grow at a CAGR of close to 15% until 2020.

This research report titled 'GCC Home Automation Market 2016-2020', provides an in-depth analysis of market growth in terms of revenue and emerging market trends. This market research report also includes up to date analysis and forecasts for various market segments, including lighting controls, security and access controls, HVAC controls, fire and safety controls, and maintenance and support.

Request sample report: http://bit.ly/1oCwDUR

"In 2015, the annual per capita energy consumption in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations accounted around 11.5 MWh, which is much higher than other developed economies such as France, Japan, Italy, the UK, and Germany. Therefore, governments in the region have called for conservative strategies in residential, commercial, and industrial buildings to resolve the growing power crisis," said Bharath Kumar, one of Technavio's lead analysts for automation research.

"Since 2012, the GCC region has fervently adopted green building policies to conserve energy. Most constructions in the GCC are now LEED registered. In addition, GCC nations have devised some of the finest green building rating systems, which have become mandatory for residential, commercial, and industrial buildings," added Bharath.

GCC home automation market by solutions 2015

Lighting controls 69.91% Security and access control 12.47% HVAC control 19.80% Fire and safety control 9.53% Services 35.14%

Source: Technavio research

Top three segments of the GCC home automation market:

Lighting controls

Security and access control

HVAC control

Lighting controls market in GCC: largest revenue contributor

The lighting controls market in the GCC was valued at over USD 186 million in 2015. Lighting control is a centralized control that is used to achieve energy efficiency in indoor and outdoor spaces. Lighting control systems save a minimum of 4%-9% in energy consumption, and provide a comfortable visual environment that is well-suited for end-users along with pre-set control features. The use of such control helps satisfy green building regulations, LEED, and other mandatory construction, energy conservation, and carbon emission policies followed in the GCC.

Popularity of automated lighting is driven by the system's ability to enhance the life span and energy efficiency of incandescent lights, LED, and CFL bulbs. Light controls are also finding application in retrofit projects, whereby renovation is achieved without the risk of and damage to the building architecture.

HVAC controls market in GCC: second largest revenue contributor

The HVAC controls market in the GCC was valued at over USD 160 million in 2015. HVAC systems control and regulate a building's indoor environment, and optimize power consumption at minimal expenditure. Several international vendors, such as Honeywell International, Schneider Electric, and Johnson Controls offer superior-quality HVAC controls.

In 2015, Qatar's average household electricity consumption was 34,210 kWh per year, which is the highest worldwide. Air-conditioning systems accounted for 75% of energy bills in the region, as commercial buildings and residential complexes in the region continued using air-conditioning systems 24 hours a day for coping with extreme fluctuating humidity ranging from 40%-70% and average high temperature exceeding 110F. These factors are encouraging the widespread adoption of HVAC controls among homeowners in the GCC to minimize power wastage.

Security and access controls market in GCC

The security and access control market in the GCC was valued at over USD 100 million in 2015. The region is experiencing a rise in petty crime rate, especially targeting residential homes that belong to western expatriates. In 2014, Kuwait experienced crimes in expat neighborhoods, motivated mainly by financial gain. Similarly, in 2014, Oman experienced a rise in residential break-ins in the expats community in the Medinath Qaboos area. In 2015, a Chinese gang was arrested on charges of residential theft across various emirates in the UAE. Over seventy such cases were reported in the UAE the same year. These instances have raised awareness among citizens and expats and are anticipated to drive scale adoption of automated home security and access control systems in the GCC during the forecast period.

Browse related reports:

Global Home Automation System Market 2015-2019

Global Home Security System Market 2015-2019

Smart Home M2M Market in the US 2015-2019

Smart Home M2M Market in the UK: Market Research Report 2015-2019

Global Proximity Sensor Market 2016-2020

Purchase any 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/20160304005011/en/

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BlackRock Frontiers Investment Trust plc

Investment of C Share Proceeds

BlackRock Frontiers Investment Trust plc (the "Company") has been informed by the Manager that as at close of business on 3 March 2016, over 85 per cent. of the Net Proceeds of the recent issue of C Shares have been invested in a portfolio of securities consistent with the Company's investment policy.

The rights attaching to the C Shares provide that the Company has 10 Business Days following the date on which it is informed that at least 85 per cent. of the Net Proceeds have been invested in which to determine the Net Asset Values of the C Shares and Ordinary Shares, on which basis the Conversion Ratio will be calculated, the date of such determination being the "Calculation Date".

In the absence of unforeseen circumstances the Company expects the Calculation Date to fall on 7 March 2016 and the Record Date for the transaction to fall on 9 March 2016. The last day for trading in the C Shares on the London Stock Exchange for normal settlement (in order to enable settlement prior to Conversion) will be 7 March 2016. It is expected that the listing of the C Shares will be suspended at 7.30 a.m. on 15 March 2016.

The Company intends to make a further announcement in due course setting out the Conversion Ratio applying to the Conversion of C Shares into Ordinary Shares and the expected date when such conversion will occur.

Unless otherwise defined, capitalised terms in this announcement shall have the meaning given to them in the Company's prospectus dated 5 February 2016.

4 March 2016

Enquiries:

Simon White, BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited: 020 7743 5284

Neil Morgan, Winterflood Investment Trusts: 020 3100 0292

Press Enquires:

Lucy Horne, Lansons Communications Tel: 020 7294 3689

Email:lucyh@lansons.com
SolarPower Europe held its 11th Solar Market Workshop in Brussels this week where the future of European solar markets were discussed in detail by industry participants and analysts. A decidedly uncertain future was delivered during the session: Is there a future for large scale in solar? "Large scale solar in Europe is basically dead," opined Bloomberg New Energy Finance's (BNEF) Jenny Chase in a session discussing the future of big PV in the EU. The forthright analyst said that as utility scale PV has the same generation profile as rooftop solar, that it is likely to be squeezed out as distributed generation applications take precedence. Chase, BNEF's lead solar analyst, also noted that Europe's peak electricity demand continues to occur during the winter months, making solar PV a poor fit. "We can use batteries to solve a lot of minor problems, but it won't solve the problem that peak [electricity] demand occurs in winter," said Chase. She noted that in some markets, such as Chile and Morocco, time-of-day or time-of-year electricity production is being incorporated into large scale renewable tenders to tackle challenges such as this. It was in emerging PV markets where Enerparc saw a great deal of potential ...

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, 2016-03-04 18:37 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Northrop Grumman Corporation's (NYSE:NOC) U.K.-based air traffic control communication systems subsidiary, Northrop Grumman Park Air Systems, will celebrate its 50th anniversary at this year's World ATM Congress in Spain. Founded in Stamford, U.K. in 1966, the company has remained at the forefront of air traffic control communications throughout its history.The World ATM Congress exhibition and conference takes place in Madrid from March 8-10. Dennis McCallam, Northrop Grumman Fellow, will present "Operating Safely in a Cyber Dense Environment - the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly", at 12:30 p.m. on March 8 in the Aireon Spotlight Stage, The presentation will focus on the potential impact of cyber on the operation of the next-generation air traffic management systems.The Northrop Grumman exhibit, at Stand 431 in Hall 9, will include demonstrations of the Park Air Sapphire portfolio and highlight the continued growth of this capability with the launch of new service offerings - the Park Air Portal and the Park Air Academy.The Park Air Portal is a web-based hub available to all Sapphire customers. Customers can log in securely to their own area and track their orders in real-time. Post-delivery, the Portal will deliver a comprehensive asset management capability and further facilitate ownership by delivering product and service updates, alerts on warranty expiry dates and other useful data. The Portal will provide a comprehensive communication channel to Park Air's service staff and an automated repair tracking service.Customers from countries around the world will be able to visit the Park Air Academy, which opened in January 2016, to receive training on advanced ATC communication systems principles and products using blended learning training courses and state-of-the-art technology."Delivering a first-class customer experience has always been central to our way of doing business," said Danny Milligan, managing director, Northrop Grumman Park Air Systems. "The introduction of the Park Air Portal and the opening of the Park Air Academy underlines our commitment not only to delivering best in class products but also to matching it with class leading service capability."Also included in the exhibit will be the full Sapphire portfolio including the latest Park Air T6 Radios and the MARC Server, a highly configurable Internet browser-based control and monitoring system for all the portfolio assets.For those unable to attend the show who would like further information about Park Air Sapphire, a free app is available for download from App store and Google Play.Northrop Grumman Park Air Systems supplies communication systems for airspace operations worldwide.Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing innovative systems, products and solutions in autonomous systems, cyber, C4ISR, strike, and logistics and modernization to government and commercial customers worldwide. Please visit www.northropgrumman.com for more information.CONTACT: Ken Beedle +44 (0) 207 747 1910 +44 (0) 7787 174092 ken.beedle@euro.ngc.com
WINNIPEG, MANITOBA -- (Marketwired) -- 03/04/16 -- The Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science, will tour the Centre for Aerospace Technology & Training. The Red River College industrial campus partners students with industry and offers access to advanced technologies and equipment.

Media are encouraged to arrive 30 minutes prior to the tour to check in and proceed through security.

Date: Monday, March 7, 2016 Time: Tour: 10:10 a.m. Location: StandardAero (tour) Plant 5 facility Centre for Aerospace Technology & Training 1885 Sargent Avenue Winnipeg, Manitoba

Follow the Minister on Twitter and Instagram: @ScienceMin

Contacts:

Media Relations

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

343-291-1777

ic.mediarelations-mediasrelations.ic@canada.ca




LAS VEGAS, NV -- (Marketwired) -- 03/04/16 -- Hemp, Inc.'s (OTC PINK: HEMP) wholly owned subsidiary, Industrial Hemp Manufacturing, LLC is in the final stages of completing its mill and decortication facility in North Carolina. David Schmitt, COO of Industrial Hemp Manufacturing, LLC, is "cautiously optimistic" that the 60-foot steel storage silo will be erected next week. Spring Hope's rainfall during the last 60 days hindered progress on the silo. According to Schmitt, the wet soil was too soft to hold 2,100-ton cranes on site to perform the work needed for the installation. In Hemp, Inc.'s new video update, you can see the concrete being poured for the 60x16x2-ft thick silo pad near the end of the video. Although there was almost a month delay for the foundation, due to rain as mentioned above, crews are relentlessly moving forward through rain sleet or snow to finish North America's largest hemp processing facility. Nothing can stop the hemp revolution.

Workers have also spent a great deal of the last couple of weeks preparing to finish the harvesting of the Kenaf crop. "If the weather permits, we will begin baling the Kenaf and will start transporting it to our warehouse late next week." The truck scale has also been purchased and is being installed to weigh incoming loads of Kenaf. Per Schmitt, the scale is set to be operable prior to bringing in the harvest.

Due to excessive rainfall, progress was delayed about a month, however, weather permitting, the company is expecting the scale to be operational by the end of next week. "We have a lot of excavating to do on-site for the scale and there's quite a bit of concrete to pour," says Schmitt.

Aside from the weather setbacks, Schmitt has continued to make progress on the electrical wiring of the Temafa decortication line as well as all of the machinery for the milling operation. "Our engineering firm has completed all of the engineering drawings for the milling operation and will start fabricating the few components needed to finish the installation. Once the milling operation is online, we will immediately begin manufacturing our Drillwall loss circulation materials (LCMs) as the first phase of the factory installation is completed."

Bruce Perlowin, CEO of Hemp, Inc. (OTC PINK: HEMP), said, "Our company has been working feverishly to get the decortication line and mill up running. It's a process and whenever you embark upon a task such as this, there will be unforeseen setbacks and obstacles. However, once it's operational, our shareholders can expect to see the fruits of our labor. Also, more states are unfolding pro-hemp legislature which means there will be endless opportunities. This also means Hemp, Inc. will be able to deploy its portable decorticators to more and more farmers as they begin to grow hemp."

Hemp, Inc.'s portable decorticators will help process fiber on location without having to ship the hemp stalks to its facility in Spring Hope, North Carolina. This creates additonal revenue streams for Hemp, Inc. and revenue for the farmers. Any farmer, in any state, interested in Hemp, Inc.'s portable decorticator machine can contact info@hempinc.com.

In other industrial hemp news, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture is now looking for farmers to participate in their hemp pilot program that was ordered by the state legislature, last year. "It will be the first time that hemp has been grown legally in Minnesota in 60 years." Thus far, at least 27 states have passed some sort of pro hemp law, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures and VoteHemp.

In Hawaii, "bills that would allow the state Department of Agriculture to create pilot research programs for industrial hemp are moving through both chambers of the state Legislature." According to the article posted by West Hawaii Today, Senate Bill (SB) 2659 and House Bill (HB) 2555 are not "companion" bills but both focus on establishing the agricultural research program.

In Oregon's 2016 legislative session, lawmakers passed agriculture-related bills which included allowing growers to cultivate hemp in greenhouses and "propagate it from cuttings under House Bill 4060, which eliminates the requirement that the crop be directly seeded in fields of at least 2.5 acres." According to the article posted by Capital Press this week, "the changes are aimed at providing farmers with more flexibility in producing hemp for cannabidiol, a medicinal compound, in addition to industrial products such as oil and fiber."

In Colorado, Montezuma County planners had a roundtable discussion on having more hemp fields to boost the local economy. According to the article posted this week in The Journal, hemp is regulated by the state. Colorado farmers can apply for a permit to grow hemp from Colorado's Department of Agriculture. "Random testing is done to ensure it's the hemp variety. So far, 330 farmers, including several in Montezuma County, have obtained permits. About 3,700 acres have been planted and harvested statewide."

Washington state legislature has also passed a bill that would allow licensed growers to produce industrial hemp in Washington as part of a research program. According to the article in The Olympian, "Senate Bill 6206 cleared the House on a unanimous vote Tuesday after passing the Senate last month. It now heads to the desk of Gov. Jay Inslee." The bill would allow Washington State University to study if hemp production in the state is feasible and if there is a market for it. The university would report findings to the Legislature in January of 2017.

Moreover, the Kentucky Hempsters, a group of Kentucky natives who educate Kentuckians on industrial hemp, and the Hemp Road Trip, another group of hemp advocates who educates others through a grassroots campaign, teamed up this week for an all-day road trip across historical hemp country "in an effort to promote the ample history of the Kentucky hemp industry and educate others about the current initiatives taking place to re-ignite this antebellum industry."

The Hemp Road Tour is also sponsored by the National Hemp Association. The National Hemp Association (NHA) is a mission-driven, non-profit organization "dedicated to the re-birth of industrial hemp in America which helps connect farmers, processors, manufactures, researchers, investors and policy makers to accelerate the growth of this important industry in the United States." To join the National Hemp Association, click here.

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 also 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.

IHMMCC's most recent agreement is with FutureLand Corp (OTC PINK: FUTL), a leading provider of strategic real estate investment, grow facilities and material solutions to the global cannabis industry. Per the Consultant Agreement, IHMMCC will provide consulting services specific to the Industrial Hemp/Medical Marijuana Industry in the area of sales and marketing strategy, public company venues, and general industry specific business guidance to FutureLand Corp. For more information on FutureLand Corp, visit there website here.

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.

Hemp, Inc.

(855) 436-7688

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Technavio's latest location based services (LBS) market in GCC report highlights three key emerging trends predicted to impact market growth through 2020. Technavio defines an emerging trend as something that has potential for significant impact on the market and contributes to its growth or decline.

"Key finding of this market study indicates, in 2015, the location-based tracking segment, with a market share of 36.56%, dominated the outdoor LBS market in the GCC region. The outdoor location-based tracking market is driven by increased adoption of GPS-enabled smartphones and a rise in broadband penetration. Consumers use tracking applications to find transportation, and it is also popular in industries, such as oil and gas and manufacturing, for equipment and asset tracking," said Rakesh Kumar Panda, one of Technavio's lead industry analysts for machine to machine research.

Technavio's market research study identifies the following three emerging trends expected to propel growth of the global LBS market in GCC:

Rising use of 3D platforms

LBS using LED fixtures

LBS for public safety and national security

Rising use of 3D platforms

The use of 3D platform in the form of geospatial information systems has increased considerably in the GCC region. Companies such as Atos use GIS platforms with LBS to offer services to various businesses in the GCC region related to supply chain management, data centers, infrastructure development, urban planning, risk and emergency management, navigation, and healthcare. Augmented reality technology uses GIS information and 3D platforms to provide users with information about their surroundings. This helps enterprises understand user needs and sends them targeted advertisements.

Logistics and supply chain management 3D platforms are used to increase efficiency and minimize cost. 3D visualization provides clarity about routes, warehouse utilization, and throughput, while software management provides information about transportation. Consumers in the supply chain segment tend to modify transport routes based on the information gathered by 3D platforms to optimize performance. The market trend thus indicates an increased use of 3D platforms coupled with LBS will likely propel the overall indoor LBS market over the next four years.

LBS using LED fixtures

The use of LED fixtures acting as indoor LBS trackers eliminates the need to install additional hardware and therefore saves cost. Various chips manufactured by lighting companies are embedded in LED-based overhead lights that are used in offices and stores. These chips communicate with consumer smartphones, while sensors track customer movements within the store.

Indoor location-based services using LED fixtures are being used to provide directions to various services at airports, museums, and retail outlets. These services help locate required products or services at the right time. It also helps retailers offer customized incentives and sales offers to shoppers to increase sales volumes. Thanks to these promising benefits on offer, the market for LBS using LED fixtures in GCC is predicted to witness steady growth during the forecast period.

LBS for public safety and national security

An LBS platform includes software as well as hardware network infrastructure, collectively used to calculate the position of mobiles. Mobile LBS platforms are used to provide public safety services, and for national security and law enforcement. Approximately 72% of emergency calls are made using mobile phones, and it is essential to track the accurate location of these callers during an event of emergency. LBS platforms provide real-time information about the caller's location in a short span of time. These platforms are also used in public warning systems where all mobile users in a geo-fenced area receive alert messages during an emergency. Government agencies use LBS platforms with data mining platforms for critical infrastructure protection.

Governments and security agencies in countries such as Kuwait, the UAE, and Oman use LBS to track criminals, for emergency call applications and surveillance. AirPatrol, for instance, develops precision location-finding software and systems that allow organizations to identify tablets, wireless devices, and cellphones inside any building. R&D firms, government agencies, and enterprises worldwide use AirPatrol's ZoneDefence location-based mobile security platforms.

Polaris Wireless provides the Altus application suite, which delivers services such as tracking, geo-fencing, and mass analytics. Technavio researchers anticipate the growing use of LBS for public safety and national security will boost market growth until 2020.

Browse related reports:

Indoor LBS Market in Western Europe 2015-2019

Global Indoor LBS Market 2015-2019

LBS Market in India 2015-2019

Purchase any 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/20160304005037/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) -- 03/04/16 -- Precipitate Gold Corporation (the "Company" or "Precipitate" or "PRG") (TSX VENTURE: PRG) is pleased to announce it has granted a total of 1,270,000 incentive stock options to directors, officers, employees and consultants of the Company, subject to TSX Venture Exchange acceptance. Each option is exercisable to purchase one common share of the Company until March 4, 2021 at a price of C$0.12 per common share in accordance with the terms of the Company's stock option plan.

About Precipitate Gold:

Precipitate Gold Corp. is a mineral exploration company focused on exploring and advancing its mineral property interests in the Tireo Gold Trend of the Dominican Republic. The Company also maintains assets in northern British Columbia and southeast Yukon Territory and is actively evaluating additional high-impact property acquisitions with the potential to expand the Company's portfolio and increase shareholder value.

Additional information can be viewed at the Company's website www.precipitategold.com.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors of Precipitate Gold Corp.,

"Jeffrey Wilson"

President & CEO

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 this release.

This press release may contain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are forward looking information. Generally, forward-looking information may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "proposed", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases, or by the use of words or phrases which state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, or might occur or be achieved. This forward-looking information reflects Precipitate Gold Corp.'s ("Precipitate" or the "Company") current beliefs and is based on information currently available to Company and on assumptions it believes are reasonable. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Precipitate to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors may include, but are not limited to: the exploration concessions may not be granted on terms acceptable to the Company, or at all; general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; the concessions acquired by the Company may not have attributes similar to those of surrounding properties; delay or failure to receive governmental or regulatory approvals; changes in legislation, including environmental legislation affecting mining; timing and availability of external financing on acceptable terms; conclusions of economic evaluations; and lack of qualified, skilled labour or loss of key individuals. Although Precipitate has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Precipitate does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

Contacts:

Precipitate Gold Corporation

604-558-0335

Toll Free: 855-558-0335

investor@precipitategold.com

www.precipitategold.com




OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 03/04/16 -- The Honourable Hunter Tootoo, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, is proud to lead the delegation of Canadian fisheries and aquaculture representatives and industry members at Seafood Expo North America, March 6-8, 2016, Boston, Massachusetts.

The largest trade exposition of its kind in North America, Seafood Expo North America attracts thousands of seafood buyers and sellers from around the globe. The exposition presents an excellent opportunity for Canadian businesses to brand and showcase their high quality products and to expand their market access.

Seafood Expo North America also represents an excellent venue to release the 2015 trade figures for Canada's exports of fish and seafood products. Canadian exports continued to grow once again, with total sales of $6 billion in 2015. This represents a record high growth rate with an overall increase of $1 billion or 21% from the previous year. The United States remains our largest export market, accounting for 65% of fish and seafood exports, at a value of $3.8 billion.

In a further example of the Government of Canada's commitment to working closely with all orders of government, Minister Tootoo is looking forward to productive meetings not only with fish and seafood industry representatives, but also his planned meetings with a number of provincial and territorial Ministers and Premiers from Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, British Columbia and Nunavut, as well as international partners, who are also attending Seafood Expo North America.

Quick Facts

-- Fish and seafood is Canada's third largest food export, after wheat and canola. -- Canada's aquaculture industry is increasingly important to our economy, contributing more than $2 billion in total economic activity. -- Approximately 85% of all fish and seafood landed by Canadian harvesters is exported. -- Canada's most valuable exports by species are lobster, snow/queen crab, shrimp and Atlantic salmon.

Quotes

"From ocean to ocean to ocean and everywhere in between, Canadians are relying on our fish and seafood industry for food and to boost our economy. Our fishery employs more than 76,000 Canadians with our fish and seafood exports posting a record growth rate of $1 billion. Canadians can also be proud of our country's international reputation for responsibly managed fisheries as we continue to deliver our safe, high-quality fish and seafood products to dinner tables everywhere."

- The Honourable Hunter Tootoo, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard

"The United States has traditionally been and remains an important market for Canadian fish and seafood and Seafood Expo North America continues to represent a world class stage for our Canadian fish and seafood. Minister Tootoo's participation has a significant impact for our industry, demonstrating that we are working together to provide well managed, sustainable fisheries and premium quality fish and seafood products. We are pleased with the Government of Canada's strong leadership and collaboration when it comes to preserving and promoting Canada's world class fish and seafood."

- Michelle Boudreau, President, Fisheries Council of Canada

"Canada is a world leader in responsible and sustainable seafood farming and we are proud to showcase the full diversity of our healthy and nutritious products at Seafood Expo North America. Fisheries and Oceans Minister Tootoo's hands on leadership - and the support of the Government of Canada for aquaculture - is most welcomed at this highly valued global event."

- Ruth Salmon, Executive Director, Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance

Associated Links

-- For more information about Canadian fish and seafood exports and other useful statistics, consult the Statistics section of the Fisheries and Oceans website at: http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/stats/stats-eng.htm -- Read more about Canada's commitment to sustainability in our wild capture fishery and aquaculture sectors at Fisheries and Oceans Canada's Sustainable Seafood web site

Internet: http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca

Follow us on Twitter! www.Twitter.com/DFO_MPO

Contacts:

Media Relations

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

613-990-7537

Media.xncr@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

613-990-7537



Mike Murphy

Director of Communications

Office of the Minister

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

613-992-3474




"I am pleased to announce that the Republic of Argentina has continued to reach Agreements in Principle with its Bondholders, large and small.There are now Agreements in Principle in place with 10 additional Bondholders involving settlements of an aggregate of $6.7 million. These settlements are all subject to the conditions that the Argentine Congress lift the Lock Law and the Sovereign Payment Law, and that the Court lift the Injunctions that have been in place for the last several years.The Court has done so, conditionally, but a few parties have appealed that Order of the Court. It is the hope of all concerned that the appeals will be expedited so that there can be clarity as to the finality of the Order. The settlements are both with funds and individuals, including Tortus Capital II, Tortus Capital III, Biagini, Vefling, Schivardi (2), Piol, Ercolani, Beltramo and Settin. These settlements are all within the parameters of the Propuesta published by the Republic on February 5.I will have no further comment on these settlements today."

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- (Marketwired) -- 03/04/16 -- Brookfield Global Listed Infrastructure Income Fund Inc. (NYSE: INF), Brookfield High Income Fund Inc. (NYSE: HHY), Brookfield Mortgage Opportunity Income Fund Inc. (NYSE: BOI) and Brookfield Total Return Fund Inc. (NYSE: HTR) (each, a "Fund," and collectively, the "Funds") today announced that their Boards of Directors declared their monthly distributions.

Brookfield Global Listed Infrastructure Income Fund Inc. declared a monthly distribution of $0.1167 per share, payable on March 24, 2016 to stockholders of record on March 17, 2016. The ex-distribution date is March 15, 2016. Based on the NYSE closing price of $10.54 on March 3, 2016, the Fund's annualized distribution rate was 13.29%.

Brookfield High Income Fund Inc. declared a monthly distribution of $0.075 per share, payable on March 24, 2016, to stockholders of record on March 17, 2016. The ex-distribution date is March 15, 2016. Based on the NYSE closing price of $6.64 on March 3, 2016, the Fund's annualized distribution rate was 13.55%.

Brookfield Mortgage Opportunity Income Fund Inc. declared a monthly distribution of $0.1271 per share, payable on March 24, 2016 to stockholders of record on March 17, 2016. The ex-distribution date is March 15, 2016. Based on the NYSE closing price of $14.57 on March 3, 2016, the Fund's annualized distribution rate was 10.47%.

Brookfield Total Return Fund Inc. declared a monthly distribution of $0.19 per share, payable on March 24, 2016 to stockholders of record on March 17, 2016. The ex-distribution date is March 15, 2016. Based on the NYSE closing price of $23.34 on March 3, 2016, the Fund's annualized distribution rate was 9.77%.

Shares purchased on or after the ex-distribution date will not receive the distribution discussed above. Please contact your financial advisor with any questions. Distributions may include net investment income, capital gains and/or return of capital. The distribution rate referenced above is calculated as the annualized amount of the most recent monthly distribution declared divided by the stated stock price. Any portion of the Fund's distributions that is a return of capital does not necessarily reflect the Fund's investment performance and should not be confused with "yield" or "income." The tax status of distributions will be determined at the end of the taxable year.

Brookfield Investment Management (the "Firm") is an SEC-registered investment adviser providing real assets public securities strategies including global listed real estate and infrastructure equities as well as corporate credit and securitized credit. With nearly $17 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2015, the Firm manages institutional separate accounts, registered funds and other investment products for clients, including financial institutions, public and private pension plans, insurance companies, endowments and foundations, sovereign wealth funds and high net-worth investors. Headquartered in New York, NY, the Firm and its affiliates also maintain offices in Boston, Chicago, London and Toronto. Further information is available on www.brookfieldim.com. Brookfield Investment Management Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management, a leading global alternative asset manager with approximately $225 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2015. For more information, go to www.brookfield.com.

Brookfield Global Listed Infrastructure Income Fund Inc., Brookfield High Income Fund Inc., Brookfield Mortgage Opportunity Income Fund Inc. and Brookfield Total Return Fund Inc. are managed by Brookfield Investment Management. The Funds use their websites as a channel of distribution of material company information. Financial and other material information regarding the Funds are routinely posted on and accessible at www.brookfieldim.com.

Contacts:

Brookfield Global Listed Infrastructure Income Fund Inc.

Brookfield High Income Fund Inc.

Brookfield Mortgage Opportunity Income Fund Inc.

Brookfield Total Return Fund Inc.

(855) 777-8001

funds@brookfield.com




EDMONTON, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 03/04/16 -- Canadian Western Bank (TSX: CWB) today announced that all nominees listed in the management proxy circular dated January 4, 2016 were elected as directors of CWB. Detailed results of the vote for the election of directors held yesterday in Edmonton at CWB's Annual General Meeting are set out below.

Election of Directors

On a vote by ballot, each of the 11 nominees proposed by management was elected as a director of CWB:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nominee Votes For % For Votes Withheld % Withheld ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Albrecht W.A. Bellstedt, Q.C. 36,991,820 87.16 5,449,074 12.84 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Andrew J. Bibby 41,795,915 98.48 644,979 1.52 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Christopher H. Fowler 42,103,486 99.20 337,408 0.80 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linda M.O. Hohol 41,560,094 97.92 880,800 2.08 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Robert A. Manning 38,854,023 91.55 3,586,871 8.45 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sarah A. Morgan-Silvester 42,252,400 99.56 188,494 0.44 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Robert L. Phillips, Q.C. 39,435,224 92.92 3,005,670 7.08 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Raymond J. Protti 41,599,342 98.02 841,552 1.98 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ian M. Reid 41,006,111 96.62 1,434,783 3.38 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- H. Sanford Riley 40,496,636 95.42 1,944,258 4.58 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alan M. Rowe 41,342,302 97.41 1,098,592 2.59 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

About Canadian Western Bank Group

CWB Group (CWB) is a diversified financial services organization serving businesses and individuals across Canada. Operating from its headquarters in Edmonton, Alberta, CWB's key business lines include full-service business and personal banking offered through 41 branches of Canadian Western Bank and Internet banking services provided by Canadian Direct Financial (CDF). Highly responsive specialized financing is delivered under the banners of CWB Equipment Financing, National Leasing, CWB Maxium Financial and CWB Optimum Mortgage. Trust Services are offered through Canadian Western Trust. Comprehensive wealth management offerings are provided through CWB Wealth Management, which includes the businesses of Adroit Investment Management, McLean & Partners Wealth Management and Canadian Western Financial. As a public company on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), CWB trades under the symbols "CWB" (common shares) and "CWB.PR.B" (Series 5 Preferred Shares). Learn more at www.cwb.com.

Contacts:

Canadian Western Bank

Matt Evans, CFA

AVP, Investor Relations

(780) 969-8337

matt.evans@cwbank.com

www.cwb.com




Black Pearls VC, a Gdansk, Poland-based venture capital firm, hired Ewa Treitz as Venture Partner and Maciej Skorkiewicz as the new Investment Director.

Treitz, who has her roots in Gdansk but served in multiple management roles at venture capital and corporate vc funds in Germany, Sweden and USA, will be involved in the building of the international position of the firm, especially in the Baltic Sea Region.

Skorkiewicz, who has over 20 years of senior executive experience, fundraising, investments, IPOs, public trading in securities and M&As and was the former CEO of Inveno Venture Capital fund, will work with the funds portfolio companies, developing their sales and IR capabilities.

Since 2014, Ewa has been a member of Kauffman Fellowship  an executive education program for top Venture Capital investors worldwide, based in Palo Alto, California. She is also a graduate of Uppsala University in Sweden and Jacobs University in Germany, where she studied environmental technologies and economics. Ewa areas of expertise are energy & materials, electronics, SaaS and robotics.

Skorkiewicz is former CEO of Inveno Venture Capital fund. For 11 years, he was an Investor Relations Department Director in the Polish largest ICT company  Prokom Software. Since early 90s, Skorkiewicz has been involved in the Polish capital market, both as an investor and founder of Sopots Brokerage House, where he was responsible for the organization of brokerage house foundation and supervising the merger with another company.

Led by Marcin Kowalik, co-founder and Managing Partner, Black Pearls VC is a venture capital fund focused on Northern Poland and the Baltic Sea Region

With headquartes in Gdansk, Warsaw, Katowice, and Munich, the firm invests in high growth potential ventures and innovative R&D projects in such areas as life quality technologies (LQT), space industry, agriculture

It currently manages PLN37m, operating a business portfolio of 33 companies.

FinSMEs

04/03/2016
CornerJob, a Barcelona, Spain-based geolocalized job search marketplace, raised $10m in funding.

Backers included Antai Bussiness Angels, Mediaset, Banc Sabadell Capital, Bonsai Venture Capital, Cube Investments, Ithaca Investment, Samaipata, Caixa Capital Risc, and Media Digital Ventures. In addition, ENISA provided a loan.

The company intends to use the funds to consolidate its market position in Italy, Spain, France, etc., and expand into other countries.

Co-founded by Miguel Vicente and Gerard Olive (who are the founders of Antai Venture Builder), CEO David Rodriguez, and Italy Country Manager Mauro Maltagliati, CornerJob has developed a job matching app that enables users to find geolocated job offers, apply to them, chat directly with the recruiters and get an answer in 24 hours. For companies, the chat feature allows them to minimize timeouts in the selection process.

3,000 job offers are published weekly in several sectors including Food and Beverage, tourism, retail, services, logistics, manufacturing, etc.

The company operates offices in 10 countries in Southern Europe, North and South America.

FinSMEs

04/03/2016
Medasense Biometrics Ltd., a Ramat Gan, Israel-based developer of a proprietary objective pain monitoring technology, closed an $8m Series B financing.

The round was led by Benslie International Ltd., with participation from existing investors and a strategic investor  a global medical technology corporation.

The company intends to use the funds to accelerate commercialization of its flagship product PMD-200.

Led by Galit Zuckerman, CEO and founder, Medasense provides PMD-200, an objective pain monitoring system for operating rooms and critical care, where patients under general anesthesia are unable to communicate their pain.

The system consists of a non-invasive finger probe that records multiple pain-related physiological signals, and the PMD-200 monitor, which uses a composite algorithm to determine an individuals real-time, pain level index  NoL.

The technology uses a unique multi-parametric approach and advanced statistical modeling to convert complicated data into a patients Signature of Pain.

FinSMEs

04/03/2016
Patrick Hopf, a search engine pioneer and digital industry veteran, is the Founder and President of Sourceknowledge, a Canadian performance video advertising technology company which has just raised $1.5m in funding.

In conjunction with the round, Patrick answered our questions about the company, the product, the funding and future plans.

FinSMEs: Which problem do you want to solve at SourceKnowledge?

Patrick: There is a large concern in the digital advertising industry surrounding fraudulent advertising practices and concerns on general viewability of ads on both apps and browser traffic. SourceKnowledges Engage platform provides a solution to these problems by providing data-driven marketers with a performance alternative to their ad spend. Our technology platform provides post-click data to optimize their advertising efforts. Our full-stack solution bridges the gaps in customer acquisition and gives marketers the tools they need to identify, recapture, convert and measure high value audiences across any device.

FinSMEs: Lets speak about Engage. How does it work?

Patrick: The Engage platform was developed for mobile gaming and app publishers, eCommerce brands, SaaS companies and performance-driven agencies. It empowers them to create data-driven journeys that allow for more efficient user acquisition alongside transparent reporting that focuses on conversion metrics. The platform enables advertisers to take an omnichannel approach to digital advertising by leveraging video and display assets, data targeting and re-engagement capabilities across multiple devices. Engage allows for campaigns to access more than 60 billion ad opportunities every month through partnerships with Facebook, Google, Twitter, LiveRail, AOL, DailyMotion and SpotXchange.

FinSMEs: Where are you in terms of growth?

Patrick: Weve seen tremendous growth with 296% revenue growth between 2011 and 2015. In 2015, we opened offices in Vancouver and we more than doubled the size of our team.

FinSMEs: You just raised a $1.5m round of financing? How are you using the funds?

Patrick: Well be making significant investments in growth as we ramp-up headcount for our product development, marketing and sales teams.

FinSMEs: You are based in Montreal. An exciting entrepreneurial environment?

Patrick: We are headquartered in Montreal and we have offices in Vancouver. There are so many fantastic resources in Montreal for growth stage tech companies and that kind of environment produces exceptionally innovative products. The city also produces incredibly talented developers, which helps businesses like ours rapidly build and get to market.

FinSMEs

03/03/2016
Saxony, Germany-based startup investment program Technologiegrunderfonds Sachsen (TGFS) raised an additional 64.4m.

The new funds will be used to invest in tech startups based in and with a presence in Saxony.

Launched in 2008, the investment program has supported 41 companies successfully exiting 7 of them.

Led by Soren Schuster, CEO, TGFS provides startups with capital to move ideas to market and access to the network of experienced TGFS managers. The firm now aims to back up to 45 more companies investing from 100k to 5m euros for each startup.

Investment areas of interest include ICT, semiconductor microsystems, medical technology, environmental and energy technology and new media.

FinSMEs

03/03/2016
vivereinforma, a Rome, Italy-based personal health & wellness platform, raised a seed funding of undisclosed amount.

The round led by Ascoli Piceno-based venture accelerator Hub21.

The company intends to use the funds to boost web & mobile content and build out the e-health platform.

Led by Manuel Salvadori, vivereinforma is an online destination, with 70.000 monthly visitors on average, which enables people and athletes to set and achieve health and fitness goals by properly managing lifestyles. The platform also aims to bring wellness in the workplace through health promotion activity and organizational policy designed to support healthy behavior among employees.

The company is now developing the e-health platform with individually created fitness prescription and nutritional products and packages.

In conjunction with the funding, vivereinforma has opened an office in Ascoli Piceno.

FinSMEs

04/03/2016
For those who thought Vicky Kaushals Masaan act last year was just a one-off flash in the pan affair, Zubaan is an eye-opener.

In Zubaan, Kaushal plays Dilsher , the waylaid Sikh boy from Gurdaspur who only wants to be successful in ways that we normally describe success. So he schemes his way into the heart and home of a business tycoon Sikand (Manish Chaudhary, who exudes arrogant power the way Amrish Puri did in Subhash Ghais Pardes) and ends up getting what he thinks he wants.

From here onwards first-time director Mozez Singh (who must be kidding about being a debutant director, because which first-timer would be able to make a film so confident and compelling?) charts Dilshers descent into a self-serving opportunism and then his sudden swerve into redemption.

This journey back and forth on the morality of life has been undertaken repeatedly in films as far-ranging as Raman Kumars Saath Saath and Rishi Kapoors Aa Ab Laut Chalen.

What sets Zubaan apart is the directors fusion of guilt and atonement without faltering even once in putting forward a cogent argument for why the over-reachers of the world do what they do to get where they think they want to go.

Of course, the fact that Vickey Kaushal plays the protagonist helps considerably in making director Mozez Singhs job a lot easier. First Masaan and now Zubaan, Kaushal proves beyond doubt that he is among the most important acting talent to have touched base in Hindi cinema during the last decade.

His command over his stammering speech left me stammering for words of praise. Kaushals Dilsher is a portrait of self-destructive ambitions.

Dilsher is stammering, fumbling bundle of self-regard. We know he will fall; the brilliant script (Sumit Roy, Mozez Singh) catches hold of Dilsher before he hits the ground. The last few scenes of the film when Dilsher heads to his village, and rediscovers his roots, is individuated by a sharp sense of musical confluence where the traditional sound of Gurbani meets a rock-stadium outburst.

This cloudburst of musical effusion is composed by an impressively versatile composer Ashutosh Phatak, who brings to the film a sense of universality that one seeks and finds in music.

Its music that provides an inner tranquility to Dilshers troubled soul. It takes a series of random run-ins with the fey Amira (Sara Jane Dias) for Dilsher to understand why he stops stammering only when he is singing.

Zubaan is a film that never allows itself to be governed by its not-inconsiderable baggage of subtexts. The ideas of running away from ones root in the quest of worldly ambitions is nailed by the directors confident command over his characters destiny. If Dilsher is the kind of young hero who must fall to rise again, there is Dilshers hero the business tycoon Sikand, who is too lost in the labyrinth of his dreams to know what a nightmarish world he has created around himself.

The films pre-finale confrontational moment between Dilsher and his erstwhile idol the tycoon Sikand is shot with a firm grip over the grammar of the emotions that underline the dialogue. Here, more than anywhere else, we realize what an evolved actor Vicky Kaushal is, and how good cinema has come to depend on his abilities over just two films.

The film is shot in several starkly contrasting landscapes. Cinematographer Swapnil Sonawane leans on the luminous without getting swept into the poetry of the moment. The austere odyssey takes us from the serene spirituality of the gurdwara in Hoshiarpur to the deserts of Rajasthan, where Amira tries to forget her dead brother.

Bankruptcy of the soul is manifested in visual images and musical pieces which try to add up and make sense of that puzzle which know to be life.

Besides an outstandingly contemplative performance by Vickey Kaushal, Zubaan gives us a brand new directorial talent Mozez Singh (again,is this really his first film?!) Mozez has a rare ability to create a drama of dissent in his plot without resorting to excessive melodrama.

There are passages in Zubaan where we see the directors vision of an individual held ransom by his ambitions, and we are shaken in a rejuvenating way. Zubaan is an exhilarating journey of self-discovery, and far far more accomplished work that this weeks other release Prakash Jhas Jai Gangaajal.
New Delhi: An inter-ministerial panel is understood to have recommended replacing 5/20 international flying norms for domestic carriers, amid bitter tussle between old and new airlines over continuing with the regulation.

The committee, chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, on Friday met for the second time and discussed various aspects of the proposed new civil aviation policy.

While there has been no official word, sources said the panel is believed to have pitched for scrapping the 5/20 norm and replace it with some other requirements.

The meeting was also attended by various senior ministers including Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Nitin Gadkari.

The panel's move assumes significance as the established and startup carriers are engaged in bitter war of words over the 5/20 norm, with noted industrialist Ratan Tata pitching for removal of this rule.

Tata Group owns stakes in two new carriers -- AirAsia India and Vistara.

However, the Federation of Indian Airlines -- that comprises Jet Airways, SpiceJet, IndiGo and GoAir -- are

vehemently opposed to scrapping 5/20 rule.

Under 5/20 norm, an Indian carrier is required to have at least five years of domestic operational experience and

a minimum of 20 planes to go international.

Though the draft Civil Aviation policy, unveiled in October last year, suggested various options with respect to

the 5/20 rule, a final decision is yet to be taken.

Terming as sad the lobbying of incumbent airlines for "protection and preferential treatment", Chairman Emeritus of

Tata Sons Ratan Tata, last month, had said such moves (for continuation of 5/20 norm) are reminiscent of the monopolistic pressures by entities with vested interests who fear competition.

Tata Sons runs joint venture airlines, Vistara and AirAsia India, with Singapore Airlines and AirAsia respectively. Arun Bhatia of Telestra Tradeplace is the third partner in AirAsia India.

Hitting back, FIA had alleged that the demand to call for removal of 5/20 was not in "national interest" but

"self-interest" on the part of the Tata Sons and its partner airlines.

Last month, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma had said the government would take a call on 5/20 rule at the right time.

PTI
New Delhi - The second edition of Gyan Sangam, a retreat of heads of public sector financial institutions, will begin on Friday against the backdrop of the government's strategy to favour consolidation among public sector banks.

Earlier this week, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, in the Budget 2016-17 said the government will unveil a road map for consolidation in public sector banks (PSBs).

The two-day conference, to be attended by Jaitley, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, Financial Services Secretary Anjuly Chib Duggal and other senior finance ministry officials, will see discussion on mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in the banking sector, sources said.

The Gyan Sangam this time is unlikely to be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The banking sector is grappling with rising non-performing assets (NPAs), which are expected to rise further in coming quarters.

Gross NPAs of public sector banks stood at Rs 3.60 lakh crore at December-end, up from Rs 2.67 lakh crore at the end of March 2015.

In the case of private banks, gross NPAs stood at Rs 38,396 crore at December-end, up from Rs 31,576 crore at March-end 2015.

Due to mounting bad loans, profitability of public sector banks has taken a hit.

In the third quarter alone, many PSBs, including Bank of Baroda, Bank of India and IDBI Bank, reported their highest ever quarterly losses aggregating over Rs 12,000 crore, while others like SBI and PNB witnessed a sharp erosion in profits.

The first Gyan Sangam was held last year in Pune where Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed heads of PSU banks and insurers and financial regulators, promising no interference from any government functionary in their commercial decisions.

There were focussed group discussions on six topics which resulted in specific decisions on optimising capital digitising processes, strengthening risk management, improving managerial performance and financial inclusion.

In this edition of Gyan Sangam, various decisions taken at the last edition will be reviewed, along with the financial performance of banks and financial institutions.

Participants will also deliberate on two focus areas of the government -- financial inclusion and the direct benefit transfer scheme.

It is expected that there will be extensive review of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), the government's flagship financial inclusion programme.

Deposits in accounts opened under the PMJDY programme have crossed the Rs 30,000 crore mark. As many as 20.38 crore bank accounts were opened under PMJDY as on January 20.

Besides, progress with regard to Atal Pension Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) would also come up for review.

PTI
New Delhi: The government today said it has a "very good sense" of the problem of bad loans in banking sector and will continue to provide funds to strengthen state-owned banks. "We have now a very good sense of...stressed assets. We believe that the stressed assets are about Rs 8 lakh crores of the total advances that public and private sector banks...," Ministry of State Finance Jayant Sinha said here at the second Gyan Sangam.

The government has provided Rs 25,000 crore in the Budget 2016, he said, adding, "we will provide more as necessary to ensure that our banks are well capitalised". "We have about about 11.25 percent of the numbers of stressed assets in the system right now. The good news in all of this is two-fold that - the set of stressed assets are stabilised, we know where they are and we know how to deal with them," he added.

In addition, he said, the RBI has also made certain changes to the manner in which capital can be recognised as part of the tier-I capital and that has added further strength to bank balance sheet. As far as the set of stressed assets and the NPA situation are concerned, Sinha said: "We think we now have a very good control over them, and of course are working very closely with the RBI. "We will continue to work with those numbers to see how we can further expedite and strengthen the recovery process for these stressed assets."

Government has plans to infuse Rs 70,000 crore in PSBs over four years ending March 2019. Of this, Rs 25,000 crore each would come in 2015-16 and 2016-17. Infusion of Rs 10,000 crore for each of 2017-18 and 2018-19 fiscals. The capital infusion roadmap indicates that the overall capital requirements of the banks over the four-year period would total Rs 1.85 lakh crore.

Sinha said the issue of sale of non-core assets of banks will be deliberated upon at the Gyan Sangam. The Reserve Bank, he said, has closely looked into the stressed assets across both public and private sector banks as well as Non-Banking Financial Companies. He also said that efforts are being made to strengthen the stressed asset resolution capabilities of the banks which would help in dealing with the problem.

"Rs 8 lakh crore stressed assets is for the entire scheduled commercial banks, public and private sectors banks across the system. The system has roughly about Rs 69 lakh crore of total loan book," he added. The minister said the government would go through phases as part of the banks transformation agenda.

"We were in phase II, when we were looking at assets quality and really trying to assess the system wise balance sheet and balance sheet of individual banks so that process was necessary pre condition before we get into the third phase. This addition of Gyan Sangam is to look into all aspects including consolidation as well," he added.

PTI
ADEN Four gunmen attacked an old people's home in the Yemeni port of Aden on Friday, killing at least 15 people, including four Christian nuns from India, local officials and medical sources said.

The gunmen, who first told the guard they were on a visit to their mother, stormed into the home with rifles and opened fire, one local official said. As well as the nuns, the dead included two Yemeni women working at the facility, eight elderly residents and a guard.

The motive of the gunmen was not immediately known. They fled after the attack, the official said.

The bodies of those killed have been transferred to a clinic supported by medical group Medecins Sans Frontieres, medical sources said.

Yemen's embattled government is based in Aden but has struggled to impose its authority there since its forces, backed by Gulf Arab troops, expelled Iran-allied Houthi fighters who still control the country's capital, Sanaa.

Once a cosmopolitan city home to thriving Hindu and Christian communities, Aden has gone from one of the world's busiest ports as a key hub of the British empire to a largely lawless backwater.

Aden's small Christian population left long ago. Unknown assailants have previously vandalised a Christian cemetery, torched a church and last year blew up an abandoned Catholic church.

(Reporting By Mohammed Mukhashaf; additional reporting by Mohammed Ghobari in Cairo; Writing By Maha El Dahan; Editing by Gareth Jones)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
In a chilling rerun of the Kaliachak violence in Malda, one person was killed when a mob  enraged by an alleged inflammatory Facebook post against the Prophet by a college student  attacked a police station, damaged several vehicles and injured three more in the Illambazar area of Birbhum district in West Bengal last Tuesday.

Close on the heels of January's Kaliachak incident, when a violent mob had ransacked a police station, tension erupted in Birbhum when Sujan Mukherjee, a third-year student of computer technology at an engineering college and a resident of Illambazar, uploaded an allegedly derogatory post against the Prophet on Facebook in response to a similar inflammatory post on goddess Durga which was shared by local Muslim boys.

As Mukherjee's post, uploaded on Monday, got circulated in social media a mob attacked his house that night, beat him up and heckled his family members. Fearing for his life, Mukerhjee surrendered to the police. A court subsequently sent him to 14-day judicial custody.

The news of his arrest, however, saw a huge crowd armed with bricks and batons gherao the Illambazar police station. According to the police, the mob demanded that the accused be handed over to them.

Polices attempts to reason with the crowd and let the law take its own course was met with refusal and the mob, growing in numbers, reportedly attacked the police station and damaged the vehicles forcing the cops to fire tear gas shells to disperse the protesters. The mob also put up a road blockade at NH-60 and damaged several public and private vehicles.

According to the police, shots were fired to disperse the unruly mob and one protester, who had been a part of the road blockade, was allegedly hit on the head and died on the spot.

The Illambazar incident is the latest among a growing trend in Bengal of police officers and police stations coming under attack.

In a throwback to the Illambazar and Kaliachak attacks, a rampaging mob on 15 January had ransacked the Mayureshwar police station after a youth named Seikh Sazu was run over by a mini truck allegedly belonging to the sand mafia.

Angry local residents had attacked and assaulted policemen and torched their vehicles. The mob then turned on the police station and set it on fire. The inspector-in-charge of the police station, Rakesh Sadhukhan, fled for his life while women constables had to save their lives and dignity by taking refuge in barracks.

Though Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has condemned the frequent attacks on lawkeepers, it would seem that her plea is not cutting much ice. What has encouraged the mob is the administrations lack of intent to bring the perpetrators to book.

Had those responsible for the violence in Malda been promptly and firmly dealt with, the attacks may not have repeated with such alarming frequency.

The chief minister had famously commented that Malda violence was a clash between BSF and the local people.

If that is the case, is Bengal police is governed by her or by the BSF? If it was a clash between Central forces and the local public, why on earth would they attack the police station that is governed by the Bengals home minister?

Truth is, compulsions of vote bank politics prevent the administration from taking stern action against radical elements among the Muslims. The Kaliachak incident saw the police station get a fresh coat of paint after getting torched. It has emboldened a section of the goons who now have no fear of even the police.

In a bid to secure the Muslim votes that makes over 27 percent of states population, the chief minister has conveniently forgotten that the attacks on the police station not only demoralise her forces, but it also instills fear in the minds of general public.
By Devendra Jalihal and Shreepad Karmalkar

[Editor's note: A group of 56 faculty members from IIT Madras wrote to President Pranab Mukherjee on 23 February (Tuesday) voicing a concern that institutions of higher learning in India have been turned into warzones. Devendra Jalihal and Shreepad Karmalkar, professors of Electrical Engineering Department, IIT Madras, and signatories of this petition, explain the rationale of their petition.]

A university is a place of universal knowledge related to the world inside and outside human beings. For practical purposes, this universal knowledge is divided into a variety of disciplines, namely  humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, formal sciences and applied sciences. The goal of universities across the world has been to absorb, store, generate and disseminate this universal knowledge, and transmit it from one generation to the next. This is the reason for funding a university from tax payers' money.

India has a huge young population. Young minds are impressionable. Hence, educating them and ensuring social justice without them falling prey to the language of abuse and hate is a major challenge. This challenge can be met not by agitations, but by dialogue and debate among various perspectives in a calm atmosphere. If instead of the above lofty ideals, debate and dissent based on unfettered freedom speech becomes the foremost goal of a university, dialogue and debate may slip into hate and abuse as has happened in some Indian universities. These universities would then cease to attract talent or be crucial national assets in addressing problems; they would nurture despair rather than hope. This is what we alerted in our petition to the president.

The Presidents of India notably Pranab Mukherjee and Late Abdul Kalam are patrons of knowledge and have been calling for Indian universities to reach landmark successes and to be renowned in the world. For this purpose, universities ought to have a metric of success. This metric could be different for different universities and disciplines. For example, IITs are trying to promote a metric based on the contributions of IIT graduates to the national or global economy. A Pan IIT study conducted in 2008 came out with a figure of Rs 20 lakh crore as the the total wealth generated by IITians. Eventually, the tax payer will judge the performance of a university by such metrics and not by agitations and protests.

(Inputs from KK Mukherjee and Narayanan N are gratefully acknowledged.)
Jammu: A 30-metre-long tunnel from Pakistan to the Indian side was detected on Thursday by the Border Security Force (BSF) on the international border in the RS Pura sector of Jammu district.

"We have detected a well-constructed tunnel on International Border (IB) in RS Pura sector of Jammu district today," said a senior BSF officer.

This is the fourth tunnel unearthed by the BSF in the region since 2012.

"We were carrying out our regular clearing operations, done monthly, when we found a well-constructed tunnel," he said, adding that it was being dug out with JCB.

"We were suspecting some activities across the border. There were late night movements. People used to come late in night to the post across."

The tunnel is approximately 10 feet below the ground and has a length of 30 metres from their end to this side, he said.

"But it was blocked on our side. It was dead end. It had no exit as they could not complete it further. It came close to the border fencing," the officer said.

"One person can sit and easily move inside the tunnel which has came up in the vicinity of Allah-Mai-Di-Kothi BoP of ours from Pakistan Post of Afzal," he said, adding that a probe was on.

The BSF, in a statement in Delhi, said the force is already on high alert on western borders and is working proactively to thwart any misadventure by anti-national elements.

After a detailed vulnerability analysis, the sensitive regions have been mapped yet again and special measures are now in place to counter any security threats.

"Efforts are on to check the complete layout and design of the tunnel. Senior officers are camping on the place of detection," it added.

Earlier, BSF had detected a 400-metre long cross-border tunnel along the International Border in July 2012 in Samba sector.

In May 2014, it had found a caved-in portion of the tunnel in Chillyari border belt in Samba district, which was found 23 metres inside the Indian territory.

Another tunnel was discovered in August 2014, which was approximately 130 to 150 metres in length along the Line of Control (LoC) and originated on the Pakistan side, near a forward post along Indo-Pak border in Jammu region's sensitive Pallanwala sector.

PTI
D Selvam, a judge in a court in Erode, a city in Tamil Nadu served a memo to his office assistant for failing to wash undergarments at his house and that the assistant spoke to his wife (judge's) wife in an arrogant tone, reports The Indian Express.

The memo reads (as quoted by The Indian Express): "Please explain within 7 days why disciplinary action should not be initiated against you for your failure to wash the inner wear which were put for washing in the Sub-Judges house, and for throwing them away disgustingly, and when your attitude was questioned by the officer and his wife for retorting in an arrogant tone."

In the event that transpired in February, Vasanthy, the office assistant, a Dalit woman responded to the memo  "I will guard against any lapses in the future and undertake to do my duties properly," she said. When the reporting team from The Indian Express contacted the judge to ask if it was legal to order office assistants to do menial jobs, he did not respond.

According to Hindustan Times, such engagement of office employees for personal benefits is not uncommon, in 2012, office assistant was asked to mop and sweep a judge's house, another was suspended for not cooking fish curry.

Vasanthy is the "sole bread-winner" of her family and has two daughters and husband who is unwell and according The Indian Express, Vasanthy continues to work at the judge's house  washing, cleaning and cooking. NDTV reports that the judge, D Selvan said that he had not done anything inappropriate  "She is an Officer's Assistant appointed to do menial work. I had given only my vest and not underwear. It's clearly given in the Judicial Officers' Association guidelines," he is quoted in the web article.
Perhaps few know that former Lok Sabha speaker PA Sangma was once very close to Congress president Sonia Gandhi. In 1999, he was seen as one of the closest to Sonia, who was then still coming of age vis-a-vis politics after a long period of hibernation following the 1991 assassination of Rajiv Gandhi .

Sangma however sprung a surprise after the NDA government lost the vote of confidence by a margin of one vote. In a meeting of Congress office-bearers, he along with Sharad Pawar and Tarique Anwar raised the banner of revolt against Sonia. And the most surprising of all suprises was the fact that the triumvirate raised the issue of Sonias origin.

Their revolt was quickly followed by Mulayam Singh Yadavs volte-face on extending support to the Congress to form the government at the Centre. Sonia, who went to the presidents house to stake her claim to form the government had to cut a very sorry figure in wake of the events that eclipsed all her chances of taking over as the Prime Minister of India.

At that time, the triumvirate was called Amar (Pawar), Akbar (Tarique) and Anthony (Sangama) as the three followed different religions. Considered the most affable and jolly among the trio, Sangma continued his political journey with Pawars Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Since the party is regional in its character, Sangma gradually began losing his influence not only in his home state  Meghalaya  but also at the national level.

He parted ways with Pawar in 2004 apparently chagrined by the NCPs decision to align with the Congress in forming the UPA government. Obviously unlike Pawar, Sangma stuck to his political beliefs that caused him to break away from the Congress. In his interviews, he was categorical in his assertion that Sonias origin was a major issue in the Congress. Though Sangma could not mend fences with the Congress, his daughter Agatha Sangma served as a minister in the UPA-2 government.

But as was his wont, Sangama was never a revisionist.

In the 2012 Presidential Election, he jumped into the fray as the NDA candidate against Pranab Mukherjee. Sangma lost by a whopping margin. The decision taken by 'Anthony' to contest the election formally severed all his ties with his former comrades-in-arms, 'Amar' and 'Akbar', who had changed with the times.

Those who know Sangma could testify that his smile was infectious.

In 1996, in the Lok Sabha, where he served briefly as the Speaker, he could cajole the most belligerent speakers into submission with his innocent smile. This proved invaluable during the debate in the Lok Sabha the same year when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was prime minister for 13 days. During the course of the debate when BJP members started shouting at the Congress for obstructing Vajpayee's speech, Sangama said, Why dont you listen to your prime minister? He is your prime minister.

This provoked an angry response from Pramod Mahajan who retorted, He is your prime minister too. With a beatific smile, Sangma said, Yes, I am sorry. He is our prime minister.

His graceful and conciliatory conduct in Parliament is a lesson for those who aspire to become parliamentarians in generations to come.
New Delhi: The HRD Ministry plans to identify central institutions in the next two to three months which it will facilitate to emerge as world class in teaching and research.

HRD minister Smriti Irani told reporters in New Delhi that the domestic rankings of the country's educational institutes, the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), will be released in April and would assist in selecting the institutes which can be competitive worldwide.

"I think in the next two three months, the process of identification would be over," Irani said.

In his budget speech, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said the government plans to to ensure an enabling regulatory environment to encourage ten public and ten private institutions to emerge as world class.

Institutions, which are involved in interdisciplinary studies or the highest levels of research, will be chosen, HRD ministry officials accompanying Irani said.

They said the Union Budget 2016 has allocated the Department of School Education and Literacy Rs 43,554 crore which is an increase of Rs 1,334.50 crores, while funds for the Department of Higher Education have been increased by over ten percent.

Pointed out that funds for initiatives like the national scheme for incentive to girl child for secondary education and scheme for madrassas had been reduced, HRD officials said if there is need supplementary funds can be provided.

The demands had been prepared in consultation with states, they said.

Irani also said 62 new Navodaya Vidyalayas have been announced in the Budget. HRD officials said of these, the largest number of 11 such schools would come up in Chhattisgarh.

After setting up of these Navodaya Vidyalyas, all districts with rural areas would have at least one such school and their total number would reach 660, officials said.

The officials also said a digital depository for certificates will be created. Prospective employers can, for a fee, view the certificates of those they want to employ. However, permission of the candidate would be must to aquire this information, officials said.

PTI
Being a Communist, student leader of the year Kanhaiya Kumar cannot thank his stars; but he should certainly thank the RSS, BJP, ABVP and all spirited Hindu-nationalists working for the government and those on the outside because they have given him a brand-new career. A career in which he can speak from the pulpit asking for azadi from all the ills that the country is facing.

Ideally, a nomination from his parent party, the CPI, should follow before the CPM tries to co-opt him.

Twenty plus days in jail over a silly, high adrenaline meeting, that was typical of the Left rhetoric propelled an obscure campus fellow to national stardom. On his return, rich urban kids studying poverty and deprivation in fancy Indian and overseas universities got excited about the fire in his belly and the issues he raised. He wore his poverty on his sleeve and that had a lot of sex appeal when mixed with calculated defiance, particularly on live television. Rich kids on a guilt trip felt sorry.

It was not Kanhaiya Kumar who has made his pre- and post-arrest JNU speeches into national rallying points against Hindutva and fascist forces in India, but the Sangh Parivar itself. Had the ABVP moles inside the campus not made an issue  either as part of a conspiracy or not  this too would have passed. Yet another student protest that begins and ends in the JNU campus would have concluded because this was not the first time they spoke against the State or said things that can be construed as seditious.

In 2010, DSU and AISA had organised a protest-event in the same campus against the Operation Greenhunt in Chattisgarh. Reportedly, the participants shouted slogans against the Indian State and hailed Maoism. The Congress student union, NSU, alleged that the protestors raised anti-national slogans and celebrated the killing of 76 CRPF personnel by Naxalites. According to media reports, students even clashed over the issue and the then Vice Chancellor slammed the event saying that the organisers hadnt obtained permission for the meeting. He also said that organising such meetings without permission was a typical JNU attitude of defying rules just for the sake of it.

Other than appearing in local newspapers, the event never made into national headlines or reached the Parliament. The Congress-led UPA didnt care, and ignored it as a campus event. In terms of the anti-national tenor, it was probably more explosive, but it ended where it all began because that had been the way of life for a campus such as JNU.

The problem with the Sangh and the BJP is that they are taking the Left politics in JNU too seriously and, like any right wing group, they are too thin-skinned. Being Left is a lifestyle requirement in this unique campus and it will most probably end there. People dont realise that a large number of students land in JNU to use its libraries, other facilities and a great central place in Delhi to prepare for their civil services exams while a few others would focus on academics that will land them a scholarship in the US or UK. Some of the clever Lefties will go to the New School and change their passports. Some will join NGOs and some, the media. Politics is the last career that they break into.

Many of them will turn out to be losers too, and many others, PIGs (Permanently Illegal Guests).

So, why worry? Just because one Prakash Karat and a Sitaram Yechury made it into the CPM doesnt mean anything. When was the last time a Left politician emerged from JNU? In fact the BJP should be happy if the CPM attracted more talent from JNU because they will be part of the same club of bourgeois democracy.

For the world outside the campus, the Left politics of JNU should be just a mirage, a passing fad  its a predictable activity associated with student idealism, whether you are rich or poor. Most of them grow out of it the moment they get a life. How many people know that DP Tripathi, now with the great Sharad Pawar, was an SFI leader in JNU in the 1970s? And that model Malavika Tiwari too was a communist? If JNU was a great cradle of Left politics of any value, how come we dont have any meaningful Left participation in our democracy? How come the great Left economists that advised West Bengal made a ruinous mess out of the state? How come many of them got mainstreamed easily into our neoliberal economy? And where are the leaders with a JNU tag? In recent years, the only name of significance was Yogendra Yadav, and he is not a Maoist or card carrying comrade.

Let the students waste their time reading Marx, Lenin, Stalin and Mao and fantasise about an Indian version of proletariat dictatorship. Except for Cuba with a paltry million population (the world doesn't know about the human rights standards though), theres not a single country where people stood by Marxism-Leninism in the long run. The stories about Latin America are padded up. China is in its present shape only after it abandoned Maoist policies and purged the radicals. In India, it has survived only in a remittance-rich Kerala because its more bourgeois than anybody else and it has iPhone wielding party secretaries and sickle wielding cadre.

If only the students realised that the real survival of the Left is possible only in the capitalist countries of Europe because their ideology sounds more like social democracy in which both wealth generation and the welfare state coexist. The large State and the quality of life in Scandinavian countries, for instance, has been achieved not by Leninist or Maoist governments, but by hard work, wealth creation and social democracy. Thats what will last.

At least Chandan Mitra or Swapan Das Gupta should have advised the BJP government to Ignore the JNU and move the plainclothesmen out. They too were communists when they were students in Delhi and probably they too felt that in the campus, it was sexy being a communist.
Editor's Note:On Thursday night, JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar  who was out on bail after 21 days in prison  returned to the JNU campus and addressed his fellow students and a selection of the media on a variety of issues. Firstpost has translated Kanhaiya's speech for your perusal. Discrepancies in specific cases of the text are unintentional.

What Kanhaiya said:

First of all, to everyone at JNU, whether they are students, whether they are employees, whether they are teachers, whether they are the security, whether its the shopkeeper or the workers working in the shops, I give my revolutionary salute.

Friends, from this stage, on behalf of all the students, as the president of JNUSU, to the people across the country, through the media channels present here, I would like to thank them, I want to salute them.

Friends, I would like to thank them from across the world, whether they are academicians, whether they are the students who stood with JNU... (inaudible).

Everyone, whether they people from media, whether they are people from the civil society, whether they are political, whether they are non-political people, to everyone who are standing in the fight to save JNU, who are standing to fight for justice for Rohith Vemula, I offer my Lal Salaam to them. And, and I would like to especially to thank this country's big figures who sit in Parliament to decide on what is right and what is wrong, thanks to them, thanks to their police and those channels of the media, I would like to thank them.

There is a saying, we have a saying, 'badman hue to kya hua, naam nahai hua'. Atleast , in their attempt to defame JNU, they gave us the prime time slot. There is no hated for anyone, especially against the ABVP, there is no hated. Ask why? That's because the ABVP we have in our campus, is more *inaudiable* compared to the ABVP out there.

And I would like to say, all those who consider themselves political masterminds - what happened to the candidate of ABVP during the last presidential debate, just watch that video, and the most intellectual person of the ABVP in the country, the one who is JNU's ABVP, we decimated him, so what will happen to you in rest of the country, you can guess.

That's why, we have no hard feelings towards ABVP, because we are actually democratic people. We believe in the real constitution. That's why we see ABVP as an opposition rather than an adversary.

Oh my friend, I wont witch hunt after you, because even those who are hunted needs to be deserving to be hunted. And I feel the events that have unfolded... for the first time, I swear, it is not like that saying goes, 'born in the mansoon..... (10:40)

I'm telling you the truth... what JNU has shown... the way JNU stood in this country to point out what is right and what is wrong... I would like to salute JNU. And, the funny thing is this is spontaneous. And I am saying this because they planned everything, we did everything spontaneously.

We believe in this country's constitution, in this country's law and in this country's judiciary. We also believe in that change is the only truth. And there will be change, we stand in favor of change, and this change will happen.

I believe in my constitution, we believe in all the values of this constitution, what is said in the preamble  socialism, secularism, equality  we stand with them. I was just asking a question.

I would like to say that I wont give a speech today, I will only tell you my experience. Because, first I use to study more, and go up against the system less. This time, I studied less and went up against the system more.

That's why I will say, people research too much in JNU... (inaudible)

The first thing is the process of the law, I don't want to say anything on that. I have only said one thing, and people of this entire country who really for the love the constitution, who wants to make Babasaheb's dreams come true, they must have understood the signs.

The things that are sub judicious, I don't want to say anything on that.

The Prime Minister has tweeted. He has said, 'Satyamev Jayate'. I too say, Prime Minister ji, I have a strong conflict with you, but because 'Satyamev Jayate' belongs to the country, to the constitution and not just to you, I too say 'Satyamev Jayate'.

And the truth will prevail, and in this fight, and everyone who's involved, I would like to say one thing and share my experience. And that one thing is, don't think that sedition have been used over the students like a political tool.

Understand it like this, and I have often said this in my speeches, we come from villages, I think by now you are also familiar with my family. So on the railway station there, which is called 'tasion', there is held a game of magic. The magician will show you the magic, will sell a ring, the ring of wishes. And whatever wishes anyone has, the ring will fulfill them, the magician says.

This country also has some policy makers, they say that the black money will come back, 'Har-Har Modi', 'The prices will come down, they are too high', 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas'. All the false promises are today in people's consciousness.

Although, we Indians forget quickly, but this time the events were so big that it is becoming difficult (for the government) to make people forget them.

So the attempt is this.... that the false promises must be forgotten. And this is done by the people who are making the false promises.

And how to forget them? Lets shut the fellowship of all the research fellows of the country. What will people do? They will say, 'Give us fellowship, give us fellowship'. Then they will say, 'Alright, what Rs 5,000-8,000 was given, will continue.' Meaning, they get rid of the promises of increasing them. Who will bring it up? JNU.

So when you are being abused, don't worry. You are eating what you have earned.

In this country, when you speak against the anti-people government, so does their cyber cell do?

It will send you doctored videos. It will send you abuses. And it will count how many condoms you have in your dustbin.

But this is a very serious time. That is why, during this serious time we need to think something seriously.

The attack on JNU is a organised attack, do understand. And this is a organised attack because they want to delegitimise the Occupy UGC movement. This is a organised attack because they want to end the fight that is being fought for justice of Rohith Vemula.

You are running the issue of JNU on the prime time because, respected ex-RSS, you want to make the people to forget that the current Prime Minister had promises to put 15 lakh in their accounts. But I want to say one thing to you, if it is not easy to get admission in JNU, it is also not easy to forget the people from JNU.

If you think you'll make them forget... we want to remind you again and again  whenever the government have performed persecution, JNU has raised its voice, and we will repeat it. We will remind you that you cannot dilute our struggle.

What am I saying? On one side there are soldiers dying on the borders of the country. I would like to salute those who are lousing their lives on the border.

I have a question. I have learnt one thing in the jail, that when the battle is of ideology, one should not give publicity to anyone. That's why I won't take the name of that leader. One of the BJP's minister said in Parliament, that soldiers are dying on the border. I would like to ask, is that your brother? Or in this country where millions of farmers who are committing suicides, who grow food for us, for the youth, what do you have to say for them? This is the question I would like to ask.

I would like to ask the question that the farmer who work in a fields... my father... my brother also goes to the army and dies there. So don'st raise a pseudo debate in the country.

Those who die for the country, also die inside in the country.

My question is, standing there in the Parliament, who are you playing the politics against? Those who are dying, who will take their responsibility? The people who are fighting are not responsible, those who are instigating fights are responsible.

Who is responsible for the battle? Who is making people fight? Why my father is dying? And hoe my brother is dying? We want to ask the once who make the prime time (shows).

The problems we have in our country... is it wrong to ask for freedom from those problems? What they say is, 'Who are you asking freedom from?'

You only tell, has India enslaved anyone? No. So, obviously, we are not asking for freedom from India. Not from India my brothers, we are asking for freedom in India. There is a difference between 'from' and 'in'.

We are not asking freedom from the English, people of this country has fought for that.

Now I'll come to my experience.

The police asked me, 'What is this 'Lal Salam, Lal Salam' that you do?' I would like to say to them, this was not a part of the investigation. Police used to take me sometimes to eat food, sometimes to have a medical, and we from JNU.... *inaudible* so how could I have stayed without talking?

So I started talking to them. And when I talked, that man (policeman) too turned out to be like me.

In this country, who works for the police? Someone who's father is a farmer, or a laborer or belonging to a weaker section, only those work for the police.

I too come from one of the backward state of the country, Bihar. I too come from a poor family. I too come from a farmer's family. And in the police, only people from the poor family work. I am talking about constable and head constable. I don't have much interaction with the IPS office.

So I had a chat with the police officer, and whatever experience I will tell you was part of that conversation.

He asked me what is this 'Lal Salam, Lal Salam'? I said, Lal means revolution, Salam means salute to the revolution. He said he didn't get it.

I said 'Inquilab Zindabad'. He said he knew that. I said Kranti in Urdu is called Inquilab. He said this slogan is also used by ABVP. So I told him, 'Now you get it? That is the pseudo Inkalb, this is the real one.

Then he said we get everything for so cheap in life. I said, let me tell you one thing, you know why it didn't happen with you, that the condition you are in (he used to do a 18 hour duty)? I asked him if he got payed for the extra hours? He said no, 'Where do I get it from?' I said, this this is what is called corruption.

They get 110 bucks for their uniform. 'Now you tell me, you wont even get a pair of undergarments for it.' This is what he said. So I said this is exactly what we want freedom from. From corruption.

And in the meanwhile, a moment started in Haryana. And you know, most of the people in the Delhi police come from Haryana. I salute them because they are hard working people. So I said, 'This reservation?' He said, this caste system is too bad. So I said this caste system is what we want freedom from.

He said there seems to be nothing wrong with this. Nothing seems to be anti-national.

So I said, 'Now you tell me, who has the most power I the system?'. He said, 'My baton'.

I said correct, but can you use it on your own will? He said no. I asked, 'Who has all the power then?' He said the one who is giving out false statements on Twitter.

I said what we want is freedom from this Sanghi who is putting out these false statements on Twitter.

'To tell you the truth my friend, I fells like you and I are standing together', he said. I said there is one problem with that.

I am not saying this to all the media people, because all the media people do not get paid from there, only some get paid from there.

And while working in the media, reporting from Parliament, they are looking to get inside that Parliament only. So they have only created this atmosphere... that when I talk one-to-one with you, they say 'look at this braking news'.

'To tell you the truth my friends, I felt like when you would come... since your name was in the FIR....' the policeman said. I said before the FIR, my name had already come up in a ABVP paper.

The ABVP already mentioned the name as that of the accused, it was noted in the FIR later.

'I thought when you would come, I would beat you up real bad.' the policeman said. 'But after talking to you, I feel like that I should go and beat them up.'

He has touched on a various serious matters. And I would like to draw attention to this through the media to everyone in the nation. The policeman, who like me, belongs to a normal family, who like me, wanted to do a PhD, but he didn't get into the JNU.

Who like me, after understanding the workings of this country, wanted to fight for it, wanted to know the difference between the educated and the literate... today is working for the police.

This is where JNU stands. This is why you want to suppress the voice of the JNU so underprivileged man cannot do a PhD. Because the education that is being sold... he won't have lakhs of rupees to pay for that education, and he wont be able to do a PhD. That is why you want to shut JNU.

You want to shut all the voices that can unite. Weather one's standing on the border, weather giving his life on a farm, or struggling for freedom at JNU, you don't want those voices to meet.

I would like to say to you that Babasaheb said that political democracy won't do, we will have to establish a social democracy. That is way we keep talking about the constitution. And Lenin said, democracy is indisposable to socialism. That is why we talk about democracy. That is why we talk about the freedom of expression. That is why we talk about equality. That is why we talk about socialism. A son of peon and the son of an President should be able to study in the same school.

Today, they want to suppress the society, but what a coincidence, according to science, the more you suppress, the more pressure there will be. But they don't want to have to do anything with science. Because, studying science is one thing, being a scientist is quite different.

So the people who think scientifically in this country, if you establish a conversation with them, then the freedom we are asking for in this country, from poverty and hunger, from exploitation and atrocity, and the rights of Dalits, women and backward, that freedom we will have. And that freedom, through this constitution, through this Parliament and this judicial system, we will make sure of it in this country, that is our dream.

This was the dream of Babasaheb, this is the dream of friend Rohith. See, you killed on Rohith, the revolution that you wanted to suppress, see how it has grown.

There is one more thing, I would like to tell you through me experiences in the jail. That we people from JNU, and this is my only criticism, and if you feel this as self-criticism, please consider this, that we people of JNU talk in a civilized manner, but we use a very heavy terminology.

The common person of the country does not get it. Its not their fault, they are honest and intelligent people. But you don't bring things to their level. And what do they get then? All they get is 'forward quickly, your wishes will come true'... *inaudible*.

This mindset of selling that has been created in the country, we need to establish debate with it. And I would like to say it with my experience at the prison, I got two bowls in there, one was colored blue, other was colored red.

On seeing the bowls, I kept thinking, that I don't believe in destiny, and I don't know god, but something good is about to happen in this country... that the blue and the red bowl are together in a single plate. I saw the plate as India, the blue bowl as... *inaudible*.

And I thought, if this unity is established in this country... I'm telling you the truth, we don't want the one who sells... the one promises justice for everyone, we will make a government with them.

'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas', we will establish.

There is a saying, 'Jab tak jail main chana rahega, aanaj aata rahega'.

Although its very late for JNU... it's been a while since JNU students have been sent to prison, because after a long time... let me tell you something.

Today the respected prime Minister's (have to say (respected), otherwise (the video) might be doctored and sedition charges might be put again. So the respected Prime Minister was saying... he was talking about Stalin and Khrushchev, and I felt like entering into the television and grab him by his suit and say, 'Modiji, please talk a little about Hitler too.'

Leave Hitler, talk about Mussolini whose black hat you wear. To whom your master Golwalkar went to meet... gave a lecture on how to be an Indian from Germany.

So talking of Hitler, Khrushchev, the Prime Minister, there was also a talk of policy... He talks 'Mann ki Baat' but doesn't listen to it.

It is a personal thing, I talked to my mother after some three months. Whenever I used to stay in JNU, I never called home. After going to jail, I realized one should talk regularly. You took keep talking to your families.

So I said to my mother, you played Modi very nicely. She said she didn't play him, 'they are the ones who play. To laugh and make others laugh is their job, we just speak of our pain. The ones who understand, they cry, those who don't, they laugh'.

She said, 'it is my pain. That is why I said Modi ji is also someone's son. My son was trapped with sedition charges, you talk of Mann ki Baat, sometime talk of Maa ki Baat too'.

I had no words to say to her, because, what is happening in this country, there is a very dangerous precedence to it.

That is why I am not talking about a party. That is why I am not talking a media channel. That is why I am not just talking about soldiers. I am talking of the whole country.

How will a country be like which won't have a people in it?

Just think about that... anyone who is standing with JNU, they need to be saluted again and again, because they understand the issue.

What kind of people come to JNU? Here, 60 percent are girls. I can say it with confidence, despite all the shortcomings, JNU is the only institute, that executes reservations. And where it is not applied, we fight for it to be applied.

People come here... I have never said this to you, and you would not even realise it, that my family runs on 3000 rupees. Can I do a PhD at any of the big universities? And the way JNU and the people who are standing for it is being attacked...

I have no sympathies with any political parties, because I have my own ideologies, but the people who are standing up, they are also being called anti-national.

Sitaram Yechury is also being dragged with me in sedition. Rahul Gandhi is also dragged with me, Kejriwal was pulled in too. And the people from media, who are speaking out for JNU, they are nor really speaking for JNU, but pointing out what is right and what is wrong. They are being abused. They are threatened with their lives. What kind of a nationalism is this?

Some constables asked me in the prison, 'Did you really raise those slogans?' I said I did, but can you differ or the rationality is lost?

I'ts just been two years of the government. There are three more years to go, one cannot loose rationality so quick. Because 69 per cent of the population has voted against that mindset. Only 31 percent voted... and many of them were caught up in false promises. Some you fooled with 'Har-Har', they are now bothered by arhar.

Don't understand this as a permanent victory for yourself. This is true, if you tell a lie 100 times, it becomes a truth. But this happens with lies, not with truth. If you call the sun moon for a 100 times, will it change into moon? It will stay a sun even if you say it a 1,000 times. You can only make a lie into a lie. You can never covert a truth into a lie.

And this conspiracy of yours, that you bring out of Lok Sabha to distract people... to divert people from the genuine questions... to trap them... this is the new agenda.

The Occupy UGC was going on, then Rohith passed away, then voices were raised for him, and in this time they started saying, 'see this anti-national events unfolding'. 'The den of anti nationals', they started this.

But this wont last for long, so they are prepared for the next thing  'We will built the Ram Temple'.

Let me tell you something that happened today while talking to an officer before leaving the prison. He asked 'Do you believe in religion?' I said I don't know religion. First let me know it, then I will believe.

He said, 'You must have been born in a family?' I said by chance I was born in a Hindu family. So he asked if I knew anything? I said as far as I know, god created this universe, and there is god in every particle, 'What do you say?' He said it was correct.

So I said some people want to create something for the god, what do you say about that?

They are still trying... people should be diverted so no reasonable questions are raised in this country.

Today, you are standing here, sitting here, do you feel like you have been attacked? This is really a big attack. But this attack did not happened today. I want to remind you that in the mouthpiece of RSS, a story was ran on JNU. Swamiji commented on JNU.

I believe in democracy, and if my ABVP friends are listening, this is my humble request to them, just bring Swamiji once for a face-to-face debate. If, with reason, he can establish that JNU must be closed for four months, then I will agree with him. But if not, I will request him, like he did before, he should leave the country again.

And let me tell you something  maybe you were in the campus so you couldn't see those things  how planned it was. From day one it was planned. They didn't even use their minds... and it is not the fault of ABVP here but one on the outside, that they didn't even change the posters. The same format is used by Hindu Kanti, the same is used by ABVP, one with the same content and design... it means every plan is conceived in Nagpur.

This is not a spontaneous program my friend. The big thing is the voice of struggle in this country. The big question is that the people raising their voices in JNU, whether its Umar or Ashutosh, or anyone from you... to take your voice and supress it, to delegitimatise JNU, to suppress this struggle... We want to say to them, you won't be able to suppress the struggle, the more you suppress, the more we will rise.

This is a long fight. Without stopping, without bending, without breathing, we have to carry this fight forward. And inside this campus, the dividing power in this nation... whether its the people from ABVP, whether its the RSS or the BJP people outside, who want to drag the country to the brink of disaster... we will stand united against them.

JNU will stand up. History will stand up.

The fight which Vemula stared, and the fight you have started, the fight that is started by progressive, peace loving people... we will fight and we will win, that is out belief.

And with these dreams, once again, I would like to thank you all.

Continue this fight, I appeal to you. I will end my talk.

Thank you.

Inquilab Zindabad.
In an angry response to Sheldon Pollock expressing his support for the sloganeers of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), 132 Indian academics from various fields, former Government of India officials, and over 11,000 others petitioned for the American academic to be removed from his position as the General Editor of the Murty Classical Library of India (MCLI). Pollock, the Arvind Raghunathan Professor of Sanskrit and South Asian Studies at Columbia University, has held the position since a generous $5.2 million grant by Rohan Murty, son of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy, established the series in 2010.

Two things are striking about the petition: The first is that it it took the petitioners six years to notice Pollock's position as the editorial supremo of the MCLI. This may be accounted for by considering that it is never too late to correct a mistake, if Pollock's appointment is indeed a mistake. Nonetheless, it puts in grave doubt any pretense of an academic objection to Pollock, however merited one might be. In fact, the petitioners even concede that he is a reputed philologist.

The second thing is the timing of the petition: Immediately after the American scholar had signed a letter himself, condemning what he saw as a stifling of academic and personal expression in JNU by the Indian government. Indeed, the petition mentions that as one of its grievances against Pollock as the petitioners are concerned that it indicates not just disrespect to the unity of India but also that such an unsympathetic view of the culture may bias his research. One wonders if such concerns would have arisen had the condemnation occurred when the United Progressive Alliance was in power and the cartoonist Aseem Trivedi was booked for sedition in September 2012. Or if there even was a condemnation of the government then. In any case, Pollock's sympathy for India or the lack thereof is hardly a relevant criterion for translations of Sanskrit works.

Although the petition is no more than a farce, there is a point to be considered: many Indians have accused Western scholars of being unsympathetic to Hinduism, that they would understand it better if they lived the culture rather than attempt to dissect it clinically. To translate exoticism to plain English, they argue that Hinduism does not comport to a Western modernist framework. Translations are not a simple swapping out of words of one language for another; they carry not just meaning but values. Dharma is not religion, nor is bhakti about faith; caste, one of the most widely associated words with Hinduism, has no exact equivalent either. With an entirely different historical evolution, it is difficult to see how the theories of Western thinkers such as Julia Kristeva, Nicos Poulantzas, Helene Cixous, or Derrick Bell could explain India.

Consider for example, the following sentence and its four variants:

I don't think you're a thief;

I don't think you're a thief;

I don't think you're a thief;

I don't think you're a thief.

The mere tone of the speaker can convey a very different meaning to the listener that the reader is unaware of without context. It is a similar sensitivity that some Indian scholars are concerned that Western academics lack, especially when anachronistic social theories are at play.

Of course, as a private donor and a private university, neither Murty nor Harvard University are answerable to the petitioners. Several other Indian millionaires have also donated generously to American or British universities  Ratan Tata gave $50 million to Harvard and Anand Mahindra has given $10 million. Generosity towards Indian universities has usually been directed towards the sciences and much smaller in scale. For example, Nandan Nilekani, former CEO of Infosys, donated $2.7 million to his alma mater, IIT Bombay, and Prabhakant Sinha, co-founder of ZS Associates, contributed $2 million to his own alma mater.

Why do Indian business magnates shy away from showing their largesse to humanities departments in their own country as some have suggested they do? One reason could be that there are no good departments in the humanities in India. As, ironically, Pollock has pointed out on several occasions, Indian liberal arts departments lack scholarly publications, important journals, or anything that would be worthy of building upon. Projects like the MCLI, Clay Sanskrit Library, or the Loeb Classical Library require an excellent infrastructure of academic life that is simply not present in India in terms of professors, students, or library collections. There would be no one to translate, expand, administer, or study the collection.

A second hurdle is government regulations. It is not the lack of money or talent that has kept the Right from creating its own ecosystem. In India, it is not easy to start a university and even if that peak is conquered, reservations, political interference, and government regulations that do little to enrich the intellectual environment will stifle the development of a vibrant and productive academic eco-sphere. If, despite these daunting challenges, a thought-provoking and insightful thesis were to be written, there is no guarantee that political posturing and the high-strung emotions of Indians will not lead to vandalism or mini-riots as happened in Pune in 2004.

On the other hand, a donation to a prestigious Western university is a stable investment in vanity; it may even do some good. Proponents of an Indic modernity, wherever they stand on the political spectrum, have a lot of ground to make up before they can make their case with similar gravity and standing in the international marketplace of ideas. Poorly argued petitions, however, are not along that road. In fact, they only serve to bring ridicule on an important critique of Western materialism that is actually worth some serious contemplation.
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Friday suggested that political parties across the state set up toll free numbers on which people can lodge complaints, if any illegal hoarding, banner or poster by the party or any of its worker is displayed.

The suggestion was made by a division bench of Justices A S Oka and R D Dhanuka after advocate Vishwajeet Sawant, appearing for Shiv Sena, told the court that the party was setting up a toll free number for Mumbai where people can anonymously lodge complaints.

"People can call the toll free number 1800228595 from Monday to Saturday. The number will be manned by one Harshad Pradhan who will take down complaints of any illegal hoarding or poster and will initiate appropriate action," Sawant told

the court.

Appreciating the step by the Sena, Justice Oka said it would, however, be ideal if arrangements are made to receive complaints even on Sundays and public holidays.

"It would also be ideal if all political parties follow this and have their own redressal mechanism in every city across the state. We direct political parties, especially those before us, to respond to this suggestion and file affidavits within a month," the court said.

The court was hearing a bunch of public interest litigations on the issue of illegal banners, hoardings and posters put up by political parties across the state.

The court also directed state Director General of Police to issue directions to all police stations in the state to take prompt action, if they receive any complaints from civic body officials.

The order was issued after the court was informed by counsels of various civic bodies that in some instances, police was not cooperating with the municipal officials.

The court was informed by prosecutor Geeta Shastri, appearing for the police, that as per HC directions, two armed police constables will accompany the civic body team entrusted with the task of removing illegal hoardings.

This is pursuant to an incident where RPI activists obstructed civic body officials from removing illegal hoardings put up by the party in suburban Deonar.

"According to the FIR registered and the report submitted by Deonar police, RPI workers obstructed municipal officers while they were removing hoardings and had also allegedly assaulted them. We direct the police to submit another report before us in a month on progress in the case," the court said.

PTI
Satyamev Jayate.

A young man whose family survives on just Rs 3000 from an anganvadi, his father is confined to a wheelchair, brother makes a living doing odd jobs and his own life depends on the grant he gets as a scholar.

The state throws its full might at him, an obsequious media runs a campaign to brand him an anti-national by doctoring tapes, by putting words in the mouths of camera puppets; thugs in black coats beat him to pulp, cops take him to the brink of ruin, politicians connive to destroy him and keep him jail. Yet, they fail to silence him, break his resolve or subjugate his spirit.

Do we still need further proof of the indomitable spirit of humankind?

Kanhaiya Kumar's decision to remain defiant in distress, fight when surrender seems the pragmatic way out, roar when the system wants him to beg, crawl and squeak, tells us that the future of India is in safe hands. That almost all of Jawaharlal Nehru University turned out to welcome him like a hero back from a war, chorus its approval of his demand for azaadi--not from India, but within India--proves conclusively that those who want to replace the core values of India with their perverse political agendas will have to do much more than they did to Kanhaiya to succeed.

When he spoke-- extempore, for almost an hour, without rancour, amidst laughter, slogans and claps--Kanhaiya sounded like a scholar back from a study trip, sharing his learnings and recounting his experience.

But, in spite of his infectious, optimistic joie de vivre, the symbolism of Kanhaiya's defiance is immense. Hear it in his words.

"Ae mere dost main tumhara (ABVP) witch-hunting nahi karunga. Kyunki shikaar uska kia jaata hai jo shikaar karne laayak ho." (To my friends from the ABVP, I will not indulge in witch-hunting against you. One only targets those who are worth targeting.)

"Iss desh mein jan-virodhi sarkar hai. Uss sarkar ke khilaaf bolenge to inka cyber cell doctored video dikhayega. (The government of this country is anti-people. If you speak against it, the cyber cell will come up with doctored videos.)...And they will count how many condoms are there in your dustbin."

"Hum bole, jo farzi tweet pe statement de raha hai, hum uss se azaadi chahte hain." (I had said that we seek freedom from those who make statements on the basis of fake tweets.)

Combine the three statements. What message do you get? That the establishment can stoop to any absurdity to silence its critics but its rebellious victims will not act out of rancour or hatred, or wreak vengeance on undeserving opponents.

"Iss desh ke 69 per cent logon ne uss maansikta ke khilaaf vote diya hai. Keval 31 per cent log. Aur usme se bhi kuch aapki jumlebaazi mein fass gaye." (Sixty-nine percent of the people of this country voted against this ideology. There were only 31 percent people...And among those, there were those who fell for false slogans."

"Kuch ko to aapne 'Har Har' keh ke thug lia, woh aaj kal 'Arhar' se pareshaan hain." (You misled some with 'har har' (religion), the same people are now worried about 'arhar' (price rise of pulses).

Even Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels would have struggled to find better words in India to argue that proletarians of the world should unite because they outnumber their rivals by a huge margin and have nothing to lose but the oppressive government. And that their numbers may be growing because some of those who got misled by pre-poll slogans may themselves be repenting their choice.

Beware, Kanhaiya is echoing the sound of India.

On Wednesday, for almost an hour after news of interim bail to Kanhaiya Kumar broke, a few TV channels completely ignored it. No live coverage, no breaking news, no information and discussion on what the nation may have wanted to know; not even a ticker, just a stunned silence.

Like surly kids who had lost a game, they retreated into a corner, sulking in full view of the audience. Pigeons burying their heads in the quicksand of shame would have done better.

When he was released from Tihar a day later, students of JNU marched in solidarity with him. Kanhaiya returned to a hero's welcome. He gave a rousing speech, demanding azaadi, among other things, perhaps also from sore losers.

Guess, who were not there to witness the triumph of students, listen to their laughter, quake with their thundering claps?

Writing for The Wire, Siddharth Bhatia says, in hindsight, the manner in which the episode unfolded suggests that things worked to a plan. "Every component occurred swiftly  from the slogans allegedly raised by the students, to the grainy videos, to the expert doctoring, and the conviction with which the BJPs spokepersons showed them and the statements by ministers. The Delhi police, which otherwise takes its time filing an FIR, was at its efficient best in effecting the arrest but at its usual sluggishness when it came to stopping the assault on Kumar and journalists. The less said about the shameful role of certain sections of the media, the better."

That Kanhaiya is back, that JNU is once again resonating with chants of azaadi proves, like always: Satyamev Jayate.
Aligarh: A US News Education World Report has placed Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) above Delhi University and second to Punjab University on their list of overall Best Global Universities rankings.

Banaras Hindu University also follows AMU in the list.

The rankings take into account the research performance of the universities as well as their ratings by members of the academic community around the world.

With these rankings, displayed on the US News Education's website, www.usnews.com, the US News Education highly recommends international students to explore AMU and other top Indian universities for attending their higher education.

The list also has Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay; Indian Institute of Technology, Madras; Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur in the top ten institutes of India.

The Aligarh Muslim University has also been awarded grade 'A' by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), which conducted an assessment exercise at the campus.

IANS
Parts of Maharashtra received unseasonal rains this past week, and while this provided some relief from the sweltering heat, it does nothing to alleviate the states acute drought situation. In the first two months of 2016, around 170 farmers have ended their lives in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra, following a drought-hit 2015 that saw 1,109 farmer suicides.

The situation is so dire in the state that the entire 28-member council of ministers has gone on a tour of the drought-hit districts  Beed, Osmanabad and Latur. The water table situation in these three districts can be compared to the lowest levels seen throughout the entire 20th Century. The move comes on the back of a series of agrarian rallies taken out by Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, who has been drawing large crowds in several villages.

Pointing out that there were 244 drought-related suicides in January 2016 alone, Vikhe-Patil, in his public meetings, demanded a complete loan waiver and other relief measures for the farmers. The BJP, clearly expecting an onslaught from Opposition parties at the upcoming budget session of the state assembly, wants to do everything it can to ensure the drought doesnt derail the farmer friendly image the party wants to portray.

An IndiaSpend report said the BJP government has spent Rs 1,400 crore in the first phase of its Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyan (Irrigated Farmlands Programme), which intends to make Maharashtra drought-free. However, although the money has been disbursed, its been spread far too thinly on the ground-level. When the programme began, the worst-affected villages were selected. Later, we were told to include all the villages that were now receiving drinking water from tankers, an agriculture officer told IndiaSpend.

Moreover, say experts, the programme is a temporary fix at best. A large number of farmers haven't benefited from the project, and it will never prove to be a self-sustaining solution to make an area drought-free.

But the sad reality is that no amount of state funding will alleviate the situation as long as rainfall continues to be deficient. Other than above-average rain in 2013, there have been three below-par monsoons (20 percent, 30 percent and 40 percent shortages in 2012, 2013 and 2015 respectively) in the last four years. These are worrying statistics, especially for a state with the second highest agricultural output in India.

But what makes it significantly worse is that Maharashtra is not an isolated case. Eight other states  Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Odisha and West Bengal  all declared drought in 2015, seeking Rs 20,000 crore in Central aid.

And if drought alone wasnt bad enough, the really worrying part is when drought is interspersed with unseasonal rain and hail, as witnessed this week in large parts of Maharashtra. In Nashik and Sangli, two of the biggest raisin-production centres of the state, farmers lament that a recent hail shower will hit sales in a very big way. This will definitely affect the overall quality of the raisins, which lose colour due to the rains and as a result, the price gets affected as well, Subhash Arve, president, Maharashtra State Grape Growers Association (MGGA), who looks after the Sangli region, told The Financial Express.

Arve said that raisin prices have dropped by 50 percent and most of the produce is already turning black and may remain unsold. Even warehouses have inadequate rainfall protection and are severely underprepared for the untimely rain-hail combination.

If there was ever a time the drought-hit farmers of Maharashtra wished it would not rain, this would be it.

But, then again, they have become used to not having their prayers answered.
He was put in prison for 21 days.

He was beaten up by goons dressed as lawyers at the Patiala House court premises in New Delhi.

He was vehemently criticised by certain sections of the media over a video in which he was shown shouting anti-national slogans  it later turned out to be a doctored video.

Despite all of this, Kanhaiya Kumar spoke his mind, without hesitation  he spoke out against the Narendra Modi government, BJP, RSS, ABVP, the Delhi Police and the hooligans who attacked him. Kanhaiya's speech at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Thursday night was both powerful and witty.

If there is one word that can be used to describe the JNUSU president, it is 'fearless'.

Through his words, the beleaguered but brave JNU student told all his critics that he will not be scared or intimidated by hooliganism, false propaganda or frenzied media trials. "We are not asking for freedom from India. We are asking for freedom in India," he thundered.

This statement is especially important because it came on the same day that a Delhi government-appointed magisterial probe concluded that Kanhaiya had not raised anti-India slogans at the controversial event in JNU. According to the probe report, anti-national slogans were shouted at the campus and JNU administration has already identified a "few faces" who were "clearly" heard raising them, PTI had reported. The probe panel had said that their whereabouts must be located and their role must be investigated.

However, the same report had also said that "nothing adverse" could be found against Kanhaiya and that no witness or video was available to support allegations against the JNUSU president.

And in his speech, Kanhaiya made amply clear what his fight was actually about. "Whether it is the person working in the field, whether it is the person fighting for us in the army, or whether it is the person fighting for freedom in JNU, we will not stop fighting for them," he said.

"We fight for equality. So that a peon's son and the President of India's son can study in an equal environment," said Kanhaiya, "We are asking for freedom from poverty and social oppression. And we will get that freedom through this institution. This was also Rohith's dream."

Of course, it is a different debate altogether whether Kanhaiya actually meant those words. We would like to believe he did, but such conclusions cannot be drawn from a single speech.

The conclusion that can be drawn, however, is that Kanhaiya was trying to tell the people that the alternative to the NDA government need not necessarily come from the Congress or AAP. He was trying to tell the people that it can come from a section that claims to fight for the poor, the downtrodden and the backward minorities.

"We will help establish a government which truly works for 'sabka saath, sabka vikaas'," Kanhaiya said in his speech.

Compare Kanhaiya's speech at JNU to Rahul Gandhi's flippant and frivolous speech in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, and you will realise the tragedy of Indian politics today.

That a university student can make a better, and more importantly, more substantial speech than the vice-president of arguably the most significant party in the Opposition today.

"I come from a backward place. I come from a poor family. In the police too, most of the people are from poor backgrounds," said Kanhaiya. This statement about empathising with the police came from a person who had been beaten up because of the alleged negligence of the Delhi Police.

On the other hand, Rahul Gandhi joked about 'Fair and Lovely yojana' and obsessed over 'babbar sher' in his Parliament speech.

Of course, Kanhaiya's speech was also full of witty remarks. The difference though is that his witty remarks and puns were aimed at highlighting something deeper.

"My mother told me that she was not making fun of Modi. She said that it was the government that was making fun of them," Kanhaiya said, adding that the government was not listening to the poor and weaker sections of the society.

The wry wit in Kanhaiya's speech was based on actual serious problems in our society, not just criticism of the government for the sake of criticism. Rahul's speech seemed frivolous because it looked more like a stand-up comedy act aimed solely at taking digs at the government.

Perhaps the most crucial  and tragic  difference between the two speeches was that while Kanhaiya appeared to be trying to push things forward, Rahul seemed more intent on stalling an already gridlocked political process in our country.

Kanhaiya not only showed his fearless character through his speech at JNU, but also set an example for weak Opposition leaders in the country.

They should watch his speech and learn.
Afzal Guru is not my icon. He was a citizen of this country and an inhabitant of Jammu and Kashmir, which is an integral part of the country. He was punished by the law of the land and the same law allows to speak about the conviction, said Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar in a cautious reply to the questions asked by mediapersons during a press conference on Friday evening.

He made it clear that he wont talk about the merits of the case which is subjudice. Kumar is out on six-month interim bail in a sedition case filed against him and his fellow students in connection with the 9 February event organised on the campus where anti-national slogans were allegedly shouted.

I can assure you that a JNU student can never indulge in anti-national activities. We want to assure the taxpayers that a JNU student can never be anti-national, he said responding to the public opinion these days that the varsity be shut down as taxpayers' money cannot be spent on the hub of anti-nationals.

He condemned the 9 February incident. Asked about his views on the alleged sloganeering, Kumar said, It is for the court to decide and I believe in the judiciary. The Constitution is not a video that can be doctored. He was taking a dig at some news channels that allegedly tampered with a video purportedly of the 9 February event to create a hysteria against these 'anti-nationals'.

We want to tell the nation that we are being lynched by mobs in trains and autos. Fabricated videos were used to malign the image of JNU, where 60 percent of the students are girls and majority of the students come from marginalised section of the society and have a humble family background, said Kumar who was confidently facing tough questions and assuring every press man that they would get a reply.

He went on to add that Rohith Vemula, the PhD student who committed suicide at University of Hyderabad, was his icon. Tum kitne Rohith maroge, har ghar se Rohith niklega (How many Rohiths will you kill, every house will produce a Rohith). We will fight the government to ensure justice for him. Our fight is long. And therefore, we hold unity march, not a victory march, said the JNUSU president.

Asked whether he is planning to campaign for his party (the Communist Party of India) in the upcoming state elections, he said, I am not a leader, just a student. I was elected as the president of students union at JNU. I work for them. I have to resolve their issues.

He is pursuing PhD in social transformation at the Centre for African Studies and wants to become a teacher.

He sees the current political atmosphere as dark cloud but is hopeful that the same dark cloud will bring a heavy rain. These dark clouds will go away, he added.

Asked whether he justifies the alleged slogans raised in favour of a Parliament attack convict, he clarified that he does not endorse such slogans at all. Raising such slogans is not justified, he said. Asked why did not he intervene in the capacity of the JNUSU president when anti-national slogans were chanted on 9 February, he said, I am not a permitting authority and stopping such events from taking place is not in my domain. But I urge the government not to use serious charge of sedition to ruin future of students.

Asked whether he is afraid of the police in his fight against the state and common perception, the confident Kumar added that he used to be fearful but after facing the police, his fear vanished. I am not afraid of the police or the state, but the RSS. But the more they try to make me afraid, the more I become stronger. My fight against the right wing forces which try to divide the society on the basis of caste, creed and religion will go on till my last breath, he said.

Asked why he thinks there is a binary being created between anti-national students and those who die protecting the borders, Kumar added, All our jawans are martyrs. Those who claim to be the custodian of nationalism should know my brother, who was serving in the CRPF, died while fighting Maoist insurgents... but at the same time, the farmers who are committing suicide and those who are killed in cold blood in the name of Maoists are also martyrs.
New Delhi: If the images of a flooded Chennai last year or those of Srinagar two years ago were horrifying for the citizens of Delhi, its time they had a serious look at their own backyard. The continuous onslaught on the Yamuna floodplains is likely to land the National Capital in a similar disaster.

According to environmentalists, the severe damage to the Yamuna floodplains  the most recent example being the preparations for the World Culture Festival by Art of Living (AOL) Foundation  will result in flooding of the low-lying areas of East Delhi quite like Chennai if and when the next spell of heavy shower happens in the city.

The way the entire floodplains of the Yamuna have been levelled and the marshy land has been converted into a ground, it can cause floods in Delhi during rains. Lets not forget what happened in Chennai, twice in Srinagar, then in Mumbai and Kedarnath. This is the first time that the entire vegetation on the Yamuna floodplains has been damaged and flattened, environmentalist Anand Arya told Firstpost.

Arya is one of the co-petitioners at National Green Tribunal opposing the upcoming World Culture Festival.

Besides Arya, there are other environmentalists who have also raised a red flag against the three-day mega event that will welcome 35 lakh visitors from across the continents.

An NGT-appointed panel in its report has mentioned, The entire area of the floodplain between River Yamuna and DND Flyover has been levelled flat and on the western side of the river  50 to 60 hectares of floodplain have been completely destroyed. Natural vegetation comprising reeds, shrubs, trees etc has been completely removed. A large number of birds and other natural life on the floodplain have vanished.

Manoj Misra, convener, Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan, an NGO working for the restoration of the River Yamuna, said: Vegetation on the soil is extremely important, especially on floodplains. The ground vegetation is the lifeline of floodplains. Absence of it will certainly cause floods. One wont be surprised if the low-lying areas of east Delhi get flooded or even a larger area.

How flood will be caused?

- The levelling and compacting of the floodplain would reduce its water absorbing capacity by 35 to 40 percent. As a result, the rest 60 percent of water will run off to adjoining low areas causing flood.

- The bush, reeds, shrubs, marsh etc helps in water-absorption due to the roots. As this vegetation has its own absorptive capacity, the flood situation will aggravate.

- Groundwater recharging capacity will drastically decrease.

- If heavy rain takes place, the extra water will flow into the residential areas.

The petitioners have questioned how the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) gave permission to AOL to use such a large area  which according to them is spread across 2,700 acres.

Its a huge area of 2,700 acres. The enormity of destruction can be judged from the fact that the vegetation spread over such a large area has been completely destroyed. There are no signs of vegetation and it has been flattened for setting up of stage, parking space, sitting arrangements, etc. There will be a huge loss in terms of value of water due to this, observed Arya.

During the hearing at NGT on Thursday, the issue came up of whether or not DDA is a competent and reliable agency to look after the river floodplain in the city.

Well establish that the approval given by the DDA is illegal. How can the agency that is supposed to implement the directives of NGT, work exactly opposite? Misra asked.

I wrote to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji  first on 7 January and the last on 8 February  bringing to his notice the consequences of the damage caused to the Yamunas bio-diversity (letter embedded at the end of the piece). But, I didnt get any response. It was only after I filed a petition at NGT that the AOL Foundation responded. Floodplains are natures water treatment works  that remove vast quantities of pollutants from inland river waters. They also provide rivers with the building blocks of life, which are used by everything from bacteria to fish," Misra told Firstpost.

"Clearly such massive clearing and conversion of the floodplain is taking a heavy toll of the biodiversity extant at the site in question and puts a question mark on the future of the river rejuvenation plans and growing threat of flooding, he added.

But, despite our explanations to the foundation, they have gone ahead with total apathy towards environment conservation. Its inhuman, he added.

According to experts, Delhi receives 30 inches (75 cm) of rainfall, and the absorption of water in one hectare is 3,000 cubic metres. The invitation by AOL shows the area earmarked for the festival (marked on the map in yellow) on the Isro website is 10.795 square kilometres or 2,667 acres, said Arya.

AOL Foundations stand

There is no question of violation of any kind of regulations. Weve taken permissions from almost all possible authorities like DDA, Ministry of Water Resources, Fire, Disaster Management, Pollution Control Board, Delhi Police etc. There are a few permissions that will be taken once the construction work  which is purely temporary in nature  gets completed. If you refer to Google Maps, itll show that illegal farming had been going on in the floodplains, Akshama Nath, advocate, AOL Foundation, told Firstpost after the hearing.

As far the area is concerned, we gave a rough estimate of 26 acres to the DDA as our requirement in the site plan. Permission was given on the basis of it. This is the area where AOL stage and other arrangements will come up. The larger area about which the NGOs are talking about is basically entry points for the public. People need to walk through this area to reach the venue. We want to make it clear that no damage to vegetation has been caused at all. In fact, well beautify the entire area once the festival gets over, Nath added.

DDAs stand

Its wrong to say that DDA has given permission illegally. Its very much within the statute of the DDA, an official said.

Letter to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar by Manoj Misra
New Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union President Kanhaiya Kumar on Thursday night said they never demanded freedom from India  We demanded freedom within India, he said while addressing a gathering of thousands of students on the campus after spending days in Tihar jail on sedition charges.

We never demanded azadi (freedom) from India. We want azadi within India...from starvation, feudalism, Brahmanism, casteism, rioters and looters of the country, said the JNUSU leader in his blistering speech at the same place (administrative block) where he had addressed students just a day before his arrest.

In his 45-minute speech that blended the personal with the political, Kanhaiya took on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Smriti Irani and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Despite ideological differences, Kanhaiya said that he seconded the PM's words, 'Satyamev Jayate', but he wished that the let the truth come out.

Referring to the PMs speech in Parliament on Thursday, Kumar said, Modiji was talking about Stalin and Khrushchev in Parliament. When I heard him speaking I felt like jumping into the TV screen, grabbing his suit and saying, Modiji, please speak about Hitler a little. Forget about Hitler, talk about Mussolini whose black cap you wear and with whom RSS founder MS Golwalkar went to meet.

He further lambasted Modi by saying, I come from a village, where there are magic shows. People show magic and sell rings that fulfil all wishes...We have some people like that in our country, who say black money will come back and Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas (together with all, development for all). We Indians forget things too soon but this time the tamasha is too big. These jumlas wont be forgotten.

I want to remind our government that 69 percent voted against you. Just 31 percent voters voted for you and some of them were caught up in your jumlas. And today, they are running a distraction campaign so that people dont ask them the real questions, he added.

He lambasted the HRD minister on the issue of nationalism and the use of word bachcha (child) by her in Parliament to refer Dalit research scholar Rohit Vermula. Madam Smriti Irani, you will not teach us deshbhakti (patriotism) and deshdroh (anti-national). Let the court decide and define it. And yes, we are not your children. We are your political opponents, he said.

In his home coming speech, Kumar, a PhD scholar at the Centre for African Studies, sought to converge the movement against Rohiths death and charges of sedition against JNU students. We are being targeted because we took on the government through Occupy UGC movement and demanded justice for Hyderabad University student Rohith Vemula. All this was pre-planned. You want to silence one Rohith, today look at how big that revolution has become. I have not said this before, but my family earns Rs 3,000 a month. Can you imagine somebody like me doing a PhD in any other college? It was not possible without JNU. And they are calling anybody who stands up for this, a traitor? What kind of a self-proclaimed nationalism is this? he added.

"Comrade Kanhaiya Ko Lal Salaam (Red Salute to Comrade Kanhaiya)," he was cheered on by the crowd. He began his address by thanking everyone who supported him and the university during the crisis. Kanhaiya responded, "Awaz Do, Hum Ek Hain (shout out aloud, we are one)."

Kumar, who is now being perceived as a new leader in Indian politics, said the BJP government did not take kindly to any criticism of its functioning or ideology. If you speak against the government, their cyber cell will send your doctored videos and count the number of condoms in your hostel; they will start counting condoms in your dustbins, he said on the day a Delhi government report stated three videos that showed Kumar and other JNU students allegedly shouting anti-India slogans were doctored.

He expanded the azaadi debate in its relatable language perhaps to include at least empathy towards understanding why some want azaadi . Main apne jail ke anubhav se yeh jana. Hum JNU ke log sabhya shaleen tareeque se baat toh karte hain, lekin bahut hi bhaari terminology main bolte hain. Aur yeh baat is desh ke aam logon ko samajh main nahi aata. Unka dosh nahi hai, woh imandaar, samajhdaar log hai. Aap hi unke level pe lakar cheezon ko nahi rakhte hain (I realised one thing in jail. We people of JNU speak in civilised voices, but we use heavy terminologies. Perhaps, it doesnt reach the common man. We have to establish communication with the common people, he added.

In addition to taking on the PM and recalling her mothers tears, he offered salutes to jawan (soldiers) and kisan (farmers).

They say soldiers are dying on the borders. I salute them. A BJP MP in Parliament said that jawans are dying on the border. I want to ask him that the soldiers are dying on the border  is he your son or brother? He is the son or father of the farmer who is dying of drought. Who is responsible for their deaths? The soldier fighting on the border, perhaps wanted to study but he couldnt get to JNU. Do not create a false debate in this country. Do not try to separate the constable, the farmer, the soldier, poor people like me by creating distorted binaries. Have you ever thought of their families, the families of farmers who are forced to commit suicide? he asked.

He assured the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), which played an important role in sending he and others behind bars, he does not have any ill-feeling for them. I have no ill feelings towards anyone and we will never indulge in witch-hunting the ABVP. We consider you as our opposition, he said.
by Omair Anas

Before Mumtaz Qadris execution, more than three hundred Pakistanis had been executed by the Pakistani establishment, many of them unfairly convicted. Not much anger came from Pakistans Islamists until the most controversial execution of Mumtaz Qadri, the body guard turned assassin of the late Punjab governor Salman Taseer. A huge mobilisation was managed by Islamists of all colours and hues, which culminated in thousands of agitating Pakistanis attending the last rites of Mumtaz Qadri.

Social media and public sentiments declared him an Ashiq-e-Rasool, a true lover of Prophet Mohammad, who had sacrificed his life to protect the dignity and sanctity of the Prophet.

Mumtaz Qadri was convicted of assassinating Punjab governor Salman Taseer for whom he was appointed as a security guard. Salman Taseer was being accused of intervening in a case of a Christian woman who had allegedly insulted Prophet Mohammad and was booked under Pakistans notorious blasphemy law. Mumtaz was convicted of the murder and he had also confessed the crime, whatsoever the reason was. He was executed on 2 March 2016 after his death penalty was upheld by the top court and the mercy plea was also rejected by the President of Pakistan. Much to the anger of Islamists, death sentence of the woman accused of blasphemy is put on hold by Pakistans Supreme Court.

Two facts are admitted by all sides of the problem. Asia Bibi has been denying every charge of blasphemy and has blamed locals for using the charge for their personal grudges. Contrary to her case, Mumtaz Qadri is a self confessed assassin of a person who held the constitutional post of the state of Punjab. Mumtaz too was on government duty as a member of Pakistans Elite Police, trained and appointed only to protect the life of Salman Taseer at the time of his murder. By his act, Mumtaz violated a code of conduct he signed with the state of Pakistan; he took a life without giving him an opportunity to know what his crime was and whether his alleged crime was proven by the judiciary.

By making Mumtaz Qadri a hero, the Islamists in Pakistan have not just fulfilled their Islamic obligation of performing the last rites, which is a right of every Muslim regardless of his crimes, but they have gone too far by justifying his crime and justifying an extra judicial killing. Just because Salman Taseer had an opinion different from the Islamists, he should not have lost his fundamental rights, most importantly, his life. Islamists have made fiery emotional speeches and banners and posters covered Pakistani streets depicting Mumtaz Qadri as a martyr and lover of the Prophet.

Surprisingly, their position is not driven by Islam and many of them still do not openly support his act, rather they question the delay in other cases of blasphemy. Their position is driven by a competition to score high on public sentiments for the Prophet. By doing so, they have made Islam and Prophet a political commodity of high demand at the cost of the rule of law and respect for fundamental rights.

Muslim clerics and historians are well aware that blasphemy has been used as a political tool against political opponents. Because of the fact that Islamic laws on blasphemy were codified only after Prophet Muhammad expired and Quran has no direct reference to the crime and its penalty, the entire discourse of blasphemy is still in the course of evolution. A sudden emotional outburst on this particular execution shows that it has immense political value where the Nawaz Sharif government will look like defenceless.

The problem with this reaction is that this is not only questioning the rule of law of a country where there is a contract between the state and its citizens, but it is also damaging the cause of Islam intellectually, politically and culturally. This is more dangerous than the blasphemy law itself as it empowers the masses and individuals to charge, try and punish without due process. Islamists purposeful silence over past incidents of persecution of Christians in Pakistan, torching their homes and killing them, legitimises this unregulated violence.

Any Islamic politics that does not have the courage to speak the truth when it is required is neither Islamic nor politics. Truth is that no citizen of a state, particularly of a so called Islamic Republic, should be forced to face hostile masses because of his or her different religious, sexual, political or ethnic identity. By organising such extravagant funeral of a murderer, a clear message has been sent to the communities of different religions and those who champion their rights that you are responsible for your death, as was told by the President of Jamat-e-Islami Pakistan in 2011 when Mumtaz assassinated Punjab governor Salman Taseer.

This was a time when they had an opportunity to showcase a politics which has respect for the rule of law in a state; respect for fundamental rights, especially for their political and ideological opponents; independence of judiciary from political or popular pressure tactics, especially when the verdict comes against their wishes. An Islamic politics, which has no clear position on such fundamentals of modern nation state, makes Islam and Islamic symbols the most dangerous weapons to be used by the emotionally charged masses. Behind these masses are vested interests of groups and individuals using religion to enhance their political mileage, not necessarily to enhance the repute and respect of religion per se.

As far as blasphemy is concerned, there is a lot to be done  from defining blasphemy to the amount of penalty. From Rashid Ghannouchi to Tariq Ramadan, Islamic scholars have been debating to redefine blasphemy, its political use and create a mechanism to take the final call on such offences. Muslim groups in Pakistan are so deeply obsessed with their community politics that they do not have the courage to at least tell their supporters that mobs and individuals have no legal and Islamic rights to punish anyone for any crime whatsoever.

Omair Anas is PhD in International Studies and a research fellow at the Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi.
New Delhi: Congress on Friday described Prime Minister Narendra Modi as being in grip of "Rahul phobia" and said he has made a "mockery of democracy" by making "petty-minded jibes" in his political speech on President's address in Parliament, never done in the past.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that the Prime Minister's speech was "devoid of substance" as he lost the opportunity of clearing doubts of people that were raised through questions posed by Congress and Rahul Gandhi, which he never answered.

"Prime Minister Shri Modi seems to be in the grip of what I can describe as 'Rahul phobia'. It is an acute disease. It has now attained the size of an epidemic as far as the BJP and the Prime Minister are concerned.

"In what has now become a characteristic habit of the Prime Minister, he again made a mockery of democracy and Parliament. In a response to President's address, this kind of political petty-fogging, petty-minded jives (rpt) jives is neither the culture nor the occasion, nor the manner and style sanctified and hallowed in the almost 70 years of Indian Democracy," he said.

Singhvi said merely because the Congress Vice President raises genuine concerns, as many as three senior Ministers jumped in to deflect questions asked to Modi.

"All that the Prime Minister did, in a speech 'devoid of substance', was that petty pointless attacking on Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, the Congress party and the legacy of the Congress...We reject the reply of the Prime Minister as being misleading and giving no real answers," he said.

Singhvi said there have been many Prime Ministers, many political parties in power, there have been many acrimonious elections and there have been less acrimonious elections, but President's addresses or responses to them are not the occasion to give this kind of a petty political speeches.

"We are forced to say that the Prime Minister has yet again lost the opportunity to give substantive answers, to clear and assuage the genuine doubts of the people.

"The questions raised by Congress and by Rahul Gandhi are pointed questions of legitimate public concern and legitimate public interest and they stretch in the length and breadth of India," he said.

Singhvi also pointed out that the Prime Minister in his "political diatribe" did not mention a word about Rohith Vemula, Kanhaiya Kumar, about the behaviour of Delhi Police, about the 'lumpen' elements across the country linked to ABVP, and atrocities on Dalits and students.

"The PM should explain why he didn't apologise for the false speech of his HRD Minister in Parliament," he asked.

Singhvi said Prime Minister "selectively and mischievously" quoted speeches of Jawahar Lal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi and hoped if he could learn the message of compassion and inclusiveness entailed in them.

"Though he has shown no inclination till now and seems practically incapable, we hope that he learns from those speeches that entail an inclusive, compassionate tolerant and people centric India," he said.

The Congress leader said Modi talked about construction of toilets in schools, but never mentioned the 13,41,567 toilets in schools, 4,71,614 community toilets and 27,789 toilets built in community complexes during UPA.

He said the Prime Minister did not even utter a single word about his Government's "anti-dalit, anti-poor" mindset.

"The Prime Minister kept absolutely mum on the 'Fair & Lovely' amnesty scheme for Black Money hoarders and the tall promise of bringing back Black Money he made in 2014.

"He chose not to say a word on why he didn't apologise for publicly endorsing Smriti Irani's apparently false and misleading speech in Parliament with a "Satyameva Jayate". All his rhetoric in Lok Sabha was about 'Mithya Jayate'," he said.

Singhvi said there was not a word on how many jobs had the government created against the promised 2-Crore jobs per year, nor did he say as to why was "Make In India" not taking off.

He also accused him of choosing to keep Parliament in "dark" on why did he visited Pakistan, despite it playing truant and gave no clarifications whatsoever on the supposed Naga Accord.

"He had no answers to the crores of Indians who are asking as to why is he committing a dacoity on their life savings in EPF accounts.

"All that he attempted yet again was shameless blame shifting and credit taking by subterfuge," he said.

While spinning his "lies" on MNREGA and owning it up as a fait-accompli, the Congress leader said, Modi "failed" to inform the House that Congress Party had managed to reduce poverty from a whopping 65 per cent after Independence to about 22 percent in 2012.

"In the 10 years of UPA Government during 2004-2014, 15 crore Indians were pulled out from the BPL level. He forgot to mention that all this was achieved due to the anti-poverty rights based approach of our government," he said.

He said Modi tom-tommed the 18,000 villages his government had electrified, but forgot to mention about the 1,08,373 villages and intensive electrification in 3,07,567 including those in his home state that Congress electrified during UPA.

In claiming credits for "commissioning" 2,300 KM of rail line during current NDA rule, "the Prime Minister convolutely did not inform the Parliament that all these lines were started and almost completed during the UPA's tenure. He merely inaugurated and commissioned them."

He said Modi only "commissioned' and inaugurated them and conveniently added them to his achievements of enhancing the number of kilometres of Rail lines laid.

Singhvi also talked about the Gem, Jewellery and Gold traders who are on strike since the last three days over the proposed 1 per cent Excise duty on Gold and Diamond Jewellery.

"This proposal will have an adverse cascading effect on the market, traders and consumers. This step by the Government is viewed as introducing 'Inspector Raj' on the industry and allowing corruption," he said.

PTI
Editor's Note: As Tamil Nadu heads into poll frenzy, the overarching theme of the campaigns  both by the ruling party as well as the Opposition  is that of governance. While Opposition parties like the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) claim a breakdown of governance in the current regime, the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam argues that governance has never been better in the state.

In this series, Firstpost takes a dive into various aspects of governance in the past five years to analyse the merits and demerits of each partys claim. The first part of the series examined criticism, the second part looked at how populist politics are eating away at the economy, the third in the series sought to explore corruption, while the fourth part investigated the role played by caste in Tamil Nadu politics.

When a politician steeped in traditional rhetoric suddenly decides to abandon the omnipresent "vella sattai karai veshti" (Tamil for white shirt and dhoti with a border-lining of party colours) for trousers and shirts, it certainly warrants a closer look. That is what Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) scion MK Stalin did in September last year. Stalin could be seen riding scooters, walking in fields, riding in autorickshaws and buses, in an effort to be what his rival, Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa could not - accessible and approachable.

The Pattali Makkal Katchi's (PMK) chief ministerial candidate, former Union minister Anbumani Ramadoss too has donned the role of a trendy alternative to the usual suspects. Anbumani has been seen playing kabaddi with young boys and interacting with youngsters as often as he can manage.

All leaders except All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief J Jayalalithaa are on social media. Ninety-two-year-old M Karunanidhi, the DMK's chief too has a team that updates his Twitter and Facebook accounts regularly. Leader of the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) 'Captain' Vijaykanth too has an app through which requests for meeting the leader may be sent. All of these leaders have made an effort to interact with the populace, especially the youth, due to their own surveys making this crucial for garnering votes. But students don't seem particularly impressed.

"Politicians have never interacted with students," said Mubeen, a student leader of the All India Students' Federation in Chennai. "Now because it is election time some leaders are turning to Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. All this interaction will disappear in three months, once elections are over. There is no attraction towards politics or politicians from students. We feel politics are dirty," he added.

Only the ruling party has remained immune to calls from students and youngsters for engaging with them on any platform. The AIADMK believes that welfare measures for students, such as monthly stipends, 33 lakh free laptops and other benefits would stand them in good stead in the polls. Jayalalithaa continues, as her critics point out, to remain in her ivory tower. A brash new generation though awaits engagement, a good verbal duel if possible and change.

"There is definitely a need for students and politicians to interact," said Uchi Makali, State secretary, Students' Federation of India. "But this is only done for election time. It is good for students. But student politics have been crushed by both parties. We don't have strong unions anymore. The AIADMK has institutionalised corruption in this regime by selling faculty posts. Students have no faith in either the AIADMK or the DMK. In fact, students want a credible alternative," he said.

Other demands put forth by students include putting an end to commercialisation of education and to the capitation fee racket.

"Student unions need to be brought into college," said Mubeen of the All-India Students Federation. "Presidency College elections have not been held in this year, management has not permitted it. Our second issue is that there is a huge shortage of teachers in colleges, students are not getting quality education due to this. Private colleges and schools need to be taken over by the state government. There is no check or balance in fees or facilities," he added.

While students hunt for an alternative, politicians desperately try to woo them. Close to 60 lakh young voters go to polls this year. Whether this strategy will work will be seen only later in 2016.
New Delhi: In the wake of death of four Indian women in strife-torn Yemen's Aden city, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Friday night appealed to all Indians living in "danger zones" to return home.

"I appeal to all Indians in such danger zones to please come back to India," she tweeted.

She said the nurses stayed back in Yemen, ignoring advisories by the government.

"Yemen - Four Indian nurses have been killed in a terrorist attack today. I am sorry the nurses stayed back/returned ignoring our advisories," she said in another tweet.

I appeal to all Indians in such danger zones to please come back to India.  Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) March 4, 2016

Yemen - Four Indian nurses have been killed in a terrorist attack today. I am sorry the nurses stayed back/returned ignoring our advisories.  Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) March 4, 2016

The four Indian women were among 16 people killed in Aden city today when a group of terrorists stormed a elderly care home run by a Kolkata-based Missionaries of Charity and sprayed bullets at the residents.

PTI
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has urged federal officials to reconsider their denial for funds to help deal with the crisis caused by lead-contaminated water in the city of Flint, his office said on Thursday.

The contamination and the state's long delay in addressing the problem have sparked outrage and drawn attention from U.S. presidential candidates.

In the latest appeal to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Snyder is requesting money to pay for food, water and other essential needs; the removal of health and safety hazards; activation of emergency operations centres; measures to avoid further damage; and homeowners' repairs not covered by insurance.

A FEMA spokesman said Snyder's appeal was under review by the agency.

The agency turned down an earlier request for financial help in January because the areas in which Snyder requested aid were deemed not appropriate, but has provided non-monetary support in the form of a FEMA coordinator.

Also in January, Snyder asked for federal declarations of emergency and major disaster. President Barack Obama approved the federal emergency declaration, but denied a major disaster declaration. Snyder appealed that decision and was denied.

Snyder said on Thursday that Flint needed continued local, state, federal and national efforts. "Assistance from our federal partners could go a long way in moving Flint forward," he said.

Activists and some Democratic state lawmakers have demanded that Snyder resign, but a spokesman said the Republican governor had no intention of stepping down.

Snyder is scheduled to testify before a U.S. congressional committee on March 17.

Also on Thursday, Snyder said the federal government approved a waiver allowing for Medicaid coverage for children and pregnant women in Flint as part of the recovery efforts.

Flint, a predominantly black city of 100,000 about 60 miles (100 km) northwest of Detroit, was under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager when it switched the source of its tap water from Detroit's system to the Flint River in April 2014.

The city switched back to Detroit water last October after tests found high levels of lead in blood samples taken from children.

Water from the Flint River, which was more corrosive than Detroit's, leached lead from the city's pipes, posing widespread health risks from the toxic agent.

Experts have said it could take some time for anti-corrosive chemicals now being added to the water to re-coat pipes so that they will not leach more lead.

(Reporting by Suzannah Gonzales; Editing by Ben Klayman, Tom Brown and Alan Crosby)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
WASHINGTON More than 90 Republican foreign policy veterans have pledged to oppose Donald Trump, saying his proposals would undermine U.S. security, in the latest sign of fissures between the Republican presidential front-runner and the party establishment.

"Mr. Trumps own statements lead us to conclude that as president, he would use the authority of his office to act in ways that make America less safe, and which would diminish our standing in the world," the signatories wrote in a open letter on Wednesday.

"Furthermore, his expansive view of how presidential power should be wielded against his detractors poses a distinct threat to civil liberty in the United States," said the letter, which was posted on a blog called War on the Rocks.

The signatories include Robert Zoellick, a former World Bank president and deputy secretary of state; former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff; and Dov Zakheim, a top Pentagon official under President George W. Bush.

They represent both centrist Republican foreign policy circles and neoconservatives who favour a robust U.S. international role and wielded clout during Bush's 2001-2009 presidency.

Billionaire businessman Trump won the largest number of states in this week's Super Tuesday nominating contests, intensifying moves by the party's establishment wing to derail his path to the nomination.

On Thursday, Trump in an interview with ABC News flatly rejected the criticism in the letter and blasted the nation's military leaders as ineffective.

Bryan McGrath, a retired U.S. Navy officer and adviser to Republican Mitt Romneys unsuccessful 2012 presidential campaign who helped organise the letter, said at least two people declined to sign because of concerns it would fuel Trump's campaign theme of being an anti-Washington candidate opposed by the establishment.

"This is really drawing a bright moral line and saying that if we're going to keep our souls, we can't cross it," said Eliot Cohen, who served as counsellor to former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and helped spearhead the letter.

Rice was asked to sign but chose not to, in keeping with her general practice of not signing on to such group letters, a spokeswoman for the Stanford University professor said.

The list of signatures, which numbered 60 when the letter was released on Wednesday night, had grown to 94 by Thursday afternoon.

The signatories did not include other several high-profile former officials such as Bush national security adviser Stephen Hadley or former Secretary of State Colin Powell. It was unknown if they were invited to sign.

The letter rejects numerous Trump foreign policy statements, including his "hateful, anti-Muslim rhetoric," his demand that Mexico fund a wall to control illegal immigration across the U.S. border, and his insistence that Japan pay much more for U.S. security assistance.

"As committed and loyal Republicans, we are unable to support a Party ticket with Mr. Trump at its head," the signatories said. "We commit ourselves to working energetically to prevent the election of someone so utterly unfitted to the office."

The War on the Rocks blog calls itself a platform for former diplomats, military and intelligence officers and scholars to comment "through a realist lens" on global affairs.

AMMUNITION FOR TRUMP?

Trump has alarmed some mainstream Republicans with vows to shred international trade deals. Many fear a Trump presidency would severely strain ties with allies and are concerned about his stated willingness to work more closely with authoritarian Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump also has criticized the Republican Party for its backing of Bush's 2003 Iraq invasion and has said he supports the practice of waterboarding and other similar interrogation techniques.

Max Boot, a foreign policy adviser to Romney's 2012 campaign and supporter of the Iraq invasion, was among the letter's signers and said he "would sooner work for (North Korean dictator) Kim Jong Un than for Donald Trump. I think Donald Trump is objectively more dangerous than Kim Jong Un and not as stable."

Kurt Volker, a permanent representative to NATO under Bush, said he did not sign the letter because of concerns that any letter from "national security intelligentsia" could backfire.

"He would actually use it as a bragging right," said Volker, adding he had no intention of working for Trump but wanted to be free to offer advice to any future president, and that such a letter could prompt Trump to hold a grudge.

Several others who declined to sign and asked not to be identified, said they feared it could help Democrat Hillary Clinton win the presidency.

Trump told MSNBC on Thursday that he would name his foreign policy and national security advisers "in a week or two. ... But ultimately it's my thought more than anybody else's."

Those Trump has spoken with on foreign policy include a retired U.S. general and intelligence official, Michael Flynn, who favours closer ties with Russia. Flynn has declined to comment on whether he is advising Trump.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who won popularity for his response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, has said he has been having regular talks with Trump but not in a formal role.

(Additional reporting by Phil Stewart, Arshad Mohammed and Susan Heavey; Editing by David Rohde, Stuart Grudgings, Bill Trott and Peter Cooney)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
DETROIT Former U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney attacked 2016 Republican front-runner Donald Trump as a fraud on Thursday and called for tactical voting in primaries to stop him as the party slid closer to civil war over the outspoken New York billionaires White House run.

In an unusually harsh speech, party elder Romney warned that former reality TV star Trump would likely lose to possible Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the Nov. 8 election if he becomes the Republican nominee.

Trump's rise has split the Republican Party between mainstream figures like Romney, and Trump supporters who complain the party does not reflect their concerns about illegal immigration, the slow economic recovery and what they see as America's diminishing role in the world.

That split widened when Romney, the party nominee in 2012, urged Republican primary voters to vote tactically in different states to back Trump's opponents and block his path to the nomination.

"Here's what I know. Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud," said Romney, 68, who did not endorse any candidate.

"I would vote for Marco Rubio in Florida, for John Kasich in Ohio, and for Ted Cruz or whichever one of the other two contenders has the best chance of beating Mr. Trump in a given state," he said. Rubio, a U.S. senator, is from Florida and Kasich is the Ohio governor.

Republican strategist Scott Reed said he doubted the last-ditch tactical voting suggestion would work. "No one will be playing the targeted voting game. Theres too much anger and distrust," Reed said.

Trump, 69, has made his party's establishment uneasy with his abrasive tone and policy positions, including plans to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border, deport 11 million illegal immigrants and temporarily bar Muslims from entering the country.

Romney's speech in Utah was the spearhead of a mainstream Republican attempt to rein in Trump after he won most states in this week's Republican Super Tuesday nominating contests and took a step towards earning the nomination.

Trump also leads many polls for primaries in the remaining states, including in major ones like Florida on March 15, dampening prospects of derailing him.

The party establishment's strategy risks backfiring by further energizing Trump's supporters, many of them white, blue-collar voters.

"If only Romney talked like this four years ago about Obama ... or Trump," conservative political commentator Michelle Malkin said on Twitter. "Too freaking late and too freaking lame."

'FAILED CANDIDATE'

Trump dismissed the former Massachusetts governor who lost to Democratic President Barack Obama four years ago. "Mitt is a failed candidate. He failed. He failed horribly. He failed badly," Trump told a rally in Maine.

Romney decided on his own to give the speech, which he wrote himself. Romney said Trump's economic policy would sink America "into prolonged recession," mocked Trump's ego, and called him a "con man."

"A business genius he is not," Romney said.

David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to Obama, called the Romney speech a "break glass" moment he had not seen since 1964, when Republicans abandoned their candidate Barry Goldwater.

Axelrod noted thousands of Republicans had already voted for Trump in primary elections. "I wonder about tactic of calling them fools," Axelrod wrote on Twitter.

Earlier, more than 70 Republican national security leaders signed a scathing open letter opposing Trump and his stance on many foreign policy issues.

Romney's speech came hours before Trump and his rivals share a stage in Detroit at 9 p.m. EST (0200 GMT Friday) for a debate hosted by Fox News.

Trump, who has self-funded his primary campaign, would turn to donors in the general election if he wins the party's nomination, CNN reported.

(Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu and Eric Beech; Writing by Steve Holland, Roberta Rampton; Editing by Peter Cooney and Alistair Bell)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Washington: The Republican's most recent presidential nominees, Mitt Romney and John McCain, lambasted current front-runner Donald Trump on Thursday, calling him unfit for office and a danger for the nation, in an extraordinary show of intra-party chaos.

The chaos was reflected in the back-and-forth at the Republicans' first post-Super Tuesday debate, where Trump repeated clashed Thursday night with the remaining candidates Texas Sen Ted Cruz, Florida Sen Marco Rubio, and Ohio Gov John Kasich.

"His is not the temperament of a stable, thoughtful leader," Romney declared earlier in the day. He called Trump "a phony" who is "playing the American public for suckers," a man whose "imagination must not be married to real power."

Hours later, Trump lashed back, calling Romney "a choke artist" who lost to Barack Obama four years ago only because he was such a poor candidate.

The vicious feud marked a near-unprecedented scenario pitting the Republican Party's most prominent leaders, past and present, against each other as Democrats begin to unite around Hillary Clinton.

Underlying the clash is a bleak reality for panicking Republican officials: Beyond harsh words, there is little they see to stop Trump's march toward the presidential nomination. Party leaders are poring over complicated delegate math, outlining hazy scenarios for a contested national convention and even flirting with the idea of a third-party effort.

Romney confidant Ron Kaufman, a senior member of the Republican National Committee, openly embraced the possibility of a contested convention: "If that's the only way to stop Trump, it makes sense," he told The Associated Press.

In the most notable verbal attacks against Trump to date, Romney and his 2012 running mate, House Speaker Paul Ryan, urged voters in the strongest terms to shun the former reality television star.

Arizona Sen McCain, joined in, raising "many concerns about Mr. Trump's uninformed and indeed dangerous statements on national security issues." That echoes the worries of dozens of leading conservative defense and foreign policy officials.

It is virtually unheard of for a former party standard-bearer to attack a fellow party member and candidate for the presidential nomination. But it has been a political season like none before.

The Republican race, already dominated by insults and name-calling, has seen Trump's once-unlikely candidacy morph into an increasingly strong bid for his party's nomination for the November election.

"The only serious policy proposals that deal with the broad range of national challenges we confront today come from Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and John Kasich," Romney said.

Earlier in the day, Trump dismissed Romney as "a stiff" who "didn't know what he was doing" as the party's candidate in 2012. "People are energized by what I'm saying" and turning out in remarkable numbers to vote, Trump told NBC.

Trump is coming under increasing pressure from his party as he fights for the majority of delegates needed to win the nomination.

Romney said a Trump nomination at the party's convention in July would enable Clinton to win the presidency.

Romney also criticized Clinton, accusing her and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, of personally profiting from their positions of power.

Panicked Republican leaders say they still have options for preventing Trump from winning the nomination, just not many good ones. They include a contested convention and even the long-shot prospect of a third party option.

Also Thursday, dozens of conservative national security experts warned that Trump is unfit to be commander in chief.

Former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and more than 70 others called Trump's "embrace of the expansive use of torture" inexcusable. They also object to what they say is Trump's "hateful, anti-Muslim rhetoric" and his advocacy for waging trade wars.

Despite Trump's strong showing on Tuesday, he was not yet on track to claim the nomination before the party's national gathering, according to an Associated Press delegate count. He has won 46 percent of the delegates awarded so far, and he would have to increase that to 51 percent in the remaining primaries.

Trump has 316 delegates so far, Texas Sen Cruz 226 and Florida Sen Rubio, 106. It takes 1,237 delegates to win the party nomination.

Party strategists cast March 15 as the last opportunity to stop Trump through the normal path of winning states and collecting delegates. A win for Rubio in his home state of Florida would raise questions about Trump's strength, as could a win for Kasich, Ohio's governor, on his home turf.

Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson all but ended his bid Wednesday, saying he would skip the debate and declaring he did "not see a political path forward."

On the Democratic side, Clinton was drawing broad support from voters and her party's leaders. Rival Bernie Sanders vowed to keep up the fight, though his path to the nomination has narrowed. So far, Clinton has at least 1,005 delegates, Sanders 373. It takes 2,383 Democratic delegates to win.

AP
Moscow: Russian investigators on Friday filed murder charges against a nanny after she beheaded a four-year-old handicapped girl in her care and brandished the severed head in a Moscow street.

The Investigative Committee said suspect Gyulchekhra Bobokulova, a 38-year-old native of Muslim-majority Uzbekistan, would undergo psychiatric and drug tests to determine "her mental condition."

The maximum punishment for the murder of a minor is life in prison although women offenders cannot be sentenced to more than 25 years in jail in Russia.

A defendant cannot be sentenced to jail term if found to be legally insane.

"The investigation is currently taking exhaustive measures to study the personality of the accused and establish the motives of the crime she committed," the Investigative Committee said in a statement.

Bobokulova  whom the media have dubbed "the bloody nanny"  was detained on Monday as she was waving a child's severed head outside a metro station in northwestern Moscow.

In a court on Wednesday, the 38-year-old told journalists that "Allah ordered" the killing.

Video footage that emerged on the Internet appeared to show the mother-of-three saying the attack was "revenge" for President Vladimir Putin's bombing campaign in Syria, which began in September.

The Investigative Committee swiftly said she had "long been diagnosed with schizophrenia", while the Kremlin called her a "deranged person."

Some have suggested that the Uzbek nanny might have been radicalised by Muslim hardliners.

Moskovsky Komsomolets daily reported Friday investigators were focussing on Bobokulova's 48-year-old partner Mamur Dzhurakulov, who was detained in Tajikistan, another Muslim-majority nation in Central Asia, several days ago.

One of Bobokulova's sons, Rakhmatillo Ashurov, was questioned by Uzbek police and said his mother had become very devout after meeting Dzhurakulov, the newspaper said.

Bobokulova's son reportedly also said his mother wanted to take him to the Islamic State in Syria where she could "freely wear an Islamic veil and live according to Sharia law" and where he could "join jihad."

The son said he had told his mother he wanted to move to the United States or South Korea and had no plans to travel to the Islamic State, the newspaper said.

AFP
WASHINGTON As Republican leaders desperately seek ways to derail the U.S. presidential campaign of billionaire Donald Trump, many of the party's 31 state governors are staying out of the fray.

New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez endorsed Marco Rubio on Friday, making her only the 10th governor to back one of the four Republican presidential rivals left in the race.

Much more typical is Governor Rick Scott of Florida, who said on Thursday he would not endorse a candidate before his state's hotly contested March 15 primary.

Such reluctance to commit contrasts sharply with previous elections, when governors lined up solidly behind eventual nominees, helping to winnow the field of candidates early on.

The 2016 election differs because a chaotic race has divided Republicans, convincing many to keep a low profile in hopes of avoiding a possible backlash from voters who are increasingly contemptuous of party leaders, Republican officials say.

"It's a lose-lose political situation," said Fergus Cullen, a former New Hampshire Republican Party chairman.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie last week took a risk, after dropping out of the presidential contest himself, and endorsed Trump, the billionaire businessman. That decision has done little for either of them, according to a new poll.

Almost two-thirds of 1,372 adults polled, both Republicans and Democrats, said Christie's endorsement made no difference in their feelings towards Trump, the Republican front-runner. The nationwide Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted Feb 29-March 4.

Christie has faced relentless criticism since he announced his support for Trump last week. Six newspapers in his home state have called on him to resign.

In past elections, a governor's endorsement could produce a burst of positive news coverage and the support of well-connected local leaders for a presidential contender.

That would encourage other elected officials to endorse the candidate as well, creating an impression that the candidate was a favourite of those who knew best and encouraging others to drop out of the race, said David Karol, a University of Maryland political science professor who has found that endorsements were a strong predictor of electoral success between 1980 and 2004.

"The absence of most of the governors this late in the process really indicates the paralysis and division in Republican elite circles," Karol said.

Ahead of Election Day on Nov. 8, many governors did not want to talk about Trump, who has unnerved his party's establishment with his abrasive tone and policy positions, including plans to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border, deport 11 million illegal immigrants and temporarily bar Muslims from entering the country. Eighteen undecided Republican governors, contacted by Reuters, declined to be interviewed on their views of the race.

National Republican leaders are struggling for a strategy to stop Trump from becoming the nominee, as Democrats revel in the chaos they hope will boost their chances of keeping the White House.

BUSH, ROMNEY

George W. Bush, elected president in 2000, had the support of 26 of the party's 30 Republican governors before primary voting even started, according to figures compiled by James Madison University political science professor Martin Cohen, who with Karol is a co-author of "The Party Decides: Presidential Nominations Before and After Reform."

In 2012, 10 of 29 Republican governors had endorsed Mitt Romney by the time he clinched the presidential nomination.

This year, governors are not sending a clear signal to voters. Five have endorsed Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida who has won one nominating contest so far. Two have endorsed John Kasich of Ohio, the only governor left in the race, who has won no contests. Two have Trump. One has backed Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Three others endorsed candidates who have since dropped out of the race.

The governors who have made endorsements so far have had little impact. Rubio lost in Tennessee, South Carolina and Arkansas, despite the backing of governors in those states. Kasich got only 4 percent of the vote in Alabama on Tuesday after that state's Governor Robert Bentley endorsed him.

Iowa Governor Terry Branstad called on voters in his state to reject Cruz before the state's February caucuses. Cruz won.

So far, only Texas Governor Greg Abbott has picked a winner. He endorsed Cruz, who won Texas on Tuesday.

Trump has put many governors in a difficult position. The real estate developer is expected to easily win Mississippi's Republican primary next Tuesday, for example, but his support for Planned Parenthood and government-backed health insurance, among other policies, put him at odds with the conservative positions backed by Governor Phil Bryant.

Bryant will support Trump should he end up being the party's nominee, but he has not decided whether to endorse a candidate before the primary, an aide told Reuters.

In theory, governors should be in a position to shape the outcome of this year's nominating contests. Republicans at the state level have delivered tax cuts, abortion restrictions and other conservative victories from Maine to Arizona, while their counterparts in charge of Congress have been locked in a stalemate with Democratic President Barack Obama.

But the plethora of establishment-minded candidates this year has made it more difficult for governors and other senior officials to decide who to back, let alone try to shape the outcome with an endorsement.

Republican governors in Maryland, Florida, Wyoming, Indiana, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, Arizona, Nebraska and Michigan declined to say whether they would back Trump if he were the party's nominee.

Governors in Utah, Oklahoma, North Carolina and Georgia have yet to endorse a candidate but would back Trump if he won the nomination, aides said.

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker told reporters this

week he would not vote for Trump in November.

(Additional reporting by Nick Carey, Sharon Bernstein, Ian Simpson, Alex Dobuzinskis and Scott Malone; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh, Howard Goller and Alistair Bell)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Upholding the religious freedom rights of Sikhs in the US armed forces, an American court has ruled in favour of a decorated Sikh army captain who had demanded that the military accommodate his articles of faith and abandon its impromptu discriminatory testing.

Captain Simratpal Singh, 28, in a lawsuit filed against the Department of Defence demanded the US military accommodate

his articles of faith and dump the discriminatory testing. "Thousands of other soldiers are permitted to wear long hair and beards for medical or other reasons, without being subjected to such specialised and costly testing of their helmets and gas masks," said judge Beryl A Howell, while ruling in captain Singh's favour on Thursday.

The US Department of Defence, which had granted and then extended Singh's temporary religious accommodation until 31 March, 2016, remains scheduled to make a final decision on his permanent accommodation by that deadline.

Captain Singh, who is a West Point graduate, Ranger, and Bronze Star Medal recipient, has successfully passed the safety tests required of his unit. "The US Constitution and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act make it clear that Captain Singh's right to practice his faith and serve in our military are not mutually exclusive," said Amandeep Sidhu, a partner at McDermott Will & Emery law firm, which represented Singh.

"We are grateful that the court is on the right side of religious freedom with its ruling, which begs the question: Does the world's largest employer really want to be on the wrong side of history?" he said.

The testing that the military planned to impose on captain Singh is not required of any other soldiers, even the tens of thousands with medical or religious accommodations, and including previously accommodated Sikhs, Sidhu said. Given that Singh has passed the standard safety tests, further testing would clearly be discriminatory, he claimed.

"We have been advocating for the simple, straightforward and equal right to serve for years, and held on to the belief that the military would correct this injustice once they realised their mistake," said the Sikh Coalition's legal director, Harsimran Kaur.

"The military's treatment of captain Singh, a decorated soldier, makes it clear that they deliberately want to squash diversity and religious freedom in their ranks; that is not something that any court, or any American, should ever tolerate," Kaur said.

PTI
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, 2016.

Directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa.

Starring Tina Fey, Margot Robbie, Martin Freeman, Christopher Abbott, Nicholas Braun, Stephen Peacocke, Billy Bob Thornton, and Alfred Molina.

SYNOPSIS:

A journalist recounts her wartime coverage in Afghanistan.

Maybe this is relevant, and maybe it isnt, but as Im writing this review, television is bringing to my attention Tina Fey (star and producer of Whiskey Tango Foxtrot) trashing the Oscars, calling actors stupid, and stating that political correctness is threatening to comedy; all three of those issues I am in agreement on to varying degrees. She seems like a genuine person that doesnt buy into the facade and bullshit that is expected of you after becoming famous. Am I familiar with most of her work? Not really, but her viewpoints are on point, skyrocketing her to the top of my list of favorite celebrities.

The point is that Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is the opposite; its Hollywood taking a real-life person and reworking the story to the point where everything Ive read online about the actual former war correspondent Kim Barker, is infinitely more interesting. It also feels oddly restrained in the comedy department, as if it didnt want to step on any toes, when the very tone of her memoirs (The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan) expressed an abundance of dark situational humor. Coming from the writers of Bad Santa gave off the impression of something more direct and profane with its illuminating depiction of foreign-policy, but outside of Billy Bob Thornton yelling some condescendingly sarcastic insults as a Marine general (obviously lines the writers have mastered at feeding the actor), the movie is lifeless and in desperate need of a spark.

Much of Whiskey Tango Foxtrot simply feels directionless. At around halfway through the movie (its also worth noting that the movie borders on two hours, and you will quickly begin to feel every minute of it) Kim Baker (I have no idea why her name was changed either, considering the real Kim Barker has neither love nor disdain for the project) fully reaches a rut. The Afghanistan lifestyle she is living is quickly becoming normality, her dead-end relationship has finally imploded, and we are told that despite Americans caring about the troops, there isnt much interest in news coverage there (Iraq is whats hot), leaving her job on the rocks. None of it resonates however, lacking a gripping emotional arc.

Its no fault of the performances; Tina Fey is excellent and portrays Kim Baker as a complex character with multiple conflicting thoughts, a drive to live a fulfilling life, and superbly uses her natural comedic talent to elicit laughs regarding Kims initial ignorance of the Afghanistan culture upon first reaching the location. Martin Freeman is also likable as a sleazy jerk that eventually warms up and catches legitimate feelings for her. Even with the whitewashing of the casting, Christopher Abbott and Alfred Molina also play their roles well. And then theres Margot Robbie who is once again a smoking blonde bombshell, but what all of the supporting roles have in common is the feeling of being underdeveloped.

Theres also the possibility that the movie takes more than one viewing to truly appreciate the subtly and layers of the characters, but for the most part Whiskey Tango Foxtrot can never find its footing and start being entertaining. Thats also probably why the movie goes from comedy, to drama, to ending on a romantic plot arc. This wouldnt really matter of course if the movie still functioned properly regardless of what genre it was operating under, but lets just say theres a reason Whiskey Tango Foxtrot was marketed as a comedy; it unfortunately fails at everything else.

That actually hurts to say too, because there are quite a few individual scenes within the film that are laugh out loud hilarious (it could be Kim unfashionably dressed at a wedding, needing to take a piss out in the field after consuming too much water, and more). Even the relationship between Kim and Iain (Martin Freeman) isnt necessarily bad, it just cant find a way to connect to the audience. The movie has all the ingredients for compelling characters, but just drops the ball. Tina Fey is the only thing preventing unmitigated disaster.

You will probably find Whiskey Tango Foxtrot moderately interesting and engaging (it isnt a terrible movie at all, but more of a misfire), and the character of Kim Baker fascinating, so do yourself a favor and check out her memoirs. Theres more dark comedy and less of Hollywood twisting history into a more conventional offering.

Flickering Myth Rating  Film:    / Movie:  

Robert Kojder  Chief Film Critic of Flickering Myth. Check here for new reviews weekly, friend me on Facebook, follow my Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com

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Major Silicon Valley companies are joining forces to support Apple in its ongoing privacy battle against the FBI. Top companies like Twitter, Yahoo, Airbnb, LinkedIn, eBay, Square, Reddit and many others have filed an amicus brief in US federal court. With the help of amicus briefs, parties who are not directly involved in a court case can add additional weight, context and information to an ongoing argument.

Apple shared a list of all the companies that have filed the joint amicus briefs on its website. Last month, Microsoft, Facebook and Google had come together to support Apple over the privacy battle with Department of Justice over iPhone backdoor case. A total of 40 companies are expected to publicly back the company and 17 of those companies have officially voiced support in a brief to the Department of Justice.

The companies are uniting against the government on the grounds the All Writs Act does not compel Apple to comply with its request. Airbnb, Atlassian, Automattic, CloudFlare, eBay, GitHub, Kickstarter, LinkedIn, Mapbox, Medium, Meetup, Reddit, Square, Squarespace, Twilio, Twitter and Wickr are the companies that have filed the joint amicus brief.

The joint brief which is filed by the aforementioned companies reads,

The governments demand here, at its core, is unbound by any legal limits. It would set a dangerous precedent, in which the government could sidestep established legal procedures authorized by thorough, nuanced statutes to obtain users data in ways not contemplated by lawmakers.

source
Michelin-star chef, Gordon Ramsay, recently opened a high end eatery in Singapore but his love of the street food in the town has grown since long ago.

Bread Street Kitchen is a casual dining spot with a blend of modern and vintage decor. On the menu, it serves all things European traditional like Eggs Benedict, English Breakfast, Shepherd's Pie and Fish 'n Chips.

Only months ago that the celeb's restaurant have been introduced but the deep connection to the city is much longer. It started 15 years ago, Ramsay told CNN, that his visit to Raffles Hotel opened his mind to hawker foods.

On his third visit to Singapore, Ramsay claimed that it's not just delicious cuisine but more of a family environment - which he loves seeing. Ramsay is also responsible for creating inflight menus for Singapore Airlines.

Bread Street Kitchen is his second restaurant in Asia. Ramsay's design is a place for lunch and dinner, or for an occasional drink that taps in the culture with a relaxing environment. "It's family-oriented," he exclaims the atmosphere of Singapore culture for being very unorthodox, lively and family-oriented. "You don't really see that in London. All that authenticity gone, here we still have it."

The 49-year-old chef describes Singaporeans as impatient individuals, yet knowledgeable of great foods. He recalled the guide that approved, Singapore being a destination for foodies. The city's market is competitive and tough, according to Ramsay, as big chefs from Europe, U.S and Japan are marking their names here.

Ramsay's few dozen restaurants have a total of 16 Michelin stars, 9 of which he currently holds. He mentions that receiving a Michelin Star is akin to that of an actor receiving an Oscar. He welcomes the pressure of having to keep the achievement to that level - describing it as 'catastrophe' if in case the Star goes down from three to two.
After 45 years, Starbucks is finally coming to italy. But looks like some Italians are not liking it.

After taking a trip to Italy 30 years ago, Starbucks CEO Howard Schults, then marketing director, has always wanted to open the world's largest coffee chain in the country, but failed to do so until today.

Starbucks announced Wednesday that they will be expanding in to Europe through its first store in Italy early next year.

"The Italians had created the theater, romance, art and magic of experiencing espresso," Schultz recalled. "I was overwhelmed with a gut instinct that this is what we should be doing."

But, rough waves are expected as Starbucks sail towards the coffee sea of Italy. Time reports that the coffee culture in Italy is completely different from that of America. "Italians simply drink their coffee differently from the rest of the world. In Italy, a cup of coffee is not something to be lingered over. It's something close to a cigarette break - a ten-minute pause in the middle of the workday," Stephan Paris, a reporter based in Rome said.

Also, Italians always opt for simple coffee concoctions. An espresso shot is enough. Lattes and cappuccinos are only drunk in the morning, and sometimes as an afternoon snack. "Never after lunch or dinner". Only a small percentage of the Italian population also like Americanos.

Aside from the time dedicated to coffee drinking, the cup sizing is also foreseen to be a bump in the road. A 10 oz cup is too big for an average Italian's taste, but too small for Starbucks and the rest of America. A local cafe owner told time, "[Tourists] want it big, always everything big."

Then there comes cost. A shot of espresso usually costs around 0.90 Euros, or around a buck when converted to USD. Italians drink numerous shots per day but shy from paying more. This is probably why they drink their coffee standing up-to save more money and time.

One coffee lover tweeted: "I prefer my bar." Another one takes it to a deeper scale: "The arrival of #StarbucksItalia could destroy the country!", wary of the possibility of cultural imperialism and American take over.

Still, the giant coffee company keeps its hopes up. "Habits are changing in Italy," Faris concluded.
Alaskan telecommunications company General Communication (GNCMA) reported its fourth quarter results on March 2. The company managed to grow revenue, but costs associated with its acquisition of a wireless business drove down profitability. Here's what investors need to know about the results.

The raw numbers

Q4 2015 Q4 2014 YoY Growth Sales $241.3 million $228.8 million 5.5% Adjusted EBITDA $70.5 million $70.7 million (0.2%) Net income ($8.9 million) $5.8 million N/A

What happened with General Communication this quarter?

The company operates both wireless and wireline businesses in Alaska:

Wireless revenue declined by 3% year-over-year to $60 million. Wholesale wireless sales slumped 16% to $21 million; roaming and backhaul revenue jumped 13% to $26 million; and USF support revenue declined 7% to $13 million. The company pointed to changes in revenue allocation between segments after the closing of the AWN transaction, where Alaska Communications sold its wireless business to General, as the main reason for the decline.

sold its wireless business to General, as the main reason for the decline. Wireless adjusted EBITDA was $39 million during the quarter, up 18% year-over-year.

Wireline revenue rose 8% year-over-year to $181 million. Consumer wireline revenue jumped 17% to $89 million; business services revenue slumped 11% to $52 million; and managed broadband revenue grew 24% to $40 million.

Wireline adjusted EBITDA declined 8% year-over-year to $32 million.

SG&A expenses rose 12% year-over-year to $89 million, due to one-time AWN transition costs, recurring costs associated with supporting acquired wireless subscribers, and increased spending on IT.

General Communication also provided guidance for 2016.

Revenue is expected to be in a range of $930 million to $980 million, down 2% at the midpoint.

Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in a range of $295 million to $325 million, down from $330 million in 2015. The decline is due to new roaming and backhaul agreements, as well as a planned migration to a new billing platform.

Capital expenditures are expected to be approximately $210 million, or $150 million net of tower sale proceeds.

What management had to say

A large portion of General Communication's wireless comes in the form of roaming and backhaul agreements, and the company gave an update on the impact of new long-term agreements. "These agreements will reduce the cash we receive from roaming and backhaul by approximately 20%, or $25 million, in 2016 when compared with 2015. Notwithstanding the negative cash impact to GCI in 2016, we believe these agreements are valuable to GCI and substantially mitigate a key risk factor in the business."

CEO Ron Duncan pointed to these new agreements as important for the long-term health of the company:

We finished 2015 on strong operational footing, which sets us up to capitalize on opportunities in 2016. Our broadband data products continue to provide core growth, and our new wireless roaming agreements secure an important revenue source for the long-term health of the company. We also anticipate selling our urban wireless towers in 2016, which will provide us additional capital that we intend to reinvest in the growth of our company. This sale will support significant investments in a diverse fiber to the North Slope and continued expansion of our TERRA network. These steps demonstrate GCI's commitment to being the leader in broadband infrastructure in Alaska.

Looking ahead

General Communication's adjusted EBITDA guidance for 2016 calls for a decline compared to 2015. This expected decline, as well as the expectation of a drop in revenue during 2016, is likely the reason why the stock declined significantly the day earnings were released.

The new long-term roaming contracts represent a trade-off for the company, providing a higher degree of visibility in exchange for lower payments. General Communications stated that the negative impact to adjusted EBITDA would be $25 million, which more than accounts for the discrepancy between the company's guidance for 2016 and its results from 2015. While investors may be disappointed by the guidance, the company clearly believes that these long-term contracts are the right choice.
What: Shares of Brazilian oil giant Petrobras (PBR 3.95%) are up 13.5% as of 1:00 p.m. ET today as the company rides the wave of yesterday's announcement that it plans to sell some assets and the Brazilian government continues its efforts to get to the bottom of its kickback and graft scandal back in 2014.

So what: The kickback scandal that has surrounded Petrobras for the past year and a half has weighed heavily on the company's stock as the Brazilian authorities start to unravel the depth of the corruption in this ordeal. Earlier today, the police detained former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and questioned him in a possible role. So far, the scandal has already claimed the job of Petrobras' former CEO and several of its board members, and there is a possibility that it could even include sitting President Dilma Rousseff. While these current investigations may not have a whole lot of impact on the company's current day-to-day operations, the more this ordeal is sorted out, the more investors are going to have some shred of confidence in Petrobras.

Petrobras is also being helped by the announcement that an offer has been made for a stake of its holdings in Argentina for $1.2 billion. It is one of the most highly indebted companies in the world, and with low oil prices, it is struggling to find the funds to pay back some of these financial obligations. If the company can still get some semi-attractive prices on non-core assets, that will help it fill its funding gaps.

Now what: These definitely spell good news for the company, but with $500 billion in debt and a less-than-attractive oil price, Petrobras is going to continue to struggle. Investors should be a little encouraged by today's news, but it certainly isn't anything that should convince someone to dive in and buy shares.
Sainz had staged a late charge when he bolted on the purple-marked ultrasoft tyre, working his way down to 1m 23.134s - Toro Rosso's fastest lap across the entire eight days thus far.

That was not enough to claim top spot, however, which once again belonged to Ferrari. Vettel - who ran with the Halo cockpit protection concept early on - ended the morning with a 1m 22.852s, set on the supersoft rubber.

Behind them, Mercedes's seemingly relentless accumulation of laps was finally halted when Lewis Hamilton suffered a transmission problem and stopped on track in the closing minutes of the session.

The three-time world champion nevertheless clocked 69 laps - the most of any driver - and wound up fourth overall, around half a second down on Force India's Sergio Perez. Hamilton used medium tyres for his fastest run, while Perez had the benefit of supersofts.

Daniel Ricciardo did enough to put Red Bull fifth overall ahead of McLaren's Jenson Button, who like Sainz set his best time on the ultrasoft. The Briton was 1.5s slower than Sainz, however.

Renault's Jolyon Palmer endured another interrupted session, clocking just 31 laps - the fewest of any driver bar Rio Haryanto at Manor, who emerged from the garage for one solitary installation lap right at the end following a lengthy effort to fix a technical glitch.

Palmer wound up seventh fastest, narrowly ahead of Sauber's Marcus Ericsson, with Romain Grosjean's Haas and Felipe Massa's Williams completing the top 10.



Friday's unofficial morning testing times from Barcelona
Candy, costumes, and trick-or-treating, oh my! Halloween is one of the popular holidays with children, and it is creeping up fast. Trick-or-treating is not...
Source: Alphabet

Although Alphabet ditched its controversial "Don't be evil" motto last fall, the tech giant is stepping up its game in fighting evil in the digital world.

On Feb. 16, Chairman Eric Schmidt announced that Google Ideas, a think tank that researches issues at the intersection of technology and international security, will become Jisgsaw, "a technology incubator that aims to tackle the toughest geopolitical issues." Schmidt explained the name change in a Medium post:

Jigsaw will be led by Jared Cohen, who, like many leaders at Alphabet, has an impressive resume.

In 2006, at age 25, Cohen served as the youngest member of the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's Policy Planning Staff. He continued in this capacity for Hillary Clinton. His role focused on generating ideas for counter-terrorism, Internet freedom, and fostering opposition in repressive countries. He is best known for keeping Twitter open during a scheduled maintenance during the Iranian presidential election protests, defying President Obama's non-interference rules. In 2013 he was named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people. Cohen even found time to party with Iranian youth in Tehran's underground.

Enough about this guy. He's lowering my self esteem.

Jigsaw is looking to expand from just being a think tank that builds tools to a supporter of free expression and access to information in repressive societies. As a technology incubator, Google teams will partner with outside businesses, non-profits, and thought leaders to tackle issues related to violent extremism, online censorship, and the threat of digital attacks.

Current projects include Project Shield, which uses Google's technology to protect independent news, human rights, and election monitoring sites from digital attacks. The Digital Attack Map displays attacks against websites of newspapers, businesses, and charities.

From an investing angle, it may be a challenge to see how Alphabet's initiative will add to profitability. However, a safer and open Internet around the world will only help increase the population of Google users. An argument can also be made that initiatives such as Google Ideas and Jigsaw foster a culture of innovation, which is imperative for companies such as Alphabet.

Jigsaw won't fall under the main Google umbrella, which includes the search business, ads, maps, YouTube, and Android. Rather, the segment will become the 10th unit inside Alphabet, Google's holding company.

The article Alphabet Seeks to Tackle Evil With Jigsaw originally appeared on Fool.com.

Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fools board of directors. Palbir Nijjar has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A shares) and Alphabet (C shares). Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Smith & Wesson (NASDAQ:SWHC) reported booming sales in its most recent quarter, and the gun maker raised its guidance for the second time in two months amid a fresh buying frenzy.

Earnings nearly quadrupled to $31.4 million, or 56 cents a share, on sales that jumped 61% year-over-year to $210.8 million during the three months ended Jan. 31. Excluding one-time items, Smith & Wessons profit checked in at 59 cents a share, beating Wall Street expectations by 20 cents. Profit margins showed a hefty improvement to 41.1% from 33.6%.

Smith & Wesson shares rallied to an all-time high in reaction. The stock is up around 20% this year, and Smith & Wesson has surged 932% since President Barack Obama took office in January 2009. Fellow gun maker Sturm Ruger (NYSE:RGR) traded to a new 52-week high on Friday.

Recent terrorist attacks and the possibility of new gun control regulations have sent consumers to gun stores in droves. The FBI processed 2.61 million background checks in February, a 41% increase and a new record for the month. That followed a record month in January, while background checks in 2015 also marked an all-time high.

Last month, Ruger revealed a 24% increase in revenue during the 2015 holiday quarter. On a conference call with analysts, CEO Michael Fifer predicted that demand will pick up if a Democrat wins the presidential election in November. He also called the election battle a big opportunity this summer for Rugers wholesale partners.

Smith & Wesson also believes gun buying will continue. During Smith & Wessons earnings call, CEO James Debney characterized the latest background check data as an indication of robust consumer demand. He added that Smith & Wesson is seeing strong interest in virtually all product categories.

Ticker Security Last Change Change % SWHC n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. RGR STURM RUGER & CO. INC. 52.70 +0.68 +1.31%

According to Smith & Wesson, adjusted FBI background checks during the companys third quarter grew 25.6% versus last year. Inventory at Smith & Wesson distributors declined by approximately 34% during the quarter, and the company plans to ramp-up production to meet demand.

The Springfield, Mass.-based company lifted its outlook for the final quarter of its fiscal year, saying full-year revenue will now total $712 million to $717 million. In January, Smith & Wesson raised its sales outlook to between $650 million and $660 million.

For the fourth period, Smith & Wesson sees $210 million to $215 million in sales and adjusted earnings of 51 cents to 53 cents a share. Both the top- and bottom-line estimates surpassed Wall Streets current projections.

Beyond gun sales, Smith & Wesson has put in motion a plan to capitalize on growing consumer demand for outdoor gear and firearm accessories. Debney said Smith & Wesson introduced 121 new branded items such as gun cases and bags at the recent SHOT Show in Las Vegas. At the event, Smith & Wesson said it could form up to three new divisions that would house the companys sporting-goods products.

The accessories team is doing a great job converting these previously licensed items and others to internal supply, one of our key objectives when we acquired [Battenfeld Technologies] a year ago, Debney said on the earnings call.

During the quarter, Smith & Wesson announced another acquisition, PowerTech, which has made licensed Smith & Wesson flashlights.

Meanwhile, the company continues to pursue additional military contracts, such as a high-profile competition to replace the Beretta M9 as the U.S. militarys next standard-issue pistol.

The U.S. Defense Department is expected to award the contract in 2017. Smith & Wesson partnered with aerospace and defense company General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) to develop and submit a version of Smith & Wessons M&P polymer pistol. Their competitors for the contract, which will call for close to 500,000 pistols, include Glock and Sig Sauer.
Image source: Wikimedia Commons.

So far, 2016 has been a lousy year for Novartis stock. The negative sentiment dragging down the pharmaceutical industry as a whole has taken its toll on the Swiss giant.

Tense political rhetoric about drug pricing could continue to drag Novartis stock down with the rest of the SPDR S&P Pharmaceuticalsindex. At times like these, it's important to remember that behind every stock there's a business. While Novartis is not without its own risks, here are somekey business developments that could help the stock rise once Wall Street's done fretting over tough talk from politicians.

1. Biosimilar blitzBiosimilars (which are copycat versions of branded biologic drugs) are far more difficult to pass through regulatory hoops than small-molecule generics, which allows them to fetch prices far closer to their reference products. In Europe, where the first biosimilars won approval nearly a decade ago, discounts of around 30% from the branded product are the norm. That allows for much better margins than the typical 80% to 85% price knockdown small-molecule generics wield over their branded competitors. For a large company such as Novartis, with its "generic" subsidiary Sandoz's immense manufacturing capacity and global salesforce in place, biosimilars represent a significant opportunity to continue growing despite increasingly austere end payers.

Image source: Novartis.

Last September, Novartis became the first company to launch an FDA-approved biosimilar, Zarxio,its take on Amgen's white blood cell booster, Neupogen. This drug generated just over $1 billion of Amgen's sales last year. Previously launched outside the U.S. under the name Zarzio, the copycat is already a thorn in Amgen's side.

Last June, Sandoz also began the U.S. launch of Glatopa, a generic version of thepopular multiple sclerosis injectable Copaxone, which racked up over $4 billion in sales forTeva Pharmaceuticals last year.Although Glatopa is too "simple"to be considered a biosimilar, along with Zarzio and some other offerings, it propelled Sandoz'sBiopharmaceuticals & Oncology Injectables segment up to $1.38 billion last year, a 39% annual gain if you exclude the negative effects of currency exchange.

As impressive as last year's gain was, I believe this segment will continue growing by leaps and bounds. After acquiring Hospira, Pfizerfound itself owning two biosimilars of Johnson & Johnson's popular anti-inflammatory Remicade, which brought in $4.45 billion last year in the U.S alone.To please European antitrust officials, it recently sold to Novartis the European rights to one of these biosimilars, PF-06438179, which is currently in late-stage trials.

While Novartis completes development of PF-06438179in the E.U., regulatory agencies on both sides of the Atlantic are mulling applications for Novartis' biosimilar version of Enbrel, a drug that last yeargenerated $5.4 billion in U.S. and Canadian sales for Amgen,and $3.3 billion for Pfizer in its licensed territories.

Amgen's biosimilar threat from Novartis doesn't end with Neupogen and Enbrel -- the FDA is also considering an application for a biosimilar version of Neulasta, a drug used to reduce infections among chemotherapy patients that generated $4.7 billion of Amgen's sales last year.

2. Another breakthroughNovartis recently bagged another "breakthrough therapy" designation from the FDA for midostaurin, or PKC412.The drug impressed hematologists late last year after showing impressive results in acute myeloid leukemia, a deadly blood cancer that affects perhaps 90,000 people worldwide. About one-third of these patients have a mutation in the FLT3 gene that's associated with even worse survival rates than the general AML population.

Image source: National Cancer Institute.

Standard treatment of AML has been the same for decades, but fora genetically defined subset of patients, that could change soon. Midostaurin targets FLT3 and, when added to the standard chemotherapy regimen, extended median overall survival to 74.7 months, versus 25.6 months in patients receiving the standard regimen alone.

Without any approved targeted AML therapies, it's difficult to estimate midostaurin's peak potential. Given the six-figure annual price tags we've seen for other targeted cancer therapies that vastly improve the standard of care, reaching blockbuster status is a possibility.

Innovative therapies given the coveted breakthrough designation from the FDA enjoy increased access to agency staff to insure the application process goes as smoothly and quickly as possible. Novartis is on track to submit applications on both sides of the Atlantic in the first half of the year,which means the drug could begin improving patient outcomes, and the company's top line, by year's end.

3. A $10 billion game-changerRecently launched in the U.S. and approved in the E.U., Entresto is a potential needle mover for Novartis. Its currently approved indication of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction affects more than 7 million people in the combined regions.In trials leading to its approval, it reduced patients' risk of death from cardiovascular causes by 20% over enalapril, the present standard of care. With such a large addressable population, astronomical peak sales estimates north of $10 billion aren't so hard to swallow.

Image source: Novartis.

What could make Entresto a game changer isn't just its ability to improve outcomes, but Novartis' approach to marketing it to end payers. At about $12.50 each, Entresto pills are far more expensive than enalapril, which after years of generic competition can be purchased for pennies. However, when you account for Entresto's ability to reduce heart failure related hospitalizations by 21%,it represents a long-term bargain. Novartis is so confident it represents a bargain that it went as far as offering a value-based pricing model that offers discounts up front but expects bonus payments if the drug lowers overall costs through reduced hospitalizations.

Whether end payers will pick up what Novartis is putting down remains to be seen, but I do expect Entresto sales to help the stock rise in the long term. In the meantime,the company's willingness to adopt value-based pricing models could keep it out of the political crosshairs if the rhetoric heats up.

The article 3 Reasons Novartis Stock Could Rise originally appeared on Fool.com.

Cory Renauer owns shares of Johnson & Johnson. The Motley Fool recommends Johnson & Johnson and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
BHP Billiton's (NYSE: BHP) stock has seen better days. Over the past year, BHP has declined 55% while fellow blue chip commodity giantRio Tinto (NYSE: RIO) has retreated 46%. Unlike Rio Tinto, BHP has substantial exposure to crude oil, whose prices have fallen from $50 per barrel a year ago to under $30 per barrel now. Investors are deeply bearish on crude prices and have, most likely, sold BHP more drastically than its peer because of its exposure to black gold.

Moreover, BHP shares have declined because investors are afraid management will cut the dividend. While BHP does have an "A" credit rating from S&P, the best credit rating in its peer group, there are risks. Its rating is higher Rio Tinto's "A-" and Vale's "BBB-" but S&P recently warned that it might downgrade the company if its cash flows deteriorate further. Standard & Poor's previously downgraded BHP's credit in February 2016 to "A" from "A+" for similar reasons, and BHP management is keen to preserve the company's credit rating to control interest costs. Because commodity prices have fallen further, BHP may have no choice but to cut the dividend if it wants to preserve its credit rating.

Recent events have also made a dividend cut more likely. Because Rio Tinto scrapped its progressive dividend and lowered its 2016 dividend to $1.10 from $2.15 per share, BHP is more likely to cut further. If BHP cuts its dividend shortly after Rio Tinto cuts, BHP management will get less flack from investors.

While BHP Billitonwill probably cut its dividend, the company has three very appealing qualities that make it a good long-term buy and hold.

Strong financialsGiven the scale and quality of assets, BHP has one of the highest EBITDA margins in its peer group, with a FY 2015 EBITDA margin of 50%. Because its margins are so high, BHP's underlying EBITDA of $21.9 billion for 2015 almost covered its net debt of $24.4 billion. BHP's low net debt-to-underlying EBITDA ratio of 1.11 ensures that it will survive and can acquire other companies if good opportunities present themselves.

Cutting expenses

Image source: Rio Tinto investor relations.

Because the company has realized over $10 billion in annualized productivity gains and theAustraliandollar has depreciated versus the U.S. dollar, BHP's unit costs have fallen over 30% from their peak. BHP's costs will continue to decline as the company is in the midst of another billion-dollar cost-cutting initiative. Going forward, management plans to cut its capital expenditures to $8.5 billion in 2016 and $7 billion 2017, down from the $11 billion in fiscal year 2015. BHP's cost cuts and reduced capital expenditures will support its strong free cash flow and increase its earnings per share.

ValuationBecause of the commodity bear market, BHP trades at less than a quarter of its peak price in 2011 and just 0.93 times book value. While the company's book value might be a little overstated because of the commodity decline, BHP still has many of the world's best low-cost, long-life mines that will sustain its production for many years to come.BHP Billiton's break-even for producing iron ore is $28 per tonne, for example,versus Rio Tinto's $29-$30 per tonne. Despite the capital expenditure cuts, management believes they havemedium term options that will increase the company's average annual production volume by 5% through the cycle, as well.

Investor takeawayThe past three years have been very challenging for the commodity industry. Crude prices have fallen to lows not seen since 2003. Iron ore prices have fallen to levels not seen in over 10 years. Although its shares haven't done so well, BHP's stock trades at a compelling valuation in relation to its book value and to its normalized earnings power. While its stock price can still fall, the company will bounce back as demand from India and emerging markets grow. For all of these reasons, BHP has a lot of upside left and is a great stock to buy and hold for the long term.

The article 3 Reasons to Love BHP Billiton Limited originally appeared on Fool.com.

TMFJay22 has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Source: Ian D. Keating via Flickr

Alaskan telecommunications company General Communication reported its fourth quarter results on March 2. The company managed to grow revenue, but costs associated with its acquisition of a wireless business drove down profitability. Here's what investors need to know about the results.

The raw numbers

Q4 2015 Q4 2014 YoY Growth Sales $241.3 million $228.8 million 5.5% Adjusted EBITDA $70.5 million $70.7 million (0.2%) Net income ($8.9 million) $5.8 million N/A

Source: General Communication Q4 earnings report

What happened with General Communication this quarter?The company operates both wireless and wireline businesses in Alaska:

Wireless revenue declined by 3% year-over-year to $60 million. Wholesale wireless sales slumped 16% to $21 million; roaming and backhaul revenue jumped 13% to $26 million; and USF support revenue declined 7% to $13 million. The company pointed to changes in revenue allocation between segments after the closing of the AWN transaction, where Alaska Communications sold its wireless business to General, as the main reason for the decline.

sold its wireless business to General, as the main reason for the decline. Wireless adjusted EBITDA was $39 million during the quarter, up 18% year-over-year.

Wireline revenue rose 8% year-over-year to $181 million. Consumer wireline revenue jumped 17% to $89 million; business services revenue slumped 11% to $52 million; and managed broadband revenue grew 24% to $40 million.

Wireline adjusted EBITDA declined 8% year-over-year to $32 million.

SG&A expenses rose 12% year-over-year to $89 million, due to one-time AWN transition costs, recurring costs associated with supporting acquired wireless subscribers, and increased spending on IT.

General Communication also provided guidance for 2016.

Revenue is expected to be in a range of $930 million to $980 million, down 2% at the midpoint.

Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in a range of $295 million to $325 million, down from $330 million in 2015. The decline is due to new roaming and backhaul agreements, as well as a planned migration to a new billing platform.

Capital expenditures are expected to be approximately $210 million, or $150 million net of tower sale proceeds.

What management had to sayA large portion of General Communication's wireless comes in the form of roaming and backhaul agreements, and the company gave an update on the impact of new long-term agreements. "These agreements will reduce the cash we receive from roaming and backhaul by approximately 20%, or $25 million, in 2016 when compared with 2015. Notwithstanding the negative cash impact to GCI in 2016, we believe these agreements are valuable to GCI and substantially mitigate a key risk factor in the business."

CEO Ron Duncan pointed to these new agreements as important for the long-term health of the company:

Looking aheadGeneral Communication's adjusted EBITDA guidance for 2016 calls for a decline compared to 2015. This expected decline, as well as the expectation of a drop in revenue during 2016, is likely the reason why the stock declined significantly the day earnings were released.

The new long-term roaming contracts represent a trade-off for the company, providing a higher degree of visibility in exchange for lower payments. General Communications stated that the negative impact to adjusted EBITDA would be $25 million, which more than accounts for the discrepancy between the company's guidance for 2016 and its results from 2015. While investors may be disappointed by the guidance, the company clearly believes that these long-term contracts are the right choice.

The article General Communication Inc. Grows Revenue While Earnings Slump originally appeared on Fool.com.

Timothy Green has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends General Communication. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Image source: Flickr user Gage Skidmore

Donald Trump is adamant that he'll repeal and replace Obamacare if he's elected President, and earlier this week, he released his plan to do it. The real estate mogul's "Trump-care" includes seven key proposals that he believes will make healthcare in America great again.

First, a bit of backgroundDonald Trump isn't known for being shy when it comes to sharing his opinion, so it's not surprising he's had plenty to say about his disdain for the Affordable Care Act. According to The Donald, Obamacare is a "failure," a "disaster," anda "catastrophe."

Trump believes Obamacare can't rein in the never-ending increase in healthcare spending, particularly in regard to health insurance premiums and deductibles, and that instead, Obamacare is significantly increasing healthcare costs.

There's evidence he may be right.

According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the typical American spent $7,700 on healthcare in 2007, $9,596 on healthcare in 2014, and will spend an about $15,000 on healthcare in 2023, and a big chunk of that increase in spending is due to runaway costs associated with skyrocketing insurance premiums and deductibles.

For example, the average employee forked out $4,955 for his employee-sponsored family health insurance last year, up 4.4% from 2014, and over the past five years, health insurance deductibles have increased at a rate that is seven times faster than the growth in employee wages.

That's an eye-popping revelation.

Admittedly, increasing premiums and deductibles are likely the result of providing healthcare to a larger, longer-living America (not Obamacare alone) but with no end in sight to rising healthcare costs, there's certainly reason to wonder if another solution might be better.

Replacing ObamacareIn a 60-Minutesinterview last fall, Trump said his plan to replace Obamacare would include free market solutions, but that no Americans would be left without access to healthcare.

In that interview, Trump said he'd "make a deal with existing hospitals"to care for low-income Americans and that he'd break down regulatory hurdles obstructing competition across state lines.

Although the plan he released this week doesn't discuss the role he hopes hospitals may play, it does call for inter-state competition, as well as other key changes. Overall, Trump's proposes:

Repealing Obamacare and removing the health insurance requirement.

Maintaining state control over healthcare plans, but removing roadblocks to cross-state competition.

Making health insurance premiums tax deductible for all Americans.

Expanding the use and portability of health savings accounts.

Requiring price transparency for healthcare services, products, and medicine.

Providing block grants to states to pay for Medicaid.

Allowing for the importation of qualified medicine from other developed markets.

Ditching the health insurance requirement would be welcomed by young, healthy Americans, but it could cause problems for insurers if they're still required to insure everyone, including those with pre-existing conditions. That's because premiums from healthy members offset the cost of care given to those who are sick or injured.

Trump's vision for a more open national marketplace for private insurance plans could eliminate some bureaucratic costs and force insurers to compete more fiercely for customers, both of which could possibly help keep monthly premiums in check. However, Trump's plan also says that plans offered across state lines would have to conform to each individual states requirements, so some bureacracy would likely remain.

Employers already deduct their health insurance costs (some employers also offer plans that allow employees to make their premium payments with pre-tax dollars), so there's precedent for Trump's plan to make insurance premiums tax deductible for everyone. A tax credit, however, might be a better option because tax deductions simply reduce taxable income while tax credits reduce a taxpayer's final tax bill dollar for dollar. Regardless, a tax deduction would lower Americans' total annual healthcare costs, and that's a good thing.

Similarly, expanding the value of health savings accounts (HSAs) can save Americans money too. HSA's are funded with tax-deductible contributions that can be used to pay out-of-pocket healthcare expenses, like co-pays. Allowing money contributed to a HSAs to accumulate over time and providing the opportunity to pass along HSAs to heirs penalty-free as part of a person's estate could increase their use. Also, favorable changes to HSA rules could save people more money by increasing the viability of low-premium insurance plans that have higher out-of-pocket costs.

Price transparency is a long-standing goal of healthcare reform, but the industry has been frustratingly slow at implementing it. Giving consumers greater insight into the costs of lab services, X-rays, and other healthcare, could lead to significant cost savings tied to shopping around. Similarly, allowing for the importation of medicine from other developed markets, like Canada, should offer cost-savings too.

Trump's plans to reform Medicaid, however, may be more contentious. Medicaid is a social safety net for low-income Americans, and the program is currently run on a state-to-state basis with the federal government splitting the bill. Switching to block grants could force states to reduce eligibility for Medicaid to cut costs, which could lead to millions of Americans losing coverage.

Currently, Medicaid eligibility varies widely from state to state. For example, adults without dependents only qualify for Medicaid in Texas if their income is below 18% of the federal poverty level. Meanwhile, states that adopted the Medicaid expansion provision of Obamacare allow people to sign up for Medicaid if they earn up to 138% of the federal poverty level. Under a block grant system, states with the 138% eligibility requirement could end up adopting stricter guidelines to avoid busting their state budget.

Looking forwardTrump's business-friendly mind-set suggests he'll err on the side of competition, rather than regulation, to keep healthcare costs in check. That approach resonates with supporters, but it's admittedly similar to the failed policies that preceded Obamacare. No one knows if Trump will win the Presidency, and there's no guarantee that if he does win, his plan will pass Congress. Nevertheless, the changes Trump recommends are significant enough that everyone should stay tuned.

The article If Donald Trump Sacks Obamacare, What Happens Next? originally appeared on Fool.com.

Todd Campbell has no position in any stocks mentioned. Todd owns E.B. Capital Markets, LLC. E.B. Capital's clients may have positions in the companies mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends UnitedHealth Group. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Next weeks economic calendar is slight, highlighted by a speech by Federal Reserve Vice Chair Stanley Fischer. Most eyes will almost certainly be focused on the various primaries and caucuses and two presidential debates.

Fischer is speaking Monday and the subject of monetary policy is sure to come up, either during his speech or during a Q&A after. Analysts will be looking for Fischer to telegraph the intentions of the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee, which will be meeting the following week for two days.

Its highly unlikely the Fed is planning to raise rates again at that March 15-16 meeting and Fischer may hint as much on Monday. Not long ago a March rate hike was considered a sure thing. But now that scenario is in doubt given an array of concerns that roiled global markets during the first weeks of the New Year.

A more-than-solid February jobs report released Friday isnt expected to change the Feds mind about pausing in February. That report, which showed another strong month of job creation, also revealed wages slipped last month. The decline may be a temporary technicality, but it will likely add to the Feds justification for holding off until June for another rate hike.

Meanwhile, the political world will turn to the Democratic presidential debate on Sunday night and another round of GOP shouting and insults on Thursday.

In between, primary and caucus voters will cast their ballots in Maine and Puerto Rico on Sunday and in Hawaii, Idaho, Michigan and Mississippi on Tuesday.
The first Republican debate following Super Tuesday amplified recent mudslinging between presidential primary candidates.

The debate, held at Detroits Fox Theater just days before the Michigan primary, featured GOP frontrunner Donald Trump, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Ohio Governor John Kasich. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson did not participate after releasing a statement on Wednesday stating, I do not see a political path forward in light of last evenings Super Tuesday primary results.

Debate moderators wasted no time addressing the elephant in the room; Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romneys fiery speech earlier in the day, which laid out his criticisms of the billionaire businessman.

Trump argued that the former Utah governor is a failed candidate trying to be relevant again. He addressed Romneys criticism of his stance on free trade and former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke.

The low blows started coming when Rubio alleged that many of Trumps business endeavors have failed.

Data curated by InsideGov

He has spent a career of convincing Americans that he's something that he's not in exchange for their money. Now he's trying to do the same in exchange for their country. This is a fact. He talks about these great businesses that he's built. He inherited over $100 million.

To which Trump replied, This little guy has lied so much about my record.

Cruz joined in to highlight Trumps support of liberal Democrats in previous elections.

I understand the folks who are supporting Donald right now. You're angry. You're angry at Washington, and he uses angry rhetoric...But for 40 years, Donald has been part of the corruption in Washington that you're angry about.

Following a question by the moderators, Rubio and Cruz called on Trump to release the audio tape of an off-the-record conversation he had with the New York Times editorial board, during which he allegedly expressed flexibility when it came to his immigration policy.

The real estate mogul was also asked to address inconsistencies in his positions on other key issues and about the Trump University court case which is pending.

They [plaintiffs in the case] signed up for this course because they believed Mr. Trump was this fantastic businessman, that Donald is going to teach them the tricks of the trade, Rubio said.

He's trying to do to the American voter what he did to the people that signed up for this course. He's making promises he has no intention of keeping. And it won't just be $36,000 that they lose, it's our country that's at stake here.

Governor Kasich was the only candidate onstage who largely avoided engaging in the rough banter, responding to a question about Trump with, I'm not biting.

All in all, it seemed, substantive discussion on issues like immigration, taxes and national security was sandwiched between long bouts of personal attacks.

Republican Strategist Ford OConnell told FOXBusiness.com despite Cruz and Rubios best efforts to Cuban sandwich Trump, it may be too little too late.

Data curated by InsideGov

[The other candidates] allowed Trump to define himself before they could define him. They flat out ignored him for too long.

He added, They started to draw blood from Trump [this debate], but did they draw enough with the next set of elections looming?

The light at the end of the low brow insults tunnel, though, came when all candidates vowed to support the eventual Republican nominee. With several crucial GOP primaries in the pipeline, it may only be a matter of weeks until we know who that will be.
Senator Ted Cruz has a plan to inject Millennials back into the work force. He told FOXBusiness.com that if elected to the presidency, his plans to abolish the Affordable Care Act and the IRS, while adopting a flat tax and other initiatives will directly benefit 18-to-34-year-olds struggling with unemployment rates above the national average.

All of that is going to have the effect of creating millions of paying jobs and driving up wages for everybody and enabling young people to come out of school with two, three, four, five job offers, said Cruz during an exclusive conversation with FOXBusiness.com at a joint event with iHeartRadio and the College Republican National Committee. The separate event coincided during the Conservative Political Action Committees (CPAC) annual meeting.

The crowd cheered Cruz Cant Lose as the Texas senator made pop culture Millennial references to HBO's (NYSE:TWC) show 'True Blood.'

He also spoke about the importance of this election for young people and the vibrancy that they have brought to his campaign. The senator's campaign has built up a core following among Millennial voters.

Cruz also tells FOXBusiness.com that his priorities for Millennials are stronger than those of his GOP rivals, Florida Senator Marco Rubio and billionaire businessman Donald Trump, because theyll help revive the country. That's what we need to do to turn this country around and that's what Im fighting to do and it's why so many young people are enthusiastically supporting our campaign.

At the event, Cruz did not engage in more mudslinging against Rubio and Trump following Thursdays Fox News GOP debate in Detroit, Michigan, which was dominated by insults among the three presidential candidates.

On Friday, Trump cancelled his appearance at CPAC, and retired neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson announced his new role as national chairman of My Faith Votes while officially ending his run for the White House.
It's not all minor lifts and subtle tucks: With more than 15.6 million plastic surgeries performed last year, there are bound to be some unusual requests along the way. We spoke with plastic surgeons from coast to coast to get the scoop on the strangest, oddest, and downright craziest requests they've gotten from patients. (Want to pick up some healthier habits? Sign up to get daily healthy living tips and more delivered straight to your inbox!)

Not a Lot to Work With

While the technique of removing a patient's own body fat to supplement other areas is a growing field, there is one major caveatit only works if you have enough body fat to start with, explained Dr. Gary S. Berger, of New York City.

"We have been doing Brazilian butt lifts [butt augmentation using a patient's own body fat] since the 1990s, before they were called Brazilian butt lifts! It is not uncommon for a patient to come in who has almost zero body fat, requesting some kind of butt surgery using her own fat, even though she doesn't have any, while refusing buttock implants."

Unrealistic Expectations

Certain plastic surgery procedures may be able to erase years from your face or body. But decades?!

"A 70-year-old woman brought in a large self-portrait of herself from when she was in high school," said Dr. Phillip Langsdon, a plastic surgeon in Memphis, TN. "She wanted to look like she did over 50 years ago. Of course this was unrealistic." (Here are the 5 best vitamins for beautiful skin.)

Animal Inspiration

While many patients bring in pictures of celebrities they'd like to look more like, one patient had a different inspiration.

"A patient asked if I could split his tongue down the middle," said Dr. David Shafer, of New York City. "He stated he wanted his tongue to look like a snake's when he opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue. I passed on this case." In the same vein: "One young man requested that I make both of his ears pointy like rabbit ears," said Dr. Ali Sajjadian, of Newport Beach, Calif.

More: Get Fit In 10 with these 10-Minute Workouts

The Opposite of Subtle

Though most patients want their procedures to look as natural as possible, some go for the opposite effect.

"I had one patient who complained that even though she was very pleased with the outcome of her rhinoplasty, she thought it looked too natural and did not have an operated look," Sajjadian said. "She wanted to further narrow the base of the nose and have the tip upturnedsimilar to the look of Michael Jackson's nose. She wanted everyone to know that she had a nose job. She told me, 'Make it count.' "

MORE: 3 Exercises To Target Butt Cellulite

What Not to Expect When You're Expecting

Though pregnancy often brings a fuller bust, for one woman it wasn't enough.

"I was once asked to place breast implants in a pregnant woman," shared Dr. Lara Devgan, of New York City. "That is definitely not within the standard of care. You can't do elective plastic surgery during pregnancy."

Unusual Enhancement

"I had a guy request nipple injections to enhance the projection of his nipples through his T-shirt in the summer," Shafer said. "He even brought in a tight white T-shirt to try on after the injections to make sure he liked the results. He was so happy that he brought in his partner a few weeks later for the same procedure."

This article originally appeared on Prevention.com.
When Renee Koster was four months pregnant, she was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia. Now, her 17-year-old son is on a mission to find a cure.

Philip Koster, of Johns Creek, Georgia, participated in the Leukemia & Lymphoma Societys Student of the Year campaign, fundraising for research over a six-week period, Fox5 reported. He raised more than $20,000 in that time through donations and creative fundraisers like The Great Tape Up where students donated to tape a faculty member on a wall.

Renee had a life-threatening relapse a few years after her son was bone and after a bone marrow transplant and three-year battle, she was cancer-free.

Im just feel really motivated to give back, Philip told the news channel.

Last week, he was honored with the Mission Focus Award at the grand finale gala for the Student of the Year campaign in metro Atlanta. The 15 participating students raised $210,285.

It does make me very, very proud, Renee told Fox5. To know that he is raising money to advance research so that we dont lose more friends is really very meaningful.
A rare condition known as "broken heart syndrome" is usually brought on by an emotionally devastating or stressful event. But now, a new study from Europe reveals the condition can also be brought on by happy events and positive emotions.

This is the first time researchers have linked pleasant experiences with broken heart syndrome, which causes a sudden but temporary weakness in the heart muscle, according to the findings, published on Thursday (March 3) in the European Heart Journal. However, many negative forms of emotional stress, including grief, fear, anger and anxiety, are known to trigger episodes of the condition.

Broken heart syndrome can be easily confused with a heart attack because people who experience the syndrome have symptoms such as chest pain and shortness of breath, the study said. These symptoms typically appear within minutes or hours after a person has been through a stressful experience.

The syndrome is also referred to as stress cardiomyopathy, but was originally named takotsubo syndrome (TTS) by the Japanese researcher who first described it in 1990. The researcher called it that because the heart's bulging appearance in people with the condition resembled the shape of a "takotsubo," or octopus pot. [10 Amazing Facts About Your Heart]

Previous studies on broken heart syndrome have focused exclusively on the negative stressors known to bring on the condition's symptoms. But in conducting this new study, the researchers wondered whether joyful experiences may also trigger the condition in some people.

To find out, they analyzed data collected from 1,750 people who were part of the International Takotsubo Registry, a database of men and women in the United States and eight countries in Europe who were diagnosed with the condition.

The researchers found that 485 participants in the study had definite emotional triggers preceding the onset of their symptoms. Of these, the vast majority of participants experienced a negative emotional event, such as the death of a loved one, a frightening experience like an accident or friend's illness, an argument, or a financial problem.

But in 20 people, or about 4 percent of participants, a positive emotional event  a birthday party, becoming a grandmother or great grandmother, a son's wedding, or an unexpected visit from a favorite relative brought on their symptoms.

Happy heart

These findings broaden the spectrum of emotions known to cause broken heart syndrome, said study author Dr. Jelena R. Ghadri, a cardiologist and research fellow at University Hospital Zurich in Switzerland.

Although only a small percentage of participants were diagnosed with "broken heart syndrome" after a joyful or socially desirable event, the researchers were surprised to find that positive emotions can lead to TTS, Ghadri said.

The researchers dubbed the 20 individuals with a positive trigger as the "happy hearts," comparing them to the 465 people with a negative preceding event, categorized as "broken hearts."

After reviewing both groups' medical records for a variety of factors  such as cardiovascular risks, results from lab and heart imaging tests, symptoms, and hospital stays  the researchers found many similarities between the "happy hearts" and "broken hearts."

Women represented about 95 percent of those affected in both groups. And the two groups had similar symptoms, such as chest pain and shortness of breath, when they were admitted to the hospital.

The study also found that happy hearts were slightly older (71), on average, than broken hearts (65).

A heart-brain connection?

One of the noticeable differences between the two groups was that imaging tests revealed that happy hearts were more likely to have a certain type of the syndrome, called the midventricular type, than were broken hearts.(There are four different types of TTS.) Thirty-five percent of happy hearts had the midventricular type, compared with 16 percent of the broken hearts. [7 Weirdest Medical Conditions]

Although this was an interesting and novel observation, the underlying mechanism that may be responsible for this finding is unknown, Ghadri told Live Science.

The research team will now investigate brain activity patterns in the people with "happy heart syndrome" and compare those patterns to those found in people with "broken heart syndrome" to learn more about the interactions between the heart and the brain. For now, it's unclear exactly how a person's emotional states play a role in the development of this heart-muscle weakening condition.

One hypothesis is that a surge of stress hormones, such as adrenaline, may temporarily damage the hearts of some people, said the Mayo Clinic.

Perhaps happy and negative events, while distinct in nature, share a common emotional pathway in the central nervous system, which can ultimately trigger TTS, Ghadri speculated.

While researchers learn more, the good news is that most people with TTS often make a quick and full recovery. The heart is weakened for only a brief period of time, and it tends to have no permanent or long-term damage, according to information from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
A touching moment between a 16-year-teen autistic teen who has Down syndrome and the oncologist who helped him beat a life-threatening blood cancer was caught on camera by his mother, and has since gone viral.

Jacob Moore, of Alpharetta, Georgia, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia at age 10, MyFoxAtlanta.com reported. He was admitted to Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta where he was paired with Dr. Glen Lew, an oncologist at the hospitals cancer center.

I think at first, I dont think he trusted me or liked me very much, Lew told MyFoxAtlanta.com. But I think over time, he trusted me and got used to me. He tolerated me.

Chemotherapy causes patient's with Down syndrome to experience adverse effects, and it stripped Moore of his ability to walk, eat and go to the bathroom.

Hes overcome battle after battle after battle, Lew told the news site. Most recently, Lew met with Moore to explain to him that he is no longer a cancer patient, and he would no longer need to come see him.

I think I said, Congratulations, you dont need to see me anymore, Lew told MyFoxAtlanta.com.

But Moore became emotional, fearing that he would never again see the doctor he had learned to trust over six years.

Dr. Lew went over to him and grabbed his hand and just said, Jacob, its going to be ok, Moores mother, Heidi, told the news station.

Were just going to see each other socially now. Just not at the doctors office, Lew told Moore.

At that moment, patient and doctor held hands with their heads bent, and Heidi snapped a photo.

Within the first hour, they had 1,000 likes, Heidi told MyFoxAtlanta.com. And it just kept going and going and going.

Among Moores most recent accomplishments is attending his schools prom.

I dont know if there are very many adults who would go through what hes been going through and still have a smile on his face, Heidi told the news station.


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Judy Cloud, 49, spent a lot of time in the sun as a child. The Indianapolis, Indiana, legal assistant grew up playing outside, wearing only SPF 2 or 4. In her 20s, she visited tanning beds about four times a year to get a glow before vacations, too. Despite a family history of skin cancer, Cloud never thought she was at risk. Today, she knows that the time she spent outside without adequate SPF and her tanning bed sessions were dangerousbecause she has skin cancer.

When she visited a dermatologist in 1995 to get what she thought was a scab checked out, her long battle with skin cancer began. Skin cancer is an abnormal, uncontrolled growth of skin cells, most often trigged by the ultraviolet radiation from the sun or tanning beds. Its the most common form of cancer, and the Skin Cancer Foundation reports one in five Americans will have skin cancer in their lifetime. According to the foundation, people who use a tanning bed before the age of 35 increase their risk for melanomathe most dangerous type of skin cancerby 75 percent. And, shockingly, a study found the number of skin cancer cases caused by indoor tanning is higher than the number of lung cancer cases due to smoking.

To date, the mother of two has had four surgeries to remove spots of basal cell carcinoma, which the Skin Cancer Foundation says is the most common form of skin cancer. Its caused by long-term sun exposure, and an estimated 2.8 million cases of basal cell carcinoma were diagnosed in the US in 2010. Its often regarded as the least dangerous type of skin cancer, as it rarely spreads, but it can become life-threatening if left untreated.

Related: 4 Myths About Detoxing That Are Totally False

Clouds latest surgery in September lasted three hours and was her most invasive to date, with doctors removing 23 spots of skin cancer found on her face, chest, arms, and legs. Doctors had to cut into a muscle in her mouth and move a nerve in her head to remove the cancer. She couldnt move or eat whole foods for two weeks after the surgery, and now, five months later, she still hasnt regained feeling in her left cheek or from her forehead up to her scalp.

Its a traumatic experience that Cloud is now bravely sharing with others to help them avoid the same fate. Shortly after her surgery, she posted a public photo album on her Facebook page simply called Skin Cancer. In it, she tells her story alongside raw photos of her tough recovery, stitches and scabs freckled across her face and body. Today, the album has been shared more than 63,000 times.

My 20-year-old self would never share [these pictures] and my 30-year-old self would never share them, but when my doctor said I was going to have another surgery, I said, Im going to document it this time and post it afterwards,  Cloud tells SELF. I never thought I would show myself on Facebook without makeup on let alone without makeup on and looking so injured. But, Im old enough now to know this is needed.

Since posting the album, Cloud now spends her lunch hour responding to supportive messages. People have thanked her for her story and even shared their own experiences fighting skin cancer or of a loved one who died from the disease. The best part is when I get messages from people who say, You just changed my mind. Im never going to a tanning bed again,' she says. Those are the ones I really like to see.

Growing up, Cloud never thought her sporadic tanning bed visits could lead to this. In her Facebook post, she notes that tanning salon packages can be cheap. But the cost billed for her latest surgery was a whopping $26,845.87, which really puts the whole thing into perspective.

Related: 4 Things Men Hide From Their Wives

I see too many young girls and teenagers who are tanned year round, and I know what theyre doing to their skin, she says. I just want people to not think it wont happen to them. If it does not show up right away, it could show up down the road, and its not going to be pretty and its not going to be fun. People dont need to die for a tan.

In 2009, the World Health Organization ruled that tanning beds are carcinogenic to humans, and the dangers of salons have become more widely known. Still, tanning salons are a $3 billion industry in the US. The FDA just proposed a rule this past December to both ban salons from letting minors buy tanning time and require users to sign a risk acknowledgement form. Bloomberg reports 11 states and Washington, D.C. have already taken action and banned minors from indoor tanning.

Cloud predominantly has basal cell carcinoma, but one spot of squamous cell skin cancer was removed in her latest surgery. Its the next most common form of skin cancer after basal, and more dangerous. Today, she takes as many precautions as she can to keep her skin safe. She wears moisturizer and makeup with SPF, and she avoids extended periods of time in the sun. The scars on her face have healed, but she says the ones on her legs are still bright red, even five months after the surgery.

Still, she feels lucky. She knows for some, skin cancer is even worse if they have a more dangerous type.

I am lucky, because its not melanoma, she says. But it could have been. And I dont want to take the chance of having melanoma. This is a hard enough battle fighting this.

MORE FROM SELF:

18 Things You Should Never Put In Your Vagina

The One Thing Hairstylists Wish Youd Stop Doing

5 Reasons Youre Not Having An Orgasm (And How To Make It More Likely)
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The 2012 election did not provide a clear mandate for either party, and certainly not for President Obama. The election itself reflected the polarization of the last four years and offered little in the way of direction about what the American people would like to see done. Rather, this election was more about tactics and campaign techniques than it was about messaging or any sort of vision for the future.

But it would be a profound mistake to assume that consensus doesnt exist in the electorate towards how to address our increasingly serious fiscal problems. A clear majority of the American people know we are in a serious crisis and a just-completed survey shows a broad consensus for a set of free market, pro-growth policies that can bridge the gap between an intractable president and an equally obstinate Republican Party in the House.

The just completed survey shows that over three quarters of the American people would support a compromise that lowers tax rates, reduces deductions as well as promoting pro-growth fiscal policies  all the while reigning in spending and entitlements. In short, the electorate has clearly agreed on a path forward. If only the politicians would listen.

It is frankly somewhat jarring to hear Republicans and Democrats both suddenly focusing on the budget and sequestration now that the election campaign is over. The events of the first week of the post-election period support the notion that the people themselves are well ahead of the politicians in reaching consensus on a solution.

A mere 2 days after both sides pledged to work together to reduce the debt and deficit, Republican and Democratic leaders were back to their original position with President Obama saying it is essential to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans and House Speaker John Boehner, just as adamant over the weekend in his rejection of any tax increases.

The polarization and division that is now evident in Washington is reflected in the results of the first major national survey of public opinion on fiscal issues taken after last Tuesdays election. The results reveal an arguably even more dissatisfied electorate than we saw before the election. But equally, if not more importantly, the results highlight an electorate that sees a clear path forward.

Sixty-one percent of the electorate disapproves of how President Obama and the Democrats in Congress have handled the issues surrounding the fiscal cliff and 58 percent gave a similar response about the Republicans.

Both parties are now viewed extremely negatively  58 percent view the Republicans in Congress unfavorably and 56 percent say the same about the Democrats. And both parties receive almost equal blame for the countrys economic deterioration  a testament to the deep dissatisfaction the electorate feels towards politicians from both side of the aisle.

Indeed, there is huge concern that the political class in Washington has not provided any meaningful approach to addressing our mounting fiscal challenges. Sixty-one percent of the electorate disapproves of how President Obama and the Democrats in Congress have handled the issues surrounding the fiscal cliff and 58 percent gave a similar response about the Republicans. Its axiomatic that neither party has given an increasingly skeptical public any reason to be confident in their ability to deal with our impending fiscal challenges, and certainly no reason to have confidence in their ability to deal with long-term issues relating to the debt and deficit.

The results of my survey of 600 randomly selected Americans suggests that the American people are far more aware of the gravity of the fiscal situation than either party has acknowledged.

An overwhelmingly majority of the electorate favors a bipartisan compromise that would have as its end result stimulating economic growth and creating jobs. An extraordinary 88 percent endorsed a bipartisan agreement that would put all possibilities on the table including tax and entitlement reform with the goal of generating a pro-growth, free market economic system that creates new jobs.

The Bowles-Simpson framework is a clear starting point for negotiation. After receiving widespread public support from the business community just before the election, it is my belief that Bowles-Simpson can, and arguably should, form the basis for both a short term and long term approach to our fiscal challenges.

Indeed, the president could do worse than to appoint Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, the two chairmen of the Bowles-Simpson Commission, to head a special White House initiative to find compromise before sequestration automatically kicks in  which would result in over a trillion in cuts to the budget on January 1st.

Indeed, there is widespread skepticism that either party has an approach that can save us from the worst ravages of the fiscal crisis.

In the wake of the election, a full 70 percent now agree that we need a new party dedicated to compromise, conciliation, fiscal discipline and economic growth that draws on the best ideas from both sides. Needless to say, these numbers reflect as much dissatisfaction with the existing order as they do for the desire for a new party. Still, these figures should be a warning sign to both sides and, especially, to a Republican party that enjoys a favorability rating of only 30 percent with the American people.

Fortunately, the path forward is clear. Tax reform that reduces rates and limits deductions will, in the electorates mind, stimulate the economy and job growth as well as providing a way to address both President Obamas desire for greater revenue from the wealthy and Speaker Boehners desire to lower tax rates. To be sure, tough decisions would have to be made about which deductions to limit, but the idea of means testing the home mortgage deduction and charitable deductions is an immediate possibility for consideration.

Unless an initiative of this type is put forward there will be less support for the political parties and their Congressional wings. Even if the two parties remain intact, Gallup has shown a steady increase in independent identification with now over 40 percent of the electorate describing themselves as not affiliated with either the Democrats or Republicans.

Politicians of both parties have to change. There must be recognition that the implementation of an economic framework that grows a stagnant economy, stimulates growth and begins the process of reforming entitlements and reducing spending is a necessity. It is what the American people are now demanding and there is little time to waste.
I think we are all aware that we have some urgent business to do, President Obama said last Friday as congressional leaders sat down with him to discuss a deal to avoid the fast-approaching fiscal cliff.

From a political standpoint, the conventional Washington wisdom is that it is more urgent for Republicans to make a deal than Democrats.

Republicans can no longer say they are waiting for increased bargaining leverage that will come after winning the November election, gaining control of the Senate and the White House.

That game is over and they lost.

Without a deal by the Dec. 31 deadline, Republicans will be subject to public contempt for allowing taxes to go up on everyone  not just the rich.

The hidden side of the budget negotiation drama is the mounting pressure on President Obama and Democrats to make a deal.

And grassroots Republican will also hold GOP lawmakers responsible for allowing Democrats to lock them into a deal for large, automatic defense cuts if there is no deal by the deadline.

But there is more to this political story.

It is getting little attention from a political press that assumes the newly reelected president has the upper hand.

But the hidden side of the budget negotiation drama is the mounting pressure on President Obama and Democrats to make a deal.

Keep in mind President Obama just won a second term and Democrats in the House and Senate picked up seats by promoting themselves as the best defense against Republicans who only care about cutting taxes for the wealthy at the expense of programs that help the poor.

Democrats also featured campaign advertising that attacked Republican House budget committee chairman Paul Ryan, the vice presidential candidate, for his proposals that ended Medicare as we know it.

There were the ads featuring the hidden camera video of Mitt Romney disparaging 47 percent of Americans as government dependents, people happy to live off of entitlements.

If the fiscal talks break down now, how can President Obama and his fellow Democrats ask seniors and middle class workers to accept major cuts in the nations social safety net programs?

That is the outcome they promised to stop the GOP from executing.

And how will the president explain to small business the widely predicted economic slowdown that may result from harsh automatic cuts in government spending? Without a deal, Obamas second-term agenda, beginning with immigration reform, will be lost in a sea of economic fear.

Overall $54 billion will be cut from non-defense programs for 2013 alone without a new budget deal under automatic spending cuts or sequestration. These cuts include programs that millions of Americans depend on in their daily lives.

This is why in a Nov. 13 press conference, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi told reporters, I want you to be disabused of any nation that there is any widespread thought that it would be a good thing, for our country, for us to go over the cliff. We want an agreement.

She is predicting a deal before Christmas.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said a deal will be sealed long before Dec. 31st without last-minute brinksmanship.

Before his Friday meeting with congressional leaders the president held meetings with major Democratic constituencies. They included big unions representing middle class workers, from hotel service employees to teachers. He also met with liberal activists from MoveOn.org and the National Committee to Protect Medicare and Social Security.

Those groups are worried that with no more campaigns ahead of him the President may abandon them by agreeing to big cuts in entitlement spending to get a deal with the GOP.

For starters, if Republicans  arm-in-arm with Democrats  go tumbling over the cliff, taxes will be raised on Americans in all income brackets, not just the wealthy. Small businesses will also see a sudden increase in their taxes and that will push up unemployment.

And while Social Security, Medicaid, veterans benefits and federal pensions are exempt from budget cuts if there is no deal, there are a lot of other social programs that will get hit hard.

For example, the federal emergency unemployment compensation program will expire.

It will save the government $26 billion but in doing so, it ends payments to millions of Americans who are without jobs and have used up benefits at the state level.

Medicare payments to doctors will be slashed by 27 percent, just under $11 billion, because Congress has not passed the Doc Fix to prevent them from happening.

The Leadership Council of Aging Organizations reports that seniors will be hit particularly hard if there is no deal,.

Almost two million seniors will lose their in-home personal care, as $12.6 million will cut programs providing caregivers to the elderly.

Programs that deliver meals, transportation and care to 345,000 Americans over the age of 60 are also on the chopping block.

Yet, there are some influential liberals who think that going over the cliff would give the Democrats even more leverage to pass a bigger deal that touches all government spending, even Social Security.

As Paul Krugman wrote in the New York Times last week: Its worth pointing out that the fiscal cliff isnt really a cliff  nothing very bad will happen to the economy if agreement isnt reached until a few weeks or even a few months into 2013. So theres time to bargain.

Krugman is betting that investors, consumers and credit rating agencies wont be spooked by politicians who can only ask for more time while they fail again to stabilize the economy by making a deal.

That is a high-risk bet.

But that kind of thinking is leading to talk of a bridge agreement on a small debt reduction package to get past the end-of-the-year deadline. The added time will allow for a grand bargain as everyone gets more time to look at big-ticket reforms to the tax code and changes in Medicare benefits.

The GOP is in a bad position in these talks. But Democrats are also at risk until they sign a deal that protects the middle class.

This piece originally appeared in The Hill newspaper and on TheHill.com.
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For nearly two years now, we have heard about the divide between wealthy America and the rest of us. We are told that the rich dont pay their fair share in taxes. We hear that the wealthiest one percent run the country for their own benefit.

Whether you agree with this or not, there is no shortage of proposals in Washington targeted to address this sense of inequality. But my personal experience as a former corporate CEO and now as president of one of the countrys largest charities, is that many wealthy women and men are voluntarily bridging this gap through their charitable giving.

For nearly as long as the income tax has existed, the U.S. government has allowed individuals to deduct their giving from their taxes, recognizing that private organizations contribute to the common good and to economic growth. Our country does need to get its fiscal house in order, but policy makers need to be extremely careful in their zeal to find new government revenue. Raising taxes on the wealthy by taxing their giving is likely to hurt the poor the most.

Last year, Americans donated roughly $300 billion to charity. Thats larger than the budgets for the Departments of Agriculture, Transportation, and Education.

Under any of the various proposals to remove or cap the charitable deduction, the government would be weakening charities and threatening to shred Americas safety net for the poor. With half of Americans either below the poverty line or considered to be low income, we are in a time when charities services are most urgently needed. Food banks are tapped out. Homeless shelters are full.

Any scheme to cap or reduce the charitable deduction will ultimately hurt our economy and those on its lowest rung. Arthur Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute and author of "Who Really Cares," estimates that every dollar in charitable giving increases GDP by as much as $15. In addition, non-profit organizations employ 10 percent of the workforce.

It is clear that the proposals to limit the deduction will hurt giving. According to Independent Sector, a coalition of non-profits, removing the charitable deduction could cause a 36 percent decline in giving. Even the White House, which has proposed a cap on the amount the wealthy can deduct, agrees that such a move could cause a $10 billion decline in giving.

In my job as the head of a large non-profit, I have met hundreds of wealthy individuals who care deeply about the needs of those who are less fortunate.

Over dinner a few weeks ago, one of our biggest donors said to me, Rich, if the charitable tax deduction goes away, charities are going to suffer. Say I have a million dollars Ive set aside for my annual giving to charities. If the laws change, I can no longer give the entire million dollars to charity. At a marginal tax rate of 35 percent, only $650,000 will go to charitable work and $350,000 will now go to the government. The charities I support will have to get by on 35 percent less.

The government cant meet every need of society, but it can encourage individuals to step in and help a neighbor in need, train someone who needs a job, strengthen a school, or mentor a young person who is at risk.

Last year, Americans donated roughly $300 billion to charity. Thats larger than the budgets for the Departments of Agriculture, Transportation, and Education. And even though international giving is just a small percentage of that, a 2012 study by the Hudson Institute found that private giving to developing countries ($39 billion) far outweighed official foreign aid ($30.4 billion).

Does it make sense to punish generosity? Does it make sense to penalize the very people who are willing to distribute their own moneybeyond the taxes they already payto strengthen the fabric of our society by helping the poor, funding medical research and hospitals, supporting a university or caring for the disabled? Such a policy will not only hurt those who are most in need, it will also hurt our economy.

Last month, I visited Seattles Bread of Life Mission, an outreach to the citys homeless community. The Mission provides housing, substance abuse recovery, and job training to men and women who were once living on the streets. Like hundreds of thousands of other small, targeted, and effective private organizations, Bread of Life Mission uses private donations and the volunteer work of compassionate individuals to heal broken lives and to make Seattle a better place for all of its residents.

Private citizens working together to do a public goodthis kind of compassion expresses the best values of our democracy. Who will replace these kinds of services when charities like Bread of Life Mission are forced to slash their budgets? Will Congress?

The charitable deduction has given America one of the most vibrant private charitable sectors in the world, serving needs at home and spreading American goodwill around the world. Our current policies have served us well through the Great Depression and World War II. Lets not start punishing American generosity because leaders in Washington cant balance their budgets.
This week the UN Security Council imposed what it calls its broadest and deepest measures against North Korea in response to its January 6 nuclear test and February 7 missile launch, each of which were violations of earlier Security Council resolutions. And it appears these new sanctions were worth the wait. These are a tough and comprehensive mixture of punishment, pressure and persuasion sanctions that the global community has not applied until now with such clout and unity against the DPRK.

The North Korean regime responded hours later with a more active version of its usual bombast protesting UN action by firing six short-range projectiles off its eastern coast into the sea. Then it announced its nuclear weapons will be at the ready due to gangster sanctions which come from the world being duped by US hostility to North Korea. Nothing could make the new UN sanctions more relevant than this response from Pyongyang.

The multifaceted and complex Security Council resolution passed yesterday lays out the most far-reaching and coordinated sanctions measures  mandatory trade interdiction, a deeper arms embargo, financial sanctions, and bans on travel and luxury goods. The resolution includes new, unprecedented actions that are required to be taken by all UN member states. They are the strongest in closing off to Pyongyong a number of its lucrative currency moving and earning mechanisms that has permitted it to purchase both banned missile and proliferation material. And it closes loopholes and stifles some DPRK evasion techniques that have frustrated sanctions effectiveness in the past.

Specifically the resolution:

- Requires all nations to seize assets of North Korean governmental companies engaged in financing DPRK weapons proliferation and sanctions busting, and to deport all entities, like shell companies, and foreign nationals, including diplomats, that are engaged in proliferation financing and trade;

- Requires all nations to inspect the cargoes on all DPRK ships docking and airlines landing from or going to DPRK and to seize prohibited cargo;

- Imposes new sectoral sanctions, requiring all states to ban exporting aviation and rocket fuel to DPRK. Further, it restricts DPRK sale of gold, titanium ore, vanadium ore, and rare earth minerals, the latter being an area where DPRK is trying to attract large international private investment;

- Requires all nations to ban all weapons trade of any type. To cover loopholes, the resolution has a smart catch-all ban on all military material and related goods and there are new prohibitions to curtail the extensive training and arms manufacturing ventures the North has in begun with various nations;

- Cuts to the heart of DPRK evasion techniques in the past in its re-registering of ships under new names or flags of convenience and names directly 30+ vessels that must have their assets seized;

- Points out to DPRK that there is another path  engaging in the Six Party Talks.

This resolutions strategy is that with full international community action in a concerted way, backed by the Councils P5, to search and seize materials, to cut off DPRK classic evasion techniques of shadow financial systems and front companies, and to expel diplomats and businesses moving money and material, Pyongyongs elite will be forced to the bargaining table.

Now every port of call and airport will inspect DPRK bound or origin goods. The new restrictions of conventional military equipment and support systems are far-reaching and long overdue given that arms exports are a major source of revenue for DPRK and it can reverse engineer many imported items. And government and quasi- official agencies, North Korea's Ministry of Atomic Energy Industry and its National Aerospace Development Agency (NADA) which was responsible for February's rocket launch, and the rather secretive General Reconnaissance Bureau, are all sanctioned.

This complex resolution is the product of weeks of intense dialogue and negotiation between Beijing and Washington. It indicates the two capitals, via the Council, wanted to leave very little to misinterpretation in Pyongyong about strength of the measures imposed and the message it conveys. In worrying about sanctions enforcement, especially by China, skeptics continually claim that Beijing would rather obstruct sanctions than be a party to the destruction of the DPRK economy that would create political instability.

But these sanctions illustrate that there is solid ground between those two extremes - a dramatic increase in multi-sector constraints that now have the teeth to bite and possibly change the cost-benefit ratio facing Kim Jun-un in continuing his nuclear testing and missile launches which destabilize the region. In many ways these activities take pressure off of China. More vigorous enforcement by the region and now all member states can pre-empt or overcome some Chinese lax enforcement. If the sanctions work, there will be cargo and material that never reaches Chinese ports or Beijing airport. And China benefits from DPRK being constrained in the emerging rare earth minerals market.

Indeed, Beijing will be tested in enforcing aviation bans and on shutting down banking connections and financial houses which lubricate DPRK trade and their construction projects in African countries. But these outcomes will be known quickly and addressed in big power diplomacy.

These sanctions, in and by themselves, will not force DPRK to halt their program or curtail their intentions to be a nuclear player. But they will retard the pace of their nuclear - and especially their missile - programs, end much of DPRKs growing trade in arms material, cut-off more fully external collaborators and illicit networks that have helped the regime evade prior sanctions.

Significantly, government elites are hit from multiple angles that undercut their financial and political privileges. UN action condemns them for diverting precious state resources from care of North Koreans suffering hardships under its policies. The Council also states strongly its support for a resumption of the Six Party Talks as a way forward to resolve the differences between the world community and DPRK. Thus the sanctions are meant to focus DPRKs mind and newly constrained resources on diplomacy rather then continued defying international norms.

George A. Lopez, Hesburgh Professor Emeritus of Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame's Kroc Institute, served on the UN Panel of Experts monitoring sanctions on North Korea in 2010-11.
I watched Thursdays GOP debate in a suite at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington. There were what I would call several soft Trump supporters in the room. At times, their mouths hung open agape at the latest Trumpisms:

- Donald Trump discussed a part of his anatomy not normally part of serious conversations.

- Trump refused to allow release of an off-the-record interview with the New York Times on his flexibility on immigration enforcement. He said he would refuse because he respected the off the record nature of the conversation, but didnt deny he had softened his stance somewhat at the New York Times meeting.

- Trump was confronted by Fox questioner Megan Kelly about the fraud suits against Trump University and defended himself with a two-minute filibuster on the subject which alternated between incoherent and unbelievable.

Trump actually said the voters should wait three years for the end of the court case to find out if he or his angry Trump University students are right.

Kelly rebutted Trumps defense with a devastating revelation that the Better Business Bureau had given Trump U a D- rating, and she read from an appeals court decision that compared its students to "Madoff victims."

Rubio and Cruz used the fact that a quarter of the questions were about Trumps character to tag team their attacks on the frontrunner. Rubio was effective in pointing out that Trumps clothing line is made in China, but Cruz was even more effective in pointing out that Trumps many campaign contributions to Hillary Clinton would make it difficult for him to credibly attack her in a general election.

The debate grew more serious towards the end, with Trump touting his leadership skills in foreign policy while Rubio pressed Trump on his refusal to give specific answers. Rubio retorted, He was pressed on a policy issue  his reaction was just to attack somebody else with a name.

John Kasich wisely stayed put of the pitched battles the other candidates engaged in and simply sold his own record, a tactic that will enhance his appeal to moderate voters who disdain confrontation.

For some time now, Donald Trumps highly entertaining debate performances have allowed him to skate by serious questions about his qualifications and temperament. But Thursday night his bluster didnt seem to work so well. The primaries over the next week are in non-Trump strongholds and they will show if his momentum continues or some voters are tiring of the Trump Show.
Saying he had been called the only grown up on the debate stage, Ohio Gov. John Kasich said Thursday he believes he is the strongest candidate to beat Hillary Clinton in a November general election match up.

I can get the crossover votes, Kasich said during the Fox News Republican debate in Detroit. Throughout this campaign, I have talked about issues. I have never tried to go and get into these kind of scrums were seeing here on the stage.

He added, People say, everywhere I go, you seem to be the adult on stage.

Kasich said that while Mitt Romney seems like a great guy that he doesnt determine my strategy.

Earlier Thursday, Romney suggested that in order to stop Republican front-runner Donald Trump from clinching the GOP nomination, voters should pick the strongest candidate in each state, drawing out the contest and blocking Trumps path to securing enough delegatesfor the nomination.

Kasich reiterated that he believes he will win his home state  a win that will give his campaign momentum.

Its now March madness and were heading up north  to my turf, ok he said. I will win Ohio.

Thursdays debate in Detroit is the third presented by Fox News and comes just days ahead of key primary votes in Michigan on March 8, and Florida and Ohio on March 15.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio came to the defense of Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder on Thursday, claiming the Republican governor took responsibility for the Flint water crisis. Rubio then slammed Democrats for trying to politicize the issue.

I give the governor credit, Rubio said during the Fox News Republican debate held in Detroit. He took responsibility for what happened and hes talked about being held responsible for it.

Rubio criticized Democrats for the way he said they portrayed the situation in the media.

This should not be a partisan issue, Rubio said. The way the Democrats have tried to turn this into a partisan issue  that somehow Republicans woke up in the morning and decided oh, its a good time to poison some kids with lead. Its absurd. Its outrageous. 

Thursdays debate took place in Detroit - about 70 miles from Flint.

The water crisis in Flint started after the city left the Detroit water system as part of a cost-saving measure in 2013. Despite warnings, officials didnt treat the water from the Flint River, which caused lead to leach from pipes into the drinking water.

Despite promises that the water was safe, independent tests in August showed the water contained high levels of lead. In September, a pediatrician, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, compared blood tests and found a spike in lead poisonings in Flint.
An employee who was on investigatory for about 20 months just received another successful rating and significant pay bump for the time he was on leave, city records show.

Denver human resources officials confirmed Denver assistant city attorney Stuart Shapiro received the rating on his annual review and his salary went from $142,922 to $147,066 because of a merit increase, according to city records Watchdog.org obtained this week. The increase will go into effect later this month.

Shapiro was also removed from investigatory leave on Feb. 12 and reassigned from the litigation to the municipal operations section, according to a letter obtained by CBS Denver.

Watchdog.org, in cooperation with CBS Denver, broke the story last month of Shapiros long, paid leave while the city investigates litigation misconduct, according to the leave letter obtained by Watchdog.org. The city officials met with Shapiro the day after the stories ran to discuss his job situation.

Shapiros attorney and Denver City Attorney Scott Martinez have refused to comment on why Shaprio has been in limbo for so long, with Martinez saying it is a personnel matter.

Click for more from Watchdog.org
Polling and caucus sites opened Saturday morning in five states in which rivals to Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will try to slow the Democratic and Republican front-runners' march to their respective partys presidential nomination.

Republicans are caucusing in Kansas, Kentucky and Maine, while Democrats are caucusing in Kansas and Nebraska. Republicans and Democrats also are voting Saturday in the Louisiana primary.

Maine Democrats caucus on Sunday, while voters in both parties go to the polls in the Puerto Rico primary.

Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz is hoping to do well in Kansas, Kentucky and Maine caucuses, and the Louisiana primary. A good showing would help him secure his position as the No. 2 GOP candidate ahead of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. But neither appears to have a path toward winning enough delegates or the nomination.

"Being a conservative cannot just be about how loud you're willing to scream ... or about how many names you call people," Rubio said Saturday at CPAC, the annual gathering of conservatives, just outside of Washington.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Clintons only primary competitor, is favored to win the Kansas and Nebraska caucuses.

Clintons campaign manager braced supporters for the potential setback in a memo Wednesday that suggested the former secretary of state may lose the caucus states this weekend.

Sen. Sanders has clear advantages and is investing heavily in two upcoming caucuses (Kansas and Nebraska), Robby Mook wrote in a memo.

In total, 109 Democratic delegates are up for grabs, while Republicans are competing for 155.

Clinton leads Sanders 1,066 to 432 in the delegate race. Either needs 4,763 to win the party nomination.

On the Republican side, Trump leads with 329 delegates, followed by 231 for Cruz, 110 for Rubio and 25 for Kasich. The GOP canidate needs 2,472 to win the nomination, with increasing talk, particularly within the GOP establishment, about having a so-called broker convention to stop Trumps insurgent candidacy.

Trump has won in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia.

Cruz has won in Iowa, Alaska, Oklahoma, Texas and now Kansas. Rubio won Minnesota on Super Tuesday earlier this week.

Republican candidate Ben Carson, meanwhile, suspended his campaign on Friday.

"We are going to make America great again," Trump said at a rally Saturday afternoon in Wichita, Kansas, sticking with his signature campaign slogan.

He also tried to appeal to heart land voters with his so-far wining message of building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, restoring America's military might and repealing and replacing ObamaCare.

"You premiums are going up like a rocket ship," Trump said to cheers from the packed rally."

Trump late went to north Orlando, Florida, for a rally ahead of the states March 15 winner-take-all primary that is considered a must-win for Rubio. A win in Florida and Ohio, another take-all March 15 primary, would be a huge step toward Trump winning the nomination.

On Friday, Trump pulled out of CPAC. Trump had been scheduled to speak at the four-day gathering but said he would be campaigning instead in Kansas and Florida. Florida holds its primaries on March 15.

CPAC organizers suggested they cancelled Trumps appearance because he wouldn't take questions, a format all invited candidates were asked to follow.

Guess what, tomorrow is an election, a Trump spokeswoman said Friday, giving her explanation about why the candidate wont attend the event.

The CPAC controversy follows a raucous Fox News Republican debate Thursday night in Detroit in which Cruz, Rubio and Kasich teamed up against Trump to cast him as a political salesman willing to say anything and take any position to win the nomination.

They hammered him on alleged inconsistences on his policy details and business dealings, including the now-defunct Trump University, which is being sued for scamming students out of thousands of dollars.
While Democrats will have more than 700 "superdelegate," nominators unbound by primary or caucus results when their summer convention starts, there will be far fewer free agents at the Republican gathering.

A combination of state and national party rules decide how many delegates vote and how their tallies are allocated at the conventions. Most delegates are won by candidates duing caucuses and primaries, with some states giving all of theirs to the party's winner, some apportioning them and still others applying a combination of the two systems.

The Democrats have a total of 4,762 delegates this cycle, including 712 superdelegates who can pledge their vote to whomever they want and can change their minds if they wish. Superdelegates typically include Democratic Party officials, governors and other lawmakers. Frontrunner Hillary Clinton says she has already locked down 457 superdelegates, which combined with her regular delegates, gives her 1,058, compared to 451 for her opponent Bernie Sanders.

The Republican party has about half the number of total delegates -- 2,472 -- and a relative handful of truly unpledged or unbound delegates -- 298 -- going into the Republican Convention. In addition, there are a small number of delegates who were won by Gov. Jeb Bush and Ben Carson in Nevada, New Hampshire and Virginia before they dropped out of the race. Those delegates are free to pledge to other candidates now.

But not all states have the same rules. Iowa, for example, does not release its allocated delegates even when a candidate leaves the race.

In order to win the nomination outright, both parties' candidates must hit a magic number of delegates -- for the GOP it's 1,237; for Democrats, it's 2,382. If no one hits that mark, the nomination is "contested" going into the convention. If after a first round of votes there is no clear winner -- and this is where the unbounded, or "superdelegates" play a big role -- the convenion becomes "brokered," leading to politcal horsetrading and addtional rounds of voting to come to a consensus.

Who are the truly unbound?

Aside from the released delegates, all of the delegates representing the Republican National Committee -- there are three from each state, the District of Columbia and the territories -- are unpledged. In addition, each delegate from North Dakota, Colorado and Wyoming can vote for whomever they want, despite the results of their caucus or primary contests. The only difference there is, while delegates in those states can choose their own candidates, they are bound to them through the nomination process.

The rules as they stand pretty much guarantee the RNC wont face the same kind of backlash the DNC has received over its superdelegates. The Democrats instituted the superdelegate formula as a way to give party leaders and officials more influence after Jimmy Carter lost his his re-election to Ronald Reagan in 1980. That followed another big loss to the Republicans in 1972.

The grassroots, the conventional wisdom held at the time, was given to picking unelectable candidates, so this was a "backstop" to prevent that from happening again.

But as insurgent candidate Sanders and his supporters watch Clinton scoop up all the superdelegates not bound to the results of the caucuses or primaries, the DNC has been forced to explain the rationale all over again. For now, Republicans have no such quandary.

Whether its fair or democratic is in the eye of the beholder, said Josh Putnam, who runs the popular elections blog, FrontloadingHQ. At the end of the say the parties have the ability to determine the rules that govern their processes.

Kelley Vlahos contributed to this report


Secretary of State John Kerry will not travel to Cuba this week as previously planned, a State Department official told Fox News late Thursday.

It has been postponed, the official said and noted the Cuba trip had never been formally announced.

According to Kerrys schedule, there were no public events planned for Thursday and Friday, which would have made it convenient for him to travel to Havana. He had previously mentioned a possible trip during a congressional hearing on Feb. 23.

According to Reuters, two U.S. officials said the trip had been canceled over Kerrys concerns about Cubas human rights records.

They also mentioned U.S. and Cuban officials were in the middle of negotiations on issues including which dissidents Obama would visit during his trip to the island on March 21 and 22.

Cuba had allowed seven dissidents to travel outside the country ahead of Obamas visit.

State Department spokesman John Kirby told Reuters in a statement that he had no updates on Kerrys trip to Cuba. He said officials are still trying to determine the best time frame for him to visit.

"The Secretary is still interested in visiting in the near future, and we are working with our Cuban counterparts and our embassy to determine the best timeframe," Kirby added.

Fox News Lucas Tomlinson contributed to this report.

Click for more from Reuters.
Fox News anchor Bret Baier on Monday will host a one-hour Democratic presidential town hall with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The event, which will be presented live at the Gem Theatre in Detroit at 6 p.m. ET, comes one day before Michigans primary.

Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs told The New York Times there had been talk about having Republican front-runner Donald Trump also appear at the event. Briggs said Sanders welcomed the idea but that Trump turned down the invitation.

Initially Clinton's campaign said she could not attend because of a "conflict in her campaign schedule."

Mondays event marks the first Democratic town hall on Fox News for the 2016 presidential election cycle.

It will also be Sanders first appearance on Special Report.
Republican front-runner Donald Trump said Friday he is canceling his Saturday speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

Trump was scheduled to speak Saturday morning at the annual gathering of conservative activists held near Washington, D.C.

The American Conservative Union, which hosts CPAC, tweeted: Very disappointed (at)realDonaldTrump has decided at the last minute to drop out of (hash)CPAC -- his choice sends a clear message to conservatives."

The four remaining GOP presidential contenders  Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson  are still expected to attend.

The annual three-day conference was first held in 1973.

Since then, the conference has grown to include more than 6,000 attendees, ranging from elected officials to conservative activists. During the conference, attendees can attend panels and listen to political speeches. CPAC is often seen as a stage where candidates can test their message on conservative voters.

Trumps campaign said in a statement that he will be holding a rally on Saturday in Kansas, followed by another one in Orlando, and therefore cannot attend.

His campaign also said Trump looks forward to attending the conference next year hopefully as president of the United States.
Flanked by law enforcement officers Thursday, West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin vetoed a proposal for a second-straight year that would let people 21 years old and up carry hidden guns without permits or training.

Dozens of police officers and sheriff's deputies filled the governor's lobby as the Democrat nixed the bill over their safety concerns. Tomblin cited the same worries when he vetoed a similar bill last year.

Unlike last year, though, the GOP-led Legislature has ample time to override Tomblin's veto and cement the bill into law. It only takes a simple majority to override policy vetoes in West Virginia, often making them a symbolic gesture.

The National Rifle Association quickly called for lawmakers to start the veto override process, which the House will do as soon as Friday, said House spokesman Jared Hunt. The Senate expects no delays in doing likewise, said Senate spokeswoman Jacque Bland.

Tomblin used the news conference to counter the gun lobby's contention that only county sheriffs opposed the bill because they would lose money from concealed carry permit purchases. Officers ranging from the State Police to university police were on hand. The event also was a show of force to a Legislature that can render Tomblin's decision moot.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I urge you to just look around this room for a moment, and see that law enforcement are concerned about this bill," Tomblin said.

Currently, it's legal in West Virginia to carry a gun openly  in a holster, for instance  without a permit.

The bill would let people conceal guns in public without permits, such as by wearing a coat. People ages 18 through 20 would need a permit and training with live firing.

Only a handful of states don't require concealed carry permits.

A $50 tax credit would be available for gun training at a total cost of up to $3 million to the state. Tomblin's veto message called the credit "ill-advised and unclear."

Everytown for Gun Safety, a group funded by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, has mounted a campaign against the bill, including billboards, radio, digital and print ads and polling that widely favored the group's position.
Two newly described species of tiny kangaroos that lived between 18 million and 23 million years ago scurried rather than hopped, a new study finds. But although these pint-size kangas were short on bounce, they outperformed their fanged kangaroo relatives, which lived alongside them and eventually went extinct, researchers say.

In a recent study, researchers described a new kangaroo genus, Cookeroo, and two new species: Cookeroo bulwidarri, dated to about 23 million years ago,and Cookeroo hortusensis, which lived between 18 million and 20 million years ago.

Both species were found at the Riversleigh World Heritage area in northwestern Queensland, Australia, a location recognized as one of the richest fossil deposits in the world, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Center.

According to Kaylene Butler, the study's lead author, the new genus occupies a position near the base of the kangaroo family tree that includes all modern kangaroos and wallabies, their close relatives. Butler, a paleontologist at the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Queensland in Australia, told Live Science in an email that the team figured out where to place Cookeroo by comparing 119 different features representing 69 kangaroo species.

"Cookeroo is distinguished as a genus by the combination of a number of features on the skull and teeth"  points of comparison that were also used to distinguish between the two new species, Butler said.

The newfound minikangaroos are "the size of very small wallabies," with bodies that probably measured about 17 to 20 inches (42 to 52 centimeters) long, Butler said. The landscape at the time was very different from the arid outback it is today, Butler said. C. bulwidarri and C. hortusensis likely inhabited a dense forest, moving through it on all fours and sharing it with a diverse collection of animals: marsupial moles, feather-tailed possums, ancient koalas and crocodiles.

Cookeroo also lived alongside other species of small kangaroos that were part of the ancestral group for kangas alive today, as well as a related group of fanged kangaroos, Butler told Live Science.The fanged kangaroos were also plant eaters, and they probably competed with the ancestors of modern kangaroos over their habitat's vegetation. "However, the fanged kangaroos went extinct, while the ancestors of modern kangaroos continued to diversify and thrive," Butler said.

The direct competition between the two groups may have contributed to the fanged kangaroos' extinction, Butler suggested in a statement, though it is not certain what features provided Cookeroo with the advantage.

"The fossil record for kangaroos is quite rich," Butler said. "We have giant kangaroos from the Pleistocene [2.6 million to 11,700 years ago] and Pliocene [5.3 million to 2.6 million years ago], as well as other sites similar in age to Riversleigh where we see our tiny ancestors of modern kangaroos as well as the fanged kangaroos."

However, there is still much to learn about kangaroo evolution, and new fossil finds help to bring this ancient lineage more clearly into focus, Butler said.

"Hopefully, further study of these new species will help us understand just what is so special about the ancestors of modern kangaroos  why did they survive when, at the same time, the fanged kangaroos went extinct."

The findings were published online Feb. 17 in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Greenland cant seem to catch a break.

Not only are its ice sheets melting due to skyrocketing temperatures but now researchers using satellite data have found that it has gotten darker over the past two decades. That means its absorbing more of the heat, which in turn, is further increasing snow melt.

That trend is likely to continue, with the surfaces reflectivity, or albedo, decreasing by as much as 10 percent by the end of the century, according to a study on the data in the European Geophysical Union journal The Cryosphere.

Related: Glacier twice as big as Manhattan snaps off Greenland ice sheet

Researchers said soot from wildfires in China, Siberia and North America contributed to the darker surface but it was mostly the feedback loops created by the melting that was driving the changes in Greenland.

The feedback loops are especially prevalent during the summer, when clear skies and lots of sunshine result in surface melting. As the top layers of fresh snow disappear, dust from erosion or soot that blew in years before, begin to appear, darkening the surface.

At the same time, as the snow melts and refreezes, the grains of snow get larger. The larger grains create a less reflective surface that allows more solar radiation to be absorbed.

You dont necessarily have to have a dirtier snowpack to make it dark, said lead author Marco Tedesco, a research professor at Columbia Universitys Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and adjunct scientist at NASA Goddard Institute of Space Studies.

A snowpack that might look clean to our eyes can be more effective in absorbing solar radiation than a dirty one, he said in a statement. Overall, what matters, it is the total amount of solar energy that the surface absorbs. This is the real driver of melting.

The results have global implications, since the melting ice sheets of Greenland contributed to rising sea levels that may put many of the world's coastal cities at risk and have the potential to cause other disruptions in ocean circulation  specifically disruptions in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation.

Related: Greenland's snow hides 100 billion tons of water

Its a complex system of interaction between the atmosphere and the ice sheet surface. Rising temperatures are promoting more melting, and that melting is reducing albedo, which in turn is increasing melting," Tedesco said. How this accumulates over decades is going to be important, because it can accelerate the amount of water Greenland loses. Even if we dont have a lot of melting because of atmospheric conditions one year, the surface is more sensitive to any kind of input the sun can give it, because of the previous cycle.

The study used satellite data to compare summertime changes in Greenlands albedo from 1981 to 2012. The first decade showed little change, but starting around 1996, the data show that due to darkening, the ice began absorbing about 2 percent more solar radiation per decade. At the same time, summer near-surface temperatures in Greenland increased at a rate of about 1.33 degrees per decade, allowing more snow to melt and fuel the feedback loops.

Related: Icy Greenland melting at accelerating rate, study finds

So how can we put the brakes on this darkening?

The feedback loops could be halted with the addition of more snow and less melting. But Tedesco said that doesnt seem likely given the increasing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Worse, the increased warming is expected to bring more precipitation to the region  which would further enhance the melting of the ice sheets.

As warming continues, the feedback from declining albedo will add up, Tedesco said. Its a train running downhill, and the hill is getting steeper.
Apple is getting further behind Samsung in display technology and recent reports point to a rush to close the gap.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based firm could move from traditional Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) technology on its iPhones to more advanced OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) displays in 2017, according to a report in the Chinese-language version of Japan's Nikkei. The news has been cited by several Apple-enthusiast sites including AppleInsider. Reports last year claimed this wouldnt happen until 2018.

The absence of an iPhone with an OLED screen is becoming a sore point for Apple in its fierce competition with Samsungs Galaxy series of smartphones and Samsungs just-announced Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge. The problem for Apple is that Samsungs OLED displays offer, in many cases, not only better power efficiency and more saturated colors than LCDs but OLED tech allows Samsung to bring out phones with curved displays, like the Galaxy S7 edge. The Galaxy edge is now considered to be Samsungs most cutting-edge smartphone because of the larger curved edge display. (The Galaxy S7 edge curved display is 5.5 inches versus the flat-screen Galaxy S7s 5.1 inches.)

Related: Wave of 2016 MacBook updates on the way

And before too long OLEDs will be flexible. In the near future OLED products will be foldable and flexible, says Ray Soneira, a display expert and CEO at DisplayMate Technologies, writing in his review of the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge.

That could put Apple at an even more serious disadvantage. The real question is whether Apple can or should jump in one step from a flat LCD to a curved screen OLED? Soneira told FoxNews.com, in response to an email query. That would require tremendous changes in the chips, electronics, mechanical design, industrial design, OS and App software development," he added.

That means Apple may not come right out of the gate with a curved OLED display. "Apple generally makes small and steady incremental changes rather than drastic changes all at once - so my guess is that they won't do it all at once, he said.

Related: Apple's success in China comes at a cost

And Soneira worries that consumers may get impatient as Apple slowly transitions to OLED and Samsung surges ahead with more advanced OLED displays. I don't think consumers have the patience to live through a 1 or 2-year wait and see cycle to get a polished smoothly functioning curved screen OLED iPhone.

"OLEDs have now evolved and emerged as the premium mobile smartphone display technology," Soneira wrote in the Galaxy S7 review. The analyst cited a series of recent well founded rumors from a number of prominent publications that Apple will be switching the iPhone to OLED displays in 2018, or possibly 2017 for premium models," he wrote.

Apple did not respond to a request for comment on this story from FoxNews.com.
When more than 40,000 escaped slaves took refuge in Washington in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln sought to provide them with food, shelter and medical care.

For their spiritual well-being, he turned to the Rev. Isaac Cross.

December 15, 1862, Surgeon General, Please say whether there is a vacant chaplaincy in or about this city, to which I could appoint Rev. Mr. Cross, the bearer. A. Lincoln, reads a letter the 16th president wrote for the Methodist Episcopal Church minister.

The letter, recently discovered and now being offered for sale by a Philadephia rare documents dealer, was written by Lincoln in reply to one Cross brought to Lincoln. That document was signed by more than a dozen officials and pastors in the church, who believed Cross was well-suited to serve the freed slaves.

Any document that connects President Abraham Lincoln to the plight of the freed slaves is a remarkable and very important historical artifact.  Nathan Raab, rare documents dealer

Lincoln's letter ultimately helped Cross find work as chaplain to the Freedmens Hospital, which would one day become the teaching hospital for Howard University.

I think its just a remarkable window into what Abraham Lincoln was going through, said document dealer Nathan Raab, whose company, The Raab Collection, is offering the letter for $25,000. It was just after the disastrous Battle of Fredericksburg, when wounded soldiers and freed slaves were flooding into Washington.

The Lincoln-penned note had been treasured by Cross's family for generations and was acquired one month ago by Raab, who has studied and authenticated it. It was sent for inspection to The Papers of Abraham Lincoln, a long-term project located in Springfield, Ill., dedicated to collecting and publishing all documents written by President Lincoln in his lifetime.

Daniel Stowell, director of The Papers of Abraham Lincoln, said this particular document is a testament to Lincoln's humility and accessibility.

Theres evidence that when Lincoln went to visit the army, he insisted on going around and shaking each mans hand, he said. That meant so much to soldiers in hospitals.

Raab said the artifact relays a sense of selflessness from both Lincoln and Cross.

Lincoln feels a great deal of depression, and to see him being approached by this chaplain who just wanted to help, you really get the feeling of these two men side by side, working for the betterment of the country, regardless of what it meant for them, he said.

Raab said the note gives the public an important perspective into the life and character of one of the countrys most beloved presidents.

Any document that connects President Abraham Lincoln to the plight of the freed slaves is a remarkable and very important historical artifact, Raab said. This letter in particular, highlights how his legacy is forever tied to not merely his leadership but his compassion and sense of right.
Up to 30 inmates at a Northern California jail threw punches at each other when a huge brawl broke out in front of security cameras installed only 24 hours earlier.

Santa Clara County Jail officials were about to hold a press conference announcing the installation of the cameras on the facilitys fourth-floor maximum-security cell-block when the fight broke out, according to Fox affiliate KTVU.

The San Jose jail was placed on lockdown for several hours as about 20 deputies used pepper spray to subdue the brawling inmates. No one was seriously injured, the station reported. The melee was reported just after 3 p.m. Thursday.

It looks like one inmate brushed up against another and then the fight was on with fists, Sheriff Laurie Smith told KTVU. You can see a lot of fist fighting going on in the video. The inmates are spread throughout the pod.

The jail installed 12 security cameras on Wednesday that Smith purchased with her own money at a Costco. She expects the $761 purchase to be reimbursed by the county, the station reported.

Smith went to Costco after being told it would cost $20 million and take two years to install security cameras throughout the jail and other lock-ups.

She called for more cameras in the jail after the beating death of an inmate last August. Three correctional deputies charged in the death are currently on trial, the station reported.

The sheriff said investigators will examine the video to see who started the fight, who was assaulted and who was involved.

Click here for more from KTVU.
Students at a Denver middle school have turned to Facebook to schedule after-school fights, one worried mother told Fox31.

Jeanette Velasquez, who is homeless, told the station her daughter Heaven has been bullied into fighting, but said school officials have ignored her pleas to end the violence.

She doesnt feel safe."  Jeanette Velasquez, mom of middle schooler

This is my fourth time coming to the school to speak with them about it, Velasquez told Fox31 in Denver. She said her daughter has been in three fights since last October, with each one stemming from students bullying her because she is homeless.

It started with girls just talking about her, to exchanging words back and forth, to actually the physical altercation, Velasquez told Fox31.

Video of a fight believed to have taken place last week was posted online, showing Heaven and another girl brawling before an administrator broke it up. Both girls reportedly were suspended for two days and given summonses by Denver police.

She doesnt feel safe," Velasquez told the station of her daughter. "She feels like the school doesnt take her seriously.

Velasquez called on school administrators and parents to work together to catch the fight plans on Facebook before they happen, so that future attacks can be prevented. She provided the station with screen shots of posts to Facebook in which her daughters classmates appeared to give notice of an upcoming fight with Heaven.

In a statement to Fox31, the Denver Public School System said it takes allegations of bullying seriously.

We also ask that parents alert their childs teacher to the bullying behavior and ask specifically what the teacher will do to address the behavior," the statement read in part. "We encourage parents, if they feel that it is necessary, to inform the school principal and ask those same questions.
A professor who sparked a controversy by wearing a hijab at the Christian college where she worked and ended up leaving after the school moved to fire her has resurfaced at University of Virginia, where she will do research on Islam.

Larycia Hawkins, who left Wheaton College in Illinois earlier this year after refusing to stop wearing Islamic garb and insisting that Christians and Muslims worship the same god, has been named the Abd el-Kader Visiting Faculty Fellow at the Charlottesville schools Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture.

The Institute is pleased to welcome Dr. Larycia Hawkins as the Abd el-Kader Visiting Faculty Fellow, reads the institutes website.

Hawkins will conduct research on the relationship between religions and race while serving in the role named for a 19th-century Islamic scholar and leader, according to The College Fix. The school describes the institute as working to contribute directly to transdisciplinary and intercultural dialogue. Applicants research must be conducted in what the school described as Abd el-Kaders example of moral leadership, lifelong commitment to learning, and open spirit, fostering reconciliation.

Hawkins taught political science at Wheaton College when she posted her views about Muslims and Christians on Facebook and began wearing a headscarf.

Wheaton College announced last month that it and Hawkins reached a "confidential agreement" for her to leave.

Prior to the agreement, Hawkins had insisted that her beliefs were in line with the college's mission. But the school said in December it had placed Hawkins on administrative leave because of theological statements "that seem inconsistent with Wheaton College's doctrinal convictions, which she voluntarily agreed to support and uphold when she entered into an employment agreement with the college."

Hawkins began to wear a hijab to show solidarity with Muslims, whom she felt were being persecuted in the wake of the San Bernardino shooting and the terror attacks in Paris. She told reporters her actions were motivated by a desire to live out my faith.

I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book, she posted on Facebook. And as Pope Francis stated last week, we worship the same God.

The school insisted that is not why she was placed on leave. Officials claimed Hawkins had been asked to affirm the colleges statement of faith four times since she started teaching at Wheaton College nine years ago after a series of incidents called her fitness into question.

Wheaton and Hawkins butted heads over a paper relating the Bible and race relations in America, a photo taken of her inside a home at a party on the same day as Chicagos Pride Parade and suggesting the college's curriculum should include sensitive vocabulary for talks concerning sexuality, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Federal authorities rounded up 12 people in five states on Thursday, bringing to 19 the number of defendants facing conspiracy, assault and threats charges in a 2014 armed standoff over grazing cattle on U.S. land near renegade cattleman Cliven Bundy's ranch in southern Nevada.

Arrests of alleged co-conspirators in Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Oklahoma and New Hampshire came after a federal grand jury in Las Vegas expanded an indictment already filed against Bundy. It also names two adult Bundy sons and five other men already in federal custody following the end of a nearly six-week armed occupation of a wildlife refuge in Oregon.

Court documents accuse the men of leading more than 200 followers into an armed confrontation that forced federal Bureau of Land Management agents and contract cowboys to abandon an effort to corral and remove Bundy cattle from federal lands where he was accused of letting them graze for decades without paying federal fees.

At the family home in Bunkerville, Nevada, Cliven Bundy's wife, Carol, acknowledged that her husband and sons Ammon, Ryan, Melvin and David Bundy were in federal custody. The mother of 14 adult children pleaded for prayer and echoed her husband's call to fight government overreach.

"I truly believe this is showing the federal government thinks they have unlimited power over we the people," Carol Bundy told The Associated Press in a brief telephone interview. "What kind of government do we have?"

"This is going to be won in the court of public opinion," she added. "When we the people make a stand, that's when we'll win."

Bundy supporters Ryan Payne of Montana, Peter Santilli Jr. of Cincinnati, and Brian Cavalier and Blaine Cooper, both of Arizona, were also already in custody. They were arrested Jan. 26 during the occupation of a federal wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon.

The arrests in the Nevada case came the same day U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in Portland, Oregon, that additional charges would be filed "very soon" in the 41-day standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. She didn't provide specifics.

The nine-count indictment in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas is similar to one filed Feb. 11, the day after Cliven Bundy was arrested as he arrived in Portland to visit Ammon and Ryan Bundy in jail.

The brothers were among 16 defendants who pleaded not guilty last week to federal conspiracy charges. A total of 25 people are charged in the occupation. The occupiers had said they wanted the U.S. government to relinquish public lands to locals and free two Oregon ranchers who they say were wrongly imprisoned for setting fires.

In an interview from the Portland, Oregon, jail where Bundy's son, Ammon Bundy, has been lodged since his arrest, he told The Oregonian he's not ashamed of what he and others did in seizing the refuge.

"It's the most difficult thing I've ever done in my life," Ammon Bundy said of being in jail. "But I don't regret what we did because I knew it was right."

The younger Bundy said as he sees it, they went into a public building and carried out a demonstration.

In the Nevada armed showdown case, charges include conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States; threatening a federal law enforcement officer; obstruction of justice; attempting to impede or injure a federal law enforcement officer; and several firearms charges.

The indictment alleges co-defendants recruited, trained and provided support to armed men and other Bundy followers during a dispute over more than $1 million in unpaid grazing fees and penalties. Officials say the fees still haven't been paid.

It identifies Cliven Bundy as the leader and beneficiary of the conspiracy, and Ammon and Ryan Bundy as leaders and organizers of about 200 gunmen and followers.

The result: A picket line of self-styled Bundy militia perched on a high Interstate 15 bridge, pointing military-style AR-15 and AK-47 weapons down at BLM agents and cowboys herding cattle up a ravine to a corral. Dozens of woman and children were in the possible crossfire.

The federal officials backed down, and they released about 400 cows that had been rounded up.

Documents submitted following the Thursday arrest of Gerald "Jerry" DeLemus in Rochester, New Hampshire, said that DeLemus "organized and led armed patrols and security checkpoints" for several following weeks around the Bundy ranch in southern Nevada.

DeLemus was running for Strafford County sheriff in New Hampshire when he was arrested. He appeared in custody in federal court in Concord, New Hampshire, for a detention hearing that was postponed until Monday. His wife, Republican state Rep. Susan DeLemus, said she planned to hire a lawyer for his defense.

Federal officials identified others arrested Thursday as: Blaine Cooper of Humboldt, Arizona; Eric J. Parker and Steven A. Stewart, both of Hailey, Idaho; O. Scott Drexler of Challis, Idaho; Richard R. Lovelien of Westville, Oklahoma; Todd C. Engel of Boundary County, Idaho; Gregory P. Burleson of Phoenix; Joseph D. O'Shaughnessy of Cottonwood, Arizona; and Micah L. McGuire and Jason D. Woods both of Chandler, Arizona.
A federal judge has walked back her own order that critics feared could have exposed the personal records of 10 million California schoolkids, following an outcry from parents and privacy advocates.

The records, sought by attorneys for two nonprofits seeking to determine whether California is adequately accommodating special education students, are kept on a massive state database. The prospect of releasing records that included Social Security numbers, addresses, and disciplinary information prompted a backlash.

In a March 1 ruling, Judge Kimberly Mueller, of the Eastern District of California, said the most sensitive information that is being requested must remain with the Department of Education, which would have to let representatives of the groups filing the lawsuit search the database for the information they had requested.

The clarification, which Mueller acknowledged followed an avalanche of objections, could ease concerns of parents who have in recent weeks expressed fears the information could fall into the wrong hands.

People are confused, worried and angry, Bill Ainsworth, spokesman for the California Department of Education, told FoxNews.com last month after the initial order from Mueller, who sits in Sacramento.

Under Mueller's order, records from the database will not be turned over to attorneys for Morgan Hill Concerned Parents Association and the Concerned Parents Association. Instead, the judge ordered the state to assist attorneys seeking evidence in the state's electronic files.

Mueller did leave in place the potential release to attorneys of other comprehensive information, including six years of statewide testing data and records of special-education students, who make up about 10 percent of pre-K-12 students statewide. Those databases include mental health and behavior records, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

The latest decision reduces the risk that confidential data could fall into the wrong hands, privacy advocates said.

"It's a really good thing they are just going to query the database," Pam Dixon, of the World Privacy Forum, told the newspaper. "This information should never be released."

California Concerned Parents also praised the judges decision, saying it never sought information that could jeopardize students privacy.

"Whatever approach we can get access to current, valid and accurate data is great," Christine English, vice president of California Concerned Parents, told the Mercury-News.

The nonprofits, who advocate for special needs kids, say they need access to information on the database to gauge compliance with federal law. They sued the state in 2012.

The non-profits wanted to access the database for an effective analysis and claims they offered the Department various scenarios for obtaining percentages and related statistics without ever having to see personal records, but they say the Department refused. Eventually, Mueller ordered that the plaintiffs simply be able to access the entire database of student information to perform the analysis. Varying degrees of sensitive data is embedded with student files in the database.

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act are federal laws in place to protect the privacy of students. The state ensures compliance with a vast database, which the plaintiffs would have access to under the ruling. Attempts to reach a deal limiting the information made available to the groups have failed.

After the initial ruling, state education officials were inundated with thousands of calls from parents, educators and school districts, according to Ainsworth.
A convicted kidnapper who may be linked to other violent crimes has been temporarily released from prison to help investigators digging outside Houston for the body of a teenager who disappeared in 1997.

An attorney for William Reece told The Associated Press on Friday that Reece is helping authorities locate the body of Jessica Cain. The 17-year-old disappeared after having dinner with friends. Her truck was later found abandoned in the Houston area.

Reece is serving a 60-year sentence for a 1997 kidnapping. He's also charged in Oklahoma with a 1997 killing and is a person of interest in a Texas college student's 1997 disappearance.

La Marque Police Chief Kirk Jackson says his department is helping the FBI, Texas Rangers and other agencies searching a site near Houston's Hobby Airport.
A knife found buried under O.J. Simpsons former Los Angeles estate where he lived at the time of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman is undergoing forensic testing, Fox News confirmed Friday.

TMZ reports a construction worker found the knife years ago and gave it to an off-duty cop who kept it in his home before finally turning it over to police in January. TMZ did not specify when the knife was found, but reported that it may have been around the time the home was destroyed in 1998.

"It is being treated as we would all evidence," LAPD Capt. Andy Neiman said Friday. He added that police were "quite shocked" to learn about the knife after so many years.

Simpson's property was in the Brentwood section of LA. In 1995, a jury found him not guilty of murder after the so-called "Trial of the Century" dominated the media for months. Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, her friend, were found stabbed to death in June of 1994.

In 1997, a jury found Simpson civilly liable for the slayings. He's now imprisoned in Nevada on a robbery-kidnap conviction.

The weapon used in the killings has been a mystery for decades.

Data curated by PrettyFamous

Law enforcement sources told TMZ the blade is a folding Buck knife. It's now being tested for hair and DNA after it was handed over to the LAPDs Robbery and Homicide Division.

NBC News, citing unnamed law enforcement officials, reported

that it was a smaller, relatively inexpensive utility-style blade typically carried by construction workers or other laborers and inconsistent with it being the murder weapon.



"We discovered it and our investigators immediately followed up on it," Neiman added. Simpson likely cannot be prosecuted again for the stabbings because of constitutional protections against being charged for the same crime twice, or double-jeopardy.

One source told TMZ the knife appeared to have blood residue on it, but its extremely rusted and stained, requiring further testing.

A member of Simpson's legal "dream team" in his murder trial called the find "ridiculous." Attorney Carl Douglas told the Los Angeles Times, "It's amazing how the world cannot move on from this case!"

The cop who kept the knife, an officer assigned to the traffic division, was off-duty at the time and never alerted higher-ups to the discovery, TMZ reported.

In late January the cop reportedly contacted a friend in the homicide division and told him he was getting the knife framed for his wall.

According to TMZ, the cop even asked his friend to get the departments record number for the Simpson-Goldman murder case so he could engrave it in the frame. He was forced to surrender the knife to LAPD when the friend told superiors.

Sources told TMZ authorities are keeping their investigation top secret and under wraps, even logging the case into a computer system outside the official case file.

Click here for more from the New York Post.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
An Illinois man was arrested on a homicide charge Wednesday in the death of his son 23 years after he was jailed for five years for shaking him.

Christopher Barber, 46, previously served his time in a Pennsylvania prison in the 1990s for shaking his baby, Christopher Kostenbader, and tossing him onto a couch so hard that he suffered irreparable brain damage. Kostenbaders injuries left him in a vegetative state and hooked to breathing machine for his entire life.

A pathologist ruled that Kostenbader died in May because of complications due to the severe head injury that occurred in 1991 at the hands of Barber.

The ruling ultimately led to Barbers arrest this week.

Barber told police nearly 25 years ago that his son would not stop crying while being fed on New Years Eve in 1991 in Saylorsburg, Pa. He said he shook Kostenbader and threw the baby on the couch. The baby bounced at least twice. Barber said he didnt shake the baby that rough.

The infant was taken to the hospital, where doctors found "tons of damage" to the brain, bleeding behind the eyes and rib fractures that led them to diagnose shaken baby syndrome, court documents said.

Barber pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and related offenses. He was paroled in 1997. Kostenbader's condition, meanwhile, never improved.

The Associated Press notes that cases like these are unusual but not unprecedented. In November, a Southern California jail inmate who abused a baby girl in 2005 was charged with murder over her death a decade later. The challenge for prosecutors in such cases is showing that the defendant's long-ago actions led to the victim's death.

In Utah, Warren Hales was convicted of murder for shaking a baby who died after 12 years in a vegetative state. But an appeals court overturned his conviction and sentence in 2007 because his lawyers were ineffective, and prosecutors dropped the charges.

In 2010, a Philadelphia jury acquitted 75-year-old William Barnes, who was charged in the 2007 death of a police officer whom Barnes shot and paralyzed 41 years earlier during a botched burglary. Prosecutors argued the shooting ultimately caused Barclay's death. But the defense successfully argued the officer suffered from other ailments that contributed to his demise.

Barber was living in Plainfield, Illinois at the time of his arrest.

Jules Epstein, a Temple University law professor, said that if Barber contests the homicide charge, his lawyer will be sure to look closely at the medical evidence.

"How clear is it that the original injury could have caused the death? And then, the separate issue, did they do a fair look to make sure it wasn't really something independent?" Epstein told AP Thursday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A Baltimore public works employee was fatally shot at a city maintenance depot after an argument with a co-worker turned physical and the co-worker got a gun Thursday, city police said. The shooter is still on the loose, they said.

Police officers were called to a Department of Public Works facility Thursday morning for a report of a shooting and in a locker room area they found 34-year-old Darrin Ulysses Johnson Jr., who had been shot several times, spokesman T.J. Smith said at a news conference. The man was taken to Shock Trauma, where he was pronounced dead.

Later Thursday, Smith issued a news release identifying 47-year-old Cipisirono Cole as the suspect in the shooting. Police said Cole faces several charges, including first- and second-degree murder.

"They were at work making a living and somehow or another the bad guy decided to end this dispute with a gun," Smith said. "So whether it was a personal or a professional argument, we have to answer those questions and get to the bottom of that. What made this bad guy bring the gun to work? Why did he have it at work and why did he choose to use it today?"

Public Works Director Rudy Chow said at the news conference that he was not aware of any previous issues at the building and was surprised by the news.

"I know it's going to be a big blow to our department as a whole," he said.

In a statement, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said she was "saddened and disturbed" by the shooting death of the "dedicated" public works employee. She praised workers for calling upon their training as they reacted to the shooting, helping to ensure no one else was hurt.

About 100 employees report to the field depot that houses maintenance crews working on water and sewer mains, and their equipment. People must have key cards to access to the building, he said.
A nine-year-old girl in Pakistan was saved Friday from having to marry a 14-year-old boy to settle a family dispute as police charged four village elders with ordering the "compensation marriage," Reuters reported.

The girls sister-in-law suffered an illness and died a few weeks ago and her family suspected foul play.

On March 3, the village council in the Rahim Yar Khan district of Punjab, Pakistans largest province, decided to give the little girl in vani, otherwise known as a compensation marriage, to settle the suspected murder, deputy superintendent of police Mamoonur Rasheed told Reuters.

The council decided the girl would be married to a 14-year-old cousin of her brother's deceased wife, while the brother would pay about $1,430 to his dead wifes family.

It is rare for such a case to become a police matter in a country where it is often culturally acceptable to use marriage to build and strengthen alliances, settle disputes or pay off debts, Reuters reported.

Under existing laws, parents of child brides face only a month in prison and a $10 fine.

Click here for more from Reuters.
A Mississippi man who escaped from a jail earlier this week was still on the lam Thursday as authorities said they found green pants, which is what authorities believe he was last seen wearing.

U.S. Marshals Service joined Warren County sheriffs deputies and Vicksburg police in search for Rafael McCloud, 34, according to the Vicksburg Post. McCloud escaped from the Warren County Jail early Wednesday morning using a homemade shank to briefly take a jail employee hostage and force him to give up his keys, radio, pants and jacket.

Sheriff Martin Pace said deputies recovered the radio and keys on jail grounds in addition to the green pants, which were located blocks away from the jail. He was also last seen wearing a white T-shirt and a black jacket. He said authorities dont know what McCloud is wearing now or if he has altered his appearance any further.

"We operate and continue to operate under the presumption that he is still here (in the area), until we receive verification that he is not."

McCloud said officers searched through the night and that "anyone who has been to visit or anyone who is associated with Rafael McCloud is getting a visit."

Vicksburg Police Chief Walter Armstrong called McCloud extremely dangerous.

"We have expanded our search area to the northeast part of the city," Armstrong said. "The area has a large number of abandoned homes and businesses, good hiding places for McCloud."

During the massive manhunt for McCloud Wednesday, authorities were called to the Fort Hill Drive area near Vicksburg National Military Park after residents thought they saw a man that met McClouds appearance in a wooded area, according to the Vicksburg Post. The paper also reported that an additional call claimed he was in a house.

Vicksburg Police Chief Walter Armstrong said more than two dozen officers were searching the area Wednesday but a less number was looking Thursday.

"Most people in Vicksburg know McCloud is a fugitive and anyone harboring him will be arrested and prosecuted," Armstrong said.

McCloud, who had been in the county jail since his arrest June 29, was indicted on multiples counts involving Sharen Wilson's death in January. Her body was found behind an abandoned hospital. McCloud could face the death penalty if convicted.

McCloud has prior felony convictions for auto burglary, grand larceny and armed robbery, according to court records.

Pace said the sheriff's office is also investigating the jail escape. He said that some of it was captured on video, but that he would not publicly release the recording. He said the officer whom McCloud held at knifepoint with a homemade shank is on paid leave, which he described as a routine measure. Warren County's century-old jail is in downtown Vicksburg with no fence between the building and the street.

Pace said that in addition to Vicksburg police officers and Warren County sheriff's deputies, officers from the Department of Public Safety, game wardens from the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks and members of the U.S. Marshal's fugitive task force are participating.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Two years ago, a new family moved into our Washington, D.C., suburban neighborhood and were surprised by all the traffic on our street. With little kids, they looked for traffic-calming options from our county.

A mom myself, I was intrigued to find out more myself, so I attended the community meeting.

But our options, we quickly learned, were limited. Blinking speed signs, 2-way stop signs and cross walks were not possible because of funding or visibility regulations. The only option for us was the installation on our street of a single speed hump  a gradually-raised surface three to six inches off the ground. Normally made of asphalt, these humps are placed across the entire road in high-traffic areas to slow the speed of vehicles. (A speed bump, by the way, is much smaller. They are two different entities.)

I was skeptical about what a single speed hump could do on my street  but I couldnt find any information on the merits or pitfalls of these things, especially the affects they might have on homes such as ours that lie directly across from a speed hump.

We agreed to move forward on this traffic fix, however, believing something was better than nothing. Usually this is a valid sensibility, but I still had my doubts about the plan for a number of reasons sketched out below.

If you need to consider this option for your street, here's what you need to know before embracing such a plan.

1.) Ensure Your Street is Wide Enough.

Our neighborhood street is very narrow, with a sidewalk on only one side and no street parking at all. Since those requirements primarily focus on driver safety, this didn't pose any eligibility red flags, such as, Would drivers be able to see it in time? Would it be too close to an intersection?

But on a narrow street, passing cars are in close proximity to the homes. Once a speed hump is added, fast drivers can pose significant hazards. In less than two years, neighbors closest to our block's speed hump have seen cars stranded on their lawns and vehicle axles break  though fortunately, none have hit other cars or neighbors.

When commercial trucks drive over the humps, pieces of asphalt that have accumulated from other cars or from the sheer weight of the big truck go flying. One piece recently broke my living room window. If children or adults had been nearby, they could have been struck, too.

Vehicle debris, such as hub caps, are commonplace litter even during mild weather. During harsh weather conditions, neighbors have seen the beams from headlights stream into their dining room windows during dinner  cars had completely turned themselves around because the speed hump wasnt visible in the snow.

2.) Count the Heavy Trucks or Commercial Vehicles that Regularly Drive By.

Most speed humps must be at least three inches in height. While car-protecting motorists will brake right before a speed hump in order to prevent damage, commercial vehicle drivers typically wont bother. Heavy trucks speeding over the hump causes disruptive rattling and shaking throughout the house. With one truck a day, a home tremor may not be a concern  but with multiple trucks every hour, this rumbling chaos will quickly grow old, especially if you work from home or if your children are trying to sleep.

3.) Understand the Time Commitment Involved.

In less than two years, our speed hump was installed and reinstalled three times. The first was the initial installation. The second happened because of a scheduled repaving of the street. The third occurred after a neighbor complained that the second installation seemed lower than the original  so the hump was rebuilt for a third time to meet the regulation height.

These reinstallations meant that county trucks, signage and street painting vehicles blocked our driveways, since no street parking was available. While the truck drivers were always agreeable about moving out of the way, the wasted time and hassle was a disruption when rushing to work or taking the kids to school.

4.) Anticipate the Emotions Involved If You Need to Reverse Course.

Should your neighbors regret the decision, the process for removal will likely become an upward battle and an exhausting endeavor. Some homeowners may believe the speed hump must stay for the greater good of the neighborhood. Neighbors living further down the block may dismiss hazards incurred by those closest to the hump  so this could become a debate about which children should be protected.

The perceived safety of the hump vs. the realities of its unsafe factors may never be settled.

Are all speed humps bad? No. They've repeatedly been shown, actually, to reduce speeds in several situations. But speed data alone does not embrace livability issues or safety hazards, nor does it account for the majority of motorists who go just as fast before the hump, quickly brake to go over the hump then rev their engines right after to make up for their lost time.

Does all of this seem like a narrow concern, an isolated incident, a remote worry? Not if this issue is in your neighborhood or on your street!

Do your due diligence if you encounter this issue. Your family, believe me, will thank you.

Karen Scott is a working mom in Northern Virginia.

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Turkey blamed Kurdish militant groups at home and in neighboring Syria on Thursday for a deadly suicide bombing in Ankara and vowed strong retaliation for the attack -- a development that threatens to further complicate the escalating Syrian civil war.

The leader of a Kurdish umbrella organization -- which includes the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK -- did not rule out the possibility that rogue Kurdish militants, angered by Turkish military operations in the country's southeast, may have been behind the attack Wednesday that targeted buses carrying military members.

"Previously such acts have been carried out in retaliation for massacres in Kurdistan. It is possible that those who did it will soon explain why they did it," Cemil Bayik told the pro-Kurdish Firat News.

The U.S. State Department was in "no position" to confirm who was responsible, spokesman John Kirby said.

Also Thursday, six soldiers were killed in southeastern Turkey after PKK members detonated a bomb on a road linking the cities of Diyarbakir and Bingol as a military vehicle was passing by, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

The rush hour car-bomb attack on Wednesday evening killed 28 people and injured dozens of others as Turkey grapples with an array of issues, including renewed fighting with the Kurdish rebels, the threat from Islamic State militants and the Syria refugee crisis. The blast was the second deadly bombing in Ankara in four months.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters that a Syrian national with links to Syrian Kurdish militia carried out the attack in collaboration with the PKK. Davutoglu also accused Syria's government of responsibility for allegedly backing the Syrian Kurdish militia.

"It has been determined with certainty that this attack was carried out by members of the separatist terror organization together with a member of the YPG who infiltrated from Syria," Davutoglu said, identifying the bomber as Syrian national Salih Neccar, born in 1992.

The Ankara attack came as Turkey had been pressing the U.S. to cut off support to the Kurdish Syrian militias, which Turkey regards as terrorists because of their affiliation with the PKK. The U.S. already lists the PKK as a terror group. But Washington relies heavily on the Syrian Democratic Union Party, or PYD, and its military wing, the People's Protection Units, or YPG, in the battle against the Islamic State group and has rejected Turkish pressure.

The political arm of the YPG on Thursday denied involvement in the Ankara bombing. "We are completely refuting that... Davutoglu is preparing for something else because they are shelling us as you know for the past week," Saleh Muslim, the co-leader of the YPGs political wing, told Reuters.

At least 14 people were arrested since Wednesday in connection with the attacks, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, adding that the numbers of suspects detained was likely to increase.

Erdogan insisted evidence obtained by the Turkish authorities pointed to the YPG.

"Despite the fact that their leader says they have nothing to do with this, the information and documents obtained by our Interior Ministry and all our intelligence organizations shows that (the attack) was theirs," Erdogan said.

Turkish artillery has been shelling PYD and YPG positions along its border in Syria, apparently concerned by a series of recent gains by the militias in the area.

Turkey has said its shelling is a response to hostile fire coming across its border, a claim the YPG also denied.

"I can assure you not even one bullet is fired by the YPG into Turkey... They don't consider Turkey an enemy," Muslim told Reuters.

Erdogan said the attack would show the international community the strong links that exist between the PKK and the Syrian Kurdish militias.

But any Turkish escalation against the PYD is likely to further strain ties with the U.S.

"Those who directly or indirectly back an organization that is the enemy of Turkey, risk losing the title of being a friend of Turkey," Davutoglu said in an apparent reference to Washington. "It is out of the question for us to excuse a terror organization that threatens the capital of our country."

Paul T. Levin, head of the Stockholm University Institute for Turkish Studies, told the AP: "it will be interesting to see how the United States reacts because they view the YPG as an ally ... Will they (the United States) shift their view on YPG?"

Turkey has also been helping efforts led by the U.S. to combat the Islamic State group in neighboring Syria, and has faced several deadly bombings in the last year that were blamed on ISIS.

The Syrian war is raging along Turkey's southern border. Recent airstrikes by Russian and Syrian forces have prompted tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to flee to Turkey's border.

Turkey's military, meanwhile, said its jets conducted cross-border raids against Kurdish rebel positions in northern Iraq, hours after the Ankara attack, striking at a group of about 60-70 PKK rebels. The Turkish jets attacked PKK positions in northern Iraq's Haftanin region, hitting the group of rebels which it said included a number of senior PKK leaders, the military said. The claim couldn't be verified.

Turkey's air force has been striking PKK positions in northern Iraq since a fragile two-and-a-half year-old peace process with the group collapsed in July, reigniting a fierce three-decade old conflict.

In October, suicide bombings blamed on ISIS targeted a peace rally outside the main train station in Ankara, killing 102 people in Turkey's deadliest attack in years.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
European Council President Donald Tusk appealed to economic refugees to stop coming to Europe, saying they shouldnt try to risk their lives at the hands of smugglers as the path into the European Union constricts.

He was meeting on Thursday with leaders in Greece and Turkey, two countries that are playing a key role in the blocs efforts to stem the tide of refugees.

I want to appeal to all potential illegal economic migrants wherever you are from: Do not come to Europe. Do not believe the smugglers. Do not risk your lives and your money, Mr. Tusk said after meeting with the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Athens. It is all for nothing. Greece or any other European country will no longer be a transit country.

Balkan countries and Austria are restricting their borders, moves that have left huge numbers stuck at the Greece-Macedonia border. In the Greek town of Idomeni, more than 10,000 people are stranded at a camp built for 1,500 and more than 30,000 are stuck throughout the country.

Mr. Tsipras said his country would continue to try to help refugees, just not at any cost.

Greece will not leave anyone helpless, he said. Greece would create centers for temporary hospitality, but the country wont become a warehouse of souls.

Greek authorities are trying to reduce the crush at the border with Macedonia and prepare new camps further south with the aim to distribute those stranded all over Greece. But many refugees say they fear they may be detained indefinitely in the new camps.

Local officials said they found it hard to persuade a few hundredof those that arrived on Thursday in Piraeus to be accommodated in a new camp midway to Idomeni and not to continue their journey to the borders.

European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans was quoted in Dutch media in January as saying around 60 percent of refugees arriving in the bloc are now economic refugees, meaning those from relatively safe countries whose citizens are typically denied asylum. For much of 2015, Syrians made up the majority of asylum seekers as the conflict in their country entered its fifth year.

Greece has tried repeatedly to send more people back to Turkey, but Ankara has often refused to accept them. Athens returned 308 migrants to Turkey on Wednesday under a 2002 bilateral deal signed with Ankara.

After meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Mr. Tusk pushed Turkey for more help with the problem.

The European Union appreciates our good and growing cooperation with Turkey to prevent irregular immigration, Mr. Tusk said at a joint press briefing, but both parties agree that the refugee influx to the EU still remains too high.

EU leaders are set to meet with Mr. Davutoglu at a summit in Brussels on Monday to pressure him to get refugee numbers as close to zero as possible and to accept more people being returned from Greece. Mr. Davutoglu is scheduled to meet with Mr. Tsipras next Tuesday.

Click for more from The Wall Street Journal.
Spanish authorities seized 20,000 military-style uniforms being sent to fighters of the Islamic State and the Nusra Front, the Interior Ministry announced Thursday.

Police conducted a counterterrorism operation last month in the port cities of Valencia and Algeciras, where officers opened three shipping containers and found the uniforms along with other military accessories, the ministry said. The uniforms were mixed with secondhand clothing to avoid raising suspicion while passing through customs.

Intervenidos 20.000 uniformes/complementos militares destinados a organizaciones terroristas Jabhat Al Nusra y DAESH pic.twitter.com/rby3r36J55  Policia Nacional (@policia) March 3, 2016

The ministry said in a statement that police arrested seven people on suspicion of providing logistical and financial support to ISIS and the Nusra Front, an Al Qaeda affiliate in Syria. The New York Times reported that five of the seven people were Spanish citizens.

Spanish authorities released a video showing a large pile of the camouflage clothing, according to The New York Times. An Interior Ministry spokesman told the paper the uniforms were not made in Spain and an investigation was underway to see where they came from.

The police operation neutralized a very active and efficient business network whose primary purpose was to supply, maintain and strengthen the Islamic State, the statement said.

Spanish police didnt say where the uniforms were intended to go to.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
United Nations personnel, including peacekeepers in 10 UN missions around the world, were embroiled in 99 new allegations of sexual exploitation and/or abuse last yearnearly one-quarter more than in 2014, according to the latest edition of an annual report on the ugly issue unveiled by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

The substantial uptick after years of a Ban-led zero tolerance campaign against the crimes means, the report blandly states, that more needs to be done to reduce the number of allegations, and more importantly, the number of victims affected -- though the full victim tally is not presented in the 38-page document.

That conclusion will hardly come as a surprise to a growing array of critics that has included some of the UNs own internal investigators, and an independent panel that last December castigated specific UN senior officials for their inaction and even coverup of sexual abuse allegations against non-UN troops under a Security Council mandate in the Central African Republic.

Bans latest document decorously says that the Central African Republic review is outside the scope of the present report , which means, among other things, that the lapses by UN officials are not discussed. Neither is the main thrust of the review, which is that sexual abuse in such circumstancesand the reviewers included the UN in this situationshould be considered a human rights abuse demanding immediate action, rather than a possible criminal matter, subject to the UNs lengthy and stifling internal justice process.

Time and again the critics have decried a culture of silence within the world organization over the sexual abuse issue and raised loud demands for reform that so far have never come to fruition.

Whether they will be any happier this time is a good question. Bans report, as it has in the past, notes that only a handful of the cases have been substantiatedwhich critics blame on the fact that the UN itself, or the peacekeepers and the countries that supply them, do most of the investigating.

Nonetheless, Bans document does go to new lengthsbold by previous UN standards-- to identify the nationalities of peacekeepers and police alleged to have committed offensesthe most frequently mentioned nation is the Democratic Republic of Congo, followed by Morocco and South Africa. The report says that the name-and-shame details will soon also be available on a UN website.

Last month the UN announced that it was sending home about 120 of its Democratic Republic of Congo peacekeepers from the Central African Republic.

The UN Secretariat also claims to be accelerating efforts at training programs to combat sexual abuse; push the screening of peacekeepers and others for evidence of past abuse charges; working hard to install immediate response units among peacekeeping missions to collect evidence; and pushing to make countries that supply peacekeeping troops move faster at investigating allegations against their forces or hand the job back to the UN itself.

It further hails a measure Ban has already taken, the appointment of a temporary special coordinator to improve the UNs performance on dealing with sexual abuse.

The same Ban report , however, reveals that even the more aggressive reforms that it claims focus on accountability and transparency in dealing with sexual abuse problems are still often caught up in bureaucratic procedures and lengthy consensus building, require elaborate consent and action by UN member states, and also are short of money, especially when it comes to helping the usually poor and powerless victims, many of them under-age.

Examples:

A Secretariat-wide communications and public information strategy to broadcast the UNs zero-tolerance message was developed in 2015, but it is still in unspecified final stages of completion

UN technical means for vetting large numbers of peacekeepers and police for prior sexual abuse offense was developed in 2015 but the report only says full operation will commence in first-quarter 2016. The UN currently has more than 100,000 military and policy personnel on peacekeeping duty.

Guidelines to monitor accountability for sexual abuse allegations are being developed, to be finalized this year, with nothing said about implementation

Indeed, the report tails off sharply in describing UN efforts to establish what it opaquely calls complaint reception mechanisms, i.e., ways for abused victims to report assaults to the UN missions where the victimizers may still be working.

As Bans report opaquely puts it, the UN has provided a framework to support missions in establishing such channels of complaint. But missions have identified common challenges, including a lack of knowledge of reporting mechanisms, difficulties reaching communities for outreach efforts, and reluctance to report transactional sex. The [UN] Department of Field Support will continue to monitor progress.

The lack of security for victims in reporting sex crimes and abuse is one major reason why many critics charge that the sexual abuse issue is still vastly under-reported in the UNs world, and the number of allegations that make it through the substantiation process remains dramatically low.

In addition, transactional sex, i.e. sex in exchange for money, food, or even more basic necessities such as water, is one of the most omnipresent temptations to abuse in the strife-battered countries where UN peacekeepers and other officials operate; according to UN protocols, transactional sex with minors is automatically supposed to be considered as rape.

In other words, reluctance to report transactional sex can be exactly part of the culture of silence that UN critics are condemning.

Just as often, Bans report kicks back to UN member states the responsibility to police the peacekeeperswhich is logical since most troop-supplying nations insist on that right, but often do little about it, whereas the victims in countries where the UN works have no legal redress.

As the report puts it, there is therefore a need for member states to explore alternative means to achieve accountability, including extraterritorial jurisdiction for United Nations personnel who commit sex crimes.

CLICK HERE FOR THE REPORT

As a result of those paradoxes, one of the most vocal of the UN critics has already proposed taking away entirely from the UN the investigation of all sex crime or abuse allegations against its personnel, and put them in the hands of an independent high-level board.

The organization, AIDS-Free World, through a campaign known as Code Blue, has also had savage things to say about Bans latest report, which it obtained in advance of the U.N.s publication.

Among other things, it calls the document inertia masquerading as action, and asserts that nothing in the report suggests the kind of change that needs to happen to extirpate peacekeeping sexual exploitation and abuse, once and for all.

AIDS-Free World co-director Paula Donovan told Fox News, civilians cant wait any longer for the UN to put incremental changes in place.

Bans report, on the other hand, says they will.

George Russell is Editor-at-Large of Fox News. He is reachable on Twitter at @GeorgeRussell and on Facebook at Facebook.com/George.Russell.
Card Connection Markets Leicestershire Franchise

March 04, 2016 // Franchising.com // Leading greeting card publisher and franchisor, Card Connection, is now marketing its Leicestershire franchise territory which also covers Coventry, parts of Derbyshire and Northamptonshire.

The territory offers a new franchisee or enthusiastic couple, the chance to become self-employed delivering and merchandising Card Connections range of high-quality, popular greetings cards and accessories to around 120 established retail customers, explains Michael Johnson, managing director, Card Connection. As well as independent stores, the new franchisees will supply national accounts including such as Costcutter, WH Smiths Motorway Services, NISA, BP and Spar, using our award winning business model.

Our franchisees place the card ranges in retail outlets on a consignment basis which is one step beyond sale or return, as the retailer never has to buy the stock initially, only paying for what they sell, explains Johnson. This creates a win-win situation for both retailer and franchisee and the concept has proved particularly popular for more than two decades.

The current franchisee, Mark Miller, has been with Card Connection for eight years, continues Johnson. Mark and his wife are now aiming to realise an ambition of emigrating to New Zealand, which necessitates the sale of this established franchise business. Card Connection will provide full training, hand-over plus all the ongoing support needed to get new franchisees up and running quickly and earning money from day one. Over the years we have helped hundreds of franchisees run successful businesses and in 2015 Card Connection was a finalist for the British Franchisor of the Year award, recognising our efforts working with franchisees.

Card Connection is part of UK Greetings, which is a subsidiary of American Greetings Inc., one of the largest greeting card publishers in the world and has limited vacancies for franchisees that are keen to run an expanding business. Since the franchise network in the UK is complete, the available opportunities now consist of acquiring an already-established territory from an existing franchisee. These vary in price according to their level of development, but start at 7k + Stock + Card Connection fee with earnings potential in excess of 50k per annum.

Territories currently available include: Leicester, Bath, Coventry, Reading/Windsor, Northampton, Plymouth, Oxford, Liverpool, Ayr, Edinburgh and Ireland South. For further information about franchises for sale, please see: www.card-connection.co.uk

About Card Connection

Card Connection is one of the UKs most successful card publishers and is the market leader in the franchised distribution of greeting cards.

The company was established in 1992 and became a Full Member of the British Franchise Association in 1995. It now distributes greeting cards to around 13,000 outlets through its network of 67 franchisees. www.card-connection.co.uk

SOURCE Card Connection

Contact:

Mel Betts

Grapevine PR Ltd

01544 318546

melanie.betts@grapevinepr.com

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CARSTAR Auto Body Repair Expands MSO Network In Ohio

CARSTAR Bexley of Columbus Joins the CARSTAR Family

March 04, 2016 // Franchising.com // CHARLOTTE  CARSTAR Auto Body Repair Experts is pleased to welcome CARSTAR Bexley to North Americas Largest Multi-Shop Operator Network.

CARSTAR Bexley is located at 2836 E. Main St., in Columbus, Ohio. It is owned by Thom Moore and Jack Lewis. Moore, who serves as CFO and vice president, has some 37 years in the collision repair industry and is ASE and I-CAR certified. Lewis is president, formerly worked with GEICO Insurance and has spent 23 years in the collision repair business. Rob Kuhn is the general manager for the shop.

CARSTAR brings the operational resources, insurance relationship and strong brand awareness with consumers that we need to be competitive, said Moore, shown at right with Jack Lewis. We can improve our efficiency, save money on purchasing and expand our work with insurance companies, all which help us be more successful in the future.

CARSTAR Bexley is housed in a 6,000 square foot facility, which is outfitted with top-of-the-line tools, frame machines and equipment, heated downdraft paint booth and estimating system. In addition to quality collision repair, they also offer towing, professional detailing, free shuttle for pickup and delivery, and rental cars. All technicians are ASE certified.

With experienced leaders like Thom and Jack at the helm, CARSTAR Bexley is a great new member of the CARSTAR family and our Ohio network, said Michael Macaluso, president, CARSTAR North America. We are excited to welcome them and expand our offering of the industrys highest quality collision repair for Ohio drivers.

About CARSTAR

CARSTAR Auto Body Repair Experts--a part of the Driven Brands, Inc. family of automotive aftermarket franchise brands -- is North Americas largest Multi-Shop Operator Network of independently owned collision repair facilities with more than 450 locations in 30 states and 10 Canadian provinces. CARSTAR delivers national scale, consistently high-quality vehicle repairs, repeatable outcomes and the industrys highest customer satisfaction ratings; all repairs are backed by a national warranty and service guarantee. It was ranked 106th on Franchise Times annual Top 200 ranking of the largest franchise systems in North America and was named 18th on the Kansas City Business Journals Top 150 Private Companies list. The Romans Group LLC ranked CARSTAR the No. 1 largest MSO in North America. For more information visit www.carstar.comand follow us on Facebook and twitter .

SOURCE CARSTAR

Media Contact:

Deborah Robinson

President Victory Management Group PR

312.505.4336

drobinson@vmg1.com

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Dickeys Barbecue Pit Announces Three-Store Development Agreement in Northern California

Owner/Operator Amrik Singh will open new locations in Ceres, Oakdale and Atwater

March 04, 2016 // Franchising.com // Ceres, CA - Dickeys Barbecue Pit has just executed a new three-store development agreement in Northern California. The new stores will be located in Ceres, Oakdale and Atwater. The Ceres store will open by the end of 2016, followed by the stores in Oakdale and Atwater.

Owner/Operator Amrik Singh has a long history in quick service restaurants. As a teenager he started working in the industry, eventually progressing into management. Singh also had a brief stint of franchise ownership in a small California pizza concept. Originally from India, Singh and his family made their home in California when he was a young child, and he looks forward to providing for his family in America for years to come. Dickeys has been incredibly supportive throughout this whole process, and I am blown away by the corporate office and their attention to detail, says Singh. We have purchased holiday meals from Dickeys for years, and I am glad to now own my own stores and serve authentic, delicious food to my community.

Dickeys is growing rapidly along the West Coast, particularly in California, says Roland Dickey, Jr., CEO of Dickeys Barbecue Restaurants, Inc. We recently announced the development of our 100th store in the state, and look forward to continued partnerships with Owner/Operators such as Amrik Singh.

To learn more about franchising with Dickeys, visit www.dickeys.com/franchise or call 866-340-6188.

To find the Dickeys Barbecue Pit nearest you, click here [https://www.dickeys.com/locations]. Find Dickeys on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

About Dickeys Barbecue Restaurants, Inc.

Dickeys Barbecue Restaurants, Inc., the nations largest barbecue chain was founded in 1941 by Travis Dickey with the goal of authentic slow smoked barbecue. Today, all meats are still slow smoked on-site in each restaurant living up to the company tagline, We Speak Barbecue. The Dallas-based family-run barbecue franchise offers a quality selection of signature meats, home style sides, tangy barbecue sauce and free kids meals every Sunday. The fast-casual concept has expanded to over 540 locations in 43 states. Dickeys was recognized for the third year by Nations Restaurant News as a Top 10 Growth Chain and by Technomic as the Fastest-growing restaurant chain in the country. For more information, visit www.dickeys.com or for barbecue franchise opportunities call 866.340.6188.

SOURCE Dickeys Barbecue Restaurants, Inc.

Media Contact:

Michelle George

Public Relations Specialist

Dickey's Barbecue Restaurants, Inc.

(972) 248-9899 ext. 235

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Express Employment Professionals Puts More Than 500,000 People to Work

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK (PRWEB) March 03, 2016 - Express Employment Professionals announced record-setting sales for 2015. Express franchisees generated $3.02 billion in sales in 2015, up 6 percent from 2014.

The company also helped a record 500,002 people find jobs last year compared to 456,660 in 2014. In Oklahoma, Express put 19,224 people to work in 2015.

We have a long-term goal to put a million people to work annually, said Bob Funk, Express Employment Professionals CEO and chairman of the board. Our franchisees have a laser focus on helping as many people as possible find good jobs by helping as many clients as possible find good people.

The growth we've seen in our company is a testament to the culture of Express, Funk said. We have an incredible support team dedicated to helping people succeed at the franchise level, and our franchisees are personally invested in seeing their communities grow and thrive.

Sales for U.S. Express franchisees alone are up 148 percent since 2009 as staffing companies have become a significant driver of the nations job growth.

Employers are increasingly relying on temporary workers for flexible staffing solutions to help them respond to real-time market conditions and meet production demands, Funk said.

In 2015, Staffing Industry Analysts named Express as one of the fastest growing major staffing companies, as well as one of the largest industrial staffing firms. The staffing giant, with international headquarters based in Oklahoma City, was named the No. 1 staffing franchise in America for four consecutive years and one of the top 100 fastest growing franchise systems in America, out of 3,500 franchisors, for three consecutive years by Entrepreneur Magazine.

With more than 760 offices in the U.S., Canada and South Africa, Express Employment Professionals offers a full range of employment solutions, including evaluation hire, temporary staffing, professional search and human resources.

Express awarded 54 franchise locations in 2015 and plans to add 72 new locations in 2016, targeting markets in Washington, DC, California, Wisconsin, Virginia and New York.

For more information about Express Employment Professionals, visit ExpressPros.com.

About Express Employment Professionals

Express Employment Professionals puts people to work. It generated $3.02 billion in sales and employed a record 500,002 people in 2015. Its long-term goal is to put a million people to work annually. For more information, visit ExpressPros.com.

SOURCE Express Employment Professionals

Contact:

Sherry Kast

APR, Corporate Communications and PR Manager

Express Employment Professionals

(405) 840-5000

sherry.kast@ExpressPros.com

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ROME  A top Vatican official vowed Thursday to work to put an end to the rash of suicides in his Australian hometown over the church sex abuse scandal after meeting with victims and acknowledging that he failed to act on an abuse allegation decades ago.

Cardinal George Pell, Pope Francis top financial adviser, met Thursday with some of the Australian abuse victims who travelled to Rome to witness his four days of remote, video-link testimony to Australias Royal Commission. The commission is investigating how the Catholic Church and other institutions responded to the sexual abuse of children over decades.

Emerging from the meeting with survivors at a Rome hotel, Pell read a statement pledging to help his hometown of Ballarat recover from scores of suicides of abuse victims. He said he hoped the city of 100,000 might one day become an example for practical help for all those wounded by the scourge of sexual abuse.

One suicide is too many. And there have been many such tragic suicides, Pell told reporters. I commit myself to work with the group to try to stop this so that suicide is not seen as an option for those who are suffering.

Ballarat, a heavily Catholic city in Australias Victoria state, has had a devastating experience with the abuse scandal. Testimony to the Royal Commission revealed how the Christian Brothers religious order, in particular, preyed on dozens of children in the schools it ran from the 1960s to 1980s.

Pell was called to answer questions about his time as a priest in Ballarat, and as an auxiliary bishop in Melbourne.
Hutch study finds CMV viral load can act as surrogate endpoint for clinical trials

A study by researchers at Fred Hutch published in Lancet Haematology found that cytomegalovirus, or CMV, viral load is associated with mortality after blood stem cell transplantation, opening the door to using viral load as a surrogate endpoint for clinical trials testing new, less-toxic treatments for the deadly virus.

That CMV can be lethal for transplant patients is not new. Up until the 1980s, CMV pneumonia was the leading infectious cause of death among transplant recipients, with a fatality rate of 85 to 90 percent.

Almost everyone died who had CMV pneumonia, said Dr. Michael Boeckh, the senior author of the new study and a member of the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division at Fred Hutch.

Although CMV pneumonia is still a deadly complication today, far fewer transplant patients now develop it because they are treated with antiviral drugs, either prophylactically or pre-emptively, using sensitive tests for the earliest signs of infection developed by Boeckh and other Hutch researchers.

But because the current drugs are so good at preventing CMV pneumonia, its been difficult for pharmaceutical companies to conduct clinical trials testing new drugs that might have fewer toxic side effects than the drugs in use.

Its been hard for companies to prove that their products are any good because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory agencies have required them to show a decrease in CMV disease, but since the standard of care is so good, there have been a lot of [clinical trial] failures, even though the drugs being tested may be effective and have important differences in side effect profiles, said Dr. Margaret Green, an infectious disease specialist, a researcher in Fred Hutchs Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division and the studys lead author.

The need for new, less-toxic treatments was underscored by the studys second finding  that any CMV viral load is associated with an increased risk of death in the first year after transplant, despite the effectiveness of antiviral pre-emptive therapy in preventing CMV disease. While the higher the load, the greater the risk, even the very low levels that trigger pre-emptive therapy carry some risk.

Pre-emptive therapy has largely replaced prophylactic therapy  given before any virus is detected  because the antiviral drugs in use can cause significant bone marrow suppression or kidney damage, leaving transplant doctors to weigh the risks of CMV disease development against treatment toxicity. The study suggested that prophylactic treatment of CMV may be better than todays standard of pre-emptive treatment  but only if new treatments that have less toxic side effects are developed.

New drugs are urgently needed because presently licensed antiviral drugs have important side effects, wrote Dr. Per Ljungman in an editorial accompanying the study. Establishment of a surrogate endpoint such as viral load for studies of CMV would therefore be of major importance, such as is the case for HIV and Hepatitis C virus.

The retrospective cohort study, published online last month, looked at 926 patients who received allogeneic stem cell transplants at Fred Hutch between 2007 and 2013. It was the first to look at different viral load thresholds and also the first to use a new World Health Organization standard measurement, making the data more easily comparable across institutions.

 Mary Engel, Fred Hutch News Service
Heathrow Media Group Unveils New, Limited-Time Small-Business Website Package

With everything from site design and SEO to a domain name and month of hosting, new special is the easiest and most affordable way to get started online, Heathrow Media Group reports

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Heathrow Media Group, LLC, a top digital design and marketing firm, announced a special new promotion aimed at small businesses. Designed to cover all of the most common small-business needs at an unbeatable price, the offer includes the creation of a five-page website, a new domain registration for a year, a month of hosting, and search engine optimization for five strategic keywords. Available for a limited time at the unbeatable price of $500, the new offer can be secured with a visit to the company's website at www.heathrowmediagroup.com.

"There's no question that having an informative, well-optimized website is a requirement for small-business success today," Heathrow Media Group founder and President Peter McAvoy said, "Unfortunately, it can be a little harder and more costly to get going than might be hoped. Our new promotional package is designed to give small businesses everything they'll need to build some momentum online. We're confident that there is no more affordable or effective way to get started."

With at least two-thirds of all American small businesses either increasing their digital marketing spending or at least holding steady, the online environment is an increasingly competitive one. Small companies that fail to build and maintain competitive web and social media presences risk falling behind, even when their products or services themselves would seem to merit plenty of attention.

As one of Florida's leading digital design and marketing specialists, Heathrow Media Group regularly helps clients overcome these challenges and find new customers online. With a comprehensive range of services that covers everything from top-quality site and asset design to effective, inexpensive SEO and the creation of share worthy content, the agency is equipped with every tool that might possibly be needed.

The new Heathrow Media Group small-business special offer will make it easier and more affordable than ever before to take advantage of this proven, results-generating expertise. Designed to simplify things for small companies that lack effective web presences, the package includes everything needed to get started, with delivery in seven to ten days.

Offering more value at its price point of $500 than any competing package, the new special promotion will be available for a limited time. Those interested can learn more about the offer and all of Heathrow Media Group's services at the company's website, where contact information can also be found.

About Heathrow Media Group, LLC:

As a leading full-service digital marketing, design, and content creation agency, Heathrow Media Group couples extensive experience with a commitment to producing the results that will benefit each individual client the most.

For more information about us, please visit http://heathrowmediagroup.com

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Organization: Heathrow Media Group, LLC

Phone: 407-915-4226

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/heathrow-media-group-unveils-new-limited-time-small-business-website-package/105961

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London Natural Stone Tile Firm Announces Direct Sales To UK Homeowners At Wholesale Prices

Tile Land offers the advantage of wholesale prices on natural stone products. Sales directly to UK homeowners keep prices affordable.

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According to Tile Land, high-quality natural stone tile company in London, the firm will now sell direct to UK homeowners. The prices are at wholesale levels; with straight-from-the-quarry price tags. The prices are wholesale level, because Tile Land owns the quarry which supplies the products. The firm offers free next-day nationwide delivery. The London location contains more than 50,000 square meters of materials which are available in all kinds of finishes and various sizes.

At wholesale prices, the products offer great value for money. The selection which is available at the warehouse and showroom consists of high quality marble, travertine and limestone tiles, mosaics and paving. Tile Land specializes in Travertine, Limestone and Marble all based in London. Natural stone is as affordable as possible without compromising on quality or service. There are benefits in natural stone which include durability, life-time use, easy cleaning and maintenance. The products represent a different and unique looks.

Tile Land provides friendly and efficient service to customers. Next day nationwide delivery is offered throughout the United Kingdom from the West London warehouse. The firm has more than a half century of experience in natural stone sourcing and selecting. The company is recognized for its high quality natural stone products at wholesale prices.

Natural stone products can help to increase property values. Home buyers are drawn to the decorative aspects of marble, travertine or limestone. The products can be used indoors in kitchens and bathroom and outdoors for porches, patios and walkways. Stone is very long-lasting and the appearance actually improves with age. Each application of natural stone has unique characteristics, with no two cuts identical in appearance and character.

Choosing a particular style and cut is easy to do, since Tile Land London offers a wide range of colours and designs. The finished installation of stone is an easy-to-maintain surface for a generation.

For more information about us, please visit http://www.tileland.com/

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Name: Tile Land

Organization: Tile Land

Address: 59-61 Minerva Road Park Royal, London NW10 6HJ

Phone: 020 8965 7773

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/london-natural-stone-tile-firm-announces-direct-sales-to-uk-homeowners-at-wholesale-prices/105994

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Zen Windows Launches No In Home Sales Promise, With Unique Zero Pressure Sales Experience

Zen Windows will happily speak to individuals over the phone or online, offering free same day quotes on window replacements, but will never use in-home sales people who pressurize customers into unwanted purchases.

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Salesmen often use aggressive and underhand sales tactics to pressure home owners into agreeing to either expensive or sometimes unwanted products or services. Nowhere is this more prevalent than in the window industry, where people are cornered and pressured into upgrading their home windows, together with extended warranties, optional extras and other items the salesperson wants to get signed off for commission. Zen Windows has responded to this by promising never to send any salespeople inside the home.

Instead, they offer a completely pressure free buying experience. Home owners can see the products available and the options that may suit them on the website and discuss them directly with the company owner, Dan Grahovac.

Zen Windows will simply aim to be as helpful and informative as possible in answering questions, without skewing the facts to try and upsell customers. The result is an extraordinarily friendly customer experience from beginning to end.

Owen of Zen Windows Louisville, Dan Grahovac, explained, "We want to work with home owners who want the best windows for their homes without the traditional high pressure sales tactics. We see our role as that of a facilitator, not a sales machine. We want to help people get what's right for them, and will help people explore our windows, doors, siding and more without pressure. It's all about the customer which is why we have changed the window industry with our zero pressure business model. I believe this is the future for window replacement companies in Kentucky, and we look forward to meeting more new customers than ever because of it."

About Zen Windows: Zen Windows is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. One of the fastest growing window sales and installation companies in Louisville, they are the only window company in the United States that provides complete window and door installation without requiring any type of down payment. They offer a zero pressure environment with same day no obligation quotations, leading to outstanding ratings from customers.

For more information about us, please visit http://www.zenwindowslouisville.com/

Contact Info:

Name: Dan Grahovac

Organization: Zen Windows Louisville, LLC

Phone: (502) 552-5408

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/zen-windows-launches-no-in-home-sales-promise-with-unique-zero-pressure-sales-experience/105911

Release ID: 105911

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Dublin Photographers Expands Commercial And Event Photography Throughout Ireland

Lafayette, award-winning Dublin photographers founded in 1880, has announced an expansion to provide commercial and event photography throughout the rest of Ireland. Photographers can be selected online, so customers can place their orders with ease, no matter where they live.

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Lafayette, a photography company in Dublin dating back to 1880, has announced an expansion throughout Ireland so more people can enjoy their award-winning commercial and event photography. Customers all over the country can now browse through the options available on the company website, and book and their own unique photography session or event there and then.

More information can be found on the Lafayette website and photography sessions can be booked at: https://www.lafayette.ie.

Founded by James Lauder, the son of a successful photographic pioneer, Lafayette Photography earned the title of 'Her Majesty's Royal Photographer in Dublin' following a portrait of Queen Victoria in 1887. The title was renewed in later years by King Edward VII and King George V. This sense of history is integral to the company, which began with the original avant-garde photography that was synonymous with Parisian art and culture.

Today Lafayette has earned glowing reviews for its personal approach to the job. The company understands that each customer is different, and prides itself on accommodating a wide range of styles for any kind of event. The photographers are experienced in capturing emotion and atmosphere, and work in an unobtrusive way, tailoring the photography to customers' venue and timings. This helps to result in photographs that are unique to each customer.

Services in the expansion across Ireland will include portraits, school and group photos, graduation, event and historical images. Every booking will begin with a consultation between the customer and the Lafayette team, so that each client can clarify exactly what they are hoping for with their individual shoot. This is important for portraits, which are a centuries old tradition, and can draw on a range of artistic influences. But it can also help to ensure group photographs or photos for special events like graduations perfectly capture the moment.

Lafayette also offers commercial photography, with an experienced team well versed in shooting photos for annual reports, company brochures, websites and company events. The company can syndicate images to newspaper picture desks to help with press exposure, if media attention is important.

Anyone wanting to contact Lafayette can find them at: Graduation House, Unit 44, Fashion City, Ballymount, Dublin 24, Ireland. Their phone number is: +353 (0)1 4295740.

For more information about us, please visit https://www.lafayette.ie/

Contact Info:

Name: Stephen Holland

Organization: Lafayette Photography Dublin

Address: Unit 44 Fashion City, Ballymount, Dublin 24, Co. Dublin

Phone: +353 (0)1 4295740

Release ID: 105992

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Worldwide Cellular Networks Revenue Market Research Report: Radiant Insights

Radiant Insights has announced the addition of "Worldwide Cellular Networks Revenue Report" Market Research report to their database

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Cellular network comprises cells, wherein each cell has a base station or cell site. The base station distributes the network coverage, used by cellphone users to send or receive data. This data can range from text messages to videos. Each cell operates at different frequencies to provide appropriate bandwidth within the cell. The worldwide cellular network is spread across 222 countries and divided between 809 cellular network operators.

Download Full Research Report @ http://www.radiantinsights.com/research/worldwide-cellular-networks-revenue-report

A common cellular network uses a group of radio base stations, switched network, packed switched network, and public switched telephone network. This network manages to handover the calls to a different operator if the cellphone user moves to a different cell.

The worldwide cellular networks market depends on the technologies of GSM, LTE, CDMA2000, UMTS, and IS-95. Groupe Special Mobile abbreviated as GSM, is a standard developed to describe a set of protocols by the European Telecommunications Standard Institute. The network coverage in GSM depends on different cell sizes, namely micro, macro, pico, femto, and umbrella. GSM uses a SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card that allows the subscriber to retain his phonebook data and basic user information.

Browse All Reports of This Category @ http://www.radiantinsights.com/catalog/telecommunications-and-wireless

CDMA2000 complies with standards of the 3G network. It provides network coverage to CDMA enabled phones in North America. Long-Term Evolution, known as LTE, is a standard for 4G networks. LTE is supported by cellphones which provide coverage for varying network frequencies. It is part of the fourth generation mobile technology known as 4G. Another technology with the same network handling capability as LTE is Mobile WiMax.

Latest set of protocols followed by cellular networks are 3G and 4G technologies. Benefits of these technologies include unlimited wireless bandwidth and VoIP. VoIP has 2 sub-segments, Voice over Long Term Evolution (VoLTE) and over-the-top (OTT). Lack of consumer awareness regarding the latest technology can hamper worldwide cellular networks market.

Request a Sample Copy of this Report @ http://www.radiantinsights.com/research/worldwide-cellular-networks-revenue-report#tabs-4

North America and Europe are major markets which will sustain their market share owing to ability to adapt latest technology. Asia Pacific has the highest growth potential, on networks based on 3G and 4G networks.

Renowned companies operating in the worldwide cellular networks market include Ericsson, Motorola, Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia Siemens Network, and Huawei.

About Radiant Insight

Radiant Insights is a platform for companies looking to meet their market research and business intelligence requirements. It assist and facilitate organizations and individuals procure market research reports, helping them in the decision making process. The Organization has a comprehensive collection of reports, covering over 40 key industries and a host of micro markets.

For more information about us, please visit http://www.radiantinsights.com/research/worldwide-cellular-networks-revenue-report

Contact Info:

Name: Michelle Thoras

Email: sales@radiantinsights.com

Organization: Radiant Insights Inc

Address: 28 2nd Street, Suite 3036

Phone: 1-415-349-0058

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/worldwide-cellular-networks-revenue-market-research-report-radiant-insights/106015

Release ID: 106015

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Over the next three months, oodles of words will be published and exchanged over the European Union.

So I thought I might as well throw in my two pence worth while trying to focus on the financial aspects.

Comments on notice boards suggest that financial advisers would probably vote to leave the EU by a reasonably large majority. Whether those comments are based on your own political leanings, or on the best interests of your clients is a questionable point, although I have no doubt red tape  much of it imposed by the EU  has an effect on your feelings.

I suspect that finding facts as opposed to politically weighted comment over the coming months will be a desperately difficult task.

When I returned from holiday last week, I was bludgeoned with a story warning of impending doom if the UK chose to leave the EU. I was bludgeoned with a story warning of impending doom if the UK chose to leave the EU

Sterling had hit a seven-year low and, warned a shrill BBC report, more than a third of bosses at the UKs biggest firms had signed a letter supporting continued EU membership. Little significance was given to the fact that 64 bosses did not sign.

The doom-laden BBC coverage also failed to mention that the FTSE 100 had risen by 1.47 per cent on the same day. That would imply that some investors would appear to feel there is a future outside the EU for the worlds fifth biggest economy.

The EU is a camel of an institution whose wastage is perhaps best summed up by the ludicrous shifting of its parliamentary seat between Strasbourg and Brussels once a month purely to keep the French happy.

Therefore plastic trunks are loaded on to trucks and driven almost 300 miles at an annual cost that has been estimated by the Conservative Party in Europe to be more than 130m.

The cynic in me wonders why those business leaders who are so in love with Europe do not take some positive action to persuade voters that it is also in their interest to remain. Perhaps instead of warning of lost jobs, they might offer better training opportunities to British school-leavers.

Woodford Investment Managements report on the potential effects of a Brexit concluded that the long-term impact is likely to be minimal.

For investors, it looks like the coming months  and possibly years  could be dictated increasingly by sentiment. Those who try to guess the market could come a cropper.

I suspect we have entered what the Chinese proverb terms: Interesting times. And in case you have not already guessed, given the choice I would leap for the exit door tomorrow.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Sit up and take notice of FAMR

It seems that it is a lot easier to complain over a glass of Merlot than to put pen to paper and construct a coherent argument.
One of Britains most high profile financiers has been jailed after he swindled the taxman out of 130,000 and went on the run to Spain.

Michael Bolton was a mortgage expert whose businesses were wiped out by the financial crash but who carried on working through other companies.

He carried out the VAT fraud while running companies called MB Consulting and Bolton Capital Structures and also had links with the reputable firm Clayton Euro Risk.

The fees he charged to his clients were said to be eye watering.

He dodged 130,000 in VAT payments by using false VAT numbers on 900,000 worth of invoices and never passing on the money to the revenue.

Bolton, aged 50, from Prees, Shropshire, who ran a string of businesses in Bristol, jumped bail but was found guilty in his absence of being knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of VAT by a jury at Bristol Crown Court.

He was jailed for two years by Judge Graham Cottle at Exeter Crown Court and will be liable to immediate arrest and imprisonment if he returns to Britain.

Addressing the empty dock, the Judge told Bolton: You were providing banking and mortgage strategy services to two separate companies who you billed to the extent of 900,000.

You did not account for the 130,000 VAT and used VAT numbers from two organisations with which you had links. You were not registered for VAT in your own name until this investigation started.

You used bogus numbers, so you issued what were in effect forged documents. You provided a bogus explanation of having paid cash to a man called Paulo in Switzerland who had failed to pass it on to the revenue.

In effect, you are now on the run and your exact whereabouts are not known, although it is believed you may be in Spain. You are quite clearly a fraudster. This was carried out over a period of time with some sophistication.

Mr Ian Fenny, prosecuting, said Bolton was liable to pay VAT on the money he charged for his professional services but used VAT numbers from two other businesses, including his former accountants, on his paperwork.

Before he jumped bail he told investigators he had paid he money in cash to a mystery Swiss accountant called Paulo Greener, but there is no evidence such a person has ever existed.

Mr Fenny said: We always suspected he would not attend for his trial but Bolton was given bail and unfortunately our cynicism was well founded.

We have been unable to trace any assets in this country. Bolton is married to a Brazilian and may have property in Brazil. The revenue are also aware of contacts in Gibraltar but we are unable to recover any realisable assets.

This was a substantial fraud on the revenue but the money has clearly been dissipated and we cannot see any creative method of retrieving it.
The Scottish government has bowed to pressure and agreed to roll out 65m in hill payments under the Less Favoured Areas Support Scheme (LFASS) by the end of March.

Rural affairs secretary Richard Lochhead has announced that the government will use national funds to ensure almost 11,500 businesses will get their payments within the month.

It follows intense lobbying by farm leaders who have claimed that farmers are facing a deepening cash crisis because of a flawed IT system, which is also causing damaging delays under the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS).

See also: BPS fiasco leaves 30,000 farmers waiting

To date, only 55% of claimants have received their 80% part-payment under the BPS, which NFU Scotland estimates has left a 300m gaping hole in Scotlands rural economy.

After talks with farm leaders on Thursday afternoon (3 March), Mr Lochhead said the government would use national funds to ensure the vast majority of LFASS claimants received payments in March as usual.

Given the importance of LFASS to Scottish agriculture, the Scottish governments view  which was supported by industry  is that this should be a priority, he said.

Eight thousand farmers will receive a payment worth 90% of their 2014 claim, while another 1,400 crofters and small farmers who are eligible for the minimum LFASS payment of 385 will receive their money in full.

Payments to the rest  about 2,800 claimants  will depend on various factors including changes to their land since 2014.

NFU Scotland president Allan Bowie said the decision met one of the unions key demands.

We asked Scottish government to crank up the old system, make part payments to previous LFASS recipients, get money into the rural economy and pay a balance once it has sorted out the unholy computer mess that it has created.

This move shows what can be done and must be a stepping stone to the Scottish government taking further significant action to deliver a part payment of the BPS to all farmers in order to address the huge financial problems that the 178m flawed IT delivery system has created.

Mr Bowie said only 25% of the pot available under the BPS and greening was currently in circulation and other vital schemes have been delayed because of IT problems.

It was the unions understanding that the computer system needed to make payments under the Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme and the Scottish Upland Sheep Support Scheme, worth 38m and 6m respectively, was yet to be even built, he said.

That is unbelievable incompetence on the part of those charged with delivering these schemes and Scottish government must immediately direct resources to address this.

NFU Scotland has organised an industry rally at Holyrood on 10 March to highlight the cash crisis currently facing farmers because of payment delays.
A farmer has been airlifted to hospital after being crushed against a wall by cattle.

The 71-year-old man suffered serious injuries to his head, face, chest and abdomen in the incident.

The Great North Air Ambulance (GNAAS) was sent to a farm in Kirkby Stephen at 8am on Thursday (3 March).

See also: Tractor driver in lucky escape after roof flip crash

Medics discovered the injured farmer trapped against a wall by cattle.

A spokesman for GNAAS said: He had sustained head, facial, chest and abdomen injuries and was assessed and treated by the GNAAS doctor-led trauma team.

The patient was then flown to James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough within 16 minutes, where he arrived in a serious but stable condition.

Two weeks ago, a farmer in his 50s had to be flown by air ambulance to hospital after being seriously hurt by cattle in a similar incident.

The man, aged in his 50s, suffered head, neck, back and chest injuries in the livestock handling incident on a farm in Cockfield, near Bishop Auckland, County Durham.
Story Highlights Six in 10 Chinese now satisfied with their education

Youngest Chinese most satisfied; men and women equally content

However, a significant urban/rural gap persists

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- China's heightened spending on education in the past decade may be paying off, at least in its residents' eyes. More Chinese today (61%) express satisfaction with their own education than they did in 2009, when satisfaction was well below 50%.

China's investment in nine-year mandatory education has increased at 19.4% annually over the past decade, according to the Chinese Ministry of Finance. This expenditure has likely contributed to quadrupling the number of college graduates in the last 10 years. Therefore, it is not surprising that younger Chinese -- those currently or most recently involved in the education system -- are the most satisfied with their education. In 2015, three-quarters (75%) of Chinese aged 15 to 24 said they are satisfied, at least 16 percentage points higher than all other age groups.

Chinese Women Now as Satisfied as Men With Their Education

After lagging behind men in earlier years, today Chinese women are as likely as men to be satisfied with their education, at 61% each. Gallup's findings generally mirror the tertiary education enrollment figures for women in China, where female university enrollment began rising in 2007 and now surpasses that of men, according to the World Bank.

Gap Persists in Urban/Rural Education Satisfaction

Despite the government's substantial education expenditures over the past decade, rural Chinese continue to lag behind their urban counterparts in satisfaction with their own education. Nearly two-thirds of those in large cities (65%) are currently satisfied, compared with six in 10 (60%) of Chinese living in rural areas -- although this is the narrowest urban/rural gap Gallup has recorded since it began this measurement in 2006.

Bottom Line

Chinese may be reaping the rewards of increased government spending on education -- particularly women, whose satisfaction with their education has surged by 23 points in the past six years alone.

Satisfaction among rural Chinese has increased dramatically as well, but the urban/rural education gap remains. However, students in rural China have just begun receiving a significant boost in education subsidies. Previously, nine-year compulsory education students were entitled to varying amounts of public funds based on the cost of living in each geographic area and on household income, resulting in much larger subsidies for children living in large cities than those in rural China. But beginning this year, those education subsidies will be standardized across the country. This means rural students, as well as children of workers who migrate to large cities for employment, will receive the same public education funding as urban children. As funding parity takes hold, the urban/rural gap in education satisfaction may narrow even more.

Survey Methods

The 2015 results are based on interviews with 4,265 adults, aged 15 and older, including a national sample conducted face to face in China and an oversample conducted by landline telephone in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou in July 2015. The 2012 results are based on interviews with 4,201 adults, aged 15 and older, including a national sample conducted face to face in China and an oversample conducted by landline telephone in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou in August-September 2009. For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is 2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. All reported margins of sampling error include computed design effects for weighting.

For more complete methodology and specific survey dates, please review Gallup's Country Data Set details.

Learn more about how the Gallup World Poll works.
Story Highlights W. Virginians least likely to say their area good for immigrants

East Coast residents view their states as being most hospitable

Southern, Midwestern states least likely to say area a "good place"

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Ninety percent of Nevada residents indicate their area is hospitable to immigrants, the highest among the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Nevada is followed closely by four states -- Massachusetts, Hawaii, Delaware and California, plus Washington, D.C. -- all at 89%.

West Virginia has the lowest proportion of residents, 67%, who say their state is a good place for immigrants to live, though this is still a solid majority.

Residents of several East Coast states are among the most likely to say the city or area where they live is a good place for immigrants from other countries. In addition to Massachusetts and Delaware, in Florida, New York, New Jersey and Virginia, along with the District, at least 88% of residents express this sentiment. This is also true for residents of Nevada, Hawaii and California.

Meanwhile, residents of several Southern states are among the least likely to say their city or area is hospitable to immigrants. Between 72% and 77% of adults in Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Alabama say this. North Dakotans are also among the least likely to say this about their area. The complete list of states can be found at the end of this article.

An average of 82% nationwide say their local area is a good place for immigrants to live in Gallup's 2015 comprehensive poll of 50 states and Washington, D.C. The poll consisted of 500 interviews or more in each state and the District. Interviewing was conducted from March-December 2015, at a time when immigration was a major issue in the presidential campaign. The immigration debate focused largely on building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, how to address the status of immigrants currently in the country illegally and whether the U.S. should take in Syrian refugees who fled the civil war there.

In Arizona, where residents still live under the controversial SB 1070 -- a state law considered one of the strictest anti-illegal-immigration measures in the country when it passed in 2010 -- 81% say their area is a good place for immigrants to live. Although a strong majority, the figure is slightly below average, and falls at least five percentage points below the scores of neighboring states -- California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico.

While Alabama residents, who also live under a controversial anti-illegal immigration law, are among the least likely to indicate that their city or area is hospitable to immigrants (76%), residents just across the border in Florida (88%) are much more likely to say this.

Bottom Line

In each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, a solid majority of residents feel their city or area is a good place for immigrants to live. But responses to this question vary somewhat by state.

The status and future of immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally -- about half of whom are Mexicans -- have produced a bevy of hot-button political issues this election year. While about two in three Americans support a path to citizenship for such immigrants, many have flocked to support GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump. Trump has insisted that Mexico is "not sending [its] best" to the U.S., suggesting that immigrants from that country are bringing problems such as drugs and rape, and that a wall must be built on the countries' common border and paid for by Mexico.

Although many have rejected Trump's comments and positions, he recently received the endorsements of former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, who signed the state's anti-illegal immigration bill, and another anti-illegal-immigration icon, Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions.

Americans' views of their area as a good place for immigrants to live might not necessarily be related to their views on how to address illegal immigration, but the latter could be a factor in how the states vary. Regardless of residents' views on illegal immigration, they may not be inclined to say anything that would make it appear that their local area is unwelcoming to outsiders, which could play a role in why the percentages are fairly high in all of the states. It seems that, despite variations across the country, a strong majority of Americans everywhere believe their towns would welcome "huddled masses yearning to breathe free."

These data are available in Gallup Analytics.

Survey Methods

Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted March 30-Dec. 22, 2015, with random samples of approximately 500 adults, aged 18 and older, living in each of the 50 U.S. states. Data are weighted to account for unequal selection probability, nonresponse and double coverage of landline and cellphone users in the two sampling frames. Data are also weighted to state estimates of gender, age, race, Hispanic ethnicity, education and phone status (cellphone only, landline only, both, and cellphone mostly).

For results based on the total sample of adults in each state, the margin of sampling error is 6 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. All reported margins of sampling error include computed design effects for weighting.

Each state sample includes roughly 60% cellphone respondents and 40% landline respondents. Landline and cellular telephone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods.
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Lab Tech Wins HPT Title in Indiana - Sameer Al-Dbhani defeated a field of 383 entrants at Belterra Casino Resort this weekend to win his first Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) Title and $83,732. The lab technician from Frankfort, Kentucky was overcome with emotion during his on-camera interview after the victory. His wife was quick to lighten the mood when asked how she felt about her husband's accomplishment.

"I'm happy," she said. "I'm ready to shop!"

Al-Dbhani came into the Final Table Monday holding nearly twice as many chips as his closest competitor and never looked back. The last player standing in his way was Robert Geith from Indianapolis. Geith, a business owner, went all-in with a bluff on the last hand of the tournament. Unfortunately for him, Al-Dbhani had top pair and quickly called. Geith took home $51,699 for second place.

Portuguese Pro Henrique Pinho Wins 2016 Marrakech Poker Open for Largest Live Score - Portuguese pro Henrique Pinho wins 2016 Marrakech Poker Open for largest live score of his career.

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The Billie Jean King Main Library initially closed because of increased "mental health-related episodes" around the facility, official said.
ALBANY  Linn County Commissioners John Lindsey, Will Tucker and Roger Nyquist said this week they oppose a proposal by a coalition of environmental groups to develop a nearly 500,000-acre Douglas-fir National Monument in Linn and Marion counties.

Tucker said the monument would encompass most of the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management forest lands in Linn County, plus almost 50,000 acres of private land, if they became available for purchase.

This is very scary that this is being proposed, Tucker said. Were definitely against this. We need to stop it now.

According to a website devoted to the monument plan, the total acreage would be 481,324 acres. It would include 401,693 acres of U.S. Forest Service property, 31,761 acres of BLM property, 1,272 acres of state forest lands and 46,598 acres of privately held land.

But Andy Kerr, a conservation lobbyist and one of the coalitions leaders, said the monument overlay would not impose regulations on state or private lands, unless the lands were acquired by the federal government.

Included in the proposal would be Gordon Meadows in the far northeast corner of Linn County, Iron Mountain, Jumpoff Joe, Moose Creek near Cascadia and the Three Pyramids.

This is the worst case of land grab, Tucker noted in an email. The old trees they talk of, the 300- to 900-year-old trees are already protected. The private industrial owners apply practices that meet or exceed protections in the Oregon Forest Practices Act. The BLM and Forest Service are both working on management plans that exceed the Oregon standards and are rewriting them as we speak.

Tucker added, We do not need more protection, we need better science applied to forest management. We do not need more private land to be taken from private ownership. We need more public access to federal lands and federal land returned to Oregon, or the resource of Douglas fir managed as a resource.

Kerr, who owns the Larch Co., said the coalition considers the draft proposal as a way to start a conversation.

This would be an investment of enduring conservation on behalf of future generations of these magnificent Douglas fir forests, Kerr said.

Kerr said that in most ways, management would not be much different. Significant portions are already allocated under the Northwest Forest Plan. Areas not allocated, but that have mature and old growth forests, arent being logged either.

Kerr said clear-cutting of timber, especially of old growth forests, is a practice of the past.

The timber industry has lost its social license to log older forests, Kerr said.

When asked why the national monument issue is being proposed, Kerr said, Why not?

Plans change, administrations change, he explained. In the future, old growth forests could be opened up again. It is in the national interest and local interest, too, to protect these forests.

Kerr said that unless the public believes returning to the age of clear-cutting is possible  which he said wont happen  the highest and best use of these forests is for conservation and recreation.

Kerr said that a national monument designation would draw tourists to the area.

They will spend money locally while they are enjoying the forest, he said. The difference is in branding. If it shows up as a different color on the map, they will think, Hey, heres something special, and come see it.

Kerr said the best way to capitalize on ancient forests is to market them, brand them, enjoy them.

If you think you can go back to the old days (of logging), give it a try, he added. I dont think you will be successful.

Kerr said there are half as many lumber mills and half as many mill jobs as there were in 1995 when the Northwest Forest Plan went into effect.

Yet, the milling capacity is 25 percent greater, he said. We will continue to see mills automate, resulting in fewer jobs.

Kerr added, Its time for local economic interests to look at these forests in a different way, to quit thinking that the only value to these forests is making studs.

The real question, according to Kerr, is, What do we want to see 20 years from now?

According to the proposal, the northern boundary of the national monument would abut the Opal Creek Scenic Recreation Area, Opal Creek Wilderness and Bull of the Woods Wilderness. The southern boundary would be the hydrologic divide between the South Santiam and McKenzie River watersheds. The eastern boundary would be the Cascade Crest and the western boundary would generally follow the existing boundary of the Willamette National Forest.

The proposed monument would include all of the Middle Santiam and Menagerie Wilderness areas, Quartzville Creek Wild and Scenic River and a portion of the Mount Jefferson Wilderness.

It would encompass 752 square miles (487,000 acres) and dwarf other national monuments in Oregon such as the Oregon Caves, 4,558 acres; John Day Fossil Beds, 13,944 acres; and the Newberry National Volcanic Monument, 50,000 acres.

The proponents blame long-term industrial logging for fragmenting the forest lands, leading to a monoculture of tree farms, not natural mixed age and species forests.

Timber harvesting would be allowed for about 30 years before being banned completely.

Key goals would include:

Landscape conservation and restoration of Douglas fir ecosystem.

More and better fish and wildlife habitat.

Watershed conservation and restoration of nature and people.

Helping the climate through carbon storage.

Opportunities for educational and scientific study.

Outdoor recreation.

Spiritual renewal.

The monument would be administered by either the National Park Service or the U.S. Forest Service with the edict of conservation and protection of the natural environment. Only uses that are compatible with that goal would be allowed in the national monument.

Dave Furtwangler, president of Cascade Timber Consulting in Sweet Home, said he has not been contacted by proponents of the monument plan, even though the more than 140,000 acres the company manages is intermingled throughout the Sweet Home Ranger District of the Willamette National Forest.

Nobody has called us about it, Furtwangler said.

Furtwangler said developing a national monument would create a lot of issues for us. We have cost-share roads in that area with the U.S. Forest Service and those roads probably would not be maintained in the way we could make use of them. It would devalue our property.

Furtwangler said Cascade Timber Consulting  which manages the Hill family properties  is not the only private company that would be affected.

State Rep. Sherrie Sprenger, R-District 17, represents much of the area that would be in the monument overlay area.

I am extremely nervous about this, greatly concerned, Sprenger said. The more I learn about this effort the greater my concern is.

Sprenger said old-growth forests are already protected.

The last thing we need to do is tie up more federal land with regulations, Sprenger said.

Sprenger said she is also concerned that private timber land owners, whose properties would be surrounded by the monument overlay, would eventually lose access to their properties and be put in a negative negotiating situation when it came time to sell.

Allison McKenzie of Grow Santiam, an economic development group representing the North Santiam Canyon, said 42 percent of jobs in communities in that area are in wood products.

In Oregon, we take pride in protecting our natural resources and special places, McKenzie said. These lands are already so well-protected.

President Obama could declare the Douglas fir National Monument without seeking approval of Congress through the American Antiquities Act of 1906.

The first national monument was Devils Tower in Wyoming, established by President Theodore Roosevelt.

The topic will be among the afternoon workshops Friday during the annual Public Interest Environmental Law Conference at the University of Oregon.

Presenters will be Kerr; Stephen Sharnoff, research associate at the University of California at Berkley; and Dominick DellaSala, president and chief scientist of the GEOs Institute.
Avery Allen will spend next week touring Washington, D.C., and meeting U.S. senators, a Supreme Court justice, and President Barack Obama.

Basically, not an average week for the Corvallis High School senior.

Allen will be leaving Saturday for the capital as part of the United States Senate Youth Program. In addition to the week-long trip, she gets a $5,000 scholarship. Allen was one of just two students from Oregon selected for the program, which was created in 1962 as a way to give youths a more in-depth understanding of federal government.

Im just really honored to be able to represent Oregon in this way, said Allen, 17.

The Oregon Department of Education selects the two representatives for the state, based on applications from Oregon students. Each high school is allowed to have one student apply with an essay. After submitting her essay, Allen was selected as one of six finalists and did an interview with Department of Education staff. Allen found out she had been selected for the program in December.

Allen, who wants to study political science or public policy in college and potentially enter politics, said she is really excited for the trip.

I feel like (public service) is where I need to go in my life, and this really validates that, she said.

Allen added that the experience is also an opportunity to get to know other politically engaged students from across the country. Two students are selected from each state, the District of Columbia and the Department of Defenses overseas schools for children of U.S. military personnel.

Allen said the students selected for the program have already created an online forum through which they discuss politics and news stories.

Being able to network with other students who have the same ambitions as me is really valuable, she said.

She said shes been impressed by the level of discourse in the forum.

They are smart as a whip, she said. They have very serious foreign policy debates.

Allen who is in Advanced Placement U.S. government and politics this year, said her classmates at Corvallis High also seem very engaged this year in the election; many have watched all the Republican and Democratic presidential debates.

She said she thinks they are so interested in politics because many of the seniors will be able to vote in the presidential elections for the first time this year

Having the privilege be so new makes a lot of people engaged, she said.

Allen is fairly engaged in the community herself; shes the president of the student government at Corvallis High, she reads the schools morning announcements, is the student representative for the school to the Corvallis School Board, is a head coordinator of the Mr./Ms. Spartan fundraising competition and is a member of the Corvallis Rotarys Interact youth service club.

She has not picked a college for next year yet nor is she sure what shed want to do afterward, but she said whatever her career is it will involve public service.

I want to work for the people, she said.

Corvallis High School Principal Matt Boring said Allen has the right mix of skills, a compassionate personality, and motivation to be successful in public service.

Avery is amazing; so bright and articulate. She could probably take over my job tomorrow and wed be fine, he said.
A bill that would strip communities of the power to require voter approval of annexations has passed the Oregon House of Representatives by the narrowest of margins and now goes to Gov. Kate Brown for her signature.

Senate Bill 1573 cleared the House on a bipartisan 31-29 vote Thursday amid a flurry of activity as lawmakers hurried to bring the short session to a close. The bill had a much easier time in the Senate, where it passed by a 17-12 margin on Tuesday.

The measure, part of a four-bill package of legislation aimed at easing the shortage of affordable housing in the state, nullifies municipal charter provisions and ordinances requiring a vote of the people to bring new territory into the city limits. Nearly three dozen Oregon communities have such a provision on the books, including the mid-valley cities of Corvallis, Philomath, Albany and Tangent.

An emergency clause attached to SB 1573 means the measure would take effect immediately if the governor signs it or allows it to become law without her signature. The bill would essentially require cities to approve annexation requests if all property owners within the proposed territory ask for it, the land is inside the citys urban growth boundary and at least one parcel is contiguous to the city limits.

Jon Chandler of the Oregon Home Builders Association, one of the measures chief backers, called the vote a victory for affordable housing.

The package held together and moved forward, Chandler said. I think thats a good thing for housing in general.

All four bills, a compromise approach hammered out by housing advocates and real estate industry representatives, made it out of the short session. Other legislation in the package lifts a state ban on inclusionary zoning (the practice of requiring developers to set aside some units for affordable housing); limits rent increases for month-to-month tenants; and authorizes a pilot program to let smaller cities expand their growth boundaries to free up land for lower-cost housing.

SB 1573 was a sweetener thrown into the package to make the affordable housing provisions more palatable to real estate interests, who view voter approval of annexations as an impediment to development. Under Oregons land use framework, they argue, any land inside the urban growth boundary should be fair game for construction projects.

Weve tried many times over the years to fix this, Chandler said. Im pleased the bill passed. From a policy standpoint, its the right outcome.

But the vote was a defeat for groups such as Oregonians for a Community Voice in Annexations, which has spent the last 20 years working to block legislative attempts by the homebuilders and their allies to overturn local laws requiring a vote on annexation measures.

We were formed in December of 1996 specifically to oppose the first assault of this kind, said Jerry Ritter, the groups secretary and legislative affairs representative. They have the lobbyists to be up at the Capitol every day, bending legislators ears. We just dont have the resources to do that.

All three of the mid-valleys representatives in Salem  Sen. Sara Gelser, D-Corvallis; Rep. Dan Rayfield, D-Corvallis; and Rep. Andy Olson, R-Albany  voted against SB 1573, saying they wanted to preserve their constituents rights to have a say in annexation decisions. But in the end, supporters of the measure put together just enough votes to get through the House.

Rayfield said he was not surprised by the way the measure squeaked through and pointed out that most if not all of the yes votes came from lawmakers whose districts dont include cities that vote on annexations.

That narrow margin is providing a glimmer of hope for opponents such as former Corvallis City Councilor Stewart Wershow, who helped coordinate a last-minute campaign by local residents to persuade lawmakers to vote no. Their efforts seem to have succeeded in getting at least a few legislators to change their minds on the issue  including Albanys Olson, who had been leaning toward supporting the measure.

Wershow said he and others will be urging the governor to veto the measure. And if it does become law, theyll work to overturn it  especially if it leads to a wave of unpopular annexations.

If we see negative results coming out of this bill, that would be grounds to ask the next Legislature to repeal the law, Wershow said.

Twenty-nine people did vote against it, he pointed out. We only need two more and weve got enough to pass a repeal.

Corvallis became the first Oregon community to require a vote of the people to bring new land into the city limits in 1976, when a charter amendment was passed in response to concerns over the cost of extending municipal infrastructure to the new Hewlett-Packard campus on the edge of town.

Jim Brewer, who serves as city attorney for both Corvallis and Philomath, declined to reveal what advice he might offer his clients about how to respond to the measure. But he said there could be solid grounds for a legal appeal.

Cities that have home rule charters have certain constitutional protections that specifically relate to governance, he said. The decision to allow voters to determine who is included within and without a municipal corporation seems like governance.

Brewer said some cities might elect not to follow the law on home rule grounds, while those that choose to annex territory without putting it on the ballot could find themselves being taken to court by citizens over lost voting rights.

What were looking at, he said, is almost certainly litigation of some kind.
ROSE (roz) n. One of the most beautiful of all flowers, a symbol of fragrance and loveliness. Often given as a sign of appreciation.

RASPBERRY (razbere) n. A sharp, scornful comment, criticism or rebuke; a derisive, splatting noise, often called the Bronx cheer.

ROSES and RASPBERRIES alike to the Oregon Legislature, which wrapped up an unusually divisive five-week session by adjourning Thursday afternoon.

The path to an early adjournment (the session could have stretched into the weekend) was cleared when Republicans and Democrats, who had been bitterly clashing all session, reached a compromise agreement on Wednesday that allowed bills to start flowing through the Senate. The agreement cleared the way for that controversial bill to eliminate coal from the states energy supply by 2030 to win legislative approval. In return, Democrats agreed to scuttle unrelated bills on debt collection, cigarette sales licensing and bonding authority for TriMet.

As much as we want to believe that this agreement marked the triumphant return of bipartisanship, the truth probably is different: Minority Republicans likely realized they had little chance at stopping the coal bill and wanted to see if they could wrangle some concessions on a handful of smaller-scale bills.

Only time will tell whether the Legislatures top agenda items (the coal bill and the increase in the minimum wage) were ill-considered, as we fear. (This session could wind up reigniting the debate about the function and utility of the five-week shorter sessions the Legislature holds in even-numbered years.)

But legislators did manage to produce valuable work on a handful of other bills. And its always worth remembering that Oregon still has a citizens Legislature; the folks we ask to gather every year in Salem do so at considerable sacrifice. We dont always agree with what they end up doing, but we always respect the fact that they put their lives on hold to serve the state. For that, we award ROSES  even as we reserve the right to toss RASPBERRIES in future editorials.

Heres this weeks batch of RASPBERRIES addressed to scammers, who continue to take advantage of both our fears and our best impulses to help our friends and family members when theyre in a tight spot. (And see if you can identify the red flags in this particular scam, as recently reported in our Police Log?)

A Corvallis man last month reported that he received a call from someone who claimed to be a defense attorney. The caller claimed that the mans friend had been arrested and taken to the Benton County Jail. The defense attorney then said that the charges against the friend would be lowered if the man bought four iTunes gift cards worth $500 each (because apparently iTunes gift cards are now the coin of the realm in Benton Countys justice system).

In any event, the man followed through on the request from the defense attorney, because he wanted to help his friend. In the slight chance youre in suspense, heres how the story ended, according to our Police Log: The man did as he was told and later learned it was a scam and that his friend was not in jail.

Its easy to think that we would have seen through this scam if the call had come to us. But when the call comes late at night, and were desperate to help, who knows how wed react? Again, though, if something seems not quite right about a phone offer, follow your instincts: Hang up. And call your local law enforcement agency.

ROSES to increased speed limits on interstate highways in the eastern part of the state. As of March 1, speed limits on Interstate 84 east of The Dalles and along Interstate 82 have increased to 70 mph for passenger vehicles and 65 mph for commercial trucks. As you know, these stretches of the highway tend to be fairly flat and wide-open, so these new speed limits shouldnt impact safety much, if at all  and its not as if most of the traffic on those roads wasnt already moving at 70 mph.

ROSES and best wishes to Imagine Corvallis 2040, the effort to update the citys action plan, as it launches the first of three outreach sessions this Saturday. This weekends session, scheduled for 1-4 p.m., will be held at Lincoln Elementary School, 110 S.E. Alexander Ave. All the sessions are free and, of course, open to the public.

The focus areas for this Saturdays session are engagement, diversity and economic prosperity, so no challenge in getting all of those bases covered in a three-hour time span, right? (To be fair, each session will have different areas of focus: The March 12 session, to be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Linus Pauling Middle School, 1111 N.W. Cleveland Ave., will focus on the arts, education and human services. The March 19 session, scheduled for 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Boys & Girls Club of Corvallis, 1112 N.W. Circle Blvd., will focus on livability, sustainability and safety.) One interesting theme that may or may not run through all those areas is what role a downsized city government will play.

At the risk of oversimplification, the overall idea here is to update and rethink the citys Vision 2020 document, which has played a major role in city government over the last two decades or so. Its not at all unthinkable that Imagine Corvallis 2040 could do the same for the next two decades. If you want to get in on the ground floor, nows your chance.
David vs. Goliath

To the Editor: The St. Pauls debate has been heavily dominated -- in the media and public meetings -- by sermons from save the building advocates. The latter group is...

POAs start primary process open to all residents

As previously announced, the four Property Owners Associations (Western, Estates, Central and Eastern) have made changes to their processes to nominate residents to serve as trustees for the Village Board of Trustees (BOT) and the Board...

Now the time has come

To the Editor: The Governance Committee should be appreciated for their work which generated several meritorious recommendations relating to the Village government. I was present when two members of Governance...

School tax bill fiasco

To the Editor: The county assessments are now in a 5-year phase-in program thanks to our past county executive's changes to the assessment process. Also, the Star program which once...
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U.S. Election : Living room becomes polling station

Bornheim-Merten For Democrats Abroad, a private living room turns into a polling station for two days.

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Red, white and blue are the colors of the tablecloth in the home of American Karen Schneider (Michigan) who just happens to live on a street called Beethovenstrae. Not so many Americans can vote in a Presidential primary on a street named after Bonns most famous son, but for Democrats living in the region, this is the place to go. On Friday and Saturday, Schneiders living room becomes a polling station for Democrats who want to vote in the primary election. The polling station is open to those living in Bonn, Rhine-Sieg county, Rhine-Erft county and Cologne, but the hitch is that voters have to be a member of the group Democrats Abroad.

57-year-old Schneider is married to a German and has lived in Germany for over 20 years. She joined Democrats Abroad in 2008 and is now the chairperson for Cologne/Bonn. A chat over coffee and tea reveals that Schneider is a steadfast Democrat who has no understanding of why people could vote for someone like Donald Trump. She feels the Republican Party has been kidnapped by politicians who are fully unprepared to compromise.

Donald Trump is not the typical Republican candidate and to be sure, there are plenty in the Republican establishment who are trying to topple him. This election is anything but business as usual. But in Schneiders living room, its a choice between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. People are only allowed to vote once and Schneider can check on the internet to confirm whether someone has already cast a vote or not. She has prepared 20 ballots but can get more if needed. Coffee and cookies are included.

According to Schneider, votes here are important because Democrats Abroad sends delegates to the Democratic Convention at the end of July in Philadelphia. Every vote counts. Her polling station at Beethovenstrae 32 in Bornheim-Merten will be open today, Friday from 5:00  9:00 p.m. and Saturday from 4:00  8:00 p.m.

Republicans Overseas is the counterpart to Democrats Abroad but according to Deutsche Welle, the Republican party has no comparable organization for voters abroad. U.S. citizens who want to take part in the Republican primaries must vote with an absentee ballot from their home state (www.dw.com/en/americans-abroad-can-vote-in-global-presidential-primary/a-19061221).

For more information about voting and/or registration for the general election in November, the following websites are helpful:

Federal Voting Assistance Program www.fvap.gov

Overseas Vote Foundation www.overseasvotefoundation.org

Vote from Abroad www.votefromabroad.org
Round up : News in Brief

Bonn Here are some news briefs from Bonn and the surrounding area.

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Roadworks: Planned roadworks on the connecting road from autobahn A565 to the A555 for drivers coming from Meckenheim has been delayed once again. Road construction workers are unable to lay new lines when the road is wet and the weather has not cooperated.

Bad Godesberg. Former student housing on Riemenschneiderstrae in Bad Godesberg will be put into use as refugee housing. The city of Bonn will inform citizens about the plans at a meeting on March 14 at 7:00 p.m. in the American Protestant Church at Kennedyalle 150. The former student apartments will provide accommodation for about 160 people.

Wachtberg. Burglars entered a home on Landgrabenweg in Niederbachem on Wednesday between 8:15 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. They pried open a window and damaged a patio door. It was not yet clear what had been stolen. Police ask anyone who saw anything suspicious to please contact them at 0228-150. They also remind citizens to check their homes for any weak points. Well secured windows and doors are a good deterrent because they cost too much time and can be loud to break open. Windows and doors should always be closed tightly when leaving the house, even if for a short time. Alert neighbors are the best security of all.

Bad Godesberg. Bonn Integration Coletta Manemann emphasized in a round table discussion that it was critical to integrate officially accepted asylum seekers into their new neighborhoods. She thanked the many Bonn citizens who have volunteered their time and energy on behalf of the refugees. One of the biggest problems remains finding apartments for the people to live in since the shelters are only temporary. Anyone who has an apartment or housing to rent out is asked to contact the coordination center at 0157-32 23 25 21.

Villip. On Saturday, March 5, there will be a neighborhood clean-up action in the neighborhoods of Villip, Villiprott and Holzem. Anyone who wants to help can meet at the Villip Kirchplatz (church square) at 9:30 a.m. Teams will then spread out to pick up garbage. Organizers are hoping for a good turn out; participants are invited for a snack afterwards at the Fire Station on Kreuzgasse.
United Nations : UN Powerhouse Bonn grows

Bonn United Nations officials announce a new UN organization for Bonn. UN Secretary Ban Ki-Moon is coming to Bonn next week.

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United Nations officials presented on Thursday the new UN organization Knowledge Center for Sustainable Development (UNSSC) in a press conference in Bonn. With support from the Federal government, it was breathed into life on January 1 of 2016 to promote and help deliver The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Currently, the UNSSC has five employees in Bonn, with headquarters in Turin, Italy. In summer, it is expected to be staffed with twelve employees. Director of UNSSC in Turin, Jafar Javan came to Bonn to make the announcement along with Simon Koppers, Head of UN division, Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and its director, Patrick van Weerelt.

The timing of the announcement seems to be a pre-cursor to the visit of UN General Secretary Bon Ki-Moon, who will come to Bonn on Tuesday, March 7 along with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Officially, their visit is to commemorate 20 Years of UN City Bonn but it is hoped that they will announce a greater role for Bonn. The UN needs to put a central coordination office in place for its Sustainable Development Goals, and it is hoped that this might come to Bonn. Javan said he would be very happy if this coordination center came to Bonn but Koppers remarked that no decision had been made yet.

A coordination center for the development goals would require about 20 employees. This is not a large staff but the political importance is huge because it would coordinate a development process in which all countries of the world are expected to participate. Bonn is seen as an ideal host because of its unique combination of strengths. It has many scientific research institutions, there is a strong focus in the field of sustainable development and it is already a major UN city.
Soon, no more headaches after watching 3D movies News oi -GizBot Bureau

You can soon watch your favourite 3D movie without headache or discomfort. A team of Russian researchers has found that apart from bad glasses and cheap projectors, certain 3D movies do have headache-provoking scenes which can be improved upon to give viewers a better experience.

A team of scientists led by Dmitry Vatolin, senior research fellow at Lomonosov Moscow State University, investigated the problem of headache provoked by 3D-movies for more than eight years. This headache is a brain's reaction to the "wrong" images coming to both eyes simultaneously.

SEE ALSO: Oppo R9 Coming on March 17: 10 New Features To Pit Against Xiaomi Mi 5!

The brain needs to combine them to produce a stereo effect, but unfortunately it does not always succeed. Vatolin's research team names more than 15 reasons for that problem. These can be separated into two categories: imperfections of equipment and errors in the movie.

The first kind is explained by a natural desire of the distributors to lessen their expenses, which inevitably leads to a lower quality of the stereo show. Bad glasses, cheap projectors and other tools of improper kind tend to worsen the quality of viewer's experience.

The reasons of the second category are more complicated, diverse, and unfortunately are not always detectable and preventable. Among them, one of the most painful (and happily, one of the rarest to be seen) blunder is reordering of the left and the right views of the 3D video, that may sometimes happen even in the most professional production.

That is far from the only disadvantage of contemporary 3D-movies. As the main achievement of his team, Vatolin names a creation of "metrics" -- programmes allowing to track such errors, minimising the time of 3D movies technical control.

With the help of these metrics the research team scanned the present Blu-ray productions and compiled statistics of the main problems. Nearly 105 Blu-ray discs were scanned using the metrics and more than 10,000 potentially problematic scenes were found.

SEE ALSO: Install These 10 Cool Themes to Give A New Look to your Android Smartphone!

In particular, 65 scenes with the left-right view swap were found in 23 different movies. Some problems were found even in such top ranking movies as "Avatar", "The Chronicles of Narnia", "Stalingrad", etc. "That means that the probability of buying a Blu-ray 3D movie with at least one scene with swapped left and right views is about 21 percent which is quite significant for sensitive people,' said Vatolin.

A lot of various errors were detected in horror movies, added Vatolin, which can be explained with their relatively low budgets. "Right now looking for a good 3D quality you need to choose high-budget movies and properly equipped cinema halls. Wish you fewer headaches!" Vatolin noted.

SEE ALSO: 5 New Smartphone Technologies introduced in February 2016

A French portal issued a poll in 2011 on how people feel after watching 3D-movies. It turned out that only one third of spectators have no trouble watching, while 27 percent feel "certain discomfort", 22 percent complain about worsening condition, seven percent suffer terrible headache and the remaining 11 percent also notice a worsening state though due to some other reasons.

Vatolin believes that almost everyone who watched 3D-movies felt discomfort at least once, and many refuse watching 3D because of that problem they once had. The results of the research were presented during the 27th annual "Stereoscopic Displays & Applications" conference in San-Francisco last month.

Source IANS

Best Mobiles in India

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Buyer's Guide: The Top 25 Smartphones You Can Buy in India in March 2016 Features oi -Harish

With so many smartphones from so many handset makers, March is indeed a great time to buy a smartphone for yourself or for your loved ones. With the end of MWC 2016, we have lots of devices in the market to buy!

SEE ALSO: 20 Best smartphones that made their way to India in February

India has been one major site for planting the right budget smartphone. Thus the smartphone population explosion in the market has become a sort of an advantage for the buyers as they are getting more devices to choose from.

SEE ALSO: Top 10 Apple iPhones to Buy in 2016 in India

Last month at the International Mobile World Congress 2016, which was held in Barcelona, Spain last week also brought about a number of new devices to our notice. These devices will be soon coming to India.

Among all the devices that got unveiled at the show, the most notable ones were the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge from Samsung, the Xiaomi Mi 5, LG G5, and the Xperia X Series of smartphones. Other devices were also there in large numbers from manufacturers like ZTE, Alcatel, Obi etc. Samsung, Xiaomi, Lenovo, Sony, HTC, Gionee devices was announced at the event.

SEE ALSO: Top 10 Upcoming Smartphones launches with Android Marshmallow 6.0 version

The remarkable feature of this phones is the dual screen. Also a number of wearable devices were seen at the tech show like the Gear 2 smartwatch and Gear Fit a fitness band from Samsung.

SEE ALSO: Top 20 Budget Android Smartphones with 3GB RAM To Buy in India in 2016

However, leaving the hangover of the MWC 2016 for a while, today GizBot has come up with a number of Android devices which were launched recently in the market. Moreover, we have also made a point to jot down the specs and prices of these devices.

Today we have jotted down the list of 25 Best Smartphones To Buy in March 2016:

Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) Click Here To Buy

Key Features

5.2-inchFHD (19201080) Super AMOLED display

Android 5.1 (Lollipop)

1.6GHz Octa Core processor

2GB RAM

16GB Internal Storage

expandable (up to 128GB) via micro SD slot

Dual SIM ( nano + nano)

13MP rear camera, OIS

5MP front camera

Fingerprint Scanner

4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth v 4.1, ANT+, USB 2.0, NFC (UICC, eSE)

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Key Features

5.2-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) Full HD display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection

Android 6.0 (Marshmallow)

Hexa-Core Snapdragon 808 ( 4x 1.44GHz ARM A53 + 2 x 1.8 GHz ARM A57 ) 64-bit processor with Adreno 418 GPU

2GB RAM

16GB / 32GB internal memory Single nano SIM

12.3MP rear camera with dual-tone LED flash, 1.55 micron sensor, f/2.0 apertur

Laser Auto focus 5MP front-facing camera, f/2.0 aperture

4G LTE / 3G

WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac 22 MIMO dual-band

Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, NFC, USB Type-C

2700mAh battery LeTV (LeEco) Le 1s Click Here To Buy

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5.5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) in-cell display with 500nits brightness

2.2GHz Octa-Core Mediatek Helio X10 (MT6795T) processor with PowerVR G6200 GPU

3GB LPDDR3 RAM

32GB eMMC5.0 internal memory

Android Lollipop based EUI 5.5

Dual SIM (nano + micro)

13MP rear camera with LED flash

5MP front-facing camera

Dolby audio, Dirac HD audio technology

Infrared sensor

4G LTE / 3G HSPA+

WiFi 802.11 ac/a/b/g/n (2.4GHz / 5GHz)

Bluetooth 4.0 with APT-X, GPS, USB 2.0 Type C, MHL 2.0

3000mAh battery Apple iPhone 6s Click Here To Buy

Key Features

4.7 Inch Retina HD Display With 3D Touch

A9 Chip With 64-Bit Architecture Embedded M9 Motion Coprocessor

Force Touch Technology

12MP ISight Camera

5MP Front Facing Camera

Touch ID

Bluetooth 4.2

LTE Support

1715 MAh Battery Motorola Moto G Turbo Edition Click Here To Buy

Key Features

5-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection

Android 5.1.1 (Lollipop)

1.5GHz Octa-Core 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor with Adreno 405 GPU

2GB RAM

16GB internal memory

expandable memory up to 32GB with microSD

Dual SIM

13MP rear camera with dual-tone LED flash

5MP front-facing camera

IP67 rating for dust and water resistance

4G LTE / 3G, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS

2,470 mAh battery with Turbo Charging Samsung Galaxy J7 Click Here To Buy

Key Features

5.5-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD IPS display

Android 5.1 (Lollipop)

Octa-Core (1.4GHz + 1GHz) Exynos processor

1.5GB RAM

16GB internal memory

expandable up to 128GB with microSD

Dual SIM

13MP rear camera with LED flash, f/1.9 aperture

5MP front-facing camera with LED flash, 120-degree wide-angle lens

4G LTE / 3G HSPA+, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS

3000mAh battery Lenovo K4 Note Click Here To Buy

Key Features

5.5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) IPS 178 degree wide-view display, with 450 Nits Brightness, 1000:1 contrast, Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection

Android 5.1 (Lollipop) with Vibe UI

1.3 GHz Octa-core MediaTek MT6753 processor with up to 450MHz Mali T720-MP3 GPU

3GB DDR3 RAM

16GB internal storage

expandable memory up to 128GB with microSD

ual (micro) SIM

13MP rear camera with dual-tone LED flash, PDAF, f/2.2 aperture, ISOCELL sensor

5MP front-facing camera

Dual front-facing speakers, Dolby ATMOS, 3 microphones, Wolfson WM8281 audio codec

4G LTE / 3G HSPA+, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, NFC, USB OTG

3300mAh (Rated) built-in battery / 3400mAh (Typical) Samsung Galaxy On7 Click Here To Buy

Key Features

5.5-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD display

1.2 GHz Quad-Core Snapdragon 410 (MSM8916) processor with Adreno 306

1.5GB RAM

8GB internal memory

expandable up to 128GB with microSD

Android 5.1.1 (Lollipop)

Dual SIM

13MP rear camera with LED flash, f/2.1 aperture, 1080p video recording

5MP front-facing camera, f/2.2 aperture

4G LTE / 3G HSPA+, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS/ GLONASS

3000mAh battery Gionee Elife S6 Click Here To Buy

Key Features

5.5-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) Super AMOLED Display with Gorilla Glass 3 protection

Android 5.1 (Lollipop) with Amigo 3.1 UI

1.3GHz Octa-Core Mediatek MT6753 Processor with Mali T-720 GPU

3GB RAM

32GB Internal memory

expandable memory up to 128GB with microSD

Hybrid Dual SIM Slot (micro SIM + nano SIM / microSD)

13MP Camera with LED Flash

5MP front Facing Camera

4G LTE / 3G HSPA+, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n

Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, USB Type-C

3150mAh built-in battery Asus Zenfone 2 Laser Click Here To Buy

Key Features

5.5-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) display with 72% screen to body ratio, Corning gorilla glass 4 protection

Android 5.0 (Lollipop) with Zen UI 2.0

1.2 GHz Quad-Core Snapdragon 410 processor with Adreno 306 GPU

2GB RAM

16GB internal storage

expandable memory up to 128GB with microSD

Dual SIM

13MP rear camera

5MP front-facing camera

4G LTE / 3G

WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS

3000mAh battery Samsung Galaxy A8 Click Here To Buy

Key Features

5.7-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) Full HD Super AMOLED display

Android 5.1 (Lollipop)

Exynos 5430 Octa-Core (1.8GHz Quad A15 + 1.3 GHz Quad A7 ) with Mali T628 MP6 GPU

Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 Octa-Core (1.5GHz Quad A53 + 1.0 GHz Quad A53 ) with Adreno 405 GPU

2GB RAM

32GB internal memory

expandable up to 128GB with microSD

16MP rear camera with LED flash, f/1.9 aperture

5MP front-facing camera

4G LTE / 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, A-GPS/ GLONASS

3050mAh battery Lenovo Vibe X3 Click Here To Buy

Key Features

5.5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) display

Android 5.1.1 (Lollipop) OS

1.8 GHz hexa-core Snapdragon 808 processor with Adreno 418 GPU

3GB RAM

16GB internal memory

expandable memory with microSD

Dual SIM

21MP auto focus camera with LED Flash

8MP front-facing camera

Fingerprint sensor

4G LTE, Bluetooth 4.1, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, GPS

3500mAH lithium-polymer embedded battery Gionee Marathon M5 Click Here To Buy

Key Features

5.5-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD Super AMOLED Plus display

Android 5.1 (Lollipop) with Amigo UI 3.1

1.5 GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6735 64-bit processor with Mali-T720 GPU

2GB DDR3 RAM

16GB internal memory

expandable memory with microSD

13MP rear camera with LED Flash, 5P lenses, 1080p video recording

5MP front-facing camera, 84-degree ultra-wide angle lens

Dual SIM

4G LTE / 3G HSPA+, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, USB OTG

6020mAh battery Huawei Honor 5X Click Here To Buy

Key Features

5.5-inch (1080 x 1920 pixels) Full HD IPS display

Android 5.1 (Lollipop) with EMUI 3.1

Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 616 (MSM8939) (41.5GHz + 41.2GHz) processor with Adreno 405 GPU

2GB RAM

16GB internal memory

expandable memory up to 128GB with microSD

Dual SIM (micro + nano)

13MP rear camera with LED Flash

5MP front-facing camera

Fingerprint sensor, Box speakers with Smart PA audio chip

4G LTE / 3G, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS

3000mAh battery Oppo F1 Click Here To Buy

Key Features

5-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD IPS display with 2.5D Gorilla Glass 4 protection

Android 5.1 (Lollipop) with Color OS 2.1

Octa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 616 ( 4 x 1.2 GHz Cortex A53 + 4 x 1.5 GHz Cortex A53) 64-bit processor with Adreno 405 GPU

3GB RAM

16GB internal storage

expandable memory up to 128GB with microSD

Hybrid Dual SIM (micro + nano / microSD)

13MP rear camera with LED Flash, f/2.2 aperture, PDAF, 1080p video recording

8MP front-facing camera, f/2.0 aperture

4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS

2500mAh battery Lenovo Vibe P1 Click Here To Buy

Key Features

5.5-inch (1080 x 1920 pixels) Full HD IPS display with Gorilla Glass 3 protection

1.5 GHz Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 (MSM8939) processor with Adreno 405 GPU

2GB RAM

32GB internal memory

expandable memory up to 128GB with microSD

Android 5.1 (Lollipop) OS with Vibe UI

Dual nano SIM

13MP rear camera with dual-tone LED Flash, PDAF

5MP front-facing camera

Fingerprint scanner

4G LTE / 3G, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.1 LE, GPS

5000mAh battery Motorola Moto X Force Click Here To Buy

Key Features

5.4-inch (14402560 pixels) Quad HD AMOLED 540 ppi display with Moto Shattershield

2.0 GHz Octa-Core Snapdragon 810 processor with Adreno 430 GPU

Android 5.1.1 (Lollipop), upgradable to Android 6.0 (Marshmallow)

3GB LPDDR4 RAM

32/64GB internal memory

expandable memory up to 2TB with microSD

Hybrid dual SIM (nano + nano / microSD)

21MP rear camera with dual-tone LED flash, f/2.0 aperture, 4K video recording

5MP front-facing camera

4G LTE / 3G, 802.11a/b/g/n/ac 2.4 GHz + 5 GHz with MIMO, Bluetooth 4.1 LE, GPS, GLONASS, NFC

3760mAh battery Xiaomi Mi 4i Click Here To Buy

Key Features

5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) IPS fully laminated 441 PPI display with Corning Gorilla glass protection

Octa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 ( 4 x 1.1 GHz Cortex A53 + 4 x 1.7 GHz Cortex A53) 64-bit processor with Adreno 405 GPU

2GB RAM

16GB internal memory

MIUI 6 on top of Android 5.0 (Lollipop)

Dual SIM (micro SIM)

13MP rear camera

5-element lens, f/2.0 aperture and two-tone LED flash

5MP front-facing camera with f/1.8 aperture and 80-degree wide-angle lens

4G LTE / 3G, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4/5GHz), Bluetooth 4.1 and GPS

3120mAh battery Samsung Galaxy A7 2016 edition Click Here To Buy

Key Features

5.5-inch FHD (19201080) Super AMOLED display

Android 5.1 (Lollipop)

1.6GHz Octa Core Exynos 7580 processor

3GB RAM

6GB Internal Storage

expandable upto 128GB via micro SD card

Dual SIM ( nano + nano)

13MP rear camera, OIS (F1.9)

5MP front camera (F1.9)

Fingerprint Scanner

4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth v 4.1, ANT+, USB 2.0, NFC (UICC, eSE)

3,300mAh battery, Fast Charging Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Click Here To Buy

Key Features

A 5.7-inch Quad-HD (14402560 pixels) Super AMOLED display with a pixel density of roughly 515ppi

Android 5.1.1 Lollipop with Touchwiz UI

a 64-bit octa-core Exynos 7420 SoC (4 cores Cortex-A57 clocked at 2.1GHz + 4 cores Cortex-A53 clocked at 1.5GHz)

16 Mega Pixel Auto Focus Rear Camera With Smart OIS

5 MP Front Camera

4GB of LPDDR4 RAM

4G LTE, NFC, MST, Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi, GPS/ A-GPS

3000 MAh Battery Sony Xperia M4 Aqua Dual Click Here To Buy

Key Features

5 Inch HD IPS Display

(Quad-Core 1.5 GHz + Quad Core 1.0 GHz) Snapdragon 615 Octa Core Processor

Android OS, v5.0.x (Lollipop)

2 GB RAM

Dual SIM

13 MP Camera With LED Flash

5MP Front Camera

Waterproof And Dust Tight

3G

Micro SD Slot

NFC

2400 MAh Battery Lenovo A7000 Turbo Click Here To Buy

Key Features

5.5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) display with 178-degree wide viewing angle, 72% screen-to-body ratio

Android 5.0 (Lollipop) with Vibe UI

1.7 GHz Octa-core MediaTek MT6752 processor with Mali-T760 MP2 GPU

2GB RAM

16GB internal storage

expandable memory up to 32GB with microSD

Dual SIM (4G + 4G)

13MP rear camera with dual-tone LED flash, Omnivision OV13850 sensor, f/2.0 aperture

5MP front-facing camera with Omnivision OV5670 sensor, f/2.2 aperture

Dolby ATMOS

4G LTE / 3G HSPA+

WiFi 802.11 b/g/n

Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, USB OTG

2900mAh battery (Rated) / 3000mAh (Typical) OnePlus 2 Click Here To Buy

Key Features

5.5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) Full HD IPS In-Cell display, 1500:1 contrast ratio, Corning Gorilla Glass protection

Android 5.1 (Lollipop) based Oxygen OS

Octa-Core Snapdragon 810 64-bit processor with Adreno 430 GPU

3GB LPPDR4 RAM with 16GB internal storage

4GB DDR4 RAM with 64GB internal memory

Dual (nano) SIM

13MP rear camera with dual LED Flash

5MP front-facing camera

Fingerprint scanner

4G LTE, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4/5 GHz), WiFi Direct

Bluetooth 4.1 and GPS, USB Type-C

3300mAh battery HTC Desire 728 Dual SIM Click Here To Buy

Key Features

5.5-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD display

1.3 GHz Octa-Core MediaTek MT6753 64-bit processor with Mali-T720 GPU

Android 5.1 (Lollipop) with Sense UI

2GB RAM

16GB internal memory

expandable memory up to 2TB with microSD

Dual (nano) SIM

13MP rear camera with LED Flash, f/2.2 aperture, BSI sensor, 1080p video recording

5MP front-facing camera, BSI sensor, 1080p video recording

HTC BoomSound, Dual frontal stereo speakers, Dolby Audio

4G LTE, WiFi b/g/n Bluetooth 4.1, GPS with a-GPS

2800mAh battery HTC One A9 Click Here To Buy

Key Features

5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) Full HD AMOLED display with 2.5D Gorilla Glass 4 protection

Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) with HTC Sense UI

Octa-Core Snapdragon 617 (4 x 1.5GHz + 4 x 1.2GHz) processor with Adreno 405 GPU

3GB RAM with 32GB internal storage

expandable memory up to 2TB with microSD

13MP rear camera with LED Flash

Ultrapixel front-facing camera

Multi-directional fingerprint sensor

24-bit, 192kHz supported by Hi-Fi DAC, Dolby Audio

4G LTE / 3G HSPA+, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 & 5 GHz), Bluetooth 4.1 and GPS, NFC

2150mAh battery,

Best Mobiles in India
Meizu MX6 to come with 3D Touch display: 6 Things Everyone Needs to Know Features oi -Sayan

Meizu, the Chinese smartphone brand mayn't have a global presence like Xiaomi but its products are highly sought after in their homeland of China. Nearly a year have passed since the launch of the Meizu MX5 in July last year. Well, there's no doubt that Meizu is prepping up for the announcement of its next flagship - the Meizu MX6.

SEE ALSO: 10 hacks that will help spend Quality time on your Computer

Xiaomi, the chief competitor of the Shenzhen based smartphone maker launched their flagship device for 2016 namely the Xiaomi Mi5 at the MWC. Incidentally though, Meizu went missing at the MWC although initial rounds rumour had speculated a launch of the MX6 at the mega event in Barcelona.

It's worth noting that much of the specs of the alleged Meizu MX6 smartphone have leaked already and here is a roundup of what is known so far. Besides the Meizu MX6, the company is also tipped to launch a mini version of it - just like the one seen in the case of Pro 5.

3D Touch display that may indeed work

The latest bit of information that got leaked about the Meizu MX6 a few days back include the presence of a Force Touch/3D Touch display. The tipster's claim is further enhanced by a leaked screenshot which shows how the Force Touch feature works on the Flyme OS.

Incidentally it appears that Meizu has tuned its software to give an Apple iPhone like Force Touch experience to its users. The leaked screenshot shows the various options that pop up on hard pressing an app icon on the home screen.

No Quad HD display

Meizu MX6 while clearing Antutu benchmark earlier this year, revealed much of its specifications. This includes the presence of a Full HD display of unknown size. Considering the fact that it still comes with a Full HD display it quite disappointing, however it seems that Meizu has reserved the Quad HD panels for its more premium Pro lineup.

World's First Deca Core Helio X20 chip

Mediatek launched its first Deca core chip back in May last year, however the Helio X20 (MT6797) went on to mass production only by fag end of 2015. While initially it was believed that the Meizu MX6 will be first device to sport the Deca Core chip, another Chinese brand Zopo under it by launching the Zopo 8 smartphone at the MWC.

For those unaware the Helio X20 chips features 3 clusters of two Cortex A72 cores clocked at 2.5GHz, four Cortex A53 clocked at 2.0GHz and four Cortex A53 clocked at 1.4GHz. This is coupled with a Mali T880 GPU.

To come with just 3GB of RAM

If the benchmark listing is to be believed, then the Meizu MX6 will come with just 3GB of RAM. Well this is quite disappointing, considering the fact that some smartphone manufacturers are bundling double that RAM in their flagship device. Just for comparison the top end variant of the Xiaomi Mi5 comes with 4GB of RAM.

Marshmallow flavoured Flyme

As per the leaked information the Meizu MX5 is tipped to run on an iteration of Flyme OS built specifically for Force Touch display. Well, the best part is that the smartphone will run on Android Marshmallow.

It 'may' come in May!

According to an industry insider, Mocha RQ the Meizu MX6 is all set to launch sometime in May. It worth noting the Chinese brand has launched the Meizu MX5 round about the same date back in 2015. Besides that, the alleged invite for the launch of the Meizu MX6 also got leaked a few weeks back.

Best Mobiles in India
Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016): Specs, Release Date, Price And More [Rumor Roundup] Features oi -VijayKumar

After having kick-started 2016 by updating their A series of smartphones and at MWC 2016, Samsung announced the Galaxy S7. Now the South Korean smartphone giant is now eager to give the same treatment to their J lineup.

The rumored Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) have purportedly passed Bluetooth SIG certification. The Bluetooth SIG certification document doesn't reveal nothing more than the smartphone's model number and the Bluetooth version.

SEE ALSO: Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 vs Lenovo K3 Note: Which One Is Right For You

According to the SIG certification, the Galaxy J7 (2016) is bearing a model number SM-J7108 and feature Bluetooth v4.1. Well, Here's everything we know so far about the Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) price, release date, specs and rumors. Read on to know more.

1 The Galaxy S7 (2016) is tipped to sports a 5.5 inch Full HD display with 1920x1080 pixel resolution. Earlier, rumors claimed that the display will come with Super AMOLED panel. 2 The Galaxy J7 (2016) will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 processor, which is apparently a renamed Snapdragon 618 chip. There will also be a 2GB of RAM and runs on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow. 3 The Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) is rumored to be equipped with 13-megapixel rear camera utilizing a Samsung S5K3L2XX sensor. There is also a 5-megapixel selfie snapper which makes use of Samsung S5K5E3YX sensor with a pixel size of 1.1m. 4 According to a result the Galaxy J7 (2016) will come with 16GB of internal storage and there will also be a microSD card slot to expand memory. 5 The Galaxy J7 (2016) release date and price are yet to be announced, but looking at the current version of Galaxy J7, the 2016 edition will be around Rs. 15,000.

Best Mobiles in India

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Pushkar-Gayathris Vikram Vedha showcases that a film can be made in any language or for any audience, can be told with the premise & outcome without deviating and keeping the narrative tight.
Military Strikes Continue Against ISIL Terrorists in Syria, Iraq

From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release

SOUTHWEST ASIA, March 3, 2016  U.S. and coalition military forces have continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

Officials reported details of the latest strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strikes in Syria

Attack, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft conducted eight strikes in Syria:

-- Near Hasakah, four strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed an ISIL vehicle, three ISIL buildings, an ISIL vehicle bomb, and an ISIL heavy machine gun.

-- Near Mar'a, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and three ISIL fighting positions.

-- Near Palmyra, a strike struck a large ISIL tactical unit and destroyed six ISIL vehicles and three ISIL fighting positions.

-- Near Tal Abyad, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed ISIL communication equipment.

Strikes in Iraq

Attack, fighter, ground-attack, and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 21 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq's government:

-- Near Baghdadi, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit.

-- Near Huwayjah, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL heavy machine gun and two ISIL fighting positions.

-- Near Habbaniyah, a strike destroyed an ISIL anti-air artillery piece.

-- Near Kisik, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed 27 ISIL rocket rails.

-- Near Mosul, seven strikes struck four ISIL tactical units and destroyed three ISIL vehicles, 12 ISIL assembly areas, and 25 ISIL bed-down locations, and suppressed an ISIL heavy machine gun position.

-- Near Ramadi, three strikes destroyed an ISIL vehicle, an ISIL front-end loader, an ISIL bed down location, and an ISIL petroleum, oil and lubricant truck.

-- Near Samarra, two strikes struck two separate large ISIL tactical units and destroyed 9 ISIL vehicles, three ISIL VBIEDs, an ISIL fighting position, an ISIL supply cache, and three ISIL fuel trucks.

-- Near Sinjar, three strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed five ISIL fighting positions, an ISIL assembly area, an ISIL mortar position, and suppressed an ISIL mortar fire position.

-- Near Sultan Abdallah, one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL fighting position.

Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target.

Part of Operation Inherent Resolve

The strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to eliminate the ISIL terrorist group and the threat they pose to Iraq, Syria, and the wider international community. The destruction of ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq further limits the group's ability to project terror and conduct operations.

Coalition nations which have conducted strikes in Iraq include the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Coalition nations which have conducted strikes in Syria include the United States, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

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USS Lassen Enters 4th Fleet Area of Operations

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS160303-02

Release Date: 3/3/2016 8:50:00 AM

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Huey D. Younger Jr., U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command & U.S. 4th Fleet Public Affairs

PACIFIC OCEAN (NNS) -- Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen (DDG 82) arrived in the U.S. 4th Fleet area of operations to begin conducting counter illicit trafficking operations in support of Operation Martillo, March 2.

Operation Martillo (Spanish for 'hammer') is a U.S., European and Western Hemisphere partner-nation effort launched in January 2012 targeting illicit trafficking routes in coastal waters along the Central American isthmus.

U.S. military participation is led by Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATF-South), in support of U.S. Southern Command.

Operation Martillo demonstrates a clear commitment of the Western Hemisphere and European nations to work as partners to counter the spread of transnational criminal organizations, and to protect citizens in Central America from the violence, harm and exploitation created by these criminal networks.

Operation Martillo is an international, interagency operation that includes the participation of 14 countries committed to a regional approach against transnational criminal organizations moving illicit cargo. To date, partner nation efforts have contributed to 57 percent of all disruptions to illicit trafficking and 60 percent of the metric tons captured as part of the Operation Martillo initiative.

'We have been planning and training for this deployment for well over the past year,' said Cmdr. Robert Francis, commanding officer, USS Lassen. 'The entire crew is thrilled to be a key asset in counter illicit trafficking.'

Lassen departed Yokosuka, Japan, Jan. 6, for her new homeport of Mayport, Florida, after serving nearly 10 years as part of the Forward Deployed Naval Forces.

U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command and U.S. 4th Fleet supports U.S. Southern Command's joint and combined military operations by employing maritime forces in cooperative maritime security operations in order to maintain access, enhance interoperability, and build enduring partnerships in order to enhance regional security and promote peace, stability, and prosperity in the Caribbean, Central and South American regions.

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Mount Whitney Returns to Gaeta, Italy

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS160303-23

Release Date: 3/3/2016 1:37:00 PM

By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Michael Wright, USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20) Public Affairs

GAETA, Italy (NNS) -- The U.S. 6th Fleet command and control ship USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20) returned to its forward-deployed port of Gaeta, Italy, after completing a brief underway period, March 3, 2016.

The underway included unit-level training, a port visit to Limassol, Cyprus, and hosting the U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet (CNE-CNA/C6F) staff for a command post exercise.

'Returning back to Gaeta is always a good feeling. The hard work and dedication from the crew of USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20) has been exemplary, culminating in the successful execution of Juniper Cobra 2016' said Lt j.g. Jon Davis, USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20) Admin officer

This is the first extended operational period for the flagship since completing its shipyard availability period last September.

As part of the command post exercise Juniper Cobra 2016, Mount Whitney provided communications systems support to allow the staff to execute a robust set of command and control networks.

During the visit to Cyprus, Sailors hosted ship tours, participated in two community relations (COMREL) projects, and held a reception aboard the ship.

Mount Whitney also participated in a joint search and rescue exercise, which tested coordination procedures with the Cypriot Coast Guard to locate and track missing persons at sea.

Mount Whitney, forward-deployed to Gaeta, Italy, operates with a combined crew of U.S. Navy Sailors and Military Sealift Command civil service mariners. The civil service mariners perform navigation, deck, engineering and supply service operations, while military personnel support communications, weapons systems and security. It is one of only two seaborne Joint Command Platforms in the U.S. Navy, both of which are forward deployed.

U.S. 6th Fleet, headquartered in Naples, Italy, conducts the full spectrum of joint and naval operations, often in concert with allied, joint, and interagency partners, in order to advance U.S. national interests and security and stability in Europe and Africa.

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Lebanon mulls Iran's military aid offer: Defense minister

Iran Press TV

Thu Mar 3, 2016 11:34AM

The Lebanese defense minister says he will ask the government to take Iran's past offers of military support seriously after Saudi Arabia's recent decision to retract $4 billion in military aid.

Defense Minister Samir Moqbel said Lebanon had informed Iran of the decision which was to be studied at a cabinet meeting on Thursday.

"The Iranian side was informed that when sanctions were lifted on Iran, we would study the Iranian support for the army at the cabinet," The Daily Star quoted him as saying.

Last month, Saudi Arabia said it had suspended USD 3 billion in military aid to the Lebanese army and another USD 1 billion to the country's internal security forces.

The aid was cut after Lebanon refrained from endorsing Saudi-crafted statements against Iran at separate meetings held in Cairo and Jeddah.

The Saudi decision also came in the wake of recent victories by the Syrian army, which is backed by Lebanon's Hezbollah in its battle against Takfiri militants fighting to topple the government in Damascus.

Last month, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari said Beirut had made no official request for financial aid from Tehran, but said the offer still held.

According to The Daily Star, Moqbel expressed his desire for Lebanon to consider Iran's aid package the same day Saudi Arabia announced its decision to halt assistance.

Members of the Saudi-backed March 14 coalition in Lebanon pressured the government not to accept the Iranian aid, arguing at the time that it would violate sanctions against Iran.

Sanctions were lifted on Iran in January in a historic deal between the Islamic Republic and the West and other parties over Tehran's nuclear program.

The aid is vital as the Lebanese army is fighting Takfiri militants from the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front and Daesh near the country's northeastern border with Syria.

After halting the aid, Saudi Arabia banned its citizens from traveling to Lebanon and imposed sanctions on the country, leading to new divisions among Lebanese political groups.

The decisions have led to heated arguments over whether Lebanon should have gone along with its Arab identity to back recent measures by Saudi Arabia and its allies against Hezbollah.

In January, Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil refused to support an Arab League statement listing Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.

Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Wednesday called for the removal of Arabism from political debates.

"We should remove the term Arabism from political debates given that this issue is already stipulated in the introduction of the Lebanese Constitution. It's a given and the debate about it is misplaced," Berri said.

His remarks came as the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which comprises Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain, and Kuwait, designated Hezbollah as a terrorist group.

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US Delivers Blackhawk Helicopters to Jordan to Guard Border From Daesh

Sputnik News

19:36 03.03.2016(updated 19:37 03.03.2016)

The United States has delivered eight UH-60A Blackhawk helicopters to Jordan to help its coalition partner secure its border from Daesh terrorists, the US Embassy in Jordan announced on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  Photos on the US Embassy's social media account showed Wells with Jordanian military officials jointly inspecting the Blackhawk helicopters during the handover ceremony.

'The United States is committed to standing with Jordan to face the threat posed by Daesh We are honored to partner with you,' US Ambassador Alice Wells was quoted as saying in the announcement during a ceremony to handover the eight helicopters.

The helicopters are 'another tool for safeguarding' Jordan's border with Syria and Iraq, where the terrorist group has grown significantly since 2014, according to the announcement.

The delivery comes just days after Jordanian forces killed several militants linked to the Islamic State in the northern part of the country.

Since 2015, the United States has expedited the delivery of more than 26,000 rifles and machine guns to Jordan, in addition to some 3 million rounds of small arms ammunition, hundreds of bombs and about 5,000 night vision devices to support Jordan's 'immediate operational requirements,' the US Embassy in Jordan said.

US Vice President Joe Biden is set to travel to Amman on March 10 as part of his Middle East tour, where he will meet with King Abdullah II to discuss the US-led coalition's campaign against Daesh and the situation in Syria. He will also meet with Jordanian troops who are training alongside US forces in the coalition's campaign against Daesh.

 Sputnik

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Kabul Sees 'Last Chance' for Peace With Taliban

by Ayaz Gul March 03, 2016

Afghanistan's chief peace negotiator says talks with Taliban-led insurgent groups are a "last opportunity" for accord, despite increasing violence during the past six months by armed opposition factions.

Direct peace negotiations between Afghan government and Taliban delegates are expected to take place in neighboring Pakistan later this week. A four-nation coordinating group consisting of diplomats from Afghanistan, Pakistan, the United States and China has prepared the ground for the long-awaited talks.

The chief Afghan peace negotiator, Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Khalil Karzai, says the four countries involved have prepared a "road map" that will ensure a sustainable and productive peace process.

Praise for Pakistan

Speaking in Kabul to a group of reporters and academics from Pakistan ahead of the peace talks, Karzai praised Pakistan for being forthcoming as far as its commitment to the four-nation effort to promote peace in Afghanistan.

"This [the peace talks with the Taliban], I think, in the next two or three decades will be the last opportunity to have peace between these two countries and peace between Afghanistan and the violent opposition," he said.

Key Taliban leaders are sheltering in Pakistan, allegedly with the help of that country's spy agency (ISI), and the covert ties have long strained bilateral relations.

Karzai said Islamabad has the leverage and influence with Taliban leaders to push them to the table for talks with Kabul, and he expects Pakistani authorities to use the same leverage against insurgents not amenable to peace in Afghanistan.

Immediate results not expected

The Afghan official said it is unrealistic to expect immediate results from peace talks, but it would be a "great blessing" for Afghanistan if these efforts can lead to a reduction in the insurgent violence.

"In these negotiations I do not anticipate that we are going to have a cease-fire in the first, second or third meeting," said Karzai.

Karzai also explained difficulties facing the peace effort in the wake of splits plaguing the Taliban since July, when the insurgent group announced the death of its founder-leader, Mullah Omar.

"The Taliban are not a monolithic entity anymore,' he said. 'We have had three different elements that have now been making overtures to us. ... I think it makes our job much more complicated, because we are not just negotiating with one party. We are negotiating with several different elements under different back-and-forth ways of engaging them."

The minister insisted that many of the armed opposition groups are engaged in a violent effort to prove to the Afghan government that they are "a viable threat," and thus need to be taken very seriously.

"In the past year, 2015, and even now in early part of 2016 we have been dealing with the most violent year since the conflict started,' he said. 'And one of the main reasons why this level of violence has increased is because those responsible for this violence would like legitimacy [at] the table."

Legitimate interlocutor

Karzai said the Taliban's political office in Qatar is the legitimate interlocutor for the insurgents. The Kabul government is "comfortable" with all factions that are part of the Doha office, he added.

Pakistan should prevent Taliban fighters who are involved in the killing of innocent Afghans from seeking medical treatment in hospitals across the border, Karzai said, and he called on Islamabad to use its leverage and influence, both to push Taliban leaders to join the peace talks and also take action against those who are not amenable to peace in Afghanistan.

The Afghan minister's remarks came hours after Pakistan's adviser on foreign policy, Sartaj Aziz, publicly admitted for the first time that Taliban leaders enjoy safe havens in his country.

"We have some influence on them because their leadership is in Pakistan and they get some medical facilities [here]. Their families are here... so we can use those levers to pressurize them to say: 'Come to the table,'" Aziz said.

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Philippines Looking to Resolution of Arbitration Case Against China

by Simone Orendain March 03, 2016

Philippine officials say they are hopeful the country's arbitration case against China over disputed territory in the South China Sea will be decided in April or May.

Philippine Foreign Affairs Spokesman Charles Jose said Thursday the department is basing its timeframe on how long it has taken the tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague to act between hearings.

China is not participating, but Jose said the court's decision, whatever it may be, would stand.

"Even the court is telling China that the decision is binding on both the Philippines and China," said Jose. "So the Philippines and other countries are calling on China to respect the forthcoming decision of the tribunal."

In January 2013, the Philippines filed a complaint with the arbitral tribunal questioning what it called China's "excessive claim" to practically the entire South China Sea. The Philippines cited China's so-called nine-dash line, a U-shaped swath of the sea spanning from Hainan Island in the north to waters near Malaysia in the south.

It also wanted clarification on whether certain formations, which it said fell within its 370-kilometer exclusive economic zone, were rocks or islands.

China responded that it would not participate, reiterating that it rejects arbitration and had opted out of the dispute settlement mechanism when it signed onto the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

China Foreign Minister Wang Yi brought up this point last week during a debriefing at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

He also said the Philippines did not follow international rules when it did not meet one-on-one with China to try to resolve their differences in the South China Sea and instead "took [them] to international court."

China says it has "indisputable sovereignty" over the South China Sea's islands, based on historical maps. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei also have overlapping claims in the resource-rich, heavily traversed sea.

Philippines Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said in a statement this week that the Philippines and China had had "countless meetings" to try to resolve the issue, "to no avail."

Maritime law professor Jay Batongbacal of the University of the Philippines Institute of International Law Studies said the tribunal will likely find in favor of Manila on some of the 15 issues raised by the Philippines. In particular, he said, it might deem the nine-dash line illegal.

If that happens, Batongbacal said, "The problem will really be on China's part in the sense that it will have to keep justifying, at every opportunity, whatever it does in the South China Sea, especially those actions that appear to contradict the ruling. So it will be harder for them basically to convince the world that their actions or activities are justifiable."

Also, he said, the Philippines would have to "keep the pressure up on China" so that it changes its behavior and policies to conform to whatever will be directed in the decision.

In the past two years, China has turned seven formations, mostly disputed by the Philippines and listed in its case, into artificial islands. Beijing's recent placements of missiles and radar stations on some of the islands have also raised tensions in the region.

Batongbacal said the court would not compel China to remove the artificial islands. But he said the court might put out a statement saying the construction of the islands is "inconsistent with China's obligations under international law" because they were made while the case was pending and basically prejudiced the rights of the parties.

Batongbacal reiterated that whatever the tribunal decides, its mandate does not include determining the sovereignty of any of the disputed formations.

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UN: Hospitals, Schools Targeted in Yemen

by Margaret Besheer March 03, 2016

The U.N. humanitarian chief has criticized all parties to the Yemen conflict for attacks against civilians.

The "most pressing concern" there now is the protection of civilians, Stephen O'Brien told the Security Council Thursday.

"Protected places such as hospitals, schools and homes continue to be hit by all parties," he said via a video link from Brussels. "It is unacceptable that health facilities are being hit, and it is critical that the parties make guarantees that these locations will be protected," he said.

O'Brien said since the start of the war nearly one year ago, some 2,000 children have been injured or killed -- including at least 90 killed this year -- from airstrikes, shelling, ground fighting and unexploded artillery.

He emphasized that all parties are obligated under international humanitarian law to take steps to protect civilians and places they inhabit.

Humanitarian Crisis

The conflict between the Saudi-backed government and Iranian-supported Shi'ite Houthi rebels has killed more than 6,000 Yemenis and injured over 35,000 others. More than two million people have been displaced by the fighting.

The U.N. and its partners estimate that 21.2 million people -- 82 percent of the population  require some form of humanitarian or protection assistance.

Last week, the United Nations appealed for $1.8 billion to meet Yemen's humanitarian needs this year.

O'Brien blamed a "proliferation of checkpoints" across Yemen, as well as bureaucratic requirements imposed by the Houthi rebels for delaying aid deliveries. He did welcome Wednesday's release of a World Food Program ship which had been diverted by the Saudi coalition last month to a Saudi port. O'Brien said the food and medical aid on-board had been delivered as planned to Hudaydah, and some communications equipment for aid workers would arrive in Aden on Sunday.

Peace Talks

The U.N. envoy on Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, said last month that "deep divisions" among the parties had prevented him from restarting stalled peace talks, and he urged a recommitment to a cessation of hostilities. He said he hoped to restart talks in March, but so far no date has been announced.

"The time is against us. The situation is catastrophic. The political solution is becoming more than ever needed today, and we need to precipitate these talks as soon as possible," he told reporters on February 17.

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Hezbollah criticizes [P]GCC states as reckless, hostile

Iran Press TV

Thu Mar 3, 2016 2:22PM

Lebanon's resistance movement, Hezbollah, has described the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council member states as "reckless and hostile" after the Arab body labeled the movement a terrorist organization.

The group's bloc in the Lebanese Parliament said on Thursday that it holds Saudi Arabia responsible for the [P]GCC decision.

On Wednesday, the six-nation Arab bloc issued a statement labeling Hezbollah a terrorist organization. The [P]GCC comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

'The decision by the [P]GCC is reckless and hostile and is condemned. The Saudi regime bears responsibility for its issuing and for the consequences,' Hezbollah said after its weekly meeting.

Meanwhile, the decision by the [P]GCC to blacklist Hezbollah has been met with opposition and criticism.

Algeria refused to classify the movement as a terrorist organization. Palestinian resistance movement, Islamic Jihad, also praised Hezbollah as a resistance movement which has a history in the struggle against the Zionist entity as well as in supporting the Palestinian cause. Iran, Syria and Yemen's Houthi Ansarullah movement have also slammed the move by the [P]GCC.

The move by the six-nation Arab bloc came days after Riyadh halted USD 4bn in aid to Lebanese security forces. The decision came following recent victories by the Syrian army, backed by Hezbollah fighters, against the Takfiri militants fighting to topple the Damascus government.

Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah has said the Saudi regime seeks to instigate "strife" between Shias and Sunnis in the region, urging the Lebanese not to be intimidated by threats posed by Riyadh and Tel Aviv.

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Hezbollah embodiment of anti-terror fight: Iran

Iran Press TV

Thu Mar 3, 2016 2:32PM

Iran has condemned a decision by the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council to blacklist Lebanon's Hezbollah, saying the resistance movement is in fact a "potent symbol" of struggles against terror and Israeli occupation.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari on Thursday praised Lebanon's Hezbollah as the "embodiment of resistance against Zionist occupation and racism."

Jaberi Ansari said Hezbollah represents the Muslim world's struggles to achieve independence, freedom, justice and fight against blind Takfiri terrorism as well as the Israeli regime's oppression, occupation and racism.

On Wednesday, the six-nation Arab bloc decided to label Hezbollah a terrorist organization. The [P]GCC comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The Iranian official further said certain Arab countries' differences with the Lebanese resistance movement does not justify their move to work in unison and solidarity with the Israeli regime in blacklisting Hezbollah.

Those who disseminate such false propaganda to pile pressure on other governments are "knowingly or unknowingly" undermining the interests of Muslim nations, Jaberi Ansari added.

Earlier in the day, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said branding Hezbollah as a terrorist group is a "new mistake" that will undermine peace in the region and unity in Lebanon.

"We are proud of Lebanon's Hezbollah as the vanguard of resistance against the Zionist regime and the champion of the fight against terrorism in the region," he said.

Last month, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain also called on their citizens to leave Lebanon or to avoid travelling there.

The moves by the six-nation Arab bloc came days after Riyadh halted USD 4bn in aid to Lebanese security forces.

The decision came following recent victories by the Syrian army, backed by Hezbollah fighters, against the Takfiri militants fighting to topple the Damascus government.

Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah has said the Saudi regime seeks to instigate "strife" between Shias and Sunnis in the region, urging the Lebanese not to be intimidated by threats posed by Riyadh and Tel Aviv.

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Syria Slams GCC's Move to Call Hezbollah Terrorist Group

Sputnik News

02:20 03.03.2016

The Syrian government has strongly condemned the decision of the Gulf Cooperation Council (CCASG or GCC) to include the Lebanon-based Shiite Hezbollah militant group in its terrorist organization list.

BEIRUT (Sputnik)  On Wednesday, the six-member CCASG, which includes Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman, labeled Hezbollah a terrorist organization.

'Syria strongly condemns the decision of the Gulf Cooperation Council to consider the Hezbollah party a terrorist one, which is a reflection of the misguided policies of Saudi Arabia,' the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

According to the statement, the Syrian authorities will continue to consider Hezbollah 'an Arab resistance movement' against such terrorist groups as Islamic State (IS, also known as Daesh) and Jabhat al-Nusra (Nusra Front).

Hezbollah, a paramilitary and political organization originating in Lebanon's Shiite population, was established in the 1980s. The group has been fighting alongside the Syrian government against the IS Sunni radicals and other extremist militant groups since 2011.

Hezbollah is considered a terrorist organization by a number of countries including Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom and many European states, but not by Russia.

 Sputnik

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Made-in-China equipment helps to strengthen PLA

People's Daily Online

By Liang Jun (People's Daily Online) 13:43, March 03, 2016

The PLA Army is the first body of armed forces led by the CPC, and plays an essential role in safeguarding national sovereignty, security and development, Chinese president Xi Jinping said at a meeting on Dec. 31, 2015

Since the 18th CPC National Congress was held in November 2012, the army's information construction has been improved. Operational capability, which is based on the information system, has also been through a general upgrade.

Battle tanks and helicopters play a leading role in the PLA Army. They attracted worldwide attention during the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War on Sept. 3, 2015.

Now let's take a look at the amazing changes and upgrades the PLA Army's armored forces and aviation forces have undergone in the past three years.

Type 96A main battle tank

The Type 96A main battle tank has been enhanced from the Type 96 main battle tank. It is the PLA's major tank. Compared to the relatively expensive Type 99 main battle tank, the Type 96A has a lower cost and it is suitable for mass production in order to equip the armed forces.

Type 99A main battle tank

The upgrade from the Type 99 main battle tank to the Type 99A main battle tank marks a breakthrough of battle tanks technology. Composite armor is now being used extensively, and information warfare technology has also been integrated into the design.

Upgraded from Type 99, the Type 99A's performance has been greatly improved and its engine power has increased significantly. The control is also more flexible.

Z-8 helicopter

The Z-8 helicopter is a single-rotor, multipurpose medium helicopter with a tail rotor. It features characteristics including good flight performance, long life, superior safety, ease of manipulation and maintenance. It can also be landed in water in emergency situations.

WZ-9 helicopter

The WZ-9 helicopter not only has anti-tank and ground fire suppression capabilities, it is also able to transport infantry troops. It can conduct air combat, too.

It uses a ducted tail rotor, which greatly improves the safety of flying close to the ground. Its flexible blade is quite advanced. It has two independent hydraulic systems, which improve viability during combat operations.

WZ-10 helicopter

The WZ-10 is China's first domestically designed and produced attack helicopter. The successful development of the WZ-10 demonstrates the large-scale transformation and improvement of China's helicopter industry.

From the ability to attack, the WZ-10 has a dual air-to-air and air-to-ground capability. On defensive performance, it uses a stealth design, along with a narrow fuselage, so the radar reflector can be effectively controlled.

WZ-19 helicopter

The WZ-19 helicopter's design is derived from the Z-9 helicopter. It has the typical features of armed helicopters, including tandem cockpit layout, four-bladed composite rotor, ducted tail rotor, four external weapon hard points and tailwheel landing gear. It made its successful maiden flight in 2010. 

Due to lower prices and production costs, WZ-19 helicopters can be made on a large scale and used in the armed forces as a powerful supplement for the more expensive WZ-10.

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China's top political advisory body starts annual session

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 15:21, March 03, 2016

BEIJING, March 3 -- China's top political advisory body convened its annual meeting Thursday, kicking off a political high season that will continue with the opening of the country's top legislature later this week.

Yu Zhengsheng, chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, opened the session at the Great Hall of the People in the heart of Beijing.

In a dark suit and a red tie, Yu commended the political advisory body's work last year in helping formulate the 13th Five-Year Plan, comprehensively deepen reforms and advance law-based governance, improve people's well-being, promote ethnic unity and religious harmony, and develop a favorable external environment for China's development.

Special consultative meeting revolving around issues, such as reform of the government's review and approval system and judicial structural reform, were held, while suggestions on a number of draft legislation and regulations, including the environmental protection tax law and the marine environmental protection law, were offered, Yu noted.

The CPPCC is an organization in the patriotic united front of the Chinese people, an important organ for multiparty cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), and an important means of promoting socialist democracy in China's political activities.

The main functions of the CPPCC are to conduct political consultation, exercise democratic supervision and participate in the discussion and the handling of state affairs.

Yu noted that the advisory body's political consultations were made more fruitful last year while democratic oversight was strengthened, he said.

In particular, CPPCC National Committee members improved supervision over issues of wide public concerns such as investment approval system reforms and pollution control in northwest China's Tengger Desert.

Their suggestions, criticisms and supervision helped improve authorities' work to address those problems and the introduction of relevant policies, he added.

Thursday's CPPCC session marks the start of the most important two weeks on China's political calendar this year. The National People's Congress (NPC), China's national legislature, is set to begin its annual session Saturday.

Together dubbed colloquially as the 'two sessions,' the dual meetings make regular yet crucial venues where political and economic developments are reviewed and discussed and key policies adopted.

This year, lawmakers are set to deliberate on a draft charity law aimed at boosting more public trust into the cause.

But it is on the economic front where the 'two sessions,' closely watched by observers both at home and abroad, are granted extra heavy footing. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will reveal the nation's gross domestic product target this year in his government work report.

The draft 13th Five-Year Plan, a roadmap for the nation's development from 2016 to 2020, will also be submitted to NPC lawmakers for review and approval.

At a time of slowing global economic recovery and considerable uncertainty in financial markets, people around the world will be combing through the two documents line-by-line the moments they come out to find various nuances of policy development.

China's economy, long a reliable source of growth, expanded 6.9 percent year on year in 2015, the slowest rate in 25 years, weighed down by a property market downturn, falling trade and weak factory activities.

In his report, Yu pointed to the 'supply-side reform' -- a popular notion that includes reducing ineffective and low-end supply championed by Chinese President Xi Jinping -- and to a new set of development philosophy as policy options at hand to respond to the slowing economy.

The CPPCC should 'develop and follow the philosophy of innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development,' and adapt to the new normal in economic development, the top political advisor said.

Achievements aside, Yu also admitted that there are still room for for improvement for the CPPCC's work.

'Its investigations and research into key issues need to be more thorough, its mechanisms for democratic oversight need to be improved, its work on promoting unity and friendship needs to be expanded both in scope and in depth, and National Committee members need to do better in the performance of their duties,' Yu said.

Political advisors come from China's various walks of life and ethnic groups. They often serve as the think-tank for the government, legislative and judicial organs, and put forward proposals on major political and social issues in the world's most populous nation and second-largest economy.

The proposals are sometimes considered a rough barometer of public opinion, signaling issues of concern from industrial policy to domestic violence, and telegraph the general national agenda for the whole year and beyond.

A separate report presented at Thursday's meeting showed about one third of over 6,000 proposals submitted by political advisors in 2015 centered on economic issues.

Yu Zhengsheng meanwhile urged advisors to devote their main efforts this year to making suggestions and proposals related to the implementation of the 13th Five-Year Plan, and raise the quality of their research and studies.

He also called on political advisors to uphold the leadership of the CPC, which is 'the leadership core of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics and of the patriotic united front.'

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DPRK fires short-range projectiles after UN resolution passes

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 11:41, March 03, 2016

SEOUL, March 3 -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) fired six short-range projectiles on Thursday morning in an apparent show of force after new tougher sanctions resolution on Pyongyang was passed at the UN Security Council.

Seoul's defense ministry spokesman Moon Sang-Kyun told a regular press briefing that DPRK forces fired short-range projectiles at about 10 a.m. (0100 GMT) from its Wonsan area into the East Sea.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff later confirmed that six projectiles were launched, flying about 100-150 km eastward.

Whether the projectiles were short-range missiles hasn't been identified, but those were believed to have been KN-01 short-range missiles or shells from 300-mm multiple rocket launchers.

The spokesman said that the South Korean military maintained a full defense readiness while closely monitoring the moves of DPRK forces.

It marked the first time in 2016 that DPRK forces fired short-range projectiles. Pyongyang launched three KN-01 missiles from Wonsan area into eastern waters in June last year, while test-firing 300-mm multiple rocket launchers several times in 2015.

A South Korean military official was quoted by Yonhap news agency as saying that possibility is running high for the DPRK to conduct further provocations after the launch of short-range projectiles.

Pyongyang hadn't reportedly issued no-navigation, no-sail zone before the Thursday launches, indicating possible DPRK provocations without any warning.

South Korea and the United States are scheduled to kick off their joint annual war games from March 7 that will run for more than a month through April. It is widely expected to cause strong backlashes from the DPRK, which has denounced it as a dress rehearsal for northward invasion.

The U.S. forces are expected to mobilize strategic assets during the war games, including a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, which is expected to raise the already heightened tensions further on the Korean peninsula.

The DPRK's launches of short-range projectiles came just hours after new UN Security Council resolution on Pyongyang was unanimously approved in New York over its recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch.

Pyongyang tested what it claimed was its first hydrogen bomb on Jan. 6 and launched a satellite on a long-range rocket, which was condemned by outsiders as a banned test of missile technology, on Feb. 7.

Describing the new UN resolution as one of the toughest and most effective non-military measures in seven decades of UN history, South Korea said it will step up efforts at international cooperation to encourage the DPRK to dismantle its nuclear program 'completely, veritably and irreversibly.'

The new resolution was the fourth UN sanction against Pyongyang's nuclear tests. Previous resolutions were adopted in 2006, 2009 and 2013 each when the DPRK tested its atomic devices.

Two separate UN resolutions were also approved in 2006 and 2013 when the DPRK tested a prohibited missile technology by launching long-range rockets.

Seoul's foreign ministry said that new sanctions against Pyongyang would eliminate loopholes in previous resolutions to focus on cutting off resources to finance the DPRK's nuclear and missile programs.

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UN Security Council calls for end to Pyongyang's nuclear, missile programs

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 08:20, March 03, 2016

UNITED NATIONS, March 2 -- The UN Security Council on Wednesday unanimously adopted a resolution to impose new and tougher sanctions against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and council members called for an end to Pyongyang's nuclear and missile program and early resumption of the Six-Party Talks.

The new resolution was intended to curb the DPRK's efforts to further develop its nuclear and missile programs. The previous council resolutions prohibit Pyongyang from nuclear tests and using missile technology for rocket launches.

'The sanctions are not the objective itself,' Ambassador Liu Jieyi of China said when he was taking the floor at the council meeting after the vote.

On Jan. 6 this year, the DPRK, in defiance of universal opposition of the international community, once again conducted a nuclear test and on Feb. 7 used ballistic missile technology to launch a satellite, in a series of violations of relevant resolutions of the Security Council, Liu noted.

'China has expressed its explicit opposition to these acts,' he added. 'China has always insisted on denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, insisted on the maintenance of peace and stability on the peninsula, and insisted on resolving problems through dialogue and consultations.'

Like many others, Liu urged Pyongyang to rejoin the Six-Party Talks, which involve South Korea, the DPRK, China, the United States, Japan and Russia.

The Six-Party Talks were launched in 2003 but were stalled in December 2008. The DPRK quit the talks in April 2009.

'Currently, the situation on the Korean peninsula is highly complex and sensitive which makes it all the more necessary for us to keep calm and use diplomatic wisdom,' he said.

'China hopes that parties concerned will meet China halfway, always bear in mind the overall need of maintaining peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia, make determined efforts to dispel the dark cloud of war, pour out wisdom and actively seek common understanding, and work together for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,' the Chinese envoy said.

For her part, Ambassador Samantha Power of the United States said that 'the DPRK's obsessive pursuit of weapons of mass destruction not only causes profound suffering for the people of North Korea, but also poses an extraordinary and growing threat to peace and security in the peninsula, the region, and the world.'

'The United States would like to recognize the leadership of China, which has worked closely with us,' she said. 'Beyond the council, it is worth noting the unanimity among, and leadership by, the countries in the region, China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea.'

Meanwhile, Ambassador Oh Joon of South Korea asked in his mother tongue Pyongyang to stop the nuclear and missile programs. He also thanked China and the United States for their initiatives for the draft resolution.

Ambassador Motohide Yoshikawa of Japan said his nation welcomed the resolution. 'We would like to express our sincere appreciation to the United States for taking the lead,' he said. 'Our appreciation also goes to China for their efforts.'

'Sanctions are important tools to finding a comprehensive solution to a problem, and to this end, there has to be dialogue. In order for the dialogue to be effective, there has to be pressure at the same time,' the Tokyo envoy said. 'This is the very reason why we now have this robust resolution.'

'The sanctions envisioned are quite harsh. However, the document does leave open the possibility for the DPRK to return to the Six-Party process, which should be urgently restarted,' the Tokyo envoy said.

Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said, 'By shutting down as much as possible of financing of DPRK's ballistic missile programs the idea is to return to the table of negotiations for all the interested parties.'

'Russia is very seriously worried that negative trends in Northeast Asia have been developing,' he said. 'We are concerned about attempts to use the actions of Pyongyang as a justification to increase the military capabilities of the region including offensive weapons and the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) missile defense system,' of the United States in South Korea.

'The resolution adopted today should not be used to choke off the North Korea economy,' the Moscow envoy said. 'In this connection we are concerned about the hasty introduction, even before today's resolution was adopted, the adoption of unilateral sanction against the DPRK.

'All this could have very negative humanitarian consequences for the many millions of inhabitants of the DPRK especially those who are most vulnerable,' he said, adding a plea that international humanitarian organizations be allowed to operate in DPRK.

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Russia calls on North Korea to return to dialog after UN bans

Iran Press TV

Thu Mar 3, 2016 4:28PM

Russia has expressed hope that North Korea will make the right decision and return to negotiations after the United Nations adopted a new set of sanctions against Pyongyang over its recent nuclear test and rocket launch.

"We are hoping that the North Korean side will take this decision in an adequate manner, draw the right conclusions and return to the negotiating table to settle the nuclear problem on the Korean Peninsula," the Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

The sanctions came after seven weeks of intense negotiations between the United States and China. Moscow has also voiced support for the new package of bans.

Moscow, which has friendly relations with Pyongyang, described the new sanctions as being "rather tough," also expressing hope that the new resolution would not worsen the economic and humanitarian situation for North Koreans.

Russia also reiterated previous warnings to Washington not to deploy a missile defense system to South Korea that could lead to "escalated tensions" in the restive region.

The resolution imposes trade restrictions on the country, bars vessels suspected of carrying illegal goods for North Korea from ports, and requires UN member states to inspect all cargo to and from North Korea.

The sanctions also add a total of 16 individuals and 12 entities to a UN sanctions blacklist. The exports of coal, iron and iron ore, gold, titanium and rare earth minerals from North Korea are also banned while the supply of aviation fuel including rocket fuel to the country is also prohibited.

On January 6, North Korea said it had successfully detonated a hydrogen bomb, its fourth nuclear test, vowing to build up its nuclear program as deterrence against potential aggression from the United States.

A month later, Pyongyang launched a long-range rocket it said placed an earth observation satellite into orbit. However, Washington and South Korea denounced it as a cover for an intercontinental ballistic missile test.

The North accuses the US of plotting with its regional allies to topple the government in Pyongyang, stressing that it will not relinquish its nuclear deterrence unless Washington ends its hostile policy toward North Korea.

It also wants the US to dissolve its military command in South Korea.

Amid the new wave of tensions on the Korean Peninsula, Washington and Seoul have reportedly worked out an agreement on the deployment of an advanced US missile system, called THAAD, to South Korea. They said they would begin talks on the issue at the earliest time possible.

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North Korea fires projectiles into sea after new UN sanctions

Iran Press TV

Thu Mar 3, 2016 9:34AM

North Korea fires several short-range projectiles into the sea, hours after the UN Security Council votes to impose harshest sanctions on the impoverished country.

South Korea said six projectiles were fired at 10 a.m. (0100 GMT) on Thursday into the sea around 150 km (90 miles) off the North's eastern coast.

President Park Geun-hye used a harsh language, pledging to 'end tyranny,' while China said it hoped all parties could refrain from actions that escalate tension.

The escalation came after the Security Council passed its harshest sanctions drafted by the United States against Pyongyang on Wednesday.

The new UN sanctions include mandatory inspections of cargo leaving and entering North Korea by land, sea or air, a ban on all sales or transfers of small arms and light weapons to Pyongyang and expulsion of diplomats from the North, who engage in 'illicit activities.'

US President Barack Obama welcomed the measures as 'a firm, united, and appropriate response' to Pyongyang's January 6 nuclear test and February 7 rocket launch.

'The international community, speaking with one voice, has sent Pyongyang a simple message: North Korea must abandon these dangerous programs and choose a better path for its people,' Obama said.

Meanwhile, in reaction to the Thursday launches, South Korean President Park Geun-hye said, 'We will cooperate with the world to make the North Korean regime abandon its reckless nuclear development and end tyranny that oppresses freedom and human rights of our brethren in the North.'

On January 6, Pyongyang said it had successfully detonated a hydrogen bomb, its fourth nuclear test yet, vowing to build up its nuclear program as deterrence against potential aggression from the United States.

A month later, on February 7, North Korea launched a long-range rocket that it said placed an earth observation satellite into orbit. However, Washington and South Korea denounced it as a cover for an intercontinental ballistic missile test.

Pyongyang has previously been under UN sanctions over launching missiles considered by the US and South Korea as ballistic and aimed at delivering nuclear warheads.

The North accuses the US of plotting with its regional allies to topple the government in Pyongyang, stressing that it will not relinquish its nuclear deterrence unless Washington ends its hostile policy toward North Korea.

It also wants the US to dissolve its military command in South Korea, where America has thousands of troops.

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Russia Carved Out Exceptions To North Korean Sanctions

March 03, 2016

by RFE/RL

Russia's ambassador to the United Nations claims that Moscow won protections for important economic projects in the drafting of tough new sanctions on North Korea.

In remarks to reporters after the UN Security Council unanimously approved the tightened sanctions, Russian envoy Vitaly Churkin said he negotiated with the United States to ensure Russia can continue building a rail link from Khasan on Russia's east coast to the North Korean port of Rajin to deliver coal and other Russian exports to China and South Korea.

'Like China, we also have certain economic interests which have nothing to do with North Korea's nuclear and missile program,' Churkin said.



'I am referring to a rather serious project of our Russian Railways Co., namely the construction of a railroad to North Korea that will be used to deliver Russian coal to some of China's southern regions and to South Korea,' he said.

As a result of Russia's effort to carve out the exemption, he said, the project is 'intact...as are our other economic interests.'

For Russia, the Korean rail project is crucial as it has been seeking to develop its Far Eastern region and diversify its energy export routes away from Europe. Pyongyang also seeks to use the project to secure outside revenue sources and shore up its debilitated economy.

Russia delayed UN approval of the new North Korean sanctions for several days, not only to negotiate the railway exemption but to gain other exceptions from the sanctions, diplomats said.

In a surprise move, Russia won provisions allowing Korea to import airplane fuel for the civilian aircraft of international carriers flying to North Korea, and allowing it to export minerals such as coal to earn 'livelihood' revenues.

Those appear to be the only exceptions to the otherwise tough sanctions measure, which strictly bans the importation of coal, iron ore, titanium, vanadium, and other precious metals from North Korea while banning the delivery of aviation and rocket fuel to Pyongyang.

Russia also negotiated the removal of one name from the list of individuals being sanctioned, the Russia-based representative of the Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation, which the U.S. Treasury Department has said is a state-owned entity involved in arms dealing.

Jang Song Chol, Churkin said, 'is not even in Russia. We are surprised he appeared [on the list] in the first place.'

Russia cited concern over the humanitarian impact of the sanctions in crafting the exemptions.

But U.S. and European representatives at the UN said the sanctions target only the North Korean regime and its elite ruling class, and are not aimed at ordinary people already enduring hardships.

With reporting by TASS, Wall Street Journal, Korea Herald, and AFP

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/article/27586476.html

Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Will China Enforce UN Sanctions Against N. Korea?

by Brian Padden March 03, 2016

North Korea fired several short-range projectiles Thursday in what seemed to be an act of defiance against the expanded sanctions that were unanimously adopted by the United Nations Security Council.

South Korea's Defense Ministry said it is investigating the incident. It is unclear exactly how many projectiles were fired or if they were short-range missiles, but the ministry said they flew 100 to 150 kilometers before falling into the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan.

The United States 'will continue to monitor the situation closely,' a U.S. official said.

A provocation of this type was not unexpected or unprecedented. North Korea has a history of voicing its disagreement with international reprimands through a show of force rather than through traditional diplomatic channels.

Focus on China

The new U.N. resolution punishing North Korea for its latest nuclear test and long-range missile launch had more than 50 co-sponsors, but was primarily negotiated between the United States and China.

China is North Korea's closest ally and largest trading partner. Nearly 90 percent of all North Korean trade goes through China.

The effectiveness of the sanctions will depend in large measure on Beijing's implementation and enforcement.

"As the agreement came from this [close collaboration] I think China's responsibility to keep its promise has been strengthened," said Professor Kim Han-kwon with the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, which is affiliated with South Korea's Foreign Ministry.

One measure calls for the mandatory inspection of all cargo going in and out of North Korea.

China will have to increase inspections at seaports such as Dalian and in the border city of Dandong, through which most trade passes.

There are also many unofficial transits points along the 400-km (870-mile) Sino/North Korean border where uncontrolled trade and commerce has grown in recent years.

Other measures include:

 A total arms embargo, including both conventional and other weapons.

 Increased financial restrictions on companies that do business with North Korea.

 Expanded prohibitions on luxury goods to North Korea.

 Travel bans and asset freezes for 16 new North Korean officials.

 Restrictions on coal and other mineral exports from North Korea, except for 'livelihood purposes.'

There have been reports by South Korean media that China has already begun restricting some border trade, suspending currency transfers with North Korean banks and prohibiting North Korean vessels from entering Chinese ports.

However, Andrea Berger, a British analyst with the Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies, said these reports should be "treated with skepticism and should not be viewed as an early indication of China's intentions regarding the resolution."

Weak link

Writing for the U.S. Korea Institute website 38 North she suggested China will most likely continue to be the weak link in enforcing sanctions.

If North Korean goods can make their way into China, she wrote, "those consignments will probably successfully evade most screening by other states."

Lax enforcement by Beijing could lead to increased conflict with Washington.

New unilateral U.S. sanctions imposed on North Korea require the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to report on foreign ports that do not adequately screen North Korean cargo.

Beijing's support for sanctions is aimed at pressuring its traditional ally to halt its nuclear program in exchange for economic assistance and security guarantees.

But China also wants to maintain regional stability. So how flexible it will be in allowing coal imports and other trade for humanitarian reasons also remains to be seen.

"China will not completely draw its sword unless it is prepared to finish [its opponent.] It always leaves some room [to maneuver,]" said Professor Woo Su-keun, a Korea analyst at Donghua University in Shanghai.

Russia pressed for a revision to an earlier draft of the text banning the sale of aviation fuel, which is also used to power rockets, to North Korea. The final resolution includes an exception for civilian passenger aircrafts.

A North Korean mining executive with ties to Russia was also removed from a list of individuals designated for asset freezes and travel bans at Moscow's urging.

Positive assessments

Joshua Stanton, an analyst with One Free Korea, a long time advocate for increased North Korean sanctions and a critic of past measures and enforcement efforts, called the new U.N. sanctions, "strong text  very strong."

On his blog he wrote the financial sanctions have exceeded his expectations and "will effectively sever much of North Korea's access to the global financial system."

The U.S. Treasury Thursday added Hwang Pyong So, vice chairman of the North's powerful National Defense Commission, to its list of 16 other officials and individuals who are now subject to a travel ban and asset freeze. The measures are also designed to block U.S. nationals from dealing with them.

Hwang, who holds the rank of Vice Marshal in the North Korean army, heads its General Political Bureau, often seen as the most powerful position in the military after Kim Jong Un, who is the supreme commander.

VOA's Pam Dockins at the State Department and Youmi Kim and Han Sang-mi in Seoul contributed to this report.

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Iran to unveil Karrar tank in coming days: Senior commander

Iran Press TV

Thu Mar 3, 2016 3:35PM

A senior Iranian commander says the Islamic Republic is set to unveil a domestically-manufactured battle tank in coming days.

Karrar (Striker) tank will be unveiled in the coming days in a ceremony attended by Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan, Commander of the Iranian Army's Ground Forces Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan told reporters on Thursday.

He added that the battle tank will join Iranian Army's Ground Forces soon.

Pourdastan said that the country plans to purchase T-90 tanks from Russia too.

In recent years, Iran has made great achievements in its defense sector and conducted numerous military drills.

Last April, the Iranian Army unveiled the Aqareb battle tank, which is equipped with a 90 mm-caliber cannon and can carry four military personnel.

It also features a state-of-the-art fire control system, an independent suspension system and eight active wheels.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Pourdastan said the country's border areas are completely secure, stressing that the country faces no issues at border areas, particularly those in the east.

The Islamic Republic "is a peace-loving nation in the region and poses no threat to other countries," added Pourdastan, stressing, however, that the Iranian Armed Forces stand fully ready to counter any enemy threats.

Iran has repeatedly assured other countries that its military might poses no threat to other states, insisting that its defense doctrine is entirely based on deterrence.

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GCC branding of Hezbollah as terrorist a new mistake: Iran

Iran Press TV

Thu Mar 3, 2016 10:49AM

Iran says a decision by Persian Gulf Arab states to brand Lebanon's Hezbollah as a terrorist group is a 'new mistake' that will undermine peace in the region and unity in Lebanon.

The Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on Wednesday decided to implement the terrorist designation against Hezbollah because of what it described as hostile acts by the Lebanese resistance.

'Those who call Hezbollah terrorists, have intentionally or unintentionally targeted the unity and security of Lebanon,' Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Thursday.

The GCC decision came after Saudi Arabia retracted its military aid pledge worth $4 billion to Lebanon and banned its citizens from traveling to the country.

"The terrorism tag for Hezbollah, the most potent resistance movement, and inattention to the Zionist regime's atrocities is a new mistake which doesn't benefit the regional stability and security,' Amir-Abdollahian said.

The official reiterated Iran's support for Hezbollah which is famed for waging a successful battle against Israel and is currently aiding the Syrian government to thwart a campaign by militants to overtake the Arab country.

'We are proud of Lebanon's Hezbollah as the vanguard of resistance against the Zionist regime and the champion of the fight against terrorism in the region,' Amir-Abdollahian said.

The official said "national unity, security and stability of Lebanon as well as support for convergence among all Lebanese groups forms the basis of Iran's policy."

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Iraq signs deal with Italian firm to save Mosul dam

Iran Press TV

Wed Mar 2, 2016 7:16PM

Iraq has signed a deal with an Italian company to repair and maintain the country's largest dam near the northern city of Mosul, a government official says.

On Wednesday, Iraqi government spokesman Saad al-Hadithi said the 18-month 273-million-euro (USD-296-million) contract was signed with Trevi group in Baghdad.

Although the spokesman did not mention when the work on the Mosul Dam would start, he said it needed to begin "as quickly as possible."

Iraqis living near the area have been warned to evacuate their homes and move at least six kilometers (3.7 miles) away from the banks of Tigris River in order to avoid floodwaters in case of a collapse.

In recent weeks, concerns have been on the rise over the possible collapse of the dam due to neglect and a lack of needed maintenance as a result of the ongoing fighting between Iraqi army forces and Daesh Takfiri terrorists, who currently control parts of Iraq's north and west.

Mahdi Rasheed, the government's director in charge of Iraqi dams, said the deal 'will help improve the situation at the dam and will develop the capabilities of Iraqi cadres with the most needed training and modern technologies.'

Repairing the dam has become increasingly difficult as Daesh militants have also taken over a nearby factory that produces concrete for the dam.

Concerns over a possible collapse of the dam, which was built on the Tigris River in the early 1980s, first started in 2006.

The situation significantly deteriorated in 2014, when the terrorists overran the dam and held it for several weeks.

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Italy to Send 8 Helicopters to Iraq for Anti-Daesh Campaign

Sputnik News

17:25 03.03.2016(updated 17:26 03.03.2016)

Italy will send eight helicopters to Iraq to provide combat and logistical assistance in the fight against terrorism, the Italian defense minister said.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Last month, the Italian Defense Ministry announced that it would send 130 military personnel to Iraq where they will be stationed in Erbil.

'The Italian government will send four Mongoose (A-129) helicopters and four other NH90 planes to Iraq in the coming days The aircraft will be deployed in northern Erbil for combat, search and rescue purposes,' Roberta Pinotti said in a statement published by the portal Iraqi News on Thursday.

The US-led international coalition of over 60 countries has been fighting against Daesh, both in Syria and Iraq, since 2014.

 Sputnik

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Libyan forces kill 7 suspected Daesh terrorists in Sabratha

Iran Press TV

Thu Mar 3, 2016 2:17PM

Libyan security forces have raided a hideout belonging to Daesh terrorists in the northwestern city of Sabratha, leaving seven suspected Takfiri militants dead.

Sabri Kshada, a spokesman for Sabratha's military council, said the attack took place about 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of the city on Wednesday.

"Our forces were confronted by the militants and there was an exchange of fire," Kshada said.

A Syrian militant and a female Tunisian terrorist with a three-year-old son were arrested during the gun battle while three more suspects managed to escape the scene, he added.

Local military brigades have been battling militants in Sabratha since they briefly overran the city center last week and beheaded over 10 local forces.

Earlier, the official reported that 46 members of local brigades had lost their lives in clashes with militants since last week. He further said a "great number" of terrorists were killed in the confrontation.

The situation in Sabratha is largely calm while state offices are set to reopen in the next few days, he added.

In another development on Wednesday, military forces in the northeastern city of Benghazi said four troops had been killed in clashes with militants near the University of Benghazi, formerly known as the Garyounis University.

Colonel Abdullah al-Shaafi said troops had advanced during fierce fighting southwest of the city center.

At least five people died and nine sustained injuries in the Benghazi fighting, an unnamed medical source said.

Libya has been grappling with violence and political uncertainty since the oil-rich country's former dictator Muammar Gaddafi was deposed in 2011. Armed groups and regional factions have been fighting for power ever since.

Since August 2014, when militias seized the capital Tripoli, Libya has had two parliaments and two governments with one, the General National Congress (GNC), run by the rebels in the capital, and the internationally-recognized administration in Tobruk. A UN-backed government of national unity is awaiting parliamentary approval.

Taking advantage of the political chaos, Daesh took control of Libya's northern port city of Sirte in June 2015, almost four months after it announced its presence in the city, and made it the first city to be ruled by the militant group outside of Iraq and Syria.

Since then, the group has been boosting its presence in the violence-wracked country, particularly after the Iraqi and Syrian army advances against militants.

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Pakistan hosting Afghan Taliban leadership: Top official

Iran Press TV

Thu Mar 3, 2016 11:39AM

A top Pakistani official has for the first time admitted that Islamabad holds sway over Taliban and hosts leaders of the Afghan militant group.

The admission by foreign affairs adviser Sartaj Aziz comes after years of official denials by Islamabad that it offers shelter or exerts any influence over the Taliban.

"We have some influence over them because their leadership is in Pakistan and they get some medical facilities. Their families are here," Aziz said in Washington.

Most of the group's leaders are believed to be residing in the southwestern city of Quetta, with others in northwest Peshawar and southern Karachi.

Pakistan brokered direct peace talks between Kabul and the Taliban last summer but the negotiations faltered after Afghan intelligence leaked the news the group's founder Mullah Omar had died in 2013.

Aziz said Islamabad had used the threat of expulsion to force the Taliban into the first round of talks.

Pakistan, Afghanistan, the United States and China held their fourth round of talks aimed at reviving direct peace talks with the Taliban late last month.

There have also been growing differences among Taliban elements over the negotiations, with some vowing to fight for power instead of taking part in negotiations.

Afghanistan is gripped by insecurity more than 14 years after the United States and its allies attacked the country as part of Washington's so-called war on terror.

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Russia to Replace All Su-24's With Su-30SM's in Black Sea Fleet by 2020

Sputnik News

12:48 03.03.2016(updated 15:29 03.03.2016)

Russia will replace all Su-24 bombers on the Crimean Peninsula with the Su-30SM multirole fighters which can strike targets on the surface and in the air.

SEVASTOPOL (Sputnik)  Russia will replace all of its Su-24 Fencer bomber jets operating in the Black Sea Fleet on the Crimean Peninsula with Su-30SM Flanker multirole fighters by 2020, the head of the Russian Black Sea Fleet's Naval Aviation said Thursday.

"The complete replacement of the Su-24 attack fighters with Su-30SMs capable of hitting both ground and marine targets will take place," Col. Gennady Zagonov told RIA Novosti.

 Sputnik

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Syria peace holding despite minor breaches: UN envoy

Iran Press TV

Thu Mar 3, 2016 12:44PM

The UN special envoy for Syria has given an upbeat assessment of truce in Syria, saying the ceasefire agreement engineered by the US and Russia has been holding across the country despite minor breaches.

Staffan de Mistura said during a briefing in the Swiss city of Geneva on Thursday that clashes are being reported from areas in Syria like Homs, Hama, Latakia and Damascus.

"There are still a number of places where fighting has continued, including parts of Hama, Homs, Latakia and Damascus, but they're being contained," the senior UN diplomat told reporters.

De Mistura, who was speaking at the end of a meeting aimed at improving access to 4 million people living in besieged and hard-to-reach areas in Syria, said the US and Russia as the co-chairs of the International Syria Support Group, are closely watching the developments on the ground so that the implementation of the ceasefire in Syria can be ensured at its best.

"The two co-chairs, which, as you know, are the crucial players in order to control the cessation of hostilities which they themselves have been facilitating, are in close attention to the situation in these areas, so is the world, and are, so far, ensuring that these incidents are contained," he added.

De Mistura said that the UN is also working with Moscow and Washington to find factors that could undermine the confidence of Syrians in the ceasefire process.

For nearly five years, Syria has been grappling with a deadly insurgency it blames on some foreign states.

Estimates show that more than 250,000 people have been killed and millions have been displaced in the Arab country.

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Some 30 towns, villages in Syria's Hama join national reconciliation

Iran Press TV

Thu Mar 3, 2016 11:48AM

Some 30 towns and villages in the Syrian province of Hama have joined the national reconciliation process through the mediation of a Russian center, the head of the center says.

German Rudenko told reporters on Thursday that representatives of local communities had signed a deal banning use of weapons against government forces and returning state power to the region.

'The work is very meticulous and delicate; everything here is based on religious and national matters, but overall about 30 communities have signed an application form to join the peace process and negotiations.'

Up to 1,000 militants promised to drop their weapons and join the peace process in a gathering held in the capital of Dara'a Governorate on Monday.

National reconciliation was previously achieved in Rif Dimashq Governorate and some areas in Homs Governorate.

The program is a peace settlement proposed by Syrian government to solve the crisis in the country.

Under the program, militants can get back to their normal lives if they promise to lay down weapons and accept government investigation.

Syria is currently observing a ceasefire brokered by Russia and the United States, which entered into force on Saturday.

The World Health Organization (WHO) used the lull on Wednesday to deliver urgently-needed medicines to Mouadamiya on the edge of Damascus which is held by militants.

The warring sides, however, traded accusations of ceasefire breaches by each other.

The White House claimed tank and artillery attacks by the Syrian government which has vowed to continue targeting Daesh and Nusra Front positions.

Russia said shelling of the Syrian territory by Turkey and terrorist groups was jeopardizing the truce.

Head of the Russian Ceasefire Coordination Center in Syria Sergei Kuralenko said his office continues to receive information about the artillery shelling which continues from the Turkish territory.

'We regard these Turkish actions as open provocations and think they are aimed at a breakdown of the ceasefire and reconciliation process in the Syrian Arab Republic.'

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Wednesday the ceasefire has been violated 31 times over the past three days.

Turkey is pommeling the positions of Syrian Kurds whom it accuses of links to PKK militants fighting for an independent state inside the country.

UN special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said the ceasefire is largely holding in the country and has 'greatly reduced' violence, despite sporadic clashes in some cities.

He spoke on Thursday to reporters in Geneva before holding the third meeting of a task force which is monitoring the truce.

De Mistura said he has set a 'penciled date' of next Wednesday for Syrian peace talks to resume in the Swiss city.

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Kurdish fighters retake strategic hill in surprise attack in Aleppo

Iran Press TV

Thu Mar 3, 2016 2:18AM

A coalition of mostly Kurdish and Syrian forces has recaptured a strategic region from Takfiri terrorists in Syria's northwestern province of Aleppo.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) retook Castello hill, which overlooks a major road in Aleppo, from the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front during their operation on Wednesday.

According to Syrian state media, the liberation of the hill effectively severs terrorist supply lines between Aleppo's eastern and southern regions.

SDF and Syrian army forces are currently engaged in a major operation aimed at liberating the militant-held town of Aleppo and are successfully regaining grounds from the terrorists.

The surprise attack came on the fifth-day of a US-Russia brokered ceasefire that came into force on February 27. As the truce does not include Daesh and al-Nusra terrorists it will not undermined by the assault.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. According to a February report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people, injured 1.9 million others, and displaced nearly half of the country's pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders.

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[P]GCC decision on Hezbollah in line with Israeli agenda: Syria

Iran Press TV

Thu Mar 3, 2016 2:5AM

The Syrian government says the move by the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council ([P]GCC) in declaring the Hezbollah resistance movement a "terrorist group" is in line with the Israeli regime's agenda.

"In a step that is in line with Israeli policy, the [P]GCC issued a decision classifying Hezbollah a terrorist organization because it is confronting the Zionist project in the region and the Israeli enemy through its great sacrifices which have resonated across the Arab and Muslim nations," a Syrian Foreign Ministry official was quoted as saying on Wednesday by Syria's official SANA agency.

The official added that the decision reflected the Saudi Arabia's confusion and was an attempt to hijack the will of people in the Persian Gulf states, who are against normalization of relations with Israel and establishing mutual ties with the occupying regime.

The resistance group, which is fighting against Israeli occupation of Palestine and Takfiri terrorist groups, including Daesh and the Nusra Front, in Syria, has angered some countries in the Persian Gulf, mainly Saudi Arabia, the official went on to say.

The official also affirmed that Syria will always consider Hezbollah as a resistance movement against the Israeli regime and terrorism and that [P]GCC's decision further unmasked the scope of conspiracy against Palestine, Syria, and the resistance.

Meanwhile, the Houthi Ansarullah movement in Yemen, in a statement, denounced the [P]GCC's decision and called it "a free service to the Israeli enemy regime." It also expressed the Yemeni people's gratitude to what Hezbollah has done in fight against the Israeli occupation in Palestine and the stance it adopted against Saudis' deadly war in Yemen.

Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary general of Hezbollah, recently slammed the Arab world's silence in the face of Riyadh's aggression on Yemen, where over 8,000 people have lost their lives since the war began in late March last year.

On Wednesday, the six-nation Persian Gulf Cooperation Council officially added Hezbollah and all its affiliated groups to its so-called list of "terrorist" organizations.

The bloc, comprised of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait, however, did not provide any evidence for its allegations.

This comes as the first three monarchies themselves stand accused of supporting extremists and terrorists in the region.

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Jaish al-Islam Leaders in Damascus Join Ceasefire Regime in Syria

Sputnik News

18:30 03.03.2016(updated 19:12 03.03.2016)

Jaish al-Islam leaders in the Damascus province decided to join the ceasefire regime in Syria, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The number of local ceasefire agreements in Syria has reached 44, the Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday.

'The total number of ceasefire agreements has reached 44,' the ministry said in a statement on its website.

'Moreover, Jaish al-Islam leaders controlling the town of Ruhhaybah [Damascus region] decided yesterday to join the cessation of hostilities,' the statement reads.

The ministry added that the negotiations on joining ceasefire were underway with other 5 armed groups active in the provinces of Damascus, Daraa and Homs.

Last week, Russia and the United States reached an agreement on the ceasefire in Syria. The cessation of hostilities took effect at midnight on Saturday, Damascus time, generally holding across the country despite reported minor violations.

The Russian center on Syrian reconciliation registered 14 violations of ceasefire regime in Syria in the last 24 hours, the Russian defense Ministry said Thursday.

'In the past 24 hours, some 14 shellings of residential areas and government troops positions have been registered, including three in Damascusand five in Aleppo,' the ministry said in a press release.

Staff of the Russian center delivered on Thursday over four metric tons of humanitarian aid to two locales in Syria's Hama province. 'Local residents received food supplies and bottled potable water.'

 Sputnik

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Amnesty: Russian, Syrian Airstrikes Target Hospitals Deliberately

by VOA News March 03, 2016

Amnesty International accused Russian and Syrian forces Thursday of deliberately targeting Syrian hospitals and medical facilities with airstrikes to ease the path for pro-regime ground forces advancing on northern Aleppo.

Tirana Hassan, the humanitarian group's crisis response director, said of the past three months of air raids: "Syrian and Russian forces have been deliberately attacking health facilities in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law. But what is truly egregious is that wiping out hospitals appears to have become part of their military strategy.'

Amnesty International said it had 'compelling evidence' of attacks on six health-care facilities that killed three civilians, including a medical worker, and injured 44 others.

The group said information gathered from medical workers in Anadan and Hreitan, two towns near Aleppo, made clear that the strategy of Syrian government forces and their Russian military supporters was to empty a town of its population by destroying health-care facilities, water and electricity systems, to facilitate a ground invasion.

Cease-fire largely holding

Amnesty International's broadside against Russia and Syria came as the United Nations special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said a six-day-old partial cease-fire in the civil war is largely holding.

Despite sporadic clashes, de Mistura told reporters, the truce has 'greatly reduced' violence after five years of devastating civil war in Syria.

The U.N. envoy is in Geneva for a meeting of a task force led by the United States and Russia to monitor the situation in Syria.

Diplomats said the partial cease-fire that began last week is 'a cessation of hostilities' that permits continuing attacks on the Islamic State group and al-Nusra Front, al-Qaida's Syrian affiliate.

'The situation is fragile. Success is not guaranteed, but progress is visible,' de Mistura said. He is planning to start a new round of Syrian peace talks on March 9.

A U.N. humanitarian official reported progress is being made to dispatch food and medical supplies to parts of Syria that have been trapped by fighting between forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and rebels trying to overthrow his regime.

Meanwhile, Syrian state television reported that a nationwide power outage hit the country Thursday, but the cause was not immediately known. Damascus residents said that mobile Internet connections were also not working.

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Syria Suffers Nationwide Power Blackout

by Sirwan Kajjo March 03, 2016

For the first time since the eruption of civil war in 2011, a nationwide electricity blackout hit Syria in the early hours Thursday.

The country's official news agency, SANA, reported that the cause of the shutdown is not known and that workers are trying to restore power region-by-region.

Government experts said they expect to the power to be resorted in the next 12 hours in the entire country.

Power outage, shortage

"This is a just technical issue that happens in many countries," an employee at the Ministry of Electricity told VOA via phone. She refused to give further details.

Another source at the Ministry of Electricity in the Syrian capital told SANA that experts have been able to restore electricity in several areas of the war-torn country.

The Syrian government has in the past not acknowledged major infrastructure failures, analysts say.

"What's interesting is that the government has made such an announcement for the first time," said Bangin Hisso, an electricity engineer who has worked for Syria's department of electricity for a decade.

"In the past, the government would just ignore the fact they had power shortages. But because this is a nationwide blackout, it had to say something to the people," Hisso told VOA.

Despite the ongoing civil war in many parts of the country, the Syrian government has been able to continue providing electricity to residents  even in areas under opposition and Islamic State control.

Electric distribution

However, the quantity of electricity has varied from region to another, and that has depended on political and military circumstances of the civil war, locals say.

"The amount of electricity Syrian get depends on where they live," said engineer Hisso. "If you live in an area control by Daesh [IS], you get two hours [of electricity] every day. If you live in a Kurdish area, you might get up to three hours every day."

He said in government-held areas, residents have the privilege of receiving up to 12 hours of electricity intermittently on a daily basis.

Since the onset of the war, many Syrians have relied on local electricity providers that offer around six hours of power daily. Due to high pricing, most residents cannot afford the local service.

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Suspended Syrian Peace Talks to Resume Next Week

by Lisa Schlein March 03, 2016

The United Nations' special envoy for Syria reported the cessation of hostilities in Syria is largely holding, so political talks aimed at ending the five-year-long civil war will be resumed next week as planned.

Staffan de Mistura said the the truce has now lasted for six days, noting it is one of the longest periods of relative calm in Syria's five years of war.

He said the level of violence has been greatly reduced, and that the cessation of hostilities agreement is generally holding, which is good news for many Syrian people.

"Unfortunately, we have to admit, like in every cessation of hostility or cease-fire and, in particular, in this one, there are still a number of places where fighting has continued, including parts of Hama, Homs, Latakia, and Damascus. But, they have been contained," de Mistura said.

The special envoy said U.N. personnel are closely monitoring what is happening on the ground. When a potentially hostile and violent situation is identified, he said they quickly jump in to get the warring parties to defuse the situation before it gets out of hand.

"The situation, therefore, could be summarized as fragile. Success is not guaranteed, but progress has been visible. Ask the Syrians. We are committed to make it work and, of course, that is the hope of everyone," he said.

De Mistura said the peace talks, which were abruptly suspended on February 3, will resume on March 9. Since government and opposition representatives refuse to meet face-to-face, he said he will conduct proximity talks, as before. He said this allows a lot of flexibility, so not all of the delegations need to be present at the opening session. He said he will stagger the days of arrival of the various groups.

U.N. officials say the cessation of hostilities agreement has made it possible for U.N. and partner agencies to deliver food, medicine and other aid to 115,000 Syrian civilians living in areas under siege by government or opposition forces. They say last year, aid agencies were unable to access any of these areas.

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Prosecutors investigate Coast Guard cutter controversy

ROC Central News Agency

2016/03/03 18:22:12

Taipei, March 3 (CNA) Prosecutors and investigators went to the headquarters of the Maritime Patrol Directorate-General (MPDG) in New Taipei's Tamsui District Thursday to examine documents regarding a cutter belonging to the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and question officials who were involved in its construction.

The 2,000-ton cutter 'Tainan' (CG126) cost NT$1.5 billion (US$45.51 million) and was commissioned in late 2010.

Its builder, the Kaohsiung-based Jong Shyn Shipbuilding Co. (), said prosecutors visited the firm and took away a manager and some documents.

Responding to reports that helicopters cannot land on the cutter because of its shoddy construction, Jong Shyn employees pointed out that the original design of the cutter had no chopper pad and that this was added later by the CGA.

The MPDG said that the building, maintenance and acceptance check of all its ships are conducted according to lawful procedures and that it will cooperate with the investigation by the Shilin District Prosecutors Office.

The cutter suffered three serious incidences of damage, costing NT$380 million to repair, and was out of service for 848 days in the four years from late 2010 to late 2014, according to a report by the Liberty Times newspaper in August 2015.

The cutter, which carries a crew of 68, has a cruising range of 7,500 nautical miles at 15 knots, and travels to the Dongsha (Pratas) and Nansha (Spratly) archipelagos in the South China Sea.

(By Liu Chien-pang, Chen Chao-fu and Kuo Chung-han)

ENDITEM/J

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Taiwan urges Beijing to 'take pragmatic approach to ROC Constitution'

ROC Central News Agency

2016/03/03 22:48:13

Taipei, March 3 (CNA) Taiwan urged China to look at the Constitution of the Republic of China in a practical manner, noting that the government's China policy has always been made based on the 'one China (ROC), two areas' principle

Yang Chia-chun (), chief secretary of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), made the statement in response to a high-level policy report by Beijing stating that it will insist on continuing to promote the peaceful development of cross-Taiwan Strait relations based on the political foundation of the '1992 consensus' and opposition to Taiwan independence.

The 1992 consensus refers to a tacit agreement between Taipei and Beijing that there is only one China, with both sides free to interpret what 'one China' means. For Taiwan, that 'one China' is the Republic of China that was formed in 1912, the first democratic republic in Asia, but was relocated to Taiwan in 1949.

The two areas Yang mentioned were 'the Taiwan Area' and the 'Mainland Area' as stipulated in the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area.

The issue of the ROC's Constitution became a hot topic after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Feb. 25 mentioned 'their Constitution' in the United States when discussing how Beijing is expected to deal with a Democratic Progressive Party administration in Taiwan that will be sworn in on May 20.

Many analysts here said by publicly talking about Taiwan's Constitution, Beijing might be showing greater flexibility in dealing with Taiwan, probably to the extent of recognizing the legitimacy of the ROC government.

The Chinese government has since played down Wang's remarks and in a major policy report issued by the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Thursday, Beijing reiterated the importance of the '1992 consensus' and its opposition to Taiwan independence.

(By Chen Chia-lun and S.C. Chang)

Enditem/ke

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Defence Secretary announces 642 million investment in next generation nuclear submarines

3 March 2016

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has today announced 642 million of investment for the Successor submarine programme.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has today announced 642 million of investment for the Successor submarine programme. The funding will help to progress work on the four new submarines that will begin replacing the Vanguard class, from the 2030s. The funding will go towards new parts and facilities, as well as further design work.

The investment will include 225 million of investment for new facilities, at BAE Systems at Barrow-in-Furness, where the submarines will be assembled. That investment will ensure the submarines are built with maximum efficiency.

The funding will also see significant investment in the UK/US collaboration for the Common Missile Compartment and around 200 million for the submarine's power plant, including long lead items. This confirms the announcement made in last year's Strategic Defence and Security Review and will provide a sound foundation for the next phase where we will be taking a staged investment approach.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said:

'Our nuclear deterrent provides the ultimate guarantee of our security and our way of life. That's why we are getting on with this investment.'

'This money will support further design work, new infrastructure and the purchase of key parts such as engines and gearboxes, as well as jobs across the UK.'

This investment of 642 million will take the total cost of the Assessment phase to 3.9 billion.

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Defence Secretary secures progress on Brimstone sales as unmanned aircraft project moves forward

3 March 2016

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has discussed trade opportunities and joint operations with France during the bi-annual UK-France Defence Summit.

The Defence Secretary and Prime Minister visited Amiens, France where a ground-breaking new 1.54bn project was announced to build a prototype of the next generation of unmanned aircraft. The Future Combat Air System (FCAS) project builds on the successful 120million joint feasibility study undertaken after the last UK France Summit in 2014.

At the summit, Mr. Fallon also secured agreement from France to look at purchasing Brimstone missiles for its next version of the Tiger Combat helicopter. And he committed the UK to providing one strategic airlift flight a month to support French forces in their operations against terrorists in Africa.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said:

'Brimstone missile would be a significant option for the upgrade of their Tiger attack helicopters.'

'The sale of this British made precision weapon would deliver investment in the UK economy and help protect both our shared interests around the world.'

The Future Combat Air System project will give the UK and France the most advanced vehicle of its kind in Europe, securing high-end engineering jobs and expertise in both countries with full scale development of prototypes starting in 2017. UK companies including BAE Systems, Finmeccanica Airborne and Space Systems Division ,and Rolls Royce and Dassault Aviation, SNECMA/Safran and Thales in France are expected to benefit from the project.

The 49kg, rocket-propelled Brimstone ground attack missile is currently in use in Iraq and Syria and would offer a valuable upgrade to the French arsenal. The cutting edge weapon is widely regarded as a world leader due to its unrivalled precision and ability to inflict minimal collateral damage.

The summit comes ahead of Exercise Griffin Strike, which will take place around the UK in the Spring. Armed forces from both sides of the Channel will train together across land, sea and air platforms as part of the development of the Combined Joint Expeditionary Force (CJEF).

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Ukraine: growing despair among over three million civilians in conflict zone - UN report

3 March 2016  Despite a decrease in the number of civilian casualties in the east of Ukraine over the past few months, a new United Nations report shows that the conflict is severely impacting on the daily life of civilians, with a growing sense of despair and isolation affecting those living in the conflict zone, especially in the areas controlled by the armed groups.

"There is a terrible sensation of physical, political, social and economic isolation and abandonment among the huge number of people  more than three million in all  who are struggling to eke out a living in the conflict zone. They are in urgent need of greater protection and support," said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, in a news release.

Daily struggle for survival

The latest in a series of reports on Ukraine by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which covers the period from 16 November 2015 to 15 February 2016, places particular focus on the daily struggle for survival by people living around the 'contact line,' which separates the self-proclaimed 'Donetsk people's republic' and 'Luhansk people's republic' from the rest of Ukraine.

According to OHCHR, many homes have been damaged and looted. Local administrations are not functioning, and access to basic public services is, at best, limited. Water and food are expensive and difficult to acquire. Freedom of movement is severely hampered by check points with, at times, hundreds of vehicles waiting to cross the contact line and passengers forced to spend the night in freezing temperatures.

Residents of territories under the control of armed groups are particularly vulnerable to human rights abuses, the report says, describing how they live in an environment characterized by the growth of parallel governance structures, a complete absence of rule of law, reports of arbitrary detention, torture and incommunicado detention, and no access to real redress mechanisms.

"I am particularly concerned by the lack of space left for civil society, the vulnerability to abuse of people deprived of their liberty, and the complete absence of due process and rule of law in territories under the control of the armed groups," Mr. Zeid said.

The report describes how a recent wave of arrests in the self-proclaimed 'Donetsk people's republic' has had a further chilling effect on the ability of people to exercise their already heavily circumscribed rights to the freedom of expression, religion, peaceful assembly and association.

Allegations of violations perpetrated with impunity

During the reporting period, UN human rights monitors also documented allegations of violations perpetrated with impunity by Ukrainian law enforcement officialsmainly elements of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU)including enforced disappearances, arbitrary and incommunicado detention, and torture and ill-treatment.

"I urge the Ukrainian authorities to ensure prompt and impartial investigation into each and every reported human rights violation," Mr. Zeid stated. "Accountability is critical to bring justice for victims, curtail impunity, and foster long-lasting peace, and it is also important as a deterrent to further violations by State authorities. Each violation that goes un-investigated and unpunished saps the State's moral and legal authority."

The High Commissioner also called on the Government of Ukraine and the self-proclaimed 'Donetsk people's republic' and 'Luhansk people's republic' to take action to clarify the fate of missing persons and to prevent other people from going missing. "The clarification of the fate of the missing should be a key priority of any peace negotiations," he stressed.

Meanwhile, the human rights situation in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea remains very difficult, according to the report, with Crimean Tatar demonstrators facing prosecution and others being arrested for alleged membership in 'terrorist' organizations. Last month, the prosecutor of Crimea filed a request with its supreme court to designate the Mejlis, the self-governing body of the Crimean Tatars, as an extremist organization and to ban its activities. OHCHR qualified this as a "significant and worrying" development.

Ceasefire remains tenuous

The UN report also shows that the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine remains tenuous, with reported violations to it, the continued occurrences of indiscriminate shelling and the presence of anti-personnel mines and remnants of war. During the reporting period, 78 conflict-related civilian casualties were recorded in eastern Ukraine, bringing the estimated casualty figures since the beginning of the conflict to more than 30,000 people, including at least 9,160 killed and 21,000 injured (figures include civilians as well as Ukrainian armed forces, and members of armed groups).

"The implementation of the Minsk Agreements is the only viable strategy for achieving a peaceful solution in certain areas of eastern Ukraine controlled by armed groups, which, in turn, is key for resolving the human rights crisis in Ukraine. This includes the restoration of effective control by the Government of Ukraine over the border with the Russian Federation and the withdrawal of foreign fighters, mercenaries and military equipment," the High Commissioner stressed.

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Disillusioned, Ukrainians Lose Faith in Quick End to War

by Luis Ramirez March 03, 2016

When Russian-backed forces seized public buildings in eastern Ukraine, unleashing the ongoing conflict, many Ukrainians thought the crisis would not last very long. Two years later, with western sanctions and two peace agreements failing to stop Russia's intervention, the war continues and many of those displaced see little hope that they will get to go home anytime soon.

"Around four one morning, my friend called me and said, 'Viktoria, it's actually very dangerous now, armored vehicles are coming in,'" Viktoria Vasilevskaya, a mother of three, told VOA, describing a phone call in 2014 that caused her and her family to flee her home city of Luhansk, now held by pro-Russian separatists.

Vasilevskaya, her husband, and her children then became part of the 1.4 million people the Ukrainian government says are internally displaced by the conflict.

The family arrived in Kyiv with only a few belongings and nowhere to live. "We felt alone," said Vasilevskaya.

Sweeping change

In Luhansk, the couple and their children had enjoyed a comfortable life. She is a dermatologist and he is a professional physical trainer. Together, they had renovated their apartment and taken a vacation abroad just before the start of the war.

'I don't know why but it seemed that in two weeks everything would settle down, everything would be resolved, and everything would be good," Vasilevskaya said.

But the crisis was not to be short-lived.

International efforts have failed to stop the conflict and there is a perception here that the world's interest is turning away as the West focuses on the war in Syria and the Islamic State threat.

Indications that Germany and France may call for the EU to allow sanctions to expire at the end of the year are causing alarm among Ukrainians. Neither Russia nor Ukraine appears ready to implement the Minsk agreements that were intended to end the conflict.

Russian-backed forces in recent weeks have stepped up their offensive in eastern Ukraine to show that Moscow is not abandoning its efforts even as it fights a war in Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad.

New life

In many ways, life has moved on for Viktoria Vasilevskaya.

She and her husband found an apartment in a grey, Soviet-era apartment block in Troyeshina, an outlying district of Kyiv. Their children settled into their new schools.

She took a job at the Florivska 9/11 Center in Kyiv's central Podil area that assists displaced people, and where she herself once got help.

The solidarity and generosity she sees at the center every day make the crisis, for her, bearable. Throughout the morning Wednesday, a succession of donors approached a window in the center's warehouse and handed bags of used clothing, toys, and other items for distribution to the refugees.

"We got so much help from here, this place showed us we were not alone," said Vasilevskaya.

Two years into the conflict, new applications for help come into the center every day. As the war drags on, it becomes to clear to people in eastern Ukraine that the suffering will continue and after holding out for some time, they are choosing to leave.

"None of us could have thought and imagined even in a nightmare that such a war would be happening around us," said Viktor Tukaylo, who left his home in the Luhansk region after it was shelled. He now works as a volunteer at the center. "I don't know why, but we were absolutely sure we would not have such a fate."

Lingering war zone memories

He, like others who come to the center, left the war zone but brought the shock and trauma with him, including memories of how the separatist fighters forced him to dig graves and bury the dead.

Like others at the center, he holds out hope for better things in a distant future.

"I'm sure that in the end everything will be fine, and we will win the war. But obviously now and for future years, I can't imagine how Luhansk can come to normal."

Tukaylo says he tried to hold out but reached a point where he found living under separatists' control unbearable. "People are now under this Russian propaganda but as soon as the button is switched off, people will come back to normal, and be human again."

But it remains unclear what it will take to end the conflict.

I asked Vasilevskaya about her thoughts on returning to Luhansk. "If you had asked me this question a year ago, I would have said that my suitcases are ready. I would be packed quickly and been ready to go home. Half a year ago, I would probably doubt it, but today I can definitely say that it will be several years before we go there," she said.

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Ukraine FM: Russia Not Ready to Talk in Detail

by Ken Schwartz March 03, 2016

Ukraine's foreign minister, Pavlo Klimkin, reported no breakthrough after Thursday's talks in Paris on the conflict in eastern Ukraine, saying he believes the Russians are not ready to discuss anything in detail.

Klimkin told reporters the talks with the Russian, French and German foreign ministers were lively but very difficult, especially on the issue of Ukrainians being held prisoner by Russian-backed rebels in the east. He said he presented the Russians with letters of appeal written by the mothers of some of those being held.

Klimkin also said there needs to be more progress toward security and a lasting cease-fire if elections are to be held in eastern Ukraine at the end of June.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said nothing as he walked right past the microphones and reporters after Thursday's meeting.

But France's Jean-Marc Ayrault called for a prisoner exchange, and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters he is unsatisfied with the way Russia and Ukraine have been leading the negotiations so far.

Russia and Ukraine signed the Minsk accords more than a year ago. They were supposed to have led to a lasting cease-fire and a political settlement in Ukraine.

The fighting has eased, but there has been almost no progress toward a permanent peace.

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As several companies from around the world of telecoms share their Q3 results, here is a financial round-up with all of the key points.
LITTLETON, Colo., March 3, 2016 /CNW/ -- Ur-Energy Inc. (NYSE MKT:URG, TSX:URE), announces that its Chairman, Jeffrey Klenda, will present at the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) International Convention, Trade Show & Investors Exchange in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The PDAC event is being held March 6  9, 2016.

Jeffrey Klenda, Chairman and Executive Director, will present at the conference, providing an overview and update of Ur-Energy's business. Mr. Klenda also will be available to participate in one-on-one meetings.

Event: PDAC Ur-Energy Inc. Presentation

Date: Monday, March 7, 2016

Presentation time: 4:20 p.m.

Location: Metro Toronto Convention Centre - Uranium Session, Room 802

For more information on the conference or to schedule a one-on-one meeting with Mr. Klenda, please contact Rich.Boberg@ur-energy.com or Jeff.Klenda@ur-energy.com.

Please visit the Ur-Energy Inc. Booth at PDAC: Booth 2443 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre

About Ur-Energy

Ur-Energy is a uranium mining company operating the Lost Creek in-situ recovery uranium facility in south-central Wyoming. The Lost Creek processing facility has a two million pounds per year nameplate design capacity. Shirley Basin, our newest project, is one of the Pathfinder Mines assets acquired in 2013. The Company has begun to submit applications for permits and licenses to operate Shirley Basin. Ur?Energy is engaged in uranium mining, recovery and processing activities, including the acquisition, development and operation of uranium mineral properties in the United States. Shares of Ur-Energy trade on the NYSE MKT under the symbol "URG" and on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "URE." Ur-Energy's corporate office is located in Littleton, Colorado; its registered office is in Ottawa, Ontario. Ur-Energy's website is www.ur-energy.com.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT

Rich Boberg, Senior Director IR/PR Jeffrey Klenda, Chairman & Executive Director 866-981-4588 866-981-4588 Rich.Boberg@ur-energy.com Jeff.Klenda@ur-energy.com

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110913/LA67628LOGO

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ur-energy-to-present-at-the-prospectors--developers-association-of-canada-international-convention-300230821.html

SOURCE Ur-Energy Inc.
ROUYN-NORANDA, QUEBEC--(Marketwired - Mar 4, 2016) - Radisson Mining Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE:RDS) ("Radisson or the Corporation") is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Rejean Gourde, P. Eng. to its Board of Directors.

Mr. Gourde is a mining engineer graduated from Ecole Polytechnique of Montreal combining 40 years of experience in the mining industry. In 1987, after 12 years of work with Falconbridge and Ressources Aiguebelle, Mr. Gourde joined the company Cambior today known as IamGold. He notably served as Senior VP of Guiana Shield division of Cambior in South America. Since 2007, he is an independent consultant for corporations with operations in North and South America and Africa.

"We are delighted to welcome Mr. Gourde an international calibre engineer to our Board of Directors. As a junior developer, we keep strengthening our management team in order to follow the development of our main asset, the O'Brien project. While our organization will benefit from his vast experience, Mr. Gourde represents additional engineering expertise to the Board of Directors," said Radisson's President, Mario Bouchard.

As a Director, Rejean Gourde will be granted 100,000 stock options to acquire class A share of Radisson share capital at an exercise price of $0.14.

Denis Lachance elected as Chairman of the Board

Mr. Lachance joined the Board of Directors in January 2013. Through his extensive involvement he contributed to Radisson's reorientation and emergence as a junior developer by advancing the O'Brien gold project. Mr. Lachance, mining engineer and member of the Ordre des ingenieurs du Quebec (OIQ) since 1982, has extensive experience as a developer and operator of base and precious metal deposits. Until 2012, he was President of Koniambo Nickel SAS, a $US5B joint venture responsible for the development of a mining and metallurgical complex, a power plant and a seaport for the exploitation of a Nickel deposit in New Caledonia.

Radisson gratefully thanks Mr. Jean-Marie Dupont founder of the company and Chairman of the Board since 2011. Thanks to his vision, Radisson is now in position to develop the O'Brien gold project under 100% ownership in world-renowned mining camp. M.Dupont will continue to serve as director on Radisson's Board of Directors.

PDAC 2016

Radisson invites shareholders and investors to meet the Company's management at booth #2908 at the PDAC convention, which will be held in Toronto from March 5th to the 9th.

M. Rejean Gourde appointment Radisson's Board of Directors is subject to the completion of formal documentation and receipt of regulatory approval, including the final approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

About Radisson Mining Resources Inc.

Radisson is a Quebec-based mineral exploration company. The O'Brien project, cut by the regional Larder-Lake-Cadillac Fault, is Radisson's main asset. The project hosts the former O'Brien Mine, considered to have been the Abitibi Greenstone Belt's highest-grade gold producer during its production (1,197,147 metric tons at 15.25 g/t Au for 587,121 ounces of gold from 1926 to 1957; InnovExplo, April 2015).

For more information on Radisson, visit our website at www.radissonmining.com.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements: This press release may contain certain forward-looking information. All statements included herein, including the scheduled Closing date, but other than statements of historical fact, is forward-looking information and such information involves various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. A description of assumptions used to develop such forward-looking information and a description of risk factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking information can be found in Radisson's disclosure documents on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com.
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Mar 4, 2016) - Aberdeen International Inc. ("Aberdeen", or the "Company") (TSX:AAB) is pleased to announce that it will be attending this year's PDAC Investors Exchange in Booth #2543 from Sunday, March 6th to Wednesday, March 9th.

Held in Toronto, Canada, the PDAC International Convention, Trade Show & Investors Exchange is the world's leading convention for people, companies and organizations in, or connected with, mineral exploration. The Conference features over 1,000 exhibitors and expects 23,500 attendees from over 100 countries. Also offered are a number of technical sessions, short courses and networking events. For more information visit www.pdac.ca/convention.

David Stein, President and CEO of Aberdeen International, invites you to come and speak with him about the Company's strategy, recent acquisitions, accomplishments and challenges at the following times:

Monday, March 7th from 11:30 - 1:00

Tuesday, March 8th from 12:30 - 2:00

For more information about PDAC, Aberdeen's participation or if you would like to chat with David at the Company's booth, please email info@aberdeeninternational.ca or call +1-416-861-5899.

ABOUT ABERDEEN INTERNATIONAL

Aberdeen International is a private equity investor and advisor focusing on the global mining and natural resources industry. African Thunder Platinum, Aberdeen's premiere investment, is a lower-cost platinum group metals producer in South Africa's well-known Bushveld Complex. Aberdeen has further enhanced its mineral investment holdings with the acquisition of the Diablillos lithium-potash project in Argentina.

For additional information, please visit our website at www.aberdeeninternational.ca and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and check out Aberdeen's YouTube Channel.

Cautionary Notes

Except for statements of historical fact contained herein, the information in this press release constitutes "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities law. Such forward-looking information may be identified by words such as "plans", "proposes", "estimates", "intends", "expects", "believes", "may", "will" and include without limitation, statements regarding, proceeds to be received on closing or subsequently, the ability of the Company to generate additional value for shareholders as a result of such transactions, past success as an indicator of future success; net asset value of the Company; the potential of investee companies and the appreciation of their share price; the Company's plan of business operations; industry opportunities and dynamics and anticipated returns. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate; actual results and future events could differ materially from such statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, among others, metal prices, competition, financing risks, acquisition risks, risks inherent in the mining industry, and regulatory risks. Most of these factors are beyond the control of the Company. Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking information. Except as otherwise required by applicable securities statutes or regulation, the Company expressly disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Sudbury, Ontario (FSCwire) - Houston Lake Mining Inc. (TSX.V: HLM), is pleased to report a Canadian National Instrument (N.I.) 43-101 mineral resource estimate for the PAK Lithium Project, located in northwestern, Ontario. The resource estimation has been prepared by WSP Canada Inc. (TSX: WSP), a Montreal-based firm. WSP is one of the largest engineering firms in Canada and has a mining division maintaining independent consulting geologists and engineers.

Highlights:

Measured and Indicated mineral resource of 7.89 million tonnes grading at 1.73% Li 2 O equivalent (eq)., including 6.87 million tonnes grading 1.96% Li 2 O eq. in high quality technical grade lithium zones with a low inherent iron spodumene;

O equivalent (eq)., including 6.87 million tonnes grading 1.96% Li O eq. in high quality technical grade lithium zones with a low inherent iron spodumene; Inferred mineral resource of 295,600 tonnes grading at 1.35% Li 2 O (eq.), including 228,700 tonnes grading 1.69% Li 2 O eq. in technical grade lithium zones with a low inherent iron spodumene;

O (eq.), including 228,700 tonnes grading 1.69% Li O eq. in technical grade lithium zones with a low inherent iron spodumene; A 206% change increase in measured and indicated Li 2 0 eq. contained tonnes from the 2015 Resource Estimate;

0 eq. contained tonnes from the 2015 Resource Estimate; The Pakeagama Lake pegmatite has a 500m strike length with an estimated true width varying from 10 to 125m with a sub-vertical orientation of the pegmatite, and;

Resource remains open to depth and along strike to the northwest and southeast.

Based on exploration costs, the PAK deposit exhibits a low Measured and Indicated lithium acquisition cost at $21.66/contained Li2O eq. tonne for exploration.

We are extremely pleased with the results of our upgraded resource estimate since there are definitely analogous features to the high grade, multi-element, and large tonnage of the prolific Tanco pegmatite in southeastern Manitoba(1), commented Trevor R. Walker, President of HLM. With the deposit exposed at surface, this report also confirms with confidence that the Pakeagama Lake pegmatites lithium mineralization is wide, high grade, continuous and consistent, persisting at depth, and with tantalum and possibly rubidium and cesium byproducts. Furthermore, we are happy to report that development work, including metallurgical and environmental baseline studies have been underway for the preparation of pre-feasibility to be conducted in 2016.

Table I: Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate  PAK Rare Metals Project (Pakeagama Lake pegmatite deposit)(6)

Cut-off Resource Category Commodity Geologic Zone Tonnes (x 1,000) Li 2 O (%) Ta 2 O 5 (ppm) Cs 2 O (%) Rb 2 O(5) (%) Contained Li 2 O (t) Contained Ta 2 O 5 (t) Li 2 O Eq. (%)(2) 0.4 Li 2 O Eq. MEASURED + INDICATED Lithium Upper Intermediate Zone (UIZ) (4) 638.1 3.58 63 0.04 0.17 22,856 40 3.67 Lithium Lower Intermediate Zone (LIZ) 6,209.3 1.63 107 0.04 0.29 101,496 662 1.79 Lithium Total Lithium Zones 6,847.4 1.82 103 0.04 0.28 124,352 821 1.96 Tantalum/ Rubidium Central Intermediate Zone (CIZ) 1,039.7 n/a 114 0.07 0.57 n/a 119 n/a Lithium/Tantalum/Rubidium Bulk Pegmatite Measured Resource 7,887.1 1.58 104 0.04 0.31 124,352 821 1.73

Cut-off Resource Category Commodity Geologic Zone Tonnes (x 1,000) Li 2 O (%) Ta 2 O 5 (ppm) Cs 2 O (%) Rb 2 O(5) (%) Contained Li 2 O (t) Contained Ta 2 O 5 (t) Li 2 O Eq. (%)(2) 0.4 Li 2 O Eq. MEASURED Lithium Upper Intermediate Zone (UIZ) (4) 333.5 3.94 58 0.03 0.12 13,136 19 4.02 Lithium Lower Intermediate Zone (LIZ) 683.1 1.87 90 0.03 0.29 12,797 62 2.00 Lithium Total Lithium Zones 1,016.6 2.55 80 0.03 0.23 25,933 81 2.67 Tantalum/ Rubidium Central Intermediate Zone (CIZ) - - - - - - - - Lithium/Tantalum/Rubidium Bulk Pegmatite Measured Resource 1,016.6 2.55 80 0.03 0.23 25,933 81 2.67 0.4 Li2O Eq. INDICATED Lithium Upper Intermediate Zone (UIZ) (4) 304.6 3.19 69 0.04 0.23 9,720 21 3.29 Lithium Lower Intermediate Zone (LIZ) 5,526.2 1.61 109 0.04 0.29 88,699 601 1.76 Lithium Total Lithium Zones 5,830.8 1.69 107 0.04 0.28 98,419 622 1.84 Tantalum/ Rubidium Central Intermediate Zone (CIZ) 1,039.7 n/a 114 0.07 0.57 n/a (3) 119 n/a Lithium/Tantalum/Rubidium Bulk Pegmatite Inferred Resource 6,870.5 1.43 108 0.04 0.33 98,419 740 1.59

Cut-off Resource Category Commodity Geologic Zone Tonnes (x 1,000) Li 2 O (%) Ta 2 O 5 (ppm) Cs 2 O (%) Rb 2 O(5) (%) Contained Li 2 O (t) Contained Ta 2 O 5 (t) Li 2 O Eq. (%)(2) 0.4 Li2O Eq. INFERRED Lithium Upper Intermediate Zone (UIZ) (4) 1.8 2.61 67 0.06 0.18 47 0 2.70 Lithium Lower Intermediate Zone (LIZ) 226.9 1.54 98 0.05 0.30 3,505 22 1.69 Lithium Total Lithium Zones 228.7 1.55 98 0.05 0.30 3,552 22 1.69 Tantalum/ Rubidium Central Intermediate Zone (CIZ) 66.9 n/a 119 0.07 0.54 n/a (3) 8 n/a Lithium/Tantalum/Rubidium Bulk Pegmatite Inferred Resource 295.6 1.20 103 0.06 0.36 3,552 30 1.35

(1) The original size of the Tanco pegmatite was 57,427,342 tonnes with a maximum thickness of 100m (Stilling, A., Cerny., P., and Vanstone, P.; [2006], The Tanco Pegmatite at Bernic Lake, Manitoba. , XVI. Zonal and Bulk Compositions and Their Petrogenetic Significance. The Canadian Mineralogist; Vol. 44 pp. 599-623). The UIZ, CIZ and LIZ units at the Pakeagama Lake Pegmatite have striking similarities in mineralogy and chemical composition to those at the Tanco deposit. The bulk chemical composition for Li 2 O and Ta 2 O 5 was 0.74% and 366ppm, respectively at Tanco. The Tanco Mine is located in southeastern Manitoba and was a lithium mineral concentrate producer from 1986 until operations were suspended in 2009. Tanco was also a tantalum mineral concentrate producer until March 2013 when operation of this circuit ceased.

(2) Li 2 O equivalent was determined based on lithium and tantalum grades, prices ($400 per tonne of 6% spodumene concentrate and $150 per kg of 30% tantalite concentrate) and their respective recovery ratio (78.5% recovery for lithium and a 50% recovery for tantalum from bulk pegmatite). No credit was included for rubidium, cesium or any of the other elements contained for the purpose of this report.

(3) Li 2 O content in the CIZ is predominantly associated with lithian micas and without metallurgical testing not deemed recoverable, therefore, not included in the Li 2 O contained and subsequently the Li 2 O equivalent calculation for the purpose of this report.

(4) The UIZ and LIZ are technical/ceramic-grade lithium zones (high-grade lithium with low inherent iron (<0.1% Fe 2 O 3 from whole rock analysis). The iron content of spodumene contained within the LIZ increases as the contact with iron-rich metasedimentary country rocks are approached, but it has been noted that a concentration below 0.1% wt.% Fe 2 O 3 is maintained to within about 10 meters of the pegmatite-metasediment contact.

(5) Without further metallurgical testing it is unknown if the Rb 2 O is recoverable from the Lithium zones (UIZ, LIZ). For the purpose of this report, Rb 2 O credit has not been considered in any of the zones.

(6A) Calculation is based on 4,693m of drilling in 24 holes to an average depth of 150m vertical in the deposit, 294m of production drilling for 68 blast holes for the 300 tonne UIZ bulk sample in 2015, and 22 channels covering 191m at surface.

(6B) Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves having no demonstrated economic viability. Results are presented undiluted and in situ.

(6C) Indicated and Inferred Resources were evaluated from drill hole and channel sample results using a block model approach (inverse distance squared interpolation) with Geovia/Surpac software.

(6D) Calculations used metric units (meters, tonnes and ppm). Results were rounded to reflect their estimated nature. Tonnes are rounded to 100,000 except Ta 2 O 5 contained that are rounded to the nearest tonne. Grades reported in percent were rounded to two decimals while grades reported in part per million (ppm) were rounded to the closest integer.

Due Diligence

The Mineral Resources for PAK Rare Metals Project disclosed in this news release have been estimated by Mr. Todd McCracken, P.Geo., an employee of WSP and independent of HLM. By virtue of his education and relevant experience, Mr. McCracken is "Qualified Person" for the purpose of National Instrument 43-101. The Mineral Resource has been classified in accordance with CIM Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves, (November 2010). Mr. McCracken, P.Geo., has read and approved the contents of this press release as it pertains to the disclosed Mineral Resource estimate.

Mr. Peter J. Vanstone, P.Geo., is an independent "Qualified Person" to HLM defined under NI 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release.

HLM is also reporting that it has received a positive response from one creditor concerning a Shares for Debt Financing. HLM proposes to issue up to 154,942 common shares at a price of $0.155. The financing is subject to regulatory approval and would have a hold period of four months.

$24,016 of debt is owed to a company owned by one non-arms length individual. The non-arms length portion of the proposed financing is therefore 154,942 common shares at a price of $0.155 per share.

About the PAK Lithium Project

The PAK Lithium Project lies close to the boundary between two geological sub-provinces of the western Superior geologic province in northwestern Ontario and hosts a rare metals pegmatite deposit. The deposit is an LCT (lithium- cesium- tantalum) type pegmatite. These types of pegmatites have been the principal source of hard rock lithium, tantalum, rubidium and cesium ores mined in the world but there are comparatively few commercially-viable deposits.

HLM is actively exploring its 100% owned and optioned project which contains the Pakeagama Lake pegmatite. The deposit is one of the highest grade lithium deposits in North America which has a current Measured and Indicated Resource of 7.89 million tonnes of 1.73% Li2O Eq. and Inferred Resource of 295,600 tonnes of 1.35% Li2O Eq. which has a technical/ceramic grade spodumene with low inherent iron (below 0.1% Fe2O3). The deposit has adjacent zones that are enriched in rubidium and tantalum. HLM is also evaluating the phased co-production of rubidium and tantalum concentrates once lithium mineral production has been commercialized.

The deposit now has a known 500m strike length with an estimated true width varying from 10m to 125m with a sub-vertical orientation. The resource remains open to depth and along strike to the northwest and southeast.

About Houston Lake Mining Inc.

HLMs goal is to become a fully integrated lithium, rubidium and tantalum producer with development of the PAK Lithium Project in Ontario, Canada. Based on the PAK deposits high-purity, technical-grade spodumene, a relatively lower capital requirement to enter in to the lithium supply market is possible by firstly becoming a lithium, technical-grade concentrate supplier. HLM is focused on a staged approach to indirectly participate in the burgeoning lithium battery industry by taking advantage of the disruptive change to market fundamentals by targeting the ceramic-glass industry (industrial users). Currently, the glass/ceramics segment is the second largest in total lithium demand whereby supply pressure is taking place due to the threat of lithium battery growth.

HLM has a total of 114,862,069 common shares issued and outstanding, excluding the proposed shares to be issued as a result of this press release. For additional information on HLM, please visit www.houstonlakemining.com.

Company Contact Information
TheNewswire / March 4, 2016 - Ely Gold & Minerals Inc. (the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into a binding agreement (the "Agreement") with Nevada Eagle LLC, a private U.S. corporation ("Nevada Eagle") to purchase its portfolio of thirty one highly prospective mineral properties in Nevada and the Western U.S. (the "Properties") and related assets. Most of the Properties are precious metal exploration projects in some of the most desirable gold trends in Nevada. Fifteen of the properties are in the prospective Walker Lane of western Nevada. Nine of the properties are in the Cortez Trend, one in the Austin-Lovelock, one in the Carlin Trend, one in the Getchell Trend and the balance are unique situations throughout Nevada with a few in contiguous states. Eight of the Properties are currently leased or optioned to third parties (the "Third Party Agreements") and the assets acquired include two deeded royalties.

The Properties are primarily unpatented mining claims staked on Bureau of Land Management or US Forest Service lands and, as such, have no existing royalties, work commitments or lease payments. After closing, the Company, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Nevada Select Royalty Inc. ("Nevada Select") will own 100% of twenty nine properties, 50% of two properties, the Third Party Agreements and the deeded royalties. Several of the properties have had recommended work programs completed on them which will form the basis of future NI 43-101 technical reports.

Closing of the transaction is expected to take place on or about April 20, 2016 and is subject to TSXV acceptance of a filing made by the Company on March 3, 2016. The filing included a 43-101 report on the Weepah gold property, in Esmeralda County, Nevada. Weepah will be the qualifying property for the transaction.

Nevada Eagle has a long history of staking mineral properties which are then leased or optioned while retaining royalties. Jerry Baughman, the managing member of Nevada Eagle, will join the Ely Gold management team as President of Nevada Select. Jerry is a well-known and respected Nevada geologist who has demonstrated his skill at acquiring and monetizing quality prospects in a timely and cost effective manner. In July 2007, Jerry sold a portfolio of 54 properties to Gryphon Gold for US$12,000,000.

Under the terms of the Agreement, the Company will pay Nevada Eagle a total purchase price of US$895,600. The purchase price will be paid as to US$445,600 in cash on closing, and as to the remaining US$400,000 on the second anniversary, together with 5% interest. The remaining US$50,000 of the purchase price was previously advanced to Nevada Eagle in September 2015 for the staking of mineral properties. Ely Gold will also issue 3,000,000 purchase warrants to Nevada Eagle. Each warrant will be exercisable to purchase one Ely Gold share for CAN$.07 for two years from the closing. The Agreement also provides for the mutual settlement of all outstanding legal claims between Ely Gold and Nevada Eagle (February 5, 2016 news release). The Agreement is an arm's length transaction and no finder's fees will be paid.

Trey Wasser, the Company's President & CEO commented on the Agreement, "Combining this exceptional portfolio of properties with our 100% owned Green Springs asset transforms Ely Gold from a one project company into a diversified exploration and royalty company. We are pleased with the current Third Party Agreements and we intend to fully adopt Nevada Eagle's business model working to option properties and expand the royalty portfolio".

About Ely Gold

Ely Gold is focused on the acquisition, development, and marketing of North American precious metal resource properties to maximize their acquisition value. The Company's business model is to sell or option its portfolio properties, while reserving royalties. Ely Gold is traded on the TSX Venture Exchange ("ELY"). Additional information about Ely Gold is available online at www.elygoldandminerals.com

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

Signed "Trey Wasser"

Trey Wasser, President & CEO

For further information, please contact Ely Gold & Minerals Inc. at 604-488-1104.

E-mail: trey@elygoldandminerals.com; Website: www.elygoldandminerals.com

Ely Gold & Minerals Inc

Suite 459 - 409 Granville Street, Vancouver B.C. V6C 1T2

Ph: 1-604-488-1104 Fax: 1-604-488-1105 www.elygoldandminerals.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. This news release may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited to comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt of property titles, potential mineral recovery processes, etc. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore, involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements.

Copyright (c) 2016 TheNewswire - All rights reserved.
Classic with a twist: Spanner crab moussaka. Photo: Chris Hyde

Address Shop 905, 47 Hercules Street, Portside Wharf Hamilton, Queensland 4007 View map Opening hours Mon-Fri 11.30am-11.30pm; Sat-Sun 7.30am-11.30pm Features Accepts bookings, Bar, Business lunch, Family friendly, Long lunch, Outdoor seating, Private dining, Wheelchair access Prices Moderate (mains $20-$40) Chef Dean Brewer Payments Cash Only Phone 07 3868 4449

Atalanta bills itself as a Greek restaurant, but forget the traditional moussaka and bouzouki. Hamilton's newest restaurant substitutes ingredients and uses modern cooking techniques to spin Greek standards into something lighter and more interesting.

Octopus, for example is cooked sous vide, rendering it butter-soft, before being grilled over charcoal. It can be cut with a spoon, but still retains that Greek-taverna-by-the-sea rustic chariness. Dressed with a little grapefruit and chilli, with a sweet, waxy pickled chilli as garnish, it certainly couldn't be called traditional or authentic, yet it stays true to the Greek ethos of simplicity and bold flavours.

What the yia yias would think of Atlalanta's moussaka, served in an individual dish with spanner crab instead of lamb and topped with a tomato concasse, remains to be seen. Ditto the reworking of a classic baklava, but more on that later.

Go-to dish: Goat croquettes. Photo: Chris Hyde

Portside is an unusual choice of location for this new venture by the owner of Ahmet's, Next Door Kitchen and South Side Diner in South Bank. There was a time when venues like Paul McGivern's Manx and fine Japanese diner Sono drew food lovers here, but then chains moved in and dulled Portside's shine as a food destination somewhat. Perhaps things are on the up again.

Contemporary, sleek and light-filled, the fit-out hints at its Hellenic background rather than hitting diners in the face with themed Greek decor  there's no blue and white colour scheme, Greek flags or the standard print of the village of Oia in Santorini.

To one side is a bar, with tall copper stools and potted rosemary wrapped in brown paper on the tables. On the other side, the restaurant has comfortable blond wood chairs and padded booths, while above an intricate geometric brass lighting system criss-crosses the ceiling. The tables are set with sleek stainless steel containers of olive oil, real cloth napkins in copper rings and crackle-glazed flatware.

Modern Greek: Lights criss-cross the ceiling at Atalanta. Photo: Chris Hyde

It's early days for sure, but right now everything just works at Atalanta. The decor encourages long sociable dining, the staff are switched on and the food, under chef Dean Brewer, who seems to have really hit his stride here after working as executive chef at Next Door Kitchen and South Side Diner, is faultless.

The menu is divided into "mezze", "gathered" and "hunted", which is less pretentious than it sounds as it references the restaurant's name, Atalanta - the goddess of the hunt.

This is food that's ideal for sharing and generous in size, so bring a crowd and pace yourself. If you have trouble deciding, order some goat croquettes while you do. Crisp on the outside, with tasty shreds of well-seasoned meat inside and served with a subtle ouzo mayonnaise so good you want to dip your finger in and lick it off, I'd come for these alone.

Char-grilled octopus with pickled chilli. Photo: Robert Shakespeare

Skewers of meat and chicken are tender and smoked infused thanks to their charcoal grilling, served with a punchy caper and olive salsa. Order a side of lemony potatoes tossed in oregano with small nuggets of soft feta, too.

It wouldn't be a Greek restaurant without lamb; a leg slow-cooked with hummus, olives and rosemary for two.

I'm sure on one of my trips to Greece I must have eaten dessert, but I can't remember a single one. Whatever. Here there's the white chocolate baklava with freeze-dried raspberries, salted caramel, mixed nuts and a scatter of petals; crumbled halva piled around a scoop of vanilla ice-cream and topped with a cloud of rose Persian fairy floss and flutter of gold leaf; and a fig trifle served in a glass with crumbs of hazelnut shortbread and a mound of honey ricotta. All beautifully photo-ready and worthy of the calorie sacrifice.

Lemon and fig trifle. Photo: Chris Hyde

The only small criticism I can make of Atalanta is that there should be more Greek wines on the list. There's a growing interest in Greek wines but it's rare to see them on a list and this would seem to be the perfect place for them. Sadly, among the Australian, Spanish and Italians there are just two Hellenic wines - a red agiorgitiko from Nemea in the Peloponnese, and a malagousia from Santorini.

Depending on your feelings when it comes to the simple, hearty flavours of home-style Greek food, Atalanta may be even better than the real thing.

http://www.atalanta.com.au
Melbourne's newest jazz club, Bird's Basement, is modelled on Birdland New York. Photo: Kristoffer Paulsen

Some know Albert Dadon as a property developer. Others are more familiar with Albare, his stage name when touring the world as a jazz guitarist. But as of this week Dadon wears another hat: founder of Melbourne's newest jazz club, Bird's Basement.

Dadon signed a partnership agreement with Birdland New York to open a similar club in Melbourne  the kind where you can have dinner and a show without compromising either. Food and music are on par here: head chef Luigi Buono (ex Bistro Bakini and Caffe e Cucina) is in charge of the kitchen and jazz star Ravi Coltrane (son of the legendary John Coltrane) will launch the music program, sax in hand.

Buono's menu is a compilation of Italian recipes collected from European travels and memories of his grandparents' farm in Sorrento, on Italy's Amalfi Coast.

Buffalo yoghurt panna cotta served with a vanilla scented summer berry compote. Photo: Supplied

Classics include vitello tonnato, tagliatelle with lamb ragu and tiramisu. There's also a selection of imported and national cheese, best paired with a glass of Australian vino or Italian by the bottle.

The 200-seat venue has been an empty shell since Dadon bought and developed the site at 350 William Street, opposite the Flagstaff Gardens, in 2005, setting aside the basement for the jazz club, with entry via the aptly named Singers Lane, which runs off La Trobe Street.

Dadon will perform at the club during a Sunday residency with the Urban Grooves Project when he's in the country.

The entrance to Bird's Basement is from the aptly named Singers Lane. Photo: Kristoffer Paulsen

"I don't want it to be just another jazz club," he says. "I want it to be the place."

Another venue called Beer, Wine and Calzone will open above Bird's Basement within a week.

Two shows nightly, 6pm and 9.30pm.

11 Singers Lane, Melbourne birdsbasement.com
Joe Grbac (St Crispin), Alejandro Saravia (Pastuso), Jesse Gerner (Bomba), Katy Barfield (The Yume App), Chris Moran (San Telmo) and Kam McManamey (Botherambo). Photo: Kristoffer Paulsen

Reimagining food waste for an audience of savvy gastronomes demands serious creativity and resourcefulness. So it's a good thing the folk behind the inaugural Yume Hour have deployed some of our city's finest to take on the mission.

The March 5 event, part of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, challenges some of the city's most creative chefs to plate up delicious dishes using food that would otherwise be wasted.

Fact: the Australian food service industry throws away 1.4 million tonnes of food every year. Food pros need only take a look into their bins at the end of service to get an accurate daily dose of our country's food waste reality.

Sage and beef meatballs with tomato sugo and polenta pecorino fries, and lamb, prosciutto and broccoli empanada at San Telmo. Photo: Supplied

But for the average restaurant diner, what's out of sight is usually also out of mind. Having to think about food waste and hungry homeless folks? Total mood-killer.

It's an issue that occupies the thoughts of Bomba chef Jesse Gerner. "For me it's shocking to know the number of people who go hungry in Australia every day, and at the same time we're throwing out about 38 per cent of the food we produce. It just seems like a flawed system."

Spend five minutes with Katy Barfield, self-proclaimed food waste warrior and the driving force behind Yume Hour, and the truth about the Aussie hospitality industry's food waste problem starts to sink in. A passionate campaigner for the war against waste, Barfield is all about stats, and the numbers are mind-blowing.

Bomba's jamon croquetas made from porky offcuts. Photo: Supplied

"Melbourne is a city of food lovers and home to some of the best food in the world. Staggeringly Australians send an incredible $8 billion worth of edible food to landfill each year."

Last year Barfield, the founding CEO of food rescue organisation SecondBite and creator of social wholesale fruit and vegie business Spade & Barrow, launched Yume (pronounced yoo-mi) to address the issue. The easy-to-use tool allows restaurants to either sell their surplus food to consumers for half price or donate it to local food rescue charities.

Yume Hour takes the idea a step further, getting chefs and diners to rethink what makes good food. On Saturday, March 5, between 3pm and 4pm diners can sample the upcycled culinary wares of some of Melbourne's best chefs.

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Restaurants such as Bomba, St Crispin, Botherambo and San Telmo will be offering a limited number of crafty snacks for $1 each. Diners can claim the snacks using the Yume app.

At Bomba you'll find Gerner's jamon croquetas, made from porky offcuts, and Pastuso will be doing "pastel de choclo", a South American shepherd's pie filled with smoky slow-cooked pork neck and alpaca heart, topped with sweet corn and potato off-cut puree.

At St Crispin in Collingwood, Joe Grbac's salad of beetroot tops and bottoms, shaved carrot ends, roasted walnuts and celery juice may win over food waste naysayers, while sweet-tooths might want to hunt down Botherambo's kaffir lime and coriander root sorbet or Guy Grossi's cassata gelato made with surplus orange peel outside Grossi Florentino in Melbourne's Bourke Street.

To add to the warm and fuzzy mood, all funds raised during Yume Hour will be donated to Melbourne food rescue charities OzHarvest, FareShare, Foodbank and SecondBite.

Now there's one happy hour that won't leave you with a sore head and a string of regrets.

Yume Hour happens on Saturday, March 5 between 3pm and 4pm as part of the 2016 Melbourne Food & Wine Festival. To access the offers, download the Yume app from the Apple or Play app stores.
FILE PHOTO: An oil derrick stands tall on a drilling platform.

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By A.D. Koen, Texas Alliance of Energy Producers

Texas crude oil output finally in decline, but more job losses likely

HOUSTON - Finally, in January 2016, 19 months into the crude oil price collapse, Texas producers recovered less crude oil than in the same month the previous year. But the economic contraction gripping the upstream oil and gas industry squeezed tighter, forcing more layoffs, idling more drilling rigs, and driving well-permitting to a record monthly low.

So dire were industry economic conditions, the Texas Petro Index in January declined to 181.9, nearly 40 percent less than in January 2015 and the first time in its existence the TPI fell below the lowest point of the previous industry economic cycle. Following a decline that began in September-October 2008, the TPI reached a nadir of 187.5 in December 2009 before embarking upon a remarkable five-year expansion that finally stalled at year-end 2014.

"It is at least somewhat encouraging that estimated crude oil production in Texas actually posted a year-over-year decline in January," said Karr Ingham, the economist who created the TPI and updates it monthly. "Although the decline was modest, we can expect the pace of production decline in Texas and the U.S. to accelerate in 2016."

While the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers estimates the first year-over-year decline in monthly Texas production in the current cycle occurred in January 2016, the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates the first year-over-year decline in monthly U.S. crude oil production since 2011 occurred in December 2015.

"But until both production and storage volumes begin to reflect meaningful declines, there is little reason to expect any appreciable improvement in market conditions,"Ingham said.

Absent meaningful market improvement, Ingham said, activity indicators would continue to languish and more job losses appeared to be inevitable. According to the best-available statistical data, Ingham estimates, the Texas oil and gas industry lost about 76,000 jobs through January from peak employment of 306,000 in December 2014.

"The last time the crude oil price and the rig count were at present levels, upstream oil field employment in Texas was about 100,000 less than the January 2016 estimate of about 230,000," Ingham said. "That suggests the bloodletting in Texas' upstream oil and gas industry will continue as the year progresses."

A composite index based upon a comprehensive group of upstream economic indicators, the Texas Petro Index in January was 181.9, 39.9 percent less than in January 2015. Before the current economic downturn, the TPI peaked at a record 313.4 in November 2014, which marked the zenith of an economic expansion that began in December 2009, when the TPI stood at 187.5.

TPI highlights in January:

Crude oil production in Texas totaled an estimated 102.2 million barrels, 2.3 percent less than in January 2015. The value of Texas-produced crude oil totaled nearly $2.92 billion, 36.8 percent less than in January 2015.

Estimated Texas natural gas output was more than 721.3 billion cubic feet, a year-over-year monthly decline of about 1.3 percent. With natural gas prices in January averaging $2.22/Mcf, the value of Texas-produced gas declined 25.3 percent to about $1.6 billion.

The Baker Hughes count of active drilling rigs in Texas averaged 305, compared to 773 in January 2015. Drilling activity in Texas peaked in September 2008 at a monthly average of 946 rigs before falling to a trough of 329 in June 2009. In the most recent economic expansion, which began in December 2009, the statewide average monthly rig count peaked at 932 in May and June 2012. The statewide rig count was at 906 as recently as the third week of November 2014 but fell to 231 in the fourth week of February 2016.

An estimated 230,105 Texans remained on upstream oil and gas industry payrolls as of January 2016, down 25 percent from a high of about 306,000 in December 2014. According to Ingham, the trough in upstream oil and gas industry employment in Texas before the expansion ending December 2014 was an estimated 175,700 in October 2009. During the previous growth cycle, industry employment peaked at 219,900 in October 2008.

About the TPI: The Texas Petro Index is a service of the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers, the nation's largest state association of independent oil and gas producers. A.D. Koen is Texas Alliance public relations specialist.
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By Staff Report

Get started writing your employee handbook

The Angelo State University Small Business Development Center will host a training event, "Employee Handbook Clinic" starting at 8:30 a.m. March 24. The cost for participants for $60.

This clinic is a hands-on event for the creation of an employee handbook. Using an electronic template, each attendee will be able to create or revise their policies with the direction and assistance of the SBDC PTAC's certified HR professional. The clinic will be useful for small-business owners and managers, HR managers, and anyone who has responsibility for carrying out policies and procedures in the workplace.

Lunch will be provided.

Speaker: Deirdre Pattillo, SPHR, is Project Manager for Employer Services for the South-West Texas Border SBDC Region's Procurement Technical Assistance Center at the UTSA Institute for Economic Development.

Advance registration is requested. For information, call the ASU-SBDC at (325) 942-2098 or register online at www.sbdc.angelo.edu.
Contributed photos

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By Rebecca Bingham San Angelo Central High School Key Club, Past President

The San Angelo Central High School Key Club traveled to Dallas from April 4-7 to its 64th annual Texas-Oklahoma District Convention. They had good times and were rewarded for their efforts of community service throughout the year. They came back with many achievements and new memories.

The weekend started with forums, where the members and officers were able to learn about their positions and important Key Club information. That night they attended the opening session, where the group heard an excellent keynote speaker. It was a great start to the convention. The next morning, the club got to hear the caucuses of the members from around the district that were running for district office. They were able to vote for whom they thought would be best for the position. They then attended a leadership luncheon, where Rebecca Bingham, president, was awarded the Leader of Leaders Award. In the afternoon, two representatives, Emily Franchuk and Gabriel Ortiz, attended the house of delegates. There they placed the final votes for district offices and voted on amendments.

The day ended with the awards banquet. The club was awarded many times throughout the night, and they were extremely excited and proud of their success. The club earned the following awards: Diamond Level Distinguished Award, third place club T-shirt, won by Jessica Gambrell; second place, club scrapbook, won by Sarah Champagne, Emily Franchuk and Alexis Nelson; second place club video won by Bingham; first place club website won by Bethany Nieto; first place talent won by Thomas Franco; first place oratory won by Thomas Franco; District Project Award Patch, Key Club on time reporting patch, and first place impromptu essay won by Jessica Gambrell. Franco was awarded a $1,500 scholarship and Bingham a $1,000 scholarship from the T-O Scholarship Foundation.

The major award of the night was when the club was ranked No. 12 out of over 315 clubs in the Texas-Oklahoma District. It was such a fantastic end to a successful year. The Key Club worked really hard to give back everything they could to the community, and the convention showed that their efforts did not go unnoticed.

Ending the year with the Key Club Annual Awards Banquet at Zentner's Daughter Steak House. Bingham opened the banquet. Introductions were made by Rudy Barron, TX-OK Region 5 Advisor. Luke Broussard, TX-OK Key Club District Governor 2013-14, was present at the banquet, along with Becky Bray, Kiwanis Division 12 Lt. Gov., Ann Henson, Kiwanis president, Kim Carter and Becky Hartman, past Kiwanis presidents, John Kouvlis, past LTG Div. 12; Ashley Hardaway, Kiwanis member; Tom Woods, Kiwanis adviser; Anne Hardagree, CHS counselor; and faculty advisers, along with parents and Key Club members.

Luke Broussard, Key Club governor and Rudy Barron, Region 5 adviser, did the retiring and installation of the officers. The retiring officers received plaques for their dedication and service by the faculty and Kiwanis advisers. The faculty advisers announced the letter "C" awards certificates to the Key Club members who earned them. The Key Club members of the year were Franchuk and Ortiz.

Bingham received the $1,000 scholarship from the San Angelo Downtown Kiwanis Club. Special seniors outstanding presentations were awarded to Bingham and Franco, by Rudy and Bea Barron, Kiwanis advisers. There were six Key Club outstanding seniors medallions given to Bingham, Gambrell, Franco, Alejandra Pereles, Josh Rychik, Nieto, by Rudy and Bea Barron, Kiwanis advisers.
About two dozen people demonstrate outside the Waller County Courthouse on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016, in Hempstead, Texas. A grand jury has resumed considering the case of Sandra Bland, the black Chicago-area woman who died in a Texas county jail three days after her arrest in a traffic stop last summer. (AP Photo/Michael Graczyk)

SHARE Geneva Reed-Veal, mother of Sandra Bland, listens as attorney for the family CannonLambert speaks at a news conference Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016, in Chicago. The family of Bland, who was found dead in a Texas jail cell after a traffic stop in July, says a perjury charge against the white state trooper who pulled her over is "not justice." An emotional Geneva Reed-Veal told reporters that the trooper should have been charged with battery and false arrest, adding that she has no confidence in the investigation and justice process. (AP Photo/Teresa Crawford) Sharon Cooper, center, sister of Sandra Bland, speaks at a news conference accompanied by here sister Shavon Bland, right, Bland's mother Geneva Reed-Veal, seated, and attorneys, Larry Rogers, standing, and Cannon Lambert, Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016, in Chicago. The family of Bland, who was found dead in a Texas jail cell after a traffic stop in July, says a perjury charge against the white state trooper who pulled her over is "not justice." An emotional Geneva Reed-Veal told reporters that the trooper should have been charged with battery and false arrest, adding that she has no confidence in the investigation and justice process. (AP Photo/Teresa Crawford) FILE - In this undated photo provided by the Bland family, Sandra Bland poses for a photo. A grand jury indicted Trooper Brian Encinia on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016, with the misdemeanor charge. Encinia has been on desk duty since Bland was found dead in her cell in July. Her death was ruled a suicide. (Courtesy of Bland family via AP, File) FILE - In this July 10, 2015, file frame taken from dashcam video provided by the Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas State Trooper Brian Encinia confronts Sandra Bland after a minor traffic infraction in Waller County,Texas. A grand jury indicted Encinia on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016, with the misdemeanor charge. Encinia has been on desk duty since Bland was found dead in her cell in July. Her death was ruled a suicide. (Texas Department of Public Safety via AP, File)

By Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times (TNS)

HOUSTON - Officials announced that they have fired the Texas state trooper who pulled over Sandra Bland, whose death in jail last summer fueled criticism of police and their treatment of minorities.

Trooper Brian T. Encinia, 30, was formally fired Wednesday by Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw, who said the officer's actions during the traffic stop with Bland violated department standards. McCraw met with Encinia on Feb. 5 and oversaw months of investigation.

"I have carefully considered all the points raised by you in our meeting," McCraw wrote in his letter of final termination. "I have determined that you have not rebutted the charges set out in the statement of charges of January 28, 2016. No cause has been presented to alter my preliminary decision."

Encinia stopped Bland, 28, near the Prairie View A&M University campus on July 10 for failing to properly signal a lane change. After a heated argument, the trooper arrested Bland for assaulting a public servant. Bland was found hanged in her Waller County jail cell three days later. Her death has been ruled a suicide.

In the initial statement of charges, McCraw told Encinia there were three main reasons for his firing.

The first: "You failed to remain courteous and tactful in the performance of your duties. You engaged in argumentative discussions with Ms. Bland and you failed to exercise patience and discretion throughout the contact."

The second: "You prolonged the traffic stop beyond the time necessary to complete the tasks." As a result, "You extended Ms. Bland's detention without a reasonable justification or legitimate investigative purpose."

Third: "You failed to follow the seven-step violator interview," which includes greeting the person stopped, stating the violation and "explaining what the violator must do."

All three grounds were aggravated, McCraw said, by the fact that Encinia was indicted by a Waller County grand jury in connection with the traffic stop.

The grand jury indicted Encinia in January after concluding there was evidence he lied about the circumstances under which Bland left her car. If convicted of the misdemeanor perjury charge, Encinia could face up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine. His case will be heard in District Court in Waller County.

McCraw announced the day of the indictment that he would begin termination proceedings. Encinia has 15 days to appeal McCraw's decision to the Public Safety Commission, which oversees the Department of Public Safety.

Encinia's attorney, Larkin Eakin Jr., the former Waller County district attorney, told the Texas Tribune that his client would appeal the director's decision. He has told the Los Angeles Times that his client had grounds to stop Bland, told the truth to the grand jury and planned to fight the charge.
Michelle Gaitan/Standard-Times

Kasey Torres has won the San Angelo Spelling Bee the past two years and will compete again Saturday.

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By Ngan Ho of the San Angelo Standard-Times

Thirty-three youngsters will step up to the microphone Saturday, but only one will get the last word.

The students, who range in age from 6 to 14, will compete in the 28th annual San Angelo Spelling Bee at 9 a.m. Saturday at the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, 1 Love St.

The last student standing will represent San Angelo at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.

In the past two San Angelo bees, the same two students have fought it out in the final rounds.

"We had two kids who were battling back and forth, back and forth," said John Flint, who has been the bee's announcer for about 15 years. "I was expecting to spend the night there."

Kasey Torres, at fifth-grader from Cornerstone Christian School, won in 2014 and 2015.

His mom, Catherine Torres, said making it to the national finals is Kasey's goal this year. However, "I tell him. You're going to have to beat Chesca first to win the regional. She's his competition."

Chesca is Franchesca Untalan, a fifth-grader from Fort Concho Elementary who has finished second the past three years.

"She's looking forward to Saturday," said Frances Untalan, Franchesca mother and an occupational therapist. "This could be her year."

Untalan said Franchesca is excited and nervous about the competition, but also determined to win. Untalan said Franchesca has concentrated on the mechanics of spelling as she prepares for the competition - one of many activities keeping her busy. Franchesca participates in ballet, piano, violin, the Girl Scouts and robotics as well, which doesn't allow a lot of time to prepare for the spelling bee.

"As a mom it breaks your heart" to see Franchesca take second place, Untalan said. "But it's okay. As I said to her before, 'as long as you've done your best.' "

Torres said Kasey is also pumped for Saturday and has been preparing throughout the year, studying about an hour every night.

Torres said the winning family always buys lunch, and her family has bought lunch for the Untalans twice.

"Hopefully we win again and we'll treat them to lunch," Torres said. "Chesca is a smart girl and Kasey is a smart boy, but there can be only one representative."

Untalan said her family will take a trip to Rome next week, so no matter what happens it's a win for Franchesca, who loves traveling.

The two moms reiterated the principle of working hard to achieve success, which has been instilled in children within the Filipino culture for generations, Torres said. When asked what she thought about the two contenders both being Filipino, Torres said, "Well, we're just really good at it, I guess. Maybe it's coincidence."

Torres said the Filipino community in San Angelo is proud and cheering for the two youngsters as well as the other youths competing.

The Scripps National Spelling Bee is the largest and longest-running educational promotion in the U.S. and was established in 1925 to help students improve their spelling, increase their vocabularies, learn concepts and develop correct English usage that will benefit their lives. The San Angelo Spelling Bee is sponsored by the Standard-Times.
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By Monique Ching

Although Bill Richardson is not afraid to speak his mind, he likes to gather information from different sources before he does so.

What I like to do is accumulate facts and information from whoever is interested in the issue, he said. Im open to input from public and staff.

The 58-year-old longtime San Angelo resident worked for the government in Alberta, Canada, for 20 years overseeing multimillion dollar research and planning projects. I understand how strategic planning works and how government departments work together, he said.

His experience in cartography and investigative research would allow him to make an informed decision when holding a position in public office, Richardson said.

When his department downsized as a result of a shift in leadership, Richardson took an early retirement and a severance package and moved to San Angelo in 1994 after his wife found a position with Shannon Medical Center. The couple became U.S. citizens in 2006.

Since his time here, Richardson has run a home-based business that does painting, carpentry and other maintenance work.

Hes a good guy, he always helps me out, said neighbor Peter Helfrich who has known Richardson for almost 10 years.

As a neighbor, Richardson has been dependable and always ready to help fix anything, Helfrich said.

With a flexible, self-owned business and an 18-year-old, independent son, Richardson said his schedule is ideal for holding a council position.

I know he has the time, Helfrich said. Hes already somewhat involved (in city matters).

Richardson, who regularly attends City Council meetings, considers San Angelo home and is on top of all the important issues to the city.

I know what Im talking about, he said. Ive always been interested in public affairs.

In his years here, Richardson has felt that San Angelo has accepted him as part of the community, and he does not intend to leave. Even when he takes trips back to Canada, where most of his family lives, he is always excited to return.

As a good citizen who is willing to voice his opinion, Helfrich said, Richardson would be a good candidate to represent his district.

Although assertive, Richardson said he generally tries not to respond to antagonism immediately.

Im good at being calm and handling things in a rational manner, he said.

Other than taking trips with his wife and son, in his spare time Richardson enjoys fishing and reading about science, technology and politics.

In a business where he personally deals with all his clients, Richardson said he is very ready to listen to various concerns and inform himself on matters from different perspectives.

Im a consensus-builder and an information gatherer, he said.
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A chief sponsor of legislation that would allow terminally ill Marylanders to end their lives has withdrawn the bill amid stiff opposition, signaling that the effort has again failed in the General Assembly.Sen. Ronald Young, a Frederick County Democrat, withdrew the bill Thursday after realizing it didn't have enough support to clear the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee."I'm very disappointed," Young said. "People are imposing their values on other people."Under the bill, patients could be prescribed drugs that would cause their death. First, they would have to consult with a doctor multiple times -- once in private -- to discuss their prognosis. The doctor would have to determine that a patient has less than six months to live, is capable of making sound judgments and can administer the medication on their own.Similar legislation drew special attention in Annapolis last year when Richard "Dick" Israel, a former legal adviser to the legislature and alderman on the Annapolis city council, emerged as a staunch supporter. Known for his sharp wit and old-fashioned mannerisms, Israel advocated for the legislation from his hospice bed while suffering from Parkinson's disease.Lawmakers named the bill for Israel and former Annapolis Mayor Roger "Pip" Moyer, who also suffered from Parkinson's. While committees held hearings last year, they did not vote on the legislation. Israel, 72, died three months after the legislative session ended. Moyer, 80, died as last year's session was getting underway.Committees in the House of Delegates have not voted on similar legislation this year, but the withdrawal of the Senate bill all but dooms the legislative effort. Young said only two lawmakers on the Senate committee had committed to vote for the bill, and he doubted he would be able to convince four more lawmakers to support it, which would be needed to send the bill to the full Senate."The committee wasn't going to let it out, Young said, adding that he wasn't sure he would sponsor the bill again next year."I seriously doubt it because the makeup of the committee is not going to change," he said, "and they're just totally inflexible on it."Del. Shane Pendergrass, a Howard County Democrat who is the lead sponsor of the House bill, said she was "startled" to learn the Senate bill had been withdrawn but that she would continue to push for her version now and, if necessary, next year.While supporters say the bill would allow people who are suffering to end their lives peacefully and without pain, opponents worry that some could be coerced or manipulated. Others are opposed to the bill on religious or moral grounds.Sen. Jim Brochin, a Baltimore County Democrat on the Judicial Proceedings Committee, said he generally supports the idea behind the bill, but said it had too many flaws."I think, conceptually, it's what my constituents want, and it makes sense when someone clearly had no chance of recovery," he said.But Brochin said it's challenging to ask doctors to be certain that a patient will only live for six months. He's also worried about the possibility of coercion from beneficiaries to the patient's estate. Brochin said Young was unwilling to compromise on details of the bill to address those concerns.Young said proposed changes to the bill were "garbage" suggestions from people who were fundamentally opposed.The debate in Maryland over medical aid in dying has mirrored a national discussion on the issue in recent years.The issue was highlighted by Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old woman who went public in 2014 with her choice to move from California to Oregon, where she could legally end her life. She had terminal brain cancer and died Nov. 1, 2014.Maynard's story "transformed this movement," said Kim Callinan, chief program officer for Compassion & Choices, an advocacy group that is trying to legalize the practice of allowing terminally ill patients to take lethal drugs across the country."People related to her. She was young and just told a powerful story of wanting an option and wanting peace of mind, and she connected with people," said Callinan, who lives in Montgomery County. "She's really changed the face of the issue."The practice is legal in four states -- Vermont, Montana, Washington and Oregon -- and California's law will take effect later this year.A Gallup Poll last year found that 68 percent of respondents in a national survey support allowing doctors to assist terminally ill patients who want to commit suicide. That was a 17 percentage point increase from two years earlier, according to Gallup.A Goucher College poll last year found that 60 percent of Marylanders supported allowing terminally ill patients to obtain life-ending drugs. Thirty-five percent of respondents were opposed.Supporters of Maryland legislation say lawmakers need to catch up with where their constituents are on the issue."It's hard for me to understand why it isn't easier, frankly," Pendergrass said of the difficulties in building legislative support.Lawmakers in Annapolis heard hours of passionate and sometimes heart-wrenching testimony from both sides of the issue during hearings last month. People with serious illnesses begged for the ability to end their life on their own terms, while others told stories of patients who lived for years after receiving diagnoses of only a few months to live.Opponents say support for such measures is not as strong as it might seem.When people learn more details about the legislation -- such as how drugs are obtained and how they work -- some advocates waver, said Mary Ellen Russell, executive director of the Maryland Catholic Conference, the Catholic church's lobbying arm in Annapolis.The conference and advocacy groups for people with disabilities worked together to oppose the bill. Their chief concern was a lack of protections to prevent vulnerable patients from being convinced to end their lives prematurely."This is a bill that's involving the medical community in providing someone the means to take their own life," Russell said. "That's a grave concern to so many people, because that opens up the door for so many possibilities for abuse."Patients who feel like they are a burden on their families or who face expensive medical treatments may be convinced to end their lives, Russell said. Opponents also are concerned that people with disabilities could be pushed to make a drastic choice because their lives "aren't seen as valuable" as those without disabilities.Doctors and psychiatrists testified on both sides of the debate.Russell expects the bill to return next year and will continue to lobby against it."We're one of many partners in the coalition who will continue to become increasingly galvanized in opposing this legislation," she said.
Its not often that a conservative governor, like Republican Doug Ducey of Arizona, would appoint an advocate of judicial activism to his states highest court. But Clint Bolick, Duceys first pick to sit on the five-member Arizona Supreme Court, is no run-of-the-mill judge: He is one of the nations most prominent libertarian legal activists.Although Bolick is registered as an independent, his conservative -- or at least libertarian -- credentials are long. He co-wrote a book on immigration with Jeb Bush, the presidential candidate and former Florida governor. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is a godfather to one of Bolicks children. More important, Bolick co-founded the Institute for Justice, a Washington-area organization that brings court cases to contest what it sees as overreaches of big government. Most recently, Bolick worked at the Goldwater Institute, an Arizona-based group that advocates for limited government.Bolick is perhaps best known for his work defending school voucher programs that allow public school students to attend private schools with government subsidies. But he also led efforts to scrap state affirmative action laws, fight state regulations that he viewed as overly burdensome on small businesses and allow cross-state sales of wine (in a case he argued before the U.S. Supreme Court).The governor called Bolick a champion of liberty when announcing the appointment in January. He brings extensive experience and expertise, an unwavering regard for the rule of law and a firm commitment to the state and citizens of Arizona. Im confident Clint will serve impartially and honorably in this important role, Ducey said.Although Bolick is new to the bench, he previously shared his thoughts on the proper role of jurists. He wrote a book for the libertarian Cato Institute in 2007 called. He defines activist a bit differently from what one usually hears in political conversations. Bolick distinguishes judicial activism from judicial lawlessness, which, in his view, includes usurping the executive branch by taking over prison systems or school districts, or usurping legislative duties by legalizing abortion or requiring that police read criminal suspects their rights.But he doesnt want judges sitting on their hands, either. When a court finds another branch of government has exceeded its permissible boundaries or has violated individual rights in the constitution in accord with original meaning, and it strikes down that exercise of illegitimate activism, that is judicial activism, he said when the book was released. And thank God for it.Bolick sees the courts as the rare venue where everyday people can be on the same footing as large companies and governments. But courts, he says, need to protect individual liberties: A court that is not sufficiently robust in protecting individual rights will mean that those rights are utterly and totally unprotected.
Lawmakers have approved a crucial rewrite of Florida's death penalty sentencing law, hoping it passes muster after the current version was recently declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.The bill, passed overwhelmingly by the state Senate Thursday, now heads to Gov. Rick Scott for his signature.Florida has the nation's second largest Death Row population with 389 inmates. But executions have been on hold since Jan. 12 when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Florida's sentencing law as a violation of a defendant's constitutional right to trial by jury because the jury's role was advisory.The death penalty itself was not deemed unconstitutional, but state lawmakers were forced to rewrite sentencing laws to keep the death penalty as an option for prosecutors."We came up with a decision, and now the courts can take into account where we think we should be going," said Sen. Greg Evers, R-Baker, the Senate Criminal Justice chairman.Florida's new law requires juries to unanimously vote for every reason, known as aggravating factors, to warrant a death sentence. A trial judge must sign a written order confirming those findings.Prosecutors also must notify defendants before trial that they will seek the death penalty and list the aggravating factors the state intends to prove.The bill also requires at least 10 of 12 jurors in a capital case to agree on a death sentence, an issue not specifically addressed by the U.S. Supreme Court in its decision in Hurst v. Florida.Current Florida law allows juries to recommend death on a simply majority vote. The new law will put Florida in line with one other death-penalty state, Alabama. Most states require jury recommendations of a death sentence to be unanimous.Death penalty foes and defense attorneys, among others, have argued that jury recommendations of death should be unanimous in consistency with jury rulings of guilt or innocence being unanimous. But an attempt earlier this week to amend the bill in the Senate to a unanimous jury recommendation was unsuccessful.After a brief debate, the Senate passed the House bill (HB 7101) Thursday on a 35-5 vote. The House voted for the fix on a 93-20 vote two weeks ago.Scott intends to sign the bill into law, a spokeswoman said.Sen. Thad Altman, R-Melbourne, who opposes capital punishment, was the only Republican to vote against the bill in the Senate. He was joined by Democrats Jeff Clemens of Lake Worth, Bill Montford of Tallahassee, Jeremy Ring of Margate and Geraldine Thompson of Orlando.Afterward, the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops said that the rules are not perfect but are a step in the right direction. The conference opposes the death penalty, but since it is allowed, they said, juries should have to be unanimous."A 10-2 jury requirement is an improvement over the current scheme that allows a person to be sentenced to death on a recommendation of only a simple majority of jurors," conference executive director Michael Sheedy said in a statement. "There has been progress this year, but there is still room to improve."Democratic senators said they, too, oppose the 10-2 requirement for jury recommendations, preferring unanimous votes.That was strongly opposed by prosecutors and quickly rejected by the Florida House in favor of a 9-3 proposal. The two chambers agreed to compromise on a 10-2 vote."The jury needs to make this ultimate decision, not the judges," said Sen. Darren Soto, D-Orlando.Though he'd prefer a unanimous jury, he said at least Florida's "finally not the outlier" by requiring only a majority jury vote.Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, voted for the bill but predicted that courts will reject it and force the Legislature to make another fix."I'm sure that when this issue gets back up in the Florida Supreme Court, we will get back to where we really need to be -- which is a unanimous verdict," Joyner said.But Evers said the Legislature did what it needed to satisfy the Supreme Court's ruling."Everyone talks about future litigation, but the thing about it is the Hurst decision did not specify that you have to have a unanimous jury," he said. "It left that open and up to the Legislature to make a determination."The Senate vote came the same day as an Alabama court found that state's death penalty sentencing process unconstitutional. Jefferson County, Ala., Circuit Judge Tracie Todd sided with defense attorneys who cited the Supreme Court's ruling in Hurst that juries must make the final sentencing decision.In Florida, state Supreme Court justices have already halted the executions of two death row inmates -- Michael Ray Lambrix and Mark Asay -- while issues in the Hurst case are worked out.
In a ceremony featuring dozens of law enforcement officers from around the state, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin vetoed the no-permit concealed-carry bill Thursday (HB 4145), an act he said was "for the safety of law enforcement officers and for all West Virginians."In a message directed at legislators who are anticipated to override the veto, Tomblin said, "I urge you to look around this room for a moment and see that law enforcement are concerned about this bill."Tomblin had called together West Virginia State Police, county sheriff's departments and various city police officers, as well as officers from the Capitol's Division of Protective Services and campus police units, who filled much of the Governor's Reception Room for the ceremony.Among the speakers, Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper was blunt, saying, "Do we really want to take away a sensible protection for our law enforcement and, for that matter, our children and grandchildren?"Carper produced several handguns seized in recent days by Kanawha County deputy sheriffs and Charleston police officers from individuals who, under existing law, were illegally concealing the weapons.Holding a gun taken Tuesday from an individual who had it stuffed in his pants, Carper said, "This bill would have allowed him to keep his gun in his belt, and then stick it in the belly of a police officer. That's not what the Second Amendment is about."Citing opinion polls showing that more than 80 percent of likely voters, as well as gun owners, support the existing law requiring background checks and gun safety training to obtain concealed-carry permits, Carper said, "This is a bad bill. If it's such a great idea, then why don't they let the people of West Virginia vote on it?"Raleigh County Sheriff Steve Tanner, one of several officers to speak in support of Tomblin's veto, said the West Virginia Sheriffs' Association is unanimous in its opposition to the unlicensed concealed-carry bill."This is just bad law. It endangers law enforcement, and it endangers the public," he said.Likewise, state Chiefs of Police Association Vice President Joe Crawford said he hopes the Legislature will not attempt to override Tomblin's veto."At some point, common sense ought to kick in," Crawford said.Afterward, Tomblin said he believes election-year politics is driving the Legislature's support for the bill, adding, "It's one of those things certain groups out there consider very important in election years."He said litigation to have the legislation overturned in court could be an option if the Legislature overrides the veto, a process that requires a simple majority vote of members of the House and Senate. Initially, the bill passed the House of Delegates 68-33 and the Senate on a 24-9 vote.In a statement Thursday, Dakota Moore, West Virginia lobbyist for the National Rifle Association, called on the Legislature to proceed with that override."Gov. Tomblin's decision to veto this bill is unfortunate, especially considering the significant support HB 4145 had from both sides of the aisle," the Fairfax, Va.-based lobbyist said. "We're hopeful that, in going back to the Legislature, each chamber will promptly reaffirm the rights of law-abiding individuals."Meanwhile, Diane Pendleton, a volunteer with the West Virginia chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, said the group is grateful for Tomblin's veto and urged the Legislature to stand with the majority of West Virginians."It is time for the West Virginia Legislature to stop playing games with our safety -- and to say no to HB 4145 once and for all," she said. "I urge our elected officials to listen to their constituents, rather than the gun lobby, and to allow the governor's veto to stand, rather than embarking on a divisive veto override fight."Last year, Tomblin vetoed a similar unlicensed concealed-carry bill, also citing law enforcement concerns. That bill was passed late in the regular session, and the Legislature had adjourned the 2015 session by the time Tomblin issued the veto.This year's veto comes with nine days remaining in the 2016 regular session.
On Thursday, in the morning, at the Executive Building, the Honourable Chief Justice Catherine Holmes, Acting Governor, presided at a meeting of the Executive Council.

In the evening, at Government House, His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC, Administrator of the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia, with Mrs Kaye de Jersey, hosted a function in support of the Royal Society of Queensland and addressed guests.
1. Data is not properly accounted for

2. Lack of data retention guidelines

3. Lack of privacy-mindfulness

4. Forging partnerships with the private sector

SAN FRANCISCO  As one of the largest collectors of personal data, government is in the unique position to both use and lose valuable constituent information. An expert panel took to the issue to at the 2016 RSA Conference the morning of Wednesday, March 2, discussing the risks and necessary next steps in this space.Because of the ever-changing nature of data collection, data use and privacy concerns, J.R. Reagan, global chief information security officer with Deloitte, said there is simply no easy way to flip-flop between acceptable and unacceptable data uses when presented with the aggregate nature of huge amounts of digital information.At the moment, its sort of crude, Reagan said. Were left with de-identification stuff, thats nice if you want to make sure that no one can be identified, however, then we strip out maybe attributes that would be extremely useful for other purposes. Its just a very crude construct that, at the moment, we dont have the digital sophistication to yet to start doing this at a very small, atomic attribute level.And ultimately, until all parties are on the same page when it comes to the ails of data in the digital age, Lee Tien, senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said that progress around the issues will remain.I dont see any solution anytime soon other than for all sides to appreciate that there are real issues and problems, he said. There are a lot of folks who dont want to acknowledge that there is a privacy issue in the first place.Here's a look at four primary issues of data in the digital age.One issue facing many public organizations is the fact that much of the data being collected is not properly accounted for, said Wyoming CIO Flint Waters.In talking with CIOs around the nation, we have a history of agencies that have siloed data collection and we truly do not know all that is gathered by them, he said. In many cases, were finding government entities, through some legislative or reporting or audit mandate, have gathered additional data sets from other entities and now they have workforce and transportation and education data sitting at the Department of Health. So were trying to go through and inventory all that.This flow of information from one agency to the next adds to the confusion around who has what, where it is being kept and why, Waters said.Another point was the lack of guidelines for data retention. According to Tien, as storage capacity grew within government, more agencies moved to hold onto constituent data  especially in the cases of law enforcement agencies.This is a radically underdeveloped area because historically they didnt have any rules about retention and as long as the state IT capacity was not all that great, they didnt need to think about it that much, Tien said. What we are seeing, around the state of California at least, is a very strong desire to keep as much of the data they collect as possible. And its not because they are required to keep it, its that they think it might be useful.The reasoning behind the retention often falls to a just in case mentality, he added, or the desire to mine for other valuable information.Despite what may be seen by some as harmless collection and mining, Tien said information taken from smart utility meters poses substantial privacy concern due to the ease of re-identifying who the data belongs to as it moves through its lifecycle.A major concern in the data space is the fact that many in the IT world are not privacy minded and lack the ability to evaluate risks to personal privacy, he said.Though the conversation around data privacy and protection often falls to the negatives ramifications, Deloitte's Reagan said there is also a significant amount of positive benefit that can come with data. He points to studying data sets for cancer indicators as one example.It is a tension. We were trying to apply yesterdays, in some ways, physical privacy constructs to a digital world that keeps moving faster," he said, "[and we] assume that we can resolve those two in the same way when I think that we need to actually have different constructs to manage the data."One potential solution, Reagan discussed, was the deployment of technologies like block chain to self-identify data, remove the middle man (i.e. people) and limit the inappropriate uses of potentially sensitive information.I think we just need to move away from these blanket policies around privacy and give a much more atomic or a much more discreet attributes and rules so it can be used for purposes which we would like and, which we would get permission for, but also protect it at the same time for those things we dont get permission for, Reagan said.Waters also noted that another challenge facing government in the data collection and security realm is that leveraging relationships with corporate partners is often a necessity when faced with the staffing and retention problems.I think it's a struggle for states to tackle because across the board, we struggle in recruiting. We struggle in IT having a voice in terms of funding to be able to bring in and train, certify and work with some of the best folks in that realm, Waters said. They tend to get pulled out of our sector very quickly. The best and brightest go on. So, it is a huge challenge.The CIO said the resources of corporate partners have helped to fill experience gaps and update legacy systems.Were pushing really hard to leverage our corporate partners because there is no reason to think the state is where we are going to do that the very best, he said. Weve been pushing to try to get it out of the legacy state data center and get out of the business we dont do well.For smaller public agencies, Waters said the inclination to try to handle IT undertakings in-house has led to problems and pointed to three police departments that had been hacked as one such example.
(TNS) -- In late January, Donald Trump held one of his final rallies before the Iowa caucuses at the Dubuque airport. On the tarmac, with loudspeakers blasting the theme from the Harrison Ford movie Air Force One, a crowd of shivering supporters roared when Trumps Boeing 757 made a flyby. Many of the estimated 400 people in attendance had been notified about the event through NationBuilder, a digital hub for campaigns that handles website design, fundraising, organizing volunteers and social media.As Trump has moved from outsider candidate to Republican front-runner, his campaign has been collecting email addresses, cellphone numbers, and other information from supporters and feeding the data into the NationBuilder system to automate the voter-outreach process. The software lets campaign staffers target individuals with emails about issues in which theyve expressed an interest and notify them of events occurring near their homes. It can also track social media so a campaign can see who is liking or sharing a post.NationBuilders technology is pretty much turnkey. Its not as sophisticated as a custom-built platform, but candidates who subscribe to the service can immediately start tracking voters and organizing volunteers, for far less money. In the world of retail politics, the company has become a great democratizer since its founding in 2009. Its given a political novice like Trump access to the type of sophisticated tools that Barack Obama and Mitt Romney had to build in 2012, helping Trump get his supporters to turn out for primaries and caucuses.This is what Obama figured out, but it took $1 billion and a whole host of engineers to do, says Emily Schwartz, NationBuilders head of organizing. Now its commercialized and readily available and can scale to different sizes of campaigns. You dont have to be a fundraising machine. You dont have to have million-dollar PACs behind you. (NationBuilder, citing nondisclosure agreements, declined to discuss the services it provides to Trump. The campaign didnt respond to requests for comment.)NationBuilder is the creation of Jim Gilliam, who worked at Lycos, the search engine, before becoming an anti-war activist in the early 2000s. Hes always been what people characterize as a hero engineer, says Patrick Michael Kane, a former chief technology officer of MoveOn.org who now runs We Also Walk Dogs, a software company that makes the organizing software ActionKit. He can sit down and in 10 hours bang out an application that would take another engineer 100 hours to write.NationBuilders prices start at $29 a month for email blasting and social media tracking. Versions of the software that sync credit databases and consumer datavoters incomes, what magazines or newspapers they subscribe to, what cars they drivewith a campaigns own voter lists run $5,000 a month and higher. Before he came along, Gilliam says, it was at least $10,000 to get started for what were offering for $29 per month. Its biggest client spends $500,000 a year.Gilliam expected most of his customers to be state and local candidates or petition-drive organizers  such as the animal-rights advocates pushing to end carriage horses in New Yorks Central Park, one of NationBuilders 7,000 active campaigns. The people who are in power frankly dont need NationBuilder, Gilliam says. They can afford engineers to hack things together. But NationBuilders easy-to-use platform has also turned out to be attractive to candidates with plenty of money.In 2014, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell signed on for his re-election campaign. Volunteers armed with iPads scattered across Kentucky, knocking on doors with messages tailored specifically to how somebody responded to certain Facebook posts. At the end of each day, the team would review the data that streamed into NationBuilder, giving them confidence about a victory even as polls showed a tight race. It held everything together, says Vincent Harris, a Republican consultant who oversaw McConnells digital strategy.Last year, Jeb Bushs presidential campaign was one of the companys largest customers among federal candidates, according to campaign spending records pulled by the nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics. Rick Santorum signed up, and so did Trump. Absent from NationBuilders list of customers are many Democrats. The partys candidates rely on a company called NGP VAN, which has formal ties to the Democratic National Committee. Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and nearly every Democratic candidate for the House or Senate use the system. (Grass-roots groups supporting Sanders and others opposing Trump do use NationBuilder.)Gilliam spent part of his childhood in San Jose, Calif., where his father was a software engineer for IBM. His parents were Christian fundamentalists and members of a local megachurch affiliated with Jerry Falwells Moral Majority. The family moved to North Carolina after his father was transferred, and by age 12, Gilliam was listening to Rush Limbaugh on the radio and attending church three days a week. His computer obsession started early. When his father brought home an early IBM PC with a modem, Gilliam discovered a new world. In a 2011 speech he said, Growing up, I had two loves: Jesus and the Internet.He attended Falwells Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., and designed its first website. I even fixed Dr. Falwells computer once, he says. But over spring break of his sophomore year, doctors discovered he had non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Two weeks into Gilliams chemotherapy treatment, his mother was also diagnosed with cancer. When he lived and she didnt, Gilliam dropped out of Liberty to work for a startup in Boston. About six months later, he was diagnosed with leukemia; eventually he underwent a successful bone marrow transplant.Gilliam went to work for Lycos in 1998. Two years later he was hired by Business.com, a search company. Gilliam rewrote the companys main search code in 17 days and was named chief technology officer. But after the Sept. 11 attacks, his passions shifted. He was enraged by the George W. Bush administrations invasion of Iraq and decided to make a career change after hearing that Robert Greenwald, a documentarian, needed a researcher for a film about the war.Gilliam sent Greenwald an email and was hired. He immediately demonstrated his skills at Internet organizing, creating tools to let people schedule screenings at their homes and raise money for projects. In 2005, when Greenwald released an independent film about Wal-Mart stores labor practices, the retailer hired a crisis-management firm to respond. It was really intoxicating, Gilliam says. We were a ragtag group of filmmakers and did this on virtually no budget.Soon after, he began feeling short of breath. His earlier treatments had scarred his lungs, and he required a double-lung replacement. Surgeons at the University of California, Los Angeles decided the procedure was too risky. His friends and family organized an online campaign to change the doctors minds; it worked. A donor was found, and the procedure was successful. Gilliam was 29.In late 2008, as Obamas campaign was demonstrating what technology could do for politics, Gilliam started writing the code for what became NationBuilder. In 2010 one of his friends, Reshma Saujani, ran for Congress in New York, and Gilliam made her a database at no cost. A fundraising tool he built simplified the way people could contribute money online; one feature allowed supporters to organize events, and another made it easier for campaigns to communicate with volunteers. I agreed to be his guinea pig, says Saujani, who lost the race. (She now runs the nonprofit Girls Who Code.) Gilliam came away convinced he had a viable business. Others agreed: NationBuilder has raised about $35 million from the likes of Sean Parker, an early backer of Facebook, and Andreessen Horowitz. (Bloomberg LP, which owns Bloomberg Businessweek, is an investor in Andreessen Horowitz.)Gilliams friends question why he works with candidates and organizations whose political beliefs he almost certainly abhors. I dont want to sell to people who I think are making the world a worse place, says Kane, the former MoveOn CTO. That line of criticism makes Gilliam angry. As he frequently points out, the right to organize is fundamental to American democracy. Donald Trump is not the first person to use NationBuilder that I disagree with, he says. I probably disagree with most of our customers. Thats what democracy is about.
(TNS) -- Larimer will become the first city neighborhood other than Downtown with public access to Wi-Fi through a $150,000 grant Google Pittsburgh is providing to install a network, officials said.Mayor Bill Peduto and representatives of Google and Larimer's Kingsley Association will announce the project Thursday evening at the Kingsley headquarters on Frankstown Avenue.Google will provide the funding and two years of free maintenance and support costs for a network that will cover about 30 percent of Larimer and bordering sections of East Liberty. Velociti Inc., based on Missouri, will install the network and is discounting its costs for Google as part of the deal, spokeswoman Layla Barbur said.Kingsley plans to seek more funding for coverage of the entire neighborhood, Executive Director Malik Bankston said.It will obviously help to close the so-called digital divide that's been identified in lower-income neighborhoods, and secondarily, it's going to provide a high-quality Internet access that is especially important for school-age kids, Bankston said.Larimer, which has about 1,730 people, is one of Pittsburgh's poorest neighborhoods.Kamal Nigam, who heads Google's Pittsburgh office, said the grant fits with the company's core mission to promote universal Internet access.According to 2013 census data, more than 20 percent of Pittsburgh homes lack Internet access, he said in a statement. ... We are happy to support installation of a Wi-Fi network that will increase Internet access for our neighbors.Plans call for the network to be available by early spring for new homes and apartments being built in the area of East Liberty Boulevard and Larimer Avenue.The network would cover about 350 homes in the $30 million, Department of Housing and Urban Development-funded development known as Choice Neighborhoods in Larimer; 100 existing homes in the Enright Court section of East Liberty, and neighboring residences, Bankston said.Residents will have access to wireless high-speed Internet inside and outside their homes, he said. Google Pittsburgh's office is in Bakery Square in Larimer.This is a major step on our quest to bridge the digital divide in Pittsburgh, Peduto said. Expanding access to technology and information is essential to creating equal opportunities for all Pittsburghers.
Google vs. Zika Virus

Rise of the City Web

Open Data Attacks Invasive Species

This week, Google joined the battle against the mosquito-borne Zika virus promising to bolster response efforts with $1 million, an additional $500,000 in matching funds and a team of engineers to create an open source predictive analytics platform to map the virus.Google said that since November, global search results have shown a 3,000 percent increase.Our $1 million grant will be used by the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) to raise widespread awareness, reduce mosquito populations, support the development of diagnostics and vaccines, and work with communities and governments to prevent Zika transmission, Google said on its blog announcing the initiative.The funding are estimated to aid 200 million victims affected in Brazil and other Latin American countries.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the disease is particularly harmful to pregnant women. The Zika virus is linked to congenital birth defects like microcephaly  when children are born with abnormally small heads and incomplete brain development. For most adults, however, the virus has milder symptoms that can produce fevers, rashes, joint pains or conjunctivitis (red eyes).The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Zika virus a public health emergency in February on the heels of its rampant growth through Central and South America. The organization noted that the disease is especially difficult to contain because no treatment or vaccine currently exists, and the mild symptoms dont typically prompt hospital visits.The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) has released a 99-page report forecasting the emergence of a national innovation network for cities and recommending federal funding to support it.The group of advisors, which includes Office of Science and Technology Policy Director John Holdren, called the network City Web and described it as a coming of age information-sharing and collaborative development platform for cities. But the City Web is less of a platform  a term typically implying an app or Web service  and more of what might be called an ecosystem for civic innovation. With the rise of open data, smart city technology and municipal innovation zones to pilot advancements, White House technology advisors forecast that in the future, cities and federal agencies will look to each other and outsiders for solutions.Based on the effectiveness of this rising ecosystem of technologies and tactics, the report recommended the U.S. Department of Commerce lead a new effort called the Cities Innovation Technology Investment Initiative (CITII), to pioneer and coordinate new models for technology-enhanced cities. Under the initiative, PCAST called for a blueprint by the end of 2016 that shows how U.S. agencies can foster civic innovation. Further, the CITII would create an independent body  similar to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)  to create standards and best practices to develop the City Web.As a supporting measure, the group also suggested the White House draft legislation for two financing programs to support City Webs use of Urban Development Districts  innovation zones in cities that are used to pilot new technologies.The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDAs) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has partnered with Google Earth to build an interactive mapping tool to track invasive species that are damaging habitats.The tool, which covers 100 million acres across seven western states, was developed as part of the USDAs Sage Grouse Initiative (SGI) to protect dwindling rangelands from the encroachment of conifers. Since fire suppression techniques were adopted roughly 150 years ago, conifer trees have gradually reduced grassland by sucking up nutrients and water from the soils. Ranchers have been especially afflicted by this as they require these rangelands to feed livestock.To monitor the problem, USDA officials said the first iteration of its tool allows farmers, ranchers, conservationists and academics to analyze data on cheatgrass and conifer encroachment on vulnerable rangelands. The Web app will likewise assist with the identification and removal of younger trees that are easier to eradicate. Another helpful feature of the app is a heat map that highlights a regions resilience and resistance to encroaching species.
Two young drivers with famous fathers will charge towards a future career on the F1 grid with strong support in their wake.

The most high-profile is Mick Schumacher, the 16-year-old son of F1 legend Michael who for 2016 has been signed up by the Ferrari-linked Prema team in Formula 4.

FIA president Jean Todt is a close friend of the Schumacher family, and he told Germany's Sport Bild: "Mick is fantastic; a great kid.

"That he has talent is unquestionable. Now it will depend on whether he is in the right team, has the right environment and how he handles the pressure," Todt added.

But also charging towards F1 is Giuliano Alesi, who like Mick Schumacher is also 16.

He has been signed by Ferrari's driver development 'academy' for 2016, and will race in the F1 support series GP3.

Like Schumacher, Alesi's father Jean also drove for Ferrari, and he told Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport: "Giuliano has got into a big family, and he will stay there for a long time.

"I have supported Giuliano's wish to get into the world of motor sport. He grew up in this world -- my friends are drivers and managers," Frenchman Alesi added.

(GMM)
NASA selected a team led by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company to complete a preliminary design for Quiet Supersonic Technology (QueSST). Lockheed Martin will receive about $20 million over 17 months for QueSST preliminary design work. The Lockheed Martin team includes subcontractors GE Aviation and Tri Models Inc.. The work will be conducted under a task order against the Basic and Applied Aerospace Research and Technology (BAART) contract at NASAs Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.

NASA has awarded a contract for the preliminary design of a quiet, low boom supersonic flight demonstration aircraftthe first in a new series of X-planes in NASAs New Aviation Horizons initiative, introduced in the agencys Fiscal Year 2017 budget. The 10-year New Aviation Horizons initiative has the goals of reducing fuel use, emissions and noise through innovations in aircraft design that departs from the conventional tube-and-wing aircraft shape.

NASAs recent focus on supersonic research testing began in November 2010 as part of the projects Experimental Systems Validations for N+2 Supersonic Commercial Transport Aircraft effort.

In 2014, Peter Coen, manager of NASAs High Speed Project with the agencys Aeronautics Research Mission Directorates Fundamental Aeronautics Program, observed that There are three barriers particular to civil supersonic flight; sonic boom, high altitude emissions and airport noise. Of the three, boom is the most significant problem.

Research by NASA, the military and the aircraft industry has determined that a variety of factors, from the shape and position of aircraft components to the propulsion systems characteristics, determine the make-up of a supersonic aircrafts sonic boom. Therefore, engineers are able to tune or shape a boom signature through design to minimize the loudness of the boom it produces in flight.



Artists concept of a possible Low Boom Flight Demonstration Quiet Supersonic Transport (QueSST) X-plane design. Source: Lockheed Martin. Click to enlarge.

NASA is working hard to make flight greener, safer and quieterall while developing aircraft that travel faster, and building an aviation system that operates more efficiently. To that end, its worth noting that its been almost 70 years since Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1 as part of our predecessor agencys high speed research. Now were continuing that supersonic X-plane legacy with this preliminary design award for a quieter supersonic jet with an aim toward passenger flight. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden

In 2015, NASAs Commercial Supersonic Technology Project awarded eight studies more than $2.3 million in funding for research to address sonic booms and high-altitude emissions from supersonic jets. These awards were:

Global Environmental Impact of Supersonic Cruise Aircraft in the Stratosphere; $1.2 million over four years to MIT

The Influence of Turbulence on Shaped Sonic Booms; $1.2 million over three years to Wyle Laboratories

Sonic Boom Display; $698,000 to Rockwell Collins

Pilot Interface for Mitigating Sonic Boom; $686,000 over two years to Honeywell

Quiet Nozzle Concepts for Low Boom Aircraft; $575,000 over two years to University of California, Irvine

Evaluation of Low Noise Integration Concepts and Propulsion Technologies for Future Supersonic Civil Transports; $599,000 over two years to GE Global Research

Waveforms and Sonic Boom Perception and Response Risk Reduction; $337,000 for one year to Applied Physical Sciences

Risk Reduction for Future Community Testing with a Low-Boom Flight Demonstration Vehicle; $393,000 over one year to Fidell Associates

NASA and its partners have made advances toward sonic boom reduction with the development and validation of new boom-reduction aircraft shaping tools, wind tunnel testing and flight experiments. Acoustic studies conducted in laboratories and in-flight tests using special maneuvers have indicated that the boom levels that can now be achieved may produce little or no disturbance to communities.

After conducting feasibility studies and working to better understand acceptable sound levels across the country, NASAs Commercial Supersonic Technology Project asked industry teams to submit design concepts for a piloted test aircraft that can fly at supersonic speeds but create a soft thump rather than the disruptive boom currently associated with supersonic flight.

Developing, building and flight testing a quiet supersonic X-plane is the next logical step in our path to enabling the industrys decision to open supersonic travel for the flying public. Jaiwon Shin, associate administrator for NASAs Aeronautics Research Mission

The company will develop baseline aircraft requirements and a preliminary aircraft design, with specifications, and provide supporting documentation for concept formulation and planning. This documentation would be used to prepare for the detailed design, building and testing of the QueSST jet. Performance of this preliminary design also must undergo analytical and wind tunnel validation.

In addition to design and building, this Low Boom Flight Demonstration (LBFD) phase of the project also will include validation of community response to the new, quieter supersonic design. The detailed design and building of the QueSST aircraft, conducted under the NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorates Integrated Aviation Systems Program, will fall under a future contract competition.

The New Aviation Horizons X-planes will typically be about half-scale of a production aircraft and likely are to be piloted. Design-and-build will take several years with aircraft starting their flight campaign around 2020, depending on funding.
Mystified Outer Banks tourists witnessed a bizarre act of nature Friday, Oct. 14, as fish began flinging themselves onto the beach at Ocracoke Island. Multiple videos shared on social media show the ocean appeared to boil with fish as they tumbled over each other in the surf. The so-called bluefish blitz concluded with thousands of dying fish piled on the sand, flopping up and down as ...
Why, despite the really bad deal America got when it put our chief-wealth-destroyer in the White House for two terms at a cost of $8 trillion more debt, are Democrats choosing between an empty pantsuit and a fiscal-policy-bankrupt socialist to replace him, and so many Republicans are opting for a bull-in-the-china-shop, bloviating buffoon?

Thomas Jefferson, who fought hard to head off a huge, mushrooming federal government, maintained that a democracys viability depends on the electorate making informed, reasoned voting decisions. Much of the televised campaign coverage makes it clear that emotions are primary drivers of support for many candidates. Unfortunately, demagogues elected based on emotional appeal, despite offering bare-faced lies and impossible-to-deliver false promises, tend to drive countries to ruin - e.g., Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela.

Please, inform yourself enough to weigh thoughtfully the meaningless campaign rhetoric and incredibly costly bait being dangled, lest we elect a president who can drive us over the fiscal cliff.

Inevitably, the people whove loaned America the funds for our $19 trillion national debt will want their money back. That will be brutally painful for our children and grandchildren who will have to come up with the cash. Is that the legacy we want?

Jim Mooney

Jamestown
HARTFORD  The confrontation between a man carrying a pistol and Bridgeport cops in a sandwich shop in January would never have boiled over into a viral video if permit holders were required to show their documents when asked by police, said one of the officers who responded to the incident.

Officer Ricardo Lopez joined state prosecutors, law enforcement officials and gun-control supporters on Thursday in favor of a bill that would give police more latitude than they now have in asking for permits in public.

At a time of growing friction between police and the public, theres a need for a brighter legal line, Lopez said.

Gun-rights supporters, however, said they shouldnt have to submit to such questioning if they are just going about their business without creating a threat to public safety.

Ninety nine percent of gun-permit holders in Connecticut realize its a privilege and when asked they will provide it willingly, theyre very cooperative and we return the favor by maintaining our professionalism, Lopez said in the Legislative Office Building prior to testifying to the Public Safety Committee. Its just that one percent that want to create disorder; that manipulate it in a fashion they can take advantage of. Theyre the ones that can create problems in a lot of different ways.

Lopez was the third responding officer during a January incident when a gun-carrying Waterbury man, asked to show his permit in a Subway restaurant refused and then video recorded an escalating verbal exchange with police.

Lopez said that if the proposed law were in place, it would have become a routine a 30-second exchange.

That would have been the end of it.

Lopez said the danger is when someone pretends to have a permit and doesnt. It can descend into a potentially deadly mix in a city such as Bridgeport, known for its gun violence. Theres a lot more confrontation now between police officers and citizens and those confrontations have a tendency to escalate more often that theyre ever done before, he said. Any time you add a gun into the mix, its scary, all the possibilities of how things can go wrong.

Police have to have a reasonable suspicion that a crime is being committed, has been committed or is about to be committed and have to see a pistol or revolver before they can insist that somebody show their permit, said Chief States Attorney Kevin T. Kane, saying that the threshold is more difficult than necessary. In cases where people in retail stores call in complaints of fear after seeing someone with a gun, police should be allowed to find out if there is a permit.

Po Murray, chairwoman of the Newtown Action Alliance, told the legislative Public Safety Committee that her town is still suffering trauma from the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.

We believe open carrying is a threatening act, she said.  After the Sandy Hook tragedy, people are more emboldened. Theyre coming to Newtown and theyre getting bolder and theyre getting into our spaces and in our faces. It would be ideal if gun owners were not allowed to openly carry in the state of Connecticut.

We should create a societal agreement that gun owners who have permits to carry firearms should expect to validate their responsibility by being accountable to officers of the law, said Wendy Skratt of Stamford.

Rep. Stephen D. Dargan, D-West Haven, co-chairman of the committee, said lawmakers are trying to balance gun-owner rights and the safety of the public. It could be that law enforcement sees someone in open carry. Is that reasonably suspicious? Thats what were trying to get at today.

Gun-rights advocates, however, including the state chairman of the NRA, oppose the legislative proposal, charging that it would further reduce their constitutional rights to possess firearms. Scott Wilson, president of the Connecticut Citizens Defense League, Inc. said that police should be limited to asking to see carry permits unless suspects are threatening, agitated or are brandishing their weapons in public places.

Were talking about the fact that they dont have the right to ask for that permit now, said Wilson, one of about 80 people who signed up speak on the issue.

For the gun owners its a significant issue," said Robert Crook, president of the Coalition of Connecticut Sportsman, stressing that the vast majority of pistol carriers would readily show inquiring police their permits. State law allows both concealed carry and open carry and permits must be carried. He warned of the possibility of lawful gun owners being profiled for stopping by police.

Sen. Edwin A. Gomes, D-Bridgeport, a committee member, said he was concerned that the incident in the Bridgeport subway might have been an incident of racial profiling. I wouldnt care if you blue, black or green, if you were carrying that gun and that incident happened, I think it should have happened differently than it did happen, Gomes said.
Bernie Sanders presidential campaign has demonstrated exactly why equity crowdfunding under the JOBS Act will work, when done properly.

Before anyone accuses me of displaying my political leanings in this story, please understand one thing: if I decide to vote for a bald, white, Jewish guy from Brooklyn, Ill write in Larry David.

That being said, I admire that Bernie Sanders has done exactly what equity crowdfunding under the JOBS Act allows small companies to do: take small amounts of money from large numbers of people to fund something, all the while thumbing one's nose at the rich, powerful and elite. The parallels between his campaign funding, and equity crowdfunding under the JOBS Act, are remarkable.

1. His campaign has truly been funded by the crowd.

By the end of 2015, Bernie Sanders campaign had raised more than $73 million from 2,513,665 donations. Unlike most presidential campaigns, small contributions make up the vast majority of funds Sanders has raised. The average donation to Sanders during the last three months of 2015 was $27.16.

This is a perfect illustration as to how crowdfunding works. Look at the one of the first hugely successful rewards-based crowdfunding campaigns: the Kickstarter campaign for the Pebble Watch, in which 68,929 members of the crowd pledged $10,266,845 to bring the Pebble Watch to life. According to Kickstarter, the most common amount donated on their site for all campaigns is $25, almost exactly the average donation to Sanders' campaign.

2. His campaign has catered to the populace.

According to the web site OpenSecrets.org, 99.9 percent of the money Sanders has raised came from donations directly to his candidate committee, not from Super PACs or other leadership political action committees. Contrast this with candidates. A good examples is Jeb Bush. Only 22 percent of donations to Bushs $150 million campaign war chest came from individual donations. And look at where all of that big money got JEB!

Equity crowdfunding will work the same way. Most companies using the new JOBS Act laws to raise capital need to both raise funds to grow and build a clientele for their business. The companies that get the general public excited about their product or their company will be the most successful. That can translate into large numbers of small investments from a huge number of people, most of whom then become brand ambassadors, social media promoters and eventually paying customers of the company they invested in.

Related: Why This $34 Billion Company Is Dipping a Toe Into Crowdfunding

3. His campaign has thumbed its nose at Wall Street.

The Sanders campaign has been extremely critical of Wall Street and the banking world. At the end of 2015, he had accepted donations totaling only $55,000 from donors in the securities and investment sector. Contrast this with his primary rival, Hillary Clinton, who accepted millions from Wall Street and related parties during the same period.

Equity crowdfunding has been called the democratization of the investment process, in no small part because most companies that will use Title III of the JOBS Act, or the Regulation A+ Mini-IPO, to raise capital are not far enough along for Wall Street or venture capital groups to back. Startups in particular are often run by a management team that has tapped out their credit cards, have no more friends and family to go to for financial help and cannot possibly get a bank to loan them money. Rather than futilely attempting to get funding from high-end banking and investment sectors, these companies can now go straight to the crowd to get financed, and be in a better position as they get to later rounds to negotiate with the Wall Street and VC types.

Related: Women Raise More Money With Crowdfunding, Research Shows

4. His campaign is focused on young people new to the process.

NBC reported that in the New Hampshire primary, Sanders received 79 percent of the votes of women aged 18-29. He also reportedly received 78 percent of all votes from first-time voters.

Ever try explaining crowdfunding to your grandmother? Tell most people 70 or older that they need to send you money for something you have not made yet, but in six months you will send them something you are hoping to create, and you will probably be laughed at. Crowdfunding is a young persons game. Studies have shown that between 60-65 percent of donors on Kickstarter and Indiegogo are under the age of 35.

Related: The SEC Just Approved Rules Opening Up Equity Crowdfunding to the General Public In a 3-1 Vote

5. His campaign has been largely funded online.

During his victory speech after winning the New Hampshire primary, Sanders made this request of his supporters: Please help us raise the funds we need, whether its 10 bucks, 20 bucks or 50 bucks. Almost immediately, the overwhelming response crippled his campaign website. During the next 24 hours, his campaign raised $6.5 million, almost all of it online.

Lets go back to grandpa again. Ask him to go online, watch a video, then invest money through a website, and he will probably smack you down with his cane. On the other hand, the younger demographic use their computers and smart phones every day, and the concept of investing online in a startup business is not intimidating to an age group who order everything through Amazon and who no longer communicate with others except through social media.

Who would have thought that this crazy Presidential election would actually teach us something? I guess if you look hard enough, there is always something to learn in every situation.

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If you dont like the New England weather we have been enjoying lately, tough luck. It has been going through the usual seasonal swings and it feels like weve had some of the lowest temperatures in many years.

Which brings to mind the latest affair: rain, wind and all the trees came down. It took Eversource an amazing amount of time to get things going again. I should know  my generator didnt work, so I spent Thursday night in the woolies that I used to wear in Vermont. Glad I had them!

According to Eversource, it was the trees falling down and taking the power lines with them that caused all the trouble. Let us see what the tree conservancy has to say about trees in Greenwich.

The seed was planted for the Greenwich Tree Conservancy in April 2006 with a program titled Clear cut coming to a neighborhood near you? The initial group was Peter Malkin, Cheryl Dunson, Mark Greenwald and Mary Hull. It is a non-profit organization to preserve and enhance the tree and forest resources, and I hope the meadows, as I have mentioned to the board.

The organization introduced the commemorative tree program, which, partnering with the town, asks citizens to donate money to plant trees on town property. I was glad to see this, considering what happened several years ago when a new home owner cut down the trees on his property along also with those of the town.

Once the tree has been planted the donor is sent a certificate recognizing the commemorative tree.

In 2007, the group began its Arbor Day commemorations by planting a pin oak in front of Town Hall to replace the spectacular pin oak that stood forever but was lost in an ice storm. Each year a tree or trees have been planted.

Arbor Day is the day of days for the wonderful Tree Party that has turned out to be a favorite affair. This year it will be at McArdles greenhouse on April 29 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. It is a gathering at a most appropriate place for folks who love trees, especially those in our town.

The organization has done many interesting events including community forums with such speakers as Tom Wessels of Antioch University, the author of books on forest forensics and the hidden secrets of forests; Doug Talmey speaking on native trees; and horticulturist Michael Dur. There have been tree walks at the Montgomery Pinetum, Babcock Preserve and other interesting places. Workshops have included Tree Protection During Construction, a most important thing as when construction occurs, the poor trees come done in a hurry. Hopefully the builders will pick and choose.

Beginning this April 2, there will be an informal panel discussion on better practices in tree care. The first discussion will be at the Sam Bridge Nursery.

The Greenwich Tree Conservancy has worked to pass the first public town tree ordinance which speaks to protecting the public health and safety of residents by providing regulation in the removal of trees. The codifying of many procedures that were already occurring into a tree ordinance allows the tree warden to regulate these actions.

One example of such a procedure is the approving of any public utility work prior to the maintenance work being done in overhead wires or underground pipes, or conduits which would cause injury to street trees.
Sheridan, Wyo. artist Arin Waddell inherited at least two things from her father, the noted artist Ted Waddell: his sly humor and his work ethic.

The Waddells are both well-established artists who have submitted works in the Yellowstone Art Museums annual auction for years. While her father is known for his abstract expressionistic paintings of angus cattle, Arin is more known for painting birds in unusual settings or with unusual props.

In this years auction, Arin has two works. One is a sweet chickadee oil painting on paper. Her oil on gessoboard piece, Hula Hoop, has a raven sitting on an arm chair with a red hula hoop leaning against the chair. It is painted with such subtle lighting and colors that the red hula hoop is not as jarring as you might imagine it. Arin points out that the overstuffed chair in the painting is a domesticated object that is a metaphor for humanity.

We, as humans, have a special place on the landscape and the land. We overtake and usurp the landscape of other species. Im interested in the inversion, to invert that conversation so that other species are coming into our habitat.

Arin teaches art at Sheridan College, works in her studio, and serves on four community boards. She also started a nonprofit group to help feed 450 hungry children each day. She attributes her strong work ethic to both parents, including her mother, Betty Whiting of Billings.

There is a lot of me that is curious, kind of a troublemaker, Arin said. Also, Im a doer who is highly invested in the community.

Arin grew up in Molt with her artist parents and her sister, Shanna Shelby, who is an art historian. Because there werent a lot of distractions around, Arin got a chance to grow up creative and curious.

It was a very idyllic childhood, Arin said.

Arin remembers dinners with people like Lela and Rudy Audio and Frances Senska. Theyre all gone now, but she is grateful for getting to know them as the first generation of modernist artists in Montana. She also met arts patrons who kept Montana artists going through their encouragement and the purchase of their work.

Once my dad didnt have money to pay for a semester of college, and Miriam Sample bought a big painting from my dad and donated it to the YAM to help us out, Arin said.

Sample has also passed away, but Arin said there are others in the Billings community who are supporting the arts and keeping the legacy of the YAM alive, including Carol and John Green.

Arin didn't set out to be an artist. When she got to college in upstate New York, she intended to study zoology and chemistry, but her professors kept encouraging her to take an art class. When she finally did, she was hooked.

Ted was inspired by abstract expressionism, but Arin said her biggest inspiration was post modernism. She has admired the YAM since she was a girl and is honored to be part of the auction.

The auction has been a hallmark event. Im very proud to be a part of it. Im happy about the legacy of the YAM.
MINOT, N.D.  A special prosecutor who has filed three charges against the Ward County sheriff relating to the death of a jail inmate has now asked that he be removed from office.

States attorney Seymour Jordan requests in a complaint given to Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem that Gov. Jack Dalrymple take action against Sheriff Steven Kukowski immediately as allowed in state law.

Jordan, the states attorney in Divide County who was appointed to handle the case because of possible conflict of interest in Ward County, also requests that the governor suspend the sheriff and appoint a special commissioner to hold a hearing.

Jordan last month charged Kukowski with two misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment and one misdemeanor count of public servant refusing to perform duty relating to his handling of management duties at the Ward County Jail.

The case revolves around the death of inmate Dustin Irwin, 25, of Mandaree, who died at a Bismarck hospital in October 2014 of cardiac arrest shortly after he had been handed over to a Burleigh County deputy and exchanged for another prisoner in Bismarck.

Charges say that Kukowski and Capt. Michael Nason transported Irwin to Bismarck after he had been in the Ward County jail for three days and that his health had been deteriorating there and he was not given any medical attention.

Irwins death sparked the investigation regarding the jail and staff.

Kukowskis attorney Bruce Quick of Fargo said in an interview Wednesday that he hadnt seen the latest complaint filed with the attorney general.

Nobodys bothered to send us anything, he said.

Quick emphasized the request for the sheriffs removal was premature to say the least.

He said the first court hearing in the case hasnt even been held. It was set for March 21 but Quick said the prosecutor asked for a delay.

A request for removal from office is rare, Quick said, and he wonders why the case is even moving ahead because Stenehjems office did its own investigation in the 16-month-old case and found nothing wrong.

However, Jordan paints a different picture in his filing with the attorney general.

He claims that Irwin should have been transported to a medical facility as his health was failing rapidly in the jail or at a minimum an individual with proper medical training should have been brought to the jail to evaluate Irwin.

Jordan also writes that even though the inmate population was 150 percent in excess of capacity, the sheriff knew of the overcrowding for at least two years prior to this incident.

Jordan said because of the overcrowding, medical needs were not being met and that multiple jail staff had not received required training, which supports the allegation of neglect of duty in office.

The special prosecutor also said multiple jail workers told investigators that they didnt transport inmates to the hospital because it wasnt allowed due to being short-staffed and for fear of being reprimanded which he said also supports the neglect of duty in office.

Kukowski has been sheriff since 2011.
Photo: iStockphoto

Welcome to Grub Streets weekly survey of the most-talked-about, must-visit restaurants in New York. The list below features spots both new and old, ranked according to one important, ever-fluctuating (and admittedly subjective) metric: Who has the most buzz? Perhaps a famed chef has taken over the kitchen or theres a new dish you absolutely must order. Maybe the restaurant is just brand new or the critics are raving about it. Whatever the reason, these are the 12 hottest restaurants in New York right now.

1. Le Crocodile (10)

Would you like some Barbuto-style roast chicken with a big pile of crisp, skinny fries? Of course you would and so, it seems, does Times critic Pete Wells, who this week gave three stars to this Williamsburg brasserie, writing, Nearly everything Ive had at Le Crocodile has made me want to come back for more.

2. Barbuto (7)

Then again, if you want your Barbuto-style chicken from Barbuto, you will be very happy to learn that the restaurant is now back in action, albeit around the corner from the original location. Everything, and everyone, you love from the original version is back, too, so the restaurants legions of regulars should have no trouble settling right in to the updated space.

3. Thai Diner (2)

Suddenly, everythings a diner  including Soho Diner, Jose Andress Spanish Diner, and chef Sam Yoos very excellent Golden Diner  and now the Uncle Boons team unveils the aptly named Thai Diner. As you might guess, its equal parts Greek-American diner and Thai restaurant with a wild mix of food (kanom krok, eggs with Thai sausage, chicken liver with pineapple and Thai herbs, straight-up cheeseburgers) that is something like a free-for-all of deliciousness.

4. Rule of Thirds (1)

The new Japanese spot at the Williamsburg-Greenpoint border is off to a good start. The bar is huge, the drinks are solid (including a list of sake for natural wine lovers), and chef JT Vuongs menu is filled with hits, like a tofu-and-Camembert hot pocket, and a deeply comforting vegan riff on kasujiru, a mushroom-and-bean-laden stew thats infused with the flavor of sake lees.

5. Ernestos (3)

Chef Ryan Bartlows impressive menu is filled with all sorts of food you find yourself thinking about long after youve left his new downtown Spanish restaurant: chicken croquettes with a beautiful custardy interior, that Instagram-famous pile of potato chips and Spanish ham, pots of long-cooked tripe, squid stewed in its own ink, and peppers stuffed with tender lamb neck.

6. Jua (4)

Chef Ho Young Kims Korean tasting-menu spot is open, and quickly finding fans. The food on the $95 set menu is polished  with an ambitious approach that marries Korean and Western techniques  and the entire room smells pleasantly of the wood fire that Kim uses to cook much of his food.

7. Karazishi Botan (7)

Returning to the idea of everythings a diner  how about a ramen diner, this one from chef Foo Kanegae, who is best known here for his work with Ippudo? Its in the space that was previously home to Battersby, which you may recall is, um, cozy. You might also know that everyone loves ramen and that this particular diner will not accept reservations. All of this is to say: Expect a wait!

8. Leo (8)

Whats not to like about this Williamsburg pizza joint? The vibe is as casual as it gets, the pizzas are exceedingly solid, you can just grab whatever wine you want off the wall (or from a cooler up front), and everyone just seems so exceedingly happy to be here. Also: those beans!

9. 232 Bleecker (11)

Chef Suzanne Cupps has teamed up with the Dig chain for this new neighborhood spot in Greenwich Village. There is a massive grill, Cuppss signature way with fresh, seasonal ingredients, and lasagna made with Moses Sleeper cheese from Vermonts Jasper Hill Farm.

10. Da Toscano (12)

Speaking of highly revered New York chefs arriving in new spaces, Michael Toscano has returned to the city with an upscale Italian spot that promises to hit all the carby, meaty notes his fans will remember and love.

11. Veronika (9)

What does Adam Platt think of Stephen Starrs newest restaurant, a gilded homage to the European luxury of yesteryear? Our critic recently wrote that much of chef Robert Aikenss cooking is extremely polished  the duck-stuffed chou farci and chicken Kiev are lovely  but as dinner progresses at Veronika, theres a sense that the kitchen, like this latest Starr concept in general, is missing that little creative twist that in cooking (and theatrical) circles is sometimes called a point of view.

12. Saltbae Burger (New this week)

You probably shouldnt actually go here, but when something is universally understood to be the worst restaurant in NYC right now  it has to make you a little curious, no?
Not so green. Photo: Mario Villafuerte/Getty Images

Factory farmings downsides seem to be on everybodys mind these days, so heres one more to consider: Its creating an ungodly amount of pollution. Just Tyson Foods alone, one of the worlds biggest meat producers, is responsible for dumping more crap into U.S. waterways than almost every other big company, according to a new report by eco-advocacy group Environment America. Companies are required to report pollution from their processing plants to the EPA, and Tysons numbers make it the countrys second-worst polluter from 2010 to 2014, the most current year on file. It gets edged out by steel-and-coal behemoth AK Steel Holding  104 million pounds of discharges into waterways, versus 107 million  but the Department of Defense is a distant third with 63 million pounds. In fact, by this rubric, Tyson pollutes more water than Cargill and ExxonMobil put together, or, for one more fun comparison, more than rivals Pilgrims Pride and Perdue Farms plus Koch Industries.

A lot of what Tyson and and its subsidiaries dump are nitrate compounds, which in great enough numbers can threaten public health and create dead zones. Environment America adds that what Tyson discloses to the EPA doesnt include any pollution that occurs on its farms, either. This mostly consists of manure, and Tyson says it processes roughly 35 million chickens, 128,000 cows, and 401,000 hogs every week.

Waste management has caused trouble for Tyson in the past, unsurprisingly. Most recently, it was in Missouri, where the company had to pay $539,000 for illegally dumping ammonia into the sewers that the state said killed 100,000 fish.

[Environment New York]
With the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus Apple has introduced the 3D Touch feature, which works because the two handsets' displays are pressure-sensitive. Although this hasn't really taken the world by storm like some previous Apple innovations, it looks like its Android competitors are still looking into adding 3D Touch functionality to their devices.

A new rumor out of China today claims that Google will add the necessary software to support this feature into the next Android release. As this will be built into the OS, phone makers won't have to create their own software implementations for it, which should speed up adoption.

In fact, HTC is said to be adding 3D Touch to this year's Nexus phone, which it will make. It's been a while since we've heard anything about an HTC Nexus, and the last rumor on the matter said we'd see not one but two HTC-made handsets in 2016. If that's true, perhaps they'll both have pressure-sensitive screens.

But the Nexus line isn't the only one getting the functionality. Xiaomi, Meizu, Oppo, and vivo are all said to be working on future devices with pressure-sensing displays. So it looks like this is bound to become a staple feature of Android smartphones later this year. That is, of course, if this particular rumor turns out to have been true. That's a big if, so don't take anything for granted just yet.

Source (in Chinese) | Via
Today Samsung has announced the Upgrade Programme for the UK. This is basically the company's own device leasing scheme, which should also make its way to South Korea as past rumors have told us.

The Upgrade Programme lets you get a Galaxy S7 or S7 edge by paying a 10% deposit upfront, and then making monthly payments for the phone. For the S7, the deposit is 56.90, and after that you'll pay 24.58 per month. After 12 months, you can upgrade to the next Samsung flagship (let's call it the Galaxy S8), by simply returning the S7 in "good working condition". And from that point on you pay 12 monthly installments for the S8.

The good thing is that you can upgrade your device every year. On the other hand, there are plenty of caveats. First off, if you don't upgrade the handset after a year, you'll still have another 12 monthly payments to make on that S7, as the agreement is for 24 months (but Samsung will "cover" the 12 remaining installments if you upgrade and return your S7). And once you've upgraded to the S8, you've entered another two-year agreement (so if you don't upgrade to the S9 in 2018, then you still have 12 more payments to cover the price of the S8... and so on).

The installments are not interest-free, as they are in the case of certain smartphone purchases from US carriers. With the Samsung Upgrade Programme, there's a 14.9% APR. And obviously the scheme does not include an actual contract with an operator, so you'll have to get that separately - or use a Pay as you go SIM.

Still, despite the caveats, it's always nice to have yet another option to purchase a much-craved item such as a Galaxy S7 or S7 edge. It remains to be seen how far this Upgrade Programme will spread, geographically speaking, in the coming months.
HARDIN  A federal agent who investigated the death of Kathryn Laird, whose body was found almost 17 years ago in the Yellowtail Dam Afterbay near Fort Smith, testified on Thursday that the tone of the case changed during an autopsy.

The FBI agent, Randall Jackson, who was present during the Aug. 1, 1999, autopsy, testified Thursday during the murder trial of Kathryn Laird's husband, Brian David Laird.

Jackson said that the pathologist, Dr. Kenneth Mueller, now deceased, had pointed to multiple areas of hemorrhaged blood in the vessels of Kathryn Lairds neck and said, 'This is troubling. He said it repeatedly.

Jackson and several other law enforcement officers were among witnesses state prosecutors called on Thursday as they continued to present their case against Brian Laird, 46.

The jury trial with state District Judge Michael Hayworth presiding began on Tuesday at the Big Horn County Courthouse.

Brian Laird is charged with deliberate homicide in the July 31, 1999, death of his wife, who was 28 years old. The couple had been married less than six months when Kathryn Lairds bruised body was found in the water, court records said.

If convicted, Brian Laird faces the death penalty or a minimum 10 years in prison.

A former fly fishing guide and lawyer, Brian Laird was arrested in 2014 in Fort Collins, Colo., on the Montana murder charges. At the time of Kathryn Lairds death, the couple was living in Fort Smith and working in the fishing business.

Medical examiners ruled that Kathryn Laird died from asphyxia by drowning and had unusual bruises to the muscles on her neck. But the manner of death remained undetermined after an autopsy at the time of her death, and it was not clear from court documents exactly how authorities believe she died.

Sandy Selvey, one of Brian Lairds attorneys, unsuccessfully objected to Jacksons testimony about the pathologists comment, calling it hearsay and prejudicial because Mueller could not be called to the stand.

Selvey said the defense is questioning the prosecutions case alleging a homicide when Kathryn Laird died from drowning. Brian Laird also is being represented by Matt Wald.

Selvey said the defense had not decided whether Brian Laird would testify.

Other witnesses on Thursday included U.S. Park Service rangers, who responded to the initial call of a missing person and went to the Afterbays overflow parking area where Kathryn Lairds body had been found.

Wendy Bredow, a USPS district ranger in Alaska who was working in Fort Smith at the Big Horn Canyon Recreation Area in 1999, said she assisted a Big Horn County deputy sheriff, Delmar Morrision, at the scene.

Bredow described seeing Kathyrn Lairds body partially in the water along the shoreline. A man was kneeling beside the body and was sobbing, wailing, she said.

Another park service employee assisted the deputy sheriff in escorting the man away, Bredow said.

Deputy Morrison, now retired, testified he initially responded to a missing person report and talked to Brian Laird at the couples home in the Fort Smith trailer park. Brian Laird, he said, told him that he and his wife had argued earlier in the morning and that he had gone to bed. When Brian Laird woke up, he couldnt find his wife, Morrison said.

Morrison then learned a body had been found in the water. Morrison said Brian Laird did not follow his instruction to ride with him, but drove himself to the Afterbay overflow parking lot. The deputy followed.

Brian Laird ran to the water and tried to pull his wife from the water, Morrison said. I told him to leave her alone, he testified.

Prosecutors Ole Olson and Chad Parker, assistant attorneys general, also showed the jury photos of Kathryn Lairds body as it lay by the water. She was lying on her back with her sweat pants low on her abdomen and her shirt up around her head. She was wearing a bra but no shoes or socks.

Prosecutors allege Brian Laird killed his wife after an argument.

Brian Laird, prosecutors said, told the FBI that his wife drove off from their trailer house after an argument on the night of her death and that he never saw her alive again.

Neighbors of the couple apparently were not questioned in the case until the FBI interviewed them in 2012. The neighbors reported a bitter argument the night of Kathryn Lairds death, court records said.




Haiti - Economy : Sunrise Airways victim of abuse by the Dominican authorities





Following the decision of the "Junta de Aviacion Civil" (JAC) of the Dominican Republic to suspend the regular flights between Port-au-Prince, Haiti (PAP) and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (JBQ) of Sunrise Airways https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-16766-haiti-flash-dr-temporarily-suspends-flights-of-sunrise-airways.html , Friday the company has apologized to its customers, and accused the JAC of "obvious bad faith" and said to have been the victim of abuse by the Dominican authorities.



"Sunrise Airways asks its loyal customers to accept its apologies for the inconvenience caused by the regrettable decision of the Dominican 'Junta de Aviacion Civil' halt its flights to and from Santo Domingo. And this in an unfairly manner, cavalier, not to say indecent, without prior warning, demonstrating an obvious bad faith.



Sunrise Airways assures those interested that everything is underway so they are very quickly able to use again the road to Santo Domingo in the same conditions of safety and comfort that Sunrise Airways has always made it a point to offer them."



Haitian airline Sunrise Airways maintains that it is "the victim of abuse by Dominican authorities who disclose against the company false accusations according which the company would not have a valid insurance policy," recalling that in February 2014, Sunrise Airways became the first airline operating between Haiti and the Dominican Republic meeting the most stringent safety standards adopted by the civil aviation authorities of the two countries and obey the requirements of the Annex 6 of the International Organization of Civil Aviation (ICAO).



"Security and compliance have always been and will always be the top priority of Sunrise Airways. We are eager to provide the proof, once again, to the authorities of the 'Junta de Aviacion Civil' (JAC) and offer again to our valued customers, passengers the opportunity to use the road PAP / Sto Domingo in the best possible conditions," the company concluded.



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Diaspora NOTICE : A trip to win at Orlando Caribbean Festival





The Consulate of the Republic of Haiti in Orlando inform the Haitian community in Central Florida that as part of the promotion of tourist sites of Haiti, the Consulate will participate in the 5th Edition of the Orlando Caribbean Festival to be held March 19, 2016, at the Central Florida Fairgrounds located at 4603 W Colonial Dr, Orlando FL 32808.



In partnership with the promoters of the festival, the Consulate will conduct a draw where one lucky winner will win an airline ticket roundtrip Fort Lauderdale / Cap-Haitien. To participate in the draw individuals must be aged at least 18 and have a valid passport.



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - News : Zapping politics...





Moise Jean Charles gives a delay of 4 days to Privert

For his part Moise Jean Charles, said he did "not understand what does Privert so far until now the main problem of the crisis has not been touched. We want a verification commission," adding that Privert "has four days to form the verification commission." "Now there is an insecurity that connects to the political crisis and the misery that people live. The President Jocelerme Privert must avoid falling into the position of Martelly and towards a worse crisis," he concluded.



Jovenel Moise against a verification commission

"I am a candidate for the second round of elections that one wants or not. It is the will of the 32.7% of the Haitian electorate [...] It is mentioned nowhere in the Constitution to come to power it must go through the verification [...] the agreement does not provide for the creation of a verification commission [of the last elections]," said Jovenel Moise yesterday Thursday on a radio station of the capital, "Having been one of the signatories of the agreement, Jocelerme Privert should be the first to work for its implementation. I await the opportunity to remind him that his mission is to organize the second round on 24 April."



Jocelerme Privert continues its meetings

The Head of State, Jocelerme Privert met Thursday morning of officials from the Ministry of Social Affairs, and in the afternoon at the National Palace parliamentarians and the Directors General of several State institutions. Earlier this week he met Elisabeth Beton Delegue, Ambassador of France accredited to Haiti.



The time is no longer for dilatory tactics

The Deputy of Thiotte Vikerson Garnier, member of the G33, "Group of Parliamentarians at the Listening of People" (GPEP) believes that the time is no longer for dilatory tactics and believes that GPEP is ready to vote in favor of the Prime Minister if everything is done in compliance with the laws and procedures.



Kettly Julien representative to the CEP

The sector of Human Rights has chosen Kettly Julien, as representative to the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), she was democratically elected by winning with 18 votes on 28 against 10 for the lawyer Edme Remy.



No quorum in the Senate

Thursday a plenary session the Senate to elect a new president at its head, could not take place for lack of quorum, only 13 of 23 senators were present. Recall that this position is vacant since former Senator Jocelerme Privert became interim president of Haiti on 14 February. The Senate is divided into two blocks, the majority bloc [13 senators] who wants the elections takes place according to the standards of internal regulations of the Senate.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















A woman sentenced to 20 years in state prison for criminal endangerment in the death of 6-year-old Kiomora Kiki Hogan could be facing more charges.

Big Horn County Attorney Jay Harris filed court documents on Wednesday seeking to charge Kerstyn Old Bull, 27, with two counts of aggravated assault, four counts of assault on a minor and criminal child endangerment, all felonies.

Harris said he expected District Judge Blair Jones to issue an order later this month on whether to grant authority to file the charges.

The judge in February sentenced Old Bull to 20 years, which was the statutory maximum, for her guilty plea to criminal endangerment and obstructing justice charges.

Old Bull initially was charged with deliberate homicide and accused of beating Kiomora after authorities learned that the girl had been found unresponsive on March 2, 2015, and rushed to a Denver hospital, where she died. Old Bull pleaded guilty to a lesser crime as part of a plea bargain in which the homicide charge was dismissed.

The victim was the daughter of Old Bulls boyfriend, Clint Hogan, who recently pleaded no contest to obstructing justice in the case. Hogan is to be sentenced April 26. A plea agreement calls for the county attorney to recommend a five-year deferred sentence.

Father pleads no contest to obstruction in 6-year-old's death A man pleaded no contest to obstructing justice in the death of his 6-year-old daughter, Kio

Harris said Thursday his goal in seeking additional charges against Old Bull is to hold her accountable for all probable instances of criminal conduct.

The potential new charges relate to suspected child abuse Kiomora may have suffered prior to March 2, 2015, and are based on investigative information from the Big Horn County Sheriffs Office and the FBI and from interviews with Hogan in July 2015 and last month, Harris said.

An affidavit of probable cause, filed by Harris, describes photographs and medical reports showing various injuries to Kiomora, including bruising, a cracked rib and burns.

Woman sentenced to 20 years in 6-year-old girl's death HARDIN  A judge went above the prosecutors recommendation and sentenced Kerstyn Old Bull t

The investigation showed that Old Bull had taken the girl to the emergency room at the Crow Indian Health Service Hospital on Feb. 4, 2015, due to a reported slip and fall onto a concrete floor, caused by a toy, court records said.

Hogan told investigators that he did not abuse his daughter but that she showed fear and apprehension about being alone with Old Bull, court records said.

In observing (Kiomoras) unclothed body in the month of February, Hogan stated to investigators that it looked like his daughter had been in a boxing match, records said.

Hogan also told investigators that when he questioned Old Bull about his daughters bruising, Old Bull got defensive and offered unlikely scenarios as an explanation, the records said.

Medical staff in Denver told investigators that Kiomora died from a single forceful blow to the head or from someone smashing her head into a stationary object like a floor or wall. The injuries were acute and traumatic and could not have been caused by a fall or accident. The girl also had fresh and old bruises over her entire body, indicating habitual abuse, court records said.

In the latest court filing, Harris said the Denver hospitals child protection team review noted that the history provided by Hogan and Old Bull did not adequately explain the girls injuries. And, the teams review continued, that based on the multiple stages of her healing contusions, burns and abrasions, (Kiomora) has suffered chronic child physical abuse and is a battered child, he said.
Former Baltimore police officer Bob Douglas, who now runs the Delaware-based National Police Suicide Foundation, often gets called in by police departments around the country after an officers death by suicide.

For the past two days, hes been training Billings officers, their commanders and their spouses on the warning signs of officer suicide, practicing self-care, seeking help and other important skills after the Jan. 12 suicide of Billings Police Sgt. Shawn Finnegan.

On Thursday during a banquet put on by Billings Police chaplains for officers and their spouses, Douglas, also an ordained minister, mixed humor, research and a broad range of life experiences to continue his ministry of support to officers and their families.

A 2012 U.S. Department of Justice study indicated that more than 300 officers die by suicide every year  nearly twice the amount that die in the line of duty.

Suicides, he said, are not like line-of-duty deaths, where anger and grieving are focused on the suspect. In the suicide of an officer, the anger and grieving is internalized, Douglas said.

The training he and Ray Kahle, a Reno-based critical incident counselor, trauma specialist and law enforcement and military chaplain, helped local first responders focus on seeing the signs, because up to 80 percent of officers contemplating a suicide attempt give off signs their colleagues and loved ones can pick up on.

When those signs are observed, the department can more readily intervene, Douglas said.

Police Chief Rich St. John said the training was specific to the groups involved. Line officers received separate training from their supervisors and police administrators. The training offered to spouses was especially welcome, the chief said.

Police spouses can also receive a series of mental health visits for their personal care, St. John said.

We need to take care of each other, but we also need to take care of ourselves, he said.

Douglas said less than 3 percent of the nations 18,000 police departments have received the training Billings police now have.

His talk Thursday at the Big Horn Resort was peppered with a number of personal stories based on how to improve ones attitude  effective immediately.

One story focused on his personal clothing choices. Douglas showed up for the banquet dressed as he often is  in a grey suit, resplendent with a bow-tie and a dress shirt with French cuffs and fancy cuff links.

I always tell officers to be who they are, but I wasnt always who I was, he said, noting that when he showed up for military service and later as a fresh-faced Baltimore police officer, he turned out with nice suits that spent years hanging in his locker after his colleagues made fun of him and his fancy clothes.

His father was a mens clothier, and Douglas dressed well because it pleased him and reminded him of where he came from.

There came a day of reckoning when I realized I was only happy being who I am, he said, and hes dressed to the nines ever since. I would go to bed like this if I could," he said with a laugh.

Step two toward an improved attitude involves counting ones blessings before you can be a blessing to others. He recalled his second-grade teacher, Mrs. Greenfield, who helped him overcome a speech impediment. When he despaired hed never get it, she wrapped her arms around him and said, 'Someday, Bob, youll be an elegant speaker.' Now you cant shut my little mouth up. I cant talk enough.

The third step is connecting with people  by being available, by listening, by being thoughtful and humble, and by being authentic.

Douglas closed with the thoughts of Christian author Chuck Swindoll: I am convinced, Swindoll once said, that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent of how I react to it.

That, Douglas told the crowd, which gave him a standing ovation, can start tonight.
School District 2 officials celebrated their second groundbreaking of a new middle school in as many years on Thursday at a dirt-covered lot at 56th Street West and Grand Avenue.

Ben Steele Middle School, which is expected to open for the 2017-18 school year, is slated to house about 800 West End students.

Redistricting committee selects recommendation to trustees School District 2 trustees have a decision to make.

Overall, thanks to everyone for making this all possible, all the people who worked on the school and all the people who worked on getting the signatures (for naming), said Ben Steele, the schools namesake and a decorated educator and WWII hero. How do you thank people for all that?  Its overwhelming, really.

The 119,000-square-foot building is expected to cost about $29.3 million. The project is funded by a $122 million bond levy voters passed in 2013.

Instead of starving our schools, were helping them thrive, said Jim Duncan, who helped lead the campaign to pass the levy. Our number of classrooms over accreditation (class size) was over 100. Now were at 25. With this school, well be at zero.

Middle school structure to change as new buildings come into use As a new middle school rises in the Billings Heights and another is planned for the West En

Steele chuckled when handed a golden shovel during the ceremony, his coat collar pulled up against a chilly wind. He shook hands with well-wishers before and after the ceremony.

When introducing him, SD2 Trustee Chairwoman Greta Besch Moen described Steele as a true Montanan, in heart and in spirit.

Steele is widely known for surviving the Bataan Death March and spending four years as a prisoner of war. He went on to earn a masters degree in art and teach for more than 20 years at Montana State University Billings and Eastern Montana College.

He was born in Roundup, and his family moved to Billings during the Great Depression. He graduated from Senior High, but dropped out to work to support his family at one point, Besch Moen said.

SD2 Superintendent Terry Bouck called the construction of the school long overdue and said that its designed to be a community hub, accessible for after-school activities.

The project is part of a middle school design overhaul in which the district will move all sixth-graders from elementary schools to middle schools when Ben Steele opens. District officials also hope to offer more elective classes with additional classroom space.

Medicine Crow Middle School, currently under construction in the Heights, is expected to be finished in time for the beginning of the next school year.
By Jessica Isaacs | [email protected]

Many creative minds find inspiration for their work in the natural world that surrounds them; but for this local artist, nature and art are one and the same.

A background in the performing arts and a passion for Mother Natures greatest treasures have come together for floral designerFuschia Moss, who creates unique, dramatic and breathtaking arrangements for weddings and special events in the High Country.

Fuschia Moss Floral Design

In high school, Moss studied dance at the nationally honored Douglas Anderson School of the Arts in her hometown of Jacksonville, Florida. She earned a full scholarship to the New World School of the Arts in Miami, where she later pursued higher education.

With a formal degree in the performing arts under her belt, she eventually made her way to North Carolinas High Country. Several years later, an administrative career at Blowing Rocks Westglow Resort and Spa gave her a glimpse into the local wedding industry, and the rest is history.

Floral design sort of happened accidentally for me. During my early days at Westglow, I always found myself drawn to a quick peek at what the in-house florist had created for the week, said Moss. I was so interested in what she would create that I had to know more. She would explain the types of flowers and the mechanics of the design.

This went on for a while, until one day she asked me to do the flowers one week while she was out of town. That was it  I was hooked! Soon after, she was ready to retire the task and I eagerly took over for her. Then I created my first wedding, which was my own.

Moss had quickly discovered her professional niche, which has also allowed her creative side to flourish. About four years ago, she took a leap of faith and opted to pursue her passion for floral design as a full-time career.

With the arrival of our third child, my husband and I made the decision that I would stay home and book events and weddings during wedding season, she said. This is a great way to be with my children, have flexibility and pursue something that I love.

Today, she works from her home studio, which allows her to be an artist, an entrepreneur and a mom to her three children.

I have three of the most amazing helpers ever. They are the best sweepers, bucket cleaners, stem trimmers, trash removers and candle counters I could ever ask for, said Moss. At the ages of 10, 8 and 4, we thought it was a great time for them to learn about work, and in return they get to earn a little spending money.

My husband is also a big supporter and my number one cheerleader. He will stay up with me into the wee hours of the morning, keeping me awake and feeding me coffee. There are many 4 a.m. nights in the peak of wedding season, and, when Ive booked several events in one weekend, there is little sleep until Sunday.

Inspiration

Every artist is inspired in a unique and personal way by the world around them, and its no different for this expert floral designer.

My dance background and dance in general is the leading source of my inspiration: shapes, movement, color, emotion  the story. Then there is art, said Moss. Luckily, I have remained friends with so many artists from my school and I am blown away on a daily basis by their photography, drawings and paintings. I am so proud of what they all have done for themselves, and that inspires me.

Music is also among the elements that fuel her creative process.

Of course, music inspires through a melody or the story told in the lyrics, and I could never work without it, she said. I love all genres, but disco gets me through those 4 a.m. nights.

The glory of the High Country plays its own part in the development of her ideas, as well.

We live in a constantly changing canvas. God and Mother Nature have provided all of this for us, she said. The colors range from gray, leafless, barren and wind-blown to beautiful, vibrant green meadows; from bluebird skies to soft pink rhododendron against mossy covered rocks. How can you not be inspired?

Working with Clients

From the first email or phone call the bride makes until the designs are delivered on the wedding date, Moss works one-on-one with each client to make sure her work accurately reflects their vision for the big day and exceeds their expectations.

Shell sit down with you and talk about your ideas in detail, and then shell begin her own creative process to make sure it all comes to life.

I have come to realize that my light bulb doesnt usually go off until after Im driving home from a meeting, Moss said. Im driving and thinking about all the basic needs for their wedding, and thats usually when things come to me  after Ive heard about their vision and their wish lists.

Then I jump on my computer (if I dont have to make someone a snack, fold the laundry or empty the dishwasher first) and I start researching. Checking availability on certain flowers, checking on how many lanterns I have in stock, reviewing the Pinterest page they sent me  and I start plugging it all in. Sometimes it takes me a little while to get the final results, and sometimes I get it right away.

Moss brings her designs to fruition with meticulously selected flowers from all over the world, and she makes those decisions based on the specific requests from her clients.

I wish I could order from our local growers all year, but, as we all know, beautiful mountain flowers are on a short time frame and limited to what Mother Nature has up her sleeve. Many flowers come from Florida, California and the Northwest, she said. However, about 78 percent of standard roses come from Colombia and Ecuador, where they are grown in massive greenhouses. The climate is simply perfect there for them.

In the event that a bride has her heart set on something out of season, like the perfect blush peony thats not yet available locally, Moss can find what theyre looking for, although its likely to be more expensive.

I can get them, but they will probably come from an off-season supplier, like Israel, and could cost double or triple the price. There was an event a few years ago for which I ordered the most incredibly vibrant purple Vanda Orchids that had been shipped from Thailand, she said. They were individually packed with pieces of cotton with an outer layer of foam padding for each stem. I felt like I was unwrapping a lost treasure, and it was very exciting.

Most customers dont realize how much time and research goes into finding the right bloom, confirming availability, getting the best price and scheduling delivery just in time for the wedding day.

As with any art form, creating one-of-a-kind designs is a process of inspiration, growth and development for Moss.

There is so much I love about working with flowers. I am constantly learning, and sometimes failing. It happens  broken corsages, wilting hydrangea, falling garland, moss catching fire from a candle (yes, its true and it happens), she said. But I learn from it and I love it. Its always an experience, and always a little different.

I absolutely adore creating beautiful settings for my brides. When I bring the bouquets to the dressing room, I see the client that I have been working with for so, so long and shes in her dress, that dress Ive seen in pictures hundreds of times, its magical. I almost always cry. I love that part.

Making Connections

Fuschia Moss Floral Design is a member of the High South Event Professionals network  a community of like-minded industry pros who work together to promote the mountains of western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee and southwestern Virginia as the premier special events destination in the Southeast.

She sees the association as an invaluable resource for local business owners, and now serves as membership chair on its board of directors.

This network of friends and professionals is key to the success of all of us. We really are like family. I know that if I am running low on white hydrangea and just need 10 more stems, then I can confidently call any of my fellow florists and see if they have extra to spare, said Moss. On the off chance that I have a weekend free in the wedding season, I will often call and see if anyone needs help, and vice versa.

I have several projects this year where I am working alongside other florists. I just feel like we are all in this together and we will be so much stronger if we support each other. Its also great knowing that I can recommend a caterer or cake baker or photographer with confidence and encouragement.

Meet her and other preferred local vendors at the High South Wedding Expo at the Boone Mall on Sunday, March 20.

Moss has plans to expand her floral design business in the very near future. In the meantime, youre encouraged to check out her website and Facebook page for photos and galleries of her work.

Fuschia Moss Floral Design currently offers floral design for special events, weddings and some daily delivery upon availability.

A few examples of Fuschias work:

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By Jesse Wood

Nearly 1,000 people voted at the early voting site on the campus of Appalachian State University during the first day of early voting on Thursday, according to numbers from the Watauga County Board of Elections.

The 943 people that voted on ASU compares to 383 people that voted in the Watauga County Administration Building in downtown Boone and the 203 people that voted at one-stop sites outside of Boone.

Here are voting numbers at all of the early voting precincts during the first day of early voting:

-App State: 943

-Admin Building in downtown Boone: 383

-Meat Camp  34

-Blowing Rock  89

-Deep Gap  36

-Sugar Grove  44

See prior story below for more information about early voting hours and locations and to see sample ballots, and also see prior stories about the controversial early voting site on the college.

Early voting for the March 15 primary begins on Thursday, March 3 at several locations around Watauga County and at the Avery County Board of Elections office in Avery County.

Although the voter registration deadline prior to early voting has passed, same-day registration is available at any of the one-stop voting locations.

Voters should be ready to show their acceptable photo IDs, Watauga County Board of Elections Director Matt Snyder said.

A list of acceptable IDs and other voter information is available at the state sponsored, http://voterid.nc.gov. 2016 marks the first year of North Carolinas controversial Voter ID law. College ID cards, such as those issued by Appalachian State University, are not acceptable IDs.

However, voters who request a mail-in absentee ballot arent required to show ID, according to the State Board of Elections.

The last day to request an absentee ballot for the 2016 primary is Tuesday, March 8.

Another thing to note, especially in a county like Watauga, where unaffiliated voters outrank Republicans and Democrats on a one-on-one basis, is that if you are an unaffiliated voter, you must request a specific ballot or else precinct workers will automatically give you a non-partisan ballot, according to Snyder.

The non-partisan ballot only features the Connect NC Bond, while the partisan ballots feature races from within the Republican, Democrat or Libertarian ballots.

For more information, contact the Watauga County Board of Elections office at 828-265-8061 or the Avery County Board of Elections office at 828-733-8282.

To figure out your Election Day polling place, click here.

Early Voting Sites, Hours

AVERY COUNTY

Avery County Board of Elections Office in Courthouse, 200 Montezuma St. #307, Newland

March 3- 4 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

March 5 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

March 7-9 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

March 10 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

March 11 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

March 12 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Early Voting Sites, Hours

WATAUGA COUNTY

Watauga County Administration Building, 814 West King St. Boone

March 3-4 from 9 a.m.  5 p.m.

March 7- 11 from 9 a.m.  5 p.m.

March 12 from 8 a.m.  1 p.m.

ASU Plemmons Student Union, Blue Ridge Ballroom, 263 Locust Street, Boone

March 3-4 from 10 a.m.  6 p.m.

March 8-11 from 10 a.m.  6 p.m.

March 12 from 8 a.m.  1 p.m.

Blowing Rock Town Hall, 1036 Main Street, Blowing Rock

March 3-4 from 10 a.m.  6 p.m.

March 8-11 from 10 a.m.  6 p.m.

March 12 from 8 a.m.  1 p.m.

Deep Gap Fire Department, 6583 Old U.S. 421 South, Deep Gap

March 3-4 from 10 a.m.  6 p.m.

March 8-11 from 10 a.m.  6 p.m.

March 12 from 8 a.m.  1 p.m.

Meat Camp Fire Department  4797 N.C. 194 North, Boone

March 3-4 from 10 a.m.  6 p.m.

March 8-11 from 10 a.m.  6 p.m.

March 12 from 8 a.m.  1 p.m.

Western Watauga Community Center  1081 Old U.S. 421, Sugar Grove

March 3-4 from 10 a.m.  6 p.m.

March 8-11 from 10 a.m.  6 p.m.

March 12 from 8 a.m.  1 p.m.

See sample ballots for Avery and Watauga counties below:

Avery County Ballots

Note that young adults that are not yet 18 years old but will be by the November election wont be allowed to vote on the bond referendum. So 17-year-old voters will see similar ballots minus the bond referendum selection.

Republican Primary Ballot

Democratic Primary Ballot

Libertarian Primary

Nonpartisan

Watauga County Ballots

Republican Ballot

Democratic Ballot

Libertarian Ballot

Nonpartisan Ballot

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Editors Note: The water boil advisory has been lifted as of 12:30 p.m. Friday.

By Jesse Wood

Before knowing whether or not to rescind the water-boil advisory, Boones Public Utilities department is awaiting bacterial tests to finalize, which should take place at about 12:30 p.m.

We are still recommending water use for human consumption to be boiled vigorously, Public Utilities Director Rick Miller said, adding that if the bacterial tests come back positive then the order will be extended for another 24 hours.

On Wednesday morning, a water main break occurred in the towns water system near Pilgrims Way causing periods of low or now pressure in the water distribution system increases the potential for back siphonage and introduction of bacteria into the water system.

Therefore, the Division of Water Resources advises now that water service is restored consumers boil all water used for human consumption (including drinking, making ice, brushing teeth, washing dishes and food preparation) or use bottled water, according to yesterdays release from the town.

Water consumers in the Town of Boone are advised to boil water vigorously for one minute, a precaution that should eliminate the potential for health hazards that may be present in the water. They were also advised to conserve water where possible.

Following the towns release, the Appalachian District Health Department sent out a notice that it was working with restaurants, childcare facilities and other healthcare facilities to provide guidance regarding the towns water-boil announcement. ADHDs guidance was coming from the Centers for Disease Control and the NC Environmental Health Emergency Preparedness and Recovery Guidance Manual for North Carolina, which provides info on handwashing, food preparation, dish washing, consumption of water, overall bacterial control and how to alert healthcare patients about this notice.

Miller said his department would issue a notice as soon as it receives the testing results.

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Yellowstone County Commissioner John Ostlund had a conflict of interest when it came to rezoning a piece of land near the airport  a move that would help a longtime air transportation company expand.

Ostlund disclosed it. He acknowledged it. That's good.

But when it mattered the most  when it came time to vote  his disclosure meant little as he voted for his friends. That's bad.

Transparency is good, but let's not confuse it with good government.

What Ostlund did was ethically suspect at best, self-serving cronyism at worst.

Ostlund owns part of the plane with the flying service, gets free parking for the Cessna and is close enough friends with the owners that they merely have an oral agreement about all owning the plane together.

Ostlund's deciding vote Tuesday wasn't just one of a Big Sky variety. That is, in a state like Montana where everybody seems to know everybody else, it's sometimes hard, maybe impossible, not to know folks or have some association with them.

But this wasn't one of those cases.

Ostlund was simply too close, owning a plane with the owners of Billings Flying Service. It's impossible to think that he won't benefit in some way from the move to the land nearby the airport. He owns property with them for goodness sake. He gets free parking for the plane.

Ostlund even went so far as to ask for an opinion from the Yellowstone County attorney about the apparent conflict. Again, all of Ostlund's instincts and actions up to that point seem so right, except for when it counted the most, which was when the vote was taken. When it came right down to it, at the end, his loyalty to his friends and possibly his own self-interest was stronger than his obligation to the county to keep the transaction above board.

The county attorney concluded that Ostlund at least had the obligation of disclosure. However, Daniel Schwarz, chief civil deputy county attorney, concluded that since he was neither an employee of the business nor had a contract, that he could vote. Schwarz's conclusion was that Ostlund may vote if he doesn't violate Montana law. But the law states that a public officer may not act if he "may be directly and substantially affected to its economic benefit."

That's where the issue gets murky. Does owning a plane with a flying service (and possibly being affected by that business' success) count as a conflict? We believe the area is gray, and while Ostlund's actions may not strictly be a violation of law, it seems like his vote at least tromps on the spirit of it. Why even give the appearance of a conflict?

What's even more disconcerting is that Ostlund cast the deciding vote on this issue. In other words, his questionable ethical decision to vote meant the difference between the project going forward or not.

We believe this rezoning was the right thing to do. It makes sense to put helicopters near (drum roll, please) the airport.

However, we also understand the concern raised by Commissioner Bill Kennedy, who questioned rezoning that adjoining large land parcel as controlled industrial, a vague zoning classification that could allow uses incompatible with the county's growth plan.

While we think the right decision was reached by granting the zoning request and while we believe Billings Flying Service will indeed build a "first-class" facility there, it's also true that all parties could have been satisfied, and Ostlund would not have needed to vote.

It's illustrative of the dysfunction of the Yellowstone County Commission, though.

Working together instead of being at loggerheads, the commission could have probably come up with a solution that wouldn't have left the controlled industrial part of the change so vague. We believe further discussion and compromise could have come up with a different zoning scenario that would have alleviated Kennedy's concerns, thereby getting his approval. If he would have supported the plan, Reno and Kennedy could have approved the change, Ostlund could have sat the vote out because of the conflict, and everybody would have been satisfied. It may have just taken longer, but have been more strategic.

Maybe it was a good decision  time will tell  but it got there by bad government.
The number of daily arrivals has previously varied from 15 to 20 at the border-crossing point in Salla and from 0 to 10 at the border-crossing point in Raja-Jooseppi, he adds.

The flow of asylum seekers across the eastern border of Finnish Lapland has been at a standstill for three consecutive days, Jussi Sainio, a Deputy Commander at the Lapland Border Guard, revealed in an interview with Helsingin Sanomat on Thursday .

The Finnish Border Guard confirmed in a press release earlier yesterday that not a single asylum seeker entered the country through the border-crossing points in Salla or Raja-Jooseppi between 1 and 2 March.

The situation has for the past couple of days been in line with what we set out to achieve. The crime prevention efforts of Finnish and Russian authorities are beginning to have an effect, Ilkka Laitinen, a Deputy Chief at the Finnish Border Guard, analysed in another press release.

The press release also indicates that a total of 1,063 people, representing 31 different nationalities, have filed for asylum at the border-crossing points in Finnish Lapland since the beginning of the year.

Ilta-Sanomat drew on Thursday attention to rumours circulating in Russia that the land border into Finland has been closed entirely. Russian news outlets, for example, reported on Wednesday that a few dozen refugees stuck in Kandalaksha, Murmansk, staged a demonstration to demand admittance to Finland.

The rumours have been denied by the Lapland Border Guard.

Petteri Orpo (NCP), the Minister of the Interior, expressed on 2 March his delight with the news that the flow of asylum seekers has come to a halt but affirmed that Finland and Russia will continue to search for a sustainable solution to the situation at the border.

He later clarified that although the flow of asylum across the border has come to a halt, it does not signify that the all of the problems have been solved.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Jussi Nukari  Lehtikuva
The objective set by the Government to reduce the obligations and responsibilities of municipalities and, thereby, to create savings of one billion euros seems difficult to achieve, the central bank states in a report published on Thursday .

The Bank of Finland has cast doubts on the ability of the Government of Prime Minister Juha Sipila (Centre) to create savings of one billion euros in the municipal sector.

The Bank of Finland reminds that the cost-cutting measures laid out in an action plan unveiled in February will only create savings of 400 million euros.

The actual reductions in [municipal] responsibilities (14 measures) predominantly target elderly and disability services and create computational savings of a total of 120 million euros. The transfer of rescue services to the responsibility of provinces can create additional synergy savings of over 40 million euros. Another relatively large component of the savings plan is relaxing eligibility conditions especially in the field of health and social care, which is expected to facilitate savings of 90 million euros, the report states.

In other respects, the plan is based on increasing the operational latitude of municipalities. Meeting the overall savings target is contingent on the decisions of municipalities. The achieved savings are therefore likely to fall short of the target.

The Bank of Finland also points out that despite the moderate growth in gross domestic product recorded last year, no significant economic turnaround is yet on the horizon.

Private consumption and construction activities have picked up slightly, but no notable turn for the better has taken place in exports, it says.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Vesa Moilanen  Lehtikuva

Source: Uusi Suomi
Stubb reminds that the recent agreement on measures to reduce unit labour costs  the so-called social contract  alone is not enough and urges both sides of the labour market to continue exploring the possibilities of local bargaining in good faith.

Alexander Stubb (NCP), the Minister of Finance, has outlined conditions for the tax concessions promised to labour market organisations by the Government.

The Government will meet you halfway, he states. I sincerely hope that progress is made in local bargaining, allowing us to reduce labour taxation.

The ball is now in the court of labour market confederations, says Stubb.

The pact still needs the approval of SAK [the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions]. The round of union-specific negotiations must also be a success. Collective agreements must incorporate both adjustment measures and local bargaining.

The Government is hopefully able to [] adopt major tax concessions to boost purchasing power, he says.

The Minister of Finance also estimates that the second alternative is in the best interests of no one. Unless we are able to boost employment, the cycle of spending cuts will continue. I doubt anyone wants that.

The Taxpayers' Association of Finland has already demanded that the tax concessions be implemented.

It is crucial that the Government fully compensates for the effects of the proposed increases in social security contributions in order to be able to avoid steep income tax hikes in the years to come. Fragile domestic demand, meanwhile, has to be protected under conditions of continuing wage moderation, states Teemu Lehtinen, the chief executive of the Taxpayers' Association of Finland.

He calculates that offsetting the austerity measures unveiled by labour market confederations on Monday will necessitate tax concessions worth almost one billion euros.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Markku Ulander  Lehtikuva

Source: Uusi Suomi
My son asked me the other day whether he should sign the initiative to put Constitutional Initiative 116  known as Marsys law  on the ballot.

My son just turned 18 and he and his sister get to vote for the first time. I am pleased he is interested enough to ask questions on things of this importance. To be honest, I had to do some research myself to decide if this merited a change to our constitution  a big step in my opinion.

You know me by now, and that I like to look at the history of an issue to fully understand it. Marsys law is named after Marsy Nicholas, who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend in 1983. One week after Marsy was killed, her mom and brother ran into the accused murderer in a grocery store after visiting Marsys grave. The family had not been informed he had been released from jail after posting bond. Of course, this was very painful for the family and they were upset nobody had told them he was released.

Marsys brother, Dr. Henry T. Nicholas, became a vocal proponent of crime victims rights and helped pass Proposition 9 in California in 2008, the Victims Bill of Rights. Prop. 9 has been called the strongest and most comprehensive Constitutional Victims Rights Law in the U.S. In 2012, Illinois passed Marsys law, and Montana is among seven states where Marsys law is currently being proposed; the others being Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Nevada, North Dakota and South Dakota.

The argument, quite persuasive, is that crime victims should have at least the same rights as do criminal defendants in our system of justice. It is impossible to argue against this idea. As always, the devil is in the details.

Right to be heard

Marsys law has numerous provisions I whole heartedly support: treatment of victims with fairness and respect, victims to be free from intimidation, harassment, and abuse, reasonable protection from the accused, having the victims safety  considered when setting bail, not disclosing information of the victims whereabouts, notification of all hearings, notification of any release or escape, and the right to be heard in all hearings involving the defendant.

I love hearing from victims in hearings and believe it is very helpful for the defendants to understand the impact their actions had on the victim. And of course victims should be notified of any and all proceedings concerning the defendant, and if a defendant is released.

Furthermore, the right to restitution, return of victim property, no unreasonable delay in the criminal proceeding, and the right to be informed of all proceedings, even post judgment, regarding the defendant and his case, are meritorious. The bottom line: these are all good ideas and worthy of pursuit. However, we must recognize two things. First, our county attorneys office does most of these things now. And second, particularly when victims move, carrying out these constitutional mandates will be difficult and could become quite expensive.

Unconstitutional provision

The one provision I do not support is 1(f), which states the victim has the right to refuse an interview, deposition, or other discovery request  This flies in the face of our constitutional right of confrontation. When a defendant is on trial and his liberty is at stake, the defendant should certainly have the right to interview the alleged victim and find out exactly what the victims testimony will be at trial. This is the only way a defendant can access the case and decide whether he should go to trial or not.

In the end analysis, I told my son to sign the petition. This issue is worthy of debate. Crime victims rights are worthy of protection. However, if CI-116 gets on the ballot and passes, I suspect section 1(f) would be struck down as unconstitutional.
Apodaca endorses Chuck Edwards for his seat

Retiring State Sen. Tom Apodaca (R-Henderson) on Thursday endorsed Chuck Edwards in the Republican primary for Senate District 48  the seat Apodaca has held since 2003.

Related Stories

Apodaca, the Senate Rules Chairman who helped build the first Republican State Senate majority in over a century, cited Edwards experience running a small business, public service in the community, and Western North Carolina roots.

I know Chuck Edwards is a great businessman and a no-nonsense, principled conservative who will use decades of private-sector experience to fight for Western North Carolina and solve problems in Raleigh, Apodaca said. We desperately need more leaders with Chucks mountain values and real-world leadership in public office. Lisa and I look forward to voting for Chuck Edwards on March 15.

Edwards, who has lived in Henderson County for more than four decades, worked his way up from a cook at McDonalds and now owns seven franchises with nearly 400 employees. He has served on the boards of various local charities and nonprofit organizations. This is his first campaign for political office.

Tom has set an incredibly high bar. Hes been a fierce advocate for this community and all of Western NorthCarolina, Edwards said. Im grateful for his service, and its a real honor to have his support in this campaign.
Marina Jordan Killoran with husband Alan and daughters Shannon and Erin before she was affected by her illness

The family of a mother-of-two is appealing for help in raising 100,000 for a potentially life-saving operation.

Marina Jordan Killoran (45) - originally from Tallaght in West Dublin, but now living in Newbridge, Co Kildare - was a fitness fanatic who loved to run and swim before she became ill from deadly auto-immune illness Systematic Scleroderma Syndrome 10 years ago.

Her husband, Alan Killoran, told the Herald the illness slowly began to destroy her life.

"She was so fit, far more than me. She used to run and swim and she ate very healthily.

"Of all the people in the family, she was the least likely you would have thought would get sick," he explained.

"Now she spends around six-and-a-half days a week in bed. You can just imagine the psychological impact that it would have," he said.

Former Bank of Ireland worker Ms Killoran's illness is a chronic and progressive auto-immune disease.

It is caused by the over-production of the protein collagen - the same protein which is injected in cosmetic surgery to smooth wrinkles on the face - which thickens the connective tissues of the body.

This process leads to scar tissue building up on the internal organs, such as the lungs, heart, kidneys and liver. The illness is extremely rare and, as such, has undergone scarce research.

However, one treatment in the US has proven to be somewhat effective in fighting the illness, which involves stem cell transplants. Mr Killoran has said that if Marina receives this treatment, it's hoped some of the damage to her organs will improve.

Normal

Her family believe there is a good chance she will resume a normal life if she gets the treatment. "If she even had a 20pc increase in her quality of life, that would be amazing," her husband said.

She has recently returned from America, where she had a consultation with Dr Richard Burt, a specialist in the field, at the Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

She has been deemed a candidate for the stem cell treatment, but now must raise around 100,000 for the procedure and six weeks in the hospital. The couple's two daughters Shannon (20) and Erin (17) have been great helpers to their mother.

"They have more or less grown up with a sick mother," Mr Killoran said.

A number of events have been lined up to help raise funds, including a swim at the Forty Foot in Dun Laoghaire and a music night in Crumlin.

A fundraising page has been set up at: https://www.ifundraise.ie/2267_stem-cell-transplant-for-marina-jordan-killoran.html
A four-year-old girl with special needs who was sexually assaulted by a Montessori teacher in a Dublin playschool "has suffered an irreversible loss of innocence".

Our exclusive picture shows former Montessori trainee teacher Kevin Muldoon (32), with an address at Rockwinds, Church Road, Killiney in South County Dublin.

Yesterday, he pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to sexually assaulting the little girl and production of child pornography on May 8, 2014.

The girl was in his care in a playschool at the time of the assault, the court was told. Muldoon was jailed for five years.

The victim has night terrors following the attack.

The court heard that after the attack the child was afraid to go back to the specialised playschool. She then told her mother Muldoon had taken photos of her backside and "pants".

Gardai later discovered 46 images of the girl sent from the man's phone to his email address, including images of her private parts and of him with his finger in her mouth.

Images

Muldoon further pleaded guilty to possessing 688 images of child pornography material found on hard drives and computers during a raid on his premises, his family home and the playschool on May 15, 2014. He has no previous convictions.

Detective Garda Donal O'Connell told prosecuting counsel, Ann-Marie Lawlor, that analysis of the photos showed they had been taken over a quarter-of-an-hour, with between five and ten minute interludes between each cluster.

Muldoon also revealed to gardai that he had other images of child porn on a file on his computer named 'snakes', so his girlfriend wouldn't find them.

Ms Lawlor told the court that the child's parents did not have an issue with Muldoon being named in the media, as long as the victim was not identified.

Judge Melanie Greally said Muldoon's crime represented a gross breach of trust and added, instead of assisting the girl - who "already started out life at a disadvantage" - that "he compounded her difficulty".

"She has suffered an irreversible loss of innocence at the age of four," the judge said, before adding that the child's "extreme youth was the single greatest aggravating factor in the case".

Judge Greally accepted that Muldoon had expressed remorse, had social and educational difficulties and had neither shared nor paid for the pornographic material.

She sentenced Muldoon to five years in prison and ordered that he engage in treatment while there. The judge also imposed five years of post-release supervision, and said that Muldoon must refrain from taking any position that will bring him into contact with children.

The little girl's parents, in a victim impact statement read out in court, expressed how the man's "despicable and disgusting behaviour" would impact them as a family for the rest of their lives. They said their daughter had a fear of unfamiliar males and "as a four-year-old girl she was stripped of her dignity and innocence".

They said the incidents had been imprinted on her mind and that she struggled socially, and also had night terrors. They added they were grateful that their little girl had been able to speak up about the abuse.

Ms Lawlor confirmed to the court that there were no other allegations against the man from other parties.

Det Gda O'Connell told Ms Lawlor that the child's parents contacted gardai after the little girl told them about the pictures. Two days later, a garda search team raided three addresses and found hundreds of child pornographic images.

Det Gda O'Connell said his team got another warrant to access the man's email addresses, where photos of the girl were later found and analysed.

Clothes

The man later attended a voluntary garda interview and admitted he had taken up to 20 pictures of the girl. He described how she moved her clothes out of the way on his request while he took the photos.

Det Gda O'Connell agreed with Caroline Biggs SC, defending, that her client's plea had spared the child having to be cross-examined in a trial.

He further agreed the pornography found and produced had been for the man's own use and that there was no evidence of paying for or distributing it.

The detective agreed the man had been engaging in therapy since his arrest.

Ms Biggs submitted to Judge Greally that her client had difficulty in school, and with forming friendships growing up. She said Muldoon had also expressed remorse, and that he was a "vulnerable man" who had no friends since the incident, and needed structure in his life.

She asked the judge to take into consideration that the sexual assault would not have been at the highest end of the scale, and the majority of the pornography would have been categorised at the lowest end.
A garda at the wasteland where David Lynchs body was found Photo: Frank Mc Grath

A father of three who was shot dead on his 26th birthday died of multiple gunshot wounds to the head.

David Patrick Lynch, of Railway Road, Clongriffin, Dublin 13, was found lying face down on waste ground opposite Clarehall Shopping Centre in north Dublin on March 30, 2009.

He was aware of previous threats against him but was not in fear of his life at the time of his death, an inquest heard.

"At that particular time he wasn't worried but beforehand he was," his older bro- ther, Gerard Lynch, told Dublin Coroner's Court.

Christine Smith, the victim's Partner, said she was aware of a threat to his life.

"I always knew there would have been that threat there," she told coroner Dr Brian Farrell.

David Lynch spent March 29, 2009 - his 26th birthday - at his mother's house, where he lived.

His mother, Collette Lynch said he was "in great form" all day.

"We were talking about kids and grandkids," she said.

Her son made a few calls and arranged to meet his friend, Robbie Lawlor, in Clarehall that night.

"He left around 10pm to meet Robbie," Mrs Lynch said.

Pamela Williams, who lives opposite the waste ground, was reading a book in bed when she heard four loud bangs.

"I heard one bang initially and then three in quick succession. I thought it was nothing, just fireworks," she said.

Daniella Paduraru was walking her dog the following day when she discovered the body on waste ground across the road from the Newtown Court apartments near Belcamp.

Arrests

"My dog smelled the body, he pulled me over," she said.

When she realised it was a body, she ran to alert the apartment complex manager.

Det Insp Kenneth Keeling said a number of arrests were made and a file was submitted to the DPP, but no charges were brought in relation to Mr Lynch's death.

The gun used to shoot him dead, a 9mm calibre semi- automatic pistol, was never found and the investigation remains open.

Mr Lynch sustained four gunshot wounds to the head. One entered the top of his head and the others entered at the back.

He suffered "catastrophic" brain injuries and died instantly.

Post-mortem results revealed that he had sustained shotgun wounds before.

"We don't know if there was a gunman or gunmen, but what we do know is that he died instantaneously," Dr Farrell said.

The coroner appealed to anyone with information to come forward and help gardai with their inquiries.

The jury returned a verdict of unlawful killing by a person or persons unknown.
Maplewood, where two teenage sisters were also attacked

Gardai investigating the attempted sexual assault of a young woman in a south Dublin park have identified a suspect.

The young male attacked the victim in the Bancroft Park area of Tallaght.

Sources have revealed that gardai are following a "definite line of inquiry" and are confident they know the identity of the assailant.

Question

"A description was circulated around the Dublin Metropolitan Region South Division and gardai quickly identified an individual who they believe was behind the attack," a source said.

"Officers are hoping to question a suspect over the coming days."

The latest incident happened last Thursday just before 9am near the Westpark Fitness Gym.

The young male approached the woman before pinning her to the ground and attempting to sexually assault her.

However, the victim repeatedly hit him with her phone before managing to break free and fleeing the scene.

It is the third sexually-motivated assault in the Tallaght area in the past four weeks.

In one incident, a young girl was allegedly raped by a group of six teenagers in the Springfield area in broad daylight.

The six youths suspected of being involved in the attack are likely to face rape charges as the garda investigation nears completion.

In a separate incident only hours later, two teenage sisters claimed they were attacked by a group of young males as they walked through Maplewood, which is also in Springfield.

Sources have said there is no direct link between the three sexual assaults, which are being treated as separate incidents.
An industrial washing machine and a laundry basket at the Donnybrook site

These images show some of the remaining items from a Dubin 4 Magdalene laundry, including baskets destined for Aras an Uachtarain.

The pictures, taken by Independent councillor Mannix Flynn during a visit to the derelict laundry in Donnybrook, show a number of items used by the women who worked there.

Religious statues, old machinery and trunks used to transport fresh laundry are all still stored at the facility, which also operated as a commercial laundry from 1992 to 2006.

Mr Flynn has called for the items to be protected as "important reminders" of Ireland's industrial heritage.

He said he does not want to see a museum documenting the history of the laundries, but said history must be preserved all the same.

"These items need to be stored by people who understand them," said Mr Flynn (below).

"It's an important part of our history and we need to remember it so that it can never be repeated again

"It's very important that this industrial heritage and the history of the institutions of the State is preserved as a reminder of what people went through."

At its peak, the Donnybrook laundry could accommodate up to 120 workers.

It was sold to a private company in 1992.

Residential

The significant site is now up for sale through Colliers International.

It was previously brought to the market in 2014 and could sold for around 3m. The 0.24 hectare site adjoins St Mary's Convent.

It is expected to be used for residential development.

The Herald's attempts to contact the owner of the buildings via the estate agent were unsuccessful.
Colstrip just keeps losing customers.

Oregon lawmakers have instructed that states largest utilities to cut the cord on coal power in the next 19 years, a move that will pull roughly 600,000 homes from Colstrips customer base.

The decision, made Wednesday, is expected to become law with the signature of Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat. Dubbed the Clean Electricity and Coal Transition plan, Oregon Senate Bill 1546B doesnt mention Colstrip specifically, but targets Pacific Power and Portland General Electric, both of which share ownership of Colstrip Units 3 and 4.

For PGE, we cant service our customers from coal generated energy after 2035, said Steve Corson, PGE spokesman. We have a minority share in the Colstrip plants. We own 20 percent of three and four.

PGEs share is worth about 300 megawatts, enough to electrify 300,000 homes. The company will have to decide later what to do with its Colstrip share, Corson said. The company persuaded lawmakers to give the company until 2035 to comply, specifically because its minority share in Colstrip limits its say in the power plants future. Initially, the plan called for PGE to end its coal power dependence by 2030.

Pacific Powers share is of similar size, but its challenges for complying with the Oregon Legislatures directive are much easier than PGEs. Pacific has customers in six states and enough non-coal energy to service Oregon. The coal power Oregon lawmakers want out of its state, will simply go to Pacific customers in Idaho, California, Washington, Wyoming or Utah, the company told The Gazette.

Because of Pacifics easier path to compliance, Oregon lawmakers gave the utility less time than PGE. Pacific has to stop sending coal to Oregon by 2030.

The Oregon plan casts a new shadow of doubt over Colstrips already shaky future. In Washington state, Puget Sound Energy, which has 1.1 million customers and owns half of Colstrip Units 1 and 2, is under pressure to shutter the power generation facilitys two oldest steam plants.

Washingtons Legislature is working on an Colstrip exit plan for Puget Sound Energy that would get the utility out of southeast Montana within eight years.

The states Utility and Transportation Commission instructed the Puget Sound Energy to come up with a price for decommissioning Units 1 and 2. And last month Puget Sound Energy set the price tag on shutting down the units and cleaning up their environmental mess at $130 million to $200 million.

Puget Sounds scenario would involve making it worthwhile for co-owner Talen Energy to participate. Talen and the Puget Sound Energy share ownership of Units 1 and 2 equally.

Both in Washington and Oregon, the drive to get out of Colstrip comes from consumers and environmentalists who want nothing to do with coal-fired power because of worries about climate change and public health.

The Colstrip Power Plant is the nation's 15th-largest producer of greenhouse gases, emitting 13.5 million metric tons annually, according to the EPA. Units 1 and 2 are its oldest and biggest polluters.

Proponents of the Oregons clean electricity plan say the legislation will reduce the carbon pollution in western states by 30 million metric tons, equal to taking 6.4 million cars off the road.

Montana Sen. Duane Ankney, R-Colstrip, said he doesnt think the proponents of cutting coal power to Oregon and Washington are being honest with ratepayers about how much the move will cost.

If the Washington people want to cut coal by wire, then fine. They have that right to do what theyre going to do, Ankney said. But damn, tell them what its going to cost.

Colstrip Power Plant is serviced by a company town of the same name, with little purpose other than mining and burning coal to power Pacific Northwest cities.
EXHIBITS

THE GALLERY @ BARR PHOTOGRAPHICS: Abingdon, Va., 152 E. Main St. Collection of cross-stitched fabric art, Magic In The Needle, by Johnson City, Tennessee, artist, Barbara Clemons. 276-628-1486 or http://barrphotographics.com.

HANDS ON! REGIONAL MUSEUM: Johnson City, Tenn., Downtown. Through March 13: Can You Hear Me Now? Discover some of the smallest bones in our bodies the ones in our ear. Mark Alexander Graham Bells birthday by learning about sound and how he used sound in many of his inventions. Play a song on palm pipes, listen to crystal water glasses sing, and try out Boomwhackers. Eastman Discovery Lab will be open by periodically throughout each day. 423-434-HAND.

MUSEUM OF THE MIDDLE APPALACHIANS: Saltville, Va. Exhibits in main hall include: Geology, The Ice Age, Native Americans, Pioneer Settlement, Early Salt and Gypsum Industry, War-Between-the-States, Industrialization, Company Town Life and Wetlands. 276-496-3633 or www.museum-mid-app.org.

NYUMBA YA TAUSI-PEACOCK MUSEUM: Bristol, Va., 412 Clinton Ave. Two permanent exhibits: African artifacts, handmade toys, musical instruments, jewelry, etc.; African American collectibles, black memorabilia, i.e., dolls, quilts, photos, etc. $5 adults/$3 for children under 12. Museum hours: 1-5 Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. Monday and Wednesday are by appointment, 276-669-4596.

SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA COMMUNITY COLLEGE: Richlands, Va., Charles R. King Community Center, Elmes, Gallery. Through March 31: A Walk on the Wild Side by Suzanne Barrett Justis from Kingsport, Tennessee. Oil paintings depict animals from exotic to domestic and scenic backgrounds from the tropics to the tundra.

WHITES MILL & MERCANTILE: Abingdon. Open full time for the summer season with free tours of 1790s grist mill. Donations are appreciated to help with the continuation of the restoration of the mill. Open Wednesday-Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Large groups call in advance for a tour. whitesmill.abingdon@gmail.com or 276-628-2960.

WILLIAM KING ART MUSEUM OF ART: Abingdon, Va. William King Art Museum, March 3, 6p.m.: Open-ing reception of Normal: Nazi Germany in Found Photographs in the United-Legard Galleries, runs through June 17. Through June 26:: Roadside Attractions: The Weird and Wonderful Worlds of Mark Cline in Price-Strongwell Galleries. March 3: First Thursday, 6-8 p.m. Food, music, Pop Up Shops; March 3, 6-8 p.m. Opening reception for Jeana Eve Klein Exhibit in Panoramic Gallery, runs through April 4; March 3, 6-8 p.m.: Reception for Chilhowie High School artwork in Student Gallery, runs through April 14. 276-628-5005 or visit williamkingmuseum.org.

ETC.

PTERODACTYLS BMW MOTORCYCLE CLUB: Johnson City, Tenn., 2801 Boones Creek Road, 3rd Saturday, 9 a.m. Contact David Robertson, 423-323-2046 or drobertson@btes.tv.

SONS OF CONFEDERATE VETERANS: Bristol, Va., 1601 Euclid Ave., Bristol Life Saving Crew, monthly meeting will be the 3rd Monday of each month. Anyone wishing to join and help save history please come by. James Booher, renegade24201@yahoo.com, 276-591-6732.

CAVERS: Marion, Va., Main St., Center Square Building, The Walker Mountain Grotto of the NSS meets on the third Tuesday at 7 p.m. Cavers and all others who may be interested are invited to free meetings. 276-228-7357.

KILN RENTAL: Jonesborough, Tenn., McKinney Center at Booker T. Washington School is offering the opportunity for local potters to kiln fire their midrange ceramic pieces through a kiln rental process. The kiln will have the ability to fire mid-range green ware to cone 04 and mid-range glazed are at cone 5. Skilled potters and ceramicists with a working knowledge of clay bodies and glaze applications may call Pam Daniels at 423-753-5097 to schedule a meeting and obtain a copy of Kiln Policies, Pricing, Firing Schedule and Rental Agreement.

CALL FOR ARTISTS/VENDORS

JACKSONS MILL JUBILEE: Weston, W.Va., Accepting applications for crafters. Applications and fees turned in by April 1 will be eligible for a $100. Rules: http://www.jacksonsmilljubilee.net.

HUNGRY MOTHER FESTIVAL: Marion, Va., Hungry Mother State Park. Art League of Marion is seeking artists and crafters for the 43rd annual event to be held on July 15-17. Applications are due by Jan. 31. Information and applications for exhibitors to download available at www.hungrymotherfestival.com. Alice Hauver, 276-783-3245, or email dollfashionsbyalice@gmail.com.

HALE SPRINGS INN: Rogersville, Tenn., 110 W. Main Street. Hale Springs Inn & McKinneys Tavern in Rogersville, Tennessee, is looking for local artists - Painters, photographers, writers - to showcase their talents for free. Visual artists may display work for the duration of the arranged month. 423-272-5171 or info@halespringsinn.com

VIRGIE R. FLEENOR ART GALLERY: Bristol, Va., 701 Goode St., Bristol Public Library, invitation to artists to exhibit their works. Each exhibition is scheduled for a two month period and June unavailable. Applications can be obtained by calling 276-821-6148 or stop by the library.

THE ART PLACE: Chilhowie, Va. Offering space for studios, gallery shop, classroom for artists, craft people in Smyth County and neighboring communities. 276-496-3734.

THE GALLERY @ BARR PHOTOGRAPHICS: Abingdon, Va., 152 E. Main St. Call for artists. Dean at the Gallery, the gallery@barrphotographics.com or 276-628-1486.

HOW TO SUBMIT

Calendar is a public service of the Bristol Herald Courier. Submission deadline is Monday at noon for the items scheduled during the upcoming week. Notices may be addressed to Bristol Herald Courier Calendar, P.O. Box 609, Bristol, VA 24203; faxed: 276-669-3696; email: features@bristolnews.com and put :Community Calendar in the subject line. Call Jan Patrick, 276-645-2515, for more.
A young man was going door-to-door in Huntley falsely claiming to be raising money for St. Judes on behalf of Huntley Project Schools, school officials said Friday.

Huntley Project High School Principal Mark Wandle said a few concerned community members contacted the school resource officer about the incident.

The school tweeted a warning to community members, but Wandle had no further information about the incident.

We were trying to be more proactive, Wandle said. I just didnt want anyone in our community to get that issue handed to them and to be taken advantage of.

Huntley Project has had issues with door-to-door scams in the past, Wandle said. In 2008 after the school burned down, fundraising efforts from the school were so successful that the school received several reports of individuals falsely claiming to be raising money for the school.

Generations of Huntley Project grads explore new school building WORDEN  As of Saturday afternoon, Cheryl and James Johannes have seen the last three incarn

Our superintendent was getting calls at the time from various locations saying there were people raising money for us, Wandle said. We werent going door-to-door. We very rarely go door-to-door to do things like this.

Wandle said Huntley Project has raised money for St. Jude's, a Tennessee-based pediatric hospital and research center, in the past.

If we were running something with our support, wed let everyone in the community know, and they could expect it," Wandle said.

"I just wanted to make clear at this time that it's not us."

Wandle said Huntley Project has a Hat Day planned next week during which students can wear hats if they donate money. The funds raised will go toward a cause in the Conrad community.
A prominent literary and human rights group is giving its annual courage award to a doctor and a mother of four who faced scorn as they tried to expose dangerous levels of lead in the water in Flint, Michigan.

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha and LeeAnne Walters will be awarded the Freedom of Expression Courage Award on May 16 in New York, PEN America announced Friday.

"The willingness of individuals to stand up, speak out and refuse to be denied is an essential catalyst for the vindication of rights and the realization of reform," said Suzanne Nossel, executive director of PEN America, a group of 4,400 writers dedicated to free expression. The group sparked controversy last year by giving the award to staff members who survived an attack on the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.

Hanna-Attisha held a news conference last September that turned the controversy over Flint's water into a full-fledged storm. The Hurley Hospital pediatrician reported high levels of lead in the blood of children and pleaded with the public to stop drinking the corrosive water, which had been releasing lead from old pipes for more than a year.

Officials with the state of Michigan dismissed her remarks as "unfortunate" and derisively said Hanna-Attisha was adding to a "near-hysteria" in Flint. But Gov. Rick Snyder eventually acknowledged what the doctor had found and gave her full credit.

Hanna-Attisha said she's humbled by the PEN award but insists, "I was just doing my job."

"We knew this was a politically sensitive issue," she told The Associated Press. "Flint was in the middle of a mayoral campaign. Hurley is a city-chartered hospital with state funding. But it never caused us to hesitate to do what we needed to do. ... Our mission is service to the community."

Walters, a former Flint resident who now lives in Virginia, knew there was nothing normal about the brown water flowing from her tap. She subsequently learned the water had extraordinary lead levels and shared a critical federal report with a reporter. Upset with the response from the state, she contacted Marc Edwards, a Virginia Tech expert in corrosion and old water systems.

Edwards and graduate students drove to Flint, took water samples and were stunned by the results.

In a statement, Nossel praised Walters for her "gutsy perseverance in the face of ... willful ignorance" by the government.

In 2015, the courage award for Charlie Hebdo sparked a spirited debate about free expression among PEN members. Some skipped the spring gala, saying some of the magazine's cartoons were offensive to Muslims.

The group will also award "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling this year for rousing a love of literature among children.
As the two-year anniversary of the disappearance of Flight 370 approaches, the situation would seem decidedly grim. The underwater hunt of a punishing patch of ocean that has trudged along since late 2014 has thus far come up empty, the stretch of water left to search is narrowing and skepticism of whether crews are looking in the right place continues to grow.

Still, the man overseeing one of the most complex searches ever conducted seems remarkably unfazed.

"Our best estimate back then was it would take up to two years," says Martin Dolan, chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which is heading up the hunt in the desolate waters of the Indian Ocean 1,800 kilometers (1,100 miles) off Australia's west coast. "We were hoping we'd do it more quickly than that. But we knew this was potentially a long game and we planned for the long game."

The ending to that game is now in sight. By late June, crews are expected to finish scouring the entire 120,000-square-kilometer (46,000-square mile) search zone. If they haven't found the Boeing 777 by then, there are no plans to expand the search area. And so the hunt will end  plane or no plane.

With that finality nearing, the ATSB has come under increasing scrutiny over the methods used to determine the search area. Dolan says crews still have a big chunk of ocean to scour  around 30,000 square kilometers (11,500 square miles)  and he remains relatively confident the plane lies somewhere within that patch. "We're not at the point where we're particularly concerned," he says.

But with 70 percent of the search zone covered, the window for success is narrowing, and one question is being asked with increasing frequency: What if they're looking in the wrong place?

Dolan hates hypotheticals. Still, given that he doesn't believe his well-equipped and well-trained crews could drift over the wreckage and miss it, he concedes that if the plane isn't found in the current search zone, it must be because their working theory of what happened on board is wrong.

Malaysia, as the country where the plane was registered, is in charge of figuring out what happened to Flight 370 and why. Australia, as the country closest to where officials believe the plane crashed, is tasked with finding it. But there is necessarily some overlap; Australia had to settle on one of the many theories about Flight 370's fate in order to determine where to look.

The theory the ATSB considers the most probable, based on several factors including satellite data, is that no one was at the controls of the plane when it hit the water. Malaysia long ago said the plane's erratic movements after it took off from Kuala Lumpur were consistent with deliberate actions by someone on board, suggesting someone in the cockpit intentionally flew the aircraft off course. The question Australian officials have focused on is what happened after that.

Analysis of exchanges between the plane's engine and a satellite showed the plane flew south on a straight path during its final hours, suggesting it was on autopilot until it ran out of fuel and crashed into the water. Based on that theory, and the location of the final "handshake" between the plane and the satellite, officials calculated the current search area.

Some skeptics have increasingly been pushing an alternate theory: that someone was still controlling the plane at the end of its flight. If that was the case, the plane could have glided much farther, tripling in size the patch of ocean where it could have crashed.

Dolan says officials have always considered that theory, but it is seen as unlikely for several reasons. Among them: The final "handshake" between the plane and a satellite indicated that the aircraft had lost power and it occurred at a point consistent with it running out of fuel. That matters, Dolan says, because if a pilot wants to control the ditching of an aircraft, he or she is trained to do so while there is still power available to the engines. Also, if someone had been at the controls with the goal of maximizing the aircraft's range while crossing the Indian Ocean, the plane could have flown around 300 kilometers (190 miles) farther than the satellite evidence shows it did. That's because pilots use a technique called step climb to alter the plane's altitude in a bid to preserve fuel on long flights.

"All our analysis tells us that by far the most likely scenario is, for whatever reason, that there were no control inputs at the end of flight," Dolan says. "But we have never discounted the possibility of the other scenarios."

As the debate rolls on, so too does the underwater search of the mountainous seabed, which reaches depths of 6.5 kilometers (4 miles). A Chinese ship has just joined the hunt equipped with a state-of-the-art towed sonar device, bringing to four the number of vessels scanning the rugged terrain for wreckage. China's contribution of the ship marks the first time it has agreed to share the financial cost of the search with Malaysia and Australia, which have each pledged $60 million to the hunt. Most of the 239 people on board were Chinese.

Two of the other ships are dragging sonar devices called "towfish" just above the seabed to scan for debris. Another ship, Havila Harmony, has a maneuverable deep-sea drone that has been fitted with a camera and high-resolution sonar for searching difficult terrain and for taking a closer look at areas of interest.

Over the past year, the crews have endured a series of hardships: violent weather, on-board medical dramas that forced the ships to return to port, equipment snafus. In January, one of the towfish crashed into an underwater volcano.

Officials got a rare boost in July when a piece of the plane's wing washed up on Reunion Island on the other side of the Indian Ocean. The discovery of the first confirmed debris from Flight 370 sent a buzz through the Australian search team, Dolan says. This week, authorities announced that an aircraft part that appeared to be from a Boeing 777 washed up in Mozambique; the horizontal stabilizer has yet to be confirmed as part of Flight 370.

An analysis of ocean currents shows that both objects could have drifted from the underwater search zone, bolstering confidence the crews are looking in the right spot.

"There was a noticeable increase in the energy levels in the team," after the Reunion find, Dolan says. "I think it's just because if you plug away on what were essentially mathematical models for a long time, to get something physical that is consistent with what you've been modeling always adds something."

The team hoped that France's analysis of the wing part would reveal clues about what happened at the end of the plane's flight, therefore narrowing the search area. But the analysis hasn't shed any fresh light on that mystery, Dolan says.

As months turn into years, Dolan has had to be cautious about allowing Flight 370 to become all-consuming. He still has an agency to run that is grappling with 130 other investigations, he says. Still, every morning, he checks to see what information came in overnight, eager for good news.

"I always hope I'll get up one morning and we've found it," he says.
Almost a year after vetoing an expansive revision of asset forfeiture rules, Gov. Gov. Matt Mead last week signed into law a compromise bill crafted by the Joint Judiciary Interim Committee.

That was one of the few legislative victories for bills focused on issues outside the budget. Aside from the asset forfeiture bill, social issues struggled to gain traction during this years budget session. Many of the bills didnt even survive an introductory vote during the first week of the session, where a two-thirds majority is required to introduce non-budget bills.

Marijuana

Democratic Rep. Jim Byrd has sponsored marijuana bills during multiple sessions. As he introduced one of the bills this year, he joked that the legislation was becoming an old friend. But just like past years, his legislation failed to gain enough support.

The Cheyenne Democrat sponsored two bills this session dealing with pot, one that decriminalized small amounts and another that would allow medical marijuana reciprocity with other states. Neither bill, along with a minimum wage measure Byrd brought forward, come close to receiving enough support to move forward.

The conversation has to keep going, Byrd said about the marijuana bills in February, before the session. If I dont bring them forward, the conversation dies.

The issue of marijuana products also came up. Two measures, HB 37 and HB 129, outlined how the state would deal with edibles, such as candy or brownies, that contain marijuana. Both bills failed to pass the introductory vote. Another bill, HB 152, would have redefined the hemp extract cannabidiol, or CBD oil, as not being covered by Wyoming's marijuana definition. The bill also failed its initial vote.

Meanwhile, Senate File 96, which dealt with the charges for people caught with edibles, passed the Senate but failed in the House after missing a legislative action deadline, according to the Associated Press.

Asset forfeiture

While the bill Gov. Mead signed into law reformed the state's asset forfeiture laws, another piece of legislation would have taken the reforms a step further.

Rep. David Miller, R-Riverton, sponsored another asset forfeiture measure that was closer to the legislation Gov. Mead vetoed last year. The legislation the governor vetoed during the 2015 session would have required a felony drug crime conviction in order to seize assets. Miller's bill passed the intro vote and made it out of the House Judiciary Committee but was never considered again by the House.

Gender wage gap

Rep. Mary Throne, the House's leading Democrat, sponsored a measure that would restrict employers from firing employees for talking with co-workers about their earnings. Before filing the legislation, Throne told the Star-Tribune that not being able to discuss wages can keep women from being paid equally for their work.

The legislation failed on the House during the introduction vote.

Hate crimes

Rep. Charles Pelkey, D-Laramie, sponsored legislation that would have increased the penalty for violent felonies if it could be proven the crime was committed because of a victim's membership in a protected group. The shooting of two male members of the Northern Arapaho Tribe in Riverton last summer was a catalyst, Pelkey said. The bill failed to meet the introductory vote threshold, with 10 legislators voting in favor and 49 voting against.

Abortion
Authorities say the Niobrara County coroner billed Medicaid for services that she did not provide to patients of a local home health care service and defrauded the government program of more than $50,000, court records show.

Lisa Mellott, who was the owner and operator of Home Health Agency, also allegedly forged her clients signatures on forms that indicated she had rendered services warranting Medicaid reimbursement, according to documents filed in Niobrara County District Court.

Mellott pleaded not guilty Feb. 18 to 11 counts of Medicaid fraud and four counts of forgery, court records show. All the charges are felonies, and each carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.

A trial date has not been set. Mellott is being represented by Glendo attorney Eric Palen. Nathaniel Hibben is acting as special prosecutor in the case.

When reached by phone Friday, Palen declined to comment on the case.

A $50,000 unsecured bond exists in Mellotts case, which means she is not required to post bond but could owe the full amount if she misses a court date.

A voicemail left for Mellott on Monday was unreturned. The phone number listed for Home Health Agency has been disconnected. According to the Wyoming Secretary of States Business Entity Search, the agency is inactive.

Mellott additionally faces a charge of elder abuse in Niobrara County Circuit Court, according to charging information filed in the court. The misdemeanor charge carries a penalty of up to one year in jail.

The court document states Mellott did "knowingly cause reckless abuse, neglect, abandonment, intimidation or exploitation of a vulnerable adult." That charge was filed by Hibben in November. Mellott has pleaded not guilty and a trial is set for March 29. Cheyenne attorney Robert Moxley is representing Mellott in that case.

Moxley said Friday he could not comment on the case.

The Star-Tribune requested a copy of the affidavit of probable cause filed in the misdemeanor case. Niobrara County Circuit Court clerk Sarah Smith refused to send the document to the Star-Tribune and cited the amount of information that would have to be redacted from it.

According to the felony court documents, Mellott received money from Wyoming Medicaid between 2011 and 2015 for services that were not being performed. As a case manager for Medicaid long-term care clients, she was required to make at least one monthly home visit and document each visit in order to bill Medicaid.

The Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation began looking into Mellott in July. During an interview about another matter, Mellott said she had billed Medicaid for services she did not provide, the court documents state. A special agent with the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit interviewed Mellotts clients and obtained Medicaid payment records. The patients said Mellott rarely performed her monthly home visits.

The agent also interviewed a former Home Health Agency employee, who said clients had complained to her that Mellott had not visited them in a long time, according to the court documents.

While reviewing records seized from Home Health Agency, the agent found documents with cutouts of client signatures pasted on the signature line, the court documents state. The documents were not dated and appeared to be copy templates, the agent noted.
Six school board candidates compete for three seats

There are six candidates for three Washington County Board of Education seats in the Nov. 8 election. Three incumbents face challengers.
A bustling hospital lobby turned to a makeshift barbershop Thursday.

The annual Brave the Shave campaign kicked off Thursday and a crowd gathered to watch as several hospital employees and community members showed up to buzz their heads to support kids with cancer.

For me, getting a haircut is nothing, said Craig Lambrecht, president of Sanford, who shaved his head for a second time at Thursdays event.

Both Lambrecht and the hospitals Chief Financial Officer Kirk Cristy shaved their heads to garner donations for the cause.

Since 2008, the campaign has raised nearly $2 million and 1,900 people have shaved their heads.

Lindsey Ottmann, a receptionist at Sanford, said she watched others shave their heads last year.

A story last year broke my heart, she said. I watched it last year and, I dont know, it touched me.

This year, Ottmann decided to do more than just spectate and allowed a woman with hair clippers shave off her vibrant purple locks.

Participants at Thursdays event were decked out in St. Pattys day gear and two young girls performed traditional Irish dances for the crowd.

Jay Toepke, who works at the Morton County Road and Bridge Department, said this was his first time shaving his head for cancer.

The last time I shaved my head was when I was 9 years old when my dad shaved it, Toepke said. Half of Toepkes mustache was later auctioned off at the fundraising event for $1,300.

Pam DesRoches, of Bismarck, said she joined the campaign after her 15-year-old daughter Amber died of leukemia in 2007.

DesRoches wore a pin on her jacket Thursday reading Every three minutes.

It means every three minutes (worldwide) a child is diagnosed with cancer, she said. Thats a big number ... thats why events like this are important.

New to the campaign this year, those who donate to the campaign will be able to choose where their donations go: St. Baldricks Foundation, Brave the Shave Family Fund, Bismarck Cancer Center Foundation, Sanford Health-Pediatric Oncology or CHI St. Alexius Healths NICU.

Brave the Shave will be hosting its flagship event on March 11 at the YMCA in Bismarck.
AMSTERDAM (JTA)-Two months before they were deported from the Netherlands to Auschwitz, Louis Barzelay and Flora Snatager invited a few guests to their wedding in Amsterdam.

Instead of the yellow star he was legally required to wear, Louis wore a white flower on his lapel as he posed with Flora in a doorway for their wedding photo. Flora is smiling faintly and looking slightly to the side while Louis stares straight at the camera, his lips pursed. It was May 31, 1942.

For more than 70 years, the photo was all that remained of the young couple, who were murdered along with other relatives four months after it was taken. But that changed last month, when the couple's wedding guest book turned up in a thrift shop near Amsterdam and was returned to the family thanks to a massive response on social media.

"I was totally unprepared for what happened after I posted that message on Facebook, in which I asked for help in tracking down the family," said Bob Baars, the manager of the Kringloper Almere, a three-story shop situated 15 miles east of the Dutch capital.

Within hours of the Jan. 25 posting, Baars and his staff were inundated with emails and calls from across the Netherlands and beyond, either seeking or offering information about the guestbook, a pocket-sized volume whose first page contains the couple's names inside a blue, hand-drawn Star of David with the Hebrew and Gregorian calendar years.

Several local media outlets reported on the unusual find, resulting in a record surge of more than 300,000 views of the Kringloper's post about the booklet. Of those, some 3,300 shared the post on their own Facebook pages.

Thanks to the publicity, Baars was able to speak with surviving descendants of Louis and Flora mere hours after posting and to return the booklet to them.

"World War II remains a very live issue, especially the Holocaust, at a time of rising anti-Semitism," said Baars, who hopes his effort to locate the couple's survivors will serve as a message against hate.

The guestbook's emergence comes amid a number of developments related to the Holocaust in the Netherlands, which lost 75 percent of its 140,000 Jews during the war, the highest death rate in Nazi-occupied Western Europe.

Amsterdam is preparing to open its first Holocaust museum in 2018, as well as the city's largest monument for the genocide. Earlier this month, the municipality launched a campaign to track down Jewish families who were fined after the war for failing to pay taxes while they were in concentration camps or in hiding. The 2013 revelation of that practice led to another discovery this month that the city had dramatically raised the rents of Jews who were forced to move into the ghetto.

Meanwhile, calls have intensified recently for the Dutch prime minister to apologize for the wartime actions of collaborationists-including thousands of policemen-who helped send Jews to their deaths.

"It's as though there was a long silence, and now the dam has broken," said Stans Barzelay, Louis Barzelay's niece, who received her uncle's booklet from Baars last month.

Barzelay, who also chairs the Amsterdam branch of the Women's International Zionist Organization, heard about Baars' discovery from friends.

"I turned off my cellphone for a couple of hours that day," Barzelay recalled. "When I opened it I saw an onslaught of missed calls, texts, Facebook messages and tweets."

To thank the thrift shop's staff, Barzelay had a tree planted in Jerusalem's Peace Forest by the Jewish National Fund. A certificate from the JNF sits on Baars' desk.

Louis and Flora Barzelay photographed in Amsterdam, May 31, 1942.

Barzelay said she was overcome with emotion when she opened the booklet and thought of her late father, Louis' brother Sally, a Holocaust survivor who escaped the Westerbork concentration camp in eastern Holland.

"For years, my father expected Louis to return," Barzelay said. "He thought he'd survive because he was such a strong man."

Official word of Louis' death came only six years after the war.

"It's something tangible from people whom I never knew except in stories," Barzelay said of the booklet.

Yet Barzelay is not sad that her father isn't alive to see the book's return.

"Maybe it's better this way," she said, explaining that like many Holocaust survivors in the Netherlands, her father preferred not to speak of that period. "I'm afraid this would've been too difficult for him to handle."
HULA VALLEY, Israel (JTA)-Thousands of cranes sit in pairs in a field here, their outlines approaching the horizon. Then, all at once, they take flight, a cloud of black-and-white feathers filling the sky.

Shai Agmon isn't interested in most of these. All he cares about is one pair near the front, slightly shorter than the rest. Most of the birds are common cranes, but these two are demoiselle cranes-a rare find in these parts.

"They can't sleep in the desert and can't stop in southern Israel," said Agmon, director of the Hula Valley Avian Research Center for Keren Kayemeth L'Yisrael-Jewish National Fund, which manages the valley's birdwatching park. "Here they have food and a safe place to rest."

With 300 bird species passing through each year, the Hula Valley in northern Israel is one of the prime birdwatching spots in a country that has gained a reputation as a mecca for birdwatchers. With a location at the nexus of three continents, and a climatic diversity that ranges from arid desert in the south to a cooler mountainous region in the north, Israel draws about 500 million birds annually from 550 species. The entire continent of North America, which is 1,000 times Israel's size, sees barely twice as many species.

Israel's unique geographic features-it is also one of the last green spots before the adjacent Sinai and Sahara deserts-has also made it a destination not only for birds but for people who live for the thrill of identifying a rare species perched on a branch or lake.

"The more I go see places in the world, the more I see how much richness of nature I have in Israel, and some of it is so close to home," said Yuval Daks, a bird photographer for the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel. "It's hard to compete with the richness of Israel because we have so many climates. We have the desert, [Mount] Hermon."

For the estimated tens of thousands of birdwatchers who come to Israel every year, the must-see sites aren't the Western Wall or Masada but the Hula Valley and the Eilat Birdwatching Park. Sometimes armed with telephoto lenses, birdwatchers will wake up before dawn and drive for hours to find a species.

When they're successful, the experience can be electrifying. Dan Alon, director of the Israel Ornithological Center, recalled being overwhelmed the first time he encountered a flock of 200,000 honey buzzards in 1984.

"It filled the sky," Alon said. "You couldn't see the sky. You can't forget that. I love birds. I love this world. I find new things all the time."

The Hula Valley became a prime birdwatching spot by accident. Drained of its swamps in the 1950s, the valley was re-flooded four decades later when KKL-JNF realized the drainage had damaged the local ecosystem. Farmers began planting corn and peanuts in the newly re-moistened soil-exactly the crops cranes like to eat.

Soon, rather than just pass through the valley, 30,000 cranes stayed there every winter, feasting on the crops and sleeping perched in an artificial lake. Now, to protect the farmers' livelihood, the government feeds the cranes up to eight tons of corn a day.

KKL-JNF is setting up six birdwatching parks throughout Israel in an effort to draw birdwatchers to sites across the country. Every year the society holds Champions of the Flyway in Eilat, in which international teams compete to see how many different species they can spot in one day.

"We're not going to manage nature," said Yaron Charka, KKL-JNF's chief ornithologist. "The most important thing is that there will be interesting birds that come here naturally."

Ben Sales Thousands of cranes taking flight in Israel's Hula Valley.

Some of Israel's birdwatchers have done more than just look at the winged creatures. Yossi Leshem, director of the Israel-based International Center for the Study of Bird Migration, set up a radar system that detects bird migration patterns to avoid crashes that could down Air Force jets. Leshem pioneered the use of mice-eating birds like kestrels and barn owls as a means of pest control. And he has helped Israeli schoolchildren learn geography by studying bird migration patterns.

"What's important to me is to preserve nature," Leshem said. "So I looked for some applied area that's not just theoretical."

Some birdwatchers, however, prefer Israeli activists to leave the country's avian ecosystem as is. Clive Bramham, an avid American birdwatcher who lives in Norway, has visited Israel twice-in 2002 and a decade later. The first visit, with less infrastructure and fewer crowds, was more pleasant.

"You want access, but you want the real experience," Bramham said. "The Hula was exciting, [but] I would not go there on a Saturday. I would not do that again. There's more traffic on the weekend. If you really want to see the birds, get there early."
By Christine DeSouza

In August 2014, The Heritage ran a story about Kara Finkelstein, who, at the age of 10, published her first book. The story was about a young girl named Bella who explored a magical forest and found two horses named Crystal and Rebel. Titled "The Forest: A Magical Adventure of Crystal and Rebel," the story is full of excitement and suspense as Bella plans a way to save her friends. In the Amazon review, Finkelstein's book is compared to J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" series.

Now, a year and a half later, Finkelstein is in the sixth grade, 12 years old, and has released her second book, titled "The Dance: For Those Who Dare to Dream." Twice as long as the first book, Finkelstein shines as she writes a first-person, closer-to-real-life story about a young girl's up-and-down experiences as she participates in dance competitions, eventually being chosen to dance on Broadway.

The story is based in part on her own life. Finkelstein, who "dreams big," wrote this book because it is based on a dream of hers to dance on Broadway one day. She has been dancing for a few years and just entered her first competition last Sunday. Unlike the main character in her book, she has not been on Broadway to dance. "I have been to many Broadway shows and I hope my future in dancing leans toward Broadway!"

Finkelstein's inspiration has always been her teachers-from her days at the Roth JCC Early Childhood Learning Center to her teachers at John Evans Elementary School and Tuskawilla Middle School. Their encouragement and her love of writing and dancing led to this second book, which took about a year to write. "I'm pretty busy with dance and school, and I took a few breaks here and there," she told The Heritage.

A third book, a sequel to "The Forest," is in the works.

"Without giving too much away," Finkelstein said. "Bella's mother has a baby named Amber and Amber goes missing. Therefore, there are only two horses that can save the day: Yeager and Angel, with the help of Bella and her friends."

Through her writing, Finkelstein encourages others to dream big and "never underestimate yourself-just do it!"

"The Dance" is available worldwide at Amazon, Books-a-million, Barnes and Noble and iTunes. It is also available at the Seminole County Library.
Andreas Boldt can't help but effuse praise and love for Israel almost any chance he gets-even with his kids. In some of his Facebook posts, the 37-year-old has his blonde-haired children (ages 5-13) passionately singing "Adon Olam" and "Hatikvah." Documenting a recent trip to Israel, he took particular pride in his meeting with IDF Maj. Gen. (ret.) Doron Almog, the first commando to land on the Entebbe runway in the famous 1976 hostage-rescue mission. With his bright blue eyes, carefully trimmed beard, and fit build, he sometimes models on Facebook with the Israeli and German flags.

A casual observer might think he has some sort of irrational or religious obsession with Israel, but sitting down with Boldt over coffee at Kaffehaus Einstein in Berlin, ahead of his February trip-his sixth to the Jewish state-Boldt said his support for Israel is dictated entirely by reason and ethics.

"People ask me: Why do I support Israel this way? Why do I put in so much effort, time, and money into Israel? There is no people, no state on the planet that has so many enemies, that's fighting so much in this life, like the Jewish people and the State of Israel," he told JNS.org.

For Boldt, supporting Israel is the only rational, humanitarian choice for a thinking, freedom-loving person. Germany's "historical responsibility" to address its Holocaust past has nothing to do with Boldt's support, nor should it, he said.

"I refuse to think about historical responsibility as a German," said Boldt. "I know the history, and I think that every human being is responsible to help their fellow human beings."

In 2011, he started the Freundschaft Deutschland-Israel (German-Israel Friendship) Facebook page, which today boasts 13,000 members. He has emerged as the go-to man in Germany for unabashedly pro-Israel perspective and commentary, although he holds no organizational affiliation. His day job is working for a company that manufactures industrial tools for the automotive industry. He lives with his family in a village, population 1,000, near Bielefeld, where his children are known for painting Stars of David in school.

Boldt was born in Siberia to a German family that returned to the motherland when he was 10 years old. He grew up as a Christian but no longer identifies as one. He first encountered Israel through biblical stories, yet he is among a few of his (former) co-religionists, aside from his immediately family, who took a keen interest in modern Israel. He has conducted independent research on Zionism when Israel would be portrayed in the media as an aggressor.

"From my personal experience in life I had until then, and the people I met, I felt something was wrong there. Because I know the Muslim-Arab mentality in the Mideast, and I couldn't imagine that Israel was the big aggressor in the area," he said.

Boldt befriended Israelis through social media and fell more in love with the country-and its people. He has observed that Germans are largely neutral on the subject of Israel. The German far right is irrelevant. Most of the hate mail he receives comes from Arab Muslims and the occasional left-wing Israeli. The latter group saddens him because they set back his work by touting their credibility as Israelis. Boldt fears that with Germany's influx of Muslim migrants born and bred on hatred of Israel, the day will soon come that they will bully Germans into embracing anti-Israel-and hence, anti-Semitic-attitudes.

"I really was sure that in two or three generations to come, Germany would have normal relations with Israel and the Jewish people in general," he said. "I was very optimistic we would overcome the issue of the Holocaust and German history in the sense of having a normal relationship in the way we have with the British, French, etc... With the rise of Islamism in Europe and Germany in general, we hear more talk about BDS (the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement) and against Israel."

In fact, he believes that Germans' concern with overly repenting for the Holocaust sins of their forefathers has led to a misguided open-immigration policy. As far as refugees go, he doesn't believe that Germany has any more obligation than other countries to help them flee chaos in Muslim countries, such as the ongoing Syrian civil war.

"What is historical responsibility and how far does it go? If you look at daily reality, you won't find anyone who really feels a historical responsibility. To speak about that in public is nice, but I don't think it will lead us to somewhere helpful. I think the only responsibility to speak about is a moral responsibility," he said.

While Germans learn about the horrors of their country's past in school, Jew-hatred is sometimes still casually thrown around the dinner table by grandparents who grew up as part of the rabidly anti-Semitic generation. It's this dormant anti-Semitism Boldt reasons that Israel-haters prey upon.

"The average Germans just don't want any conflict," he said. "We want a peaceful life. We want to save money for our lives. They're quiet, usually. They don't demonstrate... The Muslim population is pushing the Germans, saying, 'Hey, we have to do something.' Starting with boycott calls in front of shops, so they avoid those shops because they don't want conflict."

Andreas Boldt's children sing "Adon Olam" against the backdrop of the Israeli and German flags.

But Boldt also believes that backlash against the behavior of some Muslim migrants, such as the sexual assaults on New Year's Eve in Cologne and other cities, may help Germans realize what he already understands: that Israel is the beacon of civilization in a region of barbarism and misogyny.

The Holocaust, Boldt said, should not be used to justify Israel's existence to the average German, let alone in general.

"If you approach a German and speak about the Holocaust, he'll automatically feel bad, but the German today wasn't alive 70 years ago... I try to show people we have common values. You love life. You love human rights. Your children grow up in freedom. You're creative. You respect animal rights," he said.

For Israelis, Boldt conveys a much simpler message. "You know, Israelis ask me everyday: 'Why do you support us so much?' The general answer for me-and I answer the Jewish way-is, 'How can I not support beautiful people like you?'"
The state is heavily reliant on oil revenues and needs to diversify its economy and get its fiscal house in order to ensure a prosperous future.

That was the primary message North Dakota Republican Party candidates for the partys endorsement for governor told a near-capacity crowd at the Belle Mehus Auditorium Thursday night in Bismarck. It was the state GOPs first-ever state sponsored gubernatorial pre-convention debate.

Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, Fargo businessman Doug Burgum and Bismarck Rep. Rick Becker sparred at length on the states budget and tax structure, sharing differing visions on how to reform each and move the state forward.

North Dakota has its first open governors race in 16 years after Republican Gov. Jack Dalrymple announced last summer he wouldnt be running for another term.

Discussion of the states $1.074 billion budget shortfall came early and dominated a large portion of the debate. Candidates were asked what they wouldve done differently if they were governor in 2015 when the state overshot on its budget forecast with oil prices already beginning to fall.

I dont know that I would have done anything differently, Stenehjem said, adding that the current rainy day funds and processes for cutting budgets has been in place for decades and have worked.

Last month general fund agencies were ordered to cut 4.05 percent from their budgets; the rest of the cuts came from rainy day funds and state general fund surplus dollars.

Burgum attacked that method, saying a better budget forecast shouldve been crafted in advance of the 2015 session. He also took aim at largely using rainy day funds that took several years to build up.

We can pat ourselves on the back for creating those rainy day funds, but theyre gone, Burgum said. Gone in an afternoon.

Becker, touting his staunch fiscal conservative principles, said hed have submitted a far smaller budget to begin with.

We wouldnt have found ourselves in the situation were in now, Becker said, adding that with a smaller budget I wont have to take out that red pen and line-item veto.

When it came to taxes and the states reliance on oil revenue, the candidates all agreed the state is heavily reliant. How to fix that was where the candidates differed.

What we need to do is improve our whole tax climate, Becker said.

Becker said rather than provide a wide array of tax incentives the rates should be lower in order to benefit everyone and eschew picking winners and losers.

Stenehjem said the problem with the reliance on oil revenue is the large impact it has on income and sales tax collections. He succinctly outlined a key platform plank his administration would have in solving the problem.

Diversity, diversity and diversity, Stenehjem said.

Stenehjem said ways to diversify the states economy is to push for value-added energy and agricultural products as well as grow the states unmanned aerial systems industry.

Burgum said balancing the states budget in light of declining revenues will be an extreme challenge.

This is not about belt-tightening, this is about reinvention, Burgum said.

He later said everything should be on the table including review of the states oil taxes in order to remain competitive with other states and a global commodities market.

One of the sharper exchanges Thursday came over the issue of abortion. Candidates were asked if they wouldve signed the multiple pieces of abortion legislation signed by Dalrymple in 2013, some of which have been litigated in court and defended by Stenehjems office since then.

Becker said he was pro-life and that its the governments responsibility to protect human life.

Stehehjem said hed have signed the legislation and is pro-life. He also recognizes exceptions for rape and incest.

Burgum took a different tone, rejecting labeling sides and saying hed prefer to put the issue to a vote of the people.

This is too important for any one person to vote on, Burgum said of signing abortion legislation.

Stenehjem latched on to Burgums statement, saying the Legislature passes bills and its up to the governor to act.

You have to make a decision, Stenehjem said.

Candidates also had varied stances on potential marijuana ballot measures, one which would allow medical marijuana and another that would legalize marijuana in the state.

I would vote yes, Becker said of the measures.

Burgum said he was in favor of medical marijuana but not for recreational use.

Stenehjem said hes spoken to attorney generals in other states where marijuana has been legalized and didnt see any positives, vowing to vote against it.

North Dakota will not be healthier or safer, Stenehjem said.
WASHINGTON (JTA)Nearly half the states in the country are considering legislation aimed at countering the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, or BDS, movement. But critics say some bills are cause for concern, either because they seek to legitimate Israeli settlements or go so far in punishing boycott supporters they infringe on constitutionally protected speech.

Two states, Illinois and South Carolina, passed laws last year mandating state divestment from companies that boycott Israel, according to a list maintained by Americans for Peace Now. Another 11 statesArizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Virginiaare considering similar laws. Kansas and Pennsylvania are debating legislation that would defund universities that participate in an Israel boycott. And another six states are considering or have adopted nonbinding resolutions condemning Israel boycotts.

In all, 21 state legislatures have taken up bills concerning BDS. Proponents say the trend will intensify this year, as activists move to consolidate their gains by pushing laws in states that have already passed nonbinding resolutions condemning BDS.

Those states see what theyre doing now as a follow-up, as a successor, said Eugene Kontorovich, a law professor at Northwestern University who has consulted with groups advancing anti-BDS legislation. Theyre implementing laws that use state contracting power to fight back against racism.

Liberal activists see a different motivation, describing the push as a stealth maneuver to reverse nearly 50 years of U.S. policy of not recognizing the legitimacy of Israeli settlements. Americans for Peace Now says 19 of the 54 BDS laws that have been proposed since 2014 extend penalties to those targeting only West Bank settlements. A bill adopted by the Indiana House of Representatives in January, for example, requires the state pension fund to divest from companies that participate in a boycott of businesses based in Israel or territories controlled by the Jewish state of Israel.

Backers of this effort are cynically exploiting concerns about anti-Israel BDS to promote legislation that while purportedly about defending Israel, is actually about legitimizing settlements, said Lara Friedman, Americans for Peace Nows director of government relations. Most American Jews and legislators dont understand that their support for Israel is being abused to promote an agenda that is anathema to their long-held view.

In some cases, traditional pro-Israel groups and lawmakers have driven the legislative push. Virginias legislation, backed by the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, does not include language protecting the settlements. Ron Halber, the JCRC director, said that doing so would split a Jewish community still reeling from the contentious debate last year over the Iran nuclear deal.

The greatest threat to Israel is the disunity of the American Jewish community, Halber said. Any legislation we do, were going to make sure both sides feel comfortable.

But New Yorks bill, which was adopted by the state Senate in January and was ordered to have a third reading in the Assembly, does extend protections to Israeli settlements. The bill requires the state to produce a list of persons deemed to be engaging in a boycott who would then be rendered ineligible to do business with the state.

A spokeswoman for Jewish Voice for Peace, a group that backs the BDS movement and is among a network of groups countering the anti-boycott laws, said New Yorks bill amounts to a blacklist.

The tactic of economic pressure is becoming increasingly accepted and has prompted a backlash of questionable constitutionality, spokeswoman Naomi Dann said.

The New York JCRC declined to say whether it supports the law, which is backed by the Zionist Organization of America and other right-wing groups. Simcha Felder, the Democratic state senator who co-sponsored the bill, said the law doesnt limit anyones right to free expression.

The legislation doesnt prevent anyone from speaking or promoting a boycott, nor from making other vile and prejudicial statements, Felder told JTA in an email. Thats a persons constitutional right. But they dont have a constitutional right to be a New York State contractor.

Several activists involved in BDS legislation said the failure of Congress to act on Israel boycotts has forced the issue at the state level, where public pension funds often invest in companies targeted by the BDS movement. Though there are a number of proposals under consideration in Washington, none are as sweeping as the Illinois and South Carolina laws.

Theres been no movement, said Ira Silverstein, a Democratic state senator in Illinois who sponsored the nations first state anti-BDS law, which banned pension funds from dealing with entities that boycott Israel. Congress has its own issues.

Two trade laws passed in Washington in the last year include provisions extending previous congressional calls to discourage cooperation with entities that boycott Israel to those that solely target settlement goods. The Obama administration has said it will comply broadly with the laws, but will ignore provisions that seek protection for settlement goods.

In Indiana and elsewhere, anti-BDS legislation has been pushed by right-wing Jewish activists allied with Proclaiming Justice to the Nations, a pro-Israel Christian group that has been involved in advancing anti-BDS measures in several southern states. Joanne Bregman, a Jewish lawyer in Nashville, Tennessee, who has worked with Proclaiming Justice to the Nations on anti-BDS legislation, said she sees no difference between boycotting Israeli settlements and boycotting Israel proper.

You either believe Judea and Samaria was always part of Israel or you do not, Bregman said, using the biblical terms for the West Bank.

Bregman worked closely with Elliot Bartky, a political science professor at Indiana University-Purdue University, Fort Wayne, to move the legislation through the Indiana House. In 2011, Bartky co-wrote an Op-Ed in the American Thinker that laid out a plan to challenge the leftist Jewish establishment. Bregman told JTA it was startling to encounter official Jewish reluctance to partner with Christian groups in advancing BDS legislation.

The Indianapolis JCRC in an email said it supports the Indiana law and acknowledged Bartkys leadership in getting it passed.

The JCRC has directed the lions share of our anti-BDS efforts toward educating the larger community outside the statehouse, particularly on central Indiana campuses where there has been a precipitous uptick in pro-BDS events, said Lindsey Mintz, the JCRC director.
There wont be any sunshine for boycotters of Israel in the Sunshine State.

In a near-unanimous 112-2 vote, the Florida House of Representatives on Feb. 24 passed Senate Bill 86: Scrutinized Companies, legislation designed to prevent Florida from investing in or doing business with companies participating in boycotts of Israel.

If signed into law by Florida Governor Rick Scott, the bill would require the state to maintain a list of scrutinized companies participating in boycotts of Israel, or boycotts against companies and individuals doing business in Israel. Even a statement by a company that it planned to participate in such a boycott could be held against the company. The bill also makes no distinction between undisputed Israeli territory and the communities located beyond Israels 1967 lines. Floridas state government would be required to divest from companies on the scrutinized list, while municipal governments within the state would also be prohibited from contracting with companies on the list above a threshold amount.

In a growing trend of individual U.S. states taking legislative action against the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, Tennessee, New York, and Pennsylvania have all passed resolutions condemning BDS, while Illinois, Indiana, and South Carolina have gone even further. Illinois passed a bill that prohibits state pension funds from including in their portfolios companies that participate in the BDS movement. South Carolina passed legislation that bars state agencies from contracting with any business that boycotts others based on race, color, religion, gender, or national origin. Most recently, a measure passed unanimously in January by the Indiana House of Representatives requires the public retirement system to divest from businesses that engage in action or inaction to boycott, divest from, or sanction Israel. The Florida legislation, too, goes beyond condemnation of BDS.

The [BDS] movement, while being anti-Israel, is not pro-peace or even pro-Palestinian. Its goals, if achieved, would leave Palestinians impoverished. We welcome the fact that Florida is joining Illinois and South Carolina in rejecting the boycott campaign, said Roz Rothstein, CEO of the pro-Israel education and advocacy group StandWithUs.

The bill had passed unanimously in the Florida Senate, 38-0, before the 112-2 House vote. During both the floor debate and committee testimony in the House, Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Broward) noted that the BDS movement is becoming cool on even state-funded college campuses. He cited a recent vote by the University of South Florida Student Senate to request that the university divest from Israel. That vote was eventually vetoed by the student bodys president and vice president. Moskowitz also referenced the European Unions recent removal of Made in Israel labels from Israeli products originating beyond the 1967 lines.

Other supporters of the Florida bill noted the close trade, military, and political ties between Israel and the United States, and the fact that Israel is the Middle Easts only functioning democracy.

At a Feb. 4 hearing of the Florida House State Affairs Committee, almost all of the citizen testimony against the bill came from college students, who argued that BDS was a peaceful way of pressuring Israel with respect to the settlements and its relations with the Palestinians. The students also staged a disruptive protest during the debate portion of the hearing, and were ushered out by security personnel. Attendees of the same hearing who support the bill pointed out that punishing Israel was less likely to result in a lasting two-state solution.

Opposition to the bill was also voiced by the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which noted that boycotts are a form of protected speech. The bills supporters countered that while boycotts may be a valid form of pressure, Israel is not a valid target for their wrath, and that the state has the right to decide with whom it will do business as well as whether or not the companies it chooses to invest in share the states values.

Perhaps ironically, CAIR cited the forced closure of a SodaStream plant in the Judea and Samaria industrial plant of Mishor Adumim as a BDS-driven success. That move, which SodaStream actually called purely commercial rather than being a result of anti-Israel pressure, terminated the jobs of roughly 500 Palestinians who had been employed there.

While most of the debate about the Florida bill focused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and broader Arab-Israeli conflict, the matter is also one of pure business for the state of Florida. In 2013, Florida exported roughly $80 million in goods and services to Israel, with roughly half that amount relating to motor vehicles and civilian aircraft. Florida also imported about $140 million worth of Israeli agricultural and technological products that year.
Using personal anecdotes as their guide, two Israeli reserve soldiers spoke to nearly 20 University of Central Florida students the afternoon of Feb. 25. Shir, 25, and Isaac, 27, (only first names were given to protect their identity) are the featured speakers in this years Israeli Soldiers Tour. Sponsored by StandWithUs, an international Israel education organization, the program aims to give a human face to the IDF. Over the past seven years, it has sent Israeli reserve soldiers across the U.S. to visit universities, high schools, synagogues and churches.

An Israeli flag served as the backdrop for the event, adding a smidgen of color to the white-walled classroom in Health and Public Affairs I. For Shir and Isaac, the flags emblemthe Star of David and two blue stripesrepresents more than the place they call homeit symbolizes responsibility and hope.

Before youre a soldier, youre a human being, said Shir, who served as a commander in the Intelligence Corps. You need to think before you act.

As the southeast campus coordinator for StandWithUs, Lauren Feibelman has traveled with Shir and Isaac from Tennessee to Florida. Feibelman said the tour is designed to encourage dialogue about Israel and promote understanding about the current situation in the Middle East.

We feel that education is the path to peace, Feibelman said. By bringing Shir and Isaac, in addition to other soldiers who are traveling across the country right now, well be able to put that information out there.

Knights for Israel, the pro-Israel student organization at UCF, partnered with StandWithUs in order to bring the tour to the Central Florida community.

We hear a lot about the actions of the IDF, and most of what we hear is negative, said KFI Vice President Nitzan Goodman. We want students to understand the big picturewhat the IDF is and what it does for Israel. The only way to accomplish that is to hear firsthand accounts from soldiers.

KFI president and biotechnology major Benjamin Suster said the IDF is a symbol of hope and perseverance. He said after years fraught with pogroms, expulsions and genocide, the Jewish people have reached the point where they are able to defend themselves.

No one appreciates such a milestone more than us, Suster said. It cant be emphasized enough how crucial it is to educate others about the defenders of the Jewish people and to hear their stories.

From his experience serving in the Paratroopers Brigade of the Israel Defense Forces, Isaac said he understands the importance of protecting Israels borders from the threat of terrorism. He recalled an incident where a young Palestinian boy carrying a Spider-Man backpack was detained at a checkpoint in the West Bank. IDF soldiers found a homemade trigger bomb inside the boys zippered bag.

In a split second, everything can change, Isaac said. And in that moment, you need to be prepared.

Isaac also explained the IDF upholds ethical standards to the utmost degree, emphasizing high integrity and moral conduct as integral parts of its structure. However, the IDF is not exempt from public scrutiny for its policies and tactics.

Shir concurred, saying that Israel is currently facing a new threatone that does not involve weapons.

The war right now is not a physical warits a war of words, she said.

Most issues are not black and white, and the Arab-Israeli Conflict is no exception, Isaac added. In order to address the shades of gray, he stated that Israel needs new types of soldiersones that only need words for armament. He said these individuals can be found right at UCF.

The soldiers that we need do not have muscles or guns, Isaac said. Theyre regular people. Theyre people who know the facts.

Freshman attendee Rachel Kammerman, 19, said hearing Shir and Isaac speak about their personal experiences resonated with her reasons for supporting the IDF.

You have to remember that Israeli soldiers are people, Kammerman said. They have a job, and they want to do it right.
The former home of Gould Publications on U.S. 17/92 in Lake Mary is now owned by Seminole State College.

The Gould family has donated their former business property, which housed Gould Publications, to Seminole State College of Florida. The approximately 10 acres of land and 80,000-square-foot building space is about 3 miles from the Sanford/Lake Mary campus on U.S. 17/92. Valued at $4.1 million, it is the largest single gift in the history of the college.

"We are very humbled and grateful for the generosity of the Gould family and their decision to donate the land and building space to the Foundation," said John Gyllin, executive director of the Foundation for Seminole State. "The property enables the college to utilize the space for much-needed programs and services to support our students, faculty, staff and community."

The donation from the Gould family represents the fourth multimillion dollar gift in the past five years, according to the college's online publication, The Newsroom. The Gould family is the largest cumulative donor to the college.

"Seminole State was in our backyard, so we thought it was a great addition for the campus," Jean Gould told Bay News 9.

The gift is part of the Foundation's $12 million comprehensive campaign called "Changing Lives: The Campaign for Student Success," which launched as part of the college's 50th anniversary in 2015 and has raised more than $11 million to date.

"It means a lot to us that we're giving these people an opportunity to make the most of their life," Gould stated. "And, of course, they're in turn going to benefit our community."
The Holocaust Center is continuing its monthly "I Remember: Eyewitnesses to the Holocaust" series with a conversation with local Holocaust Survivor Helen Greenspun. It will be on Sunday, March 20 at 2 p.m. at the Holocaust Center in Maitland. It is free and open to the general public, and reservations are not required. Information on this presentation and other programs at the Center can be found at http://www.holocaustedu.org or by calling 407-628-0555.

Born in the small town of Chmielnik, Poland, Greenspun was taken by Nazis as a teenager. During the next three years she survived labor camps, concentration camps, starvation and brutality. Miraculously, she and four of her siblings survived; their parents and youngest brother and sister died.

Instead of trying to forget the horrors and suffering that deprived her of a childhood, Greenspun has dedicated her life to telling others about the events that shaped her young life. In the past 30 years thousands of local students, teachers, and others have heard her story.

She provided her listeners with more than an eyewitness account of history; she has given them a human face and voice that helps them better understand the enormous losses of the Shoah.

In many ways, Greenspun exemplifies the courage and generosity of spirit that are essential to creating a more just, more welcoming community. Her willingness to share her story so many times, in spite of the personal pain and sacrifice required to do so, reflects her dedication to both the mission and the spirit of the Holocaust Center.

As she recalls her experiences, she says that she tells her story for her father, for the girls who died in the camps, and for all those who did not survive to speak for themselves. She touches hearts and minds; she sometimes evokes tears.

Greenspun's commitment has had an enormous impact on the lives of everyone who has heard her testimony. This is reflected in the hundreds of letters she has gotten from school children, thanking her for visiting them and helping them learn important lessons of compassion, tolerance, and respect.

Although she is no longer as active as she had been, she will join us as part of this series, speaking so that silenced voices are once again remembered.
The ACCoRD Project was developed through a series of parlour meetings with a group of passionate, action-oriented, highly committed individuals who each have a desire to work toward a change in the very negative political arena. The leadership of this group is comprised of Bonnie Friedman, Barbara Chasnov, Es Cohen, Susan Weinman, and Roberta Cooper, all active Central Florida citizens involved in many worthwhile endeavors.

The acronym in the ACCoRD Project stands for "Advocating for Civility, Cooperation, Respect and Dignity," whose mission is to advocate for political conversations that address issues and differences with civility, cooperation, dignity and respect. It is a bipartisan group where all individuals who wish to see a strong America, one that Americans can be proud of, are welcome to join.

"I see more disheartened, discouraged young people who worry about their children's future and feel that they no longer have the power to make changes," Friedman stated. "I say, get involved and be part of the change-join us."

The ACCoRD Project's target audience has a three-pronged approach:

 To see our political leaders and those who aspire to leadership model the above behaviors, and place statesmanship and good of country ahead of party.

 To have the media report without bias, educate, stimulate and inform, rather than create news or entertain for ratings.

 Where as, the general population can once again sit down with each other to share respectful political conversations, with open minds to differing viewpoints to learn from each other.

The ACCoRD Project is not a political organization.

Anyone with a passion to help promote change is encouraged to join with the hope to continue to broaden membership with diversity. While we have important political issues that we believe in, this is not part of our mission, which is simply to make people aware of how important it is to bring back dignity, respect, cooperation and civility to our well-being.

Several educational programs and hosted-debate parties have been planned for this group.

ACCoRD Project ambassadors are available to speak with local politicians as well as interested local groups. To date, there have been conversations with Grace Nelson and Senator Rubio's staff.

One of the ACCoRD's goals is to form branches in Mount Dora, Ocala and other cities.

The ACCoRD Project will be introducing a website, a Facebook page, as well as a mounting social media program. In addition, the ACCoRD Project has researched other grassroot organizations around the country who have similar agendas and have reached out to work together with them.

Many of the ACCoRD founding members are educators who are deeply concerned by the message of today's politics conveyed to our children. We teach our children not to be bullies or insult each other but to have open minds and respect one another. We would like to see these traits and good behaviors modeled by our political leaders who thus far have displayed poor judgment in their manners.

Stay tuned for more information on the ACCoRD Project in the near future.
WASHINGTON (JTA)-The controversy over whether laws protecting Israel from boycotts should include West Bank settlements found its way into a presidential signing statement this week, but President Barack Obama's decision to ignore a trade law's requirement to oppose boycotts of Israeli settlements likely won't settle the argument.

The president said Wednesday he had signed the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 and embraced its provisions protecting Israel from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, or BDS. But Obama also said he would not observe the measure's requirement to extend those protections to businesses in "Israeli-controlled territories."

"I have directed my administration to strongly oppose boycotts, divestment campaigns and sanctions targeting the State of Israel," he said. "As long as I am president, we will continue to do so. Certain provisions of this act, by conflating Israel and 'Israeli-controlled territories,' are contrary to longstanding bipartisan United States policy, including with regard to the treatment of settlements."

Using language that has appeared previously in signing statements to indicate a president will not implement parts of bills that do not comport with U.S. foreign policy, the statement added that "consistent with longstanding constitutional practice," Obama would continue to negotiate with other countries "in a manner that does not interfere with my constitutional authority to conduct diplomacy."

Obama's statement is the latest salvo in an intensifying battle over whether the United States should differentiate between economic activity in West Bank settlements and Israel proper. Proponents of eliminating the distinction say there is little difference between Israel and the West Bank when it comes to countering BDS, while others contend that lumping in settlements undercuts the wider effort to counter the boycott movement.

The argument is already playing out in 22 state legislatures that are considering anti-BDS bills-some of which explicitly protect businesses operating in the settlements, while others extend protections only to Israel proper. It also cropped up in January in the controversy over the reissuing of customs regulations requiring goods produced in the West Bank to be labeled as such.

Both Illinois and South Carolina have enacted laws in the past year that include protections for settlements. The Florida Legislature did the same this week, and a similar bill was introduced this week in Ohio.

In Washington, a bill introduced earlier this month would remove federal obstacles for states seeking to divest from entities that boycott Israel. The bill names as its target those who would use economic means to harm "Israel or persons doing business in Israel or in Israeli-controlled territories." The American Israel Public Affairs Committee backs the bill.

AIPAC, along with the Jewish Federations of North America and the American Jewish Committee, is also backing a nonbinding resolution in the House of Representatives opposing new European Union rules that label settlement goods. Rep. Pete Roskam, R-Ill., who authored the resolution with Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., said he doesn't see a difference between BDS and moves to label settlement goods.

"The motivation for people who are pushing the BDS movement and some who are behind the EU labeling law is not the welfare and good wishes to the State of Israel," said Roskam, who along with Rep. Juan Vargas, D-Calif., authored the language in the trade act signed Wednesday by Obama.

Lowey, in an email, said the European labeling "propels the BDS movement."

"The EU's new labeling policy also represents an attempt to extract concessions from Israel outside of the peace process, and therefore makes it much harder to ever resume direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians," she said.

Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president of J Street, which is lobbying against the Roskam-Lowey resolution, said lumping Israeli products with settlement goods undercuts broader efforts to counter the BDS movement. J Street's university affiliate has taken a lead role in pushing back against BDS on campuses.

"When the distinction between Israel and the green line is erased, there is a danger," Ben-Ami said. "You're putting your nose under the one-state tent when you conflate the West Bank and Israel."

Lara Friedman, the government affairs director for Americans for Peace Now, which has monitored the anti-BDS effort at the state level, says the effort to extend protections to settlement products is an effort to undercut longstanding U.S. policy.

"Without even a whisper of honest debate, an historic shift in U.S. policy is quietly being legislated-a shift that, if left unchallenged, will have devastating consequences for the possibility of any peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," Friedman said in an email.

In January, the Customs and Border Protection Bureau restated 20-year-old rules requiring labeling of goods from the West Bank. JTA has learned that the reissued rules followed several complaints filed by activists seeking to ensure that the United States abides by its own policy of distinguishing economic output from Israel and the West Bank.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., responded to the bureau's announcement by introducing a bill to override the rules. He was joined by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, a candidate for the Republican presidential nod. The Zionist Organization of America accused the Obama administration of changing U.S. policy.

The bureau, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, insisted the guidance was routine and issued after a series of complaints.

"CBP's January 23rd message was simply a restatement of existing requirements and was issued in response to recent mislabeling allegations received by CBP," a spokeswoman told JTA in an email.
JERUSALEMAhead of the Central Conference of American Rabbis annual convention in Israel, which began on Feb. 23, the organizations leadership met with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to discuss Israeli-American relations and the organizations commitment to Israel as a democratic, pluralistic, egalitarian state that advocates for peace and supports human rights for all. The meeting was particularly important given both recent positive developments at the Kotel and disparaging remarks made by Israeli officials about the Reform Movement.

The audience with Prime Minister Netanyahu speaks to the urgency of CCARs work and advocacy on behalf of the Reform Movement, especially given the current political and religious climate in Israel.

Our meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu was a productive discussion of successes to date, balanced with opportunities for the future of our relationship, said CCAR Chief Executive Steve Fox. It was especially meaningful that we were able to meet with the prime minister together with our Israeli Reform partners, both to articulate the significance of Reform Judaism in both Israel and around the world and to thank him for his leadership role and vision in regard to the Kotel issue.

With the CCAR leadership were their Reform partners, including Rabbi Richard Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism; Rabbi Aaron Panken, president of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion; Rabbi Gilad Kariv, head of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism; Anat Hoffman, executive director of the Israel Religious Action Center; and Rabbi Noa Sattath, director of the Israel Religious Action Center.

In the meeting, Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke of Israels crucial role in preserving democracy and holding back Muslim fundamentalism in the region, as well as the double standard that many groups apply to Israel despite the states efforts to be an open yet secure democracy in a volatile region. The CCAR has decried this double standard and the difficulty of Israels position over the years, but has always continued to call for increased religious pluralism and equality for all peoples in Israel.

As a leader advocating for a progressive future for Israel, the CCAR affirmed the prime ministers role in the Kotel deal and praised the Israeli Supreme Courts recent decision to ban discrimination against non-Orthodox converts at public mikvahs throughout the country.

In response to questions from the room, Prime Minister Netanyahu assured CCAR leadership that he has rebuked ministers in his government who have spoken out against the Reform Movement.

We are deeply committed to Israel and its Reform Jews, and are happy to have the opportunity to address our concerns for Israels future with Prime Minister Netanyahu. His leadership on these issues is invaluable, noted Rabbi Denise Eger, CCAR president.

The prime minister also encouraged the Reform rabbis and Israeli Reform leadership to open dialogue with those ministers who have disparaged Reform Judaism and to build bridges with them.

On its part, the CCAR called upon the prime minister to work with the Reform community to build bridges with the next generation of young Jews, world whose relationship with Israel is challenged on a daily basis.

Prime Minister Netanyahu stressed the need to build bridges, and thats exactly why were here in Israel right now. As Reform leaders, we are dedicated to the State of Israel and are excited to continue the conversation, said Rabbi Fox.
Just when you thought Secretary of State John Kerry couldnt get any weaker on the problem of Palestinian incitement and violence, he did.

Kerry met with Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas in Amman, Jordan, on Feb. 21, against a backdrop of daily Palestinian stabbings of Israeli women and children, and non-stop anti-Jewish incitement in the official PA press, radio, and television.

Yet the secretary of state did not threaten to withhold the Obama administrations annual $500 million aid package to the PA over the incitement. He didnt even threaten to reduce the aid.

Incredibly, Kerry didnt even demand that the PA stop the incitement or the violence. Heres how State Department spokesman John Kirby described what Kerry said to Abbas: The secretary continued to urge for calm and a decrease in violence, incitement and inflammatory rhetoric.

A decrease. Not an end to violencejust a decrease.

Note that the PA has one of the largest per-capita security forces in the world. Moreover, the State Departments own annual human rights reports acknowledge that PA police and security officers routinely imprison and torture the PAs political enemies. In other words, the PA has proven itself to be fully capable of squashing troublemakers, if it so chooses. If it wanted to stamp out anti-Israel terrorists, it could.

And obviously the PA could stop the incitement at any time, if it wanted.

Consider a few of the examples of the vicious incitement in the PA mediaor by the Fatah faction, which Abbas chairsin the days preceding the Kerry-Abbas meeting:

 Fatahs official Facebook page featured a photo of a bleeding terrorist on top of a huge map of Israel, with the caption: This is the blood that drew the borders of the State of Palestine. (Feb. 14)

 A cartoon distributed by the PA depicted Israel as a giant snake attacking Muslim and Christian religious sites. (Feb. 5)

 Fatahs Facebook page hailed the three Palestinian terrorists who recently murdered Israeli policewoman Hadar Cohen as role models across the length and breadth of the homeland. (Feb. 4)

 A senior adviser to Abbas, Sultan Abu Al-Einein, said this about the Palestinian knife-terrorists in Jerusalem: Blessings to our Martyrs, the residents of Jerusalem who had the honor of igniting the first spark of this activity... We bow before every drop of blood that has dripped from our children and women, and bow the head before every Martyr and Martyrs mother... (Jan. 16)

(All examples courtesy of Palestinian Media Watch.)

Kerry should have walked into his meeting with Abbas holding a copy of Al-Eineins speech in his hand. He should have demanded that Al-Einein be fired and that Abbas make a nationally broadcast speech denouncing what Al-Einein saidand condemning the Palestinian knifers. And Kerry should have said that U.S. aid would be halted if Abbas did not take those steps within 48 hours.

Abbas would have seen that the United States means business. He could not have ignored such a threat.

Instead, Kerry spoke weakly of the need to decrease the incitement and violence. He couldnt even bring himself to say that the incitement and violence must be halted. Kerrys timid stance guarantees not only that there will be no decrease; in fact, there will be an increase. Because the PA sees that it can do anything it wants, with no consequences.

The PA can call terrorists martyrs and role models. The PA presidents own adviser can publicly salute every drop of blood that the terrorists shed. And all the Obama administration will do in response is slap Abbass wrist. Shameful.

Stephen M. Flatow, a New Jersey attorney, is the father of Alisa Flatow, who was murdered by Palestinian terrorists in 1995.
Two of my favorite television shows are about what I think its fair to call the New America. In Master of None, on Netflix, Indian-American comedian Aziz Ansari plays a struggling actor in a very real and recognizable New York. His best friend is the son of Chinese immigrants. His girlfriend is white. And the plots have revolved, pointedly but never heavy-handedly, around the portrayal of minorities in mainstream media, and the struggles of immigrants chasing the American dream.

In Transparent, on Amazon, an alarmingly and hilariously dysfunctional Los Angeles family comes to terms with their fathers late-life realization that he (she) is transgender. Jeffrey Tambor plays Maura Pfefferman, the aging Jewish college professor who ditches a lonely suburban life for one in which gender and sexuality are fluid. Both of his daughters enter into same-sex relationships, and the question of whether they are gay, bi-, or adventurous seems to be left intentionally ambiguous. A son, Josh, is straight, promiscuous, and desperate for love.

Both shows represent a multicultural, urban America in which differences of all kinds are not just tolerated but celebrated. The immigrant characters in Master dont need to prove themselves to the American mainstream, whatever that is, and dont apologize for expecting America to live up to its promises. The LGBTQ characters in Transparent dont suffer for their natures or their choicesat least when it comes to gender and sex. (The Jewish characters mostly suffer from one another, but thats an old story.)

This is an America completely at odds with the one that has made Donald Trump the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination. Consider these stats, from political journalist Thomas B. Edsall:

Poll data from the Pew Research Center shows how much Trump depends on the politically restive white working class. His backing from voters with a high school degree or less is twice as high as it is from those with college degrees; the percentage of men lining up behind him is eight points higher than the percentage of women; voters from households making $40,000 or less are 12 points more likely to cast a Trump ballot than those from households making more than $75,000.

In other words, Trumps base tends to be white, male, undereducated, and struggling financially. But that doesnt necessarily explain Trumps appeal. After all, if economic self-interest were their only motivation, such voters might well support Bernie Sanders, who blames big business and crony capitalism for the inequality that has suppressed wages and decimated the working class.

But put it all together, and you get a chunk of the electorate for whom the New America is hardly America at all. If you were to create a composite from the Pew stats, youd have a white guy who has almost nothing in common with the kinds of characters in Master or Transparentthat is, brown, Jewish, nontraditional, college-educated, and mostly affluent. These shows dont represent to him whats new about America, but whats wrong with America. And worse, the seeming success of these characters, he feels, comes at the expense of real Americans like him.

Trumps real ideology is murky, but his targets are clear: Immigrants bring problems and take away jobs. Muslims represent the worse kind of threat: an internal one. America is corrupt and fallen, and by opening its doors to foreigners, tolerating difference, and insisting upon political correctness it has suppressed the very peoplethat is, middle-class white familieswho once made the country great.

(Perhaps to his credit, Trump hasnt put opposition to gay rights at the center of his traditional agenda, unlike Cruz or Rubio, although he has been a consistent opponent of marriage equality.)

I dont know how much Trump actually believes this stuff. As a developer from New York he has lived among, socialized with, and made billions from and with the kinds of people portrayed in both of the shows above. But that doesnt matter to his followers. Like McCarthy before him, he appeals to their suspicion that America is rotting from within, too weak or too tolerant or too deluded to remember that it was at its strongest before women, minorities, immigrants, and gays demanded a piece of a now-shrinking pie.

And that, ultimately, is why I see Trump as a threat, not just in what his candidacy means for America as a whole, but what it means for us as Jews. His messageof distrusting the foreign, of rejecting the newis directly opposed to our history in this country and our best interests as a minority.

Its not immaterial that Transparent is immersed in a deeply Jewish environment. The Pfeffermans stock up for the Yom Kippur break-fast at Canters Deli, Josh falls in love and impregnates his mothers rabbi, a daughter is haunted by a grandmothers youth in Weimar Berlin. The sexual and gender journeys taken by its characters are on a continuum with the social and religious upheavals experienced by their forebears. Jews flourished in this country because we had the freedom to explore our identitiescast off one, take on another, integrate them both. Its the kind of freedom and opportunity that makes Trumps base extremely angryjust as their anger makes me extremely afraid.

Andrew Silow-Carroll is Editor-in-Chief of the New Jersey Jewish News. Between columns you can read his writing at the JustASC blog.
CHICAGO (JTA)The ideals of open dialogue, debate and civil discourse are pillars of university life. Today, these mainstays of higher education are beginning to crumble with fissures developing over issues of race, gender and, most recently, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which now threatens to topple the tower of free speech itself.

On Feb. 18, Bassem Eid, a venerable Palestinian human rights activist, was forced to end his remarks early at the University of Chicago because an anti-Israel protester reportedly threatened him with physical violence. Eids position in support of normalizing relations with Israel is exactly what made him a target. He is in favor of dialogue. What is so threatening about conversation and ideas that leads Israels detractors to this menacing behavior?

As efforts to delegitimize Israel proliferate, anti-Israel activists on campus are edging closer to incitement and even violence. Instead of wrestling with divergent ideas, students are grappling with intimidation tactics that provoke raw fear. And universities are not stepping up to ensure that freedom of speech and the powers of persuasion win the day over intimidation and bullying those who do not share a particular point of view.

According to a report by the University of Chicagos Freedom of Expression Committeea document that has become a national model of excellence, with core principles adopted by Princeton, American, Purdue and other universitiescommunity members are free to criticize and protest, but not if it winds up restricting the rights of others to free expression.

To this end, the report states, the University has a solemn responsibility not only to promote a lively and fearless freedom of debate and deliberation, but also to protect that freedom when others attempt to restrict it.

The implications are clear: Higher education is not about comfort. Students should be made uncomfortableby ideas. For students to become critical thinkers, they first must be able to hear and then engage with ideas that challenge them. They should feel unsettled by hearing divergent points of view, by encountering new ideas on their journey toward an informed worldview.

But there is a difference between being made to feel uncomfortable and being made to feel unsafe. Campus safety should be as sacrosanct as freedom of expression. No student should be made to fear for their personal security because of their beliefs.

No doubt university administrators, faculty and staff face a great challenge. The values of free speech and expression can come in conflict with other key values, such as equality and non-discrimination. Through strong leadership, intellectual honesty and sincere reflection on their own missions, universities can apply their standards in a manner that safeguards both free speech and the student body.

Going forward, universities must create the proper conditions for learning to occur in a non-threatening environment. Campus spaces must be physically safe and secure. Rules and regulations must be clear: If someone attends a campus event for the sole purpose of shutting it down, they must know that they will be removed immediately and the consequences will be grave, no matter their point of view.

Campus should be a sanctuary for robust debate where mutual respect is sacrosanct. Our campuses must ensure the messengers are kept safe. But its open season on the messages themselves.

Emily Briskman is executive director of the Jewish United Funds Israel Education Center and assistant vice president/campus affairs at JUF.
Four communities around North Dakota are coming to grips with bad news from the North Dakota National Guard.

Guard units in Mott, Rugby, Bottineau and Grafton will be dissolved, and it fell to recently appointed Adj. Gen. Alan Dohrmann to tell community leaders this week that their long relationship with guard detachments will end in August 2017.

Dohrmann said the cutbacks are necessary because North Dakota lost federal authorization for 300 guard positions as part of a national strategy to decrease overall guard numbers. With slightly fewer than 3,000 guardsmen and women, North Dakota is more than 400 below its authorized strength and it was tough to argue for positions it hasnt been able to fill, Dohrmann said.

Besides the four announcements this week, the guard dissolved units in Oakes and Cando, effective in February, and Dohrmann said two more communities will soon learn that units stationed there are being relocated.

Its a tough thing to do  its tough on the communities and its tough on the soldiers who like being in the communities. But times are changing, Dohrmann said.

Mott Mayor Troy Mosbrucker said he appreciated that Dohrmann personally brought the news to Mott and straightforwardly confirmed rumors that had been circulating for some time.

We knew it was coming, Mosbrucker said.

Now that the closures been confirmed, Mosbrucker said the city will use the time to prepare for the change. The guard leases the city-owned armory and owns a separate shop building. Mosbrucker said the community has always enjoyed hosting the monthly guard drills and getting to know the young guardsmen and women who stayed in the motel and used the local restaurants.

Well look at how to cope with the loss of revenue, too, he said.

The Mott unit of 30-plus soldiers is an engineer company and occasionally trained on the heavy equipment by doing community projects. Dohrmann said engineer companies are highly sought after and North Dakota has two, counting the Mott-based company, while other states have none.

In Rugby, jobs development authority director J.T. Pelt said he expects a significant impact from the closure.

Anytime you lose an influx of people in a small town, the restaurants, the stores, theres always an effect. Rugby has always been very proud of the guard and appreciates them very much, Pelt said.

Bottineau Mayor Ben Aufforth said  like Motts mayor  the announcement confirmed news that had been circulating for a while.

We dont want to see them go. Theres no question were going to feel it, Aufforth said.

Bottineau, Rugby and Grafton are part of a 132nd Quartermaster Co. trained in water purification.

Dohrmann said hell focus on building North Dakota guard numbers to the newly authorized force of 3,080 to prevent more closures.

If were at that, if the army downsizes again, we wont be at risk, he said.

North Dakotas guard peaked at 4,423 in 1997.
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Developments on the ground have provided a point-by-point rebuttal to Rajesh Mahapatras article India Inc. must speak out after the JNU row (February 26).

While the piece saw the JNU row as a social and cultural crisis generated around the narrow idea of the nation, the voices on the ground spoke otherwise.

The article underestimates the gravity of the row, in which the crowd shouting anti-national slogans comprised Maoists, Naxalites and Kashmiri separatist elements, and a section of students acted as a front of the secessionist elements. They were not protesting against any student-related issue such as fee hike, hostel accommodation or security on the campus.

In the name of freedom of expression, which is subject to public order, morality and the law of the land, a person can criticise the policies of the government in a civilised manner but nobody has the right to call for Indias destruction and make a martyr out of Afzal Guru, whose execution followed the due process of law.

Hate speeches and calls for Indias destruction cannot be freedom of expression in the wildest imagination. The author has mixed up issues by bringing in beef, the suicide of Hyderabad University student Rohith Vemula and love jihad into the picture but none of these figured in JNU. The article does not condemn the anti-Indian slogans of this hate India brigade but the lawyers of Patiala House have been vilified.

Read | India Inc must speak out after the JNU row. Heres why

The piece says for the Indian middle class and India Inc, the sanctity of courts, the neutrality of the police, a robust education system, etc are critical ingredients in progress. Every person agrees with this. But in the piece there is no passing reference to the fact that this anti-Indian brigade of JNU termed our courts killers and questioned the action of the police, who acted in accordance with the law against those who were in breach of the law. There is no analysis of what has gone wrong with the education system, which is producing people who hate India and hail terrorists as martyrs. The Indian middle class and India Inc can fulfil their aspirations in a nation that is governed by the rule of law.

The piece did not mention that the Hurriyat Conference had given a call for a Kashmir bandh on February 27 and held a protest march in support of the accused student Kanhaiya Kumar. Posters demanding Kashmirs liberation were seen in JNU. The piece did not mention that the JNU row led to protest marches at Jadavpur University, demanding freedom for Kashmir, Manipur and Nagaland, and supporting Afzal Guru, the Hurriyat Conference and the extremist SAR Geelani. In Kashmir people were seen carrying Thank You, JNU banners.

The Supreme Court, in the Kedarnath Singh vs. State of Bihar case, held the law on sedition to be valid. It has expanded the definition of sedition, stating that any act that has the intention, tendency or incitement to violence, disorder, lawlessness, and contempt, hatred and disaffection against a duly elected government is sedition.

The author sees it as a university-level issue. He can ignore it at his own peril. But the nation cannot.

(Monika Arora is a Supreme Court lawyer.The views expressed are personal.)
Main samay hoon... Three words from an omniscient narrator (voiced by actor Harish Bhimani) had India glued to TV screens.

This was the late 80s (1988 to 1990), and arguably Indias most iconic TV series, BR Chopras Mahabharat, a 94-episode saga that aired on DD National every Sunday morning. With a production cost of `9 crore, it was the grandest adaptation of the Mahabharata India had seen until then. It was so popular that even BBC UK aired it to its 5 million viewership base from 1991 to 1993, the Guardian reported.

But three years before this TV series, the small French town of Avignon witnessed the Indian epic as the theatrical spectacle, Le Mahabharata, directed by Peter Brook. It premiered at Festival dAvignon  Frances oldest, and one of its most prestigious, theatre festivals.

The nine-hour play opened as the evening dawned upon Avignon, and ended at sunrise. It was set in a specially created amphitheatrical stone-quarry, with 250 tonnes of sand and 140 tonnes of clay. The cast comprised 25 actors from 16 countries (imagine a blonde Yudhishthira and an African Bhima). They brought to life the 3,000-year-old Sanskrit epic, in French. Translated by author Jean-Claude Carriere, it was the first theatre production as well as the first foreign language adaptation of the complete epic.

The Pandavas in exile  Yudhishthira (left, played by actor Matthias Habich) and Arjuna (Vittorio Mezzogiorno) on stage at Avignon Festival. (Photo: Daniel Cande/ Wikipedia Commons)

Le Mahabharata toured worldwide between 1985 and 1989. However, the production, in its entirety, never came to India.

Thirty years on, Brook, Carriere and screenwriter Marie-Helene Estienne are revisiting the old text for a sequel called Battlefield. Here, the survivors of the great war try to make sense of the horrors they have experienced and perpetrated. The production will open in Mumbai this weekend.

The revival

Battlefield premiered in February 2016 at Brooks theatrical home, Theatre des Bouffes du Nord, Paris, which he has been running for over 30 years. Brook (now 90) has co-directed the play with Estienne, who assisted him during le Mahabharata. As Estienne puts it, Weve carried the ancient text in our hearts for four decades.

For Brook, the idea of reviving the epic came from the desire to revisit the ending. We wanted to focus on the devastation the war left behind: the coming of kali yuga (dark age) and the irrelevance of power when the earth, as we know it, has been destroyed. We had only fleetingly touched upon these aspects back then. Battlefield will be the entire discourse, says Estienne.

With the focus on just one section, the cast has shrunk to four members (actors Carole Karemera, Jared McNeill, Ery Nzaramba and Sean OCallaghan), and one musician  Japanese percussion artist Toshi Tsuchitori  who also composed for le Mahabharata, after spending years in Shantiniketan, West Bengal to understand Rabindra Sangeet.

Actors Carole Karemera, Sean OCallaghan, Jared McNeill, Ery Nzaramba in a still from Battlefield. the play will focus on the survivors of the great war try to make sense of the horrors they have experienced (Photo: Caroline Moreau)

The lone ranger

In keeping with Brooks tradition of working with multinational actors, the four cast members in Battlefield, too, belong to different countries. Estienne says, Peter believes his work needs to resonate with a multicultural audience. And that culture is just a fragment of a larger, incomplete social jigsaw puzzle.

Not surprisingly, for le Mahabharata, the 25 member cast was chosen from 16 countries, with just one Indian actor: dancer and Padma Bhushan recipient, Mallika Sarabhai, who played Draupadi. Though initially uncertain about associating with the play  she couldnt speak French, the primary language of the play  she says she was eventually convinced by Brooks minimalist interpretation.

READ MORE: Mallika Sarabhai travels back in time to the sets of le Mahabharatas

Peters mastery lies in the fact that his work is open-ended. He leaves space for interpretation by both the cast and the audience, says Sarabhai. I remember being blown away by his interpretation of the Mahabharata. He understood the issues of misogyny, inequality, power lust and the impending threat of a nuclear war, used as subtext in the Mahabharata. These affect everybody, irrespective of cultural background, says Sarabhai.

Draupadi (Mallika Sarabhai) after Keechaka tries to rape her in the last year of the 14-year exile awarded to the Pandavas. (Photo: Daniel Cande/ Wikipedia Commons)

As the only Indian on set, she often found herself acting as a sounding board for her foreign co-stars. They would come to her seeking clarification on their characters. I would, in turn, call my mother (veteran dancer, the late Mrinalini Sarabhai) and ask about author Iravati Karves version of the Mahabharata. She would send me photocopies of pages from the book.

Access to all

Brooks appeal also lay in his universality. He made no special attempt to capture Indian ethnicity. Even the visualisation was devoid of what Sarabhai calls the Ram Leela approach: lustrous crowns, bushy moustaches and dramatic oomph.

Peter used symbology instead of obvious props. During Abhimanyus Chakravyuha sequence, Peter used a ladder. The character kept rotating it over his head to symbolise the circular war strategy. And for the sequence when Karna is defeated, he used a large cartwheel that symbolised the warriors broken chariot. Peter emphasised on storytelling instead of show, says Sarabhai.

But despite the minimalistic approach, the play spanned over nine hours, and attention was paid to the smaller stories as well. Divided into three parts, the play opened with La Partie de Des (the dice game) which introduced the main characters, their aims, the role of the gods, and the growing discord between the Pandavas and the Kauravas. The second act, LExile Dans La Foret (the exile in the forest) traced the adventures of the Pandavas and Draupadi as they lived in the wilderness, procuring arms for the inevitable battle. Part III, La Guerre (the war) focused on the devastating combat that threatened the entire universe, ending in a gruesome massacre of mankind, and the Pandavas regaining their rights.

Controversys child

Sarabhai recounts that the best reactions came from the culturally unversed foreign audiences. Personally, she found them appreciative of her interpretation of Draupadi. Women used to come backstage and tell me Draupadi inspired them to be assertive. For me, le Mahabharata sparked the beginning of the women-empowerment activism I am involved with till date, she says.

Parashurama (played by actor Sotigui Kouyate) curses Karna for pretending to be a Brahmin in order to learn the secret of the Brahmastra. (Photo: Daniel Cande/ Wikipedia Commons)

International acclaim notwithstanding, le Mahabharata never came to India, and Sarabhai blames the rampant racism in the country for it. Parties took offence at the inclusion of African cast members to portray the Pandavas, who are are regarded as demigods in our society, she says.

The popular Indian TV series was also on air back then. But that version was again typically Indian: it focused on gods and magic. Peters version was more grounded in humanity. But the humanising of the gods created controversy. The reasons given to us were ridiculous: not wanting to confuse Indian audiences, for instance, adds Sarabhai.

Thirty years on, we have, hopefully, evolved. The Battlefield cast comprises foreigners and, yet, the sequel is among the most eagerly awaited productions to visit this year. We are excited to come back to India and actually perform this time. We hope to share this extraordinary story, and bring to light the rich past of this country, says Estienne.

READ MORE: 5 must-watch Indian adaptations of the Mahabharata

From Mahabharata to Battlefield: Revisiting the journey

1980: Musician Toshi Tsuchitori and Peter Brook visit India for the first time, to scout folk adaptations of Mahabharata, get a cultural understanding of the great epic, and study Indian folk music to incorporate in the play.

1984: The French script by Jean-Claude Carriere is finalised. Casting calls and preview shows take place throughout the year, in running for the opening night at Avignon.

1985: The play opens at Festival dAvignon in a limestone quarry on the banks of the river Rhone.

1987: Peter Brook translates the French version to English. The Mahabharata is performed outside France for the first time, in Zurich, Switzerland, marking the beginning of their global tour. Shooting for the five-hour-long film adaptation by Brook, also commences.

1989: The film releases worldwide.

2013: Brook and Estienne start work on the script for Battlefield.

2015: The script is finalised, and preview shows begin in September.

2016: In February, Battlefield opens at the Theatre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris.

Dont miss

Battlefield will be staged from March 5 to 12, at 7pm, at Tata Theatre, NCPA, Nariman Point

Call: 6622 3737

Tickets: Rs 500 onward

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Elections to four states and a union territory will be held over six weeks beginning April 4, in a test of whether the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) can expand its footprint in regions where it has been traditionally weak.

The vote assumes significance at a time when the country is caught up in a political upheaval over a debate over nationalism and alleged religious intolerance, even as economic growth slips.

The controversies have given a handle to non-BJP parties which are hoping to further corner Prime Minister Narendra Modi after his partys humiliating defeat in elections in Delhi and Bihar last year.

The vote could have a bearing on the degree and pace of coalescence of anti-BJP forces, a phenomenon party president Amit Shah recently described as BJP-versus-all or Narendra Modi-versus-all.

The elections are also important for Modi to improve the governments tally in the Rajya Sabha, where a lack of majority has stalled the governments economic reforms agenda and delayed the passage of a goods and services tax bill.

The results of the latest round of state polls will be announced on May 19, the Election Commission said on Friday. About 170 million people will be eligible to vote in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry in the south and Assam and West Bengal in the east.

The states going to the polls are ruled by regional parties, barring Kerala as well as Assam where the Congress is seeking a fourth term.

Highlights: EC announces poll dates for 5 states

Although Prime Minister Modis popularity is probably still holding up, the BJP has been buffeted by a spate of political controversies, including growing student protests on top university campuses. Slowing economic growth has only worsened a crisis in the countryside, where two successive droughts have pushed farmers deeper into debt and forced dozens to commit suicide.

The only realistic chance the BJP is said to have in this round of assembly elections is in Assam where it has aligned with small regional groups to tap into possible anti-incumbency.

The stakes are also high for two of the countrys three women chief ministers, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and AIADMKs J Jayalalithaa who rule in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu respectively. They are likely to go it alone in the polls.

The vote is also seen as a battle of survival for the Left parties in West Bengal and the DMK in Tamil Nadu. In West Bengal, traditional rivals the CPI (M) and the Congress are set to bury their hatchet to take on Banerjee in an unprecedented informal alliance.

This will be the first time when None of the Above or NOTA in the electronic voting machine (EVM) will have a cross symbol to ensure voters can recognise the option easily.

Read | Mamata fumes at Election Commissions six-phase polls in West Bengal

West Bengal will spend the maximum timesix-phase polling spread over seven daysto elect its new 294-member assembly. Assam will go to the polls in two phases while the two southern states  Tamil Nadu and Kerala -- and Puducherry will elect their new governments on May 16.

Heres all you need to know about the upcoming Assembly polls in 5 states:

Assam



West Bengal



Kerala



Tamil Nadu



Puducherry


The closet days are over! The forthcoming assembly elections will see Bengals transgender people lining up outside polling booths and exercising their right to vote.

For long consigned to the underbelly and the dregs of society, the states transgender people are to be enlisted as voters for the first time since being recognised as the third gender by the Supreme Court.

The process of having them registered as voters is already under way in pollbound Bengal. The move would mark a giant leap for the community.

Altough the Election Commission (EC), in 2009, had ruled that transgender people could cast their votes as the other gender, the Bengal election will mark the first time that they will exercise their franchise since being declared the third gender. In 2011, only a few of us were able to vote. But, we still longed for the recognition that came after the Supreme Court granted us the status of third gender. It opened a whole new world before us. Hence, this (Bengal) election will give us an opportunity to step out into the sunshine, as it were, and vote with pride, Ranjita Sinha, a transgender and member of the national and Bengals transgender development board, said. In a landmark judgment in April 2014, the apex court granted third gender status to transgenders and hijras (ennuchs). Soon after the judgment, several states announced the setting up of development boards for the transgender community.

Earlier, we could only cast our votes as males or females. But this year, we will vote as transgenders. My three daughters, too, will vote as transgenders. It would, indeed, be a moment to cherish for us, Aparna Banerjee, a transgender and member of the states transgender development board, said. Banerjee said though the Bihar polls followed shortly after the landmark apex court judgment, only a handful from the transgender community could vote. However, Sinha said only about 500 transgender people of thousands in Bengal have been registered in voters lists.

Bengal is home to more than 30,000 transgender people. However, only about 500 of them have been included in voters lists. This reflects the stepmotherly attitude of the state government towards our community and their failure to enter more transgender people into the electoral rolls, Sinha, who is also the secretary of the Association of Transgender/Hijra in Bengal (ATHB), said.

Sinha claimed while the state government has been proactive with regard to having more transgender people entered in electoral rolls in Kolkata, the scene in the hinterland marks a stark contrast as officials responsible for the job have shown similar urgency to pursue the matter and ensure better representation of transgenders in voters lists.

If political parties are, indeed, serious about our holistic development and welfare, they should consider members of our community for nomination for the elections, Sinha said. Shashi Panja, the state women and child development minister who is also the chairman of the state transgender development board, said, Both the EC and members of the transgender community should hold awareness camps to encourage more transgender people to come forward and get themselves registered in voters lists.

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Irrfan Khan is all set to play the lead role in an international film No Bed Of Roses to be directed by Bangladesi director Mostofa Sarwar Farooki. The bilingual (Bengali and English language) film is titled Doob in Bengali.

Irrfans production company will also co-produce the film. This is his second venture as a producer after Ishaan Nairs Kaash (2015). Irrfan says he was touched by the humane angle that Farooki adapts in his stories, making them engaging to the audience. When I saw his first film Ant Story, it immediately got me interested. I was impressed with his approach, style, and the way he unravels the story. His selection of cast and the way they behave touched me immensely, he says. Irrfan further adds, His works carry a strong humane angle, which is why his characters are multi layered. I am eagerly looking forward to collaborate with him and explore the film No Bed of Roses. Hope this will be a good addition to the changing landscape of world cinema.

Read: I am not an intellectual person, says Irrfan Khan

Read: Indian directors should head to Hollywood, says Irrfan Khan

Apart from Khan, the main cast includes Bangladeshi actor Nusrat Imroz Tisha who starred in Farookis Third Person Singular Number (2009) and Television (2013), Parno Mitra and Rokeya Prachy.

Follow @htshowbiz for more.
Veteran actor-director Manoj Kumar on Friday said the Indian governments decision to honour him with the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke award, comes as a pleasant surprise. He said it will take him some time to digest the news. Its a pleasant surprise. I was sleeping, and I started getting calls from my friends. I thought they were kidding, but when I read the news myself, I realised that its for real, Manoj Kumar, 78, said.

Let me digest the fact that I am getting this award. It is certainly one of the most prestigious awards we have. I am extremely satisfied with whatever I have achieved in my life, and my family is extremely happy with this news, added the actor, most of whose works have dwelt upon patriotic themes.

Read: Manoj Kumar to receive Dadasaheb Phalke Award for 2015

The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is conferred by the government of India for outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema. The award consists of a Swarn Kamal (Golden Lotus), a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh and a shawl.

The honour is given on the basis of recommendations of a committee of eminent personalities set up by the government for this purpose. This year, a five member jury -- Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Salim Khan, Nitin Mukesh and Anup Jalota -- unanimously recommended Manoj Kumar for the prestigious award.

Having starred in films like Upkar, Hariyali Aur Raasta, Woh Kaun Thi, Himalaya Ki God Mein, Roti Kapda Aur Makaan and Kranti, the National Award winner and Padma Shri awardee has also directed over five films, including Roti Kapda Aur Makaan.

Manoj Kumars last big screen appearance was in the 1995 film Maidan-E-Jung. He says he will try to be more active in the film industry now. I have been absent from the limelight, and thats my mistake. I have been wanting to make a movie and will soon make one as I want to be more active, he said.
Actor Shabana Azmi says that mainstream Hindi cinema is witnessing a change in terms of portraying female characters. There is a change coming in mainstream Hindi cinema. Earlier, when there used to be a role of a mother, she would drop the thaali and scream nahi, an absolutely stereotypical role. And in Hindi films, there was always an attempt to wipe out all the details, she says.

This has been changing now, she said. She adds that in mainstream cinema is locating characters. Azmi plays a role based on Rama Bhanot in the film, the mother of Neerja Bhanot (played by Sonam Kapoor), a flight attendant who gave up her life to protect passengers on a hijacked flight in 1986. The relationship between her and Sonam has been one of the highlights of the film.

Read: What Sonam Kapoor, Shabana Azmi teach us on gender equality in Neerja

The relationship between her and Sonam has been one of the highlights of the film. (YouTube Grab)

Punjabi mothers are typically shown to be over the top, especially when it comes to the accent, mannerisms and behaviour. It is important that you play different types of characters, and in Neerjas character, there was a Punjabiyat, but we didnt blow trumpets about it, only a few lines of it were used, and people have appreciated it. Thats the way forward. The most delightful feeling is that numerous Punjabi mothers said that I looked exactly like them, Azmi says, adding that people have told her that she made them cry.

Neerja review: Sonam Kapoor is the star of this searing biopic

Javed sahab cried a lot when he saw the trial; he was speechless for a substantial time. He then watched it in the theatre and again cried a lot, she says, when asked how her husband, writer Javed Akhtar, reacted to the film.

Watch Neerja trailer here:
A Mercer County Sheriffs Department jail employee is on administrative leave during an investigation into a shots fired incident Feb. 27 at the Dakota Farms Inn in Beulah.

Mercer County Sheriff Dean Danzeisen said Michael Peterson, a four-year employee at the jail in Stanton, will remain on leave until the matter is settled.

Because of a potential conflict of interest, local authorities turned the case over to the Attorney Generals Bureau of Criminal Investigation, though Mercer County States Attorney Jessica Binder confirmed no arrest had been made, or charges filed in the case, as of Friday.

Police responded to the incident shortly after 10 p.m. and the hotel, which houses a bar and restaurant, was evacuated overnight, according to Beulah Police Chief Frank Senn. There were no injuries and the public was not under any threat, Senn said.
When minority shareholders differ strongly with a companys policies, the practice was for them to pack their bags, sell their shares and exit, as they do not have sufficient voice to be taken seriously. Not any more  they have started to make themselves heard, and influence management decisions, rather than exiting tamely.

For instance, Maruti Suzuki announced in January 2014 that its parent company Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) would set up a factory in Gujarat through its wholly owned subsidiary. Shareholders questioned the rationale behind the move: When Maruti could afford to set up the plant on its own, what was the need for SMC to get into the act? Also, if the trend continued, over a period Maruti would end up as just a marketing company, and would no longer be a manufacturer!

The Maruti board was bombarded with letters, and several rounds of meetings were held with shareholders. In the end, Maruti had to rework the proposal as per the negotiations and also agreed to bring it to vote  which was at the time not mandatory under law. The reworked proposal got shareholders consent  after 20 months of negotiations.

Read: Maruti gets minority shareholder approval for Gujarat plant

Then there was the case of PTL Enterprise: The management proposed to sell its entire stake in hospitals. The proposal faced strong confrontation from shareholders due to its low valuation. This was the time when Related Party Transactions (RPT) did not require minority shareholders approval. KSIDC, a Kerala state government-owned entity and also a 2.3% shareholder in PTL Enterprise, obtained a stay on the proposal. The company had to shelve the plan, and in fact never raised it again. If they do bring it back now, they will have to face more stringent norms put in place by SEBI, and the proposal would have to be voted upon by the shareholders.

In a similar case, In August 2014, the board of Siemens India had planned to sell off its metals technology business to its parent company Siemens AG.

The valuation was lower than the value at which it was earlier transferred to Siemens India, three years ago. Since, the transaction was a RPT, and as per new SEBI norms it had to be tabled for shareholders vote and they voted against it.

The management was forced to raise the valuation and a revised resolution was presented again with far greater disclosures, and it finally got shareholders nod.

Apart from the critical governance and disclosure issues, shareholders were equally proactive in raising their voice against routine resolutions. In May 2014, Tata Motors approached its shareholders to approve raising the remuneration of three executive directors. The shareholders voted against it, citing lack of sufficient ground as the company was reporting losses on a standalone basis.

However, the resolution got shareholders nod when management provided them additional disclosures and justification for the proposal.

Read: Vijay Mallya finds 75 million reasons to resign as USL chairman

In another case, when Diageo took over United Spirits Ltd. (USL), several undisclosed transactions with other UB group companies were discovered, that had resulted in leaking of funds. In November 2014, many resolutions related to these transactions were put to vote, and most of them got rejected by shareholders. Also, when Vijay Mallya was declared a wilful defaulter with respect to Kingfisher Airlines debt, the shareholders wanted him to resign as chairperson. The matter was sub-judice for a long time, but he recently stepped down from the position of chairman.

Engaging with the management plays a vital role, for example in Maruti and Siemens investors have been in dialogue with the company to sort out the issues, and additional disclosures satisfied the shareholders and they gave their approval. But in case where management refuses to address their concerns, shareholders should take legal recourse, said Amit Tandon, managing director, IiAS (a proxy advisory firm).

Shareholders are also being strongly supported by recent changes in regulations and a tighter corporate governance framework developed by SEBI. The New Companies Act is focused on providing more information to shareholders. It has made it mandatory to obtain approval of minority shareholders in case of related party transactions. E-voting was also made compulsory and the role of independent directors has been emphasised upon to achieving high standards of corporate governance.

Having said that, there are still various challenges ahead for minority shareholders.

The minority shareholders have started doing their bit, but the institutional investors such as insurers and mutual fund houses should now become proactive and vote aggressively on company policies to make a bigger impact, said Shriram Subramanian, founder and managing director, Ingovern Research (also a proxy advisory firm).

The shareholders and debtors (banks) should also come together if they feel that management decisions are not in the best interest of companys future growth, as both sides are losers if something goes wrong.

There are also too many regulators  Securities and exchange board of India (SEBI), Ministry of corporate affairs (MCA), Company law board (CLB), Serious fraud investigation office (SFIO) and also Economic offences wing of CBI are acting in this space in some or the other way. Investors are unsure when to approach whom. highlights Tandon. Prosecution of companies and individuals that undertake corporate misbehaviour takes a lot of time is also a major concern yet to be addressed. he adds.

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Johnson & Johnson (J&J), which is synonymous with baby care products, may land in a situation similar to Nestle as the quality of its most famous product has coming under the scanner.

Concerns are pouring in on social media from India and abroad blaming J&J of betraying their trust after a 62-year old American woman died of Ovarian cancer linked to the sustained use of the powder.

Reuters reported that J&J, the worlds biggest maker of health care products, was found liable for fraud, negligence and conspiracy in an American civil suit last week. The jury ordered the company to pay $72 million in damages to the family of the woman.

But J&J seems to disagree with the allegations. The recent jury outcome goes against decades of sound science proving the safety of talc as a cosmetic ingredient in multiple products. We strongly disagree with the outcome, J&J spokesperson replied to an e-mail sent by HT.

The company sent out two links to its blog in reply to questions sent by HT. Interestingly, the introduction of the blog reads Everyone else is talking about our company, so why cant we? It goes on to explain facts over talc safety.

About 40 anxious consumers have responded under the blog which was posted by J&J on February 24.

Bijay J Anand (@bijayanand) wrote on Twitter: Stop using chemicals on ur Body. Johnson and Johnson powder causes cancer.

Ive been using Johnson and Johnson powder since I was born. Im terrified now to use the talc despite these assurances. On a personal note, I feel deeply betrayed by this company which I associated with care and comfort, read a post by a user under the headline Looking for alternatives. The comments policy clearly states that the comments will be reviewed before posting.

Another J&Js product user, Scott M, wrote on the companys blog, Please explain how or why you believe J&J lost this lawsuit?

J&J still claims that the products are safe to use. Our confidence in using talc reflects more than 30 years of research by independent scientists, review boards and global authorities, which have concluded that talc can be used safely in personal care products, the spokesperson said.

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Mounting bad loans dominated discussions among the government, public sector banks (PSBs) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), as a two-day offsite Gyan Sangam got underway on Friday in Gurgaon.

RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, who has come down hard on banks for indulging chronic defaulters, asked lenders on Friday to clean up their books, sources said.

The central bank had earlier set a deadline of March 2017 to tidy up the bad-loan problem.

In his budget speech on Monday, finance minister Arun Jaitley had set aside Rs 25,000 crore for the government to inject as additional capital into PSBs.

Jaitley will attend the event on Saturday. The first such retreat was held in Pune last year.

The RBI recently eased rules, expanding the base that can count as capital for Basel III norms, a global standard for banks minimum capital needs. The move will unlock Rs 25,000 crore into the pool of banks lendable resources and allow them to raise more capital.

According to minister of state for finance Jayant Sinha, non-performing assets (NPAs)  loans that do not yield returns  have crossed Rs 8 lakh crore. Almost all banks have seen their profits drop sharply during the last quarter.

Rajan also asked PSBs to upgrade technology and data analytics tool to counter competition from new players, sources said.

Eleven companies have been allowed to start payments banks, while another 10 companies will set up small finance banks. While small banks can perform all activities similar to commercial lenders, though on a restricted scale, payments banks cannot undertake lending operations.
Indias largest drugmaker Sun Pharmaceutical is looking to leverage the over-the-counter (OTC) drugs portfolio of Ranbaxy Laboratories, which it acquired two years ago, to expand its global presence.

Sun Pharma had no presence in the high-volumes OTC segment  medicines sold directly to a consumer without prescription  before the acquisition of Ranbaxy.

It recently rolled out its first OTC drug, antacid Pepmelt, that will compete with Eno, Digene and Pudin Hara.

Our consumer healthcare or OTC business is a result of acquisition of Ranbaxy. It is a high-margin, high-growth business. We want to use this as a base to create a global OTC presence, Dilip Shanghvi, managing director, Sun Pharma, told HT. So, we are actually giving lot of internal focus and importance to it.

When Sun Pharma acquired Ranbaxy, consumer healthcare was the latters fastest-growing businesses, with leading brands such as Revital, Volini, Chericof, Pepfiz and Garlic Pearls. Ranbaxy has around 15 OTC products, which contributed over 20% to Ranbaxys sales before the acquisition.

The two top-growing segments in OTC are health supplements and analgesics and we are witnessing growth healthier than the growth rate of the entire OTC market, said Subodh Marwah, vice-president, consumer healthcare business, Sun Pharma.

So we are actually giving lot of internal focus and importance on growing that part of the business, he added.

Consumer health business is important for our future growth not only in India but in other markets where we have a presence, where our idea is to grow the business and look at potential inorganic opportunities, Shanghvi said.

According to market analysts, OTC medicines contribute 10-15% of Sun Pharmas revenues. Brands such Revital (health supplement) and Volini (analgesic) feature among top 10 brands of the country and Sun Pharma is likely to make significant investments in these categories.

As per Neilsen estimates, the antacids category is currently pegged at over Rs 1,180 crore, growing at around 21% every year. The total OTC market in India is pegged at around `5,300 crore, growing annually at 12-13%.

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Stress-free is how Sahara Group chief Subrata Roy described himself in his book Life Mantras, released on 1 February.

His case in the Supreme Court has eased into a routine of being heard once in a month or two; and five proposed deals, 25 court hearings and two years later, the activity and buzz surrounding Roys case has dulled considerably.

Roy, the Sahara Groups promoter, chief and pater familias, will begin his third year in judicial custody on Friday. Lodged in Tihar Jail, Roy has to raise a sum of Rs.10,000 crore for his bail.

On 4 March 2014, the Supreme Court passed its order sending Royand two Sahara Group company directors Ravi Shankar Dubey and Ashok Roy Choudharyto jail, after the companies repeated failure to deliver on promises made to return the money collected from depositors.

In its 6 May 2014 ruling, the apex court noted that he was jailed for ensuring payment of his financial liabilityat the time of nearly Rs.20,000 crore which was a valid form of judicial enforcement.

The conditions for his release were apparently simple: deposit Rs.10,000 crore, half in cash and half as a bank guarantee, and then return the balance amount.

No significant progress

Over last two years, approximately Rs 4,000 crore of the Rs 10,000 crore bail money has been deposited with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India, according to lawyers for the market regulator.

The conglomerate attempted to raise a bank guarantee of Rs 5,000 crore through several banks, including Bank of China, Hong Kong-based Nouam Ltd, and most recently Russia-based VTB Bank.

On the last date of hearing, Sahara told the Supreme Court that it planned to sell its London hotelGrosvenor Houseto the state of Qatar, which would leave a surplus of Rs.2,350 crore after furnishing Roys bail.

The next hearing for the case is 29 March, but nothing has moved forward, according to those aware of the intricacies of the case.

Whats more worrisome is that there has been no movement on the main case itself. All these hearings are about the bail, but not about the case. The Supreme Court should now move on the case. By this time, the case should have been investigated and a final report available, said Prithvi Haldea, chairperson and managing director of Prime Database.

Total liability

On 19 June 2015, the Supreme Court laid down an 18-month deadline for recovering Rs.36,000 crore from Sahara, once Roy was released.

The money was what the two Sahara companies raised without seeking permission from Sebi for what was essentially a public offer. Sebi and the Sahara Group battled it out in court, the stock market regulator won; Sahara was ordered to pay back the money; and, when it dragged its feet, and when Roy himself missed an appearance before the court, he was sent to jail for contempt.

Sahara Group has consistently refuted this large financial liability. According to the group, and its lawyers arguments before the Supreme Court, it has refunded Rs 17,000 crore to 30 million depositors already.

Sahara Group has paid substantial amount already. Sahara will make effort to satisfy the court and seek Subrata Roys release, a Sahara lawyer said.

A Sahara spokesperson did not respond to calls and an email seeking comment.

However, the two years in jail havent changed Roy, who last month belted out his first book called Life Mantras, part of the Thoughts from Tihar trilogy. It is unlikely that he has seen his family during this time as his wife, Swapna Roy, and son Sushanto Roy acquired Macedonian citizenship in 2013.

Roy writes in his book, I, like any other human in confinement, could not contain my thoughts and at times felt an emotional outrage, why me?, what have I done wrong to deserve this? Thoughts such as these often raced through my mind. He called his imprisonment a rude shock.

A person close to the development said that the two years have made Roy more resilient towards the legal system he feels has targeted him.

The case drags on, and the Supreme Court has made it clear that Roy will not be released unless he pays the Rs.10,000 crore bail.

Meanwhile, Roy is at work on the second book of the trilogy.

Sahara has filed a defamation case in a Patna court against Mints editor and some reporters over the newspapers coverage of the companys dispute with the Securities and Exchange Board of India. Mint is contesting the case.
In the end, it was left to a Bihari cop to blow away the veil of niceness over the mess in banking. CBI director Anil Sinha, speaking at a conference in Mumbai on Wednesday, blamed the banks for dragging their feet.

Despite our repeated requests, banks did not file a complaint with the CBI (against Kingfisher Airlines). Eventually, the CBI went ahead and registered a case last July, though loans were given to the Vijay Mallya-run company in the eight years to 2012.

Mallya has gone on to become the symbol of all that is wrong with the way banks lend to companies  a shiny, bejewelled symbol, whose birthday parties can provoke even the usually measured Reserve Bank of India governor into taking a dig. But he is not alone.

The premier investigative agency on its own took action against Pearls Agro, which resulted in the arrest of its chairman, Nirmal Singh Bangoo. Amtek Auto went on to accumulate debts of Rs 21,134 crore, run deep into losses, and default on repayment of bonds worth Rs 800 crore. Bhushan Steel ran up debts of Rs 40,800 crore, before it blew up as a case of bad investment by banks.

Look at that figure again. Does it take that much to realise there is something missing somewhere? The stress in capital-intensive sectors such as power and highways, casting shadows over many a bank, tells its own story.

Banks have a good explanation for this. Their top executives say many of the events could not be foreseen. True, the cancellation of coal blocks, or of telecom spectrum allocation, and the sudden decline in the global demand for commodities were difficult to predict for us. But it should be a little less difficult for them banks. They are in the business of making these calls, on which ride the money of millions of depositors.

All banks tend to get carried away when the going is good. Remember the heady pre-financial crisis days? Nearly every company tried to expand, diversify, and acquire. There was a record run of Indian companies acquiring overseas units; one of them was Whyte and Mackay, acquired by Vijay Mallya. Many of the expansions and acquisitions went bad. So did the loans banks had extended  willingly, eagerly  to fund them.

Its about the risk appetite, says a top banker. True, but it should also be about not biting off more than you can chew. Banks, for some reason, are taking time to wake up to the worst-kept secrets of corporate India.

Project financing in India is a tricky business. Several companies present the cost of their projects to be bigger than it should be. The extra money is used to do other things: finance things that the lenders did not sign up for. Some of it is used to raise more funds, again by overstating the requirement. That yields its own excess portion, to be moved around in other ways. In some cases, bank loans are used to build an international business, without giving the lenders a right on the cash flow from the new channel.

To be fair to the banks, they are waking up to it now. Egged on by the RBI governor, they have become aggressive, and are trying to recover what they can. There are reports of banks appropriating assets of well-known business groups who are not able to repay loans. The due diligence process is being overhauled, with a sharper look at the record of the promoters and the money they bring in through the equity route.

State Bank of India chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya, who was at the same conference as the CBI director on Wednesday, did not respond immediately to Sinhas remonstrance. But soon after news broke that her bank, which is among a clutch of banks that gave Rs 7,000 crore to Mallyas companies, has sought an arrest warrant against him. Thats a strong sign of action, but comes three years after lenders first said they would do all they could to recover their loans to Kingfisher Airlines.

Journalist T N Ninan wrote recently that when the first lot of 14 banks was nationalised in 1969, one of the things said was that the government, with the banks resources at its disposal, might one day abolish the income tax. What ended up happening was the opposite: tax payers money was used to save badly run banks.

It was therefore a relief that finance minister Arun Jaitleys latest budget put aside just the Rs 25,000 crore  something Project Indradhanush had talked about earlier  to resuscitate state-owned banks. Theoretically, the shaky banks should be asked to fend for themselves by raising funds from the market. But in practice that looks to be a tall order; the shares of many state-owned banks listed at stock exchanges trade much below their book value.

The hope therefore may lie in what the finance minister mentioned, without giving out much details: a blueprint for consolidation, making some banks merge with others.

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Hugo Barra is playing the Make in India card. The former Google employee, who is currently the global head of Xiaomi, has often spoken about Indias growing importance for the Chinese handset maker. Manufacturing is one aspect.

We have gone from zero to 75% local manufactured in six months, said Barra.

To be sure, this is only local assembly. Barra claims that no other phone maker has done this before.

Xiaomi imports equipment, all custom-made, to assemble phones in India. It is also the most economically viable approach to do business, he said.

Xiaomi shot to fame in India, with its flash sale model, by putting a limited number of mobile phones for sale online. They would vanish in seconds. Now, more than half a dozen phone makers do that. And Xiaomi is moving on.

We use flash sales only when we are launching a model, when we know we have much less (supply) than the demand. Otherwise we practice an open sale, which is more sustainable, he said. The company will also sell its phones offline.

According to IDCs smartphone report which takes into account tier-I, II and III cities, Xiaomi ranks seventh in terms of sales in the country. 5.5 million Xiaomi phones were sold in India in 2015. Globally the company sold 70 million handsets.

Barra hopes that 50% of smartphone buying will happen online (it is 30% now), and the company is leaving no stone unturned to get every possible buyer. To start with, Xiaomi is also engaging offline partners to sell its phones. It has set up an R&D centre, has opened a 50,000 square-feet warehouse, 70 service outlets, and will also open smaller warehouses all over the country.

It also started a special accidental and liquid warranty called Mi Protect, which offers free home pickup and drop, and free servicing in the first year of buying a device. The phones also support up to 13 regional languages.

Barra has more to say, now on acquisitions. We will pick up some stake (thats what we have done in China). We have looked at quite a few companies, and are in serious discussions with some, he said. These are Indian companies that have mobile apps and offer services that people can use through a mobile app.

Read: Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 launched in India starting Rs 9,999

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After his thumping run through the Super Tuesday set of primaries for the Republican Partys nomination for the US presidential elections in November, Donald Trump reinforced his message  offence is the best form of defiance  be it of the establishment, party, media, entire races and nations, good taste or tact.

Trump is a rare phenomenon, the richest candidate in the race who has run the cheapest campaign. If President Barack Obama spent a billion dollars getting re-elected, this billionaire candidate has only cashed in on his celebrity that has driven frenzied media coverage. He hasnt had to pay much for advertising and may even end up with the smallest spend among major candidates when the quarterly counts are released. Courtesy that coverage, he may well have ended up footing the smallest bill of the major candidates, with minimal legwork.

Read | Im well endowed, Donald Trump assures US voters

As I spent four days in Little Rock, Arkansas, once the domain of the Clintons, Trump was everywhere and, contrarily, nowhere. Local media was saturated with The Donalds latest controversy to the point of nausea, he was discussed feverishly, but he had no presence on the ground. Trump has taken to flying visits, literally, holding rallies at airport hangars in several states.

Veteran Republican operative Bill Vickery told me that Trump has completely transformed campaigning in small states like Arkansas, where they dont have to employ anyone. One of his colleagues worked on George W Bushs 2004 re-election campaign and recalled that 20 full-time staffers were employed in the state. When it comes to Trump, everything is centrally managed from New York, with remote phone calls, mailers and social media messaging. The State Republican National Committee had a single contact for the Trump machine, an email address of an individual no local had heard of. The phone number for Arkansas for Donald Trump was routed through an anonymising Google Voice conduit. His organisation has put a new spin to the phrase remote control when it comes to politics.

Read | Romney calls Trump phony, urges Republicans to shun him

Whats missing is the door-to-door knocking by paid volunteers, but Trump is knocking down those doors anyway. Vickery believes hes created a new model of campaigning for small to medium-sized states in these massive presidential cycles. If traditional campaigns, like that of Hillary Clinton still rely on peopling places, Trumps Manhattan team goes with prefab structures.

None of that, of course, would work if this campaign werent a marketing marvel, getting millions of dollars of free air time on network television as Trump keeps hurling verbal bombs at anyone in his sights  Democrats, fellow Republicans, illegal immigrants, TV hosts, Muslim-Americans, among others. Establishment Republicans are like roadkill, run over by the Trump juggernaut. Punditry is flummoxed and poleaxed. At least in the primary season, Trump has demolished the orthodox tenets of retail politics.

Read | Super Tuesday: A step closer for Hillary, Trump to Oval Office

Luke Niles, chair of the Central Arkansas Young Republicans, marvelled as he told me: He (Trump) generates so much publicity, the other candidates cant get any attention. In fact, the only save-face time they manage is when they attack him. Niles colleague Susanna Samson nodded. She was for Florida Senator Marco Rubio, but observed, I know Trumps slogan, I dont know the other ones. True, like Obamas Yes We Can, that simple line resonates though critics can argue that since this is Trumpery, it ought to actually be Make America Grate Again.

A day before Super Tuesday, the main daily in Arkansas, the Democrat Gazette, led with the headline: Rivals slam Trump over ex-Klan leader. Clintons rally the previous evening at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff was demoted. On the morning of the vote, he again dominated that page: Trumps rise cleaving GOP before big day. News television coverage leads with Trump and deals him aces. This is the sort of publicity that Trump has thrived upon. If he does become the eventual Republican nominee, he ought to pay his dues and choose the American media as his running mate.

(Anirudh Bhattacharyya is a Toronto-based commentator on American affairs.The views expressed are personal.)

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Stuck in a traffic jam in a Tamil Nadu town called Annur, my taxi stood immobilised right next to an abattoir. In its chicken coop, some half a dozen stoic roosters and hens were getting scorched under the mid-day sun. Two skinned fowl dangled pinkly an elbow away from me. At that point a large man came into the shack, surveyed the coop, pointed to a large hen which was promptly pulled out, given the mother of all neck-wringing and plonked lifeless on a weighing scale. The entire process was over before one could say Kentucky or, for that matter, Annur.

As the jam thawed and the taxi revved up, I could not but think of Rukmini Devi Arundale, celebrated theosophist, pioneering dancer, choreographer and teacher of Bharatnatyam, founder of Chennais iconic Kalakshetra, nominated member of the Rajya Sabha, catalyst of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, and first Chair of the Animal Welfare Board. I imagined Rukmini Devi reproaching me, in blunt Tamil, for not having jumped out of the vehicle, gone up to the butcher, as she would have most definitely termed the entrepreneur, told him he was offending the PCTA (Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act) in making the poultry scorch and in displaying flayed dead fowl. But they are going to die anyhow, I imagined myself telling her. What do you mean? Killing animals for meat is gross; killing them after callous cruelty is evil. Dont mask your laziness in some philosophic argument about dying anyhow

Rukmini Devi had often talked of how her involvement in animal rights started. I was standing one day on a railway platform, waiting for my train when I felt my sari being tugged by someone. I turned around to find it was no someone but a monkey, a caged monkey, pulling at my sari to ask me to help it get out of that trap. I couldnt do anything about it at the time but then I felt that the monkey had given me a task, a mission

One tug led to another and as a Rajya Sabha MP, Rukmini Devi moved, in 1952, a private MPs Bill for the prevention of cruelty to animals. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, sensing the importance of the Bill in humanitarian terms and the mood of the House, said, I entirely agree with the  mover of this Bill that one test of civilisation  and a very major test  is the practice of compassion. And he paved the way for the passing of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.

Read | Google celebrates Rukmini Devi Arundales contribution to art

But it was Morarji Desai rather than Nehru with whom Rukmini Devis life work is linked. Desai, born on February 29, 1896, and Rukmini Devi on February 29, 1904, were both leapers. This starry link apart, they also had some earthy things going in common. They were both Brahmin, vegetarian and teetotallers of course, had a horror of what seemed to them vulgar or forward and Rukmini Devi was, like Morarji, no admirer of Marxist or socialist thought. They were both conservative in political and puritan in social beliefs.

Rukmini Devis equation with Morarji as prime minister led to his banning the export of the Rhesus monkey, mainly to the US, for laboratory tests. This generated stiff resistance from drug companies in that country. Even the US embassy in New Delhi took up the matter with the Morarji government. Morarji rebuffed them.

Conservatives are not always stoppers. They can also be innovative.

In nothing less than a stroke of political daring, Morarji, without consulting anyone, decided to offer the presidentship of India, then vacant, to Rukmini Devi. The idea of a woman as president was a first, and a woman who was a social philosopher and a dancer! The news startled the nation, wowed its south. Over a phone call made to Rukmini Devis home in Adyar, Chennai, in 1977, he asked her if she would consent to be President. President of what, she asked. President of India, said the prime minister. She declined. Asked later why, she explained, I like to go about barefoot. How could I have done that in Rashtrapati Bhavan? I detest arms and armaments. How could I have moved about with an AdC bearing guns in front of me and another behind me? And also as a committed vegetarian how could I have served meat to guests from abroad who cannot do without it? Besides my life is bound up with Kalakshetra, the Theosophical Society, Madras. Delhi is  another universe Aides de Camps do not bear arms and only stuffy Indian guests, not foreign visitors, would have turned their noses up at a presidential banquet that was vegetarian. Yet it was only natural that she declined.

I do not know of a single individual other than Rukmini Devi who has said no to becoming President of India.

Rukmini Devi would have made an iconic first woman President of India. She would have been totally impartial and fair. And from 1980 India would have had that unimaginable combination  a woman president and a woman prime minister. Would President Rukmini Arundale and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi have got along? Office does strange things to people. I believe they would have. The founder of Kalakshetra and the alumnus of Santiniketan would very likely have deftly skirted the subject of the Emergency and Morarji, and would have discussed art and culture, Annie Besant and J Krishnamurti. The theosophist President may even have helped Indira Gandhi look at the Punjab crisis differently and  who knows?  avert Operation Blue Star. And of course the ban on monkeys export would have stayed and even enlarged to cover the obnoxious practice, common to both Hindus and Muslims, of the ritual sacrifice of animals.

In a leap year celebrating these two leapers, we must ask if those two ardent vegetarians would have today been on the side of the beef-banners. I believe Morarji and Rukmini Devi would have been vegetarian enough to favour a ban but democratic enough to say they could not go along with a sectarian manipulation of that issue. I started with an imaginary chastisement from Rukmini Devi and conclude with an imaginary comment from Annie Besants legatee: Compassion for animals does not include bigotry. Rukmini Devi, who chose not to be President of India, will be remembered for all that she chose, with such elan, to do.

(Gopalkrishna Gandhi is distinguished professor in history and politics, Ashoka University. The views expressed are personal.)

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It promises to be a festival of unthinkable proportions.

The World Culture Festival (WCF) being organised by the Art of Living Foundation will have a seven-acre stage that will accommodate 37,000 artists.

A gathering of 35 lakh people is expected over three days at the event that will spread out over an area on 1,000 acres on the ecologically fragile Yamuna floodplain.

It is enough to have caught the eye of environmentalists and the National Green Tribunal in the form of a petition. Running into controversy, there is no clarity if the event will get the tribunals clearance.

If it does, it will be the biggest gathering the city has ever seen.

The biggest ever public gathering till now was a commemorative meeting held for Sant Hans Ji Maharaj in Punjabi Bagh in 1970, which saw the presence of an estimated 10 lakh people.

The Sant Nirankari Samagam in Burari that is held annually in Burari in Delhi is the biggest recurring public gathering in the Capital.

Held on grounds owned by the Sant Nirankari Samagam, the Delhi Development Authority and the Delhi Jal Board which are spread over an area of 400 acres, the event attracted nearly six lakh people in November 2015, event organisers said. Participants lived and ate on the premises.

The WCF makes no such promises.

The participants and audience will be at the floodplains between 5 pm and 10 pm. No living arrangements are being made. There will, however, be 650 bio toilets which the foundation says will ensure no sewage flows into the river.

The gathering is expected to create a Guinness World record. But the Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravishankar said the aim was not to create any records.

We have broken and made several records in the past and are not interested in them anymore. This is a festival to bring together people in peace and harmony. The scale is massive. Getting together so many artists on one stage is a feat on its own, he told Hindustan Times on Tuesday.

Read: UP irrigation dept warns organiser against polluting Yamuna banks
While the Energy and Environmental Research Center continues to evaluate its options for drilling an experimental borehole to test deep rock for nuclear waste storage, a joint meeting of water districts plans to take up petitions against it.

When the Upper and Lower Sheyenne Water Resource Districts meet at 9 a.m. March 16 at the Eagles Club in Valley City, the borehole project will be on the agenda.

Tor Bergstrom, of Steele County and chairman of the Upper Sheyenne district, said the groups are concerned because its their task to preserve the quality of the waters in their districts, including the headwaters of the Sheyenne River. They watched closely while nearby Pierce County officials stood against a borehole project near Rugby, and Bergstrom said some water district members want to join a petition against the project.

The EERC, along with Battelle Memorial Institute, are aiming to drill 3 miles down into crystalline basement rock to test whether the geology is stable and sequestered enough for long-term storage of nuclear waste. They say the project is a geological science experiment only and no nuclear waste would be involved. The federal Department of Energy awarded $35 million for the project in January.

The EERC identified a possible drilling site on state-owned land in Pierce County, but, after holding a public meeting, commissioners told the researchers this week not to bother making a drilling application there.

Bergstrom said the water districts worry this isnt the end of the matter.

What were really afraid of is the DOE is going to do it anyway. I would say Im worried. At this meeting, the petition will be brought up," said Bergstrom, referencing a petition already circulated in Pierce County.

EERC research director John Harju said scientists are considering options outside of Pierce County.

At this time, we cannot say exactly where because we dont have another site ready to discuss. There are many project criteria that must be met for a site to be acceptable, Harju said.

Lance Gaebe, director of the Department of Trust Lands, said EERC had specifically identified the Pierce County land as a tract of interest.

There was no other specific county or parcel identified by the EERC, Gaebe said.
An FIR was registered against Aam Aadmi Partys Okhla MLA Amanatullah Khan on Friday for allegedly making derogatory remarks against the NDA, two days after the BJP filed a police complaint.

A delegation of BJP leaders, including the partys Delhi chief Satish Upadhyay, met police commissioner Alok Kumar on Wednesday and submitted a copy of the video obtained from social media.

The accused has been caught on camera delivering a hate speech in a video which is going viral on social media in which AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan (is) using derogatory remarks against Modi-government and inciting the crowd for gherao of Union home minister Rajnath Singhs house, the FIR stated.

The event was purportedly recorded at a Mushaira at Lal Qila last month, where Khan allegedly spoken in favour of releasing a cleric arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on suspicion of having Islamic State links.

What he said in the video is hate speech in the name of religion. He not only used derogatory language of government but also instigated to people to ensure that Abdus Sami, who was arrested by NIA for alleged terror links, release, alleged Vivek Garg, the complainant.

Khan is being charged under section 504 of the Indian Penal Code which deals with intentional insult to provoke breach of peace. Police said they were investigating the charges.

While the AAP questioned the authenticity of the evidence, Khan defended himself stating he was merely criticising the anti-Dalit and anti-minority policies of the BJP-led central government.

I spoke against the policies of the government, given the way it is suppressing the rights and freedom of Dalits, minorities and students, and sending them to jail after framing them in false cases, he said.

Read more: BJP files police complaint against AAP MLA for insulting PM
A 27-year-old fitness trainer has been arrested by Delhi Police for his alleged involvement in an armed robbery of Rs 30 lakh in north Delhis Gulabi Bagh on February 16.

The gym trainer and his associates had allegedly assaulted two businessmen in front of DDA flats in Gulabi Bagh and then robbed them of their money. The robbers had also fired bullets at the two victims, who escaped unhurt.

Four of them were arrested on February 25 by a team of the central range, crime branch, while the gym trainer, Ankit alias Munna, was still absconding. Ankit was arrested on March 1 by a team led by ACP NK Meena and inspector Ashish Kumar under the supervision of additional DCP Sushil Kumar.

Ravindra Yadav, joint commissioner of police (crime), said they had received information about Ankits movements in north Delhis Mukherjee Nagar. The police then learnt that he would come near MCD Colony in Dhaka Village.

Based on the information, a trap was laid near the MCD Colony. Ankit was apprehended after he arrived in a Honda City car. He initially tried to mislead our team members with wrong personal information. But when we confronted him with evidence collected against him, Ankit confessed to his involvement in the robbery case reported in Gulabi Bagh, said Yadav.

Ankits interrogation, Yadav said, revealed that the Honda City car was used in the crime. The police recovered Rs 46,000 from him that was part of the robbed money. Ankit disclosed that he had received Rs 3 lakh as his share in the robbery. We recovered Rs 1 lakh more from his house, said Yadav.

Born in 1989 in Delhi, Ankit started working as a fitness trainer in Rohini after passing Class 12. After working for a year, Ankit left the job as he was not satisfied with the salary he was getting. He aspired to become rich overnight and tried to join gangs of cheats but eventually landed up with Manish Jains gang that carries out robberies.

On February 16, Ankit and his gang members looted Rs 30 lakh from two businessmen after assaulting and firing at them. Four of them, Manish Jain, Krishan Kumar, Rohit Kumar, and Sumit Rathi alias Boxer were arrested in the case. The police seized Rs 5 lakh, a Santro car and a motorcycle from them.
A 16-year-old girl fainted in a Delhi court on Friday when brought face to face with her stepfather who, she said, had raped her for more than three months.

A medical check found that the questions put to her about the alleged sexual assault to identify the accused and confirm the allegations had left her traumatised.

But the stress was aggravated by the girls mother and grandmother, who minutes before the deposition were seen by the court staff pressuring the teenager to withdraw the statement accusing her stepfather of rape.

The staff told additional sessions judge Vinod Yadav, in whose court the girl collapsed, that the two women were insisting that the victim tell the court the man had never assaulted her so that he could walk free.

A shocked judge Yadav of the Rohini district courts directed the Delhi government to post a child psychologist with courts hearing child abuse cases.

No mechanism has been provided in the special courts in the form of accredited list of child psychologist, whose services can be availed by the court in assessing the mental stress level of the victim children before proceeding to record their evidence, Yadav said.

A child psychologist, the judge said, should counsel the children to help them relax before entering the courtroom to record their statement. Only after assessing the mental condition of the child by the said psychologist, the court may proceed to record her evidence, he said.

Read | German teen rape: Clueless cops to send notice to DCW

In 2014, Delhi reported 1,004 cases of child rape. In 140 of these, the accused were either the father, brother, son or grandfather of the victim. India reported 674 such cases in 2014 -- the last year for which data is available  up from 536 in 2013.

Only three states reported more child rapes -- Madhya Pradesh (2,352), Maharashtra (1,714) and Uttar Pradesh (1,538) -- that year, during which the national count was 13,766.

As a presiding officer of the court hearing cases under the Protection of Child from Sexual Offences  a law that deals with child abuse  Yadav said victims in rape cases where the accused was a close relative often faced family pressure to withdraw the complaint. Police, too, identify family pressure as one of the reasons for a high acquittal rate in rape cases.

Fridays order is in tune with the Delhi high courts efforts to provide a conducive atmosphere to children who are either victims of crime or witnesses to it. Special child court witness rooms have been established in trial courts. But only two district courts in Delhi -- Karkardooma and Saket -- have the facility.

Read | Accused of rape, teen commits suicide in Delhi juvenile home

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The Uttar Pradesh Irrigation department on Thursday said that it will cancel permission to the 3-day long Global cultural festival event of Art of Living foundation if it is found polluting Yamuna flood plains.

We have given conditional permission to AOL foundation saying if they will be found violating national green tribunal directive then permission will be considered cancelled. We will keep conducting inspections on site. And if we will found that visitors or organizers are throwing waste or polluting flood plain in any manner then we will cancel permission and take legal action, said Ravi Prakash assistant engineer of the UP Irrigation department.

The Art of Living is all set to organize a world cultural festival right in the Yamuna flood plains in Delhi from March 11 to 13. The event is expected to host 35 lakh people belonging 155 countries.

UP Irrigation has allowed a parking by AOL foundation on 15 hectares of Yamuna floodplains that falls into their jurisdiction. The foundation got permission to host this event on 1000 acres flood plains that falls into the jurisdiction of Delhi development authority (DDA).

We have specifically mentioned in permission letter that they (organiser) will not build roads, do earth-filling, remove soil, cut trees, damage vegetation, flora-fauna and damage flood plain through their activities. We have categorically asked them not to build temporary or permanent structure around 15 hectare parking spot allowed next to Mayur Vihar-I told plaza of DND Flyway, said Prakash, who said permission to AOL was given in December, 2015.

Green brigade is objecting to this global cultural festival of AOL on the ground that it will end-up polluting Yamuna and eco-system.

We have directed AOL foundation to put portable toilets at parking site to ensure visitors do not answer natures call on flood plain, said Prakash.

Where the waste generated by 35 lakh visitors will go? 35 lakh people will damage fragile eco-system. This event will set a wrong precedent for others, said Manoj Misra of Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan that has filed a petition in NGT opposing to the event.

AOL foundation spokesperson said, This event will help in the campaign of rejuvenation of this Yamuna River that is dying due to polluted water that it carries. We will not throw any sort of waste on to flood plains. Our event will draw attention towards Yamuna protection.

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The families of five girls who appeared for the SSC exams at a Byculla school on Thursday claimed that the students were forced to take off their hijabs before appearing for the exams. Although the Maharashtra board permits students to wear hijabs and burkhas during exams, the school allegedly refused the five girls entry to the exam hall unless they removed their head scarves.

A woman teacher refused to let them enter the school building in a hijab, said the brother of one of the students. They had to take off their hijab in the school corridor, in front of other students.

He added that taking off the hijab meant his sister had to appear for the exam in her night clothes. As she was getting late for the exam, she had just worn the hijab over her night clothes, said the brother. She felt very uncomfortable appearing for the exam like that.

Despite repeated attempts, official of the school were unavailable for comment. Upset by the incident, the students families telephoned the board helpline to report the incident. We called up the board to check the rules on wearing hijabs and were told that it is permitted, said the brother.

Siddheshwar Chandekar, secretary of the board s Mumbai division, confirmed that the students should have been allowed to wear their hijabs. There is no rule in the state board that disallows students from wearing hijabs or burkhas, said Chandekar.

Read more: Lucknow school faces probe for barring girl wearing hijab

He added, If a supervisor suspects that a student is hiding notes underneath, then a woman teacher can take the child aside, ask her to remove the hijab and frisk her. If they do not find anything suspicious, they should allow the student to don the garment again and continue writing the paper.

The students parents also approached the National Students Union of India (NSUI) after the incident. NSUI representatives met the school principal in the after noon, after the exam. The principal apologised for her mistake and she said that had been appointed to the post recently and hence was unaware of the rules, said Heena Kanojia, national co-ordinator, NSUI. We showed the school a government resolution issued by the states school education department which states that students should be allowed to write their exams wearing hijabs.

Last year, the school had faced criticism after allegedly making 40 girls stand in the sun for taking a day off for Lailat al-Qadr, when devout Muslims stay up all night. Parents and local politicians had staged massive protests outside the school.
The Business Studies paper in the Class 12 Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) exam on Thursday gave students a tough time. The paper had a numerical question that students described as tricky. Some even called it difficult. It was a question on capital structure that tested the numerical ability of students that became the point of confusion for most. It contained six marks. A number of students also found the paper lengthy.

Delhi

The paper was not lengthy but it was tricky. It was especially the numerical question which put me in confusion, said Gaurisha Garg, student of Presidium School, Ashok Vihar, New Delhi.

Apart from the numerical question, there were three questions that could have two answers which put students in a fix. Not only students, even teachers had varying answers to the questions.

There were questions that had two answers, so CBSE should consider and mark both the answers. Though it was a one-mark question but due to lack of clarity, the board should consider relaxation. It was a tough paper, said Nidhi Madan, PGT Commerce also at Presidium School.

The teachers said that in order to solve the question it was important to have a conceptual understanding of the subject and the students should have practised a lot of case studies.

The focus of the paper was clearly to differentiate between good and poor students. The questions were such that even after reading it properly it would take time for the students to answer, said Ekta Kandhari, business studies teacher at Ahlcon International School.

The pattern of the CBSE Business Studies paper was changed in 2015 only and last year too students had faces problems. Some teachers even say this years paper was more difficult compared to the previous year.

Read more: Planning is very important for business studies

Lucknow

There were mixed reactions to the business studies paper in Lucknow. Some said the paper was easy while others found it lengthy and puzzling.

Mansi a student of SKD Academy says the paper was easy. The questions were value based and application based. But numerical based questions were slightly tough, said another student.

Most of the students of The Millennium School (TMS) too felt that the paper was easy. But those who could not do time management struggled a bit, said one of the teachers at TMS.

Patna

CBSE Class 12 students in Patna, found the business studies paper lengthy. They said some questions carrying one mark were long and ended up taking precious time.

St Michaels High School students Shubhangi Agarwal and Sanskar, who had secured top marks in their pre-boards examinations, said they found some questions confusing too.

The question paper was almost similar to that of last year, as more questions were based on case studies and were a little too conceptual for comfort, said some students.

According to BP Roy, a senior commerce teacher of St Michaels High School , the paper was slightly tougher than last year, besides being lengthy.

I feel only those students who studied their NCERT textbooks in detail would have been able to attempt all the questions. A one mark question took up quarter of a page and was also tricky, which means students had to use up their writing time to read the entire question, he said.

Students who came out of other examination halls in Patna also echoed similar sentiments.
A recent notification by the University Grants Commission (UGC) has left Komal Sharma (name changed on request) worried and confused. She had enrolled for two courses  an MA in economics at a Central university and another masters in a distance learning institute last year. She wanted to add value to her CV and save an academic year by pursuing two degrees.

However, UGC, in its January 2016 order, said it does not endorse the idea of allowing students to pursue two degrees simultaneously. The education regulator directed universities to conduct programmes according to the First Degree and Masters Degree Regulations 2003 and also follow norms prescribed by the statutory councils, wherever applicable. I am not sure how this will impact my qualifications or job prospects, says Sharma.

Students take up to or more degree programme at one time for added qualifications and improved CVs. Whether they should be allowed remains a much-debated issue. Some experts say pursuing two degrees together helps students in many ways. Their knowledge base is expanded and multidisciplinary education, a must for all-round development of young minds, is encouraged. Others say it may not be feasible with practical challenges like the choice-based credit system, different modes of evaluation, faculty-student ratio etc. Professor Nageshwar Rao, vice chancellor (incharge), Indira Gandhi National Open University, says, Universities in India are more focussed on knowledge-based education. In such a situation, allowing students to pursue two degrees together may not serve the purpose of gaining meaningful education. The focus should be on skill-based education and the human resource development ministry along with other institutions and universities is working towards this. The National Skills Qualifications Framework is a step in this direction that aims to organise all qualifications according to a series of levels of knowledge, skills and aptitude. Allowing students to go for short-term courses in part-time/distance learning mode is a good idea.

According to MM Ansari, former member, UGC, University degrees are getting increasingly delinked from jobs. Why should students chase degrees that do not enhance their social and economic status? In fact, course content of every degree programme is planned in such a way that students can master the theoretical and practical components. Learning requirements and time frame for doing justice with the process of teaching and learning are duly kept in mind. We cant, therefore, allow two or more degrees simultaneously at the cost of diluting standard of education. Interestingly, UGC had accepted a proposal to allow students to take up two degree programmes together in 2013. An expert committee of the commission had recommended in 2012 that students enrolled in a regular degree course should be allowed to pursue an additional degree simultaneously under open or distance education mode.

An expert committee was constituted under the chairmanship of Professor Furqan Qamar to look into the issue.

The committee suggested that a student enrolled in a degree programme under regular mode may be allowed to pursue a maximum of one additional degree programme simultaneously under open/distance mode from the same or a different university. However, two degree programmes under regular mode may not be allowed simultaneously as it may create logistic, administrative and academic problems.

Another suggestion was to allow students pursuing a degree programme under regular mode to pursue a maximum of one certificate/diploma/advanced diploma/PG diploma programme simultaneously either in regular or open and distance mode in the same university or from other institutions. UGC, at a meeting on July 31, 2013, had decided to accept the panels recommendations on allowing additional degree programmes.

I endorse the committees recommendations as these were made in view of the changing higher education scenario, says Professor Iqbal Ahmad, who was a member of the committee.

The Distance Education Council in June 2012 had said that two degree programmes could not be pursued simultaneously.

Read more: HRD ministers statement on dual degrees has no impact

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The actor is obsessed with watches. So much so that he heads to watch stores when shopping overseas... only to get dragged out by his wife.

The watch collector: I have a penchant for watches. Im freakishly obsessed with buying them. While travelling, I usually hit a watch store first and get dragged out. Ive lately had to put a lid on it because my wife said its gotten too much and well have to sell the house if my watch shopping continues.

VIDEO: Check out Emraans enviable watch collection

Denim love: I love jeans. I have an entire cupboard filled with stacks of jeans, and its got to the point where I keep washing and wearing the same ones because the new ones are lying somewhere around the bottom. I think the cupboard will break one of these days.

ALSO READ: Behind Closet Doors: Tamannaah Bhatia

Comfort above all: Style is individualistic and I prefer mine to be easy and comfortable. If it looks like Im trying too hard, then maybe its not for me. Im more of a jeans and T-shirts kind of a person and given Mumbais climate, the combination works best. I do have a formal set of clothes reserved for social events and weddings but thats used sparingly.

Colour coding: My favourite colours are black, white and blue. If I have to head out, Ill throw on a pair of jeans and a black T-shirt. I like green and red too, but I stay away from yellow, especially something like a bright yellow shirt.

Emraan Hashmis watch collection (Pratham Gokhale/HT)

Easy does it: Im not an impulsive shopper anymore; I was once upon a time. But Ive gotten sick of the whole process of going into a mall and shopping. I do shop a bit when Im overseas. My wife orders clothes [for me] online and knows the best places to shop from. Even if Im overseas, she selects something from there so I can pick it up.

Brand value: Diesel is an absolute favourite  I have a lot of jeans and t-shirts from that brand. I like G-Star jeans as well. For T-shirts, I also like Replay and Dsquared2. Im obsessed with Hugo Boss as a brand and I have several different pieces from their collection.

ALSO READ: Ranveer Singh to Ayushmann Khurrana: Why men are wearing nose rings

Style no-no: I dont think really short shorts are meant for men. Also, when selecting an outfit, the weather and climate conditions are crucial. Anything that is not in line is kind of a faux pas.

Quick Dresser: If Im given five minutes to get dressed, that is a lot of time. I could easily pick out three to four different options within that time frame.

Splurge: My most lavish buy has to be my Audemars Piguet watch.

When he wore mismatched slippers: When I was in college, I remember walking into Prithvi (cafe) with mismatched slippers. After almost four hours, I look down and see a red slipper on one foot and a blue one on the other.

Torn jeans: Im really attached to my jeans. In fact, I have a pair of really old jeans from my college days. Theyre ripped now, but I wear them sometimes.
Nothing is impossible, or so seems to be the case with Priyanka Chopra, who, over the past few months, has been making waves in India and abroad. From winning the Peoples Choice Award in Los Angeles, USA, to presenting an award at the Oscars  she is almost unstoppable at the moment.

I feel exhausted, says the actor, before promptly adding, But I also feel a sense of accomplishment with everything that has happened so far. I have worked very hard for this. But I know there are many more miles to go and milestones to achieve before I sleep.

On February 28, the 33-year-old presented the Best Editing award to Margaret Sixel at the Oscars. She admits it was a new experience for her to walk down the red carpet of the prestigious event, meet interesting people and watch the show live. The Oscars have such a history, and yet a familiarity, having grown up watching it. It was nice to be part of the evening. I enjoyed every moment of it, including being a presenter, says the actor.

Presenter Priyanka Chopra arrives at the 88th Academy Awards in Hollywood. (REUTERS)

In fact, Priyankas white sheer gown, by Lebanese designer Zuhair Murad, was also a hit on the Academy Awards red carpet. Ask her if it was easy to zero in on her dress for the evening, and she says, I had multiple options, but I went with what I was feeling that day. I love the colour, and the fact that it was classy and elegant. It felt right when I put it on, and so, I went with it. I couldnt believe the pressure, so its a relief that my outfit was appreciated. The fashion critics and press on the red carpet, the people I met at the show  everyone had very nice things to say [about the gown].

Read: Priyanka Chopra stuns in a bold and beautiful Oscar number

After the Oscars, Priyanka headed straight to Miami, USA, to start shooting for her debut Hollywood film, Baywatch . I love the creative rush I get from being on a film set. The excitement to start work on a new film, get into the skin of my character, understand the thought process of my director, and get to know my co-stars  all of this makes it an amazing experience. The team was so welcoming. So, I got into the thick of things immediately. Im enjoying the process, she says.
Its quite possible that in this Parliament session, India will make the transition from being a wasteful welfare state to a reformed economy that allocates scarce resources efficiently.

The Modi government on Thursday introduced the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill, 2016. When signed into law, the bill will make Aadhaar -- the unique biometric identification number -- central to all social security schemes and services of the government.

With this, the Modi government hopes to address concerns that Aadhaar -- in the absence of safeguards  will be open to misuse and breach the privacy of citizens. Biometric information isnt just any other information. It is made up of portable, physical traits of a person. World over, the concern with biometric information is much the same. People fear not its use, but its misuse.

In a smart move, the government introduced the proposed legislation as a money bill, which can be only introduced in Lok Sabha, or the lower house.

Unlike general bills, a money bill has to be about matters related to taxes, public spending or borrowing, according to article 110(1) of the Indian Constitution. Generally, this is understood to be routine financial matters. The Rajya Sabha, or the upper house, can recommend changes to a money bill. However, these arent binding and, if the lower house rejects the suggestion, the bill is automatically passed. This scheme of things follows the Commonwealth parliamentary system.

By treating Aadhaar as a money bill, the government has ensured that a hostile Opposition cannot defeat the bill in Rajya Sabha, where the ruling BJP is short of numbers. Moreover, the bill wont be subjected to joint parliamentary committees, to which contentious legislations are often referred for greater scrutiny.

Aadhaar needed the safeguards that the bill proposes. However, a money bill virtually pre-empts any scope for full parliamentary oversight. The quick-fix approach taken by the government could open more legal battles ahead.

Given the opposition to Aadhaar, the bill, after it is signed into law, could be challenged on the ground that it did not qualify to be a money bill in the first place.

Read: Modi government to give statutory backing to Aadhaar scheme

In the Westminster tradition, only a Speaker can certify or reject a money bill. There were doubts over whether the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2015 was fit to be a money bill, as moved by the Modi government in the winter session. The Finance Bill, which contains mostly taxes, is a typical money bill. When the government included the creation of the Public Debt Management Agency in the Finance Bill, Opposition members disputed it. This provision was later removed from the Finance Bill.

The Aadhaar bill, as tabled in Lok Sabha, aims to provide good governance, efficient, transparent, and targeted delivery of subsidies, benefits and services, the expenditure for which is incurred from the Consolidated Fund of India, to individuals residing in India through assigning of unique identity numbers to such individuals.

It comprehensively addresses the biggest concern that Aadhaar can violate privacy. The safeguards are substantive, an official said, requesting anonymity.

The Statement of Object and Reasons section of the bill states that correct identification of targeted beneficiaries of social programmes has become a challenge for the government. Linked to this is the problem of corruption and theft of welfare handouts. The bill states: In the absence of a credible system to authenticate the identification of beneficiaries, it is difficult to ensure that subsidies, benefits and services reach the intended household.

Chapter 6 of the bill provides for safeguards to privacy. The bill provides for security and confidentiality of information, restrictions on sharing and access to a citizens biometric details. There are penal provisions for tempering with data or stealing of details etc.

When retired judge K S Puttaswamy challenged Aadhaar on the ground that it violated a citizens privacy, the Supreme Court ruled that Aadhaar could not be made mandatory for receiving any subsidy. Later, the court allowed its use for subsidised cooking gas and ration. The court has also referred the larger question of privacy arising out of Aadhaar to a Constitution bench. This could be path-breaking, as the Indian Constitution doesnt explicitly confer a right to privacy. What impact the courts order will have on the Aadhaar law is yet unclear.

Economists such as Jean Dreze have cited stories of how conditional cash transfers that Aadhaar will facilitate could also help the private sector create markets. The Aadhaar programme could eventually be used for efficient government as well as marketplace transactions.

In fact, the UIDAI website states: Aadhaars guarantee of unique and centralised, online identity verification would be the basis for building these multiple services and applications, and facilitating greater connectivity to markets.

So will Aadhaar be restricted to subsidies alone? The answer largely, at this stage, is yes. However, Section 58 of the Aadhaar bill states: Nothing in the Act shall prevent the use of Aadhaar number for establishing the identity of an individual for any purpose, whether by the State or any body corporate or person, pursuant to any law, for the time being in force, or any contract to this effect A preliminary reading suggests this could open up, lawfully, the scope for linking Aadhaar with the markets.

Read: Budget: Big boost for MP farmers, middle class left out, say experts

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Amid contradictory reports over number of terrorists attacking the Pathankot airbase, the government on Friday said that more charred remains were found among the debris after security forces searched the spot when the operation ended.

Four terrorists were killed and identified during the original operation.

Charred remains were found and sent for forensic examination. We are awaiting for reports, Union home minister Rajnath Singh said at a press conference.

His statement came amid conflicting reports over the number of terrorists who attacked the air base.

Read: NIA unsure if 4 or 6 terrorists were killed at Pathankot base

While NSG, which carried out the operation against the terrorists, has said there were six terrorists, the NIA, which has been probing the case has maintained that they found the bodies of four terrorists and yet to come conclusive evidence about any more terrorist was involved in the attack.

Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, who was also present at the press meet, said enhanced security will be provided along the Indo-Pak border, which was breached by terrorists from across the border and carried out the recent attack on the Pathankot airbase.

We need to do more than just fencing. Experience of fencing is at best. But Fencing is not an end to itself,

He was replying to a question about the security along the Indo-Pak border, particularly in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.

There have been several instances in recent past when terrorists from Pakistan breached the border and carried out terror attacks, including the January 2 strike on Pathankot airbase.

Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju has recently said in Lok Sabha that a pilot project for installing radars, sensors and cameras has been launched along the border with Pakistan and Bangladesh to check incidents of infiltration.

He said the government has decided to deploy technological solutions in the form of integration of radars, sensors, cameras, communication networks and command and control solutions in various difficult terrains where fencing could not be installed.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will move a notice in the Parliament against Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for using the phrase fair and lovely as it believes the remarks as racially discriminatory.

Preparing the notice. 'Fair and lovely' was a racist remark from Rahul ji,its unacceptable-Arjun Meghwal,BJP MP pic.twitter.com/dK7lMPdRiL  ANI (@ANI_news) March 4, 2016

Submitted letter to LS speaker seeking apology from Rahul ji for his remarks on Veer Savarkar-Kirit Somaiya,BJP MP pic.twitter.com/otBwD6bNsC  ANI (@ANI_news) March 4, 2016

On Wednesday, addressing the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi slammed the Modi Government over black money among other issues.

Read more:Dark and Ugly vs Fair and Lovely: Political talk nosedives in India

Picking on the one-time compliance window announced in the Budget as a Fair and Lovely scheme, Gandhi had said this was nothing but a move to turn the black money into white.

He said, Modi ji brought a Fair and Lovely Yojna to convert black money into white and blamed him of destroying UPA?s work against insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir and terrorism.

Modi ji had promised that he will put people with black money behind bars, now they have come up with ways to save those people,Rahul Gandhi said in the Lok Sabha.

Read more: From Fair and Lovely to RSS: How Rahul took on Modi govt in Parliament

The 2016-17 Budget speech has proposed that 60 per cent of withdrawal from contribution to EPF made after April 1 this year will be subject to tax. An official press note later said the demands for levying tax only on the accumulated returns on the corpus and not on the contributed amount was under governments consideration. The total portfolio under the pension and provident fund scheme is estimated to be around Rs 6.5 lakh crore.
The Election Commission is likely to announce the much-awaited schedule for the assembly elections in West Bengal, Kerala, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry on Friday afternoon.

It will announce the dates during a press conference at 3pm at its Ashoka Road headquarters in the national capital.

The EC is likely to announce the schedules of all four assembly polls at the press conference, a source said.

The elections are likely to be multi-phased in Assam and West Bengal and a single day affair in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala.

Soon after the announcement, the Model Code of Conduct would automatically be applicable on the governments of the poll-bound states as well as the Centre. The governments would not be able to announce any new schemes or programmes that may influence the voters, as per the code.

The political sweepstakes in the April-May assembly polls in West Bengal, Kerala, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry could be encapsulated in two words: survival and redemption.

Hitting a low in 2015 after a dream run the previous year, the BJP is looking to redeem itself. The Congress, ousted from power at the Centre and in four major states in 2014, can ill afford to lose two more and lend steam to the BJPs Congress-mukt Bharat slogan.

For the Left, a failure to wrest power in Kolkata or Thiruvananthapuram would raise questions on their political relevance.

There is much at stake for these national as well as for regional parties such as the DMK and AIADMK in Tamil Nadu and the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal.

The poll outcome would have national ramifications as well. It would have a bearing on the degree and pace of coalescence of anti-BJP forces, a phenomenon party president Amit Shah recently described as BJP-versus-all or Narendra Modi-versus-all.

Already hobbled by a lack of majority in Rajya Sabha, the NDA government would be confronted with a more belligerent Opposition in case of adverse results in these polls.
Amid a raging controversy over his comments on Ishrat Jahan and the two affidavits that were filed regarding her encounter, former Union home secretary GK Pillai on Friday said the National Investigation Agency (NIA) did not inform him about LeT operative David Coleman Headleys statement on Ishrat.

The NIA directly told the minister about it and not me. I was given a report pertaining to the 26/11 Mumbai attacks probe. I didnt see any report on Headley mentioning Ishrat in his statement as far as I can recollect. From the minister, it may have gone to the division concerned, said Pillai.

Pillai, who was the Union home secretary between June 2009 and June 2011, also said he now realised his folly of not noting down in the file that the second affidavit in the case was dictated by his then minister P Chidambaram.

In hindsight, I should have noted down in the file on the second affidavit something like as dictated by the minister, but you trust your officer. When the joint secretary concerned came and told me that the second affidavit was dictated by the home minister, I didnt have any reason to doubt it. In fact, the officer concerned was very much shaken, Pillai said.

The former home secretary did not put any dissent note or object to the second affidavit that did not mention any terror links of Ishrat. In the first affidavit, Ishrat and her alleged associates were clearly linked with terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba. But then, the minister as political boss, was well within his competence to change the affidavit, added Pillai.

With the former home secretary now raising questions over the requirement of filing the second affidavit, his three-year-old statement has also surfaced in which he said Ishrat has to be given the benefit of the doubt.

When asked about his 2013 statement, Pillai said it was in a particular context. The context was to not vilify a dead person unless further probe threw up more evidence. Even now I say that the only thing that raises suspicion is that she was roaming with Javed Sheikh and this needs to be probed further, Pillai said.

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Union parliamentary affairs minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Friday said that JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar should join a political party if he is interested in politics.

He is enjoying the publicity. What is there? The question is let him condemn those slogans and distance himself from that. Let him help the authorities to see that such activities are curbed in the university, Naidu told ANI.

They must study and stay away from politics. If they are interested in politics, they can leave studies and join politics. He can join any political party. His favourite party is now in single digit in the Parliament. Let him join that party. Let him not use the garb of students and students union to take up the cause of Afzal guru, Yakub Memon and Maqbool Bhatt. All these three people are anti-nationals, he added.

Kanhaiya, who was released on Thursday evening after being granted a six-month interim bail by the Delhi high court, led a scathing attack on the BJP-led NDA regime at the Centre in his speech at the JNU campus.

I am not asking for freedom from India, I am asking for freedom in India, he said.

I have many differences with the Prime Minister but I agree with his tweet - Satyameva Jayate. I also say Satyameva Jayate, the truth shall triumph, because it belongs to the country and the Constitution, he added.

The 28-year-old said that he saluted the soldiers guarding the country and said the attack on JNU to de-legitimise the Occupy UGC movement and prevent justice for Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula.

The attack on JNU is an organised attack because you want to delegitimise the Occupy UGC movement, because you want to stop the fight for getting justice for Rohith Vemula, said Kumar.
Why are people surprised when politics happens at Jawaharlal Nehru University?

You are not surprised when IITans build a machine. You are not surprised when Google, the search engine giant, is born in Stanford.

Read more: We will win this fight: Full text of Kanhaiyas JNU speech

So, when a political leader of sorts is born in a students movement at a premier university in the national capital of the worlds largest democracy, should we be surprised?

The answer is perhaps, no. One might add for effect that Kanhaiya Kumar, whose speech at the JNU campus on Thursday night hit the national headlines and triggered a viral video, is now a Make In India product.

Read more: From Begusarai to JNU, Kanhaiya Kumars been on right side of Left

At a serious level, there is widespread misconception in India that universities exist only for educating the young in skills which in turn are used for them to get jobs. Actually, that is a simplistic view, though an understandable one. Universities have historically been hubs for brainstorming and research as well. The subjects may vary, though.

Read more: In Pics: JNU erupts in joy as Kanhaiya Kumar returns to campus

In the UK, Cambridge and Oxford are known for economics, humanities and the liberal arts the same way as universities like Stanford and Carnegie Mellon are known in the US for engineering and physical sciences. Using a similar logic, it is possible to say that if IITs are an Indian variant of a Stanford or a CMU, JNU is an equivalent for an Oxford or a London School of Economics.

Read more: Kanhaiya Kumar returns to JNU amidst loud cheers, spirited slogans

Debates and discussions have been a part of Indias argumentative tradition and even the ancient Nalanda, now sought to be revived, was famous for that.

However, in the new middle class morality of contemporary India, there is an equation of universities with skill shops.

The logic often used to justify this is that students and faculties are indirectly funded or subsidized by taxpayers. But in this, an issue is conveniently forgotten: social change is as much a product of politics or reformist initiatives as an innovation in technology.

In that sense, a Kanhaiya Kumar can be seen as a political entrepreneur. When he gives a speech in the campus, it is the social equivalent of what an engineering student does when he displays a prototype for venture capitalists.

The students union in JNU discusses social ideas the way Stanford engineers experiment with computers in their labs. The bodies they eventually found can be called social enterprises or political startups. You can, of course, consider the ills of an ideology just as you can discuss the adverse effects of a drug or technology.

Why should there be an assumption that only technocrats are important? The fact is that JNU has produced civil servants, political leaders, academicians and non-governmental administrators who have put their humanities education to good use.
JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar was cooped up in a room with his comrades at an undisclosed location on the campus, before he took on the establishment in a fiery speech at the universitys administrative block late on Thursday night.

Warm hugs followed between Kumar and his All India Students Federation (AISF) comrades at a meeting of a small group of students and teachers, while thousands of sympathisers and mediapersons waited for him on the campus, said a student who attended it.

He was very confident, despite all that happened. He has always been a positive person. So much has happened in the last three weeks but nothing could shatter his confidence. He was happy to meet us all. It was a brief meeting after which he addressed the students, said Amrita, a member of AISF.

Another party member Rahila Sumbul described Kumars return to the campus after three weeks in jail as an emotional moment.

Its a political fight but last night was an emotional moment for all of us. To have our comrade back on the campus and talk to him was an emotional moment. We are all very happy that he is back and can now lead the struggle, she told HT.

Kanhaiya, released on conditional bail in a sedition case, also spoke to his mother on his way to the campus from Tihar Jail.

One of the professors who had gone to pick him up from the jail made him talk to his mother on phone, said a student, who did not wish to be named.

While a group of students with drums waited outside the Kumars hostel Brahmputra to welcome him, sources said Kumar stayed at a teachers house. We cannot disclose his location due to security reasons. He was on the campus but did not go to his hostel room, sources said.

A close friend of Kanhaiya, who also stays in Brahmputra hostel, said, Students in the hostel are excited to meet him. But he did not come to the hostel. I met him briefly after his speech, he said.

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Arrested on sedition charge, JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar was released on a six-month interim bail on Thursday.

The court, which granted the interim bail on a personal bail bond of Rs.10, 000, has also asked Kanhaiya to cooperate with the police in the probe.

Kumar, a PhD student at the prestigious university, was released from the prison at 6:30 PM and accorded a spirited welcome by a group of students and teachers on being handed over to them.

Read more: In Pics: JNU erupts in joy as Kanhaiya Kumar returns to campus

HT explains the legal process that will follow in the JNU sedition case.

*Police continue to probe the case and are expected to file a charge sheet in 90 days from the date of registration of FIR.

*After Kanhaiya Kumars release on bail, the other two arrested accused - Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya are likely to seek bail.

*Police can arrest some other accused, particularly some outsiders who are said to have raised anti-India slogans during a function to commemorate the hanging of Parliament attack case convict Afzal Guru.

*Kanhaiya has been given interim bail for six months with stringent conditions. He might seek regular bail till completion of the trial process.

*The JNUSU president might move the Delhi High Court with a prayer to relax the bail conditions.

*He might choose to approach a higher judicial forum to get some of the comments made by the Delhi High Court in the interim bail order expunged.

*Delhi Police have the option of seeking cancellation of the bail granted to Kanhaiya Kumar for violation of bail conditions imposed by the Delhi High Court.

*On completion of the investigation, police can file either a change sheet or a closure report - depending upon the evidence gathered by them.
Until last month, not many at Delhis Jawaharlal Nehru University knew much about their student union leader, Kanhaiya Kumar.

But on Thursday evening when Kumar returned to the campus after spending almost three weeks in jail on charges of sedition, thousands lined up to cheer the man at the centre of a swirling nationwide debate on free speech.

His hour-long speech outside JNUs Administrative block was beamed live on prime-time television and #KanhaiyaKumar trended on Twitter. Discussions about his rousing speech and controversial arrest have dominated discussions in the Capital but the 27-year-old started his life far away from the hurly-burly of Delhi.

Read: In Pics: JNU erupts in joy as Kanhaiya Kumar returns to campus

He was born in Betia village of Bihars Begusarai district, a stronghold of the Left since Independence, to Jai Shankar Singh and Meena Devi. Singh worked as a daily wage labourer till 2009, when he fell ill and was subsequently left paralysed. His mother works as a volunteer in the government Anganwadis scheme and earns 3000 a month.









Kumar studied at home till Class 5 and joined Sunrise Public School in his village in 1995. He then enrolled in a government high school at Barauni and went on to study at the Patna College of Commerce

My brother does not even have a girlfriend. When we tease him, he says meri dulhan toh azaadi hai (Freedom is my beloved). In 2009, when my father fell ill, Kanhaiya started taking tuitions to fund his own education, Prince, the youngest in the family and an MCom student, said.

Read: Want freedom in India, not from India: Top quotes from Kanhaiyas speech

Kumars elder brother Manikant Singh, who works as a supervisor at a private firm in Assam, he was always a meritorious student.

Amit Kumar, a friend who shared a hostel room with Kumar in Patna said the JNU student was one of the best speakers in college. He used to win the debate competition. His knowledge about politics is noteworthy.

Read: Kanhaiya Kumar rocks JNU with rousing azadi speech after release

Singh was an active Left party member and many family members say Kumar was influenced by fellow villager, Chandrashekhar Prasad who was the JNU students union president twice before being shot dead in 1997.

In 2011, Kumar joined JNU to pursue an MPhil and is currently pursuing his PhD in post-apartheid South Africa at the Centre for African Studies.

In September last year, a fiery speech during the presidential debate propelled him to a surprise win in the students election.

He is a very bright student and I am proud of him. He belongs to a poor peasant family and that is why is he has a deep understanding of ground realities in this country, Kanhaiyas PhD supervisor Subodh Malakar said.

Read: Kanhaiya Kumar released from jail, says will write his story now
Abducted Noida-based fashion designer Shipra Malik was found on Friday near Gurgaons Sultanpur village but mystery lingered over her disappearance four days ago on her way to central Delhis Chandni Chowk.

Gurgaon Police said they received a call from the headman of Sultanpur village, Rakesh Kumar, who told authorities a woman approached them saying she was abducted from Delhi by four men who dropped her near a bus stand around 1:50am pm Friday.

She walked to the village and narrated her story to the villagers, police added.

A police team from Farukhnagar rushed to the spot with a team of four cops including a lady constable, said a police official.

The woman was in bad state and wanted to speak to her husband; she borrowed a mobile phone from a villager and called her husband. Within an hour, her husband reached the village.

Malik told police the abductors let her go as they feared being caught by police and dropped her off on Jhajjar road near the village in panic and threatened her to not disclose their identity.

Malik said she was kept at different locations for three days and the abductors used a Mahindra Scorpio SUV to get around, police said.

Our team informed Uttar Pradesh police and the victim was handed over to them, said assistant commissioner of police (DLF) Ramesh Pal.

But many expressed doubts over the manner of her release and Laxmi Singh, deputy inspector general (DIG), Meerut Range, said she was changing her statements frequently

Malik went missing under mysterious circumstances on February 29 after she left her Sector 37 residence in Noida at about 1 pm. Her husband had spotted her car lying abandoned near the Sector 29 crossing.

The girl is safe. She is changing statements frequently. We will brief about the development in detail once we record her statement, said Laxmi Singh, deputy inspector general (DIG), Meerut Range.

She said Maliks brother Shivang, who was in constant touch with her over the phone before she was abducted, was also being questioned.

Read: After Snapdeal staffer, Noida designer missing, cops suspect abduction

Delhi: Snapdeal employee abducted while returning home
Iditarod!

Several years ago, we published the story behind the Iditarod. It is worth reading again, and understanding what gave rise to this amazing dog sledding event. In 2016, Anchorage is bringing in snow by train to cover the streets where the ceremonial opening takes place, and people are joking about outfitting the sleds with hover boards to keep them in action. But all kidding aside, this event is a big deal.

Take the kids and friends downtown to cheer on the dogs this Saturday morning. Between now and then, there is still time to register for Running of the Reindeer, and to get a little culture. And, visit the Carnival by night to see Anchorage in a whole new way.

There is plenty to do indoors and out, and restaurants for every taste. See our AABBA Associate/Travel Partners for excellent suggestions. If you would like a printable guide, here is the 2016 Fur Rondy version!

And if you still need a place to stay, consider calling the B&B Hotline at 907-272-5909 or visiting the AABBA website where you will find roughly 30 local B&Bs along with a calendar indicating who has room. Then you can check pictures, description, and reviews to see if one matches your needs. Whats different about these B&Bs? They are inspected & approved, meaning they meet requirements beyond getting a business license and permit. You will find high calibre hospitality, cleanliness, and professionalism with these innkeepers! Visitors often pick these places for the safety, the privacy and quietude, and the locations. You will find AABBA inns from Chugiak to Indian and can get some rest and relaxation away from the crowds.

And these B&Bs are truly Alaskan, run by Anchorage residents.

Pack your skates and end your Saturday with the Family Skate at Westcheser Lagoon. It is free! There is still more to see and do on Sunday, so you might want to stay to Monday and catch all the fun.
The Bharatiya Janata Partys Jammu and Kashmir unit urged police on friday to take strict action against a Narendra Modi-fan group named Bharatiya Modi Army (BMA) launched in the state this week.

The BMA inaugurated its office in Srinagars uptown locality of Rajbagh on Monday.

The BJP complained that some nefarious elements have floated an organisation and its activities were unknown.

The letter, of which HT has a copy, further urged the inspector general of police (IGP), Kashmir, to take action against the group so that the name of the Prime Minister and the party can be stop for malign (sic).

However, IGP Syed Javaid Mujtaba Gillani said he hasnt received any such letter as of now (till Friday afternoon).

On Monday, the BJP told reporters that it had no affiliation with the group and appealed to the people not to fall in the trap of these selfish people.

We have no party under this name and whoever is using Modis or the partys name must be exposed to the public, said Ashok Kaul, state BJP general secretary.

BMA: An army of Modi fans

The BMA, its core members said, is an organisation of Prime Minister Narendra Modis fans, who have got together to spread the mission and vision of Modiji in regions where not many know about him and his work.

Panipat-based national president of the BMA, Rajeev Ahuja, told HT that the BMA was an organisation and not a political cell of the BJP. He also said the group had 19 state chapters across the country, including in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

(The) BMA is basically a seven-year-old international network of Modi fans with over 14 lakh workers in India and 1.5 lakh workers spread over a number of foreign countries, he said.

A series of pictures like this on the Facebook page shows Rajeev Ahuja appointing other officials in the BMA. (Photo courtesy: BMA Facebook group)

The cover image of a BMA Facebook page is a photo of Ahuja shaking hands with Modi. Other BMA posters available on the online portal carry mug shots of the PM, along with those of BMA office-bearers.

All the people who are in BMA are people who love their country very much. We make it very clear to our supporters that we are not a political party and we wont fight elections  if you have to vote, then vote for Modi, said Ahuja.

The BMA has worked in places where the BJP doesnt have much presence  like the Northeast and Kashmir. In Kashmir, many people believe in the image of Modiji thats created by the Opposition  a non-secular image. We are working tirelessly to make people understand that its not true.

Ahuja added that he was associated with the BJP in the past and held a number of official posts.

Although the Jammu and Kashmir unit of the BJP questioned the BMAs work, he said, many BJP leaders support and blessed the the groups work.

Manzoor Ahmad Khan leads the group in Kashmir. He said the body had been working at the ground level for the last six months and had a membership of around 9,000  mostly Kashmiri Muslims.

Our aim is to spread information regarding the good work that Modiji is doing  various social welfare schemes and development initiatives, Khan said, adding that he had been leading BMA teams to interior parts of the state, informing people about schemes like Mudra Loan Scheme, Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

He clarified that the BMA was not associated with the BJP and that its sole aim was to promote Modis work and make him the Prime Minister for the second time in 2019.

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The Delhi Police provided round-the-clock security to JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar on his release from Tihar Jail on Thursday evening.

Kumar, who is out on a six-month interim bail after being charged with sedition, was whisked away from the residential quarters within the prison at 6.30 pm in a Xylo car to avoid the crowd outside gate four, sources said. An additional deputy commissioner rank officer was present to supervise his transfer from the jail.

Read more: Want freedom in India, not from India: Top quotes from Kanhaiyas JNU speech

However, while a decision to provide the student leader X-category security cover was made, a formal order to the effect is yet to be passed.

The threat perception is high. It was decided that X-category would be provided but we have received no word. The local police are handling his security, an officer from the security unit told Hindustan Times.





Kumar was first taken to the Hari Nagar police station from where senior police officers in three police vans escorted the Xylo car in which he was taken to Jawaharlal Nehru University campus. Sources said that an armed police officer was also inside car.

Policemen from the Vasant Vihar police station were instructed to be posted on JNU campus for Kumars security, and would be backed by police in plain clothes, especially at rallies Kumar is likely to conduct or attend.

Sources from Tihar jail said Kumar, during his incarceration, expressed fears of being attacked outside the prison.

Read more: Kanhaiya Kumar released from jail, says will write his story now

The student leader was attacked by a mob of lawyers when he was produced at the Patiala House court in last month. A lawyers was also caught claiming he would use a petrol bomb to attack Kanhaiya and other students in a sting operation.

Such was the perceived threat that police had disguised Kumar in anti-riot police gear to prevent the mob from recognising and attacking him while escorting him out of the court premises.

Read more: Bullet-proof jacket, baton in hand: When Kanhaiya turned cop briefly

Kumar is at the eye of a storm over allegations of seditious slogans being chanted at an event in JNU on February 9. He has maintained that he was neither part of organising committee nor among those who may have yelled out the slogans. Police arrested him based on video footage televised by Zee TV. However, some of the footage has been forensically determined as doctored, weakening the Delhi Polices case against Kumar. Two other student  Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya  were also arrested on the same charges.

Read more: Forensic test reveals two out of seven videos on JNU were doctored
A Pakistani team probing the attack on the Pathankot airbase might seek to question a top Punjab police official who was allegedly abducted and let-off by the group of militants involved in the strike at the defence installation.

Seven Indian security personnel and six militants, believed to be from the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), were killed during the 84-hour siege of the airbase in January.

After New Delhi shared with Islamabad a set of phone numbers allegedly used by the militants, Pakistan proposed to send a special investigation team (SIT) to India.

Besides questioning the Gurdaspur superintendent of police Salvinder Singh, the SIT may also seek access to the airbase, this writer learnt during a recent visit to Islamabad.

The police official was interrogated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) several times after doubts were raised about the sequence of events he narrated on his abduction and release.

India has agreed to receive the SIT on a five-day notice before its arrival.

They have to prove their bona fide by arriving for investigation against the real culprits, a top official in New Delhi told Hindustan Times.

Islamabad recently registered an FIR on the basis of the telephone numbers shared by India.

Pakistan foreign minister Sartaz Aziz confirmed that one of the numbers was traced to the JeM whose leader Masood Azhar is in custody in Pakistan.

Pakistans interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan stated at a press conference on February 21 that the probe in his country focused on finding linkages, if any, between telephone numbers and names informally furnished by India of individuals suspected of planning the attack.

The FIR mentions phone numbers provided by India. We will see if there is any linkage between the phone numbers and persons (informally) named by India as also those we detained at our end in connection with the attack, the minister said.

New Delhi expects the Pak probe team to name organisations and individuals against whom it needed further evidence.

We are satisfied with the sections of law they have invoked in the FIR. We expect them to specify during their visit here the names (of individuals and organisations) that have come up in their probe, the Indian official said.

He said the SIT has sufficient material to proceed against those involved in the attack.

We are ready to help them strengthen their case by furnishing affidavits (detailing the Indian probe), photographs, DNA test and finger print reports of terrorists who attacked the airbase.

Once trusts develops with exchange of credible information, a foolproof case tenable in their courts could be jointly built by allowing cross-examination of Indian witnesses through video-conferencing with the caveat that the court proceedings are not closed door, said the official.

Indian investigators have sent a letter rogatory seeking judicial assistance in obtaining certain information from Pakistan. A letter rogatory is a request from a court to a foreign court.
A Patidar youth in Gujarat committed suicide in a desperate bid to press for the OBC reservation demand.

Prakash Vallabh Shaani, 36, a resident of Rajkot district, consumed poison late on Thursday night. A four-page suicide note found by the police, which also mentioned Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel, revealed that he sacrificed his life for the cause. This is the second such case for the Patidar community since the launch of the agitation for reservation benefits in government jobs and college admission, in July 2015.

Police say Shaani booked a room in the Bajrang Guest House. The staff found him dead when he did not respond to the wake up call booked for 4 am.

Owner of an electric goods shop and 15 bigha land in the village, Shanni was the youngest of three brothers. He is survived by his wife and two sons.

Addressing CM Patel, the suicide note said, You are also a Patidar. The community is in pathetic condition...crops in the last four season have failed.

The note, which also addressed Patidar Ananmat Andolan Samiti Convener Lalit Vasoya, said: I am ending my life so the government understands that more lives will be lost if it does not grant reservation.

In September last year, soon after a massive rally led by 22-year-old Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leader Hardik Patel in Ahmedahad had turned violent, Rajkot city resident Umesh Patel, 40, also committed suicide for the same reason.

Shaanis suicide comes at time when the government has appointed Porbandar MP Vithal Radadiya to reach a compromise formula with Hardik Patel, who has been in judicial custody since October 2015.

Hardik has been booked under eight cases, including two sedition FIRs. In the violence ensuing the Ahmedabad rally, the mob had damaged public property worth Rs 44 crore and nine Patidar youths were killed in a clash with the police.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called a meeting of its legislature party on Monday to take a call on its alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) amid the ongoing uncertainty over government formation in Jammu and Kashmir.

The partys MLAs will also elect their new legislature party leader.

PDP sources said the delay in government formation has caused some disquiet among a section of the party. A PDP leader said a majority of the legislators dont want fresh elections at this juncture and have been pushing for an early end to the two-month-long deadlock.

One group of MLAs has apparently formed a pressure group to persuade party chief Mehbooba Mufti to continue the alliance with the BJP, arguing that such a move will be in consonance with the late Mufti Mohammad Sayeeds line of thinking and also in the overall interest of the state.

This group of seven MLAs has reportedly met a few times in the past to chalk out its strategy. A former minister, close to some central BJP leaders, is said to be behind this initiative.

However, another section wants the PDP leadership to explore other options, including a tie-up with the Congress, on the ground that the alliance with the BJP had not gone down well with the people which reflected in the thin attendance at the late Sayeeds funeral.

It is the opposition by this group that has prompted a rethink in Mehboobas strategy vis-a-vis alliance with the BJP, resulting in a delay in government formation.

Governors rule was imposed in the state on January 8, a day after the death of chief minister Sayeed. Since then, both the PDP and the BJP have been negotiating new terms of engagement.

For her part, Mehbooba has so far denied any differences with the BJP but sought J-K-specific CBMs from the Centre to create an atmosphere congenial for the formation of a new coalition government in the state.

The BJP has maintained that the two parties are bound by the agenda of alliance which is a sacred document and that the party is committed to implementing it in letter and spirit.

The PDP has been upset with the Narendra Modi government for a delay in initiating steps for withdrawal of AFSPA from certain parts of the state, and also in returning NHPC power projects. Its leaders had also dubbed Prime Minister Modis Rs 80,000 crore financial package as an eyewash and mere jugglery of figures.

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Purno Agitok Sangma, that legendary politician from Meghalaya, nay the northeast, who once controlled the proceedings of the Lok Sabha as its Speaker, is no more. It is difficult to associate this vibrant personality, gifted with wit and humour, with death and its stillness.

His name is familiar to every Indian, yet he came from an obscure village called Chapahati in West Garo Hills. Sangma with his never-say-die spirit struggled his way up the political ladder, going on to become the presidential candidate in 2012 although he knew that he was up against a formidable foe--the Congress party.

Sangmas baptism in politics was through the Indian National Congress. He was anointed vice president of the Youth Congress in Meghalaya in 1973, two years after the state took birth. His political skills were honed by Meghalayas first chief minister Capt Williamson Sangma, a veteran in his own right.

He fought the 6th Lok Sabha election in 1977 from Tura constituency, which was virtually his pocket borough. He never lost a single election hence, whether for the Lok Sabha or the state assembly. Sangma was MP for nine terms with brief stints in state politics during 1988-90 and 2008-12. As we all know, he held the reins of several key ministries.

Ironically, Sangma entered state politics with the idealism of one who wanted to change the political history of Meghalaya.

Sangma and former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit during their time together in the Congress. (PTI file photo)

Little did he know that state politics does not lend itself to dynamic changes such as the one he nurtured then, which was to purge Meghalaya of corruption and to do away with the politician-contractor-engineer nexus. Land acquisition had become a huge business for the land mafia. Land compensation far exceeded the actual cost of the road.

Sangma exhorted villagers that if they wanted roads, they should donate land to the government. This made him very unpopular. Sangmas own party colleagues abandoned him and his government.

So disillusioned was he with state politics that he resigned his MLA seat and went back to central politics in 1991, only to return in 2008 to contest as an NCP candidate.

Sangma won that election and ensured the win of 14 NCP candidates. But he still could not become chief minister. He headed the Planning Board and helped prepare a plan document for Meghalaya after consulting experts from various fields, including famed economist NJ Kurian.

As is the political history of Meghalaya, the government of which Sangma was a part was toppled in 2010 by the Congress. A frustrated Sangma again returned to central politics. The current chief minister, Mukul Sangma, remained PA Sangmas chief political rival.

His sons who too were in state politics have carried forward this animosity, thereby depriving Meghalaya of the best brains to add to its political capital.

Read | In a rare gesture, Rajya Sabha adjourned to show respect to Sangma

Every icon has feet of clay, we are told. Sangmas attempts to create a political dynasty did not go down well with the people of Garo Hills. His sons Conrad Sangma, who graduated from the Wharton School of Business, and James Sangma, who passed out of a media school in the UK, and his daughter Agatha, who did her masters in environmental science, were all pushed into politics; in the case of Agatha, it could be said, much against her natural inclination.

Conrad was finance minister between 2008 and 2010 and proved his mettle but lost the 2013 elections. His brother James continues as an MLA in the opposition.

Sangma often recalled his own naivety in agreeing to move the anti-Sonia Gandhi campaign in 2004. When the plot was hatched, there were several senior Congressmen who pushed him to lead the charge. Sangma trusted them and even believed Sonia Gandhi would step down voluntarily because of the internal pressure.

As it turned out, the Congress split and the NCP was born. Some senior members of the Congress virtually let him down. But that is politics. The tribal instinct in Sangma could not read the signs of the times.

Sangmas proclivity to change parties also took a toll. People were no longer ready to jump fences with this veteran politician. The Congress benefited from this and Sangma had no other option but to align with the BJP. He continued to nurse a fond hope that the BJP would award him with a ministry, considering his vast experiences. But that remained only a dream.

RIP Mr Purno Agitok Sangma. You have run the race and won some and lost some.

(The writer is editor of The Shillong Times.)
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Friday began a two-day visit to the Assam in a bid to retain power amid a keen BJP challenge ahead of the assembly elections.

At a rally in Silchar in Barak Valley in Southern Assam, Rahul said Congress wants a country where everyones ideas are respected. But the RSS and BJP want to impose a single ideology. Wherever BJP people go, they make one Indian fight with another. This is their only thinking.

Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modis speech in Parliament, Rahul said that the PM made personal attacks against him but didnt answer the formers questions.

Jahan bhi ye (BJP) log jaate hain, ek hindustani ko dusre hindustani se ladaate hain, ine paas bas yahi ek soch hai: Rahul Gandhi in Silchar  ANI (@ANI_news) March 4, 2016

Har dharma,har vyakti ke vichaaron ki izzat ho.Dusri taraf RSS,BJP ke log hain jo desh par ek vichaardhaara thopna chaahte hain-Rahul Gandhi  ANI (@ANI_news) March 4, 2016

Congress is focusing on the northeastern state that is due for assembly polls and hopes to counter the RSS-backed BJP that has made inroads into Congress strongholds. The BJP had won in all the five parliamentary constituencies in the upper and northern Assam belt during the last Lok Sabha polls.

At the Public Meeting in Silchar, Cachar pic.twitter.com/HZejnKJNS1  Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) March 4, 2016

This is Rahuls second visit to the state in twenty days. He had addressed four rallies in northern Assam and in upper Assam in the third week of February. His road show in politically-crucial Sivasagar town was able to draw a huge crowd in upper Assam.

After Silchar, Rahul will visit Nagaon in central Assam.

This time, Rahul Gandhi programme includes a roadshow in Nagaon town on Saturday. Today, apart from holding a rally, Rahul Gandhi will also meet traders association members, leading citizens in Silchar. In the evening, Rahul Gandhi will meet elected panchayat members of Congress in Nagaon town, Anjan Dutta, president of Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC), said.

Rahul Gandhis last visit to the state created a wave for Congress in upper Assam. His Silchar and Nagaon visit will create a wave for us in southern and central Assam, Dutta added.

Dutta said the BJP is on a sticky wicket in the state and that is why the party has forged an alliance with four other parties to tackle Congress.

Congress has faced stiff challenges from both the BJP and All Indian United Democratic Front (AIUDF) in southern Assam in recent times. In last assembly elections five years ago, Congress had swept the entire Barak valley. The party had taken series of measures in recent times in the valley which has a majority of Bengali-speaking population.

In Nagaon district, which is dominated by the religious minority, Congress has lost its grip in recent years. It had won only four seats while AIUDF clinched victory in five constituencies in the last assembly polls.

Congress has claimed that this time voters in Nagaon would support Congress as AIUDF has failed to fulfill its promises to them.
Student leader Kanhaiya Kumar was given a roaring welcome at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) upon his release from Tihar jail on Thursday -- nearly three weeks after he was arrested on a controversial sedition charge -- and said he never asked for freedom from India, but freedom within India.

Not only the JNU campus, Kanhaiyas speech set social media on fire too. Since his speech on Thursday, #KanhaiyaKumar was the top trend on the micro-blogging site Twitter.

Watch: Kanhaiya Kumars full speech at JNU after getting out of jail

For eight hours and counting, the student union leaders return to campus was arrested on charges of sedition was the most talked about subject on social networking sites, especially Twitter India. The hashtag even climbed to fifth position in worldwide trends on Twitter.

The dominant reaction was of sheer awe and appreciation for Kanhaiyas exemplary oratory skills. Others conveyed their shock that an anti-national was being feted so, while many addressed the Modi governments faux-pas in creating such a formidable leader by levelling sedition charges against him.

Heard Kanhaiya's speech many times. Amazing clarity of thought expressed wonderfully.He said wat most people have been feeling.God bless him  Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) March 4, 2016

If you want to know what true nationalism looks like, watch #KanhaiyaKumar speech and make others watch  SANJAY HEGDE (@sanjayuvacha) March 3, 2016

Shows institutional strength of nation that #KanhaiyaKumar spoke freely, knowledgeable of developments and with his spirit and will strong.  Nirupama Rao (@NMenonRao) March 3, 2016

Don't miss the forest for the trees -- #KanhaiyaKumar's speech isn't about oratory. It's about standing up to spin, distortion & lies  Milind Deora (@milinddeora) March 3, 2016

Can't remember last time a speech held me so spellbound for its entirety. #JNUCrackdown makes #KanhaiyaKumar a star https://t.co/jvoPernbrC  Nalin Mehta (@nalinmehta) March 3, 2016

PM Modi spoke like a student in Parliament today and student Kanhaiya Kumar spoke like PM in JNU. @sanjayuvacha pic.twitter.com/zvgrOQvGiE  hardeep s bhalla (@Hardeep_bhalla) March 3, 2016

Modi Govt took one month to build up a hysteria and the entire hysteria got washed away in one speech.#KanhaiyaKumar  Vinod Mehta (@DrunkVinodMehta) March 3, 2016

Super speech by #KanhaiyaKumar. And great to see the energy in JNU. A bit disappointed at the lack of the naked dancing I had heard about.  Ramesh Srivats (@rameshsrivats) March 3, 2016

Still stunned. That was one of the most incredible and powerful orations I've heard in a long, long time. Bravo, #KanhaiyaKumar!  Nigel Britto (@NigelBritto) March 3, 2016

Congratulations to the BJP on creating their own Anna Hazare.  Overrated Outcast (@over_rated) March 3, 2016

He speaks for every citizen of India who has at any point in their lives felt trapped under oppressive structures. #KanhaiyaKumar  Esha Sood (@eforennui) March 3, 2016

Though not really an NDA thing. Eloquent speaker + some popularity + metro city + OB van is Indian government's kryptonite.  INS Vadukut (@sidin) March 3, 2016

Congratulations BJP for your Stupidity. Nobody knew who Kanhaiya was till 1 Month Back. Now whatever he speaks is News and is being hailed  Joy (@Joydas) March 3, 2016

The way the speech delivered and received looks like the Left may finally have found a leader with mass appeal. #KanhaiyaKumar #LalSalaam  Chitra Narayanan (@ndcnn) March 4, 2016

A culprit booked under sedition out on a bail is projected as a hero by baised media.."Shameful" #KanhaiyaKumar @sardanarohit  vishal singh (@vishal0073) March 4, 2016

Gain Media attention by anti Modi anti govt slogan, cheep publicity, shame shame shame #KanhaiyaKumar  Pankaj Deshmukh (@pankajmukh) March 4, 2016

Projecting the parasite #KanhaiyaKumar as a national hero is the lowest of the lows! Absolutely pathetic!  Priti Gandhi (@MrsGandhi) March 3, 2016

Read: JNU erupts in joy, Kanhaiya gets rousing welcome on return from jail

Out on bail, Kanhaiya gets round-the-clock police protection

Want freedom in India, not from India: Top quotes from Kanhaiyas JNU speech
A 16-year-old Tibetan living in India has died in a New Delhi hospital three days after he set himself on fire in protest against Chinese rule, a hospital official said Friday.

The Tibetan suffered 98% burn injuries and died late Thursday, said the official at New Delhis government-run Safdarjung hospital.

The Tibetan set himself on fire on Monday in Dehradun and was brought to New Delhi for treatment.

It was the second such protest this year seen as an extreme expression of the anger and frustration felt by many Tibetans living under heavy-handed Chinese rule.

A Tibetan Buddhist monk self-immolated and died on Monday near the Retsokha monastery in Chinas western Sichuan provinces traditional Tibetan autonomous prefecture of Kardze, Radio Free Asia reported. It said the monk called out for Tibetan independence while he burned, then died on the way to a hospital in the provincial capital of Chengdu.

Tibetan exile sources say at least 114 monks and laypeople have self-immolated over the past five years, with most of them dying. Radio Free Asia puts the number of self-immolations at 144 since 2009.

Tibetan monks and nuns are among the most active opponents of Chinese rule in the region and the strongest proponents of Tibets independent identity, prompting the authorities to subject them to harsh and intrusive restrictions.

Beijing blames the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama and others for inciting the immolations and says it has made vast investments to develop the regions economy and improve quality of life.

The Dalai Lama says he is against all violence. He fled Tibet to India in 1959 amid an abortive uprising against Chinese forces who had occupied the Himalayan region a decade earlier. He has been living in the northern Indian town of Dharmsala since then.
West Bengal resident Sataparna Mukherjees claim that she had won a US-based National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) scholarship appears to be a hoax, and the papers that she produced are most likely forged, as Nasa does not have such a scholarship at all in the first place.

It was revealed during the investigations of her claim that only US citizens are entitled to Nasa fellowships and the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) offer internship only to students who live within 50 miles from New York City. There is no such scholarship called Goddard Internship Programme and GISS has no facilities in London. Some US-based media outlets have also quoted Nasa officials denying her selection.

The girl had claimed Nasas GISS offered to take her on board as an employee-cum-researcher to complete her under-graduation, post-graduation and doctoral at the University of Oxford.

Her claims have been widely published in the Indian media, including TV channels and reality shows.
HATTIESBURG, Mississippi -- Bond has been set at $25,000 each for the four suspects charged in the death of 9-month-old Jada Freeman.

On Dec. 22, The Hattiesburg American reports Forrest County Sheriff's deputies responded to a call of a child not breathing.

Investigator Nick Calico said Tuesday the infant was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Following an investigation, Calico says arrest warrants were issued, and the child's mother, 22-year-old Kaily Csaszar, grandfather, 51-year-old Kelly Csaszar and step grandmother 41-year-old Michelle Csaszar, were charged Tuesday with felony child neglect. Kaily Csaszar's boyfriend, 28-year-old Ryan Dykes, faces the same charges.

The four made their initial court appearance Wednesday.

None of the four had attorneys, so Forrest County Justice Court Judge George Causey appointed public defenders for each of them.
A set of pro-Pakistani graffiti was spotted on a stretch of a wall in downtown Srinagar, the older part of the city known for its architectural splendour and violent protests every Friday, ahead of the India-Pakistan T20 match at Mirpur last Sunday.

In big, bold red letters was written the following: Kashmiri Hearts Bleeds Only for Pakistan and Go Indian Dogs Go Back.

A few metres away, on a pale yellow wall lies written in blue letters: Burhan our Hizb hero  a reference to the 23-year-old Hizbul Mujahideen commander, whose claim to fame lies in his use of social media to encourage youth to join militant ranks.

These are not the only writings on the wall that you see downtown. The shouting of alleged anti-India slogans at Delhis Jawaharlal Nehru University has snowballed into a major national controversy, but many such slogans  and even more provocative ones  can be found spray painted in black or red ink on the walls of Srinagars buildings or the shutters of shops.

Take a stroll through the labyrinth of narrow lanes around the famous Jamia Masjid  which becomes the epicentre of the routine Friday protests  and you will see numerous such graffiti. There are writings hailing the acts of the Islamic State, the Hizbul Mujahideen, the Taliban and asking India to go back.

Drawn mostly at the dead of the night, the creators of such graffiti remain anonymous and untraceable.

The separatist leadership of the Valley perceives the graffiti as the pouring out of the inner emotions of the common Kashmiris.

Ayaz Akbar, spokesperson of the hardliner Hurriyat (G) faction, told Hindustan Times culture of graffiti and spray painting pro-Azaadi sentiments on the walls of Srinagar saw a huge peak during the massive civilian uprisings of 2008-10, when people saw how many, many young people fell victims to the bullets of the Indian forces.

These writings are the actual writings on the wall. Is Delhi able to read it? Akbar added.

But many condemn the pro-Islamic State or pro-Taliban writings saying that the activities of those groups have nothing in common with the separatist movement of Kashmir.

The anti-India sentiments expressed on the walls are political but the pro-Islamic State writings paint a very radical picture of Kashmir. No one knows who do it, and no one takes responsibility, said a resident of downtown Srinagar, who didnt wish to be named.

Police agree that such graffiti are seditious but the problem lies in catching the people who paint them.

We cant take action unless we find who wrote these things. Its very difficult to catch these guys, but whenever we can we will take strict action, Syed Javaid Mujtaba Gillani, inspector general of police, Kashmir range, told HT.

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The Madhya Pradesh government accepted mahant Narendra Giri as the president of Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad (ABAP). Mahant Gyandas was another claimant to the post.

The Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad (All India Akhara Council) is the apex organisation of Sikh and Hindu Sants (saints) and Sadhus (ascetics) in India.

There are 13 recognised akharas (institutions of saints) in the country and together they choose a president of ABAP. Mahant Gyandas of Nirmohi Vaishav Akhara is the former president, while Mahant Narendra Giri of Niranjani Akhara (a shaiv akhara) is the incumbent president.

A controversy has been brewing for the past one month while the administration has been avoiding the issue and refusing to answer whom they considered as the president.

The fair authority recently called a meeting of all the 13 akharas but refrained from inviting any of the two president claimants.

Giri managed to get it declared from eight akharas that they would participate in the meeting only when Giri was recognised as the president.

This compelled the administration to cancel the meeting.

Sources said chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan then called up Giri on Wednesday and assured that the meeting would be called soon under his leadership.

On Thursday, incharge minister Bhupendra Singh accompanied with senior administrative and police officials reached Niranjani akhara and had a closed door meeting with Giri for an hour.

After the meeting, Giri said the much awaited meeting was likely to be held on March 13 in which he would be invited as the president of ABAP.

Eight akharas have voted for me. How can the government ignore it? he asked.

Giri said a letter of the meeting was expected to release in a day or two.

The incharge minister also met agitating saints of Vaishanav akharas who were on a fast until death for the last three days.

The saints were demanding that land allotment to different khalsas under their akhara should be made on their recommendation only. They were also demanding that religious institutions, other than the akharas, who have been allotted land near them, should be removed.

Singh accepted their demands and offered juice to the saints.

Singh also met mahanirwani akhara saint Prakash Puri and assured that all works pending on the akhara site would be finished soon. Puri had recently warned Chouhan of not participating in the Simhastha fair alleging improper attitude of fair authorities in arrangements.

The controversy

Gyandas was elected as the president before the start of Simhastha fair in 2004 but after a few years, opposition brewed and the matter reached the High Court in Allahabad.

On March 14, 2015, a meeting of ABAP was held in Ujjain in which Narendra giri was elected as the new president.

Representatives of 11 akharas were present but the two Nirwani and Digambar (both Vaishav) akharas did not participate.

Gyandas had said the court had directed for fresh elections which are yet to take place. However, Narendra Giri said he was elected on the basis of majority votes for five years and the next election would be held in Allahabad in 2019.
Thirty-five years ago, when restaurateur AD Singh was working as a software engineer, he and his friends would often joke about making the big shift to the hospitality industry. They thought they would meet some nice girls in the line. To them, it seemed like an obvious choice of profession for women, as it offered them a chance at becoming professional chefs. But I was so surprised to find that it was dominated by men, says Singh, who believes that the culinary world in India is still ruled by male chefs. Things have changed in a limited way, but the male-female ratio is still terribly skewed, he says. Singh estimates that out of the total number of chefs in India, 80-90% are men.

Mars vs Venus

According to a few women chefs, the general notion is that since cooking in a hot kitchen, and always being on your feet, can be physically strenuous, the job is better suited for men. The language used inside a kitchen, too, tends to get crass due to the high-pressure environment. The space is largely considered incompatible for women, as they dont have the same built as men to carry, for example, a 20kg sack of flour.

According to Kshama Prabhu, executive chef of The Bar Stock Exchange, that may be the reason why most women choose to work in the dessert and patisserie departments. While giving my interview for admission to the Merit Swiss Asian School of Hotel Management, Ooty (Tamil Nadu), I told the interviewers that I wanted to work in the hot kitchen, and they asked me, Why? says Prabhu, who went on to work in Dubai (UAE), Australia and at Chef Gordon Ramsays now-closed restaurant - Boxwood Cafe - in London (UK). Prabhu was trained to deal with the hot kitchen. But she admits that it can be tricky with no proper training.

Read: Meet the most influential Indian chefs on the global food scene

These women are among the leading women chefs of India.

Take the example of Rhea Barucha, a 23-year-old baker who works with The Sassy Spoon, Nariman Point, as a pastry chef. She is the only female member of the culinary team at the eatery. Its not that a woman cant work in the hot kitchen. But I wasnt trained. I once interned at an eatery, and I fainted because of the heat, says Barucha.

The bigger picture

UK-born chef Anjali Pathak (34), who opened a cooking studio called Flavour Diaries in Khar (W) almost a year ago, travelled extensively around India in the 2000s. She worked for a few months in places like Kashmir, Rajasthan, Goa and West Bengal. Everywhere she went, she found that the kitchens were full of male chefs. But then the industry is male-dominated across the board, and not just in India, says Pathak, who has also worked as a teacher at British celebrity chef Jamie Olivers cooking studio in London. However, she feels that its the struggle to choose between a career and having a family that forces women to take a step back. Women are not provided with flexible enough timings to balance both those fields.

Read:Cooking makes a man sexy, says chef Vikas Khanna

Fiery Chicken Tacos by Chef Anjali Pathak

Anahita Dhondy, the 25-year-old head chef at Soda Bottle Opener Wala, agrees. In India, women are confined to being homemakers, she says. Even though the scenario is changing now, being a chef is still scary . When I was at the Institute of Hotel Management in Aurangabad (Maharashtra) in 2008, there were 50 boys and only 10 girls who opted for the culinary course, she says. But when she attended Le Cordon Bleu, London, there were an equal amount of male and female students. In the UK, kitchens are designed in ways that are better suited for women, and both genders are given equal responsibilities. In India, people say, Lets not ask a girl to do this work, says Dhondy.

Pathak also points out that the cuisine a female chef is involved in may have a part to play in her career. Indian cuisine is male-dominated. Italian cuisine is open to women, while French kitchens have more male chefs, she says. Interestingly, an incident in Japan supports Pathaks theory. In 2015, a woman named Yuki Chizui opened an all-women sushi restaurant in Tokyo to challenge sushi sexism, as sushi making is considered a male territory in the country.

Set the record straight

Nonetheless, gradually, an increasing number of women are joining the field. They are starting out young, and despite facing difficulties, they continue to work.

Celebrity chef and restaurateur Ritu Dalmia did it in 1993, at the age of 22. She opened her first restaurant in Delhi, called MezzaLuna, though it was, by no means, a frightening experience for her. I was lucky in my career, stresses Dalmia. But I was also my own boss. Though there were some chefs who had serious problems [taking orders from a female chef].

Read: Demand for culinary professionals on the rise, says Johan Stromsater

Dalmia was convinced about what she wanted out of her life. Her restaurants were her babies. The profession is anti-family. So, it becomes difficult to juggle a home and a restaurant. Sacrifices have to be made. I often joke that if you dont have a life, you should join the hospitality business, she adds.

The famous Berry Pulao from SodaBottleOpenerWala is Chef Anahita Dhondys creation.

But if flexible working hours can be arranged, maintaining a family and professional life may be possible, albeit difficult. For instance, Singh has a female chef, who joined one of his Olive Bar & Kitchen outlets in her twenties. Later, she dropped out to take care of her two children, only to return later to work as a part-time chef.

Prabhu was bolder while dealing with the career-family conundrum. After working for several years abroad, she began working for The Tasting Room in Lower Parel. While she was there, the chef continued working even when she was eight-months pregnant. I was going to give up [in India]. When I started here, I got cold shoulders. But, you have to hold your own. I believe a woman can handle much more than men, says Prabhu, adding that one needs to have a certain attitude to succeed in the kitchen.

Essentially, Pathak says, its more about the skill than the gender. Its quite wrong to have a woman-only kitchen as well. Then, its sexist towards men, she says.
13 Hours

Director - Michael Bay

Cast - John Krasinski, James Badge Dale, Pablo Schreiber, Max Martini

Rating - 2.5/5

It is the dead of night in Benghazi, Libya. A group of ragged men wearing indistinguishable beards sit huddled on a rooftop. Theyre protecting a United States compound that is under attack by faceless Libyan militia. Suddenly, the heroic white men spot their native enemies. Theyre scurrying in the weeds like scum. Its unclear who shoots first. Michael Bays retelling of the Battle of Benghazi lives up to its name, because when the last man falls to the ground, limbs gruesomely ripped apart, it feels like youve been watching it for half a day.

But hidden deep beneath the blood and fire is a real movie, a movie about heroism and courage, a movie about male bonding and the smiling politicians who called all the shots on that day. But sadly, thats not the movie Michael Bay made. Unable to contain himself, he succumbed to his worst habits.

The story is told through the eyes a group of ex-military contractors stationed in post-Ghaddafi Libya. Gangs have looted the tyrannical dictators stockpile of weaponry and a fierce turf war has broken out. There is a secret CIA site that needs protection and the ambassador is visiting. Our surrogate in this lawless world is John Krasinskis Jack Da Silva. Hes a veteran just like his buddy Tyrone Woods, played by newly minted action star James Badge Dale, whos heading the team down there. On the eleventh anniversary of 9/11, the CIA safehouse is attacked.

Bay recreates that famous bombing shot from Pearl Harbor here.

We spend about an hour with the team, codenamed GRS. Its made up of hirsute rednecks with the typical Call of Duty names. Theres Boone, theres Tanto, Tig, Oz and Bub. Obviously, its difficult to tell them apart, because as hard as he tries to get you to care about them, with their frequent calls home to their wives and the quiet stroking of their newborns photographs, it always feels like Bay is just checking all the boxes as he impatiently nudges you to his favourite part: The action.

And boy is there a lot of it. Well, of course there was going to be action. Its a Michael Bay film about the Battle of Benghazi after all. But while the rest of the world shook their heads in disbelief when he announced his intention to direct this movie, I rooted for Bay, the unapologetic fan that I am. But here, he has let me down. He has resorted to the very same laziness theyve always accused him of and I just cant defend him any longer.

He tries, make no mistake. As a last ditch attempt to make his characters even slightly human, he contrives a montage comprised exclusively of grown men Skyping home, as the warm Libyan sun frames them in silhouette, temporarily forgetting the reality of the situation.

The Libyan heart of darkness.

And then comes the action. All one and a half hours of it. Like the faceless militants with their RPGs and AKs, Bay launches an all out assault. Hordes of attackers descend upon the safehouse, only to be ripped to shreds by the Americans bullets. Once theyve retreated or, more likely, died, there is a brief respite, only for the cycle to begin all over again with a fresh new batch of almost videogame level enemies. If Bays objective was to make us really live the experience of the assault, and I seriously doubt it, he has succeeded. The attacks feel unrelenting, unstoppable and tedious. There is no drama or human moment in between the gunshots. Look at Mad Max: Fury Road, a film that was essentially one large action scene, and look at the last hour and a half of 13 Hours and even the most casual of moviegoers can tell whats wrong.

Bayhem!

Bay wants to make a Black Hawk Down. He even has a character make a joke about being in that movie. But it doesnt even come close. It has none of the gritty realism of Ridley Scotts film. Bays glossy, lens flare-infused visuals make sure of that. It has none of the emotion of Peter Bergs Lone Survivor and none of the genius of Restrepo. It wants to portray the meaninglessness of war like Brad Pitts Fury, but its directed by the guy who made four Transformers movies. We all know Bay isnt as gifted a storyteller as Kathryn Bigelow, so expecting the precision of Zero Dark Thirty is unrealistic. But what he can do is direct action. When the human drama was falling flat for an hour, the anticipation of some of Michael Bays most restrained action kept me going. But that wasnt to be.

And thank God Bay steered clear off the politics. The Benghazi incident caused quite the stir, with Hillary Clinton taking responsibility as the Secretary of State for all the security shortcomings. But this movie is non-partisan. Sure, it points some fingers and has its own idea of who was to blame for the tragedy, but thats not what its about.

John Krasinski is a far cry from The Offices Jim Halpert.

It is, however, about the brave men who went out to protect their countrymen when they didnt have to. As I said before, there is a really good movie in here somewhere, perhaps after an hour or so is cut out. But Bays head, just like Tarantinos at this point, is so far up his own butt that he just wont allow it. Wars are never fought by just one side and Michael Bay manages to convey that sentiment with some of the most striking images he has ever put on film here. But those come right at the end. The rest of the time hes just having fun blowing stuff up as he bides his time till Transformers 5.

Follow @htshowbiz for more

The author tweets @NaaharRohan

Watch the trailer here

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London has Fallen

Cast: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Charlotte Riley, Angela Bassett

Director: Babak Najefi

Rating: 2.5/5

Once is a mistake, twice is plain stupidity.

London has Fallen three years after Olympus had Fallen. London had to fall because when Olympus fell, it made a million dollars in sweet, sheer profit and we are talking only of Americas domestic box office here.

Aaron Eckharts President Asher has a thing for getting kidnapped. Will Gerard Butler be able to save him from the evil guys again in London has Fallen? (Lionsgate)

So, a scowling Gerard Butler was asked to return, Aaron Eckharts US president was told he is under peril once more and Morgan Freemans vice-president (he got a promotion since last film, he is no longer the speaker) was given some more speeches on why America does what it does. The stuntman was told to pull up his socks for they were going to action the day lights off this new film and the CGI team instructed that not one single tourist attraction in London should stay standing by the time film ends.

That brought the team to the sticky, little question of the script? Why fix something which aint broken, they thought, and brought out Olympus script and made it once again. They simply replaced North Korean terrorists with cookie-cutter Pakistani/Middle Eastern ones, shifted the scene of action to London and, yes, thats about it.

Just for the hell of it, heres the plot: British prime minister is dead and most of the world leaders are there for the state funeral. Evil terrorists will ensure most of them are dead; the last man standing is American President Asher (Aaron Eckhart) who had the good sense to appoint Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) as his security head. From then on, it is a violence-fuelled, drunk-on-testosterone action fest where Butler will slash, strangle and shoot to keep his president alive. He will also use bombs, but thats a discussion for later.

First, for the good news: As an action fest with no-holds-barred violence, this film works. There are elaborate setpieces which will keep you entertained throughout the film. The scene where world leaders are attacked in various parts of London is well executed just as the films climax.

If you like destruction porn, London has Fallen is the film for you. The CGI may not be the best we have seen in recent times but it does the job. Much more than the London bridge will come falling down as the film progresses. Action junkies, if a popcorn cruncher with enough flag waving is what you are looking for, stop reading this review and book your tickets. The other group of people who should be booking their tickets are Gerard Butler fans. While their numbers would have decimated since Gods of Egypt came out last week where Butler played the God of Brownface bent on world domination, there are still so many of them out there.

He finds himself on the other side of fence in London has Fallen and being patriotic suits him. Yes, he scowls and frowns his way through the film but it is eons better than what we saw last week. Also, presidents knight in shining armour can have a Scottish drawl, not so much an Egyptian god.

Morgan Freeman showed up. That is one thing that works in London has Fallens favour. (Lionsgate)

The rest of the cast? They are here to collect their paycheques although Eckhart does put some effort but is hindered by his iron jaw. Morgan Freeman, being Morgan Freeman, makes the tone of the film go up by just showing up. He also brings one of the scarce moments of levity to the film, thanks to an exchange he has early on with Butler.

The biggest falling of Landon has Fallen is its threadbare, Us vs Them script. There are moments you actually want to check if Donald Trump was sort of a script consultant on this one. In here, all brown men are bad, evil people out to destroy the American way of life and all white men are saviours. There may be one or two bad apples but exceptions only prove the rule.

Action and the scenes of mayhem are a strength of this film and an obvious bait for action junkies. (Lionsgate)

At one point, Butler tells a sadistic terrorist, Go back to your F*ckheadistan or wherever the f*ck you come from. At another important juncture, he soliloquises, A**holes like you have been trying to kill us for a long time. But in a thousand years, we will still be here.

Dialogues, as you can see, are laughable in this film. One last shot and we are done with this subject: When the president comes out of a closet he was hiding in, a straight-faced Butler tells him: I always knew you will come out of the closet. Ouch!

Read more film reviews here

The film also has a south Asia connection  its villain is a Pakistani arms dealer with connections in Middle-East and it actually opens in Punjab on the other side of the border. He also has a deep reflection to share. Early on in the film, he says, All Pakistani intelligence officers are compromised. People actually clapped to that in the theatre where I watched this film. It appears there is no substitute for popcorn and patriotism in India or America. London has Fallen crew, get ready to collect.

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The police have arrested a watchman for allegedly murdering a 74-year-old woman, Mumtaz Badshah, in her flat in Oshiwara on February 11.

The watchman, originally from Jammu & Kashmir, had been employed at the building for the past two years. According to the police, he killed the woman to expose poor security at the housing society after another guard was hired to replace him.

He was arrested from J&K after fleeing the city in the wake of the murder. The police said the accused, identified as Rafi Chaudhary, had planned the murder 10 days in advance and took many precautions to avoid being caught.

Badshah was alone in her home in the societys D-wing between 10.30am and 12.30pm on February 11, during which time Chaudhary allegedly entered her house and killed her with a kitchen knife.

Aware that he would be captured on CCTV footage if he used the D-wing entrance, he entered the adjacent C-wing and accessed the D-wing through a shared terrace, according to the police. The accused used to work as a caretaker but the building management told him he would be let go and hired a new guard. He committed the offence to show how bad the new guard was at his job. We have recovered the knife and his bloodstained clothes, said Satyanarayan Chaudhary, deputy commissioner of police, zone IX.

Police officials said Chaudhary repeatedly stabbed Mumtaz in the neck and returned to the terrace by the same route. It was only at 12.30pm that Badshahs murder came to light, when her husband Rashid, 75, asked their grandson to check on her.

The grandson peeped in through a window and saw she was dead. The murder was reported to the police, upon which officials started scanning CCTV footage from the society.

They also questioned Chaudhary as a suspect but found no inconsistencies in his statement. Chaudhary told the police he was taking a bath at the time the murder is believed to have taken place.

However, as the investigation progressed, Chaudhary fled Mumbai. This raised suspicion among the police. A team was dispatched to Gujarat to look for him, but it returned empty-handed.

Then, on February 24, another team was sent to Jammu & Kashmir, where Chaudhary was arrested from a remote, mountainous area and brought to the city. He has been remanded in police custody until March 11.
A group of residents from across Delhi-NCR have written to President Pranab Mukherjee, urging him not to take part in Art of Livings World Culture Festival (WCF) on the Yamuna floodplains.

We request you not to embrace this wonton pollution of the river, this destruction of the riverbed, by your presence at this event, the letter says.

President Mukherjee is scheduled to be the chief guest of the closing ceremony on March 13.

Lima Rosalind, a conservation education and interpretation professional, told Hindustan Times that doctors, scientists, IT professionals, chefs, army personnel and environment activists and experts had written to the president to make sure the voice of protest was heard.

We have asked him not to lend legitimacy to such an event where lakhs and lakhs will trample the Yamuna floodplains. This event is a blatant violation of the fragile ecosystem. We know we cant fight against these political beings but this is our little voice of protest, Rosalind said. These letters were being mailed to the President individually.

Over 35 lakh people are expected to attend the three-day event from March 11 to 13 on the ecologically fragile Yamuna floodplain. The main stage is spread over seven acres and can accommodate 37,000 artists.

Read | Art of Living event expected to be the biggest ever in city

A petition filed in the National Green Tribunal by plea by activist Manoj Misra has alleged that illegal and unauthorised dumping and construction in the active flood plains of river Yamuna in the NCT of Delhi is taking place over some 25 hectares upstream of DND flyway.

The next hearing is slated early next week.

Bharati Chaturvedi, director of the Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group, who has also written to the President, said the festival throws all ecological, moral and legal aspects of a city, of a river and of public safety to the winds.

They have every right to celebrate but not at the cost of the public property and environment. No matter what the green credentials of the Art Of Living foundation are, they are irrelevant in this case. They have flattened the land, frightened the birds and aquatic life and destroyed the water catchment area, she said.

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Three days after she went missing from Delhi in mysterious circumstances, Noida fashion designer Shipra Malik is still untraceable.

The police, which filed an abduction case, have asked for details of flights and trains that left Delhi on February 29 and March 1.

The investigators found CCTV footage of February 29 that shows Shipra at a private bank in Noida Sector 18.

Police said she was using the internet on her mobile phone from DND Flyway to Ashram continuously for 15 minutes then a couple of calls were made from her mobile phone before it was switched off.

It was found that she visited the bank at about 1.25pm on Monday, few minutes after she met her husband at Brahmaputra market. She can be seen talking over the phone, said SP city, Dinesh Yadav.

On Thursday, deputy inspector general (DIG) Meerut Range Laxmi Singh visited Noida to monitor the investigation.

Read | Delhi: Snapdeal employee abducted while returning home

She was on various WhatsApp groups of her friends and customers of her boutique. A team is recording their statements to find any clue about her. She had called her brother asking about some documents related to her car when she entered Delhi. Also, she had sent messages to some people on WhatsApp before she went missing, said Kiran Sivakumar, senior superintendent of police (SSP), Gautam Budh Nagar.

We are questioning her brother to get the details of their conversation, Sivakumar said.

Family members of Shipra Malik at their residence in Noida. The family is seeking help on WhatsApp groups. (Burhaan Kinu/HT Photo)

Police questioned the staff of DND toll plaza but found no clues about Malik or any signs of abduction.

Shipra, 29, had gone missing on February 29 after she left for Chandni Chowk at 1pm to buy some raw material for her boutique. Her car, a Maruti Swift, was found unattended near Sector 29, with the keys under the drivers seat.

Shipra ran a boutique from her Sector 37 residence. Her last mobile phone location was found at Lajpat Nagar from where a call on emergency on the number 100 was made from the phone.

Read | Lovelorn psychopath among 5 arrested for Snapdeal execs abduction

Shipras family is taking the help of social networking sites to find her. Her family said they were satisfied with the police probe and hoped for her safe return.

The police are working day and night to locate her. We have created WhatsApp messages with her photograph and other details. We are requesting everybody to forward, said Chetan Malik, her husband.

Meanwhile, the police admitted that no fingerprints were collected from Shipras car, the only physical evidence available in the case.

SSP Sivakumar said Maliks family members had driven the car back home so there was no chance of getting any fingerprint sample. The police found that her car was not captured in any of the CCTV cameras as many of them were not working.

The only place where she could have been captured in the CCTV is the DND Flyway. Though we have details that her phone crossed the stretch, but she has not been captured by any CCTV camera, said Sivakumar.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modis planned visit to Hajipur, 25 km from Patna, on March 12 hit a roadblock as farmers turned down the administrations request to clear their standing crop to host a rally.

The Prime Minister was to visit Hajipur, the headquarters of the East Central Railway (ECR) Zone, to inaugurate new railway projects, but farmers in Sultanpur, adjacent to the Hajipur industrial estate, refused to clear about 60 acres of their land for the rally, despite ECRs offer of compensation.

We are not ready to cut down our crops even if we are paid five times compensation over its price, said Raja Ram Rai, one of the farmers who demonstrated against the administration on Friday.

Vaishali district magistrate Rachna Patil, who convened a meeting on Thursday night with a farmers delegation, said on Friday that she had tried to negotiate compensation, but the talks were not conclusive.

As a result, an alternative venue was chosen in Terasia village, next to the Mahatma Gandhi Setu  which connects Patna to Hajipur over the Ganga, said chief PRO of ECR Arvind Kumar Rajak.

Sultanpur villagers working in the fields, the land which was earmarked for holding railways function from where PM Narendra Modi was to launch a number of railway projects. (HT Photo)

Sultanpur, the district headquarters of Vaishali, was finalised after a proposal to host the rally adjacent to Vaishali Police Lines was ruled out over fears of villagers harbouring Maoists in the area.

At a meeting on Wednesday between ECR general manager AK Mittal and chief secretary Anjani Kumar Singh, it was decided that over 12 farmers who would lose their crop would be compensated. However, repeated attempts to convince the farmers  first by sub-divisional officer of Hajipur, Ravindra Kumar, and then by Nityanand Rai, BJP MP of Ujiarpur  failed.

Locals, however, said most farmers were RJD supporters and their resistance was politically motivated.

Modi, who will also participate in the concluding function of the Patna high courts centenary celebrations on March 12, will dedicate a 5 km-long rail-cum-road bridge over the Ganga between Digha in Patna and Sonepur in north Bihar during his visit. In addition, he will lay the foundation stone for a railway bridge at Mokamah, some 100 km east of Patna, and flag off an inaugural train over a third rail bridge at Munger.
From Behbal Kalan and other villages of Faridkot district, 32 witnesses on Friday deposed before Justice (retd) Zora Singh Commission of inquiry into the death of two Sikh youths in police firing during an anti-sacrilege protest last year.

The witnesses included seven protesters who had sustained bullet injuries on October 14, 2015, and many even named specific police officers from different stations. Their affidavits mention Moga senior superintendent of police (SSP) Charanjit Sharma (suspended after the incident); superintendent of police (SP) Harjit Singh Pannu; SP Bikramjit Singh; deputy superintendent of police Jagdish Bishnoi; Bajakhana station house officer (SHO) Amarjit Singh Kular; and Jaito SHO Dalbir Singh. The presence of these officers on the scene is established already in the first-information report (FIR) lodged against the protesters on October 14.

The name of the-then Moga SSP, Charanjit Sharma, figures in another FIR related to the two deaths, which was lodged a week after the incident  on October 25, 2015. With same affidavits, some of these 32 witnesses had appeared before Justice Zora Singh in an open hearing and also before an independent commission of inquiry led by Justice (retd) Markandey Katju, formerly of the Supreme Court.

The witnesses accuse police of opening fire on the unarmed protesters from 15 to 20 feet on October 14. The Moga SSP had kicked some of the women protesters on the link road, a few metres from the Kotkapura-Bathinda highway, they alleged. Protester Angrez Singh, who had taken a bullet in the arm, said Faridkot police had threatened them not to go before the commission. Villagers say cops burnt own vehicles, besides their tractor-trailers and bikes, while retreating after two deaths in police firing.

Zora Singh Commission had last month visited Faridkot and Moga, asking the witnesses to come to Chandigarh with their affidavits. Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal had formed the commission on October 16 last year and given it two months to complete investigation, but it began functioning only in December after a term extension of two months. Another extension is in the waiting.

Preachers still to file replies

The commission awaits replies from the main leaders of the Kotkapura and Bargadi protests, to whom it has sent many reminders.

They include Takht Keshgarh Sahib former jathedar Giani Kewal Singh; and religious preachers Panthpreet Singh; Amrik Singh Ajnala; Ranjit Singh Dharianwala, Sarabjit Singh Dhunda, Rajinder Singh Majhi, Avtar Singh Sadhawala, Satnam Singh Chandarr, Daler Singh Kheri, Sujeet Singh Khosa, Sukhwinder Singh, Gurpreet Singh Dhadrian, and Gursewak Singh Ramgarh Bhunder.

We will take coercive steps, if these witnesses fail to turn up despite the notices sent to them, justice (retd) Zora Singh told HT. The principle of natural justice demands that none should be condemned unheard, so we want to prepare our report after collecting information from all concerned, he said.

Confronted, Giani Kewal Singh said he was drafting his reply and would send it to the commission on Monday. For the delay, he blamed him Dubai trip for some days and hectic preaching schedule later. Panthpreet Singh and Ranjit Singh Dharianwala could not be reached, on telephone, even thought members of their families promised to pass on the message.

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Pascagoula Walmart collage.jpg

Pascagoula officials say plans for Walmart to construct a Neighborhood Market on the site of the former Estabrook car dealership on Market Street are moving forward.

(Courtesy photo/City of Pascagoula)

PASCAGOULA, Mississippi -- While Ocean Springs officials can only speculate whether Walmart will ever build the planned Neighborhood Market in that city, Pascagoula officials have no such concerns, saying plans for a Neighborhood Market on Market Street are moving forward as expected.

"Very confident," said City Planner Donovan Scruggs when asked whether the project would come to fruition. "We've been in constant contact with the development team since early 2015. We've done several variances and granted other permissions to make the process go efficiently.

"We see no reason to this project not to happen."

The Pascagoula Neighborhood Market will be 43,000 square feet and will be constructed on the former Estabrook site on Market Street, as well as the former Montie's Sporting Goods site to the south.

The existing structures will be demolished and the entire property redeveloped, with all new asphalt, concrete, curbs and structures, according to Scruggs.

"Conversations have continued with the development team, and we have corresponded with representatives this week," Scruggs said. "While there are a few details that need to be finalized, we anticipate work to begin on the project this summer."

Mayor Jim Blevins in his State of the City address spoke about economic growth and opportunities coming to Pascagoula, and the Neighborhood Market is an example of the city trying to grow and expand.

"We expect the Neighborhood Walmart to stimulate growth and redevelopment of other properties in the area," Scruggs said. "The redevelopment of the site is significant because of the site's size and nonconforming uses, and a grocery/retail use is more consistent with the city's plan for the area than the previous uses.

"The new store should greatly benefit the surrounding neighborhoods and those who travel along Market Street."

Scruggs said they are hopeful construction will begin sometime this summer, although he had no estimated completion date.
Accusing Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and his alliance partner BJP of doublespeak on the SYL issue, Punjab Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh on Thursday announced to embark on a march along the SYL route to expose how the Badals and BJP were going against the interests of Punjab.

In a statement, Amarinder said, While the NDA government at the Centre, of which the BJP and Akali Dal are part and parcel and Badals daughter-in-law Harsimrat Badal is a cabinet minister, has taken a stand in the Supreme Court that is clearly against the interests of Punjab, Badal and the BJP here (in Punjab) claim that they have not a drop of water to spare.

Warning that not only would the entire Malwa turn dry and barren, Amarinder said it might also lead to a serious law and order situation in the state as it involved sentiments of Punjabis.

He advised the chief minister and his BJP partners to go to Delhi and meet the Prime Minister while assuring his partys full support and cooperation for saving and safeguarding Punjabs waters.

Prashant Kishor in Punjab

The Congress is looking forward to countering the challenge of the Aam Aadmi Partys aggressive campaigning in the state, including visits of AAP national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his army of volunteers, during meetings with poll strategist Prashant Kishor, who will arrive in Chandigarh on Friday. Prashant will meet top Congress leaders, including Amarinder, to discuss the partys poll strategy and assess the election scene in the state.
Haryanas social fabric has been torn asunder in the worst caste violence in its history over reservation in government jobs and education institutes.

But amid the horror and despair are also heart-warming stories of how some Jats are now helping non-Jat families rebuild lives and livelihoods.

Luckily for Rajat Gupta, his small books and stationery shop, the Haryana Education Store, at Medical Chowk in the heart of Rohtak town did not betray his caste --- Baniya. When protesters were burning down property of Punjabis, Sainis and Baniyas in the area, including a three-storey hospital and diagnostic centre of a Punjabi doctor couple, Dr Anita and Arun Narula, Rajats parents stood guard for two nights at his shop fearing the same fate.

Rajinder Dhaka, the manger of Chevrolet showroom in Rohtak that was burnt during the Jat stir; and (right) Rajat Gupta , owner of a book shop in the city that was spared by protesters. (Sanjeev Sharma/HT )

At a time, the tenants --- most shops had no insurance --- are awaiting government compensation to rebuild their livelihood, the Jat owners are not demanding any rent.

Most shops in the area have been rented out to Baniyas and Punjabis by Jats. Itna bhaichara abhi baki hai ki rent nahi maang rahe (there is still so much brotherhood that they have not demanded rent). Indirectly, they are also suffered losses due to the riots, says Rajat.

Though only shops and businesses of non-Jat communities were targeted by the rampaging mob, among the victims were also Jats who took to entrepreneurship or jobs in private sector.

Of the many pictures of the violence at Rohtak, that of over 150 charred cars at Chevrolet showroom is perhaps one of the most telling. Ironically, the showroom has a Jat manager, Rajinder Dhaka. We make our living from private jobs. This was my place of worship and they destroyed it. Insurance companies have a clause under which they do not cover vehicles damaged during riots. We dont know how to even estimate the loss as all records have gone up in smoke, says Dhaka, an ex-servicemen.

The main worry of non-Jats such as Sanjeev, a service adviser at the showroom, is of losing jobs after the trail of devastation. I dont know whether Jats will get reservation in government jobs but youths like me who have worked hard to get good private jobs may be rendered jobless if businesses move out of the town, he says.

Amrit Lal and Brij Lal, the two guards on duty, recount the horror. There were over 400 people carrying a loudspeaker and hammers and a few of them even raced the cars before banging these into each other or a wall. Later, they set these vehicles afire, they added.

Rajinder Dhaka says the mob was shouting slogans of Jat Ekta and spared nothing, not even the bathrooms. The violence was a blot on my community. No caste allows its people to target livelihoods of others, he says.

The owner of the building in the town where a gun house was looted and burnt down by the mob is also a Jat and so was his tenant. Nitin Singh, puts his losses at Rs 70 lakh from damage to the building and Rs 2 lakh per month on account of rent.

The curfew was only in newspapers and news channels. The entire first two storeys of my building have been torched. Only the last floor, leased out to Airtel, has not been damaged. Though the stock was insured by company, I had not insured the building. It will take many years for businesses to recover. Many will move out of Rohtak, he says.

Jats like him question why should quota be on caste lines. If, at all, there has to be reservation, it should be on the basis of economic criteria. There are rich among all communities and if given reservation, they are the ones who are most likely to corner the benefits, adds Nitin.

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Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Friday said the need of the hour was to imbibe and practice the teachings of Gita, which would again make India the world leader.

In Kurukshetra for the foundation stone-laying ceremony of the Gita Gyanam Sansthanam, Bhagwat also exhorted the youth to work for the growth of the nation and said that every Indian would have to forget personal differences and work collectively.

Haryana governor Kaptan Singh Solanki, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Himachal Pradesh governor Acharya Dev Vrat, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) chief Pravin Togadia, yoga guru Ramdev, religious leaders Swami Gyananand, Sadhvi Rithambhra, RSS executive member Indresh Kumar also attended the function, besides several state ministers and MLAs.

The Rs 100 crore project, which is likely to be completed in three years, aims at undertaking studies and research in Gita.

Lauding the project, Solanki said the Sansthanam would disseminate teachings of Gita, which would be beneficial for all.

Khattar, in his address, said the religious and spiritual scholarliness of Gita was absolute and never required any changes or amendments. He held that politicians could bring temporary changes in peoples lives by enacting laws, but they would have to adopt Gita teachings to bring permanent good changes in the society.

Regretting the violence during the recent Jat agitation, he said these days were unimaginable when some people attempted to disturb the social harmony in the state. The government would work to bring back social harmony and brotherhood in Haryana, he said and added that it was also observing a social harmony week.

Meanwhile, Solanki, Khattar and Baba Ramdev announced Rs 1 crore each for the Sansthanam project.
The Azaadi chant by Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student leader Kanhaiya Kumar, which has become the heartbeat of a section of the youth today, is not a gift from Kashmir separatists, as is being assumed.

Interestingly, the chant originated as a feminist number against patriarchy. It was evolved and popularised by well-known feminist Kamla Bhasin in the womens movement all over south Asia.

An early memory of dancing and chanting to the catchy beat of the Azaadi number dates back to 1991, at the Womens Studies Conference in Kolkatas Jadavpur University. A vibrant and charismatic Bhasin, in her early forties, chanted it with a little drum in hand and women surrounded her, throwing their fists in the air. My five-year-old daughter, who had accompanied me there once, caught on the song and chanted it throughout her childhood.

Also read: Jail changed traitor Kanhaiya, says ABVP leader at Truth of JNU meet

15-yr-old girl from Ludhiana challenges Kanhaiya for debate

The original words coined by Bhasin were Meri behane maange Azaadi, meri bachhi maange Azaadi, naari ka naara Azaadi... (My sisters want freedom, my daughter wants freedom, every womans slogan is freedom). Incidentally, a video of Bhasin reciting the Azaadi poem at a campaign organized by V-Day, a global activist movement to end violence against women, is available on YouTube.

She recited it again in New Delhis Connaught Place to cheering crowds as part of the One Billion Rising campaign to protest violence against women on February 14.

Going on 70 with her hair all white now, her youthful call to freedom from the ills of society is still as pulsating as ever.

In a telephonic interview, Bhasin starts reciting some of it: From patriarchy: Azaadi; from all the hierarchy: Azaadi; from endless violence: Azaadi; from helpless silence: Azaadi.

Recalling the roots of the poem, she says, I had learnt the slogan of Meri behane maange Azaadi from Pakistani feminists and later improvised the words. The words would change many times depending on what we were protesting against, discrimination on the basis of caste, injustice to tribals or violence against women.

The chant became so popular that it reached the Left and other groups wanting freedom from injustice of any kind. Feminist activist Urvanshi Butalia, founder-publisher of Zubaan, recalls, It was one of the most popular poems of the feminist movement. Later, it became an inspiration for other groups too. But, in our minds, it is etched as the inspirational feminist chant.

Read: JNU row: All you need to know about Kanhaiyas sedition charge

It is interesting to note here that the Left, which initially negated the womens movement, took much from the song, including the freedom chant.

The chant is not just for freedom from the negative aspects of society but also freedom for positive things like walking freely, talking freely, dancing madly, singling loudly, for self-expression, for celebration..., Bhasin said.

Kamla has been active in the sub-continents womens movement since 1970 and is now associated with feminist groups Jagori and Sangat. Her contribution has been writing marching songs for women on popular Punjabi folk tunes like Todh todh ke bandhano ko dekho behane aati hain (Breaking shackles, see the sisters come out) and Dariya ki kasam, maujon ki kasam, yeh taana-baana badlega (I swear by the river, I swear by the waves, things will have to change).

She divides her time between Delhi and Sidhbarhi, near Dharamshala in Himachal, working with urban and rural women.
In a bid to woo the Dalit vote bank in Punjab, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal will be in the state, again, on March 15, on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Dalit leader Kanshi Ram.

Kejriwal has just ended a five-day tour of the state in the run-up to the next assembly elections.

Also read: Five words to describe Kejriwals Punjab tour

We are yet to work out the modalities of the trip, said Punjab incharge of the party Sanjay Singh. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati will also address a rally in Nawanshahr the same day.

With the next assembly elections in Punjab headed for an exciting triangular contest, the Dalit share of votes in the state could be the key to who finally wears the crown. Punjab has the largest share of scheduled castes in its population (almost 32%), and though the BSPs share of votes in the state has been steadily on the decrease, the party still commands over 4% of the votes.

Also read: With eye on Dalit vote, Kejri spin to Captains comment

In 1992, the BSP had won nine seats mopping 16.32% votes. However, the BSPs hold among Dalits has been slipping since. The party won only one seat in 1997, its vote share dipping to 7.48%. Since then the BSP has not won any seat in any election and its vote share came down to 5.75% in 2009 and 4.29% in the 2012 assembly polls.

The BSPs loss has generally been seen as the Congresss gain but the AAP, with its common man anthem is expected to appeal to the Dalit voters in the state. Kejriwals visit also becomes significant following the state Congress head and former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singhs announcement that he would talk to Mayawati for a possible tie-up for the forthcoming polls.

List by April-end

With polls expected to take place by the end of this year, the AAP will be the first party to announce its candidates. We had earlier thought we would announce our candidates by March-end. But now the first list will be released by April-end, said Sanjay Singh.

He said the criteria for selection of candidates would be tweaked for Punjab. We learnt some vital lessons from the last Lok Sabha polls. We had asked our volunteers to choose through voting a candidate from a set of shortlisted candidates; it has led to severe rifts among our volunteers. We will not follow that process here. The final process of shortlisting candidates will be decided in the meeting of the working committee to be held in the second week of March, Sanjay said.

The current Parivar Jodo campaign of the AAP will also end on March 15, by which the party is aiming at bringing 20 lakh families in the state to work for the AAP for the elections.

Also read Kejriwals interview to HT: Badals have squeezed every drop out of Punjab

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With the Supreme Court resuming hearing this week on the Presidential reference by the Centre on the validity of the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act, enacted by the Punjab assembly in 2004, the dormant dispute between Punjab and Haryana over river-water sharing is back in focus.

While Haryana has sought its rightful share of the Ravi-Beas water and the construction of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal to get that extra water, Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal has stridently reiterated his not-even-a drop-to spare stand. Even after over a decade, the river-water tangle has been a deeply emotive issue.

Special correspondent Hitender Rao dissects the dispute that has already stirred up political waters in poll-bound Punjab

Whats the genesis of the river-water dispute?

After the reorganisation of erstwhile Punjab into Punjab and Haryana on November 1, 1966, disputes arose with regard to the sharing of the surplus Ravi-Beas water. Haryana laid claim to 4.8 million acre feet (MAF) of water out of the 7.2 MAF (composite Punjabs entitlement) on the principle of equitable distribution. Punjab, however, decided not to give anything to Haryana, taking the plea that the latter was not a riparian state (a state located on the bank of a river).

The Centre tried to resolve the dispute by passing a statutory order on March 24, 1976, under the Punjab Re-organisation Act, allocating 3.5 MAF of surplus Ravi-Beas water to Haryana out of the 7.2 MAF share of erstwhile Punjab. A Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal was to be built to carry Haryanas share in the surplus Ravi-Beas water. Haryana started construction in its territories towards the end of 1976 and completed it in June 1980. Upset with the Centres decision, Punjab moved the Supreme Court. Haryana too moved the apex court, seeking implementation of the Centres decision.

What was the 1981 tripartite agreement?

In December 1981, the chief ministers of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan signed an agreement. It was decided that Punjab could use the surplus Ravi-Beas water out of Rajasthans share till the state was able to fully utilise its share. Thus, Punjab got an additional 1.32 MAF besides its normal share of 4.22 MAF. Haryanas share remained 3.5 MAF. The agreement stipulated for the completion of the SYL by Punjab in its territory within two years. The suits pending in the apex court were withdrawn. On April 23, 1982, Punjab issued a white paper hailing the agreement. In 1982, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi led the ground-breaking ceremony for the SYL Canal at Kapuri in Patiala. The Shiromani Akali Dal launched a dharma yudh morcha, pushing Punjab deeper into turmoil and terrorism. Work on SYL was stopped in 1990 after the completion of 90% work as terrorists killed two top engineers and 35 workers engaged in the project.

What was the Rajiv-Longowal accord?

The Punjab Settlement was signed on July 24, 1985, in New Delhi between then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sant Harcharan Singh Longowal. The accord included provisions related to the Ravi-Beas water sharing. It was agreed that the construction of the SYL Canal would be completed by August 15, 1986; claims of Punjab and Haryana regarding their shares in the remaining water would be referred for adjudication by a tribunal presided over by a Supreme Court judge. A tribunal under Justice V Balakrishna Eradi was set up that year.

What was Eradi tribunals conclusion?

The tribunal gave its report on January 30, 1987, and it was forwarded to the Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan governments on May 20, 1987. The tribunal increased the share of Haryana to 3.83 MAF from 3.5 MAF and that of Punjab to 5 MAF from 4.22 MAF. Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and the central governments made references to the tribunal seeking explanation/ guidance on the report in August 1987, which are still under consideration. The tribunals award could not be notified by the Centre.

What was the legal recourse taken by Haryana?

In 1996, Haryana filed a suit in the Supreme Court, seeking directions to Punjab, and in the alternative to the Centre, to complete the SYL Canal that was 90% ready after Rs 700 crore of taxpayers money had been spent on it.

What did the Supreme Court order?

On January 15, 2002, and June 4, 2004, the Supreme Court ordered the Centre to complete the SYL Canal in Punjab.

What did Punjab do to circumvent the Supreme Court order?

On July 12, 2004, the assembly enacted the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act, annulling all inter-state agreements signed by the state relating to sharing of the Ravi and Beas water, including the December 1981 tripartite agreement.

What did the Centre do in the wake of the Punjab Act?

On July 22, 2004, the Centre sought the Supreme Courts opinion on the validity of the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act by making a Presidential reference under Article 143 of the Constitution.

Whats the status of the Presidential reference?

The reference matter was first heard by the apex court on August 2, 2004, till July 14, 2009, without any outcome. Haryana filed an execution application for implementing the two judgments in the SYL suit on February 19, 2011, which is also pending for hearing. A resolution was passed by the Haryana assembly on March 11, 2011, requesting the Centre to pursue the matter in the apex court for an early decision. On January 24, 2015, Haryana decided to file an original suit in the apex court to get the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act declared illegal.

What did the Punjab government do?

In 2015, Punjab filed a suit in the Supreme Court for setting up a new tribunal for settling the issue of sharing of surplus Ravi-Beas water on the plea that the availability of water in these rivers had reduced from 17.17 MAF to 14.35 since the award of the Eradi Tribunal (which was never notified) and also on the plea that Haryana had received its share in the Yamuna as per the 1994 agreement that did not exist at the time of the award of the Eradi Tribunal.

What will be the political fallout?

The resumed hearing on the Presidential reference comes as Punjab is headed for elections in less than a year. With the BJP-led government at the Centre taking a stand before the apex court that Punjabs legislation annulling all inter-state agreements relating to the sharing of Ravi and Beas water was against the two orders of 2002 and 2004, the Shiromani Akali Dal, an NDA ally, would find it hard to defend itself during the polls in case the court declares the Punjab law invalid. Former chief minister and Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh, under whose watch the Punjab law was enacted, has already mounted an attack on the SAD and the BJP, saying the latter had betrayed Punjab by opposing the law.

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Sometimes doctors also need therapy to destress themselves. In fact, considering high work pressure at major hospitals like the PGIMER, they are the ones who need it the most. To fight stress, the resident doctors of the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) could now be seen practicing yoga and meditation. The sessions will be held at the PGI health club five days a week.

On demand of the resident doctors, the Association of Resident Doctors ( ADR) has arranged trainers, who will teach yoga and meditation with soothing music in background; dance classes have also been arranged. The classes will be held once a day and five days a week.

We all know how busy the life of a doctor at the PGIMER is. We dont have time to visit other centres for recreation activities, hence, on the demand of doctors, we have decided to provide these facilities at the hospital itself, said Dr Pulkit, president, ARD, PGIMER.

Earlier, we did not have a place for recreation activities, but now, since a separate room has been allocated to us, we want to make full use of it. Two student bands will get a place to practice, said Dr Rakesh John, who deals with cultural events.

When asked about the yoga session, another resident doctor said, Yoga has a great healing power it is the best way to de-stress yourself, and we, the PGIMER doctors, need it the most.

The yoga and meditation facility will be used by residents, research scholars and their families. The classes are expected to start in two weeks time.

The doctors will also get to learn vocals, guitar, tabla and dance. They can also learn free-style, classical, hip-hop, salsa and other forms of dance, apart from yoga and meditation, said a resident doctor.

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A pair of giant pandas, a state gift to South Korea from Chinese President Xi Jinping, arrived in Seoul on Thursday to a red-carpet welcome.

Aibao (lovely treasure), a two-year-old female, and Lebao (pleasant treasure) a three-year-old male, flew in from the western Chinese province of Sichuan to Incheon international airport on a specially chartered flight, accompanied by vets and a handler.

Transported in a special cage, the animals received repeated health checks during the three-hour flight, the amusement park that will house the pandas said in a statement.

They then rode to the park south of Seoul in a vehicle with advanced suspension to minimise jolts.

People unveil a giant panda named Ai Bao, a two-year-old female, during a welcoming ceremony for a pair of giant pandas from China. (AP)

South Korea received its first pandas from China in 1994 to mark the second anniversary of diplomatic ties.

But when the Asian financial crisis hit in 1998, the country had to return the pair, citing the high cost of keeping them.

Xi announced the new gift during his state visit in July 2014.

A panda named Lebao, which means pleasant treasure, is seen during a welcoming ceremony. (REUTERS)

South Korean President Park Geun-Hye has made closer relations with China -- the Souths largest trade partner -- a cornerstone of her administrations foreign policy and is understood to have formed a good working relationship with Xi.

However, ties remain troubled by differences of opinion over how to deal with North Koreas nuclear weapons programme, with Seoul favouring sanctions over Beijings preference for dialogue.
After more than two decades of mystery, British academics have used geographic profiling tools to reveal the identity of enigmatic street-artist Banksy on Friday.

Scientists at Queen Mary University of London said the pattern of how Banksys artworks were distributed suggested that he is actually British artist Robin Gunningham, in a study published in the Journal of Spatial Science.

Gunningham was first declared to be Banksy by the Daily Mail newspaper in 2008.

Banksys often politically-themed street art has made him a celebrity in Britain, despite his true identity never having been confirmed.

His most high-profile recent project was Dismaland, which last year mocked the conventions of amusement parks, and was located in southwest England.

Geographic profiling is a technique used in fields from criminology to studying patterns of infectious disease.

The study analysed a series of locations of Banksys artworks in London and Bristol and mapped them against anchor points such as the homes of people suspected of being Banksy to draw conclusions about the possible identity of the graffiti artist.

Workmen watch the media photograph a new artwork by British artist Banksy opposite the French Embassy, in London. (AP Photo)

Our analysis highlights areas associated with one prominent candidate (e.g. his home), supporting his identification as Banksy, the paper said.

More broadly, these results support previous suggestions that analysis of minor terrorism-related acts (eg graffiti) could be used to help locate terrorist bases before more serious incidents occur, and provides a fascinating example of the application of the model to a complex, real-world problem.

One of the research team, Steve Le Comber, told the BBC: Id be surprised if its not (Gunningham), even without our analysis, but its interesting that the analysis offers additional support for it.

The BBC also reported that Banksys legal team had contacted staff at the university with concerns about how the research was to be promoted.
Leader Kim Jong-Un has ordered North Koreas nuclear arsenal readied for pre-emptive use at anytime, in an expected ramping up of rhetoric following the UN Security Councils adoption of tough new sanctions on Pyongyang.

The Norths nuclear warheads must be deployed on standby so as to be fired at any moment, Kim was quoted as saying by the Norths official KCNA news agency on Friday.

He also warned that the situation on the divided Korean peninsula had become so dangerous that the North needed to shift its military strategy to one of pre-emptive attack.

Such bellicose rhetoric is almost routine for North Korea at times of elevated tensions.

While the North is known to have a small stockpile of nuclear warheads, experts are divided about its ability to mount them on a working missile delivery system.

Washington downplayed Kims threat as posturing.

We have not seen North Korea test or demonstrate the ability to miniaturize a nuclear weapon and put it on an ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile), a US defence official told AFP.

Still, the official added, our forces are ready to counter-eliminate strikes if necessary.

New rocket launcher

According to KCNA, Kim made his comments while monitoring the test firing of a new, high-calibre multiple rocket launcher on Thursday, just hours after the UN Security Council unanimously adopted the US-drafted resolution penalising the North for its fourth nuclear test in January and long-range rocket launch last month.

South Koreas defence ministry said the North had fired half a dozen rockets about 100-150 kilometres (60-90 miles) into the sea off its eastern coast on Thursday.

Read: Defiant North Korea fires short-range projectiles after UN sanctions

In a clear threat to neighbouring South Korea, Kim said the new rocket launcher should be promptly deployed along with other recently-developed weaponry.

In the wake of the gangster-like UN resolution pushed by the United States and its South Korean ally, North Koreans are now waiting for an order of combat to annihilate the enemy with their surging wrath, he added.

The Security Council resolution adopted late Wednesday laid out the toughest sanctions imposed on Pyongyang to date over its nuclear weapons programme and will, if implemented effectively, apply significant economic pressure to Kims regime.

It breaks new ground by sanctioning specific sectors key to the North Korean economy -- such as mineral exports -- and seeking to undermine the Norths use of and access to international transport systems.

Dangerous phase

Kim said the resolution had opened a very dangerous phase, coming just days before the US and South Korea kick off annual joint military drills that Pyongyang views as provocative rehearsals for invasion.

The exercises involving tens of thousands of troops are scheduled to begin next Monday.

The Security Council resolution ushered in the fifth set of UN sanctions to hit North Korea since it first tested an atomic device in 2006, and was the result of arduous negotiations between the US and China, Pyongyangs sole major ally.

Read: UN approves toughest sanctions on North Korea in 20 years

China had been reluctant to endorse harsh sanctions out of concern that too much pressure would trigger the collapse of the pariah regime, creating chaos on its border.

The measures Beijing finally signed off on are extremely tough on paper, but experts have warned that some of the language is vague enough to allow varying levels of enforcement.

Chinas commitment could depend on the outcome of formal talks opening Friday between Seoul and Washington on the possible deployment of an advanced US missile defence system in South Korea.

The THAAD system fires anti-ballistic missiles to smash into enemy missiles either inside or outside the Earths atmosphere during their final flight phase.

Its deployment is strongly opposed by China and Russia, with Beijing saying it would undermine its own nuclear deterrent and has the potential to destroy relations with Seoul.

Fridays talks are a direct response to Pyongyangs long-range rocket launch on February 7, which was seen by the US and its allies as a covert ballistic missile test.

Analysts at a US think-tank said recent satellite images of the Norths space launch centre showed activity suggesting preparations for a new rocket engine test.
19863973-mmmain.jpg

Jamise Butler (left) and her son, Anthony Walker, of Jackson, Miss., are accused of laundering money through two Louisiana Walmarts.

(NOLA.com)

NEW ORLEANS -- A Mississippi woman and her son are accused in a scheme to launder counterfeit cash at two Walmarts in Louisiana by buying computer software and returning it, authorities said.

The mother, son and a third unidentified suspect went to a Walmart on Jan. 23 and bought software worth $230, Kenner police Lt. Brian McGregor said. They paid with counterfeit $20 bills, he said.

They drove to a second Walmart where the mother, Jamise Butler, 36, tried to return the purchased software for real money, McGregor said. Her son, 20-year-old Anthony Walker, and another man tried to buy more software with more phony bills.

"Some store workers became suspicious when they realized the software had been purchased minutes earlier," McGregor said.

The group got away before police arrived at the store and authorities later located the mother and son in Jackson, Miss., where the mother is from. They were booked on charges of money laundering, attempted money laundering and 35 counts of monetary instrument abuse.

Butler and Walker were being held Thursday at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center. Bond for Butler was set at $97,500 while Walker's bond was $185,000.

Online jail records did not list an attorney them.
A Pakistani man was sentenced to 13 years in prison for allegedly posting religiously offensive material on his Facebook page, lawyers in the case said.

Rizwan Haider, 25, was convicted on Thursday in an anti-terrorism court of three charges, including promoting sectarian hatred, after he supposedly published a post referring to Prophet Mohammed.

This case... was registered against Haider, who is a Shia Muslim by faith, in January for posting objectionable material against the belief of Sunni Muslims, Adeel Chattah, public prosecutor in the case, told AFP.

He was also fined Rs 250,000 rupees ($2,500), Chattah said, adding he denied the charges and has the right to appeal.

Haiders lawyer dismissed the accusations.

He only liked it and did not post it on the page, Shameem Zaidi said.

Pakistan tightened its hate crime laws as part of a campaign to combat extremism after a Taliban attack at a school in Peshawar in December 2014 killed 153 people, mostly children.

Authorities have arrested and sentenced several religious clerics, mostly from hardline Sunni sects, for hate speech in recent months.

But Haiders case is one of the few in which a Shia Muslim has been jailed for such a crime.

A Pakistani anti-terrorism court jailed another Shia man for 13 years in November 2015 after he also posted what it deemed sectarian hate speech on Facebook. Rights activists condemned the ruling as extremely concerning.

Pakistan has been gripped by sectarian violence since the 1980s, with thousands killed in clashes triggered by religious tensions.

Most of the violence is committed by Sunni militants against Shias, who make up roughly 20% of Pakistans 200 million people.
The prime accused in the murder of Simon Fraser University student Maple Batalia has admitted to killing the aspiring model five years ago.

Batalia, 19, was killed in a parking lot near the university campus in Surrey in September, 2011.

Originally charged with first-degree murder, Gurjinder Singh alias Garry Dhaliwal told the New Westminster Supreme Court that he fired five shots Batalia and then slashed her with a knife.

In a joint statement, both the Canadian Crown and the defence have asked for life sentence for Dhaliwal.

The sentencing is expected on Monday, at long last, and end frustration among many in the Indo-Canadian community over the extended trial in the case

Read| Community remembers Maple Batalia on first death anniversary

The co-accused in the murder, Gursimar Bedi, is facing charges of accessory (aiding) and manslaughter.

Maples mother Sarabjit Batalia told HT that there wont ever be a closure for her. I have lost a daughter, she said.

The latest development in the case comes days ahead of International Womens Day. Many feminist groups were gearing up for annual celebrations this weekend and some had also planned events to seeking justice for Batalia.

According to the Crown, Dhaliwal grew jealous of Batalia after she broke up with him and had been confronting her frequently.

Sarabjit has urged the society to respect the independence of girls.

Relationships cannot be imposed. If anyone decides to break up, nobody has the right to take ones life (for that), she said.
Half Moon Bay, CA (94019)

Today

Cloudy skies with a few showers after midnight. Low 54F. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Cloudy skies with a few showers after midnight. Low 54F. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
West Africa chimpanzees have been observed conspicuously throwing stones at trees and "hooting" as they tumble down into a pile either near or in the hollow of a tree. Researchers believe this never-before-seen behavior likely has some cultural roots and may even be the animals' way of marking "sacred trees."

Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology made the discovery with the help of camera traps set up after piles of stones were found at several of their research sites. Their research is part of the Pan African Programme: The Cultured Chimpanzee (PanAf), which is aimed at understanding the ecological and evolutionary drivers of behavioral diversification in chimpanzees.

"The PanAf cameras filmed individual chimpanzees picking up stones from beside, or inside trees, and then throwing them at these trees while emitting a long-distance pant hoot vocalization," study co-author Ammie Kalan said in a news release.

These ritualized displays were exhibited primarily by adult male chimps, however, researchers noted that some females and juveniles were also seen throwing stones at trees.

"This study reports a new chimpanzee behavior not known previously and highlights the potential of the PanAf project to uncover unknown facets of the life of chimpanzees, our closest living relative," explained Christophe Boesch, director of the Department of Primatology at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

Chimpanzees are proficient tool users, able to use sticks to reach bugs at honey from the and stone or wooden hammers to crack open nuts. However, this behavior doesn't seem to have anything to do with foraging.

"As the stone accumulation behavior does not seem to be linked to either the abundance of stones or the availability of suitable trees in an area, it is likely that it has some cultural elements," Boesch added.

Therefore, the exact reasoning by this unfamiliar behavior is still open to debate. On theory is that the chimpanzees are perhaps marking sacred trees.

Nonetheless, researchers note their findings raise questions regarding the interpretation of stone accumulation found at archaeology sites and may even shed light on the origin of ritual practices in hominin evolution.

Their study was recently published in the journal Scientific Reports.

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Who needs love when you've got your bros? Bromance, best described as the complex love and affection shared by two straight males, is just as beneficial as traditional romantic relationships - especially in times of stress.

Results from an interesting experiment conducted at the University of California, Berkeley, lead researchers to believe that male bonding improves health by significantly boosting an individual's ability to cope with stress.

Researchers found that male rats kept in the same cage were significantly more likely to bond when exposed to mild stress. This is surprising because under normal circumstances, male rats are instinctively aggressive when they encounter other male rats.

The latest study reveals that mild stress fosters sociability and cooperation among male rats. Researchers explained that male rats cuddled and touched more after being exposed to mildly stressful situations. Male rats housed in the same cage also experienced a spike in levels of the "love hormone" oxytocin.

"A bromance can be a good thing," said lead author Elizabeth Kirby, a doctoral student at UC Berkeley and postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford. "Males are getting a bad rap when you look at animal models of social interactions because they are assumed to be instinctively aggressive. But even rats can have a good cuddle - essentially a male-male bromance - to help recover from a bad day."

"Having friends is not un-masculine," she explained. "These rats are using their rat friendships to recover from what would otherwise be a negative experience. If rats can do it, men can do it too. And they definitely are, they just don't get as much credit in the research for that."

Researchers believe that the spike in oxytocin levels after stressful events is there to help bring people closer in times of hardship.

"We think oxytocin, which is released after stress, is a way of bringing people closer in times of acute stress, which leads to more sharing, bonding and potentially better fear extinction and an increase in cognitive health," explained first author Sandra Muroy, a UC Berkeley graduate student who launched the research while an undergraduate.

The latest findings are published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology.

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Hispanic middle school children at high risk of being overweigh tor obese reduced their body mass index (BMI) when eating a snack of peanuts at school, compared to children who did not, accoridng to a recent study.

The new information is based on 12-weeks of research conducted by researchers from the University of Houston's department of Health and Human Performance (HHP), Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Woman's University.

"Obesity is the most pressing health issue facing us today," Craig Johnston, HHP assistant professor, said. "We'd like to think it's preventable, but from where I sit right now, there hasn't been a lot shown to be very effective on a large scale."



Snacking appears to be more common during adolescence, and can lead to an unhealthy habit resulting in weight gain now and later in life. Researchers found this was particularly true depending on if students did not have access to other meals during the school day.

The study involved close to 260 Latino adolescents from three Houston-area charter schools who were involved in a program for physical activity and nutritional education. Close to half of the students received a snack of peanuts or peanut butter about three to four times a week, while the others in the study received the snack only once a week. The snack was administered after school as students were boarding the school bus to go home. Peanuts were chosen because nuts are nutrient-dense snacks that promote a feeling of being full.

After the initial 12-week intervention, the students spent another 12 weeks maintaining the healthy snacking habit. Findings showed that students who recieved the snack more regularly had a decrease in their overal BMI (-.7kg/m2) compared to those who did not receive the regular peanut snack (-.3kg/m2).

Thus, researchers concluded that afterschool programs and schools, alike, should think about using peanuts for snacks in place of energy dense, unhealthy snacks for students as an alternative.

"Schools are doing a great job of teaching kids, getting them workforce ready, and a whole bunch of other things. We've just got to make sure that our kids are going to live long, happy lives with that kind of education," he said.

Though health officials are making progress when it comes to obesity, statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years.

The study was published Thursday (March 4) in the Journal of Applied Research on Children.

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Parents who eagerly post photos of their children on social media sites like Facebook might have to think twice about it, lest they want to land in jail, thanks to a new privacy law imposed in France.

The photos in question aren't just limited to naked children's pictures that could be targeted by pedophiles. French experts believe that certain photos also violate the rights of the kids, especially when they do not give their consent to post it.

With gadget use becoming second nature to everyone, it's fairly common to find parents sharing their kids' adorable pics on the Internet. However, French authorities want this to stop in order to protect children from potential embarrassment when they are older.

"In a few years, children could easily take their parents to court for publishing photos of them when they were younger," said Eric Delcroix, an Internet Law expert. "Children at certain stages do not wish to be photographed or still less for those photos to be made public."

Authorities can fine parents who violate the law for up to $48,000. They could also be sent to prison for a year. "We often criticize teenagers for their online behavior, but parents are no better," Delcroix added.

French police also posted a warning on their Facebook page, where parents are likely to see this and share with their contacts. "Well, of course, you can all be proud or proud to be a mom or dad beautiful toddlers, but be careful! We remind you that post pictures of his kids on Facebook is not without danger!" the advise read. The move to ban parents from posting their children's photos online was triggered by an on-going Facebook game that had moms posting family photos while tagging 10 of their contacts to do the same.

Meanwhile, Facebook is aware of these issues with eager parents and are planning to set security measures in place. Jay Parikh, the social network's head of engineering, has some ideas about it back in November. "If I were to upload a photo of my kids playing at the park and I accidentally had it shared with the public, this system could say: Hey wait a minute, this is a photo of your kids, and normally you post this to just your family members, are you sure you want to do this?" Parikh said.

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Among the perks of working in a tech company is in enjoying the food at the in-house cafeteria. In fact, some of the best tech offices provide their employees with dining spots that have the perfect ambience. The meals also taste better than the trendiest restaurants.

While most office workers are content with takeouts from food places near the office, or heating packed lunches using the microwave in the breakroom, the employees at many of these successful tech companies are having office meals prepared by chefs. This trend started with Google, but today there are many more tech companies giving their workers with the same perks.

Below are five tech office cafeterias that can rival the best restaurants:

1. Dropbox.

Chef Brian Mattingly first prepared meals for Google employees, but he's now at the Dropbox San Francisco location, serving the staff with choiced selections of Mediterranean, Indian, Asian, American and vegan dishes. The chef posts samples of the daily meals at the office cafeteria's Facebook Page, Dropbox Tuck Shop. The superior quality and appearance of the food cannot be ignored, and there have been rumors the Tuck Shop earned a Michelin star.

2. Apple.

At the Cupertino site, Apple employees take coffee breaks at Caffe Macs. The lunch menu is updated and changed regularly, but they have had ramen, paella, steak, oysters, pizza, sushi and several selections of breakfast and dessert fares. "The company pays its software engineers up to $12 for dinner, which is typically enough for a dinner entree and a small salad from the salad bar," said one employee who shared what it's like eating at their cafeteria. On some Fridays, the company hosts bashes or parties with musical artists as guests.

3. Pixar.

Like the rest of the Pixar campus, Cafe Luxo's has a warm open-space atmosphere, which makes lunching even better. While employees enjoy eating at the cafeteria everyday, some guests are also welcome to dine at the cafe. "This is the swanky cafeteria inside Pixar Animation Studios. You need to be an employee or registered guest in order to eat lunch here and I had the good fortune to be a registered guest today," said one reviewer on Yelp who said she loved that the food is tax-free and the drinks are free. "Pixar hits the 3Cs: clean, contemporary, comfortable."

4. SAS Institute, Inc.

The North Carolina company calls their cafeteria the Marketplace, which is divided into different sections like the salad bar, soup area, grill station and oven station. But there's also a Chef's table and the office has its own Starbucks shop.

5. Facebook.

Breanne Butler is the chef running the kitchen at Mark Zuckerberg's empire. The meals are themed and the theme must not be repeated, which the chef finds as a challenge. "It's always a little tricky in terms of ordering," said Butler. "It's not like there's a family meal [to use up excess ingredients]. You're not running a business lunch special all week that lets you stock up on things."

Jello eyeballs and intestines! #happyhalloween A photo posted by By Breanne (@bybreanne) on Oct 31, 2015 at 6:04am PDT

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Fans of classic Nintendo titles were given a treat on Thursday, as the Japanese gaming giant announced a massive lineup of games that is set to be released across its Wii U, 3DS and New 3DS platforms during the company's latest Nintendo Direct Livestream.

A number of notable releases were announced, including "Kirby: Planet Robobot," a title for the 3DS which takes the beloved, tough, pink puffball into yet another land that he must save using, you guessed it, a number of mecha-inspired armors. Yet another notable "Kirby" title is "Team Kirby Clash," a variation of the franchise that gives gamers a more RPG-esque experience.

It is not only the 3DS which will be getting a number of cool titles, though, as Nintendo also announced a number of anticipated games for its Wii U platform. One of these, "Paper Mario: Color Splash," is a unique take on the Mario mythos as the world's most iconic plumber attempts to rescue Prism Island by literally painting the landscape with colors.

Other games that were announced include "Star Fox Guard" and "Metroid Prime: Federation Force," two action games with a massive fanbase that have been well-anticipated as of late. Of course, Nintendo also announced games for two of the company's most profitable franchises, "Monster Hunter" and "Fire Emblem," called "Monster Hunter: Generations" and "Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE."

Perhaps the announcement which resonated the most with longtime Nintendo fans, however, is that the company would be releasing a number of acclaimed SNES titles to the company's Virtual Console library, involving three waves of releases featuring the most iconic titles of SNES fame.

The first wave, which is already out, include classic titles "Super Mario World," "F-Zero" and "Pilotwings." The next wave, set to be released on March 24, would include titles such as "Donkey Kong Country," "Earthbound" and "Super Mario Kart."

The third wave, set for an April 14 release, is perhaps the most highly anticipated, as it will include "Super Metroid," "Donkey Kong Country 2" and last but definitely not least, "The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past."

As much as the classic SNES titles are definitely a big draw, however, the releases are only available to gamers who own the New 3DS. This means that those who are still using the older versions of the company's dual-screen handheld console would not be able to make the most of the company's SNES ports.

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The hottest names in fashion dropped everything they were doing Thursday night to attend the special Balmain after-party in Paris. A blonde Kendall Jenner and a brunette Gigi Hadid coordinated in matching light pink ensembles as they celebrated Balmain design boss Olivier Rousteing's latest runway show.

The after-party was held at the Laperouse restaurant in Paris and was attended by some of the biggest models in the industry like Karlie Kloss, Devon Windsor, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Lindsey Wixson, Nadja Bender, Joan Smalls, Cindy Bruna and Lily Donaldson, but Jenner and Hadid were not the only models who changed hair color.

"Olivier wanted to create a surprise," said Sam McKnight, the hairstylist responsible for the swap. "Rosie Huntington-Whiteley's a brunette, Alessandra [Ambrosio]'s a blonde. It's that Balmain cool girl...with a twist."

At the party, Jenner wore an ultra-high-waisted skirt that doubled as a corset and a white sweater. She kept her accessories simple and opted for a simple pair of suede heels with a large buckle on them. Hadid wore a pair of pink high-waisted pants, a powder pink silk blouse and a pink stripped jacket that flowed nearly to the floor.

Earlier in the day, both Jenner and Hadid walked in the Balmain, with Jenner having the honor of opening and closing the show. In the first row of the show sat Jenner's mother Kris Jenner and her brother-in-law, Kanye West. Both were decked in head-to-toe Balmain as they watched Jenner walk the runway.

"I was so proud of Kendall," said Kris Jenner of her daughter. "It was a surprise. I didn't know she was going to be blonde, and I didn't know she was going to open and close the show. I thought she looked great. It's so much fun to see the artistic direction of the show. When she walked away. I didn't realized how tiny her waist was. I said to Kanye: 'Look at her waist. It's so tiny. She's definitely a Balmain girl.'"

Earlier in the day, the "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" family were seen dining at the Hotel Costes along with hairstylist to the stars Jen Atkin. The group then headed to the restaurant for the Balmain after-party.

Both Jenner and Hadid have been two of Balmain's favorite models, with Rousteing working with them multiple times, including when the brand launched an affordable line with H&M.

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Teacher Cellphone Photos

In this undated image made from video and provided by WYFF News-4, teacher Leigh Anne Arthur speaks to a reporter in Union County, S.C. Some South Carolina high school students are calling for the return of Arthur who resigned after a student spread a nude picture of her through text messages and social media. Arthur, 33, told news outlets she left her cellphone on her desk Monday as she monitored a hallway during a class change. A 16-year-old boy took her phone, and with his own phone took pictures of nude images of Arthur on her phone, she said.

(AP photo)

COLUMBIA, South Carolina -- A high school teacher says she forgives the teenager who took her cellphone, found a nude picture and shared it on social media, even though she lost her job and was harassed as a result. School authorities still blame the teacher, however, and have yet to discipline any students, pending a police investigation.

Union County School District Superintendent David Eubanks said Thursday that it's her fault for leaving students unattended during a four-minute break between classes.

Leigh Anne Arthur, 33, told police on Feb. 18 that while she stepped out of her classroom, a 16-year-old boy took her unlocked smartphone from her desk, opened the photos application and found a nude selfie she had taken for her husband as a Valentine's present.

Then, using his own phone, the boy took a picture of the image and shared it. Soon, multiple students were sharing it on social media, and someone left copies, along with a harassing note, in Arthur's mailbox.

State police have examined this evidence along with the student's cellphone, State Law Enforcement Division spokesman Thom Berry said Thursday.

School officials are unsure how many people saw the image. None of the students involved have been suspended or expelled, although criminal charges are likely, Eubanks told The Associated Press Thursday in a phone interview.

"The students are probably going to be charged by law enforcement," Eubanks said. "When you start transmitting pictures of nude people, on cellphones, it's probably against the law."

Arthur told local media that it's part of her job to monitor the hallway between classes. But Eubanks said some students said she was in an adjoining room at the time, and that's why her director told her to resign or be fired for failing to supervise her class.

"She has tried to make this out as though it was strictly related to the photos," Eubanks said. "I could care less what her pictures are on the cellphone."

Arthur, a 13-year veteran, quit her job teaching mechanical and electrical engineering and computer programming at the school's vocational center. She did not immediately return messages left Thursday by the AP.

In a local television interview, she said she forgives the student, but believes he should be held responsible.

"We all make stupid decisions when we're 16," Arthur told WYFF-TV. Still, "he had the ultimate decision to take pictures of my pictures and he had the ultimate decision to send them out."
Scientists from the Queen Mary University of London may have finally uncovered the identity of elusive English-based street artist Banksy using an unlikely method: mathematics. The team applied a type of modeling technique called geographic profiling that is also used to track down criminals and map disease outbreaks. Police forces use it to narrow down lists of suspects by using calculations that take into account the crime sites and predict where the offender is most likely to live.

Using the locations of 140 Banksy artworks in London and Bristol, the team says that they discovered that they "are associated with sites linked to one prominent candidate, before naming Robin Gunningham, who has previously been linked to Banksy in media reports.

Although the study is not conclusive, the team found a bar, playing fields and a residential address in Bristol, as well as three London addresses, pointing to Gunningham, lending further support to the belief of many that Gunningham is Banksy.

Adding to the suspicions, Banksy's lawyers delayed the release of the study due to the team's promotional tactics, claiming that the wording of the now-withdrawn press release was concerning.

"I'd be surprised if it's not [Gunningham], even without our analysis, but it's interesting that the analysis offers additional support for it," said Steven Le Comber, a mathematical biologist and lead author of the study.

Banksy's pieces, which have sold for up to $1.8 million at auction, are known for satirical stencils and first appeared on the walls of Bristol before expanding into areas around London and all over the world.

Le Comber says that this research can be used not only to hone in on criminals but also to track epidemics.

"We found that if we used the addresses of people with malaria we could find the mosquitoes that were spreading the disease very easily," he said, speaking of the malaria outbreak in Cairo.

The geographic profiling method could also be beneficial when hunting down terrorists in order to capture them before they commit an attack.

"Some terrorists will engage in graffiti, banner-posting and leafletting to establish their credibility," Le Comber said. "You could potentially use the spatial pattern of leafletting to identify the location of terror cells."

The findings were published in the Mar. 3 issue of the Journal of Spatial Science.

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
News, events, history, and other mid-week tidbits.

Tuesday, October 25, 4:30  7 p.m.

Orr Area EMS Open House

Brats and burgers will be served. Event includes a new ambulance tour and blood pressure screenings. For more info: 218-780-3798.

Orr Fire Hall

4540 Lake St., Orr

Tuesday, October 25, 12  6 p.m.

Essentia Health Job Fair

Talent recruiters and department managers will be on-site at Essentia Health-Virginia. Candidates from all backgrounds are encouraged to attendnurses, nursing and clinical assistants, surgery technicians, radiology technicians, respiratory therapists, human resource professionals, and those interested in environmental services or nutrition services. Essentia staff will greet candidates, conduct an initial screening and filter them to appropriate hiring managers for interviews. Select candidates will be verbally offered a position before leaving. Candidates are asked to bring a resume, but its not required. Attire is business casual. For more info: www.essentiacareers.org.

901 9th St. N., Virginia
Confederate Flag Mississippi

In this Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016 photo, a state flag of Mississippi is unfurled by Sons of Confederate Veterans and other groups on the grounds of the state Capitol in Jackson, Miss., in support of keeping the Confederate battle emblem on the state flag. Mississippi's attorney general said Wednesday, March 2, that he will defend his state's flag against a lawsuit that seeks to remove its Confederate battle emblem, even though he thinks the flag hurts the state and should change.

(Rogelio V. Solis/The Associated Press)

Carlos Moore

JACKSON, Mississippi -- The Confederate battle emblem on the Mississippi flag is unconstitutional because it's a "vestige" of slavery, an attorney argues in an update to his lawsuit seeking to change the banner.

Carlos Moore, a Moss Point native now practicing law in Grenada, filed new arguments Thursday in a lawsuit he originally filed Monday. In the new arguments, Moore says the emblem used by some Confederate troops during the Civil War violates the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which outlawed slavery.

Moore also expands his original argument that the flag violates the 14th Amendment equal-protection rights of African-American residents of Mississippi, including himself. He argues in the update that the flag also violates equal protection rights for people who live outside the state.

"Mississippi is the only state that includes a symbol of a treacherous and insurrectionist Confederate army in its official state flag, restricting the liberty to be free from such tyranny said non-residents enjoy in all other states," Moore wrote Thursday.

The lawsuit is against Republican Gov. Phil Bryant, who has said Mississippi voters should decide whether to redesign the 122-year-old banner. Bryant spokesman Clay Chandler called the lawsuit "frivolous."

At the request of Sons of Confederate Veterans, Bryant recently proclaimed April as Confederate Heritage Month.

The public display of Confederate symbols has been widely debated since the slayings of nine black worshippers at a Charleston, South Carolina, church in June. The white suspect had previously posed for online photos with the rebel flag, which has a red field with a blue X dotted by 13 white stars.

Since the Charleston attacks, several Mississippi cities and counties and some universities have stopped flying the state flag. Moore filed his lawsuit several days after legislative leaders said they could not get consensus on bills that would either remove the Confederate symbol from the flag or withdraw state money from public entities that refuse to fly the current banner.

A hearing on the flag lawsuit will be set after Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood files a response for the state. Hood said in an interview Wednesday that he thinks the flag hurts Mississippi but he will defend the lawsuit because it's his duty as the state's top legal officer.
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.
Last week a horse was spotted in Gramercy, Louisiana. He was thin and appeared to be starving. The St. James Parish Sheriffs Office was called and deputies investigated. They discovered the horse in a mud pit where he had apparently fallen, Fox 8 reports. The officers were able to get him out of the pit and named him Lucky.

Staff from Wind Dancer Ranch Equine Rescue in Slidell was called.

When we arrived on the scene it was heart-wrenching, I had to take a deep breath, the tears almost immediately started pouring, Aubrey Stewart, owner of the rescue, told Fox 8. I saw this frail, frail animal that was a rack of bones, barely able to stand. It is definitely a long-term neglect-abuse case. Hes got a lot of lacerations and marks on his legs, if you look at his legs close. A horse doesnt get this skinny overnight.



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Even though rescuers were concerned Lucky would not survive, Wind Dancer Ranch Equine Rescue stepped in anyway. He had a setback when he couldnt stand up, but he has since been improving.



Since hes been at the rescue, the Humane Society of Louisiana has also stepped in, working with the St. James Parish Sheriffs Office to find the person responsible, Fox 8 reports. The Humane Society of Louisiana is offering a reward of $500 for any information that results in an arrest and conviction. If you have any helpful information, contact the St. James Parish Sheriffs Office at (225) 562-2374.
Having represented management companies and owner/developers in projects ranging from five-star mixed-use luxury branded resorts to limited-service highway franchised hotels, I have had the opportunity to work on many branded management agreements, third-party management agreements (non-branded) and franchise agreements. From my years of experience, I've compiled a list of key terms and tips for you to live by.

In this article we will look at the key terms of a Hotel Management Agreement (HMA) that form the basis of the 'bargain' between the management company and the owner in a typical, full-service branded hotel management agreement. These are the provisions that are likely to be negotiated over a period of weeks, even months, assuming bargaining strength exists on both sides of the negotiating table.

The trend is to set out the basic business terms first in a Letter of Intent (LOI) before proceeding to the 'definitive document' phase. Here are those key terms on which there should be a 'meeting of the minds' before the parties may conclude that they have come to agreement on the terms of an HMA:

Some basics:

Brand Selection: Is the chosen brand right for the location? Has a feasibility study been done to confirm this? Is there competition in the market that will dilute the brand's effectiveness? Does the developer have the required financing (equity and debt) to build to the brand standards?

Identification of the Parties: Is the developer entity the ultimate owner or will the developer negotiating the terms instead be a partner, member or shareholder in the entity into which equity investments will be made?

Description of the 'Hotel' or 'Project': Are all hotel rooms 'dedicated' as full-time hotel space or are there 'condo-hotel' units available as hotel 'keys' when the unit owner is not in occupancy? Is commercial space to be managed as part of the Hotel or leased to an operator, which affects how revenue is treated? Are there other not-strictly-hotel uses  perhaps a parking garage or amenities such as a spa or resort facilities  that are to be included in the scope of management?

Residences: Will they be branded, marketed and managed by the management company? What hotel amenities will be available to residence owners? What is the split of rental proceeds with residence owners?

Once you have a fundamental understanding of these, you can then focus on what is actually negotiable in the HMA:

1. Term:

The term tends to be longer for branded management agreements  20 years these days with perhaps one ten-year renewal at the management company's election, conditioned perhaps and with no prior failures of the performance test (see below). Third-party (non-branded) management agreements tend to be much shorter duration. The HMA typically may not be terminated by the owner with the payment of an agreed termination fee (liquidated damages), but this is becoming more common.

2. Performance Test:

This is typically a two-pronged test. For example, the management company must achieve 90% of budgeted GOP and 85% of the RevPAR of an agreed competitive; with failure to meet both tests for two consecutive years (or sometimes two out of three) constituting a failure of the performance test that may be 'cured' by the management company's paying to cure one of the budgeted GOP shortfalls. A more meaningful test for the owner would be a bottom line NOI test, but management companies generally decline to be evaluated that low in the hotels.

3. Revenue-Based Fees:

Base fees, typically 3% or 4% of total revenue, plus perhaps a marketing fee of 1%, are generally not negotiable. But an owner may obtain a ramp up in the early years of a new hotel until stabilization. These are overhead recovery fees by the management company. There has to be clarity as to what is and is not included in total revenue. For example, only the net rent from space leased to third parties, such as sundry shops, rather than the third-party's total revenue, is included in the hotel's top-line revenue number.

4. Incentive Fee:

This fee rewards not just volume (which is measured by total revenue) but also operating efficiency, by basing the fee on GOP (typically 8% to 12%). GOP is arrived at by deducting from total revenue those operating expenses within the management company's control. This fee is ripe for negotiation, with owners wanting more expenses deducted and perhaps an 'owner's priority' that must be satisfied, such as a return on the owner's total investment in the project or debt service, before the incentive fee is paid. Another issue: are unpaid fees 'earned' and therefore accrued to be paid at a later date from excess earnings? There are many variations to how the incentive fee is determined.

5. Other Charges:

There are many other fee opportunities for and impositions from management companies, such as reservation fees, reward programs charges, employee training charges, technical services fees, optional purchasing programs, brand marketing cost reimbursements and other programs for which the management company charges all managed hotels. Allocation of these charges to participating hotels is a topic that owners will want to explore. These charges may be hard to predict unless the owner looks to a similar hotel managed by the same management company for some idea as to what to expect.

6. FF&E Reserve:

Generally this is funded from hotel operations and is 4-5% of total revenue that is set aside for replacement of FF&E (soft goods, carpets and the like).

7. Budget Approval by Owner: The owner will always want more than just a right to review the budget that the management company prepares, and generally owner approval is allowed. But some items can be excluded from the owner's approval right, such as the cost of utilities or the central service charges. Items in dispute can be set at the prior fiscal year's level plus a CPI-based increase pending resolution by an expert.

8. Capital Expenditures:

The owner must fund all CAPEX to achieve compliance with brand standards, life safety requirements and legal compliance.

9. Owner's Financing: The management company will seek to impose limitations on the owner's debt level to avoid over-leveraging and is likely to seek a Subordination Non-Disturbance Agreement (SNDA). In these instances, the management company acknowledges that its fees are subordinate in priority to debt service (but typically only after a default by the owner under the loan agreement) and the lender agrees to keep the management company in place after a foreclosure.

10. Credit Enhancements:

These are sometimes provided by management companies to enhance the owner's ability to finance the hotel. Indeed, they take many forms, such as a contribution of technical services, key money (an outright grant paid on opening that's recoverable if the management agreement is terminated early), debt service guarantees and more.

11. Employees: In the U.S., the management company typically employs all hotel employees, with the unintended consequence of preventing the owner from obtaining a roster of each employee's salary and benefits out of privacy considerations. Outside the U.S., the owner acts as the employer, but the management company will assign certain experienced personnel to serve in key positions such as the Executive Committee. These key personnel will usually exit the property when the HMA is terminated or expires. In many jurisdictions, hotel employees will be deemed to be jointly employed by both the management company and the owner for purposes of assessing liability to the employer for conduct of the employees.

12. Hiring and Firing Key Personnel:

The owner typically requests and obtains the right to interview candidates and approve the hiring of key personnel such as the General Manager, Controller, and Director of Marketing and Sales. However, management companies may be able to negotiate limits as to how many qualified candidates can be rejected by the owner before the management company is able to hire its choice for best candidate. The owner may also obtain the management company's good faith consideration to the owner's complaints about the performance of personnel, but the decision to fire or not is generally solely the management company's decision.

13. Indemnification and Insurance:

It's typical for the management company to expect the owner to indemnify the management company against all claims, losses and liabilities, except for those arising out of the management company's acts that constitute willful misconduct or gross negligence. For the management company's indemnification to be meaningful to the owner, acts of key employees should be attributed to the management company. Ultimately, liability insurance coverage of both the management company and the owner under the same policy is the means by which both parties are protected from third-party hotel-related claims, such as 'slips and falls'.

14. Damage and Destruction: Property insurance is provided by the owner with coverage acceptable to the management company. The owner will have to apply insurance proceeds to repair the hotel, but may have a termination right if the damage is severe.

15. Sale of the Asset:

Typically, the management company can stipulate that its agreement survive a sale of the hotel and that certain purchasers be prohibited, such as competitors, purchasers with criminal backgrounds or buyers with other legal issues.

16. Agency:

HMAs have been held by many courts to constitute agency appointments by the owner as 'principal' and the management company as 'agent'. For this, there are two consequences: (a) the owner has the power to terminate the HMA at any time for any or no reason, but may face a damage claim from the management company under contract law for wrongful termination; and (b) the management company owes the owner a fiduciary duty. This area of law is complex and experienced counsel is required to advise both parties as to its implications. These agreements have also been held to be personal service contracts with the owner having the same power to terminate the agreement as if it were an agency appointment.

These are many but not all of the negotiating considerations. Many other areas are addressed in the HMA, such as governing law, dispute resolution and more. Management HMAs have evolved since their first appearance in the early 1950s to the point of becoming highly specialized in their vocabulary, business terms and legal interpretation. They require experienced counsel as well as hotel development and operational expertise. Industry custom has rendered these agreements somewhat 'standard' in appearance nowadays, but there is plenty of room to negotiate the key terms.
The world's leading search engine has recently launched a Google review collection widget in which ReviewPro and other vendors are partners. There has been some confusion in the market but Google confirms that all partners offer the same Google review collection capability to clients.

The only point of differentiation is that Google has licensed TrustYou data to use in search results for some hotel properties. It is important to realize that the Google review score and ranking algorithm are only based upon Google reviews. This can be confusing and some hotels might believe that by using TrustYou they can directly influence their rankings in Google. In fact, Google has confirmed that their review score and ranking algorithm are based only upon the ratings and volumes of Google reviews and that TrustYou's data has no direct impact on the ranking of hotel results on Google.

Relevance, distance and prominence are the key drivers to improve a hotel's ranking on Google. As explained in Google help pages, "relevance is how well a local listing matches what someone is searching for. Adding complete and detailed business information can help the search algorithm better understand your business and match you to relevant search results." With respect to distance, "just like it soundshow far is each potential search result from the location term used in a search? If you don't specify a location in your search, Google will calculate distance based on what's known about your location." The third factor is prominence, which"describes how well-known a business is. Some places are more prominent in the offline world, and Google tries to reflect this in local ranking." Additionally, it is important to know that "Google review count and score are also factored into local search rankingmore reviews and positive ratings will improve a business's local ranking."

Google reviews are visible across the entire Google network, whether a consumer or business traveler is searching for a hotel from their desktop, tablet or mobile device. The Google review collection widget allows hotels to leave reviews directly on Google from a guest survey so that ratings and reviews are displayed in Google search results.

ReviewPro's market leading Guest Intelligence Suite, combined with the Google review collection widget, provides hoteliers with the best tools available to improve their positioning on Google and to drive direct traffic to their website. By implementing this widget, hotels can push reviews directly to Google, building their review volume and boosting their presence on the search giant. Together with the Google review collection widget, ReviewPro clients will benefit from actionable insight to increase guest satisfaction, rankings on Google and ultimately revenue.

About Shiji's ReviewPro

ReviewPro, a Shiji Group brand, offers over a decade of experience and investment in innovation to ensure we continue to be the benchmark of the hospitality industry. Our cloud-based Guest Experience Platform includes Hotel Reputation, Guest Surveys, Case Management, and Messaging Automation. Shiji's ReviewPro owns the industry-standard online reputation score, the Global Review Index (GRI), a propriety algorithm based on review data collected from +140 OTAs and review sites in +45 languages. With over, 60,000 establishments in +150 countries, Shiji's ReviewPro offers the technology, support, and education to empower hoteliers to be better.

For more information, please visit: www.reviewpro.com.

Roisin McGrath

ReviewPro
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A dog, caked in mud and feces, awaits help during a puppy mill rescue in Madison County, Arkansas. Photo by Brandon Wade/AP Images for The HSUS

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Theres no better evidence of our efforts to root out cruelty and exploitation than our operation yesterday at a miserable puppy mill in Madison County, Arkansas. In cooperation with local law enforcement, our Animal Rescue Team found hundreds of animals in extreme distress, many of them caked in mud and standing ankle-deep in feces.

Carcasses of dead dogs were strewn across the property, including a mummified puppy in a cage with a dead mouse. Some animals were so sick that they could barely move. There was a pug with a busted eye, and a puppy so malnourished that he was unable to properly use his front legs. A little poodle had a mat on his back as big as his body. A few dogs had nails so long they had curled back into their pads, undoubtedly causing them acute discomfort and pain.

The animals had no access to clean water and food. It was a horrifying sight, said Amanda Gossom of the HSUS Puppy Mills Campaign. The animals were filthy, were in need of veterinary care, and had been living in unsanitary conditions. There were at least five dead dogs, and perhaps many more at serious risk of dying had we not arrived there to help.

Altogether, our Animal Rescue Team, working with the Madison County Sheriffs Office and local animal organizations, removed 295 animals from the puppy mill. The owner surrendered to authorities and has been charged with two counts of animal cruelty. The dogs have been transported to a temporary emergency animal shelter where they will be thoroughly examined by veterinarians and receive any medical treatment necessary.

These dogs are now out of hell, but weak state laws on the inspection of such facilities have made Arkansas a hotbed for puppy mill breeders. This puppy mill sat in a remote area with practically no visibility from the road. Arkansas doesnt license and inspect commercial dog breeders, allowing facilities like these to remain invisible even as they keep the animals in deplorable, cruel conditions. The dogs are then sold at flea markets or over the Internet to unsuspecting buyers who have no idea about the miserable backstory behind their acquisition of a pet.

USDA records show there are 127 licensed commercial dog breeding facilities in Arkansas. But there are certainly many additional unlicensed ones, like the operation we shuttered yesterday. We are glad we could be of help to these dogs, but there is a desperate need to tackle this problem at the root so animals do not suffer needlessly before an expensive and time-consuming intervention is needed. State Rep. Jim Sorvillo  who introduced a bill in Little Rock in 2015 that would require state inspectors to visit every dog breeding facility, helping them improve their standards of care before conditions deteriorate so horribly  has said he will bring that bill back in 2017. We know there is significant interest in its passage from leaders in the legislature and we hope they will see it through this time.









But it is ultimately we, as consumers, who can make the biggest difference by refusing to purchase a dog from a pet store or the Internet or a classified ad or at a flea market  all most likely sourced from puppy mills. If people stop buying dogs from these hellholes, dogs will no longer have to live in them.

P.S. Even as we were rescuing the dogs in Arkansas, we got some great news from Boston, where the city council voted to ban the retail sale of puppies from puppy mills in the city. Also yesterday, a New Jersey Senate committee advanced a groundbreaking bill to cut off means for puppy mills to sell dogs to the public. Well continue with the policy efforts and the rescue efforts until we have helped the last dog suffering in these mills.
The 4.0% increase in profit per room recorded at North East hotels in December, which contributed to a very positive 6.7 per cent year-on-year increase in GOPPAR (Gross Operating Profit per Available Room) for 2015, belies a tough end to the year for hotels in the region, as top line performance nose dived, according to the latest HotStats data.

Hotels in the West Midlands made a good start to 2016, recording a 1.5% increase in profit per room driven by revenue growth across all departments, including Rooms (+3.0%), Food & Beverage (+0.4%), Conference & Banqueting (+2.9%) and Leisure (+7.3%), according to the latest HotStats data.

The overall 1.8% increase in TrevPAR (Total Revenue per Available Room) was sufficient to offset increasing costs in both payroll (+3.0%) and overheads (+2.7%) on a per available room basis.

That said, despite the 1.5% year-on-year increase in GOPPAR (Gross Operating Profit per Available Room), profit conversion for West Midlands hotels fell slightly, by 0.1 percentage points, to 22.3% of total revenue for the month.

Performance Drops For Heathrow Hoteliers Despite Record Passenger Numbers

Hoteliers at Heathrow Airport suffered a 2.3% decline in RevPAR (Revenue per Available Room) this month, as a result of a 1.1 percentage point drop in occupancy and a 0.8% decrease in achieved average room rate. The decline in January was in contrast to the strong performance by Heathrow hoteliers in 2015, during which a 5.5% increase in RevPAR was recorded, which enabled GOPPAR growth of 8.7% for the year, to 34.10. But was also contrary to the 1.0% increase in passenger numbers handled by Heathrow Airport, to 5.5 million, a record for the month of January.

The best ever start to a year for Heathrow Airport was on the back of a record year in 2015, as 75 million passengers passed through the UKs largest airport. The growth in January was attributed to improved travel to/from emerging markets, including Mexico (+21%) and China (+16%), as well as the introduction of new routes and new aircrafts.

Top line performance levels at Heathrow hotels are typically lowest in January, which leaves little margin for cost increases. Despite the best efforts of Heathrow hoteliers to reduce costs, recording a 6.7% saving in payroll and a 4.3% reduction in overheads on a per available room basis, the savings were not sufficient to offset the 4.2% decline in TrevPAR. And as a result, GOPPAR at Heathrow hotels dropped by 4.0% to 21.41 per available room for the month.

Nottingham Hotels Continue to Grow Profit into 2016

Further to the 8.5% increase in RevPAR and 7.8% growth in GOPPAR in 2015, hotels in Nottingham have continued to grow revenue and profit into January 2016, recording year-on- year growth in both key metrics.

Despite suffering a 0.3% decline in achieved average room rate, a 1.3% increase in RevPAR for the month of January was recorded due to a 0.9 percentage point uplift in room occupancy, to 59.8%. There have been no new additions of note to Nottingham hotel supply since the opening of the 202- bedroom De Vere Orchard Hotel in 2012, and the recovery in the economic profile of the city has enabled hoteliers to thrive, recording a 24.5 per cent increase in RevPAR to 44.66 in the 12 months to January 2016, from 35.86 in the 12 months to January 2013.

Nottingham hoteliers suffered through the economic downturn, but performance in the East Midlands city goes from strength to strength, which in 2015, was driven somewhat surprisingly by growth in demand from the leisure segment, enabling an increase in the achieved rate in the individual leisure (+7.3%) and group/tours (+13.2%) segments.

The strong top line performance has successfully flowed through to the bottom line, with hotels in Nottingham recording a GOPPAR of 24.00 in the 12 months to January 2016, compared to 17.67 in the 12 months to January 2013, a 35.8% uplift.

Click here for full report (PDF)

For an inside view of a local or regional market place in the hotel sector, bespoke HotStats reports are available. Terms and conditions apply. Visit www.hotstats.com to view a sample report.

HotStats provides two reporting tools to hoteliers:

Our unique profit and loss benchmarking service which enables monthly comparison of hotels performance against their competitors. It is distinguished by the fact that it provides in excess of 100 performance metric comparisons covering 70 areas of hotel revenue, cost, profit and statistics providing far deeper insight into the hotel operation than any other tool.

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Waking to a bright blue sky and a glistening carpet of snow in Colorado, the maddening strife of home seems far away, the General Election results a mere smudge on the skyline. From the vantage point of Sentinel Rock in the Flatirons, looking east towards Kansas where the earth curves before you, all human endeavour seems insubstantial, transient.

These huge and ancient rock formations were there before we came and will be there when we are gone. Here be beautiful and vast landscapes that truly merit that much-abused word awesome. But theres no such thing as paradise. Even here, dark clouds loom. The sheriff has been to the local school to ensure that everyone knows what to do if theres a lockdown ordered. Meanwhile, children openly discuss the prospect of exile should Donald Trump be elected as the next President of the USA, in November. Ah yes, Trump. Like Silvio Berlusconi before him, hes a populist billionaire buffoon. But for all his awfulness, Berlusconi had a rascal charm  whereas Trump is rude, charmless and ignorant. Hes a carnival huckster, a barker, a bully. But thats precisely why hes on a roll. He gives expression to the worst of America. Think Beavis and Butthead in combedover middle age. And he could indeed be the next President of the United States. It is deeply dispiriting.

Europeans are mostly horrified. Yet they also see his rise as part of a global phenomenon in which electorates across the world are turning to outsider candidates on both the right and the left. Look at what has happened in Ireland. Voters have had enough of elites, were told. They want a new kind of politics, were told.
2 shoots straight in at the top

In a conundrum to cause maths teachers everywhere to break out in hives, 2 has proven bigger than 25, as The Gloaming knock Adele off the top of the Irish charts.

The trad supergroup, who featured on the cover of the last issue of Hot Press enter the rundown at the top, as their sophomore effort dislodges the English songstress from top spot.

While Adele - whose visits to the SSE and 3Arena this week will have done her sales no harm - clings onto second spot, there's another new entry behind her, in the form of The 1975. The British band - whose frontman Matty Healy opened up to in a fascinating interview in the aforementioned issue of Hot Press (do we know how to pick 'em or what?) - see their tongue twister of second album, I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It, enter at No. 3.

And while there's yet another new entry at the upper reaches - Macklemore and Ryan Lewis' latest effort This Unruly Mess I've Made sits at No. 6 - some things stay the same. Former chart-toppers Walking On Cars continue to perform well, with Everything This Way good enough to beat Justin Bieber to fourth spot, while Rod Stewart, Nathan Carter, Kenny Rogers and The Bee Gees continue their admittedly unusual tenure in the top ten.
The Dublin group plot a last hurrah at The Button Factory

The Mighty Stef have announced that a Button Factory show in May will be their last.

The Dublin group, fronted by the titular Stefan Murphy, have released four albums and two EPs throughout the past decade  and 2015s Year Of The Horse may well have been the best work of their career.

That, though, looks set to be the last album from The Mighty Stef, as they note their hometown gig on May 13 will be their last hurrah.

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Knoxville Morning and A Lazarus Soul will also be in action on the evening, though the support well need might be more emotional than musical as we bid farewell to a staple of Irish music for ten years.

Tickets are available now.
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Prayer to St. Michael Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the malice and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.


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Customer Speakers Announced for 2016 Global Skillsoft Perspectives Xerox, Lear Corporation, American Cancer Society to Share Success Stories; Early Bird Registration Date Ends March 7

Posted by Press Releases on Friday, 03-04-2016 7:29 am

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Nashua, NH (PRWEB) March 02, 2016Skillsoft, the global leader in eLearning, today announced the customer spotlight sessions for its annual user conference for Skillsoft and SumTotal customers, taking place from May 9-12 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, NV. More than a thousand business leaders from around the world will learn how Skillsoft and SumTotal have helped organizations achieve outstanding business results. Confirmed speakers include Xerox, Johnson & Johnson, P.F. Changs, PwC, Eaton Corporation, and BAE Systems. Keynote speakers Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, one of Fortune Magazines The Worlds 50 Greatest Leaders and motivational psychologist Dr. Heidi Grant Halvorson will discuss how to foster innovation and build an inspirational organizational culture. The 2016 Innovation Awards will recognize customers for their visionary work in talent, learning and workforce management.Im really excited to welcome so many customers to u...

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Executives Say Less Than 10 Percent of Business Processes will Rely on Paper by 2018 Canadian companies ahead of global counterparts in digitizing key business processes

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TORONTO, ON., March 1, 2016  Data is the lifeblood of business today, and its not easy digging through it to uncover insightful, actionable intelligence. Thats one takeaway from a survey of 600 IT decision-makers in large US, Canadian and Western European organizations. The Digitization at Work report from Xerox shows the move from paper to digital processes is nearly upon us, however, many survey respondents admit they may not be ready for it. The report found broad concern over paper-based processes, with cost (42 percent) and security (42 percent) cited as primary issues. 40 percent of Canadian respondents said cost reduction was the prime reason for digitization followed by improved data collection at 33 percent. Survey respondents predicted an average of only nine percent of key business operation processes will run on paper in the next two years. But more than half (55 percent) of the respondents admit their organizations processes are st...

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Fraser Institute News Release: Eighty-eight per cent of Canadian minimum-wage earners do not live in low-income households Media Release: Aanand Radia, Media Relations Specialist, Fraser Institute, (416) 363-6575 ext. 238, aanand.radia@fraserinstitute.or

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VANCOUVERRaising the minimum wage will do little to reduce poverty mainly because most minimum-wage earners dont live in low-income households, finds a new study released today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.Despite good intentions, the evidence shows increasing the minimum wage is not an effective policy for helping Canadians struggling with poverty, said Charles Lammam, director of fiscal studies at the Fraser Institute and co-author of Raising the Minimum Wage: Misguided Policy, Unintended Consequences.Why? Partly because 88 per cent of Canadian minimum-wage earners do not live in low-income households, as defined by Statistics Canadas Low Income Cut-off or LICO. (A household with income under the LICO line will likely devote a larger share of its income on food, clothing and shelter than the average family.)Moreover, nearly 60 per cent of minimum-wage earners are teenagers or young adults (a...

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Jane Provides Turnkey Hiring Services for Pop! Promos, Philadelphias Fastest Growing CompanyJane provides hiring scalability as the nations premier hiring-as-a-service platform.

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PHILADELPHIA, PA (PRWEB) MARCH 03, 2016Jane, a pioneer in hiring-as-a-service, has been selected by Pop! Promos, Philadelphia 100s #1 fastest growing company according to the Philadelphia Business Journal, to manage their hiring processes and tasks. Founded in 2012, Pop! Promos has grown from its 2 founders to a 25-person operation, with sales in the multi-millions. Through this dramatic growth, Pop! Promos has engaged Jane to efficiently manage their hiring process as well as equip their management team with the best practices and assessment tools to consistently hire qualified people who fit into their fast-paced culture.Jane has completely changed our hiring process, for the better! As a small business, we didnt know how to handle HR issues, especially hiring, said Erin Reilly, CEO and co-founder of Pop! Promos. Thanks to Jane, we are hiring more candidates more confidently than ever before!Janes hiring platform has provided Pop! Prom...

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myCNAjobs Scholarship Fund Awards Local NJ Mom Full Tuition Scholarship To Attend HPI School of Allied Health Full tuition CNA class scholarship awarded to seasoned caregiver with 23 years of experience caring for her own children.

Posted by Press Releases on Friday, 03-04-2016 7:18 am

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(PRWEB) March 03, 2016myCNAjobs and HPI School of Allied Health announce the award of a full tuition CNA class scholarship via the myCNAjobs Scholarship fund. HPI, based in Union, New Jersey, will cover the full cost of tuition for Barbara M. to attend classes later this month.Barbara was selected for the scholarship as a seasoned caregiver with 23 years of experience caring for her own children. A natural nurturer, Barbara is seeking to turn her experience into a professional full-time career to make a positive difference in the lives of seniors in her community."We are delighted to partner with myCNAjobs and offer Barbara a start to her career in nursing," comments Anetta Wilson-Barnett, Program Director of HPI School of Allied Health. "Our local community needs experienced caregivers and HPI is committed to bringing better care to the residents of Union City."myCNAjobs will provide scrubs required for the program and will connect Barbara to local recruiters post ...

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PrideStaff Financial Wins Back-To-Back Best Of Staffing Client And Talent Diamond Awards From Inavero PrideStaff Financial, part of the PrideStaff group of companies, announced they were named one of Inavero's 2016 Best of Staffing Client and Talent Di

Posted by Press Releases on Friday, 03-04-2016 7:14 am

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Fresno, CA (PRWEB) March 02, 2016PrideStaff Financial, part of the PrideStaff group of companies, announced they were named one of Inavero's 2016 Best of Staffing Client and Talent Diamond Award Winners, after winning the Best of Staffing Client and Talent Awards at least five years in a row for providing superior service to their clients and job seekers. PrideStaff Financial is the only staffing firm specializing in accounting and financial staffing in the U.S. and Canada to win these awards two years in a row.Presented in partnership with CareerBuilder, Inaveros Best of Staffing awards recognize industry leaders in service quality based completely on the ratings given to them by their clients and the permanent and temporary employees theyve helped find jobs. On average, clients of winning agencies are nearly three times more likely to be completely satisfied and talent are 45% more likely to be satisfied with the services provided, compared to those working with no...

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Virtual Incentives Team Continues to Grow Incentives solutions company expands team to support client growth in consumer promotions, market research, and employee recognition

Posted by Press Releases on Friday, 03-04-2016 6:08 am

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Atlanta, GA February 29, 2016  Virtual Incentives, a pioneer in the incentives solutions space, has made two key hires for its enterprise sales and account management teams. Jacilyn Bennett joins the company as the manager of the enterprise sales team and Kirsten Fladland is the new account manager for enterprise level customers. Both have strong backgrounds in the incentives and loyalty industries. Jacilyn Bennett, Enterprise Sales Manager, has 15 years of experience in the technology and marketing-based industries, with a strong focus on loyalty, incentive and recognition program sales. She brings a consultative approach to the sales process, and works hard to meet the specific needs of each client. Prior to joining the Virtual Incentives team, Bennett spent more than a decade in leadership roles as a top sales performer in the business-to-business rewards and incentives space. She holds a bachelors degree in business administration from Troy University and is ba...

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Cyprus PIO: Turkish Cypriot and Turkish Media Review, 16-03-03 Cyprus Press and Information Office: Turkish Cypriot Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office Server at <http://www.pio.gov.cy/> TURKISH CYPRIOT AND TURKISH MEDIA REVIEW No. 43/16 03.03.2016 [A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS [01] Davutoglu and Kalyoncu signed the water "agreement"; Davutoglu reiterates that they do not recognize the Republic of Cyprus [02] Akinci: "By enforcing our structure we will come closer to the solution" [03] Isik stated that Turkey will continue exerting efforts for a solution in Cyprus and for the "lifting" of the so-called embargoes [04] Talat reacted against AKEL's statement that the water agreement will not bind Cyprus [05] Ozgurgun reacted over President Anastasiades' statement about the development of occupied Morfou [06] Durust: Anastasiades' statements do not concern us [07] Kibris Postasi resumed its printed edition [08] Protesters trying to break Sur curfew met with harsh police intervention [09] Turkish PM calls Cumhuriyet report an 'espionage against Turkey' [A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS [01] Davutoglu and Kalyoncu signed the water "agreement"; Davutoglu reiterates that they do not recognize the Republic of Cyprus Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris newspaper (03.03.16) reports that Turkish Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu and self-styled prime minister of the breakaway regime in the occupied area of Cyprus, Omer Kalyoncu signed yesterday in Ankara the "agreement" regarding the water supply and administration from Turkey to the occupied area of the island. In statements at a joint press conference, Kalyoncu argued that the water "agreement" is of vital importance for the Greek Cypriots as well in the federal republic to be established after the comprehensive solution to the Cyprus problem. He claimed: "We believe that the water should be used from now in the direction of peace and rapprochement. The positive course of the relations between the TRNC and Turkey in a sensitive period during which the negotiations between the two communities are advancing is of great importance". Arguing that important distance has been covered in the search for a just and lasting solution, Kalyoncu said that the negotiating process is continuing positively. Asked to assess the statement made by left-wing AKEL party's general Secretary that the water "agreement" between Turkey and the breakaway regime does not bind the Republic of Cyprus, Kalyoncu alleged that if a federal republic is established the international agreements made by the "south", as he described the Republic of Cyprus, and the "international agreements" made by the regime will be all valid. "I believe that they have created a fuss in vain and they did not do right", he alleged. In his statements, Davutoglu described the water project as "the project of the century" and argued that with this project the "daughter land is once more connected to the motherland". He added: "The motherland and the daughter land who have been sharing the same destine for centuries had unified forever with the blood of our martyrs who went there in 1974 and now with our water [?] With this project of the century we are sending to our Cyprus, our TRNC, the daughter land, Turkey's water which is [?] for them like the mother's milk, because in all places of the world the islands' most important problem is the fact that they cannot have water resources or their resources are limited. In this sense the Anatolian water transferred to the TRNC is a strategic investment [?]". Davutoglu said also that with Kalyoncu they discussed the negotiations for finding a solution to the Cyprus problem and had the opportunity to assess their work. He argued: "The TRNC standing on its own feet, having an institutionalized political and economic structure is one of the most important strategic targets for Turkey and bears vital importance. Either there is a solution or not, the TRNC which will continue its existence as a founding state, must be built on the soundest foundations as one of the two founding states and if there is no solution it is required that it has the deposit to be able to again continue its own way as a respectable and recognized country in the world. On this issue Turkey is by the TRNC's side [?] under any conditions. No one should make wrong calculations. Turkey's support, the support which makes possible the impossible today, will continue always just like in the water project and we will continue doing whatever is necessary from now on for our kinsmen, our brothers in the TRNC living in tranquility, security and stability". Replying to a question regarding Greek Cypriot statements that the Republic of Cyprus will not recognize the water "agreement" between Turkey and the breakaway regime, Davutoglu argued: "The comment of a country which we in any case do not recognize does not bind us. It is necessary to say this. Actually this reflects a mentality. It is tantamount to 'we are not accepting any step even if this is positive'. Think, with a great munificence we say I am not aiming at the TRNC, we are sending water to the entire Cyprus. We are in any case ready to give all we have for the TRNC. Let no one doubt about this. [?] Therefore the water which reaches the island of Cyprus and God willing when peace comes will be the water of life to all Cyprus, not only for the Turks but for the Greeks as well. We said this as well. We referred to it as the first step for a big peace. How positive language we use, how constructive approach we exhibit. We never said the following: 'This water goes only for the Turks and the Greeks will never make use of it'. Because for us the water is a blessing to all humanity by Allah to all humankind. [?] While we are using such a positive language, the other side says 'this agreement does not bind us'. It does not matter whether it binds [them] or not. Has the water reached there? Yes it has. Has an agreement been signed? It has. Is with this agreement every kinsman of ours in the TRNC going to be benefited of this water? Yes they will. Let it not bind them. There is no need to make this so big trouble of it. However, it is important because it reflects the mentality. Because of this mentality peace cannot be reached in Cyprus. That is, a stance which aims at preventing or denigrating or ignoring even a positive step is in any case preventing peace from coming to Cyprus. Look how relaxed we are, on the other hand, we are open to any kind of solution, we are open to discussing everything, we are open to sending water, we are open to pleasing. Why? Because we have faith in ourselves, we are certain of our justice, we are certain of our power, we are certain of the position we are standing. Therefore, we should not take it very seriously into consideration. One day they will remember these issues, this agreement which now they are not taking seriously into consideration or they do not accept, when they start drinking from water that came [?] and they will thank Turkey. And they will thank Mr Kalyoncu for signing the agreement. The day will come when they will be ashamed of what they did". (I/Ts.) [02] Akinci: "By enforcing our structure we will come closer to the solution" Under the above title, Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris newspaper (03.03.16) reports that Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, in statements yesterday during the "1st "TRNC KOBI summit", [Translator's note: KOBI is Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in the occupied area of Cyprus, which was established with a U.S financial grant of 30.5 million dollars, aimed to develop the economy in the occupied area of Cyprus], described the SMEs as the "unsung hero of the economy" of the occupation regime. Pointing out that "KOBI's" aim is the development of the "economy" and the creation of a competitive structure in the "TRNC", Akinci said: "It is highly important to become competitive not only within the federal structure to be in the future but also within the EU". "By doing this, we will come closer to the solution", Akinci argued and stressed that even if there will not be a solution, the Turkish Cypriots should establish a viable and competitive structure. Referring to the Cyprus negotiation talks, Akinci said that after his "election" in "presidency" he exerted efforts with honesty and goodwill together with the cooperation of Turkey in order to find a solution on the Cyprus problem. He also explained that Cyprus as a whole and as a new state to be within the framework of a federal structure, should take its place inside the EU. Pointing out that a remarkable progress has been achieved at the negotiation talks, Akinci added that there are still some difficulties in some core issues and underlined that they will continue their efforts in order for the process to yield a positive outcome. Stating that they are carrying out the talks conscious that 2016 will be the year of the solution, Akinci stressed that this solution will reflect positively to the region. Supporting that they should continue their path with the vision to turn the energy resources in the region as a mean of cooperation and not of friction, Akinci referred to the negative scenario of not being able to reach a federal solution in Cyprus and added that it is from this point of view that KOBI's role is very important. He stated also that if no solution is found, the life in the occupied area of Cyprus will continue and said that that they should do all necessary in order to be able to become a part of the international law. (AK) [03] Isik stated that Turkey will continue exerting efforts for a solution in Cyprus and for the "lifting" of the so-called embargoes Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris newspaper (03.03.16) reports that Turkey's Minister of Science, Industry and Technology Fikri Isik, who is illegally visiting the occupation regime, delivered a speech yesterday to the "1st TRNC KOBI summit" and stated, inter alia, that they will continue their diplomatic actions for a fair and viable solution in Cyprus. Besides that, he added, they will continue exerting pressure to all channels for the lifting of the "unfair embargoes" imposed towards the "TRNC". Isik went on and stressed the need for the business world in "north Cyprus" to become competitive and for the occupation regime's economy to become innovative. Isik also stated that the Turkish Republic will continue providing any kind of support for the development of the "TRNC". Giving a briefing about the grants and the standby credits that Turkey provided to the entrepreneurs in the country, Isik added that Turkey will continue its contribution and support to the "entrepreneurs" in the "TRNC" as well. Pointing to the important role of "KOBI" (Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in the occupied area of Cyprus) for the development of the "TRNC's economy", Isik explained that the "TRNC's KOBI summit" is taking place with the aim to determine "KOBI's strategies" towards competition and development. Referring to the water transferred from Turkey to the occupation regime, Isik said that this will bring prosperity in the "TRNC" and boost the production of the "country". (AK) [04] Talat reacted against AKEL's statement that the water agreement will not bind Cyprus Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris Postasi newspaper (03.03.16) reports that the chairman of the Republican Turkish Party (CTP) Mehmet Ali Talat criticized the statements made by AKEL party that Cyprus will not be bind to keeping the water agreement made between Turkey and the breakaway regime. AKEL issued a statement noting that the water project is a plan that should have been signed off by a unified federal Cyprus and not a regime that is not recognized. "Whether it is bind or not, this is not an issue that can be determined by a statement made by a party", Talat said and added: "This is not a significant statement? It is not clear yet which international agreement will bind or not the United Cyprus State". Talat also expressed the question why this agreement could not bind the federal state. "What kind of objections are there for it?", he said. He went on and added that they even undertook this issue with Demetris Christofias during the Cyprus negotiation and discussed on how the water would be under the federal authority. (CS) [05] Ozgurgun reacted over President Anastasiades' statement about the development of occupied Morfou Turkish Cypriot daily Halkin Sesi newspaper (03.03.16) reports that the leader of the National Unity Party (UBP) Huseyin Ozgurgun in statements yesterday, expressed strong criticism to the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades for his recent statement where he expressed his sadness over the report about the establishment of a "new university" in occupied Morfou. Commenting on Anastasiades' reaction, Ozgurgun said: "With this mentality, which is trying to present motherland Turkey as the side which is against the solution, losing time for an open-ended negotiation talks is the biggest injustice for the Turkish Cypriot people". (AK) [06] Durust: Anastasiades' statements do not concern us Turkish Cypriot daily Kibrisli newspaper (03.03.16) reports that the so-called minister of education Kemal Durust reacted against the statements of President Nikos Anastasiades who said that "there is no solution without Morfou's return". "These statements do not concern us", Durust stated adding that the construction of a "Cyprus science community health university" is extremely important for them and it does not concern them whether Anastasiades, the Greek Cypriots and their administration are pleased or not with it. He went on and added that the Turkish Cypriot "people" have been living in this soil for 40-42 years and they consider it as their motherland. "Investments will help towards the solution procedure", he said and added" "We are not against the solution. We think that a solution is necessary. If there is a solution, it will not be according to Anastasiades liking. [?] supporting the solution procedure means that we will not stop the investments in our country and we will make them where we think are needed", he stated. (CS) [07] Kibris Postasi resumed its printed edition Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris Postasi newspaper (03.03.16) reports that it started its printed edition again as of today after it stopped its circulation for three days. According to Rasih Resat, the editor-in-chief of the Kibris Postasi, the paper's administration team decided to re-think its decision to stop the circulation of Kibris Postasi on paper and its continuation on internet, because of the reaction of the readers. "We could not bear the pressure, we missed our paper and we started printing again", Resat wrote. (CS) [08] Protesters trying to break Sur curfew met with harsh police intervention Turkish daily Today's Zaman (03.03.16) reports that the Turkish police have harshly intervened in local groups who tried to break a months-long curfew in six neighborhoods of the Sur district in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir following a call from pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) leader Selahattin Demirtas. The police used pressurized water, tear gas and plastic bullets against the protesters to force them away. Police detained 33 people during the protests. Diyarbakir authorities already announced on Wednesday that it has banned all entry into the Sur district, a move that came before the planned march to protest the long-standing curfew. Speaking on Monday, pro-Kurdish HDP Co-chair Selahattin Demirtas called on people to march on Wednesday to protest the more than 90-day curfew in Diyarbakir's Sur district. "We don't see it as normal that a war has been ongoing in the center of the province for three months. All Diyarbakir people should make a stand to lift the blockade in Sur," Demirtas said, and called on everyone to attend the march planned to be held in Sur on Wednesday. "This is a democratic right guaranteed by the Constitution," he underlined. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who spoke during a press conference in Nigeria on Wednesday, called on prosecutors to take action against Demirtas. "I think the prosecutors have to perform their duties, because nobody has the right to create chaos and disturb the peace in my country." Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Wednesday that lawmakers from the pro-Kurdish HDP had sought to collaborate with "terrorists" and drag Turkey into chaos. Davutoglu also told a news conference that there are plans to make it easier for civilians to leave areas under curfew in the predominantly Kurdish southeast, where hundreds have died since the clashes between PKK terrorists and the security forces members erupted after the collapse of a cease-fire in July. In remarks to reporters in Parliament on Wednesday, Interior Minister Efkan Ala termed Demirtas's call an "open provocation," adding, "Those who make provocations bear the consequences," he said. [09] Turkish PM calls Cumhuriyet report an 'espionage against Turkey' Turkish Hurriyet Daily News (03.03.16) reports that the Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has labeled a report on intelligence trucks bound for Syria, which lead to the imprisonment of two daily Cumhuriyet journalists before they were recently released upon a Constitutional Court decision, as espionage against the state, not a part of freedom of expression, as the political debate on the matter heats up further. "There is clearly an issue of an activity [carried out] against the Republic of Turkey. They published documents, which were meant to be secret and revived the issue. [?] The aims of those who gave the documents to them are obvious," Davutoglu said, adding it was wrong to reflect the case as one regarding press freedom. Davutoglu also said one could not apply to the Constitutional Court before the legal process was complete, adding that the whole legal process cannot be tied only to the Constitutional Court. TURKISH AFFAIRS SECTION http://www.moi.gov.cy/pio (CS/AM) Cyprus Press and Information Office: Turkish Cypriot Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-03-03 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/> CONTENTS [01] Greece needs support with refugee crisis but cannot relax reform efforts, Schaeuble says in London [02] Government sets up center to coordinate refugee management [01] Greece needs support with refugee crisis but cannot relax reform efforts, Schaeuble says in London Greece needs additional support to cope with the challenges posed by the refugee crisis but that does not mean that it can relax efforts to reform and regain competitiveness, German Finance Minister Wolgang Schaeuble said on Thursday, in a lecture analysing Germany's role in Europe at the London School of Economics. "There is a new situation, the refugee crisis, so Greece needs - beyond the old discussion - additional solidarity and that is what we are granting to them. But this does not mean that Greece should not continue to work on what is a difficult thing for Greeks to achieve, to regain competitiveness," he said. Sticking to his guns on the need for fiscal responsibility and balanced budgets, Schaeuble said that the issue of moral hazard was "huge" in the construction of the monetary union, while levels of indebtedness on all levels left much less "space" for fiscal stimulus and creating new debt. "The old way to stimulate growth will not work," he said, accusing of economists of forgetting "half of Keynes," namely that in times of surplus, spending must be reduced. Asked if he was about to be "softer" with Greece on pension reform, Schaeuble stressed that the deal agreed in the summer of 2015 must be honoured by all sides. "We have taken a decision in the summer time. The whole story is very short..." he said, noting that he had warned Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras years earlier that he would be unable to keep his promises if he campaigned to stay in the EU while not accepting the fiscal reform programme. "He promised, he won and six months later he did the opposite. And Greece had to pay a terrible price for this, it was very expensive for Greece," he said. "We took a decision in July-August last year and since we have taken a decision, we have taken a decision. A deal is a deal," Schaeuble added. "We made a deal in the summer and everyone has to stick with what has been agreed." At the same time, the German finance minister acknowledged that a way had to be found to support Greece as it struggled with the new challenge of the refugee crisis, noting that Greece was currently "suffering a terrible lack of solidarity from alot of European member-states." "We have to find European solutions," he said, adding that Europe was moving toward more solidarity on the refugee issue and this would be seen after the summit on Monday, while the European Commission had taken too long but had just presented a plan for supporting Greece. Germany will resist pressures, both from German voters and many of its neighbours, to take decisions that would "two days later [make] Greece a failed state," Schaeuble commented. "We will not do it. This is in the interests not only of Greece, it is in the interests of Europe, because Europe has to defend its self, its values" he said, noting a need for more engagement - and spending - in neighbourship, as well as the countries of origin and those neighbouring the war zone, such as Turkey. Fielding more questions on Greece, he noted that a deal had been struck with Greece in the summer after difficult negotiations and "therefore Grexit is not on the table." "We stick to this, to this deal...It is up to Greece to stick to what has been agreed and we stick to what has been agreed," while stressing that completing the reforms was a "must". Asked why a review of Greece's programme has not yet been concluded, the German finance minister pointed squarely at Greece for not delivering what the agreements called for. "It is not a problem for the institutions, it is problem for Greece to deliver what has been agreed," he said, while adding that it was up to the three institutions to find solutions for the financing needs of Greece, given the additional needs created by the refugee crisis," he said. He warned, however, that Greece "had an interest not to be misunderstood" that it will use the migration crisis in order to not stick to the agreements for overcoming the eurozone crisis. Regaining competitiveness in Greece was "a very specific case and very difficult to achieve," he acknowledged, especially without the instrument of external devaluation, "but good luck and we are supportive as much as we can." [02] Government sets up center to coordinate refugee management Greece completed the creation of a coordinating center whose function will be to better coordinate ministerial efforts to tackle the refugee crisis, the Defence ministry announced in a press conference on Thursday. The center, headed by Alternate Defence Minister Dimitris Vitsas, will be comprised by representatives from the six ministries involved in managing the issue a Defence, Migration Policy, Civil Protection, Infrastructure-Transport and Networks, Shipping and Macedonia-Thrace. Speaking to journalists, Vitsas said Greece is completing its obliations towards Europe and is now focusing on the creation of temporary housing centers, in cooperation with local government. He also said the decisions of the EU-Turkey summit on March 7 will be a landmark for the center. "Based on the summit's decisions, we'll readapt our entire policy." He added that the government wants to create another 15,000 positions of temporary accommodation by next week in areas where they can be "set up quickly", noting that the majority of the venues used today for accommodation are unused military camps. "It is a serious effort to become more efficient operationally," Alternate Minister for Migration Policy Yiannis Mouzalas said in his turn. Describing the responsibilities of the center, the Defence ministry's general secretary, Yiannis Tafyllis, said its work is to "form the general picture" of the situation and the problems which arise and then to plan, monitor, implement and review its measures and decisions. According to data collected by the centre this morning, Greece's four hotspots are accommodating 2,501 refugees and migrants, the four open accommodation centers in Schisto, Diavata, Nea Kavala and Hersos have 8,647 people, another 720 reside in the accommodation centre of Eleonas, west of Athens, and 5,290 people are staying in the buildings of the former airport, Elliniko. It is also estimated that 10,000 refugees and migrants are stranded in Idomeni, and 1,800 in Piraeus. Another 490 people are accommodated in hotels rented by the UNHCR in Thermopyles and near Karditsa. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-03-04 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/> CONTENTS [01] President Pavlopoulos chairs a political meeting on refugees [01] President Pavlopoulos chairs a political meeting on refugees The President of the Hellenic Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos will chair a special meeting with the leaders of the Greek political parties on Friday at 12:00 at the presidential mansion. The meeting was scheduled after the request of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to inform the parties of the opposition on the latest developments and the government's position on the thorny issue of the migration flow. The government is looking forward to a constructive and earnest dialogue with the political leaders, said on Tuesday the government's spokeswoman Ogla Gerovassili, ahead of the meeting. Government sources stress that, in any case, Greece will pursue every diplomatic means to achieve a proportional distribution of the migrant's flows and the rapid implementation of the refugees allocation, so that unilateral actions could be avoided in the future. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-03-04 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/> CONTENTS [01] FM Kotzias to meet Turkish counterpart Cavusoglu on bilateral relations, refugee issue [02] 320 refugees crossed the Greek-FYROM buffer zone in 24 hours [03] "Ariadni" ferry with 592 refugees aboard arrives at Piraeus port [01] FM Kotzias to meet Turkish counterpart Cavusoglu on bilateral relations, refugee issue The bilateral relations and the Greek-Turkish cooperation in the management of refugee/migrant issue ahead of the extraordinary EU summit to be held in Brussels on Monday and the 4th Supreme Greek-Turkish Cooperation Council scheduled for the following day dominate a meeting between Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, who is paying an official visit to Athens. The meeting will focus on the cooperation between the two countries in the operational NATO plan for patrols in the Aegean and the issue of refugees-migrants resettlement in Turkey as well as the effective and responsible implementation of Turkey's agreement with the EU to suspend refugee/migration flows and illegal trafficking to Greece. [02] 320 refugees crossed the Greek-FYROM buffer zone in 24 hours A total of 320 refugees crossed the Greek-FYROM buffer zone over the last 24 hours. More than 10,000 refugees have been stranded in the area in rather difficult conditions after Thursday's rainstorm. The buffer zone is now closed again. [03] "Ariadni" ferry with 592 refugees aboard arrives at Piraeus port "Ariadni" ferry with 592 refugees from Chios and Mytilene aboard docked at Piraeus port on Friday morning. "Blue Star 2" carried another 17 refugees from Kos and 40 refugees from Leros. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
By Erin Sutherland, College Urban and Public Affairs

A group of recent graduates from the Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) program at PSU's Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning received a 2016 Student Project Award from the American Institute of Certified Planners for their Planning Workshop project, "Fourth Plain Forward: An Action Plan for Vancouver's Multicultural Business District."

Planning Workshop serves as a capstone experience for the MURP degree, with students working in teams of five to six to develop plans that meet the needs of their community partners. This is the sixth time in the last 10 years that a Planning Workshop project has won a national award, the most of any planning program in the country.



The student project team was comprised of Jamin Kimmell, Kate Rogers, Eduardo Montejo, Anthony Thompson, Mandia Gonzales, and Lauren Patton. Workshop instructors included Dr. Sy Adler, Dr. Marisa A. Zapata, and Susan Hartnett. The student team prepared Fourth Plain Forward for Vancouver's Department of Community and Economic Development.



Fourth Plain Forward addresses an increasingly common set of challenges faced by planners in communities like Vancouver: promoting neighborhood revitalization and inclusive development in a diverse and multicultural--but low-income and civically disengaged--community; creating safe and inviting pedestrian and public spaces amid an auto-dominated urban form and disinvested building stock; and engaging and empowering the community through the planning process.



"The neighborhoods adjacent to the Fourth Plain Forward study area are the most ethnically and economically diverse in the city," says Chad Eiken, Director of Community and Economic Development for the City of Vancouver. "In recognition of this, the student team developed and managed an extensive public involvement process, which provided numerous opportunities for residents and businesses to engage."



The team focused on identifying actions that support small businesses, provide economic opportunities for families, and leverage the benefits of transit investment. The team chose to focus on Fourth Plain between Fort Vancouver Way and Fairmount Avenue, and the surrounding neighborhoods of Maplewood and Fourth Plain Village. The team analyzed existing conditions, engaged business owners, residents, and community leaders for input, researched best practices, and crafted a set of recommended actions.



"Fourth Plain Forward has helped to focus both city and community stakeholders around the future of the corridor," says Dr. Jennifer Dill, Director of the Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning. "It represents a good model of thoughtful, reflective, and inclusive planning toward the promotion of more equitable and vibrant communities, and an excellent example of PSU's mission to 'Let Knowledge Serve.'"



The American Institute of Certified Planners is the American Planning Association's professional institute and the recognized leader in certifying professional planners and promoting ethical planning, professional development, planning education, and standards of practice. Winners will be recognized at the 2016 National Planning Conference in Phoenix.
Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-03-04 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/> CONTENTS [01] Turkey accepts the return of economic migrants, EU sources say; over 6,200 refugees stranded onAegean islands [02] Foreign Ministry condemns the provocative statements of Slovak PM [03] Infant refugee dies at Mytilene hospital [04] March 7 is a critical day, Alternate Defence Min Vitsas says; condition with refugees manageable-- police major general Tsirigoti [01] Turkey accepts the return of economic migrants, EU sources say; over 6,200 refugees stranded onAegean islands Turkey has agreed to accept the return of economic migrants, EU sources on Friday said in exclusive statements to ANA-MPA. The decision will be included in the statement of the EU summit on Monday in Brussels, they said, adding however that Turkey will not accept the return of refugees from war zones. According to Financial Times, the EU is close to a breakthrough deal with Ankara that would see all non-Syrian migrants reaching Greek islands returned to Turkey, marking a crucial step in the bloc's hardening stance against the flow of people pouring into its territories. Citing two diplomats familiar with the discussion on Thursday, it also said that Turkey agreed to accept all migrants rescued in international waters by a NATO mission. Meanwhile, over 6,238 identified refugees and migrants are currently on the northeastern Aegean islands waiting to be transferred to the port of Piraeus. The number of identified refugees on Lesvos reached 4,067. [02] Foreign Ministry condemns the provocative statements of Slovak PM It is obvious that the Slovak Prime Minister, just a few days before the elections in his country, wants to invest his election campaign with vitriol and human drama, said Greek Foreign Ministry in an announcement on Friday. "We are unable to witness his delirium and understand how he hopes, if re-elected, to carry out his duties as prime minister of a country that will soon assume the presidency of the Council of Ministers of the European Union" said the Foreign Ministry in the same announcement. [03] Infant refugee dies at Mytilene hospital A one-year old infant died late Wednesday at Mytilene hospital where it was transferred from Moria hotspot with serious respiration problem. According to information, the infant had arrived with its mother on Lesvos early Wednesday. The mother said that the baby was suffering from serious respiratory problems since they were in Turkey where doctors had examined it. The doctors at Moria hotspot said that the baby was in critical condition and sent it immediately to the paediatrics clinic of Mytilene hospital where it died at 20:00 on Wednesday. A post-mortem examination has been ordered. [04] March 7 is a critical day, Alternate Defence Min Vitsas says; condition with refugees manageable-- police major general Tsirigoti There were 31,842 refugees and migrants all over the country until Thursday and 90 percent of them (28,657) were refugees, Alternate Defense Minister and chief of the Coordinating Management Centre of Refugee Crisis Dimitris Vitsas on Friday said in statements to ANT1 TV. He also stressed that the goal is the rapid identification of these refugees. The condition with the migrants and the refugees is for the time being manageable, said major general of Greek police on Lesvos island Zaharoula Tsirigoti in an exclusive interview with ANA-MPA. Tsirigoti, the first woman that was appointed major general of the Greek police, revealed that traffickers use childs to drive the boats with refugees that leave from the Turkish coasts by promising them that they will not pay for the trip. On the issue of minor refugees that are missing, Tsirigoti said that the Europol representative's statement that number of missing children reaches 10,000 does not reflect reality. " Moreover, Tsirigoti underlined that Greek Police in cooperation with the responsible ministries and other bodies is trying to open new hosting facilities in order to be able to host a large number of migrants and refugees. "The only tools the Greek police have are the readmission bilateral agreements and EU's readmission agreements with non EU countries. Referring to the stance of the Greek people towards the refugees and migrants she said "all the countries envy it". Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-03-04 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/> CONTENTS [01] Consensus emerging at political party leaders' meeting, sources say [02] Germany will seek common European solutions to refugee crisis on Monday [03] Bonatti-J&P AVAX-Spiecapag consortium wins TAP project contract [01] Consensus emerging at political party leaders' meeting, sources say There has to be a distinction between refugees and economic migrants, with irregular migrants detained in closed facilities, Greece's opposition party leaders were reported as saying on Friday, during an ongoing political leaders' council chaired by President of the Hellenic Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos. The meeting, which began at noon, focused on the handling of the refugee crisis. Sources said that a climate of consensus was emerging about what must be done from this point on, while the meeting had adjourned for the drafting of a joint communique. They clarified that this is not supported by Union of Centrists' party leader Vassilis Leventis or by Communist Party of Greece (KKE) General Secretary Dimitris Koutsoumbas, who walked out of the meeting early. Main opposition New Democracy sources also confirmed a climate of convergence, saying that the prime minister had accepted many of the party's positions, including the need for closed-type facilities for irregular migrants and effective guarding of the borders. The first part of the meeting was devoted to a presentation of figures regarding the handling of the crisis and questions put by the opposition party leaders. According to sources, Mitsotakis first raised the issue of creating detention centres, with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras replying that the government will respect the Geneva Convention and that the solution lay in persuading Turkey to honour the agreements for the readmission of economic migrants. PASOK sources said the party's leader Fofi Gennimata also called for a plan that specified the number of refugees that can stay in Greece and asked Tsipras to clarify references by government ministers to numbers ranging between 100,000-150,000. Tsipras replied that the ministers had been misinterpreted, the sources said. In statements after leaving the meeting, KKE's leader said it had "unfortunately confirmed KKE's initial forecast that the course of this massive issue, the refugee-migration issue, in our country is not on a good path," and that EU decisions backed by the Greek government and other parties would lead to thousands of migrants and refugees being trapped in Greece. Potami party leader Stavros Theodorakis suggested appointing a minister that will oversee the refugee crisis and all the relevant issues, during a political leaders' meeting on refugees on Friday, party sources said. Theodorakis also proposed creating separate centers for children of refugees and migrants and unaccompanied children, which will cater not just for their food, care and accommodation, but also for their education and social integration. According to the same sources, he also asked for a clear distinction between refugees and migrants and a national plan for the control of refugee flows. [02] Germany will seek common European solutions to refugee crisis on Monday BERLIN (ANA-MPA/F. Karaviti)  Germany is committed to finding a common European solution to the refugee crisis and cooperating with Turkey to limit the flow of refugees and migrants to the EU, government deputy spokesperson Christiane Wirtz said on Friday, commenting on the upcoming EU summit on Monday. Wirtz said that during the summit, the leaders of member-states will first meet with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to discuss how to progress the EU-Turkey action plan, which will be followed by a meeting of the European Council to discuss the refugee crisis, the situation in Greece and how to assist the country. [03] Bonatti-J&P AVAX-Spiecapag consortium wins TAP project contract A Bonatti-led consortium with J&P AVAX and the French company Spiecapag won a tender for the construction of the land part of a TAP pipeline project, it was announced on Friday. It is the biggest contract of the project, which envisages construction of a 760-km pipeline stretching from the Greek-Turkish borders to the coast of Albania. The project was broken into five pieces, three in Greece and two in Albania. The Bonatti-AVAX consortium will undertake the part from Kavala to the Greek-Albanian borders (Ieropigi), with a length of 360 km, while Spiecapag will undertake the remaining 185 km of the pipeline stretching from Kipi to Kavala and two sections in Albania (215 km) between Bilisht and Topoje. The consortium will also build a passage across the Evros river, where TAP will be connected with TANAP, the pipeline linking Azerbaijan with the Greek-Turkish borders. The pipeline will have a diameter of 48 inches (1.2 metres) and a transport capacity of 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually, in an initial stage. Works are expected to begin in mid-2016. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
OTTAWA  The federal government is delaying until the fall the enforcement of a controversial electronic visa for European citizens and other visa-exempt countries.

The Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) is a new mandatory entry requirement for almost all foreign nationals who dont normally have to get a visa to come to Canada, such as French, Norwegians and British citizens, who fly or pass through Canada. Americans are exempted, as are those with valid Canadian visas.

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The eTA requires would-be travellers to apply online days before boarding their flight. They must pay a $7 fee and provide the Canadian government with passport and personal information, such as marital status and funds available for the trip, as well as details about any possible criminal records, health problems and any past immigration issues. The eTA, which is in line with similar requirements for the United States, was announced last summer with a long phase-in until becoming mandatory on March 15.

But foreigners and dual-nationals complained. French Ambassador Nicolas Chapuis took particular issue with the matter, taking his concerns to high-ranking officials in the Canadian government.

The eTA is a mandatory entry requirement for almost all foreign nationals, who didn't need a visa to enter Canada in the past. (Photo: Getty)

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Dual French and Canadian citizens were particularly incensed that they would have to buy a Canadian passport to come to Canada because, Canadian citizens are not allowed to apply for an eTA for use with a foreign passport.

Except a passport isnt free, one woman identified as Emllie posted on the French consulates Facebook page. They cant really reject Canadian citizens? she wondered.

When others on Facebook suggested that the government might, she wrote back: Absurd!

That you have to prove that you are Canadian to enter, whether you are solely Canadian or a bi-national, that seems logical to me, wrote a man named Ronan Gire. But I dont understand why you cant request an eTA if you are a dual-citizen.

On Thursday, the government decided to postpone the enforcement of the eTA until some, unspecified, time in the fall.

As of March 15, 2016, eTA is mandatory [and] citizens from countries that do not need a visa to travel to Canada are expected to have an eTA to fly to or transit through Canada, said Faith St-John, a spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. But from March 15 until fall 2016, she said, border services officers can let travellers arriving without an eTA into the country, as long as the other requirements to enter Canada are satisfied.

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Critics of the eTA suggest the prior approval system will make it much more difficult for would-be refugees to seek asylum.

Once they are on Canadian soil, they have a whole host of rights. They have hearings, they can make a claim, they can go to the refugee board."

Josh Paterson, executive director of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, said the Canadian government had been focused for some time on stopping refugee claims before they arrive on Canadian shores.

Once they are on Canadian soil, they have a whole host of rights. They have hearings, they can make a claim, they can go to the refugee board. They cant just be deported as a matter of course, they have to go through a process, Paterson said. [But] you can avoid all those things if you stop people from even getting here.

Paterson told The Huffington Post Canada that he hoped the leniency period would give the government pause and make it consider whether implementing this program contravened Canadas international commitment under the UNs refugee convention.

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New system to enhance security

Ottawa says the eTA will enhance the safety and security of Canadians and strengthen the integrity of the immigration program.

Between 20122013, 7,055 visa-exempt foreign nationals were denied admission when they arrived at a Canadian airport, according to government records. Twenty-eight individuals with prior removal orders were found trying to return to Canada without proper authorization.

Had there been a mechanism in place to verify the status of these foreign nationals, it would have been known that they likely would have presented admissibility concerns prior to their arrival at a Canadian air port of entry, the eTAs regulatory impact analysis statement notes.

Refusals can be made on several grounds: membership in terrorist organizations or organized crime groups; espionage; participation in war crimes or crimes against humanity; international human rights violations; criminal records; or dangerous public health cases, such as tuberculosis.

In 2011, the Canadian government announced it would introduce the eTA as part of a plan to harmonize entry requirements with the United States through the Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness Action Plan. The government said at the time that the electronic travel authorization would make it easier to identify inadmissible persons and stop them from travelling to this country, rather than waiting to deal with them only once they are on Canadian soil.

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Requirement could affect Canadian tourism

Beyond security concerns, the government said deporting individuals back to their point of departure was also costly for taxpayers and the airlines.

It did note in 2014, however, that the eTA could significantly affect the travel and tourism sectors in Canada. Visa-exempt travellers, excluding U.S. citizens, represent approximately 74 per cent of the foreign nationals who arrive in Canada by air, government records show.

The cost of implementing the program, from 2015 to 2024, is expected to be $173.6 million, with the government projecting benefits to be worth $174.7 million  mostly recouped from the $7 fee.

The eTA is good for five years or as long as ones passport doesnt expire. The Canadian government says eTA applications should be accepted within a few minutes, and if more time is needed to process an application, the citizenship department will email the applicant within 72 hours outlining next steps.

The Canadian government also notes that any biometrics requested as part of the eTA application, such as fingerprints, may be shared with the RCMP, other law enforcement agencies in Canada and foreign governments.

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Artistic photos of urban decay are so common, they've almost become cliche.

But they look like high art when they come from Seph Lawless.

The Cleveland-based photographer captured haunting images of abandoned American malls for his book "Black Friday" in 2014.

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More recently, the artist turned his lens on a new subject: Picher, Okla., a place described as "America's most toxic town."

Picher was once part of the Tri-State Mining District, an area known as the zinc and lead mining capital of the world in its heyday, The Los Angeles Times reported.

Minerals extracted there from the area helped produce much of the artillery that was used in the World Wars.

But the mining left a toxic legacy after the activity shut down in 1967.

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Piles of waste known as "chat" eventually covered 25,000 acres in the area, and substances such as arsenic, iron, and cadmium turned a local creek red with contamination, said NBC News.

By 1981, the area was declared a "Superfund"  a hazardous waste site covering 104 square kilometres.

Disease rates were 20 to 30 per cent above average in the mining area, and pneumoconiosis  a chronic lung disease  was 2,000 times more common, reported NBC.

In 2006, a study found that homes in the town were in dire shape, and the federal government started offering buyouts to residents.

Many accepted those offers after a tornado levelled much of the town two years later.

By 2009, the town's police force had disbanded and the government was decommissioned, according to Wired.

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Lawless photographed the town for his book, "The Prelude: The Deadliest City in America," in 2015.

On his website, the artist described being "terrified" as he walked through a town where the ground was left thin by subterranean mining shafts.

"At one point my foot went through the ground and I fell ... thinking I was going to cave in and die," he said.

The images show a grim landscape, like something out of Cormac McCarthy's "The Road." There are massive chat piles that look like rolling hills, and abandoned homes that look ready to cave in.

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Lawless said the point of his photo series is to show what happens "when mankind doesn't respect nature and the environment."

"Could this be what it looks [like] when it all ends?" the photographer asked.

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Fero Vineyards & Winery

Fero Vineyards & Winery in Lewisburg, Union County, is one of the wineries that will welcome visitors during weekends in March as part of the Susquehanna Heartland Wine Trail's 'A ticket to Good Taste and Adventure.' The cost is $25. Tickets are available online at the wine trail's website or at any of the 15 participating wineries.

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Retail wine specialist Kirt Heintzelman will put out wines from Chile for the weekly free tastings, which will take place from 4 to 6 p.m. Friday and noon to 2 p.m. Saturday in the West Shore Plaza. Chilean wines, particularly Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon, are considered among the world's best bargains these days.

Per what the Lemoyne shop often does in its weekly newsletter, here are some details on the Chilean wine industry and its major wine regions.

Faced by an array of Chilean wines in their neighborhood wine shop, most consumers base their buying decision on price and grape variety. But a little learning will go a long way to steer you toward the best wines on the shelf. Knowing which of Chile's wine regions are best for certain varieties or styles will help you pick winners, time after time.

And when it comes to Chilean terroir, nobody knows more about where specific grapes grow best than Pedro Parra, Chile's pre-eminent expert in soil composition and the impact that climate has on the wines his country produces.

Nicknamed the "Terroir Hunter," Parra, who holds Ph.D. in agronomy and wine-specific terroir from the Institut National Agronomique de Paris-Grignon, has conducted more than 20,000 soil studies, the majority in his native Chile. Parra holds that Chile is blessed with divers terroirs that strongly influence the characters of its top wines.

Yet, these terroirs are not entirely unique to Chile, according to Parra. He suggests that some of Chile's best terroirs are similar to those in some of the world's most lauded wine regions.

"Take Chilean granite, and granite from Hermitage in France ... the rocks are about the same age, same color and have the same fracture," says Parra. "But the [Syrahs] from Chile and the northern Rhone are very different. The climate is not the same, this is true, and there are other differences. But without an understanding of hermitage granite, you might not understand how similar it is to Apalta in Colchagua.

"Likewise, "without knowing the soils and climate along California's Sonoma Coast, you wouldn't know that it's almost exactly like the Leyda Valley in Chile," says Parra.

Following are overviews of four of Chile's most prominent wine regions, including a look at each region's terroir.



COLCHAGUA VALLEY

The Colchagua Valley lies about 100 miles south of Santiago and runs west from the Andes foothills to the Pacific Ocean. According to Parra, Colchagua's terroir is influenced by a warm, breezy, dry climate.

With vineyards planted from approximately 650 feet to 3,100 feet above sea level, there are hot spots on the valley floor and cool pockets higher up the hillsides.



"Soils are a mosaic of granite, volcanic, clay and schist," says Parra.

Colchagua is often compared to California's Napa Valley. Warm-weather red varieties thrive here, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere and Syrah, with some Malbec, Merlot and Petit Verdot thrown into the mix.



BUILDING A REPUTATION

Closer to the Pacific, some wineries are growing Syrah in a cool, windy area called Marchigue (pronounced mar - CHEE - way). Meanwhile, just miles inland from the sea in a subzone called Paredones, a trio of wineries (Casa Silva, Santa Helena and Koyle) is forging ahead with Sauvignon Blanc. The wines are similar in style to those made in the Leyda and San Antonio valleys to the north, although the Paradones wines are even stronger in acidity.

Colchagua's Apalta subzone, located on the north side of the Colchagua Valley near the village of Cunaco, has already carved out a global reputation.

This horseshoe-shaped area, with southern, southwestern and southeastern exposures, is a monster in terms of size, with more than 1,700 acres of vineyards shared by numerous wineries, including Lapostolle, Montes, Ventisquero, Neyen and Santa Rita.

ROCK AND ROLL

The terroir at Apalta, according to Parra, is defined by granite bedrock, hillside plantings and southerly exposures that ensure optimal ripeness. The best wines are a product of Apalta's granitic soils and the slightly cooler temperatures derived from exposition and altitude, creating the quintessential marriage of stony minerality, raw power and structured balance.

If the terroir is rocky and slightly cool in the Apalta hills, it's another world on the valley floor.

Chile's finest Malbecs - Viu 1 and a vineyard-designated bottling-hail from Viu Manent's San Carlos property. Unlike Apalta, the San Carlos vineyard sits in flatlands atop deep, porous clay soils with excellent drainage.

Jose Miguel Viu, managing director for his family's winery, says San Carlos, planted some 80 years ago, sings of Colchagua's diversity.

"Like any great wine region throughout the world, there's a human factor in Colchagua," says Viu. "We have an inspired group here that has given our valley a dynamism and sense of community that doesn't exist elsewhere in Chile. On the other hand, the valley offers natural condition and diverse soils and climates that allow us to make wines from many varieties, and in many styles."



MAIPO VALLEY

"The Maipo Valley is Chile's most historic region, with grape plantings dating back to the time of the Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century. But it was during the 19th century, when Bordeaux grape varieties (primarily Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot) were first imported to Chile from France, that the modern Maipo Valley began to take shape.

Today, Maipo is home to Chile's greatest Cabernet-based wines, bottlings like Santa Rita's Casa Real, Concha y Toro's Don Melchor, Errazuriz's Vinedo Chadwick and Almaviva.

Geographically, Maipo is divided into three parts: the Alto Maipo (or Maipo Andes); a less-descript area called Entre Cordilleras, or 'between the mountains' in this case, the Andes and the Coastal Range; and Coastal Maipo, which is in essence Leyda, where the Maipo River enters the Pacific Ocean. Among the three, the Alto Maipo is king when it comes to producing world-class wines, Cabernet Sauvignon in particular.

WHERE CAB IS KING

"Alto Maipo presents a fresh and dry Andean climate, bringing natural high acidity to the wines," says Parra. "The best soils are composed of alluvial gravel coming down from the Andes range."

"Maipo is the region that has permitted us to produce Cabernet Sauvignon of high quality and global prestige," adds Enrique Tirado, the winemaker for Concha y Toro's Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon, one of Chile's signature wines. "Don Melchor is a reflection of the vineyard in Puente Alto, whose location close to the Andes has created unique soils and the perfect climate for the vines."

Lemoyne, West Shore Shopping Center

4 to 6 p.m. Friday and noon to 2 p.m. Saturday

Chilean wines, per retail wine specialists Kirt Heintzelman and Rob Eckard

Vina Falernia 2014 Pedro Xmenez Reserva from Elqui Valley, Coquimbo Region ($9.99). The winemaker says... "Founded in 1998, Vina Falernia has built a reputation as a high quality winery. Owner Aldo Olivier Gramola created Vina Falernia with his cousin Giorgio Flessati, a seasoned winemaker from the Trentino region in Northern Italy. Located in the Elqui Valley, Falernia remains one of Chile's northernmost wine estates at 530 km North of Santiago. The Elqui Valley provides natural advantages to the growing process including dramatic contrasts between night/day temperatures and high quality of light. Vina Falernia spans over 320 hectares of vineyards, with the territories being divided into 4 distinct vineyards. First, the Titon vineyard lies at an altitude of 350 meters above sea level, 18 kilometers from the Pacific Ocean. The second and third sites, Puclaro and Pedregal respectively, move further into the valley and reach up to 560 meters above sea level. Finally, the fourth vineyard nestled in the Andes Mountains, Huanta, continues as one of the highest in the world at 2070 meters above sea level.

"Grapes were softly pressed without crushing first. The juice has been clarified by natural sedimentations and fermented in stainless steel tanks at 15-16oC with selected yeasts. At the end of the fermentation, the wine is racked and aged in stainless steel tanks at low temperature, on the fine lees for at least 4 months. No malolactic fermentation. Cold tartaric stabilization at -4oC before bottling."

And then describes the wine... "Pale straw yellow in color, brilliant, very attractive nose with floral and tropical fruit flavors, nice medium body with balance of acidity and an attractive minerality, coupled with a long, crisp and refreshing finish. Enjoy chilled as an aperitif and with appetizers, salads, white meats and seafood. Serve at 10degC (50degF)."

Concha y Toro 2011 Marques de Casa Concha Syrah from Buin, Maipo Valley ($22.99). The winemaker says... "River terrace associated soils on the south bank of the Maipo River. The deep alluvial soils are stony, poor in nutrients and highly permeable, due to the gravel sub soil. It yields plants of frugal growth, which bear clusters of small, concentrated ripe Syrah grapes.

This has a rating of 90 points from Wine Enthusiast (Nov 2014) with this review... "Complexity on the nose comes via earthy aromas of licorice root, sandalwood and mild berry fruits. The palate is on the big and bullish side, but it's neither heavy nor fierce. Flavors of ripe blackberry, pepper and chocolate finish with a touch of herbs and mint. Drink through 2017.

De Martino 2013 'Organic' Estate Carmenere from Maipo Valley ($12.99). ORGANIC. The winemaker says... "The de Martino Family has been making wine in Chile's famed Maipo Valley for over 70 years and their vineyards are situated at altitudes of up to 825m above sea level, yet only 30 miles from the Pacific Ocean. The soils are made up of clay, sand and volcanic rock which in turn imparts a very distinct character to the wines. This particular Carmenere is from the Estate range and is from carefully selected parcels of vines located in the Maipo. Half the wine is aged in 80% French and 20% American oak barrels for up to 6 months before bottling.

"A deep garnet-red in colour. Aromas of red berries, blackberry and eucalyptus with notes of black olives and vanilla. Smooth and rich on the palate with a medium-body and flavours of cherry and coffee. The finish is fresh and spicy. Try with beef Wellington, red peppers stuffed with tuna or a slice of Camembert cheese."

Casas Del Bosque 2014 'Gran Reserva' Cabernet Sauvignon from Maipo Valley ($16.99). The winemaker says... "The wine was then pressed off skins and put to a mixture of new and used French oak barrels (55% new/45% second the third use) for 14 months during which time it was racked and returned three times. After bottling the finished wine was carefully aged for three months prior to release in order to obtain optimum harmony prior to release."

And then describes the wine...

"Dense garnet in colour with a deep ruby hue. On the nose a vibrant minerality combines with rum, raisin and dark chocolate. In the mouth fresh acidity gives way to opulent notes of expresso bean, cedar and blackcurrant. A well-integrated oak backbone combines with svelte, elegant tannins to give a long, textured finish."



York store, 2547 York Marketplace



4 to 6 p.m. Friday and 2 to 4 Saturday



German and Chilean wines, per wine specialist Patti Meckley

Please join Kelli this Friday, March 4 from 4 to 6 and Saturday, March 5 from 2 to 4 for the following German wines and 1 Chilean dessert wine to feature the Gewurtztaminer grape.



2014 Dr Loosen Red Slate Dry Riesling Estate, $13.99. This estate grown wine showcases the mineral driven style of the steep, blue slate vineyards in the middle Mosel. It is bright and vibrant with the classic white peach fruit and floral, flinty minerality that is typical of this terroir.

2013 Weingut Spiess Spatburgunder, $13.99. The Pinot Noir spatlese from Weingut Stark possesses a distinctive burgundy aromas with fine fruit flavors of cherries and raspberries, as well as delicate hints of violets. The wine with its ruby red color is excellent with games dishes, strong cheeses and salmon.

2011 Weinhaus Heger Baden Pinot Gris, $19.99. This pinot gris is simply delicious and a joy to drink. On the nose and in the mouth you find the usual array of stone fruits scents and flavors of peach, apricot and nectarine. This wine is soft and inviting yet bone dry.

2012 Montes Gewurtztraminer Late Harvest, Curico Valley, Chile, $25.99. A special, multi award winning wine made from 70% botrytised grapes harvested late in mid June, and only in those years when the weather conditions produce grapes with noble rot. A pure expression of Gewurtztraminer, the taste is creamy and full bodied, with lovely sugar/acid balance.

Lancaster store, 558 Centerville Road

4 to 6 p.m. Friday and 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday

Mix of wines, per wine specialist David Speakman

2014, Laurence Feraud Pink Pegau Vin de France Rose, $16.99

2014 Domaines Ott Les Domaniers Cotes de Provence Rose, $21.99

2015 Hayes Valley Rose, $9.99

2014 Lia De PradoRey Blush Rose, $10.49

Harrisburg, 5070 Jonestown Pike

4 to 6 p.m. Friday and 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday

Mix of wines, per retail wine specialist Paul Robertson

Falesco Est

Lucas & Lewellen Riesling

Ormarine picpoul

Winzer Krems Gruner Veltliner

Saturday 4 to 6 p.m.
C Flanigan via Getty Images LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 22: Entrepreneur Kevin O'Leary attends the 2015 American Music Awards at Microsoft Theater on November 22, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by C Flanigan/Getty Images)

Television personality Kevin O'Leary vowed last month that he intends to be a "nightmare for politicians" when it comes to holding them accountable for spending, according to CBC News.

He seems to be keeping his promise.

On Friday morning, the Globe and Mail published an open letter from O'Leary to Alberta Premier Rachel Notley in which he blames her for Canada's weak dollar and the majority of the province's job losses.

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"Im interested in affecting economic and fiscal policy when I see it broken. And your policy plan is definitely broken  in fact, as far as I can tell, you dont have one," O'Leary writes, before proceeding to list four tips of unsolicited advice for fixing Alberta's economic policy.

All of the four points tackle issues O'Leary sees with the NDP government's policies, but skim over external influences that might be hurting Canada's economic climate, like the global plunge in oil prices.

O'Leary has repeatedly slammed Notley over the past few months, even going as far as to offer $1 million to Canadian oil companies if she resigns.

The letter follows the formula of another O'Leary letter calling out Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne last week for her recently-introduced cap-and-trade fund.

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O'Leary's comments on the economy come as the former "Dragon's Den" and current "Shark Tank" star mulls a run for the Conservative party's leadership.

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Miho Aikawa via Getty Images The odds of having both a mother and baby born on a leap day are one in 2.1 million.

A Toronto woman born on a leap day beat all odds and gave birth to her own leap year baby. Amanda Abbott and her partner Vishnu Singh welcomed their first child, Pavan, on Monday, February 29.

The odds of having a leap year baby, also known as a leapling, are one in 1,461, making Pavans birth pretty remarkable. But whats more outstanding is that the odds of having both a mother and baby born on a leap day are one in 2.1 million, according to U of T statistics professor Jeffrey Rosenthal.

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Ontario mom born on Leap Day has baby on Leap Day  what are the odds? https://t.co/kSje7joSxRpic.twitter.com/uFCd5w2PwZ  Hamilton Spectator (@TheSpec) March 4, 2016

The Toronto Star reports that Abbott and Singhs baby boy arrived two weeks after his due date, making his February 29 birth a huge surprise. When we got to the 27th, we made little jokes like keep your legs crossed, the new dad explained.

After the couple announced their sons arrival on Facebook, friends and family joked that they should take Pavans birth as a sign and buy a lottery ticket.

Unfortunately, the odds of winning the biggest Lotto 6/49 prize are even greater than having both a mom and baby born on a leap day. But despite the chances being just one in 13,983,816, the couple is still hopeful. Fingers crossed, Singh joked. Babies are expensive.

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This isnt the first time a mom born on a leap day has given birth to a leapling. Mom Lorina Justus, from Albuquerque, New Mexico, gave birth to her son David on her birthday on February 29, 1972, just 12 days before his actual due date.

On Monday, Justus celebrated her 68th birthday and David celebrated his 44th, although in leap years, they are just 17 and 11 years old, respectively.

It's the craziest coincidence, it really is, the mom told People about her sons birth. It's funny and fun and strange and rare, but I love sharing a leap day birthday with David.

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While Canada's maternity leave is the envy of many moms (especially those south of the border), our overall parental leave policy is lacking one thing: time off specifically for dads.

Canada offers a maximum of 35 weeks of EI benefits to both parents after their baby is born (parental leave), but none of that time is specifically earmarked for dads. Another 17 weeks is specifically set aside for moms (maternity or pregnancy leave).

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As a result, Canada ranks at the very bottom among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries for fathers' leave entitlements.

Korea is at the top of the list, where dads get a whopping 53 weeks of leave. And Japan is close behind with 52 weeks.

Canada isn't entirely mommy-centric, though. One Canadian province recognizes dads in its parental leave policies. Quebec fathers get five weeks to look after their little ones full time.

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Some argue that Canada's lack of paternity leave is the reason why so few dads take leave after their children are born. In fact, only one in 10 fathers who are eligible take time off work.

Chantelle Krish, of the YWCA Metro Vancouver, told Huffington Post Canada that setting time aside specifically for dads is key. After Quebec introduced daddy quotas in 2006, the province saw a huge spike in the number of dads taking paternity leave.

Krish would like to see six months set aside for dads in Canada. "The objective is that this will shift gender roles to normalize equal shares of unpaid work at home such as cooking, cleaning and caring for children.

The OECD report agrees with Krish. "Providing father-specific leave seems to increase mens uptake of parental leave. In Iceland and Sweden, the 'daddy quota' has led to a doubling in the number of parental leave days taken by men."

The report goes on to say that setting time aside for dads has several benefits: "If a father decides to take leave it does not affect his partners entitlement. Also, it legitimizes the idea of fathers taking parental leave, so easing potential objections from employers."

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

My name is Paul and Im an alcoholic. The last drink I had was June 11, 1991. I had to stop because my children were about to be born and supported my own family.

I was blessed with a strong family who supported me in my decision and reaffirmed my decision. I recall my late grandmother telling me, If only your mom was here to see it. It came too late, but it gave me the strength.

However, I wouldnt have been able to continue if I didnt have the support from other groups when I was living down south. It is with their support and various facilities that I was able to continue my sobriety to this day.

On that basis, I have been pushing hard for my department to implement the supports needed for our citizens so that we can support them in their fight against addiction.

Our recent budget reflected the commitment where we are laying the foundation for our citizens to get the support within their communities. However, that is not complete. There is much more work to be done.

This morning, I informed my cabinet colleagues that I cannot continue as a minister under the current circumstances. I cannot support an institution of selling beer and wine in my community where we dont have the facilities to support those who may not be able to combat their addictions.

Accordingly, I am resigning from my ministry today. I will continue to serve as a Member of this Assembly to serve Nunavut.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Move over, Carrie Bradshaw, Rihanna is now registered at Manolo Blahnik too, and her new line with the famed shoe designer is about to make some major waves.

The "Work" pop icon revealed in Vogue's April 2016 issue that she will be launching a spring collection in collaboration with Blahnik. Oh, and she also covers the glossy looking like an angelic cowgirl.

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"This is an incredibly exciting collaboration and I am absolutely thrilled with the results," Blahnik gushed to Vogue UK. "Working with Rihanna has been amazing and her drive, passion, creativity and style has been reflected in the designs, with fabulous results, I think everyone is going to love what they are about to see."

Called Denim Desserts, the collection features six limited-edition styles that are all personally designed by the songstress and Blahnik. Each shoe, including a "thigh-high crystal-embellished boot," is equipped with denim, sequin and embroidery detailing.

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Read the @BritishVogue cover story at vogue.co.uk. Photography: Craig McDean Featuring "The 9 to 5" thigh high denim boot from the "Denim Dessert" Spring collection, an exclusive collaboration with the one and only @manoloblahnikhq A photo posted by badgalriri (@badgalriri) on Mar 3, 2016 at 5:42pm PST

Calling the boots "dangerous," the beauty from Barbados, who is no stranger to designing shoes in thanks to a partnership with Puma, says that the Denim Desserts collection aren't "date" type shoes.

"Guuurrrl! Those boots are dangerous! If you're trying to get back home to your bed, don't wear them boots! You will get kidnapped in those boots, those boots are trouble."

And if Bad Gal Riri sees you wearing one of her designs in the street, you better prepare yourself for a selfie.

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"The day I see a woman in the street wearing my shoes... I am sorry for that woman because I'm going to literally run after her, shouting, 'Stop! Selfie! Who are you? Where did you get them?' I'm going to have a moment!" she enthusiastically told Vogue's Emily Sheffield.

That wouldn't be the worst thing to happen, would it?

The Vogue UK issue hits newsstands on Mar 10th and Denim Desserts is set to be released in London, New York and Hong Kong come May 5th.
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Canada is a vast country with ample resources, however political and economic machinery in this country are not open enough to create true and genuine marketplace for disruptive ideas. Cultural, artistic and intellectual innovation form the foundation of innovative economies.

No nation can stay competitive and economically advanced while stagnating culturally and intellectually. Innovation requires taking risk and being open to new ideas. The biggest obstacles in the way of innovation in Canada are regressive and closed institutions. The Canadian market in some major sectors is uncompetitive and divided between a few oligopolies. For instance, the telecom sector is one of the least competitive among the developed nations.

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Canadians consistently pay more for goods and services compared to American. However, lack of competition is not only harmful for consumers, in the long term, it is damaging to businesses as well. As fat profit margins at home, creates little incentive to innovate and expand globally. From global business recognition Canada ranks unfavourably compared to its peers; the few Canadian success stories of the past are either long gone, or ailing.

One must not forget that innovative ideas require change in attitude toward risk taking and openness. Proper education is fundamental to creating an independent, open minded and entrepreneurial generation that dares to think different than the establishment. One particular problem is the lethargy of the establishment. It is frustratingly resistant to change and innovation. Abundance of natural resources have provided a safety shield for outdated institutions to continue their oligopolistic dominance. They resemble the past more than the future. Trouble is, that among the OECD countries Canada is among the top (behind Australia) in its dependence on extractive resources.

Only one to two per cent of existing Canadian business can be described as innovative; when it comes to innovation Canada ranks 15 among 16 developed countries. This puts us behind Australia (which is struggling with lack of innovation and over dependence on extractive economy as well).

Furthermore, even after decades of extracting resources Canada has failed to produce a single globally recognizable brand; to put that in perspective Royal Dutch Shell revenue in 2014 was 421 billion dollars vs. 51 Billion for Suncor (the biggest Canadian petroleum firm at the time). Few shining examples of innovation have either failed or are in serious trouble. Nortel is long gone and the failure of Blackberry to innovate fast enough in the face of competition, has reduced it to a shadow of its former past. One of the last standing giants, Bombardier is astonishingly neglected and loathed by many in this country. While it has suffered from mismanagement, its troubles are also rooted in unfair competition in aerospace industry.

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We must teach the next generation to aim high and dash for gold at the global scale.

It is important to note that most innovative products of recent times are not only technologically advanced but have strong cultural and emotional aspect as well. In other words, they are not just mere one dimensional gadgets. The most successful and valuable companies of our times are all deeply rooted in innovative industries (Apple, Google, Facebook), or reinventing an existing one (for example what Tesla has done with automotive and space industries). California, which is home to a great share of innovative firms, has moved from deficit to surplus in part thanks to the IPOs of a number of big IT firms and the concentration of tech high earners.

However, it is a moot point to create a Silicon Valley North. Many countries have poured vast amount of public money into ambitious tech project with little to show for it. It can be argued that instead of being focused on the outcome (establishment of successful tech startups) we should create the environment that lead to it, namely the exchange universe, which allows for interaction and collaboration of innovative minds and remove red tape and barriers to market and capital. Education system plays a pivotal role in this. It should do a lot better in cross disciplinary education and fighting the conformism and entrenched mediocrity. Innovation is the product of curious minds, while mediocrity is the result of conformity. Therefore, to escape the cycle of underperformance, we must create a culture that celebrate success and value risk-takers, innovators and intellectuals.

We must teach the next generation to aim high and dash for gold at the global scale. There is no refuge from the force of connected global economy; best proof is the Uber and its impact on transportation market. Every industry and sector is going to face their Uber moment; unfortunately, most Canadian businesses are not going to fare well when faced with the tsunami of innovation. Innovation and lack of it should be the topic of national discussion and high on the agenda for the elites and politicians. However, it should be noted that the top down approach to innovation may not yield the desirable result.

There is no magical crown corporation that can suddenly jolt the country into the high gear. Innovation can neither be imported nor taught. It is the result of exchange and collaboration, and requires risk taking. Culture of excellence and continued improvement, concentration of diverse and non conforming innovative minds, friendly regulatory environment and easy access to capital are fundamental to innovation. Here, government can play an important role by investing in cities and infrastructure (great minds flock to cities with good infrastructure) and reducing regulatory burden. Imagine Uber's chances of ever starting up in any major Canadian cities.

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It is worth mentioning the tale of a once ambitious Canadian startup; about the same time Tesla was moving ahead with its plan to disrupt the automotive industry there was a small and innovative Canadian company called Zenn motors. It produced a small electric car and got approval to sell them in the U.S., unfortunately Canadian regulators thought differently and initially barred ZENN from the Canadian market (it took Al Gore's intervention to change the government's mind), soon it released its talents and shut its production. This clearly demonstrates the shortsightedness and risk averseness of the establishment, the timidness that killed Avro Arrow and deprived this country from its chance to become a global leader in aerospace industry is entrenched and still active.

To break the cycle of mediocrity we need to have a candid national dialogue, Canada is endowed with great resources and is home to a great and diverse pool of talents. We need to find a way to remove obstacles and create the environment for cross pollination of ideas to allow innovators, artists, intellectuals and entrepreneurs to continuously challenge and disrupt the status quo and transform the society toward the future.

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Despite seeing an increase in enrolment across BC, school districts are facing yet anther year of devastating budget cuts. In Nanaimo (sd68) will be closing 2 more schools at the end of this year, bringing the count to 14 schools closed, in this district alone, since the Liberals have lead the province in 2002. But we are hardly alone, since 2002 the BC Liberals have closed 240 schools across BC (not including this years closures) .

The government cites declining enrollment for both schools closures and constant cuts to overall funding. They blame school boards for mismanaging their money, constantly insisting they just need to cut the low hanging fruit. They blame teachers for asking for too much with their salaries and class size demands, despite the fact that we have some of the lowest paid teachers and highest class sizes in Canada.

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In School District 68 the 14 years of cuts having taken their toll on boards, teachers, admin, parents and students. We have been through multiple consultations over the years and despite closing 14 schools, cutting admin costs to the point where it accounts for less the 2% of our whole budget, deferring $97 million in maintenance costs, cutting janitorial services back further then almost any other district, cutting teaching positions, cutting programs, bus services and everything else you can imagine, our district is still facing a deficit this year.

This constant assertion by our government that their funding formula works just fine and the never ending finger pointing at boards, teachers and enrollment numbers is just a huge slap in the face. I challenge you to find one board that will agree that the funding they are given is adequate or sufficient. Find me one PAC who doesn't work hard all year to raise thousands of dollars to cover funding shortfalls. Find me one district who hasn't cut services to the bone and isn't waiting to have millions of dollars in maintenance projects completed.

I also cant help think that although some areas have seen a decrease in enrollment, that the bigger picture on capacity numbers might lay with the Liberals changes to class sizes.

Standards used in 2002 showed normal classroom capacity to be measure at: Kindergarten-20 students and grades 1-3 was 22 students and grade 4-12 was 28 students. Today they require 22 students for kindergarten, grades 1-3 is 24 students and grades 4-12 to be 30 students. These changes might seem minor but when you add them up it becomes clear how this can greatly effect enrollment and capacity numbers.

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For example lets look at an elementary school that has 2 kindergarten classes, 7 classes of grades 1-3 and 7 classes of grades 4-7. Using the old formula the schools capacity would be set at 390 students and lets say, for arguments sake, that was how many students were currently enrolled. Now the new formula comes into place which would bring the capacity to 422 students. So this school would have gone from 100% full to about 92% full just with class size changes. Now if this school had a multi purpose or music room that counts as 30 more seats which would bring the capacity to 452 which means they have now dropped to 85% capacity. This has a huge impact when the government is requiring school districts to be at least 95% at capacity.

The government only cares about how many empty seats there are right now, there is no thought to the future or what we will do if the population increases. Mostly because they really don't care how full the schools are as long as they are full. You will never hear the BC Liberal's express concern over schools that are bursting at the seams at 130%+ capacity, or schools whose properities are consumed with portables because to them that's much more efficient then having a school at 90% capacity.

In school district 68 my sons elementary school has added a portable every year since he has been there, and will most likely continue that trend for next year. Of course 2 elementary schools were closed in our area not long ago because of declining enrollment. Also despite most of the schools in that area experiencing the same increases in lower grade levels the high school in his catchment will close at the end of this year forcing students from our area to head further south to another high school. (It is also worth noting that high school is in need of upgrades and is labeled a high risk ).

Year after year the BC Liberals continue to show complete disregard for our public education system. Schools are closing, services are being cut and our children are losing their most basic right to a good quality, equal and fair public education.

Teachers, trustees and many others have been advocating for better funding in our schools for years, its now time for the parent voice to be heard. I urge all parents in BC to visit this easy to use site set up by Families Against Cuts to Education (FACE) to send your MLA an email voicing the need for better funding in our public schools found here.

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RODGER BOSCH via Getty Images A woman holds a Palestinian flag as a truck passes by, during a protest against Grammy-winning American musician Pharrell Williams near the Grand west Casino where he was holding a concert in Cape Town, on 21 September, 2015. Supporters of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign were protesting against the singer's partnership with major South African retail group Woolworths, over its imports from Israel. BDS accuses Woolworths of importing Israeli agricultural produce grown in the occupied Palestinian territories, a charge the company denies. AFP PHOTO / RODGER BOSCH (Photo credit should read RODGER BOSCH/AFP/Getty Images)

In an encouraging demonstration of moral clarity, the House of Commons last month voted overwhelmingly (229 to 51) in support of a motion condemning the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.

Introduced by the Conservatives and supported by the Liberal majority, the bill denounced the BDS movement which, it said, "promotes the demonization and delegitimization of the State of Israel."

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In a disingenuous ploy to gain acceptance and support in the West, many proponents of BDS typically claim that their movement is simply about promoting the "fundamental rights" of Palestinians in accordance with "international law." This means, foremost, pressuring Israel to end "its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands" and allowing "the rights of the Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties [in Israel] as stipulated in UN resolution 194."

It has even been argued that the aims of BDS are consistent with Canada's official Middle East policy, a claim that is fundamentally wrong.

Canada does not call for a Palestinian "right of return" to Israel; nor does Canada call for Israel to end occupation unilaterally (and certainly not of "all Arab lands," whatever that encompasses). Rather, following UN Security Council Resolution 242 (which, speaking of international law, has long been the internationally accepted cornerstone of all Arab-Israeli peacemaking efforts), Canada calls on Israel and its Arab neighbours, including the Palestinians, to reach peace through negotiations. According to 242, any Israeli withdrawal from land taken in the course of its self-defence during the 1967 war must occur only in the context of the Arabs/Palestinians providing recognition of Israel, secure and recognized boundaries, and the "termination of all claims or states of belligerency" against Israel.

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Israelis have repeatedly tried to achieve this aim with the Palestinians (as it did in its peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan), but have been consistently rebuffed. And one of the main reasons Israelis have faced this rejection (from Yasser Arafat in 2000, and from Mahmoud Abbas in 2008) is that Palestinian leaders are not willing to agree to the "termination of all claims" - that is, to an end-of-conflict agreement. That would mean, foremost, giving up their claim to a "right of return" to Israel, a position they - wrongly - assert is enshrined in UNGA Resolution 194.

In fact, this resolution -- actually just one very small section of it dealing with refugees -- which is pursued so insistently by the BDS movement, does not, as they assert, call for any such "right of return." And, no matter how frequently they repeat that phrase, that reality does not change.

The word "right" never appears in 194, which was passed on December 11, 1948 and was rejected by all the Arab states since they were engaged, at that time, in a war to destroy Israel -- a war that continues to this day, now waged by other means including the BDS movement.

In 1989, the brilliant, dovish Abba Eban, who was Israel's representative to the UN in 1948 while 194 was being formulated, said: "I made it clear that that the admission of refugees was a matter for Israel's sovereign discretion and was not subject to legal constraints." To this end, Eban explained that the General Assembly (GA) "recommendation about the return of refugees...was described as a matter subject to [Israeli] 'permission,' not as a matter of 'right.'" The language of 194 reflects these facts, inconvenient though they may be to the BDS movement. (Eban also pointed out that as no such "right" exists, "the very term 'right of return' has never featured in an internationally binding document.")

It is up to Israel, as it is to any sovereign state, to grant or withhold permission to anyone wishing to immigrate. When Israel has given such permission as it has, typically for family reunification, to some 100,000 Palestinians since 1948, it has done so on a humanitarian individual basis, not as a matter of group "right." The most practical solution - in the spirit of two states for two peoples - is ultimately resettlement in a future Palestinian state established on a basis of peace with Israel. Indeed, it should not be overlooked that Israel absorbed approximately 700,000 Jewish refugees from North Africa and the Middle East in the years after the state's founding.

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While BDS activists like to portray themselves for Western consumption as benign human rights campaigners, Omar Barghouti, the Palestinian founder and chief proponent of BDS, has not shied away from admitting what his real ambition is: the destruction of Israel. In 2009, Barghouti told the anti-Israel online publication, The Electronic Intifada, that "people fighting for refugee rights like I am, know that you cannot reconcile the right of return for refugees with a two-state solution. That is the big white elephant in the room and people are ignoring it -- a return for refugees would end Israel's existence as a Jewish state." Barghouti repeated the same position to a group of students at the University of Ottawa in 2014.

According to the unique UN definition of "Palestinian" refugees -- that is, the original 600,000-750,000 Palestinians refugees from the 1948 war plus their descendants through generations -- they now number more than 5.5 million. It is a definition that curiously applies only to Palestinians and does not extend to the 50 million other refugees registered by the UN High Commission for Refugees. A "return" of these refugees to Israel would demographically overwhelm Israel, destroy the Jewish state and turn it into another Arab-majority country.

This is Barghouti's -- and the BDS's -- ultimate objective. And it is time for those sufficiently naive to be lured by the "human rights" rhetoric of the BDS movement to demonstrate some intellectual honesty and face this malign fact.
North Korea's leader has ordered his country's nuclear missiles be made ready for use, according to reports.

(URGENT) N. Korean leader orders nuclear weapons to be made ready for use https://t.co/DpjzW3h4En  Yonhap News Agency (@YonhapNews) March 3, 2016

Kim Jong-un is said to have revised its military posture so it can carry out pre-emptive strikes, the Korean Central News Agency reports.

He said: "We must always be ready to fire our nuclear warheads at any time.

Kim Jong-un

"At an extreme time when the Americans... are urging war and disaster on other countries and people, the only way to defend our sovereignty and right to live is to bolster our nuclear capability."

The comments drew swift condemnation from the US.

Pentagon spokesman Commander Bill Urban said: "We urge North Korea to refrain from provocative actions that aggravate tensions and instead focus on fulfilling its international obligations and commitments."

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The provocative move comes a day after the U.N. Security Council's unanimous approved tougher sanctions against the country in response to recent nuclear and missile tests.

Shortly after the vote North Korea fired six short-range projectiles into the sea.

North Korea has tested four nuclear devices since 2006, the latest in January of this year.

South Korea's national spy agency said last month its northern neighbour could be planning to carry out Isis-style terrorists attacks.

CNN reported that South Koreas National Intelligence Service briefed a government official, noting that Kim Jong-un had personally given the order to prepare for attacks.

"North Korea's terrorist attack could be in the form of causing harms to anti-North Korean activists, North Korean defectors or government officials," Lee Chul-woo, a member of the ruling party, told the broadcaster on Thursday.

According to the NIS, agents of the North could target subways, shopping malls, exhibition centers, power plants. The agency also said North Korea could launch poisoning attacks on anti-Pyongyang activists or defectors. Any incident would mark a dramatic escalation in tensions between the peninsula states that have in recent years restrained themselves to rhetoric and threats.

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Banksy's true identity has been "unmasked" by a revolutionary scientific technique designed to fight crime.

Scientists at Queen Mary University of London subjected the anonymous graffiti artist's works to a test using the technique that mapped out scores of works attributed to him in Bristol and London to establish a pattern and then compared to addressed with links to a man previously named in the press as Bansky.

The results, they say, show Banksy is Robin Gunningham rather conclusively.

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A 2004 article from the Evening Standard showing what is claimed to be a picture of Banksy

Gunningham, from Bristol, was named as Banksy by The Mail on Sunday after an investigation in 2008.

Biologist Steve Le Comber, who was part of the study, told the BBC: "Id be surprised if its not Gunningham, even without our analysis, but its interesting that the analysis offers additional support for it. What I thought I would do is pull out the 10 most likely suspects, evaluate all of them and not name any.

"But it rapidly became apparent that there is only one serious suspect, and everyone knows who it is. If you Google Banksy and Gunningham you get something like 43,500 hits."

The mathematical technique was developed by criminologists and the researchers said the Banksy study showed the its wider applications.

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A Banksy artwork in Cheltenham lampooning GCHQ

The study, published in The Journal of Spatial Science, said the "Dirichlet process mixture" model it uses "takes as input the locations of these artworks, and calculates the probability of offender residence across the study area. Our analysis highlights areas associated with one prominent candidate (e.g., his home), supporting his identification as Banksy."

It adds: "More broadly, these results support previous suggestions that analysis of minor terrorism-related acts (e.g., graffiti) could be used to help locate terrorist bases before more serious incidents occur, and provides a fascinating example of the application of the model to a complex, real-world problem."

The study, published on Thursday, went up after delays as the journal's publishers discussed the content with Banksy's lawyers, the BBC reported.
Few politicians get to write their own obituary, but a Labour MEP did just that when he got trapped in a lift.

Displaying a wonderfully British stiff upper lip as he contemplated his final moments, Paul Brannen decided to film on his phone his last testimony in case he never got out alive.

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In perhaps a gift to Brexit campaigners, Brannen discovered that some parts of the European Parliament literally dont work, as he found himself stranded in a lift in its Brussels HQ.

Paul Brannen

Dangling upto 100 feet in the air, he described how the elevator suddenly stopped on its way to the 13th floor - and the doors opened to just a metal wall.

Ive been here for about 20 minutes and theyre currently trying to get me out, he says.

With typically English understatement, Brannen - MEP for the North East - explains just why he was worried.

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Its slightly disconcerting, truth be told. The lifts now rattling up and down a bit and there was quite a bit of dust when we came to a sudden stop. When I say we, actually Im the only person in the lift.

The European Parliament building in Brussels

And he added this Monty Pythonesque touch of pathos.

This could well be my last testimony, but thoroughly enjoyed being an MEP, and its been great. Love to the family, andso long. Always look on the bright side of life, thats what I say..

Brannen was eventually rescued.

And as he tweeted afterwards, his ordeal could have been worse.

The perils of working in the EU Parliament Could have been worse, I might have been with a kipper! https://t.co/5Cgfdoscjb@GrillingKippers  Paul Brannen MEP (@PaulBrannenNE) March 3, 2016

Stephen Fry once relieved the boredom of being stuck in a lift by live tweeting his experience. But he wasn't alone. Or reduced to making a videoed last will and testament.

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A dad who lives in a different country to his kids has made sure nothing will stand in the way of them spending time together.

Matt Walker, who now lives with his second wife in California, was frustrated at being so far away from his boys Jarvis, nine and Maxi, seven, who live in Australia.

Walker said he would always visit his sons on their birthdays and during the school holidays, but he wanted to be with them on a day-to-day basis so he decided to create a robot that would enable him to virtually spend time with them.

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The RambleBot is a small white tank with a slot to put in a smartphone and one extendable white arm that can grip things.

Matt Walker can chat to his two sons via Skype

Once he has logged on, Walker can control the robot via an app and chat to his children using Skype.

The robot gives him the chance to have virtual interaction with his kids, follow them around the house and even play games together.

"Telepresence will never be as good as being there in real life," Walker told Sydney Morning Herald.

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"However its actually easier to play hide and seek. I'm able to hide in the most obscure corners and under beds!"

The view of Matt Walker's son's house when he is live on the robot

The dad, who has been using RambleBot to see his kids for the past three years, said it has been an incredible way to bond with his children and have fun when they can't be together.

His ex-wife Sharon said, when speaking about co-parenting: "You have to be open to making it work, but really, when the motivation of both parents is the childrens happiness, then usually you can get to that place."

Walker is now selling two different types of RambleBot on his website - one without an arm (140) and one with (175).

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"I truly feel this is the beginning of something that will be huge in the future," he said.

To find out more about RambleBot, visit Walker's website.
Diane Abbott has raised a few eyebrows among Labour members for saying she was unwilling to back an election candidate who would not appeal to the widest possible spectrum of voters.

The Hackney MP, who backed Jeremy Corbyn in his bid for leadership last year, said her preferred candidate for the Democrat nomination in the US presidential election was not a proud socialist like herself, but rather someone with the best chance of winning over swing voters.

She described Bernie Sanders, the man fighting Hillary Clinton to secure a place in the race to the Oval Office, as having "raised some really important issues".

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Abbott had reservations about Sanders

"I'm glad he's run - he's had a positive effect on the race," Abbott said.

But in an interview with PoliticsHome, she gave what some considered was a surprise endorsement to Clinton instead.

"I'm backing Hillary," the MP said.

"She's proven she can appeal to a wider spectrum of the US electorate than Bernie Sanders can."

The news prompted surprise from some Labour members given criticism levelled at her ally Corbyn for being too left-wing by other MPs in the party who fear electoral oblivion in 2020.

Diane Abbott effortlessly trolling both the right and the left with this opinion, here. pic.twitter.com/eCak9VJOwc  George Melhuish (@GTMelhuish) March 4, 2016

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Diane Abbott is backing Hillary because she's more electable than Sanders. https://t.co/eqeACv2AZXpic.twitter.com/E4vQHdeNO9  Tom Flynn (@tom4camberwell) March 4, 2016
File photo dated 28/08/14 of Ukip leader Nigel Farage (left) with Douglas Carswell, who has issued a fresh call for party leader Nigel Farage to stand down in favour of someone who radiated "sunshine and optimism". Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

Nigel Farage has taken another swipe at Douglas Carswell in his ongoing spat with the Ukip MP.

Farage and Carswell are backing different 'Out' campaigns for the EU referendum. Carswell supports Vote Leave. But Farage has thrown his weight behind Grassroots Out (GO).

Speaking at a Brexit debate in Westminster on Thursday evening, Farage dismissed the importance of his only MP. "He can do what he likes. I dont care. He is irrelevant," he said.

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"I've never known Ukip more excited or united than it currently is. Its very sad that Douglas Carswell cant share that enthusiasm, or chooses to opt for the SW1 model of Vote Leave. You know what. It doesnt really matter."

In December, Carswell said Ukip should replace Farage as leader if it wanted to "go the next level". Last week it was reported senior Ukip figures wanted to expel Carswell for backing a rival referendum campaign to Farage.

Farage also told the event, hosted by Ladbrokes on Thursday, that Boris Johnson was an "absolutely huge" asset to the Brexit campaign as he was one of only a dozen politicians that could help shift the debate.

The Ukip leader said he had been worried by Boris' "slightly shambolic" press conference announcing his intention to campaign to leave the EU as well as the London mayor's "baloney" about holding a second referendum.

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But added that "provided the message is clear, Boris is massive asset".

Farage also hit out at Sky News reporter Jon Craig for reporting people had left a Grassroots Out rally in protest at George Galloway's appearance. "That report was outrageous," he said. "I saw your report Jon, I thought it was an absolute disgrace".

"You didnt even didnt even attempt to give it a degree of journalistic neutrality."

Farage said most people who left the rally before it ended had done so "to get trains" rather than because they did not like the Respect Party leader.

One man who walked out of the rally told the The Huffington Post UK of Galloway: "Hes a despicable person: anti-Israel, supporting terrorist organisations, supporting Hamas, supporting Hezbollah."
A female shop-worker has been recorded on CCTV battling off an armed robber with her bare hands.

Bhumika Patel, cashier at the convenience store in Georgia, United States, grappled with 17-year-old Christian Thornton, after he attempted to steal the till.

Despite being armed with a handgun, he soon realises he isn't going to succeed and flees pursued by Patel grasping a hammer.

Patel told WFXG: "He says get me all the money or else Ill shoot you, I said you need money? But if you wanna shoot me go ahead and shoot it.

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"My register opened and he said No, no, no, no. I dont need change. Give me whole money'.

"I say no I cant. He say I shoot you! I say go ahead. If you want to shoot me, shoot me!"
George, who has seen his star on the rise after coming second on the last series of Im A Celebrity, labelled his former bandmates jealous after he was told he was no longer in the boyband.

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George Shelley

A spokesperson for George said: It was a mutual decision for George to leave Union J so he could focus on his broadcasting and acting career.

He is now a regular part of the Capital FM Breakfast Show, hosted the Brits Red Carpet Live and recently completed shooting on BBC3s Murder in Successville.

He is an utterly charming and hard working individual  not a diva in the slightest.

The fact of the matter is that the other members of Union J are simply jealous he has achieved the start of an exciting new career and they have not.

George had agreed to be totally magnanimous towards them, but unfortunately this has not been reciprocated.

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Union J as they were, in June of last year

George had been with the group since their time on The X Factor in 2012, and scored four UK top 10 singles, including their most recent offering You Got It All, which reached number two in 2014.

The remaining lads  Josh Cuthbert, JJ Hamblett and Jaymi Hemsley  are now on the look out for a new fourth member.

Jaymi described the groups heartbreak over having to lose George.

I am absolutely devastated. This is taking up all my time and affecting my home life. I am bitter about things things that have happened. He wasnt putting the full effort in.

One member is not bigger than the band and we feel that there should be no member who is bigger than the project.

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I would much rather have someone who wants to do it and is committed to do it. Im not going to lose any sleep over him not being in the band.

Ouch!

Meanwhile, George issued a statement via Twitter on Friday morning, stating his surprise at the decision of his former bandmates to distance themselves from him in such a public way.

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George came second on the latest series of 'I'm A Celebrity... Get me Out Of Here!'

After finishing as runner-up in Im A Celebrity last year, George has carved a new career for himself as a presenter, hosting on Capital Radio, as well as fronting red carpet coverage for the Brit Awards last week.

He recently made headlines himself when he published a candid video on his YouTube page, opening up about his sexuality and revealing to his fans that he prefers not to label himself.
This guy dancing with his grandmother!! Beautiful.. Posted by Trending on Thursday, March 3, 2016

A heartwarming video has been posted online days before Mother's Day showing a grandson dancing with his frail grandmother in their living room.

In the video, which has been viewed 65,000 on Facebook, Jarryd Stoneman asks his grandmother, who can't walk, to dance, and she happily obliges.

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Footage captures the pair, from Wellington, New Zealand, joyously waltzing to Lukas Graham's song 7 Years.

Jarryd Stoneman no doubt made his grandmother's day when he asked her to dance in their living room

Stoneman captioned the video: "Asked nanny for a dance, she can't remember much but she still knows how to move."

Stoneman's grandmother is unsteady at first, without her walking frame to support her, but she can't stop smiling.

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In one touching moment Stoneman get's down on his knees to hug her.

"Still got it hey nanny," Stoneman says.

Stoneman's grandmother gets around with a walking frame, but she can 'still move' according to the New Zealander

After the song is finished, Stoneman kisses his grandmother's head and asks if they should have breakfast together to which he grandmother nods, before retrieving her walking frame.

Family and friends of Stoneman were quick to comment on how touching the video was, with Brooke Hogan writing: "Jarryd this is beautiful. I love the bond you two have.

"I had tears in my eyes love you Katie".

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Stoneman gets down on his knees as he prepares to hug his grandmother

Damian Dave posted: "This is (sic) a awesome clip the smile on her face said it all.. Mean brother."

Hundreds of members of the public also commented on the clip.

Carolyn Carter wrote: "This is so sweet. You don't see this any more. I don't know who they are either. But this is really great. I think he loves his grandma. God that is just so sweet. I love every minute of it. I wish more kids would be as loving as he is."
Marco Rubio talks to Donald Trump during a commercial break in last night's Republican debate at the Fox Theatre in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

THE BIG IDEA:

The Republican Party does not look prepared to come out of the wilderness after eight years of Barack Obama.

Thats the takeaway of many leading conservatives after last nights 11th Republican debate.

Just when you probably thought the presidential nominating contest had hit rock bottom, Donald Trump joked about the size of his genitalia.

[Get more must-read campaign news delivered directly to your email inbox with The Daily 202]

The two-hour shout-down in Detroit, ahead of Michigans primary next Tuesday, suggested that the GOPs deep wounds will not heal any time soon and raised the odds that Hillary Clinton will wind up president this time next year.

The spectacle made me ill, writes the conservative Free Beacons Matthew Continetti. On screen I watched decades of work by conservative institutions, activists, and elected officials being lit aflame not only by the New York demagogue but by his enablers who waited until the last possible moment to try and stop him.

Ill explain further down why Ted Cruz and John Kasich probably won the Fox News debate on points, and Marco Rubio came out worse for wear, but its myopic to think about last night in those terms. Because, in reality, everyone lost.

Designed to define candidates differences, the debates have become tedious and repetitious rather than enlightening or illuminating, The Posts chief correspondent, Dan Balz, writes. No new information was imparted, no truly new arguments advanced. Even the insults have grown tiresome.  Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, who drew criticism earlier for trying to limit the number of debates, must be wishing he had pushed for even fewer, given the tone and tenor of Thursdays forum and last weeks mud bath in Houston. Thats not to mention the debate before that in South Carolina

-- The messaging guru most looked to by Republicans called Hillary the biggest winner of the debate:

From a senior adviser to Rick Perry:

From one of the GOP's top pollsters:

From an up-and-coming Republican pollster who specializes in understanding millennials:

From a senior political reporter at National Review:

From the conservative on the New York Times opinion page:

Though Cruz, Rubio and Kasich said they'll support Trump if he's the nominee, there were a lot of posts like this on social media (in this case, from a Rubio supporter):

This was the most retweeted tweet during the two-hour debate:

-- Heres a sampling of how conservative media outlets are covering the debate:

National Review: GOP Implosion Accelerates in Motor City Wreck.

FoxNews.com, GOP breaks down in Motor City: Much of the fight on the Republican side is centered on who can beat Clinton, Chris Stirewalt, the digital politics editor, writes. The growing fear among GOP voters is that the answer might be: None of them.

Much of the fight on the Republican side is centered on who can beat Clinton, Chris Stirewalt, the digital politics editor, writes. The growing fear among GOP voters is that the answer might be: None of them. Christian Broadcasting Network, All That Was Missing Was Jerry Springer: The Grand Old Party didnt look grand at all. Instead, they looked gross, writes CBN political correspondent David Brody. Reince Priebus is faced with a crucial decision now: does he go with Tylenol or Excedrin? Which medication will take away this big fat headache?

-- The level of discourse slipped to a vulgar new low with Trumps braggadocio about being well endowed. I guarantee you theres no problem, he said in a quote for the ages.

No surprise, this was the most buzzed about moment on Facebook and drove the conversation on Twitter. It is also the moment that will utterly dominate the cable conversation today. Heres a taste of the reaction:

The Daily Beast's home page:

And Trump still wouldnt stop talking about his hands after the debate when he went into the spin room:

-- Indeed, it was another debate all about Trump.

But time of possession does not fully reflect how much of their time Cruz and Rubio spent talking about Trump.

-- Girth jokes aside, Trump lost badly on points  though, of course, it may not dissuade any of his supporters.

Trump hoped to look presidential and ready for a general election. He did not.

He acknowledged that he often changes his positions on issues but spun this attribute as a tribute to his flexibility.

He flip-flopped, and then flipped again after the debate ended, on H-1-B visas.

He sounded like he said something to the New York Times editorial board about immigration that he doesnt want to be made public. This scared many on the right who are otherwise sympathetic:

He also could not offer a coherent or persuasive defense about Trump University, saying the issue won't be settled for a few more years. Trump became flustered as he tried to defend what has been one of his greatest assets: his business record, writes The Weekly Standards Michael Warren. As the aphorism goes, if you're explaining, you're losing, especially when what you're explaining a massive civil suit against your company that claims you defrauded thousands of people for millions of dollars.

Moderators Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace take the stage at Fox Theatre last night. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

-- To their credit, the moderators pressed Trump harder and more effectively than the other candidates did. You could understand why The Donald skipped the Fox News debate before Iowa! They put up facts and figures that show just how unrealistic much of what he promises is. They showed video clips of him saying three things and then insisting adamantly  in one case, the next day  that he never said them. Megyn Kelly quoted a federal court ruling that said Trump acted like a con artist and compared his victims to those of Bernie Madoff.

-- Kelly especially received high praise from across the ideological spectrum:

Other storylines:

-- Cruz and Rubio did not attack each other. The Cuban American Non-Aggression Pact held. USA Today leads with the tag-team element: For the first time in a debate, they created a united anti-Trump front. In response, Trump brushed them off, sneeringly calling them little Marco and lying Ted.

-- Five key conservative talking heads declared that Cruz had the best night of anyone:

(AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Cruz had a terrific night," writes National Review executive editor Rich Lowry. "He was strong and in command in his exchanges with Trump, and drew blood on Trumps Hillary donations and the New York Times transcript. He avoided getting dragged down into the mud with Trump in the same way Rubio did. In general, he was firing on all cylinders, and his answer on Detroit was particularly good."

-- Theres near consensus that Rubio diminished himself.

(AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

The Florida senator seemed to have resigned himself to a kamikaze mission against Trump during this debate, writes The Fixs Chris Cillizza, who puts him on his list of losers. He jabbed at and with Trump over and over again in the debate's first 60 minutes, turning every question  and answer  into an attack on Trump. It hurt Trump but hurt Rubio, too, as he struggled to get back to his more positive new American century message. Rubio improved in the second half of the debate, but Cruz was better throughout. Its hard to see how this debate changes the dynamic set in place on Tuesday night: Trump as the favorite, Cruz with the next best chance of being the nominee, Rubio as Trump spoiler.

-- By trying to stay above the fray, Kasich probably helped inject himself back into the debate and improved his chances of winning his home state of Ohio on March 15. In that 25-person focus group run by Luntz, 18 picked Kasich as the winner. Six picked Cruz, one picked Trump and none picked Rubio.

(AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

This total mentions chart from our analytics partners at Zignal Labs, which shows media mentions between 9 p.m. to midnight Eastern, indicates Kasich may have had a bit of a breakthrough during tonight's debate:

Kasich gave a solid performance of strength, sense, charm, and gravitas that was further elevated when contrasted with the three heated squabblers on stage beside him, writes Bloombergs Mark Halperin. Some rousing moments recounting his campaign trail and Ohio experiences that will potentially leave a lingering positive impression with Main Street Republican voters.

From a USA Today political reporter:

This is George Costanza from Seinfeld:

-- But, but, but: Kasich would still rather watch his party combust than directly engage Trump. Shown a web video that his own campaign released mocking the front-runner for praising Vladimir Putin, the governor of Ohio refused to comment about it. Im not biting, he said. That sounded like a consummate and calculating politician, not a statesman staying above the fray. Now is a gut-check moment for leadership, not dodges.

-- The Posts Fact Checkers flag 14 fishy claims made during the debate. From Glenn Kessler and Michelle Ye Hee Lee:

Trump seriously overstates the case when he claims the United States is getting absolutely crushed in trade with every other country.

Cruz continues to say that Trump financed the Gang of Eight. But this is misleading. The majority of Trumps donations was made long before the 2013 Gang of Eights support for comprehensive immigration reform.

Rubio dropped his estimate of Trumps inheritance from $200 million to $100 million, but thats probably still too high. Trump and his siblings were reported to have expected $35 million each before Trumps father died. But, as we have explained, Trumps claim that he inherited $1 million and turned it into $10 billion is also false.

What could account for Trumps strange notion that the 9/11 hijackers were married and shipped their wives home just before the attacks? Perhaps he is conflating reports of Saudi nationals leaving the United States after the attacks. But even so, it would have made little sense for such a carefully planned plot to have such poor operational security.

Cruz is exaggerating his law-enforcement credentials.

Trump University actually earned a D- from BBB before it was shut down.

-- Read an annotated transcript of the debate here.

-- If you missed it, watch a three-minute recap of the debate from our video team:

The Fox News GOP debate, in less than 3 minutes Embed Copy Share Play Video2:45

Welcome to the Daily 202, PowerPost's morning newsletter.

With contributions from Breanne Deppisch (@b_deppy) and Elise Viebeck (@eliseviebeck)

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING:

-- A Catholic diocese in Pennsylvania announced it will post the names online of priests credibly accused of sexually abusing children, a decision that came two days after a dramatic grand jury report alleged a decades-long cover-up," Michelle Boorstein and Julie Zauzmer report. "The report relied on a secret archive at the Altoona-Johnstown diocese, which dates back to the 1950s and was opened after authorities obtained a search warrant. The grand jury interviewed surviving priests and their victims, and compiled a 147-page account detailing accusations against more than 50 religious leaders. These findings are staggering and sobering  Hundreds of children have fallen victim to child predators wrapped in the authority and integrity of an honorable faith, the grand jury wrote, describing the actions of two previous bishops  one of whom has died, and the other retired  as criminal. Both bishops moved known abusers to new assignments where they could harm children again, and pressured law enforcement not to prosecute clergy, the report said.

-- North Koreas Kim Jong Un has ordered his military to be ready to use its nuclear weapons at any time, saying they were needed given the ferocious hostility of new gangster-like sanctions leveled against Pyongyang," our Anna Fifield reports from Tokyo. "The order is the second outburst from Pyongyang in response to new multilateral sanctions aimed at punishing Kims regime for its recent nuclear test and missile launch. Yesterday, the North Korean military fired six projectiles into the Sea of Japan. The only way for defending our nation is to bolster up nuclear force, Kim said, stressing the need to get nuclear warheads  ready to be fired at any moment. While there are plenty of question marks hanging over North Korea's actual technical capacity, analysts say Pyongyang is clearly trying to increase its bargaining power. Pyongyang has a habit of making grandiose threats in colorful language, part of the regimes efforts to maintain a climate of fear and signal defiance to the outside world.

Jesse Ventura in 2014 (AP Photo/The Star Tribune, Elizabeth Flores, File)

-- Jesse Ventura is considering a third-party presidential bid. The former Minnesota governor told CNNs Don Lemon that he will decide in the next month whether or not to run as a third-party candidate. Absolutely, Im considering it, said Ventura, who said he was invited to an upcoming Libertarian convention. Im a centrist  fiscally conservative and socially liberal. All the people in the middle, thats how I won [in Minnesota]. Its the middle that controls your election.

Bernie Sander meets 3-month-old Oliver Jack Carter Lomas-Davis, of Venice, Calif., during a rally in Las Vegas last month. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

-- "Bernie Baby, the cheerful infant who won the affections of people of all political stripes after his mom posted photos on social media of him greeting Bernie Sanders in a lookalike white-haired wig, oversized glasses and plaid tie, has died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome," the AP reports from Los Angeles. "He was 4 months old."

GET SMART FAST:??

President Obama will remain in Washington after his presidency so that Sasha can finish high school. (Greg Jaffe and Juliet Eilperin) Syria was hit with a nationwide blackout yesterday, in the throes of a partial cease-fire brokered by world powers. (Hugh Naylor) Israel will soon begin to deploy one of the most sophisticated missile defense systems in the world, which will be able to knock down not only ballistic missiles but also orbiting satellites. The U.S. has provided more than $3.3 billion to support the program. (Ruth Eglash and William Booth) A potential British departure from the EU could have disastrous repercussions for Western security. Experts said the U.S.-led post-Cold War order relies heavily on a united Europe to deter adversaries, saying a Brexit could blunt their collective punch and heighten vulnerability to future attacks. (Griff Witte) European Council president Donald Tusk told migrants Do not come to Europe. His stark warning came as the U.N. cautioned that as many as 70,000 people could be trapped in Greece for weeks due to European countries shutting their borders, transforming that country into a holding pen for migrants desperate to leave. (James McAuley and Karla Adam) House Republican leaders pitched a new budget plan in hopes of convincing conservatives to back a bipartisan spending agreement struck last year  but the right-wingers arent biting. Republican leaders have made passing such a bill a top priority for the year, saying it would show the partys ability to govern. (Kelsey Snell) You can die from a broken heart  and apparently, from a happy one too. Researchers found that "broken heart syndrome," which can be caused by sad or stressful events, can also be triggered by happy occasions. (Elahe Izadi)

Chuck Grassley (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

POWER PLAYERS IN THE NEWS:

-- Former Iowa Lt. Gov. and Secretary of Agriculture Patty Judge (D) will challenge Sen. Chuck Grassley (R) because of his refusal to even hold a confirmation hearing for President Obama's Supreme Court nominee. From The Des Moines Register: "Judge said she was largely considering a run because of Grassleys stance on the court vacancy. I dont like this deliberate obstruction, she said. Sen. Grassley owes us better. Hes been with us a long time  Maybe too long. Kurt Meyer, a Democratic activist in Iowa, said Judges history in politics could make her a credible [competitor.] If Patty gets into the race, its going to shake things up a bit.  Grassleys re-election campaign spokesman Eric Woolson said he looked forward to contrasting their records. Judge was part of an administration soundly rejected after only one term, he said. Iowans looked at her record and said, we don't want another day of that failed leadership.

-- A new poll, however, shows Grassley remains relatively popular in Iowa: The latest Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll shows Grassleys approval rating at 57 percent, while just 28 percent say they disapprove of the job hes doing  suggesting that even Iowans who are frustrated by Grassleys role in blocking the nomination proceedings arent ready to deny him the seventh term hes seeking this fall. But Obama carried Iowa twice, and Grassley now has a race on his hands.

WAPO HIGHLIGHTS:

-- What Trump said under oath about the Trump University fraud claims  just weeks ago, by Tom Hamburger, Rosalind S. Helderman and Alice Crites: Trump claims he has the world's greatest memory, but when it came time this winter to give testimony in fraud cases filed against him and a real estate training program known as Trump University, he displayed repeated inability to recall names and faces of instructors he claimed to have hired personally. New depositions released Thursday show Trump spent considerable time personally engaged in litigation, even in the heat of the campaign  He sat for one deposition in New York in December from 10:05 am until 5:02 pm. He then sat again for nearly three hours in Vegas, concluding the deposition just before he appeared at a rally in the city  The depositions quote Trump acknowledging a lack of close involvement with mentors and students. Did you do anything personally to confirm the expertise of any of the Trump University mentors? Trump was asked in the depositions. No, I didn't, he responded.

-- What ever happened to all that money Trump raised for the veterans? by David A. Fahrenthold: In January, Trump skipped a Republican debate and held his own event instead  a rally to raise money for veterans. One hour. Six million dollars, said Trump. The vets are amazing, amazing people. His fundraiser highlighted the candidates remarkable ability to draw people, attention and money to any cause he chooses. But the aftermath showed another side of Trumps campaign: its tendency to focus on front-end spectacle over back-end details. In the days following, donations to veterans became campaign centerpiece  He would frequently call leaders of local charities onstage, hanging them a huge check in front of the cameras and the crowds. But more than a month later, only half of the money, roughly $3 million, has been donated to veterans charities  And the rollout of contributions has raised questions about how long Trump would keep donated funds within the Trump Foundation, a personal charity whose gifts can boost his political brand.

Hillary speaks at her victory party in Miami on Tuesday. (Photo by Melina Mara/The Washington Post)

-- The revelation that the Justice Department has granted immunity to Bryan Pagliano, a former State Department staff member who set up Hillary's private email server, is actually a likely indication that the investigation is nearing a conclusion and should not be read as a sign that the Democratic presidential candidate will face criminal charges. From Matt Zapotosky: "I wouldnt necessarily claim that someone has flipped and is going to say a bunch of incriminating things about other people, said Justin Shur, a former deputy chief of the Justice Departments Public Integrity Section. It could be an indication that agents and prosecutors are winding down an inquiry that will not result in charges. As the FBI is looks to wrap up the Clinton inquiry  a criminal investigation of the possible mishandling of classified information  in the coming months, there are no outward signs that prosecutors have convened a grand jury, a powerful tool allowing them to subpoena witnesses.

MORE ON THE DEMOCRATIC RACE:

-- Sanders will participate in an hour-long town hall hosted by Fox News next week. Clinton has declined the invitation, and a Sanders spokesman said there have been discussions involving having Trump participate instead. (John Wagner)

-- Clintons tax proposal would raise $1.1 trillion in new revenue over the next decade, according to a new study. Under Clintons plan, the top 1 percent would pay for three quarters of the revenue gains, and the bottom 95 percent would see very little change in their taxes. Her plan mirrors the Buffett rule, the concept advanced by investor Warren Buffett that people earning more than $1 million should never pay a smaller share of their income in taxes than middle-class earners. (Kelsey Snell)

-- Clinton won the endorsement of the United Farm Workers, the largest farmworkers union in the country. The union, which also endorsed Clinton in 2008, is active in ten states and has a largely Latino membership. (AP)

-- Sanders hit Clinton on U.S. trade policy, telling voters in Michigan that her trade policies have been a disaster and ticking off a series of trade pacts that he had opposed and Clinton supported. (John Wagner)

MORE ON THE REPUBLICAN RACE

-- Trump named Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) the chairman of his "national security advisory committee."

-- Caitlyn Jenner said in an interview with The Advocate that, should Cruz win the nomination, she would like to serve as a trans ambassador in the White House.

-- Trump told Fox News Tony Snow in 1999 that he wishes Bush would have finished the war and toppled Saddam Hussein from power, something he has vehemently denied on the trail. (Buzzfeed)

-- At the Conservative Political Action Conference, which is going on into the weekend, certain conservative leaders found it best not to speak of Trump at all. Onstage, some politicians who had been openly critical of Trump opted not to mention his name. Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), one of the first elected Republicans to say he would never vote for Trump  and whose state holds caucuses this Saturday  asked activists to take the Constitution seriously, his Trump barbs carefully buried between the lines. I am anti-establishment, but we [dont] need someone to breathe fire onto Washington, he said. (David Weigel)

Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union (which puts on CPAC), said he believes the conservative base is realigning in the fact of Trump's rise. But he said that conservatives can't use adherence to principles as a reason to ignore what voters care about, because it will reduce the movement's impact on the political discourse and cause it to miss an opportunity to grow in numbers and influence. "Were going to be vigilant of our values, he told the Washington Examiner's David M. Drucker. "But we also have to listen to whats happening out there in the country, and the message [voters] are sending  What I want to do is marry both of them together."

SOCIAL MEDIA SPEED READ:

-- Rubios best moment of the night came when Cruz and Trump were arguing.

Donald has a tenuous relationship with the truth, Cruz said.

As Trump responded with an insult, Cruz replied calmly: Breathe, breathe, breathe, you can do it. I know its hard.

Rubio jumped in: When theyre done with the yoga, can I answer a question?

I hope we dont see yoga on this stage, Cruz said.

Well, hes very flexible, so you never know, Rubio said.

The crowd roared. And the Rubio campaign quickly tried to raise money off of it:

Heres a take from The Atlantic:

Romney defended his pursuit of Trump's support in 2012:

Mitt's body man during the 2012 election claimed that Trump told Romney to use birther rhetoric because "rightwing crazies will believe it."

Flashback: When party elites were freaked out about Barry Goldwater in 1964, moderate Michigan Gov. George Romney said he would not support him as the GOP nominee.

Here's the cover of today's Daily News:

A few shots from GOP debate day:

Trump supporters love to vote in online polls:

-- Hundreds of protestors rallied outside of the debate in Detroit, chanting Flint lives matter, and demanding attention be paid to civil rights issues. (USA Today)

Cory Booker snapped a campaign trail selfie:

Astronaut Scott Kelly returned to Houston:

And enjoyed his first dinner back on earth:

David Cicilline bumped into some VEEP cast members:

Joe Kennedy brought daughter Ellie to the Capitol for the first time:

Ron Johnson made a new friend:

Lynn Jenkins celebrated the 75th birthday of M&Ms:

John Dingell was craving a cupcake:

HOT ON THE LEFT ICYMI: How three fierce female justices took control of the Supreme Court. From Slate : "It felt as if, for the first time in history, the gender playing field at the high court was finally leveled, and as a consequence the courts female justices were emboldened to just ignore the rules ... Its hard to imagine President Obama conjuring up, from even the darkest, most devious underground lab, a new justice who would be half as fierce as the four-car train of whoop-ass we saw today." HOT ON THE RIGHT Caitlyn Jenner wants to be a trans ambassador for Ted Cruz. From the Huffington Post : "Caitlyn Jenner told The Advocate that she's vying to be named America's 'trans ambassador' if Cruz is elected president in November ... 'I think hes very conservative, and a great constitutionalist, and a very articulate man,' she said. She does, however, take issue with the GOP presidential hopeful's evangelical Christian beliefs and that, consequently, he's 'probably one of the worst ones when it comes to trans issues.'"

DAYBOOK:

On the campaign trail: Lots of candidates are in Michigan. Here's the rundown:

Clinton: Detroit, Mich.

Sanders: Edwardsville, Ill.; Traverse City, Allendale, Mich.

Trump: Warren, Cadillac, Mich.; New Orleans, La.

Rubio: Berryton, Wichita, Overland Park, Kan.

Cruz: Orono, Maine; National Harbor, Md.; Mandeville, La.

Kasich: Holland, Mich.

At the White House: President Obama meets with Secretary of State John Kerry.

On Capitol Hill: The Senate and House are adjourned until Monday.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: I want everyone to know for those who were concerned: I wasnt being held hostage, I wasnt upset. I wasnt angry. I wasnt despondent, Chris Christie said during a news conference in Trenton. I was not sitting up there thinking, Oh, my God, what have I done?" (Katie Zezima)

NEWS YOU CAN USE IF YOU LIVE IN D.C.:

-- Dont ditch the hat or gloves just yet. The Capital Weather Gang forecasts: Snow showers taper off fairly quick early this morning if theyre not already done as you wake up. One exception may be around St. Marys County where a winter storm warning was hoisted late night. Even there, it shouldnt last too long. But dress for breeziness in the storms wake. A few patchy icy spots may remain in spots before the sun rises high above the horizon. Clouds hang tough early, though they should be in full on breaking mode during the afternoon. High temperatures in the near 40 to mid-40s range gives any necessary melting some assistance.

-- School closures: Page County Schools, Prince William County Schools, Providence Christian Academy

-- Two-hour delays: Calvert County Schools, Certified Learning Centers, Christ Chapel Academy (OPENS AT 10 AM), Colonial Beach Public Schools, Fredericksburg Public Schools, King George County Public Schools, Manassas City School, Matthew's Center for Visual Learning, Mt. Carmel Christian Academy, Shenandoah University (OPENS AT 9 AM), Spotsylvania County Schools, St. Mary's County Schools, Stafford County Schools, Star of Bethlehem Christian Academy

-- A man in Manassas was charged after firing shots at moving vehicles. No one was injured, and police are continuing to search for a believed second suspect in the case. (Clarence Williams)

-- FUN FRIDAY READ, from Julie Zauzmer: "Forget the campaign going on in the rest of the country. Jesse and Jennifer Nielsen are in the midst of a presidential election within their own household. Should they vote for Reagan? Opt for Kennedy? The Arlington couple needs to choose a presidential namesake for their fourth child. The Nielsens have three children, all named for presidents: Grant, 4, for Ulysses S., who was in the White House from 1869 to 1877; Madison, 2, for our fourth president, James; and little girl McKinley, 1, named for William, who was elected in 1896. Theyre expecting their fourth in May. Since five presidents have shared surnames with a predecessor, the Nielsens are down to just 36 options to choose from." So cute. So D.C.

Jennifer Nielsen, left to right, poses for a portrait with her children, Grant Nielson, 4, Madison "Maddie" Nielson, 2, McKinley Nielsen, 1, and Jennifer's husband, Jesse, at the family's home in Arlington. (Photo by Matt McClain/ The Washington Post)

VIDEOS OF THE DAY:

Bill O'Reilly's had an awkward post-debate interview with Trump on the debate stage. "You've become very negative, I do think," Trump said. "Me? Why? Why would I do that?" O'Reilly asked. "You'll have to ask your psychiatrist," said Trump. "But I think you've become very negative." Watch:

Watch kids react to Trump:

Because he has a cold, Rubio avoided shaking the hands of his rivals at the end of the debate. Instead he gave elbow bumps.

Some debategoers goofed off when they realized they were on camera:

Watch the highlights from Mitt's Trump take-down:

Mitt Romney's speech on Donald Trump in less than 3 minutes Embed Copy Share Play Video2:39

Conan O'Brien poked fun at Christie's hostage face:
The Hubble Space Telescope has smashed the cosmic distance record by capturing the furthest galaxy ever seen, GN-z11.

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NASA's telescope was able to capture a small infant galaxy almost 13.4 billion old, meaning the image that we're seeing shows the galaxy as it was just 400 million years after the Big Bang itself.

To put that into perspective, the image shows the universe at just three per cent of its current age.

"We've taken a major step back in time, beyond what we'd ever expected to be able to do with Hubble." said principal investigator Pascal Oesch of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.

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The discovery has come as quite a surprise to the scientific community after it was believed that only the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope would be powerful to look that far into the past.

Scientists are able to determine these huge distances with precise accuracy thanks to a phenomenon known as the 'redshift'.

When light from a distant galaxy starts travelling towards Earth the wavelengths become stretched becoming longer and redder. By measuring the wavelength distances the scientists are then able to determine just how far the light has had to travel from its source.

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The James Webb Space Telescope is expected look further into our universe than ever before.

Before GN-z11 was discovered the furthest that astronomers had been able to look into the past had been 13.2 billion years.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn arrives at the Hillsborough inquest in Warrington, where Coroner Sir John Goldring is continuing to sum up the evidence. Bloomberg via Getty Images

Jeremy Corbyn has sparked a fresh debate over prostitution after backing the decriminalisation of sex workers.

With remarks that swiftly divided opinion, the Labour leader told a group of students that he supported decriminalising the sex industry.

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Allies of Mr Corbyn point out that he has long believed that women who sell their bodies for sex should not be penalised by the law, but this is the first time since his election as leader that he has repeated his personal views.

HuffPost UK understands that he was not advocating a change in the partys policy on the sex laws, but his remarks sparked a reaction from womens groups as well as men.

In a question-and-answer session with students at Goldsmiths University, Mr Corbyn said: I am favour of decriminalising the sex industry.

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I dont want people to be criminalised. I want to be in a society where we dont automatically criminalise people. Lets do things a bit differently and in a bit more civilised way.

Selling sex is not illegal in the UK, apart from in Northern Ireland, yet soliciting, kerb crawling and running a brothel are all outlawed.

Supporters of decriminalisation say it could improve safety for prostitutes to work at home or in brothels, rather than looking for customers on the streets.

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell also has a long record supporting sex workers' rights and has won the backing of the English Collective Of Prostitutes.

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Amnesty International last year came under fire when it adopted a policy calling for all global laws against prostitution to be removed - meaning those who sell sex and those who buy it would not face prosecution.

Only this week, a sex worker told a Parliamentary committee that fresh crackdowns would drive the trade underground and subject more women to violence at the hands of gangs and traffickers.

Labour MP Jess Phillips expressed her dismay at Mr Corbyns remarks: Man says we should decriminalize a known violence against women. Why did it have to be this man.

Channel 4 News presenter Cathy Newman set out her objections too.

. @jeremycorbyn says decriminalise #prostitution. Nevada, the only US state to do so, has 1 of the highest number of female murder victims  Cathy Newman (@cathynewman) March 4, 2016

Domestic violence charity NIA Ending Violence also expressed its alarm, claiming Mr Corbyn failed to understand that many women were coerced into selling their bodies.

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CEO Karen Ingala Smith said: Only this week I spoke about a new website that acts as a search engine to help men locate and compare women in prostitution. This sort of travel-supermarket for women, shows the regard of sex-buyers for women for what it is.

Women who are deemed to have chosen prostitution are usually those with least choice and fewest option, often its arguable that they had any choice at all.

Last week I heard a survivor of prostitution ask whether if we respect human dignity, we respect it enough to respect the dignity of all. Sadly, I think Corbyn has shown that he does not.

But others on Twitter were supportive of Mr Corbyn for speaking out.

I agree with Jeremy Corbyn on his stance of decriminalising prostitution, this should have happened a long, long time ago.  Neil Monnery (@neilmonnery) March 4, 2016

Mr McDonnell explained just before the 2015 general election why he supported "the heroic campaign" for better rights for sex workers.

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Only this week, this issue surfaced in Parliament when a former prostitute revealed to the Home Affairs Committee how she had been gang-raped.

But another sex worker, Laura Lee, said prostitution should not be further criminalised, as it is in Northern Ireland, where those who buy sex face tougher penalties.

Prostitution Around The Globe See gallery

Women's groups are split over the issue, with some arguing that prostitution is overwhelmingly the last refuge of the vulnerable and the main effort should be in reducing demand by men to buy sex.

Ms Lee told MPs this week that in 20 years working as a prostitute, she had not once met a fellow prostitute who had been coerced into the sex trade.

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For decriminalisation and justice: sex workers demand legal reform and social change https://t.co/TZIOUIWIHL  Laura Lee (@GlasgaeLauraLee) 4 March 2016

In 2014, Labour MP Fiona Mactaggart attempted to amend the Modern Slavery Bill to introduce the so-called 'Nordic model', which criminalises the sex trades clients, rather than prostitutes.
A new mum was left shocked and upset after discovering her boyfriend had secretly married another woman while she was giving birth to their baby.

Heather McGillion, 24, had fallen for Adonis Rodriguez while they both worked as hotel entertainers in the Dominican Republic.

After more than a year together McGillion, from Renfrewshire, Scotland, fell pregnant and the pair made plans for family life on the Caribbean island.

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However McGillion suffered complications during her pregnancy and decided to temporarily return home to Scotland to give birth. Rodriguez was denied a visa so stayed put.

Heather McGillion and Adonis Rodriguez

As McGillion welcomed her son Diego into the world, she was left devastated after receiving a message and photo on Facebook from a friend suggesting that Rodriguez, 21, had married a German tourist called Julia.

McGillion, a trained dancer, said: "When I opened the message it felt like I had been hit by a double-decker bus.

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"Adonis had his arms around a woman and she was wearing a wedding dress. It didn't make sense and the more I thought about it, the more absurd it was.

"We had only been apart for a few weeks and there was no way Adonis could have met another woman and arranged a wedding in less than a month.

"For a second I didn't twig who it was. Then to my horror I realised it was Julia."

Heather McGillion while pregnant

McGillion added: "She was a German tourist who came to stay at the hotel. About a year before I had noticed Adonis had become friends with her on Facebook and they had been messaging each other.

"It was nothing sexual but it made me feel uneasy. But Adonis assured me there was nothing going on and when I discovered I was pregnant I forgot all about it."

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When McGillion called her boyfriend to confront him about it, he admitted everything and claimed he only married her for a visa.

She also noticed in the wedding photos that Julia, 31, had undergone a radical makeover.

McGillion said: "She was unrecognisable from the slightly plump, mousy woman I had seen on Adonis's Facebook page.

"In fact she now looked like me. She had lost weight and dyed her hair to look just like me, only with added wrinkles.

"When I phoned Adonis and asked 'Why is Julia in a wedding dress?' there was a pause and then he said: 'Heather, I'm so sorry'.

"I hung up and burst into tears."

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Adonis Rodriguez married Julia while his girlfriend was in labour

McGillion later discovered that after Rodriguez had moved to another hotel to find work, he had been meeting up Julia.

She had travelled to visit him around four times and they planned the wedding to take place while she was back in the UK.

McGillion has since returned to the Dominican Republic with Diego, who is now three months old, and is allowing Rodriguez to visit him.

She said: "My mum has retired here so I have come out again with my son. Despite everything, I want Diego to have a father so Adonis is in regular contact with him but it's very hard.

"I feel so foolish for trusting Adonis but I keep telling myself there were no warning signs.

"I had been in a relationship with him before he ever met her. She came out every six months but it was the fourth holiday in which they married so it was very fast.

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"She knew all about me and him and the baby but still married him, they had both planned it and I was the one not in the know.

"He treated me like royalty and he was so excited about our baby."

Adonis Rodriguez and Julia

She continued: "I still can't believe what happened. Adonis had given me the impression he wanted to be together forever but while I was giving birth to his baby, he was marrying another woman."

Rodriguez said: "Yes I'm married, Julia is my wife. I was still with Heather when I married her.
A former Lib Dem press officer has revealed that he once booked a photo opportunity for Nick Clegg to announce a policy pledge at a popular dogging site.

Ben Rathe, who used to handle media relations for the then junior coalition government party, told how he arranged a press event to reveal the 5p charge on plastic bag in a Glasgow favourite for outdoor sex.

It was the Liberal Democrat Conference 2013, and my role back then was planning all of the visits that Nick Clegg was doing over the course of the 5 days in Glasgow," he wrote in a blog post. "This included finding somewhere suitable to announce a new 5p charge on plastic bags."

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"I picked out a lovely nature reserve just south of Glasgow called Cathkin Marsh, which allowed us to tell the story of how discarded carrier bags murder cute, furry animals, damage the environment and ruin picturesque landscapes."

Clegg talking to a TV crew in the dogging spot

Rathe explained that when a police officer commented that it was an "interesting place" for the deputy prime minister to visit, he was told what local Glaswegians used it for.

"I mean because of what the locals use it for" the policeman said.

Rathe elaborated in his blog: "Now, what the locals use it for is never a good sentence to hear, because usually the locals are never using it for anything good.

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"I didnt want to ask what he meant, mainly because I knew what he was going to say if I did, but felt that I had to.

"So I did. And then came the reply I had both expected and dreaded.

"Oh, its a dogging site."

"And as planned, Nick Clegg the next day did indeed unwittingly make his 5p plastic bag charge announcement. In a dogging spot.
The love affair of the century has hit an almighty snag, with Jeremy McConnell finally coming clean and admitting he did cheat on Stephanie Davis after leaving the Celebrity Big Brother house earlier this year.

The Irish model had previously denied rumours that hed slept with dancer Caroline Pope during a public appearance in Newcastle last month, though Stephanie later posted a string of angry tweets claiming that hed lied about the fling.

He has now set the record straight, admitting that he did sleep with Caroline while Stephanie was still in the CBB house.

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Jeremy McConnell

Speaking on RTE1s Today show, Jeremy confessed: I went down to Newcastle, and I ended up with a girl that night. But this was before me and Steph finally got into a relationship.

In my head, she had a boyfriend. We were going to talk when she got out, and that's the honest truth. Stephanie had her own issues, I was dealing with mine. I wanted to breathe when I got out the house.

Addressing his future with Stephanie, he admitted he was still hopeful they could be together, but added: Steph is in Majorca at the moment. The way she's put it is she's split up with me. I love the girl to bits.

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The pair during happier times

Stephanie and Jeremys romance has been a particularly tumultuous one, getting together in the CBB house back in January, despite the fact that the former Hollyoaks actress was dating model Sam Reece, who she claimed she wanted to marry shortly before joining the series.

The saga continues...

Tap the image below to open our 'Big Brother' couples gallery...
Many parts of the country are not taking their fair share of asylum seekers - including Home Secretary Theresa May's constituency, MPs have complained.

Cities have been "unfairly" burdened with supporting those fleeing war and destitution, while "whole swathes" of rural areas have refused to sign up to house even a single asylum, the Home Affairs Select Committee added.

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They are pushing for an overhaul of the 'dispersal' scheme, under which councils sign up voluntarily to house asylum seekers, that would see local authorities who have taken none or small numbers forced to take more.

The call came in a report authored by the committee, who lamented that contractors had reported difficulties in finding enough accommodation.

They singled out an area including Mrs May's constituency of Maidenhead, in Berkshire, and criticised it for having housed no people waiting for their refugee status to be processed.

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Theresa May's constituency was singled out

Their report said: "The dispersal system appears unfair, with whole swathes of the country never receiving a single asylum seeker.

"The majority are being moved into low-cost housing in urban areas such as Glasgow, Stoke, Cardiff and of course Middlesbrough, where the ratio is 1 asylum seeker per 137 people.

"However, on the data we have received, local authorities in areas such as Maidenhead, Lincoln and Warwick have housed none."

Committee Chair Keith Vaz said Britain may need to house as many as 50,000 asylum seekers by 2017.

Vaz criticised councils across the country

Last month Immigration Minister James Brokenshire told the committee the Government is looking to expand the number of local authorities designated as dispersal areas.

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The committee's wide-ranging report also said it was "clearly wrong" that accommodation for asylum seekers in Middlesbrough had doors that were painted a "predominant colour".

A furore erupted earlier this year after claims refugees living in the town were housed in properties all painted a single shade of red that made them easy targets for attack and abuse.

There was also controversy when it emerged that asylum seekers in Cardiff had to wear coloured wristbands in order to receive meals.

The committee welcomed moves to repaint the doors and end the use of wristbands.

Mr Vaz said: "The compulsory wearing of wrist bands and the infamous red doors demonstrate an unacceptable attitude towards vulnerable people."

Dr Lisa Doyle, of charity the Refugee Council, called on ministers to devise a better strategy to house asylum seekers, many of whom are fleeing the brutalist regime of Bashar Al-Assad in Syria.

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"The Government clearly needs to re-evaluate the way it houses asylum seekers," she told the Press Association.

"It's an issue of vital importance: we're talking about the way we as a country look after the comparatively small number of people who have fled war, rape and persecution and have come here seeking safety.
A woman who was adopted at birth was left in complete shock after finding out she'd worked with her birth mother for two years. Despite spending 15 years trying to track her down.

Jenny Thomas, 40, said she knew from the age of four that she was adopted.

She spent more than a decade trying to track down her birth mother but to no avail.

Now, after appearing on TLC's 'Long Lost Family', Thomas has discovered that her birth mother is actually Nita Valdez, who she previously worked with at Rochester hospital in New York.

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Jenny Thomas was shocked to find she'd worked at the same hospital as her birth mother

Speaking about the moment she found out Valdez was her mother, Thomas told the New York Post: "I was just in shock. I had looked in so many faces for so many years, [thinking] Could that be her? Is she looking at me because she knows me?

"All the while I had looked at the woman who once knew me as her daughter. I didnt expect that, not in a million years."

Thomas said the only thing she'd known about her birth mother was that she was from Rochester.

After 15 years of trying to find her mum online, she decided to sign up for 'Long Lost Family'.

She then discovered that not only had they found her mum, but she had worked with her for two whole years at Rochester hospital.

Thomas had been working as a part-time patient care technician while her mum, Valdez, was a patient transporter.

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Thomas' birth mother Nita Valdez

The 40-year-old explained that they would often interact to move patients from their rooms to rehabilitation therapy.

Thomas said of her mother: "Shes very quiet, funny. Im comical, so she would always laugh at my jokes, so that was a plus. We never went past a working-professional relationship at all."

It is unclear whether Valdez knew she was Thomas' mother.

Thomas is set to star on TLC's 'Long Lost Family' on Sunday at 10pm (EST) - the show will be aired in the US.
London mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith addresses delegates in the third day of the Conservative Party annual conference at Manchester Central Convention Centre. Isabel Infantes/EMPICS Entertainment

Conservative Zac Goldsmith has described himself as wanting to be the "pansexual" mayor of London.

The Tory MP told Pink News he wanted to be "be the mayor for all of London".

He said: "London is a beautiful, big, diverse city and needs a mayor that can speak for everyone. I would use the term pansexual here, if my understanding is correct.

Asked to define pansexuality, Goldsmith said: "Someone who loves the world, surely? Is that right?

Pansexuals are attracted to people regardless of their gender identity or biological sex.

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In the interview, Goldsmith also said he had a "struggle" with the idea of compulsory sex education "so that all children know its okay to be gay".

"On the one level, I want the outcome that good quality sex and relationship education provides for all the obvious reasons," he said.

"But on another level, Im very strongly supportive of the governments free schools agenda, which allows parents to set the ethos and the direction of schools. I think its the right policy."

Goldsmith said he was "torn" because he did not agree with a "a one size fits all approach" for mandating what schools had to do.

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'If you had a more data-driven city (like New York) it would be easier for the mayor to work with local authorities and identify hot spots where the government policy isnt working. Id prefer that to a one size fits all approach, though Im not saying the problem doesnt exist," he said.
As the debate intensifies in the London Mayoral elections, are the candidates committed to creating cities that are fit for our ageing population?

The World Health Organization is working towards an 'age friendly world'. One in which people of all ages actively participate in their community, it is easy for older people to stay connected, for people to stay healthy and active even at the oldest ages and appropriate support is available to those who need it. The Centre for Ageing Better supports these aims and so as well as working across England on specific topics, we want to work with communities to become age friendly.

The Mayor's Design Advisory Group recently launched Ageing London, which calls for the development of innovative new models of housing for older Londoners, the establishment of "lifetime high streets" to support older residents in starting new businesses and new intergenerational community spaces. Ageing Better has prioritised the issue of homes and neighbourhoods and will work with others to gather and apply evidence to enable more people to live in homes and neighbourhoods that are age friendly.

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Last week, Age UK London launched 'Making London a Great Place to Grow Older', its manifesto for the mayoral candidates. If London truly committed to just one of these goals - to Make London an Age Friendly City - many of the other issues would have to be addressed. By engaging with people to help design the solutions and working with other organisations, including businesses and employers, local councils, and housing developers, the Greater London Authority and the next Mayor of London will be able to create a sustainable city which can harness the opportunities of an ageing society.

I recently met with the network of age friendly cities in Manchester and was impressed by the energy and commitment of those attending and the diversity of practical approaches being adopted. In Nottingham, local businesses are supporting the 'take a seat' initiative to provide older people with somewhere to stop and rest when they are out and about. In the Isle of Wight they are creating age friendly GP surgeries and providing tailored employment support for the over 50s. Political leadership was considered to be critical to ensure ageing was not simply seen as a health and wellbeing issue but central to the wider strategy of the local authority. The City of Manchester is already working towards becoming an age friendly city. More recently the Greater Manchester Combined Authority announced it will make this a priority for the whole of Greater Manchester supported by an Ageing Well Hub. Leeds City Council has set out to become the "best place to grow old" in its plan for 2015-20.

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On a recent visit to Leeds, I visited one neighbourhood that despite being only 15 minutes walk for a fit person from the city centre is completely cut off with little reason for anyone to go in or out of the area. Older people who lived there, the community worker told me, had no reason to leave their homes. Apart from a takeaway, a tattoo parlour and pharmacist, most other shops and services have shut down. There are three boarded up pubs and a church with no resident clergy. There is no library and no post office. The only way to access cash is an ATM that charges 2 a withdrawal. But at the heart of the neighbourhood is a community centre, where a lunch club was in full swing when I visited, with happy faces and much laughter as they joined in Play Your Cards Right. A lifeline for those who attended. It seemed a million miles away from the new apartments and busy retail district.
Metropolitan Police/PA Archive

At the end of June in 2009 I'd just come in from a night out and the phone rang - it was my mum, in a dreadful panic. She was watching Crimewatch which was featuring the case of Michelle Samaraweera, a woman who had been raped and murdered by a man at a children's playground a few minutes down the road from where I live. The same suspect had also, the Detective on the programme said, raped two other women in the immediate area in the last three months and ''could strike at any time'' (his words). Had I known about it? asked my mum. Well, no I hadn't. And after panicking a bit I began to wonder why I hadn't known - I rang a few local friends: some had seen it in the local paper, some hadn't, but all were worried. I contacted the local police team to find out what was happening - I knew there were lots of women like me who had been walking home from the tube at night, oblivious to any risk. The police told me that there were lots of undercover police in the area as they were trying to catch the perpetrator. I sort of got that, but where were the uniformed police providing a reassuring presence? How were the police going to tell women what was going on so that we could make informed choices about how we travelled about the area and how we got home late at night? And why on every street corner in Walthamstow were there police signs telling you to watch out for your mobile phone getting stolen but nothing about a serial rapist attacking women on the streets? I felt angry, powerless and wanted to do something in response to what was going on.

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I contacted my friend Kate and between us we cobbled together a 'Reclaim the Streets' march that took place a few days later which, in 2009 before the explosion of social media, consisted of a few posters put on trees, a banner held up as 40 or so of us walked down Walthamstow market, and a sombre vigil next to the playground where Michelle's body was found. Michelle's family also came which was amazing of them, their grief was palpable and incredibly upsetting to witness.

I don't know whether it was because Michelle was the same age as me when she was murdered, or whether it was the horrific circumstances of her death in a playground I frequently use with my kids, or the proximity to my house, but her death has stayed with me and I think about her all the time. Every few months after her murder I contacted the local police, (who are not directly involved in the investigation) asking for updates on the case, whether anyone had been charged or arrested. Very little came back from the police until recently, the feedback was that aspects of the case were too sensitive to share information about publicly.
Co-authored by Tanya Silverman, Against Violent Extremism (AVE) network coordinator

With recent news that Lorna Moore has been found guilty of not reporting her husband's plans to join ISIS the discussion around women's roles in violent extremism seems to remain pervasive. This guilty verdict given to Mrs Moore follows the UK's conviction of Tareena Shakil for joining the terror group. As more and more news pops up, so do studies that try to understand women's motivations for joining violent extremist groups and their roles in them.

Throughout modern history there have been numbers of women that have been a driving force for their respective violent extremist groups: for example, the IRA's Mairead Farrel to the Japanese Red Army's Fusako Shigenobu. However, a wannabe female jihadist flicking through an issue of a popular Islamist extremist magazine is unlikely to see themselves on the centre-spread wielding weapons like their male counterparts. Instead, women are generally recruited for more functional and "traditional" roles.

Realising the need to get women involved for state-building, groups like ISIS have upped their female-focused propaganda. Earlier issues of their publication, Dabiq, barely mentions women: a quick glance through their launch issue Return of the Khilafah has no mention of the word females, women, or girls. Now, their online magazine contains manifestos for women, dedicated to these "sisters of the Islamic State". They devote whole articles to women to explain that they can have a fulfilled life being the wives of jihadi fighters.

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From ISIS's Dabiq and al-Qaeda's Inspire, five examples that illustrate how Islamist extremist women can please their husbands:

1."Have loads of children". The 11th issue of ISIS's propaganda magazine, Dabiq, is more focused towards women than previous issues, urging women to care for their jihadi hubbies. Women are the child-bearers of the future - the mothers of 'lion cubs.'

2."Be positive of polygamy". In the middle of Issue 12 Dabiq, aptly titled "Just Terror" in the wake of the Paris attacks, a few flowery pages stand out from the otherwise gruesome imagery. Female columnist Umm Sumayyah al-Muhajirah advises her fellow women that "when her husband wants to marry another woman, it's not obligatory for him to consult her."

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3."Mourn his death appropriately". Even after a husband's death, women can show their support to their martyred "warriors". Issue 13 of Dabiq, called "The Rafidah: From Ibn Sa'ba to the Dajjal", offers its female readership advice on the correct ways of mourning a husband's death (ihdad). The glossy pages recommend that less is more and that widows should stop adorning themselves with jewellery "or anything else meant to beautify oneself."

4."Encourage him to fight". al-Qaeda's Inspire has more representations of women than its ISIS contender. They are still expected to confirm in every way to traditional views of a woman's place in her Ikea style jihadi home. A woman's role in jihad is limited to arousing the determination of "heroes" and pushing them out into battle.

5."Be supportive". This should indeed be common to any happy marriage. However, Issue 12 of Inspire reminds wives that whilst their "husband may be at the top of the most-wanted list" or even "imprisoned" it is important to remind them they win; either by victory or martyrdom.

With such a focus on females joining Islamist extremist groups the conversation has turned to them. However, in amongst race-bashing, White resistance forums like Stormfront and Vanguard News Network remain popular places for questions about wifedom and motherhood. One user asks "How many children should White people have?" whilst another weighs-up the pros and cons of having an East Asian wife. Users of far-right forums appear to take a less accepting view of polygamy. However, the general outlook on the role of women is comparative to that presented in Islamist magazines. Women are mothers and carers to the next generation, and committed wives to their husbands.

Extremist groups are unlikely to change the view of women in their state-building missions. As such, articles on the role of women will continue to appear in online Islamist magazines and on far-right forums. Potential female recruits searching for tips on how to be the best women in an Islamic caliphate, or a far-right white utopia, will continue to see the female role as that of a doting wife and a diligent mother. Expect a new instalment of 'how to be a woman' in the next issue of Dabiq. Available online, and in high resolution.

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I was delighted to hear Alistair Burt MP speak during the FaithAction Faith and Health conference last week and also pleasantly surprised that he didn't shy from some of the thorny issues around faith. In fact, he confirmed my belief that UK society benefits from the involvement of faith communities and that there's room for more too!

"Faith reaches people when nothing else can," he said. I agree.

As he developed his theme of faith's reach and endurance he focused not only on those suffering with ill-health but also on their carers - so often drawn from and supported by faith communities, even if the support is simply listening over a cup of tea.

The pressure is now greater than ever for government to deliver the right care at the right time. The flexible and relational approaches of faith and community groups demonstrate how this can be achieved. In my view there's a need to recognise the knowledge and in-depth understanding that faith organisations have of communities and individuals.

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Even if we turn away for a moment from the formal provision of services, the networks of support which are within faith communities address those most modern of well-being issues: isolation and loneliness. The Minister was keen to point out this is not exclusively an aging population issue, but also the reality of life and expectations produced by different work patterns, family breakdown and a society that is so very different from 50 years ago.

A visit with other MPs to a South Africa which was emerging from apartheid to democracy caused Alistair Burt to recollect that it was that nation's strength of faith which helped its transition. And to observe generously that therefore it is often the actions of faith organisations which must be recognised above the work of government.

In closing the Minister addressed his comments to those of faith in the hall. In amongst the desire of faith-based organisations to 'learn the language' and get connected with the public sphere in terms of health and social care (as well as other public services), he encouraged people of faith to "be respectful" while "being yourself". Not to sacrifice the faith distinctiveness. "Don't compromise." Recognise that while there is a need for greater 'faith literacy' in the health world, what is important is to demonstrate that faith delivers significant impact into that world.

To this end FaithAction has developed guidance for faith and community groups that explains how they can measure their health work and evaluate their impact. Making the Case is a free online and printable resource, to aid organisations that want to take steps in this direction. And want to do so in a way that others can understand, so that their work is counted.

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Finally at the Faith and Health conference, in a rare moment of bi-partisanship, Labour MP Stephen Timms congratulated Alistair Burt and the Department of Health for continuing the Health and Care Strategic Partner Programme, and having FaithAction as the faith partner in this partnership of the health system and the voluntary and community sector.
I am a supporter of the Leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. He has brought world class economists into the British political debate for the first time in 35 years. He has broken the hegemony of neoconservative foreign policy. He has forced the media to admit the existence of the strong left-wing critique of the European Union.

But, just as I favour withdrawal from the EU at this stage rather than once Corbyn's proposals for a Social Europe had been rejected, so I also disagree profoundly with him about the sex industry.

There cannot be a "free" market in general, but not in drugs, or prostitution, or pornography, or unrestricted alcohol, or unrestricted gambling. That is an important part of why there must not be a "free" market in general, which is a political choice, not a mere law of nature.

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It is very high time for Parliament to tidy up the shambolic laws on sexual offences.

First, it ought to be made a criminal offence for anyone aged 21 or over to buy or sell sex, with equal sentencing on both sides. No persecution of girls and very young women whose lives had already been so bad that they had become prostitutes. No witch-hunting of boys and very young men who were desperate to lose their virginities. But the treatment of women and men as moral, intellectual and legal equals.

Secondly, the age of consent should effectively be raised to 18, by making it a criminal offence for anyone to commit any sexual act with or upon any person under that age who was more than two years younger than herself, or to incite any such person to commit any such act with or upon her or any third party anywhere in the world.

The maximum sentence would be twice the difference in age, to the month where that was less than three years, or a life sentence where that difference was at least five years. No different rules for "positions of trust", which are being used against male, but not female, 18-year-olds looking after female, but not male, Sixth Formers visiting universities.

And no provision, as at present, for boys to be prosecuted at any age, even if they are younger than the girls involved, whereas girls have to be 16. The law on indecent images is also enforced in totally different ways in relation to boys and girls of the same age, and even to boys who are younger than the girls. That must end.

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Children under the age of consent can have abortion or contraception without parental permission. That is an argument for banning children under the age of consent from having abortion or contraception without parental permission. Unless they decided as adults to seek to make contact with their children, then the financial liability of male victims for pregnancies resulting from their sexual abuse ought also to be ruled out. Talk about victim-blaming.

Thirdly, the offences of rape, serious sexual assault, and sexual assault, ought to be replaced with aggravating circumstances to the general categories of offences against the person, enabling the sentences to be doubled. The sex of either party would be immaterial. There must be no anonymity either for adult accusers or for adult complainants. Either we have an open system of justice, or we do not.

In this or any other area, there must be no suggestion of any reversal of the burden of proof. That reversal has largely been brought to you already, by the people who in the same year brought you the Iraq War. The Parliament that was supine before Tony Blair was also supine before Harriet Harman.

Adults who made false allegations ought to be prosecuted automatically. Moreover, how can anyone be convicted of non-consensual sex, who could not lawfully have engaged in consensual sex? If there is an age of consent, then anyone below it can be an assailant. But a sexual assailant? How?

Similarly, if driving while intoxicated is a criminal offence, then how can intoxication, in itself, be a bar to sexual consent? The law needs to specify that it was, only to such an extent as would constitute a bar to driving.

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Like several others on the more-or-less Corbynite Left at and around the University of Durham, I am proud to call the staunch Tory, Louis Richardson, my friend.

And fourthly, obscenity ought to be defined as material depicting acts that were themselves illegal, or which was reasonably likely to incite or encourage such acts. Sentencing would be the same as for the illegal act in question in each case.

American-style legislation for internally administered "balance of probabilities" or "preponderance of evidence" tests to sexual assault allegations at universities or elsewhere must be banned by Statute.

It is incompatible with the Rule of Law to punish someone for a criminal offence of which she has not been convicted. It must be made impossible for anyone to be extradited to face charges that fell short of these standards, or for such convictions to have any legal standing in this country.

As for teaching things in schools, how is that curriculum time currently being filled? Apply the Eton Test. Would this be taught in a school that assumed its pupils to be future Prime Ministers or Nobel Laureates? If not, then instead fill the hours with something that was. Teach Latin. Someone will.

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Convictions under laws predating these changes ought to be annulled along with those of men whose homosexual acts would not be criminal offences today. Labour should vote against that unless it also annulled, not only all convictions in the above categories, but also all convictions and other adverse court decisions arising out of Clay Cross, Shrewsbury, Wapping, and the three Miners' Strikes since 1970.
I love being a Yorkshire lass. Yorkshire's my place of birth; it's the place I long to come home to, after distant journeys. I really enjoy driving through the lush green countryside. After all, it's God's own country!

But despite the genuine Yorkshire smiles from strangers you meet, the friendly chatter in shops and at bus stops and the laughter in pubs - beneath all its charms, Yorkshire has a dark side. It still has segregated neighbourhoods and an underbelly of the same racism that mars so many cities and counties up and down the UK.

When I was younger, my friends and I both my black and white friends, once went for a meal in a cafe, in my city in Yorkshire. A couple of other customers nodded in disgust towards me and my friends, telling the owner that they would leave the cafe if he served 'those people'. So we politely left.

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On too many occasions too numerous to mention, whilst I've been out minding my own business, getting on with my daily life: working, paying bills, or just with my family, random people have shouted racist abuse at me.

Why should we have to put up with racism like that? Why should anybody?

My city was, and is still is, racially segregated. You could easily draw rings on a map, indicating the individual ghettos where the working class whites, blacks, and Asians live. Step out of one street and into another, and you could be in trouble, in danger of physical attack - or at the least, be threatened, sworn at and verbally abused.

Do I resent paying over the odds to move to a white middle-class neighbourhood where my family and I feel we can be safe? Where we can walk the local streets without fear of racial abuse? You bet I do.

Did the white middle-class neighbourhood curtains twitch when I came to view my prospective new home? They certainly did. I later learnt that my neighbours had told people that 'a professional, coloured family' were moving in. Not just 'a family' moving in. Why even mention colour? Why, also, did they feel the need to add 'professional' to soften the admission that we were black?

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With so many people in my city now living in rainbow families, or in mixed relationships, I had hoped that things would have improved - that people would have made progress in their thinking. Although there has been improvement in some respects, the underlying racism still continues, like a cancer that won't go away.

Although some non-white people have moved into areas previously considered to be 'white', the vast majority of people still live in racially segregated neighbourhoods. This phenomenon still occurs again and again throughout multi-racial Britain.

I do 'get' why new immigrants move to neighbourhoods where they have an affinity with their cultural group or similar immigrants already established there. That makes sense to me. Speaking the same language, worshipping the same gods in the same way, eating the same food, wearing the same clothes as your community (in your home country - and in your new country) gives a sense of belonging in a place where you might otherwise feel lost and bewildered. But after that 'comfort' zone and settling-in period, why wouldn't you want to experience the wider world, in the country you've chosen to reside in?

And if, like me, you're born and bred in the city, surely it's time to move on? To integrate, get to know each other, form friendships, challenge stereotypes, and move away from the generations upon generations of racial segregation.

This old state of insular living and separatism only breeds misunderstanding of the 'unknown', creating fear and prejudice. Ironically, the immigrant communities who bind themselves closely together for fear of racism are perpetuating that very racism by living separate lives.

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However, it works both ways. You can only feel safe and move easily into other areas if the people living there are educated to accept and respect difference, instead of perpetuating years of years of hatred, misunderstanding and racism.

Will things change? Will cultures ever integrate? They have changed in some respect. Compared to my childhood days, I have increasingly seen middle class individuals and families from the black, Asian, Italian and Jewish communities moving away from the deprived inner city ghettos to the middle class suburbs.
A woman I will call Lisa rang me the other day wanting to get involved in our work to improve the response of the criminal justice system to women in trouble. She had been at the sharp end of a system that can too readily send women into prison, often leaving dependent children behind and causing long term damage to individuals and families. Lisa had no barrister in court and no-one to explain on her behalf that she had been 20 years in an abusive relationship and that whilst most of her children were grown up she had a ten year old at home who would be traumatised by separation. She was given an 18 months custodial sentence for a first, non-violent offence and sent from her home in Devon to a prison hundreds of miles away. Now released 'on tag', she is struggling to find a job and says she is receiving no support to get her life back on track. Lisa is not a statistic but her experience reflects that of many other women in the criminal justice system. Women are twice as likely as men to be imprisoned for a first offence, their offending is often linked to histories of abuse and trauma and coercive and abusive relationships, and their employment outcomes post prison are three times worse than men's.

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A major research study revealed over a decade ago that two-thirds of imprisoned women are mothers, and it's estimated that 17,240 children are separated from their mothers by imprisonment. For 85% of mothers in custody, this is the first time they have been separated from their child. The anxiety and guilt this provokes is a major factor in women's high rates of self-harm in prison and makes prison a double punishment - with the 'collateral damage' of long-term impacts on children. As one woman said to me - "for a mother, even a short prison term is a life sentence".

Most children with an imprisoned father live with their mother, but only nine per cent of children are cared for by the father if their mother is imprisoned, and only five per cent remain in the family home. This is why the Prison Reform Trust's discussion paper, is focused on the sentencing of mothers. After talking to women about their experiences, as well as lawyers and women's service providers, we are recommending strengthening of sentencing guidelines, improvements to the sentencing process, and stable funding of women's support services. In a time of austerity, the evidence that community-based programmes delivered by women's services are more cost-effective than short prison sentences and deliver better outcomes for women and their families is compelling. But as the Chairman of the Magistrates Association said in his foreword to Sentencing of Mothers, "Magistrates need to be informed of, and confident in, the effective community interventions and programmes for women" - so local resource directories of women's services and improved pre-sentence reports are needed as well.

The Prison Reform Trust's Transforming Lives programme, supported by the Big Lottery Fund, is working with partners including the Soroptimists, Families Outside and User Voice to promote more effective, early intervention, and non-custodial responses to women in trouble.

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Governments across the UK have signaled their recognition that the solutions to women's offending do not lie behind prison walls. It will be important to maintain momentum for change to achieve a sustainable rebalancing of criminal justice responses. The imminent closure of HMP Holloway in London, the largest and most iconic women's prison in the UK, and the also notorious HMP Cornton Vale in Scotland, are big strides in the right direction. Let them be strides towards dedicated community based services that understand the realities of women's lives and can make a lasting difference to their children's lives too.

Jenny Earle is Programme Director, Reducing Women's Imprisonment at the Prison Reform Trust
This morning Facebook UK announced - via the BBC's Kamal Ahmed - that it would start booking sales in the UK. Here's what they told the BBC:

What this means in practice is that Facebook UK's taxable UK profits will cease to be, as previously they were, a simple mark-up of staff costs (a fact I revealed here).

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Instead they will be, in part at least, a function of the value that is generated in the UK by those staff. In principle this should mean higher taxable UK profits.

So, welcome news. But (and you knew I was going to say this) let's not get carried away.

First of all, Facebook UK Limited appears from its accounts to have three activities in the UK:

being sales support; marketing services; and engineering support.

The "marketing services" and "engineering support" - which you might think of as maintaining the Facebook machine and developing new bits of it - activities will continue to generate UK taxable revenue only on the basis of what the staff cost plus a small mark-up. We should expect these bits to lead to materially no UK tax liability now or in the foreseeable future.

What about what was previously described as sales support? Facebook UK has two types of customer. Those who have UK client managers and those who don't. It is only in respect of those who have UK client managers that a proportion of the value of those sales will fall within the UK tax net. Sales to those who don't have UK client managers will continue to be taxed in the Ireland.

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So what will now be taxed in the UK is the value added by a sub-set of a sub-set of Facebook UK's staff.

Second, it's important to note that, like Google, none of the profits that the Facebook Monolith - i.e. if you assume a world in which what is economically a single entity is taxed like a single entity - makes on UK sales will be subject to UK corporation tax. Unlike Google we can't know precisely how big those UK sales are - but they are very likely to be billions.

Third, Facebook has considerable reliefs available to carry forward. You can see that from here:

Previously Facebook UK didn't bother to recognise these sums (effectively comprising rights to reduce future tax bills) as assets because they didn't think they'd ever have any UK corporation tax liability to pay. This might now change - but regardless we should expect it to be a good while before today's deal results in any real cash moving from Facebook UK to HMRC.

So although this morning's announcement has been well handled in PR terms, it seems to me that it is unlikely to be especially meaningful in terms either of actual cash passing from Facebook or in terms of its tax liability. Facebook UK's last published accounts disclosed a payment of 4,327. I wouldn't bet on today's announcement resulting in any real change.

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***

Another important and related aspect to note is that what Facebook UK have announced today is a forward looking change - effective only from April 2016.

Facebook UK Limited have refused to confirm or deny that they are under revenue enquiry for years up to now - but it's clear from their accounts that they are.

Of course we can't know that these claims relate to how they fragment their sales and engineering businesses to minimise their tax liability. But Google's experience suggests that it's a pretty decent guess they do.

And nothing in today's announcement deals with these enquiries. Nor the period after them, from April 2015 to April 2016, when the Coalition's diverted profits tax applied.

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But likely it won't be until October 2016 at the earliest - when we see Facebook UK's accounts to 31 December 2015 - that we gain any clarity about past years.

***

What, finally, about the Diverted Profits Tax?

I understand that, like Google, Facebook regards its tax planning as robust enough to withstand a Diverted Profits Tax challenge. But they do accept that it adds tax risk to their business model. And it is a combination of that added tax risk and a response to public perception of them as tax avoiders (despite HMRC's hugely unhelpful Policy Statement of earlier this week) that is causing them to book at least some real profits in the UK.

This is a real credit to those who have been campaigning for tax justice - through our actions we can achieve what Government is either unable or unwilling to.
Parvin sits on the bed in a small dark room where she lives with her three year old son Rasul in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. She shares the room with another woman and her child. The bed takes up nearly all of the floor space, saris hang from the walls, hair oil, a brush and medicine sit on the only shelf in the room, and there is a pink plastic bowl on the floor for washing.

A huge crack runs across the entire width of one of the walls. One toilet, a tap and a gas burner are shared with many others. The rent for this tiny dilapidated room is 2,500 taka per month (around 21) and Parvin, who earns 5,000 taka per month (41) working in a nearby garment factory, splits this cost with her roommate.

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Leigh McAlea: Parvin's room, Dhaka

Last year, I visited Dhaka to meet garment workers, trade union workers and TRAID's local partners, working in different ways to improve conditions in the garment industry. I was invited into Parvin's home because her son Rasul attends a day care centre funded by TRAID where he is looked after while she is working.

Parvin told me more about what led her from a rural village into the heart of Dhaka, Bangladesh's overcrowded capital.

"I am 20 years old, and come from a village. I was adopted when I was three, and then sold to be married when I was 12 to an older man to satisfy a debt. My husband is 43 and was already married, but he had only daughters and wanted to have a son."

Parvin bore him two sons - Rasul aged three who is jumping around on the bed and an older son aged six who is back in the village - but her husband left her, and she is now a single mother.

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She tells me that there were no opportunities to earn money in her village, and so, with her youngest child, she came to Dhaka over a year ago. She quickly found work in the garment industry and is a machinist at a factory making clothes.

A decade ago, Parvin would probably never have left her village to travel to Dhaka, no matter how dire her situation. Today, Bangladesh, one of the poorest countries in the world, is in the grip of an industrial revolution powered by garment manufacturing requiring an abundance of low skilled cheap labour. In the last ten years alone, textile exports have accelerated from $5 billion dollars, to over $20 billion dollars (2013), an astonishing increase.

In Dhaka, an estimated 5,000 factories jostle for space and provide employment for at least three million people, mainly women, who cut, sew and pack clothes destined for high streets in Europe and America.

These economic and structural changes have triggered sweeping social changes, including high levels of migration into the city for work, doubly compounded by climate migrants who have seen their homes washed away by increased flooding due to rising sea levels, and an increasingly feminised workforce.

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Leigh McAlea, Meeting garment workers in Dhaka

There are many female workers like Parvin, living with their children in Dhaka as single or abandoned mothers and without any networks of support. These extremely poor women make a stark choice between earning income in garment factories to subsist and survive, or their children's safety.

Under Bangladesh law, every factory must provide a creche for the children of workers, but this is almost universally disregarded. When I ask Parvin if she knew about this, she says she had no idea about this law and tells me there are no creche facilities where she works.

A few days later, when I visit the National Garment Workers Federation - one of the largest trade unions in the sector - I am told that even in the few cases where creche facilities are available, they are of such poor quality with no food or drink provided, that mothers prefer to rely on any informal care they can cobble together.

The reality for many children, even extremely young children, is that they are left alone to fend for themselves.

In its work to support street and working children, TRAID partner, the Bangladeshi NGO Nagorik Uddoyog (The Citizen's Initiative), staff noticed that many of the children they worked with had at least one parent working in garments. Young children were being left alone for extremely long hours and at high risk of accidents, trafficking and abuse, while older children working to supplement their family's meagre incomes were often involved in dangerous and illegal work, notably drug dealing.

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Nagorik's answer to this was to set up four centres providing day care for around 140 children, and it is here that Parvin is now able to send her son Rasul while she works making clothes.

Leigh McAlea: Parvin dropping off Rasul at the day-centre

It's 7:30am and I'm walking with Parvin as she makes her way to the day care centre to drop off Rasul before going to the factory. She wears her factory identity card around her neck, which I'm told is compulsory since the Rana Plaza factory collapse in 2013 which killed over 1,133 people.

As we walk, she tells me that she found out about the centre by word of mouth and that it has been so life changing that she wishes there were more places like this in Dhaka.

Before the centre, she would tie Rasul to the bed post so he could move around but not leave the room, leaving food and water for him. Parvin's neighbours would sometimes check on him, but she couldn't rely on this.

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"I wouldn't let him outside, it is too dangerous, and while I was working I was so worried and scared all the time that something would happen to him, I couldn't concentrate properly."

After about 10 minutes, we get to the centre and Parvin signs Rasul in, gives him a big kiss goodbye and hurries off to the factory. Rasul is swept up by one of the staff and disappears into the organised chaos inside.

At the centre, I talk to the teachers, carers and children. The centres are located close to the factories where the women work, and are big, clean and light. It is not much of an exaggeration to say this place feels like a different planet compared to where Parvin and Rasul live. It has a flushable toilet, clean drinking water, a kitchen where lunch of Mass E Bhat (fish and rice) is made in enormous stainless steel pots, books, toys, blackboards, colourful pictures and a sleeping area.

Leigh McAlea, Lunch time at the centre

Day-care is provided for children aged three to five - like Rasul - which includes learning the alphabet and counting, singing and playing, a nap and three nutritious meals per day. Hours are very long and flexible to fit with the mothers working hours with the centres usually opening around 6am.

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Each centre also provides a drop-in for working children aged six to sixteen. The children I met work at varied jobs including selling ready-made garments in markets, one worked in a small textile factory, another six-year old girl had a job peeling the skins from onions in a vegetable market, and another boy sold chickens. Others were working doing domestic chores including looking after their younger siblings while their mothers worked.

I spend a lot of time with the older children as they work in the classroom. They are sat cross legged on the floor and watch the teacher at the blackboard who is writing words in Bangla. They are all nicely dressed, with books, pens and black fabric school bags. They are without exception completely concentrated as they copy the words on the board into their books.

Leigh McAlea: Learning the alphabet

The hours they spend here learning have been hard fought from employers, and sometimes even their parents, and so there is an intensity and focus in the room as they try to soak up as much information as possible before going to work.

The following day, with Joyeeta Hossain from Nagorik Uddyog, I visit a local indoor market where three of the older children work. The employers have given us permission to visit and talk to them, although when we arrive, one has changed his mind.

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Two of the boys - Akash and Nazir work on stalls selling shirts. The other, Tanay, works in a badly lit section of the market where around 10 young men work drilling holes into metal. None are wearing hand or eye protection.

It is probably here in the market, watching the boys at work folding and packing shirts, and making price calculations for customers on bits of paper, that I understand most clearly that literacy and numeracy is the single most important element to breaking the cycle of poverty that without the centres, they would be locked in.

Leigh McAlea: Akash, a student at the day-centre, works in a local market selling shirts.

With a high though rapidly improving illiteracy rate in Bangladesh, numeracy and literacy will give these children who had no opportunity to be educated in school, a huge advantage, helping them to get better paid safer jobs.

I talk to the employers on the clothes stalls and they tell me that they are glad their employees are learning to read, write and do numeracy. But the reality is of course more complicated.

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Joyeeta tells me that initially, the employers were very reluctant to give the children a few hours to attend the drop in (hours which the children make up). She tells me even some of the parents need persuading as they are worried about the children losing vital income.

She explains, "It isn't enough to provide the education, we have to make sure that they can attend in the first-place. We do a lot of community outreach work to get parents and employers to understand the long -term benefits of an education."

They are even tackling issues like making sure children have birth certificates. Most children in the centres have no paper work as they were born outside of hospitals to often illiterate parents. Without birth certificates, these children are further disadvantaged as they are not recognised citizens, they can't go to state schools, they can't get medical help in state hospitals, and without proof of age, they are more vulnerable to child labour and early marriage.

Five animations created by children at the centres about why birth registration is important. Facilitated by Rainbow Collective & Alex Noble

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This wonderful package of support includes care, education, food and some medicine, and eases the burden in unimaginable ways on the mothers working for long hours and little pay in garment factories.

Without the centres, these 140 children would be left to fend for themselves. They would be at risk of trafficking, accidents and abuse. For the older children who work, there would be no respite, no alternative and no chance to improve their life skills.

Parvin, and millions like her, earn such a pittance, that they are trapped in a cycle of poverty. They cannot afford to send their children to school and they find it difficult to give them nutritious food. So, children work to supplement incomes and families become locked in inter-generational poverty.

These centres help to break that cycle that will be felt through future generations. The risks and behavioural problems young children face when left without care are reduced. Older children get educated and vitally, in doing so they end up in safer and better paid jobs enabling them to provide for their own children.
I find it paradoxical that fashion, an industry that thrives on newness, is also known for its rather traditional ways of thinking. So, when Burberry announced its game-changing in-season fashion calendar model, it made me take notice. The industry giant wasn't the first - but surely it was the most influential - brand to make the declaration that it would offer collections in-store immediately after runway shows, combine women's and men's shows, and move towards season-less collections called "February" and "September". My chief criticism is that I wished I had devised this strategy myself.

The fashion industry is in need of change. Technology and consumer savviness have morphed our habits and changed us into Instaglammers and Periscopers, and addressing ways of connecting more closely with the consumer is an inevitable step in our evolution.

Naysayers believe that these new business models would further 'democratise' and make accessible luxury fashion in a way that would erode its mystique. Perhaps. Or perhaps, instead, they would capture momentum coming off the runway (or other show) and translate this into quicker and higher sales. Also, call me a purist, but I believe a collection should speak for itself. Mystique is not something one necessarily needs to build - you either have it or you don't.

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I understand why there are doubts in some minds, as there will be unintended consequences from these changes: the resulting multiple calendars may further confuse the customer; buyers and press may need to rethink their long-lead time buys and issues; Kim and Kanye (I prefer to give them each an individual identity than conveniently combine them into a mono-name) might have to mix and match Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter outfits for sitting in the front row. All legitimately pressing concerns.

Then, there is the issue of global discord. Other key London-based brands such as Tom Ford and Mulberry, have joined the fold with Burberry. Paris' governing fashion body has unequivocally voted "no" to allowing such changes. The CFDA in New York has just declared that each brand should decide on its own. Perhaps the divide across the 4 long-standing fashion week cities (including Milan) may mean nothing, or more perhaps it opens up opportunities for Beijing or Seoul to steal some thunder whilst the stalwarts weigh in.

The question I've been pondering for some time now, is how these changes will affect new brands into the luxury market. As someone who runs an emerging brand, Tricouni, I feel privileged to have launched during a time of tremendous change in the industry. I welcome the open legitimisation of new business approaches in a way that didn't exist before. It means that amongst the chaos, there will be room for newer, nimbler companies to insert themselves into an otherwise established landscape. It will change the conversation, not just with other designers and with the press, but with manufacturers, the mills, and yes - the consumer.
This is not a good time to be in the punditry business. It's as well to recognise the fact: none of us has a clue what's going on.

Donald Trump? How did that happen?

Europe's unprecedented migration crisis? Who saw that coming?

And of course no one, apart from Samantha, thought that David Cameron was going to win last year's general election.

All of which, frankly, makes me a little bit scared. If the people who are meant to understand what's going on around us plainly don't, then where does that leave us? Thrashing around in the dark, trying to find the door marked Exit?

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Perhaps there's nothing new about this. I was reminded a couple of days ago of how the New York Times reported on a new political figure who was making his mark in Germany back in November 1922: 'Several reliable, well-informed sources confirmed the idea that Hitler's anti-Semitism was not so genuine or violent as it sounded, and that he was merely using anti-Semitic propaganda as a bait to catch masses of followers and keep them aroused, enthusiastic and in line for the time when his organisation is perfected and sufficiently powerful to be employed effectively for political purposes.'

Which sounds uncannily similar to what some commentators have been saying about Mr Trump's apparently unstoppable campaign to be nominated as the Republican party's candidate for the US presidency in November. I just hope they're not as wrong as the New York Times was about Mr Hitler 94 years ago.

So why are we all at sea? While acknowledging that I'm as likely to be wrong about this as everyone else is about everything else, here are some suggestions. First, because since the end of the Cold War, the collapse of Communism in Russia and eastern Europe, and the development of a global economic system with the free movement of capital, none of the old assumptions about political and economic balances work any more.

Second, because since the near collapse of the global banking system in 2007-8, our confidence in the people who are notionally running the global economy has been shattered. We live in daily fear of it happening again. And third, because when people who are already scared see unprecedented numbers of foreigners heading for their shores (or in the case of Germany in the 1920s and 30s, are told that an alien presence in their midst are to blame) they become seriously frightened and latch on to anyone who claims to be strong enough and brave enough to do something about it.

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It's a shame that more people don't take Italian politics seriously. Because if you want to understand Trump ("a phoney and a fraud", according to Mitt Romney, who was the Republicans' candidate four years ago), you need look only at Silvio Berlusconi: a billionaire tycoon who effortlessly filled a political vacuum when the old elite crumbled into irrelevance. Like Trump, Berlusconi was a braggart, a liar, and a demagogue. In office, however, he achieved virtually nothing, except to fend off a never-ending procession of legal cases against him. The Italian economy stagnated and unemployment soared. The saviour of the nation ended up saving precisely nothing. American voters, take note...

Like Trump, Berlusconi was mocked mercilessly by his country's intelligentsia. How could Italy, a country that produced Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Dante, Galileo and Puccini, end up being governed by a former crooner with dyed hair, endless facelifts, and an apparently uncontrollable libido? But mockery is never an effective response to fear - or to anger, when voters decide that they have had enough of ineffective political leaders who have taken them to the brink of financial ruin. And while it is easy to dismiss as deluded those who rally to the demagogues' banners, it is hard to argue that the traditional ruling classes have a proven record of superior wisdom.

So when Europe's chatterati tut into their prosecco (yes, I've done it, too) at the stupidity of the American voters who are flocking to support Trump, they need to look closer to home, at what the American publication Businessweek calls the 'Euro-Trumps'. They are the ones, in nearly every country of the EU, whose emergence 'has been driven by the growing importance of immigration as a political issue, nurtured by a feeling that the European Union has become unresponsive to the will of the people ... nationalist politicians [who] have been pushed into prominence by the long economic stagnation that's followed the 2008 financial crisis.'

What is interesting - and deeply worrying - about the Euro-Trumps, and it applies equally to The Donald himself, is that they are not necessarily extreme conservatives or neo-liberals. Those of them who bother to spell out their economic policies sound much more, and I'm sorry about the inevitable historical resonance, like nationalist socialists. As Roger Cohen put it in the New York Times: "Europe knows how democracies collapse, after lost wars, in times of fear and anger and economic hardship, when the pouting demagogue appears with his pageantry and promises ... As Europe knows, democracies do die. Often, they are the midwives of their own demise. Once lost, the cost of recovery is high."

As it happens, and despite all of the above, I do not believe that all is for the worst in the worst of all possible worlds (with apologies to Candide). Crime rates have been falling dramatically in all the world's richest countries over the last couple of decades (although no one is quite sure why); global literacy rates are at record levels; and child and maternal mortality rates have fallen sharply. Polio has been totally eradicated in all but three countries - Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan - and over the past 15 years, deaths from malaria have fallen by nearly half. For many hundreds of millions of people all around the globe, life is better now than it has ever been.

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The referendum on Britain's relationship with the EU is the most important decision in a generation. The Prime Minister agrees. Merkel, Obama and China agree. Big business agrees. Prince William agrees. Even Martin Lewis and Joan Collins agree, albeit with rather different conclusions. The public? Not so much.

Despite wall-to-wall press coverage the public are yet to fully engage. The pollsters are beginning to crank up but in their focus groups they are still finding that the public haven't fully decided. This is matched by responses on the doorstep. Activists on both sides are saying the same thing: people haven't thought about it at all.

In an Ipsos Mori poll at the end of January, only 11% of the public listed the referendum as an issue they cared about. This was up from 5% in December. It really is obscure.

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The public are looking for political leaders to talk for them, explain the gravitas of the decision and why it is worth getting off the sofa on the 23 June and marking an 'X' for remain, or leave.

It has already been well documented how divided the Conservatives are. When Boris answered the Daily Mail's clamour for someone to 'Speak for England', his chances of leading the party, according to a Times/YouGov poll, shot-up to 43%. Many expect the majority of the Conservative membership will vote to leave.

So what about Labour? In a near mirror image of the troubles facing Cameron today, back in 1975 (the last EU referendum) Wilson faced a divided party with the majority campaigning to leave. Today, the Labour party faithful recognise the social impact of the great European project and champion its importance from an economic, security and internationalist perspective. Despite a few dissenters, the party is resolutely united.

And Corbyn? He remains stuck on the side-lines. It is an open secret that he spent the last 32 years advocating leaving the EU. Following his election, many of his colleagues agreed to join his Shadow Cabinet on the proviso that he campaign to keep Britain in Europe. On this measure, so far, he has failed. In fact, he is actually helping the 'out' campaign.

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In an interview with ITV's Tom Bradby on Monday, Corbyn declared that he would never share a platform with Cameron over Europe. He went on to attack the credibility of the deal, trotting out the same argument put forward by Gove on the legality of the renegotiation. A technicality that only those of us in the Westminster bubble care about. His comments attacking the only significant element of the package concerning restricting child benefits, on the other hand, were symptomatic of a man who misunderstands the political mood of the country entirely.

Many of my Labour colleagues say: worry not, we have Alan Johnson and Hilary Benn flying the flag for our team. They'll deliver the approximate nine million Labour and 'lefty' votes for remain.

Yet, despite the derisory opinion of Corbyn in the press, he does have a huge amount of influence over this group. A group whose vote will be hugely important and one that currently doesn't have a voice. And a group that distrusts the Cameron Government hugely.
I know, I know, the best way to treat attention-seeking people like Britain First is to ignore them. Don't give them and their disgraceful campaign any oxygen and hopefully they'll eventually go away.

But when something that is deeply important to me is being so monumentally misused, I can't keep it zipped any more.

I am sick to the back teeth of seeing Britain First members parading around waving a white cross and claiming to be on a "Christian patrol".

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The Christian faith centres around the cross. This is where Jesus died a slow and painful death. And this is how, Christians believe, he paid for all the terrible things that people have done and will do in one difficult-to-wrap-your-mind-around act of love.

This means that for Christians the cross is a symbol of unadulterated, unwarranted love. For everyone, no exceptions. For British people, for Syrian people, for people from the house next door and for people from the other side of the world. For Christians, for Jews, for Muslims, for Sikhs. For doctors, for bankers, for cleaners, for teachers. For your nana, for the lady across you on the Tube, for your school bully, for your hairdresser. For charity workers, for burglars, for soup kitchen volunteers, for murderers. For me, for you. And yes, for Britain First.

You get the idea. It's for for everyone. No exceptions.

So seeing people using the symbol of cross while at the same time spouting hateful, divisive rubbish about other people and claiming to be "taking our country back" from them, provokes a visceral, almost physical reaction in me. I feel utterly disgusted that a symbol of love, forgiveness and acceptance of all - no matter who they are or what they have done - is being used to alienate people. This is precisely what the message of the cross is NOT.

Earlier this year, The Huffington Post UK spoke to representatives from every major Christian denomination in the country and every single one denounced Britain First.

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Even the representatives from the Church of England and the Catholic Church - which some have suggested these days are somewhat irrelevant or even lacking in backbone - absolutely tore apart the far-right group's claims about representing Christians.

The Bishop of Bedford, the Rt Revd Richard Atkinson, OBE put it particularly well, saying: "They are deeply provocative, self-fulfilling, self-serving and not recognisably actions motivated by Christian faith."

Rev. Dr. Damian Howard S.J., speaking for the Catholic Church in England and Wales, echoed this, saying: "It's extremely painful for any Christian when the name of Jesus Christ is hijacked to justify hatred and to spread fear and mistrust. It is actually a kind of blasphemy."

I can sit here saying "Britain First don't represent Christians" until I'm blue in the face but it still doesn't stop it from hurting. It's something people from all faiths have to put up with to varying degrees: explaining that no, those radical people do not represent me and my beliefs. The Church and those who practice Christianity it are not perfect but the message of Britain first is unrecognisable to most of us.
"Look!", said the HR manager, brandishing a folder as if it was a WMD, "We have equality policies posted on all the Tampax machines but we're still haemorrhaging senior women".

The not so human resource manager wondered if women weren't their own worst enemy. She was irked that the only female executive had left a high profile meeting the day before, to collect a sick child from school. "Why does the school have her work number for emergencies and not that of her husband"? She was luminescent with rage. "How many of your male senior executives have ever left a meeting to collect a sick child"? I enquired. "None".

This is just one example of the, one rule for women and another for men, culture that's so entrenched in organisations that it's rendered invisible and accepted as normal. As long as HR mangers apply double standards in the execution of equality policies (not encouraging male executives to share parenting duties), women will invariably be left holding the baby.

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A recent study by the Equality and Human Rights Commission estimated that around 54,000 new mothers in Britain lose their jobs every year, that's twice as many as a decade ago. One in five new mothers experienced harassment or negative comments from colleagues or manager when pregnant or returning from maternity leave, 7% said they were put under pressure to hand in their notice and one in 20 reported receiving a cut in pay or bonus after returning to work.

The recession is also pushing many single parents, 9 out of 10 of whom are women, into poverty. According to Gingerbread, who carried out a survey of members, 47% borrowed money and/or went without food in order to pay for childcare. In 2015 two thirds of England's Sure Start children's centres were hit with crippling cuts. Hundreds have been forced to close in the last 5 years and 130 are currently under threat of closure, thus removing a vital safety net from the most vulnerable children and families in society. So much for "early detection", "making work pay" and "aspiration". Hollow sound bites, with more bite than tangible substance.

With cleaning up other peoples' mess as our USP, we need more women at the helm of UK PLC. Seasoned mothers wouldn't succumb to corporations' threats to throw their toys out of the pram if they don't get what they want (avoiding tax on their toys). They would put them on the naughty step to ponder the maleficence of greed. Followed by a lecture on, "you won't get anywhere in life without mastering the skill of sharing".

But women are a long way off calling the shots. Among chief executives and chairs of FTSE 100 companies, there are 17 men called John. That's more than the total of seven female bosses.

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But perhaps the most chilling of all the statistics I've come across is that 17 % of people forget Mother's day and, of the 83% that do remember, 79.9% of them think flowers are an appropriate gift. As if a bunch of Dahlias is commensurate recompense for being banished to a hinterland of societal insignificance, wherein moaning about your DH on Netmums constitutes radical political activism.
In August 2015, human rights NGO Amnesty International made headlines for their decision to support the decriminalisation of sex work, in light of their two-year consultation with groups such as the World Health Organisation, the Global Alliance Against Trafficking in Women, and Anti-Slavery International. From that moment, activists, academics, news outlets and celebrities were incensed - accusing Amnesty of supporting sex trafficking and publishing sensationalist stories of Amnesty's declaration of 'prostitution as a human right.' In reality, all Amnesty had really done was reiterate that all humans, including sex workers, deserved equally enforceable human rights.

Sex work is the oldest profession in the world and is practised everywhere - yet sex workers are frequently marginalised, abused, and subject to police brutality. In being forced to operate outside of the law, sex workers are often at risk of violence that they are unable to report to the relevant authorities. The Global Network of Sex Work Projects finds that sex workers are subject to a denial of human rights, unsafe working conditions, a lack of access to services, and stigma and violence. As well as this, they note the lack of involvement in decision-making regarding sex work.

'End Demand' or the 'Nordic Model' has recently had a huge amount of coverage in the news - advocating for the elimination of sex work by decriminalising the sale of sex and the criminalising the buying of sex - something that campaigners want the UK government to implement. In punishing johns but 'protecting' sex workers, End Demand campaigners claim that by ending demand and in turn supply, sex workers will be protected from exploitation. The issue with this is that many sex workers feel that this model is not beneficial for them at all, and don't feel that they have been listened to in the drafting of this model.

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The problem with End Demand is that it wrongly assumes that all sex workers are exploited and abused, and forced into their profession. It also makes great mention of underage girls and does not give much regard to consenting, adult workers. Essentially, they equate all sex work with human trafficking, which is an entirely different and abhorrent issue. The idea that sex work is inherently exploitative does not sit well with both sex workers and choice feminists - those who have chosen to undertake sex work are tired of being rendered voiceless victims, and do not feel that they should be equated with victims of sex trafficking, who of course need protection. The lack of consent in human trafficking cannot compare with the rationalised choice that many sex workers make, and the equation of the two can be seen to trivialise trafficking. Many feminists who are against sex work raise concerns of the lack of empowerment for women in their profession - but what is empowerment? Was I empowered when I was a waitress on minimum wage earnings, often subject to leering, sleazy customers? Is the worker on a zero-hour contract with wages that don't even raise them above the poverty line empowered?

In investigating sex workers who are operating in countries with the Nordic Model, such as Sweden, it has been found that targeting buyers has driven sex work further underground, and workers are unable to effectively screen their clients. The decreasing of a safe client base, due to fears of arrest, also means that sex workers can be lead to turn to more dangerous measures in order to live, such as accepting drunk and violent clients or working on the street more frequently. The criminalisation of buying in the End Demand strategy also punishes 'brothel keeping' and 'promotion' - just two sex workers working together can constitute brothel keeping. Clearly, this tactic also serves to underhandedly punish workers as well as buyers, especially workers who are just acting in the interests of their own safety.

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End Demand can also be said to be treating the problem rather than the root cause. It would be more useful to understand why people choose to undertake sex work in the first place - for many, due to government cuts to student grants, disability benefits and low-income household welfare, sex work is a way to make a decent amount of money and still have the time to study, support a family, or just not live in poverty. If we want to support those who turn to sex work for these reasons, ensuring that their only means of income is taken from them is not the answer.

So what would the decriminalisation of both selling and buying do for sex workers? Sex workers could work together in a safer and more supportive environment without the fear of being convicted of 'brothel keeping'. Differing from legalisation, which would see the regulation of the sex work industry that could again criminalise certain practices and drive sex workers underground, decriminalisation will mean that sex workers will be entitled to support and services without the fear of retribution, and will be more likely to assist the police in identifying buyers who are violent and abusive. A move towards decriminalisation could also see the stigma surrounding sex workers decrease, meaning discrimination and violence would in turn diminish. So no, Amnesty and the many other organisations that advocate for the decriminalisation of sex work are not saying that prostitution is a human right, or endorsing sex trafficking. Rather, they are asking for an end to the violence, state brutality, and stigma that sex workers face on a routine basis.
Last nights GOP debate made us realize that compulsory voting in the United States would probably just result in write-in candidate Giant Joint winning the presidency. Donald Trump is skipping CPAC, despite his tailor-made conservative message, I support abortion rights  actually, no I dont  actually, yes I do  actually, no I dont  actually, never mind all that; I have a huge penis. And President Obama confirmed that his family will live in Washington until his daughter Sasha finishes high school, though he didnt specify whether he or Michelle will be tasked with leaving work early to put their name in at Roses Luxury. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Friday, March 4th, 2016:

#OKMAYBETRUMP - This idea that Trump supporters are out of sync with the Republican Party doesn't exactly stand up to much scrutiny. Ariel Edwards-Levy: "Donald Trump's Republican presidential rivals have been vocal about his shortcomings -- Sen. Marco Rubio's campaign is even selling #NeverTrump merchandise. But, when pressed by a moderator at Thursday night's debate, they all pledged to support Trump should he become the party's nominee. GOP voters, new polling suggests, may end up coming to the same conclusion." [HuffPost]

TRUMP BAILS ON CPAC, CPAC KIND OF OKAY WITH THAT - Trump probably not getting many supporters at the Christian Singles booth, anyway. Julia Craven, Sam Levine and Tyler Tines: "GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump announced Friday that he would cancel his appearance the following day at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, a decision that drew angry reactions from a Republican base that is skeptical of the real estate mogul's conservative bona fidesOne enthusiastic man decked out in Revolutionary gear yelled at Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-Texas), who was standing nearby, 'We stopped Trump from coming tomorrow!' Gohmert and the gentleman then bumped fists. In lieu of Trump's appearance at CPAC, which is held just outside of Washington, D.C., at the Gaylord National Harbor Hotel and convention space, his campaign will make stops in Kansas, which is holding its caucus on Saturday, and Florida, which holds its primary on March 15. In its announcement Friday, the Trump campaign noted that Trump himself had attended CPAC for "many consecutive years," and said he "looks forward to returning next year, hopefully as president of the United States." The statement also made a reference to "Witchita, Kanasas [sic and sic]," Trump's next stop." [HuffPost]

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Heard at CPAC: "I speak better Spanish than some of the people coming across [from Mexico] - Louie Gohmert

CONSERVATIVE MILLENNIALS TERRIFIED OF DONALD TRUMP - From Eliot's dispatch: "That anxiety and confusion may not have been evident ... But it was there... asked who they would support in the event of a Donald Trump nomination, reactions were more varied, though most insisted they couldn't bring themselves to vote for the former 'Apprentice' host'I would write in 'Jesus,'' speculated Tavia Vitkauskas, also a freshman at Hillsdale College. 'There'd be no hope, it'd be over.' 'I'd probably either vote for the Constitution Party," Josh from San Diego said, "or write in somebody cool like my dad.'" [HuffPost]

CPAC attendees weren't nuts about Trump's penis, either.

CLINTON FEELS THAT KANSAS AND NEBRASKA FEEL THE BERN - Ahead of this weekend's Democratic primary contests in the two midwest states, Hillary Clinton's people pretty much said they're going to lose them, but feel good about Louisiana. Amanda Terkel: "Robby Mook, campaign manager for Hillary Clinton, sent out a memo Wednesday that predicted the former secretary of state may lose the caucus states this weekend. '[A]lthough we continue to fight for every vote, Sen. Sanders has clear advantages and is investing heavily in two upcoming caucuses (Nebraska and Kansas),' Mook wrote." [HuffPost]

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Sadly for Clinton, she's already lost the Jim Webb primary to...Donald Trump?

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

MEANWHILE, THE WORLD IS ON FIRE - While you've been busy fantasizing about what's inside Donald Trump's underwear, actual stuff was taking place. Laura Bassett: "As Trump, the likely Republican nominee, assured the American people that there was, in fact, 'no problem' with the size of his package, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un made a nuclear bomb threat against the U.S. and South Korea. Kim said the country's 'nuclear warheads need to be ready for use at any time,' responding angrily to recent United Nations sanctions intended to cripple North Korea's nuclear program." There's more of that kind of stuff in this article. [HuffPost]

TRUMP TO ORDER THE CLASSIEST WAR CRIMES - Just really fantastic breaches of mankind's shared humanity. Mike McAuliff: "It's not often that people admit to an audience of millions that they intend to break the law, but Donald Trump insisted in Thursday night's Republican presidential debate that he would force American soldiers to commit war crimes. The Republican presidential front-runner has said before that he would order waterboarding and worse for terrorism suspects, and that he would kill the families of terrorists -- acts that violate U.S. and international law. His policies prompted nearly 100 Republican foreign policy experts to sign an open letter saying Tump's stance was inexcusable. But asked how he would make the military carry out illegal orders to kill and torture people, Trump doubled down. 'They won't refuse. They're not going to refuse me. Believe me,' Trump said. That prompted Fox News moderator Brett Baier to protest: 'But they're illegal.'" [HuffPost]

HEAL. INSPIRE. REVIVE. FLEECE. - "An Associated Press review of [Ben Carson's] campaign finance filings show Carson's campaign is an extreme example of the big-money business of presidential politics. His campaign burned through the millions he raised by spending more on fundraising and consultants than on mass media advertising, on-the-ground employees and other things that could have swayed voters, the filings show. Over the past week, the candidate himself, a soft-spoken retired Baltimore neurosurgeon, has wondered aloud whether his campaign aides took advantage of him, even saying he was disappointed in himself for trusting some people around him 'without really vetting them carefully.'  All told, the Carson campaign turned over at least one-quarter of the money it raised  $16 million  to fundraising and marketing firms owned by a pair of his top consultants, Mike Murray and Ken Dawson. By contrast, the Carson campaign's payroll for nine months cost less than $700,000, finance documents show, and the campaign spent less than $600,000 on television and radio advertising during the month that voting has taken place, according to advertising tracker Kantar Media's Campaign Media Analysis Group." [AP]

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Carson himself, however, already has a plan to separate Christians from their money.

Womp wommmmmp: " Until he dropped out on Wednesday, Ben Carsons lingering presence in the presidential race despite widespread voter rejection generated speculation that the retired neurosurgeon had launched a campaign to build his personal notoriety and boost sales of his popular books. Carson has denied the charge. And a review of sales data by the Globe indicates it may be time to take Carson at his word. Although Carson saw strong book sales during his peak popularity in October, his sales  like his poll numbers  have since plunged, according to data from Nielsen." [Boston Globe]

JOHN KASICH WOULD LIKE SOME ATTENTION, PLEASE - Fiendish operator John Kasich is looking ahead to stealing the nomination from Donald Trump, or something. Nolan D. McCaskill: "'Im gonna win Ohio. And then we gonna ...,' Kasich started to say before Hannity interrupted, asking the Ohio governor if he thought there would be a brokered convention. 'I do. I do,' Kasich responded." [Politico]

IT'S RUBIO'S LAST STAND AGAIN UNTIL THE NEXT ONE - Don't forget how funny it is that Marco Rubio might lose his home state to Donald Trump. Jeremy W. Peters: "Now, Mr. Rubio, a Florida senator, is facing the possibility of a humiliating and likely campaign-ending loss in the state, where Mr. Trump leads in polls. Mr. Rubio is redirecting his time and resources to Florida, where aides say he will spend most of his time between now and the March 15 winner-take-all primary. A campaign that has played a cautious expectations-setting game is now making brash predictions, saying there is no way it will lose in Mr. Rubios home state. He himself left no room for error, declaring Wednesday, 'We will win in Florida.'" Bold! [WashPost]

BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here's a dog and an otter.

OBAMA GOES FULL WASHINGTON - "After years of speculation, President Obama confirmed on Thursday that he and his wife, Michelle, intend to remain in Washington for a couple of years after his term ends. It has been decades since a president stayed in the capital after leaving office. But Mr. Obama said during a visit here that 'were going to have to stay' in Washington until his younger daughter, Sasha, finishes school. 'Transferring someone in the middle of high school -- tough,' the president said in response to a question from a woman at a restaurant here. Sasha is on track to graduate from the exclusive Sidwell Friends School in the spring of 2019. Mr. Obama said he was unsure where the family would move after that." [NYT]

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COMFORT FOOD

- A look inside Switzerland's mint.

- A Donald Trump makeup tutorial.

- A supercut of movie last lines.

TWITTERAMA

@mepfuller: If my liberal arts education serves me right, the 2016 race is what we call a "fabliau."

It prob ends with Trump farting in someone's face.



@GlennThrush: One of the greatest staffing decisions of all time: Who plays Trump in Hillary's debate prep?




Supporters stand during the national anthem before Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a rally at Macomb Community College, Friday, March 4, 2016, in Warren, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

The political class is awash in self-serving theories to explain the rise of Donald Trump. Tim Carney blames differences of opinion between cosmopolitan elites and a nationalist base. Charles Murray sees answers in the disintegration of the white working class. Mark Krikorianand other nativists blame popular anger toward immigrants.

While some of these theories can explain portions of Trump's appeal they are not the whole story. These are age-old grievances. Elites have always been indifferent to the rural poor. The working classes always wallow in self-pity and think they're falling behind. And Americans claim to be a nation of immigrants, but we tend not to like the new-comers too much.

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There are at least three under-explored factors that explain the rise of Trump in 2016 -- and none of them are self-serving.

First, he's a brilliant political entrepreneur. Trump created a political market based on his style much more than he exploited an existing one built on policy grievances. Sure, he tapped into latent populism that has always existed, but he grew it based on his personal brand -- the same way he has managed his businesses.

Part of Trump's brilliance was that he learned from Ross Perot, the last serious populist. Instead of creating a new political party, Trump opted for acquiring an existing one -- something he might have learned during his brief attempt to get the Reform Party nomination in 2000.

Another sign of his acumen as a political entrepreneur was his timing which was only possible due to the second factor that explains his rise: The Republican Party was ripe for hostile populist takeover. Its vulnerability comes from its shift to a new regional power base -- the South (east of Texas, south of the Mason-Dixon). The GOP has never been more Southern and less urban than it is now. Those two regions of the country have always been inclined toward populism. Trump has exploited that.

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Fifty-seven percent of Trump's delegates come from his sweep of six Southern states. Donald Trump won sixty percent of the delegates so far awarded by Southern states. Of the nine state primaries outside of the South, Trump lost five. Southerners are an increasingly vital component of the GOP's base -- making up for losses out west, in the mountain states, the Northeast, and the Midwest. The Southern states have a bigger say in the GOP as a result -- and they are wielding it.

The country as a whole has never been less populist, but the Southern domination of the GOP has delayed that change inside of the party. A disproportionate number of populists arise in the South. The Jacksonians, Know-Nothings, George Wallace, Ross Perot, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, Pat Buchanan, and now Donald Trump have either emerged from the South or built their power base there.

The third driver of this outburst of populism is that the tide has turned on one of the main arguments they care about: immigration. Voters are increasingly acknowledging what economists have long known: Immigrants don't take our jobs or drive down American wages. According toGallup, 65 percent of Americans wanted less legal immigration in 1995. By 2015 that percentage crashed to 34 percent. During the same time, those who want more legal immigration climbed from 7 percent to a quarter of respondents.

Trump has won 46 percent of the GOP delegates but only 19 percent of them think immigration is the number one issue he should address as president. For the country as a whole, only 5 percent agree. The Southernness of Trump's support can explain much of that discrepancy.

The populist Know-Nothing movement of the 1850s peaked right as European immigration was about to surge unchecked for 70 years. George Wallace ran for president after segregation was dead. Ross Perot's anti-trade campaign peaked when NAFTA and the WTO were nearing completion. Trump's populism is peaking now that popular opposition to legal immigration is about half of what it was 20 years ago.

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Trump represents the last chance for nativists to turn around the popular opinion steadily getting friendlier toward immigration.
By Michael Lenox and Erika Herz

"Follow the yellow brick road". So Dorothy is told in the classic 1939 movie, The Wizard of Oz. Alas, if the world's economies only had such a clear and singular path to follow subsequent to the recent promising Paris Climate Accord.

While the accord has raised hopes that government leaders are serious about reversing climate change, in reality, the path forward is probably more like a vast river with multiple tributaries that merge before powering toward the sea. To significantly reduce our carbon footprint, innovation is required on a massive scale from critical sectors of the economy: energy, transportation and agriculture, just to name a few. Such innovation will not just magically manifest itself. It requires numerous tributaries, including federal and state policy and actions by both public and private actors, leading to a carbon-reduced future. It requires the creation and adoption of a comprehensive technology and innovation policy.

Innovation often arises out of a combination of demand pull (from consumers or businesses) and technology push (think of the new product you never thought you needed until you saw the ad). While pricing carbon is one way of creating a demand pull, it is not the only way.

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So what policy levers do we have at our disposal?

Much attention has focused on putting a price on carbon - either through a carbon tax or a cap and trade exchange program. And while this assuredly would help incentivize markets to invest in clean technology, in many parts of the world, like the United States, pricing carbon does not seem politically feasible in the near term. Even if one could wave a magic wand and institute a carbon tax, would that be sufficient to drive innovation in clean tech? Unlikely. Innovation occurs in fits and spurts. It is often unpredictable. Despite the romanticized stories of two people in a garage inventing the future, innovation (as opposed to invention) often relies on a whole ecosystem of advances to become commercially viable and to transform markets.

What else can be done?

Innovation often arises out of a combination of demand pull (from consumers or businesses) and technology push (think of the new product you never thought you needed until you saw the ad). While pricing carbon is one way of creating a demand pull, it is not the only way. Tax subsidies and credits are much maligned, but they can help emerging technologies such as solar photovoltaics move down the efficiency and price curves until they are commercially viable. Incumbent technologies such as coal already receive an advantaged ride in our economy by not incorporating into their pricing the true costs of pollution and global warming.

Standards and labels have been effective in surfacing latent demand for environmentally friendly goods and services. Consider the market for organic foods: the establishment of a USDA federal standard brought mainstream consumer awareness and purchasing power to a formerly niche industry. In the electrical utility sector, state-sponsored renewable portfolio standards such as RGGI have done much to drive the adoption of solar and wind power, even if voluntarily rather than mandated.

Federal and state governments spend billions each year. Requiring environmentally friendly goods and services in government purchases can help fuel market demand. In the private sector, Costco, Walmart and others have similarly driven incentives for green goods by requiring supply chain partners to design products that meet design, cost and environmental criteria.

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Patents and other forms of intellectual property protection create incentives for businesses to innovate by providing them temporary monopoly rights on goods. Extending patent protection for clean technologies might help justify a company's increased R&D spend, thereby leading to desired new product performance outcomes, whether for solar cells, battery technology or carbon sequestration.

While demand pull strategies as described above may hold promise, we should not forget the importance of technology push. From Silicon Valley to emerging entrepreneurial ecosystems across the country and the world, innovation emerges from formal and informal collaborations, whether based on geography or industry type. Our own research suggests that innovation in clean technology tends to concentrate in these entrepreneurial clusters, which require significant public investment in research and development in order to drive advances in areas like solar, wind and geothermal. In most cases, these clusters are anchored by either world-class research universities or large-scale national labs which provide critical talent and conduct the basic science and engineering that often fuel downstream, more applied innovation.

Immigration policy, labor policy, and entrepreneurial finance all play a role in creating the conditions for robust innovation in clean technology. Recent laws, like the JOBS (Jumpstart Our Business Startups) Act, try to directly address some of these needs. The creation of alternative investment vehicles such as crowdfunding provides additional avenues for funding innovation. And let us not forget, good old fashioned investment in research and development either through the federal government or through innovative public-private partnerships can be a significant driver of downstream innovation and commercialization. We need the collective will to pursue another "moon-shot" as was done in the 1960's space program.

So what else is needed as part of diverse yet harmonized efforts to maximize our progress on CO2 emissions reductions before the next global climate "check-in" in five years?

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Investments in infrastructure to complement the demand pull and technology push strategies above are essential. Consider electric vehicles. One of the barriers to adoption has been the lack of a network of charging stations spread across the country. Focusing on how to energize the market for charging stations could go a long way toward driving adoption of electric cars, including their potential to power sophisticated home solar energy systems. A necessary step will likely be investment in smart grid technology that allows individual home owners to buy and sell electricity. A national effort to upgrade our aging electrical infrastructure could be a big boost.

While we don't have the luxury to "follow the yellow brick road" on a singular path to prevent devastation from climate change, we can and should develop and adopt a comprehensive technology and innovation policy that will be far more distributed and diverse in nature. We do not suggest that any of the strategies we advance is a silver bullet, or even novel. However, taken together, a combination of policy levers can help us get much further downriver toward realizing the promise of the Paris accord.

Michael Lenox is the Tayloe Murphy Professor of Business, Senior Associate Dean, and Chief Strategy Officer at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. He is also the co-founder of ARCS and serves on the Board of Directors.
The other week I flew halfway across the world from Sweden to attend the Startup Grind Global Conference in Silicon Valley. If you're unfamiliar with Startup Grind and are in fact in the startup world yourself, it might be time to crawl out from under your rock. Startup Grind is a global entrepreneurial community powered by Google for Entrepreneurs. Startup Grind was founded in 2010 by Derek Andersen in Silicon Valley and has over 200 chapters around the world. The goal of this passionate community is to foster relationships between entrepreneurs, angel investors, incubators, venture capitalist, startup hubs, you name it. As their motto goes "inspire, educate and connect".

As an individual who is active in the startup community in Sweden, I couldn't help but make my way over to this event. I knew Startup Grind had a global reputation, but it didn't hit me just how good it must have been until I realized I was one of 3,000 + attendees from across the globe. My local chapter in Gothenburg, Sweden has made top 20%, averaging between 85-100 people per event. To see thousands of people gathered in one place for the same community for just a couple days was really something else.



During these two days, I learned so much from some of the most successful people in the startup world today. There were five things that really stuck with me that I hope all entrepreneurs took to heart:

1.Focus on one venture at a time: It's not uncommon to see entrepreneurs juggle several ideas at once to see what will pan out, but it seems the key to success in many cases is to focus all your attention towards one idea. While it may be tempting to play with different options, the ideas that tend to grow into profitable businesses, potentially even unicorns, stem from entrepreneurs who gave 110% to that idea. If you don't have your heart and mind completely dedicated to your business, it may be hard to get momentum going.

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2.Your investors are not your friends: Your investors are happy as long as the cash is rolling in. "They want to give you a dollar and get fifty back. You are a tool, you are a means to an end" says Guy Kawaski. Sure they will pep talk you, tell you how much they like you and believe in you, but at the end of the day if those sales aren't coming through that "friendship" may quickly deteriorate. No matter how much they like you as an individual, what they really care about is the success of your company and how much money can be made.

3.Think global: The majority of successful companies rely heavily on the internet for success. Selina Tobaccowala, President and CTO of Survey Money stated "Seven out of ten of the top internet companies are US-Based, but 86% of their users are international. There are 2.8 billion internet users and only 10% of them are based in the US." If this doesn't persuade you to have a global mindset and strategy, I am not sure what will. It's okay to start off local, but having an idea that has the potential to succeed on a global scale will put you in line with the big guns.

4.Time spent pitching to investors is precious: When you are pitching to potential investors, don't waste their time or yours by telling them things that aren't relevant. Trying to impress them by outlining your personal accomplishments is only doing you harm if it has nothing to do with your business. Sometimes a story is a nice way to kick off a pitch but chances are the investors have done their homework and know more about you than you think.

5.Hire people who complement you: Guy Kawasaki put a strong emphasis on diversity when it comes to putting a team together. Hiring people who are similar to you won't do you any favors. You need people with different skills and mindsets to run a successful business. "You have two jobs, you have to make it and you have to sell it. If you've only got makers, you're not going to sell anything. If you've got a bunch of MBA's, you've got nothing to make" says Kawasaki.

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What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up

like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore--

And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over--

like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags

like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

Over half a century later, the 1951 Langston Hughes poem, Harlem, describes the mood in the United States. The lives of the average American have not kept pace with the dream, and they are festering, sagging, and angry. Some in mainstream media have zeroed in on politicians who make promises that they cannot keep as the culprits, throwing Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and strangely Bernie Sanders into their dichotomous caldron of left-right blame. They yearn for the reemergence of the long-gone, moderate Republicans and for Democrats to re-coalesce around centrism. Talking like they are the real grownups, they call for "realists" not dreamers. The purveyors of authoritarian, racist, and xenophobia solutions are indeed condemnable. I am waiting for mass denunciation from religious leaders. But we still need dreamers who promise a better future.

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However, not all dreamers are created equal. Among the promisors we have liars, cynics and hopers. Education is a great example.

Liars: We have promisors who, in the technology-evoking name of disruptive innovation, want to dismantle publically funded, democratically governed education and turn it all over the to forces of the market. They try to wrap themselves in the cloak of warriors for equality, claiming the mantle of a new civil rights movement. This is not a promise with tough fulfillment challenges. For several reasons, it is just a lie. First, many of its promoters care not a wit about equity and are just out to make a buck. Others-advocates for vouchers- want taxpayers to fund religious or racial segregation. Second, there is no evidence that a national school system driven by market forces will produce higher quality or more successful education for all students. On the contrary, market forces do not mediate inequality. They cause and reproduce it. Third, racism and inequity in the United States are inextricably linked. Structural inequality and historic, deep-rooted prejudices mean that a school system based on competition and choice replicates the segregation that maintains divisiveness and poverty. Some folks lie intentionally and others lie because their biases make it difficult for them to examine the evidence. Liars masquerade as hopers, but that does not make unfounded claims true.

Cynics: The cynics argue that they are Hopers at heart, but that since the Liars are so powerful, promises based on hope are impractical, if not an actual lie. They are semi-marketeers, accepting some privatized, but taxpayer-supported schools in the mix. For example, charter schools are now a substantial portion of schools in many urban districts. They have developed entrenched constituencies, but they have yet to fulfill the promise of either transferable innovations or widespread equity while undermining local school districts and increasing racial and socioeconomic isolation. Nonetheless, curtailing their spread, much less defunding their existence, seems to be an untouchable political third rail. This is the too-hot-to-handle version of cynicism. Then, there is the small dreams cynicism that derives from the pessimism of, "We can't save everyone." Indeed, there are public schools in which decades of neglect and poor leadership have produced a near irredeemable toxic culture. They may need to be closed and reconstituted. Certainly, doing something systemic about stubbornly persistent race and class-driven opportunity and achievement gaps is daunting in its complexity. However, measures like substantially reduced class-size, universal pre-school and healthcare, significant investment in teacher training and continued development, more robust social supports for families, promoting a respectful, professional learning culture, and potentially most important, infrastructure investment to create well-paying jobs are all doable given the political will of many people of good will. Cynics tell hopers to defer their dreams. Rejecting hope in the name of pragmatism is an especially crushing and ultimately divisive sort of cynicism. American exceptionalism seems to mean, "Everyone can do well by their people, except us."

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Hopers: Hopers who offer a vision of a more equitable society are the real pragmatists. They know that in the face of powerful, implacable opposition, not even small incremental change can be achieved without big dreams and organized people. Hopers know they eventually need politicians to enact and fund new laws and programs, but they are pragmatists because they know that politicians follow, not lead. Hopers are pragmatic because they know that elected officials can either follow powerful lobbyists who want to privatize education to benefit themselves and few children or instead follow organized parents and teachers who want support for high-quality schools for every child. Hopers are pragmatic because they know that if they need a full loaf of bread to be healthy, but ask for half to be realistic, they will only get a quarter at best. They know that hoping to win alone is a fool's errand.

They also know that bread is not enough. They need roses too.

So, to build and sustain themselves Hopers sing together:

Our lives shall not be sweetened

From birth until life closes

Hearts starve as well as bodies

Give us bread but give us roses

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by Joyce Merrigan, RN

"If we don't do it......it will never be done."

The image will be forever ingrained in my memory: the remains of a miscarriage scooped up by a gloved hand in the emergency department, tossed into a plastic specimen container and left on a counter. No condolences were offered to the woman who had experienced this loss. This memory haunts me to this day but also drives me to advocate for change.

"If we don't do it......it will never be done."

In the United States, 1 in 4 pregnancies ends in miscarriage. It is likely that you know of someone, or have personally experienced a loss. . The gestational age at the time of pregnancy loss appears to determine not only the setting for care, the emergency department (ED) or labor and delivery (L&D), but also the standard of care when it comes to addressing bereavement. This difference demonstrates that miscarriage continues to be treated as a physical complaint and is not acknowledged as the loss of life with emotional dimensions.

Labor and delivery units across the country have incorporated evidence-based practice standards, educated the bedside nurses, and rewritten policy and procedures to apply the principles of perinatal bereavement care into the standard of care for women experiencing loss after 20 weeks gestation. We have done a terrific job responding to the unique emotional, spiritual and cultural needs of this population. However, there is another unique group of women who may be slipping through the cracks; women who miscarry before 20 weeks gestation and receive emergency care in our EDs.



"If we don't do it......it will never be done."

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Historically nursing care of women experiencing a miscarriage in the ED concentrated on the medical interventions to correct hemodynamics and nursing care to promote physical recovery. The plan of care was devoid of bereavement support and the communication and activities to validate the miscarriage as the loss of life. Bereavement care acknowledges miscarriage as the loss of life and demonstrates that the products of conception need to be handled with respect and dignity. Bereavement care considers the spiritual, emotional and cultural expression of the pain that accompanies the loss of a baby. The depth of this pain does not correlate with the duration of the pregnancy. It cannot be assumed that because it was an eight-week pregnancy, the woman will not mourn the loss. This stated we cannot conclude that all women who miscarry will cry or require perinatal bereavement support. However, nurses must explore the personal meaning of the pregnancy loss being mindful of offering choices and accommodating individual requests.

The emergency department is fast-paced, has high nurse: patient ratios and often the standard operating procedure for the woman whose chief complaint is vaginal bleeding and not far enough along to send to L&D, is hemodynamic stabilization and discharge home. Perinatal nurses are sometimes asked to tend to the emotional needs of a distressed woman in the ED. Although perinatal nurses may happily accommodate the request, they may also be reluctant to leave the L&D unit and disrupt patient care there. ED and perinatal nurses working together in this regard could be viewed as collaborative but this approach can lead to fragmented care when women who are miscarrying are in need of continuity.

There are barriers to implementing perinatal bereavement care as the standard for women who miscarry in the ED. Besides time and culture, the most significant barrier is the inexperience with and knowledge of perinatal bereavement care communication skills and activities (Burkey, 2014; Chan, Chan, & Day, 2003; Evans, 2012; Rowlands & Lee, 2010; Zavotsky, Mahoney, Keller, & Eisenstein, 2013). Emergency nurses acknowledge they should provide specialized emotional care and support after a miscarriage but believe they lack the communication skills and knowledge to provide the best care (Chan et al., 2003). Fearful of saying something wrong, some ED nurses choose to remain silent, however, saying nothing may be as harmful as saying the wrong thing (Chan et al., 2003; Merrigan, 2016).

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"If we don't do it......it will never be done."

The good news is there is a solid correlation between the comfort and ease in the delivery of perinatal bereavement support and formal education in the principles and methodologies! The ED nurse could be best prepared to meet the individual emotional, spiritual and cultural needs of these families if they had the opportunity to participate in a formal perinatal bereavement care education program (Evans, 2012). And who is better suited to lead this education but perinatal nurses. After all, if we don't do it, will it ever be done?

Joyce is a NCC certified OB RN and bereavement care coordinator. She presented perinatal bereavement care in the labor and delivery and most recently emergency room setting throughout the State of NJ. NJ MCH Consortia Perinatal Bereavement Committee and Fetal Infant Mortality Review Committee. Member of Organization of Nurse Leaders, NJ, ANA, NJNA, AWHONN, Hospice & Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA), Pregnancy Loss & Infant Death Alliance (PLIDA) and National Perinatal Association (NPA). She is currently pursuing her certification in perinatal loss (CPLC) through the Hospice & Palliative Credentialing Center (HPCC) and is also a fulltime DNP student focusing her doctoral project on the principles and methodologies of perinatal bereavement care for ED nurses with specific application to miscarriage.

Originally posted on AWHONN Connections.

REFERENCES

Bereavement and Advance Care Planning Services Gundersen Lutheran Medical Foundation, Inc. (2008). RTS bereavement care training in early pregnancy loss. In M. Daley & R. Limbo (Eds.), RTS bereavement training in early pregnancy loss, stillbirth, and newborn death (7th ed.). La Crosse, Wisconsin: Bereavement and Advance Care Planning Services Gundersen Lutheran Medical Foundation, Inc.

Burkey, D. (2014). Evidence-based perinatal bereavement education for women treated for miscarriage in the preadmission testing unit: A pilot of system change. Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Thesis Global (1528574664). Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.library.capella.edu/docview/1528574664?accountid=27965

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Canadian Paediatric Society Statement. (2001). Guidelines for health care professionals supporting families experiencing perinatal loss. Paediatric Child Health, 6(7).

Carlson, R. (2012). Helping families create keepsakes when a baby dies. International Journal of Childbirth Education, 27(2), 86-91.

Chan, M., Chan, S., & Day, M. (2003). A pilot study on nurses' attitudes towards perinatal bereavement support: A cluster analysis. Nurse Education Today, 24, 202-210.

Conry, M. J., & Phil Prinsloo, D. C. (2008). Mothers' access to supportive hospital services after the loss of a baby through stillbirth or neonatal death. Health S. Gesonheid, 13(2), 14-24.

Evans, R. (2012). Emotional care for women who experience miscarriage. Nursing Standard, 26:42, 35-41.

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Gundersen Lutheran Medical Foundation, Inc. (1984-2013). Resolve through sharing bereavement education model position paper [Position paper]. Retrieved from Gundersen Health website: http://www.gundersenhealth.org/upload/docs/Bereavement/RTS-PPA-Educational-Model.pdf

Hannah, K., & Goodall, U. (2013). Perinatal bereavement care: Are we meeting family's needs?. British Journal of Midwifery, 21:4, 248-253.

Kobler, K., & Limbo, R. (2011). Making a case: creating a perinatal palliative care service using a perinatal bereavement program model. The Journal of Perinatal & Neonatal Nursing, 25(1), 32-41.

Merrigan, J. L. (2016). Perinatal bereavement care for women who miscarry in the emergency department. Unpublished manuscript, School of Nursing and Health Sciences, Capella University, Minneapolis, MN.

Rowlands, I., & Lee, C. (2010). 'The silence was deafening': Social and health service support after miscarriage. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, 28(3), 274-286.

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Sixty million people fled their homes last year as migrants, refugees and displaced persons, overwhelming the global humanitarian system created after World War II to cope with survivors of the Nazi Holocaust.

"We are entering a new stage - no one knows where it is going," said the former senor US official in charge of foreign aid, Andrew Natsios.

Syrians, Iraqis, Afghans, Sudanese, Pakistanis, Algerians, Moroccans and others -- fleeing war, persecution and poverty -- have paralyzed governments from Greece to Germany as the numbers continue to climb: one million fled to Europe without papers last year and 100,000 more arrived in the first two months of this year.

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Many thousands are stuck in Greece - which they can reach by a three or four mile dash in small boats from Turkey. But nations further north such as Hungary, Macedonia, Austria and Croatia don't want the migrants to enter, fearing a costly burden on their economies as well as a clash of culture between Muslim migrants and Christian Europeans.

This was highlighted in Cologne, Germany on New Year's Eve when hundreds of Arabs and other migrants attacked 1,000 women, groping them sexually.

Natsios, former administrator of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), told a Washington audience of experts Feb. 23, that the migrants "are numbers not seen since World War II."

He said the biggest portion, some 10 million internally displaced or refugee Syrians, are fleeing a five-year civil war driven by three great former empires vying for influence in Syria: Russia, Turkey and Iran.

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3227436/Syrian-refugees-turned-Lesbos-war-zone-residents-claim-migrants-chant-f-Hungarian-police-amid-fears-ISIS-using-crisis-enter-Europe.html

Millions more are fleeing their homes in Africa due to Islamic fundamentalism such as Boko Haram in Nigeria; and due to ethnic rivalry in South Sudan, Sudan, Somalia and Burundi.

"The order since World War II is unraveling," said Natsios.

He was particularly concerned that wealthy nations have cut back on aid donations, perhaps feeling overwhelmed by the cost as well as the expectation that today's refugees will likely spend up to 25 years in camps, dependent on food and other international aid.

Natsios also said he worries that the US government will pull the plug and end funding for 15 agricultural research stations around the world. These facilities spawned the 1960s Green Revolution that created miracle wheat - tripling production per acre. The cut in agricultural research comes as the world needs to double food production by 2050 to deal with the growing world population.

He called for improving and expanding US foreign aid to deal with humanitarian crises, both from natural disasters such as drought, tsunamis and storms as well as from man-made crises such as wars and ethnic cleansing.

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US foreign assistance is dispensed not just only through the $22 billion USAID annual budget but by billions more spent by the departments of Defense, State, Treasury, Commerce, Health, and a dozen other agencies.

Natsios also offered a fierce defense of the more than $115 billion in U.S. aid spent in Afghanistan by all US agencies since 2002, even though the special inspector general for Afghanistan recently reported that much of what aid built is ether crumbling or rendered unusable due to conflict and corruption.

"The risk of fraud, waste, and abuse of reconstruction funds in Afghanistan is growing, even as the ability to exercise effective oversight is increasingly constrained" since most U.S. forces began to withdraw in 2014, said the inspector general.

"AID did not fail in Afghanistan," said Natsios, who said that some projects failed to produce benefits because the Defense department told him where to spend the money and on which projects. "You can't subordinate development to defense and diplomacy."

He called on the incoming US president to reorganize foreign aid under USAID leadership through executive order as soon as he or she is inaugurated - before cabinet officers are installed and are able to fight to retain control over aid budgets.

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"To reform foreign aid, abolish it and start over," he said.

He also called for aid experts not to be rotated to new countries every two years and instead stay five or even 10 years in a country, building "personal relationships" vital to work in the Third World.
Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., speaks as businessman Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, listen during a Republican presidential primary debate at Fox Theatre, Thursday, March 3, 2016, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Once more, specificity eluded Donald Trump during a Republican debate.

While the GOP front-runner has offered scant details on policy, his vision of the American society that he wishes to create as president is quite clear. Trump's worldview and rhetoric is so steeped in a desire to bring about parts of America's past that the word "Again" in his slogan is redundant.

Trump is reviving an atmosphere of intolerance, suspicion, fear, hatred and anger, taking America down a route we have been before.

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Much the same way that the "200 percent" Americans of Charles Lindbergh, Father Charles Coughlin, Henry Ford, the Christian Front and the America First Committee powered American anti-Semitism from the 1920s to the 1940s, Trump's campaign has helped fuel a rise of Islamophobia.

Trump has called for mosques to be spied on or closed altogether, saying, "We're going to have no choice." He has been ambiguous as to whether he supports a plan for American Muslims to be registered and monitored. And his "Statement on Preventing Muslim Immigration" that calls "for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States" has proudly been displayed on his campaign website since December.

The issue of anti-Muslim bigotry in America certainly did not start with the candidacy of Donald Trump. He is just the latest in a long line of Americans who have stroked the fears of millions and offered a scapegoat.

Seven hundred people, including members of the American Patriots Inc. and American Nationalist Party, rallied in New York for three hours of political speeches in May 1939. The rally had a "definite anti-Semitic tinge" as a state senator's keynote address was interrupted "a dozen times by cries" from the crowd to "throw the Jews out of Christian America," according to a New York Times report.

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A retired U.S. Army major general testified before Congress "that a Jewish-led communist revolution was about to overwhelm the country," the Times reported in June 1939. Before a crowd of 7,500 Iowans in 1941, Lindbergh declared Jewish influence in media to be "their greatest danger to this country."

A 1938 public opinion poll found that 60 percent of Americans held low opinions of Jews calling them "greedy," "dishonest," and "pushy." This same widespread prejudice helped defeat efforts to save hundreds of thousands of German Jewish refugees.

Is this the "Again" that Trump promises for America?

Exit polls in New Hampshire, South Carolina, and five southern Super Tuesday sates showed at least 60 percent of GOP voters support his ban on Muslim immigrants. Trump's cultural resurrection is taking a firm hold among Republican voters.

The rise in anti-Semitism then and the rise of Islamophobia now is the result of allowing bigotry to pass itself off as reasoned policy suggestions.

While discussing religious liberty during Thursday's debate, no question was put forward about Trump's policy on banning Muslim immigration or the closing of American Mosques. Either the issue does not concern the moderators or the premise of Trump's plan is seen as acceptable and the solution justifiable.

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We have a duty to remember America's past. We must practice history as "a kind of defiance against forgetting."

A letter in "protest against anti-Semitic propaganda in the United States" was signed by presidents Woodrow Wilson and William Howard Taft along with 117 "other widely known men and women of Christian faith," the Times reported in January 1921.

"We believe it should not be left to men and women of Jewish faith to fight this evil, but that it is in a very special sense the duty of citizens who are not Jews by ancestry or faith" to urge others "to strike at this un-American and un-Christian agitation," the letter says.

"The spirit behind" anti-Semitism "is one against which we must continually guard. There is no place in this country for deliberately propagated race prejudices and hatred," a Times editorial said in support of the letter.

Something is wrong when we are unable to rid our culture of this type of intolerance. Something is wrong when anti-Muslim rhetoric is allowed to masquerade as a front-runner's counter-terrorism strategy.

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"We do not believe that anti-Semitism will ever gain ground in this country so long as the masses of our people are true to the great tradition on which this Republic was founded," said a 1941 editorial in the Times.

I feel compelled to speak up for Muslim Americans because as a Jewish American I have a duty to honor the memory of those who spoke for me.
Republican presidential candidate, businessman Donald Trump speaks during a Republican presidential primary debate at Fox Theatre, Thursday, March 3, 2016, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Donald Trump, his supporters proudly declare, tells it like it is.

So what, exactly, is "it"?

Muslim throngs celebrating 9/11? Black-on-white crime? Hordes of rapists from Mexico?

Trump's politics, and his qualifications to be president, are subjects I'll leave to the pundits and the voters. But facts are supposed to be a reporter's strong suit. When we get them wrong, and I've done it on occasion, it's pointed out on the corrections page. We also keep facts on-hand to check against the versions of reality presented to us by public officials, and by those seeking to replace them.

Here are some of Trump's greatest hits:

He told an audience in Alabama last November, and has repeated it many times since, that he saw "thousands and thousands of people," most or all them them Muslims, cheering in Jersey City after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

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The video that Trump was presumably referring to doesn't exist, because, as numerous researchers have found, the mass celebrations never happened. But they were part of Trump's rationale for his subsequent proposal to prohibit Muslims from immigrating to the United States, until the government "can figure out what's going on." Whenever that might be.

Also in November, the day after some of his supporters kicked and punched a black activist at a rally, Trump tweeted a chart of figures from the "Crime Statistics Bureau - San Francisco." They said, among other things, that of all the whites killed in the U.S., 81 percent were killed by blacks and 16 percent by whites.

In fact, according to FBI figures for 2014, 15 percent of whites were killed by blacks and 82 percent by other whites. And the "Crime Statistics Bureau - San Francisco" doesn't exist.

In his campaign announcement speech last June, Trump said Mexico was "sending people that have lots of problems" to the United States. "They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists."

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The assertion is unsupported by official reports or any other documented evidence. Despite some high-profile individual cases, like the pending murder charge against an unauthorized immigrant for the fatal shooting of Kate Steinle on the San Francisco waterfront, illegal migrants have not been charged with or convicted of violent crimes at higher rates than the general population. One study by the American Immigration Council, citing government statistics, of males aged 18 to 39 found that immigrants, legal and illegal, were imprisoned for violent crimes at about half the rate of non-immigrants.

Trump has frequently repeated his claim while declaring that as president, he would build an impregnable wall at the U.S.-Mexico border and get the Mexican government to pay for it.

Responding to government reports of the unemployment rate dropping below five percent, Trump has said several times that the actual rate was probably as high as 35 percent, and he's heard it was 42 percent.

But even counting all non-disabled adults who gave up looking for work or took part-time employment, the jobless rate is below 10 percent, according to the best data available. Including other adults who conceivably could seek employment brings the rate to around 15 percent.

Trump, who regularly describes journalists as "the worst people I've ever met," has nonetheless denied making some specific insults. Most prominently, after Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly asked him at a debate in August about calling some women "fat pigs" and "dogs," Trump told an interviewer that he could see "blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her... wherever." Asked later about the obvious reference to menstrual blood, Trump said he had meant blood was coming out of Kelly's nose.

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In a later incident, Trump's account of the post-9/11 Muslim celebration was disputed by a New York Times reporter, Serge Kovaleski, who has a chronic disability limiting the movement of his arms. At a rally shortly afterward, Trump referred disparagingly to Kovaleski while flopping his arms around. After the Times expressed outrage, Trump denied mocking Kovaleski and accused him of "using his disability to grandstand."

Trump's adventures with the truth have been well-covered elsewhere. But they seemed newly pertinent recently when he referred to rival Ted Cruz as "the single biggest liar I've ever seen" after Cruz's campaign was caught fabricating a statement by another presidential hopeful, Marco Rubio.

Some cliches came to mind about pots and kettles, and taking a look in the mirror. But maybe a better metaphor would be Jesse Owens calling a rising track star the best young sprinter he'd ever seen. Or Ella Fitzgerald saying the same about an aspiring vocalist. Or Albert Einstein about a theoretical physicist.
E pluribus unum. Out of many, one. That motto on our currency used to mean something before the advent of Me, the People. In 21st century America, Lady Liberty is a narcissist.

The balance between rugged individualism and collectivism, and race and gender, are the two major power struggles in American culture. They shape our thinking and drive our politics and society more than most other topics, and they're never really consistent.

Conservatives shout to the rafters about "big government" and the "nanny state" when it comes to guns or demon "Obamacare." Get Big Brother government off our backs! BUT... if it comes to a woman's right to choose what she does with her body, or breaking down the power of workers to organize into a union, though, Republicans are all for big government.

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Democrats talk a good game about being there for the rest of America, but when Wall Street imploded in 2008, little was done to hold some of the Street's most reckless financiers accountable, and they've traded off increases in the minimum wage for decades for more immediate political gains, leaving the middle class with a shrinking paycheck.



Which explains why 39% of the voting public has abandoned the political parties, a figure that has gone up 9% since 2004, according to the Pew Research Center. There are now more non-aligned registered voters than members of either political party.

Who can blame them? There is more going on in our world that divides us than unites us. Our national malaise and discontent is stoked by:

Our news media, that sells politics as entertainment to attract viewers confronted with thousands of choices for their attention;

Our wealthiest Americans terraforming the political landscape via think tanks and grass roots organizations like Americans for Prosperity;

Our educational institutions and public service groups failing to teach civics to a generation or two of Americans over the last thirty years;

Our broken capitalist system that has turned Wall Street into the Las Vegas Strip, and decimated the value of the home, the bedrock equity of the middle class;

Our entertainment, filled with dystopian futures, ultra violent games, and reality shows glorifying the darkest, sleaziest corners of the American character;

The electronic media providing a new level of anonymity that lets our inner trolls and flamers emerge that breaks down civil debate and discourse further.

Selfish, dogmatic, narcissist extremists swathed in the mantle of Christianity doing, and threatening to do, the most un-Christian of things in the name of imposing their cretinous credos on the rest of America.

All combined, they're the perfect storm for participatory democracy and the damage to democracy and our political process is clear.

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Of the 219M people of voting age, only 146.3M are registered voters in America, and approximately 52M people can't vote in party primaries. That means that 30% of America's adult age voters are fully self-disenfranchised and, when you include independents, more than half, 57%, do not participate in the weeding out process of the primaries.

We started hearing about "record" turnout in the 2016 Republican primaries after Super Tuesday. It's bunk. The only real record turnouts were during the 1800s, largely surrounding the time that led up to and followed the Civil War, and excluded huge swaths of voting age citizens, through slavery, Jim Crow laws, and denial of voting rights for women.

Turnout, overall, in the 2016 primary season has been pathetic:

(R Only)

Noting the exception of New Hampshire, where 50% turned out, the two candidates for the next President of the United States will be narrowed down by a rough average 21% of those eligible to vote, just 2 in 10 voters. Colorado Republicans were completely disenfranchised unless they're party regulars. Their voters won't even get to caucus, because their party establishment didn't like the rules changes and didn't have one.

America is fractured by the chasm between whites and everyone else. It is no wonder that the Neocons and the Libertarian Far Right of the GOP are fronting Hispanic candidates. Their party badly needs someone to augment their shrinking demographics of old white men. Pew shows us how deeply the rift runs:

This is the year of the anti-establishment candidate, of Sanders and Trump. A Tale of Two Candidates: Trump thrives by feeding political meat to the toxic zealots that the Far Right has culled and groomed over the years. Sanders' Maple Revolution has collapsed because his biggest constituency, millennials, are notoriously hard to turn out.

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The way forward is blocked because compromise has become a dirty word in GOP circles. Uncle Sam has become bipolar instead of bipartisan.

The only thing that can break gridlock is a return by the millions of moderate Republicans who abandoned ship when the social conservatives moved in and told them they weren't RED enough to stay. In a two party system, which is unlikely to stop being a two party system, we need two healthy parties.

We need:

MASSIVE civic engagement by the millions of Americans who have dropped out of the system;

Americans to exercise their one right: VOTE.

Moderate "fiscally conservative" Republicans, driven out by the social extremists, to re-register and demand their more socially moderate, fiscally conservative party BACK;

To restore honor to public service;

To set the bar higher for our politicians. Our elected officials must return to decorum and conducting the people's business civilly. No government shutdowns with Ted Cruz reading "Green Eggs and Ham" at $1M per minute; No refusal to even talk to the White House about the people's business;

Our news media to go back into the business of news as news, and not infotainment or propaganda. Without a healthy fourth estate, there is not a healthy democracy;

To end the Tsunami of special interest money from Citizens United crashing our political process;

To change our voting system. If we can move trillions of dollars securely via the Internet, we should be able to make a secure means of voting conveniently. To leverage our cell phones, computer watches, laptops, ATMS, etc. This is the 21st century, and the only reason we use our byzantine voting system is to disenfranchise millions of people;

To deal with the 400lb gorilla in the room, and end 239 years of racial strife;

To respect the rights of all people of all genders, and allow all of us to live and love as we see fit.

Our biggest challenge in rebooting America 21 is that it isn't a government program, or following a crazy Cruz or a crafty Clinton. It isn't a television special with Sylvester Stallone and Jon Stewart standing hand-in-hand singing "We are the World." We've let that media dominate our view of the world for almost a century. Maybe it's time to use the social media to spread the word, friend-to-friend:

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I am back stage at the Oscars. Let me repeat that, because it is truly, truly crazy: I am backstage at the Oscars. I'm not here to dance or sing. I'm certainly not here to accept an award for a film. I am here as a survivor of rape and I'm here with 50 other survivors of sexual assault. We are here to stand on stage with Lady Gaga as she performs "Til It Happens to You" from "The Hunting Ground."

We are in rows, holding hands. This weekend has been electric. I am looking down at my arm, where bold letters read "SURVIVOR." I think about all that survivor means for myself and this amazing crowd of people. Survivor. I'm a survivor of rape. But that's not all I am a survivor of. I'm a survivor of being bullied by the female cop that I reported my rape to. This female cop sighed, annoyed by me, and said "Why didn't you report sooner?. Her tone said what she wouldn't say to me directly: that this, obviously, was my fault and that I was dumb. I'm a survivor of being told "that will teach you to go to parties." I'm a survivor of betrayal. The person that I thought was my best friend, who I loved deeply and thought truly understood me, remained friends with my rapist and cut me out of her life entirely. I am staring at my arm, thinking about all that survivor means, when I hear Vice President Joe Biden come on stage.

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I knew the VP would be introducing Lady Gaga, though I didn't know what he would be saying exactly. When President Obama and Vice President Biden launched the It's On Us Campaign in 2014, I wept. The White House was acknowledging that widespread sexual assault was happening on college campuses and that many survivors were being grossly mistreated by their schools and peers. They challenged everyone to take the pledge to end sexual assault and support survivors. On stage at the Oscars, Vice President Biden is getting big cheers from the crowd. I hear him say, "We must and we can change the culture, so that no abused woman or man ever feels that they have to ask themselves, 'What did I do?' They did nothing wrong." My eyes well with tears. Survivor. I am a survivor of being made to think that I did everything wrong.

The music begins and I let myself really feel it. I grip my friends hands. This moment is huge for us. The orchestra builds, Lady Gaga begins to sing, and she is killing it. Her voice is full of raw emotion and is tremendously beautiful. She belts, "Til you're standing in my shoes I don't want to hear nothin' from you, 'cause you don't know." and the curtain lifts. I am standing on stage with 50 tremendous activists and Lady Gaga. We are all survivors of sexual assault. We walk out and surround Lady Gaga's piano. I do not feel ashamed. I hold my arm out, showing "SURVIVOR." I stare into the crowd. I think of what I've been through. I think of what the 50 other people on stage with me have been through too. I let myself feel it. I let myself cry, but I don't look away. I stare out into that crowd and into the camera because sexual assault is something we need to be able to talk about. I think to myself that this is what it means to be brave.

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When Lady Gaga finished, we all raised our arms together. Leaving the stage, my legs were shaking. The moment was incredible, profoundly overwhelming, but incredible.

In the days since the Oscars, I've been asked numerous times, "What was the best moment?" It was incredible meeting and being on stage with Lady Gaga. And hugging Joe Biden. And hugging Brie Larson. It meant so much seeing this important issue addressed on this scale with such a huge audience. But the most amazing part of this past weekend was meeting the incredible people that were on stage with me. After I was raped, the first friend I told acted like I hadn't said anything. He completely ignored me, like what I said didn't matter, was insignificant. Other friends sided with my rapist and stopped talking to me. There was this expectation that I should just get over it. That I should shut up. I tried that and it didn't work. Trauma doesn't abide by your schedule or desires. I wanted to forget what had happened to me, but couldn't. So I turned to my art and began painting about my assault. As hard as it was to continue opening up to people about my rape after being rejected, I had to keep talking about it. It is this way that I found my people, the friends who truly care about me and that I consider family.

All of this eventually led to painting other survivors and co-founding a feminist artist collective called The Body Joy Project. By painting and working with other survivors, I began to truly feel that I wasn't alone. I found people that understood me and loved me as I am. This is why that while it was amazing to be at the Oscars and meet so many high profile people, the most incredible thing was being in a room with 50 other people that understood my experience.

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The other activists that I met at the Oscars are doing incredible things to change the way our culture thinks about sexual assault, from campaigning, to social and legal advocacy, to writing and art making. Their bravery and resilience in the face of overwhelming hardship was infinitely inspiring to me. The thing I will remember the most from this Oscars isn't the numerous celebrities I saw, or that Leonard DiCaprio finally won an Academy Award. It's that I found my people, a huge group of them. I never could have imagined this moment. That powerful performance by Lady Gaga, with all of us around her, it is proof that I am not alone and that this community of courageous activists is strong, growing, and immeasurably brave.

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Family on beach

One of the hardest things about planning a trip is deciding where you want to go. Let's face it, this is a make-it or break-it decision. Sometimes the "Wouldn't it be cool..." vacations do not end up being the right fit for your family. Or a vacation that the Smith family loved, ends up being the worst possible vacation for your family. Because our busy lives offer so little time to travel, and the fact that no trees around my house are sprouting money, each vacation has to count. So you know you want to take a trip and you know you want to take it at a certain time, now where do you even begin to start the planning process?

For me, planning involves asking myself certain questions and finding the best answers that fit our family. Every question I ask myself lets me narrow down my selections. Here are some questions that go through my brain when choosing where to go (or rather, these are the questions that keep me up late at night when I'm planning a trip):

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Budget wise, what kind of vacation do we want to take? I break our family travel down into four categories: Europe, an island destination, a fly-away U.S. destination, or driving destination. Those categories may change as the kids get older but for now that's where we're at. We traveled to Portugal one year and Greece two years later. Both were amazing memorable vacations, but the price tags attached to them are also something we can't forget. Island vacations can vary greatly on price, so it is important to pick the right one for your budget. Depending on how much you enjoy driving, as well as where you live in the U.S, may sway your decision. For me, the thought of being confined to a car as we drive 24 hours to Florida, is about as pleasant as getting a root canal (If you're reading this...Mommy loves you girls!) But some people actually enjoy driving so they have the freedom to make some cool stops along the way.

How much time do we have for the trip? Depending how much time my husband can travel away from work and the girls' school schedule will affect where we go. If he can only commit to five nights somewhere then Europe is out. In fact, I personally think if I don't have at least ten days then Europe is out. It costs way too much money to fly us all out there to not see enough of the country. If we only have a week, do we want to drive somewhere or do we fly and use the travel time we've saved on extra vacation time?

Who is going on this trip? If the girls and I are going on vacation without my husband, I feel like I have less destination choices. I like to keep it safe and easy when I travel alone with them. I don't want to worry about driving long distances (again...not a car person), don't want to lug around a bunch of suitcases, and don't want to rent a house. Location of where we're staying also plays a huge part in where we go. If my husband is with us I don't mind driving to attractions, but if it's just us then I would rather be in a central location close to points of interest. Also, my girls and I could be happy spending multiple days on a beach where my husband gets antsy after two days and needs to go exploring.

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Does this destination seem kid friendly? There are some places that look absolutely amazing but do not scream, "Kids Welcome!" Machu Picchu is on my Bucket List but I'm not going to drag my seven and nine year old through the Amazon Forest in the dark to catch the sunrise from the ruins. (But how amazing does that sound?)

After I've asked all these questions I usually have some ideas running through my head. I can picture us driving across a European country, or see us flying to a tropical island. Narrowing down our choices lets the dream vacation come into focus. I also remind myself that the places I disregard today may be my dream vacation next year. The world is a huge place, and thankfully my Bucket List is quite long!

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So it's sunk to this: the leading GOP presidential candidate leads off a nationally televised debate by insisting that he's well endowed. No need to whip it out, Donald. America knows you are a huge dick.

Shocked by the depth of his vulgarity, braggadocio, and scuzz, Republican opinion leaders have converged on a single metaphor: Donald Trump is a cancer on the party.

In the same week that witnessed the spectacle of Mitt Romney, the party's most recent standard bearer, denouncing Trump as a con man, Rick Wilson, a senior GOP political consultant, wrote, "Donald Trump is a hideous cancer on American political life."

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Now, I am a science writer, not a political pundit. To my eyes, Donald as tumor is a more apt metaphor than the party leadership might wish to acknowledge.

What is cancer, after all? It's one of our own, gone wild. It has the same DNA as any other cell in our body, but it refuses to play by the rules.

What causes cancer? The answer is complex and not wholly understood, but this much is clear: various toxins can do damage that leads to tumorous growths.

For decades now, the GOP has been inhaling more toxins than the late, lamented Marlboro Man. Given the opportunity to address its base through the echo chamber of Fox News and other rightwing media, the party quickly gave in to the temptation to freebase lies. Addiction to propaganda soon followed.

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Even online, there isn't room to catalog them all, but they ranged from the trivial to the monumental. Nothing was too mean-spirited. On the morning of the tsunami that struck Japan's main island, killing thousands of people and causing a catastrophic knockout of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, Fox News ran a crawl asking viewers "Can America Afford to Bail Out Japan?"

This was an absurd question, given that the Obama administration was offering only emergency aid. It would be as if your neighbor's house were on fire, and you ran toward it with a bucketful of water, and someone stopped you to ask, "Can you afford to rebuild that house?"

But that was indeed trivial in comparison with the Big Lies that took hold, lies that few Republican officials would deny. Among them:

* President Obama is a Kenya-born Muslim.

* Climate change is a scam perpetrated by grant-greedy professors.

* Obamacare has robbed people of healthcare.

* The legalization of gay marriage will force all churches to perform them.

* If any gun control measure passes, the federal government will seize all privately held guns.

These are incontrovertibly false, yet they have been mainstays of Republican politics since 2008. The addiction to Big Lies has led to numerous malignancies that the party has reluctantly excised. A choice example: the Todd Akin trope that women can't get pregnant from "legitimate" rape. This one's been in remission for awhile, but just last month it recurred in Idaho.

Then there are the terrible skin lesions of race. Ever since Lee Atwater's success in smearing Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis with the Willie Horton ad, the GOP has relied on racial stereotyping to scare the bejeezus out of working class white voters who might not otherwise have any reason to vote Republican. Donald Trump has merely picked up the ball and run with it (if I may change metaphors for a moment).

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In fact, everything that Trump has done comes from the Republican playbook. He's just done it bigger and better -- and more to the point, he's done it to fellow Republicans. No one in the party denounced Trump when he was making outrageous comments about President Obama's birthright citizenship.

Now Mitt Romney, who welcomed Trump's endorsement in 2012, wants to be the party's Surgeon General and cut the tumor out. I sympathize. Cancer's a terrible thing, and the nation needs at least two healthy parties to remain a functioning democracy.

But here's the problem: the cancer metastasized long ago. It's crowding out the truth everywhere. Just look, for example, at the party's hysteria over admitting Syrian refugees (the last entryway a sensible terrorist would use). Just consider that the No. 2 candidate in the GOP presidential race, Ted Cruz, says he would abolish the IRS. An appealing proposal, perhaps, but about as realistic as promising to run a car on nothing but air.

The cure, my friends, is a commitment to truth therapy. We saw glimpses of it in the debate: Chris Wallace of Fox News said, "Mr. Trump, your numbers don't add up" -- and proved his point.

The truth is often messy, sometimes unpleasant, and frequently demands sacrifice from us. Its first demand is this: we have to think critically and disinterestedly about anything a politician says.
"I am in a Kafkaesque situation," Kaleil explained when he phoned me from his prison in Bogota, Colombia. "I was in La Picota prison for months, and now they have me in what they call 'The Bunker' underneath the offices of the Fiscalia [in English, Prosecutor]." He explains that, since early September 2015, he has been held in a Colombian prison on a U.S. warrant for alleged accounting fraud in connection with a software company he ran until early 2012 called KIT Digital. While Kaleil has pleaded through his lawyers to be extradited to the U.S.-- where he is a natural-born citizen and where he would be happy to stand trial to defend himself-- due to a byzantine extradition process he remains in jail indefinitely in some of the harshest prison conditions in the world. If he had been arrested in the U.S. he would have surely been out on bail immediately, under his own reconnaissance, as he went through a trial.

As it is, however, Kaleil is in Colombia without the prospect of a habeas corpus petition, bail, a hearing, discovery, depositions, a speedy trial, or any of the other due process rights protections which he would receive in the U.S. and which, by the way, he is still entitled to under the U.S. Constitution, his presence in a foreign country notwithstanding. Instead, he is subject to an arcane administrative process agreed between the U.S. and Colombia (there is no extradition treaty, just a common practice "convention") which can easily take a year or longer--maybe much longer now that the Colombian Supreme Court chamber tasked with reviewing extradition cases is not convening due to political infighting and lack of a quorum.

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Troubling questions arise as to why a New York resident and entrepreneur, who regularly broadcasts his whereabouts and travel plans on social media, would be arrested while traveling on business in Colombia (where he was building a hotel in the coastal resort town of Cartagena), just a few days before he was to return to the U.S. to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah with his family. Indeed, his arrest in Colombia--an extraordinary move that under the extradition convention between the U.S. and Colombia is supposed to be reserved for dangerous fugitives--is all the more baffling in light of the fact that by third party accounts Kaleil had personally crossed paths with Preet Bharara, the Manhattan U.S. Attorney who brought the charges against him, at his Harvard College Class Reunion only three months before his arrest in Colombia. This is the same District Attorney who precipitated Kaleil's "capture" on September 7, 2015 through a "verbal note" (i.e., a phone call) to the Colombian Attorney General's Office.

Quite reasonably, a number of legal experts have speculated that with a weak case, U.S. officials wanted to have Kaleil arrested in Colombia, knowing that the extradition process would be long and tortuous. This would give the prosecutors maximum leverage over Kaleil to possibly wring a confession out of him despite his claims of innocence. Meanwhile, they could also try to obtain a cooperation agreement out of Robin Smyth, KIT Digital's CFO who was jointly charged with Kaleil. Mr. Smyth was picked up while at home in Australia, though his extradition was suspiciously fast-tracked and Mr. Smyth was in Manattan within a few weeks of his arrest.

This maneuver (using extradition as a means to subvert legal process and give prosecutors an advantage in building legal cases and extracting cooperation agreements or confessions) is rarely talked about but widely employed by U.S. law enforcement. It is particularly well understood by the DEA and the U.S. Attorney's Office in the context of U.S.-Colombian extradition cases. Kaleil's case just happens to shine a harsher light on the practice, given that it appears to be the first case in the history of extradition between the two countries that a U.S. citizen's extradition has been sought subject to charges unrelated to drug-trafficking, violence or skipping bail.

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Basically, the U.S. may be purposefully trying to evade due process standards by having individuals (including U.S. citizens) arrested abroad--where they can get away with having defendants subjected to harsher conditions and exert negotiating leverage without proper judicial protections.

Others have certainly come to this conclusion. Thus, a recent story in The Miami Herald which mentions Kaleil's case among others, explains:

When Colombia resumed extradition in 1997, the system was designed for powerful drug dons, guerrilla commanders and paramilitary leaders wanted in the U.S. The detainees tended to be extremely dangerous and well connected, necessitating the isolation. But lawyers and researchers say the extradition system seems built on the presumption of guilt. Amid the harsh conditions, FBI and Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) officials often press detainees for information. . . . "If you're innocent, you have no routes to give up and no accomplices to name, you don't have anything," . . . "And you also probably don't have a lawyer with teeth that can get you out."

In addition to the basic denial of due process which one would enjoy in the U.S., individuals like Kaleil must endure prison conditions in Colombia which are much harsher for inmates than they are in the U.S. and often violate international standards on human rights and may even qualify as torture. Colombian prisons such as the infamous "La Picota" (where Kaleil himself was housed for months) have been universally condemned for their filthiness, lack of basic necessities such as running water, absence of medical care, profound overcrowding, as well as commonplace extortion, rape and assault.

As one commentator has written in an article aptly titled, "Colombian Prisons: Hell's Waiting Room":

In Colombian prisons the words Human Rights appear to have no meaning. A prisoner leaves behind his dignity and probably also his health, when he crosses the frontier between his previous life and his future sentence behind bars in one of the country's prisons. Both the prisoners and the United Nations have exposed the conditions in which they live: overcrowding, the spread of infections, denial of medical treatment, violence and limited access to water, among other abuses. Mistreatment that sometimes ends with the death or suicide of some of them.

This same article explains that, "Colombian jails are among the most overcrowded and violent in Latin America and accommodate leftist guerrillas alongside their right-wing paramilitary enemies." For his part, Kaleil himself has been housed in Colombia with accused murderers (including his cellmate in La Picota, a presumed assassin wanted in multiple countries), narco-terrorists, drug traffickers and other violent criminals. This despite the fact that Kaleil is a non-violent defendant with no previous criminal record.

If this were not bad enough, it has recently been reported that scores of dismembered and quartered bodies (numbering over 100) have been found in and around Colombian prisons in Bogota. As the Toronto Sun reported last month, "Remains of prisoners, visitors and others were thrown in the drainage system."

Yet Kaleil is not alone in languishing in a Colombian prison while awaiting extradition to the U.S. He is one of around 150 such "extraditables" who are being held in La Picota prison alone, and whose collective human rights case has been accepted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IAHC) based in Washington, DC.

Kaleil is pleading innocent to the charges against him, but whether or not Kaleil or others like him are ultimately found guilty of the crimes they are charged with is irrelevant. Their inhumane treatment as well as the complete denial to them of any fair legal process (which may result in false confessions out of desperation) cannot be excused and should not be allowed. One commenter, who himself invested in Kaleil's company and whose investment did not turn out so well, states this case well: "I believed in Kaleil and invested in KIT digital as well -when I heard about the charges I was a little angry. I am absolutely incensed, however, to see him being treated this way. He should be brought to the United States and charged, but it is a violation of human rights to have him held in a violent prison in Colombia while awaiting his day in court. This is not who we are and the DOJ, who is supposed to be upholding the law and our principals, should be ashamed."

Meanwhile, my phone interview with Kaleil was rudely interrupted when his "time was up" and the phone was forcibly hung up by prison guards. "They've been listening to what I was telling you, and they don't like it. I'll try to call you again..., " Kaleil tells me as the phone disconnects. This was weeks ago, and I haven't heard back from him. Yesterday, I learned that he was moved again internally and his contact with the outside world has been further restricted . . . .
February 25, 2016

Chairman Zirkin, Vice Chair Gladden, distinguished committee members:

I'm Dr. Dana Beyer, and I'm honored to be before you today to testify about my support for SB 418, the End of Life Options Act. I will continue my testimony for that which I entered last year, because in it there is a story.

I testified before this committee on this bill's predecessor last year the day before my 87-year-old mother came down with the flu. What for her neighbors was a mild strain of the virus, keeping them housebound for three days, turned out to be the turning point in the last phase of my mother's life. She was so weakened by the virus she was hospitalized for five days, then underwent inpatient physical and occupational rehabilitation for three weeks.

In spite of all her best efforts, she continued to waste away, losing 30% of her body weight over the next three months. That sarcopenia, which translated into English means she looked like she had just been liberated from a concentration camp, sapped her will to live. She knew there was no return; her appetite was gone, anti-depressants had no effect, and as her muscle mass wasted away, so, too, did her brain soon follow suit.

Every day when she was lucid she would ask me to put her to sleep - at times, asking that I "kill" her - and, of course, I had to refuse. Sometimes she would argue that she paid for my medical education, which would get us both smiling. We talked for hours each week, and it was clear to both of us that she had run out her clock and simply was ready to end it. But I couldn't help her, even though I'm a physician, and this frustrated her terribly. She knew her mind was failing, her need for round-the-clock care was demeaning, and she no longer wanted to live a life for which she had no desire and which was reduced to simply going to and from the bathroom.

I did everything I could, from signing her up for in-home hospice services, which were superb - the Jewish Social Services Agency of Montgomery County was exemplary. A few months later I transferred her to assisted living, where she had a community of neighbors with similar needs who lived in a more social setting. None of that, however, changed her desire to die. She wanted to join my father, and there was nothing I could do to help her.

She finally died on the fourth anniversary of my father's death. We had a family visit from her sister and nephew that Thanksgiving weekend, and as I left I told her I would be saying kaddish for Dad the next day on his yahrzeit. Just before I was preparing to do so the next morning in synagogue I got the call from her nursing staff, telling me she had passed away that morning.

This debate, about dignity and self-determination, often bogs down on the issue of excruciating physical pain. Many who want to keep everyone alive to the very last minute are now considering making such an exception, but I want to emphasize that there is pain other than the physical. My mother's mental and spiritual anguish at losing complete control over her destiny was far more painful to her, and to me, than any physical pain either she or I have suffered. The existential issues of life and death are just as real and palpable as physical pain, and their mysteries are for each of us to grapple with as best we can. The state has no business interfering in those personal choices at the end of life, just as it has no business during any other phase of life.

As a physician, I will reiterate it is not my role or that of my colleagues to influence these decisions beyond confirming that the end is near, as best we can determine. Making this a medical issue - calling it "physician-assisted suicide" - is an insult to both the physicians and the dying.

Had this bill become law last year, it would have made no difference to my family; my mother's dementia was too far developed by that time. It may very well be that had it been law a year before there would have been nothing I could have done to ease her passage. I do know, however, that my mother, as fiercely independent as she was, very much wanted to make that decision for herself.

I respectfully ask that you favorably report SB 418 out of committee.
Common wisdom stateside about theater here is that it's all first-rate. Not always so. Like New York City there are good productions and bad productions, and on any theater-going spree a fan makes the results can vary from generally good to so-so to disappointingly poor. The rambling I've done this trip, however, has ranged broadly, as the following round-up of offerings outside the National Theatre and Shakespeare's Globe attests:

The Master Builder--Matthew Warchus's fourth production as Old Vic artistic director, following Kevin Spacey's departure, is an eccentric-looking (set by Rob Howell) version of Henrik Ibsen's 1893 opus that must have had more meaning for audiences then than now, at least for me. The tale of Halvard Solness, who's approaching the end of his tether as a builder earlier of churches and then non-spiritual buildings, as he deals with his wife and mother of his two dead children, Aline, and intense groupie Hilde Wangel, still strikes me as near hysteria. The mitigating factor here is the staunch playing by, in those roles, Ralph Fiennes (always remarkable on stage), Linda Emond and Sarah Snook.

Uncle Vanya--Director Robert Icke's inspiration, realized by designer Hildegard Bechtler, is a simple wood frame set that revolves ever-so-slowly. The effect, at the Almeida, is that the barely perceptible movement transmutes into time as it proceeds tediously. This heightens the sense of unbearable tedium in which Anton Chekhov's memorable characters must function. As the boredom about which they complain--in rants that are anything but boring--spectators get a heavy dose of what it's like to be forced into enduring the unendurable on a daily basis. Using his own adaptation, Icke takes everything more slowly than many productions of this Chekhov classic. It clocks in at three hours 15 minutes (three 10-minute intermissions), during which I didn't look at my watch once. That's perhaps the greatest endorsement to be lofted its way. Negotiating the shabby furnishings in (more or less) contemporary clothes, the actors are extraordinarily good. Paul Rhys as Vanya (here called John), Tobias Menzies as Astrov (here called Michael), Jessica Brown Finlay as Sonya and Jessica Kirby as Elena lead the phenomenal troupe.

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Escaped Alone--Mrs. Jarrett (Linda Bassett) looks through the open door in a high fence on a pleasant afternoon and sees three neighbors at the very beginning of Caryl Churchill's Escaped alone, at the Royal Court. Invited in, she joins the conversation, which the devilish playwright turns into a masterpiece of small talk. Every once in a while the colloquy stops, the stage goes black--but for the rectangles of framing orange lights--and Mrs. Jarrett steps forward to report on the devastation an unnamed society is facing. After she runs through several calamities, the fizzy lights switch off, and Mrs. Jarrett is once again talking trivialities with Sally (Deborah Findlay), who fears cats, Vi (June Watson), who some years earlier stabbed her husband in supposed self-defense, and severely timid Lena (Kika Markham). Eventually, each woman has a monolog revealing that underneath the vapid patter is a psychologically wounded soul. Churchill is writing about suppressed female anguish, and Mrs. Jarrett's in-one recitations, terrifying as they are, can perhaps be interpreted as not that much worse than what commonplace women contend with every day. The play, then--directed with finesse by James MacDonald and acted with great nuance--may be short in length, but it's long in reverberations.

Nell Gwynn--Jessica Swale's highly recommended work, introduced at the Globe last summer, has transferred to the West End and the Apollo, with only one cast change. The title character is now played by the popular--because she deserves her popularity--Gemma Arterton, more or less direct from Made in Debenham, the musical. At its heart, Nell Gwynn is a romantic comedy, with the lovers being prostitute/orange girl-turned-leading lady Gwynn and Charles II (David Sturzaker). One night at the theater she catches his eye, and he catches hers, and the rest is, of course, history. Gwynn wins the king's affection, because she intuitively knows how to speak truth to power. Their long-lived affair isn't the only thing on Swale's mind, though. She also includes many satirical scenes sending up the 17th-century theater world. She even has a hilariously nerdy John Dryden (Nicholas Shaw) scribbling with his quill. Leading man Charles Hart (Jay Taylor) is the actor who teaches Gwynn everything she knows about being on stage. (Off stage, she needs no guidance.) The miracle-working Christopher Luscombe directs on the sumptuous Hugh Durrant set and in the sumptuous Durrant costumes. Additional scene-stealers are Michelle Dotrice as a pre-Thelma Ritter dresser and Greg Haiste as the male leading lady whom Gwynn replaces. Featured is a Charles II spaniel named Oliver (Charles's joke on Oliver Cromwell?). This one is sure-fire fun.

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Hand to God--There are few contemporary roles more demanding than the nerdy Jason (Harry Melling) in Robert Askins's astounding work, directed--as it was in its three progressing-to-Broadway outings--by Moritz von Stuelpnagel--and again designed ingeniously by Beowulf Boritt. As the play, at the Noel Coward, goes along its darkly merry way mocking organized religion (these figures are Lutherans), the hand puppet Jason designed for the frustrating puppet class his recently widowed mother Margery (Janie Dee) runs takes the poor boy over with diabolical results. What's hilarious one minute turns horrifying the next, but throughout Askins, in going as far as he can, never goes too far. Worked into the raucous and scatological action are irresistible supporting players--Neil Pearson as well-meaning Pastor Greg, Jemima Rooper as Jason's kind friend Jessica and Kevin Mains as raging-hormones Timothy, but it's Melling who irrevocably walks off with the most honors.

The Maids--Jean Genet's 1947 play continues to be revered. The revenge Solange (Uzo Aduba) and Claire (Zawe Ashton) plan on their Mistress (Laura Carmichael, having concluded her Downton Abbey obligations), doesn't go the way they hope. The send-up they do of her as the two-hour intermissionless study begins is ultimately the farthest they get to go before reverting to their oppressed duties. But almost 70 years on, the drama's shock power has diminished enough to disclose that the fiery playwright could have achieved, in much less time, his plan to depict the careless rule owners exercise over those they own. Nevertheless, at Trafalgar Studios, the roles offer these actors much to grab on to. In her close-to-finish monolog, Aduba latches on to a true grab bag of emotions. Jamie Lloyd directs for the Jamie Lloyd Company. Soutra Gilmour designed a box-like set with a patterned floor that hides many secret treasures. It's arrayed with thousands of paper strips that get kicked and swept around.

The End of Longing--Jack is the name Matthew Perry gives the character he plays in his first work, at the Playhouse, but there's reason to think he's based the compulsive fellow, an alcoholic photographer (who doesn't seem to own a camera), on his own drinking life. If so, it's a courageous act that may especially impress his Friends fans. He's outfitted himself with new friends here--best buddy Joseph (Lloyd Owen), Joseph's new girlfriend/drug-company employee Stevie (Christina Cole) and Stephanie (Jennifer Mudge), an unrepentant high-class hooker for whom Jack falls hook(er), line and whiskey bottle. No, not everything that transpires as the couples build their relationships rings authentic, and there's much that echoes the sitcom scribbling with which Perry is very familiar, but under Lindsay Posner's sure direction, there's enough that weighs in as true, meaningful and even funny. The acting is top-notch, and when just before closing the-devoted-to-imbibing Perry offers what AA members will recognize as a committed share, he may be doing something that stretches beyond strict performance.
There is a mini-series currently being aired on the FX network (Tuesday nights), titled "American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson," based largely on lawyer-writer Jeffrey Toobin's superb book (I read it when it came out), "The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson."

Toobin not only writes regularly for the "New Yorker" magazine, he is sent, packed in ice, to the networks whenever they require a "real" lawyer to comment on a "real" legal matter, such as, most recently, the untimely death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and the question of who is likely to replace him. Toobin is an excellent writer. He's written six books, five of which I've read.

If you can accept Cuba Gooding, Jr., as O.J. Simpson, John Travolta as attorney Robert Shapiro, and David Schwimmer as O.J.'s close friend Robert Kardashian (yes, of those Kardashians), you will have no problem with the show, because the acting is first-rate, and the story makes no attempt (so far, at least) to get cute and pretend that Mr. Simpson was innocent.

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According to rumors--rumors that Cuba Gooding, Jr., himself has heard--O.J. (who hasn't seen the show) was disappointed when he found out that Gooding would be portraying him. Apparently, he wanted the wonderfully talented Denzel Washington to do it. Who wouldn't? Better than Joseph Fiennes, no?

But Denzel is 61 years old, and Gooding is only 48--which is almost the identical age that O.J. was when he "allegedly" committed those murders. Simpson has no beef here. Also, given his woeful performance in "Hambone and Hillie" (opposite Candy Clark) O.J. Simpson should never allowed to comment on any living actor.

As anyone who followed the original case knows (which is to say every adult in America), Simpson stunned everyone by being acquitted of the brutal murder of ex-wife Nicole Simpson and bystander Ronald Goldman. Toobin's book is worth reading. Lots of bizarre shit surrounded the case--from racist cops, to jury gullibility, to prosecution flubs, to a weak, star-struck judge, to a brilliant defense team.

In any event, not long after being set free, Simpson was sued in civil court by the Goldman family and ordered to pay $33.7 million in damages (of which he has coughed up but a few pennies). And then, years later, in a seemingly preposterous turn, he was arrested and charged with criminal conspiracy, robbery, kidnapping, assault, and the use of a deadly weapon.

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After his alleged accomplices in the Las Vegas caper were persuaded to testify against him, in December of 2008, a Nevada court sentenced Simpson to "life in prison with parole," for which he has already served about nine years at the Lovelock Correctional Center, in Pershing County, Nevada (approximately 330 miles from Las Vegas).
The Wall Street Journal today published an op-ed arguing against providing broad student loan debt relief for people who were deceived by their colleges. The co-authors of the article, Jorge Klor de Alva and Mark Schneider, contend that such relief will be expensive -- potentially more than $1 billion for students of now-shuttered for-profit Corinthian Colleges alone. They note that the U.S. Department of Education is considering not only issuing new debt relief rules and beefing up enforcement efforts against school misconduct, but also pondering new rules to allow the Department to recoup discharged loan costs from the offending schools. They express concern about that: "Bankruptcies at the for-profit schools are the likely outcome, which will decimate this form of career education that today includes well over 10% of all postsecondary students." And, they warn, "taxpayers will be left holding the bag."

The two authors imply that, instead of making student victims whole or using financial penalties to deter bad behavior, the Department of Education should just tell offenders to straighten up: "In the past ... colleges found to have questionable practices have been forced to discontinue false advertising and required to establish policies and procedures that produce accurate and verifiable documentation on job-placement rates and postgraduation earnings."

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What the authors, and the Wall Street Journal, don't tell us us is that these writers are connected to the for-profit college industry.

The tagline on the article says, "Mr. Klor de Alva is president of Nexus Research and Policy Center in San Francisco. Mr. Schneider is a fellow and vice president of the American Institutes for Research in Washington."

The tagline does not mention that Jorge Klor de Alva was from 1996 to 2010 a senior vice president at the Apollo Education Group, parent company of the University of Phoenix and that, for six years in that period, also served as the president of the University of Phoenix. Apollo is the biggest for-profit college company, taking in as much as $3.8 billion in federal taxpayer dollars annually in the past. In recent years, enrollments and revenues have declined as the company has come under investigation by multiple federal and state law enforcement agencies for deceptive and abusive practices.

So: The Apollo Education Group, which was Klor de Alva's long-time employer, is the very kind of for-profit college company whose students could be seeking the debt relief that the op-ed argues against.

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The very same Apollo Education Group created and is the funder of the Nexus Center, the think-tank where Klor de Alva now works -- another fact undisclosed by the author or the Journal.

Klor de Alva also failed to make such disclosures when he published a 2014 op-ed in The Hill opposing the Obama Administration's gainful employment rule, aimed at holding colleges accountable for consistently leaving students with insurmountable debt.

As for the op-ed's other author, Mark Schneider, he was a long-time Department of Education official who last year filed an amicus brief in federal court in Manhattan supporting a lawsuit by for-profit college companies to strike down the gainful employment rule. Schneider's lawyer was Dennis Cariello, a long-time for-profit college lawyer who currently represents the industry in the rulemaking proceedings about which Schneider's op-ed complains. (The judge in the New York case declined to admit Schneider's amicus brief and ruled against the companies.)
The migration crisis is a European crisis that calls for a European solution. Ever since I started my posting in the United States in January, the migration crisis in Europe has been my number one topic.

From presenting my credentials to President Obama, meetings with members of congress to conversations with visitors at our embassy: everyone wants to know how Austria, as an EU member state, has been coping with the influx and transit of several hundreds of thousand migrants since last Summer.

The urgency of this situation is clear to many Europeans, Americans and my peers, among them Ambassador Christos Panagopoulos of Greece, who has also published a blog in this publication this week.

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I was still in Austria when these unprecedented numbers of people, mostly from Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan, came to Europe last summer. Back then, I witnessed an incredible willingness to help by the Austrian public. But while Austria, alongside Germany and Sweden, welcomed hundreds of thousands of refugees with open arms over the course of only a few months, we have now reached the turning point.

It seems evident that the refugee burden cannot rest upon Germany, Sweden and Austria alone: Austria, a country of eight million people, accepted 90 thousand applications for asylum in 2015, more than one percent of our population. If we put this into a U.S. perspective, the U.S. would have 3.4 million new asylum seekers, more than five times the population of D.C. in one year alone.

In reality, the U.S. has committed to accepting ten thousand refugees from Syria, i.e. 0.003 percent of the U.S. population. This should in no means discredit U.S. efforts, it is only to highlight the sheer numbers Austria is confronted with.

For 2016, the Austrian government has just introduced an intake cap of 37,500 refugees, a policy some have criticized as "un-European". But it is our understanding that we have to act and implement measures to relieve the pressure this unprecedented crisis has caused for our society.

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This is certainly not an "anti-European" approach. Our government has always and will continue to call for a European solution and to show solidarity with those in need, as even Austria's capped intake quota will remain one of the highest in Europe in 2016. However, as long as some members of the European Union are not forthcoming to working with the most affected destination countries like us, Austria sees itself forced to act unilaterally and through special agreements with neighboring countries. On February 24, 2016, Austria convened the conference "Managing Migration Together", which was attended by the ministers of foreign affairs and of the interior of Croatia, Slovenia and other countries of the Western Balkans. This conference was an important step towards a solution to the uncontrolled inflow of people to Central Europe and an important step for Austria to reduce the strain this crisis has put on our social welfare state and our sense of community.

All participants agreed that efficient management of the migration and refugee crisis requires a coordinated and comprehensive approach addressing all aspects in order to find sustainable and fundamental rights-compliant solutions, and not only temporary results. This includes increased efforts of all relevant EU actors and partners. Persons in need of international protection should receive protection as soon and as close to their countries of origin as possible.
Portrait of a happy young female business leader stading in front of her team

I have a question for you, students: how many hours are you spending prepping for the SAT or ACT?

And how many hours are you spending trying to get a perfect score?

If you're like most high-achieving students, you're probably spending far too much time hunched over your prep books -- and you're probably worsening your chances of getting into a top tier school.

If you've had a chance to read my other articles (this one in particular) about how a perfect SAT score can actually keep you out of your dream school, you know that the top schools really aren't interested in perfection.

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In fact, as I pointed out, aiming for perfection can actually hurt your chances of getting accepted to the school of your dreams.

Let's remind ourselves of why: when you focus on perfection -- trying to get perfect grades and test scores and fit in a million extracurricular activities -- you have no time to focus on what makes you different from every other high achieving student.

Now, for many of you, the thought of not getting perfect grades and test scores is going to sound crazy to you. Because everyone has always told you that you have zero chance of getting into a top school without those things.

But what if I told you that the rebels -- the students who refuse to follow the perfection game -- are actually much more likely to get into the school of their dreams?

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What are these rebels doing differently?

Number One: they're following their passion. They're getting lit up about their gifts and their talents and the areas that totally excite them.

Number two: they're actively thinking of ways to use their talents and interests to solve the problems around them. They're focused on making an impact on their communities rather than simply getting straight A's. And they're creating these things on their own, not just dutifully plugging into a club at their school or logging in a bunch of required volunteering hours.

Now, let's look at this from the perspective of the colleges. What are they really looking for? They're looking for students who are alive with ideas and creativity and who are passionate about making a difference.

Yes, the colleges want students who prize their studies and have a deep love for learning, but they are absolutely not interested in students who force themselves to sit at their desks and study day and night.

They know that that kind of student is never going to have the vision to create change and bring new ideas to the world. And that's the whole purpose of a college education -- at least that's how the colleges view this.

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So, if you really want to get into an incredible school, you have to break the rules. You have to rebel and refuse to follow that old formula of perfection and taking a million AP classes and exhausting yourself with a slew of time-intensive extracurriculars.

And then, once you've decided that you're willing to become a rebel, you've got to throw yourself into creating your own project or unique undertaking. And you need to build this project into something really substantial.

Let me give you an example.

Last fall, I worked with Melinda, who was just accepted early decision to Dartmouth. And two things really stood out on her application. The first is that she'd created her own Humans of ABHS, inspired by the website and Facebook page, Humans of New York.

(If you're not familiar with Humans of New York, this is a site that showcases the photos and stories of every day New Yorkers. It's become quite a tight-knit supportive community.)

Melinda was the co-editor of her high school's yearbook, and she wanted to find a way to bring the student body together in a similar way as Humans of New York. So she decided to create a Humans of ABHS at her high school, and the response was incredible. Students shared stories that they normally would never have told anyone else. Even the teachers started sharing their stories with students in the hallways.

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But that wasn't all she did. Along with close group of friends, she also started a club at her school called Better World by Design, sponsored by the Rhode Island School of Design. One of her closest friends was Sri Lankan, and after learning about the terrible violence and poverty that her friend's family was facing there, she desperately wanted to do something.

So, Melinda and her friends came up with the idea of helping Sri Lankan woman bring their beautiful textiles to the world. They started to research the physical landscape and the local festivals in Sri Lanka, and then they created new designs to pass on to the Sri Lankan women, along with design tools, so that the women could create artwork to sell for sustainable income.

Now, these two undertakings were the real keys to her application. Yes, she had strong grades and test scores and she was the captain of her swim team. But if that's all she had, she probably wouldn't have gotten accepted to Dartmouth early decision.

But because Melinda pursued the things that naturally lit her up, and because she was approaching everything she did from that place of genuine interest and excitement, she had the energy she needed to build something creative and meaningful.

In other words, she was a rebel! She didn't sign up for an internship that bored her to death but that would have looked "good" on her resume. She didn't sit around trying to think of a project that would "impress" the colleges.

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Rather, she focused on making a difference by doing what she loved. And then she wrote an absolutely beautiful collection of essays that showcased how she had used her passion to make an impact on her community.

So, if you have dreams of getting into a top tier school so you can experience an extraordinary education that will allow you to make an even deeper impact on your community, start making a difference now!

Even if you're a junior, you still have plenty of time. And in fact, you want to create a strategy that you can build all the way through to the end of the admissions process next year. That way, if you're one of the thousands of students waitlisted, you have continued to build your unique undertaking into something substantial.

Here's what you can do: start by asking what problems you would love to solve in the world. And then generate a list of solutions that would be fun and rewarding to carry out.

Whichever solution grabs your attention the most and gets you feeling most lit up, that's your project. All you have to do is go build it.

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So get out there and be a rebel! Rather than playing the losing game of perfection, throw yourself into finding a way to solve a problem or better your community. I guarantee you will radically boost your chances of acceptance.
When GreenHunter Water LLC proposed shipping fracking wastes by barge, a lot of folks objected. The USCG decision last week to evaluate permits to barge fracking wastes case-by-case has not quelled public concern.

High volume hydraulic fracturing uses million and millions of gallons of water per well to extract natural gas from shale. During shale gas extraction, the water used is exposed to process chemicals plus metals and radon from the earth. GreenHunter is in the business of working with oil and gas drillers to dispose of fracking waste.

Even before the chemical spill in the Elk River, many were concerned about the impact of accidents and spills on drinking water if barging of fracking waste on the Ohio River was allowed. Over 70,000 voiced concern by submitting letters to the dockets opened by the Army Corps of Engineers (COE) and the United States Coast Guard (USCG) respectively.

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Let me explain.



GreenHunter was transporting oil and gas wastes using its over 400 truck fleet and the company needed permission from USCG and COE in order to shift transport from trucks to barges. In 2011, GreenHunter sought permission from the USCG to transport Appalachian fracking wastes by barge over the Ohio River. In 2013, GreenHunter made a parallel application to the COE to build a barge offloading facility on the Ohio River.

USCG expected the GreenHunter request to be the first of many to barge fracking wastes. Hence, USCG proposed a policy change in 2013 designed to standardize both the process for barge owners seeking to transport wastes from shale gas extraction as well as the information submitted to USCG. The proposed USCG policy would have included the GreenHunter application and would allow expediting future applications.

Public response to the proposals before both COE and USCG was robust and overwhelmingly negative. 70,094 comment letters were sent to USCG opposing transport of fracking wastes by barge; only 21 supported the USCG proposal to allow shipping of fracking wastes by barge. Of the 460 comments COE received, 447 asked COE not to grant the permit to build a barging facility.

In 2014, GreenHunter modified its application to COE seeking permission to build the the barge offloading facility and promised to transport only wastes from traditional vertical oil wells. The revised permit would not allow transport of wastes from shale gas extraction. As such, in 2015, COE granted the modified GreenHunter permit to build the facility.

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On February 23, 2016, one year after COE permit was issued, USCG withdrew its proposal. Rather than issue a blanket policy, USCG said it would evaluate requests to barge fracking waste on a case-by-case basis under the existing decades old USCG regulations.

To date, USCG "has not approved the transport of shale gas extraction waste water by GreenHunter or any other shipper."

USCG punted on the need for a policy change. USCG said it would consider instituting a standardized process for transporting fracking wastes in bulk after USCG assessed "whether current regulations are inadequate to handle requests for transport ...and environmental impacts that may be associated" with transport by barge. USCG further stated that the agency would use acquired experience with individual approvals to inform future rulemaking or guidance.

The USCG policy withdrawal has raised many questions: Is USCG approval of barging fracking wastes by GreenHunter imminent? If so, will COE modify its permit to allow the new GreenHunter Ohio River barge facility to include wastes from shale gas extraction?

While the future of barging fracking wastes is far from clear, certain lessons from the administrative process are crystal. The COE and the USCG dockets both indicate that the public has concerns about barging wastes from shale gas extraction.

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NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 02: Hillary Clinton at labor rally at The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on March 2, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Steve Sands/WireImage)

In Libya, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton showed herself to be quick to use the American military without thinking about what comes next. As the decisive voice pushing the Obama administration to war, Clinton had no serious plan for a post-Qaddafi Libya, a point driven home forcefully once again in a New York Times cover story on Sunday.

Libya was not the first time she endorsed a U.S. military operation in the Middle East without thinking ahead: Clinton voted for the invasion of Iraq in 2003. She has shown repeatedly that she did not learn the lessons of Iraq, and has yet to admit to the failure of Libya.

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For Secretary Clinton to lay claim to a responsible and progressive foreign policy, she must acknowledge the failure in Libya and learn its lessons.

The first lesson of Libya is that a military operation is not a political solution.

The second is to acknowledge the limits of the capacity of the United States to transform the world in our interests and image. As explained in the New York Times, "Mrs. Clinton's deep belief in America's power to do good in the world ran aground in a tribal country with no functioning government, rival factions and a staggering quantity of arms."

In Libya, the consequence of this lack of foresight was to destroy the existing government and infrastructure, and then leave nothing in its place. According to a 2014 report by the nonpartisan RAND Corporation:

The international strategy for post-conflict stabilization differed from that taken in all of NATO's prior military interventions in one important way: No peacekeeping or stabilization forces were deployed after the war -- although many countries, including the United States, sent diplomats to help with the transition from war to peace, Libyans were largely left to fend for themselves. The situation since then has been tumultuous and violent.

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It is no surprise that a working government has failed to materialize in Libya. Today, according to the United Nations, forty percent of the Libyan population is in need of humanitarian assistance. Child soldiers, migrant abuse, and unlawful killings are on the rise.

The third lesson is that foreign policy decision-makers need to think before they act. This requires a clear-eyed assessment of the potential outcomes of the use of American power to overthrow foreign leaders. "You break it, you own it," Colin Powell famously quipped in reference to Iraq.

Clinton's failure to plan ahead in Libya contrasts with Vice President Joe Biden's sobering assessment for life in the country after Qaddafi. According to the Times, Antony J. Blinken, then Biden's national security adviser and now deputy secretary of state, said that the Vice President had expressed concern about what he called "not the day after, but the decade after."

Biden's caution was well-founded: in the weeks and months following Qaddafi's demise, Libya descended into violence and chaos. The situation has only worsened, as a civil war between rival militias fanned by outside interests has erupted in the vacuum created by Qaddafi's demise.

This situation has created a haven for the Islamic State and desperate local sympathizers who have nowhere else to turn. In the wake of failed US attempts to secure it, Qaddafi's vast arsenal is now in the hands of the Islamic State and unknown others, from Mali to Syria, in an increasingly borderless region. In the words of former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, at least one large arsenal "disappeared into the maw of the Middle East and North Africa."

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Those who trumpet the former Secretary of State's foreign policy experience are engaged in little more than old-fashioned campaign spin.

Clinton is long on triumphalism ("we came, we saw, he died" she is reported to have said upon viewing a video of Qaddafi's brutal death), but short on thinking pragmatically about the consequences for Americans and others.

Having publically criticized George W. Bush for failing to plan for a post-war transition in Iraq, Clinton should have known better. Perhaps she does. In a recent town hall hosted by CNN's Chris Cuomo, the Secretary dodged the question about why when it came to Libya she had failed to apply the lessons of Iraq on the need for intelligent and thoughtful post-war planning.

The American President has significant powers in foreign policy-making. Hillary Clinton's decision-making is in line with the flawed foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration, repeating the disastrous policies of Dick Cheney and Paul Wolfowitz: bomb, invade, overthrow - and then think later, if ever.

This helps explain why arch neo-conservatives like Robert Kagan have endorsed Clinton. As Kagan put it in a recent piece in The Washington Post, "for this former Republican, and perhaps for others, the only choice will be to vote for Hillary Clinton."

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Hillary and her advisors may want to take the fight to Syria next. But American voters would do well to heed the lessons of failure and anarchy in Iraq and Libya. They would do well to think hard before signing onto an encore presentation of U.S.-sponsored violence in the name of freedom in the Middle East.
This post was originally published by Waging Nonviolence.

I am reading "American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Girls" by Nancy Jo Sales. It is making me so mad, but I'm having a hard time figuring out if I am mad at the author, the girls she spoke to, the culture they live in or all three and more.

The author, a Vanity Fair contributing editor, spent the last two-and-a-half years hanging out with teenage girls as they hung out with each other and their phones. My American girls are a lot littler -- 2 and 9 -- than the Serenas, Sophies and Sierras (all pseudonyms) that Sales followed, studied and tried to understand. Nevertheless, the book was illuminating and terrifying in many ways.

Close readers of this column know I am a late adapter. They have to be giving it away for free for me to be even remotely interested. I am just now allowing GPS to help me get from point A to point B, and I second guess Siri the same way I used to always re-check the map and worry I had gone too far. As late adapter and late bloomer, reading about 12-year-old girls sending noodz and slut-shaming is pretty hard to stomach. At the same time, I'm not surprised that middle schoolers are sexually active. I graduated from Mount Royal Middle in Baltimore almost 30 years ago (OMG) with at least two pre-teen moms.

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What is surprising is how this "second world" (as one girl calls it) is both all consuming and completely vapid. One girl in Los Angeles told Sales that social media was destroying her life, but when Sales asked why she didn't just stop, she replied: "Because then we would have no life." A 13 year old from Montclair, New Jersey told Sales, "Probably more stuff happens on my phone than in real life." Melinda and three of her friends tell the author that their social media drama keeps them up all night, almost every night.

It's called FOMO, or fear of missing out. But on what? The girls talk about who likes who, who is a "savage" boy (crass and sexual), who is hooking up and who is falling out. And they work really hard at projecting and maintaining a flawless, super-sexualized, sort of soulless and surprisingly uniform image of themselves. It is actually really boring to read a whole book of this.

The book is 375 pages long and includes the voices of dozens of young people, and only one talks about caring about something outside of her immediate experience -- besides makeup tutorials, "how to" videos and the Khardasian/Jenners. Kira, an African-American girl from Fort Greene, Brooklyn participated in civil disobedience that shut down the Brooklyn Bridge in December 2014 after Eric Garner's murderer was not indicted. That was on a Friday night. She went to her elite, private high school in Manhattan on Monday invigorated and changed by that experience, and most of her school mates didn't even know there had been a protest.

She told Sales that she started to have panic attacks, trouble breathing and realized that it was because of "the reality of my school life versus the reality of what I was seeing online, all this murder of black people." Kira talks about how technology can inform, connect, motivate and help people organize: Social media, she says, can be a "tool for activism. All these people all over the country, all over the world, were galvanized by this organizing that was going on on social media. You could go on Twitter and find out exactly where you could go to a protest. You could hear a thousand voices talking about what was happening and how it was affecting different people. Some people are using social media to promote themselves. But other people are using it as a way to try and really change our society for the better."

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Yes, these are powerful technologies. Young people using Twitter and other social media platforms helped end Mubarak's regime in Egypt and called one another into the streets and into people power movements from Tunisia to Ukraine. These are powerful technologies, but here we see them used to demean young women and men, sexualize everything and focus on the smallest and most meaningless physical flaws.

The stories that Sales tells are disturbing. Stories of moms cyber-bullying their son's ex-girlfriends, stories of attempted suicides, stories of rape, gang rape, cyber-rape, roofie-rape, and stories of unprotected, unintimate, unclimaxing sex.

Fifteen-year-old Sierra was hounded and bullied online so persistently and so aggressively for so long that she tried to kill herself with pills. She put more and more explicit images of herself online and responded to every negative comment. Online name calling and threats escalated and spilled over into real life. Her mom and stepdad were oblivious to the turmoil and strife she was experiencing until it became so obvious they helped her get help. "They must be jealous of her," the stepfather told Sales. "Look at her. Any man would say she looks hot." There is so much wrong with that it is hard to know where to begin.

In another story, 17-year-old Jennifer stands in front of her class in Boca Raton giving a presentation. The teacher stands in the back of the classroom listening, while the boys in the front row flash porn at her. Sally relates what happen: "They were like, 'Oh Jennifer, I have a question,' and they raised their phones and it was a porn video. She couldn't even concentrate. It was so sad. I felt so bad for her." But no one told the teacher, no one told the boys they were wrong, no one told their parents. There were no consequences. "Boys look at porn all day," said Billie. "They watch it during class," said Madison.

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The stories are shocking and sad, but there is another dimension that bothered me just as much. How ingrown, self-referential and small these kids' worlds are. They are cruel and superficial.

The Pentagon is not the only one fighting cyberwars -- so are teenagers, and one of the deadliest munitions they lob is the line "you should kill yourself."

For one 12-year-old to say that to another means that they see life is cheap. It sure seems that way if all you look at is reality television, 6-second videos from Vine and 90-second videos on YouTube. But we can't just lay the blame at the feet of social media. That message is expressed throughout our culture. Kids see life is cheap when "Blacks Lives Matter" is a slogan and a movement that enrages and incites. Life is cheap when the "Fight for 15" is labeled an economy-killing instrument of socialism. Life is cheap when Donald Trump's hate and bombast can dominate the news cycle for what feels like years. Life is cheap when people cannot look each other in the eye and do not know their neighbors. Life is cheap when parents are working two jobs to try to buy the pretty, easeful life that beams at them from every device in their house. Life is cheap when $15 million drones target stone hovels in far off countries and enable soldiers with joysticks to kill civilians.

Kids are cruel on social media, but so are grown-ups. We treat the problem of kids and social media as though it is not learned behavior. I recently joined a Facebook swap group in my town -- people selling deck furniture, electric hedge trimmers and kids clothing. A woman posted that a man had said "hi sexy" to her and she wasn't sure whether to block him, report him or both. She wanted to know if other people had experienced anything inappropriate from him. Some people actually answered her question, but most accused her of wanting attention by sharing the post. One man said he looked at her picture and thought that the "hi sexy" man needed glasses. "I don't think so," he commented. And it went downhill from there. These are comments that people make publicly, next to little pictures of themselves in a relatively small community. What do they say when they think they are anonymous?

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Kids learn all of this from us. Kids watch porn because they are curious about sex and because the grown-ups in their lives watch porn, while shutting down their questions and curiosity. Kids are always on their phones because they are looking for connection and their parents are glued to their phones, texting at every stop sign or playing games through dinner.

So, what do we do about it?

My track-phone-using husband and I need to get our act together on this developmental milestone because it will come beaming at us faster than you can say "upload image."

Most parents around us give their kids some sort of call/text device for middle school, but our third grader comes home saying that kids at school have cell phones. With her, a cell phone isn't just our decision, but something we will have to navigate along with her mom, with whom she lives half the time.

No. Sales doesn't say take their phones away. She is light on advice. In her final chapter, she does not tell the reader how to parent a girl growing up in this hyper cyber world. Also missing is any discussion of boys -- how they are being raised and socialized -- in the book either.

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Instead of really specific advice, Sales reflects that in the face of pervasive violent porn images we need to ramp up education about women's history and experiences for girls and boys. We need to bring feminism back, change the culture of social media and get girls to read more. That is her advice. "The real world we inhabit together is the one that matters; we need to find a way of navigating ourselves and our children back there, to the world of true and lasting connection." The end.

I am down with that. But I also need more. I must confess that after reading this book, I am afraid of my kids growing up. I want them to skip middle school all together. I want them to whittle sticks in the woods and have rock collections until they are 18. I want to close the door on the world and live in a log cabin where we all wash in tin basins with water we hauled from the stream.

But, no. That is not the world we live in, and this is not the article where I say that our kids will never have cell phones. I won't get trapped in that! My husband and I said we would never serve them chicken nuggets or fish sticks, and look at us now. Those easy-to-cook, crowd-pleasing protein hunks hit their plates at least once a week. Madeline just woke up (too soon) from her nap, and I plunked her in front of Daniel Tiger for an hour so that I could follow my train of thought. I said I would never do that either.

So, then the answer is not: Take away their phones. The answer is: Don't stop being their parent. That seems like good advice, and I thought of it often as I read "American Girls" and looked for the parents. They were there. But for the most part they were not acting like parents. They were letting their 14-year-old daughters' boyfriends sleep over, buying their kids friends on social media, slut-shaming their kids' frenemies, calling their stepdaughters "hot," giving their daughters new cars or new noses as presents, ignoring their anger or reticence or misbehavior because "that's just how teenagers are."

Teens are still kids, and they still need love, limits and direction. They need more from us than our toddlers do in some ways. We cannot abandon them to their devices. No device can give a kid the tactile pleasure of a sandbox on a sunny day -- the way the top layer is dry and crunchy, falling away to expose the cooler, denser sand below. No device can give a teenager the bone-deep satisfaction of a job well done the way the body does when it's tired and amazed at the end of working hard. No device can replace the comfort of a shoulder to cry on or security of being genuinely heard.

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No device can be a parent.
Image via starbucks.com

Scott Emerick

Aristotle said, "The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet." Almost 2500 years later, adults often attempt to sell learners on the sweetness of the fruit that comes from education. However, everything we know about the adolescent mind indicates we should spend less time describing distant future rewards and more time diversifying the root pathways learners can choose to reach their own goals.

Learning and preparing for future career and leadership pathways is inherently hard work that requires real effort and growth mindset. However, the work of learning must include agency for students to choose and personalize pathways that taste sweetest to them.

US education leaders are celebrating an 80% high school graduation rate. We should appreciate progress increasing graduation rates, but we should recognize that one in five high school students are not graduating. Nearly six million 16-to-24 year olds in the US are not connected to work or school (Opportunity Youth).

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Young people are not leaving school because they are not smart enough to learn rigorous content. They are not leaving because they have never been implored to stay in school for the distant promise of future rewards and the sweet fruit of great jobs.

Young people leave school because of complex life circumstances and personal or family barriers. Others leave because schools intentionally or unintentionally push them out with antiquated and racist approaches to school discipline and suspensions. Many others leave because how they learn, how they demonstrate learning, and what they most care about is not connected to their experiences in school.

We have predictive data for how attendance, truancy, grades and credit accumulation correlate to dropout decisions. When these data, or young people's social-emotional needs, or their complex life circumstances, or their relationships with caring adults, or some combination of these factors indicate a young person is in danger of dropping out, we should dramatically change the conversation. Heart-to-heart talks imploring students to "buckle down" usually require them to do so within their current learning environment. Asking learners to work harder within the same environment rarely changes behavior.

Student choice in finding; and voice in co-creating, authentic and personalized learning experiences within deeply connected communities can change behaviors, hearts, and minds.

If students do not find these experiences in their schools, we should empower them with options for new pathways like YouthBuild Philadelphia Charter School (YBPCS).

Every year, approximately 220 young people who dropped out of high school enroll at YBPCS. At the beginning of their experience, students participate in an intensive Mental Toughness Orientation (MTO). During MTO, staff and students engage in a shared process to create and understand community norms, expectations, and supports. Young people choose to engage in a cohesive mini-community of adults and young people who deeply know each other and sincerely commit to each other's shared success.

Early in the YBPCS experience, students choose to participate in a vocational pathway focused on healthcare, green building, or business administration scholars (including technology and customer service excellence training). Employer partners like Starbucks, Saint Gobain and dozens of others are deeply engaged in helping build these pathways, providing real on-the-job training experiences, and ensuring vocational training aligns with the skills, competencies, certificates and credentials that matter most.

When YBPCS students stumble and make mistakes, they are rarely suspended from school. Instead, young people work with staff to choose how to make amends to the learning community they damaged. The Director of Student Life helps establish a culture where restorative justice is understood and valued, but all staff and young people choose to buy into a process for holding themselves accountable to each other.

At the end of the school year, every YBPCS student chooses to participate in one of ten bridge programs designed to improve the transition from high school graduate to college student, employee, and community leader.

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YBPCS staff members choose to believe that all students can learn and lead. They choose to design and continually redesign a comprehensive approach that proactively meets the complex needs of all learners. Staff members from seven departments come together on a weekly basis to discuss individual student achievements, barriers and goals. Each conversation leads to action plans for how multiple staff members, from different vocational, counseling, and instructional perspectives, can support the full needs of learners.

Young people vote with their feet. Last year, 800 young people applied for 220 spaces for enrollment at YBPCS. Fortunately, Philadelphia benefits from an extensive ecosystem of quality opportunities for young people who leave high school - Philadelphia Youth Network, Philadelphia Reengagement Center, and Gateway to College, among others. These programs benefit from support from the Mayor and the school district to continue improving and growing.

This experience in Philadelphia should become our norm instead of our outlier.

We need momentum for new campaigns, innovations, and research that reimagines education and career pathways that empower learners, especially those failed by first chance schools.

We need innovative approaches that reach young leaders with human driven technology solutions like MyBestBets, LRNG, and iMentor that connect learners with emerging pathways, engaging ways to demonstrate learning/competencies, and caring adults.

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We need research analyzing blended learning approaches that work best for Opportunity Youth - America's Promise is releasing a report on this subject in March 2016. By designing our instructional approaches and supportive educational technology for the students who previously struggled most in schools, we can build solutions work best for all learners.

When a caring adult and a young person believe the relationship between a learner and their school is not working and beyond repair, we should provide "Hack Your Own Pathway" opportunities. Counselors and caring adults should introduce struggling learners who are planning to or have already dropped out, to a range of quality alternative school, high school equivalency training, vocational training, blended learning, competency badging, and community-national service options.

Options should exist at comprehensive programs with strong culture, universal design for reaching all learners, and talented staff who demonstrate how much they know while demonstrating how deeply they care for young people.

I am not encouraging young people to drop out of high school. I am inviting young people into real conversations with caring adults. If you have left, or are seriously thinking about leaving, high school, please find a counselor or adult you trust and ask for help finding a pathway that works for you. Ask them if YouthBuild, Gateway to College, Reengagement Centers, YearUp, members of the Opportunity Youth Incentive Fund, or other local options, within or beyond high schools, might represent a better pathway for your future.

Thank you to the young leaders, and the adult innovators supporting them, who are turning bitter roots into flavorful new pathways.

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About "GenDIY"

eduInnovation and Getting Smart have partnered with The J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Family Foundation to produce a thought leadership campaign called Generation Do-It-Yourself (GenDIY)- how young people are hacking a pathway to a career they love - on The Huffington Post and GettingSmart.com. This campaign about reimagining secondary and postsecondary education and career skills will explore the new generation building a global economy and experiences that are impact driven and entrepreneurial. For more on GenDIY:
"First rule of maintaining a healthy marriage while parenting an infant is nothing thats said between 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. can be held against you."
Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, left, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., stand on stage before a Democratic presidential primary debate at the University of Michigan-Flint, Sunday, March 6, 2016, in Flint, Mich. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

During this election, the Republican and Democratic parties have asserted unprecedented control over the primary debates, and the results have been disastrous.

Historically, the major parties have exercised limited influence over primary debates. Every four years, dozens of media entities and civic groups organically emerge to host primary debates featuring a range of innovative formats. In 2008, for example, there were 25 Democratic primary debates and 21 Republican primary debates. Similarly, four years ago, Republican candidates participated in 20 primary debates (there was no Democratic primary contest).

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An abundance of primary debates is invaluable to our democracy. Debates allow voters to base their decisions on the candidates' discussions of important issues, rather than thirty-second television commercials financed by Super Pacs. A succession of debates ultimately exposes the limitations of candidates who lack detailed policy positions or are unable to think on their feet.

Yet, rather than celebrate the profusion of primary debates, the major parties denounced them. In February 2015, Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican Party, said, "I don't think having our candidates running around in a traveling circus and doing 23 debates, slicing and dicing each other is in the best interests of our party."

Indeed, the major parties are generally uninterested in maximizing voter education. Instead, they want to crown a viable nominee as swiftly as possible and shield that candidate from bruising attacks by intra-party rivals. Accordingly, both parties sought fewer primary debates and fewer candidates participating in them.

To accomplish their goals, the major parties took exceptional steps before this election to assert control over the primary debates. In 2015, both parties adopted the same radical, anti-democratic policy: if a candidate participates in a debate that is not sanctioned by the party, that candidate will be summarily excluded from debates approved by the party. This was the first time a major party has ever threatened to punish a candidate for participating in a primary debate.

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Both parties used their newfound power over primary debates to sharply limit their number and prematurely winnow the playing field.

A whopping seventeen candidates were competing for the 2016 Republican nomination - the largest field in American history. Nonetheless, the Republican Party only scheduled a paltry twelve primary debates.

Since all seventeen candidates could not simultaneously participate in a debate, the Republican Party should have rotated the candidates through an initial round of debates. This would have provided each candidate an opportunity to introduce themselves to voters before polls were employed to exclude candidates from subsequent debates. Instead, beginning with the very first debate, the Republican Party established a two-tiered debating system, whereby front-runners were featured in primetime debates and those polling at the bottom were relegated to undercard debates. Several candidates with distinguished political careers - Senator Lindsay Graham, Governor Bobby Jindal, former Senator Rick Santorum and former Governor Rick Perry - were consigned to second-class debates from day one, which effectively extinguished their candidacies before they started.

Now that Trump is the overwhelming front-runner, the Republican Party must deeply regret limiting the number of debates and shutting out candidates who could have challenged him. The party's own anti-democratic debate reforms have now made it far more difficult for the party to stop Trump from cruising to victory.

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Meanwhile, the Democratic Party has behaved worse. Initially, the Democratic Party only authorized six primary debates for the 2016 election and scheduled three of them on weekends (including a holiday weekend), when viewership declines.

The head of the Democratic Party, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, previously served as co-chair of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in 2008. This election cycle, Ms. Schultz sought to coronate Clinton with minimal opposition to her candidacy by limiting debate viewership. Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, a vice-chair of the Democratic Party, publicly criticized the debate limitations; in retaliation, Schultz disinvited Gabbard from attending the first debate. Delegates at New Hampshire's annual Democratic Party convention were so incensed, they shouted down Ms. Schultz when she spoke, chanting "We want more debates!"

Once Clinton realized that she was facing a vibrant challenge from Bernie Sanders, she requested more primary debates to make her case to voters. On cue, the Democratic Party - which so strenuously rejected pleas for more debates from Sanders and Martin O'Malley last year - scheduled four more debates. Such blatant favoritism is shameful.

While bending over backwards to accommodate Clinton, the Democratic Party excluded Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig from the primary debates. Lessig was excluded because he failed to reach one percent in an average of national polls - but most pollsters did not even mention his name in their polling questions, making it impossible for him to gain entry despite raising $1 million in less than a month.

It is particularly important that primary debates are abundant and inclusive considering that the major parties have already made the debates in the general election so limiting and exclusionary. General election debates are sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates, a private corporation that was jointly created by the Republican and Democratic parties in 1987 to seize control of the presidential debates from the League of Women Voters. Every four years, the Commission excludes third-party and independent candidates and allows the major party nominees to excessively shape the debate formats behind closed doors.

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As the 2016 campaign has been heating up and the insults are flying fast and furiously, I've been seeing it more and more like the traditional fairy tales, where an underdog battles the forces of evil and ultimately prevails. In this case the victory would be winning the race and being crowned king or queen - whoops, President - for the next four years. And usually the villain is an evil king or queen, or some much feared dangerous predator, such as a wily wolf.

I started look at the campaign like a fairy tale with two stories I recent wrote on Huffington Post: Two Fairy Tales about Donald Trump and Snow White and the Seven Candidates.

Now what seems like an especially fitting way to describe the events of the last few days is the story of Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf - now called the Big Bad Trump. As is well known, the basic story is that an innocent girl walking through the woods is tricked by the evil wolf to tell him where she is going. Then, he jumps into her bed and poses as her grandmother, so he can eat her, but she escapes, and goodbye, big bad wolf. Some commenters on the story have seen the underlying message as an attempt at sexual seduction, where a potential victim escapes. But putting that idea aside, this seems like a great parable for what is happening in today's political campaign.



In this case, the original story comes from a European fairy tale dating back to the 10th century, where it was told by French peasants and later by Italian peasants. Eventually, it was published in 1697 by Charles Perrault and later by the Grimm Brothers in 1812. Some of this additional detail on the story is especially relevant for the modern-day political drama.

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In brief, once upon a time there was a little girl, who was loved by everyone, especially by her grandmother, who gave her a little red riding hood, which led her to be called Little Red Riding Hood. Today, perhaps think of grandma being like the Democratic Party giving Hillary Clinton her mantle to run. Then, one day, Little Red's mother gave her some cake and a bottle of wine to take to her ill grandmother, so she would feel better, much like the DNC chair gave Hillary lots of money to help the party recover its mojo and obtain victory.

But, as the story goes, Little Red met the wolf along the way, who enticed her to tell him where she was going, since he was eager to eat up both Little Red and her grandmother, just as one time, Donald Trump gave money to the Democratic Party and hosted Hillary and husband Bill at his 2005 wedding to Melania Knauss, his third wife, at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach. So just like the wolf seemed to be a great friend as he accompanied Little Red through the woods and invited her to listen to the birds and pick flowers, while he ran to her grandmother's house, Trump seemed to be a great supporter of the Clinton's - that is, until he decided to run against her.

Think of his decision to run against her as a little like the wolf devouring Little Red's grandmother and getting in her bed, pretending to be grandma, with her cap pulled down over his face. Then, when Little Red notices that her grandmother looks very strange, asking "What a deep voice you have...what big ears you have...what big eye you have..." concluding with "what big hands you have" and "what a big mouth you have," the wolf always has a ready answer just like Trump. No matter the question, the wolf or Trump has an answer, which ends with the final answer: "All the better to eat you with!" After that the wolf/Trump pounces and eats her up. So you might think the wolf has finally won.

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But then along comes a passing huntsman, who hears the wolf, who has just fallen asleep and is snoring after his tasty meal. So the hunter goes to check on grandma, sees the wolf in bed, cuts open his stomach, and out pops Little Red and grandma. Then, they all fetch big stones, fill up the wolf's belly, and when he gets up and tries to run away, the stones are so heavy that he falls down dead. Afterwards, the huntsman goes home with the wolf's skin as a trophy, the grandmother eats the cake and the wine, and Little Red goes home determined to never leave the path by herself.

The ending of the story is the perfect parable to what may happen today. So who's the huntsman? Well, it could be any of the Republicans who are going after Trump, so they can get rid of him - from Rubio, Cruz, and Kasich to Romney and the big Establishment donors. After they are finished carving up the Big Bad Trump so his campaign collapses, they can at least feel happy they have succeeded in taking down their big game trophy. At the same time, they have left the path clear, so the DNC can now enjoy the fruits of success, as Little Red goes back on the path to victory, now that the Big Bad Trump is gone. And the other Republicans who have hunted Trump down have gone away, too - this time because they are so weakened by fighting each other that they need more time to get their next hunting party together for a future hunt.
By Laura Woods, Contributor

The Fox News Republican presidential debate last night covered key issues -- taxes, terrorism, healthcare -- but most of the focus was on Donald Trump's shifting policies.

Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz worked hard to convince voters that giving the billionaire the party's presidential bid was a recipe for disaster. Ohio Gov. John Kasich, meanwhile, played nice, abstaining from Trump attacks in favor of pushing his own platform.

Fox News' Megyn Kelly served as moderator for the debate. Though the reporter and Trump have a history of taking jabs at one another, the two were surprisingly civil with one another. On the stage, however, Republican candidates bickered about everything from Trump's genitals to the validity of his tax plan.

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Fox News Republican Debate Gets Raunchy

The Fox News Republican debate started off more like a testosterone-fueled conversation at a bar than a nationally-televised 2016 presidential election event featuring GOP candidates.

After Marco Rubio said at a rally in Virginia on Sunday that Donald Trump has small hands -- implying that another part of him was small -- the controversial candidate took it upon himself to bring up the topic, saying, "... he referred to my hands, if they are small, something else must be small. I guarantee you there is no problem. I guarantee."

Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio Make Plea to Voters

Supporting the warnings of an anti-Donald Trump speech delivered by 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz joined forces in an attempt to use the debate as a platform to convince voters not to choose the businessman as their party's candidate.

Their tone took on an especially urgent plea, ahead of caucuses and primaries this weekend in Kansas, Maine, Kentucky, Louisiana and Puerto Rico, which could push Trump farther ahead in the Republican presidential polls for the 2016 race.

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Rubio took every chance he could to position Trump as dishonest, while Cruz condemned him for donating to Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign.

"For 40 years, Donald has been part of the corruption in Washington that you're angry about," said Cruz in a plea to voters. "And you're not going to stop the corruption in Washington by supporting someone who has supported liberal Democrats for four decades, from Jimmy Carter to John Kerry to Hillary Clinton."

Ted Cruz and Donald Trump on Tax Plans

In a rare moment when the spotlight wasn't on Donald Trump, Ted Cruz touted a plan he says would eliminate the IRS, introduce a simple flat tax and reduce federal spending by $500 billion.

Of course, the discussion quickly moved to Trump's proposed tax cut, which would increase the national debt by $10 trillion over 10 years. Trump defended his stance by promising to eliminate both the Department of Education's Common Core State Standards Initiative and most of the Department of Environmental Protection.

Moderator Chris Wallace was quick to point out that Trump's plan doesn't add up. In response, Trump discussed the lack of regulation and "waste" of pharmaceutical companies.

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Marco Rubio and Donald Trump On Immigration

Megyn Kelly called Donald Trump out on a recent BuzzFeed report that, based on an off-the-record New York Times interview, suggests Trump is more flexible on immigration than he's led voters to believe. Trump said he still plans to build a wall and will be hard on illegal immigrants, noting, "Look at our borders, they're like Swiss cheese."

Rubio urged Trump to permit the New York Times to release audio of the immigration conversation so voters could see his actual views on immigration, but he refused.

Kelly proceeded to question Trump about a statement on his campaign website arguing that granting visas to highly-skilled workers would "decimate American workers" -- something he spoke in favor of during a CNBC debate. In response, he admitted he had changed his position. Consequently, she accused him of using his supposedly strict immigration policies as a ploy for votes, to which he adamantly denied.

Donald Trump, Megyn Kelly Meet Again

Nearly drawing as much attention as the candidates themselves was the bitter Donald Trump-Megyn Kelly rivalry.

At a Fox News Republican debate in August 2015, Trump became extremely defensive when Kelly questioned him about his past treatment of women, which prompted him to suggest she was lashing out because she had blood pouring out of her "wherever" -- which many assumed was a reference to menstruation.

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Trump's comments spurred a public feud with Kelly, during which he stated that he has no respect for her. Their rivalry even caused him to skip a Fox News Republican debate she was moderating in January.

Despite their highly-anticipated reunion at the Republican debate in Detroit, the two remained poised with one another. After exchanging pleasantries at the beginning, Trump restrained himself during intense questioning from Kelly on everything from his stance on illegal immigrants to speculation that he often changes his mind on issues.

After the debate, Trump even praised her and the other moderators, saying, "I really think the moderators were very, very good tonight."
The dramatic fall in the price of oil has had some unusual effects on the petro-economies of the Persian Gulf. Countries like Saudi Arabia have grown dependent on importing cheap foreign workers to do the jobs its citizens won't. Now, traditional sources of domestic labor like South Asia have become uneconomical in straightened times. Saudis have had to look for cheaper alternatives, and no one can be bought more cheaply than the government of Somalia.

Despite notoriously appalling working conditions and examples of horrific abuse awaiting domestic staff, Saudi recruiters are believed to be seeking as many as 15,000 housemaids, a move that is thought to be welcomed with open arms by Somalia's president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. His enthusiasm is in stark contrast to many other African leaders. Only last month the Ugandan government banned its citizens from taking up domestic work in Saudi Arabia after evidence of the torture of a Ugandan maid went viral.

When criminals seek to supply cheap labor across borders for abusive and exploitative employers, it is called human trafficking. When governments do the same it is apparently called creating jobs.

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Some nine million foreigners work in Saudi Arabia, but the region is not only importing workers to build its cities, clean its homes and drive its enterprises. The war currently being prosecuted by the Saudis and their allies in Yemen has shone a light on the fact that for some time now, the influx of foreign labour has included soldiers recruited to fight and die in local wars. Indeed, so many mercenaries from Latin America have been recruited in the region that the Colombian government reportedly tried to reach an agreement to limit numbers.

The deployment of foreign fighters in Yemen has been a closely guarded secret. Likely this is not simply because the policy may prove controversial politically, but that its extent may actually break international law. The United Nations Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea recently found 400 soldiers recruited in the Horn of Africa embedded with coalition forces in Yemen, which would be in violation of Security Council resolutions. They join troops recruited from Sudan and other African nations fighting under the Saudi flag.

Though not officially part of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, the Somali government has provided logistical support in the conflict. Somalia is providing Saudi forces with access to its territorial waters and land. Even Somalia's airspace has been given up to Saudi warplanes that have been accused by the UN of conducting "widespread and systematic" attacks on civilian areas.

The Saudis are thought to have paid president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud's government for its cooperation, but what does it say about the man that his complicity in the murder of innocent men, women and children can be bought at any price?

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A foreign policy based on buying support and influence is not sustainable, it can last only as long as the cash reserves exist to fund it. It is not based on mutual interest, shared ideals or any positive notion--just short-term greed. It is one that demonstrates not only the poverty of a country where influence can be bought and sold, but the poverty of ambition of the leaders who, in exchange for cash, carry out policies that are not in the interest of their people.

In the Somalia of my childhood, respect for the dignity of women was a keystone of our culture. It was as near as sacred; the respect for Somali women was wrapped up deeply with our sense of national pride. We were proud of our entrepreneurial spirit that saw us trade in camels and sheep to Saudi Arabia. We were proud of our ability to build a thriving economy, while also building a societal and cultural legacy based on dignity and respect.

We have progressed from selling cattle to treating our people no better than property. Whether it is inviting foreign armies to recruit our sons to die in their wars, or seeing our women sent to work in conditions so appalling that Indonesia, Ethiopia and the Philippines have all banned such recruitment of their citizens, we have seen Somalia exploit its people for any profit. The dignity of our brothers and sisters has gone from being sacrosanct to being packaged and priced to undercut those of other nations.

To this fire sale of dignity we can also add the very humanity of our government, which is prepared to accept cash as it watches alleged war crimes conducted on its neighbors prosecuted from its own land.
The low groans and shrill yelps coming from the Republican establishment and editorial pages around the country suggest that Donald Trump is a train wreck that will continue to run amok right through to the Republican nomination before slamming into the wall of a Hillary Clinton rout, leaving the Republican Party splattered by the side of the track.

Perhaps.

But perhaps Donald Trump has saved the Republican Party from its potentially slow and steady decline into that same abyss.

Back at the outset of 2015, political punditry seemed so simple. Hillary Clinton would march uncontested to the Democratic nomination. The Republicans, as has been their proud and recently losing tradition, would respond by anointing some ole-white-guy, a la McCain or Romney (think Bush, Kasich, Walker). With 5% unemployment and no boots-on-the-ground war, demographics would cast the deciding vote. The Democratic coalition -- old, young, women, blacks, Hispanics, Jews, and gays -- would beat Republican white men 52-48%, finally dooming the Republican Party as a competitive force in nationwide politics.

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Given the determinative role of demographics, the Republicans back then had only two potentially competitive options. The best shot would have been New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez, an unknown of even less known ability, who probably could have kept the Republican base (where else could they go?) while peeling off enough women, youth and Hispanics from the Democratic family to upset the usual 52-48% demographic imbalance. The second best option would have been the young Hispanic Senator from Florida named Rubio, who while not likely reducing the Republican disadvantage with women, would still hold the Republican stalwarts and might attract youth and Latinos to the white male mix.

The solace for the plodding Clinton back then was that the Republican machine and skewed primary system could not possibly find its way to either of the two counter-image newcomers. Martinez would never have the stomach to run and Rubio would get certainly get lost in the land of Marcus Welbys and Andy Griffiths.

And then along came Donald. With a series of WWE body slams, Trump knocked the sluggish white men one-by-one out of the ring. Huckabee and Perry ... really? Walker and Paul, who let you guys onto my stage? Chris, you never should have closed the bridge. Jeb you momma's boy, time to run home. John, Ohio is a bit too far to keep crawling.

Not only did Trump clear the field of any Republican who would carry the McCain-Romney demographic nightmare legacy, but, in so doing, he achieved the unimaginable: he turned the first-term Cuban Senator Rubio into a Republican establishment darling. A standard-bearer.

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Though Rubio may not exactly be the image of "The Grand Old Party," desperate times call for expanded imaginations. Trump has made Rubio simultaneously liberal enough for Rockefeller Republicans and conservative enough for born-agains. Potential financial disclosure improprieties, rumored sweet-heart deals for family members, or ethical conflicts in the State Senate, those can easily be covered with some make-up. No need to take curtain measurements at the Biden's Naval Observatory bedroom; please bring your lift shoes straight to 1600 Pennsylvania.

Of course, Rubio may be a loss in The Sunshine State away from polishing off that VP resume and hoping again to become the on deck batter. Trump may keep tossing Republicans from the ring even as Karl Rove demands to know who is responsible while (RNC Chair) Reince Priebus crosses his arms in front of him pointing in opposite directions.

And Trump may then lead the Republican Party to a trouncing even at the hands of an emailgate-burdened Clinton, with more than 80% of Hispanics, blacks, gays, Jews and women -- the Trump-offended -- staying within and even sliding anew into the Democratic family. Trump may take the Republican Party through a roller-coaster ride to the same destination to which Jeb Bush might have steadily and demographically led them.

But if in fact Rubio rallies as the new establishment hero and captures the Republican nomination, then a real race for the White House will begin. Choosing between a Latino young up-and-comer and a seemingly tired old school Dem talking about glass ceilings instead of gig economics, the Democratic coalition may become a family splintering at its seams. And if too little time is left now before 2016, having been forced upon the establishment, Rubio may expand the Republican Party into the Democratic demographics for the next time around. If so, Rubio, Rove and Priebus will have one person to thank for the path finally around the demographic nightmare and onto victory lane.
Co-authored by Lizanne Merrill

Seeing 'The Art Show' at the Park Avenue Armory is a completely different experience when the space is empty of visitors. At the early afternoon press preview-- while vacuum cleaners are roaring and booths are hung seamlessly, devoid of buyers or gallerists, it feels like one is stepping into an abandoned Museum. Was it something I said? When fully underway it's a packed venue where the phrase, "Excuse me." and "Oops did I step on your foot?!" are part of the territory.

The ghost town ambiance however, made this year's incarnation of 'The Art Show' appear vestigial. Wandering up and down the empty aisles there was very little to discover.

Yes, the ADAA sponsored art fair, which benefits The Henry Street Settlement, is known to offer primarily secondary market works of rare gem like status, or top of the line blue chip contemporary art, however this year's selection was particularly BLAH. The dead (or might as well be) though always genius, looked worn out. Who among the endless array of Warhol's, Rauchenberg's, Twombly's looked fresh?

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There were some...

Mary Anne Martin Gallery had a small early Frido Kahlo that begged attention, as well as an early Francisco Toledo painting on paper that looked as if the paint had barely dried. Betty Cunningham, had a booth devoted to the 'outsider' artist Bill Traylor. Even though he was born a slave in 1854 his work looked fresh and inviting. Raw and intuitive. Among the collecting circle he is 'trending.' Untrained naive uncomplicated veracity of emotion, is always timeless.

The best example of oldie but not moldy, was at the booth of the Donald Morris Gallery, which was devoted to the artist Bob Thompson. The booth was celebrating the 50th anniversary of Bob Thompson's death in 1966. Bob Thompson is a name most art insiders know, and he is present in every major museum's collection as an important example of an early 60's foray into psychedelic color. He died at age 28, and while his subject matter was figurative, his young eye was enthusiastically seeking shapes and compositions that suggest the splendor of pure color.

Of the artist 'newbies', presented in this year's show, the paintings by German artist Stephan Kurten, at Alexander and Bonin Gallery, depict architectural modernist homes. They yearn for the 50's dream and promise. The same can be said for the tiny, precious meticulous pen and ink renderings by Filipino artist Jasmin Sian at the Anthony Meier Fine Art Gallery.

Her works are barely larger than 6 inches and yet they demonstrate, in fantastic detail, forest dwellings replete with the natural world untouched; with animals placed in the center of each picture, peacefully looking on at the world around of them, though one piece presented two elephants friskily making love. Thrown off for a moment, it was an amusing surprise. The subject and style are very reminiscent of medieval tapestries and ivory figures. The tiny fairy tale scenarios are not only drawn, but are also intricately carved out like paper doilies. Her medium: Deli paper and ink; from sandwich paper comes genius.

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The most stellar, striking and cleanest offering at this year's fair, was at the Jack Tilton Gallery. They presented the work of singular sculptor Simone Leigh. The works are beautiful and alive while they quietly wait to be noticed lined up on a plinth. Excellently carved in wood, are head and neck portraits. The series is called Anatomy of Architecture, as the shape of the heads are inspired by the huts and traditional tribal houses one finds in Africa. Personified in female forms with particular homage created in hair, embellished with vivid colorful expression, her sculptures lit up with humor and joy. Simone Leigh is Jamaican born and delights us with her Afrocentric celebration of women, ironically as home.

We end this article with one of our favorite booths, Hirschl & Adler Modern where they are presenting a site specific multi-media installation called Tree Talk by Maria Elena Gonzalez.

Gonzalez made rubbings from the bark of trees. Seeing a pattern in the striations of the bark, she then translated into a code which was digitized and cut later into a scroll that could be played on an old-time player piano. The player piano allows the possibility of many notes beyond what the hand alone can perform at one time. Fortunately, Gonzalez was able to find an expert with a unique collection of very old Player Pianos and the ability to tune-in, so that tree music plays throughout the run of the 'Art Show.'
Nestled on the northeastern coast of Brazil, the city of Salvador, the capital of Bahia, can be described as the mecca of Candomble. While Bahia comprises the second largest Black populous in the world, falling short to only the African continent (specifically, Nigeria) itself, the Yoruba religion, Ifa arrived to the shores of Bahia and integrated itself into Afro-Brazilian society and would later catalyze into the religion, Candomble.

From 1530, when the first Portuguese colonialists arrived in Bahia to 1888 -- sixty-six years after Brazilian independence from Portugal and one year prior to the country becoming a republic -- the importation and exploitation of Africans thrived; leaving the Portuguese with the legacy of producing the largest slave economy in the world. While the Portuguese enslaved several Africans, according to Sheila Walker, a scholar on Afro-Brazilian culture and religion, it was the Yoruba people "from present-day Nigeria and Benin...whose religious culture has remained most intact and influential in both Brazil and elsewhere in the Americas." It is from the Yoruba culture, in which the divination system of Ifa originates and Afro-Brazilian religion Candomble is derived.

In the Yoruba context, Ifa is regarded as an integral and essential a part of Yoruba history, mythology, religion and folk medicine. Intrinsic to Ifa are the divinities known as Orishas, which are manifestations of the high god, Olodumdare or Olorun. Having their own unique characteristics, distinct chants, colors (which are known as ileke), numbers, foods and even literature, the Orisha have full autonomy and authority over the forces of nature as well as the power of working for or against humanity. The Orisha pantheon is seemingly limitless, as hundreds of entities comprise the pagoda include Esu (god of chaos and trickery); Orunmila (god of wisdom, knowledge and divination); Osun (the goddess of love, beauty and intimacy); Obatala (creator of god of human bodies as well as owner of ori or heads) footnote; Ogun (god of hunting, iron and war); Sango (god of thunder, fire and lightening); Oya (goddess of wind and magic); Yemoja (goddess of the ocean and motherhood), and Osan-in (god of herbs, leaves and medicine).

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Just like many other religions, Ifa has its own unique story of creation--where Obatala molded human beings with clay supplied by Ogun, the Orisha of iron. According to Dr. Wande Abimola, author of "Ifa Will Mend Our Broken World" and the foremost scholar on Ifa, the high god, Olodumdare provided the vital breath force and heart known as Emi and Ajala, another potter of heaven, provided the inner or spiritual head. Ile-Ife, the ancestral home and city of the Orishas, is also the cradle of humanity. Prior to the creation of Ile-Ife, the earth was submerged with water and the Orisha descended from Oke ara -- a mountain in the vicinity of Ile-Ife from whence the divinities descended after the creation of the Earth -- to create dry land from water. With only a parcel of dust combined with a chicken and chameleon, dry land began to appear as a chicken scratched and spread solid earth in various directions.

Dubbed as the "African Rome", Candomble in Salvador da Bahia in Brazil is seen and valued as an intrinsic force of cultural and societal values as the African spirit permeates an officially Catholic city of more than two million people. Whether it be in the fifteen-hundred plus Candomble temples or terreriros; the presence of the maes e pais de santo (priestess and priests of Candomble) or in the acaraje, "a black -eyed pea fritter cooked in red palm oil", a delicacy of some Orishas served by Afro-Brazilian women known as baianas, Ifa has reconstructed itself in an Afro-Brazilian cultural and societal context.

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Prior to the religious freedom and "respectability" the faith has accrued today, Candomble was viewed as an inferior and barbaric religion. Under the Portuguese colonial regime during the 19th century--as typical of European imperialism--enslaved Africans were forced to a policy of assimilation or rather cooptation; as the Portuguese vehemently denied the right for Africans to exercise their religious system but enforced their own.

Though the Portuguese imposed their Catholicism, Ifa thrived as its indigenous core values syncretized with the inflicted Christian ones due to the heavy populous of Yoruba peoples in Brazil. Within this new religious dynamic, Ifa in Brazil was cultivated as the Orishas --unbeknown to the Portuguese--were canonized and edified by way of the pantheon of the Catholic saints. Although syncretism was an essential form of preservation to sustain African religiosity in Bahia, an important element to note is that Ifa -- as a Yoruba tradition -- was exercised in Catholicism as a mechanism to culturally and religiously survive and used not so much to adopt the Christian faith but to adapt. The Christian saints were merely symbolic vessels for the Orishas that were appropriated to comply to the religious imperialism of the Portuguese.

According to Sheila Walker, a scholar on Afro-Brazilian culture and religion, "Africans could adapted so well to outwardly observing the feast day of the saints as they were acquire to do so because they could perceive the spiritual beings they were honoring not as European saints, but symbols of the people who were oppressing them, but also as representations of the Orisha whom the saints most closely resembled."

The Ifa tradition in Brazil not only infiltrated itself by way of syncretism but also through means of commercial trade. Several freed black Bahians participated in trade with Africa and many of the products that were imported from the Gulf of Benin were materials used in Candomble such as red feathers, dyes and fabric. According to Patricia de Santana Pinho, author of "Mama Africa: Reinventing Blackness in Bahia", within these materials included secret religious directives and information which connected Brazil and Africa despite the Transatlantic divide. Not only were intercontinental messages sent between Bahia and Africa, many devotees of the Ifa tradition in Africa traveled to Bahia to reclaim the religious practices that vanished from the continent yet were protected and conserved in Candomble temples.

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Many believers of Candomble, though possessing a duality of faith in both Catholicism and Candomble practice the faiths respectively, essentially what is practiced in Bahia is Ifa itself; as the practices of Christianity were not so much as influential to Ifa as Ifa was to Brazilian Catholicism. Despite the fact that many devotees are now equipped to end the hybridized notion of Orisha and sainthood, there is a duality that remains among the new generation of Afro-Brazilians who practice Candomble, who recognize their faith as an indigenous African religious entity but still use overt Brazilian Catholic symbols in Orisha worship.

Though images of the European saints still stand in Candomble houses, portraying Orishas who are not visually portrayed and many Candomble priests and priestesses have been baptized Catholics, Walker describes these "two spiritual realities" in Bahia as non-contradictory and even complementary as it ultimately represents and eternalizes African Orisha worship.
John Kiara, 15, wipes sweat off his forehead as he stares down at a stair set of his height.

He runs a few steps, hops on a skateboard and jumps down the drop. The impact of landing shakes his balance slightly off and he falls forward on the concrete. Kiara brushes his hands off the sand dust, grabs the board and runs up the stairs for another try.

All photography by Janne Riikonen

It is Tuesday afternoon in Nairobi and the sounds of play and joy fill Shangilia Skatepark, the first and only skatepark in Kenya. Daniel Gluche, a skateboarder himself and one of the masterminds behind the skatepark, observes Kiara's skating from a distance.

Kiara is focused, ready for a second shot. This time he lands the jump right on the trucks and rolls away maintaining his balance. He cracks a wide smile, the feeling of success is his reward for pushing himself.

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"Skateboarding has tough me discipline and to be courageous", Kiara tells.

For now he skates the park nearly every day, as he does not have a chance to attend high school due to high tuition fees. He lives in the adjacent slum of Kibagare, where drug abuse and petty crime blossom among idle youth. Skateboarding is his way to spend leisure time productively.

He is an epitome of skateboarding's positive effects justifying the need for the skatepark. Living in a babylon city - as Gluche calls it - skateboarding can teach the children something special.

"In Kenya money rules and people are generally very materialistic. Even globally people are getting more selfish and lack empathy towards others. Skaters have a different connection, on a board everyone is equal and skin color doesn't matter anymore", he explains.

"Skateboarding brings the people together from different tribes, backgrounds and economic statuses."

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John Kiara drops into the pool and surfs the concrete waves with full concentration. While waiting his turn Zacharia Mwaniki, 14, studies his friends lines and movements in the ramp. After a clean run and sharing a fistbump, the friends quickly move to another section of the park for the next tricks.

The park currently has 17 boards for the use of the children, most of whom cannot afford to buy one of their own. Skate shoes, safety pads and helmets are also provided.

The use of the park was recently scheduled by age groups due to the lack of equipment. When there was no such system, the stronger characters used to take the boards from the shyer and younger ones, and so got to skate more.

Although there is a chronic shortage of all equipment, the park itself is very satisfying. The 1000 square meter park has a great variety of obstacles: Handrails, quarter pipes, stair sets, flat bars, curbs and the pool.

The park is located on the property of Shangilia School of Performing Arts. The orphan school founded by a renowned Kenyan actress Anne Wanjugu bases on similar philosophy as the skate-project: Empowering the children by building their self-confidence through the activities.

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They saw similar possibilities in skateboarding, and so bestowed their land for the use of skatepark.

And by most of the visitors being attenders of the Shangilia orphanage, the skatepark acts rather as a playground than a skate spot. It is a place for the children to experience something new, to overcome their doubts and most importantly to enjoy their time.

It all started in 2008. Gluche was strolling at the town of Nairobi after a work meeting as he heard a familiar sound. "No way, this can't be true", he though, as he recognized the purring sound of skateboard's bearings.

Gluche found the tiny skater community of Nairobi and started to skate again after a few years of break. They used to gather at Uhuru park, jumping at a set of stairs and gaps, while by-passers gazed at them marveling. The biggest dream for the small but dedicated group of skaters was to have a proper skatepark in the city.

Shortly after Gluche found an article about Skateistan, a sport-for-development-project established in Afghanistan's capital Kabul in 2007.

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A bulb illuminated: What if something similar could be done in Kenya? Gluche contacted Skate-aid, a German organization that supported Skateistan, to propose his idea. Skate-Aid got immediately interested in Gluche's proposal and sent a director to visit Kenya for project planning in the following spring. Funding got fixed and all seemed feasible, but the biggest issue turned out to be where to build the park.

Buying a piece of land is a hassle in Nairobi, where land grabbings are common and corruption is very high. That is when Shangilia School of Performing Arts helped greatly by permitting the land usage for the skatepark.

After severals months of intense do-it-yourself-construction work with the help of the passionate local skateboarders, the dream become reality as Shangilia skatepark opened in October 2013.

At 6.30 p.m. the sun sets and the session is over. With lighting the skating could continue until 9 p.m.

Having given their all, Kiara and Mwaniki take off the safety pads and place the skateboards into the shelves of the barrack. Only now, after a few hours of sweating, the boys have the first drinks of water.

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Gluche is highly satisfied with the achievements of building skate culture in Kenya and the East Africa. He works as a regional director for Skate-aid East Africa and also coordinates other projects in the region.

Besides doing good for others, the chosen path allowed him to reboot his life and also brought him back to skateboarding, his "first love".

"For me to skate again, at the age of 38, is one of the biggest blessings. When living in Germany I had an own IT project company. I sat at the office until 10 p.m. every day, I got chubby and frustrated thinking that life cannot go on this way. I worked for the money, not for a reason anymore."

"The idea of Skate-aid is to build self-sustaining systems and then move onwards, to other countries and communities where similar projects would be needed."

Skate-aid currently runs projects in 15 countries across the world, with the focus on developing countries. In addition five projects have been launched in Germany, where one of the aims is to help the refugee youth to integrate into a new society through skateboarding. The sport unites people and builds bridges between cultures.

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"Some people thought we are crazy and actually laughed at us for bringing skateboards to children who have more urgent needs like food and clothing", Gluche tells.

But instead of bringing a quick relieve, he wanted to develop something more pregnant and meaningful.

"Life certainly is not easy here, but from skateboarding these kids can learn a valuable lesson; no matter how many times you fall, you need to get back up again."
With Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley's approval ratings faltering in a new poll on his role in obstructing the Supreme Court nomination process as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Democratic challengers like state Sen. Rob Hogg are inspiring a groundswell of new support for a suddenly competitive election battle.

With more than 60 endorsements from state office holders, Hogg's long-time leadership for clean energy jobs in a state that leads the nation in wind energy production has the potential to bridge the rural-urban divide and bring together a new coalition of voters in Iowa.

In effect: The winds are blowing in a new direction in Iowa today.

"My candidate is Rob Hogg," Iowa Senate Majority Leader Michael Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs told the Des Moines Register, even as other candidates, including former state agricultural secretary Patty Judge, file to run. "Sen. Hogg is my candidate and I am rock solid," added Senate President Pam Jochum, D-Dubuque.

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A fourth-generation Iowan, Hogg has served 14 years in the statehouse as a representative and senator from Cedar Rapids, including the former chairmanship of the state Senate Judiciary Committee, and drawn national attention for his ability to work with both parties, farmers and urban planners on clean water solutions, and clean energy and climate change policies.

Hogg with Iowa statehouse endorsers. Photo credit: Rob Hogg Campaign

In a searing editorial last week, the Des Moines Register chastised Grassley for playing politics and disregarding "his constitutional duty" on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

With Grassley's approval rate falling to 47% versus a 44% disapproval rate, the poll by the Public Policy Polling found that 54% would "blame Mitch McConnell, Chuck Grassley, and the other Republicans in the Senate more for this gridlock on key issues at the Supreme Court."

"The Senate's refusal to even consider the President's upcoming nominee to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court is just the latest -- and perhaps most important -- example of how dysfunctional Congress has become," Hogg said in filing his petitions as a candidate . "The good news is we can get Congress to work again by electing people who want to make Congress work, and when we do that, we can build a better future for all Americans."
WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 17: Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia waits for the beginning of the taping of 'The Kalb Report' April 17, 2014 at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. The Kalb Report is a discussion of media ethics and responsibility at the National Press Club held each month. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's unexpected death on February 13 has not only cast a cloud of uncertainty and speculation over upcoming Court decisions this term, but it has also thrown a curveball into an already raucous presidential campaign season. Given the Supreme Court's current precarious ideological balance, a new Court appointee would have the potential to dramatically reshape law and the power to settle many of our nation's most contested issues.

For more than a generation, our highest Court has been firmly controlled by Republican appointees, with many seminal cases decided by the Court's most moderate Republican appointee, a baton handed off between Lewis Powell to Sandra Day O'Connor to Anthony Kennedy, the so-called "Swing Justice."



If there is a Republican presidential win this November, a Republican appointee would cement the Court's current right wing configuration, especially when taking into account that the Court's eldest serving member is Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a Democratic nominee. If President Obama or a new Democratic President, however, were to nominate Scalia's replacement, then the Court would tip in a new direction that would potentially touch every major issue of our time.

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In the last 10 years alone, the conservative Court has opened the floodgates to corporate campaign contributions in the infamous Citizens United case, struck down provisions of the critical Voting Rights Act, and curtailed both voluntarily K-12 integration plans and affirmative action in higher education.

A Democratic appointee could hold the power to revisit, if not reverse, these decisions.

More importantly, activists and advocates desiring a more inclusive constitutional reading would be in a position to pivot away from a defensive posture -- hoping merely to preserve and defend hard won gains -- toward a more proactive stance, able to develop and advance the law to expand the frontiers of constitutional belonging and equality.

With this critically important appointment at hand, it is worth considering one of Scalia's most important legacies during his Court tenure and its limitations. Scalia is perhaps best known as a proponent, perhaps even the forefather, of constitutional originalism, an interpretative methodology that sought to ground Constitutional interpretation in an understanding of the "original intent" of the authors of the Constitution. Scalia's approach served in part as a rejection of the notion of what Oliver Wendell Holmes called a "living constitution," whereby the terms within the Constitution, such as "reasonable" (4th Amendment) or "cruel and unusual punishment"(8th Amendment), might change meaning over time, depending on the norms or values of the contemporary society in which it was being applied.

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According to Scalia's very different approach, these terms had definite meaning, fixed at the moment of enactment as understood by their authors. Scalia even acerbically described the Constitution as a "dead" document as a vivid contrast in approach.

Originalism also served as a rejoinder to what many conservatives viewed as judicial overreach in the Warren Court era -- specifically, reading rights into the Constitution that are not textually apparent. This includes criticism of Miranda v. Arizona, which requires law enforcement to notify criminal suspects of their rights, Griswald v. Connecticut, and Roe v. Wade, which read rights of privacy into the Constitution and recognized reproductive freedoms that flow from them, respectively. In his dissents, Scalia urged his colleagues to overrule these cases.

Originalism purportedly offers certainty, clarity and consistency in constitutional jurisprudence but whether it provides these benefits is an ongoing debate. More importantly, some scholars have questioned Scalia's consistency in applying an originalist approach, especially where it may have led to results incompatible with his political leanings. Many will point to his decisive role in the controversial Bush v. Gore decision as an example of judicial activism and conservative overreach.

There is, however, a deeper inconsistency in Scalia's jurisprudence.

Justice Scalia's full-throated embrace of originalism had a convenient blind spot. He ignored the fact that there were, at least, two different Constitutions. The Constitution of 1789 was very different than the Constitution as amended after the Civil War. The former was designed by and for slaveholders while the latter was far more democratic and inclusive, even if in aspiration. While many of Scalia's decisions sought to understand the original intent of the authors in 1788 and 1791, he made little such attempt to understand the Reconstructed Constitution of 1870, the document that came after the ratification of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments.

These three Amendments, known as the "Reconstruction Amendments," transformed the Constitution and American society by sweeping into full citizenship America's newly freed slaves, endowing them with new rights, privileges, and freedoms. In a very real sense, these Amendments changed the core meaning of "We the People," by rejecting the infamous Dred Scott decision's holding that persons of African descent, free or slave, were not, and could never become, citizens of the United States.

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President Lincoln prefigured the transformative change wrought by these amendments in his Gettysburg Address, redefining the Civil War as a fight for the identity of the American polity, and called for a "new birth of freedom." He crystalized that ideal in immortal language of inclusivity, a "government of the people, by the people, for the people."

In the new Constitution equality of all people is paramount -- meaning not just property owners, and not just whites.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has invoked Abraham Lincoln in the current presidential campaign, strongly asserting that the Republican Party is the party of Lincoln. As such, Ryan states that a candidate for president must accept Lincoln's reminder that our country was dedicated to the proposition that "all men are created equal," as was asserted in the Declaration of Independence. (Today, all but the most exclusionary among us would understand that phrase to mean "all people are created equal.")

Lincoln was not just making reference to the Declaration of Independence -- his commentary was a reference and critique of the antebellum Constitution as a flawed or at best an incomplete compromise. Through the Reconstruction Amendments the Constitution was remade in Lincoln's ideal, which introduced into it the inclusive principle of equality.

In the thirty years that followed, however, a reactionary and increasingly conservative Supreme Court eviscerated the original intent of these Amendments with pernicious doctrines such as "separate but equal." While Plessy v. Ferguson was overruled by Brown v. Board of Education, many of that era's decisions that watered down rights embedded in the Reconstruction Amendments remain intact and are still waiting for their proper reading in law as well as in our lived reality.

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The Reconstruction Constitution is a wellspring for a project of an inclusive originalism. Many of us who have studied and written on the Constitution for years, such as Akhil Amar and myself, and organizations such as the Constitutional Accountability Center, are engaged in this project, seeking to reveal and uncover the understandings and meanings of the Reconstruction Amendment's framers.

Justice Scalia's originalism needs to be viewed in its proper light of being particularly one-sided in its view on the Constitution. Rigid adherence to Scalia's approach would mean that today's Court would deny that new birth of freedom where we recognize that "all people are created equal." This continues to be an American ideal that is radical in human history, and apparently, just as in Lincoln's time, still contested in certain quarters. But those who want to build an inclusive American future need to reclaim the aspiration of America's past canonized in our living Constitution.
Take a break from the never-ending SNL skit that is the presidential campaign by trying your hand at our latest Week to Week News Quiz.

Here are some random but real hints: Nearly triple advantage; if they don't kill him first; but he denied that he'll make another run himself; and he was too busy killing vampires. Answers are below the quiz.

1. On Wednesday for the first time since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in what major case?

a. Immigration

b. Same-sex legal status

c. Abortion

d. Big-money campaign finance

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2. After Super Tuesday, how many delegates (including super delegates) does each Democratic presidential candidate have?

a. Clinton 1,058 and Sanders 431

b. Clinton 884 and Sanders 901

c. Clinton 1,000 and Sanders 1,021

d. Clinton 900 and Sanders 881

3. Senator Lindsey Graham said Republicans might have to rally behind what presidential candidate?

a. Donald Trump

b. Hillary Clinton

c. Viktor Orban

d. Ted Cruz

4. What do Donald Trump, Pope Francis, Angela Merkel, Edward Snowden, and Susan Sarandon all have in common?

a. They are all foreign born and unqualified to serve as U.S. president

b. They have all been nominated for this year's Nobel Peace Price

c. According to PBS' "Trace the Nation" genealogy show, they are all related

d. They are all Roman Catholic

5. Following Super Tuesday, who pulled out of the next presidential debate and said "I do not see a political path forward"?

a. Bernie Sanders

b. Dr. Ben Carson

c. Martin O'Malley

d. Marco Rubio

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6. Why is Anders Behring Breivik--who killed 77 people in Norway in 2011--heading back to court?

a. He is being charged for three earlier murders that have been recently uncovered

b. He is fighting extradition to the United Kingdom

c. He was involved in a racially motivated killing in prison

d. He is suing the Norwegian government, alleging his prison isolation is "inhumane" and "degrading"

7. Who gave a major speech on Tuesday calling Donald Trump a "phony" and a "fraud" who is "very, very not smart"?

a. Hillary Clinton

b. Jon Stewart

c. Joe Biden

d. Mitt Romney

8. What did New Jersey Governor Chris Christie use a press conference to deny?

a. He was planning to get back into the presidential race

b. He was switching his endorsement from Donald Trump to Marco Rubio

c. He had been held hostage by Trump at a Super Tuesday event

d. He was joining Sarah Palin on a cross-country road trip to campaign for Donald Trump

9. What is the newest team to compete at the next Olympic games, to be held in Rio this summer?

a. North Korea

b. Costa Rica

c. A team of refugees

d. A team of Millennials from the Bay Area

10. Mary Lou Bruner, a leading candidate for the Texas State Board of Education, has stated all but one of the following. Which one did she not state?

a. Abraham Lincoln killed the last of the talking dinosaurs that had been living secretly in the White House basement

b. President Barack Obama used to be a gay prostitute

c. School shootings started after schools started teaching evolution

d. The Democratic Party had JFK killed because "socialists and Communists in the party did not want a conservative president"

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BONUS. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump bragged about the size of his manhood during Thursday night's GOP debate. What other presidential candidate has done that?

a. John McCain

b. Dwight D. Eisenhower

c. Franklin D. Roosevelt

d. No one ever

ANSWERS

1. c.

2. a.

3. d.

4. b.

5. b.

6. d (his lawyer adds that his client's mail is monitored so much that Breivik is unable to form correspondence relationships).

7. d.

8. c.

9. c.

10. a.

BONUS. d.

Want the live news quiz experience? Join us Monday, March 7 in downtown San Francisco for our next live (and lively) Week to Week political roundtable with a news quiz and a social hour at The Commonwealth Club of California. Panelists will include Carson Bruno, Melissa Caen, and C.W. Nevius.
SHOCKER: Bernie scored four major wins by large margins in Colorado, Minnesota, Oklahoma and Vermont during the March 1 Super Tuesday contest, doing far better than expected, despite what the corporate media reported.

I listened to National Public Radio on the morning following the Democratic Party Fix... I mean... Primary, and the pro-Clinton propaganda was shocking.

NPR reported that Hillary was the big winner Tuesday -- and that the Sanders effort was coming to a close. They noted specifically that Clinton had an important big win in Massachusetts. It was, in fact, a win by a slim 1% margin, or 17,000 votes out of 1.2 million cast. The rest of the corporate media was complicit in promoting this big "top story." The New York Times headline the day following Super Tuesday read, "Sanders's Path to Victory All but Blocked." The article explained that "If Mr. Sanders can't win in a place like Massachusetts, it is hard to come up with many places where he can."

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The Clinton propagandist masquerading as a New York Times reporter might have found an answer to his question by simply disclosing election results of the other four states that voted, with unexpectedly huge margins, for Sanders on Super Tuesday. So might listeners of NPR, had the radio network of record not been so keen to rush into a morning-after eulogy for the Sanders campaign.

What few readers or listeners learned was that on Super Tuesday, Bernie Sanders:

Won the important swing state of Colorado by 19 points

Won Oklahoma by 10 points

Won in his home state of Vermont by 72 points, (86% to 14%),

Bernie's Vermont win may go down in modern history as the greatest state primary victory over a front-running Presidential candidate. Meanwhile, the jury is out whether will Hillary even win her home state of New York.

Put these numbers in the context of the only result that NPR's morning after election report considered worthy of reporting in its "Hillary is now inevitable" segment: that Hillary had a big win in Massachusetts. Her 1% marginal victory, a near-tie, was the noteworthy takeaway, while NOT EVEN MENTIONING wins 10 to 20 times times larger for Bernie in Minnesota, Colorado and Oklahoma.

One also needs to wonder about the media drumbeat of polls that suggest Sanders is a lost cause. For example, this poll (with a "margin of error of 5.9%") of registered Minnesota Democrats reported in the Minneapolis StarTribune on January 22, 2016 said that Hillary was the projected winner, with Clinton at 59% and Sanders at 25%.

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The actual March 1 results? Clinton 38% and Sanders 61%!

The false narrative or America's corporate media is that Hillary is inevitable. Implicit in this propaganda is that she is the better candidate to win in November. As polls repeatedly show, Clinton's November advantage over a Republican nominee is an outright falsehood, and the inevitability is only true if the media and establishment Democrats can convince voters that it is.

Meanwhile, entirely unreported in Hillary's Super Tuesday victory story is any mention that, with the exception of Virginia (indeed Hillary's most important victory to date) the Southern states Hillary had won by large numbers (South Carolina, Texas, Georgia, Arkansas, Alabama, and Mississippi) have virtually NO CHANCE of providing a single electoral vote to a Democrat in the November General Election. That's because ALL of the electoral votes in these states will go to the Republican candidates. And that Hillary's huge win over Sanders in these Southern states will be meaningless to the Democratic candidate come November.

Bernie's huge win by 19 points in the key swing state of Colorado and his unpredicted landslide in Minnesota are far more indicative of which candidate would likely beat Trump than what happened in Alabama. There seems to be a corporate media blackout on such insight, one geared to leading voters into the "Hillary has it in the bag" narrative that they and the Democratic Party machine have been pushing since this election began.

If we disregard the Super Delegates, which we should because by law they do not legally commit until they see the will of the voters during the convention in late July, then here is where this election really stands:

With 2,383 needed for nomination.

Given that most of the largest Clinton advantaged states- the deep South--are behind us now, and the Bernie-leaning Western states, working class industrial Midwest, and liberal Northeast, have not yet voted, the "Path to Victory All but Blocked" narrative of the New York Times, reflects not our reality, but the wishful thinking of the corporate media and Democratic Party establishment.

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The emergence of the digital economy has transformed our financial lives in just a few short years. For most of us, paper paychecks are an artifact of the past. We pay bills with a few clicks on our keyboards. Our living rooms have become department stores with limitless options. For millions of Latinos who lack full access to the mainstream banking system, however, the convenience and richness of the digital economy seems out of reach. Fortunately, the key to helping Latinos achieve full economic citizenship and open the door to the new economy may literally be in the palm of their hands. Innovative new mobile payment technologies are creating opportunities for Latinos to use their smartphones to join the modern economy.



More than 46 percent of Latino households in the United States are considered unbanked or underbanked, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. That means these families have only a limited relationship with a traditional banking institution, or no relationship at all. Instead, they often rely on cash and a patchwork of alternative financial services to shop, cash their paychecks and pay their bills. These families are already struggling to get by on an average income of $25,500 a year. Yet they pay nearly 10 percent of this amount on interest and fees to check cashers, payday lenders and even pawnshops, according to a report from the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General.



I have been working on financial education in the Latino community for a long time, most recently through Master Your Card: Oportunidad, a community empowerment program sponsored by MasterCard. I have seen just how hard life can be for financially underserved families, but I also see immense opportunity to help Latinos gain economic citizenship - full financial inclusion in the U.S. and worldwide economy.



One area where Latinos are certainly not falling behind is adoption of smartphones. In fact, Latino families are leading the nation in smartphone use, according to a study by the Pew Research Center. Latinos are blazing a technological trail and now have the opportunity to help usher in a whole new era of secure electronic payments.



Mobile payment technologies span a range of options, from store-specific apps to virtual wallets. While adoption has so far been slow in the United States, the technology is poised for rapid growth. eMarketer research anticipates that the value of mobile pay transactions will more than triple this year.



Perhaps the best news of all for financially underserved Latinos is that there are mobile payment tools that do not require a bank account. Instead, these mobile wallets and apps can function like a prepaid debit card, allowing users to load money onto their phone where it is safe behind a fingerprint or passcode firewall. This allows users to track spending, create a budget and check the wallet's balance--all in real time.



Financially underserved families pay a steep price for living outside the financial mainstream--literally. Fortunately, innovations in mobile payment technology have opened the door to full economic citizenship for these families. Now that the door is open, it's time to show Latinos how to walk through.
Chris Christie threw a monkey wrench in the race for the Republican nomination when he endorsed Donald Trump last week. Since then, six New Jersey newspapers have put out editorials calling for Chris Christie to resign as governor. The editorial boards wrote that they're fed up with his "arrogance," "opportunism" and "hypocrisy."

As much as I wanted to be shocked that Donald Trump received an actual endorsement from a high-profile politician, Chris Christie's decision did not surprise me in the slightest. Christie and Trump take the exact same approach to leadership: bully, yell, swear, insult, and don't even make an attempt to be diplomatic.

And there is an important lesson to be learned from the similarities between these two men.

Chris Christie ran for governor of New Jersey in 2009 as an emblem of change. He promised to be a different kind of leader--one who was above partisan politics, who would never take money for political favors, who would stand his ground in the face of his enemies, and who, most importantly, would "tell it like it is." He managed to garner more and more popularity with his overt bullying tactics, such as telling a school teacher he had no interest in answering her question, and using a megaphone to yell "Get the hell off the beach!" at beachgoers before Hurricane Sandy hit.

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Trump is currently selling voters the same product that Christie was selling in 2009: authenticity. And people are buying it. Trump supporters hail the business tycoon for "speaking his mind," turning off all his filters and "telling it like it is." They think he would make a great president because "he won't take any crap from anybody." In a sea of politicians who spout carefully prepared sound bites and cliches from party rhetoric, the off the cuff insult-throwing, PC-defying Trump has convinced his supporters that the Donald they see is the Donald they get.

But here's the lesson that New Jersey learned from Chris Christie: authenticity can be faked.

Christie soon revealed that he played the political game just like everyone else. He compromised the principles he professed to hold in order to advance his own interests. After slashing the state budget in his first term, Christie proved to be a complete hypocrite when he called for a $24 million special election to fill Frank Lautenberg's senate seat just three weeks before the NJ gubernatorial election, so that he would not have to risk sharing the ballot with Cory Booker--who would certainly increase Democratic turnout--on his reelection day. When asked about the cost of the special election, Christie said, "I don't know what the cost is and I quite frankly don't care."

This was just the tip of the ice berg, as the press began to unravel the Christie scandals throughout his second term. The man who was above cronyism got a lot of expensive benefits in exchange for what appeared to be political favors. The man above partisan politics made some very political moves in New Jersey to gain favor in important primary states like Iowa. And the man who "tells it like it is" gave some very convoluted justifications for these decisions.

Actions speak louder than words. This is what Trump supporters have yet to realize. Trump is a rather talented performer, able to convince people that he's genuine by telling lies with an aggressive and committed delivery. But that's all he is: a performer. He sells the same type of "realism" that reality television sells us. But reality television is scripted. Doesn't everyone know that by now? I feel sorry for people who don't, because they must have a very twisted view of what "real" people are like.

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Donald Trump will go the way of Chris Christie. His guise of authenticity will implode sooner or later. His supporters will abandon him when they realize that not only is he playing the political game, he has mastered it, and his followers are the biggest victims of his ruse.
I've been thinking a lot lately about the dinners of my childhood.

My family was one of those nutty units that used to eat dinner together every night. The six of us crowded around that dark glass round circle and sat on the white-cushioned, dark Lucite chairs that perfectly matched both the table and the early 1980s.

The seating arrangement was set in stone. I do not remember the process by which positions were assigned to Schnecks but you would never sit anywhere other than the chair you sat in the night before and the years before that. There were no consequences to sitting in someone else's seat; it simply would never occur to you to do so.

My chair--between my mother and my oldest sister--was the best seat in the house because I could see right into the living room. And on rare occasions, when the television was left on, it was directly in my line of sight. As the youngest child who couldn't always follow the dinner conversation, those rare occasions were pure escapism, even if that escapism was always into the wonderful world of local news.

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New York City NBC-affiliate anchor Sue Simmons was like a member of the family as she detailed reports of national import, local crime and whatever the Yankees and Mets were doing on any given day. My parents never had to explain a particular story as, even if it was beyond my understanding, it always felt appropriately presented.

Flashforward to 2016.

I don't have any children yet. But I have always been 100% excited at the prospect. I will often look at a situation and think, "How would I explain that to my fictitious-but-someday-real-child?" And most of the time, I figure it out.

But watching the Republican presidential candidates? I have no flipping clue how I would frame their words to my precocious-but-always-respectful child who overheard them on the local news.

To be clear, the Democrats have certainly been going after each other. But I know how to explain to a child why Bernie Sanders accuses Hillary Clinton of taking corporate money and why Hillary Clinton accuses Bernie Sanders of being a one issue candidate.

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How do I explain to a child that Marco Rubio was intimating that Donald Trump has a small penis?

How do you explain to a child that Donald Trump was mimicking and mocking a reporter with a disability?

How do I explain to a child the countless occasions when candidates call each other liars and con-men and frauds and bullies and racists, all when those very same individuals are running for the position of American president that children are taught in school to revere?

As a college professor and qualitative researcher who constantly hunts for answers to define the unknown, I put together a representative focus group consisting of demographically appropriate subjects in an information-yielding process that falls in line with Institutional Review Board standards.

And, by that, I mean that I called my 12-year-old niece Lindsay and asked her what she thought.

I queried what she has seen on television and she replied, "With the candidates this year, the main debates are not on the USA and how it should be better. They're focusing more on teasing each other and making each other look bad."

I asked her what the process should look like and she answered, "We should have a president who campaigns to show us what they will put on the table for America."

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And, finally, I asked her what would happen if she exhibited the Republican candidates' behavior in her middle school to which she quickly said, "I would be in detention."

I then disbanded the focus group and promised her that I would visit soon with baked goods in hand.

I want to believe that if we substitute the audience at the next debate with 12 year-olds, the Republican candidates would behave differently. I want to believe that if candidates knew every stump speech would be broadcasted in elementary schools, the Republican candidates would behave differently. I want to believe that if his own 12-year-old were in the room, each Republican candidate would behave differently.
Is Senator Bernie Sanders (DS-Vt.) a Communist? So says the New York Post, Donald Trump, and a confusing mix of politicos left and right trying to undercut him as a candidate for President of the United States.

The fact is, no label in American politics had been used more destructively or cavalierly over the years than "communist." Actual true-blue communism, a radical strain of Marxism expounded by Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky after the 1917 Russian Revolution, has a dark, scary history: totalitarianism, purges, mass murders, espionage, and global oppression. Calling someone a "Communist," particularly at the height of the Cold War during the 1950s and 1960s, amounted to accusing them of treason, child beating, or worse.

But most of the people tarred over the years as "communist" by generations of demagogues had nothing to do with any of this. Particularly socialists. And this brings us to Bernie Sanders. No, Bernie Sanders is no communist. In fact, in America especially, socialists like Sanders have often been communism's worst enemies.

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Democratic socialists -- the kind Bernie Sanders embraces -- have a long history in this country. At their popular height a century ago, they had achieved wide acceptance in the American mainstream. By 1917, the American Socialist Party had won elections all across the country. Two socialists had sat in the United States Congress, socialists had held mayoral offices in 56 towns and cities including Milwaukee and Schenectady. Socialists held over thirty seats in state legislatures from Minnesota to California to Oklahoma and Wisconsin, plus dozens of city council and alderman chairs.

The Socialist Party then had over 110,000 dues-paying members and about 150 affiliated newspapers and magazines. Its flagship monthly Appeal to Reason reached almost 700,000 subscribers; its New York outlet, the Yiddish-language Jewish Daily Forward, had a daily circulation topping 200,000 copies, rivaling even the New York Times.

In 1912, the party's presidential candidate, Eugene V. Debs, won almost a million popular votes, about six percent of the total, against a field that included Woodrow Wilson (Democrat), William Howard Taft (Republican), and Theodore Roosevelt (Bull Moose). Socialist politicians had become so accepted that one party leader, New York's Morris Hillquit, met numerous times with President Woodrow Wilson in the White House without it raising an eyebrow.

The Socialist Party platform of that era brimmed with ideas later to become staples of modern America, including:

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A graduated income tax;

Limits on child labor;

A right to strike for workers;

School lunches for poor students;

Mine and factory inspections;

Regulation of financial markets;

Public works jobs for the unemployed;

A minimum wage and limited work week,

Public defenders to assure fail trials for poor people; and

Public ownership of local industries like street cars and subways.

As Marxists, socialist leaders still preached "revolution," but more as a metaphor for fundamental change through winning elections and passing laws.

But two factors conspired to end the Socialist's Party's golden age in America. First was the Party's staunch opposition to American entry into World War I. Second was its hard-line stance against communists, radicals, and the labor movement's violent fringe.

Socialist leaders of that era had high hopes of becoming a major third party in America -- must like socialists in France today -- perhaps even displacing Tammany Hall as New York's main benefactor of immigrants and the working poor. But they recognized that they could never achieve this goal and win public trust so long as they remained stigmatized by violence and criminality. That's why, in 1912, Hillquit, the New York leader, led a successful effort to expel William "Bill Big" Haywood, leader of the more-radical Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or "Wobblies") from the Socialist Party's executive committee after Haywood publicly endorsed "sabotage" as a labor tactic.

Perhaps the starkest confrontation came in March 1917 when Leon Trotsky, the famous Russian revolutionary who had found temporary refuge in New York City for about three months before returning home to help lead the Bolshevik Revolution, decided to lead a group of New York leftists in challenging the Socialist Party leadership. Trotsky had immersed himself in local politics that winter, and he convinced his followers to demand that the Socialist Party launch illegal general strikes to physically block America's imminent entry into the First World War -- a step that would have virtually criminalized the entire movement.

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Morris Hillquit, the party leader in New York, had to face down Trotsky -- no shrinking violet -- in a series of tense confrontations culminating in a raucous public meeting in Harlem where Trotsky insisted that party members publicly vote on his proposal. Hillquit defeated Trotsky that day by a narrow margin of 101 to 79. But the clash -- described in my new book Trotsky in New York 1917: Portrait of a Radical from Times Square to Petrograd, due out in September -- left the party fatally fractured.

Two years later, in 1919, Hillquit again had to face down an attempt by radicals to seize power and, this time, he had no choice but to expel almost 70,000 left-leaning party members, more than half the total, to preserve the Socialist Party's moderate, democratic majority. It was these expelled socialists who went on that year to form the new American Communist and Communist Labor Parties in direct coordination with Moscow.

The American Socialist Party never recovered from these internal battles as an effective political force. Nor did it escape the stigma of radicalism. Socialists found themselves targeted during the Red Scares of the 1920s and 1950s right along with communists. In 1920, the New York State legislature expelled its last five legally-elected Socialist members and never allowed them to return. This move was denounced by the New York Bar Association, Republican presidential candidate and future Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, and even Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, author of the notorious anti-red Palmer raids.

Socialists maintained their anti-communism all through the following decades.

Much of their early platform -- the social safety net, financial regulation, workplace safety, school lunches, and the rest -- ultimately was adopted by mainstream political parties and enacted into law, particularly during the New Deal of the 1930s. Today, we take much of it for granted as essential parts of American life.

Bernie Sanders' version of Democratic Socialism fits easily in this long moderate tradition. Those who try to stigmatize him by shouting "Communist!" are engaging in scare tactics and nothing more. Sanders is no communist, and in America, we have all been socialists for years.

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In his cutting 2005 satire "How To Write About Africa," Kenyan author and journalist Binyavanga Wainaina derided the Western media's simplification and condescension of the continent. Ten years later, our widened media landscape still barely makes room for Africans to speak for themselves.

I learned the true extent of this after researching and writing an amateurish article about Eritrea and its refugee outflow, and then engaging in an online dialogue with Eritrean readers, who are frustrated by the Western media's portrayals of their Horn of Africa nation. Some people I talked to (via emails and written messages) defended the Eritrean government, which many Westerners deem the world's most repressive. Some people seemed radical enough to be members of an Eritrean Ministry of Twitter Propaganda, portraying their country as a veritable Disneyland. But even those who accepted the claims made in my and many other articles--of the Eritrean regime's forced conscription, Orwellian surveillance and censorship, and state-sponsored rape, torture, and killings--still feel that Western media condemnations of the regime exercise colonialism rather than solidarity .

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Western discourse on Eritrea has grown over the past few years as thousands of Eritrean migrants have washed up on Europe's shores, dead or alive. Eritrea, though small and not at war, has become Africa's largest source of refugees to Europe, with over 3,000 Eritreans fleeing north every month.

The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, and other reputable Western media outlets lay the blame entirely on Eritrea's autocratic government, describing Eritrea as one large prison camp, a uniquely brutal dictatorship devoid of liberties, hostile to the West and to our allies in the region, "the North Korea of Africa." But the scant solutions they propose to Eritrea's refugee outflow--namely, economic sanctions and regime change--reek of colonialism and ignore the interests and perspectives of Eritrean refugees themselves.

Eritrean perspectives writ large are practically absent from Western media portrays; we continue entrusting distinctly non-Eritrean reporters--despite the last accredited international reporter being expelled from the country in 2007--to filter our thumbnail image of this complicated and troubled nation.

My mediocre article seemed to hit a nerve with Eritreans online. Within hours of its publication, my "cut-and-paste journalism" was being decried by Eritreans on Twitter:

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@KerryWMartin your cut and paste job implies little creativity, no original research no new insights and entails false data information  SamuelM (@Eri_Nitiative) December 18, 2015

@KerryWMartin #Eritreans r fed up of 'cut & paste ' reporting by outsiders. Regurgitating the same old lies  Yafet Z (@ZYafet) December 22, 2015

@KerryWMartin I am an Eritrean citizen, but not interested about your fake journalism. So, why are u interested about my country and people?  Zewdi (@EriZewdi) December 19, 2015

@5thelement86 have u heard abt white supremacy? he doesn't have 2 have been or know abt Eritrea 2 lecture u abt ur own country @KerryWMartin  Awet N-hafash (@e_tta1) December 22, 2015



Some took serious issue with my characteristically Western "demonization" of Eritrea, either telling me to mind my own business or to come and see what a great place their country was.



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@KerryWMartin I really can't think of a country being unjustly demonized like Eritrea has, only a handful of respected media outlets around  5thelement (@5thelement86) December 22, 2015

@KerryWMartin Eritrea is the most demonized country in Africa. MSM's depiction of the country is very cartoonish. https://t.co/xhsx1cVC3b  madote (@madote_eritrea) December 19, 2015

@KerryWMartin @TheWorldPost The numbers, the %, the facts... r just copy & paste. When u look at Eritrea is another eg of Cuba, not N.korea.  Jonathan Johannes (@Joni_Shenkolet) December 25, 2015

But others were more interested in setting the historical record straight, clarifying critical aspects of their country's history that the Western media often excludes. My article's claim that Eritrea sends soldiers to fight alongside Al Shabaab, which I had exaggerated based on an assertion in this Reuters article, raised questions from several readers.



@KerryWMartin @HuffPost what is your source that #Eritrea sends it's conscripts (however few) to fight with Al Shabaab?  Rufael (@RufaelTecle) December 17, 2015

Over a dozen other readers reacted to the omission or understatement of Eritrea's most defining legacy: its relationship with Ethiopia. Many Western portrayals mention Ethiopia as an endnote in the more gripping narrative of the repressive Eritrean regime, yet the histories of Eritrea and Ethiopia are perhaps the most intertwined of any two countries in Africa.

Ethiopia's 1961 annexation of Eritrea (after Eritrea gained independence from its colonizer Italy), the three-decade war that followed (1961-91), the conflict's 1998-2000 resurgence, and Ethiopia's persistent violation of the 2002 Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC) provisions rarely get so much as a mention in the European and American press. The Ethiopian government's heinous acts against its own people go similarly under-mentioned, as seen in its recent crackdown of Oromo protests. In this, the West's media coverage runs parallel to its diplomacy: condemnation and isolation of the Eritrean regime, with a blind eye to neighboring Ethiopia's abuse of Eritreans and Ethiopians alike.



My casual Twitter conversation doesn't prove or discount anything. But for me, it rightfully ruptured the West's monotone narrative about a country, whose Western narrators in large part have no personal stake in Eritrea's favor, and if swayed by their own countries' diplomacy, may even have a stake against it.

Learn more about Eritrea from Eritreans themselves. PEN Eritrea is a global network of Eritreans sharing ideas and insights, a space of free speech and expression that the Eritrean government fails to provide, several of whose journalists are profiled her by The Guardian (whose series "Inside Eritrea," to its credit, tries to correct the Western record on Eritrea). Other groups and sites, such as the Eritrean Diaspora Network, operate similarly. Movements.org matches writers and developers with people living in repressive regimes like Eritrea to share stories straight from their source.
Racial tensions are a huge source of controversy in society and culture right now, from #OscarsSoWhite to Beyonce.

More important, though, issues of race have seriously bubbled up in the presidential race. Especially around a Republican presidential candidate named Donald Trump.

Trump just got endorsed by a former Ku Klux Klansman and has a lot of support from white supremacists. Yes, really.

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Trump RT'd a Nazi, quoted Mussolini, attacked judge for being 'Spanish', and refused to condemn the KKK.



That was just the last 24 hours.  zeddy (@Zeddary) February 28, 2016

So let's step back and look at what is going on here.

What even is white supremacy?

Ku Klux Klan members in 1920. (Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons)

@RealDLHughley Like Trump said, he could shoot someone and not lose a supporter. With that kinda' loyalty, what's a little white supremacy?  LaTrenda Carswell (@JnrPhotog) February 29, 2016

White supremacy is its own form of intense racism that is often associated with violence. White supremecist people and groups typically follow at least one of these four beliefs:

1. Whites should dominate other races.

2. Whites should live in their own "white-only" world.

3. White culture is separate and superior. (So, anti-immigration.)

4. White people are genetically superior.

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We (black people) did NOT create the white/black structure. White Supremacy did. We're at the "bottom" but we're getting blamed? How?  Reagan Gomez (@ReaganGomez) February 29, 2016

You've probably heard of the Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacy group created in a the South in 1865. It was violent and aggressive, notorious for burning crosses on people's lawns and ... killing black people and civil rights activists.

Isn't white supremacy a thing of the past?

No. They're just not as visible as in the past. But it's definitely still here.

Protesters join hands, shout "No more hate" and are removed from Trump rally in southwest Virginia pic.twitter.com/AqKrWpY12L  Fenit Nirappil (@FenitN) February 29, 2016

And they're getting angrier and more violent.

Photos from the KKK rally in Anaheim today that turned violent https://t.co/7pTyhvAMQd pic.twitter.com/dejMwobxMm  Los Angeles Times (@latimes) February 28, 2016

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These days a lot of white supremacists don't officially belong to groups like the KKK, but they exist all the same. In fact, they had a resurgence after President Obama was elected. There are somewhere between 784 and nearly 1000 known white supremacist groups right now in the US, plus tons of followers of this ideology who don't belong to any group.

And they're not underground--they're active. Just this past week in California there was a KKK rally in Anaheim where three counter-protesters were stabbed and 13 others were arrested. A stark reminder that, yeah, racism and white supremacy are alive and well in the United States.

And David Duke, a former Grand Wizard of the KKK, endorsed Trump for president--and Trump did not reject the KKK and Duke outright.

Here's that interview:

A guy who cant unequivocally denounce KKK and must research the group is too clueless to be POTUS. #NeverTrump pic.twitter.com/QgHobHlxOW  Willy D. Knows... (@AskWillyD) February 29, 2016

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Trump's fellow presidential candidates also jumped at the chance to attack Trump too.

America's first black president cannot and will not be succeeded by a hatemonger who refuses to condemn the KKK.  Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) February 28, 2016

Really sad. @realDonaldTrump you're better than this. We should all agree, racism is wrong, KKK is abhorrent. https://t.co/dn2D74c5dl  Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) February 28, 2016

Hate groups have no place in America. We are stronger together. End of story. -Johnhttps://t.co/KtFvFSu4DP  John Kasich (@JohnKasich) February 28, 2016

Trump's later response, that he didn't fully hear the question, is barely credible at most, given that he repeated the premise of the question in his answer. MSNBC host Joe Scarborough says his "feigned ignorance" about the KKK disqualifies him from being presidential material.

I dont mind disavowing anybody, and I disavowed David Duke. Trump talks KKK controversy. https://t.co/8PRS2FoPWp  TODAY (@TODAYshow) February 29, 2016

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Who among us hasn't accidentally refused to disavow the KKK while tweeting Mussolini quotes and running on banning Muslim travel  Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) February 29, 2016

They asked Donald Trump 3 times if he would condemn the KKK and he basically said "I mean I don't really know them like that tbh"  Victor Pope Jr (@VictorPopeJr) February 28, 2016

Trump repeated the name David Duke three times and the phrase "white supremacy" in the interview with @jaketapper. But it was a bad earpiece  Will McAvoy (@WillMcAvoyACN) February 29, 2016

What is it about Trump that made a Klansman endorse him in the first place?

He channels and gives voice to frustration and anger among people on the right who feel like America is going in the wrong direction and has lost its stature. Including--let's be real--hateful people.

trump not rejecting the kkk won't hurt w gop primary voters

which shows the problem isnt really trump

but gop primary voters  Oliver Willis (@owillis) February 29, 2016

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Trump is winning the support of this group because of things like his stances against Mexican immigration and for banning Muslim refugees. He also gets love for his fight against political correctness:

"[America will] become so politically correct as a country that we can't even walk. We can't think properly. We can't do anything."



Trump also often declares that he wants to "take our country back," and his slogan is "Make America Great Again." Back from whom? When was it great?

I don't want anyone to take my country back. It belongs to all equally, and we should all pay our fair share of taxes to support it.  Linda (@brodyrocks) February 2, 2016

The only way that We The People can take our Country back from the criminal Elite who have hijacked our political process is to elect Trump  Trudge"Hey Mueller! Stick It Up Your Deep State! (@Trudginon1) February 26, 2016

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#TRUMP WILL TAKE @lulujoy6101 !! God bless Texas!! Let's take our country back from the Crooks, Muslims & Illegals https://t.co/e89tfjd87b  Sally Frederick-Johnson (@SpecialService4) February 25, 2016

You KNOW trump scares the snot out of invading Mexicans by the way they acted in Phoenix today. We are going to take our country back!  Greg Flippen (@GregFlippen) July 12, 2015

make america great again means make america white again https://t.co/girpzsMMIr pic.twitter.com/OcgyON4rnA  Oliver Willis (@owillis) February 24, 2016

Should we be surprised?

By now, Trump has been compared--by scholars and historians as well as casual observers--to Hitler and Mussolini and other fascist leaders. Many are shocked that he is the Republican front-runner. Others aren't surprised at all.

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2. One need only look at some recent examples - Berlusconi in Italy, Putin in Russia, Pena Nieto in Mexico - to understand what is happening  Al Giordano (@AlGiordano) February 27, 2016

4. What makes Trump's rise such a familiar story, more than any other factor, is racism: Fear of "the other" and the promise to scapegoat.  Al Giordano (@AlGiordano) February 27, 2016

What does this all mean?

There is no doubt that Donald Trump is feeding on and fueling hate in America. This fuel is stirring up major turmoil in the Republican party and in our country overall--and that won't just magically disappear even if Trump loses.

"Trump doesnt care abt the damage he's doing to civil society, Republican Party & to Americas interna'l standing" https://t.co/u8pEQNqeH4  Cheri Jacobus (@CheriJacobus) December 9, 2015

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Republicans aren't mad at Trump because they disagree with white supremacy. They're mad because he's saying the quiet parts out loud.  Jeff Fecke (@jkfecke) February 28, 2016

TRUMP - The silent Majority is no longer Silent pic.twitter.com/5kpwPrWGmX  Man's Story 2 (@Mansstory2) February 25, 2016
Being a Midlife Blogger, I'm lucky to have met other wonderful Midlife Bloggers who beautifully capture the journey for all of us, through empty nest and beyond.

This dynamic group of women are a powerful resource -- they've seen it all and done most of it.

I decided who better to tap for a list of the One Fabulous Beauty Product you wouldn't want to live without. They've generously shared their favorites below.

Lipstick is my favorite go-to beauty item. Whether I'm popping out for errands or doing the whole make-up transformation, lipstick is the piece that pulls everything together. I don't find it necessary to change my color with every outfit. Instead, I stick with a vibrant berry that works best with my skin tone. I use a dual lipliner/lipstick from Merle Norman in Hussy. I use a light hand with it to keep it from going on too dark, but it lasts like crazy. I then top it with a more emollient lipstick. Right now I am wearing Exotic Orchid by Estee Lauder. I'm also a big smiler, so my painted lips make the perfect frame.

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I spend a bundle on my skin care. And when a new, at home, miracle device hits the market, I buy it. Over the last few years, I've been suckered into innumerable dermatological procedures and treatments that promise miracle results. Not surprisingly, I've been disappointed. Turns out, there is no fountain of youth, short of a face lift. Even it's results are questionable. All I can hope for is to be the freshest version of myself possible. What I've discovered is, there's no lotion, potion or magic elixir that can do for my face, what meditation does. Quieting the turbulant chatter in my mind appears to smooth the lines on my face. The deep, slow breaths I take probably help by bringing oxygenated blood to my skin. Perhaps the benefit I see is imagined. But it doesn't matter, because my perception is all that matters.

I turn 50 this year and my favorite beauty product is Sonia Kashuk Translucent Illuminator. I am always sweating or having a hot flash so I don't wear much makeup on my face right now. I use this instead of foundation on the days where I don't need a lot of coverage...it's easy to blend and it seems like it kind of "wakes my color up." I'm a midlife blogger but I have young kids and I really try to look presentable when I take them to school in the morning and this helps pull me together. It's about $15 at Target, which is a little bit of a splurge for me.

I was diagnosed with a very aggressive breast cancer 2 1/2 years ago, and was given really intense chemotherapy. Chemo is so drying to the skin, but La Mer, Cream de La Mer, completely helped my skin, and I have never stopped using it! It is great for dry and mature skin. Can't live without it!

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At age 65 I have no wrinkles. People remark on that all the time. My secret is that I've been using Lancome's Genifique Serum since it came out. It's the only thing I do faithfully every single day. It cleared up those little dry patches that come with age and that -- and genetics -- have helped keep my face wrinkle-free.



Tam Warner Minton, TravelswithTam.com

My favorite beauty item has become Christian Dior's AIRFLASH makeup. There is a primer which evens one's skin tone, a beautiful light absorbing base, and a matte finish. These items are close to being "photo finished". Put them on with a soft brush, and voila! You look your best!

I don't do this nearly enough but once in awhile I love getting a massage. A good masseuse can soothe my aching muscles and relieve those tight spots that are screaming for relief. The life of a midlife writer means a lot of sitting and not enough stretching. After awhile I need a nice, soothing Swedish massage. The feel of loosening my muscles, the sound of calming music and the smell of essential oils equals one hour of pure joy. My body feels refreshed and renewed and it thanks me for taking care of it!! Ahh.

During my teens, twenties, thirties and most of my forties I used the same moisturizer, make-up, shampoo, the same stylist, the same spa etc...

Once I reached midlife, nothing I used or wore felt right. From the inside/out I didn't feel right physically or emotionally. Thanks to my midlife blogger friends I quickly learned I needed a beauty intervention. I'm still working on getting to that comfortable place of having my go to staple beauty products.

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There is one simple product that I have used consistently since I was a kid and to this day I do not leave the house without it. I have dry skin and extremely dry lips. Dry cracked lips can affected my speaking, my self confidence and my comfort. I have tried every lip product on the market but the one that is always in my purse, the one that simply works for me is Chapstick.

You can hide your desperate need for a pedicure with a strategic shoe selection. You can avoid shaving your legs IF your date doesn't quite merit this extra work (let's call it shave-worthy). You can even put off getting a haircut with the creative use of ties, bands and clips. But you can never EVER neglect your eyebrows. I'm serious, ladies! The fastest way to look old and washed out is to pretend you can pull off your look by ignoring the finishing touch of your brows. I faithfully use bareMinerals Brow Color (brunette) and apply it using the bareMinerals Brush Brow Master. This selection comes after multiple, expensive, trial-and-error experiments. So for the love of all things beautiful (and what could be more beautiful than YOU?), please don't neglect your brows!

I am not a fancy kind of girly girl. As I have gotten older I have found that even my modest routine required a boost from better quality problem solving products. Too Faced Shadow Insurance is a really great eye shadow primer. I tend to have oily skin, which can make eye shadow look messy ... add that to my new found crepey-ness and it isn't always pretty! I find that my shadow stays perfect all day when I use this. Love this product and wish I had found it years ago.

I love a new list of beauty favs, don't you? Let me know if you find some new keepers in this terrific list.

Kimberly Montgomery is the creator of the Choices Notebook and blogger at FiftyJewels.com, where she encourages people to use their powers for good. Hop on over there to grab your FREE copy of the Choices Notebook Mini Kit.



Follow Kimberly Montgomery on Twitter: www.twitter.com/FiftyJewels

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Earlier on Huff/Post50:
Words carry with them significant meaning and power, so when Ann Mordine chose to name her company Chattra it was done with purpose and intent. "In India, you often hear the word- chattri, from the Sankirt chattra. I love the meaning of the word as well as its significance in both Hinduism and Buddhism, a parasol (which) symbolizes dignity and protection," explains Chattra founder Ann Mordine. She wanted to create items that supported one's sun salutations and meditations, so she created a yoga gear company.

Blending together Indian beauty and inspiration to one's yoga practice is the mission of Mordine's company. She started the company in April of 2014 after returning from India where she lived with her husband and their children for five years. The Indian people, architecture, textiles, heritage, art and market places all served as the inspiration.

In India, Modine discovered that the textiles tell a story. For example, a wedding sari is woven in tandem by a bride and groom. "For me, finding beautiful textiles in India is like being a kid in a candy store. The artisans really take pride in what they make, and it shows in their precision and skills. Each style, whether it be silk weaving in Kanchipurum and Varanasi, embroidery and mirror work in Punjab and Kutch, or block printing in Sanganeer in Rajasthan is culturally significant," adds Morine.

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Ann Mordine doing a block print in India; photo used with her permission

Mordine credits Indian artist Indu Kapahi with Chattra's unique and beautiful block print design. The other Indian team includes block carvers, print artisans, designers and stichers. "They really make Chattra possible," adds Mordine.

Early on Mordine had the good fortune of meeting some influential people. The first time Mordine was showing Chattra at a Yoga Journal conference in New York, she met Maranda Pleasant, Founder/Editor THRIVE Magazine, Mantra Yoga + Health Magazine and Origin Magazine. Pleasant gave Mordine encouragement and recognized the unique artistry in the products. "It was so validating," Mordine says of Pleasant's support. "As you never really know how things will be received until you put it out there."

The Chattra founder was also embraced by the Yoga community. Elena Brower, Tal Rabinowitz, Melanie Salvatore- August all cheered Mordine onward. She is amazed by their good will. "Many lovely yoginis have said, 'Go Girl.'"

Not only did Mordine find inspiration for her designs in India, but it is here that she began her yoga practice. "I love how yoga morphs offering something new at different points in your day, your life."

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Last year at age 55, in the United States, Mordine completed a 200 hour teacher training course; however, has no intent of teaching yoga. She offers, "My intent was to deepen my personal practice and knowledge, which I did, but the greater reward was the teachings on seeing--talk about transformative. I am so grateful for that experience."
Michigan state government has been broken for decades, but it's just now coming to people's attention outside our state via the Flint water crisis and the Detroit Public Schools crisis. How did this happen? And could it happen to you?

The Michigan legislature used to be populated (at least somewhat) by dedicated public servants on both parties. Being a legislator used to be a career, and like most careers people get better at it over time.

But there is also the very real problem of people staying in power too long, and not being answerable to the people or in touch with their constituents. How much does any voter really know about their legislators? State legislators and Congresspeople get re-elected time after time, because people have no accurate and independent way of judging whether they're doing a good job or not.

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To answer that problem, the people of Michigan passed a constitutional amendment in 1992, limiting Governors (and other executive branch elected officials) and State Senators to two 4-year terms, and State Representatives to three 2-year terms.

Sounds good, right? Except for some unintended consequences.

Because people can no longer make a career of public service, the only people (for the most part) willing to run for office are the young, the old, the independently wealthy or those not able to find any other decent-paying jobs. For those mid-career, often juggling children and caring for aging parents, taking six years out of your successful career can mean ending your career. So this means many Michigan state representatives are in their 20s or 30s, and frantically looking for their next job. Which makes them vulnerable to pressures to vote a certain way, so as to be "taken care of" for their next job. House Representatives Daniela Garcia and Lisa Posthumus Lyons are two particularly blatant examples of this.

Also, because there's no institutional memory, the House (and the Senate to some extent) are run by unelected staffers. As soon as an elected official figures out how things work and learn a thing or two about the issues, they're out of office.

At least elected officials are answerable to the people, right? Not exactly. Michigan is so gerrymandered that very few House and Senate seats are competitive, so they are answerable more to the donors (and their future employers) than to their constituents.

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To make absolutely sure of that, our elected officials have been working hard at making it harder to vote in Michigan, from passing voter laws that hurt students many years ago to eliminating straight party voting a couple months ago to increase long lines at urban precincts.

This is how the legislature does not and cannot form a check and balance on the Governor's office. Individual legislators are more concerned about not rocking the boat and positioning themselves to run for higher office or a lucrative job as a lobbyist. Or they are with the party out of power, and are completely ignored.

So we elected a legislature that doesn't know how to govern, and added to that a Governor that doesn't know how to govern (or have any interest in it) either. There are no experienced adults in the room anymore.

What do we do about it? Several things need to be done: change the way we redraw legislative districts to be an independent commission, so voters choose their representatives and not vice versa. Loosen term limits or repeal them entirely, so people can build careers in public service again, rather than it being a way-station to lobbyist gigs or higher office. Make it easier to register to vote and exercise that vote, to make politicians more answerable to the people. And exercise that vote for experienced people who know how to do the job we're hiring them to do.

Other states such as California have shown that changes for the better can be made in state government, if we're willing to make them. I'd like to see the Presidential candidates for both parties talk about this now.

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COPENHAGEN, DENMARK - JANUARY 19: The counter-demonstrators hold placards reading in 'Refugees and Muslims are welcome' during a protest against Pediga.dk movement in Copenhagen, Denmark on January 19, 2015. The Danish version of German Pediga movement Pediga.dk has held it's first demonstration ever in Denmark to protest against 'Fundamentalist Islam' at 18.00 o'clock. To protest against this demonstration, a counter-demonstration by the Anti-Fascist movement in the Danish capital, Copenhagen, that call themselves: 'Revolutionary Antifascists', was organized on the same day, started at 17.00 o'clock. (Photo by Freya Ingrid Morales/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- On a sunny September afternoon last year, the Danish consultant and writer Lisbeth Zornig witnessed something she had never seen before. Hundreds of refugees carrying kids and a few belongings were walking on the Danish highway on their way to Sweden, Zornig told me. She swung her car to the side of the road, opened the door to a Syrian family with two 5-year-old twin girls and, with her husband, helped them reach their relatives in Sweden.

That September day, Zornig embarked on a new route: Illegal activism to help refugees and oppose the Danish government's strict asylum laws. And hundreds of thousands of Danes from students and doctors to public employees and policemen have followed her example in a fresh uprising tearing this Nordic kingdom apart.

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A new movement called "Venligboerne," or "Kind Neighbors," has mushroomed via social media from town to town across the country and now counts some 150,000 members. The core principle of the organization is to be kind to others, and many citizens have joined to help and befriend refugees. Venligboerne is just one of several organizations like Fair Welcome and Vinkegruppen crystallizing the mood in Denmark.

The refugee crisis is balkanizing both the continent and the individual countries from the inside.

Last year, around 20,000 people sought asylum in Denmark. In response, the center-right party Venstre that leads the government has initiated controversial initiatives to lower the number of new arrivals. A new law allows authorities to seize valuable items, in some reports including jewelry, and lengthens the amount of time from one to three years that admitted refugees must wait to sponsor close relatives for immigration. The government's strong rhetoric and strict immigration laws are pitting followers and opponents against each other, unleashing a climate of almost all-out war.

The Danish authorities indicted the Zornig couple on human smuggling charges for helping the refugees reach Sweden. If convicted, they face a fine of up to 25,000 kroner, or $3,700, each. But that's just the money, Zornig told me.

"What has really shocked me is the hatred that has been directed against me, threatening even my family on social media."

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Zornig has even prepared an escape route from her home. Her experience epitomizes the situation in Denmark right now, and in Europe in general, where the refugee crisis is balkanizing both the continent and the individual countries from the inside.

Migrants and refugees, mainly from Syria, walk on the highway 12km north of Rodby, Denmark to Sweden on September 7, 2015. (BAX LINDHARDT/AFP/Getty Images)

A Strong Polarization

"We are witnessing a strong polarization," Garbi Schmidt, professor of intercultural studies at Roskilde University Center, told me. "Venligboerne and like-minded movements are very strong and rising. But so is the national-conservative camp led by the Danish People's Party." The two camps both see themselves as defenders of moral imperatives.

"Venligboerne and other groups define themselves as defenders of the principle that a human being is a human being and that we are obliged to help people who suffer," Schmidt added. "To the opposing group, the national-conservatives, the moral imperative is that you must protect your people, your country. If flooded by foreigners, you did not protect it, their thinking goes."

But the new environment of activism and philanthropy is even attracting members of the nationalist Danish People's Party.

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Simon Alexander Vanggaard Nielsen, a teacher and member of the city council for the Danish People's Party in Ikast-Brande, made the news when he decided to collect toys for refugee children.

"We collected a lot of toys and gave them to refugee children for Christmas," he told me. "Philanthropy is an important focus for our school."

A local chairman of the Danish People's Party in January suggested in his Facebook update that members of Venligboerne should have their heads shaved -- like the Danish women who slept with German soldiers during World War II.

In the island Langeland in southern Denmark, city council member Elisa Hansen recently quit the Danish People's Party and joined Venstre because she wanted to attract refugees to the island.

"In my opinion, we need to work with the reality that refugees are here instead of against it," she told me. "Refugees create jobs in Langeland, which we need. The Danish People's Party told me to leave the party because of this -- and I did."

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Tiny Langeland, with around 12,000 people, boasts 250 associations in the civic society and is an expression of the national trend of citizen activism that are both for and against the refugees. So is Nyborg, a town with some 15,000 inhabitants torn by the influx of refugees.

A local Nyborg chairman of the Danish People's Party in January suggested in his Facebook update that members of Venligboerne should have their heads shaved -- like the Danish women who slept with German soldiers during World War II humiliatingly were shaved as punishment after the war. The mentality of civic war in the local community stirred thousands of new members to join Venligboerne. "The new thing is that the inflow of new members are not your usual activists," Janne Andersen, a journalist from Nyborg, told me. "They are ordinary people, with families, jobs and houses. They just had enough."

"We just had enough" is the refrain of Venligboerne and other organizations: they are fed up with the foreigner-skeptic rhetoric and political acts of the government.

Refugees, mainly from Syria, speak with a Danish policeman after arriving in Rodby, Denmark, from Germany on September 7, 2015. (JENS NOERGAARD LARSEN/AFP/Getty Images)

"We are facing a new skepticism towards the role of the state in both camps. People are taking things into their own hands, like they did to help Jews escape to Sweden during World War II," Professor Garbi Schmidt said, referring to the escape of the Danish Jewish population from the Nazis to Sweden in 1943, a source of national pride.

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One of the founders of Venligboerne, the writer Mads Nygaard, described Venligboerne and the new activism as a "collective backlash" to the policies of the government.

"I wanted to change the negative attitude towards refugees in politics and media," he told me. "Meeting refugees inspired me. It was a gift to hear their fascinating human stories -- so full of life and hope. They are proof of the human will to survive. We created Venligboerne as a forum for refugees to share all their amazing resources."

As one of his first acts for Venligboerne, in 2014 Nygaard brought a Syrian refugee, Fawaz T. Alzatto, to a Danish school and said the following:

Fawaz is a school teacher. Many of his colleagues had been shot in Syria and his school was bombed. When we were at the school in Hjrring and the students streamed out of the buildings for a break, he started to cry. 'This is the music of the school,' he exclaimed. That was a defining moment for me. Of course Fawaz should not be left in a camp -- but enter a school. That was his oxygen.

Historically, movements in civic society have had strong potential. Before women achieved the right to vote, they were considered an outsider group with no rights.

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'Meeting refugees inspired me. ... They are proof of the human will to survive.'

"Over time, groups like Venligboerne can change things," Liv Egholm, associate professor at Copenhagen Business School, told me. "Societies, have insiders who enjoy solidarity from other insiders, and outsiders who don't."

"Strong civic forces and the market -- big companies who want labor -- can push outsiders towards becoming insiders in society," Egholm said. Large companies like Microsoft and Grundfos have sided with Venligboerne in welcoming refugees, fearing the government's strong rhetoric will scare talented labor away from Denmark. "But the fight is dramatic," Egholm added, "because the opposing forces are also strong."

Fawaz T. Alzatto, the Syrian teacher, has had his share of drama and hate mail since Venligboerne brought him to the Danish school. But it hasn't stopped him, he told me. In June of last year, he moved to Hobro, a town with 11,000 inhabitants in northern Denmark.

As he explained to me in Danish: "In Hobro, there was no local Venligboerne group, so I created one. Today we have more than 440 members, 70 percent Danes."

When he spoke to me, he was on his way to meet a local scout leader.

"Our aim is to build bridges between newcomers and locals," he said. "I can tell you, I have a friend -- a home -- in almost every city across this kingdom."

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Irene Lu is this founder and designer of Pillowbook, a handcrafted, custom-made lingerie atelier in Beijing, China. Lu creates body-positive, luxury intimate apparel with designs that embrace real sizes instead of falling prey to the unrealistic standards that most consumer-driven fashion lines cater to. In a world of throwaway fashion, Pillowbook brings exquisite detail, craftsmanship and cultural relevance back to lingerie and aims to boost women's self esteem through doing so.



Irene Lu wearing her own design. Portrait by Henry Bedue



MW: Can you tell me a little bit about your background? You grew up in Taipei, went to school in New York and run your business out of Beijing.

IL: My parents are Taiwanese and I was born in NYC. I grew up in Taiwan before attending the NY Fashion Institute of Technology to specialize in intimate apparel. The idea behind PILLOWBOOK came to me when I was 23 but it wasn't until 5 years later that it launched. I still remember sketching the logo on a black Moleskin pad and showing you at the beauty counter!

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About the logo! Think you'd appreciate the meaning... At first glance, it's a flower, but with a little imagination, it resembles bosoms or hips or a woman's erogenous slit. That little droplet of nectar dripping from the flower, you get the idea...

MW: What made you decide to return to China to start your business?

IL: In 2009, a production designer in China offered me a job as his costume manager. I practically bought the next flight to Beijing because who wouldn't take a job working alongside an Oscar winner? It was a really intense learning experience but I quit after few years to spend time with my sister in Taiwan. She was going through chemo for breast cancer and it was hard. It was that environment that served as a reminder that anything can happen tomorrow which gave me the push to take the leap.

There was also a very sexy Frenchie waiting for me back in Beijing so that helped too.

MW: For those who have never heard of one, what is a Pillowbook? Who made them? Who had them? And what sort of purpose did they serve?

IL: Everyone knows the Kama Sutra and Shunga but few have heard of the Chinese version. Not even the Chinese know about it! Contrary to popular belief, each version served a purpose more than just sexual stimulation. Indian Kama Sutra is based on the principles of tantric sex to discover spirituality through prolonged ecstasy. It also teaches the importance of equal participation of both partners (we all know too well about giving but not receiving, amiright?) and practicing multiple positions to stimulate and benefit the entire body (so it's not only missionary every time) Japanese Shungas were placed inside armoires and chests during combat as talismanic powers of protection. They were also popular amongst woman too as they carried them about, hiding naughty scrolls of erotica in their kimonos. Plenty of Shunga painters (usually from elite art schools) were commissioned by textile companies to paint on their most exquisite fabric, on layers upon layers of kimono robes, the lovers were depicted. In the East, sex was perceived much more positively than the West and as a result, a lot of these objects were considered respectable and highly collectible art at some point.

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Chinese pillow books were originally used to gift to young brides (mostly teens back in the day) to instruct what was to come on their wedding night. The pillow books were equivalent to sexual education, as the topic was not encouraged to be discussed openly. Pillowbooks came in paintings, scrolls, sculptures and etched wood or bamboo blocks. All were palm-sized, tiny enough to tuck away under a pillow. This concept inspired PILLOWBOOK to encourage and empower woman by exploring adventurous lovemaking.



Photo by Matjaz Tancic

MW: What's it like being a female business owner who handcrafts custom made intimate apparel in China? Is it something you can be open with everyone about or is it perceived as scandalous?

IL: Being a female in the lingerie industry comes as an advantage during fittings. Being a foreigner-owned business in China has its limitations such as the many language and cultural barriers. Starting an intimate apparel brand in China is nothing new as more than 70-80% of the world's intimate apparel is manufactured in China. The custom made part did raise eyebrows because there was a lot of speculation in the beginning about the Chinese consumer. Fortunately, by now, they have matured and it's actually shocking how attitudes changed almost overnight. Well-educated Chinese consumers do care about quality and meaning. They are bored with flashy logos, and are conscious of the effects of fast fashion. It's common to request customization in order to express individualism and of course, to up the prestige of the luxury experience.

MW: Where are the majority of your customers from?

IL: A lot of them are single, white-collar Chinese ladies in their late 20's to mid 30's who are well traveled and educated. Among Western buyers, 95% of them are French. One of my first customers was 60 something woman, born and raised in Beijing. She bought a dudou (traditional Chinese lingerie) because she wanted to experience a part of her culture that was abolished in previous generations. She immediately changed into her new purchase for the movie date with her husband that very night. It's hard to forget her; she giggled like a 13 year-old girl with a crush! Those are my favorite customers who purchase the dudou as a gesture of cultural pride, they add a deep personal value to each piece.

MW: How do you see lingerie as a tool to empower women?

IL: In Asia, there is a very unhealthy beauty standard which is that woman can only be desirable with DD+ breasts and Mt. Everest cleavage. Since it's not biologically common for the average Asian physique, 99.9% of the bras available are heavily padded. I've seen bras with 3 extra inserts, each cup, with a molded padded bra! The bra we choose to wear is very closely linked to the way we perceive ourselves. Likewise, the lingerie available on the shelf has an impact that serves to unconsciously conform us to society's expectations. So I made a promise to never design bust 'enhancing' bras so that a woman can avoid the trap of defining her worth by the size of her boobs.

It's why I'm obsessed with the dudou. It was originally worn tight to flatten the breasts for modesty. When Western influence displaced it with the bra we know of today, the exquisite dudou with such a rich cultural history, sadly turned into a cheap souvenir, almost overnight. This inspired me to modernize the ancient cultural staple and bring it back to the contemporary wardrobe. I've established a sizing system for bigger busts, as it was originally one petite size for all. I made adjustments to the fit so that it's worn to free the breasts and not flatten. It's a truly forgiving cut that flatters anyone and most importantly, it's so deliciously comfortable. I never feel like yanking it off ASAP like I do with a constricting underwired bra. I hate to sound like a saleswoman but with all honesty, the dudou has replaced all my bras. #freethenipple!

As a side note, it's not surprising that the dudou isn't taught in western lingerie classes, as the industry remains extremely Eurocentric.

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MW: Tell me about the craft, the materials you use, the amount of time that goes into a custom order. . .

IL: Each collection is treated like erotic storytelling and I suppose this comes intuitively to me from working previously as a

costume designer for film and theater. Lingerie designers usually focus on the breasts and the storyline for lookbooks comes as an afterthought. It's the opposite for me; there's always a visual storyboard, usually inspired from traveling, churning in my head when I design. I take great consideration into the beauty of every nook and cranny of a woman's body. For me, the collarbone, the hip wings, the nape are so much more sensual than a deep cleavage.

Then it's the actual product development, which the most amount of time is invested in. Quality, details and finished execution are values I am (annoyingly) finicky about. Because of this, I don't pressure myself to create 2-4 collections a year as the industry expects. That pace of production is, in fact environmentally unfriendly and original ideas can rarely flourish under such pressure.

The 100% silks are from Hangzhou. Some of the smaller parts are from local markets, but the gunmetal and gold plated garter clips are imported from France. To minimize waste, every order is made-to-order allowing customers an experience to color customize their pieces. It's really incredible to see unexpected color combinations and so far, no two pieces have been alike. It shows how different everyone truly is! Each piece is handcrafted by one single couturier so it usually takes more than half a day for a bralet to 1.5 day for lounge pants. All of our scraps are always up-cycled into making a matching lingerie bag and gift for the client. All this magic happens in our little atelier space so that I can catch any mistakes.

To redefine the stereotypes, our labels state: "Proudly Made in China" and are autographed by the couturier herself.

Speaking of silk scraps... I don't have the heart to trash any 100% silk scraps, so after 2 years, there are enough to create an entire up-cycled collection. It's going to be so colorful!






A trade deal with Canada - what's to worry about, it surely doesn't seem all that bad, does it?

Yet, lurking in the text of a seemingly innocuous deal between the EU and Canada (known as 'CETA') due to be signed later this year, is a major threat to the very foundations of our legal system and democracy.

It's called 'investor-state dispute settlement' (ISDS), and it's a toxic legal mechanism that gives corporations the right to sue our government when it uses any policy that might affect corporate profits - including money that hasn't even been made yet.

And as some 80% of US big business already has offices in Canada, the CETA deal means the most powerful and litigious corporations in the world will all be able to access ISDS and sue the British government - at taxpayers' expense.

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An ISDS case has already seen Slovakia sued for nationalising its healthcare system and have its assets seized in Luxembourg when it refused to pay up.

Under this same 'corporate court' process, the US government has been issued with a $15 billion case for President Obama's decision to ban a dirty oil pipeline in the name of fighting climate change

And Australia and Uruguay have been dragged through secret courts for having the gall to place public health above business interests in order to bring in plain packaging for cigarettes - an approach the British government has said it too would like to adopt.

Millions of people across Europe are already aware of the huge threat posed by this Canada trade deal, and its even more controversial 'evil twin' the EU-US trade deal, TTIP.

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More than 3.4 million people across the continent - including 500,000 in the UK - have already signed a petition calling for an end to negotiations on both trade deals.

When the European Commission (EC) asked European people what they thought of ISDS, it received an overwhelming answer: in the biggest ever response to an EC consultation, 97% of respondents said they don't want the toxic corporate court process. The EC's response? To ignore the people of Europe and bring in a cosmetic reform - called the Investor Court System - to pull the wool over the people's eyes.

This week, the EC, which secretly negotiates all of the trade deals for Europe, announced that it's agreed with Canada to use this supposedly 'reformed' version of ISDS.

However, the reforms are at best cosmetic and utterly fail to answer key questions. These include: why is ISDS needed? Why do corporations from North America need to access a private, one-way justice system so they can sue the governments of Europe?

Why, when it has been shown that ISDS does nothing to increase investment, are we so willing to sacrifice our much-prized right of 'equality before the law', which has roots reaching back to Magna Carta? Are British courts so biased against business that the world's biggest corporations wouldn't get a fair hearing?

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The European Commission claims that our government will be protected under its proposal. Yet, investment law academic Gus Van Harten, who calls the proposal "a re-branding exercise for ISDS" says: "The text on this point is a good case study for how legal language can be written in ways that may give a false impression of security to the uninitiated."



The German Association of Judges, the biggest such grouping of judges and public prosecutors in the country, also gave short thrift to the proposal, arguing that it "... sees neither a legal basis nor a need for such a court" and that "the creation of special courts for certain groups of litigants is the wrong way forward".

Alfred de Zayas, the UN's Independent Expert on the promotion of democratic and equitable international order, is withering in his assessment of this dangerous legal process: "ISDS cannot be reformed. It must be abolished."
TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY JONATHAN KROHN Brett (C), a 28-year-old US national who fights jihadists of the Islamic State (IS) group alongside Dwekh Nawsha, a Christian militia whose name is an Assyrian-language phrase conveying self-sacrifice, patrols a street on February 5, 2015, in the northern Iraqi town of Al-Qosh, located 35 km north of Mosul. The foreign contingent fighting IS is tiny compared to the thousands of foreigners who have joined the jihadist group, but interest is growing and 20 more volunteers already lined up to join. AFP PHOTO / SAFIN HAMED (Photo credit should read SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)

Alqosh is a small village in Iraq, with a majority Christian population. It is also the last inhabited village before the front-lines of the territory seized by the Islamic State, which invaded the surrounding areas during its advance in the summer of 2014. Our organization Un ponte per... has been working here for some time, helping the displaced Iraqis gathered by Father Jibra'il and working to preserve the town's cultural heritage.

Un Ponte Per's (A Bridge To) Giacamo Cuscuna and Eleonora Gatto report from Alqosh:

Perched atop a hill, the city of Alqosh has a history that spans over three millennia. Its stone houses the color of ochre wind gradually up the ridge. A twelve-meter high cross shines in the night, illuminating the horizon.

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Iwan, a 22 year old peshmerga, carefully climbs the path uphill, and gestures towards Bakufa, where ISIS militants have been entrenched for a year and a half, directly across from Iwan's comrades-in-arms. A strip of orange dots indicates the position of the Kurdish forces and the beginning of the caliphate: Alqosh is the last inhabited Christian village before the front lines.

One of the houses in the city center is hosting one-year old Kinan's birthday celebrations. The living room, adorned with lights and balloons, is filled with people. Christmas lights are strung up on the walls in glowing designs that complete the scene, which is part kitsch and part baroque.

As Kinan blows out his candle with the help of his mother and father, ISIS is only 15 kilometers away. The peshmerga forces holding them off are a bit further south of Teleskor, a ghost town where only stray dogs dare venture. When ISIS arrived at the city gates in August of 2004, Kinan was still at his mother's knee. At that time, the populations of all the villages in the area were fleeing: the advance of al-Baghdadi's militants caught everyone by surprise and entire areas fell under their control within a few hours.

"They never made it to Alqosh," recalls Father Jibra'il Kurkis Tuma, a Chaldean monk and prior of the Nostra Signora monastery. "We escaped at night, unexpectedly, fearing that the monastery and all of the books and objects that are part of our identity as Iraqi Christians would be destroyed," he continues, sipping tea in the monastery cloister under the shade of a 150-year old olive tree.

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"It was only the following morning that I was able to return and save the ancient manuscripts that we keep in the library by hiding them in a secure spot." When Kinan came into the world on February 19th, 2015, the whole community of the Nineveh plains was gripped by a humanitarian crisis, and feared the possibility of an advance by the Islamic State: entire villages fled in search of refuge and armed men without pity were preparing to invade the whole region. Also ready to flee were the dozen or so children and adolescents living in the orphanage of Padre Jibra'il's monastery.

One year later, they too find themselves dancing in the living room decorated in Kinan's honor; an evening of celebration to break the monotony, despite the continuing conflict raging around the corner. Khalida also lives in Alqosh: in the living room a rosary and photo of her five-year old niece hang above a dark-colored couch. She exits the kitchen haltingly, with a laptop in her hands: on the screen connected via Skype are some relatives who are currently living in Baghdad.

"I go visit them sometimes, but the car trip is very long and expensive," she explains. For decades, Iraq has been an inhospitable place for certain religious communities. "If I had enough money, I would flee too" Khalida confesses, recalling her numerous family members who now live in Germany, Australia and other countries, far away from the terror.

While Khalida is telling her story, we hear the sound of Multi-National Force bombers that are passing over Alqosh to strike ISIS. The sound of explosions carries over the wind, occasionally breaking the silence.

"We are like a tree," Father Jibrail reflects aloud, shortly before celebrating the Stations of the Cross in the monastery church, "Daesh [ISIS] wants to kill us by cutting off our branches. At the same time, if all of us Iraqi Christian were to flee, we would lose our identity, we would be a tree transplanted to a land that is not our own, and it would wither us. "

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"We are a pack of sheep, abandoned to their fate in the midst of the wolves," he concludes sorrowfully. But he will not surrender or be defeated, this priest who continues his personal fight for survival each day. The conflict, which has plunged Iraq into chaos since 2014 after the arrival of the Islamic State militants and the conquest of parts of the Yazidis areas of the country, has exhausted the already tired population.

The communities that are the main targets of the extremists (Christian and Yazidi communities are only a couple of examples) have suffered horrible violence, as has been reported by international agencies and organizations.

The idea that Islam is a cancer that needs to be eradicated because it is a bastion of hate and war is not uncommon in Alqosh. The conviction that the Islamic religion itself is the cause of the conflict is slowly taking root in certain sectors of the population, but people such as Father Jibra'il are working to break down those prejudices and rekindle relationships between the communities.

Many times, religions are dominated by leaders who spread hate for purely terrestrial motives. They betray their faith, which they use as a shield and then warp into something monstrous by striking out at and condemning everything, including minorities who are seen as inferior and thus meant to be exterminated. People who belong to this same faith become wrongly associated with them, for the simple reason that they practice the same religion.

Exhaustion and fear cloud the lens through which the world is viewing the conflict. The Middle East is the birthplace of some of the most ancient religions, and boasts centuries of their history. Take, as an example, the ruins of a synagogue dating from 800 B.C can be seen from Alqosh, located a few meters from the Coptic cathedral. "The Jewish community that had always lived alongside us here in the village abandoned Iraq in the 1950s, after a rough campaign which left it gravely wounded," recalls Father Ghazqan, the city's vicar.

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"But even today, this place is still a pilgrimage destination for the faithful who want to visit the tomb of the prophet Nahum, which is guarded here," he continues. Despite the fact that the walls of the synagogue are partially collapsed and that there is barbed wire around the perimeter, inside, by the light of the candles, it is possible to understand how this is still a sacred and respected place.
Co-authored by Jessica Farley and Amy Hagopian



U.S. Department of Defense photo

A friend recently commented that her brother, who served several years in the military in Afghanistan, seemed to always have a cough and nasal congestion when they spoke on the phone. "Oh, they're always burning something here," was his explanation. What he didn't realize was that a serious environmental hazard may have been smouldering as well.

It's no secret that US military operations can be harmful to the environment. US military presence and interventions often leave environmental health problems for both soldiers and the local population. Prominent examples are pollution from the plutonium at Hanford used for the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, dioxin in the herbicides used in Vietnam, and polluted drinking water in Guam.

But these problems are not limited to past military adventures. In recent years, burn pits--a disposal method used for waste generated by military bases and personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan--have been under scrutiny for their appalling effects on human health and the environment. Picture huge open-air or shallow pits filled with every type of trash a military base has to dispose of: electronics, weapons and munitions, biological waste from combat and medical care, plastics from many sources, human waste, and rubber tires - with jet fuel often used as an accelerant.

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The Department of Defense estimates that 30 to 40 tons of solid waste are burned this way at large bases--every single day. In an era of uber-sensitivity to environmental pollution in the US, why is this allowed? Because these are war zones, where there is little to no waste-management infrastructure and even fewer regulations preventing their use. Health and environmental complaints led to new U.S. laws restricting burn pits in Iraq as of the end of 2010 -- but burning continues unrestricted in Afghanistan, with nearly 200 military sites using that method as of 2011.

Military burn pits are not just an annoyance. Burn pit emissions have been shown to contain toxins that can threaten health even in small exposures: materials such as dioxins, volatile organic compounds, particulate matter and many more. As one might expect, breathing that smoke has been linked to serious medical problems, and massive amounts of open burning often means that neither military personnel nor local residents can avoid inhaling it.

Reports from the soldiers themselves show that they've been worried for for several years about the health effects of burn pit exposure. On the web sites Burn Pits 360 and Burn Pits Action Center, soldiers share their accounts, many of them quite tragic, of living in close proximity to the pits and how that exposure has since affected their lives. In 2014, the Veterans Administration developed an online survey where more than 28,000 returned soldiers voluntarily reported their exposure to burn pits and possibly related health problems in Iraq or Afghanistan. The results, presented in a June 2015 report: fully one quarter of the soldiers who were exposed to burn pits as part of their work reported that they now have a new diagnosis of one or more serious respiratory problems, compared to 17% in those not directly exposed to them. An even more shocking 37% of those who worked with burn pits report that they now have high blood pressure, compared to 28% in general service.

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As with most public-health issues, establishing a firm causal relationship between burn pits and health problems has its challenges. U.S. service members in combat situations have long been exposed to many harmful conditions, and health problems that might emerge years later from those exposures are difficult to link back to their source. But the picture that emerges from the VA report strongly supports the soldiers' perceptions that the burn pit smoke may well have caused them long-term harm. What has been the response?

The Department of Veterans Affairs web site continues to state: "At this time, research does not show evidence of long-term health problems from exposure to burn pits." Rather than develop a stronger information system, Congress dropped burn-pit research from its list of Department of Defense peer-reviewed medical programs for 2016. It will now be much harder to get evidence of the harmful effects. Veterans seeking disability for any service-related medical problems need to go through a lengthy process and their claims are handled "on an individual basis." A backlog of several hundred thousand VA claims is not uncommon. Some ask: is this the new Agent Orange?

The likely effects of the burn pits on Iraqi and Afghan citizens living near them is another critical concern. Anyone living near or downwind from the bases has constant exposure to these emissions over what can be many years. There appear to be no studies of the effects of burn pits on Iraqi or Afghan civilians - no surprise. But it's likely that the overall health effects for them are disastrous, and to date we have taken no responsibility for the care of local nationals who have been affected.

So what's happening now? Concerns about the health effects of the continued use of burn pits are shared by liberal and conservative groups alike. The Right to Heal Initiative advocates for more attention to the long-term harm done to both United States and Iraqi citizens as a result of the Iraq war. A class-action lawsuit is underway against KBR Inc., one of the military contractors responsible for many of the burn pits. Joseph Hickman, a former US Marine, has just released an important book entitled Burn Pits: The Poisoning of America's Soldiers.
Largely unnoticed amidst the public hand wringing by Republican Party insiders following Donald Trump's string of Super Tuesday primary victories are their implications for the looming showdown between President Obama and Senate Republicans over nominating a Supreme Court justice to succeed Antonin Scalia. Senate Republicans, led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), insist that they will neither confirm, nor even meet with, any nominee Obama puts forward, while Obama promises to propose a nominee anyway, setting the stage for a high-stakes political showdown.

In this battle of political wills, Republican control over the confirmation process gives them the procedural upper hand. No wonder that the (coincidental) Super Tuesday meeting between President Obama and Senate leaders produced no movement on the Republican side. That was before Donald Trump's string of victories made him the clear favorite for the Republican nomination.

McConnell's "just say no" strategy depends on Republicans sincerely believing their candidate stands a good chance of winning the White House. Historical patterns suggest they have reason for optimism. After an incumbent President is re-elected, the out-party usually wins back the White House. According to most election forecast models, Obama's middling approval ratings and recent modest economic growth further increase the historical odds of a party turnover in November.

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Plus, Republicans have a firewall: their Senate majority. True, they are defending more seats in 2016 than the Democrats (24-10). But if they win the White House their odds of retaining the Senate rise considerably. Even if they lose the White House, with a 54-46 majority going into the election, and a favorable (for Republicans) macro-economic and political environment, the odds of retaining a Republican majority in the Senate look better than a simple count of seats up for election might suggest.

The implication is that by holding out for the next president, the Republicans might do better (if a Republican wins the White House and nominates a conservative justice, thereby retaining a 5-4 conservative majority on the Court), but at minimum stand a pretty solid chance of not doing worse (since a probable Republican Senate majority will still be capable of blocking a Democratic president's ideologically unpalatable nominee in 2017). In other words, so long as the Republicans are reasonably confident that they can recapture the White House, and stand a pretty good chance of also retaining their Senate majority, waiting out the remainder of President Obama's term makes sense. Moreover, there is nothing President Obama can do to alter this calculus.

Enter Donald Trump and exit, as the saying goes, the best laid plans of mice and men. How might Trump change the Republican calculus? Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Republican political guru Karl Rove provides the answer: "If Mr. Trump is its standard-bearer, the GOP will lose the White House and the Senate, and its majority in the House will fall dramatically."

This belief - whether accurate or not - strengthens President Obama's bargaining position vis-a-vis Senate Republicans. Rove's logic - publicly shared by many Republican officials - implies that the likelier it becomes that Trump will win the Republican nomination, the greater become the odds of a Democratic victory in November at both the Presidential and Congressional levels. If a Democrat, say Hillary Clinton, wins the White House and the Democrats recapture the Senate, a newly elected President Clinton is unlikely to be inclined to compromise with Republicans on a Supreme Court nominee.

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In such a scenario, should Republicans attempt to filibuster a Clinton nominee, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), as Democratic Majority leader, might respond by extending the ban that his predecessor Harry Reid (D-NY) imposed on filibustering lower court nominations -- the last time Democrats were in the majority -- to include nominations to the Supreme Court.

The upshot is that Senate Republicans increasingly will face the prospect of choosing between negotiating with Obama for a relative centrist nominee now or risk being forced to suffer a significantly more liberal nominee later. With an eye toward his historical legacy, Obama has a powerful incentive to negotiate with Senate Republicans over a mutually acceptable candidate. With Trump's primary victories stacking up, in turn, Senate Republicans too have an increasing incentive to reconsider their line in the proverbial sand.

Of course, Trump's star may yet fade and so too may Clinton's (if, say, she is indicted in the State Department email scandal). If so, the Republicans will retain the upper hand and the stalemate will likely continue.
House Speaker Michael Madigan knew he didn't have enough votes to override Gov. Bruce Rauner's veto of a bill to fund Illinois higher education, but he called a vote anyway.

And everyone in the General Assembly knows that Rauner will summarily veto a new bill to sharply curtail his power in negotiating a new contract with the largest state employee union, AFSCME Council 31. But Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton called it for a vote anyway.

There were a lot of votes cast in Springfield last week, but they mostly offered Democrats a chance to posture and Republicans a chance to vent their frustrations on the House and Senate floors.

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With less than two weeks until the March 15 primary, this week's votes allowed most Democrats to affirm their pro-union stance and their opposition to Rauner, who has vetoed education and social service funding bills because -- without a state budget to create new revenue -- they only would add to the state's fast-growing budget deficit. The state is on pace to spend $6 billion more than it will take in during the current budget year, which ends June 30.

After Democrats in the House were unable to override Rauner's higher education veto on Wednesday, Madigan announced a new bill that he said represented a true compromise. But when it was debated on Thursday, Republicans said they had not been involved in any "compromise."

The House adjourned on Thursday and won't return until April 4 -- three weeks after the primary. Perhaps the dust will have settled enough by then for lawmakers to summon the courage to vote for the tax increases and cuts that all parties agree are necessary to create a real budget that will get Illinois colleges, social services and other components of Illinois government functioning properly again.

The political theater of the past week and what it portends for the future are our topics on this week's "Only in Illinois."
This year's Republican presidential nominating contest shows that nearly three decades after Ronald Reagan left office, his impact on the Republican Party endures. Republican candidates can barely give a speech without invoking the Gipper's name. It seems as if every Republican candidate worth his or her salt calls his name on a daily basis. Every candidate wants to demonstrate a connection to Reagan in an effort to be the "heir" to his political legacy. Donald Trump is no different, though his opponents and critics in the Party don't see any real connections between Reagan and the brash, misogynistic, fact-averse policy lightweight, and otherwise unqualified egomaniac. But the recent kerfuffle over former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke's favorable comments on Trump's campaign reminded me of one genuine connection between him and Reagan: KKK support.

I know Reagan acolytes would rather I not mention this, but the Klan formally and publicly endorsed Reagan's 1980 general election campaign, which he launched his general election campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi the location of the murder of three civil rights workers. Objections arose from all the usual sources noting that Reagan was playing to the hostilities of racial conservatives who wanted to rewind the societal clock to a time in which Black people had no rights Whites needed to respect. Reagan's handling of it was worse and more ham-handed than Trump's. Reagan took three weeks to issue a tepid, mealy-mouthed statement through his campaign rejecting the endorsement. He spent the intervening time between endorsement and rejection by solidifying his support among racial conservatives by not apologizing. While Trump has been rightfully skewered for his unbelievable response to this, by comparison, Trump was speedy in his half-hearted repudiation of Duke's words. While it is too early to know if this will cost Trump the nomination, the episode involving Reagan did not hurt him at all with conservative voters.

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No one should conclude that Donald Trump is somehow taking the Grand Old Party down a new road of racial conservatism and footsie-playing with overt racists. He is not. He is simply trying to join Barry Goldwater in 1964 ("States' Rights"), Richard Nixon in 1968 ("Southern Strategy"), Ronald Reagan in 1980 ("States' Rights II"), on the Mount Rushmore of recent racist presidential campaigns. The modern Republican Party, which lauds Reagan at every turn, has been built, in large measure, on appealing to White anger and fear. Trump is just the latest hand on the wheel of this irresponsible political vehicle. But all you need to do is look at the demographic projections for the country to know that that is a losing strategy.
President Barack Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Dear President Obama,

As you know on Feb. 18 Uganda held elections that were universally condemned by credible observers including by the U.S. as flawed and having not been free, fair or credible; they were also marred by violence against opposition supporters by state security agents.

The Ugandan military has since escalated its human rights abuses by inflicting brutal repression against civilians.

The U.S., which is a major security partner of the Ugandan regime, providing arms and training for its army - in addition to $700 million in financial support -- must at the very least suspend this relationship as required by the Leahy Amendment which "prohibits the U.S. Department of State and Department of Defense from providing military assistance to foreign military units that violate human rights with impunity."

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With respect to the Feb. 18 vote, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo condemned the Ugandan regimes' vote suppression in opposition strongholds; he said the delays in delivery of election material were "inexcusable."

Obasanjo, who led the Commonwealth Observer group concluded that the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party had abused state resources to benefit the candidacy of the incumbent Gen. Yoweri Museveni. The Commonwealth's report also decried "inequitable media coverage and question marks over the secrecy of the ballot and the competence of the electoral commission to manage the process."

On behalf of your administration, the State Department concluded that "reports of pre-checked ballots and vote buying, ongoing blockage of social media sites, and excessive use of force by the police, collectively undermine the integrity of the electoral process."

Meanwhile, the European Union (EU) election monitoring team also concluded that Uganda's Electoral Commission (EC) wasn't "competent" or trusted and that while the "political parties were still following tallying and collecting data from the field, the police stormed FDC's party headquarters using teargas and arrested the flag bearer Kizza Besigye and the party leadership."

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Gen. Museveni hand-picked the EC and its chairman Badru Kiggundu.

All observers condemned the regime's blocking of all access to the social media platforms - Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp - on election day.

When Mr. Kiggundu declared Gen. Museveni as "winner" of the sham elections, on Feb. 20, the announcement was rejected by the major opposition candidates Dr. Kizza Besigye of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) and Amama Mbabazi the former prime minister.

Dr. Besigye's supporters believe he was heading to victory, based on reports from polling stations and they consider him as the President-Elect.

Civil society and religious leaders also rejected the announcement by Mr. Kiggundu who in effect acts as Gen. Museveni's personal referee.

Gen. Museveni has now responded with what amounts to a military coup d'etat. He has placed Dr. Besigye and Mr. Mbabazi under house arrest and deployed security forces all over the streets of Kampala. Even journalists with independent media outlets covering the repression have been targeted, attacked with pepper spray, arrested, and assaulted while in captivity.

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Up to 300 FDC party officials, including those who were involved in monitoring polling stations, have disappeared and are believed to have been abducted by government security agents.

Mr. President while the opposition party supporters have so far maintained remarkable discipline in the face of attacks and provocations by the armed forces, all hell could break loose the longer that leaders like Dr. Besigye and Mr. Mbabazi remain in detention.

Ironically the current paralysis and explosive polarization could have been avoided if Gen. Museveni had heeded the suggestion that he retire, from many prominent Ugandans, including his own former prime minister Mr. Mbabazi.

When you addressed African leaders last July at the African Union (AU) headquarters in Addis Ababa, you also warned of the dangers presented by leaders who cling to power at all cost. Gen. Museveni has ruled Uganda since he seized power in 1986; in 2005 he arm-twisted Parliament into removing presidential term limits.

Instead of paving the way for a new crop of leadership Gen. Museveni decided to run a violent re-election campaign based on threats, repression, and attacks against suspected opposition party supporters.

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In the run up to the elections the ruling National Resistance Movement's (NRM) secretary general Ms. Justine Lumumba Kasule issued the following chilling warning to any youth that contemplated demonstrations to protest alleged election rigging: "the state will shoot you."

Gen. Kale Kayihura, the notorious police commander, presided over the training of so-called "crime preventers," about 200,000 pro-government militias who've been accused by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International of brutal attacks against opposition party supporters.

Before the election, Kayihura also declared that these pro-regime gangs should be armed with guns to "prepare for war."

This clear incitement to violence prompted the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Tom Malinowski on Jan. 28 to Tweet: "#Uganda head of police vague remarks on arming 'crime preventers' for war before election is dangerous/irresponsible."

Gen. Museveni himself not only failed to condemn the statements by Lumumba and Kayihura -- which indicates he approved or authorized them -- but he also threatened that any Ugandans who continue to protest would be placed in "the deep freezer."

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This message was not lost on Ugandans who recall that this was a preferred spot for some of Idi Amin's victims.

Mr. President it's true that the U.S. has allowed scandalous exception to the Museveni regime. This is due to Uganda's deployment of thousands of troops to Somalia to help battle al-Shabab, the al-Qaeda affiliated militia. Yet, this U.S. position mistakenly presumes that a democratically-elected Ugandan regime wouldn't continue security cooperation in Somalia with the U.S. and the other AU countries now involved.

Mr. President Ugandans are paying a very high price for the exception allowed to Gen. Museveni. Suspending military cooperation would send a clear signal to the Ugandan regime that abuses won't be tolerated and that justice must prevail.

Mr. President the U.S. can help press a resolution by additionally:

1.Making it clear the U.S. won't recognize any "winner" of the Feb. 18 presidential election as declared by Badru Kiggundu as such a move would contradict the announcements by the Commonwealth, the EU, other election observers, and the U.S. State Department that the vote was not free, fair and credible.

2.Issuing a statement demanding the unconditional release of Dr. Besigye, Mr. Mbabazi, all political prisoners and the missing 300 FDC officials.

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3.Supporting the opposition parties' demands for an independent audit of the ballots to determine who received more votes in the Feb. 18 election before Kiggundu's fraudulent announcement; a similar U.N.-brokered program was successful in resolving the stalemate in Afghanistan and averting bloodshed.

4.Issuing a U.S. visa ban, asset seizure and other appropriate sanctions against Gen. Kayihura, Ms. Lumumba Kasule, and other Ugandan officials who have made statements inciting violence; this should also cover any commanders issuing orders to carry out acts of violence.

5.Demanding that attacks against journalists stop immediately.

While these actions alone may not resolve the Ugandan crises, they will send the right signal to Gen. Museveni and his military commanders.
Among the Syrian refugees, there are many men between 18 and 50, in good health, crossing the Balkans, trying to arrive in EU. And someone was curious enough to ask, but why are they not fighting being against Assad, for Assad, for Freedom, Democracy, or at least against the proclaimed enemy of all - the Daesh?

But what those tired faces are telling us is that there is nothing to fight for - nothing worth fighting. And when people are not fighting, it means there is no hope, and where is no hope, there is no point of living, or you stay and become an animal-looking-human being, trying to survive no matter what, or you leave. And it is most probable that most people will choose to leave.

In his book The Day of the Barbarians, Alessandro Barbero, the Italian historian, relates the decline of the great Roman Empire to the mismanagement of the refugee crisis: "an unforeseen flood of refugees at the frontiers of the empire, and the inability of the Roman authorities to manage this emergency properly, gave rise to a dramatic conflict that was to culminate in Rome's most disastrous military defeat since Hannibal's Carthaginians destroyed the Roman army at Cannae in 216 BC."

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The bloody conflict in Syria initiated another "unforeseen" flood of refugees, which is making the 60-year-old European Union trembling. The invasion of disparate has, nonetheless, put in discussion some of the core objectives of the European Union - "an area of freedom, security and justice without internal frontiers." The walls have started to be build while the most infected countries are beginning to advocate for revision/abolition of some of the core treaties of the Union.

Many are hoping for fast resolution of the conflict in Syria, and an absolute halt to the immigration. But, whatever happens in Syria, whoever claims the victory, whatever remains the border of the future Syrian state, the flood of refugees will not stop. It might reduce in intensity, but will not stop, despite the efforts of some European countries to building the 'Game of Thrones'-look like walls.

The reasons are many. First, the Syrian conflict is not the only one raging in the region. There is an undeclared civil war in Libya (threatening to become another war with Daesh); a bloodshed in Yemen (not so covered in the Western media, but nevertheless violent and destructive); still unpredictable destiny of Afghanistan, and a dangerous friction between Saudi Arabia and Iran - to mention only some of the actual and potential carnages, which are pumping too much fuel for the migration of desperate.

Second, the refugees do run away from the conflicts, but there are also immigrants among them, who are running away from poverty, misery and lack of any hope for the future of the broader Middle East region. In the aftermath of the World War II, and since its establishment, the EU experienced peace and an impressive economic growth which resulted in the rise in the living standards of its citizens. The social programs, health care, and education for all and for free, made the EU being perceived as a place where the life seemed worth living.



In parallel, the countries around Mare Nostrum (as was the old name for the Mediterranean Sea) have experienced nothing similar. Short periods of growth have been regularly interrupted by persisting conflicts; the 'wannabe' revolutions were always ending in new models of tyranny and autocracy. Even the modest economic growth was destined to end in the pockets of few while the inequality persisted. Eventually, the hopelessness of people directed them towards religion, and from there to various radical movements - as the ultimate refuge from a miserable life.

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From its part, the EU (and the USA), threated the region according to its foreign policy goals and their security needs, neglecting entirely the peoples and their problems, which resulted in policies which outcomes kept accumulating people suffering, frustration, and desperation. Finally, when the last revolutions failed, the only thing left to the local populations was to leave.
By Matthew Desmond, The John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences, Harvard University

Even in the most desolate areas of American cities, evictions used to be rare. They used to draw crowds. Eviction riots erupted during the Depression, even though the number of poor families who faced eviction each year was a fraction of what it is today. A New York Times account of community resistance to the eviction of three Bronx families in February 1932 observed, "Probably because of the cold, the crowd numbered only 1,000." Sometimes neighbors confronted the marshals directly, sitting on the evicted family's furniture to prevent its removal or moving the family back in despite the judge's orders. The marshals themselves were ambivalent about carrying out evictions. It wasn't why they carried a badge and a gun.

These days, there are sheriff squads whose full-time job is to carry out eviction and foreclosure orders. There are moving companies specializing in evictions, their crews working all day, every weekday. There are hundreds of data-mining companies that sell landlords tenant screening reports listing past evictions and court filings. These days, housing courts swell, forcing commissioners to settle cases in hallways or makeshift offices crammed with old desks and broken file cabinets--and most tenants don't even show up. Low-income families have grown used to the rumble of moving trucks, the early-morning knocks at the door, the belongings lining the curb.

Families have watched their incomes stagnate, or even fall, while their housing costs have soared. Today, the majority of poor renting families in America spend over half of their income on housing, and at least one in four dedicates over 70 percent to paying the rent and keeping the lights on. Millions of Americans are evicted every year because they can't make rent. In Milwaukee, a city of fewer than 105,000 renter households, landlords evict roughly 16,000 adults and children each year. That's sixteen families evicted through the court system daily. But there are other ways, cheaper and quicker ways, for landlords to remove a family than through court order. Some landlords pay tenants a couple hundred dollars to leave by the end of the week. Some take off the front door. Nearly half of all forced moves experienced by renting families in Milwaukee are "informal evictions" that take place in the shadow of the law. If you count all forms of involuntary displacement--formal and informal evictions, landlord foreclosures, building condemnations--you discover that between 2009 and 2011 more than 1 in 8 Milwaukee renters experienced a forced move.

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There is nothing special about Milwaukee when it comes to eviction. The numbers are similar in Kansas City, Cleveland, Chicago, and other cities. In 2013, 1 in 8 poor renting families nationwide were unable to pay all of their rent, and a similar number thought it was likely they would be evicted soon.

Eviction's fallout is severe. Losing a home sends families to shelters, abandoned houses, and the street. It invites depression and illness, compels families to move into degrading housing in dangerous neighborhoods, uproots communities, and harms children. Eviction reveals people's vulnerability and desperation, as well as their ingenuity and guts.

Fewer and fewer families can afford a roof over their head. This is among the most urgent and pressing issues facing America today, and acknowledging the breadth and depth of the problem changes the way we look at poverty. For decades, we've focused mainly on jobs, public assistance, parenting, and mass incarceration. No one can deny the importance of these issues, but something fundamental is missing. We have failed to fully appreciate how deeply housing is implicated in the creation of poverty. Not everyone living in a distressed neighborhood is associated with gang members, parole officers, employers, social workers, or pastors. But nearly all of them have a landlord.
David Weiss (left) and Peter Fischli (right) in their Zurich studio, ca. 1987, courtesy the Fischli Weiss Archive, Zurich

I know I am not alone in standing in a gallery filled with conceptual art and scratching my head. I am used to this sensation by now. For a long time, it bothered me that I did not "get" everything and that I had to have it explained to me. Now artists seem to have realized that many of us feel this disorientation with their art and provide long, involved wall labels, accompanying books, curatorial and docent walk throughs. If you do not go out and see contemporary art almost daily, (this week you can remedy -- or be further confused -- at the Armory and sidebar art fairs) you risk being left behind.

Since I can't do that, I am left either to my own muddleheaded-ness, the brilliance of an accompanying friend or a big sit down with a dense catalog.

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At the Guggenheim now, you can avoid all this by seeing How to Work Better, the playful but substantial retrospective of Fischli/Weiss, a Swiss duo that worked from 1979-2012 when Weiss died of cancer. All kinds of associations popped into my head as I climbed the Frank Lloyd Wright ramp, still, for my money, one of the most fluid ways to see art in the world: Dada, Duchamp, Readymades, Existential, Alfred Jarry. The exhibition brought me back to the '70s in France when I was learning about structuralism, and existentialism and every other kind of -ism even though the two artists did not start to work together until the '80s. They were influenced also by Rudolf Steiner and his theories of Anthroposophy (do not ask me to explain this, but Google it instead) as many of the artists of the time were similarly engaged with his mystical theories.

Nancy Spector, the curator of the show, writes in the extensive catalog that Fischli/Weiss acted as "whimsical philosophers who pondered all questions great and small," who playfully investigated the everyday. They first met in Zurich during the early days of the punk music scene as graphic artists.

David Weiss (left) and Peter Fischli (right) in their Zurich studio, ca. 1987, courtesy the Fischli Weiss Archive, Zurich

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Peter Fischli David Weiss at the Carpet Shop (from Sausage Series) 1979

They began with Sausages a project that took everyday objects and created a world in miniature, then went onto filmed project The Least Resistance where they acted as Rat and Bear, wry opposing personas they were to return to later in their careers. They had both come to LA and were fascinated with Hollywood mythmaking, posing as directors so a costume shop would rent them the costumes (one has never been returned.) Both projects spoofed notions about the art world and drew them closer together because of the deeply satisfying dialogs they had with each other to arrive at these destinations.

The Least Resistance, 1980-81

Suddenly This Overview, the section of the retrospective that most engaged my attention, was designed to be an uber encyclopedia but which would be filtered through their personal sensibilities. In this compendium which they began in 1981 but added to over time, Fischli and Weiss decided to unpack the history of the world in a series of small unfired clay sculptures.

Mr. and Mrs. Einstein Shortly After Conception of The Son, the Genius Albert (from Suddenly This Overview, 1981- )

Eventually, over 150 pieces were created, many of which are on display mid way up the ramp (be forewarned, for those of you who generally ride to the top and walk down at the Gugg, don't do it for this show as they will make you go down and back up to again to see this fragile section which takes over the ramp.)

Mick Jagger and Brian Jones Going Home Satisfied after Composing "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" courtesy Jason Klimatsas/Fischli Weiss Archive, Zurich

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The idea was to punch holes in the notion of opposites, of myths, of science, of history: small things were to loom large, and vice versa.

Book and Reader (from Suddenly This Overview, 1981-)

"Suddenly This Overview relates to other, later works in Fischli and Weiss's oeuvre in that it shares in their self-consciously encyclopedic impulse to map the world -- a task that was ultimately impossible to achieve," says Nancy Spector. Nevertheless they have made an ingenious attempt.

Popular Opposites: Funny and Silly I (from Suddenly This Overview, 1981- )

I saw people just walk by and look at the tiny models without really studying the labels. But precisely what is so compelling about this series are the pungent and witty titles without which the pieces look like splendid models for Claymation but miss the LOL humor that the artists impart.

Anna O. Dreaming the First Dream Interpreted by Freud I

They are not just objects but ciphers through which the Fischli/Weiss irony is on ample display. The pieces were done singly and jointly, their work process was as fluid as the pieces demanded. Perhaps these works spoke to me because I appreciated the words as much as the mini sculptures; indeed, it is a case where word and image are conjoined in perfect disharmony.

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The Way Things Go excerpt

Probably their most well-known piece is the Rube Goldberg type film The Way Things Go, an excerpt of which I have posted here which looks seamless but actually has 23 sequences filmed over two years and runs a half hour. Spector says, "Part of the merriment for Fischli and Weiss was the "pleasure of misuse" a phrase which stuck with me as it so aptly describes the opposites that intrigued them and to which they so deftly gave form.

The later work did not capture my fancy nearly so much, looking like piles of studio detritus which if you don't read about you don't understand that each piece is a handmade reconstruction and not the actual thing. The artists wanted to poke fun, to demystify their own practice as well as that of others. They wanted to erase the lines between high and low and in this respect I am their ardent admirer.
Saying "I don't have the time to do something" is inaccurate at best, and at worst, a sign of weakness. Everyone has the same amount of time. How we choose to use it determines what we have the time to do.

I run a mastermind for entrepreneurs, called ShankMinds: Breakthrough. At the beginning of each month, I send out an email reminding people that in a few days, they're going to be billed the price of a few lattes for their membership, and not to freak out when they see the charge from PayPal.

I also make it clear in each email that if they want to cancel and leave the mastermind, I'm not going to try and stop them, and rather, encourage them to do what they feel is right. In other words, if you don't have the time to be an active contributor to our group, that's fine; in fact, you probably shouldn't be. Our group runs best when those in it are actively contributing to the brain-trust being built.

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We usually lose anywhere from 10-15% of people a month from this email. which is exactly what I expect to happen.

A few days after the email goes out, I email those who've quit the mastermind, and ask them why. The responses are always the same, and usually float around one key phrase:

" I just don't have the time to participate."

"I don't have the time" has become our new catch-all phrase for everything we simply don't want to do, replacing "I'm so stressed."

Here's the thing: ShankMinds:Breakthrough has over 130 people in it, and the majority of them have found the time to be contributing members, helping others, giving and receiving advice on all sorts of business problems. The average number of messages posted by those who participate is around 30 or more a month. The average of those who quit? About 2-4 a month. Think about it like this: Someone who goes to the gym 4-5 times a week is much less likely to quit than someone who goes once or twice a month.

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Yet all of our active members have lives outside our community. Some have families and children, full-time jobs and/or entrepreneurial efforts. Some are active in their community, the majority make the time to work out and eat right, and probably have other activities as well, such as getting in episodes of their favorite television show, or doing whatever they find enjoyable.

So the question is, how come the people who stick around can find the time, while the people who quit can't?

I submit that it's not because those who stick around magically have more time in their day, but rather it's because those who want to be involved make being involved a priority at the cost of something less important.

Look -- I get it, it's not easy. We're busy people. We all are. Every single one of us. But, to use one of my favorite quotes, "we all have the same number of hours in the day as Beyonce." It's about what's important to each of us.

"I don't have the time" is bullshit."I don't make this a priority" is a little more truthful.

I decided several months ago that I wanted to get into better shape, and knew that the only time I'd be able to focus on my body was super-early in the morning. As such, I made getting enough sleep to get up early and get to the gym a priority. Something had to give for that to happen, and for me, it was going to bed late. So I don't go to bed late anymore, and for that to happen, I've given up going out to "industry events," and now keep client dinners to a minimum. The result? I'm at the gym at 5am four days a week, and I've dropped close to 50 pounds in the past six months, without compromising other aspects of my life.



The guy on the left has the same amount of time as the guy on the right. The guy on the right, however, decided what was important and what could be given up to make the switch from left to right.

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I decided what needed to be a priority in my life, and what I was willing to give up to do that. Much like calories in/calories out, finding the time to devote to something new means giving up that time somewhere else. It's not rocket science. PS: I wrote about how to wake up early here. Feel free to use it.

If you want something to be a priority in your life, you make the time for it at the expense of something you deem not as important. It's truly that simple.

If you don't want to give up one activity for another, don't, that's fine too, and no one should judge you for it. But saying "I don't have the time" is nothing more than an excuse, because let's face it, you do have the time.

We find the time for what we want to do most.

For some of us, that's working out. For others, that's building our business. Maybe it's binge-watching Netflix, or browsing Facebook for two hours each night. And all of those are fine choices! But each choice comes with a price. Every choice we make has an opposing choice that we have to make as well. If browsing Facebook until 1 a.m. each night is a choice, then the flip-side of that choice is rarely getting up at 5 a.m. to get to the gym in the morning. It's not that you don't have the time to go to the gym, but rather, you made a choice to do something else that to you, is more important.

Each day, you wake up and can make that choice. When making a change, or doing something new, becomes more important to you than something else in your life, you'll make the time for it. Until that happens, you won't.

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But don't ever say "I don't have the time." Because, yes, you do. You have the same time in the day as anyone else. What you don't have right now, however, is the desire to give something up in your life to get that time to do something else.

Michael Douglas, in the movie The American President, talks about America, saying that "It ain't easy. If you really want it, it's gonna put up a fight." The same is true with doing something new. If you truly want to grow, whether it's by going early to the gym, or by learning a new skill, or even being part of a mastermind community, then something is going to pay the price for taking that time. It could be browsing Facebook, or watching Netflix, or even going to the bar. The decisions you make each day determine the structure of your time.
Answer by Matt McGorry, actor, Orange Is The New Black, How To Get Away With Murder, on Quora.

It's all very relative. No matter any difficulties I face in advocating for equality, it will always be harder to be the person that is being discriminated against for their gender, race, sexual orientation, etc. Even in speaking out about these issues and in being a feminist, I will likely have it easier than a woman who is advocating for feminism. I'll get more positive media attention for it and I won't have nearly the volume of men writing abusive, sexist garbage to me on social media. Unfortunately that's the way it is, and it probably won't change until we have equality across the board. So I'll use it to advance the cause in the best way that I can.

In terms of the jobs that I've had, I've been very fortunate that these shows are very friendly towards the idea of equality and feminism. I have no idea where my career will take me, but this is why it felt so important to start discussing these issues when I'd been afforded a platform thanks to projects that wouldn't penalize me for my voice.

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But this journey is certainly not all unicorns and chocolate dipped marshmallows covered in tiny little rainbow sprinkles. It hadn't quite occurred to me until recently that I was isolating myself from large groups of people. But I think that's because if you're someone who stands in the way of equality, I don't really give much of a fuck what you think about me. If we can agree that most men do not identify as feminists, that rules out about half the population. Add in most white folks, plus the women who don't identify as feminists, and then the feminists who despise me and the way that I advocate for equality and you've got a hefty sum of people. But what I gain as a person and in my connection to my fellow human beings far outweighs that.

In a less ideological sense, I've been advised against speaking about many issues (and with such volume) very frequently. There are many countries that do not feel the same way that even many Americans do about equality, and these are markets in which my work will most likely play. Of the last 90,000 Facebook followers I've had due to my shows airing, I've had 15,000 people unfollow me. I've had magazines be uncomfortable with my activism and it's pretty widely known that being very "political" is not great for brand endorsements. There may even be projects that I won't get because of my outspokenness, but I'll never know that it was due to that.

It's often a tricky balance between how to amplify voices of others without speaking over people. I've certainly had some criticisms of that, and I think entertaining the idea that one can be wrong is very important not just as an activist, but in life. In my mind, being able to play devil's advocate with oneself is one of the qualities that I've noticed tends to be most associated with being able to grow rapidly as individuals. And I think that when anyone, including me, just assumes that they're always right all the time, we stop growing. But specifically in relation to supporting a movement, it ends up being a very fine line. When a certain online publication ran a blog about me and how they thought that I was talking over people of color and women, I certainly allowed myself to consider that they were right. It'd be remiss if I just assumed they were wrong. I looked back through my previous few days of Tweets and the vast majority of things I was putting out there felt in line with what I feel like I should be doing ... RTing and posting thoughts about race and gender from people of color and non-males (not even sure if that's a word). Of course, when I post thoughts of my own or go at someone for things I disagree with, that's more likely to get picked up by news outlets and get amplified through media. No one is going to run a story about my RTing someone else's idea, even though that is an extraordinarily important part of spreading the message. The system itself is fucked because I do get a disproportionate amount of attention and praise in advocating for these issues. But at the end of the day, my priority is getting as many eyeballs as possible on these things, and sometimes that means putting out my own content that I know will get views. Like the picture that I posted of me, shirtless, in bed reading The New Jim Crow. I knew that it would get more likes, and shares, and thus engagement by inserting myself into it. If I have to use my sexuality and recognizability to get more people to learn about the book and buy it, I'm willing to look like the potential douchebag. If I had just posted the book by itself, less people that follow me are going to engage with it. And effectiveness of spreading the message is really the thing that matters the most to me.

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It still hurts when you're trying your best and people think it's not good enough.

But again, all of these things are worthy sacrifices when you see the need that is there for advocates of equality. And particularly when you look at the gaping hole in advocating for equality by straight, white men.

My biggest difficulties daily are deciding where I fit into the space of activist as a straight, white man. Finding the balance between amplifying the voices of those people that are the subjects of discrimination and that need to be heard while still offering my own opinions without drowning out those other voices. Understanding that despite seeing the issues that need to be dealt with, I've still been raised and socialized in a world with certain gender roles and racial biases that affect how I act and what I think. I imagine that it will be a lifelong process, but one that is ultimately the path to a better mind and a more loving heart.

Even in writing this answer, there will be some feminists that think I'm taking up space in the dialogue for equality to whine about my own problems, and that that is doing a disservice to the movement. It's the criticisms, that sometimes have a lot of hate attached to them, of those who are on the same side as me, that ultimately hurt the most. But I can never know what it's like to be in the shoes of those discriminated against and how frustrating it might be to see a straight, white man getting a lot of love for their advocacy their own communities.
In relation to writing poetry, I've lately been thinking about how I want to widen the gap between describing something with accuracy and interpreting "what it means," perhaps leave that part to the reader altogether. I like how this requires practicing a wider pause between noticing something in the world and judging the thing noticed in daily life.

Today, thinking about my difficulty in listening to the news, it occurs to me that we often skip a more primal response to these stories, right to the "what it means," or "what to do" In fact, by the time we hear about something it's already couched in someone's interpretation or opinion about what to do. Sometimes, don't you hear something that just makes you want to scream? Or grow deeply quiet? We are barely shocked by the most horrendous things. We don't have time. We aren't given time. There's so little time between something occurring and voices chiming in about what it means or what to do-- sometimes our voices feel premature.

I think that gap between what's happening and interpreting its meaning can be important somehow, but I'm not sure; I know action is also important. Maybe I feel this way in a very sped up world, where we do not have time to respond to a shooting before social media and online news gives opinions as to what we should do about it. I was very disheartened, for example, the morning after the attacks in Paris to see a headline read, "France vows mercilessness." With such immediacy, have we decided that's the best way to solve ISIS' violence? By further alienating Muslims and inadvertently risking encouraging them to join a group where they then feel needed? Is mercilessness really something one wants to vow? Doesn't it feel a bit knee-jerk? I understand anger as a response to such horror. But why not then a stepping-back of trying to figure it all out?

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Yet I read about those attacks in Paris in a cafe in the Midwest where I was working. I could give a moment to an intense feeling, but I was sweeping the wooden floors and listening to people's voices around me, already full of opinions about the headline. The news is removed from our visceral, sensory experience, where we could respond with more presence to seeing something horrific (gasping at a mangled deer on the side of the road) or something beautiful (agape to look up at a double rainbow). When I was in India, I responded in a much different way to impoverishment when an individual was pinching my shoulder than I would thinking about India's economy from another place, of course.

Driving down the highway on my way to work, I turn on NPR and hear a story about a woman who was gang raped on a bus in India. I want to scream with her, for her, and for all the things it draws to mind of people's stories and politician's misunderstandings, but I'm driving in the dark, feeling cold, seeing snow on the trees. This split in imagining something far away and having a visceral response but actually being in a different present moment is somehow confusing.

I think of David Abram's brilliant book, The Spell of the Sensuous and what he writes about Aboriginal people in Australia's songs. They're an oral culture, intimately connected to the animate landscape and have song lines that tell how their animal ancestors created (and whose spirits still reside in) the various hills (by sitting down there) and lakes (spilling a canteen here). Their songs are auditory maps, tracks, of the landscape, and each time they tell these stories, they sing the earth back into existence. There's a reciprocal relationship between human beings and the living landscape, rather than the landscape being a passive thing for only human story to play out on. This relationship relies on sensory encounter. Seeing various hills draws forth the memory of the song, and likewise singing the songs allow listeners to visualize where, specifically, that story is taking place. The stories are tied to the earth-- to think of a story as separate and somehow transportable from the place where it occurred is incomprehensible and constitutes a kind of violence.

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Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump shows off the size of his hands as rivals Marco Rubio (L), Ted Cruz (2nd R) and John Kasich (R) look on at the start of the U.S. Republican presidential candidates debate in Detroit, Michigan, March 3, 2016. REUTERS/Jim Young

There were more male body parts discussed in the most recent #GOPDebate in Detroit, Michigan than one might have expected in a presidential debate forum. From the perspective of feminist body theology, this was enormously revealing of actual issues at stake in this presidential election.

Astonishingly, this was an actual exchange in the debate:

TRUMP: ....And as far as...and I have to say this, I have to say this. He [Rubio] hit my hands. Nobody has ever hit my hands. I have never heard of this. Look at those hands. Are they small hands?

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(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: ...And he referred to my hands, if they are small, something else must be small. I guarantee you there is no problem. I guarantee.

[Bret] BAIER: OK. Moving on.

So there you have it. Two GOP presidential candidates were trading insults about "big" and "small" in regard to their bodies.

Feminist body theology looks at how the human body has been religiously and culturally symbolized over history. It is no surprise to anyone that the male member, as Augustine of Hippo phrases it, symbolizes power and control. In feminist theology, there is a great deal of reflection on what is called "androcentrism," the use of the physical differences between men and women as a metaphor for power and dominance in the male, and the receptivity and passivity in the female as argued in Paula M. Cooey, The Religious Imagination and the Body: A Feminist Analysis (p. 22).

Does it surprise anyone, therefore, that when a strong female candidate for president is emerging on the Democratic side, this body symbolism becomes the charge and counter-charge against two male candidates?

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But returning to Augustine, the male member also symbolizes 'unruliness,' i.e. the willfulness of the body in rebellion against the soul. Feminist liberation theologian Rosemary Ruether brings this up in her book Women and Redemption: A Theological History.

Augustine is interesting in this respect, as he is trying to actually think with the body, and in that regard the male member and its symbolism is not necessarily power and control, it is rebellion against God and the will of God for human life.

Who knew?

So, yes, one can say that the #GOPDebates are simply sinking into the muck, with name calling, frat guy type ridicule and insults, and this is just a low point in politics.

Actually, I think, theologically speaking, it was far more revealing than that.

The main issue in conservative thinking about leadership has always been how to signal strength. Strength over weakness is the way conservatives frame leadership both domestically and internationally. Negotiation is cast as "weak," and killing our enemies abroad or militarized policing at home is considered strength.

That is mirrored in Joseph Nye's separating "soft power" from "hard power," the "power of attraction" which is "soft," according to Nye, versus "coercion" or even the use of force as "hard power." This is clearly symbolic language of the same genre as the Republican debate on the size of body parts. When she was Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton commonly used "smart power" to get out of this unfortunate dichotomy which she defined as "the full range of tools at our disposal--diplomatic, economic, military, political, legal, and cultural--picking the right tool, or combination of tools for each situation." I have certainly critiqued this language in my book Dreaming of Eden: American Religion and Politics in a Wired World as far too instrumentalist, but it is far better than the hard/soft dichotomy in traditional conservative rhetoric.

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Unruly members, per Augustine, actually pretty well sums up what is wrong with both "hard power" as a way to signal strength, and to actually highlight what is profoundly wrong with physical dominance, up to and including illegal physical force, as the only way to conceive of strength.

We have to go no further than candidate Trump at this #GOPDebate advocating committing war crimes as a way to deter terrorism:

BAIER: Mr. Trump, just yesterday, almost 100 foreign policy experts signed on to an open letter refusing to support you, saying your embracing expansive use of torture is inexcusable..[and] the military will refuse because they've been trained to turn down and refuse illegal orders.

So what would you do, as commander-in-chief, if the U.S. military refused to carry out those orders?

TRUMP: They won't refuse. They're not going to refuse me. Believe me.

BAIER: But they're illegal.

TRUMP:... that's the way I feel. Can you imagine -- can you imagine these people, these animals over in the Middle East, that chop off heads, sitting around talking and seeing that we're having a hard problem with waterboarding? We should go for waterboarding and we should go tougher than waterboarding. That's my opinion.

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BAIER: But targeting terrorists' families?

And Mr. Trump had no problem with that either, claiming terrorists "wives" on 9/11 knew what they would do.

Torture is the ultimate body theology offense; it turns the human being being tortured into a thing, no longer a human being with a will, but a physical center of pain. For that reason it is a morally out of bounds, i.e. a war crime and it is always wrong.

On issues of whether torture or bombing or police brutality equals strength, the signals about the body being sent at this #GOPDebate were clear. Physical dominance is the only meaning of strength and it eclipses any moral consideration.

So guess what? On this, at least, feminist body theology and Augustine agree. This is a symbolism of the unruly member as rebellion against God and God's will for humankind. Power as overwhelming physical dominance is not power at all, it is the ultimate weakness.
The organization I have the privilege to lead - United Nations Volunteers - is located in Bonn, Germany. I live there with my family, and opposite our home is one of the largest refugee processing centers in our city. We have seen busloads of people arrive and leave; we have seen their children beginning to play again with the toys they found on the playground; we have seen young men and women anxiously texting their loved ones; we have seen people silently cry, as they suffer from delayed shock.

We also see every day a large group of German citizens walk into this center to help - these are not the ones who are formally employed, but the volunteers who are reaching out because they have been touched by human suffering. The reception of refugees in Germany is carried out to a great extent by volunteers. We estimated in our office that in the 20 biggest cities of Germany at least 100,000 volunteers are active on a daily basis, participating in something that can be best described as a popular movement.

It is not only the German leadership who has taken a principled approach towards the reception of refugees in the country. The same approach has been adopted by a large part of the population through their volunteer efforts and through the donations of (winter) clothes, shoes, toys, computers, books, etc. Many of my German friends are themselves teaching German, introducing refugees to the culture and traditions of the country or helping out with the (necessary) bureaucratic processes. They are making sure that some young people can continue their education again, that sicknesses are diagnosed and treated and that slowly the refugees, who have arrived in this cold, dark, yet surprisingly welcoming country, start feeling human and valued again.

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Alan Grayson, the liberal champion of the House, the member of Congress with the largest base of small donors, the Congressman who passed more legislation than anyone other Representative, is again in the news. And not because he's eleven points ahead in the polls to be the Democratic nominee for Marco Rubio's Senate Seat in Florida.

But because President Obama and Vice President Biden have just endorsed Grayson's primary opponent, a conservative 32 year old Congressman with no legislative accomplishments, a conservative voting record, and who was a registered Republican until he ran for office.

Now, if you're like me, you might be scratching your head. First of all -- how often does a sitting President, the leader of his party, take sides in a primary election? Doesn't that feel inappropriate? And, second of all -- hasn't the Democrat party gone down this road before? Promoting conservative candidates to run for office, when we know that - given the choice between a Republican and a Republican, the public will vote for the Republican every time.

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Grayson has everything we need to win this all-important seat in this coming election: state-wide name recognition, an active base of support, earned enthusiasm from minority communities, and the proven ability to fire up the base and get out the vote. So, if the President is coming out for his primary opponent, something odd has to be going on behind the scenes, right?

Many people may assume that this means there is something the matter with Grayson. He wears brightly colored flag ties, cowboy boots; he's witty and biting and is a frequent guest on talk shows because he's always bound to say something provocative. Someone has filed an Ethics complaint against him, and he apparently went through a nasty divorce.

But personally, I don't buy it. Grayson cut his teeth suing war profiteers. He's among the most liberal members of the House and a huge gadfly to the Republicans. Given any scrutiny at all, the Ethics complaint against him appears entirely politically motivated and paper thin, and if we're really making marital stability a litmus test for holding office, we'd need some new standard-bearers.

Rather, it looks like moneyed interests are weighing in on this race. Obama and Biden's endorsement of Murphy came less than a week after Grayson himself endorsed fellow bomb-thrower Bernie Sanders for President. The next likely Senate Democratic leader represents New York -- and Wall Street -- and can't count on Alan Grayson's vote.

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Just as the Republican establishment is frightened by their true believers -- even though that's where energy and passion and party expansion exist -- so, it seems, the Democratic establishment fears our own.

But to the point where the President endorses a candidate - Patrick Murphy - who was one of the only Democrats who voted to condemn the President himself, over the Bowe Bergdahl prisoner exchange? Who was one of a handful of Democrats who voted in favor of Benghazi hearings? Who gave the maximum donation possible to Mitt Romney instead of Obama, just four years ago?

While we're on the topic, why did Obama also endorse Ted Strickland, who has an A+ rating from the NRA, just a month after the President publicly stated that he would support no candidate who didn't actively support major gun reform? On inspection, perhaps Obama's endorsement does demand we take another look at these races - but not necessarily at those being endorsed. At the endorsement process.

Yes -- Grayson is a big personality with big ideas. He's bound to rub some people the wrong way. But big personalities also inspire big passion, and Democrats need people like Grayson to keep expanding the size of the Democratic tent. I expect that the attacks will continue against Grayson. I expect that Grayson is ready for it. The last round of attacks only raised his standing among voters, and brought a flood of small donations from around Florida and the country. From people who are tired of the status quo, and want -- no, are demanding -- someone with fire in his belly.

This seems to be a good year to have the "establishment" against you. These misguided attacks on Grayson may very well guarantee his ascension to the Senate. Voters, more than ever before, seem prepared to do a little digging themselves, and avoid taking things at face value. Let's hope it pays off. After all, the quality of our elected officials will never be greater than the level of effort we put into choosing how to vote.
Musical theater is undisputedly the underlying charge that electrifies and energizes the bright lights of Broadway and New York City's Times Square.

Head uptown or downtown and Broadway takes on a more personal character, represented by a neighbor in your building, friends down the street or a fellow parent at your kids school, who's work and personal lives are rich with the artistry, talent, craft and business of musical theater. The Broadway story becomes more real as the lives of theater professionals intertwine with those of their more conventional neighbors.

Take the Upper West Side for example. where tucked between Columbus and Amsterdam resides PS 166, The Richard Rodgers School of Arts & Technology. The 118 year old elementary school, with it's grand gothic facade, has nurtured notables as medical researcher such as Jonas Salk, famous writers such as J.D. Salinger, and musical theater, as recognized by it's name-sake alumnus, the most celebrated American-composer Richard Rodgers. Broadway plays a special role in this micro-manhattan community, where piano playing and singing can still be heard wafting from open windows when strolling down treelined blocks. It is not taken for granted by locals, but celebrated with nods of recognition at the local diner, and more notably in an annual concert, appropriately titled, Broadway Sings at the Richard Rodgers School (PS166).

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Broadway Sings at the Richard Rodgers School is without question a secret Upper West Side tradition, with roots going back way before the school was renamed in honor of Rodgers in 2003. Every spring musical theater actors and musicians who's credits span Broadway, Off-Broadway, National Tours, London's West End, join together in a cabaret style show is crafted with New York families and a multi-generational audience in mind.

"I am always overwhelmed by the generosity of the musical theater artists who perform." shared Marc Lovci, past actor himself who is now produces Broadway Sings in support of the school his children now attend. "Some performers are neighbors or have kids who attended the Richard Rodgers School. Some performers are drawn to the idea of performing on the same little stage Richard Rodgers himself performed as a youth from 1911-14. And always we have guests artists like Fabi, Edward and Scott, who are rushing in directly from the stage door of their Sunday Broadway matinee."

Lovci refers to 10 year old Fabi Aguirre, currently on Broadway playing young Gloria Estefan in, "On your Feet!", Sweden born Edward Baker-Duly, who may be recognized as Terence Margadale from the third series of Downton Abbey, now in the Lincoln Center production of The King And I, And Broadway veteran Scott Willis currently playing Monsieur Baurel in the Tony award winning American In Paris.

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16 guest artists representing over 30 Broadway Shows, and countless National Tours, London's West End and Leading regional theaters will take the stage providing a blend of songs and personal interest stories for West side locals, aspiring young performers, and kids who may have yet to stepped foot in their first Broadway theater.

So, if experiencing musical theater as a local is more your style, perhaps it's worth a visit to the Upper West Side of Manhattan, where Broadway actors call home.

Broadway Sings!

The Richard Rodgers School (PS 166)

Sunday, March 6, 2016 - 6pm

132 West 89th Street

Will Call opens at 5:00pm. Doors open at 5:30pm

100% of proceeds support arts in education at The Richard Rodgers School PS166

tickets available at: HTTP://166BROADWAYSINGS.COM/

ADULTS: $30 / CHILDREN: $15 / PREMIUM: $75

Producer: Marc Lovci

Musical Director: Will Shular

Technical Direction provided by Jes Levine of Ars Nova
After my post on academic freedom in Afghanistan, I was inspired to share my experiences on human rights in the same way.

Although more concerns and funds are being used for human rights in Afghanistan, the rights question is no better than academic freedom. The terms human rights and women rights are very popular and common but they are often matters of jest for many blue-collar workers and a matter of arm-chair liberalism for the more educated white-collar workers. At times, it is considered a popular fundraising issue. Thus, a saving and progressive idea is often transformed into a backward reality. Consequently it obstructs the way toward modernization and socio-political development. How is that possible? This post wants to take-on this issue in a very clear and simple way.

The idea of human rights in current Afghanistan is suffering from two problems which also cause human rights to stagnate. First, it appeared without reconciliation with regional and familiar concepts. Second, it was associated with the foreigner ideology. It means many ordinary people in Afghanistan think ideas like human rights, women rights, and democracy are mottos to firstly break down our traditional values, perspectives, and even faith and secondly to serve political and most recently financial agendas. I like to elaborate the main problems regarding promoting human rights values in five following points:

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(1)Lack of consistency with the potential of current culture. To help your friend correct his/her attitude you can approach constructively and positively or destructively and negatively. Unfortunately many human rights activists in Afghanistan exercised the second method. For example, instead of highlighting the beauty of "Haq al-Nas" (Rights of People) in Shariah or recognition of Free Conscience in the Quran and of public education for all people, they spent all energy on belittling the established traditions (for instance ignoring the capacity of Mullah in a conservative land). As a replacement for inspiration for people to enrich their values with Human Rights values, they told people to fight against their background without understanding how Human Rights improves their lives. They wanted to change Afghanistan over night in terms of modern values. One of them defended her position saying that they cannot wait to modernize the country. There is a fallacy to reduce values to materials and technological tools. We can import the last technical achievements but not the last visions; humanity is not simple and neutral as the machine and vehicle. Prioritizing, making harmony between current and the ideal situation, and acknowledging the path already traveled in order to inspire further progress were forgotten. Creating hate, even toward an unsuccessful past cannot create developments and progress. In sum, many human rights activists and intellectuals are suffering from disconnection with the traditions which built the identity of Afghanishttps://www.opendemocracy.net/sayed-hassan-akhlaq/crisis-of-national-and-religious-identity-in-afghanistan-today. (2)Co-existence between Human Rights and Political Agenda. Human Rights appeared throughout the country as part of a new political regime which was brought to Afghanis through foreign power. Due to many historical realities including British and Soviet Union interventions Afghanis still are suffering from Western colonialism. In America it is almost a history, but in Afghanistan it is a daily experience. The growth of Islamismhttps://www.opendemocracy.net/sayed-hassan-akhlaq/taliban-and-salafism-historical-and-theological-exploration alongside conspiracy theories and corrupt administration all together made people suspicious (at least verbally) toward foreign Human Rights values. As a result, reduction of Human Rights to a political agenda functioned in misunderstanding and then failure of Human Rights achievements in Afghanistan.

(3)Associating Humanitarian activities with markets. As much as Human Rights values, at least in the modern form, appeared in attachment with political agenda, they also seemed to the people like the economy's twin. After Taliban many many NGOs were built, many of them related to human rights. They received much support from international funds and in turn delivered many positive reports about their functions. But in reality, most people believe they are business persons/entities as well as opportunists who know how markets work now. They can create jobs and promote business for many but can't lead the people toward a better situation. The replacement of humanitarian with financial interest causes two major problems: first, changing human rights to a luxury material for White-collar workers. So it is neither related to Blue-collar workers who are the majority of Afghanistan population nor to rich people who are enjoying exercising their autonomy. Second and the worse one, it leads to more suspicion about Human Rights concerns and then to increases in the cost of improvement in Afghanistan. This is what I clearly told to the Afghanistan head of parliaments in his house.

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(4)The conflict of values. There is one more technical point: It seems there is no need to link Human Rights issues to Radical criticisms of fundamental concepts of a society. The aim of Human Rights is to reduce suffering and better life, not to create conflict, crisis and provoke pure emotions. For example, I can contribute to promote education for all by saying it helps the person's future in society or it changes all worldviews and established values. Human rights can be seen as a deus ex machina for a new world or as a supporter to better the current world. As much as the clash of values is creative in terms of intellectuals struggle, it destroys the opportunities to bring people closer. Preaching about global climate change is one thing, but advocating for access to water for human consumption is quite another. Holding out the carrot of an abstract human right is not much of a carrot for the person on the street. A good carrot is one recognized good by the people, like the basic need to clean streets instead of pie-in-the-sky ideas like democracy. Many human rights activists and intellectuals in Afghanistan were not in this field before post Taliban government and so not related to grassroots. In changing their job and to attract new customers, they mostly were confused and caused clash of values even within their families.

(5)The lack of honesty. Unfortunately, Human Rights values are not institutionalized among population; it also is not internalized among many advocates as well. It is a common expression in Afghanistan that women rights activities are looking for freedom for the neighbor's daughter. It means they do not apply that inside their house, regarding their families. I heard about some colleagues who teach the value of women rights in public and academics but they put many restrictions on their own wives. How when the prophets of new faith, human rights, do not practice the message in their life, people follow them. Unfortunately this lack of honesty alongside many more social, political and ideological problems caused lack of trust to these values and their advocates. In reality many activists fall down in tribalism and are accused of supporting people only from their ethnic groups or political party.


AP photo by Matt Rourke

Contrary to Claims by the Washington Post and Fortune, the Vast Majority of the Poor Would Gain

In the heat of battling Sen. Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton's camp (and the camp followers at the Washington Post and Fortune magazine) has made a remarkable discovery: National health insurance (aka Medicare-for-All) hurts poor people.

How is that possible? It's not. But a widely-quoted analysis by Ken Thorpe, a former Clinton administration official, used statistical sleight of hand to zoom in on the tiny slice of the poor who might pay more (while getting better care), and hide the vast majority who would gain.

Here are the real numbers we came up with by analyzing data from the Census Bureau's 2015 Current Population Survey, the standard source for estimates of income and health insurance coverage.

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At present 9.2 million people living in poverty -- and 8.8 million just above the poverty line -- are uninsured. They often can't get vital care, and when they do, they face ruinous medical bills. For these 18 million, Medicare-for-All would be a godsend.

Another 10.7 million poor Americans and 21.5 million near-poor have private insurance. For virtually all of them, the new Medicare-for-All taxes would cost less than their current premiums.

Some of this windfall would go directly to families that now pay all or part of their own premiums. The rest would go to employers who now chip in to premiums for the poor and near-poor workers, but most economists believe these gains would be passed on to workers since benefit costs are, in fact, deducted from wages.

About 9.7 million poor and near-poor people have Medicare, without wrap-around private or Medicaid supplements. The vast majority of them would be better off under Medicare-for-All, which would relieve them of Medicare premiums, as well as onerous co-payments and deductibles.

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What about the 42 million poor and near-poor Medicaid recipients? This is the group that Thorpe (and recent articles and editorials in the Washington Post and Fortune) claims would be hit hard by the new Medicare-for-All payroll taxes, which their employers would pass on to them by lowering their wages.

Yet, 34.6 million (82 percent) of these 42 million are children, retirees or others who have no earnings. Hence, they wouldn't pay any new payroll tax.

Two million others earn no more than $7.25 an hour, the minimum wage, so employers couldn't lower their wages to make up for the new taxes.

Only 3 percent (1.2 million) of poor and near-poor Medicaid recipients earn more than $15 an hour -- the minimum wage that Sanders has proposed. That's the number of poor households at risk of financial losses. But even that overstates how many might be harmed, since some pay out-of-pocket costs that Medicare-for-All would eliminate.

It's a shame that even this small group might suffer, and we'd recommend that Sen. Sanders tweak his plan to protect them. That shouldn't be hard.

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But his plan would relieve the poor, as well as the middle class, from the daunting co-payments and deductibles that obstruct care and threaten finances. And it would abolish the narrow provider networks that restrict patients' choice of doctors and hospitals. Instead, Americans could go anywhere for care, a privilege that every Canadian enjoys, but is rapidly vanishing in our country.



In every nation with national health insurance the poor -- and middle-class families -- fare better than here. They bear less of the health care cost burden, have better access to care, and live longer and healthier lives.


Imagine, a lecture hall of 300 Harvard students. The professor, standing in the center, asks for the class to vote on a philosophical question. When she gives the first option, 299 hands go up. When she offers the second, only one arm raises.



The lone hand belongs to Rahsaan King.



King is an outlier, even at Harvard. When not attending classes, he's the CEO of Students of Strength - an online tutoring, college prep, and curriculum design company based in Houston, Texas. By the end of 2016, King and SOS will have helped 150,000 + students prepare for college, study for exams, and master difficult subjects.



Now King is embarking on another gargantuan quest. Within the next six months, Students of Strength (SOS) plans to hire over 10,000 new employees, mostly college students, as tutors and admin. This goal marks the largest campus recruitment campaign ever.



King plans to hire tutors to meet the demand for their new app. In early March, the company will release an iPhone and Android app called "Students of Strength." . The app will provide 24/7 tutor access for students for any amount of time.



Students of Strength is a for-profit company. But, if you speak to King, it's clear that his motivation is changing lives, not making money. As he puts it, "We want our company to be so philanthropic that we'll defacto exist as one of the largest non-profits in the world."Akin to TOMs Shoes, for every student who purchases an hour of tutoring in 2016, the Students of Strength pledges to give free subscriptions to low-income students who can't afford the costs. King feels that his past predisposes him to philanthropy, and he wears his journey with pride.



King grew up in northeast Houston in a neighborhood ridden with gang influence and criminality. By the time he was 12, he'd seen more violence than most people will in a lifetime. As he put it when we spoke, "I had friends who killed, sold drugs, and went to prison for all types of crimes. My most painful moments include seeing my best friends murdered before we finished middle school."

Luckily, King was spared - he did well in school and had, as he put it, a "strong sense of character" and valuable mentors. In several strokes of serendipity he was taken in by upper echelon business and political leaders that he now considers family. He credit them with exposing him to new dreams, and giving him confidence to chase them. King hopes to pay this gift forward via SOS.



"Exposure expands expectations." It's King's most cherished principle. He's built this principle into the DNA of Students of Strength.



SOS exposes high school students to the possibility of a top-tier education. All of SOS tutors come from top-tier schools like Harvard, MIT, West Point, and Stanford. When students speak with their tutor, they receive personalized advice, keen mentorship, and perspective of distant possibility. For King, higher expectations are the root of success.



As a junior, King noticed the sharp contrast between his old and new life. Chiefly the varied access to reliable education. "The caliber of education my friends and I were getting (at private school) was so much better than my friends back home." Frustrated, he went to the drawing board.

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When King was accepted to Harvard, he was thrown onto a Facebook page with 700+ Harvard admits, King had an idea. He'd wanted to connect high school students with successful college peers. In the months before, King had begun a small peer-to-peer tutoring platform he'd called "Secret Service". When King found out he'd been accepted to Harvard, however, he knew this was his chance to grow.



In April of 2013, King traveled alone to Harvard to recruit tutors. For a week, he stood outside dorms passing out flyers. When he returned to Houston, his dozens of hours paid off. His email was filled with hundreds of Harvard students requesting to join. He raised venture capital, sought legal advice, opened an office and established the brand now known as SOS.



For the past four years, King has continued to grow Students of Strength. In lieu of sophomore year he took 2 years to further develop the company and cement his corporate foundation. Now he's back at Harvard, a full-time student, musician, and CEO.



When King talks about the 10,000 tutor challenge, he sounds more like a missionary than a Harvard- entrepreneur. In his mind, college students who work for him have the opportunity to not just make good money, but also to create a better future for the students they help and participate in leveling the playing field for students who for so long have been left out.



King wants college students to step up, but he recognizes, like speaking in lecture, tutoring is a risk. You might not love it at first. You might not even know how to teach. But he reminds us that with time, you will improve.



King and SOS has formally launched the "10,000 tutor challenge".

Will you raise your hand?


Young caucasian male yelling into megaphone while holding Holy Bible in other hand. He is wearing a blue shirt and blue tie. Isolated on a white background.

Have you ever been cut off by a friend? I don't mean moving away and slowly disconnecting. I am talking about a sharp, intentional separation, from friendship to... not.

It's happened to me twice in the past six months. I get it. I've been become more vocal than ever in sharing honestly who I am, who I want to be, and what I believe. I am learning to be vulnerable, but that doesn't make me invincible. The pain of losing a true friend cuts deep.

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In both situations, I lost a friend I had shared deep parts of my soul with -- both past sins and future dreams. They were kind of friends you'd lend money or drop everything to rescue from the side of the highway. Vacations with your families kind of friendships. And now they are over.

Why? One word I have grown to hate: theology. In each circumstance, these friendships ended because I'm willing to say I don't know.

I don't know what I believe about hell. I don't what I believe about the rapture. I'm not sure if we'll be pre-trib, post-trib, or mid-trib. I don't know what I believe about speaking in tongues.

I am pretty sure what I believe about homosexual Christians, and it's not going to win me any popularity contests with the Religious Right.

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The one thing I do know is this: I am called to love.

If you have answers to each of the above items, and are able to defend your faith to the fullest, I must admit I'm jealous of you. I have studied the Bible, read books and articles, and listened to podcasts and sermons, desiring to truly know what I believe. The more I studied, the more I realized God is pretty mysterious. I also realized I am not in a place where I feel comfortable speaking on God's behalf.

Through the years, I have grown very skeptical of those who are willing to say, "Thus saith the Lord," because after two years of ministry school, a decade of service, and a lifetime of following Jesus, I still have days when I don't know what on earth God is saying.

I love the wisdom a mentor can bring, if that's what I have signed up for. I also love to sit under great teachers of the faith, if that's what I am choosing. But what I do not appreciate are friends who make it their mission to save me simply because our theology doesn't line up on all points. I don't like the feeling of another Christian deciding I still need to be saved.

Disagreement can teach us a great deal, when it's done in a respectful way. I am trying, daily, to cultivate a life that invites relationships with people different from me. What I want now is for others to extend that same grace to me.

Grace to be wrong. Grace to be uncertain. Grace to say, I don't know. Do we really have to agree on every point to acknowledge the salvation of the other? Do I really need to be saved just because I have gay friends?

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Losing friends over theology that none of us fully understand is disappointing and frustrating, but denying my belief in a grace that is greater than I could every fathom is not something I am willing to do. There's grace for dreamers like me. And there's grace for the friends who have walked away, in favor of a religion that fits in their box. There's even grace for those whose don't recognize their need for it. I'm so glad grace doesn't cut off any of us, no matter our theology.


"We are broke but we have Austria. " --Hermann Wilhelm Goring

In the damp dark streets of early morning Vienna, SS Gestapo Chief Heinrich Himmler's agents raced to find one of the biggest ideological enemies of the Nazi state--a 58-year-old Ludwig von Mises. A political economist and critic of the socialist state, von Mises narrowly managed to flee to Switzerland just as his would-be captors were closing in.

Himmler and his Nazi thugs had another reason to find and kill von Mises. It was 1938 and he and other enemies of Hitler's state--Jews, like von Mises as well as anti-socialists reformers--held private wealth the Nazi war machine desperately needed to keep running.

The Nazi Party rose to power in when their leader, Adolf Hitler was appointed Germany's Chancellor 1933. Hitler has achieved this position by hammering at two powerful themes: restoring the German supremacy robbed by the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, and "the Jewish question." Hitler dreamed of uniting "racially desirable" Germans in a new and powerful state. But this unison could not happen without first weeding out the rest of Germany (i.e. Jews as well as homosexuals, gypsies, and freemasons, among others).

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The Jewish question referred to a European debate that had been raging for centuries regarding the appropriate civil, legal and political status of Jews as a minority within European countries. German economist and sociologist Werner Sombart had praised German Jews as positive contributors to German society for their entrepreneurialism and capitalism, but within the Nazi party this sentiment was considered radically left wing.

It was this climate--mere months after von Mises escaped Vienna--that eventually led to the infamous Kristallnacht--when entrepreneurs like Trudi Kanter were driven from their homes, lost their livelihoods, and in some tragic cases, were killed. Trudi, who's brilliant autobiography Some Girls, Some Hats, and Hitler tells the story of going from freedom and entrepreneurship to living under the oppression of Nazi Germany, lost her business almost overnight. But, how did the Nazi's target entrepreneurs for their theft? Why did they block entrepreneurship and free ideas? And, perhaps most importantly, how did their efforts to tax and seize Jewish wealth so quickly turn into a genocide?

Wealth Confiscation and the Nazi State

The Nazis considered German Jews "a foreign race"--but they were also very interested in their wealth. Anti-Semitism had a long history in Europe: it was largely influenced by the Christian belief perpetuated in the Middle Ages that the Jewish people were collectively responsible for the death of Jesus. Persecution of European Jews was widespread during the Crusades, beginning in 1095, when Jewish communities along the Rhine and the Danube were massacred. Due to this discrimination, many Jews adapted by turning to entrepreneurship and some had become quite successful by the twentieth century. Hitler pointed to their wealth in order to pit many economically stressed German citizens against German Jews. This was Hitler's first step in fueling anti-Semitism, long before he made a move against Jewish lives, as Gotz Ally explains in his probing and well-researched study of Nazi economic policy, Hitler's Beneficiaries: Plunder, Racial War, and the Nazi Welfare State.



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Counting gold bars confiscated by Nazi soldiers

(source)

According to a study released in 2010 by Hans-Peter Ullmann, a Cologne history professor, Jewish wealth confiscated by the Nazis paid for roughly one third of Germany's World War II effort. Nearly 120 billion marks--over $17.4 billion today--was plundered from German Jews by laws and looting. According to Ullmann, the tax authorities under the Nazis actively worked to "destroy Jews financially." Even Jews who managed to escape Germany before the Holocaust had to leave part of their wealth behind in the form of an "exit tax."



Another critical piece to Hitler's rise in popularity was his promise to restore German power. The Treaty of Versailles had not only forced Germany to disarm, but had also stripped Germany of land that was turned over to neighboring countries. The ascension of the Nazi party to national prominence was meant to be a first step in rearming Germany for an attack on those neighbors that would take back that territory, and restore the nation to its former glory.



By 1934, Hitler had broken several key agreements in the Treaty of Versailles by increasing the German military to one million men. The treaty limited the German army to 100,000, and also prohibited German manufacturing of new military equipment, in which Hitler was investing heavily. Hitler had to solve the problem of how to pay for both the rearmament and the vast increase in government services he planned to use to fight raging unemployment and keep the beleaguered middle class on his side.



The Treaty of Versailles

(source)

With Hitler's approval, Goring developed a three-step plan to confiscate Jewish wealth. First, all Jews would be required to declare their wealth. If they hid any assets, they would receive an automatic ten-year prison term and have their wealth confiscated.



Next, Goring used this data to institute a 20% tax on Jewish wealth, raising millions for the government. With the military budget still growing, however, deficits continued to soar and Goering moved to step three: In 1938, a law was passed nationalizing all property owned by German Jews.



Wedding rings stolen during Kristallnacht

(source)

Feedback from his ambassadors in other countries, however, made Goring realize that Germany would be harshly criticized if perceived to be outright stealing the Jewish community's assets. That is when he came up with a diabolical plan to make it appear that German Jews were being treated fairly. In 1939, in return for their stolen wealth, the Nazis issued war bonds to the Jews that paid a small amount of interest, and would only be honored if Germany were to win the war that had begun on September 1, 1939 with Germany's invasion of Poland.



Having stolen most of the Jewish wealth, which prevented Jewish people from maintaining their businesses or starting new ones, the Nazis next declared that only specific pawn shops could be used by the Jews to sell their jewelry, which it was no longer legal for them to own. At these pawn shops, the prices were set far below market value.



Even with this grotesque theft from some of Germany's most productive citizens, the massive military buildup still required more money, so Hitler's government decided to impose a 50% surtax on most German groups. To avoid lowering the morale of the average German citizen, however, the Nazis made an informal but clear pact with the German people: If the Wehrmacht (the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany) were to successfully conquer and plunder other countries, the German people would not have to pay the tax. This was a clever move that consolidated German support for World War II and ultimately for the Holocaust, as well.

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The 1934 army

(source)

Once a country was conquered by Germany, its wealth was looted through confiscation and through taxes on its businesses. In France, the Germans seized the stock market and sold off portions of it to pay the bills of the war. Each country that was conquered was forced to remit most of their gold holdings to the German central bank. Another way the Nazis transferred wealth back to Germany was to raise the pay of German soldiers in a particular country while at the same time devaluing the currency of the conquered country relative to the Deutsche Mark. This handed purchasing power to the occupying German soldiers, who were encouraged by their commanders to buy goods to use themselves and to send back to Germany. The stores in the conquered country would be left with too few goods for its own population, driving up prices, starving citizens and in effect bankrupting the local economy.



German soldiers were encouraged to plunder and loot homes, businesses and farms. The rule was that anything that would fit into a postal bag could be sent back to their own families with no tax paid. In 1940, during the first six months of the Third Reich's invasion of Russia, German soldiers shipped 3.5 million bags of stolen property back home.
From exciting new tech gadgets to innovative services, startups are revolutionizing almost every industry. Although big brands like Amazon continue to dominate retail, smaller businesses have become serious competitors for large corporations. Their proactive approach to winning customers means established businesses must find ways to constantly evaluate their offerings and find ways to keep things fresh.

If you're running an established business, you may feel that you've painted yourself into a corner. You've grown a customer base using the business you created and it's too late to go back. But as you watch new competitors come in and steal those customers away, you may realize how important it is to reinvent yourself every now and then. Here are a few ways you can use startup thinking to win the market, no matter how long you've been in business.

1. Out with the Old

Any business that has been around for a while relies on an established set of products or services. Whether your business started a couple of years ago or is a couple of decades old, you should take a serious look at your offerings on a regular basis. What worked in 2014 may not work in 2016, since markets are constantly changing. Even if you know the market is strong for your product, step back and seriously consider rebooting some of your offerings to keep up with modern technology. In some cases, businesses find that the products or services they offer aren't the problem. They merely need to rethink the approach they take to getting them in the hands of customers.

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2. Care What Customers Think

New startups usually conduct ongoing market research, constantly asking customers their opinions. Once a business has been around for a while, it often loses touch with those customers, assuming the research they conducted in the early days still holds true. Over time, customer opinions change as new products and services are introduced that change the way they work and play. To remain relevant, you should never stop asking customers what they think. In addition to surveying the consumer market about your products, you should also pay close attention to market research related to your industry. If your competitors know more about the market than you do, they may win your customers away before you even realize it.

3. Build a Lab

Innovation labs have become a popular way for big businesses to encourage innovation within their walls. These labs allow a subset of employees to dedicate at least part of their time to coming up with innovative ideas that will drive the business forward. But you don't have to be a major corporation to implement this concept into your business. An innovation lab encourages your team to not only come up with ideas but to test them and find ways to prove them to investors or superiors. Even if you have a small staff, you can appoint several employees to an innovation committee and ask them to present ideas on a specified schedule. Be sure to allow those employees dedicated time each week to work on their concepts to get the most out of your lab.

4. Take a Tour

One of the best ways to get into the right mindset is to take a tour of an innovative new business in your area. A corporate innovation initiative called DVTorque, in partnership with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) aims to connect established businesses with some of the most well-respected businesses in the world. Calling them "Executive Immersions," BCG realizes the need that exists for entrepreneurs to continue to learn long after their businesses have achieved their growth goals. In addition to networking with your own community, you can land tours by contacting exciting businesses in your area and requesting a tour for yourself and your team.
One of them could do us all a great favor by holding broadcasters accountable in a way that We the People cannot...

Republican Presidential contenders Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are at war over what they charge to be false political ads against each other. It's one battle in this bizarre and contentious campaign year which could actually benefit us all.

The Cruz campaign has been running a series of attack ads about Trump's position on abortion, which Politifact reviewed and described as "flawed." In response to what he calls Cruz' "lying ads," Trump has threatened to file a suit charging that Cruz, who was born in Canada, may not be eligible for the Presidency.

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Meanwhile, a SuperPAC called the American Future Fund ran an attack ad against Cruz calling him "weak" on defense, which the group Fact Check reviewed and found to be "misleading." Cruz's response was to have his attorneys write a sternly worded letter to the TV stations running the ad against him, demanding they pull it, citing FCC public interest obligations and more.

"Because this advertisement makes a flatly false factual claim for which your station is ultimately liable," the Cruz attorneys wrote, "we strongly urge you to exercise your discretion as a licensee to refuse to continue to broadcast this advertisement, and, because it is already airing, immediately pull the advertisement from your rotation."

In this case, the Cruz attorneys are right, at least in regard to the legal issues at stake...

Why is Cruz going after the TV stations, but Trump is going after Cruz personally? Trump can't sue Cruz over a "lying" campaign ad, because there's no law against candidates lying on air. Therefore, he's threatening litigation on the separate issue of Cruz' birthplace. (Whether we like it or not, any Federal candidate who runs their own "I approve this message" ad on TV or radio is free to lie to the public as much as he or she likes. Broadcasters are legally not allowed to vet candidates' ads for fictitious statements, and stations are required to run those false ads over our public airwaves.)

This system works great, of course, for television stations, which are set to rake in an estimated $4.4 billion in political ad sales in 2016. But it's terrible for We the People, who, when making voting decisions, are clearly harmed by political ads which are lying to us, as aired by broadcasters licensed to "serve the public interest."

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However, there's a different rule for radio and TV ads paid for by third parties, such as the SuperPACS loathed by Trump and his potential Democratic opponent Bernie Sanders. Broadcasters are not required to air third party sponsored ads and, if they choose to do so, they can be held liable for airing falsehoods. Hence Cruz's legal letter/threat to television stations.

A similar tactic has been tried before. Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA) filed libel lawsuits against broadcasters for campaign ads which he says lie about him. According to Broadcast Law Blog, in order to prevail, the candidate (or his/her attorney) must first contact the TV or radio station to complain. The station must then fact check the ad, and if determined to be untrue, must pull the ad or risk being held liable for defamation -- just as Cruz' attorneys threatened.

You'd think broadcasters who make most of their giant profits from political ad sales, especially in the wake of Citizens United would be fact checking the ads they serve up to the public for the sake of "serving the public interest." (According to public files posted at the FCC, American Future Fund spent $148,453 to purchase airtime for just that one allegedly misleading ad in the Charleston, SC television market alone.)

How are We the People supposed to know which statements made in ads that air over our publicly-owned airwaves are true or false? Shouldn't political ad fact-checking be part of the public interest obligations TV and radio stations sign up for in exchange for their free licenses to broadcast over our airwaves?

Apparently -- legally -- that is too much for We the People to ask.

I've been trying for years to find an attorney willing to sue broadcasters over false third-party ads on behalf of the public, but I've been told over and over again that We the People have no legal standing to file such a lawsuit.

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But Ted Cruz is making the case against lying ads, and in his way, so is Donald Trump. They would both, presumably have the standing that We the People, apparently, do not.
The Sri Lankan government recently announced that all websites would be required to register with the Ministry of Parliamentary Reforms and Mass Media before March 31 of this year. This was a troubling and illegal move that some commentators said would result in heighted self-censorship and other negative developments. Now, the Sri Lankan government seems to have changed its mind.

What's really going on here? Should the government be applauded for changing course? Might the reality be more complicated?

Sanjana Hattotuwa, senior researcher at the Colombo-based Centre for Policy Alternatives believes there are still reasons to be concerned about the government's plans. "The reversal in policy, as reported in the media, raises more questions around what the government has in mind regarding the laws it seeks to introduce (through parliament) to control the media via more stringent registration, including for websites," he says. "From the acting minister's tweets -- which in a day completely contradicted the edict as published in the newspapers -- to the belief there was in fact a legal basis for registration, from the bizarre disconnect between making websites that didn't register unlawful, to the ministry's assertion that the move was in fact to recognise web journalists, these are clear examples of how fragile the freedom of expression really is in Sri Lanka."

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Hattotuwa also believes that the government's change of heart "came because of strong public outcry and pushback -- especially over social media."


Swedish politician Olof Palme, whose death remains a mystery. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

By: Adam Karlin

A murder is a terrible thing, but it can be made considerably worse by a lack of resolution. And unsolved murders are more common than you might believe.

According to federal crime statistics, it is estimated that only 64 percent of murders in the USA end with an arrest--and even then, an arrest does not equal a conviction. In other words, almost a third of American murders go unsolved. And while that number may differ from country to country, the trauma of an unsolved crime, coupled with the macabre curiosity it provokes, is the same no matter where you go.

Join us as we revisit some of the most fascinating unsolved murders throughout history.

GIOVANNI BORGIA



An alleged portrait of Giovanni Borgia. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

On the 14 of June 1497, Giovanni Borgia, son of then-Pope Alexander VI, was murdered in the Jewish Ghetto of Rome. Last seen leaving a feast the previous night, Borgia's horse was found the next morning with the stirrups cut. Later, Borgia's body was discovered floating in the Tiber river, his throat slit, his body perforated by multiple stab wounds, and a sack of 30 golden ducats untouched by his side. His grief-stricken, immensely powerful father decided to launch an investigation--yet it was abruptly cancelled just one week later. Various rumors have since implicated rival families, political enemies, or perhaps someone within the Borgia family. It remains one of the most famous unsolved murders in history.

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KEDDIE MURDERS IN CABIN 28



A composite sketch of possible suspects related to the Keddie murders. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Sometime between the late evening of April 11 and the early morning of April 12, 1981, in Keddie, CA, Glenna Sue Sharp, her son John (age 15), and his friend Dana Wingate (age 17) were brutalized in cabin 28 by unknown assailants. The killers used hammers, knives, a pellet gun, and electrical tape to bind, bludgeon, and mutilate their victims. Strangely enough, Glenna Sue's younger sons and their friend, also in cabin 28 in a separate room, emerged from their bedroom unharmed. Glenna Sue's eldest daughter, staying in nearby cabin 27, also survived the night. Not so Glenna Sue's other daughter, Tina, aged 12 at the time, who had disappeared. Three years later, a piece of Tina's cranium and other bones were found in Camp Eighteen, about 57 miles south of Keddie. No arrests were ever made in connection with the bloodbath. In 2004, the cursed cabins in Keddie were demolished.

OLOF PALME

We figured a prime minister should make this list, so here's Olof (also spelled Olaf) Palme, leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party and twice prime minister of his nation. Nordic Sweden did not have strict security protocols for their prime minister in 1986, and on the night of February 28, Palme was walking with his wife, Lisbet, unescorted through the streets of Stockholm. An unknown assailant approached the couple and shot them both; Palme was fatally wounded, while Lisbet survived. A petty drug dealer was arrested for the attack, but his conviction was later overturned. The true identity of the assailant and his or her motivation remains unknown.

JOSEPH BOWNE ELWELL



Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Believe it or not, being a famed bridge player was a thing back in the day, and few were as skilled as Jospeh Bowne Elwell. Elwell used his card shark fame to leverage gambling connections, earning a reputation as a wealthy playboy. On June 11, 1920, somebody shot the bridge champion in the head with a .45 inside his locked home. To this day, a killer has not been found. The murder is also remembered as one of the first real-life locked room murder tales.

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MARY PINCHOT MEYER



Georgetown's C&O Canal, where Meyer's body was found. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Mary Pinchot Meyer was a special kind of Cold War DC socialite, the sort of woman who could mingle with all levels of power and influence. She was the former wife of CIA officer Cord Meyer, and rumors swirled that she once had an affair with John F. Kennedy. On Oct 12, 1964, she was discovered dead of two gunshot wounds along the path of the Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O) Canal, which runs through the tony upper crust neighborhood of Georgetown. Since Meyer's death, there has been a running war of theories over whether her murder was linked to some sort of shadowy politics, or if she was the victim of an assault by a deranged individual.



Credit: Wikimedia Commons

In the early 20th century, from a tense stretch of time that spanned May 1918 to October 1919, 12 people in New Orleans were attacked, bludgeoned, beaten, and slashed. Seven of these souls died from their wounds. It may never be confirmed that the same assailant attacked all of the above victims, but from then until now, the world ascribed the deeds to the Axeman of New Orleans. Victims were largely women, Italian American and poor, and strangely enough, the Axeman often used a weapon found at the premises of his victims, rather than bringing his own murderous implements. The Axeman is perhaps most famous for vowing, via a letter, to murder someone on March 19, 1919, with the caveat that anyone who played jazz music from their house would be spared his wrath. Music echoed across the city that evening; true to the killer's word, no one was harmed.


By Cailey Gleeson, Trinity,

Darcy Palder, Jones

and Maggie Roache, Nazareth

Students at the University of California-Santa Cruz protested last year after burritos were served at an space-themed science fiction club meeting. The reason? Some felt that the space-theme connected the term "illegal alien" with Hispanic immigration and culture. Across the country, a "bias-free language guide" was given to University of New Hampshire students in order to stop using offensive -- yet common -- vocabulary.

Why are these arguably drastic actions taking place on campuses across the country? For the sake of political correctness.

Merriam-Webster defines politically correct as "agreeing with the idea that people should be careful to not use language or behave in a way that could offend a particular group of people." Whitney Young senior Charles Kotrba said he thinks of it as it as "a verbal form of gentrification." If Kotrba's definition is true, then the hundreds of college campuses around the country that encourage political correctness are no better than the oppressive establishments that this culture aims to dismantle.

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Touchy subjects

During a radio interview with ESPN, Jerry Seinfeld expressed his dislike for performing on college campuses and said, "A lot of people tell me, 'Don't go near colleges. They're so PC.'"

Other comics, such as Chris Rock, have made similar statements about college crowds, finding them too easily offended. Even President Barack Obama has discussed this sensitive culture at colleges, especially the disdain toward aspects of conservative-leaning materials that could potentially offend students.

Since political correctness arose to deal with the very serious matter of keeping the peace, a debate over whether it's of benefit or detriment to society has sprung up in recent years.

Creating a safe space

Trinity junior Kaylin O'Bryan said she believes PC culture aims to be respectful of others.

"It's not impinging on other people's freedom of speech," O'Bryan said. "It is just making sure that you don't offend somebody with your freedom of speech."

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A study done by Cornell University in 2014 found that when groups of college students were exposed to the PC norm, they tended to be more creative and could more easily speak their minds in mixed-gender groups than groups who hadn't discussed political correctness.

Nazareth history teacher Jon Paul Jurasas said his beliefs align with the findings of the study.

"I think I would disagree with the people who say it limits our free speech," Jurasas said. "I think it forces us to reevaluate what we consider to be acceptable speech, and that's a good conversation to have. I don't see it as something that's limiting, I see it as something that is actually liberating because it can allow you to see things in a new light."

Taking things too far

But 68 percent of those polled for a Farleigh Dickinson University survey said they believe being politically correct is a big problem in this country. Indeed, many are critical of such a culture.

In interviews, President Obama has said that he doesn't agree with colleges avoiding potentially offensive material because he feels students shouldn't be sheltered from different points of view.

The debate occurs at the high school level as well. A key player in the conversation is the concept of "trigger warnings," which are designed to alert students when books, videos and other forms of media may contain sensitive or distressing material.

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Nazareth English teacher Jessica Radogno said that trigger warnings shouldn't stop students from reading books like "Huckleberry Finn" because they are important pieces of literature and history.

"I think to go too far with political correctness can sometimes cleanse things a little too much to the point where it's not realistic," Radogno said. "And people need to be aware of the fact that there are very divergent viewpoints on things and just kind of have to understand that. So too much sheltering is not good."



An educated approach

Experts are split on the issue of political correctness. Some feel the culture is moving America in the right direction with a new attitude of tolerance and respect while others believe it violates the constitutional right of free speech.

Shu-Ju Ada Cheng, sociology professor at DePaul University, said she defends advocates for political correctness and questions those who believe it affects Americans' right to speak.

"How is speech 'free' if people who participate in that context of unequal power structure have unequal access to the power itself and can be advantaged or disadvantaged depending on their social positions?" Cheng said. "In that sense, the idea of impinging on free speech is problematic to begin with. Another thing to think about is that the concept of free speech is really in relation to the state, not simply about individuals."

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At the same time, Cheng recognizes the danger in the strong beliefs of both sides involved in the political correctness debate.

"It is a problem if someone gets aggressive when people disagree with them. This is true whether someone is politically correct or incorrect," Cheng said. "This is not just a problem that one camp has, but why do people only use this to critique one side but not the other? Why is this being used to discredit any progressive activism?"

It's important for teens to educate themselves on the culture of political correctness before deciding their own opinions. In order to help make the process easier, Cheng offers some questions teens should ask themselves.

"What is the so-called politically correct culture or movement? Who labels whom and who gets labeled?" she said. "Keep in mind that there is a difference between challenging the context of unequal power ... and prohibiting others from speaking."
By Jennifer Corriero and Adrian Assoufi



Photo credit: TakingITGlobal

When we ask young people from around the world to describe feelings of belonging, they reference a sense of connection to family, friends, even people they have met for the first time and their experiences shared. If you take a moment to reflect on a time when you experienced a strong sense of belonging, what are the feelings that arise? How can we ignite and increase a greater sense of belonging as a way to promote peace and prosperity across cultures?

In reflecting on the very first Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) related to ending poverty in all its forms everywhere, it is important to consider the role of fostering a sense of belonging. As stated in a research paper titled Social Isolation and its Relationship to Multidimensional Poverty by Sameul, K. et al, "One dimension of poverty that has been often overlooked is social connectedness." We can also see how belonging and social connectedness links closely to other SDGs such as ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages. A sense of belonging is a human need, like the need for food and shelter and who we are is shaped by the people who we are connected to.



Photo credit: TakingITGlobal

While at the 2016 Winter Youth Assembly at the United Nations in New York last week, participants at the Engagement Expo had an opportunity to participate in conversations about belonging while interacting with an international art exhibit produced by TakingITGlobal. One participant from Niger spoke about the importance of being able to communicate across languages, another local participant from Queens shared her experience working with children in schools in the Bronx where belonging means survival and the key factor in life success. Two young women from different countries who had met at the conference for the first time felt that that belonging was an innate feeling of wanting to know someone and the desire to share stories about life experiences and hopes for the future.

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Photo credit: Ionut Vacar/Friendship Ambassadors Foundation, Inc.

TakingITGlobal is an international organization based in Toronto, Canada that inspires youth to engage as leaders within their local and global communities through the power of their creativity and digital technologies. In partnership with the Samuel Family Foundation, TakingITGlobal launched a Global Gallery project inviting youth in every continent to express their imagination, voice and perspective on depicting visual representations on the theme of belonging so that we tackle the issue of isolation together. Our plan is to curate an online collection and exhibit to showcase at international conferences and events to inspire decision makers in policy making and action, the Winter Youth Assembly being a powerful conference to inspire generations of leaders.



Photo credit: TakingITGlobal

One of the images submitted to this Global Gallery collection from a youth participant in Nigeria links a personal sense of belonging with citizenship and right to vote. "Someone that belongs to a community, is eligible to join in making decisions that affect his/her community. People take part in making decision through voting into power whom they want to represent them."

Another youth from Pakistan shares their artwork entitled Longing for a Family is Belonging: Lost or Buried describing the absence of family or the disintegration of any real foundation of belonging . "There is little cohesiveness - no belonging - indeed it is fracturing, and this can be a very troubling lack for those affected by this absence in their lives."



Photo credit: TakingITGlobal

The metaphor of a puzzle was portrayed in an image submitted by a participant from Tunisia who is representing many aspects of culture, identity and expressions of freedom within the artwork. "I tried to compile in an aesthetic manner our prominent archetypes that best describe who we are...In a word, our authenticity, traditions and culture is our only warrant for a harmonious community and an enforced sense of belonging."

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Photo credit: TakingITGlobal

A sense of belonging is a human need, like the need for food and shelter and who we are is shaped by the people who we are connected to. Young people can play a critical role as community builders on our path to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. At TakingITGlobal, our hope is to create opportunities for youth to project their imagination and creativity while emerging as leaders in a global movement of fostering social connectedness.
by Katherine J. Wynne



Photo credit: Katherine J. Wynne

Within the last thirty years--approximately one generation--the world has seen the birth of the internet, laptop computers, mobile phones, email, ecommerce, micro-financing, social networking, bio fuels, solar energy and human genome sequencing. Within one generation, the fabric that binds humanity from one continent to the next has been entirely digitized or otherwise fundamentally transformed. We have seen first-hand that the globe is capable of adapting to dramatically new norms, methods of conducting business, and ways of interconnecting in a remarkably short period of time. If the world is capable of such dramatic change in one generation, why then do world leaders project it will take nearly six generations before women achieve equality?

"You can't distribute equality the way you distribute food aid," Mr. Ravi Karkara, Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director of UN Women, noted poignantly at the 2016 Winter Youth Assembly at the United Nations last month in New York City. Of the seventeen new Sustainable Development Goals, equality for women is Goal #5. It is categorically separate, yet serves as the pre-conditional bedrock to the success of every other UN goal. Therefore, the very success of the 2030 Goals rests upon women's ability to achieve equality within our next generation.



Photo credit: Katherine J. Wynne

The greatest challenge facing women's equality will be the upheaval of deep-rooted perceptions of the role of women in society. The revolution must be a cultural one before it will truly have a long-term impact on social, political, and economic spheres. Equality for women comes down to the fundamental nature of humanity, not apathy towards cultural differences. To achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls, we will require no less than the full mobilization of all 1.8 billion of the world's youth.

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Overhauling the role of women in society must begin at the most basic levels. "At this [Youth Assembly] we are speaking to those men who know not to hit, who know to instead empower women. We need to reach those men who don't," heralded Mohammed Naeem, founder of gender equality non-profit ManUp, at the Youth Assembly. The diplomats, civic leaders, corporate executives and youth delegates of the Youth Assembly unanimously echoed his call-to-arms. Over the course of two days, it became clear that 'global development for 2030' is truly a tour de force for women's rights. This cross-cultural movement will be championed, defended, and sustained by today's youth.



Photo credit: Katherine J. Wynne

Youth advocacy will be the gateway for women achieving equality in all spheres of society, economy, and policy. Youth entering the workforce must bridge the gaps between industries and across sectors by adopting a common set of ethical standards for women's equality. This collective upheaval of the cultural, economic, and educational roadblocks to equality will in turn have a substantial impact on all sixteen other 2030 development goals.

Researchers estimate that there is the potential for nearly 1 billion women to enter the workforce in the coming decade. The impact these women will have on education, hunger, poverty, clean water, economic growth, peace, and justice can only now be glimpsed. The technological advances of the last 30 years have equipped today's youth with the tools necessary to take immediate action to finally close the gender gap. As a youth delegate at the 2016 Winter Youth Assembly at the United Nations, I feel incredibly proud and humbled to be part of this movement.

Katherine J. Wynne is a leading young professional in the financial sector. She has previously been attached to the Canadian Embassy, the US House of Representatives, and Refugees International.

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On January 25, the television show Recovery Road debuted on Freeform (formerly ABC Family). The program is rapidly approaching 200,000 Facebook likes, 30,000 Instagram followers, and 10,000 Twitter followers and should reach the 250,000 mark by conclusion of the first season later this spring. A decision on whether the show is to be renewed for a second season will be announced in the next several days. However, with audiences failing to reach 500,000 for the first six episodes, a second season is far from assured.

A December 2015 MTV article provided a sneak-peek synopsis of the show:

Based on the young adult novel by Blake Nelson, the series centers on Maddie (Jessica Sula of the U.K. series Skins), a real wild child who struggles to put her life back together after being busted for drugs and alcohol at school. Maddie is ultimately ordered to complete her junior year of high school in a sober living facility for teens struggling with addiction.

At first, Maddie rebels against Spring Meadows and all of its "rules," but she grudgingly begins to open up to her fellow housemates, who include Daniel Franzese (Mean Girls), Kyla Pratt (The Proud Family), Lindsay Pearce (Glee), and Sula's Skins co-star Sebastian de Souza.

Recovery Road is noteworthy in that it is one of the first television shows to highlight the process of recovery without shining a permanent spotlight on the horrors of addiction. Some individuals in the recovery community may disagree with the show's portrayal of the recovery process, but it is undoubtedly a step in the right direction. We have come a long way from not seriously addressing any behavioral health issue, to only seeing the horrors of addiction, and now finally being able to witness recovery through the media lens.

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Recovery Road premiered on Freeform (formerly ABC Family) on January 25th.

Show co-founder and co-executive producer Karen DiConcetto has begun opening up about her uncle's struggle with addiction. In December, I served on a SAMHSA-sponsored panel with DiConcetto, and we talked about the show's long-awaited premiere and the media's opportunity to bring recovery into the national spotlight.

The panel discussion, titled Navigating the Social Framework of New Found Recovery, included topics such as integration of addiction and mental health recoveries, recovery support on college campuses, and using one's own story to enact change in the community. On the topic of storytelling, DiConcetto discussed the writers' room thought process on how they wanted to portray recovery. These words stuck with me: "Addiction is the great unifier... it affects everybody." The sober house in which Maddie lives has individuals in recovery from all walks of life and with various lengths of sobriety. Portraying different faces of recovery, as well as multiple pathways that recovery can take, is a great first step in addressing issues of recovery by the media.

An article from The Guardian highlights DiConcetto's hope for Recovery Road to be a conversation starter:

Recovery Road is a bold show wrapped up in a palatable and accessible teen drama that makes for fun television viewing. The show will also undoubtedly give some parents--and perhaps teens--pause as it plainly shows that a high-functioning teenage girl can have serious addiction issues. DiConcetto hopes that it will start a lot of conversations between friends and families. "Our hope all along was for this to be the kind of show that people can talk about afterwards," said DiConcetto. "Because addiction is something that should be talked about. We want to help de-stigmatize it and hope that society at large starts to support people who are struggling with addiction and their families."

Time will tell whether the media spotlight continues to shift from active addiction to active recovery. This kind of attention to recovery needs to be present in film, at mega-events such as award shows or the Olympics, and throughout social media as much as possible. As today's youth mature, their ideas and realities are increasingly affected by what they see in the media. Doubters need only to observe media influence in the current Presidential election activities to understand the media's seemingly infinite reach.
In our careers as journalists and advisors to scientists, economists, policy experts and leaders in how to deal with the media, one of the most important skills that we stress is staying on message. It's not a skill most experts are naturally good at. In many fields a question is an opportunity for an expert to think out loud and explore many possible answers. Unfortunately, what works in a classroom or policy debate can backfire badly in media interview. In a media interview, the purpose of a question is different. Journalists use just a few of your words to support the narrative of the story they want to tell. For an expert, your key job during an interview is to get your main message and important information used in the story. An interview question is an opportunity to delivery your message in a convincing manner.

We can imagine some of you responding, "Why would I want to engage at all if that's the level of discourse?" The answer is because the media is a very efficient way to spread your key messages to policy makers, social influencers, and the general public. These groups make decisions, pass laws, and vote. They won't be well informed about your ideas and research unless you tell them. And to tell them, you have to get through the filter of the journalist who often is not trained in your field of expertise and may not know the right questions to ask. But they do know how to make a story interesting so people will actually read it.



So, in a media interview, the burden falls on you to get your important information across. That means first, having a clear message. Second, repeating it often enough (but not too much) that the journalist gets it. Third, staying on message and avoiding tangents so that you don't end up with a different story than the one you wanted to tell. (For more on clear messages, see Chapter 1 of our book, The Master Communicator's Handbook.)



One of our media course graduates, conservation biologist (and Smith Fellow) Scott Stephens, a regional director at Ducks Unlimited Canada, puts it like this: "In TV they typically pull only a 10-15 second clip from a much longer back and forth. So if you don't repeat your key message in various forms, they will undoubtedly pull the only 'off message' clip that you provide and that is what will run."



Scott learned from us the art of "redirecting:" turning an off-topic question deftly back to the issue you want to talk about. It's not actually that hard. You give a very short one sentence response to the question being asked, then take the initiative and bring the conversation back to your research. Scott says he uses phrases such as "what's really important..." and "what is especially relevant on this issue is...."



Scott continues, "I also did a radio interview last spring where I felt like the host was baiting me by ranting during the commercial breaks about his own political views (we were talking about new legislation introduced on wetland policy). He didn't try to draw me into picking sides while on the air but I was very cognizant of giving him any fodder that he might look to find controversy around when the microphone was on."



Good media sense kept Scott focused on his issue.



For scientists and other experts building their skills at staying on message, here are six tag lines we find helpful for staying on message:
In the new year of 2015, I was excited by the idea of welcoming Paloma O'Shea to New England Conservatory of Music as part of a short US tour she was undertaking with her colleagues from Madrid. I had heard so much about her and the determination and vision she had demonstrated in creating from nothing a new conservatoire of music in Madrid, the Reina Sofia School of Music. But, alas, this visit never happened. The weather in the US intervened with one of the worst snowstorms on the east coast and Paloma and her party were marooned in NYC.

But several weeks later I found myself visiting sunny and warm Spain in the early spring and took time out to make good our belated introduction. She was, of course, the most charming hostess, showing me the School, and relating the story of its development over the last 25 years. There is an original painting in Paloma's office of the great violinist Yehudi Menuhin smiling as he prepares a score, and, in many ways, this picture represents the very essence of how the School came into being.

In 1972, Paloma founded the Santander Piano Competition. She is a trained musician and an accomplished pianist, having won an End of Studies Prize at age 15 and performing with the Bilbao Symphony. So a competition devoted to her instrument of choice seemed very natural. But then she saw that Spanish pianists were not making it past the first round in the Santander, which inspired her to create a conservatoire in Spain devoted to the highest levels of musicianship and teaching. Through the support of BP she traveled extensively visiting music schools across the world from London to Moscow and NYC. She established a group of distinguished advisers-- Menuhin, Rostropovich, Alicia de Larrocha, Lorin Maazel, and Zubin Mehta, all of whom gave huge amounts of time and offered the right advice. Paloma always speaks of these early investors in her vision with the warmest affection and gratitude. Their generosity of spirit and insight allowed her to put together the plans for what is generally acknowledged a world class institution in Madrid.

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The Reina Sofia School of Music was established in 1991 and situated on a small campus a few kilometers outside the city. The school lacked a concert hall and the facilities were far from ideal but it nevertheless boasted a great working team and collaborative spirit between the faculty and the students. "Taking all our meals together can do that," Paloma explains.

From the outset, the school's DNA was established and it remains very much intact today: quality faculty, a commitment to social justice, comprehensive and personalized education. The Conservatoire is small at about 150 students and there is a special emphasis given to applicants from Spain, Portugal and South America. The official language of the School is Spanish but it is overwhelmingly international in spirit with students drawn from all over the globe. Mohamed Hiber (Mo Mo to his friends!, pictured right), a young outstanding violinist from France, studies at the School. But he is also a leading member of Daniel Barenboim's West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, which was just designated as a United Nations Global Advocate for Cultural Understanding for its work with Israel and Palestine.

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In 2008, the institution moved into the heart of Madrid and is now situated in an elegant and beautifully designed new building by Miguel Oriol, in the Plaza de Oriente and very close to the Royal Palace. It has a concert hall; the Sony Hall, which is ideal for chamber music; and excellent facilities for students and faculty. The planning that went into this new building and the partnerships with City authorities and major corporations are testament to the energy and determination that Paloma shows in getting things done. Her approach is very much along the American model of establishing relationships and trust and then raising funds through these networks. As Paloma says, "You have to sell."

The School's original budget began with 1 million pesetas (about 6,000) and has grown now to 9 million so fundraising for general revenue and scholarships for students is a never-ending task.

The Conservatoire is now celebrating its 25th anniversary and during its short history has established itself--amazingly-- as one of Europe's most important music schools. Its faculty roster alone reads like a Who's Who in the music world. It proudly claims some of the greatest teachers and performers, such as the violinists Zahkar Bron and Ana Chumachenco, the violist Nobuko Imai, the pianist Dimitri Bashkirov and the chamber music institute headed up by Gunter Pichler, the voice department led by Ryland Davies, and a special relationship with the great Spanish mezzo-soprano Teresa Berganza amongst other distinguished faculty. The Academic Director is the distinguished Argentinian-Spanish composer-conductor Fabian Panisello (in photo right) whose command of multiple languages and charm seems to know no bounds. And on the management front, there is Julia Sanchez Abeal, Director General of the Albeniz Foundation (the School's governing body), who brings a wealth of business experience.

With 25 years of growth behind it, the School continues to refine and expand its program. It is currently proposing a new master's degree to complement the existing bachelor's and graduate certifcate. The leaders are also considering new ideas such as developing a studio pedagogy program, an Entrepreneurial Musicianship program, and new relationships with the Teatro Real and Royal Academy of Music among other educational institutions.

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Throughout this time the School's guiding spirit and visionary has been, and continues to be, Paloma, who just celebrated a notable birthday, her 80th. Her elegance, passion and dedication to the School's mission radiate from her being. She is a mother of six, a grandmother of 19, and is known and loved not just by the School but also by the whole music fraternity in Spain. Seeing her with Reina Sofia in June at the School's Commencement ceremony at the Teatro Real was like coming across two deeply affectionate sisters. She has been recognized for her wonderful accomplishments with the Legion d'Honneur from France, the Picasso Award from UNESCO and the title of Marchioness of O'Shea conferred by the King of Spain. This tireless worker for the very best of music and our society still has her sights trained on making the School even greater. After all, she said to me, "Once the children were grown what was she to do?" Well I think she has used her time very wisely.
Even before the death of Antonin Scalia, February 2016 was history-making for the US Supreme Court. The stay the Court placed on the Obama Administration's regulation of coal-fired power plants, central to mitigating global climate change, is unprecedented. And now with one of the high court's seats empty, the long-term future of our climate, and health, is as uncertain as the near-term U.S. presidential elections.

Morally, however, the situation remains unchanged: failure to take action to alleviate the negative human effect on the environment, and to lead that effort globally, will be the cause of unjustifiable suffering and death. Any near-term benefits of delay cannot begin to outweigh the costs to current and future generations - especially to the global poor, who will be hit first and worst by the dangerous effects of climate change, and who did practically nothing to contribute to the problem.

Although the stay issued against Obama's Clean Power Plan is only temporary - the case will likely return to the Supreme Court after challenges are heard by an appeals court - this development could spell disaster for the fight against climate change. It indicates a lack of commitment on the part of the US at following through with essential climate change mitigation efforts, and essentially guarantees that the issue will not be settled during Obama's presidency.

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But let's take a step back and see what the real cost of this decision could be. Remember the climate agreement in Paris in December? The one that everyone praised and cheered, and that so many said was the first real step towards saving us from climate change? To really understand the impact of the Supreme Court's ruling, we need to look closely at the significance of that deal, and what this latest development means for it.

The Paris Agreement has widely been publicized to promise limiting global warming to 2.7C, which is already well above the 2 threshold for 'dangerous climate change'. But the truth is, 2.7 is the low end of the estimate from Paris. In fact, the pledges submitted by member states at the COP21 meeting in Paris are estimated to limit global warming to 2.7-3.5C.

Let me be clear: 3.5C would be catastrophic. It would result in portions of the earth being virtually uninhabitable by humans. Low lying island nations would slip under water, as would many major coastal cities, and densely-populated delta areas like those of Bangladesh. Since average warming is distributed unevenly over land and water, much of the inhabited portions of the earth would see average temperatures 5C higher, contributing to deadly heat in equatorial and desert regions. Large portions of Africa would suffer catastrophic crop loss, and the number of people suffering from food shortage and severe water stress would be in the billions. Wild fires would rage completely out of control during the summer months, and devastating tropical storms would be increasingly frequent. Weather, lack of food and water, and changes in disease vectors would likely force hundreds of millions of people from their homes, in search of someplace more hospitable. All of these threats would be profoundly economically and politically destabilizing, resulting in a heightened risk of armed conflict.

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The Paris Agreement, then, clearly needs strengthening - risking a 3.5C temperature rise should be seen as a minimum achievement. However, even this minimal achievement has not yet been secured, as the agreement hasn't been ratified, and there are no concrete plans for most countries to reach their self-imposed limits. So how did governments convince one another that they were serious about doing their part? How did countries like the US, in particular, which is an enormous part of the problem, convince other countries that we are serious? Well, President Obama pointed to his EPA regulations of the coal industry, which is our most significant climate change mitigation effort to date. And prior to each country ratifying the Paris Agreement this spring, you can bet that governments will be watching one another - especially the big emitters like the US and China - looking for signs of good faith.

And this is what those other countries will see: the US Supreme Court taking unprecedented legal action to stay the EPA regulations. The Court, and the politicians challenging the regulations, are saying loud and clear that we aren't planning to do our part in activating a climate change mitigation strategy that needed strengthening rather than weakening.

In the time between now and ratification of the Paris Agreement, Americans need to show our partners abroad that we do, in fact, want to start the process of solving the climate change crisis. The Supreme Court vote to stay Obama's Clean Power Plan was 5-4, divided along ideological lines; with Justice Scalia's passing, the plan may yet survive the coming challenges, but only if we make it clear to our politicians that doing our part to fight catastrophic climate change is a priority.

How do we do that? Luckily it's an election year. I think it's time to vote environmentally. If Republican officials have their way, then President Obama will be unable to confirm a Supreme Court Justice to replace Justice Scalia, meaning that the next president will play a large role in deciding whether the Court is split 5-4 against climate change regulation, or for it. The front-running Republican candidates, however, do not exactly have a sterling reputation on climate change. Donald Trump has recently said that he is 'not a believer' in anthropogenic climate change, and both Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio were pressured by the Koch brothers to sign a pledge to oppose any climate change legislation that includes a net increase in government revenue. This despite the fact that Rubio represents the state of Florida, which is already experiencing the harms of rising sea-levels and increased storm surge - facts that the Senator has ignored or denied, at the cost of failing to help the state take adaptive measures.

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LAS VEGAS, NV - JANUARY 06: The Samsung logo is seen at CES 2016 at the Las Vegas Convention Center on January 6, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. CES, the world's largest annual consumer technology trade show, runs through January 9 and is expected to feature 3,600 exhibitors showing off their latest products and services to more than 150,000 attendees. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Apple just suffered an important legal defeat to Samsung in its battle over patents. This is good because Apple's claims were frivolous; its patents were questionable; and its use of litigation to hold back a competitor set another wrong precedent for the industry. Because of these patent wars and patent trolls, technology companies are divesting huge resources to defend themselves rather than advancing their innovations. This is the equivalent of nuclear arms race and is a lose-lose situation.

Apple and Samsung have been at war over patents for many years. In the last round in 2014, a jury ordered Samsung to pay Apple $119.6 million in damages for infringing on three Apple patents. These weren't game changing innovations; they were simple and common smartphone features. One patent described how to turn a phone number into a link that could be clicked on, another protected the "slide to unlock" feature, and another was a slightly different way of auto-correcting spellings.

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A three-judge appeals panel agreed with Samsung that there was substantial prior art for the first two patents and these should never have been granted. They also concluded that Samsung didn't infringe on Apple's auto-correct patent.

If reason prevails, this ruling will stop the smartphone patent wars. What is best for innovation is a thriving ecosystem in which companies build on each other's ideas and constantly reinvent themselves -- instead of trying to slow each other down in the courts. It is bad enough when big companies with deep pockets battle each other, but for young companies, lawsuits can be fatal. Fledgling innovators have to live in constant fear of a big player or patent troll pulling out a big gun and bankrupting them. For startups, this is a greater concern than someone stealing their ideas.

This begs a bigger question: do we even need patents in an era in which technology is advancing so rapidly that it makes entire computing platforms obsolete in less time than it takes to be awarded a patent?

Stanford Law School professor, Mark Lemley, who is my colleague, says that when used correctly, patents can be valuable because they generate real technology transfer. But patent litigation, such as what Apple resorted to, rarely does the world any good. Says Lemley "in this case, they've spent years, countless court resources, and literally over one billion dollars in attorney and expert fees to produce a net fee award of $158,400 -- and ironically, this went to Samsung." He notes that in an earlier case, Apple won a significant amount of money that it may or may not get to keep depending on what the Supreme Court rules. "Other than that, not much has changed as a result of the lawsuit", he concludes.

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In a new paper, "Patent Licensing, Technology Transfer, & Innovation," that Lemley co-authored with Robin Feldman of University of California Hastings, the key finding was that patents are only useful when they deliver innovation to consumers that they would not otherwise get. This happens in the pharmaceutical industry when a company is allowed to exclude competitors for a fixed period of time to recoup its sizable investment in research. Value is also created when a university transfers know-how along with a patent and when an infringer copies from the patent owner.

If a patent isn't causing innovation to get to consumers, it is not helping society, however.

Lemley and Feldman found that that patent litigation and licensing demands for existing patents only happen after the defendant has developed and implemented the technology, particularly when patent trolls are involved. And they cite several studies which show that patent trolls now account for the majority of patent lawsuits that are filed.

This means that other than through university technology transfer, hardly any innovation is being created by technology patents. Therefore, it may be best to abolish them, particularly software patents--which have long been clogging up the patent office.

Universities are very defensive about patents; they argue that they need these to protect their ideas and inventions. This may be true, but it leads to yet another question: should universities be profiting from license revenue obtained from research that was publicly funded? Regardless of the answer, for the larger cause of innovation, it is clear that patents are not fulfilling the purpose for which they were intended. The often-cited defense of patents, that patent rights encourage inventions that would not otherwise occur, is no longer grounded in reality.

Patents were created by the founders of the United States for a purpose: "to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries." Patents were very important when technology moved very slowly and required the types of investment and protection that medical discoveries and pharmaceuticals do. And there may be rare instances where unique software algorithms need protection. But all of this can be achieved through copyright laws and trade secrets.

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It's been a big week for reports that will be useful to those working to enable a broad range of off-grid energy solutions for the 1.2 billion people currently lacking access to modern energy.

First, today marks the release of the much-anticipated Off-Grid Solar Market Trends Report 2016, published by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) and the World Bank Group's Lighting Global program, in cooperation with the Global Off-Grid Lighting Association (GOGLA). The report addresses trends in markets for off-grid solar products and services, noting that annual investments into the sector have risen 15-fold from 2012 to $276 million in 2015 alone. To put this rapid investment spike in context: the total investment in the sector to date is $511 million.

This report also includes information on sales of off-grid products, including a breakdown of sales by product feature and a breakdown of pico-solar lighting product sales in Asia and Africa. Sales of pico-solar lighting products in Asia are depicted in Figure 18 below.

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And earlier this week, Global LEAP, a part of the U.S. Department of Energy's Clean Energy Ministerial Initiative, released The State of the Global Off-Grid Appliance Market, describing the state of the market for highly energy-efficient appliances, including fans, televisions, and appliances. The efficiency of these appliances and LED lights has been transformative, allowing off-grid solar to improve the lives of 89 million people in Africa and Asia. The report estimates that by 2020, consumer spending on off-grid fans, televisions, and refrigerators could reach $4.7 billion per year (up 800 percent from $525 million in 2015). This is captured in Figure 8 below, which is broken down by appliance.

The market trends report includes a broader range of technologies than in its 2010 and 2012 reports and also pays specific attention to Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) models, which provide consumers with more flexible payment options. In 2014 and 2015, PAYG companies received 87 percent of direct investments into off-grid solar companies. These companies will likely continue to attract the most attention. The diagram below, from the BNEF, Lighting Global, and GOGLA report, shows a sample of Pay-As-You-Go players along the value chain, including major impact and strategic investors.

While things might be going well for the sector as a whole, challenges certainly exist. For example, the report from BNEF, Lighting Global, and GOGLA notes the proliferation of cheap, generic off-grid products. This threatens market spoilage with unpredictable quality and impacts the sales of quality-assured companies.

Additionally, financing remains a bottleneck, in spite of the huge rise in investments mentioned above. Along with private investors, the U.S. government and multilateral development banks can play a role in alleviating some of these financing challenges through investments and assuming some investment risk through loan guarantees.

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The recent exposure of "Doctor" Victor Kanyari's antics at his Cross Road Church in Nyamakima by the investigative show Jicho Pevu and the on-going primary elections here in the United States to elect President Barack Obama's successor got me thinking about religion and politics.

Kenyans and Americans, indeed most humans are susceptible to smooth-talking "men (and women) of the cloth" and politicians alike. On the vulnerability of Kenyans to the wolves in sheep's clothes, Daily Nation's Macharia Gaitho echoes the very sentiment in the piece aptly titled "Our own gullibility invites politicians, con men and charlatans to fleece us".

"Professor" Kanyari's gambit brought home the gullibility of the folks who attend "prayer rallies" and campaign rallies alike. The spectacle of the Range Rover-driving "pastor" reminded me of the entry into the national spotlight of the hitherto unknown Alaskan governor and John McCain's running mate Sarah Palin. Not surprising, the same phenomenon is currently on display in the on-going primaries for the nominee for the Grand Old Party's (GOP).

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A consistent observation in both Kenya and America is that the same people who wrap themselves in religious language and symbolism are the very ones who demonize others:

Think of the self-proclaimed Christians who preach "hard work", supposedly eschew "handouts" or "entitlements"; the very ones who sermonize about "pulling themselves up by the bootstrap" while pilfering from the public coffers. These are the same people who propose policy positions that are antithetical to the teachings of Christ while bloviating about "compassionate conservatism", "binders full of women" or their love for the "poorly educated".

The reaction of the crowd and the language employed by the politicians and their supposedly religious supporters at rallies across the respective countries (Kenya and America) is disconcertingly similar.

The unabashed references to their faith by these self-avowed Christians even as they concurrently render judgment unto others belie their proclamations of said faith and adherence to the teachings of Jesus Christ. The animus directed at opponents -- perceived and otherwise -- at the campaigns, "prayer rallies" or at funerals that more often than not morph into political rallies bring back memories of the vitriol directed at then-Senator Barack Obama at campaign stops in remote areas of these United States such Henderson, Nevada or Johnston, Pennsylvania.

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In his book Ethnic Groups In Conflict, Donald Horowitz writes about the use of language and symbology as calculated attempts to mask claims in ideas and associations that have moral force ostensibly behind issue at hand. This attempts then hides the true intentions of those making the claim even as said intentions are readily understood by the base i.e. "dog whistles" to the faithful. By repeatedly claiming that their opponents are "un-patriotic tools" of "foreigner masters," Jubilee/GOP succeed/ed in casting their rivals not as people with differing policy positions, but as "un-Godly" and "other" entities voters should be very wary and leery of.

Thus here in the US, the first non-black president of Harvard Law Review, Barack Obama morphed into Satan, Osama (bin Laden) and/or Hitler! The current POTUS became an "Arab" as one woman curiously claimed at a McCain town hall campaign rally.

On a side but related note, the summons (for Mr. Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto) to appear at The Hague mutated from "personal challenges" as famously characterized by then-candidate Uhuru Kenyatta into attacks against "Kenya's sovereignty" and specifically against their presidential aspirations. Unsurprisingly, those attending the "prayer rallies" were told that these "attacks against Kenya's sovereignty" were orchestrated by the same "foreigners" (ICC) who had imprisoned Jomo Kenyatta during Kenya's fight for independence against the same "foreigners" (British/West)!

So just as the language used by folks claiming to be Christians evokes their faith and relationship with Jesus Christ, invariably at the expense of their opponents, so did the language used at the rallies organized to support now-President Kenyatta and his deputy. And like some of the language heard at the GOP (campaign) rallies, it is language and symbolism that could have been drawn up and staged by the same campaign/political strategist.

The same people who willingly surrender their money to the likes of Kanyari, Njohi, Jimmy Swaggart and Benny Hinn are the same folks who will swear by these self-styled (political and religious) leaders, in some cases physically attacking and/or spewing the vilest of hatred at perceived opponents. They will do this even as their chosen leaders "...share the national wealth among themselves amid great hilarity and copious gulps of the finest champagne at those exclusive hideaways they build" and drive in their Range Rovers, "to get away from the foolish hoi polloi" who support their duplicitous lifestyle!

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On February 9, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling to pause implementation of the Clean Power Plan while the lower court reviews the legality of the regulations. The "stay" of the rule means that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may not enforce the Clean Power Plan pending the resolution of the case on the merits. That challenge is currently before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, which will hear oral arguments in June and is expected to reach a decision in the fall.

The Clean Power Plan is the Obama administration's signature environmental initiative, representing the most ambitious effort to control greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. The Plan sets a significant emissions reduction target of 32 percent from 2005 levels by 2030, to be achieved through a series of measures that will limit carbon emissions from power plants, while increasing the share of renewable energy and encouraging new energy efficiency actions.

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As the We Mean Business coalition notes, the Clean Power Plan is the foundation of a thriving, clean American economy, and the economic benefits are clear. The White House estimates the Clean Power Plan could save consumers up to US$155 billion from 2020-2030 by providing cheaper energy. It will drive innovation, create new and better job opportunities, help grow the economy, and increase the competitiveness of American businesses in the global marketplace. These benefits led 365 companies and investors to encourage governors across the country to finalize their implementation strategies when the plan was finalized in August of last year. Major companies such as Mars Inc., Nestle, Staples, Unilever, General Mills and VF Corporation were among the signatories of the letters sent to 29 governors.

While the ultimate legal outcome is unclear at this point, what is very clear is that the pace and scale of the transition to a thriving, clean economy is now undeniable, irresistible, and inevitable. For the record:

The Clean Power Plan enjoys overwhelming public support, with close to three-quarters of all Americans supporting climate action and climate policies like the plan. In fact, 61 percent of the public supports the Clean Power Plan in the very states that are suing the EPA. With water contamination in Michigan and methane leakage in California stirring public outrage across the country, the public's tolerance for environmental pollution is low.

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The mix of power-generating sources in the United States has shifted away from coal in recent years, due to the increasing cost-effectiveness of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, the decline in natural gas prices, and the increasing stringency of regulations on conventional pollutants. While implementation of the Clean Power Plan will accelerate this trend, it will continue even if the plan is overturned.

According to The Climate Group and CDP, in 2014, half of all new power capacity was from renewable sources. Renewables now generate 22.8% of all global electricity use - and this is set to grow further still. This is in part because the cost of renewable power technologies is continuing to drop, which is strengthening the economic case for switching to renewable power. Analysis by Bloomberg New Energy Finance indicates that $8 trillion will be invested in renewable energy technologies between now and 2040. The decision to temporarily halt the CPP will not alter this pattern.

Governments across the globe are committed to climate action, demonstrated by 196 sovereign nations signing the historic Paris Agreement in December. As a signatory to the agreement, the United States will honor its commitment to holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 C above pre-industrial levels by rapidly reducing greenhouse gas emissions and achieving net zero emissions in the second half of this century. Moreover, 188 countries have developed national climate action plans with sweeping commitments to reduce emissions across all industrial sectors. The U.S. national climate action plan includes standards for heavy-duty engines and vehicles, energy efficiency standards, and economy-wide measures to reduce other greenhouse gas emissions beyond carbon dioxide. These policies are untouched by the temporary halt to the Clean Power Plan.

Business is a committed partner to climate action and ambition, with more than 2,000 global corporations joining the United Nations Lima-Paris Action Agenda, which brings state and non-state actors together to accelerate cooperative climate action. The We Mean Business campaign involves 368 companies worth almost US$8 trillion and 186 investors with assets under management in excess of US$20 trillion. Through this campaign, companies have made more than 900 commitments to reduce emissions, enhance resilience, and advocate for effective climate policies.

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BAIER: Mr. Trump, just yesterday, almost 100 foreign policy experts signed on to an open letter refusing to support you, saying your embracing expansive use of torture is inexcusable. General Michael Hayden, former CIA director, NSA director, and other experts have said that when you asked the U.S. military to carry out some of your campaign promises, specifically targeting terrorists' families, and also the use of interrogation methods more extreme than waterboarding, the military will refuse because they've been trained to turn down and refuse illegal orders.

So what would you do, as commander-in-chief, if the U.S. military refused to carry out those orders?

TRUMP: They won't refuse. They're not going to refuse me. Believe me.

BAIER: But they're illegal.

TRUMP: Let me just tell you, you look at the Middle East. They're chopping off heads. They're chopping off the heads of Christians and anybody else that happens to be in the way. They're drowning people in steel cages. And he -- now we're talking about waterboarding.

This really started with Ted, a question was asked of Ted last -- two debates ago about waterboarding. And Ted was, you know, having a hard time with that question, to be totally honest with you. They then came to me, what do you think of waterboarding? I said it's fine. And if we want to go stronger, I'd go stronger, too, because, frankly...

(APPLAUSE)

... that's the way I feel. Can you imagine -- can you imagine these people, these animals over in the Middle East, that chop off heads, sitting around talking and seeing that we're having a hard problem with waterboarding? We should go for waterboarding and we should go tougher than waterboarding. That's my opinion.

BAIER: But targeting terrorists' families?

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And -- and -- and -- I'm a leader. I'm a leader. I've always been a leader. I've never had any problem leading people. If I say do it, they're going to do it. That's what leadership is all about.
The Japanese are well-known for making efficient use of small living areas, a necessity of their high population density. As a native, I myself often find the womb-like qualities of these spaces comforting, not confining. This feeling is what led me to the subject of these portraits, which show the residents of what is best described as a guesthouse for backpackers in Tokyo. The facility is a sort of downscale version of the well-known "capsule hotels" often used by Japanese businessmen for short-term stays.

One of several such facilities in the city, this diminutive, bare-bones hotel takes up one floor of an office building. It is composed of a few hallways, along which the proprietor has built tiny living compartments, perhaps no larger than XX x XX feet, none with enough headroom to stand up straight inside. Separated only by unfinished plywood, the spaces have no windows or door, only a curtain at the entrance for privacy. They are, however, cooled and heated. The monthly rent is something on the order of $300.

Some of the people in these images, whom I've shown surrounded by their possessions, stay at the facility for a relatively short time. They may be visiting Tokyo, waiting for a job to come through, or saving money for a better place to live. For other residents, these tiny cubicles are essentially permanent homes.

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I spent almost two months living in the residence myself. I did this so I could get to know the people staying there, and earn their confidence. For me, the real interest of the resulting portraits is in how each resident has made use of a such a small, confining space. Some of the interiors are spartan, perhaps occupied by people who are staying only for a short time. Others are full of possessions, often complete with hanging wardrobes and improvised bookshelves--even "decorated." Of these, some are neat and orderly and others are chaotic, with personal items strewn everywhere. In each case, the sharply-defined space and its contents tell something about its occupant's personality, and his or her ability to function in such a strange, enclosed environment.
Following the Berlin Launch of DiEM25, eleven representatives of the GREENS (including two Members of the European Parliament) sent DiEM25 an Open Letter welcoming its 'birth' and urging us to unite in the fight for a Democratic, Sustainable, Humanist, Open Europe. Here is Yanis Varoufakis' reply to their Open Letter (which you can download here or here in pdf):

Dear Young European Greens,

Dear Florent, Julien, Karima, Michel, Rui , Vedran, Adam, Laura, Teo, Zakia, Patrick,

You are right: Dreaming of a united, democratised Europe is our only weapon against a divided, authoritarian, potentially Dark Continent.

Our common dream is the only antidote to the common nightmare already in the works. But to become an effective antidote we need to join forces.

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We need to overcome the usual tendency of progressives to fall prey to the sirens of discord.

We need a broad coalition of European Democrats from across the Left, Green, Liberal and Progressive Conservative divides.

As Brian Eno put it in DiEM's Berlin Launch, Democrats are people who know that they do not possess the answers but who, at the same time, remain convinced that, together, it is possible to come up with good answers, helpful actions, and sensible policies.

Your open letter, to those of us who initiated DiEM25, is a source of great hope that our utopian dream is not only the sole alternative to a frightful dystopia but also that it is a pragmatic project. The fact that you were with us at DiEM25's Berlin Launch (some physically, others in spirit) makes DiEM25 your movement, your infrastructure. Together with the many others from different movements, organisations and political parties who have also joined DiEM25, you, we, others who will join in soon, have the opportunity to start building up our Conversation, to organise our Assemblies, to plan out Actions, to work towards the New Consensus that Europe needs to arrest the process threatening to deconstruct its institutions, dissolve its integrity, and lose its soul.

You bring to DiEM25 something invaluable: the voice of the younger members of the Green Movement.

Truth be told, some of us older members of the Left, of Social Democracy, of the Trade Unions, of the Liberal Democratic tradition, have in the past paid insufficient attention to the corrosive effect on our very thinking of the growth-at-all-cost mentality. Since then, we have grasped the extent of our planet's stress (at the hands of a humanity driven by myopic private profit maximisation -- or capital accumulation as we Leftists prefer to call it) and the simple truth that social justice can never prevail if human society continues obliviously to undermine its environment. Still, even though we have woken up to this reality, we need you, Europe's Young Greens to keep us alive to the centrality of the environmental agenda in forging the mind set necessary to back any progressive project.

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Let me now turn to practical matters -- to how we propose to turn DiEM25 from an intention to a genuine movement. To make DiEM25 our common infrastructure, our joint movement, we need to energise millions of Europeans around six common threats and challenges that demand common European solutions:

DiEM25's Six Campaigns, Six Assemblies, Six Policy Papers

To develop DiEM25 as a grassroots movement we must engage members in a continual dialogue on the following six discursive 'battlegrounds':

Transparency Now! -- DiEM25's first campaign will aim at demanding that all EU-level decision-making be exposed to European citizens' gaze. We shall demand that meetings of the European Council, ECOFIN, Eurogroup, FTT, ESM etc. become accessible to Europeans. Additionally, we plan to expose the opacity of decision-making processes that have a capacity to ban democracy for a very, very long time (e.g. the current TTiP negotiations) Imagining A Democratic European Union Constitution -- and the process leading to the CONSTITUTIONAL ASSEMBLY that will bring it about Open Europe: Refugees, Migration and Solidarity With 'Others' Labour, Its Value and The Distribution Of Income In Europe's Societies The European Green New Deal And Europe's Money -- Financing the Green Transition while dealing effectively with DEBT, BANKING CRISES, INSUFFICIENT INVESTMENT, INTRA-EUROPEAN IMBALANCES & POVERTY ALLEVIATION. Plus, integration of monetary policy across the Eurozone-nonEurozone divide, DiEM's strategy against the establishment's violent backlash (including threats of shutting down the banking system of any member-state that adopts DiEM's policies), a policy on parallel payment systems as well as parallel currencies, a broader perspective on how to organise the global monetary system (of which Europe is the largest economy) Green Transition and Technological Sovereignty-- What should Europe be investing in? And how can Europe avoid becoming hostage to the technological choices made by multinational giants for multinational giants

Each of these issues-'battlegrounds' will occasion a process of grassroots meetings, taking place all over Europe, culminating to a large event, an Assembly, to be convened in one European city. We propose five steps:

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Step 1 -- Preliminary Agenda -- A list of questions/issues for each of the six 'battlegrounds' will be circulated to motivate DiEM25 members to post ideas and proposals on diem25.org

Step 2 -- Events -- Members will convene physical meetings in their region to discuss the particular issue-'battleground'. (We envisage Town Hall meetings, meetings in theatres, cinemas, cultural centres etc.)

Step 3 -- Policy options paper -- All policy recommendations, concerns and suggestions emanating from the EVENTS will be compiled (one per issue-'battleground') with a view to putting together a POLICY OPTIONS PAPER to be submitted to the relevant DiEM Assembly

Step 4 -- Assembly Paper -- Each POLICY OPTIONS PAPER will be debated in the respective Assembly, until a final ASSEMBLY PAPER is compiled

Step 5 -- Referendum -- Each of the six ASSEMBLY PAPERS will be put to a vote of all members (using DiEM's digital platform). If/when passed, DiEM's POLICY PAPER on the issue will have been completed.

This bottom-up process will yield six DiEM Policy Papers on the issues that threaten to destroy the EU and which, taken together, will constitute DiEM's Comprehensive Program for Democratising the European Union.

In addition to the Assemblies, and the process leading to them, DiEM25 will be organising other campaigns and events throughout Europe in response to unfolding developments. For example, in late May 2016, we intend to hold a DiEM Event in London, prior to the pivotal UK referendum on EU membership, to discuss the issue of sovereignty at the national and EU levels.

Dear Young European Greens, Dear Florent, Julien, Karima, Michel, Rui , Vedran, Adam, Laura, Teo, Zakia, Patrick,

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There are no guarantees that we shall succeed. DiEM25 is offering only a glimmer of hope.

In Berlin, together, we lit a small candle, refusing to waste our energy cursing the darkness.

It is now up to us all to turn this candle into a beacon of hope. Your letter confirms that we have already begun.

So, let's shake Europe together.

Gently.

Compassionately.

But firmly!

Carpe DiEM25
The bucolic Palestinian village of Wadi Foquin, nestled in a lush valley on the West Bank, is known for its fruits and vegetables, honey, olive trees, and natural springs. Situated near the green line with Israel, it lies five miles southwest of Bethlehem. Wadi Foquin is also a village fighting for its very existence.

Like many other Palestinian population centers, Wadi Foquin faces an unrelenting and harsh reality: expropriation of land by the Israeli government in order to build and expand nearby settlements and settlement roads. Indeed, the settlement of Betar Illit, east of Wadi Foquin, is encroaching on the villagers' lives in every way. In addition to confiscating hundreds of acres from Wadi Foquin since 1987, settlement growth and activity have obliterated vast swaths of grazing land, trees, and park land, contaminated the natural springs, destroyed irrigation networks, and resulted in an increase of the villagers' unemployment and poverty rates. And like other Palestinian villages and towns, Wadi Foquin suffers from the lack of freedom of movement, with frequent road closures and two Israeli military checkpoints that impede travel significantly.

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These were some of the facts presented at a recent briefing on Capitol Hill to an audience of congressional staffers and community members. Three Palestinian leaders discussed the dire situation in the West Bank and in their village: Ahmad Sokar (mayor of Wadi Foquin), Kifah Manasra (professor at Al-Estiklal University in Jericho, originally from Wadi Foquin), and Shukri Radaydeh (director of the Bethlehem Local Governorate). The general secretary of the United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society, Rev. Dr. Susan Henry-Crowe, also made remarks about her church's association with Wadi Foquin. The General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church also supports the Wadi Foquin Community Development Project, which includes youth and women's programs, a community center, and educational trips to Palestine.

The Separation Barrier

"Security for whom, and at whose expense?" Henry-Crowe posed this question when discussing the separation barrier in the West Bank, also called the apartheid wall, which the Israeli government says increases its security. The wall, projected to be well over 400 miles when completed, snakes through the West Bank near the green line, and at times a big distance from this line, meaning that additional Palestinian land has been confiscated to build it.

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For Palestinians, mobility and freedom of movement are profoundly circumscribed by the wall. This barrier separates relatives from each other, children from their schools, farmers from their farmland, entire villages from hospitals and universities and each other. Daily, many of them spend many hours going around it and traveling long distances. Between the wall and Israeli checkpoints, the average Palestinian wastes hours daily just trying to get to work, school, markets, and everyday destinations.

Once the planned separation wall is built and completed on the western side of Wadi Foquin, and Betar Illit and another settlement, Tzur Hadassa, are expanded, Wadi Foquin--as well as neighboring villages Battir, Husan, Nahhalin, Al Walaja, Khallet 'Afana, Khallet Al Balluta, and Beit Sakariya -- will be completely encircled and separated from the rest of the Bethlehem governorate and from the West Bank.

Raw Sewage from the Settlements

One-third of Israeli settlements' sewage treatment facilities do not measure up to code or are not in operation, resulting in 2.2 million cubic meters per year flowing directly into waterways or cesspits of settlements. These facilities can handle the waste of only about a fourth of the settler population. Betar Illit is no exception. A resident of Wadi Foquin says that not only does the settlement's waste water overflow to his village and and its next-door neighbor, Nahalin, but that the settlers have been deliberately pumping the sewage into the Palestinians' cultivated land, compromising the crops. This situation also contaminates the ground water in the West Bank, as the untreated waste reaches the aquifer. The ramifications extend beyond the water supply and into the crops and the air, resulting in digestive and respiratory illnesses in the Palestinian population.

Area C

Most of Wadi Foquin is located in Area C, which is under full Israeli civil and security control. In fact, over 63 percent of the West Bank is in Area C, a legacy of the Oslo Accords. This includes the 125 Israeli Jewish-only settlements, considered illegal under international law, and which house over half a million settlers and contain large military closed areas. Although the settlers are governed by Israeli law and enjoy all the rights of Israeli citizens, Palestinians in Area C are under martial law and have no meaningful say in policies that affect them. Consequently, Palestinians experiencing the human rights violations discussed above have nowhere to turn, no protection. For those living in Wadi Foquin, the Israeli government has announced plans to confiscate an additional 400 acres in the northern edge of the village--at its entrance--to build an industrial zone that would serve Betar Illit and the Israeli town of Tzur Hadassa to the west. This would mean seriously limiting access to the only road to Wadi Foquin.

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Professor Manasra also explained that "women suffer double" because of the checkpoints throughout the West Bank: Israeli soldiers sexually harass Palestinian women at these checkpoints, and as a result, many families do not allow them to study away from home. There are 96 fixed and hundreds of "flying" (surprise) checkpoints throughout the occupied territories. These checkpoints also impede freedom of movement and contribute to unemployment and poverty, which are serious problems in many parts of the West Bank and Gaza. Such conditions often increase violence against women. She said that the military occupation's effects are felt socially, legally, economically, and psychologically.
TO GO WITH AFP STORY - A female taxi driver powers her 'Pink Taxi' --to be used exclusively by women-- in Puebla, on October 6, 2009. AFP PHOTO/Jose Castanares (Photo credit should read Jose CastaAares/AFP/Getty Images)

A pink taxi, came to my attention through the social media posts of some women based in Turkey I follow and respect. Their posts had an image of a pink car, with the caption: "Biz Pembe Taksi'ye binmeyecegiz, sen de insan olmayi ogreneceksin." Meaning: "We're not going to get in the Pink Cab and you'll learn how to be human."

They were responding to Pembe Taksi (Pink Taxi), that sent out its first car to roam the streets of Sivas, a large city in central Turkey. A quick search yielded news reports with pictures of a fuscia car and a woman driver standing next to it, wearing a white shirt and a dark pink tie. This was to be a taxi driven only by women and serving only women. One headline declared: "No men allowed!", another wrote: "Special Taxi for Women".

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A taxi driven by a woman who's only driving around women might seem empowering from certain angles. Ladies only, no boys allowed, a woman driver, yay. But why are we getting one special car? And why is a woman taxi driver a breakthrough in a country where women have been allowed to drive, vote, work for more than half a century?

Pink Taxi's owner Gokhan Simsek, a man, said that it will give women a comfortable way to travel without fearing harassment. The taxi was modeled after the company "Pink Ladies" that has been operating in England for a few years. Similar companies also exist in two of the world's most crowded cities: Cairo and Mexico City.

Mevlut Tezel, an op-ed writer for Sabah Newspaper, wrote: "There are many countries in the world that offer transportation for women only. Why does it become a bad thing when it's in Sivas?" Which made me question if I was overreacting. Then he goes on to say: "Don't you feel a little queasy and throw side glances at the driver as you put your wife, daughter or girlfriend into a taxi?" Which made me less skeptical of my reaction and more skeptical of his view of a woman's placement in a world of men who protect and men who are out to get them.

After spending some time reading the news, the opinion pieces and social media posts my brain had an almost robotic, search engine reaction. I was presented with selections of examples from my life, things that I read recently, things that I know from being a woman who was raised in Turkey. This seemingly innocent pink taxi was bright and conjuring up knowledge that I have to interpret it.

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I was visiting Mexico City last year and taking the subway somewhere. Before getting on to the train, I remember noticing the separate car at the end of the train that was for women and children only. The car looked emptier but I was accompanied by a person of the male species and so we went into one of the normal people cars. I kept thinking about whether I would have gotten on that car had I been alone. And I don't think I would have. I would have preferred to appear fearless, as if I never think of myself in the role of the prey. The women only car is telling me that I'm safe from the harassment of the other sex while I'm in there, but eventually I'll reach the station where I'm meant to get out to go on with my life and there, i'm no longer protected by the exclusion of my attackers. I know that I'll think more about being exposed and unsafe when I step out of that car.

Still, in an overcrowded city such as Mexico City, there's a bit more room to consider why it might potentially be nice to give women and children their space. Sivas is a large city in the center of Turkey. It is on the more conservative side, as most cities around central Turkey are. Sivas is large but not as crowded and commuter heavy as Istanbul. Knowing that this Pink Cab business was being used in cities like Cairo and Mexico City, I would have expected this to be practiced in Istanbul and not just between the hours of 8 am to 8 pm. That hour range gives me the overwhelming sense of a curfew for women to be on the streets. They have to go home, because even a safe pink box can't protect them during the night.

I hate getting into taxis in Istanbul. Sometimes I don't go places because I don't want to get into cabs. This happens usually when i'm feeling the least confident and comfortable and want to avoid the possibility of a confrontation with a taxi driver. And I really don't like it that my response is avoidance. My anticipation when I get into a cab in Istanbul is not that he'll hit on me or say sleazy things. Not because I don't think it's a possibility but because I personally haven't experienced that before.

My fear is based on their aggression. I've gotten yelled at and been scolded for a variety of reasons. Some of which were: why I was out by myself so late, why I was asking the driver to go to a place that was far during traffic, why I lived abroad and not in my own country near my parents. In the height of their anger (let's say I asked them to turn so I don't have to walk) they would put on a performance of yelling, muttering under their breath, honking at everything, until I scoot down on my seat and hope that he forgets about me. In some cases I would even try to console them.

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A girl traveling alone is still something that I have a hard time taking lightly. I have the utmost admiration for those who do it but there is a fear instilled in me that I don't get mad at myself for listening to. The most ashamed and angry I've ever been about being a human who grew up in Turkey was when Italian artist Pippa Bacca was raped and murdered in a Turkish village. Her art piece was herself and it was heartbreakingly named "Peace Bride". She was in Turkey as part of her performance with her friend, hitchhiking from Italy to Israel in a wedding dress. Nothing happened to her anywhere else but in Turkey she was an anomaly. The murderer got a life sentence but the incident was all too telling about what it means for a woman in Turkey who was relying on the mercy of strangers to not rape and kill her as she was on her way to get somewhere.

And just last year a young university student named Ozgecan Aslan was raped and murdered in my hometown Mersin. She was the last person on a bus that travels between the cities Mersin, Tarsus and Adana. When I was at school the only frequent public transportation between the three cities were either these busses or trains, that were less frequent. My parents never wanted me to take either because they saw it as unsafe. I always thought that they were sheltering me and felt embarrassed that I didn't have the guts to defy my parents and take the bus anyway. When I read about her murder and read what the murderers said during court my blood boiled. The murderers defended themselves saying things like: "She was getting mad at us for taking the short cut, so we had to shut her up."

There are already too many things in my head telling me to fear being out of my house. I'm spending much more time than I'd like to spend looking over my shoulders to see the attackers that I'm promised are there. I don't need a Pink Taxi to remind me that I need a safe space because the norm of us being harassed and them not harassing will not change. With the line of thinking that produces the Pink Taxi, no form of safety will be sufficient. Maybe there should be separate roads for the Pink Taxi, because they might attract the attention of male drivers too much and who knows what would happen then.
From the author Zoltan Istvan (4/14/2016): A change of opinion about John McAfee has made me retract my endorsement of him as the best Libertarian Party presidential nominee in the 2016 election. I still think John McAfee is a fine person and an excellent promoter of freedom, but no longer the best candidate for growing Third-Party politics or the Libertarian Party in America.



John McAfee talks to Zoltan Istvan -- Photo by Roen Horn

In America and around the world, people are in disbelief over the 2016 US Presidential election so far. Bernie Sanders has risen to become a legend for the youth and hard left leaning. Trump is on his way to forever transforming the Republican Party and likely challenging Hillary Clinton for the most powerful position in the world. Cruz and Rubio, like tens of millions of Americans, are standing baffled at what has transpired in the last year.

The elections have become a flamboyant game show. And the people in the audience cheering the most are shareholders of media companies who are selling more ads than ever.

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Unfortunately, much of the chaos and media antics haven't translated too favorably yet for Third parties. Quietly, candidates like myself at the Transhumanist Party, attempt to spread our messages. Don't get me wrong. We are succeeding, but not in the way that America deserves. America owes it to itself to hear the plight of the other leading 50 presidential candidates out there, who also bear important messages. Many of them are astute people that would likely govern well, like Harvard educated physician Jill Stein of the Green Party and Rod Silva of the Nutrition Party.

The good news for America is that the Libertarian Party will probably be on all 50 state ballots, meaning it's possible that the Libertarian Party presidential candidate could significantly alter the outcome of the elections.

This could especially be the case if a colorful enough character is the nominee for the Libertarian Party. It's possible the Libertarian candidate could get enough votes to sway the election one way of the other--or at least the media might play it that way for the six months leading up to the elections.

Controversial, volatile, and having more fun than the other candidates, John McAfee could be just the Libertarian candidate America needs to further continue the positive change Trump and Sanders have caused to America's stale political infrastructure. McAfee might have a checkered past, but that's not what's important. What's important is he has charisma and is very media savvy. Like Trump, you can't tear him down, because McAfee thrives off chaos and controversial press coverage. I met McAfee and his friendly wife recently in North Carolina on my presidential campaign bus tour. I debated McAfee, laughed with him, and even drank Scotch with him. I'm quite sure of what I'm writing here.

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Humorous 6-min International Business Times video of Zoltan Istvan meeting John McAfee



If McAfee is the Libertarian nominee, he has the ability to do to Third-Party politics what Trump has done to this election cycle. McAfee can elevate the Libertarian Party so that major media is forced to cover it again and again and again. Now that would be something--and it would help the plight of all independent candidates and other Third parties.

Additionally, at least McAfee is talking technology, cybersecurity, and transhumanism, something none of the other candidates seem to even think is important--even though nothing affects human beings and society as much as these advancing fields.

Even though I like many of the other Libertarian presidential candidates, I recommend McAfee as a tech celebrity to gain the Libertarian nomination when it is decided. McAfee is capable of gaining consistent widespread attention in the political national conversation, and thereby putting the major parties on alert that Third-Party politics is something to be reckoned with. Done right, McAfee might even be able to get frontrunners of the Republican and Democratic parties to publicly embrace select Libertarian values to capture additional votes in 2016. I often publicly identify as a left-leaning Libertarian, so I know this would be great for the Libertarian Party to get its message out there.

Personally, I despise the Two-Party system in our country. It's completely un-American, and is just another form of monopoly--except with two heads ruling instead of one. To help fight it, we should embrace explosive personalities who can destroy a political system that favors big money and special interests--neither of which Sanders, Trump, or McAfee need or are beholden to.

Come November, the race will likely come down to Trump and Clinton, but the real winner might be the growing Libertarian Party--and by implication, other Third parties--by putting forth a loud personality who can get America cheering in a very different way. That is progress, indeed.
NEW DELHI -- The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has asked schools to encourage students, teachers and parents to download the 'Narendra Modi mobile app' so that they can share their experiences with the Prime Minister.

The Board issued a notification after the Prime Minister in one of his 'Mann ki Baat' radio urged students to face examinations with confidence and optimism while seeking their response through the Narendra Modi app.

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In its notification, CBSE has invited students, teachers and parents to give a feedback on their own experiences about examinations on the Narendra Modi Mobile App.

Students can share their experiences of taking examinations while teachers and parents can also recount their experiences, the CBSE notification said.

The Prime Minister will also be sharing some of his own thoughts, it added.

"All School Heads are requested to encourage their students, teachers and parents to download the App, and share their experiences on how to overcome the stress of taking examinations," the CBSE notification said.

The CBSE also mentioned part of the Prime Minister's radio address in which he had mentioned that final Examinations for grade 10th and 12th will be conducted in the coming days.

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The PM had said that it is his wish that students who have got success, share their experiences on how they have spent the tension-free days of examination, regarding the atmosphere in the family, teachers, elders, efforts made by them, or any tips or suggestions.

"You must have had good experiences. This time you can send your experiences on Narendra Modi App," the PM had said in his 'Mann ki Baat' address on 31 January, the CBSE notification said.

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About 40 minutes into Prakash Jhas Jai Gangaajal, we see SP Abha Mathur (Priyanka Chopra), whose entry in the film is surprisingly subdued, rev into full-on badass heroine mode.

Wielding a danda, she strides up to hulking goons and starts beating the living daylights out of them, as Jha summons slow-motion and music that sounds like it was made by someone very hungover trying to emulate Sneha Khanwalkar to give that moment the dramatic heft it deserves. As everyone conveniently stands around, a bunch of male police officers  her juniors  run up to her mid-fight and proclaim Madam sir, you have made men out of us today, before proceeding to thrash the other goons.

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Thats what Jai Gangaajal wants to be: a frequently ridiculous exercise in gender-role-reversal masquerading as a cop drama, in which the women speak out against corruption while the men are largely either complicit or silent. Its set in the district of Bankipur, which youd expect would be in Bihar given Jhas filmography, but is actually shot in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh; an auto-rickshaw number plate in one scene gives that detail away.

Lahkhisarai, in that district, is a typically downtrodden and corrupt north Indian town, where a man running for election can beat a policeman half to death in broad daylight without any hassle. They also believe in mob justice and public lynching; we see three hangings in the film, which may as well have been named Gangs Of Phaansi-pur.

Prakash Jha in a still from 'Jai Gangaajal'

Jha debuts as an actor, playing the towns corrupt circle officer Bhola Nath Singh. He looks after the interest of Lakhisarais legislator Babloo Pandey (Manav Kaul) and his brother Dabloo (Ninad Kamat), a Joe-Pesci-ish character trying to secure a lucrative land deal. We are subjected to a number of badly written scenes that explain this nexus through dialogue so expository that it feels like were in a Rajkumar Santoshi film from the 90s.

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At least Inspector BN Singh has a graph, where we see him go from a man of flexible morals to one who realises the error of his ways. In contrast, Mathur is an eye-roll of a character, a squeaky-clean idealist with zero depth. She looks incredibly unfazed by fistfights and Molotov cocktail explosions, tackling them head on whilst maintaining hair and make-up quite impressively. Jai Gangaajal tells us nothing about her and the only time we see her out of uniform is in a tokenistic scene with her mother at home. It doesnt help that Chopra serves up what must surely be her worst performance in recent times, delivering her lines in a practiced, elocutionary manner that never changes tone throughout the film. It is a disappointingly robotic turn that wouldnt even pass muster at college-level drama competitions.

She is, shockingly enough, the weakest link in this shoddily made movie, which is already overly loud, clunky, and at 158 minutes, overlong. Jhas Kashyap-esque use of upbeat music during moments of action or violence fails miserably, as neither the visuals nor the music are appealing enough. The fight sequences are often poorly executed and largely unbelievable (spoiler alert: theres one in which a schoolboy faces off against a fully grown man who probably weighs thrice as much  and wins).

To make matters worse, a woefully stiff Rahul Bhat appears every now and then as Handsome, Foreign-Educated Activist-Politician, apparently only to make searing speeches after tragedies have occurred. In fact, the only performances that hold you are those by Jha, Kamat, and, to some extent, Kaul, who seems miscast. The bad script ensures that everyone gets a few clumsy and hammy moments, but at least you can force yourself to go along with the proceedings while theyre on screen.

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This is especially true for Jha, who makes BN Singh the most believable character. Ultimately, he is the real protagonist of Jai Gangaajal, while PC is assigned manic pixie dream cop duties. Even with a female lead, this is very much a male movie that relegates its female characters to symbols of idealism or victims. So much for women empowerment.

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As JNU students' union president Kanhaiya Kumars fiery speech was broadcast on Thursday night, social media went into a tizzy, turning the 29-year-old into a celebrity overnight.

Out of jail on conditional bail, Kumar's hour-long speech was full of rustic references, humour and took several jabs at the government and the state of free speech and politics in India. He spoke of azadi (freedom) and made fun of Prime Minister Narendra Modis radio show Mann ki Baat, among other jibes targeted at the establishment.

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Kanhaiyas excoriating speech clearly resonated with netizens, who took to Twitter and Facebook to raise some slogans of their own for the young firebrand, such as Jai Kanhaiya Lal Ki.

Listening to #KanhaiyaKumar 's speech, mainstream politicians should get the jitters right about now.....  Nistula Hebbar (@nistula) March 3, 2016

"We want freedom not from India but from those who loot India.#Azaadi#KanhaiyaKumarpic.twitter.com/760K51Jdk3     (@muntaziraapka) March 3, 2016

Congratulations to the BJP on creating their own Anna Hazare.  Overrated Outcast (@over_rated) March 3, 2016

 JNU       ,        !       ... Posted by Yogendra Yadav on Thursday, 3 March 2016

This is needed,this is what my country was searching from 2 yrs !   ,    #LalSalaam#KanhaiyaKumar  SweetNBitter (@SibaniSahu) March 3, 2016

#Azaadi trending on Twitter. Will everyone on Twitter now be labelled anti-nationalist and booked for sedition?  Ruhi Tewari (@ruhitewari) March 4, 2016

#kanhiyakumar Getin ABVP into main stream of University Politics failed. Nw wat new tatic and shrewd planning r dey goin to do?  Himanshu Maurya (@himsjukebox) March 4, 2016

Breaking News after #kanhiyakumar speech Modi immediately ordered to replace all kitchen utensils with saffron colored utensils IN JAIL  Munnabai (@munnnabai) March 4, 2016

Democracy is not perfect but its beautiful.A student leader, just out of the jail, charged with sedition walks out on an iterim bail and dares to catch Modi by his coat.We are proud of this India...Our India. Posted by Naved Mahdi on Thursday, 3 March 2016

Fail to undertsand why #kanhiyakumar was kept in Jail for so long for something he has not done and others get bails in an hour.  Sabit Aziz (@azizspeaksss) March 4, 2016

Modi sarkaar ke dhakosale , sapno aur jumlon par uchalne wale logon aur sanghiyon se #Azaadi  Rahul suri (@Asklepias199029) March 4, 2016

One of the excellent, exceptional, phenomenal speeches I heard till now in my life. Actually no words to say after... Posted by Srivastava Pankaj on Thursday, 3 March 2016

Wow! What an Orator! One of the excellent, exceptional, phenomenal speech. No words to appreciate such conviction &... Posted by Siddharth Setia on Thursday, 3 March 2016

One a hell of speech by Kanhaiya. Sheer brilliance. Worth a listen.Funny how PM Modi spoke like a student in Parliament today and student #KanhaiyaKumar spoke like PM Posted by Aman Yadav on Thursday, 3 March 2016

When you tear out a man's tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you're only telling the world that you fear what he... Posted by Indermann Singh on Thursday, 3 March 2016

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Many middle class comfortable in their drawing rooms stirred too #KanhiyaKumarhttps://t.co/6hxf1qm9Us  Jyoti Mukul (@mukuljyoti) March 4, 2016

#KanhaiyaKumar giving sleepless nights to Sanghis and loyal Bhakts #Azaadi  Numaan (@imnumaan) March 4, 2016

When you were told he was anti-national, terrorist and against your beliefs ( GOD's) , you started identifying yourself... Posted by Goutham Dodda on Thursday, 3 March 2016

But then there were some who thought that the JNUSU's support for Afzal Guru, who was convicted for his role in the December 2001 terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament, appalling.

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You know PM is losing connect with the youth when a young student's speech from JNU is being talked about more than any Mann Ki Baat.  Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) March 4, 2016

Hardik Patel, Kanhaiya Kumar - youth desperate for new leader who can relate to them, talks to them and takes questions. Why govt doesn't?  Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) March 4, 2016

RT AskAnshul: JNU #Azaadi seekers want Azaadi of everything but they'll never ask "Subsidy se Azaadi" because Subsidy is lifeline of their   NRI  (@TwoBoyIndia) March 4, 2016

They Say They Believe In Law & Justice. Then They Question The Hanging Of Terrorist Afzal Guru. #Hypocrites#KanhaiyaKumar    Sir Ravindra Jadeja (@SirJadeja) March 3, 2016

Every one has #Azaadi to piss on streets and walls of houses... Whatz this new #Azaadi? https://t.co/lvKPPEXMXD  Bezawada Rowdy (@Tenali_RK) March 4, 2016

We want #Azaadi from dumb news featuring hooligan students shouting in favour of my country's destruction.  Yolo (@Glitzyolo) March 4, 2016

It must be upheld.Representative & citizens needed to be heared & responded by Govt. Curbing this will push us for #Azaadi frm autocracy  Dr. Khan Zafar #INC (@DrKhanzafar) March 4, 2016

Doesn't agree on few points with kanhaiya bt what stunned me is that after so much torture he was talking abt the issues he raised#Azaadi  Apoorv Verma (@Apurv02) March 4, 2016

#Azaadi#kanhiyakumar wants Congress to rule , the same #Congress which kept his family poor for last 60yrs, Idiot wants Maoism.. #Shame  Praful (@SwamiPraful) March 4, 2016

#kanhiyakumar wants #Azaadi for Umar Khalid, who worships terrorists like Afzal guru. Wah kya soch hai beta tumhari!  Pankaj (@Pankajgii) March 4, 2016

What ppl don't see is that Hardik Patel & #KanhiyaKumar are ideologically parallel. HP fighting to remove reservation, KK for reservation!  Ashis (@ashiskharel) March 4, 2016

Wonder if they are there to study or carry out political agenda of their masters at tax payer's money.#Azaadihttps://t.co/Uc9cEYNBp6  D S (@justDSingh) March 4, 2016

Congress & AAP are supporting #KanhiyaKumar without knowing that he is their direct competitor in anti-Modi politics. #azaadi  Neel Rao (@neelrao) March 4, 2016

Media trying hard to make a hero out of #kanhiyakumar ...bt ppl will not forget tht he was caught supporting Pakistan Zindabad sloganeering  PS (@prasha_19) March 4, 2016

Check out Kumar's entire speech here:

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GURGAON -- Fashion designer Shipra Malik, who went missing on Monday in Noida under mysterious circumstances, has been found in Gurgaon.

The Inspector General of Meerut, Sujit Pandey, said that she has been found in Gurgaon.

Meanwhile, Lakshmi Singh, Meerut Zone DIG said that prima facie it does not appear to be a case of kidnapping.

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We are looking into the matter, it doesn't seem like a case of kidnapping prima facie: DIG, Meerut Zone on Shipra Malik  ANI (@ANI_news) March 4, 2016

He, however, said that the police is investigating the matter further to get to the bottom of this case.

Shipra had left her home on Monday afternoon for Chandni Chowk.

Last call made by victim's mobile phone was to 100. The victim's last location was found to be Lajpat Nagar in South Delhi.The victim's Maruti Swift car was found abandoned 500 metres away from her home in Sector 37.

Shipra Malik is a resident of Noida and runs a boutique. She is married to a local builder. Her husband had filed a missing complaint with the Noida police.

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ASSOCIATED PRESS In this Thursday, Aug. 5, 2010 photograph, students copy what the teacher writes on the board at a cram school in Kota, India. Every year, more than 450,000 students take the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) exam, hoping for entry to the hallowed public engineering institutes located across India. Slightly more than 13,000 passed in 2010, a 3 percent success rate. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)

"Cowards never start, the weak never finish and winners never quit is a popular pep-up line, and here is a 77-year old villager in Rajasthan who seems to be living by it.

Shiv Charan Yadav, from Khohari village in Alwar is busy preparing for his class ten board exams and this is going to be his 47th attempt. He first appeared for the exam in 1968  the year in which Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated and Boeing introduced the first Jumbo Jet. Almost six decades later, Yadavs enthusiasm and determination to crack the exam seems to have only grown manifold.

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Yadav, who vowed long ago not to marry until he clears the class tenth exam, is hoping to finally clear the hurdle this month and find himself a bride this year. About twenty years ago, in 1995, Yadav cleared all the papers but Mathematics. Last year was bad as he passed only in one subject while the year before that was even worse since he flunked in all the subjects.

"Each time it so happens that I pass in some subjects, but fail in others. For example, if I get enough marks in mathematics and science, I fail in Hindi and English. This time, I hope to pass all," a confident Yadav told the Times of India.

"This time, I have taken classes from some school teachers," he added.

Yadavs mother passed away when he was only two months old and he lost his father when he was 10. He was brought up by the extended family and has been staying alone in his ancestral home for 30 years now.

"The old-age pension from the government and the prasaad (religious offering) at a nearby temple help me get by," he said.

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As with most men who are on a mission, Yadav too has his naysayers. But then there are encouraging people also in his village, who admire Yadavs persistence and gift him pens and books.

"Seeing him going for the examinations is a rare treat. He goes to the temple just like the other students about to take examinations. We hope he will be able to make it this time," said Ramkesh Meena, a native of the village.

If Yadav manages to pass the litmus test of Rajasthan Board of Higher Secondary Education, his next mission will be to find a bride. But at the age of 77, the task of finding a match looks tough. But Yadav is confident.

"This year, I will get married. I know I'll find a bride," the 77-year-old bachelor insists.

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aquaview/Flickr The White House vicinity was decorated with flags of America and India, welcoming the visit of Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh to meet President Barack Obama on Nov 24th.

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) said they had not received visas for a long-planned trip to India. The commission, a bipartisan US federal government commission, was scheduled to begin their trip on 4 March. The delegation was coming to India to "discuss and assess the religious freedom conditions" here.

We are deeply disappointed by the Indian governments denial, in effect, of these visas," said Robert P George, Chairman of USCIRF in a statement.

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"As a pluralistic, non-sectarian, and democratic state, and a close partner of the United States, India should have the confidence to allow our visit."

The USCIRF delegation was scheduled to leave on 4 March and had the support of the State Department and the US Embassy in New Delhi, the statement claimed.

George added that USCIRF had been able to travel to many countries, including those among the worst offenders of religious freedom, including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, China, and Myanmar.

"One would expect that the Indian government would allow for more transparency than have these nations, and would welcome the opportunity to convey its views directly to USCIRF," he said.

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USCIRF, an independent, bipartisan US federal government commission with commissioners appointed by the President and the leaders in both Houses of Congress, had released a report in 2015 which said that incidents of religiously motivated and communal violence had increased since 2014 general elections.

The report said:

"Since the election, religious minority communities have been subject to derogatory comments by politicians linked to the ruling party BJP and numerous violent attacks and forced conversions by Hindu nationalist groups, such as RSS and VHP."

But the USCIRF will continue to pursue a visit to India, given the ongoing reports from religious communities, civil society groups, and NGOs that the conditions for religious freedom in India have been deteriorating since 2014, George added.

According to Reuters, the Indian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Hutchinson's Orscheln Farm store has become a Bomgaars location

The Hutchinson store was one of 73 the FTC said Tractor Supply could not own due to anti-trust concerns. Transition to new store could take 15 months.
Acting U.S. Secretary John B. King, Jr.'s confirmation hearing was collegial, substantive, and seemed to foreshadow a swift Senate sign-off for the former New York state chief, who is seeking the job officially.

But not everyone is on Team King. A group of progressives, including leaders in the opt-out movement, sent a letter to the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee this week recommending that its members not confirm King, whose nomination is slated for a vote next week.

The signers include: Noam Chomsky, a retired professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Diane Ravitch, a research professor at New York University; Deborah Meier, a senior scholar at New York University, Karen Lewis, the president of the Chicago Teachers Union; and Monty Neill, the executive director of FairTest.

Heres the letter, in part:

As New York State Education Commissioner, he was an unapologetic supporter of the Common Core standards and inBloom. His policies failed. While test scores are flawed metrics, in 2013, just 31 percent of students in New York passed the English and math standardized tests, the first tests to be aligned to the Common Core and in three years the scores have barely budged. The achievement gap grew. Last year, over 200,000 students opted out of the tests. Educators, parents, and students as well as the state teachers union and other public education advocacy groups called for King's resignation. His style is inflexible and he is quick to criticize the motives of those with whom he disagrees. He persistently refused to consider the desperate pleas of students and teachers who were reporting that the Common Core and value-added teacher evaluations were not working. The American public deserves a Secretary of Education who will advocate for their interests, not those of the testing corporations who profit from the Common Core. We also deserve a Secretary who respects the importance of schools governed by communities, not by federal mandate. Senators should not be misled by vague promises to do better as King offered at a recent hearing. John King is the wrong candidate and he will follow the failed strategies of Mr. Duncan. We strongly urge you to reject his nomination and recommend to President Obama that he nominate a candidate who will bring a progressive perspective to the department as it implements the Every Student Succeeds Act.

(You can read the whole thing at the Washington Posts blog, the Answer Sheet, which wrote about this first.)

So will this work? Probably not. Key Democrats in Congress on education issues, including Sen. Patty Murray of Washington and Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia, the top Democrats on the Senate and House education committees, are in Kings corner. And it seemed like Republicans on the education panel, including Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., the chairman, also seem likely to vote for him.

Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 .
Jumpstart Your Music And Tech Startup At Music Startup Academy

I've published Hypebot for a decade and run Skyline Music for longer, and in that time I've lost count of the promising music and music tech startups that have come and gone, often with surprising speed. The best way to avoid that fate is to actually understand the music business before launch and a great way to do that is Music Biz's Music Startup Academy.

___________________________________

The Music Business Association (Music Biz) is bringing its popular Music Startup Academy series back to Nashville on May 16th during the Music Biz 2016 convention. Aimed at startups, entrepreneurs, students and anyone looking to break into the music industry, the Academy will teach attendees labels, publishing, business development, and content acquisition as well as provide venture capitalist, PR, and branding advice.

Cultivating the next generation of innovative thinkers and doers is paramount for the future of the music industry, and we are pleased to play a part in nurturing the talents of aspiring entrepreneurs with our Music Startup Academy, said Bill Wilson, VP of Digital Strategy & Business Development at Music Biz. This event will connect those with an idea to seasoned music and entrepreneurship experts who can show them how to bring that idea to life in a legal, sustainable way. We look forward to another great session at Music Biz 2016.

This years event at Music Biz 2016 will feature top music, tech, PR, legal, and startup experts from companies such as Rock Paper Scissors Inc., Cowan DeBaets Abrahams & Sheppard, Warner/Chappell Music, 7digital, Barefoot Media, Crossfade Partners, the NYU Steinhardt School, and Back Porch Group as well as a conversation with fellow startups karaoQ, ear.IQ, Dart Music, and EVAmore about their path to success.

Registration for the Academy and all other May 16 Music Biz 2016 sessions can be purchased for $129 via Eventbrite. For updated information on Academy speakers and sessions, click here.

The full currently confirmed agenda is below.

9  9:15 AM

Music Startup Academy Welcome & Agenda

Dmitri Vietz, Rock Paper Scissors Inc.

9:15  10 AM

Label and Publishing Basics for Entrepreneurs

A deeper dive into the economics of the music industry, including performance rights, and understanding the various rights for master recordings and songwriting. We will also go over the various legal issues surrounding music product development.

Aileen Atkins, Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard

Ben Vaughn, Warner/Chappell Music

10:05  10:50 AM

Music Industry Content Acquisition and Business Development

Trying to attract an investor, strategic partner, powerful label, or a megastar like Lady Gaga for your startup? A cool product isnt enough. Learn what makes your business more attractive to those that can help you breakout. Learn about the third rails and how to manage navigating around the barriers to entry. What are the dos and donts in licensing vast libraries of major content, etc.

Bill Campbell, Barefoot Media LLC

Jon Vanhala, Crossfade Partners

10:55  11:30 AM

VC Chat: Proof of Idea Required

You may think your idea is completely fleshed out, but when you meet with a potential funding partner you are suddenly bombarded with a myriad of questions that you never really thought about. But dont worry, youre not the only one. Learn what venture capitalists look for in startups and entrepreneurs today and how you can be sure that you have the proof that you can fully actualize on your idea.

Larry Miller, NYU Steinhardt School/Musonomics Podcast

VC TBA

11:35 AM  12:15 PM

Starting Up in Music Tech: The Agony & The Ecstasy

This panel will explore the promise and the reality of building and growing a startup in music tech  the good, the bad, and the ugly. Well cover topics such as moving from idea to business model, from business model to customer discovery, to product development, to business creation and growth. Across this spectrum, well discuss the opportunities and challenges of innovation in the music industry, forming partnerships with majors, tackling the tough problems of licensing, data sharing, and the like. The goal is to present a complete picture, warts and all, informing attending entrepreneurs and industry players alike with information that helps us all build a more vibrant, viable music tech startup community. In addition to the industry-specific matters noted above, well also look at how to solve the pressing problems of boot-strapping versus raising capital, developing the right product for the right market, acquiring first customers, and scaling.

Moderator: Shawn Yeager, Back Porch Group

Michael Amburgey, karaoQ

Stephen Davis, ear.IQ

Chris McMurtry, Dart Music

Channing Moreland, EVAmore

12:15  1:15 PM

Break

1:15  2 PM

New Listening Experiences: How Services Differentiate from the Streaming Standard

Launching an all-you-can-eat, on-demand music streaming service is hard work, yet a number of services have now managed to establish themselves as global players. What has happened, as a result of various conditions, is that a rigid set of service features have been wrapped into what can be considered an on-demand streaming standard. Many provide the user with access to absolutely everything ever recorded but still recognize this is not necessary. Where then is the differentiation happening, what can be licensed, and in which ways are innovators successfully diverting from the standard? This panel will explore the concepts, services, and business models that provide users, entrepreneurs, and developers new and alternative ways of accessing content either alongside the established models or in competition to them. We will look at ways in which the listening experience is transforming and who in the industry is well placed to truly address underserved markets.

Organized by 7digital

2  3 PM

Free Your PR and Your Brand Will Follow

In this one hour workshop, music tech companies will learn the basics of PR in the music business. Fifteen year veteran publicist Dmitri Vietze will give you an overview of the PR process, how to develop compelling story angles for your product or service, how PR and marketing work together, and what it takes to capture the interest of journalists at trade publications, business press, tech press, and consumer press. There will be time to answer lots of questions.

Dmitri Vietze, Rock Paper Scissors Inc.

Music Biz 2016, which will return to Nashville from May 16-18, is the music industrys premier event, giving the commerce and content sectors a place to meet with trading partners, network with new companies, and learn about new trends and products impacting the music business. Registration is open now, with early bird discounts available until March 11, 2016. For more information or to sign up for the conference, visit www.musicbiz2016.com.

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Recovering a total of $9,235 for a homeowners insurance claim appraisal dispute.

Receiving $630 in restitution for a violation under the Deferred Presentment Services Transaction Act, also known as Payday Lending.

Michigan insurance regulators say they are fielding more consumer complaints than ever, with more than 7,400 residents assisted in January alone.Those numbers come from a Department of Insurance and Financial Services report in which the Office of Consumer Services was said to assist 7,439 consumers across the state. In total, the office helped recover $588,412, including $9,235 for a homeowners insurance claim appraisal dispute.It is DIFS' duty to sustain an active relationship with Michigan's consumers. This involves keeping consumers informed and helping them adapt to industry developments, said DIFS Director Patrick McPharlin.Some notable recoveries that DIFS staff assisted two consumers with were:DIFS encourages consumers to first attempt to resolve disputes directly with their financial service entity. If a resolution cannot be reached, the department can help try to resolve disputes.Consumer complaints continued to rise over the past three months. Last month 285 new complaints were opened and 291 complaints were closed. Some complaints can lead to larger consumer protection actions. One complaint resulted in the summary suspension of the insurance licenses of Richard Creed and Evergreen Insurance Agency for issuing fraudulent insurance certificates and not remitting premiums to the insurers.Anyone with questions or concerns about their insurance coverage is asked to call DIFS toll-free hotline at 877-999-6442.
A Georgia insurance agency is making waves thanks to its owners requirement that all employees enjoy and use the right to bear arms.At Lance Toland Associates, workers in all three of the companys Georgia offices  including 10 women and two men  are obligated by owner Lance Toland to get permits to carry concealed weapons, after which they are provided with their own handgun.Toland told the Associated Press the policy is about protection as well as the enjoyment of Second Amendment rights.The insurance agency owner was influenced by the killing of his uncle several years ago, AP reported. The man was confronted by three men with a gun outside a convenience store nearly 40 years ago. He was only carrying $20.I have an issue with thugs, the 61-year-old agency owner said.Toland says now, if someone attempts to rob his business or harm his employees, they will be able to defend themselves against the aggressors and get a piece of them.I would not walk into [one of the Toland offices] with anything but business on my mind, he said.A pilot himself, Toland runs an insurance business that provides aircraft insurance risk management services.
The Independent Investor: Why Wall Street Is Worried About Trump

Normally, Wall Street loves GOP presidential candidates. Historically, Republican presidents have been good for business, tend to cut taxes, and slow the rate of government spending. So why does Donald Trump give them the willies?



For starters, the investment community worries that Trump is an unpredictable wild card. Remember, that investors can accommodate the good or the bad, as long as the future is articulated in clear terms. For example, Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, is going after predatory pricing in the biotech sector. That's bad for biotech so Wall Street sells or shorts biotech stocks until that risk factor is resolved. Another politician says we need a stronger defense capability. So investors buy aerospace stocks on that policy.



What investors can't accept is uncertainty. As such, some of Donald Trump's statements have been so outrageous, politically incorrect and economically dysfunctional that Wall Street does not know which way to turn. He cannot be pigeon-holed ideologically.



At times, he appears pro-business only to contradict that assumption by slamming the financial sector on other issues. His statements tend to worry those who believe he could lead the country into a new era of isolation. Attacks on China, Mexico and all things Muslim are just some of his agenda that have given Wall Street a fit.



Trump's strong populist message seems to resonate with those who are not part of this country's one percent. It is truly remarkable that a billionaire, real estate developer who resides in the city of one percenters, could dominate among voters in cities that are economically-challenged and where incomes are the lowest. Although the two are poles apart politically, the populist appeal of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders is similar.



They appeal to a silent majority of voters who have suddenly found their voice. After decades of hopelessness, declining voter participation, and almost universal disgust for both Wall Street and our government, these two men have harnessed that sullen anger and the results have been both unexpected and unpredictable.



It also helps that neither candidate is beholden to either the traditional corridors of political influence or Wall Street money (Super PACS) that has become the basis for our political system. And what Wall Street cannot control, it abhors. Unlike Mrs. Clinton, a traditional (and predicable), slightly, left of center Democrat, Wall Street and Washington is threatened by Bernie Sanders, a self-proclaimed socialist and Donald Trump, an unorthodox deal-maker with little use for ideology or the status quo.



As the election draws closer, Trump's standing in the polls and wins among GOP delegates increases, the Wall Street/Washington cabal is pulling out all the stops to prevent Trump's ascendency. Mitt Romney, the GOP's quintessential "company man" and Washington insider, has now joined the fray in earnest. In a speech on Thursday in Utah, the erstwhile Republican candidate for president called Trump a "fraud and a phony" while exhorting Republicans to vote for anyone but the Donald.



Let me be clear, I am an independent so I'm not picking sides in these primaries. As for the individual policies of the Democratic and GOP candidates, there are some things I agree with and some I don't. But what I do approve of is the populist movement that Trump and Sanders have triggered in this country. Make no mistake, you may not agree or like Trump's racist statements or Bernie's arguments for wealth distribution, but a lot of Americans do. That is clear in the polls.



And that's part of what a democracy is all about. Granted, I wish every American could be just like me, rejecting prejudice of either religion or race, advocating the end of political and Wall Street influence, addressing the income inequality gap, etc., etc. but I am realistic enough to understand that our political system has always made room for every view and opinion. In a populist election, the best and worst of us come to the forefront.

Bill Schmick is registered as an investment adviser representative with Berkshire Money Management. Bills forecasts and opinions are purely his own. None of the information presented here should be construed as an endorsement of BMM or a solicitation to become a client of BMM. Direct inquires to Bill at 1-888-232-6072 (toll free) or email him at Bill@afewdollarsmore.com.
The School Committee is reviewing a draft budget for fiscal 2017 and talks with the teachers' union.

Clarksburg School Draft Budget at $2.6M for Fiscal 2017



Julia Jammalo tells the board of her experience with Project 351.

CLARKSBURG, Mass.  School officials are reviewing a preliminary budget for fiscal 2017 that is up 3 percent over this year.



The proposed budget is $2,564,996, up about $77,000 over fiscal 2016.



"There aren't a lot of changes," Superintendent Jonathan Lev told the School Committee on Thursday. "This represents maintaining the current programs at the school and maintaining the staff."



Like many governmental districts, health insurance has continued to rise apace; Clarksburg is looking at about $331,000. Lev said the district's insurer had cautioned that if "we continue our current insurance plan there will be a 5 percent increase."



The budget adds in a teaching assistant position expected to be needed for the next school year. The salaries line includes step and column increases for teachers but not raises. Lev said the first round of negotiations with the Clarksburg Teachers Association has been held, and the Committee went into executive session at the end of the meeting to discuss those talks and a letter submitted on behalf of non-union employees.



State aid has not kept pace with costs, Lev said, although the state House and Senate have been discussing increasing Chapter 70 above what Gov. Charlie Baker has proposed.



While vocational/technical and charter schools saw increased funding, public schools were being given 1.7 percent over this year.



"That 1.7 percent increase comes out to $20 a student and we have about 160 students," he said. "You do the math."



Clarksburg anticipates getting $1.78 million in Chapter 70 education aid, or about $3,500 more, with a required net school spending of $2.4 million.



Nine eighth-graders are expected to attend Drury High School for a net enrollment increase of four, or about another $44,000 in tuition to North Adams.



Last year, town officials pressed the school district to cut up to $80,000 out of its budget.



"There are some chages that can happen and we will be meeting with the Finance Committee and the selectmen in the next few weeks," Lev said. "When the contract is settled [with teachers], we will be aware of our numbers."



He added, "It's not a bad budget. I certainly hope something will happen over the next few months to lower it more."

Clarksburg School Budget Draft FY2017
Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School Hires New First Grade Teacher

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.  Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School welcomes Renee Far as first grade teacher for the 2016-2017 school year.



At the Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School, as at many Waldorf schools all over the world, the class teacher stays with students from first through eighth grade. The class grows academically, artistically and socially in a progressively deepening relationship that builds on each childs natural curiosity and the unfolding of each childs capacities.



The Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School is now accepting applications for fall, and will hold a Meet the Teacher event Saturday, March 12, from 10:30 a.m. to noon with an opportunity for current and potential applicant families to meet Far. Music, movement, language and outdoor learning subject teachers will also be on hand.



We are thrilled to welcome Renee Far, a graduate of our Waldorf Teaching Apprenticeship Program, as our first grade teacher, Faculty Administrator Michael Junkins said. In the 45th anniversary year of our school, we have embarked on a stable, mature phase that includes not only stellar teaching for our students, but master teachers mentoring rising teachers in the high standards our faculty holds for both academics and healthy social dynamics."
Four More Shots Please S3 Review: This Old Wine In New Bottle Doesn't Get You Drunk As Easily Anymore
The U.S. attorneys office in Boston is launching an investigation into possible civil rights violations at Boston Latin School, the nations oldest public school.

The U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, Carmen Ortiz, said her office will conduct an investigation into the recent complaints of racism at the highly competitive exam entrance school, which was founded in April 1635.

In January, two black students at the school launched a social media campaign to bring attention to their complaints of racism at the school, which they said were ignored by school administrators. Race relations have long been testy at the school , which has seen its share of black and Latino students decline in recent years, according to the Boston Globe and other news organizations.

The Boston school districts office of equity investigated, looking at alleged incidents of racism over an 18-month period. The investigation found school officials actions were appropriate in some cases, but the report criticized the way they handled others, including an incident in which a black female student said a non-black male student called her a racial slur and threatened her with a reference to lynching.

The investigation also made recommendations for moving forward, saying the school needs a new anti-racism initiative.

Some community leaders said the report didnt go far enough. Eight civil rights organizations and community members, including the ACLU of Massachusetts, the Boston Branch of the NAACP, and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice, submitted a complaint to Ortizs office that raised concerns about harassment and systemic discrimination at the school.

In a statement released by her office, Ortiz said Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and schools Superintendent Tommy Chang pledged full cooperation with the investigation .

Heres a letter that Boston Latin Headmaster Lynne Mooney Teta shared with the school community last month after the office of equity investigation.

BLS Memo to Community
Connecticuts state board of education approved a new accountability system Wednesday that factors in several indicators other than just test scores and simple graduation rates, according to the Hartford Courant .

Among them: post-graduation career preparedness, college enrollment, the percentage of chronically absent students, physical fitness, and access to arts. In addition, the indicators include three ways of measuring graduation rates such as whether freshmen are on track to graduate and the four- and six- year graduation rates.

Each indicator is given a value, and schools are ranked on an index based on the amount of points accumulated, according to the Courant.

The former accountability system was criticized by school district officials as only giving a snapshot of a moment in time.

Our new accountability system will tell a deeper, truer story of how well a school is preparing its students for success in college, career and life, Commissioner of Education Dianna Wentzell said in a statement . The new system moves beyond test scores and graduation rates to provide a more holistic, multifactor perspective of district and school performance. It also shows where we need to invest more time and resources to help kids in the greatest need and where we can celebrate and share school success stories.

Also, as part of the new accountability system, the state categorizes schools as excelling, turnaround, or focus schools.

While states have more flexibility in the coming years to create their own school and teacher accountability systems under the recently signed Every Student Succeeds Act, or ESSA, someincluding California and Alaskaalready are in the process of revising their systems in ways that may or may not satisfy the law. The U.S. Department of Education has not yet said what it will regulate on, when regulations will be finalized, and when state accountability plans will be due and approved.

California board members, for example, are considering a plan that would evaluate schools based on several indicators, but would not include an index performance rating.

Alaska board members are considering an accountability system that would give more power to principals and superintendents to evaluate teachers, according to former Commissioner Mike Hanley.

In a Q&A , posted on the Connecticut Education Departments website, administrators said that states revised system was built with the new regulations with the new law in mind.

In fact, Connecticuts new accountability system is well aligned to the requirements for accountability indicators under ESSA, the post says. We are still awaiting guidelines from the federal government on exactly what the new legislation means for Connecticut once the states Elementary and Secondary Education Act waiver expires and the new law takes effect.

Dont miss another State EdWatch post. Sign up here to get news alerts in your email inbox. And make sure to follow @StateEdWatch on Twitter for the latest news from state K-12 policy and politics.
Caught Shoplifting? You Should Get a Lawyer

It may seem like a minor charge, something kids get in trouble for when they try to sneak an extra candy bar out of the store. But a shoplifting charge can have serious consequences -- to your criminal record and your bank account -- especially if the charge is a mistake, like you were not charged for something or the cashier forgot to remove the magnetic sensor.

Whether you're planning on fighting the charge, or just want to make sure you're getting the best plea bargain, you should probably hire a lawyer if you've been charged with shoplifting.

It Can Go on Your Record

Most states include shoplifting under their criminal larceny statutes, which prohibit taking property without permission. Whether a shoplifting conviction will go on your criminal record generally depends on the severity of the charge, which it turn will generally depends on the value of what you have been accused of stealing.

For example, a low-level shoplifting charge might be dealt with through a criminal citation, which may not go on your record. However, if the value involved is high enough, you could be charged with a misdemeanor or felony, which would definitely end up on your record.

It Can Affect Your Credit

Depending on how the shop or store handles your case, a shoplifting conviction could affect your credit. While most crimes don't directly impact your credit rating, some stores will send shoplifters a civil demand letter, ordering them to reimburse the store or pay the store a civil fine on top of a criminal fine associated with a shoplifting conviction.

These demand letters threaten legal action if the accused or convicted shoplifter doesn't pay, and it's possible a negative civil judgment could affect your credit. But most of the civil demand letters are more bark than bite, and many stores don't follow through with enforcing them.

You Can Challenge the Charge

A shoplifting charge does not necessarily mean a shoplifting conviction. You can challenge a shoplifting charge based on a mistake by the store, a mistake by witnesses, or a failure of prosecutors to prove the elements of the charge. An experienced criminal defense attorney will be able to best advise you on how to respond to a shoplifting charge, so if you've been charged with shoplifting, contact an attorney near you.

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What Goes on a Criminal Record?

If you're accused of crime, you're probably wondering what will end up on your record, especially if you're not convicted. Unfortunately, the answer -- as it almost always is when it comes to legal matters -- is that it depends on a lot of factors, most notably state laws.

Let the Record Reflect

Every state has its own criminal justice system guided and informed by its notions of the system's goals. Some states seek to minimize consequences of criminal activity for people in the hope that reform is possible. Some states seek retribution only. This makes a difference in how they approach a record and expungement, both in theory and in practice.

Florida is strictly retributive, for example, seeking only to punish criminals and not reform them. So the state's laws are pretty lax about what goes on your record and strict about expunging, or removing things from it.

Arrests in Florida are widely publicized in local newspapers that have the week;s accused as their sole content. Meanwhile, the courts are not quick to cover much, although there are certainly provisions of rexpungement. Juvenile convictions can prevent young people from pursuing certain careers, as escaping even a youthful offense there is difficult. But it can be done.

Meanwhile, California's approach to criminality is generally much less retributive. A person may even seek to expunge an arrest through the arresting agency if it didn't ultimately result in a charge filed by the state attorney. If that fails, the petition can be filed with the courts. In that way, an arrest cannot mar a record unless a crime is charged.

The Record in Theory

Although the record sounds scary, it should not be in theory. If you are not convicted of a crime, the record will reflect how that happened, whether charges were never filed, or were dropped, or you were found not guilty at trial. Similarly, a conviction will show a plea or a trial.

It's definitely going to be more complicated to explain conviction than a more positive outcome, but an error in the record can be corrected. If you discover that the court clerk somehow failed to file the positive resolution of your charges, petitioning the court for an accurate record is possible wherever you've been charged.

Talk to a Lawyer

Depending on the crime charged, the outcome, time that has passed, the state you are in, and other circumstances, you can deal with a criminal record in a number of ways. Your best bet is to consult with local counsel. And if you are in criminal proceedings now, keep the record in mind when deciding whether to resolve a case with a plea agreement.

Many criminal defense attorneys consult for free or a minimal fee and will be happy to discuss your case. Get help.

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'How to Get Away With Murder' Review: Season 2, Episode 13

We'll cut straight to the chase: last night's episode of How to Get Away With Murder was a flipping mess -- but a fun and illuminating one. Featuring several unsexy slumber parties, the first twenty minutes were very 'Olson Twins pizza party' while the end seemed like a lost scene from The Bacchae.

So, let's hop right in to this week's spoiler-filled lawyer's guide to How to Get Away With Murder.

Nightmare on Keating Street

Once again, Phillip is back and stalking the Keating five like whoa. There are videos from the night of A.D.A. Sinclair's murder, a video of Michaela's Hapstall walk of shame, and who knows what else. The gang's not safe with that tossed-off product of incest following their every move, so Annalise goes to the new A.D.A., looking to trade info on Phillip for blanket immunity for her and, somewhat surprisingly, everyone else.

Of course, the A.D.A. tries to make the best of Annalise's info without giving her any immunity. Stalling Annalise, he's sending the police over to raid her practice. But Annalise can't be beat in the deceit and deception game. Needless to say, she comes out on top, and we get to hear Bonnie incredulously declare: "You're asking us to shred files while you're in front of the A.D.A.?"

Unprotected and still afraid, the Keating five (plus Oliver) decide they'll spend the night at Asher's, since he's the only murderous law student to have escaped Phillip's attention so far. The slumber party is a straight-up bore, but Colliver lets it leak that they're considering transferring to Stanford. (Come on over, you two! You'll be our neighbors.)

No Cuddle Party in Cleveland

Since half the episode is set ten years in the past, so are half the slumber parties. Annalise is still in Cleveland, still putting the pressure on Rose to testify (falsely) on behalf billionaire bride-killer Charles Mahoney. She even brings in her old girlfriend, Eve, to threaten Rose with deportation back to Haiti.

After abusing her role as an ICE attorney, Eve slips over to the local HoJo's and joins Annalise in her suite. The two have a long heart-to-heart, about Annalise's pregnancy (she's scared but wants the baby), about Rose (Annalise is convinced it will all work out) and about their failed relationship. Annalise declares, seeming somewhat unconvinced, that she's not gay -- just one of the many women who have sex with women, apparently.

Westophe's Nightmare

Eve and Annalise don't go to sleep, however. (In fact, their meeting is in the middle of the day, but forgive us the slumber party conceit. We've got to tie this thing together somehow.) Instead, Annalise heads out to meet up with Rose.

And that brings us to the meat of this episode. While everyone else is off snuggling, Wes is first alone, then with his shrink. He's found the note saying he was a suspect in his mother's death. He's having constant flashbacks to that time he murdered his mother.

Yes, Wes is convinced it was him who killed his mom, though the psychiatrist begs him to consider otherwise.

And soon we find out what really happened. Annalise, at Rose's, pleads with Rose to testify. Father Mahoney has repeated his threats against Wes/Christophe, should she not. Annalise, never the gentle hand, let's Rose know as much.

Rose, already on edge, breaks. "I was born free, I will stay free, so will Christophe," she says. "There's no reason to hurt him now."

And with that, she stabs herself in the neck. Her last words are "take care of my boy," which raises two points: A, Annalise, you're no good at taking care of people; and B, Rose! This woman is responsible for your death! Don't put her in charge of your kid.

The show lingers, really, really lingers, on Rose's slashed, bleeding neck as Annalise runs off and Wes arrives, just in time to watch his mother die.

Phillip Post Script

Finally, Annalise returns to Wes's house to do go knows what. Wes, however, isn't home. But Phillip is. The episode closes with Philip, sliding across the floor like a snake, grabbing Annalise's ankle and pulling her down, down, down.

This is the stuff dreams are made of. Happy slumber party, everyone.

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Since its creation in 1775, the Marine Corps has recognized countless heroes for their selflessness, dedication and outstanding leadership. This recognition draws attention to their excellent example and encourages others to learn from them. Although it is not Marine Corps specific, the Dickin Medal serves the same purpose: to bring much deserved recognition to service members who have set an extraordinary example. It just happens to be reserved for non-human service members.

Lucca, a retired Marine Corps military working dog, has been selected as the first United States military working dog to receive this prestigious European award.

The Dickin Medal was established in 1943 by the Peoples Dispensary for Sick Animals, a British veterinary charity, to acknowledge outstanding acts of bravery or devotion to duty by animals serving with the armed forces or civil defense. Since its inception, the medal has been awarded to fewer than 70 animals including horses, pigeons, and dogs.

Lucca, a half German Shephard and half Belgian Malinois explosives detection dog, was selected to receive the award for her actions while serving in combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan.

According to Gunnery Sgt. Chris Willingham, Luccas first handler and now adoptive owner, in March of 2012 Lucca and her handler at the time, Cpl. Juan Rodriguez, were leading a patrol in Afghanistan. Lucca was detached from her leash and sent ahead of the Marines to search for explosives with Rodriguez directing from afar. She located one improvised explosive device, but when they began searching for a second, an undetected explosive detonated.

Willingham, a Tuscaloosa, Alabama, native, explained that the explosion injured her front left leg and burned her upper torso. Rodriguez ran past the known IED, applied a tourniquet, and carried Lucca back to the safety of the nearby tree line.

As they would for any other injured Marine, they called for an emergency medical evacuation and Lucca was on her way to advanced medical care in only 10 minutes. The injuries led to the amputation of Luccas left front leg, but according to Willingham she has no permanent eye or ear damage.

The best part is that she has the same personality that she had beforehand, said Willingham. For her to be exposed to an IED, to take the injury she suffered, and to still come back with the same personality really speaks to her resiliency, strength and character.

Lucca had already completed two tours in Iraq with Willingham after the two were paired together in April 2006. Willingham said that having her there was like having a piece of home.

In between missions I could take the harness off and she could just be a dog, said Willingham. But when I put that search harness on she knew it was time to go to work. It was amazing to see that transition where she would just flip the switch.

Lucca and Willingham spent years building the relationship that he said is the true foundation of dog training. By the end of her six-year career, Lucca led approximately 400 patrols and identified nearly 40 IEDs saving countless lives.

There are a lot of people who didnt make it home, but thanks to Lucca I was able to get back to my family, said Willingham. I owe her everything.

Of all the patrols Lucca led throughout her service, not a single Marine was injured while following her. Even on the mission that led to her early retirement, Lucca was the only one hurt.

With the threats of explosives behind her, the 12-year-old war hero has settled into retirement at the home of her beloved handler.

She loves the dog beaches and the parks, traded combat patrols for family walks, and shes a wonderful house pet now, said Willingham. Having the dog that Id been through so much with and who saved my life, and being able to spoil her in her retirement and make sure she gets everything that she deserves, has been a task Ive been happy to accomplish.

Lucca and Willingham are scheduled to visit the United Kingdom later this year to receive the Dickin Medal and show a proud example of what military working dogs and United States military service members have to offer.
Demographic Change and Economic Well-being: The Role of Fiscal Policy, By Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund

Christine Lagarde

Managing Director, International Monetary Fund

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Cambridge, March 4, 2016

Webcast of the speech

As prepared for delivery

Good evening.

President Reif, thank you for the kind introduction, and thank you to the students and faculty for your warm welcome.

It is a tremendous honor to have the opportunity to deliver the Compton Lectureand to be the first French woman doing so: Quel honneur et quelle responsabilite!

In many ways, this marks a visit to our alma materand by our, I mean the IMFs alma mater. It is quite remarkable that our last five chief economists received their doctoral training here at MIT.

Kenneth Rogoff, Raghu Rajan, Simon Johnson, my compatriot Olivier Blanchard, and, of course, Maurice Obstfeld who took the helm of our Research Department last year. These economists are not only leaders in their fields, but they also embody the MIT spirit of intellectual honesty and openness and relentless curiosity.

Through their work at the IMF, these MIT alumni have played a crucial role in promoting the global public good of economic and financial stabilitywhich has been the Funds raison d'etre for more than 70 years.

Indeed, if the IMF had a motto it could be the image of the MIT mottoMens et Manus, Mind and Hand.

Both institutions are keenly aware that the best researchthe grandest ideasare those that can change our lives, our economies, our nations for the better. Both institutions are keenly aware that this requires rolling up ones sleeves and tackling problems hands-onin the lab, in the start-up venture, in the offices of policymakers who are looking to us for advice.

In short, both our institutions are deeply committed to serving the world in the 21st century.

The role of demographics

When I look at our 21st century, demographic change is one of the first features that come to my mind. Think about itthe worlds population is at about 7 billion people today. Forty years from now, it will be an estimated 10 billion inhabitants.1

In some parts of the worldespecially in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africapopulations will continue to grow rapidly.

Other parts of the worldincluding most advanced and emerging market economieswill face a momentous transition towards ageing and shrinking populations. Indeed, by the end of this century, about two-thirds of all countries are expected to have declining populations.

This will have profound implications for economics, financial markets, social stability, and geopolitics.

Without action, public pension and health systems will not be sustainable over the long-term. Our grandchildren would face unsustainable public debt and sharp tax increases that could stifle growth and reduce their economic well-being.

As Albert Einstein once said:

The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.

So we need to reframe the debate about demographics.

I believe that this challenge can be met. But it requires the right policies, political resolve, and strong leadership. I will argue that the fiscal policy responses and technological innovation are especially important parts of the solution.

1. The two sides of demographics

So let us start by looking at the sunny side of demographics.

Picture yourself getting together with your grandchildren! You may be in your 70s, but you are physically active and not afraid to impress the kids with your new Instagram account, or knowledge about gravitational waves.

Well, maybe you have a different vision of the golden years, but surely we can agree on one thing: being able to lead long and healthy lives is a demographic dream come true. By any standard, this is one of our most astonishing achievements.

Life expectancy is up

John Maynard Keynes, one of the two founding fathers of the IMF, coined the phrase In the long run, we are all dead. Happily, the long run is now expected to be even longer!

Average life expectancy around the world has jumped from 47 years in 1950 to 71 years2 today. Of course, life expectancy varies greatly across regionsfrom a low of 61 years in Africa to a high beyond 80 years in northern America, Japan, and many European countries.

Few people today would want to swap their modern lives for an earlier existence. In the late 19th century, for example, the typical American household could expect to see almost one in four of its children die in infancy, and people suffered from diseases that would be easily curable today.

The difference between then and now lies in a powerful combination of factors: improved sanitation, the introduction of antibiotics and vaccines, expanded education, and better infrastructure and health care, to name just a few.

Fertility rates are down

The increase in life expectancy and economic welfare that came with the industrial revolution brought with it the seeds of demographic change. In what we call today the advanced economies, it started with a pronounced drop in fertility rates in the second half of the 19th century that has continued today.

At the risk of oversimplifying Gary Beckerfrom the University of Chicago, I am afraidthe decline in fertility rates was related to changes in economic circumstances that increased the financial returns to education.

To put it simply, it became rational for families to invest in their childrens education, and families increasingly opted for raising fewer better-educated children instead of a larger number of children. There is also ample evidence that children of better educated mothers do better in terms of health and education. Educated women tend to have fewer children and devote more time to each childwhile they enjoy broader opportunities in their own lives.

This virtuous circle that started in Europe and the United States more than a hundred years ago is now widely seen across the world. The economic, social, and political implications are momentous.

Fertility rates have come downin 1950 the average woman bore 5 children; today she has 2.5 children (these are global averages). Over the same period, the global literacy rate jumped from 36 percent to 83 percent today.

Global per capita income is up

For one thing, increased investment in human capital has had a large positive effect on economic well-being. Average incomes in emerging market economies, such as China and India, have risen much faster than those in richer countries. Since the 1990s, the growth momentum has spread to more than 70 developing countries.

As a result, global inequalitythat is, income inequality between countrieshas fallen steadily over the past decades. And global income per capita has nearly quadrupled since the end of the Second World War.

Global poverty has also come down sharply. People living at or below the poverty line of $1.90 per day account for 13 percent of the worlds population, down from 44 percent in 1981.3 China alone has lifted more than 750 million people out of poverty over the past three decades.

The bottom line: emerging and developing countries have been catching up with advanced economies in facilitating longer and more prosperous lives for their citizens.

The darker side of demographics

So whats not to like? What is the darker side of demographics? Well, with declining fertility rates, populations in some advanced economies did not just grow more slowly; they stagnated, or began to shrink. The same will eventually become true for emerging and developing countries.

Japan and Germanys population, for example, started to decline some time ago. Even the worlds most populous countryChinahas been facing a declining working-age population since 2012.

In most cases, shrinking and rapid ageing go hand-in-hand. This is a demographic double-whammy that will have major implications for economic growth, financial stability, and the public purse.

Firstthe impact on growth. For obvious reasons, older workers participate less in the labor market, and a country with an aging and shrinking population will therefore see lower growth over the medium term.

Fewer workers also means less need to equip them with capital. And countries may become reluctant to upgrade their capital stock. Why build more infrastructure for fewer people?

Our research suggests that the combination of aging and shrinking will reduce potential growth in advanced economies by about 0.2 percentage points in the medium termand by twice as much in emerging economies.4 This may not look so bad, but it would be a severe blow to those countries that are already facing very low growth and high debt.

Secondthe impact on financial markets. Many see population aging as a significant drag on asset prices. Some even hypothesize that retiring baby boomers may trigger stock market disruptions, because they may liquidate their equity holdings to finance their retirement

This may or may not be true, but what we definitely know is that governments, pension funds, and individuals seriously underestimate the prospect of people living much longer than anticipated.

IMF analysis suggests that, if everyone lived three years longer than expected, pension-related costs could increase by 50 percent in both advanced and emerging economies.5 This would heavily affect private and public sector balance sheets and could also undermine financial stability.

Thirdthe impact on fiscal health. Again, IMF staff research shows that, in advanced economies alone, age-related spending is projected to jump from 16 percent of GDP to 25 percent by the end of this centuryunless policy action is taken.6 How can this challenge be met?

Through borrowing? If governments were to finance the entire increase in age-related expenditure that way, public debt would explode from an average of 100 percent of GDP now to 400 percent by the end of the century.

Through higher taxes? In our hypothetical example, this would mean lifting VAT rates by roughly 20 percentage points, or increasing social security taxes by about 25 percentage points.

Through drastic entitlement reforms? By our calculations, this would mean slashing pensions and health benefits on average by about a third.

There is a wide variety of country experiences, but broadly speaking, emerging markets and advanced economies face similar challenges. Without action, Chinas spending on pensions and health care is projected to increase by 13 percentage points of GDP by the end of this century, compared to 15 percentage points in the United States.

So what can policymakers do to tackle these daunting fiscal challenges?

2. Fiscal policythe first line of defense

This is the point in the lecture where Groucho Marx would jump up and ask: Why should I care about future generations? What have they ever done for me?

Of course, we do not need a comedian to remind us that voters and politicians rarely look beyond the next election, let alone the next 85 years.

The question isis there a quick fix, a silver bullet? The answer is: yesand no.

Common sense tells us that simply increasing the fertility rate could help. Many countries have tried to do just thatwith baby bonuses, family allowances, tax incentives, parental leave, subsidized child care, and flexible work schedules.

What is the result? Well, these measures have boosted the labor force participation of motherswhich is great news in and of itselfbut they seem to have little or no effect on the number of births. So, bribing people to have children does not seem to workat least in the aggregate.

Game changers

That is why we need a multi-pronged policy response. In other words, it is not enough to focus on just one aspect, such as pushing through a pension reform. We need game changers.

The first game changer is entitlement reforms. Start with health carewhich accounts for the lions share of age-related expenditure increases.

Increasing competition among insurers and service providers will help. But it also requires more targeted spending, paying more attention to primary and preventive health care, promoting healthier lifestyles, and making more effective use of information technology. For instance, costs can be reduced by making greater use of heath data history or using unique health identifiers for individuals.

If these efforts can be sustained over many years, it would help governments to bend the cost curve.

Another priority is lifting retirement ages to match longevity gains. This would bolster the pension system and extend the productive life of individuals. At the same time, however, policymakers need to put in place a proper safety net for those who might not be healthy enough to work longer.

Pension systems also need to be flexible enough to respond to demographic shifts. The Japanese system, for instance, automatically slows the growth of benefits to offset increases in life expectancy and changes in the labor force. Other countriessuch as Germany, Finland, and Portugalalso link benefits to life expectancy. Again, the sooner the reform, the fairer the adjustment.

More broadly, in the current environment of already depressed aggregate demand, we need savvy fiscal policyone that supports demand while ensuring sufficient savings in pensions and health care.

The second game changer is better tax systems and more efficient public expenditure.

On the tax side, this means broadening the base for value-added taxes, improving taxation of multinational corporations, and strengthening tax complianceto ensure that everybody pays their fair share.

On the spending side, there must be better management of public investment. Our research shows that the most efficient public investors get twice the growth bang for their buck than the least efficient.

And, of course, energy pricing is keynot only for the public purse, but for the planet. This means more emphasis on energy taxation and less reliance on energy subsidies.

We estimate that global energy subsidies amounted to $5.3 trillion last year, or 6.5 percent of GDP. This staggering number needs to come down so these resources can be better used. Doing it now, when energy prices are low, makes it that much easier.

The third game changer is a broad-based push to lift potential growthto increase the size of the pie. In the end, there is only so much that tax measures and efficient public services can achieve.

One way to grow the economic pie is to add more workers. An obvious group are women. Scandinavian countries and, more recently, Japan have sought to raise female labor participation by offering affordable childcare, making tax and legal systems fairer for women, and promoting equal pay for equal work.

IMF research indicates that raising female labor participation rates to those of men could increase GDP by 5 percent in the United Statesand the numbers are even higher for many other countries.

Another source of additional labor is immigration. Of course, the associated political and social issues are not to be underestimated. But from a purely economic perspective, immigration can boost a countrys labor force, encourage investment, and lift growthprovided that they are well integrated into the work force.

Why is growing the economic pie so important? Not just so there is more to share now. Higher growth means a fuller public purse and a more potent fiscal policy response to this demographic challenge.

There is, of course, an essential ingredient for growthand that is raising labor productivity by using ever smarter technology. People here at MIT know a thing or two about that.

3. Technological innovationa must-have for Methuselah

Indeed, MITs business is technological innovation, which is essential to raising living standards over the long termso we can all live long and prosper.

Artificial intelligence, robotics, genetic engineering, 3-D printing, and quantum computing: these are only a few of the technologies that could profoundly affect our economic well-being in the 21st century.

Could these innovations revolutionize the allocation of labor and capital? Yes! say the optimists.

I am thinking of Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee from the Sloan School here at MIT, who argue that technical advances will have transformational consequences leading to accelerating productivity and increasing prosperity. In other words, the pie grows a good deal by itself and everybody enjoys more leisure. Please sign me up!

Well, not so fast perhaps. There are also pessimists in this debate! First among these is perhaps Robert Gordon, who also got his PhD from MIT, under the supervision of Robert Solow, almost 50 years ago.

Professor Gordon argues that the century between 1870 and 1970, was unique in inventing electricity, gas, the internal combustion engine, running water, sewers, telephone, antibiotics, and much else. In his view, the technical progress achieved since thenadmirable as it has beenis simply not visible in productivity growth.

Which of these views is correct? The short answer is: Nobody knows. What we do know, however, is that we need more innovation, not less

Innovation is key

Powerhouses like MIT have been leading the way for decades, including through partnerships with major corporations.

Governments also need to play their partby removing barriers to competition, cutting red tape, and investing more in education and Research and Development (R&D). This would unleash entrepreneurial energy and help attract private investment in ideas that are new, surprising, and useful.

In addition to supporting universities and research networks, governments typically provide subsidies for private-sector R&D. More investment in R&D means bigger benefits for the wider economy.

New IMF research shows that, if advanced economies were able to ramp up private R&D by 40 percent, on average, they could increase their GDP by 5 percent in the long term.7

Innovation is also critical outside the advanced economies. For example, China is todays number one in the world in terms patent applications. And more and more multinationals outsource parts of their R&D to countries like Brazil and India.

To be fair, most developing countries still rely considerably on the imitation and absorption of technologies from advanced economies.

This is why we should encourage greater sharing of technology between the advanced economies and their emerging peersincluding through foreign direct investment, trade reforms, investment in education, and a better enforcement of intellectual property rights.

If this were to happen, it would be another global game-changer.

Conclusion

So let me conclude with this idea of sharing.

The life motto of Karl Taylor Compton, MIT's ninth president, was: Leave every campground better than you found it.

We all know that we must address a huge demographic challenge, so we can leave our economies and societies better than we found them. We owe this to our children and grandchildren.

I am confident that we can meet this challenge. We all have a stake in this campground.

Thank you.

1 United Nations estimates.

2 United Nations estimates.

3 World Bank estimates.

4 April 2015 World Economic Outlook. Chapter 3: Where Are We Headed? Perspectives on Potential Output.

5 April 2012 GFSR. Chapter 4: The Financial Impact of Longevity Risk.

6 IMF: Staff Discussion Note: The Fiscal Consequences of Shrinking Populations

7 IMF: April 2016 Fiscal Monitor (forthcoming)
Imperial Valley News Center

Wildlife Trafficking Task Force Releases First Annual Progress Report

Washington, DC - The Presidential Task Force on Wildlife Trafficking released its first annual Progress Assessment today, World Wildlife Day. The report details accomplishments of the Task Force in implementing the U.S. National Strategy for Combating Wildlife Trafficking in its first year, as well as future efforts in the fight against this pernicious trade.

Last year was a turning point in the global effort to counter wildlife trafficking. Task Force agencies vigorously carried out the three main objectives of the National Strategy: strengthening enforcement, reducing demand, and expanding international cooperation. One multi-year initiative known as Operation Crash has led to prosecutions against more than 30 individuals and businesses in U.S. courts, leading to prison terms as long as 70 months and forfeitures as high as $4.5 million. Task Force agencies last year trained more than 2,000 enforcement officials around the globe. In countering demand, Task Force campaigns in 2015 reached tens of millions of people in the United States and major markets throughout Asia to dissuade consumers from buying illegal wildlife or wildlife products. A major accomplishment in international cooperation was the September commitment by President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping to take timely and significant steps to halt the domestic commercial trade of ivory.

President Obama created the Task Force in 2013, bringing together 17 federal departments and offices in a whole-of-government approach to halt illegal activities that threaten the survival of elephants, rhinos, and other iconic species. The Task Force is co-chaired by the Secretaries of State and the Interior and the Attorney General, and it is charged with implementing the National Strategy issued by President Obama in 2014 and detailed in an Implementation Plan in 2015.
Secretary of State John Kerry's Meeting with Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Libya Martin Kobler

Washington, DC - Secretary Kerry met today with Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Libya Martin Kobler to discuss ongoing efforts to support a unified Government of National Accord in Libya.

Secretary Kerry made clear that the United States will continue to support Prime Minister al-Sarraj and the Government of National Accord as they take their rightful place in Tripoli and that we look forward to seeing Libyan Political Dialogue members reconvene in Tunis next week to advance the process. He expressed his concern that, despite the efforts of a majority of Libyan leaders to seat this government, a small group of spoilers prevented a formal vote that would have endorsed the Cabinet.

Finally, the Secretary reiterated that the United States remains committed to providing the Government of National Accord full political backing and technical, economic, humanitarian, security and counter-terrorism assistance.
A number of high-profile deputies who served as Health ministers during the 31st Dail lost their seats at the General Election, including Fine Gael Deputy Leader Dr James Reilly and former Labour primary care ministers Kathleen Lynch and Alex White.

The Chairman of the Joint Oireachtas Health Committee, Fine Gael Deputy Jerry Buttimer, also lost his seat in Cork.

Kilmihil-based GP Dr Michael Harty from the No Doctor No Village campaign won a seat as an independent candidate in Clare.

Dr Harty is the fourth doctor to represent Clare, following Dr Paddy Hillery, Dr Bill Loughnane and Dr Moosajee Bhamjee.

We tapped into anger and frustration, Dr Harty told IMT.

The entire community became energised.

Dr Harty said the recent deal on Rural Practice Allowances between the IMO and the State was a step in the right direction and had energised his campaign. It is a small but welcome move: general practice has had 960 million removed from it accumulatively over the past five or six years.

I was worried and I made my concerns known, Dr Reilly  a former IMO President  commented.

Reality shocks more than theory. Many of my colleagues are back.

He said it was great that Fine Gael got one seat in Dublin Fingal, adding that the outgoing government would be remembered as one that turned the country around.

The North Dublin GP said it was a tough time and he thanked his colleagues for their support.

Using a medical metaphor, he added: The operation was a success but the patient is still in a lot of pain. That pain was evident at the doorsteps. I dont believe we got our message across as clearly as we might have  in terms of making an emotional connection with people.

There was a difficult job ahead for all those elected, he said to form a government to keep this country on track and spread the recovery to every house in the country.

gary.culliton@imt.ie
Property Contamination Claims: Who to Blame

Perhaps you've been living over a dump. Obviously, you didn't know about it or you wouldn't have been so thrilled by the cheap rent. Now the place has made you sick.

Who do you blame? Who can you sue? Is someone supposed to clean this mess? And shouldn't you have been warned? The answers to these questions are not always straightforward. Let's explore them.

Contamination Complications

Several legal and logistical issues apply to the question of contamination. Who to blame gets complicated. Take the cheap apartment scenario -- after a decade you discover that the place has been poisoning you. Can you sue your landlord for injury?

Yes, but whether the claim succeeds depends on what the landlord knew and should have known, what was reasonable under the circumstances. Whether cleanup is possible or can be made the landlord's responsibility also depends on how the environmental hazard came about, when, and state and local environmental protection laws.

In other words, there is recourse for an injured person when contamination caused injury. Still, the source of the poison and what was known about it -- or should have been known and disclosed -- and other factors go into a determination of what's reasonable and what is negligence in toxic torts.

Big and Small Picture

On a grand scale, there are major environmental spills and federal laws that govern who should clean up what and when. Even then, proving responsibility for contamination is not easy, as there are limits to liability that might surprise you.

Sometimes a property owner is responsible for contamination even when it's caused by a negligent tenant. Sometimes a person who purchased a contaminated property can be sued for contribution to cleanup, although there are defenses. But there are defenses in all federal legislation. It does not always follow that contaminators pay for cleanup or injury.

Contamination Claims

All of the caveats aside, negligence suits for contaminated property, water, and food abound. Whether you're injured by a product or property or a public service that's poorly managed -- like the victims of lead poisoning in Flint, Michigan's water -- you can sue.

Who the appropriate parties to target are, and what standards govern a claim, depend on the context of the suit and poisoning. A property purchaser suing a developer might make breach of contract claims in addition to arguing negligence for causing injury. A good lawyer will advance all plausible arguments to help you recover.

Consult With Counsel

If you or someone you know has been injured on contaminated property, or in any other context, speak to a lawyer. Many personal injury attorneys consult for free or a minimal fee and will be happy to discuss your case.

Related Resources:

Have an injury claim? Get your claim reviewed for free. (Consumer Injury)

Negligence Background (FindLaw's Learn About the Law)

What Are Toxic Torts? (FindLaw's Learn About the Law)

Toxic Chemicals and Materials (FindLaw's Learn About the Law)
Mona Lisa Effect May Get to Animals Just As Much As Humans
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Have we finally reached peak art sales? Works by Matisse and Picasso are going for a song as the worlds leading auction houses report a slump in sales and profits, blamed on macho willy waving by company bosses.

Its less than a year since Pablo Picassos Women of Algiers (Version O) set a new world record for the most expensive artwork to be sold at auction after reaching $179m (115m) in New York.

Now even Picassos are falling in price after a run of disappointing sales which has forced the leading auction houses to take radical action.

Recommended Read more Picasso expected to become most expensive painting at auction

When Sothebys and Christies held a series of impressionist and modern art sales last month, they collectively sold $210m worth, a dramatic 45 per cent decline from the $381m total for similar sales last year.

Christies International, the worlds leading auction house by revenue, reported a 5 per cent decline in annual sales, ending five years of growth. Sales of postwar and contemporary art, Old Masters, 19th century and Russian art were among those in decline.

In further sign that collectors are becoming selective, Sothebys sold just 67 per cent of its 37 offered lots at one recent sale, for a total of $114 million, below its own expectations of a $123m return.

Picassos 1935 oil painting Tete de Femme sold for 18.9m at a Sotheby's last month, a far cry from the 28m which the seller paid for the work at the auction houses 2013 sale.

A Matisse drawing, bought in New York in November 2012 for 323,400 was sold for 266,500 at Christies.

Culture news in pictures Show all 33 1 /33 Culture news in pictures Culture news in pictures 30 September 2016 An employee hangs works of art with "Grand Teatro" by Marino Marini (R) and bronze sculpture "Sfera N.3" by Arnaldo Pomodoro seen ahead of a Contemporary Art auction on 7 October, at Sotheby's in London REUTERS Culture news in pictures 29 September 2016 Street art by Portuguese artist Odeith is seen in Dresden, during an exhibition "Magic City - art of the streets" AFP/Getty Images Culture news in pictures 28 September 2016 Dancers attend a photocall for the new "THE ONE Grand Show" at Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin, Germany REUTERS Culture news in pictures 28 September 2016 With an array of thrift store china, humorous souvenirs and handmade tile adorning its walls and floors, the Mosaic Tile House in Venice stands as a monument to two decades of artistic collaboration between Cheri Pann and husband Gonzalo Duran REUTERS Culture news in pictures 27 September 2016 A gallery assistant poses amongst work by Anthea Hamilton from her nominated show "Lichen! Libido!(London!) Chastity!" at a preview of the Turner Prize in London REUTERS Culture news in pictures 27 September 2016 A technician wearing virtual reality glasses checks his installation in three British public telephone booths, set up outside the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, Netherlands. The installation allows visitors a 3-D look into the museum which has twenty-two paintings belonging to the British Royal Collection, on loan for an exhibit from 29 September 2016 till 8 January 2017 AP Culture news in pictures 26 September 2016 An Indian artist dressed as Hindu god Shiva performs on a chariot as he participates in a religious procession 'Ravan ki Barat' held to mark the forthcoming Dussehra festival in Allahabad AFP/Getty Images Culture news in pictures 26 September 2016 Jean-Michel Basquiat's 'Air Power', 1984, is displayed at the Bowie/Collector media preview at Sotheby's in New York AFP/Getty Culture news in pictures 25 September 2016 A woman looks at an untitled painting by Albert Oehlen during the opening of an exhibition of works by German artists Georg Baselitz and Albert Oehlen in Reutlingen, Germany. The exhibition runs at the Kunstverein (art society) Reutlingen until 15 January 2017 EPA Culture news in pictures 24 September 2016 Fan BingBing (C) attends the closing ceremony of the 64th San Sebastian Film Festival at Kursaal in San Sebastian, Spain Getty Images Culture news in pictures 23 September 2016 A view of the artwork 'You Are Metamorphosing' (1964) as part of the exhibition 'Retrospektive' of Japanese artist Tetsumi Kudo at Fridericianum in Kassel, Germany. The exhibition runs from 25 September 2016 to 1 January 2017 EPA Culture news in pictures 22 September 2016 Jo Applin from the Courtauld Institute of Art looks at Green Tilework in Live Flesh by Adriana Vareja, which features in a new exhibition, Flesh, at York Art Gallery. The new exhibition features works by Degas, Chardin, Francis Bacon and Sarah Lucas, showing how flesh has been portrayed by artists over the last 600 years PA Culture news in pictures 21 September 2016 Performers Sean Atkins and Sally Miller standing in for the characters played by Asa Butterfield and Ella Purnell during a photocall for Tim Burton's "Miss Peregrines Home For Peculiar Children" at Potters Field Park in London Getty Images Culture news in pictures 20 September 2016 A detail from the blanket 'Alpine Cattle Drive' from 1926 by artist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner is displayed at the 'Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum for Contemporary Arts' in Berlin. The exhibition named 'Ernst Ludwig Kirchner - Hieroglyphen' showing the complete collection of Berlin's Nationalgallerie works of the German artist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and will run from 23 September 2016 until 26 February 2017 AP Culture news in pictures 20 September 2016 A man looks at portrait photos by US photographer Bruce Gilden in the exhibition 'Masters of Photography' at the photokina in Cologne, Germany. The trade fair on photography, photokina, schowcases some 1,000 exhibitors from 40 countries and runs from 20 to 25 September. The event also features various photo exhibitions EPA Culture news in pictures 20 September 2016 A woman looks at 'Blue Poles', 1952 by Jackson Pollock during a photocall at the Royal Academy of Arts, London PA Culture news in pictures 19 September 2016 Art installation The Refusal of Time, a collaboration with Philip Miller, Catherine Meyburgh and Peter Galison, which features as part of the William Kentridge exhibition Thick Time, showing from 21 September to 15 January at the Whitechapel Gallery in London PA Culture news in pictures 18 September 2016 Artists creating one off designs at the Mm6 Maison Margiela presentation during London Fashion Week Spring/Summer collections 2017 in London Getty Images Culture news in pictures 18 September 2016 Bethenny Frankel attends the special screening of Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" to celebrate the 25th Anniversary Edition release on Blu-Ray and DVD in New York City Getty Images for Walt Disney Stu Culture news in pictures 17 September 2016 Visitors attend the 2016 Oktoberfest beer festival at Theresienwiese in Munich, Germany Getty Images Culture news in pictures 16 September 2016 Visitors looks at British artist Damien Hirst work of art 'The Incomplete Truth', during the 13th Yalta Annual Meeting entitled 'The World, Europe and Ukraine: storms of changes', organised by the Yalta European Strategy (YES) in partnership with the Victor Pinchuk Foundation at the Mystetsky Arsenal Art Center in Kiev AP Culture news in pictures 16 September 2016 Tracey Emin's "My Bed" is exhibited at the Tate Liverpool as part of the exhibition Tracey Emin And William Blake In Focus, which highlights surprising links between the two artists Getty Images Culture news in pictures 15 September 2016 Musician Dave Grohl (L) joins musician Tom Morello of Prophets of Rage onstage at the Forum in Inglewood, California Getty Images Culture news in pictures 14 September 2016 Model feebee poses as part of art installation "Narcissism : Dazzle room" made by artist Shigeki Matsuyama at rooms33 fashion and design exhibition in Tokyo. Matsuyama's installation features a strong contrast of black and white, which he learned from dazzle camouflage used mainly in World War I AP Culture news in pictures 13 September 2016 Visitors look at artworks by Chinese painter Cui Ruzhuo during the exhibition 'Glossiness of Uncarved Jade' held at the exhibition hall 'Manezh' in St. Petersburg, Russia. More than 200 paintings by the Chinese artist are presented until 25 September EPA Culture news in pictures 12 September 2016 A visitor looks at Raphael's painting 'Extase de Sainte Cecile', 1515, from the Uffizi Gallery in Florence during the opening of a Raphael exhibition at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, Russia. The first Russian exhibition of the works of the Italian Renaissance artist Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino includes eight paintings and three drawings which come from Italy. Th exhibit opens to the public from 13 September to 11 December EPA Culture news in pictures 11 September 2016 Steve Cropper and Eddie Floyd perform during Otis Redding 75th Birthday Celebration - Rehearsals at the Macon City Auditorium in Macon, Georgia Getty Images for Otis Redding 75 Culture news in pictures 10 September 2016 Sakari Oramo conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Chorus and the BBC Singers at the Last Night of the Proms 2016 at the Royal Albert Hall in London PA Culture news in pictures 9 September 2016 A visitor walks past a piece entitled "Fruitcake" by Joana Vasconcelo, during the Beyond Limits selling exhibition at Chatsworth House near Bakewell REUTERS Culture news in pictures 8 September 2016 A sculpture of a crescent standing on the 2,140 meters high mountain 'Freiheit' (German for 'freedom'), in the Alpstein region of the Appenzell alps, eastern Switzerland. The sculpture is lighted during the nights by means of solar panels. The 38-year-old Swiss artist and atheist Christian Meier set the crescent on the peak to start a debate on the meaning of religious symbols - as summit crosses - on mountains. 'Because so many peaks have crosses on them, it struck me as a great idea to put up an equally absurd contrast'. 'Naturally I wanted to provoke in a fun way. But it goes beyond that. The actions of an artist should be food for thought, both visually and in content' EPA Culture news in pictures Culture news in pictures Culture news in pictures

Henry Wyndham, the chairman of Sothebys Europe, announced he was leaving the firm after 22 years. Wyndham, a highly-regarded auctioneer who has been with Sothebys for 22 years, follows a number of leading staff out of the door.

Tad Smith, Sothebys chief executive, said he anticipated a significant net loss quarter for the opening months of 2016.

Dr Bendor Grosvenor, the British art dealer and art historian, said: It looks like the top end of the modern and contemporary market, buyers are beginning to look a little bit wary.

A decade of exponential growth appears to be coming to an end but the auction houses had themselves to blame for the profits slump. Christies said its decline in private sales was caused by a strategy to push special auctions focused on masterpieces.

Sothebys gambled on issuing the largest single guarantee in auction history to beat Christies to the collection of its former chairman A. Alfred Taubman, forgoing any commission on sold works until it reached $515 million and promising to cover any shortfall. The company was over-exposed and lost $12 million when the sale disappointed.

Instead of losing Henry Wyndham, who is one of the best auctioneers Ive ever seen, they should be letting go the person who signed off on the $515m Taubman collection guarantee. That was always likely to be a bum deal, said Dr Grosvenor, who appears on the BBC1 art programme, Fake or Fortune?

He added: Theres a stupid race between the auction houses over who can sell the most art for the greatest money, instead of focusing on the profit margins. Its bitten them on the bum.

The top level executives at the auction houses make these big bold moves to guarantee a $500m sale. They are willy waving instead of fixing their problems.

The auction houses believe the decline could simply be a correction. Sotheby executive Helena Newman told Bloomberg that sales while not stellar, were indicative of a solid, functioning market. Works like Picassos Tete de Femme had come back to a market where every buyer counts relatively soon.

Stephen Brooks, Christies deputy chief executive officer, said he expected to see some moderation in post-War and Impressionist art prices.

Dr Grosvenor said: We havent had enough major sales this year to gauge the market in New York. You have to take a long-term view. The people who fetch the highest amount in the contemporary market today, can be worth hardly anything relatively-speaking in 50 years time.

We have to get away from the idea of buying art as an investment. Its an illiquid asset and difficult to make money from. Always buy what you like and hope it goes up in value.

Sales slump

Pablo Picasso  Head of a Woman

Multi-dimensional oil portrait of the artists muse and mistress, Marie-Therese Walter sold for 18.9m at a Sotheby's. But Tete de Femme sold for 30 per cent more just over two years ago.

Henri Matisse - The Piano Lesson

1923 work, a domestic scene of life in Matisses studio, La Lecon de piano sold for 10.8m million, well below its 12-18m estimate at Sothebys Impressionist & Modern Art sale.

Alberto Giacometti - Bust of a Man

Giacometti painting which had been bought just before the credit crunch for 1.6 million was estimated at 1.8-2.5 million at Christies but failed to find a buyer.

Max Ernst  The Stolen Mirror

1941 dream-like landscape sold for 10.3m in 2011, a record for the surrealist artist. The European collector who bought it accepted a loss, offloading the work for just 8m at Christies in February.
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With a new Coen Brothers film comes a new ending you'll be mulling over long after you leave the cinema.

While some may find themselves frustrated by sitting through a film only for its climax to offer no firm explanation as to what actually happened, these final scenes are a hallmark many would cite as a reason why they're fans of the directing duo.

As their new film Hail, Caesar! is released, we recount the Coens' best endings and attempt to offer some explanation as to what the hell they mean in the process.

Note: this is not a list of our favourite Coen Brother films, just their denouements.

7. Burn After Reading (2008)



What happens: The final scene sees two CIA types attempting to discern what it is that actually happened, surmising the film's sprawling events through one tongue-in-cheek monologue. "What did we learn?" one asks. "I guess we learned not to do it again," the other concludes, before saying: "I'm f*cked if I know what we did."



What does it mean: This ending infuriates and entertains viewers in equal measure; the film is a comedy of errors littered with inane and neurotic characters (John Malkovich's ex-CIA analyst Osbourne Cox and Brad Pitt's personal trainer Chad Feldheimer included) who bumble their way through the film, unaware they're all linked to each other through association.



The film's ending is known to lead to such exclamations as: "It can't end like that!" or "This film had no point!" These people would be wrong; the final scene accentuates everything that came before it - the CIA folk are ultimately just as bungling as the other characters ("I'll be f*cked to find out what we did" one says, the other responding: "Yes sir, it's hard to say."), no lessons were learned by anyone and similar events are certain to happen again. It's the zany Coen Brothers cycle - best get used to it.



6. The Big Lebowski



What happens? The Dude (Jeff Bridges) grabs a beer from the bowling alley bar he frequents and meets the story's narrating cowboy (Sam Elliott). When he leaves, the cowboy fills the audience in on what happens next. "Well, I hope you folks enjoyed yourself," he finishes. "Catch you later on down the trail."



What does it mean? The Big Lebowski is best encapsulated by this closing monologue, spoken by Sam Elliott's unnamed fourth wall-breaking cowboy. His narration, which sees him refer to the film's events (as well as those to come) highlight the kind nature possessed by The Dude ("It's good knowing he's out there, taking it easy for all us sinners," he says).



But what's its point? I'd argue the narration complements the notion that there's no necessity for every film protagonist to be a deeply-flawed multi-layered character seeking vengeance or self-enlightenment; they can simply be an abiding dude who moves through life without many cares in the world other than their rug. Do we need to be told that by a cowboy? The better question is: why not?

5. No Country for Old Men (2007)



What happens? Retired Sheriff Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) recounts two dreams to his wife: in one, he loses some money given to him by his father; in the other, he's riding on horseback through a snowy mountain pass, his father riding on ahead to set a fire "somewhere out there in all that dark ad all that cold... and I knew that whenever I got there, he'd be there," Bell says. "...and then I woke up." Cut to black.



What does it mean? The most enthralling aspect of No Country for Old Men's closing moments is that the Coen Brothers didn't write it. Instead, they adapted it from a Cormac McCarthy novel. Which isn't to say it's not staggering to behold just how in line this ending is with the Coen trope: a character monologue recounting an ambiguous dream - appropriately enough involving lost money (itself a Coen trademark); an unexpected cut to black before the film's loose ends are tied up - it's almost as if McCarthy wrote the 2005 novel in the hope brothers Coen would adapt it.



Personally, I believe the "he" Bell refers to at the end of his dream is not his father at all, but the malevolent killer Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) who we last see staggering away wounded from a car crash, hammering home the idea that danger lurks even when dormant.

4. Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)



What happens? It's 1961. As a young, unknown Bob Dylan takes to the stage in the Gaslight, Llewyn (Oscar Isaac) leaves and is beaten by the husband of a woman he heckled the previous night. As the man leaves, Llewyn shouts after him: "Au revoir."

What does it mean? The blindsiding thing about Inside Llewyn Davis' final scene is the realisation that you were watching something cryptic all along. As the film nears its end, the Coens show Davis reliving the same scenario we see play out as the film begins with a few changes. Firstly, he manages to keep the cat inside the apartment he's residing in having accidentally let the same cat out at the start (and consequently spending half the film locating it). Arriving at the Gaslight, Davis takes to the stage and performs, and, out in the alleyway, he gets attacked by the husband of the woman he's seen chiding earlier on in the film.

The question to ask, though, is whether the opening scene is a flash-forward. This theory would mean that the film you watch occurs after the final scene. Another common thought is that Davis is caught in some form of Groundhog Day-esque time cycle. My response to that is: if that's how you want to decipher it, fine - but I believe it to deeper than that. Llewyn is a character caught in his own cycle: he wants to succeed, he desires to possess an ambition, and yet he creates obstacles for himself over and over. He's not too dissimilar from The Graduate's Benjamin Braddock, who spends half of that film repeating aimless cycles. Davis will never get further than what we see - he'll never succeed - because he's refusing to let himself do so.

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A pessimistic notion, sure, but the signs of evolution are there. Will Davis prevail? Judging by Bob Dylan taking to the stage, probably not. Should he have broken out of his cycle would he have achieved the success earned by Dylan? Definitely.

3. Raising Arizona (1987)



What happens? Having returned Nathan Jr. - the baby they kidnapped - Hi (Nicolas Cage) and Ed (Holly Hunter) spend one final night together, their marriage on the rocks. Hi dreams of a bright future which culminates with the two sat at a dinner table - as an elderly couple - surrounded by children and grandchildren.

What does it mean? It's difficult to pinpoint what is so touching about the end of Raising Arizona: could it be how unexpected it's sentimentality is? This is, after all, a film following a couple committing one hell of a crime (kidnapping a baby due to their inability to conceive). Or could it be the futility at play? As Hi runs through his dreams - of how he and Ed remain an influence on Nathan Jr. without him realising it, "taking pride in his accomplishments as if he were our own;" spending a holiday in a house filled with a large family - he asks, "Was it wishful thinking? Was I just flinging reality like I know I'm liable to do?"

In retrospect, it's telling how the most futile outcomes of all the Coen Brothers' final scenes - the one that absolutely cannot come true - is the one we believe just may.

2. A Serious Man (2009)



What happens? As the doctor calls Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) to discuss the results of a chest x-ray, a tornado bears down on his son Danny's (Aaron Wolff) school.



What does it mean? Only the Coen Brothers would end a film on the shot of a tornado looming large over a town. It may be easy to view this oncoming tornado approaching Danny's Minnesotan school as a metaphor symbolising the hurricane that'll be heaped upon Larry in the form of the inevitable bad news he'll hear from his doctor. But looking at the film's bigger picture and an existential cycle manifests. Just as The Dude will abide, Larry will face constant obstacles regardless of his actions (and just like his son will keep listening to Jefferson Airplane's "Somebody to Love" on repeat).

Perhaps this is why Larry relents, succumbing to the bribery presented to him by a student who wants to be marked up. Cue doctor's phone call and tornado; coincidental or karmic payback for poor Larry? That's your call to make. Either way, it's vaguely terrifying.

1. Barton Fink (1991)



What happens? Barton Fink (John Turturro) wanders onto a beach holding a box filled with unknown contents. He meets a woman who sits down in front of him and assumes the exact pose of a photo seen throughout the film on his hotel room wall. "Are you in pictures?' he confusedly asks the unnamed woman as a seagull flies past and dies before dropping into the sea.



What does it mean? This ending reigns supreme for the sole reason that each time you watch it comes the ability to draw something new. The final shot being identical to the image depicted in the painting seen on the hotel room wall - a painting showed multiple times throughout - is not a subtle mirroring, but adopts a sense of eeriness. The fact this is the only time we see Fink away from his peers and outside the claustrophobic walls of the Hotel Earle should be freeing, however, the real-life depiction of the painting - life imitating art - pulls him right back; he's trapped, ensnared by the Hollywood system, heightened by the way he's signed into an inescapable contract with Capitol Pictures in the film's penultimate scene. Even the beach - a location associated with heat - harks back to the hotel, a place we see contains so much heat the wallpaper's are melting off the walls - hell, he's even content to carry around a box that doesn't belong to him, a sign of the weight he's being forced to bear.

The myth is that Joel Coen just happened to catch the bird dying while filming. It's clear as to why he opted to use this shot in the finished film though - it serves as an intriguing analogy for Fink himself: when we first see him, he's the toast of the play world, his career soaring; when he agrees to go to Hollywood, said career draws to an abrupt halt, more than likely causing the downfall of Fink's career.
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James Vanderbilt's new feature is titled Truth but it might just as well be called That Awful Sinking Feeling. The film shares several hallmarks of the typical Hollywood movie about crusading journalists. In its depiction of the news gathering, the cultivation of sources, and overworked researchers and reporters eating too much junk food as deadlines beckon, Truth has obvious similarities with this year's Oscar-winner for Best Picture, Spotlight. The difference here is that the journalists make a mess of their story. That is what makes Truth so unusual and so fascinating. It's a big Hollywood movie about failure. All the rousing speeches can't paper over the fact that Truth deals with what one former CBS President called, "The worst embarrassment in the history of CBS News."

Cate Blanchett gives another bravura performance as CBS News producer Mary Mapes, but there has been no talk about Oscars for either her or the movie this time round. It's as if the film itself has become tainted in the same way as the careers of its real-life protagonists.

Truth tells the story of how, during the run-up to the 2004 US Presidential election, 60 Minutes II, presented by news anchor Dan Rather (Robert Redford), reported that President George W Bush had shirked his duties while serving in the Texas National Guard. The report was based on the so-called Killian documents in which Bush's commander appeared to criticise the future President's behaviour.

Culture news in pictures Show all 33 1 /33 Culture news in pictures Culture news in pictures 30 September 2016 An employee hangs works of art with "Grand Teatro" by Marino Marini (R) and bronze sculpture "Sfera N.3" by Arnaldo Pomodoro seen ahead of a Contemporary Art auction on 7 October, at Sotheby's in London REUTERS Culture news in pictures 29 September 2016 Street art by Portuguese artist Odeith is seen in Dresden, during an exhibition "Magic City - art of the streets" AFP/Getty Images Culture news in pictures 28 September 2016 Dancers attend a photocall for the new "THE ONE Grand Show" at Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin, Germany REUTERS Culture news in pictures 28 September 2016 With an array of thrift store china, humorous souvenirs and handmade tile adorning its walls and floors, the Mosaic Tile House in Venice stands as a monument to two decades of artistic collaboration between Cheri Pann and husband Gonzalo Duran REUTERS Culture news in pictures 27 September 2016 A gallery assistant poses amongst work by Anthea Hamilton from her nominated show "Lichen! Libido!(London!) Chastity!" at a preview of the Turner Prize in London REUTERS Culture news in pictures 27 September 2016 A technician wearing virtual reality glasses checks his installation in three British public telephone booths, set up outside the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, Netherlands. The installation allows visitors a 3-D look into the museum which has twenty-two paintings belonging to the British Royal Collection, on loan for an exhibit from 29 September 2016 till 8 January 2017 AP Culture news in pictures 26 September 2016 An Indian artist dressed as Hindu god Shiva performs on a chariot as he participates in a religious procession 'Ravan ki Barat' held to mark the forthcoming Dussehra festival in Allahabad AFP/Getty Images Culture news in pictures 26 September 2016 Jean-Michel Basquiat's 'Air Power', 1984, is displayed at the Bowie/Collector media preview at Sotheby's in New York AFP/Getty Culture news in pictures 25 September 2016 A woman looks at an untitled painting by Albert Oehlen during the opening of an exhibition of works by German artists Georg Baselitz and Albert Oehlen in Reutlingen, Germany. The exhibition runs at the Kunstverein (art society) Reutlingen until 15 January 2017 EPA Culture news in pictures 24 September 2016 Fan BingBing (C) attends the closing ceremony of the 64th San Sebastian Film Festival at Kursaal in San Sebastian, Spain Getty Images Culture news in pictures 23 September 2016 A view of the artwork 'You Are Metamorphosing' (1964) as part of the exhibition 'Retrospektive' of Japanese artist Tetsumi Kudo at Fridericianum in Kassel, Germany. The exhibition runs from 25 September 2016 to 1 January 2017 EPA Culture news in pictures 22 September 2016 Jo Applin from the Courtauld Institute of Art looks at Green Tilework in Live Flesh by Adriana Vareja, which features in a new exhibition, Flesh, at York Art Gallery. The new exhibition features works by Degas, Chardin, Francis Bacon and Sarah Lucas, showing how flesh has been portrayed by artists over the last 600 years PA Culture news in pictures 21 September 2016 Performers Sean Atkins and Sally Miller standing in for the characters played by Asa Butterfield and Ella Purnell during a photocall for Tim Burton's "Miss Peregrines Home For Peculiar Children" at Potters Field Park in London Getty Images Culture news in pictures 20 September 2016 A detail from the blanket 'Alpine Cattle Drive' from 1926 by artist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner is displayed at the 'Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum for Contemporary Arts' in Berlin. The exhibition named 'Ernst Ludwig Kirchner - Hieroglyphen' showing the complete collection of Berlin's Nationalgallerie works of the German artist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and will run from 23 September 2016 until 26 February 2017 AP Culture news in pictures 20 September 2016 A man looks at portrait photos by US photographer Bruce Gilden in the exhibition 'Masters of Photography' at the photokina in Cologne, Germany. The trade fair on photography, photokina, schowcases some 1,000 exhibitors from 40 countries and runs from 20 to 25 September. The event also features various photo exhibitions EPA Culture news in pictures 20 September 2016 A woman looks at 'Blue Poles', 1952 by Jackson Pollock during a photocall at the Royal Academy of Arts, London PA Culture news in pictures 19 September 2016 Art installation The Refusal of Time, a collaboration with Philip Miller, Catherine Meyburgh and Peter Galison, which features as part of the William Kentridge exhibition Thick Time, showing from 21 September to 15 January at the Whitechapel Gallery in London PA Culture news in pictures 18 September 2016 Artists creating one off designs at the Mm6 Maison Margiela presentation during London Fashion Week Spring/Summer collections 2017 in London Getty Images Culture news in pictures 18 September 2016 Bethenny Frankel attends the special screening of Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" to celebrate the 25th Anniversary Edition release on Blu-Ray and DVD in New York City Getty Images for Walt Disney Stu Culture news in pictures 17 September 2016 Visitors attend the 2016 Oktoberfest beer festival at Theresienwiese in Munich, Germany Getty Images Culture news in pictures 16 September 2016 Visitors looks at British artist Damien Hirst work of art 'The Incomplete Truth', during the 13th Yalta Annual Meeting entitled 'The World, Europe and Ukraine: storms of changes', organised by the Yalta European Strategy (YES) in partnership with the Victor Pinchuk Foundation at the Mystetsky Arsenal Art Center in Kiev AP Culture news in pictures 16 September 2016 Tracey Emin's "My Bed" is exhibited at the Tate Liverpool as part of the exhibition Tracey Emin And William Blake In Focus, which highlights surprising links between the two artists Getty Images Culture news in pictures 15 September 2016 Musician Dave Grohl (L) joins musician Tom Morello of Prophets of Rage onstage at the Forum in Inglewood, California Getty Images Culture news in pictures 14 September 2016 Model feebee poses as part of art installation "Narcissism : Dazzle room" made by artist Shigeki Matsuyama at rooms33 fashion and design exhibition in Tokyo. Matsuyama's installation features a strong contrast of black and white, which he learned from dazzle camouflage used mainly in World War I AP Culture news in pictures 13 September 2016 Visitors look at artworks by Chinese painter Cui Ruzhuo during the exhibition 'Glossiness of Uncarved Jade' held at the exhibition hall 'Manezh' in St. Petersburg, Russia. More than 200 paintings by the Chinese artist are presented until 25 September EPA Culture news in pictures 12 September 2016 A visitor looks at Raphael's painting 'Extase de Sainte Cecile', 1515, from the Uffizi Gallery in Florence during the opening of a Raphael exhibition at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, Russia. The first Russian exhibition of the works of the Italian Renaissance artist Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino includes eight paintings and three drawings which come from Italy. Th exhibit opens to the public from 13 September to 11 December EPA Culture news in pictures 11 September 2016 Steve Cropper and Eddie Floyd perform during Otis Redding 75th Birthday Celebration - Rehearsals at the Macon City Auditorium in Macon, Georgia Getty Images for Otis Redding 75 Culture news in pictures 10 September 2016 Sakari Oramo conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Chorus and the BBC Singers at the Last Night of the Proms 2016 at the Royal Albert Hall in London PA Culture news in pictures 9 September 2016 A visitor walks past a piece entitled "Fruitcake" by Joana Vasconcelo, during the Beyond Limits selling exhibition at Chatsworth House near Bakewell REUTERS Culture news in pictures 8 September 2016 A sculpture of a crescent standing on the 2,140 meters high mountain 'Freiheit' (German for 'freedom'), in the Alpstein region of the Appenzell alps, eastern Switzerland. The sculpture is lighted during the nights by means of solar panels. The 38-year-old Swiss artist and atheist Christian Meier set the crescent on the peak to start a debate on the meaning of religious symbols - as summit crosses - on mountains. 'Because so many peaks have crosses on them, it struck me as a great idea to put up an equally absurd contrast'. 'Naturally I wanted to provoke in a fun way. But it goes beyond that. The actions of an artist should be food for thought, both visually and in content' EPA Culture news in pictures Culture news in pictures Culture news in pictures

Truth opens with Mapes meeting a bearded, severe-looking man in an office. At first, it seems as if this is a job interview. (The man's real identity isn't revealed until much later.) Mapes is a mixture of distress and defiance. Blanchett captures brilliantly the character's conflicting emotions. We can tell by her bloodshot eyes, tousled hair and nervous manner that she is stressed and tired. At the same time, the actress still has that imperious quality we know from so many of her other roles.

The film-makers make sure we realise Mapes is an experienced and resourceful journalist. She played a key role in revealing American excesses at Abu Ghraib. She is not the type to betray sources or to cower in the face of authority. She's "a hell of a reporter," we are told.

The 60 Minutes team follow a trail of contacts and documents that appear to reveal Bush's wrongdoing. Their key source, wheezing former military man Bill Burkett (Stacy Keach), is plausible enough. Not only does he provide copies of memos, but he also gives Mapes and her team the names of people who can corroborate the allegations. The CBS team is painstaking in its research  or, at least, as painstaking as it can be given the very limited time they have before transmission date.

As in conventional, celebratory movies about journalists, there is glad-handing and exhilaration when the story elements fall into place. Mapes can't resist a "gotcha" feeling that she and her team have finally skewered Bush. Then, the backlash begins. The authenticity of the documents is called into question. Bloggers claim that they were typed using fonts and punctuation styles that only became widely available in the computer age. If this is the case, they may be forgeries.

Truth is very good at showing how managers at senior corporations try to shift the blame as soon as anything goes wrong. It is effective, too, in its satirical sideswipes at the media. The messenger becomes the story and Bush's misdeeds are conveniently forgotten. Mapes may not be able to prove the authenticity of the documents but none of the rival news organisations gunning for her can prove they are fakes. Instead of trying to find out if there is any truth in the allegations against Bush, these organisations (and, eventually, CBS itself) concentrate on the documents, asking why 60 Minutes used them if they weren't certain of their provenance.

This question can't be answered in a way that works satisfactorily for a big, mainstream Hollywood movie. We are in the realm of doubt, obfuscation and dirty tricks. As a case study in journalism and ethics, the film is intriguing. As drama, it stutters.

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We are never sure what kind of larger truth Vanderbilt (best known previously as the screenwriter of Zodiac, The Amazing Spider-Man and White House Down) is digging after. The script pulls in contradictory directions. On the one hand, it is a closely focused and very personal drama about an ambitious and brilliant woman whose career implodes. There are continual references to Mapes' family background: the abusive father who beat her up for asking too many questions, and her struggles to balance her family life with the all-consuming demands of her job at 60 Minutes, described as "the gold standard" for broadcast journalism.

Recommended Read more Robert Redford on the state of journalism and new film Truth

At the same time, the film is a lament for the ending of Dan Rather's lengthy service at CBS. Rather is played by Redford as a man of loyalty, dignity and complete probity  a gruff, hard-drinking but avuncular figure who stands by Mapes. Like David Strathairn's Ed Murrow in Good Night, and Good Luck, he is the journalist as folk hero. In the aftermath of the 60 Minutes report, his reputation suffered and he stepped down from his job soon afterwards.

Truth also lurches off in other directions. There are elements of conspiracy theory. In one monologue, we hear speculation that Viacom, CBS's parent company, needed to keep the White House on side and didn't stand by its journalists. In another powerful but incongruous scene, the wife of a sickly man berates the 60 Minutes team for their callousness toward their own sources. They're too busy pursuing Peabody awards to pay attention to the "ordinary" people whose lives might be ruined by their reporting.

Nothing approaches resolution here. Mapes displays a Popeye-like stubbornness ("I am what I am") in the face of her critics but that doesn't make her right: and nor does it explain for just what purpose this film was made.
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A movie about the coming together of an Iranian radio DJ, an Afghan indie rock band and Lars Ulrich of Metallica is easy to cast off as an unrealistic premise.

However, Radio Dreams, directed by Iranian film-maker, Babak Jalali, is an offbeat comedy about love for Metallica in the time of conservative religion that last month picked up the 40,000 Tiger Award at the Rotterdam International Film Festival.

Although it might seem unlikely, the movie is based on a nugget of truth  that in a deeply religious pocket of the world, where Metallicas machine-gun-like drum work, growling vocals and penchant for Satanism might seem out of place, exists a solid base of their fans.

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While Metallica fans can be stereotypically described as angry, socially awkward and sweaty, in Jilalis home country, Iran, they exist as something similar to a secret society.

The group of fans, who have named themselves Persian Magnetic, not only defy the public perception that heavy-metal fandom is akin to devil-worshipping but have also found a way to circumvent government bans on social media to create a community dedicated to their favourite band.

Babak Alipour, 29, is a firefighter with a nervous grin and love of brightly coloured polo shirts. While it isnt possible to tell by looking at him, he is a self-confessed metalhead and online administrator for Persian Magnetic.

The groups website and Facebook page, created in 2014, serves a community of 17,000 Iranian Metallica fans by translating the bands lyrics to Farsi and providing typical fanzine-style updates on their metal heroes.

We try to help Iranians understand Metallica. A lot of people think Metallica are some Satanists trying to promote their views, said Alipour, referring to the anti-heavy metal campaign pursued by the government-run media under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that saw the genre portrayed as Satanism.

Musicians and Actors on Growing Old Disgracefully Show all 5 1 /5 Musicians and Actors on Growing Old Disgracefully Musicians and Actors on Growing Old Disgracefully Lemmy The Motorhead frontman recently revealed his excessive lifestyle - rumoured to involve drinking a bottle of whisky a day - had to be scaled back after he started being unable to stand up during a recent show. Getty Images Musicians and Actors on Growing Old Disgracefully Willie-Nelson 82-year-old Nelson says he started smoking cigarettes when he was just six, and that his love affair with marijuana was the smoothest of all his marriages. He even has his own brand of marijuana called 'Willies Reserve'. Getty Musicians and Actors on Growing Old Disgracefully Shane-MacGowan The Pogues singer was kicked out the band in the nineties for his excessive drinking, and was given just six weeks to live, and is still partial to a G&T after a doctor suggested he stick to clear liquids. Getty Musicians and Actors on Growing Old Disgracefully Keith-Richards The Rolling Stone guitarist is still a fan of marijuana. "I smoke regularly, an early morning joint. Strictly Californian, he told Mojo. Getty Images Musicians and Actors on Growing Old Disgracefully Jack-Nicholson The legendary actor knows his limits, even if they are extreme. Ive woken up in trees, Ive woken up almost hanging off cliffs, but Ive always known how to sort myself out. Getty Images

Members keep their love of Metallica secret. You might not want your girlfriend to know you are a Metallica fan so you can continue your relationship, says Alipour.

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Since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, successive Shia Muslim governments have denounced, and actively dissuaded, the creation and enjoyment of Western music.

Mohammad Khatami, the reformist Prime Minister of the late Nineties, relaxed such government efforts to prevent culture attacks from Western music, only to see these measures aggressively ramped up under the Ahmadinejad government in 2005.

It is for this reason that Iranian musician, Saleh Zarei, 35, describes the heavy-metal scene as proper underground  meaning subterranean. Z

arei was a member of the Iranian progressive rock and heavy-metal band, Public Voice, from Karaj, north-west of Tehran. During the mid-2000s, Public Voice had to play their gigs totally underground and nobody but close friends was invited.

Despite this caution, Zarei recalls several occasions between 2004 and 2006 when he, and his bandmates, were arrested on stage for playing heavy metal. In 2006 he was imprisoned for three months and charged with more than 20 offences, ranging from noise pollution to offending the heroes of the revolution.

Zarei spent the first two weeks of his 2006 stint in jail held without charge in a solitary cell, absent of light and without regular food. Upon his release, Zarei immigrated to the UK and the other members of Public Voice left Iran to continue playing music in Malaysia.

The closed society pushes people to heavier music. Whether it is hip-hop or heavy metal music, it is how they get out their frustration at the world around them, says Zarei, who now plays bass in a London jazz-fusion band.

Since Zarei left Iran and Ahmadinejad left office, more metalhead-friendly zones have sprung up in relatively more liberal Tehran. One of these is Arman Najimis small rock-themed cafe in north Tehran.

(Getty Images)

It is a place where similarly minded music fans can listen to classic rock staples like ACDC, Motorhead and KISS, while enjoying a Led Zeppelin non-alcoholic cocktail, made up of strawberry, black mulberry, cream, vanilla ice cream, sour cherry juice.

Metallica is forbidden, said Najimi, 30, but he stressed that Metallica is not like vodka, for alcoholic drink is forbidden. So, while Najimi classes both as outlawed, he does highlight a key difference between the two: serving vodka is impossible, but playing Metallica is OK, with a little fear.

But he is aware of how the public perception of the band leaves him vulnerable to sudden closure.

With only instrumental music allowed to be played in public, Najimi runsthe risk of the police closing his cafe for disturbing the peace and while he can get away with subtly playing non-demonic rock, visitors tohis establishment are more likely to hearMetallica and Led Zeppelin played on quiet,midweek days.

Najimi was part of the touring party who saw Metallicas 2015 gig in St Petersburg, which he described as very awesome. Russian people were so aggressive during the concert  push, push and push, but who cares, I was there in the first row in front of my hero James Hetfield for the band I love  fucking Metallica! he added.

Pictures from the night show other Persian Magnetic members standing in the crowd with Iranian flags draped over their shoulders.

These tours, to countries that afford easy access to Iranians, are organised through the Persian Magnetics network because, according to Alipour, meeting in person in Iran wouldbe problematic.

More importantly, thesetrips have allowed the Iranian Metallica fans to meet up with other fan clubs from across the world, including: Japan, Norway, France and the UK.

The most popular destinations for Iranian Metallica tourists have been Istanbul and Dubai.

However, Alipours dream is to see Metallica play in Iran: James Hetfield said in an interview a couple of years ago that Iran is one of the places Metallica would like to play, since then we are all living in that dream while he also thinks it is impossible, at least for the time being, even if America and Iran can negotiate a trade deal.

This is because such a gig can only occur once it is socially acceptable, in Alipours deeply religious country, for all metalheads to publicly give the devil horn salute to their heroes of thrash, death and classic metal.

Radio Dreams is out now. Metallica will reissue their first two albums Kill Em All and Ride the Lightning on 15 April.
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A new drama that presents an alternative account of Adolf Hitlers formative years is raising fresh concerns about televisions fascination with the Nazi dictator.

The television mini-series being made by the German producers behind Downfall promises to present Hitler in a new way. The series is based on a book by the historian Dr Thomas Weber, who also acts as a consultant on the series.

What made Webers book, Hitlers First War, groundbreaking was the way it shattered long accepted myths about Hitlers experiences during the First World War.

Previously, people had thought that the story of how Hitler became Hitler, that Hitler himself had told, was, at its core, true, Weber says. People said that obviously Hitler exaggerated, lied and embellished, but that the core of what he said was correct. The point of my book was to say No, the core is actually wrong.

Hitler portrayed himself as a conscientious and heroic soldier. In keeping with Webers book, the new television drama  simply entitled Hitler  will reveal this wasnt the case at all.

When he returned from the war, Weber suggests, the future Fuhrer was still an awkward loner. His political views werent formed. He wasnt particularly anti-Semitic. The drama will reveal how the lies he told about his wartime experiences became a political tool that he used for the rest of his life.

Jan Mojto, the boss of Beta Film, the German company behind Downfall which is producing the new series with UFA Fiction, argues that enough time has passed for Hitler to be presented on screen in a way that isnt exploitative.

Hitler is something which one cant avoid when thinking about German history in the 20th century, he said. I really believe that Germany today is a very democratic country and that it also is mature enough to confront a subject like Hitler from its own point of view.

Weber himself acknowledges the question being asked by critics: Why yet another series on Hitler? As an historical figure, hes hardly underexposed. Arent the producers just cashing in on their subjects toxic notoriety?

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On one level, there is far too much Hitler. He is absolutely omnipresent, the historian agrees. But he adds that there are relatively few dramas in which Hitler is the main character. Those that have been made tend to be snapshots, showing him at a very particular moment in his life.

The drama starts in 1918. It follows not just Hitler but three of his comrades: Fritz Wiedemann, Hugo Gutmann, and Karl Mayr, all of whom were at times, very close to the future Fuhrer. One of them, Hitlers early patron and friend Mayr, ends up in Buchenwald concentration camp.

Mayr introduced Hitler to politics and initially seemed to share Hitlers views. When people have spoken about Mayr before, theyve described him as this one-dimensional figure  this super-Nazi in the making who lets the genie out of the bottle and then has second thoughts and... becomes a democrat  and later dies in a concentration camp. In fact  Weber discovered  Mayr in 1919 was as mixed-up and forlorn a figure as Hitler.

In Cambridge on 4 March there was a symposium at which issues raised by the series were discussed. The drama wont present the familiar picture of Hitler as the shrieking demagogue. However, by dealing with his formative years in depth, it risks doing something more pernicious  making him sympathetic. The producers claim to be fully aware of this risk. They talk about tackling the story with empathy but avoiding sympathy.

If you only saw through Hitlers eyes, there would certainly be the danger that someone would start to identify with Hitler, Weber states. That is why the filmmakers are going to such lengths to show the consequences of his actions.

Hitler is one of a number of recent German-made dramas featuring Hitler  but the others have come at their subject in very different ways. One of the most popular in Germany last year was Look Whos Back, a satirical comedy that imagined Hitler waking up in modern-day Berlin and getting his own reality television series.

Meanwhile, the veteran German actor Udo Kier is playing Hitler as a dinosaur-riding madman in the new sci-fi comedy Iron Sky: The Coming Race. Kiers version of Hitler as a grotesque uber-villain is typical of how Hitler tends to be presented on screen.

It is the monster and the other. Fine if you want to do that but it doesnt really explain anything, says Weber. If Hitler is just this person who has always been a monster and who wakes up every morning thinking about how he can be mean to the rest of the world, then it is easy to lean back and say thank God this cant happen again.

If you actually show the mechanism of how someone who is unremarkable, not that unusual a character, and see how that person  and by extension an entire people  turn into what we may see as monsters, then I think it is something worthwhile.
Liberal Politics from the Heart of Bluegrass Country
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Facebook has said that it will start paying millions of pounds more in tax after it has overhauled its tax structure. But the deal leaves out what appears to be a large part of Facebooks business, which will still get sent through its Irish operation.

The company announced only that it would start putting large UK customers through its British business, meaning that it will start paying millions of pounds more in tax.

But the smaller customers that seem to make up a huge amount of Facebooks business will still have their payments routed through Ireland, and so not have any taxes taken on those revenues go to the UK tax office.

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The BBC, which first announced Facebooks deal, said that the company would be sending only the accounts that require Facebooks staff intervention in sorting out the deals. It includes big businesses such as Tesco, Sainsburys and Unilever.

"On Monday we will start notifying large UK customers that from the start of April they will receive invoices from Facebook UK and not Facebook Ireland, a Facebook spokesperson said. What this means in practice is that UK sales made directly by our UK team will be booked in the UK, not Ireland. Facebook UK will then record the revenue from these sales.

But much of Facebooks advertising revenues is thought to be made from much smaller companies. The site allows and encourages companies and people to sign up for pages and have them promoted with ads, often offering small campaigns through its automated tools.

Experts said that business probably accounts for a huge part of Facebooks business, and that it might even be a majority of the revenues. Though the companys major clients probably dwarf smaller ones in the size of their spending, there is probably a huge amount of smaller businesses that are buying smaller campaigns.

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

None of the revenues from that business appears to be going through the British tax office, even if the people buying it are British.

Richard Windsor, founder of independent research provider Radio Free Mobile, who follows Facebook closely, said that it wasnt possible to guess how much of Facebooks revenues will be of the kind that still goes through the Irish operation.

However, I suspect that it could be a lot because of the programmatic ad buying which is automated, he said. I suspect that is a big part of sales.
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Smartwatches that allow pupils and students to cheat in exams are being openly sold on Amazon. An advert for one such watch, which has 4GB of memory, was offered on the website for 44.95.

This watch is specifically designed for cheating in exams with a special programmed software. It is perfect for covertly viewing exam notes directly on your wrist, by storing text and pictures. It has an emergency button, so when you press it the watchs screen display changes from text to a regular clock, and blocks all other buttons, the seller wrote.

Joe Sidders, the deputy head at Monkton Combe senior school, in Bath, told BBC News that such devices were making exams a nightmare to administer. I expect the hidden market for these sorts of devices is significant, and this offering on Amazon is just the tip of the iceberg, he said.

Mr Sidders said it was irresponsible to sell such devices and called for exam boards to challenge those involved in making them.

A spokesman for Amazon said the company did not want to comment on the sale of the cheating watches.
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The worst place in the UK for broadband is the village of Miserden in Gloucestershire where the internet speed is lower than base camp at Mount Everest.

With an average broadband speed of 1.30Mbps, Miserden is beaten by the Himalayan mountain post whose average speed is 2Mbps.

For comparison, the average speed in London is 25Mbps.

In Miserden, it would take 11 hours to download James Bond film 'Spectre' in HD.

Runners up in the Cable.co.uk report were Ashwell in Hertfordshire (1.39Mbps), Ulverston in Cumbria (1.45Mbps), Gilsland in Cumbria (1.86Mbps) and Brent Knoll in Somerset (1.99Mbps).

Dan Howdle, Cable.co.uk's telecoms expert said: "While the number of UK households on the right side of the 'digital divide' is increasing, thanks to the continuing roll-out of superfast broadband, those left stranded are finding themselves further and further behind  to the detriment of both themselves and their local economies.

"Its not all about whether or not you can stream the latest Bond movie."

The 5 worst places in the UK for broadband Show all 5 1 /5 The 5 worst places in the UK for broadband The 5 worst places in the UK for broadband Miserden in Gloucestershire (1.30Mbbps) The 5 worst places in the UK for broadband Ashwell in Hertfordshire (1.39Mbps) The 5 worst places in the UK for broadband Ulverston in Cumbria (1.45Mbps) The 5 worst places in the UK for broadband Gilsland village in Cumbria (1.86Mbps) The 5 worst places in the UK for broadband Brent Knoll in Somerset (1.99Mbps)

The best broadband in the UK was found to be Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire with an average speed of 77.17 Mbps and a highest recorded speed of 195.02Mbps.

This was followed by Shepshed in Leicestershire (66.34Mbps), Llantwit Major in Glamorgan (66.27Mbps), Guisgorough in Cleveland (61.43) and Springburn in Glasgow (60.27Mbps).

In 2015, the UK government declared everyone would be guaranteed a minimum broadband speed of 2Mbps.

Howdle added: "Digital black holes, unless addressed, will suffer steady economic decline as homes become less desirable, and businesses can no longer sustain themselves without an online presence.

"These often beautiful, scenic locations will become ghost towns."
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Hospitals in the UK are trialling a new vaccine which prevents children from developing chickenpox.

Vaccines for the illness are currently available in Germany and the US, but is not included in the UKs routine childhood vaccination programme, and only offered to vulnerable groups.

The NHS website explains that it is not routine in the UK due to fears it could cause chickenpox and shingles in older people, which can lead to more serious complications.

The study will test how safe and effective a new version of a vaccine called Varilrix is, and will involve children aged between 12 and 23 months.

Scientists estimate that the vaccine, which was licensed in the UK in 2013, gives 98 per cent protection against chicken pox in children and 75 per cent in adolescents and adults.

Chickenpox, caused by the varicella-zoster virus, is a common and relatively mild condition which lasts between five to 10 days.

Symptoms include a red rash, and itchy spots that turn into blisters.

However, in vulnerable children and adults, it can cause serious conditions such as pneumonia, skin infections, and brain swelling, known as encephalitis.

The study is being conducted at the NIHR Wellcome Trust Southampton Clinical Research Facility and St George's Hospital in south London, as well as sites in Bristol and Oxford.

Health news in pictures Show all 40 1 /40 Health news in pictures Health news in pictures Coronavirus outbreak The coronavirus Covid-19 has hit the UK leading to the deaths of two people so far and prompting warnings from the Department of Health AFP via Getty Health news in pictures Thousands of emergency patients told to take taxi to hospital Thousands of 999 patients in England are being told to get a taxi to hospital, figures have showed. The number of patients outside London who were refused an ambulance rose by 83 per cent in the past year as demand for services grows Getty Health news in pictures Vape related deaths spike A vaping-related lung disease has claimed the lives of 11 people in the US in recent weeks. The US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has more than 100 officials investigating the cause of the mystery illness, and has warned citizens against smoking e-cigarette products until more is known, particularly if modified or bought off the street Getty Health news in pictures Baldness cure looks to be a step closer Researchers in the US claim to have overcome one of the major hurdles to cultivating human follicles from stem cells. The new system allows cells to grow in a structured tuft and emerge from the skin Sanford Burnham Preybs Health news in pictures Two hours a week spent in nature can improve health A study in the journal Scientific Reports suggests that a dose of nature of just two hours a week is associated with better health and psychological wellbeing Shutterstock Health news in pictures Air pollution linked to fertility issues in women Exposure to air from traffic-clogged streets could leave women with fewer years to have children, a study has found. Italian researchers found women living in the most polluted areas were three times more likely to show signs they were running low on eggs than those who lived in cleaner surroundings, potentially triggering an earlier menopause Getty/iStock Health news in pictures Junk food ads could be banned before watershed Junk food adverts on TV and online could be banned before 9pm as part of Government plans to fight the "epidemic" of childhood obesity. Plans for the new watershed have been put out for public consultation in a bid to combat the growing crisis, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said PA Health news in pictures Breeding with neanderthals helped humans fight diseases On migrating from Africa around 70,000 years ago, humans bumped into the neanderthals of Eurasia. While humans were weak to the diseases of the new lands, breeding with the resident neanderthals made for a better equipped immune system PA Health news in pictures Cancer breath test to be trialled in Britain The breath biopsy device is designed to detect cancer hallmarks in molecules exhaled by patients Getty Health news in pictures Average 10 year old has consumed the recommended amount of sugar for an adult By their 10th birthdy, children have on average already eaten more sugar than the recommended amount for an 18 year old. The average 10 year old consumes the equivalent to 13 sugar cubes a day, 8 more than is recommended PA Health news in pictures Child health experts advise switching off screens an hour before bed While there is not enough evidence of harm to recommend UK-wide limits on screen use, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health have advised that children should avoid screens for an hour before bed time to avoid disrupting their sleep Getty Health news in pictures Daily aspirin is unnecessary for older people in good health, study finds A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has found that many elderly people are taking daily aspirin to little or no avail Getty Health news in pictures Vaping could lead to cancer, US study finds A study by the University of Minnesota's Masonic Cancer Centre has found that the carcinogenic chemicals formaldehyde, acrolein, and methylglyoxal are present in the saliva of E-cigarette users Reuters Health news in pictures More children are obese and diabetic There has been a 41% increase in children with type 2 diabetes since 2014, the National Paediatric Diabetes Audit has found. Obesity is a leading cause Reuters Health news in pictures Most child antidepressants are ineffective and can lead to suicidal thoughts The majority of antidepressants are ineffective and may be unsafe, for children and teenager with major depression, experts have warned. In what is the most comprehensive comparison of 14 commonly prescribed antidepressant drugs to date, researchers found that only one brand was more effective at relieving symptoms of depression than a placebo. Another popular drug, venlafaxine, was shown increase the risk users engaging in suicidal thoughts and attempts at suicide Getty Health news in pictures Gay, lesbian and bisexual adults at higher risk of heart disease, study claims Researchers at the Baptist Health South Florida Clinic in Miami focused on seven areas of controllable heart health and found these minority groups were particularly likely to be smokers and to have poorly controlled blood sugar iStock Health news in pictures Breakfast cereals targeted at children contain 'steadily high' sugar levels since 1992 despite producer claims A major pressure group has issued a fresh warning about perilously high amounts of sugar in breakfast cereals, specifically those designed for children, and has said that levels have barely been cut at all in the last two and a half decades Getty Health news in pictures Potholes are making us fat, NHS watchdog warns New guidance by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the body which determines what treatment the NHS should fund, said lax road repairs and car-dominated streets were contributing to the obesity epidemic by preventing members of the public from keeping active PA Health news in pictures New menopause drugs offer women relief from 'debilitating' hot flushes A new class of treatments for women going through the menopause is able to reduce numbers of debilitating hot flushes by as much as three quarters in a matter of days, a trial has found. The drug used in the trial belongs to a group known as NKB antagonists (blockers), which were developed as a treatment for schizophrenia but have been sitting on a shelf unused, according to Professor Waljit Dhillo, a professor of endocrinology and metabolism REX Health news in pictures Doctors should prescribe more antidepressants for people with mental health problems, study finds Research from Oxford University found that more than one million extra people suffering from mental health problems would benefit from being prescribed drugs and criticised ideological reasons doctors use to avoid doing so. Getty Health news in pictures Student dies of flu after NHS advice to stay at home and avoid A&E The family of a teenager who died from flu has urged people not to delay going to A&E if they are worried about their symptoms. Melissa Whiteley, an 18-year-old engineering student from Hanford in Stoke-on-Trent, fell ill at Christmas and died in hospital a month later. Just Giving Health news in pictures Government to review thousands of harmful vaginal mesh implants The Government has pledged to review tens of thousands of cases where women have been given harmful vaginal mesh implants. Getty Health news in pictures Jeremy Hunt announces 'zero suicides ambition' for the NHS The NHS will be asked to go further to prevent the deaths of patients in its care as part of a zero suicide ambition being launched today Getty Health news in pictures Human trials start with cancer treatment that primes immune system to kill off tumours Human trials have begun with a new cancer therapy that can prime the immune system to eradicate tumours. The treatment, that works similarly to a vaccine, is a combination of two existing drugs, of which tiny amounts are injected into the solid bulk of a tumour. Nephron Health news in pictures Babies' health suffers from being born near fracking sites, finds major study Mothers living within a kilometre of a fracking site were 25 per cent more likely to have a child born at low birth weight, which increase their chances of asthma, ADHD and other issues Getty Health news in pictures NHS reviewing thousands of cervical cancer smear tests after women wrongly given all-clear Thousands of cervical cancer screening results are under review after failings at a laboratory meant some women were incorrectly given the all-clear. A number of women have already been told to contact their doctors following the identification of procedural issues in the service provided by Pathology First Laboratory. Rex Health news in pictures Potential key to halting breast cancer's spread discovered by scientists Most breast cancer patients do not die from their initial tumour, but from secondary malignant growths (metastases), where cancer cells are able to enter the blood and survive to invade new sites. Asparagine, a molecule named after asparagus where it was first identified in high quantities, has now been shown to be an essential ingredient for tumour cells to gain these migratory properties. Getty Health news in pictures NHS nursing vacancies at record high with more than 34,000 roles advertised A record number of nursing and midwifery positions are currently being advertised by the NHS, with more than 34,000 positions currently vacant, according to the latest data. Demand for nurses was 19 per cent higher between July and September 2017 than the same period two years ago. REX Health news in pictures Cannabis extract could provide new class of treatment for psychosis CBD has a broadly opposite effect to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main active component in cannabis and the substance that causes paranoia and anxiety. Getty Health news in pictures Over 75,000 sign petition calling for Richard Branson's Virgin Care to hand settlement money back to NHS Mr Bransons company sued the NHS last year after it lost out on an 82m contract to provide childrens health services across Surrey, citing concerns over serious flaws in the way the contract was awarded PA Health news in pictures More than 700 fewer nurses training in England in first year after NHS bursary scrapped The numbers of people accepted to study nursing in England fell 3 per cent in 2017, while the numbers accepted in Wales and Scotland, where the bursaries were kept, increased 8.4 per cent and 8 per cent respectively Getty Health news in pictures Landmark study links Tory austerity to 120,000 deaths The paper found that there were 45,000 more deaths in the first four years of Tory-led efficiencies than would have been expected if funding had stayed at pre-election levels. On this trajectory that could rise to nearly 200,000 excess deaths by the end of 2020, even with the extra funding that has been earmarked for public sector services this year. Reuters Health news in pictures Long commutes carry health risks Hours of commuting may be mind-numbingly dull, but new research shows that it might also be having an adverse effect on both your health and performance at work. Longer commutes also appear to have a significant impact on mental wellbeing, with those commuting longer 33 per cent more likely to suffer from depression Shutterstock Health news in pictures You cannot be fit and fat It is not possible to be overweight and healthy, a major new study has concluded. The study of 3.5 million Britons found that even metabolically healthy obese people are still at a higher risk of heart disease or a stroke than those with a normal weight range Getty Health news in pictures Sleep deprivation When you feel particularly exhausted, it can definitely feel like you are also lacking in brain capacity. Now, a new study has suggested this could be because chronic sleep deprivation can actually cause the brain to eat itself Shutterstock Health news in pictures Exercise classes offering 45 minute naps launch David Lloyd Gyms have launched a new health and fitness class which is essentially a bunch of people taking a nap for 45 minutes. The fitness group was spurred to launch the napercise class after research revealed 86 per cent of parents said they were fatigued. The class is therefore predominantly aimed at parents but you actually do not have to have children to take part Getty Health news in pictures 'Fundamental right to health' to be axed after Brexit, lawyers warn Tobacco and alcohol companies could win more easily in court cases such as the recent battle over plain cigarette packaging if the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights is abandoned, a barrister and public health professor have said Getty Health news in pictures 'Thousands dying' due to fear over non-existent statin side-effects A major new study into the side effects of the cholesterol-lowering medicine suggests common symptoms such as muscle pain and weakness are not caused by the drugs themselves Getty Health news in pictures Babies born to fathers aged under 25 have higher risk of autism New research has found that babies born to fathers under the age of 25 or over 51 are at higher risk of developing autism and other social disorders. The study, conducted by the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at Mount Sinai, found that these children are actually more advanced than their peers as infants, but then fall behind by the time they hit their teenage years Getty Health news in pictures Cycling to work could halve risk of cancer and heart disease Commuters who swap their car or bus pass for a bike could cut their risk of developing heart disease and cancer by almost half, new research suggests  but campaigners have warned there is still an urgent need to improve road conditions for cyclists. Cycling to work is linked to a lower risk of developing cancer by 45 per cent and cardiovascular disease by 46 per cent, according to a study of a quarter of a million people. Walking to work also brought health benefits, the University of Glasgow researchers found, but not to the same degree as cycling. Getty

Katrina Cathie, a consultant paediatrician and principal investigator for the study at Southampton Children's Hospital, said her team is extremely pleased to be part of the exciting trial.

While chickenpox is often a mild illness which lasts for one or two weeks, it can still be very uncomfortable and unpleasant for children while, in the worst cases - particularly among those with underlying health conditions - it can lead on to respiratory infection, skin infection and brain inflammation.

She explained that the study will investigate whether a new version of the vaccine should be developed, by monitoring how the temperature of participants change, as well as signs of fever.

"Through this study, we will find out if a new version of the vaccine is better than the current version," she said.

Additional reporting by PA
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Drinking a lot of coffee every day could potentially cut the risk of developing multiple sclerosis, according to findings that could help in the search for a cause to the illness.

Consuming more than 900ml  the equivalent of two Grande coffees in Starbucks  may offer up to a 30 per cent reduced risk of the condition, known as MS, experts found. Caffeine is known to have neuroprotective properties and has been shown to suppress inflammatory responses in the body.

Researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Johns Hopkins University in Maryland and the University of California, Berkeley, looked at two studies.

Recommended Read more Thousands overdosing on caffeine as coffee crisis sparks call for urgent action

One in Sweden involved 1,620 adults with MS and a comparison group of 2,788 people without MS. The second was a US study of 1,159 people with MS and 1,172 healthy people.

In both studies, people were asked about their coffee consumption and how long they had been drinking coffee for. The researchers then estimated coffee intake at and before the start of MS symptoms in those who developed the disease, and compared this with healthy groups.

The results showed that the risk of MS was consistently higher among people who drank fewer cups of coffee every day in both studies, even after taking into account other factors that might influence the results.

In the Swedish study, drinking coffee was linked to a lower risk of MS both at the start of symptoms and five and 10 years beforehand. Among those who drank more than six small cups (more than 900ml) every day, there was a 28 per cent to 30 per cent lower risk compared with non-coffee drinkers.

Similar results were found in the US study, with a 26 per cent to 31 per cent lower risk among those drinking more than 948ml daily at least five years beforehand and at the start of symptoms.

The authors, writing in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, stressed that theirs was an observational study, so no firm conclusions could be drawn about cause and effect.

But they concluded: Lower odds of MS with increasing consumption of coffee were observed, regardless of whether coffee consumption at disease onset or five or 10 years prior to disease onset was considered. In accordance with studies in animal models of MS, high consumption of coffee may decrease the risk of developing MS.

In an accompanying editorial, Elaine Kingwell and Jose Maria Andreas Wijnands, from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, said the results of these thorough analyses add to the growing evidence for the beneficial health effects of coffee.

Dr Emma Gray, head of clinical trials at the MS Society, said: This study provides new evidence that the link between the risk of developing MS and coffee consumption is worth exploring. While more studies are needed, we welcome any research that offers insights into risk factors for MS.
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Tradition dictates that on Mothers Day millions of women across the UK ought to bask in the glory of their loving offspring  though in reality, the best many can hope for is a bunch of daffodils fresh from the petrol station. Theyre the lucky ones. For a lot of people Mothers Day is a painful occasion.

A largely silent group of new and expectant mothers will wake up on 6 March overwhelmed by a sense of dread and despair. Its difficult to reconcile this with the traditional narrative of the delighted new mum who must be over the moon!, but a sizeable proportion of women experience depression during or following a pregnancy  sometimes both.

Mind, the mental health charity, estimates that 10 to 15 per cent of new mothers develop post-natal depression; many will experience antenatal (also known as prenatal) depression which, as the name suggests, affects women during pregnancy.

AND and PND can affect individuals in different ways but some symptoms can include persistent feelings of sadness; anxiety; feelings of guilt or shame; and an inability to cope. It is common for women to experience thoughts about hurting their baby  these thoughts can be extremely frightening but are rarely acted upon. Women often report having difficulty bonding with their baby, a feeling of indifference, which can reinforce the sense of guilt.

Ana Firth, 31, from Oxford, has a one year-old daughter and is six months pregnant with her second child. I started feeling down after my daughter was born. Since becoming pregnant my depression has spiralled, she said. I feel guilty that I am not happy when I have everything I could ever want. My little girl is beautiful.

Before her 20-week scan Ana found herself fantasising something would be wrong with her baby so she could abort it. She was plagued by guilt: Deep down I knew that wasnt what I wanted but you are not in control of what enters your mind.

Sharing these distressing thoughts with her family, husband and midwife has helped her cope, she said. They didnt respond with disgust or anger as she had feared but understanding and patience.

Connecting with other mothers in her situation through a private Facebook group has helped her understand she is not alone, or a terrible person, she added.

Olivia Shields (not her real name), 35, agreed that talking to others can make a huge difference  but she advised being selective when deciding who to open up to. Olivia, who suffered from AND throughout her pregnancy, was devastated when a friend she confided in accused of her of being melodramatic and ungrateful.

Jennifer Stokes, 33, has a daughter, eight, and a son, two. She suffered PND after giving birth to her first child but battled to hide it. I knew how a good mum should behave so I did just that. I played the part and quite well, she said.

One day I saw my health visitor and I just broke down. She suggested visiting me once a week and I started seeing a counsellor to talk about the birth.

At the start of the year David Cameron announced the Government would invest 290m into creating new community perinatal mental-health teams and more beds in mother-and-baby units. And Stephen Buckley of Mind says such improvements are vital.

There are mothers out there who urgently need better services and support, Mr Buckley said.

Women who think they might be affected by AND or PND should visit their doctor, midwife or health visitor about getting the help they need, Mr Buckley added.

Case Study: Antenatal depression sufferer

Deborah Mitchell (not her real name), 34, lives in Surrey. She has two children under 4

I have a history of depression and anxiety and experienced AND during both pregnancies. The first time, in London, my GP wasnt helpful but a friend told me about the perinatal mental health service at my hospital. The support I received from the specialist consultant and psychiatric nurse was fantastic. I also had Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT).

The second time around, in Surrey, within weeks of finding out I was pregnant I could barely function and was signed off work. The depression, anxiety and morning sickness were so bad I was feeling suicidal, despite having a job and a pre-schooler to look after. I told my midwife how I felt but support locally is very patchy. I didnt receive any treatment until quite late in my pregnancy.

When people asked after me I just said I was really sick  I didnt want them to think I was unsafe to be around. I felt isolated and ashamed for having AND. My GP finally referred me to group CBT. As a result of my experiences I set up an online support group for mums. Being part of a virtual community reminded me that people cared and that was something to live for.

Each time I was pregnant, almost straight after I gave birth, I felt better. I love my children more than anything  they were both really wanted babies despite my experience of AND.
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Boris Johnson, Londons flamboyant Mayor, has invited the rage of his Prime Minister David Cameron. Johnson will urge the British public to vote for leaving the European Union in the June 23 referendum. Johnson has become the most prominent and influential voice for British ExitBrexit. Not surprisingly, Cameron has lashed out.

Cameron is in a tangle of his own making. He calculated that a referendum would neutralise opponents who were gaining by stirring anti-European sentiment. But he misjudged his own people: they have little use for Europe. And Camerons deal with European leaders has failed to pacify because it makes sense only to those steeped in the European lore. Now, Cameron believes he can scare the British public. Leaving Europe, he asserts, will threaten our economic and national security.

While Cameron seeks to win the political skirmish, Johnson has history on his side. As the late historian Tony Judt might have said, the parenthesis on the European Union may be closing. That parenthesis opened on May 9, 1950, when French foreign minister Robert Schuman first announced an initiative for European cooperation. The Second World War still cast a long shadow and Schuman declared that peace in Europe would be built on a material basis. Johnson applauds the early achievements. From the Treaty of Rome in 1957 through to the 1980s, European nations opened their borders to trade and thus created the material basis for peace.

Indeed, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, much hated by Europeans, did more for Europes commercial integration than any other leader of her generation. She championed the Single European Act of 1986, pushing forward the process set in motion by Treaty of Rome.

But by the late 1980s, Johnson writes, realistic possibilities for more commercial integration were largely exhausted. Indeed, a recent paper from the pro-European Bruegel think-tank in Brussels documents how little has been achieved since then. This is not a surprise. While the Treaty of Rome created a level playing field with little loss of national sovereignty other than at the border, every initiative since then has required national governments to cede authority to Brussels.

What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Show all 5 1 /5 What's the European Parliament ever done for us? What's the European Parliament ever done for us? A cap on the amount of hours an employer can make you work The Working Time directive provides legal standards to ensure the health and safety of employees in Europe. Among the many rules are a working week of a maximum 48 hours, including overtime, a daily rest period of 11 hours in every 24, a break if a person works for six hours or more, and one day off in every seven. It also includes provisions for paid annual leave of at least four weeks every year Getty Images What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Helping the people of Britain to avoid smoking In 2014 MEPs passed the Tobacco Products Directive strengthening existing rules on the manufacture, production and presentation of tobacco products. This includes things like reduced branding, restrictions on products containing flavoured tobacco, health warnings on cigarette packets and provisions for e-cigarettes to ensure they are safe What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Helping you to make the right choices with your food Thanks to the European Parliament, UK consumers have access to more information than ever about their food and drink. This includes amount of fat, and how much of it is saturated, carbohydrates, sugars, protein and so on. It also includes portion sizes and guideline daily amount information so people can make informed choices about their diet. All facts must be clear and easy to understand What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Two year guarantees and 14-day returns policy for all products Consumers across the EU have access to a number of rights, from things which are potentially very useful, to things which used to be annoying. For example, shoppers in the UK receive a two-year guarantee on all products, and a 14-day period to change their minds and return a purchase, these things are useful www.PeopleImages.com-licence restrictions apply What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Keeping your air nice and fresh (and safe) Believe it or not, although the situation is improving, some areas of the UK have appalling air quality. A report by the Royal College of Physicians released on 23 February says 40,000 deaths are caused by outdoor air pollution in the UK every year. Air pollution is linked to a number of illnesses and conditions, from Asthma to diabetes and dementia. The report estimates the costs to British business and the health service add up to 20 billion every year

The European Union claims legitimacy on the basis that national governments are incapable of meeting the needs of their citizens and supranational governance is needed to increase the welfare of all Europeans. That mindset led in the late 1980s to the push towards a single currency, the euro. Vastly inflated claims were made of the prosperity that the euro would create. These never materialised, while the costs are all too evident. The Bruegel paper tells us that even the single market initiatives have ceased to provide dividends.

The real problem with Europe today is its unworkable governance structure. In a 1986 paper, Robert Keohane then at Harvard University  explained that international governance required trust and reciprocity. In contrast, hierarchical or hegemonic structures would prove to be fragile, Keohane warned. Hegemony can work if the hegemon is willing to pay for that right. But in Europes semi-hierarchical governance system, Germany exercises hegemonic veto authority without paying the bills.

For this reason, European governance has been prone to delays and half measures during the neverending eurozone distress. And now we may well be seeing breakdown of that fragile structure under the stress of the refugee crisis.

Echoing Cameron, proponents for Europe say that Britain will incur severe economic costs by leaving the European Union. Britains trade with Europe will collapse, they say, and the City of London will lose its pre-eminence. Claims of dire consequences by business executives are particularly unreliable. In 1999, Adair Turner, then director general of the Confederation of Business and Industry supported Britain joining the euro. Now the number crunchers torture the data to show that British productivity could decline precipitously. This is economic nonsense.

Any transition will bring uncertainties, but the economic principles are clear. Trade with a particular country or group of countries brings no special dividends. Indeed, leading trade theorist Jagdish Bhagwati has repeatedly warned that preferential trade arrangements hurt rather than help.

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.

Moreover, for more than two decades, Britain has steadily increased its trade with non-European countries. This is only to be expected. Even Germanys trade is increasing mainly beyond European borders. The US has just overtaken France as Germanys largest trading partner. Europe is a slow-growing region and will almost certainly fall further behind the rest of the world over the next half century. Europeans will look for opportunities elsewhere. Only the productive relationships within Europe will survivewith or without European Union rules and governance.

As the parenthesis on post-War Europe closes, economics and politics point in the same direction. Camerons rage arises from his political miscalculation even his ministers are walking away from him. On June 23, British citizens may well vote to remain in the European Union, but atrophy of European institutions will continue and Johnson is likely to win historys verdict.

Ashoka Mody is visiting professor of international economic policy at Princeton University and former deputy director of the International Monetary Funds European Department
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More than 2,000 jobs could be at risk under proposals that could see BHS axe up to a quarter of its stores across the UK.

The beleaguered retailer is proposing putting its 164 stores into a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) in order to slash its rents and exit loss-making sites, less than a year after the chain was sold for a token 1 by the retail veteran Sir Philip Green.

Darren Topp, the chief executive of BHS said: The CVA proposal is a necessary milestone in resetting BHS to ensure its long-term future. Some of our stores are loss-making as we are being charged rents that are too high relative to todays market. The CVA will address this issue.

A CVA  a form of insolvency  will need the backing of 75 per cent of BHSs creditors at a vote on 23 March to proceed. The company said just 77 of its stores would be unaffected by the move.

Forty stores across the country are at risk of closure if the group and its landlords cannot agree to substantially reduce rents there over the next 10 months. It is hoped that the store closure number will be kept to a minimum, BHS said.

A further 47 stores have been identified as being viable if rents can be cut by 25 per cent to 50 per cent. The property agent Savills has been hired to help with the latest review and KPMG is set to supervise the CVA.

BHS chief executive Darren Topp said the CVA was an essential move to ensure its long-term future (BBC)

Based on an average number of 50 employees per store, if 40 were to close, 2,000 jobs could be axed. However, the figure could also be higher if some of the 47 stores also under review closed. The company has some 8,500 direct employees and 1,500 contract staff. BHS also revealed it is planning to restructure its head office and cut management in stores.

The moves follow 12 months of efforts to improve the fortunes of the loss-making retailer. Its sale by Sir Philip to the little-known Retail Acquisitions was announced on 12 March last year. The group, headed by the former racing driver Dominic Chappell, is backed by a number of investors, including brokers and lawyers.

Despite concerns that the sale heralded a future break-up of the department store chain, Retail Acquisitions insisted it wants to steer the group back into the black.

In December it hired turnaround specialist Aidan Treacy, a former finance director at the dairy giant Unigate, as its chief financial officer.

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.

BHS has also introduced food and new fashion lines to a number of shops.

But the challenges facing BHSs new owner include its underlying pension deficit, which rose to 139m in the year to 31 August 2014.

The retail analyst Nick Bubb said: BHS sound confident of winning the landlord CVA, so BHS will live to fight another day and the situation is not completely hopeless, given the success of the food halls and new concessions.
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Bob Diamond, the former Barclays chief executive, is approaching investors to back a takeover for a part of the banks African business, according to a report.

The move, reported by the Financial Times, follows the banks announcement that it will sell 62 per cent stake in Barclays Africa Group on Tuesday.

The deal would be a comeback for Diamond who created the London-listed Atlas Mara vehicle to invest in African banks after he was ousted as Barclays chief executive in 2012 amid the Libor rate-rigging scandal.

Recommended Read more Barclays profits fall as it plans to sell Africa business

Atlas Mara currently lacks the financial muscle to complete a deal by itself but sovereign funds in the Middle East and Asia are seen as the most likely sources of funding.

But raising the money might be a challenge for Diamond as Atlas Mara market capitalisation is 230 million. This is significantly lower than the 1.5 billion that Barclays operations outside of Africa are expected to be worth.

This is the opportunity of a lifetime for him. It is a very difficult transaction in my view but if anyone can pull it off it is definitely Bob," a source who knows Diamond cited by the Financial Times said.

Biggest business scandals in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Biggest business scandals in pictures Biggest business scandals in pictures Volkswagen emissions scandal VW admitted to rigging its US emission tests so that diesel-powered cars would looks like they were emitting less nitrous oxide, which can damage the ozone layer and contribute to respiratory diseases. Around 11 million cars worldwide were affected. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Martin Shkreli and Turing Pharmaceuticals Martin Shkreli became known as the most hated man in the world after his drug company, Turing, increased the price of a 62-year-old drug that treated HIV patients by 5,000% to $750 a pill. He was charged with illegally taking stock from Retrophin, a biotechnology firm he started in 2011, and using it pay off debts from unrelated business dealings. Shkreli, who maintains he is innocent, and says there is little evidence of fraud because his investors didn't lose money. Biggest business scandals in pictures Panama Papers: Millions of leaked documents expose how worlds rich and powerful hid money - April 2016 Millions of confidential documents have been leaked from one of the worlds most secretive law firms, exposing how the rich and powerful have hidden their money. Dictators and other heads of state have been accused of laundering money, avoiding sanctions and evading tax, according to the unprecedented cache of papers that show the inner workings of the law firm Mossack Fonseca, which is based in Panama. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Google's tax avoidance Google reached a deal with the HM Revenue and Customs to pay back 130 million in so-called back-taxes that have been due since 2005. George Osborne championed the deal as a major success. But European MEPs have since called for the Chancellor to appear in front of the committee on tax rulings to explain the tax deal. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Rogue trader A French court cut the damages owed by rogue trader Jerome Kerviel from 4.9bn (4.2bn) to just 1m (860,000). The court ruled on that Kerviel was partly responsible for massive losses suffered in 2008 by his former employer Societe Generale through his reckless trades. Kerviel has consistently maintained that bosses at the French bank knew what he was doing all along. AP Biggest business scandals in pictures Barclays CEO under investigation for trying to identify whistleblower - Monday Paril 10 Authorities have launched an investigation into Barclays chief executive officer Jes Staley for trying to identify a whistleblower, the bank said on Monday. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) are both investigating Mr Staley after the bank notified them that Mr Staley had tried to identify the author of two anonymous letters, which were sent to the board and a senior executive in June 2016. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures UK to crack down on bank money laundering after reports of 65bn Russian scam, City minister says - March 2017 The Economic Secretary to the Treasury has vowed that the Government will crack down on money laundering practices, after several of the UK's biggest banks were accused of processing money from a Russian scam, believed to involve up to $80bn (65bn). Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures Former HBOS bankers convicted of bribery and fraud over 245m loan scam - February 2017 Two former HBOS bankers were among six people found guilty of bribery and fraud that cost customers and shareholders hundreds of millions of pounds, the BBC reports. Lynden Scourfield, 54, a manager at HBOS, forced struggling clients to use the services of his friends David Mills, 60, and Michael Bancroft, 73. In return, the two businessmen arranged sex parties, cash and lavish gifts. On Monday, the three were convicted at Southwark Crown Court on accounts including bribery, fraud and money laundering. Mark Dobson, another manager at HBOS, Alison Mills, and John Cartwright were also convicted. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Lloyds chief apologises for damage caused by affair allegations - August 2016 Antonio Horta-Osorio, the chief executive of Lloyds Bank, has broken his silence over allegations about his private life admitting he regrets any "damage done to the group's reputation". In a message sent to the bank's 75,000 employees, the banker said that anyone can make mistakes while insisting that staff had to maintain the highest professional standards. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Christine Lagarde faces court over 340m Bernard Tapie payment - July 2016 The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde, must stand trial in France over a payment of 403 million (now 340m, then 290m) to tycoon Bernard Tapie, a France's highest appeals court has ruled. The court rejected Ms Lagarde's appeal against a judge's order in December for her to stand trial over allegations of negligence in her handling of the affair. Ms Lagarde could risk a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a fine of 15,000 euros if convicted. Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures HSBC senior manager arrested in FX rigging investigation at JFK airport in New York - July 2016 A senior executive at HSBC has been arrested at New York's JFK airport for his alleged involvement in a conspiracy to rig currency benchmarks, according to reports. Mark Johnson, global head of foreign exchange cash trading in London, was reportedly arrested on Tuesday. He will appear before a federal court in Brooklyn on Wednesday charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, Bloomberg said. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Former PwC employees found guilty in 'Luxleaks' tax scandal - June 2016 Two ex- PricewaterhouseCoopers staffers were found guilty in Luxembourg of stealing confidential tax files that helped unleash a global scandal over generous fiscal deals for hundreds of international companies. Antoine Deltour and Raphael Halet face suspended sentences of 12 months and 9 months and were ordered to pay fines of 1,500 (1,230) and 1,000 (822) for their role in the so-called LuxLeaks scandal. Despite the minimal sentences, the ruling was described by Deltours lawyer as shocking and a terrible anomaly. The ruling puts on guard future whistle-blowers, Deltour told reporters.The LuxLeaks revelations sped beyond Luxembourg, causing European Union regulators to expand a tax-subsidy probe and propose new laws to fight corporate tax dodging, while EU lawmakers created a special committee to probe fiscal deals across the 28-nation bloc. Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures Goldman Sachs dealmakers lavished Libyan officials with prostitutes to win contract - June 2016 A former Goldman Sachs dealmaker trying to persuade Gadaffi-era Libya to invest $1 billion with the investment bank procured prostitutes and invited Libyan officials to lavish parties in the hope of winning the business, the High Court heard on Monday June 13.The Libyan Investment Authority sovereign wealth fund is suing Goldman Sachs for inappropriately coercing its naive staff into giving its sovereign wealth fund cash to the bank to invest in products they did not understand. The products were designed to generate big profits for Goldman, the LIA claims.Goldman denies wrongdoing and says the LIA was treated as an arms-length customer Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures Former boss of BHS said his life was threatened - June 2016 Darren Topp, the former boss of BHS, has said former owner Dominic Chappell threatened to kill him when he challenged him over a 1.5 million transfer out of the business. MPs on the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee asked Mr Topp about a 1.5 million transfer Mr Chappell made from BHS to a company called BHS Sweden. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley admits paying workers below the minimum wage - June 2016 Mike Ashley admitted paying Sports Direct employees below the minimum wage at a hearing in front of MPs. The company founder said that workers were paid less than the statutory minimum because of bottlenecks at security in an admission that could result in sanctions from HMRC. Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures Mitsubishi admits improper fuel tests - April 2016 Mitsubishi has admitted to using false fuel methods dating back to 1991. The scale of the scandal is only just coming to light after it was revealed in April that data was falsified in the testing of four types of cars, including two Nissan cars. AP Biggest business scandals in pictures Quindell, the scandal-ridden insurance firm Quindell was once a darling of AIM but its share price fell in April 2014 when its accounting practices were attacked in a stinging research note by US short seller Gotham City. In August the group was forced to disclose that the 107 million pre-tax profit it had reported for 2013 was incorrect, and it had in fact suffered a 64million loss. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Toshiba Accounting Scandal The boss of Toshiba, the Japanese technology giant, resigned in disgrace in the wake of one of the countrys biggest ever accounting scandals. His exit came two months after the company revealed that it was investigating accounting irregularities. An independent investigatory panel said that Toshibas management had inflated its reported profits by up to 152 billion yen (780m) between 2008 and 2014. Biggest business scandals in pictures FIFA Corruption Scandal Fifa, football's world governing body, has been engulfed by claims of widespread corruption since the summer of 2015, when the US Department of Justice indicted several top executives. It has now claimed the careers of two of the most powerful men in football, Fifa President Sepp Blatter and Uefa President Michel Platini, after they were banned for eight years from all football-related activities by Fifa's ethics committee. A Swiss criminal investigation into the pair is ongoing. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Libor fraudster City trader Tom Hayes, 35, has become the first person to be convicted of rigging Libor rates following a trial at London's Southwark Crown Court. Hayes worked as a trader in yen derivatives at UBS before joining the American bank Citigroup in Tokyo. He was fired from Citigroup following an investigation into his trading methods. He returned to the UK in December 2012 and was arrested following a two-and-a-half year criminal investigation by the SFO. Getty

Shares in Barclays Africa tumbled on Monday after Barclays said it might withdraw after almost a century on the continent. Africa's growth has been hampered by the falling price of oil and other commodities due in part to the slowdown in China.

While the African company accounted for 13 percent of Barclays' core profit in the first nine months of 2015, its earnings growth was the slowest among the British lender's main businesses in that period.
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Berta Caceres, a Honduran indigenous and environmental rights campaigner, has been murdered in her own home a week after she was threatened over her opposition to a hydroelectric dam project.

Ms Caceres was shot dead when gunmen entered her home in La Esperanza in the west of the country at around 1am on Thursday.

Her attackers fled without being identified, but also wounded her brother. Police say they have arrested a suspect but did not release a name.

Police told Italian newspaper La Repubblica she had been killed during a botched robbery but her family have said they believe she was assassinated for her high-profile campaigns against dams, illegal loggers and land owners.

Her 84-year-old mother, Austrabertha Flores, said on Hondurian radio: I have no doubt that she has been killed because of her struggle and that soldiers and people from the dam are responsible, I am sure of that. I hold the government responsible.

Last year, Ms Caceres, a member of Honduras largest indigenous group the Lenca, was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize for her opposition to the Agua Zarca cascade - four giant dams in the Gualcarque river basin.

In pictures: Biggest threats to the rainforests Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Biggest threats to the rainforests In pictures: Biggest threats to the rainforests Borneo Destruction of the rainforest, deforestation in Borneo In pictures: Biggest threats to the rainforests Brazil Aerial view af an area devastated by clandestine gold mining in the Jamanxim National Forest, state of Para. With 1,3 million hectares, the Jamanxim National Forest is a microsm that replicates what happens in the Amazon, where thousands of hectares of land are prey of illegal woodcutters, stock breeders and gold miners In pictures: Biggest threats to the rainforests Amazon rainforest Intensive logging makes rainforest fires more likely as the Earth warms Rex In pictures: Biggest threats to the rainforests Peru Miners known as "Maraqueros" ready a rustic type of hydraulic jet known locally as a "Chupadera," after hauling the device about 16-meters deep into a crater at a gold mine process in La Pampa in Peru's Madre de Dios region. A new threat now looms for the estimated 20,000 wildcat miners who toil in huge scar of denuded rainforest known as La Pampa In pictures: Biggest threats to the rainforests Peru A rope hangs around the trunk of a tree at a illegal gold mining process in La Pampa in Peru's Madre de Dios region. An estimated 20,000 miners toil in this malarial expanse of denuded rainforest known as La Pampa In pictures: Biggest threats to the rainforests Amazon rainforest The extent of the environmental damage in the Amazon rainforest afp/getty images In pictures: Biggest threats to the rainforests Indonesia Destruction remains from tropical rainforest in Kuala Cenaku in Riau Province, Sumatra. Norway entered a partnership with Indonesia to support Indonesia's efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation of forests and peat lands. The business of pulp, palm oil and wood are causing the deforestation of Sumatra, the largest island owned by Indonesia, and is contributing global climate change to the extinction of many of the world's rare species In pictures: Biggest threats to the rainforests Malaysia An area that has been cleared of rainforest to make way for a palm oil plantation in Sabah, Malaysia CORBIS In pictures: Biggest threats to the rainforests Indonesia Regenerated palm oil trees are seen growing on the site of destroyed tropical rainforest in Kuala Cenaku GETTY IMAGES In pictures: Biggest threats to the rainforests Brazil Brazil launched the Amazon Fund, aimed at protecting the rainforest so vital to the world's climate, and at combating climate change. In December 2008 Brazil launched a national climate change plan which proposed to cut the country's deforestation rate in half by 2018 Getty Images

Her campaign held up the project by local firm Desa leading to the withdrawal of funding by a Chinese firm and the private sector arm of the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation.

She said she had regularly received threats because of her work: They follow me. They threaten to kill me, to kidnap me, they threaten my family. That is what we face.

They have guards which have made death threats against us. Theyve been on the point of shooting us. Ive received threats and had my vehicle followed.

Recommended Read more Deadliest country for environmental activists is Honduras

Three of her colleagues at the campaign group she co-founded, the Council of Indigenous Peoples of Honduras (Copinh), have been murdered over their opposition to the dam and two of her four children have reportedly already fled the country over safety concerns.

A 2015 report by Global Witness found Honduras to be the most dangerous country in the world for environmental activists with more killed in suspicious circumstances per capita than anywhere else.

The report said at least 111 activists were killed in the country between 2002 and 2014.

A funeral procession through the streets of La Esperanza for the murdered indigenous rights campaigner and environmentalist (Getty Images/AFP)

Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas Director for Amnesty International, said in a statement that "the cowardly killing of Berta is a tragedy that was waiting to happen".

She said: "For years, she had been the victim of a sustained campaign of harassment and threats to stop her from defending the rights of indigenous communities.

"Berta's death will have a devastating impact for many human rights activists and organisations."

Additional reporting by AP
Amazon's Kindle devices run a custom version of Android that, until today, supported full-disk encryption. Now they don't.

The latest update to Amazon's Fireos disabled full-disk encryption. If you run the update and then lose your device, whomever finds it will be able to see any private or sensitive information you've stored on it (if you don't run the update, you won't get patches and your device will be liable to being taken over by hackers).

The move comes as Apple and the FBI are fighting in court over whether the government can force companies to make tools to backdoor their own security measures, and as the US Congress is contemplating legislation that would ban effective encryption in US-manufactured devices.

Ironically, Amazon's Kindle/Fire platform does use encryption: Digital Rights Management. The company uses DRM to control how you use your ebooks (though publishers can opt out if they choose to), and refuses outright to carry audiobooks unless rightsholders allow them to encrypt them with Amazon's DRM.

For privacy and encryption advocates, this move goes against the recent trend to make encryption available by default, and puts Amazon customers' data at risk, given that they won't be able to protect the information in their tablets and phones with encryption. "This is a terrible move as it compromises the safety of Kindle Fire owners by making their data vulnerable to all manner of bad actors, including crackers and repressive governments," Ari Balkan, a coder, human rights activist, and owner of a Kindle Fire, told Motherboard. "It's clear with this move that Amazon does not respect the safety of its customers."

Amazon Quietly Removes Encryption Support from its Gadgets

[Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai/Vice]





(Image: Ifixit)
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Failing to toe the party line?

Things have gone from bad to worse for Ukips welfare spokesperson, Suzanne Evans, who has been given the boot by party leader Nigel Farage for the second time in under a fortnight. Just days after Mr Farage dismissed Ms Evans from her position as deputy chairman of the party he stripped her of her second brief.

Talk about adding insult to injury!

Ms Evans, 51, confirmed the news in a post on Facebook. Well, I have been sacked again! This time [Im] being relieved of my welfare spokesman brief, she wrote. I am seriously thinking of applying to the Guinness Book of Records: surely I deserve the title of 'Most Purged Woman in British Politics' by now.

Sounds like they didnt see eye to eye on something

Ms Evans has lent her support to the Vote Leave EU referendum campaign group, along with Ukips only MP, Douglas Carswell, defying Mr Farage and the party, which has thrown its weight behind the rival eurosceptic group, Grassroots Out. The Electoral Commission has not yet announced which group will head the Leave campaign.

How does getting rid of Ms Evans make a difference?

Stripping her of the deputy chairmanship could weaken Vote Leaves bid for to lead the campaign to quit the EU. Following her dismissal Ms Evans said she was disappointed as she believed she had been doing a good job. She added: I of course accept that it is entirely within any party leaders authority to choose and to change their own top team.

Are the gloves coming off now?

Ms Evans has kept relatively quiet since being given the old heave-ho for the second time, though she has expressed her bewilderment at the situation. Asked what she had done to warrant the sacking, she said: Right now I really dont know.
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New footage shows chimpanzees engaging in bizarre behaviour  which might be a form of sacred ritual that could show the beginnings of a kind of religious belief.

Chimpanzees in West Africa have been spotted banging and throwing rocks against trees and throwing them into gaps inside, leading to piles of rocks. Those rocks do not appear to be for any functional purpose  and might be an example of an early version of ritual behaviour.

The discovery might help researchers learn more about the basis of human religion and rituals, and how such activities formed in our own history.

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The scientist described seeing the behaviour through cameras that were set up to watch the chimpanzees. They saw them assembling piles of stones  of a similar kind of the ritual cairns that have been found throughout human history.

Chimpanzees and other apes have long been known to use stones and other materials as tools, including their use as nutcrackers to get into food that is cased in a hard shell. But the new behaviour doesnt seem to have the same functional purpose.

This represents the first record of repeated observations of individual chimpanzees exhibiting stone tool use for a purpose other than extractive foraging at what appear to be targeted trees, the researchers write in their abstract.

The ritualized behavioural display and collection of artefacts at particular locations observed in chimpanzee accumulative stone throwing may have implications for the inferences that can be drawn from archaeological stone assemblages and the origins of ritual sites.

6 animals that act like humans Show all 6 1 /6 6 animals that act like humans 6 animals that act like humans dog_driving.jpg 6 animals that act like humans Cat.jpg 6 animals that act like humans tamarin-monkey-2.jpg REX/Gerard Lacz 6 animals that act like humans Octopus.jpg AFP/Getty Images 6 animals that act like humans Beluga_whale.jpg Getty Images 6 animals that act like humans Dolphin.jpg

For humans, stone buildings and piles have symbolised a wide variety of things, which have seen them used in burials and shrines. Those examples are often among the earliest examples of religious behaviour in human history, and so the chimpanzee behaviour could represent a similar instinct.

The chimpanzee behaviour could also represent a direct connection with human religious rituals. Indigenous West African people also collect stones at sacred trees  and similar behaviour is seen elsewhere  in a way that looks eerily similar to what we have discovered here, one of the researchers wrote.

In a piece written around the findings, researcher Laura Kehoe described the experience of watching the chimp look around and then fling a rock at the tree trunk.

Nothing like this had been seen before and it gave me goose bumps, she wrote.

The discovery could offer insights into the way that humanitys sacred rituals began, she wrote.

Marking pathways and territories with signposts such as piles of rocks is an important step in human history, wrote Ms Kehoe. Figuring out where chimps' territories are in relation to rock throwing sites could give us insights into whether this is the case here.
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The sister of a soldier who died 18 days after his benefits were stopped is appealing for funds to fight for a public inquest into whether the Department for Work and Pensions contributed to his death.

David Clapson, who served as a Lance Corporal in Belfast during the height of the Troubles, passed away in his flat in July 2013 from diabetic ketoacidosis  caused by an acute lack of insulin. His body was found a few metres away from a pile of CVs and he had 3.44 in his bank account.

Two weeks before the 59-year-old died the Department for Work and Pensions had sanctioned him for a month, after he missed two appointments. His 71.70 a week Job Seekers Allowance payments were immediately stopped. When Gill Thompson discovered her brothers body, she found his electricity had been cut off, meaning the fridge where he stored his insulin was no longer working.

With no money for his electricity meter, his family claim he was unable to chill his insulin in the height of summer. He also was found to have no food in his stomach when he died.

Speaking to The Independent, Ms Thompson said: "In my opinion, it [the benefit sanction] was a death sentence".

After exhausting other avenues Ms Thompson has now launched a crowd funding campaign to raise money to enable her to fight for a public inquest into his death. The sanctioning took away his lifeline, she added.

Gill Thompson and her brother David Clapson (Gill Thompson)

The 10,000 she hopes to raise will pay towards instructing lawyers, accessing records and seeking expert advice to build the strongest case for an inquiry. Leigh Day, the law firm representing Ms Thompson, has added that rendering a person unable to afford food or to chill their insulin is likely to have fatal consequences.

Ms Thompson said to The Independent she was not after revenge. For me, Davids gone and theres nothing I can do. All I want is for lessons to be learned and acted upon. What I am trying to do is show their [the DWP] actions didnt help David. Hopefully by doing this I can help othersprevent further deaths. People are still dying.

She added: These are not criminal offences; these are things that happen  missing appointments. Im sure all of us have missed a couple appointments in our lives. But to be punished with such cruelty and such severity I just dont feel the need. As we speak, hundreds of thousands of people out there are suffering  theyve got nothing to look forward to. This is why Im doing it. For me, David didnt have help. Im just asking for help.

The most ridiculous reasons people had their benefits sanctioned Show all 16 1 /16 The most ridiculous reasons people had their benefits sanctioned The most ridiculous reasons people had their benefits sanctioned "One case where the claimants wife went into premature labour and had to go to hospital. This caused the claimant to miss an appointment. No leeway given" The most ridiculous reasons people had their benefits sanctioned "Its Christmas Day and you dont fill in your job search evidence form to show that youve looked for all the new jobs that are advertised on Christmas Day. You are sanctioned. Merry Christmas" The most ridiculous reasons people had their benefits sanctioned "You apply for three jobs one week and three jobs the following Sunday and Monday. Because the job centre week starts on a Tuesday it treats this as applying for six jobs in one week and none the following week. You are sanctioned for 13 weeks for failing to apply for three jobs each week" The most ridiculous reasons people had their benefits sanctioned "A London man missed his Jobcentre appointments for two weeks because he was in hospital after being hit by a car. He was sanctioned" 2011 Getty Images The most ridiculous reasons people had their benefits sanctioned "Youve been unemployed for seven months and are forced onto a workfare scheme in a shop miles away, but cant afford to travel. You offer to work in a nearer branch but are refused and get sanctioned for not attending your placement" 2013 Getty Images The most ridiculous reasons people had their benefits sanctioned "You are a mum of two, and are five minutes late for your job centre appointment. You show the advisor the clock on your phone, which is running late. You are sanctioned for a month" The most ridiculous reasons people had their benefits sanctioned "A man with heart problems who was on Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) had a heart attack during a work capability assessment. He was then sanctioned for failing to complete the assessment" Rex The most ridiculous reasons people had their benefits sanctioned "A man who had gotten a job that was scheduled to begin in two weeks time was sanctioned for not looking for work as he waited for the role to start" The most ridiculous reasons people had their benefits sanctioned "Army veteran Stephen Taylor, 60, whose Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) was stopped after he sold poppies in memory of fallen soldiers" 2014 Getty Images The most ridiculous reasons people had their benefits sanctioned "A man had to miss his regular appointment at the job centre to attend his fathers funeral. He was sanctioned even though he told DWP staff in advance" 2014 Getty Images The most ridiculous reasons people had their benefits sanctioned "Ceri Padley, 26, had her benefits sanctioned after she missed an appointment at the jobcentre - because she was at a job interview" Jason Doiy Photography The most ridiculous reasons people had their benefits sanctioned "A man got sanctioned for missing his slot to sign on - as he was attending a work programme interview. He was then sanctioned as he could not afford to travel for his job search" 2012 Getty Images The most ridiculous reasons people had their benefits sanctioned "Mother-of-three Angie Godwin, 27, said her benefits were sanctioned after she applied for a role job centre staff said was beyond her" The most ridiculous reasons people had their benefits sanctioned "Sofya Harrison was sanctioned for attending a job interview and moving her signing-on to another day" The most ridiculous reasons people had their benefits sanctioned "Michael, 54, had his benefits sanctioned for four months for failing to undertake a weeks work experience at a charity shop. The charity shop had told him they didnt want him there" Getty The most ridiculous reasons people had their benefits sanctioned "Terry Eaton, 58, was sanctioned because he didnt have the bus fare he needed to attend an appointment with the job centre" Getty Images

To lead someone, even healthy, without food and any means for two weeks is going to have some drastic effect. You dont know whats round the corner. Im 59 now  my brothers age  luckily Im OK and Im working. But who knows what could hit me next year or the year after. Then what happens are they going to do the same to me? You just dont know.

In 2014 Ms Thompson started a petition with Change.org that gained over 200,000 signatures, helping to secure a Parliamentary Select Committee Inquiry in March 2015, which came up with 26 recommendations.

However, the Government rejected her calls for an independent review into her brother's death and the deaths of others in similar circumstances. They also rejected the recommendation of the select committee that the number of peer reviews into deaths of persons subject to a sanction be made public.

During the inquiry, in an emotional confrontation last February, Ms Thompson presented an image of her late brother to the former Employment Minister Esther McVey. A diabetic cannot wait two weeks, she said  in reference to the amount of time a Jobseekers Allowance claimant, when sanctioned, has to wait to receive a hardship payment.

"Its complicated. Thats all she [Esther McVey] said to me."

Gill Thompson believes the sanction took away her brother's 'lifeline' (Gill Thompson)

Merry Varney from the law firm Leigh Day who is representing Ms Thompson in her fight for an inquest into her brothers death, said: David had a made a significant contribution to the wider public good, working in the Forces at a difficult time and later providing personal care for his elderly mother. At the time he needed support, he was made destitute for failing to attend a meeting.

Managing Type 1 Diabetes requires good nutrition and regular insulin injections. Rendering a person unable to afford food and/or unable to chill their insulin is likely to have fatal consequences. Davids death must be investigated to make sure safeguards are in place to protect others and to establish whether the DWP knowingly cut off Davids lifeline.

A spokesperson for the Department for Work and Pensions said: Our sympathies are with the family of Mr Clapson.

They added: Decisions on sanctions arent taken lightly  they are only ever used as a last resort and after we have taken every opportunity to contact the individual Even when someone is sanctioned they can still get financial support through the hardship fund and we continue to spend around 80bn a year on working age benefits to ensure a safety net is in place.Mr Clapson did not appeal or ask for a reconsideration of the sanction, or apply for a hardship payment.

Shadow Minister for Disabled People, Debbie Abrahams MP, who has been a long standing supporter of Ms Thompson's campaign to have a full independent inquiry into her brothers death, said: Gill is a quiet but immensely strong and determined woman who will not let this Government get away with their ideologically driven agenda to hammer the sick and disabled in our society.

Gill is just one of thousands of family members and friends left devastated by the misery Iain Duncan Smiths sanctions regime has been inflicting on vulnerable people over the last few years.

Politicians like me can shout from the rooftops of Parliament about the injustices that are being meted out by this Government but it really does take brave people like Gill to bring issues like this to the publics attention and she deserves our support and admiration for doing so.
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A London banker appointed to manage 456m belonging to the Libyan government is facing a legal battle over claims he misappropriated vast sums to fund a lavish lifestyle that involved helicopters and luxury hotels.

A High Court writ claims that Frederic Marino failed in his duty as a director and employee of FM Capital Partners (FMCP) by enriching himself even as the funds plunged in value, an investigation by the Bloomberg news agency has revealed.

Despite living in west London, the French-born banker is accused of running up a 165,000 bill during a stay at the Lanesborough Hotel, one of Londons top luxury hotels. The bill included 42,000 charges for parking spaces, spa fees of more than 4,000 as well as a 1,600 laundry bill and dry cleaning bill.

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It is also alleged he used FMCPs credit card for more than 225,000 of expenses including clothing, hotel stays and a helicopter ride.

FMCP, which claims it dismissed Mr Marino for gross misconduct in 2014, is suing him for damages and compensation. Mr Marino, 49, who was unavailable for comment, is contesting the claims.

Company documents reveal Mr Marino was a founder and chief executive of FMCP. In 2009, the company was appointed sole asset manager of the US$650m Libyan African Investment Fund.

During the ensuing six year period, Mr Marino and a fellow director approved 51m in bonuses and other payments despite the fact the value of the assets plunged by 45m, the writ claims.

It alleges that Mr Marino and a fellow director took advantage of the 2011 Libyan uprising which led to the overthrow of Libyas leader Muammar Gaddafi.

The outbreak of violence meant that his fellow Libyan directors were unable to attend meetings in London where he approved increased payments to himself. The result was the payment of 2.6m bonus, the writ claims. It also says he was paid 250,000 a year even though his contract entitled him to 140,000.

The writ also claims he wrongfully used his company credit card to rack up 27,000 of expenses relating to a separate company owned by Mr Marino. Other funds allegedly misappropriated include 17,000 to a woman he was in a long-term relationship with as well as 500 to his wife.

Hogan Lovells, lawyers for FMCP, declined to comment on the legal action last night.

Mr Marino, a former JPMorgan Chase banker, stated in a legal submission cited by Bloomberg that substantial increases in his salary and bonus had been approved at board meetings attended by directors representing the Libyan government. FMCP hasnt provided proof of the sums spent on the company credit card, he said. Jason Woodland, who represents Mr Marino for Peters and Peters, declined to comment about the case. Mr Marino said in his defence filing that all the payments were properly made for services provided, Bloomberg reported.

Meanwhile, the 47bn Libyan Investment Authority (LIA), parent of the Libyan African fund, is suing investment bank Goldman Sachs and French bankers Societe Generale , each for more than $1bn losses it alleges occurred through mismanagement. Both banks deny any wrongdoing and are contesting the allegations.

And on 7 March, the High Court will hear a dispute over control of the LIA between two rivals  Hassan Bouhadi and AbdulMagid Breish.

The case, expected to be presided over Judge William Blair, brother of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, will seek to determine which of the two men has the authority to bring litigation against Goldman Sachs and Societe Generale.
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A suspected car bomb has detonated in Belfast, injuring a prison officer who has been taken to hospital.

A spokesperson for the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) told The Independent: "We can confirm that the man injured following the explosion of a device under this van this morning in East Belfast is a serving prison officer, He is 52-years-old and is currently being treated at hospital."

They added: "At this time we believe a device has exploded under a vehicle."

The condition of the man and the extent of his injuries are not yet known.

According to Sky News, police are investigating whether the explosive device was dislodged by a speed bump.

The signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 brought an end to three decades of conflict between Catholic and Protestant communities, known as The Troubles. Since then, peace has returned to the region, although a small number of dissident Republicans continue to resist the peace process and engage in armed attacks.

Finlay Spratt, head of the Prison Officers Association told Reuters that the victim of today's attack was a prison officer who worked in a training school rather than in a prison,.

He said: "This is just terrible. What can you say, we have been down this road before. These people have no justification for what they do.".

The alleged attack has been condemned by politicians across both communities in Northern Ireland. Sinn Fein MLA Gerry Kelly said: "There can be no place for such attacks in our society. Those behind attacks like this represent no one and have nothing to offer the community." Sinn Fein Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness also condemned the attack, saying his "thoughts and prayers" are with the officer.

DUP politician Robin Newton said that the incident: "must be condemned by all right thinking people. This is a despicable act and it is fortunate that we are not talking about serious injury or even a fatality today."

East Belfast MLA, Chris Lyttle, from the mixed-religion cross-community Alliance Party said that the attack was "a sickening echo of the past."

Northern Ireland's First Minister and DUP leader Arlene Foster, whose father, a police officer, survived being shot in the head by the Irish Republican Army when she was eight, condemned the attack as "disgraceful and despicable".

In 2012, a Northern Irish prison officer was killed in a motorway shooting blamed on militant nationalists - the first murder of a prison officer since 1993.

With additional reporting by Reuters
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British Airways has agreed to pay an undisclosed financial sum to children who were sexually abused by one of the airlines pilots.

Simon Wood, 54, from Hertfordshire, killed himself after he was charged with sexually abusing a number of children while conducting voluntary work for the airline and during flight stopovers in Africa.

He was accused of sexually abusing girls aged 5 to 13 between 2003 and 2013. The abuse took place in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya in hotels, orphanages and schools. A mother of some of the victims has said that Wood showered her children with gifts before bathing them.

He was charged with one count of indecent assault of a minor, two counts of making indecent photographs of minors and one count of possessing indecent images of a minor.

11 days before he was due to appear in court in August 2013, he died when he was hit by a train in an apparent suicide.

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

BA has said that although it is making the payments to Woods victims, it denies liability.

Legal representatives of some of the victims have argued that BA is responsible because the abuse took place whilst Wood was in the continent as part of his work. BA would not disclose details regarding the payments.
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The UK must invest more to defend itself against the remote possibility of Isis fruitcakes launching a missile attack, a campaign group has said.

Commander Graham Edmonds, a former Navy anti-aircraft warfare specialist, claimed there was nothing Britain itself could do in the event of a strike from Syria.

The vice-chairman of the UK National Defence Association (UKNDA) told The Independent the Government was too reliant on Nato and the US for protection.

What happens if Isis or a large organisation get their hands on a long-range ballistic missile and decides to fire it at London? he asked.

 Poland urges NATO to push ahead with missile shield

The answer is nothing  we have no system that can shoot down tactical ballistic missiles.

Claiming warzones in the Middle East were awash with the rockets, he said Syrian and Iraqi forces possessed weapons with ranges of up to 2,500 miles that could have been seized by Isis.

The distance between London and the terrorist groups de-facto capital of Raqqa is 2,200 miles, while just over 1,600 miles lie between England and its Libyan stronghold of Sirte.

Most military experts consider the possibility of Isis capturing or operating a long-range ballistic missile as extremely low, and the UK may be far down a list of possible destinations.

Commander Edmonds said he believed Portsmouth may be among potential British targets because of its large naval base and fleet of destroyers.

Timeline: The emergence of Isis Show all 40 1 /40 Timeline: The emergence of Isis Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2000 Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (pictured here) forms an al-Qaeda splinter group in Iraq, al-Qaeda in Iraq. Its brutality from the beginning alienates Iraqis and many al-Qaeda leaders. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2006 Al-Zarqawi is killed in a U.S. strike. Al-Zarqawis successor, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, announces the creation of the Islamic State in Iraq (ISI). Reuters Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2009 Still al-Qaeda-linked ISI claims responsibility for suicide bombings that killed 155 in Baghdad, as well as attacks in August and October killing 240, as President Obama announces troop withdrawal from Iraq in March. Getty Images Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2010 Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi becomes head of ISI, at lowest ebb of Islamist militancy in Iraq, which sees last U.S. combat brigade depart. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2012 In Syria, protests (pictured here starting in Daree) have morphed into what president Assad labelled a real war with emergence of a coalition of forces opposed to Assads regime. Syria group Jabhat al-Nusra are among rebel groups who refuse to join, denouncing it as a conspiracy. Bombings targeting Shia areas, killing more than 500 people, spark fears of new sectarian conflict. Sunni Muslims stage protests across country against what they see as increasingly marginalisation by Shia-led government. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2013 Al-Baghdadi renames ISI as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or Isis, as the group absorbs Syrian al-Nusra, gaining a foothold in Syria. In response, al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri (Bin Ladens successor) concerned about Isis expansion orders that Isis be dissolved and ISI operations should be confined to Iraq. This order is rejected by al-Baghdadi. AFP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - January Isis fighters capture the Iraqi cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, giving them base to launch slew of attacks further south. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - June Isis declares itself the Caliphate, calling itself Islamic State (IS). The group captures Mosul, Iraqs second largest city; Tal Afar, just 93 miles from Syrian border; and the central Iraqi city of Tikrit. These advances sent shockwaves around the world. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - June Around the same time Isis releases a video calling for western Muslims to join the Caliphate and fight, prompting new evaluations of extremists groups social media understanding. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - June Isis take Baiji oil fields in Iraq - giving them access to huge amounts of possible revenue. EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - August James Foley is executed by the group as concerns grow for second American prisoner, fellow reporter Steven Sotloff. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - August Obama authorises U.S. airstrikes in Iraq, helping to stall Isis along with action by Kurdish forces following the deaths of hundreds of Yazidi people on Mount Sinjar. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Isis release video showing Steven Sotloffs murder prompting Western speculation his executioner is same man who killed Mr Foley. EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Obama tells us that America will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Isis release a video appearing to show David Haines, who was captured by militants in Syria in 2013, wearing an orange jumpsuit and kneeling in the desert while he reads a pre-prepared script. It later shows what appears to be the aid worker's body. Rex Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Peshmerga fighters scrabble to hold positions in the Diyala province (a gateway to Baghdad) as Isis fighters continue to advance on Iraqi capital. AFP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - October Aid worker Alan Henning is killed. Self-imposed media blackout refuses to show images of him in final moments, instead focuses upon humanitarian care. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - October Isis raise their flag in Kobani, which had been strongly defended by Kurdish troops. The victory goes against hopeful western analysis Isis had overextended itself, while alienating much of the Muslim population through the murder of Henning. Victory causes fresh waves of Kurdish refugees arriving in Turkey. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - November American hostage, who embarced values of Islam, Peter Kassig and 14 Syrian soldiers are shown meeting the same fate as other captives. But intelligence agencies will be poring over the apparently significant discrepancies between this and previous films. Seramedig.org.uk Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February Isis has released a video revealing the murder by burning to death of a Jordanian pilot held by the group since the end of December 2014. Reuters Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February Isis militants have released videos which appear to show the beheading of Japanese hostages Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February American aid worker, Kayla Mueller was the last American hostage known to be held by Isis. She died, according to her captors, in an airstrike by the Jordanian air force on the city of Raqqa in Syria, though US authorities disputed this. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February Isis militants have posted a gruesome video online in which they force 21 Egyptian Coptic Christian hostages to kneel on a beach in Libya before beheading them. Egypt vowed to avenge the beheading and launched air strikes on Isis positions. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February The British Isis militant suspected of appearing in videos showing the beheading of Western hostages has been named in reports as Mohammed Emwazi from London. Rex Features Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - March Isis triple suicide attack has killed more than 100 worshippers and hundreds of others were injured after the group members targeted two mosques in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - April Iraqi forces have claimed victory over Isis in battle for Tikrit and raised the flag in the city. EPA/STR Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - April Isis has claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan that killed at least 35 people queuing to collect their wages and injured 100 more. EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - April Isis media arm released a 29-minute video purporting to show militants executing Ethiopian Christians captives. The footage bore the extremist groups al-Furqan media logo and showed the destruction of churches and desecration of religious symbols. A masked fighter made a statement threatening Christians who did not convert to Islam or pay a special tax. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Isis has been "incapacitated" by a spinal injuries sustained in a US air strike in Iraq. He is being treated in a hideout by two doctors from Isis stronghold of Mosul who are said to be "strong ideological supporters of the group". Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isis has also claimed responsibility for killing 300 of Yazidi captives, including women, children and elderly people in Iraq AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isis attack on Prophet Mohamed cartoon contest in Texas was its first action on US soil. Two gunmen were shot and killed after launching the attack at the exhibition. Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi have been named as the attackers at the Curtis Culwell Centre arena in Garland. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isiss deputy leader, Abu Alaa Afri, a former physics teacher who was thought to have taken charge of the deadly terrorist group, has been killed in a US-led coalition airstrike. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May US special forces have killed a senior Isis leader named as Abu Sayyaf in an operation aiming to capture him and his wife in Syria. Getty Images Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Iran-backed militias are sent to Ramadi by the Iraqi government to fight Isis militants who completed their capture of the city. Government soldiers and civilians were reportedly massacred by extremists as they took control and the army fled. Charred bodies were left littering the city streets as troops clung on to trucks speeding away from the city. Ramadi is the latest government stronghold to fall to the so-called Islamic State, despite air strikes by a US-led international coalition aiming to stop its advance in Iraq and Syria. AFP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isis rounded up civilians trapped in Palmyra and forced them to watch 20 people being executed in the historic citys ancient amphitheatre. The Unesco World Heritage site was overrun by militants, threatening the future of 2,000 year-old monuments and ruins. Thousands of Palmyras residents fled but many are still living within the city walls, while the UN human rights office in Geneva said it had received reports of Syrian government forces preventing people from leaving until they retreated from the city. Getty Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May A group of Isis-affiliated fighters have captured a key airport in central Libya. The militants took control of the al-Qardabiya airbase in Sirte after a local militia tasked with defending the facility withdrew from their positions. Affiliates of Isis, already control large parts of Sirte, the birthplace of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and a former stronghold of his supporters. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June The US Air Force has destroyed an Isis stronghold after an extremist let slip their location on social media. According the Air Force Times, General Herbert "Hawk" Carlisle, commander of Air Combat Command, said that Airmen at Hulburt Field, Florida, used images shared by jihadists to track the location of their headquarters before destroying it in an airstrike. Reuters Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June Kurdish forces captured a key military base in a significant victory in Raqqa as well as town of Tell Abyad. YPG fighters, backed by US-led airstrikes and other rebels, consolidated their gains, when they seized the key town on the Syria-Turkey border. They are now just 30 miles to the north of Raqqa and have cut off a major supply route deep inside Isis-held territory. Ahmet Silk/Getty Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June Isis has released gruesome footage claiming to show the murder of more than a dozen men by drowning, decapitation and using a rocket-propelled grenade as it seeks to boost morale among its fanatical supporters. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June Isis has begun carrying out its threat to destroy structures in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, blowing up at least two monuments at the Unesco-protected site as Syrian government troops made advances on the Islamists positions. AFP

If a bunch of fruitcakes like Isis got hold of a missile I dont think they would care where it went, he added.

They could just lob it into the UK to make a pointyou cant guarantee what these people would do because they dont behave rationally.

During militants advance in Iraq and Syria in 2014 they seized weapons stockpiles left by fleeing government forces, including sophisticated weaponry of US and Russian origin.

Photographs of what appeared to be a captured Soviet-era Scud missile being paraded through Raqqa emerged in June 2014 but experts said the weapon  which has an optimum range of 450 miles  would most likely inoperable.

Propaganda issued by Isis in May last year claimed it could soon buy its first nuclear weapon while India alleged that Pakistan could be a possible supplier, despite the neighbouring countrys assertions to the contrary.

Ballistic missile protection in the UK is mostly reliant on Nato systems combining land and sea defences based in Turkey, Romania, Poland and Spain, among other nations.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) says the country is full protected, citing other threat-reducing measures and a pledge to invest in new radar, but the UK National Defence Association is campaigning for an upgrade that would allow Royal Navy Type 45 Destroyers to take out ballistic missiles themselves.

We have robust and multi-layered security measures in place and continually review them to ensure their effectiveness, a spokesperson for the MoD said.

Nato is the bedrock of our national defence and helps protect the UK and its allies from threats.

Recent investment in our Ballistic Missile Defence demonstrates this Governments commitment to keeping Britain safe.

The UK is attempting to reduce the threat posed by ballistic missiles from hostile countries and terrorist groups using arms control and other methods.

Investment for a ground-based radar to increase the Nato systems coverage was announced last year and the potential for a destroyer upgrade is being investigated.
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McDonalds has been criticised for using fake graffiti tags to decorate one of its restaurants in an inner city area plagued with the daubings.

The fast food chains newly-refurbished branch in Brixton, south London features lampshades covered with graffiti markings.

But many locals are not impressed. One said the redesign was a poorly thought through, corporate attempt at being down with the kids while another said the fast food giant was trying to card to be urban cool. Lambeth resident Matthew Jupp said: Hopefully this is another step towards graffiti being really dated and corporate and thus not worth doing.

Lee Dema, who runs the St Matthews Project, a young peoples support network named after a Brixton estate, told the Independent: This is just another misguided attempt by suits to identify with edgy Brixton. They should have opened up another outlet in Brixton Village and used Laura Ashley lampshades for all the middle class poseurs around them.

Food critic and TV presenter Jay Rayner called the design a truly offensive idea saying that the real thing blights Brixton.

McDonald's art: They're lovin' it Show all 8 1 /8 McDonald's art: They're lovin' it McDonald's art: They're lovin' it McDonald's art Healthy M by Domenic Bahmann McDonald's art: They're lovin' it McDonald's art Ceramicist Li Lihong's (Flowers and Bird) Shaping Americas McDonald's art: They're lovin' it McDonald's art MCsupersized by Ron English McDonald's art: They're lovin' it McDonald's art Ben Frost's Roy Lichtenstein-inspired McDonald's chip packet art McDonald's art: They're lovin' it McDonald's art Ronald With Cows by Ron English McDonald's art: They're lovin' it McDonald's art Artist Ben Mosley was commissioned by McDonald's to make art for its chip packets Getty Images McDonald's art: They're lovin' it McDonald's art Ben Campbell's 'McMummy' sculpture which is actually made from McDonald's food McDonald's art: They're lovin' it McDonald's art Ben Campbell's 'McMummy' sculpture which is actually made from McDonald's food

However, many street artists disagree with the view graffiti has had a negative effect on the south London district. Several graffiti murals have been painted on the shutters of small businesses in Brixton as part of a campaign to stop them being pushed out by a railway development.

The Brixton McDonalds redesign is the latest in a long line of similar interior revamps from the fast food giant that have usually been met with complaints. Leicester, Northampton and Brighton are just some of the cities that have already been given the extreme makeover.

Last October, customers in Redhill, Surrey denounced the same refurbishment at their local outlet as too ghetto.

 Man smuggles knife and McDonalds into Wormwood scrubs

A McDonalds spokesperson said: The exciting and fresh designs used in Brixton are in use across the UK and in other markets and have received a great reception. With self-order kiosks and free-to-use tablets, the refreshed restaurant has digital innovation at its heart and provides customers with more choice in how they order and pay. We look forward to hearing what local residents think of their new McDonalds.
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The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) have warned they are "very worried" that a terror attack in the region is "highly likely" in the run up to the centenary of the Easter Rising.

A bomb exploded this morning underneath a van being driven by a prison officer in Belfast. The 52-year-old man has been taken to hospital for treatment. His injuries are not thought to be life threatening.

Speaking this afternoon, PSNI Superintendent Darrin Jones said: "This could have been a fatal attack and we condemn it in the utmost circumstances... The people who did this set out to kill. Thankfully, on this occasion, they weren't successful but they may be successful the next time.

"There is a severe threat in Northern Ireland, that means an attack is highly likely, at this time we are very worried about the threat picture. We believe that in the run up to Easter, there are people in dissident Republcian groupings who want to try and kill police officers, prison officers or soldiers."

This Easter is the one hundredth anniversary of the Easter Rising-when Irish Republicans enacted an armed rebellion against British rule. It is considered to have been one of the most significant events historically in the establishing of an independent Irish Republic.

A number of events are taking place in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in order to mark the occasion. However, the date remains deeply contentious in Northern Ireland.

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

Mr Jones said that the PSNI believes attacks may be committed as an attempt to mark the date. He said: "There are those within the Dissident Republican community who want to mark the centenary in an entirely more sinister way by killing police officers, by killing soldiers or by kiling prison officers" and that "in the coming weeks we will see an increased security presence in Northern Ireland."
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I confess that it had never occurred to me that the many talents of Jeremy Corbyn included an ability to spot a potential star singer, but Jermain Jackman, who found fame as the 2014 winner of The Voice, has said: Jeremy Corbyn discovered me.

Corbyn, who was always assiduous about turning up to events in his North Islington constituency, was judging a singing contest at a local school and was impressed by the young Jackmans voice.

While visiting Parliament for an event organised by the Labour MP Chuka Umunna on combatting gang violence, Jackman revealed to a Daily Mirror journalist that he has an ambition to be Labour MP for Hackney North when Diane Abbott steps down.

I love Jeremy Corbyn, he said. Not many people know this. Ive known Jeremy Corbyn for about 10 years .... When I was 11 years old he would call me in the morning and say Jermain, Im speaking at an event on this campaign and Id love for you to sing, so come along and sing. So we became this sort of double act. He would talk for 15 minutes, and then hed say and Id like to bring on Jermain Jackman, and Id come on and sing.

This was way before The Voice. I was like 11 years old. I was singing You Raise Me Up, A House is Not a Home, you know, all those inspirational songs. Covers.

You could say that Jeremy Corbyn discovered me.

Well done, Mrs May

There was graphic, shocking footage earlier in the week of a Donald Trump rally in Kentucky, during which the candidate demanded that protesters be removed from the hall, and a heavily built man in a red cap is seen repeatedly shoving and snarling at a black woman. The assailant was identified by the New York Daily News as a 25-year-old white supremacist named Matthew Heimbach. His activities have already been noted over here. Four months ago, he boasted on Facebook that he had had a letter from the Home Office telling him that Theresa May had banned him from entering the UK for advocating anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi ideas. Seeing him in action suggests that Mrs May called that one right.

A very undigital MP

Julian Lewis, outed this week as the MP who refuses to use e-mail, tells me that he had had a succession of people approach him, or text him, to congratulate him on his Luddism. He may even have been receiving congratulatory e-mails  but how would he know? Im starting a counter revolution, he boasts.

I cant get no... slumber

Matthew Freud, great grandson of the founder of psychoanalysis, former son in law of Rupert Murdoch, friend of Tony Blairs favourite, Peter Mandelson, and second cousin of the minister for Welfare Reform, David Freud, has apologised to neighbours kept awake by a party held at his 20m mansion in Primrose Hill to celebrate London Fashion Week.

It sounds like a great party, with Kate Moss, Bob Geldof and Idris Elba adding star dust, but as guests sang along to Rolling Stones tracks, others in the neighbourhood were trying to sleep. One lady emerged in her pyjamas to plead with the security guards to get the noise turned down.

It went on to at least 3am, she told the Camden New Journal. They were singing I Cant Get No Satisfaction. Well, I couldnt get any sleep.

Mr Freud, who runs Freud Communications, an international media agency, said: I am profoundly sorry .... I recognise that the arrivals and departures of these occasional events are a mighty pain in the arse for people living very close by. My apologies are sincere and my neighbours stretched tolerance deeply appreciated.
While the railroad at Disneyland in Anaheim, California is out of service for a year and a half while the route is being changed and "The Star Wars Experience" is being built, I thought it might be fun to take you for a ride on The Western River Railroad at Tokyo Disneyland, which remains exactly the same as it was on park opening in 1983.

While the railroads at Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Hong Kong Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris run around the perimeter of the parks and are a both a method of transportation as well as an attraction (the latter at some parks more than others), the railroad at Tokyo Disneyland is something else entirely.

Because of burdensome government regulations regarding railroad operation which would have prevented a typical Disney-style railroad that circled the park with multiple stations, the executives at The Oriental Land Company (a consortium of well-known Japanese corporations formed specifically to build and operate the Tokyo Disney park) and Walt Disney Imagineering cleverly decided to do something different.

Called "The Western River Railroad," the attraction has four steam powered trains: The Colorado, The Mississippi, The Missouri, and The Rio Grande. There is only one station, which sits atop the entrance to The Jungle Cruise in Adventureland. It functions solely as an attraction, and so there's a lot more to see (particularly after the subsequent construction of some major attractions after the park opened).

From the station, the train runs around the perimeter of the Jungle Cruise and then past a small scenic station called Stillwater Junction. The tracks then curve around and begin to follow the bank of the Rivers of America in Westernland (known as Frontierland at all other Disney parks). Along the way, various animals, the burning settler's cabin, Indian braves, and Indian villages can be seen. There is also a nest of bald eagle chicks with their parents, and a tribe of prairie dogs. Often the train runs parallel to the Mark Twain steamboat. It's all cleverly done so that there are gaps in the flora which allow you to see to the far side of the riverbank.

Continuing into Critter Country, the train passes The Beaver Brothers Canoes (the Davy Crockett Explorer or Indian War Canoes as they used to be known at Disneyland) and Splash Mountain. The train literally runs beside these attractions, providing great views.

Continuing to circle around the banks of The Rivers of America, the trains reenter Westernland, passing directly beside Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (trains from that attraction frequently zip by), before it heads into a tunnel for Primeval World  a duplicate of the attraction at Disneyland, which consists of many of the dinosaurs and scenes from the New York World's Fair of 1964/65.

The Western River Railroad is unique in combining both tranquility with the kinetic energy provided by multiple moving vehicles from the many attractions it closely passes. And with every one its four trains running all the time, you rarely have to wait.

Now take your own trip! (I must admit it was a bit chilly at 35 degrees, but in Tokyo the parks are packed year round.)
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Dan Jarvis has said the Labour party needs to undergo fundamental change if it has any chance of winning the next election.

Writing in the Yorkshire Post on the fifth anniversary of winning a by-election in Barnsley Central, he said the party needed to focus on what people actually care about: their family, work and community.

He said: It is an enormous privilege to serve my constituents in Parliament, and in the course of my duties as an MP, I have met thousands of people in every corner of our country.

I have been humbled by their kindness, good humour and decency, and inspired by their desire for a better country.

They have taught me a difficult truth: many no longer trust the Labour Party because we stopped talking about the things that matter to them.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA 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. 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Having suffered two devastating election defeats, it is clear that we will never form a Labour government again unless we respond to what the public think about us.

Offering up a few new policies wont cut it, he added.

Mr Jarvis ruled himself out of the Labour leadership contest last year saying he had young children who had to come first.

But the 43-year-old former Army major is widely regarded as a leader-in-waiting and has been openly critical of the leftward direction of the party under Jeremy Corbyn.

He said people no longer trust Labour because we stopped talking about the things that matter to them.

He wants the party to lead our country into an age of great reform.

Mr Jarvis stressed the need for policies to develop a world-leading education system and invest in family life - particularly during the early childhood years - and to demonstrate how we would offer high quality and affordable childcare and social care systems.

Mr Jarvis has criticised the leftward direction of the party under Jeremy Corbyn (Getty Images)

He also wants to talk about how to improve work-life balance and tackle the scourge of low pay and the start of a technological revolution.

Mr Jarvis concluded: We must again become a credible and effective movement and renew our proud tradition as the party of family, work and community.
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A coroner has rejected the request by the parents of the young Conservative activist Elliott Johnson for the inquest into his death on railway tracks to consider evidence of alleged bullying by members of the party.

Mark Clarke, the failed parliamentary candidate and organiser at the heart of the Tory bullying scandal, will not be called as a witness.

Lawyers acting for Ray and Alison Johnson had argued at a hearing on 2 March that human rights law obliged Tom Osborne, the senior coroner for Bedfordshire, to widen the scope of the inquest to include allegations their son made in notes he left before his death last September.

But in his ruling, the coroner said the inquest, scheduled for 31 March, will focus on the circumstances of the death itself, and not the culture of bullying described by Elliott, 21, and dozens of other activists.

This was on the face of it a dispute between two individuals who were not connected apart from fact that they shared the same political affiliation, Mr Osborne ruled.

The purpose [of the inquest] is not to determine whether the allegations of bullying set out in the letters left by Mr Johnson were true. The purpose of an inquest is not to identify individual fault on the part of those involved. Indeed it is expressly not concerned with apportioning blame.

Alleged tormentor Andre Walker claims he was in a relationship with Elliott up until his death (PA)

Mr Osborne said he would consider the letters Mr Johnson wrote, in which he accused Mr Clarke of bullying and a journalist Andre Walker of betrayal, as well as the circumstances of his dismissal from the right-wing think tank Conservative Way Forward (CWF) shortly before his death.

But he said it was difficult to see what calling Mr Clarke and Mr Walker as witnesses could add to the inquest, save for to deny any bullying.

Ray Johnson said: Im pleased that the Coroner has decided to investigate Elliotts dismissal by CWF. Its good the Coroner recognises the link between the dismissal and Mark Clarke. This is a really important step forward for the family.

The Coroner says it is hard to see at this stage what the point would be in calling Mark Clarke and Andre Walker as witnesses. He says they would simply deny the bullying  I am not sure why he says that.

Heather Williams QC, acting for the Johnsons, had argued that the treatment their son was subjected to by Mr Clarke and others qualified as degrading and inhuman under European human rights law, and that there was a precedent for evidence of such treatment to be considered in an inquest.

Mr Clarke and Mr Walker have denied any wrongdoing. Allegations against them and of a wider culture within the Conservative Partys activist ranks, are part of an ongoing independent inquiry commissioned by the party.

Accusations that the Tory HQ knew about complaints about Mr Clarkes behaviour as early as 2008 led former co-chairman Grant Shapps to resign from the government in November.
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Facebook may pay little or nothing in additional tax to the Treasury for years despite its announcement that it is overhauling its corporate structure to create greater transparency about its tax affairs in Britain, The Independent can reveal.

The social media giant, which generates global profits of 1bn every three months, said it was voluntarily changing its policy so revenues from its largest UK advertisers will no longer be routed through Ireland. The move will generate higher taxable profits in Britain potentially worth millions to HM Revenue and Customs as the company seeks to defang criticism of tax avoidance by some of the worlds largest corporations.

But experts warned that Chancellor George Osborne may have to wait for years to see a penny in extra corporation tax from Facebook because it is sitting on 21.4m in deferred tax relief which it could use to offset future bills from the HMRC.

According to one estimate provided to The Independent, royalties paid by Facebooks subsidiaries to its parent company mean that its UK tax bill could amount to as little as 4m a year under the new structure.

Along with other US tech giants Google, Apple and Amazon - and global brands such as Starbucks - Facebook has provoked public anger with revelations about the strategies used to minimise its tax liabilities while generating billions of pounds in profit.

It emerged last October that the California-based social network paid just 4,327 in UK corporation tax in 2014, despite Britain being one of the companys largest markets outside the United States. Its 2014 tax payment was less than the sum paid in income tax and National Insurance by the average British employee - and six times less than the 27,000 paid by the HMRC to Facebook to place ads urging people to pay their taxes.

Under the new arrangement, Facebook has agreed to pay UK corporation tax at 20 per cent on revenue generated by sales from its larger advertisers - firms including Tesco, Sainsburys and advertising giant WPP - rather than routing those sales through Ireland, which has a corporation tax rate of 12.5 per cent. Automated sales of advertising space to smaller UK companies, which Facebook acknowledged last month was the method used by the majority of its marketing customers, will continue to be routed through Ireland.

The companys UK arm let it be known that it nonetheless expected its move to add significantly to the advertising revenues booked by its British operations, which according to one estimate last year stood at 800m.

The Treasury insisted that a punitive 25 per cent diverted profits tax introduced by Mr Osborne last year to tackle the use of contrived techniques by multinationals to move profits out of Britain was starting to have an impact.

In a statement, Facebook said: In light of changes to tax law in the UK, we felt this change would provide transparency to Facebooks operations in the UK. The new structure is easier to understand and clearly recognises the value our UK organisation adds to our sales.

But a leading taxation lawyer and advisor to former Labour leader Ed Miliband warned that deferred tax reliefs in the companys most recent accounts - 9.7m in losses carried forward and 11.4m linked to share-based payments - mean Facebook has the potential to use those sums to be offset against its tax bill for 2017 and beyond.

Jolyon Maugham QC, who advised Labour on its non-dom tax policy at the last election, said: Previously Facebook UK didnt bother with these sums, which effectively comprise rights to reduce future tax bills, as assets because they didnt think theyd ever have any UK corporation tax liability to pay. This might now change but, regardless, we should expect it to be a good while before this deal results in any real cash moving from Facebook UK to HMRC.

A senior accountant said an analysis of Facebooks accounts in Ireland showed it was recording a profit of one per cent on its sales, which if translated to its UK activities would produce a highly modest windfall for the Treasury.

Tim Davies, head of tax at international accountants Mazars said: There are lots of reasons why this might not turn into the big tax win it seems on first sight. Judging by the Irish business, after paying its royalties, the profit margin of Facebook is about one per cent of sales. That could translate in the UK to as little as 4m-6m a year to the taxman.

The Irish tax loophole used by multinational companies is being closed for new arrivals in 2019, but firms already based there will be allowed to continue using it.

She said: So actually all theyre doing is pre-empting that, bringing it forward for a bit of a PR stunt.

The controversy will increase pressure on the Government to re-examine the deal struck between the HMRC and Google in January, which saw the search giant pay 130m in back taxes dating to 2005. MPs said last week they were unconvinced that the payment from Google, which had a turnover of 3.8bn in the UK in 2013, was fair to taxpayers.

Campaigners and opposition politicians said the fact that Facebook was volunteering to pay additional tax also proved the need for an overhaul of the corporation tax system not only in Britain but across the developed world.

Jonathan Isaby, director of the right-leaning TaxPayers Alliance, said: The fact that Facebook has taken a voluntary decision to change its structure so it pays more corporation tax just goes to show how absurd the system has become. The out-dated tax system is simply not suitable for the modern, global economy and leaves the tax liabilities of multi-nationals open to honest dispute.

John McDonnell, the Shadow Chancellor, added: The truth is that the Chancellor has allowed a situation where some companies feel they can pay what they want when they want.

The HMRC, which is understood to have approved the new Facebook arrangement and accepted that the social network will now not fall under the new diverted profits tax, defended its record.

A spokesman said: We do not comment on individual taxpayers. But HMRC ensures that all multinationals pay the tax due under UK law and we do not settle for a penny less.
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HMRC pays Facebook six times the amount the company pays in tax to buy adverts telling people to pay their taxes, it has been reported.

While Facebook paid 4,327 in tax in 2014, a Freedom of Information request by Channel 4 News revealed the company was paid 27,000 by HMRC the following year.

The money paid for adverts advising people how and when to pay their taxes.

Facebook's tax bill is actually lower than that of the average worker.

In 2014, the company paid its UK-based employees an average of 210,000 in pay and bonuses. It gave its London staff Facebook shares worth 35.4 million, pushing its losses to 28.5 million - hugely reducing its tax bill.

Many of its other profits from the UK are sent to its international headquarters in Ireland, which then puts them in the low-tax Cayman Islands.

In 2013, Facebook paid no corporation tax at all.

A spokesperson for HMRC told Channel 4 News: "Like all large organisations we find that an increasing number of those we serve communicate through and get their information from social media

5 tax avoiding companies in the UK Show all 5 1 /5 5 tax avoiding companies in the UK 5 tax avoiding companies in the UK Facebook Facebook paid 4327 in corporation tax in 2014, after it made a pre-tax loss of 28.5 million, according to filings at Companies House. That's less tax that new average UK employee pays on their salary. 5 tax avoiding companies in the UK Amazon Amazons UK business paid just 11.9m in corporation tax last year, even though the online retail giant took 5.3bn in sales from British shoppers. 5 tax avoiding companies in the UK Google So well known for avoiding tax that it had the 'Google tax' on multinationals that move profits to low-tax countries named after it. Alarm bells started ringing in 2012, when Google revealed it payed only 11.6 million to the Treasury, despite taking 3.4 billion in the UK. 5 tax avoiding companies in the UK Uber Uber paid 22,134 in UK corporation tax last year despite making an 866,000 profit. 5 tax avoiding companies in the UK Starbucks In October, the European Commission ruled that Starbucks' tax deal in the EU was illegal, ordering it to pay pay between 20-30 million to the Netherlands.

"Our investment in social media is carefully evaluated to ensure we are getting maximum value for the taxpayer."

Facebook said: "We are compliant with UK tax law and in fact all countries where we have employees and offices."

The social media giant has been accused of paying corporation tax rate of 3.6 per cent around the world in 2014, much lower than the 21 per cent corporation tax rate large companies have to pay in the UK.

A number of huge Silicon Valley firms, such as Facebook, Google and Amazon, have been accused of using complex arrangements to legally pay low rates of tax on profits generated in the UK.

Google was forced to pay 130 million in back taxes dating back to 2005, which Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said meant the company had an effective tax rate of three per cent.
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The historic Admiralty House and four other Whitehall buildings are now operating in accordance with some sharia rules  including a ban on alcohol  after they were used as part of an Islamic bond scheme.

The properties must comply with some aspects of sharia under the terms of special bonds known as sukuk, announced by George Osborne two years ago when the UK became the first Western country to issue them.

At least 200m of the sukuk bonds have been sold to investors in the UK and the major Islamic finance centres in the Middle East and Asia.

Under sharia, charging interest  or usury  is forbidden. So to allow Islamic investors to receive a return on their money, the sukuk bonds pay them rental income on certain buildings instead.

As part of the deal, the Government agreed that the nominally rented buildings would abide by certain aspects of sharia rules, so Muslim investors did not feel they were making money out of something they regard as immoral, such as a pub.

MailOnline reported that the buildings were now governed by sharia law. And Andrew Bridgen, the Conservative MP for North West Leicestershire, told the website: I do find it unbelievable government buildings are governed by sharia law. I dont see the bars as being an essential part of Parliament but its the principle that matters. Most of our constituents will be absolutely amazed that the principle could ever have been authorised.

Sharia courts: Legal status in the UK Show all 3 1 /3 Sharia courts: Legal status in the UK Sharia courts: Legal status in the UK There are believed to be dozens of Sharia courts operating in the UK. However, although they adjudicate on religious matters, they do not have the legal status of courts, acting more as councils or tribunals Getty Sharia courts: Legal status in the UK Weddings and divorces overseen by Sharia councils are religious matters and are not necessarily recognised by the state. Likewise, a civil divorce or wedding isnt necessarily recognised by the Sharia council Sharia courts: Legal status in the UK Sharia councils can have legal status as mediation and arbitration bodies under the Arbitration Act 1996. Any divorce agreements made in this capacity, however, have to be approved by a law court if they are to be recognised under civil law, and can be overturned. Sharia councils can also provide advice on the religious law on matters such as wills, law contracts and fatwas

However, a Treasury spokesperson said: This is not news. As the Government set out clearly in 2014, three government buildings are being used to underpin the Governments sukuk bond, Richmond House, 22-26 Whitehall and Wellington House. The sukuk is issued under, and governed by, English law which applies at all times.

In 2014, the Government cited a number of organisations, including the Executive Shariah Committee of HSBC Saudi Arabia, as saying the bonds were sharia compliant but suggested potential investors should seek opinions from their chosen experts.

It was unclear which other aspects of sharia are being adhered to by the managers of the buildings concerned, but a government source said it had been agreed that serving pork in Richmond House would not affect the sharia compliance of the sukuk. Alcohol being served hasnt arisen, as you would expect for a government building, the insider added.

In January, The Times reported that a plan to relocate MPs to Richmond House to allow refurbishment work at Westminster was meeting resistance because Richmond House was dry under the terms of the sukuk agreement.

The sukuk bonds proved hugely popular  the 200m scheme was over-subscribed 10-fold. In 2014, Chancellor George Osborne expressed the hope that it would boost Londons standing as a global financial centre.
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Plans by George Osborne to unveil a radical overhaul of Britains pension system in this months budget have been scrapped after resistance from senior Tories and even the Governments own Pensions Minister.

Treasury sources on Friday night confirmed Mr Osborne had put on hold plans to introduce a flat rate of pension contributions that could hit high income earners. But they kept open the possibility that the change might happen later in the Parliament  in particular after the European referendum.

An ally of the Chancellor said: George has always been clear he wouldnt do anything to damage saving.

The pensions consultation has been open-ended, to look at how the system is working. Hes listened to what people have said and concluded that now isnt the right time, with uncertainty in the global economy and reforms such as auto-enrolment still bedding in, to turn things on their head.

Recommended Read more Tories plan tax raid on your work pension

It is also clear that employers wouldnt welcome a wholesale change in the way they administer schemes. So he is not going to tear up the system of pension tax relief. There wont be any changes to tax relief at all in the Budget.

The Chancellor had been examining proposals for a new Pension Isa, which would end upfront tax relief on pension contributions, and allow savers to draw their income tax-free in retirement.

Another plan being considered would see the Government introduce a flat rate of tax relief on pension contributions which would result in higher rate earners losing out while those on lower wages would be incentivised to save more.

Both ideas would have provided a windfall to the Treasury and help Mr Osborne achieve his priority of eliminated the structural deficit by 2020.

But senior Tories warned Mr Osborne against any move that would create losers under the new system, while the Governments new Pensions Minister Ros Altmann publically cautioned against a major overhaul of the system.

Baroness Altmann, a former consumer campaigner, has warned both proposals might be a disincentive to saving.

Its clear the current system offers very good incentives to higher earners but is also clear that those who are not higher earners may need more incentives, said Baroness Altmann. We may decide that the current system is best. It has got some merits.

In an interview with the Financial Times she added: The freedom and choice reforms have put us in a place where peoples pensions can work well for them.

However, tax [applied to pension income under the current system] is a natural brake on them spending their pension fund too soon.

Senior Tories privately expressed concern that too radical a set of reforms would inevitably result in losers  most likely Conservative voters  and could result in a repeat of the tax credits fiasco which had to be embarrassingly reversed.

Two scenarios for reform had been sent to the Office of Budget Responsibility to be costed; the Pension Isa and a flat-rate relief of between 25-35 per cent.

Tom McPhail, head of retirement policy at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: An Isa-style reform with tax relief being scrapped in favour of tax-free withdrawals would create the risk of a future Northern Rock-style run on the pension system and the UK stock market.

Pension reform: The Chancellors options

Flat rate tax relief on pension contributions

Under the current system, people receive tax relief on their contribution at the same rate they pay tax  20, 40 or 45 per cent. They then pay tax on their pension income when they draw it down. The Treasury is looking at creating a flat rate on relief on contributions  probably around 30 to 35 per cent. As higher-rate taxpayers save more in pensions this could save the Treasury up 6bn a year depending on the rate set.

Pensions ISA

Under this plan, tax relief would be abolished entirely for contributions  but then retirees would be able to draw down as much they liked from their pension pots without paying tax on it. In order to encourage people to save, the Treasury is examining a plan to give savers a bonus worth up to 20 per cent of the money they invest in their pensions. In the short term, this change could save the Government 25bn  but it would lose out in future as retirees stopped paying tax on their pension income.

Doing nothing

This may now be the most likely option as senior Tories warn Mr Osborne not to make radical pension changes that could alienate their core vote  especially with the European referendum only four months away. The Chancellor could even fudge the question  putting off making a decision on reform until next year.
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Iain Duncan Smith has accused the Remain campaign of using spin, smears and threats in order to bully the British people into believing their jobs are at risk if they vote for Brexit.

The Work and Pensions Secretary, who in February warned the UK will be more exposed to Paris-style terror attacks if Britain stays in the EU, warned that those making desperate and unsubstantiated claims could see their integrity damaged.

He urged for the debate on the referendum to be conducted with respect, warning rivals not to indulge in scaremongering.

The former Conservative leader, who is one of five Cabinet ministers supporting the campaign to leave the EU, also criticised the pro-EU camps case for being largely supported by a nightmare image of Britains chances outside the EU, with biblical consequences resulting from a vote to leave.

He wrote: The Remain campaigns case seems almost wholly based on what they describe as the nightmare of leaving.

This case has in whole or in part become characterised by spin, smears and threats ... In the last fortnight we have had a series of highly questionable dossiers  threatening almost biblical consequences if we dare to consider a future outside of the European Union.

Weve seen a series of stunts, whereby big businesses, big banks, and powerful politicians from other EU member states seek to bully the British people into believing their jobs and security are at risk.

Mr Duncan Smith made his comments in the Daily Mail after the French President, Francois Hollande, said Brexit would inevitably have some impact on his countrys willingness to stop illegal migrants from crossing the English Channel.

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.

The German Finance Minister, Wolfgang Schauble, argued that Brexit would make the whole of Europe less stable and more volatile, adding that Britain would be shut out of the single market if it left the EU.

Mr Duncan Smith added: The acrimonious manner in which all this has been conducted is troubling, and will I fear have consequences long beyond June 23.

After all, such desperate and unsubstantiated claims are now being made that they begin to damage the very integrity of those who make them in the eyes of the public.

Meanwhile, his colleague in the Department for Work and Pensions, Priti Patel, also campaigning to leave, compared the European Union to Titanic heading towards a huge iceberg as she set out the case for Brexit.

Additional reporting by Press Association
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The Governments minister for refugees has hit out at Tory backbenchers for claiming that illegal migrants coming to Britain treat their plight like a game and sport.

Richard Harrington told the MPs during a debate on harsher punishments for illegal migrants that proposals by Christopher Chope hugely oversimplif[y] a very complex situation.

When he said that its like a sport  I would like to say that anyone whos seen these people and their plight wouldnt think its a game at all, the minister said.

I would contend that of all the reasons that would stop them from coming here being possibly arrested and given a 5,000 fine and six months in prison would not be a deterrent in any way.

Where would they be deported to? This deportation sounds easy  but truth is that most of these illegal migrants have got no place to be deported to.

I accept that under the Dublin convention they can be deported back to the country theyve come from, but I think most people would accept that isnt an answer.

Sir Edward Leigh had described the actions of illegal migrants as like a childs game in support of the new fines, deportation orders, and prison sentences proposed by Mr Chope.

People arrive in this country illegally. When they get to Dover, they shout Home and apparently there is nothing the police can do about it. The whole system is brought into disrepute, he had said.

Responding to Mr Harringtons statement that people could not simply be deported back to the country they had come to the UK from, he said:

Sir Edward Leigh had described illegal migration as 'like a child's game'

Im afraid it is an answer  thats what people cant understand.

Mr Chope has previously proposed similar immigration rules a number of times and had also tried to amend the Governments own immigration package to include them.

Earlier this week former EU trade commissioner and former business secretary Peter Mandelson said Britain was not taking enough Syrian refugees.

Refugee crisis - in pictures Show all 27 1 /27 Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugee crisis - in pictures A child looks through the fence at the Moria detention camp for migrants and refugees at the island of Lesbos on May 24, 2016. AFP/Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Ahmad Zarour, 32, from Syria, reacts after his rescue by MOAS (Migrant Offshore Aid Station) while attempting to reach the Greek island of Agathonisi, Dodecanese, southeastern Agean Sea Refugee crisis - in pictures Syrian migrants holding life vests gather onto a pebble beach in the Yesil liman district of Canakkale, northwestern Turkey, after being stopped by Turkish police in their attempt to reach the Greek island of Lesbos on 29 January 2016. Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees flash the 'V for victory' sign during a demonstration as they block the Greek-Macedonian border Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants have been braving sub zero temperatures as they cross the border from Macedonia into Serbia. Refugee crisis - in pictures A sinking boat is seen behind a Turkish gendarme off the coast of Canakkale's Bademli district on January 30, 2016. At least 33 migrants drowned on January 30 when their boat sank in the Aegean Sea while trying to cross from Turkey to Greece. Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A general view of a shelter for migrants inside a hangar of the former Tempelhof airport in Berlin, Germany Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees protest behind a fence against restrictions limiting passage at the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija. Since last week, Macedonia has restricted passage to northern Europe to only Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans who are considered war refugees. All other nationalities are deemed economic migrants and told to turn back. Macedonia has finished building a fence on its frontier with Greece becoming the latest country in Europe to build a border barrier aimed at checking the flow of refugees Refugee crisis - in pictures A father and his child wait after being caught by Turkish gendarme on 27 January 2016 at Canakkale's Kucukkuyu district Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants make hand signals as they arrive into the southern Spanish port of Malaga on 27 January, 2016 after an inflatable boat carrying 55 Africans, seven of them women and six chidren, was rescued by the Spanish coast guard off the Spanish coast. Refugee crisis - in pictures A refugee holds two children as dozens arrive on an overcrowded boat on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugee crisis - in pictures A child, covered by emergency blankets, reacts as she arrives, with other refugees and migrants, on the Greek island of Lesbos, At least five migrants including three children, died after four boats sank between Turkey and Greece, as rescue workers searched the sea for dozens more, the Greek coastguard said Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants wait under outside the Moria registration camp on the Lesbos. Over 400,000 people have landed on Greek islands from neighbouring Turkey since the beginning of the year Refugee crisis - in pictures The bodies of Christian refugees are buried separately from Muslim refugees at the Agios Panteleimonas cemetery in Mytilene, Lesbos Refugee crisis - in pictures Macedonian police officers control a crowd of refugees as they prepare to enter a camp after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A refugee tries to force the entry to a camp as Macedonian police officers control a crowd after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees are seen aboard a Turkish fishing boat as they arrive on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing a part of the Aegean Sea from the Turkish coast to Lesbos Reuters Refugee crisis - in pictures An elderly woman sings a lullaby to baby on a beach after arriving with other refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A man collapses as refugees make land from an overloaded rubber dinghy after crossing the Aegean see from Turkey, at the island of Lesbos EPA Refugee crisis - in pictures A girl reacts as refugees arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees make a show of hands as they queue after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures People help a wheelchair user board a train with others, heading towards Serbia, at the transit camp for refugees near the southern Macedonian town of Gevgelija AP Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees board a train, after crossing the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija. Macedonia is a key transit country in the Balkans migration route into the EU, with thousands of asylum seekers - many of them from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia - entering the country every day Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures An aerial picture shows the "New Jungle" refugee camp where some 3,500 people live while they attempt to enter Britain, near the port of Calais, northern France Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A Syrian girl reacts as she helped by a volunteer upon her arrival from Turkey on the Greek island of Lesbos, after having crossed the Aegean Sea EPA Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Beds ready for use for migrants and refugees are prepared at a processing center on January 27, 2016 in Passau, Germany. The flow of migrants arriving in Passau has dropped to between 500 and 1,000 per day, down significantly from last November, when in the same region up to 6,000 migrants were arriving daily.

Whilst Germany has done an enormous amount and taken on a huge burden, there are responsibilities for the rest of us  we cannot create a situation where Germany alone is being largely expected to cope by itself, Lord Mandelson told BBC Radio 4s Today programme.

I suspect we will have to do more, he added.

The British Government has committed to taking 4,000 refugees a year from Syria  but says it will not accept refugees who have travelled to Europe under their own steam.

The number of refugees accepted by the UK is very small compared to other similar countries, however.

Germanys Government has said it expects to take around a million people this year, and the European Commission says it expected four million people to arrive in Europe over the same period.
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Theresa May's constituency has been singled out for criticism for doing little or nothing to take its fair share of the burden of housing Britain's asylum seekers.

Rural parts of the country not taking in any aslyum seekers are "unfairly" placing a burden on cities, according to a critical report by the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee.

The cross-party report singled out areas including Ms May's own constituency, Maidenhead in Berkshire, which has housed none of the people waiting for their refugee status to be processed.

Such areas could soon be forced to offer accomodation to refugees under Section 95 of the Immigration and Asylum Act, the report warned, rather than leaving it to places with low-cost housing and councils which volunteer to house them.

"The dispersal system appears unfair, with whole swathes of the country never receiving a single asylum seeker," the report said.

"The majority are being moved into low-cost hosing in urban areas such as Glasgow, Stoke, Cardiff and of course Middlesbrough."

Mrs May's constituency is one of hundreds of local authorities that have taken zero asylum seekers. Speaking at the Conservative Party conference in October last year, Mrs May said the UK's asylum rulers "have been abused for too long."

Mrs May has said before that the UK's asylum system is being "abused" (AFP)

She also said the Britain should be a "beacon of hope" to those who really need its help.

In 2014, the UK accepted 14,065 asylum applications. Germany accepted 47,555 in that time.

And of Syrian refugees, the UK has taken about 5,000 since 2011. Germany has accepted about 100,000 in that time - although it does receives more applications than the UK, according to FullFact.

Keith Vaz, Labour MP and committee chairman, said there were some "unacceptable" treatment of refugees in the UK.

"The compulsory wearing of wrist bands and the infamous red doors demonstrate an unacceptable attitude towards vulnerable people," he said, referring to accomodation in Middlesbrough for asylum seekers that had doors painted red.

In Cardiff, which is currently supporting 1,450 refugees, controversy was also sparked when people were made to wear wristbands to receive free meals.

The report said: "It was appalling that asylum seekers should be required to wear wristbands. This stigmatises asylum seekers, and makes them easily identifiable and therefore open to harassment and abuse."

Yet the report's greatest criticisms were laid at the doors of those councils which have taken in no asylum seekers at all.

Because of the refusal of other councils to take asylum seekers, towns such as Middlesbrough were seeing the stated threshold of one asylum seeker to every 200 residents "breached", the report said.

One of the companies which re-house refugees, Clearsprings, was cited in the report as saying it was "difficult" to find accomodation for asylum seekers in parts of the country.

"This is clearly made more difficult by some local authorities being unwilling to take part in the dispersal system," the report said.
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The United States is sending a team of disaster experts to Ethiopia as an emergency response to the countrys worst drought in 50 years.

Nearly 10 million people are at risk of hunger in the country with 400,000 children at risk of malnutrition, NBC News reports.

The US Agency of International Development announced on Thursday that the team would provide technical assistance to the Government of Ethiopia and coordinate with humanitarian organizations on the ground to plant new crops, safe drinking water as well as nutrition treatments.

With the announcement of the DART, we are acting to prevent a major humanitarian crisis and protect Ethiopia's hard-earned development progress, USAID Administrator Gayle Smith said in a statement. Other donors must also step-up their responses now.

Both Ethiopia's government and the United Nations have requested $1.4 billion to feed 10.2 million Ethiopians, Reuters reports

The US has provided more than $530 million to help assist the crisis since October 2014.

"The worst impacts of this drought still lie ahead," USAID said in a statement. "The scale and severity of this crisis is expected to far outstrip available resources."

Mitiku Kassa, Ethiopia's Disaster Management chief, said that all emergency food supplies could be depleted by the end of next month.

"The difficult stage will come after May 1," he told NBC. "We have to have additional resources to respond to the 10.2 million beneficiaries."
Kamalkant Shah, who worked as a technician for the State Police evidence laboratory, was accused of faking drug test results by "dry labbing"  which means just making stuff up. Shah worked on 7,827 criminal cases and the state is now reviewing each one.

Shah was removed from lab work on Dec. 10 as soon as the problem was discovered, said Peter Aseltine, spokesman for the Office of the Attorney General. Shah, who received a salary of $101,039, was suspended without pay effective Jan 12, he said.

Shah has not been charged with any crime, and is believed to have retired, Aseltine said.
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A flight attendant deliberately started a fire in a plane bathroom and then extinguished the flames in front of fellow crew to act as a hero, according to authorities.

Johnathan Tafoya-Montano, an American Airlines employee, was on a flight from Dallas to Detroit when he deliberately set fire to a stack of paper towels in the rear plane toilet.

The 23-year-old hung around in the hall for a few minutes before pretending to discover the fire and alerting crew and putting it out with a fire extinguisher.

Recommended Read more Debris in Mozambique matches theories about MH370 wreckage

The captain notified air traffic controllers and was granted access for an emergency landing as the plane approached Detroit Metropolitan Airport, as reported by the Washington Post.

Court documents revealed that the FBI and the Wayne County Airport Authority Police Department investigated the incident and realised the fire had been started deliberately.

After admitting that he had lied to the FBI and airport police, Tafoya-Montano provided several stories about how the fire accidentally started, according to a criminal complaint filed in US District Court.

Tafoya-Montano used a green colored Bic lighter to start the fire. Once the fire gained intensity, he immediately put the fire out.

He had worked for the airline for more than a year when he was arrested on Tuesday. He has been released on bail.

According to the Detroit Free Press, Mr Tafoya-Montano was escorted back to Dallas by a corporate security officer, who made sure he stayed in his seat during the whole flight.
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An average of 37 people in Haiti are still dying from cholera every month, six years on from an earthquake which devastated the countrys capital Port au Prince.

At least 770,000 people have caught the disease since October 2010 and 9,200 have died.

The cholera outbreak began ten months after the quake, which killed between 100,000 and 300,000 people in January 2010, and is the first recorded incidence of the bacterial illness in the country for 150 years.

In 2016 alone 6,000 caught the water-borne infection, according to the latest government figures.

Cholera is a bacteria spread through unsafe drinking water which causes vomiting and diarrhea and can kill in hours if left untreated.

Public health experts say the spread of a preventable disease in the country has been exacerbated by world attention shifting onto more recent humanitarian crises such as Ebola and the Zika virus.

The country is also currently in the midst of a political crisis as the outgoing President, Michel Martelly, has stepped down without a successor following a botched run-off election.

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The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. 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Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. 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World Health Organisation spokesman, Gregory Hartl, has said cholera is now considered endemic in Haiti. Experts say once it gains a foothold in a country it is hard to eradicate.

Dr Joseph Donald Francois, who co-ordinates the Haitian health ministrys fight against the disease, believes the illness could be eradicated by 2022 but admits the project is seriously underfunded.

The country has been plunged into crisis since an inconclusive presidential election in February (Getty Images)

Haiti has only received $307m (217m) - or less than 14 per cent - of the $2.2bn (1.6bn) funding promised to it and neighbouring Dominican Republic in 2013 to eradicate the disease, according to a UN report from November last year.

In the first year following the outbreak, more than 200 international NGOs were providing money and expertise to help, but now there are fewer than a dozen, Dr Francois said.

He said: Having far fewer deaths has led a lot of people to believe the situation is no longer urgent.

But if we had the resources, people wouldnt be dying at all.

The Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon, has been criticised by his own human rights experts who say he is violating the rights of the Haitian people by refusing to consider evidence that UN troops brought the disease to Haiti during the earthquake from an infected area in Nepal.

It is believed to be the first time the UNs own human rights experts have attacked the organisations hierarchy itself for causing a problem rather than an individual country.

The five special rapporteurs wrote a letter to the Secretary General saying his attitude undermines the reputation of the United Nations and calls into question the ethical framework within which its peace-keeping forces operate.

According to Amnesty International,60,000 people are still living in displacement camps where sanitation is poor (Getty Images)

The earthquake devastated much of the infrastructure in Haiti - which suffered under a brutal dictatorship by the Duvalier family from 1957 to 1986 - though it has slowly begun recovering.

According to Amnesty International, there are still 60,000 people living in makeshift displacement camps after their homes were destroyed in the earthquake where sanitation is poor.

Only 24 per cent of Haitians have access to a toilet, sewage is rarely treated correctly and many do not have access to safe drinking water.

Additional reporting by AP
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They've attacked him for weeks and weeks and said his presidency would be a disaster, but now Donald Trumps rivals have admitted they will back the billionaire if he wins the Republican nomination.

The mud-slinging continued at Thursday nights GOP debate, where Ted Cruz claimed the property mogul was part of the corruption in Washington and Marco Rubio accused him of manipulating the American public by telling people whatever you think you need to get them to do what you want them to do.

But when the last question of the night asked the four remaining Republican candidates whether they would support Mr Trump in the likely event of him winning the nomination, they pulled together for an awkward show of unity.

 Romney says Trump not fit for presidency

Mr Cruz said he would prefer Mr Trump to either of the Democratic contenders, Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, describing the latter as a socialist.

I'll support the Republican nominee, said Mr Rubio, who has repeatedly described his rival as a con man.

Recommended Read more Republican rivals clash as Trump makes claims about size of genitals

John Kasich, the Governor of Ohio, was the most hesitant, but ultimately said that while sometimes (Trump) makes it a little bit hard, he would support him if he is the nominee.

Mr Trump was also asked if he would support someone other than himself, and hesitated briefly before saying he would back whoever the Republican nominee is.

It came after a series of senior Republicans attacked Mr Trump, including the party's two most recent presidential nominees, Mitt Romney and John McCain.

Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Show all 14 1 /14 Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Isis: "Some of the candidates, they went in and didnt know the air conditioner didnt work and sweated like dogs, and they didnt know the room was too big because they didnt have anybody there. How are they going to beat ISIS?" Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On immigration: "I will build a great wall  and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me and Ill build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Free Trade: "Free trade is terrible. Free trade can be wonderful if you have smart people. But we have stupid people." PAUL J. RICHARDS | AFP | Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Mexicans: "When Mexico sends its people, theyre not sending their best. Theyre sending people that have lots of problems. Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists." Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On China: "I just sold an apartment for $15 million to somebody from China. Am I supposed to dislike them?... I love China. The biggest bank in the world is from China. You know where their United States headquarters is located? In this building, in Trump Tower." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On work: "If you're interested in 'balancing' work and pleasure, stop trying to balance them. Instead make your work more pleasurable." AP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On success: "What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate." Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On life: "Everything in life is luck." AFP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On ambition: "You have to think anyway, so why not think big?" Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On his opponents: "Bush is totally in favour of Common Core. I don't see how he can possibly get the nomination. He's weak on immigration. He's in favour of Common Core. How the hell can you vote for this guy? You just can't do it." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Obamacare: "You have to be hit by a tractor, literally, a tractor, to use it, because the deductibles are so high. It's virtually useless. And remember the $5 billion web site?... I have so many web sites, I have them all over the place. I hire people, they do a web site. It costs me $3." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Barack Obama: "Obama is going to be out playing golf. He might be on one of my courses. I would invite him. I have the best courses in the world. I have one right next to the White House." PA Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On himself: "Love him or hate him, Trump is a man who is certain about what he wants and sets out to get it, no holds barred. Women find his power almost as much of a turn-on as his money." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On America: "The American Dream is dead. But if I get elected president I will bring it back bigger and better and stronger than ever before and we will make America great again." GETTY

Mr Romney, who lost to Barack Obama in 2012, made a rare public appearance to denounce Mr Trump as "a phoney" who is "playing the American public for suckers".

It highlighted the unprecedented way the party's most prominent leaders are feuding, as panicking Republican officials realise there is little they can do stop Mr Trump's march towards the presidential nomination.

Mr Rubio said the businessman had basically mocked everyone and criticising his businesses for making clothes in China and Mexico, rather than the US.

Mr Cruz, from Texas, claimed that 40 years Mr Trump had been part of the corruption in Washington that people were angry about, citing previous campaign contributions to leading Democrats, including Mrs Clinton when she was a senator.

Protesters are escorted out of a rally for Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump at Radford University in Radford, Va., Monday, Feb. 29, 2016. (AP)

"I've supported Democrats and I've supported Republicans, and as a businessman I owed that to my company, to my family, to my workers, to everybody to get along, Mr Trump said.

He responded to Mr Rubio's comments by retorting: This little guy has lied so much about my record.

Pressed on when he would start making more clothes in the US, he said that would happen when currency valuations were not biased against manufacturing garments in America.

Mr Trump came a step closer to winning the Republican nomination on Super Tuesday, when he won primaries in seven states, compared to Mr Cruzs three and one for Mr Rubio.

For the Democrats, Mrs Clinton has a strong lead against Mr Sanders but much could change as states continue to vote in primaries that will continue until June.

Additional reporting by AP
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Mexico Citys lawmakers are urging the federal government to take action to ban Donald Trump after they unanimously voted to stop him entering the country.

The proposal, introduced by the left-wing Democratic Revolutionary Party (DRP), was passed on Wednesday and called on the federal authorities to suspend or prohibit the Republican presidential frontrunner from coming to Mexico due to his provocative rhetoric on Mexican immigration, reports The World Post.

The billionaire entrepreneur has pledged to build a great, great wall between the US and Mexico if he wins the race to the White House, which he said would have to be funded by Mexico.

The 69-year-old has said he believes the country is sending people that have lots of problems, and they are bringing those problems to us. They are bringing drugs, and bringing crime, and their rapists.

Victor Hugo Romo, DRP member and deputy in Mexico Citys government, said Mr Trump was primeval, egocentric and primitive, according to Noticias NVS.

Hitler was very popular. He generated a lot of sympathy by creating a nationalist policy that vindicated the Germans sense of self-worth, Mr Romo said.

[Trump] is practically a copy. I consider Donald Trump a chauvinist and a misogynist disposed to political repression. He doesnt respect diversity.

Jose Manuel Delgadillo, National Action Party deputy, said Mexico Citys assembly wanted to encourage the countrys president, Enrique Pena Nieto, to confront Mr Trump about his beliefs.

He told The World Post: What were saying is that if he wants to build a wall so that Mexicans cant enter his country, the he is not welcome in our country.

What we need now is for President Pena Nieto to make a strong statement condemning Mr Trumps anti-Mexican comments.

Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Show all 14 1 /14 Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Isis: "Some of the candidates, they went in and didnt know the air conditioner didnt work and sweated like dogs, and they didnt know the room was too big because they didnt have anybody there. How are they going to beat ISIS?" Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On immigration: "I will build a great wall  and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me and Ill build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Free Trade: "Free trade is terrible. Free trade can be wonderful if you have smart people. But we have stupid people." PAUL J. RICHARDS | AFP | Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Mexicans: "When Mexico sends its people, theyre not sending their best. Theyre sending people that have lots of problems. Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists." Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On China: "I just sold an apartment for $15 million to somebody from China. Am I supposed to dislike them?... I love China. The biggest bank in the world is from China. You know where their United States headquarters is located? In this building, in Trump Tower." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On work: "If you're interested in 'balancing' work and pleasure, stop trying to balance them. Instead make your work more pleasurable." AP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On success: "What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate." Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On life: "Everything in life is luck." AFP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On ambition: "You have to think anyway, so why not think big?" Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On his opponents: "Bush is totally in favour of Common Core. I don't see how he can possibly get the nomination. He's weak on immigration. He's in favour of Common Core. How the hell can you vote for this guy? You just can't do it." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Obamacare: "You have to be hit by a tractor, literally, a tractor, to use it, because the deductibles are so high. It's virtually useless. And remember the $5 billion web site?... I have so many web sites, I have them all over the place. I hire people, they do a web site. It costs me $3." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Barack Obama: "Obama is going to be out playing golf. He might be on one of my courses. I would invite him. I have the best courses in the world. I have one right next to the White House." PA Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On himself: "Love him or hate him, Trump is a man who is certain about what he wants and sets out to get it, no holds barred. Women find his power almost as much of a turn-on as his money." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On America: "The American Dream is dead. But if I get elected president I will bring it back bigger and better and stronger than ever before and we will make America great again." GETTY

President Nieto has not commented on the issue.

But his foreign affairs secretary Claudia Ruiz Massieu told The Washington Post: When an apple is red, it is red. When you say ignorant things, you are ignorant.

The ban  proposed as a point of agreement  is essentially a symbolic measure demonstrating Mexicans unease at Mr Trump as Mexico Citys legislators do not have the power to enforce legislation nationally.

A second former Mexican president compared Mr Trump to Hitler last month.

Felipe Calderon said: This logic of praising the white supremacy is not just anti-immigration.

He is acting and speaking out against immigrants that have a different skin colour than he does, it is frankly racist and [he is] exploiting feelings like Hitler did in his time.

Former premier Vincente Fox had previously said that Mr Trump reminds me of Hitler and that Mexico would not pay for that f***ing wall.
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The four remaining Republican presidential candidates traded insults during the latest Republican debate on Thursday night.

Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio launched the majority of their attacks on Donald Trump in another desperate attempt to derail the favourite for the party's nomination.

For Mr Trump, what could have been an opportunity to place himself once again as a "presidential" candidate - a feat he appeared to pull off in his victory speech following a dominant Super Tuesday performance - ended up as anything but.

First, the billionaire businessman targetted Mitt Romney, who had earlier launched a scathing attack on Mr Trump in which he branded him a "fraud" and a "phony".

Responding, Mr Trump mocked Mr Romney, saying the 2012 Presidential candidate had "begged" for his endorsement and would have "dropped to his knees" if Trump had asked him to.

Next, and most unforgettably, Mr Trump turned to another pressing issue: the size of his genitals.

Here are some of the best(worst) one liners and insults:

Trump on his, er, hands:

Responding to Sen. Rubio's making comments about his hand size.

Trump: I have to say this. He hit my hands. Nobody has ever hit my hands. I have never heard of this. Look at those hands. Are they small hands?

And he referred to my hands, if they are small, something else must be small. I guarantee you there is no problem. I guarantee.

Rubio on Trump and 80s rock bands:

Rubio: Someone who last week defended Planned Parenthood for 30 seconds a debate stage.

To someone, for example, that has no ideas on foreign  someone who thinks the nuclear triad is a rock band from the 1980s.

Trump on 'little' Marco Rubio:

Fox News's Chris Wallace: Could you respond to his (Sen Rubio) specific assertion about Trump Collection clothes, which you say some of it is made in Mexico?

Trump: This little guy has lied so much...about my record

Trump: First of all, I got a call from my sister and brother tonight, and they said we had no idea Dad gave you $200 million.

Believe me, I started off with $1 million. I built a company thats worth more than $10 billion. And I say it not in a bragging way, but thats the kind of thinking we need.

Rubio: You asked him about the economy, and the first thing he does is launch an attack about some little guy thing. Because he doesnt have answers.

Rubio on Trump's 'successful' businesses

Rubio : You ever heard of Trump Steaks? You ever heard of Trump Vodka?

Trump: Oh, you know what? You know what? Take a look at Trump Steaks.

Rubio: All of these companies he has ruined.

Trump: By the way, thats the other thing...

Rubio: Trump Steaks is gone. You have ruined these companies.

Rubio and Trump size each other up

Wallace: I have a policy question for you, sir.

Rubio: Lets see if he answers it.

Trump: I will. Dont worry about it, Marco. Dont worry about it. Dont worry about it little Marco, I will.

Rubio: All right, well, lets hear it big Donald.

Trump: Dont worry about it, little Marco.

Cruz on Trump's 'backing' for Hillary in 2008

After discussing his and Trump's immigration views.

Cruz : Donald Trump in 2008 wrote four cheques to elect Hillary Clinton as president.

Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Show all 14 1 /14 Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Isis: "Some of the candidates, they went in and didnt know the air conditioner didnt work and sweated like dogs, and they didnt know the room was too big because they didnt have anybody there. How are they going to beat ISIS?" Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On immigration: "I will build a great wall  and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me and Ill build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Free Trade: "Free trade is terrible. Free trade can be wonderful if you have smart people. But we have stupid people." PAUL J. RICHARDS | AFP | Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Mexicans: "When Mexico sends its people, theyre not sending their best. Theyre sending people that have lots of problems. Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists." Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On China: "I just sold an apartment for $15 million to somebody from China. Am I supposed to dislike them?... I love China. The biggest bank in the world is from China. You know where their United States headquarters is located? In this building, in Trump Tower." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On work: "If you're interested in 'balancing' work and pleasure, stop trying to balance them. Instead make your work more pleasurable." AP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On success: "What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate." Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On life: "Everything in life is luck." AFP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On ambition: "You have to think anyway, so why not think big?" Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On his opponents: "Bush is totally in favour of Common Core. I don't see how he can possibly get the nomination. He's weak on immigration. He's in favour of Common Core. How the hell can you vote for this guy? You just can't do it." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Obamacare: "You have to be hit by a tractor, literally, a tractor, to use it, because the deductibles are so high. It's virtually useless. And remember the $5 billion web site?... I have so many web sites, I have them all over the place. I hire people, they do a web site. It costs me $3." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Barack Obama: "Obama is going to be out playing golf. He might be on one of my courses. I would invite him. I have the best courses in the world. I have one right next to the White House." PA Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On himself: "Love him or hate him, Trump is a man who is certain about what he wants and sets out to get it, no holds barred. Women find his power almost as much of a turn-on as his money." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On America: "The American Dream is dead. But if I get elected president I will bring it back bigger and better and stronger than ever before and we will make America great again." GETTY

Trump on 'liar' Cruz

Cruz: You went to Manhattan and said Im lying to the American people, then the voters have a right to know.

Trump: No, no. Youre the liar. Youre the lying guy up here.

Rubio on Trump University

After Trump was questioned over the legal case involving former students at Trump University

Rubio: The future of the United States and the most important election in a generation, and hes trying to con people into giving them their vote just like he conned these people into giving him their money.

Trump: Let me tell you the real con artist. Excuse me. Excuse me. The real con artist is Senator Marco Rubio who was elected in Florida and who has the worst voting record in the United States Senate

...The people in Florida wouldnt elect him dogcatcher.

You defrauded the people of Florida, little Marco.

Cruz tells Trump to calm down (Part one)

Cruz: And if we nominate Donald, were going to spend the spring, the fall, and the summer with the Republican nominee facing a fraud trial...

Trump: Oh, stop it.

Cruz: ... with Hillary Clinton saying...

Trump: Its just a minor case. Its a minor case.

Cruz: ... why did you give my campaign and my foundation $100,000?

Trump: Its a minor civil case.

Cruz: And with Hillary Clinton...

Trump: Give me a break.

Cruz: ... pointing out that he supported her four times in her presidential race.

Trump: Its a minor civil case.

Cruz: Donald, learn not to interrupt. Its not complicated.

Trump: There are many, many civil cases.

Cruz: Count to 10, Donald. Count to 10.

Cruz tells Trump to calm down (Part two)

Cruz: But, Donald, please, I know its hard not to interrupt. But try.

Trump: Yeah, I know it is. But its not what you said in the op-ed.

Cruz: Breathe, breathe, breathe.

Trump: Lyin Ted.

Cruz: You can do it. You can breathe. I know its hard. I know its hard. But just...

Cruz shuts down Rubio:

Rubio: When theyre done with the yoga, can I answer a question?

Cruz: You cannot.

Rubio: Unbelievable.

Trump on everyone else

Wallace: Can you definitively say tonight that you will definitely support the Republican nominee for president, even if its not you?

Trump: Even if its not me?
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Donald Trump has gone from reality television star to frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination because of one issue  immigration.

His campaign has been defined by incendiary anti-immigration rhetoric and it has found support across America with Trump securing 46% of the delegates that have been on offer so far.

The billionaire has publicly targeted Mexicans and Muslims; and while today might be a different world, the GOP stance on immigration has not always been as extreme.

36 years ago during a primary debate between then-Republican presidential candidates Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush in Houston, both championed immigrants living in the United States when faced with the question: Do you think the children of illegal aliens should be allowed to attend Texas public schools for free, or do you think their parents should pay for their education?

Bush passionately replies to the young Texan saying: "If those people are here, I would reluctantly say they would get whatever it is, what society is giving their neighbours. But the problem has to be solved ... We're creating a whole society of really honourable, decent, family-loving people that are in violation of the law, and secondly we're exacerbating relations with Mexico.

The answer to your question is much more fundamental than whether they attend Houston schools, it seems to me. I don't want to see ... six- and eight-year-old kids, being made, you know, totally uneducated, and being made to feel that they're living outside the law.

Let's address ourselves to the fundamentals. These are good people, strong people. Part of my family is a Mexican."

Similar to Bush, Reagan favoured a pragmatic approach.

"I think the time has come that the United States and our neighboursparticularly our neighbour to the southshould have a better understanding and a better relationship than we've ever had.

"Rather than making them, of talking about putting up a fence, why don't we work out some recognition of our mutual problems, make it possible for them to come here legally with a work permit, and then, while they're working and earning here, they pay taxes here.

And when they want to go back they can go back, and cross. And open the border both ways, by understanding their problems.

 Donald Trump: What are his actual policies?

If Trump does become President, there would be a lot more than talk about putting up a fence.

One of his landmark election pledges is to build a great, great wall on Americas southern border costing at least $8 billion. His Republican rivals Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio have also proposed similar plans.

Border controls are not a new phenomenon, there has been greater calls ever since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but the language has dramatically changed.

Honourable, decent, family-loving people have now become people that have lots of problems and according to Trump, theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists.

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

This harsh rhetoric has led to concern from both sides of the political spectrum.

Hillary Clinton, who is leading the Democratic presidential nomination, commented: "One of the most distressing aspects of this campaign has been the language of Republican candidates, particularly their front-runner, that insults, demeans, denigrates different people."

"He has cast a wide net. He started with Mexicans. He's currently on Muslims.

Hector Barreto, head of the Small Business Administration in George W Bushs White House, said last year: The danger were facing right now is if this kind of rhetoric is not checked, if this becomes normal, if the other political candidates feel: Maybe I need to talk more like Trump.

As he inches closer to the nomination, the danger of Trump dictating what the GOP stands for will only grow.
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A defiant Donald Trump has come out swinging at his Republican enemies who have sought to impugn him in any way possible to blunt his march towards the presidential nomination.

He accused his rivals and the establishment wing of the Republican Party variously of jealousy and hatred after a scorching run of days in which he has come under almost constant fire.

The first indications of whether the coordinated assaults on him are having their desired effect may appear this weekend when four more states  Kentucky, Kansas, Louisiana and Maine  voice their preferences for Republican nominee on Saturday. The key Midwestern state of Michigan has its primary election on Tuesday.

Recommended Read more Trump to appear in court to defend claims he defrauded studens

Mr Trump fought back hard at a rally in Warren, Michigan, denouncing those assembling against him. The jealousy, the hatred, its hard to believe, he said, before taking more direct aim at Mitt Romney, whose father was once Governor of Michigan and who on Thursday delivered a scathing critique of the frontrunner, at the same time exposing the civil war that has erupted inside the Republican Party.

Hes an elitist, Mr Trump said of the 2012 Republican nominee, who lost against Barack Obama. I hate people who think theyre hot stuff and theyre nothing.

Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Show all 14 1 /14 Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Isis: "Some of the candidates, they went in and didnt know the air conditioner didnt work and sweated like dogs, and they didnt know the room was too big because they didnt have anybody there. How are they going to beat ISIS?" Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On immigration: "I will build a great wall  and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me and Ill build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Free Trade: "Free trade is terrible. Free trade can be wonderful if you have smart people. But we have stupid people." PAUL J. RICHARDS | AFP | Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Mexicans: "When Mexico sends its people, theyre not sending their best. Theyre sending people that have lots of problems. Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists." Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On China: "I just sold an apartment for $15 million to somebody from China. Am I supposed to dislike them?... I love China. The biggest bank in the world is from China. You know where their United States headquarters is located? In this building, in Trump Tower." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On work: "If you're interested in 'balancing' work and pleasure, stop trying to balance them. Instead make your work more pleasurable." AP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On success: "What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate." Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On life: "Everything in life is luck." AFP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On ambition: "You have to think anyway, so why not think big?" Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On his opponents: "Bush is totally in favour of Common Core. I don't see how he can possibly get the nomination. He's weak on immigration. He's in favour of Common Core. How the hell can you vote for this guy? You just can't do it." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Obamacare: "You have to be hit by a tractor, literally, a tractor, to use it, because the deductibles are so high. It's virtually useless. And remember the $5 billion web site?... I have so many web sites, I have them all over the place. I hire people, they do a web site. It costs me $3." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Barack Obama: "Obama is going to be out playing golf. He might be on one of my courses. I would invite him. I have the best courses in the world. I have one right next to the White House." PA Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On himself: "Love him or hate him, Trump is a man who is certain about what he wants and sets out to get it, no holds barred. Women find his power almost as much of a turn-on as his money." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On America: "The American Dream is dead. But if I get elected president I will bring it back bigger and better and stronger than ever before and we will make America great again." GETTY

Not unlike the nomination race itself, the debate on Thursday night degenerated swiftly into kindergarten chaos, not least when Mr Trump took up an earlier remark by Senator Marco Rubio about the size of his hands that seemed to insinuate smallness elsewhere on his physique. He had no problem in the that department he informed a shocked audience, causing one of the debates moderators to declare: And moving on

Mr Rubio and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas used the debate stage to take up where Mr Romney had left off, assailing the front-runner over the alleged fraud committed by now-defunct Trump University and past donations he had made to Democrats, including to Hillary Clinton. They pressed him over off-the-record remarks to The New York Times in which he apparently signalled flexibility on his signature proposal to deport undocumented migrants.

On the question of flexibility in general, a more composed and sober Mr Trump suggested it was a quality not a failing. I have a very strong core, he said. But Ive never seen a successful person who wasnt flexible, who didnt have a certain degree of flexibility.

Mr Trump may have done little at the debate to win new converts or give his critics reason to reassess their disdain for him. When under pressure, especially to offer any substance on his policy plans, he continued to resort largely to ad hominem attacks. Thus Senator Rubio became Little Marco for the night.

The end for his rivals could come on 15 March when Florida, Mr Rubios home state, has primary elections, and also Ohio, where John Kasich is Governor. Their hope is that by then, the bombardment of Mr Trump now coming from multiple quarters will finally give his supporters pause and bring him down. So far, however, there is nothing to suggest that this is happening.

Mr Cruz, who successfully held off Mr Trump in his home state, Texas, on Super Tuesday, meanwhile threw cold water on the notion being rehearsed by party elites that if he and his rivals can prevent Mr Trump from winning a simple majority of delegates, then the party convention in July could be thrown open to allow delegates to choose an alternative there and then. And that person would not necessarily be a current candidate. Alternatives could include Mr Romney.

A brokered convention is a pipe dream of the Washington establishment, Mr Cruz told a press conference.
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Over the past 25 years more than a quarter of Indonesia's forests have disappeared, meaning the 76 million acres of forest have been lost since 1990  an area almost the size of Germany.

A major cause of this deforestation is believed to be the palm oil industry, with tree loss from palm oil plantations leading to devastating forest fires and threatening endangered species such as orang-utans.

Palm oil is used by many brands and found in thousands of everyday products from toothpaste to crisps.

According to an analysis by Greenpeace, however, some leading brands such as Pepsico, Johnson & Johnson and Colgate-Palmolive are "failing" to track whether the palm oil they use is linked to the destruction of Indonesias rainforests.

A study by Greenpeace analysed 14 leading brands and said "none" could "guarantee their palm oil supply is not linked to deforestation" and "most" were "unable to say how much of their palm oil comes from suppliers that comply with their own sourcing standards".

The orangutan's habitat is being decimated by palm oil plantations Getty (Getty Images)

The report assessed the companies on three different criteria - responsible sourcing, transparency and industry reform.

It supposedly found one of the largest problems was a lack of transparency along supply chains, with many companies allegedly failing to provide detailed information about their suppliers.

The companies with the "poorest performance", according to Greenpeace, are Colgate-Palmolive, Johnson & Johnson and PepsiCo, which are failing to keep the no deforestation promises made to their customers".

Most companies were graded as "getting there" in their progress toward zero-deforestation, yet only two companies  Ferrero and Nestle - were deemed strong, according to the environmental NGO.

Only Ferrero was found to be able to trace nearly 100 per cent of its palm oil back to the plantation it is grown on, Greenpeace said.

In response to the allegations Pepsico said: We take the issue of deforestation and the sourcing of sustainable palm oil very seriously, and so PepsiCo has a long-standing palm oil policy.

"Our action plan reflects our enhanced efforts, including traceability to the mill level by 2016 and the sourcing of 100 per cent physically certified sustainable palm oil.

Peatland forest is cleared by burning for a palm oil plantation in Indonesia, causing severe pollution across the region Getty (Getty)

"We recognize this is a journey, and we will continue to evolve our efforts and commitments.

Johnson & Johnson said: Johnson & Johnson Ltd has an obligation to preserve the environment and we are implementing programs across the world to limit our footprint and environmental impact.

In 2014 we published our Responsible Palm Oil Sourcing Criteria and engaged The Forest Trust (TFT) to work with us and our largest suppliers to share supply chain information and assess compliance with our sourcing criteria which prohibits development in High Carbon Stock forests, peatlands and burning as a method to clear land for new developments or to re-plant.

We do not directly purchase palm oil (PO) or palm kernel oil (PKO) but rather ingredients that are derived from PO and PKO. Johnson & Johnson Ltd. has removed one supplier for noncompliance with our standards and we will continue to take appropriate measures to verify conformance and engage with other companies and NGOs to promote responsible palm oil production to address the environmental impact.

Colgate-Palmolive said: "We're proud of our goals to fight deforestation and our progress towards them, including working with The Forest Trust and the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), and purchasing certified oils and GreenPalm Certificates that together contributed nearly $8 million to support sustainable palm oil production since 2013.

"We are targeting over 75 per cent certified mass-balance oils in 2016 and are committed to achieve our goals for a deforestation-free palm oil supply chain within four years, including working with Greenpeace and others on tracking to the plantation the source of these products."

The researchers claim that draining peatland to make way for palm oil plantations produces annual carbon emissions equivalent to those emitted by 830,000 cars Getty (Getty)

Six months ago, Indonesia endured some of the biggest forest fires of the century reducing millions of acres of tropical forest to ash. As Indonesia braces itself for another outbreak of forest fires this year, Greenpeace is urging consumer goods companies to take action.

Annisa Rahmawati of Greenpeace Indonesia said: Palm oil is found in so many products, which is why brands have a responsibility to their customers to act. Palm oil can be grown responsibly without destroying forests, harming local communities or threatening orang-utans.

"But our survey shows that brands are not doing enough to stop the palm oil industry ransacking Indonesia's rainforests.

PepsiCo, Colgate-Palmolive and Johnson & Johnson are really letting their customers down. People should be able to brush their teeth or eat a snack without pushing orang-utans even closer to extinction."
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North Koreas nuclear weapons are to be made ready to fire at any time, state-controlled media has reported.

The countrys leader, Kim Jong-un, also ordered the military to be prepared to carry out a pre-emptive strike because of the precarious nature of relations with other states, according to a statement issued by the official KCNA news agency.

Recommended Read more North Korea reacts to harsh new UN sanctions with latest missile test

On Wednesday, the United Nations Security Council passed the toughest sanctions in two decades against North Korea after it carried out a nuclear bomb test and launched a long-range missile.

North Korea is well known for issuing bellicose threats as part of a negotiating strategy.

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

On Thursday, just hours after the Security Council decision, it fired six short-range projectiles into the sea off its east coast, South Korean officials said.

The North Korean missiles, fired from the eastern coastal town of Wonsan, flew about 60 to 90 miles before landing in the sea, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. This was seen as a "low-level" response to the UN sanctions, according to Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

Recommended Read more How mystery ships help North Korea evade sanctions

North Korea has not issued an official reaction to the new UN sanctions. But citizens in its capital, Pyongyang, interviewed by The Associated Press, said on Thursday that they believe their country can fight off any sanctions.

No kind of sanctions will ever work on us, because we've lived under US sanctions for more than half a century," said Pyongyang resident Song Hyo Il.

"And in the future, we're going to build a powerful and prosperous country here, relying on our own development."

North Korean state media earlier warned that the imposition of new sanctions would be a "grave provocation" that shows "extreme" US hostility against the country.

The Associated Press contributed to this report
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A Pakistani man has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for allegedly posting "religiously offensive material" on his Facebook page, it has been reported.

Rizwan Haider, 25, was convicted in an anti-terrorism court of three charges, including promoting sectarian hatred, the Times of India reports.

He allegedly published a post on Facebook referring to the Prophet Mohamed.

"This case... was registered against Haider, who is a Shiite Muslim by faith, in January for posting objectionable material against the belief of Sunni Muslims," Adeel Chattah, the public prosecutor in the case, told the Agence France-Presse news agency.

Haider was also fined 250,000 rupees (2,626), his lawyer said, adding that he denied the charges and has the right to appeal.

His lawyer, Shameen Zaidi, dismissed the accusations, saying: "He only liked it and did not post it on the page."

Pakistan has made increasing use of its hate crime laws as part of a campaign to combat extremism, following a Taliban attack on a school in Peshawar in December 2014 which killed 153 people, mostly children.

A man is facing prison in Russia after posting a message online stating "there is no God". If found guilty, he faces up to a year in prison.

He was reportedly arrested under the country's anti-blasphemy laws, introduced after Pussy Riot's controversial protest against Vladimir Putin at a Moscow cathedral in 2013.
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Teenage boys are being raped in the Calais Jungle, aid workers have claimed, amid concerns over the lack of child protection measures in place in the refugee camp  and the risks of abuse facing thousands of displaced children across the continent.

Medical volunteers helping those camped outside the French town told The Independent they have treated seven boys aged between 14 and 16 in the past six months. who claimed to have been raped. They all had injuries consistent with these claims.

In four cases, the boys required surgery. Only one attended hospital, however, with the others refusing treatment for fear of repercussions or through shame at having been abused.

Recommended Read more Reports of armed Calais refugees raises fears of violent clashes

The Independent has spoken to a GMC-registered doctor to whom the volunteers reported the incidents. He confirmed knowledge of the cases.

Europol, the EUs law enforcement agency, has also raised concerns that unaccompanied refugee children across the continent are at high risk of sexual exploitation.

In January, a senior representative of Europol estimated that 10,000 unaccompanied children had gone missing within Europe.

Volunteers in the Calais camp have spoken out about the lack of procedure in reporting serious cases of sexual abuse. They add that the French governments refusal to classify the camp as a humanitarian crisis is causing major child protection issues.

If I took one of the boys to the police and said Im one of the medics and I know this boy has been sexually abused, I could guarantee they would shrug their shoulders and continue their conversation, said one of the volunteers.

A boy stands in a tree to get a view of French anti-riot police officers at the "Jungle" migrant camp in the French port city of Calais (AFP)

I have three boys of my own and this is horrendous, they added. These boys would have left their homes and their parents would have thought they were safe and that they were going to a better life, fleeing violence and they end up at 14 being raped in a refugee camp. That it is going on in Europe makes it even more unacceptable.

The volunteers said they referred the reports to Medecins Sans Frontieres, the largest organisation operating within the camp.

Aid agencies have largely been absent from the Calais camp, leaving volunteers to fill their place. The UNHCR has a remit to administer care in refugee camps only if a humanitarian crisis has been declared or if invited to do so by the host government.

With the clearance of the southern half of the camp, which includes the women and childrens centre and commenced on 29 February, the plight of the unaccompanied children has reached crisis point.

Concerns have been raised consistently that a lack of adequate alternative provision for the unaccompanied children  estimated to number up to 500  has left them at grave risk of falling prey to criminal gangs. In most cases, these children have travelled from their home countries with traffickers.

A spokesperson for Save the Children acknowledged that sexual abuse has been carried out against children in Calais, adding that it was part of a Europe-wide problem and calling on the British government to ease the path of entry into the country for children with a legitimate asylum claim.

We know that unaccompanied children, of whom there are over 400 in the camp and tens of thousands across the continent, are the most vulnerable of the vulnerable. They have travelled hundreds of miles without the protection of adults or families.

They face exploitation in all different forms, including sexual exploitation, often at the hands of criminal gangs. Save the Children has seen it in Italy, in Greece and in Calais too unfortunately.

Many of the children who are in Calais have family in the UK and a right to asylum here but the process is so complex that it can take years... In the meantime they are living in very dangerous situations when they could be safely with their families in the UK.

A spokesperson for Europol said the organisation had declared the figure of 10,000 missing children across the continent to raise awareness of the vulnerability of unaccompanied minors traveling with the migrant flow.

Unaccompanied minors are vulnerable due to their young age and may be especially vulnerable to different forms of exploitation, he added.

Medecins Sans Frontieres was unable to confirm having received the reports of sexual abuse against minors. The volunteers with whom The Independent spoke also raised concerns that a sex trade was operating within the camp, saying that boys as young as 13 asked them for condoms. They added that attempts to distribute rape alarms were largely futile as there is nobody here to hear them.
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Eight men who have been on hunger strike in the Calais refugee camp since 29 February have sewn their mouths shut in protest at the continued clearance of the Jungle.

Four British volunteers, including one named Tom Radcliffe, joined the hunger strike.

The group are demanding that the clearance of the camp be put on hold until an appeal is heard by the European Court of Human Rights.

The protest comes amid heightened concern for the welfare of refugees, with a survey finding that 73 per cent say they have been victim to police violence.

A medic based in Calais told The Independent they had stitched up the head of a seven-year-old boy who had been beaten by police.

The demolition of the southern part of the camp began on 29 February, leading to clashes between French riot police and the camps inhabitants.

Local authorities had previously promised a slow and humane approach to the camps clearance.

Clare Moseley, founder of Care4Calais, expressed dismay at the lack of support for refugees in the camp.

These are men, women and children who have done nothing wrong, she said. They have fled horrendous situations that we see in the news and are shocked by, travelling thousands of miles and often turning up in Calais with the clothes on their backs.

They hold the dream of safety, of compassion and a new life. They are people in desperate need who deserve to be protected.

The survey into violence against the refugees, conducted by the Refugee Rights Data Project, found that 82 per cent of the 800-plus refugees questioned said they intended to stay in Calais or move to a nearby camp in Dunkirk.

Reports of police violence against refugees attempting to board trucks and trains bound for the UK have been commonplace. Videos of some of these incidents have been published online.

The medical volunteer who spoke to The Independent about the seven-year-old child asked to remain anonymous.

We had to give him stitches in his head at four in the morning, they said.
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Spanish authorities have seized more than 20,000 military uniforms hidden inside aid packages they said were bound for Isis and Jabhat al-Nusra.

Spain's interior ministry told the International Business Times that, along with the camouflage fatigues smuggled as "second-hand clothes," other military accessories were found in the containers.

The aid containers were seized following a routine inspection by customs officials in Valencia and Algeciras.

Officials said the shipment was being sent to Isis fighters in Iraq and Syria and to the al-Qaeda affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra.

A statement from the ministry read: "The containers which carried the military uniforms were declared as second-hand clothes so as to not raise suspicions and be able to pass different customs inspections without any difficulty."

Law enforcement agencies denied the shipment originated from Spain. They did not disclose the exact destination of the containers.

In pictures: The rise of Isis Show all 74 1 /74 In pictures: The rise of Isis In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters of the Islamic State wave the group's flag from a damaged display of a government fighter jet following the battle for the Tabqa air base, in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters from Islamic State group sit on their tank during a parade in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters from the Islamic State group pray at the Tabqa air base after capturing it from the Syrian government in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters from extremist Islamic State group parade in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis kidnapping A video uploaded to social networks shows men in underwear being marched barefoot along a desert road before being allegedly executed by Isis Getty Images In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis kidnapping Haruna Yukawa after his capture by Isis In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis kidnapping Khalinda Sharaf Ajour, a Yazidi, says two of her daughters were captured by Isis militants Washington Post In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Spokesperson for Isis Vice News via Youtube In pictures: The rise of Isis A pro-Isis leaflet A pro-Isis leaflet handed out on Oxford Street In London Ghaffar Hussain In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Isis Jihadists burn their passports In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis controls Syrian Aid A man collecting aid administered by Isis in Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis controls Syrian Aid A woman collecting aid administered by Isis in Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis controls Syrian Aid Local civilians queue for aid administered by Isis. Since it declared a caliphate the group has increasingly been delivering services such as healthcare, and distributing aid and free fuel In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces detain men suspected of being militants of the Isis group in Diyala province In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Mourners carry the coffin of a Shi'ite volunteer from the brigades of peace, who joined the Iraqi army and was killed during clashes with militants of the Isis group in Samarra, during his funeral in Najaf In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi Shiite Turkmen family fleeing the violence in the Iraqi city of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, arrives at a refugee camp on the outskirts of Arbil, in Iraq's Kurdistan region In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi A photograph made from a video by the jihadist affiliated group Furqan Media via their twitter account allegedly showing Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi delivering a sermon during Friday prayers at a mosque in Mosul. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared an Islamist caliphate in the territory under the group's control in Iraq and Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Islamic extremists destroying mosques in Iraq Shiite's Al-Qubba Husseiniya mosque explodes in Mosul In pictures: The rise of Isis Islamic extremists destroying mosques in Iraq Smoke and debris go up in the air as Shiite's Al-Qubba Husseiniya mosque explodes in Mosul. Images posted online show that Islamic extremists have destroyed at least 10 ancient shrines and Shiite mosques in territory - the city of Mosul and the town of Tal Afar - they have seized in northern Iraq in recent weeks In pictures: The rise of Isis Islamic extremists destroying mosques in Iraq A bulldozer destroys Sunni's Ahmed al-Rifai shrine and tomb in Mahlabiya district outside of Tal Afar In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces celebrate after clashes with followers of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi, in front of his home in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces arrest a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces arrest a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi at his home after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces arrest a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis A vehicle burns in front of a home of a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi woman holds her exhausted son as over 1000 Iraqis who have fled fighting in and around the city of Mosul and Tal Afar wait at a Kurdish checkpoint in the hopes of entering a temporary displacement camp in Khazair In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees Displaced Iraqi women hold pots as they queue to receive food during the first day of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, at an encampment for displaced Iraqis who fled from Mosul and other towns, in the Khazer area outside Irbil, north Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria A militant Islamist fighter waving a flag, cheers as he takes part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa. The fighters held the parade to celebrate their declaration of an Islamic "caliphate" after the group captured territory in neighbouring Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters wave flags as they take part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa province Reuters In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters travel in a vehicle as they take part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa province In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Fighters from the Isis group during a parade with a missile in Raqqa, Syria. Militants from an al-Qaida splinter group held a military parade in their stronghold in northeastern Syria, displaying U.S.-made Humvees, heavy machine guns, and missiles captured from the Iraqi army for the first time since taking over large parts of the Iraq-Syria border In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters during a parade in Raqqa, Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Fighters from the Isis group during a parade in Raqqa, Syria. Militants from the splinter group held a military parade in their stronghold in northeastern Syria, displaying U.S.-made Humvees, heavy machine guns, and missiles captured from the Iraqi army for the first time since taking over large parts of the Iraq-Syria border In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters hold a military parade in their stronghold in northeastern Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters during a parade in Raqqa, Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria A member loyal to the Isis waves an Isis flag in Raqqa In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi anti-government gunmen from Sunni tribes in the western Anbar province march during a protest in Ramadi, west of Baghdad. The United Nations warned that Iraq is at a "crossroads" and appealed for restraint, as a bloody four-day wave of violence killed 195 people. The violence is the deadliest so far linked to demonstrations that broke out in Sunni areas of the Shiite-majority country more than four months ago, raising fears of a return to all-out sectarian conflict In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces hold up a flag of the Isis group they captured during an operation to regain control of Dallah Abbas north of Baqouba, the capital of Iraq's Diyala province, 35 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Iraq Isis fighters parade in the northern city of Mosul In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Volunteers, who have joined the Iraqi army to fight against the predominantly Sunni militants from the radical Isis group, demonstrate their skills during a graduation ceremony after completing their field training in Najaf In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Kurdish Peshmerga troops fire a cannon during clashes with militants of the Isis group in Jalawla, Diyala province In pictures: The rise of Isis Lieutenant General Qassem Atta speaks during a press conference Iraqi Prime Minister's security spokesman, Lieutenant General Qassem Atta speaks during a press conference about the latest military development in Iraq, in the capital Baghdad. Iraqi forces pressed a campaign to retake militant-held Tikrit, clashing with jihadist-led Sunni militants nearby and pounding positions inside the city with air strikes in their biggest counter-offensive so far In pictures: The rise of Isis A police station building destroyed by Isis fighters An exterior view of a police station building destroyed by gunmen in Mosul city, northern Iraq. Iraq's new parliament is expected to convene to start the process of setting up a new government, despite deepening political rifts and an ongoing Islamist-led insurgency. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani issued a decree inviting the new House of Representatives to meet and form a new government In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Iraq Smoke billows from an area controlled by the Isis between the Iraqi towns of Naojul and Tuz Khurmatu, both located north of the capital Baghdad, as Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces take part in an operation to repel the Sunni militants In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An elderly Iraqi woman is helped into a temporary displacement camp for Iraqis caught-up in the fighting in and around the city of Mosul in Khazair In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi Christian woman fleeing the violence in the village of Qaraqush, about 30 kms east of the northern province of Nineveh, cries upon her arrival at a community center in the Kurdish city of Arbil in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi woman, who fled with her family from the northern city of Mosul, prays with a copy of the Quran AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Iraq The body of an Isis militant killed during clashes with Iraqi security forces on the outskirts of the city of Samarra Reuters In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi civilians inspect the damage at a market after an air strike by the Iraqi army in central Mosul EPA In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Members of the Al-Abbas brigades, who volunteered to protect the Shiite Muslim holy sites in Karbala against Sunni militants fighting the Baghdad government, parade in the streets of the city AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Shia tribesmen gather in Baghdad to take up arms against Sunni insurgents marching on the capital. Thousands have volunteered to bolster defences AFP/Getty In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis A van carrying volunteers joining Iraqi security forces against Jihadist militants. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced the Iraqi government would arm and equip civilians who volunteered to fight AFP/Getty In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters of the Isis group parade in a commandeered Iraqi security forces armored vehicle down a main road at the northern city of Mosul In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq An Islamist fighter, identified as Abu Muthanna al-Yemeni from Britain (R), speaks in this still image taken undated video shot at an unknown location and uploaded to a social media website. Five Islamist fighters identified as Australian and British nationals have called on Muslims to join the wars in Syria and Iraq, in the new video released by the Isis In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Al-Qaida inspired militants stand with captured Iraqi Army Humvee at a checkpoint belonging to Iraqi Army outside Beiji refinery some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Baghdad. The fighting at Beiji comes as Iraq has asked the U.S. for airstrikes targeting the militants from the Isis group. While U.S. President Barack Obama has not fully ruled out the possibility of launching airstrikes, such action is not imminent in part because intelligence agencies have been unable to identify clear targets on the ground, officials said In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants attacked Iraq's main oil refinein Baiji as they pressed an offensive that has seen them capture swathes of territory, a manager and a refinery employee said In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants from the Isis group parading with their weapons in the northern city of Baiji in the in Salaheddin province In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq A smoke rises after an attack by Isis militants on the country's largest oil refinery in Beiji, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad. Iraqi security forces battled insurgents targeting the country's main oil refinery and said they regained partial control of a city near the Syrian border, trying to blunt an offensive by Sunni militants who diplomats fear may have also seized some 100 foreign workers In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group stand next to captured vehicles left behind by Iraqi security forces at an unknown location in the Salaheddin province. For militant groups, the fight over public perception can be even more important than actual combat, turning military losses into propaganda victories and battlefield successes into powerful tools to build support for the cause In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq An injured fighter (C) from the Isis group after a battle with Iraqi soldiers at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters from the Isis aiming at advancing Iraqi troops at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters from the Isis group taking position at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters from the Isis group inspecting vehicles of the Iraqi army after they were seized at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq One Iraqi captive, a corporal, is reluctant to say the slogan, and has to be shouted at repeatedly before he obeys Sky News In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Iraqi captives held by the extremists Sky News In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Iraqi captives held by the extremists Sky News In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group force captured Iraqi security forces members to the transport In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group transporting dozens of captured Iraqi security forces members to an unknown location in the Salaheddin province ahead of executing them In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq A major offensive spearheaded by Isis but also involving supporters of executed dictator Saddam Hussein has overrun all of one province and chunks of three others In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group executing dozens of captured Iraqi security forces members at an unknown location in the Salaheddin province In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Isis militants taking position at a Iraqi border post on the Syrian-Iraqi border between the Iraqi Nineveh province and the Syrian town of Al-Hasakah In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Isis rebels show their flag after seizing an army post AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Isis militants waving an Islamist flag after the seizure of an Iraqi army checkpoint in Salahuddin Getty Images In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Demonstrators chant slogans as they carry al-Qaida flags in front of the provincial government headquarters in Mosul, 225 miles (360 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad. In the week since it captured Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul, a Muslim extremist group has tried to win over residents and has stopped short of widely enforcing its strict brand of Islamic law, residents say. Churches remain unharmed and street cleaners are back at work

Spanish police said the bust is connected to the arrest of seven people in February.

The suspects were accused of sending arms and bomb-making equipment to Iraq and Syria disguised as humanitarian aid.

Five were Spanish nationals of Syrian, Jordanian and Moroccan ancestry. Two others were Syrian and Moroccan nationals living in Spain.

The interior ministry added: "With the roughly 20,000 military uniforms and accessories, it would have been possible to equip an entire army, which would be ready to enter into combat in any of the battlegrounds which jihadist terrorist organisations have round the world."
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Her Christian Democrat campaign team spokesman greeted her as the most powerful woman in the world, and as a black-trouser-suited Angela Merkel bestrode the ornate Kaiser Wilhelm-era hall in Bad Kreuznachs premier spa hotel, the more than 800 party faithful present seemed to be falling over themselves to applaud this verbal accolade.

Loudspeakers pumped out a rhythmic welcome rock tune as the mostly elderly Merkel fans stood up in unison, hauled out their smartphones and snapped hundreds of I saw Angie in the flesh photos of the Chancellor. Shes wonderful. Its such a pleasure to see her here, former maths teacher Gisela Hahn-Schmidt, 66, told The Independent. Frau Merkel is having a tough time at the moment, so she needs our support more than ever.

Germanys first female leader was in the well-to-do health resort town to campaign for her ruling Christian Democrats. The party faces a crucial test in just over a weeks time in three state elections which may well determine how long Ms Merkel can survive in power.

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All three polls in the western states of Baden Wurttemberg, Rhineland Palatinate and eastern Saxony Ahhalt have, for weeks, been dominated by Ms Merkels eternally controversial open door refugee policy which allowed more than a million migrants to enter Germany last year and shows little sign of slowing.

Despite the continuing respect Ms Merkel receives as a proven world leader and her We can do it mantra concerning the refugee crisis, voters including many in her own party seem poised to punish her for apparently thinking too much about the world and not enough about Germany.

Refugees settle in Germany Show all 12 1 /12 Refugees settle in Germany Refugees settle in Germany Germany Mohamed Zayat, a refugee from Syria, plays with his daughter Ranim, who is nearly 3, in the one room they and Mohamed's wife Laloosh call home at an asylum-seekers' shelter in Vossberg village on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. The Zayats arrived approximately two months ago after trekking through Turkey, Greece and the Balkans and are now waiting for local authorities to process their asylum application, after which they will be allowed to live independently and settle elsewhere in Germany. Approximately 60 asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Chechnya and Somalia, live at the Vossberg shelter, which is run by the Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB) charity 2015 Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany A refugee child Amnat Musayeva points to a star with her photo and name that decorates the door to her classroom as teacher Martina Fischer looks on at the local kindergarten Amnat and her siblings attend on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. The children live with their family at an asylum-seekers' shelter in nearby Vossberg village and are waiting for local authorities to process their asylum applications. Approximately 60 asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Chechnya and Somalia, live at the Vossberg shelter, which is run by the Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB) charity Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Kurdish Syrian asylum-applicant Mohamed Ali Hussein (R), 19, and fellow applicant Autur, from Latvia, load benches onto a truckbed while performing community service, for which they receive a small allowance, in Wilhelmsaue village on October 9, 2015 near Letschin, Germany. Mohamed and Autur live at an asylum-applicants' shelter in nearby Vossberg village. Approximately 60 asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Chechnya and Somalia, live at the Vossberg shelter, which is run by the Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB) charity Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Mohamed Ali Hussein ((L), 19, and his cousin Sinjar Hussein, 34, sweep leaves at a cemetery in Gieshof village, for which they receive a small allowance, near Letschin Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Mohamed Zayat, a refugee from Syria, looks among donated clothing in the basement of the asylum-seekers' shelter that is home to Mohamed, his wife Laloosh and their daughter Ranim as residents' laundry dries behind in Vossberg village on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. The Zayats arrived approximately two months ago after trekking through Turkey, Greece and the Balkans and are now waiting for local authorities to process their asylum application, after which they will be allowed to live independently and settle elsewhere in Germany Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Asya Sugaipova (L), Mohza Mukayeva and Khadra Zhukova prepare food in the communal kitchen at the asylum-seekers' shelter that is their home in Vossberg village in Letschin Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Efrah Abdullahi Ahmed looks down from the communal kitchen window at her daughter Sumaya, 10, who had just returned from school, at the asylum-seekers' shelter that is their home in Vossberg Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Asylum-applicants, including Syrians Mohamed Ali Hussein (C-R, in black jacket) and Fadi Almasalmeh (C), return from grocery shopping with other refugees to the asylum-applicants' shelter that is their home in Vossberg village in Letschin Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Mohamed Zayat (2nd from L), a refugee from Syria, smokes a cigarette after shopping for groceries with his daughter Ranim, who is nearly 3, and fellow-Syrian refugees Mohamed Ali Hussein (C) and Fadi Almasalmeh (L) at a local supermarket on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. All of them live at an asylum-seekers' shelter in nearby Vossberg village and are waiting for local authorities to process their asylum applications, after which they will be allowed to live independently and settle elsewhere in Germany 2015 Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Kurdish Syrian refugees Leila, 9, carries her sister Avin, 1, in the backyard at the asylum-seekers' shelter that is home to them and their family in Vossberg village in Letschin Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Somali refugees and husband and wife Said Ahmed Gure (R) and Ayaan Gure pose with their infant son Muzammili, who was born in Germany, in the room they share at an asylum-seekers' shelter in Vossberg village on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. Approximately 60 asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Chechnya and Somalia, live at the Vossberg shelter, which is run by the Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB) charity, and are waiting for authorities to process their application for asylum 2015 Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany German Chancellor Angela Merkel pauses for a selfie with a refugee after she visited the AWO Refugium Askanierring shelter for refugees in Berlin Getty Images

The elections are certain to benefit the recently formed, xenophobic and populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. which is on course to secure the biggest political gains by a far-right organisation since 1945. It recently advocated shooting illegal refugees at Germanys borders and could win up to 20 per cent of the vote in the east.

Current opinion polls show that more than 80 per cent of Germans think Ms Merkels government has lost control of the refugee crisis. And, as neighbouring Austria and the Balkan countries close their borders to refugees, there is a growing chorus of German conservatives who want to do the same. Yet Ms Merkel went on national television last week to insist that she was not for turning.

Anti-Merkel sentiment was palpable in Bad Kreuznach as soon as the Chancellor broached the subject of refugees. We want to tangibly reduce the numbers entering. The question is, how are we going to do this on a sustainable basis? she asked her supporters. We have to deal with the cause of what makes refugees flee! was her answer, to feeble applause.

Ms Merkel set out how her government hopes to use Mondays EU-Turkey summit to enlist Ankaras help to hold back the refugee tide in return for billions in EU cash. But for many of her supporters, that would be too little too late. Merkel has gone too far with the refugees, she has bitten off more than we can chew and frankly I fear for Germanys future, said Bernd Kassmann, a retired shop owner in his 70s. Im not voting for her again. I may even vote for the AfD. At least they have a clear view on the refugee problem.

 Conditions deteriorate amid chaos at Greek refugee camp

The Christian Democrats are said to be losing up to 3,200 members a month because of dissatisfaction over the refugee issue. Dozens of local party officials, whose towns and villages have had to cope with a large migrant influx, have deluged Ms Merkel with protest letters.

In the Rhineland Palatinate and Baden-Wurttemberg, the partys state branches were reportedly reluctant for Ms Merkel to campaign because her stance might deter voters. At several rallies, angry opponents have chanted Merkel must go. In eastern Germany, where the xenophobic AfD is strongest, she has only one appearance booked.

More embarrassing was Ms Merkels encounter with Julia Klockner, her partys leader in Rhineland Pfalz - a protege of the Chancellor who has been tipped as a possible Merkel successor. Only 10 days ago she directly challenged Ms Merkel by insisting that German border closures should not be ruled out. This week, with Ms Merkel standing beside her, she carefully avoided the issue.

One key to Ms Merkels future is held by her staunch critic, Horst Seehofer, who is both Prime Minister of Bavaria and head of the states conservative Christian Social Union party, a key member of Germanys ruling coalition in Berlin. Mr Seehofer sees conservative support evaporating and wants Germany to close its border if necessary.

If Ms Merkel fails to secure a refugee deal with Turkey on Monday, and severe conservative losses follow next weekend, Mr Seehofer may carry out his threat to take the government to the countrys constitutional court for failing to protect national borders. Such a move might torpedo Germanys coalition government and topple Ms Merkel as Chancellor with it,
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The European Union has pushed Turkey to stop the stream of refugees from war-torn Syria and Iraq, while warning that the return of internal borders to Europe could cost 1.4trn over 10 years.

The new move to resolve the refugee crisis came ahead of Mondays emergency EU summit with Turkey in Brussels. New official figures released showed that 1.26 million asylum seekers registered for protection in the EU last year, more than double the 2014 total, and leaders are under intense political pressure to show they can restore control over their borders.

European Council President Donald Tusk was upbeat about the prospects of a deal. For the first time since the beginning of the migration crisis, I can see a European consensus emerging, he said in his summit invitation letter to fellow EU leaders.

Mr Tusk, who will chair the summit, was in Ankara seeking to persuade Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to stop refugees from heading to Europe by cracking down on people smuggling and accepting the return of migrants who do not qualify for asylum. He urged Mr Erdogan to enforce last Novembers 3bn deal to help Turkey cope with 2.5 million Syrian refugees.

At the same time, the European Commission warned that the permanent collapse of Europes passport-free Schengen zone and the return of border controls could cost between 5 and 18bn a year, equivalent to 0.05 to 0.13 per cent of EU economic output. It wants to restore the Schengen zone fully by December, with the roll-out of a new EU border and coast guard. We cannot have free movement internally if we cannot manage our external borders effectively, EU migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said.

The EU statistics agency revealed yesterday that of the 1.26 million asylum requests made in the EU last year, 662,535  53 per cent  were from Syrians, Afghans or Iraqis. The rest were other nationalities not automatically regarded as likely to need asylum. Some 35.2 per cent were submitted in Germany, followed by 14 per cent in Hungary, and 12 per cent in Sweden. Just 3.1 per cent were made in the UK.
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Nadiya Savchenko, the helicopter pilot accused of killing Russian journalists during fierce fighting in Ukraines restive east, had expected to be allowed to speak one last time at the end of what her lawyers described as a show trial.

Instead, she was silenced and vowed, immediately, to go on hunger strike after being denied her closing statement at the end of a trial widely viewed as politically motivated. Ms Savchenko appeared furious after her statement was refused, despite 90 minutes remaining of what is expected to be her last full day in court.

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In a cramped courtroom in Russias southern Rostov region, Ms Savchenko announced her protest. Our first priority now is to convince Nadiya not to go on full hunger strike, one of Ms Savchenkos defence lawyers, Nikolay Polozov, told The Independent. A person can survive only between three and five days on full hunger strike.

Ms Savchenko, who has been in Russian custody since June 2014, has denied charges that she directed the artillery fire that led to the death of two Russian journalists in east Ukraine. She also denies illegally crossing the border into Russia. Ms Savchenko says she was captured by separatists while fighting, after which she was dragged across the border where she appeared in police custody six days later.

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Defiant on the penultimate trial day on Wednesday, Ms Savchenko told the judge not to wait to deliver the 23-year prison sentence prosecutors are seeking, a sentence that has been decided long ago from the very top, she said.

Dressed in traditional Ukrainian dress, the 34-year-old Ms Savchenko, who is the first female military pilot in Ukraine since the end of the Soviet Union, launched an attack on Russias state organs for their alleged abuse of power. Ms Savchenko said: I am an officer of the Ukrainian military forces. I have every right to defend my land  it is my duty. You have no right to judge me.

Mr Polozov said that a guilty verdict had already been decided by Russias Presidential administration, which has wielded the case as a tool to serve Russias political interests. A political case like this one is not decided by the courts, he said. Of course, the verdict will be a guilty one, and that decision will have come, without a shadow of a doubt, from the Kremlin.

Recommended Read more Forgotten victims of the war in east Ukraine speak out

The prosecution claims that, motivated by hatred and hostility, Ms Savchenko acted as a spotter while fighting against separatists in east Ukraines Luhansk region. They say she directed artillery fire from a Ukrainian volunteer battalion to the two journalists who were from Russias state-owned VGTRK television holding.

But Ms Savchenkos lawyers argue that telephone records obtained during the course of the investigation prove her innocence. The documents, they say, show that Ms Savchenko was captured at 10:30am the day the two journalists were killed, a full hour before the start of the mortar fire which caused their death.

Ms Savchenko has become a symbol of struggle against Russian aggression in Ukraine. In October 2014, Ms Savchenko was elected to the Ukrainian parliament and serves in absentia as a Ukrainian delegate to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
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An image of two men holding their newborn baby just after his birth is being used by an Irish politician as part of a campaign against same-sex surrogacy without the permission of the two fathers or the photographer.

Right-wing Irish independent candidate Mary Fitzgibbon, who ran in Kerry in Februarys Irish general election, shared the image three times on social media.

The photo was shared on Ms Fitzgibbons official Facebook page on 12 February, two weeks before the Irish general election, along with the hashtag #no2surrogacy.

She also shared the photo on Twitter in the run-up to the election on 15 February with the caption: We must reaffirm the right of the child to grow up and be loved where possible by their own mother and father.

Irish newspaper The Journal reports that Ms Fitzgibbon had also shared the photo on Twitter during the run-up to the Irish same-sex marriage referendum in May, along with the caption: a motherless child is the prize  the buying of children.

The image, taken by Lindsay Foster, depicts Canadian couple Frank Nelson and BJ Barone.

Ms Foster told The Journal that she objected to the image being misrepresented for something I dont believe in.

She said that she was saddened to know that an image that shouts love from the rooftops is being used so negatively by a political candidate.

Mr Barone responded to Ms Fitzgibbon on social media, encouraging other same-sex couples to tweet the Irish politician photos of their families along with the hashtag #WeAreFamily.

He has encouraged others to share Ms Fosters photo to show the world that love has no boundaries.

Ms Fitzgibbon has been approached for comment.
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A Turkish court has sentenced two Syrians to four years in prison over the death of three-year-old refugee Aylan Kurdi, state media reports.

Muwafaka Alabash and Asem Alfrhad were convicted of human trafficking but acquitted of the charge of causing the deaths through deliberate negligence.

They were put on trial charged with causing the deaths of five people, including Aylan, whose body washed up on a beach in Turkey last year.

Aylan was travelling with his father, mother and brother from Bodrum in Turkey to the Greek island of Kos when their boat capsized.

Images of the small boy lying face down on the beach galvanised a huge reaction to the refugee crisis.

Refugee crisis - in pictures Show all 27 1 /27 Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugee crisis - in pictures A child looks through the fence at the Moria detention camp for migrants and refugees at the island of Lesbos on May 24, 2016. AFP/Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Ahmad Zarour, 32, from Syria, reacts after his rescue by MOAS (Migrant Offshore Aid Station) while attempting to reach the Greek island of Agathonisi, Dodecanese, southeastern Agean Sea Refugee crisis - in pictures Syrian migrants holding life vests gather onto a pebble beach in the Yesil liman district of Canakkale, northwestern Turkey, after being stopped by Turkish police in their attempt to reach the Greek island of Lesbos on 29 January 2016. Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees flash the 'V for victory' sign during a demonstration as they block the Greek-Macedonian border Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants have been braving sub zero temperatures as they cross the border from Macedonia into Serbia. Refugee crisis - in pictures A sinking boat is seen behind a Turkish gendarme off the coast of Canakkale's Bademli district on January 30, 2016. At least 33 migrants drowned on January 30 when their boat sank in the Aegean Sea while trying to cross from Turkey to Greece. Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A general view of a shelter for migrants inside a hangar of the former Tempelhof airport in Berlin, Germany Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees protest behind a fence against restrictions limiting passage at the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija. Since last week, Macedonia has restricted passage to northern Europe to only Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans who are considered war refugees. All other nationalities are deemed economic migrants and told to turn back. Macedonia has finished building a fence on its frontier with Greece becoming the latest country in Europe to build a border barrier aimed at checking the flow of refugees Refugee crisis - in pictures A father and his child wait after being caught by Turkish gendarme on 27 January 2016 at Canakkale's Kucukkuyu district Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants make hand signals as they arrive into the southern Spanish port of Malaga on 27 January, 2016 after an inflatable boat carrying 55 Africans, seven of them women and six chidren, was rescued by the Spanish coast guard off the Spanish coast. Refugee crisis - in pictures A refugee holds two children as dozens arrive on an overcrowded boat on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugee crisis - in pictures A child, covered by emergency blankets, reacts as she arrives, with other refugees and migrants, on the Greek island of Lesbos, At least five migrants including three children, died after four boats sank between Turkey and Greece, as rescue workers searched the sea for dozens more, the Greek coastguard said Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants wait under outside the Moria registration camp on the Lesbos. Over 400,000 people have landed on Greek islands from neighbouring Turkey since the beginning of the year Refugee crisis - in pictures The bodies of Christian refugees are buried separately from Muslim refugees at the Agios Panteleimonas cemetery in Mytilene, Lesbos Refugee crisis - in pictures Macedonian police officers control a crowd of refugees as they prepare to enter a camp after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A refugee tries to force the entry to a camp as Macedonian police officers control a crowd after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees are seen aboard a Turkish fishing boat as they arrive on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing a part of the Aegean Sea from the Turkish coast to Lesbos Reuters Refugee crisis - in pictures An elderly woman sings a lullaby to baby on a beach after arriving with other refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A man collapses as refugees make land from an overloaded rubber dinghy after crossing the Aegean see from Turkey, at the island of Lesbos EPA Refugee crisis - in pictures A girl reacts as refugees arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees make a show of hands as they queue after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures People help a wheelchair user board a train with others, heading towards Serbia, at the transit camp for refugees near the southern Macedonian town of Gevgelija AP Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees board a train, after crossing the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija. Macedonia is a key transit country in the Balkans migration route into the EU, with thousands of asylum seekers - many of them from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia - entering the country every day Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures An aerial picture shows the "New Jungle" refugee camp where some 3,500 people live while they attempt to enter Britain, near the port of Calais, northern France Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A Syrian girl reacts as she helped by a volunteer upon her arrival from Turkey on the Greek island of Lesbos, after having crossed the Aegean Sea EPA Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Beds ready for use for migrants and refugees are prepared at a processing center on January 27, 2016 in Passau, Germany. The flow of migrants arriving in Passau has dropped to between 500 and 1,000 per day, down significantly from last November, when in the same region up to 6,000 migrants were arriving daily.

Aylan and his family fled the northern Syrian town of Kobani, which was periodically besieged by Isis militants throughout 2014 and 2015.

After living in Turkey with the hope of returning to their hometown, the family made two failed attempts to travel through Europe to Canada, where Aylan's aunt lived in Vancouver.

The crossing, which killed all of the family except Aylan's father, Abdullah Kurdi, was their third attempt.

Mr Kurdi said the family paid a combined 4,000 (2,900) to people smugglers for places on a small dinghy.

The family began crossing at night, but when the sea became too rough for the vessel, the people smuggler's allegedly abandoned it, leaving the passengers to try and steer it on their own.

The boat soon capsized, throwing the refugees into the sea.

When the images of Aylan began circulating on social media on 2 September last year, The Independent took the editorial decision to publish the pictures in full.

The campaign which followed helped force the Government to do more to help Syrian refugees. Five days later, David Cameron announced 20,000 more places would be found.
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There would be no Isis if we had not invaded Iraq, a former military advisor to the US has said while warning that al-Qaeda is also on the rise once more.

David Kilcullen, who was once reprimanded by Condoleezza Rice for calling the Iraq War f****** stupid, was seconded to the US Department of Defence in 2004 and fulfilled various roles for the American government and Nato for the next six years.

Formerly a Lieutenant Colonel in the Australian Army, he became Americas Chief Strategist in the Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism to formulate counter-insurgency strategies in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa and South East Asia.

Now running his own consultancy, he has written a book, Blood Year, charting the rise of Isis and the failures of the war on terrorism.

The environment that we find ourselves in now is almost undeniably worse than it was at the beginning of the war on terror in 2001, Lt Col Kilcullen told Channel 4 News.

Recommended Read more Fall of Mosul to Isis should not have surprised the Iraqi government

We have to recognise that a lot of the problem is of our own making.

He described the 2003 Iraq invasion as the biggest strategic screw-up since the invasion of Russia by Hitler in 1941 and said the situation was worsened by a failure to consolidate the political process during withdrawal eight years later.

There undeniably would be no Isis if we had not invaded Iraq, he added, saying the West had also failed to react in a significant way to the violence that started in Syria following the 2011 Arab Spring and the complete breakdown of order in Libya following Natos intervention in the same year.

Timeline: The emergence of Isis Show all 40 1 /40 Timeline: The emergence of Isis Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2000 Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (pictured here) forms an al-Qaeda splinter group in Iraq, al-Qaeda in Iraq. Its brutality from the beginning alienates Iraqis and many al-Qaeda leaders. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2006 Al-Zarqawi is killed in a U.S. strike. Al-Zarqawis successor, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, announces the creation of the Islamic State in Iraq (ISI). Reuters Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2009 Still al-Qaeda-linked ISI claims responsibility for suicide bombings that killed 155 in Baghdad, as well as attacks in August and October killing 240, as President Obama announces troop withdrawal from Iraq in March. Getty Images Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2010 Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi becomes head of ISI, at lowest ebb of Islamist militancy in Iraq, which sees last U.S. combat brigade depart. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2012 In Syria, protests (pictured here starting in Daree) have morphed into what president Assad labelled a real war with emergence of a coalition of forces opposed to Assads regime. Syria group Jabhat al-Nusra are among rebel groups who refuse to join, denouncing it as a conspiracy. Bombings targeting Shia areas, killing more than 500 people, spark fears of new sectarian conflict. Sunni Muslims stage protests across country against what they see as increasingly marginalisation by Shia-led government. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2013 Al-Baghdadi renames ISI as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or Isis, as the group absorbs Syrian al-Nusra, gaining a foothold in Syria. In response, al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri (Bin Ladens successor) concerned about Isis expansion orders that Isis be dissolved and ISI operations should be confined to Iraq. This order is rejected by al-Baghdadi. AFP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - January Isis fighters capture the Iraqi cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, giving them base to launch slew of attacks further south. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - June Isis declares itself the Caliphate, calling itself Islamic State (IS). The group captures Mosul, Iraqs second largest city; Tal Afar, just 93 miles from Syrian border; and the central Iraqi city of Tikrit. These advances sent shockwaves around the world. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - June Around the same time Isis releases a video calling for western Muslims to join the Caliphate and fight, prompting new evaluations of extremists groups social media understanding. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - June Isis take Baiji oil fields in Iraq - giving them access to huge amounts of possible revenue. EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - August James Foley is executed by the group as concerns grow for second American prisoner, fellow reporter Steven Sotloff. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - August Obama authorises U.S. airstrikes in Iraq, helping to stall Isis along with action by Kurdish forces following the deaths of hundreds of Yazidi people on Mount Sinjar. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Isis release video showing Steven Sotloffs murder prompting Western speculation his executioner is same man who killed Mr Foley. EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Obama tells us that America will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Isis release a video appearing to show David Haines, who was captured by militants in Syria in 2013, wearing an orange jumpsuit and kneeling in the desert while he reads a pre-prepared script. It later shows what appears to be the aid worker's body. Rex Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Peshmerga fighters scrabble to hold positions in the Diyala province (a gateway to Baghdad) as Isis fighters continue to advance on Iraqi capital. AFP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - October Aid worker Alan Henning is killed. Self-imposed media blackout refuses to show images of him in final moments, instead focuses upon humanitarian care. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - October Isis raise their flag in Kobani, which had been strongly defended by Kurdish troops. The victory goes against hopeful western analysis Isis had overextended itself, while alienating much of the Muslim population through the murder of Henning. Victory causes fresh waves of Kurdish refugees arriving in Turkey. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - November American hostage, who embarced values of Islam, Peter Kassig and 14 Syrian soldiers are shown meeting the same fate as other captives. But intelligence agencies will be poring over the apparently significant discrepancies between this and previous films. Seramedig.org.uk Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February Isis has released a video revealing the murder by burning to death of a Jordanian pilot held by the group since the end of December 2014. Reuters Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February Isis militants have released videos which appear to show the beheading of Japanese hostages Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February American aid worker, Kayla Mueller was the last American hostage known to be held by Isis. She died, according to her captors, in an airstrike by the Jordanian air force on the city of Raqqa in Syria, though US authorities disputed this. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February Isis militants have posted a gruesome video online in which they force 21 Egyptian Coptic Christian hostages to kneel on a beach in Libya before beheading them. Egypt vowed to avenge the beheading and launched air strikes on Isis positions. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February The British Isis militant suspected of appearing in videos showing the beheading of Western hostages has been named in reports as Mohammed Emwazi from London. Rex Features Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - March Isis triple suicide attack has killed more than 100 worshippers and hundreds of others were injured after the group members targeted two mosques in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - April Iraqi forces have claimed victory over Isis in battle for Tikrit and raised the flag in the city. EPA/STR Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - April Isis has claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan that killed at least 35 people queuing to collect their wages and injured 100 more. EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - April Isis media arm released a 29-minute video purporting to show militants executing Ethiopian Christians captives. The footage bore the extremist groups al-Furqan media logo and showed the destruction of churches and desecration of religious symbols. A masked fighter made a statement threatening Christians who did not convert to Islam or pay a special tax. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Isis has been "incapacitated" by a spinal injuries sustained in a US air strike in Iraq. He is being treated in a hideout by two doctors from Isis stronghold of Mosul who are said to be "strong ideological supporters of the group". Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isis has also claimed responsibility for killing 300 of Yazidi captives, including women, children and elderly people in Iraq AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isis attack on Prophet Mohamed cartoon contest in Texas was its first action on US soil. Two gunmen were shot and killed after launching the attack at the exhibition. Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi have been named as the attackers at the Curtis Culwell Centre arena in Garland. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isiss deputy leader, Abu Alaa Afri, a former physics teacher who was thought to have taken charge of the deadly terrorist group, has been killed in a US-led coalition airstrike. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May US special forces have killed a senior Isis leader named as Abu Sayyaf in an operation aiming to capture him and his wife in Syria. Getty Images Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Iran-backed militias are sent to Ramadi by the Iraqi government to fight Isis militants who completed their capture of the city. Government soldiers and civilians were reportedly massacred by extremists as they took control and the army fled. Charred bodies were left littering the city streets as troops clung on to trucks speeding away from the city. Ramadi is the latest government stronghold to fall to the so-called Islamic State, despite air strikes by a US-led international coalition aiming to stop its advance in Iraq and Syria. AFP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isis rounded up civilians trapped in Palmyra and forced them to watch 20 people being executed in the historic citys ancient amphitheatre. The Unesco World Heritage site was overrun by militants, threatening the future of 2,000 year-old monuments and ruins. Thousands of Palmyras residents fled but many are still living within the city walls, while the UN human rights office in Geneva said it had received reports of Syrian government forces preventing people from leaving until they retreated from the city. Getty Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May A group of Isis-affiliated fighters have captured a key airport in central Libya. The militants took control of the al-Qardabiya airbase in Sirte after a local militia tasked with defending the facility withdrew from their positions. Affiliates of Isis, already control large parts of Sirte, the birthplace of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and a former stronghold of his supporters. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June The US Air Force has destroyed an Isis stronghold after an extremist let slip their location on social media. According the Air Force Times, General Herbert "Hawk" Carlisle, commander of Air Combat Command, said that Airmen at Hulburt Field, Florida, used images shared by jihadists to track the location of their headquarters before destroying it in an airstrike. Reuters Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June Kurdish forces captured a key military base in a significant victory in Raqqa as well as town of Tell Abyad. YPG fighters, backed by US-led airstrikes and other rebels, consolidated their gains, when they seized the key town on the Syria-Turkey border. They are now just 30 miles to the north of Raqqa and have cut off a major supply route deep inside Isis-held territory. Ahmet Silk/Getty Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June Isis has released gruesome footage claiming to show the murder of more than a dozen men by drowning, decapitation and using a rocket-propelled grenade as it seeks to boost morale among its fanatical supporters. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June Isis has begun carrying out its threat to destroy structures in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, blowing up at least two monuments at the Unesco-protected site as Syrian government troops made advances on the Islamists positions. AFP

Lt Col Kilcullen said that the so-called Islamic State was not the only terrorist group continuing to thrive, listing a resurgent al-Qaeda, the Taliban and a whole new collection of Isis affiliates across South East Asia.

We now face not one but two global terrorist organisations in an environment thats much less stable and much more fragmented than it was in 2001, he added.

The military adviser accused the US and European allies of concocting a recipe for failure with a mismatch between the goals to obliterate Isis and overthrow Bashar al-Assad, and the resources they are willing to provide.

He called on governments to act to minimise deaths in Syria and elsewhere, even if it means compromising on previously stated aims, and warned that the situation in Afghanistan and Libya was likely to worsen this year.

Jabhat al-Nusra (pictured) was set up as an offshoot of Isis but the groups split in 2013 when Isis defected from al-Qaeda (AFP/Getty)

Isis originates in a group founded by Jordanian extremist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi - Jamaat al-Tawhid wal-Jihad (the Party of Monotheism and Jihad  which achieved notoriety during the early Iraqi insurgency for an unprecedented wave of suicide bombings and beheadings.

The group pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden in 2004 and changed its name to al-Qaeda in Iraq before Zarqawi was killed in 2006, when his members emerged with other insurgent groups to form the Islamic State of Iraq.

Its initial leaders, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub al-Masri were killed in a joint US-Iraqi operation in 2010, clearing the way for the current caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Still affiliated with al-Qaeda, it spread into Syria following the outbreak of the countrys civil war in 2011 under the name Jabhat al-Nusra, which still exists as a rival group.

But in-fighting between the Iraqi and Syrian factions after a botched merger attempt in 2013 and the group, known as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) or Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis) was cut off by al-Qaeda.

Scenes of destruction in Mosul soon after Isis seized power in June 2014 (Reuters)

Its membership had been growing over years of prison raids freeing Islamist militants, while leadership was strengthened with the addition of military and intelligence officers who served under Saddam Hussein.

Isis already held several towns and swathes of territory across Iraq and Syria but did not come to international attention until it captured Mosul, sparking the declaration of a state of emergency by the Iraqi government as soldiers fled their posts.

The groups subsequent advance and international expansion, marked by waves of brutal executions and terror attacks, has been well-documented.

As well as international bombing campaigns in Iraq and Syria, the US-led coalition is attempting to throttle Isis revenue streams and resources.
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The South African university which was forced to close after protesters torched buildings and vehicles in a row over the unconstitutional removal of the democratically elected student council has announced it will reopen later in March.

Administrators at the Mafikeng Campus at North-West University (NWU) in the city of Potchefstroom said a recent senate meeting decided the campus will be open again for classes on 29 March, with students able to move back into their residences on the 28th.

Staff members have already returned to work as of 29 February, said campus spokesman Koos Degenaar.

Recommended Read more University closes after student protesters set fire to buildings

In a statement, Mr Degenaar added: The month ahead will allow for enough time for the physical clean-up of the campus and also for the situation to normalise to such an extent that everyone would be able to proceed with their academic year in a stable environment.

The announcement has come after the institution took action to close the campus indefinitely last month after widespread fire damage to various buildings on the campus on 24 February.

As chaotic scenes surfaced on Twitter, students were advised to leave the campus immediately for their own safety and return home, as the university said it was likely to take a considerable period of time to restore operations. Mr Degenaar had said students would be given at least a months notice of the re-opening of the campus.

Trouble had began at Mafikeng after university heads alleged a group known as the Economic Freedom Fighters Students Command (EFF) - along with supporters of the dissolved Student Representative Council (SRC) - disrupted an event which saw the inauguration of the newly-appointed Campus Student Representative Council (CSRC).

EFF later said in a statement: NWU management has no-one to blame but themselves. Following the unrest protest in the institution, we must say they have invited anarchy when it was not necessary. They have arrogantly and unconstitutionally removed the democratically elected SRC from office.

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

Former SRC president Linda Benz Mabengwane - whose suspension reportedly ignited the protests - was then informed by the institution he was to be suspended from NWU for a period of three years and that all other higher education institutions throughout South Africa would be informed.

NWU had said Mr Mabengwane was found guilty of disrupting Mafikengs registration process, assaulting a fellow student, wilfully bringing the name of the university into disrepute by interfering with the rights of co-students during registration, interfering with Mafikengs managerial functions, and engaging with the media on topics that were designed to bring the NWU into disrepute.

According to the countrys IOL news site, Mr Mabengwane said he would be appealing the decision in court within the stipulated five working days, and said: We will follow all internal processes.

In the meantime, however, announcing how NWU would be making up for students lost time, Mr Degenaar said: The March/April recess will be shortened by one week, the test week will be held during normal teaching periods, and there will be classes on Saturdays.

This will ensure enough time will be recovered so that the first semester examination can start as scheduled.

The spokesman insisted managements new arrangements would be in the best interest of everybody and would ensure the university is able to undertake all academic activities of the first semester, and the 2015/16 academic year, as scheduled.

He concluded: It is unfortunate that staff members and thousands of innocent students and their parents were affected by the totally irresponsible behaviour and criminal acts of a small group of students, supported by external elements.

We appreciate your understanding and support in this regard.
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Canada has become the latest country to make an embarrassing U-turn over an e-borders scheme, after IT issues threatened to wreck British holidaymakers plans.

For the past six months, travellers have been told: Starting March 15, 2016, visa-exempt foreign nationals who fly to or transit through Canada will need an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA).

The government in Ottawa has devised a scheme that mirrors the US Esta programme, though with less onerous demands for information, and validity of five years, not two.

However, as with the early days of the Esta, the system has hit serious teething problems. A number of prospective British visitors have contacted i to say that their applications have been inexplicably delayed or rejected  jeopardising their plans for Easter holidays in Canada.

Canadas government does not allow visitors who are considered a security risk, or convicted of a serious crime, or with financial or health problems.

Travel Photo of the Year: The winning entries Show all 8 1 /8 Travel Photo of the Year: The winning entries Travel Photo of the Year: The winning entries Winners: Landscape category - Jurassic Coast (Dorset, UK) by Tony Cowburn Tony Cowburn Travel Photo of the Year: The winning entries Winner: Icon category - Tiger's Nest (Paro Valley, Bhutan) by Kasia Nowak Kasia Nowak Travel Photo of the Year: The winning entries Winner: People category - Reflections (S-21 Prison, Phnom Penh, Cambodia) by Charlotte Currie Charlotte Currie Travel Photo of the Year: The winning entries Winner: Wildlife category - Escape! (Tanzania) by Vittorio Ricci Travel Photo of the Year: The winning entries Runners-up: Icon - Snow Time (Westminster Bridge, London) by Ron Tear Ron Tear Travel Photo of the Year: The winning entries Runner-up: Wildlife - Momentary (Bucks, UK) by Porsupah Ree Porsupah Ree Travel Photo of the Year: The winning entries Runner-up: Landscape - Polar Bear Landscape (Wrangel Island, Russia) by Gunther Riehle Travel Photo of the Year: The winning entries Runner-up: People - Let Sleeping Sikhs Lie (Amritsar, India) by Allan Dransfield Allan Dransfield

But one reader told i: My daughter has been waiting over two weeks for approval. Her daughter and partner were approved straight away. There are no reasons why my daughter shouldn't be approved. For example she has a travel visa for the US. It seems its just a hitch.

As a result of the systems shortcomings, the insistence on an eTA has been deferred for six months.

The government now says: From March 15, 2016 until Fall 2016, travellers who do not have an eTA can board their flight, as long as they have appropriate travel documents, such as a valid passport.

During this time, border services officers can let travellers arriving without an eTA into the country, as long as they meet the other requirements to enter Canada.

It is not clear what steps the government in Ottawa is taking to alert airlines to the change in policy and avoid British passengers being wrongfully denied boarding on flights to Canada.

The national borders are a subject of considerable controversy in Canada, after more than 25,000 Syrian refugees were resettled in the country  a policy championed by the prime minister, Justin Trudeau.

See bit.ly/CanIfly for more information
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Fendi Private Suites, Rome

Fendi is the latest of Italy's luxury fashion houses to check in to the hotel business. In this case, fashionistas can slip between the sheets of seven newly opened suites on the third floor of the Palazzo Fendi, overlooking Largo Carlo Goldini, near Rome's Spanish Steps. The elaborate 17th-century palazzo once belonged to the aristocratic Ludovisi Boncompani family and has been home to the label's flagship store for 11 years. Each of the suites, designed by architect Marco Constanzi, has been given a Fendi makeover, complete with coloured marble, Gio Ponti mirrors and custom-made furniture from the Fendi Casa line.

Palazzo Fendi, via della Fontanella Borghese 48, Rome, Italy (00 39 06 977 980 80; fendiprivatesuites.com). Doubles start at 500, room only.

Palazzo Versace, Dubai

Palazzo Versace, Dubai

Versace is not known for understatement, and the same could be said for its hotels. It's a case of bring on the bling at its latest outpost at Dubai Creek in the emirate's Cultural Quarter. The hotel is built to resemble a 16th-century Neoclassical palazzo, with a large mosaic of the brand's Medusa logo, created using 800,000 pebbles, greeting guests from the centre of the driveway. There are 215 rooms, five restaurants and the first Qs Bar, from music legend Quincy Jones.

Culture Village, Al Jadaf, Dubai, UAE (00 971 4556 8888; palazzoversace.ae). Doubles from 575, room only.

Bulgari Hotel, London

Bulgari Hotel, London

Founded in the 1880s in Rome, the house of Bulgari extends beyond jewellery these days. After outposts in Milan and Bali, the third Bulgari Hotel opened in 2014, in London's upmarket Knightsbridge area, overlooking Hyde Park. Designed by Italian architect Antonio Citterio, its 85 rooms are sleek and sophisticated. One stand-out feature is the luxurious, subterranean spa with a mosaic-clad lap pool. Next up are hotels in Shanghai, Dubai and Beijing.

171 Knightsbridge, London SW7 1DW (020 7151 1010; bulgarihotels.com). Doubles from 490, room only.

Hotel Jules Cesar, France (Phillipe Praliaud)

Hotel Jules Cesar, France

French designer Christian Lacroix has several successful Paris hotels, as well as the Jules Cesar, which opened in Arles two years ago. It's a riot of Lacroix's signature, colourful style married with the building's historic charm. The back story of this 17th-century Carmelite convent, inspired Lacroix, with some of the decor relating to previous guests, such as the monochrome hues of the cloister rooms intended to evoke the works of Pablo Picasso and Jean Cocteau.

9 Boulevard des Lices, Arles (00 33 4 90 52 52 52; hotel-julescesar.fr). Doubles from 150, room only.

Round Hill Hotel & Villas, Jamaica

Round Hill Hotel & Villas, Jamaica

One of America's most successful designers, Ralph Lauren, turned his eye to designing the 36 Oceanfront Suites at Jamaica's Round Hill Estate. Set on a peninsula overlooking Montego Bay, it was built in the Fifties as a colony of cottages for its jet-set visitors. It's one of the island's landmark places to stay and Lauren's classic style is the ideal complement, with breezy hues of white and blue with plantation-style touches such as louvred shutters and four-poster beds.

John Pringle Drive, Montego Bay, Jamaica (001 876 956 7650; roundhill.com). Doubles from $520 (371), room only.

The Pelican, Miami

The Pelican, Miami

Renzo Rosso, founder of the Italian clothing brand, Diesel, is known for his sense of fun. That philosophy extends to the brand's hospitality venture, the kitschily designed Pelican Hotel in Miami's South Beach. In the heart of the city's landmark Art Deco district, each of the 30 rooms has its own diverse decorative theme, whether it's the 1950s, Tarzan or the Wild West  with a heavy dose of humour.

826 Ocean Drive, Miami, Florida, USA (001 305 673 3373; pelicanhotel.com). Doubles from $300 (214), room only.
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It's not only the cabin air that's pressurised. Long before you board a flight, the uncertainties of 21st-century travel crank up the stress levels. Travel documents? Liquids in the right-size bottles? Delays on the way to the airport? Security  how long will the queue be, and how undignified will be the search?

Mix in fear of flying and temporarily unfulfilled nicotine addictions, and it's no wonder passengers are not in the sunniest of moods before they fly off to the Costa del Sol.

Some people reward themselves for successfully jumping the hurdles with a drink or two once "airside", during the indeterminate wait for their plane. But pre-flight alcohol makes the on-board emotional cocktail even more volatile.

Tap "Ryanair flight" into a search engine, and the first response is likely to be a Spanish travel agency, eDreams, which pays for its high position in order to lure passengers away from the official site of Europe's biggest airline.

Type "Ryanair fight" instead, and you find an array of news stories about the latest punch-up aboard a budget flight  FR2306 from Luton to Bratislava on 26 February. After an altercation broke out involving members of a stag party who had reportedly been drinking heavily before the flight, the Ryanair 737 diverted to Berlin where police removed six passengers.

Another passenger filmed the appalling on-board behaviour until he was ordered to stop by a member of the cabin crew. The aggression displayed would be scary enough if you happened to witness it in Luton High Street. But when threats are made and punches are thrown in a crowded and confined cylinder six miles above Germany, it becomes a lot more serious.

After 9/11 and the Germanwings tragedy a year ago  in which a suicidal pilot took control and crashed his plane into a mountain, killing 149 other people  airlines have strict protocols about opening the flight-deck door. But if cabin crew are trying to break up a fight at the back of the aircraft, those procedures may not work. "Unruly passenger incidents are a very real and serious threat to both safety and security," says Iata, the airlines' worldwide organisation.

A typical plane crash involves a chain of events that lead to tragedy  and one link could involve the flight crew's attention distracted because of a drink-fuelled brawl in the cabin.

Flagging the stags

Cabin crew are on the frontline when things kick off, and are obliged to maintain order in the cabin. So they profile passengers as they board. When you think you are being welcomed aboard at the aircraft door, in fact the crew are assessing your propensity for affray  and flagging the stags. While most groups of young males reeking of drink are merely boisterous and good humoured, trouble could be sparked by something as mild as a passenger asking them to tone down their language because children are on board. Once a scrap starts, in a confined cabin it can escalate quickly.

Some cabin crew say privately that they dread being rostered to destinations such as Bratislava, Krakow, Prague and the Baltic capitals. The likelihood of on-board quarrels is, they believe, in inverse proportion to the price of beer in the flight's destination.

 Ryanair backs staying in EU

The law is an asset

An Irish-registered plane flying from the UK to Slovakia which is forced to divert to Germany might sound a legal muddle. But the law is clear: doing anything that jeopardises the safety of the aircraft and the people on board is illegal.

All airlines warn passengers against disruptive behaviour. Ryanair says: "Customers who create a disturbance at check-in will not be permitted to board the aircraft by our ground staff and if a customer appears to behave in an unacceptable manner or become disruptive during a flight, they will be cautioned by the crew or captain and could be liable for further sanctions upon landing." Those sanctions go beyond a fine for fighting or disobeying crew instructions.

Every diversion triggers costs to the airline running into tens of thousands of pounds. It wouldn't take a super sleuth to track down those responsible and begin civil proceedings to recover the losses. The business affected  in this case Ryanair  knows a lot about the perpetrators, including their names and passport details. The law is an asset in the quest for safety: set an example, and future passengers might think twice about the consequences of their actions

Many airlines warn that they will pursue offenders for damages, but how serious are they?

I asked Ryanair how many aircraft were diverted last year due to unruly passengers; whether the airline tried to reclaim the costs of diversions; and whether those efforts proved successful?

The airline declined to say

I hope you never find yourself aboard a similar flight, but if you do then consider filming events  so long as it does not make matters worse. The more people who catch dangerous behaviour on camera the better. It will help convince the authorities to investigate properly such events, and persuade the airlines to take more care about who they allow on board their planes.
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Rio grand

Air Transat will fly to the Panamanian city of Rio Hato, on the Pacific Coast, from Toronto from 7 November, with connections from Gatwick, Glasgow and Manchester and the possibility of stopping over in Canada 's largest city. airtransat.com

Ferry good

National Ferry Fortnight kicks off this weekend, during which time a dozen UK ferry operators will be offering a range of discounts on the country's 75-plus routes to Ireland, France, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands, with an emphasis on rediscovering ferry travel. discoverferries.com

Train pain

Anyone travelling between central London and Heathrow this weekend should allow extra time. Signalling work means the Piccadilly Line is disconnected, while Heathrow Express trains have been withdrawn from service due to safety concerns. Heathrow Connect rolling stock is being used, but the number of trains running to and from Paddington has been cut. heathrowexpress.com

Chip check

From 1 April, all visitors to the US travelling under the Visa Waiver Program  which means the Esta scheme for most British holidaymakers  must have a passport with a biometric chip. Although these have been standard in the UK since October 2006, British passports issued earlier that year may not qualify. bit.ly/RulesUS

Go local

Escape the crowds with a new website that offers activities, tours and dinners hosted by locals. Available in Italy, London and Oxford, ZesTrip's hosts include professional tour guides and chefs, as well as keen amateurs. Prices start at 8. zestrip.net

Disney Worlds Magic Kingdom: Demand-based pricing (Getty)

Talking the Mickey?

Disney has introduced demand-based pricing at its two US theme parks in a bid to calm overcrowding. For example, Disney World's Magic Kingdom will rise from $105 for off-peak days to $124 for peak. Package prices from the UK will be unaffected. disneyworld.disney.go.com

Night fever

Tonight is Museums Night in Brussels; 24 of the Belgian capital's museums  including the bizarre Museum of Fantastic Art  are taking part in the annual event, which includes extended opening hours (until 1am), as well as DJs, workshops and live music. Tickets cost 10 to access all venues or 17 to include the after-party. museumnightfever.be

Celeb safari

Fans of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency can go on safari with the author of the novels. Alexander McCall Smith will lead Belmond's six-night trip to Botswana, where the books are set, in November. Taking in Chobe National Park and the Okavango Delta, the package starts at 5,704pp excluding flights. belmond.com
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Camping in France as a child was thrilling but terrifying.

I remember piling into my dad's car and heading to Le Havre. From there, we drove to a campsite in Brittany. We hadn't camped before, so it was very exotic. My siblings and I spent time catching lizards and messing around in our tents. A storm hit one night and we had to hunker down from the thunder and lightning.

Dublin is changing.

I grew up there and still visit regularly. My favourite neighbourhood to explore is Sandymouth, to the south-east of the city centre. It's very hip and cool and feels a little like New York, thanks to all the lovely cafes, pubs and restaurants. Take my advice and go for lunch at The Old Spot.

I'm not a good sailor.

Catching the car ferry to Ireland once was particularly bad. We could see the boats being thrown around in the harbour and the crossing itself was just awful. I think it took about six hours and everyone around us was being sick.

I'm plotting a trip to Cuba.

My son went last year and said I need to go soon before it changes too much, so I'm in the throes of planning a trip to Havana.

Japan was a total adventure.

We went about 10 years ago and the kids' eyes were popping out of their heads almost the entire time. We visited Tokyo and Kyoto and stayed in a colossal hotel, which was quite 1970s, with big aquariums filled with exotic fish. The best bit though was taking a cable car to the top of a mountain with geysers bubbling away below and watching locals boil eggs in the sulphuric springs, which came out of the water jet black.

Beach bliss: Orla loves St Martin's in the Isles of Scilly (Getty)

I love beaches, but not to lie there doing nothing.

I much prefer wrapping up in a woolly jumper and going for a long walk along a lovely beach somewhere. St Martin's in the Scilly Isles is one of my favourites.

Venice is pure magic.

It's particularly lovely during winter. I remember hearing the sirens going off in the night and looking out the window and seeing all these men in their waders hastily putting up the walkways as the city began to flood.

There's something to see around every corner in Iceland.

Mountains, glaciers, waterfalls, volcanoes. It was extraordinary. We spent 10 days driving around the country's ringroad and barely saw another car. We treated ourselves to some five-star luxury at the end of the trip by booking into Hotel Budir on the remote Snaefellsnes Peninsula, which Jules Verne wrote about in Journey to the Centre of the Earth.

Bologna surprised me.

I used to pass through en route to Florence and never gave it a second thought. But I decided to have a look around and was blown away. It's the most beautiful medieval city and the food is fantastic, but that's to be expected. What I loved was that it's a real Italian working city and not like a giant open-air museum.

Dinner in Paris was memorable.

We went to La Fontaine Gaillon, a restaurant owned by the actor Gerard Depardieu. The menu was quite seafood-heavy, but one of the party didn't eat fish and ordered the only meat option available, a classic French dish called Andouillette. We didn't know what it was, but it turned out to be pigs' intestines. She cut into it and this pungent stench flooded the table.

Fashion designer Orla Kiely has created a limited edition apron for Sport Relief 2016, available from HomeSense and TK Maxx
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What happened on Super Tuesday confirmed something amazing about modern democratic politics, the full implications of which voters and the media have been very slow to grasp: the old tribal allegiances are becoming redundant, and the main moral and intellectual divisions are within parties rather than between them.

In Britain and America, both main parties  what used to be called left and right  are split. That this is the condition of four political parties spanning the ideological spectrum and across two continents shows we are not in the realm of coincidence here. Something deeper is going on.

Donald Trump will soon be the Republican candidate. But his partys conservative establishment despises him and his worldview. The feeling is mutual. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton has just about stemmed a tide of support for Bernie Sanders, the radical socialist from Vermont.

Over here, Jeremy Corbyn, Sanders ideological bedfellow, leads a pathetically divided Labour Party. And in case you hadnt noticed, Conservative civil war has again broken out, over Europe. Before that, millions of previously Tory-inclined voters (and many Labour ones) flocked to Ukip, disgruntled by the alleged takeover of their party by a metropolitan elite.

Are there factors that can explain why the same thing is happening to such different political movements? My answer is: yes.

All successful parties are coalitions. Broadly speaking, most tend to be a coalition between richer, better educated, socially liberal types and poorer, less educated and more socially conservative types. This is a crass generalisation but it contains truth. For instance, Labour was always a mixture of unionised working classes and donnish leftists (often from north London). To acquire power, you have to hold these coalitions together. Tony Blair was expert at that.

But now the coalitions have been ripped asunder by the two massive economic forces spreading, virus-like, through the world: rapid globalisation (which includes high levels of migration) and technological innovation. This is destroying whole industries and all the old certainties about life. For poor people in the rich world, especially those who live in small towns unconnected to the new concentrations of capital, it is spreading fear and poverty.

The old divide was between left and right. The new divide is between winners and losers from globalisation and technology. In other words, between the well educated and the uneducated; the urban and the rural. Our political structures are hopelessly out of sync with this change. It may take a bloody rupture for them to catch up. Is that bloody rupture called President Trump?
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The recent passing of a new addition to the British statute books, which will come into effect on April 6th, is the latest in a long line of poorly drafted drug laws. The new law, to act in parallel with the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, effectively bans all substances  with the exception of alcohol, tobacco and caffeine  with a psychoactive effect on normal brain functioning. The awful irony of a UK government exempting two of the most individually and socially harmful substances has not been lost on concerned commentators.

So where exactly has this nonsensical law come from? How on earth have we got ourselves into this situation? And will it work? To answer that, its worth reflecting on the emergence of novel psychoactive substances (NPS), or so called legal highs.

New highs

In 2009, club drug researchers first heard talk of the stimulant NPS mephedrone or M-Cat at UK clubs and after parties. At that time, there was growing disillusionment among users with the purity of popular illegal club drugs  as one of our interviewees put it, there was a dire drug drought characterised by low purity MDMA tablets. As another interviewee claimed, there were no drugs in drugs anymore. Indeed, between 2007-2009, the MDMA content of pills plummeted, fake ecstasy pills containing the headache-inducing, banned substance benzylpiperazine (BZP) were rife, and cocaine purity dropped to less than 10%.

As a consequence, those drug-takers who could afford it, switched from ecstasy pills to purer MDMA crystal or powder. And by 2009, club goers  especially those in South Londons gay club scene  also began adding mephedrone to their polydrug repertoires, sometimes with tragic consequences (it is, after all, chemically similar to amphetamine).

Although mephedrone was banned in 2010 by the UK government, its use continues, especially among injecting drug users in poor communities. And there are now many other novel psychoactive substances, principally cheap stimulants and potent herbal smoking mixtures, such as Spice, which are available online, in so-called headshops, or from street dealers who are likely to pick up any business from those shut down by this new law.

One group of novel psychoactive substances which has received less media and academic attention are the benzodiazepine analogues (drugs similar to benzodiazepines or benzos). There were 372 fatalities in England and Wales involving benzodiazepines in 2014-15, up 8% on the previous year, and the highest number since records began in 1993 according to the Office for National Statistics.

There were also more than 10m prescriptions for benzodiazepines dispensed in England in 2014, with use not recommended to go beyond four weeks. Yet there are growing concerns about illicit supply through web-based sales. Long-term benzo users suffer both short and long-term harms and need medical support to get off these drugs.

Putting the genie back in the bottle

Certainly, novel psychoactive substances are the nasty genie that prohibition let out of the bottle. To get around the law, NPA chemists created analogues of existing drugs (such as MDMA, LSD and methamphetamine) that were tweaks to the chemical structure and hence entirely legal. And as soon as the law caught up with them, theyd just tweak their formulas again. The UK government, by passing this new legislation, is desperately trying to stuff this genie back inside, once and for all.

But it is unlikely to do any good. There is little or no provision for resources to enforce it, nor anything like sufficient funding for drug education, harm reduction, outreach, and mental health and drug treatment services to help people who may be in trouble with psychoactive substances, not least those in our prisons.

When it comes to taking drugs, at least we know about drugs such as cannabis, MDMA and cocaine  although we dont always know what some of them are cut with. Purity and availability of these traditional street drugs have returned to or exceeded pre-2007-2008 levels, although this may bring its own problems.

But at least we know something about the effects of these more familiar substances and can help people mitigate against possible harms. What is clear is that the human desire for intoxication, usually in the pursuit of pleasure, but sometimes at the cost of a persons health, wealth and even liberty, endures. Without a recognition that demand for psychoactive substances will not go away, banning all psychoactive substances wont work, just as it hasnt in the past.

Those who ignore history

Governments worldwide need to learn one crucial lesson from the emergence of NPS. Their emergence is directly related to global prohibition and the war on drugs we have been fighting for over 100 years, a war that has had few successes. Crucially, many concerned commentators continue to chronicle the harmful unintended consequences of prohibiting drugs.

Drug history is always useful in understanding drug presents and futures. This new law gives us more of the same, and so is unlikely to work if success is judged on producing a safer world for the many millions who continue to consume psychoactive substances.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
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Odd that in principle we care so much about the sanctity of private space, yet have so little regard for it in practice. In Pret a Manger modern Britain, where everyone who sells you a sandwich is your best pal, the concept of distance has gone the way of honorifics.

I have an agreement with Boots the Chemist that they collect my prescription from my doctor and text me when theyve dispensed it. I am not ungrateful. The system is efficient and convenient. But I find it intrusive  akin to having a stranger peering into my bedroom window  to be texted by someone I dont know. And the notification isnt business-like. No Dear Mr Jacobson, this is to inform you that your pills are ready for collection. We await your visit with eager apprehension and guarantee you our kind attention at all times. Yours faithfully, The Management. Instead, they call me Howard. Not even Howard, if we may be so bold, just plain, next-door neighbourish Howard. If I didnt delete so quickly Id probably discover a yellow smiley face wishing me a great weekend.

Complaining is out of the question. They wont understand the offence. And I dont want to hurt anybodys feelings. Besides, Im not sure its wise to mess with a dispenser of poisons. They could put anything in those pills the next time. Take 20 of these, 10 times a day on an empty stomach and a bottle of whisky. Sweet dreams, Howard. Accompanied by an emoticon of a dead man.

I wasnt born into a world in which people made free with Christian names. My friends and I, all of whom aspired to be novelists, addressed one another as Cher Maitre. At school I was Obson, and I doubted that anyone at Cambridge knew that Jews had Christian names. My bedmaker called me Sir (and just occasionally Naughty Boy); the college porters did the same, albeit with a snigger. F R Leavis called me Jacobson; my moral tutor called me Fagin; the Master called us men and the only girlfriend I ever had at Cambridge called me a name I cannot repeat here. Thus do the educated understand the importance of respecting distance.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA 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. 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City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. 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When we did not otherwise want to be addressed or disturbed we shut the double doors to our rooms. This was called sporting ones oak. And no one of any breeding knocked on a sported oak. You could be burning in your bed but still no fireman dared transgress against that code. A Cambridge man had the right to perish in inviolate privacy behind his oak. Whether this tradition still persists I have no idea, but I fear for it given that a friend who has a son at Trinity tells me his boy steals do-not-disturb signs from boutique hotels to hang on his college door. Not the old-fashioned signs politely requesting a little quiet, but the ones that say Up Yours or Go Fuck Yourself Im Jerking Off.

How long before therell be no need to nick them from the latest bordello B&B because youll be able to pick them up, three for the price of two, at Boots? Dear Howard, this is to let you know that Shove It and Sit On This are now in stock. Youll find them in alternative therapies. Have a great weekend. Smiley face.

How it is that hotels have become sites of gross sexual collusion between hoteliers and guests is a question I leave to sociologists of the hospitality business. But no longer does one need to sign in on a false name and rinse the sheets the morning one leaves. Now, if theres been no congress, you have to fake the signs of it for fear of disappointing the chambermaid. Why else the reproduction of a lascivious Fragonard on the bedhead? Why the fridgeful of energy-boosting drinks? Why the bath oils and body washes whose uses baffle the imaginations of travellers with only business matters on their minds? Why the machine selling fruit-flavoured condoms in the reception area? Why the bar of soap that says Gettin jiggy wit da figgy and tells innocent users we can tell from that grin youve been committing the fifth deadly sin? What business is it of theirs, and since when was the fifth deadly sin a grinning matter, anyway?

We arent prudes in this column. We are pleased hotels are more accommodating to the needs of their guests. Its not the obscenity but the familiarity we object to, the assumption that we are all one happy family in facetiousness. Call it the democratisation of the private. This is what you get when the necessary divisions in society are broken down: an end to deference, difference, manners and, above all, gravitas.

A Virgin train I regularly catch to Manchester to see my mother  Mrs Jacobson, to you  has the message Hey, good looking on the mirror of the toilet. The impertinence aside, what makes Virgin think it falls within its brief to entertain us? You want us to arrive at our destination in a good mood? Thats simple: get us there punctually; dont check our tickets at both ends as well as on the train; dont keep asking to see my senior railcard  of course Ive got a senior railcard: I am a walking senior railcard  make better sandwiches, and dont run out of them before the trains left Euston.

But thats not all. Over the lavatory bowl is a list of things they would rather we didnt flush  nappies, sanitary towels, old mobile phones, unpaid bills, your exs jumper, hopes, dreams or goldfish. Im surprised they lost their nerve and didnt add Richard Branson. For it is he, of course  he and the thousand other Branson clones  we have to blame for our nations descent into indignity. I love, he says on his Virgin blog, when signs and announcements show a little sense of humour.

Shame, in that case, you dont have one, Dickie.

PS: Love when isnt English usage. You must be spending too much time in your balloon. Have a lovely weekend. Smiley face.
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Anyone entering public life, especially if they are running for political office, should expect scrutiny  and, indeed, some abuse. It goes with the territory. But, increasingly those seeking office who happen to be Muslim should be warned to expect a special form of abuse and scrutiny - one that questions your loyalty to this country and which accuses you of having an extremist connections.

A case-in-point is the blistering assault on Sadiq Khan over the past two weeks. Nobody seriously believes that Khan is a closet extremist, even those on the right. But why not resort to dog-whistle politics to slur him with ridiculous links to extremism and try to persuade people that he is guilty by association? Even the Defence Secretary has joined in, calling Khan someone who shares platforms with extremists, even though those very platforms were attended by members of his own party as well.

Of course, spurious accusations of extremism are not restricted to Muslims. The Prime Minister, for example, called Jeremy Corbyn a terrorist sympathiser and the Chancellor has labelled the left wing journalist and author Paul Mason a revolutionary Marxist. But if youre an activist who identifies as a Muslim, it wont only be your values or policies that are linked to to extremism, but your very identity.

Many high profile Muslims and Muslim organisations who are fully engaged with the democratic and civic traditions of our country have also been unfairly slurred in part due to their Islamic identity: politicians such as Yasmin Qureshi MP and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi; scholars such as the University of Oxford academic Tariq Ramadan; media personalities such as Mehdi Hasan; activists such as Muddassar Ahmed; and organisations such as the Muslim Council of Britain and the Muslim Charities Forum. In reality, these individuals and groups far better represent the values of democracy and liberty in action than their detractors.

Its not just national and high profile Muslims, however. Grassroots activists such as Jehangir Mohammed and Raza Nadim have been accused of - and refuted  connections to extremism. The source of such concerns could be as flimsy as being a Facebook friend with a former extremist, attending a university where radicals also studied, or having encouraged others not to co-operate with police. These broad brush character assassinations are seriously worrying.

As a Muslim I do not necessarily condone or support all the views of those who have been attacked, but I believe their attacks are symptomatic of what I have come to term as the non-Muslim privilege. If you are, for example, the vice-chancellor of a university and not a Muslim - such as Julius Weinberg at Kingston University in London - then sharing a platform with a figure such as former Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg demonstrates your connection to the principle of free speech. If youre a Muslim, be careful: it might be used against you, as a sign of your implicit extremism.

If you are a senior Christian leader who discusses how faiths should be accommodated in a plural society, including the role of Sharia law, you will be labelled a serious contributor to public debate. But if youre a Muslim, remember to be careful what you say and who you say it with. If the ex-director of the MI5 says that the Prevent strategy is not working, those comments are a matter of serious concern and consideration. If a Muslim makes the same remarks, they are undermining the governments fight against terror.

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It is up to all of us  Muslims, and those of all faiths and none - to stand up and challenge these spurious accusations levelled at Muslims entering the public sphere just because of their faith. Even though the atmosphere is even worse in the US, there are those on the right there who have led the way. Take, for example, Colin Powell, who so effectively stood up against those who wished to slur Obama by using Islam as a method of attack during his 2008 Presidential campaign. My question for Zac Goldsmith, Khans opponent in this years London mayoral race, is will he do the same?
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The cover of the Scottish Conservative conference guide lists three pledges for the forthcoming Holyrood election: a credible and effective opposition, no second referendum and protecting family pay packets. These, the party believes, set it apart from Labour and the Liberal Democrats in the Scottish Parliament. For the curious dynamic of this spring election is that it is more a battle between the three opposition unionist parties than it is about taking on the SNP.

Not prone to unrealistic electoral expectations, the Scottish Tories genuinely believe they will make gains for the first time in more than two decades. So at Edinburghs Murrayfield Stadium this weekend, it will fall to Ruth Davidson, the partys counterintuitive leader, to make good on the positive mood music that she and others have generated for the past few months  that the Tories will win more MSPs than ever before (at least 19 seats) and perhaps even oust Labour as the largest opposition party.

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Yet two recent polls show what they have always shown: the Scottish Conservative vote either flatlining or falling. TNS had it on 13 per cent in both the constituency and regional votes, while Survation put the party on 16 and 14 per cent, respectively. If that prediction proves accurate, the Tory group at Holyrood will get smaller rather than bigger.

Of course, the figures could betray the shy Tory phenomenon, whereby Scots simply cannot bring themselves to admit voting Conservative. Indeed, veteran Scottish Tory activists believe there is a genuine gap between opinion polling and what is happening on the ground: a more positive reaction to the party, and particularly its leader, than they have experienced in years.

Although Conservative HQ must tire of what many consider hope over expectation, the big guns at Westminster remain willing to help Davidson. The Prime Minister will be at conference, warning of the consequences of Brexit, while the Defence Secretary, Michael Fallon (an Anglo-Scot), will confirm an 136m Scottish contract for the renewal of Trident.

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Much is made of Ms Davidsons influence within the UK Conservative Party. It is said, for example, that she helped to persuade No 10 not to hold a Commons vote on Trident before the Holyrood elections, and she has publicly questioned the chances of George Osborne becoming the next Prime Minister (clever spin, no doubt, but necessary in a political domain that requires all to stand up for Scotland).

A collection of essays launched at todays conference urges the party faithful to start parking their tanks on unexpected lawns; in other words, thinking counterintuitively by considering such policies as federalism, a basic income, proportional representation and the adoption of gender quotas for election candidates. In her keynote speech, Ms Davidson will even call on the SNP to ensure that spending on the NHS in Scotland rises. It is all about making the Tories a more credible opposition, pragmatic and centrist.

When Survation asked what should happen to the basic rate of income tax (soon to be controlled by Holyrood), nearly 60 per cent either said no change or decrease it by 1p. But then many Scots voters agree with Tory policies but blanche at the idea of voting for the party. There are modest indications that Davidson is breaking down such ingrained prejudices. On 5 May we will see whether it has worked.
An honest essay has numerous characteristics: original thinking, a good structure, balanced arguments, and plenty more.

But one aspect often overlooked is that an honest essay should be interesting. It should spark the readers curiosity, keep them absorbed, make them want to stay reading and learn more. An uneventful article risks losing the readers attention; whether or not the points you create are excellent, a flat style, or poor handling of a dry subject material can undermine the positive aspects of the essay. The matter is that a lot of students think that essays should be like this: they believe that a flat, dry style is suited to the needs of educational writing and dont even consider that the teacher reading their essay wants to search out the essay interesting. You might want to have online essay editor service to boost your confidence in writing with an error-free output. Academic writing doesnt need to be  and shouldnt be  bland. The excellent news is that there is much stuff you can do to create your essay more attractive, while youll be able only to do such a lot while remaining within the formal confines of educational writing. Lets study what theyre.

Have an interest in what youre writing about

Dont go overboard, but youll be able to let your passion for your subject show.

If theres one thing bound to inject interest into your writing, its being fascinated by what youre writing about. Passion for a subject matter comes across naturally in your essay, typically making it more lively and fascinating and infusing an infectious enthusiasm into your words  within the same way that its easy to talk knowledgeably to someone about something you discover fascinating.

Include fascinating details

Another factor that may make an essay boring maybe a dry material. Some topic areas are naturally dry, and it falls to you to form the article more interesting through your written style and by trying to seek out fascinating snippets of knowledge to incorporate, which will liven it up a small amount and make the data easier to relate to. A way of doing this with a dry subject is to create what youre talking about that seems relevant to the critical world, as this is often easier for the reader to relate to.

Emulate the fashion of writers you discover interesting

When you read lots, you subconsciously start emulating the fashion of the writers you have read. Reading benefits you a lot, as this exposes you to a spread of designs, and youll start to require the characteristics of these you discover interesting to read.

Borrow some creative writing techniques

Theres a limit to the quantity of actual story-telling youll do when youre writing an essay; in the end, essays should be objective, factual and balanced, which doesnt, initially glance, feel considerably like story-telling. However, youll apply a number of the principles of story-telling to create your writing more interesting.

consider your own opinion

Take the time to figure out what its that you think instead of regurgitating the opinions of others.

Cut the waffle

Rambling on and on is dull and almost bound to lose the interest of your reader. Youre in danger of waffling if youre not completely clear about what you wish to mention or havent thought carefully about how youre visiting structure your argument. Doing all your research correctly and writing an essay plan before you begin will help prevent this problem.

Editing is a vital part of the essay-writing process, so edit the waffle once youve done a primary draft. Read through your essay objectively and eliminate the bits that arent relevant to the argument or labor the purpose.

employing a thesaurus isnt always a decent thing

Avoid using unfamiliar words in an essay; theres too great a likelihood that youre misusing them.

You may think that employing a thesaurus to seek out more complicated words will make your writing more exciting or sound more academic, but using overly high-brow language can have the incorrect effect.

Avoid repetitive phrasing

Please avoid using the identical phrase structure again and again: its a recipe for dullness! Instead, use a variety of syntax that demonstrates your writing capabilities and makes your writing more interesting. Mix simple, compound, and complicated sentences to avoid your paper becoming predictable.

Use some figurative language

Using analogies with nature can often make concepts more accessible for readers to know.

As weve already seen, its easy to finish up rambling when youre explaining complex concepts  mainly after you dont know it yourself. One way of forcing yourself to think about a couple of pictures, present it more simply and engagingly is to form figurative language. This implies explaining something by comparing it with something else, as in an analogy.

Employ rhetorical questions

Anticipate the questions your reader might ask.

One of the ways ancient orators held the eye of their audiences and increased the dramatic effect of their speeches was by using the statement. A decent place to use a statement is at the top of a paragraph, to steer into the following one, or at the start of a replacement section to introduce a brand new area for exploration.

Proofread

Finally, you may write the top interesting essay an instructor has ever read. Still, youll undermine your good work if its plagued by errors, which distract the reader from the particular content and can probably annoy them.
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The day before Apple and the FBI began their battle over iPhone privacy in Washington, I was gazing in wonder at the mosaic figure of St Thomas of Canterbury placed just below Christ himself in the cathedral apse at Monreale in Sicily. Created around 1180, very soon after the slain archbishops fast-track canonisation, this is the first image of Thomas Becket anywhere in Europe.

The Norman courts of Sicily and England had intimate links. Becket corresponded with his ally, Sicilys queen regent Margaret of Navarre. His murder in Canterbury cathedral by Henry IIs thuggish knights had shocked Christendom in large part because the king had violated sanctuary. He had forcibly unlocked the door of a rival body that claimed equal or superior rights. That act ratcheted up the conflict of state against church that propels much of medieval history.

Over in DC, in the hearings of the House judicial committee, both sides harked back to the provisions of the US Constitution. Forget the 1780s. Fine minds in both camps disputed the limits of governmental power long before the 1180s. During his testimony on the agencys attempt to compel Apple to bypass security on a phone belonging to Syed Farook, who with his wife killed 14 people in San Bernardino in December, FBI director James Comey denied the authority of any tech firm to shield data from the democratic state. Should America allow warrant-free spaces where the writ of public justice cannot run? Comey asked. In reply, Apple advocates such as the mathematician and engineer Professor Susan Landau argued that, once government unlocks a back door into iPhones, it cannot be closed. Bad guys will soon barge through it. When hitech sanctuary is broken, expect murders in the cyber-cathedral.

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Fans of the 1964 blockbuster Becket will fantasise about how Richard Burton would have played Apples defiant CEO Tim Cook, or Peter OToole tackled the implacable King James of the FBI. Whatever the outcome, this epic stand-off may define one of the key quarrels of its era almost as vividly as Henry IIs collision with his turbulent priest. On one side, the federal state asserts its primacy as the sole guardian of secrets and guarantor of security. To quote Comeys words about Apple in front of the House committee: Its not their job to watch over public safety. Thats our job. On the other, Apple appoints itself as a benign custodian and protector that keeps up an unsleeping vigil over not only the privacy but the property of its customers. As the companys chief counsel Bruce Sewell maintained, There is probably more information stored on that iPhone than a thief could steal by breaking into your house.

So the stage is set for a classic crisis of legitimacy. Who, if anyone, should enjoy a monopoly on data secrecy, and on its infraction?

The technical minutiae of encryption becomes the casus belli of the information wars between government and corporations, just as arcane tussles over ecclesiastical appointments drove medieval clashes between church and state. The glorious cathedral at Monreale exists only because a troublesome archbishop fought about nomination rights with the king of Sicily, who stormed off to build a grander basilica. That pesky prelate of Palermo was another Englishman, called Walter of the Mill.

After Henry VIII broke with Rome, Walters native land became a European prototype for the jealous centralised authority that cracked down hard on any challenge to untrammelled royal power. That tendency persists in our secretive corridors of power. On questions of surveillance and intrusion, the state monopolists mostly have things their own way here. This week, the Home Office released the latest draft of its new Investigatory Powers Bill, the so-called snoopers charter. It would give freedom-cherishing lawmakers in Washington a fit. New provisions to permit wider equipment interference will reinforce the rights of police as well as security services to monitor and control smartphones and other devices  silently and invisibly. Legalised hacking is already a British speciality. This bill may let it off the lead.

After worried MPs recommended 123 changes to the measure, the fresh draft does back-pedal on a previous threat to force companies to remove encryption. Yet the ultimate aim of these powers remains a large extension of undetected intrusion. Prodded by the media and politicians into a constant state of amber alert (at least) over terrorism and paedophilia, most people in this docile land place absolute trust in our silent sentinels. Yes, those threats are real enough. So they are in the US, the difference being that the written Constitution erects a much more robust fence around individual privacy and liberty. Lawyers for Apple have cited the 1996 case of Bernstein vs Department of Justice, which established that computer code counts as speech. Therefore it enjoys protection under the First and Fifth Amendments. No one can compel a party (in this instance Apple) to speak, or to incriminate themselves.

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In the US, public opinion has split into pro-FBI and pro-Apple factions. Polling by the Pew Research Center indicates that the bureau has a bare majority on its side: 51 against 38 per cent, with 11 per cent undecided. Under-thirties, meanwhile, back the Feds only by 47 to 43 per cent. Among independent voters with Democratic leanings  surely the political heartland of tech-savvy libertarians  only a third believes that Apple should submit. For all our smug pride in an ancient history of freedom, citizens of Henry VIIIs closely observed kingdom would come down much more heavily on the side of the state. Most of us prefer spooks to geeks. And those shadowy custodians now plan for blanket prior surveillance that will prevent a locked-phone terrorism case from ever reaching the courts.

In matters of privacy and secrecy, Britain remains the island of paradox. The majority voices scorn and resentment against government, politicians, tax-avoiding corporations. Yet that same majority trusts the lot of them  whether public and private bodies  with bundles of sensitive information, and exhibits zero interest in democratic oversight of the new lords of data. This credit not only applies to state agencies under parliamentary supervision, or tech giants that genuinely wish to bury our vital statistics in the dungeons of super-strength encryption. Here, millions of trusting souls will happily tap a virtual life story into a supermarket website. Germans, for instance, express amazement at our touching faith in the virtue of so many institutions. Britons everyday grumbling hides a deep vein of innocence. Some would call that a blessing of history.

How can a society that treats the keepers of secrets with both contempt and confidence square that circle? Myth rides to the rescue. The institution may be pitiless, corrupt or stupidly bureaucratic. Yet it hosts or assists a handful of heroes who work bravely for the public good. Look at the novels of John le Carre, where those honourable schoolboys in and around the secret service strive to do the right thing in the teeth of cynicism, deceit and treachery. Now running to acclaim on Sunday evenings, the BBC adaptation of The Night Manager directed by Susanne Bier proves how tenacious and attractive the Le Carre model can be. If it ever starts to feel stale, a timely tweak can restore the vim. Thus Le Carres noble spy Leonard Burr has evolved into Angela Burr.

Lone crusaders take the place of constitutions. Toiling in the shadows, upright chaps  or chapesses  will look after us. The state may abuse its monopoly on violence, subterfuge and secrecy. But we can count on elements within it to act justly for the common good. However, the rival princes of privacy in tech companies also wield this line of reasoning  or perhaps fantasy.

Google began its global conquest beneath a virtual banner that read: Dont be evil. Appeals to the decency and honour of its leaders serve as weapons when the likes of Apple, Facebook or Google face scrutiny. Their hi-tech haloes also boost the stock price. Apples arguments to the House committee this week turned on the contrast between its impeccable credentials as caretaker of our secrets, and the malice of the crooks, frauds and dictators who would stampede through that shattered back door if iPhones could be opened on a writ.

In these modern battles for legitimacy, challengers to the state monopoly of access to data must wear their shining virtue like a suit of armour. Becket, and other medieval rebels against royal authority, did exactly that. Their motives, though, were invariably mixed. Pride, empire-building, ambition or acquisition drove ecclesiastical breakaways just as much as Christian piety.

In the same way, sceptics see Apples resistance to the FBI as a ploy to lock obedient users more securely into its ever-growing ecosystem of devices and services. It asks for long-term  and lucrative  loyalty in exchange for the privacy it claims to guard. On balance, Cook and his digital clergy may be right to stand up to the Feds. But the sanctuary they offer from state intrusion will come with a steep price tag: submission to another would-be monopoly. As T S Eliots play about Thomas Becket, Murder in the Cathedral, warns: The last temptation is the greatest treason/ To do the right deed for the wrong reason.
The vast majority of those blocks are located in central Dublin, mainly in Dublin 1, 2 and 4. Photo: iStock

Enough office space is being constructed in Dublin to accommodate as many as 30,000 workers, new research has found.

However, much of the space is replacing older offices which are being knocked down and rebuilt, or refurbished, say property agent Savills.

That means that the real impact of the new offices being built at present is much lower than might be expected.

The report found that there are 35 new office buildings on-site at present. Those buildings comprise almost 3.5 million square feet of space.

The vast majority of those blocks are located in central Dublin, mainly in Dublin 1, 2 and 4. About one third of that space is already pre-committed to an occupier.

Some development is taking place within the boundaries of a Strategic Development Zone in Dublin's north and south docks, however, with a number of planning applications in place, activity in the area is expected to increase significantly this year, say Savills.

The new offices are having little impact on the shortage of space in the city centre, as there is always a big delay between a developer breaking ground on a site and the office block actually opening. The vacancy rate in the likes of Dublin 2 and the south docks is effectively zero, with no major blocks available to be occupied by a big company. The shortage of space in the capital has long driven fears that the country could lose valuable foreign direct investment.

Savills head of offices Andrew Cunningham said it would take time to free up space in the city.

"In an ideal world, the delivery of office space would be instantaneous. However, in reality, it takes time. The average lag time between planning, construction and completion is two to three years.

"In the interim, it stands to reason, as evidenced by the current rate of growth, that rents will continue to rise. Today, prime central business district office space is being let for 55 per square foot and we expect this to rise to 65 by the end of 2016. Where rents will go after that is completely dependent on the delivery of new stock and, of course, economic conditions," he said.

"Redevelopments mean taking office space out of the supply chain, so despite this new wave of construction, we are likely to end up with less space rather than more in the immediate short term due to demolition of old 1970/80s buildings."
AIB chief executive Bernard Byrne at the announcement of the banks results. Photo: Shane ONeill Photography

A delay in floating AIB on the public markets to 2017 wouldn't be an issue, its chief executive Bernard Byrne has said.

However, he added that it would be preferable to go before the end of this year as planned.

As the bank announced it had almost doubled its pre-tax profits in 2015, Mr Byrne said AIB was ready to begin its return to private ownership this year, but the market currently is volatile.

Mr Byrne said Finance Minister Michael Noonan had floated the prospect of a sale of part of the lender in the third quarter of this year, but the top banker said the date of the IPO was not critical.

"From our perspective, that's not as important as the issue of moving in the direction of getting the business in shape," he said.

"If that slips - by three months or six months - that isn't the big issue.

"The big issue is making sure that the business is ready. Obviously we would like Q3 as it takes away uncertainty and allows you to progress towards it, but it is not the big thing."

If markets remain as volatile during the rest of 2016 as in the year so far, any new government faces the choice of delaying a sale or accepting less for the bank.

The bank's chief financial officer, Mark Bourke, told Reuters that a delay in forming a new government could also slow the process down.

AIB made a pre-tax profit of 1.9bn last year - up 72pc on the previous year on the back of new lending, continued progress on operating expenses and net credit provision write-backs of 925m.

Mr Byrne said the bank was well positioned to recover its 20.8bn investment.

The bank said 14.4bn in new lending to customers was approved in 2015, with 8.7bn of drawdowns, up 49pc on 2014.

There has also been a substantial reduction in impaired loans to 13.1bn, down 9.1bn since December 2014 and 15.8bn since December 2013

AIB chairman Richard Pym said the results reflect the scale of AIB's financial transformation to sustainable profitability over the past number of years.

"Our strengthened capital position and ongoing improving risk profile reinforces our progress and paves the way for the State to potentially sell part of its shareholding in AIB," he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Byrne also said that while it was contingency planning for the prospect of a British vote to withdraw from the EU, a Brexit would not have a major impact on AIB's business.

He said AIB's UK operation is a small share of its overall business.

"The impact of a Brexit from that point of view would be more modest in our business than it might be for others," he said.

"In the short term we don't think it presents any particular issues ... We have been contingency planning for it."

In a note to clients, Investec Ireland said the bank's continued improvement in profitability and strong capital position positioned it well for an IPO.
Abolishing Irish Water would be "knee-jerk" and illogical, the head of Ireland's major business lobby has said.

Ibec CEO Danny McCoy told the Irish Independent that the issue could be looked on negatively by investors and the international community.

"I think the Irish Water thing is something that has an international dimension to it," he said. "It would be perceived as a real illogicality to react to an election result and to abolish a super utility like that, when there's clear investment need and a clear need to spread the usage," he added.

"Leadership is about actually standing up to your followers and saying, 'This is the way we have to go'."

Irish Water has become a central issue in coalition talks after Fianna Fail insiders suggested it needed to be scrapped. The EU pointed out weaknesses in Ireland's water infrastructure in its latest staff report last Friday on Ireland's economy.

"Water infrastructure is weak, though planning for investment progresses," the report said. "The recent establishment of Irish Water as a nationwide utility offers opportunities to improve investment planning and execution in the sector."

Danny McCoy also said attacking the extent of the recovery could harm the country's international standing.

"I believe that the recovery is strong," he said. "There is a disconnect between reality and perception in Ireland," he went on.

He pointed to the fact that investors haven't hammered Irish government bonds like they did to Portugal and Spain in the wake of inconclusive elections there.

He also reiterated Ibec's support for the UK to remain in the EU in a referendum to be held on 23 June, particularly because of the scale of trade and investment links between the two countries.
Ireland now accounts for almost a fifth of all new US investment flows into Europe with foreign direct investment (FDI) between the two countries strengthening significantly over the past decade.

According to a new report, commissioned by the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland, FDI into Ireland from the US amounted to $310bn (283bn) by the end of 2014.

The new report was written and researched by US academic and Wall Street economist, Joseph Quinlan.

In his report Mr Quinlan highlighted a surge of investment flows of $58.1bn in 2014 from the US into Ireland.

Mr Quinlan said that despite increasing worldwide economic disorder, Ireland remained one of the "prime destinations" for US FDI.

"Yes, there has been a great deal of churn and change in the global economy since our last report. But what has not changed is international investors' overriding preference for doing business in Ireland.

"Various metrics point towards Ireland and the United States deepening their well-established trade and investment linkages," Mr Quinlan said.

Ireland's portion of FDI from the US can be compared favourably to that of Germany and France.

With Ireland's amounting for just under 20pc of all US investment flows into the EU, France takes just 3pc while Germany accounts for just 2pc.

The Irish share of US investment stock has risen substantially over the last ten years, up to 11pc in 2014 from 6pc in 2004.

American Chamber of Commerce Ireland president, Bob Savage, said he was delighted at the positive story that arose from the report.

Mr Savage was speaking at the launch in the Intercontinental Hotel in Dublin, where he eluded to the importance of US FDI to Irish job creation.

According to Mr Savage 75pc of the 19,000 jobs announced by IDA Ireland last year were created by US companies.

"To maintain and strengthen our success in the global battle for FDI, our nation must continually reassess the needs of business, both domestic and multinational. We believe Ireland can continue to compete strongly on the international stage continuing to attract strong US FDI over the coming decade," Mr Savage said.

The chamber also outlined the challenges facing Ireland in order to keep foreign direct investment coming from the US.

Education, accommodation, and nationwide jobs growth were amongst the challenges listed by the chamber.

Ireland must ensure its education system is challenged to produce graduates with business-relevant skills sets, the chamber said.

Mr Savage addressed the current housing crisis as an issue that may impinge on FDI if it isn't addressed appropriately.

The chamber president highlighted the importance of "ensuring Ireland has a sufficient supply of quality, affordable and well serviced accommodation for all those who want to build a great career in Ireland".

Since 2008, Ireland has been second only to the Netherlands in attracting more US investment flows to Europe on a cumulative basis.

In the research Mr Quinlan says that Ireland's resilience has made it amongst the most attractive destinations in the world for US FDI.

The Wall Street economist says the US looks to invest in expanding economies and with Ireland's rate of expansion it is "no surprise" that US FDI has spiked here.
Shareholders in embattled Irish exploration firm Petroceltic have been told by the board that it can't advise them to either sell or retain their shares in light of an offer for the company, because of its precarious financial position and uncertainty about whether the offer could be completed.

Last week, Petroceltic's single biggest shareholder, Switzerland-based activist investor Worldview, said it intended to make an offer for Petroceltic that would value the Irish firm at 8m.

Petroceltic and Worldview have been at loggerheads for well over a year about the exploration firm's fate.

Worldview, which is headed by Angelo Moskov, claimed last week that the equity value of Petroceltic is now zero.

Petroceltic, whose chief executive is Brian O'Cathain, has just under $218m (199m) in debt under a senior bank facility, and has a rolling waiver on repayments until tomorrow. It has been engaged in talks with lenders, and management have been exploring a potential sale of the business since December.

That strategic review is continuing, with Petroceltic management having indicated that its lenders are prepared to grant further waivers as long as progress is being made.

The board of Petroceltic, which has a significant gas asset in Algeria, has urged shareholders in the company not to take any action yet in light of the Worldview intention to make an offer.

But it has conceded that it may not be able to come to an agreement with lenders, which could result in shareholders being left with no realisable value from their holdings.

However, the board also claimed that Worldview, which owns close to 30pc of the Irish firm, has not put forward any funding proposals for Petroceltic during the offer period, in order to allow completion of the offer.

"The offer also provides no information on the proposed treatment of the company's senior bank facility both during the offer period and upon any change of control of the company, which, unless waived by the lenders or otherwise amended, would trigger an immediate repayment obligation in respect of all amounts owing under the senior bank facility," claimed Petroceltic.

The board said that it also has total cash balances of $33.4m.

The directors added: "The board believes that the offer undervalues the company on the assumption of its having appropriate long term funding in place."

Petroceltic said that it is not possible to give a "firm recommendation" to all Petroceltic shareholders at this time to either accept or reject the offer once it's made.
The housing crisis has worsened with news that the stock of homes for sale nationwide has reached its lowest level since records began in 2009, the Irish Independent can reveal.

There are just 26,773 properties currently for sale nationwide compared with January 2010 when there were twice as many homes on offer (54,121).

The figure means that just 1.4pc of Ireland's private housing stock is available for sale nationwide. This compares with about 6pc in the UK and it is generally accepted that 3.5pc or more is necessary for a normally functioning property market.

Lack of supply and construction has been blamed for rising rents and property prices and growing homelessness.

In Dublin the stock of supply for sale currently stands at 4,115 homes for sale - only January 2014's figures have been lower (3,025). Overall the amount of property for sale has fallen by 13pc on this time last year representing less than 1pc (0.8pc) of the private housing stock.

The study of property supply to market has been released by the research department of Sherry FitzGerald.

Marian Finnegan, chief economist, Sherry FitzGerald Group said: "The stock of available properties for sale has fallen considerably in recent years and is now critically low in all our regional centres. Such low stock will inevitably put upward pressure on prices.

"The combination of the low quantity of property to buy and to rent in Ireland is direct evidence of a market in crisis. If we are to prevent this housing crisis deepening, there is an immediate urgency for the new government to ensure a significant uplift in construction activity in all our cities."

Supply has also fallen significantly in the other regional centres in recent years. The cities of Cork and Galway are experiencing an even worse situation with just 0.7pc of their entire private housing stock on the market.

This amounts to 350 units in Cork and 220 units in Galway. Limerick city had only 1pc of its private stock or 240 units advertised for sale.

The situation is even worse when it is considered that the agency believes around 50pc of stock currently on offer is through "forced" sales - with banks applying pressure or selling directly.
Ulster Bank has written to a number of its small business and farming customers giving them just weeks to refinance problem debts, or risk their loans being sold off by the bank.

The borrowers are understood to all be behind on payments or otherwise in breach of their original loan terms, and therefore are being managed by Ulster's specialist loan arrears unit.

The bank has now written to the customers warning them that their loans may be bundled up and put on the market for sale.

Mortgages are not affected, and neither are business borrowers that are fully up to date with their loans, a spokeswoman for the bank said.

The affected customers include farms and small and medium enterprises (SME) on both sides of the border.

So-called vulture funds, mainly based in the US, have become large-scale buyers of Irish loans in recent years.

"Ulster Bank is in contact with a number of business customers, who are outside current arrangements or in arrears and under special management in our problem debt management unit, to discuss the potential inclusion of their debt in a future Ulster Bank loan disposal process together with their options for repaying or refinancing their debt in advance of any such process," a spokeswoman for the bank said.
Actress Daisy Ridley filmed scenes for The Force Awakens with the Star Wars crew on Skellig Michael. Photo: Reuters/Adrees Latif

More than 40 years since the filming of 'Ryan's Daughter', tourism in Dingle looks to be given a new lease of life with the return of 'Star Wars' to Co Kerry.

Ceann Sibeal, situated at the western tip of the Dingle Peninsula, will be one of the filming locations for 'Star Wars: Episode VIII'.

Landowners have signed contracts with the movie makers, with filming expected to take place over two weeks in May.

The Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht said a film permit has been issued for Ceann Sibeal and "a limited amount of filming" has been approved. This will be under "strict conditions" for the Special Area of Protection, it told RTE.

A 1.5km metal roadway is being installed on the slopes of Ceann Sibeal, which is believed to enable the movement of film crew and equipment.

Disney Lucasfilm previously filmed on Skellig Michael off the Kerry coast.

Kerry Councillor Seamus Cosai Fitzgerald welcomed the new potential for tourism.

"They're laying the groundwork at the moment," he told the Irish Independent.

"I think it will be beautiful in the film, I often walk up there myself to the head.

"It will be a big boost for tourism."
Broadcaster Miriam O'Callaghan has rubbished reports her husband Steve Carson has applied for the top job at RTE.

The presenter will not be working for her other half anytime soon, as she says he is happy in his role at the BBC.

"I'd like to clear that up - he has not applied for the Director-General job in RTE," she told the Herald.

Reports that her husband had applied for the role made them both "smile", she said, but the pair have no idea where it all came from.

"He has not applied for the job. In fact, he's loving his job where he is," she said.

Carson left a job with the State broadcaster in 2013 and later took up a job in the BBC in his hometown of Belfast.

"He has actually just moved into a new apartment in Belfast, so we were out celebrating on Wednesday night. It works out really well for us. I love Belfast," she said.

"I'm out filming Primetime on Tuesday and Thursday and he is in Belfast and London so much. He's actually only gone Monday, Tuesday and Thursday nights.

"He loves the BBC it's where he started and it's where I met him."

Miriam, who has ruled herself out of the running to be the boss at RTE, said she has no insight as to who might be replace outgoing Director-General Noel Curran.

Miriam was speaking at the launch of the first Heroes ball, in aid of the Lauralynn Foundation, which takes place on May 28 in the Mansion House.
A leading Muslim cleric has contacted Gardai over concerns about a visit from two Kuwaiti preachers who are due to address a student conference later today.

Dr Othman Al Khamees and Dr Khaled Al Otaibi have been invited to speak at the Dublin Islamic Conference 2016, which is being held at the Islamic Foundation of Ireland mosque on Dublins South Circular Road from March 4-5.

Fears that the clerics could spread extremist ideas have been raised by Milltown Imam Ali al Saleh, who said that both Kuwaiti men were prominent Salafi jihad preachers.

The two preachers are scheduled to take part in Friday prayers today at the Dublin mosque, the countrys oldest, and later told two Q&A discussion groups.

The event is organised by an Irish Kuwaiti student organisation and the Islamic Foundation of Ireland.

A Muslim leader within the Irish Islamic community, Imam Umar al-Qadri, expressed serious concerns over radical scholars preaching to young students.

My concern would be that such people and their ideas radicalises young Muslims.

I believe that foreign preachers coming to Ireland should sign an agreement that they respect and abide by certain guidelines in order to preach here, Dr al-Qadri told Independent.ie.

Among the terms in the Imams proposal are that preachers agree to denounce terrorists such as Osama Bin-Laden and to respect tolerance and members of the LGBT community.

Once these terms are agreed on then there shouldnt be a problem with Islamic preachers coming to Ireland. However most extremists and radicals wont do that, Dr al-Qadri said.

Dr Alkhamees and Dr Alotaibi are expected to give talks at the Dublin Islamic Conference 2016 this afternoon and tomorrow.
Slawomir Gostomski died in a car crash just hours after the birth of his second daughter

A father of two died following a road crash as he made his way home from hospital after meeting his newborn baby.

Polish national Slawomir Gostomski (34) was returning to his home in Westport, Co Mayo, from Mayo General Hospital following the birth of his first daughter when he crashed on April 5, 2014.

The accident happened on the N5 at the Halfway House pub, Islandeady, around 8km from Castlebar at 7.30pm.

Mr Gostomski's red Mercedes collided with a BMW as it turned right towards the Halfway House on a long straight stretch of road between Castlebar and Westport.

Witness Ciaran Kane was travelling behind the BMW and had slowed down to undertake him, when the red car overtook him and collided with the BMW.

He said he did not see the red Mercedes until the moment of impact. Mr Gostomski was rushed to Mayo General Hospital and later transferred to Beaumont Hospital, where he died on April 12. The cause of death was a severe head injury as a result of the collision.

The jury returned a verdict of misadventure and recommended that the Mayo county manager and National Roads Authority consider installing appropriate signage on both sides of the road leading up to the Halfway House pub.
A former Sinn Fein and Labour Dublin City Councillor has pleaded guilty in court to making hoax telephone calls.

Killian Forde was a councillor with Sinn Fein from 2004 to 2010 before switching to Labour. He resigned his seat a year later and was appointed chief executive of the Integration Centre.

Forde yesterday appeared before Judge Bridget Reilly in Tallaght District Court after arranging with a garda to come to court. He said he had been working in Sierra Leone and had not received the summons.

He is charged with making a hoax telephone call between October 6 and October 7, 2014, at an address at Russell Crescent, Tallaght, and another at an address at Homelawn Drive, Tallaght, on October 7, 2014, contrary to Section 13(1) of the Post Office (Amendment) Act, 1951.

The 45-year-old, with addresses at Cardonagh Park, Donaghmede, and Sutton Park, Sutton, said he was pleading guilty.

He refused the judge's offer of legal aid and said he wanted to deal with the case by himself, despite telling the judge he is not working at the moment.

The case was adjourned for a month.
The former director of finance at Irish Life and Permanent was concerned that his bank would lose money if Anglo Irish Bank went bust after the banks engaged in 7.2bn in inter-bank loans, a trial has heard.

Anglo's former Head of Finance, Willie McAteer (65) and the former CEO of Irish Life and Permanent (ILP), Denis Casey (56), and two others are accused of conspiring to mislead investors by using interbank loans to manipulate Anglo Irish Bank's balance sheets.

ILP's former director of finance, Peter Fitzpatrick (63) of Convent Lane, Portmarnock, Dublin, John Bowe (52) from Glasnevin, Dublin, who had been Anglo's head of capital markets, Mr McAteer of Greenrath, Tipperary Town, Co. Tipperary and Mr Casey from Raheny, Dublin have all pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to conspiring together and with others to mislead investors through financial transactions between March 1st and September 30th, 2008.

The interbank loans allegedly involved money being transferred by Anglo to Irish Life and Permanent (ILP) and then being put back on deposit with Anglo via ILP's life assurance division.

The transfer would allegedly appear as corporate deposits and not an interbank loan so the bank's corporate funding figure would appear bigger for the bank's year-end figures on 30 September, 2008.

On day 32 of the trial the jury heard excerpts of a telephone call in which Mr Fitzpatrick discussed the loans with Paul Kane, a liquidity manager with ILP.

During one call, recorded on September 25, 2008, Mr Fitzpatrick asked Mr Kane: Are we going to be absolutely satisfied that if something goes pop we don't have to sort of give Anglo their...loans and anything else back without getting our money?

Mr Kane told Brendan Grehan SC, defending Mr Fitzpatrick, that at this point Mr Fitzpatrick introduced the option of set off or netting the loans against each other. The jury has already heard that netting involves consolidating or offsetting the value of two or more transactions, effectively allowing debts to cancel one another out.

Mr Fitzpatrick told Mr Kane: I'm thinking of offset now. So Anglo goes bust next week and the liquidator walks in and he says 'give me deposits back' and we say 'ah but like we had an agreement', 'prove it'.

Unless there are letters...or an agreement that we can set off between the two... and the liquidator comes in [and] says give me the money back, we have to give him the money back.

He tells Mr Kane this has to be documented adding so there is absolutely no fucking confusion in anyones mind that we can stand over it as a binding agreement.

The court heard that before the two banks did agree in the end to netting the transactions against each other. The trial continues on Monday before Judge Martin Nolan and a jury.
A prisoner jailed for 15 years for the rape and sexual assault of a woman whose child he abducted has lost an appeal taken against the State after it emerged his solicitors' calls were recorded in prison.

The case was taken by Michael Murray (44), formerly of Killiney Oaks, Killiney, Dublin, who was jailed at the Central Criminal Court in 2013 for 15 years for rape, attempted rape, oral rape and aggravated sexual assault, child abduction, threats to kill or cause serious harm, false imprisonment and theft.

Murray, whose High Court case against the Irish Prison Service and Minister for Justice was dismissed last July, had sought injunctions restraining prison authorities from intercepting his calls, certain declarations and damages.

Dismissing his application last July, Mr Justice Seamus Noonan said it was beyond dispute that the recording of Murrays telephone calls was inappropriate and ought not to have occurred.

There was however, undisputed evidence that the calls werent accessed. Similarly, evidence was unchallenged that the recordings were made inadvertently, the judge said.

Murray's appeal against the High Court's decision was dismissed today three days after it was opened in the three-judge court.

Giving judgment, Mr Justice George Birmingham said the court as in complete agreement with the approach taken by Mr Justice Noonan.

The application was without substance and the appeal without merit, he said.

Murray was not prejudiced or otherwise adversely affected in any way whatsoever. It is entirely clear that calls were recorded inadvertently, that calls were not accessed and that steps have been taken to ensure that what went wrong in the past will not be repeated.

Mr Justice Alan Mahon and Mr Justice John Edwards agreed with their colleague's judgment.

Costs were awarded against Murray who uttered insults at the judges as he was lead away.

Inmates in Irish prisons fill out a form entitled Application for Phone Calls which permits them to list up to 12 contact numbers, the contact's name and their relationship to the prisoner, the High Court found.

The form states that the the first number must be your solicitor and all calls except those to the Samaritans and your solicitor will be monitored and recorded.

Murray had drawn particular attention to two phone calls to his solicitor on July 23 2013, on the evening before day 21 of his trial, during which he discussed privileged matters in relation to his defence.

Both calls were made from lines other than the designated solicitor line, number one.

In his judgment, Mr Justice Noonan said Murray had not put any evidence before the court to demonstrate the slightest prejudice arising from what appears to have been a technical infringement at best of his rights.

Once the prison authorities became alive to the inadvertent recording, Mr Justice Noonan said, steps were immediately taken to rectify the position.

Mr Justice Noonan said there was no ongoing or threatened infringement of Murrays rights in this matter.

No declaration was required to vindicate his rights and no issue of damages could arise.

Accordingly, he dismissed Murrays application and awarded costs against him.

The Central Criminal Court had heard that Murray lured his female victim into an apartment by telling her that an elderly woman was dying inside and needed her help.

He tied her up and assaulted her before taking her son away abandoning him in a city centre square late at night. He returned to the flat where he drugged and raped his victim.

The offences all occurred February 12th and 13th, 2010 in a Dublin apartment. Murray denied the charges, however he was found guilty on all counts by a unanimous jury decision.
A young man who knocked a girl unconscious with a ferocious dig in the face after a name calling incident has been ordered to do community service in lieu of a prison sentence.

Aaron Daly (20) was out with his girlfriend and their friends when the group came across then 20-year-old Jamie Kelly and her friends. Daly's group started shouting abusive comments and Ms Kelly approached them about it.

She was walking away when a glass bottle was thrown in her direction. The bottle smashed and a piece of glass cut Ms Kelly's arm, so she returned to the group and confronted them.

She subsequently told gardai she has no recollection of what happened next because she was knocked out.

Ms Kelly was later treated in hospital for a large cut above her left eye and swelling. She was too embarrassed to leave her house for a number of days because of her injuries.

Daly of Primrose Grove, Darndale, Dublin pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assaulting Ms Kelly causing her harm at Marigold Crescent, also in Darndale on April 21, 2013. He was 17 years old at the time and has no previous convictions.

Judge Martin Nolan said it was a severe punch to the face which rendered Ms Kelly unconscious. He said there was no excuse for what Daly did.

He lost control and punched her without any good reason, the judge said.

Last October Judge Nolan had ordered a report from the Probation Service to see if Daly was suitable for community service and told him to have 1,500 in court for Ms Kelly on that date.

Today Judge Nolan noticed that the report was positive. He said the attack was reprehensible and but accepted that Daly had no previous convictions and was sincerely remorseful.

He ordered Daly to carry out 200 hours of community service over the next year in lieu of an 18 month prison sentence. The 1,500 was also paid over.

Sergeant Damien Mangan told Lorcan Staines BL, prosecuting, that Ms Kelly's friend witnessed the assault and later told gardai that Daly hit the victim a ferocious dig in the face and knocked her out.

Aoife Nickle BL, defending, said her client was ashamed of his behaviour and submitted that the attack was totally out of character.

She said he had since become a father and was also diagnosed with schizophrenia in January 2014. He had written a letter of apology for Ms Kelly which counsel requested be handed over to her.

The court heard that Daly wasn't known by name to the victim and her friends so it was some time before gardai identified him and questioned him. He provided a false alibi and denied the assault until gardai put other witness statements to him.
DANCE teacher Leonard Watters, who was jailed for making false allegations that he was sexually assaulted by Louis Walsh, has received a suspended sentence for raiding a man's bank account.

Father-of-two, Leonard Watters, 28, with an address at Woodview, Navan, Co. Meath pleaded guilty to stealing a named man's wallet containing 60 and bank cards from his apartment in Kilmainham in Dublin in the early hours of November 28 in 2014.

Watters, who was jailed in 2012, also pleaded guilty at Dublin District Court to theft of 290 and 300 from bank machines at O'Connell Street and Temple Bar Square in the city-centre on the same date.

Today, Judge Bryan Smyth noted that Watters had brought 650 to court for the victim. He imposed a nine month sentence but suspended it on condition that Watters keeps the peace and does not re-offend for two years.

Gda Graham O'Neill told Judge Bryan Smyth that Watters had met the injured party socially at Dame St in Dublin city-centre. They returned to the man's address and were seen on CCTV arriving at about 3am. Subsequently the accused was seen leaving at about 4.22am, Gda O'Neill said.

The following morning the victim, who is in his thirties, became aware that his wallet containing 60 and his bank cards was missing. He checked his bank account online and observed that there had been two transactions. Watters, who was identified from CCTV footage, had withdrawn a total of 590 from two ATMs within an hour of leaving the victim's home.

The man did not have to be called to give evidence and does not want to provide a victim impact statement but had come to court to watch the proceedings.

Gda O'Neill said Watters had eight prior convictions. The latest three offences were for giving false information to gardai in relation to Louis Walsh which led to him getting an 11 month sentence with five months suspended in 2012.

His remaining convictions were for breaching a barring order and motoring offences.

Defence solicitor Leonard Leader said Watters had a drink problem but fell off the wagon and was under the influence of alcohol when the theft happened. He said it was on the spur of the moment after the victim fell asleep.

He told the court that when Watters was aged nine, he suffered third degree burns over a third of his body which had a huge impact on his emotional and cognitive development.

He has been on pain killers since and also suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He later began working as a barman and after that he set up a dance school. However that business has dried up as a result of the publicity and press intrusion following his previous case, and he has been unable to work since.

He also gets abused when walking around his home-town, the court was told. Pleading for leniency, Mr Leader also asked the court to note his client has a good relationship with his children and is tackling a drink addiction.

Judge Bryan Smyth had said there was a certain degree of calculation on Watters' part; he had befriended the man and left his home after stealing from him.

Four years ago Watters was jailed after he admitted he concocted unfounded claims that former X-Factor Louis Walsh groped him in the toilets of a nightclub in Dublin city-centre in April 2011. Described as a "Walter Mitty", he received an 11-month term with five months suspended after he pleaded guilty to making false reports to gardai.

After court yesterday/today his solicitor Leonard Leader said his client had no comment to make.
A Dublin man who hijacked a car and repeatedly punched a heavily pregnant woman in the passenger seat while driving the car through town will be sentenced next month.

Stephen Comey (29) has 70 previous convictions and had been released from prison six weeks prior to this offence.

Comey of Pearse House, Pearse Street, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to unlawful seizure of a car, assault causing harm and possession of a syringe in the north inner city on May 12, 2014.

The court heard he has a tragic background but was now anxious to rehabilitate himself.

Judge Patricia Ryan noted that Comey had made great efforts to rehabilitate himself while in custody for this offence and now had the support of his family. She said she wanted him to have a plan in place for when he leaves custody.

Judge Ryan ordered an updated probation report and said she will finalise sentencing in April.

Sergeant David Wogan told Fiona McGowan BL, prosecuting, that a Chinese couple had parked their car in the city centre and the husband went to get a parking ticket, leaving the keys in the ignition. His seven and a half month pregnant wife stayed in the car in the passenger seat.

She had removed her seatbelt and was turning to get a coat when the driver door opened and a man shouted at her to get out. The car started moving and she had no chance to get out. She tried to put the gear stick into neutral but Comey punched her to the face.

The woman said the punching persisted and she did not know how many times she was hit. She tried getting out of the car and called for help. She was crying and very upset.

During the struggle the man shouted at her and tried to push her out of the car while it was in motion. She felt unable to jump out because of her pregnancy.

Sgt Wogan said gardai had come across the silver Audi at the Gardiner Street and Mountjoy Square junction and saw it driving erratically at speed with the front passenger door open.

They saw Comey in the car having a physical altercation with the distressed woman and the woman's husband in the street chasing the car.

Gardai followed the car to Gardiner Lane where it struck and scratched a number of parked cars. It came to a stop and the man could be seen punching the woman.

The car took off again towards Gardiner Street and broke a red light at Sean McDermott Street before coming to a stop.

Comey grabbed a mobile phone from the car before exiting and was put to the ground by the arresting gardai who found a syringe in his possession.

Anne Marie Lawlor BL, defending, said her client was now drug free and had been using his time in custody wisely. She said he was doing extremely well and anxious to avail of any chance to rehabilitate himself.

She handed in comprehensive psychiatric report on Comey and his tragic background which was read by Judge Ryan.
Fiona Kirby, of Kilbeggan, Co Westmeath, pictured with supporters outside the Four Courts after her High Court action was adjourned. Photo: Collins Courts

A mother who claims her daughter suffered "horrendous" adverse consequences after being given the human pappilomavirus vaccine (HPV) is pressing ahead with her High Court challenge.

Fiona Kirby, a nurse from Kilbeggan, Co Westmeath, has brought proceedings seeking orders requiring the Health Products Regulatory Authority to withdraw the vaccine, which is given to prevent cervical cancer.

Ms Kirby, who was flanked by supporters as she appeared at Dublin's High Court, claims her daughter suffered "horrendous" adverse consequences after being given it.

However, the court has been asked to dismiss the case by the Health Products Regulatory Authority.

The vaccine, known by its trade name Gardasil, has been offered to school girls since May 2010.

A support group called REGRET (Reaction and Effects of Gardasil Resulting in Extreme Trauma) is supporting Ms Kirby's action.

Lawyers for the authority asked Mr Justice Tony O'Connor to fix a date to hear its application to have the case dismissed. The judge adjourned the matter to that date.

The court heard the group were taking legal and medical advice and hoped to bring a report from a US-based neurologist when the case comes to hearing.

The authority denies the claims.

Mr Justice O'Connor set March 15 for the hearing of the application to dismiss.

He previously refused an injunction seeking its immediate withdrawal pending the full action.
A SHAREHOLDER in Petroceltic is seeking High Court protection for the Dublin-based oil and gas exploration company.

Worldview, a 29 per cent shareholder, has been in dispute with the board of Petroceltic for more than 18 months during which it sought to take over control of the company a number of times.

On Friday, Skye Investments, the investment vehicle headed by Petroceltic chairman Robert Adair, which owns a 19 per cent shareholding in the exploration company, said the latest takeover offer from Worldview undervalued the company.

Petroceltic has headquarters at Grand Canal Street Upper, Dublin, and offices in Algeria, Cairo, Edinburgh, London, Rome and Varna, Bulgaria.

According to Worldview's High Court petition, Petroceltic employs 144 staff in its head office and the "operations function".

The petition came before Mr Justice Brian McGovern on Friday via an application for directions concerning its advertisement and hearing.

The judge made the relevant directions and told Declan Murphy BL, for Worldview, he would return the matter to April 4.

The petition, brought by Worldview EHS International Master Fund, with registered offices in the Cayman Islands, is seeking court protection and the appointment of Michael McAteer of Grant Thornton as examiner.

If appointed, his task will be to devise a scheme of arrangement to be put before creditors of Petroceltic.

The petition seeks protection for Petroceltic International plc and two related companies, Petroceltic Investments Ltd and Petroceltic Ain Tsila Ltd.

In its petition, Worldview says, as a minority shareholder, it does not generally have access to any information or documents relating to Petroceltic other than publcily available information but believes the information relied upon in the petition was true and accurate.

It had not relied in the petition on additional information provided to it on a confidential basis in the context of discussions with Petroceltic, it said.

Worldview claims, based on the information relied upon, that Petroceltic remains in an "extremely uncertain position" relating to its bank facilities and its ability to continue as a going concern absent court protection.

Based on an independent expert's report, Worldview says it believes Petroceltic and related companies have a viable future as a going concern subject to certain conditions.

Those included securing court protection and approval of a scheme involving a viable restructuring of certain creditors of the group by the High Court.

It would also involve investor funding, successful implementation of Worldview's proposed cost-cutting measures and the farming out, or disposal of, non-core assets.

In addition to Worldview's own offer to acquire the group and support it through a period of court protection and examinership, there are other willing investors that have expressed an interest in acquiring the group as a going concern, Worldview claims.

It also says that, in a March 2016 statement, the Petroceltic board had concluded, having consulted with its stakeholders and lenders, it was not possible to give a firm recommendation to all Petroceltic shareholders at that time either to accept or reject the Worldview offer.
A former GAA team doctor who was accused of conspiring with others to attempt to forge a 1.9m will has been found guilty of two counts of professional misconduct by the Medical Council.

Dr James Cassidy, who works as a GP in Dundalk, faced allegations before the professional watchdog relating to a conviction in Northern Ireland.

And now gardai are investigating an incident where a press photographer was injured as Dr Cassidy left the Medical Council hearing yesterday.

In June 2014, at the Crown Court in Newry, Dr Cassidy was convicted of conspiring with others to attempt to falsify the will of Catherine Haughey, and a property sale agreement.

South Armagh publican Ms Haughey, who was a widow and childless, died in 2004 at the age of 81. Concerns about her will were raised shortly after her death.

Dr Cassidy, who has four grown daughters with his wife, told the Medical Council inquiry of the extreme shame and embarrassment his actions brought to his family.

"My children and wife have had to undergo considerable embarrassment in their own lives as a result of my actions."

When asked how he felt about his participation in the matters relating to his conviction in the North, Dr Cassidy replied: "I can only say shame, first of all to my family, [and] to my profession.

"It's not very nice at this stage in your life to accept that you did something hugely irresponsible," said Dr Cassidy, who will turn 64 next week.

Newry Crown Court heard in 2014 that two weeks before Ms Haughey died in December 2004, her godson - farmer Francis Tiernan from Forkhill, Co Armagh - got a quantity surveyor to rewrite his godmother's will. It was witnessed by a doctor - Dr Cassidy.

According to the true will, Tiernan had been bequeathed 1,000. However, in the forged will Tiernan was to receive Ms Haughey's home, known as Annie's Cottage, her Slieve Gullion pub and the rest of the 1m estate.

Ms Haughey's body was exhumed in 2007 amid fresh suspicions surrounding her death.

She had been found dead in the living quarters of her pub. However, a post-mortem examination later confirmed the 81-year-old died of natural causes.

In June 2014 at the Crown Court in Newry, Cassidy was convicted of conspiring with others to attempt to falsify the will of Catherine Haughey, and a property sale agreement. The conspiracy was described in court as "like a Hollywood script".

Tiernan had featured prominently in the Smithwick tribunal into IRA and Garda collusion in Dundalk.

It was alleged he had been a member of the IRA in Newry, although he was never convicted of a terrorist offence.

The Smithwick report also claimed Tiernan was involved in "large-scale smuggling" and was suspected of being involved in fraud in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and England.

Dr Cassidy, who was a former doctor for the Tyrone GAA team, declined to make a comment to the media after the disciplinary inquiry concluded yesterday. Sanctions will be determined at a later date.

Dr Cassidy's contrite words at the inquiry were in sharp contrast to his actions outside the Medical Council during a break.

While being photographed by members of the media, Dr Cassidy confronted photographer Paul Nicholls angrily and made a grab for his camera.

Mr Nicholls said he told Dr Cassidy to not touch him, and then rang the gardai. Officers arrived at the Medical Council and took statements from witnesses.

Last night gardai confirmed they are investigating an incident where a man was injured at the offices of the Medical Council at Kingram Place in Dublin.
Emberton Finance claims it is owed 4.46m by businessmen John and Michael Kinsella, both of Tomadilly, Marshalstown, Enniscorthy, Co Wexford' (Stock picture: Getty)

A woman has failed in a High Court bid to block two of her brothers having power of attorney over their elderly mother's financial affairs.

Mr Justice Seamus Noonan said there was "powerful evidence" of the mother saying she wanted the sons to look after her affairs.

The sister's evidence fell "well short" of discharging that burden of proof, he said.

The mother, in her 80s, has dementia but her GP was satisfied while she could not manage her financial affairs, she had sufficient capacity to say who had power of attorney, the judge said.

The sister brought the objection claiming, among other things, one of the brothers planned to falsify an application for a subsidy for their mother's nursing home costs under Fair Deal.

By stating the mother's savings were only 28,000 - rather than the near 100,000 they actually were - the mother would have got a higher subsidy than the 340 per week she eventually got towards her 1,500 weekly nursing home bill.

However, the sister told her brother this was illegal and put in her own application under the Fair Deal which was accepted and resulted in the 340 subsidy.

Mr Justice Noonan was satisfied all three siblings only had the best interests of their mother at heart.

The brothers never did submit a false Fair Deal application once they received professional advice on the matter, he said.

They had proposed submitting an application with reduced savings on the advice of a healthcare professional, he said.

The sister was also concerned the mother's savings would soon be depleted because she was paying 1,160 per week for the nursing home while one of the sons had moved into the family home since and was living there rent free.

The judge was satisfied the son was prepared to make 950 available for his mother's nursing home costs.

The judge hoped the siblings could now put differences behind them because, if not, it would be detrimental to their mother.

He said both sides should pay their own costs of the case "in the hope they will do their best to get on".
Labour's Willie Penrose and Peter Burke of Fine Gael have become the final two TDs to be elected to the 32nd Dail following a marathon six-day count in Longford-Westmeath.

Mr Penrose became his party's seventh TD elected, giving Labour vital speaking rights in the Dail.

In a nail-biting finish, the four-seater constituency was the last to declare as counting, recounting and scrutinising of ballot papers continued throughout the week.

It became known as the 'Siege of Keenagh' as a triumphant Robert Troy retained his seat for Fianna Fail, followed in second place by Independent Alliance candidate Kevin 'Boxer' Moran.

And Fine Gael's Peter Burke succeeded in taking the third seat yesterday morning after election staff worked through the night.

Mr Penrose, staging a dramatic comeback, retained his seat after he overtook outgoing Fine Gael TD James Bannon and Sinn Fein's Paul Hogan who also polled strongly - and at one point looked poised to the take the fourth seat.

Expand Close Labours Willie Penrose is heading back to Leinster House after he was finally elected following a marathon six-day count. Photo: Tom Burke / Facebook

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Whatsapp Labours Willie Penrose is heading back to Leinster House after he was finally elected following a marathon six-day count. Photo: Tom Burke

Fianna Fail received the most first preferences (28pc), while Fine Gael took 23pc, Labour almost 9pc and Sinn Fein 9.5pc.

Independents and other parties fared well, getting 30pc of the first preferences.

The 55,000 valid poll, with a 11,050 quota, saw just over 30pc of Longford votes go to Westmeath candidates.

Revival

Fianna Fail's spokesman on children Robert Troy remained on target from the outset and passed the quota on Saturday evening on the first count. He credited Micheal Martin with the revival of his party describing his leader "as head-and-shoulders above the rest".

Mr Penrose had thrown in the towel on Saturday, telling reporters "the tide was out for the Labour party, we all know that." He had even gone as far to say he was happy to have his private life back again - but within hours was back in the running.

"There was a touch of the Lazarus about it. My winning a seat shows you the vagaries of the proportional representation system - if ever anyone wants to see it in action, then this is it. I'm delighted to have won. This is my sixth time to be elected to the Dail," said Mr Penrose.

"It is also important in terms of the Labour Party - I am the seventh member and that is essential for the party in the next Dail," he added, referring to the number required for speaking rights.

Mr Bannon lost out to Mr Penrose, who lives five miles from him, by just six votes. Mr Bannon, whose legal team was also present, told reporters that given the narrow margin he would take careful advice on "whether or not to purse a legal option".

He has 14 days to bring an election petition to the High Court which would set out a challenge to the returning officer's decisions.

After he was eliminated from the election at 5.30am, he told reporters he was proud to have been involved in the helping get the Center Parcs for Longford and expected it to bring a major jobs boost.
Micheal Martin will today begin his first major push to become Taoiseach as he begins crucial coalition talks with small parties and Independents.

There is a growing belief within Fianna Fail that they should try to form "a minority rainbow government" that would include the likes of the Green Party, Social Democrats and members of the Independent Alliance.

"It's an idea that now has potential. Fine Gael seem to be looking for a way out. They want Enda Kenny out but can't do anything about him while he's Taoiseach so some might welcome a turn on the Opposition benches," said a source.

Sources confirmed last night that "tentative and informal" approaches had been made to these groups about the possibility of them supporting Mr Martin for Taoiseach.

Buoyed by the support of his parliamentary party, Mr Martin would then embark on defeating Mr Kenny in the vote for Taoiseach next Thursday.

If he secures greater numbers than Mr Kenny, sources say Mr Martin will claim to have the "mandate" to attempt to form a Fianna Fail minority government with the support of Fine Gael.

Any such scenario in which Mr Martin defeats Mr Kenny will spell the end of Mr Kenny's Fine Gael leadership.

"Nobody can win the race to 79 seats, but if we could get into the early 60s then we could put a proposition for a minority government forward," added a Fianna Fail source. "There are risks that would come with that - but it's a real possibility."

Support

Another source said that if Fine Gael did not support this minority Fianna Fail government it would force another election, which could further erode Fine Gael's numbers. No formal deals with other parties are likely to happen until after March 10.

Mr Martin, meanwhile, maintained there were no red-line issues for creating a new government because no coalition talks with Fine Gael had taken place.

Addressing Fianna Fail's first parliamentary party meeting since the General Election, he also confirmed that the party was willing to talk to anyone.

It was attended by the party's 25 newly elected TDs.
Fine Gael TD Maria Bailey, Fine Gael Senator Catherine Noone and Fine Gael TD Josepha Madigan outside the Dail yesterday. Photo: Douglas OConnor

That's the beauty of a big venue - plenty of room to accommodate both a wedding and a wake, with sweeping grounds and a stylish Georgian backdrop for the photographs capturing the occasion.

Not that Fine Gael are likely to treasure their snaps - what with Enda Kenny clenching and unclenching his fists repeatedly in the foreground. Regardless of the painfully constructed carefree smile on his face.

But for Fianna Fail, it was certainly one for the family album. They're back, baby. Michael McGrath was almost emotional as he gushed over how 'heartwarming' it was to be back in a full room again.

The eco-bubble that is Leinster House had it all.

The soaring heights to the sinking miseries. The thrills of the young, new TDs going in, all excited, in rig-outs bought specially for the occasion - to the painful spills of Labour's rubbish bags full of shredded papers lying, forlorn, in the corridors.

"Jubilant to the point of triumphalism," was the unofficial verdict coming out of Fianna Fail's first parliamentary party meeting, post-election.

Or, more accurately, their first party, post-election 2011.

If you listened very carefully, you could almost hear the sound of Champagne corks popping and the shrill unfurling of party blowers.

Reassuring, too, how five years of locusts and wild honey have done nothing to alter their fundamental DNA.

And we can only assume that Fine Gael had put their own Champagne back in the cellar, so grim was the atmosphere amongst veterans as they arrived.

Wicklow TD Andrew Doyle darkly suggested that he expected the meeting to be "heated" and that "the good, the bad and the ugly" would be discussed.

You'd think the chaos might look slightly more reassuring, less messy, the closer up you got.

But standing on the plinth of Leinster House, it's clear the situation is even stickier.

Even most of the bright-eyed and bushy tailed new TDs were regrettably cagey, much preferring to be photographed rather than to actually speak. And so many people spoke of "red line issues" that we fully expected to see the Russian cavalry galloping on the horizon.

But it was only Charlie Flanagan, stony-faced as he stalked out the Dail gates, avoiding questions in so far as he could.

With both major parties claiming a "strong mandate" but still clearly allergic to the idea of actually going into coalition with one another, it looks like we might be here for awhile.

A miracle would also come in handy.

Michael Noonan, for one, expects an election within two years. Fine Gael's Eoghan Murphy, too, was putting the wind up, even so far as to hint at the party taking the drastic step of going into opposition.

"We need to talk about what we can do to form a government. If we can," he stressed.

"Some people are talking about, maybe, given the results, that perhaps we should go into opposition.

"But we are the largest party and I think we have a responsibility to form a government. If we can.

"It can't be government at all costs. You know?

"It has to be responsible and it has to be in the best interests of the people."

The only one who seemed to think a grand coalition was a no-brainer was the pragmatic senator David Norris: "They're the same party," he pointed out impatiently.

But he thinks that while Enda Kenny is a "decent man", he might have to go.

"He lost it during the election," he said, with pity. "The fiscal space was a disaster and ... you do not attack your audience," he added.

"I don't think he'll last, no, I don't think he'll last.

"But in his own way, he has done the country some service."

If Enda's goose is cooked, you would hardly tell it by the family photograph.

But afterwards, we all wondered where were Leo and Simon standing - because it wasn't beside Enda.
Fianna Fail is to select its nominee for the vacant Ceann Comhairle position on Monday ahead of next week's much anticipated vote.

Four TDs are in the running: Michael Moynihan (Cork North West), Sean O Fearghail (Kildare South), Brendan Smith (Cavan/Monaghan) and Pat 'The Cope' Gallagher (Donegal).

During yesterday's party meeting, Mr Gallagher outlined a number of proposals he would pursue if elected.

These include a new procedure whereby the party leaders meet each week to decide the order of Dail business.

His proposals also include changes to prevent ministers sending in their junior counterparts during topical issues to read prepared scripts, and a review of the Friday sittings.

But senior party sources have described Mr Moynihan as the frontrunner.

Other deputies who have expressed an interest in the post are Fine Gael's Fergus O'Dowd, Independent TD John Halligan and Sinn Fein's Caoimhghin O Caolain.

And last night it emerged that Labour's Brendan Howlin is also considering putting his name forward.

All of the candidates will address TDs in the Dail chamber for five minutes before a vote takes place by way of secret ballot.
One week on from the election, and were in a right mess now arent we?

Fianna Fail and Fine Gael are meeting with the various Independents to talk about government formation, but how likely is that going to be?

Nobody, it seems, can or wants to take up the baton and lead from the front.

INMs Group Political Editor Kevin Doyle was joined by INMs Nicola Anderson as well as political correspondents Cormac McQuinn and Philip Ryan to discuss the latest developments in the continuing fall-out of GE16.

Conveniently ditching their pre-election predictions, the Floating Voter panel are only interested in looking forward and seeing where the uncharted waters take us. Irish Waters future is one issue that is causing plenty of confusion and consternation.

Plus, is Leo waiting in the long grass before pitching in with a leadership battle against Enda Kenny?

The Floating Voter is available every Tuesday and Friday and can be listened to on SoundCloud, iTunes, Stitcher and Independent.ie .
A new poll has revealed 87pc of people are in favour of making abortion more widely available- but they do not all agree on how far to push the boundaries.

The Red C poll, commissioned by Amnesty, found 80pc of this group would be in favour of allowing a woman to terminate a pregnancy in Ireland in cases of rape or incest.

The same number would also support abortion where a woman's life or health are at risk.

However, 7pc of those in favour of widening the grounds want to go no further than extending it to women who seek a termination in cases where their unborn baby has been diagnosed with a fatal foetal abnormality.

Just 38pc in favour of change want to see the law liberalised to the point where abortion is freely available to women as they choose.

Some 5pc of people are opposed to abortion in all circumstances.

Launching the results ,Colm OGorman, Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland, said the poll was carried out in the final days of the general election campaign.

The proposed repeal of the Eight Amendment will be among the major challenges facing the next government.

Abortion is legal here where there is a risk to the life of the mother, including suicide. But many say this does not go far enough.

"This poll reveals that, far from this being a divisive issue as some suggest, people in Ireland are clear and solid in their support of increased access to abortion.

"There is an evidently broad consensus on the urgent need to reform Irelands restrictive abortion laws. This is true across all demographics and regions. It is time for our newly elected legislators to recognise this reality, move beyond the myth of a divided society on this issue and legislate to respect rights of women and girls, he said.

The results show that when the "don't knows and those who are neutral" are excluded:

69pc say expansion of the law must be a priority for the next government.

90pc believe that womens health must be the priority as part of any reform .

68pc describe current law as cruel and inhumane

Politicians, anti-abortion groups, media and church leaders are the least trusted sources of information on this issue

Some 66pc consider it hypocritical that the Constitution bans abortion here but allows women to travel abroad for one.

72pc believe that the fact that women must travel for abortions unfairly "discriminates against those who cannot afford to or are unable to travel.

Mr O' Gorman said:Despite the dishonest efforts of many opposed to reform, the poll found that 80% of people are aware that women have a right to access abortion in certain circumstances under international human rights law.

"This is an increase of 10% on polling we ran in 2015.The incoming government cannot ignore the fact that the vast majority of Irish people want womens human rights to be respected. It must prioritise the expansion of access to abortion in Ireland without delay"

Half those polled feel they do not know enough about the Eighth Amendment to know how they would vote and would like the media to give more information on it, particularly outside Dublin.

Only 14pc of respondents were aware that having an abortion when the womans life is not in danger is a criminal offence which carries a potential 14 year prison sentence.

Of the 5pc of people who are opposed to abortion in all circumstances, 77pc are not aware that this 14 year criminal penalty exists.

Mr O' Gorman added: Given the failure of successive Irish governments to implement meaningful reform of Irelands abortion law, it is perhaps unsurprising then that our poll found that just 7pc of respondents trust politicians to inform them on this issue.

"On a separate question as to whether we should trust women when they say they need an abortion regardless of the circumstances, 68pc of respondents agreed we should. It is time for an Irish government to start trusting Irish women to make decisions about their reproductive lives."

Eight in ten of those who consider themselves religious agreed that their religious views should not be imposed on others. Only one in five people (20pc) who consider themselves to be religious say that they have very conflicted views on abortion because of their religion. 13pc of those opposed to abortion in all circumstances shared this view.
THE Minister for Justice took into account all relevant considerations before issuing a deportation order for a man allegedly involved with Islamic terrorists, the High Court heard.

The man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, has brought a challenge aimed at preventing his deportation to Jordan.

He denies the State's claims he has consulted with senior violent extremist leaders outside Ireland, or that he represents a threat to national security. It is also claimed he made travel arrangements for and recruits members for Islamic extremist group Isil.In his action, he claims he was tortured in Jordan during the 1990s due to his political activities, and faces being tortured if he is sent back.

On the third day of the hearing before Mr Justice Richard Humphreys, Conor Power SC, for the Minister, rejected arguments on behalf of the man that there was a failure to properly take into account the risk of the man being tortured if deported to Jordan.

The Minister had considered all evidence submitted on the man's behalf, before deciding to issue a deportation order.

Counsel said that there were a number of "inconsistencies and contradictions" in applications for asylum that were made by the man in 2015.

There was no mention of being tortured when submitting his first application for asylum back in 2000.

The court was told evidence submitted on behalf of the man showed it was possible he was at risk due to his opposition to the regime in Jordan if he was returned to that country.

However, counsel argued, that evidence "did not go beyond 'possible', and it must go beyond the possible."

The mere possibility of the man receiving ill treatment from the Jordanian authorities was not enough to prevent the Minister from issuing a deportation order.

Counsel also said that since leaving Jordan he made three requests to that country for consular assistance in relation to his passport.

His close relatives are living in Jordan.

While the man's son had been arrested and detained without charge in Jordan, there was no evidence before the Minister that they had asked him about his father's whereabouts, counsel said.

The man has resided in Ireland since 2000, on the basis he has an Irish citizen child. Last year the authorities decided not to renew his residency permit because child had not been residing in the State.

He was then informed the State wants to deport him. He then applied for asylum, but claims the Minister for Justice refused to make a decision on on his application.

The case resumes next week.
The expected major influx of Syrian refugees to Ireland has yet to materialise, with just 350 people expected to be resettled here this year.

The number falls well short of the 4,000 people the Government pledged to accept from the conflict zone.

The expected influx has been stymied by issues at hotspots in Italy and Greece, according to officials at the Department of Justice.

So far, one family of 10 has arrived from Greece under the EU relocation programme.

"The family are very happy to be in Ireland and have settled well into their new surroundings," said a department spokesman. A further 20 people have been offered to Ireland by Italy.

Officials said the proposal was being examined.

Each person would go through a screening process in Italy before coming here.

The numbers coming from Italy and Greece are much lower than initially expected.

This is partly due to the fact only a relatively small number of migrants are applying for asylum in Italy and Greece, which is a prerequisite for entry to the relocation programme.

Instead, many have preferred to continue their journey on towards northern Europe.

However, under a separate UN programme, which Ireland has been involved in since 2000, around 330 refugees are expected to arrive here by the end of the year.

These are refugees from camps in Lebanon and Jordan.

Some 189 refugees have already been accepted under this programme since January of last year.

Despite the low numbers, the department insists Ireland will live up to the commitment given by Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald to take 4,000 people from the war-torn region.

Syrian refugees arriving from Italy and Greece are to be placed in special emergency reception centres when they arrive and will not have to go through the direct provision system.

They will be treated as asylum seekers and the asylum process is expected to take between two and three months to complete, officials said.

"While in these centres, the asylum seekers will be provided with accommodation and full board. Their educational, health and social protection needs will be assessed and assistance offered as appropriate," a department spokesman said.

The relative speed with which they will be processed comes in stark contrast to the direct provision system where in many cases it can take years for a decision on asylum.
A suspicious object found at an army barracks which sparked a security alert that saw people evacuated from their homes has been declared "nothing untoward".

Police and Army technical officers examined the object which was found near the perimeter fence of Thiepval Barracks complex in Lisburn.

The alert came just hours after a prison officer was injured by an explosive device which detonated under the van he was driving to work in Belfast.

Around two hours after announcing the alert in Lisburn, the Police Service of Northern Ireland tweeted: "The security alert at Thiepval Barracks, Lisburn is over. An object examined by ATO was found to be nothing untoward."
The van (centre, top) under which a device exploded in east Belfast, leaving a man injured. Photo: Lesley-Anne McKeown/PA Wire

Police seal off a large area after a device exploded under a car in east Belfast, leaving a man injured. Photo: Lesley-Anne McKeown/PA Wire

Police seal off a large area after a device exploded under a car in east Belfast, leaving a man injured. Photo: Lesley-Anne McKeown/PA Wire

The van (centre, top) under which a device exploded in east Belfast, leaving a man injured. Photo: Lesley-Anne McKeown/PA Wire

The Northern Ireland First and Deputy First Ministers Arlene Foster and Martin McGuinness have condemed the attack. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

A bomb disposal unit officer at the scene following a suspected car bomb attack on a prison officer at Hillsborough Drive on March 4, 2016 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

The 52 year old man, a serving prison officer who was driving the van has been taken to hospital. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

A bomb has exploded under a van in east Belfast, seriously injuring a prison officer - and police have warned it is part of a dissident republican plot to kill security forces in the lead up to the Easter Rising centenary.

The device "partially detonated" under the man's vehicle on Hillsborough Drive off the Woodstock Road just after 7am on Friday morning - causing a loud explosion.

The man has been taken to hospital with injuries that are understood to be serious but not life-threatening.

Police have confirmed he is a 52-year-old serving prison officer.

Dissident republicans are being blamed and Deputy Chief Constable Drew Harris issued a stark warning from PSNI headquarters that more attacks are planned as the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising approaches.

"I believe that there are people within the dissident republican groupings who want to mark this centenary by killing police officers, prison officers and soldiers," he said.

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"We should not underestimate their willingness and their desire to kill. Someone made this device, someone transported it, someone planted it.

"We are working with [centenary] event organisers to ensure they pass off peacefully and we will be culturally sensitive in our policing of the Easter Rising events.

"We ask for the support of the community. Be vigilant - if you see anything suspicious, tell us."

It is understood the prison officer was driving the van when the device detonated. Detectives are examining whether the bomb dislodged from the vehicle as it was going over a speed bump.

The road is closed where the Woodstock Road meets the Cregagh Road and emergency services are at the scene.

Expand Close The van (centre, top) under which a device exploded in east Belfast, leaving a man injured. Photo: Lesley-Anne McKeown/PA Wire / Facebook

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A number of houses in Hillsborough Drive are being evacuated and an emergency centre has been opened up at the Salvation Army on the Cregagh Road.

A large cordon has been put up around the scene with several streets closed off. Part of a twisted bumper can be seen lying at the side of the road.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan said today: I am deeply concerned to learn of the bomb attack this morning in East Belfast which has injured an officer of the Northern Ireland Prison Service. My immediate thoughts are for the health and welfare of the injured officer and I convey my best wishes to him, his family and colleagues."

"This callous and cowardly incident must be utterly condemned. Not only was it targeted on an individual public servant, it represented a futile attack on the entire community which is determined to achieve a peaceful and reconciled society in Northern Ireland.

Fianna Fail Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs Brendan Smith also condemned the car bomb attack.

This is a despicable act which I and the Fianna Fail party wholly condemn. While it is too early at this stage to know who perpetrated this attack it nevertheless serves as a reminder that the peace secured in Northern Ireland is fragile and it must not be taken for granted," Deputy Smith said.

Todays appalling attack underscores that individuals and groups still exist who seek to destabilise the peace process. Public representatives and political parties both North and South of the Border need to redouble and renew their efforts to ensure that those who seek to undermine the peace secured in Northern Ireland do not gain traction.

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Fianna Fail is committed to Northern Ireland and to the full realisation of the peace process. This will be a priority for us as a Party in the 32nd Dail.

A neighbour told the Nolan Show: "I heard the explosion and ran outside.

"There were a lot of people looking really confused.

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"The van was abandoned in the middle of the street and there were a lot of people tending to somebody injured on the pavement."

Anyone who may have witnessed any suspicious activity in the area is urged to contact police on 101.

Dissident threat

Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers said: "This is a demonstration of how lethal the terrorist threat continues to be in Northern Ireland.

"These groupings are small in number but they are targeting prison officers and police officers... so were it not for the actions of the police we would be seeing these attacks happen far more frequently than they do."

North Belfast MLA Gerry Kelly said yesterday's Policing Board meeting was told that the threat level from dissident republicans was "severe" - that an attack was believed to be imminent.

"But that is a constant process that has been ongoing for some years," he told Stephen Nolan.

"We ask this from month-to-month at the Policing Board.

"And it doesn't reflect what has been stopped and what has taken place."

Head of the Prison Officers' Association, Finlay Spratt said: "There is no let up for prison officers in work and in their personal life.

"Threats on their life are near constant."

"Every right-thinking person should be condemning this and those terrorists behind this need to think about what they are trying to achieve."

Among the families making their way to school and people walking to work there was a real sense of shock.

'Massive bang'

One shop worker waiting to gain permission to open up said he had heard a "massive" bang at about 7.20am.

"I didn't know what it was but it was huge," said the man who declined to be named.

Superintendent Darrin Jones said; At this time we believe a device has exploded under a vehicle.

The incident was reported to police at 7.10am this morning Friday 4 March.

A spokesman for the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service said they received the call at 7.10 to reports of a large bang.

Two ambulance crews were sent and two patients were taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital.

'Despicable'

Stormont First Minister Arlene Foster condemned the incident.

"Disgraceful and despicable attack in east Belfast," she said.

The Woodstock Road is a predominantly unionist area.

East Belfast Assembly member Chris Lyttle said he was outraged, describing the attack as a "sickening echo of the past".

"I am shocked and sickened someone has attempted to take the life of this man," said the Alliance Party representative.

"It is difficult to put into words the contempt every right-thinking member of society will have for those behind this attack. The people responsible offer nothing except death, injury and disruption.

"Those trying to return Northern Ireland to a climate of fear will not be allowed to win. My thoughts and prayers are with those injured by this device, and I would urge anyone with information about this incident to contact police immediately."

Stark reminder

The under-car bomb blast that injured a prison officer in Northern Ireland is suspected to be the latest attack perpetrated by dissident republicans opposed to the peace process.

While the actions of the violent extremists remain sporadic, the incident in east Belfast has provided another stark reminder of both their capacity and intent.

Since the Provisional IRA ceasefires of the 1990s, hard-liners have coalesced into various factions.

Only months after the signing of the Good Friday peace agreement in 1998 one of the radical groups - the Real IRA - killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins, in a bomb in the Co Tyrone town of Omagh.

The structure and membership of the disparate gangs have remained fluid ever since, with crossover and co-operation commonplace.

David Black

In 2012 prison officer David Black was shot dead by dissidents on the M1 motorway in Co Armagh as he drove to work at Maghaberry high security jail.

In 2011, 25-year-old policeman Ronan Kerr was killed by an under-car booby trap bomb in Omagh.

Two years earlier, two British soldiers and a policeman were murdered in separate attacks within 48 hours of each other.

In March 2009, the Real IRA claimed responsibility for gunning down Sappers Patrick Azimkar and Mark Quinsey outside Massereene Army barracks in Antrim.

Two days later the Continuity IRA said they shot dead Pc Stephen Carroll as he attended a 999 call in Craigavon, Co Armagh.

As well as security force attacks, dissidents have become embroiled in conflicts with drug dealers on both sides of the Irish border, with a number of murders linked to those feuds.
Irish Water has sought tenders to provide 500,000 meter boxes from late next year. Photo: Colm Mahady / Fennells

Irish Water has borrowed 200m from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to help fund around 30 water supply, sewage and wastewater schemes and begin the process of removing lead piping from the system.

The loan, which is to the company's parent Ervia, was approved in December with contracts expected to be signed over the coming months.

A spokesman for the EIB said the loan was approved because the EIB saw Irish Water as a company with the "technical and financial strength" to repay.

The move comes as the utility continues work on the water network despite political uncertainty as to whether it will be abolished as a condition of Fianna Fail entering government.

The utility has also sought tenders to provide 500,000 meter boxes from late next year, which would allow the company to continue the metering programme.

The so-called boundary boxes are installed in the ground before meters are placed in them.

Due to take effect from the beginning of 2017, the contract covers domestic, non-domestic and mixed-use customers.

Mixed-use customers live in a business premises, for example farmers or people living above the shop.

The contract notice, which was published on the State's e-tenders website, is looking for suppliers to provide the boxes over four years.

A total of 500,000 units will be needed over the course of the contract, up to 200,000 per year. The likely cost is not provided.

A spokeswoman for Irish Water said the contract was for all boundary boxes needed for water installation.

"Current frameworks will expire from end 2016 so this is to have suppliers in place for when they do," she said.

"Boundary boxes will be for domestic, non domestic and mixed use customers. For example we estimate 20,000 to 30,000 non domestic mixed use customers are yet to be metered."

Irish Water plans to spend 5.5bn between 2013 and 2021 on the network, including upgrading and replacing plants, water mains and sewers, and eliminating leaks and lead piping.

The EIB loan was approved because there was a need for "long-term investment" in the sector, a bank spokesman said, adding that more funding could be approved at future dates.

Some 200m will be provided, to part-fund works totalling 520m.

"We are one of the world's largest lenders to water, and we are the largest lender to the UK," he said.

"Over the last five years, we've provided 21bn in water investment worldwide. Of that, 18.3bn is across Europe. And 5.4bn in the UK since 2010.

"In Ireland, there is an investment need on the water networks, but also flood related investment. Basically, from our side as a long term lender, water is a very obvious sector for us to be engaged with.

"We are aware of the sensitivities in Ireland around water charges, but recognise the importance of long-term investment. The principle has been approved and the amount. We expect that to be distributed later this year."

The EIB supported investment in the water sector in the 1980s and 1990s, and the most recent loans totalling 200m were issued in 2012 and 2014.

The EIB has an AAA credit rating, meaning it can borrow money at competitive rates. The spokesman said these rates were passed onto clients.

The EIB is limited to providing up to half the project cost, and the spokesman said that more funding could be sought at a later date.

"We could lend 100m now, and more when it's needed. There will be an ongoing investment programme which we can look at. From our side, we see it as a sound investment and we recognise the clear need for water infrastructure across the bloc and Ireland.

"There is technical strength and financial strength of the model, so we can be paid back."
Clare Daly doesnt think there should be refunds. Photo: Tom Burke

Thousands of families are set to cancel their water payments as the charges are expected to be abolished.

As refunds are ruled out for those who obeyed the law and paid up, Irish Water is now inundated with calls from householders.

"A number (of customers) have said they are either thinking about cancelling direct debits or have already taken steps with their bank about it," a source told the Irish Independent.

The next phase of bills is due to be paid by March 8 - with another round of payments in October.

An average Irish household of two adults and two children, with a mains water supply and their own septic tank, has paid 97.43 so far.

The cancellations began after Fine Gael minister Simon Coveney suggested water will feature in coalition talks.

The Agriculture Minister apologised to party colleagues last night for speaking too loosely. But the spectacular gaffe has damaged his leadership ambitions.

He came under fire at the Fine Gael parliamentary party meeting for sparking confusion among voters.

Carlow/Kilkenny TD John Paul Phelan said 'unity' is not just applicable to backbenchers but also to ministers.

Some of the Fine Gael TDs said they had "suffered enough" in the election and the views of the almost 60pc who had already paid the charges must be taken into account.

The issue of also water formed a significant part of the Fianna Fail meeting.

It has already ruled out any question of refunds for the 928,000 Irish householders who paid their bills, though a form of tax or utility credit is being examined as potential compensation.

But party leader Micheal Martin has contradicted his own environment spokesman, in saying water charges are not a "red line issue" for future coalition talks.

Barry Cowen earlier this week said charges must be scrapped if the party is to support a coalition involving Fine Gael. But Mr Martin said there are no red lines issues, because no coalition talks with Fine Gael have taken place.

Meanwhile, even left-wing TDs are also split on whether bill-payers should get a refund if Irish Water is abolished.

Clare Daly said she does not think homeowners who paid water charges should get their money back. The Socialist Party TD denied she was saying 'tough' to hard-pressed families.

"It was a legally levied charge. Those who chose to pay, that's fine," she said.

The Anti-Austerity Alliance People Before Profit's Paul Murphy did not agree with Ms Daly. The Dublin South-West TD said people who paid should get a refund as his party "clearly laid out in its manifesto".
A bergamot is a fruit that looks a little like a large, yellow lime, but tastes like a sweet lemon. Its distinguishing features are its slightly pear-shaped body and its sweet flesh. You're probably more familiar with this fruit in its guise as the key flavour of Earl Grey tea, which is made using bergamot oil.

Recently at my local farmers' market, I stumbled upon a box of bergamots. There weren't quite enough bergamots in the box to make a marmalade, so instead I carried a couple home with plans to add them to roast meat.

Chicken and citrus love each other. I make a variation of this roast chicken dish often in my kitchen. Sometimes I use a juicy orange, while other times I keep it traditional and use a lemon. I was looking forward to trying it out with bergamot, to see what difference this unusual citrus fruit would make to one of my kitchen favourites.

The bergamot certainly adds a subtle floral sweetness to the whole dish, breathing new life into a recipe I've cooked many times for my loved ones. It's always a good idea to experiment with your favourite recipes.

Your best bet for finding bergamots would be to head for your farmers' market or a specialty food store, such as Fallon & Byrne in Dublin. Bergamots don't just pop up in any old food store so don't be worried if you can't find any. You can swap the bergamot for a lemon or an orange.

Bergamot chicken

Serves 4

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 45 minutes

INGREDIENTS

4 chicken legs

2 tablespoons of olive oil

2 tablespoons of runny honey

1 tablespoon of cumin seeds

1 bergamot (or 1 lemon)

1 head of garlic

1 teaspoon of salt

Half a teaspoon of pepper

1 block or eight slices of halloumi cheese

Large handful of green salad

Extra oil, honey and bergamot (or lemon) juice

METHOD

1. Pre-heat your oven to 200c/180c fan/gas mark 6.

2. Place the chicken legs in a roasting dish and cover with the oil, honey and cumin seeds.

3. Slice the bergamot (or lemon) in half. Squeeze the juice of the bergamot (or lemon) all over the chicken legs, and then place the squeezed halves in the roasting dish between the chicken legs.

4. Slice the head of garlic in half. One half of the garlic will break into small cloves. Don't worry about peeling the garlic cloves. Place the garlic head and cloves into the roasting dish.

5. Sprinkle the chicken with the salt and pepper. Roast the chicken legs in the oven for 45 minutes.

6. When the chicken is nearly done, fry your halloumi in a little hot oil in non-stick frying pan for 5 minutes on both sides,until golden and crisp. Place the salad greens in a salad bowl and arrange the halloumi on top. Drizzle with a tablespoon of olive oil, a tablespoon of honey and a tablespoon of bergamot (or lemon) juice. Sprinkle the salad with salt and pepper.

7. Once cooked through, serve the chicken legs with the halloumi salad on the side.

This week's storecupboard essential:

Halloumi: Halloumi is a sturdy cheese that happily sticks around your fridge for a week or two after buying. When eaten raw, it has an oddly squeaky texture but when fried up it becomes a golden wonder of salty cheese. Seek out Toonsbridge Dairy's halloumi, made in Cork.

Photo: Mark Duggan
Melodie Cook (4) suffers from a rare condition called Phelan-McDermid Syndrome which leaves her unable to show love or affection.

A mum has spoken of the heartbreaking condition which leaves her young daughter unable to show love or affection.

Little Melodie was diagnosed with the extremely rare condition, Phelan McDermid Syndrome, which leaves her unable to speak.

Not being able to use her voice leaves the little girl feeling angry and frustrated and sometimes lashes out at her mum, Rebeccah Cook.

"I've never had a cuddle or a kiss," said Rebeccah (27) from Stockton in England.

She doesnt show emotions; the only feeling we see is her anger and frustration. Weve never seen her react to love.

Its a dark place for her. Shes trapped in her own little body.

Melodie was diagnosed with Phelan McDermid Syndrome when she was 14 months old.

She never cried and failed to reach developmental milestones like most other babies.

Her mum said: "She was just a lifeless baby until she was about 18 months old.

"When she was diagnosed, it felt like we were grieving for a child that didnt die."

There are only 1,500 diagnosed with Phelan McDermid syndrome which affects speech, mobility and cognitive development.

Melodie's condition also causes aggression, sleep disturbance and frightening seizures.

Her behaviour is very autistic and she can be incredibly violent, said her mum.

She has knocked my tooth out and pulled clumps of my hair out and she can be very destructive.

To look at her she looks normal, and this causes very mixed reactions when were out and about.

Children look as if to say Why is that girl hurting her mummy?

The heartbroken mum also said the condition also causes a decreased perception of pain.

Shes trapped her finger in a door and has fallen down the steps and Ive never known her to cry, explained Rebeccah.

Youre constantly assessing everything because she doesnt have any sense of danger.

Melodies older siblings, Whitney (8) and five-year-old Alfie, have also had to adapt.

Alfie, with him being five, he just wants to adore her and he struggles to understand that he cant cuddle her, said Rebeccah.

Whitney is very quick at getting out of the way.

The four-year-old is unable to go to nursery but she enjoys the sensory apps on her iPad, listening to music, particularly Eva Cassidy, and loves the Sesame Street character Elmo. She also has a favourite film - Roald Dahls Matilda.

Rebeccah and Melodie's father, Mark Sanderson, have been trying to raise awareness for the disorder.

Last February, Rebeccah met up with the founder of the condition, Dr Katy Phelan who travelled from America to meet the family in London.

She has also had invaluable support from the Phelan-McDermid Syndrome Foundation UK which she described as her "lifeline".

Rebeccah now hopes to raise awareness of the syndrome and gain more answers about it.

She said: "It is hard. There are times when I have sat and cried. I just look at her and think 'How can I help this little girl?'"
Pol O Conghaile with Gonzalo Ceballos, Natalia Bel, Maria Navais (Spanish Tourist Office) and Martin Skelly (President, Irish Travel Agents Assoc) at the 2016 Travel Extra Travel Journalist of the Year Awards. Photo: Gary Ashe.

Conor Power, travel writer and contributor to the Irish Independent and Sunday Independent, at the inaugural French Travel Media Awards this week.

Three INM travel writers received awards for their work at the inaugural French Travel Media Awards, held this week.

Pol O Conghaile, INM's Contributing Editor (Travel) picked up a special 'Paris Award' for his piece on the #ParisWeLoveYou campaign for Independent.ie.

The Sunday World's Jim Gallagher won 'Best City Break Feature in France', while freelance contributor Conor Power also received an award for 'Best Gastronomy and Wine Feature in France' at the ceremony.

Hosted by Atout France, the awards were announced at an event attended by 13 representatives from a number of regions in France, the cream of the Irish travel media and French Ambassador in Ireland, H.E. Jean-Pierre Thebault.

The French Ambassador welcomed media to the event and thanked them for their continued support of France, and in particular Paris, during 2015.

Other winners included Catherine Murphy and Kevin Gleeson for features in the Sunday Business Post and Irish Mail on Sunday respectively.

The wins follow another successful haul for INM journalists at the annual Travel Extra Travel Journalist of the Year Awards, held this January.

Pol O Conghaile and Conor Power were category winners, while Jamie Blake Knox of the Sunday Independent won 'Best Newcomer/young Journalist'.

The overall Travel Journalist of the Year Award was won by Isabel Conway, for her work in a range of publications, including The Irish Independent.
One week on, the post-election landscape is not a pretty sight. Baffled citizens gaze at what seems like an unholy mess.

Even worse, there is no sense of anyone in control to put shape on a new government. The dearth of leadership thus far is staggering.

Fine Gael, although still the largest party, is like a headless chicken, devoid of strategy. Defeated Fine Gael TDs are bitter and vengeful after a disastrous campaign. For Enda Kenny, the election outcome must be personally crushing. But at a wider level, there has been a dearth of leadership emanating from the stricken vessel that is Fine Gael. One hopes that some cohesion and strategy will emerge after the first meeting of the parliamentary party.

Meanwhile, Fianna Fail is back to its old populist ways, bullishly refusing to countenance any grand alliance with Fine Gael while at the same time buying time and advantage with an uncharacteristic and newfound appetite for Dail reform. If the party cannot lead a government with Micheal Martin as Taoiseach, its alternative strategy seems to be to ride two horses; being top dog in the Opposition while supporting a minority Fine Gael government. Such a minority government would be a leaky boat from the get-go, given the weakness of its mandate, and would be held to ransom by a rowdy and demanding Opposition, particularly if Dail reforms are conceded. Neither would such a government be popular or reflective of the will of the people as expressed. It would be short-lived.

Given the responsibility of the two main parties to form a government, it is truly shocking that water charges and the abolition of Irish Water is dominating the agenda. Even for electoral gain, it was deeply irresponsible and populist of Fianna Fail to backslide on its original support for water charges and a national utility to manage water and sewage quality. This, after all, was not a creature of the Troika-imposed austerity. It emanated from a European directive based on the environmental principle of the "polluter pays". Water is a precious but finite resource that has a value which should be paid for by users. To date, 61pc of households have paid the modest charge and for the first time, there is a national utility, compiling data, coordinating repairs and generally doing what should have been done years ago to provide safe water and sewage.

The cost of dismantling the utility at this stage and reversing the policy would be enormous, with estimates as high as 7bn, plus the likelihood of fines being imposed by Europe for non-compliance with the directive. Yet this is what Fianna Fail is proposing. It is disgraceful behaviour for a party with long experience of government.

But as in a lover's tiff, it's not about the water. And there is a pair of them in it. Mr Kenny has bizarrely allowed water to be a red-line issue for Fine Gael too. It's hardly a good way to open discussions with "like-minded" parties to have a fixed, "fundamental" position on water services, of all things.

Some smart people in these parties should be drafting a compromise Programme for Government; it's all in the drafting. It should be possible to draft an agreement encompassing all the critical issues which need resolution and on which the election was fought.

Moreover, when it comes to priorities, most people would view the crisis in housing and the plight of homeless families and the problems in our health service as far more acute and compelling issues for government to address than a row over water charges. After a long radio silence, Bertie Ahern came back like an old timer to caution against hasty decisions on government formation. This could take until after Easter, he said authoritatively, and sure what harm? In a way, it was reassuring to hear his take on the whole business as a former Taoiseach of several governments, particularly given the disappearance of any grown-ups from the political stage. But at the same time, it left listeners feeling short-changed and holding tickets for a postponed fixture.

While these things take time, undue leisure is not desirable. Internationally, being without a stable government is not a good look for business and trade. And to be honest, it's a tad delusional to have Fine Gael and Labour ministers presiding over 1916 commemorative events and St Patrick's Day celebrations when they have been so roundly defeated.

Meanwhile the hard left and anti-austerity TDs seem more euphoric about "pulverising" the hapless Labour Party than anything else. Labour is down but not out and will rebuild its strength on the Opposition benches. The last-minute re-election of Willie Penrose was important for ensuring speaking time in the Dail. But the defeat of deputies like Kathleen Lynch, Aodhan O Riordain and others is a loss to politics. It's not personal; they suffered a fate common to all small parties in unpopular coalitions.

Despite the gloomy election outcome, one positive result is the election of 19 new female TDs, bringing the total number of women to 35. More than 22pc of the 32nd Dail is female, compared to the 15pc elected in 2011. The increase is largely but not entirely down to the gender quota introduced for the first time in this election.

While controversial, it has worked. While some excellent female TDs lost their seats along with male colleagues last week, overall the outcome is still positive for female participation. The difference this time is that more women were on the ballot paper, offering more choice to the electorate. In all, there were 155 female candidates. The stubbornly low number of women in politics has been of concern for many years. When I was elected in 1992 there were 20 women; when I left politics in 2007 there were only 27. Progress was at a snail's pace.

The cohort of newly elected women is diverse; some are liberal, others conservative. Some are hard Left. But they all bring a common perspective based on their life experience as women and mothers. This will make our democratic institutions more representative. I wish the newly elected TDs, men and women, the very best in what looks like being a very exciting and more feminine 32nd Dail.
Professor Tony Dyson, who built the original Star Wars R2-D2 droid, has died in Malta.

The British inventor was discovered by police at his home on the island of Gozo.

Malta police said a 68-year-old man had died at the property on Thursday morning.

Force spokesman Kurt Bugeja Coster said: " A neighbour realised the front door was open and became concerned and called the police. Officers entered the apartment and he was found dead.

"Foul play has been excluded so far. An autopsy will be held to determine cause of death."

Professor Dyson also worked on Superman II, Moonraker and Dragonslayer, and was nominated for an Emmy for his film special effects supervision.

R2-D2 was designed by Ralph McQuarrie and P rofessor Dyson was commissioned to make eight robots for the Star Wars series.

They included four remote control units, two with seats inside for actor Kenny Baker and two units to be used in a bog scene in The Empire Strikes Back.

On his website he said he spent five months making the original eight R2-D2 droids and described it as "one of the most exciting periods of my life".

Christopher Muscat, who invited him to Malta's Comic Convention last year, said he had created an "icon" in R2-D2.

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He said: "We were surprised how friendly he was and full of energy. He was always smiling.

"R2-D2 is an icon. He is one of the characters that stars in all the Star Wars movies."

In 2003, R2-D2 was selected for induction to the Robot Hall of Fame at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Professor Dyson designed and built 36 model spacemen with backpacks, laser guns and spacesuits for James Bond film Moonraker and worked on a giant robot dragon in 1981 film Dragonslayer.

He also designed and built robots for some of the world's largest electronic companies including Sony, Philips and Toshiba.
Ghostbusters stars (from left) Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Kristen Wiig and Leslie Jones inside the Mercado Hotel Lobby in the film (PA/Sony Pictures)

The all-female Ghostbusters strap on Proton Packs, fight with ghouls and tear around New York in Ecto-1 in the first trailer for the reboot of the classic film.

The new version of the movie stars Bridemaids actresses Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig and Saturday Night Live comedians Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones, replacing the original quartet of Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson.

Ivan Reitman, who directed the original films, serves as a producer for the remake and hands over the directing reins to Paul Feig, who is responsible for female-starring comedies Bridesmaids, The Heat and Spy.

Thor star Chris Hemsworth also appears in the trailer as the group's receptionist Kevin.

The trailer reveals that Wiig plays a particle physicist, McCarthy is an expert in the paranormal, McKinnon plays a nuclear engineer and Jones appears to take on the role of a subway employee who serves as a guide to the city.

Unveiling the trailer for the first time to an audience of Ghostbusters fans, Feig said: "It was really important to us to make them scientists. That's what I love about the first one, the idea of funny people fighting the paranormal with science."

Asked how they plan to address the controversy over the all-female cast, the director replied: "We don't. I just want the funniest people and the funniest people I happen to know are these women. It should never be about that. Ghostbusters are for everybody."

He added: "When I see pictures of young girls making Ghostbusters costumes it chokes me up, I just like the idea that a new generation will have their own that they will love as much as the original guys."

Reitman, who had been hoping to revive the franchise for years, said: "I've often talked about the moment I saw the original quartet walk down Madison Avenue the first time on the first day of shooting and there was a tingle in my back and I really got the same feeling when I saw these four women.

"There was no issue of gender, it was really 'Oh my god, there is something unique about these four together'."

Feig also revealed that the movie will include nods and references to the original films, as well as cameos from original cast members including Murray and Aykroyd.

He said: "When you see the movie there will be a lot of things that you will be happy to see but they will be coming at you in a different way."

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He added: "Slimer makes an appearance - you can't do Ghostbusters without Slimer."

As for the famous theme song, Feig said: "You will hear the song; you can't do it without it. We are playing with the original and some new versions"

:: Ghostbusters will be released in UK cinemas on July 15.
Donald Trump was savaged last night in a broadside from former US presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

Mr Romney called the billionaire New York businessman a phoney and called on fellow Republicans to shun the brash real estate mogul.

The race for the Republican nomination, dominated by insults and name-calling, has seen Mr Trump's once-unlikely candidacy morph into an increasingly likely bid for his party's nomination for the November ballot.

Mr Romney, who was soundly defeated by President Barack Obama in his 2012 re-election, joins a growing chorus of anxious Republican leaders whom many Trump supporters see as establishment figures. "Here's what I know: Donald Trump is a phoney, a fraud," Mr Romney said in the text of a speech set for delivery last night.

Mr Romney says a Trump nomination at the party's convention in July would enable Democrat Hillary Clinton to win the presidency, according to excerpts of his speech obtained by AP reporters.

Mr Romney also said Mr Trump "has neither the temperament nor the judgment to be president".

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Mr Trump disparaged Mr Romney in a series of tweets, including: "I am not a Mitt Romney, who doesn't know how to win."

Panicked Republican leaders say they still have options for preventing Mr Trump from winning the nomination, just not many good ones. They include a contested convention and even the long-shot prospect of a third party option.

Mr Trump has 316 delegates so far, Texas Senator Ted Cruz has 226 and Florida Senator Marco Rubio has 106. It takes 1,237 delegates to win the party nomination.

Despite Mr Trump's strong showing on Tuesday, he was not yet on track to claim the nomination before the party's national gathering, according to an AP delegate count. He has won 46pc of the delegates awarded so far, and he would have to increase that to 51pc in the remaining primaries.

Mr Trump is already setting his sights on the general election. His campaign reached out to House Speaker Paul Ryan's office to arrange a conversation between the two men and urged Republican leaders to view his candidacy as a chance to expand the party. "Why can't the leaders of the Republican Party see that I am bringing in new voters by the millions - we are creating a larger, stronger party!" Mr Trump tweeted.

Indeed, there was a surge in turnout in Super Tuesday's primaries. While that could be a welcome sign for a party that has struggled to attract new voters in recent presidential elections, Republican leaders face the reality that some of those voters were registering their opposition to the party establishment.

Party strategists cast March 15 as the last opportunity to stop Mr Trump through the normal path of winning states and collecting delegates. A win for Mr Rubio in his home state of Florida would raise questions about Mr Trump's strength, as could a win for Ohio governor John Kasich on home turf.

The candidates had a high-profile opportunity to make their case to voters in last night's prime-time debate. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson all but ended his bid on Wednesday, saying he did "not see a political path forward."

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton was drawing broad support from voters and her party's leaders. Rival Bernie Sanders vowed to keep up the fight, though his path to the nomination has narrowed. So far, Clinton has at least 1,005 delegates, Sanders 373. It takes 2,383 Democrat delegates to win.
(L-R) Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and John Kasich pose together at the start of the US Republican presidential candidates debate

Republican US presidential candidate Ted Cruz gestures over at rival candidate Donald Trump during the debate in Detroit, Michigan. Photo: Reuters

Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump shows off the size of his hands as Fox News Channel moderators Brett Baier (L) and Megyn Kelly (R) look on at the US Republican presidential candidates debate in Detroit, Michigan. Photo: Reuters

US Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump came under withering fire from rivals Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz at a debate on Thursday as establishment Republicans tried to muster some unity behind a last-ditch anti-Trump effort.

The Fox News Channel-sponsored debate began as a free-for-all fracas with tension mounting over Trump's ascendancy and his drive to become the presumptive nominee should he win nominating contests in Florida and Ohio on March 15.

At center stage, Trump defended himself from criticism earlier in the day from 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney and faced further questions about his record as a businessman at the debate.

Rubio, a US senator from Florida, pressed Trump on why he does not bring his clothing-making operations to the United States from China and Mexico if he is so interested in bring jobs home, a central tenet of his unconventional campaign.

"This little guy has lied so much about my record," Trump responded, adding that he had begun bringing some clothing operations home from overseas.

But Rubio persisted: "The answer is he's not going to do it ... The reason he makes it in China and Mexico is because he can make more money on it."

Expand Close Republican US presidential candidate Ted Cruz gestures over at rival candidate Donald Trump during the debate in Detroit, Michigan. Photo: Reuters / Facebook

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Whatsapp Republican US presidential candidate Ted Cruz gestures over at rival candidate Donald Trump during the debate in Detroit, Michigan. Photo: Reuters

"Don't worry about it, little Marco, I will," Trump said dismissively.

"Well, let's hear it, big Donald," Rubio responded.

The debate quickly went down a negative path when Trump responded to Rubio's contention last month that Trump had "small hands."

"Look at these hands," Trump said, flashing his two hands to the crowd. To the suggestion that he might be small elsewhere, Trump said: "I guarantee you there is no problem."

Support for Clinton

Cruz, a US senator from Texas, suggested Trump would be the wrong candidate to send into battle against Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton because he has supported her financially in the past.

"Actually it was for business," Trump replied. "Let me tell you something, Ted, the last person that Hillary Clinton wants to face is Donald Trump."

Trump was joined on stage at the Fox Theatre by his three remaining rivals, Rubio, Cruz and Ohio Governor John Kasich.

It's a far smaller field than the 17 Republican candidates that began the race for the 2016 presidential nomination, but one that is still splintered between the incendiary New York businessman and three experienced politicians.

The debate was the candidates' first face-to-face gathering since Super Tuesday nominating contests this week gave extra momentum to Trump but did not knock out his rivals.

Mainstream figures in the party are seeking a strategy to halt Trump's march to the nomination for the Nov. 8 election to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama.

Some party leaders and donors are critical of Trump's positions on trade and immigration, including his calls to build a wall between the United States and Mexico, deport 11 million illegal immigrants and temporarily bar Muslims from entering the country.

At the debate, Trump, 69, was questioned for the first time since last year by Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, who angered him with her questioning at the Republicans' first debate on Aug. 6, prompting him to cancel participation in a debate in Iowa in January, a move that appeared to cost him some votes.

The debate took place hours after 2012 Republican nominee Romney gave a blistering speech about the dangers of choosing Trump. He called Trump a phony and a fraud who has failed in many business ventures despite his touted success.

The Detroit debate was one more opportunity for Rubio and Cruz to try to slow Trump's momentum. They are the last two anti-Trump candidates standing in what has been a bruising nomination battle. Kasich has largely steered clear of the anti-Trump effort and tried to remain above the fray.

Rubio went on the attack against Trump at the last debate on Feb. 25 and has tried to establish himself as the main Trump alternative by labeling him as a "con artist" who has escaped serious vetting by a news media fixated on his star power and brash rhetoric.
Co-Pilot, Flying Officer Marc Smith looks out as he turns his RAAF AP-3C Orion aircraft at low level in bad weather while searching for missing Malaysia Airways Flight MH370 off the South West coast of Perth, Australia.

Families of 12 passengers on Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 have sued the carrier and the Malaysian government.

The move comes ahead of a filing deadline next week on the second anniversary of the plane's disappearance.

The Boeing 777 carrying 239 people flew far off course for unknown reasons after leaving Kuala Lumpur for Beijing on March 8 2014.

An ongoing search of the southern Indian Ocean has found no trace of the plane, although a wing part from the aircraft washed ashore on Reunion Island last year.

A global aviation agreement sets a two-year deadline for lawsuits by next-of-kin over air accidents.

Lawyer Sangeet Kaur Deo, who is representing 10 families, said the lawsuits involve a passenger from Russia, one from China and the rest from Malaysia.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Able Seaman Boatswains Mate Stephanie Went keeps watch for any sign of debris aboard the Australian Navy ship HMAS Toowoomba as it continues the search in the southern Indian Ocean for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 Crewmen on a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3 Orion Rescue Flight 795 search for debris from the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in southern Indian Ocean, 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) northwest of Perth, Australia A crew member aboard a Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) AP-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft prepares to launch a smoke canister to mark the position of an object spotted in the southern Indian Ocean during the search for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 A crewman on a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3 Orion Rescue Flight 795 searches for debris from the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, in southern Indian Ocean The Bluefin 21, the Artemis autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), is hoisted back on board the Australian Defence Vessel Ocean Shield after a successful buoyancy test in the southern Indian Ocean as part of the continuing search for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 The Bluefin 21, the Artemis autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), is hoisted back on board the Australian Defence Vessel Ocean Shield after a successful buoyancy test in the southern Indian Ocean as part of the continuing search for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 A worker lowers from the Australian Defence Vessel Ocean Shield the U.S. Navy Supervisor of Salvage and Diving (SUPSALV) towed pinger locator into the ocean during operational testing in the southern Indian Ocean as part of the continuing search for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 Australian Navy ship HMAS Toowoomba crashes through a wave as it continues the search in the southern Indian Ocean for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 Australian Navy ships the HMAS Success (top) and the HMAS Toowoomba rendezvous to conduct a Replenishment at Sea evolution as they continue the search in the southern Indian Ocean for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 Australian Navy ships the HMAS Success (L) and the HMAS Toowoomba rendezvous to conduct a Replenishment at Sea evolution as they continue the search in the southern Indian Ocean for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 Tiger75, an S-70B-2 Seahawk, launches from the Australian Navy ship HMAS Toowoomba as it continues the search in the southern Indian Ocean for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 Leading Seaman Aircrewman Joel Young looks out from Tiger75, an S-70B-2 Seahawk helicopter, after it launched from the Australian Navy ship the HMAS Toowoomba as it continues the search in the southern Indian Ocean for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 The Bluefin 21, the Artemis autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), is hoisted back on board the Australian Defence Vessel Ocean Shield after a successful buoyancy test in the southern Indian Ocean as part of the continuing search for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 The Australian navy ship Ocean Shield lies docked at naval base HMAS Stirling while being fitted with a towed pinger locator to aid in her roll in the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in Perth, Australia. A Towed Pinger Locator (TPL), used to detect black box recorders, sits on the wharf at naval base HMAS Stirling in Perth, Australia, ready to be fitted to the Australian warship Ocean Shield to aid in the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 Chinese relatives of passengers onboard the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 leave after a meeting at the Holiday Villa in Subang Jaya Chinese relatives of passengers onboard the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 leave after a news conference at The Holiday Villa in Subang Jaya A ground crewman guides a RAAF AP-3C Orion along the tarmac as it returns from the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in Perth, Australia Australian prime minister Tony Abbott greets leaders of international forces being used to locate Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in the Indian Ocean (AP) Australian Defense ship Ocean Shield is docked at naval base HMAS Stirling while being fitted with an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) and towed pinger locator to aid in the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 Malaysian PM Najib Razak, centre, and Australia's PM Tony Abbott greet RAAF crew involved in the search for MH370 in Perth, Australia (AP) A Korean Air Force P3 Orion returns from the search operation for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 (AP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Able Seaman Boatswains Mate Stephanie Went keeps watch for any sign of debris aboard the Australian Navy ship HMAS Toowoomba as it continues the search in the southern Indian Ocean for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370

Apart from the airline, the lawsuits also named the government and the then heads of the civil aviation department and the navy as defendants.

Ms Sangeet said her clients were engaged in settlement negotiations with the airline earlier.

She said: "Everyone waited till the last minute to give time to the airline to settle but nothing reasonable was forthcoming. So they have no choice but to take legal action given the time limitation."

Lawyer Yeoh Cho Kheong, who is representing the families of two Ukrainian passengers, said his clients will continue negotiations with the airline despite the lawsuit.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close A ground controller guides a Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion on the tarmac upon its return from a search for Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 over the Indian Ocean, at RAAF Base Pearce north of Perth A family member of a passenger from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is cared for after fainting at Lido Hotel in Beijing, China. A crewman of an RAAF AP-3C Orion aircraft looks out from an observation window during a search for missing Malaysia Airways Flight MH370 on March 24, 2014 off the South West Coast of Perth, Australia. Co-Pilot, Flying Officer Marc Smith looks out as he turns his RAAF AP-3C Orion aircraft at low level in bad weather while searching for missing Malaysia Airways Flight MH370 off the South West coast of Perth, Australia. A family member of a passenger aboard Malaysia Airlines MH370 cries as she is surrounded by journalists after watching a television broadcast of a news conference, at the Lido hotel in Beijing. Photo: REUTERS/Jason Lee A family member of a passenger aboard Malaysia Airlines MH370 shouts at journalists after watching a television broadcast of a news conference, at the Lido hotel in Beijing A family member of a passenger aboard Malaysia Airlines MH370 falls down an escalator as he cries after watching a television broadcast of a news conference, at Lido hotel in Beijing Relatives of Chinese passengers aboard the Malaysia Airlines jet, MH370, grieve after being told of the latest news in Beijing, China Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak speaks during a press conference for the missing Malaysia Airlines, flight MH370, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia A family member of a passenger aboard Malaysia Airlines MH370 shouts at journalists after watching a television broadcast of a news conference, at the Lido hotel in Beijing / Facebook

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Whatsapp A ground controller guides a Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion on the tarmac upon its return from a search for Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 over the Indian Ocean, at RAAF Base Pearce north of Perth

The two men, aged 44 at the time, were partners in a furniture business. The families said they each earned 2 million US dollars (1.4 million) annually and were on their way to Beijing for a business deal, according to Mr Yeoh.

"If an out-of-court settlement can be achieved, I believe my clients will accept it," he added.

All the lawsuits are seeking unspecified sums for negligence and breach of contract, the lawyers said.

Ms Sangeet said she expects to file two more lawsuits on Monday, the last day for filing.

An international aviation agreement allows each next-of-kin of passengers on board a plane up to 175,000 US dollars (123,000) in compensation, but a plaintiff filing a lawsuit can seek more.

A Boeing 777 flaperon was found on an island in the western Indian Ocean in July and confirmed by the Malaysian and French governments to have come from the ill-fated plane.

Drift modelling has shown that currents could have carried debris from a suspected crash site in the southern Indian Ocean to Reunion Island.

An ongoing search in the southern Indian Ocean is expected to end by June or July.
Nyima Yangzom, mother of Dorje Tsering, cries as she leaves with the body of her son from the hospital in New Delhi (AP)

Nyima Yangzom, mother of Dorje Tsering, cries as she leaves with the body of her son from the hospital, in New Delhi, India. (AP Photo/Tsering Topgyal)

Exile Tibetans pay their respect outside the hospital where Dorje Tsering's body was kept, in New Delhi, India. (AP Photo /Tsering Topgyal)

An exile Tibetan carries a portrait of his spiritual leader the Dalai Lama while another holds a poster with portraits of two Tibetans, who exiles claim have immolated themselves demanding freedom for Tibet, during a candlelit vigil in Dharmsala, India. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia)

A 16-year-old Tibetan living in India has died in hospital three days after he set himself on fire in a protest against Chinese rule.

The Tibetan suffered burns over 98% of his body and died late on Thursday, said Pankaj, an official at New Delhi's government-run Safdarjung hospital.

The teenager set himself on fire on Monday in the northern Indian city of Dehradun and was taken to New Delhi for treatment.

It was the second such protest this year, seen as an extreme expression of the anger and frustration felt by many Tibetans living under heavy-handed Chinese rule.

A Tibetan Buddhist monk died on Monday near the Retsokha monastery in western Sichuan province's traditional Tibetan autonomous prefecture of Kardze, Radio Free Asia reported. It said the monk called out for Tibetan independence while he burned, and died on the way to hospital in the provincial capital of Chengdu.

Tibetan exile sources say at least 114 monks and others have self-immolated over the past five years, with most of them dying. Radio Free Asia puts the number of self-immolations at 144 since 2009.

Tibetan monks and nuns are among the most active opponents of Chinese rule in the region and the strongest proponents of Tibet's independent identity, prompting the authorities to subject them to harsh and intrusive restrictions.

Beijing blames exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and others for inciting the immolations and says it has made vast investments to develop the region's economy and improve quality of life.

The Dalai Lama says he is against all violence. He fled Tibet to India in 1959 amid an abortive uprising against Chinese forces who had occupied the Himalayan region a decade earlier. He has been living in the northern Indian town of Dharamsala since then.
Residents watch as rescuers search for survivors off Banyuwangi, East Java (AP)

At least 10 people are missing after a ferry capsized in the strait between the Indonesian islands of Bali and Java.

TV footage showed passengers standing on the side of the stricken ferry and jumping into the sea as it sank in placid waters.

Official statements about how many people were rescued ranged from 41 to 71.

Didi Hamzar, head of Bali's Search and Rescue Agency, said the ship's manifest listed 51 people on board including 14 crewmen.

He told TVOne that 10 people were missing based on the manifest, but passenger boats are frequently overloaded in Indonesia.

The ferry was en route from Gilimanuk port in Bali to Banyawangi on Java.

Footage broadcast by TVOne showed other ships in the background as the ferry, Tafelia 2, sank in the narrow Bali Strait. It languished on its side before capsizing.

Boats are a popular and relatively cheap form of transport in the world's largest archipelago nation which spans more than 17,000 islands with a population of 256 million. Sea accidents are common, with safety regulations often poorly enforced.

Local navy chief Lieutenant Colonel Wahyu Endriawan said 71 people had been rescued without any casualties.

"We cannot yet know whether some were trapped inside the ship which has totally submerged," he told MetroTV.
Federal police outside the residence building of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Sao Bernardo do Campo (AP)

Brazilian police have pulled former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and two of his sons in for questioning and searched homes and other buildings connected to the family in a sprawling corruption case centred on the oil giant Petrobras.

Police turned up at addresses belonging to Silva, including his residence near Sao Paulo and the Instituto Lula, his non-profit organisation, police said in a news conference in the southern city of Curitiba, where the Petrobras probe is centred.

Acting on a warrant that required Silva to answer questions in the probe, he was taken to the federal police station at Sao Paulo's Congonhas airport. The Instituto Lula's spokesman, Jose Chrispiniano, said Silva's questioning finished after nearly four hours.

"No-one is exempt from investigation in this country," said public prosecutor Carlos Fernando dos Santos Lima. "Anyone in Brazil is subject to be investigated when there are indications of a crime."

Mr Lima and police and tax officials said they were looking into 30 million Brazilian reals (5.6 million) in payments for speeches and donations to the Instituto Lula by top construction firms - crucial players in the Petrobras corruption scheme.

They were also looking into whether renovations and other work at a country house and beachfront apartment used by Silva and his family constituted favours in exchange for political benefit.

In a statement, the Lula Institute said "nothing justified" the morning's events and denied any wrongdoing.

"The Instituto Lula reaffirms that Lula never hid patrimony or received undue advantages either before, during or after governing the country," the statement said, referring to the former leader by the nickname.

Silva last week denounced suggestions of personal corruption, accusing the media and opposition of spreading "lies, leaks and accusations of criminality".

Clashes broke out between Silva's supporters and detractors outside the ex-president's apartment in Sao Bernardo do Campo, and Brazil's GloboNews network showed crowds at Congonhas airport as well, with several hundred Workers' Party supporters chanting pro-Silva slogans.

Mr Lima said the decision to take Silva in for questioning was made for security reasons, to avoid demonstrations and other obstructions.

Silva, a plainspoken former union leader, was among the most revered leaders in Brazilian history when he left office in 2010, leaving the post in the hands of his chosen successor, Dilma Rousseff. He has made no secret of his continued presidential aspirations, saying he was mulling a run for the office in 2018.

Silva's Workers' Party reacted angrily, saying in a Twitter post, "we all must react now", and renewing calls for sympathisers to take to the streets in support of Silva.

In a video address, the party's president Rui Falcao denounced police actions as "a political spectacle that shows what the true character of this operation is".

The summons of Silva brings the sprawling probe closer to Ms Rousseff, though the once-close allies have visibly distanced themselves in recent months.

While Ms Rousseff has not been accused of wrongdoing in the Petrobras probe, she is facing impeachment proceedings in congress for her government's alleged use of the country's pension fund to shore up budget gaps. She denies the allegations.

During the press conference officials said police were carrying out 44 judicial orders as part of the broader Petrobras probe, known as Car Wash.

The Petrobras scandal has already ensnared top businessmen and heavyweight politicians from the governing Workers' Party as well as the opposition. On Thursday, the Supreme Court allowed corruption charges in the case to be brought against Eduardo Cunha, a top opposition figure and speaker of the lower house of congress.

Prosecutors say more than 2 billion dollars (1.4 billion) was paid in bribes by businessmen to obtain Petrobras contracts. Investigators have also said some of the money made its way to several political parties, including the Workers' Party.
Donald Trump is embracing what he calls flexibility on issues like torture and illegal immigration, abandoning at least for now the tough rhetoric that has fuelled his rise to Republican front-runner status.

His critics, as well as fellow Republican candidates, remained sceptical about the change in approach.

In the days after his dominant Super Tuesday primary performance, Mr Trump is using more moderate tones and downplaying his call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States.

The billionaire reality TV star has shot to the top of the primary contest with denigrating remarks about Hispanic immigrants and Muslims. But in Thursday's chaotic debate, he signalled his willingness to compromise on immigration, among other key issues.

He said he was retreating from the anti-visa position advocated in a position paper posted on his website, one of the few specific policies his team has released during the campaign.

"I'm changing. I'm changing. We need highly skilled people in this country, and if we can't do it, we'll get them in," he said in the debate.

More broadly, Mr Trump insisted that compromise would be part of any immigration reform.

That did not sit well with challenger Ted Cruz, the Texas senator.

"'Flexible' is Washington code word that he's going to stick it to the people," said Mr Cruz, who holds second place in the number of Republican delegates collected so far on the way to the party's nominating convention this summer.

Mr Trump faces a growing list of high-profile Republicans who denounce him as dangerous, not a true Republican and lacking the experience to lead the world's most powerful nation.

Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential nominee four years ago, declared on Friday that he would not vote for Mr Trump if he were the nominee. He told NBC that he would "do everything within the normal political bounds to make sure we don't nominate Donald Trump".

On Thursday, dozens of conservative national security experts wrote an open letter pledging to oppose Mr Trump's candidacy in part because of his "embrace of the expansive use of torture".

Mr Trump responded to such concerns in a statement on Friday, saying that he understands that the US is "bound by laws and treaties" and he will not order US military officials to violate or disobey those laws if elected president. It appeared to be a retreat from declarations that he would bring back the use of waterboarding and that he would target the wives and children of suspected extremists.

If Mr Trump's immigration shift did not bother conservatives, his decision to cancel a scheduled weekend appearance at the nation's largest annual gathering of conservative activists did.

"Very disappointed @realDonaldTrump has decided at the last minute to drop out of #CPAC -- his choice sends a clear message to conservatives," the American Conservative Union, which hosts the Conservative Political Action Conference, said in a Twitter post.

Mr Trump's campaign said he cancelled because of newly scheduled rallies in Kansas and Florida.

Mr Trump shrugged off Friday's wave of criticism by unleashing a verbal assault on his Republican rivals at a Detroit-area rally. He repeatedly called Florida senator Marco Rubio "Little Marco" and Mr Cruz "Lying Ted".

Despite the verbal abuse, Mr Cruz, Mr Rubio and Ohio governor John Kasich all declared during Thursday's debate that they would support Mr Trump if he won the primary election battle. Mr Trump, in turn, said he would support whoever wins, though he seemed to find it inconceivable that it might not be him.

So far, Mr Trump has 10 state victories and leads the field with 329 delegates. Mr Cruz has 231, Mr Rubio 110 and Mr Kasich 25. It takes 1,237 delegates to win the Republican nomination for president.
Donald Tusk has urged migrants seeking better economic prospects not to risk the journey to Europe.

The European Union president is travelling throughout the continent, meeting leaders to find ways to mitigate the refugee crisis.

"I want to appeal to all potential illegal economic migrants wherever you are from: Do not come to Europe," Mr Tusk said in Athens after meeting Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

"Do not believe the smugglers. Do not risk your lives and your money. It is all for nothing."

More than 120,000 refugees have crossed into Greece in the first two months of the year, according to the UN refugee agency, with the government estimating 25,000 of those are stranded there.

Emergency

The European Commission announced on Wednesday it was seeking 700m in emergency aid for Greece and other countries dealing with the wave of refugees. European leaders will meet in Brussels on Monday to try to hammer out a solution.

Mr Tusk has already visited the rest of the countries along the Western Balkan route used by migrants travelling to northern Europe, including Croatia and Austria, and is scheduled to fly to Turkey, the main departure point for refugees heading to Greece.

The emergency summit on Monday will address the economic problems caused by individual countries imposing border controls in an effort to stem the inflow of undocumented travellers.

"The strength of our single currency relies on the free movement of goods and services as well as people, and therefore the protection of our external border is our joint European project," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at a state campaign rally on Wednesday.

Controls

"All 28 members of the European Union define this in the same way and have said that we need to ensure that this border is protected."

Several nations within the bloc, including Denmark and Germany, have launched temporary border controls to restrain the inflow of migrants. The reintroduction of those measures on a long-term basis could cost the EU as much as 18bn by restricting the free exchange of goods, according to the European Commission.

Refugees coming from the Aegean islands are piling up in the country's main port of Piraeus and in central Athens. Greece has warned that migrants will be trapped if countries keep their borders closed, possibly fomenting a humanitarian crisis.

"Greece or any other European country will no longer be a transit country," Mr Tusk said yesterday.
Migrants stand next to a burning makeshift shelter during the dismantlement of the migrant shanty town called the "Jungle" in Calais, France.

Mary Robinson has condemned as "unconscionable" and "inhumane" the failure by many EU states to solve the refugee crisis.

The former President of Ireland is urging all EU members to "share the burden" of the hundreds of thousands of refugees crossing into Europe every month.

She was speaking at the European Parliament in Brussels ahead of next Monday's 'make or break' EU leaders' summit with Turkey, aimed at addressing the insurmountable refugee problems at EU borders.

Yesterday, the parliament heard of the added traumas suffered by women refugees in recent months, in particular the practice of 'survival sex', where women are forced to have sex with the smugglers and mafia members transporting them to Europe from Turkey and Libya.

Survival sex among women and children is well-known, says UN Women Regional Director for Turkey, Ingibjorg Gisladottir, but the incidence is hard to quantify as women rarely wish to recount this on record for fear of recrimination and 'dishonour' among their families and communities.

Mrs Robinson pointed out that women face far greater risks of "violence, exploitation and trafficking" and are more vulnerable en route to Europe.

Women and children now make up 55pc of those coming to Europe from war zones. She called for 'gender-sensitive' reception areas upon arrival, as well as female physicians and counselling services.

She said there was a need for host countries in "identifying victims of sexual and gender- based violence", because women were less likely to "self-report" their experiences - which often included rape, abuse and female genital mutilation.

"They must be given an enabling environment," she told delegates and members of the European Parliament.

Greece, Italy, Hungary, Austria and Croatia are some of the European countries most affected by the crisis. The island of Lesbos in Greece, with a population of 90,000, receives around 6,000 refugees daily and 124,000 refugees arrived in Greece as a whole since the start of this year alone.

In total, well over one million refugees have entered Europe in the last year - mostly from Turkey to Greece.

While EU member states agreed last September to relocate 160,000 refugees from Turkey, only 200 have actually been resettled, according to the European Commission. Ireland has taken 10 from this agreement.

"Often women are stripped of their mobile phones, kept as hostages and separated from their husbands before being launched into the sea," said Amnesty International's Iverna McGowan.

Mrs Robinson also called on all female parliamentarians across Europe to show solidarity towards women in such desperate circumstances.

"Women parliamentarians across Europe need to raise their voices," she said.

She also warned that it is no excuse to "claim ignorance" of the grave risks braved by women and girls seeking sanctuary from war zones. And referring to the often heavy-handed behaviour by some national police border enforcers in some EU states, Mrs Robinson said the "violent scenes of police actions at either ends of Europe diminish us all".

There is little or no unity among European governments in dealing with the crisis.

At the centre of the current impasse is the Austrian government's decision to impose restrictions on the number of refugees it lets pass its border - much to the anger of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

It also stems from Angela Merkel's announcement late last year that Germany would take almost limitless refugees.

Monday's meeting will likely see strong pressure put on Turkey to implement the agreement it made with the EU last November, which would see it provide better facilities, education and working permits for refugees. In return, Turkey is to receive 3bn and other compensation such as visa-free travel to the EU.
The uniforms were seized as part of efforts to stem the flow of supplies from Europe to ISIS Credit: National Spanish Police Department

Spanish police claimed to have seized 20,000 military uniforms bound for Islamic State and other Jihadist militants fighting in Syria.

The large shipment, weighing some five tonnes, was discovered in three shipping containers marked as second-hand clothing in the port cities of Valencia and Alicante last month.

Spain's Interior Ministry said the haul was part of a "very active and effective business network" that had been sending supplies to ISIS from Europe since the emergence of the group during the Syria civil war.

With its proximity to North Africa, Spain is emerging as a gateway for Islamist militants traveling to and from Europe

It was enough equipment to supply an entire army, a spokesperson added.

"With the roughly 20,000 military uniforms and accessories, it would have been possible for [this army] to be ready to enter into combat in any of the battlegrounds where jihadist terrorist organisations are operating around the world.

Expand Close The supplies were marked as 'second-hand clothes' Credit: National Spanish Police Department / Facebook

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Whatsapp The supplies were marked as 'second-hand clothes' Credit: National Spanish Police Department

Several people were taken into custody following the seizure, with police saying that one man was arrested for sending "military material, money, electronic and transmission material, firearms and precursors for making explosives" to Syria and Iraq via a company.

Five of those detained were Spanish citizens, police confirmed.

An investigation is still underway to determine where the equipment came from, as it is believed it was not manufactured in Spain.

The haul comes as a partial week-long ceasefire in Syria continues following months of negotiations between Government forces and several of the largely non-jihadists rebel groups.
Two women whom were shot dead after launching an attack in Istanbul.

Security forces take position during an operation against two attackers in Istanbul yesterday, during which two women, who had hidden inside a building after attacking police with gunfire and a hand grenade. Photo: AP

Two female militants were killed by police when they fired shots and threw a grenade at a Turkish police bus in Istanbul yesterday.

Two police officers were lightly wounded in the attack and an investigation is under way to identify the militant group responsible.

One of the women threw a grenade and the other opened fire with what appeared to be a machine gun as a riot police bus drove towards the entrance of a police station in the Bayrampasa district of Turkey's biggest city.

Police fired back, injuring one of the women, before tracking them to a nearby building.

Special forces units and police surrounded the building, leading to an hour-long stand-off between the women and the police in which there was sporadic gunfire.

Attacks on Turkey's security forces have increased as violence flares in the predominantly Kurdish south-east, where a ceasefire between Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants and the state collapsed last July.

The PKK, considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, launched a separatist armed rebellion against Turkey more than three decades ago. More than 40,000 people, mostly Kurds, have since been killed.

Turkey has also become a target for Isil militants, who are blamed for three suicide bombings - one last year in the town of Suruc near the Syrian border and another in the capital, Ankara, and one in Istanbul in January. Those attacks killed more than 140 people.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for yesterday's attack.

Radical

The radical leftist group DHKP-C has repeatedly staged similar attacks on police stations, largely in Istanbul suburbs.

A suicide car bombing targeted military buses in Ankara killed 29 people last month. The government said that attack was carried out by a member of YPG, the Syrian Kurdish militia, with help from PKK militants. The extreme-left DHKP-C has waged a violent campaign for more than three decades. Turkey says the group has killed dozens of police officers and soldiers along with scores of civilians since it was formed in 1978, with the aim of replacing the Turkish government with a Marxist one.

It also opposes what it calls US imperialism and has several times targeted US military personnel and diplomatic missions.

Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin said an investigation into yesterday's attack was under way.

The security forces surrounded the area in Bayrampasa district where the two women took refuge.

Both Kurdish rebels and far-left militants have attacked police in Istanbul in the past.

Yesterday's attack comes amid a rise in violence in Turkey since mid-2015.

In November, Kurdish PKK rebels said they would resume fighting against the army, ending a unilateral ceasefire that over the past three decades has killed tens of thousands of people.

Tourists

Other recent attacks in Turkey which took place include: January 2016, when at least 10 people, mostly German tourists, were killed in a suspected Isil suicide bombing in Istanbul.

October 2015: More than a hundred people were killed in a double-suicide bombing at a Kurdish peace rally in Ankara

July 2015: In the predominantly Kurdish town of Suruc, near the Syrian border, over 30 people were killed in a suicide bombing, again blamed on Isil.
Turkish paramilitary police escort Syrian smugglers Muwafaka Alabash, front, and Asem Alfrhad, rear, at the trial in Bodrum (AP)

A Turkish court has sentenced two Syrian smugglers to four years and two months each in prison over the death of three-year-old migrant boy Alan Kurdi and four other people.

The state-run Anadolu Agency said the court convicted the two of human trafficking but acquitted them of the charge of causing the deaths through deliberate negligence.

Alan's brother Galip and his mother Rihan were also among the five victims who drowned last year when their boat sank during the ill-fated journey from Bodrum to the Greek island of Kos.

The image of the boy's lifeless body lying face down on a Turkish beach galvanised world attention on the refugee crisis, graphically illustrating the magnitude of the migrants' suffering.

Prosecutors had sought a maximum 35 years in prison for the defendants, Syrian nationals Muwafaka Alabash and Asem Alfrhad.

They had denied any responsibility for the migrants' deaths, blaming Alan's father Abdullah Kurdi - accusing him of organising the trip.

He has since returned to Syria.

Trials in Turkey usually take months - even years - to conclude, but the verdict in the Aegean resort of Bodrum , which came just a month after the trial opened, appeared to be an effort by the country to show that it is cracking down on human traffickers, days before a March 7 summit between Turkey and the European Union to discuss the migrant crisis.

Turkey is under pressure to reduce the tide of migrants to Europe and to combat the smuggling rings since it reached a deal with the EU in November. Under the deal, Turkey is scheduled to receive a 3 billion euro (2.3 billion) fund to help the country deal with Syrian refugees.

Turkish officials say authorities last year detained more than 4,400 smugglers who organise the often-dangerous crossings in frail boats.
Elections in Anderson County: How to vote early and what to know
Photos by Ken Ruinard/Independent Mail Anderson Fire Chief Dale Horne (left) communicates while firemen work to extinguish a fire on Bedford Forest Avenue in Anderson Thursday morning.

SHARE Anderson firemen work to put out a fire on Bedford Forest Avenue in Anderson.

By Independent Mail

The American Red Cross is helping a family of three after a fire destroyed part of their home in Anderson on Thursday morning.

The Anderson City Fire Department received the call about 9:30 a.m. from a house on Bedford Forest Avenue, said Lt. Jermaine Galloway.

The mother, who worked third shift, had gone to sleep when she was awakened by the fire alarm.

An oven had been left on and caught the kitchen on fire, Galloway said.

The mother, her son, a volunteer firefighter at Homeland Park Fire Department, and their dog were able to escape the burning house without injuries.

The fire damaged the kitchen and two bedrooms, Galloway said.

The Red Cross is providing financial assistance for food, clothing, lodging and other essentials, said Jennifer Heisler, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross.
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By Richard Cottingham, Seneca

Jeff Duncan, our representative in the House, voted "no" on the spending bill that passed Congress by a super-majority vote. He stated, "Some members of the congress are so risk averse that they will agree to anything to avoid a government shutdown. Unfortunately, when members of Congress worry more about keeping their jobs than standing up for freedom, the American people lose every time." He failed to mention the good things included in the tax and spending packages, the two main parts of the overall bill. The bill also includes funding for the military to keep America strong. He also did not mention that failure to pass this bill would possibly result in a default on our national debt.

There are times to stand on principle and times for compromise. As a committed and lifelong Republican, I believe that he and most of his Freedom Caucus buddies have been a major part of our dysfunctional government. If Duncan has the courage that he implies he has, why doesn't he tackle mandatory programs (mostly entitlements) which represent two-thirds of the budget.

A recent poll indicated that almost 70 percent of Americans believe that compromise and "coming together" of the two parties is essential for functional government. There are major ideological differences today, but the same was true in the Reagan-O'Neill era. Reagan said that compromise solutions are an inherent part of democracy. Speaker Ryan and others have just made a major step toward creating functional government again. I wish the Freedom Caucus would recognize it and show some interest in coming together.
Indian Hotels Company Ltd has announced that Samsara Properties Limited, Company's indirect overseas wholly owned subsidiary, has sold, through market transactions, 1,270,715 (One million two hundred seventy thousand seven hundred fifteen only) Class A Common Shares of the face value of US$ 0.01 each of Belmond Limited, representing 1.24% of the total outstanding Class A Common Shares for a net consideration of US$ 11.96 million. The sale proceeds are being utilized for retirement of debt. Read More According to the World Travel and Trade Council, travel and tourism industry in India was projected to grow 7.5% in 2015. Several measures including focus on improving infrastructure, introduction of e-Visa services have contributed significantly to this growth. Read More Indian Hotels Company Ltd has announced that 18,18,01,228 Compulsorily Convertible Debentures of Rs. 55/- each (the "CCDs") issued by the Company on a Rights basis have been automatically and compulsorily converted into 18,18,01,228 Equity Shares fully paid up of the face value of Rs. 1 each at a premium of Rs. 54 upon the expiry of 18 months from the date of allotment i.e. on March 01, 2016 and the Rights Issue Committee - 2014 has subsequently approved the allotment of the aforesaid Equity Shares to the shareholders of the Company as on the Record Date i.e. February 19, 2016 at a ratio of 1:1. Read More Subramanya Construction & Development Company Limited (SCDCL) & The Oberoi Group have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Government of Maldives to build a luxury resort in Maldives. The Memorandum of Understanding was signed in the presence of Moosa Zameer, the Honourable Minister of Tourism, Government of Maldives. Read More The Maharashtra government is considering implementation of the Maharashtra Casinos (Control & Tax) Act, 1976 (Act No. XXXI of 1976), a four-decade old legislation that was put in the cold storage even though it was passed by the legislative assembly and approved by the Governor. Read More The latest move by TravelTriangle, India's first comprehensive holiday marketplace, is set to delight female travel enthusiasts across the country. The company has announced an adventure-filled all-women weekend getaway trip to Rishikesh to make Womens Day an affair to remember for its woman travellers. Read More The iconic British sportsman and frequent flier speaks to British Airways High Life magazine about travelling the world, pub lunches, and his favourite city. Read More
S&P BSE BANKEX soared on Dalal Street on profit-booking. The index settled at 17485.69, up by 220.76 points or 1.28%. It opened at 17325.95, higher than previous close of 17264.93 and touched a high and a low of 17611.42 and 17098.20 respectively.The sectoral breadth of BSE Bankex remained positive with 9 stocks advancing, while 1 declining. Total trading turnover in the stocks of BSE Bankex stood at Rs. 235.87 crore with a volume of 11,514,684 crore. The index market capitalization stood at Rs. 898,365.92 crore.PSU banks were among the leaders on the index, led by the second edition of Gyan Sangam, a retreat of heads of public sector financial institutions, in the background of the governments strategy to consolidate public sector (PSU) banks.Punjab National Bank was among the top gainer on BSE index. The bank's stock ended at Rs. 83, zooming by Rs. 3.90 or 4.93% from its previous closing of Rs. 79.10 on the BSE.The scrip opened at Rs. 78.05 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 84.40 and Rs. 77.50 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 16,297.86 crore.Followed by State Bank Of India, surging by 3.23% at Rs. 188.40 and Bank of Baroda at Rs. 148.75, up by 2.48%.IDBI Bank soared on the index, on debates are heating up with regards to the issue of IDBI Bank privatization, with India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), the oldest and largest national TRADE union centre of bank employee demanding Finance Minister to reconsider the plan to reduce its stake in state-run bank to below 50%.The bank's stock ended at Rs. 68.15, up by Rs. 2.75 or 4.20% from its previous closing of Rs. 65.40 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs. 65.75 and touched a high and low of Rs. 69.60 and Rs. 63.65 respectively.Shares of Vijaya Bank ended marginally up, after the bank said that its board approved raising upto Rs.226 crore by issuing shares to Life Insurance Corporation of India.The bank's stock ended at Rs. 33.7, up by Rs. 0.7 or 2.12% from its previous closing of Rs. 33 on the BSE.The scrip opened at Rs. 34 and touched a high and low of Rs. 34 and Rs. 33.25 respectively.Among the private gainers, IndusInd Bank took the top spot, surging by 2.26% at Rs. 914.40, followed by Kotak Mahindra Bank at Rs. 667.35 rising by 1.57, ICICI Bank at Rs. 220.50, up by 1.19%.Federal Bank an HDFC Bank both were marginally up at Rs. 49.90 and Rs. 1021.05 respectively. However, Yes Bank remained flat at Rs. 759.35.Axis Bank was among the top loser on BSE index. The banks stock ended at Rs. 415.80, down by Rs. 1.05 or 0.25%. The script opened at Rs. 417.70 higher from its previous closing of Rs. 416.85. It has touched a high and low of Rs. 418.20 and Rs. 409.25 respectively.
Telecom operators are not likely to get any interim relief in the call drop case as Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay Delhi High Court's verdict supporting TRAI's compensation regulation.The apex court refused any interim orders in the call drop penalty case and is seeking response from Department of Telecom (DoT) on COAI and AUSPI's plea.As per reports, the plea filed by two cellular operator associations was mentioned before a bench of Chief Justice TS Thakur seeking urgent hearing on the matter.Telcos had started planning for the Supreme Court appeal right after Delhi High Court dismissed their petition on Monday. A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath at the High Court had upheld TRAI's regulation stating that the court had not stayed the notification.The case was filed by the telecom operators against Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), when the regulator mandated the telcos to compensate the consumers with Re.1 per call up to 3 dropped calls per day starting from January 2016, which was unanimously opposed by the telcos.After Delhi High Court upheld TRAI's call drop regulation, the regulator body asked telecom operators to submit compliance report on compensation of call drops until Monday. As per reports, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is likely to take action if the telcos fail to provide satisfactory results.With Supreme Court refusing to stay the High Court's verdict, telcos will have to adhere to the TRAI's mandate requiring to submit the compliance report by Monday.
Minda Industries rallied 6.3% to Rs.896 after the company signed a definitive agreement to acquire Rinder India (RIPL), from Rinder Industrial, Spain. The enterprise value of the total deal is Euro 20 million. The acquisition includes 100% equity holding in Rinder India and Light Systems and Technical Center, Spain with 50% equity holding in Rinder Riducu, Colombia. The deal will be finance through internal accruals and the debts.The scrip opened at Rs. 910 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 910 and Rs. 884 respectively. So far 12717(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 1337.85 crore.The BSE group 'B' stock of face value Rs. 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 996 on 04-Jan-2016 and a 52 week low of Rs. 475 on 08-Sep-2015. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 865 and Rs. 752.25 respectively.The promoters holding in the company stood at 70.89 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 2.56 % and 26.55 % respectively.The stock is currently trading below its 50 DMA.
At 11:33 AM, the S&P BSE Sensex is trading at 24,626 up 19 points, while NSE Nifty is trading at 7,478 up mere three points.The BSE Mid-cap Index is trading up 0.74% at 10,185, whereas BSE Small-cap Index is trading up 0.57% at 10,267.Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, ONGC, Cipla, M&M, Dr.Reddy's, ITC and Infosys are among the gainers, whereas HDFC Bank, SBI, Bharti Airtel, Maruti Suzuki, HDFC and Sun Pharma are losing sheen on BSE.Some buying activity is seen in metal, power, oil and gas, pharma and energy sectors, while telecom and banking sectors are showing weakness on BSE.The INDIA VIX is down 0.81% at 17.8925. Out of 1,790 stocks traded on the NSE, 958 declined, 514 advanced and 318 remained unchanged today.A total of six stocks registered a fresh 52-week high in trades today, while seven stocks touched a new 52-week low on the NSE.The Indian rupee opened higher by 10 paise at 67.24/$ on Friday as against previous close of 67.34/$. On Thursday rupee remained buoyant, with spot values moving approaching 67 levels against the greenback in overseas NDF markets. Onshore, Indian rupee has hit a seven week high. The currency is inspired by the euphoric mood in the equity markets and the optimism emanating from the Union Budget for FY201617.Jet Airways gained 1% to Rs.527 on BSE. Jet Airways flight number 9W354 from Delhi to Mumbai, with 120 passengers and eight crew members on board, developed a snag in its landing gear when it was taxiing after landing. All the passengers deplaned safely, Jet Airways said in a statement.Yes Bank slipped 1.4% to Rs.747 on BSE. The bank said that it has purchased 5% stake in proxy advisory firm, Institutional Investor Advisory Service (IiAS).Minda Industries rallied 6.3% to Rs.896 after the company has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Rinder India (RIPL), from Rinder Industrial, Spain. The enterprise value of the total deal is Euro 20 million. The acquisition includes 100% equity holding in Rinder India and Light Systems and Technical Center, Spain with 50% equity holding in Rinder Riducu, Colombia. The deal will be finance through internal accruals and the debts.Vijaya Bank zoomed 2.3% to Rs.33.75 on BSE. The Board of Directors of the bank has approved the proposal for Preferential Issue of Equity Shares to Life Insurance Corporation of India aggregating upto Rs.226 crore (inclusive of premium amount) subject to Government of India's approval and to convene an Extra Ordinary General Meeting of the Shareholders to pass the necessary Special Resolution in this regard.
At 2:28 PM, the S&P BSE Sensex is trading at 24,683 up 72 points, while NSE Nifty is trading at 7,497 up 21 points.The BSE Mid-cap Index is trading up 1.17% at 10,228, whereas BSE Small-cap Index is trading up 0.83% at 10,294.BHEL, ONGC, Tata Motors, Cipla, Dr.Reddy's and Coal India are among the gainers, whereas Asian Paints, Maruti Suzuki, Sun Pharma, Axis Bank and Wipro are losing sheen on BSE.Some buying activity is seen in metal, power, oil and gas, pharma and energy sectors, while telecom and banking sectors are showing weakness on BSE.The INDIA VIX is down 1.35% at 17.7950. Out of 1,794 stocks traded on the NSE, 538 declined, 982 advanced and 274 remained unchanged today.A total of seven stocks registered a fresh 52-week high in trades today, while eight stocks touched a new 52-week low on the NSE.The Indian rupee opened higher by 10 paise at 67.24/$ on Friday as against previous close of 67.34/$. On Thursday rupee remained buoyant, with spot values moving approaching 67 levels against the greenback in overseas NDF markets. Onshore, Indian rupee has hit a seven week high. The currency is inspired by the euphoric mood in the equity markets and the optimism emanating from the Union Budget for FY201617.Jet Airways gained 1% to Rs.527 on BSE. Jet Airways flight number 9W354 from Delhi to Mumbai, with 120 passengers and eight crew members on board, developed a snag in its landing gear when it was taxiing after landing. All the passengers deplaned safely, Jet Airways said in a statement.Yes Bank slipped 1.4% to Rs.747 on BSE. The bank said that it has purchased 5% stake in proxy advisory firm, Institutional Investor Advisory Service (IiAS).Minda Industries rallied 6.3% to Rs.896 after the company has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Rinder India (RIPL), from Rinder Industrial, Spain. The enterprise value of the total deal is Euro 20 million. The acquisition includes 100% equity holding in Rinder India and Light Systems and Technical Center, Spain with 50% equity holding in Rinder Riducu, Colombia. The deal will be finance through internal accruals and the debts.Vijaya Bank zoomed 2.3% to Rs.33.75 on BSE. The Board of Directors of the bank has approved the proposal for Preferential Issue of Equity Shares to Life Insurance Corporation of India aggregating upto Rs.226 crore (inclusive of premium amount) subject to Government of India's approval and to convene an Extra Ordinary General Meeting of the Shareholders to pass the necessary Special Resolution in this regard.HMT galloped 14.6% to Rs.48.05 on BSE. The government is planning to revive two of firm's loss-making subsidiaries, Heavy Engineering Corporation (HEC) and HMT Machine Tools, due to their 'strategic' importance, as per media reports. The company experienced a spurt in volumes by more than 8.90 times.Pioneer Distilleries Ltd cracked 5% to Rs.116.40 after an arm of United Spirits, said it will close down its plant in Nanded, Maharashtra due to water scarcity. Manufacturing activities at its Balapur, Nanded unit producing Molasses Based Extra Neutral Alcohol (MENA) has been stopped from 1 February on account of shortage in water availability due to less rains during monsoon season in the region, the company informed BSE.Kaveri Seeds Company jumped 12% to Rs.398.45 on BSE. According to TV report, Govt panel is said to have proposed a big cut in BT cotton tech fee and royalty. The company experienced a spurt in volumes by more than 5.19 times. The stock has hit upper circuit at Rs.391.45.Power Grid Corporation of India gained 2.3% to Rs.138.75 on NSE. Around 10 lakh shares were traded in a multiple block at Rs. 137-137.15 on the NSE.AGC Network hit 20% upper circuit at Rs.79.40. AGC Networks cyber security division  CYBER-i, has entered into a strategic Managed Services Provider (MSP) partnership with Intel Security to offer outcome based managed security services across the globe. This will give the customers a credible solution designed to effectively and proactively prevent/monitor and respond to security incidents in their organisations.Indian Overseas Bank jumped 2.7% to Rs.26.60 after the bank seek shareholders approval to raise Rs.200 crore via share sale.
: ONGC and Reliance Industries, the government plans to raise natural gas price by about 60 per cent for their undeveloped gas discoveries in difficult areas.: Coal India has been forced to temporarily stop production at several mines and suspend shifts in others, as there are no takers for their stock due to surplus position at al thermal power plants, reports a business daily.Jindal Steel & Power Limited (JSPL) is in talks with Adani Group to sell its power generating subsidiary - Jindal Power (JPL), four people familiar with the development said.RIL is expected to miss its deadline for re-opening all 1,400 retail fuel outlets by March-end, reports a business daily. Till December, the company had 750 operational retail outlets, up from 320 outlets in April last year.The company seeks shareholders' approval for Starter Motors sale for Rs. 486 cr to Robert Bosch unit.Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering Company Ltd has been rechristened as Reliance Defence and Engineering Ltd (RDEL) from today.The company has acquired the global lighting business of Spain-based Rinder Group for Euro 20 million.Quick Heal has informed the BSE regarding intimation of capitalizing in wholly owned subsidiary i.e. Quick Heal Technologies America Inc.: HDFC Ltd will raise Rs. 1,000 crore by issuing non-convertible debentures, to cater to its housing finance business needs.: The company said that operations at its plant situated at Rohtak, Haryana that was shut down due to agitation at lMT, Rohtak with effect from February 19, 2016 is now restarted.: Pioneer Distilleries Ltd has informed BSE that it will close down its plant in Nanded, Maharashtra due to water scarcity. Manufacturing activities at its Balapur, Nanded unit producing Molasses Based Extra Neutral Alcohol (MENA) has been stopped from February 1, 2016 on account of shortage in water availability due to less rains during monsoon season in the region, the company informed BSE.: Yes Bank said that it has purchased 5% stake in proxy advisory firm, Institutional Investor Advisory Service (IiAS).: Essar Steel has emerged as the winner at iron ore mine auction with a bid that was at a premium of 44.35% over the royalty.: Eveready Industries plans to hive off its packet tea business. As per reports, Eveready Industries India will also collaborate with promoter group's plantation company, McLeod Russel India to scale its hived off packet tea business.: Vijaya Bank has approved the proposal for Preferential Issue of Equity Shares to Life Insurance Corporation of India aggregating upto Rs.226 crore (inclusive of premium amount) subject to Government of India's approval and to convene an Extra Ordinary General Meeting of the Shareholders to pass the necessary Special Resolution in this regard.: Despite rapid progress by Infosys Ltd in bringing innovations powered by automation, artificial intelligence (AI), products and platforms, there is no way it would become a product company, CEO & MD Vishal Sikka said.: A group of private equity firms, including TPG Capital, which is bidding for Anil Ambani-led Reliance Groups wireless tower business has scaled down the value of the assets by more than 25%, reports a business daily.UFO Moviez India formally launched its small screen brand Nova Cinemas under its subsidiary Valuable Digital Screens Pvt Ltd in Ahmedabad.: Following the Budget proposal to levy infrastructure cess on automobiles, the country's largest passenger car maker Maruti Suzuki India on Thursday said the ex-showroom prices of its models would go up in the range of 1,441 to 34,494 across its models.Piramal Realty plans to invest INR 16,000 crore in the development of real estate projects and acquisition of land over the next four years, reports a financial newspaper.: Sterlite Technologies announced the appointment of Swati Rangachari as Chief of Corporate Affairs.: TVS Motors launches TVS XL 100 in Tamil Nadu. XL is powered by 99.7cc four stroke engine which can achieve a top speed of 60kmph.: The company has entered in to a Shareholders' Agreement and Securities Subscription agreement on March 03, 2016 with Reco Caspia Private Limited, an investment vehicle of GIC, Singapore and Perungudi Real Estates Private Limited, a special purpose vehicle.: The company to consider issue of equity shares.: The company to consider 2nd interim dividend.The company to consider declaration of interim dividend.
They are young and they are rising. The voice of the youth can be heard from various parts of the world as much as the reports of the consistent efforts to thwart them. It is more than just being young and restless. Or is it? What is it about students' voices that irks governments so much?

While there have been many occasions when student organisations have fallen out with the government, the working class among others has joined forces with them to create international headlines and, in very few cases, an impact.

1. Tiananmen Protests, China, 1989

Reuters

This tragic massacre started with students gathering to mourn the death of the Communist Party General Secretary Hu Yaobang. The government described the gathering as "rioting" to which the students reacted in larger numbers. Tiananmen Square was occupied by the students and other protestors for seven weeks till the Army, which despite having instruction not to launch an armed attack, took the protestors by surprise resulting in the death of thousands.

2. Germany protests, 1968

Common Wikimedia

West Germany saw one of the bloodiest student uprisings when students leader Rudi Dutschke was shot in the head three times and suffered severe brain damage which eventually led to his death. A leading national newspaper tried to spread the message to "eliminate the troublemakers" inciting over 50,000 students to take to the streets to contain the distribution of the paper. There was a violent clash between the protesting students and the police and their water cannons. 180 students were arrested on that day.

3. Protests of May, France, 1968

Wikimedia Commons

The closing down of the University of Paris at Nanterre and talks of the expulsion of a number of its students led to a series of protests that took over France. Upset with the lack of job opportunities and at an obsolete educational system, the students became the voice of protest of the masses and were soon joined by thousands who braved injuries and tear gas attacks to go on strike and to make their discontent heard. The week-long protests led to a reformed education bill as well as better wages.

4. Washington protests, USA, 1970

Steve Ludwig

President Nixon's invasion of Cambodia found few takers and irked students took to the streets to protest the President's decision. The situation got much worse when the Ohio National Guard open fired on a group of student protestors, killing four and paralising one. Nearly four million students from across the USA got involved, taking their protest to Washington from across 450 educational institutions. The protest turned almost into a Civil War when the supporters of the Vietnam War clashed against these students.

5. Tlatelolco Massacre, Mexico, 1968

Commons Wikimedia

In October, the students of Mexico were trying to draw the attention of the world to the government's oppression before the Summer Olympics. 10,000 students are said to have gathered at the Plaza de la Tres Culturas to demand more freedom to universities and the release of some political prisoners. The armed vehicles of the government paid no heed to the unarmed protestors and civilians, and opened fired on them. The police then launched a house-to-house check for protestors. 44 people were killed, and some were not even protestors, just passers-by.

6. Soweto Uprising, South Africa, 1976

Dispatch Live

Unable to cope with Afrikaans (a local language) instead of English and the common language - Bantu, thousands of students gathered at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto to rally. One policeman fired his gun, triggering panic. The police let their dogs loose on the children who in turn stoned the dogs to death. Two children were killed when the police opened fired on the gathering and the death toll rose to 600 people. The Soweto Uprising is considered an important incident in the Black Uprising.

7. Occupy movement, USA, 2009

usatoday.com

The students of the University of California began the Occupy movement after their first protests against the hike in tuition fee and budget cuts. They were the first to sport 'Occupy everything, demand nothing' banners and set the ball rolling for an international protest against social and economic inequality around the world. Micah White, who designed the 'Occupy Wall Street', joined the protestors in California. By October 2011, the Occupy movement had reached 951 cities in 82 countries.

8. Burntollet Bridge, Ireland, 1969

Wikimedia Commons

The students sang "We shall overcome"during their march from Belfast to Derry to demand democratic rights of voting and an end to discrimination. They were met by a mob of Orangemen who attacked them with stones, iron bars and sticks laced with nails. This act of violence was followed by new riots in Derry and extinguished all chances of peaceful existence of the people as a democracy.

9. Athens Polytechnic Uprising, 1973

dbzer0

Tanks were sent in to contain the mass student protestors against the military rule. The students of the Polytechnic had barricaded themselves in the campus and, in the wee hours, a tank was sent in to break down the barricade. The students of the campus were not killed but 19-year-old Michael Mirogiannis was shot by an officer. High-school students Diomedes Komnenos and Alexandros Spartidis of Lycee Leonin, along with a five-year-old, were also killed in a crossfire.

10. Quebec protests, Canada, 2012

Wikimedia Commons

The student unions rose against the proposed hike in tuition fees in colleges and even after 100 days, the protests continued with a quarter of a million students participating. The government passed a bill against "picketing or protest around University grounds" which ended in 2013. Protestors were attacked with tear gas and flash-bang grenades to disperse them but the unrest continued till September 2012 when a ministerial decree on freezing the tuition fee was announced.
Politicians, across the world, have a habit of making claims that are illogical, impractical and, more often than not, insensitive towards a section of society. A recent example of this would be what Gyandev Ahuja, a BJP legislative member from Rajasthan, said on the recent JNU issue.

For someone named Gyandev, he surely has a lot of knowledge about what goes on at the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus. He's even followed this up by saying that he'll prove it to everyone that these random and idiotic numbers are true.

His comments might be obnoxious in nature, but in no way can they be deemed surprising. Random numbers and Indian politics go hand in hand in fact. Here are some other numbers our politicians have thrown around like spare change, just because...

1. P. Chidambaram countered the question of price rise with ice cream.



2. Akbaruddin Owaisi, MLA of Telangana Legislative Assembly, doesn't flinch from making things communal.

3. Late Ashok Singhal, ex-VHP leader, told us exactly what to do to get the Hindu population back in balance.

4. Om Prakash Chautala, former CM of Haryana always knew the cause of rapes in the country. His solution? Marry off girls early, keep them at home for sexual needs. Simple.

5. Congress spokesman Dharamveer Goyat doesn't really understand the meaning of rape, does he? Education? Wtf is that?

6. Because Jeetan Ram Manjhi needs only 6% more Dalits to make himself a success.



7. Oh, Rahul baba, of course!

8. And Rahul Baba. Gujrat population is 6.27 crores as of 2013, btw.

9. And Rahul Baba.

10. And again, Rahul baba talking about someone being old. He's the chairman of YOUTH Congress. He's 45!



11. Need a meal for cheap in Mumbai? Zomato Raj Babbar.



12. Let Rasheed Masood tell you how much you overspend on food in Delhi.

13. Sakshi Mahraj needs our women to be producing more. 4. No more, no less. He calculated.

14. Sheila Dixit wanted people to survive on Rs 2 per meal per day. No wonder she's nowhere to be seen now.

15. Shivpal Singh Yadav's justification for corruption is very reasonable. No?



16. #KapilSibalKnows.

May god bless India. Really, there's no other way.
Lt Col Sophia Qureshi of the Corps of Signals has created history. She achieved the rare distinction of becoming the first woman officer to lead a training contingent of the Indian Army at Force 18, the ASEAN Plus multinational field training exercise which began in Pune on Wednesday.

ssbcrack

Additionally, Qureshi was also the only woman contingent commander among all participating nations. With the debate of giving women a prominent role in the Indian armed forces, this came as a master move.

Querishs prime role in the ongoing exercise is to provide training inputs for peacekeeping operations, but the assignment has a lot to do with her family legacy. Speaking of her experience, she said, It is certainly a moment to feel proud about. I belong to a warrior family. My grandfather and other family members were warriors.

On being a part of peacemaking operations.

Indian express

She further added, I have prior experience of being part of the United Nations' (UN) peacekeeping missions and I have been associated with peacekeeping operations for the last five to six years. Qureshi, who was commissioned in the Indian Army in 1990, was part of the Indian Peacekeeping Mission in the African nation of Congo in 2006. According to her, Effective monitoring of ceasefire is the prime role during peacekeeping operations for any contingent or military observers.

On her role at the field training exercise

Quereshi said, Over the last one week, we have held sessions with trainers from the participating nations and now we will be working together on a common platform for the common cause of peacekeeping and humanitarian mine action."

Advice to young Indian women who are looking for a challenging career

oneindia/picture for representation only

Qureshi has a simple message: If possible, join the Indian Army.

Adding to the Indian contingent being led by a woman officer debate, Southern Army Commander Lt Gen Bipin Rawat said, We do not differentiate between ladies and men. In the Army, we work with the objective and purpose of equal opportunity and equal responsibility. We treat ladies as equals in the force and when we do so, they have to share equal responsibility.

Well, we are impressed because this year looks great for women Army officers.

Since the last few years, all-women contingents have been an integral part of India's Republic Day Parade. Interestingly, this was the first time when the Daredevil contingent of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) performed motorcycle stunts, for the first time, on 2016 R-Day Parade. In similar news, recently, On February 23rd, President Pranab Mukherjee announced in the parliament that the government would induct women in all military combat roles in the future.

(With inputs from TNN)
It's a season of secret weddings! After Preity Zinta, Urmila Matondkar chose a private ceremony to tie the knot with Mir Mohsin Akhtar on March 3.

hindustantimes

"We kept it an exclusive wedding with just family and friends at the celebration. Since our families wanted the wedding to be a low-key affair, we mutually decided to keep it private. We seek your blessings on embarking this new journey of our lives." - Urmila Matondkar

Looking as vibrant and beautiful as ever, the 42-year-old actress chose a simple wedding devoid of any usual Bollywood presence. It was solemnised as per Hindu rituals at her residence in the presence of only very close family members. The only one present from tinsel town was ace designer and Urmila's close friend Manish Malhotra, who even designed her ensemble. Urmila wore a red and pink bespoke lehenga from his collection Regal Threads Benaras, his ode to the 'Make in India' movement. Manish shared some pictures on his social media accounts, the only means where her fans got a sneak-peek into the actress' big day.

Beautiful bride Urmila Matondkar in @ManishMalhotra bespoke outfit from 'The Regal Threads ' an ode to #MakeIndia pic.twitter.com/XVmpwwOuA3  ManishMalhotraWorld (@MMalhotraworld) March 3, 2016

With the #beauitful #stunning #bride #urmilamatondkar #emotions #happy #times #positivity #friends A photo posted by Manish Malhotra (@manishmalhotra05) on Mar 3, 2016 at 8:05pm PST

Mir Mohsin Akhtar, a Kashmir-based businessman, is also a model and an aspiring actor. He has appeared in films like Luck By Chance and Mumbai Mast Kalandar, and indie film It's a Mans World', apart from a few other lesser known movies. The 32-year-old is a close friend of Manish and met Urmila through the designer. He has done several modelling assignments, including being an in-house model for Manish, as well as walking the ramp for many leading designers.

"Urmila is a dear friend and Im so happy for her. She met Mir Mohsin at my niece Rridhis wedding in Mumbai in December 2014 and they just hit it off. He used to be a model long back but now does the business of Kashmiri embroidery. He's a simple guy from Kashmir, now settled in Mumbai. Urmila made a beautiful bride. She looked so happy and I hope this happiness lasts forever." - Manish Malhotra

We hear the couple is planning a huge reception for their Bollywood friends and family members. Here are some pictures from their lovely wedding. Here's wishing the two a blissful life ahead.

My dearest urmila...just married...love hugs and God bless the newly weds A photo posted by Paulomi Sanghavi (@paulomisanghavi) on Mar 3, 2016 at 10:47am PST

My dearest Urmilas mehndi#wedding#love#happiness#godbless u n Mohsin A photo posted by Paulomi Sanghavi (@paulomisanghavi) on Mar 3, 2016 at 12:38pm PST
thekooza

After starring in a number of big shot Hollywood films like Life Of Pi, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Jurassic World, Irrfan Khan has bagged yet another international film. And this time it's Bangladeshi director Mostofa Sarwar Farooki film called No Bed Of Roses. Irrfan would also be co-producing this film which will release across the globe. This is his second venture as a producer after Ishaan Nairs film, Kaash. The bilingual (Bengali and English language) film is titled Doob in Bengali.

Apart from Irrfan, the cast includes Bangladeshi actress Nusrat Imroz Tisha who starred in Farookis earlier film, Third Person Singular Number, which was also Bangladeshs entry to the Oscars, back in 2011. The film will go on the floors in March end and will be shot in one schedule of 35 days across the hill stations in Bangladesh and North Bengal. Some portions will be shot in Dhaka.

Talking about the movie, director Farooki said, My earlier films had all very different tone. This one is my first attempt to Ozu Kingdom, which is family story. I got a good set of cast and good team. Getting Irrfan as a co-producer was a big boost for us. I believe if everything goes well, we will be able to offer an engaging film."

Irrfan Khan seems to be really pleased working with the talented film maker Farroki, "When I saw his first film Ant Story, it immediately got me interested. I was impressed with his approach, style, and the way he unravels the story. His selection of cast and the way they behave are something that touched me immensely.His works carry a strong humane angle, which is why his characters are multi layered. I am eagerly looking forward to collaborate and explore with him in the film No Bed of Roses. Hope this will be a good addition to the changing landscape of world cinema."

Considering the fact that this film has, both, a great director and a great actor, it seems like this would definitely be something to watch out for!
Ladies, if you get painful cramps every month but force yourself to go to work anyway, we have some good news for you. Period leave is now becoming a thing around the world! Yes, really!

Coexist is the first British company to introduce a period policy.

via dailymail.co.uk

The employees of this social community group are largely female, and so is the director. In the past, female employees were encouraged to go home when they suffered from menstrual cramps, but the company wanted to put a formal policy in place.

According to them, its about syncing work with the natural rhythms of the body to maximise productivity. When women are having their periods they are in a winter state, when they need to regroup, keep warm and nourish their bodies. The spring section of the cycle, immediately after a period is a time when women are actually three times as productive as usual, says Bex Baxter, the director.

Nike has allowed menstrual leave since 2007.

via blog.classpass.com

The global conglomerate built the condition into its Code of Conduct in 2007. All the business partners that the company works with have to sign a Memorandum of Understanding agreeing to follow the code.

A few Chinese provinces allow women to take paid leave if they provide medical certificates.

via cnnphilipppines.com

The Chinese provinces Anhui, Shanxi and Hubei have passed regulations that allow women to take a day or two off every month as long as they can provide medical certificates as proof that they suffer painful cramps. A fourth province, Guandong, is still contemplating whether or not to introduce the regulations.

However, this sounds a little better in theory than it is in practice. In reality, the rules are very vague and not realistically enforceable, because they apply only to women stationed to their posts for extended periods of time and do not outline any consequences for companies that dont give women the leave.

The regulations are intended to benefit female migrant workers who sweep the streets and work in factory assembly lines, but these same women may find it impossible to get medical certificates.

Furthermore, the regulations may make it hard for women to get jobs in the first place.

Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and Indonesia allow menstrual leave.

via news.vice.com

Yes, that's right! It started in 1947 when Japan introduced the concept of seiri-kuya, which is a monthly leave for women provided by the Labor Standards Law. South Korea introduced the rule in 2001, Indonesia in 2003 and Taiwan in 2014.

Unfortunately, like with China, these regulations are not really being implemented. Many women are not aware of these laws, and even if they are, they are reluctant to bring up the subject of menstruation with their bosses. Since the men dont really understand the need for it, the women are looked down upon for claiming sick leave for their periods. They also have too much work and cant afford to take the day off.
JNUSU leader Kanhaiya Kumar's speech after his release on bail last night was nothing short of fiery. His veiled attacks on Delhi Police, ABVP, Prime Minister Modi, BJP bhakts and certain media outlets were cheered on by JNU students and other supporters who were fighting for his release. Here are some really powerful images from the past few days showcasing the fight that was sparked by Rohith Vemula's suicide.

17th February 2016

JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar, arrested on charges of sedition, escorted by police while producing at Patiala House Courts in New Delhi. Fighting broke out at the court during the hearing of the case against Kumar, accused of sedition, a charge that has sparked protests across university campuses. Kumar was allegedly beaten up by lawyers while he was being produced at Patiala House.

18th February 2016

Students protest the arrest of their leader Kanhaiya Kumar on charges of sedition. Waving the Indian flag was a fitting response to the perpetrators of the doctored video that got played time and again in the media, labelling them as anti-nationals.

A demonstrator shouts slogans and waves the Indian national flag as she takes part in a protest demanding the release of Kanhaiya Kumar.

23rd February 2016

Hundreds of the demonstrators took out a protest to express solidarity for Rohit Vemula, a low-caste student of the University of Hyderabad, who was found hanging in his hostel room. Here, a protestor with face painted black in shame blows a whistle as others shout slogans. The students were also demanding the release of Kanhaiya Kumar, who was in jail accused of sedition.

24th February 2016

Police detain students holding a candle light march demanding justice for Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula at India Gate. Vemula committed suicide after being reportedly targeted by right-wing organisations. Rohith's family and friends were holding a protest march to seek justice for him when things went out of control.

Radhika, Rohith Vemula's mother, was also there along with the students at the candle light march demanding justice for her son, moments before Delhi police allegedly decided to take matters into their hands.

Police detain students at the candle light march as they try to protect Rohith Vemula's mother from the police.

1st March 2016

Demonstrators climb a police barricade during a protest march in New Delhi. Dozens of protesters from Campus Front of India (CFI) protested to express solidarity for Rohit Vemula and demanding the release of Kanhaiya.

2nd March 2016

Demonstrators shout slogans as they hold placards during a protest demanding the release of Kanhaiya Kumar.

Social media was divided over the issue with people for and against Kanhaiya Kumar and JNU in equal measures. Anti-government is not anti-national is what the protestors wanted to convey.

3rd March 2016

Kanhaiya arrives to address a meet inside JNU campus after being released on bail for 6 months.

"Azaadi from capitalism, azaadi from brahminism, azaadi from casteism."

"This is a long fight. We will keep fighitng."

"The attack on JNU was planned to distract us from the UGC protest and dilute the fight for justice for Rohith Vemula."

"The PM had tweeted 'Satyameva Jayate'. I am also saying the same thing."

"Freedom in India, not from India."

"We will pursue this fight that was begun by Rohith Vemula and all of you and we will see it till it's end!"

Kanhaiya has finally announced himself to the country.
On Thursday evening, a free man walked out of the Tihar Jail back into the comfortable reality of JNU. Amidst ear-splitting cries of welcome, walked Kanhaiya Kumar, JNU's student leader, who was arrested from the campus on charges of sedition almost three weeks ago.

Kanhaiya was given an interim bail for 6 months by the Delhi High Court. After getting released, the Ph.D student went back to the campus to address an eagerly waiting crowd.

And then rang some powerful slogans into the night, followed by a speech that evoked the tenets of azadi, nationalism, and the right to express dissent.

Virendra Singh Gosain/ HT Photo

And while the world remained divided during his trial at court, the response that flooded social media after his release has been a mix of admiration and disgust in the same measure. Read on to see how the citizens of India reacted to a student's voice that is still as loud as it was before it was tried to be silenced.

#1

Mitron, #kanhaiyakumar speech had a vision for India as envisaged by Babasaheb Ambedkar. It does not get more patriotic, does it ? #JNU  Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) March 4, 2016

#2

The Govt made #KanhaiyaKumar out of nobody. Oppression of voices never worked for long, anywhere.  Tinu Cherian Abraham (@tinucherian) March 4, 2016

#3

My humble thanks to @smritiirani @narendramodi & @ZeeNews for introducing this dynamic student #KanhaiyaKumar to India and it's yourh   QueenBee  (@vaidehisachin) March 4, 2016

#4

If you're driven by hate, anger and stupidity, you score self-goals like arresting a man as brilliant as #KanhaiyaKumar for sedition.  Mihir Sharma (@mihirssharma) March 3, 2016

#5

He's 28 years old and still a student living off taxpayers money!! So when is #KanhaiyaKumar taking 'azadi' from JNU?!! #Nautanki  Priti Gandhi (@MrsGandhi) March 3, 2016

#6

#KanhaiyaKumar is getting an education a real doctorate not one in Photoshop & doctoring like you & your ilk. https://t.co/UqLIGk5znN  swati chaturvedi (@bainjal) March 4, 2016

#7

Don't miss the forest for the trees -- #KanhaiyaKumar's speech isn't about oratory. It's about standing up to spin, distortion & lies  Milind Deora (@milinddeora) March 3, 2016

#8

When you have an hour long live broadcast by several channels of anti government tirade by #KanhaiyaKumar , you know democracy is alive.  Harsh Goenka (@hvgoenka) March 3, 2016

#9

Modi won't be able to sleep tonight. For sure. #KanhaiyaKumar  Vinod Mehta (@DrunkVinodMehta) March 3, 2016

#10

#KanhaiyaKumar can abuse anyone..be it Modi or RSS..but when he said Ex-armymen take instructions from Nagpur..this shows his real character  Paresh Rawal (@Babu_Bhaiyaa) March 3, 2016

#11

#KanhaiyaKumar is now like the legendary Che Guevara ; a young man who symbolizes a new young irrepressible India that believes in itself.  Sanjay Jha (@JhaSanjay) March 3, 2016

#12

It is going to be a long night for the #BJP think tanks. All the best, try doing something that's neither doctored nor fake. #KanhaiyaKumar  Pallavi Shahi (@pallupower) March 3, 2016

#13

Does the Modi govt realise they just created a formidable politician? #KanhaiyaKumar  himanshi dhawan (@dhawan_himanshi) March 3, 2016

#14

You may or may not agree with #KanhaiyaKumar 's left ideology, but how can you not appreciate this brilliant, confident boy !   (@Iam_Prerna) March 3, 2016

#15

Shows institutional strength of nation that #KanhaiyaKumar spoke freely, knowledgeable of developments and with his spirit and will strong.  Nirupama Rao (@NMenonRao) March 3, 2016

#16

When a youngster speaks with such passion n commitment, there is always a room for hope. Hats off #KanhaiyaKumar!  nikhil wagle (@waglenikhil) March 3, 2016

#17

If you want to know what true nationalism looks like, watch #KanhaiyaKumar speech and make others watch  SANJAY HEGDE (@sanjayuvacha) March 3, 2016

#18

Modi Govt took one month to build up a hysteria and the entire hysteria got washed away in one speech.#KanhaiyaKumar  Vinod Mehta (@DrunkVinodMehta) March 3, 2016

#19

Can't remember the last time a speech by a youth leader (or a communist!) got so much attention. #KanhaiyaKumar  Vikram Chandra (@vikramchandra) March 3, 2016

#20

Rockstar #KanhaiyaKumar: Indian politics' latest startup  Milind Deora (@milinddeora) March 3, 2016

#21
Purno Agitok Sangma, popularly known as PA Sangma passed away in a Delhi hospital on Friday, after suffering a heart attack.

PTI

Many including President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi condoled his death.

Shocked to hear of sad demise of former Lok Sabha Speaker and Meghalaya CM PA Sangma; my heartfelt condolences #PresidentMukherjee  President of India (@RashtrapatiBhvn) March 4, 2016

Shri PA Sangma's tenure as Lok Sabha Speaker is unforgettable. His down to earth personality & affable nature endeared him to many.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 4, 2016

Deepest condolences on the passing away of veteran leader & former LS Speaker Shri PA Sangma. His demise is a great loss to the nation  Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) March 4, 2016

The 68-year-old was an MP from Tura in Meghalaya. Here are some facts about arguably the most popular political figure to emerge from India's North-east.

Humble beginning

Sangma was born in a tribal village in West Garo Hills District of Meghalaya on September 01, 1947. Before joining politics he had been a lecturer, a lawyer and a journalist.

Politics

Sangma began his political career with the Congress. He served as the Chief Minister of Meghalaya from 1988 to 1990.

He was expelled from the party in 1999 along with with Sharad Pawar and Tariq Anwar over their protest against Sonia Gandhi.

IBTimes

The trio went on to form the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

The nine-time MP was also the speaker of Lok Sabha from 1996 to 1998 and Union minister on a couple of occasions.

2012 Presidential Election

He made an unsuccessful attempt for presidency in 2012 with the support of BJP.

He resigned from NCP in 2012 after Sharad Pawar refused to support his presidential bid.

Family

His daughter Agatha Sangma was also an MP in the 15th Lok Sabha from 2009-15.

PTI

His son, Conrad Sangma, is the Leader of the Opposition in the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly.
JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar was finally released from the Tihar Jail earlier today. After being given interim bail by Delhi HC, he celebrated his release with the huge crowds at JNU.

ndtvimg

He also gave a speech at the occasion, one where he took clean and uncontroversial yet sarcastic jibes at PM Modi, ABVP and Delhi Police.

There will be no witch-hunt for any opponent cause they are not worth it - said the JNUSU leader who was subjected to sedition charges, national level witch-hunt, physical abuse and media trial after doctored footage was used to showcase him and his comrades as anti-nationals.
Noida-based fashion designer Shipra Malik who had been missing for the last four days has been traced to Gurgaon.

Facebook

Gurgaon Police said they received a call from Sultanpur village, informing that a woman approached them saying she was abducted from Delhi by four men.

She said that villagers that she was dropped near the village by her abductors on Friday.

Police have however ruled out the abduction claims, instead they said Shipra had left her husband's home following a family dispute.

Noida Fashion designer Shipra Malik voluntarily left from her residence after family dispute: DIG, Meerut pic.twitter.com/Pd6FO7v1Qm  TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) March 4, 2016

She called her husband around 1-1:30 in night and informed him of her whereabouts in Gurgaon: DIG, Meerut  TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) March 4, 2016

As per her statements given so far,it doesn't seem to be case of kidnapping. Team has left for verification of her statement: DIG, Meerut  TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) March 4, 2016

Shipra who ran a boutique from her Sector 37 residence had gone missing on February 29. Her car was found unattended near Sector 29, with the keys under the drivers seat.

The case gained attention due to the similarity of the incident to the recent abduction of a Snapdeal executive.
The India-Pakistan border is probably one of the most heavily guarded anywhere in the world. India spends thousands of crores on border fence that is lit at night and can even be seen from space, all to keep the terrorists out. But Pakistan keeps finding new ways to infiltrate.

Describing detection of 30-metre long tunnel from Pakistan to the Indian side as a major success, BSF on Friday said that it was dug with the aim of pushing in armed militants into Jammu region.

abplive

"We were carrying out our regular clearing operations, done monthly, when we found a well-constructed tunnel," inspector-general of BSF, Jammu Frontier, Rakesh Sharma said, noting that it was being dug with JCB machine.

"It was aimed at pushing in militants into Jammu region," he told reporters here.

Represenatational image/Reuters

Terming Thursday's detection a major success, the IG said if not detected in time, Pakistan would have succeeded in pushing in 'fidayeen' and other militants inside Indian territory.

"Pakistan was objecting to our efforts to clear grass as it was anticipating that BSF would be able to detect the tunnel. We resisted Pakistan's attempts and went ahead with clearance operation during which the tunnel was found," Sharma said.

The tunnel is approximately 10 feet below the ground and has a length of 30 metres from their end to this side, he said.

"But it was blocked on our side. It was dead end. It had no exit as they could not complete it further. It came close to the border fencing," the IG said.

"One person can sit and easily move inside the tunnel which has came up in the vicinity of Allah-Mai-Di-Kothi BoP of ours from Pakistan Post of Afzal," he said, adding that a probe was on.

This is the fourth tunnel unearthed by BSF in the region since 2012.
Republican front runner for American Presidential Elections, Donald Trump is undoubtedly the most discussed candidate in the race so far.

Business Insider

The ever controversial former reality TV host whose stands on immigration and American jobs going to other countries have so far dominated the discussions.

His promises include building a fence along the Mexican border to stop illegal immigrants from the country from entering US and to tax American companies taking their production to countries like China and India. He had also called for a total ban on Muslims entering the US.

Slate

While it is no secret that Trump hates non-Americans and minority groups, the fact has not affected a group of American Hindus.

The group who calls themselves 'HindusForTrump' is actively campaigning for the billionaire businessman on social media.

They are so convinced that Trump the their saviour, they even made an image of him sitting in a yoga pose, and resembling Hindu Gods.

Twitter

The group which claims they have the backing of some prominent Hindus from various sectors in America, however admits that they do not represent the entire community in the country.

Trumps policies on illegal immigration and economy in particular are the main reasons for the Indian Americans to support him," A D Amar, a business professor with Seton Hall University in New Jersey said.

Another group 'Republican Hindu Coalition' is also active in campaigning and fund raising for the Republican Party.

Hindus throwing their weight behind the Republican Party is seen as a new phenomenon. For long the community has been backing Democratic candidates.
A 77-year-old Rajasthani villager is getting ready to take his Class 10 board exam, for the 47th time.

mailtoday

Shiv Charan Yadav, from Khohari village in Alwae, first took the exam in 1968.

To put it in perspective, that would have been about a month after The Beatles arrived in India, at Rishikesh, to attend Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Transcendental Meditation training course.

Yes, it was that long ago.

This year, on March 10, Yadav hopes to put behind him 46 years of having failed the Class 10 exam. He had vowed long ago not to marry until he matriculated and the Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education's exam has been a tough taskmaster.

"Each time it so happens that I pass in some subjects, but fail in others. For example, if I get enough marks in mathematics and science, I fail in Hindi and English. This time, I hope to pass all," a confident sounding Yadav told TOI.

BBC Hindi

Yadav almost passed the exam, 21 years ago in 1995, but mathematics proved to be his undoing.

Last year, he managed to pass in one subject: social sciences. The year before that he failed in all the subjects. "This time, I have taken classes from some school teachers," he said.

Yadav has been living alone in his ancestral home for 30 years now. His mother died when he was only two months old and he lost his father when he was 10. He uncle and extended family brought him up.

telegraph

"The old-age pension from the government and the prasaad (religious offering) at a nearby temple help me get by," he said.

Some villagers make fun of Yadav's persistence, but some also admire his grit and help him with gifts of pens and books.

"Seeing him going for the examinations is a rare treat. He goes to the temple just like the other students about to take examinations. We hope he will be able to make it this time," said Ramkesh Meena, a native of the village.

If he does manage to pass the exam this year, he'll have his next job -- finding a bride -- cut out for him.

"This year, I will get married. I know I'll find a bride," the 77-year-old bachelor insists.
In the same country where a sikh taxi driver gives free food to the homeless, a hate fuelled crime a sikh kid was bullied and assaulted.

A 13-year-old Sikh school boy in Australia, travelling in a bus here, was assaulted, mocked and threatened with being stabbed for wearing a turban.

cloudfront

Harjeet Singh, was riding the bus home, when two males and a female ringleader -- all believed to be in their late teens assaulted and mocked him.

Harjeet was also allegedly threatened with being stabbed and had his turban pulled in the hate-fuelled attack aboard a suburban bus, the Herald Sun reported.

The female demanded to know why Harjeet was wearing a "towel" on his head and twice tried to remove his turban despite the terrified boy trying to get away.

It is alleged that one of the males was also involved and the boy was sworn at.

Harjeet's mother Rajinder Kaur Gill told the daily, "My son was so scared and he was crying. It's a horrible thing. I'm just scared if it's safe for him on the bus."

"We are worried it's not just my son -- we are worried it will be other people as well. It should not happen to anyone," she said of the incident that took place on February 23.

The two males and the female are being sought by police.

operationworld

Harjeet, who attends Doncaster Secondary College here, was sitting in the middle row of the bus when the offenders approached from the back seat.

The ordeal lasted until Eltham when Mr Harjeet got off the bus early with school friends, also in tears. One of their mothers drove Harjeet home.

"I was so scared. I just froze and when my friends got off the bus I got off with them," Harjeet said. "The girl said I had a 'worthless towel' on my head," he said.

"The girl pushed my son's turban with her elbow," Gill said.

"My son moved from his seat to get further away from them and they followed him and sat behind him again. This time the girl pushed him hard and tried to remove his turban again. My son was scared and he asked them to stop but they laughed at him and they said there aren't that many stabbings in Eltham," she said.

Victoria Police spokesman Paul Turner said police were investigating reports of an assault.

"The investigation is in its infancy and it would be inappropriate to provide further comment at this time," he said.
Follow us on no relief for telecos in call drop sc declines interim stay on delhi hc order

New Delhi: In a big blow to the telecos, the Supreme Court today declined any interim stay on Delhi High Court order upholding TRAI's decision making it mandatory for telecom operators to compensate subscribers for call drops.

"It's a question of interim order. We will hear it on Thursday (March 10). As of now, no interim order," a bench of Justices Kurian Joseph and Rohinton Fali Nariman said.

The court asked senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who was appearing for the cellular operators, to take adjournment before TRAI where they are supposed to appear on Monday.

The court also issued notice to the Centre, TRAI and others, directing them to file their response before next week on appeals filed by Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), a body of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India and 21 telecom operators, including Vodafone, Bharti Airtel and Reliance.

During the brief hearing, Attorney Genreal Mukul Rohatgi opposed the telecos' plea, saying the high court has rightly upheld TRAI's decision.

"I also oppose their (telecos') request for no coercive steps as the decision was in the consumer's interest.

Therefore, we succeeded before the high court," the AG submitted. At this, the bench said, "We will examine the issue."

The bench, however, was of the view that "prima facie we do not find anything ultra virus in the decision (of the high court). If call drop fault is on your (telecos) part, you will have to pay for it."

However, the telecom companies said that the matter should be heard.

The High Court had, earlier this week, upheld the October 16, 2016 decision of TRAI making it mandatory for cellular operators to pay consumers one rupee per call drop experienced on their networks, subject to a cap of Rs 3 a day.

The court order came while dismissing a batch of petitions filed by COAI.

With PTI Inputs

Latest Business News
Follow us on manoj bharat kumar to be honoured with dadasaheb phalke award

New Delhi: Veteran film actor and director Manoj Kumar will be conferred with the 47th Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2015. The 78-year-old actor will be honoured with the highest recognition in Indian cinema which consists of a golden lotus, a cash prize of Rs 10 lakhs and a shawl.

MIB India tweeted on Friday Veteran film actor Shri Manoj Kumar to be conferred Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2015.

Manoj Kumar debuted in Fashion in 1957, but it went unnoticed. It was with the 1960 release Kaanch Ki Gudia, which earned him recognition.

Manoj Kumar is remembered for his films "Hariyali Aur Raasta", "Woh Kaun Thi", "Himalaya Ki God Mein", "Roti Kapda Aur Makaan", and "Kranti". He is known for acting in and directing films with patriotic themes. He has been given the nickname Bharat Kumar' because of his patriotic movies.

The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is conferred by the Government of India for outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian Cinema.

He is a recipient of the National Film Award for the film Upkaar. In 1992, he was honoured with the Padma Shri by the government of India.

With inputs from agencies

Latest Bollywood News
Follow us on salman khan to record his statement in jodhpur court in black buck poaching case

Jodhpur: A local court here has ordered Bollywood superstar Salman Khan to be present in the court on March 10 to record his statement in a case related to the Arms Act.

"Prosecution evidences have finished. The court of chief judicial magistrate (CJM) Jodhpur district has set March 10 as date for recording of statement of the accused (Salman Khan)," Salman's counsel Hastimal Saraswat told IANS.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Dalpat Singh Rajpurohit, while dismissing an application from Salman's counsel for re-examination of the then collector Rajat Mishra, said examination of prosecution witnesses has been completed, and ordered Salman to remain present before the court on March 10 for recording of the "accused's statement".

It is the third time that Salman has been asked to record his statement during the trial in this case.

The court was to pronounce its judgment in this case on February 25 last year, but it was deferred when a few applications for examination of four witnesses were allowed.

After examination of four witnesses, Salman appeared before the local court on April 29 last year.

On Thursday, after completing the re-examination, Salman's advocate again moved an application to examine witness Rajat Mishra, but the court did not allow this and ordered Salman to remain present before the court for recording of his statement on March 10.

Salman and his "Hum Saath-Saath Hain" co-stars, including Saif Ali Khan, were accused of poaching black bucks on the night of October 1-2, 1998, during the shooting of the Hindi movie.

Two black bucks, a protected animal under the Wildlife Protection Act, were killed on the outskirts of Kankani village near Jodhpur. Salman is accused of carrying and using illegal arms. He is also alleged to have been carrying arms with an expired license.

Latest Bollywood News
Follow us on rishi kapoor congratulates his daughter sister lover urmila on her wedding

New Delhi: Bollywood actress Urmila Matondkar has just entered the nuptial bond. The actress who has been away from the limelight suddenly made it to the headlines after the news of her wedding broke.

Urmila has tied the knot with Kashmiri businessman Mohsin Akhtar Mir in a low profile wedding.

While her wedding has come as a surprise for everyone, celebs from B-town have started pouring in wishes to diva for her new life.

However, veteran actor Rishi Kapoor has wished the Rangeela' actress in a quite interesting way.

The actor took it to Twitter to congratulate Urmila for her wedding and tweeted, Urmila who played my daughter like, sister and lover in films. Wish you all the best in your married life. God Bless!

Confused?

Well Rishi has explained this in his second tweet, saying, Okkiieeeee. Daughter like in "Masoom". Sister in "Bade Ghar Ki Beti" and lover in "Shreeman Aashiq". Another world record of sorts lol

Urmila married Mohsin as per the Hindu rituals at her home in Mumbai which was followed by a small party in the evening.

Latest Bollywood News
Follow us on class 10 topper among three hizbul militants killed in kashmir

New Delhi: Three Hizbul Mujahideen militants were killed in an overnight encounter in Tral area of South Kashmir's Pulwama district, an army official said on Thursday.

Security forces killed three Hizbul Mujahideen militants including class 10 topper Mohammad Ishaq Parray, in an encounter which started on Wednesday night and continued till wee hours of Thursday in Tral area of South Kashmir's Pulwama district.

The slain militants have been identified as Ashiq Hussain Bhat, Mohammad Isaq Parray and Asif Ahmed Mir, the official said, adding that Bhat was involved in providing shelter to militants involved in Udhampur attack on a BSF convoy last year

Ishaq 20, was a bright student, he had allegedly left home to join Hizb in March last year. His family claims he scored more than 98% marks in class X in December 2011 and 85% in class XII.His academic performance even earned him the sobriquet of Newton'.

Police said bodies of the slain militants were handed over to their families. Thousands joined the funeral procession of Ishaq.

Among the slain militants is Ashiq Hussain Bhat of Charsoo village, who was wanted in connection with providing shelter to militants involved in the Udhampur attack, said an army official.

Three AK rifles have been recovered from the scene of the gun battle, where search and sanitisation operation are in progress, the official said.

Latest India News
Follow us on judge issues memo to dalit office assistant for refusing to wash wife s inner wear

Tamil Nadu: A lower court judge in Tamil Nadu had issued a memo to his female office assistant, a 47-year-old dalit woman who declined to wash the inner wear' of his wife at his residence.

According to a report published by Indian Express, judicial employees association in the state is preparing to approach Madras High Court on this matter.

As reported by the Indian Express, the February 1 memo said Please explain within 7 days why disciplinary action should not be initiated against you for your failure to wash the inner wear which were put for washing in the sub-judge's house, and for throwing them away disgustingly, and when your attitude was questioned by the officer and his wife for retorting in an arrogant tone.

The document was signed by subordinate judge D Selvam of Sathyamangalam court, according to the newsapaper.

The woman responded on February 4, desperately requesting the disciplinary action against her be lapsed.

Her reply to the memo said, My humble explanation for the memo dated February 1, 2016, I humbly submit that I will guard against any lapses in the future and undertake to do my duties properly. Till then I request that the disciplinary action against me may please be closed.

Ever since the judge took charge here last May, she has been posted at his home along with one more staff. They work there till 7pm. That day (February 1), the judge's wife asked her to wash her inner clothes, she refused. The same afternoon, she was served the memo, sources told Indian Express.

The women is just a class 10 pass out, who was appointed nearly nine years ago.She has two married daughters and has to look after her ailing husband, the report said.

This is not the first time such an incident took place. In 2012, an office assistant was asked to mop and sweep a judge's house.

In another incident a magistrate suspended an office assistant for failing to cook fish curry.

Latest India News
Follow us on consider rohith vemula not afzal guru as my icon kanhaiya kumar

New Delhi: A day after his release from Tihar jail where he was housed on charges of sedition, JNUSU leader Kanhaiya Kumar today sought to distance himself from the political image being accorded to him, saying he was an ordinary student who wanted to be a teacher and that he was only worried about the responsibility given to him by the students of JNU.

Let me make it clear that I am only an ordinary student and not a politician. The students of JNU have chosen me as their representative and I am not thinking more than this, Kanhaiya told media personnel at a press conference held at the JNU today.

Kanhaiya also dismissed allegations that he sympathised with parliament attack convict Afzal Guru saying he did not consider him as his icon. Afzal Guru was a citizen of India who was prosecuted and found guilty by court. If you ask me, he is not my icon in today's time. For me, Rohith Vemula is my icon, he said.

Referring to the event where alleged anti-India slogans were raised, Kanhaiya said that the students of the institution strongly condemned the incidents that transpired of February 9 and said it was up to the court to decide whether it was sedition or not.

We strongly condemn what happened on 9th. It's for Court to decide if that was 'raaj droh' or not. We've faith in judiciary, he said, adding that JNUSU has never supported anything outside the boundaries of the Constitution and will maintain its stand in the future as well.

Kanhiaya further sought to assure the people of the country that JNU did not groom anti-nationals. I want to assure the people of the country that their subsidies which are footing the bills for JNU are not going to waste. I want to assure the taxpayers of this country that a JNU student can never be anti-national, he said.

Responding to a question on whether he would comply with the conditions set by the court while granting him interim bail, Kanhaiya said that the court's directives were a way of life for him. The HC, while granting him interim bail for six months had sought assurance that Kanhaiya would not participate in any national activity.

How can an individual living in this country indulge or support any activity that goes against the idea of the nation, Kanhaiya said.

Kanhaiya walked out from the Tihar jail yesterday after being granted bail in a case of sedition registered against him for his alleged involvement in raising anti-national slogans at an event in the university campus on February 9 that commemorated the hanging of Afzal Guru.

Two other students  Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya  are in 14-day judicial custody on similar charges.

Latest India News
Follow us on missing noida fashion designer shipra malik traced in gurgaon

New Delhi: Noida-based fashion designer Shipra Malik, who had gone missing earlier this week, has been found in safe in Gurgaon.

Sujit Pandey, Meerut IG, informed that the 29-year-old lady, who owns a boutique in Noida, was found in a house in a village on Jhajjar road almost 30 kilometers from Gurgaon.

She was alone when the police found her, he said, adding that she is being interrogated by a senior police official.

Sujit said that police teams, which were formed to trace her, were dispatched immediate following leads about her presence in a Gurgaon village.

Shipra left her home from Sector 37 in Noida on Monday afternoon to go to Chandni Chowk in Delhi. Her Maruti Swift Desire was found abandoned 500 metres away from her Noida home.

Police had traced her last location as Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi from where she made a call to the police helpline.

Chetan Malik, Shipra's husband, a builder by profession, had filed a missing complaint with the Noida police. The family has not received any ransom call but the possibility of a kidnapping cannot be ruled out.

Chetan Malik, her husband who is a local builder, had filed a missing complaint with the Noida police.

Last month, Deepti Sarna (25), a Snapdeal engineer, went missing after taking an autorickshaw from Vaishali metro station in Ghaziabad. She had, however, returned home two days later.

Latest India News
Follow us on four indian nuns among 16 dead in deadly yemen attack reports

Aden: Four Indian nuns of the Missionaries of Charity are suspected to be among the 16 people who were killed by gunmen who stormed an old people's home in the Yemeni port city of Aden on Friday, agencies reported.

The Indian government said it was trying to ascertain reports about the Indian nuns being gunned down. We have seen the reports and are trying to ascertain the details of Indian victims, Vikas Swarup, spokesperson for the External Affairs ministry said. There is no official mission in the country, making it difficult for details to flow in.

The motive of the gunmen was not immediately known. They fled after the attack, an official said. Though no group has claimed the attack, the first of its kind in Yemen, but the attackers are believed to be extremists from the Islamic State.

One nun who survived and was rescued by local residents said she hid inside a fridge in a storeroom after hearing a Yemeni guard shouting run, run.

Meanwhile, External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj has appealed to Indians living in the region to return to India till the situation gets better.

Four gunmen, who told a guard they were on a visit to their mother, entered the home with rifles and opened fire. While two gunmen surrounded the home, the others moved from room to room, handcuffing victims and shooting them in the head.

In addition to the four Indian nuns, six Ethiopians, a Yemeni cook and Yemeni guards were among the dead. The bodies of the dead were transferred to a clinic supported by the Medecins Sans Frontieres.

There are around 80 residents in the retirement home run by the Missionaries of Charity, an organisation established by Mother Teresa. Missionaries of Charity nuns were also attacked in Yemen in 1998, when gunmen killed three nuns in the port city of Hodeida.

Aden descended into lawlessness after a Saudi-led coalition recaptured the city from Shia Houthi rebels last summer. On Monday, a suicide car bombing, also in Sheikh Othman, hit a gathering of loyalist forces killing four people and wounding five others. On February 17, a suicide bombing claimed by the IS killed 14 soldiers.

The IS has claimed responsibility for a wave of deadly attacks in Aden, including a suicide bombing that killed the governor and several assassination attempts on top officials.

Yemen's embattled government is based in Aden but has struggled to impose its authority since its forces, backed by Gulf Arab troops, expelled the Iran-allied Houthi fighters who still control the capital Sanaa.

(With agencies)

Latest World News
Follow us on bjp hits out at omar for his remarks on alliance

Jammu: BJP today hit out at former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah, accusing him of "adopting double standards" while in and out of power.

"We strongly condemn the utterances of Omar Abdullah. He had been an opportunist whose past itself stands witness to his politics of compromise on the so-called principles", BJP State General Secretary Narinder Singh alleged.

Addressing reporters Singh said Omar today says in public that he will "never enter" into alliance with BJP and rather quit politics than compromising with the honour and dignity of the state. This nothing but a reflection of frustration after NC being given humiliating defeat in the Assembly elections.

He said that it is funny that the leaders like Omar Abdullah "adopt double standards while in chair and when out of power."

"It is not politics aimed at serving the state or its people but a game of opportunism," Singh said.

The BJP leader said people of the state, Jammu province in particular, had given mandate to BJP to form the government and our party did nothing wrong to honour the verdict of the people.
Follow us on fair and lovely remark bjp to move notice against rahul gandhi

New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party will move a notice against Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi for using 'racist' fair and lovely remark in his speech in the Lok Sabha.

"Rahul Gandhi mocked the disclosure scheme of the government of India by terming it as a Fair and Lovely scheme. The advertisement of Fair and Lovely has been banned by the Supreme Court because it is a racist in nature. It creates a difference between black and white and often it feels it creates a difference between north and south," BJP MP Arjun Meghwal said.

"This kind of remark is not expected from a person sitting at a responsible post of a grand old party," he added.

Meghwal further said the BJP is preparing the notice affirming that they would raise our concern in the house. During Motion of Thanks to President for addressing joint session of Parliament, Rahul had said the Narendra Modi government has launched a `Fair and Lovely` scheme to convert black money into white.

BJP has also reacted strongly to Rahul Gandhi mentioning Savarkar in his speech in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. "I said Gandhi is ours, Veer Savarkar is yours, am I wrong? Have you discarded Savarkar?" Rahul Gandhi had asked BJP legislators.

BJP member Kirit Somaiya has sought an apology from Rahul Gandhi for his "derogatory" remarks against Savarkar and also lodged a complaint with Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.

"Veer Savarkar is a national hero and a great freedom fighter. Parliament has already recognised his contribution by installing his portrait in the Central Hall," Somaiya, BJP MP from Northeast Mumbai, said in the letter.
Follow us on congress nominates anand sharma for rs from himachal may field anthony from kerala

New Delhi: Congress Deputy Leader in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma is being nominated as party candidate from Himachal Pradesh for election to the Upper House while senior leader AK Antony is likely to be renominated from Kerala and Oscar Fernandes from Karnataka.

Sharma, whose tenure as MP from Rajasthan is expiring soon, will have to resign from the seat to contest the polls from Himachal Pradesh, party sources said.

With the Congress having little chance to win any Rajya Sabha seat from Rajasthan owing to the overwhelming majority of the BJP in the state assembly, the party has chosen the Deputy Opposition Leader's home state for him to gain an entry to the Upper House.

Congress could contest three seats from Karnataka, if it enters into an understanding with JDS. Otherwise it is likely to contest two seats.
Follow us on ec announces poll schedule for 5 states counting on may 19

New Delhi: Election Commission of India today announced the schedule for assembly polls in five states  Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry

The polling will be held in 2 phases in Assam on April 4 and 11. In West Bengal, the polling will be held in 6 phases starting April 4 and ending on May 5.

In the remaining 3 southern states, polling will be held in a single phase on May 16.

Counting of votes for all 5 state assemblies will be held on May 19.

Addressing the media, CEC Nasim Zaidi also announced that the EC will introduce a symbol for the NOTA option on the EVMs instead of the word.

Complete poll schedule:

Puducherry (1 phase)

* Polling on May 16 for all 30 constituencies

Tamil Nadu (1 phase)

* polling on May 16 for all 234 constituencies

Kerala (1 phase)

* Polling on May 16 for all 140 constituencies

West Bengal (6 phases)

* 1st phase polling (all LWE areas) on 2 days -- April 4 for 18 constituencies and April 11

* 2nd phase polling on April 17

* 3rd phase polling on April 21 for 62 constituencies

* 4th phase polling on April 25 for 49 constituencies

* 5th phase polling on April 30 for 53 constituencies

* 6th phase polling on May 5 for 25 constituencies

Assam (2 phases)

* 1st phase polling on April 4 for 65 constituencies

* 2nd phase polling on April 11 for remaining 61 constituencies

Read Also: Will BJP-AGP alliance succeed in dethroning 15-year long Congress govt in Assam?

* Counting on May 19

* More than adequate central paramilitary forces to be deployed. As far as possible, in WB and Assam, all polling locations to be monitored by Central Police Forces: CEC

* 5 central observers in each district to oversee election process. An effective monitoring of preventive actions against anti social elements commences today: CEC

* Will ensure that no one is prevented from expressing their mandate by way of intimidation or such means: CEC

* Photos of candidates to remove confusion in minds of voters about candidate identities. CEC appeals to people to chek their names in electoral roll and enroll themselves as voters if not already done.

* VVPAT - paper based audit trail - in 64 assembly constituencies: CEC

* Symbol for NOTA option on EVMs introduced: Zaidi

* Model code of conduct comes into existence with immediate effect in all poll bound 5 states: CEC

* Over 17 crore electors to participate in the upcoming assembly elections. 824 Assembly Constituencies are going to poll across four states and one Union Territory: Nasim Zaidi

The upcoming states elections are crucial for both BJP and Congress as the former has faced defeat in Bihar assembly polls while Congress party, which is in power in Assam and Kerala, has key stakes to retain in this election given the rapidly shrinking list of states where it is in power.

The terms of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal governments end in May, while that of Assam and Puducherry end in June.
Follow us on ldf in kerala tmc in bengal aiadmk bjp in tn assam poll

New Delhi : The CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front may stage a comeback in the forthcoming Kerala assembly polls, while Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress may retain power in West Bengal, says an opinion poll conducted by CVoter, telecast on India TV this evening.

In Assam, the BJP-led alliance, which is locked in a battle with the ruling Congress, may fall short of majority, while in Tamil Nadu, the ruling AIADMK may also fall slightly short of majority in the 234-seat assembly, says the opinion poll conducted in the first week of March.

In Kerala, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy's United Democratic Front may be dislodged from power. It has been projected to win 49 seats, compared to 72 seats won five years ago, while the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front is projected to win 89 seats, with a clear majority in a House of 140. LDF had won 66 seats five years ago. BJP-led NDA is projected to win only one, and 'Others' 1.

Vote percentage wise, LDF is projected to get 44.6 pc, up by one per cent, while UDF is projected to get 39.1 pc (down from 45.8 pc last time).

In West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is projected to retain power, with her party Trinamool Congress projected to win 156 seats in a House of 294. The party had won 184 seats five years ago. The CPI(M)-led Left Front is projected to win 114 seats(up from 60 seats five years ago), while the Congress' share of seats may shrink from 42 five years ago to 13 this time. 'Others' are projected to win 7 seats.

Vote percentage wise, Trinamool Congress voteshare may fall to 37.1 pc from 38.9 pc last time, while the Left Front's share may steeply fall to 34.6 pc from 39.7 pc last time. BJP's voteshare is projected to rise to 10.8 pc from 4.1 pc last time.

In Tamil Nadu, the AIADMK, which is locked in a fierce contest with Karunanidhi's DMK, may fall two seats short of majority in a House of 234. the AIADMK is projected to win only 116 seats, down from 203 seats five years ago, while the DMK's share of seats may rise to 101 from 31 last time. BJP may draw a blank, with 'Others' projected to win 17 seats.

Vote percentagewise, AIADMK's vote share may fall to 41.1 pc, down from 51.9 pc last time, while the DMK-led alliance's vote share may stay stable at 39.5 pc. BJP's voteshare is projected to rise to 5.0, from 2.2 last time.

In the northeastern state of Assam, the BJP-led alliance is projected to win 57 seats in a House of 126, seven short of majority. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi's Congress party is projected to win 44 seats, down from 78 it won five years ago. Badruddin Ajmal's All Indian United Democratic Front is projected to win 19 seats, one up from last time, while 'Others' may win six.

The survey makes it clear that, the survey in Assam was conducted before Asom Gana Parishad and BJP tieup was announced. The BJP-led alliance in the survey results, includes Bodo People's Front.

The CVoter also clarified that the "full impact of AGP-BJP alliance will be known only in the next round of survey. The AGP figures in this survey are part of 'Others'"

Voting percentagewise, BJP-led alliance is projected to get 35 pc, up from 33.9 pc last time, while the ruling Congress voteshare may be reduced to 35.6 from 39.4 last time.
Follow us on kanhaiya is more deshbhakt than bjp nitish kumar

Patna: JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar is more of a 'deshbhakt' (patriot) than BJP leaders who have dubbed him anti-national, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said today.

Nitish Kumar made the remarks after ending a two-day visit to Nepal, and a day after Kanhaiya Kumar was released after being in jail for 20 days on sedition charges.

The Janata Dal-United stalwart said the student leader, who is from Begusarai in Bihar, had been framed.

Nitish Kumar praised Kanhaiya's long speech at the JNU campus on Thursday night in which he attacked the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and raised issues of intolerance, hunger and poverty.

Nitish Kumar said the Modi government did not like the outspoken students of JNU who questioned the government's policies and raised issues that embarrassed it.

Student leaders like Kanhaiya Kumar will strengthen democracy in the country, the chief minister said.

The 29-year-old, who hails from Bihar, was arrested on February 12. Kanhaiya, the first president of the JNU Students Union from the CPI-affiliated AISF, was widely denounced, more so after he was beaten up in a Delhi court on two days by some lawyers.
Were excited to announce that indmin.com is now part of fastmarkets.com.

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CERBA, committed to promoting a deep understanding of the Eurasian markets and a thoughtful delivery of quality information, analysis and business intelligence on their investment and business landscape, expects up to 150 speakers and guests to participate in this year's EURASIA MINING CONFERENCE 2016. Experts from business, purchasing, government, diplomatic, consulting, academic and non-profit backgrounds will focus on key trends, constraints and opportunities in Eurasia in the context of today's dynamic global economy.
Syria: State-of-the-art Technology Gives Syrian Army the Edge

By Robert Fisk The government has lost over 60,000 men since the war began, but new Russian equipment is helping turn the tide.

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King of Chaos

By Edward S. Herman Three states that were considered enemy states by Israel  have been made into failed states and may be in the process of dismemberment. Continue

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Testing Out Repression in Israel

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Sykes-Picot Agreement

Redrawing The Map Of The Middle East

By Michael Enright - Tarek Osman France is in the throes of a "secret war" in Libya. - But to report on this criminality is an offense! Continue

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This Is How We Spooked Putin

By Patrick L. Smith What the New York Times Wont Tell You About The American Adventure In Ukraine. Continue

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Orwell Bienvenue to France  Encore!

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The Graveyard of the Elites

By Chris Hedges That a revolt is coming is incontrovertible. The absurdity of the election proves it.

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Chomsky: Donald Trump Is Winning Because White America Is Dying

By Matt Ferner Signs are familiar, and here it does evoke some memories of the rise of European fascism. Continue

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By Marjorie Cohn Clinton earned $11 million in 2014 and the first quarter of 2015 for 51 speeches to banks and other groups and industries. Continue

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Wall Streets Savage Reckoning: Clouds Gather Over G-20 Summit

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70 killed in two Baghdad bomb attacks : Two bomb attacks at a crowded market in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, have killed at least 70 people, police and medical sources say. The bombs, which also injured 100 people, went off in the mainly Shia Muslim district of Sadr City on Sunday, the sources said.

Suicide bombing kills 27 at Shi'ite funeral in east Iraq: At least 27 people were killed when a bomber detonated his explosive vest at a funeral for the relative of a Shi'ite Muslim militia commander in the eastern Iraqi province of Diyala on Monday, security and medical sources said.

65 people killed as Islamic State attacks Kurdish-held town on Turkish border: The attack was launched hours after a "cessation of hostilities" came into effect under a U.S.-Russian plan, although the temporary truce does not apply to Islamic State and al Qaeda affiliate the Nusra Front.

VIDEO: Tel Abyad and Suluk after Kurdish fighters repel ISIS attacks in Syria : Kurdish fighters have reportedly managed to free two Kurdish towns near the Turkish border that were attacked by Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) just the night before. RT has obtained footage showing what remains after fighting.

Syrian forces regain control of strategic road in Aleppo: Syrian government forces have managed to retake control of a strategic road in northern Syria in a new major advancement that paves the way for purging the northern city of Aleppo of the Takfiri Daesh terrorists.

Russia says Syria could become federal state if that model works : Syria could become a federal state if that model works in the country, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told a news briefing on Monday.

Russia: Turkish military strikes on Syria would derail ceasefire plan : Russia is concerned about Turkeys military preparations along its border with Syria and an armed intervention by Ankara would deal an irreparable blow to the Syria ceasefire plan, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Monday.

Russia registers 9 truce violations in Syria in past 24 hours: Lieutenant General Sergei Kuralenko, the head of Russian coordination center in Syria, said the violations included shelling in the northern province of Latakia. Kuralenko noted that the cessation of hostilities agreed as part of a US-Russian plan was holding "in general."

Erdogan says ceasefire does not cover whole of Syria : Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that the Syrian ceasefire declared last week covered only one third of the country and he hoped it would be expanded to encompass all of it

Saudi foreign minister says Russia, Syrian govt violated truce : Jubeir said that there would be a "plan B" if it became clear that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government and its allies were not serious about the truce, but gave no details.

Reports of Syrian town attacked by militants coming from Turkey  Russian military: The Russian ceasefire monitoring center near Latakia says it is verifying reports of an attack on the Kurdish town Tell Abyad in northern Syria carried out by militants coming from Turkey.

Turkey to keep supporting armed groups fighting Assad regime in Syria  PM Davutoglu : Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, acknowledged that Ankara was supporting armed groups in Syria, while ruling out a Turkish invasion and accusing Russia of ethnic cleansing.

Up to 30,000 Troops Needed for Syria Safe Zone, Kerry Says: Secretary of State John Kerry said it would take 15,000 to 30,000 ground troops to maintain a so called safe zone inside northern Syria, citing previously unheard estimates provided by the Pentagon. Now are we ready to authorize that? Kerry asked a Senate panel today.

The Russia-Armenia alliance is threatening Turkey? : The announcement that Russia is sending a new set of fighter jets and combat helicopters to an air base only 25 miles from the Turkish border. Although Armenia has welcomed thousands of Russian troops and advanced weaponry, these developments seemed to have escaped the notice of U.S. officials

7 blasts in 10 minutes rock pro-Kurdish city Diyarbakir embattled by Turkish forces : At least seven blasts within 10 minutes have been reported in a suburb of Diyarbakir, the largest city in the Kurdish southeast of Turkey, which has been a scene of long security operation launched by Ankara against PKK fighters.

Theyre still lying about the first Gulf War: On this anniversary of the Gulf War, youll hear politician after politician celebrate what happened in Iraq 25 years ago. Take a moment to think about how different the world might lookmight feelif wed never kicked that hornets nest.

Yemen: 30 civilians killed by Saudi-led air strikes : MORE than 30 civilians were killed at the weekend when Saudi-led air strikes hit a crowded market area in the Nihm district outside Yemeni capital Sanaa.

UN Chief condemns apparent airstrikes killing 32 civilians in Yemen : He strongly condemns the apparent airstrike on 27 February 2016 that hit Khaleq market, in Nahem District in Sanaa, killing at least 32 civilians and injuring at least 41 civilians," the United Nations said in a statement said on Sunday.

Suicide bombing kills 4 in Yemens Aden: official : A suicide car bombing killed four people Monday when it hit a gathering of loyalist forces in Yemens Aden, the southern city serving as a government base, a security official said.

Yemeni forces capture over 100 Saudi troops, kill dozens more in Ma'rib: The Yemeni army, backed by Popular Committees loyal to the Houthi Ansarullah movement, caught 71 soldiers of Saudi forces in early hours of Monday while trying to reach Marib city, Yemen's Arabic-language al-Masirah news website reported

Netanyahu Says Peace Deal Must Address Israeli Interests : PM says that while cessation of hostilities is important from human standpoint, peace agreement must include halt to 'Iranian aggression against Israel from Syrian territory.'

Rouhanis allies make huge gains in Iran elections: : Irans moderate President Hassan Rouhani won strong public backing and his reformist allies made stunning gains in parliamentary elections, partial results showed Sunday, reducing the potential for opponents to block domestic reform plans.

Al-Shabab attack: 30 civilians killed in south Somalia : At least 30 people were killed in twin bomb attacks claimed by al-Shabab at a busy traffic junction and a nearby restaurant in southern Somalia.

At least 12 killed in eastern Congo by suspected Ugandan rebels: Suspected Ugandan rebels used machetes to kill at least 12 civilians on Monday in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, authorities and a local human rights group said, the latest in a series of targeted attacks over the last 18 months.

12 militants killed in army operation in NW Pakistan: At least 12 militants were killed and six others injured when Pakistani army launched an aerial and ground offensives in the country's northwest tribal region of NorthWaziristan on Monday, local media reported.

MSF: U.S. payments to victims of Kunduz hospital bombing inadequate sorry money : The military is paying $6,000 for each person killed, and the wounded receive $3,000 each, representatives of the victims of the Oct. 3 bombing told The Associated Press.

Russia election: Putin warns of 'foreign foes' : Addressing top FSB officials in Moscow, President Putin said: "Unfortunately, our foes abroad are getting ready" for the parliamentary elections scheduled for 18 September. He said the techniques were well-known and urged the security service to "suppress any attempts at foreign influence".

Is The U.S. Preparing A "Color Revolution" In Russia? : The various U.S. services and the neocons in the State Department would certainly like to invite some revolt in Russia. But the chances for a successful putsch in Moscow are tiny.

Desperate refugees riot at Greek-Macedonia border: A riot broke out as hundreds of desperate refugees stranded at the Greece-Macedonia border smashed down a gate guarded by security forces on Monday. The razor-wire barrier was ripped open and border guards fired tear gas in response.

Refugee crisis: 70,000 may be stuck in Greece in March: Many fear they will not be able to continue journey as new border controls by Balkan states leave thousands trapped.

Belgium pushes 600 migrants back to France: police : Belgium has turned back more than 600 migrants at the French border since reinstating border checks over fears about the destruction of part of the Calais "Jungle" camp, police said on Monday.

France: Police fire tear gas at rock-throwing refugees at Calais Jungle camp  reports : French security forces have deployed tear gas against refugees at the Calais Jungle, local media reported. The infamous migrant camp is being dismantled after a ruling from a court in Lille. Evacuation of the residents is expected to take three weeks.

Trident rally is Britain's biggest anti-nuclear march in a generation : The campaigners headed for Trafalgar Square where were addressed by the leaders of the SNP, Plaid Cymru and the Green party. The true draw  cited as an inspiration by many of those assembled  was the leader of the Labour party, Jeremy Corbyn

Sinn Fein will define mainstream politics in Ireland : A leading member of Greeces Syriza party claims a radicalisation of Irish society was taking shape

Kenny refuses to quit as Irish leader despite election meltdown : Both the Irish Sunday Times and the Sunday Independent stated there were already rumblings by party heavyweights that he should go. One senior figure was quoted as saying Kenny was a dead man walking.

Free Julian Assange!! Petition Delivery: On February 24th members of the peace organization CODEPINK went to the Swedish Embassy in Washington DC to deliver thousands of petition signatures in support of Wikileaks founder and world-renowned whistleblower Julian Assange.

Massive IRS data breach much bigger than first thought : A massive data breach at the IRS was much bigger than was first realized. The agency now says more than 700,000 social security numbers and other sensitive information may have been stolen.

US government releases its 2015 financial statements : 37% of the governments total reported assets are student loans, which is now considered one of the most precarious bubbles in finance.

U.S. Has Record 10th Straight Year Without 3% Growth in GDP : In the 85 years for which BEA has calculated the annual change in real GDP there is only one ten-year stretch2006 through 2015when the annual growth in real GDP never hit 3 percent.

Pending Sales of U.S. Existing Homes Fall by Most in Two Years : Contracts to purchase previously owned homes unexpectedly dropped in January by the most in two years, representing a setback in residential real estate leading up to the spring selling season.

Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard quits DNC to support Bernie Sanders : Former vice-chair is an Iraq war veteran whose words come as a boost to the Vermont senator, who faces criticism over his lack of foreign policy experience

When Hillary Clinton threw Arab and Muslim Americans under the bus : Clinton condemned her Muslim supporters, returned their donations and refused to meet with Arab and Muslim Americans for the remainder of her campaign, all in the spirit of wooing Jewish voters, as The New York Times put it.

Marco Rubio Pushed for Immigration Reform With Conservative Media : The dinner at News Corporation headquarters  which has not been previously reported  and the subsequent outreach to Mr. Limbaugh illustrate the degree to which Mr. Rubio served as the chief envoy to the conservative media for the group supporting the legislation.

The voicemail from Marco Rubio that led Christie to back Trump : Rubio placed a condescending call to ask for the governors backing after Christie dropped out of the presidential race. The 44-year-old candidate all but patted Christie, 53, on the head in a voicemail message, saying he had a bright future in public service,

Watch: Heated Exchange After Cruz Accuses Wallace Of Reading The Donald Trump Attack File Presidential candidate Ted Cruz joins Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday" to discuss the 2016 race and the allegations of some dirty tactics by the Cruz campaign and things get a little heated.

Ted Cruz Suggests Donald Trump Has Mob Ties In His Tax Returns : Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) speculated on Sunday that Donald Trump hasnt released his tax returns because they show he has strong ties to the mob.

Donald Trump now has more support than all his Republican rivals combined, says new poll ; The Republican establishment is desperate to find an alternative candidate to Mr Trump

Another former Mexico president hits out at Trump : Calderon, who was president of Mexico from 2006 to 2012, even said he thought Trump was trying to exploit the same social feelings and resentments as did Adolf Hitler.
Saudi War for Yemen Oil Pipeline is Empowering al-Qaeda, IS



Secret cable and Dutch government official confirm that Saudi Arabias war on Yemen is partly motivated by an ambitious US-backed pipeline fantasy



By Nafeez Ahmed



March 03, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - "MEE " - Nearly 3,000 civilians have been slaughtered and a million displaced in Saudi Arabias noble aerial bombardment of Yemen, which is backed by the United States and Britain. Over 14 million Yemenis face food insecurity  a jump of 12 percent since June 2015. Out of these, three million children are malnourished. And across the country, an estimated 20 million people cannot safely access clean water. The Saudi air force has systematically bombed Yemens civilian infrastructure in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law. An official UN report to the Security Council leaked last month found that the Saudis have conducted airstrikes targeting civilians and civilian objects  including camps for internally displaced persons and refugees; civilian gatherings, including weddings; civilian vehicles, including buses; civilian residential areas; medical facilities; schools; mosques; markets, factories and food storage warehouses; and other essential civilian infrastructure, such as the airport in Sanaa, the port in Hudaida and domestic transit routes. US-made cluster bombs have been dropped on residential areas  an act that even the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon tepidly concedes may amount to a war crime. In other words, Saudi Arabia is a rogue state. But make no mistake. This kingdom is our rogue state. The US and British governments supplying Saudi Arabia with weapons to be unleashed on Yemeni civilians pretend they are not involved in the war, not responsible for the war crimes of our rogue state ally. A UK Ministry of Defence spokesperson insisted that British forces were merely advising on best practice targeting techniques  UK military personnel are not directly involved in Saudi-led coalition operations. But these are weasel words, given the recent revelation from the Saudi foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, that British and American military officials are working in the command and control centre for Saudi airstrikes on Yemen. Presumably taxpayers are not paying them to stand around drinking tea all day. No  were paying them to supervise the air war. According to the Saudi foreign minister: We have British officials and American officials and officials from other countries in our command and control centre. They know what the target list is and they have a sense of what it is that we are doing and what we are not doing. US and UK officials have been able to scrutinise its air campaign, and were satisfied by its safeguards. Back in April 2015, US officials were far more candid about this arrangement. US Deputy Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken told a press conference in Riyadh that the US had increased its intelligence sharing with the Saudis via a joint coordination planning cell, involving target selection. Whatever the case, the civilised leaders of the free world have an insiders birds-eye view of the Saudi militarys systemic war crimes in Yemen  and it appears they approve. Sectarian war? The goals of the Saudi-led coalition are obscure. Its widely recognised that the war has broad geopolitical, sectarian dynamics. The Saudis fear that the rise of the Houthis signals the growing influence of Iran in Yemen. With Iran active in Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon, Saudi Arabia sees the Houthi rebellion as yet another component in its strategic encirclement by Iranian proxy forces. This is compounded by the US-backed Iran nuclear deal, which paves the way for Irans integration into global markets, the opening up of its underdeveloped oil and gas sectors, and its consolidation as a regional power. But this narrative is not the whole story. While Irans contacts with the Houthis are beyond question, before Saudis air campaign, the Houthis had acquired most of their weapons from two sources: the black market and ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh. US intelligence officials confirm that Iran had explicitly warned the Houthis not to attack Yemens capital last year. It remains our assessment that Iran does not exert command and control over the Houthis in Yemen, said Bernadette Meehan, a spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council. According to former UN special envoy to Yemen, Jamal Benomar, the Saudi airstrikes scuppered an imminent peace deal that would have led to a power-sharing arrangement between 12 rival political and tribal groups. When this campaign started, one thing that was significant but went unnoticed is that the Yemenis were close to a deal that would institute power-sharing with all sides, including the Houthis, Benomar told the Wall Street Journal. This was not, then, about Iran. The Saudis, and apparently the US and UK, did not want to see a genuine transition to the semblance of a democratic Yemen. In fact, the US is explicitly opposed to the democratisation of the entire Gulf region, hell-bent on stabilising the flow of Gulf oil to global markets. In March 2015, US military and NATO consultant Anthony Cordesman of the Washington, DC-based Center for Strategic and International Studies explained that: Yemen is of major strategic importance to the United States, as is the broader stability of Saudi Arabia all of the Arab Gulf states. For all of the talk of US energy independence, the reality remains very different. The increase in petroleum and alternative fuels outside the Gulf has not changed its vital strategic importance to the global and US economy  Yemen does not match the strategic importance of the Gulf, but it is still of great strategic importance to the stability of Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Peninsula. In other words, the war on Yemen is about protecting the Wests principal Gulf rogue state, to keep the oil flowing. Cordesman goes on to note: Yemens territory and islands play a critical role in the security of another global chokepoint at the southeastern end of the Red Sea called the Bab el-Mandab or gate of tears. The Bab el-Mandeb Strait is a chokepoint between the Horn of Africa and the Middle East, and it is a strategic link between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean, carrying most exports from the Persian Gulf that transit the Suez Canal and Suez-Mediterranean (SUMED) pipeline. Any hostile air or sea presence in Yemen could threaten the entire traffic through the Suez Canal, adds Cordesman, as well as a daily flow of oil and petroleum products that the EIA [US Energy Information Administration] estimates increased from 2.9 mmb/d [million barrels per day] in 2009 to 3.8 mmb/d in 2013. The Yemen pipeline dream But theres a parallel sub-goal here, acknowledged in private by Western officials, but not discussed in public: Yemen has as yet untapped potential to provide an alternative set of oil and gas trans-shipment routes for the export of Saudi oil, bypassing Iran and the Strait of Hormuz. The reality of the kingdoms ambitions in this regard are laid bare in a secret 2008 State Department cable obtained by Wikileaks, from the US embassy in Yemen to the Secretary of State: A British diplomat based in Yemen told PolOff [US embassy political officer] that Saudi Arabia had an interest to build a pipeline, wholly owned, operated and protected by Saudi Arabia, through Hadramawt to a port on the Gulf of Aden, thereby bypassing the Arabian Gulf/Persian Gulf and the straits of Hormuz. Saleh has always opposed this. The diplomat contended that Saudi Arabia, through supporting Yemeni military leadership, paying for the loyalty of sheikhs and other means, was positioning itself to ensure it would, for the right price, obtain the rights for this pipeline from Salehs successor. Indeed, Yemens eastern governorate of Hadramaut has remained curiously free from Saudi bombardment. The province, Yemens largest, contains the bulk of Yemens remaining oil and gas resources. The kingdoms primary interest in the governorate is the possible construction of an oil pipeline. Such a pipeline has long been a dream of the government of Saudi Arabia, observes Michael Horton, a senior analyst on Yemen at the Jamestown Foundation. A pipeline through the Hadramawt would give Saudi Arabia and its Gulf State allies direct access to the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean; it would allow them to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic chokepoint that could be, at least temporarily, blocked by Iran in a future conflict. The prospect of securing a route for a future pipeline through the Hadramawt likely figures in Saudi Arabias broader long-term strategy in Yemen. Hiding the pipeline connection Western officials are keen to avoid public consciousness of the energy geopolitics behind the escalating conflict. Last year, a cutting analysis of these issues was posted on a personal blog on 2 June 2015 by Joke Buringa, a senior advisor on security and rule of law in Yemen at the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Fear of an Iranian blockade of the Hormuz Strait, and the possibly disastrous results for the global economy, has existed for years, she wrote in the article, titled Divide and Rule: Saudi Arabia, Oil and Yemen. The US therefore pressured the Gulf States to develop alternatives. In 2007 Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE, Oman and Yemen jointly launched the Trans-Arabia Oil Pipeline project. New pipelines were to be constructed from the Saudi Ras Tannurah on the Persian Gulf and the UAE to the Gulf of Oman (one to the Emirate of Fujairah and two lines to Oman) and the Gulf of Aden (two lines to Yemen). In 2012, the connection between Abu Dhabi and Fujairah, within the UAE, became operational. Meanwhile, Iran and Oman moved to sign their own pipeline deal. Distrust about the intentions of Oman increased the attractiveness of the Hadramawt option in Yemen, a longstanding wish of Saudi Arabia, wrote Buringa. President Saleh, however, was a major obstacle to Saudi ambitions. According to Buringa, he opposed the construction of a pipeline under Saudi control over Yemeni territory. For many years the Saudis invested in tribal leaders in the hope to execute this project under Salehs successor. The 2011 popular uprisings by demonstrators calling for democracy upset these plans. Buringa is the only senior Western government official to have acknowledged this matter publicly. But when I contacted her to request an interview on 1 February, four days later I received a response from Roel van der Meij, a spokesperson for corporate affairs at the Dutch governments foreign ministry: Mrs. Joke Buringa asked me to inform you that she is not available for the interview. Buringas entire blog  previously available at www.jokeburinga.com  had in the meantime been completely removed. An archived version of her article on the energy geopolitics of the Saudi war in Yemen is available at the Wayback Machine. I asked both Buringa and van der Meij why Buringas blog had been completely deleted so quickly after I had sent my request for an interview, and whether she had been forced to do so under government pressure to protect Dutch ties with Saudi Arabia. In an email, Buringa denied that she was pressured by the Dutch foreign ministry to delete the blog: Sorry to disappoint you, but I was not pressured by the ministry. The layout of the blog had bothered me from the beginning and I had been meaning to change it for months  Your question reminded me that I wanted to change my site and rethink what I want to do with it. Dont read more into it. However, the Dutch government corporate affairs spokesperson, van der Meij, did not respond to multiple email and telephone requests for comment regarding the removal of the blog. Many Dutch firms are active in the kingdom running joint investments, including the Anglo-Dutch oil major Shell. Due to the Netherlands position as a gateway to Europe, two Saudi Arabian multinationals  the national oil firm Aramco and the petrochemicals giant SABIC  have their European headquarters in The Hague and Sittard, both in the Netherlands. Dutch exports to Saudi Arabia have also increased dramatically in recent years, rising 25 percent between 2006 and 2010. In 2013, Saudi Arabia exported just under 34 billion euros ($38.5bn) of mineral fuels to the Netherlands, and imported from the Dutch just over 8 billion euros ($9bn) of machines and transport material, 4.8 billion euros ($5.4bn) of chemical products, and 3.7 billion euros ($4.2bn) of foodstuffs and animals. The Saudi alliance with al-Qaeda Among the prime beneficiaries of the Saudi strategy in Yemen is al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the same group that took responsibility for the Charlie Hebdo slaughter in Paris. The governorate of Hadramawt is one of the few areas where the Saudi-led coalition did not conduct any air strikes, noted Buringa. The port and the international airport of al-Mukalla are in optimal shape and under the control of al-Qaeda. Moreover, Saudi Arabia has been delivering arms to al-Qaeda, (which) is expanding its sphere of influence. The Saudi alliance with al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorists in Yemen was brought to light last June when the Saudi-backed transitional government of Abd Rubbuh Mansour Hadi dispatched a representative to Geneva as an official delegate for UN talks. It turned out that the representative was none other than Abdulwahab Humayqani, identified as a specifically designated global terrorist in 2013 by the US Treasury for recruiting and financing for AQAP. Humayqani was also allegedly behind an al-Qaeda car bombing that killed seven at a Yemeni Republican Guard base in 2012. Other analysts concur. As Michael Horton comments in the Jamestown Foundations Terrorism Monitor: AQAP may also benefit from the fact that it could well be regarded as a useful proxy by Saudi Arabia in its war against the Houthis. Saudi Arabia and its allies are arming a host of disparate militias across southern Yemen. It is almost certain that some, if not much, of the funding and materiel will make its way to AQAP and quite possibly the Islamic State. While trumpeting the war on IS in Iraq and Syria, the West is paving the way for the resurgence of both al-Qaeda and IS in Yemen. Saudi Arabia does not want a strong, democratic country on the other side of the more than 1,500 kilometre-long border that separates both countries [Saudi Arabia and Yemen], Dutch foreign ministry official Joke Buringa had remarked in her now-censored article. Neither, it seems, do the US and UK. She added: Those pipelines to Mukalla will probably get there eventually. They probably wont  but therell still be blowback. Nafeez Ahmed PhD is an investigative journalist, international security scholar and bestselling author who tracks what he calls the crisis of civilization. He is a winner of the Project Censored Award for Outstanding Investigative Journalism for his Guardian reporting on the intersection of global ecological, energy and economic crises with regional geopolitics and conflicts. He has also written for The Independent, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Scotsman, Foreign Policy, The Atlantic, Quartz, Prospect, New Statesman, Le Monde diplomatique, New Internationalist. His work on the root causes and covert operations linked to international terrorism officially contributed to the 9/11 Commission and the 7/7 Coroners Inquest.
Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele on Thursday made a shocking revelation that over $20billion was lying idle in domiciliary account of private individuals at a time the country is facing foreign exchange crisis.

Emefiele made the disclosure at a session of the joint committee on appropriation of the National Assembly yesterday.

Represented by Mr. Joseph Nnanna, the Deputy Governor in charge of Financial System Surveillance, the CBN governor said keeping the huge volume of dollars idle had compounded the forex crisis confronting the country.

As Im talking to you, $20billion is in various domiciliary accounts of individuals. Naira is our currency, why are they keeping the foreign currency? From my experience in the international finance, I have never seen a country where its nationals speculate on its currency, he said.
The Fulani community in Benue State, accused of killing hundreds in Agatu Local Government Area in the state, said Thursday that the crisis was precipitated by the killing of 10,000 cattle belonging to its members by Agatu natives.

Ado Boderi, who spoke on behalf of the Fulani community on Thursday, during a meeting between Agatu community, Fulani community and Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, said criminal elements from both sides escalated the crisis despite the quick intervention of the governor, Samuel Ortom.

Boderi stressed that Fulani herdsmen were a peace-loving people, whose main concern was the problem of cattle rustling.

Akpa Iduh, who spoke on behalf of the Agatu people, decried the continued unprovoked attacks on his people by Fulani mercenaries.

Mr. Iduh, who traced the origin of the crisis to over five decades ago, lamented that it had recently turned into a war because of the types of weapons the herdsmen were using against them.

He alleged that the Fulani mercenaries were killing both children and pregnant women on sight, adding that they were powerless after embracing the Benue Amnesty Programme and surrendered illegal arms to government.

The herdsmen are bent on turning our land into their grazing area, thereby rendering us homeless and without food.

Is it because we are minority and poor that they are using their numerical advantage and wealth against us?

We are going to remain in Agatu until the day they have succeeded in killing all of us.

Mr. Arase said in Makurdi that the force had deployed enough policemen to end the clashes between Agatu farmers and herdsmen in Benue.

The IGP, who was on a fact-finding mission to the state, made the assertion at a meeting between Agatu farmers and herdsmen.

He disclosed that the force had deployed additional four units of police teams to the area to quell the unrest.

I am in Benue on the directives of Mr President on a fact-finding mission and to also see if there is a way to resolve the crisis.

We have enough security officers to end the ongoing crisis between farmers and herdsmen in Agatu Local Government Area of Benue.

We have also deployed additional four units of police teams in the area to arrest the situation.

There is no way we can all live together without having disagreements with one another at some point; it is the way we manage the disagreements that matters.

Both the farmers and herdsmen must learn to cohabit with one another as a nation for the peace and progress of our people, he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that out of the 10 council wards in Agatu Local Government Area, only one ward was not affected in the bloody clashes.

(NAN)
The Army on Friday said the troops of 81 Battalion and 251 Task Force Battalion of 25 Task Force Brigade, 7 Division have destroyed the spiritual power base of Boko Haram located inside Alagarno forest in Borno State.

The Army also announced in a statement the rescue of 63 persons who were in the captivity of the sect during separate operations at Lawin Meleri, Matiri Bulaka and Aljeri villages. Five members of Boko Haram were killed, the Army said.

The Army also said the destruction of the sects spiritual power base was carried out following a tip off. It also said carried an operation around Alagarno forest general area, destroying terrorists camps at Mosa, Ariwuzumari and Kagalmari, as well as Missene, Joba, Yajiwa and Sansan.

During the operations, the troops were able to clear all the camps, killing quite a number of terrorists and recovered Boko Haram terrorists flags hoisted on some premises, destroyed their logistics base and recovered 31 motorcycles, assorted foodstuffs, a donkey and a pick up van, AK-45 rifle with registration number 17714 and a Dane gun.

Other items recovered include 2 boxes of 7.62mm ammunition, 4 loaded magazines of AK-47 rifles and 2 magazines pack, the army said.
Brazilian police are questioning former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva after raiding his home and several associated buildings in a search for evidence in an ongoing corruption investigation. The detention of the influential Workers party politician  who is best known by his nickname Lula  marks a dramatic new phase of the Lava Jato (carwash) probe into bribery and kickback allegations involving the nations leading companies and dozens of congressmen.

It is likely to further add to the pressure on the government of president Dilma Rousseff, who is already struggling with an impeachment challenge, economicrecession and the Zika epidemic. Federal police launched the action against Lula early on Friday morning with raids on his apartment in Sao Bernardo do Campo, the home of his son Fabio Luiz, the Lula Institute, and addresses in Bahia and Rio de Janeiro.

According to local media, about 200 officers and 30 tax auditors were involved in this phase of the operation  which has been named Aletheia (truth of disclosure in Greek). Police reportedly have 33 warrants for search and seizure and 11 warrants for the arrest of individuals wanted for questioning, including Lula, his wife, Marisa, children Marcos Claudio, Fabio Luis, Sandro Luis, and Marlene Araujo, and the head of the Lula Institute Paul Okamotto. The warrants were granted by judge Sergio Moro in Curitiba, the base of the Lava Jato investigation.

The inquiry is said to be based on testimony given in a plea bargain by Workers party senator Delcidio Amaral, who has allegedly accused the former president of trying to buy the silence of witnesses, including Nestor Cervero, the former director of oil company Petrobras. Police are also looking into newspaper reports that Lula received favours from construction firms in the form of work done at apartments in Atibaia and Guaruja, Sao Paulo.

UK Guardian.
Former vice presidential candidate and founder of the Latter Rain Assembly, Lagos, Pastor Tunde Bakare, yesterday reiterated his confidence in the ability of President Muhammadu Buhari to come up with a clear development plan for Nigeria.

This is just as he said what the Buhari administration is doing presently is to remove logs that have fallen upon one another, starting with the anti-graft war.

Bakare, however, urged Nigerians to use their voters card wisely at the 2019 general elections.

The fiery preacher stated this at the 2016 Obafemi Awolowo Birthday Commemorative Symposium held at the Efunyela Hall of the Awolowos residence in Ikenne-Remo, Ogun State, where various speakers bemoaned the dwindling fortunes of the country.

At the event, Governors of Ogun, Kaduna and Ondo State among other eminent dignitaries at the symposium, also advocated the adoption of the progressive ideas and programmes of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo for Nigeria to move forward.

Earlier, in an interview with journalists at the sidelines of the symposium, Pastor Bakare, who was running mate to Buhari in the 2011 presidential election, threw his weight behind the anti-corruption campaign of the present administration.

The co-convener of the Save Nigeria Group, SNG, said anti-corruption should not be the ultimate end, stressing that government must come up with policy thrust.
President Muhammadu Buhari has paid tribute to renowned scholar and elder statesman, Eskor Toyo, describing him as a role model whose guiding principle was to live for the good of less privileged people.

Toyo, who was a Professor of Economics at the University of Calabar and Marxist, suffered from series of strokes for the past two years before he finally passed on at the age of 85 last year December.

President Buhari, in a statement by his spokesman, Femi Adesina, said as late Mr. Toyo is laid to rest tomorrow, he would be long remembered as a fearless advocate who never stopped confronting the problems of social injustice, discrimination and poverty in Nigeria.

The president added that with his tireless efforts and advocacy on many issues germane to the prosperity of Nigeria, including social justice, human rights and the war against corruption, Mr. Toyo had left a most worthy and commendable legacy for other patriotic Nigerians to build upon.

The president said Mr. Toyo would be eternally honoured and celebrated for his life-long commitment to a better Nigeria and Africa, and as a fountain of knowledge who was a great mentor and role model to his students and admirers.

The statement conveyed Mr. Buharis heartfelt condolences to the Toyo family, the government and people of Akwa Ibom State.

The president also prayed God to grant Mr. Toyos soul eternal rest and comfort his family, friends and admirers.
An Abuja High Court sitting in Maitama on Friday said the continued detention of the former National Security Adviser, NSA, Sambo Dasuki, was in order.

Justice Peter Affen, who delivered ruling on the matter brought by Dasuki against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), said the EFCC did not violate any subsisting court order in the detention of the ex-NSA.

This is the second time a judge is faulting Dasukis claim that his continued detention was in violation of a subsisting court order.

The judge also dismissed the application by the former NSA seeking to stop his trial or quash the charges against him.

Dasuki is arraigned alongside a former Director of Finance and Administration in the Office of the NSA, Shuaibu Salisu, ex-Minister of State for Finance, Bashir Yuguda, a former Governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru Bafarawa, the ex-governors son, Sagir Attahiru and Dalhatu Investment Limited, on a 22-count charge of looting about N13billion public funds.
The Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) has disclosed readiness to unveil its first prototype of the Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) later in September.

The Director General of DICON, Major General Bamidele Ogunkale made the disclosure when the Commandant, Depot Nigeria Army, Zaria, Brigadier General Christopher Musa, paid him a courtesy visit at the corporations headquarters in Kaduna yesterday.

According to Maj.-Gen. Ogunkale, with presidential support, DICON plans to go into mass production.

He said, By September this year, we hope to unveil the first prototype APC and with presidential support, we will go into mass production.

He, therefore, pleaded with Nigerians to repose confidence on DICON to overcome its crippling problems and achieve its mandate, saying, Nigerians try to compare and contrast Brazil Defence Industries with DICON.

Whatever hurdles we have identified, we should clear them and move forward.

Ogunkale added: I am optimistic that President Muhammadu Buhari, who said he is not happy with the wreck in DICON against the hard earned foreign exchange going out for purchase of arms and ammunition, would no doubt give DICON the needed support.
Wife of the Governor of Ekiti State, Mrs. Feyisetan Fayose, on Thursday advised parents against giving out the hand of underage children in marriage.

She gave the advice when she visited the Social Intervention Centre and Correctional Centre in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital.

Mrs. Fayose advised parents to guide their children properly in the way of God and desist from acts that could truncate the future of their wards.

She assured the inmates that the government would continue to give adequate attention to their welfare even as she urged them to embrace good behaviour as they stand to gain nothing from waywardness.

The wife of the governor urged them not to see their present situation as the end of the road, as they can still build themselves up as respectable members of society.

She also commended the management of the homes visited for taking very good care of their inmates.

Ayo Ibikunle, the Director, Social Welfare, Ministry of Women Affairs, commended the present administration for the prompt release of funds for the upkeep of inmates at the two homes.

Mr. Ibikunle described the Social Intervention Centre as a solution centre, intervening in abusive situations in order to ensure that gender violence prohibition law is implemented.

He said that the Correctional Centre was established for reformation of children below 18 years, who break the law.
Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has taken a swipe at the senator representing Kogi West, Dino Melaye, saying the latter displayed hollowness by delving into a matter as private as his marriage to his wife, Iara.

Melaye, who is chairman of the Senate Committee on the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, had on Wednesday while contributing to a motion on the need to patronize made in Nigeria goods, cited Mr. Oshiomholes marriage to a Cape Verdean as an example of Nigerians refusing to patronise locally-manufactured goods.

What are those factors limiting the production of these goods? We must tackle them. We must also begin to look at our legislation, then we will begin to talk about made-in-Nigeria goods, Melaye had said.

We will also move in order to encourage made-in-Nigeria products and begin to talk about made-in-Nigeria women.

Apologies to my uncle, the Governor of Edo State, we must as a people stop paying dowries in dollars and pounds. It is time for my colleagues here to become born again, the Kogi West senator added.

But in a statement issued by his spokesman, Mr. Peter Okhiria, the governor said the attack was unprovoked, demanding an apology from Senator Melaye.

Our attention has been drawn to the unprovoked verbal assault launched by one Senator Dino Melaye on the governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, while making a contribution on the floor of the Senate on the need to patronize made-in-Nigeria goods.

As a nephew of the governor and member of the same party [with the governor], we expected Senator Melaye to tender an unreserved public apology to the comrade governor.

It is an open secret that Senator Melaye cannot maintain a decent matrimonial home hence he could descend to this pedestrian level of using the hallowed chambers to cargorise women as if they were pieces of items for purchase.

Any responsible individual that is truly worth to be called a senator, a position that convokes respect, decorum and decent public conduct, should know the limits of his verbal diarrhea.

The liberty of free speech guaranteed in the hallowed chambers does not impose lunacy on anyone to disparage other Nigerians, let alone pry into their matrimony in a very derisive manner.

We had intended to ignore this uncomplimentary comment as one of the several empty displays of the senator, but the fact that it tends to reduce women to pieces of tissue calls for this response.

As we probed into Dino Melayes humanity, we were reminded that he is a man known for his vainglorious rodomontade and the childish display of his ostentatious lifestyle, which complement his love for foreign items.

Many of such Euro-centric mentality he has persistently displayed on social media, to underscore his materialistic eccentricity, hence his dialectical opposition to made-in-Nigeria goods.

But an attempt at making women wear the garb of goods to be picked off the shelves was to take the issue to a ridiculous and irresponsible level.

By delving into the private affair and marriage of the comrade governor, Senator Melaye has exposed himself as a simpleton and a court jester whose words and tactlessness cannot be taken seriously by matured people.

We advise that Mr. Melaye should mend his ways with his ex-wife and concubines before coming to the village square to display his crass ignorance and emptiness to the Nigerian people.

If he has anything to offer, Dino Melaye should concentrate on making good laws for the people of Nigeria rather than descend to a ridiculous level, thus displaying to the whole world his unworthiness to sit in the hallowed chambers of the Nigerian Senate, the statement added.
A prisoner set free in America after he completed his penalty of 44 years in prison apparently traveled to the future. Otis Johnson was amazed when he walked out of prison after 44 years as according to him the world has completely changed. It was unbelievable for him to see how much the world has progressed over 44 years.

Otis Johnson a man from New York city was released after 44 years. Otis went to prison when he was 25 years old and stepped out of the same prison after 44 long years when he is 69 years old. Prison has certainly affected him in many ways. However when he came out in society he was amazed, shocked and fascinated by infrastructure and people around him. He remembers the time of 60s and 70s when he went to prison and compares that time to today. He thought everyone with earphones on is working for CIA because he can only recall CIA agents using ear phones and walkie talkie type devices, talking to themselves in 70s.

Amazed to see how people can walk without even looking at the road glued to their phones screen, which he stated, maybe iPhone they call it. For Otis Johnson life is completely different outside prison and world has progressed rapidly as he cant believe his eyes. Otis Johnson is a real example of how a person feels after travelling to future. Otis was sentenced on the charges of murder assault on police officer. Unfortunately, he lost his family at some point of time in prison and now he has no one in world. At one stage when he was in prison, he felt lonely, as there was no one to talk with him from outside world.

Plannet240.
The police have widened their search for abducted schoolgirls to creeks in Ikorodu and Epe in Lagos State, as well as creeks in Ondo and Ogun states.

Chairman, Senate Committee on the Federal Capital Territory, Senator Dino Melaye, has been berated over his uncomplimentary remarks about the wife of Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, Mrs Iara Oshiomhole.

Thisday

The Shehu of Borno, Umar Abubakar Garbai, who also doubles as the Chancellor of the University of Lagos, yesterday escaped death when fire gutted some rooms at the guesthouse of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, Yaba.

Guardian

Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has received a petition accusing the Upper Chamber of seeking to frustrate the application of the TSA policy through its last resolution in which the chamber among other recommendations urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to terminate all contracts relating to the TSA.

Daily Trust

A civil society organization, the #istandwithbuhari, yesterday said that it would organize Anti-Corruption Day on March 31, 2016 to tell the world that Nigerians are tired of corruption in Nigeria.

Leadership

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has urged the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, to immediately intervene in the current hardship imposed by the scarcity of petroleum products as this may hinder the ability of workers to get to their work stations, saying it will be compelled to tell workers to stay at home should the scarcity persists.

National Mirror

Federal Government yesterday accused the embattled former National Security Adviser, NSA, Sambo Dasuki, of deliberate attempt to frustrate his trial of unlawful possession of firearms. At the resumed hearing of the case before Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja, prosecution counsel, Oladipo Okpeseyi, SAN, said Dasuki has not placed any material evidence to show that the Federal Government has violated an order of the court.

Tribune

THE Federal High Court, Abuja, on Thursday, granted bail to the former Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, on self recognition
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), yesterday expressed concerns over the recurring scarcity of petroleum products, especially the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) known as petrol across the country. It threatened to ask workers to stay at home should the scarcity persist.

NLC in a statement by its factional President, Ayuba Wabba, said: Nigerians are yet to be told what the cause of the current scarcity is; we, however, believe government will not allow any individual or corporate organisations sabotage efforts to restore sanity and good governance in all facets of our society as it is obvious the ongoing scarcity is calculated sabotage by petroleum marketers to sell the products at high prices for more profits.

Petroleum products, especially petrol is key to our economy as it is what powers commuters, including workers, offices and businesses. The delays motorists contend with in long queues at petrol stations have led to loss of unimaginable man hours which have impacted negatively on our economy. We therefore call on government to strongly intervene by sending out appropriate agencies, especially the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, to enforce the sale of the products as some marketers have been reported to be hoarding the products.

We restate our call for the speedy reactivation of local production of petroleum products as the country will continue to be held hostage by global economic manipulations if we remain tied to importation of petroleum products even when we have the resources to produce for local consumption and export.

While it is regrettable that bad governance, misplaced priorities and corruption has almost killed the petroleum industry, we believe a serious government can revamp the industry within one year. There are examples of countries, especially neighbouring Republic of Niger, where one of the best refineries were built within a year. Nothing stops this government from doing same.

In any case, despite their perilous states, we have it on authority that our four refineries are still one of the best in the world and can be turned around and even have its capacity upgraded; all that is required is to have effective Turn Around Maintenance conducted on them. The refineries are not beyond repairs. They have been abandoned to ensure Nigerians are ambushed by proponents of privatisation who believe every sector must be privatised. Those advocating for the sale of the refineries are waiting to buy them because they know the refineries are still one of the best.

Indeed, we believe the recurrent scarcity of petroleum products is part of the roadmap designed by forces who wish to hoodwink us into accepting privatisation of the refineries. We will not accept a situation where major oil companies operating in Nigeria will have refineries in other countries where they ship our crude for refining and sell what they refined from our crude through importers of petroleum products to our country. Why have they not built their own refineries in Nigeria?

It makes no common sense that this situation continues. While our resources are enriching other countries and creating jobs for citizens of other countries, our country and citizens are groaning under high currency exchange rates, deepening unemployment and infrastructural collapse. Government must demonstrate seriousness in our collective affairs through decisive interventions in revamping the petroleum industry and stamping out corruption.

We cant continue to be import dependent and expect our economy to grow. When ordinary citizens lament over the excruciating hardship unleashed on us by bad governance, what we expect is for our government to rescue us by rebuilding all infrastructures that have hindered our growth as a result of past neglect or deliberate damages done to them in the past, the NLC said.
North Korea should be ready to use nuclear weapons at any time in the face of a growing threat from its enemies, leader Kim Jong-un has decreed in a further escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula. Kims warning, issued via state-controlled media on Friday morning, appeared to be an attempt to put pressure on the international community after the UN security council on Wednesday adopted a raft of new sanctions against the regime in response to its recent nuclear test and rocket launch.

Kim, who was supervising the test-firing of newly developed multiple rocket launchers, said North Koreas situation had become so perilous that it should have the option of launching a pre-emptive attack  a departure from previous claims that the Norths nuclear capability was purely a deterrent. In an apparent threat to neighbouring South Korea, Kim said the new rocket launchers should be promptly deployed along with other new weaponry.

He said the regimes enemies  notably the US  were threatening North Koreas survival, the state-controlled KCNA news agency reported. At an extreme time when the Americans  are urging war and disaster on other countries and people, the only way to defend our sovereignty and right to live is to bolster our nuclear capability, KCNA quoted Kim as saying.

Under the extreme situation that the US imperialist is misusing its military influence and is pressuring other countries and people to start war and catastrophe, the only way for our people to protect sovereignty and rights to live is to strengthen the quality and quantity of nuclear power and realise the balance of power. We must always be ready to fire our nuclear warheads at any time.

UK Guardian.
Mercy Corps is dedicated to helping the poor and oppressed in developing countries. The not-for-profit organization offers emergency relief and economic support, as well as assistance in building sustainable communities. It also develops curriculum guides to introduce students to various topics ranging from Kurdish history and Afghan henna art to the worldwide clean water campaign. Since its founding, Mercy Corps programs have provided about $1.5 billion in assistance to people in 106 nations. Originally the organization was named Save the Refugees Fund when it was founded by Dan ONeill in response to the plight of Cambodian refugees in 1979.

Job Title: Nigeria  Reports and Editing Intern

Job Description

Internship Title: Nigeria  Reports and Editing Intern

Intern Worksite Location: Abuja, Nigeria

Dates of Internship: 01 April 2016 to 30 September 2016

Length of Internship: 6 months

Funding Available:

Global Internship:

Mercy Corps responsibilities

For the duration of this internship assignment the intern will receive:

$1500 stipend/month

ISOS Coverage

Visa reimbursement

Travel

Accommodations

Intern responsibilities

Intern will remain responsible for all costs associated with:

Medical Insurance

Any additional costs associated with internship

Project Description:

The Humanitarian portfolio covers the emergency response to the needs of conflict affected populations in north east Nigeria and we operate across three states with funding sources (including but not limited to O.F.D.A., F.F.P., E.C.H.O. and the E.U.,) with multi-sector interventions in food security, livelihoods, protection, W.A.S.H. among others. You be expected to engage in the development and editing of reports and learning documents.

Our porfolio covers work across the middle belt of Nigeria and is looking to expand into the Northeast. Historically our portfolio has focused on cross-communal conflicts emerging from lack of institutional arraignments to manage the limited resources across the region. Our conflict programs are funded by the British Government, USAID, Department of State and foundations.

Learning Objectives:

Understand the elements of a quality donor report and be able to produce and edit reports that meet these requirements

Gain competence in managing data collection systems for humanitarian and conflict programs

Improve research skills

Gain a deeper understanding of conflict and humanitarian programming in Nigeria, and of international nonprofit work

Improve ability to communicate cross-culturally

Deliverables

Support the editing and production of internal and external reports for the management teams

Work with program staff to complete an analysis of data quality and management systems and improve the management of these systems.

Complete research projects, as requested.

Support proposal writing, as requested.

You should possess the following qualification:

Graduate Degree in Communications, International Development, Political Science, International Affairs, Economics or related degrees.

Living Conditions:

Mercy Corps interns and volunteers represent the agency both during and outside of work hours and are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MCs policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.

Application Process:

If you are interested in this internship you should submit a resume and a statement of interest. In your statement, please discuss any experiences related relevant to the projects outlined. You may wish to describe your career interests (specifically as they relate to policy and advocacy, humanitarian aid, or development) and discuss your previous work and educational experiences demonstrating these interests. Your application will be reviewed by the hiring team within 3 weeks of submission and those shortlisted will be contacted directly for interviews. All applicants will receive notification once a decision has been made.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

Click here to apply
Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has again spoken out against the recent sack of 13 vice chancellors by the federal government, saying the action is unfair and unlawful.

The federal government last month sacked 12 VCs of some of the newly established federal universities and the VC of the National Open University of Nigeria, NOUN, and named their replacements.

Governor Fayose insisted that the action of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration should be condemned because there was no justification for the sacking of the vice chancellors.

He also warned management of the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, FUOYE, to either remit taxes due to the state or risk being shut down.

Speaking when the newly appointed VC of FUOYE, Professor Kayode Soremekun, paid him a courtesy call in his office in Ado-Ekiti, Fayose said any action of the federal government that contradicts commonsense or termed political should be avoided.

The sack is unfair and unlawful, he said. We must allow these institutions to survive us. Every action that will be termed political or against commonsense should be avoided.

He continued: I openly condemned the action of the Federal Government in the sack of the vice chancellors. They should respect the laws establishing these institutions.

As a governor, I fear no foe. The right of humanity must be respected, Fayose maintained.

The Ekiti governor also stressed that payment of taxes is germane and important and it should be respected by the school without which it would face the consequences.

Earlier, Prof. Soremekun appealed to Gov. Fayose to show understanding because FUOYE was already remitting 50 per cent of the taxes accruing to the school to Ekiti State Government.

I think it is fair to compare with what obtains in other institutions like ours across the country. We, therefore, seek the understanding of our governor on this issue, the VC pleaded.
This is possible and has been the reality at the Noahs Ark Animal Shelter in Georgia for the past 15 years. Baloo the American black bear, Leo the African lion and Shere Khan the Bengal tiger were all rescued by the animal shelter when they were less than one year old and kept at the Georgia animal shelter to live togetherand that has resulted in the most unlikely friendship. Theyve lived peacefully in their sanctuary for the past 15 years. Amazing! See more photos below
The Youth Forum of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria has called for the unconditional release of the leader of the movement, Sheik Ibraheem el-Zakzaky.

Leader of the Forum in Kaduna State, Mikail Abdullahi, who made the call during a protest in the state on Thursday, accused the government of violating all constitutional provisions by detaining their leader without charging him to court.

Sheik el-Zakzay and his wife were arrested by soldiers last December in Zaria and whisked to an undisclosed location where they are said to have been treated for gunshot wounds sustained during a bloody clash between members of the movement and soldiers.

The IMN also made good its word to boycott a judicial panel of inquiry set up by the Kaduna State Government to look into the clashes, if its leader was not released from government custody.

Speaking during the protest yesterday, Abdullahi pointed out that the government was not leading a good example by keeping deaf ears to the call for the release of the leader of the movement.

The continued detention of our leader is unconstitutional. We are calling for his release because his detention violates all constitutional provisions, he said.
The Sokoto State government said on Thursday it ordered a thorough probe into an alleged abduction and forced marriage of a 15-year-old girl, Patience Paul, in Sokoto State.

Imam Imam, the spokesperson to Governor Aminu Tambuwal, in a statement said the governor had directed the state human rights commission and other agencies to investigate the matter immediately.

Gov Aminu Waziri Tambuwal directed the state Human Rights Commission to undertake a thorough investigation into the allegations and report same to the government.

In the interim, the Human Rights Commission was asked to present an interim report and update the public with all information as it becomes available, Mr. Imam said.

According to reports, the teenage girl was abducted and kept hidden at the palace of the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Saad Abubakar III.

In the first 24 hours, the state Human Rights Commission has contacted the Sultanate Council and the State Police Command for a briefing.

The state Human Rights Commission has also spoken to the State Hisbah Commission, as well as the person whose phone number was given in the initial allegation made online.

Despite efforts, however, the state Human Rights Commission has been unable to contact the family of Patience Paul or anyone who will shed more light on the allegations, Mr. Imam said.

The state Human Rights Commission has opened a public plea urging Ms. Pauls family or representatives to contact it for a detailed briefing.

Other institutions to be contacted are Citizens Rights Dept, Attorney Generals Chambers, Ministry of Justice, Sokoto on 08035903799.

Agencies to be contacted: The Nigeria Police, Sokoto State Police Command Headquarters, Sokoto or state Human Rights Commission [email protected] and 07066666618, 08158582828.

Other agencies to be contacted are office of Media and Public Affairs, Governors Office, Sokoto on 07037072938, [email protected].
On this day in 1999 Nigerias military government freed 47 political prisoners including General Oladipo Diya.

In 1997 Diya and dissident soldiers in the military allegedly planned to overthrow the regime of Sani Abacha. The alleged coup was uncovered by forces loyal to Abacha, and Diya and his cohorts were jailed. After his arrest, a military tribunal sitting in the Nigerian town of Jos sentenced six people including Lieutenant General Oladipo Diya to death by firing squad in April 1998. The accused were brought to the main military barracks in Jos for the trial. Security was tight, and the men on trial were chained hand and foot during the proceedings.

 Also on this day in 2004 in the southern region, gunmen seized two (2) passengers from a ferry near the Bonny Island gas terminal. Nineteen (19) people were released shortly after the ferry was seized.

 Also on this day in 2013 in Gwoza, Borno State, an attack by the radical Islamic extremist network Boko Haram killed eight people.
The nation's two largest telecom companies, AT&T and Verizon, have both taken strong positions supporting encryption, while AT&T took the added step today of filing an amicus brief supporting Apple in a pending federal case.

The two carriers are directly affected by any outcome affecting encryption policy that could come from the nation's courts or Congress. Both are regularly required to honor court-ordered warrants to produce records of communications by suspects in criminal matters.

Both companies have taken the view that federal legislation, not a court order, is required to provide a uniform legal framework that affects the entire telecommunications community.

AT&T filed its friend-of-the-court brief with the magistrate in the U.S. District Court for the central district of California. The company's brief urges the court to vacate its Feb. 16 order requiring Apple to help the FBI unlock an iPhone used by a terrorist in the San Bernardino shootings on Dec. 2.

In addition, AT&T General Counsel David McAtee posted a blog entry that summarized the company's views.

He said AT&T is committed to both keeping citizens safe and protecting personal privacy. "The critical issue to AT&T is whether those interests will be balanced on an ad hoc basis by judges presiding over individual cases or by Congress providing a clear, uniform legal framework for all participants in the new digital economy," he said.

"Congress is the right body to decide this balance," McAtee added. He said the court's reliance on the All Writs Act to impose requirements on Apple is not a suitable substitute for a "comprehensive, uniform and fair" approach to be created by Congress.

"In this case ... the government seeks more than what can be supported under the law as it is written today," McAtee added. "The solution is for Congress to pass new legislation that provides real clarity for citizens and companies alike."

He also said AT&T was "deeply saddened by the tragic events of San Bernardino" and urged the government to use "every lawful means to investigate those crimes, and that includes Apple's cooperation to the full extent permitted by law."

Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam took a similar stance in a posting on LinkedIn on Monday.

"There may be legitimate reasons for preventing the destruction of data, such as the investigation of terrorism and serious crimes," McAdam wrote. "These conditions must be strictly defined by law, not arrived at haphazardly on an ad hoc or case-by-base basis, as in the Apple case."

He continued: "We oppose any solution that would place direct technical access in the hands of law enforcement; rather, it's vital that such tools remain in the hands of the provider, not government authorities." McAdam refused to take sides specifically on the Apple case, however.

A Verizon spokesman said that the company has no plans at this point to file an amicus brief in the Apple case.

However, many tech companies and associations are expected to file such briefs. The American Civil Liberties Union filed an amicus brief on Wednesday in the Apple case, taking Apple's side. Microsoft and the Electronic Frontier Foundation are expected to file briefs supporting Apple, while local and federal law enforcement groups are expected to support the FBI's view.

This story, "On encryption, AT&T backs Apple versus the feds" was originally published by Computerworld .
Triple Digit Hog Rally Barchart - Fri Oct 21, 4:40PM CDT Lean hogs extended their rally into the weekend with another $0.20 to $2.10 gains in the front months. December was up the most on Friday, but is still a $1.40 discount to Feb. Through the week, December... HEZ22 : 89.125s (+2.41%) HEJ23 : 93.850s (+0.78%) KMZ22 : 98.000s (+1.16%)

Cotton Limits the Weeks Pullback with Friday Strength Barchart - Fri Oct 21, 4:40PM CDT Cotton futures traded in a wide 413 point range from +253 to -160 (Dec). At the close the front months were 32 to 173 points in the black. December closed the week at a net 402 point loss, having spent... CTZ22 : 79.13s (+2.24%) CTH23 : 78.55s (+1.67%) CTK23 : 78.15s (+1.44%)

Wheats Closed Mixed on Friday Barchart - Fri Oct 21, 4:40PM CDT CBT SRW futures ended the last trade day of the week with 1 to 1 1/2 cent gains. For the December contract that meant a net 9 cent loss for the week. KC futures pulled back by 1/2 a cent to 2 cents on... ZWZ22 : 850-6s (+0.18%) ZWH23 : 869-4s (+0.17%) ZWPAES.CM : 7.8533 (+0.24%) KEZ22 : 948-2s (-0.16%) KEPAWS.CM : 9.0581 (-0.16%) MWZ22 : 961-4s (-0.10%)

Nov Beans Held under $14 Barchart - Fri Oct 21, 4:40PM CDT The Friday session ended with soybean futures 3 1/4 to 4 cents higher with November options having expired. Nov soybeans spent the week in a 41 1/2 cent trading range and ended 11 3/4 cents higher from... ZSX22 : 1395-4s (+0.29%) ZSPAUS.CM : 13.5026 (+0.29%) ZSF23 : 1404-4s (+0.32%) ZSH23 : 1411-6s (+0.28%)

New Contract High for Dec Cattle Barchart - Fri Oct 21, 4:40PM CDT Cattle added another 62 to 75 cents to the upside on Friday, with December printing a new life of contract high of $152.50. Dec gained a net $4.65 for the week. The weeks cash trade picked up on Thursday... LEV22 : 150.475s (+0.47%) LEZ22 : 152.425s (+0.49%) LEG23 : 155.525s (+0.44%) GFV22 : 175.275s (-0.17%) GFX22 : 178.350s (+0.45%)
San Jose State University recently received a $15 million gift to create endowments for student success initiatives, scholarships, and student union activities. The gift comes from Lupe Diaz Compean. Compean and her late husband, who worked in construction, moved to the San Jose region years ago.

The big gift to San Jose State is act three of our story  the happy ending.

But here in our higher ed blog, we're not just interested in big and satisfying finales, but also in acts one and two  how fundraisers and donors come together over a period of time, well before these big gives ultimately happen. Extending the film analogy, here's another word to keep in mind: Dialogue. Compean's gift to SJSU is a great example of a donor and school keeping the lines of communication open over a long period of time and developing a relationship. This immense development legwork provided the plot points for the eventual gift.



First, let's start with Compean herself, who was born in the 1920s in Texas, the oldest of 10 children. She met the Mexican-born Ramiro Compean and the couple married in 1955. The Compeans moved to San Jose a year later and Ramiro found work in construction. Compean helped her husband in business and the couple purchased a home, as well as a number of other properties through the years. Compean, nearly 90, still actively manages these properties.

We write a lot in higher education giving about donors who move to a new region for business, and slowly become involved with the civic life of that region. By the mid-1990s, Compean first approached San Jose State after she and her husband heard about the university's Mexican-American Studies department. These conversations eventually resulted in the possibility that the family would include San Jose in their estate. When Ramiro Compean passed in 2002, Compean indicated that the school would be the beneficiary of half of her estate.

Case closed, right?

Well, not exactly.

A few years ago, Compean engaged San Jose State again, this time exploring the idea of how Compean might make an impact with the university while still alive. We've seen that kind of second thought by a donor before, in which a philanthropist pledges a bequest and then reconsiders sitting on the money during years when it could be making a difference. No doubt the folks at San Jose had some thoughts about why it would make sense to move things along. The conversations continued until the end of 2015, when Compean finalized her agreement with San Jose.

And there you have it: the power of dialogue. It's worth reflecting on that long timeline for a moment and appreciating the strenuous legwork required to keep certain donors engaged and interested through the years. Among other things, the gift from Compean establishes an $8 million Student Success Fund aimed at fostering student success and boosting retention and graduation rates. The newly renovated student union building will be named the Ramiro Compean and Lupe Diaz Compean Student Union in honor of the longtime couple.
We only recently started covering funding news and philanthropic happenings in the Southwest, but this market is really exploding  especially in Arizona, and we've written about any number of interesting Arizona foundations in our Southwest Funding Guide.

As a relatively young state compared to those on the East Coast, Arizona has never enjoyed the deep philanthropic traditions of more established areas of the country. However, the state is maturing, roles are changing, and now, its nonprofit sector is emerging as a driver of economic growth. One factor behind that growth is an increase in philanthropic giving in Arizona over the past decade as new funders have arrived on the scene and existing funders have stepped things up.

We talk a lot at IP about the emergence of so many new funders and what it means. Often, we analyze this trend by looking at the new money available in different issue areas. But we've also looked at how dramatically this phenomenon is playing out in specific places like the Bay Area and Southern California. Right now, the Southwest is an important philanthropic frontier we're watching closely, so we were interested to see some new data on what this means for the local economy there.

The Arizona Community Foundation funded a study that found that the states nonprofit sector brings in around $22.4 billion to Arizonas economy each year. Furthermore, the report cited statistics of state nonprofits employing over 324,000 people and generating at least $2.1 billion in payroll, annual sales, and property taxes. The nonprofit sector in Arizona owes much of its revenue success to government contracts, sales of goods and services, and service fees. The report notes that charitable donations only account for 27 percent of revenues.

The report is called Arizona Nonprofits: Economic Power, Positive Impact, and it compared the nonprofit sector to fields like hospitals and healthcare organizations. Its important to note that large hospitals account for the bulk of the sectors assets and revenue. Meanwhile, small charities, like those working in the fields of arts & culture and the environment, have less impact from a strictly economic standpoint.

Yet all of this signifies that Arizonas nonprofit sector has recovered quite a bit since the recession and is growing by the year. The next logical question to ask is what local funders are doing to keep up.

Well, it seems that nonprofits in Arizona have a lot more going on than just sitting around waiting for donations to roll in. The sector is becoming more organized and entrepreneurial, and local nonprofit leaders are becoming more resourceful in supporting themselves. There are a lot of small nonprofits in Arizona, including animal rescue groups and grassroots charities, that are doing big things on the local level and figuring out new ways to raise money. The most difficult period may be behind them, but nonprofit leaders arent going to sit back and wait for another recession to take them down again.

"Gone are the days of viewing nonprofits as simple charities operating on shoestring budgets, heavily reliant on volunteers and donations to stay afloat," wrote Arizona Community Foundation President and CEO Steve Seleznow.

Seleznow also pointed out that nonprofits in the state are in a unique and influential position right now. Innovations reported in the recent study include a bio-science roadmap, efforts to raise public awareness about education needs, and efforts to motivate young entrepreneurs.

"In a lot of areas, nonprofits have insights that few others have, and they're working in places where most policymakers don't visit on a daily basis" said Seleznow. "Maybe we ought to have them at the table."

One relevant example is the newly formed StartupAZ Foundation, which is a component fund of the Arizona Community Foundation. It was started with $100,000 from co-founder and MRTNZ Ventures Managing Director Mario Martinez and $50,000 from the AZ Community Foundation. The purpose of this foundation is to connect talented individuals with the right people to build networks and find solutions for the most pressing societal issues.

For example, Martinez and his team plan to use education, mentorship, and blogging to share success stories and pay for conferences. Local entrepreneurs, investors, and attorneys reportedly developed the idea at some monthly Team AZ dinners. And the big idea is to provide funding to start-up companies that also serve a social purpose. All of this translates into creating more jobs, strengthening charitable purposes, and boosting the economy with the help of up-and-coming social entrepreneurs.

We want to help Arizona companies get more capital help from other local industries, including real estate, said StartupAZ co-founder Brandon Clarke, whos a Phoenix native and also the co-founder of a new startup studio called the Collaborative Research and Development Lab. We also will, and have sponsored Startup Weekends, Startup Week and other statewide initiatives. We can see chapters forming in the future.

You can learn more about StartupAZ Foundations new Pledge 1% campaign on its website.

These new entrepreneurs have as much fire and intensity as starting new companies and new jobs as they do with helping the community, said Seleznow, who also serves on the board of the StartupAZ Foundation. Its very cool. We love it. Its capitalism and charity in the same breath."

Related:
National Storage Affiliates Trust (NSAT), a Maryland real estate investment trust (REIT) specializing in self-storage, has acquired a five-property portfolio in New Hampshire from multiple entities operating under the Granite Clover Self Storage brand. The $28.8 million portfolio comprises 235,000 rentable square feet in approximately 1,900 units, according to a press release from NAI Norwood Group, the real estate brokerage that represented the seller in the transaction.

The transaction is the largest all-New Hampshire self-storage portfolio sold in Southern New Hampshire in the last 20 years, the release stated. The properties are in Amherst, Derry, Londonderry, Nashua and Pembroke, N.H.

The seller was represented by Joseph Mendola, senior vice president of Bedford, N.H.-based NAI Norwood and an affiliate of the Argus Self Storage Sales Network. Mendola also assisted NSAT, according to the release. He previously assisted the same seller in a 2009 deal involving the sale of self-storage properties to Optivest Properties Inc., which is a participating regional operator of NSAT.

NAI Norwood is an affiliate of NAI Global, a managed network of independently owned commercial real estate brokerage firms. The company assists corporations with negotiating leases, sales, business brokerage, investments, relocation, site selection and development.

Argus is a Denver-based network of real estate brokers who specialize in storage properties. Formed in 1994, the company has 36 broker affiliates covering nearly 40 markets.

Headquartered in Greenwood, Colo., NSAT is a self-administered and -managed REIT focused on the acquisition, operation and ownership of self-storage properties within the top 100 U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas throughout the United States. The company has 292 self-storage facilities in 17 states comprising approximately 17 million net rentable square feet. It's owned by its affiliate operators, who are contributing their interests in their self-storage assets over the next few years as their current mortgage debt matures.
The New South Wales Government will establish a taskforce and hotline to crack down on fraud in the compulsory third party (CTP) market across the state.Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation, Victor Dominello, revealed the taskforce earlier this week as the average green slip for a car in Sydney now costs more than $600 with prices having risen by up to 70% since 2008.Fraud has been highlighted as a contributing factor to the price rises as Government data indicates that fraudulent claims are contributing a $75 increase for each NSW green slip.The NSW Government has identified an alarming rise in suspected fraudulent CTP claims. This is unfair and cheats all motorists who end up paying higher green slip prices, Dominello said.A dedicated fraud taskforce is being established to crack down on this issue and identify ways in which it can be prevented.The taskforce will be managed by the State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA) and Rob Whelan, CEO of the Insurance Council of Australia will represent the organisation on the taskforce.Whelan noted that while the majority of CTP claims are genuine, weeding out fraud in the sector will benefit all New South Wales motorists.Though most claims are genuine, NSW Government evidence shows that an increasing number of claims being lodged are likely to lack merit, Whelan said.Its in the interests of all NSW motorists and people injured in motor vehicle accidents that the CTP scheme is fair, affordable and sustainable. The insurance industry is pleased to be invited to work with SIRA and other stakeholders, in particular the legal and medical professions, to identify solutions.Both Suncorp and IAG welcomed the decision to form the taskforce as Chris McHugh, Suncorp executive general manager statutory portfolio, said the focus on CTP offers a broader opportunity for changes.The current scheme offers large lump-sum payouts for minor injuries, which encourages fraudulent and exaggerated claims that can drive up premiums, McHugh said.Establishing this taskforce is a vital first step in ensuring we work together to provide better value to those unfortunate enough to be genuinely injured on our roads.Chief executive of IAGs Australian consumer division, Anthony Justice, said that the company will work alongside the Government to help remove fraud from the industry.CTP insurance is designed to protect motorists from the financial cost of injuring someone else on our roads, but unfortunately there are some extreme claims that are considered to be fraudulent, Justice said.We will continue to actively work with the Government and the relevant authorities to remove such practices.The taskforce will be chaired by Anthony Lean, chief executive of SIRA, and the Government has also set-up a dedicated CTP Fraud hotline which anyone who suspects fraud can call on 1800 600 444.
The Australian insurance industry needs to be aware of technology firms as major disruption could be on its way to the local industry.The Capgemini World Insurance Report 2016 found that the changing habits of Gen-Y customers could leave the insurance industry open for disruption as insurance businesses need to upend their business models in order to stay ahead of the pack.Dipak Sahoo, insurance practice leader at Capgemini Australia, told Insurance Business that while Australia is yet to experience major technological disruption, changes could be on the horizon.We havent seen too many Insurtech or Tech company presence in insurance locally because the market is not big enough for a global firm to build their presence in Australia yet, Sahoo said.The typical model we have seen so far is for these tech companies to test their model in larger and more mature markets like North America and part of Europe before heading to rest of the world. So while we havent seen a threat from these companies yet, the success of these companies elsewhere makes Australia the next logical destination for some of these players.Aussie insurers need to be aware of global insurtech companies. The next destination after they have proved their model in more mature markets will be mature markets in APAC.The report, which surveys over 15,000 insurance customers worldwide, found that customer experience in Australia continues to improve as customers rated their interactions with insurers some 8.7 points higher than last year which represents the biggest uptick in the world.Australia now ranks fourth in the world in terms of customer experience and Sahoo said this was down to insurers embracing an all-channel experience.This shows Australian insurers are also starting to invest in improving customer experience, Sahoo said of the upswing.We have seen them at the ground level based on the type of projects insurers are undertaking around all channel experience and customer centricity.The increase in customer experience level globally can be attributed to several factors.Insurers have started investing heavily in non-traditional channels and also enabling their traditional channels to better engage with their customers. We have seen different geographies at different stages of maturity when it comes to their all channel experience and that shows in the CEI level change over last year being varied across countries.Gen-Y still poses problems for Australian insurance businesses as they have higher expectations of the businesses they interact with and are more likely to buy insurance from entering technology disruptors than other generations.Sahoo said that insurance businesses need to be wary of Gen-Y and adapt accordingly to stay relevant in a changing industry.Our report has clearly identified Gen Y as a demographic segment which uses all channels and also more frequently engages with their insurer, Sahoo continued.Hence it is critical for insurers to provide them a consistent all channel experience across both traditional and non-traditional channels. Also insurers need to work with their traditional channels like brokers to make sure the B2B2C model provides same rich experience as their B2C model.
The New South Wales chapter of the Australian Professional Indemnity Group (APIG) is set to formally launch in Western Sydney.APIG, a national association that provides education and networking opportunities across the financial lines insurance industry, will officially launch with its inaugural Western Sydney seminar called Mind The Gap on March 10 2016.President of APIG in New South Wales, Clive Davidson, said that the launch highlights the growth of the insurance industry in a key area of the state.There are a substantial number of insurance specialists spread over the broader Sydney area, Davidson said.Recognising the need for continuing education in the industry, the NSW Committee decided to launch an educational and social event series based in Parramatta.The association will offer a complimentary panel discussion by industry experts on the challenges in the interface between professional indemnity and public liability policies which will be followed by a networking evening for those in attendance.The New South Wales APIG committee also aims to bring more events to Western Sydney following the launch.For more information on the event, visit the APIG website British insurance giant Legal & General has launched a modular housing business L&G Homes which aims to modernise the home building industry and help solve the housing shortage in the UK.The insurer said in a statement on 25 February that it has invested around $105 million into a new factory in Sherburn, which is expected to produce 3,000 prefabricated houses a year, theDaily Mail reported.The report said the preassembled houses will cost in the low hundreds of thousands of pounds and will target buyers with low to medium incomes.Modern modular housing in the UK has so far been restricted to the top end of the market, L&G Capital managing director Paul Stanworth said in a statement.The scale of our Sherburn facility will enable many more people to benefit from new, environmentally-friendly construction techniques which have already become mainstream in Europe, he added.L&G plans to build other factories across the UK if the project becomes a success, according to the Daily Mail report.The company also announced last week that it will invest up to $2.1 billion in the UK private rental sector (PRS) market, seeing it as an ideal new institutional asset class for long-term investors.L&G has acquired an initial $52.6-million regeneration site at Walthamstow in London to build and rent over 300 flats. On completion, the rent from the flats is seen to provide an attractive long-term institutional investment return, the company said.The insurer said such projects will enable it to access a supply of PRS assets and achieve a better match to long-term annuity liabilities than existing fixed income assets and enhance returns across the group.In January, L&G launched its build-to-rent partnership with Dutch pension fund manager PGGM. The partnership will initially invest $1.26 billion into building and renting out 3,000 flats across the UK starting in Bristol, Salford and Walthamstow.The Guardian reported that L&G, acting as the landlord, will use rental income from the flats to pay pensions. The company is targeting yields of 3% to 5%.The insurance industry will be watching closely in the wake of the first auto accident in which a Google self-driving car could be to blame.Googles autonomous vehicles have been involved in several accidents in the past, but it has always been the case that the other party was to blame. This latest event however, which took place in California in mid-February, may be the first time the autonomous vehicle has been at fault.The situation sounds complicated  the Google car was travelling at around 2mph as it navigated around some sandbags covering a storm drain that was blocking its path.In order to make the manoeuvre, the car had to cross into a parallel lane and was sideswiped by a passing bus travelling at 15mph. The human sitting in the Google car saw the bus approaching but believed that it would stop or slow to allow the Google vehicle to complete its manoeuvre. As a result, the driver did not override the Google car and take control, resulting in the incident.The damage was minimal and no one was injured in the crash.Google is to meet with California's Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to discuss the incident this week and determine where the blame lies.Google has already come out and said it bears some responsibility for the collision but added that it has already modified its autonomous software to take into account similar situations.If Google is found to be at fault, it could be a setback for the companys plans, just as things were looking up. There was a motion recently for self-driving cars to be given the same legal recognition as a human car driver, according to a letter sent last month by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to Google.
Massachusetts highest court recently ruled in a case of first impression that a workers compensation insurer is not entitled to a lien on the money awarded to claimants for pain and suffering.

This ruling from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on Feb. 12 could impact how much workers comp insurers in Massachusetts can recoup from claimants in similar cases in the future.

According to David J. Pellegrino, a partner at Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP who submitted an amicus brief on behalf of the American Insurance Association for this case, the courts decision essentially reduces the pool of funds from which a workers compensation insurer can recoup its outlay.

Under the Massachusetts Workers Compensation Act, an injured employee is allowed to bring a lawsuit against an unrelated third party who caused the injury, Pellegrino said.

More specifically, MGL c. 152, Sec. 15 allows such a suit to be brought even though the injured employee received workers comp benefits for the injury.

If an employee wins damages from a third party, the employees workers comp insurer is statutorily entitled to a lien on the recovery for the amount that the insurer paid to the employee in benefits.

The stated statutory intent is for the benefit of the insurer, unless such sum is greater than that paid by it to the employee, in which event the excess shall be retained by or paid to the employee, Pellegrino said.

Case Background

In its ruling, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court looked at a case involving two electricians, Robert DiCarlo and Bernard Martin. Both were injured during their work, collected workers comp benefits, and then reached settlement agreements with third parties including damages for, among other things, their pain and suffering.

Both workers received workers comp benefits from Twin City Fire Insurance Company, a subsidiary of Hartford Insurance Company of the Midwest.

DiCarlo, who suffered serious injuries to his back in 2004 while working at a construction site, received more than $281,000 in workers comp benefits for medical expenses and lost wages.

DiCarlo and his wife then sued third parties including the construction site owner and the contractor managing that site. It resulted in a settlement of $100,000, with 35 percent of the settlement proposed to be allocated to DiCarlos pain and suffering and be exempt from the insurers lien.

In DiCarlos case, a Superior Court judge rejected a settlement agreement providing that the insurer would not have a lien on the damages for pain and suffering, concluding that the insurers lien attached to DiCarlos entire recovery.

DiCarlo appealed the decision, citing the Massachusetts Appeals Courts 2011 decision in Curry v. Great American Insurance Co., which held that an insurers lien does not attach to damages paid for pain and suffering because workers comp does not cover those harms.

The other worker, Bernard Martin, was injured in 2010 while working at a construction site and received more than $566,000 in workers comp benefits. Martin and his wife also sued third parties including a general contractor. It resulted in a settlement of $1 million, with 35 percent of the payment proposed to be allocated for his ongoing physical pain and mental anguish and be exempt from the insurers lien.

In Martins case, a Superior Court judge approved a settlement agreement similar to the agreement rejected by the judge in DiCarlos case, and Twin City Fire Insurance appealed.

In both instances, Twin City Fire Insurance sought reimbursement from the employees recoveries, including their awards for pain and suffering.

But in its ruling, the Supreme Judicial Court stated that the insurer did not compensate the employees for their pain and suffering, and so cannot seek reimbursement from damages paid for those harms.

However, the court stated, the insurer can recover payments for harms that are covered by the workers comp statute, such as lost wages and medical expenses.

The court emphasized that this ruling will not deprive an insurer of its reimbursement rights where an employee and a third-party defendant reach a settlement that would stack the deck against the insurer by inappropriately allocating the bulk of damages to pain and suffering.

The court said MGL c. 152, Sec. 15 precludes such a result by requiring that all settlements be approved by the board or reviewing board of the Department of Industrial Accidents or by a judge after a hearing at which the insurer has a right to participate.

Moreover, a settlement amount allocated entirely or in large part to pain and suffering will be eyed by the court with a healthy dose of skepticism, the court said.

Rulings Implication

Pellegrino, who serves as chair of insurance practice at Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP, explained that the general application had been to allow the workers comp insurer to recoup from the entire amount of an injured employees damages award regardless of classification.

That application changed with the Massachusetts Appeals Courts 2011 decision in Curry v. Great American Insurance Co., which for the first time held that damages allocated as pain and suffering could not be reached by the workers comp insurer. At the time, the Supreme Judicial Court did not grant further review of Curry.

Commenting on the Supreme Judicial Courts ruling, Pellegrino said that rather than look at the amount of money received either through the workers comp system or awarded in damages, the Supreme Judicial Court looked at the nature of the award.

The court held that if the nature of the third party tort award is characterized as pain and suffering, the insurer could not recoup from that portion, he said.

Examining the statutes use of the term injury, the court decided that the legislature could not have intended an expansive use of the term. Rather, the amount of the injury that the insurer could recoup could only be that amount for which the insurer paid compensation, Pellegrino said. Since a workers compensation insurer does not compensate for pain and suffering, it likewise cannot be reimbursed from an amount characterized as such.

The courts decision essentially reduces the pool of funds from which a workers compensation insurer can recoup its outlay based upon the way the third party tort system defines a damages award, Pellegrino said.

Indeed, defining the nature of the injury by the third party tort action thrusts the fault-based system upon the workers compensation system to determine the extent of the statutory lien. Because the pool of attachable funds is reduced, insurers are less likely to be made whole and will keep available funds out of the workers compensation system, he said.

Additionally, he said, the industry will have to remain vigilant with regard to employees third party tort actions to make sure the bulk of damages are not inappropriately allocated to pain and suffering.

Topics Carriers Legislation Workers' Compensation Massachusetts
Authorities said a Wilmington, Massachusetts man has been indicted in connection with allegedly failing to accurately report the nature of his companys work in order to avoid $120,000 in insurance premiums.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said Robert Foss was indicted Thursday by a Suffolk County Grand Jury on charges of workers compensation fraud (four counts).

Authorities allege that between 2009 and 2012, Foss defrauded two insurance companies under three separate insurance policies by describing his Burlington, Massachusetts, business as a general contractor, when in reality, it was a roofing company.

The Workers Compensation Ratings and Inspection Bureau (WCRIB) classifies roofing as a more dangerous occupation than general carpentry and places a higher premium on insurance.

We allege that this defendant intentionally put the safety of his employees at risk by asking them to inaccurately disclose the nature of his business to insurance companies in order to avoid paying premiums, Healey said.

The Insurance Fraud Bureau of Massachusetts (IFB) referred the case to the Attorney Generals Office in 2013 after an investigation into allegations that the company was committing insurance fraud.

Businesses that misrepresent their payrolls and type of business to lower their workers compensation premiums put honest businesses at a disadvantage, and are not providing proper coverage for their employees, said IFB Executive Director Daniel Johnston. The Insurance Fraud Bureau pursues these cases so that there can be a fair playing field for all businesses in the Commonwealth.

WCRIB establishes different categories of insurance policy costs depending on the risk of injury associated with different types of jobs, and insurers apply those categories to a companys payroll to calculate workers compensation insurance premiums.

According to authorities, Foss also inaccurately described the nature of his business on an application for insurance through the Massachusetts Workers Compensation Assigned Risk Pool in 2011.

Authorities said that as a result of these alleged schemes, Foss put his insurers and his workers at risk by failing to cover injuries that could have occurred because of roofing work and in the process evaded paying $120,000 in workers compensation insurance premiums.

These charges are allegations and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Topics Workers' Compensation Fraud Massachusetts
Admiral Group plc on Thursday announced record profit for last year, and the CEO of one of its biggest brands is taking that as an endorsement of his popular online insurance shopping business model.

Compare.com CEO Andrew Rose called out highlights of the online comparison shopping business within Admirals annual earnings report, which showed Compare.coms cost per quote fell by 77 percent and the cost per sale fell 86 percent in last 18 months.

Rose attributed the strong showings to better advertising, adding carriers, an improved quoting process and good word of mouth.

Admiral issued its earnings on Thursday around 4 a.m. EST. The company, traded under ADM on the London Stock Exchange, reported group profit before tax of 377 million (U.S. $534 million) for 2015, up 6 percent from 357 million ($506 million) in 2014.

The company reported a 14 percent increase in international car customers to 673,000 in 2015 from 592,600 a year earlier. International car insurance losses in 2015 totaled 22.2 million (U.S.$31.51 million), up from 19.9 million (U.S.$28.24 million) in 2014, the company reported.

The combined price comparison business made losses of 7.2 million (U.S.$10.22 million) compared with a 2014 profit of 3.6 million (U.S.$5.11), which Admiral said reflects the ongoing investment in Compare.com.

Compare.com is just coming off a failed business partnership with Google on its Google Compare shopping business launched a year ago. Google announced last month it was shutting down Google Compare, which included comparison shopping for insurance, mortgages and other financial products.

Google cited a lack of profit as its reason for pulling out, which was something Rose took issue with at the time of the announcement. It was revealed that Compare.com and Google had agreed to part ways months earlier, though Compare.com reportedly continues to work with Google until the site is completely shuttered.

On Thursday Rose took the opportunity to contrast Googles online comparative shopping experience with the numbers in Admiral earnings report.

Were seeing a different story than what Google Compare was telling us, Rose said.

Compare.com, which has a strong presence in Europe and a growing presence in the U.S., recorded a loss on Admirals books. Admiral owns 71 percent of Compare.com, while White Mountains Insurance Group (the former owners of esurance) owns 22 percent and Spanish insurance company Mapfre owns nearly 7 percent.

Rose said to expect more losses to be recorded while Compare.com beefs up its advertising spend and continues on an aggressive expansion pace.

Our advertising could eclipse $100 million this year, he said. Were continuing to invest and accelerate the investment. Were very successful with this business model internationally.

Compare.com recently rolled out two new advertisements appearing on national television in the U.S.

Compare.com reports partnerships with roughly 60 insurance brands, and that it provided more than 1 million insurance quotes last year.

According to Rose, Compare.com signed another big carrier on as a partner on Thursday following the signing on of carriers on Monday and last week.

He declined to offer further details on those deals.

The influx of carriers coming onto our platform is quite aggressive, he said.

Other Admiral brands include Admiral, one of the largest auto insurance providers in the U.K., Confused.com, Elephant and Elephant Auto, Diamond, Gladiator and Qualitas Auto.

Admirals shares rose 9.03 percent, or 159.00 (U.S.$225.58) in trading following the news.

Related:

Topics Auto Profit Loss Google
Michigan-based H.W. Kaufman Financial Group announced that Daniel J. Kaufman has been promoted to senior vice president and appointed to its board of directors.

He represents the third generation of Kaufman family leadership, following his late grandfather, Herbert W. Kaufman, who founded the company in 1969 and his father, Alan Jay Kaufman, who serves as chairman, president and CEO.

Daniel Kaufman currently oversees operations at the Burns & Wilcox Chicago office. As senior vice president, H.W. Kaufman Financial Group and Burns & Wilcox, Kaufmans daily responsibilities include working closely with the organizations corporate headquarters in Detroit as well as other Midwestern offices. In addition, he will be active in the companys London operations.

As the newest member of the board, he will assume a greater role across the companys global offices and strengthen his focus on recruitment and talent development both within Kaufman and the broader insurance industry. Daniel Kaufman was instrumental in developing Kaufmans internal emerging leaders program.

He currently serves on several corporate, civic and advisory boards including those of the City of Hope National Insurance Industry Council, Midwest Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation, Association of Lloyds Brokers, Metro Chicago Hillel and the Kaufman Family Foundation.

Source: H.W. Kaufman Financial Group

Topics Market
Two high-profile Texas attorneys were sued by a fishing boat captain who said they were involved in a scam to cheat BP Plc out of millions of dollars with false compensation claims for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Shes one of thousands of Vietnamese American fishermen and women who had their identities faked or stolen in the fraud, which was bankrolled by Bob Hilliard and John Cracken, Houston lawyer Tammy Tran said in a complaint. They blame the lawyers in part for obstructing their efforts to pursue their own claims for payments under BPs restitution program.

Tran is seeking more than $100 million in punitive damages from Hilliard and Cracken to compensate the immigrants. Many of them claim to have suffered mental anguish from nightmarish memories of Vietnams communist regime, revived by federal agents knocking on doors to investigate the identity thefts.

Compensation is also sought for homes and businesses lost while waiting for BP to pay under its seafood accord.

Houston attorney Richard Mithoff said he was hired to represent Hilliard and Cracken.

Ive not yet seen a copy of whats being filed, Mithoff said. We will respond immediately and in due course in an appropriate filing.

He declined to comment further on the allegations. Hilliard referred queries to Mithoff.

Lawyer Indicted

Tran, who represents about 1,000 Vietnamese American fishermen and women against BP, said in an interview she learned of Hilliards and Crackens connection to the scam from a criminal-defense attorney with knowledge of the indictment of a third lawyer.

Mikal Watts, who allegedly orchestrated the fraud, was indicted for identity theft and making false claims in connection with the BP spill. Watts, a San Antonio attorney, denied any wrongdoing.

Wattss indictment, unsealed in a Mississippi court in October, refers to the involvement of two other lawyers without naming them. Theyre referred to as Attorneys 1 and 2.

Hilliards national prominence surged with the implosion of the first trial over General Motors Co.s faulty ignition systems. The case was dropped in the middle of the trial over claims that Hilliards clients lied on the stand. Cracken is a Dallas-based lawyer and restaurant entrepreneur.

Claim Runners

The two attorneys allegedly paid more than $10 million to Watts to cover the cost of claim runners who were used to sign up Southeast Asian immigrant shrimpers, boat captains and deck hands  an insular coastal community where English is sparse and the destruction of boats and livelihoods was widespread, according to the complaint. Hilliard and Cracken in return would share in the millions of legal fees that would be generated, the plaintiff claimed.

These two were deeply involved in this deal with Mikal Watts, Tran said in an interview. They knew everything, and they knew it was wrong from the beginning.

Hilliard and Cracken did nothing to stop the fraud, Tran said.

Watts helped negotiate a $2.3 billion spill-damages settlement for Gulf seafood interests in 2012, after the U.S. says he leveraged his more than 40,000 fishing-industry clients into a lucrative seat on the litigation steering committee. Federal prosecutors claim many of Wattss so-called clients never signed with him, and he used their identities and social security numbers without their consent. BP has claimed bogus victims likely inflated the cost of its accord.

Watts Sued

Trans fishing clients sued Watts in San Antonio state court two years ago. The lawsuit has stalled because of Watts criminal trial, Tran said.

E-mails between the attorneys, cited in the indictment, describe internal investigations into a client list that uncovered people who were duped by the case runners into signing up with Watts, or those whose files contained inaccurate or misappropriated addresses, phone numbers and Social Security numbers. One client turned out to be a dog; another died long before the spill happened.

Another fine example of the st we paid for; dead 5 years ago, Watts wrote in a March 8, 2011, e-mail. Mikal, fraud, Attorney 2 replied. The complaint identifies Hilliard as the respondent.

The e-mails are being taken out of context and paint a misleading picture of what the lawyers were discussing, Robert McDuff, Watts criminal defense attorney, said when the charges were unsealed last year. Any fraud involving the workers claims was committed by others and will be proven at Wattss trial in July, he said.

The case is Thim T. Nguyen v. Cracken, 2016-13749, 55th Judicial District of Harris County, Texas (Houston).

Related:

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.

Topics Lawsuits Texas Claims Fraud Energy Oil Gas
Forecasters say a tornado that severely damaged homes and trees in a Birmingham, Ala., suburb has been determined as an EF2, with winds of between 120 and 125 mph.

National Weather Service meteorologist Jason Holmes told The Associated Press that survey teams are still evaluating damage in the McCalla area where the tornado struck Tuesday. Officials have said storm damage was concentrated in southern Jefferson and northern Shelby counties.

Authorities have said four people were injured in the tornado. Jefferson County sheriffs Chief Deputy Randy Christian has described the injuries as minor. Christian says 12 homes sustained major damage.

Jefferson County Emergency Management Director Jim Coker told Al.com two of the injured were taken to hospitals, and two others were treated at the scene.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Windstorm Homeowners Alabama
Verisk Analytics, a data analytics provider, has formed an alliance between its CargoNet business and the Florida Trucking Association (FTA) to help members reduce cargo theft risk and lobby for stricter penalties and more public resources.

CargoNet will assist the FTA to collect, aggregate, and analyze cargo theft data in an effort to aid law enforcement with recoveries and better identify trends.

The organizations hope to use the information to communicate to legislators the need for more resources, such as more law enforcement officers in the state of Florida dedicated to cargo theft. Additionally, the companies said the collection efforts will assist in their commitments to lobby for stricter cargo theft penalties.

CargoNet is centered on a national database and information-sharing system managed by crime analysts and subject matter experts and provides recovery support, deterrence measures, and coordinated, real-time communications between theft victims and law enforcement agents.

The state of Florida has been a hot spot for cargo theft for some time now, said FTA President and CEO Ken Armstrong. Our members have given us a call to action, and we aim to rise to the occasion. Aligning with CargoNet allows us to do just that. Its program has shown to be effective, and we have no doubt that together we can help our members mitigate their risk of becoming a victim and, in fact, recover if their trucks and cargo are stolen.

Our strategic alliance with the Florida Trucking Association is a great step forward in exploiting the vulnerabilities of cargo thieves in the state of Florida-through information sharing and cargo theft trend analytics, added Anthony Canale, general manager, CargoNet.

Special member pricing will be available to FTA members that wish to use CargoNet to reduce the economic impact of cargo crime and use CargoNets recovery, deterrence, and analytical services as part of the value they offer to their clients.

Headquartered in Tallahassee, the Florida Trucking Association represents Floridas trucking industry and its allied services, addresses public policy issues related to the industry, and forges vital relationships between truckers and various regulatory components at the state and federal level.

Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Florida Fraud Trucking
A California appeals court has rejected efforts by a utility to stop housing Los Angeles residents driven from their homes by a gas leak that lasted almost four months.

The 2nd District Court of Appeal denied a petition by Southern California Gas Co. this week to reconsider a judges order requiring the company to extend paying short-term housing costs and other expenses until March 18.

As residents in short-term housing were to return home last week, lawyers for Los Angeles County successfully won the extension so the public health department could test homes to make sure it was safe to return.

The company said it was spending about $2 million a day for housing, but Superior Court Judge Elihu Berle said health risks to residents outweighed the gas companys costs.

The gas company appealed, saying public health officials had already determined air quality had returned to safe levels near its Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility.

Thousands of residents moved out of the Porter Ranch area during the 16-week leak and many complained of nausea, headaches, nosebleeds and other symptoms. Some who returned home after the leak was sealed said they continued to suffer from maladies.

SoCalGas said it was disappointed with the decision because it conflicts with independent scientific analysis and creates more uncertainty in the community.

The leak, which scientists said was the largest known methane release in U.S. history, uprooted 6,400 families.

The court case doesnt affect displaced residents who leased homes and apartments as late as April 30.

Related:

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics California
Having just come through the Super Tuesday's Presidential Primaries and all of the associated media coverage, it made me reflect on how candidates interact with their constituencies and the lessons insurers can learn.

I have been a New Hampshire resident all of my life, and one of the special privileges of living in this great state is being able to vote in the First-In-The-Nation Presidential Primary every four years. Of course, with that privilege comes some pretty aggressive campaigning. Robocall after robocall, commercial after commercial, canvasser after canvasser ... New Hampshire was inundated with candidates for several months until voting day came.

Our primary is over and the rest of the country is having its chance to weigh in and experience the campaigning. I cant help but apply the insights I got as a potential voter to the insurance industry, and more specifically, to customer demands and business practices.

First, it became clear that 20th century campaign tactics wont win elections in the 21st century. The rest of the nation saw how New Hampshire voted overwhelmingly for outsiders in both parties. Neither Sanders nor Trump has strong party affiliations with the Democrats or Republicans; they are considered outsiders. Voting party line is a thing of the past, and in New Hampshire, where voters can register as independents and vote in either partys primary, this is especially true. The same principle is true for insurance  20th century tactics wont work in the 21st century for our industry either. Customers have more information, more choices, and higher expectations than ever. Just like a New Hampshire voter, every potential insurance customer is an independent and can pick any P&C carrier that suits their unique needs and then leave them just as quickly if a better opportunity comes along. What keeps a customer loyal is new ideas, innovative approaches, and efficient and effective service. Couldnt the same be said for how voters respond to our political candidates?

Next, I witnessed some interesting data and analytics gathering during the campaign. My land-line phone rang off the hook for months with robocallers asking my opinions on various policy issues or my opinions on one candidate or another. However, I found it odd that many candidates did not ask basic demographic questions  how many phones I had, how many people lived in my house, how many people were of voting age  the basic demographic information that would have been helpful in targeting the message. For instance, most people no longer have land-lines in their homes. The candidates that used alternative forms of campaigning tended to do better in New Hampshire. The same is true for insurers: gathering data is great, but its the savvy application of the collected data that differentiates an insurer from the rest of the pack. New technologies are making it easier than ever for insurers to use data to their advantage. Now its time to embrace those technologies.

Finally, campaign spending. Isnt it interesting that the two candidates who won New Hampshire are funding their campaigns in non-traditional ways? It was clear that regardless of whether they were self-funded or funded by individual contributors, these candidates made strategic investment decisions to win the election. Insurers also need to look at their technology investments through a new lens, focusing on the technologies that will provide the most return or improve the most services.

Insurers should take a moment to imagine themselves as candidates in a race. Their goal is to be the best option to the greatest number of people. Then they will win. This means using innovative approaches, gathering and utilizing data for advantage, and making sound strategic investments. As in this Presidential election, anything seems to be on the table. And the sky is the limit in terms of new ways to reach the customer of today.

This blog entry has been republished with permission from SMA.

Readers are encouraged to respond using the Add Your Comments box below.

The opinions posted in this blog do not necessarily reflect those of Insurance Networking News or SourceMedia.
China reformed its financial administration system in 1994 to segregate the administration of state and local taxes.

Over the past 20 years, significant achievements have been made under this dual system in encouraging the central and local governments to take initiatives in establishing and enhancing the development of a socialist market economy.

However, when compared with the national requirements of social and economic development to support the transformation to a more modernised national governance, the tax collection and administrative mechanism is experiencing various challenges that must be addressed.

These include a lack of clear responsibilities, inconsistent enforcement, cumbersome tax processes, less than optimal scientific management of the tax environment, and inefficient organisational structures.

To implement the policy agenda as set out in the Decision on deepening several significant reforms by the Central Government of the Peoples Republic of China as well as the overall plan of reforming the finance and tax administration, this blue print paper is formulated to detail the roadmap for deepening the reform of the collection and administrative systems of state tax bureaus (STB) and local tax bureaus (LTB).

Overall requirements

Guiding principles

Measures should be developed to ensure the comprehensive implementation of the spirit as set by the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC,) and the second, third, fourth and fifth plenary sessions of the CPC Central Committee, incorporating the overall Deng Xiaoping Ideology, the important thoughts of Three Represents on scientific development, and thoroughly execute the reform requirements as delivered in a series of significant statements by Xi Jinping, the general secretary of the CPC. (The thought of three represents was firstly introduced by Chairman Jiang Zemin in the early 2000s, namely that the Party must always represent the development trend of China's advanced productive forces, the orientation of China's advanced culture and the fundamental interests of the majority of the Chinese people.)

Following the strategies formulated by the CPC and the State Council, it is important to uphold the principle of law, focus on reform and innovation and motivate the STB and LTB. This will help build upon their current advantages, promote the integration of services, provide for appropriate enforcement of the law and enhance and facilitate the sharing of information. In turn this will resolve major and deep-rooted issues in the current tax collection and administrative system and advance the modernisation of the system and its capacity. This will further strengthen the role of taxation as one of the pillars used to underpin public governance.

Reform objective

By 2020, a modern tax collection and administrative system will be established to meet the requirements of a modernised public governance system and allow for increased governance capacity. This will:

 reduce the cost of tax collection and compliance;

 increase the efficiency of tax administration;

 strengthen the awareness of tax compliance; and

 improve taxpayer satisfaction.

The end result is that the function of taxation can become more effective in facilitating healthy economic development as well as promoting justice and fairness in China.

Fundamental principles

 To rule in accordance with the law. Following this principle of To rule in accordance with the law, measures will be enacted to advance the reform by implementing statutory taxation principles, improving the legal system for tax collection and administration and standardising enforcement of tax.

 Improve services for taxpayers. It is important to promote a taxpayer-oriented culture and adhere to the serve the public principle. It is necessary to intensify the cooperation between the STB and the LTB, provide quality and efficient services to taxpayers, reduce the tax compliance burden of taxpayers and protect the legal rights of taxpayers so that they have a better sense of support and security.

 Enhance effective use of technology. With tax risk prevention as a guideline, modern information technology will be applied to change tax collection and administration methods, optimise resource allocation and accelerate the progress of modernisation, digitalisation and globalisation of tax collection and administration. This will improve the quality and efficiency of tax collection and administration.

 Enhance synergy and cooperation. Through focusing on constructing a friendly working environment, it is essential to coordinate tax departments and various stakeholders to achieve the synergy of joint governance to strengthen tax administration and comprehensive enforcement by leveraging the efforts of everyone involved.

 Systematic implementation. The reform will adopt a top-down approach that aligns with the progress of the overall reform of the finance and tax system. Actions would be taken to actively respond to the concerns of taxpayers and the general public. Consideration would be given to address different needs to implement the reform smoothly and steadily.

Ambition to create modern system of tax administration and collection by 2020. By Fredddie - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29176909

Major tasks

Streamline the division of responsibilities for tax collection and administration

During the process of strengthening the reform of the financial and tax system, it is important to clarify the division of responsibilities (for collection and administration of relevant taxes and local charges) between the STB and the LTB (or between local tax authorities and other authorities). Special attention should be paid to resolve the issues related to the overlapping of responsibilities between the STB and the LTB, as well as the unclear division of responsibilities for collection and administration of certain taxes and charges, in conjunction with the establishment and improvement of the local tax (or charge) revenue system.

1. Reasonably divide the responsibilities for tax collection and administration between the STB and the LTB. Central and local taxes will be collected by the STB and the LTB, respectively, while the responsibilities of collection and administration on shared taxes will be determined according to the nature of the taxes and the administrative convenience principle. Shared tax refers to taxes for which the related revenue are to be proportionately shared by the state and respective local governments.

The STB and the LTB may delegate the tasks of collecting relevant taxes to each other pursuant to the principle of reducing tax compliance costs and enhancing user-friendly tax payment mechanism.

2. Specify the responsibilities of the LTB for the collection and administration of governmental charges and funds. In light of the synergy of centralised collection of tax and local charges, based on the principle of administrative convenience and resource optimisation, various administrative charges and governmental funds (that is, non-tax revenue) that are suitable for tax authorities to collect on behalf of local governments will be collected by the LTB, to facilitate the establishment of a non-tax revenue regulatory framework to optimise the local tax (or charge) revenue system.

Innovative tax service payment mechanism

Pursuant to the requirement of accelerating the development of a service-oriented tax administration, with an aim to maximise, to the extent possible, user-friendly measures for taxpayers andstandardise operations of tax officers to resolve the issues of multiple submissions and high compliance costs for taxpayers.

3. Standardise tax administration. To provide services to taxpayers and standardise tax collection and administration, tax authorities are required to compile a list of tax enforcement rights and obligations which will be made available to the public. The STB and the LTB across the country will implement one service standard, one administrative procedure, and one rule for law enforcement to enable taxpayers to enjoy faster, more economical and standardised services.

4. Push forward tax compliance convenience reform. Tax authorities are required to implement the one-stop shop processing of all tax-related matters. By 2016, it is targeted that tax-related matters should be able to be lodged and completed with any tax bureau within the same province. By 2017, it is anticipated that enterprises with cross-region operations should be able to lodge and settle tax-related matters with any tax bureaus across the country. In addition, a number of tax service procedures will be improved including the Primary Desk Clerk Responsibility System, the practices of settle tax-related matters within the prescribed time frame, the practices with regards to allowing taxpayers to make appointments with tax bureaus for tax-related matters, notification letters with 2-dimensional bar codes, 24 hours self-services, the network connecting the tax authorities and commercial banks and tax-administration system for export tax refund to shorten the time taken for taxpayers to complete tax-related matters. This will reduce the time costs of taxpayers.

Tax filings will be reduced and combined on a reasonable basis. The one window (that is, a counter in the tax service hall) concept of services will be put in place to handle applications from taxpayers, where applicable. Upon receiving the application the cases will be passed to the relevant departments of the tax authorities and be completed within the prescribed time frame. The final notice will be returned to the taxpayer through the original application window. Online approvals will be promoted to enhance effectiveness and transparency.

Tax related information should be made available to taxpayers for inquiry about their tax payment status. Documents to be submitted by taxpayers will be further standardised and simplified so that tax related information can be collected by the STB and the LTB in one go and saved in the shared information system based on the identification code of the taxpayers. To the extent that the required data/information can be obtained through the shared information system, tax authorities will not request taxpayers to submit duplicated data/information. Paperless and form-free processes for tax related matters should be introduced to save the time and effort of taxpayers.

5. Standardise tax service cooperation. The STB and the LTB will endeavour to achieve service standardisation to enhance overall cooperation. The STB and the LTB will establish liaison counters in the tax service halls of the other counter-party bureau, or jointly set up the tax service halls, or co-locate the service counters in the public service centres of local governments. This ensures that tax related matters can be accepted at one counter, processed by the respective department of the STB and the LTB, while feedback can be provided to taxpayers within the prescribed time frame.

The existing nationwide 12366 tax service hotline will be further upgraded and by 2016 to handle taxpayers enquires, provide referencing services, make appointments with the tax authorities and handle certain tax related matters.

Under the internet plus taxation strategy, tax authorities are encouraged to establish e-tax offices to execute harmonised, consistent and unified procedures for all tax related matters, to ensure tax-related matters can be completed online by 2017.

The cross-region information sharing, reciprocal recognition and mutual cooperation between the STB and the LTB will be promoted and expanded.

Further innovation of tax services implemented in the pilot free trade zones will be rolled out to other regions to bring high quality, convenient, and consistent tax services to taxpayers.

6. Establish a mechanism to encourage compliance in good faith.Taxpayers with a good credential classification will be provided with a green fast-track channel for tax related processes, which will enable them to enjoy greater convenience in, for example, document submission, invoice applications and export tax refunds. Such taxpayers will be subject to fewer tax audits and even exemption from tax audits for a period of time, while an interactive cooperation mechanism between banks and tax authorities would be established to facilitate the development needs of such enterprise.

On the other hand, taxpayers/individuals that fall under the blacklist due to the violation of tax laws will be subject to stricter scrutiny by the tax authorities and other government authorities.

This will include working together with other governmental departments to set restrictions on certain high value consumption, restrictions on obtaining credit, prohibition from bidding for government procurement tenders, restrictions on acquiring land or obtaining financial subsidies from governments and restrictions on leaving the country.

With the above measures, Chinese tax authorities aim to provide greater convenience for good corporate citizens, but create barriers for those taxpayers that do not abide by the law.

7. Improve the tax service complaint mechanism. Protocols will be set up to collect feedback from taxpayers and other third party evaluation systems. The channel for taxpayers to lodge their complaints must not be blocked. Complaints regarding unlawful practices, inefficiency and service attitude should be dealt appropriately with and related persons should be penalized and feedback provided to taxpayers in a timely manner. The legitimate rights of taxpayers should be protected.

Transform the tax collection and administration approaches

It is crucial to transform tax collection and administration approaches to meet the requirement for streamlining governance with suitable delegation, combining monitoring with delegation, optimising taxpayer services and responding to the growing number of taxpayers and diversification and internationalisation of business operations.

This will improve tax efficiency and address issues such as lack of focus and effectiveness.

8. Strengthen ongoing and post-filing administration. The State Administration of Taxation (SAT) will continue to streamline and delegate the administrative approval authority to the lower level and encourage self-declaration by taxpayers. As such, the focus of tax administration will be shifted to post-filing inspections. Efforts will be made to improve the mechanism for filing for notification, invoice management and tax filing, with the relevant administrative measures to be announced in the near future to ensure proper tax administration and prevent the loss of tax revenue.

9. Implement tax administration according to taxpayer classifications and categorisation. Enterprises will be classified based on scales and industries, while individuals will be categorised and managed according to their level of income and assets. In 2016, the SAT and the provincial-level tax authorities will carry out tax risk analysis for selected industries, large-scale enterprises as well as high-income and high-net-worth individuals. Taxpayers will be divided into different categories, while cross-checks will be carried out to reconcile the tax returns with information sourced from third parties. Based on which various measures such as risk warnings, management reviews and evaluations, or even tax audits will be undertaken to prevent/address tax avoidance and evasion.

10. Escalate the level of large-scale enterprise administration. On the condition of localised management of basic tax matters (such as tax filing) and unchanged revenue allocation levels, large-scale enterprises with cross-region/border operations will be subject to centralised management and risk analysis by the SAT and the provincial-level tax authorities. The risks identified will be notified to the in-charge tax authorities for further handling.

11. Establish a tax administration system for individuals. Given that the proportion of direct tax and the number of individual taxpayers have increased gradually, it is important to establish a tax administrative system to facilitate the management of such taxpayers. In addition, the SAT and the provincial-level tax authorities will launch a centralised tax risk analysis for individual taxpayers. The risks identified will be notified to the in-charge tax authorities for further handling.

12. Deepen tax audit reform. Efforts should be made to build up the random tax audit mechanism and the case management system and rationalise the coverage of audit cases. Key tax source enterprises shall be subject to tax audits every five years. In 2016, targeted tax investigations will be conducted on taxpayers that are identified as high-risk taxpayers through the desktop review process, with the aim to increase accuracy and deterrence. Tax violations will be subject to stricter penalties in accordance with the prescribed tax laws and regulations. Enforcement will be further standardised and unlawful treatment will be prohibited.

Significant tax avoidance cases will be announced to the public on a regular basis to intimidate tax evasion behaviour.

The cooperation between tax authorities and the police will be strengthened to crack down on illegal tax activities.

The SAT will further deepen tax audit reform to ensure the independence of tax inspections and prevent the interference from third parties.

It is also contemplated to execute joint tax audits by the STB and the LTB by 2017 to avoid repetitive tax audits.

13. Fully implement electronic invoices. A new version of the VAT invoice system will be promoted and used in practice to improve tax invoice management. The online version of the tax invoice system for all industries will be implemented in 2016. The general ledger for invoices will be put into place which enables tax authorities to collect, store, verify and cross-check tax invoice information in real time to effectively prevent tax evasion and corruption acts from the source.

14. Expedite the construction of the new tax information system. Golden Tax III, a technologically advanced and well-functioning tax information system covering all taxes and various taxation procedures will be launched by 2016, while all tax-related data will be centralised at the SAT level by 2018. In addition, a tax collection and administration system for individuals will be launched in 2018, which will then be connected to the personal income and property information system. It is planned to advance the tax collection and administration system to an internationally leading position by 2020.

15. Leverage tax-related big data in public governance. Efforts will be made to further promote data standardisation and quality management, improve the tax reduction and exemption system and make full use of big data to enhance value-add applications. In this way it not only improves the effectiveness of tax collection and administration and tax services, but also better reflects the status of economic development in China. This could lay a foundation to facilitate the governments decision-making process in serving the society and formulating macroeconomic policies.

Proactively participate in international cooperation on tax matters

To adapt to the trend of global economic development and the requirements of building an open and new economic system in China, it is critical to foster the concept of big country taxation and carry out tax administration work with a global perspective.

China tax authorities will enhance their coordinated efforts in the administration of international tax matters to address the issues of inferior service and supervision of multinational companies, and insufficient influence in international tax matters.

16. Actively engage in the formulation of international tax rules. In conjunction with the G20 summit to be hosted by China, actions should be taken to further implement the tax reform measures proposed by the G20 and extensively participate in activities held by international tax organisations, such as the Forum on Tax Administration and the UN Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters. It is important for China to act not only as a participant but also as a leader to enhance its dialogue and influence in the international tax arena.

China will be focusing many of its international cooperation efforts during its G20 presidency in 2016

17. Continuously strengthen international tax cooperation. To build a new international tax relationship that cultivates a win-win situation, it is critical for China to further improve the cooperation and coordination mechanism with other jurisdictions, and enforce tax information exchange commitments according to the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters and the Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information. This will allow for an interactive and cooperative international tax network to be established. Actions will be taken to offer assistance to those developing countries and low-income countries in international tax matters, including provision of training and technical support so that the capacities of tax administration and collection in these countries can be improved.

18. Relentlessly crack down on international tax avoidance and evasion. China will actively boost international cooperation against tax avoidance and evasion through extensive involvement in the BEPS project. Furthermore, a cross-border transaction information sharing mechanism and a cross-border tax source monitoring mechanism will be put in place to better combat tax avoidance and evasion. It is planned to further promote joint audits to intensify anti-avoidance audits across the country. To prevent international tax avoidance and evasion, as well as to protect tax sovereignty, the SAT will establish an annual-profit monitoring mechanism for multinational companies based on industries, countries and regions.

19. Actively serve and support the open-up strategy. To push forward the One Belt, One Road strategy and support international cooperation on production capability and equipment manufacturing. Measures should be developed to speed up the negotiation, sign-off and modification of tax treaties, enhance foreign taxation advisory services to Chinese enterprises and build up the communication mechanisms with competent tax authorities from key countries/jurisdictions. This will help properly resolve tax disputes facing outbound Chinese enterprises.

Optimisation of the tax organisational structure

Following the progress of the modernisation of the tax administration system, it is necessary to further improve and optimise the organisational structure of the tax administration.

This will help resolve the mismatch between the organisational structure and resource allocation and the tax source.

20. Strengthen the leadership of the CPC within the tax administration. The party leadership team of the SAT must strengthen and improve the development of the partys infrastructure, political set-up, tax cultural development and leadership team development. The leaders should also guide the LTB on how to carry out political development activities. In the meantime, the leadership team of the SAT should coordinate with the provincial-level party committee and government to manage the provincial level LTBs, and reinforce the guidance on the LTBs business codes of conduct.

21. Optimise the roles and responsibilities of tax authorities at each level. The SAT should focus on the following aspects:

 design of taxation and administration system;

 definition of work standard;

 establishment of information platform and centralized data processing;

 centralised management of tax risks;

 management of large enterprises;

 cross-border taxation; and

 supervision of law enforcement.

The provincial level tax authorities are responsible for:

 improving data management;

 large enterprises taxation management;

 cross-border tax management; and

 taxation risk analysis and reporting.

Municipal level tax authorities should take up the responsibilities of streamlining the administrative protocol and strengthening the roles of first-line tax collection and services.

Municipal and county level LTBs should work on tax source management and risk management so as to better serve taxpayers.

22. Improve the organisational structure for tax inspections. Efforts should be put into place to strengthen the responsibilities and workforce for tax inspections. Tax authorities should actively explore the feasibility of establishing a cross-region tax inspection organisation, which will be in charge of tax investigations of major cases, providing guidance on the tax investigations across the country and coordinating the STBs and the LTBs on joint investigation cases.

23. Refine the organisational setup for internal audit and supervision. Efforts should be put in place to reinforce the responsibility and workforce of internal audit and supervision, and seek to establish a cross-region internal supervision organisation to improve independence and to form an effective internal supervision mechanism.

24. Explore possibilities to send tax officials abroad. Subject to tax administration needs, the SAT should explore the possibility of sending tax officials to embassies and global organisations in countries such as major market economy countries, and key destination countries of outbound Chinese enterprises. These tax officials will be primarily responsible for enhancing global cooperation of tax matters, solving tax disputes, collecting tax related information and providing overseas tax services to outbound Chinese enterprises.

25. Rationalise resource allocation. Following the principle of simplicity and efficiency Chinese tax authorities should optimise the staffing structure of tax bureaus and improve the utilisation and efficiency of staff quotas. Measures should be taken to develop an optimal human resource system that matches the tax administrative duties of the STB and the LTB and also meet the requirements for better tax governance capability. In particular, the human resource allocation mechanism should prioritise the human resource allocated to the first line of tax levy and collection.

With regards to those jurisdictions with a relatively limited tax revenue source, o provide convenience for the taxpayers and to realise centralised tax collection, the relevant work forces could be consolidated.

Moreover, efforts need to be made to standardise the administrative mechanism of the State Treasury on the management of the STB expenditures, as well as to improve the support mechanism from local Treasury to the expenditure of the LTB system.

26. Strengthen the professional competency of tax officials. The SAT will implement education and training programmes for further development of taxation and roll out the Future Elite Leadership talent programme to cultivate future tax leaders. The administration should further promote performance management by reinforcing the performance evaluation of tax officials on a regular basis, as well as improving the digital management system in a routine, cumulative and comparable manner. It is also necessary to increase the frequency of staff rotation among the STB and the LTB, and other departments. According to the relevant regulations of CPC, the system of parallel alignment of public servant position with duty needs to be implemented. Within the authorised organisational structure and salary budget, the SAT is considering appointing external talent for those positions requiring professional expertise, to resolve the issue of a shortage of professional talents.

Upgrading tax officials skills and education will be an important part of the reform.

27. Ensure the responsibility and oversight of the party's anti-corruption initiative is properly executed. It is necessary to specify that the main responsibility for the anti-corruption initiatives is on the leadership team of the party under the STB system, and the oversight responsibility is on the discipline inspection organisations. Further clarity will be added in terms of the responsibility of each leadership team to enhance the responsibility consciousness, provide the detailed requirements, increase accountability, and optimise the mechanism of the discipline inspection system. It is planned to comprehensively move forward with the information technology infrastructure construction of the internal control mechanism. In 2016, the internal control systems and relevant requirements will be embedded into the tax levying and collection software and financial management software, to reduce corruption risk and law enforcement risk to the extent possible, and to ensure tax officials handle tax affairs ethically.

Establish a joint governance mechanism for tax administration

The SAT aims to establish and further perfect the taxation administration system under the leadership of the party and the government, have closer cooperation with different departments of the government and participation of the public. The purpose is to resolve problems such as an inferior tax environment and weak consciousness of tax compliance.

28. Promote tax information sharing. Efforts will be made to expedite the revision and implementation of the Tax Collection and Administration Law to provide the standardised procedures for tax information submission and define the legal obligations of relevant parties. A unified and standardised information exchange platform and information sharing mechanism will be established to ensure both the STB and the LTB have real-time access to third-party tax related information, which can help to resolve the issue of asymmetric information between tax authorities and taxpayers.

It is also planned to establish a mechanism to provide tax information externally to ensure that various related departments can obtain and use tax information in a timely manner, which is expected to strengthen social management and public services. It is also contemplated that a comprehensive record of taxpayer credit information system will be established and incorporated into a unified credit information sharing platform. This will be open to the public pursuant to relevant regulations and laws and to demonstrate the fundamental role of a tax credit in the social credit system.

29. Expand cross-departmental cooperation. By taking advantage of the reform of simplifying a companys registration procedures, that is, combining three certificates into one, one licence and one code, tax authorities are encouraged to expand the scope and area of cooperation among relevant departments to achieve information sharing, mutual management and mutual credit recognition. Initiatives are being taken to explore the possibility of governments purchasing tax services from external professional tax agencies to optimise and improve the efficiency of tax collection and administration and the quality of tax services.

30. Improve the tax judicial safeguard mechanism. Justice departments should provide support for tax authorities to ensure that the tax laws can be properly implemented. Public security departments should increase the investigation of tax related criminal cases, improve the liaison mechanism in which the Ministry of Public Security would dispatch personnel to the SAT and guide the public security departments at all levels to undertake tax criminal case investigation activities. It is necessary to improve the knowledge of the tax trial team and maintain a relatively stable team (including the judicial officers and collegial panel) to handle tax cases. It is necessary to promote the implementation of tax counsel and a public tax lawyer mechanism.

31. Strengthen tax law education. The tax laws should be regarded as an important part of the national law popularisation education scheme. Tax law education should be included in the national education curriculum to promote tax law education for the younger generation. It is also suggested to carry out tax information events on a regular basis to enhance the publics awareness of tax laws.

Organising the implementation

Deepening the reform of the STB and the LTB tax collection and administrative system is a systematic project which has to be implemented and moved forward under the uniform leadership of the Central Committee of the CPC and the State Council.

(I) Enhance awareness. Departments at various levels should operate at a strategic level to improve the national governing system and modernisation of governance ability to effectively strengthen the sense of responsibility and mission, and work diligently to ensure the effective implementation of the reform.

(II) Improve organisational coordination. Party committees and governments at all levels need to establish and refine the leadership mechanism to deepen the reform of the STB and the LTB tax levying system and to specify and clarify each partys responsibility. The tax departments have to strengthen organisational coordination with regards to developing a concrete work plan, implementation and monitoring the actual execution. Those related departments need to provide supporting measures according to the defined responsibilities.

(III) Smooth the progressive implementation. In combination with the progress of the finance and tax system reform, the SAT will specify the road map and timelines of the reform to ensure the completion of key tasks in 2016, and realise full implementation of all reform measures by the end of 2017. The key milestones are illustrated below:

a) In 2015 to the first half of 2016: comprehensive pilot reform in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Henan and Chongqing, and specific pilot reform in Beijing, Hubei, Guangdong, Shanxi, Ningxia and Shenzhen.

b) In the second half of 2016: based on the experience gained from the pilot reforms, expanding the pilot reform area to cover the whole nation.

c) In 2017: summarising implementation experience in the second half of 2016 and refine concrete implementation measures to ensure the general completion of the reform by the end of 2017.

Significant problems encountered during the implementation process should be reported to the Central Committee of CPC and the State Council.

Strengthen public interaction

It is important to emphasise and improve publicity work, providing timely feedback to public opinions and appropriately managing public expectations.

This helps to achieve consensus and is conducive to creating a good environment for deepening the reform of the STB and the LTB tax collection and administrative system.

Translation provided by State Administration of Taxation
North Korean and South Korean Economies: An Overview

South Korea and North Korea took dramatically different paths following the end of fighting in the Korean War in 1953. When it comes to their economies and living standards, they could hardly be more different.

The two Koreas are separated by the demilitarized zone, a four-kilometer wide strip running along the 38th parallel which splits the Korean peninsula roughly in half. To the south of the DMZ, South Korea operates one of the world's most advanced economies, while to the north its neighbor is a military dictatorship that keeps a tight fist on the economy. The North continues to face challenges in food and nutrition among other difficulties.

Key Takeaways North Korea's economy is isolated and tightly controlled. It is generally unable to meet the basic needs of its people.  

 Economists find it difficult to analyze the North Korean economy because data is either non-existent, unreliable, or outdated.

South Korea's economy is one of the world's most advanced and productive, ranking 12th globally in terms of annual output.  

 South Korea's economic growth depends heavily on exports, and the nation leads the world in shipments of semiconductors and memory chips.  

North Korean Economy

Long dominated by the Kim dynasty, North Korea is one of the most isolated countries in the world. Kim Jong-un's military dictatorship keeps tight control of the economy, including almost all aspects of production and distribution.

The Kim family has long prioritized its own political survivaland, relatedly, its ambition to develop nuclear weaponsover the nation's economic development. Because North Korea is so isolatedpartly because of international sanctions over its nuclear programand what little data the government releases isn't considered reliable, not much is known for sure about its annual economic output.

In 2015, the CIA estimated that the country's GDP was approximately $40 billion.

Lacking the Basics

With the exception of a short period in the 1960s, when its economy briefly eclipsed that of its southern neighbor, North Korea has been generally unable to meet the needs of its people. North Korea's economy suffered a devastating recession in the 1990s, when it shrank by nearly a third, and starvation is thought to have claimed the lives of several hundred thousand people.

Things have improved but deprivation is still common. According to the World Bank, more than half of North Koreans lacked access to electricity in 2017, while recently installed Chinese generators supply more than a third of the electricity in the nation's capital, Pyongyang.

Help From China, Other Nations

The North Korean regime espouses the doctrine of Juche, or self-reliance, but the state regularly receives aid and assistance from international bodies like the United Nations, along with a handful of countries. It relies heavily on China, its biggest supporter, for economic and diplomatic assistance.

Small Steps Toward Liberalization

The North Korean government has allowed small-scale free-market activities in recent years, giving rise to a growing middle class of traders and small entrepreneurs. It has also been reported that Kim is seeking to take further steps to develop and reform the economy.

Any path forward in developing North Korea's economy is likely to begin with exploiting its natural resources, estimated to be worth trillions of dollars. This is one reason why neighboring countries like China and Russia are enthusiastic about investing in North Korea, particularly its dysfunctional transportation network.

South Korea's "Miracle" Economy

South Korea's economic transformation since the Korean War has been dubbed the "Miracle on the Han River." Once wracked by poverty and political chaos, South Korea has joined the "trillion dollar club" of the world's leading economies, and enjoys membership in the Group of 20.

South Korea now has the world's 12th largest economy in terms of gross domestic product, and is home to some of the world's most iconic brands, including Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motors. It is the world's top exporter of semiconductors (although it is facing increasing competition from China) and memory chips and one of the world's top car exporters.

While North Korea's trade with the outside world has almost totally ceased, South Korea has become one of the world's most important exporters.

Challenges for South Korea

A robust democracy, South Korea ranks high in economic freedom, although the government still plays a role in developing industrial strategy. The nation depends heavily on exports, which account for about 40% of GDP. So any slump in world trade usually hits the country hard. In recent years, South Korean policymakers have stressed the need to develop alternative growth strategies, including by strengthening domestic demand, but little progress has been made so far.

Growth in South Korea has been slowing and is expected to slow furthersomething most advanced economies experience. According to the CIA Factbook, growth past 2018 is expected to be in the range of 2% to 3% annually. The country is also struggling with socio-economic issues including youth unemployment, poverty among its elderly, and unfavorable demographics.
Investment Banking vs. Investment Management: An Overview

Plenty of undergraduate finance majors and master of business administration (MBA) students consider pursuing a career in investment banking or investment management, two intensely competitive fields in the finance industry, after receiving their degrees. These professions offer some of the highest starting salaries in the field, and there's plenty of room for growth for those who are talented and ambitious enough to land one of these spots.

If you take away all of the industry terminologies and boil these jobs down to their basic elements, investment bankers and investment managers (sometimes called asset managers or fund managers in the U.K.) are primarily responsible for channeling money from investors to companies that need capital. Some of the top experts in the investment world can be found in these positions.

Investment management is all about investment decisions and asset allocation. This means coming up with investment strategies and directing funds to property, equities, or debt securities on behalf of clients. Investment bankers, by contrast, are deal-makers. They work as high-level consultants and analysts for large companies to help with capital raising strategies.

Key Takeaways Investment managers help clients by managing their money. Clients can include individuals, educational institutions, insurance companies, and pension funds.

Investment managers perform financial analysis, portfolio allocation between bonds and stocks, equity research, and issue buy and sell recommendations.

Investment bankers help with corporate finance needs, such as raising funds or capital. Companies and governments hire investment bankers to facilitate mergers and acquisitions as well as IPOs, and new debt issuance such as a bond offering.

Investment Management

Investment managers help clients reach their investment goals by managing their money. Clients of investment managers can include individual investors as well as institutional investors such as educational institutions, insurance companies, pension funds, retirement plans, and governments. Investment managers can work with equities, bonds, and commodities, including precious metals like gold and silver.

Investment managers can have varied roles and responsibilities, depending on the firm, which can include:

Financial statement analysis

Portfolio allocation such as a proper mix of bonds and stocks

Equity research and buy and sell recommendations

Financial planning and advising

Estate and retirement planning as well as asset distribution

Investment Banking

Investment bankers help with corporate finance needs, such as raising funds or capital. Companies and governments hire investment bankers to facilitate complicated financial transactions, including:

Debt issuance such as a bond offering

New securities underwriting

Mergers and acquisitions

Initial public offerings (IPOs)

Investment banking can involve equity and security research and making buy, sell, and hold recommendations. Investment banking firms are also market makers, which provide liquidity or connect buyers and sellers to "make" the market.

Almost every investment banker starts out as an associate or analyst and hopes to put in enough years to reach a role as a vice president or managing director.

Special Considerations

Education and Skills

Competition for both careers is notoriously stiff. Investment banking firms are usually only interested in candidates who have graduated from top schools and who have worked previously with major corporate players. It's virtually impossible to find an investment banking associate position without an MBA and strong recommendations from respected professionals in the field. Investment management positions aren't quite as crowded by top applicants, but it's still very difficult to break into major firms.

Networking is very important and sometimes matters more than experience or academic bona fides. Many firms use internships as extensive application processes; in fact, some investment management and banking internships are more competitive than entry-level positions for corporate finance or research analyst positions.

Undergraduate degrees are preferred in business disciplines, such as finance, economics, accounting, or investment analysis, although degrees from other fields are considered. Some banks look for demonstrated analytical proficiency in specific sectors, like healthcare or pharmaceuticals.

Firms are generally looking a strong combination of the following skills and characteristics:

Strong written and verbal communication skills

Analytical and problem-solving skills

Demonstrated independence and responsibility

Responsiveness and attention to detail

Negotiation and client management skills

Knowledge of investments, corporate finance and business negotiations (practical commercial expertise)

Advanced mathematical and technical skills

An ambitious, eager, get-it-done attitude

Salary

Investment banking and investment management jobs have attractive salaries and bonuses. Even the lowest-level investment banking analyst at a smaller firm can expect a first-year salary of $65,000 to $95,000 and a hefty signing bonus.

The average base pay for investment managers is $95,829 with salaries that can be as high as $180,000, according to glassdoor.com. Additional compensation averages $14,900, which includes commissions and bonuses.

The average base pay for investment bankers is $119,110 with salaries that can be as high as $235,000, according to glassdoor.com. Investment banking analysts make anywhere from $73,000 to 108,000.

Work-Life Balance

High-level investment jobs are highly concentrated in New York, London, and Tokyo. Even though there is some evidence of geographical shifts as the 21st century marches forward, it is still probable that a career in investment banking or investment management means moving to one of these three global financial hubs.

Workloads for investment managers vary. Those employed by mutual funds or hedge funds work when the stock market opens and closes. This can be a relatively short time if the firm is only active in one market, but those active in all three major exchanges can have very irregular. Private equity firms average much longer workdays, sometimes as many as 65 to 70 hours per week.

Investment bankers sometimes joke that they enjoy a nice "work-work" balance. Very few careers demand as much time and energy as investment banking; it's not uncommon to work 12- to 14-hour days for six or seven days a week. Despite the high salary and prestige afforded to an associate or analyst, many burn out and suffer physically and emotionally after a few years on the job. These roles are for career-minded people who may have little time for relaxing on weekends and spending time with family.

Occupational Outlook

These are very prestigious careers with huge salaries, so competition should remain very high for the foreseeable future. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that financial jobs such as analysts, bankers, and financial managers will experience 15% job growth between 2019 and 2029.

In all likelihood, a prospective banker or manager must decide on a firm-by-firm basis. Pay structures and workloads can vary, and the choice may hinge on the specifics of the role and the career goals of the individual.
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.
Google is one of the most valuable public companies in the world, after Amazon and Apple. In 2020, Google's parent company Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) became the fourth U.S. company ever to reach a $1 trillion market value.

Unlike companies such as Apple's reliance on more singular business lines like the iPhone to drive revenue, Google has multiple major business lines providing streams of income. Many of Google's revenue sources have experienced tremendous growth over the years.

Key Takeaways Google is a major tech company, with a market cap approaching $2 trillion.

It has created (or acquired) a number of successful brands and businesses over the years, including AdWords, AdSense, Google Fiber, and Nest.

Ad revenue continues to be key revenue driver for Google, accounting for 80% of revenues last year.

Google has an entire segment called "other bets," which includes its autonomous vehicle ventures and Pixel line of phones.

Over the last five years (ending July 2021), Google's stock price has generated an annualized return of 2.1.2%

1. Google AdWords and Search Advertising

The company's proprietary advertising service, Google AdWords, continues to be a major business line and contributor to Google's revenue. In 2020, Google's paid clicks, a key advertising measure, rose 19% from the previous yeardriven by user adoption growth on mobile devices and growth in advertiser activity.

The number of impressions increased from 2019 to 2020 by 15%. This comes from growth in Google Ad Manager. Meanwhile, cost-per-impressions fell by 8% in 2020. The fall in cost-per-impressions was a result of less advertising spending due to COVID-19.

2. Google AdSense Network

Google AdSense is another one of Google's most well-known lines of business. Google AdWords enables businesses of all sizes to advertise across Google's websitesincluding Gmail, YouTube, and Google's search engineand also enables third-party websites to display Google advertising on their pages.

Ads generate 80% of Google's revenues. Through its AdWords and AdSense advertising products, Google also seeks to continue its dominance on the mobile web.

3. Google Fiber

First announced in 2010, Google Fiber is a broadband service offering high-speed gigabit Internet and TV at rates up to 1000 Mbps. Currently, Google Fiber is available and operating in 19 cities, including Kansas City, Mo., and Austin, Texas.

At the time during the 2015 Q4 conference call, Porat indicated Fiber was the most costly project out of all of Google's other projects. Google's Fiber Phone, which operates as both a home and mobile phone, can also be added to a phone plan.

4. Google Nest

The Nest Learning Thermostat was one of the first Internet of Things products for homes to gain a wider audience. On Jan. 14, 2014, Google acquired the startup Nest Labs, a home service of smart interconnected thermostats and smoke detectors, for $3.2 billion.

At the time of the acquisition, Nest Founder and CEO Tony Fadell claimed that Nest devices were in over one million homes. Under Google, Nest continues to focus on thermometers and other smart home technologies.

5. Verily Life Sciences

Formerly known as Google Life Sciences, Verily focuses on a wide range of life science and human health projects, including a bandage-sized glucose monitor and a perfect "baseline" of human health. Verily is focused on finding solutions to diseases and other global health problems, including smart contact lenses, assistive eating devices for people with hand disabilities, and other healthcare challenges.

Google's Other Bets

One of the main challenges of identifying Google's major non-search lines of revenue is the secrecy around those projects. Waymo self-driving cars have sprung out of X.

However, Google's other projects had operating losses of $3.56 billion, up from $1.9 billion in 2014. During its Jan. 26, 2017, earnings call, Alphabet and Google CFO Ruth Porat indicated the most profitable of Google's other projects are Fiber, Nest, and Verily.

For fiscal year 2020, Google's "other bets" generated $657 million in revenue, but operating losses came in at $4.5 billion.

The Bottom Line

Fueled by the high profitability of its AdWords and AdSense products, Google stands as one of the five most valuable companies in the world. From July 2015 to July 2021, Google provided an annual return of 21.2% to its investors.

Despite some investors' perspectives that Google's other projects are driving down the profitability of the company, its diversification of major business lines continues to take the company to reach new financial milestones.
If you lend money to someone with a less-than-perfect borrowing track record, youll want a guarantee that youll get repaid. That is the underlying principle behind mortgage insurance. Although it protects lenders from loss, you may consider it a nuisance. After all, it is another cost you have to shoulder to realize your dream of becoming a homeowner. Still, if it didnt exist, lots of people probably wouldnt qualify for loans at all until they had higher down payments.

Many people find paying mortgage insurance premiums a better option than waiting several years until they have a high enough down payment to avoid it. While there are many different kinds of mortgage insurance, this article looks at the basics of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage insurance.

Key Takeaways FHA mortgage insurance protects lenders from losses that result from default.

Borrowers with an FHA loan must purchase FHA mortgage insurance.

Those getting a mortgage must pay an up-front mortgage insurance premium of 1.75% plus annual premiums.

Both premiums are based on the loans value.

The length of time you must pay for FHA mortgage insurance depends on your amortization period and your loan-to-value ratio.

FHA Mortgage Insurance: An Overview

FHA loans are attractive to many consumers, especially first-time homebuyers. Thats because they have a lower down payment requirement3.5%as well as lower thresholds for income and credit. That means someone with a credit score as low as 580 may qualify. And someone with a credit score between 500 and 579 can still qualify with a 10% down payment.

All FHA loans require borrowers to take out mortgage insurance. FHA mortgage insurance protects the lender because borrowersparticularly new onespose a higher risk of default when they have minimal equity in their homes. In essence, they may not have that much to lose by walking away and letting the bank foreclose on the property.

The FHA requires two types of mortgage insurance on its loans. Borrowers must pay up-front mortgage insurance (UFMI)1.75% of the loan balancealong with annual mortgage insurance premiums (MIPs) based on the total value of the loan. Annual MIPs range from 0.8% to 0.85% for base loan amounts of $625,500 or less. For those exceeding this amount, the annual MIPs vary between 1% and 1.05%. These rates apply to loan terms of more than 15 years. Mortgages that are financed for 15 years or less come with rates of 0.45% to 0.95%.

Example of FHA Mortgage Insurance

To demonstrate, heres how much youd pay in FHA mortgage insurance with a $300,000 loan:

Mortgage Amount: $300,000

$300,000 Down Payment: $10,500 (3.5% of $300,000)

$10,500 (3.5% of $300,000) Loan Amount: $289,500

$289,500 UFMI: $5,066.25

$5,066.25 Annual MIP: $2,460.75 each year ($205.06 per month)

Keep in mind that this scenario assumes that you pay the UFMI right off the bat. In actuality, you do have the option of rolling the amount into your total mortgage amount. Nevertheless, its a good idea to pay it in full at the beginning if you can afford to do so. If you do decide to include it in your loan, youll pay more in the long run. Not only does it increase your loan amount; it also increases your annual mortgage insurance premium payment.

FHA Mortgage Insurance Terms

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) website, the length of time FHA mortgage insurance premiums must be paid vary based on the amount and length of the mortgage. A loan-to-value ratio (LTV ratio) equal to or less than 90% requires mortgage insurance for 11 years.

When you first start paying your mortgage, you're at a higher risk of default, so your premiums will be higher. Thats because, as mentioned above, you dont have much equity built into your home, so you only lose the $10,500 down payment if you default in the first year on that $300,000 home. Your premium payments decrease the longer you pay your mortgage. Youll be less likely to want to leave your house and default on your loan later on.

Avoiding or Getting Rid of FHA Mortgage Insurance

Because FHA mortgage insurance adds a significant expense to the cost of homeownership, youre probably wondering if theres anything you can do to reduce or avoid it, as well as at what point you are allowed to get rid of it.

The easiest way to avoid mortgage insurance is to put down 20%. You can do this by waiting to buy until youve saved more or by purchasing a less-expensive property. Of course, if youre looking at an FHA loan with 3.5% down, youre probably walking a fine line between being able to afford any mortgage at all and having to keep renting.

If home prices significantly appreciate after you buy, you may be able to refinance your way out of mortgage insurance. For this to work, your homes value will need to appreciate enough to give you 22% equity in the house. If you cant refinance to increase your LTV ratio, consider paying down your principal balance. Not only will this help you get rid of mortgage insurance more quickly; it will also help you pay your house off faster. That reduces the amount of interest youll pay over the long run. If you take this route, you will need to contact your lender to get your mortgage insurance canceled.

Some lenders may offer special loan programs that dont require monthly mortgage insurance premium payments, despite allowing a small down payment. That makes it vital to shop around.

Your lender is supposed to automatically drop mortgage insurance when you hit the appropriate loan-to-value ratio of 22%.

FHA vs. Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI)

There is an alternative to FHA mortgage insurance: private mortgage insurance (PMI). You may be required to buy PMI as a condition if you have a conventional mortgage. As suggested by the name, it is provided by a private insurance company and arranged by the lender. Just like FHA mortgage insurance, PMI protects the lender, not the borrower.

You must purchase PMI if your down payment is less than 20% of the total loan. Many lenders also require PMI when you refinance your mortgage with a conventional loan and the equity is less than 20% of the property value. However, theres a big difference between FHA mortgage insurance and PMI: Not all lenders require an upfront mortgage insurance payment.

PMI can cost anywhere between 0.2% to 2% of the total loan value annually, so a mortgage of $200,000 will cost you as much as $4,000 more each year at the maximum rate of 2%. Of course, your rate depends on your credit scorethe better your credit, the lower the rate. If your credit score is lower, you will need a larger down payment before youre offered any type of insurance.

FHA mortgage insurance requires a minimum credit score of 580 to be eligible for a 3.5% down payment. However, most private lenders require a credit score of at least 620, which still allows you to buy a home sooner. If you have to have mortgage insurance, the FHA kind can be the lesser of two evils.

Mortgage lending discrimination is illegal. If you think you've been discriminated against based on race, religion, sex, marital status, use of public assistance, national origin, disability, or age, there are steps you can take. One such step is to file a report with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau or HUD.

Know that there has been considerable discussion about the impact of redlining and other forms of discrimination in the private mortgage insurance industry. Although many private mortgage insurers do not discriminate, be aware that it can happen and report it promptly.

What Is Up-Front Mortgage Insurance (UFMI)? UFMI is a one-time payment of 1.75% of the FHA loan amount that is usually made at the start of a mortgage. The amount can be rolled into the mortgage amount instead of being paid up front, but that will result in you paying more money over time for your mortgage.

What Are Annual Mortgage Insurance Premiums (MIPs)? MIPs are paid once a year and are based on the total value of the FHA loan as well as its term. This is in addition to paying UFMI.

What Is Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI)? PMI is required for mortgages where the down payment is less than 20% of the purchase price. It can cost anywhere between 0.2% and 2% of the loan amount and is generally more expensive than the mortgage insurance paid on FHA loans.

When Does Paying Mortgage Insurance End? When your loan-to-value ratio hits 22%, a lender is required to stop charging mortgage insurance automatically. When it hits 20%, you can request that it be dropped.

The Bottom Line

When considering an FHA loan with a small down payment, think about whether the UFMI and the monthly MIPs are worth it to get a house sooner. Its hard to calculate, because you cant predict what housing prices will be when you have more money for a down payment later. It may be best to decide on a psychological basis whether you are comfortable with paying the extra money required for mortgage insurance.
Employee compensation is a major expenditure for most corporations; therefore, many firms find it easier to pay at least a portion of it in the form of stock. This type of compensation has two advantages: It reduces the amount of cash that employers must dole out, and also serves as an incentive for employee productivity.

There are many types of stock compensation, and each has its own set of rules and regulations. Executives that receive stock options face a special set of rules that restrict the circumstances under which they may exercise and sell them. This article will examine the nature of restricted stock and restricted stock units (RSUs) and how they are taxed.

1:57 How Restricted Stocks and RSUs Are Taxed

What Is Restricted Stock?

Restricted stock is, by definition, a stock that has been granted to an executive that is nontransferable and subject to forfeiture under certain conditions, such as termination of employment or failure to meet either corporate or personal performance benchmarks. The restricted stock also generally becomes available to the recipient under a graded vesting schedule that lasts for several years.

Although there are some exceptions, most-restricted stock is granted to executives who are considered to have "insider" knowledge of a corporation, thus making it subject to the insider trading regulations under SEC Rule 144. Failure to adhere to these regulations can also result in forfeiture. Restricted stockholders have voting rights, the same as any other type of shareholder. Restricted stock grants have become more popular since the mid-2000s when companies were required to expense stock option grants.

What Are Restricted Stock Units?

RSUs resemble restricted stock options conceptually but differ in some key respects. RSUs represent an unsecured promise by the employer to grant a set number of shares of stock to the employee upon the completion of the vesting schedule. Some types of plans allow for a cash payment to be made in lieu of the stock, but most plans mandate that actual shares of the stock are to be issuedthough not until the underlying covenants are met.

Therefore, the shares of stock cannot be delivered until vesting and forfeiture requirements have been satisfied and release is granted. Some RSU plans allow the employee to decide within certain limits exactly when to receive the shares, which can assist in tax planning. However, unlike standard restricted stockholders, RSU participants have no voting rights on the stock during the vesting period, because no stock has actually been issued. The rules of each plan determine whether RSU holders receive dividend equivalents.

How Is Restricted Stock Taxed?

Restricted stock and RSUs are taxed differently than other kinds of stock options, such as statutory or non-statutory employee stock purchase plans (ESPPs). Those plans generally have tax consequences at the date of exercise or sale, whereas restricted stock usually becomes taxable upon the completion of the vesting schedule. For restricted stock plans, the entire amount of the vested stock must be counted as ordinary income in the year of vesting.

The amount that must be declared is determined by subtracting the original purchase or exercise price of the stock (which may be zero) from the fair market value of the stock as of the date that the stock becomes fully vested. The difference must be reported by the shareholder as ordinary income. However, if the shareholder does not sell the stock at vesting and sells it at a later time, any difference between the sale price and the fair market value on the date of vesting is reported as a capital gain or loss.

Section 83(b) Election

Shareholders of restricted stock are allowed to report the fair market value of their shares as ordinary income on the date that they are granted, instead of when they become vested if they so desire. The capital gains treatment still applies, but it begins at the time of grant. This election can greatly reduce the amount of taxes that are paid upon the plan because the stock price at the time the shares are granted is often much lower than at the time of vesting. The strategy can be especially useful when longer periods of time exist between when shares are granted and when they vest (five years or more).

Example: Reporting Restricted Stock

Sam and Alex are both key executives in a large corporation. They each receive restricted stock grants of 10,000 shares for zero dollars. The company stock is trading at $20 per share on the grant date. Sam decides to declare the stock at vesting while Alex elects for Section 83(b) treatment. Therefore, Sam declares nothing in the year of grant while Alex must report $200,000 as ordinary income.

Five years later, on the date the stock becomes fully vested, the stock is trading at $90 per share. Sam will have to report a whopping $900,000 of the stock balance as ordinary income in the year of vesting, while Alex reports nothing unless the shares are sold, which would then be eligible for capital gains treatment. Therefore, Alex pays a lower rate on the majority of the proceeds, while Sam must pay the highest rate possible on the entire gain realized during the vesting period.

Unfortunately, there is a substantial risk of forfeiture associated with the Section 83(b) election that goes above and beyond the standard forfeiture risks inherent in all restricted stock plans. If Alex should leave the company before the plan becomes vested, all rights to the entire stock balance could be relinquished, even though the $200,000 of stock granted had been declared as income. Alex will not be able to recover the taxes paid as a result of this election. Some plans also require the employee to pay for at least a portion of the stock at the grant date, and this amount can be reported as a capital loss under these circumstances.

Taxation of RSUs

The taxation of RSUs is a bit simpler than for standard restricted stock plans. Because there is no actual stock issued at grant, no Section 83(b) election is permitted. This means that there is only one date in the life of the plan on which the value of the stock can be declared. The amount reported will equal the fair market value of the stock on the date of vesting, which is also the date of delivery in this case. Therefore, the value of the stock is reported as ordinary income in the year the stock becomes vested.

The Bottom Line

There are many different kinds of restricted stock, and the tax and forfeiture rules associated with them can be very complex. This article only covers the highlights and should not be construed as tax advice. For that, consult your accountant or financial advisor.
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Press Release

Few highlights in year of mixed results for womens participation in parliament

Geneva, 4 March 2016

An increase in the number of women Speakers of Parliament during 2015 and some regional successes were among the few highlights in what proved to be yet another disappointing year for womens participation in parliament, says the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

IPUs Women in Parliament 2015: the Year in Review released ahead of International Womens Day on 8 March, showed that for the second year in a row, the number of women Members of Parliament (MPs) across the world rose by a worryingly low 0.5 percentage point. Women now account for 22.6 per cent of the worlds MPs.

Although this figure is an all-time high and represents the continued upward trend for women in parliament, the rate of progress in 2015 was another setback from the 1.5 percentage point increase witnessed in 2013. That leap forward had raised hopes that if such a level of progress could be sustained, gender parity in parliament could be achieved within a generation.

With the percentage of women MPs in the world growing by just 6.4 points in the past 10 years, the snail-pace of 2015 has done little to inspire confidence that the trend will change any time soon.

The world has set new goals on gender equality and womens full and equal participation at all levels of decision-making within 15 years. IPUs 2015 statistics on women in parliament underline the urgent need for creative solutions and changing mindsets if there is any chance of meeting goals on political participation and empowerment, says IPU Secretary General Martin Chungong.

The low increase among women MPs is in sharp contrast to the relatively more positive development concerning women parliamentary leaders. The number of women Speakers of Parliament jumped from 43 to 49 (out of the 273 posts globally). Women now account for 17.9 per cent of all Speakers.

This 2.1 percentage point increase from 2014 figures means that the number of women Speakers is also at a record high. History was made in Namibia and Nepal, whose parliaments now have their first ever woman Speaker. It was made in the United Arab Emirates too, where the first woman Speaker of the Federal National Council also became the first woman Speaker in the Arab world.

As parliamentary leaders are among the most powerful political figures in their countries, women Speakers are not only critical role models and mentors for other women MPs, they are also vital to changing mindsets on delivering change.

egional highlights

In a year where parliamentary elections took place in 58 countries, some regions did better than others and a few individual countries made dramatic progress.

The Americas, which has consistently held the highest regional average for women in parliament, once again bucked the global trend. Larger numbers of women candidates or their placement higher up on electoral lists, as well as the implementation of quotas or gender parity laws saw the Americas increase its regional average for women MPs by 0.8 percentage point. Women now account for 27.2 per cent of all MPs in the region.

In sub-Saharan Africa, where violence and conflict marred elections in a number of countries, women MPs nevertheless increased their numbers by 0.7 percentage point. With a regional average of 23.2 per cent women MPs, strongest electoral gains were made in Ethiopia and Tanzania, due mainly to quotas.

In Europe, voluntary quotas adopted by political parties in the United Kingdom or an equality law in Spain saw national milestones reached in both countries with the highest ever number of women MPs elected. Overall, Europes regional average increased by 0.4 percentage point to 25.4 per cent for women MPs.

The Arab world continued to move forward on womens political participation, increasing its regional average by 0.3 percentage point to 17.5 per cent. A new parliamentary law in Egypt, defined after IPU provided guidance on enhancing womens political participation in the country, and a national electoral law in Sudan contributed to the progress made in this region.

Both the Asia and Pacific regions, however, remained virtually static with just a 0.1 percentage point increase in their numbers of women MPs. Over 10 years, these regions have seen the least progress on womens participation in parliament.

The top five countries where women MPs made the biggest gains were Suriname, Egypt, Ethiopia, Myanmar and the UK. Increases in numbers there ranged from 15.7 to 7.4 percentage points respectively.

The most dramatic national setbacks were in Andorra, Croatia and Burkina Faso. Here, the percentage of women MPs dropped by 14.3, 8.6 and 6.3 percentage points respectively, with an absence of quotas the main cause for the slide in Andorra. The number of parliaments in the world with no women at all also rose from five to seven.

The way ahead

Parliamentary election results in 2015 showed once again that quotas and proportional representation systems are more effective in getting more women into parliament. However, success continues to depend on how such measures or systems are implemented.

The IPU report also highlights the need to tackle impediments to women running for office, such as the lack of adequate finance for their campaigns, and reiterates the critical role of political parties in changing the status quo.

The decision by individual political parties in some countries to field higher numbers of women candidates or to place them in winnable positions shows what political leadership, will and vision can do to bring positive change, adds Secretary General Chungong. What we saw more of in 2015, however, was government leaders, including in Canada, increasingly setting the pace on womens equal participation at ministerial level. Parliaments must not lag behind.

The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) is the global organization of national parliaments. It works to safeguard peace and drives positive democratic change through political dialogue and concrete action.
Larry Kirwan, the front man of the much loved band Black 47 for 25 years, will return to BB Kings on St. Patricks Day with a specially formed band for the 2016 event.

The Irish star will front a new band formed specially for the evening comprising of Coty Cockrell (piano), Claudia Chopek (violin), Rene Hart (double bass), and Thomas Hamlin (drums). They will perform and reinterpret Kirwans Black 47 uproarious classics, songs from his critically acclaimed musical Hard Times, and as befits a Kirwan show, lots of improvisation, social agitation, and hilarity.

Along with the festivities the event will commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the 1916 Uprising in Dublin with such songs as James Connolly and The Big Fellah and celebrate the opening of the 2016 St. Patricks Day Parade to an Irish LGBT group, Lavender and Green Alliance.

Kirwan is host of Celtic Crush on SiriusXM and writes a bi-weekly column for The Irish Echo. A renowned playwright, novelist and political activist, surprise guests from all these worlds will make appearances at BB Kings on March 17. He will be joined onstage by co-founder of Black 47, Chris Byrne, whose band, The Lost Tribe of Donegal, will also perform a set of their Urban/Traditional Irish songs.

Kirwans son, Rory K, an emerging hip-hop artist, will also hit the stage with Kirwan, after performing a set of his high-energy, youthful anthems. He will be releasing his second CD, Young Professionals, at the show.

Long time yellow cab driver, activist and standup comedian, John McDonagh will perform a short excerpt from his sold-out show, Cabtivist. Host of Radio Free Eireann and Talk Back on WBAI-FM, McDonagh will MC the festivities.

Lia Fail Pipes and Drums, our brothers and sisters from Mercer County, New Jersey, will begin the evening with their customary march through the audience. Get there early  the kilts and pipes a swirling!

This is an all-ages show designed to keep the party going after the St. Patricks Day Parade.

For more information visit www.black47.com or follow them on Facebook here.
Thursday was a day of firsts for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio: he became the first sitting mayor to visit the Irish Consulate on Park Avenue, and he confirmed that he would march for the first time in this years New York City St. Patricks Day Parade.

Its our nature to embrace and support all people, de Blasio said at a packed Irish community gathering and press conference at the consulate yesterday afternoon.

The prior exclusion of an Irish gay group from the line of march was a blemish on New York, the mayor added.

Now for the first time, he said, the whole Irish community will come together to celebrate.

Confirming an exclusive report last month from IrishCentral's sister publication the Irish Voice, de Blasio said he will march with members of the citys uniformed services at the start of the parade, and return later in the day to march with the Lavender and Green Alliance, the Irish gay group that will take part for the first time after 25 years of exclusion.

The mayor paid tribute to two people who werent in the room whom he said helped pave the way for an inclusive Fifth Avenue march: Pope Francis and Cardinal Timothy Dolan.

Since the beginning of his papacy he has sent a mission of inclusion and respect for all, de Blasio said of the pope. His message has resonated deeply.

Dolan and the mayor spoke in a phone call in the hours before the press conference, and we talked about what this moment meant, de Blasio said.

I told him from the bottom of my heart how appreciative I have been. I told him what an honor it would be to stand with him on St. Patricks Day.

The mayor was joined by a number of Irish American community leaders behind the mayoral podium, which was delivered to the consulate for the occasion. Frank McGreal, a member of the parade board of directors which after a leadership change last year voted to lift the ban on an Irish LGBT group, spoke on behalf of the parade and the wish of board members to move forward.

The board says to all, Cead Mile Failte, a hundred thousand welcomes, said McGreal.

The event turned emotional when a teary-eyed Brendan Fay, co-founder of the Lavender and Green Alliance who from day one has been leading the charge for an all-inclusive parade, took to the podium to thank the parade board for its miracle of hospitality.

Its been a long and winding road to this inclusion, said Co. Louth native Fay, who paid tribute to many deceased supporters like Father Mychal Judge, who died on 9/11.

New York City Council Members Daniel Dromm and Jimmy Van Bramer of Queens were equally moved by the turn of events that saw them reflect on their journey from parade-related protests and arrests, to standing in the Irish Consulate talking about their joy at finally being able to march behind an Irish LGBT banner.

Dromm shed tears as he paid tribute to Fay. To see his struggle over the last 25 years has been incredible. There were many times we wanted to give up and we wondered if we would ever see this day, he said.

Its a day of reconciliation and healing for all of us.

The press conference was hosted by Irish Consul General Barbara Jones, whose role in helping to bring all sides together to settle the parade dispute was called crucial by de Blasio.

We are here because the mayor has the very best of news for us all. I do want to say that I salute him and welcome his team in a very open-hearted way, Jones said.

Today is a coming together that has been happening for weeks in this very room.

De Blasio took questions from the media after his remarks, and indicated some flexibility over the Department of Educations controversial decision to schedule parent teacher conferences on St. Patricks Day. Last month, attorney Brian ODwyer filed a civil rights complaint with the citys Human Rights Commission on behalf of an Irish American schoolteacher, Frank Schorn, who claims his right to celebrate his religion and Irish American heritage is being violated because of the conference scheduling.

Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers who also spoke at yesterdays event, said that Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina is open to teachers making other arrangements to meet parents, and is trying to finalize that.

Read all our St. Patrick's Day news and stories here
An Irishman in New York accused of torturing his roommate's cat was rearrested on Tuesday evening for violating a court order.

Returning to his apartment on the Upper East Side, Tyrone man Declan Garrity, 24, broke a court order that refused him access to the apartment he shared with his former housemate, Danielle, and her pet cat, Lucy. Police officials confirmed he was rearrested as a result on March 1.

Originally arrested on February 24, 2016, the financial analyst with Barclays is charged with aggravated cruelty to animals as well as torturing and injuring animals after his roommate, Danielle, discovered her pet cat has received multiple unusual injuries.

The analyst from Omagh in Co. Tyrone, currently in the US on a work visa, stands accused of ripping out the cat Lucy's nails, breaking bones in her face, pelvis and legs and burning the animal.

After Danielle found Garrity, who was previously unknown to her, on popular site Craigslist, Lucy is believed to have suffered these injuries since the Tyrone man moved into the shared apartment in November 2015.

Garrity was released on a $5,000 bond on Monday but prohibited from returning to his Second Avenue apartment where the alleged animal abuse took place. Judge Joanne Watters, however, permitted the analyst, who has been placed on leave by his employers Barclays, to return to his former home to collect his belongs between 1 and 3pm on Tuesday, March 1, accompanied by a police escort.

When Garrity arrived at the Upper East Side apartment, however, he was alone apart from movers he had hired to carry his possessions.

Attempting to enter the building, Garrity was asked via the intercom whether he was accompanied by police.

His former roommate's father had been waiting at the residence to oversee Garritys visit and on learning that a police escort was not present, it is believed he called Danielle, who in turn called the police to report the court order violation.

Within half an hour, a squad car arrived and DNAinfo.com report that the Irishman was once again placed in handcuffs and escorted from the building at 2.45pm.

He is believed to have been charged with criminal contempt in the first degree.

"The defendant came to the apartment without a police escort and still attempted to gain access to the apartment, in direct contradiction to the order of protection and order of the judge," said the criminal complaint.

According to New York Daily News, however, Garritys lawyer Telesforo Del Valle Jr claims that the violation was a misunderstanding and that when his client attempted to bring a police escort with him he was told, "We don't do that anymore."

"The movers said we're charging you anyway and he needs his belongings," Del Valle said. "This man has never been arrested before in his life. He doesn't know the process."

During his court appearance on Monday, the alleged cat torturer was accused of continued abuse of his roommate's cat over three months, including an incident on January 25 in which Garrity claimed an iron fell on the animals back while he was at work.

Filed by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, the original criminal complaint reads: "shortly after [Garrity] moved into the apartment, the individual observed Lucy's behaviour change, including hiding in the individual's bedroom closet, not eating and constantly licking her paws."

Following a further incident at the end of February in which Danielle returned to the apartment to find Lucy "hiding in her career [with] her rear foot facing in the wrong direction," and after discovering "cat hair and blood" on paper towels in Garritys room, she began to suspect that the Irishman could be responsible for the cats injuries.

Since Garritys court appearance, a group of individuals convinced of his guilt began an online petition to deport the 24-year-old back to Northern Ireland.

The petition asks that if found guilty of his alleged crime, his employment with Barclays be terminated and that he is immediately deported.

We need to send a message to him, his employer, and the U.S. Department of Immigration that his actions will not be tolerated, the petition reads.

The U.S.A. does not condone animal cruelty, nor should his employer, Barclays Bank. We urge you to sign this petition demanding the termination of his employment and deportation from the United States of America.
The Lavender and Green Alliance isnt the only new group taking part in this years New York City St. Patricks Day Parade: for the first time, the Brehon Law Society will also march behind its own banner.

The 200-plus member group had never applied to march in the parade in years past, and informal inquiries about possible participation were met with silence.

To be honest, we wouldnt have been comfortable marching because of the past policy of excluding LGBT groups, attorney Sean Downes, president of the Brehons, told the Irish Voice.

Collectively as a group, our members were opposed to the policy especially given our history. Our founders, Paul ODwyer and Frank Durkan, would be proud to hold our banner this year because they always stood for inclusivity and civil rights.

Downes says the Brehons were more than happy to lodge a formal application to march in the 2016 parade, and were quickly notified by the new leadership with words of welcome.

Were happy to take part, and happy to have people join us, says Downes.

The Brehons ordered a new banner for the occasion, and expect to have in the region of 50-plus marchers.

The group will host its annual dinner on Monday, March 14 at the Manhattan Club, with Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams the guest speaker  provided he can leave Ireland given the uncertainty over forming a new government in the aftermath of last weeks general election.

The Brehons will also march, as they do every year, at the St. Pats for All parade in Queens on Sunday which is hosted by the Lavender and Green Alliance.

We march every year in that parade because it welcomes everyone. Frank Durkan was a former grand marshal there, Downes points out.

For information on the Brehon Law Society, visit www.brehon-law-society.com.
Findmypast is working in partnership with IrishCentral to share fascinating insights into your Irish ancestors. Click here to get a special half price subscription, and discover your Irish roots today!



Up until we released 10 million Irish Catholic parish records earlier this month, there were very little mainstream records we could look in to find our Irish famine-era ancestors.

One of our core approaches to Irish genealogy at Findmypast is to use uncommon documents to find genealogical information.

Take a look at this list to see some of the more unexpected places you may be able to find evidence of your ancestors. Make sure to seize the opportunity to search  All of our Irish records are completely free, but only until March 7th!

Wed also like to make sure you know that you can win a free trip for 2 to Ireland, where youll get help from our experts to uncover your family history. Well also take you to your ancestral hometown! Enter for free.

1. Dog licenses

Beginning in 1866, Ireland began issuing dog licenses as a way to raise revenue. The registers also helped local authorities identify stay dogs and dogs that caused trouble by chasing sheep or damaging property. Many families in Ireland owned dogs  whether they worked the farm or were just family pets, the chances are good that theres at least one canine in your family tree.

What you will find: Youll be able to find your ancestors address, which is extremely valuable and not always easy to find elsewhere. But even better  youll find amazing information on the dog your family owned. Including the name, color, gender and breed of your familys dog.

2. Prison registers (1790-1924)

19th century Ireland was heavily policed and had particularly high incarceration rates. Youll find far more than hardened criminals in the 3 million names contained in these records  moral policing was common, and many were jailed for cursing or drunken behavior.

Famine circumstances often lead to jail as a result of stealing or vagrancy. Finally, during rebellious times, even slightly seditious behavior could land you in jail.

What you will find: name, address, place of birth, occupation, physical description, details of the crime and more.

3. Poverty relief loans (1821-1874)

This little-known record set contains some amazing information. Before and during the famines, the wealthy of Britain and Ireland made micro-loans to the poor of in the west of Ireland. If not for these loan records, we would have no information at all about the small farmers, tradesmen and shop keepers who suffered greatly during this time.

Even more fascinating is that they actually followed up on the loans, and often noted what became of these people. This record set is a chance to see if the famine had devastating effects on your family  the number of people that died of starvation or emigrated is staggering.

What you will find: names and location of the borrower, names of the guarantors (who were often friends or family), occupation, description of the circumstances, and what wound up happening to the borrower.

4. Dublin Workhouse Registers (1840-1919)

Even if your family lived nowhere near Dublin, you might be surprised to find them in these records. The extreme poverty of 19th century Ireland led hundreds of thousands of Irish to pass through these infamous institutions, where labor could be traded for meager food and a place to live.

Many entire families were forced into workhouses as their landlords took the land they could no longer pay for. The workhouses in Dublin were some of the busiest, where people from all over the country came to work.

What you will find: name, occupation, religion, birth year, details on family members, observations noted when admitted, date of death or exit from workhouse.

Not only will you be surprised to find some of your ancestors in these records, but youll be surprised at the detail information you discover  enough to paint a vivid picture of their life in Ireland before they came to America. Make sure you also check out our 5 most essential record sets for discovering your Irish heritage.
Theres no place like home.

Over 35 million Irish-Americans now call the United States home, but one thing we all have in common is that once upon our time, some of our ancestors had to leave the place they called home.

Some came to America with great hope and excitement; others never wanted to leave in the first place  flight from famine, poverty and persecution is an all too common thread in our Irish family history.

Theres nothing more breathtaking than returning to the country our ancestors left, to honor their memory and bring our family history, in many ways, full-circle.

Though their journey across the Atlantic was far more difficult than what we would have to go through today, that doesnt mean its easy to visit our ancestral hometown.

But for one Irish American, we want to make it possible.

In celebration of the most recent additions to our Irish genealogy collections  the largest anywhere online  were offering an amazing opportunity:

Visit Ireland and retrace the footsteps of your ancestors.

Thanks to our friends at talkholiday and Eneclann, we're giving you the chance to win a five day, all expenses paid trip to Ireland for two.

You'll spend a day with the expert genealogists from Eneclann who will help you make some amazing discoveries about your Irish ancestry.

Eneclann is a leading Irish history and heritage institution that has done incredible work preserving Irish history, and whose experts have untangled even the thorniest of family trees. They will use their expertise to help you paint a comprehensive picture of your Irish ancestors.

Your visit will also coincide with the scheduled opening of an amazing new Irish history center, the EPIC Ireland exhibition. This cutting-edge experience will help color your family history and the history of the Irish people in ways never before done.

Then, we'll take you to the Irish towns and villages where your family lived**  see how their towns and counties have modernized and lay eyes upon the same breathtaking landscape that they once did.

Prizes are offered in conjunction with talkholiday and Eneclann and consist of:

 2x economy flights from US airport to Dublin (travel to US airport is the responsibility of the winner, winner and one accompanying traveler will be collected by FMP staff upon landing in Dublin)

 4 nights in Irish hotels (3 star and above)

 One day with genealogist/researchers from Eneclann researching family tree and links to specific regions of Ireland

 No less than one trip to area of Ireland linked to winner's ancestry.

 Meals and transport will be provided (3 meals per day, additional meals to be provided by winner)

Enter:
Fine Gael has said it remains committed to Irish Water - but has said it will not form a Government at any cost.

It comes after the parties TD's met for the first time at Leinster House yesterday.

Fine Gael TDs had a chance to air their views yesterday on the parties disappointing election campaign - and discuss where they go from here.

In a statement released following its first parliamentary party meeting, Fine Gael has said it is critical the new Government is a lasting one.

The Agriculture minister Simon Coveney, who had earlier this week suggested the future of Irish Water could be up for discussion, apologised for speaking so 'loosely'.

And in a statement afterwards the party said it remains committed to supporting the Irish Water model. It said it would adhere to its core principles in any discussions about forming a government.

Enda Kenny will this morning meet with members of the Independent Alliance to seek their support for government

Further negotiations will continue between parties in the coming days and the Dail will meet - next Thursday - to vote on a new Taoiseach
Ireland's first lesbian TD has said she hopes to represent the interests of the entire LGBT community in the new Dail.

Independent Catherine Zappone was one of the 35 women elected last weekend - 40% more than in 2011, and the highest in Irish history.
Police in the North have confirmed that a serving prison officer has been injured in an explosion in East Belfast.

The PSNI has said it received reports that a device exploded under a vehicle on Woodstock Road just after 7am this morning.

Police say the 52-year-old is currently being treated in hospital with what are believed to be serious leg injuries, but he is not thought to be in a life-threatening condition.

It is understood the man was driving a van when the device exploded.

A number of houses in Hillsborough Drive are currently being evacuated and an emergency evacuation centre has been opened up at the Salvation Army on the Cregagh Road.

These people in the local area are devastated at this morning's events.

Minister Flanaganhas expressed deep concern at the bomb attack in East Belfast

"I am deeply concerned to learn of the bomb attack this morning in East Belfast which has injured an officer of the Northern Ireland Prison Service.

"My immediate thoughts are for the health and welfare of the injured officer and I convey my best wishes to him, his family and colleagues.

"This callous and cowardly incident must be utterly condemned.

"Not only was it targeted on an individual public servant, it represented a futile attack on the entire community which is determined to achieve a peaceful and reconciled society in Northern Ireland."

PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Stephen Martin has this appeal: The intention of this device was to kill.

There are people watching these media broadcasts who have information that would help us catch those responsible.

We need that information, we need that support.

We condemn this attack outright and we ask the public to help us.
The head of the European Council is meeting with Turkey's Prime Minister and President today, as the migrant crisis shows no sign of easing.

The talks come as figures show record numbers crossed Europe's borders last year.

Over 1.2 million people made initial applications for asylum to the European Union last year - more than twice the figure for 2014.

Eurostat has said Syrians were the largest group - followed by people from Afghanistan and Iraq.

Babar Baloch - from the UN's refugee agency - has said there needs to be a comprehensive solution to the migration crisis: There is a lot of talk in terms of the highest level, but we havent seen an EU mechanism that can be put in place that is very much needed to get out of this situation.

There are fears of a humanitarian crisis on the Greece - Macedonia border, where thousands stuck at a makeshift camp.

European Correspondent for The Irish Examiner, Ann Cahill, has said the EU's Schengen passport-free system has collapsed: Whatever country a migrant comes into first, is where they are supposed to be identified, fingerprinted and decision taken if they have made an appeal for asylum.

That of course isnt happening because they just dont want that number of people, so they have been waving them on.

An EU summit with Turkey takes place on Monday to discuss how to protect the Bloc's borders.

Ahead of that, EU president Donald Tusk is meeting with the country's president and prime minister in Istanbul.

Tusk has pulled no punches during his trip to the region, yesterday warning migrants against trying to enter Europe: Migrants, wherever you are from, do not come to Europe.
The focus fell yesterday on the timing of any initial public offering (IPO) as the bank announced pre-tax profits of 1.9bn for 2015, marking a huge 72% leap from 2014.

However, some analysts now say an IPO this year would not be in the best interests of the State following the turmoil facing European bank shares since the start of the year.

Impaired loans fell sharply by 9.1bn, but still remain at an elevated level of over 13bn across the loan books, while key measures of AIBs profitability improved and its costs fell.

Chief executive Bernard Byrne said the bank now had the levels of profitability and strong capital base, after making the right moves in cutting down impaired loans, for the bank to start to return to private hands.

However, the profits were massively bolstered by a huge level of writebacks of 925m  the highest any Irish bank has recognised since the end of the banking crisis.

Over a year ago, in the early stages of the recovery, the Central Bank had cautioned lenders here about writing back provisions. However, Mr Byrne said the level of writebacks reflected the buoyant economy, as the bank gets a grip on the legacy issue from the crash.

Analysts said AIB had done the right thing. Fiona Hayes, bank analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald Ireland, said the lender had written back about 100m more than she had anticipated, but the amount was nonetheless justified by the strength of the recovery that had boosted asset prices.

She said she was impressed too with the work done by the bank over the year in working through its impaired loan books. And head of financials research at Investec Ireland John Cronin said the writebacks were fully justified.

AIB said it believed that the best ownership structure was for the bank to pass to private ownership, and it was fully ready for an IPO this year, if its government owner deemed the timing right. Weeks before the election campaign, Finance Minister Michael Noonan had said an IPO was likely to be slated for the third quarter of this year.

The Department of Finance had hired Rothschild to advise on the IPO earlier this year. European bank shares have rallied in recent days, but had at one stage lost up to a third of their value since the start of the year.

Ms Hayes at Cantor said the huge selloff in European shares made it likely the IPO would be postponed into next year. Any delay may mean a new incoming government could get a better price, she said.

Mr Cronin saw a real risk that the election would lead to a slippage in the timetable of an AIB IPO.

Darren McKinley, analyst at Merrion Stockbrokers, said the best of the economic tailwinds that helped AIB cut through its impaired loans was probably now behind it. However, Mr McKinley believed that a new government would sanction an IPO at the end of the year.

CEO Mr Byrne said that AIB would not be hugely affected if Britain were to vote to leave the EU in its in-out referendum on June 23.

He believed there would be some impact, but not a major impact because AIB generates a small portion of its profits from its operations in Britain.
Independent economist Jim Power said the Republic could, in time, benefit from the demands for huge reforms that would be pressed on Brussels, if the UK were to leave.

He acknowledged that there would be dislocation to trade with Britain, but said he believed that any disruption would be short-lived.

From Irelands perspective, while a UK exit would undoubtedly cause short-term risks and uncertainty for Ireland, the longer term implications could actually be very positive for the country, the economist told the Irish Examiner.

He said that Britain leaving the EU, or a so-called Brexit, was a challenge and risk for Ireland. Many believed the UK electorate would opt to stay in the EU, but that this outcome cannot be taken for granted because of Europes migration crisis.

Many of those pushing to leave are now creating a direct association between migration and the EU. In other words if Britain is to avoid being swamped by migrants it will have to leave the EU, he said.

Given that the UK is the most important market for indigenous Irish exporters  particularly in the agri-food industry  future trade relations between the UK outside the EU and Ireland within the EU could be damaged, he said.

However, Mr Power said that given the UK is such an important trading partner for EU economies such as France and Germany that it was inconceivable the EU would not strike a trade deal with Britain.

The Irish border raised important issues, but the loss of Britain as an ally in Europe over the competitive corporation tax was the biggest risk for Ireland.

The EU needs to reform in a dramatic fashion, and failing such reform, perhaps it would be in the longer term interests of the UK and Ireland to leave the system and build a more sustainable economic model, he said.

His comments come as the Dublin Chamber of Commerce said a new survey showed over half of professionals here believe a Brexit would be bad for business.
A member of a Macra na Feirme group at a meeting of European young farmers in Cologne, Germany, Mr ORegan is urging young farmers to make submissions on europa.eu as part of the EUs greening consultation process.

The delegation was led by Macra president Sean Finan. Macra is urging the EU Commission to heed the experience of farmers, and to avoid imposing one size fits all rules on farm land use.
FrieslandCampina approached Engro, Pakistans second-biggest listed dairy group, to buy 391 million shares from its parent Engro Corp, the Asian company said in a stock exchange filing. The acquisition could cost up to 450m.

Frieslands Asian plans were cited in 2015 accounts published yesterday, detailing net profits of 343m, boosted by a 7.8% sales volume rise, which helped offset the impacts of a difficult year in global dairy markets.
Fiona Kirby, a nurse from Kilbeggan, Co Westmeath, has brought proceedings seeking orders requiring the authority to withdraw the HPV vaccine. Ms Kirby claims her daughter suffered horrendous adverse consequences after being given it. The vaccine, known by its trade name Gardasil, has been offered to school girls since May 2010.

A support group called R.E.G.R.E.T. (Reaction and Effects of Gardasil Resulting in Extreme Trauma) is supporting Ms Kirbys action and some members protested outside the Four Courts when the case was briefly mentioned yesterday.

Lawyers for the authority asked Mr Justice Tony OConnor to fix March 15 to hear its application to have the case dismissed. The judge adjourned the matter to that date.

A supporter told the court they were taking legal and medical advice and hoped to bring a report from a US- based neurologist when the case comes to hearing.

The authority denies the claims and also pleads it is not the appropriate defendant because the European Commission is the only authority with power to revoke Gardasils EU marketing authorisation.

On January 12, the commission made a final and binding decision, following a review of HPV vaccines, to maintain Gardasils marketing authorisation, the authority says.

Any legal challenge would have to be brought before the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, it says.

Ms Kirby, representing herself, has claimed, within 24 hours of receiving the vaccine in October 2011 her 11-year old daughter presented with severe flu-like symptoms and those reappeared after the child got her second vaccine shot.

Ms Kirby said she did not allow her daughter get a third shot. Her daughter became extremely fatigued, suffered severe nausea causing weight loss and muscle wastage, she said.

She also missed days at school and in March 2012 was hospitalised with bilateral pneumonia and was on antibiotics for six weeks, she said. She thought her daughters problems were an isolated case but there are other girls in the country suffering similar continuous life changing health problems after receiving the vaccine, she claimed.
Dr James Cassidy, who works as a GP in Dundalk, Co Louth, faced allegations relating to a conviction in Northern Ireland.

He told the inquiry that in May 2009, he applied for registration to the Medical Council of Ireland and admitted that he failed to tell the Council about a previous conviction in Northern Ireland which related to a road traffic matter.

In addition, the Medical Council heard that in June 2014 at Newry Crown Court Dr Cassidy was convicted with others of attempting to falsify the will of Catherine Haughey, and a property sale agreement.

South Armagh publican Ms Haughey, who was a widow and childless, died in 2004 at the age of 81. Concerns about her will were raised shortly after her death.

The inquiry heard that the matters relating to the forged will took place in 2004. An investigation was conducted between 2004 and 2010 and Dr Cassidy was then convicted in 2014. He pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy in connection with the 1.9m will, and received a two-year suspended sentence. The allegation that Dr Cassidy was convicted outside the State for an offence that, if committed in this State, would constitute an offence triable on indictment was also proven yesterday at the inquiry.

Dr Cassidy, 63, and father to four grown daughters, said: My children and wife have had to undergo considerable embarrassment in their own lives as a result of my actions.

When asked how he felt about his participation in the matters relating to his conviction, Dr Cassidy replied: I can only say shame, first of all to my family, [and] to my profession.

Its not very nice at this stage in your life to accept that you did something hugely irresponsible.

He told the inquiry that in relation to the matters in 2004, he felt under extreme duress and threat. He further explained that a man, who was yesterday referred to as Mr A and who was a patient and acquaintance of his, made threats against himself and his family, and that the threats were made within the geo-political context of the area.

Dr Cassidy, whose children were in school at the time, said that the threat was real and that any father would have put concerns for his family above concerns for himself.

I was trapped in this situation, he said. I made what was undoubtedly the wrong choice but thats the reason why I did that.

He said he believed that Mr A was not at liberty at the present time.

Dr Cassidy told the inquiry that in 2004 and before that, he did have a problem with alcohol. I drank too much and too regular, he said, adding he now has the problem under control.

Dr Cassidy said he has operated a private sole practice as a GP for a number of years, and that there have never been any clinical complaints against him.

He asked that he not be suspended from the medical register. Sanctions will be determined at a later date.

During a break in proceedings Dr Cassidy, a former Tyrone GAA doctor, appeared to throw a punch in the direction of a photographer, striking a camera. Gardai later took statements from witnesses.
The five-judge court unaniomously ruled that a revised contract between the HSE and dentists gave the HSE virtually untramelled choice in withdrawing funding from particular forms of dental treatments.

Before the disputed changes were introduced via a circular issued by the HSE in April 2010, dentists were entitled to reimbursement for all routine treatments provided to medical card holders. Under the 2010 circular, only emergency treatments qualified.
The department had approved the grant in 2004 under the Afforestation Grant and Premium Scheme to allow the farmer establish a forest on his land. But payments stopped in 2010 after the landowner informed the department extreme flooding had destroyed the forest. In January 2013, the Department directed the farmer to pay back the 25,000 he had been paid under the grant, and sought the repayment in full, within a month.

The farmer appealed and the department argued the landowner was aware the site was prone to flooding when applying for the funds.

However, the Ombudsman found the department had inspected the land prior to awarding the grant and would have been aware of the potential for flooding. It could not hold the farmer responsible for something outside of his control, the Ombudsman ruled.

The Ombudsman also discovered the South Western Regional Fisheries Board had written to the department in May 2004 advising that part of the site may be subject to flooding, prior to the awarding of the grant.

Furthermore, the department also overruled the opinion of one of its forestry inspectors who, in May 2013, ruled the damage to the land was a case of force majeure.

Where people apply for and receive grants in good faith, they should not be reclaimed, Ombudsman Peter Tyndall said.

This is particularly so in this case where the farmer lost his crop through no fault of his own and was hit with the double blow of a bill from the department. Im glad we were able to put things right, he said.

The land in question is surrounded by canals which form part of a local drainage network, and responsibility for maintenance of the drains feeding this network lies with the local authority.

However, in the course of its investigation, the Ombudsmans office learned the council stopped draining the canals around 2009 because of damage caused by the floods. The local authority said that it could not maintain the local drainage network each year because of budget restrictions.

The Ombudsman found the drains on the mans land were satisfactory but could not work properly because of the lack of maintenance of the local drainage network.

The department had argued the farmer had removed the trees from the land, that he knew the area was prone to flooding and did not declare this in his application, and that it was unreasonable for him to rely on the councils drainage maintenance to fulfil his obligation.

A department official subsequently confirmed the trees had been removed as a result of the flooding.
Ms Newman was due to be cross-examined before Mr Justice Brian McGovern in court yesterday as part of AIB Mortgage Banks efforts to execute a 9m judgment obtained by it in 2011 against her and her former partner, hurling legend DJ Carey.

In light of the bankruptcy of Ms Newman, James Doherty, counsel for the bank, said it was not proceeding with the cross-examination.

Hugh OFlaherty, counsel for Ms Newman, said the matter was being dealt with on consent.

Counsel also indicated any further court applications would be brought via the UK official receivers office.

In the circumstances, the judge struck out, on consent of both sides, the motion for cross-examination.

The bank had brought that motion after alleging Ms Newman, a mother of two with an address in London, was not sufficiently engaging with it in relation to meeting her liabilities to it. Following the sale of properties and some repayments, the bank claims some 6.4m remains outstanding.

In its motion, it sought to question Ms Newman about any other debts of hers and whether she has any other property or means of satisfyung the judgment obtained. It also sought orders requring her to file a statement of affairs, plus any relevant documents, specifying any such debts and any income which could go towards satisfying the judgment.

The application arose after Ms Newman and Mr Carey consented at the Commercial Court in May 2011 to entry of judgment for more than 9m each against them in favour of the bank arising from loans and guarantees of each others liabilities.

Judgment for 9.5m was entered against Mr Carey arising from an April 2007 7.85m mortgage loan advanced in the context of a wider commercial transaction involving him and associated businesses to refinance existing debt due to Irish Nationwide Building Society and to release equity on properties held by him and Ms Newman.

The 7.85m loan was secured on two properties in Co Kildare and Co Kilkenny. The judgment also arose from Mr Careys May 2007 guarantee, limited to 1.5m, of the liabilities of Ms Newman.

The bank said 8m was due from Mr Carey under the mortgage loan account and some 1.5m under the guarantee.

Judgment for about 9.4m was granted against Ms Newman arising from her guarantee, limited to 7.85m, of the liabilities of Mr Carey and under a 1.5m mortgage loan secured on a property in Co Kildare.

The court agreed to place a four- week stay on the judgment order in relation to Mr Carey but refused any stay in the case of Ms Newman, after noting the banks concerns about its ability to execute judgment over a property in another jurisdiction, Switzerland. Ms Newman had been given the opportunity by the bank to make proposals but had given no information.

The bank wrote to Ms Newman on February 10, 2011, warning, unless 7,349 arrears on the mortgage account were paid within 21 days, it would be entitled to terminate the facility. On March 7, 2011, the bank wrote to Ms Newman stating Mr Carey was in breach of his loan obligations and demanding immediate payment of 7,875,000, plus daily interest, under the guarantee provided by her.
New figures from the HSA show that 2,837 farm safety visits were conducted in 2015, with the lowest level of compliance relating to safe slurry handling facilities, safe facilities for calving cows, and safety guards on PTO shafts and similar machinery.

The figures also indicate that dairy farms are still more likely to have a work-related accident or lower level of compliance with safety regulation than other types of farm such as tillage.

The number of checks on farms last year increased by 160 compared with the number for 2014, even though the Health and Safety Authority had said at the start of last year that the number would fall as it was to take a different approach to the issue of farm safety following 30 farm deaths in 2014.

Last year 18 people died on farms, and in addition to the farm inspections, 25 new Discussion Groups  effectively a form of peer review at which attendance at meetings about farm safety are compulsory  took place around the country, supported by Teagasc.

The figures for 2015 also show improvements in compliance rates in a number of areas.

For example, in the category Adequate provision for elderly farmers in farming activity, compliance was 80%, compared with 69% in 2014.

In the category Compliance with action list of hazards in Code of Practice/Safety Statement, compliance increased from 59% in 2014 to 78% last year.

However, in most categories, any increases in compliance were more modest: 82% had a safe secure play area for children compared with 80% in 2014; 58% were in compliance with safe facilities for calving cows versus 55% the previous year; 57% had safe slurry handling facilities, up 2% on the previous year; and there was a 1% increase in the compliance rate for having tractor handbrakes in serviceable condition, to 64%.

According to the authority, enforcement was taken in relation to safety guards on PTO shafts, O-Guards on machinery and U-Guards on tractors in 29% of cases last year, up from 23% in 2014.

A HSA spokesman said there were no indications that farmers in certain parts of the country were less likely to comply with safety regulations.

We have not identified particular areas/regions where failure rates are higher, he said.

There is some evidence that dairy farms are having more accidents than other types of farms. There are factors such as long working hours, working with animals, machinery, slurry, etc that contribute to making dairy farming more hazardous than other types.

The spokesman said that there are roughly 100 non-fatal agriculture related injuries reported to the HSA each year and that there is significant under-reporting in the agriculture sector, given that the Teagasc national farm survey carried out in 2011 indicates there could be up to 3,000 of these injuries occurring each year.

Updated figures for the decade up to and including last year show that 57 deaths, or 29% of all farm fatalities, were linked to tractors and farm vehicles, with other farm machinery responsible for another 37 deaths, 19% of the 10 year total.

As for the 24 children tragically killed in the same period, 42% of deaths were linked to machinery, trailers or other equipment, and 33% were linked to tractors.

As for elderly farmers killed, 24% died as a result of farm machinery, and 21% died due to livestock.
Slawomir Gostomski, 34, originally from Poland but living at Ashwood Glade, Westport, Co Mayo, was returning home from Mayo General Hospital following the birth of his first daughter when he crashed on April 5, 2014.

The accident happened on the N5 at the Halfway House pub, Islandeady, around 8km from Castlebar at 7.30pm.

Mr Gostomskis red Mercedes collided with a BMW as it turned right towards the Halfway House on a long straight stretch of road between Castlebar and Westport.

Driver of the BMW, Eddie Jennings, said he indicated and checked his mirrors before taking the turn.

I had just started moving over the centre line when I was hit, he said. Once he hit me it was pure blank, he said.

Witness Ciaran Kane was travelling behind the BMW. I slowed down as it slowed down when the indicator came on. I was planning to undertake him, he said.

Mr Kane said he planned to pass to the left of the BMW and continue forward towards Westport. He said he did not see the red Mercedes until the moment of impact. He said the red car overtook him and collided with the black BMW. People inside the pub heard a bang that sounded like an explosion and ran outside.

Garda James OBrien, of Castlebar Garda Station, told the court a red Mercedes had hit the wall of the pub and the driver was badly injured.

Mr Gostomski was rushed to Mayo General Hospital and later transferred to Beaumont Hospital. He died on April 12. The cause of death was a severe head injury as a result of the collision. The jury at Dublin Coroners Court returned a verdict of misadventure.
Dr Lynne Marsh from the School of Nursing at University College Cork looked at Irish mens experience of having a child with an intellectual disability.

She interviewed 10 men aged between 31 and 48 years  the youngest child was just 13 months, and the oldest was five years.

Six of the children had Down syndrome and four had global development delays  they were not reaching their milestones, such as crawling and walking.

One father only realised that his child had an intellectual disability at age four. Autism was also suspected.

Another father who knew prenatally that his child had Down syndrome and said it helped him to prepare for his daughters birth.

However, the child was very unwell when she was born and her survival became the priority.

Fathers are definitely very keen to talk about their children. They couldnt wait to talk to me, said Dr Marsh, study co-author.

One father said it was only when his child was three that anybody asked him what it was like becoming a father to a child with an intellectual disability.

Dr Marsh said healthcare professionals needed to understand that every fathers entry into the world of disability was unique and that they needed support.

We look after mothers very well but having a child with an intellectual disability is a life-changing event for fathers as well and they need to be equally involved.

Dr Marsh pointed out that there are over 8,000 children with intellectual disabilities registered in Ireland, and most lived at home.

The fathers I spoke to were all excited by the birth of their children and their whole outlook changed as a result. They did not sweat the small stuff and felt they were better people.

The 35th International Nursing and Midwifery Research and Education conference at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland was attended by over 200 nurses and midwives.
John, also known Con, Murphy, aged 66, of Church Road, Killiney, Dublin was found guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court of writing cheques from the account of the Children to Lapland Appeal and lodging them in his own account.

Patrick Reynolds, defending, claimed he used his personal account for many business transactions related to the charity and his now defunct travel agency United Travel. He said there was no intention to keep the money for his personal gain.

Garrett McCormack, prosecuting, characterised this position as The Father Ted defence. To quote Dermot Morgan, theyre trying to say the money was simply resting in my account.

Murphy had pleaded not guilty to four counts of theft between June and July 2010 in the Dublin area totalling 18,643. After conviction, Judge Patrick McCartan remanded Murphy in custody until sentencing on Monday.

Mr Reynolds asked that Murphy be allowed remain on bail. He said he was in remission from cancer and his sister was very sick. The judge refused, saying: It is the practise of this court to remand accused in custody following conviction at trial.

The trial heard Murphys full-time job was operating United Travel, a travel agent based in Stillorgan, which flew a route to Lapland. In 1987, he devoted one of these flights to sending terminally ill children who were taken from hospitals around the country. This became the Children to Lapland Appeal.

United Travel operated until 2007 when it lost its trading license from The Civil Aviation Authority as it had incurred losses of 630,105. The court heard the directors, including Murphy, loaned the company over half a million euro but that it never regained its license.

The Children to Lapland Appeal was run by Murphy from the same office. Mr Reynolds, defending, said the charity bought the flights to Lapland from United Travel but could never pay it back. He said this was United Travel subsidising the charity.

Mr Reynolds said the charity owed United Travel and Mr Murphy 68,000 shortly before the money was stolen. He also said a sum of 4,000 was lodged back to the charitys account after the thefts.

Counsel said it was a good charity which sent thousands of terminally ill children to see Santa Claus in Lapland. Mr McCormack, said it was still theft even if the money was repaid later. Judge McCartan agreed.
One of the leaders, Shia Imam Ali al-Saleh, said he had brought his concerns in relation to the two Kuwaiti clerics to gardai.

A second leader, Sunni Imam Umar al-Qadri, called for a debate about allowing radical speakers address young Muslims here.

The speakers attending the conference are Othman Alkhamees, who studied under Saudi Shakyh Saleh al-Uthaymin, described as a giant within conservative Salafi Islam, and Khaled Alotaibi, a scholar in Sharia law and member of a Kuwaiti sharia committee.

The event is organised by an Irish Kuwaiti student organisation, Thabat, and the Islamic Foundation of Ireland, which is hosting the event in Dublin.

The foundation, known as the Dublin Mosque, is one of the citys busiest mosques. Its imam, Yahya al-Hussein rejected claims of extremism regarding the speakers, saying they werent true and that there was no cause for concern.

However, imam al-Saleh of the Shia mosque in Milltown, Dublin, said the two scholars were well known Salafis, an orthodox doctrine. Salafi and Wahhabi ideology is about spreading extremism and sectarianism, imam al-Saleh said, citing their views towards Shia and Sufi Muslims as well as Christians and Jews. If we want to protect our youth, we have to stop these kinds of preachers and stop them getting access to students. He confirmed he had contacted gardai about the two speakers.

Dr al-Qadri of the Sunni Blanchardstown mosque said the speakers were Salafis and known to be very orthodox and radical.

In addition to leading Friday prayers, he said the scholars were also holding fatwa sessions  question and answer meetings.

People can ask questions about day-to-day life as a Muslim, said Dr al-Qadri.

It could be anything: religious, but also political matters, about homosexuality, about democracy. People assume these fatwas are binding, which is worrying. They are not eligible to give fatwas here. They dont live here, he said.

He said the Dutch parliament discusses visits of foreign Islamic scholars: In Ireland there is no discussion of this. The speakers can say what they like, no one knows.

However, imam al-Hussein of the Dublin mosque rejected the claims: There is no cause for concern, they are reasonable people.

He said claims of extremism were not true. He said Dr Alkhamees had been coming to the mosque for 10 years and knew him well. He said there was nothing wrong with Salafis and said it simply meant those who came after the prophet.

He said Salafi Kuwaitis participated in elections there and were not against democracy. Efforts to contact Thabat failed.
Cork city coroners court was told yesterday that the Health and Safety Authority (HSA)  which mounted the prosecution against University College Cork (UCC) arising out of the death on campus three years ago of maintenance staff member, Frank McGrath  has accepted the significantly enhanced procedures.

A jury returned a verdict of accidental death after hearing how Mr McGrath, 58, from Richmond Hill, Cork, died instantly on March 5, 2013, when the front wheel of a cherrypicker rolled over him.

A post mortem found he died from severe trauma to the chest, shock and haemorrhage, consistent with a tyre running over his chest.

The inquest could not establish why Mr McGrath came close to the cherry-picker before being crushed beneath it.

But city coroner, Dr Myra Cullinane, was told that he had not been trained to act as a warning man for a cherrypicker, and that there was a significant blind spot of up to 150ft ahead of the vehicle, given the position the operators basket was in at the time.

The inquest was told that Mr McGrath and John Punch were using the cherrypicker during routine lighting maintenance work and were on their way from one site to another with the machine when the accident happened at about 3.30pm.

Mr Punch was at the controls of the cherrypicker, driving it at no more than seven miles (11kms) per hour up an internal avenue near the Glucksman Gallery, while Mr McGrath, who was wearing a yellow hi-vis vest, walked in front as a banksman, directing Mr Punch and alerting pedestrians.

However, HSA inspector, Michael Flynn, told the coroner that Mr McGrath had not been given formal training on how to work as a banksman, and that Mr Punch, while trained to operate the machine, had not been given any formal training on how to interact with a banksman.

He said that while a formal permit to work system was in place in UCC at the time, the movement of the cherrypicker fell outside the scope of the policy. He said there was no specific hazard or risk analysis for the movement of such maintenance vehicles across campus.

And he said while the colleges own safety document placed responsibility for the on-campus movement of such vehicles with a senior manager, the college had failed to bring that to the attention of the manager.

Mr Punch told the inquest that one moment he could see Mr McGrath walking in front of the machine, and the next he heard a shout and realised there had been an accident.

Eye- witness Shauna ODonnell said that it looked as if McGrath fell moments before the cherrypicker rolled over him. She rushed to help, along with fellow students, Conal Wrigley, Mycheala Hunt, and Bon Secours nurse, Martina Burns. The alarm was raised and Mr Wrigley administered CPR while UCC staff member Elaine Tynan used a mobile defibrillator until paramedics arrived about eight minutes later.

They battled for another 40-minutes to save him but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Gardai said the cherrypicker was in good working order and there was no sign of a loss of control before the accident.

Following a lengthy HSA investigation, UCC pleaded guilty last year at Cork Circuit Criminal Court to two breaches of health and safety legislation, arising out of the fatal accident, and was fined 80,000 last November.

Judge Donagh McDonagh said the breaches were at the less serious end of the spectrum, describing them as systems failure of a less gross nature.

Yesterday, Mark Poland, UCCs director of buildings and estates, told the coroner that they have now introduced several new policies and procedures.

Staff using cherrypickers must undergo specific signalling training, banksmen or signal men must wear special red hi-vis suits, and they must use hand-held radios to communicate with the operator, he said.

He also said that a specific risk assessment has been conducted on all routes and avenues running through the college campus.

The jury endorsed Mr Flynns recommendations for the safe use of cherrypickers, including giving banksmen unique hi-vis clothing, positioning the control basket to maximise the operators field of vision, using a radio system to enhance communication between a banksman and the operator, agreeing a minimum approach distance for the banksman, and in the event of losing sight of the banksman, the operator should stop the vehicle immediately.

A tree has been planted on the grounds of UCC in memory of Mr McGrath, a popular member of staff and a member of UCCs governing body.

College was fined 80k after employee was crushed by cherrypicker
The court heard the child, who had special needs, was afraid to go back to the specialised playschool she attended. She told her mother that Kevin Muldoon, aged 32, had taken photos of her bum and pants.

Gardai later discovered 46 images of the girl sent from the mans phone to his email address, including photos of her private parts and of him with his finger in her mouth.

Muldoon, of Rockwinds, Church Road, Killiney, Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to sexual assault and production of child pornography on May 8, 2014.

He further pleaded guilty to possessing 688 images of child pornography found on hard drives and computers during a raid on his premises, his family home and the playschool on May 15, 2014. He has no previous convictions.

Judge Melanie Greally said Muldoons crime represented a gross breach of trust and said instead of assisting the girl, who already started out life at a disadvantage... he compounded her difficulty.

She has suffered an irreversible loss of innocence at the age of four, the judge said before she added that the childs extreme youth was the single greatest aggravating factor in the case.

Judge Greally accepted that Muldoon had expressed remorse, had social and educational difficulties and had neither shared nor paid for the pornographic material.

She sentenced Muldoon to five years in prison and ordered that he engage in treatment while in prison.

The judge also imposed five years post release supervision and said that Muldoon must refrain from taking any position that will bring him into contact with children.

The little girls parents, in a victim impact statement read in court, expressed how the mans despicable and disgusting behaviour would impact them as a family for the rest of their lives.

They said their daughter had a fear of unfamiliar males and as a four-year-old girl she was stripped of her dignity and innocence.

They said the incidents had been imprinted on her mind and that she struggled socially and had night terrors.

They revealed they were grateful that their little girl had been able to speak up about the abuse.
Sheehy Skeffingtons life, love, and brutal demise are the subjects of a new TG4 documentary, Sheehy Skeffington: Pacifist, by Dearcan Media, a Derry-based Irish language production company.

Frank Sheehy Skeffington was detained, used as a human shield, and executed without trial by firing squad under the orders of Captain JC Bowen-Colthurst of the Royal Irish Rifles, a native of Dripsey, Co Cork, who was later court-martialled for his actions, pleading insanity.

Deaglan O Mochain is the founder of Dearcan Media and the producer of the new Sheehy Skeffington documentary. If hes remembered at all its as the guy who was shot by the crazy British soldier, says O Mochain. We got a lot of gruesome detail about the execution and about how Bowen-Colthurst was protected by the British army; we could have made the whole documentary about that but we wanted to keep Franks story centre-stage.

O Mochain became interested in Franks story after filming a documentary on Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, Franks wife, herself a prominent activist. Their union, based on mutual respect and common beliefs and goals, is touchingly portrayed in Sheehy Skeffington: Pacifist using extracts of their love letters and dramatic re-enactments. When they married, they both altered their names as a symbol of their desire for equal status, a gesture that seems progressive even today.

They were so far ahead of their time, O Mochain says. Taking on someone elses identity as a mark of equality was such a strong thing to do at the time, and they were involved in every type of progression that was happening in Ireland; gender equality, justice for victims of sex crimes, campaigns for secular education.

Directed by Damian McCann, the documentary accentuates the emotion and drama of the story as well as calling on expert contributors for factual accounts.

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

The Sheehy Skeffingtons granddaughter, Dr Micheline Sheehy Skeffington, a former lecturer at NUI Galway and herself a feminist campaigner, visits sites connected to her grandfathers life and death in scenes both emotional and introspective.

It was a difficult thing to capture on film because you dont want to intrude on peoples private moments like that, says O Mochain, But Micheline was a great person to work alongside and she was very tolerant and patient during the shoot. She speaks with great integrity and I hope that comes across as much as her emotional responses.

Another reason why Sheehy Skeffingtons story deserves to be told, says O Mochain, is because in the build-up to the centenary we run the risk of losing sight of the diversity of opinion in the era preceding the Easter Rising; Frank was a pacifist first and foremost, and not a supporter of the armed rebellion.

The execution of Sheehy Skeffington and the leaders of the Easter Rising polarised opinion, so we have lost all sense of the plurality that would have existed before 1916, he says. It seems like youre either with the leaders of the Rising or against them, but at the time it was a lot more sophisticated than that.

Filmed in just 12 days, the documentary was funded through the Irish Language Broadcast Fund. Dearcan Media is an Irish language media company; film-making in a minority language comes with its own set of challenges.

RTE and BBC operate on a commercial basis and theyre interested in audience figures. When youre working in a minority language that cant be the sole arbiter, so you need support, says OMochain. I always argue that Irish language films have to be better than English language films; to make a non-Irish-speaker watch a film like this you have to really grab their attention.

Sheehy Skeffington: Pacifist will be broadcast on TG4, March 8, at 9.30pm.

Read more on the Sheehy-Skeffington murder, and on the impact on Captain Bowen-Colthursts family in Cork, in the Irish Examiners continuing 1916 coverage next Monday.

Enjoyed this? Then check out our dedicated micro-site, developed in collaboration with UCC, to mark the revolutionary period HERE
I forgot about Mothers Day this year because I cant help admiring my new set of boobs. Anyway, I started ringing around to book a place for Mum, but no one would guarantee we wouldnt be placed next to a table full of Norries. (You can just imagine them trying to get us to join in their singsong.) Do you have any tips?  Becky, Montenottte

Have you considered cooking a meal for her yourself? You know that thing called an Aga in your 45,000 kitchen? Well that can actually be used to heat up food in such a way that it is palatable to humans. Im sure one of your nannies will know how to work it. Although you might be better off getting the caterers in. The last thing you want is an Irish mammy not complaining about the muck you serve up to her. It still beats sitting next to some Mam from Togher, says she, only barely meaning it.

Cmere, this old doll started breast-feeding her child next to me on the bus this morning. Obviously I stared a bit, because at the end of the day theyre boobs, but I felt fierce uncomfortable after a while. Do you think its okay to ask an old doll to put her boobs away (unless shes flashing me on the Grand Parade at 3am on a Sunday, in which case fire ahead)?  Donie, Grange, whats wrong with giving the child a bottle?

Youll learn one thing if you ask an old-doll to stop breastfeeding in public. And that is a woman is perfectly capable of cursing in front of her kids. I hear there is some talk of allocated breastfeeding areas in Cork . They better make them big. There will be no shortage of men turning up so they can get outraged and see a bit of booby at the same time. Sure, its every Cork mans dream. Isnt that right, Donie boy?

Hey there. My husband and I are like total foodies and have heard that Cork is the gourmet capital of Ireland. Were so psyched about visiting you guys when we fly in for our holidays on the Emerald Isle. Do you think we should just skip Dublin and go straight to Cork? Lorrie, New York City, we are like so gluten-free.

Skipping Dublin is always a good idea. Unless youve listed avoiding heroin addicts as a life-time ambition. I think youll just love our Old English Market. Its full of posh Cork foodies who want to be seen buying tripe and drisheen. Dont try and talk to them about their purchase. They are usually in a fierce rush home to throw it in the bin.

Like, totes, hows it going? Me and my girls are planning a trip out of Dublin 4 (look at us, all crazy) and someone said that Cork is nice. Anyway, Ive heard you have the same problem with northsiders as we do here in the actual, like, capital. So, like totes, where should be go?  Samantha, Ballsbridge, will I have any clue what you people are saying to me?

No, you wont have a clue what were saying to you. Trust me, thats just as well. No one likes to hear that they are a Dublin gobshite who sounds like she watches too much Keeping Up With The Kardashians. (Tell me if Im wrong.) The only good news is that we wont laugh at your daft accent. Cork people gave up laughing at the way other people talk ages ago, throwing stones at glasshouses and all that. We make an exception for our neighbours. Its impossible not to giggle when a Kerryman opens his mouth. (Is Michael Healy-Rae played by an actor?)

Cmere, you seem to know everybody. Is there any chance you could have a word with Micheal Martin and tell him nobody wants Enda Kenny to stay in power? Like, we voted for change and now it looks like were going to get Enda running a minority government by himself. I dont think any Corkman should be party to that carry on. Can you make him stop?  Jerry No Water, Charges, No Rent Increases, No Nothing, Friars Walk.

I wish I could. Its an outrage that the people of Cork should have to live at the whim of a Mayo man. What would he know about life in paradise or wiping your nose with something other than your sleeve? Heres what keeps me awake at night (other than my Conor after hes been watching Game of Thrones). Imagine if Enda didnt have Simon Coveney to show him how to greet people and tie his laces. Wed be the laughing stock of Europe.
WHEN the Dail resumes next week, some 158 TDs  new and familiar faces alike  will take their seats.

Following the introduction of a gender quota in this election they will include some 35 women.

While this figure represents the biggest number of female TDs to ever be elected to Leinster House, the reality is they represent just a small fraction of the heavily male- dominated Dail population.

The low numbers of women entering political life has long been associated with the difficulties involved in being a TD and juggling a family  both former Fine Gael TD for Laois-Offaly Olwyn Enright (who left politics in 2011) and former independent TD for Wicklow, Mildred Fox (who retired from politics in 2007) made the decision to devote more time to their families.

While the challenges involved in dealing with the demands of life as a TD (non-stop meetings, late night Dail sittings and for many non-Dublin TDs nights away from home when the Dail is sitting) together with those of a parent, are no doubt a factor in the small number of women making it through the doors of the Dail, in reality all the TDs who are parents, both male and female, who will take their seats next week, face considerable difficulties in juggling the two roles for the duration of their term in office.

Balancing act

TD for Meath East, Regina Doherty, who was first elected in 2011 and has been re-elected, has been juggling life as a public representative and a mother of four for the last five years.

Doherty and her husband Declan have two sons aged 16 and 11 and two daughters aged 14 and nine.

Re-elected Fine Gael TD for Meath-East Regina Doherty, with her husband Declan and three of her four children, from left, Kate, Ryan and Grace.

Normal life would mean I never put them to bed because Im never home until well after they are gone to bed, said Doherty. The way the arrangement in our house works is because Im not there at night Im there in the morning They dont start school until 9.20 so we have about two hours together Then I go to work and they dont see me until the following morning. Thats Monday to Friday, said Doherty whose husband looks after the children in the evenings after he gets home from work.

The only way I got to be a TD was to be able to work closely with Declan so it had the least amount of disruption on both our kids lives and on me and him... He has taken up the slack where I have less time over the last couple of years. Its give and take.

The couple have a long-standing baby sitter who minds the children after school a few days a week, while her father looks after them on Tuesdays and Fridays.

It works, said Doherty.

The negatives (of the job) for me are (having less) time with my family, but I can get by knowing that I go home to them every night and I have little people running into my room at 6.50 every morning to wake me up and to give me hugs. If I lived in Kerry or Letterkenny, I dont think I could do this job. I dont think thats anything to do with being a woman or a man. I would not do this job with my children as small as they were, and still are if I wasnt at home everyday. Regina said she believes, however, that there is a, different dynamic being a mammy to being a daddy and that; for some strange reason women feel guilty about everything that happens. She said she herself had her moments.

Its the days where you find out something has happened (at home)... and I say, How come nobody told me this? and I get told; Sure you are never here. That kills you.

Newly-elected TD for Cork South West, Margaret Murphy OMahony (Fianna Fail) faces a three and a half hour trip to Dublin and at least two nights away from her husband Paddy and two children, John (15) and Philip (13) each week when the Dail is sitting.

Cork South-Wests first female TD Margaret Murphy OMahony celebrates her election win.

The Bandon native said that after her election she faced questions from journalists that her male counterparts were not asked.

There is an awful lot of emphasis  because you are a woman  on how are you going to cope with your children housework even was mentioned I think its important whether you are a male or female TD that you have good support at home. You really do need your partner 100% behind you or you couldnt do it, said Murphy OMahony who said her husband Paddy OMahony, a sales rep for an oil company, is a fantastic back-up. She said Paddy will work around their sons when she is away, cooking and collecting them from after-school activities, while she would prioritise family time at the weekends.

Id travel a lot during the night just to be able to spend more time at home I have a son who will be starting his Junior Cert in June and I want to be home that morning so Ill travel down at night just to be here to be able to say goodbye to him and go up (to Dublin) again. She said being a TD was tough for anybody, particularly for those living far from Dublin, but she felt it is, doable. Im lucky (because of the boys ages). I would have probably held off until now to run I think they need both parents to be a very big part of their lives when they are smaller, said the Bandon native.

For fathers as for mothers

Martin Heydon (Fine Gael) who has retained his seat in Kildare South, is married to Brianne and the couple have two boys, seven-week-old baby Padraic and 16 month old Martin Denis.

Re-elected Fine Gael TD Martin Heydon with his wife, Brianne and their two sons, Martin Denis (16 months) and Padraic (seven weeks old), at the Kildare South count centre in Punchestown last Saturday.

He said he could not do his job without the support of his wife, (a pharmacist) and their extended families who live nearby.

They make huge sacrifices themselves to allow me to do what I do. As he lives outside Kilcullen, an hour from Dublin, he knows he is lucky to be able to get home most nights when the Dail is sitting, but there are other challenges.

If you are not in the Dail there are a lot of community meetings that happen at night. I found after Martin Denis was born that you are seldom home during the week to put him to bed at night and thats a very big sacrifice you make, said Heydon, who added that he sometimes would not see his son for two days when the Dail is sitting as he is asleep when he leaves and gets home. Thats really hard.

You do kind of question at times, is it worth the sacrifice When hes older hell probably miss me not being around even more. You dont want your kids growing up and resenting the fact that daddy did a certain job that had him away all the time. These are all things that play on your mind a little bit that would not have five years ago.

The deputy said it is as difficult for fathers as for mothers to be TDs.

You make the same sacrifices... The same principles apply that you need all your family support network to really kick in to allow you to do it and the burden of being a parent falls more heavily on the (other) parent  irrespective of whether thats the father or the mother.
Hillary Clinton would do well to heed the adage: Be careful what you wish for. Shes been wishing that Donald Trump would be her Republican rival for the White House and now shell likely get her wish. But battling Trump will not be as easy as she thinks. After all, hes already toppled one political dynasty.

The thinking in the Clinton camp that a match-up with Trump would gift her the White House is quickly vanishing and a new reality is taking hold, with some Democrats questioning whether she can succeed where the might and money of the Republican establishment has failed in its efforts to halt Trump.

The reality check has been jump-started by someone who can never be accused of underestimating his opponents or overestimating his party  Bill Clinton.

The former president knows that while his wife may be coasting to the Democratic nomination in June she will have the fight of her life on her hands in a general election match-up with Trump. Hes now playing a central role in shaping the direction of her campaign, which is evolving into a triple-pronged strategy. This involves portraying Clinton as a uniter and a healer, with her husband acting as the attack dog in chief and president Barack Obama as the voice of experience touting his former secretary of states credentials for the Oval Office.

Indeed, Obama has begun taking swipes at Trump with increasing frequency. Being president is a serious job. Its not hosting a talk show or a reality show, he said recently. Its hard. And a lot of people count on us getting it right. And its not a matter of pandering and doing whatever will get you in the news on a given day.

To underscore the point, he added his successor would have the nuclear codes and can order 21-year- olds into a firefight. Clinton herself, emboldened by her victories on Super Tuesday that brought the Democratic nomination nearer, has also began trying out the strategy. Her message is simple: Trump is dividing people, while she wants to unite them.

Shes taking Trumps slogan about making America great again and throwing it back at him.

We dont need to make America great again. America has never stopped being great, shes declared. But we do need to make America whole again. Instead of building walls, we need to be tearing down barriers.

Her husband, who has been through the Republican wringer before during the Lewinsky scandal, is likely to excel in his attack dog role and can be expected to use Trumps incendiary comments about immigrants, minorities, and women to portray him as a bigoted demagogue unfit for the highest office in the land.

Trump himself made this task easier in recent days when he failed to reject the support of David Duke, a former leader of the white supremacist Klu Klux Klan.

To fight Mr Trumps ability to sway the news cycle, Mr Clinton would not hold back on the stump, the New York Times said about the strategy. And President Obama has told allies he would gleefully portray Mr Trump as incapable of handling the duties of the Oval Office. But its one thing to have a plan and a message and its quite another thing to stick to them.

If Clinton can stick to her message she can probably make a strong case against Trump, but if he derails her along the way and she goes off message, she could be doomed. And thats what Trump is likely to try to do.

His scorched-earth approach that has brought the Bush dynasty and over a dozen other Republican rivals to their knees will now be directed unrelentingly at Clinton.

He will be aiming to drag her into the dirt with him and goad her into losing her cool and becoming incoherently angry, so that in the end, her message is lost on voters and it becomes a case of a plague on both your houses, potentially resulting in many Democrats sitting out the election on November 8.

In a national CNN poll this week, Clinton tops Trump 52% to 44%. Still, Clinton will have to fight for every vote. She has shown she has overwhelming support among African-Americans and older women, but she is fighting an uphill battle to attract white male voters and younger voters.

Trump knows very well that Clinton is a smart politician but he also knows she isnt necessarily a smart campaigner  shes a policies person not a people person, unlike her husband who was both. So if she is to succeed she will need to be extremely disciplined.

She wont win simply by being anti-Trump. She must also have a positive message and project it firmly and fearlessly.

But while Clinton is busy appealing to the better nature of Americans, Trump will hardly be sitting on his hands. In Republican debates, he has already made clear hell fight a no-holds- barred campaign against her. I can tell you the one person that Hillary Clinton doesnt want to run against is me, he recently declared.

He says she should be indicted for her use of a private email server as secretary of state and this should disqualify her from running for office. He also says her husbands extramarital affairs were fair game as an issue in the election because they were an abuse of women. He also took aim at her after his Super Tuesdays victories. What she did [with the email server] is a criminal act, he said. Other people have done far less than her and theyve paid a very big price. But, like Clinton, Trump doesnt have the nomination in the bag yet and well-funded conservative organisations are still trying to halt his march to victory at the partys nominating convention in July. There is also a major effort brewing among Republicans in Congress to try to block him before he essentially seals the deal on March 15 if he prevails in the winner- takes-all Florida primary, where the latest Quinnipiac University poll shows him leading rival and Florida native son Marco Rubio by 44% to 28%.

Both parties primaries will continue until June but by the end of this month, more than 40% of delegates will have been awarded and Clinton and Trump will likely be getting ready for what is shaping up to be one of the ugliest battles in American political history.
Pragmatism appears to be winning out in Longboat Quay.

Bernard McNamara, the developer whose company built the 298-unit apartment blocks currently the subject of a fire safety order, is heading back to the site. If plans come to fruition, he will be undertaking the remedial fire safety works at cost price.

This, in turn, may well begin the restoration of his reputation, which has taken a major hit as a result of all that has tumbled out from behind the walls of Longboat Quay.

His intervention will also ensure that the apartment owners will not have to come up with the 1.2m-plus bill they were facing for the works.

So far, so good for everybody. The only hitch is that the cost for the works will still largely come from the public purse. While McNamara will undertake to do the work, it will be funded by the Dublin Docklands Development Authority.

Some may baulk at the prospect of the developer whose company constructed the deficient building in 2006 being brought on board to sort out the problem from the public purse. But, as with much that has befallen the country since the days of the building bubble, pragmatism appears to be the compass.

How did it get to this point? In February last year, the Irish Examiner first reported on the major fire safety deficiencies that were discovered at Longboat Quay, a development built in 2006 on Dublins Sir John Rogerson Quay.

The discovery led to fire marshals patrolling the building 24/7 over seven months until a major fire alarm upgrade was installed. Thereafter, Dublin Fire Brigade began to despair at the lack of progress in getting the main works under way. The fire brigade twice wrote to the management company threatening to apply for a fire safety order, the first move in having the building evacuated. At the same time, the Dublin Docklands Development Authority  which was anchor tenant for the common areas in the blocks  retained fire consultant Michael Slattery and Associates (MSA) to assess what was required to bring the building up to a safe standard. MSA concluded that extensive works costing 3.88m would be required.

On October 1 last, the fire brigade followed through on its threat and applied to Dublin District Court. A stay has now been put on the order until next year.

A major problem has prevented the remedial works getting under way. Who will foot the bill? The DDDA  now being reversed into Dublin City Council  offered to put up 2.25m. The receiver for McNamaras company on site, Gendsong, pledged to cough up another quarter of a million. This left the residents with the prospect of coming up with 1.2m.

Most of them dont have the money. A stalemate ensued.

Meanwhile, the management company issued legal proceedings against the DDDA. Through it all the owners and 600-plus residents were forced to live with the worry of what might happen should a fire break out, not to mention the massive devaluation of properties bought at the height of the boom.

Enter Mr McNamara. By last year he had returned from the UK, where he had endured a purgatorial term in bankruptcy. Reportedly miffed that his reputation had taken a battering, he went about conducting his own investigation into Longboat Quay.

On December 18 last he wrote to the apartment owners and residents directly, offering to do the remedial works at cost price. He also claimed that many of the fire safety issues and associated costs do not relate to non-compliance during construction. He attributed some of the problems as being the result of wear and tear. At the time Mr McNamara claimed he could undertake the work required at a cost of 1.5m, although he didnt specify where the money would come from.

His approach received a lukewarm reception. A court had agreed with both Dublin Fire Brigade and MSA that serious questions needed to be addressed.

Yet here was the man responsible for constructing the building claiming that a lot of it was much ado about very little.

It now appears that McNamara has changed his tune in the last two months.

This newspaper understands that he has been in negotiations with the DDDA and working with the authoritys consultant Slattery to reach an agreement on how to proceed.

He has retained experts from the UK, and conducted a number of tests to show how it might be possible to do the work required in a more cost efficient manner than outlined by Slattery.

If things continue to progress, the end result will be that McNamara will be retained to do the work. This would avoid further delay through having to issue a tender and, crucially, cut out the requirement for a profit margin for any contractor. The DDDA will still be required to put 2.5m into the remedial works, but the apartment owners will largely be off the hook.

The last outcome will be the most welcome. Apart from enduring worry over their homes, health and safety, many of the owners would simply not have had access to the funds required to right a wrong that was not theirs.

One owner told the Irish Examiner that she remained wary despite signs that the situation might be facing a resolution. Its been going on so long, Id welcome anything, she said. Id be a bit wary of the work being done by him (Mr McNamara) as he built it in the first place, but if everybody is satisfied hell do it properly let him at it. It would also be a relief to know we wouldnt have to fork out for it.

The Irish Examiner understands that an agreement between the parties should be due within the next fortnight. A positive resolution should also include the dropping of the legal action between the residents and the DDDA.

What remains to be seen is whether Mr McNamara will finally admit that Longboat Quay was in fact built in a deficient manner, which now requires that it be set right for the first time.

Since the story first came to light, he has threatened to take legal action against the fire consultant who first discovered the deficiencies in early 2014.

Finally, his initial assessment of the deficiencies called into question the judgment of Dublin Fire Brigade in seeking a fire safety order. Its hard to see how an agreement with Mr McNamara can be reached unless he rows back considerably from that position.
The location of the debris is consistent with drift-modelling commissioned by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau and reaffirms the search area for MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean, minister for infrastructure and transport, Darren Chester, said.

Flight MH370 disappeared with 239 people on board, on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, in March, 2014.
A radical leftist group claimed responsibility for the attack, in which two police officers were lightly wounded, Governor Vasip Sahin said in televised comments.

One woman threw a grenade and the other opened fire with what appeared to be a machine gun as the riot police bus headed for the entrance of a police station in the Bayrampasa district of Turkeys biggest city, footage from Dogan News Agency showed.

The hand grenade did not detonate.

Police fired back, injuring one of the women, before tracking them to a nearby building, CNN Turk said.

Special forces units and police surrounded the building, television footage showed, leading to an hour-long stand-off in which there was sporadic gunfire and the women were shot dead.

Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin said both of the assailants were killed in the operation. He said two police officers were wounded  one by broken glass during the attack on the bus and the other during the assault on the building.

A claim of responsibility came from a website close to the Revolutionary Peoples Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), a group that has repeatedly targeted police stations, largely in Istanbul suburbs.

Attacks on Turkeys security forces have also increased as violence has resurged in the predominantly Kurdish southeast, where a ceasefire between Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants and the state collapsed last July.

The PKK, considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the US and the EU, launched a separatist armed rebellion against Turkey in 1984. More than 40,000 people, mostly Kurds, have since been killed.

Turkey has also become a target for Islamic State militants, who are blamed for three suicide bombings Those attacks killed more than 140 people.

Last month, a suicide car bombing that targeted buses carrying military personnel in the capital, Ankara, killed 29 people.

A Kurdish militant group that is an off-shoot of the PKK claimed responsibility for that attack. But the government maintains that it was the work of a Syrian Kurdish militia group, in coordination with the PKK.
The former Irish president encouraged the packed auditorium of European parliamentarians to consider how they would be judged by history if they failed to act speedily and appropriately.

We know what must be done, she said, and went on to address the particular issues of women migrants who now, with children, outnumber men, and face the threat of rape, the demand for sex in return for services, and health issues related to pregnancy and birth.

Some 16% of women migrants to the southern Mediterranean are pregnant, a percentage which is increasing as women become more fearful that Europe will close its doors and leave their new-born infants out in the cold.

More than two-thirds of drowning victims are currently women, who are often put in the most dangerous parts of the boats and are less likely to be able to swim.

If they get to Europe they face a whole new series of dangers because refugee camps currently fail to comply with the basic international standards which would help keep them safe.

There are often no segregated areas for women and toilets may have no doors. There have been reports of women stopping eating and drinking so they dont have to face the danger in the toilets.

Europes mind must also be focussed on making sure such a refugee crisis never happens again, said Ms Robinson. The push factors forcing thousands of people to attempt the perilous journey across the Mediterranean or overland into Europe were poverty, war, and climate change.

Increasing drought had pushed Syrians into the cities from the countryside and had been one of the factors in the escalation of the conflict there, she said. Drought was particularly hard on women who tended to live close to the land and depended on local water, energy and food sources to maintain their families.

In a rousing conclusion, she called on Europe to embrace this new challenge and make it a chronicle of adaptation which instructed us how to enact fairness and equality and shift to a new level of consciousness.

No such interparliamentary committee meeting has ever been so well attended by MEPs. There is wide recognition that the stakes are very high on the refugee crisis because it is reckoned there are 2m migrants preparing to attempt to enter Europe when the weather improves.

On Monday there will be a summit in Brussels on the issue between Turkey and the EU and on March 17 and 18 the EU will hold its own summit on the refugee crisis.

The European Parliament held a seminar for journalists to precede the interparliamentary meeting but it failed to ignite, due to the notable lack of any refugee voices on the discussion panels.

Ms Robinsons address focussed attention back on Europes responsibility to these people and this theme was continued with a strong intervention from Italian human rights activist Nawal Soufi who has spent months living among refugees in Greece and Sicily.

She said a comparison could be made between today and the Nazi era in that European people knew, in truth, what was happening to the refugees and still did little or nothing to save them. I am not afraid of the refugees, she said, I am of the state of my conscience in 25 years time if Europe fails to act now.
Tusk was on a trip through Balkan states to try to drum up support for cohesion on how to deal with hundreds of thousands of migrants  a crisis that threatens to tear the bloc apart  before an EU summit on Monday.

From Greece, which has been a primary gateway of migrants flooding into Europe for more than a year, Tusk said anyone who was not a refugee should stay away.

I want to appeal to all potential illegal economic migrants, wherever you are from  Do not come to Europe. Do not believe the smugglers. Do not risk your lives and your money. It is all for nothing, Tusk said.

Up to 30,000 refugees and migrants have been stranded in Greece from progressive border closures further up the Balkan corridor, the route taken to get into wealthier central and northern Europe.

At Mondays summit, Greece will demand that burden sharing be equitable among all countries in the bloc, and sanctions for those that do not, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said after meeting Tusk. We ask that unilateral actions stop in Europe, said Tspiras in a view echoed by Tusk.

EU officials have said European governments, and particularly Germany, are looking to Turkey to reduce the number of migrant arrivals in Greece to below 1,000 a day at most as an initial condition for discussing taking some Syrian refugees directly from Turkey .

Tsipras said Greece would continue to do whatever it could to ensure no migrant or refugee was left helpless. But he added Greece could not bear the burden by itself.

We will not allow Greece or any other country to be turned into a warehouse of souls, Tsipras said. We are at a crucial moment for the future of Europe.

Meanwhile French president Francois Hollande has said he hopes Britain will vote to stay in the EU in the June 23 referendum. Mr Hollande was speaking at a press conference with David Cameron at the conclusion of a one-day Anglo-French summit in Amiens. That summit was overshadowed by comments from French finance minister Emmanuel Macron, who suggested migrant camps could be moved from Calais to the UK if Britain votes to leave the EU.

Macron indicated that British withdrawal from the EU could lead to Paris ending a 2003 treaty which allows UK border guards to be stationed in Calais, where thousands of migrants live in makeshift encampments awaiting their opportunity to cross the Channel.

Mr Macron also suggested France would roll out the red carpet for bankers wanting to repatriate from the City of London to Paris if Britain quit the EU.

He cautioned that any country leaving the 28-nation EU could not expect to retain the same terms of trade with its former partners.

Mr Hollande left no doubt that he wants a remain vote in the referendum. I hope the UK remains in Europe, said the French president. It is in the interest of the UK, it is in the interest of Europe, but the people are always sovereign.

Mr Cameron announced a 17 million (22m) investment in enhanced security in Calais, as well as an initiative to move migrants from the port to facilities elsewhere in France.

Mr Cameron said the UK and France had agreed to jointly invest 1.9 billion to develop the next generation of unmanned combat air systems which will be the most advanced of its kind in Europe, securing high-end engineering jobs and expertise in both the UK and France.

Mr Cameron told the conference that Britain is stronger, safer and better off within a reformed European Union.

He said: We should be clear how our partnership within the European Union makes a tangible difference to the scale and the breadth of what we can achieve together.

It was through the European Union that we imposed sanctions against Russia when it illegally invaded Crimea almost two years ago.

It was through the collective economic muscle of the EU that our sanctions brought Iran to the negotiating table and put a nuclear bomb beyond their reach.

It is through co-operation and intelligence-sharing with our European partners that we best fight cross-border crime and terrorism, giving us strength in numbers in what is a dangerous world.

We both firmly believe that our membership of the European Union allows us to amplify our strength, projecting greater power internationally, increasing the security of our citizens, and boosting the competitiveness of our economies.

We are both strong, proud nations, clear about our influence in the world, and clear that our membership of the European Union enhances that role rather than detracting from it.

We are stronger, safer and better off within a reformed European Union.
Sharon Edwards 42, claimed she was a loving wife and denied murdering her solicitor husband David using a kitchen knife, two months to the day after their Las Vegas wedding.

Mr Edwards, 51, was found dead in bed at their home in Chorley, Lancashire, on August 23 last year, having sustained an 8cm deep wound to the chest.

A further 60 recent external injuries were noted to his body yet Edwards  who was said to have regularly assaulted him  denied they had anything to do with her.

Manchester Crown Court heard that, hours before his death, Edwards was witnessed slapping her husband and calling him a dickhead in a pub after allegedly stabbing him upon their arrival home from Spain. But the mother-of-four claims she could not remember the events of the night before her husbands death, claiming he had put Diazepam in her wine.

The court heard that a police officer on patrol was to describe Edwards as, ragging him about around the neck threatening to f***ing kill him before she escorted them home.

The court heard she had called him a has-been in front of strangers, belittled and embarrassed him in front of colleagues and called him at work screeching, what sort of f***ing man are you?

The jury was told that in his latter months, colleagues and friends saw a decline in Mr Edwards, who had lost weight and was displaying visible facial scratches and bruises. Edwards told the court: I was a loving wife and I was protective of him. Prosecutor, Anne Whyte QC, in cross examination, said: Your husband dies in your bed from a fatal stab wound to his heart that has happened accidentally?

Edwards replied: Yes.

Miss Whyte added: It is a wound caused by a knife that has gone 8cm into his chest and you hadnt realised that had happened?

The defendant said: I hadnt realised.

The case continues.
The Constitutional Court ruling clears the way for a judge to sentence the double-amputee runner for murder at a hearing scheduled for April 18.

Well proceed to the sentencing, defence lawyer Andrew Fawcett said.
But Cardinal George Pell, Pope Francis top financial adviser, denied that he angrily dismissed an allegation against the same cleric made by another schoolboy. He also denied that he attempted to bribe an abuse victim to stay quiet, and that he joked about a paedophile priest long before that priest was charged.

Pell was giving evidence for a fourth, and final, day to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. He was doing so from a Rome hotel conference room a short distance from the Vatican.

Pell has been accused by lawyers of deflecting blame for Catholic Church inaction against paedophiles in the dioceses of Melbourne and Ballarat by testifying that he was kept unaware of the allegations.

Pell was asked if he agreed with some Australian commentators opinion that he was the target of a witch-hunt.

Ive never expressed such a view, but, I must confess, the idea has occurred to me, Pell said via videolink to the inquiry in Sydney.

Pell said he was a junior priest in Ballarat, in 1974, when an unnamed student at St Patricks College told him that a Christian Brothers teacher, Edward Dowlan, is misbehaving with boys.

I suppose it was technically a complaint, a lament, Pell said.

Asked by commission chairman, Peter McClellan, what he had done about it, Pell replied: I didnt do anything about it.

Pell said he eventually raised concerns about Dowlan with the school chaplain. The chaplain replied that the Christian Brothers order was dealing with the allegations. Dowlan was later removed from the school.

But Dowlan continued to abuse children at other schools, until 1985.

With the experience of 40 years later, certainly I would agree that I should have done more, Pell said.

A former St Patricks student, identified as BWF, has told the commission that when he was aged 14, in the early 1970s, he went to the cathedral presbytery, told Pell that Dowlan had molested his younger brother, and demanded to know what action Pell would take.

Pell became angry, yelled at me: Young man, how dare you knock at this door and make demands, BWF told the commission last year.

We argued for a bit and he told me to go away and shut the door on me, BWF said.

Pell said he did not live at that presbytery at the time and described the language he allegedly used as ridiculous.

The suggestion that I would speak like that to a young person in distress is absolutely false, Pell said.
Union County High School teacher Leigh Anne Arthur, 33, told news outlets she left her mobile phone on her desk as she monitored a hallway during a class change. A 16-year-old boy took her phone, and with his own phone took pictures of nude images of Ms Arthur on her phone, she said.

Ms Arthur said she took the picture to send to her husband for Valentines Day.

The petition had 1,300 signatures. But David Eubanks, interim superintendent of Union County schools, said Ms Arthur was in the wrong because the phone was unlocked. Mr Eubanks said he is unsure if the student will face disciplinary action.

Explosive situation

AUSTRIA: The police station in Eisenstadt, east of Vienna, was evacuated after a woman walked in with a live tank shell in her hand.

A police statement says the shell exploded without incident after experts transported it to a nearby sandpit. But they have issued a warning to all not to touch or pick up anything that could be ordnance left over from the Second World War.

The statement says the woman who brought in the shell told police her son had found it over six months ago  and they had been storing it in their garage ever since.

Meth madness

USA: Northeast Ohio police hoping to figure out who left a bag of methamphetamine in a hotel room rubbish bin can say their department feels horrible for the owners loss and wants to help.

The tongue-in-cheek message posted to the Macedonia police Facebook page asks the owner to call or stop by to claim them so officers can, in their words, make your day.

A photograph shows a bag containing what a detective says is a gramme of high-grade crystal methamphetamine worth as much as $160 (146).

Police havent identified who rented the roomusing a gift card.

Gorilla gene

USA: If the man in your life has gorilla-like tendencies, this could be why: Scientists have discovered a strong similarity between the human and gorilla Y chromosome.

Both have more in common with each other than they do with the same male-specific chromosome in the chimpanzee, our closest animal cousin.

Lead researcher Professor Kateryna Makova, from Pennsylvania State University in the US, said: Surprisingly, we found that in many ways the gorilla Y chromosome is more similar to the human Y chromosome than either is to the chimpanzee Y chromosome.

Glass act

USA: Thrill-seekers looking to take their fear of heights to a new level can come to downtown Los Angeles this summer and careen down a clear glass slide atop the tallest building west of the Mississippi.

The Skyslide is scheduled to begin sending urban adventurers down the relatively brief ride 1,000ft above the ground in June. It will span 45ft from the 70th to the 69th floor of the US Bank Tower downtown.

Nothing but one-and-a-quarter-inch glass separates riders from the ground, promising to provide both a thrill and quite the view for anyone willing to open their eyes along the way.

On a clear day, the 72-story tower provides panoramic views that extend to Catalina Island 22 miles off the Pacific Coast and over the Santa Monica Mountains to the citys sprawling San Fernando Valley.
Asia Indonesias Early Tsunami Warning Buoys Down When Big Quake Hit

All 22 early-warning buoys Indonesia deployed after the 2004 tsunami disaster were inoperable when a massive undersea earthquake struck off the coast this week.

PADANG / JAKARTA  All 22 of the early-warning buoys Indonesia deployed after the 2004 tsunami disaster were inoperable when a massive undersea earthquake struck off the coast on Wednesday, a National Disaster Mitigation Agency official said.

The 7.8-magnitude quake did not trigger a tsunami, and there were no deaths and no major damage, but it did expose gaps in the systems put in place to prevent a disaster similar to the Indian Ocean quake that killed more than 200,000 people 11 years ago.

In addition to the malfunctioning of buoys designed to warn of massive waves, authorities said there were not enough evacuation routes or shelters in Padang, a Sumatra island port city of around 1 million people that felt the quake.

There was definitely panic last night, that cannot be denied, said Zulfiatno, the head of the disaster management agency in Padang who uses only one name, adding that shelters had the capacity to only hold about 200,000 people.

But the situation has improved from previous years. People have started to understand how to evacuate safely.

The 9.15-magnitude quake of December 2004 opened a fault line deep beneath the ocean, triggering a wave as high as 17.4-meters (57 feet) that crashed ashore in more than a dozen countries to wipe some communities off the map in seconds.

Indonesia straddles the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, a highly seismically active zone, where different plates on the Earths crust meet and create a large number of earthquakes and volcanoes.

The province of Aceh on the northwest tip of Sumatra bore the brunt of the 2004 tsunami, with at least 168,000 killed.

We Can Easily Forget

Soon after that disaster, Indonesia introduced a sophisticated early warning system using buoys, sea-level gauges and seismometers that can send alerts to countries tsunami warning centers within 10 minutes of a quake.

Officials said the procedure is to issue a tsunami warning if a quake of more than 6.5-magnitude and with its epicenter less than 20 kilometers (12 miles) deep happens at sea, and that went smoothly on Wednesday.

But the buoys, which measure the force and speed of water movement, were a missing link in the chain. Authorities delayed the lifting of their tsunami warning because of the inoperable buoys, which cost around $2.3 million a year to maintain.

We can easily forget. After the quake in Aceh we wanted to do everything, but by 2015 we dont have money allocated [to fix the buoys], Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, told reporters.

Most of [the buoys] were broken by vandalism, he said.

Although there were some strong aftershocks on Thursday, normal life largely resumed at daybreak in Padang.

There were 11 aftershocks during the night following the main quake, but authorities called for calm as they had diminished in strength.

We do not believe that there will be an earthquake of greater strength, the National Meteorological Agency said on its Twitter account. And so residents are urged to keep calm and not be taken in by rumors.

Fears ran high on Wednesday evening when it was reported that the tremor had measured 8.2 and authorities issued evacuation alerts on loudspeakers, radio and TV. Patients at hospitals in Padang were evacuated and there were traffic jams as panicking residents tried to leave.

However, the US Geological Survey (USGS) revised the magnitude down to 7.8 and within two hours of the quake striking the tsunami warnings were cancelled. USGS said the epicenter was 808 kilometers (502 miles) southwest of Padang.

If we had tried to evacuate outside the city it would have been difficult. Everybody grabbed their bikes and tried to [flee] but it was too much, said Febridal, a street food vendor in Padang who briefly went to an evacuation shelter after seeing the tsunami warning on TV.

Others ignored all warnings and remained by the shoreline, watching the waves for signs of a tsunami.

We never heard any alarm, but we saw on TV that there was potential for a tsunami, said Mulyaman, whose family runs a small seaside restaurant. We didnt see any signs of big waves so we decided to stay.
Asia North Korea, on Defense After Sanctions, Makes Nuclear Threat

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un orders his military on standby for nuclear strikes, an escalation in rhetoric targeting rivals Seoul and Washington.

SEOUL  North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered his military on standby for nuclear strikes at any time, state media reported Friday, an escalation in rhetoric targeting rivals Seoul and Washington that may not yet reflect the countrys actual nuclear capacity.

The threats are part of the authoritarian governments ramped-up propaganda push to signal strength at home and abroad in the face of what it portrays as an effort by South Korea and the United States to overthrow its leadership.

In a show of anger over the recent adoption of harsh UN sanctions over its recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch, the North fired off short-range projectiles into the sea Thursday. Fridays report also comes ahead of huge US-South Korean war games set to start next week that the North claims are invasion preparations, and amid a much harder line from rival Seoul meant to squeeze Pyongyang.

The only way for defending the sovereignty of our nation and its right to existence under the present extreme situation is to bolster up nuclear force both in quality and quantity, a dispatch from the Norths official Korean Central News Agency said, paraphrasing Kim. It said Kim stressed the need to get the nuclear warheads deployed for national defense always on standby so as to be fired any moment.

North Korea has threatened nuclear war in the past, but it is unclear just how advanced the countrys nuclear program really is. Pyongyang is thought to have a handful of likely crude atomic bombs, but there is considerable outside debate about the state of its arsenal.

Most experts say its highly unlikely that the North currently has a reliable, intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching US shores, let alone the ability to arm it with a miniaturized nuclear warhead. But the North can probably place nuclear warheads on its shorter-range Scuds and its 1,300-kilometer-range Rodong missiles, which can strike targets in South Korea and Japan, said Lee Choon-geun, an analyst from the Souths state-funded Science and Technology Policy Institute. Other analysts, however, question this.

Kim made the most recent warning while guiding the test-firing of a new large-caliber multiple launch rocket system, the report said.

The Norths report didnt say when the test-firing happened, but many in South Korea believe it likely refers to the six short-range projectiles that Seoul said North Korea fired into the sea on Thursday.

South Koreas Defense Ministry said the North Korean projectiles, fired from the eastern coastal town of Wonsan, flew about 100 to 150 kilometers (60 to 90 miles). Ministry officials said they couldnt confirm whether the projectiles were those fired by the weapons system KCNA referred to.

Thursdays firings were seen as a low-level response to the UN sanctions, with North Korea unlikely to launch any major provocation until its landmark ruling Workers Party convention in May, according to Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

The UN sanctions include mandatory inspections of cargo leaving and entering North Korea by land, sea or air; a ban on all sales or transfers of small arms and light weapons to the North; and the expulsion of North Korean diplomats who engage in illicit activities.

North Korean citizens in the capital, Pyongyang, interviewed by The Associated Press said Thursday, in an echo of official propaganda, they believe their country can fight off any sanctions.

No kind of sanctions will ever work on us, because weve lived under US sanctions for more than half a century, said Pyongyang resident Song Hyo-il. And in the future, were going to build a powerful and prosperous country here, relying on our own development.

North Korean state media earlier warned that the imposition of new sanctions would be a grave provocation that shows extreme US hostility against the country. It said the sanctions would not result in the countrys collapse or prevent it from launching more rockets.

Recent commercial satellite imagery indicates new activity, possibly preparations for a rocket engine test, at a North Korean launch site where the country fired a long-range rocket on Feb. 6, according to an analysis by the North Korea-focused 38 North website.

In another development that will anger the North, South Korean and US officials were set to begin formal talks Friday on deploying a sophisticated US missile defense system in South Korea.

The deployment of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, is opposed by North Korea, China and Russia. Opponents say the system could help US radar spot missiles in other countries.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye said Thursday shell cooperate with the international community to try to end North Korean tyranny that suppress the freedom and human rights of its own people. She recently warned of the Norths collapse, and the countrys parliament has passed a human rights bill that will enrage Pyongyang with criticism of the abysmal treatment of its citizens.

In January, North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test, which it claimed was a hydrogen bomb. Last month, it put a satellite into orbit with a long-range rocket that the United Nations and others saw as a cover for a test of banned ballistic missile technology.
Burma Arakan Army Claims Ambush Kills Dozens of Govt Troops

An Arakan Army spokesman claims the group destroyed two vehicles belonging to Burmas military using rocket-propelled grenades, purportedly killing some 30 soldiers in the attack.

RANGOON  A spokesperson for the Arakan Army claimed Friday that the ethnic armed group destroyed two vehicles belonging to Burmas military using rocket-propelled grenades, killing some 30 soldiers from the Buthidaung-based Light Infantry Battalion No. 565 in the attack.

The strike, according to Khine Thu Kha of the Arakan Army, occurred on Thursday evening near Wanet Yon village, about 18 miles northeast of Buthidaung town in Arakan State.

Khine Thu Kha said his group had succeeded in ambushing the convoy of government troops. Contacted by The Irrawaddy on Friday, a Burma Army communications officer declined to comment on the reported clash.

The Arakan Army spokesman predicted Friday that fighting would intensify if, as expected, the Burma Army dispatched reinforcements to the area.

Khine Thu Kha estimated that about 60 locals in Arakan State have been arrested on suspected ties to the Arakan Army since December, when fighting between government troops and the ethnic rebel group first kicked off in Kyauktaw Township. He admitted that some of those detained had links to the Arakan Army, but maintained that the majority were being unjustly held.

The Arakan Army previously claimed that fighting had killed more than 100 government troops as of Jan. 8, a figure that could not be independently confirmed by The Irrawaddy. While detailed Burma Army accounts of its clashes with the countrys ethnic armed rebel groups are infrequent, the military did acknowledge the death of a commander and several other personnel from its side in January.

In that same official announcement, also on Jan. 8 as fighting continued in western Burma, the military said it had seized the bodies of three dead Arakan Army soldiers and vowed to completely remove the ethnic rebel group from Arakan State.
Burma Election Tribunal to Hear Cases Brought by Ex-MP Hla Swe, NLD Rival

Political rivals Pyu Lwin and Hla Swe will argue their cases regarding allegations of land confiscation and a counter-defamation suit, respectively, before an election tribunal.

RANGOON  Political rivals Pyu Lwin and Hla Swe will argue their cases regarding allegations of land confiscation and a counter-defamation suit, respectively, before an election tribunal in Naypyidaw on March 11.

Last August, Pyu Lwin submitted a complaint to the Land Investigation Commission recommending an inquiry into former Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) lawmaker Hla Swes alleged land grabs under Burmas former military regime. He also accused the ex-parliamentarian of bribery, with those claims coming just weeks ahead of the 2015 elections official campaign period, which kicked off Sept. 8.

Pyu Lwin went on to defeat Hla Swe in Burmas November general election, ousting the incumbent from his seat representing Magwe Divisions Upper House constituency No. 12.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, Hla Swe repeated previous denials of the allegations. His said his opponent had used misleading information to manipulate voters and weaken his support base.

Hla Swe said he filed the defamation charges against Pyu Lwin, the now-sitting lawmaker for the National League for Democracy (NLD), at the Gangaw police station prior to the election campaign period.

Pyu Lwin denied manipulating voters and said he had concrete evidence proving Hla Swes wrongdoings to present to the committee.

The NLD lawmaker told The Irrawaddy that he had received more than 100,000 votes on Nov. 8, compared with 30,000 for his nearest opponent Hla Swe.

Pyu Lwin was one of hundreds of NLD candidates to defeat USDP opponents in the November election, riding a wave of popular support for the party of Aung San Suu Kyi. The NLD won nearly 80 percent of elected seats, allowing it to select Burmas next president in a parliamentary vote due this month.

Pyu Lwin confirmed that a ruling against him could jeopardize the seat he won in November, adding that tribunal proceedings could take 3-4 months to play out.
Burma Family of Late Burmese Composer Considers Lawsuit Against Carlsberg

Family of late composer Myoma Nyein are preparing a lawsuit against Carlsberg Brewery Company for their use of his Burmese song title on their beer.

MANDALAY  The family of the late Burmese composer Myoma Nyein is preparing a lawsuit against Denmark-based Carlsberg Brewery Company for their use of his Burmese song title on their product, Tuborg beer.

The Burmese script on the bottles, cans and marketing materials for Tuborg beer reads Tupo, a transliteration of the products name as well as the title of a famous song written by Myoma Nyein, who came from Mandalay.

His relatives claim that the musical reference has been used without their permission and are disappointed that the company has failed to officially apologize and to engage in negotiations after an ultimatum to do so was issued in mid-January this year.

Soon after the ultimatum, Carlsberg issued a statement announcing that they would not continue distributing their products using the Burmese phrase, Tupo, and would instead use the Danish brand name of Tuborg in Burma in the future.

Myoma Nyeins family said that Carlsberg representatives met with them twice after the January ultimatum. During these meetings, the company asked for patience from the family regarding the sale of products that had already made it to market.

They said they needed to sell out all the stock that had already been distributed in the market. First, they requested that we extend [the timeframe of] our ultimatum and we agreed. However, they never promised professionally, regarding the exact date and time that they would stop distribution, said Shwun Myaing, Myoma Nyeins son.

The family said that the company has continued using the marketing and advertising materials with the disputed phrase throughout Burma.

If Carlsberg truly respected others dignity they would have announced officially and publicly in the newspapers the exact time when they would stop production of their products using Tupo. Now, they are issuing statements only on their Facebook page, which is very unprofessional, said Shwun Myaing.

The family said the company had requested another meeting with them on January 31, but no one from Carlsberg showed up.

Although we accepted their requests for an extension of ultimatum with respect and understanding, they failed to apologize, said Zaw Myo Oo, a grandson of the late composer. We cant stand it anymorewe are now preparing a lawsuit and will send a legal notice as soon as all documentation is ready.

The family said that the Carlsberg had asked to use their Burmese-scripted Tuborg beer products until the countrys famous April water festival, known as Thingyanthe event celebrated in Myoma Nyeins Tupo song. The family denied the request.

The legal action is not to receive compensation, Zaw Myo Oo pointed out. We just want the world to know that Carlsberg, a global company, is taking advantage of the weak rule of law in our country, disrespecting our copyrights and acting very unprofessionally, he added.

After the family announced their decision to sue, Carlsbergs office in Rangoon issued a statement on Thursday which was distributed nationwide to media outlets.

We are disappointed that the family of the late Sayar Myoma Nyein still feels it is necessary to pursue legal action, the letter read. The word Tu-Poh was used in good faith by Carlsberg, whose creative intent was to convey a message of fun and music, which is what TUBORG stands for globally.

The statement also said it is working to discontinue the use of Tupo in the marketing of Tuborg beer, and shortlybefore Thingyanthe beer will feature only the Danish brand name of Tuborg.

The company also extended the apology to the public and to the fans of the late composer.

Carlsberg said that they hoped that the relatives of the late composer would refrain from taking legal action.

We hope that [Myoma Nyeins family] will reconsider and choose to continue the dialogue with us to find a satisfactory resolution to this situation, said the statement.
Burma Govt Mobilizes to Address Water Shortages

Burmas Rural Development Department is working to supply water to villages facing severe shortages and in urgent need of drinking water.

RANGOON  The Rural Development Department, under Burmas Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Rural Development, is working to supply water to 49 villages in 23 townships facing severe shortages and in urgent need of drinking water.

Khant Zaw, director-general of the Rural Development Department, told The Irrawaddy: At present, we only need to send water to 49 villages. We have dug wells in villages where possible. In some parts of Arakan State, we are pumping water into man-made lakes. Concerned departments and donors are working cooperatively to alleviate water shortages.

The department has been sending water to villages in Sagaing, Mandalay and Magwe divisions, as well as Naypyidaw Union Territory and Karenni and Mon states, since the third week of February.

Burmas Dry Zone, where most villages in need are located, covers more than 54,000 square kilometers encompassing 58 townships that span from lower Sagaing Division, to the western and central parts of Mandalay Division and most of Magwe Division. Approximately one-quarter of the countrys population live in this area, according to the United Nations Myanmar Information Management Unit (MIMU).

The Rural Development Department estimates that more than 1,700 villages across Burma may experience water shortages and around 1,000 of them are likely to face it within the month.

The department has prepared a budget of more than 78 million kyats (US$65,000) to tackle water shortages this month, with the incoming National League for Democracy (NLD) government expected to allocate similar funding for April and May from the 2016-17 fiscal year budget, according to the Border Affairs Ministry.

Phyo Phyo, a local of Dala, a township located south of the commercial capital Rangoon that usually faces annual water shortages, told The Irrawaddy: Some wards in the township are already short of water. Though [authorities] pipe water to some places, most of the residents have to rely on donors. I wish everyone got water piped to them.

The government and environmentalists have warned that Irrawaddy, Mandalay and Pegu divisions, and Arakan and Shan states, may face particularly severe shortages due to El Nino.
Burma KIA Brigade in Shan State Further Complicates Peace Prospects

A peace broker tied to the Kachin Independence Army says the group is unlikely to heed government calls for a de-escalation of its combat posture.

RANGOON  A peace broker with ties to the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) says the ethnic armed group is unlikely to heed calls from the governments lead peace negotiating body for a de-escalation of its combat posture, after a KIA brigade reasserted itself in conflict-wracked northern Shan State last week.

Dau Kha, the KIA-affiliated envoy who is a member of the Myitkyina-based Kachin Peace Creation Group, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday: We will not care about whether they like it or not. If we had to listen to the Burma Army on what we should do, our ethnic groups would not even have our own armed groups.

He was referring to a statement issued by the Union Peacemaking Working Committee (UPWC) on Monday, condemning the KIA for Brigade 6s presence in the Mong Baw, Mong Ko and Boung Sai areas of northern Shan State. The UPWC is chaired by outgoing Vice President Sai Mauk Kham and includes members of the military, senior-most among them Burmas deputy commander-in-chief, Gen. Soe Win.

We do not like what has been done by the Burma Army, therefore we formed our armed group to fight them. Let them say whatever they want about the establishment of our new brigade, their voice will be quieted soon, Dau Kha said.

KIA Brigade 6 was reportedly founded under-low profile circumstances in 2011, with the unit making a reemergence last week as territorial claims in northern Shan State have become muddled by conflict. A Facebook account associated with the Kachin rebel group purported to feature photos of a ceremony marking Brigade 6s reemergence on Feb. 26.

Three days later, the UPWC condemned the latest developments in Shan State, where fighting has flared in recent months between the Burma Army and ethnic armed rebel groups including the KIA and Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA).

In its statement, the UPWC said: While the government is working to achieve national reconciliation, peace and development, and an end to armed conflict in the country, we have heard that the KIA has opened another new military brigade.  While Myanmar is undertaking a peace process, the opening of a new KIA brigade will be detrimental.

Last weeks news would appear to place two KIA brigades in northern Shan State, with Brigade 4 already based in the Kutkai area. The KIA has eight brigades in total and is the second largest ethnic armed group in Burma, with an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 troops, according to Myanmar Peace Monitor, a project tracking the countrys decades-long ethnic conflict.

A 17-year ceasefire agreement between the KIA and the Burmese government collapsed in 2011, and northern Burma has since been the theater for some of the most sustained fighting in recent years of the countrys long-running civil war.

The KIA was one of several ethnic armed groups that declined to sign a so-called nationwide ceasefire agreement with the government last year. Its troops, along with those of the fellow non-signatory TNLA, have clashed with the Burma Army on several occasions since the Oct. 15 signing of the ceasefire.

In northern Shan State, TNLA forces also claim to have clashed with the Shan State Army-South (SSA-S), a signatory to the October accord.

Correction: Due to a note-keeping error, a previous version of this story erroneously attributed quotes to Lamai Gum Ja. Like Dau Kha, whose remarks appear above, Lamai Gum Ja is a member of the Kachin Peace Creation Group, but the latter did not comment for this story. The Irrawaddy regrets the error.
Burma Shan Coalition Meeting Cut Short Under Military Pressure

The three-day annual meeting of the Committee for the Shan State Unity ends after only one day due to pressure from the local military.

RANGOON  The three-day annual meeting of the Committee for the Shan State Unity (CSSU) ended after only one day on Friday due to pressure from the local military in Rangoon.

The committee, which is a coalition of ethnic armed groups, political parties and civil society organizations, aimed to explore strategies that would advance collaboration and unity within Shan States diverse communities.

The Shan leaders met at Micasa Hotel in Rangoon on Thursday and had planned to continue the meeting over the following two days at the Summit Parkview Hotel.

Sai Leik, the spokesperson for the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD)the party which helped to organized the meetingsaid that the managers of both hotels were pressured by the authorities against hosting the event.

Members of a local military affairs security team asked Sai Leik to let them in to the meeting room to listen to the proceedings on Thursday; the request was refused.

As we did not let them in, they asked whether we had permission from the local authorities [for this meeting], Sai Leik told The Irrawaddy on Friday.

We did not need to ask for [permission] as it is an annual meeting of the committee, but I went to the Yangon western district office for the permission late Thursday afternoon. The chief did not dare to sign the paper, neither accepting nor rejecting the scheduling of the meeting, and also not giving any reasons, he explained.

Two of the CSSU members are the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army-South (RCSS/SSA-S) and the Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army-North (SSPP/SSA-N); the former was removed from Burmas list of unlawful organizations last year after signing a so-called nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA) with the government, but the latter was not a signatory to the pact.

Col Sai La of the RCSS/SSA-S, told The Irrawaddy that the meeting was legal according to the text of the nationwide ceasefire agreement as long as it centered on talks concerning national politics, which he said that it did.
Economy US Business Community Asks Obama Administration to Ease Burma Sanctions

US trade groups call on their government to relax sanctions on Burma, a move praised by the Burmese business community.

RANGOON  Five American trade groups called for the US government to ease sanctions on Burma last month, a move which has been met with praise by the Burmese business community.

On February 18, the American Chamber of Commerce Myanmar, National Foreign Trade Council, US-ASEAN Business Council, United States Chambers of Commerce, and United States Council of International Business sent a letter to various US State Departments asking the government to relax sanctions in an effort to improve the relationship between Burma and the US.

In the letter, members of the US business community supported Obamas engagement in Burma thus far, including lifting import bans, easing finance and investment bans, opening a USAID office, and extending both OPIC (Overseas Private Investment Corporation) and Export-Import Bank support.

The letter also pointed to the positive election results in Novemberin which Aung San Suu Kyis National League for Democracy won a vast majority of parliamentary seatsand called for an advancement of the normalization process.

In mid February, Burmas vice president Nyan Tun also asked the Obama administration to lift the US sanctions on Burma at a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders in California. Nyan Tun said that although the US had given economic support to other ASEAN countries, Burma had received little developmental assistance because of the sanctions.

American sanctions on Burma were initiated in 1997 when the country was under military rule. It was not until 2012 that the United States restored diplomatic ties with Burma, one year after Thein Seins quasi-civilian government came to power.

While economic sanctions have since been eased for some sectors and individuals, many businesspeople remain on the Treasury Departments Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list of people with whom US citizens are barred from doing business. In May, the SDN list is expected to be renewed.

Dr. Maung Maung Lay, vice chairman of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce Industry (UMFCCI) said he feels that the SDN list hinders investment in the country.

Financial transactions between the US and Myanmar are difficult, he said. Many US businessmen want to invest here. US banks dont want to incur the risks.

US investment in Burma remains relatively low, but some major American brands such as Coca-Cola, Gap and KFC have already broken ground in the country.

Khin Shwe, former upper house lawmaker and chairman of Zaykabar Group of Companies told the Irrawaddy that he is positive that US sanctions will be lifted this year after the new NLD government assumes power in April.

Since last year, the UMFCCI has been urging the US government to re-examine the sanctions list and remove some companies and individuals. This, the body argues, would create a level playing field in Burma for US companies with otherwise limited business power.
Irtiqa

biological evolution

literally means evolution in Urdu. But it does not imply only. Instead, it is an all encompassing word used for evolution of the universe, biological evolution, and also for biological/human development. While it has created confusion in debates over biological evolution in South Asia, it provides a nice integrative name for this blog. For further information, contact Salman Hameed




Friday, March 4th, 2016 (4:01 pm) - Score 1,107

Not-for-profit community (CIC) ISP Locheilnet, which was set-up in 2012 with support from locals and 91,500 from Community Broadband Scotland (CBS), has expanded its 35Mbps capable wireless broadband network in Fort William by doubling its network capacity via a new cable.

The original network was only intended to connect 50 homes in the rural Highlands of Scotland area, but since then coverage has expanded and the new capacity means that theyve just been able to connect their 270th customer (a community radio station called Nevis Radio).

The local terrain is extremely mountainous and that required Locheilnet to install wireless relays that would help their radio broadband signals to navigate around Ben Nevis and similar obstructions to their service.

Chris Pellow, Locheilnet Founder, said: There has been strong demand for our service which is fantastic but we had found the lack of capacity challenging. With the second leased line in place, we are now able to satisfy the customers requirements and continue to grow. Our goal is to connect people who wouldnt normally have access to high speed broadband and to provide a reliable backup for businesses.

Prices for the service typically start at 24 per month for a 20Mbps (10Mbps upload) connection with a 20GB usage allowance and the top package offers 35Mbps (10Mbps upload) with an unlimited (100GB Fair Usage Policy) data allowance for 36. The installation cost is 144 VAT inc. for both residential and business customers.
Major: Communication

Hometown: Brazil, IN

Student Media Involvement: Syc Creations

Favorite Food: Burgers with everything but mustard

Fun Fact: He really loves superhero movies, and wants to make his own someday
Equinix's strategy of providing interconnectivity as well as data centre space is paying off for the company and its customers.

International data centre operator Equinix is on a roll, with four new centres scheduled to open in the coming months: TY5 (Tokyo, Japan), DA7 (Dallas, US), SP2 (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and SY4 (Sydney; pictured above [rendering]).

SY4 - "another great milestone for the Australian market," according to Equinix's managing director for Australia Jeremy Deutsch - will provide access to the Southern Cross Cable head for extensive network interconnection in Australia and the rest of the Asia Pacific region, the company said.

That's in addition to the Equinix Cloud Exchange, which gives tenants the option of private direct connections to major cloud providers including AWS, Azure, Oracle and SoftLayer.

Australian corporations are among the most keen to have direct connections to carriers and local and international cloud providers, Deutsch told iTWire.

The company's strategy is to grow its interconnection platforms globally, so processing can occur where the people and data are, global CIO Brian Lillie told iTWire. Accommodating clients' requirements within their own regions is important for latency and user experience, and the growth in the Internet of Things is increasing interest in processing data nearer the network edge (rather than centrally) to gain insights.

Equinix is investing in Australia and Japan, and "beginning the journey in China" as well as being strong in Singapore and Hong Kong, he said.

The interconnection strategy began when companies wanted to put their content close to the carrier networks, and this is still part of Equinix's business with clients such as Netflix.

Then financial services companies saw the benefits of being part of an ecosystem with low-latency connections to all participants, said Lillie.

More recently, the growth in cloud has driven a new use case: high performance, high security connections between providers and clients, allowing clients to bring their data to the cloud rather than vice versa. "Companies want to come together to do business," he said.

Globally, more than 600 cloud providers use Equinix's platform.

Equinix sees its role as being more than simply providing a 'watering hole' according to Deutsch. The company actively works to bring the best partners - carriers or service providers; established or new - to the right Equinix locations around the world, with "a focused approach" that includes asking customers which providers they want to do business with.
Thanks to Disney's IT layoff, the Florida primary -- scheduled for March 15 -- might be the most telling on the H-1B visa issue.

The displaced Disney IT workers in Florida have given new visibility to the use of the H-1B visa. It has become the marquee case for visa reform.

Here's an early outlook on how the various presidential candidates may approach this issue if elected.

What if Trump wins the presidency?

President Donald Trump would change things.

India is on Trump's list of countries "ripping off" the U.S., along with China, Japan and Mexico. His immigration platform includes a series of H-1B reforms, including a hire-Americans-first provision.

Laid off Disney IT workers, who complained of training visa-holding replacements, spoke this week at a Trump rally. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), a leading proponent of H-1B reforms, is endorsing him.

If the Republicans continue to hold both chambers of Congress, the prospects for a standalone H-1B bill improve.

Comprehensive immigration reform proponents oppose piecemeal approaches, blocking H-1B cap increases as well as reforms. President Barack Obama may veto a standalone reform bill, but President Trump would likely sign the bill.

But Trump, the billionaire businessman seeking the GOP nomination, is also a wild card.

Trump may want H-1B reforms bundled with the legislation he needs to build a border wall and fund mass deportations, setting the stage for a different kind of fight with Congress.

From a tech industry perspective, the most immediate danger posed by a President Trump may his use of the president's executive powers. He could attack the H-1B program with new enforcement approaches, as well curb the Optional Practical Training STEM extension that Obama now wants to expand.

What if Clinton wins the presidency?

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton doesn't talk about the H-1B program. She doesn't mention it in her immigration platform or on the campaign trail. But she is not a total enigma.

Clinton, who is seeking the Democratic nomination, supports comprehensive immigration reform. She is unlikely to rile India on trade, but would accept some reforms to the H-1B program if they are part of a comprehensive immigration bill.

It remains to be seen whether Clinton -- possibly to offset Trump on this issue -- will be forced to directly talk in the campaign about the H-1B issue.

What if Bernie Sanders wins the presidency?

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent seeking the Democratic nomination, is a critic of the H-1B program and would be receptive to standalone reform legislation.

Sanders and Clinton haven't talked about the visa program in any of their debates. It's been a missed opportunity, and the people at fault are the national news reporters who pose the questions.

What if Rubio wins the presidency?

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is aligned with Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who is the tech industry's chief Senate advocate for increasing the H-1B visa cap.

But Florida is ground zero for some of the most visible H-1B-related layoffs, with the Disney just the latest. Rubio's pro-industry views may be tested here.

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), has been troubled by the Disney layoffs, but Rubio apparently has not been.

If Rubio can win in Florida, it may be proof that the H-1B issue is too niche and a non-factor in a national contest. The next two weeks may determine whether this issue has legs in the national debate.

What if Cruz wins the presidency?

Sen. Ted Cruz is co-sponsoring H-1B reform legislation with Sen. Sessions. His bill attacks H-1B usage by raising the wages of visa workers. It also includes a prohibition on non-disparagement clauses that keep IT workers from talking publicly about their experiences.

If Cruz raises the H-1B issue at all in his campaign, it ought to be in Florida.

Rubio has tried to offset Cruz's H-1B reform legislation by ignoring the Sessions/Cruz bill and pointing out, instead, that in 2013, Cruz supported a substantial hike in the H-1B visa cap. Rubio is a sponsor of Hatch's Immigration Innovation Act, also called the I-Squared Act, which would raise the annual base H-1B cap to between 115,000 and 195,000 visas. (The current annual base H-1B cap is 65,000.)

As president, Cruz would work with Sessions and other H-1B reformers. He might attack the OPT program as well, using his executive powers.

What impact is the presidential contest having on the H-1B issue?

One clear impact is being felt by Nasscom, India's IT trade group. It is stepping up defense of the offshore industry model.

R. Chandrashekhar, the industry group's president, argues that the use of IT services firms is about improving and modernizing IT operations at clients' businesses. The visa workers aren't there to simply replace the U.S. workers, but to modernize IT operations, he argues.

"It's certainly not with the intention of just getting in a set of people to replace an existing set of people and continue to do things in the same manner," said Chandrashekhar, in an interview. "That doesn't make for a good business case in any sense."

What Chandrashekhar doesn't want is for India to be singled out by lawmakers.

Many of the reform proposals attack the wages paid to H-1B workers. If visa wages rise, the economics of offshoring decisions change, argue reform proponents.

Whatever is done by lawmakers regarding the H-1B visa, "it should be applied uniformly to everybody," said Chandrashekhar. That means any reforms apply to U.S. outsourcers as well as to overseas firms.

Can the presidential election actually change the way the H-1B program operates?

Whether a new president can change the IT offshoring industry by altering the H-1B visa program remains to be seen.

The president has executive power and can complicate the H-1B program, but Congress sets the visa cap and many of the visa rules. The lobbying forces are powerful. The IT workers at risk are mostly invisible.

IT workers who have been "shadowed," participated in "knowledge transfer" or otherwise trained their replacements are often older, and have long tenures. They may make good money and benefits.

These are the workers who run the IT systems that power manufacturing systems, utilities, healthcare and retailers, and are far removed from the glamour jobs at Twitter, Google, Facebook and the catchy startups.

One former utility IT worker posted an ad on Craigslist, since removed, with the title: "50% off labor sale -- outsourced IT worker."
The district attorney of San Bernardino County, Michael Ramos, has raised concerns about the possibility of a 'dormant cyber pathogen in the iPhone 5c used by a terrorist in attacks in the county on Dec. 2.

Security experts are questioning whether such a thing as a cyber pathogen at all exists.

The submission was made in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Eastern Division, which recently ordered Apple to help the FBI unlock by brute force the iPhone used by terrorist Syed Rizwan Farook. Apple has refused to help the FBI and raised privacy and security issues.

The iPhone, owned by the San Bernardino county, may have connected to the county computer network, and may contain evidence that can only be found on the seized phone that it was used as a weapon to introduce a lying dormant cyber pathogen that endangers San Bernardino Countys infrastructure," according to the court filing.

But Jonathan Zdziarski, an expert in iOS related digital forensics and security, said in a blog post that he had found no evidence after a Google search of any such pathogen. There is absolutely nothing in the universe that knows what a cyber pathogen is, he wrote.

The statements are not only misleading, but amount to "blatant fear mongering," Zdziarski wrote. He added that they were designed to manipulate the court into making a ruling for the FBI."

On Thursday, a number of tech companies including Google and Facebook and privacy and civil rights groups filed amicus curiae, or friend-of-the-court, briefs in Apples favor.

The district attorneys office could not be immediately reached for comment on the pathogen.

Apple has been ordered by Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym to offer its technical assistance, including if required provide signed software, to bypass or disable an auto-erase function on the phone. The feature could be activated, if the function has been turned on, after 10 unsuccessful tries at testing passcodes on the device. The auto-erase function would delete the data on the phone that the FBI hopes will give it clues to the terrorist attack that killed 14 people.
Law enforcement groups and family members of victims of December's San Bernardino mass shooting have backed the FBI and opposed Apple in the court fight over an iPhone used by one of the shooters.

Family members of the shooting victims "seek to remind all parties of the terrible crime -- an act of terrorism -- the United States must investigate to its fullest," wrote lawyers for family members of five victims and one witness to the shooting. "Ultimately, this is a situation where no stone can be left unturned."

Much of the debate over the FBI's demands of Apple assistance has focused on the "potentially global ramifications" of Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym's Feb. 16 order requiring Apple to comply, but there's a law enforcement investigation to consider, the lawyers added.

Dozens of tech companies and privacy groups filed briefs in support of Apple, as Pym weighs the arguments related to the FBI's demand that Apple assist it with the unlocking of one of the shooter's iPhones. The husband of one shooting victim who survived has also voiced support for Apple's position.

But the opinions expressed in amicus briefs filed to meet Pym's Thursday night deadline were far from unanimous.

Among the groups filing briefs in support of the FBI were the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA), the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys (APA), the National Sheriffs' Association, the California State Sheriffs' Association, the California Police Chiefs' Association, and the California Peace Officers' Association. Another brief in support of the FBI came from the San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office, the prosecutor in the country where the shooting took place.

"In order to fulfill their duties [law enforcement agencies] must have access to all reasonable means of procuring relevant evidence," wrote lawyers for the FLEOA, the APA and the National Sheriffs' Association. "In this digital age, data stored on mobile devices has proven time and again to be critical in assisting law enforcement officers to do their jobs."

Apple has taken a "dangerous" position in the case, the lawyers added. "Apple's refusal to provide assistance has far-reaching public safety ramifications by making it difficult, and in some cases impossible, for law enforcement to fulfill its obligation to investigate crimes, protect the public by bringing criminals to justice, and enforce the law."

Among the companies and groups filing briefs in support of Apple are Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, Cisco Systems, LinkedIn, eBay, Kickstarter and Reddit. Also supporting Apple's position are the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Consumer Action, the Center for Democracy and Technology, the American Civil Liberties Union, 32 law professors and 46 technologists, researchers and cyptographers.

The court and the FBI are attempting to reinterpret a 227-year-old law called the All Writs Act to give the government "an open-ended source of new powers," wrote lawyers representing Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon and other companies.

The All Writs Act allows courts to "issue all writs necessary or appropriate in aid of their respective jurisdictions and agreeable to the usages and principles of law." However, the FBI is asking the court to "endorse an unprecedented expansion of the act that would allow law enforcement to force private companies to circumvent security features that protect their customers' most sensitive information from hackers and criminals," according to the lawyers representing the tech companies.

At the request of the FBI, Pym ordered Apple to write new source code to defeat a password protection feature on an iPhone used by San Bernardino mass shooter Syed Rizwan Farook. The FBI wants Apple to disable the phone's security feature that erases its contents after 10 wrong password attempts and also to defeat the phone's time delay between password-entering attempts.

Without those security protections in place, the FBI could enter an unlimited number of passwords in a brute force attack and gain entry into the phone in a matter of hours.
Today

Mostly clear. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable.

Tonight

Mostly clear. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable.

Tomorrow

Sunny skies with gusty winds developing later in the day. High 87F. WSW winds at 5 to 10 mph, increasing to 20 to 30 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.
"Star Wars Episode 8" spoilers revealed that the shooting locations chosen by the production team appear to have an "Old World" atmosphere. Fans are speculating that this could be the time the cast will visit the Jedi Order.

There shows to be a clear difference between the set of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" and "Star Wars Episode 8". The current filming location is in Dubrovnik, Croatia where a new alien world is popping up around town and it looks like "Episode 8" is all about looking to the past than the future.

In "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," sets like Star Killer Base and Maz Katana's castle were key elements of the future and if you've seen "Episode 7" then you'd know that most of the worlds have already been destroyed by the First Order.

New locations such as the Skellig Michael are being chosen as the prime spot for rediscovering the first Jedi Temple. Reports clained that the movie will open with "Ahch-To" - the planet which will feature Luke Skywalker. Although it was not named in the last scenes of "Episode 7," fans are sure that this is the background of "Episode 8."

Furthermore, Han Solo did mention ithat Luke went looking for the first Jedi Temple. It was also suggested that Director Rian Johnson is rebuilding Skellig Michael at Pinewood Studios.

While some shooting locations have already been settled, news have already spread that the production team is still scouting for new locations, the most recent one in Mexico. An authority from Mexico confirmed that "Star Wars" toured the Tlahuac and Iztapalapa caves. This looks like a prime location for another planet.

"Star Wars Episode 8" spoilers are hinting that Luke will be looking to the past for guidance when Rey showed up to ask for help. Will the Force ghosts like Obi Wan show up to guide Luke in his new test?
The latest NASA news is so interesting that space enthusiasts would definitely want to try a spaceflight exploration. According to the reports, NASA astronaut and Expedition 45 Commander Scott Kelly has officially returned to Earth after living aboard the International Space Station for almost a year in space.

Kelly and his Russian counterpart Mikhail Kornienko returned to Earth on Tuesday after their groundbreaking 340-day mission to study how well humans can endure on a long-duration spaceflight, NASA noted.

Aside from Kelly, who has spent more time in space than any other American astronaut, and Kornienko, Sergey Volkov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos also joined them on their return trip aboard a Soyuz TMA-18M spacecraft.

Kelly and his crew touched down southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkagan in Kazakhstan on March 2 (local time).

"Scott Kelly's one-year mission aboard the International Space Station has helped to advance deep space exploration and America's Journey to Mars," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "Scott has become the first American astronaut to spend a year in space, and in so doing, helped us take one giant leap toward putting boots on Mars."

During the epic one-year mission, Kelly and his station crew conducted almost 400 investigations to advance NASA's mission and benefit all of humanity. And now NASA doctors will be closely monitoring Kelly's health.

In line with the recent NASA news on Kelly's return, National Space Biomedical Research Institute and NASA revealed 5 major changes a year in space can do to an astronaut's body, as listed by NBC News.

1. Increase in Height

In space, the disks of the spinal column are no longer compressed compared to when on Earth, where they're slightly compressed due to gravity. So, when the spine lengthens, the astronauts get taller.

2. Brittle Bones

Since astronauts tend to float in space, their bones experience a major decrease in load bearing, leading to bone breakdown and release of calcium. Thus, the bone in their legs, hips and spine become more brittle and weak.

In addition, the release of calcium can also increase the risk of kidney stone formation as well as bone fractures.

3. Decrease in the Size of the Heart

In space, the heart doesn't have to work as hard so, it could lead to a smaller heart. However, space radiation can increase the risks of coronary heart disease.

4. Messed Up Body Clock

In space, the 24-hour day/night cycle is literally absent. That's why, the astronaut's body clock has to readjust to the cycle once on Earth.

5. Weak Muscles

Long-duration spaceflights can cause muscles to weaken or atrophy because of work reduction for the legs and back.

Aside from the 5 major changes mentioned in the recent NASA news, a year in space can also cause puffy face and legs, increase the risks of cancer and balance issues.
The 88th Academy Awards, the Oscars of this year hosted by Chris Rock was an event even more talked about than usual, mostly thanks to the #OscarsSoWhite controversy. However, the appearance of actor and controversial Fox pundit Stacey Dash on the show was met by a lot of confusion and mostly cringes.

Dash had famously called the #OscarsSoWhite boycott by some actors, including actress Jada Pinkett Smith and director Spike Lee as "ludicrous" and had declared there to be no need for a Black History Month, CNN had reported earlier.

Rock did a subjectively good job of approaching the controversy that rose from no actors of color being nominated in the Oscars for the second year in a row. Rock used humor, most of which hit its mark, to deal with the issue.

His comments about Hollywood and racism were met with mostly good response as he explained how Hollywood is racist, but not in the usual way. He compared Hollywood's racism to the kind of selective attitude used in sororities.

On a more serious note, Rock did also appeal to the film industry to give black actors the same opportunities as their white counterparts.

The move that was met with mostly muddling cringes, however, was his introduction of Stacey Dash to the stage as the Academy's new director of "minority outreach program."

On Sunday at the Oscars, model Chrissy Teigen (and most of the rest of the world, judging by the tweets that followed) cringed as Dash giggled, saying she could not wait to help her people out.

Tweets and comments that followed claimed that it was probably the most awkward moment in TV history, with people not sure how to react. At best, Dash's performance and her attempt at whatever it was she was trying to achieve landed with a dull thud as people over the world wondered about it.

The confusion was made worse by the fact that Dash has been a polarizing public character since her move from beloved 1990s actor to a conservative, famous for her controversial stances on issues affecting people of color.
Target Corp., the third largest store chain in the United States, thinks that it has already solved the perennial out-of-stock-issues of retailers - by simplifying its operations.

If this store chain is successful in this strategy, customers will no longer be disappointed coming into a Target store that lacks the items they need, and thus conquer a larger share of the consumer market.

The solution, according to company strategists, is to reduce the variety of brands, sizes and flavors on its store shelves, and thus minimize the complexities of their store operations.

The retail giant is instructing its hundreds of store employees to scour through the hundreds of products sold in the store and assess how many differing pack sizes and formats of consumer items such as soaps or bottled water they really need to put on the shelves.

Store shelves are also being expanded so that they can hold more products. The store is also working with its suppliers to deliver goods in packages that are equal to the capacity of the shelves. Target Corp. hopes that these moves will help reduce the goods stored in its warehouses.

"It's going to be very surgical, category by category," said Brian Cornell, Target Corp. Chief Executive, on Wednesday at an investor event. "We are not taking a blunt instrument approach to this," he added.

Simplifying store operations is also being planned by Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest company in terms of revenues. It is also implementing extensive culling of goods to make its selection uncomplicated.

Big manufacturers of consumer goods including Procter & Gamble Co. are also undertaking a simplified approach to their production by narrowing their focus and booting out unprofitable categories of products. For instance, P & G has taken out one sixth of its Olay skin-care products, ranging from acne washes to facial scrubs in its production line.
Amid weeds and willows on the Mississippi River levee at Belle Chasse, Louisiana, a curving row of weathered wooden pilings bears silent evidence to the once-thriving trade between U.S. Gulf ports and Cuba.

The long-abandoned site on the rivers west bank, 20 miles downstream from New Orleans, is the remnant of a rail ramp that Seatrain Line used to load railcars on ships that shuttled between the Gulf and Cuba from the 1920s to the 1950s.

Cuba was the Port of New Orleans top trading partner before the Castro takeover and the U.S. trade embargo in 1961. The island nation also was an important market for other Gulf ports such as Mobile and Tampa.

That trade abruptly ceased with the embargo, and has been largely off-limits for more than a half century. The door cracked open slightly in 2001, when the U.S. permitted U.S. companies to export agricultural commodities for humanitarian reasons.

Now President Obamas proposal to restore U.S.-Cuba diplomatic trade relations has kindled interest in increased shipments between the nations, and is raising hopes among Gulf ports and shippers that a new market could develop almost in their front yard.

Its a big step in the right direction, said James K. Lyons, CEO at the Alabama State Port Authority at Mobile, which is only 2 1/2 days sailing time from Havana.

Port Tampa Bay sees itself as a natural gateway to Cuba when ties are re-established, particularly in view of our historical ties and short transit time of 15 hours, CEO Paul Anderson said.

Gary LaGrange, CEO of the Port of New Orleans, said his port is following developments closely and is eager to take advantage of opportunities in Cuba. But he and other port officials are keeping their excitement in check for now. Were not dancing yet, LaGrange said. Congress still has to remove the embargo, and I dont know the likelihood of that. But we see a lot of hope and possibility for the future, if and when the embargo is dropped.

Few expect Congress will act soon to overturn the broad embargo, including the 1996 Helms-Burton Act, which codified many sanctions introduced over decades. U.S. companies still must jump through financial hoops that competitors from other nations dont face.

Under Treasury Department rules, even permitted U.S. agricultural exports have had to be paid up front in cash, through third-party financial institutions. The restrictions on direct financing continue to limit the volume of trade to and from the island.

Thats been a big impediment, said business consultant William Gotimer Jr., former co-CEO of Trailer Bridge, which operates between the U.S. mainland and Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Removing the restrictions on banking and mechanisms for payment will make it much easier to conduct trade.

Obama followed up his December announcement of plans to end the embargo with a series of steps that included easing of restrictions to allow increased export of building materials and U.S. telecommunications and other technological goods to Cuba.

Agricultural and medical supplies already were allowed, but only with a specific license and on a cash-in-advance basis. Now, specific licenses are not required, and a cash payment will be due only when goods arrive at a Cuban port. But trade volumes will be limited until U.S. financing is on par with that of other nations.

When Aliport, Cubas state purchasing agency, has the choice of buying Vietnamese rice with 180 to 360 days of credit and financing or U.S. rice on cash terms, theyre going to go with the guys that give them credit, said Ricky Kunz, vice president of trade development and marketing at the Port of Houston.

Limited volumes of U.S. goods have been shipped directly to Cuba since December 2001, when the Cold War-era U.S. trade embargo was revised to permit U.S. companies to export agricultural commodities to the island for humanitarian reasons. U.S. imports from Cuba remain banned.

Even with the current limitations, there is a modest volume of U.S. exports to Cuba. Crowley has regular liner service from Port Everglades, and several operators, including New Orleans-based Dan-Gulf and Crimson Shipping in Mobile, serve the island with chartered vessels. Many of the shipments are poultry products.

When the Cuban market opens, it will be different from what it was before 1961, LaGrange said. In its heyday, trade between New Orleans and Cuba was dominated by sugar and coffee.

Development of post-embargo trade in consumer goods to Cuba will have to await development of a middle class, LaGrange said. He foresees trade growth along the lines of many developing countries, starting with labor-intensive production such as apparel.

Roger Guenther, executive director at the Port of Houston, said his port has worked for years with the Texas-Cuba Trade Alliance, and will be ready when the embargo is lifted. We think Houston is a natural gateway for trade with Cuba when that opportunity presents itself, he said. They need a lot of products that we have.

Contact Joseph Bonney at jbonney@joc.com and follow him on Twitter: @JosephBonney.
SALT LAKE CITY  In an extraordinary display of Republican chaos, the partys most recent presidential nominees, Mitt Romney and John McCain, lambasted current front-runner Donald Trump on Thursday, calling him unfit for office and a danger for the nation and the Republican Party.

His is not the temperament of a stable, thoughtful leader, Romney declared. He called Trump a phony who is playing the American public for suckers, a man whose imagination must not be married to real power.

Hours later, Trump lashed back, calling Romney a choke artist who lost to Barack Obama four years ago only because he was such a poor candidate.

The vicious feud marked a near-unprecedented scenario pitting the Republican Partys most prominent leaders, past and present, against each other as Democrats begin to unite around Hillary Clinton.

Underlying the clash is a bleak reality for panicking Republican officials: Beyond harsh words, there is little they see to stop Trumps march toward the presidential nomination. Party leaders are poring over complicated delegate math, outlining hazy scenarios for a contested national convention and even flirting with the idea of a third-party effort.

Romney confidant Ron Kaufman, a senior member of the Republican National Committee, openly embraced the possibility of a contested convention: If thats the only way to stop Trump, it makes sense, he told The Associated Press.

In the most notable verbal attacks against Trump to date, Romney and his 2012 running mate, House Speaker Paul Ryan, urged voters in the strongest terms to shun the former reality television star for the good of country and party.

The GOPs 2008 nominee, McCain joined in, raising many concerns about Mr. Trumps uninformed and indeed dangerous statements on national security issues.

That echoes the worries of dozens of leading conservative defense and foreign policy officials.

As Kaufman suggested, Romney embraced what might seem a long-shot approach to deny Trump the delegates necessary to secure the nomination, though he did not call on Republicans to unify behind a single alternative.

Given the current delegate selection process, this means that I would vote for Marco Rubio in Florida, for John Kasich in Ohio and for Ted Cruz or whichever one of the other two contenders has the best chance of beating Mr. Trump in a given state, Romney said.

Another idea rumbling through power corridors in Washington was the prospect of a late third-party candidate to represent more mainstream conservatives.

Kaufman said third-party talk may swirl around Romney, but he laughed it off. Its not happening, he said.

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been approached by a mixture of people about being part of a third-party bid, said Jeff Miller, who managed Perrys failed GOP presidential campaign. But Miller said Perry found the idea ludicrous.

Suggesting that Romney may continue to have 2016 ambitions of his own, Trump said the 2012 nominee had chickened out earlier when he understood he would be going up against the billionaire businessman.

He doesnt have what it takes to be president, Trump said at a rally in Portland, Maine. I made so much more money than Mitt.

Romneys views are irrelevant, he said. Look, Mitt is a failed candidate.

The back-and-forth came as the Republican candidates prepared for their first post-Super Tuesday debate.

Four years ago, Romney and Trump stood side by side in Las Vegas, with Trump saying it was a real honor and privilege to endorse Romneys White House bid. Romney at the time praised Trumps ability to understand how our economy works and to create jobs for the American people.

On Thursday, Trump said Romney was begging me for an endorsement that year.

I could have said, Mitt, drop to your knees. He would have dropped to his knees, Trump said.

Earlier Thursday, in Utah, Romney assailed Trumps temperament, his business acumen and his ability to keep America safe.

If we Republicans choose Donald Trump as our nominee, the prospects for a safe and prosperous future are greatly diminished, he said.

During his Capitol Hill press conference, Ryan dismissed comments Trump made this week that if the Wisconsin Republican didnt get along with him, Ryan would pay a big price.

I just laughed out loud, Ryan told reporters. Sometimes, reality is stranger than fiction around here these days.

The speaker added that conservatism is being disfigured by some of Trumps ideas and statements.

Voters have not so far responded to such warnings.

Trump padded his delegate lead with victories in seven Super Tuesday contests, with Cruz winning three states and Rubio getting his first victory of the 2016 race.

Still, the Trump is not yet on track to claim the nomination before the partys national gathering in July, according to an Associated Press delegate count. He has won 46 percent of the delegates awarded so far, and he would have to increase that to 51 percent in the remaining primaries.

A win for Rubio on March 15 in his home state of Florida could raise questions about Trumps strength, as could a win for Kasich, Ohios governor, on his home turf.

The GOP mayhem contrasts sharply with a clearer picture on the Democratic side, where Clinton is drawing broad support from voters and party leaders. Rival Bernie Sanders has vowed to keep up his fight, though his path to the nomination has become exceedingly narrow.
Chef Andrew Miller of Merriment Social Credit: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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The Merriment Social chef and his business partners plan to open a second restaurant called Third Coast Provisions; this one would be on Milwaukee St. downtown.

Chef Andrew Miller, Cameron Whyte and Samuel Emery have filed an application for a liquor license for 724 N. Milwaukee St., the former home of SURG's Carnevor steakhouse. Miller, before opening his own restaurant in Walker's Point, worked for the SURG group.

Carnevor moved to 718 N. Milwaukee St. this year.

The partners hope to open the restaurant in summer, Miller said Friday morning.

According to the application, they plan to open a fine-dining restaurant. Merriment Social is a casual restaurant that's known for its burger and snacks served from dim sum carts, along with small plates.

Miller previously was the chef at Salotto Zarletti, now Zarletti Mequon, and at the former 8-twelve MVP Bar & Grill in Brookfield.

Details about the restaurant are to be released next week, Miller said.
President Barack Obama stopped Thursday at Engine Company No. 3, where he talked with Erin Bode about the Affordable Care Act. Credit: Rick Wood

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Customers at the breakfast-and-lunch restaurant Engine Company No. 3 in Walker's Point on Thursday probably knew the president was about to visit before chef and owner Peter Sandroni did.

That's because Secret Service agents with metal detectors and dogs made their way through the restaurant's main level, checking each patron, while Sandroni was downstairs preparing a takeout order of 20 sandwiches  for the press corps traveling with President Obama, he later found out.

The chef learned that the president would be at the restaurant, 217 W. National Ave., about a half-hour before Obama's arrival. The restaurant had already been vetted, unknown to him.

Sandroni said Jesse Rosen, a regular customer of his at his other restaurant, La Merenda, formerly was with the White House advance team that plans the president's trips and still helps coordinate Milwaukee visits, now that Rosen lives in Milwaukee.

The second-floor event space at Engine Company had been reserved for 12 people for a business meeting. That turned out to be the president meeting with people who had signed up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.

Obama was in Milwaukee on Thursday because the city won the federal Healthy Communities Challenge, a competition among 20 cities to sign up residents for health insurance in the most recent Health Insurance Marketplace open enrollment. He spoke at the United Community Center, also in Walker's Point, on Thursday.

While Sandroni was making sandwiches, two Secret Service agents approached him and "made it very clear that it was the president" who was coming to the restaurant.

"It was very surreal," Sandroni said.

Obama was at the restaurant for two hours, Sandroni estimated. "It was a full house, and he shook hands with everybody," he said.

Upstairs, the president ordered patacon con huevo, a Colombian dish with egg, plantain, beans and rice.

He commented that the prices were "ridiculously cheap" compared with Washington, Sandroni said. Maybe thinking the portions were small, the president placed a second order. "I'm in Wisconsin, I'd like the cheddar omelet," Sandroni quoted him as saying. It was made with Carr Valley's five-year cheddar, the chef noted.

The president was interested in the number of local ingredients on the Engine Company menu and commented, "Michelle would be very happy," Sandroni recounted. Michelle Obama has been a proponent of locally grown and produced foods since her husband was voted into office.

Before leaving, Obama had photos taken of himself with the entire restaurant, with his two servers and with Sandroni and his wife, Sonia. He also signed two menus, one of them for the Sandronis' young daughters, who will celebrate birthdays soon. "Happy birthday from President Obama," the menu reads.

Sandroni laughed. "I don't know if I'll be able to top that as a birthday gift. With the next president, I guess," he said.


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Milwaukee is one of 16 cities chosen to participate in a program run by Washington, D.C.-based Village Capital that will find, train and invest in start-up businesses.

The program, called VilCap Communities, is aiming to spread venture capital across the country to Milwaukee, Baltimore, New Orleans, Nashville, Tenn., and other cities that are underserved by the venture capital community.

"Most entrepreneurs in the U.S. today don't have a shot at the resources they need to grow: 78% of investment capital in the U.S. goes to just three states," said Ross Baird, Village Capital's executive director. "VilCap Communities will help close this gap."

VilCap requires an organization in each area to commit at least $50,000 for investment in local ventures. In Milwaukee, CSA Partners LLC, the venture capital firm backed by Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele, is providing $50,000, said Steve Mech, a managing director for the fund.

The Water Council is the other Milwaukee organization involved in the program. This is the first time the council and CSA Partners have collaborated on a project, Mech said.

VilCap's Milwaukee program will seek to invest $25,000 in each of two start-ups in the water, energy or food areas, and help them get follow-on funding, Mech said.

"We do have the technologies, and we do have the potential to be absolutely engaged in solving food, energy and water problems," said Scott Mosley, the water council's director of investment strategies.

Representatives from the 16 cities selected for the VilCap program will meet in Salt Lake City March 18 to 21 to discuss strategies for growing the pipeline of start-ups and unlocking capital in their areas.

The other cities involved in the inaugural VilCap program are: Austin, Texas; Baltimore; Buffalo, N.Y.; Chicago; Cincinnati; Fresno, Calif.; Honolulu; Kansas City, Mo. and Kan.; Minneapolis; Nashville; New Orleans; Portland, Maine; Philadelphia; St. Louis; and Washington, D.C.

"We're excited to work with leaders in Milwaukee to integrate peer-selected investment, which levels the playing field for women, people of color, people from rural areas  folks who are building great companies but don't normally have access to capital," Baird said.

Village Capital has made investments in five companies since June, according to Crunchbase. The most recent was in February, Crunchbase reported, when Village Capital made a $3 million seed investment in Austin-based Student Loan Genius, which helps customer's employees pay off student loans through payroll deductions.

National partners in the VilCap Program are Sorenson Impact Center, The Kauffman Foundation and Rise of the Rest, the initiative formed by AOL founder Steve Case.
Forbes Adam tests the saltwater in the tanks at Dairyland Shrimp in Westby for pH levels, dissolved oxygen levels and ammonia once a day. The tanks hold 3,000 gallons of water and up to 6,000 shrimp. Credit: Erik Daily / Lacrosse Tribune

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Got shrimp? America's dairyland is far from Cajun country, but an indoor shrimp farm in a pole barn near La Crosse is attracting a lot of attention.

Dairyland Shrimp LLC of Westby has been open only a short time and already has sold out its saltwater crustaceans through May, June and much of July.

Orders have poured in from Chicago, Madison, Green Bay and Minneapolis as folks with an appetite for fresh Pacific white shrimp make a trek to the Kickapoo Valley to take a few pounds of the critters  which sell for $18 a pound  home on ice.

Forbes Adam, an excavating contractor who learned about indoor shrimp farming from a newspaper article his mother in Indiana sent him, said he didn't expect the surge in interest in his new business  driven partly by Facebook and other social media.

"Whatever shrimp we have left over, which isn't any right now, I would be taking to a farmers market," Adam said.

The launch of Dairyland Shrimp comes as U.S. fisheries and aquaculture farms barely make a dent in the nation's demand for seafood. About 90% of the shrimp consumed in the United States comes from other countries, mostly in Southeast Asia and South America.

"I thought, wow, there's definitely a market for this," Adam said.

'Incredible jumpers'

Aquaculture experts say they aren't aware of another indoor shrimp farm in operation in Wisconsin, but there are a few of them in Iowa and Indiana.

Key to Adam's farm is the heavily insulated building where the temperature is 93 degrees and the shrimp are raised in four saltwater pools, each 14 feet in diameter and about 42 inches deep.

Powerful pumps keep the water recirculated and provide an oxygen-rich environment not only for the shrimp, but also for bacteria that consume the animals' waste and create a healthy ecosystem.

There are tarps over the pools to keep the shrimp from escaping.

"They are incredible jumpers....Sometimes I would come out in the morning and find four or five dead ones on the floor," Adam said.

Shrimp also are cannibals, so the bigger ones have to be removed from the pools before they eat the smaller ones.

It takes four months to raise the saltwater crustaceans, which come from an Iowa hatchery, into critters big enough to be sold.

Restaurants have asked Adam about being their shrimp supplier, but his business isn't ready for that yet.

"It's really killing me to tell them they have to wait a year," he said.

Not for risk averse

Shrimp farming, like other types of agriculture, isn't for someone afraid of risk. A large indoor operation in Nevada closed in less than two years after investors spent millions of dollars to supply Las Vegas restaurants.

Blue Oasis won an award for innovation and accolades from restaurant owners who said its shrimp had good flavor. Then, for unknown reasons, it quietly disappeared, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal.

There's a huge market for shrimp, but it's a commodity market where producers compete on a cost basis, said Russ Allen, a shrimp expert from Michigan who has spent 39 years in the industry.

The costs can quickly spiral out of control, especially in a cold climate where a building that raises shrimp must be heated to tropical temperatures. For various reasons, heating the water alone doesn't work very well.

"It's not as easy as it sounds. I try to bring people back to the realities," Allen said, adding that it costs about $20 million to establish a large enough operation to achieve economies of scale.

An indoor fish farm in Milwaukee, Sweet Water Organics, ceased production last year after running into financial difficulties. The company operated from an industrial building in Bay View, where it raised perch and grew produce for area restaurants.

Shrimp could be more profitable than perch, though, because it fetches a higher price in the market and thousands of the critters can be grown in a relatively small space.

It's not the craziest idea when you consider the value of each little animal, said Jim Held, an aquaculture specialist with University of Wisconsin Extension.

"I can see a very good market for locally produced, naturally grown, chemical-free Wisconsin shrimp. People would love that," Held said.

Long days, every day

Adam said his shrimp farm is environmentally sustainable, unlike some foreign operations where the ponds are filthy and the growers use antibiotics and chemicals banned in the U.S.

The water is constantly filtered, with bacteria, and there's no harmful discharge to the environment, Adam said.

His typical day starts at 7 a.m., feeding the shrimp an organic, protein-based food and doing various water quality tests. He feeds the shrimp again at noon and 6 p.m.

"It's not as hard as dairy farming, but you have to be here every day. You are married to the shrimp, just like a dairy farmer is married to the cows," Adam said.

He's invested about $180,000 in Dairyland Shrimp, including $120,000 for the pole barn that has three times as much insulation as a typical house, and $60,000 for specialized equipment.

Adam has owned tanning salons and a business that was part of the wind turbine industry. He's developed a housing subdivision, in addition to his excavating company that's been placed on hold while he develops the shrimp farm.

He's in the process of adding about a dozen more shrimp production tanks in the same heated building and is considering working with other Midwestern shrimp farms to lower his production costs.

It would be easier to raise the crustaceans in a warmer climate, but Adam said he prefers doing this in Wisconsin even if it means that he supplies only local markets.

Curious about trying new things, Adam admits he's a risk taker.

"I am not afraid to fail, let's put it that way," he said.
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Opera is big, complex and grand, right? Sometimes, but certainly not always.

Gian Carlo Menotti's "The Telephone," for example, is a one-act, comic opera in English with a cast of two, and Jake Heggie's "Three Decembers," which Milwaukee's Florentine Opera Company will present March 11-20, is a one-act, English-language opera with a cast of three.

The Florentine's two-weekend run of "Three Decembers" will take place in the intimate Wilson Theatre at Vogel Hall, in the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts, instead of the large Uihlein Hall next door, in which the company usually performs.

The production may be small and intimate, but the story has an element of universality, in its handling of what Heggie described as "a family unit struggling for reconciliation and understanding, despite all the barriers put up over the years."

"Big stories really resonate for me," the American composer said, adding that opera is all about stories and events for which, "it's not enough to speak them  you have to sing them."

"We love to see great performers grappling with big issues for us," he said.

But big, operatic stories, Heggie said, don't have to be dark and heavy from front to finish.

"Many things with dark stories have feel-good endings," he said. "In Disney's 'Bambi," Bambi's mother gets killed, but Bambi ends up happy at the end."

His current opera project, an adaptation of Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life," is just such a dark story with a feel-good ending.

"Here's a man who's thinking of jumping off of a bridge because he thinks the world would be better without him in it," he said. "He can't see the value of his own life. That's a terribly operatic, big, human drama to explore on the opera stage."

"But that doesn't mean there's not great beauty and humor along the way," Heggie said. "Humor opens us up and humanizes us in a way."

The plot of "Three Decembers" has its roots in a story written by Terrence McNally ("Kiss of the Spiderwoman" and "Masterclass") for a 1999 AIDS benefit at Carnegie Hall.

The story, with a libretto by Gene Scheer, finds a Broadway star and her adult children, a daughter with a failed marriage and a son who is losing his partner to AIDS, wrestling with issues and secrets from their shared past.

McNally's original story was titled "Some Christmas Letters (and a Couple of Phone Calls Too)," of which Heggie said, "That's just not an opera title." He gave the opera a working title of "Last Acts," knowing he would change it because, he said, "If you say 'Last Acts' quickly people say, 'What?' "

Florentine general director William Florescu, the stage director for "Three Decembers," said he chose the opera because he was "looking for a smaller venue/contemporary work combination."

"For me this is a perfect piece of musical theater," Florescu said.

"There's not an ounce of fat on it. It's just right and beautifully constructed.

"I think its greatest strength is the way the music illuminates the text," he said.

Heggie sees the music of "Three Decembers" in the context of his development and evolution as a composer.

"My early works are more layered, difficult and intense," he said.

"As I get older I go for essence instead of layers."

He described his musical language as "very tonal and slightly chromatic" adding that he loves tunes and loves ensembles. (Listen to "Daybreak" from "Three Decembers" at bit.ly/216Xh4x, or listen to the entire opera at bit.ly/1QS0d5v.

Eleven members of the Wisconsin Philharmonic will accompany the production, under the baton of conductor Joseph Rescigno.

Commenting that the Florentine has assembled a "fantastic cast" (mezzo-soprano Lucy Schaufer, baritone Keith Phares and soprano Rena Harms), Heggie said he would not be able to see any of the Milwaukee performances of "Three Decembers."

"It's actually a nice problem to have, not to be able to hear performances of your own works," he said.

"It means that there are a lot of performances of your works and that you are busy on other works. Yes, it's a good problem to have."

IF YOU GO

The Florentine Opera will perform "Three Decembers" March 11-20 at the Marcus Center's Vogel Hall, 123 E. State St. For tickets, visit www.florentineopera.org

or call (800) 32-OPERA.
Tess Cinpinski and Kelly Doherty perform in Theater REDs production of Bacherlorette. Credit: Traveling Lemur Productions

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"I feel like I just scored myself a guest spot on 'Sex and the City.'"

So says one of the two men who'd shown up in a bridal suite looking for a quickie in Leslye Headland's "Bachelorette," which opened Thursday night in a Theater RED production directed by Mark Boergers.

Right idea but wrong show: Carrie and company are veritable nuns in comparison with the crew we'll meet here. It would take reality TV significantly more raunchy than "Jersey Shore" to match a script where the three women who get the most airtime trade jokes and barbs on topics including oral sex and abortions between tokes, snorts and swigs. And pills. Lots of them.

The occasion for all this debauchery is the imminent marriage of Becky (Kelly Doherty), who is not only tying the knot before the threesome we first meet but has also scored a hat trick in the process: Her beau is handsome. He's filthy rich. And he and Becky genuinely love each other. So much so that Becky is absent; she wants to be with her man on the night before their wedding.

That cedes Becky's posh bridal suite to the jealous trio eating her dust and washing it down by quaffing Becky's expensive champagne. They do so while telling sex jokes and making fun of Becky's expensive, plus-size dress; the fact that Becky is overweight makes it all the more galling that she's nevertheless about to be first among them to marry.

Hence long before Becky shows up, she's very much present as a lucid reflector telling us a great deal about the women actually in the room, each approaching 30with a recognition that while the party is winding down, they're not quite ready to grow up.

Sloppy, hard-drinking Katie (Shannon Nettesheim) is a onetime prom queen fallen on hard times, having never transitioned from high school to life. Nursing a great hurt, cynical Gena (Liz Faraglia) isn't nearly as tough as she thinks. The backstabbing Regan (Tess Cinpinski), Becky's maid of honor, calls to mind her nasty Shakespearean namesake from " King Lear."

While she has the least of the three to work with, Faraglia does most among this trio to suggest that there's more to these party girls than meets the eye; her multitudes not only include depths of self-loathing, but a countervailing integrity and capacity for love.

But nobody here matches Doherty, who more than makes up for Becky's late arrival.

Doherty's Becky is a woman madly in love  and wondering whether she deserves it. Naive enough to hope for the best from her friends  and unsurprised when they disappoint her. Extraordinarily sensitive and mercilessly mean. She is mesmerizing. This play is not.

IF YOU GO

"Bachelorette" continues through March 19 at the Alchemist Theatre, 2569 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.

For tickets, visit www.theaterred.com. Read more about this production at TapMilwaukee.com.

TAKEAWAYS

Crashing the Bachelorette Party: En route to one's seat in Alchemist's theater space, one can crash the bachelorette party unfolding in the adjoining lounge, encountering cast members while participating in various games, eating cupcakes or sipping champagne.

The Thing About Weddings: There's nothing new about the territory being covered in "Bachelorette"; think of a play like Willy Russell's "Stags and Hens." Or Alan Ball's "Five Women Wearing the Same Dress," staged by the now-defunct Theatre Unchained in 2014. (Faraglia was also in that one, playing a 30-something lesbian). Weddings provide an opportunity to take stock of where one is; throw in plenty of stress and booze and bad things are apt to happen, as people confront the stark disconnect between who they've become and who they'd hoped to be.

Mamet for Women: One might be tempted to think of "Bachelorette" as somehow akin to a David Mamet play  focused on badly behaving women, this time, instead of badly behaving men. Nothing doing. The dialogue in this play is downright amateurish in comparison with Mamet's great plays, for reasons that have everything to do with talent and nothing to do with gender. Some years back, the now-defunct UPROOTED Theatre staged a reading of Mamet's all-male "Glengarry Glen Ross" that featured an all-female cast. It was much more memorable for me than this play will be.

The best play involving similarly aged drifters I've seen thus far this year is Annie Baker's luminescent "The Flick." Baker's heartbreaking dialogue captures what it's like to be a woman in her twenties  a wonderful April Paul, in the recent Forward Theater Company production in Madison  who has lost her way. Paul's character is as much a mess as any of those in "Bachelorette"  and ten times more interesting and moving.

What About the Men? The two men in this play are really glorified props who, ideally, give us a fuller sense of the women.

As Jeff  described in the script as both a summa cum laude graduate and a man who has "definitely" slept with prostitutes  Nick Narcisi nails the sadistic streak that might attract an innately cruel woman like Regan; in the encounters between the two, Boergers has further underscored this side of Jeff's personality in ways that are credible and chilling.

As the milder Joe, Evan Koepnick gives us a stoner with a good heart; Joe is a better person but not as interesting a character, resulting in a long and sagging exchange between him and Nettesheim's Katie that one feels should yield more than it does in this production.

A Play Divided Against Itself: As I've suggested above, the biggest challenge confronting these actors is the script, which wants to have it both ways: Generating humor through one-liners featuring mean, wasted, badly behaving women and simultaneously generating empathy by letting us see their underlying pain. Headland gives us plenty of the first, even if much of the humor plays to that toxic lowest common denominator called reality TV. But Headland is so in love with the partying in the first that she frequently misses the second, notwithstanding compensatory, paint-by-numbers moments when characters loudly telegraph their pain.
Weekend Getaway Brian E. Clark SHARE Study for Self Portrait by Grant Wood. Cedar Rapids Museum of Art

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For the first part of his career, Grant Wood was a respected  and somewhat quirky  journeyman artist who lived and thrived in eastern Iowa.

Born in 1891 to a farming family, Wood moved to Cedar Rapids at age 10 after his father died, painted opera sets in high school and worked as a silversmith, interior decorator and illustrator. He also studied and traveled in Europe after World War I, taught school and was a leader in the local arts scene.

But Wood's career really took off in 1930 when his painting "American Gothic"  featuring a stern man in overalls with a pitchfork standing by a dour-looking woman  won third place in an Art Institute of Chicago exhibition and launched him to national fame. His painting struck a chord with an inward-looking American population still recovering from the Great War and reeling from the Great Depression, critics said.

The Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, home to the largest collection of his work, is celebrating Wood on the 125th anniversary of his birth with a major show through May 15. Come April, travelers to eastern Iowa can see the artist's Cedar Rapids studio, the 24-foot-tall stained-glass window he designed in the city's Veterans Memorial Building, and the actual home  complete with its lean Gothic window  that Wood used as the backdrop for American Gothic. Visitors can also see the remnants of the Stone City Art Colony he and fellow painter Marvin Cone created outside Anamosa.

Wood, who died of pancreatic cancer in 1942, created hundreds of paintings, taught art at the University of Iowa and hobnobbed with celebrities such as Fred Wynn, who starred in Disney's "Mary Poppins," said Cedar Rapids historian Mark Stouffer Hunter.

Wood, Hunter said, was something of a prodigy who won a coloring contest in elementary school and illustrated yearbooks from his sophomore through senior years at Washington High School. He also painted theater and opera sets for his school and at the 2,000-seat Greene's Opera House, where he met touring thespians of national fame.

While living above his studio  a remodeled carriage house loft  he made an artificial arm, Hunter said, that he used to make left turns onto busy First Ave. to get to work.

"He was always creating humorous contraptions and besides," Hunter said, "he was often smoking two cigarettes at a time. So he was probably too busy to put his real arm out."

Wood also established the first community theater in Cedar Rapids and founded the Garlic Society, which Hunter said was a gentle spoof on the Masons and did little more than serve as a gathering for theater people and their friends.

And though Wood moved to the city at age 10, Hunter said the artist was a farm boy at heart and was famous for saying he got his best ideas while "milking the cows and feeding the chickens.

"He was beholden to the farm life, the rural landscape and animals. He was proud of his roots," said Hunter, who will lead tours of the neighborhood where Wood grew up, the places he painted and the buildings he designed starting in April.

Sean Ulmer, executive director to the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, said his facility has more than 300 pieces of Wood's work, including a corn-theme chandelier, an advertising mural, a silver pitcher and some of his most famous paintings, including "Spring Planting." Alas, "American Gothic" is not there. It hangs in the Art Institute of Chicago, where he also studied for a time.

"Many people may not be familiar with the name Grant Wood today, but they probably know the 'American Gothic' painting," he said. "If you say the picture of the guy in overalls holding the pitchfork and the sour-looking woman, they get it. In fact, it is probably the most-parodied piece of American art  second worldwide only to the Michelangelo's 'Mona Lisa.' And it does set itself up for parody well."

New York critics were split over "American Gothic," Ulmer said, with those who favored more avant-garde works rejecting it, while others liked it because it "totally supported their idea of what Midwestern life was like. It fit their cultural boxes. In some cases, they wondered how an artist could survive and make a living in such a repressive environment."

The painting was initially hated by many in the Hawkeye State, Ulmer said.

"All kinds of people wrote to newspapers and said Wood portrayed Iowa poorly and that woman had a face that could truly sour milk," he said. "Women were quite upset at how awful she looked. They did not want to be represented by her."

Though some have suggested "American Gothic" was a satire on the Midwest, Wood wrote in a 1941 letter that he was not attempting to make fun of the region. Rather, the stern-looking man in farmers' overalls holding a pitch fork (Wood's jovial neighbor and dentist Byron McKeeby) and the equally severe-looking woman standing beside him (Wood's sister, Nan) were supposed to represent small-town Midwesterners he knew. He did, however, describe them as "self-righteous."

The years that Wood spent painting in Cedar Rapids, Hunter said, were probably his happiest. After the critical success of "American Gothic," he traveled and spoke widely about art.

He was appointed the director of the Depression-era Public Works of Art Project for Iowa, married in 1934 and moved to Iowa City to teach at the University of Iowa. There, as is sometimes the case in academia, jealousy reared is emerald head and he was criticized by art faculty for not having the proper credentials, Ulmer said. In addition, his marriage fell apart, and he divorced his wife in 1939. Three years later, he died.

Ulmer said the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art's exhibition of works by Wood  as well as his longtime friend and Cedar Rapids-native Marvin Cone  are intended to be more than "just a backwards look."

"We're thinking about who Grant was, which was a man of his time. In addition to being a great artist, he was an innovator and entrepreneur  things that resonate with young people today," Ulmer said. "He created his own company in decorative arts, became a painter, an art teacher and then was able to give that up and paint full time because of a wealthy patron's backing. He really capitalized on the breaks he got. He was a go-getter, and he's still certainly beloved in this town."

More information: The Grant Wood-inspired "Overalls All Over" public art project will feature 30 6-foot-tall fiberglass statues depicting the subjects in Woods' "American Gothic" painting. Statues are being painted by local artists and will be on display from May 1 through Labor Day weekend in Cedar Rapids. See croveralls.com for more information.

The house used in the "American Gothic" painting is in Eldon, Iowa, about 100 miles southwest of Cedar Rapids. See americangothichouse.net or call (641) 652-3352.

Wood is buried in Anamosa, Iowa, at the Riverside Cemetery  not far from the farm where he was born.

"Grant Wood and Marvin Cone: Barns, Farms and America's Heartland" is on display at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art through May 15. For more, call (319) 366-7503 or see crma.org.

For details on other aspects of Grant Woods' life and walking tours, contact the Cedar Rapids History Center at (319) 362-1501 or see historycenter.org.

Getting there: Cedar Rapids is about 245 miles southwest of Milwaukee via I-94 and Highway 151.

Brian E. Clark is a Madison writer.
Kate Ansay says importing beer from Luxembourg started with small shipments and a big learning curve.

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Thousands of Luxembourgers can't be wrong.

That's the theory behind Kate Ansay's beer adventure. With no experience in beer distribution or selling, Ansay began importing Bofferding beer to Wisconsin, where a groundswell of residents have ties to the small European country.

"There are more Luxembourg-Americans than there are Luxembourgers in Luxembourg," said Ansay, whose full-time job is commercial and residential development but is also international operations director of Ansay International.

In the 1800s, an estimated 87,000 Luxembourg residents left their small country  tucked between Belgium, Germany and France  to settle in America, said Sara Jacoby, executive director of the Luxembourg American Culture Society in Belgium, Wis.

Thousands remain rooted in Wisconsin around Belgium, Fredonia, Port Washington and Random Lake.

Ansay's family built a relationship with the country  with a current population hovering just over 500,000  partly because of their Luxembourg heritage but also because of the annual Luxembourg Fest, held in Belgium. George Lentz, chief executive officer of the family-owned Bofferding Brewery flew his beer to the site.

"That started it," said Ansay, a glass of the brewery's Pilsner in front of her, while sitting at Cafe Benelux, a Third Ward restaurant specializing in food and beer from Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

"They were the very first (to sell Bofferding)," Ansay said of the Lowlands Group, which owns Cafe Benelux. Glasses of the Bofferding Triple Ale made their way to the table as she talked.

Ansay was already knee-deep in Bofferding when she brought Lentz to the restaurant when he visited Milwaukee last summer. Bofferding began providing the beer on draft and in bottles.

The Benelux visit was followed by one to Draft & Vessel, 4417 N. Oakland Ave., Shorewood.

The process of bringing the beer to the United States started with small shipments and a big learning curve.

For instance, Miami University in Ohio has the largest student exchange program with the country of Luxembourg. It was natural to get Bofferding into retailers around the campus. Except that required details that Ansay perhaps hadn't considered, such as permits to cross state lines, access to refrigerated trucks and import licenses.

"We got kicked in the teeth a few times," she said.

Ansay now works with a family-run distribution company in Sheboygan to get Bofferding to the masses. She also works with Beer Capitol Distributing in Sussex.

Ansay and her team show up at craft beer festivals, special tastings and other events to get the word out about the beer. But that won't be the only thing she plans to import from the affluent country.

She hopes to expand her portfolio of Luxembourg beverages and is working with Vinsmoselle wines. Look for those in spring.

ABOUT THIS FEATURE

This Is Us is a recurring feature in the Green Sheet, with stories on the people, places and things reflecting the spirit and heart of our community.

A TASTE OF LUXEMBOURG

The Luxembourg American Cultural Society & Center, 100 Peter Thein Ave., Belgium, will hold a tasting of Bofferding brews from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday. It will pour samples of the brewery's Pilsner, Triple Ale and Fruit Ale.
The Wisconsin State Capitol is seen in Madison, Wis. on Thursday, September 22, 2015. Credit: Mike De Sisti / MDESISTI@JOURNALSENTINEL.COM

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A seemingly endless winter calls for some comfort food.

Grilled cheese fits that bill, and for an extra tasty version head to The Old Fashioned in Madison. Thrillist named the restaurant's version one of the 21 best grilled cheeses in America.

The website's Jeremy Glass called the sandwich  made with Wisconsin cheddar, Swiss, bell peppers and bacon  "one of the best grilled cheeses I've ever laid my greasy lips on."

 Madison isn't just a great place for grilled cheese  it's also a great place to live, according to U.S. News & World Report.

The publication looked at the country's 100 most populous cities to create its list of the best places to live, and the state capital came in at No. 24.

Madison received high marks for its job market and quality of life.

The publication also factored in the value of a city, the quality of life, desirability and net migration. Denver was named the country's best place to live, while Milwaukee ranked No. 72 on the list.

 With Madison being such a great place to live, it's no surprise the city ranked high on a list of the country's best state capitals.

WalletHub ranked state capitals based on affordability, a strong economy, quality of life and education standards.

Madison was fourth on the list and ranked first in education and health, with 55% of its residents holding at least a bachelor's degree, the highest for a state capital.

 If you're looking for a secluded getaway, try the Meadow House in Richland Center.

Even though it's just over an hour west of Madison, the rental house made Men's Journal's list of 20 insanely remote vacations.

The glass-encased home offers 360-degree views of the surrounding valley and is part of Candlewood Cabins, which includes three other properties in the area. Good luck getting a reservation, though: the picturesque properties are often booked up to a year in advance.

ABOUT THIS FEATURE

How do we rate? There is no shortage of lists, rankings and charts to tell us. Adding Us Up is a recurring look at where Milwaukee and Wisconsin rank on the latest lists, from the semi-serious to the silly. If you spot a ranking that rates, share it with us at greensheet@jrn.com.
Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican candidate for president, was sharply critical of this years GOP front-runner, Donald Trump, in a speech Thursday in Utah. Credit: Rick Bowmer

Mitt Romney said what needed saying, and other Republican leaders starting with House Speaker Paul Ryan should do the same.

Romney's meticulous dressing down of Donald Trump on Thursday in a speech at the University of Utah may not matter and may even help Trump, who won seven states on Super Tuesday and is leading by large margins in others.

But Trump's odious bullying and juvenile misunderstanding of the problems facing the country had to be confronted by senior leadership in the Republican Party.

Trump is unfit to be anything other than what he is  a boastful reality television star  and it's time for GOP leaders to say so forcefully.

Romney, a modest and dignified man with a long record of public service, is such a contrast to the braggart who would be president. Romney called out Trump as "a phony, a fraud" who is "playing the members of the American public for suckers."

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said he shared Romney's dismay over Trump's rise. Earlier in the campaign, Trump demeaned McCain's service during the Vietnam War when the young Navy pilot held out for years in the "Hanoi Hilton" after enduring torture by his captors that left him permanently disabled. McCain warned voters Thursday about Trump's "uninformed and indeed dangerous statements on national security issues."

It was an extraordinary thing: The last two Republican nominees openly denouncing the candidate their own party is on the verge of choosing.

And it was, at the same time, courageous. Quite the opposite of the opportunist thrill-seeker Chris Christie, the New Jersey governor, who endorsed Trump last week and then stood awkwardly at his side on election night.

Romney methodically disassembled Trump's arguments.

Trump claims to be a great businessman. Not true. He inherited his business, Romney noted, and many of his ventures have failed. "A business genius he is not."

Trump claims to have bold ideas. No. He has shallow, poorly conceived ideas, such as proposing a 35% tariff on imports that would touch off a trade war and harm average Americans and a tax plan that would dramatically boost deficit spending.

Trump claims to be a uniter. No. Trump's candidacy is based on dividing Americans one from another.

"He creates scapegoats of Muslims and Mexican immigrants. He calls for the use of torture. He calls for killing the innocent children and family members of terrorists," Romney said. "He cheers assaults on protesters. He applauds the prospect of twisting the Constitution to limit First Amendment freedom of the press. This is the very brand of anger that has led other nations into the abyss."

Is Romney the best messenger the Republicans have? No. Romney lost a winnable race to President Barack Obama in 2012, with Ryan on the ticket. That makes him a "loser" to the Trump faithful. Romney embodies the "establishment" that Trump is running against and Trump's supporters disdain, which is why Romney's remarks may only harden Trump's support. And there's little doubt that conservatives such as Romney see Trump as a moderate  maybe even a closet liberal  and don't believe he can win a general election. There is more than a little self-service here, whether Romney still harbors visions of a brokered convention turning to him or not.

Further, Romney should have acknowledged that he sought and received Trump's endorsement during the 2012 campaign. Trump did a fundraiser for Romney and made calls for him. Romney said later that if he had known how Trump would run his own campaign he never would have accepted the help. At the time, he wanted to keep Trump on the GOP team.

After Romney's remarks, Trump claimed he had taken steps to prevent Romney from running this year because he "was a choke artist....He doesn't have what it takes to be president, I can tell you."

Romney, in fact, has something that Donald Trump will never have. It's called character. And I wish other top Republicans would demonstrate that they have it, too.

David D. Haynes is editorial page editor for the Journal Sentinel. Email dhaynes@jrn.com Twitter: @DavidDHaynes
State Supreme Justice Rebecca Bradley speaks during her primary election night gathering Feb. 16. Credit: Mark Hoffman

By of the

Madison  Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley cut out of oral arguments last week so she could give a political speech to the state's chamber of commerce  a group that has spent heavily in the past backing conservative candidates.

Bradley refused an interview request, but a spokeswoman for her argued it was routine for justices to leave arguments early. So far, her campaign has not been able to cite an instance of another justice stepping out of arguments for campaign reasons.

"It's a matter of priorities," said former Justice Janine Geske, a Marquette University Law School professor. "I'm surprised because oral arguments are extremely important."

Geske, who served on the court from 1993 to 1998, said justices rarely left arguments early while she was on the bench.

GOP Gov. Scott Walker appointed Bradley to the bench in October, and she is now running for a full 10-year term on the court. She faces Appeals Judge JoAnne Kloppenburg in the April 5 election.

According to her campaign, Bradley left arguments about 15 minutes early on Feb. 24 so she could speak to an annual gathering put on by Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state's largest business lobbying group and a heavy spender in past court races. Justice Michael Gableman also left the arguments early to attend WMC's event.

The Associated Press first reported on Bradley's early departure from arguments.

Bradley spokeswoman Madison Wiberg said in a statement that Bradley reviewed the briefs and did not have any other questions on the case when she left the arguments.

"Supreme Court Justices routinely excuse themselves from portions of oral arguments for personal or scheduling reasons," Wiberg's statement said.

Kloppenburg's campaign manager, Melissa Mulliken, took issue with the claim that Bradley's actions were routine, saying Bradley had disregarded her duties.

"There is nothing routine about a justice on the Supreme Court leaving oral arguments to curry favor with Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce," Mulliken said in a statement. "It is absolutely clear that Rebecca Bradley's allegiance is to the big money special interests and partisan politics that she has used to fuel her fast track rise."

Bradley told those at the WMC event, "I'll give you a little update...on how things are going at the Supreme Court. It is a very busy place, but I'm happy to report that the court, despite some reports to the contrary, is actually functioning quite well."

Bradley joined the court in October, after the justices began hearing cases for the 2015-'16 term. Most of the time, she hasn't participated in decisions if she wasn't there for arguments.

But last month, she cast a tiebreaking vote in a case that was argued before she got on the bench. She said she watched footage of the arguments and reviewed the briefs before helping decide the case, which allowed police to use evidence that had been acquired without a warrant.

The defendant in that case has asked the court to reconsider its decision because she wasn't there for arguments. He said her actions left the impression she was biased toward law enforcement groups that have backed her campaign.

In the case that was argued last week, it is difficult to tell precisely when Bradley and other justices excused themselves.

The WisconsinEye Public Affairs Network records all Supreme Court arguments, but its cameras focus on the speakers and in this case don't show when the justices leave. At the end of arguments, the camera pans out to reveal that three of the seven justices have left at that point  Bradley, Gableman and Annette Ziegler.

Ziegler said by email she didn't leave until after the last lawyer had finished speaking. She then attended the WMC event, which was held three blocks away.

Gableman said he left about 10 minutes before arguments ended. Early departures are not unusual, he said.

"My observations of the court over the last seven and a half years or so would be to say it is not uncommon at all for every member of the court to leave early if it is necessary to speak at an event or for any reason," he said.

But Justice Ann Walsh Bradley indicated it's not common for other justices to step away from arguments  and invoked the name of the late Justice N. Patrick Crooks to make her point. Crooks died in September, and the governor appointed Rebecca Bradley to fill his spot.

"The only time that Justice Patrick Crooks in his almost 20 years on the bench left the bench early that I can recall is the day he left the bench early and died later that day in his chambers," Ann Walsh Bradley said.

The two Bradleys are not related.

The case at hand is a challenge to a 2009 law that bars people with certain offenses on their records from holding child care licenses. A Dane County circuit judge threw out the case, and the District 4 Court of Appeals  with Kloppenburg in the majority  agreed with the lower court decision.

Sheila Sullivan, one of the attorneys challenging the law, said it would be inappropriate to comment on what she thought of the early departures.

The law is being defended by Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel's office. A Schimel spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Brooks stares down judge on Day 15 of Waukesha Christmas Parade trial

Darrell Brooks called his ex-girlfriend as a defense witness Friday morning. His examination was cut short after an argument over some photographs.
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By Simon Reich | (The Conversation) |  

Elections, the perennial wisdom tells us, are generally not decided by foreign policy issues.

But whos to say that 2016 will not buck the trend, as it has in so many other ways?

We are potentially only one Paris-style terrorist attack or a brazenly aggressive act by Russian President Putin from changing the mood and focus of the American electorate.

Indeed, Republican voters already consider terrorism their primary concern. And the never-ending, slow drip release of Hillary Clintons Benghazi emails is certain to return the spotlight to foreign policy.

So lets take a look at how the candidates stack up in the most contentious region in the world: the Middle East.

Whom to compare  and why

Lets look at the three major Republicans left in the race.

Donald Trump has actually said very little about foreign policy, especially about the Middle East.

In fact there are essentially few discernible differences between Trumps position on the region and those of his main rivals, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.

While Trump says little, Cruzs position is one-dimensional. He would rely on brute force. Cruz has said he wants to carpet bomb the Islamic militants and find out whether sand can glow in the dark. But there isnt much beyond that. Still, it is more than Trump has offered which is to behead the Islamic State, or ISIS, and steal their oil.

Rubios position is the most fleshed-out, probably because he has the most foreign policy expertise and has spent time working on the Senates Foreign Relations Committee. Not surprisingly, therefore, he also offers the most comprehensive plan for dealing with ISIS, the central focus of his plans for the Middle East if elected.

Hillary Clinton, of course, has by far the most foreign policy experience of any candidate left in this years field  and arguably among the most of any in history.

First Lady, Secretary of State, the Clinton Foundation: she has a unique resume.

Two different world views

So how do Clinton and the Republicans compare when it comes to American policy the Middle East?

President Obama has often, I believe unfairly, been accused of having no grand strategy at all, let alone one for the region.

The consensus among American policymakers is that there are are four enduring interests for the U.S. in the Middle East: oil, regime change, terrorism and the protection of its allies (always Israel and, more variably, Saudi Arabia).

Then there are also always a series of proximate issues that dominate the press  like Irans nuclear program or ISIS conquests.

The differences between these candidates are which they prioritize, and how they approach them.

Clintons liberal internationalism

Clintons approach to strategy in most of these areas relies on what policymakers and academics generally label a liberal internationalist approach, one that employs what they call smart power.

This approach relies on a combination of tools  diplomatic, economic, military, political, technological and cultural  in the pursuit of foreign policy.

Clinton has explicitly written and talked about smart power. She used this approach in Libya in 2011 when the goal was regime change

and would employ the same cocktail: for example, to defeat terrorist groups like ISIS. But while she favors a no-fly zone to protect civilians in Syria, she eschews the idea of American forces entering a Middle Eastern ground war at this point.

So, right or wrong, she appears to have learned some lessons from the Iraq debacle and the shorter Libyan intervention.

All presidential candidates talk about the essential role the U.S. plays as a leader. But, when they use that word, they dont always mean the same thing.

Generally, Clinton favors the kind of influential multilateral approach to leadership adopted by the Obama administration in the negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program. There it saw itself as a first among equals: that is, a member of a group who is officially on the same level as the other members but who has more responsibility or power.

In practice, that means that the U.S. sets the agenda and largely defines the approach to problem, even as it seeks and acts on the basis of consensus.

It also means that its policymakers anticipate the need to compromise. John Kerry epitomized that approach in the exhaustive negotiations with the Iranians.

The Republican primacist view of the world

The Republicans all rely on a very different set of principles in defining their general strategy.

It is one that policy wonks and academics label primacist. A primacist approach relies much more on military power than Clintons more balanced elixir when it comes to foreign policy.

Cruz, for example, simply wants to destroy what he calls radical Islam from the air through carpet-bombing.

Rubios view is more developed. His view of leadership entails a rhetorical reference to multilateral coalitions. But still, like Cruz or Trump, he has a far greater willingness to act unilaterally without regard to the concerns of organizations such as the United Nations.

So it isnt surprising that Rubios stump speech includes lots of references to rebuilding and modernizing the military in the face of what he characterizes as devastating recent defense cuts. Indeed, Trump has said it would be his first order of business if elected president.

Of course, Americas military power is unprecedented. And the danger of a primacist approach is that policy makers see the use of force as a first option rather than a last one in resolving every problem. Indeed, it recalls the adage that when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

Obama tried to construct a national security strategy that conserves American power. Clinton advocates much the same. But the Republicans philosophy is based on the belief that the aggressive use of American power will only make it more powerful.

So it isnt surprising that Rubios plan to defeat ISIS includes a ground war. Or that all the Republicans are staunch advocates of intervention against countries like Iran and say they would tear up the agreement with the Iranians (and indeed roll back any agreement with Cuba if elected.)

Unlike Clinton, Rubio, for example, would aggressively support regime changes in both countries. The Republicans reject what Obama characterizes as strategic patience an approach that emphasizes the importance of awaiting changes to slowly unfold in both countries.

Similarities  yes, there are some

Nevertheless, there are some areas where Clinton and the Republicans would likely enforce similar policies.

These are areas where every president, including Obama, have been remarkably consistent. The U.S. Navy, for example, protects freedom of navigation in the Straits of Hormuz off Irans coast. Their goal is to ensure that world markets are not roiled by a sudden shortage of Middle Eastern oil caused by sabotage of tankers passing through this narrow waterway.

And theyd all maintain a close alliance relationship with Israel, although  based on their rhetoric  the Republicans would be exceptionally uncritical.

Clinton, for her part, has consistently supported Israel and has links to Americas Jewish community that can be traced back decades. But her support of the Iran deal has cast a doubt in the minds of some of Israels supporters as to her fidelity when it matters the most.

So what should we conclude?

At the end of the day, the policy differences between Clinton and the leading Republicans are occasionally stark. At other times, however, they are unclear.

If we are to believe what they say (which is always an issue in any election season), then the chances of America entering a new ground war in the Middle East will significantly increase under a Republican president. Their style would be more forceful as they rely more on American military power as an instrument of change.

Clintons style and tone would differ. Looking at the success of the Iran agreement, she might be tempted to rely more on multilateral diplomacy as a first option and force as a last  even if it means negotiating with people she doesnt like.

Then again, despite her impressive resume, Clinton might feel that she has to demonstrate some resolve, as Americas first female president, to address any lingering doubts. And in the Middle East there is no way of knowing where that will lead.

One thing is certain: whoever becomes president, there is no way that America will relinquish its continued obsession with the region.

Simon Reich, Professor in The Division of Global Affairs and The Department of Political Science, Rutgers University Newark

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

-

Related video added by Juan Cole:

Face the Nation on CBS: Donald Trump criticizes President George W. Bush on foreign policy
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By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) |  

At yet another GOP debate, there was a foreign policy section, which Fox News predictably put under the heading of terrorism.

Brett Baier asked Marco Rubio about Daesh (ISIL, ISIS), noting that Rubio has proposed sending a larger number of American ground troops to help defeat ISIS in Syria and Iraq

Rubio was annoyed that Baier only thought Rubio would invade two countries. Rubio replied, Thats correct, and Libya.

Rubio went on about Daesh:

So they need to be targeted wherever they have an operating space. They do need to be defeated on the ground by a ground force made up primarily of Sunni Arabs themselves. This is a radical Sunni movement. They can only be defeated if they are driven out and the territory is held by Sunni Arabs. But it will require a specific number of American special operators, in combination with an increase in air strikes. And that will include, if necessary, operating spaces in Libya, which, in fact, they are using to project into the Sinai against Egypt and ultimately into Europe, as well.

So Rubio wants US ground troops wherever there is a Daesh cell now he is adding Libya and Egypts Sinai Peninsula. Thats 4 wars he is pledging. There will be US casualties in these wars.

Rubios notion of a Sunni alliance against Daesh shows ignorance of the region. No Sunni state sees Daesh or ISIL as the primary threat, the way Washington does. Turkey obsesses about the Kurds. Saudi Arabia is focused on Iran and Shiites. The most effective fighters against Daesh so far have been Shiites and leftist or secular Kurds.

Rubio cant admit he needs the Shiites, including Iran, because his backers forbid him to make nice with Iran.

Then Baier turned to Kasich:

I will say, look, let me tell you what happened with Libya. And I pointed out in the last debate  Hillary Clinton worked aggressively to depose Moammar Gadhafi. We had no business doing it. He was working with us. He was cooperating with us. He denuclearized. And now they pushed him out, and now we have a fertile ground for ISIS.

So the moderate GOP candidate supports a dreadful dictatorship guilty of massacring its opposition and of planning to commit genocide in Benghazi. That the Middle East was more stable under murderous dictators is also a Trump theme. If they were so stable, why did their people rise up and overthrow them? (It wasnt NATO that fought off Gaddafis tanks in Misrata, it was the people of Misrata).

Then, having castigated Sec. Clinton for involving herself in Libya, Kasich urged a multinational invasion of that country in which we, the US, have to be there on the ground in significant numbers. We do have to include our Muslim Arab friends to work with us on that. And we have to be in the air. His model for this new ground war in North Africa is the Gulf War, when George H. W. Bush sent hundreds of thousands of US troops into Kuwait along with hundreds of thousands of allied troops. That war was a major one, in which there were larger tank battles than any time since the end WW II.

I dont understand Kasichs plan. If Hillary was wrong to get involved in Libya, why is Kasich right to? And, is he really proposing a war on Libya on the scale of the Gulf War? Doesnt that lead to a quagmire?

Mr. Baier then asked Trump what would happen if the US military refused to obey his ilegal orders to murder the innocent women and children of terrorists.

TRUMP: They wont refuse. Theyre not going to refuse me. Believe me. BAIER: But theyre illegal. [Trump]  thats the way I feel. Can you imagine  can you imagine these people, these animals over in the Middle East, that chop off heads, sitting around talking and seeing that were having a hard problem with waterboarding? We should go for waterboarding and we should go tougher than waterboarding. Thats my opinion. BAIER: But targeting terrorists families? (APPLAUSE) TRUMP: And  and  and  Im a leader. Im a leader. Ive always been a leader. Ive never had any problem leading people. If I say do it, theyre going to do it. Thats what leadership is all about. BAIER: Even targeting terrorists families? TRUMP: Well, look, you know, when a family flies into the World Trade Center, a man flies into the World Trade Center, and his family gets sent back to where they were going  and I think most of you know where they went  and, by the way, it wasnt Iraq  but they went back to a certain territory, they knew what was happening. The wife knew exactly what was happening. They left two days early, with respect to the World Trade Center, and they went back to where they went, and they watched their husband on television flying into the World Trade Center, flying into the Pentagon, and probably trying to fly into the White House, except we had some very, very brave souls on that third plane. All right? TRUMP: I have no problem with it.

Trump is hinting that the families of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi and that they had been vacationing in the country their men were about to attack, but then abruptly returned to Saudi Arabia. But none of the family members of the hijackers were in fact in the US. The Bush administration more or less evacuated prominent Saudi families for fear of popular reprisals against them. It isnt plausible that these Saudis knew that the 9/11 attacks were coming (they could have vacationed elsewhere) or that Saudi mainstream people were involved (they have big investments in the US stock market, and took a bath after the attacks).

But to be clear, Trump appears to believe that the US should have tortured and killed those Saudi vacationers, in reprisal for Daesh, which did not exist in 2001.

BAIER: Senator Cruz? CRUZ:  As president, I will do the exact same thing with radical Islamic terrorism. We will rebuild this military so that it remains the mightiest fighting force on the face of the planet. And then, when I am commander-in-chief, every militant on the face of the Earth will understand that if they go and join ISIS, if they wage jihad against the United States of America, they are signing their death warrant. (APPLAUSE)

The US already has by far the best military in the world, and there are only 25,000 or so Daesh fighters. Cruzs power fantasies cant change the fact that conventional armies face obstacles in fighting small groups of guerrillas on unfamiliar terrain. Bankrupting us all by increasing an already bloated Pentagon budget is not going to change that.

Finally, Kasich took a swipe at Cruz saying hed rebuild the US military the way Reagan had.

KASICH: And you know, we hear about Ronald Reagan rebuilding the military. I was there when Ronald Reagan rebuilt the military. I worked with him. I was there when Ronald Reagan rebuilt the economy. I was there, and I worked with him. I knew Ronald Reagan. And Ill leave it right there with what comes after that. You can figure that one out.

I dont understand why they keep talking about the 1980s when the Soviet Union still existed. The US now has no peer conventional power. Why would you bankrupt the country with military spending when the US is the sole hyperpower? That there are small fringe terrorist threats has nothing to do with Department of Defense spending. Terrorism is a different kind of challenge, and you cant defeat it with an F-35.

I count 4 wars they are promising us, with US troops on the ground in each. They have some imaginary Sunni military coalition in mind, which doesnt exist and wont. And, Trump promised more torture and murder of innocents and no one else on the stage even demurred, except for Mr. Baier (who wont be making those decisions).

Oh, and yes. Donald Trump replied to Marco Rubios allegation that Trump has small hands and a small dick. Trump assures us that both are yuuuje.

That discussion took up as much time as foreign policy.

-

Fox News: Part 3 of the Fox News GOP presidential debate in Detroit
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David Peduto | (Informed Comment) |  

The Syrian war has resurrected uncomfortable colonial legacies for France and the United Kingdom. For the French and the British, whose policies in post-World War I Syria shaped the country and the region in profound ways, the 500,000 Syrian refugees who landed in the European Union last year are a personified brood of chickens coming home to roost. While neither country is exerting influence in any meaningful way to bring the conflict to a close in Syria, their historical responsibility impels them to accept Syrian refugees at home.

As early as 1915, the French saw their claim to Syria as part of their mission historique in a land where their crusaders once tromped and fought their way through to Jerusalem. Beyond historical claims, Syria promised commercial, geographic, and strategic advantages to a country eager to draw beneficial borders in the shadow of the waning Ottoman Empire. It did just that with the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916, which promised the French influence and control over contemporary Lebanon and Syria, and the British with authority in current-day Jordan and Iraq.

But the British outmaneuvered their French counterparts in the final division of territory in the Middle East. Prior to the opening of the Paris Peace Conference, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George had extracted concessions from French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau to bring oil-rich Mosul and Palestine under British rule, rather than French and international control, respectively. The San Remo Conference in April 1920 solidified both French and British claims with the establishment of the mandate system, leaving governance of these territories to their respective colonial power.

One month before San Remo, however, the Syrian National Congress had declared independence and announced Faisal as the countrys constitutional monarch. This was the same Faisal whose father, Hussain, had been promised an Arab kingdom by the British in exchange for his armed support against the Ottomans in the Middle East during World War I. But the British backed out of Syria in November 1919, leaving Faisal to face the French alone.

Reeling from the betrayal of the British, Faisal was soon overwhelmed by the French. The French entered Damascus on July 25, 1920 and forced Faisal to flee. Acting with impunity, they undid all that the Syrian National Congress had done, put down resistance, and established control over the country. The French authorities exercised a divide et impera strategy that did much to create internal rifts that continued well after its troops left Syria in 1946.

If the words of Victor Hugo are true that we are children of our own deeds, then surely we are the grandchildren of our forebears deeds. But just as modern France and Britain are the product of their colonial legacies, so too are the refugees seeking refuge in Europe the descendants of those first subjugated by the ramifications of colonial cartography. The French, the British, and the Syrian refugees are political progeny met at the crossroads of history and responsibility.

It is time for Britain and France to take a more active role in the relocation, resettlement, and asylum acceptance of those Syrian refugees fleeing to Europe. In keeping with the remarks of the European Unions migration commissioner, Dimitris Avramopoulos, that, It is not for migrants or refugees to choose where to go, France and Britain should welcome those refugees who have crossed the moat of Fortress Europa. If this is indeed the position of the European Union, then two leading states of that union who bear the mantle of colonial legacies should step up to the plate and make right the wrongs that were a century in the making.

Britain must accept more Syrian asylum seekers. Last December, Prime Minister David Cameron applauded Britains acceptance of 1,000 resettled refugees. But such a low number of acceptance in a country with such a large absorptive capacity is more travesty than it is triumph. The United Kingdom has pledged that it will accept 20,000 Syrian asylum seekers by 2020. This is hardly impressive. At a recent donor conference for Syria and the region, Britain also pledged an additional $1.75 billion over the next four years. But such distant and unsubstantiated goals speak to a lack of vision Cameron otherwise pins to 2020.

France aims to accept 30,000 Syrian refugees by the end of 2017. While French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has said that his country will not welcome all the refugees of Europe, no one is asking France to do so. But what should be demanded is greater acceptance than that currently on offer. While France is less attractive than Germany to refugees for various reasons (long application processing times, high unemployment, entrenched xenophobic attitudes, etc.), it can bear more than it claims that it can. Demolishing large sections of the Jungle refugee camp in Calais without providing better alternatives is hardly a step forward.

The bottom line is that Britain and France must do more to help assuage the refugee crisis in Europe. While a host of asylum seekers are traversing the continent from a host of countries, particular attention should and must be paid to those from Syria. It is the land of Sykes-Picot, and its embattled population are the descendants of colonial pawns. While Britain and France cannot un-write history, they must now seize the moment and undertake a mission historique rooted in historical responsibility to assist the Syrian refugees.

David Peduto is pursuing a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy at the Fletcher School, Tufts University



Related video added by Juan Cole:

New China TV:  3,000 refugees live in muddy camp in north France
VANCOUVER, March 4, 2016 /CNW/ - Nevada Sunrise Gold Corporation ("Nevada Sunrise" or the "Company") (TSXV: NEV) is pleased to announce it has entered into an interim agreement (the "Agreement") with Resolve Ventures Inc. ("Resolve") (TSXV: RSV) of Vancouver, BC, Canada, for Resolve to earn up to a 50% working interest in the Neptune lithium property ("Neptune", or the "Property"). Neptune consists of a block of 316 unpatented placer claims totaling approximately 6,320 acres (2,557 hectares) located in the Clayton Valley, Esmeralda County, Nevada, USA, approximately 10 miles (15 kilometres) south of the Silver Peak lithium mine, operated by Albemarle Corp. (NYSE: ALB).

Neptune Option Agreement

The Agreement with Nevada Sunrise grants Resolve the right to earn up to a 50% interest in the Company's interest in Neptune. Nevada Sunrise holds an option to acquire a 100% interest in the Property pursuant to an option agreement with the property owners. Neptune is subject to a 3% gross overriding royalty (the "Royalty") in favour of the current owners of the Property. The parties expect to negotiate a more comprehensive "definitive agreement", which will supersede the Agreement.

Option for Resolve to Earn a 25% Interest

Under the terms of the Agreement, Resolve can earn an initial 25% interest in Neptune by making cash and share payments to Nevada Sunrise, and funding exploration expenditures, on the following schedule (all funds in Canadian dollars):

$50,000 cash upon execution of the Agreement;

cash upon execution of the Agreement; $50,000 cash upon delivery by Nevada Sunrise of a co-addressed National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101) compliant Technical Report (the "Report") in a form acceptable to the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV");

cash upon delivery by Nevada Sunrise of a co-addressed National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101) compliant Technical Report (the "Report") in a form acceptable to the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV"); 200,000 shares of Resolve issued to Nevada Sunrise on the earlier of the execution of a definitive agreement, and March 31, 2016 ; and

; and $300,000 cash in advance in respect of exploration expenditures to be incurred by Nevada Sunrise according to the recommendations in the Report, payable upon receipt of TSXV acceptance for the Agreement.

Nevada Sunrise will act as operator and will charge a 10% operatorship fee on exploration expenditures. All claim maintenance payments due by September 1, 2016 would be split 75-25 between the two parties.

In order to proceed with its second option, Resolve must provide notice to Nevada Sunrise 60 days before the 1st anniversary of TSXV acceptance of the Agreement. If Resolve does not elect to proceed with the second option, a standard dilution formula will apply to its 25% interest should additional expenditures be incurred.

Option for Resolve to Earn a 50% Interest

Upon an election to proceed to the second option, Resolve can earn an additional 25% interest in Neptune by making additional cash or share payments to Nevada Sunrise, and funding exploration expenditures, as follows:

1) A payment to Nevada Sunrise of either $100,000 cash or 300,000 shares of Resolve, at Resolve's option; and 2) Incurring $700,000 in exploration expenditures on the Property on or before the 2nd anniversary of TSXV acceptance of the Agreement, which Resolve may satisfy by paying such amount in cash to Nevada Sunrise on or before the 1st anniversary of TSXV acceptance of the Agreement .

After completion of the exploration expenditures for Year 1 and Year 2 totaling $1,000,000 and the payment of cash and shares as listed above, Resolve would earn a 50% working interest in Neptune, and a joint venture would be formed.

In the event a joint venture is formed, Nevada Sunrise would be the operator of the joint venture and would be responsible for administrating all exploration activities, including drilling, geophysical surveys, geological consulting, and claim maintenance fees according to usual business practice for a joint venture.

Nevada Sunrise has the right, under the terms of the Royalty, to purchase 1.0% of the Royalty at any time before September 2018 by paying the Royalty holders US$1 million (the "Buydown"). Under the terms of the Agreement, the parties have agreed that if the joint venture exercises the Buydown, it will be paid by both parties according to their respective participating interests.

About Neptune

Nevada Sunrise believes Neptune has the potential to host lithium-bearing brines in subterranean aquifers beneath the Clayton Valley floor. Historical exploration data and reports obtained by Nevada Sunrise indicate that geologic formations and structures exist at Neptune that are similar to lithium-bearing brine deposit models present elsewhere in the Clayton Valley. Drilling up to 3 vertical holes between 380 to 480 metres deep into the interpreted basin and analyzing any groundwater encountered is considered to be the next step for exploration at Neptune. Drilling is expected to begin at Neptune in March 2016.

For further information on Neptune including a map showing its location, see "Projects  Neptune Lithium" at: http://www.nevadasunrise.ca/projects/Neptune/

Robert M. Allender, Jr., CPG, RG, SME is the Company's designated Qualified Person for this news release within the meaning of NI 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical information contained herein.

About Nevada Sunrise

Nevada Sunrise is a junior mineral exploration company with a strong technical team based in Vancouver, BC, Canada, that holds interests in nine mineral exploration projects in the State of Nevada, USA. Nevada Sunrise began acquisitions of Nevada lithium properties in September 2015, which include options to earn 100% interests in the Neptune and Clayton Northeast projects, and a 100% interest in the Aquarius Project, all located in the Clayton Valley area. The Company also holds options to earn 100% interests in the Jackson Wash and Atlantis projects, and has a 50% participating interest in the Gemini project, each located in playas proximal to the Clayton Valley.

The Company's three key gold assets include a 21% interest in a joint venture with Pilot Gold Inc. (TSX: PLG) at Kinsley Mountain near Wendover, a 100% interest in the Golden Arrow project near Tonopah, and a 100% interest in the Roulette gold property in the southeastern Carlin trend near Ely, with each of the properties subject to certain production royalties.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

All statements in this release, other than statements of historical fact, are "forward-looking information" with respect to Nevada Sunrise Gold Corporation ("Nevada Sunrise") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws, including statements that address future mineral production, reserve potential, exploration drilling, the future price of lithium, potential quantity and/or grade of minerals, potential size of a mineralized zone, potential expansion of mineralization, the timing and results of future resource estimates, or other study, proposed exploration and development of our exploration properties and the estimation of mineral resources. Forward-looking information is often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "seek", "anticipate", "plan", "continue", "estimate", "expect", "project", "predict", "potential", "targeting", "intends", "believe", "potential", and similar expressions, or describes a "goal", or variation of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "should", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievement of Nevada Sunrise to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information.

Such factors include, among others, risks related to the interpretation and actual results of historical exploration at the Neptune property, reliance on technical information provided by third parties on any of our exploration properties, including access to historical information on the Neptune property, current exploration and development activities; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; current economic conditions; future prices of commodities; possible variations in grade or recovery rates; failure of equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; the failure of contracted parties to perform; labor disputes and other risks of the mining industry; delays in obtaining governmental approvals, financing or in the completion of exploration, as well as those factors discussed in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in the Company's Management Discussion and Analysis for the Three Months ended December 31, 2015, which is available under Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.

Although Nevada Sunrise has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Nevada Sunrise disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

Forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and accordingly are subject to change after such date. Except as otherwise indicated by Nevada Sunrise, these statements do not reflect the potential impact of any non-recurring or other special items or of any dispositions, monetizations, mergers, acquisitions, other business combinations or other transactions that may be announced or that may occur after the date hereof. Forward-looking statements are provided for the purpose of providing information about management's current expectations and plans and allowing investors and others to get a better understanding of our operating environment. Nevada Sunrise does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that are included in this document, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy of accuracy of this release. The Securities of Nevada Sunrise Gold Corporation have not been registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to the account or benefit of any U.S. person.

SOURCE Nevada Sunrise Gold Corporation
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - March 4, 2016) - Denison Mines Corp. (the "Company") (TSX:DML)(NYSE MKT:DNN) is pleased to announce that its wholly owned subsidiary, Denison Mines Inc. ("Denison" or the "Manager"), has entered into a new three year agreement (the "MSA") to provide management services to Uranium Participation Corporation ("UPC") (TSX:U). The MSA will take effect on April 1, 2016, at the conclusion of the current MSA between UPC and Denison.

David Cates, President & CEO of Denison and UPC commented "Denison is very pleased to have reached an agreement with UPC to continue as the company's Manager for another three years. We are proud of the relationship that Denison has nurtured with UPC, since UPC's inception, and we look forward to continuing to represent UPC and the entire uranium industry in the coming years. We believe there is a bright future for nuclear energy and the uranium industry and we are honoured to act as a steward for both UPC and the industry."

Under the terms of the MSA, UPC appoints Denison to act as the manager of the Corporation and grants the Manager the authority and responsibility to manage and administer the business and affairs of UPC, subject to the oversight and applicable approvals from the Board of Directors. The Manager is responsible for providing the Corporation with a Chief Executive Officer ("CEO"), Chief Financial Officer ("CFO") and Corporate Secretary, as well as any other position necessary to carry out its responsibilities for the administration and oversight of UPC's uranium inventories, as well as UPC's financial reporting, investor relations and marketing activities.

The fees payable to Denison for providing these services to UPC under the MSA, will be as follows:

a base fee of $400,000 per annum, payable in equal quarterly installments;

a variable fee equal to (a) 0.3% per annum of UPC's total assets in excess of $100 million and up to and including $500 million; and (b) 0.2% per annum of UPC's total assets in excess of $500 million;

a fee, at the discretion of the Board, for on-going monitoring or work associated with a transaction or arrangement (other than a financing, or the acquisition of or sale of U 3 O 8 or UF 6 ); and

O or UF ); and a commission of 1.0% of the gross value of any purchases or sales of U 3 O 8 or UF 6 , or gross interest fees payable to UPC in connection with any uranium loan arrangements.

The MSA takes effect on April 1, 2016 for a three year term ending March 31, 2019 (the "Term"), at which point it may be renewed on terms mutually acceptable to each party. The MSA may be terminated during the Term by either party upon the provision of 120 days' written notice and by UPC within 90 days of certain events surrounding a change of the individuals serving as CEO and CFO of UPC, and/or a change of control of the Manager.

All of the amounts in this release are stated in Canadian dollars.

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.
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COUNCIL BLUFFS -- A Douglas County corrections sergeant was jailed Thursday in Iowa as part of an investigation involving federal authorities.

Investigators arrested Shawn Beu, 36, of Council Bluffs on suspicion of sexual exploitation of a minor, which is a felony, and possessing sexually explicit material regarding a minor, which is a misdemeanor, police said.

Beu was booked Thursday morning at the Pottawattamie County Jail, according to the jails website. His bail is $10,000.

According to a police press release, the investigation began after the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children passed a tip to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and that tip was investigated by the federal department and by Council Bluffs police.

Evidence obtained during the investigation was used to apply for an arrest warrant for Beu and a search warrant for his home.

On Thursday, both agencies executed the search warrant on his home and arrested Beu.

Bluffs police would not elaborate, citing the ongoing nature of the investigation.

Lt. Dan Scherer of the Douglas County Department of Corrections said his department was conducting an internal investigation of Beu, but no decisions had been made regarding his employment. He has due process rights as a corrections employee. Scherer said Beus job at the Douglas County Correctional Center did not bring him into contact with juveniles.

According to a petition for Chapter 7 bankruptcy Beu filed last year, his annual income is $73,544. He has a 7-year-old son who lives with him. He has been a corrections employee since September 2003.
Spain's Princess Cristina, right and her husband Inaki Urdangarin arrive at a courthouse in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, Thursday March 3, 2016, where Princess Cristina will start testifying in a fraud trial that could result in her spending up to eight-years in prison if convicted. Cristina is the sister of King Felipe VI, who took power in 2014 after his father abdicated, and is the first member of Spain's royal family to face criminal charges since the monarchy was restored in 1975. (AP Photo/Joan Llado)
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We are witnessing a paradigm change, an unchecked slide into an era in which the scale of global forced displacement as well as the response required is now clearly dwarfing anything seen before.

 Antonio Guterres, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

The global political upheaval caused by the Syrian refugee crisis could potentially mask a critical issue that has all the signs of a catastrophic public health disaster  the health of the vulnerable migrants fleeing an ongoing long-standing war that has been incredibly devastating to civilians. The conflict, which started in 2011, has resulted in more than 4.2 million Syrians escaping and relocating to neighboring countries like Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, Egypt, and Jordan as well as Europe and Northern Africa. Described as the largest humanitarian crisis of the 21st century by the United Nations, the numbers are mind-boggling  more than 12 million are in dire need of help, including almost 6 million children, and of the registered refugees in the above countries, almost 75 percent are women and children, the cohorts most vulnerable to disease and death. The death toll has reached almost 200,000.

While we continue to bicker about religion and witness an acerbic political rhetoric blindfolded by rage at terrorism, humanity and compassion have taken a backseat and rebuilding lives of the most profoundly helpless victims of war remains overshadowed by a frenzy of global power struggles.

Forced displacement due to warfare results in health disorders that are unique and remarkably harsh with long-lasting impact that can affect multiple generations. Besides the physical, mental, social, and economic outcomes, the psychological consequences are grievous and perhaps the most destructive.

Women are subjected to harassment, kidnapping, abandonment, sexual violence, complications of pregnancy and labor, and problems due to early marriage including intimate partner violence. Birth control and family planning are serious issues. Children are afflicted with deadly infections, lack of childhood immunization, malnutrition and growth retardation, physical and sexual abuse, and the manifold psychosocial consequences of separation from parents. Education goes for a toss, and daily survival becomes the core objective. There is high incidence of sexually transmitted diseases, and poor access to treatment.

Indeed, disability and death due to lack of basic hygiene, food, clothing, and housing have morphed into a sinister public health problem that we have let spiral out of control in spite of years of opportunity for the rest of the world to put their act together. Add to this the violence caused by terrorism, and we have a calamity of unseen proportions in recent times, perhaps matched only by the Jewish holocaust.

The woman who gave birth on the run then walked for 11 days with her newborn, the 16 year old married off to an older man who got beaten by her in-laws and her own family for refusing sex on her wedding night, the 18 year old pregnant girl who suffered hemorrhage from excessive walking as she fled across the Lebanese border, the one who gave birth all alone in a tent  the stories are endless and cruel. Syrian war brides are increasing  multiple wives wedded illegally to one man who may already be married, in which case the Syrian wife is degraded to the role of helper or servant. In most such cases, women get married off in exchange for a bride price that helps her family financially for the time being. In Turkey especially, women are openly traded not just for money but for rent and other basic needs of the family. And then there are those who are in camps and rural settings  women who have coupons to buy food items tagged For Syrians but cannot buy sanitary pads or tampons with those coupons, mothers who watch anxiously as their children go back and forth from school, pregnant women with no access to antenatal care, wives struggling with their husbands to protect their daughters from being married for dowry  all examples of hardships that result in poor health outcomes.

Amnesty International published a report recently describing the experiences of eight Syrian families, some of them headed by single women like Yara, Nadia, and Mariam. Healthcare hardships and safety concerns were highest on their list of problems. One of the families has a 12-year-old boy with cancer, who can only get adequate treatment when they move to Europe. A gay couple recounted their struggle with the stigma of their relationship and subsequent imprisonment and torture. One of them was put in solitary confinement when he confessed that he was HIV positive. He became suicidal because he could not afford his treatment and hopes that with resettlement he will be able to get healthy. Another family has been diagnosed with elephantiasis in both father and daughter, and neither has access to treatment. The father anticipates his own impending death but hopes for a cure in his child with resettlement.

Resettlement of refugees is of critical importance and without political backing we will continue to witness the downslide of the overall state of health with dangers of deadly outbreaks like cholera, polio, and measles. Eventually, the whole world will suffer with the intense resurgence of such diseases. A local or regional epidemic can transform into a global epidemic and eradication efforts will have to be implemented with renewed vigor. Polio is spread by contamination by sewage, cutaneous leishmaniasis by the sand fly, and cholera by poor sanitary conditions, all prevailing dangers of war-torn territories.

Polio had been eradicated in Syria for 15 years unlike other neighboring countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan but has reappeared, in part due to the reduction in childhood immunization of Syrian children by almost 50 percent. What was a commendable program of battling a deadly infectious disease with clinical precision by the Syrian government has been defeated by the civil war. A highly contagious virus spread by stool, polio can erupt into an outbreak from a single unvaccinated infected child. It has been estimated that for each case of diagnosed polio there are 1000 infected carriers without symptoms who can continue to spread the virus for a long time. Doctors and healthcare workers have been working selflessly to prevent an epidemic that could decimate one of the biggest public health victories of the modern world  eradication of polio in large parts of developing countries in Asia and Africa. This will negatively impact the western world soon just like the recent resurgence of other infections like measles and mumps, a direct consequence of the anti-vaccination lobbying that has led a crusade against life-saving immunizations in children.

Cholera, a highly fatal disease, spreads is a similar way through poor sanitary conditions, lack of safe drinking water, and crowded living conditions that allow the bacteria to spread brazenly. After 2010, when 450,000 citizens of Haiti suffered from cholera that erupted after the massive earthquakes, Syria and its neighboring countries like Iraq and Iran, are sitting ducks for a similar outbreak that will cost the world thousands of lives, billions of dollars, incredible disruption of public health programs, and long-standing healthcare safety issues that could have a domino effect globally.

Lets not forget the past victims of war in Germany, Japan, Vietnam, and Africa and the health consequences of prolonged conflict. The references below are easy-to-read resources that are trustworthy in their reporting and can increase awareness of the magnitude of the healthcare disaster that we are witnessing. After all, the world that we live in needs to be safe as well as healthy, no matter what the political consequences of war are.

Tanu S. Pandey is an internal medicine physician.

Image credit: Lukasz Z / Shutterstock.com
Kathleen Funchion has become the first Sinn Fein candidate to win a Dail seat in the Carlow-Kilkenny constituency in almost a century.

She was elected on the tenth count shortly after 11pm on Saturday evening, following the distribution of votes from eliminated Fine Gael candidate David Fitzgerald. Funchion, a sitting councillor in Kilkenny City West, had polled 8,700 First Preferences.

It was a more than unusual night for the first time TD. She was also taking part in the Strictly Let's Dance Callan event, which took place in the Lyrath Hotel, only a few hundred yards down the road from the count centre.

She had arrived at the announcement of the first count ready for the stage and prepared for her performance, before leaving take part in the competition, and returning later. Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland Martin McGuinness also joined her in the afternoon.

From the outset, things had looked good for Sinn Fein here. She had been widely tipped for a seat prior to the election, and the final tally showed her on 12.4%. She received the highest percentage vote in Carlow of any of the Kilkenny-based candidates.

It was the fourth time that Funchion had contested a Dail seat here, following general elections in 2007 and 2011, and a by-election last year. She was the only woman to be elected in this constituency this time.

Originally from Callan, the mother of two boys has a trade union background, and works with SIPTU as a workers' rights advocate. She was first elected to Kilkenny Borough Council in 2009.
While Fine Gael is coming to terms with a poor election result, the party in Carlow-Kilkenny bucked the national trend by holding on to its two seats at Saturday's count in dramatic circumstances.

Sitting Fine Gael TD, Pat Deering (Carlow) had been written off by all the political pundits but as the day wore on it looked barely possible that he might bridge the substantial gap of around 2,000 votes between himself and Jennifer Murnane-O'Connor (FF), also from Carlow. Ultimately it was the distribution of Fine Gael's Cllr David Fitzgerald's votes that decided the issue.

It gave Deputy John Paul Phelan a surplus of 2,531 votes which transferred extremely strongly to Deering giving him, the final seat Fitzgerald's transfer rate to his two other FG colleagues, Deering and Deputy John Paul Phelan was an incredible 80%.

So even though the party was 13 percentage points behind Fianna Fail (27% v 40%)in the overall vote, it ended up with the same number of seats.

This was down to vote management and Deputy John Paul Phelan played a huge part in the electoral success by agreeing to a tight vote management system.

David Fitzgerald was very magnanimous in defeat and said that the party had suffered and that he and other candidates around the country had been affected.

He thanked everyone in his campaign and said he had done his best and that it wasn't to be this time around.

Deputy John Paul Phelan, while relieved to be re-elected was skeptical of the motives of Fianna Fail, Sinn Fein and others after the election. He said that the electorate had rejected Fine Gael's plan and that it was now up to the other parties to form a new government.

We can't make it easy for them, we were all elected with the possibility of governing and they must face up to their responsibilities rather than remaining on the fence, snipping at Fine Gael, he said.

He said Fine Gael had a lot of soul searching to do and that it had been a difficult election.

He said he was saddened that David Fitzgerald didn't get in and thanked him for his excellent campaign.

He said he was also sorry for Labour Minister for Rural Affairs, Ann Phelan who lost her seat.

She got a lot of work done in the short time she was a minister and was very pleasant to work with and she will be missed, John Paul said.

He also had sharp words for those in Waterford who wanted to landgrab 7,000 acres and 7,000 people from south Kilkenny.

He said the matter should be consigned to history and should never again be raised.

The Commission hasnt yet delivered its report so I cant pre-empt its precise findings or recommendations.

But what I can say for certain is that, even if it does recommend a boundary shift, and I really cant see that happening, it would be fought tooth and nail and I couldnt see it getting through the new Dail.

The electorate of Waterford has spoken. It is clear from the result there that there isnt an appetite in Waterford either for a boundary change.

The Boundary Commission meets with its sub-committee on Friday week and I think, we could see an extension to the time it needs to deliver its report. The original deadline was March 31, but with 20,100 submissions made, it has some task ahead.

What I do think will happen is that the Commission will suggest some sort of cooperative, statutory committee be formed and that both counties work together for the betterment of this disputed area.

This is the third time that an official boundary review was mooted. Over 20,00 submissions were made on the issue, 3,100 more than when the change was last proposed back in 2005 and substantially more than when the first official review attempt was made back in 1999.

It is time now for relations to be rebuilt on what has been a very factious and divisive issue, one that has pitched neighbouring counties against one another. Im hopeful that the outcome will be a cooperative body.

There truly was never an appetite from the people of either county for a boundary shift which would have changed the identities of 5,000 people with the stroke of a pen, he said.
With work constantly beckoning and access to the office a smartphone away, it can be hard to take a vacationlet alone truly unplug. About 40% of employees take less than one-fourth of their earned vacation time annually, according to Glassdoor.com. Now a growing number of companies are turning to mandatory vacation policies to require employees to take a certain number of days off each year.

Tech companies and young companies that have grown rapidly are most likely to adopt the new policies. For instance, software company FullContact allows employees to take as much time off as their workload permits but requires that they take at least three weeks off each year. The company sweetens the deal with an annual $7,500 stipend, but vacationing employees must stop checking e-mail or otherwise keeping tabs on work. Job-search site Anthology now requires vacations, and digital note taker Evernote offers vacation stipends.

Forced vacations help employees who find it hard to step away from their desk take time to recharge. Kipp Chambers, director of marketing strategy and operations at FullContact, once went more than a decade without a real vacation. Now, with a nudge from his boss, he has taken three, including a trip to Italy last year with his wife, Marnie.

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No matter what your employer's vacation policy is, talk to your manager or human resources department before leaving vacation time on the table. More than one-third of employers require employees to use all of their vacation time each year or forfeit the remainder, according to the Society for Human Resource Management. And most companies that permit you to roll over vacation days limit the number that can be saved.
Miniaturized eyeball: The model of a cyanobacterium shows how light is bundled at one point on its way through the cell. (Figure: Ronald Kampmann/KIT)

A 300-year old mystery of biology has been solved. A team of researchers from Germany, the United Kingdom, and Portugal has found that cyanobacteria  microscopically small protozoa existing worldwide  use the functioning principle of the lens eye to perceive light and move towards it. The key to solving this mystery was an idea developed in Karlsruhe: Jan Gerrit Korvink, Professor at KIT and Head of the Institute of Microstructure Technology (IMT), used silicon plates and UV light to measure the refraction index of the protozoa.

Cyanobacteria have been populating the earth for more than 2.5 billion years now and exist everywhere where there is light: In ice, in deserts, rivers, and lakes, but also on house walls and in aquariums. They are capable of photosynthesis and produce their energy with the help of light. In the oceans covering about 70% of the earths surface, oxygen-producing cyanobacteria are among the most important photosynthetically active organisms and, hence, represent one of the cornerstones of the biosphere.

Light as a central source of energy is of vital importance to cyanobacteria. Although they consist of a single cell only, they are able to move directly and precisely towards a source of light. For three hundred years, since the invention of microscopes, however, it has been a mystery how this light perception works. Now, this mystery is solved. Researchers of KIT, Freiburg University, Queen Mary University, London (QMUL), and other institutions in the United Kingdom and Portugal found out that cyanobacteria function like tiny lens eyes. They can perceive the direction of light and react to it. The study has now been published in the scientific journal eLIFE.

An Uncommon Idea

Cooperation started during a lunch we had in Freiburg, says Jan Gerrit Korvink, Head of the Institute of Microstructure Technology (IMT) of KIT. Conrad Mullineaux, professor at QMUL, was visiting the working group of Professor Annegret Wilde in Freiburg and asked me whether I knew a way to measure the refraction index of a small bacterium. The refraction index describes an important optical property of lenses refracting light.

First, I had to disappoint Conrad Mullineaux: Bacteria with a diameter of 3 micrometers, i.e. thee millionths of a meter, are so small that there are no instruments to measure refraction. But I could not get this question out of my head and finally an idea came to my mind, the professor explains.

Korvink and his team at KIT coated a flat silicon disk of about ten centimeters in diameter with an extremely thin layer of a photopolymer that hardens under ultraviolet light. Then, they placed some cyanobacteria onto the polymer and exposed the disk to UV light.

Everywhere, where no bacteria were located, the light fell homogeneously onto the disk and the polymer hardened homogeneously. But in areas with bacteria, the light was bundled. It formed a concentrated nano jet of photons, such that the polymer below the bacteria hardened in a certain pattern, Jan Gerrit Korvink explains.

In the next step, the researchers of KIT chemically fixed the photopolymer and determined the surface structure using an atomic force microscope. In this way, they succeeded in reproducing light refraction by bacteria. Finally, we determined and predicted the light bundling properties of cyanobacteria with the help of a simulation.

The First Eye in Evolution?

By additional studies, the international team of researchers confirmed that a single cyanobacterium indeed functions like a small human eyeball. Light arrives on the surface of the round unicellular systems, where it is refracted as if these protozoa were microscopically small lenses. A focal point is produced on the opposite side of the cell. In the area of the light point, small, filamentary extensions outside of the cell are activated, which make the bacterium move towards the light.

Cyanobacteria are the earliest organisms we know from fossil finds, Jan Gerrit Korvink says. In an, admittedly, very primitive form, the bacterial cells function like small human eyeballs. Perhaps, this was the first time in evolution that the generation of early cyanobacteria gave rise to a mechanism of light perception comparable to the lens eye. A fascinating idea!

Publication:



Cyanobacteria use micro-optics to sense light direction; Nils Schuergers, Tchern, Ronald Kampmann, Markus V. Meissner, Tiago Esteves, Maja Temerinac-Ott, Jan G. Korvink, Alan R. Lowe, Conrad W. Mullineaux, Annegret Wilde



DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.12620

Being The Research University in the Helmholtz Association, KIT creates and imparts knowledge for the society and the environment. It is the objective to make significant contributions to the global challenges in the fields of energy, mobility, and information. For this, about 9,800 employees cooperate in a broad range of disciplines in natural sciences, engineering sciences, economics, and the humanities and social sciences. KIT prepares its 22,300 students for responsible tasks in society, industry, and science by offering research-based study programs. Innovation efforts at KIT build a bridge between important scientific findings and their application for the benefit of society, economic prosperity, and the preservation of our natural basis of life. KIT is one of the German universities of excellence.
(Kitco News) - Gold blew past what I thought would be interim daily support at $1,265 and surged to our next target at $ 1,280 before some profit taking emerged. As many of you know, I suggested going long the market in December when the Fed ( in error) raised rates. Although it has been a grinding process the market has remained constructive and I remain committed to the $1,307 target, first set out six weeks ago, once we clear the $1,280 hurdle. What is beginning to give me pause, is the almost overnight ( or so it appears) reversal of price calls from the major brokers and banks. It seemed there was a chorus of calls for gold to collapse back towards the $1,000 mark, as little as a week ago. Now, I am seeing calls for $1,400, BlackRocks gold fund needing to issue more shares, average price targets being raises. The latter point is one that I find truly embarrassing. Economists raise their averages using hindsight price data and then blending in time to revise their guesses up or down. Truly a job worthy of a government official. The trend remains constructive, but the hairs on the back of my neck are beginning to stir. A break of $1,307 will give me more fortitude.

And Now Something Special:

Kitco has been fortunate enough to procure one of 5 exclusive and incredibly rare coins produced by the Royal Canadian Mint. The other 4 are in private and commercial hands. This majestic coin is a spectacular milestone in minting, weighing in at 3,215 troy ounces ( 100 kilos), with an exceptional purity of .99999 ( 5 nines) and a face value of $1,000,000.

Ok, you may not have the $5,500,000 to buy this unique piece of history, outside of my wheelhouse but I encourage you to visit online.kitco.com/1M to see this special coin. If you are interested, I would be happy to work with you directly to provide more information about the coin and possible acquisition terms.

By Peter Hug, Kitco Metals Global Trading Director; phug@kitco.com
Editors note: To get all of our top stories and videos, sign up for our weekly newsletter here.

(Kitco News) - Kitco News is back from covering the BMO Capital Markets Conference and Gold Stock Analyst Investor Day and now ..re-packing to head to the world's largest mining conference  the PDAC in Toronto. Before we talk conferences and our takeaways, let's look at gold this Friday.

Gold prices are sharply higher and hit a 13-month high in late-morning trading Friday, thanks to a weaker U.S. dollar index. Our technical analyst Jim Wyckoff highlights something important in his morning commentary -- that there may be clues the raw commodity bust is ending. "Several commodity markets and commodity currencies (Australian dollar and Canadian dollar) are showing signals of either bottoming out or of price uptrends under way, to begin to suggest the 'bust' cycle in the raw commodity markets is ending," he says. April gold was last up $18.40 an ounce at $1,277.00.

We asked most of our interviews at the BMO Conference and GSA Day if this gold rally is sustainable  as you know, we have seen the metal have good runs from January to March, only to fizzle out by mid-year. However, the consensus was that the metal rally has reasons to maintain its momentum. Gold prices are up almost 20% from the start of the year. We also asked our guests about the tremendous divergence in gold forecasts  how can it be we have two dominant banks on such polar extremes of the gold game? While Deutsche Bank calls for people to buy gold, Goldman Sachs is giving the sell signal, still holding a forecast of sub-$1,000 gold in 2016. Make sure to catch our interviews with Goldcorp's new CEO, who gave his first interview in his new role to Kitco News, as well as Newmont's Gary Goldberg, Randgold's Mark Bristow and mining magnate Pierre Lassonde.

Kitco News is also tracking some key developments and stories, including this week's announcement that Canada basically said farewell to gold. The central bank sold off almost all its gold reserves  leaving just 77 ounces in its vault.

And news out of India  the country's new budget may result in the closure (!!!!) of gold refining units in India. The Economic Times (ET) reported that the new budget highlights that the government has hiked the excise duty on dore gold (impure gold) from 8% to 8.75% -- "reducing the duty differential with bullion that attracts an import duty of 10%," ET says.

Another breaking news we are tracking is Friday's announcement that BlackRock is suspending its ETF Issuance (IAU) due to a "surging demand for gold." WOWZERS!

Time to pack some warmer clothes and head to Toronto (or "the 6"  as the cool crowd refers to the city). Catch our coverage from the PDAC this weekend, sponsored by the Yukon Government. Also, big thanks to our sponsors Pershing Gold, which made coverage of the BMO conference possible.

Cheers!

By Daniela Cambone of Kitco News; dcambone@kitco.com

Follow me on Twitter @DanielaCambone
Jeff Elevado, interim director of the Bremerton Parks and Recreation Department, talks about repairs and improvements being made to the Harborside Fountain Park in downtown Bremerton on Wednesday. The fountains have become popular bathing pools on hot summer days, and providing water treatment appropriate for that use has been difficult.

SHARE Steve Mutek, a parks manager who is the citys resident expert in fountain maintenance, talks about the various systems used to run the fountains in downtown Bremertons Memorial Plaza on Wednesday. The fountains in Memorial Plaza are expected to be turned on soon, but the Harborside Fountain Park wont be activated until improvements are completed.

By Josh Farley of the Kitsap Sun

BREMERTON  Above ground, Bremerton's 9-year-old Harborside Fountain Park looks normal, its Japanese maples growing taller and its copper-plated spouts turning a brighter green as oxidation sets in.

Beneath the surface, its innards are failing.

The fountains near Bremerton's ferry terminal, a popular spot for summer splashing, will not be turned on again until up to $60,000 worth of work has been done to reconstruct filtration and control systems and to upgrade plumbing.

"We're going to take good care of them so they'll have a longer life," Mayor Patty Lent said.

The $20 million park, which was completed in 2007, was never intended to be a de facto swimming pool. But almost immediately after opening, crowds  particularly kids  flocked to take a dip in the cooling pools on hot summer days.

"Essentially, we treat it as a wading pool," said Jeff Elevado, the city's interim parks director.

That posed new maintenance challenges, particularly how to disinfect the water so it's safe for human contact. It also caught the eye of the Kitsap Public Health District, which requested the park conform to state standards for water recreation facilities.

"The Health District will continue to permit and monitor the facility as this process moves forward," Health District spokeswoman Karen Bevers said.

Because the fountains weren't built for recreation, the plumbing systems distribute water - and the bromine chemical that disinfects it  by means of gravity from the center fountain. At times, parks staff would have to feed bromine and other disinfectants by hand to outer fountains.

"Our guys were fighting it every day," said Steve Mutek, a parks staff manager who has become the city's go-to guy for fountain maintenance. "But we're going to be able to do what needs to be done."

The new system will allow for each fountain to disburse the cleaning chemicals automatically. Water will be filtered at a rate of 150 gallons per minute, up from the current 70, Elevado said.

The city also has had to rely on the California company that built the fountains for parts and assistance when repairs have been necessary. That has been costly, including an $8,000 bill to fly technicians to Bremerton to do the work, Mutek said. The current repairs are being done in conjunction with the engineer who designs the city's water pump stations  making future fixes familiar territory for city staff.

Other fountains in the city, including the Memorial Plaza along Pacific Avenue and those near the Kitsap Conference Center, will restart within a month, the city's parks staff hopes. Smaller repairs are being made at those facilities.

The work is paid for by the city's real estate excise tax fund, which is generated by taking a percentage of each real estate transaction in the city.

There's no date of completion as yet for when the Harborside's fountains will come back on.
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By Kitsap Sun Staff

BREMERTON - Police searched for a suspect in an attempted burglary Thursday morning to no avail, according to Bremerton Police Chief Steve Strachan.

Officers searched the Union Hill neighborhood about 8 a.m. following an interrupted home burglary in the area. Nearby Naval Avenue Elementary School was informed of the search and an officer was stationed there, Strachan said.

A police dog and a K-9 officer from the Kitsap County Sheriff's Office assisted in the search.

The suspect, whose description was not released, was not located, Strachan said.

The investigation is continuing.
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Anna Noelle Walter

of Bremerton

June 11, 2015

to Feb. 29, 2016

Anna Noelle Walter of Bremerton, Washington went to dance in Heaven on Feb. 29, 2016. Though her days on Earth were short, she showed everyone who knew her the true meaning of joy.

When we see pink and yellow, we'll think of you. When we see children smile, we'll think of you. When we hold your sister's and brother's hands, we will think of you. With the grace of God, we'll not mourn you for long, but instead embrace the memories and remember the hugs and kisses we shared. These will give us strength to continue on until the day we hold you again. Until that time, we'll remember your smile, your laugh, and how much happiness you brought to our lives.

When we are in need of light, we can look to the sky at night. We'll see you among the heavens twinkling bright, dancing with Jesus until we meet forever. Shine upon us our sweet Anna.

Anna is survived by her loving parents, Jonathon and Kelly; sister, Haley; brother, Logan; grandparents, aunt, uncles, and cousins. She was preceded in death by her grandma, Irene Walter from Scranton, Pennsylvania; and Harold Wayne Remedies from Kirbyville, Texas.

A Celebration of Life will be held Monday, March 7th, at 4 p.m. at the Hood Canal Vista Pavilion in Port Gamble.

She will forever be in our hearts. We love you, baby girl.
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Carolyn Frame

Bainbridge Island, WA

March 5, 1942

to Feb. 23, 2016



Carolyn Gayle Frame, 73, joined her heavenly father on February 23, 2016. After a four year battle with cancer, she passed away at her family home on Bainbridge Island.



Carolyn was born to Carrell (Barney) and Gayle Barnett on March 5, 1942 in Lewiston, Idaho. Married at the age of 16, she had 2 small children by the time she was 18. The early years were extremely difficult, but Carolyn always made a way to turn lemons into lemonade. When money was non-existent, Carolyns entrepreneurial spirit came alive when she started sewing Barbie clothes and wedding dresses to support her young family. Her twenty-seven year career in banking began as a teller at Peoples Bank and eventually led to the position of Vice-President of Human Resources for Security Pacific Bank where she was a trailblazer for women executives.



In her late 40s, Carolyn blazed a new trail as she left the banking industry to try something new, mortgage lending. During her twenty-five year career in the mortgage industry, Carolyn opened CFA (Carolyn Frame and Associates) Northwest Mortgage Professionals and employed over 200 employees throughout 5 states. In 2007, as a loan officer she funded over $84 million in loans placing her 28th in the country and 2nd from the top among women mortgage brokers. Carolyns passion for the mortgage industry and the well-being of her clients never diminished.



Before her passing, she was the Production Manager for the Bainbridge Island Branch of PrimeLending. During her career, Carolyn served on many boards throughout Kitsap County. Most recently, she served on the Board of Directors for One Call for All and Harrison Hospital Foundation. She was a member of the Bainbridge Island Rotary, Poulsbo Chamber of Commerce, Bainbridge Island Chamber of Commerce, Alcoholics Anonymous and the Home Builders Association of Kitsap County. In addition, she and Charlie donated their time to Younglife Bremerton, newlife church Bainbridge and facilitated Dave Ramseys Financial Peace University courses.



On September 3, 1987, Carolyn married the love of her life, Charlie Frame. During their 28 years of marriage, they enjoyed their family first, then boating, traveling, cruising, camping, entertaining and supporting the underserved. Together they built CFA Northwest Mortgage Professionals to a thriving business and together they endured the mortgage industry crash in 2008. Their loving family stood by them during the mortgage crisis and during both Carolyn and Charlies battles with cancer.



On a beautiful sunny day, January 10, 2016 at the House of the Awakening Culture in Suquamish over 500 people gathered to celebrate the Life and Legacy of Carolyn Frame. Friends, family and colleagues lovingly shared stories of a woman who laughed easily, loved deeply and never turned anyone away, especially young people and those in recovery. Many shared how Carolyn had changed their lives and how when they first met her, they were struck by her humble elegance, radiant smile, brilliance and her ability to make you feel special. She recognized the potential of everyone she met and was not afraid to invest her time and resources to help others achieve their dreams.



Carolyn is survived by her beloved Charlie Frame; her natural born children, Mitch Gillen (and wife Karen Gillen), Shannon Richardson, and step-children Laura Smith (husband Ronnie Holmes), David Frame, Jeff Frame and Penny Apodaca; their grandchildren, Krystina Eals, Chelsea Guelcher, Zachary Ainsley, Samantha Ainsley, Geoff Frame, Eric Frame, Aaron Frame, Jeremy Frame, Arianna Frame, Breann Apodaca; 12 great-grandchildren; her mother, Gayle Barnett; her sister, Pam Robinson; her two brothers, Kent Barnett and Kurt Barnett; sisters-in-law, Eva Funk, Barbara Dewey; and countless nieces and nephews as well as her extended families from Alcoholics Anonymous, PrimeLending and Newlife church.



Charlie and the entire family would like to express their gratitude for the outpouring of love they have received while Carolyn fought her battle with cancer. A special thank you to sister, Pam Robinson and niece, Kelly Gurza, for creating such a wonderful Celebration of Life.



A private memorial was held at the Port Blakely Cemetery on Bainbridge Island. In lieu of flowers, please make donations in Carolyn Frames name to American Cancer Society, St. Judes Children Fund or a charity of your choice.



Cancer will never win in my story, but it has been a very important part of it. Through cancer I found my faith, gained many relationships, and lived every day to the fullest!

 Carolyn Frame



When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced.

Live your life in such a way so that when you die,

the world cries and you rejoice.

-Indian Proverb



Please sign the online guest book for the family at: www.cookfamilyfuneralhome.com.

Arrangements entusted to Cook Family Funeral Home on Bainbridge Island, Washington.
Stuff reports:

Nine of every 10 gang members in New Zealand have received a benefit or other welfare, costing the country $525 million between 1993 and 2014, a new report reveals. Sixty per cent of children born to gang parents were abused or neglected, the report, by the Ministry of Social Development (MSD), also found. In total, cycles of violence within gang families will cost New Zealands welfare system $714 million over their lifetimes.

The child abuse stat is very very sad, if not entirely surprising.

The challenge is not to demonise gangs, but to look at how one can can make gang life less attractive to its members or have gangs less involved in crime, more involved in work and less harmful to youth.

Police and Corrections Minister Judith Collins said gangs were a huge driver of child deaths and family violence, and tackling gangs would make a big difference to New Zealands poor record. If youlook at the number of people in jail, they are almost invariably victims of family violence themselves somewhere along the line, and thats what breeds violence. If were going to really make a dent in those figures.and help people save their lives, were going to have to deal with those gangs. With the nationwide prison muster reaching record levels, and over 30 per cent of the prison population affiliated with a gang, Collins said the Governments work could also help to reduce the prison population.

You cant (and shouldnt) outlaw gangs. As Collins says the cycle is often generational. If you can provide the right incentives for gang members to get legal jobs and away from crime, then their kids will have a better chance.

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Pope Francis didn't make global headlines on Aug. 14, 2014, when - with permission from Communist Party leaders - Shepherd One flew through Chinese airspace on the way to Seoul, South Korea.

Still, it was a symbolic moment that hinted at progress, after decades of bitter persecution for Chinese Catholics loyal to the Vatican. Then, a year later, Bishop Zhang Yinlin was ordained as bishop of Anyang, after nods of approval from both Rome and Beijing.

So are things looking up for religious freedom in China?

If so, what did it mean when the Rev. Gu Yuese - leader of the largest Protestant megachurch in China's state-approved Three-Self Patriotic Movement - was recently jailed after opposing the government's demolition of thousands of crosses in "China's Jerusalem," part of Zhejiang province?

"There may be all kinds of reasons they arrested him, other than that he is famous and his church is huge. It's hard to know what's happening, when you're talking about the Chinese government," said Rodney Stark, co-director of the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University. Stark is the author or co-author of 36 books on various religious issues, past and present, including "A Star in the East: The Rise of Christianity in China" with sociologist Xiuhua Wang.

"We can say that we haven't seen the Nero effect yet, with the government putting heat on Christians because China's economic numbers are looking bad. ... Also, it's important to remember that we've reached the point where many leaders in China now have kids who are Christians," said Stark. "In some villages, you may have a Communist Party leader with a cross on his wall."

The bottom line: There is truth in the popular saying that China is so huge and complex that just about anything someone says about religion in China will be true - somewhere in China.

At the same time, it's crucial to understand that human-rights trends among the 1.38 billion people in China, even among minority groups, will have a major impact on world affairs. When contemplating the future, it's especially important to note that Christianity is growing rapidly in China's leadership class in economics, academia, technology and even government, said Stark.

In "A Star in the East," Stark and Wang note that "tens of millions of Chinese have embraced Christianity - thousands more convert every day and more than 40 new churches open every week (not counting new underground congregations). If this trend were to hold for another decade, there would be more Christians in China than in any other nation in the world."

At the center of this drama are often-conflicting estimates of how many Christians there are in China. Some experts put that number as low as 16 million, while others claim it's as high as 200 million.

Stark has argued that researchers should focus on a 2007 survey by Horizon Ltd., built on thousands of face-to-face interviews conducted by "China's largest and most respected polling firm." However, he noted that 62 percent of self-professed Christians declined to be interviewed in that study. Also, some Chinese will say they believe in Jesus, while denying they are Christians since they are not part of a formal Christian institution. Is a home Bible study a "church"? Not for millions of Chinese believers.

Taking these factors into account, Stark and Wang have, using the 2007 study, offered a conservative estimate that China contained 60 million Christians at that time. Comparing that number with earlier surveys, they believe Christianity had been growing at the rate of 7 percent a year in the quarter-century preceding the 2007 study.

If that estimate is solid, then the number of Christians in China would have reached nearly 100 million in 2014 - with projected growth to nearly 150 million in 2020 and about 580 million by 2040.

Much of that growth will remain hard to document, since it will happen in thousands of "underground" - meaning unregistered - Protestant and Catholic congregations.

"Of course, in some parts of China you have underground churches, quote-unquote, that are four or five or six stories tall," said Stark. "That's a pretty strange kind of underground. That's pretty overt. ...

"Then again, all of this could change tomorrow, because that's the kind of government you're dealing with in China."

Terry Mattingly is the editor of GetReligion.org and Senior Fellow for Media and Religion at The King's College in New York City. He lives in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
Gerard Butler, left, and Aaron Eckhart star in London Has Fallen.

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By Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

After the fake (and occasionally authentic) cultural import of the annual Academy Awards, it should be refreshing to watch Gerard Butler shoot, stab and wisecrack a slew of anonymous Middle Eastern terrorists to death in "London Has Fallen." But the frenzied sequel to 2013's "Olympus Has Fallen," returning Butler to his security detail in the role of the U.S. president's infallible protector, works on a very low level of bloodthirsty escapism. Around the midpoint, long after London had fallen and couldn't get up without Butler's help, I was ready to escape the escapism.

Butler seems to love pretend-stabbing people. Per the script, he does it constantly in "London Has Fallen": squish squish, to the eyeball! Splurch splurch, over and over, into the nearest terrorist thigh or gut! The way he performs these acts of violence, Butler's Mike Banning is not just a man of Special Forces killing skills; he's one step this side of sociopath, and the occasional wisecracks ("Things are gonna get sporty," he says, I think, at one point, though the Scottish native's Yank dialect has its muddy patches) only make him less relatable as an action hero.

When the president (Aaron Eckhart, once again) attends the funeral of the British prime minister, he and a collection of world leaders come under siege in an astonishingly well-coordinated act of terrorism masterminded by a Pakistani arms dealer (Alon Aboutboul). This is inconvenient for Banning, whose pregnant wife (Radha Mitchell) just wants her man back safely.

Along with Butler, Eckhart and Mitchell, the returning "Olympus" alums include Morgan Freeman, now bumped up to vice president, though we all know he should be playing God at the very least; Angela Bassett as Banning's security colleague; Melissa Leo, who ekes out a few lines as the defense secretary; and Robert Forster as a general with similarly, criminally little to do except stare at video monitors of digital carnage.

The Iranian-born director of "London Has Fallen," Babak Najafi, was a late addition to the project. The film, with its wearying gamer-style rounds of death, is routine at best. This one's strictly for Butler fans, and for R-rated action audiences hungry for a scenario in which the good, and mostly white, people pick off the brown, completely inhumanly bad people by the dozen.

One topic of potential future study: "London Has Fallen" might set the record for the most on-screen location and character identifiers in a single film. It's the opposite of helpful, really, and a sign that a many-hands screenplay never figured out how to do its job correctly - that is, to build suspense and deliver the gory money shots in such a way that we don't start dwelling on the paranoid, bellicose worldview baked into the premise.
Jarius Bush says the 30/16 Challenge, in which hip-hop artists write a 16-line rap every day for 30 days, has helped make him a better artist.

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By Wayne Bledsoe of the Knoxville News Sentinel

Jarius Bush and the Good Guy Collective have challenged the city and maybe even the world.

Bush and his Good Guy buddies started the 30/16 Challenge in 2015 inviting hip-hop artists to create raps that are at least 16 lines every day for 30 days.

"The goal is to turn writing into a habit, rather than a chore," says Bush, sitting with his 10-month-old son, Irwin, outside of the Market House Cafe on Market Square. "I started the challenge online as a commitment for me, but it's expanded far beyond me. It's all over the country and there are people in a couple of other countries involved."

Participants include rappers in Taiwan and England.

The challenge will conclude with performances and an awards ceremony on March 10 at Scruffy City Hall.

Winners in the 2015 awards ceremony got little more than bragging rights, but Bush and his Good Guy Collective partners have begun an Indiegogo online page to fund a prize (www.indiegogo.com/projects/good-guy-ep-scholarships) to raise funds to give the winners a chance to record an EP and create merchandise. The organization is also planning to help aspiring artists learn how to book and promote shows.

Bush says the original goal of the event was to help build a hip-hop community in Knoxville.

"We want to create a more community outreach element," he says. "We're trying to have artists help each other."

There were approximately 300 people who signed on to the online challenge page in 2015. That has more than tripled for 2016. Only 16 participants, though, managed to complete the challenge.

"It's not easy to do a 16-bar piece every day," says Bush. "You gotta not just write it, but perform it and post it online. Any artist who does that for 30 days deserves to be recognized."

Bush began writing raps in the fifth grade.

"I actually stole verses I liked a lot and pretended they were mine," says Bush with a chuckle. "I recorded my first mix tape in middle school."

He worked in the group Loose Leaf in high school and then co-founded the popular Knoxville hip-hop acts The Theorizt and Plunderphonics. Bush says the challenge has helped him become a better songwriter and, during the year between challenges, he's improved immensely.

"Writing this year's challenge was much easier than last year," says Bush. "I stopped second-guessing myself and being so complex. ... I'm feeling more comfortable about letting what's inside of me just flow and writing about what's happening to me now."

While his creations for the 2015 challenge only resulted in a few verses that turned up on Bush's album "Visions," he says he feels work from the 2016 challenge will probably make up half of his next album.

Bush also says parenthood has made him a better artist.

"It's like a self-editor having a child. ... It allows me to cut the (expletive) and just get to what matters."

One of his most successful pieces in this year's challenge was simply Bush telling his toddler what he thought he needed to know.

Other participating artists (some of whom are part of the Good Guy Collective), will perform their best works from the challenge, including DJ Wigs, Too Sicc Jackson and Mr. Kobayashi.

The Good Guy Collective includes DJ Wigs, J-Bush, Black Atticus, SamDay, Mista, Lane Shuler , Nathan Tipton, Jonathan Clark (Courageous), Jon Augustus, Chris Jones, Mr.Kobayash and Michael Miller, many of whom will perform at the awards event. Other participants will perform by Skype.

The 30/16 Challenge

With: Jarius Bush, DJ Wigs, Too Sicc Jackson, Mr. Kobayashi and many others

When: 9 p.m. Thursday, March 10

Where: Scruffy City Hall, 32 Market Square

Admission: $5
Howard H. Baker Jr. U.S. Courthouse (MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL)

SHARE Steven H. Cook , assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee.

By Jamie Satterfield of the Knoxville News Sentinel

The cases of more than 250 East Tennessee criminals labeled as the worst of the worst under federal sentencing are under review for whether they should be set free early, thanks to a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision  with federal prosecutors warning a boost in crime could follow.

In a June opinion authored by Justice Antonin Scalia, the high court struck down a section of the federal Armed Career Criminal Act.

Steve Cook, who heads up the criminal division of the U.S. attorney's office for the Eastern District of Tennessee, said this week prosecutors have identified 256 East Tennessee defendants behind bars as armed career criminals whose cases could be reduced by the ruling.

He said 77 armed career criminals already have filed petitions to gain early release as a result of the ruling. Of those, 13 qualify for resentencing, Cook said.

Federal Defender Beth Ford's office has been tapped by Chief U.S. District Judge Tom Varlan to examine just how many cases could be affected by the ruling, to file necessary paperwork for those who qualify for a break under the ruling and to argue their cases before East Tennessee's federal judges. Ford said she hesitated to estimate how many defendants could go free as a result of already having served longer behind bars than they would have absent the new ruling.

"It's not going to cause the doors of the jail to be flung open," she said.

Cook said Ford's office is reviewing roughly 1,700 cases in which defendants were not labeled armed career criminals but still saw heftier penalties as a result of the language in the section of law the high court struck down as unconstitutional.

The law boosts penalties for criminals caught with guns who already have three convictions for either serious drug offenses or certain crimes labeled "violent felonies."

A felon caught with a gun whose record lacks those three qualifying convictions faces a maximum 10-year prison sentence. But a felon caught with a gun who rates armed career criminal status faces a minimum 15-year prison term and as much as a lifetime behind bars.

The definition of violent felony under the act includes burglary, arson, extortion or any crime that involves an element of "the use, attempted use or threatened use of physical force." That includes robbery, kidnapping, aggravated assault and murder.

But another category of violent felony is defined only as any crime that "involves conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another," to be decided by a judge. The high court struck down that section - known as the residual clause - as too vague.

Every East Tennessee criminal who garnered armed career criminal status under that clause will see a minimum sentencing cut of five years. Inmates who have already served a decade will go free. Others will get the chance to go free early.

Cook noted the ruling and its possible aftermath - violent offenders going free - come after changes in federal drug penalties that have led to the early release of dozens of drug dealers in East Tennessee and reduced sentences for even more.

"What this means for the community is some violent criminals are going to be getting out, along with these hundreds of drug dealers," he said.
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By News Sentinel Staff

Two people were found dead inside a Union County residence as firefighters arrived at the scene of a house fire Thursday morning, authorities said.

The fire was reported at 11:20 a.m. at 392 Circle Drive in Maynardville, according to a Union County Sheriff's Office news release.

Fire crews discovered the bodies of Danny F. Munsey, 54, and Teresa D. Munsey, 50, when they entered the home.

"Fire personnel were able to extinguish the fire before any major structural damage to the residence was sustained," the news release states.

The victims' causes of death were not immediately clear. Their bodies were transported to the Regional Forensic Center in Knoxville for autopsy.

Union County Sheriff Billy Breeding requested assistance from state arson investigators and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

More details as they develop online and in Friday's News Sentinel.
By News Sentinel Staff

The death of Blackberry Farm proprietor Sam Beall has been ruled an accident caused by blunt force trauma to the chest while skiing in Colorado, Eagle County Coroner Kara Bettis said Friday in an email.

Bettis told the Denver Post that Beall, 39, died Feb. 25 after running into a wooden pole between runs on an intermediate ski slope at Beaver Creek Resort in Avon, Colo., near Vail.

The ski resort said in a statement last week that Beall was on an intermediate trail at the time of the accident, according to the Post. He was transported to Vail Valley Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, the newspaper reported.

Services for Beall, who left behind a wife and five children, were held Tuesday. Beall's death prompted an outpouring of grief on social media from well-known chefs, politicians and visitors to the resort.

Blackberry Farm, a luxury resort with a farm-to-table theme, posted a tribute to Beall on its website this week, calling the response "a humbling testament to Sam's character, vision and impact."

"Over the next few days, we will continue to gather, to grieve and to raise our glasses to the father, friend and leader we all loved so much," the site reads. They invited others who wanted to share memories with the Beall family.

Beall grew up at Blackberry Farm and studied at the University of Tennessee and the California Culinary Academy. He served in apprenticeships at various culinary establishments, including The French Laundry in Napa Valley, Calif., and Cowgirl Creamery, Point Reyes Station, Calif., before moving back to the Walland farm.

He took over day-to-day operation of the famed resort in 2002, and transformed it into an esteemed destination with a focus on food, wine and wellness. During his time at Blackberry, the farm earned several awards, including James Beard Awards.
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By News Sentinel Staff

KNOXVILLE  Authorities are investigating an early-morning house fire that displaced three residents Friday in North Knoxville.

Knoxville Fire Department crews at 3:30 a.m. were dispatched to 1221 Connecticut Ave. for the house fire, according to a news release from KFD Capt. D.J. Corcoran.

When firefighters arrived, they found smoke coming from the home.

Three tenants safely escaped. They will seek shelter from family and friends, Corcoran said in the release.

More details as they develop online and in Saturday's News Sentinel.
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On Saturday, some senators hope to be a good example of how to live in the Volunteer State.

State senators Becky Duncan Massey, R-Knoxville, and Doug Overbey, R-Maryville, will host other members of the Tennessee General Assembly, local officials and volunteers in an effort to restock Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee.

The "Campaign Against Hunger" event, in conjunction with Outreach Inc., will be from 9:30 a.m.-noon Saturday at the food bank, 136 Harvest Lane in Maryville.

The group will package around 100,000 meals to go to food banks serving Anderson, Blount, Campbell, Claiborne, Cocke, Cumberland, Fentress, Grainger, Hamblen, Jefferson, Knox, Loudon, Monroe, Morgan, Roane, Scott, Sevier and Union counties.

Overbey said food pantries tend to get low during the early months of the year.

"The event allows all of us - citizens, organizations and folks in government - to join hands and help our neighbors and communities," he said.

Those who want to volunteer for the event can sign up at http://vols.pt/4YP8hk.

"Tennessee is the Volunteer State, and we are looking for citizens who are willing to partner with us to package food for our neighbors who are in need," Massey said. "We have held several packaging events at the State Capitol with tremendous results. It will be a fun morning, and together we will be making a positive different in the lives of our fellow Tennesseans."

To learn more about Second Harvest Food Bank - including how to volunteer, donate or apply for help - visit https://secondharvestetn.org/ or call 865-521-0000.

The web site also allows you to locate a food pantry close to you.
Tenth grader Lia Clarity portrays a figure in history at the East Tennessee History district competition at the University of Tennessee Conference Center on Friday, March 4, 2016. (CAITIE MCMEKIN/NEWS SENTINEL)

SHARE Volunteer judges Joe Spence, left, and Dr. Dan Feller, review poster presentations at the East Tennessee History district competition at the University of Tennessee Conference Center on Friday, March 4, 2016. (CAITIE MCMEKIN/NEWS SENTINEL) Eli Harrison and Hannah Robbins, both seventh graders at Clayton Bradley Academy rehearse their skit which depicts the history of the radio, behind the scenes at the East Tennessee History district competition at the University of Tennessee Conference Center on Friday, March 4, 2016. (CAITIE MCMEKIN/NEWS SENTINEL) Eighth grader Lauren Graves portrays a woman in the space program at the East Tennessee History district competition at the University of Tennessee Conference Center on Friday, March 4, 2016. (CAITIE MCMEKIN/NEWS SENTINEL)

By John Shearer of the Knoxville News Sentinel

It might have looked like March 2016 outside the University of Tennessee Conference Center on Friday, but inside the past had returned.

In one room on the upper floors of the Henley Street building, the year was 1920 and women were getting the right to vote, while in another the 1960 civil rights sit-ins were being held.

It was all part of the 15th annual East Tennessee History Day activities. More than 300 middle and high school students from Knoxville and surrounding communities presented exhibits, dramatic skits, papers, documentaries and websites under the theme of "Exploration, Encounter, Exchange in History."

The day culminated with the selection of several winners, who have a chance to compete in the state event in Nashville in April and possibly the national competition in June, according to Lisa Oakley of the East Tennessee Historical Society, which sponsored the event along with the UT History Department.

L&N STEM Academy freshmen Mike Cho, Allaura Wile, Julia Fort, Rosey White and Chloe Gibson had put together a documentary on the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote.

"It was a topic that as women we felt very strongly about," Fort said.

Gibson said they went to the library to look at old newspapers and perused books and online sites for information.

A key person they learned about, according to White, was Harry T. Burn, the 24-year-old legislator from McMinn County, who helped Tennessee cast the deciding ratification vote after being encouraged to vote for the amendment by his mother.

All in all, it was an enjoyable project, they said.

"It gave me more of an appreciation for women and our government in general," Wile said.

Cho said he did not mind being the only male student working on a women's-focused project.

"Men shouldn't have more rights than women," he said. "We are all humans, and we should be equal."

Their honors world history teacher, Jill Robbins, said they and all the students at L&N STEM put together the projects on their own.

"It's very much their project they do outside of class," she said.

Across the lobby, Sarah Davis, Skylar Sopha and Ella Clayton of Clayton-Bradley Academy in Maryville were performing a dramatic presentation about the lunch counter sit-in movement.

They ended the skit by saying, "No matter what shape, color or size, we are all the same."
SHARE University of Tennessee student volunteers scatter across the hill to plant 850 seedlings on campus Friday. In honor of Tennessee Arbor Day, students and other volunteers planted about 850 trees along part of the greater Second Creek Restoration Project. (MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL) University of Tennessee student Tina Liang, left, and Lydia Williams, assistant arborist, tag seedlings before planting them on campus Friday. In honor of Tennessee Arbor Day, students and other volunteers planted about 850 trees along part of the greater Second Creek Restoration Project. (MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL)

By Mamie Kuykendall of the Knoxville News Sentinel

Close to 1,000 saplings were planted on the University of Tennessee campus Friday, part of an effort to bring native species to campus while linking sections of the school together to create a familial, Tennessee feel.

"This is part of a landscape master plan done three years ago that looked at the entire campus," said Dave Irvin, associate vice chancellor for facilities services. "To integrate the entire campus so it's not just a collection of buildings, but it's more of a place to be."

More than 80 students signed up to participate in the all-day event, designed to mark Tennessee Arbor Day, and others showed up unannounced to plant the saplings on the south side of the Johnson-Ward Pedestrian Walkway near Estabrook Road.

"We're reforesting the west bank of Second Creek," said Sam Adams, UT campus arborist. "Our goal was to reforest this area and also work on getting plants along the stream banks, so we can keep this stream healthy, to keep the streams and the forest going here."

The school received three grants totalling more than $21,000 to purchase the trees and fund preliminary labor.

"We had two (state) grants, one for stream cleanup and one for tree planting," said Garrett Ferry, UT's storm water coordinator.

The third was an in-house "green fee" grant, collected from student fees.

The saplings, all native to the region, were bought from the Tennessee State Seedling Nursery.

"This has kind of been my dream project since I got here almost two years ago, to really rehab this stream," Ferry said.

The project began last summer with the improvement of the sidewalk corridor, and part of that effort included the removal of invasive species around the creek, according to Ferry.

"That gave us an opportunity to come in and plant all the native species, which are much more suited to (the setting), due to various things like root depth, and habitat diversity," Ferry said.

There are hopes to plant more trees on the opposite bank in the future, according to Ferry.

"It's part of a coordinated effort to really link our campus together in a very exciting and a very green way," Irvin said. "This is the latest and one of the biggest projects, but it's really just a small part of what we're doing in total."

Other projects in the master plan include extending the pedestrian mall and adding trees and landscaping along Volunteer Boulevard, according to Irvin.

"We're looking not just to link it together in a greenway, but to make it really of this place, of this area," Irvin said. "We're using landscaping and features that harken to the wonderful Smokies and the wonderful topography we have here.

"Those are the kinds of things we're doing so that this place is of Tennessee and celebrates what's so wonderful about being a volunteer."
Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris, R-Collierville, left, speaks with Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville, on the Senate floor in 2014. (AP Photo/Erik Schelzig)

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By Richard Locker of the Knoxville News Sentinel

NASHVILLE - State Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris won't be joining the crowded field of Republicans running for the 8th Congressional District seat this year.

Norris, R-Collierville, said Thursday he won't be a candidate for Congress and will run for a fifth four-year term in the state Senate.

"I have my own re-election to run," the West Tennessee lawmaker said.

There had been some speculation that Norris might run, heightened this week when he unveiled an online petition drive in support of a legislative resolution he is sponsoring challenging the federal government's Refugee Resettlement Program. He unsuccessfully ran for 7th Congressional District seat in 2002 when that district included parts of Shelby County.

Norris, 60, a Memphis lawyer, has been Senate majority leader since 2007, the second-ranking position in the Senate, behind only the Senate speaker. He served on the Shelby County Commission from 1994 until his election to the Legislature in 2000.

Since U.S. Rep. Stephen Fincher, R-Tenn., announced he won't run for re-election this year, at least eight Republicans - most of them from Shelby County - have either announced their candidacies or indicated they are considering running for the seat, including Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell; Jackson businessman and political consultant Brad Greer; state Sen. Brian Kelsey; former U.S. Attorney David Kustoff; Shelby County Register of Deeds Tom Leatherwood; Shelby County Commissioner Steve Basar; Memphis radiologist George Flinn, and Fayette County corrections officer Ken Atkins.

Two Memphis-area Democrats, Michael McCusker and David Vinciarelli, have also expressed interest.

The deadline for entering the race is noon April 7.
By Tom Humphrey of the Knoxville News Sentinel

NASHVILLE - Some leaders in the voting for Tennessee delegates to represent Donald Trump, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio see a possibility that none of their party's three top presidential candidates will have enough support to win the nomination when the Republican National Convention begins in July.

"Certainly a brokered convention is possible if not probable," said former Knoxville Mayor Victor Ashe, who won 112,664 votes statewide Tuesday to lead all others seeking election as a Tennessee delegate for Rubio to the convention.

"If it turns out no candidate wins on the first ballot, it will be an incredible event that has not happened in 68 years," Ashe said in an email. "America will be watching closely. Rubio should be part of any compromise if a deadlocked convention emerges."

William H. Beavers, 72, who won a Trump delegate slot in Tuesday's voting based on complete but unofficial returns, said he anticipates establishment Republicans going to great lengths to try to block the billionaire businessman from reaching the convention with the needed majority of delegates. He cited Mitt Romney, the 2012 GOP nominee, attacking Trump on Wednesday and called the former Massachusetts governor "a Judas goat" for doing so.

"They may try to bump him from the nomination (at the convention), but they better have their stuff together," said Beavers, a retired construction worker who raises cattle on his McMinn County farm. "I'm going to stay with Trump."

Beavers said he is not related to Republican state Sen. Mae Beavers of Mount Juliet or her husband, so far as he knows, but acknowledged the same last name might have helped him collect 147,826 votes for a Trump delegate position. The senator topped the list in voting for Trump delegates statewide with 163,716 ballots.

William Beavers said beyond voting in elections, he never has been active politically, but has been inspired by Trump "telling it like it is" and his stance on immigration and other issues. He denounced President Obama as "a cross-wired Muslim communist."

Former state Sen. Joe Carr of Lascassas, who ran unsuccessfully against U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander in the 2014 Republican primary, led the voting among candidates to represent Cruz as a Tennessee delegate to the convention, receiving 148,304 votes. Carr said he, too, believes there is "a really good chance" that no candidate will have a delegate majority at the convention.

Carr said his first priority is backing "constitutional conservative" Cruz as the best candidate for people such as himself "sick and tired of the GOP establishment telling us one thing  then not doing it or anything to stop the Obama agenda." If his favorite should fail, Carr said he could wind up supporting either Trump or Rubio, depending on circumstances and the candidate's commitment to "reform" of the Republican party.

Tennessee has 58 delegates to the convention. Twenty-eight are "at-large" delegates, half elected in statewide voting and the other half appointed, according to Brent Leatherwood, executive director of the state GOP. Twenty-seven are elected in voting at the congressional district level - three in each of the state's nine congressional districts. The other three are automatically designated delegates - the state party chairman and the state's two representatives on the Republican National Committee.

The state party said in a news release Thursday that, of the 28 at-large delegates, 15 will go to Trump, 10 to Cruz and six to Rubio. But Leatherwood said late Thursday the final allocation of delegates at the congressional district level still is being calculated and that, in at least a couple of cases, a small number of votes could change the outcome so that a candidate could gain or lose a delegate based on the final results. That, in turn, would change which delegate wins a seat - and delegate vote counts also are close in some cases, he said.

A review of the unofficial delegate voting totals - more than 400 candidates were on ballots statewide - indicates many apparent winners.

Trump's 15 at-large delegates will include seven elected, seven appointed and one RNC member. So the top seven vote-getters apparently would be the winning Trump delegates in the election.

The top seven finishers as Trump delegate, based on the unofficial returns, appear to be Sen. Beavers, Doris B. Arnold of Madison County, Robert Duvall of Nashville, Karen Bennett of Nashville, William Beavers, Chad Blackburn of Davidson County and Julie Brockman of Wilson County.

Brockman, seventh on the unofficial list of Trump delegate votes, finished just ahead of former state Sen. Stacey Campfield of Knoxville. She had 131,899 votes to 131,106 for Campfield.

Candidates still further down the Trump list include state Senate Republican Caucus Chairman Bill Ketron with 74,648 votes.

For Cruz, Lee Douglas of Williamson County and Steve Gill, a former Nashville talk radio host and conservative activist, were runners-up to Carr in the voting and apparently would be assured of seats under the unofficial results. The others that will represent Cruz were unclear.

For Rubio, Beth Campbell of Nashville was runner-up to Ashe and apparently assured of an at-large seat. The other Rubio at-large seat was less certain.

Several prominent state Republicans who sought to become Rubio delegates clearly will not make it, thanks to low vote totals and their candidate's third-place finish. Those seekers include state Sens. Brian Kelsey of Germantown, Jack Johnson of Franklin and Becky Duncan Massey of Knoxville, along with state House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick of Chattanooga, state Rep. Eddie Smith of Knoxville and former U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp of Chattanooga, who chaired Rubio's Tennessee campaign.

In congressional district delegate races, some results were clear.

In East Tennessee's 2nd Congressional District, former Knox County Sheriff Tim Hutchison got 18,360 votes - more than any candidate on the district ballot for any candidate - and is assured of a seat as a Trump delegate.

Party rules indicate Trump could get one of the other delegates from the district, but Leatherwood declined to confirm that was the case Thursday. Rubio apparently also would get a delegate in the district and Cruz as well - if the final allocation does not give Trump two.
Two school buses serving Chilhowee Intermediate School and Sunnyview Primary School crashed on Asheville Hwy just east of Gov. John Sevier Highway Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2014 (MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL)

SHARE Becky Duncan Massey Eddie Smith, 2014 candidate for state representative, 13th district.

By Richard Locker of the Knoxville News Sentinel

NASHVILLE - A bill increasing penalties for texting and operating mobile electronic devices while driving a school bus is scheduled for a floor vote in the state Senate Monday.

It stems from a Dec. 2, 2014 Knoxville school bus crash that killed two children and a teacher's assistant. Investigators concluded the driver, who died of natural causes last June, was reading a text when his speeding bus carrying 22 children crossed rainy Asheville Highway and collided with another bus carrying 18 children and the teacher's aide.

Senate Bill 1596, sponsored by Sen. Becky Duncan Massey, R-Knoxville, and Rep. Eddie Smith, R-Knoxville, would upgrade the offense of using a portable electronic device while driving or operating a school bus from a Class C misdemeanor under Tennessee's criminal code to a Class A misdemeanor. A Class C misdemeanor is punishable by a $50 fine.

The bill specifies that a conviction after July 1, 2016, is punishable by at least 30 days in jail, a fine of at least $1,000, and a court order permanently banning the driver from operating a school bus in Tennessee.

The bill passed the Senate Transportation Committee Tuesday. The House version is in the House Finance Committee awaiting final action on the state appropriations bill because the bill carries an estimated $5,800 a year in incarceration costs.

Current law prohibits school bus drivers from using a mobile phone while the bus is in motion and transporting children, except for use necessary in an emergency. The bill adds a list of electronic devices and says no driver can use one while operating a school bus with one or more child aboard while it is in motion or stopped for loading or unloading children.

"The penalty in current law is clearly ineffective and inadequate to protect the safety of children. This bill stiffens penalties to help ensure that such a tragedy which occurred in Knox County never happens again in Tennessee," Massey said. "We cannot tolerate a bus driver texting while driving, which endangers the lives of the children who are entrusted to his or her care as a passenger."

The Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security says distracted driving caused 21,024 traffic crashes across the state in 2014.

The Legislature still has not acted on a bill filed last year, soon after the Knoxville crash, by Rep. Joe Armstrong, D-Knoxville, and Sen. Lee Harris, D-Memphis, that would require all school buses purchased in Tennessee after July 1, 2016, to be equipped with seat belts for all riders.

That bill has languished in the Republican-controlled Senate Education Committee and House Transportation Subcommittee since March 2015.
Greg Johnson, News Sentinel columnist.

Democrat Hillary Clinton got 245,374 votes in Tennessee on Super Tuesday. Another 332,823 votes in the Volunteer State moved her far and fast toward being our next president.

No, those 332,823 votes did not come from Memphis malfeasance. There were no reports of voting machine manipulation. Those 332,823 votes were cast in the Republican primary for Donald Trump.

Trump swept Tennessee, claiming nearly 39 percent of the vote, easily outdistancing Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. Trump won Tennessee and six other SEC primary states, pushing him closer to the nomination and pushing some non-Democrats closer to Clinton.

"I'd vote for Donald Duck before I'd vote for Donald Trump," one socially conservative, economically aware Tennessee voter told me. The Brilliant Lovely, aka Mrs. J., remembering my previous praise for a former Soviet satellite that has rejected socialism, embraced capitalism and has a low cost of living, said after reading the results, "Can we move to Poland?"

Yes, Trump won big in every Republican demographic in Tennessee. Yes, enthusiasm was incredible, with almost 855,000 votes cast for Republicans, more than doubling the 371,321 on the Democratic side.

Perhaps Trump can ride the raging wave to the White House. After all, America elected an actor president. But any comparison of Trump to Ronald Reagan is purely delusional. California elected the Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger, as governor and Minnesotans gave pro wrestler Jesse "The Body" Ventura the keys to the executive mansion. But America has never elected a clown commander in chief.

Actually, Trump is a CINO, a Conservative In Name Only. On social issues, he has supported gun control, Planned Parenthood and affirmative action. On economic issues, he promises to stifle free trade and use government power to force business to do business where he wants. On foreign policy, he makes nice about Vladimir Putin, hints at abandoning Israel and is only slightly less isolationist than Bernie Sanders.

Trump is the backlash to President Barack Obama. After months of mean-spirited, megalomaniacal me-ism, Trump held his Super Tuesday news conference at Mar-a-Lago, his posh Florida property, surrounded by American flags in a room reminiscent of the White House. The parallel with Obama's faux presidential seal and faux Greek columns when he clenched the 2008 nomination was a frightening flashback.

"Trying to divide America between us and them is wrong, and we're not going to let it work," Clinton laughably said after her super Super Tuesday, even though that is exactly the method of Obama. Democrats canonically pit the poor against the rich, black against white, gay against straight, immigrants against natives, cynically driving turnout with divisive identity politics.

Assuming Clinton isn't indicted for harboring state secrets on her private email server and barring a Republican electoral awakening or Donald Duck floating his candidacy, pragmatism makes me practice saying, "Czesc, Krakow!"
Mark Harmon, Knoxville News Sentinel columnist.

"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." That quote has been attributed to Sinclair Lewis, but no record exists of him saying or writing it. The apocryphal quote, however, is in the spirit of Lewis' 1935 book "It Can't Happen Here."

In the wake of Tuesday's Republican primary results, I've been thinking about Lewis' story of fascism coming to America following a demagogue's rise to power in the 1936 presidential election.

Lewis' cautionary tale is told through a crabby Vermont newspaper editor, a person dismayed by and ultimately moved to act against the fascist Berzelius Windrip.

Windrip drew to him supporters who said things like "We ought to keep all these foreigners out of the country," and a "gospel of clean and aggressive strength," and "We don't want all this highbrow intellectuality, all this book-learning."

Windrip's supporters chanted:

"See all the world is crumbling,

Dreadful, dark and dire.

America! Rise and conquer.

The world to our heart's desire!"

If you don't see parallels to Donald Trump's campaign rallies, you need to pay closer attention.

Windrip's proclamations were as loaded with anti-Jewish broadsides as Trump's campaign is fueled by slurs against Muslims and Mexicans.

Lewis weaves a world where ill-informed and angry outsiders who call themselves Minute Men (tea party, anyone?) were the muscle behind Windrip.

Windrip parroted the faux populist orators of the day, but his actual positions only became clear after his election and inauguration. Within days opposition congressmen had been jailed and civil rights curtailed for the duration of the "crisis." A few months later all the older parties were terminated, replaced with only one, The American Corporate State and Patriotic Party.

As the novel draws to a close, newspaper editor Doremus Jessup observes that "in America the struggle was befogged by the fact that the worst Fascists were they who disowned the word 'Fascism' and preached enslavement to Capitalism under the style of Constitutional and Native American Liberty. For they were thieves not only of wages but of honor. To their purpose they could quote not only Scripture but Jefferson."

"Yes," summarized the character and the author, "this was the worst thing the enemies of honor, the pirate industrialists and their suitable successors, the Corpos with their blackjacks, had done; it had turned the brave, the generous, the passionate and half-literate  into dangerous fanatics."

Lewis and his Doremus Jessup alter ego then criticized both fascism and Soviet communism:

"[H]e saw now that he must remain alone, a 'Liberal,' scorned by all the noisier prophets for refusing to be a willing cat for the busy monkeys of either side. But at worst, the Liberals, the Tolerant, might in the long run preserve some of the arts of civilization, no matter which brand of tyranny should finally dominate the world."

We can take little consolation that not every detail of "It Can't Happen Here" aligns with our current situation. Some of what we are enduring also mirrors Jack London's "The Iron Heel," written in 1906 and foreshadowing rule by a shadowy oligarchy.

The state of the Republican campaign is alarming. Many voters, dissatisfied with the pace of recovery from an economic collapse, have turned to a maniacal narcissist offering nothing but glib attacks.

It can happen here.
By Choi Sung-jin



China, which consumes more than a quarter of Korea's exports, is setting up various nontariff trade barriers, putting a considerable burden on exporters, industry sources say.



For example, the Chinese government recently decided to change its policy to giving subsidies only to electric bus batteries produced by Chinese makers. Also, Beijing revised rules on classifying cosmetic products last July, changing the categorization of whitening cosmetics, Korea's main export item, from the "non-specialized" group to the "specialized" group, placing them under tougher sanitary regulations.



These are a few of 26 nontariff Chinese trade barriers local exporters monitor, the largest number, followed by Indonesia's five and Japan's four.



Various subsidies and tax benefits the Chinese government provides for steelmakers are among the biggest nontariff barriers. These include the refund of value-added tax, export credits, payment of loan interest and financial support for mergers and acquisitions.



The United States and the European Union are slapping countervailing duties on these subsidies to China's steel industry but Korea has yet to take similar steps.



Among other nontariff trade barriers is the Chinese government's refusal to recognize international certificates in permitting the import of medical equipment, the monitoring group said. Foreign makers need to win certification from the Chinese Food and Drug Administration because Beijing only recognizes test results issued by its domestic screening agency.



Korean exporters also need to obtain test reports, a procedure that takes three to six months, every year, because their efficacy does not exceed 12 months.



When the two countries signed the free trade agreement last year, the most prominent headlines in Korean newspapers were: "Samgyetang on Chinese table." But import permission for packaged ginseng-chicken soup is too slow to expect any substantive progress, the group said.



The Beijing government is also restricting foreign investment in the country's primary industries, mining, electric power and gas.



Korea has been going all out to resolve the problems. Last September, for example, the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding to enhance cooperation in quality inspection and quarantine. But Seoul has a long way to go before attaining a level playing field in the nation's largest export market, the monitoring group said.




By Lee Hyo-sik





KNOC CEO Kim Jung-rae

The debt-ridden Korea National Oil Corp. (KNOC) will slash its workforce by 30 percent over the next five years and close most of its overseas offices to save money, the state-run oil company said Friday.

It also plans to sell its headquarters buildings in Ulsan and other non-core assets to secure cash to prop up its deteriorating bottom line.

The company unveiled the restructuring measures one month after CEO Kim Jung-rae, former head of Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), took the helm. At his inauguration ceremony on Feb. 2, Kim pledged to take all possible steps to transform KNOC into a profitable and efficient public enterprise.

KNOC, which has been reeling from snowballing losses following several failed oil exploration projects abroad over the past few years, said it will reduce its business divisions from six to four. It also plans to close five overseas offices  in the United States, Canada, Britain, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq.

The company, which employs 4,200 people, expects the downsizing will cut its workforce by 30 percent by 2020. This suggests about 1,260 KNOC employees will lose their jobs over the next five years.

KNOC executives also are required to return 10 percent of their salaries, while workers sent to overseas offices will have a 20 percent cut in their bonuses.

"To raise much-needed cash, we will try to sell our headquarters in Ulsan for about 200 billion won ($165 million)," a KNOC spokesman said. "We also plan to put other real estate up for sale. We will cut operating expenses by 10 percent and increase operational efficiency through 2018, as well as attract investment. We expect all these belt-tightening measures will save us about 2.1 trillion won."

The spokesman said the CEO is determined to take far-reaching measures to turn KNOC into a more efficient and financially sound public firm.

"Kim has accumulated a great deal of expertise in corporate restructuring over the years," the spokesman said. "His top priority is to bolster KNOC's cash reserves by reducing operating expenses and selling non-essential assets. Higher crude oil prices would help us facilitate restructuring."

Last year, KNOC had 10 trillion won in sales but its net loss surged to 4.5 trillion won, weighed down by the declining value of its assets amid plunging global oil prices.

Kim, who earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Seoul National University, began his career at Hyundai Engineering and Construction in 1976. He also served as CEO of Hyundai Corp., HHI's trading unit.
Cover of Fumio Sasaki's "I Decided to Live Simply"

/ Courtesy of BusinessBooks

By Kim Jae-heun

In the rapidly changing society of the 21st century, people living in big cities like Seoul, Tokyo and New York may suffer enormous stress from making decisions and looking for solutions. Buying goods  given that it could be small things, from a toy costing a few coppers to furniture worth several thousand dollars  gives psychological satisfaction and people pile things up at home.

Fumio Sasaki, 37, who works for a publishing house, has written a book titled "I Decided to Live Simply." It became an instant hit in Japan and Korea after its release three months ago.

The author once lived in a 20-square-meter apartment  full of clothes, a large-screen television, various musical instruments and even antique cameras. He never read books he bought, barely played his instruments and lost interest in outdated costumes. But he kept shopping for things that he did not have.

One day, Sasaki found the concept of "extreme minimalism" of American Andrew Hyde, who asserted that "all you need is 15 things in the backpack to get freedom in life." Hyde toured 43 countries with only a backpack, selling all his possessions.

The Japanese author was deeply affected by the American and questioned himself about how many possessions he really needed at home. He realized he used 20 percent of them at most. It was the moment Sasaki learned he could live better and happier if he got rid of his household objects. He turned into a minimalist.

Sasaki now has 15 objects in his backpack at home, which includes a MacBook Air laptop, Wi-Fi cell phone, Kindle e-reader, a battery charger, socks, underwear and a book. He concentrates on reading  he gives away the book when he is done with it  and uses the mostly empty space to practice yoga and enjoy the freedom.

In the book, the author wrote: "The number of possessions doesn't matter very much and people can live as a minimalist as long as he owns only what he truly needs."

He also saves his shopping money for travel and says it would not take long to prepare for a flight.

The book does not give readers a list of things to follow as a minimalist but rather shows before-and-after pictures of Sasaki's room and how he is practicing his idea.

Sasaki also emphasizes that minimalism should not be the ultimate goal but a means to discover what one truly needs. He confessed that his worries for an uncertain future have also disappeared because he threw away household goods that he bought for the future and now can concentrate on the present.

Finally, the author encourages readers, saying he had lived like anybody else for past 10 years and that people should not be afraid of changing their lives. "Being afraid of the change will not give one a chance to challenge," he said

Sasaki's life philosophy has affected audiences in their 20s and 30s and fits with the current trend of a simple life in Japan.
South Korea and the United States officially launched a joint working group Friday to discuss the idea of deploying the advanced missile defense shield in the Northeast Asian country, the Defense Ministry here said.

The joint group is scheduled to hold its inaugural meeting later in the day at the Ministry of National Defense. The sides are co-headed by the South Korean ministry's Director General Maj. Gen. Jang Kyung-soo and U.S. Forces Korea's Maj. Gen. Robert Hedelund.

After years of speculation over the local deployment of the U.S.-built Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, the allies announced last month that they will start discussing the U.S.-proposed deployment of the defense system in South Korea to better counter North Korea's growing missile threats.

Friday's official talks were launched after the two sides signed terms of reference in forming the joint working group earlier in the day.

The working level body will discuss an array of issues, including the military effectiveness of THAAD, appropriate sites for the deployment, timeline, cost-sharing, and the impact on safety and the environment, the ministry said. (Yonhap)
North Korea tests its new multiple launch rocket system, believed to have taken place Thursday when it

fired six short-range projectiles into the East Sea. / Yonhap



By Jun Ji-hye

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered his military to be ready to use its nuclear weapons at any time in the face of threats from its enemies, the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, Friday.

He also said that the repressive state will shift its military posture to carrying out pre-emptive strikes, citing that the current situation has become very precarious.

Kim's fiery rhetoric came after the United Nations (U.N.) Security Council unanimously adopted a new resolution Wednesday to impose harsh new sanctions on North Korea over its recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch.

Kim said the North should "bolster up nuclear force both in quality and quantity and keep a balance of forces," according to the KCNA.

He also stressed "the need to get the nuclear warheads deployed for national defense always on standby so as to be fired any moment," the KCNA added.

The state-run media said all North Korean people are now waiting for the order "to annihilate the enemy with their surging wrath at the U.S. imperialists and South Korea's Park Geun-hye group of traitors."

Referring to the to the U.N. adoption of new sanctions against the regime, the KCNA said the U.S. and other countries' "flagrant moves" for political and economic pressure and military aggression on the North have reached a "grave phase" and can no longer be overlooked.

It claimed that the adoption of the sanctions "committed a ferocious hostility of illegalizing the DPRK's independent rights as a sovereign state."

North Korean Kim Jong-un is welcomed by military personnel before attending the test-firing of his countries' new multiple launch rocket system in this photo released by the North's mouthpiece the Rodong Sinmun, Friday. / Yonhap

The KCNA said Kim made the comments while watching the test-firing of a new multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) to be deployed in artillery units of the Korean People's Army.

The KCNA did not mention the timing of the test-fire, but South Korean military officials say the new system that the North claimed was test-fired is believed to be a 300-millimeter-caliber MLRS, given that the reclusive state fired six short-range projectiles into the East Sea, Thursday.

The North unveiled the new system on Oct. 10 last year during a military parade to mark the 70th anniversary of the ruling Workers' Party.

The system is thought to have a range of up to 200 kilometers, far enough to strike South Korean and U.S. military installations well beyond the Seoul metropolitan area, if fired from an area near the Military Demarcation Line.

Later in the day, the Kim Jong-un regime issued a statement, warning of stern actions against the latest adoption of the sanctions.

The statement, also carried by the KCNA, said the North will mobilize various means and ways to take strong and merciless actions including physical means.

It was the first official response from the repressive state to the U.N. sanctions.

In response to the North's claim, the Ministry of National Defense said the North's verbal attack that comes at a time when the international community is giving efforts to deter its nuclear development is totally illogical.

Deputy spokesman Army Col. Na Seng-yong said, "The ministry strongly criticizes the North for its vulgar condemnation against President Park president, the commander-in-chief of the nation's armed forces."

Follow Jun Ji-hye on Twitter @TheKopJihye
Rep. Lee Hahn-koo, the head of the ruling Saenuri Party's nomination management committee, walks from the podium after a press briefing at the National Assembly, Friday. / Yonhap



By Kim Hyo-jin



With only 39 days remaining ahead of the April 13 general election, the ruling and opposition parties are still plagued by internal conflicts.



The ruling Saenuri Party is faced with renewed factional strife between loyalists to President Park Geun-hye and the non-Park faction led by Chairman Rep. Kim Moo-sung, following the leak of an internal survey; while the minor opposition People's Party is suffering from a division of its members over whether to form an alliance with the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK).



The National Election Committee (NEC) said Friday that it has launched an official investigation on the leak of the Saenuri Party's internal poll on preliminary candidates. If it is suspected of violating the Election Law, the case will be handed to the prosecution, it added.



The move came a day after photos of the opinion polls on potential candidates in nationwide constituencies were spread throughout social networks. The polls were viewed as references prepared by the party's think tank, the Yeouido Institute to decide candidate nomination, according to party officials.



The polls reportedly showed that incumbent lawmakers in Daegu, those categorized as the non-Park followers, are winning over their rivals  Park's loyalists.

The leak could put a brake on Lee Hahn-koo, the head of the ruling party's nomination committee, to expand "strategic" nominations.



Lee, known as a pro-Park lawmaker, has pushed for the plan to select some candidates based on the party's recommendation, causing clashes with Kim, a strong backer of the bottom-up nominating process.



The non-Park faction claims the format, in which the party designates high-profile figures to run in vital regions without internal races beforehand, will hardly prevent Park and her aides from exerting influence in selecting candidates.

The pro-Park lawmakers accused the opposition faction of masterminding the leak of the polls.



"Non-Park lawmakers could resist harshly if they fail in being nominated, now that the result of the poll have been unveiled," said a pro-Park lawmaker, who wished to remain anonymous. "It seems they leaked the documents intentionally."





Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, the co-chairman of the minor opposition People's Party, leaves its headquarters in Seoul after a party meeting, Friday. / Yonhap



The non-Park faction, however, raised an offensive against the nomination committee led by Lee, for its mismanagement of the internal document.



Lee denied the possible involvement of the committee, saying "there's no possibility that committee members are behind the leakage. The groundless accusation to undermine the committee's activity should be stopped."



Meanwhile, lawmakers of the People's Party showed a deepening chasm in their opinions on the party merger plan proposed by Kim Jong-in, interim leader of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK).



Kim stepped up pushing for his proposal, saying he has cleared the vested interests of the mainstreamers in the party.



The People's Party consists of 18 lawmakers who left the MPK in opposition to former leader Rep. Moon Jae-in, the de facto leader of the mainstreamers loyal to late President Roh Moo-hyun.
By Kim Se-jeong



A doctor who was being investigated by police over a large outbreak of hepatitis C infections caused by the re-use of disposable syringes at Hanyang Orthopedic Clinic in Wonju, Gangwon Province, was found dead Friday.



According to police, his wife discovered the doctor, surnamed Roh, 59, at 7:53 a.m., Friday. He had apparently hanged himself.



Police searched his house for a suicide note.



His death came after he was questioned by police on Feb. 29, for malpractice at his former clinic causing 217 patients to become infected with hepatitis C. He was to be questioned again, according to police.



The police denied that the interrogation led him to kill himself. "While he was questioned for 10 hours, he was accompanied by his legal representative. There was no pressure in the questioning," a police officer said.



Due to his death, police will likely face difficulty investigating whether he and other staffers committed medical negligence resulting in injury to patients.



The doctor was suspected of re-using disposable syringes during the platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy with many patients for years. The therapy is believed to relieve pain in the back, neck and other parts of the body and involves intravenous injections.



The allegation was first raised in April last year by a patient. He closed his clinic soon after the incident and worked at a new clinic in the same city, according to police. Roh recently quit, and he was banned from travel during the investigation.



The number of patients who received the PRP therapy at Roh's clinic is estimated at 15,433. As of Friday, the Wonju Community Health Center tested 2,489 patients, and confirmed 217 cases.



The center is asking family members of confirmed patients to get tested. Concern for possible HIV infection is particularly high because the health center discovered that Roh had treated an HIV patient in 2009. The HIV patient was treated after a car accident, and no one knew of his infection then. His name was on the public health center's HIV patient list since 2013. Before Roh's interrogation, the police questioned nurses and staffers involved in PRP treatment since 2006.



Roh denied the allegation that he had re-used disposable syringes, but the police said he stated the infections might have been caused in the process of re-using anticoagulants several times during the treatment.



The clinic was popular among locals who were seeking the treatment, and the number of patients soared quickly in April. The PRP therapy is not certified by medical authorities for reasons of safety and efficacy.




Korea, US begin working-level discussions

By Jun Ji-hye

South Korea and the United States launched working-level talks, Friday, on the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery here.

However, experts say the discussions face a number of obstacles such as resistance from China as well as residents nearby any site of the deployment.

The Ministry of National Defense said the two countries signed terms of reference of the Joint Working Group (JWG) at 10 a.m., which held its first meeting later in the day. The signing and the first meeting came about a month after the allies announced their decision on Feb. 7 to begin THAAD talks in the face of growing threats from North Korea.

The JWG is tasked with discussing details of the deployment including possible locations and risks to people's safety and health, and the environment as well as how the allies will share the cost.

A high-ranking ministry official said the talks on THAAD were part of efforts to improve the allies' defense posture against missile threats from the reclusive regime.

"THAAD is a useful and smart weapon," he said, declining to be named. "The system has military utility and will contribute to defending the Republic of Korea."

But the outlook for the actual deployment is murky, given that the THAAD issue is linked to a variety of conflicting issues ranging from reactions from neighboring countries including China and Russia, along with possible safety and environmental threats from its AN/TPY-2 radar, beyond the system's pure military purpose of detecting and destroying North Korean missiles.












The United States does not rule out the possibility of pursuing a "parallel process" by which it holds peace treaty talks with North Korea in tandem with denuclearization negotiations, the State Department spokesman said Thursday.



"We haven't ruled out the possibility that there could sort of be some sort of parallel process here," State Department spokesman John Kirby said at a regular briefing. "But, and this is not a small 'but,' there has to be denuclearization on the peninsula and work through the six party process to get there."



As a way to defuse heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula, China has proposed to pursue peace treaty talks and denuclearization negotiations with North Korea at the same time. A peace treaty replacing the 1953 armistice that halted the Korean War has long been a key demand from Pyongyang.



The U.S. and South Korea have already rejected the proposal, saying denuclearization must be the priority.



On Thursday, however, Kirby appeared to be putting more of the focus on leaving open the possibility of a parallel process than on denuclearization, even though he stressed that nothing has changed in the U.S. position on the issue.



"I don't think we're in a position to rule out possible discussions on a peace process. But we're not going to decouple that in any way from what really needs to happen, which is complete denuclearization and adherence to the six party process," Kirby said.



When the North proposed peace treaty talks last year, Kirby said that the U.S. "made it clear that we weren't even going to begin to have that discussion until denuclearization was factored in."



"But nothing has changed on our policy that denuclearization has to be a part of this. And the six party talks is the process and the vehicle to do that," he said. (Yonhap)




A state-run Chinese newspaper called on North Korea to refrain from taking a "self-destructive course" on Friday as the country's leader ordered his military to be ready to use its atomic weapons at anytime.



The order by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un marked a further escalation of tensions, a day after the North fired short-range projectiles into the East Sea in an apparent show of defiance following the U.N. Security Council's adoption of new sanctions against Pyongyang over its fourth nuclear test and rocket launch.



The isolationist country has been pursuing a nuclear weapons program in the face of strong international pressure. Pyongyang conducted it first nuclear test in 2006.



This was followed by tests carried out in 2009 and 2013, with the latest taking place on Jan. 6 of this year.



During his inspection of a missile unit, Kim stressed "the need to get the nuclear warheads deployed for national defense always on standby so as to be fired any moment," according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency.













In an editorial, the state-run China Daily newspaper expressed its concern of the angry reaction from North Korea over the new U.N. sanctions.



North Korea's launch of short-range projectiles on Thursday "may well be the start of an unpredictable spiral," the editorial reads.



"But that is something Pyongyang should make every effort to avoid, as it would be a self-destructive course," it said.



"Pyongyang does not have many options under the new U.N. resolution. But it does have a very easy way out: Let go of its nuclear-missile program. Sit down and talk," it said.



The short-range projectiles were believed to be fired from North Korea's new 300mm multiple launch rocket systems with a range of up to 200 kilometers, South Korean defense officials said.



The latest U.N. resolution on North Korea is being described as the toughest sanctions ever, but some analysts pointed out that it has some key loopholes.

One of the potential loopholes is a provision that would allow North Korea to continue exports of coal and iron ore if such transactions are for "livelihood purposes."



Winning China's cooperation is key to ensuring the effectiveness of U.N. sanctions against North Korea because China accounts for nearly 90 percent of the North's foreign trade.



Still, China is unlikely to vigorously implement sanctions on North Korea because a sudden collapse of the regime could spark a refugee crisis at its border and lead to a pro-U.S., democratic Korea on its doorstep, analysts say. (Yonhap)
South Korea is considering "various" unilateral sanctions against North Korea following the adoption of tough sanctions by the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) on the communist regime, a government spokesman said Friday

.

On Wednesday, the UNSC unanimously adopted a new resolution punishing North Korea for its nuclear and long-range rocket tests earlier this year. The sanction measures include mandatory inspections of all cargo going in and out of North Korea and a ban on the country's exports of coal and other mineral resources.



"The government, as the president said, is currently doing its best to create an environment in which North Korea will realize it can't possibly survive with nuclear (weapons) and will have no choice but to change," Jeong Joon-hee, spokesman of the Ministry of Unification, said during a regular press briefing.



"We are contemplating actual steps for this and reviewing various measures," he said, adding that the exact time of the decision will likely be announced soon.



South Korea is reportedly considering a ban on the entry of vessels traveling through North Korea. It already has a wide array of sanctions in place over the North's sinking of a South Korean warship in 2010.



Last month, Seoul shut down an inter-Korean industrial park in the North's border city of Kaesong in response to the North's firing of a long-range rocket on Feb. 7.



According to North Korean state media, leader Kim Jong-un on Thursday ordered the country's nuclear arsenal on standby, apparently in anger over the new U.N. sanctions.



"North Korea is expressing its determination and defiance in the face of the U.N. sanctions, and the remarks are likely aimed at strengthening the regime," Jeong said. (Yonhap)




North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered the country's nuclear weapons to be made ready for use at a "moment's notice," its state media reported on Friday.

He also said the communist state will revise its military posture so that it can be ready to carry out pre-emptive attacks, stressing that the current situation has become "very precarious," according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Kim made the remarks while attending the North's test-firing Thursday of a new multiple launch rocket system during his "field guidance," the KCNA said.

The KCNA did not mention the exact time and venue of the test. But Seoul officials believe it took place in the North's eastern coastal city of Wonsan on Thursday when the North was seen firing six short-range projectiles into the East Sea.

The North Korean leader has put his military on high alert as South Korea and the U.S. are poised to stage their annual military drills this month. Pyongyang has criticized the planned allied drills as intended to "decapitate" its leadership.












Donald Trump / AP Yonhap



Under Emperor Donald (90% humor)



By Oh Young-jin

With the trademark pucker in his face and his middle finger jabbing into the air, Emperor Donald (his full name before his self-coronation was Donald John Trump) emphatically stressed his latest contribution to humankind during an appearance at the podium in the main hall of the U.N. building in New York.

In the background were two pictures  a big one capturing a photo taken from space showing a distinctive line along the U.S.-Mexican border, and a vague hint of a line across China, giving impressions that something there for a long time had been recently moved.

"This is my gift to the world," he said. "I am a man of my word." The long line is the wall he had promised to set up to fend off streams of Mexican rapists who ventured to cross the 3,145 km porous belt into the U.S. "Not a single Mexican has ever been allowed to scale the wall to the northern side and no state money has been used for that," he said.

What he did not say was that he also kept his word to make the Mexicans pay for the wall. So the former real estate developer came up with a financing plan, charging every Mexican $100, or its equivalent, for a package deal  visa-free entry and the right to stay for as long as he or she wants.

On top of $1.2 billion in down payment given to the Department of Homeland Security for fence building under the Secure Fence Act, the emperor's wall project was estimated to cost $15 billion. All 120 million Mexicans living in their own country bought the Donald Indulgence and moved up. Still, it fell $300 million short. Other non-Mexicans, who pretended to be Mexican, did not have money, so they stole bricks from the Great Wall of China to pay the emperor in kind. He felt good about keeping his 2016 U.S. presidential campaign promise, although now a distant memory, dismissing that, by his word, his vow was about keeping them out of the U.S., not in.

A Chinese delegate rose from the audience and accused the Donald of aiding and abetting the theft of the Chinese treasure. "Consider them as tariffs," he shouted back. He fondly remembered what he said after the Super Tuesday victory in March that year, "The Great Wall of China, built 2,000 years ago, is 13,000 miles (21,000 kilometers). They didn't have Caterpillar tractors."

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, now serving a new term, intervened to press the Donald on behalf of China. Other delegates joined Ban and tried to reason with the emperor. "You're all fired," he shouted back.

A melee followed and a tall, distinguished-looking man snatched the mike from the Donald and pushed him off the podium. "I am Mitt Romney," he introduced himself, yanking the small photo at a corner on the blackboard, showing him on his knees before the emperor.

"The photo is phony, a fraud," the 2012 Republican candidate claimed.

Upset, the emperor left the stage and headed for his palace, "Trump Tower."

When he was alone in his imperial helicopter, he took off his latex mask and overall suit, showing his true self - an alien from Planet Krypton, the home world of Superman. So he was qualified to become U.S. president because the law also made those who were born in the land eligible to participate as a candidate in the presidential election. He gave himself a mental pat on the back, thinking it was a great move, calling the birthplace of his elected predecessor, Barack Obama, into question.

He called a Cabinet meeting to look toward two secretaries - one secretary of the second race, David Duke, a white nationalist who leads the revived KKK, and Megyn Kelly, former FOX anchorwoman, the secretary of women. Kelly, who made up with Trump after his "blood-coming-out-her-wherever remarks, passed the Donald muster for being a "10" and got the job. Those who are not 10s may not retain their citizenship in the empire. Former supermodel Heidi Klum only got 9.9 and failed.

He was looking at the wall clock in the Treaty Room that showed not just the time of day but also the year. It said, "5:30 on the Ides of March in the first year of the Trumpian Era." Jolted by the date, he woke up and, with a pinch of his cheek, found that it was a dream. His calendar said it was Nov. 9, 2016, and he was not voted in as president-elect of the U.S.

Oh Young-jin is The Korea Times' chief editorial writer. Contact him at foolsdie5@ktimes.com.

Footnote: Maybe it is the distance. I don't feel the worries of the established U.S. Republican journalists such as David Brooks of The New York Times or by extension Martin Wolf of the Financial Times. As Wolf pointed out in his column, it is true that one man can change the world but most of the times he can't. It is true that Hitler, appointed by President Hindenburg as chancellor, triggered the madness of the Second World War, but that other ill factors aided him to be the monster he became in a kind of perfect storm. Of course, there is a chance, however remote, that Trump can become your worst nightmare, but if the Republican Party, already eaten away by the advance of the Tea Party movement, needs cleaning up, Trump could play the role. Besides, democracy is by the people, so if voters like him, let him be the one. America has proved time and again strong enough to survive some frauds at the top and prosper.
BY Tom Plate

Los Angeles  When "Conversations with Mahathir," the second of four volumes in the Giants of Asia series, was published a few years ago, some of my friends and colleagues were utterly aghast. How could you  gullible American author  dignify this vulgar man with such semi-reverential treatment? My gosh, what a sleazy ruling party UMNO has been, and what a complete sleaze Mahathir Mohamad must be!

The winds of criticism blew especially hard from southern neighbor Singapore, which has never shown much love for Dr. M and his Malaysia ever since its unceremonious expulsion from the Malaysian Federation of Malaysia in 1965. A prime mover in shoving Singapore out was in fact Mahathir, who went on to become leader of UMNO and then, via successive parliamentary elections perhaps mainly notable for such suspiciously lethargic oppositions, prime minister from 1972-2003.

And so Mahathir, now 90, surprised most everyone by quitting the UMNO party the other day in protest over the scandal involving the current Prime Minister Najib Razak, said to have clustered together an astonishing fortune in a webby network of secret accounts strung together from public funds. For months the shrewd Dr. M, originally a country doctor, has been calling for full disclosure to the public about the mysterious fortune. With no answer coming back from the slick, arrogant Najib, Mahathir, who helped built UMNO into what it is today, resigned from it.

Cynics will say it was a cynical move and a purely political one. But at his age Dr. M's main aspiration is for little more than continued positive health; and, at his age, the desire for a positive legacy. Is an UMNO, which enables its leader to aggregate something like a billon dollars - more or less illegally, arrogantly and insistently - worthy of maintaining any longer?

Mahathir's interviews for my book took place in 2011, and I pressed him several times on the money-politics issue. His short answer was that the publicly listed salary for the PM during his run of 23 years was about $35,000 annually. When he said that, he looked at me quietly, intently. Right, I had my answer  no PM, except perhaps a Saint Gandhi-type, can get by on that. But what about his sticky-fingered UMNO? He frankly admitted that the Malaysian political dilemma required money  and even more money - to glue the party together, which party being, in his view, the main glue that held the nation together and keep it moving forward.

The argument made sense to me. This was also the way in Indonesia, and Thailand, and so on. What I especially liked about Mahathir was his directness, his desire  perhaps in part through my little book - to leave something behind that was untarnished, truthful, real. This desire, of a rapidly aging man, was the main motive, I believe, behind the recent resignation.

Dr. M and the late, great Lee Kuan Yew were anything but buddies, of course. LKY thought Malaysia should have been made far better than it was; Dr. M viewed LKY as someone who thought he was far better than anyone else. But the bottom line in their relationship was a floor of mutual respect. The Malaysian viewed his antagonist as a true intellectual with a genuinely powerful mind. For his part, the Singaporean legend had to admit that Dr M had done well with what he had to work with. "He was an outstanding Prime Minister of Malaysia," LKY told me, who "transformed Malaysia."

But with his resignation, Mahathir in effect was admitting that the transformation hadn't gone far enough. Malaysia will never be as political squeaky-clean as Singapore, and perhaps that's no all so bad when the political homogeneity that Singaporeans have had to pay for that extreme cleanliness is taken into account. Even so, there is no doubt that Dr M's largely Muslim country would be better off if its top politicians did not become so well off.

But let us not forget this: During an epoch in which poisonous Islamic extremism was stewing almost everywhere in Asia, Mahathir kept the lid on in his country without turning it remotely into Myanmar under the generals, not to mention into a North Korea under an under-qualified thirty-something. The country was not perfect, but it was not evil, and it was no one's danger; and it had a prime minister who knew what he was doing and got lot of what he wanted done. By comparison to the incumbent prime minister, indeed he was a giant of Asia  by no little margin.

Professor Tom Plate's latest book is The Fine Art of the Political Interview." His "Conversations with Lee Kuan Yew" (Giants of Asia) recently was reissued in a Popular Holdings Ltd.
The situation facing Koreans in the Philippines may be aptly compared to "ugly Koreans in the land of outlaws." The government has tried a variety of ways, including financing Manila's police force, to address a high crime rate against Koreans there but with no visible success. Thereby, a change in approach for more than handout programs is called for to tackle this issue that appears to be only getting worse.

The numbers are stunning. Thirty-four Koreans have been murdered since 2013  more than 10 a year  in the tropical nation that has become popular for retirees. Even more appalling is that in 18 cases, not a single suspect has been apprehended. Last year alone, out of 34 Koreans killed overseas, 11 victims were in the Philippines, the largest in a single country. Plus, it is estimated that 200 Koreans being sought by Korean law are taking refuge there. This comes against the fact that there are about 85,000 Koreans living there, with over a million Korean tourists visiting the nation a year.

There appear to be many reasons why Koreans fall as easy victims. Above all, the Philippines is a nation where law and order are scarcely adhered to, what with illegal firearms easy to acquire and plenty of poor people ready to serve as guns for hire.

According to a report in the Korean language Joongang Ilbo, guns were the weapon of choice in most murders involving Korean victims. Last December, four gunmen shot to death a Korean in his residence south of Manila.

One notable thing is that none of the victims were tourists. This may be interpreted with some corroborating evidence that the victims are from the increasing number of Koreans flocking to the nation on the promise of retiring happily on a reasonable sum of money, without fully understanding the catches that come with it. For instance, the way they spend is bound to attract the attention of Filipino criminals.












NK's nuclear threat to aggravate us a lot

North Korea's young dictator, Kim Jong-un, threatened to use nuclear weapons against the South as the second response after the imposition of the U.N.'s toughest sanctions against Pyongyang in two decades since its weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) became an international issue.

"Our deployed nuclear weapons will be ready to fire at a moment's notice all the time," Kim was quoted by the North's media on Friday. "We will put our military on a preemptive status."

Kim's remarks were preceded by the North's firing of what turned out to be projectiles from its newly developed long-range guns, in its first response after the U.N. action.

Kim should understand the gravity of the situation, being condemned even by his country's traditional friends  China and Russia  and refrain from resorting to his country's typical way of getting its way through threats. These threats, rhetorical or physical, would only deepen its international isolation and encourage even stronger action by the international community.














The following statement was released by the Governments of Sri Lanka and the United States of America after the first annual U.S.  Sri Lanka Partnership Dialogue held on February 26, 2016 in Washington, D.C.

Sharing a commitment to democracy, rule of law, and shared prosperity, the United States and Sri Lanka convened the inaugural Partnership Dialogue on February 26, 2016 in Washington, DC. Both nations highlighted the growing bilateral cooperation between Sri Lanka and the United States and reaffirmed that the relationship is based on shared values and common goals of the two countries and their peoples.

The Partnership Dialogue demonstrates the consolidation of cooperation between the United States and Sri Lanka and serves to further strengthen and enhance bilateral relations in the widest sense, through regular and structured engagement. As fellow democracies, our governments agree that we have a shared interest in working together to foster greater stability, security, prosperity, and a rules-based order for the Indo-Pacific region and around the world.

Building on a long legacy of support for the Sri Lankan people since 1956, the United States plans to launch several programs to encourage investment in Sri Lanka's economy, assist the government in its efforts to institutionalize good governance best practices across key ministries, and support the process of reconciliation and development to which the government and people of Sri Lanka are committed. These efforts are to be undertaken with a view to achieving durable peace and socio-economic progress for all. U.S. assistance and cooperation should help forge new partnerships, dialogues, and exchanges, and be based on mutual respect and inclusive consultations.

International and Regional Affairs

The delegations discussed Sri Lankas pivotal geo-strategic location within the Indian Ocean Region and how to strengthen cooperation on issues of regional importance bilaterally and through multilateral organizations like the Indian Ocean Rim Association. The United States encouraged Sri Lankan participation in its Indo-Pacific Economic Corridor initiative to increase economic connectivity among South Asian countries and with Southeast Asia, which is congruent with Sri Lankas participation in BIMSTEC and other forums. Both governments affirmed a shared desire to continue to collaborate on issues before the United Nations, including peacekeeping operations. Foreign Minister Samaraweera looks forward to participating in the 2016 Our Ocean Conference in Washington, D.C., hosted by Secretary Kerry, which is to focus on robust commitments to protect our oceans under the four focus areas of marine protected areas, sustainable fisheries, marine pollution, and climate-related impacts on the ocean.

Economic Cooperation

Economic discussions highlighted Sri Lankas economic priorities and joint cooperation to expand trade flows, increase foreign direct investment, and improve the overall business environment in Sri Lanka, such as fair and transparent competition practices. Sri Lankas delegation appreciated the lifting of the U.S. legislative mandate against supporting Sri Lankan projects at international financial institutions and the U.S. vote in favor of a recent project at the Asian Development Bank, which will deliver $100 million to Small and Medium Enterprises in Sri Lanka. The next Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) Council meeting to be held this year should initiate deepened engagement through development of the U.S. Sri Lanka Joint Action Plan to increase external trade and investment. This Action Plan, a road map for future work under TIFA, reinforces Sri Lankas development strategies and fosters an increased role for foreign direct investment and external trade in Sri Lanka. It also seeks to improve the competitiveness of key industries; promote new industries through innovation; and fully leverage Sri Lankas location and skilled workforce. The two sides intend to explore during the TIFA meeting opportunities for exchanging customs information to facilitate the free flow of goods.

USAID's on-going economic programs support growth and promote stability within small and medium scale private companies. Similar initiatives help bring economic stability to vulnerable populations, including war widows, female heads of households, persons with disabilities, and resettled families by providing financial assistance, equipment, tools, training, and market access. In the future, technical assistance to the Ministry of Finance and Board of Investment is planned. The U.S. Departments of Commerce and Treasury and USAID are helping the Sri Lankan Government to improve the commercial law environment and attract foreign direct investment, implementing training programs for key economic sectors, and providing technical assistance for public financial management.

Both sides recognize their shared interest in clean energy development and energy security and reiterated their commitment to deepen cooperation to develop and access affordable, clean renewable energy sources. The United States also agreed to explore ways to support and assist Sri Lanka in the implementation of Sri Lankas Climate Action Plan, including adaptation projects. Officials from the Millennium Challenge Corporation said they would visit Sri Lanka in March to begin discussions on Sri Lankas threshold program. The Export-Import Bank of the United States looks forward to enhanced engagement with Sri Lanka and its private sector, particularly in the area of infrastructure investment.

Governance, Development Cooperation, and People-to-People ties

The delegation of Sri Lanka emphasized the commitment of the government to strengthening democracy and democratic practices, good governance, the rule of law, justice, reconciliation, and parliamentary procedures. The United States welcomed the significant progress made in many areas during the past year, especially the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution which enabled the setting up of independent commissions, and Sri Lankas co-sponsorship of a consensus resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council in September 2015, which demonstrated Sri Lankas strength as a nation committed to achieving lasting peace and prosperity inclusive of truth-seeking, justice, reparations and guarantees of non-recurrence that includes providing closure to the families of the missing, and implementing appropriate reforms to enhance the professionalism of security institutions. The United States expressed support to Sri Lanka in fully implementing the commitments as agreed in the Human Rights Council resolution.

The United States expressed support for the Governments plans for constitutional and legislative reform including public consultations on a new Constitution and the repeal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act to be replaced by appropriate counter-terrorism legislation consistent with international law. The United States praised the government of Sri Lanka for its return of land to the rightful owners, and urged that remaining land be returned swiftly.

The U.S. Government continues to be proactive in responding to the governments reform agenda in strengthening democratic and economic governance, rule of law, truth and reconciliation. In October 2015, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) launched the Sri Lanka Parliament Support Program to build capacity for the newly elected Members of Parliament and their professional staff to fully carry out their policymaking and oversight functions. Similarly, USAID is helping to strengthen public sector accountability and transparency through support to key independent commissions enshrined in the 19th Amendment. The United States and Sri Lanka plan to work together to strengthen the Sri Lankan justice systems capacity to address criminal activities, including complex crimes such as corruption at all levels, and to deliver fair and equitable justice services to citizens.

With a view to assisting the Government of Sri Lanka in strengthening good governance and the rule of law, the United States agreed to consider Sri Lankas requests for assistance through programs and projects aimed at strengthening accountable and responsive governance institutions and capacity building; training and assistance for enhancing accountability, transparency, integrity, and effectiveness of public administration; and inclusive and effective service delivery including local governance. The two countries reiterated their commitment to active and high-level participation in the Open Government Partnership as a strong vehicle for reform, and to pursue robust partnerships with civil society under the Open Government Partnership; and the United States reaffirmed its commitment to supporting Sri Lankas work with civil society in the development of its first National Action Plan.

The two nations plan to foster stronger cooperation on womens empowerment and the advancement of gender equality including by supporting efforts to exchange lessons learned and best practices to enable womens economic participation, the prevention of and response to gender-based violence, and greater womens participation in reconciliation efforts.

The two nations reiterated their commitment to the Fulbright Program for student and scholar exchange. They also identified education as an important area for future cooperation and underlined the importance of developing further partnerships between U.S. and Sri Lankan educational institutions.

Recognizing that Sri Lanka faces a number of development challenges  from the scourge of chronic kidney disease to food insecurity in rural areas  the U.S. Government expressed its commitment to partner with Sri Lanka to address these issues. The two governments also plan to support multi-cultural, multi-religious, multi-lingual people-to-people dialogue throughout Sri Lanka.

Security Cooperation

Both nations plan to strengthen maritime security cooperation efforts in the Indian Ocean Region in order to counter piracy, provide humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and ensure free and safe navigation in the regions vital shipping lanes. The United States welcomed the commitment by Sri Lanka to further contribute towards UN Peacekeeping Operations. The United States also plans to continue to support Sri Lankas efforts to remove anti-personnel landmines in former conflict areas. The United States supports Sri Lanka as it undertakes security sector reforms in line with Sri Lankas post-conflict requirements.

The delegations aim to expand export control cooperation through the Export Control and Related Border Security program in support of nonproliferation objectives. Both nations recognized the need for greater counterterrorism and intelligence cooperation and information sharing as well as capacity building in view of increasing transnational threats. Both countries also expressed commitment to continue to cooperate to counter money laundering, terrorist financing, and violent extremism. Recognizing the importance of international cooperation to promote an open and secure cyberspace, and Sri Lankas standing as the only South Asian nation party to the Budapest Convention, the two sides agreed to explore opportunities for collaboration on cybersecurity and to combat cybercrime.

The Road Ahead

Together, the United States and Sri Lanka recognized the importance of their bilateral relationship and expressed commitment to broadening and strengthening the bilateral partnership. Both delegations expressed satisfaction at the successful completion of the inaugural Partnership Dialogue and agreed to hold the second Partnership Dialogue in Colombo in 2017.

Washington DC

29 February 2016

(Sinhala & Tamil Translation to follow)



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The SLFP does not condone the continuation of the Emergency Regulations (The Public Security Ordinance) more than a day necessary

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PRESS RELEASE

South Korea Joins in Egyptian Development Explosion

March 3, 2016 (EIRNS)Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is completing his three-country tour in South Korea, after highly productive visits to Kazakhstan and Japan. After his meeting with President Park Geun-hye, the two leaders signed nine memoranda of understanding regarding South Korean participation in building canals and subways in Egypt, among other matters. They said they would make an effort to increase the trade volume between the two countries, which reached US$2.4 billion last year, according to Yonhap.

El-Sisi will be in South Korea for two more days.
PRESS RELEASE

Libya: Another British Mess in the Making?

March 3, 2016 (EIRNS)Is the British Empire preparing another mess in Libya? Although France, Britain and Italy officially support UN Special Envoy Martin Koblers plan for a national unity government as a precondition for military intervention, British, French and Italian intelligence and special forces are already operating in a competing game on the ground in Libya. The latest update, according to Italian media, is that the Rome government has secretly sent 50 intelligence personnel and will send another 50.

Today, a warning was issued by the Foreign Minister of the Libyan Dawn coalition, the so-called Tripoli government, which opposes the Kobler deal. Ali Ramadan Abuzaakouk said in an interview with Corriere della Sera today: if you want to intervene you need our permission.

Ali Ramadan Abuzaakouk is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and claims that they want to fight ISIS. However, they reject the Kobler deal and accuse him of continuing the pro-Egypt, pro-U.A.E. agenda.

"We agree that Italy takes the leadership of an international intervention in the war against emerging ISIS forces in Libya. But beware: Any military action in the country must be agreed upon in detail with our government in Tripoli and our military forces on the ground. If this is not the case, any kind of operation would turn from a legitimate fight against terrorism into a clear violation of our national sovereignty."

In the background of all this, is the report that Britain, France and Italy have a plan to partition Libya. The British would get Cyrenaica, the French Fezzan and the Italians Tripolitania. The latter is a lit fuse, as the interview with Ali Ramadan indicates.
PRESS RELEASE

Millions More Refugees Will Come, If There Is No Economic Development

March 3, 2016 (EIRNS)Returning from his tour of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, German Development Minister Gerd Muller told Evangelischer Pressedienst (EPD) March 1 that it is high time for the world community to increase investments in the crisis-ridden developing sector countries. Particularly for the North African countries, an economic partnership of an entirely new dimension is required, he said,

"to strengthen the Mediterranean states in our immediate neighborhood ... and thereby stabilize them in their present situation of transformation."

"If we dont do this, hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions will come to us in the next years," Muller warned, continuing that, whereas the ongoing discussion in Germany focusses on the conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, "there are beyond that, of course, conflict and crisis hotspots affecting us in the medium term. I think of Ukraine, which we should not forget, or of states such as South Sudan or the Central African Republic." It is also necessary to provide assistance to stabilize these countries.

His own ministry, Muller explained, has tripled its support programs for refugees in the past two years, spending 1 billion now.

"1 billion is a lotif Europe would increase this sum to 1010 billion, which I consider necessary, we could offer hundreds of thousands a perspective onsite [in their home countries],"

Mueller said.
Mortality is hot. Although the act of dying has largely been moved from our homes and daily lives into the sequestered, antiseptic realm of hospitals and hospices, memoirs grappling with impending death have proliferated, bringing mortal knowledge home in a new way.

Two doctors, Oliver Sacks and Paul Kalanithi, recently wrote beautifully and unflinchingly about their struggles with insurmountable cancer, as did Christopher Hitchens. This year, Marion Coutts The Iceberg, an intense account of her husbands death from a brain tumor, joined a raft of gorgeous spousal tributes, including Joan Didions The Year of Magical Thinking, John Bayleys Elegy for Iris, and Calvin Trillins About Alice.

Katie Roiphes The Violet Hour, which takes its shimmering title from T.S. Eliots The Waste Land, is an analytical blend of journalism, literary criticism and memoir that  like her earlier book, Uncommon Arrangements, about unconventional literary marriages  tackles a personal obsession. By closely examining the demise of five writers who have long fascinated her, Roiphe hopes to defang death, which has haunted her since an early brush with mortality when she was 12. She focuses on Susan Sontag, Sigmund Freud, John Updike, Dylan Thomas and Maurice Sendak, although she acknowledges that there were many more who tempted her, including Honore de Balzac, Leo Tolstoy and Virginia Woolf.

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Each essay begins at deaths door, rolls back time to explore the writers attitudes toward mortality before they were up against it, and finally describes their final moments on this mortal coil. Like death, the essays end with startling abruptness.

In my head I think of what I am doing as biography backward, a whole unfurling from a death, Roiphe writes in her prologue, which explains her therapeutic impetus and provides such a detailed summary of her project that the actual essays occasionally seem redundant.

Drawing on the writers work, letters and interviews with their families, friends and caretakers, her book is at once scholarly, literary, juicy  and unabashedly personal. But despite Roiphes admiration for her subjects work, these portraits are no hagiographies.

Sontag, the only woman of the group, is depicted as self-mythologizing, attention-seeking and the fiercest death-denier. In her essay Illness as Metaphor, Sontag argued for clarity, rational thought, and medical information when confronting disease  as opposed to romantic mythologizing. This was clearly Sontags no-holds-barred approach to her multiple cancer diagnoses. Roiphe argues that Sontags odds-defying survival of stage 4 breast cancer in the 1970s and uterine cancer in 1998 fed into her long-standing idea of herself as exceptional.

These earlier survivals also fed Sontags fierce determination to fight the blood cancer with which she was diagnosed in 2004. Despite her doctors hopeless prognosis, the 71-year-old writer dragged herself  and her loyal but skeptical support team  through miserable, aggressive treatments, including a torturous, doomed bone marrow transplant.

Roiphes portrait of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas is more sympathetic, if hardly more flattering. We meet him the day before his death in 1953, in a coma at St. Vincents Hospital in Greenwich Village  possibly the result of downing 18 whiskeys in one night. With typical lively hyperbole, Roiphe writes, Half of literary New York was gathered outside his room, as if they were still at one of the roving drinks parties that sprang up spontaneously around him.

After setting the scene, she traces Thomas long-standing fascination and flirtation with death through his dissipated life and his ripe lyricism, exemplified so richly in his most famous poems, Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night and Fern Hill. Roiphe writes, At some point, the poets morbid and overblown fear of death transformed itself into barreling headlong toward it. Yet her portrait of this womanizing, self-destroyed escapologist is softened by her high regard for his lush language.

For Roiphe, John Updike has a different kind of appeal: I have a soft spot for those who try to defeat death with sex, she writes. In his early books, Updike wrote of sexual adventure as an antidote to death, a way of grasping at life. She captures him, diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in late 2008 at age 76, urgently struggling, transforming pain into honey once more in his final volume of poems, Endpoint.

To reconstruct her authors dying days, Roiphe had to press their survivors for private details, resulting in some intriguing portraits of a variety of caregivers. While Updikes second wife, Martha, comes across as a dismayingly fierce barrier between her husband and the family he abandoned for her, Roiphe describes Maurice Sendaks dedicated longtime live-in housekeeper and companion, Lynn Caponera, as a fantasy of a mother who would be eternally available  dispensing an unconditional and undemanding love.

Freud had his devoted daughter Anna in attendance, but he called the shots. Rational and analytic to the end, he refused painkillers stronger than aspirin for his excruciating throat cancer: I prefer to think in torment than not to be able to think clearly, he said. Unlike Sontag, he did not like the idea of prolonging life at all costs, Roiphe reports admiringly. In fact, like Sendak, he announced hed had enough when he was no longer able to work.

This unconventional, engaging book is clearly a form of therapy for Roiphe. As I was working on them, I found the portraits of these deaths hugely and strangely reassuring. The beauty of the life comes spilling out, she writes.

Readers are apt to find more emotional sustenance in searing first-person accounts of impending death like Kalanithis When Breath Becomes Air.

Although The Violet Hour is unlikely to move you to tears, it sure offers plenty of thought-provoking psycho-literary analysis and intimate biographical details to satisfy your morbid curiosity.

McAlpin reviews books regularly for NPR.org, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, among other publications.

::

The Violet Hour: Great Writers at the End

Katie Roiphe

Dial: 320 pp., $28
Go figure. Just when you thought the Supreme Courts new lineup might turn it more consumer-friendly, the eight-member court went and blew a hole in one of the most promising new approaches to healthcare cost transparency.

The issue in Gobeille vs. Liberty Mutual, which was decided Tuesday, was whether Vermont could require all payers for healthcare, including insurers and self-insuring employers, to report to a state-run database what they pay to every hospital or doctor for every claim. The court answered no.

[Large insurers] often get better deals with providers, but ... dont tend to pass these savings to patients -- something they might not want the public or regulators to know.  Yevgeniy Feyman and Austin Frakt, on the consequences of the Supreme Courts Gobeille ruling

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Vermonts goal was to give planners and consumers a clearer idea of what every doctor and hospital charges for every procedure. This is a key to the nirvana of consumer-driven healthcare and to holding costs down, because those ends cant be met unless the actual costs are known. Information about what providers charge patients is the most closely guarded secret in the healthcare industry. Vermont was one of 18 states attempting to compile whats known as an all-payer claims database.

The courts decision was not a conservative-liberal split, but 6 to 2, with liberal Justices Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan joining the majority opinion written by Justice Anthony Kennedy. Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor dissented.

At the heart of the split was not ideology but the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, or ERISA, which governs retirement and health insurance benefits and involves perhaps the most far-reaching preemption of state law in the federal code. Its so broad, indeed, that the court has on occasion tried to place modest bounds on the preemption out of fear that otherwise preemption would never run its course, as the court observed in a 1995 case. But not this time.

ERISA long has been held to govern health insurance benefits offered by self-insuring employers, which cover 60% of all workers. The original plaintiff, Liberty Mutual Insurance Co., refused to comply with the Vermont rule because it self-insured its own workforce, numbering 60,000 employees in all 50 states.

Other payers are still subject to Vermonts law and presumably those of the other states that have set up all-payer databases. But cutting out the self-insureds effectively makes those databases useless.

Instead of a vital resource for policymakers and researchers, all-payer claims databases are likely to become partial and misleading repositories of healthcare prices, writes Nicholas Bagley of the University of Michigan law school.

The reason, according to an amicus brief from the American Hospital Assn. cited by Bagley, is that different industries self-insure at different rates"-- 20% of employers in construction and agriculture self-insure, while 55% of retailers do. To the extent that construction workers have different healthcare needs than retail workers, excluding self-insured claims from these databases will skew the picture painted of the population, by overcounting workers in industries that tend not to self-insure and undercounting those that do.

Health policy experts Yevgeniy Feyman of the Manhattan Institute and Austin Frakt of Veterans Affairs describe what may be lost as a result of the Gobeille ruling: the ability to create cost-estimation tools enabling patients, especially those in high-deductible plans who pay large portions of their costs out-of-pocket, to assess the real cost of their care and make better decisions about it.

Who benefits from the ruling? Feyman and Frakt point to large, consolidated hospital systems, which usually provide higher-cost care and large insurers, who often get better deals with providers, but ... dont tend to pass these savings to patients -- something they might not want the public or regulators to know.

There may be ways to get around the ruling. One suggestion came from Justice Breyer, in his concurring opinion. He said the secretary of Labor, who oversees ERISA, could issue rules allowing self-insured plans to provide data to the states. Congress could also amend the law.

Bagley is pessimistic that either option could happen, at least in the near term. He thinks the piece that needs fixing is ERISA, whose preemption power he argues has been given too much range by the courts. ERISA, he says, was never designed to prevent the states from overseeing their own healthcare markets, which look nothing like they did back in 1974. In her dissenting opinion, Ginsburg agreed, arguing that Vermonts demands didnt come close to infringing on ERISAs goals. The ERISA preemption doctrine, she wrote, belongs in the discard bin.

Nevertheless, Bagley says, the statute is a political third rail: I cant remember even a half-serious proposal from any politician urging that its preemptive scope be restrained. The spectacle of its inadvertently interfering with efforts by 18 states to make their healthcare markets more transparent for the benefit of consumers should, in a sensible world, spur lawmakers to bring ERISA up to date.

Yet there are no signs of the dime dropping. As frustrating as it is, Bagley concludes, it seems that were stuck with ERISA -- and with the Supreme Courts wrongheaded interpretation of it.

Keep up to date with Michael Hiltzik. Follow @hiltzikm on Twitter, see our Facebook page, or email michael.hiltzik@latimes.com.
Women have long been portrayed in art as inscrutable ciphers, from the ancient Greek Kore statues with their tight smiles to the Mona Lisa. But photographer Flor Garduno plays with those enigmatic representations, showing women as not only idealized and mysterious creatures but also powerful and self-fulfilled beings.

Mujeres Fantasticas (Fantastic Women) is one of three themes richly explored in the Garduno exhibition Trilogy at the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego through May 29. The shows 96 works include pieces shot in Poland, the artists native Mexico and in Switzerland, where she spends part of the year.

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Gardunos art is informed by her heritage but transcends borders, said Deborah Klochko, the museums executive director.

Her work is exquisite, Klochko said Its well crafted. Its mysterious and evocative.

Reached by phone in Mexico City, Garduno said in Spanish that the Trilogy groupings  women, beasts and what she calls silent natures  reflect her interests throughout her career. Born in 1957 in Mexico City, Garduno studied visual art and then began working as a photographer in the early 1980s, when she landed a job taking pictures for the Ministry of Education. She gained recognition in Mexico first, then in the U.S. and in Europe, for photos of indigenous people, portraits and nudes, and for her street photography and still lifes.

Many photos evoke myth and magic through unexpected pairings.

Rapto, Suiza, from 2008, suggests female and animal strength, either as complements or perhaps as competitors. It shows a woman from behind, her body covered in a gauzy veil that billows in the wind. The birds broad wings seem to be lifting off from her hand. Its impossible to tell where animal ends and woman begins. She could be about to take flight, or she could be anchoring the bird. Is the woman human or divine?

The part of the exhibition themed Bestiarium explores animals and includes an image taken in Mexico in 1987. A man holds a bull by a rope, and a goat stands on the bull. The goat was known for standing on cows and bulls, and the photographer just captured the moment.
Fifteen years ago, Roy Battocchios Thicker Than Water had its world premiere at Theatre West and quickly became one of the most popular offerings in the now-53-year-old theaters history.

The play has returned to test its durability as a crowd pleaser. Theres little denying that Thicker is thin, with a sitcom-light premise and stereotypical characters that sometimes burst the seams of believability. But even though Battocchios one-liners sometimes land with a thud, director Stu Berg and an able cast glean their fair share of laughs in a mostly charming production.

Successful Hollywood television writer Tommy Corelli (Joseph Bongiovanni) has returned to the bosom of his Italian American family for the first time in years. Tommy thinks his dad, Dominick (Vincent Palmieri), is gravely ill, but his siblings, Carmine (Johnny Ferretti) and Marie (Heather Alyse Becker) soon admit that story was a ruse to get Tommys help with something else. It seems that their Aunt Gertrude (Constance Mellors), wife of Dominicks henpecked brother Albert (David Mingrino), is about to take over the familys construction business and put them all out of work.

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Carmine and Marie have a drastic solution that will make the whole problem go away, but theyre not the only ones with bright ideas, and Tommy soon finds himself the stooge in a triple-whammy of lame-brained plots that seem certain to end in disaster.

Jeff G. Racks wonderfully detailed set is the ideal setting for this blue-collar clan, whose taste extends only as far homemade marinara. Among the cast, Maria Kress stands out as Carmines sweetly dotty schoolteacher girlfriend, while Mary Garripoli delights as a warmly nurturing matriarch with a matter-of-fact murderous streak. Jack Kutcher plays a doddering doctor. Anchored by Bongiovannis deadpan performance, the performers tear into their roles as if they were playing grand opera -- just the right tack for their overblown material.

-----------

Thicker Than Water

Where: Theatre West, 3333 Cahuenga Blvd. West, Los Angeles

When: 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. Ends March 20.

Tickets: $25

Info: (323) 851-7977, www.theatrewest.org

Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes
Colliding Dreams is a film of ideas and a film of history, a thorough and engrossing look at the root causes of the tortured relationship between Israel and the Palestinians. But as far as its title goes, Collapsing Dream would have been a more accurate choice.

As co-directed by veteran documentarians Joseph Dorman (Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness, Arguing the World) and Oren Rudavsky (Hiding and Seeking), Colliding Dreams does in part concern itself with the conflicting hunger of two peoples for the same sliver of land.

Talking only to people who live in the land in question, Colliding Dreams interviews thoughtful and articulate individuals on all sides of the issue, including Israelis like historian Benny Morris and novelist A.B. Yehoshua and Palestinians like PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi.

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They all examine a situation comparable to, as someone vividly puts it, jumping out of a window of a burning house only to land on someone elses head.

But despite the many Palestinians it talks to, the films subtext is a mournful and distinctly Israeli one as it concerns itself more and more with the gradual death of the dream of secular Zionism.

How did a hopeful, idealistic movement whose symbol was the kibbutz collective farm become a state viewed in some quarters as an oppressor whose symbol is settlements of questionable legality? How did a movement that wanted to normalize Jewish existence, to create kinship with other peoples of the world end up, as one witness says, not escaping the ghetto but instead building a bigger one?

Colliding Dreams begins by underlining how crazy the dream of a homeland for the worlds dispersed Jews was when it began in the 19th century. To be a Zionist it is not necessary to be mad, Chaim Weizmann, Israels first president, memorably said. But it helps.

Inspired by theoreticians like Leon Pinsker and Theodor Herzl, European Jews began returning to the former lands of Israel after the dream of a peaceful life in Europe via assimilation did not lead to promised acceptance by the wider world.

The first aliyah, or wave of Jewish immigration, came in the wake of 1881 pogroms and the second came after the failed Russian Revolution of 1905. The British had apparently offered Europes Jews the land of Uganda instead of Palestine, but nothing but the former Jewish homeland would do.

The problem with that homeland, however, was that another people were already living in it. As an early Zionist wrote back to colleagues in Europe in a kind of code, the girl is beautiful but she is already engaged.

Their desperation increased by the Holocaust, Jews after World War II felt they had no other place to go. Palestine Liberation Organization spokesperson Ashrawi sees it differently: Though superficially a success, Israel is a failure because it exists on the negation of Palestinians as human beings with rights.

Things came to a head in 1947, when a civil war erupted after the United Nations voted to partition Palestine. Arab states invaded in 1948, and the film explores the thorny question of whether Palestinians were expelled or simply left. When the dust settled, 700,000 Palestinians were left homeless, Egypt and Jordan claimed their land, and they came to use the word Nakba, or catastrophe, to describe their plight.

One of the most interesting points Colliding Dreams makes is that because partition had not been a problem for secular Zionists, from the establishment of the state until 1967 the word was not on everyones lips.

Then, in 1967, the Six-Day War brought all of historic Palestine under Israeli control. This led the influential Rav Zvi Yehudah Kook to embrace Zionism as part of a divine plan, to give the previously secular movement a religious, Messianic cast. That feeling intensified and led to religious settlements on the West Bank after Israels victory in 1973s Yom Kippur War.

While nonreligious Zionists quoted in the film felt this was going backwards, turning a state into a movement, religious Zionism grew ever stronger. If secular Zionists felt that having a Jewish state was a right, religious Zionists felt it was a religious obligation, a belief that led to the pivotal assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

Colliding Dreams, with its more than 30 articulate talking heads supplemented by more erratic person in the street interviews, tells this tragic, compelling story in a completely straightforward way. If we blow this opportunity, American-born writer Hillel Halkin says frankly near the conclusion, we dont deserve to go on.

------------

For the Record

March 3, 6:16 p.m.: An earlier version of this review misspelled Hillel Halkins last name as Hankin.

Twitter: @KennethTuran



------------

Colliding Dreams

MPAA rating: None

Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes

Playing: Laemmle Royal, West Los Angeles; Town Center 5, Encino; Regal Westpark, Irvine
It arrives as a singularly Scandinavian cinematic offering that until last year had somehow never materialized on theater screens: the fiord disaster movie.

Inspired by epic-scale catastrophe classics  Twister and Armageddon among them  as well as real-life historical events, director Roar Uthaug set out to make The Wave, a disaster thriller that became a blockbuster in his native Norway and created a sensation upon its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2015.

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Wrapping white-knuckle spectacle around a Spielberg-esque domestic drama, the $6-million film, which opens Friday, follows a simple premise: What if an avalanche dumped millions of tons of rock into a fiord, triggering a tsunami? Given just 10 minutes warning, how would people living around an idyllic inlet escape cataclysmic destruction?

I grew up watching Hollywood disaster movies and I think we, as European filmmakers, have a lot to learn from Hollywood, Uthaug, 42, said by phone from Oslo. I wanted to take the genre of a disaster movie and set that in something familiar to us Norwegians. The fact that these events have happened here before  and will happen here in the future  it was a great starting-off point.

Until his longtime producing partner passed the director a newspaper article about the phenomenon, however, Uthaug admits he gave little thought to Norways unusual topography  or its narrative potential. With more than 300 unstable mountainsides and nearly 1,200 fiords, geologists believe the kind of ruination so vividly rendered in The Wave is close to inevitable.

Moreover, rockslide tsunamis have struck the country several times before; in 1934, the town of Tafjord was devastated by such an event that killed 40 people. And as recently as 2014, a tsunami hitting the tiny hamlet Nord-Statland forced evacuations and resulted in widespread property damage. For most Norwegians, its not something youre aware of, said Uthaug, who consulted with geologists, historians, search-and-rescue responders and tsunami experts during pre-production.

The Wave follows Kristian (Kristoffer Joner), an earthquake specialist at an emergency early-warning detection center, whos in the process of moving his preemptively homesick tween-age daughter and emo skateboarder son away from the postcard-perfect tourist town Geiranger to the city for a prestigious corporate job. His wife, Idun (Ane Dahl Torp), meanwhile, works the late shift at a hotel in town.

But after off-the-chart seismic readings prompt Kristian to push the panic button  thereby sending the local populace scrambling for higher ground  he must race against the clock to reunite his family or condemn them all to a watery grave.

To hear it from Torp, a popular film and TV actress in Norway, Uthaugs emphasis was always on fleshing out a human story at the center of the action. We were watching dailies on the monitor, showing the happy family in the beginning of the film, she recalled. And I watched his eyes cracking, turning red. Then he said with utter delight and anticipation, Ooh, its so painful to know all the horrors they will be exposed to in a little while! That proved to me not only how much Roar loved the characters in his film but also his true instincts for his genre.

For many industry observers, though, the movies price tag is nearly as eye-popping as the 80-meter-high wall of water seen rampaging between steep mountains in The Wave. Thanks to strict financial discipline that belies its production values, Uthaug kept costs almost shockingly low. That included a variety of computer-generated shots of big-wave destruction that wouldnt look out of place in a Roland Emmerichs disaster-porn filmography as well as weeks of production in Bucharest, Romania, for a terrifying sequence in the submerged hotel. There, 40,000-liter tip tanks flooded the sets with water. And the actors, who trained with diving instructors before production, performed their own stunts.

Before we started shooting I was terrified, said Torp, who learned to hold her breath for up to three minutes for the shoot. Being wet and in water 12 hours a day for two weeks was totally exhausting. I talked to my husband on Skype every day, and he thought I was drunk because I was so torn up every night.

For his part, Uthaug remains uncontrite about what he put the actors through: It helped. It added that tension to the scenes  the reality we were looking for.

Named one of Variety magazines 10 European Directors to Watch in 2013, Uthaug began making films in eighth grade and received his degree from the Norwegian Film School in Lillehammer. His films have spanned the cultural spectrum: from childrens fantasy (Magic Silver, 2009) to slasher-horror (Cold Prey, 2006) to medieval thriller (Escape, 2012) to, now, Nordic catastrophe drama.

And since breaking away from the kind of minutely observed art-house dramas that have defined most Norwegian cinematic output to date, the director remains agnostic about using genre in the service of good, old fashioned storytelling. What Im after is engaging the audience and finding characters I care about, Uthaug said. Im just interested in taking the audience on an emotional roller-coaster ride. If thats through action or disaster or sci-fi, Im open.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Hollywood began blowing up his phone after The Wave received critical hosannas in Toronto and was chosen to represent Norway in the Academy Awards foreign-language film category. In November, co-distributors MGM and Warner Bros. hired Uthaug to direct a reboot of the video game movie adaptation Tomb Raider.

Two installments of the shoot-'em-up travelogue starring Angelina Jolie as the titular British archaeologist  Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) and 2003s Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life  combined to gross $421 million. While the soft-spoken Uthaug is excited to put his mark on the franchise in his first non-Norwegian film, he refuses to divulge details about the project. Except, that is, to place Lara Croft within a continuum of strong female characters in blockbuster action-adventure movies that includes Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games movies, Tris Prior in The Divergent Series and Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

She was one of the characters who started it all, Uthaug says of Croft. So Im very proud to be a part of this.

Likewise, he is proud to have exploded the scope of what Norwegian cinema can be  even if that has meant putting forward the idea of his homeland as a place of impending fiord destruction. Hopefully it wont keep people from coming here, he said with a short laugh. It hasnt kept Norwegian people from living in those areas.

calendar@latimes.com
Im Davan Maharaj, editor of the Los Angeles Times. Here are some story lines I dont want you to miss today.

TOP STORIES

Grand Old Parting

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Were used to candidates of the same party tearing each other apart in debates. Case in point: last night in Detroit, where the insults flew yet again. But the Republican Party establishment is taking things to another level in the effort to stop Donald Trump. Mitt Romney, the 2012 nominee, called Trump a phony, a fraud in a speech. John McCain, the 2008 nominee, echoed that in a statement. But will the GOPs risky strategy work or just manage to make voters even angrier?

Rodney King, the Man and the Myth

Lora King was 7 years old on March 3, 1991, when her dad, on parole and drunk, was beaten in Lakeview Terrace. When he came home and she saw his battered body, I was terrified, she recalled. And though he became a public figure both celebrated and vilified, he was still very much human. Here is a look at the private life of Rodney King, as told by his daughter, and his legacy. How has the discussion of police brutality changed? Join the conversation.

Why the D.A.'s Office Dropped This Case

Between 2001 and 2005, Irwindale officials went to New York to get better bond ratings. They also saw the musicals Wicked and Phantom of the Opera, stayed at the Ritz-Carlton and treated themselves to steak dinners  ultimately on the citys dime. Outrage and a corruption case against three of them ensued. But last week, the L.A. County district attorneys office said it could no longer proceed. This is how the D.A.'s Public Integrity Division suffered its latest setback.

Fight On! for Financial Aid

How much will it cost to attend USC next year? $51,442 for tuition and an additional $841 in fees, which is sure to put it in the running for most expensive in the U.S. Add books and living expenses, and the total cost is nearly $70,000 a year. Before you rename it the University of Scary Costs, though, the school says almost two-thirds of undergraduates receive financial aid. Heres more about the high cost of being a Trojan Family member.

Serbias Theater of Occupation

They stormed the Star Cinema in Belgrade with crowbars, walkie-talkies and flashlights. Their logo: a clenched fist, clutching a length of film. A small band of cineastes has occupied the dilapidated theater for 15 months now, screening up to three films a day. Read on for more about a protest thats drawn the attention of a French director and the Greek prime minister.

CALIFORNIA

-- After a Times report on a sharp rise in mental competency cases, L.A. County supervisors are calling for an analysis.

-- San Bernardino families ask a judge to force Apple to unlock an iPhone.

-- Facebook comments about killing Donald Trump could mean deportation for an Egyptian student.

-- Rain and snow are headed our way again this weekend, forecasters say.

'

NATION-WORLD

-- Are Canadians worried about an influx of Trump-hating U.S. refugees? Eh.

-- Secretary of State John F. Kerry cancels a trip to Cuba amid haggling on human rights.

-- Londons mayor reacts to French threats over a possible Brexit: Donnez-moi un break.

-- Barack Obama says he plans to stay in Washington after his presidency so his daughter can finish school.

-- To help quadriplegics, monkeys navigate a wheelchair with their minds.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

-- Christian Bale talks about working without a traditional script for Knight of Cups.

-- Review: Zootopia is a beastly good time at the movies.

-- Los Angeles is the guest of honor at Jonathan Golds table in the documentary City of Gold.

-- Graffiti artist Shamsia Hassani is giving Afghan women a voice despite the danger.

-- How Robert Mapplethorpe went from Americas pariah to Americas sweetheart.

-- AMC Entertainment plans to buy Carmike Cinemas, to create North Americas largest movie theater chain.

BUSINESS

-- Michael Hiltzik: How severe is the retirement crisis? These six charts spell it out.

-- Disney chief Robert Iger defends ESPNs performance.

-- David Lazarus: Scam victims arent dumb; theyre only human.

SPORTS

-- Though the Inglewood football stadium isnt built yet, it could host the Super Bowl in 2020 or 2021.

-- Dodgers pitcher Brett Anderson will have back surgery and be out three to five months.

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

-- The mysterious letters of a doll dealer suspected of being a World War II spy. (Smithsonian)

-- Russian debt collectors resort to ugly tactics such as Molotov cocktails. (Bloomberg)

-- A writer recounts her journey to the onetime French home of author James Baldwin. (BuzzFeed)

ONLY IN CALIFORNIA

This is the stuff hoop dreams are made of. As Eric Sondheimer told us about in November, the Chino Hills High School basketball team loves to run and gun  and they are led by three brothers with the last name of Ball. The 30-0 Huskies are now ranked No. 1 in the U.S., and on Saturday night theyll hit the Honda Center. Heres why Sondheimer calls the team the best basketball entertainment in Southern California.

Please send comments and ideas to Davan Maharaj.
A prostate cancer drug developed at UCLA will provide hundreds of millions of dollars for research under a record-setting deal announced Friday by university officials.

Royalty Pharma, a New York-based pharmaceutical investment company, paid $1.14 billion for royalty rights to the drug known as Xtandi. It was the largest-ever technology transfer deal involving a University of California invention.

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FOR THE RECORD

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11:02 a.m.: A previous version of this article identified the firm involved in the deal as Royal Pharma and described it as a pharmaceutical company. The companys name is Royalty Pharma, and it is a pharmaceutical investment company.

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UCLA pocketed $520 million of the proceeds for its 43.9% ownership stake in the drug. The funds will be placed in a portfolio that is expected to generate $60 million a year to fund campus research, scholarships for undergraduates and fellowships for graduate students. The annual haul will continue until 2027, when major patents on the drug expire.

The money will help UCLA offset declining federal dollars for basic research and diminished state support for general operations, campus officials said.

UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said the sale allows the university to serve one of its essential missions  funding and generating research with practical applications that serve the public good.

Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in America, affecting about one in seven men at some point in their lives. Last year, more than 220,000 new cases were diagnosed in the U.S., and about 27,540 men died of the disease, according to the American Cancer Society.

The work that led to Xtandi began in the early 2000s, when researchers pressed to understand why prostate cancer tumors sometimes continued to grow even when drugs were able to suppress testosterone, the hormone that fuels the malignant cells.

Xtandi, also known by the generic name enzalutamide, prevents testosterone from latching on to prostate cancer cells. With less fuel, the cancer cells cant grow as well.

In clinical trials, men with metastatic prostate cancer who took the drug lived longer  and in some cases were able to delay chemotherapy treatments  compared to similar patients who took a placebo.

UCLA patented the key chemical compound and, in 2005, licensed it to Medivation Inc. of San Francisco. The company received FDA approval to market Xtandi as a prostate cancer medication in 2012 and reported $1.9 billion in worldwide sales of the drug in 2015.

Xtandi generated $33.3 million in royalties and other income for the University of California last year, more than any other UC-developed drug.

Still, experts from Westwood Technology Transfer, a not-for-profit advisory board launched by UCLA 18 months ago to help the university squeeze more value out of its patents, recommended the deal with Royal Pharma. Tom Unterman, the boards chairman, noted that revenue could drop at any time if drug prices were to fall or better therapies become available.

It was deemed prudent to [cash out] the royalty interests, Unterman said. (Earlier in his career, Unterman served as chief financial officer for Times Mirror Co., The Times former owner.)

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Xtandi is hardly the first blockbuster drug to emerge from research labs in Westwood.

UCLA pharmacologist Louis J. Ignarros studies of nitric oxides role in the body won him the Nobel Prize in medicine and led to the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra.

And Dr. Dennis Slamon spent years investigating the role of genetic mutations in breast cancer, resulting in the drug Herceptin, which targets a mutation seen in about one in four women with breast cancer.

UCLA never received royalty payments for either of these drugs. Westwood Technology Transfer aims to help UCLA structure its research programs so that opportunities like these arent overlooked again, Unterman said.

The research on Xtandi was led by chemist Michael Jung, who has been at UCLA since 1974, and Dr. Charles Sawyers, now at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. The two men and six other researchers will share equally in the proceeds from their 37.5% stake in the drugs royalty interest.

The remaining 19% was owned by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which helped fund Sawyers work.

teresa.watanabe@latimes.com

Twitter: @TeresaWatanabe

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USC, always striving to reach new heights, is set to cross a dubious milestone: Tuition for the 2016-2017 academic year will surpass $50,000 for the first time.

With a price tag of $51,442 for tuition and an additional $841 in fees, USC is sure to be in the running for the unofficial title of most expensive place in the country to get a college degree. According to U.S. News & World Report, Vassar College in New York won that honor for the current school year by charging $51,300 in tuition and fees. Even Harvard, that paragon of academic excellence, charges undergraduates a mere $45,278 in tuition and fees.

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The bigger tuition bill comes as USC is rising both in academic reputation and as a financial powerhouse. In two decades, it has climbed from 51st to 23rd in U.S. News & World Reports rankings of national universities. Its now in the midst of a $6-billion fundraising drive.

Were competing with the Stanfords and the Ivy League schools of the world, and when youre competing for best faculty in the world, thats expensive, said USC Provost Michael Quick. As we build infrastructure, thats expensive.

Still, tuition hikes have been controversial on campus, with USCs student government passing a resolution in the fall asking administrators to institute a tuition freeze.

USC officials released the new tuition figure this week. The tuition alone is $1,978 higher than what current students are charged. Its also significantly more than Stanfords $45,729 tab and the $47,600 students are charged at Yale.

Factoring in the cost of books and living expenses, the total cost for one Trojan year will be almost $70,000, USC officials estimate.

Luckily, that eye-popping amount doesnt necessarily tell you much about actual affordability, said Robert Shireman, a senior fellow with the Century Foundation think tank. The sticker price is only relevant to people with very high incomes.

Indeed, almost two-thirds of USC undergraduates receive financial aid, according to the university.

Last year, USC students received nearly $480 million in financial aid, including $275 million in school grants and scholarships, $22 million in federal grants and $132 million in federal and private loans, according to school figures.

That means USC graduates are leaving Los Angeles with less student debt. Members of USCs class of 2014 who took out loans owed about $28,500 when they graduated, on average, according to the school. Nationwide, students who graduated from U.S. colleges that same year  and borrowed money to earn their degrees  owed an average of nearly $29,000, according to a study by the nonprofit Institute for College Access and Success in Oakland.

Overall, 45% of USC students take on debt. Thats a relatively low number, according to Debbie Cochrane, the institutes director of research.

Other wealthy schools had even lower student debt figures. For example, the 23% of Stanford students who graduated with debt owed about $19,000, according to the institute.

Alarm bells will go off

for students and families over tuition, but its only part of the picture, Cochrane said.

Quick said school administrators try to keep increases as low as possible while also funding needed programming and capital projects, including renovations to the universitys science labs and increasing mental health counseling services and job placement services.

Our students and parents are expecting value in their education, and the bottom line is it sometimes takes money to provide that value, Quick said.

Quick said he and other administrators monitor data on student debt to make sure that cost increases dont go too far and try to find donors for many of the projects. .

Were always mindful of the cost to students, he said.

For the current academic year, USC is the 12th most costly private university in the nation, according to U.S. News.

USC has been moving steadily toward the $50,000 milestone since 1968. That was the last time university trustees opted not to raise tuition, according to figures compiled by members of the schools student government.

The student leaders, in seeking the tuition freeze, noted that the University of California hasnt raised

its tuition in the last five years.

Rini Sampath, USCs student body president, said she was frustrated that administrators went the other way. They also ignored other parts of the student government resolution, including a request to set up a website that would explain how tuition money is spent, among other things.

It feels like we didnt really get anywhere, Sampath said.

jason.song@latimes.com

Twitter: @byjsong

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An investigation into the hanging of San Bernardino County sheriffs deputies in effigy has so far resulted in the arrests of more than two dozen people, the department announced Thursday.

On Wednesday, deputies arrested 27 people on outstanding warrants, as well as new criminal activity that included drug offenses and assault on a peace officer, according to Gil Flores, a San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department spokesman.

No one arrested Wednesday was charged in connection with the hanging of effigies, authorities said.

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The roundup occurred in the communities of Crestline and Valley of Enchantment, where authorities had previously discovered mannequins hanging from trees. The mannequins had been painted with bulls-eyes and bore the names of sheriffs deputies and other law enforcement officials.

None of the people arrested Wednesday were accused of hanging the mannequins, officials said. Detectives are continuing to investigate the incident.

The first of slightly more than a half-dozen effigies were reported on Feb. 18. They had been found hanging by rope, near a school bus stop and other locations in Crestline and Cedarpines Park.

A bulls-eye was painted on seven mannequins, along with the names of current and former deputies from the Twin Peaks station of the Sheriffs Department, near Lake Arrowhead. The name of a San Bernardino County probation officer was also scrawled on one of the mannequins.

On Tuesday, investigators said they had arrested as many as four people in connection with the hanging effigies.

Sarah Stewart, whom Flores described as a known criminal with ties to white supremacist gang members, was identified as the person responsible. Stewart, 36, and another suspect, Erin Elder, were seen loading mannequins into U-Haul van on the night of incident, Flores said.

They were arrested Saturday at a home in the 300 block of Davos Drive in Crestline.

Elder, 47, was arrested on suspicion of child cruelty after deputies found methamphetamine inside the pairs home, Flores said.

Stewart was arrested on suspicion of threatening an officer in order to prevent duties, criminal threats against an officer and criminal activity to promote the reputation of a street gang, authorities said. She is also being held on suspicion of cruelty to a child.

Times staff writer Sarah Parvini contributed to this post.

For breaking news in California, follow VeronicaRochaLA

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An Egyptian student at a Southern California flight school who was facing deportation for a Facebook threat against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will be allowed to leave the country voluntarily, an immigration agency spokeswoman said.

During a hearing Friday morning at U.S. Immigration Court in downtown Los Angeles, Judge Kevin Riley granted Emad Elsayed voluntary departure to return to his home country. He will be escorted by officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said Virginia Kice, an agency spokeswoman.

Elsayed remains in custody and must leave the United States in 120 days, she said.

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His attorney, Hani Bushra, asked the judge to grant bond, which was denied. Bushra said his client felt that he had no other option than to leave the country voluntarily. He will return to Cairo where his family lives, Bushra said.

He made a mistake he regrets, Bushra said. He will regret it for a long, long time.

Elsayed, 23, was taken into custody Feb. 12 by ICE officers for allegedly violating the terms of his admission to the United States, Kice said. Elsayed was arrested at a flight training school and is being held in an Orange County jail.

Elsayed posted an article on Facebook on Feb. 3 about Trump calling to ban all Muslims from entering the United States and the flight student included his own comment, Bushra said. In that comment, according to a court filing that sought to keep him in custody, Elsayed said he would not mind being sentenced to life in prison for killing Trump.

You cant make a threat against a major presidential candidate, especially when you are a guest in this country, said Claude Arnold, retired special agent in charge of ICE Homeland Security Investigations in Los Angeles. These things get investigated and taken seriously regardless of a persons nationality or religious background.

Bushra said that the day after Elsayeds post on Facebook, U.S. Secret Service agents turned up at the flight academy where Elsayed had been training to become a pilot; the school owner had reported the Facebook comment to federal authorities. The agents questioned Elsayed about the post and it was obviously not a serious comment, Bushra said, noting that he could find thousands of similar comments on social media.

Elsayeds student visa was revoked after his flight school, Universal Air Academy in El Monte, withdrew its support for his visa, his attorney said. Without an educational institutions backing, a student loses that immigration status and can be kicked out of the country.

Bushra said the owner of the flight school has now signed a statement saying that he is willing to reinstate Elsayed, who came to the United States last September to study for a pilots license and paid $41,000 in tuition, the lawyer said.

When Bushra tried to get Elsayed released from custody, the lawyer said, the government cited Elsayeds statement about Trump as evidence that he is a danger to society and should not be released. At this point, he said, his client wants to get out of jail and get back some of his tuition money.

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A federal law enforcement source who was not authorized to discuss the case publicly said that when Elsayed was interviewed by a Secret Service agent, he did not withdraw the statement.

Secret Service officials declined to comment.

There has been heightened scrutiny of U.S. flights schools since some of the 9/11 hijackers who flew commercial airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon attended such schools before the attacks.

Alex Khatib, owner of Universal Air Academy, told the Associated Press that federal agents detained Elsayed and federal officials asked him to terminate paperwork from the school that made the student eligible to study for a pilots license.

Los Angeles Times staff writer Richard Winton contributed to this post.

Twitter: @bposton

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The Valiente family is uneasy.

It has been nearly two months since its matriarch, 85-year-old Encarnacion Valiente, was fatally run down near Koreatown by a tour bus filled with passengers returning from Morongo Casino.

After hitting the grandmother, the driver never stopped, instead continuing his journey and dropping off passengers nearly two miles away.

We just want justice. Even if he is guilty or not, just come forward, her daughter-in-law Mirna Valiente said Thursday. It was life. It was [a] person who was killed.

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Encarnacion Valiente, her son, Hugo, his wife, Mirna, and the couples two young sons had spent the day of Jan. 6 together at their home on Serrano Avenue. Hugo, Mirna and the children decided to run a quick errand and stock up on school supplies, leaving the house about 5:15 p.m. The elder Valiente stayed home.

Mirna Valiente believes thats when her mother-in-law probably stepped out for a walk, an activity she enjoyed.

Police believe the tour bus driver dropped off passengers at Western Avenue near Olympic Boulevard, then turned right and traveled two blocks before hitting Valiente.

She was crossing Olympic Boulevard at Serrano Avenue about 7:23 p.m. in a marked crosswalk when the tour bus struck her and continued on, said Los Angeles police investigator Juan Velasco.

Witnesses who saw the hit-and-run crash came to Valientes aid and called police, he said.

She was taken to an area hospital in grave condition. Nearly two hours later, she was pronounced dead.

The driver dropped the remaining passengers at Alvarado Street and Olympic Boulevard, Velasco said.

Investigators want to speak with those passengers and witnesses who saw the fatal crash.

The white tour bus with black stripes on both sides had tinted windows. The word Morongo was displayed on the bus.

Morongo Casino officials have provided investigators with a few leads, which Velasco said he is pursuing. So far, none of the witnesses who have come forward have been able to provide a description of the driver or a license plate number, he said.

Video footage showing the bus as it travels through Koreatown contains too few details to help authorities.

About 100 tour buses coming and going to different casinos roam the area on any given day, so tracking down the bus involved in Januarys fatal crash has been difficult, Velasco said.

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It is unclear whether the driver was aware that Valiente had been struck because it was raining heavily the night of the crash, he said. The driver may not have noticed the impact.

You are not going to feel the effects of hitting a pedestrian versus hitting a brick wall, Velasco said.

The Morongo Casino is served by independently owned tour coordinators and charter operators and does not own or operate its own tour buses, said spokesman Mike Fisher.

Encarnacion Valiente, a mother of two, came to the U.S. from her native Guatemala in the 1960s. She worked for more than 30 years as a housekeeper for a family in Beverly Hills.

After retiring, she lived with her son and his family, helping care for her grandsons, Kevin, 8, and Arnold, 12.

Her grandsons are now looking after her beloved dog, Nicolas, her daughter-in-law said.

Mirna Valiente said the dog has been a comfort to the boys.

They believe her dog was a gift she left for them so they can always remember her, she said.

veronica.rocha@latimes.com

For breaking news in California, follow @VeronicaRochaLA

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The busboy at Johns Incredible Pizza was not what he appeared to be.

Party Room No. 4 at the Buena Park eatery was buzzing with a childs birthday celebration on the afternoon of July 5, 2010.

Children bounced around and played. The adults munched on pizza and chocolate cake. A pizzeria worker blew up balloons in the corner.

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At the edge of the table sat Lonnie Franklin Jr., eating and chatting with the other partygoers.

A middle-aged man dressed as a busboy milled about the room holding a plastic tub, refilling cups with soda and picking up dishes.

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But when he picked up Franklins dishes, he placed them in a metal pan inside the plastic tub, carefully separating the items from the rest of the trash and covering it with a tray.

The busboy was an undercover Los Angeles Police Department detective. Franklin was his mark.

Jurors in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom heard Friday how the detective and others were tasked with surveilling Franklin, who was suspected in a series of murders of women in South Los Angeles.

DNA evidence retrieved from the discarded dishes and food would lead prosecutors to allege that Franklin, a former Los Angeles police garage attendant, is the serial killer known as the Grim Sleeper and linked to a series slayings spanning more than 20 years.

Enietra Washington, the only known survivor of the serial killer known as the Grim Sleeper, addresses Lonnie Franklin Jr., the man accused of attacking her, in February 2015. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Franklin faces 10 counts of murder in the deaths of nine women and a 15-year-old girl and one count of attempted murder. The 63-year-old has pleaded not guilty.

A team of investigators trailed Franklin for three days, culminating in his trip from his green house on 81st Street in the Manchester Square area of Los Angeles to the restaurant in Buena Park.

Video taken by a restaurant security camera was played for the jury and showed Franklin eating as the detective worked the room, cleaning the table, filling drinks and removing dirty dishes.

At one point, Franklin rose from his seat and turned to the detective before walking out of the room. The video showed the detective picking up Franklins plate and placing it inside the metal tray.

Franklin, seated at the defense table, tilted his head and watched his movements on the screen above him.

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The half-eaten slice of pizza, a fork, two napkins, two plastic cups and a piece of chocolate cake would end up being key pieces of evidence in the prosecutions case against Franklin.

The investigation was the result of work beginning three years earlier, spurred by the discovery of the body of Janecia Peters, 25, who was found in a garbage bag inside a dumpster in 2007.

DNA taken from her crime scene matched evidence from the scenes of two earlier slayings, prompting investigators to begin matching the DNA with killings from the 1980s and more recent deaths up to the early 2000s, according to previous testimony by former LAPD Det. Dennis Kilcoyne.

Investigators, however, did not know to whom the DNA belonged.

In 2008, officials collected DNA data from state prisoners, but failed to find a match.

A year later, then-state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown approved a new technique called a familial search that allowed officials to check whether a crime suspects DNA partially matched anyone in the states offender DNA database.

A new check came up with a partial match to Franklins son, whose DNA had been taken when he was arrested in 2008 and charged with firearm and drug offenses.

Investigators focused on Franklin and launched the surveillance operation.

Prosecutors have said that all the victims are connected to Franklin by DNA evidence, ballistics evidence, or both.

The trial is expected to continue Monday.

For more on the Grim Sleeper trial, follow @sjceasar

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Santa Clara County inmate brawl is captured on Costco cameras personally purchased by sheriff
A massive brawl that erupted among inmates inside the troubled Santa Clara County jail Thursday was captured on surveillance equipment installed a day earlier after Sheriff Laurie Smith had purchased the cameras with her personal credit card.

Smith made the purchase after learning that it would cost $20 million and take two years to get the surveillance equipment installed in the jail.

She felt that [estimate] was ridiculous and not practical, sheriffs spokesman Sgt. James Jensen said.

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So, Smith went to Costco on Wednesday and purchased the 12 cameras and a DVR for about $741 as a trial run. The countys construction crew installed the system in the Main Jail in San Jose.

Hours after the crew wrapped up the installation in the jails module 4A Thursday afternoon, a fight broke out between two inmates in the same area.

At least 30 inmates were out in the maximum security module when the brawl started and snowballed, Jensen said. The module houses inmates suspected of committing serious crimes as well as of offenses while in jail.

It is unclear what sparked the fight, but Jensen said it erupted between Latino and black inmates. Some of the inmates involved in the brawl suffered minor injuries.

Sheriffs officials said the installation of the cameras couldnt have come at a better time.

I think its going to work out excellent, Jensen said.

The sheriff requested the installation of surveillance equipment throughout the jail in February. But after learning about the timeline, she wanted an interim solution, so she got a list of camera systems that would work for the jail, Jensen said.

Smith wanted the cameras installed promptly to protect jail staff against any potential false allegations and to benefit inmates, he said.

The jail has been under intense security since the death of Michael Tyree, a mentally ill inmate who was found dead in his cell in August.

A month later, three Santa Clara County sheriffs jail deputies -- Matthew Farris, Jereh Lubrin and Rafael Rodriguez -- were charged with murder.

Authorities said Farris, Lubrin and Rodriguez radioed that they had found Tyree unresponsive, naked and covered in feces in his sixth-floor cell, and they tried to revive him.

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But sheriffs investigators said the jail deputies beat him to death.

Smith had said she was disappointed and disgusted by the deputies actions.

After Tyrees death, jail personnel installed more than 100 complaint boxes throughout the facility so inmates have a system to voice their grievances. Previously, inmates had to hand notices of complaints to deputies directly.

For breaking news in California, follow @josephserna on Twitter.

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The three men who launched a daring escape from the Mens Central Jail in Orange County were formally charged Friday with kidnapping a cab driver at gunpoint and dragging him along on their wild weeklong flight from justice, prosecutors said.

Hossein Nayeri, Jonathan Tieu and Bac Duong were all charged with kidnapping to commit robbery and unlawful taking of a vehicle, according to a news release from the Orange County district attorneys office.

The three men, who had been awaiting trial on a host of other violent crimes and face additional felony escape charges in the jailbreak plot, each face between 10 and 12 years in prison on the kidnapping and theft charges, prosecutors said.

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The cab driver, Long Ma, picked up the three men on Jan. 22, the same day they escaped from the Santa Ana lockup. Deputies were just learning of the jailbreak when Ma stopped his cab to take the fare in Westminster, and their pictures had not been released to the media.

He drove them to a Target store, and then to a nearby residence. At that point, Duong pressed a gun against Mas rib cage.

Mas kidnapping would play a central role in the unraveling of the escape plot. Police focused their search for the escapees on Orange Countys large Vietnamese community, but the men stole a second vehicle and then forced Ma to drive them north to San Jose.

Over the next several days, the escapees used Mas driver license to rent motel rooms and obtain cash, but they also allegedly argued bitterly over whether to kill him. Duong, who had developed a bond with his prisoner, refused to harm the man and got into a physical altercation with Nayeri inside a San Jose motel room on Jan. 28, Ma said.

He really wants to get rid of you, but Im trying to help you, the cab driver recalled Duong saying in an interview with the Los Angeles Times last month.

Duong drove back to Orange County with Ma the next day, and surrendered to authorities on Jan. 29. Nayeri and Tieu were captured in San Francisco the following morning.

Before they escaped by cutting their way through several plumbing tunnels and metal barriers, the three men were awaiting trial in a series of grisly crimes. Nayeri had been charged with torture and kidnapping for abducting a marijuana dispensary owner, dragging him to the desert, burning him with a blowtorch and then severing the mans penis in a bizarre plot to force him to divulge the location of hidden cash stores.

Tieu had been charged in a gangland murder, and Duong was awaiting trial on attempted murder charges stemming from a 2015 shooting.

Ma and Duong formed something of a friendship as they chain-smoked and killed time while the men remained on the run. Weeks after Duong surrendered, Ma visited him in jail.

I do not forget my debt, he said.

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Los Angeles Times staff writer Ahn Do contributed to this report.

Follow @JamesQueallyLAT on Twitter for crime and police news in Southern California.

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A 21-year-old man was convicted Thursday of killing his 8-week-old puppy by burning it to death, authorities said.

A Sacramento jury found Willie Bee Turner guilty of felony counts of maliciously killing an animal and animal abuse as well as two counts of arson, according to the Sacramento County district attorneys office.

In late January 2015, the Oakland resident brought his female Chihuahua-mix puppy to a friends apartment in the Arden-Arcade area of Sacramento, prosecutors said. When the young dog defecated in the apartment, he became outraged, prosecutors said.

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Turner told the animal she had betrayed him and began excessive discipline, according to the district attorneys office.

Witnesses saw Turner pour bleach cleanser on the dog, prosecutors said. The witnesses placed the puppy in a neighbors animal crate.

Turner snatched the animal crate and carried it across the street, setting fire to the bedding inside as well as the puppy, prosecutors said.

It was a small dog, in a small crate that was burned beyond belief, Sacramento Metropolitan Fire Capt. Michele Eidam told the Sacramento Bee after the animals death. Its horrible.

A county veterinarian testified that the young dog was alive before it was charred by flames.

Turner is scheduled to be sentenced on April 15. He faces up to four years and four months in state prison.

For breaking news in California, follow @MattHjourno.

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Revelations that police are testing a knife that was reportedly recovered on the Brentwood property once owned by O.J. Simpson were met with skepticism from members of his legal dream team.

Attorney Carl Douglas, part of the legal team that secured Simpsons 1995 acquittal in the stabbing deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman, on Friday called the story ridiculous.

Its amazing how the world cannot move on from this case! Douglas said. And it, and the media, is apparently still fascinated by everything O.J. Simpson.

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Another one of his former attorneys, F. Lee Bailey, told Fox 25 News that he thought the story was far-fetched.

O.J. did not drop [the knife] on his property any more than he did the gloves. The whole thing is ridiculous, he told the station.

The elite Robbery-Homicide Division is investigating a knife now in the possession of the Los Angeles Police Department.

The knife was apparently turned over to a police officer a number of years ago by a construction worker who was helping to raze Simpsons mansion on Rockingham Avenue, police said.

At a press conference at LAPD headquarters Friday morning, Capt. Andy Neiman said the officer was a traffic cop and was working on a movie set when he was given the knife.

Detectives learned of the knifes existence last month, and are now investigating where it came from, according to Neiman, who cautioned that the investigation is still in its early stages.

Neiman told reporters it was unclear why the officer waited nearly two decades to hand over the knife.

I dont know why that didnt happen or if thats entirely accurate or if this whole story is possibly bogus from the get-go, he said.

Bailey told Fox 25 that he was concerned about the role of the former officer. A police officer holding it has destroyed any credibility you might prescribe to it, he said.

Alan Dershowitz, who served as an appellate advisor for Simpsons defense, called news of the knife highly suspect.

Where has the knife been? Who has handled it? Dershowitz asked. Its totally suspicious when there is no chain of custody. ... Courts dont generally allow for that type of thing.

Dershowitz called the timing of the new information interesting because it coincides with a show about the Simpson trial airing on FX.

You have to ask the question ... Why was it revealed now? he said. I think it raises more questions than it answers.

Dershowitz added: I think everybody has to take a deep breath and view this with some degree of skepticism.

Authorities searched for the murder weapon for months after the slayings, and there have been many leads that went cold.

A 15-inch knife with a retractable blade that Simpson purchased at Ross Cutlery in downtown Los Angeles briefly tantalized prosecutors in his criminal trial. They thought it might be the murder weapon, and even asked a coroner to compare that type of blade with the slicing and stabbing wounds of the victims. The fact that no one could locate the knife only added to the intrigue.

But the defense produced the knife -- in an envelope that became known as the mystery envelope in the preliminary hearing. Forensic tests later revealed that the knife was in pristine condition, with no scratches or bloodstains to suggest it had been used in the vicious double homicide.

Prosecutors in Simpsons criminal trial never introduced it as evidence.

Twitter: @lacrimes and @sarahparvini

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A man was fatally stabbed Thursday during a punk rock show at a Santa Ana nightclub, police said.

Nathan Joe Alfaro, 23, of Westminster was taken to an area hospital in critical condition and was later pronounced dead, according to the Santa Ana Police Department.

He was listening to punk music just after 10:30 p.m. at Underground DTSA in the 200 block of East 3rd Street, police said.

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The nightclub was hosting Top Acid Thursdays that night, featuring a number of bands, including the Feels, Santoros, the Hurricane, Ghali and the Jail Birds.

The event was billed as an indie, garage, psychedelic and funk show.

At some point during the show, the victim was involved in a fight with another man in the mosh pit and was stabbed in the upper torso, police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said.

After he was wounded, the victim exited the nightclub and collapsed on the street. The assailant fled the area before police arrived.

Detectives on Friday arrested a man in connection with the stabbing, Bertagna said. Details about the arrest were not immediately available.

Anyone with information about the fatal stabbing is urged to call homicide detectives at (714) 245-8390 or Orange County Crime Stoppers at (855) 847-6227.

For breaking news in California, follow VeronicaRochaLA on Twitter.

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Southern Californias air quality board moved forcefully to weaken pollution regulation Friday, firing the agencys longtime leader and reaffirming new smog rules backed by oil refineries and other major polluters.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District board dismissed Barry Wallerstein in a 7-6 vote during a closed-door session, a month after Republicans took control of the panel vowing a friendlier approach to industry.

Wallerstein, 62, was appointed executive officer in 1997 and presided over the agency charged with protecting the health of 17 million people in the nations smoggiest region. During his tenure, pollution diminished sharply across the region, but remains far from meeting federal health standards.

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The boards actions are expected to delay Southern Californias progress toward achieving those standards by allowing industry to avoid costly air quality improvements.

Dwight Robinson and other new board members have been outspoken about the need to shift the balance between air quality regulation and economic impacts on businesses.

With every rule-making and regulation we need to be looking at the economic impact as well as the environmental impacts, Robinson said in an interview this week. The boards seven Republicans voted to fire Wallerstein. Its five Democrats and one independent opposed the dismissal.

The firing came just three days after board members posted an agenda item to evaluate Wallersteins performance. The board named Michael B. OKelly, the air districts chief financial officer, as acting executive officer.

The ouster followed an emotional public hearing with dozens of speakers opposing Wallersteins removal. They said he was an effective, fair-minded regulator and urged the agency not to veer further from its mandate to protect their health.

Board members heard testimony from residents of smoggy communities of the Inland Empire and near South Bay oil refineries and from people who struggle with asthma and other pollution-triggered health problems. No one spoke in favor of Wallersteins firing.

Your names will be etched on the lungs of our community members, Sylvia Betancourt of the Long Beach Alliance for Children with Asthma told the panel before the vote.

Board members did not speak publicly about Wallerstein before their closed-door vote. No allegations of wrongdoing or mismanagement were made in the public hearing.

Wallerstein declined to comment after his dismissal.

In an email to employees, Wallerstein thanked his staff and urged them to continue working to keep the region moving toward truly clean air.

Republicans gained a seven-member majority on the board in February after elected officials from Orange County cities voted in Robinson, a Republican councilman from Lake Forest, to replace Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido, a Democrat.

Environmentalists said Friday that Southern Californias progress in cleaning its once-notorious smog shows clean air and economic growth are not mutually exclusive.

Former AQMD Chairman Henry W. Wedaa, a former Yorba Linda councilman who served on the board from 1987 to 1994, wrote to members before the vote expressing grave concerns over the sudden move to oust Wallerstein.

Such an action has the potential of leaving a sour taste in the mouths of the public we serve, and potentially undermines public confidence in the agencys ability to carry out its mission, Wedaa wrote.

Lizette Hernandez, a Sierra Club member from South Los Angeles, noted that recent appointments left the board with no Latinos and few women.

Our issues are not being represented, she said.

Also Friday, the board voted 8 to 5 not to reconsider its controversial December vote to adopt an industry-backed plan to reduce smog-forming emissions. The regulations apply to refineries, power plants and other major facilities whose nitrogen oxide emissions have leveled off in recent years rather than continue to improve.

California legislators, state air quality officials and environmentalists criticize that vote as a violation of state law and harmful to public health.

The new plan, weaker than a version Wallerstein and his staff proposed, will delay the installation of costly pollution controls at the regions six major oil refineries and set back progress toward clean air.

During his tenure, Wallerstein faced criticism from both sides, including businesses opposed to costly pollution regulations and environmentalists who have faulted him and his staff for not moving aggressively enough to clean the air and reduce health risks from emissions.

The air quality executive serves at will and can be terminated without cause.

State Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) vowed legislative action in response to the boards move, calling it only the latest in a disturbing trend of dirty energy interests dismantling clean air rules that the public overwhelmingly supports.

We need strong leadership to address some of the worst air quality in the nation, not a rubber stamp committee for the oil industry agenda, De Leon said.

The Los Angeles County Business Federation called for the agencys new leadership to act with sensitivity to the effects of its actions on industry and with the active partnership of the business community.

Children deserve to breathe clean air and they deserve the healthy homes that result when a parent has a good-paying job, said David Englin, the groups executive vice president.

The agency has been in the spotlight in recent years over its handling of years of dangerous lead and arsenic emissions from the now-closed Exide battery plant into communities of southeast L.A. County, its response to a massive gas leak near Porter Ranch and restrictions targeting smoke from beach bonfire pits in Orange County.

Business interests, however, have complained of the costs of complying with increasingly strict regulations. Regulated industries mounted a vigorous campaign to weaken the smog rules proposed by staff in December, arguing that they would force refineries and other facilities to spend billions upgrading pollution controls.

The plan that the board approved in December and affirmed Friday is backed by the Western States Petroleum Assn. and other industry groups.

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The Supreme Court handed abortion rights advocates a victory Friday by blocking a Louisiana law they said would leave the state with only one doctor licensed to perform the procedure.

The court, with only Justice Clarence Thomas dissenting, issued a brief order that restores an earlier judicial ban on enforcing the 2014 state law.

The ruling is a good sign for abortion rights groups in Louisiana and nationwide. Coming shortly after the justices debated a similar Texas law, the order indicates a majority of the high court is unwilling to permit conservative states to enforce stringent regulations, at least for now.

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For the third time in a little over a year, the Supreme Court has stepped in to preserve womens ability to get the constitutionally protected healthcare they need, said Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights. We look to the justices to put an end to these sham measures threatening womens rights, health and lives across the U.S.

She was referring to the courts rulings last year barring Texas from enforcing a similar law and agreeing to decide its constitutionality.

The Supreme Court is engaged in a fierce debate over whether state laws that impose strict regulations on doctors and abortion clinics put an unconstitutional burden on women seeking to end pregnancies.

The justices established this undue burden standard in 1992, but they have yet to decide what it means in practice. The Texas case, which was argued before the court Wednesday, may give the justices a chance to clarify the issue.

In Fridays order, the court said putting the Louisiana law on hold was consistent with the courts action granting a stay in Whole Womans Health vs. Cole, the Texas case.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. mostly defended the Texas law during oral arguments Wednesday, but agreed Friday to put the Louisiana measure on hold.

Texas and Louisiana, along with seven other states, have recently required doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. Lawmakers said this rule would help ensure consistent care for a patient who has a medical emergency that sends her to a hospital.

But a federal judge, after a hearing in New Orleans, said the medical benefits of this requirement were minimal. The clinics and hospitals already had transfer agreements for emergency cases, the judge said. And early abortions rarely result in medical complications.

The requirement threatened to shut down all but one of the states abortion providers, since most hospitals refused to extend admitting privileges to physicians whose practices include abortions. Based on those conclusions, a federal judge had barred Louisiana from enforcing the admitting privileges rule.

On Feb. 24, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which had earlier upheld the Texas abortion law, lifted the judges order blocking enforcement of the Louisiana law. Two clinics announced they would no longer see patients, and a third said it expected to cease operation as well.

Abortion rights lawyers filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court. Since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, Thomas has agreed to handle appeals arising from the 5th Circuit.

Abortion rights lawyers said that if the admitting privileges rule were enforced, the state of Louisiana will be left with a single abortion provider. That lone doctor, working in one clinic, cannot meet the need for approximately 10,000 abortions in Louisiana, a need that was previously met by six physicians in five clinics across the state, they said.

I am delighted, Kathaleen Pittman, administrator of Shreveports Hope Medical Group for Women, said in reaction to the Supreme Courts intervention. The small clinic performs the largest number of abortions in Louisiana.

Last week, Pittman was unsure her clinic would be able to remain open after being inundated with patients from the two clinics that had stopped performing abortions. We were having to delay care because there was no way for us to handle all this, she said.

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The two other clinics, in nearby Bossier and Baton Rouge, will now be performing abortions again. But its not over by any means, Pittman said.

Mississippi also has a law requiring doctors to have hospital admitting privileges. It threatened to close the states only remaining abortion provider, but the rule was also blocked in the courts.

These laws are not limited to the South. The Wisconsin Legislature adopted the same requirement, but it was blocked by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.

The Supreme Court agreed to hear the Texas case in part because it has a second, disputed regulation. Lawmakers said all abortions, even those induced by taking a pill, must be performed in an outpatient surgical center. Lawyers fighting the Texas law said the two requirements would reduce the number of abortion providers from 41 to 10.

If the eight justices are evenly divided in the Texas case, they may announce a tie vote soon, which would leave the state law in place. But if they have a majority to rule, their decision will probably be handed down in late June.

Times staff writer Molly Hennessy-Fiske in Houston contributed to this report.

On Twitter: @DavidGSavage

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With their presidential hopes barely alive, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz leveled a series of personal attacks Thursday night at front-runner Donald Trump, hoping an increasingly desperate effort will loosen the billionaires grip on the Republican nomination.

Tangling over immigration, foreign policy and Trumps long, controversial business record, the candidates reached new heights of anger, vitriol and contempt as they collided on a debate stage in Detroit.

Trump taunted Rubio as little Marco and loosed a string of insults at Cruz: Liar ... the lying guy up here ... lying Ted.

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Rubio, the Florida senator, portrayed Trump as a con artist, and Cruz repeatedly questioned Trumps temperament and stability to serve as commander in chief. We need a president who isnt rash, said the senator from Texas, who doesnt pop off at the hip.

The fourth candidate onstage, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, spent much of the night chiding others for their tone, but he gently joined the pile-on, suggesting Trump was no different from any other politician who says one thing to get elected then does another in office.

The round-robin of assault and invective reflected a shift in strategy as increasingly agitated Republican leaders work to stop Trump.

The two-hour session in downtown Detroit, the 11th of the Republican primary season, came at a pivotal stage in the race. After a strong showing on Super Tuesday  Trump carried seven of 11 states  the political newcomer seems poised to run away with the GOP nomination unless one of his opponents can turn the direction of the race in the next two weeks.

That effort began in earnest earlier Thursday when the partys 2012 nominee, Mitt Romney, delivered a blistering attack on Trump and offered a group endorsement of his opponents.

The hope, reflecting sentiments of the party establishment, is to collectively deny Trump enough delegates to win the nomination outright, allowing a preferred alternative to emerge at the GOP nominating convention this summer.

The all-against-Trump campaign was evident minutes after his rivals took the stage. Asked about his stepped-up attacks on the front-runner in the last week  over his business ethics, his spray-tan and even, implicitly, his manhood  Rubio responded that if theres anyone who ever deserved to be attacked that way, its Donald Trump.

He cataloged the people and groups Trump has insulted during the campaign, then belittled Trumps command of policy, referring to him as someone who thinks the nuclear triad  the systems used for launching U.S. weapons  is a rock band from the 1980s.

Trump, his voice thick with condescension, called Rubio a little guy who has lied about Trumps record, and defended himself against a Rubio double-entendre about his small hands.

Are they small hands? Trump asked, holding them up for the audience to see. As for any other part of his anatomy, Trump said boastfully, I guarantee you theres no problem.

Much of the debate consisted of the candidates reprising familiar positions: Trump lamented trade deals that, he says, undercut American business and workers. Rubio called for lower taxes and regulations to spur jobs, while chiding Trump for manufacturing his clothing line overseas.

The face-off was also marked by the degree of personal animosity, the yelling and shouting, which prompted co-moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News to admonish at one point, Gentlemen, youve got to do better than this.

Undeterred, the candidates continued to swing away.

In a particularly heated exchange, Rubio renewed his attack on Trump University, a now-defunct series of get-rich real estate seminars that is the subject of numerous lawsuits.

He suggested the courses were a scam designed to enrich Trump while fleecing its students.

The real con artist is Marco Rubio, Trump fired back, suggested he had neglected his job as senator. The people of Florida cant stand him. He couldnt be elected dog-catcher.

After an extended back-and-forth, Cruz cut in. Is this the debate you want playing out in the general election? he asked, referring to pending litigation.

Give me a break! an agitated Trump cut in.

Count to 10! Cruz barked, chiding Trump for the repeated interruptions. Count to 10!

Trump at one point acknowledged he had changed his position on immigration, favoring the entry of more high-skilled workers into the U.S.

Asked by co-moderator Megyn Kelly of Fox News whether, in effect, he was pandering to voters by taking a seemingly hard line on immigration and other issues before later softening his positions, Trump replied, I have a very strong core but added, I have never seen a successful person who was not flexible.

The candidates delved only briefly into foreign policy, with Rubio pointing to Trump as he accused him of lacking the necessary seriousness to confront a complicated world.

The next president of the United States is going to have eight years of a mess of a foreign policy to clean up, Rubio said. Thats why it cant be Hillary Clinton, and, quite frankly, it cant be someone who simply has not shown the intellectual curiosity or the interest in learning about these very complicated issues.

Trump calmly dismissed Rubio without answering the critique. Ive gotten to know Marco over a period of time, he said. Believe me, he is not a leader.

While Trump spent a good deal of the night on the defensive, he mostly kept his composure and lost none of his trademark swagger.

Questioned about his advocacy of waterboarding and killing the families of terrorists, Trump insisted soldiers under his command would act even if his orders were plainly illegal.

Theyre not going to refuse me, believe me, he said. If I say do it, theyre going to do it.

All verbal attacks aside, the candidates did agree on one thing  somewhat surprisingly, given their nastiness: Each agreed to support the other should he prevail at the end of the primary season.

The first chance for Trumps rivals to try to halt his runaway candidacy comes Saturday, when Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana and Maine vote. On Tuesday, Michigan follows, along with Mississippi, Idaho and Hawaii.

However, the biggest test for the GOP field will be on March 15, when Rubio and Kasich face last-stand contests in their respective home states.

As always with Trump there was a soap-operatic element to Thursday nights debate, as he faced Kelly for the first time since a confrontation last August.

Trump was angered in that first GOP debate when Kelly asked about his history of demeaning comments toward women. He subsequently lambasted Kelly as a bimbo and lightweight and seemed to suggest she was overly aggressive in her questioning because she was menstruating.

Trump then skipped a debate just before the Iowa caucuses in January, when Fox refused his request to remove Kelly as co-moderator.

Kelly and Trump engaged in a jocular exchange about a half hour into the session. Nice to be with you, Megyn. Youre looking well, Trump said, when Kelly posed a question about his immigration stance.

Kelly smiled, and the audience laughed along knowingly.

The debate was the first without Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon and a favorite of Christian conservatives.

He was never a serious contender of the GOP nomination and, bowing to the inevitable, announced on Wednesday he would not take part in the debate though he did not officially withdraw from the presidential race.

mark.barabak@latimes.com

noah.bierman@latimes.com

Follow @markzbarabak and @noahbierman for national politics.

Times staff writer Michael Finnegan contributed to this report.

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President Obama says he plans to stay in Washington after the end of his presidency so that his younger daughter can finish high school with her class, a rare disclosure about his familys personal plans.

During a visit with voters in Milwaukee on Thursday, Obama said he wasnt sure where he and wife Michelle Obama would settle down for the long term, but added that they were putting off the decision until daughter Sasha finished at Washingtons Sidwell Friends School in spring 2019.

Transferring someone in the middle of high school  tough, Obama told a group of people gathered to have lunch with him at a Milwaukee restaurant.

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Then he quickly asked a group of White House reporters to step away while he finished his lunch.

Obama said in an interview with Barbara Walters three years ago that he and his family might decide to live in Washington after his presidency, at least as long as Sasha remained in school. Sasha, 14, is in ninth grade. Malia Obama, 17, will graduate from Sidwell this spring.

The first lady, protective of her familys privacy, has declined to discuss specific plans. The Obamas have also refused to talk about where they will live after their daughter graduates, spurring speculation that they might not return to her hometown of Chicago, where Obama began his political career.

In an interview with the Chicago Tribune last month, when asked whether he planned to move back to Illinois, Obama said only that he would certainly be spending time here.

In Milwaukee on Thursday, Obama was relaxing as he met with people who have written him letters to talk about what Obamacare has meant in their lives. They also talked about the weather and life in the Midwest, prompting Obama to remark that he always feels good being closer to home.

A woman at the table asked where he would live after he was through being president. Most presidents move back to their home states after they leave office, though some start new lives elsewhere; President George W. Bush went back to Texas, but President Clinton moved to New York instead of Arkansas so his wife could run for the Senate.

We havent figured that out yet, he said. Were going to have to stay a couple of years so Sasha can finish.

He then urged the pool of reporters to move along, saying, Get out of here. It was unclear whether Obama intended to disclose the familys plans so publicly.

Michelle Obamas office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

christi.parsons@latimes.com

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Its not every day that senior members of a political party think up a nominating strategy that ends -- in the best case -- with a bitter civil war erupting at their national convention.

Not common, either: A presidential candidate debate in which one of the men on stage comments on the size of his genitals.

But, then, in the eight-and-a-half months since Donald Trump started running for president, unprecedented has become the new normal. We may as well get used to it.

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Good afternoon, Im David Lauter, Washington Bureau chief. Welcome to the Friday edition of our Essential Politics newsletter, in which we look at the events of the week in the presidential campaign and highlight some particularly insightful stories.

As my colleagues Noah Bierman and Seema Mehta explained in their story laying out the latest stop-Trump strategy being pushed by senior GOP leaders, the odds are long, and what would pass for success would be considered a fiasco in any other year.

After weeks of hoping that from among Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz and Gov. John Kasich a single candidate would emerge who could take on Trump one-on-one, the new strategy calls for keeping all three men in the race. The hope is that each can win enough states that collectively they could deny Trump a majority going into this summers GOP convention.

Bierman examined the delegate math and explains how dicey the whole strategy is. As the race unfolds over the next few weeks, keep watch on the delegates in both parties with our Delegate Tracker, which shows where each candidate stands and where they have won support.

The plan, backed by some of the partys wealthiest donors, as well as former nominees Mitt Romney and Sen. John McCain, takes as a given that Trump would have more delegates than any of his rivals, but aims to deny any candidate a victory on the first ballot at the convention. After that, under party rules, delegates would be free to vote for anyone.

Romney gave the anti-Trump effort a high-profile boost with a widely covered speech Thursday in which he lambasted Trump as a phony and a fraud. Read the transcript of Romneys anti-Trump speech here.

An appeal from him might sway some voters on the fence, but probably wont mean much to Trumps core supporters. Many are less affluent Republicans who may have voted for Romney in 2012 over President Obama, but have never really accepted the sort of Republican orthodoxy he represents.

As Lisa Mascaro reported, those voters, sometimes referred to as big-government Republicans, like Trumps calls to protect Social Security and Medicare and embrace public spending, so long as its not directed to people they consider undeserving -- who are often minorities.

Success in the anti-Trump effort depends almost entirely on Rubio being able to carry his home state of Florida, which gives all its delegates to the winner of its March 15 primary. If Trump pockets Floridas 99 delegates, the arithmetic for the anti-Trump strategy becomes all but impossible.

Rubio trails Trump by about 20 points in an average of the latest Florida polls.

You can follow the outcome of all the primaries, as we post live results, speeches and analysis on Trail Guide.

Floridas voters will see a lot of anti-Trump ads over the next 10 days. Whos paying for many of them will remain unknown. Joe Tanfani explains why that is in his story about the biggest of the so-called dark-money groups funding the anti-Trump effort. Because these groups dont have to disclose their donors, voters cant find out who is paying to influence them.

Thats the beauty of dark money, said Chris Schrimpf, a spokesman for Kasich, who has also been attacked by dark-money groups. They can attack us, and you never know where it comes from.

In addition to relying on secret money, the GOP establishment strategy would mean overriding the will of the millions of voters who by June will have cast ballots for Trump and handing the nomination to someone who either got many fewer votes or didnt run in the primaries at all. Since the modern primary system developed, a move to disregard a partys own voters that way has never happened -- for obvious reasons.

But however preposterous the scheme seems, it offers a big bonus for Californians: For the first time in decades, the states June 7 primary may actually decide the race.

Not so on the Democratic side.

Hillary Clinton followed her landslide victory in South Carolina last weekend with an equally impressive sweep of the South in the March 1 Super Tuesday primaries. As consequential was her more narrow victory in Massachusetts, a state with a mostly white, liberal Democratic electorate that should be one of Sen. Bernie Sanders strongest backers.

If Sanders couldnt beat Clinton in Massachusetts, his chances of beating her elsewhere are slim. Almost immediately on Wednesday morning, as Michael A. Memoli wrote, groups on the Democratic left began issuing statements praising Sanders for raising important issues, but calling for the party to start unifying against Trump.

Sanders has the money to stay in the race until June. He will continue to press Clinton from the left and likely will win several smaller contests, and perhaps some major states.

In Michigan, where he currently trails Clinton in advance of a primary on Tuesday, Sanders has been emphasizing his opposition to most international trade agreements. That stance that puts him in opposition not just to Clinton, but also Obama, as Cathy Decker noted. But with his chances of victory almost gone, and Clinton having clearly held the votes of African Americans, Sanders has less reason to try to appeal to Obama loyalists.

Clinton, who had her own experience in 2008 of fighting on until the final primary, almost certainly will do nothing to try to push Sanders aside. But barring major surprises, the Democratic race has come to its expected result -- a Clinton atop the ticket for a third time.

Meantime, the Clinton campaign is hard at work trying to come up with a plan for something that until recently, they did not expect -- a race against Trump. Its not so easy, as Evan Halper reported.

One thing that makes running against Trump hard is his ability to switch major positions at a moments notice. Noam N. Levey took a careful look at one of the most prominent examples, Trumps healthcare plan, which has gone through several iterations, each markedly different from the other.

The current version, Levey notes, is a somewhat vague mix of standard Republican proposals, several of which conservative health experts say would have little effect on patients health or their pocketbooks.

And if all the anti-Trump efforts fail? What might a Trump presidency look like? We took an early look and invite you to read along.

That wraps up this week. My colleague Christina Bellantoni will be back Monday with the weekday edition of Essential Politics. Until then, keep track of all the developments in the 2016 campaign with our Trail Guide, at our politics page and on Twitter at @latimespolitics.

Send your comments, suggestions and news tips to politics@latimes.com.
In Michigan, Donald Trump was in the mood for revenge

Trump's people cheering the candidate's arrival in Warren, MI, and chanting "USA!" pic.twitter.com/huFvnq9Zix  Cathleen Decker (@cathleendecker) March 4, 2016

Theres not much love between Donald Trump and Mitt Romney. Or Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. Or Donald Trump and Marco Rubio.

The morning after a day that found Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, begging voters not to side with Trump, and a night that found the senators from Texas and Florida blistering him in a debate, Donald Trump was bent on payback.

In a disjointed, rambling speech Friday morning before thousands of supporters in Macomb County, Mich., long ago the home of Democrats who flipped to vote for Ronald Reagan, Trump labeled his enemies.

There was Stupid Mitt, the elitist and choke artist who criticized Trump because the real estate magnate had the audacity to tell him he shouldnt run in 2016 (or so Trump said).

Im telling you, hes a stupid person, said Trump, who endorsed Romney to great fanfare in 2012.

There was Lyin Ted -- Trump didnt exactly get around to saying why Cruz was a liar, although on Thursday night he called him that for denying that hed been a big backer of Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr..

There was Little Marco a moniker delivered with relish because Trump apparently cares deeply about size, judging by his animosity toward Rubio for mocking Trumps hands as small -- and implying one other body part was as well.

When Little Marco spews his crap about the size of my hands.  Those hands can hit a golf ball 285 yards, Trump said.

Trump events always have an enemies list. The media are always on it (on Friday, reporters were deemed worse than Little Marco, worse than Lyin Ted), and so are stupid trade negotiators.

But on Friday, Trump seemed more distracted by his nemeses than usual, so intent on denouncing them that he barely got around to the point of his appearance: Tuesdays Michigan primary.

The way to the hearts of voters here is jobs, preferably well-paying ones. Most everyone has a story of a relative or friend who was laid off so that their job could be moved to Mexico, or that a factory closed altogether. That makes this turf primed for Trumps pledges to unilaterally apply tariffs of 35% to every item made outside the country and to strong-arm American firms into returning to U.S. shores.

This is car country, rapidly becoming not-car country, but were going to keep it car country, he said to rapturous cheers from the Macomb Community College crowd. He criticized Ford, Carrier and other firms for setting up shop in Mexico and elsewhere, and said they should be punished.

We are going to do something thats going to be good, and a very big beneficiary is going to be Michigan, he said.

I believe totally in free trade, but its got to be fair trade, he added.

He received perhaps his biggest cheers when he defended his call for waterboarding and worse as tactics to be used against Islamic terrorists. The actions he referred to are illegal, though Trump insisted twice in Thursday nights debate that he would order military personnel to use them.

Im the best to knock the hell out of [Islamic State}, he told the crowd. These other guys, believe me, they dont have a clue. They talk. Theyre politicians. All talk.

At least five times, protesters interrupted Trump, who directed security personally to take them out, out, out. By the standards of Trump rallies, the extractions appeared nonviolent.
Its finally happening.

Metros much-anticipated 11.5-mile extension of the Gold Line, stretching from East Pasadena to Azusa, is officially opening this weekend. In only two months, the Expo Line extension to the Santa Monica beach makes its debut. In the years to come, the new Crenshaw-LAX line, the Subway to the Sea under Wilshire, as well as various other regional developments, will give Los Angeles one of the most comprehensive public transit networks in America.

Im a millennial college student  and if national trends are to be believed, I should be thrilled at this impending feast of transit options.

Millennials are the force behind the nations shift to lower driving rates. A third of millennials list public transit availability as a top factor in choosing where to live. Ride San Franciscos Bay Area Rapid Transit or New York Citys subway and youll see no shortage of young people. In Seattle, where Im from, teens and twentysomethings regularly hop on the bus downtown to avoid parking fees and the stress of driving in traffic.

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Metro is hopeful that the $12 billion it expects to spend over the next decade will get young Angelenos like me out of their cars and stem the recent tide of declining ridership. After all, by the time L.A.s grand transit plans finally come to fruition, were the ones who will be doing the commuting.

But I have to admit, despite my generations embrace of public transit, Im skeptical about whether well be on board with L.A.s mass transit plans. My experience in this city tells me young Angelenos  even transplants like myself  ride public transit, but only as a last resort.

Something about L.A. is different.

During my first week of college four years ago, I tried to rally friends to take the $1.25 Big Blue Bus to Santa Monica with me. The few who agreed, after insisting that the system was unreliable and not worth it, stood stiff on the bus, uncomfortable sharing space.

Would the convenience of an expanded rail network change minds about the suitability of the citys transit? I called around to students at four local universities to see.

Austin Bruns, a 20-year-old film production major at Loyola Marymount, took his first ride on L.A. public transit last summer, when he had an internship in Culver City. Bruns didnt have a car at the time, so he found two buses he could take from Westchester to his office every day. Online estimates told him the trip would take 40 minutes, just 20 minutes more than the projected driving time.

He was optimistic  the internship experience was worth the long commute. But with the wait time and scheduling inconsistency of the buses, his trek took two hours each day.

There were days that I would come to work close to an hour late because of the bus not being there on the times it said it was, Bruns said.

The experience soured him on public transit in L.A.

Now a junior, Bruns has a car. With the stability of driving, hes been able to extend his work hours. Plus, gas is less expensive than his bus tickets were.

Azusa Pacific University students I spoke with, on the other hand, were excited about their new Gold Line station. Scott Ecklund, a 23-year-old MBA student, said it will mobilize him to travel to L.A. and Pasadena more often.

Will that be true a year from now, however? Despite an initial buzz around the Expo Line when it first opened in 2012, Abby Slovick, a 22-year-old USC student, said she now drives her car to work and elsewhere.

Most students without cars would rather just Uber, Slovick said.

At UCLA, 20-year-old psychology major Melissa Zuluaga doesnt have a car  but she only takes public transit if she has exhausted all other options.

If transportation got more modern, like 3G Wi-Fi in the bus, or nicer seats, she said, I feel like millennials would start using it more.

Even though I still take public transit when I visit my hometown of Seattle, Ive used it very seldom in L.A. since my freshman year experiment with the Big Blue Bus. For me, the appeal of a transit system is its efficiency. If Metro could guarantee consistent arrival times and solutions that could beat car traffic, Id happily use its services.

Whatever millennials need from a transit system  whether its real-time updates, convenient stops, price incentives or Wi-Fi  Metro would be wise to tune into it. If Metro planners cant hack the needs of college-age Angelenos now, it doesnt bode well for L.A.s transit future.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook.

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A historical milestone was passed on Sunday, with the death of Delmer Berg at the age of 100. Berg, who lived in Columbia, Calif., in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, was the last known survivor of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, as the several units of American volunteers who fought in the Spanish Civil War came to be called.

World War II has largely pushed that conflict out of our collective memory, but it was momentous for the people of Spain, and for the 40,000 volunteers from more than 50 countries, 2,800 of them American, who fought in it. Eighty years ago this July, a large group of right-wing army officers staged a coup against the democratically elected government of the Spanish Republic. They called themselves Nationalists and were soon led by Francisco Franco, a tough-talking young general who quickly outmaneuvered all of his rivals. The Nationalists hoped to seize power swiftly, but their efforts stalled and the war dragged on for nearly three years of brutal fighting and political massacres that left well more than 400,000 people dead.

No one can say exactly how the [Spanish] Republic might have evolved had it won the civil war. But ... [Spain] would have been spared the 36 years of Francos harsh dictatorship.

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Foreign volunteers eager to help the Republic began arriving in late 1936. In January 1937 an American battalion was formed and hastily thrown into combat the next month. Americans fought in most of the major battles that followed. About 750 of them died and a majority of the remainder were wounded, including Delmer Berg, who carried shrapnel in his liver for the rest of his life.

Who were they? They came from 46 states and every conceivable walk of life: the grandchildren of slaves (about 90 volunteers were African American), coal miners, a vaudeville acrobat, a rabbi, longshoremen, factory workers, college instructors, the son of a former governor of Ohio. The first American casualty  he arrived before the American battalion was organized and fought beside British volunteers  was Joseph Selligman Jr., a Swarthmore College student fatally wounded in the battle for Madrid. One of the last, killed a year and a half later, was James Lardner, a 24-year-old from a famous literary family, who traveled to Spain as a New York Herald Tribune correspondent and then decided to fight.

Britain, France and the United States all wanted to keep the Spanish conflict at arms length. The only major nation willing to sell weapons to the beleaguered Spanish Republic was not another democracy  it was Josef Stalins Soviet Union. It was also Stalin who asked the worlds Communist parties to support the Spanish Republic by recruiting volunteer soldiers.

Roughly three-quarters of the American volunteers were members of the Communist Party or its affiliated groups. In their illusions about the Soviet Union they were of course profoundly naive. But they were not fighting for the Soviet Union, they were fighting for Spain. And almost all of these men and women (about 75 American women went to Spain, mostly as nurses) felt that the conflict might be the opening battle of another world war. And in this they were right: Four years before the U.S. entered World War II, Americans were bombed by Nazi pilots in Spain.

Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini had immediately come to the aid of their ideological ally, Franco, sending aircraft, tanks, artillery, pilots, technicians and military advisors. Mussolini sent 80,000 ground troops as well. Hitler used the Spanish war to test out in combat the new weapons for the larger war he was planning: the Messerschmitt Bf-109 fighter, the Stuka dive bomber, the 88-millimeter artillery piece and more.

The Spanish Civil War was bewilderingly complicated. Within the republic were tensions between the Communists and the mainstream parties on one hand and, on the other, the Spanish anarchists and their allies, who largely controlled the northeastern corner of the country. George Orwell wrote about that conflict in his memoir, Homage to Catalonia. American volunteers were there too. One of them, Harry Milton of New York, fought in the same militia unit as Orwell, and was standing next to him in the trenches when the novelist received a bullet through his neck. Lois Orr, a remarkably observant 19-year-old from Louisville, Ky. (also Selligmans hometown), left the most extensive eyewitness account by any foreigner of daily life in anarchist Barcelona.

The Spain of the 1930s was hobbled by vast disparities of wealth, and no one can say exactly how the republic might have evolved had it won the civil war. But one thing is certain: The country would have been spared the 36 years of Francos harsh dictatorship. His was a regime that packed huge numbers of people into crowded prisons and labor camps, branded the Nationalist symbol on the breasts of dissident women, practiced torture for decades and in World War II provided Nazi Germany with important submarine bases, crucial minerals for weapons manufacturing and 45,000 volunteer soldiers.

The Americans who fought in the Spanish Civil War are not usually considered part of the greatest generation, but they were. As Ernest Hemingway, who covered the war as a correspondent and later wrote about it in his novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls, put it: No men ever entered the earth more honorably than those who died in Spain.

Adam Hochschild is the author of the forthcoming book Spain in Our Hearts: Americans and the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
A guy who called half the country losers and hoped voters would confuse his extreme wealth (he called it success) for presidential adeptness wants his partys attention.

That man would be Mitt Romney. (What, you thought I was talking about Donald Trump?)

In treating Romneys call on Thursday for Republicans to reverse course in their march to Trumps presidential nomination as the sober old guard calling for civility and a return to a kinder, gentler era of conservative politics, we forget how big of a role Romney played in priming his partys base for Trump. Remember that Romneys 2012 candidacy, fairly or unfairly, is perhaps best known for the surreptitiously recorded images of him (wrongly) telling campaign donors that the 47% of the country freeloading off the federal government and paying no taxes were in President Obamas pocket because, hey, theyre poor, and he cant be expected to convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.

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Theyre losers. Sound familiar?

Romneys comment was no gaffe, a momentary lapse into honesty that deviated from his campaigns disciplined message. Romneys inability to relate to less-than-wealthy Americans was a running theme of the 2012 election that hobbled his efforts. Ann Romney callously referred to those calling on her husband to release his tax returns as you people. After the election, Romney attributed his defeat to poor and minority voters who received gifts from the president in the form of government programs. Even the Republican Partys 2012 convention retort to Obama -- we built it -- was laced with the unspoken message that if youre not rich, its your fault.

Now comes Trump, and the message is now spoken. And its not just poor versus rich, loser versus winner, maker versus taker. Recall Romneys self-deport non-solution on illegal immigration, a poorly disguised way of affirming his bases discomfort with the American electorates growing diversity. Trump, who as we all know wants seal off the United States southern border and make Mexico pay for it, has no such need to tread lightly.

For his freedom to speak as he wishes, Trump has his Republican forerunners to thank, Romney included. They blew the dog whistle on states rights, welfare queens and immigrants, and voters were listening. Now Trump can dispense with the whistle and say all the wrong things about Mexican rapists, David Duke and losers.

So Ill put my money where its safe and bet Romneys attempt to stop the Trump juggernaut will only strengthen it. Trumps persona may be crass, but his ideas are no less crass than those that came before him.

Follow me on Twitter: @PaulMThornton
To the editor: The South Coast Air Quality Management District seems about to follow the sterling example set by the California Coastal Commission at its recent meeting in Morro Bay: Fire the competent executive officer who is not bending sufficiently to satisfy business interests and try to find a lap dog who will. (Southern California smog regulator may be forced out amid shift on air board, March 1)

Good luck, Barry Wallerstein. Maybe you can join forces with Charles Lester, formerly head of the Coastal Commission staff, and form an organization to clean out the mess. Some of us would cheerfully contribute.

Paul Cooley, Culver City

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..

To the editor: The effort of the brand-new, polluter-backed board members of the South Coast air district to oust Wallerstein is an alarming sign that an agency that should be protecting the air we breathe intends to roll back decades of air-quality gains.

Though our air has improved, Los Angeles still fails to meet Clean Air Act smog standards critical to protecting our health. Coming on the heels of a developer takeover of the Coastal Commission, this newest polluter-backed coup signals a concerning trend toward reversing environmental progress in our state.

For the sake of our lungs, we must hold air regulators accountable. Angelenos, especially, who have experienced school closures for smog days, must demand that the air district stand up to polluters like the oil industry, who are intent on poisoning our air.

Maya Golden-Krasner, Altadena

The writer is a staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity.

..

To the editor: Reading about the air districts shift to more industry-friendly pollution rules, I was reminded of my childhood.

Growing up in L.A. in the 1950s, I played outside on summer mornings, marveling at the deep shadows cast by trees in our yard. Then, after lunch, the shadows would disappear as the air became gray and smoky. Simply breathing would hurt my chest. My mother would make me come inside; we would pull the drapes and rest until, if we were lucky, winds would arrive and clear out the filthy air.

Now, traveling from the north, I marvel at the clean air in the L.A. basin and the view people now have of the San Gabriel Mountains. As someone who appreciates breathing, I hope others will also support Wallersteins efforts in improving the air quality in Southern California.

Susan Massanari, Santa Barbara

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
His challengers should know by now that they cant beat Donald Trump at mockery, although Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz tried anyway in Thursdays two-hour presidential debate. For the second straight Republican debate, civility swiftly gave way to mayhem.

Within the first five minutes, rhetoric flared about 2012 nominee Mitt Romneys unprecedented broadside earlier in the day against Trump, a belittling bit of innuendo about the size of Trumps hands and, astonishingly, the first debate reference ever by a candidate about the dimensions of his male anatomy. (By Trump, predictably.)

TRAIL GUIDE: All the latest news on the 2016 presidential campaign >>

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Were this a normal campaign, Trump would have lost the debate, Rubio would have damaged himself, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich would have won. Throughout, even when prodded by the moderators, Kasich refused to join in the back-seat rumble and kept the mien of a parent threatening to stop the car if the fisticuffs didnt end.

But this campaign is as far from normal as any in modern history, and it remains both possible and probable that the debate changed nothing at all.

Thursdays debate occurred as panic peaked among Republicans. Party leaders, along with the other candidates, had once thought that Trump would do himself in, and then that someone would rise as a singular challenger to finish him off. Neither has happened. Instead, powered by a growing swath of voters, Trump has won 10 of 15 Republican contests and is favored to extend that record on Saturday and Tuesday when ballots are cast in eight more states, the biggest of which is Michigan.

Part of the trouble for his challengers is that Trump ignores both the normal rules of candidate behavior and the laws of political gravity. No utterance has been enough to deep-six his campaign, though much of what hes said since entering the race last June would have killed off anyone else.

His voters are responding not to his assertions but to his ability to give voice to their frustration. So they have not been particularly responsive to the kinds of attacks that dominated much of the debate. Rubio and Cruz both raised the issue of the Trump University real estate school, which is the focus of a lawsuit by former students.

As he was in the last debate, Rubio was the most assertive. The tone was set early when he criticized the fact that Trumps clothing line is manufactured in Mexico.

This little guy has lied so much" Trump started to say.

Here we go, Rubio interrupted.

"about my record, Trump finished.

Here we go; its personal, Rubio interrupted again.

He has lied so much about my record, Trump said.

The two talked over each other, prompting questioner and Fox News host Chris Wallace to implore: Sen. Rubio, why dont you let him finish?

Cruz treated Trump like an errant child  ironically, after calling Trump and Rubio bickering schoolchildren.

Donald, please, I know its hard not to interrupt. But try, Cruz said. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.

Lyin Ted, Trump replied.

You can do it. You can breathe. I know its hard. I know its hard, Cruz countered.

If Trump gave as good as he got in those exchanges, he faltered during the debates calmer sections.

All three Fox questioners confronted Trump with facts that contradict some of his common promises. They asked how he would pay for a tax cut that could cost $10 trillion over 10 years, and pointed out that his proposed cuts came nowhere near that amount.

Your numbers dont add up, sir, Wallace said after Trump tried to explain himself.

Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly aired video clips of Trump contradicting himself on support for the Afghan war, acceptance of Syrian refugees and his assertion weeks ago that President George W. Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction being found in Iraq. Trump variously claimed that he had misunderstood or had changed his mind after he studied the issues.

Questioner Bret Baier asked Trump about his vow in an earlier debate to sanction waterboarding and worse against Islamic terrorists, and to target their families as well.

So what would you do, as commander-in-chief, if the U.S. military refused to carry out those orders? Baier said.

See the most-read stories this hour >>

They wont refuse. Theyre not going to refuse me. Believe me, Trump replied.

But theyre illegal, Baier said of the tactics.

Rubio scalded Trump anew on his loose grasp of foreign policy, which Trump has often suggested he would handle with a tag team of strength and deal-making. (Trump gave him new ammunition by suggesting Thursday that wouldnt it be nice if actually we could get along with Russia, we could get along with foreign countries, instead of spending trillions and trillions of dollars? His mild assessment of Russia runs counter to the views of most Republicans.)

As weve seen throughout this campaign, Donald has not shown a seriousness about the issues of foreign policy, Rubio said. He just simply hasnt.

Trump didnt defend himself, other than to declare, again, that Rubio is not a leader. Believe me.

The exchanges illustrated the hope of the other candidates that the normal rules might apply to Trump, that he would suffer both for his refusal to drill down on policy specifics and his reliance on bullying. At one point, Cruz opined that the American people understand that yelling and cursing at people doesnt make you a tough guy.

In the Republican primaries so far, however, Trump has prevailed by doing just that. However he was targeted on Thursday night, it seemed a stretch to think that more than eight months into Trumps ascent, his supporters might suddenly want something different.

cathleen.decker@latimes.com

For political news and analysis, follow me on Twitter: @cathleendecker . For more on politics, go to latimes.com/decker.

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California voters will likely weigh in this November on the explosion of money in politics, through an advisory measure that the Legislature now has legal permission to place on the statewide ballot.

A quartet of state senators submitted language Thursday to ask voters, through a nonbinding Nov. 8 ballot measure, whether Congress should work to overturn the 2010 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Citizens United.

That controversial ruling, in favor of a conservative nonprofit group, now allows unlimited spending by corporations and unions in federal candidate campaigns  a timely topic, said the proposals lead author.

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There is so much concern in the broader electorate about campaign finance reform, about the role of big money in politics, said state Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica). Its what Donald Trumps talking about, its what Hillary Clintons talking about, its what Bernie Sanders is talking about.

The potential salience of the issue aside, the advisory measure was originally envisioned to have a spot on the fall statewide ballot in 2014. But the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. sued, alleging that the Legislature had no specific power to essentially take the political pulse of the electorate through advisory measures. The California Supreme Court ordered it removed from that years ballot while justices fully weighed the legal issues.

In a 6-1 ruling in January, the court ruled in favor of the Legislature by saying there was a nexus between a campaign finance advisory measure and possible legislative action in the future. A subsequent court ruling refused to simply reinstate the 2014 measure, with justices ruling that legislators would have to take new action to place the Citizens United proposal on this Novembers ballot.

Critics maintain that the Legislatures majority Democrats are simply trying to boost turnout of like-minded voters for the fall election.

Everybody knows its meaningless, it has no legal impact, said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. This is purely a political ploy.

The bill introduced Thursday uses the same language for the advisory ballot measure as the 2014 version. It describes the need for action from Congress to allow the full regulation or limitation of campaign contributions and spending, to ensure that all citizens, regardless of wealth, may express their views to one another.

The advisory ballot measure would go on to say that only natural persons, not corporations or unions, have free speech protections under the U.S. Constitution, a key provision of the Citizens United ruling.

Lawmakers have until late June to place the proposition on the fall ballot. If they do so, it would join whats expected to be a long and contentious list of ballot measures for California voters to sort out.

In 2014, Gov. Jerry Brown allowed the earlier version to move forward but expressed concern about voter confusion, writing in a message to the Legislature that lawmakers should not make it a habit to clutter our ballots with nonbinding measures as citizens rightfully assume that their votes are meant to have legal effect.

Allen, a freshman Democrat who chairs the Senates elections committee, said that if voters in the nations largest state have the chance to speak out on the issue of political money, it may spark a wider movement to change the current rules.

People want to weigh in, he said. If you want to start that conversation, you have to do things like this.

john.myers@latimes.com

Follow @johnmyers on Twitter, sign up for our daily Essential Politics newsletter and listen to the weekly California Politics Podcast

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Updates from Sacramento
The Costa Mesa City Council held off this week on renewing a lease with the Boys & Girls Club of the Harbor Area, which rents city-owned property in the Eastside for its Lou Yantorn branch.

The council Tuesday opted instead to continue negotiating with the nonprofit, which has been seeking a 48-year extension to keep renting at 2131 Tustin Ave. for $1 a year. Its original 50-year lease expires in November.

Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer said he was concerned about extending the lease for such a long time without ensuring that the club maintains and improves the branchs facility.

Mayor Steve Mensinger agreed, telling club representative Robert Santana: Your building needs help. Were glad youre there  but we have to balance you and your use with our fiduciary responsibility.

The Harbor Area club, an independent nonprofit for more than 70 years, is looking to merge with the larger Boys & Girls Club of Santa Ana in hopes that the combination would lead to better efficiency and programming for thousands of children.

The Boys & Girls Club of the Harbor Area also has branches in Westside Costa Mesa, Irvine and Newport Beach.

Santana, chief executive of the Santa Ana club, said the leadership team is committed to improving the Lou Yantorn branch but cannot begin a fundraising campaign to upgrade the facility until a long-term lease is secured.

He noted that the branch, which opened in 1966, has received recent improvements, including $75,000 worth of work to the gym, $10,000 in roof repairs and $5,000 in plumbing and electrical upgrades.

Santana pointed to the Santa Ana clubs flagship Joe MacPherson Center for Opportunity, calling it a model for Boys & Girls Clubs nationwide. He said Costa Mesa children deserve such a facility.

Our kids in Costa Mesa deserve a much better-quality Boys & Girls Club. They deserve a 21st century Boys & Girls Club, Santana said.

You have a lot of credibility with me with what you did in Santa Ana, Righeimer told Santana. Wed love to have you for 48 more years, but we just need the agreement done right.
The U.S. Olympic Committee has appointed three doctors to a panel that will provide information to athletes worried about competing at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil amid a Zika virus outbreak.

The Infectious Disease Advisory Group will answer questions and publish recommendations to help U.S. team members and staff avoid being infected by the mosquito-borne virus.

The health and safety of our athletes, and our entire delegation, is our top priority, USOC Chief Executive Scott Blackmun said in a statement Friday. Im grateful to the diverse group of medical experts that have agreed to provide Team USA with the information and resources necessary to stay healthy and compete successfully.

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The USOC originally announced its intention to form the group last month. The members will include Dr. Carrie L. Byington of the University of Utah, Dr. Randy Taplitz of UC San Diego and Capt. Martin S. Cetron of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Helping Team USA is an incredibly unique opportunity and I look forward to providing the entire delegation with the most up-to-date and fact-based information available, Byington said.

Zika has swept through the Americas in recent months. Though its symptoms are relatively mild, health officials suspect the virus might be linked to birth defects in cases where women become infected during pregnancy.
Testifying at their trial Friday, student leaders of Hong Kongs pro-democracy Umbrella Movement accused the government of clamping down on their right to demonstrate, which they said had driven them into civil disobedience in order to fight for democracy.

We know neither the central government in Beijing nor our government would accept our idea of a free and fair election, said Alex Chow, 25, one of three student leaders on trial. So we decided we needed to use civil disobedience in order to establish a democratic system.

Chow, a former president of the college group Hong Kong Federation of Students, faces a charge of participating in an unlawful assembly. Joshua Wong, 19, the movements best-known face and founder of the high school activist group Scholarism, is charged with participating in an unlawful assembly and inciting others to join. Nathan Law, 22, current president of the college federation, also was charged with inciting.

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All three pleaded not guilty. The charges stem from a demonstration in which students stormed a newly fenced-off public plaza, a popular venue for protests, at the territorys main government compound.

I felt very angry about the fence, said Wong. My understanding is that its the right of every Hong Kong citizen to participate in demonstrations.

Under cross-examination, Wong said that based on my experience over the past three years of organizing protests, I never anticipated direct physical conflicts with the authorities. But these days in Hong Kong, even peaceful nonviolent demonstrations can carry legal consequences.

In order to convict the students, the prosecution must prove they intended to cause physical injuries to people or property during an unlawful assembly.

I felt very angry about the fence. My understanding is that its the right of every Hong Kong citizen to participate in demonstrations.  Hong Kong student protest leader Joshua Wong

Over the last two days, the student leaders endured hours of grilling from prosecutor David Leung, who sought to paint them as reckless colluders in a violent mass action, even as they professed to adhere to the principle of peaceful nonviolence in their protests.

All night long you prodded others into using violence, said Leung. You were being a hypocrite, were you not?

I disagree, said Law.

Hong Kong, a former British colony of 7.3 million people thats now a semiautonomous Chinese territory, has maintained an independent judiciary under a separate constitution, which is to remain in force for 50 years after the 1997 transfer of sovereignty.

Under the constitution, the territory is guaranteed the right to vote for its leader at a future date. However, in August 2014, the standing committee of mainland Chinas National Peoples Congress decided to limit the choice of candidates for Hong Kongs highest office to two or three candidates handpicked by a pro-Beijing committee.

The decision prompted a boycott of classes organized by the student leaders and escalated into the storming of the plaza, known as Civic Square to local activists.

The students all elected to testify after the judge had found that there was sufficient evidence for the government to bring charges against them.

Immediately after the storming of the plaza, police arrested Chow, Wong and at least 70 others. During the student leaders prolonged detention, demonstrators massed and police in riot gear failed to disperse them despite using force.

1 / 75 A pro-democracy protester rests in his tent with suitcase ready, before the police arrive to clear the main protest site in the Admiralty district of Hong Kong on Dec. 11. (Pedro Ugarte / AFP/Getty Images) 2 / 75 Workers clear barricades at an occupied area in the Mong Kok district of Hong Kong on Dec. 11. (Vincent Yu / Associated Press) 3 / 75 Workers remove a barricade in the Mong Kok district of Hong Kong on Nov. 25. (Philippe Lopez / AFP/Getty Images) 4 / 75 A student reads a book in his tent at the pro-democracy movements main protest site in the Admiralty district of Hong Kong on Dec. 2. (Johannes Eisele / AFP/Getty Images) 5 / 75 A security staff member, center, removes a barricade outside the Citic Tower at a protest site in the Admiralty district of Hong Kong on Nov 18. (Philippe Lopez / AFP/Getty Images) 6 / 75 An older man shares his opposing views with pro-democracy student protesters in Mong Kok. (Wally Santana / Associated Press) 7 / 75 Pro-democracy protesters push against police as they break down barricades and retake streets in Mong Kok. (Chris McGrath / Getty Images) 8 / 75 Police armed with bolt cutters, chainsaws and sledgehammers made a renewed attempt to remove barricades along a stretch of the main protest site held by pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong on October 14, 2014. (Philippe Lopez / AFP/Getty Images) 9 / 75 Police officers arrest a protester in the Admiralty district of Hong Kong. Dozens of masked men rushed barricades at Hong Kongs main pro-democracy site, triggering clashes as demonstrators tried to push them back and police struggled to contain the chaos. (Pedro Ugarte / AFP/Getty Images) 10 / 75 Police cordon an area where pro-democracy demonstrators confront those protesting them in the Admiralty district of Hong Kong on Oct. 13. (Philippe Lopez / AFP/Getty Images) 11 / 75 A policeman, left, confronts a pro-democracy protester in the Admiralty district of Hong Kong on Oct. 13. (Xaume Olleros / AFP/Getty Images) 12 / 75 Pro-democracy demonstrators shout slogans at those protesting them in the Admiralty district of Hong Kong. (Pedro Ugarte / AFP/Getty Images) 13 / 75 A pro-democracy protester in the Admiralty district of Hong Kong, where police started removing street barricades at sites where demonstrators have been holding rallies, paralyzing parts of the Chinese financial hub. (Ed Jones / AFP/Getty Images) 14 / 75 Pro-democracy protesters stand next to barricades as police officers gather in the central district of Hong Kong on Oct. 13. (Ed Jones / AFP/Getty Images) 15 / 75 A pro-democracy protester sits in front of Hong Kong police in the Wan Chai area of Hong Kong on Oct. 13. (Rolex Dela Pena / EPA) 16 / 75 A woman walks past a wall of messages of support for protesters in Hong Kong on Oct. 7. (Philippe Lopez / AFP/Getty Images) 17 / 75 A pro-democracy protester sleeps beneath messages of support in the Admiralty district of Hong Kong on Oct. 7. (Ed Jones / AFP/Getty Images) 18 / 75 A woman steps on a portrait of Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying depicted as a vampire as she steps around barricades set up by pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong on Oct. 7. (Philippe Lopez / AFP/Getty Images) 19 / 75 A government loyalist demonstrator shouts at democracy protesters in the Mong Kok area of Hong Kong on Oct. 3. (Jerome Taylor / AFP/Getty Images) 20 / 75 A group of men in masks rough up a man, right, who tried to stop them from removing barricades from a pro-democracy protest area in the Causeway Bay district of Hong Kong on Friday. (Alex Ogle / AFP/Getty Images) 21 / 75 Police take an injured man from the confrontation of pro-democracy student protesters and angry local residents in Mong Kok, Hong Kong, on Friday. (Wally Santana / Associated Press) 22 / 75 A pro-democracy student protester scales a traffic light pole in defiance of local residents demanding them to leave their occupied roads in Hong Kong on Friday. (Wally Santana / Associated Press) 23 / 75 A woman shouts during violent scenes in Mong Kok on Day 6 of the mass civil disobedience campaign Occupy Central in Hong Kong. (Alex Hofford / EPA) 24 / 75 A Hong Kong police officer confronts a protester. (Julie Makinen / Los Angeles Times) 25 / 75 Pro-democracy demonstrators face policemen outside the Legislative Counsel office in Hong Kong. Protesters want the territorys Beijing-backed chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, to step down. He says he wont. (Xaume Olleros / AFP/Getty Images) 26 / 75 An aerial view of violent scenes in Mong Kok, Hong Kong, on Day 6 of the mass civil disobedience campaign Occupy Central. (Alex Hofford / EPA) 27 / 75 Student demonstrators raise their hands to show their nonviolent intentions during a change of shift for local police. A mass gathering in Hong Kong is a reaction to an August decision by Chinas central government that would require a pro-Beijing committee to screen candidates in the territorys first direct elections for chief executive in 2017. (Wong Maye-E / Associated Press) 28 / 75 Protesters shout slogans at police outside the government headquarters in Hong Kong. (Anthony Wallace / AFP/Getty Images) 29 / 75 Notes of support are posted on the wall of an encampment of pro-democracy student protesters outside the government complex in Hong Kong. (Wally Santana / Associated Press) 30 / 75 A protester working as a medical volunteer sleeps in a makeshift supplies area on an overpass in Hong Kong. (Anthony Wallace / AFP/Getty Images) 31 / 75 A man passes umbrellas displaying slogans in the protesters encampment outside the Hong Kong government complex. (Wally Santana / Associated Press) 32 / 75 A protester and a Hong Kong police officer are wedged tightly together. (Alex Hofford / EPA) 33 / 75 A man holds a sign that reads Dont go to school as a pro-democracy rally continues in Hong Kong. (Xaume Olleros / AFP/Getty Images) 34 / 75 A demonstrator near government headquarters in Hong Kong checks his phone. (Philippe Lopez / AFP/Getty Images) 35 / 75 A pro-democracy protestor sits in the road near the Hong Kong government headquarters. (Laurent Fievet / AFP/Getty Images) 36 / 75 A pro-democracy protester sleeps at Tamar Park in the Admiralty district of Hong Kong. (Xaume Olleros / AFP/Getty Images) 37 / 75 A Civil Disobedience sign written on the street in chalk in Hong Kong, where thousands of pro-democracy supporters continue to occupy the streets surrounding Hong Kongs financial district. (Chris McGrath / Getty Images) 38 / 75 A woman holds a placard at a large pro-democracy protest in Hong Kong. (Alex Ogle / AFP/Getty Images) 39 / 75 Barricades are installed to block traffic on a multilane highway as pro-democracy protests take place in Hong Kong. (Alex Ogle / AFP/Getty Images) 40 / 75 Umbrellas are painted with slogans at the protest site as the numbers of protesters continue to grow in Hong Kong. (Paula Bronstein / Getty Images) 41 / 75 A pro-democracy activist shouts slogans on a street near the government headquarters where protesters have made camp. (Wong Maye-E / Associated Press) 42 / 75 Mainland China tourists walk past the luxury boutiques of Tsim Shai Tsui district in Hong Kong. Despite the expansion of the pro-democracy protests to the luxury shopping district, most mainlanders were more interested in shopping than in political activities. (Wally Santana / Associated Press) 43 / 75 Pro-democracy demonstrators sit on tram tracks with a graffito of an umbrella on the fourth day of the mass civil disobedience campaign in Hong Kong. (Dennis M. Sabangan / EPA) 44 / 75 Pro-democracy demonstrators display placards as they gather near a ceremony marking Chinas 65th National Day in Hong Kong on Wednesday. (Philippe Lopez / AFP/Getty Images) 45 / 75 Protesters shout slogans outside a flag-raising ceremony marking Chinas National Day on Wednesday where Hong Kongs embattled leader Leung Chun-ying attended. (Vincent Yu / AP) 46 / 75 Protesters sing and wave their cellphones after a massive thunderstorm passed over outside the Hong Kong government complex on Sept. 30. (Chris McGrath / Getty Images) 47 / 75 Pro-democracy protesters hold up their mobile phones after heavy rain in Hong Kong. (Anthony Wallace / AFP/Getty Images) 48 / 75 Thousands of pro democracy supporters continue to occupy the streets surrounding Hong Kongs financial district on Sept. 30. (Anthony Kwan / Getty Images) 49 / 75 A pro-democracy demonstrator gestures after police fired tear gas near the Hong Kong government headquarters. (Xaume Olleros / AFP/Getty Images) 50 / 75 Pro-democracy protesters use umbrellas to shield themselves from heavy rain. (Anthony Wallace / AFP/Getty Images) 51 / 75 Protesters sing and wave their cellphones after a massive thunderstorm outside the Hong Kong government complex. (Chris McGrath / Getty Images) 52 / 75 High school students hand out water and food outside the Hong Kong government center. (Chris McGrath / Getty Images) 53 / 75 A pro-democracy protester confronts the police during a demonstration in Hong Kong. (Xaume Olleros / AFP/Getty Images) 54 / 75 A police car is blocked by protesters after thousands of people block a main road to the financial central district outside the government headquarters in Hong Kong. (Vincent Yu / Associated Press) 55 / 75 Pro-democracy demonstrators hold up their mobile phones during a protest near the Hong Kong government headquarters on Sept. 29. (Dale de la Rey / AFP/Getty Images) 56 / 75 A protester sings songs and plays guitar on a street in Hong Kong as thousands of pro-democracy supporters have remained in the streets of Hong Kong for another day of protests. (Anthony Kwan / Getty Images) 57 / 75 Pro-democracy protesters sit on a road as they face off with police in Hong Kong. (Wong Maye-E / Associated Press) 58 / 75 Pro-democracy protesters take afternoon naps on the streets in Hong Kong on Monday. (Wong Maye-E / Associated Press) 59 / 75 Umbrellas used to shield demonstrators from pepper spray and the sun are displayed during a pro-democracy protest near the Hong Kong government headquarters. (Dale de la Rey / AFP/Getty Images) 60 / 75 A demonstrator gestures opposite policemen during a pro-democracy protest in Hong Kong. (Xaume Olleros / AFP/Getty Images) 61 / 75 Police officers stand in a cloud of tear gas during a demonstration in Hong Kong. (Xaume Olleros / AFP/Getty Images) 62 / 75 A student is taken away by policemen at the government headquarters in Hong Kong. (Vincent Yu / Associated Press) 63 / 75 Police officers reacts outside a government complex in Hong Kong, as thousands of students started a week-long boycott of classes in protest against Beijings conservative framework for political reform in Hong Kong. (Anthony Kwan / Getty Images) 64 / 75 A student pro-democracy protester covers his face in plastic wrap to protect against pepper spray in the event that activists face a stand-off with local police on Monday. (Wong Maye-E / AP) 65 / 75 Visitors view the latest newspaper coverage following clashes between activists and police at a sit-in protest in Hong Kong on Monday. (Wally Santana / AP) 66 / 75 A protester sits in the middle of a tunnel in Central on Monday in Hong Kong. (Anthony Kwan / Getty Images) 67 / 75 Police fire tear gas at pro-democracy demonstrators near the Hong Kong government headquarters on Sept. 28, 2014. (Aaron Tam / AFP/Getty Images) 68 / 75 Riot police use pepper spray against protesters after thousands of people blocked a main road to the financial central district in Hong Kong on Sept. 28. (Vincent Yu / Associated Press) 69 / 75 Police confront pro-democracy protesters. (Xaume Olleros / AFPGetty Images) 70 / 75 Demonstrators disperse as tear gas is fired by police on Sept. 29, 2014. (Anthony Kwan / Getty Images) 71 / 75 Protesters pour water over the head of a fellow demonstrator during riots that followed a pro-democracy protest on Sept. 28, 2014. (Xaume Olleros / AFPGetty Images) 72 / 75 Police officers stand in a cloud of tear gas. (Xaume Olleros / AFPGetty Images) 73 / 75 Pro-democracy protesters confront police in Hong Kong early Saturday. (Vincent Yu / Associated Press) 74 / 75 A protester holds a sign during a pro-democracy rally in a plaza at Hong Kongs main government compound Saturday. (Lam Yik Fei / Getty Images) 75 / 75 Students protesting for greater democratic rights march in Hong Kong on Sept. 24. (Xaume Olleros / AFP / Getty Images)

The emboldened demonstrators then took over major roadways in encampments, which were eventfully cleared on court orders. But little political change has been achieved since.

Although police arrested a total of 48 people in early 2015 for their alleged involvement in the pro-democracy protests, only Wong, Chow and Law have been prosecuted so far.

In contrast to the colorful mass sit-in that had transfixed the world for weeks, the five-day trial was a decidedly low-key affair. No cameras are allowed inside Hong Kong courtrooms, and local laws forbid participants from commenting on ongoing cases. The student defendants have refrained from commenting on social media lest they run afoul of the gag order and be found in contempt of the court.

The trial was attended by a score of spectators, who flashed looks of disgust and whispered disapproval as prosecutors relentlessly pressed the students to recall details of their deliberations in the lead-up to the storming.

As the student defendants left the courthouse Friday afternoon at a bouncy gait, they were greeted by a dozen elderly supporters, including one man in his 80s using a walking stick.

Civic Square belongs to us citizens, the group said in a chorus, some pumping their fists.

The students remain free on $64 bail. A verdict is expected by late May or early June at the earliest.

Law is a special correspondent.
In a run-down Belgrade theater, young film buffs smoke cheap cigarettes beneath posters of iconic Hollywood and Yugoslav films and lament what they say is the plundering of Serbias cultural heritage.

Here, the politicians lack the subtlety to even pretend to care, says Vladimir Gvojic, a 25-year-old actor and part of a movement bringing movies back to derelict Belgrade theaters. All these cinemas are just real estate now.

For the last 15 months, Gvojic and a small group of film enthusiasts have occupied Belgrades Zvezda, or Star, Cinema. Established in 1911, with an Art Nouveau front and plush red seats, it is the citys oldest theater  and a point of pride recalling the glory days of Yugoslav cinema.

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The young protesters are angered at the Serbian governments corruption-mired privatization schemes of the last decade, which saw the state-owned Beograd Film  replete with 14 revered cinemas, including the Star  dismantled and its theaters sold off at rock-bottom prices.

All have since closed their doors and fallen into disrepair; some were converted by foreign investors into sandwich bars and gambling dens.

As a kid I came here and watched movies, says Luka Bursac, 26, one of the theaters lead occupants and a student from Belgrade Universitys school of dramatic arts.

He recalls directing an erotic 2013 documentary titled Threesome and struggling to find a place to screen his film.

There was this old porn cinema called the Partizan just around the corner, playing porn and kung fu movies, says Bursac, sitting in the Stars second-story makeshift office. I wanted to get inside and premiere my documentary. But it was like some security guys inside ... told us that the cinema wasnt open anymore and threw us out.

So I started wondering: What happened to all these old cinemas? Why are they closed?

In 2007, a London-based Serbian derivatives trader, Nikola Djivanovic, bought Beograd Film for a reported $10 million, about half its value. He quickly sold his stake to a private equity firm, Lantern International.

He is a criminal who defiled the culture of our country, says Gvojic, holding out his smartphone, which depicts the businessman with a scrawl reading I Saw the Devil  an ultra-violent 2010 South Korean horror film  superimposed over him.

Fed up at the ransacking of Serbias arts and armed with crowbars, walkie-talkies and flashlights, a small group of still-unknown film enthusiasts broke into the Star on Nov. 21, 2014, apparently scaling a tree behind it before crawling through a ventilation shaft into the building. They broke the lock that had kept the ruined theaters doors closed to the public for nearly a decade.

About 200 demonstrators, including workers rights activists and film connoisseurs, flooded the cinema, beginning a sit-in known as the Movement for the Occupation of Cinemas.

Its logo depicts a clenched fist stretched skyward, clutching a length of film.

Despite numerous obstacles, the young film enthusiasts have turned the dilapidated relic into a showcase once more, screening as many as three films a day and more than 500 over the last 15 months.

They slept under thick duvets, vowing to spare the Star from other cinemas fate, and went to work: repairing an old Slovenian Iskra 35-millimeter projector that was left in the projection booth, sweeping the floors and repairing a leaking roof. A new projector was hauled in too, bought with donation money. A 150-seat, open-air amphitheater behind the building, a feature added in the 1970s, was given a paint job and used to screen movies in the summer.

Obviously what we are doing is illegal, says Gvojic, his round glasses telegraphing the hit man in Luc Bessons The Professional. But thats the point: Everything that has happened to this cinema is illegal.

Bursac wrote letters to Serbias 20 wealthiest people, seeking help to cover the costs of running heaters during the frosty months.

None of them replied, Bursac says, his breath coming as mist in the winter chill; they can no longer afford the cost of heating the cinema. No surprises there.

The movement has won the support of French director Michel Gondry and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who spoke at the theater during a visit to Belgrade. Gondry directed an animated short in support of the movement, which is screened before each film.

About 10,000 people have passed through the cinema over the last year, issued vintage pink entrance receipts  from the once-again staffed ticket booth  and popcorn for about $1.

They had a chance to see film flickering to life on the Stars screens: Serbian director Aleksandar Petrovics 1967 classic I Even Met Happy Gypsies. Rosemarys Baby by Roman Polanski. Africa Addio, which documents the collapse of colonial-era Africa. Terrence Malicks masterpiece The New World.

All the films we screened are carefully selected and have internal cinematic value, Gvojic says.

At one point, the movements leaders even arranged a Skype conversation with Djivanovic, which they projected on the main cinemas screen, before a packed hall.

Djivanovic spent 18 months in jail awaiting trial for abuse of power  a trumped-up charge, he insists  after acting as an advisor to Belgrade on financial legislation and debt restructuring in the mid-2000s.

He was released after agreeing to pay a $3-million fine. He claims his detention was unlawful and failed to meet European Union standards.

To call him unrepentant would be an understatement. He defended his business decisions in an interview, saying his goal was to make money. And I did.

He said he saw no logic in maintaining a valuable asset as a loss-making enterprise. And, he added, I must admit that I have no concern whatsoever for the cultural scene of Belgrade. Why should I?

Djivanovic expressed scorn for the film buffs occupying the derelict Star. I feel great pity for them, he said. Imagine being an artist in Serbia. You might as well commit suicide immediately.

A tour of the Star reveals massive neglect. Masking tape holds cracked windows together; shattered glass covers the floors. Tendril cracks run down walls threatening to crumble and cave. Grimy bric-a-brac spills from rooms. The darkened walk to the projector room reeks of cat feces.

The state of Belgrades theaters reflects a broader decay of cultural icons in the former Yugoslavia, which broke up amid the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe in the 1990s.

The Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade, an impressive building on the banks of the Sava River, has not hosted an exhibition in a decade. A much-anticipated overhaul of the National Museum remains in limbo; the museums doors have been locked for years.

However, probably the most painful blow came in April. Avala Film, founded at the end of World War II by the former Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito, was sold for $9 million.

The once-stately hilltop studio  with assets running well into the tens of millions of dollars  had fallen into neglect and was auctioned to a company called Filmway. That company was reportedly registered one month before the sale, with total capital of about $550.

The sale included about 215,000 square feet of studio space, costumes, props and the rights to the entire Avala Film archive, about 600 films, reports indicate.

Many of those films were prestige wars epics or famed pictures from the so-called Black Wave epoch, a defining period in which experimental Yugoslav directors launched stinging critiques of the socialist state.

This is our countrys cultural capital, says Andreja Pavlovic, another of the young demonstrators and a political science major. It is the equivalent of losing Citizen Kane.

Film posters adorn the cinemas walls: the somber 1967 Yugoslav melodrama The Rats Woke Up; David Cronenbergs The Brood; assorted Quentin Tarantino movies.

Wed like to see this become a film studio, where young people could come and express themselves through film. But that requires a lot of financial support and repairs to the building, Gvojic says. I think we can get the ownership, if some crazy guy came and gave us money.

Yet 15 months of occupation has taken its toll. The movement has fractured, with an ardent core of about a dozen occupiers enduring the winter chill. Break-ins, an attack by right-wing extremists  fended off with crowbars  and a major flood of the premises have sapped their energy.

We are really trying to decide what to do next, Bursac says. Its very possible we will be thrown out in the end.

Johnson is a special correspondent.

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Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was questioned by federal police Friday as part of investigations into accusations of massive, long-running corruption and money laundering schemes involving the state oil company Petrobras and a string of major construction firms.

Authorities early Friday were at the former presidents home in Sao Bernardo do Campo; the Sao Paulo headquarters of his institute, Instituto Lula; and the home of his son, Fabio Luiz Lula da Silva, among other locations as part of Operation Lava Jato, or Car Wash.

In a statement, police said they were carrying out 44 judicial orders as part of the broader Petrobras probe.

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Prosecutors say more than $2 billion in bribes was paid by businessmen to obtain Petrobras contracts. Investigators have also said that some of the money made its way to several political parties, including Lulas Workers Party.

Authorities said they were acting on a warrant requiring Lula to answer questions pertaining to the probe into semi-public Petrobras.

The former president was taken from his home to a federal police station at Congonhas airport, where he was questioned for about three hours.

As news of his detention spread, supporters and protesters clashed outside his home, exchanging kicks and punches, and further scuffles were reported outside the airport building where he was being questioned.

Investigators are questioning Lula, who governed Brazil from 2003 to 2010 and remains a powerful figure in the ruling Workers Party, in an attempt to get to the bottom of his relationship with the construction giants Odebrecht and OAS, both beneficiaries of multimillion-dollar contracts during his presidency, and both major campaign contributors to the party.

The offices of Odebrecht and OAS were also raided Friday.

Federal prosecutor Carlos Fernando dos Santos Lima said during a news conference in Curitiba, where the investigation is based, that evidence pointed to Lulas involvement in suspected corruption, and that money from the scheme had been used in political campaigns run by the ruling Workers Party.

Lula is accused of having benefited personally from a corruption scheme, with benefits related to two properties in the state of Sao Paulo: a farm in Atibaia and a luxury triplex apartment in the seaside resort of Guaraja; the latter is suspected to have been renovated by Odebrecht at a cost of $180,000 as part of the scheme.

In a statement, police said investigations by the Operation Car Wash task force and by federal police had uncovered evidence that the crimes enriched [Lula], and financed electoral campaigns and his political party.

After completing the police questioning about midday, Lula was driven to the Workers Party national headquarters in central Sao Paulo, where he met with party leaders, members of Congress, senators and activists, members of Brazils landless movement, and representatives of the Brazilian Communist Party, a close ally of the Workers Party.

About 300 supporters gathered outside waved flags and chanted slogans in support of Lula.

Lula, warrior of the Brazilian people! and There will be no coup, referring to what government supporters say is a politically motivated attack on the Workers Party, and in particular on Lula and his successor, President Dilma Rousseff.

Rousseff is facing impeachment proceedings over accusations of illicit use of state funds to doctor the annual budget, charges unrelated to Petrobras and Operation Car Wash.

Standing outside the Workers Party headquarters, Lina Noronha, 50, a musicologist and university professor, called Lulas detention indecent and arbitrary.

Lula, at a news conference at party headquarters, criticized the decision to take him in for questioning. He was not arrested or charged with any crime.

It would have been so simple to have asked me to go. I would have gone, he said. This morning, I felt like a prisoner.

Lula said he had already presented himself for questioning three times this year, including on one occasion while on vacation. I answered the exact same questions as I answered today.

Speaking for around 20 minutes, Lula denied ownership of the beachside condominium, and expressed his repudiation of the move to impeach Rousseff.

Leading members of the Workers Party called for solidarity with Lula, as the leader of the party in Congress, Afonso Florence, described his detention as illegal. Speaking on Friday afternoon, the Workers Party national president Rui Falcao called Lulas detention a political spectacle.

Observing the demonstration outside the party headquarters before Lula left the building late Friday afternoon, construction steelworker Jefferson Camilo Manuel, 42, said he thought police were only doing their job,

If Lula has done something wrong, then he needs to be investigated  as long as everyone else is investigated too, Manuel said. Its not just Lula and its not just the Workers Party: there are many others involved. I hope they will all be investigated.

Rigby is a special correspondent.

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If Canadians werent paying attention to the U.S. presidential campaign before, it may be time to tune in.

Google Trends prompted some online buzz this week when it reported that the search query how can I move to Canada had shot through the roof on the evening of the Super Tuesday primaries -- a phenomenon that was widely attributed to Donald Trumps string of victories.

Searches initially rose by 350%.

By the next day, they had reportedly shot up by 1,150%.

So what are Canadians thinking about this potential wave of presumably liberal, Trump-averse Americans? Canada recently announced that it had reached its goal of taking in 25,000 refugees from Syrias civil war. What about its neighbors to the south?

TRAIL GUIDE: All the latest news on the 2016 presidential campaign >>

We put the question to a random, and highly unscientific, sampling of Canadians in Ottawa, the nations capital.

David Teed

David Teed, 60, a retired electrical engineer (Christopher Guly / Los Angeles Times)

David Teed, 60, is a retired electrical engineer who lives in Ottawa. He doesnt think there will be a mass migration of Americans moving to Canada should Donald Trump win the presidency.

Historically, people have asked about [doing] it, but not done anything about it, he said. Maybe if they were on the knife edge, they might. But he doesnt think Americans are there yet.

On Trump winning the presidency: Its rather unbelievable. Outside the party selection process, the [U.S.] populace is not really supportive, so it seems unlikely.

Elaine Munro

Elaine Munro, 62, retail customer service clerk (Christopher Guly / Los Angeles Times)

Elaine Munro, 62, is a retail customer service clerk in Almonte, just outside Ottawa.

I would rather have a bunch of Americans than all of these Muslims [the Canadian government is] bringing in, she said. I am totally against that. Theyre taking jobs that Canadians have. The [Canadian] government is setting them up better than how Canadians are being looked after. Healthcare is being overrun by [Syrian refugees].

Fred Hallahan

Fred Hallahan (Christopher Guly / Los Angeles Times)

Fred Hallahan, 65, is a retail store clerk in Almonte.

I dont mind Americans moving here, he said. I just dont want Donald Trump. Ive got a feeling the whole world will be in big trouble [if he wins]. Hes going to stir the pot so badly that everybodys going to be after the Americans. I have bad feelings [about him]. Thats how I live, its by feelings. I hope he doesnt win. I hope he doesnt even come close to winning.

Eric Anderson

Eric Anderson (Christopher Guly / Los Angeles Times)

Eric Anderson, 35, is a small business owner and auto mechanic in Ottawa.

I think Americans drawn up here if Trump became president would be smart, rational Americans, he said. Canadas population is declining, so it would be nice to have immigration of people ready to contribute to the economy. People would be moving here, purchasing homes, starting businesses, getting jobs because they decide they dont like this Trump guy and what he stands for. Theyre the kind of people we want in this country. So it would be nice to have an influx of people moving here for the right reasons.

On the prospect of Trump as president: It just looks pretty scary. I think hed be really, really unpredictable and kind of do whatever he wants. It looks like he has no concern for collateral damage when it comes to conflict resolution. Hes made comments about blowing up oil fields. But what about all the villages and people that get blown up alongside these oil fields? That will create more hate.

Alice Chiasson

Alice Chiasson (Christopher Guly / Los Angeles Times)

Alice Chiasson, 30, is a pet store sales associate in Ottawa.

I feel like the mass migration of Americans to Canada would probably be from the intellectual sector -- a lot of scientists, maybe people who are in politics, people with forward-looking ideas. They would come to Canada and they would be benefiting all of our sectors, she said.

On Trump: I just believe him to be a hypocrite. I believe that he is two-faced. He says one thing and then says something completely opposite, such as liking Ted Cruz and hating Ted Cruz, such as not knowing who the head of the Ku Klux Klan is, yet he spoke of him earlier and he knows who he is. His hate for immigration seems very hypocritical because his wife [Melania] is an immigrant as well.

Otto Haenlein Sr.

Otto Haenlein, Sr. (Christopher Guly / Los Angeles Times)

Otto Haenlein Sr., 94, is a retired teacher in Ottawa.

I dont think it will happen, he said of a wave of Americans moving to Canada. Most Americans are comfortable where they are, unless they want to take advantage of our currency. Canada has enough to do with the [Syrian] refugees we have agreed to take.

On Trump: I dont think very much of him. Hes very vulgar. On the other hand, you have to respect him because hes made a fortune. He has appeal to many people because he can talk very glibly. Hes not afraid of anything I think. But I dont think he has the right personality to represent the United States of America.

Guly is a special correspondent for the Los Angeles Times.

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A Turkish court on Friday sentenced two Syrian smugglers to prison terms of four years and two months each in connection with the deaths of five people including 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi, who galvanized world attention on the refugee crisis when a photo was published of him lying lifeless on a beach.

The court in the Aegean Sea resort of Bodrum convicted the two of human trafficking but acquitted them of the charge of causing the drowning deaths through deliberate negligence.

The image of the Syrian boys body, face down on a Turkish beach, graphically illustrated the magnitude of the migrants suffering.

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Aylans brother, Galip, and mother, Rihan, were also among the five victims who drowned when their boat went down in the ill-fated journey from Bodrum to the Greek island of Kos last year. Though Turkish authorities have given the boys first name as Aylan, his aunt says the family prefers that it be transliterated as Alan.

Trials in Turkey usually take months, even years, to conclude, but the verdict -- coming at the end of the third hearing in the case just a month after the trial opened -- appeared to be an effort by the country to show that it is cracking down on human traffickers, just before Mondays summit between Turkey and the European Union to discuss the migrant crisis.

Turkey is under pressure to reduce the tide of migrants to Europe and to combat the smuggling rings since it reached a deal with the EU in November. Under the deal, Turkey is scheduled to receive a 3-billion euro ($3.26-billion) fund to help the country deal with Syrian refugees.

The defendants, Syrian nationals Muwafaka Alabash and Asem Alfrhad, had denied any responsibility in the migrants deaths. Instead, they blamed Aylans father, Abdullah Kurdi, for the deaths -- accusing him of organizing the trip.

The court initially sentenced them to five years in prison each, but then reduced the term to four years and two months due to the defendants good behavior during the trial and other legal reductions. The two can appeal their convictions.

Prosecutors had initially sought the maximum sentence of 35 years in prison for each of them.

The Kurdi family was among hundreds of thousands who risked the journey to Greece in the hope of then heading to wealthier nations in northern and western Europe. After the deaths of his family, Abdullah Kurdi has returned to Syria.

The International Organization for Migration says at least 418 migrants have died this year alone while trying to cross into Greece or Italy.

Turkish officials say authorities in 2015 detained more than 4,400 smugglers who organized the often-dangerous crossings in frail boats.

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Following the Super Tuesday primaries Donald Trump remains the frontrunner to win the Republican presidential nomination in the US. Nomination is not yet a sure thing. If successful the property tycoon-turned-politician will need to go on to confront a Democratic party opponent, most likely to be Hillary Clinton. Victory over Clinton is also far from assured. But a candidate notorious for his anti-Mexico views has now gone far enough and fast enough in the race to be considered a serious contender for the US presidency. That means Mexican political leaders are starting to imagine what a Trump presidency might be like.

Trumps views on Mexico have  as he intended  received headline coverage. A brief summary: if elected Trump intends to build a gigantic wall (which appears to get higher every time he mentions it) along the frontier to keep Mexican immigrants out. Mexico is to be forced to foot the cost of the wall, for which various numbers have been mentioned (the latest Trump estimate is US$8bn). In Trumps view Mexicans entering the US include rapists, murderers and drug runners. A Trump government will deport all Mexicans illegally in the US back to Mexico  an operation that could involve up to 11m people.

Opinion remains divided between those who believe Trump should be interpreted literally, and those who see his statements (such as the claim that all Muslims should be denied entry to the US) as more of a deliberately provocative and figurative appeal to a disgruntled middle America, deeply worried by immigration, crime, and terrorism, and eager to be offered simple solutions restoring the countrys perceived loss of global power and status.

Mexican reaction

Mexican responses to Trump appear to have evolved through various stages. An initial response was to condemn Trumps ideas but to treat him as something of a clown. Various Mexican leaders attempted to ignore him entirely. That began to change as the Trump factor showed itself to be resilient and to reflect a not insignificant cross-section of the US electorate. One sign of this was that the proposal to build a wall, along with other hard-line anti-immigrant positions have been adopted, with different variants, by Trumps Republican rivals. He has framed the debate to his advantage.

Another sign of the real impact of Trumps rhetoric has come from indications that after slowing over recent years, the flow of immigrants into the US has increased again (see sidebar), with many reasoning that the time to get in is now, ahead of whatever tougher regulations are introduced after a new occupant enters the White House in January 2017. There are reports that people traffickers are encouraging this notion as a way of boosting demand for their services.

While former Mexican presidents have compared Trump to Hitler (see sidebar), Mexican government officials have tried to keep out of the war of words, until now. This week Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu said the wall plan was impossible, as well as impractical, inefficient, wrong and franklynot an intelligent thing to do. President Enrique Pena Nietos chief of staff, Francisco Guzman, has said the government will use its consulates across the US to publicise the positive aspects of the two countries relationship. Pena Nieto, Guzman added, believes any leader elected to the US presidency would end up taking a softer and more pragmatic line once in office.

Trump wants to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), slapping higher tariffs on Mexican products. Opponents of Trump point out that bilateral trade has quintupled to US$530bn since Nafta was signed in 1994 and now arguably supports significant job creation in the US as well as in Mexico. Guzman noted, It would be difficult to reverse 20 years of integration.

A number of security experts believe that the Trump wall  as described by its main proponent  will never be built. They argue that the cost and technical challenges are prohibitive and that there are legal complications over ownership, right-of-way conflicts, eminent domain disputes, and environmental regulations. But it is feasible that a future US administration would further strengthen and tighten border patrol and deploy advanced technology, including drones and other devices, to make illegal entry significantly more difficult. Mass deportations in the other direction are also possible.

As the process would most probably be accompanied by a sharp cooling in bilateral relations, it is likely that it could be poorly managed and would have serious unintended consequences. One is that a less porous border with fewer illegal drug trafficking routes might intensify the struggle to control those routes between the drug trafficking organisations (DTOs). If Mexican criminals are deported from US prisons and simply dumped on the Mexican side of the border that too is going to increase, not reduce border tensions. US-Mexican security cooperation would most likely decrease sharply and the Merida initiative  a part US-funded joint security programme  might not survive. Poor security cooperation between the two countries might be seen as a great opportunity by the ever-resourceful DTOs.

Illegal immigration

According to US border patrol statistics a total of 150,304 immigrants were arrested when trying to enter the US illegally between October 2015 and February 2016, a 24% increase on the same year-earlier period.

Mexican presidents on Trump

President Vicente Fox (2000-2006) said he would not pay for that f****** wall, adding of Donald Trump that He reminds me of Hitlerhes going to use the executive power to do what hed like. Another former Mexican President, Felipe Calderon (2006-2012), pointed out that Trump is himself the son of immigrants but is talking about immigrants who have a different skin colour to him. Frankly its racist and exploits sensitivities, rather like Hitler did in his day.

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Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump revealed his healthcare plan, which he expects to implement after Congress repeals the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also referred to as Obamacare.

Trumpcare

According to Trump, Obamacare requires congressional repeal but also a series of reforms to allow "free market principles and that will restore economic freedom" to Americans. Trump believes the U.S. healthcare system should include broader healthcare access, better affordability and improved quality of care.

"Obamacare has raised the economic uncertainty of every single person residing in this country. As it appears Obamacare is certain to collapse of its own weight, the damage done by the Democrats and President Obama, and abetted by the Supreme Court, will be difficult to repair unless the next President and a Republican congress lead the effort to bring much-needed free market reforms to the healthcare industry," Trump states in his healthcare plan, adding that reforms must begin in Congress on the first day of the Trump administration.

Trump's plan included seven items that members in the House of Representatives and Congress should address, including the complete ACA repeal, the elimination of the individual mandate, and no person should have the option of buying medical insurance. Next, Trump wants to modify current law to allow health insurance sales across state lines, which he believes would create greater competition and decrease insurance costs.

Trump's third proposal is to allow individuals to deduct health insurance premiums from their tax returns. The Trump campaign noted that businesses are currently allowed to do so, and the candidate wants to carry this provision over to individuals as well.

Fourth, Trump wants to allow people to use and contribute to Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) tax-free and to pass these accounts to family members.

Fifth, healthcare providers, ranging from doctors to healthcare organizations, will be required to be more transparent with prices.

His penultimate proposal is Medicaid reforms on the state level, easing federal management of Medicaid access.

Finally, Trump wants to remove barriers preventing drug providers from entering the free market to offer reliable and cheaper products.

"The reforms outlined above will lower healthcare costs for all Americans. ... There are other reforms that might be considered if they serve to lower costs, remove uncertainty and provide financial security for all Americans. And we must also take actions in other policy areas to lower healthcare costs and burdens," the Trump campaign added.

Trump also acknowledged the role of immigration in the healthcare issue, saying that enforcing immigration laws would ease healthcare costs on both state and local governments. Trump's plan would not provide healthcare to undocumented immigrants, and he reiterated his platform to restrict the "unbridled" granting of visas.

"Enforcing immigration laws, eliminating fraud and waste and energizing our economy will relieve the economic pressures felt by every American. It is the moral responsibility of a nation's government to do what is best for the people and what is in the interest of securing the future of the nation," Trump added.

Latinos and Healthcare

Coincidentally, the day after Trump revealed his healthcare plan, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) revealed approximately 20 million Americans have gained health insurance since the ACA's first provisions went into effect in 2010 and until early 2016.

The HHS noted the uninsured rate among Hispanics dropped by more than 25 percent, specifically from 41.8 percent to 30.5 percent. But the HHS has maintained its statistic that about four million Latino adults have gained medical coverage.

"Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, 20 million Americans have gained health care coverage," said HHS Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell in a statement on Thursday. "We have seen progress in the last six years that the country has sought for generations. Americans with insurance through the Health Insurance Marketplace or through their employers have benefited from better coverage and a reduction in the growth in health care costs."

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For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com.
The Republican presidential candidates gathered on Thursday night for their first debate since "Super Tuesday."

Trump Against Romney

Thursday morning saw former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential candidate, deliver a press conference denouncing Donald Trump as a viable candidate for the GOP.

"If we Republicans choose Donald Trump as our nominee, the prospects for a safe and prosperous future are greatly diminished. ... Here's what I know. Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud. His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University. He's playing the members of the American public for suckers. He gets a free ride to the White House and all we get is a lousy hat," said Romney.

He continued, "His domestic policies would lead to recession. His foreign policies would make America and the world less safe. He has neither the temperament nor the judgment to be president and his personal qualities would mean that America would cease to be a shining city on a hill."

Trump had his own press conference Thursday afternoon but addressed the 2012 Republican presidential candidate during the Fox News debate from Michigan.

"He was a failed candidate; he should have beaten President Obama very easy. He failed miserably and it was an embarrassment to everybody including the Republican Party," said Trump, adding that Romney is trying to remain relevant.

The Size of One's Hands

Marco Rubio and Trump debated about the campaign insults traded during the past week leading up to Super Tuesday, which included Trump calling Rubio a "lightweight" and a heavy sweater and Rubio commenting on Trump's tan, hair and hand size.

"For the last year Donald Trump has mocked everybody with personal attacks," Rubio said. "He has done so to people sitting on the stage today. He has done so about the people who are disabled. He has done it about with every candidate in this race. If there is anyone that has deserved to be attacked that way, it's Donald Trump for the way he has treated people in the campaign.

Trump said he will take back the "lightweight remark," adding "he's (Rubio) really not that much of a lightweight."

In regards to mocking Trump's hand size, the real estate mogul said, "I have to say this: He hit my hands. Nobody has ever hit my hands. I've never heard of this one. Look at those hands -- are they small hands? And he referred to my hands -- if they are small, something else must be small. I guarantee you, there's no problem."

Although Trump took back the "lightweight" remark, he still jabbed the Florida senator on his height, calling him "Little Marco." Rubio hit back with "Big Donald."

The name calling continued between Trump and Ted Cruz. While Trump's nickname for Rubio was "Little Marco," Cruz's nickname was "Lying Ted."

Flint's Water Crisis

With the debate taking place in Michigan, it was expected Flint's water crisis would be among the program's questions. During the second hour, the water crisis finally came up and was directed at Rubio.

"What happened in Flint is a terrible thing," said Rubio, adding it was a "systemic breakdown of every level of government" including state and federal. "The politicizing of it, I think, is unfair. Because I don't think that someone woke up one morning and said, 'Let's figure out how to poison the water system and hurt someone,' but accountability is important."

Rubio did give credit to Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder to taking responsibility for the water crisis but the issue should not be a partisan issue.

"The way the Democrats have tried to turn this into a partisan issue, that somehow Republicans woke up in the morning and decided, 'Oh, it's a good idea to poison some kids with lead.' It's absurd, it's outrageous, it isn't true," continued Rubio.

The other candidates were not given time to address the Flint crisis.

Immigration

As seen on Trump's campaign website, he opposes more visas for highly-skilled immigrant workers, believing such opportunities should be priority for Americans, but at Thursday's debate, Trump admitted his stance has changed.

"I'm changing, I'm changing. We need highly skilled people in this country and if we can't do it, we'll get them in. One of the biggest problems we have is people go to the best colleges ... as soon as they're finished they get shoved out. They want to stay in this country. They want to stay here desperately. They're not able to stay here. For that purpose, we absolutely have to be able to keep the brainpower in this country."

When asked about potential flip flopping on issues, Trump said there is a need for flexibility.

"I've never seen a successful person who wasn't flexible and who didn't have a certain degree of flexibility," said Trump, noting an individual encounters a learning process when becoming flexible.

He later said, "You have to show a degree of flexibility. If you're going to be one way and you think it's wrong, does that mean the rest of your life you have to go in the wrong direction because you don't want to change?"

Pledge to Support Trump

Near the conclusion of the debate, the candidates were asked if they would still support the Republican presidential candidate, specifically if that candidate is Trump. Cruz, Rubio and John Kasich maintained their stance to support the GOP candidate. Trump said if he doesn't win the Republican Party's nomination, he will still support the GOP's candidate.

Rubio said he will rather support Trump than have the next president be either Clinton and Sanders. He explained, "I'll support the Republican nominee ... Because the Democrats have two people left in the race. One of them is a socialist; America doesn't want to be a socialist country; if you want to be [in] a socialist country then move to a socialist country. The other one is under FBI investigation and not only is she under FBI investigation, she lied to the families of the victims of Benghazi."

"Yes, because I gave my word that I would, and what I have endeavored to do every day in the Senate is do what I say I will do," said Cruz on support Trump if the businessman becomes the GOP's candidate.

Kasich admitted it would be a hard choice to support Trump but he "will support whoever is the nominee for president."

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For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com.
Latin America is going through quite a tough recession, but the private equity that flooded the region before the downturn is there to stay -- at least, for now.

The reason is not charity, but rather the bottom line, currency valuations and a lack of clean exits from investments in Latin America, according to Cate Ambrose, chief of the Latin America Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (LAVCA).

According to Ambrose, private equity firms are facing tough conditions in the weak or completely stalled economies of Venezuela, Brazil, Mexico and others. But, rather than cut and run, many firms are now looking for returns in the long-term.

The Chips Are Down

"The expectation is private equity firms are looking to extend the life of those funds, so rather than a 10-year horizon or a nine-year horizon, maybe it is going to be 11 or 12 years," Ambrose said on a Bloomberg podcast.

"No one saw this coming in terms of the spectacular devaluation on the real," she added, referring to the primary force keeping investments in place: the decreasing value of Latin American currencies against the U.S. dollar. Latin American currencies have trended toward weakness since mid-2014. Meanwhile, the fall of oil and commodities prices, coupled with various political crises in the region, only continued the trend.

Ambrose said the currency issue would be enough to keep fund managers from divesting right now "because they will not want to sell them in such depressed valuations."

Major firms have put a lot of money into the region. They have recently continued to do so, even as the Latin American economy stumbles into stagnation.

Carlyle Group LP, for example, was cited as a big investor in Brazil in 2015, going in with Brazilian firm Vinci Capital Gestora de Recursos Ltda. on a $283 million ($1.1 billion reais) investment in a for-profit university in October. Boston-based private equity fund Advent amassed a $2.1 billion Latin American fund starting in 2014 and has continued to make big buys into Mexican and Brazilian companies as late as Q3 2015.

Total investments in Latin America last year reached $6.5 billion, according to LAVCA figures reported by Bloomberg. That's 18 percent less than in 2014, but accounting for the devaluation in local currencies, it only represents about a 9 percent downturn in investments.

No Exit

If major firms in the region like Carlyle and Advent were to pull out now, they would almost certainly post losses on the sales, warned Ambrose.

"The exit is always the tricky part of the story in Latin America," she said, pointing out that 2015 showed the lowest level of equity fund sales of holdings in the region since the world economic crisis in 2009. Ambrose predicted 2016 would see the number fall again.

"Many firms are aggressively putting more money to work today to offset the lower valuations they had a few years ago." But fundraising for private equity has slowed, down from a record $10 billion in 2015 to $7.2 billion in 2015 in Latin America.

And the bearish outlook, together with devalued local currencies, makes private equity mostly a waiting game in Latin America, for now.

"That is why you see long-term investors... extremely bullish," noted Ambrose, "because they are not as concerned about things like currency effects."
After racking up seven wins on Super Tuesday and dominating the Republican primary polls for months, it is clear that Donald Trump could very well become president.

When Trump first launched his campaign last June, he infamously called Mexican immigrants drug traffickers and rapists. However, the brash billionaire has passed the test of time, maintaining a strong lead as the GOP front-runner and establishing a viable pathway to the Republican nomination.

This has left many to wonder what would happen if Trump makes it to the general election and then manages to beat either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders in November. Although it may be hard to imagine the former reality television star as our nation's commander-in-chief, it is a very real possibility.

Here's an idea of what to expect from a Trump presidency, based on his outlandish campaign promises, vague policy ideas, and the likelihood that they would actually go into effect under his administration.

Immigration

Throughout his campaign, the New York real estate giant has taken a hardline stance on immigration reform, calling for a freeze on green cards and a temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S.

At the center of his campaign is his vow to build a multibillion dollar wall on the U.S.-Mexico border funded by the Mexican government. According to him, he will force Mexico to pay for the wall by threatening to either increase fees or cancel all temporary visas issued to Mexican CEOs and diplomats. He also threatens to increase fees on all border crossing cards, NAFTA worker visas from Mexico and ports of entry to the U.S. from Mexico, according to his website.

However, there's a good possibility that this would never happen, even if Trump wins the White House. In order to move forward with this far-fetched idea, Trump would first need congressional approval, and Washington lawmakers have displayed no urgency to embrace such a plan.

Mexican officials have also been adamant in voicing opposition to this plan. In August, a spokesman for Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto denounced the idea of paying for a wall and said the billionaire's assurances reflect "enormous ignorance."

Finance Minister Luis Videgaray also rejected the idea in a televised interview late on Wednesday.

"Under no circumstance will Mexico pay for the wall that Mr. Trump is proposing," he said. "Building a wall between Mexico and the United States is a terrible idea. It is an idea based on ignorance and has no foundation in the reality of North American integration."

Another part of Trump's plan to crack down on illegal immigration is to deport the nearly 11 million undocumented residents currently in the U.S. However, the businessman has failed to provide details on how he would execute this massive deportation. It is also unlikely that this would get approved by Congress since legislators would face tremendous pressure from Latino and immigration advocates and groups.

Trump has also proposed to reverse the 14th Amendment and deny American-born children their birthright to citizenship. However, he's in for a rude awakening if he thinks it would be easy to rewrite the U.S. Constitution.

Stopping ISIS

In November, Trump threatened to "bomb the sh*t out of ISIS" and take over the terror group's oil wells in order to deprive the organization of income.

Meanwhile, Trump said he would leave the job of fighting ISIS to the Syrian government and expressed support for Russia to help the Syrian regime. Instead of accepting Syrian refugees, he proposed to help fund a safe zone for civilians inside Syria.

But again, to many, these proposals don't seem to be well thought out.

"I don't think he's drawing on a deep reservoir of knowledge on these issues," said former American diplomat Christopher Hill, according to CNN. "He comes across as someone with a lot of instincts and not a lot of reserve about acting on those instincts."

Climate Change

Trump has declared that climate change is a hoax. Back in 2012, he tweeted that Chinese officials are responsible for creating the concept of climate change in order to suppress the U.S. economy, reports PBS.

It's safe to assume that he plans to take absolutely no action to reverse the effects of climate change or stop carbon emissions and greenhouses gases from polluting the ozone layer. Instead, he said he would cut the Environmental Protection Agency and give states the rights to regulate pollution.

Big vs. Small Government

Unlike other Republican leaders and conservatives, Trump has not taken a hard stance against big government. When questioned about federal spending in a recent debate, he recited the slogan of eliminating "waste, fraud and abuse." Then he named only two specifics programs he would cut: the Common Core education standard, which is not a federal spending program, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Rather than shrinking the U.S. government, he said he will not cut big spending programs like Social Security or Medicare.

What Others Think of a Trump Presidency

During an interview Friday on CBS, Marco Rubio was asked to imagine Trump in the Oval Office.

"It would be chaos," the Republican candidate said. "[Trump] refuses to answer questions on any specific public policy."

Rubio added, "[He] has no ideas of any substance on the important issues."

Carlos Mercader, the executive director of Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles and a Rubio supporter, predicts that Trump would be an anti-trade, anti-immigrant president.

Mercader added that his anti-immigrant proposals would have dire consequences on Latino communities.

If he goes through with his plan of massive deportation, he would separate thousands of families throughout the nation, Mercader told Latin Post in an email. In the process he would create great social upheaval within the Hispanic community. Undocumented immigrants are relatives, friends and neighbors of most people in the community.

Watch a video clip of Donald Trump promising to bomb ISIS last November.

UPDATED March 4 at 9:56 a.m. ET: This article has been updated to include commentary from Carlos Mercader.
Venezuela's opposition is building up its strategy to oust President Nicolas Maduro before the end of his term.

According to NBC News, the opposition coalition will "simultaneously pursue a constitutional amendment, a recall referendum and a campaign to push for the resignation of the socialist president."

In his interview with the AP, opposition leader Americo De Grazia said the coalition arrived at an agreement on the strategy after a lengthy meeting last Wednesday. The coalition consists of more than a dozen political parties.

"We can't commit suicide by having just one card in our hand. Common political sense tells us we need to pursue several strategies," De Grazia said of their planned "triple-barreled" strategy, as quoted in another report from the Washington Post.

Maduro's six-year presidential term will end in 2019, the news outlet noted. In December, the opposition scored a "landslide victory in legislative elections" and vowed to oust Maduro from Venezuela's presidency within the first half of this year.

The Venezuelan president, whose approval rating is now in the 20 percent range, constantly refused calls for his resignation, the Washington Post noted. He has accused his critics of carrying out economic chaos to tarnish his administration.

The opposition's plans to oust Maduro all have potential disadvantages. One idea is to pursue a constitutional amendment that will reduce presidential terms from six to four years, a plan that will efficiently end his term. However, there are suspicions that this idea will be rejected by the Supreme Court, which is known for supporting the executive branch since Hugo Chavez, Maduro's mentor, became president in 1999.

A recall referendum is also being considered by the opposition. But in order to pursue this path, almost 4 million signatures are required to begin the process. According to the AP, "if a vote was called, winning a simple majority would not be enough. The opposition would need to surpass the number of votes Maduro won in 2013."

Protests

Students have protested last Tuesday against a ruling by the Supreme Court, which prevented the opposition-controlled National Assembly from reviewing new government appointments of lawmakers, BBC reported.

The National Assembly will discuss the government's nomination of 13 Supreme Court justices and 21 alternates on Tuesday, BBC added. The opposition said the judges that were sworn in all support the current administration to hinder the National Assembly's power.

The Supreme Court fired back at the National Assembly, saying that the reach of the group's power is only in the executive branch and not the judiciary, the news outlet noted. Therefore, the National Assembly is stepping over its boundaries if it tries to take out justices or review their appointments.
NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly reportedly grew taller once he returned to earth after spending a year in space.

When Scott Kelly landed on earth after a year-long space flight mission with the International Space Station (ISS), he was 2 inches (5 cm) taller. According to The Verge, such growth happened because the lack of gravity in space made his spine stretch.

However, his new height is only temporary because the gravity-filled earth will eventually shrink him back to his original height.

"Astronauts get taller in space as the spine elongates," Jeff Williams of NASA said. "But they return to preflight height after a short time back on Earth."

Kelly's twin brother, Mark, who is also an ex-astronaut, is also part of NASA's "Twin Study." In addition to NASA monitoring Scott's body after 340 days in space, they will also be studying Mark by comparing the two after spending a year apart in space and on earth.

"Our studies will provide important data on how the space environment impacts the human body at the molecular level so that NASA can identify risk factors and countermeasures for possible health issues induced by prolonged space travel, such as a mission to Mars," said Brinda Rana, lead investigator from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine team, who will study the twins, in a press release.

As noted by NOLA.com, there will be 10 official experiments that will be conducted on the twins. Six will look at how the body ages in space as well as how the immune system and genes are affected by radiation exposure and low gravity in space. Another two studies will center around the changes in the body, specifically how bodily fluids can affect eyesight. This has become an increasing concern among astronauts.

One study will focus on Scott Kelly's perception, alertness, reasoning and more in a psychological test to determine how his mental faculties have changed after his stay in space. The microbes inside the twin's guts will also be compared and analyzed to determine whether a year in space affects the microbe ecosystem in the stomach.



Kelly landed on Wednesday aboard the Soyuz TMA-18M spacecraft in the town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan. He was with other Russian astronauts, Mikhail Kornienko and Sergey Volkov of Roscosmos. He returned to his hometown in Houston, Texas on Thursday and was greeted by his family, NASA colleagues and Vice President Joe Biden's wife, Jill, Inside Edition reports.
For years, Wendy's has turned a blind eye to the call of the U.S. farmworkers' union, Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), to join The Fair Food Program, an advocacy project that ensures the welfare and protection of farmers. Now, the group is bolstering their campaign to put a mounting pressure on the fastfood chain.

The Farmworkers' Protest

The CIW is staging a protest march on Thursday, March 3, at 4 p.m. from W 58th, near Columbus Circle, to Trian Partners at 280 Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, near the office of Wendy's Chairman Nelson Peltz.. The group, together with farmworkers, religious leaders, students and consumers, aims to launch a national boycott of Wendy's.

"Ten years ago, we sent a letter to Wendy's asking them to follow Taco Bell's example and work with us to protect farmworkers' fundamental human rights in their supply chain," said CIW's Cruz Salucio in a statement.

"They refused then, and they continue to turn their backs on farmworkers to this day, even as we built a groundbreaking new approach to social responsibility in partnership with Florida tomato growers and fourteen other major food retailers."

The Reason Behind the Wendy's Boycott

Participants of the Fair Food Program agree to pay an additional fee that goes into the pockets of these farmers to augment their income. They are also required to choose suppliers who pass the standards of a worker-driven Code of Conduct under the Fair Food Program.

According to CIW, the protest is necessary because Wendy's refusal to join the Fair Food Program is like turning one's back on the opportunity to work for the protection of farmworkers against slavery, sexual abuse and other unfair practices in the industry.

What Wendy's Has to Say

In response, Wendy's spokesperson Bob Bertini said they have their own reasons why they prefer to buy from Mexico at this time, one of which is seasonality, reported Nation's Restaurant News. The fastfood chain also makes sure that its suppliers comply with local and national laws, as well as the standards that the industry requires.

While the company makes it a point to work with suppliers who are part of the Fair Food Program, they are not keen on paying the additional pound-per-penny charge because they find it unnecessary.

"These individuals are not Wendy's employees, we have not thought it appropriate to pay another company's workers -- just as we do not pay factory workers, truck drivers or maintenance personnel that work for our other suppliers," Bertini explained.

To date, Wendy's, the third biggest hamburger chain in the world, remains the only major fast food corporation that is not part of the Fair Food Program. McDonald's, Yum! Brands, Subway and Burger King have all chosen to join the cause, along with other major food retailers such as Walmart, Taco Bell and Chipotle.
The leaders of tech companies such as Google, Facebook Inc., Microsoft Corporation, AT&T and more than two dozen other corporations are showing their support for Apple regarding their fight against the FBI. These companies have filed legal briefs on Thursday, asking a judge to support Apple with their bid not to follow the court order to help in unlocking one of the San Bernardino shooters' iPhone.

The allies of Apple filed the amicus briefs to United States District Judge Sheri Pym in Riverside, California. However, six relatives of the victims of the San Bernardino attack submitted their own amicus brief opposing Apple. Three California law enforcement groups, three federal law enforcement groups and the San Bernardino district attorney have also filed in favor of the government.

Other companies including Twitter and LinkedIn Corp. asserted that the Congress has passed laws that establish things that companies could do for the government. The tech companies also noted that the Congress passed the All Writs Act more than 200 years ago. They pointed out that the government forcing engineers to disable security protections rely only on a boundless interpretation of the law. However, the families of the victims argued that the government had a valid warrant, Reuters reported.

Privacy advocacy groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union, Access Now, and the Wickr foundation have also filed briefs in support of Apple, The Economic Times reported.

The battle of Apple against the FBI has become public last month. The FBI was requesting via a court order that Apple should write new software in order to disable the passcode protection for the iPhone owned by Syed Rizwan Farook. Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, have killed 14 people and injured 22 after they open fired at an establishment in San Bernardino.

The FBI has issued the order as they do not want to erase other data, which they deem to be important. Apple's iPhones and other products are designed to delete data once the passcode entered is incorrect for the tenth time.

NDTV also reported that Apple has argued this will be posing a dangerous precedent and threaten their customers' security. They asked the order to be dismissed but earlier this week, Apple's representative and FBI's director have presented their arguments before a congressional panel.

Earlier this week, a similar case has found Apple on the winning side after a federal judge in Brooklyn ruled that the government overstepped their authority. Law enforcement officials were seeking similar assistance as the FBI regarding an Apple iPhone used in a drug case.
Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin filed a lawsuit on Wednesday seeking to close down an abortion clinic in Lexington. The filed lawsuit in Fayette Circuit Court claims that the said abortion is unlicensed and an anonymous complaint was sent to the state office regarding the clinic's operation.

Governor Matt Bevin's general counsel, Steve Pitt and the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services lawyer, Jennifer Wolsing filed the 10-page lawsuit on Wednesday, Lexington Herald Leader reported. It stated that the Eubanks & Marshall of Lexington or EMW Women's Clinic continues to operate without a secured licensed at 161 Burt Road, off Nicholasville Road.

The lawsuit also says the state launched an investigation after it received an anonymous complaint about the clinic in February. Two cabinet investigators visited the facility on Feb. 17 and interviewed a medical assistant.

Aside being unlicensed, court documents aslo stated, the Lexington clinic maintained expired medicine and wasn't clean. The suit added, it doesn't have a required agreement with an ambulance service, ensuring that a patient may be transferred to a hospital if an emergency occurs during an abortion, Reuters reported.

The said clinic is among the Kentucky's three active clinics that offer abortion operations. The Governor also sued Planned Parenthood last month, claiming its clinic in Louisville is an unlicensed abortion clinic, according to WKYT. However, Planned Parenthood responded that they have proper license with the authorization of the previous governor.

It is also the second time Bevin, who took office in December, has gone after what his administration said was an unlicensed abortion clinic in Kentucky. Governor Bevin, a Republican, ran for governor on an anti-abortion platform. In February, he signed an informed consent law that requires women to consult with a doctor before having an abortion.

The Family Foundation in Lexington spokesman, Martin Cothran, praised current governor's administration "for doing what previous administrations said they were doing but weren't, acting to protect the health of women."
Grande risultato per il bar C-Colzani di Cassago Brianza: il locale di via Nazario Sauro si e guadagnato una menzione importante nella classifica stilata da Dissapore.com sulle 32 migliori colazioni italiane.

Il primo pasto della giornata e di vitale importanza per tutti noi e, a quanto pare, in terra brianzola si e trovata la formula magica per renderlo sempre in grado di dare una marcia in piu tra cappucci, brioche e tanto altro ancora; un altro riconoscimento importante per il bar, gia messo in classifica dal Gambero Rosso nel 2015.

"Una sicurezza assoluta. Qui potete dilettarvi con i succhi di frutta della casa, poi magari passare al caffe e poi ancora passare ad una colazione al sapor di cioccolato, che vi assicuro raggiunge vette alte, altissime (parlo di te, fissato delbean to bar). Se invece amate i biscotti perdetevi nei meandri dei brutti e buoni, dei canestrelli, e anche dei savoiardi. Il vostro cappuccino ringrazia", la recensione che si trova sul portale.
Mar 4, 2016, 11:01am ET

Cadillac global sales lose momentum, down in February

The decline has been blamed on the SRX\'s phaseout ahead of the XT5\'s arrival.

Cadillac global sales appear to have lost momentum, dropping by 2.5 percent in February.

After years of lackluster performance and under new leadership, General Motors' luxury division achieved 7.5 percent global growth in 2015. The rise appeared to slow in January, and the brand is now flat for the first two months of the year.

Breaking the numbers down by market, February deliveries were up slightly in the US but down by more than 16 percent in China and nearly five percent in the Middle East. A 44.5-percent jump in Canada and a 29.5-percent gain in Mexico did not offset declines in the world's largest auto market.

The trouble in China has been downplayed as a consequence of the SRX's phaseout ahead of the new XT5's arrival. GM suggests Cadillac was the fastest-growing luxury brand in China last year.

"The latest available data shows Cadillac with the highest average transaction prices in the U.S. market among mainstream luxury brands," said chief executive Johan de Nysschen. "With rising brand prestige, the stage is set for the launch of two all-new models - the CT6 prestige sedan and XT5 luxury crossover."

The company will begin delivering the CT6 flagship sedan in March, followed by the XT5 crossover.
Mercedes-AMG confirms hybrid models

Mar 4, 2016, 4:39am ET

The first hybrids will likely be thirsty, V8-powered models.

Confirming a recent rumor, Mercedes-AMG has announced it's in the early stages of developing performance-focused hybrid powertrains.

AMG boss Tobias Moers told Australian website Motoring that a small team of engineers is currently looking at how to integrate electrification into the company's lineup. He didn't specify precisely which cars the team is working with, but he hinted that the first hybrids will likely be thirsty, V8-powered models like the C63 and the 911-fighting GT (pictured).

Adding a motor and a battery pack will make future AMGs faster, but it will also make them heavier so the company is going to great lengths to offset the added pounds. Notably, the team in charge of developing hybrids includes engineers transferred from Mercedes-AMG's successful Formula One program. Moers also conceded he's considering reducing the number of platforms in AMG's parts bin in order to facilitate the task of going hybrid. Such a shift would also make future models less costly too develop and markedly less complicated.

"We have three different layouts in place, east-west, GT, and C63. All different platforms and layouts," he explained. "Maybe we combine layouts?"

Moers said AMG won't launch a hybrid until it absolutely has to, meaning the gasoline-electric technology is unlikely to hit showrooms before 2020. Interestingly, rival BMW M recently announced that going hybrid in the coming years is all but inevitable, and that future M cars will need to offer some form of electrification to comply with the stringent emissions regulations that will soon come into effect all around the globe.
Mar 4, 2016, 4:00pm ET

Toyota's wooden Setsuna concept heads to Milan Design Week

The exterior panels, frame, floor, seats and other components are produced from different types of wood.

Toyota has previewed a design experiment, the Setsuna concept, that will be headed to Milan Design Week.

Built mostly from wood, the open-top roadster is said to symbolize how cars transform in the eyes of their owners over the years. The name is a Japanese word that translates to 'moment.'

"With the Setsuna concept, Toyota is expressing the notion that, as a family accrues time and experiences together with their car, lovingly caring for it and passing it on to the next generation, that car will acquire a new type of value that only the members of that family can appreciate," the company says.

Designers chose a range of distinctive wood types for different pieces of the car, including the exterior panels, frame, floor and seats. Panels are joined using the okuri ari technique (dovetails), without the need for any screws or nails.

The two seater features open wheels and a curved exterior that resembles a boat hull. Toyota suggests the wood will eventually develop a complex character over the years, while a 100-year meter will "keep time over generations."

The Setsuna will be on display at the Milan exhibition next month.
Evan Castellanos left and Leah Cadwallader

Evan Castellanos, left, and Leah Cadwallader

(Courtesy photos)

An Upper Macungie Township man who admitted last month to shooting a man through the chest in Bethlehem was sentenced Friday to 16 to 35 years in prison.

Evan Castellanos, 20, filed papers last week asking to fire his hired attorney Joshua Karoly and replace him with a public defender. He also wanted to pull his plea to attempted homicide.

But Northampton County President Judge Stephen Baratta refused to oblige, holding Castellanos to the plea to attempted homicide and the agreed-to sentence.

Castellanos and his girlfriend, Leah Cadwallader, lured Anthony Berliner out of his apartment on June 15, 2014, in the 600 block of Atlantic Street on Bethlehem's South Side. Then Castellanos shot him once in the chest.

Castellanos and Cadwallader told police they were in New York at the time of the shooting, but a drug dealing associate of Castellanos testified Cadwallader and Castellanos gave him a ride from Kutztown to Bethlehem, according to court records.

A grand jury recommended indicting the couple in November 2015. Castellanos was extradited to Northampton County from a Florida prison, where he was held on drug charges.

Cadwallader, 19, of Lenhartsville in Berks County, Pa., is charged with conspiracy to commit attempted homicide and conspiracy to commit aggravated assault.

Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.
Allentown police on Thursday arrested a juvenile in a shooting that sent a male victim to the hospital a day earlier.

Police Capt. Daniel Wiedemann announced the arrest in the shooting just before 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in the city's 600 block of North Penn Street.

Shot in the left leg, the victim was taken by ambulance to Lehigh Valley Hospital, Salisbury Township, with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

City police this week charged another juvenile, as an adult, in a stabbing that occurred Tuesday afternoon during a group fight in the 100 block of North 13th Street in Allentown.

No other suspects are sought in either incident, Wiedemann said.

He did not immediately have the charges against the juvenile in the shooting, or whether charges would be filed in juvenile court or the Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
The man accused of running Wednesday from Easton police was wanted for allegedly assaulting his ex-girlfriend Monday in the city.

John D. Hegedus (Courtesy photo | For lehighvalleylive.com)

John D. Hegedus, 22, was arraigned Wednesday evening in the assault and ordered held at Northampton County Prison in lieu of $12,000 bail. He been arraigned about 90 minutes earlier on a charge of flight to avoid apprehension and sent to the prison in lieu of $10,000 bail.

Court records identify Hegedus' address as in the 1600 block of Hastings Road in Bethlehem. Police on Wednesday had given his address as in the 1100 block of North Arch Street in Allentown.

Easton police said they spotted Hegedus walking just before 2 p.m. Wednesday in the 600 block of Walnut Street and recognized him as wanted in the assault. As police made contact with him, Hegedus allegedly ran before being apprehended near Bushkill and Locust streets.

In the assault Monday, city police responded about 7:45 p.m. to a home in the 1000 block of Butler Street for a female requesting an ambulance because of injuries suffered at the hands of her ex-boyfriend, according to court records.

The victim was holding her left arm close to her body and crying, in physical pain, police said; she had a swollen left elbow, scratches to both hands, swollen right thumb and red marks to the area of her neck and chest.

She told investigators Hegedus had punched her in the face several times before throwing her into a car and onto a sidewalk, records say. A witness reportedly also told police Hegedus punched the woman and threw her into a car, in addition to throwing her onto the sidewalk multiple times.

Hegedus is charged with simple assault and harassment in the Monday incident. He faces preliminary hearings tentatively scheduled March 18 in that case and March 11 on the flight charge, both before District Judge Antonia Grifo.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Christopher Barber served nearly five years in a Pennsylvania prison in the 1990s for shaking his fussy baby boy and flinging him onto a couch so hard that he suffered catastrophic brain damage.

Christopher Barber is seen in an undated photo from Monroe County prison. Barber served nearly five years in state prison in the 1990s for shaking his fussy baby boy and flinging him onto a couch so hard that he suffered catastrophic brain damage. Now Barber is behind bars again, charged with homicide, following his son's death at age 23. Christopher Kostenbader lingered in a vegetative state the rest of his life, hooked up to a breathing machine and fed through a tube. (AP | For lehighvalleylive.com)

Now Barber is behind bars again, charged with homicide, following his son's death at age 23 after he lingered in a vegetative state the rest of his life, hooked to a breathing machine and fed through a tube.

Barber, 46, was arraigned Wednesday and jailed without bail. Prosecutors had him arrested after a pathologist ruled Christopher Kostenbader's death last May a homicide, saying he succumbed to "complications due to the severe head injury that occurred in 1991 at the hands of the defendant."

Cases like this one -- in which prosecutors file new, more serious charges after the victim takes a turn for the worse much later -- are unusual but hardly unprecedented. In November, a Southern California jail inmate who abused a baby girl in 2005 was charged with murder over her death a decade later.

The challenge for prosecutors in such cases is showing that the defendant's long-ago actions led to the victim's death.

Court records do not list an attorney for Barber, who was living in Plainfield, Illinois, at the time of his arrest.

Barber told police nearly a quarter-century ago that his son would not stop crying while being fed on New Year's Eve in 1991 in Saylorsburg, Monroe County. He said he shook Christopher -- though he claimed the shaking "wasn't that rough" -- and threw the baby on the couch. Christopher bounced at least twice, Barber told police.

The infant was taken to the hospital, where doctors found "tons of damage" to the brain, bleeding behind the eyes and rib fractures that led them to diagnose shaken baby syndrome, court documents said.

Barber pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and related offenses. He was paroled in 1997. Kostenbader's condition, meanwhile, never improved.

Jules Epstein, a Temple University law professor, said that if Barber contests the homicide charge, his lawyer will be sure to look closely at the medical evidence.

"How clear is it that the original injury could have caused the death? And then, the separate issue, did they do a fair look to make sure it wasn't really something independent?" Epstein said Thursday.

In Utah, Warren Hales was convicted of murder for shaking a baby who died after 12 years in a vegetative state. But an appeals court overturned his conviction and sentence in 2007 because his lawyers were ineffective, and prosecutors dropped the charges.

In 2010, a Philadelphia jury acquitted 75-year-old William Barnes, who was charged in the 2007 death of a police officer whom Barnes shot and paralyzed 41 years earlier during a botched burglary. Prosecutors argued the shooting ultimately caused Barclay's death. But the defense successfully argued the officer suffered from other ailments that contributed to his demise.

Barnes' attorney, Sam Silver, said Thursday that "there were multiple factors that broke the causal chain" in Barclay's death, leading to his client's acquittal.

In the case of Christopher, "the prosecution's going to say there are only two things that happened in this person's life: The guy shook the baby, and the baby grew into an adult and died 23 years later, and nothing else happened," Silver said. "It's a really tricky case for the defense."
Having the discussion on a massive proposed warehouse project at Commerce Park pushed back a month shouldn't hurt the project, the developer says.

But any other delays, they worry, could prove costly.

A "large user" has expressed interest in the plans for 4 million square feet of warehouse space on the nearly 400-acre site spread between Phillipsburg and Lopatcong Township, according to Erin Murphy, principal of the site's Medford, New Jersey-based developer, Opus Investments.

"If we can't meet their timeline, they won't come to New Jersey," she said last week, after the Lopatcong Township Planning Board halted discussion on the project and deemed their general development plan incomplete.

Construction is still expected to begin this year, Murphy said, and is planned to wrap up in 2021. When finished, the Commerce Park warehouses are expected to provide 2,765 jobs and generate $425 million annually in economic output.

Murphy estimated the interested party, whom she declined to identify due to ongoing negotiations, could double the projected number of jobs at the site.

At the Feb. 24 meeting, planning board officials said they didn't have enough information on the general plan, specifically regarding traffic. Opus had experts present to testify and answer questions, but the board said it preferred the information in the application. The issue is to be readdressed at this month's meeting.

Murphy said that their approval is key at this stage of the development. The New Jersey Department of Transportation has given its preliminary approval on a proposed turning lane to enter the complex from Route 22, south of the junction with Route 57.

But without Lopatcong's approval of the general plan, they cannot proceed with the state on developing the entrance, Murphy said.

"If we can't get the people and the trucks ... into the place from Route 22, then it's going to delay things," she said.

Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Next week will see the Leitrim Observer produce the first in a four part series of our 1916 commemoration broadsheet supplements.

Following detailed research we will be following the events on a week to week basis which lead to the Rising and its aftermath and the part Kiltyclogher's Sean MacDiarmada played and the role of Carrigallen's adopted son Thomas Clarke.

In our first issue we follow the time line leading up to the Rising and what was happening in the county, the atmosphere and attitudes of that year.

We look at the man that was Sean MacDiarmada and how he became involved and the role he played which lead to him being one of the signatories of The Proclamation.

We also follow the life of Thomas Clarke, the part he played and how he also became one of the seven signatories.

Many people will not be familiar with the name John Daly but he too played a pivotal role in the events leading up to Easter 1916.

The Police Files from that time give us an insight into these how men were being monitored and their actions spied on as they planned for the Rising.

However life at that time was not all about the rebellion as people went about the day to day of ordinary life.

In stark contrast to the national papers we take a look at the pages of our own paper to see what was making the news locally and how life continued as per the norm for many.

In our future issues we focus on the other men who fought, many of whom remain unknown but through the diligent work of our local historical societies, we have uncovered their story.

We will be delving into the Rising itself, the events of those six days and its aftermath.

The executions of those involved lead to the nation taking a very different stance to both the men and their actions.

Their last letters, their last meetings with family have all been sourced by the Observer newsroom staff to give you, the reader, an emotional insight into the aftermath of Easter 1916.

In our final edition Irish Times journalist and Carrick native Ronan McGreevey will be focussing on the family of Sean MacDiarmada.

In a tragic irony following his death Mac Diarmadas siblings emigrated en masse to the US, with the exception of his sister Maggie, who remained in the family home in Kiltyclogher. Historian Prin Duignan will also take a look at the role the Irish language played in how the rebels corresponded with each other.

Throughout the four week series we will be featuring old pages from the files of the Leitrim Observer.

So don't miss next week's Observer for the first in this four part special.
Last nights by-elections gave us something to smile about.

Well done to the team in Blackpool who put up a candidate where we didnt have one last time.

Bloomfield (Blackpool) result:

LAB: 57.6% (+12.8)

CON: 19.2% (-0.6)

UKIP: 15.1% (-10.0)

GRN: 4.1% (-4.6)

LDEM: 4.0% (+4.0)  Britain Elects (@britainelects) March 3, 2016

Seriously, it is always worth putting up a candidate to keep people in the habit of voting Lib Dem.

And then theres a solid hold in Rutland:

Whissendine (Rutland) result:

LDEM: 65.1% (-0.7)

CON: 26.8% (-7.4)

UKIP: 8.1% (+8.1)  Britain Elects (@britainelects) March 3, 2016

And a massive swing and a near miss of a gain from the Tories:

Bondfields (Havant) result:

CON: 30.2% (-3.4)

LDEM: 27.3% (+16.0)

LAB: 21.6% (-6.9)

UKIP: 20.9% (+20.9)  Britain Elects (@britainelects) March 3, 2016

Look at that scary UKIP vote from a standing start, too.

And a bit of a heartbreaker this one  a brilliant result to get 46.5% of the vote from a standing start. Missing out by 6 votes is tough for a team to take, though. They need to focus on the fact that they did fantastically to get so close and they have a real chance next time:

Alderholt (East Dorset) result:

CON: 47.5% (-15.4)

LDEM: 46.5% (+46.5)

LAB: 6.1% (+6.1)  Britain Elects (@britainelects) March 4, 2016

The icing on the cake is a very good town council gain from Labour in Hessle in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Congratulations to Cllr Matt Nolan who achieved a 10.5% swing since May. The result was:

Labour 150 (37%) (-13%)

Lib Dem 238 (58%) (+8%)

Ind 20 (5%) (+5%)

Well done to all.

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
So, David Cameron accuses the SNP of being a one-party state and says the Conservatives are the people to stop them. The BBC reports:

Only the Tories can challenge the SNP and prevent Scotland becoming a one party state, David Cameron has said. In a speech to the Scottish Conservative conference, the prime minister insisted his party was the only one that could challenge the Nationalists.

How he said that with a straight face, Ill never know. These comments come from the man who is doing his damnedest to stitch up the political system for himself. He blocks any attempts at electoral reform. He changes the rules the boundaries with the result that his party has an advantage. He does everything he can to avoid parliamentary scrutiny, limiting the power of the Lords and Scottish MPs. The changes he pushed for on electoral registration mean that a million fewer people can vote. Then theres the denial of the vote to 16 year olds at every level and trying to limit opposition funds through the Trade Union Bill.

Dont get me wrong, the SNPs power-grabbing, authoritarian tendencies deserve criticism. They stitched up all the Holyrood committees to ensure that their legislation does not receive the rigorous scrutiny it should have, they want the BBC to report to a Holyrood committee. Given that the SNP has criticised the BBCs coverage, you dont need me to tell you how sinister that would be.

As Willie Rennie said in his Conference speech last week, the SNP and the Conservatives are two peas in a pod. They are pretty similar in attitudes to governing and they are using the same playbook which helps the other. As I wrote last week, a massive Tory direct mail campaign is attacking not the SNP, but Liberal Democrats and Labour.

Cameron tries to suggest that the Conservatives would be the most effective opposition to the SNP. That would be all well and good if they didnt vote with them so often. As Willie pointed out last week in his speech, John Swinney even described the Tories as lobby fodder for the SNP:

Working together to stop our Penny for Education. Murdo Fraser told Holyrood hed formed a taxpayers alliance with the SNP. John Swinney said the Tories were the lobby fodder for the SNP. This week they laughed and clapped together as they cut 500million from local councils. The SNP song book used to only have one song in it: If we only had the power. But now they do have the powers and they still wont use them. They have picked up the Tory song book. What have we got in that? The First Cut Is The Deepest. But the second, third and fourth arent bad either; I fought the Lawson and the Lawson won; Same tunes about taxation is theft, and cuts are a price worth paying, and colleges  the more we cut the more they do. John Swinney might even be singing in the bath like Norman Lamont  Je dinnae regret hee haw.

If people are looking for a decent opposition to the SNP, they might want to look to the party who has forced them to change their policy on stop and search, armed police, the super ID database that puts Labours to shame (although that one is still only kicked into the post election grass), college places and nursery education. That would be Willie and the Scottish Liberal Democrats.

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
BMW writes to its UK employees highlighting the dangers of Brexit. A French minister threatens to wave through migrants at Calais en route to Dover and to roll out the red carpet to welcome financial services to his country if we leave. Boris and others say none of this will happen. Great Britain still is great. From his residence across the Channel Lord Nigel Lawson tells us not to worry. The EU needs us more than we need them. Confused? I bet many people are.

Like Lord William Hague, Im an EU pragmatist. Better inside the tent etc. Unlike our former leader I dont think that the EU will be about the same in ten years time. The remarks from Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, following last weeks summit were very apposite. The negotiations undertaken by David Cameron, while casually dismissed as thin gruel by Eurosceptics like Jacob Rees-Mogg MP, have whetted the appetite of many recent, and not so recent arrivals in the EU for a fundamental change of direction for a project that started life in the aftermath of WW2 when many parts of the world were on their uppers and the numbers of nations actually making things was a shadow of what exists today.

So, we trudge towards 23 June with claim and counterclaim, with dire economic warnings if we leave which are brushed aside, rather like the SNP did in the Scottish Referendum, as scaremongering without really answering the question. However, what could tip the scales is migration, not necessarily from within the EU but from outside.

If the flow of migrants, particularly from the Middle East, continues and indeed increases as the warmer weather returns, the EU referendum will not be decided on rational arguments such as on economics, on our true place in the world or on peace versus war but on how the world in general, but the EU in particular, deals with a crisis which is not going to go away easily, especially while combatants continue to bomb the hell out of each other in Syria and neighbouring states. And then theres the Palestinian question and the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan to consider as well. Lets not forget Africa.

We can spend our time arguing the economic pros and cons of Remain or Leave, as some contributors to LDV appear to wish to do but unless we can get a handle of immigration, it will be fear of this phenomenon, whether rational or not, that will decide the result. Its already set to play an important role in upcoming German Lander elections and some experts reckon that Angela Merkels Grand Coalition could be in trouble too. And some of us Cold War warriors foolishly thought back in 1989 that, when the Berlin Wall miraculously came down, all our troubles would be over. How wrong we were.

* John Marriott is a former Liberal Democrat councillor from Lincolnshire.
WILLIE ODea wasnt the only Kilteely native celebrating over the weekend.

Community volunteers in Kilteely-Dromkeen were given the highest honour the Cappamore-Kilmallock municipal district can bestow  a civic reception.

It was in recognition of their success in the annual national Pride of Place competition. They were named overall winners for population centres of up to 300.

After the win John McCarthy, co-ordinator of Kilteely-Dromkeen Tidy Towns, said: Its like winning the All-Ireland! So this must be the next best feeling as it is like triumphing in a county final.

Cllr Bill ODonnell, cathaoirleach of the municipal district, said in claiming the prestigious prize, You beat off competition from communities the length and breadth of Ireland in the process.

Municipal district receptions are very special events and they present a good opportunity for elected Members to give official recognition to members of the local community.

Being included among the main winners in the 2015 Pride of Place competition is an outstanding achievement for the community of Kilteely-Dromkeen, which has been officially recognised in the Tidy Towns, Going for Gold and Limerick In Bloom competitions down through the years, said Cllr ODonnell, at Aras Mainchin Seoighe in Kilmallock.

Mr McCarthy thanked the local community for getting 100% behind their Pride of Place bid.

It all started when we held a meeting to organise our Team Limerick Clean-Up last year. I spotted the ad in the Leader looking for nominations and everybody backed it. Over 30 different parish organisations were involved, said Mr McCarthy, who thanked his fellow committee members.

They have spearheaded a number of initiatives including walking and driving routes, information boards, a mural and every year thousands is raised and spent on flowers, shrubs and landscaping.

Mr McCarthy, who will enter his seventies this month, has lived in the parish all his life and says: I have never seen Kilteely looking better. People from other parishes are coming to see it.

Mr ODonnell, on behalf of his fellow councillors, said it is clear all their hard work is paying off and thanked them for representing Limerick with enormous pride and distinction.
LIMERICK Citys four victorious TDs are all expected to take on high-profile roles  if an administration can be formed in the new Dail.

With the counting completed in Limerick City  which saw a return to the top of the poll for Willie ODea, a drop in support for Finance Minister Michael Noonan, and the election of two left-wing politicians  thoughts are now turning to the role the city's four representatives in the 32nd Dail can play.

Should Fine Gael return to office to lead a minority government, many feel Mr Noonan  who took the third seat in the City would be best qualified to take on the finance brief, which he has held for the last five years. Meanwhile, Mr ODea is also likely to play a key role on Fianna Fails frontbench team, whether the party is in opposition, or government.

Speaking this Wednesday, the former Defence Minister refused to be drawn on the role he would like, saying: I havent even thought that far ahead. My whole focus was on winning the election and [positions] is not something I have given consideration to. It is solely a matter for the party leader.

Mr ODea has also said he maintained his belief that, despite his huge surplus of 3,646, Fianna Fail would not have won a second seat in the four-seater City constituency.

More forthcoming on his hopes for his role in the new Dail was Sinn Fein TD Maurice Quinlivan, who marched into the second seat ahead of the citys two Cabinet ministers.

Mr Quinlivan will meet his new party colleagues in Dublin this Thursday, and said he will definitely secure a spokespersons position if, as expected, the party remains in opposition.

Urban regeneration would be a key for me, housing obviously, and developing this. I think housing and regeneration would be an interesting one for me, he said.

With Labour set to return to the opposition benches following its disastrous election campaign, it is certain Jan OSullivan, one of the few TDs to hold on to their seat, will be given at least one portfolio  possibly more.

The Education Minister  who will retain this role until a new Cabinet is formally appointed  has served as her partys spokesperson on education and health when Labour was last in opposition.

She has also held two junior ministries before her appointment to cabinet in 2014.

I obviously have an interest in education. I am also interested in the childcare area, she said, We are having our first party meeting [this Thursday].

But she added that without the election of a Taoiseach next Thursday, March 10, the Dail will disband until after Easter, so it is quite possible I could still be caretaker Minister for Education for a month or so.

Meanwhile, with the Seanad Eireann election potentially just around the corner, sources have told the Limerick Leader that former Fine Gael deputy Kieran ODonnell, who lost his seat at the last count, may be considering a run.

While Mr ODonnell was not available for comment following his elimination this week, it is understood he is weighing up his options, with his cousin Cllr Bill ODonnell saying: No doubt we will see an awful lot more of Kieran ODonnell in the future.

Seperately, Fine Gael councillor Maria Byrne said she is not ruling out a bid for the Upper House.

I am always open to consideration. But the party has lost a lot of TDs now, so it would be a very difficult campaign. Ill have to weigh it all up, and see who is running, she said.

While Fine Gael managed to retain the two seats they held in County Limerick, they failed to repeat the trick in the city  despite coming agonisingly close through Kieran ODonnell.

Cllr Daniel Butler, who was part of the Fine Gael tally team throughout the count, pointed out that his party remains the biggest in Limerick City, with 28.61% of the first preference vote.

It became quite a localised election. A lot of Maurice Quinlivans votes came from the northside of the city. But when you go to places like Raheen/Dooradoyle, he was getting very little at all.

You can see where candidates targeted their campaigns, he said.

Mr ODea said he does not feel the 633 transfers from his surplus to Mr Quinlivan would have benefitted an FF running mate.

He said: A lot of my votes would have transferred to Maurice Quinlivan anyway from what we saw. Boxes in Thomondgate and Ballynanty were transferring to Sinn Fein. People voted locally, as they are entitled to do.
THE owner of a bridal store in Annacotty which was at centre of a major controversy last year, was granted bail after she appeared in court charged with multiple theft offences.

Shirley Flanagan, aged 35, who has an address at Rathurd, Donoughmore was arrested late last week and was brought Limerick District Court on Friday morning.

She faces four separate charges under the provisions of the Theft and Fraud Offences Act, relating to offences which are alleged to have happened at Robelle Bridal on dates between January 4, 2015 and May 7, 2015. She is accused of stealing property worth a total of 3,650.

The defendant, who is currently not working, was granted legal aid and solicitor Darach McCarthy was assigned to represent her.

Sergeant John Moloney said a file had been forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions who consented to the matter being dealt with in the district court  on condition Ms Flanagan pleads guilty.

This means if the allegations are to be contested, the case will be heard before a judge and jury at the Circuit Court  where a more severe penalty will apply if she is convicted.

Sergeant Moloney said there was no objection to bail subject to Ms Flanagan complying with a number of conditions such as signing on at her local garda station and living at her home address.

Judge Marian OLeary ordered that the potential evidence be disclosed to the defendants solicitor prior to the next court date on April 22, next.

In statement last May, Ms Flanagan confirmed her business had ceased trading but said every effort would be made by her to honour existing orders or refund brides.
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BARRY Murphy of Hermitage Green is laughing uncontrollably at a story he has just told. There was just carnage, he remembers, and breaks into a fit of laughter again.

Barry and his brother Dan who, along with Darragh Griffin, Darragh Graham and Dermot Sheedy make up the Limerick band, are sitting in front of the Limerick Leader and discussing the dynamic between the group, who have been together since 2010.

They operate a sort of committee system, with no one person as a leader, you see, which is fine in theory for democracy, but can perhaps allow things to get stalled, often perpetually in conversation and is difficult when it comes to the job of writing songs and deciding which should in turn make it onto an album.

While the committee system has worked in the past for them, it was the addition of producer Phillip Magee  suggested by their label Sony Ireland and who has worked with Kodaline, The Script and others  that focused the mind and helped the record to get made.

After some persuasion, Barry and Dan will accept the suggestion that 2015 was a key year for the band, a turning point. Signed by Sony, they figured out the path they wanted to head down, working more collectively as a cohesive unit as a result. But before reaching that point, the band found themselves enlisting the help of a psychologist to analyse their behaviour and help them decipher the dynamic between them. Hence the carnage comment.

There were some really nice, collaborative times, which is definitely something that we have done more in the last 18 months, reflects Dan.

I suppose as a group yeah, thats a good point. Definitely that is the most rewarding thing for me, to be able to go into a room and just sit there with nothing on the board and then someone plays something and someone comes out with something that is eternalised, says Barry. When Darragh first came out with Jenny got lost in the city, it was like f*cking hell, hairs on the back of your neck, amazing, that is what I want and what we all love - and we all just got a buzz and those are the things that you remember.

Also, it is hard as well, I am going to be Johnny Negative here; it is writing by committee, which is tough, and there is no leader, so everything goes to a vote. And when we are discussing something, it is creative, it is art, it is subjective, there is no right and wrong - and when it works, it is class, but it can be tough, says Dan.

And so, the psychologist.

We got him to just look at us as a group and how we get that blend and work together - the dynamic is unbelievable. He came in and did a personality test on all of us and then gave us a task, a murder mystery thing to solve. There was just carnage, five chimps going around, laughs Barry.

But it was funny how it all related back to our personality types, says Dan. It was great, he sat us down and showed us how this happens and how we need to be more understanding of each other and give each other more time - that was brilliant.

Magee was the glue that bound them together in studio, that allowed them to create Save Your Soul, a 13 track album that will defy many peoples expectations of a seemingly folk driven band. First off, there are pianos, epic sounding choruses and stadium anthems, a fact propelled by the five very distinct personalities in the group and the diverse range of influences located among them.

A&R man Barry ODonoghue was key in helping them to find that road, wooing them over a number of years. When it came down to it, Dan says, the band were ready to cash in the chips and work with Sony, ODonoghue and Magee.

Phil has been amazing, really good. I spoke to him on the phone back in June before we went into the studio and we were kind of sizing each other up; within two minutes he just had me - the banter was rolling at me, says Dan.

It is quite important to have that dynamic, and that is totally his vibe then in the studio. There is a classic sort of a cliche with producers as being the kind of headmaster, which can work and some bands need there where you need somebody to be the boss - and he is not like that. He is young and he is a lad - he set the tone every day when we could go in, he would have the kettle going and you would just chat and look at You Tube videos of cats for the first 20 minutes, he laughs.

Of the album, the band are proud of it, ready to share it and yet, Dan admits: I suppose nervous, there is a little bit of pressure - you put all this work into something and then you put it out there. I said to the lads last week that it is the job evaluation of a lifetime, it is the Irish public that get to decide whether we are good or not, which is exciting.

- Save Your Soul is out this Friday. Hermitage Green play in store in HMV in the Crescent this Saturday at 4pm and in the Big Top on May 1
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The sun's visible-light corona, the inner part of which is only visible during a total solar eclipse, is seen here as a pearly crown of light surrounding the darkened, Earth-facing side of the moon, as seen on Aug. 21, 2017.

A solar eclipse occurs when the Earth, moon and sun are aligned in the same plane, and the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, partially or completely covering our closest star.

As one of the most dramatic celestial performances, solar eclipses  particularly total eclipses  entice droves of skywatchers; however, regardless of how much of the sun gets covered by the moon's shadow, you should never look directly at the sun.

"During this period when any of the disk is visible, one must use protective equipment to view the sun," William Teets, director of the Vanderbilt Dyer Observatory at Vanderbilt University, in Nashville, Tennessee, told Live Science in an email. That could include sunglasses, specially filtered telescopes or binoculars, or by using a projection method, Teets said.

Solar eclipses come in four varieties: total, annular, partial and hybrid.

When is the next solar eclipse?

Solar eclipses Date Type of solar eclipse Visibility April 30, 2022 Partial Southeast Pacific, South America Oct. 25, 2022 Partial Europe, parts of Africa, Middle East, parts of Asia April 20, 2023 Total South/East Asia, Australia, Pacific, Indian Ocean, Antarctica Oct. 14, 2023 Annular Parts of Africa, N. America, S. America, Pacific & Atlantic, and Arctic April 18, 2024 Total Totality: Parts of Mexico, U.S. and Canada Oct. 2, 2024 Annular Parts of South America, Pacific & Atlantic, and Antarctica

What is a total solar eclipse?

All four varieties of solar eclipse are a happy accident of nature. The sun stretches some 864,000 miles (1.4 million kilometers) across, according to NASA, making our host star 400 times bigger thanEarth's moon, which measures just about 2,160 miles (nearly 3,500 km) in diameter. But the moon also happens to be about 400 times closer to Earth than the sun is (the ratio varies as the orbits of both the sun and moon are elliptical); and as a result, when the orbital planes intersect and the distances align favorably, the moon (called a "new moon" in this alignment) can appear to completely blot out the disk of the sun. As for how rare this phenomenon is: On average, a total solar eclipse is visible somewhere on Earth about every 18 months.

During a total solar eclipse, the moon casts two types of shadows. The umbra is the darkest part of the shadow where all sunlight gets blocked out. The umbra takes the shape of a dark, slender cone. It is surrounded by the penumbra, a lighter, funnel-shaped shadow from which sunlight is partially obscured.

In order to view a total solar eclipse, you must be located in the direct path of the umbra, which can sweep a third of the way around the planet in just a few hours. When in that direct path, you would see the sun's disk diminish into a crescent as the moon's dark shadow rushes toward you across the landscape.

Don't look directly at the sun REMEMBER: Looking directly at the sun, even when it is partially covered by the moon, can cause serious eye damage or blindness. NEVER look at a partial solar eclipse without proper eye protection.

During the brief period of totality, when the sun is completely covered, the beautiful corona  the tenuous outer atmosphere of the sun  is revealed. A total solar eclipse typically lasts for only a few minutes, NASA solar astronomer Mitzi Adams of the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, said in a NASA webchat . The longest solar eclipse, on June 15, 743 B.C., lasted about 7 minutes and 28 seconds, according to NASA (opens in new tab).

Total eclipses are rarely seen because totality  when the sun appears totally hidden by the moon  only exists along a narrow path on Earth's surface, as opposed to partial eclipses, which can be viewed across a much wider region.

The next solar eclipse  on April 30, 2022  will be a partial eclipse and will be visible in South/West South America, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and parts of Antarctica, according to timeanddate.com (opens in new tab).

The next total solar eclipse will occur on April 20, 2023, and it will be visible in South/East Asia, Australia, the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and Antarctica, where viewers can behold at least a partial sun covering. The now-named Great North American Eclipse will cross the mainland U.S. on April 8, 2024. The path of totality will trek through Mexico (from Sinaloa to Coahuila), the U.S. (from Texas to Maine) and Canada (from Ontario to Newfoundland), timeanddate.com reported (opens in new tab).

What is a partial solar eclipse?

A partial eclipse is seen as the sun rises behind the United States Capitol Building, Thursday, June 10, 2021, as seen from Arlington, Virginia. (Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls)

During a partial solar eclipse, the moon's penumbra (the partial shadow) passes between the Earth and the sun. In these cases, a part of the sun always remains in view during the eclipse. How much of the sun remains in view depends on the specific circumstances.

Usually the penumbra gives just a glancing blow to the planet over the polar regions; in such cases, places far away from the poles but still within the zone of the penumbra might not see much more than a small scallop of the sun hidden by the moon. In a different scenario, those who are positioned within a couple of thousand miles of the path of a total eclipse will see a partial solar eclipse.

The closer you are to the path of totality, the greater the solar obscuration. If, for instance, you are positioned just outside of the path of the total eclipse, you will see the sun wane to a narrow crescent, then thicken up again as the shadow passes by.

Annular solar eclipse

A composite image of the annular solar eclipse on Jan. 15, 2010 (Image credit: Siegfried Layda via Getty Images)

An annular eclipse is far different from a total one. The sky will darken ... somewhat, causing a sort of weird "counterfeit twilight" since so much of the sun still shows. The annular eclipse is a subspecies of a partial not total, eclipse. The maximum duration for an annular eclipse is 12 minutes 30 seconds.

The next annular solar eclipse will occur on Oct. 14, 2023, according to NASA (opens in new tab). The eclipse will be visible to millions of people in parts of the U.S., Mexico and many countries in South America and Central America.

An annular solar eclipse is similar to a total eclipse in that the moon appears to pass centrally across the sun. The difference is, due to the moons position, during an annular eclipse the moon appears too small to cover the disk of the sun completely. Because the moon circles Earth in an elliptical orbit, its distance from Earth can vary from 221,457 miles to 252,712 miles (356,400 to 406,700 km). But the dark shadow cone of the moon's umbra can extend out for no longer than 235,700 miles (379,322 km); that's less than the moon's average distance from Earth.

So if the moon is at some greater distance than the umbra's limit, the tip of the umbra does not reach Earth. During such an eclipse, the antumbra, a theoretical continuation of the umbra, reaches the ground, and anyone situated within it can look up past either side of the umbra and see an annulus, or "ring of fire" around the moon. A good analogy is putting a penny atop a nickel, the penny being the moon, the nickel being the sun.

What is a hybrid solar eclipse?

Three partial solar eclipses are seen in this movie from ESAs Proba-2 Sun-watching satellite as it dipped in and out of the Moons shadow during a hybrid solar eclipse in 2013. (Image credit: ESA)

These are also called annular-total ("A-T") eclipses. This special type of eclipse occurs when the moon's distance is near its limit for the umbra to reach Earth. In most cases, an A-T eclipse starts as an annular eclipse because the tip of the umbra falls just short of making contact with Earth; then it becomes total, because the roundness of the planet reaches up and intercepts the shadow tip near the middle of the path, then finally it returns to annular toward the end of the path.

Because the moon appears to pass directly in front of the sun, total, annular and hybrid eclipses are also called "central" eclipses to distinguish them from eclipses that are merely partial.

Of all solar eclipses, about 28% are total; 35%are partial; 32% annular; and just 5% are hybrids. The next hybrid solar eclipse will occur on April 20, 2023, which will be a total eclipse in some areas.

How to view a solar eclipse

An astronomer in India projects the solar eclipse onto a white screen for safe viewing on Dec. 26, 2019. (Image credit: Shutterstock)

(opens in new tab)

Do not look directly at any part of the sun without protective equipment, even near totality.

"This equipment could be approved solar eclipse glasses (not sunglasses) or a properly filtered telescope or properly filtered pair of binoculars."

Teets added that a skywatcher should "never put on solar eclipse glasses and then use them to try to look through an unfiltered telescope or pair of binoculars  the unfiltered light will burn right through the glasses and start burning/blinding you as well."

Projection method: In addition to viewing an eclipse through specialty glasses, properly filtered telescopes/binoculars, you can also use a projection method to view a solar eclipse. To do so, you take out the eyepiece from a telescope and instead project the image onto a sheet of paper behind the telescope. By moving the sheet of paper back and forth, you can find the spot with the most focused image, according to Sky & Telescope (opens in new tab).

Pinhole camera: A pinhole or small opening is used to form an image of the sun on a screen placed about 3 feet (1 meter) behind the opening, according to Sky & Telescope (opens in new tab). Binoculars or a small telescope mounted on a tripod can also be used to project a magnified image of the sun onto a white card. The farther away the card, the larger you can focus the image. Look for sunspots. Notice that the sun appears somewhat darker around its limb or edge. This method of solar viewing is safe so long as you remember not to look through the binoculars or telescope when they are pointed toward the sun; put another way, never look directly at the sun when any part of its blindingly bright surface is visible.

Pinhole mirror: A variation on the pinhole theme is the "pinhole mirror." Cover a pocket-mirror with a piece of paper that has a quarter-inch hole punched in it. Open a sun-facing window and place the covered mirror on the sunlit sill so it reflects a disk of light onto the far wall inside. The disk of light is an image of the sun's face. The farther away from the wall the better; the image will be only 1 inch across for every 9 feet (or 3 centimeters for every 3 m) from the mirror, according to Sky & Telescope (opens in new tab). Modeling clay works well to hold the mirror in place. Experiment with different-size holes in the paper. Again, a large hole makes the image bright, but fuzzy, and a small one makes it dim but sharp. Darken the room as much as possible. Be sure to try this out beforehand to make sure the mirror's optical quality is good enough to project a clean, round image. Of course, don't let anyone look at the sun in the mirror.

If you're around leafy trees, look at the shadow cast by them during the partial phases. What do you see? Is it worth a photograph? You will see scores of partially eclipsed suns projected through pinhole gaps between the leaves. This is caused by diffraction, a property of light. According to Vince Huegele (opens in new tab), an optical physicist at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, the light rays do not shoot straight by the rim of the gaps, or a pinhole, but bend around the edge. This wave effect creates a pattern of rings that resembles a bull's eye.

Acceptable filters for unaided visual solar observations include aluminized Mylar. Some astronomy dealers carry Mylar filter material specially designed for solar observing. Also acceptable is shade 14 arc-welder's glass, available for just a few dollars at welding supply shops. Of course, it is always a good idea to test your filters and/or observing techniques before eclipse day.

Unacceptable filters include sunglasses, old color film negatives, black-and-white film that contains no silver, photographic neutral-density filters and polarizing filters. These materials have very low visible-light transmittance levels, but they transmit an unacceptably high level of near-infrared radiation that can burn your retinas. The fact that the sun appears dim, or that you feel no discomfort when looking at the sun through these types of filters, is no guarantee that your eyes are safe.

Sun features to look for during an eclipse

NASAs Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a solar flare  as seen in the bright flash in the upper left portion of the image on April 20, 2022. The image shows a subset of extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares, and which is colorized in yellow. (Image credit: SDO/NASA)

Sunspots: These relatively cool patches on the sun's surface appear dark. They will look like black spots on the disk of the sun, Teets said. These spots can be alone or in clusters of several. To see these spots, you will likely need a properly filtered telescope, as they are too small typically to view through your solar eclipse glasses.

Prominences: If you are eclipse-viewing with a hydrogen-alpha solar telescope, you might catch a glimpse of more than sunspots. With this gear, you should be able to see prominences and the chromosphere, which is the second of the three layers of the sun's atmosphere.

"Prominences are clouds of material lofted up from the sun, and they sometimes look like flames on the edge of the sun," Teets said. "If they happen to be present across the disk of the sun, they will appear like slightly darkened streaks."

Chromosphere: With that same specialized telescope, you could also witness what might appear as undulating ruby gems dancing around the outer disk of the sun. That would be the chromosphere, the lower atmosphere of the sun that is about a million times less dense than Earth's atmosphere, according to the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (opens in new tab). On typical days, the light from this atmospheric layer is drowned out by the much brighter photosphere underneath it, UCAR said.

Corona: There is one time when you can safely look directly at the sun: during totality in a total eclipse, when the sun's disk is entirely covered. During those few precious seconds or minutes, the magnificent corona  the outer atmosphere that lies just above the chromosphere  shines forth in all its glory like a halo around the darkened sun  a marvelous fringe of pearly white light. "It appears as a beautiful white wisp that completely encircles the sun," Teets told Live Science.

It differs in size, in tints and patterns from eclipse to eclipse. It is always faint and delicate, with a sheen like a pale aurora. Sometimes the corona appears as a soft continuous structure; at other times, long rays of it shoot out in three or four directions. The corona can also pop out from the disk in filmy petals and streamers. But when the sun begins to emerge into view again, the corona quickly disappears and you'll need to protect your eyes once again.

Additional resources

UCAR (opens in new tab) has a great compilation of sun and solar eclipse resources, along with some instructions for teaching activities.

If you're interested in photographing an eclipse, this Nikon guide (opens in new tab) provides instructions for how to do that for different types of solar eclipses.
The opening to two of the tombs at the Khalet al-Jam'a necropolis near the town of Bethlehem.

An ancient necropolis that once held more than 100 tombs from as far back as 4,000 years ago has been discovered near the Palestinian town of Bethlehem in the West Bank.

The burial ground was discovered in spring 2013 during the construction of an industrial park. In 2014 a team from the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities of Palestine excavated some of the tombs, and in 2015 a joint Italian-Palestinian team surveyed the necropolis and created a plan for future exploration. The archaeologists found that the necropolis covered 3 hectares (more than 7 acres) and originally contained more than 100 tombs in use between roughly 2200 B.C. and 650 B.C.

Located on the side of a hill, the archaeological site  now called Khalet al-Jam'a  was likely a burial ground for a nearby settlement whose location is unknown. [See Photos of the Necropolis at Khalet al-Jam'a]

The site's "long-lasting utilization, over a millennium and a half or more, and the large number of tombs, suggest that Khalet al-Jam'a was the necropolis of a major settlement in the area, possibly a town," Lorenzo Nigro, professor at Sapienza University of Rome, wrote in an article published recently in the journal Vicino Oriente.

Here, an overview of the town of Bethlehem. (Image credit: Public Domain/Courtesy of Maysa Al Shaer)

Nigro said that finds from the necropolis indicate that the settlement was a wealthy place, with access to trade routes. Ancient texts refer to a "Beth-Lehem" that flourished in the area.

"Typical pieces of the burial sets are finely executed carinated bowls, small shouldered jars/bowls with everted rim[s], one-spouted lamps, huge and well-refined Canaanite jars with two or four handles, as well as bronze daggers and spearheads," Nigro wrote.

Ancient finds

Though the necropolis has been partly destroyed by looting and construction, the archaeologists were able to identify at least 30 tombs. "The necropolis of Khalet al-Jam'a is mainly characterized by shaft tombs with single or multiple rock-cut chambers," the team wrote in another paper published in Vicino Oriente, noting that the builders enlarged and renovated natural cavities on the hillside.

In one tomb, the remains of a man, woman and child were found buried with two bronze daggers and a variety of ceramics, including twin vases attached together. Archaeologists found that the tomb dated to the Middle Bronze Age, more than 3,500 years ago.

Another tomb at Khalet al-Jam'a contained a nearly complete male skeleton buried with a ceramic lamp that had four sides folded into spouts. Archaeologists said this particular tomb may date to an earlier point in the Bronze Age more than 4,000 years ago.

Another intriguing tomb contained two Egyptian-like amulets, known as scarabs, which were mounted on rings made of bronze or gold. Its possible that, rather than being imported from Egypt, the scarabs were made locally.

The scarabs date to the 13th dynasty of Egypt (1802 B.C. to 1640 B.C.), Nigro said. One of the scarabs contains a series of circular decorations, while the other has swirling designs and what appears to be hieroglyphic writing. Two of the hieroglyphic symbols are written within an oval circle known as a cartouche. The Egyptians often wrote royal names in cartouches, and archaeologists are studying the scarabs for these types of details.

Egyptian scarabs have been found at many other sites in the eastern Mediterranean. Ancient records say the Egyptians were very active in the region, trading for goods and, at times, conquering territory.

Ancient crisis?

The necropolis stopped being used around 650 B.C., Nigro wrote, adding that the name Bethlehem stopped appearing in ancient documents for several centuries until reappearing around the time of Christ.

"It seems that the town suffered a crisis," Nigro wrote. What exactly happened in Bethlehem around 650 B.C. is unclear. However, Nigro noted that around this time, the Assyrian and Babylonian empires launched a series of military campaigns in which they captured land in the region. Stories of these campaigns were told in biblical literature.

Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.
Amber-imprisoned lizards from Southeast Asia that date back 99 million years ago make up the oldest assemblage of tropical lizards ever found in amber, according to a new study.

The tiny, trapped fossils, found in Myanmar, represent an unparalleled sampling of species diversity for tropical lizards from the Cretaceous era, which lasted from 145.5 million years ago to about 65.5 million years ago. The fossils are astonishingly well-preserved, the researchers said, including specimens with intact skin, visible skin pigment and soft tissues  and in one case, a lolling tongue.

The study included remarkable close-up photographs of the lizards' scales, delicate claws and other unusually well-preserved features. One individual's spindly toes earned it the nickname "Nosferatu," after the long-fingered silent-movie vampire, said study co-author David Grimaldi, a curator in the division of invertebrate zoology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. [In Photos: Amber Preserves Cretaceous Lizards]

But it was the specimen abundance and the variety of species that really impressed Grimaldi, he said. "Lizards are extremely rare in any amber deposit," Grimaldi told Live Science in an email. "I never expected to see so many specimens from a Cretaceous deposit, and such diversity."

Lizards preserved in mid-Cretaceous amber from Myanmar. (Image credit: Daza et al. Sci. Adv. 2016; 2 : e1501080)

Precious and protective

Polished amber is a prized gemstone with a rich, yellow-orange hue, and has been collected by people since at least 13,000 years ago, according to an article published in Science in 2009. But millions of years earlier, in its pre-fossilized form as sticky tree resin, the substance played a more sinister role in the Cretaceous landscape. It trapped hapless insects  sometimes in compromising positions  and other living creatures in its depths.

As the resin hardened over time to form amber, the tiny corpses imprisoned within were preserved in magnificent detail, frequently alongside environmental traces that can inform paleontologists about the ancient ecosystems that the animals inhabited.

In amber, "superb preservation allows far better interpretation of the remains than would be possible for specimens in rocks," Grimaldi said. [Video: 'Dragons in Amber'  3D Scanned Cretaceous Lizards]

Even with some specimens in which body parts aren't preserved, the amber still holds imprints of the animal that can be imaged, said study co-author Ed Stanley, a postdoctoral researcher at the Florida Museum of Natural History. Using computed X-ray tomography (CT) scanning, the scientists were able to capture those regions, which were less dense than the surrounding amber, using them to create molds for reconstructing the original forms as 3D models.

A lounge of lizards

Juan D. Daza, the study's lead author and a biology professor at Sam Houston State University in Texas, told Live Science in an email that the lizards' body lengths  minus their tails  ranged from 0.4 inches (11 millimeters) to about 1.6 inches (40 mm). One partial specimen might have been at least 2.4 inches (60 mm) long.

Stanley told Live Science that he was amazed by how closely certain individual lizards resembled their modern kin. "If you showed me the CT scans we made, I'd say that was a species of modern gecko," he said. "Except when you start looking closer, you found a couple of characters that no gecko has today."

One of the preserved lizards in particular was "very interesting," Daza said. The tiniest of the specimens, presumably newly hatched, was described in the paper as a "stem chameleon," an early ancestral form in the chameleon lineage. The tiny creature lacked modern chameleons' specializations, like joined digits and compressed bodies, Daza said. But it had a curled tail and skull features that suggested it may have fed like modern chameleons, using its tongue to capture prey, he said. [Images: Amazing Dominican Amber Trove]

Micrograph of specimen Bu267, showing the head and protruding tongue (the grayish blob near the top of the frame). (Image credit: Daza et al. Sci. Adv. 2016; 2 : e1501080)

All in the family

While getting trapped in resin didn't turn out so well for the little chameleon ancestor, the lizard's fate was an incredible stroke of luck for the scientists who scrutinized it nearly 100 million years later.

"The tiny, little specimen would never have been recognizable as a very primitive and close relative of living chameleons if preserved in rock. Minute but diagnostic characters simply would not have been preserved," Grimaldi told Live Science. "This specimen is scientifically the most significant find, since it expands the geological age of chameleons about five times," he said.

In fact, Stanley added, the superior preservation of all the fossils has far-reaching implications for understanding the tree of life for squamates, the group that contains lizards and snakes.

"Because these specimens are so old, and we can place them with such relative certainty, that acts as a really nice calibration point for when we're trying to date the entire radiation [diversification] of squamates," Stanley said. "And that's kind of cool, because that tells us about the conditions in the world when certain species were radiating, and could help predict what might cause divergences in the future."

The findings were published online today (March 4) in the journal Science Advances.

Follow Mindy Weisberger on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.
Nature & Weather, Local News, Business & Finance, Community, Charity & Cause, Press Releases

By Long Island News & PR Published: March 04 2016

At Tuesdays Suffolk County General Meeting, a bill to limit the use of plastic bags was introduced.

Centerport, NY - March 4th, 2016 - At Tuesdays Suffolk County General Meeting, a bill to limit the use of plastic bags was introduced. Legislator William R. Spencer, M.D., the leading sponsor, moved to introduce the legislation after hearing from business owners, community leaders and environmental groups all expressing support for a measure to scale back on single-use plastic bags,

The public support to end the use of these polluting bags has been on the rise. Ive heard the frustration about how they end up as unsightly litter on our roadways and in our waterways after being used for all of 12 minutes. Ive also heard from business owners who feel with the current movement to reduce their use a county-wide policy would make sense. The time has come to work together and tackle this issue.



The free plastic bags, given out at check-out counters that have become customary, expected and seen as harmless, actually come at a hidden cost to consumers and tax-payers. Retailers spend $4 billion per year to give out the bags; a cost that is passed on to the consumer in the form of higher prices. Once used and discarded, the bags typically end up as litter, costing tax-payers money and resources for their clean-up and proper disposal. For example, New York City spends $10 million disposing of plastic bags.



Plastic bags pollute our beaches, bays, roadways, parks and neighborhoods. They kill thousands of marine mammals and shore birds every year. Last year 10,500 plastic bags were removed from the south shore estuary by volunteers. The answer to this ubiquitous pollution plague is simple, ban the bag.



A CCE survey of over 650 Suffolk residents reveals that 80% of the public supports either a ban or a fee on plastic bags. The time has come to simply ban them and practice BYOB  Bring Your Own Bag, Adrienne Esposito, Executive Director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment.



With a patchwork of local village and municipal laws cropping up throughout the state and county there has been a push from the business community for a uniform law. Charles Reichert, owner of IGA, stated, Its inevitable so lets have a county-wide bill. Honestly, I think it should go statewide as opposed to having these different laws, but Id be happy with a county-wide bill. Currently in Suffolk County there are local laws in Patchogue, East Hampton, Southampton, Quogue and Sagaponack.



Historically speaking, the movement to mainly use plastic bags, spurred on by the plastic industry, began in the 1970s. By the end of 1985, the majority of supermarkets were offering plastic bags to their customers. Within the time consumers switched to predominantly use plastic bags, the amount of plastic in our oceans exceeded the amount of plankton. Just as astounding is the resources needed to manufacture the bags: 2.2 billion pounds of fossil fuel and 3.9 billion gallons of fresh water to produce the 100 billion plastic bags the US consumes each year.



Legislator Al Krupski, representing the First District and who is a co-sponsor of the legislation, stated, I am pleased my colleagues are interested in addressing this issue. Limiting the amount of plastic making its way into our environment and our food chain is important and prohibiting the use of plastic carry out bags is a great start. It is a step numerous communities across the nation have already undertaken.



A public hearing for the bill is scheduled for March 22nd. If adopted, there will be a 12 month period before implementation of the law. Within those 12 months Legislator Spencer will propose a companion bill to provide a comprehensive education and awareness campaign to assist the public and retailers with the shift.



We want to ensure customers and retailers will have a successful transition and are fully aware of the alternatives. The campaign will also highlight the pivotal role the public will play in reversing the detrimental effects these plastic bags have had on our planet in such a brief period of time.
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
A media group run by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has released dozens of new images from the city of Mukallah, the capital of Yemens eastern province of Hadramout. The city fell to the group in early April 2015. The photos, seen below, show the jihadists hosting a large rally, which they used to proselytize and recruit.

As The Long War Journal previously reported, AQAP opened a new Twitter feed for Al Ather news agency in January. The feed is intended to advertise Ansar al Sharias governance, enforcement of sharia law, and other activities in the populated areas that have fallen under the jihadists control since last year. Ansar al Sharia is simply a brand used by AQAP to market itself to the local population. By portraying themselves as the defenders of sharia law, AQAPs leaders and members hope to woo more Muslims to their cause.

On Jan. 23, Al Ather news agency began publishing photos and videos of Ansar al Sharias supposed good works. The AQAP propaganda arm has continued to produce high-quality content since then, including the photos of the gathering in Mukallah.

It is widely believed that al Qaeda is a terrorist organization myopically focused on high-profile attacks in the West. But al Qaeda, like the Islamic State, is more than a terrorist group. Al Qaedas regional branches focus most of their efforts on waging insurgencies throughout Africa and the Middle East. And they need to build at least some popular support to be successful.

The images released out of Mukallah are now commonplace. Similar types of events have been held in Libya, Syria and elsewhere. Al Qaedas goal is to inculcate its radical ideology in the population. It uses events such as the one in Mukallah to convince a new generation of believers that it represents them and Islam. Of course, most Muslims disagree. But AQAP is using its new proto-state in southern Yemen to raise a new generation of jihadists who share al Qaedas beliefs. This is one of the reasons why Western countries and their allies find themselves fighting a long war, albeit one that is often misunderstood.

Below are 30 images released by Al Ather from the event in Mukallah, which began earlier this month and lasted at least two days. Two of the photos show Khalid al Batarfi, an al Qaeda veteran freed from a Yemeni jail last year, delivering a talk on a widescreen. The words O Aqsa, We Are Coming, a reference to Jerusalem, can be seen on the al Qaeda banner on the main stage.

As can be seen in the next two photos, Khalid al Batarfi, an al Qaeda veteran, delivered a lecture on a widescreen at the rally:

The words A Aqsa, We Are Coming can be clearly seen on the banner on the main stage:

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.
Amr al Absi, Islamic States emir for Aleppo province, Syria. Image from the SITE Intelligence Group.

The emir or governor for Aleppo province in Syria, Amr al Absi, was reportedly killed in an airstrike yesterday according to jihadists associated with the Islamic State. It is unclear if the US or Russia killed Absi, but the US is believed to have carried out a strike in northern Syria that same day.

From the SITE Intelligence Group:

High-ranking Islamic State (IS) official Amr al Absi (AKA Abu al Athir) was announced dead by users on social media. Amr al-Absi, understood to be the governor of IS Aleppo Province, was reportedly killed in an airstrike in northern Syria on March 3, 2016. Users reporting his death also showed a picture of what was presented as his dead body

The US military carried out a single airstrike in northern Syria yesterday, in the town of Maraa. According to the US Department of Defense, Near Mara, a strike struck an ISIL [Islamic State] tactical unit and three ISIL fighting positions. The US military has not reported that it targeted or killed Absi.

The Russian military, which is also launching airstrikes against the Islamic State in Aleppo and elsewhere, has not stated that it conducted air operations in Aleppo on March 3.

While it is often stated that the Russians and the Syrian government have avoided the Islamic State in lieu of targeting the so-called moderate Syrian rebels (including al Qaedas branch, the Al Nusrah Front, and its close ally, Ahrar al Sham), this is untrue. Syrian forces have engaged the Islamic State in Dier al Zour since it was founded, battled Islamic State fighters and overran Palmyra last year, while continuing assaults along the Aleppo-Khanasir road (Russian aircraft engaged Islamic State forces in that clash).

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.
Abubakar Shekau, the leader of Boko Haram, which became the Islamic States province in West Africa.

Abubakar Shekau, the leader of Boko Haram, requested to speak with Osama bin Ladens deputy, according to a newly released letter recovered during the May 2011 raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

After citing Islamic texts concerning the benefits of unity and the pitfalls of factionalism, Shekau said he and his men had listened tothe tapes of al Qaeda and its sheikhs, including bin Laden, Ayman al Zawahiri, Abu Musab al Zarqawi, Abu Yahya al Libi and Abu Qatadah al Filistini. Zarqawi, who founded al Qaeda in Iraq and was killed in June 2006, was already dead when Shekau wrote his letter, as he asked Allah to have mercy on [Zarqawis] soul. Abu Yahya al Libi served as al Qaedas general manager until his demise in a US drone strike in June 2012.

But now what we have left is to learn about the system of the organization and how it is organized, Shekau continued. The traveler will fail if he does not become familiar with the road that he is taking, and when he fails he may return or choose other options. But, when the traveler knows his way, he never fails, because he knew what he was facing.

Shekau asked Allah to bear witness that we want to be under one banner and there must be a vision to begin with, because our religion is a religion of vision and knowledge.

With your permission, he concluded his letter, I ask to speak with Osama bin Ladens deputy, may Allah protect him, because the group is loyal, which Allah will ask me about on the Day of Judgment.

Shekau was likely referring to how al Qaeda is organized and the requirements to become part of the organization. Ayman al Zawahiri was bin Ladens deputy when Shekaus request was written.

Neither the original Arabic, nor the English translation posted online by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) is dated. According to the US governments translation, Shekau wrote that he and his men pledge[d] allegiance to our Imam Abu Yusuf Muhammad Bin Yusuf and this union has continued with us even to this day. Yusuf, who led Boko Haram, was killed in July 2009.

In 2012, both the Washington Post and the Guardian (UK) reported that bin Ladens files included correspondence with Boko Haram. But it wasnt until earlier this week that Shekaus letter was released. The press reporting on bin Ladens documents suggests that there are more documents related to Boko Haram that have not yet been released. [See LWJ Report, UN adds Boko Haram to al Qaeda sanctions list.]

Ties between Boko Haram and al Qaedas network prior to joining Islamic State

The State Department has offered a $7 million reward for information leading to Shekaus capture. In its wanted notice, States Rewards for Justice program recognized the ties between Boko Haram and three al Qaeda branches. There are reported communications, training, and weapons links between Boko Haram, al Qaeda in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), al Shabaab, and al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula [AQAP], which may strengthen Boko Harams capacity to conduct terrorist attacks, the rewards page for Shekau reads.

In Nov. 2013, State designated Boko Haram as a terrorist organization, noting its links to AQIM. And when Foggy Bottom designated three Boko Haram leaders (including Shekau) in 2012, it said that two of them have close links to AQIM.

In July 2013, the UN reported that Boko Haram fighters had been trained in a Shabaab camp in Sudan. According to the UNs well-placed source, the Boko Haram members were trained by a terrorist specifically tasked by al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri to provide instruction to jihadists in Africa.

In 2014, the International Crisis Group (ICG) reported independent evidence concerning Zawahiris communications with a jihadist who was allied with Boko Haram.

Al Qaeda cells in West Africa received communications from Osama bin Laden through intermediaries, the ICG claimed in a footnote. The more important a cell, the fewer go-betweens. Citing a member of Ansaru, a jihadist group that has fought alongside Boko Haram at times, the ICG said that Zawahiri communicated directly with a leader known as Kambar. Ansaru, which was led by Kambar until his death in 2012, eventually disowned Shekaus Boko Haram.

Shekau swore bayah (allegiance) to Baghdadi in 2015

Despite Boko Harams ties to al Qaedas international network, Shekau never swore allegiance, at least publicly, to bin Laden or Zawahiri.

Al Qaedas leaders may have had reservations about Shekaus erratic behavior. Al Qaeda also has rules that groups must follow before officially joining the organization, and Shekaus men have been unwilling to comply. For example, Boko Harams deliberate targeting of Muslim civilians violates al Qaedas guidelines for waging jihad.

Abu Bakr al Baghdadis Islamic State, which began to rival al Qaeda in 2013 and 2014, has placed no such limits on the violence carried out by its fighters. The Islamic State wooed Shekau in early 2015 by sending a team of operatives to West Africa to secure his allegiance. Shekau swore his fealty to Baghdadi in Mar. 2015.

[W]e announce our allegiance to the Caliph of the Muslims [Abu Bakr al Baghdadi]and will hear and obey in times of difficulty and prosperity, in hardship and ease, and to endure being discriminated against, and not to dispute about rule with those in power, except in case of evident infidelity regarding that which there is a proof from Allah, Shekau said in an audio message at the time.

We call on Muslims everywhere to pledge allegiance to the Caliph and support him, as obedience to Allah and as their application of the absent duty of the era, Shekau added. [See LWJ report, Boko Haram leader pledges allegiance to the Islamic State.]

Boko Haram was rebranded as the Islamic States province in West Africa after Shekaus announcement.

Shekaus letter is somewhat ironic given his eventual decision to join Baghdadis cause. In his appeal to al Qaedas leaders, Shekau cited hadith (sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad) calling for unification and rejecting rift. The rivalry between the Islamic State and al Qaeda is the biggest rift in the history of modern jihadism.

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.
Indonesia Total Solar Eclipse of March 9, 2016

Total solar eclipse of March 9 , 2016, Total Solar Eclipse Indonesia Total solar eclipse will occur on March 9, 2016, event this rare shall we see, for residents Idonesia especially areas in across the equator will enjoy a natural event a total solar eclipse, while the island of Java that are not crossed the equator could only watch solar eclipse in part.





Total solar eclipses Indonesia is a natural phenomenon where the position or the position of the sun, moon and earth are in a straight line. Position of the sun, moon and earth in a straight line is causing most of the earth's surface will be exposed dark shadow moon. As a result, the affected areas of dark shadows month, did not see the sun.





Total solar eclipses Indonesia is event rare in life according to the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics (BMKG) said that it took 350 years to be able to see the total solar eclipse in the same place. That means, the same as the old Dutch colonized the land watered until independent for 350 years, it ime so long is not it? the opportunity to witness this phenomenon in Indonesia only happens once in a lifetime.





The total solar eclipse this time flashed across the Indian Ocean to the Hawaiian islands along the track is expected is 155-160 kilometers stretch of up to 1,200-1,300 kilometers. After passing in Palembang, we turn to the Pacific Islands region that would feel the occurrence of a total solar eclipse at 06:21 am with the peak will occur at 07.30 am. While in the region of Bengkulu, the peak of a total solar eclipse will occur at around 7:19 am.





The total solar eclipse Indonesia in the Central area as Palu, the eclipse began at 7:27 am and reached its peak at 8:38 am. This is different from Ternate city residing in the East, where the eclipse begins at 08:36 am and 09:52 am peaked. In the official website of National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN), stated that the path GMT 2016 would begin in Palembang, Bangka Belitung, Sampit and Palangkaraya (Central Kalimantan), Balikpapan (East Kalimantan), Palu, Poso, Luwuk (Central Sulawesi), Ternate and Halmahera (North Maluku), West Sulawesi, Bengkulu, Jambi, West Kalimantan.





Related to the total solar eclipse Indonesia that can not be seen in all parts of Indonesia, BMKG provides streaming services to people who are interested to watch this rare event. Please go there http://gerhana-indonesia.id/id/live-streaming/





The phenomenon of a total solar eclipse Indonesia that took place in several provinces in Indonesia that has a duration of time is different. His own time about 1 to 2 minutes. Below is a schedule of the long duration of a total solar eclipse of March 9, 2016 in parts of Indonesia.





This is the Total Solar Eclipse Schedules March 9, 2016 Indonesia

Mentawai, 6:20 am (1 minute 54 seconds).

Palembang, 7:20 am (1 minute 52 seconds).

Bangka Belitung, 7:21 am (1 minute 8 seconds).

Tanjung Pandan, 7:22 am (2 minutes 10 seconds).

Sampit, 7:27 am (2 minutes 8 seconds).

Palangkaraya, 7:28 am (2 minutes 29 seconds).

Balikpapan, 8:33 am (1 minute 9 seconds).

Palu, 8:33 am (2 minutes 4 seconds).

Poso, 8:38 am (2 minutes 40 seconds)

Luwuk, 8:41 am (2 minutes 50 seconds)

Ternate, 09:51 am (1 min 9 sec)

Halmahera, 09:45 am (1 minute 36 seconds)

Safety tips and Photo see total solar eclipses Indonesia

Weakup early morning, a total solar eclipse (total solar eclipse Indonesia) on March 9, 2016 occurred between 7 am to 8 am

Towards a barrier-free place buildings or trees, the best place is the field or multi-storey building

Do not look without sunglasses UV.Rotation sunlight from total to the very dangerous because the pupils were dilated and ready to receive a strong light, a solar eclipse is potentially damaging the retina.

Use eye protection. Not the ordinary glasses, protective filter must be equipped with ultraviolet and infrared light. Make a proper plan and check whether the camera. T otal solar eclipses the visit again in the year 2056, not until the moment of the perpetuation of the rare phenomenon wasted because of planning and preparation is less mature.

Make sure all the best camera equipment available.

Creative thinking is not unusual alias, Even with a regular camera or smartphone origin can be mixing and matching and searching for a good angel will produce a good photo or vidieo.

Do not forget to push the button Rec, if you forgot then you will not be recorded vidio and lost moment.

Total Solar Eclipse March 9, 2016, Total Solar Eclipse Indonesia . Let traveled while preserving natural and cultural wealth of Indonesia with a direct view total solar eclipse March 9, 2016, Total Solar Eclipse Indonesia. Prepare everything early and plan your trip well, Happy long weekend in Indonesia. Happy Travelling to All tourist Attractions In Indonesia,
Luxury on the Riviera Maya at Grand Velas resort

But they're not words that spring to mind when it comes to the hotels. Since Cancun started booming in popularity in the 1970s, shiny new places have been cropping up often along this Caribbean coastline, known as the Riviera Maya, from massive all-inclusive resorts to small, luxury boutique affairs.Grand Velas Riviera Maya Resort certainly fits into the former category, and, having opened in 2008, it's nowhere near faded or old just yet. Quite the opposite, in fact.On a road trip around the Yucatan Peninsula, we reached the hotel on a sunny afternoon, passing security at a gleaming white wall that separates the property from the road and driving down a long, palm tree-lined driveway. The size of this place made an immediate impression, with three sections (Zen, Ambassador, Grand) containing 540 suites spread out across the 205 acres of the property. The Zen section's a short distance away from the beach, so it's the cheapest option, but what it lacks in oceanfront it replaces with a quiet jungle setting, the spa and a lily pond filled with fish and turtles. The conference center and wedding chapel is also there. The Ambassador Suites and Grand Suites are on the beach, the key difference being that the Ambassador section is for families and allows children, with a Children's Club and Teenager Club. Being child-free, we stayed at the more peaceful Grand Suites.Like everything here, the lobby's on the large side, with marble floors and big chandeliers. Check-in was fast and friendly; we were soon being guided through long white corridors to our suite by our personal concierge. The suite itself? It was no surprise by this stage that it, too, was huge, a spacious, light and airy bedroom and living room area in white and cream, with a big double bed, comfy sofa and writing table. In the center of the room, there was a unit with a big TV on top, the fridges and cupboards below filled with snacks, drinks and a couple of bottles of wine (all included). And I certainly wasn't complaining about the complimentary bottle of Grand Velas tequila waiting on arrival.I've stayed at places where the entire hotel room was smaller than the bathroom here, which had (slightly slippery) marble flooring, a walk-in two-door double shower unit, including a rain shower, and a hot tub.Our suite's roomy balcony was fringed with bright pink bougainvillea flowers, with a double bed sun lounger and its own private plunge pool that looked out onto palm trees and the waves of the Caribbean crashing onto the beach below. Across the ocean, I could see the outline of buildings on the island of Cozumel.The personal concierge service came in handy during our stay. Being a fussy Englishman, I like a good selection of tea, which was brought up quickly to the room. The concierge also helped with restaurant reservations and other plans.It was mid-afternoon when we strolled along the front to the hall-sized Azul restaurant and an admirable buffet that was heavy on local seafood, including almond-encrusted snapper and ceviche. Clearly, we were going to eat well here at Grand Velas.Azul's one of eight restaurants across the resort that together serve up French, Italian, Asian and regional Yucatanese cuisine - plenty to keep taste buds excited during longer stays. Only here for two nights, we didn't get to try them all, but we might have tried the best. Cocina De Autor, which we visited on our first night, is the creation of Spanish-born chefs Bruno Oteiza and Mikel Alonso, awarded five diamonds by AAA inspectors. The set tasting menu has touches of Spanish, Mexican and molecular gastronomy. Four little appetizers served on black slates, including warming balls of cheese and a bundle of sea bass with herbs, kicked things off in style, my girlfriend grinning with pleasure and savoring each one. With a guitarist playing live acoustic music in the background, we enjoyed a leisurely dinner, the 13 courses (18 dishes in total) coming one by one, including a novel tuna and watermelon combination, venison served with a rich mole (Mexico's spicy chocolate sauce), and a dessert of chocolate, orange, almonds and cumin with a delicately smoky foam. But the standout dish was the scallops served with an orange soup, my girlfriend sending her praises via the waiters back to the kitchen staff. If you want to find the direct route to someone's heart or to up your chances of a Yes' to a proposal, booking a table here could be the way to do it.The rest of our time here was equally pleasurable. Next morning, I took the shuttle over to the spa in the Zen section. Before the main treatment, I was guided through a Hydrothermal Journey by an attendant, from the sauna to the blue tiled ice room', then 10 minutes in a futuristic bowl-shaped steam room, before being handed a little tub of butter-smooth clay to cake myself in inside the clay room. The pool inside the spa has powerful jet hoses to massage back and shoulders. I was pretty relaxed already by the time Monique, the masseuse, led me to a room for a 50-minute Therapeutic Massage. This is where the magic of transformation begins, she said, conducting a short Maya-inspired ritual before starting a firm full body massage with hands, elbows and occasionally hot towels. With Mayan-influenced music playing, I might've snoozed for 10 seconds here and there. There were nice thoughtful touches, too, such as handing my robe back to me after the massage snugly pre-heated.For lunch, we tried the Mediterranean-style Bistro, including a starter of soft scallops with a fruity couscous, followed by grilled shrimp in five spices with hummus and coriander.We spent our afternoon by the quiet, child-free pool, occasionally swimming up to the poolside bar to pick up fresh margaritas made with mescal (Tequila's smokier cousin), or ordering ceviche and guacamole from the sun loungers on the beach. It was incredibly relaxing, just baking in the sun, swimming in the pool and sea, and walking along the beach. This, along with ancient Maya temples like Chichen Itza, is what people come to the Yucatan for.Our concierge helped book us into Frida, the gourmet Mexican restaurant, in the evening. We ordered fresh salads, green chili and corn soup, and salmon with a yellow mole sauce, along with a bottle of good Mexican Merlot. It might not have quite hit the heights of Cocina De Autor, but then that did set the bar high. It is, however, delicious Mexican cooking and a fine way to spend an evening.Next morning, we were sorry to leave, not least as we'd have liked to sample more of the restaurants. But the pain was suspended by the helpful staff arranging a late checkout and allowing us an extra couple of hours by the pool. It's hard for a place as big as Grand Velas not to lose something of the personal touch; it has the feel of a very well-oiled machine, rather than an intimate boutique hotel where all the staff know your name within 10 minutes of your stay. There are other hotels on the Riviera Maya, too, with more of an individual character, the decor here mainly sticking with a safe, pleasant cream and white. But every want and need here was undeniably met, and the exceptional service and friendly, thoughtful touches - late checkout, our concierge's helpful suggestions, a tea delivery - really made our stay. Almost as much as the mescal margaritas.Grand Velas Riviera Maya is 35 minutes from Cancun International Airport, and guests can request a shuttle transfer for an extra charge.Visit website:
You can read all the articles in our new Turkey Focus on the dedicated page (no subscription required).

Interview: Habip Asan, president, Turkish Patent Institute

What are the priorities for the Turkish Patent Institute at the moment?

Habip Asan Habip Asan

Firstly, the work for the preparation of a new Draft Law, which has been prepared recently in order to meet some specific needs, has been relaunched in 2016. In 2015 the Turkish Patent Institute (TPI) has continued to undertake capacity-enhancing activities in a rigorous manner in various fields and subjects in order to implement the legislation properly and contribute to the enforcement of the related rights.

In the legislative sphere, hard work has been carried out such that under the supervision of TPI, as already mentioned, a new draft law has been prepared in consultation with relevant governmental and nongovernmental organizations/institutions. It will, inter alia, heighten the level of enforcement when it comes into force.

The TPI has been constantly improving its human resources, IT infrastructure and physical infrastructure within its budget and in line with its organisational strategic plan in order to improve its services in 2015.

All the endeavours highlighted here aim towards proper implementation of the law which is already in line with and even above in some respects the international commitments.

Secondly, we attach great importance to the cooperation activities with international agencies. At the top of the list comes the Project on Dissemination of Industrial Property Knowledge in Universities run in cooperation between the European Patent Office, Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market and Turkish Patent Institute. The Project aims at increasing the inclusiveness of universities in the creation of high added value patents and facilitates commercialisation of patents.

What changes do you expect in the future?

We, as the TPI, aim at a Turkey where annually 50,000 patent applications are filed. Similarly, our nations 2023 objectives include the creation of 10 global brands.

The National Intellectual Property Strategy Paper and Action Plan, which was prepared under the coordination of the TPI, has entered into force in July 2015. With the Action Plan, it is aimed to create an IP system that is efficient, wide and publicly accepted in order to increase the contribution of intellectual rights and products under those rights to the development process.

The four main objectives listed in the action plan, which clearly outlines the current situation of intellectual rights in our country, are as follows:

 Efficient implementation of IP rights by optimising legislation and implementation in line with the countrys needs.

 Supervision and protection of the intellectual rights in an efficient manner by creating human and corporate capacity in relevant units primarily such as justice, Customs and security services.

 Increasing the efficiency of the mechanism for the commercialization of intellectual rights by developing market perception and infrastructure for converting to values.

 Providing contribution for the objective of being a society having respect to ideas and knowledge by increasing social awareness in the field of intellectual rights.

The implementation of the Plan is based on efficient coordination among stakeholders. Looking at the industrial property objectives in the plan, it is aimed at reaching 16,000 domestic patent applications by 2018, which is around 5,000; reaching a percentage of 55% domestic patent applications, which is currently 37%, reaching 2,140 international and regional patent applications originating from Turkey, which is currently around 1,000; reaching 167 Turkish triadic patent applications, which is currently in the margin of 30-40.

Furthermore, Turkey is foreseen to be within the top 10 in domestic patent applications by 2018, whereas the country was listed as 14th in the 2013 WIPO annual statistical report. Additionally, the percentage of granted patents among total number of applications is aimed at 30% by 2018, which is currently 20%.

What are the main areas of work of the Institute? And which areas are growing?

The industrial property activities in Turkey dating back to 1871 continue to be implemented by the TPI since its establishment in 1994. The Institutes facilities converge at the objectives of supporting Turkeys technological advancement, establishing free competition climate in the country, protecting industrial property rights through registration for supporting the development of research and development activities, dissemination of industrial property rights-related domestic and foreign knowledge and documentation to public. It administers work and procedures related to protection of industrial property rights comprising patents, industrial designs, trade marks, geographical indications and topographies of integrated circuits. It is an administratively and financially autonomous institution under the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology.

Considerable progress has been made in preparing search and examination reports for patent applications in Turkey. Consequently, positive results have been obtained in shortening the registration period and reducing the institutional costs.

While the ratio of search reports issued by the TPI to the total number of reports has been only 8% in 2009, by the end of 2014, TPI has reached the capacity to issue 45% of the search reports. Similarly, 1629 reports issued in 2014 reflect this capacity increase as 10 times compared to the five years earlier figures. By the end of 2015, TPI has achieved its full capacity to perform search and examination on its own for all patent applications. Additionally, we aim to provide search and examination services to other national offices, starting with Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is quite clear that our efforts in increasing the search and examination capacity would become an important element in contributing to the development of our country.

What is the Institutes role in developing IP policy in Turkey?

The very purpose of the establishment of the Institute is regulated by the Law establishing the TPI. It is, inter alia, to contribute to the technological development of Turkey through contributing to R&D activities in Turkey, not only by securing industrial property rights but also maintaining dissemination and spreading of industrial property-related knowledge and information. In this regard, the TPI with its given task has an important role in the national innovation system of Turkey. We not only process applications and grant rights but also disseminate knowledge and information. It is indeed a very critically important task. Timely publication of industrial property rights is realising this function of dissemination in the first place. In addition to this, I always strive for increasing the level of awareness on industrial property rights in Turkey which I believe is still not at a desired level. To do this, one of the departments at the Institute has been fully given the task of organising seminars, training, workshops in almost every part of Turkey throughout the year. They work really hard to increase the visibility of the Institute, thus, mainly maintain and assist constantly use and management of the knowledge and information contained in industrial property rights for the stakeholders.

Furthermore, the higher education institutions in Turkey have launched IP-related programmes recently covering various aspects of IP rights. We have been doing our best to contribute to the programmes and assist them in their endeavours. We will also start our own IP Academy at the Institute in cooperation with WIPO this year for the benefit of not only our examiners but also for IP agents/attorneys. They are all, I believe, huge contributions to the innovation system in Turkey.

Lastly, I would mention the Patent Awards ceremony which we organise with the participation of the President of Turkey. Such events, surely, are the best publicity for the recognition and encouragement of use of IP rights. Many private firms and individuals compete to be selected and awarded as one of the most innovative firms in Turkey.

What is its role in developing innovation and in particular technology transfer?

We need qualified inventions, distinctive and high added value designs, strong global brands, and geographical indications to commercialise our local values.

Our most important topical working area on industrial property is the commercialization of inventions. In this regard, the web site Technology Transfer Platform launched in February 2015 serves as a great tool that matches the inventors and investors.

In line with the actions related to commercialisation of industrial rights in the National Intellectual Property Strategy Paper, studies towards establishment of a market system where intellectual property rights can be valuated, purchased and sold as a commercial asset have been launched under the Objective on Developing market perception and value conversion infrastructure and increasing the efficiency of the mechanisms for commercialization of intellectual rights. The said action is coordinated by the Borsa Istanbul. In this context, the work to establish an Intellectual Property Market as part of the Special Market activities launched in 2014 is still underway.

I understand there have been some recent initiatives to promote technology transfer. Can you explain more about these?

TPI headquarters TPI headquarters

In addition, one of the important achievements in the international fora is the decision of establishing a Technology Bank in Turkey taken in 2011 at the Fourth Conference on United Nations Least Developed Countries in Istanbul. In this regard, technical studies of the UN Secretariat General led by Ban Ki-moon have almost been finalised concerning the technology banks scope, functions, organisational structure and its link to the United Nations. One of the solid achievements we expect out of the Least Developed Countries Action Plan Interim Review meeting that we will host in Antalya in June 2016 would be the concretisation of the technology bank. Therefore, by the time of the said meeting, it is aimed to finalise the draft agreement of the host country and to identify the overall framework of the Technology Bank. Do you think IP awareness is increasing in Turkey? And if so how is this evident?

Trade marks are the most commonly filed forms of IP. Over the past five years, trade mark applications are more than 100,000 in number. In 2015, the number of trade mark applications was 110,679.

If we consider the past 10 years the number of patent applications has increased from 935 (year 2005) to 5512 (year 2015). In years 2011,2012,2014,2015 the rate of increase in patent applications was 25 %, 11 %, 7 % and 13 % respectively. However, only in 2013 the number of patent applications has decreased very slightly, which is at a rate of only 0.33 %.

According to World Intellectual Property Indicators published by WIPO in December 2015, Turkey is in 24th place in terms of patent applications (abroad and domestic), in seventh place in terms of utility model applications, and in 15th place in terms of national patent applications in the world.

What do you like about working in IP in Turkey? And what are the biggest challenges?

I give an utmost importance to work as a team in the Office. Today, all of us know that collective wisdom always dominate personal one, even if it is a genius one. Therefore, in TPI, we are trying to hire new experts having good educational backgrounds and personal skills and to equip them with adequate training. Of course, usage of technological means is vital for reaching success. Furthermore, cooperation and coordination with other relevant governmental or private institutions is indispensable for reaching our goals. Therefore, my Office is always seeking to find ways to actuate all relevant stakeholders into a harmonised direction, so that we believe the success will be the natural result. But to sum up, I have to stress that, acting as a team within the Office and within the country is the key factor for overcoming challenges and reaching success.

For TPI, 2015 was a year of success. Last year, our heavy agenda has contained remarkable international events, achievements and start-ups, which will, I assume, enhance Turkeys IP structure and skyrocket its place at the international arena within the coming years.

For the year ahead, I am hoping that there will be no drastic easement in our agenda. I am sure that the TPI will continue to manage all of these existing projects with success, in addition to newly added ones.
Ulrich Blumenroder Ulrich Blumenroder

Germany, like other EU member states, is preparing for the UPC. So far the drafts appear to keep the promise that any new law means additional work for IP lawyers. The German lawmaker opted to be complicated. Its draft is based on the assumption that double protection is allowed under the UPC Agreement. Indeed this is what the draft appears to provide. But in the end it is limited. In the future (as in the past) you will be able to file:

 a German national patent application; and

 a European patent application (which can later evolve into a European patent with unitary effect)  actually it will stay a traditional European patent, valid as national patent in Turkey et al and as a Unitary Patent in the participating member states; but that is dogmatic)

Double patenting

The proposed law allowsdouble patentingto a bigger extent than it is now the case:

It is proposed that the German national patent ceases to be effective (to the extent it protects the same invention as the European patent) under new Article II  8 of the German Act on the International patent treaties (IntPatUG) only if a parallel European patent is opted out under Article 83 (3) from the exclusive jurisdiction of the UPC as of either of the following events:

 expiration of the opposition period without opposition being filed;

 end of opposition with the European patent being upheld;

 entry of opt out if this happens after opposition is not filed or after opposition ends with upholding; or

 grant of the German patent if it is granted after the three aforementioned circumstances.

Hence, double protection is allowed for:

 German patents and parallel traditional non opted-out European patents.

 German patents and parallel Unitary Patents.

Impact on infringement litigation

This has consequences for infringement litigation. Since double protection is allowed to a greater extent, there may evolve parallel infringement suits before German district courts on the one hand and the UPC on the other based on:

 a German patent and a parallel traditional European patent; or

 a German patent and a parallel Unitary Patent

For such parallel infringement litigation, the draft German law provides for a bar: the defendant in Germany is entitled to object to being subject to two suits. The German suit is to be dismissed (or stayed until the UPC proceedings have come to an end and then be dismissed.)

The details are listed in new  18, which requires:

 same inventor;

 same invention with same priority;

 such European patent with or without unitary effect is subject to pending or finalised proceeding before UPC;

 proceedings pertain to same or similar action;

 proceedings with same parties; and

 defendant (in Germany) objects prior to start of oral hearing.

The objective is to safeguard the interests of the defendant. This is necessary because the patent owner has various ways - and therefore more flexibility - to proceed not only either before the German court on the basis of the German patent or before the UPC based on the (not opted out) traditional European patent or the (necessarily not opted out) Unitary Patent. Rather, he may also bring such actions before both the German court and the UPC in parallel; for this case, the defendant is granted protection against being sued twice.

Two flaws

There seem to be two flaws in the new proposed regime:

(1) The lawmaker forgot that during the course of an opposition pending with the EPO there is no bar. Given the time of an opposition procedure compared to the time contemplated for an UPC proceeding, parallel suits are possible.

(2) Article II 18 does notbar motions for declaration of non-infringement. Hence, the defendant in a German suit who knows of the parallel Unitary Patent or the not-opted out traditional European patent can file such complaint for declaration of non-infringement with the UPC. Subsequently, the German case is to be dismissed.

The second issue has already been mentioned. The flaw might be rectified in the future.

On its face the reform is meant to increase options for patent owners. And it does. Yet, at the same token it is a resolution of no confidence against the UPC and its judges. Quite obviously, the lawmaker does not trust the UPC. That the German Patent Office as well as the German Federal Patent Court might get some more work out of it appears to be a mere side effect.

Impact on strategy

What does that mean for strategy? Those who want to have access to both worlds so far appeared to be forced to select one of two courses: (1) file a European patent, file a divisional and opt out for one of the two European patents or (2) file a European patent and branch off a utility model. Now there will be a third option, namely to file a European patent and file for German patent protection. For those with a strong German presence, this could be a good choice.

Ulrich Blumenroder is a partner of IP firm Grunecker in Munich
Since the end of October 2015, SeaIntel Maritime Analysis showed that 115 vessels deployed on Asia-USEC and Asia-North Europe services have made the back-haul trip to Asia by sailing south of Africa instead of through the Suez and Panama Canals, their routing on the head-haul. Of the 115 voyages, three were vessels on Asia-North Europe, while the rest were deployed on Asia-USEC. We could also see that there were plans to switch more Asia-North Europe sailings to the south of Africa routing in the coming weeks.



While the change of routing of some Asia-North Europe services (back-haul) to south of Africa is a blow to the Suez Canal, it will not become critical until we see more back-haul services being switched and/or the head-haul routing also is changed. In this weeks SeaIntel Sunday Spotlight we analysed the possibility of carriers switching their head-haul routing to south of Africa in order to avoid the Suez Canal fee.



The vessels currently using the route south of Africa on the back-haul have mostly used this option without increasing transit time or dropping intermediate calls, e.g. in the Mediterranean or Middle East, but have simply sped up vessels on the leg that would otherwise have gone through the Suez Canal. CEO and Partner in SeaIntel, Alan Murphy says: This is not an option on the head haul, as all services currently sail so fast on the canal leg that roughly extra 3,100 nm cannot be incorporated without increasing the transit time between Asia and North Europe, as

most ultra large vessels cannot sail faster than 21-22 knots. We therefore examined the economic viability of the south of Africa routing if 3.5 or 7 days were added to the head haul transit time.



The extra 3.5 days scenario implies that 3.5 days have also been added to the back haul transit time, making it even more likely that the back haul voyage will also be switched to south of Africa. The 3.5 and 7 days scenarios require that the carriers deploy an extra vessel per service in order to keep weekly intervals. Charter prices vary quite a bit, and no efficient market currently exists for vessels above 10,000 TEU, but brokers with whom we were in contact earlier normally assume that a vessel costs roughly 3.5 USD/nominal TEU per day; this covers the building costs, OPEX and the necessary return on invested capital. Thus a 13,000 TEU vessel roughly costs 45,500 USD per day.



Carriers considering the longer route will be mindful of the potential loss of business as a result of the longer transit times, but it should be remembered that carriers introduced slow-steaming without major opposition from shippers, who seem to value lower freight rates over shorter transit times. Potentially, we may see carriers offering business class fast services through the Suez Canal, and economy fare around the south of Africa, added Mr Murphy.



The analysis shows that 12 of the 19 dedicated Asia-North Europe services could sail south of Africa on the head-haul if 3.5 days was added to the transit time. The potential savings vary from service to service, ranging from 7.3 to 19.4 million USD on annualised basis, compared to the current routing through the Suez Canal. On top of this, with the extra 3.5 days transit time on the back-haul carriers could save around 5 million USD per service in fuel savings, if the back-haul routing was rerouted to south of Africa, and this is in addition to the backhaul canal fee savings of approximately 20 million USD/year per service. If instead carriers were to route the vessels through the Suez Canal on the back-haul, the extra 3.5 days of sailing time would not add any significant savings on the back-haul fuel consumption, due to the already low sailings speeds.



If seven days were added to the transit time on the head-haul all 19 Asia-North Europe services would be able to make the routing south of Africa. On average the carriers would save around 17.2 million USD per year per service. Combined, the cash-strapped carriers could save 275 million USD per year.



SeaIntel also note that an added benefit would be that both scenarios would soak up 19 ultra-large container vessels, equalling roughly 270,000 TEU. Such a move would be greatly beneficial for the carriers, as it would go a long way towards

restoring the supply/demand balance in the market.


APM Terminals Pipavav one of Western Indias gateway ports, in collaboration with Tata Trust CSPC (Coastal Salinity Prevention Cell) has launched Kharash Vistarotthan Yojana (KVY), a project which aims to strengthen community based institutions through promotion of improved farming practices and water management for 32 coastal based villages in 3 years.



The launch ceremony was attended by about 775 farmers (both male and female) across the Rajula district. The project intends to scale up agricultural interventions for over 3000 farmers spread across 32 coast based salinity affected villages of Rajula block under the guidance of natural resource management (NRM). It also aims to improve the socio economic conditions of the farmers and build community based institutions for long term sustainability.



The project which will be implemented by an NGO Vivekanand Research and Training Institute (VRTI) will promote sustainable agricultural practices through the adoption of improved package of practices (PoP), technological interventions and crop diversification. It will also help support alternate livelihood for landless population and create long term sustainable community institutions for self-reliance.



Under KVY, a sanitation project will also be taken up with the support of the Government of Gujarat under the Swachh Bharat Mission where toilet facilities will be set up that will benefit 4000 households in the Rajula block.



Commenting on the occasion Mr. Keld Pedersen, Managing Director, APM terminals Pipavav said, We are very proud to collaborate with Tata Trust on the KYV project which will help uplift the lives of the villagers. As an organization we have always been focused on acting responsibly and ethically and have undertaken a number of initiatives in keeping in line with our mission of uplifting the communities around us.



The program was initiated with the lighting of the lamp and was facilitated by Mr. Apurve Oza ( Chairmen CSPC & Head AKRSP), Mr. Nitin Dave (Chairman  VRTI), Mr. Chadri (company & designation), Ms. Devshree Purohit (company & designation), Mr. Divyang Vaghela (General Manager  CSPC), Dr. V. P. Rajkumar (Head HR, Admin, CSR  APM Terminals - Pipavav), Mr. Devandh Barot (APM Terminals Pipavav), Mr. Vadher Director, DRDA (District Rural development Agency), Amreli , Mr. J.S. Gosaliya (Trustee  VRTI), Mr. Nilesh Shah (D. D.M  Nabard), Mr. Dangar (Deputy Director, Agriculture , Amreli District) and Mr. Bhupendra Jani (company & designation).



Mr. Jani expressed his gratitude towards the partnership of APM Terminals Pipavav, CSPC, VRTI and Govt. for their cooperation and collaboration for the KVY project.




The Shipping Corporation of Indias (SCI) Worldwide Agents' Meet 2016 held on March 2nd, 2016 drew 88 agents from across the world to participate in the Meet. There were representatives from Far East, Indian Subcontinent, Persian Gulf, Western Europe, Mediterranean, Black Sea, East and South Africa, Red Sea, Myanmar, USA, etc.



The Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) Capt. B.B. Sinha, CMD, SCI, while delivering the keynote address welcomed the Agents who had gathered from around the world. He gave a brief about the Global shipping scenario. He indicated the tough journey of the shipping fraternity from 2008 till date and how the global supply of ships has outpaced the global demand. He emphasized that the Liner (Container) Shipping and the Dry Bulk Carriers are going through a deep recessionary phase. Capt. B.B. Sinha stated that SCI has adopted various measures to contain the losses and has succeeded in coming out of the woods after posting losses continuously for three years. He stressed that fiscal discipline needs to be followed by both Principal and Agents.



Director (L&PS) of SCI, Capt. S. Narula also extended a warm welcome to the gathering and emphasized the importance of reducing the system costs in today's market where ultra low freight was the rule rather than an exception. He stressed that SCI's liner focus would increasingly be on trade on the coast and with adjacent countries. There were plans to re-look at the whole concept of breakbulk shipping keeping in mind the huge project cargoes expected to be generated.



Director (T&OS) of SCI, Capt. K. Devdas in his address enlightened the participants about the SCIs acquisition plans as on date. He stressed upon selective acquisition of additional tonnage to keep the fleet young and expressed acquisition of vessels in future too.



Director (Finance) Mrs. H.K. Joshi stated that it has been the "survival of the fittest" and highlighted the financial crisis that hit hard on SCIs financial performance during the year due to which there has been drastic fall in the Operating Income, Sales, PAT etc. She also stressed on the necessity for improving the top line, bottom line and cash for the Company, to ensure uniform growth of the company.



Director (B&T) Mr. S.V. Kher expressed that "to change" is the the only way forward to survive in the competitive business scenario today. He solicited fast and regular flow of information from the Agency Houses regarding the competition profile, market information, etc.



The Meet focused on improving SCIs market share, developing existing business portfolios, and evaluation of agency performance.
Marines with Explosive Ordnance Disposal Platoon, Combat Logistics Battalion 2, conducted a field training exercise at Camp Lejeune, March 2.



The training served as the last field operation prior to the battalions upcoming deployment with the Special Purpose Marine-Air Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Africa, wherein they will be supporting operations across the Mediterranean Sea.



We want all of our team leaders and members on the same page to be able to handle any and all situations we may come across, said Staff Sgt. Ryan Harris, a Team Leader with the platoon.



The unit rehearsed procedures such as how to respond to calls both inside the United States, and abroad, and the follow-on actions after those calls were received.



Were testing our teams to see how well we can respond to explosives and thus get ourselves ready for our upcoming deployment, said Sgt. Perry Robinson, a Team Member with the unit.



Marines utilized equipment such as compact metal detectors, bomb suits and a TALON robot to locate and handle suspected explosive devices, which took the form of a simulated IED, ammunition or artillery shell.



Marines then analyzed their suspected item before determining the necessary tools and used explosives such as C4, dynamite and TNT, to dispose of their objectives.



Robinson explained the value of proficiency with EOD equipment given the inherent danger of the tasks they are specifically entrusted with.



We send the robot down first to be as remote as possible and to maintain the safety of the team, Robinson said. If we cant accomplish the objective with the robot, we suit up and send our own Marines down.



Robinson noted that the deployment may see them called into action at any moment, so the unit conducts this training to be ready when that time comes.



This training is important because this gets our section ready so we may respond to a number of scenarios at any location around the Mediterranean, Robinson said. We need to be up to the standard needed for a response.





More Media
U.S. Marines assigned to the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit conducted an exchange of information with the Kuwait Ministry of the Interior VIP Protection Unit, Female Division, Jan. 31 to Feb. 11, 2016, in Kuwait City, Kuwait.



The Marines have backgrounds in synchronized swimming, figure skating, and ballet, and they all have one thing in common -- a desire to empower women in a male-dominated profession.



The 26th MEUs Female Engagement Team is made up of female Marines with different military occupational specialties who volunteered to participate in a subject matter expert exchange with female Kuwaiti police officers.



The exchange is part of a United Nations initiative to foster equal rights for half of the worlds population.



United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 recognizes the role women play in restoring and maintaining peace and security. Subsequent resolutions aim to increase womens participation in all efforts related to peace and security and to strengthen the protection of women in situations of armed conflict, according to the United States National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security (WPS).



The National Action Plan on WPS was published in December 2011 to empower half the worlds population as equal partners in preventing conflict and building peace in countries threatened and affected by war, violence, and insecurity.



The Department of Defense is tasked with leveraging the expertise of female service members to encourage and model gender integration in partner nations and to encourage the increased participation of women in foreign police and military forces.



I was introduced to the VIP Protection Unit when they asked the U.S. Embassy to introduce self-defense tactics to their ongoing training of new female police officers to their Female Division. We conducted two Bilateral Exchange Efforts in 2014 and 2015. This SMEE is the next level and showcases the importance of the Female Engagement Teams and how they enhance capabilities and interoperability on a tactical level, but also serve the greater strategic goal posed by our WPS Presidential Directive, said Lt. Col. Melody Mitchell, program lead, Office of Military Cooperation-Kuwait, U.S. Embassy, Kuwait City, Kuwait.



The exchange focused on personal security detachment operations, and prisoner searching and handling techniques, as well as self-defense and close quarter combat drills.



These women [VIP Protection Unit, Female Division] are all trailblazers, they are the role models for the young girls of Kuwait, explained Mitchell. They play a critical role because terrorists in the Middle East have capitalized on cultural norms and use women to gain an advantage. We must do the same to match and overcome their efforts. Kuwait is wise to integrate women into their security apparatus.



The women provide personal security for VIPs. Their training includes law enforcement-type techniques and marksmanship, said Capt. Jamie Ash, the FET Officer in Charge, and the 26th MEU adjutant.



We were able to show each other our individual techniques, and then combine them to increase proficiency. The women requested information about self-defense since they do not have qualified female instructors available. As Marines, our Marine Corps Martial Arts Program incorporates a mixture of armed and unarmed combative techniques from several different disciplines, said Ash.



We demonstrated basic unarmed compliance techniques that can be used in law enforcement environments. They observed joint manipulations, take-downs, and compliance maneuvers, explained Staff Sgt. Hembree, a MCMAP black belt instructor, and the 26th MEUs maintenance management chief.



The Marines exchanged procedures for personal security formations, reacting to contact with a threat and hasty and deliberate searches with the Kuwaitis in order to share best practices and enhance interoperability.



We practiced security formations and actions for a variety of scenarios, from a passive to hostile environments, said Ash. We really focused on exchanging information on searches as these women are the only ones that can search women and families for their unit.



Prior to the training exchange, the female Marines reviewed fundamental weapons handling, law enforcement techniques and procedures, and personal security training with detachments internal to the MEU. Marines with the Law Enforcement Detachment and Reconnaissance Battalion provided training to bolster the skills that all Marines learn at Marine Combat Training.



When speaking to the group, Mitchell stated, Both military and police women represent a lot, and you have serious and important roles to play as ambassadors in security. How you work, act, and lead is continuously watched and I know you will continue to diligently prove how critical you are to security in Kuwait and the Middle East. I am grateful for the growing support of programs like this, the excellent partnership between the U.S. and Kuwait.



The 26th MEU is embarked on the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group and is deployed to maintain regional security in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations.





More Media
France Threatens UK With Migrants War if British People Vote for BrExit Freedom from EU

In the run up to Britain's EU referendum the true colours of the European Union are being revealed as FEAR and THREATS dominate the REMAIN camps agenda. Today we saw the British Prime Minister David 'Chamberlain' Cameron on a podium with President 'Napoleon Complex' Hollande, who proceeded to threaten Britain with a 'Migrant War', one of literally opening the flood gates of hell should the British people vote for Freedom from the emerging European Superstate (EUSSR).

The last person with a Napoleon Complex who threatened Britain was swiftly dealt with at Battle of Trafalgar. Instead today all David 'Chamberlain' Cameron could do was to submissively look down in as the European Elite sought to dictate to the British people that they would be punished for voting for freedom and thus should as is the case with the rest of europe continue to embrace slavery to the Brussels elite.

Frances Economy Minster Emmanuel Macron also chimed in by threatening "France would relocate its migrant camp from Calais to Britain and roll out a red carpet for bankers fleeing London if the UK leaves the EU."

However, the facts that few in the establishment media fail to mention is that if France fails to abide by bilateral agreements that have nothing to do with the EU, then Britain could just close the euro tunnel, something that neither France nor Britain would want. That and the fact that if France failed to enforce the migrant treaties then that would further encourage many more tens if not hundreds of thousands of mostly economic migrants to congregate in Northern France that would bring the local economy and civil society to the brink of collapse. So Thursday was just another smoke screen event to frighten the British people rather than anything that is actually likely to transpire.

Therefore it is in French self interest for the Calais agreement to continue. However the whole event reminds of the countless times over the past 6 months that the European Member states, and especially the eastern european states have ALWAYS act in their own selfish self interests, which is being put into focus today as Macedonia continues to refuse to allow more than handful of migrants to pass through its borders onwards northwards to the European Union, this despite the fact that Macedonia itself has been literally flooded Western European with many tens of thousands of benefit claiming economic migrants itself, whilst the likes of Poland have literally flooded western europe with at least 5 million economic migrants! And who at the same time reject calls for european unity and to accommodate even a few thousands refugees into their depopulated lands. THIS IS WHAT THE EUROPEAN UNION ACTUALLY IS! And Britain are the suckers for having put up with it for so long!

Meantime the BBC dutifully ran all day long with the migrant threat propaganda story, banging home a relentless FEAR message attempting to cower British voters into submission to the emerging undemocratic and increasingly authoritarian EUSSR, acting like something out of George Orwell's 1984 that the EU is fast trending towards becoming.

Turkey Migration Apocalypse Starting 2016

The EU is on the cusps of caving into Turkey's demands to open up its borders to 80 million turks in exchange for better control of the 1 million or so of economic migrants that are expected to head for the EU via Turkey this year. EIGHTY MILLION allowed free movement for work and benefits within the EU will amount to a migrant apocalypse that will make the current crisis look like a picnic! As for instance in Britain 4 million poles would soon to be supplemented by 2 or 3 million Turks! Whilst this will be good for the BrExit campaign it will disastrous for the British people as wages and quality of life are further DRIVEN towards third world levels of the likes of Greece, that itself has flooded Britain with at least 1/2 economic migrants.

EU Referendum

And where the EU Referendum is concerned then my opinion remains that this is Britain's VERY LAST chance to vote for FREEDOM from an emerging european superstate as the following two recent videos illustrate why-

https://youtu.be/-oYS6X-63cU

And this video covers the key points of David Cameron's failures to negotiate anything of value that in large part amounted to nothing more than a smoke and mirrors exercise.

https://youtu.be/MF3QLhoxkwQ

And why there always is a price to pay for freedom -

03 Feb 2016 - David Chamberlain Cameron, Britain's Last Chance for Freedom From Emerging European Super State

Britain's Last Chance to Gain Freedom from Emerging European Super State

What most pundits fail to recognise or lack experience of is trend and momentum both of which for the past 40 years have been moving in one direction that for the emergence of a highly centralised European super state that the financial crisis and subsequent economic depression of southern europe is accelerating the trend towards.

So whilst it is too late for the euro-zone members who for better or worse are locked into a death embrace that has all but nullified democracy for most of the euro-zone states as the elections in Greece, Spain and Italy have clearly demonstrated the lack for even radical governments such as Syriza to do anything other than obey their German paymasters who control the euro currency and can within a couple of weeks bring fellow euro-zone members to the brink of collapse as was repeatedly demonstrated by Greece last year.

Thus, for Britain the saving grace of not being in the euro-zone offers the UK a unique final opportunity to make the choice of either FREEDOM or become another satellite state revolving around a German centre that will increasingly dictate terms and conditions.

Therefore, given that there would probably not be another referendum for at least 20 years, then this really is Britain's VERY LAST CHANCE. There WON'T be another opportunity because with each passing year the price for a BREXIT increases, and we are not that far off from the point of no return when an exit would result in an economic collapse, much of the situation the euro-zone members have been since they signed up to scrap their currencies and join the Euro-zone.

Of course both the LEAVE and the REMAIN camps put out a lot of propaganda and spin on the others consequences. For LEAVE it's a case of everything smelling of roses in a Britain that has been freed from increasing European bureaucracy and interference, that would be in full control of Britain's borders. Whilst the REMAIN camp paints a picture of FEAR, of economic and financial catastrophe coupled with punitive terms for exit that would seek to punish Britain for daring to exit the euro-zone, so much for so-called european unity built on common purpose and friendship instead the European Union is increasingly a club of FEAR and PARALYSIS.

The Price for Freedom

The truth is that a BREXIT WILL BE ECONOMICALLY PAINFUL despite all of the benefits of being outside of the E.U. The cost of BrExit will be anywhere from 2% to as high as 5% of GDP if the euro-zone is determined to make an example of Britain to act as a warning to others by raising punitive tariffs on trade. However remember that attaining FREEDOM ALWAYS carry's a PRICE, in which respect even the worst case scenario for a 5% loss of GDP in the grand scheme of things does not compare against the infinitely greater price the people of Britain paid for their freedom in both past World Wars and so it is now THIS generations turn to pay a price for the freedom of future generations.

What the people of Britain need to fully understand is that this really is their VERY LAST CHANCE for Freedom!

The bottom line is that given the immigration crisis then the EU may implode even before Britain votes to LEAVE.

Ensure you are subscribed to my always free newsletter (only requirement is an email address) for the following forthcoming analysis -

US Interest Rates 2016

US Dollar Trend Forecast

Stock Market Trend Forecast 2016

US House Prices Forecast 2016 and Beyond

Gold and Silver Price Forecast 2016

By Nadeem Walayat

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk

Copyright  2005-2016 Marketoracle.co.uk (Market Oracle Ltd). All rights reserved.

Nadeem Walayat has over 25 years experience of trading derivatives, portfolio management and analysing the financial markets, including one of few who both anticipated and Beat the 1987 Crash. Nadeem's forward looking analysis focuses on UK inflation, economy, interest rates and housing market. He is the author of five ebook's in the The Inflation Mega-Trend and Stocks Stealth Bull Market series that can be downloaded for Free.

Nadeem is the Editor of The Market Oracle, a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication that presents in-depth analysis from over 1000 experienced analysts on a range of views of the probable direction of the financial markets, thus enabling our readers to arrive at an informed opinion on future market direction. http://www.marketoracle.co.uk

Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any trading losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors before engaging in any trading activities.

Nadeem Walayat Archive

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.




About 200 people attended the funeral Thursday of 18-year-old Martinsville native Kionte Desean Spencer, who died after being shot by two Roanoke County police officers Friday night in an incident in which he was armed with a BB gun, which a friend said was broken.

The funeral was at Meadow Christian Church in Martinsville, and burial followed in the church cemetery.

The Roanoke Times reported that officers shot Spencer twice  in the hip and near the collarbone  near the corner of Brambleton Avenue and Electric Road after a confrontation at the busy Cave Springs Corners intersection that began with reports of an armed, masked pedestrian waving his gun at passing traffic.

Roanoke County Police Chief Howard Hall said Monday that a preliminary investigation indicated his officers repeatedly commanded Spencer to drop the pistol in his right hand when they encountered him. At one point, Hall said an officer got close enough to deploy a Taser two times, but it was not effective, the Roanoke Times reported.

Police and witnesses have said they spotted Spencer with what appeared to be a gun, the Roanoke Times Reported

At a news conference Monday, police showed stills from police car dashcam footage that appeared to show Spencer walking along Electric Road with a gun in his right hand. The gun turned out to be a 4.5 mm Crosman CO2-powered BB pistol, which a friend of Spencers has said was broken, the Roanoke Times reported.

Police have not released the dashcam video, and Hall said Monday that there was no plan to do so. He also declined on Monday to say how many officers were placed on administrative leave or their names, the Roanoke Times reported.

Brenda Hale, president of the Roanoke branch of NAACP, demanded Tuesday that the Roanoke County Police Department release the names of the officers placed on administrative leave. Hale was concerned that racial profiling was at play from both residents and police. Spencer was wearing a bandanna over his face and a hoodie  typical attire for him, according to friends and family  the night police shot him, the Roanoke Times reported.

Hale also requested that police conduct an unbiased and transparent investigation and provide the public with the truth. She cited the need for a body resembling the Roanoke Police Departments citizen review panel, the Roanoke Times reported.

A news release on the Roanoke County Police Department website says: "In the course of any criminal investigation, there is information that can be publicly provided and some that cannot. In Roanoke County, when information is withheld from the public, it is done so in the interest of ascertaining facts in an environment free of speculation and opinion. The Roanoke County Police will, without question, complete a thorough and unbiased investigation into the circumstances that resulted in the death of Kionte Spencer. Further, the results of this investigation and all the materials relevant to the investigation will be delivered to the Commonwealths Attorney for his independent review."

The release also says that "transparency is very important to us, which is why we provided to the media preliminary information and photos from our officers dash camera video. We cannot and we will not provide additional, detailed information that has the potential to jeopardize the integrity of the investigation."

It also says: "There are calls to reveal the names of officers involved in this event. We will not do so at this time. The officers involved are essential to the investigatory process that is underway. There is no discernible benefit to exposing officers to unwarranted speculation while the facts related to the incident are yet to be fully known."

Sarah A. Byrd, director of communications and community outreach for Martinsville City Public Schools, said Spencer attended first through seventh grades (2004-12) in MCPS.

The Roanoke Times reported that during the 2012-13 year, Spencers first in Roanoke, he attended Patrick Henry High School. It was unclear where he was enrolled between that school year and the current one. Last fall, he enrolled at Northside High School before transferring to Hidden Valley High School in November. He was classified as a junior.

Friends said Spencer bounced from school to school and sometimes struggled to fit in, the Roanoke Times reported.

A Roanoke County Schools spokesman said Spencer didnt attend classes in the week before the shooting, although he would not say why, the Roanoke Times reported.

Recently, Spencer had lived in a group home in the 4700 block of Garst Mill Road. The group home is run by Intercept Youth Services, whose facilities are designed to provide a structured, therapeutic environment to teens with behavioral, emotional or developmental needs, according to the agencys website. Its unknown why Spencer was in a group home, the Roanoke Times reported.

At the news conference Tuesday at which Hale of the NAACP spoke, a group of Spencers friends attended the event to share memories and support the family. Many friends and family members have described Spencer as a polite and cheerful person, the Roanoke Times reported.

In a phone interview Wednesday, his paternal grandmother, Lorease Spencer of Martinsville, said, "I dont know anything. I didnt look at the news." She said that growing up, Kionte was "a sweet child, respectful to me. When he got ready to leave, he said, Granny, I love you."

Naomi Hodge-Muse, president of the Martinsville-Henry County NAACP, described the incident as "horrible" and said it shows the need for police to be trained in how to respond to people with mental health issues. She also thinks a mental health registry is needed to help police know more when responding to events like this.

According to the program for the funeral Thursday, after a processional of clergy and family and visitation from 1:30 to 2 p.m., the following took place: opening selection, Amanda Zapota; Scriptural readings by Pastor Michael Penn and Deacon Bobby Wells; prayer of comfort by Elder Tony Craig; solo by Michelle Epps; words of comfort by Amanda Zapota; acknowledgements and resolutions by Deacon Joyce Staples; selection by Meadow Christian Church Choir; eulogy by Pastor Kenny Hooker; recessional. A service of committal and interment followed at Meadow Christian Church cemetery

In a phone interview, Spencers mother, Jennie Davis Spencer, declined to comment.
U.K.-based advanced manufacturing firm Hardide Coatings celebrated the grand opening of its first U.S. plant in Martinsville with a ribbon-cutting on Thursday.

About 50 people were in attendance at the event, including Hardide CEO Philip Kirkham and Hardide Chairman Robert Goddard, both of whom had traveled from England for the event.

Hardide, Kirkham said, uses a unique, patented process to apply a hard-wearing, flexible coating to metal components. The process dramatically extends the life of the components, he said.

"Today is really all about thanking everybody that has made this day possible," Kirkham told the audience. "Its the culmination of nearly three years of hard work.  Coming here to Martinsville and Henry County, we have been especially impressed with the way in which all the local agencies have worked together in such a coordinated way. Thats a real credit to Martinsville and Henry County and the state of Virginia, the way it operates to attract businesses to the region."

About three years ago, Goddard said, the Hardide board decided that it was time to build a plant in the U.S. to capture a new potential customer base.

"Phil (Kirkham) began the hard work of trying to evaluate different regions and cities within the U.S.A.," Goddard said. "He did it basically with three main criteria. On those criteria, Martinsville came out on top quite clearly."

While the first criteria  financial incentives  is important, Goddard said, it is not the most important factor, "because they only start you off. Youve got to carry on and build your business."

"Like so often, it boils down to people," he said. "We were looking for an area that had good availability of a skilled and trainable workforce  and thats what we found here in Martinsville."

The third criteria, he said, was help getting set up in the area  not financial assistance, but guidance when trying to find partners to work with.

Both Goddard and Kirkham credited the Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corporation  and specifically its President and CEO Mark Heath  for providing invaluable assistance and guiding Hardide toward the right partners.

Heath, who first met Kirkham at the Paris Air Show in 2013, said that assistance will continue even after Hardides grand opening.

"This is a great day for all of us," Heath said. "Its always gratifying to see a new company come to town.  This is truly advanced technology."

Henry County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jim Adams also spoke at the event, closing out the grand opening with an apt metaphor.

Hardide coatings extend the life of critical components in high-wear, high-value applications, Adams said, and they allow things to last longer and perform better, even in harsh environments.

"Their product is very similar to our workforce," Adams said. "It has proven that it can withstand the most difficult times and it is always willing to work harder to get the job done. It is because of the quality workforce in our area that we are able to celebrate this grand opening today."

"Todays ribbon cutting celebrates the type of advanced manufacturing jobs that will be one of the catalysts for our areas future economic growth," Adams added. "Hardides decision to open an advanced manufacturing facility in our community will open the door to recruiting other advanced manufacturers to our area."
NealBaker.jpg

U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, left, and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, right, will speak at the Springfield Regional Chamber's Outlook 2016 lunch March 29 at the MassMutual Center.

(Republican File Photo)

SPRINGFIELD -- Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker and U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal will give Springfield Regional Chamber of Commerce members a sense of what is to come on Beacon Hill and Capitol Hill in the rest of 2016.

Neal, D-Springfield, and Baker, a first-term Republican, will address the Springfield Regional Chamber's Outlook 2016 luncheon March 29 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the MassMutual Center, 277 Main Street, Springfield. The chamber announced the event with a news release this week.

The annual lunch is always a big event for the chamber, previously known as the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield and routinely draws more than 700 attendees from the worlds of business, education and government.

Neal and Baker were among the scheduled speakers at the 2015 lunch as well. But Neal was delayed by a vote in Washington and could not attend.

Tickets for the event are $50 for Springfield Regional Chamber members as well as for members of the East of the River Five Town Chamber and $70 for general admission. Reserved tables of 10 are available.

Reservations must be made by March 18 and may be made online at www.springfieldregionalchamber.com or by contacting Member Services Director Sarah Mazzaferro at mazzaferro@springfieldregionalchamber.com.

A year ago, Baker spoke about the state budget, the opiate drug crisis gripping the state and the administration's efforts to lower energy costs.
SPRINGFIELD -- U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal listened intently Friday as, one-by-one, entrepreneurs from this year's Valley Venture Mentors Springfield Accelerator program shared successes they've had in the last few weeks.

One fledgling company got its first paying customer. A few said their products are now available internationally. Some were able to get more funding to help finance their dream.

Neal, D-Springfield, spoke during the first day of Valley Venture Mentors Springfield Accelerator boot camp at the Mentors headquarters in Tower Square. His appearance followed a morning of closed-door meetings on the subject of fostering new business and economic growth in the Pioneer Valley.

"I love the optimism," Neal said. "I can tell these people are passionate about what they are doing."

In its second year, the accelerator has a class of 36 companies up from 30 last year which was the first year, said Liz Roberts, the program's general manager. The new companies in this class are mostly from Western Massachusetts although a few are from around the country or outside the United States. Many have already graduated from Valley Venture Mentors business mentoring programs and are looking for a boost to grow to the next level.

The boot camps are monthly weekend-long gatherings for the accelerator companies featuring workshops and guest speakers.

"We try to run it like an executive training course or like ROTC, depending on your frame of reference," Roberts said.

They range from DaVinci Arms, a new Ludlow manufacturer of sound and flash suppressors for firearms, to Just Jane's artisan jam to Celia Grace in Amherst which sells fair trade, eco-friendly wedding dresses.

The accelerator companies are competing for a share of a total of $250,000 in funding. No one new business can get a grant of more than $50,000. It is up to the judges to divide up the money, Roberts said.

The Accelerator is funded by the MassMutual Financial Group, the Mass Tech Collaborative, the Community Foundation and by the Davis Foundation, Roberts said.

Though she'd like to win a grant, Jane Janovsky of Just Jane's Artisan Jams in South Hadley said the education she's getting in the accelerator makes it worth her time.

"This weekend is all about sales, finding customers and growing your base," she said. "And we are all here networking."

As far as policy, Neal pointed to Congress making the research and development tax credit permanent last year as an important move to help these entrepreneurs.
waterfront tavern

The Waterfront Tavern in Holyoke.

The menu for the new Waterfront Tavern.

HOLYOKE -- The Waterfront Tavern is re-opening this weekend with a splash of barbecue sauce and free, live music.

The Main Street venue that has struggled to draw crowds for some time is under new ownership. Donald Robert, owner of Maximum Capacity in Chicopee, took over the business several weeks ago with disc jockey Ryan Spence and bartender Al Proulx.

The Waterfront property has undergone major renovations recently. The once-closed kitchen has been reopened, new wood floors and carpeting have been installed, the bathrooms were redone and a fresh coat of paint was added to the tavern.

"It's completely remodeled, we're transforming it back to better days," Robert said.

In addition to a new look, the business has a new partner. Damn Yankees BBQ, of Granby, will smoke barbecue on site, serving everything from applewood pulled pork and Texas brisket to bacon-wrapped jalapenos and sweet potato casserole.

The Waterfront will serve lunch and dinner seven days a week, as well as outdoor barbecues, pigs roasts and clam bakes in the summer.

Six nights a week, acoustic music will be performed in the Waterfront while customers sit at the bar or eat barbecue at a table. On Friday and Saturday nights, Robert will bring in local and out-of-town bands to perform in the Waterfront's main bar.

The Waterfront Tavern will celebrate its new look on Friday, March 4. The no-cover night will feature a buffet of free barbecue from Damn Yankees, desserts - including maple bacon cupcakes and pecan pie - from local catering company Wicked Good Sweets, and live music by Scott on Top.

The Western Massachusetts cover band performs an array of hits, from Elton John to Metallica.

The grand re-opening is one of many events Robert has in mind for the business.

On parade day, March 20, the Waterfront Tavern invites all to spend the day with them.

Paradegoers can park at their Main Street location before the day's main event. Waterfront will provide a shuttle to the parade route in the morning and back to Waterfront following the parade for an afterparty. The no cover event will feature performances by country band Trailer Trash and celtic rock group Dicey Riley.
WORCESTER -- Worcester resident Damaris Rosario said she had just pulled away from Valu Gasoline on Grove St. last Wednesday after filling her tank when her car started showed signs of serious problem.

"It just starting shaking really bad and stopping," she said of her 2-year-old Mazda. "It was really bad."

After calling her husband, they brought the car to their dealership. The problem, she noted, was easily diagnosed: Water in the gas tank had made its way to the engine; the cost to drain and dry the tank and all of the related lines was $700.

"(The mechanic) told us that had we kept driving it would have damaged the engine," she said.

In this matter, which involved up to seven drivers, the gas station was quickly cleared of negligence by the city. Blasting at an adjacent construction project cracked the vent pipe for the storage tank, allowing the water infiltration into the storage tank.

Water in gas tanks and fuel lines, while not a common occurrence, also happens frequently enough that gas stations and the Massachusetts Division of Standards has a system in place for reporting and enforcement when it does happens (hint: get receipts when you fuel up).

Anecdotally, Google "water in gas tank" and stories pop up from AskYahoo and Quora to the Better Business Bureau and other states' websites from people asking what they should do.

One such website, that of the Automotive | Filtration and Separations Society, a professional and industrial members' organization, notes that condensation is a naturally occurring process that takes place in empty tanks and lines. Factor in how gas gets to your neighborhood station -- from tank, through lines to a truck that repeats the process at the station, that is again repeated to get gasoline into a car, and it is easy to see how often water can infiltrate a system.

Trace amounts of water do happen, according to Amanda Wilson, director of housing and health inspections for Worcester. Water infiltration is among the issues inspectors look for when inspecting gas stations both annually, and when there are problems reported.

It is also a consumer-driven problem, she noted. Customers may incorrectly pump gas at self-serve stations or someone could maliciously add water to a tank.

But large-scale infiltrations caused by a gas station are not a common occurrence, according to Wilson. In Valu Gasoline's case, it was immediately attributed to an the abutting construction project, Wilson said.

Wilson said the city heard about Rosario's case on Facebook and responded to the station, which had already discovered the water in the tank and had stopped pumping.

Station Manager Albert Wehbe confirmed the water infiltration while showing the new vent pipe the station had to install as a result of the blasting incident.

Rosario, frustrated initially with the response from a gas station employee when she returned that night, posted about her experience on Facebook and was immediately messaged from at least five other drivers who had the same experience at around the same time.

Wilson said no one else complained to the city, but Wehbe said the station has paid for seven sets of repairs for customer cars. That is seven out of a typical day of about 3,000 cars fueled, Wehbe said. The reason the situation was not more widespread is because station employees found out there was a water issue early on Thursday morning.

"All gas stations have a filter in place to stop water," he said. "You cannot pump water with the gas."

When the filter filled up with water, the pumps were prevented from pumping any more gasoline, he said.

A monitor at the station also showed infiltration in the tank, but the crack apparently had been made after the report was run on Wednesday.

Wehbe said the station owner is now working with the neighboring property owner to pay for all of the costs associated with the incident.

In addition to the seven customers affected, the gas station was closed Thursday and most of the day Friday. Much like clearing a car, all of the fuel had to be removed from the station's tank and fuel lines. That cost was in the tens of thousands of dollars, he said, noting a hazardous materials company charged by the gallon to remove the contaminated fuel.

Rosario, too, said she was happy her car did not appear to have been seriously damaged, and, aside from the time she and her husband missed at work, was satisfied with Valu Gasoline's response.

A report run on the morning of Thursday, March 3, showing no water in Valu Gasoline's fuel tanks.

Without consulting the state, she had followed the same process that the Division of Standards suggests for customers who believe a gas station is responsible for water in their tanks, she returned with her receipts.

According to numerous online sources, small amounts of water in a line, whether by error or condensation, can be cleared with fuel additives, like dry gas. Larger infiltrations, however, require a car's fuel system to be drained and dried. That can run between $500 to $1,000, not including other damages if the driver continues to operate the car, according to the Division of Standards website.

In those instances, customers are told to first bring the car to a mechanic to confirm the problem. They, they are asked to report the incident immediately to the Division of Standards so that the state can prevent more cars from being affected. Then, car owners should bring the receipt for the work and the gas receipt to the gas station, which should file a claim with its insurers.
Presidential candidate John Kasich stages Town Hall meeting

Presidential Republican candidate John Kasich wants to appeal to moderates, but said he would support Donald Trump if Trump won the GOP nomination.

(Frederick J. Gore)

The idea of a Trump Presidency is still frightening and appalling to me, but I can see why he appeals to so many.

It's his opponents. Donald Trump is stealing their lunch money every day. They say if he comes up short, they'll be happy to pony up some extra nickels for a carton of milk.

I'm starting to wonder if any of them can sit across the table from Vladimir Putin or the Iranians and have the spunk to get a word in edgewise.

At Thursday's debate in Detroit, Trump's opponents tried to outdo the master of the personal attack, then meekly said they would endorse him if Trump wins the Republican nomination, as he is very likely to do.

Chris Christie ought to be ashamed of himself for pandering to The Donald, but at least he did it first.

Trump must go home at night and say, "I am competing against pipsqueaks." I wouldn't blame him.

In a year that Americans are screaming they are sick of politics as usual, the Not-Trumps cannot hear them. They cannot shake stale politics out of their systems.

They must need special dental work in order to speak lucidly out of so many sides of their mouths. Out of one side comes warnings that Trump is a phony, a fraud and a menace whose victory would endanger America.

From another side, they say if it came to pass, "Sure, I would support him. Why not?''

Don't they get it? Voting for Trump is a vote against the status quo. By saying they would support him, his three opponents want it both ways - a retention of the status quo (though it's a long stretch to say Ted Cruz would represent that) and a willingness to throw the status quo into the trash.

The choice presented by Trump's candidacy has nothing to do with choosing Democrats or Republicans. It's the way people are saying they are sick of tired of both of them.

Yet here come the non-Trumps, saying they would support fitting the square peg of Trump into the round box of the party because that's the only box they know.

Not one of them had the gumption, conscience or honesty to say, "Are you crazy? Trump is off the rails, which is what we're all telling America, and even though Hillary Clinton is a liar and a Democrat, I'd have to vote for her because she's at least not a complete whack job who would ruin the country.''

Mitt Romney gave such a detailed rundown of Trump's flaws and failings that historians and Wikipedia authors can use it for reference. Romney's speech Thursday came about eight months late.

Actually, it came four years late. One look at Fightin' Mitt might have given his vanilla 2012 Presidential campaign a chance.

Romney did not say, "but, uh, I would of course support a fellow loyal party member,'' mostly because he was not asked. And Romney has no good rebuttal for Trump's reminder that as GOP nominee, Romney was quite pleased to accept Trump's endorsement in 2012, whether Romney begged for it (as Trump claims) or not.

I can't prove it, but my hunch is that if Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker enters the privacy of the voting booth and stares as a Trump-Clinton choice, he'll vote for Clinton. If Romney doesn't do the same, his speech Thursday was total hypocrisy.

Nobody had more reason to go after Trump than John McCain, but only now is McCain declaring Trump a threat and a danger. When Trump was using his daddy's millions as a fast-lane pass to his own career, McCain was being beaten and tortured as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam.

When Trump incredibly dismissed McCain's service to country  a good enough reason on its own to never vote for Trump  the Arizona senator did not counter. That was probably McCain's way of taking the high road, for nobody should say he has no guts.

Only now is McCain, whose foreign policy knowledge dwarfs that of Trump, Cruz, Marco Rubio and John Kasich combined, warning of the peril a Trump Presidency would bring. Like Romney, McCain is padlocking the barn door long after the horse began prancing down the street.

The Non-Trumps at Thursday's debate say Trump is fooling the people, but none of them trust the people enough to say this election - and the country's future - goes beyond the usual Democrat-Republican political Super Bowl. People understand that. They don't.

It's about choosing Trump's offensive nature and reckless promises, most of which will be impossible to keep  but which do not feed into the usual political double-talk  or choosing anyone of either party who will show the judgment and perspective to lead decisively but intelligently in a complex world.

Not one of his opponents showed the spine to say that if it came to that, the country was more important than their party affiliation. If Trump wins, they will all get what they deserve, even though the nation will not.
Reps. Clark, McGovern visit Flint, MI

U.S. Reps. Jim McGovern, D-Worcester, and Katherine Clark, D-Melrose, joined more than 20 congressional colleagues in traveling to Flint, Michigan on Friday, March 4, 2016 to meet with residents affected by the city's water crisis.

(Photo Courtesy: Rep. Clark's office)

SPRINGFIELD  U.S. Reps. Jim McGovern, D-Worcester, and Katherine Clark, D-Melrose, traveled to Flint, Michigan Friday to get a firsthand look at the city's highly publicized drinking water crisis and the federal government's response.

The Massachusetts Democrats joined about two dozen U.S. House colleagues, including House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in meeting with Flint residents impacted by lead-contaminated water.

The trip sought to bring attention to the crisis, which occurred when the city, under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager, temporarily switched its drinking water source.

The state's response to news of the contaminated water has drawn criticism from Democrats, who have called on Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, to resign.

Snyder and other Republicans, including presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., meanwhile, have blasted Democrats for "politicizing" the situation.

McGovern, a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus which helped organize the trip, rejected claims that his party is "politicizing" Flint's water crisis.

"I'm not interested in politicizing anything," he said in an interview. "This is not about politics, this is about government and it's about making sure that the government works. The federal government, working with the state government, has a role in ensuring we have adequate infrastructure and this is an example of failure."

McGovern added that while the trip was largely organized by Democrats, there's nothing stopping Republican members of Congress or GOP presidential candidates from visiting the city.

"No one has to be invited to Flint to go to Flint," he said. "What's troubling to me is there are a lot of people that don't want to go and be part of the solution. Maybe they don't want to offend the governor, who is a Republican, but this is a human tragedy."

The Worcester Democrat, who is part of a small group of lawmakers working on comprehensive water infrastructure legislation, said he hopes to put out a bill within a few months to help address the issues that led to Flint's crisis and prevent it from happening elsewhere. McGovern said he's optimistic that the proposal could garner some bipartisan support.

Clark, a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, also said she remains optimistic that federal lawmakers can work across the aisle on the issue.

"When we bring these stories back to Congress, I think it will be very hard not to be touched," she said in an interview. "I hope it will become a bipartisan effort."

The Melrose Democrat said she traveled to Flint because, as a mother herself, she could not imagine what the city's residents are going through.

"To feel the hopelessness of having your own government mislead you into thinking the water was fine to serve your families...that's what really compelled me to come to Flint today," she said.

Clark, who attended a "Speak Out" event with her colleagues, said she found it striking to see the overwhelming concern residents have about their families getting the services they need, as well as the strong push that those responsible for the contaminated water be held accountable.

"There's a real fear that won't happen," she said. "People are focused on the immediate needs of their children, families and parents, but they are also really demanding that people be held accountable -- that this not be allowed to be something that fades over time," she said.

Another takeaway from the trip, she said, was finding out that while fresh fruit and vegetables can help treat lead poisoning, Flint lacks access to such foods.

The congresswoman said she hopes lawmakers, in addition to looking at mental and physical health supports, will focus on ways to work with the U.S. Department of Agriculture on providing fresh food at a reasonable cost to the region.

The congressional visit, which was coordinated in part by the Congressional Black Caucus and members of Michigan's Democratic congressional delegation, came just two days before Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders -- who have also taken issue with Snyder's handling of the situation -- are set to debate at Flint's Whiting Auditorium.
Seven Republican presidential candidates went head-to-head Thursday night in Detroit, Michigan for their 11th debate.

During debates, sometimes what the candidates say do not match up with the facts. We took a look at five critical fact checks from Thursday's debate below:

1. Marco Rubio claimed Donald Trump praised Vladimir V. Putin but Trump denied. The New York Times reports that isn't true, he told MSNBC, "He's running his country, and at least he's a leader, you know, unlike what we have in this country."

2. John Kasich said he has held 200 town hall-style meetings in New Hampshire. The New York Times reports he's actually only held 100 town hall-style meetings but he's made 190 campaign stops in total.

3. "This guy has the number one absentee record in the United States Senate," Trump said referring to Rubio. The Washington Post reports this is true. In 2015, Rubio missed 35 percent of votes, the highest among all senators. They also note this also isn't uncommon for senators running for president.

4. "We have demonstrated not once, not twice, not three times, but five separate times we have beat Donald," Ted Cruz said. CNN points out Cruz only won four states in the primaries and caucuses. Although, technically he did have more votes than Trump in Minnesota. Due to this reason, CNN rated this claim as true.

5. "I beat Hillary Clinton in many polls," Trump said. The Washington Post said this isn't true, reporting the list of general election match-ups maintained by Real Clear Politics.com says Clinton and Bernie Sanders almost always consistently beat Trump.
jason lewis.JPG

State Sen. Jason Lewis displays an e-cigarette product at a Statehouse press conference on March 3, 2016.

(SHIRA SCHOENBERG / THE REPUBLICAN)

BOSTON - Massachusetts lawmakers are scheduled to consider a bill to raise the minimum smoking age to 21.

If the bill passes, Massachusetts would become the second state in the country, after Hawaii, to ban the sale of cigarettes to anyone under 21.

"This comprehensive legislation will once again put the commonwealth at the forefront of preventing youth addiction to tobacco and nicotine products, to improve health, save lives and reduce health care costs," said state Sen. Jason Lewis, D-Winchester, chairman of the Joint Committee on Public Health.

Lawmakers from the Joint Committee on Public Health released the bill Thursday. It will now be considered by the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, to determine its financial impact, and will then be considered by the full Senate.

"This bill will prevent tobacco use among our youth, which will result in countless lives saved," Marc Hymovitz, director of government relations for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, said.

Currently, the legal age for buying cigarettes in Massachusetts is 18. But 98 cities and towns have raised or have plans to raise the age to 21, including Boston. Four other municipalities have a legal age of 19.

State Rep. Kate Hogan, D-Stow, House chairwoman of the Joint Committee on Public Health, said the result has been a patchwork of laws, which makes it hard for stores to keep track of municipal regulations and allows an 18-year-old to buy tobacco simply by driving across town lines.

"Common sense tells us this arrangement is far to complicated and cumbersome," Hogan said.

Neither current law nor the proposed bill includes penalties for minors who buy tobacco. The bill would just extend penalties for those who sell tobacco to minors, changing the age from 18 to 21. A retailer who sells tobacco to an underage customer would be fined $100 for a first offense up to $300 for a third or subsequent offense.

Anyone who turns 18 before the bill is passed and becomes effective would be allowed to continue to buy tobacco products even though they are under 21.

According to bill supporters, the Institute of Medicine projects that raising the legal age to 21 will reduce tobacco use in Massachusetts by 12 percent, or 150,000 smokers.

Bill supporters point out that nine of 10 cigarette smokers begin smoking before age 18, and tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable illness and premature death in Massachusetts.

Lewis said the tobacco industry today continues to market to teenagers, with products like wet mango blunts and wild berry cigars.

The bill would also prohibit the sale of tobacco products in health care institutions, including pharmacies. CVS already has a policy in place not to sell tobacco products, and 128 Massachusetts municipalities have adopted similar regulations.

A separate provision of the bill would raise the legal age for buying e-cigarettes to 21 and would prohibit the sale and use of e-cigarettes on school grounds, in restaurants and in workplaces - essentially, in any place where smoking cigarettes is forbidden. It would require child-resistant packaging for the liquid nicotine used in e-cigarettes.

Attorney General Maura Healey already implemented regulations banning the sale of e-cigarettes to minors under 18 and requiring child resistant packaging for liquid nicotine.

State Senate Majority Leader Harriette Chandler, D-Worcester, said the bill is necessary to enshrine the regulations into law, which will be more enduring than administrative regulations.

Gov. Charlie Baker has not yet taken a position on the bill.
Amtrak train arrives at new Holyoke Passenger Rail Platform

One of the conductors on the first train which arrived at the new Holyoke Rail Platform. (MARK M. MURRAY / THE REPUBLICAN)

SPRINGFIELD  A measure that would direct the state to study the feasibility of passenger rail service between Springfield and Boston cleared a Statehouse committee Thursday, putting it one step closer to passage.

The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Eric Lesser, D-Longmeadow, would require the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to study the costs, as well as the possible economic and cultural benefits of high-speed rail between the two cities.

The legislature's joint Transportation Committee favorably reported the measure Friday. It will likely be sent to another Senate committee for further review before being considered by the full chamber.

Lesser, who sits on the Transportation panel, lauded the favorable vote as "an important step forward."

"East-west rail will open new opportunities for our families, businesses and communities and will spur new economic growth in Springfield and the entire region," he said in a statement. "I'm grateful for the Transportation Committee's support and look forward to continuing work with my colleagues on this vital legislation."

State Sen. Thomas McGee, D Lynn, the Senate chair of the Transportation Committee, said it's important that Massachusetts address both the transportation system's immediate needs and the long-term opportunities of investment.

"Projects such as this one are vital to our economy and have the potential to more easily connect people to jobs, educational institutions and medical facilities," he said in a statement.

The panel's House Chair Rep. William Straus, D-Mattapoisett, added that examining rail service between Springfield and Boston "will promote the region and all it has to offer."

While much of the state's economic and wage growth is occurring in Greater Boston, the region is inaccessible to many Western Massachusetts residents, Lesser contended in his testimony before the Transportation Committee. The fastest existing passenger rail to Boston from the region, he noted, runs once a day and takes more than two hours.

The Longmeadow Democrat pointed to economic growth in Worcester as an example of the benefits high-speed rail can bring to Massachusetts, arguing that "a recent state report credited improvements in rail service as a 'driving force' behind the significant economic revival underway in Worcester."

With the $83 million renovation of Springfield's Union Station, Lesser added, Springfield is "uniquely positioned to serve as a transit hub that will revitalize economic growth throughout Western Massachusetts."

There are no costs currently projected for conducting the study called for in the legislation.

The Massachusetts House of Representatives has yet to weigh-in on the proposal.
David Price

Boston Red Sox pitcher David Price, second from right, stretches with teammates during a spring training baseball workout in Fort Myers, Fla., Saturday, Feb. 20, 2016. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

(Patrick Semansky)

FORT MYERS, Fla. - As Rick Porcello enters his second season with the Red Sox, he won't need to worry about the sophomore slump.

It can't get much worse for Porcello than it did last year.

The 27-year-old had his worst season in the majors in 2015, derailed by an atrocious first half and salvaged somewhat by a promising second half.

The righthander finished with a 4.92 ERA in 28 starts, surrendering a career-high 25 home runs. A trip to Triple-A Pawtucket helped him find command of his pitches again and in his final seven starts, he put up a 3.58 ERA.

On Thursday, Porcello returned to the mound in Boston's second Grapefruit League game against Minnesota with hope and expectation that 2016 will be different.

"The mindset is there and that's where you start," he said. "It's just a matter of ironing out your delivery and getting extended with your arm and all the things that come along with early spring training reps but that's the major focus."

Porcello allowed one run on three hits and a walk in two innings of work. He mainly used his two-seamer, working to move it to both sides of the plate. Though he gave up some hard-hit balls, including one down the right-field line that would have been a triple had not Bryce Brentz thrown the runner out at third, Porcello felt good about his first outing.

"I'd love to walk in here and start dotting the ball down in the zone but it doesn't happen like that," Porcello said. "You've got to take some small steps at first to get it back and find that feeling again."

Porcello admitted that last spring, his first with the Red Sox, that he tried to do too much.

"I kind of just tried to carry everything over from what I did before and think I was just going to come in and be in midseason form and overlooked all the little things I had to do to establish my fastball command and get comfortable in my delivery," Porcello said. "I don't want to make that same mistake again."

Porcello had a 4.13 FIP last season, a stat that measures things the pitcher controls (home runs allowed, walks, hit by pitches, strikeouts). The previous three seasons, Porcello had better FIPs of 3.67, 3.53 and 3.91. Porcello knows he can be that type of pitcher again.

"He's going to be a contact pitcher," manager John Farrell said. "The more that can be put on the ground, the better. But I think the newness of coming to the Red Sox, the potential of upholding or doing more to uphold his end of the bargain after an extension, those are all behind him. We're looking forward to a very solid spring."

Follow MassLive.com Red Sox beat reporter @jcmccaffrey on Twitter. She can be reached by email at jmccaffr@masslive.com.
Not everyone wants to live in Silicon Valley. Americans are starting to leave the techie hub faster than theyre arriving, a new study says.

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Montanas quality of life is unbeatable. Between the breathtaking scenery, delicious local brews, and a flourishing arts scene, you cant go wrong when you Choose Montana.

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The region lost more than 7,500 residents to other parts of the U.S. last year, the first time Silicon Valley has lost more U.S. residents than it has gained since 2011, according to the Silicon Valley Competitiveness and Innovation Project. Two local groups commissioned the study to identify strategies to reinforce the regions innovation.

Although the pool of workers is still growing, due to a large influx of highly educated foreign-born workers, the departure of homegrown talent points to weaknesses in the regions ability to sustain its population, particularly with affordable housing.

"People are leaving for a mix of reasons, but some might be getting opportunities in other regions where they can pay less for housing," said John Melville, co-chief executive of Collaborative Economics Inc., the firm that produced the study.

By Georgia Wells

Full Story: http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2016/03/03/silicon-valley-residents-leave-for-greener-grass-cheaper-housing/

(Thanks to Will Price for sharing)
A new scientific study released Thursday has delivered yet another burst of bad news about Greenland  the vast northern ice sheet that contains 20 feet of potential sea level rise. The ice sheet is "darkening," or losing its ability to reflect both visible and invisible radiation, as it melts more and more, the research finds. That means its absorbing more of the suns energy  which then drives further melting.

By Chris Mooney

Full Story: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/03/03/greenlands-vast-ice-sheet-is-getting-darker-heres-why-thats-really-bad-news/
Higher education leaders are discussing expansion of doctor training in Montana  possibly somewhere other than Montana State University, longtime home of the WWAMI program.

Dr. Jay Erickson, assistant dean of the WWAMI program in Montana, told the state Board of Regents in Dillon on Thursday that having all medical education "in one community may not be best."

By Gail Schontzler Chronicle Staff Writer

Full Story: http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/montana_state_university/montana-urged-to-expand-doctor-training-maybe-not-at-msu/article_35adc700-d73e-5e25-a9de-f912b7b64b71.html
In 2015 MTSBDC http://www.sbdc.mt.gov set out to showcase the positive impacts weve made on clients, as told from their perspectives. A series of compelling stories evolved into video features. Watch and learn about each business experience bringing their dreams to fruition with our help.

And its all FREE!

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQNbnosITVU&feature=youtu.be
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.
Ureteral stents tend to be be forgotten way too often, leading to infections and occlusions if left inside the body. Visible Health, a medical app maker, and Boston Scientific have teamed up to release a new solution to keep track of ureteral stents inside all of a practices patients.

The Ureteral Stent Tracker is both an app and a website where every patients status is updated. A clinician can simply scan the barcode of a packaged stent and enter it into a patients log. Other clinicians that work with the particular patient can be added to follow that patients status on the tracker, automatically updating the team member when a stent needs to be removed.

The app is HIPAA compliant, can be used by multiple users simultaneously, and can be used to send out emails to patients to notify them of any concerns.

Product page: Ureteral Stent Tracker

(hat tip: MobiHealthNews)
Medtronic landed FDA approval for its Specify SureScan MRI surgical leads for use with the firms spinal cord neurostimulators to treat chronic pain. The approval allows patients with MRI-compatible stimulators to receive full-body scans, given that certain precautions are taken. This approval now establishes Medtronic as having a complete line of MRI-approved neurostimulation systems, allowing physicians to choose the optimal solution knowing that the patient will be able to receive scans in the future.

All patients with a spinal cord stimulation system should have the ability to be offered the same imaging options as those without one, said Steven Falowski, M.D., neurosurgeon at St. Lukes University Health Network in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the announcement. Now more than ever, patients and other health care providers are concerned about access to MRI when considering an implantable device. This approval means I can offer a neurostimulation system that helps manage my patients pain and gives them access to the diagnostic benefits of MRI.

Via: Medtronic
by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, March 2, 2016

Merkle announced Wednesday its seventh acquisition in two years. The company bought U.K.-based Comet to strengthen its place in real-time performance marketing. The company uses CRM and other data to reach customers during the moments that most influence behavior.

This is the third and largest European acquisition in less than a year, and the first with an established global footprint. It follows the 2015 acquisition of London-based performance marketing and programmatic agency Periscopix and most recently, the acquisition of DBG, a UK-based marketing agency. "We will continue to build on a strategic offering focused on customer strategy," said George Gallate, Merkle EVP and CMO.

Partnerships with CRM software providers such as Pegasystems, IBM, and SAS allow Comet to implement advanced marketing automation capabilities for clients.

Comet's technology provides data that allows company reps in service centers to make strategic customer service decisions in real-time -- or if online digitally, serve information that could change the course of the transaction. The technology responds, calculating CRM data that takes into consideration the lifetime value of customer before taking the next step.

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The company's team of more than 300 experts, led by Sam Taverner, Iain Levein, and Paul Skinner, will join Merkles Marketing Solutions Group, bringing the total number of European employees to about 500 and more than 3,400 worldwide.

"We're also continuing to build out Asian presence through a relationship with Baidu," China's largest search engine, Gallate said.

For now, Comet's U.S. business makes up about 40% of worldwide revenue, the remainder contributed by the U.K., and Spain, he said.

The two companies -- which worked as partners prior to the acquisition -- have common clients, such as Fifth Third Bank, and DirecTV. Telefonica 02, Royal Bank of Scotland, Standard Life, and Sky TV are among the new clients Merkle gains.

With the seven acquisitions, Merkle has increased revenue by nearly 20%, strengthening its offerings in digital marketing and analytics, search and marketing automation. These acquisitions also helped Merkle develop strong industry partnerships, most notably with Google, Facebook and Oracle.
by Thom Forbes , Featured Columnist @tforbes, March 3, 2016

More than 90% of Instagram users are said to be under 35. Its user base, which is now more than 400 million worldwide, is larger than Twitters. EMarketer projects it will top 100 million people in the U.S. alone by 2018.

Austin-based nFusion recently published a marketers guide about how to get going on Instagram  but only if youve got a good reason to be there. We asked the agencys managing director, Matt Huser, to elaborate on a few of its points and to name some names.

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What makes Instagram different from good branding practices on other social media?



Matt Huser: The beauty and obvious aspect of Instagram is that it is visual -- which is the reason it's so compelling. By being visual, it weeds out a lot of the frivolous updates you get on Facebook and Twitter.

Also for that reason, Instagram lends itself to more lifestyle content, and people tend to follow the brands that reflect their lifestyles. So its the perfect platform for brands to increase their relevance and engagement with their audiences by aligning to their followers lifestyles, many times turning them into advocates.

The brands that utilize Instagram well post images that communicate their brand DNA and reveal some deeper truth or connection about the brand.

Instagram feeds that show behind-the-scenes images that their followers wouldn't normally be able to see through traditional media are most effective. Many fashion brands like Burberry and Rag and Bone do a good job of showing lifestyle images, not product images. Product may be included in the posted images, but it isnt the focus.

Burberry focuses on images of London because London is such a foundational part of that brand, and a brand itself, which Burberry does well to align to. Rag and Bone shows people in action, mostly.

Because Instagram is visual, the marketers who participate are often more thoughtful. It forces marketers to have a strategy and to create content specifically for the channel. So it weeds out the brands that shouldnt be on Instagram; theres less noise than a Facebook or Twitter [post].

Is it as critical to be on Instagram as it is to be on Facebook and Twitter?



Huser: I dont think its critical for every brand to have a presence on social media. In fact, as the social channels get more diluted with paid messaging, some brands may find it more advantageous to not be on a platform.

And companies should have discrete strategies for each platform.

For example, Twitter is a great customer-service platform. Facebook is a good platform to keep consumers informed, while Instagram is a good platform to play to peoples passions  to connect with a lifestyle. Brands should stay true to their DNA and not force themselves into a channel that isnt aligned to a strategy. That said, Instagram is the fastest-growing platform, so you cant ignore it.

Can you name a few marketers who are doing a particularly good job?



Huser: The ones that I like align to my lifestyle.

Publishers like Rolling Stone show amazing photography, accompanied by a caption of the behind-the-scenes stories from the actual shoot. As a music buff, I love those stories.

Patagonia does a great job of presenting beautiful photography of people doing crazy things in spectacular places.

But the brands that Id like to work with, that are currently doing a pretty good job, include Intel, which presents visuals of the amazing innovations that their products fuel.

Altra, the running shoe company, does a great job of making me wish I was outdoors running with their photography.

There is a hotel in Austin called the Hotel St. Cecilia that does a great job of presenting aspirational lifestyle images of scenes at their hotel (it is humbling to realize that I am not very cool). I tend to follow the smaller, upstart brands who are still very true to the DNA of who they are.

Heineken did an interesting stunt in 2014 around the U.S. Open, but Im not sure they consistently show up well.

Netflix is currently running a promotion for someone to travel the world and post on their behalf, which could be interesting.

What Instagram blunders have you come across?



Huser: Not having a strategy. I dont want to see images of your product. Work to align your brand with my lifestyle. A marketers content should have a purpose. Repurposed content on Instagram does not work.

If you do [have a strategy] and have compelling content, it could be your strongest media channel. Every follower will be an advocate.
by Ari Rosenberg , Op-Ed Contributor, March 3, 2016

I met the executives from Adblock Plus at a roundtable gathering in New York a few months back. They came across as well-intended people, authentic in their defense of the consumer. They came across likable  if that should even matter. What does matter: They came across as smart.

They are, however, guilty of being a bit naive about the online advertising industry they have commandeered. That will get adjusted over time as they gain more ground between advertisers and publishers.

The vitriol coming at them from the online publishing community  including, most vocally the IAB president  reminds me of what former Online Publishing Insider columnist David Koretz used to say. He would point to the participant arguing the loudest in a high-volume conflict and say, The lady doth protest too much.

Is Adblock Plus doing something that much different from what Google did to publishers? The latter showed up and sat right between consumers and publishers. Google then picked publishers pockets by helping themselves to their content and using it to lure and capture consumers before they entered a publishers turnstile. Google then made money during this hostage takeover by selling ads.

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Adblock Plus has situated itself between consumers and publishers by building an ad-free room that millions of people have freely chosen to enter. Then these smart guys locked the door, put up some velvet ropes, and became bouncers, charging a cover to publishers to enter provided they wear acceptable attire.

This strategy is brash. The IAB president calls it extortion. I think its genius  and ironic that the opportunity Adblock Plus is exploiting could only exist because the online publishing industry continues to treat consumers to an awful Web user experience.

You can assume online publishing executives and association presidents are not blocking ads. You can also assume they visit a fair amount of Web sites during their workweek, so they see plenty of pop-up ads and ad units that expand over content. They get treated to video ads that auto-play with sound. They visit sites that have an ad-edit ratio that insults the term ratio. They click on links to read more and are then treated to Web pages that bump and grind before they properly load. They see creepy ads from advertisers who have spied on their Web behavior. They see ad creative that promotes belly flab and toe fungus remedies, as well as sponsored content that features disturbing images with misleading headlines.

You can also assume online publishing executives and association presidents visit Web sites from their smartphones, so they know how much worse the Web ad experience is on a mobile device.

So its safe to assume publishing executives and association presidents are aware the online ad experience is awful. These are also really smart and savvy businesspeople who know the best defense is a good offense, so they attack the ethics and morality of the people attacking their business. That works really well in politics, but its not going to work here.

Adblock Plus has more work to do. The transaction it offers publishers to get white-listed lacks clarity and shows a lack of knowledge of the ad sales process. The companys messaging and pricing may need to be refined to better suit the publishers it plans to charge. Clearly publishers believe the price needs to be lower than the 30% of revenue Adblock Plus thinks it can tax.

This fight is not about business ethics or morality. Its about leverage and money  and the volume of this conflict is driven by a lady who doth protest too much.
by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, March 3, 2016

Its a sign of how divisive Donald Trumps candidacy has become that simply endorsing him can bring calls for an elected officials resignation. Thats what happened this week, when six New Jersey newspapers published scathing editorials criticizing NJ governor Chris Christie for joining forces with Trump and calling for him to resign the governorship.

The joint editorials appeared in six newspapers, including the Star-Ledger, Asbury Park Press, Courier Post of Cherry Hill and Daily Record of Morristown. In the op-eds, the newspapers editors blasted Christie for his alleged lack of principles, high-handed behavior and neglect of the states affairs as he pursues his own political ambitions.

The op-ed published in the Star-Ledgerbegins: Gov. Chris Christie has made it abundantly clear that governing New Jersey is a distant second priority for him, far behind the demands of his personal ambition. He has answered every crisis with neglect during his disastrous second term.

After reviewing some of the major failures attributed to his neglect, including the looming bankruptcy of Atlantic City and the states unresolved fiscal crisis, the editors portray his endorsement of Trump as the straw that broke the camels back: His craven endorsement of Donald Trump is only the final blow, the moment when he lost any last shred of credibility. His fulsome praise of Trump, after his stinging condemnations only a few weeks ago, is impossible to believe.

Like many observers, the editors point to the governors dazed appearance at a Trump press conference earlier this week: Christie's distraught expression as he stood with Trump during the press conference on Super Tuesday showed that even he can barely stomach this act of hypocrisy and opportunism. He looked like he had been taken hostage, or hit in the head.

The op-eds also blasted Christies refusal to answer any questions unrelated to a single topic, his nomination of a state Supreme Court Judge, on Monday, calling this another example of his arrogance.

Lest there be any misunderstanding about their real feelings, the op-ed published in the Asbury Park-Press concluded: Were fed up with Gov. Chris Christies arrogance. Were fed up with his opportunism. Were fed up with his hypocrisy.

The editors then called for Christie to step down and hand over power to Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno. They suggest that if he refuses, New Jersey voters should initiate a recall referendum.
by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, March 3, 2016

Early data from AccuraCast released this week confirms higher click-through rates on paid-search advertising for nearly all positions after Google eliminated text ads from serving up on the right side of the search results page.

Google stopped serving paid-search text ads down the right rail of its search query results page in late February. A fourth paid-search ad now serves up at the last position at the top of the page.

Following the shift, the CTR for the No. 1 position paid-search ad jumped 8.4% to 4.20%. The CTR for the No. 2 position ad jumped 7.7% to 1.24%. The No. 3 position fell 5.6% to 2.04%, and the No. 4 spot -- which did not exist previously -- jumped 18.2% to 0.81%, according to AccuraCast.

The data for AccuraCast's analysis came from a two-week period, analyzing more than 500,000 individual searches for a range of industries.

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Product listing ads are included in the research, but the agency has not looked into how the move influences product listing ads (PLAs) specifically. Marketers will likely see that down the road a bit, explains Luke Rees, digital marketing lead at U.K.-based AccuraCast. The data also does not indicate an increase in conversions from the uptick in clicks. That's great news for Google, but without the conversion it doesn't do much for sales at brands other than branding for future sales.

Overall, CTR for all ad positions on the first page fell from 1.86% to 1.80% while impressions have remained equal -- around 500,000, according to AccuraCast's data. Outside of position 4, the total of CTRs rose. What once fell into positions five through 10 rose from 2.22% to 2.46%.

Positions five and six fell compared with historic percentages, while the ad in position seven rose.

Rees says the numbers are likely to fluctuate in the coming weeks as the agency sees broader samples of data and as people become more familiar with the new layout. Once the agency starts to get a bigger sample of data, it plans to dig further into product listing ads, as well as differences on desktop and mobile.
by Barbara Lippert , Featured Columnist, March 3, 2016

Last week, I was sitting in the back of a cab, leaving Chicago and headed back to New York, when we hit a parking-lot-like traffic backup. Up front, the driver was obviously agitated, but was slumped and silent, trying to be patient. There was obviously nowhere to move in real space, so I started scouring the deep space in my phone for stuff that I might have otherwise overlooked.

In this category was an email that trumpeted "Sheryl Sandberg says this is one of the most powerful ads she's ever seen!" So I clicked on the link and started watching.

It turned out to be a new commercial from BBDO/Mumbai for Ariel Detergent (a P&G product) showing a true two-minute soap opera, complete with great casting and cinematic production values.

The concept: a father, visiting his grown daughter and her family, watches as she scurries around her modern, upscale apartment after coming home from work, cooking dinner and doing all the household chores including a quick load of laundry, as her hubby sits on his butt in front of the TV .

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It features the moving narration of her Dad, voicing what turns out to be a letter he left for her before he returned home. (And the grey-haired paterfamilias is shown sitting in the back of a cab, ruminating.) In his letter, he tells her he is so proud of how much she does, both at work and home. "I never told you that it's not your job alone, but your husband's too. But how could I say it, when I never helped your mother either," he says in the ad. "And what you saw, you learnt."

He tells her that he has made a conscious decision to change his own behavior in the future. He is then shown in his own home, unpacking, and helping his surprised wife with the laundry. The tag line: Why is laundry only a mothers job? #Sharetheload."

Though some of the premise was a bit stilted, I found it to be quite a tearjerker, probably because I didnt have my dad long enough for him to see me operating in my own household with my son. But more than that, I admired its amazing directness, empathy, and depth in taking on the goal of selling social change. Thats a much loftier -- and tougher -- objective than showing laundry-basket-carrying housewives discussing stain removal.

Anyway, the production was subtitled in English. And as I was watching with the sound up, the driver not only came alive, but almost jumped out of his seat, turned around to look at me, and with stars in his eyes, asked, " You speak Urdu?"

I do not. But the unexpected interaction certainly livened up the ride for both of us. He thought I had been watching a movie in my native language. I told him that it was actually a new laundry detergent commercial from India, all about having men help with the chores. Oh, thats so old-school, he said. Now men do everything.

And thats probably truer for his life here. I would imagine that stereotypical gender roles are more entrenched in India these days than they are in the U.S, but who knows?

Hey, we had our own Dad-doing-the-laundry kerfuffle for Tide back in 2011, when a long-form spot showed a a dad-mom, talking about his ability to fold his kids clothing with complete accuracy. He then felt the need to say, Now, if youll excuse me, I'm going to do pull-ups and crunches in the other room.

There was backlash about his desire to prove his manliness, even if it was a joke. And to Tides credit, that spot was followed with a flat-out great series of ads showing unapologetically serious laundry-doer dads (unclear whether they were stay-at-home Poppas or not.) Oh, the humanity!

In fact, heres where the Sandberg bit fits in. The most memorable part of her bestselling 2013 book Lean In was her assertion that a womans choice in partner is the most important decision she can make for her career  and that, especially after having kids, both spouses must be committed to doing everything 50/50 for the family, and the household, to succeed.

The idea that women work and then come home to a second shift of housework has been around for some 30 years. But thanks to Sandberg's rave about the spots acknowledgment that gender stereotypes are passed from generation to generation and her posting the spot to her Facebook page, it now has over 11 million views on that page, and some 300,000 FB shares.

One of the comments on her FB post came from Andrew Robertson, the CEO of BBDO Worldwide, who credits her with saying Guys, if you want more sex, forget flowers. Do laundry. His comment got 3,945 likes.

Still, some of the Lean In readership felt it was a bit disingenuous coming from Sandberg, who no doubt has all the household help she wants.

And I saw complaints about the spot from both sides of the gender divide. A few men on You Tube pointed out that women in most upper-middle-class households in India have maids. A therapist I know also expressed disappointment that the spot didnt show the Dad get up and help while he was there, rather than having him discourse in letter form.

(I guess it made the scenario all the more dramatic to have the daughters Olympic-level multitasking shown. To me, it suggested that she was acting out a real-life Goddess Durga role. Shes the deity with all the arms, protecting mankind from pain and suffering caused by evil forces -- and presumably, sedentary husbands)

But I love the larger point: that almost no one is living out the script that their parents did. And that if both spouses are working outside the home, the tasks of cleaning the house, cooking and doing the laundry is not feminized work, its humanized, family-ized work.

And anyone who is acknowledging that there is a problem, that its a matter of fairness, and also consciously working on making a change, deserves kudos  in Urdu and every other language.
by Larry Dobrow , Featured Columnist, March 3, 2016

As much as people in this line of work want to believe otherwise, nobody gives a hoot about media brands anymore. While I may continue to gravitate towards certain content producers, based either on past affinity or newfound admiration for the way they present themselves digitally, most consumers of media go where their pals links take them. Which is to say: From Facebook to point B. Point B can be The Economist or Red Bulls YouTube page or some 22-year-olds Tumblr. As @ElBloombito might say, viva el democratization-o of media!

This does not represent the end of journalism as we know it (though at some point it might behoove us to answer the question, So, whos gonna pay for this?). But it does mean that established media brands cant coast on their legacies, however much they yearn for the days of pre-multichannel primacy.

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As we analog-reared fogies age out of the demographic crosshairs of most major marketers, were not being replaced by evening-news enthusiasts. Nobodys sprinting out to the mailbox for the May 1985 issue of Guitar, as I once did. Hell, is anybody sprinting out to the mailbox for anything nowadays? YES! TWO DAMP LEAFLETS FOR A LANDSCAPING UPSTART AND THE WATER BILL! SCORE!

Which brings me to Vice, the one exception to this barely-thought-through theory. What started as a sneery, self-impressed operation has morphed into one of the few specifically defined media brands out there. Its consistent attitudinally, tonally and all those other good things-ally. As a result, the Vice imprimatur means something - as opposed to, say, GQ slapping its name on a Spotify playlist.

For younger media consumers raised on the Internet, Vice is synonymous with authenticity. Theyll go where Vice goes; Vice makes it easy for them to do so, courtesy of a platform-agnosticism that, even today, remains rare in the media landscape.

Its an easy brand to mock - The Onion has done so quite cuttingly, courtesy of its bombastically over-reported, machete-happy EDGE videos. Then you watch Vices segments on injustices in countries that arent this one, and you realize that, wow, its journalists and producers actually give a shit. Vices reporters can pick out Venezuela on a map, which puts them in the distinct minority nowadays.

Vice is also wonderfully open-minded when it comes to collaboration, which brings us to todays exercise. Because my personal brand is now defined by oldness, Im rarely awake past 8:25 p.m. Yet on Monday night, Better Call Saul and an unreckoned-with pile of laundry conspired to keep me conscious until the start of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and what a start it was, with a cold opening unlike anything seen on one of these shows since the heyday of Dave.

It was a short film (Im going with film here; to label it a video is to diminish its ambition) directed by Spike Jonze, whos now creative director of the Viceland content operation. In it, Colbert awakens in Central Park and wanders forlornly around New York City, laughed at by children and ignored when he extends a hand to passersby. He appears ready to give up, until Grover - yeah, that Grover, in all his furry glory - pulls him off the sidewalk and administers what appears to be a pep talk (the film is dialogue-free). They approach Colberts midtown studio; an open backstage door beckons and he enters, the roar of the crowd enveloping him. A look thats simultaneously blissful and full of purpose washes over his face. The homecoming complete, the show begins.

How unusual and deeply felt is that? Late-night hosts dont do Feelings-with-a-capital-F; theyre expected to traffic in coolness and maintain an ironic distance. Yet with the film, Jonze - the evenings lead guest, talking all things Viceland - manages to remold a network institution in his own image (temporarily, anyway).

If this is what Jonze and Co. plan to do with Vicelands food/travel genre programming, its going to extend the brands appeal far beyond Millennials. If theres one media brand to add to your A-list, its Vice.
by Sarah Mahoney @mahoney_sarah, March 4, 2016

To speed its growth and continue to win Gen Y loyalty, Target says it plans to invest between $2 billion to $2.5 billion in capital expenditures a year on its omnichannel muscle, focusing on technology and flexible fulfillment. From integrating the Internet of Things into a babys nursery to streamlining its fresh produce operations, company executives tell investors its all part of its obsession with kids, baby, style, and wellness.

These four signature categories already represent a third of its sales, and we are putting significant resources behind them, CEO Brian Cornell said in a recent presentation for investors and analysts, which was webcast. In 2015, those signature businesses grew three times faster than the rest of our assortment and today, we are expecting aggressive growth as we go forward into the future.

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The company is introducing Pillowfort, a new kids brand for home, which he believes can potentially double its business in that category. And its readying Cat & Jack, a new childrens apparel line expected to debut this summer. There is also a new style collaboration, Marimekko for Target, launching next month with which more than 200 items.

Longer-term, he says the company is expanding research to work with entrepreneurs, along the lines of past partnerships with IDEO and MIT's media lab. We are operating almost a $20 billion food business and we know we haven't tapped the full potential, he says. And you'd be hard-pressed to find a better use case for the Internet of Things than in a baby's nursery. But we owe it to our guests to curate the best products, wade through all the digitally enabled gimmicks that are out there and find items that actually solve problems.

The company is also streamlining its loyalty program, making it almost entirely mobile. When questioned about how it intends to compete with Amazon, which is coming on strong in both consumables and apparel,

CMO Jeff Jones revealed more details about its new REDperks pilot, which it tested in North Carolina; it will bring together its Cartwheel and REDcards programs. So you will see us simplify and integrate those programs, he says, with the power of 5% savings every day, personalized discounts with Cartwheel in a simple, single sign-on, one barcode checkout kind of program, all on the mobile device.
by Karlene Lukovitz @KLmarketdaily, March 4, 2016

Subway is running two TV spots that humorously warn consumers off greasy fast food and encourage them to opt instead for the sandwich chains new permanent menu item: a rotisserie-style chicken sandwich.

The TV ads, from BBDO, use over-the-top vignettes to drive home the point that people wouldnt think of mistreating their possessions in the ways that they sometimes mistreat their bodies by eating unhealthy fast food.

In one spot (above), a man gravely abuses his car, and in the other (below), a tablet.

The ads began airing on Feb. 28 during prime-time programming.

The campaign also includes digital and social media advertising. 360i is managing the social postings on Subways Facebook and Twitter channels.

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The new sandwich (as well as chicken strips to be introduced on April 1) uses chickens raised without antibiotics; the sandwich is also free from artificial ingredients.

The free-from message  and Subways claim that its now the largest global QSR to serve antibiotic-free chicken on such a scale (its available at all 27,000 of its U.S. locations)  are part of the brands new approach to its better-for-you-positioning.

While Subway pioneered healthier positioning among QSRs, its recently been co-opted by a growing number of competitors, including McDonalds.

Subway is also stressing that its on track to remove all artificial colors, flavors and preservatives from menu items in its 30,000 North American locations by 2017, and that it will over the next few years also transition to turkey (and later on, pork and beef) raised without antibiotics. By 2025, the brand says that it will also have transitioned to serving only cage-free eggs in North America.
by Philip Rosenstein , Staff Writer, March 4, 2016

There were fireworks at the GOP debate last night, though fewer and more unusual than one might have expected.

The Fox debate, held in Detroit, Michigan, sported the smallest GOP debate field thus far, as well as the first on-air meeting between Donald Trump and Megyn Kelly since last years heated exchange, which culminated in Trumps boycott of the Fox Iowa debate.

At this point in the presidential race, little should shock anyone who has been following the rhetoric over the past months. Trump showed an inclination toward gross inappropriateness and wholesale rejection of facts.

Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace astutely pressed the candidates on substantive topics and followed up pointed questions with graphics that questioned the logic of the candidates responses, with particular focus on Trump.

Moderator Chris Wallace used slides to show that Trump's answers for fixing the federal deficit wouldn't work in reality, as "the numbers don't add up." It is doubtful, however, that these realities will actually take a toll on Trump support.

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Within the first 15 minutes, Trump felt the urge to assert the size of his nether regions with: [Rubio] referred to my hands, if they are small, something else must be small. I guarantee you there is no problem. I guarantee.

Despite any punches the non-Trump candidates may have landed on the Republican front-runner, when asked if they would support the Republican nominee, even if that nominee is Donald J. Trump question. Sens. Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Gov. John Kasich all fell in line behind the presumptive nominee.

These admissions sounded pained, followed by: If youre our nominee, we will lose -- She will wipe you out, and Yelling and cursing at people doesn't make you a tough guy.

Mostly skirting the Trump-Rubio-Cruz brawl, Ohio Gov. John Kasich asserted himself as the "only adult in the room." So far, that trait has failed to move the needle on his candidacy, though he came in second in New Hampshire and Vermont and is pinning his hopes on the Rust Belt states. The Ohio governor again touted his executive and legislative experience, which clearly outmatched any of the other candidates on stage.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz tried his best to solidify the alternative-to-Trump position he assumed following a strong showing on Super Tuesday. Harping on a theme brought up by many, he noted: Donald has a tenuous relationship with the truth.

A question that resonates within the GOP: Can the anti-Trump movement say or do anything to mollify support for the front-runner? A safe guess is that they cant, especially when his chief alternatives pledge their support to his eventual nomination.

Regarding the Twitter conversation around the debate, Trump was widely the most talked about candidate with 62% of the conversation, followed by Cruz at 16%, Rubio at 15% and Kasich with 7%.
by Sara Guaglione , March 4, 2016

In the wake of a major management shakeup, Tribune Publishing will still bid for the Orange County Register and the Riverside Press-Enterprise, Tribune Publishings new chief executive said Wednesday during a conference call with analysts.

During Tribunes earnings release and conference call, CEO Justin Dearborn said the company is still actively working on a bid for the assets of Freedom Communications, setting aside rumors that the company would forgo its efforts to acquire Freedom's two newspapers and related assets following executive shakeups at Tribune.

Freedom Communications filed for bankruptcy protection in November and will sell its properties in a court-supervised auction this month.

However, Dearborn noted that there is a price where we would walk away from the Freedom bidding, according to a report from the OC Register.

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Tribune lost $2.7 million last year on $1.67 billion of revenue. Their plans to acquire Freedoms newspapers is funded mainly by an investment from Michael Ferro, who purchased a 16.6% stake in Tribune for $44.4 million earlier this year.

As Publishers Daily previously reported, Tribune Publishing submitted an early, stalking horse bid in the lead-up to the bankruptcy auction, in order to set a minimum price for bidding later during the auction. The amount of the bid wasnt disclosed.

Tribune faces competition from Digital First Media, publisher of newspapers like the Los Angeles Daily News and the Denver Post, which submitted a rival bid, also undisclosed.

The auction is scheduled to take place on March 16. A final decision by a federal bankruptcy judge could be made as early as March 21.

Tribune wants to buy the OC Register and Press-Enterprise to expand its business base in the Southern California region, while cutting costs among its newspapers by consolidating printing and distribution operations.

Last week, Publishers Daily reported that Jack Griffin had been ousted from his position as Tribune Publishings CEO, a move that was reportedly organized by a partner he recently brought into the company, Michael Ferro -- the same Ferro who invested all that money into Tribune.

Dearborn, a medical-industry executive, is a longtime associate of Ferros. According to the L.A. Times, Dearborn was previously CEO of Merge Healthcare Inc., a company which Ferro financially backed.

Dearborns first moves as new Tribune Publishing CEO was to merge the roles of editor and publisher on each of the chains eight newspapers. He also expressed plans to move operations back to the companys home base of Chicago. Tribunes President of Digital, Denise Warren, announced she had chosen not to relocate to Chicago from New York and was out immediately.
by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, March 4, 2016

The French national police force is warning parents in a not-at-all prickly fashion that they may want to think twice about posting photos of their children on Facebook or other social networks. The warning comes amid growing concern about sexual predators finding victims online, as well as parents violating their kids privacy when the latter are powerless to stop them (no more bath photos, people! I mean what are you, idiots?).

Following a national Facebook motherhood challenge, inviting mothers to post three photos that made them proud to be a parent, the French Gendarmerie nationale posted a warning (appropriately enough on their Facebook page) that read in part: You can all be proud moms and dads to your magnificent children, but be careful. We remind you that posting photos of your kids to Facebook is not without danger!

The police noted that sexual predators may target children based on the photos, and also warned of social or psychological problems that children could face later in life.

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The Gendarmerie also reminded parents that it is a crime in France to post photos of people without consent  even your own children. That means children who later find embarrassing photos of themselves all over the Internet can sue their parents, or at the very least have a good reason to possibly choose the discount nursing home when the time comes.

Even when kids arent exposed to sexual predators directly via social media, the creeps can do creepy things with their photos online. Last year I wrote about a report from the Australian governments Children eSafety Commissioner, which found that up to half of the images of children shared on sites frequented by pedophiles originally came from social media.

While they obviously werent sexual in nature to begin with, the pictures shared on pedo sites can be sexualized with the addition of captions, comments or photo editing. The numbers of stolen photos uncovered run into the tens of millions, with most coming from sites and apps including Facebook, Kik and Instagram.
by Erik Sass @eriksass1, March 4, 2016

In a development that would have been unthinkable two decades ago, El Pais, Spains largest newspaper may cease publishing a print edition and go all-digital, the editor-in-chief revealed in a memo to staff circulated on Friday.

The news comes amid closures, or speculation about potential closures, of the print editions of a number of established newspapers around the world.

According to Reuters, El Pais EIC Antonio Cano warned editorial staff that big changes are afoot, without disclosing a specific timeline for the demise of the print edition. Shuttering the print edition would only be the beginning, rather than the end, of the newspapers transformation.

The step from paper to digital is just one part and is not even the biggest of the many steps that newspapers will have to take until we find our true space in the future, said Cano.

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Comparable to The New York Times in the U.S., El Pais gained its reputation as the Spanish newspaper of record during the countrys transition to a democratic constitutional monarchy following the death of longtime dictator Francisco Franco in 1975.

However, like its peers around the world, El Pais has seen print circulation and advertising revenues decline steeply along with its print readership, in a process hastened by the economic downturn at the end of the last decade.

Over the last 10 years, the circ tumbled 45% from a high of 469,000 in 2004 to 260,000 in 2014. Revenues at parent company Prisa plunged 65% from 4 billion euros in 2008 to 1.4 billion in 2014, or from around $6.2 billion to $1.75 billion at contemporary exchange rates. Prisa also carries debts of around $2.1 billion.

Last month, Britain's The Independent announced that it would cease publishing its print edition this month, but will continue publishing on its Web site and a new app. The move to digital-only publishing will entail an unspecified number of layoffs.
The Zika virus appears to infect a type of neural stem cell that is involved in the development of the brains cerebral cortex, says research published in Cell Stem Cell. Share on Pinterest Scientists are exploring how Zika might be linked to microcephaly. The World Health Organization (WHO) recently declared the Zika virus a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. Zika is now reported to be circulating in 26 countries and territories in Latin America and the Caribbean. Infection may cause only mild symptoms, or none at all, but the virus has been linked to fetal and newborn microcephaly and serious neurological complications such as Guillain Barre syndrome (GBS). While the exact workings of Zika remain a mystery, some case reports have indicated that parts of the developing brain progress normally after infection, but that the cortical structures are missing. Researchers from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD, and Florida State University joined a team from the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, GA, to conduct the month-long study, which focused on neuronal cells derived from human-induced stem cells.

Rapid spread of infection through cortical neural precursor cells As the virus normally passes to humans through a mosquito bite, the researchers grew a stock of Zika virus in mosquito cells for a few days. They then applied the virus to human stem cells, known as cortical neural precursors. These stem cells became havens, or factories, for viral reproduction, causing cell death and/or disruption of cell growth. From a single infection, it took just 3 days for the virus particles to spread through a plate of stem cells. The team found no evidence of antiviral responses in the stem cells, so it remains unclear whether the virus is being cleared from the precursor cells, and if so, how. The researchers say we need to know whether the virus specifically targets the neural progenitor that is mostly responsible for generating the cortex.
If you are trying to cut down on your six cups of coffee a day, think again. Research published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry indicates that caffeines neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory properties may lower the risk of developing multiple sclerosis. Share on Pinterest Enjoy that coffee: it may be good for you. The National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke (NINDS) describes multiple sclerosis (MS) as an unpredictable disease of the central nervous system, symptoms of which can range from fairly benign to devastating. MS disrupts communication between the brain and the rest of the body. Coffee contains over 1,000 biologically active compounds, including the central nervous system (CNS) stimulant, caffeine. Caffeines neuroprotective properties can suppress the production of chemicals involved in the inflammatory response. Previous studies have associated a high coffee intake with lower rates of cardiovascular disease (CVD), stroke and type 2 diabetes. In animal models of Alzheimers disease, caffeine has helped to protect against blood-brain barrier leakage. Two representative population studies provided data for the current research. Dr. Anna Hedstrom, of the Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, and colleagues compared 1,620 Swedish adults with MS with 2,788 healthy subjects, matched for age and sex. In the US, teams from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, the University of California-Berkeley and the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, CA, compared 1,159 people with MS with 1,172 healthy participants.

Six cups a day linked to 31% lower risk of MS In both studies, participants provided information about their coffee drinking. The Swedish participants quantified their usual daily intake in cups at different ages, from 15-19 years until they were 40 years and over. In the US study, participants gave information about their maximum daily consumption. Those who drank one or more cups also recalled at what age they started drinking coffee regularly. Fast facts about MS Around 400,000 people live with MS in the US

There are approximately 10,000 new diagnoses each year

MS mostly affects white people, and women are more prone than men. Learn more about MS The researchers then estimated coffee consumption at and before the onset of symptoms in those with MS, and they compared the results with those of the healthy groups. There was a consistently higher risk of MS among those who drank fewer cups of coffee every day in both studies, even after adjusting for factors such as smoking and weight during adolescence. In the Swedish study, coffee consumption correlated with a lower risk of MS both at the onset of symptoms and 5-10 years beforehand. Those who consumed over six cups (900 ml+) daily had a 28-30% lower risk. The US study revealed a 26-31% reduction in risk among those who drank above 948 ml daily at least 5 years before and at the start of symptoms, compared with those who never drank coffee. Findings indicate that the more coffee people consume, the lower their risk of MS. The authors caution that a causative link cannot be confirmed, since this was an observational study.
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.

Introduction

The Islamic State (ISIS) invests considerable efforts in demonstrating that it provides proper services to the people living under its rule. Media material is released on a daily basis to show that ISIS repairs and maintains infrastructures, build roads, maintains public order and even cultivates public parks. Since healthcare is among the primary needs that a state must meet, the organization makes efforts to prevent a brain drain of medical professionals and to keep clinics and hospitals functioning. ISIS knows that unless it provides adequate healthcare, it will find it difficult to gain the support and obedience of the people. Moreover, ISIS requires qualified medical practitioners not only to care for the civilian population but also to treat its fighters.

Recent reports indicate that the organization is having problems in this domain. Reports have it that many local doctors have left the areas under ISIS control, or are trying to leave, due to the escalating attacks by the organization's enemies and also due to the religious restrictions that ISIS imposes on them. According to the activist group called "Al-Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently," which reports on the situation in this ISIS stronghold in Syria, the cost of healthcare in the city has risen sharply because most medical practices and centers have closed, leaving only one hospital that provides free medical care.[1]

To show that it has matters in hand, it publishes weekly photo reports on medical services in its territories, showcasing clinics and hospitals, vaccination drives, and professional courses being delivered to medical personnel. Many of the photos are of children receiving vaccinations or medical treatment; this is presumably meant to solicit sympathy among ISIS supporters and to present the organization as caring and humane. In addition, ISIS' media companies and the organization supporters periodically circulate photos, videos and blog entries that call upon healthcare professionals to perform hijra (migrate) to the Islamic State and participate in the war effort and in building the newly-founded caliphate. The organization and its supporters also threaten medical personnel who wish to leave the ISIS territories, as well as those who have already left, promising that they will be killed and that their clinics and property will be seized.

This report reviews some of the materials circulated by ISIS on healthcare issues.

Calls For Medical Professionals To Migrate To The Caliphate State

As the Islamic State (ISIS) consolidates its rule in the areas under its control, its need for qualified physicians and other medical practitioners increases. As part of its efforts to recruit such personnel, it circulates videos calling for professionals to come from abroad and join the Islamic State. For example, in April 2015, ISIS' media offices in Al-Raqqa and Aleppo each released a video in which doctors and physical therapists of various nationalities call on their fellow practitioners to join ISIS and help build the caliphate state.[2] One of the speakers in the video notes that the Islamic State's Health Department was established in the summer of 2015 and has already made substantial achievements. However, he says, there is still much work to be done in order to achieve the standard of other countries around the world. Another speaker, an Indian physical therapist named Abu Muqatil Al-Hindi, speaks about the role and importance of the physical therapy units. He says that ISIS has physical therapists from Russia, Australia, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Syria and elsewhere, and stresses that some of them are women, who treat women and children. Al-Hindi calls on qualified and even partly qualified medical practitioners to make hijra to the ISIS territories: "We need the brothers and sisters to come and help us from all around the world."

"Dr. Abu Muqatil Al-Hindi" in the Al-Raqqa film

An Australian pediatrician, Abu Yousef Al-Australi, says that he made hijra from Australia in order to "come and live under the caliphate." He adds: "[It was] part of my jihad... to help the Muslim ummah in an area I could help in, namely the medical field." He states that he is very happy to be living in the Islamic State, and says: "I wish I'd come a lot sooner." He stresses that Muslims in the Islamic State are suffering not from the lack of medicines or medical gear, but from the lack of qualified healthcare professionals, and expresses disappointment that so many medical professionals still live in the West and have not joined ISIS. He urges them: "We really need your help... [so] please consider coming, please don't delay."

"Dr. Abu Yousef Al-Australi" in the Al-Raqqa film

ISIS supporters recently launched a blog, Khilafa Medics (Khilafahmedics.tumblr.com), dedicated to encouraging healthcare professionals to come to the Islamic State. The blog features quotes from prominent jihad leaders regarding the importance of medical professionals joining the war effort, such as the following quote from Anwar Al-Awlaki: "The mujahideen are in great need of any medical assistance they can get. They need physicians, they need hospitals and clinics that would open their doors to them and they need medicine. There are hundreds of thousands of Muslim physicians, and nevertheless we hear many stories of injured mujahideen who suffered from simple wounds but because of the absence of medical help they had to suffer in agony until they died. Those Muslims who studied medicine and claim that they are doing it for the sake of Allah and to benefit the Muslims, we say to them: Where are you?" [3]

In early November 2015, ISIS's Al-Barqa Province in Libya circulated a video on Telegram titled "Message to Medical Professionals,"[4] on the Islamic State's need for medical professionals. The speaker in the video, a young man whose name is given as Abu 'Ali Al-Maghribi, says in Moroccan-accented Arabic: "I am directing this message particularly to medical professionals. Come let us erect the glorious structure of the Islamic State together, because your brothers sorely need you. By Allah, you have no excuse [to stay away]. What will you tell Allah - may He be exalted and praised - when the time comes?! Oh brothers, it was Allah alone... who bestowed upon you with His mercy the [medical] knowledge that you acquired." The video also shows Islamic State members delivering a course in first aid.

Abu 'Ali Al-Maghribi in Al-Barqa Province video

Efforts To Keep Medical Professionals From Leaving ISIS Territories

Many local Arab physicians living in the areas under ISIS control are attempting to leave, fleeing both the danger of living in a war zone and the restrictions imposed by ISIS. The "Al-Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently" website reported on October 25, 2015 that many gynecologists were trying to leave after ISIS banned them from treating women.[5] According to the report, the organization threatened to kill physicians who tried to leave, and also to confiscate their clinics and their property. However, many doctors in many fields left anyway.

In May 2015, the Islamic State's Medical Services Department warned medical professionals, including physicians and dentists, who had left ISIS territory in the previous year to seek employment elsewhere to return to their positions immediately or face severe consequences. The message said: "...The Islamic State has been attempting in all ways possible to call upon male and female physicians and medical personnel to return to their homes, hospitals, clinics, colleges, and institutes, [in order to work] under the shade of the caliphate; however, many of them continue to avoid this. Therefore, the following has been decided:

"1. A final warning [is hereby issued] to physicians, dentists, pharmacists, and professors of medical and nursing colleges, and to health and administrative personnel... who have left the land of the caliphate, to return to their areas and engage in their duties immediately.

"2. The warning period will be 30 days from the day of this publication, after which the movable and immovable assets of those who failed to comply with section (1) above shall be confiscated...

"3. The Islamic State accepts the repentance of those who became involved with kufr [heresy] and [those who] committed apostasy, from among those mentioned in section (1) as long as they return to their areas, and consult the appropriate repentance[-related] bodies."[6]

Vaccination Drives And Use Of Children

The Islamic State periodically releases photo reports on the vaccination of children in the various provinces. The extensive use of children's photos is meant to prove that the Islamic State is humane and that the care of children is a top priority for it. For example, in mid-October the Al-Jazeera Province in Iraq posted photos documenting a measles-rubella vaccination drive for children in the Qayrawan district.[7] One of the photos shows ISIS personnel listing the children vaccinated, to show that the process is organized and well-managed.

Measles-rubella vaccination drive in the Qayrawan district

ISIS in Damascus Province posted photos of a polio vaccination drive in Al-Hajar Al-Aswad south of the city.[8]

Polio vaccination drive in Al-Hajar Al-Aswad

ISIS in the Al-Furat Province posted a photo report documenting a similar drive.[9] The report stresses that ISIS continues to care for the health of children in its territories despite the coalition airstrikes: "Despite the Crusader campaign against the Islamic State, the state continues to provide for and meet the needs of its residents in the territories under its control. The Al-Furat Province healthcare center, in collaboration with the Islamic State Health Department, has initiated a polio vaccination drive for children aged 0-5, which is taking place throughout the province in order to protect children from this disease. We wish perfect health to all Muslims."

Polio vaccination drive in Al-Furat Province

Documenting Activity In Hospitals, Healthcare Centers

Another means of assuring the public and strengthening its support for ISIS are informational materials showing hospitals and clinics providing their services to the public, with emphasis on the availability of advanced treatments and gear, ambulances, etc. For example, in January 2015, the Islamic State in the Aleppo Province posted on the jihadi forum Al-Shumoukh a video showcasing the "Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi Hospital" in Jarabulus. The film stresses that the hospital provides a wide range of treatments and shows various aspects of its activity and various parts of the building, including an operation room, the x-ray unit, EKG machines, the staff quarters, etc. It should be mentioned that, at least from its appearance on the film, the hospital seems substandard. Signs in the operating room and x-ray unit indicate that the equipment was donated at some point by the Qatari Red Crescent.[10]

X-ray machine at the Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi Hospital in Jarabulus

X-ray processing unit at the Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi Hospital in Jarabulus

Operation room at the Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi Hospital in Jarabulus

ISIS in Al-Khair Province in Syria circulated pictures of a dialysis center in Al-Mayadin,[11] and ISIS in Hama Province posted photos of the "Al-Andalus Hospital."[12]

"Dialysis center in Al-Mayadin"

"Tour in Al-Andalus Hospital"

"Tour in Al-Andalus Hospital"

In Mid-October, ISIS posted a large photo report on the hospital in Al-Raqqa,[13] as well as photos of the health care center in Mahalabiya in Iraq's Al-Jazira Province.[14]

"Incubator room" in Al-Raqqa hospital

"Intensive care unit" in Al-Raqqa hospital

"Emergency internal care unit" at Al-Raqqa hospital

"Healthcare center in Al-Mahalabiya area"

Dentist at Al-Mahalabiya healthcare center

In September 2015, ISIS in Libya's Al-Barqa Province circulated photos of a hospital in the province and of an ambulance bearing the name of the Islamic State.[15]

Islamic State ambulance in Al-Barqa Province

In addition to documenting active hospitals and clinics, ISIS also documents the opening of new ones. In November 1, 2015, ISIS in Al-Raqqa Province posted a series of photos showcasing a new healthcare center in the village of Al-Dibsi. The photos show the renovation of the building, the various departments and treatment rooms, children receiving treatment, etc.[16]

"Opening of health center in Al-Dibsi village"

"The center's main entrance"

In October 2015, ISIS in Al-Faluja Province in Iraq released photos of a new clinic recently opened in the Al-Farahat area.[17]

"New health center opened in Al-Farahat area"

"New health center opened in Al-Falahat area"

Courses And Training

ISIS' media bodies also publish reports on various training courses for medical personnel, including courses on complying with shari'a law, which the organization requires these professionals to take. In June 2015, ISIS posted a report on a course of this kind conducted in "Al-Khair city" (Deir Al-Zor, Syria).[18]

"Shari'a course for medical staff in the city of Al-Khair"

"Shari'a course for medical staff in the city of Al-Khair"

ISIS also organizes medical training courses, such as a first aid course for ISIS fighters in the Hadarmawt Province in Yemen.[19]

"First aid course for Islamic State fighters" in Hadarmawt Province

As mentioned, a video released by ISIS in Al-Barqa Province called on healthcare professionals to join the war effort and showed fighters receiving a first aid course. [20]

First aid course delivered to ISIS fighters in Al-Barqa Province

*M. Shemesh is a research fellow at MEMRI.




The following are some of this week's reports from the MEMRI Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM) Project, which translates and analyzes content from sources monitored around the clock, among them the most important jihadi websites and blogs. (To view these reports in full, you must be a paying member of the JTTM; for membership information, send an email to [email protected] with "Membership" in the subject line.)

Note to media and government: For a full copy of these reports, send an email with the title of the report in the subject line to [email protected]. Please include your name, title, and organization in your email.

EXCLUSIVE: Egyptian Islamists, Including Pro-Al-Qaeda Figures, Launch Campaign To Liberate Egypt, Restore Its Islamic Identity

On February 10, 2016, a group of Egyptian Islamists, among them pro-Al-Qaeda figures such as Hani Al-Siba'i, director of the London-based Al-Maqreze Center, prominent preacher Wajdi Ghunaim, and Muslim scholar Dr. Tariq Abd Al-Haleem, launched a campaign to liberate Egypt and restore its Islamic identity.

The campaign, titled "A Bill for the Liberation of Egypt," states that its aim is: "To please Allah; to rule with shari'a, implementing it in all aspects of life, which is the only way in which Egyptian citizens can restore their Islamic identity, which they have lost or which has been forcibly opposed by the [Egyptian] military; to regain the freedom from which they have been stripped, their dignity which has been dragged in the dirt, and their wealth which has been despoiled. All these [demands] can only be achieved under the rule of Islam."

EXCLUSIVE: Pro-AQ Turkish Outlet 'Ummet Islam' Publishes Interview With Fighter From Jabhat Al-Nusra Subgroup Jaish'ul Nusra

On March 3, 2016, the Turkish pro-Al-Qaeda media outlet Ummet Islam published an interview with a member of Jaish'ul Nusrah. In the interview, conducted by Ummet Islam editor Salmani Rumi, who is allegedly in Syria, the fighter, 26-year-old Ebu Hureyre Turki, who said that he had been in Syria for seven months, explains that Jaish'ul Nusrah is a subgroup of Jabhat Al-Nusra, the Al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, and that is known for its martyrdom attacks. He added that he had previously studied radio, television, and cinema at university before coming to fight in Syria. Below are excerpts from the interview, in the original English:

EXCLUSVIE: Ahead Of Planned Ceasefire In Syria, Jabhat Al-Nusra Leader Al-Joulani Condemns Peace Talks And Ceasefire, Calls For Intensifying Attacks

On February 26, 2016, Jabhat Al-Nusra (JN) released a new audio message by its leader Abu Muhammad Al-Joulani, titled "This Is What Allah And His Prophet Promised Us." In the 22-minute message, Al-Joulani criticizes the Geneva peace talks and the planned ceasefire between the Syrian regime and rebels. He also calls upon JN fighters to intensify their attacks, while urging other rebel groups to continue fighting.

EXCLUSIVE: Jabhat Al-Nusra Fighters Promote Jihad Via Twitter Hashtag Campaign

On March 1 and 2, 2016, Jabhat Al-Nusra (JN) fighters used the hashtag "Time4jihad" on Twitter to encourage followers to join their ranks in Syria.

Sayf Al-Sudan tweeted: "Allah makes a way for those who came before you, why don't you give it a try & put ur reliance upon Him?" He also tweeted: "They're left with no shelter while u sleep & snore, No clothes 4 warmth, no food to eat, with z passin of days family members r killed. Even those wounded still wage war against the kuffar [infidels], they plead their way to istishadi [, martyrdom] ops while you refrain from matching forth."

EXCLUSIVE: AQAP Holds Event Titled 'Oh Aqsa We Are Coming' In Mukalla: Screening Videos And Websites And Distributing Tweets About It

On March 2, 2016, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) held a public event titled "Oh Aqsa We Are Coming," in the city of Mukalla, Yemen, which has been under the group's control since April 2015.

EXCLUSIVE: AQAP Video Features Military Training Named For Slain AQAP Commander Nasir Al-Ansi

On February 27, 2015, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) released a video documenting military training at the Al-Khayr training camp for a group of trainees. The trainees, whose group is named after AQAP commander Nasir Al-Ansi, killed in May 2015 in a U.S. drone strike, are seen undergoing various physical and military training. The video includes archival footage of Al-Ansi providing weapons training to fighters.

EXCLUSIVE: On Facebook, Pro-ISIS New York Man Expresses Desire For Martyrdom

On February 26, 2016, a man called Boubacar Sow, who claims to be residing in New York City, wrote about his desire for martyrdom on a Facebook post on the account of a Western woman.

EXCLUSIVE: CaliphateCare: ISIS Medical Services Propaganda

By: M. Shemesh*

The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.

Introduction

The Islamic State (ISIS) invests considerable efforts in demonstrating that it provides proper services to the people living under its rule. Media material is released on a daily basis to show that ISIS repairs and maintains infrastructures, build roads, maintains public order and even cultivates public parks. Since healthcare is among the primary needs that a state must meet, the organization makes efforts to prevent a brain drain of medical professionals and to keep clinics and hospitals functioning. ISIS knows that unless it provides adequate healthcare, it will find it difficult to gain the support and obedience of the people. Moreover, ISIS requires qualified medical practitioners not only to care for the civilian population but also to treat its fighters.

Recent reports indicate that the organization is having problems in this domain. Reports have it that many local doctors have left the areas under ISIS control, or are trying to leave, due to the escalating attacks by the organization's enemies and also due to the religious restrictions that ISIS imposes on them. According to the activist group called "Al-Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently," which reports on the situation in this ISIS stronghold in Syria, the cost of healthcare in the city has risen sharply because most medical practices and centers have closed, leaving only one hospital that provides free medical care.

To show that it has matters in hand, it publishes weekly photo reports on medical services in its territories, showcasing clinics and hospitals, vaccination drives, and professional courses being delivered to medical personnel. Many of the photos are of children receiving vaccinations or medical treatment; this is presumably meant to solicit sympathy among ISIS supporters and to present the organization as caring and humane. In addition, ISIS' media companies and the organization supporters periodically circulate photos, videos and blog entries that call upon healthcare professionals to perform hijra(migrate) to the Islamic State and participate in the war effort and in building the newly-founded caliphate. The organization and its supporters also threaten medical personnel who wish to leave the ISIS territories, as well as those who have already left, promising that they will be killed and that their clinics and property will be seized.

Video Shows TIP Militants Fighting Regime, Hizbullah Forces In Syria's Jubb Al-Ahmar Region

On February 29, 2016, the Voice of Islam media company, identified with the Uyghur jihad group TIP (Turkestan Islamic Party), released a video, some 10 minutes long, titled "And There Is No Victory Except from Allah - Part III." The video, posted on the Voice of Islam's Telegram account (telegram.me/sowtil) and elsewhere, shows TIP militants fighting regime and Hizbullah forces in Syria, in the region of the Jubb Al-Ahmar hills. The Uyghur fighters' faces are blurred to prevent recognition, except for the face of one man (the latter may be a fighter who has died, making concealment unnecessary).

ISIS Photo Report Shows Ninawa 'Air Defense Force' Fighting And Training

On March 2, 2016, ISIS in Ninawa Province released a series of photos showing the organization's "air defense brigade" fighting and training. The photos, posted on ISIS-associated Dawla News Telegram page and elsewhere, show fighters loading vehicle-mounted antiaircraft guns and firing at aircraft of the "Crusader-Shi'ite coalition," stripping and cleaning their weapons, and also relaxing during prayer and mealtimes. It should be noted that the equipment shown is outdated and mostly ineffective against modern military aircraft.

ISIS's Tripoli Province Presents The Good Works Of The Sirte 'Alms And Charity Center'

On February 27, 2016, ISIS's 'Tripoli Province' in Lybia released an 11-minute video titled" From Their Goods Take Alms." The video, posted on the jihadi forum Shomoukh Al-Islam (Shamikh1.biz) and elsewhere, documents the activity of the Alms and Charity Center that has been opened in the city of Sirte, while detailing the roles of its various departments. The center is described as a well-organized apparatus for collecting zakat (alms) from the wealthy and helping the needy, according to preset priorities and criteria.

ISIS Video Shows Collection Of Zakat - Obligatory Islamic Tax For Charity - And Distribution Of Cash And Goods To Needy Families In Homs, Syria

On March 1, 2016, the media office of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Homs released a video in which it announced the opening of an office for collecting zakat,that is, obligatory Islamic charity donations. The video, which showed members of the group collecting donations from individuals, among them owners of cattle, and distributing goods and money to needy families, was posted on the leading pro-ISIS jihadi forum Shumoukh Al-Islam.

ISIS Publishes Photos Of Da'wa Conference In Sirte

On March 2, 2016, the Islamic State (ISIS) released a series of photos documenting a da'wa conference that it held in the coastal Libyan city of Sirte.

In the past year, Sirte has become ISIS's main stronghold in the country. Most recently, ISIS has boasted about its "Alms and Charity Center" in the city and its provision of various social services to the local residents.

ISIS Song In French: 'For Allah Alone We Made This Choice, To Kill With Hearts Full Of Joy'

On February 28, 2016, ISIS's Al-Hayat Media Center released a new song (nashid) in French, titled "Pour Allah" ("For Allah"). The song, which was posted on Telegram and elsewhere, was previously featured in an ISIS video presenting posthumous messages from the Paris attackers. It is the second ISIS song in French released this month.

The song is performed by the brothers Fabien and Jean-Michel Clain, French nationals from the Reunion region of France in the Indian Ocean. They are the official voice of ISIS in French, presenting many ISIS audio materials in this language, including the daily news flashes on the organization's Al-Bayan radio.

Extremist British Preacher Abu Haleema Launches Telegram Channel, Which Is Then Promoted By ISIS Activists

On February 28, 2016, the London-based extremist preacher Abu Haleema launched a Telegram channel. Abu Haleema is already very active across various social media platforms, posting excerpts from his videos on Instagram and also sharing, via his official Facebook account, links to his videos on YouTube. Although Abu Haleema himself is not overtly pro-ISIS, his social media followers include ISIS fighters and supporters. He is likely not open about his affiliation due to his May 2015 arrest by Scotland Yard. On his Telegram channel, Abu Haleema stated, "We gonna be exposing these dodgy Taghoot [tyrants] scholars and the kufr [tyrant] and shirk [idolatry] they commit. I will be posting all my vids on here inShaAllah." It should be noted that his Telegram channel has been promoted by other pro-ISIS accounts. At the time of this writing, Haleema's channel had 250 members.

ISIS Activists Create Seemingly Innocuous Social Media Accounts To Share ISIS Content

Since social media platforms will often remove content that blatantly endorses a terrorist group and violates their terms of service, some Islamic State (ISIS) activists on these two platforms have adapted their dissemination strategy accordingly, and are taking a new approach to circulating ISIS content online. They are creating groups that claim to be anti-ISIS, such as "Campaign against ISIS terrorists' online presence" (a pro-ISIS group on Facebook), or that have seemingly innocuous names such as "Twitter News" (a pro-ISIS channel on Telegram); upon closer inspection, these groups turn out to be circulating content that would be subject to removal.

The Islamic State's 'Nasher' Blog On Tumblr

Recently, Islamic State (ISIS) supporters have begun promoting a new ISIS blog, nasheris.tumblr.com. The blog uses the name Nasher, or "publisher," a term that has become associated with publishing ISIS content across several platforms. On the secure messaging app Telegram, for example, Nasher channels have offered ISIS releases in many languages; the now-defunct Nasher.me domain, which operated in 2015, also published ISIS content. The Nasher app, released in August 2015, offered ISIS content directly to users' smartphones.

Ansar Al-Din Launches Official Media Company

On February 28, 2016, the jihad group Ansar Al-Din, which operates in Mali, announced the launch of its official media company, Rimaah ("Arrows").

Jihadi-Tech Group Launches Its Own Text-Sharing Website, Claims To 'Match' Leading Text- And Image-Sharing Website Justepaste.it

On March 1, 2016, the Al-Fajr Technical Committee (FTC), a group of tech-savvy jihadis, announced the launch of its own text-sharing website, PasteMaker, and boasted that it "matches" the text- and image-sharing website Justpaste.it.


In Bijnor town, Indian cleric offers 5.1 million rupees for anyone who beheads Kamlesh Tiwari

On December 3, 2015 police in the northern Indian city of Lucknow arrested Kamlesh Tiwari, a man associated with the Hindu Mahasabha, a Hindu interest organization. Ajay Kumar, a senior police officer of Lucknow, confirmed the arrest, saying that Kamlesh Tiwari "had circulated a paper allegedly containing derogatory comments against Muslims."[1] According to another media report, Tiwari had claimed to the press that "the Prophet Mohammed was the first homosexual."[2] Tiwari's statement was considered blasphemous by Muslims who led anti-blasphemy protests in different cities across India.

The blasphemy issue has emerged in India in a totally secular context. In India, gay sex is outlawed under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, a British colonial era code under which India administers criminal justice. The Supreme Court of India has upheld the constitutionality of the Section 377, saying it is for the lawmakers to amend the code. On November 29, 2015, Arun Jaitley, India's Finance Minister - whose ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged from the Hindu nationalist organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) - criticized the Supreme Court, calling its view on Section 377 "not in sync with the jurisprudential development on gay rights the world over."[3]

Jaitley's pro-gay rights statement was in turn criticized by Azam Khan, a loudmouth pro-Islamist Muslim minister in the government of Uttar Pradesh. According to a media report, Azam Khan criticized Jaitley's pro-gay rights statement, stating: "RSS leaders are homosexuals."[4] Responding to Azam Khan, on November 30 Kamlesh Tiwari allegedly issued a handwritten press statement in Hindi that read: "Hindu Mahasabha opposes Azam Khan's statement describing the RSS as a homosexual organization. Simultaneously, [it] gives a reply to the statement issued by Azam Khan... that Muhammad sahab was the world's first homosexual."[5]



The statement to the press allegedly by Kamlesh Tiwari (image courtesy: Bhaskar.com)

Anti-Blasphemy Protests By Islamists In Towns Across India

India has no anti-blasphemy laws, but does have laws against hate speech and incitement of religious tensions. Since Tiwari's statement led to anti-blasphemy protests by Muslim groups in different parts of India, he was arrested on December 3. In India, due to the political correctness known locally as "secularism," Hindu extremists are more likely to be arrested than Muslim extremists for fomenting religious hatred. Despite Kamlesh Tiwari's arrest, the Muslim protests against blasphemy committed by him did not stop.

On December 10, anti-blasphemy protests took place in the town of Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh state. At the protest, an unidentified Islamic cleric declared that 5.1 million rupees would be given to anyone who beheaded Kamlesh Tiwari for calling the Prophet Muhammad the world's first homosexual. A MEMRI TV clip shows the cleric issuing his statement:

"To affront or comment on any religious thing is wrong. Today, all Muslims have protested against Kamlesh Tiwari. If the Utter Pradesh government or courts punish him - that's fine. Otherwise, the Muslims of Bijnor have announced that 5.1 million rupees will be given for his beheading. The Muslims of Bijnor will give 5.1 million rupees to anyone who will behead him."[6]

The cleric warned: "Kamlesh Tiwari, whether you are in jail or anywhere else, you cannot escape. This is warning... [This statement is on the behalf] of Maulana Anwarul Haq Sadiq, of all Muslims of Bijnor, and of all the responsible ulema [Islamic religious scholars] of Bijnor."[7]

Some of the biggest protests were held in Bhopal, Indore and other cities of Madhya Pradesh, a central Indian state. On December 7, 2016, tens of thousands of Muslims gathered at Eidgah and Regal Square in Indore and demanded action against Kamlesh Tiwari for derogatory comments about the Prophet Muhammad, though Tiwari had been arrested four days previously.[8] A large protest was held in the state capital of Bhopal on December 5. Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, a religious organization with countrywide presence, and All India Majlis Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM, an Islamist political party) were the major participants in the protests.

Addressing the crowds, Mufti Ziaullah Khan, the chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind for Madhya Pradesh state, said: "A person insulting the Prophet Muhammad is bound to get a death sentence, and we demand this for... [Kamlesh Tiwari] by the government of India."[9] Mufti Amir Jamal of AIMIM said: "We respect the law, hence demand from the government to respect our sentiments and punish... [Kamlesh Tiwari] with death so that an example is set for all those who commit a similar offense."[10] Mufti Abdul Razzaq, the Mufti-e-Azam of Madhya Pradesh, told the crowd: "We live in India with complete loyalty and expect India's laws to remain impartial and loyal towards us when it comes to our religious sentiments, especially towards our Prophet. But if the law does not provide justice to us, then it will be hard for us to remain loyal towards the law, and we will have to take it in our own hands."[11]

Protests were also held in Deoband, Meerut, Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, Lucknow and other cities of Uttar Pradesh and in some cities of Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal, Jammu & Kashmir, Delhi, and other states of India.[12]

Islamists Rampage At Kaliachak In Malda, West Bengal



Islamists destroyed a police station at Kaliachak (image courtesy: Zee News)

On January 3, 2016, a mob of Islamists demanding death penalty for Kamlesh Tiwari turned violent at Kaliachak in Malda district of West Bengal, a state which borders with Bangladesh. For several days, mainstream Indian media houses and editors ignored the issue, as generally is the case with the media and police turning a blind eye to the Islamists - for example, Kamlesh Tiwari who issued the derogatory statement against Muhammad was quickly arrested but the cleric in Bijnor town who openly offered a reward of 5.1 million rupees for beheading was not arrested. Even the local Bangla-language media and Urdu dailies did not report the incident for several days. One writer observed: "Just like previous occasions, this time too, all vernacular media had imposed self-censorship."[13]

At Kaliachak, which is not far from the India-Bangladesh border, a protest was held by the Anjuman Ahle Sunnatul Jamaat (AJS), an organization of Barelvi clerics.[14] Barelvis are a doctrinal sect of the Sunni Islam. Their views about the unconditional honor of Prophet Muhammad match those of the Islamic State (ISIS), which for this reason attacked the headquarters of the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in Paris and killed 11 cartoonists and editors, in January 2015. In West Bengal, Islamists are emboldened for two reasons: There is a continuing infiltration of Muslims from Bangladesh who arrive in the state and bribe local officials to obtain proper documents; and the state's "secular" government is led by Mamata Banerjee, who would not care to antagonize her Muslim voters in this election year. In India, the practice of "secularism" - basically a form of political correctness that has come to be known as "sickularism" - supports Islamists and jihadis. For example, senior editor Shekhar Gupta wrote in one of his columns: "The Left intellectual domination of modern Indian thought, and its embrace by the Gandhi dynasty, resulted in lazy, static politics where the word 'secular' became synonymous with Muslim."[15]

When the Border Security Force (BSF) and locals cops attempted to manage the crowds, the Islamists attacked the police station at Kaliachak, blocked the highway, set fire to buses and police vehicles, and damaged government buildings. A senior police officer who did not identify himself told The India Today magazine: "The entire act of violence was carried out to terrorize the local administration and to take revenge against the police and security forces."[16] The report stated that all political parties - the ruling Trinamool Congress of Mamata Banerjee, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Congress of Sonia Gandhi - have cultivated a pro-Islamist constituency in order to get Muslim votes: "A strong anti-Hindu sentiment in the locality, reportedly propagated by all three political parties-ruling Trinamool Congress, Congress and CPI(M)-turned into massive violence..."[17]

Photos Of Anti-Blasphemy Protests Across India



Muslims protest in New Delhi (image courtesy: DNAIndia.com)



Young Muslims at an anti-blasphemy protest against Kamlesh Tiwari in Indore city (image courtesy: Hindustan Times)



A truck set afire by Islamists at Kaliachak in West Bengal (image courtesy: ABP News)



Azam Khan, the Muslim minister in Uttar Pradesh government who began the incitement (image courtesy: Hindujagruti.org)



At Mandya in Karnataka state, Muslims demand action against Kamlesh Tiwari (image courtesy: The Hindu)



Police vehicles set on fire by Islamists at Kaliachak (image courtesy: ABP News)



Anti-blasphemy protests in Bhopal on December 13 (image courtesy: The Indian Express)



In Muzaffarnagar town, Muslims lead anti-blasphemy march against Kamlesh Tiwari (image courtesy: Zee News)



In Bhopal, Muslims listen to Islamic clerics (image courtesy: YouTube video)



In Bangalore, an Islamic cleric delivers anti-blasphemy speech (image courtesy: Sahil Online)

* Tufail Ahmad is Director of MEMRI's South Asia Studies Project



Endnotes:
Days before the Valdai Discussion Club's February 25-26, 2016 conference in Moscow,[1] titled "The Middle East: From Violence to Security," the Saudi London-based daily Al-Hayat published a report on leading Russian political analysts' views about Russia's Middle East policy.



The Valdai International Discussion Club conference "The Middle East: From Violence to Security: Photo: Vitaliy Belousov, RT.com, February 26, 2016.

The report stated that according to Russian analysts, the outcome of the Russian campaign in Syria will determine whether the Kremlin will emerge as a winner with international influence, or will end up a loser. In order to win, they said, Russia needs Syria to remain a united entity - but Russia cannot count on the army of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad or on the capabilities of its local allies, that is, Hizbullah, to achieve this and it is only with its recent intensification of airstrikes that Russia has made military gains. They further explained that Russia's political victory is predicated on a military solution, and on creating a completely new situation, not on finding a political solution. In the meantime, even before it achieves a decisive military victory, Russia is already enhancing its global standing merely by stepping in, they said.

It should be stressed that this report reflects an Arab understanding of Russian policies.

The following is a translation of the Al-Hayat report, which was published February 23, 2016.

Russia's Policy Is Predicated Not On Achieving A "Comprehensive Deal" In Syria - But On Changing The Balance Of Power

"...Is the world on the brink of a third world war,[2] as Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev recently warned? An important group of Russian political analysts from the Valdai Discussion Club... believes that such a development is uncertain and is even the less plausible option...

"[Concerning Russia's role in Syria,] the Russian analysts do not hide their view that whatever the solution in Syria may be, it will... determine the contours of the new world order in which Russia is striving to create a discernible place for itselfOC

"In contrast to the situation on the eve of the Soviet Union's collapse, when the Russian regime settled for 'oral' guarantees [from the West] that Russian interests would be respected, the current Russian policy is working to impose [on the West] the guarantees it requires [to preserve its interests], by being actively involved in all regional and international issues... [This is] in an attempt to impose a reality that will dovetail with its aspirations. This policy is predicated not on achieving a 'comprehensive deal' [i.e. a comprehensive solution for the Syrian crisis], but on changing the balance of power by benefitting from the... mistakes made by the U.S. and other parties in their management [of regional and international issues].

"On the eve of the Soviet Union's collapse, Moscow agreed to dismantle the Warsaw Pact and destroy the Berlin Wall in exchange for promises [from the West] that the NATO alliance would not expand eastward and that Russia's interests in regions within its geopolitical sphere of influence would be respected. But the end result was that the NATO alliance did expand eastward and sought to impose a security and military closure on Russia, and that the U.S. began deploying in military bases in several former Soviet republics..."

For Russia, A Partition Of Syria Would Be The Worst Outcome

"This background underlines one of the main motives for the more radical Russian [approach] in Syria and in other regional crises. However, according to [Chairman of the Board of the Foundation for the Development and Support of the Valdai Discussion Club] Andrey Bystriitskiy, this [radical Russian approach in Syria and in other regional crises] does not reflect 'grandiose imperialist dreams' on Moscow's part, but rather an attempt [by Moscow] to involve itself in the accelerated changes taking place worldwide, in order to guarantee Moscow's interest in a way that allows it to formulate relations with the West on a new basis.

"Russian political analysts are divided into two groups. The first believes that Russia has a 'complete strategic concept' of what it wants. The second group believes that neither Russia nor most of the world powers have a strategy, and that what is occurring is that [each of them] are dealing with [today's] burning problems and are trying to exploit them early on in order to create a favorable terrain for securing [their own] objectives.

"[Regarding the Syrian crisis, there is a perception] that Russia's success in resolving the crisis in Syria in a manner that is favorable to Russia will not only... lay the groundwork for similar resolutions of regional and international problems, but will also [provide] a solution to most of Russia's current political and economic problems. This is because [such a resolution] will pave [the way for] a comprehensive examination [by the West] of Russia's relations with the E.U., the U.S., and the [world's] important regional blocs.

"For Russia, a defeat [in Syria] is a worse outcome than its [continuing] involvement in the Syrian swamp... For Russia, the partition of Syria would also be a worse outcome [than a continuation of the crisis] because this would plunge [Russia] into intensifying clashes with the many parties [that will result from such a partition] - and the outcome of these clashes cannot be predicted.

"The second group of Russian experts disputes this analysis. It believes that Russia's Plan B includes a partition of Syria, and that Russia will be compelled to turn to this option if it sees that it is beginning to lose its gamble on a comprehensive solution that will preserve its interests...

"In formulating its tactics and strategies, Russia is relying on the following principles:

- Exploiting the American retreat [from the Middle East] and the deep division within Europe on [the issue of the sanctions on] Russia, when an important part of [the EU] is prepared to immediately restore relations with Russia and form alliances with it.

- Presenting a Russian 'alternative' as a mediator in resolving regional conflicts, such between Iran and Saudi Arabia, as well as presenting initiatives for establishing joint security areas (the Gulf, Central Asia, etc.).

- Setting up short- and long-term mechanisms for settling international problems, in an attempt to become part of the new world order...

- Finding permanent allies who are ready to embrace the Russian concept of building regional security areas in various parts of the world...

"[However, both groups of] Russian analysts are in agreement that 'Egypt is currently Russia's main ally in the Middle East.'

Russian Experts: No Return To The Hafez Al-Assad Era In Syria

"[Valdai Discussion Club research director] Fyodor Lukyanov, who is editor of Russia in Global Affairs, does not seem pessimistic when speaking about a future settlement in Syria, especially in everything that pertains to the Munich track,[3] which he describes as the first step upon which a solution can be based. This, he notes, was demonstrated in other crises such as Bosnia and the Ukraine, where the first attempt to impose a ceasefire after a military conflict was unsuccessful, but it [a ceasefire] can nevertheless be implemented on the ground after a few [more] attempts.

"However, in contrast to the analysts' optimism regarding the 'settlement track,' they are in a near consensus with regard to Syria's future: Syria will never again be what it was, and whoever [in Syria] is counting on the return of 'Hafez Al-Assad's' Syria is under an illusion.

"[This] is why the international discussions on how Syria can be preserved [as a united political entity] have run into grave difficulties - it is impossible to discuss Syria's future without [first having] military achievements on the ground. Lukyanov stresses that when Russia decided to carry out direct military intervention, it was counting on the capabilities of the Syrian regime's army, and on [Syria's] on-site allies, to quickly alter the situation on the ground, with intensive support from the Russian Air Force. [Unfortunately], this turned out to be a bad bet, and it was only recently, with the intensified and expanded Russian airstrikes, that [Syrian] military achievements began to materialize.

"This helps explain the Russian [political] maneuvering in Munich and Geneva [to prevent Assad's removal], since the Kremlin sorely needed military achievements in the battle for Aleppo in order to be able to proceed with the political settlement track. Under such circumstances, the [February 2016] Turkish military maneuvers [on the Syrian border] and the talk about a possible Turkish ground intervention [in Syria] are worrying Moscow greatly...

"Lukyanov emphasizes... that there is currently no [world] power that can force the elements in the region to accept specific [political solutions] or impose new maps, including delineating the contours of a new Middle East..."

A New Regional Order Will Arise From Regional Wars

"The Russian experts believe that... a new order in the Middle East will be drenched in blood, and that it cannot be the outcome of deals by the great powers, that it must derive from a series of regional wars, and that Syria is not the end of the story.'

"At the same time, Lukyanov rejects the Russian decision makers' prevailing notion that the U.S. is behind the region's problems. The American administration is not strong enough [for that], and also has serious problems comprehending the rapid developments [there] - even though it is trying to benefit from them and to exploit the region's crises. Most of its activity is a [mere reaction] to developments as they occur.

"[Lukyaniv is] clearly alluding here to the absence of an American strategy for the region. But it is even clearer that all the international forces currently dealing with the region's crisis- Russia included - lack strategies.

"While President Barack Obama's administration prefers to spread its bets across several parties in the region in order to achieve maximal benefit from future developments, Moscow prefers to bet on one party, i.e. the Bashar Al-Assad regime. Although this policy is risky, Moscow has also won some important things thanks to it. [For example,] it proved that it is firmly adhering to its positions, which, in turn, reinforces its standing vis-a-vis its allies, while there is increasing displeasure with the U.S. policy of 'saying one thing and doing another'... Moscow believes that its regional losses due to its support of Assad are not many, because it has gained much from [standing by its allies]. This contrasts... with the U.S.'s nebulous and feeble positions..."

Moscow Knows That The Next U.S. President Will Be Firmer Towards Russia

"Russia is waging its major campaign in Syria [as a gamble] in which it either wins and emerges with clear achievements on the regional and international levels, [or it loses and] President Putin will have to acknowledge his strategic failure. The Kremlin decided to stick to its path and [proceed with determination in] waging the fateful campaign - hence the recent major military escalation, since he [Putin] cannot allow the Assad regime to collapse, even though he [Assad] is not a satisfactory ally for the Russians and is 'deluded.'

"As for [Russia's] complex relationship with Assad, the Russian experts believe that Moscow clearly understands the Syrian regime's composition and the 'symbolic' weight of Assad as the leader, [realizing that] his [eventual forced] resignation [would cause the immediate collapse of the entire regime]. [This means that] Russia will lose its whole bet in one stroke.

"On the other hand, the experts believe that Russia is in a weak position for pressuring Assad, and Moscow knows that he could reject warnings from Moscow. Therefore, it is trying to handle the Syrian situation carefully, and prefers to send [Assad] indirect messages.

"The Russian experts' analysis leads to one conclusion: The Russian bet is predicated on a military solution and on imposing a comprehensive [new] situation on the ground, which will make negotiations a desired objective [for all other parties]. Therefore, they believe, the principle of creating a national unity government in Syria cannot meet Russia's needs. Nor is it possible, from the Russian point of view, to allow the Syrian regime's departure in the framework suggested in the Geneva formula, which is based on setting up a governing transitional body with full executive powers [that will strip Assad of the authority that he now has]. Moscow has buried this formula of the Munich-Geneva process.

"Moscow is also aware that the next president in Washington, of which ever party, will be much harsher towards Russia, and will adopt a much clearer Middle East policy. Therefore, Russia's window of opportunity [to achieve its goals] will not remain open for long."

Endnotes:
Nothing could be more bizarre. Or embarrassing. A passenger on a British Airways flight headed to Dubai pooped so bad that the flight had to return. The smell emanating from the loo soon became unbearable for the passengers and even the poor crew (pity their job right now) couldnt salvage the situation.

 Reuters

The plane had departed from Heathrow Airport in London and by the time it reached Brussels in Belgium, the smell had become so intolerable that the passengers and the crew could barely breathe.

An Indian-origin British politician Abhishek Sachdeva was on the plane with his wife and daughter when this happened and tweeted about the incident.

Insane! Our BA flight to Dubai returned back to Heathrow because of a smelly poo in the toilet! 15hrs until next flight... #britishairways  Abhishek Sachdev (@CllrAbhiSach) March 12, 2015

Although the airline offered food and hotel accommodation to the passengers, much discomfort was caused because there was a 15-hour delay to the next flight. Its been almost a year since this incident happened but luckily for the pooper, his identity was not revealed.

 Thinkstock/Getty Images

Image for representational use only.

Theres no end to embarrassing situations in life, but there are some incidents so embarrassing you wish you were an ostrich buried in the depths of the earths crust. What is your most embarrassing ever incident?
Heads up Instagram addicts! Finally, something has come up to cash your useless IG photo clicking talent on. Instagram, in association with Netflix, is running a contest called the Grammsters wherein a selected few IG heads will travel to Europe and Middle East, and well, click photos.

 Instagram

You will be clicking photos of the sets of popular Netflix original shows and movies. The best thing is all the travel expenses will be paid in full and you will be pocketing a whopping $4000 USD or Rs. 2,68,000 for the two-week gig. All you have got to do is follow @Netflix on Instagram and tag three of your best photos with #grammasters3 by March 6th. Theres no word on what will the criterion IG is going to judge your pictures on but do give your best. Good luck!
The flood of bad news just doesnt seem to come to an end for Vijay Mallya. If things were not already worse for him, the State Bank of India (SBI) wants Kingfishers tycoon Vijay Mallya to be arrested. In fact, SBI also seeks confiscation of his passport and wants to secure first right to the $75 million severance package that he will receive for quitting Diageo-owned United Spirits (USL). Mallya was serving as the chairman of the organisation.

This move is actually a bid to recover the loan of more than Rs. 7,000 crore that Mallya failed to pay and was declared a wilful defaulter for. SBI, along with 17 lenders, moved the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) in Bengaluru for seizure of his passport, his arrest, seeking right to the $75 million and total disclosure of his assets both in the domestic as well as international territory.

 Reuters

This move now seems legit as since 2012, the loan taken by Mallya has not been serviced, while sources suggest that he is planning to leave the country and settle in London. Some of the lenders include Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Bank of India, Central Bank of India, Federal Bank, Uco Bank and Dena Bank among others.

Interestingly, the consortium of lenders led by SBI has also decided to auction Mallyas Kingfisher House in Mumbai in the second half of March to recover a part of Rs. 6900-crore (approx) debt from Kingfisher.

H/t - PTI
Responsibility 35 Years: The Mectizan Donation Program The Mectizan Donation Program is the longest-running, disease-specific drug donation program of its kind

Our commitment: as much as needed, for as long as needed"

For centuries, river blindness  also known as onchocerciasis  plagued remote communities in Africa, Latin America and Yemen, and there was no answer to this affliction.

This all began to change in the mid-to-late 1970s when Dr. William Campbell of Merck Research Laboratories suggested the use of ivermectin (later named Mectizan) for river blindness in humans. Following the breakthrough lab work by Dr. Campbell, another Merck researcher, Dr. Mohammed Aziz, championed the clinical development of Mectizan. Dr. Aziz led the collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) in the early 1980s to design and implement field studies in West Africa that, ultimately, proved the effectiveness of the drug against river blindness. In 1987, Merck committed to donate Mectizan  as much as needed, for as long as needed  with the goal to help eliminate river blindness. MDP partners include: World Health Organization, the Task Force for Global Health, ministries of health, non-governmental development organizations, academic institutions and local communities in endemic communities.

A ground-breaking public-private partnership

In order to reach this goal, Merck leaders recognized that many organizations with unique skills would need to work together as a team. To enable this collaboration, Merck established the Mectizan Donation Program (MDP), a ground-breaking public-private partnership. Operating from the Atlanta-based Task Force for Global Health, the MDP coordinates technical and operational activities between Merck, WHO, endemic countries, and a range of public and private stakeholders.

Building on the successful implementation of the river blindness program, in 1998 Merck expanded its commitment to include donating Mectizan for another neglected tropical disease, lymphatic filariasis, also known as elephantiasis, in African countries and Yemen where it co-exists with river blindness. For lymphatic filariasis, Mectizan is administered with albendazole, a drug donated by GSK.

In November 2017, in support of new WHO guidelines, Merck announced an expansion of the program to reach up to an additional 100 million people per year through 2025 as part of the global effort to eliminate lymphatic filariasis.

More than thirty years later, the results of the MDP speak for themselves. Several countries in Africa are making significant progress towards eliminating both diseases. In Latin America, four countries  Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Guatemala  have received WHO verification of river blindness elimination. Lymphatic filariasis has now been eliminated in Togo, Yemen and Malawi. Both river blindness and lymphatic filariasis are on WHOs list of neglected tropical diseases targeted for elimination globally.

Pioneering a community-directed approach

Today, the MDP is the longest-running, disease-specific drug donation program of its kind and has been influential in the development of a number of other drug donation programs. And, the MDPs community-directed strategy used to distribute Mectizan has enabled add-on health services to be introduced in remote communities where health services are limited. The program reaches more than 300 million people in the affected areas annually, with more than 4.4 billion treatments donated since 1987.

People in the communities are an integral part of the distribution process in 49 countries where Mectizan has been distributed.

According to Uche Amazigo, former director of the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control, by engaging the people, the treatment coverage increased significantly.

This pioneering program has changed the face of global health over the past three decades, said Yao Sodahlon, head of the MDP. When I visit communities where Mectizan is donated, I can see how the program has helped alleviate suffering and allowed people to live better and healthier lives.

What are river blindness and lymphatic filariasis?

River blindness (onchocerciasis) River blindness is one of the leading causes of preventable blindness worldwide. Transmitted through the bite of black flies  which live and breed near fast-flowing streams and rivers  and can cause intense itching, permanent skin and eye lesions and, over time, blindness. It has historically been prevalent in remote rural areas of 36 countries (in Africa, Latin America, and in Yemen.) Lymphatic filariasis (LF) Also known as elephantiasis, LF results in disfiguring swelling in the limbs and genitals. Parasitic infection spread by mosquitoes and damages the human lymphatic system. More than 1.3 billion people are at risk, and 30 percent of those infected live in Africa.

35 years later, results of this program speak for themselves

More than 4.4 billion cumulative treatments Donations to 49 countries

Through the efforts of a variety of partners, more than 4.4 billion treatments have been donated to 49 countries in Africa, Latin America, Eastern Mediterranean, Asia, and South Pacific. River blindness transmission has been interrupted  meaning no new cases have been identified  in four of the six affected countries in Latin America and regions in five African countries. The program reaches more than 300 million people annually.

Today, the MDP is the longest-running, disease-specific drug donation program of its kind.

We are proud of the positive difference that the Mectizan Donation Program has made in the lives of so many people, their families and communities, and health care systems over the years. Together, with our alliance of partners, we will continue to support endemic countries in their commitment to eliminate these devastating diseases. Rob Davis, CEO and President, Merck

Explore our history of helping bring treatment to those afflicted by river blindness and elephantiasis
Armenia Energy Minister: No decisions on Iran-Georgia gas transit yet, but we can do this

Armenia is able to ensure the transit of Iranian gas to Georgia.Armenias Energy Minister Yervand Zakharyan stated the aforementioned in parliament today, responding to a question from Lyudmila Sargsyan.According to him, the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline is currently filled by only 15-20 percent, and Armenia can use it to ensure the needed transit of 500 mln cu m of gas annually.The issue is being discussed, but no concrete decisions have been mde yet, he said.The capacity of the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline is about 2 bln 200 mln cu m annually. Currently, roughly 365-370 mln is used out of that volume for the operation of Yerevan Thermal Power Plant (TPP). Two new TPPs with the capacity of 234 mWt are planned to be constructed in Armenia. Considering this, 1 bln cu m capacity remains free for perspectives and the Iranian side is voicing the figure of 500 mln.The CEO of the National Iranian GasExports Company (NIGEC), Alireza Kameli , publicly announced the gas supply talks with Georgia in early January.
Creating visa-free regime between breakaway regions illegal, says Azerbaijan

By Messenger Staff

Creating a visa-free regime between breakaway regions is illegal, Hikmet Hajiyev, a spokesperson for Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry told reporters Feb. 24.He was commenting on the information about the possibility of creation of a visa-free regime between the breakaway regions of Azerbaijan and Georgia  Nagorno-Karabakh and Abkhazia.Azerbaijan supports Georgias territorial integrity and sovereignty, and this position has been once again reflected in Tbilisi's declaration adopted during the fifth trilateral meeting of the Azerbaijani, Georgian and Turkish foreign ministers, said Hajiyev.He added that there is an unrecognized regime on the Azerbaijani territories occupied by Armenia.Hajiyev said that visa matters on Azerbaijans territory are regulated under the Azerbaijani Migration Code and any activity beyond this is illegal.There is a warning about trips to the occupied regions on the website of Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry, he said. The Foreign Ministry calls on Azerbaijani citizens not to visit the mentioned territories, which are not controlled by Georgias central government, without the permission of the relevant structures.A brief war between Georgia and Russia broke out in South Ossetia on August 8 2008, which resulted in Russian troops occupying Tskhinvali and having soundly defeated the Georgian military.Russia recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in late August. In response, Tbilisi cut diplomatic ties with Moscow and claimed that the two unrecognized republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia were now occupied territories.The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France and the US - are currently holding peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council's four resolutions on the withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
N. KOTZIAS: Good afternoon. It is a great pleasure to have here with us today the Turkish delegation, headed by my friend the Foreign Minister of Turkey, Mevlut Cavusoglu.



I welcome him to Athens and I hope we will have other opportunities in the future to have these types of meetings: creative, open and sincere talks.



We and our government, as well as Greece as a whole, are in favor of the development, often in the midst of difficulties, of Greek-Turkish relations, based on good neighbourliness and international law.



To the degree that they can, Greece and Turkey will resolve their problems, will constitute a strong stabilizing factor in the region.



Obviously, we discussed the upcoming meetings; that is, the Summit Meeting this Monday, in Brussels, at which the European Union and Turkey will discuss the refugee crisis, and of course the High-Level Cooperation Council between Greece and Turkey, which will take place in Izmir on 8 March  World Womens Day, as you know, and I hope no one forgets to honor that day.



Mevlut and I discussed the issues in the relations between Turkey and the EU, the experiences we have from the European Union, the problems the European Union is facing, as well as the agreement on NATO assistance in dealing with the refugee issue.



We are talking with Turkey  especially to the degree that it concerns us, of course  about the external aspect of the Cyprus issue, which concerns the guarantors of the Zurich and London agreements, the guarantor powers. We want a solution to be found on the Cyprus issue that corresponds to the hopes, the tribulations and the prospects of both the Turkish Cypriots and the Greek Cypriots, so that they can all feel at home and secure in a sovereign, independent, federal, bicommunal, bizonal state.



Together with the Cyprus issue  the solution of which problem will also bolster Greek-Turkish relations  we are talking about and talked about the course of the exploratory talks. As you know, this past Tuesday we had the 60th round of these talks, and we exchanged thoughts and proposals on issues that are the subject of the exploratory talks.



Naturally, the major problems of our region were discussed at this meeting. More specifically, the problems linked to the war in Syria, to the war in Iraq, and to the situation in Libya.



We hope and desire that countries with a different geographical position will stop the wars so there can be peace, and so the root of the new refugee problem we are facing can be dealt with. Naturally, we talked about the regions and countries with major negative repercussions from the war and the refugee crisis. I am referring in particular to Lebanon and Jordan, as well as the major issues our country and Turkey are facing due to the refugee crisis.



We agreed that the refugee crisis is not a Turkish issue, is not a Greek issue; nor can it be limited to Greek-Turkish relations. It is a global issue, in its European expression, that concerns the whole of Europe and, of course, has left its mark on Greece and Turkey.



We also talked about cooperation issues. That is, we also talked about the problems that exist in our relations and the way to solve those problems, but we talked much more about the positive aspects, the ways in which we can develop the relations between the two countries.



We talked about the cooperation that will be the subject of the Council in Izmir on Tuesday. We looked at the agreements there were in the past. Some of these have gone into implementation  from the previous three Councils  but some require that we do better work so they can be implemented.



Our cooperation concerns many, many sectors. First of all, we are aware of the major development in tourism, with a million Turks coming to Greece and 700,000 Greeks  proportionately more  going to Turkey.



We have the major plans of energy cooperation, which are expressed, first of all, in the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and the vertical corridor that we agreed on recently, with the competent Minister, Panos Skourletis, signing with Bulgaria and Romania.



We talked about how we can develop investments on both sides and the reverse the trend that, due to the economic crisis in Greece and the international problems, has limited trade between the two countries. That is, how we can collaborate in the manufacturing sector.



And there are issues that we will discuss in greater depth on Monday, like the refugee issue. And we made preparations that are not necessary for the press, but are necessary for our delegations on Monday.



And we also made preparations that will be expressed positively and, I hope, with success on Tuesday, with regard to our cooperation in the sectors of economic policy, joint economic plans. And of these I would like to mention two plans that I consider to be of extreme importance, as you know that I am a fan of developing the connectivity networks of the states in the region.



There is the plan for a high-speed train from Istanbul to Thessaloniki and, if we can, to Igoumenitsa. And there is the plan for linking Izmir with Thessaloniki by ferry, which will facilitate the transport of persons and merchandise.



Connectivity in general, with energy, trains, roads throughout the Balkans and throughout the region, and particularly with Turkey, is a network that facilitates stability and security, cooperation and mutual understanding in our region.



I must say that, on issues on which we have differences, as well as on issues on which we are working hard, jointly, to develop, our talks are always friendly, taking place within the framework of concern for seeking solutions. And that is why I think that Mevluts presence here today, at our Ministry and in Athens, assists the development of Greek-Turkish relations.



He is very tired, but he put up with us, because he was on a tour with the Turkish President, with Mr. Erdogan, of four African countries. Their construction firms are doing better than ours, and thus they have projects there. And he returned in the early morning hours today from that long trip, and I want to thank him in particular for his patience, after such a trip, in coming here so we could have our talks. These are friendly talks, and that is why, once again, Mevlut, welcome to Athens. It is a pleasure for us to have you here and talk, as we should talk, about the relations between our two states and peoples. Thank you very much.



. CAVUSOGLU: My dear friend Nikos, I thank you very much for what you said, for your very kind invitation, for the wonderful hospitality. I want to thank you personally and on behalf of the whole delegation. It was very pleasant for us to come to Athens today, and I must say that I am always happy to talk to you, to see you.



In this regard, I want to say that it is a pleasure and a success for me to have the opportunity to talk with my friend Nikos. Normally, this visit would have started this morning, but due to the trip we took with the Turkish President, to African countries, we returned to Turkey this morning, and this delayed our arrival in Greece.



Subsequently, we will have talks and a meeting with the President of the Hellenic Republic and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.



Before we get to the refugee issue, I would also like to say that our visit to Africa was not just for opening up new fields of activity for Turkish construction firms, for construction firms. We have a broad framework and field of activity in Africa, including the humanitarian aid we can provide to these countries.



I will also say that, in the talks with the Greek Foreign Minister, we discussed various bilateral and international issues. We reexamined the agenda for this Tuesdays High-Level Council in Izmir, but before that we will also meet again in Brussels, on Monday, 7 March.



Regarding bilateral cooperation, let me say that we talked about and agreed that it does not suffice to sign various agreements at the High-level Councils  these agreements have to be implemented.



We also talked about projects that will further boost the economic, trade and real connection of the peoples of the two countries, like the high-speed rail line linking Istanbul with Thessaloniki, like the line that will link Izmir and Thessaloniki by ferry and will be serviced with freight-type vessels.



On the energy level, each has his vision, his dream. We concluded that the most realistic of these are the TAP and the TANAP, and we agreed that the acceleration of the TANAP project will also help in the development and acceleration of the TAP. We believe that the various issues that exist on both sides should be settled.



Regarding the Cyprus issue and the energy deposits that will be exploited by Cyprus, Israel and, potentially, Egypt, Turkey proposes that it be the transit territory for these energy deposits, natural gas, etc.



Naturally we know, and we said this again in our one-on-one meeting, that there are differences and problems that need to be resolved in Greek-Turkish relations. However, it is very, very positive that the proceedings of the committees are continuing for the exploratory talks, a round of which took place this past Tuesday. Both sides believe that we need to avoid any intervention, any statement that will cause the climate that exists between Greece and Turkey to deteriorate.



The two sides also agreed that on the issue of the settlement of the Cyprus problem there are matters on which Great Britain, Greece, and Turkey have a say, as guarantor powers. But the first say goes to the Cypriot people, the two communities. And I think that the solution to the Cyprus issue must be an acceptable and viable solution, because this solution will be put to a referendum that needs to have a positive result. Both Greece and Turkey, but mainly the two sides in Cyprus, should conclude on solutions that can be accepted by the two communities. I know that my friend Nikos, representing Greece, is making a huge effort in this area.



We also talked in detail about  and we will continue to discuss  the issues being faced in the wider region, like those of Syria and Iraq. We believe that these issues concern not only Turkey and Greece. They are issues of global, and not just European, scope.



However, the repercussions on a humanitarian level are huge, and they are being experience by Greece and Turkey. We need to look at what we, as Turkey, and you, as Greece, can do, and at what we can do in cooperation with the European union.



There is a joint action plan that was decided on at the end of November. As Nikos said earlier, the refugee issue is not Turkish or Greek. Our issue is how we will resolve it, how this huge influx, this refugee and humanitarian crisis, will be resolved.



Each side must take its measures. We have taken specific measures on the issue of visas from third countries, and we saw that the results of this new legislation are very, very positive with regard to the flow of refugees through Turkey.



Of course, we support and will always support the NATO forces operating in the Aegean to assist with this refugee crisis.



We also assess our bilateral relations on a regular basis, especially in the context of the exploratory talks. We are aware, and we reiterate once again, that Greece is the neighbour of Turkey with which Turkey wants to cooperate, and we must capitalize on every opportunity to deepen the existing cooperation framework.



We have to make this framework even more effective. Of course, there are also issues that directly concern the European Union. The European Union, too, is facing its own internal problems.



My friend Nikos is a politician whom I truly value. He is a politician and a thinker who questions assumptions and presents issues from another perspective, and this is a stance that I very much value.



As such, I had the opportunity and the good fortune to hear him analyze, if only briefly, the issue of the European Union and the issue of the global state of affairs. I think that Mondays meeting in Brussels and our meeting on Tuesday, in Izmir, will further contribute to bilateral relations.



JOURNALIST: Mr. Foreign Minister of Turkey, I would like to ask this: In the framework of the cooperation and assistance of Turkey in dealing with the refugee problem, will the agreement that exists with Greece and the European Union on the readmission of irregular migrants be activated and implemented?



And the second question, as you referred to the improvement of relations and the climate of trust that must exist between the two countries: I would like to ask how Turkey will contribute when, almost daily, we have violations of Greek airspace, even within the zone of six nautical miles, and when, just a month ago, on the island of Kinaros, in the heart of the Aegean, on the occasion of the crash of a Greek helicopter, which cost the lives of three officers, Turkey wanted to carry out the search and rescue. If you dont know where Kinaros is, I could give you an idea: It would be like Greece wanting to carry out a search and rescue operation at Canakkale or Mugla. Thank you.



M. CAVUSOGLU: Thank you very much. We have a readmission agreement that we signed with Greece and Bulgaria and with other countries of the European Union. And we are making preparations to sign additional readmission agreements.



We have accepted a large portion of the requests submitted by the Greek side to Turkey for readmission, and we have also amended a legislative framework on this issue, and we have the results of this. I think there were 860 requests for readmission from the Greek side to Turkey, and 99% have been accepted. That is, almost all of them have been carried out.



Regarding third-country applicants for asylum, we are trying and we have started working towards a number of agreements with third countries for readmission. These countries include Afghanistan, Pakistan, Morocco. And I believe that in the coming time we will have the opportunity to implement these readmission agreements, which are progressing very well and will be signed very soon.



Of course, there is also the humanitarian aspect of the Turkish contribution to the refugee problem, like the camps we have built close to the border with Syria and where the Syrians can stay, the large number of Syrian refugees.



Of course, the second issue is the issue of violations of airspace. I refer to what I said in my speech; that is, the existing legal disagreements between the two countries.



However, I would like to underscore the following: On issues of humanitarian aid and on issues of cooperation in the sector of humanitarian aid, we do not exploit human misery for political gains. And this has been proven in the past.



When Turkey was hit by the natural disasters, the earthquakes, the first to assist Turkey were its neighbours, the Greeks. I want to say that the issues with a humanitarian dimension should not be confused with political or legal issues. The issue of which is your island, which is mine, when it is a rescue matter, we raise no issues there.



And I think that we should separate very carefully the humanitarian and political dimensions of the issues we are facing. As such, in this framework, too, we are determined to continue our talks in this spirit.



N. KOTZIAS: I would like to say that the battle against the refugee problem  and not against the refugees; there are some in our country who confuse this: it is one thing to deal with a problem and another to deal with souls who need help  in this battle, what we agreed with the Minister is that there needs to be a major, systematic effort to combat the new networks that have been set up, traffickers, mafia structures, of which the turnover is currently estimated to be 6 billion.



The refugee problem got tangled up in illegal business as well. And this also requires special handling and cooperation.



With regard to the problems in the Aegean, the exploratory talks are being carried out precisely for this purpose. So we can agree on how to overcome these problems. Greece is not a revisionist power. Greece believes in good neighbourly relations and the implementation of international law.



JOURNALIST: I am from Edirne, and I have interviewed the Minister. My question concerns the Cyprus issue. In the talks on the Cyprus issue, I would like to ask you how you assess the progress that has been made on this issue. Are you optimistic? I would like to hear your opinion, Your Excellency Mr. Minister.



N. KOTZIAS: I have the bad habit, when I am being interviewed, of also interviewing my interviewer. I, too, ask questions, because I believe that the great wealth in life is to get to know people. This is the most important thing  more important than money or power. It is people and getting to know them well.



But because there was to be a meeting between Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey in Edirne, regarding the waters of the Evros river  a meeting that Bulgaria could not attend and that did not take place in the end  we had a conversation beforehand with my colleague Mevlut, that I know a journalist who is from Edirne, and there you are, in the front row. Thus the comment.



As I also say in interviews that I give in the Turkish press, who are kind enough to request interviews frequently, the question is not whether I am optimistic or not. The question is that we have to work in such a way as to be optimistic. That is, optimism arises from our contribution to resolving issues.



As you know, we, Greece, dont get involved in the internal aspect of the Cyprus issue, because that is an issue of the Republic of Cyprus, it is an issue of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities. We talk, with regard to the negotiations on the Cyprus issue, on issues linked to our capacity as a member state of the European union and as a guarantor power, together with Turkey and the UK on this. You know my position: that we consider this system to be anachronistic, that the byproducts of this system must be abolished. These are issues that we discuss with Mevlut very frequently  much more frequently than is apparent from the news cycle.



Because, you know, foreign policy is not a space of public relations. Nor is it a space in which to make a show of whether we are working or not. It is a space that also requires silence and calm and composure and the shaping of good relations that we have between people, so that we can, with trust between them, contribute to the resolution of issues.



Now, whether progress has been made. I think, as far as I can tell and have the right, that in many aspects that concern the Cyprus issue, internal aspects, the two sides have made progress and there are a number of convergences that can facilitate a comprehensive agreement.



The Cyprus issue  because these have been discussed, or are going to be discussed  is coming to the major issues. The territorial, economic aspect of the solution of the problem; governance, guarantees, presence of foreign troops  the more difficult issues are coming, but the preparation that has been made on the other issues is good.



And what Mevlut said  which we agree on  is that the solution must be considered fair and acceptable for both sides, for both of the communities of Cyprus, as well as for the three small minorities, as I tend to underscore. The Maronite, Latin and Armenian minorities. Small communities, but existing communities. They too have their rights.



The solution must be such that both the Turkish Cypriots and the Greek Cypriots, and all of the others, feel that it is their home, that it is worth defending it, developing it; that they can dream, that their children will stay, grow up, prosper, as we say in Greece, on this island. Both communities must have a sense of security, and any sense of fear  deriving from many historical factors that we wont go into right now  must be eliminated. I have spoken publicly about these from time to time. Last year, for the first time, coming from the UN, I talked about these issues.



What I want to say, once again, is that our role is to help with a proper solution, based on international law, universal human values, the choices made by the Cypriots themselves.



We have taken steps forward. We need to find the way to resolve the most difficult issues. The conversation we are having justifies one in feeling that one has the right to create optimism for a good solution.



Thank you very much.
The nasty personal tweets and sound bites of the 2016 Republican presidential campaign are reverberating in classrooms, running counter to the anti-bullying policies that have emerged in recent years amid several high-profile suicides.

For teacher David Arenstam's high school class in Saco, Maine, the campaign has been one long civics lesson: "Can you really ban a whole group of people from coming into the country?" the students will ask, or "What's the KKK, and do they still really exist?"

But mostly, Arenstam said, when it comes to Republican Donald Trump, students "can't believe nobody calls him on the carpet the way that they would be called on the carpet if they said those things."

There's Donald Trump calling Ted Cruz a "loser" and a "liar" and singling out Muslims and Mexicans for criticism. And there's Marco Rubio mocking Trump's "worst spray tan in America" and calling him a "con artist."

Cruz says nearly every day on the campaign trail, "I don't respond to insults" and he has been careful not to engage when Trump and others call him names. But during the Jan. 28 Republican debate which Trump didn't attend, it was Cruz who made some quasi-insults he said Trump would have lobbed: "Let me say I'm a maniac and everyone on this stage is stupid, fat and ugly," Cruz said, snickering that he was getting "the Donald Trump portion out of the way."

On Thursday, Mitt Romney, the 2012 GOP presidential nominee, jumped into the fray, branding him "a phony, a fraud."

"Imagine your children and your grandchildren acting the way he does," Romney said. "Would you welcome that?"

In the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have focused more on policy than on each other. The Republican race is a different story.

"If students are following this election  and they should be  we have a lot of re-educating to do," Buffalo school administrator Will Keresztes said. Much of the rhetoric would violate not only the district's code of conduct, he said, but the state's Dignity for all Students Act.

The conflict landed on Sioux City, Iowa, Superintendent Paul Gausman's doorstep after Trump decided to hold a campaign rally in a school building. The move sparked a protest from some students  who cited their own anti-bullying rules in trying to stop it.

"He makes people at his events think that saying the kinds of things he does to other people is OK. It's not OK," protest organizer Ismael Valadez of neighboring South Sioux City, Nebraska, said at the time.

In the end, it was the idea of free speech, the right to assemble and policies against discriminating based on something someone said or did that prevailed, Gausman said this week.

"I was very proud of our students for the way they engaged in the political process in a respectful manner, and I think they made their point," said the superintendent, whose district was featured in the 2012 documentary "Bully."

This is not the first campaign to get ugly, but educators, parents and students say this one is particularly challenging because often the biggest applause lines and headline-grabbers fly in the face of appeals for students be respectful and kind.

Pickerington, Ohio, school counselor Kris Owen said students should be reminded that potential colleges and employers won't find a Twitter feed full of insults as amusing as some have found the candidates'. She suggested using the comments as conversation starters.

"Say, 'Listen, how would you feel if someone was saying these things about you? How could this person approach it differently or why don't you all develop your own campaigns using positive tools instead of the negativity?'" said Owen, who was recognized at the White House last month as a School Counselor of the Year finalist.

Candidates "need to think of what's important, the issues, not whether one gets a spray tan. It's just ridiculous," Ryan Lysek's mother, Cindy Lysek, said.

Ryan's teacher at Lorraine Academy worries about the future of the bullying prevention efforts promoted by President Barack Obama in recent years, which included a 2011 White House anti-bullying summit and a 2010 YouTube video for the "It Gets Better" project aimed at bullied gay youth.

"Now we have these people that want to be president that are completely turning it around and sending this horrible message to all of America that I'm a bully and that's how I want to get into the presidency," said Kelly Gasior, who organizes an anti-bullying 5K at the school each year. "What are they going to do with the bullying problem that's going in schools?"

During a debate before the fifth grade class elections, the moderator asked candidates to say nice things about a rival's ideas. Olivia Mashtaire, another of Gasior's students, praised a classmate's call to clean up the courtyard.

The 10-year-old was elected president.

"I didn't have any rude comments in my head," she said. "I liked everybody's ideas."
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Family members of Diane Ross gathered this morning at the Midland Law Enforcement Center to speak with the detectives whose work led to an arrest 25 years after Ross was killed.

It hasnt sunk in yet, said Lindy Barton, of the news Thursday afternoon that an arrest was made her sisters death. It took 25 years, but it came in my lifetime.

Midland County Sheriffs Office detectives and the Michigan State Police arrested the suspect, 51-year-old Michael Todd McIntyre, Thursday afternoon. He has been charged with felony murder and first-degree premeditated murder in connection with Ross killing, a media release states.

Im stunned that they caught him after this long, said John Timmons, Ross son-in-law.

Its been a long time coming, for sure, added Angie Timmons, Ross daughter and Johns wife. This will bring some closure.

Sheriff Scott Stephenson said McIntyre was a local resident at the time of the killing, and now resides in the Detroit area. McIntyre was scheduled to be arraigned this morning by Midland County Circuit Court Judge Stephen P. Carras.

Ross, 43, was attacked by a masked assailant about 1 a.m. while sleeping in her North 11 Mile Road home, just off M-20, on Aug. 7, 1991. Her killer used a broken pool cue to beat her in the head.

Ross grandson, age 5 at the time, witnessed the attack and later ran to a relatives home for help. Ross was found lying on her bedroom floor, covered in blood, but still breathing. She died later that day at the hospital.

Ross had lost both of her legs to a blood disorder, and she was confined to a wheelchair. Ross spent her days caring for her grandson, cooking, cleaning and living a quiet life, Barton told the Daily News in 2013.

The cold case was reopened by detectives in 2012 and additional investigation began in early 2013. Detectives looking at the case found further information, including additional witnesses and physical evidence.

Were very pleased that we can start to provide closure for the family of Diane Ross, Stephenson said, pointing to the hard work of detectives Brent Benzing and Scott Holzinger. They are two of the best detectives in the state of Michigan, and have earned compliments from sheriffs offices across the state, the Michigan State Police and the FBI, he said.

The sheriffs office was assisted by Midland County Prosecutor J. Dee Brooks, Attorney General Bill Schuette, the Michigan State Police and the FBI.
The union, active in 10 states, has a largely Latino membership, a key voting bloc for Clinton in both the primary and general elections. She received their endorsement over then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama in the 2008 primary.

United Farm Workers President Arturo S. Rodriguez says the group spent a year discussing the race and recently interviewed Clinton for an hour on her positions.

Clinton, says Rodriguez in a statement, is "the strong, most respectful leader our country needs now."

"Hillary Clinton has the strong resolve needed to make change happen," he says. "And she is the best equipped to defeat the nativist, hateful forces of the current Republican front-runner."

The Latino vote has split between Clinton and rival Bernie Sanders in recent primary contests. Her team sees galvanizing Latino support as a key part of their strategy to defeat GOP front-runner Donald Trump.

The United Farm Workers was founded in 1962 by Cesar E. Chavez and Dolores Huerta  a strong Clinton backer and works to increase wages and improve working conditions for members.
Women Veterans gathered in Statutory Hall at the U.S. Capitol this week to be honored for their service by some of the most influential women in Washington. On March 2, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi hosted her annual Women's History Month reception at the Capitol, which included remarks by first lady Michelle Obama, Dr. Jill Biden, House Republican Conference Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, and retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Wilma Vaught.

Vaught was one of the first female generals in the Air Force and the first woman promoted to brigadier general from the comptroller career field. She served as chairperson of the NATO Women in the Allied Forces Committee and was the senior military representative to the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services. She also served as president of the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation. As she rose through the ranks, she recalled the challenges that women Veterans faced.

In 1957, there was only one colonel position that she could compete for: the director of Women in the Air Force. At that time, women were restricted to make up only two percent of the military workforce, and the law prohibited women from becoming generals and admirals. Women did not receive the same benefits as their male counterparts, were forced to leave the service if they became pregnant, were not allowed into the Reserve Officers' Training Corps or the military academies. Over time, women spoke out against their discrimination, which led to action being taken and progress being made.

"In 1985 I retired as a brigadier general, and I remember it well. There were seven women generals or admirals, and I was the ranking one, a brigadier general. And when I think about today, we have three four star women, two in the Army, generals, and one in the Navy as a four star. We have come a long way," said Vaught.

Today, there are nearly three million women serving in the armed forces and make up 20 percent of the military workforce. Women are one of the fastest growing segments of the Veteran population.

"Thanks to brilliant, fearless women like General Vaught, today, more than 200,000 women are serving our country in just about every role and rank. They're flying fighter jets, training new recruits; they're graduating Army Ranger School  and I met those graduates. They are awesome. Fierce! And as you've already heard, they will soon be welcome in every combat unit in our armed forces," first lady Michelle Obama told the crowd. She added that while there is much progress to celebrate, women in uniform "still face plenty of challenges as they serve this country and then transition back to civilian life."

Shockingly, many women don't self-identify as Veterans and may be missing out on the benefits they have earned. Far fewer women use VA Healthcare and services, like the GI Bill, largely because they don't know it's available. VA offers women Veterans primary care, cancer screenings and maternity care coverage.

Over the past seven years VA has trained 2,400 Veteran healthcare providers in women's health and there is now a designated women's health provider in every VA medical center in the country. There is also the Women Veterans Call Center, where women Veterans can get answers to their questions about their benefits, VA services and resources. All the representatives at the Women Veterans Call Center are women, and many are Veterans themselves who can relate to women Veterans, their families and friends.

At the close of the ceremony, the first lady called on women Veterans to share their stories so that future generations of women, their daughters and granddaughters, will know that the women who served this country and have worn the uniform have also guaranteed their freedom.
Members of Congress questioned U.S. Army leaders on Thursday about their budget plans to cut deep into the service's aviation assets to pay for near-term readiness.

Acting Secretary of the Army Patrick Murphy and Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley testified at a hearing before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense on the service's proposed fiscal 2017 budget request.

Lawmakers were concerned about the Army's plans to address recommendations that came out of the recently published National Commission on the Future of the Army report.

The report, ordered by Congress, features 63 recommendations on key areas such as modernization and investment, force structure and end-strength.

Both Murphy and Milley told lawmakers that the service is reviewing the recommendations and intend to move forward with about 50 of them.

"We are working through this line by line to make sure we look at those commission recommendations," Murphy said, adding that the Army plans to report back to Congress in about five weeks to discuss the Army's plans to deal with the recommendations.

Rep. Steve Womack, R-Arkansas, asked Army leaders to explain why some of the recommendations have been placed on the service's unfunded list of priorities.

"The aviation initiatives that are being recommended, we think are sound and solid and make strategic sense and operational sense, but they are very expensive to execute, so we will be hard-pressed to execute those initiatives in full without additional money," Milley said.

The commission report recommends keeping 11 combat aviation brigades and retaining a forward-stationed aviation brigade in Korea.

Milley also said "there are couple of them that are not worthy of further pursuit."

He said, "One of them is the deactivation of an infantry brigade combat team as a means of paying for aviation; I don't think that is a good trade-off. I think it is a bad trade-off."

When it comes to force structure, infantry brigades are a key part of the Army's "foxhole strength," Milley said.

"Your infantry, your armor, your combat aviation, combat engineers, Special Forces -- these are the units that are out there closing with and destroying the enemy  that is the last capability that I want to give up," he said.

The hearing's tone got slightly tenser when Rep. Harold Rogers, R-Kentucky, arrived.

The chairman of the full House Appropriations Committee, Rogers expressed concern over the Army's plans to cut another combat aviation brigade over the next three years leaving service with "just 10 CABs in the active force."

Rogers pointed out that the first CAB eliminated was in his home state of Kentucky last year the Army deactivated the 159th Combat Aviation Brigade from the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell.

"The president's budget claims to prioritize the modernization of the Army's helicopter fleet yet opts to cut the aviation procurement account by 35 percent," he said. "It is difficult to understand why aviation has been so heavily targeted."

Murphy told Rogers the Army had to make difficult decision with this budget.

"I left this committee and this congress five years ago, and when I left five years ago the budget for the Army was $243 million dollars," he said. "We are asking right now for a base budget of $125.1 billion dollars.

"Aviation is our most expensive asset  we have asked in this budget for $3.6 billion dollars for modernization. We wish we could make more investments in aviation."

Rogers was not easily swayed and continued to make his displeasure about aviation cuts known.

"You don't really think we are going to go along with these cuts to Army aviation by 35 percent?" he asked.

Milley said it all comes down to money.

"Would we like what the commission wants to do? Roger that. We'd love to  but they don't come with a checkbook," the general said.

Aviation is a critical component to the Army, but infantry and armored units are in equally high demand by combatant commanders, he said.

"I love helicopters; I have been in a lot of firefights over the years and my first call is to get an attack helicopter, Milley said. I love Air Force Aviation. I love fixed wing. I love that stuff. I am and infantryman by trade and a special operator and there is nothing more valuable to us on the ground than something that flies in the air and there is nothing more lethal to the enemy.

"But at the same time, wars are won on the ground, so we have to maintain our infantry and our armor," he said.

Milley said he is opened to discuss the issue, but said proposed budget strikes the right balance between readiness and modernization.

"So you are not going to listen to the recommendations?" Rogers asked.

"We are listening to the recommendations, very closely," Milley said. "We want to execute some of them, but they came with no money. There is no money associated with them. If someone says if you do these recommendations, here is the money to execute them,' then that is great."

-- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.
Ten months after a gunman opened fire on a Marine Corps recruiting center and a U.S. Navy reserve center in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the Corps is still working to bolster the security of its recruiting officers around the country.

During a budget hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee's subcommittee on defense Wednesday, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller said the Corps' estimated costs to improve the physical security of its recruiting centers and provide added safety training to staff totaled about $44 million.

"It's going to take us some time to get to that; that's where we are," Neller said.

Four Marines and a sailor were killed July 16, 2015, when shooter Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez embarked on his shooting rampage. All five troops were killed at the reserve center; one Marine recruiter was wounded at the recruiting office where Abdulazeez committed a drive-by shooting to begin the string of attacks.

Following the deadly shootings, some in Congress called for recruiters to be armed for self-defense. But officials with Marine Corps Recruiting Command quickly decided against such a move, saying they were looking to other security measures to guard against future attacks.

"There are things we need to do; a lot of it's force protection," Neller said Wednesday. "Bullet-proof the windows, harden the doors, reinforce the training. Do a better job of passing information using just simple cell phone technology."

The Marine Corps requested a budget of $756 million for training and recruiting for fiscal 2017, an increase of $27.3 million from enacted for the current year. It's not clear how much of that might be designated to begin the security upgrades the Marine Corps has planned.

Neller said he was confident in current security measures at Marine Corps bases and stations, where additional law enforcement personnel had been hired and new training implemented to account for current threat levels.

At the 161 Marine Corps reserve centers across the country, he said, armed personnel were present whenever Marines were drilling.

Neller told the panel that the fact that more personnel were not wounded or killed at the recruiting office in Chattanooga was a testament to the training the office's staff had received before the mass shooting took place.

"They were trained and executed their plan in order to safety egress the recruiting center," he said.

Ultimately, the shooting was determined to be "motivated by a foreign terrorist organization," FBI officials said in December. This determination allowed the Navy to approve Purple Heart medals for the five troops killed in the shooting and for the Marine recruiter who was wounded.

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.
A federal court on Thursday night said the Army may not require a Sikh officer to undergo special tests related to helmet and gas-mask wear while he seeks a permanent injunction allowing him to continue to have long hair, a beard and a turban while on active duty.

Capt. Simratpal Singh is a 10-year Army officer who, since December, has been allowed on a temporary basis to wear the facial hair and turban considered articles of the Sikh faith.

But last month after he passed the gas-mask test necessary to qualify for a permanent exemption to Army hair and uniforms standards, a Pentagon official ordered him to undergo three days of special tests at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.

That hair and uniform accommodation is now on hold until March 31 and the testing is barred while the lawsuit proceeds, according to the attorney representing Singh.

"What is so sad about the Army's position in this case is how unnecessary it is," Eric Baxter of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty said in a statement. "Thousands of service members protect our country while wearing beards, including observant Sikhs. There is absolutely no evidence that there is any problem with providing a permanent accommodation so Captain Singh can continue serving his country and practice his Sikh faith."

The Army has not responded to Military.com's request for comment on the case.

The Army's February demand that Singh undergo the special testing to ensure his beard and turban do not interfere with proper wear of a gas mask and helmet came six years after other Army officials found the facial hair and head cover were not impediments to safely using the gear.

In March 2010, the Army announced that Capt. Tejdeep Singh Rattan, then attending the Basic Officer Leadership Course at Camp Bullis, Texas, "was easily able to wear his Kevlar helmet over a custom-made Army Camouflage Uniform turban."

Rattan, a dentist, wore a custom-made Army camouflage turban with rank insignia that he designed and paid for himself. Rattan also showed that the beard did not get in the way of using his gas mask, the Army said.

But late last month, Singh of Fort Belvoir, Virginia, was ordered to report to Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland for special testing to determine whether the waiver he got in December allowing the beard, long hair and turban would be extended.

The order from Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs Debra S. Wada said he would be evaluated by a "technical expert" to determine if he could safely wear the turban, called a patka, beneath a helmet or would have to cut his hair.

Instead, Singh's attorney filed suit in federal court in Washington, D.C., and got a temporary injunction staying the order running through Friday, March 4.

Singh is the fourth Sikh to have been granted an exemption for the beard, long hair and turban since the Pentagon permitted the services to allow Sikhs to serve wearing the articles of faith in 2009.

-- Bryant Jordan can be reached at bryant.jordan@military.com. Follow him on Twitter at @bryantjordan.
Almost 100 people mostly from Haiti who were rescued from an overcrowded boat off the Florida coast had no food or water for...
A Marine recruit has been discharged from the Corps' delayed entry program after a racially charged exchange at a Donald Trump rally was caught on camera.

The poolee, Joseph Pryor, was dropped from the program on March 2, according to 4th Marine Corps Recruiting District Spokesman Capt. Oliver David. The news was first reported by local news station WAVE3.

Pryor, who is from Corydon, Indiana, according to his Facebook profile, was filmed yelling at a black college student, Shiya Nwanguma, during a March 1 Trump rally in Louisville, Kentucky. The footage also shows a man wearing what appears to be a Korean War Veterans Association uniform pushing Nwanguma.

Pryor later posted a still image of himself harassing Nwanguma to Facebook as his cover page. That image has since been removed.

Sound Off: Did Marine Hopeful Joseph Pryor Deserve a Second Chance?

"[Joseph Pryor] was discharged for poor judgment in use of social media by associating himself with a racially charged altercation that happened at a political rally," David told Military.com on Friday.

Pryor did not immediately respond to messages from Military.com requesting comment.

David said Pryor had been in the Marines' delayed entry program for less than 30 days.

"He had just enlisted and had not received any of the training which I would like to think would have headed him off from being associated with this type of incident," David said. "We do the values-based and ethics training while [poolees are] in the DEP. That's something we expect of our poolees: to uphold the values of the Marine Corps."

The Marine Corps became aware of Pryor's association with the rally incident when concerned citizens reached out to Marine Corps Recruiting Command sharing a news clip that identified him, David said.

This isn't the first time someone has fallen afoul of Marine Corps standards this election season. In November, Reserve Cpl. Jason Perkins was rebuked by officials after performing the National Anthem at a Trump rally in his dress blues uniform -- an activity clearly prohibited by Defense Department policy.

David said the Marine Corps routinely circulates election season guidance reminding troops that they are not permitted to wear their uniform while engaging in political activity or speak on behalf of the military in any political capacity.

Pryor's actions, though, violated a more basic standard.

"He was not acting in ways that were consistent with what we do, and not only that, but he represented it on social media, which added fuel to the fire," David said.

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.
ANN ARBOR, MI -- U.S. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minnesota, is in Michigan to drum up support for Hillary Clinton ahead of the state's March 8 primary.

On Friday afternoon, the comedian-turned-politician addressed a crowd of Clinton supporters at Arbor Brewing Co. in downtown Ann Arbor before continuing to campaign stops in Royal Oak and Warren.

A former writer and performer on NBC's "Saturday Night Live," Franken, who watched some of Thursday night's Republican debate in Detroit, said he imagines Donald Trump and the other Republican candidates are giving the SNL writers "a lot of stuff to work with" at the moment, but he's not laughing.

"To me, as a citizen, more than anything, it's very disturbing that the frontrunner is someone who has from the beginning said things that Mexican immigrants are rapists and drug dealers, and who would have a religious test for who could come into the country. It's very disturbing to me," he said.

"And then I'm not very impressed with the rest of the field, either, and the tenor of the debate is quite a contrast to what you see on the Democratic side."

Franken shared his thoughts during a sit-down interview with The Ann Arbor News/MLive ahead of his Arbor Brewing Co. stop. He said both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are friends of his and he likes them both.

"And I am proud that their debates are much more substantive than what you're seeing on the Republican side, which is I think distressing a lot of Republicans," he said. "It's embarrassing."

Franken is backing Clinton for a lot of reasons, he said, including the fact that her platform -- including positions on health care and college affordability -- are more realistic than some of Sanders' farther-reaching ideas.

Franken, who is stumping for Clinton in other states as well, said Michigan is an important state with a lot of delegates, so he hopes he can sway a few voters.

But how much weight does a Franken endorsement carry?

"Oh, probably not a lot," he said. "I mean, I'm one of a number of Democratic senators, so I hope that Democrats in Michigan say, 'Oh, Al Franken's for Hillary. I like that Al Franken. I think I'll vote for Hillary.' I think I'll sway maybe 30,000-40,000 votes by being here today."

(His staff later clarified he was just joking about that.)

Here's some more of what Franken had to say about the 2016 presidential election and why he's in Michigan supporting Clinton:

'She's the smartest person I know'

"I've known her for about 22 years. She is the smartest person I know, the toughest, hardest-working and the most experienced person for this job. I think she'd make a great president. Her values are very much in line with mine. She's a progressive. She's had the experience of both working with Congress in the Senate and being very close to the president and knowing what the White House is like, and I just have a lot of confidence that she'd make the strongest president of anyone I can think of."

Taking on Trump in November

"I think she would do extremely well. I think what we're seeing now ... and I don't know why it took so long for some of the other candidates to raise some of the issues of Trump's business career, etc. Maybe it's because they were hoping to get his support after he faded, which I think was kind of the assumption of a lot of people. Or maybe they were afraid to go after him because the people who went after him seemed to get -- he seemed to smash them. So, for whatever reason, it seems to me that no one in the race has taken him on in a way that you would expect of someone of presidential timbre to do that."

Why not support Sanders?

"It really was my belief in Hillary. It had nothing to do with shortcomings about Bernie at all. He's a friend of mine. I've known him a long time, too. I campaigned for him, I think, back in like '97 or '98, did a fundraiser for him."

Difference between Sanders and Clinton

"There isn't really one issue. It's sort of, you know, having served with Bernie and knowing how difficult it is. For example, it was very difficult for us. In fact, we didn't do it -- we tried to simply allow people to refinance their student debt. This was Elizabeth Warren's bill. This was while we had the Senate. We were in control of the Senate and we couldn't get the 60 votes to do that. So, to me, some of the things that Bernie is talking about are not achievable even if we take back the Senate.

"For example, single payer. You know, we have universal health care in almost all of the developed world. Very few of those countries have single payer. Canada does. But if you look at systems like France's system or Germany's or Switzerland's or most of Europe, it isn't single payer, and we have seen tremendous numbers, increasing numbers of Americans who have gotten health care, have gotten insurance, under the ACA, and we need to build on that.

"You can get to universal under ACA, and there's nothing magical about single payer in terms of comparing us to other countries. There are other countries who provide universal health care, do it a lot less expensively than we do it, who don't do single payer, who have a system of private and public coverage much like what the Affordable Care Act is. So, that's an example where ... I don't know how Bernie would try to get there, but my feeling is knowing, having served in the Senate for as long as I have, that we couldn't get there, and it would jeopardize the progress we could make under the Affordable Care Act."

Sanders' free tuition vs. Clinton's debt-free college

"Even when we had control of the Senate, we couldn't get just refinancing of student loans -- of your student debt. If we couldn't get that, I think it's quite a leap to go from there to free college for public institutions. I also think there are people who can afford to pay something for college. What Hillary is talking about is debt free.

"What we're really concerned with is the cost of college being a barrier, and college affordability has been a focus of mine since I've gotten there.

"Even before I ran, I was doing roundtables and colleges, and we have kids that are working 20, 30, 40 hours a week while going to school. We have kids that are selling their blood to make ends meet while they're going to college. We have lots of kids working so hard that they can't take full credit load, and so they are taking six, eight years to get through college. There's something mighty wrong here, and if we're going to stay competitive globally, I think we have to figure out different ways to do higher education."

What is Sanders saying that resonates?

"Well, I think Bernie is talking about the way the economy has been working against those in the middle class, and working people and the poor. And we've seen the middle class under incredible pressure. We've seen pensions wither.

"We don't live in the same kind of environment that I grew up where -- I grew up middle class, I felt like the luckiest kid in the world. I felt like I could do anything.

"I think that unfortunately we have a hollowed-out middle class, and this inequality in income and wealth is a huge problem in our country. And we have in common, we share many of the same ideas about what we need to do about it. I just think Hillary will be able to achieve those."

'The president needs to have that breadth'

"She talks about a lot more. I think Bernie's issues tend to be more narrow, and she has more of a breadth to her sort of portfolio of interests, and I think the president needs to have that breadth."

'How important it is who's president'

"I think Hillary would make a fabulous president. I think she has the experience. She has the work ethic. She has the intelligence.

"And she has the values and principles that I believe in. And I'm looking forward to working with her while I'm in the Senate. And I've seen pretty up close how important it is who's president, and I want it to be Hillary."

Ryan Stanton covers the city beat for The Ann Arbor News. Reach him at ryanstanton@mlive.com.
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Al Franken attends the 68th Annual Writers Guild Awards at the Edison Ballroom on Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016, in New York.

(Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)

U.S. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minnesota, is planning to campaign for Hillary Clinton in Michigan on Friday ahead of the March 8 primary.

The comedian-turned-politician who rose to fame as a writer and performer on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" will visit phone-bank volunteers in Ann Arbor, attend a women-to-women organizing meeting in Royal Oak, and speak at a rally organized by the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters in Warren.

"Hillary Clinton is the smartest, hardest-working, toughest, most-experienced person I know," Franken said in a statement released Thursday night.

"She's standing up for middle-class families on the issues that matter to them, and she has a real plan to raise wages, boost the manufacturing sector, strengthen health care, and make college affordable for everyone."

Franken plans to meet with Clinton supporters at Arbor Brewing Co. in downtown Ann Arbor at 1 p.m. Friday, followed by a 2:45 p.m. stop at Bean and Leaf in Royal Oak, and then a 3:30 p.m. rally at 23401 Mound Road in Warren.

Clinton is ahead in the Democratic race with 597 delegates so far compared to Bernie Sanders' 406.

Sanders is scheduled to take part in a town hall at the Gem Theatre in Detroit on Monday. Clinton and Sanders will debate in Flint on Sunday.

Ryan Stanton covers the city beat for The Ann Arbor News. Reach him at ryanstanton@mlive.com.
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First grader Owen Smith reads with EMU student teacher Brittany Walker at Angell Elementary School Sept. 27, 2013.

(Ann Arbor News file photo)

Eastern Michigan University students will once again be able to teach in all Ann Arbor Public School classrooms this fall.

The Ann Arbor Education Association (AAEA), a teachers' union representing employees of the Ann Arbor Public Schools, had been boycotting student teachers from EMU due to the school's involvement with the Education Achievement Authority (EAA).

"This had been our second year in this unfortunate boycott," AAEA president Linda Carter said. "We decided along with the rest of Washtenaw County to do this to let EMU know that we did not approve of the way teachers were being treated."

The EAA was a system created in 2011 by Governor Rick Snyder to take over failing schools. The system took control of 15 schools in Detroit but never became the statewide project it was meant to be.

Teachers' unions attacked the EAA, claiming that the emergency managers installed as part of the authority would rip up union contracts and take away benefits gained through collective bargaining. Unions across the state, including six in Washtenaw County, chose to boycott EMU by not letting student teachers into their classrooms.

Carter said once the Eastern Michigan Board of Regents voted to disassociate from the EAA, her union had no problem resuming the practice of bringing EMU students in as student teachers.

"The AAEA representative council voted unanimously to end the boycott at our first meeting after EMU made their announcement," she said. "We want our members to begin inviting EMU students to come visit their classrooms as soon as possible to establish relationships that can lead to student teaching positions."

EMU College of Education dean Michael Sayler said he looks forward to putting all of the animosity created by the EAA firmly in the past.

"I think the key thing for us is we're all about working together with teachers and with schools," he said. "There's some unfortunate stuff that happened that we didn't have much control over but we're very excited to move forward."

Sayler said all Eastern Michigan University students had been able to find classrooms for student teaching during the boycott, but that many of them had to travel much further away.

"We had to reach out and beat the bushes a little bit more," he said.

In 2015, EMU placed 598 student teachers, with just 180 of them finding classrooms in Washtenaw County. Students also found themselves unwelcome in districts such as Livonia, where they had traditionally been welcomed.

Carter said it's too late in this school year for student teachers from EMU to get into Ann Arbor classrooms, but they will be back by next fall.

"It was very important for us to reopen these doors," she said.
SCIO TOWNSHIP, MI -- A family residence with a dioxane-poisoned well just west of Ann Arbor on Jackson Road is finally getting municipal water service.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder's office on Friday announced a temporary service line is expected to be connected to the home by the end of the day.

Pall Corp., the company responsible for the toxic plume of dioxane that's spreading through the groundwater in Ann Arbor and Scio Township, is paying for the connection, said Ari Adler, Snyder's director of communications.

Adler said the residence at 5005 Jackson Road, where Wesley and Heather Pate are raising their three young children, and two nearby businesses are being provided municipal water through temporary connections to the city's water system.

Wesley Pate said shortly before 4 p.m. Friday that workers were in the process of installing the service line, but the water wasn't running yet.

"They're about done. They're finishing up now," he said.

Though, he said, he doesn't intend on staying in the house for too much longer. He's trying to buy a home for his family in the city of Jackson.

"I plan on being gone before I even turn that faucet back on. I've just got to wait on the paperwork to go through," he said.

Adler said the residence will be permanently connected to municipal water next week.

The neighboring businesses that for years have shared the same contaminated well with the house -- Backseat Productions recording studio and Heirloom Furniture Restoration -- will be permanently connected to municipal water within three weeks, Adler said, adding that will take longer due to the piping connections involved.

The move to provide municipal water comes one day after The Ann Arbor News reported on the plight of Wesley Pate and his family, who have rented the house for two and a half years and said they didn't realize the water was unsafe.

Records show there have been concerning levels of dioxane in the home's well water for more than a decade.

The state and county took action on Thursday to provide the home and neighboring businesses with bottled water because of the dioxane in the well water.

All of the tenants, including Pate's family, received notices from Pall Corp. recently informing them the water was safe to drink with dioxane concentrations at 17 parts per billion because it's below the state's 85 ppb standard.

However, officials acknowledge the standard is outdated and not reflective of the latest federal data and scientific findings about the cancer risks posed by dioxane in drinking water. The Michigan Department Environmental Quality is proposing to move to a single-digit standard sometime this year.

Local officials have been fighting for years to convince the state to move to a stricter standard to reflect the latest findings about dioxane published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2010. The DEQ was required by law to update the standards by December 2013, but Lansing politics and technical problems have been blamed for repeated delays and missed deadlines.

In the meantime, the Pate family was left raising their children on dioxane-contaminated water. They retained an attorney this week.

"Too many times politicians get away with stuff," Heather said. "They're not going to get away with this one. We're not going to let it happen. And we're not doing this for money. I want them in prison. I want them doing time."

Pate and his wife also point the finger at their landlord, Bob Rayer of Rayer Development LLC, claiming he never disclosed that the water was unsafe, a claim Rayer refuted when reached by phone this week.

Rayer acknowledged he used to work for Gelman Sciences, the company responsible for the dioxane. Gelman was acquired by Pall in 1997.

In a turn of events, Rayer said, he sued his former employer in recent years, seeking to have the company cover the cost of extending municipal water service to 5005 Jackson Road because of the dioxane in the well water there.

"I lost because the judge said the amount wasn't high enough to be unsafe, so that was it," he said.

"I didn't want to pay the $125,000, because it just didn't make business sense, and at that time the state said the water was perfectly good to drink."

Ryan Stanton covers the city beat for The Ann Arbor News. Reach him at ryanstanton@mlive.com.
ANN ARBOR, MI -- Sentencing has been delayed for an Ann Arbor man who was accused of posing as an FBI agent while stealing a car and breaking into a neighbor's home.

Lane Lesko, 18, will be sentenced in January 2017 after he completes mental health and substance use treatment.

At a Feb. 18 hearing, Washtenaw County Trial Court Judge Darlene O'Brien said she will consider sentencing Lesko under the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act, which would limit any prison or probation sentence, based on his behavior in the interim. Sentencing under the act would also keep Lesko from a criminal record.

"You're only 18 now and one of these offenses occurred when you were only 17,"

O'Brien said.

"They're your first criminal convictions as an adult and I think that it is prudent to delay imposing sentence -- which could include lengthy incarceration, as you can see by the guidelines -- to see if any treatment may help you to conform your behavior to the laws."

Lesko pleaded guilty in January to unlawfully driving away a vehicle, first degree home invasion, lying to a police officer and false pretenses less than $200.

He was accused of stealing a Dodge Charger from the Cueter Chrysler dealership, 2448 Washtenaw Ave. in Ypsilanti Township, after saying he was an FBI agent on May 27, 2015.

Lesko later crashed the car in the Toledo, Ohio, area, and presented himself to authorities as an FBI agent, police said.

He was also accused of breaking into a neighbor's home on July 3, 2015 while he was out on bond.

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.
SCIO TOWNSHIP, MI -- Heather Pate fought back tears late Thursday morning as officials from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and Washtenaw County Public Health delivered a first shipment of clean water to her family's home on Jackson Road, just west of Ann Arbor.

"You know, the news breaks a story and you get water," the mother of three said angrily, suggesting the gesture was too little too late after her family has spent the last two and a half years drinking dioxane-poisoned well water while government officials knew about it.

"It's just really upsetting because they're the ones that are going to suffer," she said, pointing from the kitchen to her young children playing in the living room.

"And I'm just really upset that people can know about something and harm children. I don't understand it."

A nurse from Washtenaw County Public Health was standing by at that point, ready to interview the family and check out some of their health concerns.

"Well, I'll let you talk with the nurse," the DEQ's Dan Hamel, an environmental quality analyst and the state's day-to-day project manager for the dioxane plume in the area's groundwater, told the emotional mother. "I think that's probably the best thing to do right now, and I'll stop back shortly and just make sure I have all the information, answer any questions you got, and you got my card, right?"

Heather Pate then spoke with Kristen Schweighoefer, the county's environmental health director, who brought two large jugs of water and a dispenser for the family, complementing the cases of bottled water delivered by the DEQ.

Schweighoefer assured the mother the county's first and foremost concern is the health of the family and getting them the resources they need.

"This is our attorney if you have any questions," Heather Pate responded, handing off a business card for an attorney the family has retained.

The house that Wesley and Heather Pate rent, and where they've been raising their children, sits atop the expanding 1,4-dioxane plume that originated decades ago from the Gelman Sciences property on Wagner Road.

They say they didn't know their water wasn't safe to drink until a concerned citizen informed them this week.

Dioxane is classified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as likely to be carcinogenic to humans by all routes of exposure.

The EPA published new findings in 2010 showing dioxane at 3.5 ppb in drinking water poses a 1 in 100,000 cancer risk.

The state for the last several years has enforced a standard of 85 ppb that was intended to result in the same 1 in 100,000 cancer risk, but the EPA has indicated the cancer risks are greater than previously believed.

The state has been slow to adopt the latest science, and as a result there has been no legal remedy for anyone with dioxane in their water below 85 ppb, and people such as the Pate family were told it was safe as long as it was below 85 ppb.

Thursday was the first time the DEQ took action to step in and provide bottled water to a residence or business with dioxane below 85 ppb.

DEQ officials say they're trying to be proactive in anticipation of the state finally moving to a dioxane standard below 10 ppb sometime this year.

Local officials have been fighting for years to convince the state to move to a stricter standard to reflect the latest science -- which the DEQ was required by law to do by December 2013, but didn't -- only to hear that Lansing politics and technical problems were causing delays and holding up the process.

The DEQ has been talking to Pall Corp., which is now agreeing to extend municipal water service to properties with well water exceeding the anticipated single-digit standard the DEQ expects the state to adopt this year.

The property at 5005 Jackson Road sits atop the Gelman dioxane plume that continues to expand in Ann Arbor and Scio Township.

"The 85 ppb is what's in the current regulations -- what we regulate to -- so that is what we have been reacting and regulating to," Hamel said of why the DEQ didn't take action to supply the Pate home and adjacent businesses with bottled water before Thursday. "Recent concerns have heightened some of the concerns."

Hamel acknowledged the information provided to the Pate residence by Pall Corp. did tell the family the dioxane-laced water was safe, with readings ranging anywhere from 13 ppb to 54 ppb over the years.

"That was the standard, yes," Hamel said, referring to the 85 ppb. "That's also what is sent out on the other letters currently. Pall has done that sampling here, but the DEQ, along with the county, does the sampling at many other residences and a similar-type letter is sent out, I believe the county sends out a letter, and it does identify if you have a detection, what it means."

The DEQ is not making any commitments at this time to provide bottled water to other residences, such as those along Elizabeth Road on the northern edge of the plume, that have had dioxane readings as high as 3 ppb in their wells, because that's not expected to exceed the new state standard being proposed.

Early indications are that the state's new standard might be between 7 ppb and 9 ppb, though some are pushing for an even stricter standard.

Asked whether the DEQ regrets not taking action sooner to make contact with the tenants with contaminated wells or provide them with bottled water, Hamel said the information the DEQ had was that notices from Pall Corp. were going to them.

"And again, we were regulating to 85 ppb for everybody," he said. "And so we didn't feel it was necessary at that time."

Kristen Schweighoefer, Washtenaw County's environmental health director, speaks with Wesley Pate after delivering clean water to the Pate residence on March 3, 2016.

Ellen Rabinowitz, Washtenaw County's public health officer, released a statement on Thursday about what actions the county is taking to address the issue.

"Our primary goal is protecting the health of our residents," she said. "In this case, we are very concerned. We have a public health nurse in contact with the family to assess their health and connect them to any services they may need."

Rabinowitz said the county is sharing the most up-to-date information on dioxane and discussing with the family what is currently known about the potential health impacts. She said the county will continue to push state authorities to update their standards and guidance, allowing for stronger actions to protect health.

"Moving forward, Washtenaw County Public Health will be sending additional information to any property where monitoring is taking place -- regardless of who is doing the monitoring -- and we will provide a local contact person who can explain results and answer health-related questions," she said.

Schweighoefer said the county is contracted by the DEQ to test for dioxane in the water at some properties, but Pall Corp. has handled testing of the Pate family's water and the county wasn't receiving copies of the notices sent to the family.

"From what we know now, this property is the only residential property impacted at levels above the single-digit number in the new criteria yet to be released from the state," Schweighoefer said.

She said Washtenaw County Public Health will be sending a letter to the handful of homes that have had detectable levels of dioxane in their drinking water, regardless of whether the county is contracted to sample the water.

"I want to make sure people have a clear understanding of what dioxane is, its public health implications, and a local number and agency to speak to regarding any questions on water or health they may have," she said. "I anticipate the residents receiving this communication in the next week."

Ryan Stanton covers the city beat for The Ann Arbor News. Reach him at ryanstanton@mlive.com.
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An open voter's registration drive is to be held at Delta College.

(Andrew Dodson | The Bay City Times)

FRANKENLUST TWP, MI -- An open voter registration drive is to be held at Delta College, 1961 Delta Road, through the end of March.

Sponsored by the Lone Tree Council, the drive is open to the public. Anyone who will be 18 years old on or before the General Election on Tuesday, Nov. 8, is eligible to register.

Volunteers are available from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays and from 2-4 p.m. Thursdays in the main hallway of Delta College, next to the K Wing.

For more information, contact Cindy LeVasseur at (989) 397-7381 or cindylevasseur2@gmail.com or David Martin at (989) 475-1692 or recall369@gmail.com.
BAY COUNTY, MI -- Tuesday, March 8, is expected to be a fine day for voting in the Michigan presidential primary election, says Bay County Clerk Cynthia Luczak.

"It's supposed to be a beautiful day, so there's no reason not to get out and vote," Luczak said.

"The direction of our country will be decided very soon."

The National Weather Service is forecasting cloudy skies, a chance of showers and a high temperature of 55 degrees.

Here's what you need to know about the presidential primary election in Bay County:

Hours: Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at all precinct locations in Bay County on Tuesday, March 8.

Clerks open Saturday: All township and city clerk offices are open Saturday, March 5, until 2 p.m. so absentee voters can fill out their ballots and request mailed ballots.

Absentee ballots: Absentee voters who have already cast their ballots can ask for a do-over, Luczak says. All they have to do is ask their local clerk to spoil their ballot and hand them a new one. This could be a good opportunity for anyone who has voted for a candidate no longer running for president.

Who can vote: Any registered voter can cast either a Democratic Party or Republican Party ballot. You do not need to be a member of either party to vote, buit you can vote on only one party' ballot.

Request a ballot: Voters at polling places must ask for either a Democratic Party or Republican Party ballot.

Local tax proposals: There is a third ballot option where tax issues are proposed, which is the case in Kawkawlin and Beaver townships in Bay County. Both the Democratic and Repuiblican ballots, plus a nonpartisan ballot will contain the ,local tax questions, said Fred Woodhams, Michigan Secretary of State spokesman.

Beaver Township: Voters are asked to decide a proposal to reinstate a fire department equipment tax of 0.75 mills that lapsed last year. The proposal would have the millage stay in place fr 10 years. In addition, Beaver Township voters are asked to renew a road maintenance tax of 2 mills for five years.

Kawkawlin Township: Voters are asked to renew a 1-mill tax for four years that helps fund the local fire department. The tax would raise about $140,000 a year.

Election costs: Unlike regular primary and general elections in August and November, the state of Michigan will reimburse counties for the cost of running the presidential primary election, Woodhams said. The estimated $10.5 million cost is borne by the state budget, he said.

Early primary: Michigan's presidential primary used to be later in the year, but the wintery date lately is an effort by the Michigan Democrats and Republicans to make the Great Lakes State loom larger on the national stage when it comes to picking who'll run for president, Luczak said. This is the first Michigan Democratic Party primary election in many years, she said.

Confused? Municipal clerks and elections officials will ensure that everyone votes the way they want, Luczak says. If you change your mind, have voted absentee already for candidate who has dropped out of the race or even spill coffee on your ballot, ask for an official to spoil your ballot and vote with a new ballot, she said.

Ballots: They were printed months ago, so they contain names of candidates who have since dropped out of the race.

Republican Party candidates: As of Friday, March 4, candidates still in the race were Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, John Kasich and Ben Carson.

Democratic Party candidates: As of Friday, March 4, candidates still in the race were Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Roque Rocky De La Fuente.
DETROIT, MI -- Sen. Bernie Sanders is scheduled to take part in a town hall at the Gem Theatre in Downtown Detroit on Monday, ahead of Michigan's Tuesday Democratic presidential primary.

Fox News will host and broadcast the one-hour forum at 6 p.m.

Sanders' Democratic primary opponent Hillary Clinton was invited to participate, but declined, citing previously scheduled campaign plans.

Clinton and Sanders are scheduled to debate in Flint on Sunday.

Fox News anchor Bret Baier will host the Monday town hall with Sanders.

The cable news network did not immediately release details on admittance to the town hall.

Sanders spoke to an Eastern Michigan University crowd last month, and he addressed a Michigan State University crowd earlier this week.

Clinton plans an appearance at a Detroit auto parts manufacturing facility Friday.

Fox News announced the plan for the Sanders forum in Detroit Thursday night ahead of the 9 p.m. Republican presidential debate at the Fox Theatre.
Two state-owned banks have started returning large amounts of US dollars to private lenders, in a move which should help the struggling interbank foreign exchange market, said private bankers.





The bankers said the transfers should provide much-needed liquidity to a market where banks are often either reluctant to sell or struggling to buy US dollars. One noted that when an institution had US dollars pile up and sit in the dark with nothing to do this could lead to cash flow problems.

Private banks originally transferred these dollars to state lenders Myanmar Investment and Commercial Bank (MICB) and Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank (MFTB) voluntarily, but also out of necessity. Until late 2011, these two banks were the only institutions licensed to deal in foreign currency.

Even after the private banks were allowed to deal in foreign currency, the state-owned entities continued to act as settlement banks for private lenders engaging in foreign currency transactions with other banks and with clients. As a result, the private banks all opened dollar accounts with the state lenders.

An MFTB official told The Myanmar Times yesterday that 17 private banks had accounts at MFTB.

Over the past four year the range of different transactions for which MFTB provides settlement services, coupled with the number of private bank accounts, meant that the net balance private banks held at MFTB had built up and up, the official said.

Much of the money is held in current accounts, which do not pay interest, she added. She was unwilling to comment on how large the private banks balances are. But the amounts are large enough that banks have become increasingly eager to have them returned.





In recent years private banks have become increasingly able to offer international banking services to clients without relying on state-lenders, said an official at AYA Bank. They also typically offer such services at a higher standard, a Central Bank official recently told The Myanmar Times.

State-owned banks were slow to respond to private banks requests for their balances to be returned, which one private banker put down to an old mindset that left the state-owned lenders cautious about transferring large amounts of dollars out of their institutions.

Another private banker said he had had sent a letter to the state banks saying the money could be returned in dollars or in kyat but either way we want it back.

In late February, the private lenders, state banks, the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank met to discuss the issue.

An official at the Ministry of Finance confirmed via email to The Myanmar Times that the ministry had agreed to return the net balance that private banks have at MFTB and MICB. The transfers started in the last week of February, but it would take some time to reconcile the accounts, he added.

State-owned banks are quite willing to return the funds, said bankers who attended the February meeting. The MFTB official agreed that transferring the net balance is a good move  reducing state banks liabilities while making the private banks more liquid. But for liquidity reasons the state banks will not be moving all the funds at once.

Some banks with smaller US dollar balances have already been paid back in full, they said. But others banks with larger balances will have to wait.

One private banker who attended the meeting said the state-owned banks are eager to make the transfers by the end of the fiscal year on March 31. The Ministry of Finance official told The Myanmar Times that it will take take from one to four months starting from the last week of February to finish the transfers.

In cases where the state-owned banks still have to transfer dollars to the private banks, the private lenders has two options, a second private banker said.

One is that the state-owned banks transfer the money into the private lenders nostro accounts, which are now the only way commercial banks can fund importers.

A new Central Bank electronic netting system introduced in January provides the second option. If private banks, for whatever reason, have to transfer dollars to one of the state-owned banks then this can be deducted from the existing balance.

The agreement to transfer the money comes as the Central Bank plans reforms designed to ensure state-owned banks participate fully in the interbank foreign exchange market. Their reluctance to sell their own excess dollars is distorting the kyat-dollar exchange rate, bankers said recently.

When asked if the agreement that state banks will return private lenders dollar balances was related to these reforms, the Ministry of Finance simply said in an emailed statement that MFTB and MICB have been taking part in the interbank market since 2012.
Plummeting demand from China has spurred jade traders to demand the right to sell internationally.





Traders say the economic slowdown in Myanmars giant neighbour, and the anti-corruption campaign now being conducted by Beijing, have caused a catastrophic drop in sales to their major customer.

Over the past three years, Chinese interest in Myanmar jade has dwindled almost to vanishing point, say gem and jewellery companies.

U Thaung Han, secretary of the Myanmar Gems and Jewellery Entrepreneurs Association (Myitkyina), says jade transactions have become extinct, not just at the border but also in the gem marts of Kachin State and Myitkyina.

Markets, including the Mandalay gem market, are also suffering from the lack of raw material.

Even last July, vendors at Mandalays Maha Aung Myay centre were complaining of a shortage of high-quality new material and falling prices.

On the other hand, traders previously told The Myanmar Times that sales in Hpakant are booming, with many Chinese buyers preferring to purchase stones directly from the jade mines. This means that many of the higher-quality stones no longer make it to markets across Myanmar.

Chinas market dominance is due to United States sanctions on jadeite imports, which have driven all other buyers from the market, industry experts say.





Ko Kyaw Zin Htet, who works at the centre, says Myanmar traders face losses because they have to sell finished products, which fetch only low prices. This year the cooling market has turned positively frosty, he said.

Secure in their near-monopoly, Chinese buyers can pay the lowest prices for the highest quality stones. Things are so bad people are getting out of the jade industry and finding other work, he said.

U Thang Han said, The whole market has collapsed. Throughout the country, nothing is happening. This is the worst market Ive seen. Sagaing, Mandalay, Yangon, Myitkyina - prices are down everywhere. China used to love our jade. But with their economic slowdown and the anti-corruption campaign, they dont come to the markets anymore.

Economic growth in China is expected to slow to 6.3 percent in 2016 and 6.0pc in 2017, according to forecasts by the International Monetary Fund.

U Too Khaung, general secretary of the Myitkyina association, said the time had come to open the market up to other countries, particularly the West and ASEAN. He said the association had sought permission from the Ministry of Mines to operate internationally.

We want to look beyond just China, he said, adding that the lifting of US sanctions could help revive the jade market on an international scale.

The real goal is freedom from United States sanctions, said U Win Htein, director general of the ministrys mining department. That could open up a global market not just for raw jade, but also for finished products, in a much more transparent trading environment.

U Hla Htun Aung, the associations national secretary, said such a development would swell government revenues.

Meanwhile, there are signs that amber may be profiting from woes in the jade industry.

Sales in Myitkyina are said to be good, as buyers associate amber with good health and fortune. Though returns are still modest, interest has been growing over the past couple of years, traders say.

There are about seven types of amber, and pieces that contain dust particles can sell in the hundreds of thousands of kyat.

Translation by Emoon
Investors who say their hospital was unlawfully confiscated by Mandalay city authorities are planning to launch a legal appeal to recover it.





Last October, Mandalay City Development Committee seized Taw Win Hnin Si Hospital, also known as Royal Rose, in Chan Aye Tharzan township, saying its operators had persisted in breaching city regulations despite official warnings.

The allegations against the company concerned, City Man, included the distribution of pornographic materials.

The company sought help from the Myanmar Investment Commission to recover the land and the building, claiming MCDC had breached the terms and conditions of its 30-year lease agreement. MIC responded by encouraging both sides to negotiate.

However, no such discussions have taken place, according to the company, which said on February 29 it would take legal action to resume operations and seek redress over assaults to its dignity.

We invested a lot of money in the hospital staff and machinery, and have incurred losses. We will follow every legal avenue available to us in our appeal. Our civil case against MCDC is now being prepared, said City Man consultant U Tin Maung Ong.

He said MCDC had confiscated the property against MICs advice, adding that under Myanmar law, businesses running with permission cannot be confiscated. The regional government deliberately ignored a directive from the Union government, confiscating the property without permission, he said.

According to Myanmar Investment Law, authorised economic enterprises may not be confiscated. This confiscation by regional-level officials has overridden Union law.





A senior MCDC official said the agreement only allowed the company to build Chan Aye Mandala housing and a plaza. They added two floors to the building to operate a hospital, which was not in the agreement, so we sent them three letters asking them to hand over the property. They did not respond, so we confiscated the land and the building, he said.

The 12-acre site, leased to MCDC by Myanma Railways, was on-leased to City Man to build a hotel, a plaza, an office building, a pharmacy and a condominium under a joint-venture contract dated May 29, 1996.

Taw Win Hnin Si Hospital was closed by the Myanmar Medical Council during a lawsuit involving allegedly illegal treatment being provided to citizens of China, and the distribution of pornographic pamphlets.

Any court case arising from this situation would likely bear upon three laws. Mandalay municipal statutes, enacted by the regional hluttaw in January 2015 allow the city to terminate a contract in the event that the tenant breaks a rule of the contract.

The 2013 investment law guarantees that a commercial entity operating under its permission shall not be confiscated, nor an investment terminated before the due date without good reason, and the constitution protects the property of citizens that has been lawfully acquired.

Translation by San Lay and Kyawt Darly Lin
Maybe its a test. After all, if you want to train people to reach remote and inaccessible locations by navigating hazardous seas and risking their necks in unsafe and unreliable means of transport, what better way is there than this?





Im talking about the decision by the Ministry of Transport, first, to locate Myanmar Maritime University pretty much as far from civilised Yangon as you can reasonably get, and then to make sure you cant reach it without palpable hazard to life and limb. That way, just attending classes is a first-class education in courage, resourcefulness and determination.

Once they do manage to reach the campus, students indeed benefit from the joys of isolation and the freedom from any kind of disturbance or distraction. It may not be the high seas, but it is a large, otherwise deserted, open field extending to the infinite horizon.

Perhaps youve heard of the Japanese train company that doggedly continues to service the remote Kyu-Shirataki station for the sole benefit of the schoolgirl who takes that train to reach her classes. Here in Myanmar, we do the opposite. The 2000 students who attend MMU are not served by a single bus line, and you take other means of transport at your peril.

Last academic year, the No 48 bus, which used to take students to the university, stopped running, apparently because the owner found it no longer profitable. The sudden disappearance of this lifeline plunged hundreds of students into disarray for at least a week until some sort of substitute was found. Now, the Shwe Yangon bus line serves as a part-time and unreliable substitute for the old 48, but only visits the university twice a day. Though unscheduled, the service still manages to be late. Students say blue moons are more frequent. As we see so often, the gap between supply and demand is wide, and heavily weighted toward demand.

Unlike other universities in Thanlyin township, MMU is remarkable for its loneliness, adrift in those rolling green fields with no village or house within telescope range. Maybe the bus company has a point. The route is not a money-spinner.

Even back when there was regular No 48 bus service, I found my daily commute, taking me many miles from home, left me mentally and physically exhausted, fit only to crawl into bed and sleep at the end of a too-long day. My five years of postgraduate study at MMU were a struggle so epic the word odyssey springs to mind. I have no idea how todays students manage to attend their lectures.

My recent visit to MMU to recover some exam transcripts brought it all back. Forewarned of the transportation drought, I had to get off at the bus stop closest to MMU, where I had planned to take a taxi. In downtown Yangon, taxis may cluster like bees around a honey-pot eager for your custom. Not so in rural Thanlyin. The cartel of taxi-men know they are the only game in town, and the bargaining is relentless. After some cut-and-thrust, I managed to beat one of them down to the least unreasonable price for a round-trip.





Once back in the alma mater, I was delighted to see the newly built student fitness centre and the Dhamma Hall, courtesy of the university authorities. But as word leaked out about how I had arrived there that day, I noticed the students looking at me askance.

Next time, dont hire a taxi when you come alone, even in the day time, they warned.

I was inclined to brush this advice aside as over-cautious until they told me what had happened to the woman who owned one of the student restaurants on campus. She was found murdered some weeks after going missing while taking a large bag of money from the bank to her house, in broad daylight. The chief suspect was the last taxi driver to see her alive.

So much for taxis. But what about motorcycle taxis, which are much more common once you get outside Yangon city?

The students had another story for me, which one of them swore he had witnessed. This time it concerned a female student who, days before the final exams last year, had engaged a local motorcyclist to take her into town. When her driver swerved to overtake a large truck she was swept from the seat, and came within inches of falling beneath the trucks wheels.

It seems that Thanlyin motorcyclists are a special breed, young men raised on computer games and action movies who see themselves as devil-may-care adventurers who spurn the humdrum.

To them, a ride is a non-stop stunt, and they expect the passenger to share the excitement. In their minds, the rural roads of Thanlyin are the scene of an eternal dogfight with the battle cruisers of the evil Emperor Zurg. They thrive on danger. So they have a passenger: a student, an old lady, the president of the Union  no matter. The mad bikers of Thanlyin brake for no one.

So when I found that the taxi driver who had conveyed me to MMU, and whom I had already paid for the return trip to Aung Chan Thar bus stop in advance, had not troubled to wait for me, but had disappeared, my exasperation was tinged ever so slightly with relief. Better to be cheated than murdered. Of course, Myanmars seafarers, MMU graduates, probably face dilemmas like that all the time out there on the high seas.

So heres a question for the Ministry of Transport: If you can establish a first-class university, known throughout the country, the region and, dare I say it, the world, for the high quality of its graduates in the world of seamanship, would it kill you to lay on a bus service so students can get to it?

Does it really have to be part of the curriculum to deal with Yangons mismatched mishmash of disconnecting transport links, that fractured spiders web of broken lines that leaves the hapless traveller at risk from villainous cabbies, lunatic bikers and grasping bus-line owners?

Graduating from MMU is hard enough without making the daily commute to its hushed cloisters a spin of deaths roulette wheel.

And, worse, to inflict the prospect of flunking, for no student is even admitted to take the finals unless they have achieved at 75 percent attendance record or better.

Can the transport ministry please administer some transport to help these poor students get to class?

Something on your mind? Talk it out this Weekend! Pitch us your stories by email at [email protected] or tweet us @TheMyanmarTimes
A young woman is sitting in a small room with her little son, looking out into the street. Its hot, but she doesnt seem to mind the heat. Ma Soe Yanaung Phyu has other problems.





Her neck is black with bruises that were not caused by accident. She says her husband inflicted the bruises in a fight last week.

We started fighting when I found out he had another wife. We rowed day and night. He also owes more than K10 million now and I asked him to repay his debts. We fought about that as well, said Ma Soe Yanaung Phyu, 23, who works in a small betel shop in North Okkalapa township, Yangon.

After leaving school at 15, she started work in a petrol station where she met her future husband. She married at the age of 19 and last year gave birth to a baby boy.

Then her husband started staying out nights. She found out about the debts, and discovered she was not the only woman he called his wife.

He didnt come home for a month. My son was asking for him a lot, and I missed him too. I called him to come back and pay his debts and if he didnt, I would tell his other wife, she said angrily.

He did come back. Then he tried to strangle her, squeezing her neck until she fell unconscious. Alerted by the noise, neighbours entered the house and her husband ran away.

Ma Soe Yanaung Phyu sought the help of a neighbour, Ma Win Win Khine, who works for womens rights.





Finally I decided to take my husband to court for trying to kill me, and to recover the debts he owes. Feminists from my street have also put me in touch with a lawyer, she said.

Hers is far from being the only story of suffering and abuse of this kind. According to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), 1 billion of the worlds 3 billion women suffer domestic violence.

The international organisation Worlds Father has stated that one in three women experience violence at the hands of male partners and 30 percent of domestic violence started during pregnancy.

Ma Win Win Khine, case manager for womens affairs with the Akaya Womens Group, said that during January and February this year she had followed 11 cases of domestic violence in the township courts of Hlaing Tharyar, the outer Dagon townships and North Okkalapa.

There are many reasons for domestic violence, including cultural pressures, said Ma Win Win Khine. The man is expected to be head of the household and breadwinner. The wife is subject to his power and can do nothing without his permission except household chores, she said.

Women feel guilty because they cant earn money. Any problems or complaints are supposed to arise from the wifes mistakes, and the most shameful thing is for them to confide in anyone outside the household. Custom requires them to keep everything to themselves. This kind of environment easily leads to abuse by husbands, said Ma Win Win Khine, who has been attending courses on the law and women, media and women, sexuality, and leadership offered by NGOs since 2013.

She says when a wife is beaten by her husband, no one blames him, but just wonders what she did to deserve it. Local ward offices assume no responsibility in domestic violence cases, and some even put up notices at the door saying so.

Women have no money, nor anywhere else to go, so most wives just keep quiet and accept their ill fortune as karma.

I found some victims among the wives of my neighbours. When I got to know them and discussed what they wanted to do, it emerged that not many women want to take their husbands to court. They just want peace within the family. So we contacted police stations to ask about the legal position and then went to the local ward authorities to get them to tell the husbands not to abuse their wives again, said Ma Win Win Khine, who spent seven years working as a court clerk.

However, the activist found that some of her neighbours thought she was making matters worse, and some refused to talk to her.

Husbands were worried about what their wives might be telling me, and women hated me because they thought I was interfering between couples. They thought I should let nature take its course, and that wives had to be patient with their husbands. But I had to listen to the victims first, she said.

Mai Nao Mi Thang, a researcher from the Ninu Womens Group in southern Chin State, said the concept of domestic violence was not widely accepted in rural areas, where many people considered such behaviour an act of God. Traditional cultural practices in her state, such as the widespread distilling of alcohol without a licence and the carrying of knives, were conducive to violence.

Husbands drink alcohol and beat their wives, but the neighbours blame the wife. Many wives agree with that position, and wont discuss it, because talking too much is also a fault in a woman. If the husband carries a knife, things can get even worse, said Mai Nao Mi Thang.

Without peace in the family, how can a whole community be at peace? say the feminists. Myanmar has no law to stop domestic violence. Though the UNFPA and civil society organisations helped prepare a draft anti-violence law in July 2015, it was never enacted.

Judit Kertesz has met many female victims of domestic violence in her country, Israel.

I find it so sad. We know the problems, but women dont complain, and even feel guilty for the mistakes they believe theyve made. They dont want to involve anyone else in their problems because they think they are personal and not for public discussion, said Kertesz when she visited Myanmar to take part in a workshop last month.

She added that education was the best way to reduce discrimination, and educating only women was not enough. Men must be educated too.

One reason Myanmar women are reluctant to discuss their sufferings is their fear of divorce. Traditional society looks down on a family without a husband, and some community events will not accept children from a home without a father.

Daw Yin Hla is now 47 years old. Since the age of 26, she was regularly beaten by her husband, except for the past five months.

He was always drunk and never gave me any of the money he made from his trishaw. But I have two children and I refused to bring them up in a broken home, she said.

Five months ago he hit his wife with a stick, injuring her so badly that angry neighbours threatened to call the police.

Instead, they forced him to seek treatment in a mental hospital to give up alcohol.

When he came back from hospital, I sent him to his parents village and he took the monks robes for a month. Now he is good and doesnt drink. All I ever wanted when he beat me was to show him how a woman feels when she is abused, said Daw Yin Hla.
Gone are the fluted pilasters, the Corinthian columns, the stately colonnades. The velveteen seats have all been ripped out, the lazily revolving ceiling fans junked, the silver screens shattered and tarnished.





Its been a long goodbye for Myanmars classic movie theatres. There are fewer and fewer places where you can stretch out your legs and crack sunflower seeds in the friendly dark, surrounded by a legion of the enthralled.

Nobody is more aware of the loss than Philip Jablon. The American photographer started chronicling the fate of our Art Deco picture palaces in 2010, photographing them for the Jim Thompson Foundation and the Thai Film Archive.

Every town I go to I visit the movie theatre. It doesnt matter whats on. I love the crowd. I feel like they are very active. They enjoy cinema-going, he told The Myanmar Times.

During his visits, he photographed 45 theatres in Yangon, Magwe, Bago and Tanintharyi regions.

Now his work can be seen in Myanmars Vanishing Movie Theatres at the Myanmar Deitta Gallery through March 6. It features the Thamada, which is still with us; the Waziya, Myanmars oldest, dating back to the 1920s; the Hla Thiri, the grandest building in Minbu, Magwe Region; and many more.

Sadly, about 20 of these cinemas are already gone. The Win in Taungoo and the Thida in Yangon were demolished in 2012 and 2013 respectively.





I really like the Thamada. Its one of the most beautiful cinemas in the world, and one of the biggest in Southeast Asia. Its a good example of international-style architecture. I also liked the Win in Taungoo. I only recently heard that it had gone, Jablon said.

Thats sad, because the Win was a very beautiful building. The cinema was an important part of the Taungoo community, the only public place where people of all ages used to go.

When Jablon visited Thailand for the first time in 2000, he saw many movie theatres embedded in shopping malls. He learned that Thailand had a rich history of cinema-going and stand-alone movie theatres. His interest grew when he learned that many of them had been replaced by shopping malls and high-rise buildings. He started to document these buildings.

Then a friend told him Myanmar also boasted a rich history in cinema, thanks to the movie industry that flourished in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.

He heard they might not be around for much longer.

Stand-alone movie theatres are an important cultural heritage. Myanmar has a unique architectural history, which is reflected in its movie theatres, he said.

I just came back from Ayeyarwady Region. I visited six towns, expecting to see many stand-alone movie theatres. But there are only two active theatres in the entire region, he said.

On February 27, Myanmar Deitta hosted a panel discussion on the important social and cultural role of the cinema hall. The panellists included Jablon, US ambassador Derek Mitchell, Yangon Heritage Trust director Daw Moe Moe Lwin, director of urban planning for Yangon City Development Committee U Toe Aung and actor U Aung Lwin.

Our film industry began to flourish in post-war years. There were about 150 small and big film companies. Almost all of them owned a stand-alone theatre to show their films, said U Aung Lwin.

That was the golden age of Myanmar cinema.

In December 1968, stand-alone movie theatres were nationalised, leading to a gradual decline in theatres and the cinema industry. These included Shwe Gone, Myoma, San Pya, Shwe Mann and San Thiri cinemas.

Nationalisation meant that movie companies could no longer use their profits from the last film to finance the next one, he said.

The government also imposed strict censorship. They tended to cut out the bits that movie audiences wanted to see, so people stopped going to the pictures.

The movie theatres have been replaced by shopping malls and hotels, even warehouses. In the 1990s, Risk Cinema on Bogyoke Aung San Road was demolished to make way for Sakura Tower. Pa Pa Win and Gon cinemas on Sule Pagoda Road were knocked down so they could build Traders Hotel [now Sule Shangri-La Hotel], said U Aung Lwin.

There is now a glimmer of hope that Yangon Heritage Trust, the US embassy and the Myanmar Motion Picture Organisation might be able to restore the Waziya, the oldest cinema in Myanmar.

Were considering restoring the cinema to its former glory. We dont know what its original features were before they renovated it in the 1990s. We will have to remove a layer from the ceiling and the walls to reveal them, said Yangon Heritage Trust director Daw Moe Moe Lwin.

Waziya, which has a stage, was originally a live theatre.

What we need is funding to start the restoration, she said.
A three-month investigation into dodgy dealings in the murky jade industry has netted dozens of government officials, with two director generals dismissed from their posts earlier this week.





The Presidents Office yesterday confirmed that the director generals from two Union government ministries, as well as lower-ranking staff from a range of ministries, had been fired following the probe.

The Presidents Office had previously said the investigation was examining the Kachin State chief minister and two members of his cabinet, but they appear to have escaped reprimand. A state government secretary has been dismissed, however, sources told The Myanmar Times yesterday.

Some of those dismissed had been involved in the illegal import of trucks from China that were used at the Hpakant jade fields, while others had been caught illegally exporting jade produced at Hpakant, director U Zaw Htay said.

They were involved in jade production and importing machinery without a licence so the Presidents Office and ministries have taken action against them, he said.

Those dismissed included U Tun Thein, director general of the Customs Department, and U Nyunt Aung, director general of the Ministry of Commerces Trade Department.

But the veracity of the corruption investigation  a rarity under President U Thein Seins administration  has been questioned by some, including the National League for Democracy MP for Hpakant, U La Sai, who suggested those fired may be scapegoats for their bosses.





He said yesterday that the investigation should have looked higher up the chain of command, at ministers in the Union and state governments.

Lower-ranking staff have to suffer the consequences. Its not fair, he said.

The government has been facing calls to clean up the jade sector for years. However, that pressure intensified last October when NGO Global Witness reported that the trade could be worth US$31 billion a year, nearly all of it illicit, and accused several senior government and Union Solidarity and Development Party figures of involvement.

According to official figures, revenue from jade exports is about $1 billion, with 858 companies mining 8025 plots across 22,558 acres in Hpakant township under official agreements with the government.

Companies have also been accused of flouting environmental and safety rules, with landslides common around the huge piles of tailings. At least 114 itinerant miners were killed and up to 100 more left missing when a heap of tailings collapsed on them in November, while further landslides were reported through December and January, leaving dozens more dead.

Area residents have staged numerous protests in recent months calling for mining firms to improve safety in the area. Following a three-day protest in February, residents reached an agreement with the companies to reduce the size of tailings piles and remove waste soil that had been dumped in a creek.

The corruption investigation was launched in mid-December following persistent reports on social media of a large increase in dump trucks operating in the Hpakant area. Photos also emerged showing dozens of the trucks lined up at Kachin States Kan Pai Tee trade point on the China border.

Minister for Environmental Conservation and Forestry U Win Tun led one investigation team, while Minister for Finance U Win Shein led another. Neither of the investigation reports, which were submitted to the president, have been released publicly.

Most of the staff who have been disciplined are from the ministries of home affairs, finance and commerce, as well as the Kachin State government. U Zaw Htay said they had failed to take action to stop illegal jade trading and illegal imports of vehicles.

The Ministry of Home Affairs is now handling the case on the instructions of the Presidents Office, U Zaw Htay said.

He refuted rumours that the director generals had been arrested,however.

A minister in the Kachin State government said the government secretary, U Zaw Thein, had been dismissed following the investigation.

Another three officers from the Kan Pai Tee border gate have been suspended without pay for six months, said the minister, who asked not to be named.

I dont know any more than that, the minister said.

The investigations worked with the Bureau of Special Investigation and interviewed officials from the state government and mining companies.
It is the kind of reminiscence that is all too widespread among the new MPs now finding their feet in the grand parliament buildings of Nay Pyi Taw: the tribulations of their life behind bars. Some may speak of it, others prefer not to. Famously, National League for Democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi herself shares some of the same experiences.





What I remember is being beaten for reciting Pali verses, says Amyotha Hluttaw MP U Aung Kyaw Soe of Kayah State.

Also known as the Silver Mountain State, Kayah is the countrys smallest, though it has produced seven separate ethnic armed groups. Last November, it was the theatre of an intriguing clash between senior members of the then-ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party that obliged two of them to run as independents. Of the two cabinet members, U Aung Min and U Soe Thein, both ministers in the Presidents Office, the former went down to defeat and the latter was elected.

Also elected was U Aung Kyaw Soe for the NLD, which took all but three of the states upper-house seats. It was he who defeated U Aung Min, in a remote constituency with just a few thousand voters. He met with The Myanmar Times on February 12 at Nay Pyi Taws municipal guesthouse, where MPs are given lodging while in the capital.

A native of Shardaw township, he became involved in politics during the 1988 uprising. He took to the hills on September 19 of that year, one day after the military crushed the protests and established the State Law and Order Restoration Council. He was then captured in 1990 while serving with the All Burma Students Democratic Front, an armed group formed by former student activists.

They sentenced me to death on a range of charges, including murder and illegal weapons use. They added on five years imprisonment because I took a typewriter from the university when I went underground, he said.

The sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, of which he served just over 21 years, nearly seven of them in solitary confinement in Insein Prison.





We were allowed no books or paper, and were beaten if they found any. I tried to learn sutras by heart. Another prisoner told the guards, and I was beaten.

He was released in October 2011 and quickly returned to politics.

The victory of his party in last Novembers elections, and his own personal elevation, seems not to have disturbed his personal serenity or humility. I believe in my party because people really want to see changes. I believe in our chair [Daw Aung San Suu Kyi]. Thats why I was elected, he said.

He was hardly a shoo-in, having to run against the wealthy, powerful and well-known U Aung Min, who has led the governments peace-making efforts for the past five years. Because of a split in his USDP, U Aung Min was forced to run as an independent.

I was sure I would lose, said U Aung Kyaw Soe. In fact, he defeated his rival, though the other powerful minister, U Soe Thein, won his seat in Bawlakhe township.

I look forward to working with him in the interests of our state, said U Aung Kyaw Soe.

The NLD representative has been assigned to two committees, Amyotha Hluttaw Affairs and the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Representatives Analysing Committee. He says he will not forget his campaign promises, and will work for regional development and carrying forward the peace process. Without peace, there will be no sustainable development, he said.

Mountainous and remote Kayah State has suffered both from lack of development and from 60 years of fighting. Potential assets include extensive land that can be cleared for agriculture and its position on the border with Thailand, if a border trade gate can be opened. There is also the Law Pi Ta hydropower plant, which pumps electricity into the national grid.

Although there are three hydropower plants in our state, not all the surrounding villages have electricity, he said.

Rice and bamboo, the main products of Kayah State, are rarely exported due to poor transportation, which creates wastage and drives down commodity prices. This has driven many farmers to grow opium poppies.

I dont want them to do that, but they say they have no choice, he said.

Because of its remoteness, its poverty and its history of violence, Kayah State is now joining Kachin and Shan states as a major poppy producer. It can be diverted from this course only by the search for alternative crops and markets, a long and expensive process.

U Aung Kyaw Soe wants more to be done on the peace process, but says Kayah States patchwork of armed groups highlights the challenges for the incoming government on the issue.

The nationwide ceasefire agreement was signed by very few organisations and is not inclusive at the national level. It is far from satisfactory, he said. In spite of being a small state, there are up to seven armed groups [in Kayah State] that will have to be dealt with.

Never married, U Aung Kyaw Soe, 47, can devote plenty of time to carrying out his partys plans for the future. Unlike other MPs, he did not go home for the Union Day break. For him now, home is his room in the municipal, or sebin, guesthouse.

Id like to go back to my native town, but theres too much to do here, he said. I can always go back later.

Translation by Emoon and Mee Mee Myint Thu
Health specialists met in Yangon yesterday to discuss insect-fighting clothes as a way of eliminating malaria in Myanmar.





NGO Malaria Consortium has been testing its insect-treated arsenal with a local at-risk group: rubber tappers in Thanbyuzayat who work in plantations at night when infective mosquitoes are most active.

Locally made clothing was treated with permethrin, an insecticide that kills or repels biting insects when they come in contact with the material.

Treated clothing fills a gap in personal protection of vulnerable populations who are exposed to bites, said Dr Jeffrey Hii, regional senior vector control specialist at Malaria Consortium.

He said that repellents offer protection for a matter of hours whereas insecticide-treated clothing can provide protection for months.

Permethrin-treated clothing was initially used by military personnel. Studies on long-term daily exposure to permethrin have indicated little risk associated with the repellants use, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.

According to the World Health Organisation, Myanmar had 152,195 reported cases of malaria last year. The number of cases has been in decline over the past decade and are now mostly concentrated among at-risk and hard-to-reach groups. These include people who live in or around forests, the armed forces, and those who work in logging, mining, palm oil or rubber plantations, or construction sites. Migrant workers who may be unfamiliar with the disease are also particularly at risk.

Growing resistance to artemisinin, the first-line resistance to malaria, has emerged as threat to anti-malaria gains in Myanmar, forcing public health officials to look for effective alternatives and containment strategies.





Mr Hii said insecticide-treated clothing could be a tenable preventative because it requires little in the way of behavioural change. Its as simple as putting on a shirt, he said.

Malaria Consortium is now looking to conduct further studies into insecticide-treated clothing in Myanmar to determine factors like cost and durability. However, there was no set timetable for a larger roll-out of the measure.

Event participants used the occasion to also reaffirm the goal of eliminating malaria in Myanmar by 2030.

This will only be possible by targeting specific groups with specific technologies, said U Kyi Thar, country technical coordinator at Malaria Consortium.
Beware of fake hepatitis medication. The World Health Organization has warned hepatitis C patients that counterfeit medications are being sold in Myanmar.





Drugs branded as Ledso and Dakavir are fakes, according to an alert put out by the WHO.

The WHO said it was notified of the drugs by a local NGO. The medications were listed as being manufactured by pharmaceutical company PHARCO based in Alexandria, Egypt. The company denied manufacturing drugs under either name.

If you are in possession of these products, please do not use them, contact a healthcare professional as soon as possible for advice and report the incident as indicated above, the WHO alert said.

The drugs claim to be versions of Daclatasvir and a combination of Ledipasvir and Sofosbuvir, all relatively new medications used to treat chronic hepatitis C.

Dr Jorge Luna, country director for the WHO, said it remains unclear what the fake pills actually contain.

Laboratory analysis is pending so as to better assess the threat posed to public health, he said.

He added that the WHO is not aware who is manufacturing or supplying the drugs, but that the Ministry of Health has been informed.





The alert comes just after results of a nationwide survey released in January revealed that nearly 10 percent of the country suffers from either hepatitis B or C, with over 1.3 million people living with hepatitis C. Both viruses affect the liver, can cause cancer and are usually transmitted through bodily fluids.

The Food and Drug Administration yesterday confirmed it was aware of the counterfeit medications, and will send out a public alert soon.
While Malaysia continues to maintain its moratorium on receiving any further foreign workers, the country is attempting to regularise the status of those already within the countrys borders. Malaysia announced it will be working with countries of origin to grant five-year visas to eligible workers.





U Sein Oo, a director general within the Foreign Affairs Ministry, confirmed the plan.

Yes, the program is true, he said. We have already replied to the Malaysian government with information and comments from the Ministry of Labour.

Malaysia announced its Rehiring and Allocation Integration Programme last month. The scheme will grant visas to workers in three categories: those whose passport has expired, those whose work permit has expired, and those who are undocumented but have held a valid job within the country for the last six months. Domestic workers are not eligible.

U Thein Win, a senior official from the migrant affairs department of the labour ministry, said Myanmar is happy to cooperate with the new scheme, but added that it will only work if the ministry grants approval certificates to Myanmar citizens first.

We will not be certifying those who are not Myanmar citizens even if the Malaysian government issues work permits to them, he said.

Malaysia harbours a large population of Muslim Rohingya asylum seekers from Rakhine State  who are officially called Bengalis by the Myanmar government, and largely denied citizenship rights. Rights groups estimate around 52,000 Rohingya are registered with the UN in Malaysia, while many thousand more are anticipated to be living undocumented. Their status means their children cannot go to government schools, and they cannot legally find work, although the UN Refugee Agency has pushed the Malaysian government to grant work permits.





According to the UNHCR, another 91,000 asylum seekers registered in Malaysia are from Myanmar.

Malaysia is also a magnet for migrant workers, though thousands of Myanmar labourers who were smuggled abroad have languished for months and even years in detention centres after crackdowns on undocumented foreigners.

According to the Myanmar embassy in Kuala Lumpur, undocumented Myanmar workers who want to apply for a Malaysian work permit cannot be holders of a UNHCR card. They also cannot have criminal records, and must pass a health screening test.

The fees for the new scheme are pricey. A work permit will run the worker 10000 ringgit (US$2400), whiile they will also be charged a 300 ringgit ($73) fine for any illegal stay in Malaysia and a 190 riggit ($46) fee for the medical check-up. The worker must bear the costs of the fine and the check-up but the permit can be paid for by the employer.

Ko Wanna, a worker from Malaysia, said he welcomed the program but added that the high cost could be a barrier to workers whose employers are not willing to front the fees.

Its still better that there is an option being opened for the workers to stay here legally, he said.

Last month, Malaysia announced it would temporarily suspend the intake of foreign workers after national backlash against a plan to recruit 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers. Myanmar recruiters already had an embargo in place due to a fued over a newly instituted one-stop service centre that gave one agency a functional monopoly.
Anti-drug vigilantes who have slammed the weakness of local law enforcement now say they fear police could release without charge the 16 people arrested for attacking the vigilantes. They said the suspects were of Chinese appearance, although their nationality remains unclear.





Yesterday the police investigation continued into the clash on February 25, in which a stone-throwing gang attacked vigilantes who were advancing on poppy fields to destroy them. The anti-drug group, Pat Ja San, had vowed to destroy poppy fields in the Sadon region of Waingmaw township, Kachin State.

Pat Ja San says it has now suspended its attempt to destroy the drugs at the source following what they call the failure of local police to protect them. The organisation has written to the Union government calling for security assistance in eradicating the poppy fields, but says so far it has received no response.

A Kachin State police spokesperson in the state capital Myitkyina told The Myanmar Times yesterday that their investigations were continuing, as they interviewed members of the Border Guard Force involved in the confrontation and injured Pat Ja San members.

We interviewed the leaders of Pat Ja San on March 2. We are concentrating on the violence, said the officer, adding that they had interviewed about 15 people so far.

The commission of investigation, which was set up by the Kachin State government on February 26, summoned the leaders Pat Ja San to discuss accusations that the security forces had failed to properly protect them.

U Thu Yaw, the chair of the Pat Ja San branch in Myitkyina, said their members had been asked how the violence arose, and what weapons had been used. We are ready to answer questions. We want justice and we hope the investigation will reveal the truth and bring justice. We have confidence in the commission, he said.

He said he did not know what would happen to the 16 people arrested after the attack on Pat Ja San.





The commission wouldnt tell us. Were afraid they will be released [without charge] because they look like Chinese people. You understand what I mean, said U Thu Yaw, an apparent reference to the governments decision in July 2015 to release Chinese loggers in an amnesty barely a week after they received life sentences.

Pat Ja San leaders say they are still prepared to carry out their pledge to destroy poppies in Sadon and Kan Pai Tee sub-townships of Waingmaw township if they receive government security support.

But in the meantime they will continue their campaign against trafficking and consumption of drugs found in cities, including opium and heroin, and will arrest and search suspected drug dealers before handing them over the police.

More than 30 Pat Ja San members were injured in the February 25 clash. Some have now left hospital after receiving treatment.
Wanted: adventurous travellers willing to risk a jaunt or a fling in Myanmars Wild East. You dont need a passport, but a working knowledge of Chinese would be helpful. Nobody speaks Myanmar.





Mong La, a special region of Shan State, is a casino town. It also boasts a market for wild animals, as well as more intimate attractions. It is not for the faint-hearted. But now a travel company is to start excursions there at the end of March.

Not many people have been to Mong La. Some wanted to, but the situation was a bit unstable. Weve recruited experienced local guides who can keep you out of trouble, said Ko Thantzin Maung, owner of Thu Kha Lan Nyun travel company.

Maybe some people will be going to Mong La because they like trouble.

At any rate, domestic travellers are venturing further afield and seeking broader options, he said. They like destinations such Gawyin Gyi island [in Ngapudaw township] and the Myeik Archipelago. But nobody goes to Mong La. Its like a foreign city, and as developed as Yangon, he said.

The city offers modern hotels and casinos, a market in rare wild animals and 24-hour markets, he said. Mong La is different. They use Chinese currency and language, the vehicles have Chinese number plates, even the police are Chinese. Its not very convenient to go to Mong La without a local guide. Visitors will need to bring their national identity card to get through the gates we have to pass through, said Ko Thantzin Maung.

In Mong La, casinos are not so much an attraction as a necessity. Casinos are not attached to hotels. Its the hotels that are attached to the casinos, and you wont be able to stay in those hotels unless you play in the casinos, he said. Most of the people there come from China and Thailand.





The itinerary includes Kyaingtong/Kengtung, Mong La and Loi Mwe for a three-day, four-night trip for K450,000 per person, including accommodation, food and air tickets.

Mong La region is controlled by the National Democratic Alliance Army, whose funding depends mainly on the casinos. They are now getting into tourism.

The NDAA signed a ceasefire agreement with the government in 1989, since which time the area they control in Mong La has been designated Shan State special region 4. The NDAA is closely allied with the United Wa State Army, and was one of around a dozen armed groups that did not sign the nationwide ceasefire agreement.

If you feel like a spin of the wheel, more details can be had from Thu Kha Lan Nyun, phone 09-5047024.
With only five years to go until the next election, concerns are already being expressed about the independence, impartiality and functioning of the Union Election Commission. Speaking at a post-election review conference in Yangon on March 1, outgoing UEC chair U Tin Aye said, My term has finished, but Im going to keep offering suggestions, even if nobody asks me.





Given the landslide victory of the former opposition National League for Democracy, few fingers of blame are now being pointed at U Tin Aye and the UEC. Nevertheless, he is known to be a founding member of the former ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party and a personal friend of President U Thein Sein, who appointed him to the post.

The UEC has already submitted an interim report on last Novembers election, with recommendations, to the president. A final, comprehensive report will follow based on discussions with township and lower-level election commission branches, government ministries, political parties, NGOs and election observers. That report will be available to the incoming election commission.

Underneath U Tin Aye and his fellow commissioners is a growing body of civil servants who will remain in place.

U Hla Maung Cho, the deputy director of the UEC, said, Were preparing to improve the election process under the new election commission to be nominated by the NLD government.

The constitution stipulates that the UEC shall be appointed by the president with the approval of parliament, which will give the NLD a free hand in selecting its members. Nevertheless, High Court lawyer U Ko Ni said he believed the incoming NLD government will seek to avoid the impression that they control the next UEC  something that plagued U Thein Seins administration.

The president will have to consider the need to appoint members whose loyalty will not be to the president, but to the people, he said.





But virtually all power remains in the hands of the president. Under the constitution, parliament can only reject the presidents nominees for commission posts if they do not meet broad eligibility criteria.

The Carter Centers Myanmar field office director Frederick Rawski said an appointment mechanism should be introduced for the UEC and electoral management bodies in general that ensure their independence.

As UEC members are appointed by the president, theres always a possibility of influence there.

We think the electoral framework should be changed so that there are some checks and balances in the process of nominating and appointing UEC members, he said.

U Sai Ye Kyaw Swar Myint, executive director of the Peoples Alliance for Credible Elections (PACE), said the new government had to act in a transparent way, seeking advice from parties and CSOs in the interests of fairness. It was important that the next UEC should be seen to be neutral and to show no bias.

The peoples trust will legitimise them better than the presidents favour, he said.

Despite perceptions about the outgoing commission, Bidhayak Das, country representative of the Asia Network for Free Elections, said it had made great improvements on past elections.

He said it had focused on conducting the poll in a professional manner without bias toward any one political party.

However, he also advocated changes to the selection process for commissioners.

In most countries in Asia and functioning democracies, members of the election commission are chosen from different walks of life through a systematic and transparent process of selection, either by an independent committee or by a selection committee set up by the government, he said.

Khun Soe Myint, the general secretary of the Union Pa-O National Organisation, said his party would ask the NLD government to seat more ethnic representatives on the UEC.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said she would be above the president. What influence will she have on the UEC? It has to be fair, he said.
Nine months on, the case against environmental activist Ko Tint Aung Soe has again inched forward with the announcement that six witnesses against him will be taking the stand on March 10. This will be the 15th hearing in all, but the first since last November.





Ko Tint Aung Soe, a member of the Myanmar Alliance for Transparency and Accountability, along with Ko Moe Khaing and Ko Thawdar Tun, face charges of unlawful assembly, trespassing and wrongful restraint at Salingyi Township Court, Sagaing Region. They were first arrested last June.

The charges arose from repeated attempts by the defendants to meet with officials of Myanmar Yang Tse Copper Limited (MYTCL), the operator of the Sabetaung and Kyisintaung mines in Salingyi township. MATA and local villagers wanted to raise questions concerning land use and ownership, regional development, local recruitment, environmental protection, and corporate ethics.

MYTCL is linked to Myanmar Wanbao, the developer of the nearby Letpadaung mine that has also been the subject of community opposition.

The prosecution witnesses will include company staff, police and township officials. Ko Tint Aung Soe said 10 people will testify on his behalf.

Defence lawyer Ko Win Min Aung told The Myanmar Times yesterday that U Tin Aung Soe and his associates attempted to meet with MYTCL representatives eight or nine times on the understanding that they had consented to a meeting. The company had reportedly failed to respond to a written request for a meeting last May.

The whole thing appears to be a misunderstanding. We will be applying for the charges to be dropped, he said.

The delays have been attributed to the travel schedules of court officials.
The National League for Democracy said yesterday it will assign party representatives as chief minister in all 14 states and regions, despite not having a majority in two states.





The decision has already drawn criticism from observers, who argue that the NLD should instead open power-sharing talks with parties in Rakhine and Shan states, where the NLD failed to win a majority.

In Rakhine State, the NLD plans to appoint U Nyi Pu, the head of the partys state branch, as chief minister, according to senior official U Win Htein. He did not disclose a potential nominee for Shan State.

While he said the NLD was negotiating with other stakeholders, he declined to give further details.

Under the 2008 constitution, the chief ministers are chosen by the president from among elected or appointed MPs, regardless of which party holds a majority in the state. The nominee is then confirmed by the state and region parliaments, which have very little scope to reject the presidents selection.

In July 2015, the NLD voted to change the clause so that the chief ministers would be selected by the states and regions, but the amendment was vetoed by the military.

Even some within the NLD are unhappy at the decision. One source, who asked not to be named, said the chief ministers should be selected from the parties that won the highest number of seats. The NLD should favour the biggest winning ethnic political parties in the state to follow its own national reconciliation policy, the source said.

U Ko Ni, a Supreme Court advocate and legal adviser to the NLD, said he believed the party should negotiate within the Rakhine and Shan state parliaments for a candidate that all can agree on.





The parliaments will approve the appointment of a chief minister who can be really effective for their own region, he said.

U Yan Myo Thein, a political analyst, said that the NLD should talk with the Rakhine and Shan parties about power sharing. However, he said he believed the people will accept the NLD if they work for federalism in the states and regions.

Representatives of both parties were yesterday laying claim to the chief minister job.

U Kyaw Ni Naing, a Union Solidarity and Development Party Am-yotha Hluttaw MP for the Kokang region, said Shan State needed a chief minister with military experience due to the states complicated history of armed conflict.

The the Arakan National Party, which holds 23 of 47 seats in Rakhine, has said that if the NLD does not give it the chief minister position it will respond by refusing any role in government, and will instead act as an opposition party.

ANP general secretary U Tun Aung Kyaw yesterday said it was time for the NLD to show that it recognises the principles of equality, a self-determination for ethnic peoples, equality and a federal union.

We already prepared someone to be appointed as chief minister if [the NLD] offers, he said. But I dont think they will.
Myanmar's human rights commission has slammed a steel factory for abusing its workers.





Responding to a request from staff, commission members inspected the Yar Shin steelworks in Yangons Hmawbi township and confirmed the deplorable conditions described by workers.

We found that workers are doing overtime without pay and that the factory has poor safety standards, U Zaw Win, one of the inspectors from the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission, said on March 2. I also found that the factory disobeyed Arbitration Council decisions.

The Arbitration Council ruled last December that the factory could not cut food subsidies and overtime pay from the workers salary, as it had tried to do after the introduction of a K3600-a-day minimum wage.

The township department of factories and the general workers law is weak in supervising the factory owners to ensure they obey the councils orders, said U Zaw Win.

Workers had also complained of a hazardous environment about the lack of supplied safety equipment. When the council went to inspect, members found the factory full of iron smoke due to a short chimney. They also saw workers were forced into dangerous situations, such as having to boil metals and cut steel without gloves, masks or other protective clothing.

Workings said that when they asked for safety gear, the factory told them it was their own responsibility to buy it.

A worker from the factory, who asked not to be named, told The Myanmar Times yesterday that it was common for staff to work 10 hours without any overtime pay.





We are working from 7am to 5pm. We have to buy our safety equipment with our own money. Now, we are all crowded into two smoky chambers, said the Yar Shin employee.

The MNHRC inspectors said they would send their research, as well as suggestions for improvement, to the Ministry of Labour in order to resolve the dispute.

Ko Nyi Su, a member of the Hmawbi township workers union, who initially reported the abuses to the MNHRC, said that although officials from the MNHRC, the Ministry of Labour and the workers union have inspected the factory and verified workers complaints, the owner has failed to take action to fix the situation.

He said this was because the authorities were unwilling to take action against the owner.

The factory is taking advantage of the labourers, said Ko Nyi Su, who has also visited the factory. The owner is using only eight workers on projects that should require 16 workers, and is asking the employees to work 10 hours a day.

U Win Shein, general director of the Factories and General Labour Laws department of the Ministry of Labour, said yesterday that the issues at the steelwork factory are under investigation, and will be addressed.

Factory owner U Kyaw Win declined to comment on the allegations when contacted yesterday.

About 100 workers are employed at the Yar Shin steelworks.
A report out this week on mobile phone ownership in Myanmar highlighted how the countrys rapid modernisation can magnify gender inequalities as well as help address them.





In just two years Myanmar has gone from having one of the lowest internet penetration rates in the world to widespread connectivity, but already women have been left behind. According to the new research women are almost 30 percent less likely to own a mobile phone than men.

While almost half of men (47pc) now own a mobile handset, just one-third (33pc) of women do.

That gap is over twice the estimated average in low- and middle-income countries, found research into gender and connectivity by mobile development organisation GSMA and Sri-Lanka-based think tank LIRNasia.

Now, mobile-phone ownership may not sit alongside domestic violence, sexual violence in conflict zones, massive pay gaps, and lack of equal representation in politics and peace processes as a key concern for womens rights organisations.

But if one gender has considerably more access to the vast amount of information available on the internet and the communication advantages mobile internet technology brings, the potential for a rapid diversion in knowledge, skills and opportunities is clearly evident.

The mobile-phone gender gap highlights how ingrained discriminations can give rise to new ones and lead to an ongoing cycle of disadvantage and inequality. Unsurprisingly, women in poor rural communities are least likely to have access to a phone.

With both business and social development organisations focusing heavily on mobile internet as a method of delivering everything from banking services to health advice, unequal access to a mobile handset means unequal access to the new modern Myanmar.





Clearly there is no ancient Myanmar tradition that decrees men should have priority when it comes to mobile phone ownership. Nor, the study finds, does Myanmar suffer from the kind of attempts to deliberately isolate women that have been said to contribute to a gender gap in phone ownership in some Middle Eastern countries, for example.

Instead, the report concludes, a combination of factors are at play, including many womens lack of financial independence; traditional household roles which see women stay at home while men go out to work; and cultural expectations that women should go without to support male family members.

Together those mean it has become the norm that in households where only one handset can be afforded, men are given possession of it. That changed somewhat when the woman rather than the man was the person in the household who went out to work, but that is a far less common scenario.

Generally in the village, most of the women have no power and knowledge in their families and their role is just housewife. Men are the main people to run the business in families and they think men are more in need of the mobile than women, Daw Khin Mar Lwin, 50, from Bahan township in Yangon summed it up to one of my colleagues.

A rapid increase in mobile internet access  like any fast-paced technological advance  can have a mixture of positive and negative effects on communities.

Some of these changes are unexpected. Previous work I did in remote Cambodian communities revealed that mens sudden exposure to internet porn via their mobiles had had what local girls perceived to be a highly negative effect on boys behaviour toward them in an isolated society where young women had previously had a high degree of sexual autonomy and respect.

Others are more predictable. The cash required to pay for top-ups as well as handsets can encourage moves from more self-sufficient working practices to one where people  usually men  go out to earn an income, changing economic balances and cultural practices in communities.

However, it is clear that many people in Myanmar have embraced mobile internet technology with a passion, and it offers huge benefits in terms of development, education and communication in a country massively lagging behind much of the rest of the world in those fields.

It is vital that women, particularly poor rural women who are already massively disadvantaged, are not excluded from the tools available to others and further marginalised.

It is not enough to hope that the balance will redress itself as the country develops. A year is a long time in technological development, and the longer the gender gap in mobile ownership continues, the further women are at risk of falling behind.

Billions of dollars of international investment have already been made in the mobile sector, with vast profits available. Corporate social responsibility programs have been introduced by those companies, many focusing on women.

However, an internet app promoting maternal health is only of so much value if the women most in need of it do not have access to a handset and couldnt afford credit even if they did.

If the companies involved really do care about social responsibility, they will look at ways of ensuring that women have more equal access to their services urgently, and ensure that they are truly working to prevent gender inequality  not contributing to it.
In the last parliament, MPs suspended consideration of the Right of Recall Bill because of uneasiness over the prospect that a sitting MP could be removed in a process launched by a scant 1 percent of his or her constituents.





The case in point was the threatened application of the draft law to the Pyithu Hluttaw and Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Speaker himself, Thura U Shwe Mann. Despite the Union Solidarity and Development Party majority in the last parliament, a government attempt to pass the law failed because the Speakers USDP allies rallied round him and forced a suspension of debate.

The incident was remarkable not just because it represented a rare split within the ruling party of the day, but also because the perceived threat to the Speaker came from military officers in the constituency he represented at the time.

So unpopular was he in his Nay Pyi Taw constituency that he found it necessary to switch to another one, his hometown of Pyu, Bago Region, in an unsuccessful attempt to get himself re-elected.

In the vote over the suspension of the right of recall bill, National League for Democracy MPs sided with the Speakers allies, including NLD leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who had previously expressed support for the bill.

Behind the whole affair was the personal tension that had arisen between the Speaker and President U Thein Sein. Another sign of dissensions within the then-ruling party was the Speakers earlier dismissal of the members of the Constitutional Tribunal, even though all were members of his party.

Under section 71 of the constitution, the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw can impeach the president and vice president, on five grounds: high treason; breach of the constitution; misbehaviour; disqualification prescribed in the constitution; and inefficient discharge of duties.





Moreover, parliament can impeach and dismiss a Union minister under section 233 of the constitution; the attorney general under section 238, the auditor general under section 243, the chief justice and judges of the Supreme Court under section 302; and the chair and members of the constitutional tribunal under section 334. But the constitution is less clear about the removal of Speakers and deputy speakers of parliament.

Pursuant to section 396, Speakers and their deputies, like all members of parliament, can be reported to the Union Election Commission, initiating a recall procedure if the complaint letter has been signed by at least 1pc of voters.

On receipt of such a complaint, the UEC shall take steps to determine whether or not the Speaker or deputy is suitable to serve as a member of parliament.

The 2008 constitution identified three estates at the Union level: legislative, executive and judiciary power. The president is elected not directly by the people, but by the two houses of parliament, to whom he or she is accountable.

Thus, parliament is allowed to control the president on behalf of the people, while the constitution allows the people to recall MPs.

The right of recall law would require the UEC to investigate an MP accused under one of the five grounds stated above, and to dismiss the case if it finds no such grounds. Needless to say, there is no way to exclude political considerations from this process, nor any guarantee that questions will not be raised about the motives of UEC members engaged in such an investigation.

The question is not going to go away, not least because the constitution itself sets the recall requirement at 1pc of the voters. Amending that provision, supposing any party wanted to amend it, would be no easier than amending any other section of the constitution, no matter how large a majority the NLD now commands.

The president to be installed later this month will eventually nominate a new Union Election Commission, as well as Union ministers. These incumbents will therefore find themselves roughly in the same position as that which the USDP once occupied.

Will the right of recall bill, suspended by the first hluttaw, be enacted in the second hluttaw? The NLD has previously opposed it, so nobody can say with certainty. But given it is one of the few ways to keep parliamentarians accountable, I hope to see it pass and signed into law.

 Translation by Thiri Min Htun

Ye Tun served as the Pyithu Hluttaw representative for Hsipaw, northern Shan State, from 2011 to 2016, representing the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party.
The incoming National League for Democracy government will soon need to make important decisions about the controversial Myitsone Dam.





But it will also have to decide whether and how to harness the considerable opportunities for hydropower generation that exist in Myanmar, where less than one-third of the population has access to electricity.

On September 30, 2011, President U Thein Sein announced his decision to suspend the China-backed Myitsone until the end of his term, declaring the project was against the will of the people. Since that time there has been recurrent speculation over what will happen after the presidents term ends.

The dams Chinese developer, China Power Investment Corporation (CPI), has been lobbying for a restart of the project, while Myanmars civil society and the population at large, emboldened by the NLD victory in last Novembers election, remain firmly against a resumption.

However, Myanmar has an urgent need to generate power for electrification to support much-needed economic and social development. It also has, at least at the political level, a well-understood necessity to maintain friendly relations with its big neighbour to the east.

How to turn this dilemma into a win-win situation?

As much as Myanmar needs good relations with China, the need also goes the other way. The situation has become a dilemma of mutual dependence as professor David Steinberg and Hongwei Fan term it in their 2012 volume, Modern China-Myanmar Relations.





Chinese companies such as CPI and Three Gorges Project Corporation, the latter involved in the hugely unpopular Mong Ton Dam on the Thanlwin River, may be less concerned about public opposition to the projects they are involved in.

But the Chinese government cannot afford a strained relationship with Myanmar. That was underscored when Foreign Minister U Wunna Maung Lwin visited China in October 2011 to ease tensions over the suspension of the Myitsone Dam construction.

He met with then vice president Xi Jinping who urged the two sides to settle all relevant matters through friendly consultations. According to notes from the meeting, Xi Jinping did not call for reactivation of the Myitsone project.

It is safe to assume that a mutual understanding exists between the two countries to maintain good neighbourly relations. Permanent cancellation of Myitsone would incur a loss for the developer, CPI, which may need to be compensated.

But conducted successfully, it could be a big public relations win for both the Chinese and Myanmar government.

China would be seen as willing to listen to Myanmar peoples concern over projects implemented in the country by Chinese companies. The NLD government would live up to its promise of change, proving itself a government of the people, as the rhetoric goes. If handled skillfully, this could also create a more accommodating public attitude towards hydropower in the country.

The past approach to hydropower has not been particularly strategic except for an interest in maximising investment.

Projects meeting international standards for environmental and social safeguards, including opportunities for affected communities to be heard, have been the exception rather than the rule.

That has contributed to building strong public opposition to the Myitsone and Mong Ton dams, both mega- projects. It has also turned many local civil society organisations against the development of hydropower in the country more broadly.

The NLD government will have to develop its own approach fairly soon as hydropower is one of the key economic resources it can harness for development, and one of the main sources of conflict it needs to bring under control.

Saying no to the massive Myitsone and Mong Ton projects does not have to mean saying no to all hydropower opportunities in Myanmar.

When done the right way, hydropower, together with solar and wind, could be an attractive option for sustainably generating much-needed electricity for national consumption and the possible export of surplus.

Not all hydropower dams are the same. Because of their location, some dams will have a much higher impact on communities and rivers than others. For example, a dam that severs an important fish migration path will have impacts that may be felt by communities throughout a river basin.

Basin-wide, or even country-wide, river network thinking may help in prioritising certain locations over others or support the development of mitigation plans.

Taking a holistic look at the river system is also economically advisable because multiple dams have a cumulative impact, not just on the environment but also on energy performance.

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the World Wildlife Fund are developing models to compare different hydropower scenarios in Myanmar in terms of their costs and benefits across a range of resources and values.

Initial results indicate that some options for hydropower development have much lower impact than others. This approach to better planning provides ways to find better options that can still meet a countrys electricity needs, at the lowest possible costs.

This is Myanmars opportunity to move beyond ad hoc decisions about single dams, and start a process of coordinated long-term planning to meet its energy needs while preserving the precious natural and cultural heritage of its river systems.

There are thousands of megawatts of potential hydropower sites in Myanmar that any government can hardly afford not to consider for development. However, if not well planned, the impact from large dams on fisheries and agriculture, and thus the livelihoods of poor rural people, could be substantial.

On an individual project level, it is the responsibility of the developers to prove no harm. Proper environmental and social impact assessment and public consultations must be undertaken prior to detailed planning and decision making.

Negative side effects on communities living up-stream or down-stream of dams must be minimised and properly compensated.

Hydropower has a negative reputation in many countries, not only Myanmar.

This is often due to inadequate preparations by the developers, in particular a lack of public consultation and participation where indigenous people have lost their natural habitat without getting much in exchange, sometimes not even the electricity produced.

But there are also examples where this renewable energy is being produced and used and even exported to neighboring countries without causing serious problems.

In Norway, one of the countries in the world with the highest standard for social equality and environmental protection, the entire population has access to electricity generated by hydropower, with surplus production exported to neighbouring Denmark and Sweden and beyond.

Conflicts over hydropower have been much reduced since the country developed a comprehensive masterplan in the 1980s, to decide which projects were in the best public interest and which rivers should be protected.

From the foothills of Himalaya to the Andaman Sea, the Ayeyarwady River passes through Kachin State and the Sagaing, Mandalay, Magwe, Bago, Yangon and Ayeyarwady regions.

With an increasing population, dependent on the river and its resources, and with the impact from intensified agriculture, from industrialisation and from climate change, competition for use of this natural resource will inevitably intensify.

To promote sustainable use of the river and attain maximum, equal benefit for all people, a permanent Ayeyarwady River Commission, with representation from the state and regions the river passes through, could help make balanced decisions on development projects.

It could contribute to avoiding conflicts in the future, such as the one over the Myitsone Dam. The commission would be the focal point for government decision making, negotiation and public participation in managing developments related to the river.

Joern Kristensen is executive director of the Yangon-based Myanmar Institute for Integrated Development. A former director general of the Mekong River Commission and director of UNODCs programs in Southeast Asia, he has been engaged with economic and social development in Myanmar for more than two decades.
Anyone who doubted 2015 was the year of the smartwatch will be proven wrong by figures from Strategy Analytics, which showed in the first months of the year shipments of smartwatches just beat those of Swiss swatches.

The figures reveal that smartwatches sold 8.1 a heady million units, compared with 7.9 million units for Swiss watches. Thats quite an impressive feat for the smartwatch category, which has gone from zero to hero in little over a year.

What defines a smartwatch?

The term smartwatch is a fairly broad definition and the watches included thus changes depending on whose definition you take. Of course, a watch that has features above and beyond telling the time are generally considered smartwatches.

Strategy Analytics however defines a smartwatch as a computerized wristwatch with a high-level or expandable operating system produced and shipped from any country worldwide.

In most cases its pretty obvious whether a particular watch is a smartwatch, but by way of contrast, Swiss watches are considered a wristwatch produced and shipped from Switzerland. Got it?!

The Apple factor

Since its official release in 2014, the Apple Watch has had quite a pronounced impact on the smartwatch industry. History repeated itself with Apple opening an existing market to a wide variety of people who would have previously had little or no interest in the device.

By anyones measure, Apple is currently the dominant player in smartwatches. For example, in the last quarter of 2015, Apple Watches accounted for more than 60 percent of global smartwatch shipments, with 5.1 million watches sold. However, the firm hasnt released any official sales figures, so all statistics on the Apple Watch are estimates at best.

Strategy Analytics also hints at a small decrease in Apples share of the market from Q2 when the watch was initially released. At the time Apple enjoyed a commanding 75 percent share, but its not surprising that such a healthy lead would slowly fall post-release.

Everyone else

Aside from Apple, the other main contender in smartwatches is Samsung with around 16 percent of the market, which means with Apple they have around 80 percent in total. Not so different from the mobile phone industry then, where Samsung and Apple are pretty much major players, with everyone else struggling to catch up.

Only 20 percent of the smartwatch market then includes devices from the likes of LG, Sony, HTC, Pebble and others. For the Swiss watch industry however theres an even more miserable statistic, that just 1 percent of the market is represented by Swiss companies. They are trying to compete however, with new devices like the Tag Heuer Connected, but unfortunately the price tag puts it out of the reach of most consumers.

Its almost impossible to analyse the real impact that smartwatches are having on the Swiss watchmakers. The press and media have jumped on the crisis reportedly happening in the build up to the Apple Watch, but sales figures and interest in classic Swiss watches has still remained healthy.

To put things in perspective, the smartwatch market has grown by more than 300 percent last year, whereas Swiss watch shipments fell by 5 percent in late 2015. Perhaps the crisis is finally starting to have an impact, albeit a small one?

Companies like Tag might take some comfort that the people who are interested in buying one of their expensive, luxury timepieces are probably not in the market for a smartwatch (or perhaps they will buy one of each).

The future of Smartwatches

Every month theres a raft of new smartwatches released, updates to older models, and concept demos that hint at innovative new features just around the corner.

As far as Apple is concerned, the next Apple Watch might be announced later this month, although its more likely to be in the autumn. That would certainly be one of the biggest launches this year however and should likely help solidify Apples position as the top selling smartwatch maker.

Several other companies of note are also jumping on the bandwagon, such as Casio, which is reported to be releasing the traditional-looking CSD-F10 this month. Classed as a smart outdoor watch running Android, it will be interesting to see how the new device stacks up against its rivals.

Samsung recently released the Gear 2, and will no doubt be promoting it heavily over the next few months before the Apple Watch 2 sees the light of day.

Meanwhile, Pebble has just slashed the price of its Time, making it even more affordable to buy a well designed, feature-rich smartwatch. The Time and Time Round smartwatches now cost $149.99 and $199.99 respectively.

What comes next for Swiss watches?

Theres not long to wait until the most important even in the Swiss watch industry  Baselworld 2016 on the 17th of March, at which just about every watch manufacturer from the country will be present..

As always there will be lots of new models on show at Baselworld, but we dont expect too many new smartwatches to be revealed at the show. Stick with what you know, we say

Its apparent though that Swiss watch companies have been reticent to embrace the smartwatch. Neil Mawson of Strategy Analytics said recently that The Swiss watch industry has been sticking its head in the sand and hoping smartwatches will go awayand they are a long way behind Apple, Samsung and other leaders in the high-growth smartwatch category.

You may have heard of the quartz crisis, a reference to the rise of cheap Japanese watches that caused economic upheavals in the 1970s and early 1980s by replacing the majority of mechanical watches. Its not yet certain whether the smartwatch revolution is another quartz crisis in the making, but no doubt there will at the very least be some interesting products at Baselworld to help stave off the threat.
[March 04, 2016] NCR Enables E.Sun Bank to Introduce First Bill Payment Kiosk in Taiwan

NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR), the global leader in consumer transaction technologies, today announced that it has customized the first ever financial kiosk solution in Taiwan for E.Sun Bank - "E.Sun iPayment Kiosk" - which includes bill payment, statement printing, and notes exchange to ease counter queues. The bank also selected NCR APTRA Connections software to run on the kiosk and a fleet of newly purchased NCR SelfServ ATMs to provide personalized ATM transactions and customized ATM advertisements to promote customer experiences and deliver targeted marketing programs. The "E.Sun iPayment Kiosk" initially runs at one to two select branches in the first quarter. E.Sun Bank has a growing credit card business that has resulted in huge demand for credit card payment transaction volumes at teller counters. By integrating the NCR SelfServ 4 financial kiosk featuring 19-inch multi-touch screen together with other localized parts, NCR has customized a secure self-service option for settling credit card payments to reduce queues at counters. Customers can settle credit card bills by entering card numbers or identity card number, scan the barcode on the statements or pay by cash; customers can also settle bill payments at the kiosk directly to merchants' virtual accounts via pre-selected debit accounts or by cash. Customers also can make account balance and reward points enquiries, as well as printing out credit card statements and other application forms at the kiosk. In March last year, NCR deployed NCR APTRA Connections to run on 60 NCR SelfServ ATMs. NCR APTRA Connections enables E.Sun Bank to recognize their customers and display personalized greeting message, or even birthday greetings. Customers can customize their ATM menu by pre-selecting favorite transaction options that iclude their usual cash withdrawal amount, bill payments and bank transfers. A customized menu results in fewer screens to navigate and saves time - as much as 33 percent faster than a typical transaction. E.Sun Bank also can conduct region-based target marketing according to its own requirement by customizing the types of ATM advertisements to be displayed at any timeslot or any ATM locations. The bank plans to introduce more innovative marketing features in the near future.



"In today's competitive banking environment, a bank's winning strategy includes transforming the customer experience and improving operations to create brand differentiation," said Keith Au, general manager of Hong Kong & Taiwan, Financial Services, NCR Corporation. "E.Sun Bank has been a pioneer in delighting customers with innovative services. NCR is excited in partnering with E.Sun Bank for the first time in entering this industry-leading project to transform the self-service banking landscape in Taiwan to a new level." About E.Sun Bank

E.Sun Bank started business on 21 February, 1992. In 2001, E.Sun Financial Holding Co., Ltd was founded on 28 January, 2002 to turn a new page for E.Sun. E.Sun Bank strives to offer all round quality services and brand promises to its customers. It operates 136 branches in Taiwan, 21 service points in six countries overseas, with over 7,000 staff. About NCR Corporation NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR) is the global leader in consumer transaction technologies, turning everyday interactions with businesses into exceptional experiences. With its software, hardware, and portfolio of services, NCR enables more than 550 million transactions daily across retail, financial, travel, hospitality, telecom and technology, and small business. NCR solutions run the everyday transactions that make your life easier. NCR is headquartered in Duluth, Georgia with over 30,000 employees and does business in 180 countries. NCR is a trademark of NCR Corporation in the United States and other countries. Web site: www.ncr.com

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Nigerians generally consider themselves smart, quick and intelligent. Very rarely are they swindled, deceived, or conned, especially within their country. However, some who have traveled overseas have often times narrated tales on the shady people who took advantage of them as tourists.

Sure, it is embarrassing for any person from Nigeria to be tricked out of their money, but the truth is that no matter how smart, prepared or careful, anyone can fall for certain travel scams. From getting ridiculously fleeced on cab rides to unknowingly revealing credit card information, Jovago.com, Africas No.1 online hotel booking portal shares some of the travel scams Nigerians have fallen for around the world.

The Taxi Scam

There are shady drivers in all parts of the world! Travelling by budget taxi is usually the most convenient and affordable option for people abroad, however, it sets them up for the Taxi Scam.

The scam can be pulled off in three ways. The cab driver intentionally heading into gridlocked traffic to drive up the price, or they tell you the meter is broken so they can charge you a ridiculously high price; others hack the meter such that it advances faster than normal. Some cab drivers even insist that the traveller pays them in larger bills that way they can give them counterfeit change. The good thing is that this scam can be easily avoided. Ensure you negotiate rates ahead of time, or ask to confirm that the meter is working before you get in the car.

Free, fake wifi hubs

Most people depend on Wifi when abroad to communicate, especially when they are on short trips and do not have the luxury of registering with a phone company or enough credit to make or receive roaming calls. Unfortunately, some scammers abroad use turn the public Wifi access to opportunities where they can gain access to personal information and passwords from the people who connect to it. They create fake Wifi hub or set up unsecured Wifi hotspots in public locations, that way, tourists are tempted to log on, giving the thief access to their passwords, online accounts, and more.

To save yourself from this scam, beware of generic hubs or Free Wifi in public places. Also, if you must have access in public, ask the hotel/coffee shop/airport staff to know which Wifi connection is the official one.

Sir, youve got gunk on your shirt

This scam is very popular in some parts of Europe and South America . Unknown to the traveller, a person puts or throws something, such as mustard or ketchupeven human or animal feces on a person's body then pretends to be a friendly stranger or local who want to assist him with wiping it off. Usually, the tourist plays nice and lets the stranger assist him, but as the stranger cleans up the mess, he makes away with something valuable like your wristwatch or your wallet from your pocket or purse. It happens so fast that the tourist does not know, especially as he is unsuspecting. The best way to avoid this scam is to be on alert and never allow someone to help you clean up any mess on your body. Find a bathroom and clean the gunk off yourself or wear it with prideit could be part of the adventure!

Fake police officer scam

Nigerians are very careful not to get the in the way of the law or cause any legal trouble whenever they are abroad, as such, they are very cooperative when accosted by the law. Unfortunately, in most countries abroad, certain con men pull the fake police officer scam on the regular. The scam is usually pulled off by a group. A person approaches the Nigerian tourist and offers illicit items, like drugs, and while they are having the conversation, one or two other people will approach, appearing to be police officers. They flash fake badges and insist the unsuspecting traveler hand over their passport and wallet, which they eventually make away with.

Word of caution: never hand over your wallet or passport to anyone until they have shown you proper identification and then call the police to confirm they are who they say they are. Also, you can save yourself the stress by claiming you do not have your wallet or ID with you and ask them to follow you to your hotel.
Magical, splendid and awe-inspiring are the sight of waterfalls in Nigeria . As water cascade from the rocks from calculated a height, the whole being of visitors is often arrested as the eyes shimmers with so much joy in appreciation of this incredible gift of nature. Most people never want to leave as they set up camp to have a lifetime interaction with nature. It's an experience that every Nigerian must have. These waterfalls cut across the country.

Checking out these waterfalls important now more than ever as the government encourages Nigerians to buy and patronize homemade services. It begs the question why some Nigerians prefer to go on vacation abroad rather than visiting the tourist attractions here where you are offered all round hospitality from accommodation to food and relaxation. In line with this, Jovago.com, Africas No 1 hotel booking portal rolls out five awe-inspiring waterfalls in Nigeria where you do not need to spend millions to visit!

The Agbokim Waterfall

Are you a Nigerian and you have journeyed round the world and never visited Calabar ? You should pack your bags now, book the next flight and leave for Calabar. Why? Calabar is Nigerias Disney. In fact, when it comes to tourism and hospitality, Calabar possesses everything you want.

The Calabar carnival, Obudu Cattle Ranch and the amazing, amazing Agbokim Waterfalls are among the most priced possessions of the state! Agbokim Waterfall is regarded as the seven-wonders of nature because of the seven streams from which water flows. It sits comfortably in Etung local government and it is also in proximity with the Nigeria-Cameroon border.

The Gurara Waterfall

This pictures of Gurara waterfall on the internet are enough to convince you to visit this waterfall- The waterfall is about one hour from Minna , Niger State. The sound is almost deafening with the water hurriedly splashing on the rocks below. The climb towards the fall is exciting. Navigating closer to the fall is adventurous but you to have good grip shoes because the rocks are wet and slippery. Do not go alone, come with your snacks and food to enjoy nature. Gurara waterfall is located in Niger and it is an hour drive from Abuja. The Waterfall covers a length of 200 meters with a drop of 30 meters.

The Olumirin Waterfall

Osun State is a cultural hub in Nigeria. The Olumirin waterfall is an enhanced motivation to visit the state. It is located in Erin Ijesha in Oriade, local government area. You will be enchanted by the seven steps of rock and the seven waterfalls as it flows unhindered and majestically among the rocks and splashes downwards with massive force. It is a fascinating and picturesque scenery.

The Assop Waterfall

The Assop waterfall is located in Jos. It is a reliable place to have fun. You will not be disappointed as there is so much to do. Shrills of excitement will travel through your spine by the sheer sight of the waterfall.

Awhum Waterfall

The Coal City state, Enugu is where Awhum waterfall is tucked away. Specifically, it is located at Amaugwe village of Awhum town in Udi local government area. It cascades 30 meters downwards. It is an inviting and idyllic sight that beckons on everyone to visit. It is close to the Awhum monastery. In addition, the water is said to have some spiritual powers. Do not hesitate to have a peek at the Awhum waterfall when you are in Enugu state!
About Daniel David

Daniel David is a west African gospel music minister who's been in the quest to bless the souls of many people out there with songs of Hope and Inner Healing through genuine worship. He hails from Edo state and was raised in a Godly background right from His early life.

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A Sahrawi refugee woman walks amid the rubble at the Samara refugee camp, in the disputed territory of Western Sahara, on March 4, 2016. By Farouk Batiche (AFP)

04.03.2016 LISTEN

Nouakchott (AFP) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called Friday for Mauritania's help in a territorial dispute between Morocco and a Western Sahara separatist group that has displaced tens of thousands in decades of fighting.

"Making progress on the situation in Western Sahara is also of importance here too," he said, referring to Mauritania. "Numerous refugees share the same culture and family ties with Mauritanians."

The United Nations has been trying to oversee an independence referendum for Western Sahara since 1992 after a ceasefire was reached to end a war that broke out when Morocco sent its forces to the former Spanish territory in 1975.

Morocco claimed the entirety of Western Sahara in 1979 when Mauritania withdrew from the territory, which sits on the west African country's northeastern border and is home to around half a million people.

"I intend to make my contribution to the negotiations that are under way to settle this long-standing disagreement and lend my support to the talks so that the Sahrawi refugees can return to Western Sahara with dignity," Ban said.

The UN chief met President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz on Friday in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott as part of a tour of West and North African countries.

Tens of thousands of refugees from Western Sahara live in refugee camps in Algeria, which were built when the fighting began.

Ban was due visit the Tindouf camp in western Algeria on Saturday and hold talks with leaders of the Polisario Front, who are fighting for an independent homeland.

Local Sahrawi people are campaigning for the right to self-determination, but Morocco considers the territory as a part of the kingdom and insists that its sovereignty cannot be challenged.

A UN mission, MINURSO, is based in the Western Sahara city of Laayoune, where previous UN chiefs Kofi Annan and Boutros Boutros-Ghali have visited during their mandates.
27.12.2015 LISTEN

A fraction of referrals to a key Government anti-terror scheme are being made from within the Muslim community, leading to widespread distrust and threats of a national boycott, according to reports.

Less than 10 per cent of referrals to the Prevent programme, a central plank of the Governments counter-terrorism strategy, come from within the Muslim community.

The collapse in referrals means the bulk of tip-offs are originating from public services, such as schools or doctors, breeding distrust and disillusionment among some Muslim communities, it is claimed.

According to The Times, data reportedly released by the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) revealed that of the 3,288 referrals to Prevent in the first half of the year, just 280  or 8.6 per cent came from within the Muslim community, or from family, friends and faith leaders.

Nearly 2,200 referrals were made by public bodies outside policing, such as social services, the NHS and education sectors.

The rest were said to have come from within prisons or from police investigations.

Separate figures for the Channel scheme, a section of Prevent which handles the most serious cases, revealed that 1,355 children under 18 were referred to the service in the year to the end of October, compared to 466 the previous year.

One north London faith group that represents tens of thousand of Muslims is said to have called for a boycott of Prevent, while Muslim leaders in East London have also raised concerns that the programme is spying on youngsters.

Both campaigns have urged mosques and Muslim groups across the country to join the boycott.

Other groups against the programme have also been set up, including Prevent Watch, which said Prevent was flawed from the start.

The group highlighted one case which revolved around a Muslim student discussing environmental activism in a French class who was asked if he had links to ISIS.

The Prevent programme forms part of the Governments counter-terrorism strategy, Contest, and is designed to help police and security agencies identify individuals and groups at risk of radicalisation from all groups, such as Islamist extremists or the far-right.

It introduced a statutory duty for those working in schools, the NHS, prisons and other public sector roles to report any concerns about people being radicalised or being drawn into terrorism.

Britains terrorism threat level is currently at severe, meaning the probability of an attack is highly likely.

Simon Cole, NPCC spokesman for Prevent, told the Times: At a time when the threat level is severe, it is encouraging that the police are highly trusted as an agency for reporting concerns about radicalisation.

The figures may not accurately capture the nature of the original source because in many cases members of the community will report the first instance to the police.

A Home Office spokesman was approached for comment.

-dailymail
03.03.2016 LISTEN

Syrias electricity network is down across the whole of the country for unknown reasons, state media report.

Officials were cited as saying power had been cut in all provinces and teams were trying to determine the cause.

In most parts of war-torn Syria, electricity is already available only two to four hours a day, if at all. However, nationwide blackouts are rare.

Meanwhile, the UNs special envoy said a partial truce that began on Saturday was holding but remained fragile.

Staffan de Mistura told reporters in Geneva that violence had been greatly reduced, despite incidents in the provinces of Homs, Hama, Latakia and Damascus. Success is not guaranteed but progress is visible, he added.

Both the opposition and the government have accused each other of violating the cessation of hostilities agreement brokered by the US and Russia, which does not include the jihadist groups Islamic State (IS) and al-Nusra Front.

Mr de Mistura also said that while he planned to reconvene talks aimed at ending the five-year conflict in Syria next Wednesday, their format was flexible and some parties might turn up days later.

UN humanitarian adviser Jan Egeland said progress had been made in getting aid to besieged areas of Syria, and that there would be further attempts at air-drops of aid over the eastern city of Deir al-Zour, where 200,000 people are surrounded by IS militants, within days or weeks. Internet services halted

The official Sana news agency cited a source at the ministry of electricity as confirming that there is a power cut in all provinces of Syria.

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Engineers and technicians are working on finding out why this sudden power cut happened in order to fix it promptly and restore electricity in the next few hours, the source added.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based group that monitors the Syrian conflict through a network of sources, also reported power cuts in the vast majority of provinces, while Damascus residents told the AFP news agency that there had been a cut in the capital since 13:00 (11:00 GMT).

Sana also quoted the state-owned Syrian Telecommunication Establishment as saying internet services were partially halted as a result of sudden damage to one of the network hubs and repair teams have been sent to fix it.

The government has blamed previous blackouts on rebel attacks, while the UN has also noted that access to electricity has been restricted as a weapon of war. Hospital attacks

Earlier on Thursday, Amnesty International said Russian and Syrian government forces appeared to have been deliberately and systematically targeting health facilities in the northern province of Aleppo in the past 12 weeks.

The human rights group reported that it had gathered compelling evidence of at least six deliberate attacks on hospitals, medical centres and clinics.

They killed three civilians, including one medical worker, and injured 44 others.

Amnesty said the attacks, which it said were flagrant violations of international humanitarian law, appeared to be aimed at paving the way for government ground forces to advance in the weeks before the cessation of hostilities took effect.

Hospitals, water and electricity are always the first to be attacked. Once that happens, people no longer have services to survive, one doctor in the town of Anadan was quoted as saying.

-bbc


03.03.2016 LISTEN

Republican ex-presidential candidate Mitt Romney has urged his party to reject Donald Trump, reportedly calling the front-runner a phony and fraud.

Mr Romney accuses Mr Trump of playing the American public for suckers, in a planned speech leaked to the media.

Mr Trump has meanwhile mocked Mr Romney on Twitter as a failed candidate who should not advise on getting elected.

Many senior Republicans are alarmed at the prospect of Mr Trump securing the nomination for Novembers election.

In the latest attack from top figures in the party, several members of the Republican national security community wrote an open letter describing Mr Trumps vision of American influence and power in the world as wildly inconsistent and unmoored in principle.

He swings from isolationism to military adventurism within the space of one sentence, the letter said.

Mr Trump has sought to present himself as a unifier, after his victories in seven states on so-called Super Tuesday consolidated his position at the front of the race for his partys nomination.

Mr Romney, who has been a fierce critic of Mr Trump, is expected to warn in his speech on Thursday that his policies are a threat to the Republican party and to the country as a whole.

Heres what I know: Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud, Mr Romney says, according to a leaked transcript of his remarks.

His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University, he is quoted as saying.

Mr Romney will also warn that the nomination of Mr Trump would pave the way to the presidency for Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

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Mr Trump meanwhile accused Mr Romney of having run one of the worst races in presidential history and working with the establishment to prevent a Republican win.

Mr Romney lost the 2012 election to President Barack Obama.

Several Republican party leaders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, have spoken out against Donald Trumps controversial policies and positions in recent days.

His latest controversy centres on his failure to disavow David Duke, a leader of the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan, who endorsed him. He later said he had on several occasions in the past disavowed Mr Duke.

Mr Ryan said on Tuesday that nominees must reject any group or cause that is built on bigotry. This party does not prey on peoples prejudices.

Senator and majority leader Mitch McConnell said: Let me make it perfectly clear, Senate Republicans condemn David Duke and the KKK, and his racism.

Trump rival Marco Rubio indicated in his speech on Tuesday that the Republican establishment was unlikely to back the former reality TV star.

If this was anybody else as a front-runner, thered be people right now saying Lets all rally around the front-runner,' he said, adding, that will never happen with Donald Trump.

According to the New York Times , some party donors are already trying to raise funds for an anti-Trump effort.

Mrs Clinton also won seven states on Tuesday, consolidating her lead in the Democratic race over rival Bernie Sanders.

-bbc


03.03.2016 LISTEN

European Council President Donald Tusk has warned illegal economic migrants against coming to Europe, during a new push to solve the EU migrant crisis.

He said illegal economic migrants were risking lives and money for nothing.

Mr Tusk is visiting Greece and Turkey to try to secure agreement on reducing the flow of migrants travelling west.

More than 25,000 migrants have been left stranded in Greece by a tightening of border controls to the north, raising fears of a humanitarian crisis.

On Thursday, a group of migrants blocked a railway line on the Greek side of the border with Macedonia to protest at the restrictions.

The restrictions were imposed after several Balkan countries decided only to allow Syrian and Iraqi migrants across their frontiers. Austria also decided to limit numbers.

The move effectively barred passage to thousands of people seeking to reach western Europe illegally, including Afghans as well as some more likely to be regarded as economic migrants.

Separately, UK Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande are meeting to discuss security and migration issues, including conditions at the French port of Calais, where thousands of migrants hoping to enter the UK have been living rough.

After meeting Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Athens on Thursday, Mr Tusk said he was appealing to all potential illegal economic migrants, wherever they may be from.

Do not come to Europe, he said. Do not believe the smugglers. Do not risk your lives and your money. It is all for nothing.

He also said EU member states must avoid taking unilateral action to deal with the migrant crisis.

Mr Cameron and Mr Hollande will hold talks in the French city of Amiens on Thursday. Along with migration, both counter-terrorism and conflicts in Libya and Syria are expected to be on the agenda.

Hours before the meeting, French Economy Minister Emanualle Macron said his country could allow migrants to travel unchecked to the UK if British voters chose to leave the European Union in a June referendum.

He said an exit vote in the referendum could end a bilateral deal allowing the UK to vet new arrivals on French territory.

The day this relationship unravels, migrants will no longer be in Calais, Mr Macron told the Financial Times newspaper .

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Authorities in Calais have been clearing part of a sprawling camp known as the Jungle, from where many migrants are trying to enter the UK illegally.

Mr Tusk has been touring capitals in central and south-eastern Europe this week, trying to ease tensions caused by the migration crisis.

His visits are seen as laying the groundwork for an EU-Turkey summit on the issue on Monday.

He said earlier this week that Europe was ready to grant substantial financial support to countries neighbouring war-torn regions such as Syria and Iraq.

But at the same time we expect a more intensive engagement from our partners as an absolute precondition to avoid a humanitarian disaster. This will be the subject matter of my talks in Turkey this Thursday and Friday, he said.

Turkey has expressed frustration at the lack of a common position from the EU on the crisis.

BBC Europe Correspondent Chris Morris, who is on the Greek island of Lesbos where 75,000 migrants have already arrived so far this year, says the EU wants to see arrivals in Greece drop below 1,000 a day.

New figures suggest last years total of one million seaborne migrants arriving in Europe could be matched well before the end of the year.

The number of migrants stuck in Greece has soared, after Macedonia began restricting passage to all but a small number.

On Wednesday only about 200 Syrian and Iraqi refugees were allowed to cross. More migrants are en route from Athens.

Earlier this week, the European Commission adopted plans to distribute 700m (543m; $760m) of emergency humanitarian funding between 2016-18 to help tackle the crisis.

Under the plan, which still needs approval by the European Council and Parliament, EU aid agencies would for the first time work directly with the UN and other groups inside Europe, using monies usually allocated to emergencies outside the bloc.

Greece has asked the European Commission for nearly 500m in assistance to help care for 100,000 asylum seekers.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said nearly 129,500 migrants had arrived in Europe by sea so far in 2016 , plus another 1,545 by land. It said 418 had drowned or were missing.

-bbc


03.03.2016 LISTEN

North Korea has fired six short-range projectiles into the sea, South Koreas defence ministry has said, hours after the UN imposed tough new sanctions.

A South Korean spokesman told the Yonhap news agency the projectiles were fired at about 10:00 local time (01:00 GMT) from Wonsan on the east coast.

They were either rockets or guided missiles, the ministry said.

Correspondents say it is being seen as an act of defiance against the sanctions.

Hours earlier, the UN Security Council unanimously voted to impose some of its strongest ever sanctions against North Korea. The new measures are in reaction to North Koreas recent nuclear test and satellite launch, both of which violated existing sanctions.

They will result in all cargo going to and from the country being inspected, while 16 new individuals and 12 organisations have been blacklisted.

The United States and North Koreas long-standing ally China spent seven weeks discussing the new sanctions.

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US President Barack Obama said the international community was speaking with one voice to tell the North it must abandon these dangerous programmes and choose a better path for its people.

However the BBC has found evidence that raises questions about how ready China is to enforce the sanctions, as coal barges continue to arrive across the border.

South Koreas President Park Geun-hye welcomed the sanctions, saying she hoped the North will now abandon its nuclear development programme and embark on a path of change.

North Korea insists its missile programme is purely scientific in nature, but the US, South Korea and even its ally China say such launches like the one which put a satellite in orbit last month are aimed at developing inter-continental ballistic missiles.

The North claimed its January nuclear test  the fourth since 2006  was a test of its hydrogen bomb technology.

-bbc


03.03.2016 LISTEN

A former US state department employee who set up the email server used by Hillary Clinton when she was secretary of state has been granted immunity, according to US media reports.

It comes as part of a criminal investigation into her possible use of the server for classified emails.

Mrs Clinton denies doing anything wrong, in a case that has dogged her US Democratic presidential campaign.

Thousands of emails have been released except for those deemed top secret.

In January, the Department of State said about 2,000 emails contained classified information, including 22 classified as top secret, its highest level. Hillary Clinton, who served as secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, has since apologised for using a personal email account for official business during that time.

But she has continued to deny that she had broken any government rules or laws, saying none of the material sent via email had been marked classified at the time.

According to the Washington Post, quoting a senior law enforcement official, the FBI is working with Bryan Pagliano, a former 2008 presidential campaign aide who helped set up the server in 2009, in the criminal case.

Brian Fallon, a spokesman for Hillary Clinton, said he was pleased Mr Pagliano was cooperating with prosecutors.

The email saga has at times overshadowed Mrs Clintons 2016 run for the White House. However, she is leading the Democratic race for presidential nominations, after sweeping up seven more states in primary and caucus voting on Super Tuesday this week.

-bbc


Anas Aremeyaw Anas, Chief Executive Officer of Tiger Eye PI Media (Tiger Eye) and US-based research and education think tank, Africa Center for International Law and Accountability (ACILA), will hold novel investigative journalism training programmes for practitioners in Ghana and the West Africa Sub-Region.

A statement signed jointly by Anas and Mr. William Nyarko, Executive Director of ACILA, said that the key objective of the training programmes is to enhance the capacity of participants in investigative reporting in order to provide accurate and reliable information to the public, promote accountability and transparency, contribute to good governance, rule of law, anti-corruption, and human rights.

Anas, winner of several international and national investigative journalism awards, said he was excited about the prospect of sharing the knowledge and techniques of his trade by offering to train other practitioners to enhance their capacity, adding that Ghana and West Africa need more investigative journalists to promote accountability, good governance, and human rights.

I am also excited about the fact that these training programmes are in line with my goal of establishing a permanent institute in investigations in GhanaOur collaboration with ACILA, especially with its Executive Director, two-time investigative journalist of the year, and who facilitated the maiden investigative journalism training programme in 2001 which I attended, provides a perfect mutual opportunity for both of us, Anas said.

On his part, Nyarko said the training programmes are in line with ACILAs public accountability mandate, adding that participants are the ones who will benefit the most from the Tiger Eye-ACILA collaboration.

We have the demonstrated ability, capacity, techniques and delivery to transform even rookie investigative journalists into award-winning and world-class investigative journalism standards., Nyarko said.

The first training session is expected to be held at the end of March in Ghana. A few participants will be selected through a competitive process. More information will be announced in due course.
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The United Nations is reporting a "deeply concerning" increase in allegations of sex abuse by its peacekeepers, with 69 claims last year against troops from 21 countries.

A much-awaited report by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon obtained by AFP on Thursday provides, for the first time, the nationalities of the troops facing the allegations.

First on the "name and shame" list was the Democratic Republic of Congo, whose troops faced seven allegations, followed by Morocco and South Africa, each hit with four accusations.

Most of the allegations involved troops from African countries: Cameroon, Congo, Tanzania, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Gabon, Niger, Nigeria and Togo.

Police from Rwanda, Ghana, Madagascar and Senegal also faced claims.

Peacekeeping police from Canada and Germany as well as soldiers from Moldova and Slovakia were also accused of sexual abuse or exploitation while serving as UN peacekeepers.

Two UN missions accounted for the majority of claims: the MINUSCA force in the Central African Republic and MINUSCO in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but there were also cases in Ivory Coast and Mali.

"This increase in the number of allegations is deeply concerning," said the report, to be formally released on Friday.

The 69 allegations represent a "marked increase" from 52 in 2014 and 66 the previous year.

At least 22 children were sexually abused by peacekeepers, according to the report, but that figure may be higher as the age of the victims was not always determined.

- No prosecution -

None of last year's cases have yet resulted in criminal prosecution, though a Canadian police officer who served in Haiti was given a nine-day suspension.

Under UN rules, it is up to the country that contributed the relevant troops to investigate and prosecute those accused of misconduct while serving under the UN flag.

Human rights groups have complained about the lack of accountability for peacekeepers serving in UN missions; many have avoided investigation altogether or received light punishment.

Last year, the United Nations was informed that 10 soldiers and three police would be repatriated and barred from taking part in any future missions, the report said.

For allegations dating back to 2014, one soldier was sentenced to six months in prison for sexually abusing a minor in exchange for money while another was punished with a 60-day jail sentence.

Another soldier was "forced into retirement" for child rape while a military observer received a warning for engaging in prostitution.

The United Nations has been badly shaken by the wave of allegations of sex abuse by the troops it deploys in missions with a clear mandate to protect civilians.

An independent panel concluded in December that the United Nations had grossly mishandled serious cases of child rape in the Central African Republic despite the official zero-tolerance policy on sexual violence.

Of the 69 allegations, 22 involved peacekeepers in the Central African Republic while 16 were from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The high number of cases from the Central African Republic stems from the violent conflict that has pushed women and girls into prostitution and increased their vulnerability to abuse, said the report.

"It is deplorable that United Nations personnel would take advantage of this situation," it added.

Two victims who became pregnant succeeded in establishing the peacekeepers as the fathers but some 25 other paternity claims dating back to 2010 have yet to be settled, said the report.

Ban reported that payments to 12 peacekeepers, three police and one government-provided worker were suspended last year after credible allegations of sexual abuse surfaced against them.

The UN chief is also recommending a six-month limit for investigations, establishing on-site courts martial for soldiers and requiring peacekeeping countries to provide DNA samples of their soldiers on missions.

The United States is preparing a draft UN resolution that would endorse his proposals, and the report is expected to be discussed at a Security Council meeting on March 11, diplomats said.
Members of some business associations who ended a three-day strike on Wednesday to protest tax hikes have extended their action.

The Joint Consultative Forum comprising about five business associations and led by the Ghana Union of Trades Association (GUTA) want government to reduce the taxes and new tariffs which they say have choked the business environment.

The businesses, including Food and Beverage Importers Association of Ghana, and Institute of Freight Forwarders, did not state when they are likely to end the action.

They say a decision to extend the strike is due to governments failure to address their concerns.

Spokesperson of the Forum, John Awuni, told Joy Business government has refused to listen to them.

The business associations have indicated that, as part of the demonstration, they will not pay taxes until government meet their demands.
CHRISTIANS IN IDOL WORSHIP?

What many Christians risk is becoming idolators, all because the man whose photograph has widely been circulated as a picture of Jesus is only an actor who played the role of Jesus in a movie.

COCOBOD WORKERS DEBUNK REVOLT CLAIMS

Workers of Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) have debunked claims by the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) and the General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU) that Dr Stephen Opuni is creating tension among employees, unions, as well as management staff, which could soon trigger unrest.

NEW NATIONAL AIRLINE IMMINENT  PREZ MAHAMA

President John Dramani Mahama says government is working assiduously to get a new national airline established on a Public-Private Partnership basis in the skies soon, after, a successful prefeasibility study.

EDAIF, EFC TO MERGE INTO NEW EXIM BANK

Government is set to appoint a transaction advisor to guide the integration of EDAIF, Eximguarnty and Export Finance Company into the new Ghana EXIM, report b the Finance Committee of Parliament has revealed.

ENOUGH OF PRODUCING JOB-SEEKERS

Universities must go beyond producing job-seekers and aggressively embrace the mandate of producing job-creators for the future job market, Prof Clement Dzidonu, President of Accra Institute of Technology has said.

MINISTER MISLEADS MAHAMA  ANGRY HOHOE RESIDENTS

Some residents of Hohoe municipality in the Volta Region on Wednesday vented their spleen on Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, Minister of Roads and Highways, for allegedly misleading President John Mahma over the Hohoe township roads in his (Mahamas) recent State of the Nation Address.

LAWYERS LIFE IN DANGER OVER ZENATORS CASE

Gary Nimako Marfo, lawyer Nii Armah Ashitey, the NDC MP for Klottey Korle constituency in Accra, has alleged that he is being trailed by some unknown persons.

GHANA NEEDS CREDIBLE REGISTER  SAYS SUPREME COURT

A judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Victor Jones Dotse, has cautioned the EC to conduct the November 7 polls with credible voter register.
The Speaker of Parliament has issued a stern warning to Members of Parliament (MPs) to desist from their indecent behaviour.

Edward Doe Ajaho said such unruly behavior will no longer be tolerated on the floor. This is the second successive time this past week that the Speaker is scolding the MPs for their unruly behavior.

On Wednesday, he did not take kindly to Kobina Tahir Hammond's reference to President John Dramani Mahama as a president with "illusions."

Another MP on Thursday remarked unruly to Assin North MP, Kennedy Agyepong's, statement on the floor which got the Speaker even more angry.

The Assin North MP claimed to have received a letter from a headmistress of a school in his constituency asking for support to pay the school fees of some students in her school.

Agyepong wondered how the president could paint such a glorious picture of the country in his State of the Nation Address when the government has not even paid for the mock examination of students.

Another MP who was unhappy with the comment by Agyepong accused him of being a "liar" but the Speaker was unhappy with that.

All of you do this. Both sides. You keep on screaming at each otherIt is unparliamentary, he warned.

The Speaker had early on raised concerns about the MPs' heckling, cheers and jeers of President Mahama during the State of the Nation Address and will no longer countenance their unruly behavior.

He indicated, Thursday, that some MPs were lucky to get away with the unsavoury comments on the floor in the past but he will no longer tolerate that behavior.

The seethed Speaker said that some Ghanaians have been sending him text messages about the conduct of members of the House and that is embarrassing.

It is unparliamentary to refer to a member on the floor that he is lying, angry Doe Ajaho said.

He advised the legislators to raise the point of order and draw the chair's attention to what they feel strong about instead of making unruly comments.

But all was not gloomy for the MPs as the Speaker cited the conduct of Majority Leader of Parliament, Alban Bagbin and Papa Owusu - Ankomah as good examples worthy of emulation by other members.

Papa Owusu-Ankomah

Meanwhile, the Majority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak believes the Speaker is not using the Standing orders to the fullest.

He said the Speaker can force members who make unsavoury comments to retract or even ask marshals to walk a member out of the House.

He added that the naming and shaming of parliamentarians who misbehave will restore sanity to the house.
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The African Union (AU) in collaboration with UN Women, UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), United Nations Environment Programme(UNEP) and the Green Belt Movement, today led the commemoration of the 2016 Africa Environment and Wangari Maathai Day at the African Union Commission headquarters.

The event was held this year under the theme,Strengthening Women's Rights Over Natural Resources, in line with the AU declared 2016 African Year of Human Rights with particular focus on rights of Women.

Officially opening the commemoration eventson behalf of the AUC Chairperson, H.E. Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, AUC Deputy Chairperson, H.E. Mr. Erastus Mwencha, said celebrating the day presented an opportunity to rededicate to the principles of environmental conservation and also to the principles of inclusive and equitable development for the continent.

He noted that the African continent continued to face environmental and sustainable development challenges due to climate change, depletion of biodiversity desertification, land degradation and irrational use of finite natural resources.

He challenged Africa to renew its collective resolve and ensure a better future for generations of Africans yet unborn, stressing that, We need a holistic approach that not only addresses the environmental and economic aspects of development but also the issue of human rights.

H.E Mwencha further eulogized the late Professor Maathai, who was also the founder of the Green Belt Movement for her extraordinary struggle to protect the environment and advocacy for democracy. The Deputy Chairperson also made reference to first ten year implementation plan of Africa's Agenda 2063 which, aspires for An Africa of Good Governance, Democracy, Respect for Human Rights, Justice and the Rule of Law. (For the full speech please go to www.au.int).

During the opening ceremony,H.E Tumusiime Rhoda Peace, AUC Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture said, The Commemoration of Africa Environment and Wangari Maathai Day serves as stock-taking, for us to examine our individual and collective responsibility to ensure sound environmental stewardship to safeguard the development trajectory of Africa.

And also speaking at the opening ceremony, Ms. Letty Chiwara, United Nations Women Representative to Ethiopia, the AU and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) quoted the late Prof.Maathai stating, Human rights are not things you put on the table. These are things you fight for and then you protect; it is the little things citizens do that makes a difference, my little thing is planting trees.

Ms. Chiwara reiterated that environment sustainability; gender equality and women's empowerment are closely intertwined as women are involved with activities that are strongly linked to the environment including, their role in agriculture production.

This close connection of women to the environment means that women have an understanding of the importance of environmental sustainability and resource management. She said. However women's involvement in policy making, environmental planning and management remains insignificant and should be enhanced.

The Africa Environment Day was designated in 2002 by the then Organization of the African Unity Council of Ministers in their meeting in Durban, South Africa, based on the recognition of the numerous environmental challenges confronting the African continent.

The African Union further adopted a decision in 2012 calling for the joint celebrations of the African Environment Day and Wangari Maathai Day. The celebration of the Wangari Maathai Day glorifies and immortalizes the work and life of the late Prof. Wangari Maathai who dedicated her life to promoting environmental conservation.

The Celebration concluded with celebrants planting trees at the AUC compound.
04.03.2016 LISTEN

I was in the UK recently to speak at the inauguration of two new branches of the NDC in Sheffield and Hull and my attention has been drawn to a FALSE story widely circulating on social media about me and Hon. Ofosu Ampofo under the above heading. Under very normal circumstances, I will not spend valuable time and space in responding to a totally mischievous fabrication by a non-existent newspaper.

The story is nothing but the figment of the rather fertile imagination of some unscrupulous political saboteurs who are threatened by the unprecedented levels of the evidenced-based developmental projects chalked by President John Mahama and the NDC Government; coupled with our unwavering commitment to spread the news of such a solid legacy to Ghanaians both home and abroad. Such feeble political distractions will not dissuade me from working even harder.

There are pure and unadulterated facts about this fabricated story and my engagements in the UK which are as follows:

1. It is worthy to note that there is no newspaper in the UK or anywhere in the world called the Hull Sunday Observer; IT DOES NOT EXIST! I would not have hesitated to slap such a newspaper with a hefty defamation suit which would threaten its own survival and existence. The author(s) of the story, knowing very well that they were spewing nothing but concocted lies, conveniently decided to hide behind a non-existent media house.

Apart from it being childish, it also smacks of great cowardice. Unfortunately for such malicious ghost writers, their lies cannot stand after the facts are laid bare.

2. At the Sheffield and Hull programme, Hon. Ofosu Ampofo left around 6:30pm in the company of Ambassador Victor Smith back to London. Indeed he conducted t2he swearing-in ceremony for the executives of the two new branches, gave a short speech which was followed by the High Commissioner's speech after which both of them joined an express train from Sheffield to London.

3. I later made my presentation after they (Ofosu Ampofo and the High Commissioner) had left the programme venue. I immediately retired very early to bed in order to rest, owing to my flight from Accra to London and the long drive from Heathrow airport to Sheffield. I later joined the early morning train to London the next day.

Therefore, Ofosu Ampofo and I did not and could not have spent the night in Sheffield as the false story deceptively sought to purport.

Those behind this unintelligent fabrication should bow their heads in shame and disgrace.

4. I wish to state unequivocally that the story is an ABSOLUTE FABRICATED LIE which has been deliberately manufactured with the wicked intention of creating public disaffection for me and other State officials. In our part of the world where such rumours eventually become a perception, it is important to dispel them with the facts and expose those faceless mischief makers who hide behind social media to perpetuate such despicable acts of telling wicked lies without shame.

One wonders why such reprehensible acts of media terrorism and discreditable stories have been consistently targeted at my person.

5. I wish to assure the Public and the NDC fraternity worldwide once again, that this story is emanating from the disgraceful conduct of devious and crooked political detractors and it has no resemblance to any iota of truth as the facts show. I therefore urge the discerning Public to disregard this fictional, bogus and counterfeit news which originated from a phoney and non-existent newspaper.

Thank you.

ELVIS AFRIYIE-ANKRAH

(Minister of State)
04.03.2016 LISTEN

THE TEACHER Trainees' Association of Ghana (TTAG) has registered its displeasure over high tuition fees in Colleges of Education across the country.

According to TTAG, trainees continue to pay exorbitant semester school fees which range from GH1,500 to GH2,400.

Trainees are suffering a great deal because of government's inability to put structures in place to address the possible pernicious ramifications, it said.

This was contained in a press statement signed by the President of TTAG, Tagbor Sampson, in direct response to President John Mahama's State of the Nation Address delivered on the floor of parliament last week Thursday. The president claimed that his government had excluded tertiary institutions in the payment of utility bills.

TTAG said even though the president had announced that utility tariff payment by tertiary institutions  which include Colleges of Education  had been scrapped, some colleges across the country are still forcing trainees to pay for utility bills.

Some Colleges are charging our colleagues as much as GH150, GH165 and more for utility per semester, why? TTAG quizzed in the statement, painting a picture of lip-service being offered by President Mahama and his National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration.

Trainees, it claimed, could not afford to pay these monies alongside the exorbitant semester school fees.



Extortion

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TTAG argued that the decision by authorities of some Colleges of Education to charge utility bills amounts to extortion.

This, it claimed, was because the institutions are under government and must adhere to government's directives.



Proposal

To help ease the plight of teacher trainees, TTAG proposed among other things, that trainees should not pay for feeding fees as components of their bill as it remains the responsibility of the government.

TTAG urged all teacher trainees not to pay for feeding fee as a component of their bill since government is supposed to pay.

It also asked the government to prevent trainees from paying utility bills as part of the school fees.

It added, The government's decision to take away the trainees allowance should not in any way overburden the trainees but rather soften the ground and the systems with regards to the Colleges of Education.

BY Melvin Tarlue


04.03.2016 LISTEN

On the 25th February 2016, the President of the Republic of Ghana went before the Parliament of the Republic to meet a constitutionally mandated function of presenting the State of the Nation's address. My ordinary understanding of the STATE OF THE NATION is, in the accounting terminology, presenting the state of finances of a corporate body at a given financial period. The Director of Finance looks at its indebtedness as at that period, its creditors, and the liquidity at the time. Any future expectations in terms of the finances have to be the work of Planning and Budgetary Departments. However our President told the nation about plans for the next four years, ignoring primarily, the state of affairs from February of 2015 to February of 2016.

Following the 'Real State of the Nation's' address by Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo, a serious debate has resurrected among the citizenry as to who is right or wrong. One major area of dispute, which some sections of the media have exposed, is the road sector. My soul sank low and my spirit for once stood still when I heard some NDC propagandists using the distance between Ghana and the UK as the case that the NPP could not have done the about 30,000 km road network in the eight year period it was in office.

Now the facts: The total road network as at 1981, motorable, stood at 28,000 km. After 19 years of (P)NDC , it had increased to 39,000km. By 2000, the state of the country's roads were: Good: 27%, Fair: 17%, Bad:56%. In 19 years, they constructed just two flyovers in Accra, the Ako Adjei and King Tackie Tawiah flyovers.

The (P)NDC paid very little attention to roads in the cocoa growing areas of the country, thus recording perennial state of trucks carrying cocoa from the hinterland to the Ports getting stuck endlessly and decreasing the quality of the nation's cocoa beans on the international market.

By the end of 2007, the NPP under President Kufuor had built a total of 25,000 km of road representing 60% in road network. Some of the key road networks that saw major reconstruction under Kufuor by 2005 are Accra-Kumasi, Accra-Yamoransa, Accra-Mamfe through Aburi, Accra-Sogakope-Aflao, Takoradi-Agona-Ahanta, Apemanim-Tarkwa. The Asankragwa-Enchi-Dadieso road was ongoing by the end of 2008. Within the eight years, the NPP constructed five major flyovers and interchanges. They are Ashiaman-Motorway flyover, Tetteh Quarshie interchange, the Achimota interchange, Alajo-Avenor flyover, Asafo interchange in Kumasi while the Atomic Junction flyover was ongoing.

The conditions of our roads in percentage terms stood at Good 46%, nearly double that of the 19 years of the (P)NDC, Fair 29% and Bad 26%. This is the comparison Nana Addo was making, and yet some people who danced to the tune of mediocre rhythm, responded by dancing backwards.

TRADERS, TAXES AND STRIKES

In the past few weeks, business people and importers in this country, particularly members of the Ghana United Traders Association (GUTA) have made passionate appeals to the government to reconsider some of the taxes imposed on them since those taxes make their imports more expensive and in the process creating increased cost to the consuming public. The manufacturing sector is also reeling under the myriad of taxes imposed on the imported raw materials and industrial equipment which makes local manufacturing so expensive that they cannot compete with other producers of similar goods even within the sub-region.

While everyone will admit that a nation needs taxes from all economic activities embarked upon within the borders of the country, excessive taxes can also lead to the closure of businesses. Between 2008 and 2011, companies established in Sekondi-Takoradi because of the Oil find in the Cape-Three Points area of the Western Region, and whose activities are directly or indirectly related to the Oil drilling, as I write now, have relocated to nearby La Cote D'Ivoire.

The reasons are the unreliable state of provisions of critical utility services of water and electricity in addition to high corporate taxes and import taxes. The manufacturing sector's contribution to the GDP keeps on dwindling year after year, partly as a result of high taxes. GUTA over the years has been complaining about unfair trade practices as regards the areas foreigners are to engage in as far as trading is concerned and areas reserved for Ghanaians only.

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Demonstrations and petitions were made to government but to no avail in most cases. GUTA has been compelled this week to shut their shops for business in protest of high taxes. It is important for Ghanaians to be apprised of the number and kind of taxes importers are made to pay at entry points, at least as I know.

Summary of Taxes and their Descriptions:

Import duties Import VAT Import Special Tax Import Excise duty Processing Fees Ecowas levy Export Development levy Examination of the imports Network charge Net charge VAT Ghana Shipper's Council SNF Fee Import NHIL Net charge NHIL MOTI-EIDF SIL (2%) GIFF Special Import Duty Freight Forwarders levy

These are the number of taxes, as I know, that importers are made to pay before their goods can come out of the Port. From the list above, it is very obvious that importers are being doubly taxed in the areas of NHIL, if that item is the National Health Insurance Levy. The National Health Insurance Scheme was established by introducing or adding 2.5 % VAT to the then existing 12.5% VAT to take care of the funding of the scheme. So inbuilt in the current 17.5% VAT, is a 2.5 % component for the NHIS. For the government to charge Import tax on NHIS and any other charge, is double taxation on the same item. That accounts for the protestations by the GUTA and other associated businesses. Government needs taxes, but excessive taxes can kill businesses and over time, there would not be anybody to tax again.

STOOL LANDS ADMINISTRATION IN CAPE-COAST

I have stated time and time again that I lived part of my life in the Upper Denkyira area of the Central Region and schooled at Dunkwa On-Offin. My grandparents farmed there and I happen to own a parcel of land in Dunkwa, properly registered at the Lands Commission of the Central Region. I paid fully my rent on the land in 2015. As a law abiding citizen, living in Takoradi, I have been thinking of travelling to Cape- Coast to pay the rent for 2016.

I travelled to Accra last Sunday, February 28, 2016, picked my documents on the land with the view to go to the Stool Lands Administration in Cape-Coast on my return from Accra on Tuesday March 1, 2016. In the midst of the heavy downpour on that day, I drove to the offices of the Stool Lands Administration in Cape-Coast, to be precise, their accounts office to pay my rent of GH150.00 as required by law.

I got to the office at exactly 10.15 am by my watch. I enquired and was directed to an officer who received me. I told him my mission. He took my documents, flipped through them and asked whether I was going to make full payment which I responded in the affirmative. He asked of the whereabouts of another officer and the response was that he was not in, that was 10.15 am. The officer asked that that other officer be called to come and attend to me and the response from a lady who made the call to her obvious superior was that, the other officer was in town and has asked that I wait and that he would come.

Mr. Nee Osae Mills, Honourable Minister, I waited till 11.20am and that officer who was supposed to come so I could pay my rent had not come. I was travelling from Accra to Takoradi. I went back to the superior to tell him if there was nobody to take the rent from me, then I was leaving and I left to Takoradi. We have public officers who even make it difficult for members of the public to pay monies due the state. Government takes 90% of the rents on lands, the 10% is shared between the District Assemblies where the lands are and the Stool Lands that own the lands.

That is my story, a willing citizen to pay his rent, and an unwilling public institution to collect the rent. No bitters today.

[email protected]


04.03.2016 LISTEN

Matters arising from the menace of the nomadic Fulani in the country, especially in the Agogo area, are as disturbing as they are comedic.

Whatever measures have been put in place so far appear not to be working as fatalities continue to be recorded and women raped on farms.

The nomadic Fulani are not only interested in spilling blood as a way of protecting their cattle, but they also seek to satisfy their libidos on local women upon whom they pounce in the bush.

The people of Agogo, especially the men, are not only concerned about the destruction of their crops and lives, but the insult of having their women abused by careless nomadic Fulani.

Platoons of soldiers and cops have pitched camp in Agogo, a security response to the menace yet the criminalities continue as though there is a certain invincibility about the nomads we are yet to discern and deal with.

Feeling helpless and almost whingeing, the youth of Agogo are demanding the withdrawal of the troops from the town, the exercise for them not yielding any dividend as evidenced by the emboldening of the nomads.

While we are unable to state that such a withdrawal would serve any positive cause, we can posit though that the orders to the troops could be restrictive. This fear, it is confirmed, would definitely make it impossible for them to react the way they should when they sight the nomadic Fulani. Let us have the rules of engagement rewritten.

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Nana Akuoku Sarpong, the paramount chief of Agogo Asante-Akyem, it would seem, has broken his silence on the subject. His diktat to owners of cattle to leave his traditional area of jurisdiction makes interesting listening and analysis.

Cattle owners in Agogo, unlike the nomadic Fulani, are part of the community who have the right to engage in any lawful business activity provided these do not infringe the rights of others. In this case though, it is a fact that the cattle are destructive and must be reined in to protect cash and food crops.

Nana Akuoku Sarpong's diktat is informed, we think, by the latest fatality after a man was killed by suspected Fulani herdsmen. For how long shall the people of Agogo continue to live under a spell of security apprehension?

The determination of the Fulani not to leave as being demanded by the authorities and the people of Agogo points at a future major confrontation which repercussions can only be conjectured.

We think therefore that going back to the drawing board to rethink the response to the Fulani menace would do us a lot of good.

With the obsession of acquiring AK 47s  the dream of every nomadic Fulani  the reality of the insecurity facing us could not have been clearer.
04.03.2016 LISTEN

A judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Victor Jones Dotse, has cautioned the Electoral Commission (EC) to conduct the November 7 polls with a credible voter register.

The statement follows an application for interlocutory injunction by two people seeking to prevent the EC from conducting the by-election in the Abuakwa North Constituency later this month using the current register.

Justice Dotse urged the EC to take another look at the alternatives offered by its (EC's) panel to clean the register.

The court however dismissed the application.

The seven-member panel of justices, presided over by Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood, deferred the reasons for the decision until the final judgement in the substantive case before the court.

The CJ however urged the EC and the Attorney General (AG), who are the third and the fourth defendants in the case respectively, to meet the plaintiffs, whom she said had softened their stance in respect of the reliefs they were seeking from the court to find a solution to the case.

Justice Wood stated that the EC, when meeting the plaintiffs, must show good faith and commitment to make things work.

The plaintiffs  Abu Ramadan, a former National Youth Organiser of the People's National Convention (PNC) and Evans Nimako, a farmer  dragged the EC and the AG to court praying it to prevent the EC from conducting the limited registration exercise from April 28 to May 8, 2016.

The exercise is to enable persons who have since the last registration exercise attained the age of eighteen and others who qualify but may not have registered yet to do so.

The applicants had also sought to scuttle plans by the EC to organise the Abuakwa North Constituency by-election using the current electoral roll. They described the attempt by the EC to use the existing register as prejudicial and contemptuousin allowing unqualified persons to participate in determining this country's future.



Arguments

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The two had through their lawyer, Nana Asante Bediatuo, in an affidavit in support of the motion, wanted the court to restrain the EC from conducting any new registration exercise or public election until the matters complained of in the substantive suit were addressed by the court.

They among other reliefs sought a declaration that upon a true and proper interpretation of Article 45(a) of the 1992 Constitution, the mandate of the EC to compile the register of voters implies a duty to compile a reasonably accurate and credible register.

The applicants' lawyer requested the apex court to declare that the current voter register, which contains the names of persons who had not established qualification to be registered, is not reasonably accurate or credible and therefore inconsistent with Article 45(a) of the Constitution, thereby making same unconstitutional, null, void and of no effect.

Besides a declaration that the current register, which contains the names of persons who are deceased, is not reasonably accurate or credible and is therefore inconsistent with Article 45(a) of the Constitution, the applicants are also seeking an order setting aside the current register and compelling the EC to compile a fresh one before the conduct of any new public election or referendum in Ghana; or, in the alternative, an order compelling the EC to audit the current electoral roll through the validation of the registration of each person currently on the register.



Rebuttal

Thaddeus Sory, appearing for the EC, said the Commission was vehemently opposed to the motion, indicating that the applicants had failed to show that any irreparable damage would be caused if the court did not grant their request.

He said the application also undermined the fundamental principle for the grant or otherwise of equitable reliefs, adding that equity follows the law.

In the view of the EC lawyer, the Commission had taken steps to sanitise the very register the applicants were seeking to attack.

Dorothy Afiriyie Ansah, a Chief State Attorney, said the AG had filed its statement of case in respect of the motion for injunction before the court and would rely on same.

By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson

[email protected]


04.03.2016 LISTEN

Some residents of Hohoe municipality in the Volta Region on Wednesday vented their spleen on Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, Minister of Roads and Highways, for allegedly misleading President John Mahama over the Hohoe township roads in his (Mahama's) recent State of the Nation Address.

President Mahama had created the impression that the construction of roads in the town was nearing completion, when there was no road construction going on. The residents have therefore turned their anger on Mr Fuseini who made an unannounced visit with a section of the media with intent to showcase the road projects, which they claim are unavailable.

President John Mahama, in his much-talked-about address, had said several road projects were ongoing in Hohoe to give the roads a facelift, but the residents say that is not true on the ground.

Hohoe roads were not the only projects the president goofed about. Several others in other regions and towns are non-existent, according to research, making residents to have a different picture about the president.

The obviously angry Hohoe residents described as 'mischievous' the obvious misrepresentation of their situation presented to the president.

Deception

We've been deceived for long. We are not ready for such deceptions again, one of the residents told Citi Fm.

Another charged, If they are ready to tell us anything, they should come to the road and do it. Where they initially showed you, it is Hohoe to Lolobi road; it's not Hohoe town road. There are other Hohoe town roads they are not taking you to. The NDC people here are deceiving you. They should send you to the town road instead.

The residents claimed that the contractor (called Gohez) working on the Hohoe town road abandoned the project close to four years but when he heard about the impending visit of the minister, he rushed to the chief's palace before your coming to convince the chief to talk well in his favour.

Please, they are not doing the town road so what the president said was false. He was totally misled.

DAILY GUIDE learnt that funding had not been provided for the contract, leading to the contractor vacating the site.

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The stretch from the First Ghana Building Society junction to Gbi Kpeme suburb of Hohoe was given on contract to Gohez during the late President Mills' era.

However, not even the drains have been completed. Work on this road stalled even before the demise of President Mills. No contractor has since been seen on site.

The Roads and Highway Minister later said, I have directed that they summon him (contractor) to a meeting in Accra on Thursday for us to assess his capacity to complete the work. So if we are convinced that he lacks the capacity to complete the work, we might have to look for an alternative contractor to do the work.



NPP Exposure

Even before the minister's visit, the opposition New Patriotic Party's (NPP's) Volta Regional Chairman, John Peter Amewu, had exposed President Mahama over his assertion that the roads in the municipality were almost completed.

According to Mr Amewu, a former MCE for Hohoe, it was rather the NPP government that constructed most of the critical road networks in the municipality and insisted that the NDC could not reap where they had not sown.

Writing on the topic, Akufo-Addo was right about Hohoe town roads on Facebook recently, the NPP regional chairman said, The 46-kilometre road from Pepesu to Nkwanta was funded by EU under President Kufuor. The NPP had secured funding for the construction of the road before President Kufuor left office.

He added, The Golokwati-Hohoe road was constructed under NPP double seal (awarded to Rollider). All Hohoe town roads were constructed by the NPP. These include post office to electricity (awarded to GOHES Ltd); the district assembly to the electricity (awarded to GOHES Ltd); the post office square to the stadium (awarded to GOHES Ltd); the market to the hospital (awarded to GOHES Ltd); Zongo junction to Barclays (awarded to GOHES Ltd); and Post Office Square to St Francis College (awarded to GOHES Ltd). In all, about 7.2km of the town road was constructed under the NPP with chipping spray.

He claimed further, Under Mahama/NDC, the 300-metre hospital road in Hohoe is currently under construction at a very slow pace. This includes the construction of the side drains. This section of the town road was awarded under the NDC.

He also added that work on the other road network in Hohoe, involving the construction of drains at Kpeme, Bla and Abanse road [was] abandoned over a year ago, with the contractor having vacated the site.

By William Yaw Owusu


The Chief Executive Officer of Barclays Ghana, Patience E. Akyianu has assured customers of maximum safety of their funds despite the sell down of Barclays PLC stock which owns 62.3 percent shares in Barclays Africa Group.

Customers of Barclays Ghana went jittery over social media comments that Barclays Africa will fissile out of the market because of the intention of Barclays PLC to reduce its stake in Barclays Africa Group Limited.

Subsequently, Jes Stanley, CEO of Barclays PLC officially announced on Tuesday 1st March, 2016 that the decision has been driven entirely by the regulatory pressures Barclays PLC faces, including the level of capital they are required to hold in respect to their shareholding in Barclays Africa.

The Chief Executive Officer of Barclays Ghana, Patience Akyianu stated that the decision of Barclays PLC is not a reflection on the strategic direction or performance of Barclays Africa or Ghana.

According to her, the announcement will not affect the operations of Barclays Bank in Ghana and therefore customers should not be worried about the safety of their funds as the bank remains well capitalized.

Our future as Barclays Ghana is very bright and our ambition to be the market leader remains unchanged. We are in Ghana to stay, so I will like to assure all Ghanaians and especially our cherished customers that nothing has changed in view of the announcement made by Barclays PLC, she posited.

Speaking at a news conference in Accra, the CEO of Barclay Bank Ghana noted that Barclays Africa Group sees Barclays Ghana franchise as a sound and solid business unit.

She added that the strategy for Barclays Africa Group in Ghana has not changed and the banks operations will continue as usual.

We are in a strong liquidity position and we will continue to ensure that we deliver excellent service and value to all our stakeholders now and in the future. We have a clear strategy in Ghana and we remain focused on executing this strategy, she intimated.

Mrs. Akyianu hinted that there are more branches in the pipeline for remodeling this year of the already installed state of the art branches in Ho, Osu, Knutsford Avenue, Kejetia and the very recent one at Nester Square at the Airport in Accra.
The Deputy Minister for Health, Dr. Victor Asare Bampoe express his admiration to a group of Ghanaian journalists who have come together to form an ECOWAS Community Development Programme (ECOWAS-CDP) media network in Ghana.

The Deputy Minister said the formation of the ECOWAS-CDP media network in Ghana is laudable particularly in the sense that it follows on ECOWAS ideal itself.

He said this when the ECOWAS-CDP media network paid a courtesy call on him to find a collaboration with the Ministry of Health on how to eliminate trade barriers and the movement of people viz a viz the outbreak of Ebola, Zika virus and Meningitis the ECOWAS sub-region.

Some of the issues that came up during the discussion were how to reach out to the communities in Ghana educate them on measures that will prevent the spreading of the Ebola, Meningitis and the Zika virus which has largely had negative bearings on trade and slowed the movement of people within the sub-regions.

According to Dr. Bampoe, the Ministry will provide their support in the form of organising a sensitization workshop to build the capacity of ECOWAS-CDP media team on public health emergencies.

The Deputy Minister noted that we have had crisis after crisis in the sub-region.

From where we are sitting as a health sector, we found that you have played an important by using your various media platforms to educate the country on preventive measures, he stated.

He added that, I think the base line that I want to start from is the fact that you have done a fantastic job because this group will offer the team a better platform to work conveniently.

The Deputy Minister indicated that the Ministry is prepared to provide any assistance in the quest to go higher so that the group does not only become a talk shop or a nominal body but a platform for advocacy particularly on behavioral change in our communities.

He noted that our doors would be opened literally and figuratively. I think that you already have a good relationship with us and once that we know this is an identifiable body perhaps one of the things that we can do is to formalise the arrangements.

The Chairman of the sub-regional network, Francis Asamoah Tuffour and the Chairperson, Mrs. Hannah Awadzi, on behalf of the ECOWAS-CDP media network expressed their gratitude to the Deputy Minister of Health for his support and the kind words.

The ECOWAS-CPD has paid a similar courtesy call to the Inspector General of Police [IGP] of the Ghana Police Service, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority [DVLA], Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, Ghana Armed Forces, the Prisons Service and the Ministry of Interior.

The ECOWAS-CDP is an association of journalists aimed at creating awareness of activities of ECOWAS, the CDP and deepening regional integration among others.
04.03.2016 LISTEN

Our own Kofi Annan, the former Secretary General of the United Nations has made a suggestion on cannabis that has stunned many people in Ghana and elsewhere in the world. The soft spoken 2nd African after late Butros Butros Gali of Egypt to occupy the highest civil service position at the UN is noted for speaking more on democracy, security and good governance.

However quite recently he veered surprisingly into pushing for the legalization of cannabis and other personal drugs with the advice that regulations must be put in place by governments to curtail their abuse. Among his reasons for calling for legalization of cannabis and other drugs is that war against them internationally seems to be unsuccessful and that in most U S states and some European countries where cannabis and other drugs were legalized fewer people indulged in them.

He argued that jailing young people on drug charges instead of educating them on their effect would lead to the destruction of their future. Kofi Annan is not alone in the effort towards loosening the grip by the security and the law courts on the production and use of cannabis and other drugs. A new report by the International Narcotics Control Board lists the cannabis as the most abused substance in West Africa yet Ghana is moving gradually to decriminalize its use in order to control its use and to provide help for the users.

According to the report only one out of 18 drug addicts gets help as a result of the criminalization

The Deputy Minister of the Interior James Agalga has hinted that a bill has been presented to parliament to address the issue to decriminalize marijuana. MR Akrasi Sarpong the boss of Narcotics Control Board NACOB who once called for the decriminalization of cannabis in Ghana is now calling for debate on the issue for the nation to take a stand on it. A group of Rastafarians in Ghana are also pushing for the new law now before parliament to be passed to allow free use of cannabis which they say is harmless and would not be widely abused. It is true that cannabis or wee that is cultivated in Ghana and other nation in the tropics is not a completely useless plant.

At least it is used raw material for the production of hair creams, body lotions, pomades and some drugs and chemicals. In the nations where the plant is cultivated and processed in large quantities it is said to bring good returns to those nations. However in a developing nation like Ghana where the product is abused by our youth we ought to be careful with the views of government officials and prominent people wishing to drag the nation to emulate some developed nations that have legalized or decriminalized it.

Instead there is the need for a nationwide discussions with people concerned including religious leaders, traditional authorities, educational heads, psychiatrists, doctors on this delicate matter. When that happens we would be able to fashion a law on drugs that can stand the test of time. Currently people whose children and loved ones were affected negatively by the use and abuse of cannabis would not agree to the enactment of a law to legalize the use of cannabis in Ghana.

The doctors and psychiatrists who have come face to face with the harm cannabis has done to people would also not agree to the decriminalization of wee in Ghana. It is advisable for parliament to listen to the views of the medical men on this issue in order for the law makers to proceed to enact a law on cannabis from an informed positions, Dr Akwasi Osei who has been following the progress of his patients says that 10 percent of patients on admission at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital and 30 per cent outpatient cases are drug related. For that matter we need to be careful in fashioning a law with a technical team to follow up on production and consumption rate of the product before we decriminalize cannabis use.

Before the law on cannabis which prohibits unapproved production sale and use of cannabis is amended the Ministry of Interior must continue supporting the Ghana Police Service to go after and round up wee farmers who are cultivating cannabis at the expense of food crops. the Ghana police deserve commendation b arresting many wee farmers exporters and smokers of late . The cultivation of large wee farms in Ghana would lead to many youth getting hooked to it especially in the rural areas a situation that can lead them to join criminal gangs in the country.

Those trafficking wee and those young and old people smoking them in Ghana must also be arrested .If the authorities fail to take this step, all those who abuse cannabis would go ahead to do their own thing and begin to export them in large quantities to countries outside Ghana . That would soil our reputation. We must not get to that stage because we have many commodities that we can rely on for consumption at home and for export. We must not accept suggestions being made to us by our icons like Kofi Annan, Mr. Akrasi Sarpong and government officials would tell us about cannabis without thinking about the cost. We must think through their suggestions to decide on our own what steps to take on cannabis in the interest of the nation.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

EANFOWORLD FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

0244 370345/ 0264370345/0208844791 [email protected]/[email protected]
Vice President of Ghana, Kwesi Bekoe Armissah Arthur will today host the multiple-award winner and internationally acclaimed young Ghanaian Actor, Abraham Attah at the Flagstaff House.

According to a post published on the Vice Presidents facebook account at 7:00GMT, he will be meeting the young movie actor after he touched down at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA).

Today, Vice President K.B. Amissah-Arthur will host teenage movie star Abraham Attah at the Flagstaff House, the post read.

The young Ghanaian actor won his third award at the 2016 Independent Spirit Awards as Best Male Lead for his role in the movie Best of No Nation filmed in Ghana.

He took the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor at Venice Film Festival 2015 followed by Rising Star Awardat the Black Film Critis Circle (BFCC).

Following his third award at the Independent Spirit Awards, the young movie actor has been criticized in the media for the way he spoke.

He then took to twitter to explain what happened to him to his fans.

Story by Ghana|Myjoyonline.com|Austin Brako-Powers|[email protected]
Independent Presidential Candidate in the 2012 elections, Jacob Osei Yeboah, has called on the Minority to impeach President Mahama if he really he lied to Ghanaians when he presented his state of the nation's address last Thursday.

The Minority after President Mahama delivered his state of the nation's address as entrenched in Article 67 of the 1992 constitution,accused the president of deception and peddling in falsehood.

They described his statement as ''tragedy of presentation'', and propaganda agenda which failed to address the core issues of the nation.

But JOY as he is popularly called, says it will be criminal if the president really lied before Parliament, therefore the legislators should start an impeachment process against President Mahama and remove him out of office.

Speaking in an interview with Nyankonton Mu Nsem, he indicated, the allegations are just but political agenda which the Minority seeks to score although there maybe some few issues relating to the general presentation of the address.
04.03.2016 LISTEN

Obaapanin Afia Asiraa III- the embattled Queen Mother of Kato Traditional Area

THE QUEEN mother of Kato Traditional Area near Berekum, Obaapanin Afia Asiraa III, has been destooled by the president of Nsuta Traditional Council, Nana Adu Agyei Bonsafo III, for gross disrespect for Nananom from the Ashanti Region where the people of Kato in the Berekum Municipality pay allegiance to.

This became necessary after Obaapanin Afia Asiraa III, according to information reaching DAILY GUIDE, consistently refused to honour invitations extended to her by the Nsutamanhene, Nana Adu Agyei III, to help settle a raging chieftaincy dispute between her and other claimants to the Kato stool. Her refusal consequently forced the Nsuta Traditional Council to revoke her queenship.

A communique signed by the president of Nsuta Traditional Council, entitled Destoolment of Kato Obaapanin Afia Asiraa III, and copied to various institutions and personalities including Nana Afia Serwaa Kobi Fampem II, the Asantehemaa, Manhyia, Kumasi, the president of the Brong Ahafo Regional House of Chiefs, the Brong Ahafo Regional Security Council, the Regional Police Commander and other equally important stakeholders, stated five reasons for her dismissal.

Reasons

Among the reasons, Afia Asiraa III was said to have failed to honour a series of invitations extended to her from Nana Asantehemaa's court at Manhyia, Kumasi. In addition, the Kato stool land belongs to Asona Royal Clan from Asante Asamang in the Ashanti Region and not for Aduana Clan as claimed by the former queen mother who claims she holds allegiance to the Aduana Clan.

Furthermore, according to the communique, Nana Afia Asiraa, contrary to tradition, went ahead to unilaterally enstool four sub-chiefs at Kato without consulting other members of the royal gates such as Adontehene, Kyidomhene,Twafohene and Abrafohene.

The communique further said by showing disrespect to Berekummanhene, through whom Nana Adu Agyei Bonsafo III invited her to appear before him at Kumasi, she had demonstrated that she was not ready to continue to hold herself as the queen mother of the people of Kato Traditional Area.

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Chieftaincy Dispute

Giving a background to the Kato chieftaincy dispute, one of the elders of Nsuta Traditional Council at Asamang, Benkunhene Nana Agyei Nketia, told DAILY GUIDE that there are two royal gatesthe Minimini Royal Family and Nea Entene Royal Familywho alternately occupy the stool because the two gates are twin gates and descendants of the same ancestor who migrated from Asante Asamang in the Ashanti Region to settle at their present location, Kato, in the Berekum Municipality.

But due to some reasons, only the Minimini Royal gate has been ruling the people of Kato, the Nea Entene gate having ruled only once since their settlement.

Therefore upon the demise of the late chief of Kato, Nana Kwadwo Kyereh of the Minimini Royal gate in 2006, the Nea Entene Royal gate decided to occupy the seat. They installed one Nana Amankona Febri Amaoyi II, whom the former queen mother rejected and refused to recognise and also wanted to install her own chief.

This has since generated tension between both royal gates and their followers for some time now. The issue was therefore sent to the Brong Ahafo Regional House of Chiefs and the Regional Security Council but no amicable agreement was reached. It was later withdrawn and sent to the palace of Nana Afia Kobi Serwaa Fampem, the Asantehemaa, to whom they pay allegiance, for an amicable settlement. But all efforts to bring the queen mother to a roundtable discussion failed so a decision was taken in her absence.

An attempt made by DAILY GUIDE to reach her on phone to get her side of the story was unfruitful as she stated categorically that she was not ready to talk to the paper because she had just returned from a journey and was tired. She however promised to call back when she was ready.

FROM Daniel Yao Dayee, Sunyani

[email protected]


Closed shops at Abossey Okai during the recent strike

04.03.2016 LISTEN



Leaders of traders suspect government is playing tricks on them after they embarked on a three-day strike recently to demand downward review of the numerous taxes imposed by government.

Executive Secretary of the Importers and Exporters Association, Sampson Asaaki Awingobit, who spoke to journalists in Accra yesterday, said the traders were shocked by government's lack of sensitivity to their plight, especially as the huge taxes had led to unemployment and closure of small-scale enterprises.

We are disappointed in the Ministry of Trade & Industry for treating us with disdain. The government has refused to respond to our demand after pledging to get back to us shortly.

Government said it is working to get back to us. We should know that this is an issue of national interest. How long can we wait for government's response? I think government is playing games with us or the Deputy Minister is not telling us the truth.

The traders are calling for the cancellation of the import duty of between 10 and 20 percent, import VAT/NHIL  17.5 percent, ECOWAS Levy  0.5 percent, EDIFF  0.5 percent, GCNet  0.4 percent, GCNet VAT/NHIL 17.5 percent, Ghana Shippers Authority  GHS9, Income Tax in Imports  1 percent, I.D.F (GHS5), Special Tax on Import  2 percent, CUBAG  (GHS5) and CCVR  1 percent.

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Government met the Joint Private Business Consultative forum on Tuesday to call off the strike, promising a review of some of the taxes but subject to cabinet approval.

The forum issued a statement yesterday to its members ordering them to open their shops to the general public, pending a response from government but still there are no signs of any hope.

According to the traders, their businesses were deteriorating because the customers found it difficult to buy expensive items.

Most of the time we have to reduce the prices so we can sell some parts to get money to take care of our family. Reducing the prices too affects our business badly, they stated.

By Samuel Boadi


Most Rev. Charles Gabriel Palmer-Buckle

04.03.2016 LISTEN

THE METROPOLITAN Archbishop of Accra, Most Rev. Charles Gabriel Palmer-Buckle, has stated that corruption has become very rampant in Ghana.

He said this while delivering an address at a public lecture organized by the Adentan District of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG) in Accra on Wednesday under the theme: In Pursuit of Integrity Towards Service To God And Mankind.

The lecture, held inside the auditorium of the Osu Ebenezer Church, formed part of activities marking the 10th anniversary celebration of the Adentan District.

Most Rev. Palmer-Buckle noted that corruption has penetrated every aspect of the Ghanaian society.

The outspoken Christian cleric stated emphatically that politicians, religious leaders and other persons occupying positions of authority had become very addicted to corrupt practices for their individual benefits to the expense of the advancement of the kingdom of God and mankind.

According to him, on a daily basis, huge sums of money which could have otherwise been used to promote national development are being siphoned by corrupt government officials, so-called pastors and bishops who parade the streets with impunity while persons who are accused of stealing plantain and oranges are sent to languish in prisons across the country.



Immorality Rising

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Most Rev. Palmer-Buckle also spoke extensively about other social ails militating against the progress of Ghana, a country perceived to be highly religious.

He spoke about rising rates of fornication, rape, armed robbery, money laundering, among others, likening Ghana to biblical Sodom and Gomorrah where such acts were common.

Mosques, Churches are springing up all over the country. There are many prayer camps as there are many drinking spots in Accra, he said while pointing out that as more Ghanaians proclaim to be religious, the more they deliberately commit sin.

Hope

The foregone notwithstanding, the Archbishop believes there's still hope to redeem Ghana from sinful deeds.

We must begin Ghana anew with you students, he told a group of students at the lecture, calling for a paradigm shift in Ghanaians' approach to national duty.

Chairman of the Planning Committee for the 10th Anniversary Celebration who doubles as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Fanteakwa South in the Eastern Region, Kofi Okyere-Agyekum, told DAILY GUIDE that concerns raised by Most Rev Palmer-Buckle were the true reflections of what obtains in the Ghanaian society.

BY Melvin Tarlue


Padmore invoking the curses

04.03.2016 LISTEN

THE NEW Patriotic Party (NPP) on Thursday defied curses invoked by an aggrieved party member 24 hours earlier, and elected some polling station executives in the Manhyia North constituency.

One Padmore, said to be a coordinator of the party in the constituency, caused a stir on Wednesday as he held bottles of Schnapps and openly used the dreaded Antoa Nyamaa river deity to invoke curses on the party.

Padmore said he was not happy about how some party executives in the Ashanti Region were handling the impending Manhyia North constituency parliamentary primary hence, his decision to invoke the curses.

Political watchers and NPP supporters thought that Padmore's invocation of curses would put fear in the regional executives and defer the election of 197 polling station executives for the constituency.

But that was not the case because Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly called Wontumi, the Ashanti Regional NPP Chairman, who was bent on holding the elections on Thursday, was not scared by the action.

Whether there is a curse or no curse, the Manhyia North constituency polling station elections are taking place today, the NPP capo, who was brimming with confidence, told DAILY GUIDE on telephone Thursday morning.

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He stated emphatically that the Ashanti Regional NPP was battle ready to garner 90 percent of votes to be cast in the region on November 7 to enhance the chance of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the party's standard bearer, becoming Ghana's next president, and nothing is stopping us.

Meanwhile, the Manhyia North elections were said to have been held in a peaceful atmosphere at all the centres except Moshie Zongo where some stoutly-built ('macho') men reportedly tried to disrupt the polls.

Some angry-looking machomen reportedly manhandled a journalist who tried taking shots of what was transpiring but the police were quickly called in to enforce law and order.

At the time of filing this report, the NPP was yet to complete the election of the 194 polling station executives, who by their election would have voting rights when the party organizes its primary to elect its parliamentary candidate for the constituency towards this year's general election.

In a related development, scores of supposed NPP troublemakers at Manhyia North were given a sound beating by stoutly-built men who were guiding the party's regional office at Krofrom when they (troublemakers) stormed the office to vandalize it on Tuesday.

FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi


Victor Mills speaking at the event

04.03.2016 LISTEN

Victor Mills, Project Coordinator of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Trade Capacity Building (TCB) Programme for Ghana, has called for policy direction on internal trading controls in Ghana.

According to him, there is the need to ensure production that conforms to relevant quality standards for the domestic market.

Ms Mills made the comments when an evaluation team from the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) Calidena Project met the UNIDO- TCB team to share ideas and discuss interventions in the area of metrology and laboratory testing in the country.

He said the UNIDO-TCB programme, funded by the Swiss government through the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), is making an important contribution to strengthen Ghana's quality infrastructure.

Ms Carola Heider, PTB  Calidena Project Coordinator for Sub-Saharan Africa, who led the team, said PTB is ending the first phase of its programme, which focused on quality assurance of agricultural products through metrological and testing services in Ghana.

She said the Calidena project had partnered Ghana Standard Authority (GSA) in that regard.

Heider was confident that more of such interactions with agencies like the UNIDO -TCB Programme for Ghana will be helpful in promoting conformity standards in Ghana.

She said the UNIDO  TCB programme had supported a number of testing laboratories to obtain international accreditation, adding that there has been no duplication of efforts.

The programme is currently supporting a few inspection bodies in Ghana to be accredited to ISO/IEC 17020.

The UNIDO Trade Capacity Building Programme in Ghana is aimed at improving the export competitiveness of Ghanaian exports.

By Cephas Larbi

[email protected]
Stephen Antwi-Asimeng speaking to the press

04.03.2016 LISTEN

Stephen Antwi-Asimeng, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of UT Bank, has urged Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to put appropriate structures in place to attract long-term loans from banks.

He said many SMEs are unable to attract long-term loans from banks because they are not well-structured.

Mr Antwi-Asimeng, who was speaking at UT Bank SME Clinic in Accra said, SMEs need to properly structure themselves, respect corporate governance, put in place book-keeping and accounting records and invest in their own succession.

This is the only way they can grow their businesses and attract long-term finance and partnerships.

He said SMEs must understand that there is more to financing than short-term loans which in many instances the banks are happy to provide.

However, the banks and SMEs themselves need complimentary financing, partnerships, long-term financing that is available through public and private sector initiatives, Antwi-Asimeng said.

He said the clinic was organized for SMEs to enable them understand finance schemes, explaining that many SMEs come looking for loans but we think they need more than loansthey need knowledge and information about how they can properly do their business and be attractive.

Mr. Antwi-Asimeng said UT Bank intends to organize the clinic periodically to help the SMEs overcome their challenges and compete favorably.

Sampson Akligoh, Managing Director of Investcop, who was one of the facilitators of the clinic the banks, said most Ghanaian SMEs are unstable.

Most SMEs are owner controlled and managed without adequate succession planning. Profitability and cash flow patterns are erratic due to co-mingling of personal and business finances.

Significantly unattractive because they are undervalued and borrowing is done on project or asset-backed basis, he stated.

Mr. Akligoh said SMEs must reform in order to benefit from the marketplace.

By Cephas Larbi

[email protected]
04.03.2016 LISTEN

Today, I visited KORLE BU and was greeted with a sad situation. A young man was begging for his father to have surgery but the medical team maintains that it's not possible.

Upon noticing my presence, one of them retorted " this is the true state of the nation- killing Lives".

The 2 years deafening problem is that ALL THE EQUIPMENT AT THE INTENSIVE CARE UNIT (ICU) HAVE BROKEN DOWN. THE SURGICAL RECOVERY WARD HAS ONLY 4 BEDS WHICH ARE SHARED BY ICU PATIENTS.

The health Minister I understand knows the problem and have directed that surgical patients must be transferred to 37 Hospital or The Police hospital.

This is shameful to say the least for KORLEBU and our lives.

Mr. President JDM, transforming lives is not killing lives. The medical team were not doing politics but true and sad state.

Tanzania President canceled such Independence Day Celebration and used the funds to equip such hospital as KORLE BU. Prez JDM must emulate the same.

One doctor told me they, the Doctors have done their part and its up to patients to do the same. You can be the next patient at KORLE BU ICU and all what you need is register and boycott this useless upcoming Independence Day wearing RED or BLACK on that Day.

#boycott59thIndecday#


Sokoto: Seat of the Caliphate

Spoiling for an adventure to the remote parts of Northern Nigeria? Sokoto State is the first place that actually comes to mind because of its popularity as the seat of the caliphate. This thriving caliphate dates as far back as 1804 where a grounded and conspicuous system of governance was instituted by Uthman Dan Fodio. Over the years, the city has preserved its air of royalty and this legacy is being carried forward by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Saad Abubakar, who is the custodian of culture and the spiritual leader of Muslims.

Another thing that stands Sokoto out is the Sahara desert. Laid bare for the eyes to see is an unfiltered display of how the people have survived desert encroachment for decades. All these combined have resulted in an enviable way of life, an evergreen culture, and a resilient caliphate that wields so much influence.

Sokoto is among the earliest states created in Nigeria on February 3, 1976 with an estimated population of 4,244,399 and it has a total of 23 local governments. One can fly into the Sadiq Abubakar 111 International Airport in Sokoto from any airport in Nigeria. Jovago.com, Africas No 1 hotel booking portal unveils Sokoto where you are guaranteed a swashbuckling and idyllic adventure.

Top three sites

Sultan of Sokoto Palace

The magnificent and imposing palace of the Sultan of Sokoto is located in the center of the city. The Palace has gone beyond a mere edifice to become a place for taking political decisions and making religious pronunciations. In addition, it is a cultural and traditional haven where you will see relics of the different Sultans of Sokoto like regalia, robes as well as turbans. The Sultans Palace has also become a tourists attractions welcoming quite a substantial number daily.

Surame Cultural Landscape

The Surame Cultural Landscape is on the tentative list of the UNESCOs World Heritage Site. It was enrolled on this list on the 8th of October 2007. The ancient kingdom existed in the 15th and 16th centuries according to the World Heritage Site reviews. Despite the seeming extinction of its ancient tombs, you will still see clear signs of the place being inhabited for decades. This is a clear indication of Hausa civilization.

Sokoto Museum

This is a museum that holds artifacts and monuments of the ancient okoto Caliphate. The museum revolves around the supposed founder of the city  Uthman Dan Fodio. On display here are some of his private belongings like his throne, regalia, sword, map and other items.

Sleeping

There are quite a number of hotels domiciled in Sokoto. Since getting a quality hotel and the best prices are currently guaranteed by Jovago.com, you dont need to worry about where to rest for the night. Some of the available hotels are Shukuru Coral hotel, Grand Ibro Hotel, and Golden view hotel.

Unwinding

The big restaurants are scantily located in different parts of the city as there are more low budget restaurants than eateries. They include Sayala restaurant limited, Majaddas restaurant and snacks, Abusi Do restaurant, Maslaha restaurant and Hajia Rukayat restaurant.

Shopping

The level of development in Sokoto cannot be compared to that of Lagos or Kano despite the fact that it has existed for less than a century. So, you rarely find the big malls in Sokoto. Not that they are not available but they are not much. To fill up this space are the small kiosk and malls like All ages bookstore, Kofar Rini Electronics, Scanwel Nigeria limited and Spectrum books limited.

Fun fact

The Sokoto Caliphate is one of the most powerful traditional institutions in Nigeria. The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Saad Abubakar leads thousands of Muslim adherents in the country and he is a first class traditional ruler. In addition, he is the 20th Sultan of Sokoto.
04.03.2016 LISTEN

Four health centers in the Asutfi North and Tano North Districts of the Brong Ahafo region have received medical equipment and supplies worth $400,000 from Project C.U.R.E; the worlds largest provider of donated medical supplies and equipment to developing countries.

The donation is due to a partnership between Project C.U.R.E and Newmont Ghanas Ahafo mine, as part of the companys broader programme to support quality health care in its host communities and beyond.

Tanoso, Yamfo, Terchire and Acherensua health centres benefited from the gesture, which marked the third time the health centres have received medical supplies from Project C.U.RE and Newmont Ghana.

Items donated included respirators, physical therapy equipment, surgical beds, Alcohol betadines, baby and birthing supplies, surgical scrubpads, swabs, bottles, Mayo and IV stands.

The Newmont and Project C.U.R.E Partnership

Over the years, Newmont Mining Corporation has partnered with project C.U.R.E to donate medical equipment and supplies to under resourced health facilities in its mine take areas to equip the medical staff with life-saving tools to improve diagnosis, treatment and care. So far, Project C.U.R.E, through Newmont Ghana, has donated 49 containers of medical equipment worth $18,066,250.

Through this collaboration, Newmont Ghana introduced the Helping Babies Breathe (HBB) programme in the Brong Ahafo and Eastern regions to provide training to health personnel in newborn resuscitation techniques aimed at saving 90% of newborn babies with breathing difficulties.

The HBB program teaches techniques for reversing the effects of birth asphyxia, as well as trauma and fatigue on babies and mothers during labor.

Medical equipment and supplies well received

This years donation to the four health centres was received by the District Health Directors and traditional leaders in the beneficiary communities. Charlotte AnaneAdjei, Physician Assistant at Yamfo Medical centre, in thanking Newmont and Project CURE for the donation, promised to use them to efficient use and maintenance of the equipment.

We urgently needed a mobilizing machine for asthmatic patients and an autoscope which were all in the donated items. We are very grateful to Newmont Ahafo Mine and Project C.U.R.E She said, adding that The adjustable delivery beds that have been donated will help our midwives to discharge their duties safely without any complications.

Charlotte AnaneAdjei noted that the items will go a long to assist in the upgrading of the Yamfo Health Centre into a Polyclinic, which is currently underway.

A call to action

Samuel Kumi, a Community Relations Superintendent at Newmont Ahafo, in handing over the equipment, reiterated that the health and safety of employees and host communities is a Newmont core value hence the collaboration with project CURE to support health delivery services in the mines host communities. He urged authorities of the health facilities to take good care of the equipment and use them to the full benefit of patients.
04.03.2016 LISTEN

Presiding Bishop of the Perez Chapel International (PCI), Bishop Charles Agyinasare has predicted a whirlwind of change that will propel Ghana and Africa into an era of landmark achievements.

He pegged Africa's woes to the endemic corruption and many visionless intellectuals and graduates from institutions who will rather stay at home than work if they have not been employed, where we have engineers who sit in the office and are not manufacturing, teachers who are still using books written in the 60s instead of writing new materials, where most of our people do not want to think outside the box to accomplish unprecedented feats, the man of God said I am convinced that there must be a change and I am glad to announce to you that change is coming.

That was during his investiture as the newly appointed Chancellor of the Perez Christian University College (PUCUC) over the weekend in Accra.

The University is now located at Gomoa Pomadze-Winneba, along the Winneba-Swedru highway, about a kilometer from Winneba roundabout (Junction).

Speaking at the event which was held at the Perez Dome, Bishop Agyinasare promised that the institution will churn out problem-solving scholars.

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I strongly believe that very soon this university college will churn out graduates who will not be learning by rope, but will be problem solving and solution providing scholars who will bring significant change and transformation to their spheres of influence, he said in presence of President John Dramani Mahama who was the special guest of honour.

The Perez Chapel International acquired the Pan African Christian University College in November 2015. The institution and its two schools are duly accredited by the National Accreditation Board of Ghana since 2007. The School of Theology has affiliation with the Trinity Theological Seminary (TTS) and the School of Business is affiliated to the University of Cape Coast.

On his part, President John Mahama expressed confidence in Bishop Agyinasare's ability to lead the school to chart a new course as he takes over as Chancellor.

He also encouraged educational institutions in the country to change curricular to reflect what businesses and industries need for economic growth and growing needs.

By Charles Takyi-Boadu


04.03.2016 LISTEN

An Oil Vessel which mysteriously strayed into Ghanaian waters and docked ashore at Aflao in the Ketu South Municipality of the Volta Region last Tuesday has successfully been returned to the port of Lome in Togo where it was originally scheduled to dock.

The incident which residents claimed was the first time attracted hundreds of people even though it was raining at the time.

Strangely the Ghanaian security set up looked on unconcerned as the stray vessel made its way back to Togo.

Two sources from separate security agencies in Aflao who corroborated the situation emphasized that the ship which had the inscription Barca Lome strayed into Ghana, thus Aflao accidentally.

They explained that the original destination of the vessel was the port of Togo, but for one reason it developed a mechanical fault and was suspected to have been drifted to the shores of Aflao by rising tidal waves.

According to them the vessel docked at a place called Atisukope which is about 200 meters from the Ghana-Togo border.

One of the sources who is in the Police Service in Aflao disclosed that he received information about the vessel at about 9:30am.

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Information was relayed to the necessary quarters including the Police High command, the Navy, Immigration, Bureau of National Investigations among others.

He added that Our counterparts in Togo were also alerted and within two hours the necessary arrangements were made to escort the vessel back to the Togo port where it was originally scheduled to dock.

Yet another source also explained that the vessel was anchored at sea between the Togolese capital Lome and Aflao, but had its anchors broken by strong tidal waves which drifted it onto the shores of Aflao.

He told an Accra radio station that A combined team of Ghanaian and Togolese naval officers, however, managed to tow the stray ship back using another vessel later in the day, the source stated.

Information reaching DAILY GUIDE indicates that officials from the headquarters of Ghana Navy visited the scene last Wednesday morning.

From Fred Duodu, Aflao ( [email protected] )
04.03.2016 LISTEN

The Minister of Education, Prof. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang has jumped to the defence of her deputy, fighting back claims against Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa of trying to smuggle the Ho Polytechnic into the list of the first batch of the polytechnics to be converted to Technical Universities in September.

Protesting students and staff of the Cape Coast Polytechnic accused the Deputy Minister in charge of Tertiary Education of roping in the Ho Polytechnic from the back door into the list, when they staged a demonstration Tuesday to register their displeasure against the exclusion of their institution.

But the Minister said she feels profoundly shocked by the allegation, which she believes cannot be true since the processes involved in the academic exercise are deeply transparent.

She told Otec Fm, a Kumasi-based radio station yesterday that not only was she appalled at the allegation, but also surprised at the level of personalisation of such an issue of national interest, and called on those making the accusation to refrain from it.

I don't believe that someone can smuggle any of the polytechnics from the back door into those pencilled to be converted to Technical Universities. The report is there for all to see. If that is true, it is that institution, which will suffer eventually because it will not have the capacity for technical university status, Prof. Naana Opoku-Agyemang indicated.

The Minister explained that polytechnics in the country were not on equal parity as they did not start at the same time, thereby making a wholesale promotion impossible.

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She said six of the polytechnics met the criteria on key characteristics that included governance structure, nature of collaboration with industries, staff and books.

According to her, this assessment was done by Dr. Afedzi's committee set up by the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE), intimating that the committee members consisted of experienced personalities who could not be walked over by government to do anything.

The Education Minister stated that her outfit together with the NCTE held extensive discussions with the committee on its recommendation before the Ministry decided to operationalise the recommendations.

She disclosed that the Ministry of Education would help the remaining polytechnics worked on their weaknesses in order to attain the criteria, while they convert those with the capacities.

She called on the staff and students of the Cape Coast Polytechnic to exercise patience as her Ministry helps the institution to address key issues for the takeoff.

From Ernest Kofi Adu, Kumasi


The casket of the late Mrs Robertson

The mortal remains of Eileen Naa Lamiorkor Robertson nee Heward-Mills were laid to rest at the Osu cemetery after a solemn final burial and thanksgiving service at the Accra Ridge Church.

The burial service of the late Mrs Robertson, who passed away on January 24, 2016, aged 90, was attended by her family, friends, and well wishers who had come from far and near to pay their last respect to the woman affectionately called 'Mummy'.

The officiating clergy

The mourners, clad in white attire, included the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and his wife Rebecca Akufo-Addo, the Chairman of the NPP, Freddie Blay, and his wife Gina Blay and Bishop Dag Heward-Mills of Lighthouse Chapel International and his family.

Paying tribute to their mother, Stanley Nii Kotey Robertson narrated the life experiences of his mother, concluding that in all her trials and tribulations she remained steadfast in her faith.

Biahop Dag Heward Mills officiating at the burial service

The officiating clergy offering prayers for the late Mrs. Robertson

One of her last favourite songs and verses is 'through all the changing scenes of life, in trouble and joy the praises of my God will still be in my heart.' Her family and many more will surely miss Mummy. However the faith she bestowed on us makes us believe that she is in a better place. Mummy, ayekoo! We love you, he said.

The St Timothy Anglican Church, where she fellowshipped until her call to glory, also paid glowing tribute to the late Mrs Robertson.

Mr. Stanley Nii Kotey Robertson reading the tribute to his mother

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The children of the late Mrs. Eileen Naa Lamiorkor Robertson

The grandchildren of the late Mrs. Robertson

Quoting 2 Timothy 1:12, the church eulogised her selfless show of love in Christ in her service to God.

As a staunch member of the St Timothy Anglican Church, Mrs Robertson served God in the church. She was a dedicated member who had the church at heart and contributed immensely and in diverse ways to the growth of the church, her tribute read.

Nana Addo Dankwa Akofu Addo, NPP Flagbearer with his wife, Mrs. Rebecca Akofu Addo

Mr. Freddy Blay, Chairman of the New Patroitic Party and his wife Mrs. Gina Blay at the burial service

A section of mourners at the burial and thanksgiving service

Rev Father Samuel Ampim Hesse of the St Timothy Anglican Church, Nima, delivering the sermon, said death comes unannounced even when it is expected, adding that all would one day be as the late Mrs Robertson.

He however noted that when one is called to glory in Christ, he or she is not dead but has retired from earthly duty to be with God in heaven.

Rev Father Hesse, thus, urged the congregation to prepare for the ultimate appointment by setting their priorities right and pursuing things that would bring wealth to their souls.

The late Mrs Robertson was survived by four children, three in-laws, 15 grandchildren and one great grandchild.

By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri
04.03.2016 LISTEN

H. E Tove Degnbol and Alex Segbefia interacting with the audience at the launch of the document

The Danish Embassy has announced the end to its support for the country's health sector after 22 years of technical and financial assistance.

The last phase of the partnership between the Danish and Ghanaian governments as well as other health agencies comes to an end in 2016.

The cooperation between the two countries which was aimed at providing better and quality healthcare to Ghanaians, especially in the remote areas over the years, has resulted in some remarkable health outcomes.

This was made known at the launch of a documentation study 'A Healthy Partnership' which highlights the achievements of the Danish Embassy-sponsored activities in the health sector.

The document gives account of the 22 years of life-saving cooperation in the health sector, including halving under five mortality, maternal mortality and prevalence of underweight among children under five.

Also through the partnership, Denmark has helped to strengthen the competence in the health sector in the form of numerous short courses in Denmark and Ghana, including 71 Ghanaian Master of International Health students trained in Denmark from 1989 to 2013.

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Danish Ambassador to Ghana, Tove Degnbol, making a statement at the launch of the document that had in attendance the minister of health and other partners in the health sector, disclosed that Ghana has seen much progress in the health sector, adding that the Danish government is confident that the system is strong enough to carry on and gradually improve.

She, however, pointed out that despite being no longer a donor partner, Denmark still wants to keep in close contact with activities in the sector.

Our partnership will continue in research  we further expect to see an increasing commercial cooperation in the health sector between Ghana and Denmark, Madam Degnbol said.

Minister of Health Alex Segbefia expressed his thanks to the people of Denmark for the support they have given the health sector over the past 22 years.

He said the change in the economic status of the country from a lower income country to a lower middle income country places a lot of responsibilities on authorities to let citizen know what is expected of them in terms of contributing to the development of the country and what they should in turn expect from government.

Mr Segbefia was optimistic the investment made into the health sector would be sustained through their utilisation.

By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri


IOM has facilitated a study visit of eight officials from the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) to Tunisia and Italy. The objective of the week-long visit was to allow the officials to observe developments in Italy, study best practices in Tunisia, and gather information and exchange experiences with counterparts.

The study tour began in Tunisia with a visit to IOM's Migrant Resource Centre (MRC) in Tunis. The visit gave the officials an opportunity to learn from the set up and functioning of the Centre, as well as the partnerships the Centre had established with key institutions in Tunisia to provide support to migrants.

The good practices acquired during the time in Tunisia will be replicated in Ghana for the effective running of a Migrant Information Centre (MIC) constructed by IOM in cooperation with GIS, with funding from the European Union.

The delegation also visited the Office of Tunisians Abroad (OTE), National Youth Observatory (NYO), Centre of Law and Migration, and the Delegate for Child Protection (An Observatory for Child Rights.)

According to Assistant Director of Immigration Laud Ofori Affrifah: The visit to OTE and the MRC were very eye opening and a lot of things will be replicated in Ghana, such as the arrangement of the offices of the MRC, the collaboration with other agencies and information materials developed for the Centre.

The tour continued in Catania, Italy, with visits to Pozallo and Augusta landing sites, which allowed the participants to observe first-hand the reality of the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean.

Officers will now be better placed to provide accurate information to potential migrants who visit the MIC in Ghana. The circuit made a strong impression on the officers and provided new ideas for the development of innovative safe migration campaigns. The delegation also vowed to continue to work closely with the Italian police.

The study tour is part of the three year (2014  2017) Ghana Integrated Migration Management Approach (GIMMA) project jointly implemented by IOM and the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), funded under the 10th European Development Fund of the European Union.

The overall objective is to contribute to the Government of Ghana's efforts to manage migration effectively through the establishment of an integrated migration management approach. The GIMMA project is helping to build GIS' operational capacity to protect the country's borders; empower migrants to make informed migratory decisions; and improve the country's migration data management capacity.
IOM this week handed over to local authorities two rehabilitated and re-equipped border health posts in Forecariah prefecture, Guinea.

The posts, located in Layah and Kaffou districts are among three border health posts recently rehabilitated and equipped with the support of the Belgian Development Cooperation agency. The official hand over of the third post, located in Kamakoulon in Boke prefecture will be organized next week.

These renovations are part of IOM's strategy to support the government by strengthening the Guinean health system. They will provide border communities badly hit by the epidemic with improved health infrastructures that will be able to respond to their daily health needs, said explained IOM Guinea Chief of Mission Kabla Amihere.

The work started at the end of October 2015 and was finished in early February 2016.

The facilities have been equipped with solar energy devices to provide an autonomous in energy supply. Each post has also been provided with a motorbike to allow staff to visit patients who can't move.

All the health posts received the same health materials: two observation beds, one consultation bed, one gynecological bed, a scale, a measuring rod, a blood pressure machine, an autoclave sterilizer, three surgical kits, four care kits, hand washing devices and 10 boxes of soap.

With support from OFDA, CDC, Japan and Belgium, IOM Guinea has been providing logistics support to the Guinean government through the National/Prefectural Emergency Operation Center Project.

During the Ebola crisis in Guinea, IOM provided technical support to the National Coordination of the Fight against Ebola by installing health control check-points at borders, as well as some major highways, for health screening and monitoring of travelers at border points of entry. It also sensitized the population to Ebola through community-based surveillance activities.

From March to December 2015, Guinea recorded 3,804 Ebola confirmed, probable and suspected cases. There were some 2,536 deaths, reflecting a mortality rate of 66.7 percent.
04.03.2016 LISTEN

Pupils of the Kurawura Kuraa D/A JHS in the Central Gonja District of the Northern Region learn under tree which makes them very uncomfortable.

Investigations conducted by DAILY GUIDE revealed that on 11th February, 2015, torrential rains destroyed the roof of the school building and since that time efforts by the school authorities to get GES to offer assistance have proved futile.

According to a teacher, owing to the fact the school is located close to the main road, the pupils sometimes get distracted by vehicles, motorbikes and animals.

He indicated that sometimes when the sun is scorching, they break for a while to help them stay healthy.

In an exclusive interview with the headmaster of KurawuraKuraa D/A JHS, Dawuda Mohammed told DAILY GUIDE that after the destruction of the school building, the authorities wrote a report to the GES authorities who travelled to the school and evaluated the problems facing the school.

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According to Dauda Mohammed, they went to the GES office several times but noting positive came out of it.

Some officials of GES told them that the report had been given to NADMO to work on the school building.

Adam Borawunche, chief of Kurawura told DAILY GUIDE that two students were injured during the incident.

According to him, JHS one, two and three buildings were all affected, and all efforts by the assembly to come to their aid have proved futile.

He appealed to government to support them to roof the school building for learning to continue smoothly in the community.

From Eric Kombat, Buipe


Another set of machines

04.03.2016 LISTEN

When the Humanitarian Aid Relief Team (HART) from the Salt Lake City of Utah in the United States of America opted to assist the Kukuom Health Centre in the Asunafo South District of the Brong Ahafo Region to upgrade it to a speciality hospital, it provided different types of orthopaedic machines for the set-up of theatre for spine and joint surgery.

But, the set-up of the theatre to help upgrade the health centre is still dark and cramped despite the provision of the $600,000 equipment in 2010.

Patients from the community now jostle for space with other people in the district to seek medical services at the Sankore Hospital.

Setting up of the planned theatre has stalled due to partisan politics and that fact that the credit will go to the initiator, George Boakye, who is the former Member of Parliament for the Asunafo South.

The district assembly which has the Brong Ahafo Regional Minister Eric Opoku as DCE in acting capacity has failed to assemble the machines for the purpose to launch the upgrade plan of the health centre.

The donor, HART, has since served notice to take back the orthopaedic machines, which include autoclave equipment, heart monitor instrument, anaesthesias equipment, to USA if authorities find no need for them, and it has scheduled August 26, 2016 for this exercise.

Mr Boakye, who engineered the adoption of the health centre for upgrade by HART, cannot hide his anger for the development, chiding officialdom.

Speaking to DAILY GUIDE after conducting journalists round the Kukuom Health Centre on Tuesday, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate was worried about politicisation of health by his political opponents in the area.

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He could not fathom why an important issue such as health of the people would be played to the gallery for the sake of political expediency, and wondered whether such individuals have the well-being of the citizens at heart.

Mr Boakye again revealed that many programmed drugs donated by the US-based philanthropic organisation had been left to ruin for the same reason when he showed samples of the drugs to the journalists at the medical store.

Sampson Dapaah, coordinator of Concerned Youth of Asunafo South, alleged that the theatre establishment was to be forfeited against a planned fumigation exercise that had been budgeted to cost the district assembly GH340,000.

We need our substantive DCE to be able to approach our problems and concerns, and not a regional minister who is our MP, but far remote from this district, he told journalists.

According to the youth leader, the orthopaedic theatre will be critical to health delivery and upgrade of the health centre as both sexes share a common room used as ward patients.

Meanwhile, the female manager of the health facility would not speak to the media on the issue because of fear of victimisation.

The regional minister was also not there to answer questions from journalists.

Ernest Kofi Adu, From Kukuom-BA


04.03.2016 LISTEN

Going in, it was all too predictable that the Accra High Court was going to dismiss the political strong-arming attempt by lawyers for Dr. Zanetor Rawlings to ride roughshod over the inalienable constitutional rights of the incumbent National Democratic Congress Member of Parliament for the Klottey-Korley Constituency in Central Accra, NiiArmahAshitey (See Ill Stop Zanetor from Campaigning Ashitey Starrfmonline.com / Ghanaweb.com 2/22/16).

You see, ever since he launched his faux-revolution with his so-called Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) on June 4th 1979, and again on December 31st 1981, with his so-called Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC)junta that witnessed the massacre and public execution of so many hardworking, honorable and law-abiding Ghanaian citizens, Chairman Jerry John Rawlings and his family have come to envisage our country as their personal property. And this is precisely why the former president was able to shamelessly campaign for his daughter in the Klottey-Korley Constituency, knowing fully well that his thirty-something-year-old adult-child was not a registered member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

The Accra High Court judge who ruled against the attorneys for Dr. Zanetor Rawlings must be commended for his/her conscientious courage in letting justice guide judicial proceedings rather than sheer expediency and the imperative human need for self-preservation. The presiding judge ought to have his/her security detail upgraded, if this has not already been done, knowing the track-record of the Rawlingses, particularly their inordinate and unconscionable penchant for intimidation and downright liquidation of their perceived enemies, especially if the latter also happen to be members of the bench.

In one of my write-ups on the Zanetor electoral validity question, I objectively observed that if Dr. Rawlings met the basic requirements for filing her candidacy and running for Parliament from the Klottey-KorleConstituency, then, by all means, there was absolutely no need for anybody to attempt to put any stumbling blocks in her path, primarily because she was the adult daughter of the two most bloody couple to have emerged on the postcolonial Ghanaian political landscape. In sum, I argued that Dr. Rawlings had to be afforded the opportunity to healthily distance herself from the scandalous legacy of her parents.

Alas, as it shortly turned out, yours truly was grossly mistaken, as Dr. Rawlings started to self-righteously toe the imperious line of her parents. Well, it was just a matter of time before she hit her well-deserved snag and mine-pit. Predictably, Dr. Zanetor has been insisting that she is neither down for the count nor out. The Ga-speaking people of Accra have a terse maxim that runs as follows: W Baa Kw, to wit, We Shall See. In the meantime, NiiArmahAshitey, the former Greater-Accra Minister, ought to be closely guarded in his speech and other pronouncements and refrain from making any prejudicial statements or he would soon find himself to blame and on a rocky projection, precisely where Dr. Rawlings attorneys want him.

For instance, NiiAshitey has absolutely no right to stop Dr. Rawlings, who handily defeated him in a Klottey-Korle parliamentary primary last year, from campaigning in the constituency while the matter is still before the Accra High Court. That decision or verdict belongs entirely to the presiding judge. It would also be childish and totally uncalled for, for the Klottey-Korle NDC-MP to presume to be locked in a personality contest with Dr. Zanetor who is young enough to be his own daughter. That said, there is also the real danger for NiiAshitey to look down on Dr. Rawlings as only a child. Needless to say, Dr. Rawlings is a full-fledged adult and a mother whose father was exactly her age when Chairman Rawlings savagely usurped the democratic reins of governance from the Limann-led Peoples National Party (PNP).

*Visit my blog at: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com Ghanaffairs
04.03.2016 LISTEN

Ghana was to become the testing ground for Arthur Lewis' ideas on economic development. The excitement surrounding Ghana's independence in 1957 as tropical Africa's rst decolonised territory captivated Lewis as thoroughly as it did African nationalists and Afrophiles around the world. Lewis, a St Lucian, went on to win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 1979.

A veritable who's who of intellectuals of African descent living in the Americas ocked to Accra. They were determined to show the world that Africans could govern themselves and achieve more for their people than the colonial rulers had. They were eager to make Ghana a shining example to inspire independence movements across the continent.

If, then, Lewis saw Ghana as a proving ground for his ideas on economic development, later scholars have viewed the Kwame Nkrumah years (1951-66) as a case study of striking failure.

From a country that seemed on the threshold of robust economic progress, it descended into economic misery and political instability.

Although Lewis was remarkably well informed on Ghana and he knew many Ghanaian ofcials personally, he was not fully prepared for the complexities of his new position. Nor was he prepared for the fragility of Ghanaian economics and politics.

Seek ye first the political kingdom

The expectations surrounding Lewis at the time of his arrival were staggering. Since they were also contradictory, he could not meet all of them.

The Ghanaian politicians insisted that Lewis assert Ghana's economic independence from its former colonial rulers and from the outside world. They looked to him to design nancial institutions that would free Ghana from the British economy and promote rising standards of living as well as economic strength. Lewis was supposed to make possible Nkrumah's famous slogan:

Seek ye rst the political kingdom and all things will be added to it.

On the other hand, the British, the Americans, the international nancial community, and representatives of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, wanted something quite different. They looked to Lewis to be a moderating inuence  procapitalist and pro-Western.

The World Bank and the IMF looked to Lewis to be a moderating inuence on Nkrumah. Reuters/Yuri Gripas (Right)

The radical wing of the Ghanaian political elite alarmed the British and the Americans. Perhaps no one more troubled the Westerners than the Ghanaian prime minister himself, whose political and economic preferences were far from clear at this time.

The dramatic and heavily charged clash between an economic expert (Lewis) and a political leader (Nkrumah) was repeated again and again in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This was happening as African states, emerging from colonial rule, sought to buttress their political independence with economic progress. Economic advisers and ministers, some of whom were Africans and some not, regularly had to sacrice their economic projects to the patronage-building ambitions of politicians.

Rarely, however, are observers afforded the opportunity that the Lewis Papers provide to view the underlying tensions involving the political and economic elites that were so often covered up by anodyne formal announcements. The two men saw Ghana's independence from different vantage points even though they were united in wanting the country to enjoy economic progress.

Politicians versus economists

Nkrumah believed that the political leadership had the obligation to set the economic agenda and that economists should then design programs that would make it possible to achieve these goals.

In contrast, Lewis believed that only the economists could determine what could achieved, and only they could delineate the appropriate methods for realising these goals. The proper role of the political leaders was to speak the truth to the people and to promote realistic views of what economic experts told them that their countries could accomplish.

Arthur Lewis believed that only the economists could determine what could be achieved. (Right)

Lewis complained that Nkrumah regarded economists as mere technicians, whose task it was to realise the economic dreams of the public and the politicians  no matter how unrealistic.

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Nkrumah countered, depicting Lewis and the other economists with whom he worked politically naive, badly misunderstanding the pressing demands that ruling over a decolonised polity placed on the political elite.

Political leaders in fragile, newly independent polities had to build coalitions, use patronage to solidify their political authority and even coerce the opposition. They had to be responsive to the high hopes that their peoples carried about the meaning of political independence.

Even so, Lewis was hardly the dominant economic policymaker in the rst two years of Ghanaian independence, as some have wanted to argue. He tried to impose his precepts on Ghana for the rst eight months when Nkrumah and other ministers regularly sought him out.

However, Lewis ceased to count after that. He was distressed as he witnessed the alteration of his development plans to the point where in private correspondence he described the nal document as awful and one of the worst plans ever written.

A policy fraught with danger

As Lewis made clear in all of his writings in this period, the most critical issue in achieving development was raising the investment rate from the customary 4% or 5% that characterised mostly less-developed economies to something in the order of 15% to 20%.

What better way to achieve such a breakthrough than to capture the windfall prots from the rising world prices for cocoa. Yet the chief economic adviser was aware that this policy was fraught with danger.

Nkrumah taxed Ghana's region from which half of cocoa exports came and used the revenue in other parts of the country. Reuters/Kwasi Kpodo

The state was taxing Ghana's most dynamic and prosperous region, from which half of the country's cocoa exports and all of its timber and gold came. It was also the area in which the opposition to the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) was the most intense. It was using a large portion of this wealth in other parts of the country.

In his opinion, the monies had to be spent in ways that could be seen to contribute to economic and social betterment. If not, the political anger would be irrepressible.

Yet Lewis was also aware that the pressures on Nkrumah and the CPP leadership to use these funds to solidify their political support and build patron-client relationships were substantial. The tensions between what the CPP leaders wanted to do with the funds and what Lewis thought the monies should be used for were a constant source of conict between Lewis and the CPP leadership.

Lewis was right that Nkrumah's proigate use of political patronage was bound be self-defeating in the long run. Equally valid was his insistence that Ghana's ve-year plan needed to be scally sound and should be shorn of its many showy but economically wasteful programs.

However, believing that Nkrumah would give Lewis a free hand in economic matters, as Lewis claimed he had been promised, revealed a high degree of political insensitivity  even naivete.

Tensions tearing at the Ghanaian cabinet

Lewis's position from the outset was an awkward one, if not impossible. On the one hand, the Ghanaians wanted him to lead the country to economic prosperity and economic autonomy. The ofcials at the United Nations, who paid his salary, as well as those in Britain and the US, looked to him to steer Ghana in the direction of the Western capitalist world.

The tensions tearing at the Ghanaian cabinet, to say nothing of the pressures that came from the growing opposition in Ghana, put Lewis under even greater pressure. The left wing in the party favoured radical political and economic policies. They wanted Lewis to promote state intervention in the country's economic affairs.

Just as adamant, however, was the right wing of the party, who believed that Ghana continued to need support from the great capitalist powers in the world.

Even for an individual of the most extraordinary personal exibility, let alone a person like Lewis, who was a rationalist through and through, believing that politicians should embrace the right economic thinking  even when the short-run political consequences were unfavourable  navigating these stormy waters would have been problematic.

-economywatch


04.03.2016 LISTEN

(Abu Dhabi-29 February, 2016)  Gulf Capital, one of the largest and most active alternative investment firms in the Middle East, today announced that it will expand its Private Debt business to Sub-Saharan Africa through an exclusive partnership with Serengeti Capital, an Africa-focused investment bank, with offices in Accra and London. Gulf Capitals Private Debt arm, Gulf Credit Partners, has recently announced the first closing of its second flagship fund, Gulf Credit Opportunities Fund II, at US$ 175 million.

The companys first fund, which closed at around US$221 million in 2013, is now fully invested. Through this exclusive partnership, Serengeti Capital will be advising on credit and mezzanine investment opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa for Gulf Capitals second generation private debt investment fund, which will also look at investing in defensive noncyclical sectors in the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey. Dr Karim El Solh, Chief Executive Officer of Gulf Capital which is celebrating its 10th Anniversary this year, said: Sub-Saharan Africa has great economic and demographic fundamentals, coupled with a growing demand for private debt financing.

It is today undergoing a rapid transformation towards urbanisation, supported by one of the fastest real GDP growths in the world, exceeding 5% annually for the next three years. Serengeti Capital is a dynamic partner that is deeply rooted in the African landscape and enjoys profound understanding of the African business and regulatory environments.

Its solid track record, unparalleled network and comprehensive Sub-Saharan Africa coverage will help us unlock the African potential. Sub-Saharan Africa has positive demographics, with 40% of the population under 16, and the highest urbanisation rates in the world, with over 50% of Africans projected to live in cities by 2030. Countries in the Sub-Sahara today command large urban centers, with 52 cities having populations of 1 million or more, comparable to Western Europe.

Walid Cherif, Managing Director and Head of Gulf Credit Partners, the Private Debt division of Gulf Capital which manages both GC Credit Opportunities Funds, said: Appointing Serengeti Capital as our exclusive adviser and partner for Sub-Saharan Africa is in line with our strategy to expand our Private Debt platform to other emerging markets in addition to the current geographies we cover in MENA and Turkey. It is a trusted partner that enjoys extensive industry relationships and is uniquely positioned to add significant depth to our business on the Continent. Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs) and mid-market companies in Africa lack access to financing as banks tend to focus on asset-backed financing and blue chip companies.

Together with Serengeti Capital, we can offer the most promising asset-light, mid-market growth companies flexible and bespoke financing solutions that will add substantial value to their businesses and help them capitalise on sector opportunities that Africa presents them with. Starting with countries in the West Africa region, we will then expand across the rest of the Continent. Francis Kalitsi, Managing Partner and co-founder of Serengeti Capital said: We are delighted to form this strategic partnership with Gulf Capital, which will utilise our deep trenched global and African experience and our successful advisory and investment track record on the Continent.

This agreement is testament to the expertise of our team and its ability to consistently perform to best-in-class international standards across the complex African markets. Serengeti Capital is very well placed to advise and assist Gulf Capitals Private Debt team to expand in Africa and to meet the growing demands of clients and investors here. Dr Karim El Solh concluded: Our partnership with Serengeti Capital and our expansion from the Middle East and North Africa into Sub-Saharan Africa is part of our strategy to become one of the leading alternative investment managers in emerging markets.

A large number of our portfolio companies operate today along the new East-West corridor from Asia Pacific and South East Asia to the Middle East and Africa. We look forward to our partnership with Serengeti Capital and to increasing our investments across Africa. 3 - ENDS - About Gulf Capital Gulf Capital is one of the leading alternative asset management firms in the Middle East, investing across several asset classes including Private Equity, Private Debt and Real Estate.

The Firm currently manages over AED 12.4 billion (US$4 billion) of assets across 10 funds and investment vehicles. Gulf Capitals mission is to grow capital and build value with world-class expertise and best practices to generate sustainable superior performance for all stakeholders. Gulf Capital, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, invests its own capital alongside its fund investors capital in all of the funds it launches.

Gulf Capital received regional and international recognitions from industry peers and experts. The Firm was awarded the Best Private Equity Firm in the Middle East Award by Banker Middle East Magazine in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 and the Best Private Equity Firm in the Middle East and North Africa by Private Equity International, as well as Best SMEs Credit Fund in the Middle East in 2015.

The Firm is actively involved in real estate development through Gulf Related, its joint venture with the Related Companies, the leading private real estate developer in the United States. Gulf Related is focused on pursuing marquee large-scale mixed-use and residential real estate development opportunities in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Gulf Capital also launched a Private Debt business, Gulf Credit Partners, which offers credit and mezzanine financing to meet the funding needs of fast-growing companies and to provide acquisition finance across the Middle East, North and Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as Turkey. With its private equity, real estate and private debt initiatives, Gulf Capital is today one of the largest and most diversified alternative asset managers in the Middle East.
04.03.2016 LISTEN

The vice president Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur has hosted international award winning Ghanaian actor Abraham Attah at the Flagstaff House in Accra.

The 15-year-old, who returned to Ghana Friday morning after a week stay in the United States where he attended the 2016 Oscars and also presented an award was driven to the Flagstaff House where he had a chat with the vice president.

Attah who played a lead role in his debut movie 'Beats of No Nation' won his third award at the 2016 Independent Spirit Awards as Best Male Lead.

He also took the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor at Venice Film Festival 2015 followed by Rising Star Award at the Black Film Critis Circle (BFCC).

In the movie Beasts of No Nation Attah played Agu, who when civil war tears his family apart, is forced to join a unit of mercenary fighters and transformed into a child soldier.

Based on the 2005 novel of the same title by Uzodinma Iweala, the movie was shot in Ghana and also stars Ama K. Abebrese, Fred Amugi and Grace Nortey.

It was directed by Emmy Award-winning Cary Fukunaga, and the first fictional feature produced and distributed by Streaming Service Netflix.

-Citifmonline


Accra, March 4, GNA - The Vodafone employee volunteerism project has organised a life empowering programme for remand students at the South Labone Girls Vocational Training Centre.

The programme, held on the theme, 'Hope Initiative' was organised by Vodafone employees with background in Youth Development and Project Management, and equipped the remand girls with skills such as batik tie and dye, sewing, modeling, and customer service experience.

Mr Ebenezer Amankwah, the Corporate Communications Manager, Vodafone Ghana, told the GNA in an interview that the exercise was necessary to equip the girls with vocational skills that would make them self-reliant after they are reintegrated into society.

'They need these skills because they won't be here forever; they will go back into the society and the skills they have been equipped with can help them to re-integrate into the society,' he said.

He noted that the Employee Volunteerism Project Team would organise programmes that would directly benefit the society and their customers as part of their corporate social responsibility to society.

He explained that the main purpose for the event was to empower the girls to bring something good to the society in future irrespective of where they were.

Mr Amankwah disclosed that next year, the team may go to another remand home or institution to impact their lives in one way or the other.

GNA
Afrancho, (Ash), March 4, GNA - Ghanaians have been asked not to downplay vocational education and training given its huge potential to create jobs and reduce poverty.

Odeneho Kwaku Appiah, a Businessman, said the nation needed to focus more effort on providing the youth with skills that would enable them to make meaningful contribution to the growth of the economy.

He was speaking at the fourth graduation ceremony held by the Afrancho Zone of the Ghana National Tailors and Dressmakers Association (GNTDA) at Afrancho in the Afigya-Kwabre District.

He asked parents to overcome the prejudice - the misconceptions about technical and vocational training and encourage their children to learn trades that would help them to become self-employed and employ other people.

Odeneho Appiah, who is the Afigya-Kwabre South Constituency Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), said that was the path to travel, to create wealth and grow the economy.

He criticized the situation, where many an apprentice, were denied adequate support to go through their training in comfort and said that was unacceptable and must stop.

He suggested to the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies to make youth development through skills training an urgent priority.

They should also create business-friendly environment for members of the various trade associations to operate and expand their economic activities.

Ms. Constance Amankwa, Programmes Officer at the District Office of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), used the occasion to appeal to everybody to act responsibly in the run up to the November 7, general elections.

They should also desist from acts that could jeopardize the peace, before, during and after the polls.

Mr. Mazil Tweneboah, Zonal Chairman of GNTDA, said dressmaking was a lucrative business and asked youth to take to it.

GNA
04.03.2016 LISTEN

Accra, March 4, GNA - The Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana together with its civil society organisations has called on Parliament to refrain from ratifying the ARIPO Protocol.

The group said the protocol in its current form lacks credibility and legitimacy and does not benefit Ghana.

Mr Abdul Rahman Mohammed, the National President of PFAG, speaking at a press conference in Accra said 'We propose the adoption of 'sui generis' system which will allow extensive consultations involving stakeholders, farmer and civil society to develop a balanced and equitable legislation.

He said last year although Parliament did not give due consideration to the Ghana Plant Breeders' Bill, yet Ghana was one of the first African countries to sign the ARIPO Protocol adopted in Arusha, Tanzania by African States.

The ARIPO Protocol is a harmonised regional legal framework for the protection of plant breeders' rights the Arusha Protocol for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants.

He said the protocol was in conformity with the Union for the Protection of new Varieties (UPOV) 1991 Convention, which aimed exclusively at protecting plant breeders' rights and prohibiting the exchange and selling of seeds derived from protected varieties.

'We are however encouraged that although Ghana signed onto the ARIPO Protocol with little consultation with farmers and civil society in Ghana, Parliament still has the power not to ratify the protocol,' Mr Rahman Mohammed said.

He said should Parliament ratify this protocol, the national legislation on seed rights would have to conform to the UPOV 1991 Convention, which was about promoting breeders rights up and above farmers' rights.

He said the Protocol was modeled on the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants of 1991 (UPOV 1991) which was a rigid and an inflexible regime for plant variety protection (PVP).

Mr Rahman Mohammed explained that Ghana has full flexibility under the World Trade Organization to develop an effective 'sui generis' system for plant variety protection.

The National President said it was unfortunate and even irrational that instead of designing a PVP regime that reflected the agricultural framework and realities of Ghana, the country had chosen to adopt and be bound by UPOV 1991 without any concrete evidence.

'It is possible to have effective law on plant variety protection without compromising Ghana's international obligations and farmers' rights,' he added.

He called on government to address their major concerns in a revised legislation on seed including new seed act that would increase funding to public breeders/researchers, promote open pollinated varieties and promote Participatory Plant Breeding.

'We vehemently opposed to the Current Plant Breeders Bill and the ARIPO Protocol but remain committed to working with MOFA, The Ministry of Justice and Attorney General, Parliament and other relevant institutions to ensure that farmers remain at the center of localized food production,' Mr Rahman Mohammed added.

GNA
Accra, March 4, GNA - The National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE), with funding from the Carnegie Corporation in New York had organised Phase Two of the Senior Academic Leadership Training (SALT) programme for Council Members of Universities.

A statement issued by the Management of the NCTE and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Thursday said the latest workshop, the second in the series of the SALT Phase Two training sessions, was held at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) from February 18 - 20.

The statement noted that the workshop was attended by about 30 delegates comprising Council Members from GIMPA and Wisconsin International University College.

It said the key objectives of the workshop were to equip the Council Members with the tools and skills to enable them better understand and interpret institutional accounts and audits; train Council Members in terms of their legal, administrative, oversight, fiduciary, strategic and generative roles and responsibilities; and to take Council Members through a self-review exercise to enable them to evaluate their performance.

It noted that the workshop was chaired by Professor S. N. Woode, former Chairman of the Public Services Commission.

According to the statement, the workshop was facilitated by Prof C.N.B. Tagoe, Chairman of the NCTE, Dr Paul Effah, the Project Director of the SALT programme and former Executive Secretary of the NCTE; Prof H.J.A.N Mensa Bonsu, Legon Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy, University of Ghana; Mrs Elizabeth Obese, the Director of Finance, University of Cape Coast; and Mr G. F. Daniel, former Registrar, University of Ghana.

It said the participants were taken through topics such as Effective University Governance; Criteria for the Appointment of Council Members; and Financial and Budgetary Responsibilities of Council.

The statement said it was expected that by the end of the SALT, Phase Two programme on December 31, 2016, about 300 University Council Members and 210 Heads of Department from both public and private universities would be trained and oriented on their roles and responsibilities.

It pointed out that among the major long-term outcomes that SALT Phase Two plans to achieve were: Council members would have acquired the knowledge and skills to enable them to understand and to better prepare them for their roles and responsibilities and Heads of Departments would have sharpened their knowledge and skills for the effective and efficient management of their respective departments.

The rest were a pool of Senior Academic Leaders (SALs) would have been created to fill positions within the public and private tertiary education sectors in Ghana and to some extent in Nigeria.

The NCTE was established by NCTE Act 1993, (Act 454) to oversee the proper administration of institutions designated as institutions of tertiary education in Ghana and to advise the Minister of Education on the development of the institutions.

The NCTE was committed to providing leadership in tertiary education by advising government and all relevant institutions to enhance access, quality, equity, relevance and governance.

GNA
Dwease (Ash), March 04, GNA - The Asante-Akim Central Municipal Assembly has donated large quantity of food items in support of farmers in two communities - Dwease and Boatengkrom, who lost their farms to a devastating bushfire in the middle of January.

These included 110 bags of rice and 42 cartons of edible oil and meant to provide some relief for the victims.

The fire completely ravaged over 20,000 hectares of cash and food crop farms and this has heightened fears of imminent farming in the area.

Alhaji Braimah Boyong, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), was on hand to present the items and pledged further support to make things better for the farmers and their families.

He said every effort would be made to supply them with planting materials including cocoa seedlings during the planting season.

The MCE used the occasion to remind the people to heed fire safety education as there was no sign that the dry season would end anytime soon.

They should be careful in their handling of naked fire to prevent another disaster.

Mr. Isaac Kyei Andoh, the Municipal Coordinator of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), called for the formation of fire volunteer groups in the various communities to assist prevent bushfires.

Nana Owusu Banahene, Chief of Dwease, said the people were grateful to the assembly for the gesture.

GNA
Accra, March 4, GNA - Standard Chartered Bank Ghana says negative economic developments in the local and global markets had led to lower than expected performance in 2015.

In its full year 2015 result released on Thursday, the bank said it recorded an underlying operating income of GHE531 million, representing a two per cent growth over the previous year.

However, the bank's operating profit declined by 67 per cent to GHE91million.

'Our results are below expectation relative to our initial 2015 projections,' the bank said in a statement.

It attributed the low performance to the volatility experienced on global commodity and currency markets, Ghana's macroeconomic difficulties and the energy crisis.

'The year 2015 is on record in Ghana as one of the most challenging and exceptional years on many fronts. The volatility experienced on global commodity and currency markets, coupled with Ghana's macroeconomic headwinds and three consecutive years of an energy crisis had a material adverse impact on business,' it said.

Standard Chartered Bank said it had, during 2015, made very exceptional and unprecedented loan impairment provisions of GHE213 million, up 333 per cent from 2014 largely on account of the effects of a massive disruption to working capital cycles across almost all sectors in the Ghanaian economy.

It said: 'Naturally, the bank was as disappointed with the 2015 operating results as our stakeholders would be due to the material deviation from our consistently good performance over the last decade.'

Commenting on the 2015 operating results, the Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered Bank Ghana Limited, Mr Kweku Bedu-Addo, said: 'The nature of these shocks in Ghana have been both cyclical and structural and have persisted for the last three years. We started picking early warning signals in 2013 and the stressed operating environment unfortunately intensified over time.

'As expected, within difficult operating environments, a lot of businesses would have stressed cash flow which undermines debt repayment capacity across most sectors in the economy.

'Under prudential and regulatory guidelines we are obliged to take loan impairments on distressed assets. What this means is that we will pursue a dual strategy of recovery and restructuring within the new cash flow realities.'

However, Mr Bedu-Addo said the bank's decisions on profit retention in prior years since 2013 had given the bank a balance sheet that had been able to withstand the severe and unprecedented shocks to the business operating environment in Ghana.

This, he said, enabled the bank to focus on achieving a quick rebound of the business as a more benign operating environment returns.

'The focus for 2016 is to continue to invest in technology, improve the customer experience and to introduce innovative products onto the market,' he said.

Mr Bedu- Addo said the bank would deliver its medium term strategy through disciplined execution and efficient cost management.

'We remain proud of our record of consistently stellar operating results over an extended period of time and we are confident that we will restore the business to an attractive growth trajectory once more over the medium term, in line with market expectations,' Mr Bedu-Addo said.

GNA
President John Mahama

04.03.2016 LISTEN

Youths in Kyebi say President Mahama employed propaganda when during his State of the Nation Address, he claimed credit for providing the area with portable water.

In a statement meant to set the record straight, the Okyeman Youth Association (OYA) says the Kyebi Water Project was initiated by the Kufuor administration in June 2008 with funding from the Austrian government.

It was completed in 2011 during the NDC government under President John Evans Atta Mills.

General Secretary of the group D.M. Ofori-Atta questioned why President John Mahama would won't to claim credit for a project his administration neither funded or completed.

The youths are wondering why the President would include a 2011 project in a 2016 State of the Nation Address.

They are further stated that in listing his achievements, the President ought to recognize that Kyebi youths are yet to benefit from the billions borrowed by the Mahama government.

PUBLIC STATEMENT

OKYEMAN YOUTH ASSOCIATION (OYA) REACTS TO STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT MAHAMAH

The Okyeman Youth Association (OYA) wishes to note with grave concern and dismay crude misrepresentations in the State of the Nation Address (SONA) by President John Dramani Mahama before Parliament last Thursday with regards to supposed efforts and achievements of the NDC Government towards the social and economic development of Okyeman and the Eastern Region.

The most significant illustration of these misrepresentations and of much primary concern is with regards to the Kyebi Water Project to which the President expressly sought to portray it as one of the achievements of the NDC Government.

The Kyebi water project or the five-town water project meant to serve Kyebi, Apedwa, Kwabeng, Anyinam, Asafo was initiated by the President Kufuor-led NPP Government and funded by the Government of Austria.

The delay of the Project was not as a result of the muddiness of the Birim River due to galamsey activities creating the need for project redesign as the President sought to illustrate.

Rather it was a result of the gross incompetence, lack of collaborative effort of the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing (MWRWH) and officials of the ruling party scrambling over juicy project sub-contracts.

In any case Government may have to explain what could possibly be meant by its YOUTH IN SMALL SCALE MINING programme other than galamsey! May be Hon Baba Jamal and his boys might tell us.

Related to this, there is something the President is not telling Ghanaians. The NDC government decided, to the utter disbelief of the people of Akyem Abuakwa and the Eastern Region to divert funds and the entire project to another Region. It took the intervention of the chiefs , community and social leaders for the MWRWH to desist from this obviously discriminative decision.

.

It is important to note two other misrepresentations with regards to the SONA address by the President Mahama. First is the obvious fact that the project was completed in 2011 under President John Evans Atta Mills and cannot be counted amongst the achievements of President John Mahama who only commissioned it.

It then follows that the Kyebi Water Project funded by the goodwill of the Government of Ausria and completed in 2011 could not have been funded from any of the reckless borrowing schemes of the President John Mahama administration as the SONA address portrayed.

Kyebi had pipe borne water as far back as 1971 provided by the Busia Government. OYA wishes to make it clear that it is not the Government of President Mahama that introduced pipe borne water to Kyebi and surrounding areas. Actually it is the reckless privatization policy and withdrawal of public funding in water sector in the Rawlings P/NDC era of 80s and 90s which caused the deterioration of one of the most effective public water systems in the global south.

OYA condemns the selective mention of the Kyebi water project for parochial electoral gain by the NDC Government.

OYA holds the position that the social, economic and developmental condition of Okyeman and the Eastern Region portrayed in the SONA is in direct contrast to actual situation. Today the Eastern Region is facing the fiercest challenge with regards to deteriorating social infrastructure, collapse in basic education and mass destitution and youth unemployment.

Whole districts are recording zero percentage points in WASSCE and Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE). There is strong correlation between this situation and growing school dropout rate, HIV infections and teenage pregnancy.

According to East Akyem Municipal Health Directorate, the District ranks one of the highest with regards teenage pregnancy. HIV/AIDS is growing with increasing poverty.

There is no need to mention how the unmotorable roads in a Region with vast economic potential is slowing down all economic activities and undermining the living standards and incomes of households.

There has not been any construction of even a single major road in the Region. What is happening is the farcical attempt to upgrade some of the few old roads. But even that came after a public protest led by chiefs in the Region in 2014.

Currently none of the roads is near completion. Contractors with no clear commitment and competence have only graded the roads causing massive environmental nuisance by the dust storms they create.

The abdication of responsibility towards the welfare of the people of Okyeman and the Eastern Region by the NDC Government must come to an end.

We wish to call on the media and civil society to interrogate this situation critically to ensure the peace and prosperity of Ghana.

Signed:

D.M. Ofori-Atta

OYA General Secretary

0541931435

2nd March, 2016, Kyebi


04.03.2016 LISTEN

The Adontehene of the Agona Nsaba Traditional Area in the Agona East District of the Central Region, Nana Kofi Agyekum II has kicked against any move towards legalization of marijuana in Ghana saying it would spell doom for its people.

He has therefore called on the government and for that matter Ghanaians to join him in the crusade against any move by persons or group of persons towards legalization of marijuana.

" Should cannabis be allowed for cultivation as cash crop and for export, it would spell doom for the country and its security. It would also kill efforts by the government to increase cocoa production. This is because most cocoa trees would be cut down to pave way for cultivation of marijuana.

I can't imagine what the state of the nation would be if marijuana is legalized"

Nana Kofi Agyekum II who is Agona Swedru District Chief Farmer in an interview with newsman at Agona Nsaba lamented over the rather high level of people getting insane as a results of marijuana .

Apparently reacting to suggestion by the former United Nation (UN) General Secretary, Mr. Kofi Annan that marijuana could be legalized, Nana Kofi Agyekum totally disagreed with him.

"Despite the fact that marijuana contains some medicinal properties, using cannabis openly was also against our common national culture as Ghanaians and Africans as a whole.

Even under under this present circumstances look at the number of mad persons we see daily on the streets as a result of marijuana uses. I therefore encourage our traditional leaders, religious leaders and those leadership positions to join me resist any attempt to legalize marijuana in Ghana because of its health hazard"

Nana Kofi Agyekum II expressed the hope that his crusade would not be in vain for the betterment of the country and its citizenry.

Attached is Nana Kofi Agyekum II
04.03.2016 LISTEN

I did not get to watch President Mahamas so-called State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA). I usually prefer to read a downloaded PDF version of the same. It is often predictable and largely composed of half-truths and conveniently massaged facts and figures, such as nationalizing some 5 quite successful parochial  or missionary-founded and run  teacher-training colleges to make up for the glaring failure of his government to fulfill its electioneering campaign promise of adding 10 more teacher-training colleges to the existing national stock.

The Presidents exuberant touting of the success of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) is also one that invariably causes me to scratch my head, more often out of annoyance than wistfulness, especially when one remembers the fact that the paradoxical capstone of the National Democratic Congress social democrats healthcare policy was the Cash-and-Carry regime of Social Darwinism, which is even more cutthroat and decidedly more insensitive that what prevails in the purportedly vampiric capitalist West.

But that then-candidates John Evans Atta-Mills and John DramaniMahama self-righteously and pontifically pooh-poohed the entire Kufuor-minted National Health Insurance Scheme, only to be among the very first Ghanaian citizens to line up at the front of the queue to benefit from the same, is all the more annoying. I shall shortly come back to this subject, but it is equally significant and interesting to report that just the other day, somebody published a rather cynical tirade claiming that it was under the tenure of Chairman Jerry John Rawlings, and not that of the John Agyekum-Kufuor-led government of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), that the UN-sponsored School-Feeding Program was established.

Now, the pertinent question to ask here is not under whose tenure the School-Feeding Program established but, rather, who was able to more effectively implement and manage the program successfully. You see, other than cheap and tawdry rhetoric, and the obscene espousal of populism, the National Democratic Congress has absolutely nothing to showcase for its contribution to the modernization and development of the country. And by the way, parading some 10 hostages, for that is precisely who and what they were, in front of the garish glare of television cameras during his most recent SONA address was taken straight out of the stylistically classic playbook of President Barack Obama. The technique itself may well have either been initiated or popularized by former President William Jefferson Blye Clinton.

And so I was naturally flabbergasted to hear IMANI-Ghana think tanks Mr. Franklin Cudjoe chalk this authentically American, albeit decidedly jaded, rhetorical technique as a veritable Mahama shtick that was worthy of emulation by other Ghanaian politicians. Indeed, had he been watching President Obamas State-of-the-Union Addresses (SOTUs) on CNN International, or other alternative channels, Mr. Cudjoe would have readily recognized this patently stale political gimmickry for what it indubitably is. In the hands of President Obama, this so-called Great Art of Communication, as Mr. Cudjoe puts it, is simply inimitable.

In the hands of President Mahama, this copycat technique is rather cheap and tawdry, particularly when one recalls the fact that Mr. Mahama had caustically criticized the LEAP  public assistance program  when it was first introduced into the country by the Kufuor-led government of the New Patriotic Party. If I were Mr. Cudjoe, such tacky and abjectly mediocre rehash of the Clinton /Obama Technique is the last Mahama act or gimmickry that I would be celebrating.

*Visit my blog at: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com Ghanaffairs
On March 08every year, the United Nations and its partners in the global community celebrate the International Womens Day (IWD), a day specially set aside to recognise and celebrate the social, cultural, and political achievements of women around the world. The Day also provides the opportunity to highlight the many cultural and social impediments that challenge programmes being pursued to promote gender equality.

Celebrated for the first time by the UN in 1975, the IWD was adopted as a resolution in December 1977, declaring a United Nations Day for Womens Rights and International Peace. The Day later became known as the International Womens Day.

The UNS Global theme for the 2016 IWD is Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step It Up for Gender Equality. The local theme adopted for the celebration in Ghana is Gender Equality by 2030: Step it up for Sustainable Development.

The local theme was chosen to reflect efforts being made to accelerate the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and galvanise institutional and individual efforts towards the implementation of goals 4 and 5, which seek to achieve gender equality and ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning.

ActionAid Ghana believes that as a country, we are making some efforts to bridge the wide gap between men and women in terms of political and economic opportunities, but there is a lot to do to realise goals 4 and 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Affirmative Action Policy, the Domestic Violence (DV) Act and other gender-sensitive policy and programmes initiated by CSOs and government actors are setting the institutional framework necessary to achieve the global goals on gender equality.

As an organisation (ActionAid Ghana), we have set for ourselves some objectives in our most recent Country Strategy Paper V, to advance the political influence of women. We believe that the development of any nation is tied to the freedoms and economic empowerment of women.

To mark this years IWD, the Greater Accra Regional Programme of ActionAid Ghana will embark on community sensitisation on womens rights in the Ga West municipality and launch a womens development group. ActionAid already works with 1,000 young women in the municipality,campaigning against womens unpaid care work, promoting sexual reproductive health and decent work.

We salute the women of Ghana for the role they have played in the development of our beloved country.
Managers and staff of the Multimedia Group, Kumasi, are being encouraged to continue building synergies with talented personnel in the media industry.

At a thanksgiving service in Kumasi, Rev. David McGranaham, lauded the media giant for its immense contribution to national development.

He says great leadership through a motivated staff is critical in changing the face of the industry.

The thanksgiving is the first of a quarterly event to show gratitude to the almighty God for the companys success story over 20 years.

Staff of the Kumasi Business, spotting the anniversary outfits praised God amid spirit-filled singing and dancing.

Rev. David McGranaham encouraged the staff of the Multimedia Group to continue to show commitment at work to make good use of their potentials.

The multimedia team understands teamwork and it is key in businessif we tend to develop and keep talents this company will continue to grow. If you are with the network, how hard you work there will open greater doors to you, he said.

He lauded the group for being neutral and upholding ethical standards in the country.

Business Unit Manager, Jimmy Aglah says the business continue to stay afloat due to the dedication from their staff.

We know that God is at work at Multimedia, last year as a business we had to face a lot of hardshipbut with the hard work, perseverance and discipline of our staff we have be able to cross over to 2016. The year we expect same discipline, perseverance and dedication from our staff he said.

The celebrations continued at the Multimedia premises where staff and other well-wishers were treated to a buffet.
04.03.2016 LISTEN

Accra, March 04, GNA - All is set for this year's edition of The Economist Event's Nigeria Summit, which is scheduled to take place at the Highbrow Intercontinental Hotel, Lagos, from Monday March 7 to Tuesday March 8, 2016.

The Summit, which is the 11th in the annual series, organised by the economic news magazine, 'The Economist', is on the theme; 'The Dawn of A New Day'.

The event is part of the Economist's successful high-growth markets series, and has become one of the leading events in Africa, where business, government and the civil society meet to share ideas.

A statement issued by the African Press Organisation, said the event would bring together over 350 participants drawn from Nigeria's public and private sectors which include key government ministry officials, industry and business leaders, representatives of civil society, international investors, economists and academics, for a discussion on how Nigeria could turn its economic growth into social and political prosperity.

The statement said dignitaries including Mr. Philip Walker, the Regional Manager of The Economist Intelligence Unit, and Mr Miguel Melo Azevedo, Head of Investment Banking, Africa, of the Citi Group, would join eminent Nigerian businessmen and top government officials from around the world, to review Nigeria's current economic situation.

It said the discussants would provide an overview of the global macro-economic picture, talking through the growth prospects for Nigeria and the region, and further explore the country's economic and social progress so far, and take an in-depth look at what the future would hold for Africa's biggest economy.

The event, it said, would feature exhibitions, experts' submissions, as well as panel discussions around the challenges that lie at the point where technology, infrastructural development, political transparency and global partnerships meet.

They would also examine and review the socio economic challenges that Nigeria was facing in view of her first democratic power transfer and the implication of the global macro-economic forces as being shaped by the ridiculously low global oil prices which was the backbone of the Nigerian economy.

GNA
Half-Assini (WR), Mar. 4, GNA - A Half-Assini Magistrate Court in Western Region has fined a Kumasi based radio mechanic a total of GH 1,200.00, for stealing.

Dieu Donnie Nanavi, 45, was charged with four counts of causing damage, unlawful entry, stealing and assault.

He pleaded guilty on counts one to three and guilty with explanation on count four.

He was fined GH 240.00 each on counts one & four and GH 360.00 on counts two and three.

Nanavi will in default serve three months imprisonment on counts one, two, three and six months imprisonment on count four.

The fines are cumulative while terms would run concurrently.

The Court presided over by Mr Abdul Majid Illiasu, ordered the convict to compensate first complainant, Mr Dominic Ackah, with GH 150.00 for damage caused to his properties and also compensate Mr Isaac Dadzie, second complaint, with GH 150.00 for medical bills.

The Court further ordered the Police to restore the retrieved items to its owner.

Presenting the facts, Police Sergeant Isaac E. Otoo, said complainants, Isaac Dadzie, 28, a fisherman; Dominic Ackah, 32, a chemical seller, are both natives of Half-Assini while Nanavi hails from Kumasi, Ashanti Region.

He said on February 21, the convict went to visit a brother at Anlomatuope near Half-Assini and arrived around 2330 hrs.

The prosecution said the convict after his arrival broke into Ackah's room about 0130 hrs on February 22 and stole a Samsung, Techno & Ernest mobile phones and a calculator all valued GH 360.00; and damaged his trap door valued GH 50.00 in the process.

He said the convict also went about a kilometer away attempted to break Mr Dadzie's room but he apprehended him, and in the process a struggle ensued between them.

The prosecution said Dadzie with the help of some neighbours overpowered and sent the convict to the half Assini Police Station.

He said later Mr Ackah got wing of the arrest and went to the Police Station where he identified some of his missing items Nanavi.

The accused was after investigation was arraigned before the Court.

GNA
04.03.2016 LISTEN

Agona Swedru (C/R), Mar. 4, GNA - The Agona West Municipal Assembly has expressed concern about the poor performance of Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) results in the area in spite of the huge investments being made into basic education.

Mr Samuel Oppong, Agona West Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), said this when he addressed the first Ordinary Meeting of the first session of the 7th Agona West Municipal Assembly at Agona Swedru.

He said a total of 2,301 candidates who sat for the examination (BECE) in 2015 1,672 passed whiles 629 failed.

He said it was unfortunate that the financial support offered by the Agona West Directorate of the Ghana Education Service (GES) has not helped to improve the situation.

The MCE said the Municipal Education Oversight Committee has been assigned the responsibility of identifying the causes of the poor performance.

He said the central government and Agona West Municipal Assembly would not shirk their responsibilities to ensure that children of school going age received quality education.

Mr Emmanuel Korley, a teacher and the Assemblyman for Agona Swedru Nkubem/ Otapirow Electoral Area, said basic school teachers needed some form of motivation to help them deliver their duties effectively.

Mr Frank Yeboah, Assemblyman for Lower Bobikuma, said the poor performance of BECE could be attributed to poor preparations towards the examinations by various schools.

He said it would be better for the GES Directorate to set the mock questions for the BECE than allowing the various heads to set their own questions.

Mr John Sam, Senior Officer of Agona West GES Directorate, assured the Assembly that the GES Directorate would do their best to help improve the situation.

GNA
Accra, Mar. 4, GNA - As part of its strategy to better serve customers, over 5,000 sales freelance agents nationwide have acquired sales skills from the Tigo Sales School.

Launched in 2012, the annual training programme aims to empower the company's sales staff with knowledge on products and services.

It is also to empower young entrepreneurs in the country through capacity-building that will enable them to be productive in direct sales.

Under the programme, freelancers' were trained on how to handle existing and potential customers; record keeping, customer care and how to improve sales performance.

'The trainees spend six weeks in class and go out in the field with team leaders for practical assignments, after which they graduate,' said Sam Adjei-Sah, the Director of Sales for Tigo.

Mr Adjei-Sah said every year millions of cedis is invested into the programme and the company is proud to have empowered over 5,000 freelancers since its inception.

He said freelancers are an important component in the company's sales distribution network, and it is critical to equip them with skills and maintain good working relationships with their team leaders.

He applauded the freelancers' for their continued commitment in supporting Tigo's business strategy and also for being great brand ambassadors in communities across the country.

GNA
Inchaban (WR), Mar. 4, GNA - Mr Gabriel Kwodwo Essilfie, the Chairman of Parliamentary Sub-Committee on Food, Agriculture and Cocoa, has said the World Bank has allotted funds to support the youth in vegetable production.

He said the programme, christened the West Africa Agriculture Productivity Programme (WAAPP), is being implemented through the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA).

He said beneficiaries would be provided with set up kits amounting to GHa38, 000.00 but would be required to procure high yielding seedlings and fertilizers themselves.

Mr Essilfie, who is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Shama, told the media at Inchaban in the Shama District, that Dizengoff, an agribusiness firm, introduced the technology known as vegetable farming.

He said beneficiaries would be trained in drip irrigation, soil treatment and how to manage the farm, saying the vegetable farm concept had been embraced in other West African countries.

Mr. Kojo Donkoh, an agronomist with Dizengoff, said 160 of such start-up kits had been established in the country and 100 more would be added soon.

GNA
Accra, March 4, GNA - The Ministry of Finance (MOF) has presented a vehicle to the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) at a short ceremony held at the forecourt of the Ministry.

The presentation of the 4x4 Toyota Land Cruiser was done by Mrs Mona Quartey, Deputy Minister of Finance and received on behalf of PIAC by its Chairman, Prof. Paul Kingsley Buah-Bassuah.

Speaking at the ceremony, Mrs Quartey reiterated Government's commitment to ensuring that PIAC's significant role in ensuring transparency and accountability in the management of petroleum revenues in the country was greatly enhanced.

She stated that the donation would enable PIAC to have frequent public engagement on the revenue generation and utilization and its impact on the economy and pledged the Ministry's continuous assistance to enable PIAC execute its mandate.

The Chairman of PIAC, Prof. Buah-Bassuah, stated that PIAC had seen some successes, namely strengthening and monitoring the collection and utilization of petroleum revenue to safeguard the growth of the industry for the country's development.

He mentioned some of PIAC's activities as exploring the potentials in the equitable distribution of the resources, accommodating different opinions from various stakeholders as well as Civil Societies and other interest groups and also leading the public to appreciate and understand the variations in petroleum pricing and its implications on the revenue spending trends for the recovery of the national economy.

'Through the above mentioned activities, the Committee has made significant contribution to policy making on the prudent management and oversight of the oil and gas revenues,' he said. GNA
Accra, March 4, GNA - Mr Kofi Amenyah, Legal Director at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, has said there is a draft policy and a bill to address issues with regards to market competition in the country.

He said since 1999 the nation has been grappling with issues on competition especially when there was no law and policy and at a point had to seek technical support from partners.

Mr Amenya said this at a day's conference on the theme; 'Competition Regime in Ghana; Need of the Nation', organised by Consumer Unity and Trust Society (CUTS) International in Accra.

It was sponsored by the BUSAC Fund and supported by the Denmark Embassy in Ghana, DANIDA, International Development Cooperation, USAID and EU.

Mr Amenya said CUTS project entitled, Advocating for a Functional Competition Regime for Ghana sought to develop a national competition policy and law through an informed process, incorporating the views of key actors.

Mr Appiah Kusi Adomako, Country Director of CUTS, said a national competition policy and law would infuse a level playing field in key markets and enhance the predictability and certainty in the market, thereby stimulating entrepreneurship and economic growth, which becomes a win-win for both consumers and producers.

He explained that a competition policy lays down government's commitment to promote competition across all sectors of an economy, adding that it aimed to remove policy distortions that affected competition in markets.

He said the competition law empowers a competition commission to curb anti-competitive practices which included anti-competitive agreements and abuse of dominance in an economy.

He said some prevailing anti-competition tendencies in Ghana included Ghana cement, which dominates the cement market, Electricity Company of Ghana controls the end user, Vodaphone Ghana controls fixed line assets especially with Cap on broadband usage and National Health Insurance Authority cannot be the regulator and still run and manage (service provider), the NHIS at the same time.

Mr Adomako also disclosed that Barclays Bank will soon be leaving Africa and its shares will be scrampled for by other banks, adding that we need competition law to control mergers and acquisition.

Mr Adomako said some benefits of competition reforms for producers include; safeguard against practices by other businesses, lower entry barriers to promote entrepreneurship and growth efficient allocation and willingness of resources to ensure efficient and enhanced productivity.

He said the way towards a functional competition regime in Ghana was by a national competition law, adoption of a competition law, Ghana, identification laws with provision affecting competition in markets and establishment of national competition authority.

Mr Adomako said the bill has been drafted and was currently with the Ministry and would be submitted to cabinet.

Speaking on the topic; ' Market Distortion and Anti-Competitive Trade Practices; The Case of Price Fixing in Ghana', Ms Edayatu Lamptey of CUTS International, said competitors were independent of each other, but in the Ghanaian market for example, insurance companies had agreed to sell motor insurance cover at a cost of Gha1.30 a day, adding that last year private health insurance premium went up to a minimum of 1,000 Ghana cedis and sachet water producers are set to increase the prices of their products due to the increases in utility tariffs.

She said the Ghana Cement Manufacturers Association has appealed to the government to ban imported cement into the country.

Ms Lamptey indicated that price fixing was a common anti-competitive practice in Ghanaian market.

GNA
Ho, March 4, GNA - The Convention Peoples Party (CPP) has slammed the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) for their clueless neo-liberal policies, which have impoverished the people over the years.

All speakers at a well-attended CPP forum in Ho were of the opinion that only people-orientated policies, such as those associated with the CPP alone, could move the country out of the current predicament of economic and social mess.

Professor Edmund Nminyem Delle, National Chairman, Ivor Greenstreet, Flag bearer, Kwabena Bomfeh, Director of Elections and Kadri Abdul Rauf, Director of Communications, took turns to address the forum, organized to meet the team on a 'thank your tour'.

Mr Greestreet said the NDC's often tooted social democrat credential was only a label and hardly reflected in their policy formulation, implementation and party-citizen ties.

He said the CPP had the ability to change the economic indices of the country for the better.

Mr Greenstreet said the CPP was intent on pursing its properties and had expected President John Mahama in his State of the Nation Address to provide update on the issue.

Professor Delle said the CPP structures, from the ward level to the national structures, were being invigorated to make the sleeping 'CPP wake up'.

Mr Bonfer said the CPP would come out with a manifesto that could be described as people-imputed and not abstract.

He said the Party's agenda if it won power would not be dictated from outside or that which sought the endorsement of the IMF.

'John Mahama must be removed but we should not make a mistake of bringing Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo because the two are of the same stock,' Mr Bonfer.

There was a noticeable large numbers of People with Disabilities at the forum.

GNA
Kumasi, March 04, GNA - Construction work on phase one of the US$298 million Kejetia/Central Market redevelopment project is steadily progressing.

It is expected to be ready in January 2018, and the contractors have given strong indication that the scheduled date would not be missed.

Mr. Carlos Gala, Project Manager of Messrs Contracta Engineeering Limited, the Brazilian contractors awarded the job, said they had already done about 30 per cent of the work.

He told the Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE), Mr. Kojo Bonsu, during an inspection visit that this involved foundation works, erection of market structures and lorry parking area.

The project is being funded by the Ghana government and meant to reduce the severe congestion at the central market.

It comes with a fire station, clinic, crAche, stores, modern bus terminal and other facilities.

The MCE, accompanied by the leadership of the traders' association, inspected one of the two-storey market structures, which is nearing completion and the bus terminal.

Mr. Gala said phase two of the project, involving the reconstruction of the central market would commence as soon as they finished with the phase one.

Mr. Bonsu expressed satisfaction with the pace and quality of work done and said the project was dear to the people because it would significantly boost business activities in the metropolis.

GNA
Accra, Mar. 4, GNA - The Coalition of Unemployed Privately Trained Nurses has called on government to provide them with an assurance of engagement in the public service saying delays in this regard could lead to demonstrations.

Ms Beatrice Agyei Peprah, spokesperson for the group, told a press conference in Accra that not a single one of more than two thousand nurses from privately accredited health institutions have been employed since their completion of studies.

She said these unemployed nurses, like their counterparts from the public nursing institutions under the Ministry of Health, also sat for their licensing examination and had successfully completed their training over the past three years.

'Our predicament has been heightened by the refusal of teaching hospitals across the country and the Christian Health Association of Ghana to employ privately trained nurses because of the refusal of the Ministry of Finance to give our members the needed financial clearance'', she said.

Ms Agyei-Peprah said the private health training institutions are regulated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Ghana because the Ministry of Health recognises that they cannot train all the nurses needed in the country.

She said interestingly, Junior High and Senior High school leavers are being recruited to be trained and employed to work as community health workers across Ghana while trained and qualified nurses have been made redundant at home.

''We cannot comprehend why the government will deny privately trained nurses postings or employment since we are all Ghanaians who only found ourselves in private health training institutions'', she said.

Ms Agyei-Peprah said any further delay on the part of the Ghana Health Service and the Ministry of Health to respond to our concerns may lead them to take other measures that could include a demonstration in the capitals of the country.

GNA
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business 2nd edition of Gyan Sangam kicks off today; M&A in focus Earlier this week, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, in the Budget 2016-17, said the government will unveil a road map for consolidation in public sector banks (PSBs).
business Expect large volume growth in FY17: CCL Products In an interview with CNBC-TV18, C Rajendra Prasad, CMD of CCL Products said the company expects large volume growth in FY17 but refrained from sharing any estimate guidance number for volume and net profit growth.
business Rinder light biz deal may add Rs 450cr to topline: Minda Minda Industries today announced an acquisition of the global lighting business of Spain-based Rinder Group that manufactures automotive lamps. The acquisition is likely to add top line of about Rs 450 crore, chairman NK Minda told CNBC-TV18.
business SC to decide on telcos call drop plea on Mar 10, gives no relief The Supreme Court today refused to offer any interim relief to telecom companies in their plea against the call drop penalty that has been imposed on them by regulator TRAI.
Moodys previously held BHP at an A1 standard when it came to credit. However, all of this changed on Thursday. Moodys has dropped the global miner two notches, to an A3 credit rating.

Just days ago, Standard & Poors (S&P) gave BHP Billiton [ASX:BHP] a great endorsement. S&P reaffirmed BHPs A credit rating after it was decided that dividends would be cut. The news was obviously welcomed by the big miner. Maintaining a healthy balance sheet was important for BHP. Even though their A rating is a step down from their previous A+, BHP still has the best credit rating in the industry. And they want to keep it that way.

However, S&P arent the only ratings agency. There are three giant ratings agencies that all have their own assessments. The other two are Moodys and Finch.

Moodys previously held BHP at an A1 standard when it came to credit. However, all of this changed on Thursday. Moodys has dropped the global miner two notches, to an A3 credit rating.

Moodys have also placed BHP on a negative credit watch, which might mean more cuts in the future. A3 is the seventh highest level of creditworthiness on Moodys scale. This means BHP is only four levels above a junk status. Junk essentially means a company is extremely risky.

The downgrade reflects the deterioration in the companys earnings and cash flow, which has led to significantly weaker credit metrics, says Moodys.

Weakness in commodity prices, coupled with softening demand, is hard to look past, Moodys suggested. Many analysts believe BHP is trading in a cyclical downturn period. However, Moodys would argue the operating environment has gone far beyond a normal cyclical downturn. They explain:

As a result  and notwithstanding changes to the firms dividend policy and capital expenditure plans, which are themselves credit positive developments  Moodys expects BHP Billitons credit metrics to remain substantially weaker, over the next 12-24 months, than historical levels and to be more appropriately aligned with a rating of A3.

Its not only slumping commodities though. Moodys also has real concerns for BHPs financials. The ratings agency suggested if BHP has a sustained debt/EBITDA ratio below 2.0x and a (CFO-dividends)/debt ratio at a minimum of 35%, then they may return them to a stable credit watch.

However, these metrics may be hard to maintain, in the short term anyway. Just yesterday, BHP, Vale and the Brazilian government reached an agreement concerning the Samarco dam disaster. Over the next three years, BHP will pay US$1.1 billion in compensation. The funds will go towards restoring the environmental, as well as social and economic damage sustained by the bursting dams.

Subsequent payments after 2018 will vary between US$200400 million lasting for twelve years.

Add to the mix declining commodities, the downgrade seems extremely reasonable. BHP isnt the only one being cut either. Moodys also downgraded the credit rating of Rio Tinto [ASX:RIO] last week. And it lowered Anglo American [LON:AAL] to junk status.

When Moodys says things are bad in the mining industry, theyre probably not crying wolf. The three graphs below show Chinese, and the rest of the worlds, demand of zinc, copper and aluminium.

Source: WSJ

For both zinc and copper its clear that demand growth is slowing. And, if we look at global supply, then its no wonder that commodities are so low.

Source: WSJ

Even though BHPs share price has picked up this week, up 10.79% already, the worst may be yet to come.

Harje Ronngard,

Junior Analyst, Money Morning

PS: The market has beaten mining stocks down in recent times. Resource stocks have looked dirt cheap ever since the end of the mining boom. But not all of them are necessarily inexpensive. Money Mornings top resources analyst, Jason Stevenson, says there are 10 great mining stocks in the market right now.

In Jasons report, The Top 10 Australian Mining Stocks for 2016, youll be introduced to 10 extremely cheap mining stocks. Youll find out why now is the perfect time to start buying up cheap, quality resource stocks. And youll also learn about the disturbing trigger for the next great commodities boom.

To get your free copy, click here.
BlueScope Ltd [ASX:BSL] was up strongly in todays trading. The ASX was higher from the previous day, with most of the gains locked in at the open.

What happened to the BSL share price?

BlueScope Ltd [ASX:BSL] was up strongly in todays trading. The ASX was higher from the previous day, with most of the gains locked in at the open. The European and the US markets were mixed overnight. Today, Asian markets are also mixed, with Shanghai slightly down.

Why did BSL shares do this?

BSL is one of the best performing stocks in the last 26 weeks. This qualifies BSL as a strong momentum stock. However, the fundamentals of BSL are also very strong. The average rating on the stock is Outperform. Market analysts see rising top-line performance in the company this year and the next. They also anticipate a positive growth in earnings.

The company has a fairly cheap P/E multiples. Its beta is higher than the market. It pays a dividend, which increases the overall return in the stock. The payout ratio of this dividend is however below industry average.

The company enjoys a bigger-than-one current ratio and a low level of debt. These are good signs of low liquidity and low credit risks.

What now for BSL?

BSL has been on my trading portfolio this week. Its positive performance this week continues to make it attractive. However, some of its movements this week were attributed to the beta. BSL is not a top momentum stock in the ASX universe; I usually switch in and out of the stock between different periods. I recommend investors to remain agile on the stock.

Ken Wangdong+

Emerging Market Analyst, New Frontier Investor
Investors have been buying more aggressively positioned funds, indicating a more positive view on the European outlook, according to the latest data from Morningstar Direct.

Morningstar fund flows data revealed Europe large-cap equity funds saw the most inflows of all the Morningstar Categories in January of 485 million. It was the largest inflow growth in six months.

Threadneedle European Select was the largest contributor to the sector with an inflow of 84 million. Although the fund has lost 1.5% over the past year, it has exceeded the performance of the index by 3.9%. The fund is Bronze Rated by Morningstar analyst.

The most popular fund of January across all sectors was the Standard Life Global Absolute Return Strategy Fund, which had an inflow of 304 million. The fund helped to push inflows into the Multistrategy sector to 322 million in January alone. It is a Bronze Rated fund by Morningstar analyst.

Investors Shy Away From Cautious Allocation Funds

Cautious Allocation funds saw an outflow of 932 million in January, making it the least popular fund sector in the UK funds market. Investors have shied away from Cautious Allocation funds since April last year  recording total outflows of 9.3 billion over the past 10 months.

What Is Cautious Allocation?

Funds within the Cautious Allocation sector are required to have a minimum 45% of investment in fixed income or cash, and up to 35% of investment in equities. The aim of the sector was to force diversification of assets and ensure that part of the portfolio was held in lower risk assets, according to Investment Association, the industry body.

In January 2012, the Cautious Allocation sector was renamed as Mixed Investment 20-60% Shares by the Investment Association, in response to concerns about the use of risk adjectives within the old titles. Massive outflows of this sector might signify that investors are not satisfied with their investments in lower risk assets.

The UK Corporate Bonds sector came second on the least popular fund list, recording outflows of 310 million in January.

How Does the Sector Perform?

Some of the biggest contributors to the outflows in the Cautious Allocation sector were M&G Optimal Income Fund, IP Monthly Income Plus and AXA Framlington Managed Income. Over the last year, these funds have not performed as well their comparable index, although only at a single-digit percentage. This may have fuelled investors decision to sell out of the funds.

M&G Optimal Income Fund has lost 4.3% in the past year, and has underperformed the index by 5.5%. The fund was the least popular fund among investors last month  and in the preceding months  and saw a further 611 million in outflows last month. It is a Silver Rated fund by Morningstar analysts.

IP Monthly Income Plus has lost 4.6% in the past year, and has underperformed the index by 5.7%. The fund recorded 27 million in outflows in January. It is a Silver Rated fund by Morningstar analysts.

AXA Framlington Managed Income has lost 4.1% in the past year, and has underperformed the index by 5.3%. The fund saw an outflow of 7 million in January.

Investors Look to Higher Risk Assets

The dumping of perceived lower-risk funds to move towards more aggressive strategies is in line with comments from Vanguard on investor sentiment this week.

In an era of low yields, many retirees and other income sensitive investors have sought ways to maintain their income while preserving the value of their capital, Todd Schlanger, investment strategist of Vanguard said.

As a result, investors have pursued higher-yielding investments to increase their portfolios income in a short term. Examples include emerging market or strategic bond funds, property investments and equity-income strategies, Schlanger adds.
At least 208 families were able to purchase new homes last year with only a $2,000 down payment for each property, thanks to a Calgary venture that allows first-time buyers and financially struggling households to get real estate via cost-sharing.



Attainable Homes, a social enterprise by the City of Calgary, collaborates with industry professionals such as builders, developers, lenders, and lawyers to make the costs of purchasing houses more manageable for Calgary locals.



Our partner lenders can provide advice to help people improve their credit rating. They can also help people plan ahead for attainable home ownership in the future, Attainable Homes communications manager Marissa Toohey told the Calgary Herald.



This arrangement can be especially helpful for young first-time buyers, who often have to save a disproportionate amount of their incomes to accumulate the funds for buying a home.



According to mortgage broker Richard Anderson, the continuous upward trend in real estate prices is leaving many millennials no choice but to co-fund their first home purchases with their parents.



About 30 per cent of first-time home buyers get gifts from family members, either for a partial or all of the down payment, Anderson stated.



On insured mortgages, the down payment is five per cent of the first $500,000 and 10 per cent on the balance above that up to $1 million. So if you buy a $700,000 house, your down payment would actually be about 6.4 per cent, he added.



Anderson said that another option that young would-be buyers can entertain is RRSPs, which they can engage in up to a maximum of $25,000 without any tax consequences.


Comprising a significant portion of Canadian economic activity in 2015, the housing sector has outstripped core industries such as agriculture, construction, and manufacturing as the main tent-pole propping up an economy long-battered by the oil shock and a weak currency.



Per data from Statistics Canada released on Monday (February 29), housing accounted for $7.4 billion of the increase in GDP last year, translating to around half of the countrys economic growth. GDP rose by 0.8 per cent in Q4, with the final annual GDP increase pegged at 1.2 per cent.



Imputed rentthat is, the cost of renting out an occupied propertywas the main driver of transaction volume in the housing sector, University of Calgary economics professor Trevor Tombe said in an interview with The Huffington Post Canada. Representing over half of real estate GDP, imputed rent in Canada last year was valued at over $4 billion.



While a boon for market players, this development has left some analysts troubled.



This underscores the importance of real estate to Canadian growth, and also reinforces how key of a risk the real estate sector is for the Canadian economy, TD Bank economist Brian DePratto said back in January.



It is concerning to see that degree of concentration coming from one sector, he added.



Housing price growthespecially in high-demand, high-volume metropolitan areas such as Toronto and Vancouverhas seen unabated growth in the past few years. This has raised concerns of possible market instability, brought about by lack of affordability for a significant fraction of domestic would-be buyers, in the near future.


Along with over a dozen other concerned individuals and representatives of rights groups, anti-poverty activist Mike Creek and legal counsellor Kenneth Hale forwarded their right to housing Charter challenge to a United Nations committee in Geneva late last month.



We have a housing crisis in Canada. It is a national disaster that is ignored by our governments, Creek, who was formerly a homeless local of Toronto, told the Toronto Star.



The submission came in the wake of the Canadian governments refusal to hear the case for housing justice, which Creek and his fellows said stemmed from the unabated growth of home prices in the countrys red-hot markets (most notably, Toronto and Vancouver).



I felt such shame that I lived in a country that would not recognize these very fundamental rights, Creek said.



Its not like we went to court and made our case and didnt convince the judges. We were blocked from being able to present the evidence and have it balanced against the governments evidence, Hale concurred. It further marginalized marginalized people.



The groups Charter challenge contended that every level of the government has failed to live up to the principles of housing rights enshrined in the various international pacts that Canada has signed. These accords include the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, the UN International Convention on Women's Rights, and the UN International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.



In particular, the alliance put to task Trudeaus Liberal administration, which has initially professed its commitment to uphold housing rights in the last federal election.



Despite pre-election promises, a rights-based national housing strategy with specific funding and construction targets for affordable housing have not been included in any of the mandates, the group stated.



To date, these vows have yet to bear fruit: Around 235,000 Canadian nationals are homeless every year, and no target date has been set for the governments previously promised action to maintain over 300,000 subsidized homes across the nation.


Local hula group inspires global connections When the pandemic ushered everyone indoors, Moorpark resident and longtime dancer Lisa Rauschenberger decided to get people back outsidesocially distanced, of course. She began to hold weekly hula lessons at...

Teens face high stakes in the Oval Office A press room befitting Americas commander in chief was set up inside the Reagan Library in Simi Valley. Journalists and others gathered inside. Ladies and gentlemen, I need you all...

Tigers soon to prowl in new enclosure The brand-new Bengal tiger exhibit at Americas Teaching Zoo at Moorpark College is nearly complete, and some other animals hangouts are getting a makeover, too. Mara Rodriguez, zoo development coordinator,...
No Citigroup executives or employees will face criminal charges over the packaging and selling of faulty mortgage bonds during the run-up to the financial meltdown, according to a Reuters report.



The decision not to pursue criminal charges was made in the wake of Citigroups $7 billion settlement resolving state and federal claims related to faulty mortgage-backed securities. Reuters uncovered the decision in a November report obtained by the news agency through the Freedom of Information Act.



The reports release marks the first public acknowledgement by authorities that big bank executives would not face criminal prosecution for their role in the financial crisis, according to Reuters.



According to the report, authored by the Federal Housing Finance Agencys Office of the Inspector General, prosecutors investigated whether any individual Citibank executives should be charged, but determined that there was not enough compelling evidence  even though the report also stated that the totality of the evidence and testimony obtained showed that Citigroup knowingly and purposefully purchased and securitized loans that did not meet representation and warranties or in many cases were outright fraudulent loans.



The government has weathered years of intense criticism over its failure to criminally prosecute big bank executives who played a role in the 2008 mortgage meltdown.


With the world swimming in crude oil, operators have been hard-pressed to find places to store their production.

Genscape, the research company, said storage inventories are growing rapidly but there is still room to grow.

It is possible that Permian producers could have trouble finding a place for barrels, but only if they run into bottlenecks of pipeline or storage capacity. Currently, there is plenty of vacant pipeline capacity running from the Permian to Cushing, Oklahoma, with average pipeline flow utilization at 55 percent over the last 10 weeks, Dylan White, analyst, oil storage with Genscape, told the Reporter-Telegram by email. He co-authored the analysis with Hillary Stevenson.

However, with Cushing storage essentially full, Permian producers may need to send barrels to the Gulf Coast, he said. A recent analysis by the company found storage at the Gulf Coast has grown by nearly 7 million barrels this year and could continue to grow as producers seek alternatives to storing their crude at Cushing, where stocks are near capacity. As of Feb. 19, Gulf Coast stocks reached nearly 75 million barrels, only 739,000 barrels shy of the record-high level reached in October 2015, and on Jan. 5, Cushing inventories surpassed a previous record high level by 125,000 barrels.

White and Stevenson said Gulf Coast stocks have also risen because of lower waterborne crude loadings. As of Feb. 19, Gulf Coast domestic waterborne loading volumes were 34 percent lower than the beginning of the year and 36 percent lower than 2015 average loading volumes. Additionally, fewer loadings have left the Gulf Coast. As of Feb. 19, 80 percent of loadings were destined for other Gulf Coast ports, compared to 42 percent for the week ending Jan. 1.

Outgoing oil shipments from the Gulf Coast have not significantly increased since the ban on exporting U.S. oil was lifted last December, according to the Genscape analysis. Since the ban was lifted, a few waterborne shipments left the Gulf Coast for destinations in Europe. However, these shipments are being displaced from pre-existing destinations, such as refinery markets in eastern Canada.

Because of extensive storage expansion, capacity utilization at Gulf Coast storage locations was lower the week ending Feb. 19, at 58 percent compared with 62 percent capacity utilization during the October 2015 high.

The 2015 stock high at Cushing, set April 14, was followed by inventory builds in the Gulf Coast and West Texas region. Of the Gulf Coast-monitored storage locations, stocks at Beaumont-Nederland were the first to hit a record high the week ending Sept. 25, and other terminals followed, according to the analysis.

Beaumont-Nederland inventories were also the first to hit record levels after Cushing inventories surpassed the previous high on Jan. 5. Similar builds are likely to occur in other Gulf Coast storage locations, as they did in late 2015.

Genscape monitors flows on Magellans BridgeTex and Longhorn pipelines, which have averaged about 85 percent utilization over the last 10 weeks; however, given the various other pipeline transportation routes to the Gulf Coast, the high utilization may not reflect a bottleneck, White said. Although inventories in the Gulf Coast are increasing rapidly, there is still room to grow. Capacity utilization at Houston, Beaumont-Nederland and Corpus Christi was between 55 and 60 percent the week ending Feb. 19. In the same locations, more than 16 million barrels of new S is under construction, and could be brought online this year to help accommodate the glut.

Storage constraints are more likely to take place further upstream, White said. He said storage inventories are also building in West Texas, where there is significantly less capacity than along the Gulf Coast. Terminals in Wichita Falls -- which are along Plains All-Americans Basin pipeline all the way to Cushing -- were utilizing more than 75 percent of capacity the week ending Feb. 19.

As long as Permian producers can secure storage and transportation coming out of West Texas, the Gulf Coast terminals should be able to accommodate producers for the time being, White said.
Tim Fischer\Reporter-Telegram

The Midland City Council approved a measure last week that would make affordable housing units one step closer to reality.

Council members supported the proposed Merritt Monument Housing Development that, if it fulfills enough criteria for the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, would lead to adding an affordable housing complex near Leisure Drive and Rocky Lane.
Tim Fischer\Reporter-Telegram

Airline service from Midland to Phoenix started Thursday as American Airlines launched a new westward flight. The service gives Midland passengers a second flight to the west -- the other being a Southwest Airlines flight to Las Vegas. It also gives Midland 26 departures. In November that number was 28.

The service to Phoenix, according to previous Reporter-Telegram reports, required an incentive that includes a $100,000 marketing reimbursement within only the local market and the destination market. It also includes landing fee abatements for 12 months. City officials had told Reporter-Telegram landing fees should be about $18,000 per year.
Friday is sometimes the day when the Reporter-Telegram Editorial Board throws out laurels for a job well-done.

Well, after a primary day unlike any other in recent memory, we want to throw out laurels to the Midland County Elections Office and to the voters in Midland County.

Tuesday was an experience that caught many of us elections veterans off guard. Nothing about the turnout was normal. Turnout for the day was greater than any primary day or Election Day going back more than a decade. It also surpassed the totals seen during entire primary cycles in 2004 and 2012.

Needless to say, it was a challenge for the voters who waited to cast their ballots. There were reports of people standing in lines more than two hours. In fact, many people waited well past 9 p.m. to vote (when the polls technically closed at 7 p.m.). It is a shame that as they waited, some networks were calling the races for president. The rush to get information out sadly trumps the elections process. Still they waited, and we compliment them for wanting their voice to be heard so much.

We also compliment voters of Midland County for making the most of the situation. We didnt hear reports of crowds getting out of hand. On the contrary -- the reports we heard were of Midland County voters taking the high road, doing their jobs as educated voters and being as patient as possible. In some other communities long lines created much different situations, but that wasnt the case here. Be proud, Midlanders.

We also credit the Midland County Elections Office, its staff and volunteers, who made sure those wanting the opportunity to make their voice heard got the chance. We have long admired those who worked in the Elections Office, including past county elections administrators, who acted in the best interest of the voter. Current office holder Deborah Land is following in capable footsteps. Early voting results werent released until every person voted. Thats the way its supposed happen.

Could there have been more machines in use? Maybe, but we understand there was no precedent for the Elections Office to follow. There was a high turnout, especially for Republicans. There was a debate just days before, so there were that many more last-minute voters. We expect many of those voting in this election were not long-time Midlanders, and therefore didnt take advantage of a two-week early voting period. In addition, there were lengthy propositions that added to the time voters spent at the polls.

Our guess is, Novembers general election will be different. There will be less time spent in the ballot box as many people will vote straight party, and there wont be the long list of propositions to keep the voter busy reading and thinking. There will be more machines, and there will be more early voters because a late decision likely will not be required.

November will be different, but hopefully we are able to report lots of voters. More people voting is better than the alternative, no matter the wait.

Election Day totals going back to 2004

2016 primary 13,980

2014 general 10,841

2014 primary 6,023

2012 general 12,817

2012 primary 5,742

2010 general 13,374

2010 primary 7,205

2008 general 13,568

2008 primary 11,830

2006 general 12,762

2006 primary 3,106

2004 general 15,098

2004 primary 6,839
Comedian Chris Rock has received a slew of criticism since hosting the Oscars on Sunday (Feb. 28) and Rick Ross is among those who were not impressed. During an interview with a Washington, D.C. radio station, the Black Market rapper called Rock a cornball for his Oscars monologue.

While talking with the hosts of D.C.'s 93.9, Ross made his snide remarks toward Rock and even revealed that he's not a fan of the actor.

Chris Rock, he a cornball. Lets keep it real, Ross said. "I ain't even finna kick it with y'all like that. Chris Rock a cornball. And I'mma leave it right there. It wasn't funny. He ain't the one. I'm not a fan of his."

During his monologue, Rock took shots at Jada Pinkett-Smith and Will Smith, addressed racism in Hollywood and cracked jokes with Kevin Hart.

It is unclear when and where things went south between Ross and Rock, but it is possible that the rapper has been holding a grudge against Rock since his hosting stint at the 2014 BET Awards. During his monologue at that show, Rock poked fun at Ross weight while also referring to him as his favorite rapper.

[Dr.] Dres got headphones, so now everybody else trying to get headphones, he said. 50 Cent got headphones. Rick Ross even has headphones. Thats right. Dre got Beats. Rick Ross has dia-Beats. Theyre the headphones you put on swollen feet before you chop them off.

Elsewhere in his spiel, he said that Ross would be the first rapper to die of breast cancer.

Since then, Ross has lost a considerable amount of weight, but it's still safe to say that the love Rock has for the rapper has not been reciprocated.

Jump to the 2:50 mark to revisit Chris Rock's jokes about Rick Ross and watch Ross' interview below:

Your browser does not support iframes.

 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Iggy Azalea certainly has a music career, at least we're all hoping she has a comeback soon, but the Australian rapper that rose to fame due to her song "Fancy" might have a backup plan. Thanks to a Twitter conversation we saw this week, it looks like the WWE could hold a future for Azalea. The wrestling organization's female wrestlers, or Divas, the Bella Twins (Nikki and Brie) and Nattie exchanged some messages with the artist and it looks like this could really happen.

You can check out more buzzing news coverage from Music Times right here!

Fans of the Australian MC might've missed the conversation since Azalea is very active on Twitter, especially when it comes to updating her followers on her daily activities and career moves, but it was basically just like a Twitter conversation you'd see between some friends.

According to With Leather, The Bella Twins started the conversation by tweeting at Azalea regarding her love for the wrestling reality show Total Divas, and wondering out loud about getting the rapper in the ring sometime soon. Azalea responded to this first tweet, explaining that she was game for jumping in the ring with the ladies. Meanwhile, Nattie joined in on the conversation, referencing Azalea's "Fancy" song and showing us all that there is plenty of support to get her into the ring.

Check out this Twitter conversation right here:

@BellaTwins @yvonneazal just invite me girls, im there. i stan you both. legit!  IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) March 2, 2016

We'll have to wait and see if Iggy Azalea actually ends up in the ring, but is that something you'd like to see? Let us know in the comments section below!

 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Katt Williams, the comedian who was arrested for battery in Gainesville, Florida, is facing new allegations of pointing a gun at five women and stealing their cell phones.

Williams and 15 men in his entourage allegedly physically attacked the women in Atlanta and also aimed at Atlanta police, declaring that they were unable to investigate the ncident.

The police should have conducted a thorough investigation, said attorney Loletha Hale , who is representing the women Williams and his entourage are alleged to have menaced. They should have retrieved these young ladies cellphones at the very least.

According to Billboard, Salena Boston and her friends were walking on nearby West Peachtree and Third streets at 2:30 a.m. Sunday when they spotted Williams and asked to take a photo with him. The comedian agreed, but became irate, when one of them filmed him without consent. In his rage, he punched her in the face, pointed a gun at the women and took their cell phones.

The Atlanta police report said Williams contested Boston's statement and claimed the women were harassing him by filming him without permission. He said that provoked him to grab a chain from his neck and start the fight. When one of the women tried to go to her car to "get something to pop somebody, Williams took a gun and placed it on a concrete post, thinking that the woman was going to get a gun.

Upon responding to the scene, the officers were not able to determine what occurred due to conflicting testimony by all parties and a lack of an independent witness, Atlanta police Sgt. Warren Pickard said, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Based on the information they had in real time and the totality of the circumstances, the officers used their discretion to not arrest anyone on the scene.

No injuries were reported and no one was arrested, but Hale wants "immediate arrest" of the star. Meanwhile, Pickard revealed the incident is still being investigated.

"This individual is clearly out of control and needs to be stopped before someone is killed," said Hale, according to People. "We are also calling for the identification, investigation and discipline of the officers who failed to arrest and properly investigate this incident."

Born Micah Williams, the voice artist is facing battery charges for allegedly punching a 54-year-old employee in Leslie's Pool Supplies Williams says used the N-word with him, TMZ reported. Williams was released from on Monday on $5,700 bond. Apart from this case, he is also awaiting trial for alleged robbery in 2014.

 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Demi Lovato showed the contestants on American Idol how it is done on Thursday night (March 3). As the competition field was narrowed down from 10 performers to eight, the pop superstar appeared on the show to perform a duo of her Confident singles, including the album's title track and her new standout ballad "Stone Cold."

Idol has mostly moved away from big group performances in recent singles, but the old school tradition was brought back this week as the top 10 contestants joined Lovato for a rousing rendition of "Confident." While the four remaining boys (Dalton Rapattoni, MacKenzie Bourg, Trent Harmon and Lee Young) were relegated to playing backup on guitar, contestants La'Porsha Renae, Avalon Young, Tristan McIntosh, Gianna Isabella, Olivia Rox and Sonika Vaid all got to sing a line or two alongside Lovato, with mixed vocal results.

But, the real stunning moment of Lovato's Idol cameo came when she went solo for "Stone Cold." Calling back slightly to Kelly Clarkson's amazing "Piece by Piece" performance on last week's show, Lovato was accompanied simply by a piano while she sang the heartbreaking ballad. And, in typical Demi Lovato fashion, she totally killed it. There was no taking the big, bold notes down an octave here - Lovato 100 percent went for it.

In addition to the shocking results, in which Olivia Rox and Gianna Isabella were sent home, Idol judge Harry Connick Jr. also performed his new single "I Do (Like We Do)" on the show.

 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Despite the recent rumors claiming that FOX's Empire cast member Trai Byers was considering leaving the show after reportedly growing disappointed with his character and the show's direction, the actor himself wants fans to know the truth and decided to finally set the record straight, clearing up all of the rumors on Instagram.

Though many viewers of the Wednesday night hit drama series have grown to love and adore all of the characters from the show, recent reports suggested that one character in particular was on his way out. Andre (Byers), the eldest son of Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard) and Cookie Lyon (Taraji P. Henson), would find season 2 to be his last season with the show if the Page Six account of Byers recent "diva" fits on set were actually true.

According to the site, Byers was growing dissatisfied with the direction of the show and the lack of significance that his character played in the success of the show. The March 2 report stated that "Trai wants out," according to an insider. The 32-year-old actor was reportedly becoming a diva to producers and around the set, believing that he was too good of an actor and too talented to be subjected to the role of Andre - a character who he reportedly found to be beneath him.

Byers caught wind of the accusations and decided to set the record straight on his Instagram, revealing that not only is he happy with his character, but he loves and respects the show that jumpstarted his career.

Byers is not only a lucky man because he gets to work with a cast of great actors like Henson, Howard, Jussie Smollet and Bryshere Y. Gray, but he also met his now fiance in costar Grace Gealey.

Gealey and Byers developed an off-camera relationship that ultimately lead to the show's eldest Lyon son popping the question to "boo boo kitty," as she is commonly referred on the show, and her answer, according to E! Online, was yes! They are still going strong, as represented by the many photos displayed on both of their social media pages, and based on the show's ratings, Empire isn't going anywhere anytime soon, so it's nice to know that Byers is in it for the long haul.

 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Do you continuously find yourself trying to find the right playlist for your weekend? Look no further, Music Times is teaming up with different musicians each week and having them curate a Spotify playlist especially for you. Each week we will be bringing in a new artist and have them put together something special that you can listen to from Friday night to Sunday afternoon.

This week, Brooklyn pop-rock band Savoir Adore supplied us with their favorite weekend cuts. After working for the past year on their follow up album to 2013's album Our Nature with breakout single "Dreamers" Savoir Adore is preparing to release their newest record this spring. They will be stopping in Austin to perform at SXSW before they head on tour with X Ambassadors on March 26.

While waiting to see Savoir Adore live check out their Weekend Mixtape and to see Savoir Adore play check out their tour dates to find a place near you.

Savoir Adore Tour Dates:

Supporting X Ambassadors

03/26: Las Vegas, NV @ The Foundry Hall

03/27: San Francisco, CA @ Masonic

03/29: Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom

03/30: Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory

04/01: Laramie, WY @ University of Wyoming

04/02: Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre

04/04: Minneapolis, MN @ Myth

04/05: Madison, WI @ Orpheum

04/08: Columbia, MO @ University of Missouri

04/09: Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall

04/10: Indianapolis, IN @ Egyptian Room

 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
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Sarkodie should have been bigger than ...
Washington, DC  Congressman Tom McClintock released a memo to fellow Republicans with four recommended reforms to address the growing national debt. He states, On our present course, interest on the national debt will exceed our current defense spending in six years.

The four reforms are mostly rule changes: Amend the house rules to allow reductions in mandatory spending in the appropriations bills, restore a point of order against unauthorized appropriations, restore a point of order against appropriations that exceed the budget, forbid expansion of mandatory spending just as we forbid earmarks.

Congressman McClintock references a deteriorating economic picture noting Since we [Republicans] do not control the Senate or the Presidency, we must look to the House and Conference rules to do so. McClintock also concludes the reforms will let us [Republicans] take back the legislative and judicial powers improperly delegated to the executive.

More details about his recommendations and how they could be implemented are in McClintocks new blog here.
Proposed Walking Planned Trail Behind Sonora Library View Photos

Sonora, CA  Transportation leaders are looking at the possibility of a constructing a walking trail behind the main Tuolumne County library.

It would run from the Tuolumne County Senior Center over to near the Heaven-4-Kids playground and skate park area (approximately one-mile). The proposed location is a draw for youth, seniors and the general public. It is within close proximity to several housing units, Sonora Elementary, SRMC, and several other facilities. The long-term plan is to also incorporate a pump track for bicycles, which would sit at the eastern side of the property, adjacent to Greenley Road, near the skate park. It would essentially be like a skate park for bicycles. It would be built so that small children just learning to ride could utilize it, alongside experienced riders.

The property is county owned, so the Tuolumne County Transportation Council (TCTC) Board of Directors will decide whether to pursue the approval of the idea with County Administration. When it comes to funding for the projects, there is an opportunity this month to apply for a grant up to $15,000 from the Sierra Health Foundation. In addition, funding could be applied for through a new program the Sonora Area Foundation oversees, called Trail Me About It.

An initial assessment of the property has already taken place, according to TCTC. Project boundaries, drainage, access points and area topography will be factored into the final design of the trail system. It is anticipated that the project would be categorically exempt from California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review.

The Tuolumne County Transportation Council will discuss the item at its meeting on March 9th.
Dozens of injured pelicans are being spotted on a section of Brevard County beach. Investigators are trying to find out why.

Beverly Millers relaxing time on the beach turned to concern Wednesday, as she saw something unpleasant along the waterline. A badly hurt pelican.

"The wing was busted, it was just dragging," said Miller.

One of many reported in the past couple weeks, most with injured wings.

A good portion of the birds appear to be showing up on the Cherie Down Park section of Brevard beach.

"At least a couple dozen. (Which is unusual?) Yeah, in a week or two span," said Leo Cross of Florida Wildlife Trappers, who assists with these type of calls.

Leo Cross of Florida Wildlife Trappers has helped several of the hurt pelicans so far, getting them to an animal hospital for help.

"We want to help get to the root of it. Why are they showing up floating in, with major broken wings. Is it because they are sick, is it because someone is doing harm to them?" said Cross.

The injuries and deaths have prompted a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) investigation.

An FWC officer is surveying the beach areas and waters off the coast, to see if boaters or something else might be responsible.

Brevard Ocean Rescue reports on average at least three to four hurt pelicans a day at this point.

Several other beach regulars say they have seen the distressed birds. They, like Miller, hope the reason is found soon.

"It's nice to know something is taking place, that they aren't just neglecting it," said Miller.

If you see an injured pelican or have any information about what might be happening to the birds, call FWC's Wildlife Alert Reward Program at 888-404-FWCC (3922).

For more information go to http://myfwc.com/contact/wildlife-alert


LUBBOCK - Water is a continuous concern for dairy producers, whether used for cows or crops, and management information was shared with those attending the recent High Plains Dairy Conference in Lubbock.

Our dairy producers are very concerned about how much water they use, both for the cows and the crops they produce, said Dr. Ellen Jordan, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service dairy specialist in Dallas and coordinator of the program.

The High Plains Dairy Conference was open to dairy producers from Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico, in addition to Texas, Jordan said. Approximately 280 people attended this years conference.

These dairy producers are looking for ways to conserve water throughout their facilities and farmland, she said. They are also very interested in the weather and forecast, not only for their crops but so they can manage the environment for the comfort of their cows.

Dr. Dana Porter, AgriLife Extension agricultural engineering water management specialist in Lubbock, told the crowd the first thing they need to do is familiarize themselves with all of the water information resources, including the Texas Water Development Board, local groundwater districts, the U.S. Geological Society or their state Extension service.

These are good sources for information concerning water supply, demand, development, saturated thickness, water quality and the history for water on any given property, Porter said.

They can let you see if salinity is likely to be a problem, and what the alternate sources of water might look like in secondary aquifers, she said. Just remember these local, regional, state and federal resources have a lot of answers for you.

Porter also talked about managing their water through irrigation technologies.

What fits best and what works best depends on each operation, she said.

Key concerns when selecting the right irrigation system, Porter said, will be water capacity, field layout, crop rotation, management and labor, energy availability and economic feasibility.

The challenge is to maintain productivity or increase it with limited water resources, she said. Advanced technology is available, but it is important to understand the best management practices to help mitigate the effects of declining water resources and adoption of the appropriate technologies.

Regardless of our tool selection, we want to make sure we manage and maintain our irrigation system well, and have accurate knowledge of crop water requirements and soil-water-atmosphere relationships, Porter said.

Additionally, dairy producers, especially in the High Plains, need to know what alternative water sources they have, such as the Dockum aquifer, and be able to address the salinity concerns that may come with using that water.

They will need to know about salt-tolerant crops and protecting equipment from chemical precipitation and corrosion, she said, as well as the drinking water quality for the animals and concerns if there is too much salt content.

Overall, she said, a lot of resources are dedicated to collecting and disseminating information about water supplies. Producers should take advantage of the information available.

John Nielsen-Gammons message to the dairy producers was one of whats next in the way of weather. Nielsen-Gammon is the state climatologist and Regents Professor at Texas A&M University, College Station.

We have lots of people asking what happened to El Nino, Nielson-Gammon said. Weve had areas that have been extremely wet while others have been dry and spotty. Kansas and Colorado along with parts of Oklahoma are extremely dry. Its been a quite variable year.

The current El Nino is the third strongest on record. But he pointed out that what has happened with the strongest two El Ninos is not the same as if the top 12 are averaged.

Looking back at past El Ninos, the two stronger ones were both associated with wetter than normal conditions along the coasts and drier conditions through the middle of the U.S. Others were associated with much wetter conditions across Texas and the surrounding states.

The top 12 strongest show that moisture typically begins picking up in March in this region, Nielson-Gammon said. It will vary from month to month on any given El Nino, but most follow a similar pattern.

We never really get a super wet January or February, he said. In the overall pattern going forward, were not sure which category this El Nino is going to fall into. We can expect an average of an additional inch or so of rainfall when you look at the top 12.

Computer models at this time are indecisive, not showing any area particularly wetter or drier than normal, Nielson-Gammon said, So theres equal chances it could go either way.

Right now, he said, there are no good useful forecasts of summer rainfall. It looks like we can expect much of the nation to be warmer than normal. Summer, therefore, is a toss-up.

Jordan said producers watch both short and long-term forecasts to know how to allocate their labor and corral management.
Curfews and street repairs will be on the agenda for City Council members Tuesday for their regular session at City Hall.

Highlights of the night should include a city council decision to extend Plainview curfew policy for youth 16 years of age and younger, as well as award a bid for the 2016 street seal coat project.

Dealing with the curfew, Plainview police Chief Ken Coughlin said that every three years the curfew policy is brought back to the council for review. The curfew currently is from midnight until 6 a.m., seven days a week.

Coughlin told city council members Thursday during their work session that data shows crime has steadily decreased in Plainview in the last 10 years. Along with that, the police chief said juvenile crime has dropped as well, something for which Coughlin gave a lot of credit to the curfew.

Over the last three years with the curfew, Coughlin said, three citations were handed out by officers in 2013, zero in 2014 and 17 in 2015. However, Coughlin said, the rise in 2015 was nothing to be alarmed at as one incident could see several citations given, and sometimes the incidents involve the same youngsters.

Coughlin added that no citations have been given out for breaking curfew at the new Plainview Skate Park.

If a youngster is caught after curfew, a parent or guardian must pick up the child. Council members will vote on the measure to continue the curfew on Tuesday.

Also on the agenda will be a decision to award a bid for the 2016 Seal Coat project.

Two companies have submitted their bids for three project plans. The first would see the seal coating of 100,700 square yards of Plainview streets. The second option will see more streets paved with 163,800 square yards, and the third option was a total of 249,400, square yards of street.

Each company also submitted a "coated" or "non-coated" bid for each option.

Coming in with the lowest bid was Lipham Asphalt.

For the first option, Lipham quoted the City of Plainview $2.40 per square yard for coated, which totaled $243,180; or $2.10 per square yard for non-coated, which totaled $209,228.

With the second option, Lipham quoted $2.36 per square yard or $389,068 for coated; or $2.05 per square yard or $338,290 for non-coated.

In the third option, Lipham quoted $2.36 per square yard, or $592,084 total for coated; or $2.05 per square yard for non-coated or $514,770.

The bids were facilitated by Brandt Engineers, who the City of Plainview partnered with in January. The agreement helped to drop the cost of seal-coating, which was just over $3 per square-foot with their former partner Parkhill, Smith and Cooper.

Interim City Works Director Tim Crosswhite suggested the City of Plainview go with the coated option, which is more durable and sticks better.

In the first option proposed streets include; 11th Street from Ennis to Portland; Lexington from 11th to 16th streets; Kokomo from 11th to 16th streets; Joliet from 11th to 24th streets; 10th Street from Joliet to Columbia; Ninth Street from Joliet to Columbia; Eighth Street from Joliet to Columbia; Fresno From Sixth to 11th streets; El Paso from Sixth to 11th streets; and Denver from Sixth to 11th streets.

The second option includes the previously mentioned streets plus Kokomo from 16th to 24th streets; 15th from Joliet to Galveston; 14th Street from Joliet to Galveston; 13th Street from Joliet to Galveston; Independence Street from Seventh to 11th streets; Houston Street from Seventh to 11th streets; Galveston Street from Seventh to 11th streets; and Sixth Street from Joliet to Columbia.

The third option also adds Houston Street from 13th to 24th streets; Milwaukee Street from 12th to 16th streets; 11th Street from Portland to Columbia; Fresno Street from 13 to 16th streets; 14th Street from Galveston to El Paso streets; Parkway Drive and Fresno from Fifth to Sixth streets.
Mental health providers in Plainview and Hale County along with the local law enforcement community have a powerful new tool when dealing handling those experiencing psychotic episodes and similar crisis situations.

Thanks to a two-year $183,692 state grant, augmented by $57,534 from Hale County as a local funding match, the Central Plains Center now has its own certified mental health peace officer.

Paul Sawayer, a veteran officer with 22 years of law enforcement experience, started working in the post in late January. Already a Hale County deputy sheriff, Sawayer remains an official member of the sheriffs department. But instead of patrolling the county as an outside deputy, Sawayer now works out of an office in Central Plains Centers Haven Center, 715 Houston, and he spends his days interacting with mental health consumers, transporting some to state hospitals and treatment facilities throughout the state.

This actually is a pilot program, Sawayer explains. This pattern for a mental health peace officer has been applied successfully in many urban areas in Texas, but this is the first time it has been tried in rural West Texas with such large distances between fairly remote treatment facilities. And I see it as another method of providing vitally needed services to our clients.

Although the Central Plains Center has a nine-county catchment area, Sawayer said his duties, at least for now, will be largely restricted to Hale County. Thats because other counties within the Central Plains Centers catchment area have not signed interlocal agreements with Hale County to share Sawayers services and contribute to funding his office. While Sawayer works out of the Central Plains Center, he is commissioned through the sheriffs office.

We need a memorandum of understanding and help with matching funds to expand this program into the other counties, Sawayer said. And he sees a day where there might even be two or three more officers handling mental health cases within the nine-county catchment area. But its important to get it started in Hale County first, since we have the largest population and obviously the most referrals.

Sawayer hit the ground running after starting his new job Jan. 25. Within the first few weeks, he transported three individuals to distant treatment facilities as well as being involved in three interventions.

I feel like Im already having an impact, and I dont even have my own caseload yet.

But that probably will change once he settles into the job.

I probably will work into getting a caseload, particularly with those individuals who need more intensive supervision, Sawayer explains. We have some good candidates who would benefit from more home visits so we can more closely monitor them. This way we might be able to stop or prevent some problems before they turn into crisis situations.

Sawayer is eminently qualified for the post. He holds a bachelors degree in sociology and history, a masters degree in counseling psychology and has done postgraduate work in counseling psychology and licensed professional counselor supervision. He has 40 hours of training as a mental health peace officer, 12 years of experience as a trained criminal investigator, 10 years of experience with the Texas Parole Division, worked for six years at the Worchester State Hospital as a mental health technician and psychologist, is a former corrections officer, taught psychology and counseling at Wayland and had his own private counseling practice. He holds a Master Peace Officer License and is a Licensed Professional Counselor.

A recent letter to the editor to the Herald about an individual who experienced several psychotic episodes illustrates some of the issues Sawayer will be facing as a mental health peace officer.

Many people fail to realize that just because someone has mental health issues, they still have legal rights, Sawayer explains. Even if they are mentally ill, you cant deprive them of their liberty until there has been a formal assessment by a crisis worker, peace officer or medical professional. We intervene when they become a danger to themselves or to others, and for them to remain at liberty would be a public safety or personal safety issue. Once law enforcement officers intervene, they have to work quickly to either secure an emergency detention order or magistrates warrant. Otherwise, the troubled individual must be release within a certain number of hours.

Under some circumstances, family members or friends can seek guardianships and petition for competency hearings, but the general public needs to realize that there are numerous laws protecting the rights of health care consumers. We have guidelines that spell out how we can interact with those consumers in various situations.

Some of the older forms of medication used to treat various forms of mental illness have side effects that can become uncomfortable, Sawayer acknowledges. Because of that, some individuals will stop taking their medication and instead attempt to self-medicate with street drugs and alcohol.

Central Plains Center has a 24-hour crisis line, Sawayer said, which friends, family members, the general public and clients themselves may call. Normally law enforcement officers become involved when those individuals begin exhibiting bizarre behavior.
The Texas Medical Board has filed a complaint against Plainview pediatrician Dr. Jaime Daniel Murcia claiming that the doctor has exhibited a pattern of violating professional boundaries and engaging in inappropriate behavior towards female patients and staff members.

According to files found on the Texas State Office of Administrative Hearings docket website, the Texas Medical Board filed a complaint on Feb. 21 based on Murcias alleged violations of the Medical Practice Act.

The filing of the complaint and the relief requested are necessary to protect the health and the public interest of the citizens of the State of Texas, the staff of the board explained in the complaint.

According to Murcias response issued by his attorney Fred E. Davis in a letter on Feb. 26, the doctor generally denies, each and every, material allegation made in the complaint and demands strict proof thereof.

Calls were not answered by Davis office, but the response letter denies (Murcia) failed to practice medicine in an acceptable, professional manner . . . (Murcia) further denies that he engaged in sexual contact with, or sexually inappropriate behavior toward a patient.

Murcia also denied he behaved in an abusive or assaulting manner toward any patient or patients family.

In the Factual Allegations portion of the complaint, the medical board staff says they received information describing that between 2005 and 2013, Murcia showed a pattern of inappropriate behavior toward female patients and staff members.

Four unrelated reports were made to the Plainview Police Department regarding Murcias inappropriate behavior.

On Feb. 3, 2005, a 15-year-old female patient and her father reported to the Plainview PD that Murcia acting inappropriately, requested the patients phone number for the purpose of taking her out to eat and, according to the document, lifting her shirt and bra and fondling her breasts.

On March 3, 2006, the 20-year-old mother of an infant patient reported to the Plainview PD that during her visit on Feb. 21, 2006, Murcia made comments of a sexual nature towards her and fondled her buttocks. She further reported that the doctor called her home multiple times on March 3, 2006, and offered her money in exchange for sex.

On Jan. 18, 2008, an 18-year-old employee of Murcia reported to the Plainview police that the doctor asked her to stay at the office for lunch. The employee then claimed that Murcia approached her from the rear and hugged and grabbed her. Feeling uneasy, the employee left for lunch, but was then confronted by Murcia on her return for leaving and was slapped across the face.

On April 4, 2013, a 52-year-old employee of Murcia reported to the Plainview police that between October 2012 and December 2012, the doctor made sexual advances towards her, progressing from verbal innuendo to touching of the arm and shoulder, and then fondling of her breast.

The complaint filed by the medical board asks for disciplinary action against Murcia for violating statues, rules and agency policy set by the governing board.

The board may also consider aggravating factors that warrant more severe or restrictive disciplinary actions. Aggravating factors include one or more violations that involve more than one patient; increased potential for harm to the public; and intentional premeditated, knowing, or grossly negligent act constituting a violation.

The Texas Medical Board officially licensed Murcia in November 1993.

A hearing will be conducted for the allegations in Austin, but no specific date has been set.

To comment:

hmarquez@hearstnp.com

806.296.1350
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Houston-based artist Dixie Friend Gay is installing a large-scale mosaic mural in the lobby of the Weston Centre downtown.

Titled "The San Antonio River," the 12-by-60-foot piece is made of hand-glazed tiles. It depicts the native plants and animals that lived along the waterway before the area was settled.

"It's what it looked like before San Antonio was here," Gay said.

The individual pieces of tile are palm-sized. The mural is being installed in 8-foot by 4-foot sections. The entire process is expected to take 18 days.

Gay's previous public art commissions include mosaic murals at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, the Port of Miami, Indianapolis International Airport, Sam Houston State University and Texas A&M Galveston. The work that caught the eye of Rackspace co-founder Graham Weston, however, was Gay's "North Texas Sunrise" at Dallas Love Field airport.

"He liked the abstract quality of the sky, so we have a lot of the river area here that has that same abstract feeling that the sky does in Dallas," she said.

Gay has another piece of public art in San Antonio. "San Antonio Songbirds" was installed at District 10 Northeast Senior Center last year.
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A new queen has been crowned to reign over all things Fiesta San Antonio, which can only mean an oyster-slurping, chicken-on-a-stick, show me your shoes craze is about to descend upon the Alamo City like a fully loaded cascarone.

RELATED: Fiesta Flambeau Parade picks 2016 grand marshals" Patsy Torres and Ricardo Romo

Madi Moad-Hageman, a San Antonio College student, will be the crowned and sashed queen floating through crowds celebrating the 125-year-old party in 41 days, the commission announced in a news release.

She was named Thursday night at the annual Miss Fiesta Selection Event hosted at the University of the Incarnate Word Concert Hall.

The 20-year-old accepted her throne with ample Fiesta cred to carry out her duties as queen and paid intern of the Fiesta Commission. Along with being a born and bred San Antonian, she previously represented the Womens Club as the 2013 Fiesta Teen Queen.

RELATED: 20 people you will see at Fiesta San Antonio

Miss Fiesta 2016 holds a wealth of interests outside the realm of tiaras, dresses and parade floats. She is an aspiring graphic artist and a multi-talented musician who has mastered the guitar, flute, piccolo and drums. She is also studying to become an American Sign Language interpreter, which may have inspired her winning community service project.

RELATED: Meet Miss San Antonio and 7 other area beauty queens

The lineup of exquisite, upstanding young ladies charmed us not only with their pose and grace, but also with their proposed community service platforms, the commission said in a press release. Madi ultimately won over the judges and the crowd with her impressive platform, You dont have to hear to party, in which the hearing and deaf communities bridge communication gaps through Fiesta events.

mmendoza@mysa.com

Twitter: @MaddySkye
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San Antonio will invade Austin during South by Southwest with Whataburger in tow, because if the Alamo City is going to be on a pedestal for the world to see, it better be with the only other food locals love as much as tacos.

RELATED: The Texas Taco War between Austin and San Antonio, explained

Heres whats going on: the nonprofit organization, Choose SA, has a mission of promoting Alamo City greatness to the rest of the world, and it's using SXSW as its springboard. Naturally, help from the locally based and beloved burger joint as the late-night sponsor of the official San Antonio Cultural Embassy was a no-brainer.

Move over Roppolos Pizza, because the pairing provides for delectable Honey Butter Chicken Biscuits served at the Old School Bar & Grill, at 401 East 6th Street from Friday, March 11 through Sunday, March 13 between the hours of 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. to refuel festival revelers into the night.

RELATED: Whataburger offering new Buffalo Sauce condiment

To sweeten the deal, Whataburger will provide free, French fry pedicab transportation from the grill to Choose SA Headquarters throughout the hours of operation.

The effort to share San Antonios story and its commitment to community involvement with SXSWs diverse and international crowds is a duty Whataburger is proud to have, the corporation explained in a press release.

RELATED: 43 tweets show what growing up in Texas is like

Whataburger is the go-to late-night spot in Texas, so partnering with Choose SA at South by Southwest to bring our famous Honey Butter Chicken Biscuits was a natural fit, said Pam Cox, Whataburgers Vice President of Corporate Communications in a press release. Well also be giving away some exclusive Whataburger swag, so we think this will be a party people want to attend. And theres no better way to arrive in style than in a Whataburger french fry pedicab.

mmendoza@mysa.com

Twitter: @MaddySkye
Where is the Moonshine Capital of the World? Two towns claim the title. Ones in southeast Ohios cave-filled Hocking Hills. The others in Virginias Blue Ridge foothills. Both boast new distilleries, booze-centered festivals and bootlegger lore. First, a shot of background.

A wink to the distillers task light, the term moonshine means illicitly produced high-proof spirits. It usually refers to white corn whiskey, nicknamed white lightning, made with a mash of cracked corn, water and sugar. During the Prohibition years of 1920 to 1933, illegal distillers thrived in New Straitsville, Ohio, and Virginias Franklin County where dense forests shielded stills. Making moonshine on unlicensed stills remains a federal felony. But in recent years, some areas have legalized this classic American craft. The two moonshine capitals now showcase their heritage and hooch, served straight or tempered with flavors like apple pie.

High times

in the Blue Ridge

In the southwest Virginia town of Rocky Mount, Doris Eames chatters about cross-shaped fairy stones, a 1925 organ and quilts at Franklin County Historical Societys museum. The docents eyes twinkle when I ask about moonshine. We have all kinds of likker stuff! Faded newspapers detail cat-and-mouse games played by moonshiners and revenuers. Photos document dramas such as the 1972 bust of a 20-still operation. Books like Spirits of Just Men: Mountaineers, Liquor Bosses, and Lawmen in the Moonshine Capital of the World spill secrets about the regions 150-year-old industry. In the 1870s, the feds shut down Virginias illegal distilleries, forcing the opening of legal operations that could be licensed and taxed. By 1893, nearly 90 distilleries purchased licenses in the state. But by 1911, the temperance movement put nearly everyone out of business except R.F. Rakes, whose fancy 100 proof Sweet Mash Corn Whiskey cost $2 per gallon.

More Information If you go visitfranklincountyva.org ExploreHockingHills.com See More Collapse

Did it taste good? I ask. Moonshines not made to drink; its made to sell, explains Doris, who found eight cut-up stills on her property. The Blue Ridge Institute and Farm Museum, 10 minutes away in Ferrum, offers glow-in-the-dark Moonshine Capital of The World T-shirts, insights about rum-runners like Mrs. Willie Carter Sharpe and a Mash Recipe for Corn Liquor (youll need a 55-gallon barrel). During Prohibition, agents in Franklin County destroyed 3,909 stills, made 1,669 arrests, and seized 130,717 gallons of alcohol. Moonshine meant cash for impoverished area farmers; powerful figures exploited them. County residents still debate one of Virginias biggest legal battles: the Great Moonshine Conspiracy Trial of 1935. What drama: 80 moonshiners, government officials, a sheriff, police officers and others were indicted for evading $5.5 million in excise taxes (about $95 million in todays dollars). Two hundred farmers testified about the racket; a key witness was gunned down on a country road. In the end, 31 people were convicted  with laughably short jail sentences and hand-slap fines. The biggest moonshine bust took place in 2001 after eight-year Operation Lightning Strike exposed a Franklin County-based corn liquor racket spanning Raleigh, N.C. to Philadelphia. The gang dodged nearly $20 million in taxes on 1.5 million gallons of booze.

The first Franklin County Moonshine Festival takes place April 22-23 in Rocky Mount. The free event features distillers, storytelling, re-enactments, music (this is a stop on Virginias Crooked Road music heritage trail) and a Shine-N-Dine benefiting Franklin County United Way.

Well have a mixology contest, tastings and all kinds of treats, says Nancy Bell, the nonprofits director. Ours will be the best festival of its type. Promise! For $14, you can hop on the Moonshine Express April 10 and 17. On the 90-minute bus tours, costumed characters tattle-tale about hidden stills, hot pursuits and barroom brawls.

Sipping history in the Hocking Hills

New Straitsville, tucked in Ohios rugged Hocking Hills, has held Moonshine Festivals each May since 1971. Ironically, festivalgoers couldnt drink a drop of the namesake beverage until 2014. The moonshine trade began here in 1884 after a labor dispute raged out of control. When striking miners pushed burning coal cars into a New Straitsville Mining Co. mine, fire spread to the coal seam, according to Ohio History Central. The blaze smoulders underground to this day. For years, locals brewed coffee using water from wells superheated by the underground inferno. But the fire ignited trade in a stronger beverage, since the mine couldnt reopen. Many out-of-work miners took up bootlegging. The thick smoke prevented revenuers from tracking telltale plumes produced by stills in the woods. As a bonus, underground spring water gets purified and sweetened while flowing through limestone and clay  perfect for the high-quality white lightning that attracted booze barons like Al Capone.

During Prohibition, Straitsville Special was the gold standard. In 2014, the regions first legal distillery opened. Straitsville Special serves 90 proof moonshine using century-old techniques and two hand-built 125-gallon stills. Among owner Doug Nutters secrets: an old family recipe thats over 115 years old, local corn and Hocking Hills water, which has a distinctive sweet, mineral quality. If you dont have my water, you cant make my shine, Nutter says.

Tours are free; tastings have a nominal charge, since laws prohibit giving alcohol away. A second area micro-distillery opened in September in Logan, a town thats home to the Columbus Washboard Co. (take a factory tour). At Hocking Hills Moonshine, staff dress in Prohibition-era costumes and offer white lightning tastings and tours daily except Sundays. Tip: the Inn at Cedar Falls serves a mule using Hocking Hills Moonshine, ginger beer and lime. From May 26-30, the 45th annual New Straitsville Moonshine Festival will feature still demos, tastings, two parades, bands, tractor pulls, a classic car Cruise-In  and moonshine pies. So which town is the real Moonshine Capital of the World? All I know is that youll find plenty of proof  high proof  in both.

Robin Soslow, a freelance writer based in the South, can be reached at rsoslow@gmail.com.
Robert Rob Henneke, who gained a reputation as a hard-nosed prosecutor during four years as the Kerr County attorney, has been charged with driving while intoxicated and unlawfully carrying a weapon in Austin, where he moved after leaving office in 2014.

Henneke, 38, the director and general counsel for the Center for the American Future at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, was arrested by Austin police on Jan. 21, spent the night in the Travis County Jail and was released on a personal recognizance bond, authorities say.
Terrell Hills Police Department Investigators are on the hunt for a suspect who targeted two jukeboxes in separate burglaries this week.

THPD Lt. Gail Baham said the suspect, an identified man, used a crowbar to pry into the Ebb Tide Lounge, 2117 Harry Wurzbach Road, around 6:30 a.m. on March 3.
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A Texas State University student is in jail on charges of manslaughter in connection with a February crash that killed four people, including a 16-month-old boy.

Wilson Rene Molinares, 22, was booked into Hays County Jail on Thursday on four counts of manslaughter, according to online jail records.

RELATED: Former Kerr County prosecutor faces DWI, weapons charges

On Feb. 19, Molinares was allegedly driving south in the northbound lanes of Interstate 35 in Kyle when he collided with a minivan traveling north.

The impact killed four people in the van: driver 31-year-old Heinrich Martens and passengers Jacob Wall Hiebert, 16 months; Margaretha Wall Hildebrandt, 27; and Gerhard Hiebert Peters, 30.

Authorities said passports found in the minivan showed the four crash victims were from Brampton, Ontario.

Kyle police had to wait to serve the warrants because of Molinares' medical condition, Kyle Police Chief Jeff Barnett said in a news release late Thursday.

Molinares had been hospitalized in critical condition.

RELATED: East Texas man arrested in pink toy Cadillac for allegedly stealing a credit card

Two other children  ages 3 and 6  were hospitalized with injuries that were not considered life-threatening. The Austin American-Statesman reported that the children are now with family members after being released from the hospital.

Hays County officials did not immediately return a call Friday morning to provide arrest warrants served to Molinares.

RELATED: 10 mugshots show transformation of Texas man with bizarre face tattoo

Molinares is being held on bond totaling $1 million, jail records show.

jfechter@mySA.com

Twitter: @JFreports
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A third suspect has been arrested in a human trafficking case that started with the arrest of a former theater arts teacher at Judson High School.

Mykael Shavon Terry, 19, was arrested Tuesday and faces two charges including trafficking of a minor and compelling prostitution of a minor with bail totaling $150,000.

Terry is believed to be the woman who introduced a 15-year-old girl to prostitution when she was homeless and needed money, according to her arrest warrant affidavit.

After they met, Terry set up different meetings between the girl and men at motels and sometimes in their own homes, investigators said.

The two were supposed to split the money earned in half, Terry taking her cut for driving, and setting up the meetings while acquiring their clientele via ads posted on a website, where detectives discovered hundreds of posts under the girls alias, the warrant said.

In several encounters, the girl became upset with Terry because she was only paid between $15 and $20, noting she followed through with the meetings because it was the only way she could afford food, according to the affidavit.

In one month, the girl was set up to have sex with at least 100 men, noting she could not remember them all, the warrant states.

During moments when the girl was distressed from the encounters, Terry would simply tell her to clean up and get ready for the next encounter, according to the warrant.

Come on we got to go to the next client. Its not even 3 a.m. yet, the affidavit states Terry said.

Investigators discovered that on two occasions, the girl was forced to meet men from around 8 a.m. to 3 a.m.

It was during her time prostituting for Terry that she was set up with Matthew John Turner, whom she nicknamed CUFFS because he would handcuff and choke her during their meetings, according to the affidavit.

Turner was the first person arrested in the case on Feb. 4, about a month after he resigned from Judson High School when officials began investigating him after complaints were lodged by parents.

He is charged with trafficking of a person less than 18 years of age and sexual performance by a child, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

RELATED: Ex-Judson ISD employee accused of trafficking homeless underage prostitute

Marcelina Adame, 35, was accused of prostituting the same girl as well as her own 15-year-old relative and was the second person arrested in the case.

She was arrested early February on charges of trafficking of a person less than 18 years of age and sexual performance by a child, according to an arrest affidavit.

The girl prostituting told police she gave Adame her money because she felt sorry for her and that she wanted to make sure her family had a place to stay.

Adame would then use her personal credit card to secure rooms for her family and the girl, according to the warrant.

All three arrested in the case were still in jail as of Thursday night.

jbeltran@express-news.net

Twitter: @JBfromSA
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SAN ANTONIO  Residents of an apartment complex adjacent to the McNay Art Museum are on edge following a violent break-in last week.

Tatum Weeks, who lives at the Sunset Ridge Apartments, 116 Vanderheck Street, said she had opened her dining room windows on Feb. 18 to enjoy the nice weather. She said she remembers glancing at the clock around 10:30 or 11 p.m., then drifting off to sleep.

I woke up to someone putting something over my face, she said.

RELATED: These are the safest communities in the San Antonio area, according to the FBI

Weeks, 36, said an intruder had climbed into her apartment through the open window. As soon as she came to, she struggled with the man, and caught a glimpse of his face.

When he thought I had seen his face, he made sure my face was covered more, and punched me in the face four to five times, she said.

Weeks said the suspect threw her to the ground, then used a pair of pajama pants to tie her up.

He said he wanted money, and that if I gave him money he wouldnt hurt me, but he told me that If I tried to look at him he would kill me, she said.

SEE MORE: What San Antonio crime looked like in 2015 by the numbers

A San Antonio Police Department report on the incident said that Weeks struggled to untie herself while she directed the intruder to valuables inside the apartment.

While she was trying to free herself, the suspect jumped on top of her and grabbed her by the neck, the report said.

Weeks said she scrambled toward the window which the intruder entered trying to escape, but was pulled back inside and thrown to the floor.

The woman managed to grab onto a piece of furniture and scream at the man until he left through the same window.

Weeks said several residents have reported suspicious activity in the area, but no arrests have been named at this point.

RELATED: 10 things to know about gangs operating in San Antonio

The complex sits in the jurisdiction of SAPD, but is nestled right next to Alamo Heights.

Alamo Heights Police Department Sgt. Tom Vitacco said his department has been in contact with SAPD about the break-ins, but thus far, they have not responded to any similar burglaries in the area.

On Friday morning, AHPD officers arrested a man who had crawled into a home in the 200 block of Normandy, about a mile from Weeks' residence, but the suspect did not match the description of the Sunset Ridge intruder.

We have no reason to believe it is the same person, he said.

Mia Eldridge, an assistant manager at Sunset Ridge, said the complex has sent two notices out to residents, and is working with SAPD on the investigation.

mdwilson@express-news.net

Twitter: @MDWIlsonSA
Did you hear what Vicente Fox thinks of the wall that Donald Trump wants to build on the U.S.-Mexico border?

We could print his comments in their entirety, but this is a family newspaper.

The former president of Mexico recently used vulgar language to make the point that, no matter what Trump tells supporters, our neighbor isnt about to foot the bill for a border wall.

Im not going to pay for that [expletive] wall, Fox said during multiple network interviews.

There are two ways to look at this episode  in the micro and in the macro.

In the micro, I applaud Fox for dressing down Trump and giving the former reality star a dose of reality. Its clear that Mexico is not going to just hand over a check for a wall, and that Trump has in mind a series of tariffs, bans and penalties that could prompt a trade war. He wont say that. But this is what it means to have Mexico pay for the wall. That needs to be brought into the open. Fox did his part to turn up the heat on Trump so that it could be. Good for him.

Yet in the macro, I have to criticize Fox  as I would any former president of Mexico  for having the gall to scold the United States for its attempts to keep out Mexican immigrants who travel north because they are poorly served by their government. The reason that millions of illegal immigrants from Mexico find themselves at the tender mercies of someone like Donald Trump is because their own country failed them. Fox would do well to remember that.

Illegal immigration into the United States represents a win-win for Mexico. The Mexican economy doesnt have to make room for millions of less-educated, low-skilled workers who instead flee to the north. And, as a bonus, Mexico takes in about $25 billion in annual remittances from its expatriates. So, of course, Mexicans want to maintain the status quo.

In response to Foxs off-color remarks, Trump tweeted: FMR PRES of Mexico, Vicente Fox horribly used the F word when discussing the wall. He must apologize! If I did that there would be a uproar!

And when CNNs Wolf Blitzer asked Trump about the rebuff later during the raucous Republican presidential debate in Houston, the real-estate mogul defiantly responded that the wall just got 10 feet taller.

Trump seemed genuinely bothered by Foxs foul language, and he insisted that he would never get away with using such a word.

I saw him use the word that he used, Trump said. I can only tell you, if I would have used even half of that word, it would have been a national scandal. This guy used a filthy, disgusting word on television, and he should be ashamed of himself, and he should apologize, OK?

Who knew that Donald Trump was so sensitive and dignified?

Its comical that Trump blushed when Fox dropped the F-bomb given that the billionaire has dropped more than his share.

In April 2011, during a speech in Las Vegas, Trump described the situation in Iraq this way: We build a school, we build a road, they blow up the school, we build another school, we build another road, they blow them up, we build again. In the meantime, we cant get a [expletive] school in Brooklyn. A few minutes later, Trump also addressed the rising cost of importing oil by saying this: We have nobody in Washington that sits back and said, youre not going to raise that [expletive] price. And, later in his remarks, while discussing the idea of taxing goods from China, Trump said this: Listen, you mother-[expletive], were going to tax you 25 percent.

Trump may be a hypocrite, but hes right about one thing. The former president of Mexico should apologize. But not to Trump.

Fox should apologize to all Mexican immigrants living in the United States  for not providing them enough opportunity, for casting them adrift, and for subjecting them to the ravings of a clown.

ruben@rubennavarrette.com
Cubans trying to get to the United States are enduring tough times, stranded in Central America and elsewhere as their money runs out and travel visas are denied. They are fleeing economic struggle and lack of freedom. They deserve our compassion.

Consider, however: Impoverished Central Americans are being beaten, robbed, raped and murdered. Thats before they even leave their own countries. They are preyed on in similar fashion on the dangerous road to the U.S, too.

Honduran, Salvadoran and Guatemalan refugees are arrested, detained and deported if they fail to make the case  often without legal help in difficult-to-navigate proceedings  that they have a credible fear of persecution if returned home. Some can, ensuring temporary permission to stay as their cases are sorted out. Many cannot. But every fleeing Cuban who gets to this country is put on a fast-track to legal residency, thanks to the decades-old Cuban Adjustment Act, last amended in 1996.

An Express-News article Sunday by Aaron Nelsen of the newspapers Rio Grande Valley Bureau detailed the contrasting situations of each group. He traveled to Central America and Mexico to report on the issue.

There are those on the GOP campaign trail who have seized on the immigration issue to further their political ambitions. But its clear they have in mind mostly Mexicans and other Latin Americans who arent Cuban. Donald Trump has garnered the most attention because his language has been nothing short of vitriolic. But the other two leading Republican hopefuls, Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio  both sons of Cuban immigrants  have positions that dont differ significantly. A wall? Sure, both say, with Cruz also being for mass deportation.

On Cubans favored treatment, Rubio departs somewhat with legislation to force Cubans to prove persecution to get federal benefits. But theyd apparently still be able to stay, though he has said hed be open to an examination of the topic. However, there is no equal sort of equivocation on these other people fleeing situations as bad or worse than Cubans. Cruz backs the favored treatment. Ironically, it is Trump, in an interview with the Tampa Bay Times, who says favored treatment for Cubans should be repealed.

The answer ultimately isnt to treat Cubans as badly as we do Mexicans and Central Americans. It is for Congress to approve comprehensive immigration reform  of the kind Rubio once embraced but now rejects. We need a system that more fairly regularizes flows from everywhere and brings some sense to what is now a broken system.

In the interim, repeal the Cuban Adjustment Act.
Re: Denying women choices morally, medically wrong, Janet Neuenschwander, Another View, Monday:

Thanks for reminding all of us that every woman has that right to make her own moral decisions. No one person should ever have the right to take that away from her.

Sandy Henning, Boerne

Change the money

Re: Sculley earned contract renewal, Editorial, Feb. 24:

I totally agree with you: It is not time to change city managers. It is time to change huge city manager bonuses and huge city manager contracts.

Steve Ochoa

Fine Apple $1B

Re: National security not Silicon Valleys call, Froma Harrop, Other Views, Feb. 24:

Today, I agree with Froma Harrop. The information on the San Bernardino phone must be produced right now. Its perishable. The government isnt asking for the key, just the data. Bad guys have never been allowed to hide stuff like this.

Apple should be fined a billion dollars, an amount commensurate with its ability to pay, for each day it delays. New transparency in the way privacy is assured should allay the law-abiding publics fears.

Norm Loukinen

Balance the court

Re: On the other foot and Rights assaulted, Your Turn, Feb. 24:

These letters express outrage over Republican foot-dragging to replace Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. In 1992 and in 2007, two Democratic senators, Chuck Schumer and now Vice President Joseph Biden, implored then President George W. Bush not to nominate a justice in an election year. Can you spell hypocrite?

When the shoe is on the other foot, Democrats cry against their latest misconceived slight if it doesnt go their way. This attitude is bolstered by their fervor to control all three branches of the government.

Well, sorry, boys and girls, but the Republicans are in a position where they dont have to do their bidding. They can refuse to consider a nominee, or they can vote him or her down.

Whats the rush? Consider the left has Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. They could easily win 5-3 or even 6-2 with every case brought before them the rest of the year.

So, Democrats, stop whining. And to show youve got the nations best interests at heart, for a change, demand the president nominate a Republican with a conservative record who strongly supports the Constitution. That would balance the court to where it was and give the next president a shot at any new vacancies. Its the right thing to do, though I wouldnt hold my breath.

Larry Lewis

GOP predictable

Re: Obama to blame for Trump, Sanders craze, Charles Krauthammer, Other Views, Feb. 13:

I didnt even have to read your column to know where it was going. The problem is you extreme right-wing Republicans have is that you are so predictable. Look at Marco Rubio, who made a fool of himself in the New Hampshire debate and practically eliminated himself as the Republican nominee.

George Nava
Re: Bexar pulls passenger rail plan funds, Metro, Feb. 25:

I was very disappointed that plans for a light rail system between San Antonio and Georgetown have been pulled yet again. We desperately need a light rail system from San Antonio to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Such a project would require a significant infusion of federal, state and local funds, but state infrastructure is about 50 years behind the times with our rapid population growth and transportation needs.

The major holdup is with members of Congress and our Legislature, which do not seem to want to spend political capital to upgrade infrastructure. I invite every representative and senator, along with every state legislator, Republican and Democrat, to drive Interstate 35 from San Antonio to Denton on any Monday and Friday. Then tell me we cannot do better.

As for the congestion on U.S. 281 north of Loop 1604, build an elevated highway as Austin did on Texas 183 across Lamar Boulevard and Burnet Road that allows for both through and exit traffic. That is an easier fix than tinkering with weird lane turnarounds.

Harry Shafer

Diversity at Trinity

Re: So little Spanish? Your Turn, Monday:

It was gratifying to see that the letter writer enjoyed reading the article about Trinity Universitys new president, Danny Anderson, including a reference to his conversations in Spanish with dining hall employees. President Anderson uses his fluent Spanish-speaking skills regularly when he converses with Trinity students and their families, as well as faculty and staff.

Since arriving on campus, President Anderson also has conducted several interviews with Spanish-language news media. He especially enjoyed welcoming the San Antonio Casa de Espana cultural group to the Trinity campus to examine the history of the Spanish language. Among the reasons he was eager to lead the university is its diversity and deep connections through history and outreach to the greater San Antonio area.

Sharon Jones Schweitzer, assistant vice president for external relations, Trinity University

Trumps base

Donald Trump is in an enviable position. Not only is he basking in the accolades of many moderate and ultra-conservatives, but, theoretically, he may be the choice of the substantial uninformed, gung-ho segment of the population as well.

George Carrera
CHARLOTTE, N.C.  The NACS HR Forum wrapped up this week with four retailer-specific presentations from convenience store chains that are rising above todays human resources challenges and meeting the demands of a dynamic workforce.

Kurt Weigel, recruiting manager at Powell, Tennessee-based Weigels Stores Inc., described his companys unique culture. Hes the fourth generation working in the family business, where his father still comes to work every day at age 79. The company has 63 stores and is growing in a market where yesterdays ways of doing things were no longer supporting a workforce and regulatory landscape that comes with new sets of challenges. To help strike a balance and adapt to these changes, Weigels leadership took a hard look at the companys culture.

Sure, Weigels had a set of values, but they werent ingrained throughout the organization, especially at the store level. Leadership simplified the companys core purpose into a statement that everyone could get behind: Wow our guests with a positive experience every time. Weigels also developed six core values that are posted inside each store:

Heroic customer service Passionately seeking solutions Create positivity Do the right thing Respect and appreciate Honesty and integrity

Weigel explained that hiring new employees is based on these core values, which helps store managers hire the best candidates for the job. In fact, store manager engagement in the hiring process has helped grow the culture by creating a sense of ownership and investment in the companys goals and values. Store managers and district managers hold daily huddle calls, an opportunity for them to catch up on store-level performance and focus on retention and developing their skills as leaders, as well as foster open and constructive communication.

Bob Graczyk, vice president of human resource at Whitehouse Station, New Jersey-based QuickChek Corporation, is a 41-year veteran of the convenience store industry, having spent the past 19 years with QuickChek. The company is growing with five to seven new stores opening each year, all with fuel, and with about 200-300 new positions added to the companys workforce annually. The stores have an expansive foodservice operation, where menu items are freshly made in-store each day.

With this growth comes a laser-beam focus on hiring employees who embrace the companys culture and values throughout the chains 140-plus stores in New Jersey and New York. Our business is about our people, said Graczyk. QuickCheks website clearly outlines expectations for employment, and there can be as many as 800 job postings listed on the site at a given time. Store managers are given seven days to review applicants that make it through pre-screening, where they are asked a series of questions that align with the companys core values.

At QuickChek, new hires go through a series of training, beginning with a full day at one of three of the companys training centers. The training focuses on culture, what it means to be a part of the QuickChek family, the core values, policies and procedures, practice behaviors and expectations, and undergo the customer recovery process. When a customer has an issue, its up to that frontline employee to solve it. [The employee] makes that decision, Graczyk said, adding that the company takes care of the employees, and the employees take care of the customer.

QuickCheks thorough and committed hiring process helps ensure the company is hiring right the first time, and subsequently turnover is low; the current goal for 2016 is 40%. Turnover is also an issue Graczyk is confident the retailer can reduce even further to 30% in 2017. Theres too many metrics in our world to determine if employees arent pulling their weight, he noted, adding that many managers have grown up in stores, which also makes one hiring procedure unnecessary: checking references.

This year QuickChek was named a Best Place to Work in both New Jersey and New York, an accolade that helps with recruiting and holds the company accountable to the standards its being awarded for.

Tune in to Monday's NACS Daily for more coverage on HR Forum.
The Senate approved the measure, which would allow grocery and convenience stores to sell more alcohol.

OKLAHOMA CITY  A bill that would allow residents to vote on the sale of wine and cold, strong beer at supermarkets and convenience stores has passed the Oklahoma Senate, the Times Record reports. The House now will consider Senate Joint Resolution 68 (SJR 68).

SJR 68 finally gives voters the ability to vote for what they have been clamoring for years, said Sen. Clark Jolley, who authored the proposal. Sen. Stephanie Bice, whose companion bill would make statutory changes to the states liquor laws, applauded the move. Compromise does not come easy  the reality is this: Oklahomans want to see a change, she said.

Others said the passage spelled doom for the states package stores. The Senate just voted in favor of eliminating hundreds of jobs in the state in favor of Walmart selling wine, Bryan Kerr, president of the Oklahoma Retail Liquor Association, said.

The bill would also forbid common ownership of alcohol retail, wholesale and manufacturing in the state. In addition, liquor stores would be allowed to stock any item that may be purchased at a grocery or convenience store, provided sales of such products didnt constitute 20% of the locations total sales.
MIDWEST, America  Companies from McDonalds and Wendys to General Mills and Albertsons have stated their intention to only use eggs from free-roaming chickens, making cage-free eggs an extremely popular trend, Wired reports. However, thats not as simple as it sounds, with many of these businesses taking years to accomplish the changeover.

The reason is because raising laying hens has been a big business for years. Asking chicken farmers to change how they keep their birds overnight is often unrealistic or impossible. As Wired put it: It actually took farmers a really long time to figure out how to put the bird in the cageand its going to take a while to figure out how to get it back out.

Two years ago, the United States produced close to 100 billion eggs$10.2 billion business. That mass production relies almost entirely on caged hens, which allow farmers to pay close attention to very minute details about the birds life. That system has kept eggs available and inexpensive.

But caged chickens, while efficient, dont have a very good life, and thats troubling to many people today. Thus the trend of cage-free eggs, which cost more and require more labor and money on the part of the farmerhence the wholesale reluctance to switch methods.

In the industry as a whole, people felt like they were doing the right thing (with conventional cages), Rick Brown, an analyst who has followed the egg industry for three decades, said. We got away from cage-free in the 1950s for a whole host of reasons. People felt that the cages were better for the birds.

Today, egg suppliers are being forced to convert to cage-free methods or to stop selling eggs to many of their former clients. The chicken itself has to learn how to be in the environment and deal with things that they may not be used to in a caged environment, said Jonathan Spurway of Rembrandt Foods, a U.S. egg supplier.
By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

2016

Republican Debate

The Fox News GOP debate transcript, annotated [WaPo]. What We Learned from Thursdays Debate [Roll Call]. Nice round-up of GOP insiders. Five Big Questions After a Vulgar Republican Debate [Frank Bruni, New York Times]. (TRUMP: [H]e referred to my hands, if they are small, something else must be small. I guarantee you there is no problem. I guarantee.) Oh, my goodness! Bruni  along with the entire political class  clutches his pearls and heads for the fainting couch because Trump  in his own inimitable fashion, I grant  went sex positive! The horrified reaction is particularly rich coming from progressives, who invented and propagated teabaggers [NSFW] as a sobriquet for the Tea Party. Of course, blowing faraway brown people to pink mist is never vulgar. Or seducing an intern to whom you owe a duty of care. This will be my first animated *.gif, but since Mr. Brunis visual is so compelling, I feel constrained to use it: (Readers, if the animation drives you nuts, let me know and Ill substitue a still. OTOH, you may wish to save this out to use on your Twitter feeds!) Credit due, even if Axelrod probably doesnt write his own tweets: Once again, @realDonaldTrump boasts about assets we cannot see.#GOPDebate  David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) March 4, 2016 Signals the next phase of attacks, based on Trumps tax returns? Rather than engaging with the other candidates, Kasich focused on his own record, mentioning himself 134 times, more often than Rubio and Cruz mentioned themselves, and more often than hed done in any prior debate. Kasich is seeking a home-state win in the Ohio primary on March 15 [Bloomberg]. If Kasich hopes to win with a brokered convention, hed better have some votes on the floor

Policy

If decline means stagnation, then the U.S. has been in decline for roughly 15 years [Bloomberg]. So the narrative of decline being pushed by Donald Trump  and echoed by many other presidential candidates  is real. The Clinton-Backed Honduran Regime Is Picking Off Indigenous Leaders [The Nation]. Caceres was a vocal and brave indigenous leader, an opponent of the 2009 Honduran coup that Hillary Clinton, as secretary of state, made possible. In The Nation, Dana Frank and I covered that coup as it unfolded. Later, as Clintons emails were released, others, such as Robert Naiman, Mark Weisbrot, and Alex Main, revealed the central role she played in undercutting Manuel Zelaya, the deposed president, and undercutting the opposition movement demanding his restoration. In so doing, Clinton allied with the worst sectors of Honduran society.

Money

Carson spent heavily on consultants, lightly on campaigning [AP]. All told, the Carson campaign turned over at least one-quarter of the money it raised  $16 million  to fundraising and marketing firms owned by a pair of his top consultants, Mike Murray and Ken Dawson. By contrast, the Carson campaigns payroll for nine months cost less than $700,000, finance documents show, and the campaign spent less than $600,000 on television and radio advertising during the month that voting has taken place. Thats good grift, but not on a Bushian scale.

The Voters

Five theses on the Super Tuesday results [Corey Robin, Jacobin]. Ive seen lots of claims that Sanders is only winning because of white men; among every other demographic, he loses. That simply isnt true. In Vermont and New Hampshire, he beat Clinton among all women voters. In Oklahoma, as I said, he nearly tied Clinton among women voters. In Nevada, he nearly tied her among Latino voters (though the experts are still debating that one). In Massachusetts, as I said, he got 41 percent of non-white voters. Although the Democrats may avoid an open rupture with the Sandernistas in Philadelphia this summer, Hillary Clintons corporate machine will move quickly to reposition the party to the right in November so as to absorb the white moderate exiles from the Republican rubble  thus, further alienating Bernies insurgents [Black Agenda Report]. Black voters, who are fully aware that they saved Clinton from ignominious defeat in the early primaries, will in very short order be pushed back in their place: the captive constituency. But this, too, is unsustainable if even half of the duopoly comes undone, because the duopoly system is the cage that traps Blacks inside the Democratic Party. GOP voter turnout in this years presidential race is up 62 percent relative to 2008, the last time both parties had open contests. But Democratic voter turnout is down by 29 percent across all the primary and caucus states that have voted so far. In all but two states, fewer Democrats turned out to vote in 2016 than did in 2008 [HuffPo]. Eight out of the 16 states that have held primaries or caucuses so far have implemented new voter ID or other restrictive voting laws since 2010. Democratic turnout has dropped 37 percent overall in those eight states, but just 13 percent in the states that didnt enact new voter restrictions. To put it another way, Democratic voter turnout was 285 percent worse in states with new voter ID laws. And boy howdy, did the Democrats fight those restrictions tooth and nail. Oh, wait. But voting restriction isnt the only reason for Democratic apathy: To be specific, 65% of Republicans say a candidate has come up with good ideas for solving the most important problem facing the nation, compared with 45% of independents and 49% of Democrats [Wonk Wire]. Would be nice to have a candidate breakdown on that, but Im guessing Clintons existential position of fighting the greatest force for evil in the history of the known universe  the Republican Party  with a strategy of incremental small fixes isnt selling. And why would it? From the Gallup Survey: Bottom line: This lack of conviction among Democrats that candidates have answers, along with other indicators of lower enthusiasm about the election, could portend poorly for Democratic turnout next November, providing a distinct advantage for Republicans. [W]hat were seeing among the Republican electorate this year is not remotely normal [FiveThirtyEight]. Trump does not just divide rank-and-file voters from Republican poo-bahs. Hes also extremely divisive among Republican voters, much more so than a typical front-runner. In exit polls so far, only 49 percent of Republican voters say they would be satisfied with Trump as their nominee  remarkable considering Trumps lead in votes and delegates. But compounding the GOPs problems, Marco Rubio or Ted Cruz would leave only slightly more Republican voters happy Fascists transform politics, as philosopher and cultural critic Walter Benjamin pointed out, into aesthetics [Chris Hedges, Truthdig]. And the ultimate aesthetic for the fascist, Benjamin said, is war. Here again, however, Hedges schematicism betrays him. Trump not only told South Carolina that Iraq was a debacle, but said Bush faked the WMDs, unheard of even for Democrats. Frankly, if Trumps ultimate aesthetic inst war, but kayfabe, the country might end up better off, given that Clintons experience amounts to setting the Mediterranean littoral on fire for no visible policy gain. Its Time to Abandon the Pursuit for Great Leaders [Foreign Policy].

The Trail

Are Donald Trumps fingers weirdly short? An investigation [WaPo]. Result: Trump is not a short-fingered vulgarian, for the sole reason that he is not short-fingered. If the people in the rest of the nation vote as the Super Tuesday results suggest they would, Mr. Trump would easily amass a majority of delegates and avoid the contested convention that his opponents hope to force and win [The Upshot, New York Times]. A trio of truthful attack ads about Trump University [WaPo]. [Theyre] being aired by the American Future Fund, a politically active nonprofit group that does not disclose its donors but backed Mitt Romney in the 2012 campaign. A little late for the oppo to begin Cleveland seeking to buy riot gear for Republican National Convention [Plain-Dealer]. Frank G. Jackson, mayor of Cleveland is, of course, a Democrat. Sanders agrees to participate in Fox News presidential town hall without Clinton [WaPo]. Clinton picking out the drapes for the Oval Office. Hillary Clintons Campaign: Myth Vs. Fact [The Onion]. Susan Sarandon: Hollywood stars afraid of backing Sanders [The Hill]. Sarandon, let us remember, immediately propagated the video that showed the Clintonites English Only smear after Nevada was a lie. Socialists and the Horse Race [Jacobin]. Jacobin is so hot right now.

Stats Watch

Employment Situation, February 2016: The labor market is adding jobs at a very strong rate. Nonfarm payrolls rose 242,000 in February vs the Econoday consensus for 190,000 and a high estimate of only 217,000. Adding to the punch are upward revisions to the two prior months totaling 30,000 [Econoday]. A negative in the report is a 0.1 percent decline in average hourly earnings that follows, however, Januarys outsized 0.5 percent gain. Year-on-year, average hourly earnings are down 3 tenths to 2.2 percent. So, more jobs but crappier wages. (To be fair, theres apparently a statistical quirk where one February paycheck isnt counted til the next report.) And: The big contributor to employment growth this month was food services (40.2K), health care and social assistance (57.4K), and retail trade (54.9K).

Manufacturing was was down 16K, and construction was up 19K [Econintersect].

International Trade, January 2016: January was a weak month for cross-border trade with exports down a steep 2.1 percent and imports down 1.3 percent, making for a wider-than-expected trade imbalance of $45.7 billion [Econoday]. Exports of capital goods were especially weak as were imports of capital goods. And:  January 2016 Trade Data Becoming Recessionary [Econintersect].

Fodder for the Bulls: Weve got a real strong job market going, said Carl Tannenbaum, chief economist at Northern Trust. It does suggest that fears about a U.S. recession have been greatly overdone [New York Times].

Shipping: Carriers are ditching canal transits on backhaul trips from the US East Coast (USEC) to Asia and North Europe to Asia, opting to save fees and head via the southern tip of Africa instead. Soon they might start to do the same on fronthaul trips, moots Danish analysts SeaIntel [Splash247].

Over all, bookstore sales rose 2.5 percent last year, to $11.17 billion, from $10.89 billion in 2014, according to the Census Bureau. It is the first time that bookstore sales have grown since 2007 [New York Times]. After decades of decline, the number of independent bookstores is on the rise.

The [Japanese] Cabinet on Friday approved a set of bills to help banking groups expand their information technology businesses and to recognize virtual currencies as having a function similar to real money [Japan Times].

Todays Fear & Greed Index: 69, Greed (previous close: 69, Greed) [CNN]. One week ago: 57 (Greed). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Mar 4 at 9:49am. Stalled?

Gaia

Bird droppings were the likely cause of a December shutdown at a nuclear power plant outside New York City, according to the operator [NBC]. So awesome.

A 2014 incident in Frances oldest nuclear plant, located near the German and Swiss borders, was more serious than previously reported, German media claimed Friday [France24]. [O]perators temporarily lost full control over the plants reactor 1 in the April 9, 2014 incident after water had incapacitated one of two parallel reactor security systems.

Volcanologists on NRA panel accepted donations from utility-linked firms [Japan Times].

It hasnt snowed enough in Alaska this year for the Iditarod to start properly [Quartz]. This is the third year in a row that lack of snow has disrupted the famous race.

Climate Change Could Kill Half a Million by 2050 [Bloomberg]. Lower fruit and vegetable consumption and changes in body weight may raise the risk of non-infectious illnesses including heart disease, stroke and cancer, the study [published in The Lancet] showed. Food availability may drop 3.2 percent per person by 2050, compared with a scenario without climate change. Lower- and middle-income countries will be hardest hit by reduced food supplies, especially the western Pacific region and southeast Asia, including China and India, the study showed.

Militia Watch

Ammon Bundy says jail most difficult thing Ive ever done' [Oregonian].

The story of the eradication of the original Ku Klux Klan [Slate]. John Wilkes Booth has a lot to answer for.

Fourteen more people have been charged in connection with a high-profile 2014 standoff over cattle grazing rights between armed protesters and federal agents at the Nevada ranch of Cliven Bundy, federal prosecutors said on Thursday [Reuters]. One of the newly-charged defendants, New Hampshire resident and former U.S. Marine Jerry DeLemus, has headed a veterans group formed by the presidential campaign of Republican Donald Trump.

Class Warfare

Idiocracy Is One of the Most Elitist and Anti-Social Movies EverWhy Do Liberals Love Referencing It? [Alternet]. [W]e direct our disdain at the pseudo-problem of not being adequately intelligent, as if such a problem operates independent of material factors. This sentiment is a common thread in left discourse. While nowhere near as reactionary or meanspirited, being smarter than the other guy was a feature of the Jon Stewart era of political comedy. Smugness and irony are the intellectual run-off of a left incapable or unwilling to speak clearly in the language of class and class conflict .

Costco Wholesale Corp. will lift its minimum wage for the first time in nine years, by a $1.50 an hour, as the labor market tightens and competitors start giving workers a raise [Bloomberg].

For as Willem de Kooning once said, The trouble with being poor is that it takes up all your time' [Medium].

News of the Wired

The idea behind the [Google Hands Free] program is that anyone can walk in to a store, find what they want and head to the register, requiring only their face and a moments conversation to purchase something [WaPo]. Wow! Ubiquitous facial recognition! What could go wrong?

San Bernardino DA says seized iPhone may hold dormant cyber pathogen  [Ars Technica]. Damn. Whats that high-pitched warbling noise?

Its really anyones best guess as to what Google is doing testing a 100KW transmitter in the middle of New Mexico [9to5Google]. Well, theyre not improving their crapified customer service or search results, thats for sure.

A drone came within 5 meters (16 feet) of a potentially catastrophic collision with an Air France jet landing at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport in the closest encounter yet between one of the remotely operated devices and a civil airliner [Bloomberg].

This year is Alfred E. Neumans Sixtieth Birthday [Paris Review].

The Dog Thief Killings [Roads and Kingdoms]. Wonderful long-form read for Southeast Asia hands, and for those interested in how class issues play out generally.

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Readers, feel free to contact me with (a) links, and even better (b) sources I should curate regularly, and (c) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi are deemed to be honorary plants! See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. And heres todays plant (margrave):

I like a rotting stump; its a tiny little ecology.

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If you enjoy Water Cooler, please consider tipping and click the hat. Water Cooler would not exist without your support.
By Bill Black, the author of The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One and an associate professor of economics and law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Originally published at New Economic Perspectives

Secretary Hillary Clinton is asking Democratic voters to believe that she has experienced a Road to Damascus conversion from her roots as a leader of the New Democrats  the Wall Street wing of the Democratic Party. When exactly this conversion occurred is never stated, but an interesting fact has emerged that demonstrates it did not occur during her service as the Secretary of State. A Wall Street Journal story provides the key facts, but none of the analysis.

Newly released emails indicate that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her top staff were involved in the selection process for the State Departments internal watchdog, a position that ultimately went unfilled throughout her four-year tenure.

The WSJs angle is that such involvement in the selection of the Inspector General (IG) is a threat to the IGs vital independence. True, and also true as the story notes that Hillary was far from rare as an agency or department head in seeking to select behind the scenes the supposedly independent IGs.

The function of the IG is to speak truth to power. Naturally, power hates IGs with a purple passion. Government leaders are most likely to hate having its abuses made public by IG when the government leader is secretly acting in concert with immensely powerful private leaders for their mutual benefit at the expense of the public.

What the WSJ missed is that the Clintons, for decades, have sought to destroy the independence and effectiveness of the IGs precisely because of the threat that they pose of blowing the whistle on these abuses. The Obama administration, of course, is famous for its prosecutions of those who blow the whistle on such abuses. The real story is not that Hillary attempted to select a lap dog as IG  the real story is that for her entire tenure as Secretary, four years, she left unfilled the leadership position of the only institution in the State Department dedicated to maintaining integrity and preventing the abuse of public power to aid cronies. That aid, of course, comes with the clear expectation that the cronies will make the head of the State Department wealthy as soon as she or he steps down. There is no possible defense for that, and it does not happen accidentally. The primary blame goes to President Obama, who made no nomination for the position for the entire four years. It wasnt Republican intransigence that explains this scandal.

Hillary and Obama Renewed Clintons War on IGs

Bill Clinton and Al Gore installed Bob Stone as their official to oversee the implementation of Reinventing Government. Stone reserved his greatest hate for the Inspector Generals, claiming in his book (Confessions of a Civil Servant) that their primary contribution to government is stifling innovation (p. 156). Stone wrote that he has no confidence that IGs are effective against fraud, and made the old joke that their function is to shoot the wounded after a battle, and then cited favorably the even older quotation from President Teddy Roosevelt deriding critics of the strong man. The tone of the quotation is one of disgust that cold and timid souls that know neither victory nor defeat (the IGs) have the impertinence to criticize great men like Teddy (and Stone and CEOs)  who are infinitely superior to IGs. The strong man transcends normal moral codes. (Teddy was a contemporary of Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche.)

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

I have written previously on the essential and rare role that government officials play when they speak truth to power. Roosevelt and Stone and many government leaders share a virulent contempt for those who speak truth to power when they hold power. Tom Peters foreword to Stones book emphasizes Stones arrogance and nastiness to anyone who had the temerity to disagree with him, noting that he was famous for his refusal to suffer fools lightly. Stone knew that any government official who sought to prevent fraud was such a fool. The Reinventors shared this contempt for anyone who disagreed with their dogmas. In a prior article, I quoted in some detail their openly expressed intention to force out anyone who disagreed with their policies. The journalist who led the reinventing government movement advised that it was essential that the Clinton administration not tolerate resistance to the movements dogmas.

Neil Barofsky (SIGTARP) explains in his book how the IGs responded to the Reinventors unholy war against the IGs (Bailout: An Inside Account of How Washington Abandoned Main Street While Rescuing Wall Street). The IGs became exceptionally cautious in speaking truth to power. Gretchen Morgenson rightly emphasized this process in her analysis of the key disclosures in Barofskys book.

The common refrain went like this, Mr. Barofsky writes. There are three different types of I.G.s. You can be a lap dog, a watchdog or a junkyard dog. A lap dog is seen as too timid, he was told. But being a junkyard dog was also ill-advised. What you want to be is a watchdog, he continues. The agency should perceive you as a constructive but independent partner, helping to make things better for the agency, so everyone is better off. He also learned, he says, that success as an inspector general meant that investigations come second. Dont second-guess the Treasury. Instead, focus on process.

Hillary and Obama made sure that they did not even have to risk their lap dog developing a spine. No IG was their ideal world.

Hillarys war on the IGs has intensified in the last week, even as she unintentionally offered an example of how critical truly independent IGs are to protecting the American people. The title of a recent article was Clinton chief attacks State Dept. watchdog. The watchdog, of course, is the IG.

John Podesta, the chairman of Hillary Clintons presidential campaign, says there are serious questions about the integrity of the State Department Office of Inspector General (OIG). The OIG is locked in an increasingly contentious fight with Clintons campaign on a host of issues, including her use of a private email account during her time as secretary of State. It has also reportedly subpoenaed the Clinton Foundation for documents related to charity projects and is investigating close Clinton aide Huma Abedins work as a special government consultant while she worked at State. A source within the OIG contacted The Hill claiming that the office has grown increasingly partisan, accusing it of having an anti-Clinton bias. Told by The Hill about the remarks, Podesta described the source as a whistleblower whose comments called into question the integrity of the OIG investigations.

The idea that the State Department IG, appointed by President Obama, is partisan in the sense of being anti-Clinton is facially bizarre in that Obama is a strong supporter of Hillary. Further, anything that embarrassed Hillary would embarrass Obama. It appears that there are competing leaks from the IGs office.

The source charges that State Inspector General Steve Linick is excessively deferential to Emilia DiSanto, the OIG deputy director and a former aide to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). Grassley is at the center of several investigations about Clinton, including whether Abedin was overpaid by the government while working for the State Department. Hes been aided in his probe by what he says is a confidential source at the OIG  Democrats charge this is DiSanto. Our work is becoming overtly anti-State Department, pro-Republican, and anti-Clinton, the OIG source said, charging that DiSanto is working with an active partisan mandate to undermine both the State Department as a federal agency and Secretary Clinton as a presidential candidate.

The claim, however, does not explain why an Obama appointee (Linick) would be excessively deferential to a subordinate who had been a Republican staffer. The only logical reason is that the facts found by the IGs investigations had produced serious concerns in Linicks mind. Excessively deferential is an odd and vague claim for a purported whistleblower to make against his boss.

Contemporaneously, however, Hillary was unknowingly endorsing the Nations critical need for independent, vigorous, and brave IGs.

Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton said last month that she was totally appalled by what she described as Navients outrageous behavior toward borrowers.

But she, and the American people, would not have known of this outrageous behavior if it had not been for the Department of Educations IG penetrating a cover up led by the Departments leaders.

The U.S. Department of Education conducted a bogus investigation into allegations that student loan giant Navient Corp. violated its lucrative government contract, leading the Obama administration to mislead the public last year when it proclaimed the company didnt cheat servicemembers on federal student loans, according to an audit by the departments inspector general released Tuesday. And thanks to the department, which had contradicted federal prosecutors with its announcement, Navient not only kept its contract  it got a raise, too.

For profit educational corporations have often proven to be notorious fraud factories. Navient added a special degree of infamy to its frauds by specializing in ripping off veterans. The Department of Education has been tepid or even obstructionist in cracking down on these frauds. Its leadership rewarded Navients fraudulent practices even after they were caught red-handed targeting veterans. Bill Clinton personally, and both Clintons through and the Foundation have long profited from the massive largess of notorious for-profit schools.
Yves here. As much as articles like this are instructive in laying out some of the choices the UK would need to make in the wake of a pro-Brexit vote, I have yet to see one that looks at the question of Brexit in terms of the fate of the Eurozone. While the mechanics, particularly involving bank information technology, make of reintroducing a new currency almost impossibly hard, the centrifugal forces in the currency union may reach the level where a country nevertheless makes the break. Indeed even though Brexit would be far easier, it would play into the idea of leaving if nothing else by illustrating that voters prefer national sovereignity to growth, particularly now that the benefits of growth seem to accrue mainly to a small cohort of top earners.

So even though analysts consistently argue that a Brexit would impose costs on the UK economy, one question worth including in the mix is: would a Brexit increase or lower the cost of dealing with a shock like the exit of France from the Eurozone?

By Swati Dhingra and Thomas Sampson, Assistant Professors, Department of Economics, London School of Economics. Originally published at VoxEU



On 23 June 2016, the UK will hold a referendum on whether to remain part of the EU. Suppose the UK votes to leave the EU. What happens next? Unfortunately, no one knows.

A vote to remain in the EU would be a vote to maintain the status quo. But a vote in favour of Brexit would be a leap into the unknown. Leaving the EU would not mean Britain could wash its hands of dealing with the rest of Europe. As UK Prime Minister David Cameron noted in his 2013 Bloomberg speech committing the Conservative Party to holding a referendum, If we leave the EU, we cannot of course leave Europe. It will remain for many years our biggest market, and forever our geographical neighbourhood (Cameron 2013). Yet neither the government nor the campaign to leave the EU has put forward concrete proposals for what comes after Brexit. In a recent report (Dhingra and Sampson 2016), we shed light on the possible aftermath of Brexit by considering the options for Britain outside the EU and analysing the costs and benefits of each alternative.

Leaving the EU

In the event of Brexit, the UK and the EU would need to make decisions in five main areas. First, what happens to UK citizens and businesses resident in the EU and to EU citizens and businesses resident in the UK? Second, how would UK law be changed in areas covered by EU legislation? Third, what policies would the UK adopt in areas that currently fall under the authority of the EU. Of particular importance would be regional and agricultural policies since these are the biggest components of the EU budget. Fourth, would there be a transition period during which the UKs rights and obligations as an EU member are gradually phased out or would the change happen abruptly? Fifth, and probably most importantly, what would be the future of Britains relationship with the EU. Would free trade between Britain and the EU continue? Would labour mobility between Britain and the EU continue? Would British companies continue to have the right to establish subsidiaries and do business in the EU?

The key trade-off Britain would face outside the EU would be the same trade-off that has always dominated Britains European policy. There are economic benefits from integration, but obtaining these benefits comes at the political cost of giving up sovereignty over certain decisions. Inside or outside the EU, this trade-off is inescapable. The different options described below provide alternative ways of resolving this trade-off.

European Economic Area  The Norwegian Model

The European Economic Area (EEA) comprises all members of the EU together with Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. EEA members are part of the European Single Market, meaning there is free movement of goods, services, people and capital within the EEA, but EEA membership does not require deeper political integration. Research on the consequences of leaving the EU finds that, although Brexit would undoubtedly harm the UKs economy, the cost is smaller when the UK remains more economically integrated with the EU (Ottaviano et al. 2014).

Are there downsides to the EEA? Yes. Non-EU members of the EEA must accept and implement EU legislation governing the Single Market without having any part in deciding the legislation. Therefore, leaving the EU to join the EEA would reduce the UKs control over economic policy. Also, EEA members such as Norway do not belong to the EUs customs union. Consequently, Norwegian exports must satisfy rules of origin requirements in order to enter the EU duty free and the EU can use anti-dumping measures to restrict imports from Norway, as occurred in 2006 when the EU imposed a 16% tariff on imports of Norwegian salmon. Finally, EEA members effectively pay a fee to be part of the Single Market. In 2011 Norways contribution to the EU budget was 106 per capita, only 17% lower than the UKs net contribution of 128 per capita (House of Commons 2013). Becoming part of the EEA would not generate substantial fiscal savings for the UK.

Bilateral Treaties  The Swiss Model

Switzerland is not a member of the EU or the EEA. Instead, it has negotiated a series of bilateral treaties under which it adopts EU policies in specific areas such as insurance, air traffic, pensions and fraud prevention, among many others. The bilateral treaty approach allows Switzerland the flexibility to choose which EU initiatives it wishes to participate in. Through European Free Trade Association (EFTA) membership and an agreement covering technical barriers to trade, Switzerland has achieved a similar level of goods market integration with the EU as EEA countries. Currently, there is also free movement of people between Switzerland and the EU.

In return for its participation in EU programmes, Switzerland must adopt EU policies and legislation, meaning Switzerland also trades integration for sovereignty. Switzerland and the EU have not reached a comprehensive agreement covering trade in services. Consequently, Swiss financial institutions often serve the EU market through subsidiaries based in London. Like the EEA countries, Switzerland makes a financial contribution to the EU, which in recent years has averaged around 53 per capita, 60% lower than the UKs net contribution per capita (House of Commons 2013). Overall, it is likely that the Swiss model would result in less economic integration between Britain and the EU than EEA membership leading to higher economic costs of Brexit.

Looking Away from Europe

If Britain leaves the EU without putting in place any alternative arrangements, then Britains trade with both the EU and almost all the rest of the world would be governed by the WTO. As a WTO member, Britains exports to the EU and other WTO members would be subject to the importing countries most-favoured nation tariffs. Britains services trade would also be subject to WTO rules. Since the WTO has made far less progress than the EU in liberalising trade in services, this would mean reduced access to EU markets for UK service producers. The WTO has no provisions for free movement of labour, so under this scenario free labour mobility between Britain and the EU would cease.

After leaving the EU, Britain would no longer be bound by the EUs common trade policy, but could set its own import tariffs. Since the average tariff charged on imports to the EU is only 1% (World Bank 2015), there is limited scope for further tariff reductions. There is also limited scope to lower non-tariff barriers through unilateral action since reducing non-tariff barriers often requires international agreement to harmonise policies. Following Brexit, the UK would be free to negotiate trade agreements with countries outside Europe. But since the UK is a much smaller market than the EU, it would have less bargaining power in trade negotiations than the EU has. Whether the benefits from greater autonomy in trade negotiations would outweigh the costs from reduced bargaining power is hard to predict. And whatever agreements Britain reaches with countries outside Europe, the most important decision facing the UK would still be its relations with its largest trading partner, the EU.

The pay-off for the lack of economic integration provided by the WTO would be greater sovereignty over economic policy and regulation. Being outside of the Single Market could enable the UK government to better adapt economic policy to Britains needs. However, any divergence in regulation between Britain and the EU would also act as a non-tariff barrier to trade and raise the cost of doing business with Europe. The OECD has found that, even as a member of the Single Market, Britains labour and product markets are substantially less regulated and more flexible than those of other EU countries (Koske et al. 2015). This implies the Single Market does provide scope for countries to choose the flexibility of economic regulations to suit national preferences.

Conclusions

A vote in favour of Brexit will fire the starting gun on a two-year renegotiation of Britains place in Europe and the world. This renegotiation could, if Britain opts to cut ties with the rest of Europe, fundamentally change the political, economic, and legal foundations of British life that have built up since the UK joined the EU in 1973. Alternatively, if Britain chooses to remain part of the EEA, the economic and legal changes would be relatively small. During the renegotiation Britain will face an unavoidable trade-off between economic benefits and political sovereignty. The UK benefits from closer economic integration with the EU, but the price for this integration is allowing the EU control over some areas of policy. Leaving the EU will not free Britain from this fundamental trade-off.

At present, there is no consensus within the UK over what should follow Brexit. This reflects the fact that all of the alternatives to EU membership have their own drawbacks and would negatively affect the British economy. To make an informed decision about the merits of Brexit, voters need to know more about what would follow Brexit.
In this photo taken Thursday, Feb 27, 2014, Patricia Briones, a nurse practitioner at the University of Miami, performs a physical assessment of fistula on patient Treaunna Hardaway, in Miami. Briones makes daily rounds among patients in kidney failure, deciding how much fluid to remove and over what period of time during their dialysis. She sees her patients at least once a week and prescribes everything from antibiotics to blood pressure medication. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)

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By Liz Freeman

We focus on all things politics in the Sunshine State. We are the joint Bureau of E.W. Scripps / Tampa Tribune in Tallahassee.

Nurse practitioners think this will be their year. Doctors hope it's not.

Florida lawmakers this spring are considering bills to expand the role of advanced registered nurse practitioners, pitting them against physicians in an ongoing effort to expand their scope of practice.

The nurses argue they can help offset the escalating shortage of primary-care doctors, but this year they have added the Affordable Care Act to their arsenal. The law, also known as Obamacare, means more people have coverage now and will seek medical care they went without before, according to the Florida Association of Nurse Practitioners.

"Florida has the highest population of geriatric patients and it's getting harder and harder for them to get care, especially in rural areas," said Susan Lynch, chief executive officer of the nurses' association. "The fewer restrictions on nurse practitioners, the costs go down."

Physicians say giving advanced nurses the freedom to prescribe drugs and administer anesthesia without a doctor's supervision, the crux of the legislative proposals, will risk patient safety and potentially revive the pill mill crisis.

At issue is HB 7071, which would remove physician supervision over nurse anesthetists, a type of nurse practitioner, so they could administer anesthesia on their own. The bill also would enable nurse practitioners to obtain licenses from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to prescribe controlled substances.

There are 19,000 advanced registered nurse practitioners (ARNPs) in Florida with master's and doctoral degrees and national certification. Of those, 12,000 are nurse practitioners who provide primary and acute care services and 6,300 nurse anethetists. The remaining 700 are nurse midwives.

Contrary to physicians in Florida who can opt to "go bare" and not carry medical malpractice insurance, nurse practitioners must carry medical malpractice coverage, even when they practice under the supervision of a physician, Lynch said.

"That won't change," she said, if restrictions on the nurses are lifted.

She and colleagues have discussed the potential that their medical malpractice premiums may increase if the bills pass but it is not the primary issue, Lynch said, adding: "It is not even on our radar."

SB 1352, proposed by Sen. Denise Grimsley, R-Sebring, a registered nurse and chairwoman of the Senate's Health Appropriations Committee, would allow nurse practitioners to gain a DEA license but Grimsley has stated in news reports her bill would still require some level of physician supervision.

Grimsley couldn't be reached for comment.

State Sen. Garrett Richter, R-Naples, said he would support broadening duties of nurse practitioners.

"I believe that to responsibly expand the practice of nurse practitioners is a good idea," he said. "I think it will save significant dollars relative to the cost of medical services in the state of Florida."

Physicians' groups, namely the Florida Medical Association (FMA) and the Florida Society of Anesthesiologists, are fighting both measures.

"There is no shortage of anesthesiologists in the state of Florida," said Dr. Jay Epstein, president of the society.

He said only three states allow nurse anesthetists to administer anesthesia without a doctor's supervision ? New Hampshire, Montana and Utah. When it comes to patient safety, health-care organizations always look to the team model of anesthesia, Epstein said.

During the 2013 legislative session, the nurses' group was pushing for a language change to drop physician "supervision" for when nurses administer anesthesia and replace it with physician "collaboration," he said.

"The bill never saw the light of day," he said. "It was like saying the pilot and co-pilot, when the plane is nose-diving, would collaborate."

Denise McNulty, a nurse practitioner on staff of Lee Memorial Health System, who previously has held nurse teaching positions in Southwest Florida, said she supports expanding the scope of practice for nurse practitioners in light of the shortage of primary care doctors and the growing population in Florida.

"The only thing I would say with caution, if a nurse is going to be fully independent with full prescriptive authority, they must be adequately educated and with the appropriate experience to be considered an expert in their specialty," McNulty said. "Each individual nurse has a duty and responsibility to make sure you are adequately trained and can be considered an expert in their field."

When it comes to prescribing authority, McNulty said Florida has the most restrictive practices, so it's time to re-examine that.

"We have to get ready for the booming population," she said, referring to more retirees coming to Florida and others gaining insurance coverage under Obamacare.

The nurse practitioners' association argues that allowing nurse anesthetists to practice without a doctor's supervision can save huge sums because their services are less expensive while quality of care won't be jeopardized.

When it comes to prescribing medications, the group points to a 2008 Florida Senate report that said lawmakers should consider extending nurse practitioners' prescribing role.

The state medical association, which represents the bulk of the state's doctors, counters that allowing nurse practitioners to be independent and to prescribe narcotics is dangerous, Jeff Scott, general counsel, said in a statement.

"There is no evidence that such broad-based expansion will reduce costs to the health-care system," Scott said. "While the FMA values physician extenders and the important role they play in the health-care team, allowing them to practice independently and prescribe narcotics is unnecessary and unsafe."

The FMA says the way to address the shortage of primary-care doctors is to increase residency slots, provide medical school loan forgiveness to new doctors who go into family practice and more collaboration with nurse practitioners.
Arthrex has purchased the Polaris building at Creekside Commerce Park in North Naples. Here, the building on April 21, 2015. (Carolina Hidalgo/Staff)

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By Liz Freeman of the Naples Daily News

North Naples-based Arthrex ranks 62 out of the top 100 companies to work for by Fortune Magazine, according to new rankings for 2016.

This is the second year the medical device manufacturer has been named to Fortune's top 100 companies. For 2015 its ranking was 94.

The latest recognition comes on the heels of being third of 15 best workplaces for manufacturing and production by Fortune.

The company is privately held.

Arthrex, with its global headquarters on Creekside Boulevard in North Naples, has 2,000 employees in its Southwest Florida locations out of nearly 3,200 globally.

Two weeks ago Arthrex founder and Chief Executive Officer Reinhold Schmieding hosted Gov. Rick Scott at the company headquarters to announce a $47 million expansion at its Ave Maria plants. The expansion will add 350 new jobs.

According to Fortune's ranking, 94 percent of Arthrex employees said their workplace is great, and 96 percent of employees said they are proud to tell others they work for the company.

Arthrex provides extensive benefits, including on-site fitness and a medical clinic, paid sabbaticals, telecommuting, on-site child care, a daily meal, tuition reimbursement and more.

The top-ranked company in Fortune's 2016 ranking is Google in Mountain View, California, followed by Acuity Insurance in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, Boston Consulting Group in Boston, Wegmans Food Markets in Rochester, New York, and Quicken Loans in Detroit.
ErrandFamily.com employee Lindsay Willard unloads groceries at the Pelican Bay home of a client on Wednesday, March, 2, 2016, in North Naples. Willard and her husband, Mark Willard, have recently started ErrandFamily.com, a Naples-based concierge service business. (David Albers/Staff)

SHARE ErrandFamily.com owner Lindsay Willard loads groceries into her car while shopping for a client on Wednesday, March, 2, 2016, in North Naples. Willard and her husband, Mark Willard, have recently started ErrandFamily.com, a Naples-based concierge service business. (David Albers/Staff) ErrandFamily.com owner Lindsay Willard, right, goes over a grocery store order with client Jan Ryan on Wednesday, March, 2, 2016, in North Naples. Willard and her husband, Mark Willard, have recently started ErrandFamily.com, a Naples-based concierge service business. (David Albers/Staff) Lindsay and Mark Willard have opened ErrandFamily.com, a Naples-based concierge service business. (David Albers/Staff)

By John Osborne, Daily News Correspondent

Feast or famine? Boom or bust? Riding high or struggling to keep your head above water?

While many local business owners have adapted to Southwest Florida's seasonal nature by squirreling away a portion of revenues earned during the hopping tourist season to cover the lean summer months, the owners of a local Merry Maids franchise have opened a second business in the hopes of conducting a steady stream of business 12 months a year.

With ErrandFamily.com, Mark and Lindsay Willard plan to leverage their existing labor resources in Naples and Bonita Springs to keep their 18 workers busy even when the snowbirds fly back north.

For $10 to $35, depending on time or distance traveled, Mark Willard said ErrandFamily.com representatives would provide concierge service for just about any task imaginable.

"We have a solid base of employees who are already out in the field and paying for gas, so we thought it would be a good idea to try to add volume," said the Chicago native, who moved to Naples from Arizona. "It's a very inexpensive service, and we'll basically do anything other than cleaning."

Willard said even those rates are negotiable.

"If you require immediate service and would like to name your price, you just have to name the price you're able to pay, and we will bid the errand out to our runners for booking," he said. "Our runners are out in Naples and Bonita Springs on a daily basis and can oftentimes accommodate an instant request. You never know - we could be right down the street."

Willard said the list of services ErrandFamily.com performs includes grocery shopping, picking up meals for the office, pickup and drop-off services for documents, gifts, flowers and dry cleaning, household tasks such as taking out the trash or going on coffee runs, ironing, packing or unpacking, pet walking, car washing and detailing, and assisting the elderly with everyday chores.

"We're almost like Uber, but what makes us different is how thoroughly the employees have been vetted," he said. "Instead of giving you a ride, we'll come over your house and help you out with anything you want. For example, if you need somebody to run to the store for a quick 10 items or less, we'll do that for $10."

Willard said ErrandFamily.com was perfect for the elderly, travelers, seasonal residents, people without transportation or for someone who is simply too busy to get everything done alone.

Client Barb Rich recently decided to try ErrandFamily.com. She said she couldn't be happier with the results.

"I manage the Bonita Village condos, and just last week I hired them to assemble lanai furniture and put it up in the condos," she said. "We have no full-time maintenance staff here, so I'll probably start using them on a consistent basis. When I called, they sent somebody right over, so they're definitely very punctual and professional."

Lindsay Willard said working so closely with her husband comes with its own set of joys and challenges.

"We used to work together when we first started dating, and there weren't a lot of joys at that time," the Wisconsin native recalled. "But with these businesses, we complement each other very well. I'm really good at scheduling and paperwork because I used to work for the state of Arizona and government work is heavy on the paperwork side, while Mark is really good at the division of the businesses. Where we're going, how we're going to grow and how we're going to build on what we have. He's also good at having the hard conversations with people that you sometimes need to have."

With the number of hours the couple puts in between the two businesses, Lindsay Willard said working with her husband has another advantage.

"If we didn't work together we'd probably never see each other because we're so busy," she said with a laugh.

In the end, Mark Willard said customer satisfaction would always rank No. 1 at ErrandFamily.com, just as it does at the couple's Merry Maids franchise.

"We'll rip the check in half if you're not satisfied and do the job again until you are satisfied," he said.

ErrandFamily.com offers its services 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday in season and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday in the offseason.
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Events

The Urban Land Institute-Southwest Florida District will present the second session in the "Building Thriving Communities" series at 7:45 a.m. March 25 at the Isles of Collier Preserve, 5445 Caribe Ave., Naples. Information: 800-321-5011 (reference #8118-1605); www.swflorida.uli.org

The East Naples Merchants Association will hold its monthly meet and greet networking event at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the new Lucky's Market in the East Naples Town Center. Information: info@ eastnaplesmerchants assoc.com

Permit report

During February, contractors pulled 84 permits to build single-family houses collectively valued at more than $17 million in unincorporated Lee County.

That compares with 107 permits issued in January and 101 issued in February 2015, according to the Lee County Department of Community Development. Data for 2015 includes permits for the Village of Estero. Information: www.leegov.com/dcd/

Good deeds

Allyn International Services Inc. sponsored an international charity donation for refugees in Lesvos, Greece, through the Starfish Foundation. Items donated range from waterproof outwear for men, boots and socks to backpacks and sleeping bags.

To submit your business news directly online, go to naplesnews.com/BIZwire or email news@naplesnews.com.
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Last chance for America?

The worst political blunder of all time, according to scientist Freeman Dyson, was the decision of the emperor of China in 1433 to cut off his country from the outside world. In the wake of that decision, China lost its position in the forefront of human achievements and fell behind, over the centuries, to become a Third World country.

Before the end of this month, the United States of America may break that record for the worst political blunder of all time.

Dyson attributed the Chinese emperor's blunder to "powerful people pursuing partisan squabbles and neglecting the long-range interests of the empire." That can be our path to disaster as well. After the results of Super Tuesday, we find ourselves with front-runners in their respective parties who each could, as president, take the decline of America under the Obama administration, even further down, to a point of no return.

As secretary of state, Hillary Clinton was in charge of the foreign policy that destroyed governments in Egypt and Libya that were no threat to America's interests or allies, and plunged both countries into a turmoil from which only Egypt managed to rescue itself, while Libya has become another hotbed of terrorist activity. Yet Secretary Clinton is running on her "experience" - even though it is an experience of unmitigated disasters for America, around the world.

Her e-mail scandals and lies are important mainly as symptoms of her utter disregard of anything other than her own financial and political interests.

While Hillary Clinton seems, for all practical purposes, to be unstoppable in her quest for the Democrats' nomination, Donald Trump is by no means inevitable on the Republican side. But he may become unstoppable after the next round of primaries, especially if he wins in winner-take-all states.

Most of Trump's wins in various state primaries have been achieved without winning a majority of the votes. Yet these wins can create an impression of great victories, even when most Republican voters voted against Trump. The fracturing of the majority vote among numerous other candidates is the key. What prevents the anti-Trump majority from coming together in support of one candidate who can defeat Trump? Only the kinds of narrow political squabbles that ruined China.

Sen. Ted Cruz has the best track record against Trump, having beaten him in three states, even with the majority vote split among several candidates. But the Republican establishment would prefer Sen. Marco Rubio, who has won only one state and is trailing in the polls in his home state of Florida.

Perhaps most important of all, there are signs that - if push comes to shove - the Republican establishment would prefer Trump himself to Cruz. Why? Because, despite Trump's reckless rhetoric and shallow reasoning, he is a deal-maker who will not let principles stand in the way of anything that promotes the ego of Donald Trump. Cruz, on the other hand, has repeatedly defied the Republican leadership in the Senate. Whatever the merits or lack of merits of his actions in particular cases, he has clearly shown himself not to be one of those who go along to get along.

Former President Jimmy Carter has criticized Cruz for not being "malleable." No one was more "malleable" in the face of America's enemies than Carter, both when he was president and after he left office, and cozied up to communist dictators in Cuba and North Korea. We don't need that kind of malleability in a president.

Even if we accept the criticism of Cruz's political enemies and critics that he is "opportunistic," that charge loses some of its sting if he becomes president. What greater opportunity is there for him at that point? Becoming a great president, which is certainly what this country needs.

Perhaps a political near-death experience thus far will sober up both Cruz and his opponents into a realization that their cooperation is the only thing that makes sense for the country. But politicians do not always do things that make sense for the country, whether in 15th-century China or 21st-century America. But we will know the answer to that question by the end of this month.

And generations yet unborn may have to live with the consequences of that answer.
The Friends of Barefoot Beach Preserve's hut marks the starting point for the weekly guided tours around the preserve. Patrick Riley/Staff

SHARE Volunteer tour guide and master naturalist Ira Rubenstein shows visitors a mangrove tree at Barefoot Beach Preserve. Patrick Riley/Staff A gopher tortoise entering its burrow at Barefoot Beach Preserve. Patrick Riley/ Staff An osprey sits in its nest atop a wooden pole on Wednesday, March 2, at Barefoot Beach Preserve. Patrick Riley/Staff

By Patrick Riley of the Naples Daily News

It's that time of year again.

Beach season.

Sun-hungry tourists, snowbirds and locals are flocking to the gulf en masse to get their fix of sand, sunshine and summer vibes. (To be fair, beach season in Southwest Florida probably spans nine months, but still)

Cars are stewing in the parking lot. Beach chairs are parked on the shore. And kids are inching closer to the salty sea, literally, testing the waters.

As you flip open your wrinkly copy of that book you've been meaning to finish since the Bush administration and take a sip from your homemade Margarita, you probably don't realize the number of wondrous plants and animals you passed on your way from the car to the cabana.

The waxy, green wild coffee. The tattered, red gumbo limbo trees. The sand-shoveling gopher tortoises.

Botanists and Jack Hanna excluded, you'll probably be hard pressed to discover the vast flora and fauna on your own.

That's where the Friends of Barefoot Beach Preserve may be able to help.

Every Wednesday morning, the volunteer group gives free tours of the preserve's coastal habitats, exploring the wildlife that stretches from the asphalt parking lot to the sandy dunes.

On a recent March morning, I joined about a half dozen fellow curious souls and jumped in on the hour-and-a-half long tour.

To start off, our guide Ira Rubenstein, 75, a volunteer and master naturalist, gives us a quick run-down of what we will be doing.

"Even though the land is pretty flat here, there's enough changes in elevation, there are actually five different plant communities that are here," he says. "So we'll talk about some of the plants, uses of them  talk about the wildlife we see."

First, our walk takes us through what is called the "maritime hammock," which harbors the biggest trees and the most diverse plant community.

A hammock, Rubenstein explains, is an "elevated area of land, which has hardwood trees growing on it."

One such tree is the gumbo limbo tree.

"That's the one that's red and peeling over there," Rubenstein tells us. "That's native. It's very easy to propagate and if you just take a branch off and stick in the ground, it'll probably grow into another gumbo limbo tree. So they used to make living fences out of the tree."

Not too far from the gumbo limbo, a couple of cabbage palms, also called sable palms, reach high into the blue sky.

"This is Florida's state tree," Rubenstein explains. "It's drought-resistant, fire-resistant and will grow in a swamp, it'll grow on a dune."

The palm grows to its full diameter underground before it emerges through the soil, he adds.

"So it may be growing under there a few years and then it'll grow about a foot a year," Rubenstein tells us. "There are little berries up there that the birds love to eat. They kind of taste like prunes I'm told and they have the same effect."

As Rubenstein quips that "the parking lot is not a natural community," we move on and pass an osprey nest that sits high atop a wooden pole across the street.

"They use the same nest year after year," Rubenstein tells us. "They do mate for life, probably because they take separate vacations."

With the forceful March sun slowly painting my neck red, we press on to our next botanical discovery: the sea grape.

Its roots, Rubenstein tells us, help keep the sand in place while its grapes - which all ripen at different times - are used to make jelly, wine and jam.

"I haven't tasted it, but I hear it's very good," he says.

Most astoundingly perhaps, its leaves can be used to write on and sent via mail. Like with the U.S. Postal Service. No, really.

Just ask Rosemarie Baranin, 65. She sends them to her grandchildren.

"It's expensive to mail, it's about $4 or $5," Baranin, who is part of our small group, explains. "I write the address on the front of the leaf, but you make sure that you get one that's large enough to print on."

As we pass the golden beach creeper (also called cough bush because its leaves have been found to help treat cough) and a prickly pear cactus (its pads are edible and its fruits are used to make jelly, which makes me wonder: What can't you make jelly from here?), we arrive at a gopher tortoise "condo."

When the nearby parking lot was built, the excess soil was dumped at the end of the lot, Rubenstein explains. That sandy hill is now home to a number of gopher tortoises.

"The gopher tortoise lives in a burrow that may be 30 or 40 feet long or more and about 10 feet deep," Rubenstein tells us.

Right about now, he adds, the tortoises usually come out to lay at the entrance of their burrow and warm up in the sun.

Sure enough, we spot one sunning itself atop the gopher tortoise condominium.

"The gopher tortoise is what's called a keystone species, because he's so important for the impact he has on his habitat," Rubenstein says. "Over 300 different animals they've found will live in the burrow with them."

While the tortoise keeps sunning itself, unimpressed by our presence, we continue our march along the road as Rubenstein gives us insight into the vegetation.

We pass wild coffee plants, smilax ("The root was used to make root beer") and a saw palmetto ("That's the one where the berries are used for prostate health").

A Spanish sailor, Rubenstein tells us, once described the berries' taste as "rotting tobacco juice."

(Prostate health or not, I'll pass.)

Passing a Spanish bayonet (a yucca plant with sharp foliage whose blossoms are edible, because of course they are), we make our way to the mangrove estuary. The estuary, Rubenstein explains, cleans the water ("It's referred to as the kidney"), acts as a rookery for birds and protects the coastline.

"This is the most important area I think we talk about here," Rubenstein explains, standing in front of a sandy opening into the estuary. "It's an area of brackish water, which is the salinity is between fresh water and the ocean or gulf water."

After showing us the different kinds of mangroves (we have the red, white and black mangrove), Rubenstein guides us away from the estuary and toward the beach for the last leg of our tour.

"We're actually going to be leaving our maritime hammock now," Rubenstein explains. "This area is called the coastal strand."

We venture into what's called the fore dune, where sea oats start to grow.

"This is a very important plant for stabilizing the dune," Rubenstein says. "It has a very deep taproot and also tremendous sideways extension, a tangle of roots."

The sea oat and its root system "is important for keeping the beach where it is," he tells us.

From the fore dune, we continue into the pioneer zone, home to more sea oats and some vines, and march past beachgoers and sunbathers.

As we move back onto the boardwalk, we pass gray nicker beans ("The beans are used as pieces in some board games") and white periwinkle flowers ("They've actually developed chemotherapy drugs from this plant") before an industrious gopher tortoise, digging its burrow, marks the end of our tour.

"This is it, guys," he tells us.

Rubenstein takes turns with another volunteer to give the weekly tours. He wasn't sure what he was going to do in retirement and thus started volunteering at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida a few years ago.

"I knew I wanted to be outdoors," Rubenstein says. "I have this tremendous interest in the outdoors now."

Most of the barrier islands are developed now, but Barefoot Beach Preserve is an exception, he says.

"So the fact, we still have this more or less pristine piece still here is kind of nice," Rubenstein says. "I like to share it, spread the word."

For Richard and Rosemarie Baranin, of New York City, the tour was enjoyable and informative.

"We loved the guide today," Rosemarie Baranin tells me. "He was excellent. Ira has very good background information. He's patient, he's humorous. He's got a nice spy of the eye."

Richard Baranin, 68, says the couple always gravitates toward Barefoot Beach Preserver when the two are in Southwest Florida.

"It's a nice setting," Richard Baranin says.

IF YOU GO

Exploring Coastal Habitats tour at Barefoot Beach

When: 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. every Wednesday

Where: 503 Barefoot Beach Blvd., North Naples

Cost: Tour is free; $8 to enter the preserve, free with Collier County beach parking sticker

Information: Visit friendsofbarefootbeach.org or email info@fobbp.org
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By Dave Osborn of the Naples Daily News

Many people think they know Italy, but a professor plans to broaden their scope of that European nation when he visits Naples next month.

Bard College professor Joseph Luzzi will discuss "A Grand Tour of Italy: Art, Film, Music, Literature, Wine ... and more!" during A One Day University program April 2 at Hodges University in North Naples. The One Day University program - which brings engaging professors throughout the U.S. to cities for a day - is presented in partnership with the Naples Daily News.

Luzzi said he will discuss why Italy for centuries has attracted people for its history, traditions, culture, way of life and more.

"So many love Italy," said Luzzi, professor of comparative literature and a specialist in Italian studies, literature and film at college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.

"But what is it about new Italy that remains so hidden from people? For centuries, Italy was a site of the grand tour. It was a place where people would go to study the ruins, study the past. It became a place to go to because it was old, an outdoor museum. And that image stuck for centuries.

"Italy today is incredibly multicultural country. It's a place where we can learn can live in the present, that in our rush to innovate and find the latest technology, Italy teaches us that some of the things in the past are worth protecting, worth preserving. It's so beloved by foreigners. It belongs to the world."

"My goal is really to talk about those things about Italy that have drawn foreigners over the centuries."

Luzzi's love of Italy began in childhood. His parents and older siblings emigrated to the United States in the 1950s and he was born in America.

"I grew up in a house where the Calabrian dialect was spoken," he said, referring to the region in Southern Italy that forms the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula.

"Italian culture was everywhere in my house. My family was working class so we really didn't travel that much. By the time I got to college, Italy became a dream."

Luzzi's dream became realized when he spent a year studying abroad in Florence, Italy.

"It was just so overwhelming," he said of time in that city considered the birthplace of the Renaissance.

"That stayed with me and inspired me to get a Ph.D. in Italian literature and become a professor in the subject."

Luzzi has penned various books about Italy, including "My Two Italies" published in 2014 and "In A Dark Wood: What Dante Taught Me About Grief, Healing And The Mysteries of Love."

He plans to discuss such rich history and tidbits, such as the fact that Italy is younger country than the U.S. (Italy officially became unified in 1861). And Luzzi said his presentation will include visuals, showing the beauty of Italy that includes the wondrous art and more over centuries.

"I love One Day University because it gives me the chance to talk about the subjects that I love from people outside the university," he said.

One Day University lectures began in 2007, and have grown to more than 70 every year in cities throughout the United States. Having a one-professor program is unique outside New York City, where One Day University is based, said Kevin Brennan, ODU managing director.

Those attending the April 2 program also will receive a glass of wine, which adds another element it, Brennan said.

"This came about originally because we wanted to do a places series," he said.

" And it just sort of ended being Italy. That's sort of a universal place everyone loves or would love to go to if they haven't been. Naples is a good market for that.

"And add to that one of our best speakers, a professor of Italian studies, and it seems a no-brainer."

IF YOU GO

ONE DAY UNIVERSITY

What: Professor Joseph Luzzi of Bard College in New York will discuss "A Grand Tour of Italy: Art, Film, Music, Literature, Wine ... and more!"

When: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, April 2

Where: Hodges University, 2655 Northbrooke Drive, S&T Community Room, North Naples

Cost: $69 for Daily News subscribers. Use code ITALY; $99 for nonsubscribers; price includes a glass of wine

Information: onedayu.com/Events/detail/336
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By Kristine Gill of the Naples Daily News

The total number of serious crimes reported in Collier County in 2015 decreased by 3.1 percent from 2014.

Preliminary numbers reflecting that change were submitted to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which is expected to produce an official report later in the year.

Part 1 crimes are considered the most serious crimes, according to the FBI. The data does not reflect tallies for less serious crimes.

The report shows there were 5,137 Part 1 crimes reported in unincorporated Collier County and Everglades City in 2015.

In 2014, there were 5,300 Part 1 crimes reported.

The statistics show homicide, larceny and motor vehicle thefts decreased from 2014's totals.

The report also indicates some increases - including in sexual assaults, robberies, aggravated assaults and burglaries.

Three homicides took place in 2015 by Collier County Sheriff's Office standards.

But the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's Uniform Crime Statistics did not include the death of Jorge Castro Pena, who died in May. Collier Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Karie Partington said the FDLE does not include a death if a person was engaged in an action that led to his or her death. Reports state Pena attacked another person and was being restrained when he passed out and later died. After an autopsy, his death was attributed to asphyxiation.

Collier County Sheriff Kevin Rambosk said those numbers are especially encouraging considering this has been one of Naples' busiest seasons, based on visitation numbers and calls to law enforcement for service.

"It's terrific news," Rambosk said. "If you look over the last probably seven years, not only has the crime rate gone down - and part of that is population - but the actual number of crimes back to 2008 and 2009 is down 800 or 900 crimes. That's less victims. That's absolutely terrific."

Rambosk attributed the decreases in larcenies to public education and programs that encourage residents to lock their homes and vehicles and protect their property.

"When the community joins together and we do all those things, we can absolutely affect crime," he said.

By the numbers:

Homicides decreased from four to two.

Sexual assaults increased from 117 to 139.

Robberies increased from 155 to 163.

Aggravated assault increased 14 percent from 601 to 685.

Burglaries increased from 798 to 847.

Larcenies dropped 9.5 percent from 3,366 to 3,045.

Motor vehicle thefts dipped from 259 to 256.
Jonathon Schafer, a seventh-grader at Royal Palm Elementary School, smiles after spelling the championship word  radium  correctly during the 2015 Collier County Spelling Bee in the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Administrative Center in Naples. Almost 50 middle school students competed in the bee. Dania Maxwell/Staff

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By Melhor Leonor of the Naples Daily News

Nearly 50 middle school students are competing for a chance to be named Collier County School District Spelling Bee champion. The event is set to begin at 7 p.m. in the School Board Meeting Room of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Administrative Center. This years Spelling Bee pronouncer will be the Collier Citizen's Jay Schlichter. The participants made it to this county-wide competition by winning their respective schools Spelling Bee. The winner of the Collier County Spelling Bee will advance to the 2015 Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. The Collier County Spelling Bee will be televised live at 7 p.m. Thursday on The Education Channel, Comcast cable 99.
Governor Rick Scott talks about his $1 billion tax cut plan at Eastern Architectural Systems in Fort Myers on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2015. (Dorothy Edwards/Staff)

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By Arek Sarkissian of the Naples Daily News

TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Rick Scott made it official Thursday - he will not endorse a Republican presidential nominee before Florida's March 15 primary, ending speculation that he would stand behind fellow businessman Donald Trump.

Scott posted his decision on Facebook on Thursday, saying he did not want his position in state politics to get in the way of how Floridians vote.

Scott has held up Trump's vision for the country as one forged on the same business principles that twice earned Scott the governor's office.

"The political class opposed me when I first ran for office, they did not want a businessman outsider, but the voters had other ideas," Scott wrote on the social media website. "I trust the voters, so I will not try to tell the Republican voters in Florida how to vote by endorsing a candidate before our primary on March 15.

"I believed in the voters when I first ran for office, and I still believe in them today."

Scott's statement does not rule out endorsing the GOP nominee after the primary. He told reporters Tuesday he would support the candidate who is chosen to represent Republicans in the general election in November.

Scott's possible endorsement of Trump began to grab headlines in January after he penned a letter in USA Today about his interest in the New York billionaire. He wrote that Trump's business acumen would strengthen the national economy.

The USA Today letter earned Scott a brief spot on Fox News, where he said Trump's economic policy would spur job growth - a signature priority throughout the governor's two terms.

Scott also was included in a list of possible Trump running mates published on The Washington Post's political blog. At the time, Scott's response was that he was more interested in serving as governor.

Talk of Scott's endorsement of Trump surfaced again Tuesday after Fox News reported that Scott was expected to endorse Trump that evening. But Scott's staff quickly denied that the governor had plans to endorse Trump for Tuesday night.

Contact Daily News reporter arek.sarkissian@naplesnews.com or 850-559-7620
Mystery, magic and mischief are all in store at the 11th Annual Imagine Gala, which happens from 7 to 11 p.m. on Saturday, March 12 at the Imaginarium Science Center, 2000 Cranford Avenue in Fort Myers to benefit the Imaginarium and Southwest Florida Museum of History. Get your tickets at www.i-sci.org/imaginegala and be transported as the Imaginarium is transformed to an adults-only zone where Southwest Floridas top local chefs compete to delight your senses.



Join MasterChef Finalist Derrick Peltz to determine the fate of our gourmet gladiators with a vote for your favorite appetizer, prepared on the spot by local chefs James Fraser, David Rashty, Fabrice Delatrain and Ben Voisin. Not to be outdone, TV star Peltz will attempt to wow the crowd with his own take on the Fresh from Florida pantry. And will a mystery ingredient wreak havoc on the culinary contenders?



Meanwhile educator and performer Glen Beitman will bring his locally famous Wild Wizard science show, adapted for a mature audience. Sumptuous food will be passed throughout the evening. Fourteen speakers throughout the building and across the starlit campus of the Imaginarium will broadcast plenty of smack talk and play-by-plays of the cutting-edge competition, along with important announcements regarding the fabulous live and silent auction.



As the crowd is transported by the decadent delights the Imagine Gala has become known for, lucky attendees will find themselves planning for luxury vacations, chefs table dinners and other opulent auction prizes, which last year included a Steamboat Springs cabin getaway and a fabulous Caribbean vacation.



Meet the chefs, who have gamely accepted the invitation to this annual food fight  and the challenge to surpass the record-breaking $100,000 that was raised last year:



Chef David Fraser is a Johnson & Wales grad whose CV includes tenures in renowned restaurants in Paris, Italy and India. For the past 10 years he has been refining the chops of our future chefs, and is Instructor for FGCUs Resort and Hospitality Management. Hey Chef, your students are watching.



The International Culinary Center in New York City is Chef David Rashtys alma mater, and hes got 3-star Michelin restaurants on his resume. Chef de Cuisine of the new Jacks Farm to Table at the Pink Shell Beach Resort and Marina, Rashty has worked under such prestigious names as Daniel Boulud and Jean Georges. Lets see how those three stars help you with the mystery ingredient.



Chefs Fabrice Deletrain and Benjamin Voisin represent team Fathoms, the Cape Harbour eatery, and are the masterminds behind Black Salt Culinary catering. Deletrain studied at LEcole de Paris des Metiers de la Table, and he worked with Michelin three-star chef Guy Savoy for eight years. Before joining his partner in crime, Voisin was Executive Chef at Montpelier Plantation and Beach on the Caribbean island of Nevis. Previously he managed 20 kitchen teams as Executive Sous Chef at the luxurious La Manga Club Hotel Principe Felipe in Spain. Voisin is also executive chef at Fathoms neighbor, The French Press. How do you say, Its showtime! en francais?



Many levels of sponsorship are available, offering exciting promotional opportunities, gala tickets, a seat on the Celebrity Cook-Off Judges Panel, family memberships and more. All money raised at the event benefits The Imaginarium Group and SWFL Museum of History Foundation, a 501(C)(3) organization that supports the Imaginarium and the SWFL Museum of History in raising exhibit and education program funds. Lipman Produce has once again graciously agreed to be Title Sponsor of the gala.



The Imaginarium Science Center is a family-friendly science center and aquarium offering fun interactive exhibits and a 3-D theatre. The mission is to engage guests in the exploration of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) through hands-on exhibit experiences and educational programs that further the understanding of the natural and human-made world, foster an appreciation for Southwest Floridas unique environment and natural waterways, and nurture intellectual curiosity, discovery, and innovation. For more information, visit www.i-sci.org.



The SWFL Museum of History The Southwest Florida Museum of History is dedicated to the collection, preservation, and interpretation of history and traditions, with particular emphasis on Fort Myers and Southwest Florida. Exhibits showcase the regions rich history, from prehistoric to modern day. For more information, visit www.MUSEUMofHISTORY.org.


The national law firm of Quarles & Brady LLP announced that Kelly Lyon Davis, a partner in the firms Naples office, will participate in a workshop on Risk, Liability and Insurance for Nonprofit Organizations  What you Need to Know. The workshop will be held on Thursday, March 10 from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at Hodges University, Stock Building, 2647 Professional Circle, in North Naples.



The workshop will cover the common areas of risk for nonprofit organizations and how risk can result in organizational and potential personal liability for officers, directors, and employees. Participants will hear from insurance experts and lawyers about risks involved with conducting fundraising events, panelists will review the different types of insurance coverage for nonprofits and advise when certain coverage is recommended, plus attendees will have an opportunity to participate in a question-and-answer session with the panelists.



The event is being provided through the Hodges University Center for Nonprofit Excellence and will be moderated by Eileen Connolly-Keesler, president/CEO of the Community Foundation of Collier County. The event is free to members of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and Greater Naples Area Planned Giving Council. Nonmembers may register for $35. For details, visit www.hodges.edu.



Davis practices in the firm's Labor & Employment Practice Group, providing advice and counsel to employers and representing employers in defense of workplace-related litigation. This includes litigating wage-and-hour collective actions; consulting with employers to implement appropriate strategies and policies for workplace compliance matters; advising employers as they establish new employment and independent contractor relationships, including drafting of restrictive covenants; and resolving a variety of disputes arising from employee separations.



Davis has received the prestigious AV Preeminent peer review rating from Martindale-Hubbell. She also has been listed in Florida Super Lawyers  Rising Stars (2009present), is president of the Collier County Womens Bar Association, and is on the Board of Trustees for St. Matthews House. In 2014, she was honored as one of Gulfshore Business magazines 40-Under-40 business professionals and, in 2015, she was named a Business Observer 40-Under-40 for the region from Tampa to Marco Island.

Davis received her J.D., (magna cum laude, 2006) from the University of Florida Levin College of Law and her B.A., (highest distinction, with honors, 2000) from the Pennsylvania State University.




Attorney Michael D. Randolph, a shareholder in GrayRobinsons Fort Myers and Naples law firm offices, was accepted as an arbitrator for the Construction Arbitration Program for DeMars & Associates. These private arbitrators review and determine construction defect claims, warranty claims, and other issues provided for in the contract documents. DeMars & Associates is a national organization serving the construction industry and offers online dispute resolutions, arbitration programs for home, recreational vehicles and automobiles as well as customizable conflict and dispute resolution programs. Read more about DeMars & Associates.
The House Financial Services Committee approved a bill this week that would increase the mobility of mortgage originators who take a new job across state lines or move from a federally regulated bank to a nonbank.

The bill would allow bank lending officers to work at an independent mortgage banking or brokerage firm for up to 120 days while they complete the testing and background checks required to obtain a state license.

The transition period allows loan officers to "immediately begin working for their new employer and not put their lives on hold," said Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., during debate on the bill on Wednesday.

Bank lending officers must be registered in the National Mortgage Licensing System and Registry, but they do not have to obtain a state license or meet the educational and testing requirements of the Secure and Fair Enforcement Mortgage Licensing Act.

These exemptions from the SAFE Act make it difficult for bank loan officers to accept a job at nonbank mortgage banking firms. Meanwhile, state licensed loan officers run into similar problems when they take a job in another state. They can't approve loans until they complete new state's education and testing requirements.

Congress passed the SAFE Act in 2008 to ensure all lending officers could be tracked and held accountable. Under pressure from the banking industry, lawmakers exempted bank lending officers from state testing and licensing requirements of the SAFE Act.

Congress has been working on ways to eliminate job barriers for loan originators for several years, according to Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala. The 120-day transition period "helps facilitate a loan originator's job mobility while ensuring state regulators continue to the have ability to protect consumers and market," Sewell said Wednesday during debate on the bill.

The Senate Banking Committee passed similar SAFE Act amendments last summer as part of a regulatory reform bill. The bill has yet to reach the Senate floor.
A federal judge has allowed to proceed a lawsuit in which a Belgian investor blames Bank of New York Mellon for about $1.1 billion of losses related to its role as trustee for residential mortgage securities.

The Belgian group Royal Park Investments claims BNY Mellon failed to monitor the underwriting and servicing of five RMBS trusts between 2005 and 2007. Royal Park seeks class-action status for its lawsuit.

Judge Gregory Woods, of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, ruled that some of Royal Park's claims could proceed, including claims for breach of contract and breach of trust.

"It would be implausible to assume that somehow all the mortgage loans underlying the [trusts] miraculously avoided the pervasive practices of the industry at the time," Woods wrote in a court filing.

Woods also approved Royal Park's claim that BNY Mellon violated its responsibility to give notice of known defaults in the mortgage securities.

Kevin Heine, a spokesman for BNY Mellon, declined to comment.

Royal Park is pursuing similar claims against other banks in their role as trustee with oversight of RMBS, including Deutsche Bank and HSBC Holdings.
Richard Jennings, who founded and led the mortgage-finance group at Goldman, Sachs & Co. and went on to start his own real estate investment-banking firm, has died. He was 72.

He died Feb. 28, according to a death notice Thursday in The New York Times. No cause was given.

During an almost 20-year career at New York-based Goldman Sachs, which in 1999 became Goldman Sachs Group Inc., he oversaw its real estate investment trust investment-banking operation. In 1991, he founded Realty Capital International, serving as president of the firm, also in New York, and working alongside his daughter, Sally Jennings.

Realty Capital has managed more than $9 billion of transactions, including joint-venture equity, project finance and REIT initial public offerings, according to its website. Clients have included SL Green Realty Corp., Mitsui Fudosan Co. and Boston Properties Inc.

In 1979, a decade into his tenure at Goldman Sachs, he began its mortgage-finance group, according to a profile on the website of Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc., where he had been lead director since 2007.

"He was a real down-to-earth, decent person," Joel Marcus, chief executive officer at Pasadena, Calif.-based Alexandria Real Estate, said Thursday in a telephone interview. "He was also reserved, but when he spoke, people paid attention. His ability to have insightful thoughts about key issues that public companies face was kind of a hallmark of his person."

For three years ending in 1989, he was managing director of real estate finance at Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc., the New York firm that later collapsed under the weight of former junk bond king Michael Milken. Jennings then served as senior vice president at Landauer Real Estate Counselors in New York prior to starting Realty Capital.

Richard Baker Jennings was born Nov. 26, 1943, in New York. He graduated from the Riverdale Country School in the Bronx in 1961. While attending Yale University, he was awarded a Corning Glass Works Foundation Traveling Fellowship, allowing him to study for a year in Europe and Asia.

He received a bachelor's degree in economics from Yale in 1965 with the distinction of magna cum laude, and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School in Boston in 1968.

Jennings served on the boards of Orlando, Fla.-based National Retail Properties Inc. and New York's Terra Capital Partners, among others.

"He was a good friend, a highly respected real estate professional and a valued board member," Bruce Batkin, CEO of Terra Capital, said Monday in a note to the firm. "I had known Rich for over 30 years, and he never failed to impress with his breadth of knowledge, range of personal and professional relationships and unimpeachable ethics."

Jennings was married to Nancy Steeger Jennings, a Presbyterian minister, for 46 years. They had three daughters, Sally Jennings, Anne Jennings Staebler and Victoria Jennings Diamond, and four grandchildren, according to the notice.
During his two-day visit to Podgorica (3-4 March 2016), General Petr Pavel welcomed Montenegros commitment and progress towards NATO membership. The Chairman had bilateral discussions on the current state of relations between NATO and Montenegro with particular focus on military cooperation with the President, Mr. Filip Vujanovic, the Prime Minister, Mr. Milo ukanovic, the Minister of Defence, Professor Milica Pejanovic-urisic, the President of the Parliament, Mr. Ranko Krivokapic and the Chief of the General Staff of the Montenegrin Armed Forces, Admiral Dragan Samardzic.

Speaking with President Vujanovic, General Pavel highlighted the progress Montenegro has made in its defence and security sector reforms and exchanged views on how NATO can continue to assist Montenegro. Montenegros membership will bring benefits to both your country and NATO. It will further reinforce the security and stability of the Western Balkans, the Mediterranean, and Europe, said the Chairman.

During the Joint Press Conference with the Minister of Defence, Prof Milica Pejanovic- urisic, the Chairman expressed NATOs commitment to continue its support to Montenegro and valued the constructive role that the country plays in the region, and through its contributions to NATO, EU, and UN missions, to international security. Euro-Atlantic integration stands for stability. Being in NATO means greater security. It also allows for the sharing of experiences and pooling of capabilities", stated General Pavel.

Speaking with Admiral Samardzic, the Chairman praised the transformation of the Montenegrin Armed Forces and their participation in the Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan. Your contribution to the NATO-led missions in Afghanistan is highly valued, together with the financial support you are providing to the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces. We are grateful for these concrete and important contributions, said General Pavel.

Concluding his visit, the Chairman highlighted Montenegros proud military tradition and expertise in areas such as mountain warfare and maritime security. He also stressed that the cooperation with Allied forces in joint training, exercises and operations has made the Montenegrin Armed Forces stronger and better able to protect the Montenegrin people.
Thank you for that kind introduction. Im very happy to be back in the beautiful city of Krakow. Id like to thank Anna Szymanska-Klich and the Foundation Institute for Strategic Studies for inviting me to open your conference.

I last spoke at this conference two years ago, shortly after Russia had illegally annexed Crimea and at the beginning of its on-going campaign to destabilize Ukraine. That moment marked the end of a period of more than twenty years when the countries of the West looked to Russia as a partner. Of course, even by then, Russia had demonstrated a pattern of destabilizing countries in its neighbourhood, particularly Moldova and Georgia. But Russias aggression against Ukraine  including the first changing of borders by force in Europe since World War II  represented what I called a new strategic reality, one that is even starker today.

Since the start of the Ukraine crisis, Russia has continued to undermine the post-War and post-Cold War international order, an order based on respect for the sovereignty of nations, for the rule of law, and for human rights. Russia is trying to turn back the clock to a time when it dominated countries within its sphere of influence through force and intimidation. Yalta, not Helsinki, is held up as the model for European security in the 21st century. That can never be our vision.

Moscows challenge to the international rules-based order now extends to Syria and the Eastern Mediterranean. As Russia has provided greater levels of military support for President Assad  including bombing moderate opposition groups, and driving tens of thousands of civilians from Aleppo and other cities  it has made it even more difficult to find a long-term end to the violence and a negotiated peace and political transition .

NATO supports all efforts for a peaceful settlement. I hope the current cessation of hostilities can be developed into something much longer lasting, that can form the basis of a sustainable, negotiated political and peaceful solution for Syria.

Russia could still use its influence over Assad to be a force for peace in the Middle East. But it is still unclear whether this is Moscows ultimate aim. In the meantime, the flow of refugees continues, increasing the pressure on the countries of the region and of Europe. The main losers in this are the Syrian people themselves.

Not that long ago, our relationship with Russia centred on ever closer cooperation and partnership, on building an integrated European security system based on transparency, arms reductions and the peaceful settlement of disputes. Since 2014, however, it has been about securing the east of our Alliance and reinforcing deterrence. And now our relationship with Russia is directly tied to the refugee and migrant crisis.

But despite this, we cannot completely turn our backs on Russia. Our world is more interconnected today than ever before. We need to maintain an open and honest dialogue with Russia. We need dialogue to maintain transparency as to our own actions and intentions; to reduce the risk of further incidents, such as the downing of the Russian jet that entered Turkish airspace last year; and, if such incidents do happen, we need dialogue to prevent them from escalating out of control.

Engaging with Russia is not to accept the status quo. We do not accept Russias aggressive actions, whether in Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova or elsewhere. To do so would undermine the security of our Allies, our partners, and our values. Instead, we will stick to those values and be patient. For time is on our side.

Being patient is not the only thing that NATO is doing. Far from it. To ensure stable relations with Russia for the long term, we must speak with Russia from a position of strength.

In the 1960s and 70s, a strong deterrence paved the way for detente, for arms control agreements, and for our relatively predictable and stable relationship with the Soviet Union. Our situation today is different, but it requires a similar approach.

A combination of strength and dialogue is the best way to bring Russia back to compliance with international law and with Helsinki principles. The first litmus test will be for Russia to fully implement its obligations under the Minsk Accords. Until then, we must remain firm in maintaining economic sanctions and rejecting any return to business as usual.

The Alliance today is in a much stronger position than it was two years ago. Since 2014, we have carried out the most significant increase in our collective defence for a generation. The Readiness Action Plan (or RAP) is being implemented. The rapid-reaction Spearhead Force is operational; the NATO Response Force has more than tripled to over 40,000 troops, and we have held hundreds of exercises, including the largest military exercise for over a decade at the end of last year, Trident Juncture.

An increased capacity for rapid reinforcement is important, but it is not enough. Russia has embraced the promotion of insecurity, and withdrawn from all manner of military transparency agreements. Russian combat forces can move along the full length of its border with great speed and stealth. It also has considerable anti-ship and anti-aircraft weapons that could impede NATO reinforcements (its so-called anti-access/area denial capability). And it has shown in Ukraine that it can combine military power with unconventional hybrid methods  cyberattacks, subversion, disinformation  to destabilize its neighbours.

So we need to balance our reinforcements with an enhanced forward presence in the Eastern Allied countries. This is what NATO Defence Ministers agreed in principle last month. When Allied leaders meet here in Poland in July, they will agree the details.

A modern, effective deterrence means having the resources  and the political resolve  to convince an adversary that the costs of an attack are disproportionately high, and that such action would be a mistake. Deterrence will only come from a sufficiently robust and multinational forward presence, backed up by swift reinforcements. We must make it plain that crossing NATOs borders is not an option, whether its with tanks or with Little Green Men. Any such action will be countered not just by national forces, but by Allies from across Europe and North America.

The United States has demonstrated its commitment to European security through its billion-dollar European Reassurance Initiative  an initiative that will be nearly quadrupled in 2017. This will mean more troops, more exercises and more forward-positioned equipment and infrastructure in countries like Poland and the Baltic States. These increased US contributions provide a foundation on which, I hope, European Allies  including Poland  will build to generate a truly multinational forward presence along NATOs eastern flank.

European nations are already showing their commitment to our collective defence in implementing the RAP. European allies will serve as the backbone of the Spearhead Force on a rotating basis, and they are contributing to the continuous assurance measures. They have also begun to carry out the other important Wales Summit decision: to stop the cuts in defence budgets and gradually increase spending to 2% of GDP over a decade. A year after Wales, the overall fall in defence spending has effectively stopped. Five nations, including Poland, now spend 2% or more, and in 2015, sixteen Allies spent more in real terms on defence than they did in 2014. Eight Allies now spend the agreed 20% of their budgets on new equipment.

But simply spending more on defence is not enough. Russia exploits the weakness of its neighbours and uses propaganda to turn a countrys citizens against their own government and towards Russia.

Our first line of defence is not troops or heavy weapons, but effective governance: institutions that are  and that are seen to be  on the side of the citizen. Every member of the NATO Alliance is committed to our values of freedom, democracy, the rule of law and human rights. We must all continue to invest in those values every day, including in meeting the refugee and migrant challenge. We cannot allow this crisis to become one in which our solidarity and humanity give way to division and insularity.

We must also strengthen our resilience in key practical areas. Governments must ensure that their cyber defences are strong, that they have a high degree of civil preparedness, and that their critical national infrastructure is protected. Resilience is the essential first rung of the deterrence ladder.

NATO Allies have taken decisive action to strengthen our defence and deterrence, not just in the east, but in the south as well, where the chaos and violence that followed the failure of the Arab Spring has led to a humanitarian crisis.

Across the Middle East, North Africa and the Sahel, state structures have come under increasing pressure and in some cases have collapsed. The Syrian civil war has been an ongoing tragedy for the last five years. More than a quarter of a million people have been killed and millions more have been forced to flee to surrounding countries and to Europe.

In many cases, the space once occupied by states has been filled by terrorist groups such as Boko Haram, Al Shabaab and ISIL  groups that commit the most heinous crimes against humanity and present a serious terrorist threat to Europe and the rest of the world.

There is no one cause of the unrest, and no one solution. There is no single enemy to defeat, no one clear ideology to oppose. The situation is complex, constantly evolving, and is sure to be with us for many years to come. This is a situation where it is not enough to increase spending on defence at home and be done with it. If we are to be secure, then our neighbours must be stable. The consequences of when they are not are now clear for all to see.

The most high-profile aspect of the challenge from the south centres around Iraq and Syria. While NATO as such is not a part of the US-led Coalition to destroy ISIL, every single NATO Ally is a part of the Coalition.

NATOs role in the region  one it has played to some degree for many years  is to support our partners and to help them strengthen their defence and security sectors.

We have new Defence Capacity Building programmes with Iraq and Jordan. We are starting to train Iraqi officers in areas such as countering improvised explosive devices, de-mining, planning, cyber defence, military medicine, and security sector reform.

We have worked with Egypts military to introduce new mine detection and clearing technology. Morocco has joined our Interoperability Platform so that its armed forces can better operate with NATO forces. We are working closely with Tunisia on Special Forces and intelligence. And in Mauritania, the linchpin between the Maghreb and the Sahel, NATO is supporting the construction of safe munitions depots and training military personnel as they return to civilian life.

These programs show that NATO is doing a lot. But I believe we are not doing enough to have a real strategic impact. Only with a greater allocation of energy and resources can this work begin to affect the security of the wider Middle East and North Africa. This will be high on the agenda at Warsaw.

As well as working with individual nations, there is ample scope to increase our cooperation with other regional organizations  the European Union, first and foremost, but also the Gulf Cooperation Council and the African Union. Cooperation and coordination with other organizations and nations will be vital if we are to return long-term stability to the south.

The old saying goes, that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. This is never more so than in conflict. The more we can invest in our partners, the greater stability we can create in our neighbourhood, the lower the costs in blood and treasure we will eventually have to bear.

Ladies and gentlemen,

In the coming months, as we prepare for our Summit, Allies will continue to adapt our Alliance to our new realities. We will build on the Readiness Action Plan. We will increase the amount of pre-positioned equipment, enablers and combat forces on our Eastern flank on a rotational basis, to ensure we have the right balance between our forward presence and our capacity for rapid reinforcement. We will continue to deepen our military and political cooperation with key partners, from Finland and Sweden in the north, Ukraine, to Moldova and Georgia in the east, and to Iraq, Jordan, Tunisia and others in the south.

The NATO Alliance faces a more complex and fluid set of challenges than it has for a generation. But while some may look at the world and fear the future, I do not. Because of NATO.

For almost seven decades, the NATO Alliance has protected its Allies from every challenge they have encountered. It stood strong in the face of the Soviet threat. It has helped to keep the longest period of peace in Europe in the history of the continent, extending the zone of peace and security to the nations of Central and Eastern Europe. And it continues to ensure the safety and security of our people, our territory and our values.

No matter what the challenge, NATO and its Allies find a way. They always have and, I believe, they always will. The challenges we face today are not easy. But together, through NATO, we will find a way to maintain our peace and security for generations to come.
(NaturalNews) Pregnant goats fed with genetically engineered (GE) soybeans have offspring who grow more slowly and are shorter, according to a new Italian study (Tudisco et al., 2015). Publishing in the journal of Small Ruminant Research, the researchers were testing the results of supplementing the feed of female goats with Roundup Ready GE soybeans. Roundup Ready soybeans are engineered to resist the herbicide Roundup and are sold by agribusiness giant Monsanto. They are some of the most widely grown soybeans in the world. (Story by Jonathan Latham, republished from IndependentScienceNews.org .)The reduced growth of the goat kids was attributed by the researchers to their observation that the milk of the GE-fed mothers was significantly less nutritious and contained less of the IgG antibodies important for early growth.commented Dr Judy Carman, Director of the Institute of Healthand Environmental Research,Australia. She was not involved in the research, but told Independent Science Newsthat:To carry out these experiments the researchers divided pregnant female Cilentana goats into four groups, sixty days before kidding. Two of the groups were fed goat food containing GE Roundup Ready soybeans (at two different concentrations). The other two groups were fed conventional (non-GE) soybeans, also at two different concentrations.After the mothers gave birth all offspring were fed only with their mother's milk for sixty days. The growth of these kids was measured twice. After both thirty days and sixty days the kids of GE-fed mothers were approximately 20% lower in weight and shorter in stature. Both these differences were statistically significant.Lower offspring weights were not the only unexpected findings. The researchers also found that the milk of GE-fed goats was lower in protein and fat. This difference in milk quality was large (6% protein in both GE-fed groups versus 18% in both non-GE fed groups) for the first few weeks after birth but gradually disappearedeven though the mothers continued to be fed the GE soybeans . Additionally, the researchers also found that the colostrum produced by GE-fed mothers had low amounts of IgG antibodies. These antibodies are important for growth and for healthy immune development.A third difference noted by the researchers was that transgenic DNA could be detected in the colostrum of most (10/16) of the GE-fed goats. No transgene DNA was detected in the milk of goats fed non-GE soybeans. This is not the first time that transgene DNA (or non-transgenic DNA) has been found in the milk of ruminants, however.Interestingly, the researchers found that all of the kids were of similar size at birth, regardless of whether their mothers ate Roundup Ready GE soybeans or not. The researchers therefore proposed that the stunting of the offspring of GE-fed mothers reflected a milk deficiency. Presumably either the lower nutritional value of the colostrum and milk of GE-fed mothers or the colostrum antibody differences that were observed. The authors noted that low IgG antibody levels in colostrum are correlated in other ruminants with slower growth and also that IgG antibodies are known to have a role in nutrient absorption because they promote gut development in newborns.The researchers did not discuss whether the transgene DNA fragments found in the milk played a role in altering kid development.This result is the strongest demonstration so far of altered growth and development in offspring of GE-fed mothers. The same researchers in 2010 showed altered activity of the lactic dehydrogenase enzyme in kids fed milk from mothers that ate GE Roundup Ready soybeans. In that previous study however, no additional effects on goat offspring were detected (Tudisco et al., 2010).Read more at IndependentScienceNews.org [1] ScienceDirect.com [2] IHER.org.au [3] IndependentScienceNews.org [4] Journals.Cambridge.org [5] IndependentScienceNews.org [6] BioScienceResource.org
Black market for dead babies is real

(NaturalNews) When a baby's severed head showed up in a package in Bangkok, workers must have been horrified for life. Just as the parcel was being scanned to be sent to Las Vegas, workers discovered its ghastly contents. A baby's head, preserved in a jar of formaldehyde, was accompanied by several infant feet and "sheets of skin." The morbid package also contained a patch of tattooed adult skin.Thai police confirmed that the parcel was headed for the United States. Police Major General Chawalit Prasopsin told the press, "They were not from one body but were in small pieces.""They have been sent for forensic examination to confirm if they were from babies who died after delivery or in the womb," Chawalit said.Some of the parts were in a package labeled "antique train set collection." Deputy national police chief Ruangsak Jritake told reporters, "The initial assumption is that the body parts were probably stolen... as the hospital said some items were missing from an exhibition room."According to reports, the body parts were cut and preserved in a way only surgeons could undertake.The 31- and 33-year-old men who attempted to send the body parts to addresses in Las Vegas were taken in for questioning. One of the men has a history of making expletive videos.According to Police Major General Prasopsin, the body parts were so tediously preserved that they appeared that they might be used for educational purposes or as part of someone's "collection."Killing fetuses isn't just a way to keep the population down in China. Surgically removing fetuses from the womb of American women isn't just about giving women choice in the land of the free.Babies, in or outside the womb, with heartbeats, hands, feet and faces, are valuable on the black market , for wild and sadistic purposes.In fact, killing babies and using their body parts is rooted in black magic rituals. In Thai black magic rituals,, fetuses are collected, preserved and used as objects of good luck. The preserved fetuses are kept in a "shrine" of a home or business to bring the owner good fortune. This morbid reality was unveiled when Thai police discovered six roasted human fetuses in 2012. Those babies were wrapped in gold leaf and were linked to a black magic ritual. Police found the baby parts in the suitcase of a British citizen with Taiwanese roots. The Brit was sending the parts to Taiwan for someone there who supposedly practiced black magic.This makes one wonder: How many aborted babies are used for personal "collections," science experiments, educational purposes or sadistic black magic rituals? Some may believe that "medical waste" of aborted fetal tissue is secure in America and properly disposed of, but what about the controversy surrounding Stericycle? The company carelessly dumped aborted babies in a landfill alongside household waste. What about when the company sent aborted babies to an Oregon power plant? Stericycle shipped fetuses from an abortion clinic to be used as fuel at an Oregon power plant. The company has also been entrusted with disposing of Ebola medical waste.
A driver in a silver truck died early Friday morning after colliding with a Dodge Durango in San Jose's Cambrian district, police said.

San Jose police said the accident was reported just before 3 a.m. at Camden and Leigh avenues, near a Chase bank and McDonald's.

The driver of the truck died, and someone inside the red Durango, which ended up on the grass, was arrested, though police didn't immediately release more details. A friend of the truck driver showed up at the scene later in the morning. "It's pretty tough to know that he's gone," David Lowe said.

The wreck was cleared and roads opened about 9 a.m.

Police officer Albert Morales said this is the 11th traffic fatality of 2016, and the driver is the 12th person to die in one this year.
In response to a letter signed by more than 50 food safety advocacy groups, fast food chain In-N-Out released a statement saying it is committed to serving beef that is not raised with antibiotics important to human medicine.

Advocacy groups interpreted the statement as an encouraging turnaround from the companys past policies, in which In-N-Out representatives said they supported the Food and Drug Administrations often-contested guidelines that permit a wide range of antibiotic use.

Scientific studies have shown that raising cattle and chicken that feed on meals doused with antibiotics contributes to antibiotic resistance in humans, creating so-called superbugs and making many illnesses harder to treat.

However, the FDA has allowed antibiotic use in livestock for 40 years, and it is an approved practice by the Animal Health Institute, despite those studies. Farms that dont use antibiotic treatment for livestock stand at a greater risk for producing unhealthy food supplies, the administration has previously stated.

To negotiate between antibiotic resistance and unhealthy food sources, many organizations have pressured restaurants like In-N-Out to stop using antibiotics commonly used to treat human conditions.

Groups such as Friends of the Earth, the Center for Food Safety and CALPIRG Education Fund had been critical of In-N-Outs stance toward food sourcing, but it commended the companys recent pivot.

In-N-Out Burger's recent statement is an important step forward, said Kari Hamerschlag, senior program manager at Friends of the Earth. Now, the company needs to provide the public with a timeline showing that its serious about eliminating everyday use of antibiotics in its beef production."

Several other chain restaurants, including Panera Bread, Chick-Fil-A and Chipotle have pledged to use meet that hasnt been treated with antibiotics, earning it positive rankings with Consumer Reports and other organizations.

Last October in California, Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill that laid forth more stringent restrictions for the use of antibiotics in livestock production. That bill, which bans antibiotics used to fatten animals and those not used for disease prevention, will go into effect in 2018.


A 23-year-old security guard with five months on the job, who happened to see a woman drive into the Antioch City Marina, helped pull her to safety and then watch her get arrested for a misdemeanor DUI.

Antioch Police Sgt. Rick Smith also said the 41-year-old Oakland woman was taken to a hospital in Martinez, but couldn't detail much more because of patient privacy laws.

The call for help came in on Thursday about 10:30 p.m.

David Quintanilla, who works security at the marina, saw the woman drive "recklessly" in the parking lot of the marina and speed off the dock. "She just launched into the water," he said.

Quintanilla then shouted at her to take off her seatbelt, and he said he tried to camm her down as much as possible. He bent down, took her hand, and pulled her out of the window. Rescue crews from the Contra Costa Fire Department were called who then hauled her car out of the water, according to Battalion Chief Jim Huntze.

"I feel fortunate that I was here," Quintanilla said. "Thank God he put me in the right place at the right time."
Two 14-year-old students knew a classmate had a gun at school before a cafeteria shooting but didn't tell authorities, according to an Ohio sheriff.

The two teens have been charged with failing to report a crime, a misdemeanor. Both have been issued summonses to appear in juvenile court, authorities said.

Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones said the alleged shooter, another 14-year-old student, showed the gun to both boys early in the school day, before the lunchtime shooting Monday at Madison Local Schools, near Middletown, about 25 miles from Cincinnati.

"I have to stress, it is imperative that if there is rumor or firsthand knowledge about any type of weapon or weapons that someone has or is intending to bring to school, it has to be reported to someone," Jones said in a statement. He also urged parents to talk with their children about how important that is.

Authorities said two students were shot and two others were hurt by shrapnel or while fleeing the scene Monday. All are expected to recover.

The suspected gunman is in juvenile detention on charges including attempted murder. He denied the charges through his attorney in a court appearance Tuesday.

The Butler County prosecutor has said he may consider seeking to have the teen's case moved to adult court.

Family members of the suspect released a statement earlier this week, saying they were "devastated" by the shooting and praying for those injured.

"Our family has lived in this community our entire lives and we never expected anyone to experience the event that occurred on Monday, and we certainly did not expect that one of our family members would be involved," the family said, in part.
Chicago Public Schools announced Thursday that district employees will be furloughed for three days this year.

The unpaid days are expected to save the district $30 million, officials said.

Its never easy to furlough employees, but our priority was to preserve instructional time for our students while preserving year-end cash and continuing to chip away at our budget gap, CPS CEO Forrest Claypool said in a statement.

In a letter to employees Thursday, Claypool blamed Gov. Bruce Rauner and a lack of funding from the state for forcing the district to furlough employees.

Unfortunately, as hes made clear in recent weeks, Governor Rauner is more interested in forcing bankruptcy and taking over our schools than in addressing the unequal funding issues that hurt districts like ours across the state, the letter read. We know we cannot cut our way to a solution. However, the Governors inaction means we must continue to cut costs and ease our cash flow, so we can do whats necessary to ensure our classrooms are protected and our students progress is uninterrupted.

Teachers will be furloughed March, June 22 and June 23. All other staff will be furloughed March 25, April 21 and April 22.

The Chicago Teachers Union said the move could cost teachers an 8.6 percent loss in pay and said it only adds insult to injury.

The furlough announcement comes just days after CPS announced dozens of employee layoffs, including 17 teacher layoffs. Claypool also revealed plans last month for hundreds of millions of dollars in budget cuts. In that same announcement, he revealed major changes to CPS pension plan.

The Chicago Teachers Union has threatened to strike as early as April 1, saying the districts decision to cancel a 7 percent pension pickup payment is an unfair labor practice.

CPS, however, said a strike is not legally possible until mid-May.

CTU President Karen Lewis said the furlough announcement only strengthens our resolve to shut down the school district on April 1st.

The mayor is already seeking a 7 percent pay cut and todays directive adds another reduction in salary and benefits, she said in a statement. They should have never extended the school year in the first place if they couldnt afford to do so.
Former Chicago Police Superintendent Richard Brzeczek said there is no question the department's code of silence is real. In an exclusive interview with NBC 5 Chicago, Brzeczek said its like a "cancer" and exists today as well as during his tenure.

At 37 years old when he served in the early 1980s, Brzeczek was the department's youngest superintendent. He was a controversial top cop for a controversial mayor: Jane Byrne.

Although he lives in Florida now, Brzeczek is currently in Chicago testifying as an expert witness in a trial involving the code of silence, which he says "has always existed in the police department."

"It existed during my time," Brzeczek said. "The bad thing about it is the majority of police officers are good people and in their heart they dont like it."

Brzeczek said that during his tenure as superintendent, he appeared at police-involved shootings no matter when or where they took place to ensure investigations were conducted properly.

"I was there for two reasons. One: to let them know that I care about it, and No. 2: to make sure no shenanigans, Brzeczek said.

Brzeczek also said there were signs that former top cop Gary McCarthy wasnt the best choice.

"I was never properly convinced that McCarthy was properly vetted," Brzeczek said. "When he came from Newark, he left when the department was under a DOJ civil rights investigation. That should have been a red flag."

One of the hallmarks of McCarthys leadership was the Compstat Meetings  bringing in police command staff to analyze crime hot spots. Brzeczek said McCarthys style undercut his effectiveness.

"He would engage in behavior screaming at them," Brzeczek said. "Is that the way you talk to high-ranking executives?"

Very soon, the police board will announce three finalists for the next superintendent; one name tossed around is Dr. Cedric Alexander, a current chief in suburban Atlanta. Brzeczek, however, would prefer someone with a connection to Chicago.

The three finalists for top cop will be forwarded to Mayor Rahm Emanuel within the next 10 days. Whomever the mayor chooses, the city council must approve his pick.
A new poll shows that 50 percent of Illinois residents disapprove of Gov. Bruce Rauner's job performance as the state's governor.

The poll, which was conducted by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University, exemplifies a stark polarity amongst Illinois voters, with another 41 percent of respondents approving of Rauners job performance.

The remaining 9 percent were undecided.

The poll, which was taken Feb. 15-20, was comprised of 1,000 registered voters. The polls margin of error was plus or minus 3.1 percent.

This is in contrast to a seperate 2015 poll wherein 37 percent of respondents approved of Rauners performance and 31 percent disapproved. Thirty-two percent of respondents to that poll were undecided.

Thirty-four percent of Chicagoans approve of Rauners job performance, while 58 percent disapprove. In the suburbs, however, Rauner garnered 43 percent approval and 47 percent disapproval.

Rauners approval and disapproval ratings have both risen as his first term in office has progressed and voters have begun to formulate an opinion on his job performance.

An Ogden and Fry poll conducted Jan. 9 found that Rauners disapproval rating had reached 51.6 percent and that his approval rating was at 33.1 percent. Pollsters said 15.3 percent of respondents were undecided.

In response to that poll, Rauner Press Secretary Catherine Kelly claimed the governor was focused on pension reform and not poll numbers.

"The governor is focused today on saving taxpayers $1 billion through pension reform," Kelly told Ward Room.

Rauners first term as Illinois governor has been typified by a budget impasse dating back to July of last year. The historic budget battle between the governor and the Democratic-controlled legislature has hinged on Rauners insistence on instituting his Turnaround Agenda.

As a result of the stalemate, state universities, community colleges and social services have suffered from not receiving state funding.

David Yepsen, director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, claimed many Illinoisans have yet to feel the true impact of the impasse.

One reason this stalemate goes on is many simply dont feel it is effecting their lives, Yepsen said in a statement. Those people arent likely to be pressuring policymakers to do something to break the logjam. Many programs that are funded are being paid for with loans or one-time money and that cant go on forever.

Still, when it came to whether respondents thought Illinois was moving in the right direction, only 9 percent agreed. Eighty-four percent said the state is on the wrong track."

The Rauner administration did not respond to Ward Room's initial request for comment Thursday.
Race to Watch is a twice weekly Ward Room column dedicated to helping voters familiarize themselves with candidates in the lead-up to the March 15 primary elections. This weeks focus is the 5th District Illinois House race.

Incumbent Rep. Ken Dunkin will face Juliana Stratton in the March 15 Democratic primary for Dunkins Illinois House seat.

There are no Republicans on the ballot, so the Democratic primary will be a decisive election.

Dunkin was raised in Chicagos Cabrini-Green Housing Development. He previously served as the director of the Robert Taylor Boys and Girls Club, managing over $2.5 million in program services.

The state representative also interned at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as well as with former Sen. Paul Simon.

Dunkin currently serves as a member of the Attorney Registration Disciplinary Commission, to which he was appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court.

Dunkin assumed office as the 5th Districts Representative in the Illinois House in 2002. As a member of the Illinois House of Representatives, Dunkin has served as a member of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus as well as on a handful of committees, including the International Trade & Commerce committee.

Dunkin broke up the Democratic super-majority in the Illinois House of Representatives last year, siding with Gov. Bruce Rauner on certain state budget issues.

Dunkin has come under fire from fellow Democrats after holding out on two bills that could have nullified changes Rauner made to social service programs.

Dunkin also received a $500,000 campaign donation from the Illinois Opportunity Project earlier this year. The group was co-founded by former Republican gubernatorial candidate and conservative radio host Dan Proft.

Dunkin made headlines after Rauner's State of the State address earlier this year when he came to a news conference with a backpack and sleeping bag promising to camp out at House Speaker Michael Madigans office until the states budget stalemate was resolved.

Many view the 5th District Illinois House race as a proxy battle between Rauner and Madigan. Although Dunkin is a Democrat, he has received substantial donations from Republican backers, while Stratton has received support and donations from powerful Illinois democrats.

Stratton served as an associate at Monahan & Cohen from 1991 to 1994. She dealt in juvenile, probate and special education law.

She then founded JDS Mediation Services, Inc. in 1995. She still serves as president of the consulting group that provides mediation services.

Stratton has also served as an adjunct professor at Loyola University Chicago teaching conflict management, negotiation skills and mediation skills. She taught at the university from 2002 to 2004 and more recently from 2009 to present.

From 2005 to 2011, she held the position of deputy hearing commissioner at the City of Chicagos Department of Business Affairs & Consumer Protection.

Stratton was also an administrative law judge for the City of Chicagos Office of Administrative Hearings from 2006 to 2011.

From 2011 to 2014, she served as executive director of the Cook County Justice Advisory Council.

Stratton also served as the executive director for Cook County Justice for Children from 2014 to 2015.

Stratton currently serves as the director for the Center for Public Safety and Justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Last month, Stratton was endorsed by Secretary of State Jesse White, Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Father Michael Pfleger, among others.
Editor's note: Two years after this story was published in 2009, the day care worker was convicted and sentenced to 31 years in prison. In 2013, the pathologist who performed the toddler's autopsy said Benjamin had suffered an old injury," which the pathologist had missed. A new hearing was allowed in 2016, but the judge ultimately declined to overturn the day care worker's conviction.



In his last moments of life, 16-month-old Benjamin Kingan picked up his blanket and crawled to a chair police later said was his "comfort zone."

It should have been a place where Benjamin would be safe, but police say the woman assigned to care for him at a Lincolnshire day care center, has admitted she killed the little boy by throwing him on the ground on Wednesday.

Lincolnshire police investigator Adam Hyde said after the incident, Benjamin picked up his blanket and his pacifier and went to his favorite bouncy chair, where he was found cuddled up and unresponsive less than half-an-hour later.

Police said the Minee-Subee Day Care Center in Lincolnshire was licensed and had a spotless record.

[NATL] Rio's Abandoned Olympic Ghost Town

But they said 22-year-old Melissa Calusinski, an employee at the center, has been charged with first-degree murder and is being held on $5 million bond.



"It is even more tragic than we originally thought," Lincolnshire Police Chief Randy Melvin told the Chicago Sun-Times. "Our initial investigation seemed to indicate that it was natural causes, or possibly something congenital. Further investigation revealed...the infant had suffered a severe fracture to the top of the head."



Calusinksi, a teachers' aide, reportedly told police she slammed the child on the ground after having "issues" with the children in the room.



Police said there were seven other toddlers and another adult in the room at the time of the incident. Staff members tried CPR before paramedics arrived. The boy later died at the hospital.

Visitation will be held from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Kolssak Funeral Home at 189 S. Milwaukee Ave. in Wheeling, the Sun-Times reported.

The funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the funeral home.
Running a race in Chicago is one of the best ways to see multiple parts of the city in one trip. While participating in the Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle 8K on April 3, runners start in Millennium Park to race through Chicagos Near North Side, then down through the Loop heading south, back east to Printers Row and finishing strong in Chicagos very own Grant Park.

Over the duration of 4.97 miles, runners and spectators alike will see some of the best sights Chicagos Loop area has to offer.

Heres what you can expect at each mile of the race.

Start Line

Loop/Millennium Park: At the start of the race, runners can enjoy the views of Millennium Park, including Cloud Gate The Bean, Maggie Daley Park and the Jay Pritzker Pavilion. On the run to the first mile marker, runners will also be able to see the Chicago River while crossing over Columbus Drive and passing NBC Tower.

Mile 1

Near North Side/Magnificent Mile: Runners reach the first mile on the border of the Near North Side and the Magnificent Mile. Runners begin this mile with a view one of the greatest shopping areas Chicago has to offer, spying The Shops at North Bridge as they run down Grand Avenue. While crossing over the Bataan-Corregidor Memorial Bridge on State Street, runners pass House of Blues Chicago and the Marina Towers. Continuing on to the second mile, runners see all the shops the North Loops State Street has to offer.

Mile 2

Upper Chicago Loop: Runners race into the heart of Chicago's Loop. In this mile, runners see the financial and governmental sides of the city. Winding through the Loop, runners pass the John C. Kluczynski Federal Building, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and Chicago City Hall. As a reminder to save time for a night out, runners pass the Cadillac Palace Theatre right before hitting mile marker three, home of Chicagos best Broadway shows.

Mile 3

Lower Chicago Loop: Runners continue through Chicagos Loop to Mile Marker three. Runners dash through the city seeing the Willis Tower; and then run under Chicagos I-290 Eisenhower Expressway to Harrison Street. They then head under Metras Rock Island Train Platform and the LaSalle Street Station leading them past the US Citizenship and Immigration Services building and into Printers Row.

Mile 4

Printers Row: Once at the fourth mile marker, runners get a glimpse at Chicagos small neighborhood known as Printers Row. In the final mile, continuing down Harrison, if runners look to their left they will see some of Columbia Colleges street art, including a large "Harmony" display and portrait of a moose blowing bubble gum. Turning south onto Michigan Avenue, runners finish strong with the landscape of Grant Park to the left and high-rises, colleges and hotels to the right. In the final stretch down Roosevelt Road to Columbus Drive, runners grace Grant Park with views of Rosenberg Fountain, the famous Agora headless iron figures and Grant Skate Park.

Finish Line

South Loop/Grant Park: The finish line puts runners in the middle of Chicagos Grant Park in Upper Hutchinson Field. Runners can enjoy a Post-Race Party in the park with live music from Chicagos Stache and food, refreshments and a free beer with their race bib ticket while taking in the sight of the city.
An Egyptian flight student who was arrested after posting threatening comments about Donald Trump on his Facebook page agreed Friday to leave the country by July.

A deportation hearing was conducted Friday in the case of 23-year-old Emadeldin Elsayed, who was enrolled at a Southern California flight school when he posted a threatening message directed at the Republican presidential front-runner.

Elsayed was angered by Trump's statements about blocking Muslims from visiting the United States and posted an article about it Feb. 3 on Facebook.

The post said he was willing to kill Trump and the world would thank him. The following day, Secret Service agents questioned him and searched his residence and computer devices, according to the student's attorney, Hani Bushra.

At Friday's hearing, immigration authorities agreed to let Elsayed return to Egypt voluntarily instead of deporting him, so long as he departs by July 5. Elsayed, who is being held at a jail in Southern California, appeared at a hearing in immigration court in Los Angeles shackled and wearing a yellow jail jumpsuit.

Elsayed will be escorted by authorities during the departure process.

"He has to be escorted from jail directly to New York, where he will take the Egypt Air flight to Cairo," his attorney said in a statement. "We are now trying to work on expediting this process as fast as possible."

Federal prosecutors have not charged him with a crime, but his visa was revoked.

"He's just a student who said something foolish, and it's being taken way out of proportion," Bushra said earlier this week. "To look at the other side, it's not unreasonable for the authorities to be concerned about a post like this, but once it's been investigated and there's no reason to be worried about it or grounds for criminal charges then I don't think it's fair to pressure a school owner to terminate him and use that as an excuse."

Bushra told Immigration Judge Kevin Riley that he may seek another bond hearing for the aspiring pilot from Cairo because he believes Elsayed's detention is illegal.

Bushra said after the hearing that he understands why the Feb. 3 Facebook post led to his client being investigated. But in the absence of criminal charges, Elsayed should be freed, the attorney said.



"He's being detained, I think, primarily because he's a Muslim and he's a Middle Easterner," Bushra said, adding that social media sites are teeming with similar comments. "This kid is going to become a poster boy for hating America."

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials issued the following statement about Elsayed's case: "Mr. Elsayed was taken into custody Feb. 12 by officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ... for allegedly violating the terms of his admission to the United States. Mr. Elsayed remains in ICE custody pending the outcome of immigration proceedings before the Executive Office for Immigration Review."

Bushra said the owner of Universal Air Academy in El Monte expelled his client, giving immigration officials the authority to kick Elsayed out of the country as that was the basis for his visa. The academy's owner, Alex Khatib, has said he would take Elsayed back as a student if possible.

Bushra argued that many other people on social media have made worse statements about candidates and do not appear to be facing expulsion from the country. He said it appears his client's religious and ethnicity are driving the push to expel Elsayed. The attorney acknowledged that some of the 9/11 attackers were enrolled in flight school, which may also be a factor.

Bushra argued his client has already paid more than $40,000 in tuition, but Elsayed was still declared a danger to the community by immigration officials.

Elsayed is from Cairo, but he said he spent much of his life in Saudi Arabia, where his father worked as a civil engineer. He came to the United States for the first time last September to attend Universal Air Academy with the hope of returning to Egypt and getting a job at an airline, he said.

He said he'd like to continue his studies in the United States. If not, he will seek a refund of some of the $65,000 he has spent on his education and use it to study elsewhere.

Trump is leading the Republican presidential contenders and has used especially tough talk on immigration to win over many voters. He has vowed to build a wall along the entire Mexican border and has called for temporarily banning Muslims from entering the country.

The State Department and Secret Service declined to discuss the case. A Trump campaign spokeswoman also declined to comment.
A North Texas man suspected of posing as his dead neighbor, selling the man's home and spending thousands with his debit card, has been charged with murder in connection with the man's death, according to police.

Christopher Brian Colbert, 43, was arrested March 3 by U.S. Marshals in Los Angeles on charges of money laundering, tampering with a governmental record and securing/executing a document by deception, according to Dallas police Maj. Max Geron.[[329299491,C]]

Dallas police detectives traveled to Southern California to interview Colbert, and based on their interview, charged Colbert with murder in the death of his 57-year-old neighbor, Ronald David Shumway.

Shumway's remains were found in September 2015, encased in a concrete slab near the backyard of a vacant home under renovation in the 700 block of Winnetka Avenue.

Dallas police said Shumway had owned the home for more than 30 years but had not been seen or heard from for about six months before his body was found.

Investigators believe Colbert, a former next-door neighbor, sold Shumway's home by posing as the dead man.

Police said Colbert forged signatures on closing documents and provided the title company with a doctored drivers license photo  one that had his photo superimposed over Shumway's actual license.

Police also said Colbert used Shumways debit card last summer to spend nearly $40,000.

Colbert is jailed on a $150,000 bond.

Information on an attorney for Colbert was not immediately available.

Arrest Warrant

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Bristol police arrested four men following a brawl at a bodega Thursday afternoon.

Police say they responded to The Corner Store at 1 Divinity Street around 3:53 p.m. for reports of a disturbance. When they arrived they found four male suspects had attacked a 27-year-old male victim inside the store. The injuries were not serious and the victim refused medical attention.

Drugs were found on three of the four suspects. All four were arrested for the incident.

Brandon Medina, 21, of Dorothy Road in Bristol was charged with second-degree breach of peace, third-degree assault, and third-degree criminal mischief. He was held on a $7,500 bond.

Christopher Solis, 27, of North Street in Bristol was charged with second-degree breach of peace, third-degree assault, third-degree criminal mischief and possession of marijuana. He was held on a $50,000 bond.

Rodney Lockhart, 21, of Locust Street in New Britain, was charged with second-degree breach of peace, third-degree assault, third-degree criminal mischief, possession of marijuana, possession of marijuana with intent to sell, and illegal possession within 1500 feet of a school. He was held on a $150,000 bond.

Victor Negron, 33, was charged with second-degree breach of peace, third-degree assault, third-degree criminal mischief, violation conditions of release, illegal possession of narcotics, illegal possession of narcotics with intent to sell, illegal possession within 1500 of a school. He was held on a $200,000.

Police say no weapons were involved and the victim knew his assailants. The store did suffer minor damage during the incident.


The caretaker of a 14-month-old baby has been charged with manslaughter in the boy's death.

Keith Frost, 29, was arrested Friday on first-degree manslaughter charges in the death of the toddler, who was found unresponsive at the Econo Lodge Inn and Suites in December.

Frost was the boyfriend of the baby's mother. The mother, who has not been named, was at work for most of the day and left her son in Frost's care, according to the arrest affidavit.

The baby was not breathing and was rushed to the Middlesex Medical Center Shoreline Clinic and then transferred to Yale-New Haven Hospital on December 19. The baby had a fractured skull, bleeding behind his eyes a broken eye socket and was suffering from brain damage, according to doctors. They concluded the boy was a victim of shaken baby syndrome. He was taken off life support and died on December 20.

Frost was arrested in the days following the child's death on charges related to a robbery in New York. He has been in custody in Connecticut since then.

"Today law enforcement speaks for an innocent victim who sadly no longer has a voice," Old Saybrook Police Chief Michael Spera said on Friday.

Frost is being held on $150,000 bond.
State police were dealing with multiple crashes on Connecticut's roads and highways Friday morning thanks to a light snow that fell coated parts of the state.

A crash closed I-84 West near Exit 50 around 5:45 a.m., snarling traffic in the Hartford area. A jackknifed tractor-trailer shut down I-84 West in Danbury. Both accidents cleared, but heavy delays continued throughout the morning.

Route 10 in Avon was closed after a car hit a utility pole and snapped it in half. The road was shut down between Old Farms Road and Cider Brook Road.

In Southbury, a serious accident closed Route 6 south of Route 67.

State police also report numerous single-vehicles spinouts due to slick roads.
The pipes are calling for one and all to come out to the North Texas Irish Festival on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, March 4, 5 & 6th at Fair Park in Dallas. Bring the friends and the whole family to this North Texas favorite sponsored by the Southwest Celtic Music Association and NBC 5.



This year's theme, Legends and Legacies, highlights the true legends of Irish music who leave a legacy for fans of all generations. This year, gracing the festival are international favorites Altan and Solas, among other featured performers from around the world. New this year are special appearances from Celtic Aire, the premier folk ensemble of the U.S. Air Force; and Scythian, a Celtic band from the Ukraine that specializes in "immigrant rock."



From highlighting true legends of Irish music to continuing the legacy through newer, young musicians emerging from the North Texas hotbed of Irish music, North Texas Irish Festival proves to be another rich, cultural experience that will have toes tapping and minds blown.



So dont miss the North Texas Irish Festival! For more information and for a complete schedule, visit www.ntif.org.



North Texas Irish Festival 2016

March 4  6

Fair Park  Dallas

www.ntif.org












Los Angeles police confirmed Friday morning a knife was found on the former Brentwood property of O.J. Simpson and said they are investigating a report that it was discovered years ago by a construction worker who handed it over to authorities.

A report, published Friday by TMZ and citing unidentified law enforcement sources, said a construction worker found a knife several years ago buried on the perimeter of the former Simpson home and gave it to a police officer working security for a nearby film shoot.

On June 17, 1994, Orenthal "OJ" Simpson and his friend Al Cowlings led police on a 60-mile slow-speed car chase through Los Angeles and Orange Counties, captivating viewers glued to television sets. Conan Nolan reports for the NBC4 News on Friday, June 17, 1994.

The officer, now retired, was recently ordered to surrender the knife for testing by authorities after he contacted a friend at the department for information about the 1994 murder case for which Simpson stood trial, according to the report.

LAPD Capt. Andrew Neiman told NBC4 Friday morning that police are investigating the report.

The mansion on Rockingham Avenue in Brentwood, where Simpson lived when his ex-wife and her friend were stabbed to death in June 1994, was demolished by a new owner in 1998. TMZ reported, citing law enforcement sources, that the knife was found sometime from "several years ago to 1998."

[NATL] The Great White Bronco Chase

"We still don't know if that's an accurate account," Neiman said.

Neiman confirmed at a Friday morning news conference that an individual identified by the officer as a construction worker gave the knife to him when he was working security at a film shoot near the former Simpson estate. The officer retired in the late 1990s, but it's not clear whether the officer was retired at the time the knife was found, Neiman said.

"If this story is accurate, I would think an LAPD officer would know that anytime you come into contact with evidence you should submit that to investigators," Neiman said.

The officer will likely not face administrative charges because he is retired, Neiman said, adding that an investigation will determine whether criminal charges are possible.

[NATL] Life and Times: OJ Simpson

Police became aware of the knife within the last month, but authorities did not discuss details about how they obtained the item. It has been submitted to an LAPD forensics team for examination.

It was not clear to whom the knife belonged and authorities are attempting to determine the identity of the individual who turned it over to the officer, Neiman said.

"With all cases that remain open, unless there's an actual arrest or conviction to prove we've actually closed the case, the case remains open," Neiman said of the killings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.

Neiman did not provide a description of the knife at the Friday news conference, but multiple law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation told NBC News that the knife undergoing tests is a relatively inexpensive, smaller-bladed utility blade typically used by construction workers, gardeners, landscapers or other laborers.

The murder weapon in the case has remained a mystery. A 15-inch retractable-blade knife that Simpson bought at Ross Cutlery in downtown Los Angeles drew the interest of murder trial prosecutors, but the defense presented the knife in a preliminary hearing. Tests later showed the knife in pristine condition with no signs it had been used in the double killing.

In 1998, a residential construction crew found a folding-blade knife in Simpson's former neighborhood but police said there was no evidence to show it was related to any crime.

The mansion, where Simpson married Brown in 1985, was one of the landmarks of the murder trial. The infamous white Ford Bronco pursuit from Orange County ended in the mansion's driveway. It's also where Det. Mark Fuhrman said he found a bloody glove during the investigation into the slayings of Brown and Goldman.

AP

Simpson was forced to sell the Rockingham Avenue estate to comply with requirements of the civil court judgment after the criminal trial. An investment banker hired a demolition crew to raze the house and clear the way for a new mansion four years later.



"It's not my house and I could care less," Simpson told The Associated Press in a telephone interview at the time the house was demolished. "I am a sentimental guy, but there's things you've got to compartmentalize."

The former NFL and USC football star was acquitted of murder in the slayings of ex-wife and Goldman, but a civil jury found him liable. In September 2007, Simpson was arrested in Las Vegas and charged with several felonies after an armed robbery and kidnapping at a hotel in an attempt to recover sports memorabilia.

He was sentenced to 33 years in prison.

[NATL] OJ Trial: Key Players Then and Now

No matter what is determined through the knife investigation, Simpson cannot be tried again in the Brown-Goldman murders because of the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment. Attorney Carl Douglas, a member of Simpson's legal team that secured the 1995 acquittal, said an investigation involving the knife would be a waste of time and money.

"I am amazed at the latest frenzy surrounding this ridiculous frenzy about some knife found on OJ's former property," Douglas said. "As a proud citizen of Los Angeles, I will be offended if the Los Angeles Police Department spends one minute of city time or one dollar of the city's limited resources chasing this ridiculous, supposed lead. I hope there are other investigations more deserving of the city's resources than this failed attempt, now 22 years old.

"OJ left the house two days after the murders and never returned until October 3rd, 1995. I certainly hope the LAPD used all of the resources then to scour every inch of his property looking for relevant evidence. It is pure fantasy to believe that there's anything relevant with this knife that has now been turned over. I'd rather talk about the Easter Bunny instead."
Florida law will specify that churches can't be forced to marry same-sex couples under a bill the Legislature sent to Gov. Rick Scott on Thursday. Scott's office said he'll sign the measure, which opponents say isn't necessary and is simply an overreaction to the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage.

Bill sponsor Sen. Aaron Bean acknowledged last year's ruling is the reason for his bill, which passed on a 23-15 vote with only Republicans in favor and Democrats joined by only one Republican in opposition.

"A definition of marriage that many held sacred and part of their religious belief was turned upside down,'' said Bean, R-Fernandina Beach. "The entire marriage world turned upside down. Some celebrated and some are still scratching their heads, but that's now the law of the land. So, that's why we're here.''

However, Bean couldn't provide an example in Florida of a church being told it had to marry a gay couple. Democrats said the state and federal constitutions already protect churches and they can already refuse to marry any couple, gay or not, based on their religious beliefs.

"We already have these protections,'' said Democratic Sen. Geraldine Thompson of Orlando. "We have been repealing unnecessary laws but here we are ... considering putting an unnecessary law in our statutes.''

The bill says churches and religious-based organizations also could bar gay couples from holding ceremonies and receptions at their facilities.

Bean said that the bill was about protecting churches from what could happen in the future and said he hopes his bill is unnecessary.

"Have you ever heard of a senator or a representative that hopes their bill is never used or tested? I'm the first,'' he said. "Hopefully no one will ever challenge somebody in the practice of their religion. That will be a sad day in our nation in our state ... Some say that's where our nation is headed.''

The House passed the bill (HB 43) on Wednesday. The law will take effect July 1.
Pembroke Pines Police responded to a hazmat situation at a local bank Friday afternoon.

It happened at the Wells Fargo located at 702 North University Drive in Pembroke Commons.

Police said a customer made a deposit at one of the drive-thru windows, and when the employee began counting the money, he noticed a white powdery substance on it.

The employee had an allergic reaction and was transported to the hospital as a precaution. He was treated and released.

Hazmat team members tested the substance and determined it was not volatile or harmful. They questioned the person making the deposit, who fully cooperated with the investigation, and no charges will be filed. Police determined no criminal activity was associated with the incident.

Employees were allowed back into the building after crews gave the all-clear.
A day after Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney revealed his ambitious $4.17 billion budget, the first-term Democrat planned to take questions from his constituents.

Kenney asked for people to tweet their questions with the #AskKenny hashtag. [[371031901, C]]

Kenney planned to begin answering questions in a live Twitter chat (@PhillyMayor) starting at 4 p.m.

Part of Kenney's plans for Philadelphia includes universal pre-K and a sugary beverage tax.
Honor student Asher Potts was well into his senior year in high school when police got a tip that the earnest teenager who had so impressed community leaders for nearly four years was not the person he claimed to be.

Now authorities are looking into the possibility he may have had help in concealing his identity.

Investigators concluded Potts was actually a 23-year-old Ukrainian named Artur Samarin, who had overstayed his visa, and they said in charging documents that he confessed to having sex with an underage teen girl.

His arrest last week  charged first with identity theft, then with statutory sexual assault and corruption of minors  drew astonished responses from people who knew the boyish-looking Samarin through his participation in a school military program, his academic excellence and his acceptance to a prestigious flight school.

"My understanding is his motives were pure coming over here, and given his time at John Harris (High School), no one had a complaint about him," said his lawyer, Adam Klein. "Until that's proven differently, that's my feeling at this point  that he came here to do what many immigrants do, to take part in the American dream."

Prosecutors said that they are working with federal investigators to piece together the facts about Samarin and that more charges are possible. But it's clear he made an impression in Harrisburg.

The city's mayor at the time pronounced Oct. 27, 2013, as Asher Potts Day to recognize his accomplishments; he was a student representative to the school board; and he was third runner-up for a spot on the homecoming court, Pennlive.com reported.

One aspect of the case that has drawn the attention of investigators is the role played by Michael and Stephayne Potts, with whom he lived for much of the past four years before moving in months ago with another family.

Samarin told Harrisburg television station WHTM last week in a call from jail that his family pooled money to send him to the U.S. "for a better life." After his visa expired, he said, the Pottses helped him obtain a birth certificate and a fake Social Security card in the name of Asher Potts.

He accused the couple of using his illegal immigration status as leverage to pressure him into doing work for them.

"Everything they ask of me, I could not tell them no," he told the station.

Court records say the couple "conspired with" Samarin in faking his way through high school, but they have not been charged.

Their lawyer, Corky Goldstein, said Thursday it was the Pottses who first alerted authorities about Samarin by contacting the FBI months ago. Goldstein would not say what motivated the couple to contact authorities, but said that they thought he was younger than he is and that they did not know he was having sex with the girl. They deny his claim he was pressured to work for them.

"She thought she was helping a young man who was being persecuted in his country, the Ukraine, by the Russians," Goldstein said. "They opened up their home to him."

Samarin had left the Pottses and was living in a shelter several months ago when Waleed McClintock and his family let him move in with them in nearby Middletown.

McClintock said he was troubled by what he and his wife saw of the Pottses' relationship with Samarin and equally impressed by the young man's drive.

Samarin, who shared a bedroom with McClintock's 17-year-old son, would rise before 5 a.m. to get a bus to school. He took college-level classes at night and also worked at a grocery store.

"This is the worst that Ukraine has to offer? OK, you can ship another busload over here," McClintock said Thursday. "He was a very impressive young man. He was respectful and intelligent and seemed to have a plan for his life."

He said Samarin was slight of build, disappearing beneath a hand-me-down coat. He told McClintock little about his past or his family.

"We never pried," he said. "We simply wanted to offer a safe space to be in."

In the TV interview, before he was charged with sexual assault, Samarin appeared to admit the identity theft allegations.

"What can I say? I did abuse the system. Yes I did," Samarin told WHTM. "I did use this identity, and it's the law."

Police said that by the time Samarin's tourist visa expired in March 2013, he already nearly finished his freshman year at John Harris, better known as Harrisburg High School, despite having attended two years of college in Ukraine.

"By all accounts he was an excellent student," Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico said. "He was involved in the community, he was in the ROTC program, he did community service."

Samarin's mother, Victoria Samarina, emailed WHTM from Ukraine this week after finding news accounts about him that confirmed her fears he might be in trouble. She said she was sure he could not have done anything wrong.

"I know that he just wanted to get a good education, I could not help to get him here," she wrote. "Please convey to him that I love him very much; he's my dearest person in the world."
The last remaining external tank, built for the space shuttle program but never used in flight, will take a journey from a NASA facility in New Orleans to the busy roadways of Los Angeles next month.

The massive 65,000-pound propellant tank will depart the Michoud Assembly Facility on April 12 and will be transported by barge through the Panama Canal, officials said Thursday.

The tank, dubbed the ET-94, will then travel through Los Angeles streets and to its final destination at the California Science Center in Exposition Park.

When the Shuttle Endeavour made its way to the California Science Center in 2012, it was missing the external fuel tank. Now, the ET-94 will be on display along with the retired space shuttle.

Museum officials outlined the tank's 6-to-8 week journey, which is expected to arrive at Fisherman's Village in Marina del Rey on May 18.

After it arrives in Los Angeles, the tank will be pulled by a truck about 12 miles on highways and streets on May 21. The journey on city streets could take 13 to 18 hours, officials said.

Officials say some trees may have to be trimmed, but not removed as when the Endeavour took a similar path in 2012.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
They were young Army nurses in World War II, sharing a room and experiences that forged an extraordinary bond.

A monsoon destroyed part of their hospital on a South Pacific island. They were swamped with the sick and wounded near the front lines. A disease outbreak killed colleagues. Yet Amelia "Mimi" Greeley and Ruth "Brownie" Girk survived, and so did a friendship that still spurs near nightly phone calls as both turn 100.

"We've always appreciated our friendship, but as it gets later and later, we appreciate it more," says Girk, who turns 100 in June. Greeley celebrated her birthday this week.

"We're sort of like sisters -- that get along," says Greeley.

Then Amelia Devivo and Ruth Brown, the two women met after volunteering to serve in a war hospital being organized by what is now NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, where both worked. They thought the same way about medicine and shared a readiness to laugh and enjoy life, traits they'd need after getting to Goodenough Island in early 1944.

NYP Nurse Mimi Celebrates 100th Birthday and World War II Service Today, retired NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital nurse and World War II veteran, Amelia "Mimi" Greeley celebrates her 100th birthday. This inspiring centenarian started her nursing career after graduating from New York Hospital School of Nursing in 1938 and when duty called, she enlisted to serve in World War II with New York Hospitals Ninth General Hospital. When the war was over, she returned to the United States to resume nursing at New York Hospital for nearly 30 years.Help us wish this amazing woman a Happy 100th Birthday in the comments below and thank her for her service to our patients and country.#HBDNurseMimi Posted by NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital on Thursday, March 3, 2016

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A monsoon on the mountainous island, part of what's now Papua New Guinea, poured mud into the newly built Ninth General Hospital and destroyed several wards, according to histories compiled by NewYork-Presbyterian. An outbreak of scrub typhus, a mite-borne disease that causes high fevers, sickened dozens of the hospital's personnel and killed eight.

Within months, the Ninth General moved to Biak Island, off Indonesia's Papua province and closer to the fighting. A hospital designed for 1,500 patients sometimes cared for as many as 2,500. By the war's end in September 1945, the hospital had cared for about 23,000 people.

"It was awful" sometimes, says Greeley, who lives in New York. "But if we saw them get well, it was worth it."

Yet there were adventures, too, such as a 15-day leave that stretched far longer as Girk and Greeley waited to hitch flights in Australia. And there was the camaraderie preserved in a fading photo from the hospital's archives, showing Greeley, Girk and a half-dozen colleagues with broad, carefree-looking smiles.

"When you're in the service, you're away from home, you become very close to people," says Girk, of Peoria, Arizona. "They're your alternate family."

After both worked six postwar months at a now-closed Army hospital in New York and finished their service as captains, Girk studied industrial nursing and worked for an insurer before marriage and moves to the Midwest and elsewhere. Greeley returned to work at NewYork-Presbyterian until her marriage in 1966.

But their friendship held fast. They spent holidays and traveled together with their husbands and later without, after both were widowed in the 1980s.

Friendships among older adults can yield more than emotional benefits, researchers believe. Studies have suggested that people who feel more connected to others live longer, though it's difficult to quantify the effect, said psychologist Louise Hawkley of the NORC research center at the University of Chicago.

These days, it's been several years since Girk and Greeley saw each other; medical issues have made travel difficult. But their phone calls keep the friendship immediate.

They trade updates on their days, confer about their health, revisit three-quarters of a century of memories and had-to-be-there jokes. Laughter starts quickly, stops slowly.

If there's a secret to a long life and friendship, Girk thinks it's "happiness and a pleasant outlook on life."

"We couldn't care less about being 100, believe me," she said.

And Greeley's opinion?

"I think, very often, that we were just two lucky gals."


PETA is now offering a $5,000 reward for suspect information about the shooting of at least five parrots in Ocean Beach and Point Loma.

Animal activists from PETA raised the money as an incentive for the public to help identify the culprits for the animal cruelty case, which involved using a pellet gun to shoot the endangered birds.

Police have not yet made any arrests in connection with the animals deaths, which mainly occurred in a neighborhood near Gage and Talbot streets.

"At least five beautiful birds have been shot and left to die from grievously painful injuries," said PETA Senior Director Colleen O'Brien. "PETA is urging anyone with information about their deaths to come forward immediately, before anyone else gets hurt."

With signs from residents reading Stop Shooting the Parrots, there is a visible level of community disapproval for the string of bird shootings that occurred over an eight-day period.

Jamul-based SoCal Parrot, a wild parrot conservation group, said the birds are part of endangered species that include Lilac Crowned Amazons and Red Masked Conures.

Anybody with information should contact the San Diego police at 619-692-4800. An investigation of the animal cruelty case is under way.

The parrot shootings are considered a federal offense and could be punished with jail time and a $20,000 fine.
Waiting for a car to be repaired can be long and boring, but one Arlington man's wait became exciting when he won $2.5 million Wednesday.

While his car was in the shop, John Johns walked to the 7-Eleven at 7333 Richmond Highway in Alexandria for a cup of coffee. He decided to buy a few Virginia Lottery scratch tickets while he was there, and thats when he won the top prize in the $2,500,000 Cash Winfall game.

I had to look two or three times to make sure, Johns told the Virginia Lottery. I just put the ticket in my pocket and left the store.

Johns returned to the 7-Eleven Thursday to claim his check from the Virginia Lottery. He had the choice of taking the full $2.5 million in annual payments over 30 years or a one-time cash option of $1,351,351 before taxes. He chose the cash option, according to the Virginia Lottery. The 7-Eleven will also receive a $10,000 bonus for selling the ticket.

The scratch-off game features prizes ranging from $20 to $2.5 million. Johns claimed the first top prize, and two more have yet to be claimed.

Johns has no immediate plans for his winnings but said that there may be a vacation in his future.

It feels good, he said. Its still sinking in.


A Montgomery County officer rescued an injured bald eagle in Potomac on Thursday after it was apparently hit by a car.

The female eagle is recovering at a local wildlife rehabilitation center.

Just before 9 a.m., Montgomery County police were alerted to the injured eagle after someone saw the eagle walk into the woods.

Animals Services Division Officer Jennifer Gill met the concerned resident near the intersection of River Road and Riverwood Drive, and that person directed Gill to the bird's location. Once she found the eagle, Gill noticed that she may have sustained an injury keeping her from flying.

We received this beautiful bald eagle this morning from Montgomery County Police Animal Services Division and Maryland... Posted by Owl Moon Raptor Center on Thursday, March 3, 2016

The rescue of the eagle -- whom Gill named Trust -- was a team effort. Gill wrapped the eagle in towels, and Maryland Department of Natural Resources Officer Danny Thomas helped Gill place the eagle in a carrier for safe transport to the Owl Moon Raptor Center in Boyds.

Montgomery County police later posted a YouTube video of officers preparing the eagle for her ride to the rehabilitation center.

Staff at Owl Moon determined that Trust has a left shoulder injury, as well as some internal bleeding.

They think she was probably hit by a vehicle on River Road. It appeared that the injury was new, because the eagle was at a healthy weight, they said.

Suzanne Shoemaker, a licensed wildlife rehabilitator at Owl Moon, told NBC Washington that the eagle was "a little brighter" Friday. She ate a fish, and the bleeding in her mouth seems to have resolved, Shoemaker said.

Shoemaker said she didn't know what the prognosis is yet for flight. She said the eagle's shoulder doesn't seem to be broken, but that they'd know more after X-rays are performed. Owl Moon has been waiting until the eagle is stronger before taking her for X-rays, but Shoemaker said they might take her Saturday.

"Many thanks to Montgomery County Police Department Animal Services Division and Maryland Department of Natural Resources - Wildlife & Heritage Service 'for going the extra mile' to rescue this gorgeous creature," Owl Moon Raptor posted on Facebook.

If you ever come across a distressed eagle, you are asked to contact law enforcement and not touch the bird. Federal law prohibits the "disturbing" of bald eagles.
The mystery of a beloved grandmother's missing body has been solved: It turns out the body in the casket at Horton's Funeral Home in Northwest D.C. was Virginia Gray's all along.

News4 first reported earlier this week that Gray's family showed up to their grandmother's funeral at Horton's Feb. 26 and, they believed, found the wrong body in the casket.

"I saw the body of another female that wasn't my grandmother," Tawana Murphy told News4's Pat Collins after that visit. "My heart dropped. I was in disbelief."

The family visited the funeral home again Thursday to take a second look, accompanied by Gray's doctor.

"The physician determined it is my grandmother. We had them to strip her down of all of her makeup and put her in her natural light  as much as her natural light as possible," the woman's grandson, Quentin Gray, told Collins.

The family was apparently thrown off by the funeral makeup and the lighting at first. The funeral home said they did their best to make Virginia Gray look appropriate.

The Gray family said they understand, and that they appreciated the patience and consideration of the funeral home.

Gray's grandchildren said they are now convinced the body is their grandmother's.

"Now we can move forward and have closure and get a funeral going," Quentin Gray said.

In a statement to News4 earlier Thursday, the Prince George's Hospital Center said it was certain it released the right body to the funeral home and that "the situation the Gray family is experiencing is extremely unfortunate."

Horton's also said the body they cared for was identified to them by the hospital as Virginia Gray, and that the body had a toe tag with her name on it. The body also had an identification bracelet with an "Doe-Athens" name on it, an apparent name the hospital uses when an unknown patient first arrives.

Gray was 83 years old and was taken to the hospital Feb. 19 after she fell unconscious. She died after a short time at the hospital.

The family said it will soon start planning the beloved grandmother's funeral.
Residents of a neighborhood in Manassas, Virginia, were asked to avoid the area Thursday afternoon after two men were reported to be seen shooting at a passing car.

Manuel Gonzalez was arrested in Manassas, near the Potomac Mills Mall, on charges he shot at an occupied car and was in possession of a gun, though he is a felon, Manassas City Police said.

Officers were called to the 9600 block of Aspen Place about 1:30 p.m. after two men were seen shooting. The suspects then were seen running into a home on the block.

No injuries were reported.

An anonymous source told police there may have been high-powered rifles and automatic rifles in the home.

Police, assisted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, found bullets in the area. Several cars were shot. Police said Friday the incident was related to a drug deal and shots were fired into the suspects' house as well.

Several nearby schools were temporarily placed on modified lockdown. Students at eight schools -- Baldwin, Dean, Haydon, Mayfield, Metz, Round, Weems and Osbourn -- who live on the north side of the Georgetown South Community were asked to be picked up by their parents.

Manassas City Police are still seeking a second suspect, they said Friday.
When a volunteer emergency medical technician in Prince George's County, Maryland, saw heart-wrenching images of people in Flint, Michigan, where the water supply was contaminated by lead, she knew she wanted to help.

"It wakes me up at night," Elisa Miller said. "[I would wake up] with dreams of babies not having the water that they need. The elderly, the ones that's on medication."

Miller, along with a group of volunteer firefighters, is trying to collect a tractor-trailer load of bottled water to send to Flint. But News4's Jackie Bensen reports word has been slow to trickle out.

"It's really heartbreaking to know that they are, that the Flint, Michigan residents are suffering in that way and that's one of the reasons why I decided to do this," Miller said.

Just two cases of water have been donated to the Branchville Volunteer Fire Department in College Park as of Thursday afternoon. The county is asking residents to donate as much bottled water as they can.

The locations accepting water bottle donations are:

Branchville: 4905 Branchville Rd., College Park

4905 Branchville Rd., College Park Chillum-Adelphi: 7833 Riggs Rd., Langley Park

7833 Riggs Rd., Langley Park Kettering-Largo: 10400 Campus Way South, Upper Marlboro

10400 Campus Way South, Upper Marlboro Glenn Dale: 11900 Glenn Dale Blvd., Glenn Dale

11900 Glenn Dale Blvd., Glenn Dale Riverdale: 5004 Queensbury Road, Riverdale

Donations can be left by the door if firefighters are busy responding to a call, fire officials said. Miller hopes to have a truck filled with water by March 20.
Seven Northern Virginia schools received bomb threats by robocall about midday Friday, law enforcement officials said.

Authorities are investigating whether the threats to the following schools are connected to threats to schools in New Jersey Friday:

Bishop O'Connell High School in Arlington

George Mason High School in Falls Church

Herndon High School in Herndon

McLean High School in McLean

Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn

The Potomac School in McLean

Westfield High School in Chantilly

Bishop O'Connell, Stone Bridge and George Mason were evacuated. Authorities later gave the all-clear at those schools.

Police checked all the schools and found nothing.

"Police are investigating and have determined the threats are not credible, and are intended only to disrupt school operations," Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) said in a statement. "We do not believe any FCPS students are at risk and we are continuing with normal school operations at all of our schools for the remainder of the day."

The Potomac School, a private school in McLean, said it received a bomb threat at 11:30 a.m. Friday. School officials said the recorded message it received was brief and non-specific. The school did not evacuate based on recommendations from police and the number of threats received by other schools.

Students at Westfield, McLean and Herndon also went about regular day while authorities scoured the buildings.

Loudoun County school officials said students from Stone Bridge High School were sent to Riverside High School while four police dogs searched the school. After about two hours, police said the school was clear, the sheriff's office said. Students returned to their classes about 1:30 p.m., Principal Matt Wilburn posted on Twitter. Dismissal will happen at the school's regular time, Wilburn said.

George Mason was evacuated, sending students to the nearby Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School at about 11:40 a.m. Falls Church schools officials were asking parents not to pick up their children. Students spent the rest of the day in the gym at the middle school.

Some George Mason students told News4 they were annoyed by the inconvenience, but they said very few were fearful.

"I knew it was fake," student Joseph Stokes said.

Students from Bishop O'Connell, a Catholic school in Arlington, waited in the libary at Tuckahoe Elementary School as police K9s searched their school. They returned to classes about 1:50 p.m.

Earlier this week, students at McLean High School were sent home early after the school received a bomb threat.

School safety experts say bomb threats are becoming a disturbing trend throughout the country.

"Unfortunately, it's pretty much business as usual. That's what we've been seeing almost every school day this whole academic year. We're averaging nationally somewhere between eight to ten bomb threats a day," said Dr. Amy Klinger with the Educators Schools Safety Network.

Klinger specializes in school safety training and told News4's Shomari Stone the schools can't take any chances.

"We look at threats and think oh, okay well maybe nothing's probably going to happen. But the problem is schools are really in this dilemma of you have to do something. We can't ignore it. But yet, we're continually evacuating and so it really becomes a frustrating experience for schools."

1/2 Several bomb threats received in Fairfax County and throughout the region. All appear to be non-credible at this time.  Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) March 4, 2016

Editor's Note: This article has been corrected from a previous version.
A man known to be violent who escaped from a mental health facility in Falls Church, on Monday has been captured.

Virginia State Police and Fairfax County Police had been searching for Michael Marshall, 33, since he apparently escaped from the Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute in the 3300 block of Gallows Road. It was noticed about 6 p.m. Monday that he was gone.

Marshall is known to "exhibit violent behavior," police said after he went missing.

Fairfax County Police said Friday afternoon that Marshall was found around 5:45 p.m. Thursday. He is being held in Loudoun County on warrants from Virginia State Police. They did not immediately provide more details.
A man has been arrested for his role in a crash that left two people critically injured Wednesday in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

Police say 34-year-old Daybet Blanco of Methuen told them he was on a suicide mission and wanted to die when he slammed into a car on Howard Street, the Eagle Tribune reported.

Blanco also reportedly told police he had been smoking marijuana and taken an anti-depressant before crashing.

One of the victims was removed from the car using the Jaws of Life. Both were critically injured.

The Essex county District Attorney's Office confirms Blanco is charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, as well as negligent operation.

It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney.
After a national outcry by theatre lovers, Emerson College on Thursday dropped plans to turn the historic Colonial Theatre into a student dining hall and performing space, opting instead to add the student center to a rehabilitated building next door.

The move saves, for now, a renowned theatre  composer Stephen Sondheim vowed it would have been "a crime" for Emerson to gut and reuse it  but leaves unresolved the question of how Emerson will come up with a likely $25 million or more needed to rehabilitate the 1900-vintage theatre. It's been closed since October, and before that was struggling to stay busy with performances.

Emerson President Lee Pelton said in a statement: "We value the theaters history and its beauty. We have a team of people working hard on studying the options for its continued use as a theater space."

"This is just great news for Boston," Catherine Peterson, executive director of ArtsBoston, said in an interview soon after Emerson's announcement it was dropping the initial plan for converting the Colonial. "It's beautiful. It's got incredible acoustics, but it's also really intimate, which is what makes it so special."

Peterson said she is "very optimistic" about the Colonial's future as a theatre venue once its maintenance needs are addressed.

"My first wish is that it gets that care and attention, which I know it will, and secondly, that there are vibrant uses made for that gorgeous space," Peterson said.

Boston's overall theatre scene is facing some big challenges, of course. The Citi Performing Arts Center, which oversees and programs the Wang, Colonial, and Shubert Theatres, is searching for a new sponsor now that Citibank is bailing out of the Boston market and has closed all its local bank branches. Boston University has put the Huntington Theatre up for sale, with no assurance it remains a performance venue. And at a deeper level, many arts advocates and city officials are asking whether Boston has far more big, old, expensive-to-run theatres from the 19th and early 20th centuries than 21st century audiences and performers want  and can keep in business.

John Barros, chief economic development officer for Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh, said his office is close to finishing up a major theatre-sector economic assessment and plan for Boston that among other issues looks at "whether we have too many seats, what's available in Boston, and maybe what we might need and what we might have less of in Boston. We're excited to continue to explore  the venues that we have and the venues that we don't have to think about how the development boom could be leveraged to create the kind of venues that can make Boston a really exciting arts and cultural city."



With videographer Darrell R. Smith
The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture has criticized Maine Gov. Paul LePage's food stamp benefits cuts, saying the state hasn't done enough to help now-disqualified unemployed adults.



The Portland Press Herald reports more than 12,000 unemployed, childless Maine residents were removed from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program from November 2014 to November 2015 after LePage's administration began enforcing federal work requirements.



The requirements had been waived since the recession, but Maine and Kansas were the lone two states to end the work-requirement before it expired this year.



Secretary Tom Vilsack said Wednesday that he believes LePage is looking for shortcuts to make it easy on the state. But Vilsack said the state isn't doing its part in finding jobs for the disqualified adults or helping them learn skills.
A middle school principal in Newton, Massachusetts, is apologizing for his handling of multiple anti-Semitic incidents.

In Oct. 2015, hateful graffiti was discovered on a bathroom wall inside F.A. Day Middle School. And, in Jan. 2016, a Swastika was found imprinted in the snow just off school grounds.

A third incident was reported this week.

In a Feb. 25 letter to the school community, Principal Brian Turner apologized for not promptly and publicly notifying the community about the incidents. He said the school is working with police to investigate.

"My initial response to these incidents did not convey the moral outrage I felt at this violation of our core values. I apologize for not promptly and publicly notifying the school community about these unacceptable actions. Hate speech demands decisive action given its impact on our entire community," Turner said in part of his note.

Friday, Turner wrote in a letter that more hateful graffiti had been found Thursday on the wall of a restroom.

"Police were notified immediately and are currently conducting an investigation," Turner wrote.

Turner is also asking for the community's help to develop a plan to respond to future situations.

A community forum will be held on March 9 at 7 p.m. at the school's library. In addition, the school's Parent-Principal Coffee on March 11 at 8 p.m. will be devoted to the discussion.
NASA's yearlong spaceman Scott Kelly took a long-anticipated plunge Thursday, jumping into his backyard pool, astronaut outfit and all.

"Oh, man, that feels good," Kelly said as he floated to the surface.

After nearly a year of space sponge baths, Kelly didn't even take time to change out of his blue flight suit. He walked right up to the edge of the pool, tilted sideways and fell in. It was still dark outside early Thursday morning in Houston  he'd been yearning for this moment throughout his U.S- record setting mission.

A video of his plunge was posted to his Twitter account Thursday, a day after his return from the International Space Station.

"There's no place like home," he tweeted.

Kelly  looking and acting remarkably hearty after 340 days in space  was reunited with his family earlier in the morning after a flight from Kazakhstan, where his mission ended.

Kelly's girlfriend, Johnson Space Center public affairs representative Amiko Kauderer, and his two daughters, ages 20 and 12, rushed into his arms after he exited the NASA jet. His identical twin, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, and their father were next to greet him. Also welcoming him home: Mark's wife, former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

This last leg of his journey, by plane, took a whole day because of weather delays. So it was in the wee hours  27 hours after returning to Earth in a Russian Soyuz capsule  when Kelly finally got to Ellington Airport near Johnson Space Center.

"I'm used to going 17,500 mph, but this airplane doesn't do quite that," Kelly joked at a brief welcoming ceremony attended by Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden.

She brought him a gift of beer from the president and some apple pie. "Nothing's more American than that!" she said.

Kelly noted that when he left Houston in February last year, he was still 50. Now he's 52, thanks to his Feb. 21st birthday.

"It was a very long trip," he said. "But it feels great. It's great to be back in Texas on U.S. soil."

Before he could go home to his own bed  and his own pool  Kelly had to detour to Johnson to endure more medical tests to measure his body's adaptation to gravity. The main reason for the long trip  double the usual station stint  was so NASA could gather data that will keep future Mars explorers healthy and happy during the 2-year expeditions planned for the 2030s and beyond. His brother took part in many of the studies as a ground control and unprecedented genetic double.

The Russian cosmonaut with whom Kelly spent the year in space  Mikhail Kornienko  is undergoing his own medical checkups back home in Star City, Russia.

Next up for Kelly: a news conference at Johnson on Friday and a continuing series of tests, expected to last for months and possibly a year.

Ditto for his brother.

"After 340 days off the planet and 5,400 times around it," Mark proudly tweeted, "it's good to have you home, @StationCDRKelly."
Andy Sexton, CEO of the Matthew Project, introduces a series of tributes from the charity to its founder, Peter Farley.

Andy Sexton, CEO of the Matthew Project, introduces a series of tributes from the charity to its founder, Peter Farley.

Cliff look alike at Cromer Church breakfast Cliff Richard tribute performer Will Chandler will be the speaker at a special Mens Breakfast at Cromer Parish Hall next month, and all men are welcome to come along. Read more

Heartsease Lane Methodist church to close As part of a reorganisation of the Norwich Methodist Circuit, Heartsease Lane Methodist Church will be closing towards the end of the year. Read more

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
IBM has been a bellwether employer that has often embraced workplace trends, sometimes good, sometimes ominous.

It was, for instance, an early adopter of equality measures and same-sex benefits. It also became a leader in globalizing its workforce, hiring aggressively overseas as it reduced its U.S. headcount.

IBM may be starting new trend: Reduced severance.

The company is now conducting a layoff of its U.S. employees, something it does routinely as it rebalances its workforce. But laid-off workers say that instead of leaving with as much as 26 weeks of severance, they are getting only a month's pay under a recently initiated company policy.

"I just can't believe that a company this size offers a one-month package -- it's a disgrace," said one longtime IBM employee who was told yesterday he was being laid off and requested anonymity. There was no explanation for the layoff, he said.

The reports of the job cuts have been emerging on the Watching IBM Facebook page. The page was started by Lee Conrad, the former national coordinator for Alliance@IBM, a Communications Workers of America union local that closed its doors earlier this year. The new site is functioning similar to the old one by allowing IBM employees to share news about the company.

IBM does not disclose the size of its layoffs or the size of its U.S. workforce.

"IBM is aggressively transforming its business to lead in a new era of cognitive and cloud computing," said IBM spokesman Ian Colley in emailed comments. "This includes remixing skills to meet client requirements."

The last day for some of the workers is May 31, and the laid-off worker speculated that the three-month notice may be IBM's way of compensating for the shortened severance. The employee also noted that a one-month severance offers little incentive to stick around until the end date.

Another IBM employee being laid off said long-time workers were upset with the severance change and recent reductions in matching contributions to workers' 401K accounts. The reduced severance, this worker said, may make it harder for IBM to attract future job candidates -- although many new hires now arrive through corporate acquisitions.

According to Colley, IBM hired "more than 70,000 professionals in 2015, many in these key skills areas, and currently has more than 25,000 open positions." Although the company won't disclose how many of the job openings are U.S.-based, "a significant number of the open positions are in the U.S.," he said.

This story, "IBMs one-month severance offer means a bitter end, say laid-off workers" was originally published by Computerworld .
Cheap phones are rapidly changing the smartphone dynamic for device makers, a new report indicates.

While total units projected to sell in 2016 are still higher than those sold in 2015, the change in sales value will move into negative territory, almost everywhere in the world. Revenue expected will be lower, thinks researcher GfK in its latest report.

In North America, where there are no longer many first-time smartphone purchasers left, the number of units sold will only grow by 1.6% to 193 million units in 2016, up from 190 million in 2015. Despite that gain, the value in the sales will drop by almost a percentage point (0.9%).

One reason? Anyone who wanted a smartphone has gotten one, and were not eager to trade them in. Plus, most who are buying a smartphone, are buying devices that are getting cheaper.

Sales numbers exceptions include Emerging APAC, or Asia Pacific, which includes India. In that particular country, unit growth will still be relatively high at 34%. Those sales, however will be dominated by sub-$100 smartphones, GfK says. Sub-$100 phones are popular with first-time buyers, of which there are still plenty in India, the researcher reckons.

China will also continue to see growth. GfK counts China separately to Emerging APAC.

LTE volume growth there will slow over the massive 248% LTE-driven smartphone unit growth in 2015. GfK says that genre of smartphone will be down to 17%. However, consumers like high-end devices, at the $500+ level, there, which will help revenues.

China overall will see a 3.1% gain in units sold in 2016, year-on-year, and a 1.7% gain in sales value.

Other than Emerging APAC and China, the Middle East and Africa is the only other region that will experience sales value growth in 2016. It will see 3% sales value growth, GfK thinks. Egypt is the star performer there, the researcher says in its press release on the study.

Key markets in Emerging Asia and Middle East & Africa are forecast to drive unit growth, says Kevin Walsh, of GfK in the release.

Problem areas include Latin America, which will be off by 23% sales value. Economic woes in Brazil will contribute to that. Russia and Ukraine are also not doing well when it comes to smartphone sales.

Interestingly, and perhaps an indicator for the future, is that Europe is eyeing the sub-$100 segment. Consumers are eschewing the expensive slabs, in favor of cheap, ultra-low-end phones there. GtK says it saw a 61% unit growth in that genre in 2015.

Western Europe includes highly-developed nations such as France, United Kingdom and Germany. Notably, the sub-$100 smartphone genre was originally thought to appeal to developing regions only.

Perhaps a harbinger of things to come in the developed world: Taste-makers in Europe are quite happy with sub-$100 phones. And thats a problem if youre a phone maker trying to sell expensive phones there now, and perhaps a problem if youre going to try to sell expensive phones anywhere, in the future. Volume will become even more important.
A few days ago I needed to know whether Google had actually killed a particular product or merely put it on a back burner, so I typed into the companys search-engine box: Did Google kill 

What happened next is seen in this screen capture:

Gobsmacked, I was. Did Google kill a donkey?

In a hoofbeat my interest in that work-related query was gone, replaced by an irresistible need to know whether  and, if so, why  Google had treated some poor donkey worse than a brute might treat a rented mule.

Thankfully, such was not the case, at least according to a blog post Google was compelled to publish on Jan. 16, 2013:

Over the last 24-hours concerned members of the public and the media have been speculating on the fate of a donkey pictured in Street View in the Kweneng region of Botswana. Because of the way our 360-degree imagery is put together, it looked to some that our car had been involved in an unseemly hit and run, leaving the humble beast stranded in the road.

Not stranded, as in forced to hitch a ride, but stranded dead, as in Monty Pythons famous parrot. Google continues:

As our imagery below shows, the donkey was lying in the path - perhaps enjoying a dust bath - before moving safely aside as our car drove past. Im pleased to confirm the donkey is alive and well.

So, too, are we all, presumably.

But questions remain, even three years later  make that especially three years later.

As I understand Googles autocomplete feature, it is designed to guess the searching publics most likely intentions and provide prospective results at a glance in roughly some order of the likelihood they are being sought. And this means that someone typing Did Google kill is most likely interested in finding out if Google killed a donkey, according to Google.

How can that be? As you see in the screen capture above, Google users are intent on finding out if Google has been responsible for killing any number of things, including public relations, social media marketing, search engine optimization, and a deer, though I suspect the latter could be a mistaken relation to the donkey business. Moreover, Google is known for its propensity for killing off myriad products and services it has deemed failures, so much so, in fact, that media outlets such as this one collect the carcasses into slideshows with telling headlines like: Google Graveyard: What Google has killed off in 2015.

Yet its a donkey, which Google did not even invent, that gets top billing by Google autocomplete.

By now I am sure that some of you are screaming, Of course its the donkey, you jackass, because the donkey story was BIG NEWs that got covered by EVERYONE. How did YOU miss it?

And its true that the story did get plenty of coverage back in January of 2013, as searching on Did Google kill a donkey brings back pages of related results.

Yet I did miss it, obviously, despite a well-established professional appetite for this type pseudo-news. Show me an instance of a major technology company being accused of heartlessly snuffing out a helpless farm animal and Im usually all over it. Maybe I had that day off.

Still unsatisfied, I sent an email to seven veteran colleagues  news hounds, all  asking them if they were aware that Google had been accused of killing a donkey back in 2013. Answers: No, no, no, no, no, no, and, hell, no. (Pro tip: Next time youre tempted to say, Everybody knows that, dont, because not everybody knows that.)

Maybe Google simply prefers to have autocomplete focus on the donkey it didnt kill instead of all that stuff that it really did.

Welcome regulars and passersby. Here are a few more recent buzzblog items. And, if youd like to receive Buzzblog via e-mail newsletter, heres where to sign up. You can follow me on Twitter here and on Google+ here.
Former Trinity school pupil in UK-wide competition

A NEWBURY man has made it to the final of the Top Model 2016 UK competition, after entering on the spur of the moment.

Aidan Owen, aged 21, a former pupil of both Robert Sandilands primary and Trinity schools, said he was encouraged to enter the competition after people kept asking him if he was a model, despite having no previous experience of the profession.

After spotting the Top Model professional model search competition, and because it raises money for the charity Children with Cancer UK, he decided to send in his photographs.

Life then got rather busy for Mr Owen, who works in retail in Reading, after he made it through the preliminary rounds and was whisked off to London.

I had to catwalk and then I made it to the grand final, he said. Its a fairly new chapter in my life.

With three catwalks, including two designer-led spots, in the final at the Hilton London Metropole hotel, on Saturday, April 2, he is now planning his outfits for the third catwalk show, which involves wearing beach/swim/underwear.

The prizes include international travel, professional photographic shoots, London Fashion Week opportunities, beauty products and free hairstyling.

However, Mr Owen said the main benefit of the competition was that it had proved a good platform for former contestants, one of whom had secured a part in a Star Wars film.

His London trip included a visit to Storm model agency, which has the likes of Kate Moss on its books, where he was told that, at six-foot tall, he was too short for the modelling world.

Next day we measured me and I am actually 6ft 1in now  the last time I measured myself was about a year ago, he said.

However, the extra inch failed to cut the mustard with Storm. They said it had been a good excuse to say goodbye.

He said he was very keen to support the charity.

Its a fantastic cause and I am happy to raise as much money as I can. Cancers ever-prevalent in our world.

Watching his progress with great interest are his family, including his mother Lauretta, who lives in Kintbury.

To make a donation, visit the website www/uk.virginmoneygiving.com/aidanowen.
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Reporter

Mary Schenk is a reporter covering police, courts and breaking news at The News-Gazette. Her email is mschenk@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@schenk).
NOTICE: This Consumer Medicine Information (CMI) is intended for persons living in Australia.

erythromycin (as ethyl succinate) CONSUMER MEDICINE INFORMATION

What is in this leaflet This leaflet answers some common questions about E-Mycin tablets and mixtures. It does not contain all the available information. It does not take the place of talking to your doctor or pharmacist. All medicines have benefits and risks. Your doctor has weighed the risks of you taking E-Mycin against the benefits expected for you. If you have any concerns about taking this medicine, talk to your doctor or pharmacist. Keep this leaflet with your medicine. You may need to read it again.

What E-Mycin is used for E-Mycin is used to: treat certain bacterial infections control acne, in addition to other acne treatments prevent infections in people with a history of rheumatic disease, congenital heart disease or other acquired valvular heart disease and who are allergic to penicillin antibiotics. E-Mycin is an antibiotic that belongs to a group of medicines called macrolides. These medicines work by killing or stopping the growth of bacteria, which cause infections or make acne worse. E-Mycin will not work against infections caused by viruses, such as colds or flu. Ask your doctor if you have any questions about why E-Mycin has been prescribed for you. Your doctor may have prescribed E-Mycin for another reason. E-Mycin is available only with a doctor's prescription. There is no evidence that E-Mycin is addictive.

Before you take E-Mycin

When you must not take it Do not take E-Mycin if you are allergic to: medicines containing erythromycin (e.g. EES) or any other antibiotic from the macrolide group (e.g. clarithromycin, roxithromycin) any of the ingredients listed at the end of this leaflet. Some of the symptoms of an allergic reaction may include: Skin rash, itching or hives; Swelling of the face, lips, tongue or other parts of the body; Shortness of breath, wheezing or troubled breathing. Do not take E-Mycin if you are taking any of the following medicines: terfenadine or astemizole cisapride, pimozide or domperidone class IA and III antiarrhythmics e.g. quinidine, disopyramide, procainamide, amiodarone and sotalol certain neuroleptics and tri- and tetracyclic antidepressants arsenic trioxide, methadone, budipine, certain fluoroquinolones, imidazole anti-mycotics and anti-malarials e.g. petamidine i.v. simvastatin, lovastatin or atorvastatin ergotamine or dihydroergotamine Taking E-Mycin with any of the above medicines may cause serious side effects. Ask your doctor or pharmacist if you are not sure if you are taking one of the above medicines. Do not take E-Mycin if you have: severe liver disease heart rhythm disorders from birth of have developed it irregular heartbeat or severe chronic heart failure deficiency of potassium and magnesium in blood Do not take E-Mycin if the packaging shows signs of tampering or the tablets or mixtures do not look quite right. Do not take E-Mycin if the expiry date (EXP) printed on the label has passed. If you take this medicine after the expiry date, it may not work as well. Do not use any E-Mycin mixture left in the bottle after 10 days. If you are not sure whether you should start taking E-Mycin, talk to your doctor.

Before you start to take it Tell your doctor if you are allergic to any other medicines, foods, dyes or preservatives. Tell your doctor if you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. Your doctor will discuss the risks and benefits of taking E-Mycin during pregnancy. Tell your doctor if you are breastfeeding or wish to breastfeed. Your doctor will discuss the risks and benefits of taking E-Mycin when breastfeeding. Tell your doctor if you have any medical conditions including: liver problems heart problems myasthenia gravis, a condition in which the muscles become weak and tire easily eye disorder pneumonia If you have not told your doctor about any of the above, tell them before you start taking E-Mycin.

Taking other medicines Tell your doctor or pharmacist if you are taking any other medicines, including medicines you can buy without a prescription from a pharmacy, supermarket or health food shop. Some medicines may interfere with EES. These include: medicines used to prevent blood clotting, such as warfarin, acenocoumarol some medicines used for epilepsy such as phenytoin, carbamazepine, hexobarbital, phenobarbital (phenobarbitone) and valproate theophylline, a medicine used to treat asthma diltiazem, verapamil, felodipine and mibefradil, medicines used to treat high blood pressure and certain heart conditions digoxin, a medicine used to treat heart failure omeprazole and cimetidine, used to prevent ulcers by reducing amount of acid produced in stomach ciclosporin, used to prevent organ transplant rejection or to treat certain problems with the immune system tacrolimus, used as an adjunct to kidney transplantation triazolam, zopiclone and midazolam, used to treat sleeplessness nefazodone and St. John's wort, medicines used to treat depression alprazolam used to treat anxiety disorders methylprednisolone, a corticosteroid vinblastine, a medicine used to treat Hodgkin's Disease sildenafil, used to treat erectile dysfunction in adult males mizolastine and ebastine medicines used to treat allergies such as hay fever ritonavir, used to treat infections in patients with advanced HIV infection medicines used to treat fungal infections such as ketoconazole, itraconazole, fluconazole rifabutin, rifampicin, clindamycin, lincomycin, chloramphenicol, streptomycin, colistin and bactericidal betalactam antibiotics (e.g. penicillin, cephalosporin) bromocriptine, used to treat various conditions including Parkinson's Disease colchicine, used for pain relief in gout alfentanil, a medicine used for pain relief during anaesthesia cilostazol, a medicine used in the treatment of painful calves, due to poor blood flow to the muscles diphenoxylate with atropine used to treat diarrhoea opiates used as analgesics. Your doctor can tell you what to do if you are taking any of these medicines. You may need different amounts of yours medicines, or you may need to take different medicines. If you are not sure whether you are taking any of these medicines, check with your doctor or pharmacist. Your doctor and pharmacist have more information on medicines to be careful with or avoid while taking E-Mycin.

How to take E-Mycin Follow all directions given to you by your doctor and pharmacist carefully. They may differ from the information contained in this leaflet. If you do not understand the instructions on the bottle, ask your doctor or pharmacist for help.

How much to take The usual adult dose is one E-Mycin tablet (400 mg) every six hours but this may vary from person to person. Your doctor will tell you how many tablets you will need to take. This depends on the infection being treated and how severe it is. For children, their doctor will work out the dose according to their age, body weight and how severe the infection is. Your doctor will adjust the amount or frequency of your doses according to the infection being treated and the severity of the condition.

How to take it Tablets: Swallow whole with a glass of water. Mixture: Always shake the bottle well before using a metric measure to measure the correct dose. Shaking the bottle and using a medicine measure will make sure that you get the correct dose. You can buy a medicine measure from your pharmacist.

When to take it Space the doses of E-Mycin evenly apart and take them at about the same time each day. This will allow E-Mycin to have its best effect and also help you to remember when to take it. E-Mycin can be taken with or without food. However, taking E-Mycin with food may help reduce the chance of a stomach upset occurring.

How long to take it for Keep taking E-Mycin until you finish the tablets or mixture, or for as long as your doctor recommends. If you are being treated for an infection, E-Mycin is usually taken for one to two weeks. Your infection may not clear completely if you stop taking your medicine too soon. For controlling acne, E-Mycin is normally taken for a few months. Check with your doctor if you are not sure how long you should be taking E-Mycin.

If you forget to take it If it is almost time for your next dose, skip the dose you missed and take your next dose when you are meant to. Otherwise, take the missed dose as soon as you remember, and then go back to taking your medicine as you would normally. Do not take a double dose to make up for the dose you missed. If you have any questions or are not sure what to do, ask your doctor or pharmacist.

If you take too much (overdose) Immediately telephone your doctor, or the Poisons Information Centre (telephone 13 11 26), or go to Accident and Emergency at the nearest hospital, if you think you or anyone else may have taken too much E-Mycin. Do this even if there are no signs of discomfort or poisoning. You may need urgent medical attention. If you take too much E-Mycin, you may have nausea, vomiting or problems with your hearing.

While you are taking E-Mycin

Things you must do If you are taking E-Mycin for an infection and your symptoms do not improve within a few days, or if they become worse, tell your doctor. If your baby develops irritability with feeding or has severe vomiting during treatment with E-Mycin, tell your doctor immediately. This may be a sign of a stomach disorder in the infant. If you are about to be started on any new medicine, remind your doctor and pharmacist that you are taking E-Mycin. Tell any other doctors, dentists, and pharmacists who treat you that you are taking this medicine. If you are going to have surgery, tell the surgeon or anaesthetist that you are being given this medicine. It may affect other medicines used during surgery. If you become pregnant while taking E-Mycin, tell your doctor. If you get severe diarrhoea, tell your doctor or pharmacist immediately. Do this even if it occurs several weeks after you have stopped taking E-Mycin. Do not take any diarrhoea medicine without checking with your doctor. Diarrhoea may mean that you have a serious condition affecting your bowel. You may need urgent medical care. If you have to have any urine tests, tell your doctor you are taking E-Mycin. E-Mycin may affect the results of some tests. If you develop itching with swelling or skin rash or difficulty breathing while you are taking E-Mycin, do not take any more and contact your doctor immediately. If you get a sore, white mouth or tongue while taking or soon after stopping E-Mycin, tell your doctor. Also tell your doctor if you get vaginal itching or discharge. This may mean you have a fungal infection called thrush. Sometimes, the use of E-Mycin allows fungi to grow and the above symptoms to occur. E-Mycin does not work against fungi.

Things you must not do Do not use E-Mycin to treat any other conditions unless your doctor tells you to. Do not give E-Mycin to anyone else, even if they have the same condition as you. Do not stop taking E-Mycin, even if you feel better after a few days, unless advised by your doctor. If you stop taking E-Mycin too soon, the infection may not clear completely or your symptoms may return. If possible, your doctor will gradually reduce the amount you take each day before stopping the medicine completely.

Side effects Tell your doctor or pharmacist as soon as possible if you do not feel well while you are taking E-Mycin. E-Mycin treats infections and controls acne in most people, but it may have unwanted side effects in some people. All medicines can have side effects. Sometimes they are serious, most of the time they are not. You may need medical treatment if you get some of the side effects. Ask your doctor or pharmacist to answer any questions you may have. Do not be alarmed by this list of possible side effects. You may not experience any of them. If any of the following happen, stop taking E-Mycin and tell your doctor immediately or go to Accident and Emergency at the nearest hospital: signs of an allergic reaction such as any type of skin rash, itching, or hives; swelling of the face, lips, tongue or other parts of the body; shortness of breath, wheezing, troubled breathing watery and severe diarrhoea, which may also be bloody. The above list includes very serious side effects. You may need urgent medical attention or hospitalisation. Tell your doctor immediately or go to Accident and Emergency at the nearest hospital if you notice any of the following: yellowing of the eyes or skin (jaundice) severe stomach cramps feeling generally unwell and having poor appetite loss of hearing ringing or buzzing in the ears fast, irregular or pounding heart beat, palpitations chest pain muscle pain, weakness and joint swelling dizziness, drowsiness, confusion, hallucinations, fits any type of skin rash, itching, hives, serious scaly red rash with bumps under skin and blisters severe diarrhoea especially if bloody any vision problems. in infants, irritability with feeding or severe vomiting. The above list includes serious side effects which may require medical attention. Tell your doctor if you notice any of the following and they worry you: stomach cramps and pains feeling sick, vomiting, accumulation of gas and severe diarrhoea oral thrush (white, furry sore tongue and mouth) vaginal thrush (sore and itchy vagina, vaginal discharge). Weight loss Fever, headache The above list includes the more common and mild side effects of E-Mycin. Tell your doctor if you notice anything that is making you feel unwell. Other side effects not listed above may also occur in some people.

After you have finished taking E-Mycin Tell your doctor immediately if you notice any of the following side effects, particularly if they occur several weeks after stopping treatment with E-Mycin: severe abdominal cramps or stomach cramps watery and severe diarrhoea, which may also be bloody fever, in combination with one or both of the above. You may have a serious condition affecting your bowel. These are rare but serious side effects. Therefore, you may need urgent medical attention. Do not take any medicine for diarrhoea without first checking with your doctor.

After taking E-Mycin

Storage Keep E-Mycin where children cannot reach it. A locked cupboard at least one-and-a-half metres above the ground is a good place to store medicines. Keep E-Mycin tablets in a cool, dry place where the temperature stays below 30C. Keep E-Mycin mixture in the refrigerator but not in the freezer. Do not use any mixture left in the bottle after 10 days. Do not store E-Mycin or any other medicine in the bathroom or near a sink. Do not leave E-Mycin in the car or on window sills. Heat and dampness can destroy some medicines.

Disposal If your doctor tells you to stop taking E-Mycin, or your medicine has passed its expiry date, ask your pharmacist what to do with any that is left over.

Product description

What it looks like E-Mycin is available as a tablet and mixture. Tablets are flesh pink in colour, oval-shaped, film-coated and marked "E-N" on one side and a Greek alpha symbol on the other. Each pack contains 25 tablets. Mixtures are available as two strengths: E-Mycin 200 E-Mycin 400. Both mixtures are pink, cherry flavoured and sugar-free. Each bottle contains 100 mL of mixture.

Ingredients The active ingredient in E-Mycin tablets and mixtures is erythromycin (as erythromycin ethyl succinate). E-Mycin tablets E-Mycin tablets contain 400 mg of erythromycin (as erythromycin ethyl succinate). The E-Mycin tablets also contain the following inactive ingredients: calcium hydrogen phosphate anhydrous maize starch sorbic acid povidone purified talc sodium starch glycollate magnesium stearate Opadry Pink OY-B-34901 (contains colours titanium dioxide CI 77891[171]), iron oxide red CI 77491 [172]). E-Mycin tablets do not contain lactose, sucrose, gluten, tartrazine or any other azo dyes. E-Mycin mixtures E-Mycin 200 - each 5 mL contains 200 mg of erythromycin (as erythromycin ethyl succinate). E-Mycin 400 - each 5 mL contains 400 mg of erythromycin (as erythromycin ethyl succinate). The mixtures also contain the following inactive ingredients: sorbitol propylene glycol alginate sodium citrate colloidal anhydrous silica aspartame (951) sodium benzoate (211) erythrosine CI45430 (127) Trusil Nature Identical Cherry Flavour (contains preservative 320). E-mycin mixtures contain benzoates, aspartame, phenylalanine and sorbitol. Products containing sorbitol may have a laxative effect or cause diarrhoea. Phenylketonurics are warned that this product contains phenylalanine. E-Mycin mixtures do not contain lactose, sucrose, gluten, tartrazine or any other azo dyes.
By Keynote Contributor Prof. Madhu Pai, MD Canada Research Chair in Epidemiology & Global Health,

McGill University, Montreal

By Prof Madhukar Pai

Cepheid Inc., produces Xpert MTB/RIF, which is an automated, fast test for TB using molecular diagnostics. Compared to the standard test for TB in developing countries, sputum smear microscopy, it is considerably more accurate.

In an hour and a half, Xpert provides accurate tuberculosis detection as well as recognition of rifampicin resistance, an important drug used to combat TB. The GeneXpert system is simple to use and automated, meaning that testing can be finished outside of reference labs.

The large expenses associated with molecular tests cause this type of diagnosis to be rare in high TB burdened nations due to the need for reference labs with highly trained technologists. Xpert is the first diagnostic tool to disrupt these obstacles.

By merging drug-susceptibility and detection testing in the same test, Xpert has helped detect many more patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) than expected. Thus, Xpert is a pathfinder for universal drug-susceptibility testing, a crucial constituent of the End TB Strategy by WHO. The success of Xpert has also been appealing to several companies, enticing them to consider entry into the TB market.

The progress of Xpert was sustained by numerous contributors including NIH and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This lead to a concessional, subsidized pricing of $9.98 per cartridge. But this price only applies to the public sector in qualified high burden countries. Xpert was endorsed by WHO in 2010, and since then, over 16 million subsidized cartridges have been purchased and used in high TB burden countries.

Unfortunately, even in resource-limited countries, eligibility is restricted to the private sector for the subsidized $9.98 per test price. For the private sector in developing countries, higher prices for devices and reagents are set by manufacturers, costs such as import duties add additional costs, and intermediaries, distributors and labs all impose margins of their own. This results in much higher prices for patients in the private sector.

Benefits of private sector access to subsidies

In many countries, the private health sector is a dominant provider of medical care. In 12/22 countries with the greatest TB burden, the private sector is a major source of TB care. These countries are Cambodia, Philippines, Afghanistan, Kenya, Vietnam, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Kenya, Uganda and Myanmar. In these countries, even underprivileged TB patients prefer to seek care from private health-care providers.

In these settings, studies have shown that deferred diagnosis and misdiagnosis have been found to be major difficulties. Further, patients frequently switch between public and private sectors, and doctors also tend to have dual practices in both sectors.

If TB is to be diagnosed in a timely manner and accurately, we must consider patient pathways to care and appreciate care seeking patterns. Irrespective of where patients go for medical care, we have to safeguard that they have access to patient-centric, quality TB diagnosis and therapy.

What are patients paying for Xpert in the private sector in high burden countries?

We recently published a study on this issue (Puri L et al. Lancet Global Health 2016). We wrote to TB experts in 12 countries largely within the private sector, and enquired whether Xpert was available in the private sector within their country. We also asked them to gather price figures from private labs that did offer Xpert.

Results of our survey showed that in half the countries, there was no private health facility offering Xpert testing. In the other 6 countries, the average cost payable by private patients was US$6873, with a range of $3026$15544.

Our survey showed that Xpert availability in the private sector is low, and, with some exclusions, private sector patients pay for a lot for this test. Taken together, we think these issues could negate the potential impact of new diagnostic technologies.

IPAQT model in India

We found one notable exception to the above pattern. The lowest average price could be found in India, via labs in the IPAQT network (Initiative for Promoting Affordable and Quality TB Tests).

IPAQT is an enterprise coordinated by theClinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), in New Delhi, India. Labs that join IPAQT offer several WHO-approved diagnostics at lower prices. IPAQT labs provide Xpert at a standard price of INR 2000 ($3026), compared with a $52.82 average in the rest of countrys private sector.

IPAQT now includes 115private labs that are accredited in its network as of February, 2016. These labs obtain a concessional price for Xpert, liquid cultures and line probe assays. In return for the right to use the public sector concessional pricing for equipment and reagents, these labs have agreed to pass on price discounts to patients, by not charging any more than a clearly agreed maximum price, informing TB cases to the public sector, and contributing in external quality assurance programmes. More than 250 000 TB tests have been completed by IPAQT labs since its introduction in 2013.

The future of access to TB Diagnostics

We need a plan, to safeguard that good diagnostics can be obtained by all patients with suspected TB. Such an access policy must draw on numerous methods. For example, it could include the the private sector in existing and upcoming pricing arrangements.

For a panel debate, see the below video:

8th FIND Symposium at Union World Conference 2015 Play

Reproduction of IPAQT-like models in further countries could be tried out. Another approach is to design public-private partnerships that permit privately managed patients to be tested in public labs. Innovative schemes such as usage of vouchers and subsidies by private provider interface agencies, and social businesses to cross-subsidise TB tests alongside more profitable tests are all worth trying.

Lastly, since TB is a disease of the poor, diagnostic companies need to rethink their strategy and adopt mass-market rather than premium pricing models for tuberculosis products.

About Prof Madhukar Pai, MD, PhD

Prof Madhukar Pai, MD, PhD is a Canada Research Chair in Epidemiology & Global Health at McGill University, Montreal. He is the Director of McGill Global Health Programs, and Associate Director of the McGill International TB Centre.

Disclaimer: This article has not been subjected to peer review and is presented as the personal views of a qualified expert in the subject in accordance with the general terms and condition of use of the News-Medical.Net website.

Further Reading
High-grade glioma is the most aggressive form of brain cancer. Despite improvements in surgical procedures, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, this type of brain tumour is still notoriously hard to treat: less than 10% of patients survive beyond five years. Researchers from KU Leuven, Belgium, have now shown that next-generation cell-based immunotherapy may offer new hope in the fight against brain cancer.

Cell-based immunotherapy involves the injection of a therapeutic anticancer vaccine that stimulates the patient's immune system to attack the tumour. Thus far, the results of this type of immunotherapy have been mildly promising. However, Abhishek D. Garg and Professor Patrizia Agostinis from the KU Leuven Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine have now found a novel way to produce more effective cell-based anticancer vaccines.

The researchers induced a specific type of cell death in brain cancer cells from mice. The dying cancer cells were then incubated together with dendritic cells, which play a vital role in the immune system. The researchers discovered that this type of cancer cell killing releases 'danger signals' that fully activate the dendritic cells.

"We re-injected the activated dendritic cells into the mice as a therapeutic vaccine", Professor Patrizia Agostinis explains. "That vaccine alerted the immune system to the presence of dangerous cancer cells in the body. As a result, the immune system could recognize them and start attacking the brain tumour."

Combined with chemotherapy, this novel cell-based immunotherapy drastically increased the survival rates of mice afflicted with brain tumours. Almost 50% of the mice were completely cured. For the sake of comparison: none of the mice treated with chemotherapy alone became long-term survivors.

"The major goal of any anticancer treatment is to kill all cancer cells and prevent any remaining malignant cells from growing or spreading again", Professor Agostinis continues. "This goal, however, is rarely achieved with current chemotherapies, and many patients relapse. That's why the co-stimulation of the immune system is so important for cancer treatments. Scientists have to look for ways to kill cancer cells in a manner that stimulates the immune system. With an eye on clinical studies, our findings offer a feasible way to improve the production of vaccines against brain tumours."
The Allen Institute for Brain Science and the Blue Brain Project are deepening their collaboration. Today, the US-based Allen Institute is releasing a set of 40 computer models of neurons from the mouse visual cortex, created using tools developed by the Swiss-based Blue Brain Project at EPFL. Using Blue Brain technology, the researchers were able to reproduce the physiology and electrical activity of the neurons with an extremely high level of detail.

The Blue Brain Project is the simulation core of the Human Brain Project, a huge pan-European initiative. The scientific journal Cell recently published a long paper demonstrating the effectiveness of the Blue Brain Project's modeling tools, focusing on the high accuracy and predictive power of the models and the discoveries they have already led to, including insight into the unexpected role of calcium. At the same time, the team has made these resources available to researchers around the world on a web-based platform.

"Our collaboration with the Allen Institute is an important step towards what we are striving to achieve," said Eilif Muller, the leader of the Blue Brain Simulation group. "The goal is to provide the scientific community with simulation-based tools and techniques that can give us a better understanding of how neurons and neural networks function."

The Allen Institute's virtual neurons accurately reproduce the biophysical activity of their real counterparts. Modeling the activity of dendrites - treelike extensions of neurons through which they integrate input from other neurons - was especially realistic. "Combining the data, tools and knowledge from the world's two largest neuroscience-oriented enterprises demonstrates the synergy that can be achieved by an Open Science policy, freely sharing all available data and metadata", said Christoph Koch, President and Chief Scientific Officer of the Allen Institute for Brain Science. "Understanding the brain, here the nonlinear processing in cortical dendrites, is too difficult a task to accomplish in any other way."

For the Blue Brain Project researchers, this collaboration is just the first step. Now the project is in talks with other teams of researchers who would like to do the same. Sean Hill, a neuroscientist affiliated with EPFL, is delighted: "This is a watershed moment, when we can really have an impact: we're a Swiss project that is central to a major European project; now we're reaching out to the scientific community around the world."
Allied health professionals from across the country will meet at Sheffield Hallam University today to discuss how they can improve clinical practice and patient care through research.

Research plays an important part in helping to inform and evolve clinical practice in allied health professions such as oncology, radiotherapy, physiotherapy, paramedic practice and occupational health and delegates at a conference hosted by Sheffield Hallam University will be advised on how they can become involved in clinical research and potentially discover the next medical breakthrough.

Karen Sage, professor for allied health professions research at Sheffield Hallam will talk about how she became involved in clinical research, the challenges she faced and how she overcame them. Professor Sage is currently looking into some of the challenges faced by therapists and patients during rehabilitation after a stroke.

One of her PhD studies, funded by the Stroke Association, will allow people to measure the relationship between the patient and therapist and aims to combat some of the issues around patient disengagement. It will also explore how the therapist-patient relationship affects the outcome of their treatment and whether it helps people after stroke to reach their full potential.

Over 200 allied health professionals from teaching hospitals, universities and research institutions from across the UK will attend today's conference which will also host Dr Lisa Bayliss-Pratt, director of nursing at Health Education England who will reinforce the importance of clinical research and how it contributes to a high standard of health care.

Professor Karen Bryan, pro-vice chancellor for Sheffield Hallam's Faculty of Health and Wellbeing, said:
AmeriHealth Caritas Louisiana, a Medicaid managed care health plan serving Louisiana, and the LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health, today announced the creation of a new fellowship program that each year will allow up to seven LSU Health New Orleans medical students who are also enrolled in the Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) degree program to spend four to eight weeks in the policy offices of Washington, D.C. organizations. The AmeriHealth Caritas Louisiana Health Policy Fellowship Program is funded by a gift from AmeriHealth Caritas Louisiana to the LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health. It will provide the school's M.D./M.P.H. students with working knowledge of health policy at various stages, including research and analysis, advocacy, development and implementation.

The fellowship program was created by and will be managed by Peggy Honore, D.H.A., the AmeriHealth Caritas Louisiana endowed professor at LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health. Dr. Honore considers the establishment of the fellowship as a "major milestone to providing the emerging generation of LSU Health-trained physicians with applied front row experiences critical to understanding the policy context in which health care and public health are practiced in America. It also provides a concrete illustration of a method to bridge gaps between the two disciplines of health care and public health and will draw attention to the need for greater emphasis in Louisiana on venues for structured dialogue and dissemination of information on health policy topics."

"We are proud to support this effort to improve the quality of health care in Louisiana. This is one example of how we are working to build a healthier state," said Kyle Viator, market president for AmeriHealth Caritas Louisiana. "Health care professionals who understand how public policy impacts their work will be able to deliver the best care to their patients."

LSU Health New Orleans M.D./M.P.H. students will benefit greatly from experience as health policy fellows in a professional organization solidly engaged in the fundamental aspects of the health policymaking process. It provides students with skills necessary for roles as successful policy advocates as well as for formulating innovative solutions to complex problems in the health care and public health system.

"Policy is considered as a cornerstone of public health," said Dean G. Smith, Ph.D., dean of the LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health. "It is universally acknowledged as a core function and essential service of the public health system."

The M.D./M.P.H. program was designed as an interdisciplinary educational program for students who envision a career that incorporates public health principles into the practice of medicine. It serves as a model for implementing national calls for integrating health care and public health practice. A goal of the M.D./M.P.H. is to bridge the medical knowledge of physicians with an understanding of the complex non-clinical, policy, and community conditions that influence the health of populations.

"The fellowship will provide additional opportunities for LSU Health New Orleans M.D./M.P.H dual degree students to develop critical skills and to apply themselves in meaningful health policy environments," says Benjamin Springgate M.D., M.P.H., director of the LSU Health New Orleans M.D./M.P.H. dual degree Program, and clinical associate professor of Medicine and Health Policy and Systems Management at LSU Health New Orleans.

"Improving public health requires effective policy solutions" notes Georges C. Benjamin, M.D., executive director, American Public Health Association. "Strengthening the capacity of public health practitioners to better understand, advocate for and implement those solutions will go a long way to ensuring safer, healthier communities."
A study led by the Hasbro Children's Hospital Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Nutrition and Liver Diseases found that the incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in Rhode Island is one of the highest ever reported in the United States and that IBD rates nationally are much higher than previously reported. The increased prevalence of IBD cases points to a need for more research into the causes of IBD and development of more targeted treatments.

IBD, which includes Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, is a chronic, debilitating condition characterized by inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. Studies have shown the incidence of IBD is increasing worldwide.

The study, recently published in the journal Inflammatory Bowel Diseases by Jason M. Shapiro, M.D., a pediatric gastroenterologist at Hasbro Children's Hospital, examined the statewide incidence of IBD through his work with The Ocean State Crohn's and Colitis Area Registry, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-funded registry of patients with IBD in Rhode Island. The study team reviewed medical records from all practicing adult and pediatric gastroenterologists in Rhode Island, as well as practices in Connecticut and Massachusetts that may care for RI residents, to determine the true incidence of IBD in Rhode Island between the years 2008-2010.

A total of 971 Rhode Islanders were identified as having IBD by the study team. This is an average incidence of approximately 30 cases of IBD per 100,000 persons in this three-year time frame with 15.1 and 13.9 per 100,000 diagnosed with ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, respectively. The incidence of IBD in Rhode Island was found to be among the highest in the world and higher than that previously reported from US populations in Minnesota and Northern California. In comparison, Minnesota previously reported an incidence of 8.8 and 7.9 per 100,000 for ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease between 1990-2000, while the Northern California group reported incidences of 12 and 6.3 for ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease between 1996-2002.

"Our findings show that the incidence of IBD in the United States is increasing and highlights the importance of further research into IBD, so we can better help this growing population," said Shapiro. "We still have so many unanswered questions, such as what causes IBD, how can we predict which patients will have a more complicated case and how can we identify which patients will benefit from more aggressive medical treatments early in their disease course? Most importantly, we need to focus on identifying and developing better treatments."

Shapiro stressed that further research is critical to addressing the rising prevalence of IBD and providing better treatments to the growing patient population, especially when it comes to pediatric patients. "One-third of IBD patients are diagnosed during childhood and adolescence," explained Shapiro. "Earlier intervention and identifying better, targeted treatments is especially important for this vulnerable patient population facing years of possible disease-related complications. Optimizing growth potential and ensuring normal pubertal progression in the face of IBD is a priority."
A research collaboration that combines novel "big-data" informatics tools with expertise in basic biology has uncovered details of an essential process in life: how a crucial enzyme locates the site on DNA where it begins to direct the synthesis of RNA. This finding may aid in the discovery of new antimicrobial medicines, and the powerful technological approaches developed for this research may shed light on other essential cellular processes.

A bioinformatics group from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia collaborated with researchers from Rutgers University on the study, which appeared online today in Science.

"The algorithms we developed enable us to tackle many questions across diverse areas of DNA and RNA biology," said study co-author Deanne M. Taylor, Ph.D., Director of Bioinformatics in the Department of Biomedical and Health Informatics at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). "Understanding these fundamental processes may help in developing antimicrobial treatments to fight bacterial disease."

Taylor collaborated on the study with biochemist Bryce Nickels, Ph.D., and chemist Richard Ebright, Ph.D., both from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.

The research focuses on transcriptionhow cells read genetic information stored in DNA by first synthesizing a copy of that genetic information as RNA. The enzyme RNA polymerase is the molecular machine that carries out transcription. In the current study, the CHOP/Rutgers team determined how RNA polymerase locates the site on DNA where it starts transcription.

In particular, working in bacteria, the CHOP/Rutgers team showed that after RNA polymerase binds to DNA and partly unwinds the two strands of the DNA helix, it then continues unwinding those two strands, pulling the unwound DNA strands into itself until it engages the transcription start site (TSS). The researchers call this processunwinding DNA and pulling strands into itself"DNA scrunching." Nickels points out, "Scientists have known for more than three decades that transcription start sites vary, but did not previously know the mechanism."

To detect DNA scrunching during TSS selection, the researchers developed powerful new experimental approaches, called MASTER and MASTER-XL. The CHOP/Rutgers team first described MASTER (for "massively systematic transcript end readout") in a December 2015 paper in Molecular Cell.

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MASTER-XL combines the MASTER technology with crosslinkingintroducing artificial amino acids at specific sites on proteins to crosslink to sites in DNA. Using high-throughput algorithms, the study team was able to precisely and rapidly pinpoint those crosslinking sites in a million different DNA sequences, each carrying a distinct TSS region. In each sequence, the team identified the TSS as well as front (leading edge) and rear (trailing edge) positions where RNA polymerase attached to DNA.

Yuanchao Zhang, a graduate student working with Taylor's bioinformatics group at CHOP, developed the big-data algorithms with Taylor to analyze the sequencing data output from MASTER and MASTER-XL experiments. "Our algorithms rapidly process many millions of DNA and RNA sequence reads," said Taylor.

The rapid sequencing, plus advanced biochemical and chemical methods underlying the crosslinking, provided a key finding on how DNA scrunching occurs during transcription. As the position of the TSS changes, the position of RNA polymerase's leading edge changes in lock step, but the enzyme's trailing edge remains in the same position. This causes the DNA to scrunch: it remains fastened to RNA polymerase at its trailing edge, but RNA polymerase unwinds the adjacent DNA and pulls the unwound DNA into itself until it locates a new TSS.

"The crucial feature of our approach," explained Ebright, "is the combination of protein-DNA crosslinking with next-generation-sequencing of DNA. This enables us to perform crosslinking studies with a million different DNA sequences in the same amount of time that we previously would have needed to perform crosslinking studies with one DNA sequence." He added, "The million-fold increase in throughput allows biological problems to be solved that couldn't be solved before."

The CHOP/Rutgers collaborators are now investigating transcription in higher organisms, analyzing whether DNA scrunching occurs during TSS selection, and if so, how it compares to the process in bacteria. The team also hopes to apply MASTER and MASTER-XL to analyzing other essential cellular processes such as DNA replication.
Twitter may be an effective, untapped resource to stimulate interest in cancer clinical trials and boost enrollment, physicians at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania suggest in a new research letter in JAMA Oncology. Analyzing thousands of lung cancer tweets on the social media site revealed that a surprisingly large number were about clinical trials, particularly ones on immunotherapy, although none were used for recruitment.

Enrollment into clinical trials can provide promising, new treatment options for patients. But only about five percent of adult cancer patients participate in these studies.

"This is an unsolved societal problem," said Mina S. Sedrak, MD, MS, a fellow in the division of Hematology/Oncology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and ACC, and lead author of the study. "Twitter provides a promising and novel avenue for exploring how cancer patients conceptualize and communicate about their health, and may have the potential to promote much-needed clinical trial recruitment."

Numerous cancer centers and care organizations actively use Twitter as a platform for health promotion and education, but few studies have examined the existing cancer communication on Twitter and none have examined the extent to which Twitter provides useful information about cancer clinical trials, according to the authors.

In the pilot study, Sedrak and his co-authors analyzed a randomly chosen sample of 1,516 tweets out of a total of 15,346 unique tweets that contained "lung cancer" from January 5 - 21, 2015, and observed where they lead the public.

Although the majority of tweets analyzed (56 percent) focused on giving and receiving psychological support or dialogues about prevention, the study found that nearly 18 percent (221) of tweets were about clinical trials, 42 percent of which were tweeted by individuals (including self-identified patients, health professionals, advocates, and non-health users).

"We were surprised to see that after dialogues concerning support and prevention, the next largest category of tweets were about clinical trials," Sedrak said. The majority of these clinical trial tweets were about human research involving a drug or a device, and quite a number were focused on the excitement around immunotherapy, which was still investigational at the time of the study. Among the therapeutic clinical trial tweets, 79 percent (144 of 183), in fact, concerned immunotherapy and 86 percent (158 of 183) had embedded links directing users to relevant news articles.

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What the study also uncovered was that virtually none of these tweets were used for recruitment nor did they provide links to enrollment websites. Only 1 tweet linked to a patient recruitment website.

Although this work adds to the emerging literature and helps us understand how the public uses Twitter to get information about lung cancer, further efforts are needed to see if Twitter may be a viable method of disseminating health information, which may not only improve treatment and support for cancer patients and survivors, but also enhance public awareness of and enrollment into cancer clinical trials, the authors said.

What's more, social media patient recruitment and retention programs may pose some new challenges to institutional review boards (IRBs) with respect to both non-coercive content and the assurance of privacy. IRBs will need to contemplate appropriate policies on how to review social media recruitment campaigns and address emerging ethical dilemmas inherent to the use of social media and research, the authors said.

"We need to learn more about the ecology of social media, because it is clearly not consistently directing patients to the right places," Sedrak said. "Social media may provide an infrastructure for cancer centers, researchers, and physicians to interact with the public in new and productive ways, including stimulating interest in new clinical trials with targeted messages that connect patients, caregivers, and families with trial enrollment websites. This potential remains largely untapped."

Source: Penn Medicine
Several P.L. Dunbar Middle School for Innovation students say a teacher who interrupted a Black History Month assembly last Friday objected to its religious content and was protecting his students, but some people said the manner of the objection led to confusion about his intent.

People think, myself included  that people tried to make it about race, which it never was. The whole entire thing was about religion, said Armelle Duston, an eighth-grade student who spoke to The News & Advance with her mothers permission.

I believe that our school is very racially and culturally accepting and it was just assumed that it was about religion.

The teacher interrupted the first performance of the assembly, which was by the Liberty University gospel choir LU Praise, Armelle said.

You could hear some people around were [saying], Wait a second, this is Christian stuff. Isnt this not really allowed in public facilities and schools? she said. In the middle of the second song  he went to the podium.  He said, If youre offended by this, please follow me out into the hallway and were going to the gym or something like that, she said.

Five people who were present or heard of the event from their children used almost exactly the same wording in describing the statement to The News & Advance.

Anywhere from 10 to 25 students left, people who attended said. After the gospel choirs performance ended, Armelle said, those who had left, including the teacher, returned for the rest of the assembly.

Because the teacher didnt say what was offensive, some members of the audience were confused.

During a regular school board meeting Tuesday, members of the black community who heard from children and friends about the event spoke during an open public comment period. With the apparent perception the teachers offense was racially based, they called for his dismissal.

Despite an outcry on social media and an internet petition with hundreds of signatures and comments saying the objection was not motivated by race, few of the commenters, parents and teachers contacted by The News & Advance have been willing to respond. Almost all of the people present were students or employees of the division.

The teacher did not respond to several requests for comment.

It was shocking, said Keith Lee, the ballet master and chief for Keith Lee Dances, a troupe that performed later at the event. It seemed to him it couldnt have been about religion, he said, because no one was asked to pray or sing along, and he didnt feel the performance went beyond traditional gospel music.

Isnt gospel music part of black history? he said, adding both as a performer and as a black man, he felt the interruption seemed angry, and was rude and insulting.

This happened very early on in the performance, and set a horrible mood for the rest of it, he said. I told my performers, Lets be professional, lets just go out there and do a really great performance.

Detria Moore, a parent who has two children in the school, said while her children feel reassured this week the issue was about religion, when they came home last Friday it was less clear.

As an undergraduate law professor and a black woman, she had a lot of questions for her children, she said.

My direct question [was] what was he most offended about. They werent certain at the time. They didnt know, she said. My initial feeling was, someone who from all accounts is a beloved teacher at Dunbar  which is predominantly black  I thought it probably had more to do with a religious nature.  Certainly this would not have been the first black history program or program of this nature. Still, theres just a proper way to go about it so that students learn a more positive way to deal with things that may offend them.

Her children are familiar with gospel music from church, and from their descriptions, the songs seemed to be contemporary gospel, she said.

This was in no way proselytizing, she said. I think most people are comfortably aware that gospel music is an interwoven element of black history in general.

Members of LU Praise did not respond to requests for comment. The choirs director is out of town this week, according to a Liberty University staff member.

Armelle, who is a director for the schools student-run morning news program, said students didnt know what the assembly would include beforehand. Parents said they were not notified religious content would be part of a school event. It is not clear what school staff knew about the content.

Lynchburg City Schools administration declined to comment on the planning or content of the assembly, citing an ongoing personnel matter.

At the start of the mandatory assembly, held during the last two periods of the day, Armelle said, the school principal introduced the program and said the first group would be singing gospel music that mentioned God.

She said they would be singing about God, but it could be anyones god [or] whatever it means to you, and its not necessarily Christian, Armelle said.

She saw a student filming the event using a video camera that belongs to the school, as well as some students filming on their cell phones, but has not seen any footage, she said.

The teacher has inspired a lot of students, she said, and students have been upset he has been out this week, and concerned he may lose his job.

All the kids love him, she said. People are really irritated.  Theyre talking about how some of the things that people are saying arent true and that what he did was to protect the students and that he was protecting our First Amendment rights.

Many people, even those who have spoken in support of the teacher, say his action may have been misguided even if his intentions were honorable.

Hes a good teacher, and many good people make mistakes, thats part of nature, said Bill Burruss, a former parent-teacher organization president at Dunbar.

Dunbar and its teachers have won state awards for education, while maintaining a positive, inclusive cultural atmosphere, and this teacher has been part of that, he said.

Burruss was not present at the assembly, but said hes heard from parents and teachers about the event.

From what I heard, he went up and interrupted a performance while it was going on  and I think that could be looked upon as disrespectful. I dont know why he did that. Thats why I consider it a mistake, he said.

Moore said she is most concerned about the example set.

One thing that Im almost always concerned about is the impact and the lesson that all of our collective actions are going to have on our youth, she said. [People may think its] honorable if he stood up for what he believed in. But at what point does it become disrespectful?
Pittsylvania Countys economic development director will recommend that the county do a comprehensive agriculture industry study.

Matt Rowe said he will make the recommendation during the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors upcoming meeting Monday night in Chatham. The study would help determine what type of agricultural industry would be the best fit for the county, Rowe said.

 Im more interested in what our target industry is, Rowe said.

He wants an examination of all aspects of agriculture, including food processing, viticulture, dairy, beef cattle, craft brewing, forestry and others. Lets look at agriculture as a whole, Rowe said, adding that agriculture is already the countys largest industry.

 We need to have an understanding of what were suited for, Rowe said.

During a Pittsylvania County Agricultural Development Board meeting Feb. 25, Rowe gave a presentation on food processing. He told board members the county would need the following assets to attract a food processor: a flat pad of at least 50 acres, 1 to 2 million gallons of water per week, good electrical transmission, a nearby natural gas line, transportation such as access to a limited-access highway, a large workforce and proximity to producers.

Ag Board Chairman Jay Calhoun said county producers are open to discussing any type of ag industry that would be good for farmers.

 Were always open to any business that might be of benefit to the farmer, Calhoun said.

A vertically integrated poultry industry was also on the boards agenda that night.

BR Bock Consulting, Inc., conducted a study a little more than a year ago for the county and found that a vertically integrated poultry complex would have an annual economic impact of up to $476 million and would bring about 1,200 jobs to the county.

The complex would include a hatchery, feed mill and processing plant operated by an integrator and a set of poultry growers within a 50-mile radius raising birds for the integrator.

When asked about the possibility of the county attracting a poultry complex, Rowe said he would like to find out what would be a good fit for the county and get feedback from citizens.

 We need to have a common focus on where we go, Rowe said.

Pittsylvania County Administrator Clarence Monday said the county is open to any economic development prospects.

Crane reports for the Danville Register & Bee.
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Home News Sports Social Obituaries Events Letters Looking Back Health Jewels Stitch in Time Idaho Air National Guard deploying to the Middle East March 4, 2016 The Idaho Air National Guard is preparing to make its first major deployment in the U.S.-led fight against the Islamic State group.



More than 500 members of the 124th Fighter Wing based at Gowen Field in Boise will depart for the Middle East this spring and summer as part of Operation Inherent Resolve.



The mission will include multiple aircraft, pilots, maintenance personnel, security forces, medical personnel and various other support staff.



In response to our questioning of Idaho National Guard staff, they report that no Boundary County residents are included as part of this deployment (if you are aware of a local resident being deployed, please let us know).



Deployments typically last up to 180 days, with multiple departures spread out over the next several months.



This deployment highlights the dedication of the 124th Fighter Wing and its members, as well as the community of families, state and local leaders, neighbors and employers who have demonstrated once again their steadfast and unwavering support of Idahos service members, Governor C.L. Butch Otter said. The impact on the community is recognized and their sacrifice is deeply appreciated.







The Idaho Air National Guard is celebrating its 70th year of flying fighter aircraft in defense of our nation. The 124th Fighter Wing has always answered when called upon, and this deployment is the embodiment of what it means to be an Airman and an Idaho Air National Guardsman.



"The 124th Fighter Wing is constantly supporting combat operations by sending small numbers of airmen overseas routinely," said Major Christopher Borders of the Idaho National Guard. "What makes this coming deployment significant is the large number of personnel deploying."



With ever-increasing threats both locally and nationwide, the Idaho Air National Guard continually trains to support not only its state mission within the State of Idaho, but also in support of its federal mission of addressing threats around the globe. Questions or comments about this article? Click here to e-mail!
Home News Sports Social Obituaries Events Letters Looking Back Health Jewels Stitch in Time School District announces February Employees of the Month March 4, 2016

Certified Employee of the Month, Janet Gause

Janet Gause is Boundary County School Districts February Employee of the Month. Janet has worked for the school district for 22 years. She spends most of her day teaching at Mount Hall Elementary but also spends some time in all our schools. In addition to teaching, Janet works part-time with our school psychologist; is our liaison with the BoCo Backpack program; spreads sunshine throughout Mount Hall by overseeing the Sunshine Fund; and always volunteers to help students and staff in any way she can.



Janet is married to her husband, Dave. They have been married for 35 years. Together they have three children: Colin, Brennan, and Larkin, and two daughter-in-laws: Julie and Kate. In her spare time, Janet enjoys spending time with her family, especially her time with her granddaughter, Natalie. Janet is anxiously awaiting the arrival of their newest grandbaby coming this March.



Janet is an incredible teacher, but more importantly an incredible person. She dedicates so much of her time to the education and well-being of her students. Anyone who knows Janet knows that she has a heart of gold, and she is an advocate for her students. Janets husband, Dave, says that, Janet sees her relationships with students as lasting relationships. They (students) arent just here and gone. Her students come before everything else. If extra time takes place, they are the extra time. The students and staff adore her. A Mount Hall student, Owen K said, He likes Mrs. Gause because she always helps him. Shes kind. She also would be very productive, and safe, and civil. She would be all of these actually. All students and staff would agree that Janet Gause is a worthy recipient of this honor. I have appreciated my time working with Janet. She is a tremendous asset to Mount Hall Elementary and Boundary County School District. Thank you, Janet for all that you do.



-Lisa Iverson



Classified Employee of the Month, Daryl Chapman

Bonners Ferry High School would like to recognize Daryl Chapman as the Boundary County School District Classified Employee of the month for February 2016.



Daryl is originally from Bonners Ferry, graduating from BFHS in 1983. He loves to hunt, fish, and everything North Idaho offers. After high school, he traveled much of the country working on oil rigs. He then found himself in Oklahoma running his own floor cleaning business. No wonder BFHS floors look so good!



Daryl came back to Bonners Ferry to meet up with his high school sweetheart Teresa. Daryl has been working for the district two and one half years. We have been lucky enough to have him as the Head Custodian at the high school for a year now.



His favorite thing about working at the high school is interacting with the students and staff. He also likes the many challenges maintaining a building presents. When asked the one thing he would want our students to know he said work hard and never give up."



BFHS is lucky to have Daryl. If there is something that needs to be done I dont have to worry, Daryl is on it. He is a team player and a pleasure to work with. Thank you Daryl for everything you do for BFHS.



-Tim Gering Questions or comments about this article? Click here to e-mail!
Patrons roar over Dog and Fries

Strangely, this was the first time the sound system seemed appropriate for the hall but the engineer just could not get it right and patrons kept shouting sound, sound.

Things were so bad, the third contestant, Lady Aeisha had to stop after the first verse of her song, Telephone Love, and walk off stage so things could be put right.

The competition got going with Gerald Radellant doing Dont Wash It. He was followed by the popular Kid Kalaloo (Julien Hunte) with Victoria Secret, a song about his girlfriend Victoria who hid several diseases from him. He was greeted with a roar of approval after his performance.

Marriage Advice by Kaiso Nobby (Carl Barrington) dealt with young women who cant cook, wash or iron. He gave praises to places like the laundry and bakery. Old Age was well executed by Mr Nature (Michael John).

But the night belonged to Brother Mudada (Allan Fortune) for his rendition of Dog and Fries. A well thought out calypso about dog meat and Chinese nationals living in Trinidad. Brother Mudada got the loudest roar of approval from the audience for a well-executed performance.

Ras Ringo (Samuel Morris) from Tobago went in search of another Chinese national called Row Lee in his song The Hunt. Ninja (Kenston Neptune) got a chance to be in the competition because Gary Hercules was hospitalised recently. We truly hope he recovers from his illness soon.

Ninjas performance of Ah Sorry was not strong enough to take him past the semi-final. Sexy Suzie (Natasha Nurse) closed off the first half of the competition with The Results are In.

It was relatively easy to pick out the front runners from the first half as they were quite outstanding.

Shawn McIntyre, Dr Rude Kaiso kicked off the second half with Something about De Tablet another interestingly put together song about the smart devices being used today.

The audience could not get enough of Crazys Four Calls.

Dressed in a red PNM T-shirt, the lovable lunatic delivered a song about Winston Gypsy Peters (who was in the audience) losing his cell phone.

Yosef Gibbs caught the audience off guard with his out-of-time dancing in his song Cold which is about the size of his tool compared to that of his female partner.

He was well- received for his rendition.

Mr Mack (Legally Gay), Impulse (Matrimony), Xposer (Ah Too Old For Dat) and Candice Robinson (The Car Cyah Hold) failed to ignite the audience while Spicey (Tammico Moore) continued her good run with D Champion.

The lyrics in some of the songs lacked humour and could do with some tweaking but at least they were not vulgar. There was a definite improvement in the songs presented this year as they contained great music which was well played by Len Cummings and The Wailers.

Singing Francine and All Rounder were both guest artistes on the show which Tuco says is produced to showcase the important genre of humorous calypso within a separate and distinct setting so it can be given the focus and attention it deserves.

Masters of Ceremony for the night were Damion Melville and Darryl Mendoza (Mr Nixon).

Eight contestants were chosen to go into the final against reigning monarch Brother Ebony on March 19 at the Grand Stand, Queens Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain.

They are Brother Mudada, Kaiso Nobby, Crazy, Kid Kalaloo, Mr Nature, Sexy Suzie, Dr Rude Kaiso and Spicey. Dan De Man is the reserve.
Global Mentoring Walk at Savnnah tomorrow

With mentorship at the core of this initiative, the walk seeks to connect a number of established women (mentors) with aspiring leaders (mentees) along the way. All women and men are nonetheless invited to walk in solidarity with women and reflect on their advances and struggles everywhere. The walk starts opposite Marli Street at the Queens Park Savannah.

Vital Voices Global Mentoring Walk takes place on the same day globally and will bring together over 10,000 women in as many as 80 walks worldwide.

This years TT walk is organised by T&Ts Vital Voices flag bearer, Ms Brafit in collaboration with the US Embassy and with the support of First Citizens and Pat and Max, said a media release.

Building on the success of its inaugural Walk in 2015, also supported by the embassy, the walk will feature the American female performance group Girl Be Heard (GBH), courtesy of the US Embassy. Girl Be Heard is a non-profit theatre company that brings global issues affecting girls centre stage by empowering young women to tell their stories.

In addition to Girl Be Heards participation at the walk, The Heroes Foundation in collaboration with PSI Caribbean will host a GBH performance for an audience of school children at the Central Bank Auditorium on Wednesday.

Registration contribution is $100 and forms are available online at https://www.

facebook.com/IWDGlobalWalkTT / For more info on the Global Mentoring Walk and other Vital Voices International Womens Day activities in Trinidad, visit the facebook page /call: 868-755-1496/ email:TTVVGlobalWalk@ gmail.com.
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(Newser)  A California woman got a 10-minute shampoo at a beauty salon in 2013; two weeks later, she had a "massive" stroke, KGTV reports. Experts are blaming Beauty Parlor Stroke Syndrome. Sound far-fetched? It's apparently not. [It's] "definitely something that all neurologists know about," one doctor tells ABC News. Eight days after Elizabeth Smith had her hair washed at Blowbunny salon near San Diego, she started felling weakness in her left arm and leg. A week after that, she had a stroke. "They didn't think I was going to live," she says. She was left with lingering physical impairments, a blood clot in her brain that could kill her at any moment, and $250,000 in medical bills. Now she's suing the salon.

Doctors say Smith's neck was hyperextended when it was bent back for the shampoo, and one of her vertebrae cut through an artery, eventually leading to the clot that caused her stroke. Experts say there have been a number of documented cases of Beauty Parlor Stroke Syndrome. "It's shocking to think such a benign activity can kill you," Smith says. Smith's lawsuit claims the salon's chair and sink were "defective" and didn't offer enough support for her neck. Blowbunny denies any responsibility, arguing Smith failed to show any concern for her own safety. Doctors recommend anyone with neck arthritis or hardening arteries skip the shampoo next time they visit the salon. (Meanwhile, your anti-dandruff shampoo could be hurting the environment.)
(Newser)  NASA will be studying how Scott Kelly's body reacted to almost a year in space, using his twin brother Mark Kelly, who stayed on Earth, as a control. One big difference to note right away: The brothers will no longer be the same height, as they were before Scott went into space, because he grew 2 inches while aboard the International Space Station, CNN reports. "Astronauts get taller in space as the spine elongates," NASA's Jeff Williams explains.

That's because "without the full strength of gravity pressing down on gel-filled discs between the vertebrae, they expand and lengthen the spine," the Washington Post explains. But Scott won't be able to lord it over Mark for too long: Astronauts "return to preflight height after a short time back on Earth," Williams says. (Read more Scott Kelly stories.)
(Newser)  Wow, Russia takes Internet comments super seriously. AFP reports 38-year-old Viktor Krasnov is facing up to a year in jail after writing "there is no God" online. He also called the Bible "a collection of Jewish fairy tales" during the same 2014 argument on social media, according to NBC News. Krasnov was ratted out by one of the people he was arguing with, and the Russian Investigative Committee charged him with hurting religious people's feelings under the four-year-old "Pussy Riot" law. His trial started Monday. In addition to the possibility of jail time, Krasnov's comments caused him to be put into a psychiatric ward for a month before he was determined to be sane. "I don't know how you can treat social networking posts seriously," NBC quotes Krasnov. "Looks like we need a law to protect atheists' feelings too." (Read more Russia stories.)
(Newser)  The white, reflective surface of Greenland's snowpack is getting darker and less reflective, all thanks to what the Christian Science Monitor calls "positive feedback loops"the idea that a little bit of melting leads to more and faster melting. "We knew that these processes had been happening," says Columbia professor Marco Tedesco, lead author of a new study in the journal Cryosphere. "Whats new is the acceleration of the darkening, which started in 1996." In fact, parts of Greenland may actually be 10% darkertechnically it is losing its "albedo," or reflectivityby the end of the century, researchers predict. "It's a train running downhill, and the hill is getting steeper," Tedesco says.

So what happened in 1996? One likely culprit is the natural change in atmospheric circulation called the North Atlantic Oscillation, in which summer atmospheric conditions "favored more incoming solar radiation and warmer, moist air from the south," Tedesco writes in Columbia's Earth Institute. This melting brought impurities such as soot from previous melts to the surface, making it darker and, in turn, prone to melting even faster. And because individual ice grains tend to get larger when snow melts and refreezes, less light scatters across those larger surfaces and more is absorbed, reports Gizmodo. This effect appears strongest in the infrared range the human eye cannot see but was found in satellite images. When the atmospheric conditions naturally shifted back in 2013, the damage had already been done, with the ice sheet more vulnerable to melting. (Check out how old the soil is under some parts of Greenland's ice pack.)
(Newser)  Christopher Barber served nearly five years in a Pennsylvania prison in the 1990s for shaking his fussy baby boy and flinging him onto a couch so hard that he suffered catastrophic brain damage. Now Barber is behind bars again, charged with homicide, following his son's death at age 23 after he lingered in a vegetative state the rest of his life, hooked to a breathing machine and fed through a tube. Barber, 46, was arraigned Wednesday and jailed without bail. Prosecutors had him arrested after a pathologist ruled Christopher Kostenbader's death last May a homicide, saying he succumbed to "complications due to the severe head injury that occurred in 1991 at the hands of the defendant."

Barber told police nearly a quarter-century ago that his son would not stop crying while being fed on New Year's Eve in 1991 in Saylorsburg, about 25 miles north of Bethlehem. He said he shook Christopherthough he claimed the shaking "wasn't that rough"and threw the baby on the couch. Christopher bounced at least twice, Barber told police. The infant was taken to the hospital, where doctors found "tons of damage" to the brain, bleeding behind the eyes, and rib fractures that led them to diagnose shaken baby syndrome, court documents said. Cases like this onein which prosecutors file new, more serious charges after the victim takes a turn for the worse much laterare unusual but hardly unprecedented. In November, a Southern California jail inmate who abused a baby girl in 2005 was charged with murder over her death a decade later. (Read more shaken baby syndrome stories.)
(Newser)  Diane DiProspero Cook always considered Karen Cometa-Zempel to be her favorite teacher from New York's Bryant and Stratton College, where she was a student in 1985. Thirty years later, it makes a lot of sense why. Adopted as an infant, DiProspero Cook recently became interested in her biological family and reached out to the state Adoption Registry, reports WHAM. She received a letter back this month. Inside was information on her sister, born seven years earlier and also adopted as a baby. It also contained a name: Karen Cometa-Zempel. It turned out Cometa-Zempel had also contacted the registry in the hope of finding out more about her biological relatives. When DiProspero Cook looked up the name on Facebook, "I couldn't believe it. I immediately knew who she was."

The sisters, who share a mother, soon discovered they had a remarkably similar upbringing. Both joined close-knit Italian families living 20 miles apart in upstate New York and attended Catholic school, reports ABC News. "We lived parallel lives," says DiProspero Cook. But they have more in common than that. "We think alike, we have the same mannerisms," she adds. They're both left-handed, have bubbly personalities, and love shopping. In fact, shopping brought the pair unexpectedly together for their first meeting. Though they planned to meet at a later date, they bumped into each other on Valentine's Day weekend at an outlet mall near Niagara Falls. (These long-lost siblings also knew each other.)
(Newser)  Colorado theater shooter James Holmes has been moved to a prison outside of the state, the Denver Post reports. A spokeswoman cited safety concerns as the reason for the move but declined to say where Holmes is currently incarcerated as he serves his life sentence. "He is not in the state" is the only official line. That safety concern likely stems from an October attack on Holmes by a fellow inmate at the Colorado State Penitentiary in Canon City. According to ABC News, a security gate was mistakenly left open as Holmes exited the office of his case worker, giving inmate Mark "Slim" Daniels the opportunity to attack the man who killed 12 people and injured dozens more when he opened fire in a movie theater in 2012.

Daniels ran through the slider, squeezing through as it was closing toward offender Holmes," says a prison report cited by ABC. "Offender Daniels began hitting offender Holmes, in and around his head, with his fist. Daniels, who is serving time for auto theft and other crimes, continued the attack even as guards tried to restrain him. Daniels wrote of the attack in a December letter to alt-weekly Westword: "I'm so sorry I couldn't wipe him out and sent [sic] him packing to Satan's lake of fire. It was just impossible to do by myself with so many cops. I did get him six or seven good ones." Allowing Holmes to come into contact with other prisoners "was not part of the management plan of him," says Colorado prisons chief Steve Hager. Daniels received 60 days in segregation, lost privileges, and also was transferred. (Read more James Holmes stories.)
(Newser)  The news about Zika virus just got a bit worse: Researchers in Brazil have found that a more common mosquito than previously thought can carry the virus, which may hamper efforts to stop its spread. The primary transmitter of Zika, which has been linked to birth defects and other maladies, is a species called Aedes aegypti. Now, scientists in a lab have been able to infect the Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoa more prevalent species, the Guardian reports. Whether or not Culex quinquefasciatus, which is 20 times more common in Brazil than the other species, can actually transmit the virus is still unclear. Scientists injected the mosquitoes with rabbit blood infected with Zika. The virus made its way to the insects' salivary glands, which means transmission to humans may be possible.

Zika has been linked to microcephaly, a birth defect resulting in abnormally small heads and brains. In Brazil, more than 5,600 cases have been reported since October. Last month, it was reported that two of nine American women who had tested positive for Zika have had abortions. Two of the women had miscarriages, and another birthed a child with microcephaly. The women had recently traveled to countries where the virus is rampant, according to reports. On Thursday, health authorities in San Francisco confirmed a case of the virus in a non-pregnant person, KRON reports. Earlier in the week a pregnant woman in Napa County, Calif., was diagnosed with Zika. Both had traveled to Central America at some point. (Read more Zika virus stories.)
(Newser)  Thursday's GOP debate in Detroit took place an hour away from Flint, Michigan, and yet the unfolding water crisis in that city garnered only a brief moment of attention. Marco Rubio was the only candidate to field a question on Flint, which he claims Democrats turned into a partisan issue. "All of us are outraged by what happened," the Washington Post quotes Rubio. "I don't think someone woke up one morning and said, 'Let's poison the water system.'" Rubio credited Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder for taking accountability for the crisis. Earlier Thursday, a Flint mother filed a lawsuit against a handful of government employees and corporations she believes are responsible for poisoning her four children with lead-tainted drinking water, according to Michigan Live.

Critics immediately jumped on Rubio's statements on Flint. "Rick Snyder poisoned thousands of children, and Marco Rubio's biggest concern is that people are blaming Snyder for it," a ThinkProgress editor tweeted. "I don't think the issue w/ #FlintWaterCrisis is somebody thought about poisoning kids. It's that nobody thought about how not to," added a Hillary Clinton staffer. After Rubio's answer to the Flint question, the debate moved on to discussing Detroit's failing schools. (Read more Flint, Michigan stories.)
(Newser)  Spanish authorities seized containers holding about 20,000 military uniforms and other supplies last month from two port towns, all destined for ISIS and Nusra Front jihadi fighters, the country's Interior Ministry said Thursday in a statement. It was contraband said to be able to "equip an entire army. ... The [three] containers which carried the military uniforms were declared as secondhand clothes so as to not raise suspicions and be able to pass different customs inspections without any difficulty," the statement continued, per the AFP. The confiscations in Valencia and Algeciras are tied to the arrests in February of seven people accused of running a "very active and effective business network" that reportedly helped the militant groups financially and logistically.

Five of the seven people arrested in February were Spanish citizens, the New York Times reports, while the New York Daily News says the other two detained were a Moroccan and a Syrian. An Interior Ministry spokesman says the clothes themselves were not made in Spain; a company owned by one of the suspect reportedly imported used clothing. The uniforms, which weighed nearly five tons, were "perfectly prepared for combat," per NPR, which notes that officials did not say precisely where the uniforms had been bound for next. Investigators are still trying to figure out where the uniforms originated from. (Read more Spain stories.)
(Newser)  The US holds about 8,133 metric tons of gold. That's 8,133 more than Canada, according to newly released data. The Canadian government sold off 21,851 ounces of gold in February, leaving it with just 77 ounces at most, reports Bloomberg. Those 77 ounces are worth about $100,000, but the official value of Canada's gold reserves is $0 because asset valuations are rounded to the nearest $1 million. That goose egg is actually a good thing in the government's perspective. Canada hoarded some 1,000 metric tons of gold in the 1960s but has been slowly selling it and stashing other countries' currencies instead. Canada holds $48.6 billion in US dollars and $22.5 billion in other currencies, reports the Globe and Mail.

"The government has a long-standing policy of diversifying its portfolio by selling physical commodities (such as gold) and instead investing in financial assets that are easily tradable and that have deep markets of buyers and sellers," a Finance Department rep tells the CBC. A former finance official adds that holding onto gold isn't economical because it hasn't had a good rate of return over the years and is costly to store. Clearly not everyone agrees: Russia, India, and China, are shoring up their reserves. Still, one professor suggests the only reason the US Federal Reserve isn't selling its gold is because "it knows it would get attacked in Congress." Indeed, Ted Cruz is a big fan and has suggested the US return to the gold standard, notes the Globe and Mail. (There's $10 million in gold and silver hidden in Utah.)
(Newser)  Two men were sentenced to jail this week in connection with the drowning deaths of five Syrian migrants, including the 3-year-old subject of an iconic photo that brought the world's attention to the growing refugee crisis, the New York Times reports. The photo, taken in September, showed young Alan Kurdi's body washed up on the shores of Turkey. According to the BBC, Mufawaka Alabash and Asem Alfrhad, both Syrians, were found guilty of refugee smuggling in Turkey and were sentenced to more than four years in jail on Friday. They were in charge of a rubber raft that flipped on its journey from Turkey to Greece, killing five people, including Alan, his mother, and his 5-year-old brother.

Both Alabash and Alfrhad faced up to 35 years in prison but were found not guilty of causing death through deliberate negligence. Some have criticized their sentence as being too lenient, while others say focusing on two low-level refugee smugglers won't do anything to stem the waves of migrants risking their lives to flee to Europe. Alan's hometown in Syria was bombed daily; his family was hoping to make it to relatives in Canada, CNN reports. A member of Human Rights Watch called the photo of Alan's body the "biggest indictment of collective failure." More than 400 migrants have died trying to reach Europe this year alone. (Read more Syrian refugees stories.)
(Newser)  An LAPD spokesman has confirmed a TMZ report that detectives are investigating a knife said to have been found on the former estate of OJ Simpsonpossibly a weapon involved in the stabbings that killed Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, the AP reports. LAPD Capt. Andy Neiman said the knife was allegedly found by a construction worker, maybe during the home's 1998 demolition, and turned over to an off-duty cop moonlighting at a nearby movie shoot who kept it as a souvenir, the New York Times reports. That officer retired in the late 1990s, per ABC News. Neiman said the department first got wind of the knife within the last month, but he cautions that "maybe the story is bogus from the get-go." The knife "has been submitted to our lab [and] they are going to study it and examine it for all forensics, including serology and DNA and hair samples."

The weapon used in the 1994 killings has eluded police for more than 20 years, though this knife isn't the first one to be presented as possible evidence. Prosecutors initially thought a 15-inch knife Simpson had purchased may have been the murder weapon, but forensics tests proved that knife to have zero scratches or bloodstains on it, the Los Angeles Times reports. Then, later in 1994, a woman turned in a kitchen knife with red stains on it that she says she found less than a block from Simpson's home (it appears that knife was also ruled out). Regarding the newly emerged knife, one of the lawyers on OJ's original legal "dream team" told the LAT on Friday that the story is "ridiculous." "It's amazing how the world cannot move on from this case," Carl Douglas says. As for Simpson himself, he's in a Nevada prison for a 2008 armed robbery and kidnapping conviction. (Read more OJ Simpson stories.)
(Newser)  In an exclusive interview the New York Daily News calls "astounding," the daughter of infamous Mexican drug lord El Chapo tells the Guardian her father snuck into the US twice while on the lam from authorities following a jail break last year. It's the first-ever interview given by Rosa Isela Guzman Ortiz. She says her father, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, made it across the border undetected twice in late 2015 to see the five-bedroom home he bought for her and her children in California and to visit relatives. Guzman Ortiz wouldn't or couldn't say how her father made it across the border. I asked him the same, believe me," she says. Guzman Ortiz, who runs a string of businesses in California, and El Chapo's third wife are both US citizens.

The Guardian notes Guzman Ortiz's claims "will raise questions about US intelligence and border security" and are "likely to be vigorously contested by Mexican and US authorities." A spokesperson for US Customs and Border Protection tells the Washington Post the agency has "no information" that El Chapo crossed into the US. But the Post states it "wouldn't have been difficult" despite El Chapo being one of the most-wanted men on the planet at the time. Authorities know about dozens of tunnels built under the border by his Sinaloa cartel, and there are likely more. Everything indicates that El Chapo would be able to visit the US: Hes very smart, he has well-trained operatives, and he has experts in building tunnels, one author and cartel expert tells the Guardian. (Read more Joaquin Guzman stories.)
(Newser)  Apparently having slept on it, on Friday Donald Trump walked back the endorsement he gave to torturing terrorists and killing their families during the GOP debate Thursday night, the Wall Street Journal reports. "We should go for waterboarding, and we should go tougher than waterboarding," CNN quotes Trump as saying during the debate. The BBC points out the US has banned waterboarding, which is "widely considered" to be torture. Trump also said he would authorize the military to target the families of terrorists as a deterrent. Critics say both of those policies would violate international laws, including the Geneva Convention, and possibly lead to war crime charges.

"I will not order a military officer to disobey the law," Trump said in a statement on Friday. "It is clear that as president I will be bound by laws just like all Americans. CNN calls it a dramatic shift "in less than 24 hours." And the Journal notes Trump's reversal comes "after months of insisting that he wouldnt back down." But he had been facing serious criticism over his statements. A former CIA director last week said the military would refuse to obey orders to torture terrorists or kill their families. Trump addressed that possibility during the debate, saying "They're not going to refuse me" and "If I say do it, theyre going to do it." A former secretary of defense said the plan to kill terrorists' families, especially, goes against "everything the United States stands for in this world." (Read more Donald Trump stories.)
Fairbanks, AK (99707)

Today

Cloudy with snow showers mainly during the evening. Low 26F. Winds light and variable. Chance of snow 70%..

Tonight

Cloudy with snow showers mainly during the evening. Low 26F. Winds light and variable. Chance of snow 70%.
Washington:

Dozens of conservative national security experts are warning that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is unfit to be commander in chief.



In a letter released yesterday, former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and more than 70 other experts wrote that they have disagreed with one another on a variety of issues but are united in their opposition to a Trump presidency.



They called Trump fundamentally dishonest and said his support for the expanded use of torture against suspected terrorists is inexcusable. They also cited Trumps hateful, anti-Muslim rhetoric, his admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his advocacy for waging trade wars, which they say would lead to economic disaster in a globally connected world.



The letter was posted on the web site War On The Rocks, an online forum for foreign policy and national security commentary.



Other experts who signed the letter include Fran Townsend, former homeland security and counterterrorism adviser to President George W. Bush; Eliot Cohen, former counselor to the State Department; Dov Zakheim, former Pentagon comptroller; and Robert Zoellick, former president of the World Bank.



The letter was released the evening before 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney criticized Trump in a speech, calling him dangerous and a fake. Romney said that if Republicans choose Trump to be their presidential nominee, the prospects for a safe and prosperous future are greatly diminished.



During an interview Thursday on MSNBC, Trump declined to say whom he consults with on foreign policy issues. But he said he has spoken to his team and plans to announce its members soon.



I dont think theres any rush, Trump said. Trump said he respects Richard Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations. Haass served in the administrations of Presidents George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush.

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London:

Hackers affiliated to ISIS terror group who promised to take down International search engine giant Google has instead targeted a small Indian tech firm, according to a media report.

Cyber Caliphate Army (CCA), a hacking group affiliated to ISIS, hit www.addgoogleonline.com registered by Gandani K for Indian tech firm Always Say, which offers search engine optimisation (SEO) services to local clients.



According to vocative.com website, CCA had vowed on messaging app Telegram they would attack Google on Monday.



We promised to hack Google. Keep the promise inshallah (God willing), expect us today, the group declared.



However, the website claims that a few hours later they had instead defaced the website www.addgoogleonline.com which is completely unrelated to the Silicon Valley based Google.



After it was hacked, the website played an Islamic State (ISIS) song in French and displaced the official logo along with a sign saying Hacked By: CCA.



The CCAs defacement of the website was short-lived as yet another hacker group called n3far1ous wiped out the ISIS message and replaced it with an Eat this, ISIS message, and a rock tune playing in the background.



The n3far1ous message was still on display today.



The CCA allegedly hacked into 35 British websites, which appear to be a random mix of relatively small British businesses, media reports said.



The websites hacked into include a Japanese dance instructors website, a company selling furniture and laminate flooring and a salon.



ISIS hackers allegedly said that the attacks were A message to David Cameron as revenge for the killing of British Muslim terrorist Junaid Hussain, who was killed in a US-led air strike last year.



The attacks follow pro-ISIS hackers threats that they would target the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, and Twitters Jack Dorsey for shutting down their social media accounts.

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New Delhi:

Fashion Designer Shipra Malik, who was found on Friday at a village in Gurgaon after she went missing from Noida on Monday, has reportedly told the police that she was being abducted by 3 persons.



During interrogation, she told police that three unidentified persons kidnapped her from Noida and took her to the Gurgaon village.

Shipra was found in a house in a village on Jhajjar road near Gurgaon on Friday, three days after she went missing. She was alone when the police found her, reports said.

Five police teams were formed after she went missing. Police got the leads that she is believed to be in a village near Gurgaon, following which two teams were dispatched to the area.

Noida police had earlier found a CCTV footage, in which Shipra was seen entering an ING Vyasya Bank in Noida on February 29, shortly before she went missing.

Her husband Chetan Malik had filed a missing complaint with the Noida police.

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New Delhi:

The police on Friday held a press conference hours after Shipra Malik, a Noida-based fashion designer, was found in a village in Gurgaon three days after she went missing on Monday.



According to police, Shipra was not kidnapped and she herself left Noida and stayed in an ashram in Rajasthan. Police said that she had property-related disputes with her father and brother. She also had problems with her husband, it said. The police is however investigating the matter further.

Earlier, Shipra had reportedly told the police that she was being abducted by three persons.

During interrogation, she told police that three unidentified persons kidnapped her from Noida and took her to the Gurgaon village.

Shipra was found in a house in a village on Jhajjar road near Gurgaon on Friday. She was alone when the police found her, reports said.

Five police teams were formed after she went missing. Police got the leads that she is believed to be in a village near Gurgaon, following which two teams were dispatched to the area.

Noida police had earlier found a CCTV footage, in which Shipra was seen entering an ING Vyasya Bank in Noida on February 29, shortly before she went missing.

Her husband Chetan Malik had filed a missing complaint with the Noida police.

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Noida:

The Uttar Pradesh Police has ruled out a kidnapping angle in the missing case of Noida-based fashion designer Shipra Malik. Meerut Range DIG Lakshmi Singh while addressing a press conference said that the police did not find any criminal intent in the case.

Here are the 10 updates in the case:

1. Shipra, a resident of sector 37, had left from Noida for Chandni Chowk on Monday, February 29 afternoon.

2. A call to PCR was made from Shipra mobile phone on February 29 at 2:56 PM but it was disconnected in few seconds and then the phone was switched off. The call was made from Delhis Lajpat Nagar, which was Shipras last known location.

3. Later, a CCTV footage found by the Noida Police showed Shipra entering ING Vyasya Bank in Noida on February 29 soon before she went missing. She is said to have her bank locker at ING Vyasya Bank.

4. Shipras Maruti Swift car was found near the Arun Vihar Club, which is around 500 meters away from her home.



5. Her husband Chetan Malik, who is a local builder, filed a missing complaint with Noida police.



6. No ransom call was received by the family after Shipra went missing.

7. Shipra was found in a house in a village on Jhajjar road near Gurgaon on Friday morning. Shipra told the police in her statement: "I was kidnapped by three men in Noida and taken to Gurgaon,".

8. Police sources say Shipra is giving contradictory statements and all angles in the case have been investigated.

9. In a Press Conference, police has said that Shipra was not kidnapped and hatched her won abduction plan because she was unhappy with property-related disputes with her father and brother. She was also having some problems with her husband.

10. Police is trying to find out what was in the bank locker. Police has said that Shipra stayed at an ashram in Rajasthan after she disappeared from Noida.

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Mirpur:

A two-wicket haul against UAE in the Asia Cup has boosted his confidence and India pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar said he is now working on a slower delivery to further polish his skills.

Kumar, who last played a T20I game in the home series against South Africa in October last year, made a comeback in Indias last league match in Asia Cup last night and returned with figures of 4-2-8-2.

It feels great to get back to playing (in the XI). To be honest, I was nervous when I walked out to bowl since I was playing after a long gap, he told BCCI.TV.

I was waiting for this opportunity for a long time. This performance will boost my mental confidence and if and when I get a chance to play in the future, I will remember that I had done well in my previous outing. The 26-year-old said he wants to add one key aspect to his bowling.

I want work on my slower deliveries. I know I can bowl a yorker at the death, but if I can bowl a slower ball as well then it can prove to be an advantage for me. I want to develop a good slower delivery and I am working on the same at the moment, he said.

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni also praised Kumar, saying he was happy with the way he had performed even after he hadnt had much of match practice.

He is a hardworking guy and he works hard in the nets and in the gym and that is something that is important for the fast bowlers, Dhoni said.

Fast bowlers have to keep themselves fit and take the break in the best possible manner if you are not in the playing eleven. I feel the break has helped him increase the pace, and at the same time, it has not affected his swing bowling which is the key.

That is a big positive sign for us. He is still someone who can bowl consistently in a particular line and length. Bhuvneshwar coming good gives us that extra option if Mohammad Shami doesnt get fit. He is somebody who can straightaway come in and start doing the work for the team.
New Delhi:

A day after JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar took on the Narendra Modi government, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said he was enjoying free publicity while leaders of opposition parties showered praises on him Kumar for his speech last night which is making waves on social media.



Naidu suggested that if Kanhaiya is interested in politics he should join his favourite party which, he said sarcastically, does not even have in single digit in representation in Parliament.



He is getting free publicity and enjoying the publicity. The question is let him condemn those slogans, let him distance himself from them. Let him help the authorities curb such activities in universities.



Universities are meant for education. They must study rather than getting involved in politics. If they are interested (in politics), then they can leave study and join politics. He can join his favourite party which does not even have single digit in Parliament, Naidu said.



Kumar represents All India Students Federation (AISF), the students front of Communist Party of India (CPI) which has one seat each in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.



Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who tweeted What a brilliant speech by Kanhaiya as the latter was speaking last night, today said, I told you several times Modi ji (Prime Minister), dont mess with students. Modi ji did not pay heed.



Heard Kanhaiyas speech many times. Amazing clarity of thought expressed wonderfully.He said what most people have been feeling.God bless him, he tweeted.



CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said Kumars speech was testimony to the fact that JNU students are demanding the creation of a better India and that they are the foot soldiers protecting the secular and democratic character of the Indian republic.



Congress Ashwani Kumar said his party has been maintaining that Kumar did not utter anything anti-national at any point and yesterday he made it more clear through the speech.



Kumar was released from Tihar jail yesterday after the Delhi High Court granted him bail following his nearly three-week long incarceration in a case of alleged sedition.

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New Delhi:

After heavy struggle of more than 28 hours, five-year-old boy Nikhil, who was rescued from borewell today evening, has been declared dead in Jhansi.



The boy was rushed to a nearby hospital instantly after being rescued for medical check-ups. After keeping him in observation for some time doctors said he is no more.



The child had yesterday fallen into the 50-feet deep borewell while his family members were working in the fields.



Jal board and municipal corporation officials came into action and dug out land adjacent to borewell with all precautions to pull out the kid.

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New Delhi:

Filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra, producer of popular movies like 3 Idiots and PK, today met Union Minister Jitendra Singh and discussed his new film project on Kashmir.



Chopra, who originally hails from Jammu and Kashmir, said he had spent formative years of his life in Srinagar, where he obtained his school and college education.



He had therefore felt moved to produce a film depicting the saga of Kashmir during the last 25 years, particularly in the backdrop of the plight of displaced Kashmiri Pandit community, a press release issued by the Ministers office said.



Singh, Minister of State for Personnel, Public grievances and Pensions, gave a patient hearing to Vidhu Vinod Chopra and his team.



He suggested to them to submit a comprehensive written brief or representation mentioning the salient features of the project and at the same time, what precisely is expected by them from the government, it said.

For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
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The next Hearst Movie & A Martini meet-up is set for the Palace Theatre in Danbury on Sunday, March 13.

The movie is Janis: Little Girl Blue, a new documentary about the life and death of rock star Janis Joplin. Participants will meet critic and entertainment writer Joe Meyers in the lobby at 1 p.m. and then purchase their own tickets. There will be a discussion after the screening.
Celebrate! This womens history month is a perfect time to celebrate and honor the women of faith who are in our lives or part of our history. Some of these women we may continue to see almost daily, while others perhaps influenced us long ago in a passing moment.

Many women we never knew have paved the way to provide the daily privileges we take for granted. Their devotion, courage, love and guidance may inspire us and become part of the foundation of our strength of character. What a blessing they are to us.

When I was a child, I attended church regularly with my paternal grandparents. The members of the congregation became their family and in turn mine. Papa was usually the last one out of the church taking time to share a greeting or a story with just about everyone.

After church I stood at my grandmothers side as groups of women gathered to chat. The pastors wife, Mildred Hess, was the imposing leader of the Ladies Society. They used this visiting time to plan suppers, teas and visits from the missionaries.

Especially during the summer months, our church hosted many missionary stays. They came to share their stories and raise needed funds from the pulpit. These ladies shared a common purpose, and they sponsored these missionaries in any manner that they could.

Often my grandmother would correspond with these missionaries, and when she saved up a little money, she would send it to them. She influenced me with her quiet strength and caring devotion to others. She always made time for me just as she did for many others.

Throughout history, women of faith have banded together for study, support and sometimes to champion a cause. In 1869, a group of Christian women in Boston decided to form the Womens Foreign Missionary Society.

Dues were set at one dollar per year that membership might be within the means of every woman in the church. Two cents and a prayer became the standard, although larger donations were always welcome.

The purpose of this benevolent society was to unite the women of the Methodist Church and raise funds to send out women educators and missionaries. The first two were Dr. Clara Swain and Isabella Thoburn. These two women, from Boston, were missionaries in India.

Miss Thoburn began a school in Lucknow. This school eventually expanded to include the Isabella Thoburn College, the first womens college in Asia. Dr. Swain began her medical work, resulting in the establishment of the first womens hospital in Asia.

Over the years, they continued to expand the society and support women missionaries in Asia and later Africa, and both of the institutions they started are still serving the people of India.

Todays organization of the United Methodist Women has grown from these humble beginnings to a membership of 800,000. Although they contribute to the ministry of the United Methodist Church, they are an independent entity and control their own governing boards, policymaking decisions, and funding.

We still feel called to give from our heart to ministries for women, children and youth. Our purpose has been expanded, but in the areas of faith, fellowship and commitment we are essentially the same. Along with service, we are called to stand up and speak out for the rights of others.

This year, the United Methodist Women of Danbury are celebrating 25 years as a Five Star Unit. This means that for a quarter of a century, we have faithfully given, through the New York Conference United Methodist Women, to five undesignated areas of giving, which means these donations have been used in those areas of mission where they are most needed.

Within our Danbury unit is the Helping Hands Circle. We are especially thankful for the dedication of these ladies, who began their group in 1962. They continue to use their sewing, knitting, and crocheting skills to make items for charity.

I believe God calls us to be in mission. During Womens History Month, it seems appropriate to honor the generations of United Methodist Women who have sown the seeds of hope here and around the world. I am grateful for all those women who have clearly pointed the way for me.

I urge you to take the time to celebrate a woman who has helped you in your faith journey. Take her hand and say thank you. In fact she may decide to pull you in for a joyous hug. Celebrate!

Karlene Lombardo is president of the United Methodist Women of Danbury. She can be reached at lombardodk@gmail.com
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Connecticuts Beardsley Zoo is celebrating the birth of baby giant anteater and the successful breeding of its 6-year-old parents, daddy EO and mama Pana.

EO is a first-time dad, and the birth is the second for Pana.

Our fingers were crossed that our giant anteaters would have babies, and we couldn't be happier that the breeding was successful, said zoo director Gregg Dancho in the babys birth announcement.

The baby, born the day before Valentines Day after a 175-day gestation period, weighed in at 2.4 pounds and is just over 14 inches long. The gender is unknown, owing to the difficulty of determining the sex of anteaters at such a young age.

Pana and the new baby are not on exhibit yet.

When mom and baby go on exhibit, dad will not be allowed to be in the same exhibit, due to mom's protectiveness and the potential of dad hurting the baby, the zoo said in a statement. Dad will be on exhibit elsewhere on zoo grounds. The baby will be on exhibit thru the summer season and into the fall.

More Information Anteaters can live up to 26 years old in captivity and are usually solitary animals. They can weigh up to 100 pounds, and are five to seven feet long. Their home range is from southern Belize to northern Argentina and they live in grasslands, humid forests and woodland areas. Anteaters have one of the lowest body temperatures in the animal kingdom at 91 to 97 degrees Fahrenheit, and can eat up to 30,000 ants per meal in the wild. The Latin name for anteater is Vermillingua, meaning "worm tongue," which can be as long as two feet. See More Collapse

The anteater parents came to Beardsley from the Palm Beach Zoo in Palm Beach, Fla. Pana and EO arrived in late May 2015 and are a highlight of the Pampas Plains exhibit, which opened last August.

Featuring animals from the Pampas region of Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil, the new exhibit represents the first phase of the zoo's South American Adventure exhibit. It is part of the zoo's Master Plan to exhibit and care for South American species and was funded in part by private donations as well as funding from the Connecticut Zoological Society with support from the City of Bridgeport.

Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo is open daily from 9 am to 4 p.m. Adult admission (ages 12 & older) is $14, children (ages 3 -11) and senior admission (62 and older) is $11, and children under 3 years old are free. Zoo members also are admitted free. Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo is located at 1875 Noble Ave., Bridgeport, and parking at the zoo is free.
TORONTO, March 3, 2016 /CNW/ - According to FAO's commentary, the Province's fiscal plan continues to rely on relatively optimistic assumptions for revenue growth combined with aggressive plans to limit the growth in program spending. Maintaining balanced budgets beyond 2017-18 will likely prove challenging as new spending pressures emerge and revenue growth remains moderate. Click here for commentary.

About FAO:

Established by the Financial Accountability Officer Act, 2013 (the Act), the Financial Accountability Office (FAO) provides independent analysis on the state of the Province's finances, trends in the provincial economy and related matters important to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. The FAO produces independent analysis on the initiative of the Financial Accountability Officer. Upon request from a member or committee of the Assembly, the Officer may also direct the FAO to undertake research to estimate the financial costs or financial benefits to the Province of any bill or other proposal over which the Legislature has jurisdiction. Visit the FAO website at www.fao-on.org

SOURCE Financial Accountability Office of Ontario

Image with caption: "Financial Accountability Office of Ontario (CNW Group/Financial Accountability Office of Ontario)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160303_C1429_PHOTO_EN_634781.jpg

For further information: Kismet Baun, 416-254-9232, [email protected], Financial Accountability Office of Ontario, 2 Bloor Street West, Suite 900, Toronto, ON, M4W 3E2
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OTCQX: PLSDF

CALGARY, March 3, 2016 /CNW/ - Pulse Seismic Inc. ("Pulse" or "the Company") is pleased to report its financial and operating results for the year ended December 31, 2015. The audited financial results were in line with the preliminary unaudited financial results announced in the Company's news release on January 18, 2016. The audited consolidated financial statements, accompanying notes and MD&A are being filed on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) and will be available on Pulse's website at www.pulseseismic.com.

"With weak commodity prices, a poor industry outlook and no sales visibility, it would be easy to dwell on the negative. We are not doing so," stated Neal Coleman, Pulse's President and CEO. "Pulse is firmly positioned to survive an extended downturn: costs are at a record low, we have no capital commitments or debt, and we are able to act on opportunities for counter-cyclical acquisitions to enlarge our main asset and expand future revenue-generating capacity."

HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2015

Seismic data library sales decreased by 41 percent year-over-year to $21.2 million in 2015 from $35.7 million in 2014;

in 2015 from in 2014; Total seismic revenue of $24.4 million in 2015, with $3.2 million in participation survey revenue, compared to $35.7 million and no participation survey revenue in 2014;

in 2015, with in participation survey revenue, compared to and no participation survey revenue in 2014; Net loss of $5.3 million or ($0.09) per share basic and diluted for 2015 compared to net earnings of $3.5 million or $0.06 per share basic and diluted for 2014;

or per share basic and diluted for 2015 compared to net earnings of or per share basic and diluted for 2014; An impairment loss of $937,000 was recognized on two specific datasets in the seismic data library in the fourth quarter of 2015;

was recognized on two specific datasets in the seismic data library in the fourth quarter of 2015; Cash EBITDA (a) of $15.1 million , a 47 percent decrease from $28.6 million in 2014, and a 45 percent decrease on a per-share basis to $0.27 per share basic and diluted from $0.49 in 2014;

of , a 47 percent decrease from in 2014, and a 45 percent decrease on a per-share basis to per share basic and diluted from in 2014; Shareholder free cash flow (a) of $14.7 million , a 47 percent decrease from $27.9 million in 2014, and a 45 percent decrease on a per-share basis to $0.26 per share basic and diluted from $0.47 in 2014;

of , a 47 percent decrease from in 2014, and a 45 percent decrease on a per-share basis to per share basic and diluted from in 2014; Pulse purchased and cancelled, through its normal course issuer bid, a total of 1,625,400 common shares (2.8 percent of the total outstanding at December 31, 2014 ) at a total cost of approximately $4.1 million (average cost of $2.50 per common share including commissions);

) at a total cost of approximately (average cost of per common share including commissions); Pulse paid three quarterly dividends of $0.02 per share totalling $3.4 million , suspending its quarterly dividend as of November 2015 ;

per share totalling , suspending its quarterly dividend as of ; At December 31, 2015 Pulse had drawn $222,000 on its operating line of credit and the long term-debt was nil, compared with $5.4 million of long-term debt at December 31, 2014 . The operating line of credit was fully repaid in the first quarter of 2016;

Pulse had drawn on its operating line of credit and the long term-debt was nil, compared with of long-term debt at . The operating line of credit was fully repaid in the first quarter of 2016; The Company added 136 square kilometres of new high-quality 3D seismic data to the library through the completion of a survey in west central Alberta which commenced in January and was completed in March 2015 ; and

which commenced in January and was completed in ; and On October 16, 2015 the Company acquired, from an oil and gas company, 146 square kilometres of high-quality 3D data located in west central Alberta .

HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE THREE MONTHS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2015

Seismic data library sales of $8.8 million , an increase of 4 percent compared to $8.4 million in the same period of 2014;

, an increase of 4 percent compared to in the same period of 2014; Net earnings of $658,000 or $0.01 per share basic and diluted compared to $824,000 and $0.01 per share basic and diluted in the fourth quarter of 2014;

or per share basic and diluted compared to and per share basic and diluted in the fourth quarter of 2014; Cash EBITDA of $7.0 million or $0.13 per share basic and diluted compared to $6.7 million or $0.12 per share basic and diluted in the fourth quarter of 2014; and

or per share basic and diluted compared to or per share basic and diluted in the fourth quarter of 2014; and Shareholder free cash flow of $7.0 million or $0.12 per share basic and diluted compared to $6.5 million or $0.11 per share basic and diluted in the fourth quarter of 2014.

On January 26, 2016 the Company closed an acquisition and added approximately 107,000 net kilometres of 2D seismic data and 58 net square kilometres of 3D seismic data, increasing Pulse's 2D seismic data library by 31.5 percent from approximately 340,000 net kilometres to approximately 447,000 net kilometres.

SELECTED FINANCIAL AND OPERATING INFORMATION











Three months ended December 31, Year ended December 31, (thousands of dollars except per share data, 2015 2014 2015 2014 number of shares and kilometres of seismic data)







Revenue









Data library sales 8,759 8,385 21,214 35,743

Participation surveys - - 3,220 - Total revenue 8,759 8,385 24,434 35,743









Amortization of seismic data library 4,979 5,279 22,836 22,507 Impairment loss 937 - 937 - Net earnings (loss) 658 824 (5,308) 3,478

Per share basic and diluted 0.01 0.01 (0.09) 0.06 Cash provided by operating activities 2,901 13,122 17,094 27,985

Per share basic and diluted 0.05 0.23 0.30 0.47 Cash EBITDA (a) 7,043 6,661 15,121 28,615

Per share basic and diluted (a) 0.13 0.12 0.27 0.49 Shareholder free cash flow (a) 6,971 6,515 14,745 27,858

Per share basic and diluted (a) 0.12 0.11 0.26 0.47 Capital expenditures









Participation surveys - 36 3,959 36

Seismic data purchases, digitization and related costs 750 183 933 733

Property and equipment additions - 43 14 64 Total capital expenditures 750 262 4,906 833 Weighted average shares outstanding









Basic and diluted 56,041,324 57,865,941 56,628,524 58,957,072 Shares outstanding at period-end



55,592,689 57,247,843 Seismic library









2D in kilometres



339,991 339,991

3D in square kilometres



28,555 28,284









FINANCIAL POSITION AND RATIOS







December 31, December 31, (thousands of dollars except ratios)



2015 2014 Working capital



4,996 5,296 Working capital ratio



4.44:1 2.79:1 Total assets



54,618 75,482 Long-term debt



- 5,367 TTM cash EBITDA (b)



15,121 28,615 Shareholders' equity



45,389 58,401 Long-term debt to TTM cash EBITDA ratio



0.00:1 0.19:1 Long-term debt to equity ratio



0.00:1 0.09:1











(a) The Company's continuous disclosure documents provide discussion and analysis of "cash EBITDA", "cash EBITDA per share", "shareholder free cash flow" and "shareholder free cash flow per share". These financial measures do not have standard definitions prescribed by IFRS and, therefore, may not be comparable to similar measures disclosed by other companies. The Company has included these non-GAAP financial measures because management, investors, analysts and others use them as measures of the Company's financial performance. The Company's definition of cash EBITDA is cash available for interest payments, cash taxes if applicable, repayment of debt, purchase of its shares, discretionary capital expenditures and the payment of dividends (if applicable), and is calculated as earnings (loss) from operations before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization less participation survey revenue, plus any non-cash and non-recurring expenses. Cash EBITDA excludes participation survey revenue as these funds are directly used to fund specific participation surveys and this revenue is not available for discretionary capital expenditures. The Company believes cash EBITDA assists investors in comparing Pulse's results on a consistent basis without regard to participation survey revenue and non-cash items, such as depreciation and amortization, which can vary significantly depending on accounting methods or non-operating factors such as historical cost. Cash EBITDA per share is defined as cash EBITDA divided by the weighted average number of shares outstanding for the period. Shareholder free cash flow further refines the calculation of capital available to invest in growing the Company's 2D and 3D seismic data library, to repay debt, to purchase its common shares and to pay dividends (if applicable) by deducting non-discretionary expenditures from cash EBITDA. Non-discretionary expenditures are defined as debt financing costs (net of deferred financing expenses amortized in the current period) and current tax provisions. Shareholder free cash flow per share is defined as shareholder free cash flow divided by the weighted average number of shares outstanding for the period.

(b) TTM cash EBITDA is defined as the sum of the trailing 12 months' cash EBITDA and is used to provide a comparable annualized measure.

OUTLOOK

Pulse's short-term outlook is more cautious than one year ago. The Company's first quarter seismic data library sales are likely to be weaker than last year's very low level, and traditional sales for the year could well be lower than in 2015.

So far in 2016, oil and natural gas prices remain weaker than one year ago and mineral lease auctions or "land sales" in Alberta and B.C. are at record lows. The Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors forecasts that rig utilization in 2016 will average only 22 percent, with an average of only 159 out of western Canada's industry fleet of well over 700 rigs deployed. In late January, the Petroleum Services Association of Canada lowered its 2016 drilling forecast to 4,900 wells, compared to 5,300 wells in 2015 and 11,500 wells in 2014. All of this is suggestive of low traditional seismic data sales.

Prospects have, however, improved for a faster pace of merger and acquisition activity. With commodity prices remaining low and cash flows among E&P companies widely expected to decline or become negative, causing debt ratios to increase sharply, banks are expected to strongly encourage their borrowers to narrow bid-ask spreads and close transactions to create larger, more viable companies. Following a year of surprisingly low M&A spending and weak deal-flow, one research report stated that by mid-January 2016 there were 49 asset packages being marketed, covering over 4 million acres and 250,000 boe per day of production.

More M&A activity will create favourable conditions for additional transaction-based sales. The unpredictability of transaction-based sales, however, means that Pulse will continue to lack visibility as to its 2016 revenues. Corporate transactions are a necessary but not sufficient condition to generate seismic data relicensing fees; generating transaction-based sales depends on the nature of the underlying corporate transaction and on the acquisitor's plans for the assets in question.

With its annual cash costs of approximately $6.0 million, low financing costs and no dividend, Pulse can continue to generate cash EBITDA and shareholder free cash flow at low revenue while buying back additional shares and maintaining the financial flexibility to grow its seismic data library. Pulse's revised $30.0 million credit facility is undrawn as of this date and includes an accordion feature for expansion to $70.0 million.

Pulse's long-term goal is to become Western Canada's largest licensable data library. The Company's history demonstrates that its revenues could accelerate at any time, and could increase significantly with virtually no increase in operating costs, making Pulse a high-margin business under even modestly positive industry conditions.

YEAR END 2015 CONFERENCE CALL

Pulse will hold a conference call and live audio webcast on Friday, March 4, 2016 at 11:00 a.m. MST (1:00 p.m. EST) where Neal Coleman, President and CEO and Pamela Wicks, VP Finance and CFO will discuss the Company's 2015 results. A question-and-answer period will follow an update on the Company's strategy and outlook.

To participate please dial 587-880-2171 (local  Calgary) or 1-888-390-0546 (toll free  North America) approximately 10 minutes before the commencement of the call. To listen to the webcast of the conference call please visit the Company's website at www.pulseseismic.com.

An archival recording of the conference call will be available approximately one hour after the completion of the call until March 11, 2016. To access the replay, please dial 1-888-390-0541 or 416-764-8677 and enter the playback pass code 878123#.

CORPORATE PROFILE

Pulse is a market leader in the acquisition, marketing and licensing of 2D and 3D seismic data to the western Canadian energy sector. Pulse owns the second-largest licensable seismic data library in Canada, currently consisting of approximately 28,600 square kilometres of 3D seismic and 447,000 kilometres of 2D seismic. The library extensively covers the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin where most of Canada's oil and natural gas exploration and development occur.

This document contains information that constitutes "forward-looking information" or "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking information") within the meaning of applicable securities legislation.

The Outlook section contains forward-looking information which includes, among other things, statements regarding:

Pulse's short-term outlook is more cautious than one year ago;

The Company's first quarter seismic data library sales are likely to be weaker than last year's very low level, and traditional sales for the year could well be lower than in 2015;

More M&A activity will create favourable activity for additional transaction-based sales;

The unpredictability of transaction-based sales means that Pulse will continue to lack visibility as to its 2016 revenues;

Pulse's long-term goal is to become Western Canada's largest licensable data library;

largest licensable data library; Pulse's capital allocation strategy;

Oil and natural gas prices;

Oil and natural gas drilling activity and land sales activity;

Oil and natural gas company capital budgets;

Future demand for seismic data;

Future seismic data sales;

Future demand for participation surveys;

Pulse's business and growth strategy; and

Other expectations, beliefs, plans, goals, objectives, assumptions, information and statements about possible future events, conditions, results and performance.

Undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is based on current expectations, estimates and projections that involve a number of risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to vary and in some instances to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking information. Pulse does not publish specific financial goals or otherwise provide guidance, due to the inherently poor visibility of seismic revenue.

The material risk factors include, without limitation:

Oil and natural gas prices;

Seismic industry cycles and seasonality;

The demand for seismic data and participation surveys;

The pricing of data library licensing sales;

Relicensing (change-of-control) fees, partner copy sales and asset disposition-related sales;

The level of pre-funding of participation surveys, and the Company's ability to make subsequent data library sales from such participation surveys;

The Company's ability to complete participation surveys on time and within budget;

Environmental, health and safety risks;

The effect of seasonality and weather conditions on participation surveys;

Federal and provincial government laws and regulations, including those pertaining to taxation, royalty rates, environmental protection and safety;

Competition;

Dependence on qualified seismic field contractors;

Dependence on key management, operations and marketing personnel;

The loss of seismic data;

Cybersecurity threats;

Protection of intellectual property rights; and

The introduction of new products.

The foregoing list is not exhaustive. Additional information on these risks and other factors which could affect the Company's operations and financial results is included under "Risk Factors". Of the Company's MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2015. Forward-looking information is based on the assumptions, expectations, estimates and opinions of the Company's management at the time the information is presented.

SOURCE Pulse Seismic Inc.

For further information: Neal Coleman, President and CEO; Or Pamela Wicks, VP Finance and CFO, Tel.: 403-237-5559, Toll-free: 1-877-460-5559, E-mail: [email protected] Please visit our website at www.pulseseismic.com.